Returning to Ravnica!

So here we are, a few days away from the pre-release events we all know and love.  I've already preregistered to compete in all six events at Legends.  I'm playing the first two events as Selensya, then one as Izzet, then two more as Azorius, then the last one as Golgari.  I'm looking forward to seeing what all comes in the guild packs.  I'm also looking forward to playing with as many of the new cards as possible.  The cards I'm most looking forward to playing with are pretty much the ones you'd expect.  I want to play with the new planeswalkers, though Vraska looks a lot more fun that the new version of Jace.  I like the new guild charms and the new guild keys.  I'm curious to see what kinds of fun ways we can break those kinds of cards.  I think there's a few new versions of Delver decks I want to explore, as well as new token decks.  My personal favorite in the format right now is the Token deck.

So, as I'm sure the few people that read this blog are aware, I'm a huge fan of token strategies in almost any format.  They're just fun to me.  They usually offer great card advantage when pitted against point removal, and they're less of a blow out against sweepers.  Also, they have the most efficient anthem effect in the game at the moment in the form of Intangible Virtue.  There are a few different ways to go with the over all strategy at the moment and numerous color combinations, but I think my favorite right now is Junk.  Selensya is offering some awesome token generators as well as some great support spells, so I love G/W tokens, but then you're missing out on the opportunities offered by splashing for another color.  Of the token support that I think has the most to offer at the moment (and that will improve with Gatecrash in another three months) is Black.  By adding black we get access to some point removal, some Golgothi cards to go with our Selensya base, and even more importantly, the mana to flashback Lingering Souls and to play Sorin, Lord of Innistrad.  So here's the decklist I come up with as a rough draft.

Creatures (8)
4x  Arbor Elf
2x  Doomed Travelor
2x  Trostani, Selensya's Voice

Planeswalkers (6)
2x  Vraska the Unseen
2x  Garruk the Relentless
2x  Sorin, Lord of Innistrad

Spells (22)
4x  Intangible Virtue
4x  Lingering Souls
3x  Gather the Townsfolk
3x  Call of the Conclave
4x  Selesnya Charm
3x  Oblivion Ring
2x  Abrupt Decay

Lands (24)
4x  Evolving Wilds
4x  Temple Gardens
4x  Overgrown Tomb
4x  Isolated Chapel
2x  Forest
2x  Plains
1x  Swamp
1x Vault of the Archangel
2x  Gavony Township

This is a rough draft and I still haven't decided if I want to up the land to 25 to help support the three colors, or if I want to change the count of Abrupt Decay and Oblivion Rings.  The sideboard will vary quite a bit, but I think it's safe to say the remainder of the playset of O-rings and Abrupt Decays will be in there, as well as the new version of Naturalize.  I feel like there's also an American Tokens deck that's possible, but not sure how it is positioned.  I think it'd be more of a straight forward aggro deck and less mid-range, but the card pool is very interesting.  Tokens does have some problems in the current meta, but I don't think there are so many weaknesses as to make it improbable for this to be a competitive deck.  On the plus side, most of those weaknesses are in red, which will partially limit the number of decks that support them.  However with the number of multi-colored decks that are going to be running rampant in the coming months, I really doubt that there will be a shortage of these cards in the format.  Then again, I feel that way about the hate cards for any deck type.  Thanks to the abundant manafixing in the set, there's going to be no shortage of hate from all colors spread around in splashes into other decks.

In closing, as I've said, I think Token decks are going to have a wide range of options to choose from.  I'll fully expect to try Junk tokens first myself, but  American Tokens has a lot to offer as well.  I will probably at some point attempt to build both of these decks and playtest them thoroughly.  I'll post again later this week with my idea of the American Tokens deck.

SD13

Return to Ravnica Previews

I'm thrilled to say that the spoiler season for Return to Ravnica is in full swing.  There are already a few very nice cards that have seen the light of day.  My personal favorite that's shown up so far are the "shock" lands from the original Ravnica block.  I love the way these lands work.  The only downside to seeing them reprinted is that they will lower the value of my originals slightly...  On the other hand, I can't wait to play them in Standard.

