In this installment of me just rambling on I'll discuss some decks for Block that don't suck (really!, , no, , not really), my thoughts on this weekends releases for theatre, politics and an article I read on Starcity.
Here goes, in no particular order.
Hulk Smash! I will be seeing this Friday night at the Smittys Cinema in Biddeford ME. Stalkers welcomed.
I thoroughly enjoyed the Ironman movie (you can skip down to the decklists below if you really don't care) and so long as Marvel Studios holds true to their no suckage quota then this will be a helluva good flick. I'm also looking forward to seeing The Happening. Not because of M. Night Shalamlamadingdong, but because the premise is that people start killing themselves in creative and violent fashions. I used to be a huge fan of horror, but over the years it has gotton stale. This should be a refreshing and potentially horrifying movie. Sadly with my schedule I won't be able to see it until next weekend. "tear".
This report from the Senate
http://intelligence.senate.gov/press/record.cfm?id=298775
states that the administration not only knew the pre-war information was faulty, but intentially misled the American people into a war that was not necessary. This is from the Senate itself, note the .gov. Read it if you want, it's just one of the many things that piss me off about politics in general.
This report tries to debunk the previous report
http://intelligence.senate.gov/press/record.cfm?id=298783
There are actually good points made as a counter arguement. As such I will refrain from judgement, but I will present you with a logic exercise.
Here are the facts -
1. Pre-war intelligence was faulty.
2. Public outcry demanded action.
3. The Administration was under pressure to do something.
4. The Administration made statements that were indeed false.
Here are the speculations.
1. The Administration knew the information was faulty.
2. The Administration wanted a reason to invade Iraq.
That's the whole scenario in a nutshell. Logically we can assume that if 100% of either side of either speculation is unreasonable then a midpoint must be true. The Administration made statements that were not supported by the given intelligence and no one can say for certain where they were getting the information they were addressing to the American People.
Ergo, there are members of the Administration who were intentionally lying and there were members who did not know the information was wrong. In order to believe that no one was lying you have the believe the administration was incompetent and failed for that reason alone. The fact that there is no dialogue about this at all is the reason why I'm bringing this up here.
One: I needed stuff to talk about.
Two: NONE of the major news networks are talking about this. I found out about this from the Daily Show with Jon Stewart when they made a joke about how none of the major news networks were talking about this.
Three: We should be talking about this.
I know, you'd rather look at decklist and share ideas. Me too. At a certain point though the information has to get out there and we cannot rely upon the standard sources. The Administration will never be held accountable for their failures, accidental or intentional, for that reason alone we should be talking about this. Spread the word, if only in the hopes that they will one day know that they didn't get away with it scott free.
They will know that we know and they will know that if we could do something about it, , we would. It may not be much, but it's better than them believing no one found out.
Go with peace.
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Deck time!
4 Ashenmoor Gouger
4 Ashenmoor Liege
3 Intimidator Initiate
4 Murderous Redcap
3 Rattleblaze Scarecrow
4 Scarblade Elite
4 Scuttlemutt
4 Lash Out
4 Nameless Inversion
3 Torrent of Souls
4 Auntie's Hovel
4 Graven Cairns
6 Mountain
4 Reflecting Pool
5 Swamp
Sideboard
4 Eyeblight's Ending
4 Faerie Macabre
4 Flame Javelin
3 Furystoke Giant
Play around with it here.
http://magic.tcgplayer.com/db/deck.asp?deck_id=312443
Someone suggested adding Taurean Mauler as an additional Assassin and I agree, that might be good. The problem is, I'm really in love with Scuttlemutt as a way to target Oversouls and Collussusi. I'm also in love with Rattleblaze Scarecrow for that very reason. Typically it should have persist and as one of the biggest persisters out there that is a good thing. That leaves everything else in the deck and all that contributes to the whole. There's alot of interaction here, but I'm going to cover the basics first.
Firespout: kinda kills this deck, but between turning dead assassins into removal, getting back Redcap and Rattleblaze, and being able to use Torrent of Souls on a variety of worthy targets (Redcap for 4 and swing) the deck can recover. Just don't overcommit to the board. If you have 4 creatures (2 with persist) to their two creatures then you're good. The Liege and Torrent should only be dropped as an alpha.
Mistbind Clique and/or Bitterblossom: suck to play against. That's why Ending and Jav are in the sideboard (there are other reasons, but these reasons are worth noting). The burn helps because Bitterblossom is killing them and they want to win quickly. The extra removal helps with this. Also, anyone skilled at playing against control knows you want to play a bunch of spells on their turn and follow up with a bunch more on your turn. Come out swinging and then hold back a few turns. Force them to deal with your field and then come down hard.
Mirrorweave: just kill the target, even if it is your own creature. They may not expect that and if they do "shrug". In this match-up you may want to add in the removal, but you're keeping the Scuttlemutts. Shutting down the pump off of their Liege may come up, or you may be better off with Jav. I only pretend to win top 8's.
Collossus and Oversoul of Dusk: Jav comes in and Lash Out goes out. Lash is there to improve the quality of your draws, give you a peek at your opponents draw and gauge their skill level. Good players make good decisions off of Clashing. Bad players will give you the win by feeding you too much information (they kept that land on top of their deck? good players can learn alot from that choice - like what the opponent might play the next turn.)
Revilark: Duh, pray you draw the Macabre.
Why Furystoke Giant? Good question. Plumeveil. Not so I can kill it, but because it means I'm usually not attacking for a few turns, just building up, and if I sneak him though then BAM! it was worth it (sadly Plumeveil decks tend to counter alot of spells, but there's always hope).
