Viewing 1 - 7 out of 7 Blogs.

Let's get one thing straight before we begin. When new sets come out, hype always kills the prices of the chase cards. Just because I recommend you sell a card due to the high price does NOT mean I'm saying the card is bad. All it means is that this chase rare will likely drop in price. That being said, I've decided to change the format up a little bit and comment on cards individually, rather than put them in broad groups of "buy, sell and hold." So now, let's look into how things will pan out when the smoke of hype disappears...



Bitterblossom - This card appears to be good because who doesn't want free tokens? Ya, you take 1 damage per turn, but the damage you'll end up dealing off the tokens should compound a lot more quickly than the damage you take right? (Kind of like a reverse Grove/Kavu Predator combo)? In all honesty, I think the card is fine and should end up being a $3-4 staple rare in the end.

Boldwyr Heavyweights - It's like a Hunted Wumpus... except now people can fetch the creature card they don't have in hand. Free Shriekmaws and Sowers of Temptation anyone? eek! Running the risk of playing this guy and crossing your fingers that your opponent can't kill it is something that will ruin his value eventually. Trade them away early if you can, because you won't be able to later if you don't.

Chameleon Colossus - Green four cc 4/4's come and go like no one's business. This one I actually really like though. With protection from black AND an insane pump ability, it's no wonder this changeling is fetching $8-10 in pre-sells. It will definitely drop from that price, but not by too much. Spike drives prices, but Timmy keeps them afloat; and this is a card for both of them.


Countryside Crusher - To be 100% honest, I don't know what to say about this guy. All the early ranting and raving says he's ridiculous, hence an early $10-12 pre-sell price. In my Ext testing, he's never lived more than a turn or 2. I don't know whether that's good or bad. What I do know is everyone is looking for the next Tarmogoyf and that is a big factor in this card's crazy price. Trade/ trade for this guy with caution. It's a good card, but don't let the hype get the best of you.

Door Of Destinies - If Coat of Arms only helped your creatures, it'd be pretty good, right? That's what this card is trying to do. The thing is, in recent years, Coat of Arms rarely saw tournament play and this card won't either. It won't be bad for Timmy's tribal _____ deck though, so having them handy for trade won't be the worst.

Earwig Squad - Giving Goblins a control element like this could be potentially dangerous. However, Cranial Extraction was always overpriced. Though this card isn't, it probably won't get to be much higher than it's $3-4 price tag online.

Indomitable Ancients - Indomitable Ancients is only good with Doran in play, just like Treefolk Harbinger and many of the other big butt treefolk from the block. However, as we've seen with Worlds, Doran is good all by himself outside the awkward treefolk deck and sure doesn't need the support of a clunky 2/10. Though it has a little more trading potential than other junk rares, it's still a junk rare.


Kinsbaile Borderguard - When looking at this card, it is hard not to draw a comparison to Caller of the Claw. Though it doesn't require you to keep 3 mana open in order to get the effect, it does require you to build your army ahead of time. I really like this card and think it should go up if Kithkin can ever overtake the power of Elves. You should be able to get them for cheap early on (around $1-3 each), so the investment isn't as risky as others.

Leaf-Crowned Elder - LCE has one of the, if not the most, powerful effects of any card in the set. A card like Dark Confidant is a creature that allows you to draw cards; this card goes one step further and lets you play the cards you reaveal for free. LCE is obviously optimized with decks that are built around him, but considering a few of the other playable Treefolk and Shaman cards in Standard (Troll Ascetic, Masked Admirers, Doran, Wolf-Skull Shaman) fitting this 4 drop into the curve shouldn't be difficult. I consider it a good value at $3-5.

Maralen of the Mornsong - Maralen was very hyped when she was initially spoiled. Shutting down blue draw, but giving both players a Grim Tutor effect seems powerful, except that your opponent gets the effect first. Basically, if they think they can hurt you worse than you can hurt them they'll let it live. If not, they'll likely just fetch something to kill it. Either way, it's kind of a lost cause and the price will drop once people realize this.

Mind Shatter - In my opinion, this card is much better than its' blue counterpart. However, it seems that the market has yet to settle on how much this card is worth. I've seen eBay auction final prices range from $2 to $8+, all in the same day. Comparitively, Stupor hits for 2 cards (w. only one random though) at one less casting cost. But, at six mana, this card is strictly better than Haunting Hymn... I guess it fits somewhere in between playability-wise. Price-wise it should land somewhere under $4.  

Mind Spring - This card might be crazy if you had a huge mana combo and could force your opponent to lose the game by drawing cards or something (like Stroke of Genius). However, with X = 3, this card is strictly worse than Tidings and at sorcery speed, I don't really see this being that awesome in mono blue mirrors. Trade them away while you can because the market already sees the lack of value in this card.


Murmuring Bosk - After all that fluff we have a hardcore chase rare. At first I wondered what the big deal was about this card. Though it DOES produce 3 colors, the come into play tapped line is killer. One word makes this card ridiculous though: Forest. This means you can fetch it! I don't think the card should drop too much below the $15-16 it's currently fetching online, but it might be too early to tell. Regardless, my gut tells me this card is ridiculous and will be staple for BGW decks.


Mutavault - This is probably the biggest "sure thing" someone can put money on as far as investment goes in this set. However, once everyone knows they have a "sure thing", they'll all try to get in, hence pushing the price up. Regardless, I really think that this card will still be worth at least $20 even after the hype dies down (about how much they are right now). Get them early if you can. We all know you don't want to have another "I need Tarmogoyfs!!!" episode like you did at last year's Regionals...