Anyway, moving on to less fanboy-ish things...  The Warhammer community is all lit up with rumors about new codexes and the latest 40K release from Games Workshop is helping to fan the flames.  The new starter set for 6th edition is a combination of Chaos Marines and Dark Angels.  There really aren't any completely new things to be looked at on the Dark Angels side, but the addition of cultists and of a new dreadnaught type model for Chaos is causing a stir.  It makes sense to assume that these are going to be the first two codexes released for 6th edition.

In other news, the MidwestWarfare gaming group is set to host it's next tournament on the 15th and 16th this month at Legends in Vincennes.  I'm hoping we have a good turn out, but it seems unlikely given the launch of a new rules set.  But one can hope anyway.  I'm still tinkering with my army lists and trying to nail down exactly what I want to play.  I'm not sure if I'll even actually be playing in this event.  I guess we'll just have to see.

SD13

Reflections on 6ed 40K.

After playing my first full sized game with allies and the whole shootin' match, I like the new rules even more.  I played 2K with Mathew down at Legends yesterday.  He was on Chaos Marines and I played Blood Angels with Grey Knight allies.  It was a fun game, even if there were a lot of distractions and some confusion caused by the new rules.  It took us about 4 hours to finish 5 turns, then I had to leave.  I won, but it was kind of a sketchy victory.  Due to the time limit we had, the game ended before he had a chance to get another objective.  If the game would have gone full term, I think he'd have won, but there's no way to say for sure.

Other than the games of 40K going on this month, it's been pretty quiet on the gaming front.  I haven't had much time to devote to Magic, which is sad considering the pace at which the metagame evolves these days.  I'm an easy month and a half behind the ball on that one.  If the last article I read this week on TCGplayer was any indication, it smells like Delver is making a come back.  It made a huge portion of the top 8 placings last weekend at the larger open events.  I'm not sure if I want to play much before rotation.  Even if that means come rotation time, I'll have to completely rebuild a new deck, since the ones I've been tinkering with lately all rely very heavily on cards that are going to rotate in October.

Things to consider.

SD13

40K Like its My Job.

So lately I've been taking a bit of a break from Magic.  I'm not a fan of the current format and I've been pressing too hard recently and I'm afraid of burnout.  So, I'm taking a break and refocusing on Warhammer for a bit.  As such, I'm trying to get our group, Midwest Warfare, a bit more organized.

A problem occurred with the new rules set.  No-one (or at least a small minority) has managed to play games with the new rules.  A few of our players reportedly haven't even laid eyes on the new rules.  SO.... That pretty much rules out a large tournament style event this month.  So we've dropped back 10 yards and we're taking a big punt.  Tournament play will be next month, and leading up to it this month will be a few weekends of practice games and goofing off.

Starting today for a few of us, and going into next weekend for more of us.  Then at the end of the month, instead of the tournament, a large gathering at our usual location at Legends in Vincennes.  Then I'll (probably) be helping judge a tournament here in TH.  With our tournament postponed until the weekend of the 15th next month.

At least that's the current plan.  Here's to hoping it works out.

SD13

New Sets, New Rules

So here's the deal.  Since my last post, there have been all kinds of changes in my gaming world.  Warhammer 40,000 was given a new rule set by the gaming lords at Games Workshop and Wizards of the Coast graced us with yet another core set in their endless pursuit of profit.  The only really good thing I have to say about the release schedule from Wizards is that it keeps the game fresh.

But, to move along let's focus on the Magic side of things first.  M13 has changed up the format a little bit.  Right now we're in the midst of the worst (depending on how you're looking at it) or best part of Standard progression.  We have two core sets and two whole blocks to pull from, and both of them are very powerful blocks in their own ways.  Personally, I can't wait for October to come around and Return to Ravnica to kick Mirrodin and all the terrible cards it offers as well as the over bearing duplicity of M12 out of the format so we can all breath a sigh of relief.

However, in the meantime, competitive players have three months of this to get through.  Its just a mater of knuckling under and getting work done.  I've been building and tinkering with a lot of new decks and cards.  Last night I went to a "win-a-box" event at one of the local shops.  I played a Bant Superfriends deck that was a lot of fun, but needs some tuning.  I ended up placing 4th out of around 13 players and won 4 packs.  Naya Pod made up both of my actual match losses.  I also had a rough time against a BR Vampire aggro deck with tons of burn in it.  My final record after the swiss rounds was 2-1-1.  I drew against the BR Vampires and lost to Naya Pod.  Then for some reason we cut to the top 4 and lost again to the same Naya Pod list.  My biggest problems with the deck were that I flooded out hard in four or five games in the event.  Drawing 14-16 lands out of 25 seems very unlikely and harsh.  I'm probably going to cut a few for some more ramp spells.  I need to play test some more, but I think this is the deck I want to play.