I've actually built this deck for real and will be testing it this weekend (sans a few cards that I'm still waiting patiently for - dang ebay postal ground). Do I have high hopes? This is an early iteration that will require testing, but I believe has potential.
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Faeries!
I offered up a deck once before (it has since been deleted, the error of my ways learned). This new version is far different than most other Faerie decks in that it's a discard deck.
It also, by default is no longer a faerie deck because of this.
2 Hollowborn Barghest
2 Liliana Vess
4 Nightshade Stinger
4 Oona's Blackguard
4 Oona's Prowler
1 Oona, Queen of the Fae
4 Bitterblossom
2 Corrupt
3 Makeshift Mannequin
4 Nameless Inversion
4 Noggin Whack
4 Thoughtseize
3 Howltooth Hollow
3 Leechridden Swamp
16 Swamp
2 Corrupt
4 Earwig Squad
4 Faerie Macabre
4 Stinkdrinker Bandit
1 Trip Noose
I'll admit, this doesn't quite wow me either, but I really want this to work. Suggestions are welcome and feel free to try it out at the link below.
http://magic.tcgplayer.com/db/deck.asp?Deck_ID=312899
With the addition of Barghest to the mix I feel that the Hollow finally has a target worth hitting, also, the Prowler can set it up so you have an empty hand when necessary for making the Hollow or the Barghest active. No one seems to be talking about this (and you know how I feel about that) so now I'm talking about it. I may not be the guy to break this, but don't be afraid to pick up my slack (everyone else has to).
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And now the last deck of the evening. Combo.
3 Elvish Harbinger
4 Heritage Druid
4 Jagged-Scar Archers
4 Distant Melody
4 Elvish Promenade
4 Hunting Triad
4 Manamorphose
3 Mercy Killing
2 Ponder
3 Rite of Consumption
3 Springleaf Drum
10 Forest
4 Gilt-Leaf Palace
4 Reflecting Pool
4 Vivid Grove
1 Elvish Harbinger
4 Imperious Perfect
3 Lys Alana Scarblade
1 Mercy Killing
2 Ponder
4 Savor the Moment
Yeah, what a pile. However, instead of using Roar of the Crowd as some builds have, I've opted for a very large Jagged-Scar Archer followed by a Rite of Consumption. The reasoning is that, sometimes you can't get enough elves out to finish the other guy off. When that happens having a really big elf is better than nothing and having the option to cause a 20 point life swing while having a field full of elves (not to mention making up for all the damage you're likely to have taken by that point). This is another deck I really want to have work, but again, I may not be the guy to do it.
If you can get a goodly number of elves out, cast Promanade while Heritage is out on the field, follow up with a Distant Melody, and drop a Jagged Scar with a Manamorphose/Springleaf Drum and Rite of Consumption in hand you win!
Maybe I should've stuck with Furystoke Giant and Roar of the Crowd. What do you think?
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BONUS CONTENT!
The article below was really good (but also, kind of elitist - sorry Abe) feel free to skim through it then enjoy the forum responce I posted, re-posted here for your viewing pleasure down below. It focuses on the articles contents, the new Mythic rares, fewer cards in the future booster packs, and the rift between tournament players and casual players.
http://www.starcitygames.com/php/news/article/16014.html
Smaller sets equals less artwork comisioned and fewer cards playtested.
If I was a playtester I'd be worried.
If I was an artist I'd still be starving.
Mythic Rare means that those who open packs to sell singles online got screwed.
Here's looking at you Starcity.
I imagine there will be more "sales" on bulk commons, uncommons and regular rares.
If this policy was in effect when Lorwyn came out then the Planeswalkers and Commands would've been Mythic.
Holy Crap.
It also means we would've lost Merfolk to compensate (since UW overlaps with a couple of other tribes). One could argue we would've lost Treefolk since they weren't represented in Shadowmoor, but this would be wrong since removing Merfolk from Shadowmoor would've given them the numbers they'd be looking for.
Games like YuGiOh, which don't give a crap about limited formats (learn to play, look at the card pools per set and cry) but have chase rares sells extremely well. Games like VS (learn to play, look at the card pools per set and go slack jawed if you go koo koo for limited) are failing and going away.
There is a massive divide between casual and tournament players. Casual players tend to focus on theme decks (usually only a couple per person) while tournament players will play decks that just win, they don't try to do anything cute or fun or interesting, they just win.
Tournament players can be intimidating and/or annoying depending on the age/size of the casual player. This is a direct inversion. Young casual players will ask bigger casual players to beat up the mean ole bullies (tournament players).
Tournament players themselves suffer a great divide. They either win top 8's or dream about winning top 8's. Those that dream are divided again! Into those that act like they win top 8's (they never do) and those that try really hard, but don't have enough time to playtest because of their job/life/girlfriend/cat/job/poverty and so forth.
One last thing on card quantity. Wizards will continue to make bad cards. Not only that, but they will make really bad cards Mythic and I don't mean "limited in application"/"good only in a few decks"/"fun in draft" I mean outright stinkers that people will waste years defending online. That. Bad.
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Thank you all for reading! No, I don't want to write articles for Starcity, I just liked that FREE article. Don't be afraid to talk politics, express an opinion or be wrong. That's just how it is.
Shane.
PS: For my next trick, a persisting BW deck without Eventide cards (a set I may actually try to review when it comes out).
Tags: Magic Gathering Block Constructed Lorwyn Morningtide Shadowmoor
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Magic: the Gathering