So, moving on to 40K...  The new rules set is pretty good after a little play testing and a lot of reading.  GW may have gotten things right finally.  The game plays a little more complicated, but it is a lot of fun.  There are some great rules changes that have made the game a lot more interesting and a lot more balanced.  My favorite two things in the new rules set are the Allies system and the new wound allocation rules.  They're going to make the game a lot more bearable and add a lot of diversity to the games we play.

As of now though, I'm out to get some work done.

SD13

Breaking the Dry Spell

Alright, been awhile since I've posted and I'm working on new decks.  Mostly working on new Bant ideas that work with Venser.  I'm loving my Pod brews, but I'm having a hard time deciding if Venser's land control component works well with it or not.  Control Pod seems interesting to me, but its hard to come up with a list that makes the best use of both the land control elements of the Band Land Control deck and the Venser Pod list that I've been tinkering with.  Maybe the two deck ideas are best left separate, even though they do share more than half of the card choices.

The core concept of both decks is very similar.  The Venser Pod deck just goes a different road to get there.  Both decks use Stonehorn Dignitary to limit your opponent's early aggressive starts and buying you time to roll out Acidic Slime to get rid of his mana base or some of his threats.  The pod version rolls up to Elesh Norn on the high end with Sun Titan shenanigans being possible with Phantasmal Image.  On the other hand, the Bant Land Control method works the same way, but instead focuses more completely on the ETB effects of the creature base and ramps more.  It runs more lands and adds even more mana dorks, as well as a playset of Rampant Growth.

Both accomplish the win by stalling the game long enough to achieve a soft lock or mana control, then end the game with big hitters and I really like that plan.  I just have to decide which I think is more consistent and offers the best lines of play against the Metagame right now.  By the metagame, I'm referring to UW Delver and Midrange, Wolfrun, RG Aggro, and Naya Pod.  Solarflare is still a real deck, but I don't feel like it is as much of a problem as the faster starting decks for either of my lists.

I guess the good news is that I've got plenty of time for playtesting before the next big event I'll be playing in, which may not be till August.  I'll get back in and update before then.

SD13

The Trials of Testing

So, I've been trying to find a group of people that I can test with reliably for things like PTQs and SCG events.  It's difficult.  It is such a challenge because everyone has a different idea of testing.  I know it sounds strange, but the problem comes when there's only one mind being put into a process and there's no central core to the testing.

My biggest problem comes with the fact that I have friends and acquaintances that are similarly minded to myself.  They make for great friends and are fun people to play Magic with but that's not so good for testing.  You see, because we're all like minded, we tend to want to play decks that are fringe competitive at best and are just bad at worst.  So when I play my hit or miss homebrew against someone else's hit or miss homebrew... The end result is never exactly useful information about either deck's viability in the metagame.  Sure, you learn some of the better lines of play in your deck, but you never learn how to make the key plays against the decks that are strongest (most popular) in the metagame.

With that in mind... There are some other thoughts to be put into testing and the methodology of the solo player.  First of all, how and where you test makes the world of difference.  For some reason, when I do solitaire runs of a deck, I learn the curve and plays of a deck better when I'm sitting at my desk with some light music on.  However, when I'm actually playing and intent on learning from the games, I play better and learn more when I'm at the local shop.  I don't know why, but playing against players in an environment that I already get competitive in makes me want to play that little bit better and helps me focus on the game at hand.  There are also fewer distractions that aren't game related at the shop than at home.  I don't find the need to watch TV, or get distracted by what a mess my house is.  I just sit down, and play some Magic.  Last, I want to address the idea of Magic: the Gathering Online...  Don't.  Don't waste your time testing on there unless it is with other players that play paper Magic.  People online play in a different environment and with a different mindset to people that play at the table.  This also doesn't bother to mention that they have a much different metagame for some reason.  The formats online just don't transfer to the formats at the shops and at the competitive events.

So, I guess I need to get up to the shop for some more testing tonight.  See you folks at 6:30.

SD13