Preeminent Captain - The Kithkin have some very flavorful, very cool cards in this block, and Preeminent Captain is one of them. In combination with Militia's Pride, a White Weenie player can build a pretty large army pretty fast, setting up for a pretty huge Kinsbaile Borderguard. I see this card as being a definite staple in any Kithkin or Soldier deck, as being able to play cards for free is just awesome. PC is ranging from $1 to as much as $4 each online right now, but if you can get them on the low end, your small investment should pay off later, even if you decide to use them as trade fodder.

Reveillark - Obviously "combo" is the first word that comes to mind when one sees Reveillark (namely, Project X 2.0). But without Teysa in the format, I don't know how this deck can win. The infinite life combo is still there with both Essence and Soul Warden still legal, but this can scarily lead to a lot of draws. Regardless, this card is and will be sought after and won't drop much below the $4-5 range it's hitting online.

Rhys the Exiled - This card just isn't very playable, especially with all the other things you could do in green w. 3 mana (Troll Ascetic, CoTH, Ohran Viper, etc.). Even in an Elf deck, Imperious Perfect or Elvish Champion is a much better 3 drop. Get rid of these before they get stuck in your junk binder. Anyone who will take one for even $1 is doing you a favor.

Scapeshift - Scapeshift is another one of those cards that is just screaming to be used in a combo/ big mana deck. Don't look to spend too much more than $8-10 for a set if you're going to play them though. They're solid staples, but not playable in Standard yet.

Taurean Mauler - Reverse Quirion Dryad anyone? I really thought that Dryad would make a splash once it hit Standard, but it really didn't. This card might actually do the trick though, especially if you can land one early. The market is expecting big things from this guy, with early prices ranging from $4-6. I'd put a "buy with caution" tag on this card, if anything. If it pans out to be as good as hoped, it shouldn't rise any higher than $8, but if it drops, it'll drop well below $6.

Titan's Revenge - Seems like every block they have to make a Fireball variant and this one is this one's. I guess they're really pushing you to play a Giant deck (as opposed to an aggro or burn deck) if you want to be able to win the Clashes (no Clash of the Titans pun here), but I really don't see that happening. All in all, I still like Molten Disaster better as a finisher and that card isn't worth more than $2. Don't expect Titan's Revenge to pass that until MD rotates out of Standard.

Unstoppable Ash - Crazy Treefolk all crazy with Doran and stuff. I really think they should've allowed the Race/Class flexibility on the Champion cards from Lorwyn as well, but cest la vie. Four cc for a 5/5 trample is strong and the +0/+5 helps all your attackers from dying even without Doran. This card is pretty solid, but I don't know how well it would really fit into a deck. Don't pay more than $7 for a playset if you want to try this guy out.


Vendilion Clique - The good thing about this ability is that it says "target player". Meaning if you don't like your hand, you can just dump the best card for another one. If your hand is fine, you can pop the best card from your opponent's hand. And not only is it a decent attacker, but it has Flash as well (you can pop an opponent's card in after their draw step!). Sets of four are going for around $9-15 and should settle somewhere around $10 or 12.


And as always, we have the top 5 list of Power Commons and Uncommons that you should expect to rise in price (at least for foils) in no particular order, mind you:
1) Wolf-Skull Shaman
2) Ballyrush Banneret, Frogtosser Banneret
3) Shard Volley
4) Obsidian Battle-Axe
5) Oona's Blackguard

 

Finally, good luck to anyone playing Release events this weekend! Note that if you do see these cards in your local shop, expect at least a $1-2 markup. The cards are, however, constructed legal, so GO support your local store if you need some singles. Until next time, keep your eye on the market! 

Couldn't keep me away for too long, I guess! I know I said I'd take a break from writing, but putting the pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) is just a nice personal release of mine. Combining that with my LOVE for yapping about MTG and we have a blog, folks. One thing you should know, before we dive in, is that of all the MTG formats in the world (including Unhinged draft), I LOVE EXTENDED. I just love it. I don't know what it is exactly. The speed of the format, the variety of sets, riding the thin line between Standard's tempo and Vintage's pure speed and brokenness... Something about Extended season makes me feel alive again (when it comes to MTG).

Last Extended season, I played a homebrew UBW Fish concoction (decked out with Bobs, Meddling Mages, Soltari Priests and SoFI's) to some decent success. Towards the middle of the season I noted that though I won plenty of games, much of it was due to my knowledge of my deck versus my opponent's knowledge of theirs (very important, btw). Despite winning, I felt it was a real grind every round and towards the tail-end of every tournament I was more and more tired. This year, I decided to test and tune a much faster deck so if I win, I win fast (but if I lose, I can sit down and chill for a while as well).

Enter Domain Zoo.

Domain Zoo (as inspired by Raphael Levy at GP: Dallas/ Singapore from last season) is probably the premier aggro deck in the format. Though taking anywhere from 4-6 pain early on just from the manabase, Zoo very easily recoups that with swings and will finish you off with 7-10 points of burn by turn 5 or 6 if you don't do anythng to slow them down. Levy played a very explosive version that could go turn 2 Boros Swiftblade, turn 3 swing + Gaea's Might = take 12 (just from the Swiftblade). Throw an Armadillo Cloak on 'em and say gnite...

As I began to test the deck online over the summer (during TSP Block breaks), I started out with a bit of a "budget" version of the deck (I mean, how "budget" can you really get, running 10 fetches, 9 duals, 4 Tarmogoyfs and a bunch of rares in Ext?). Though I got my Tarmogoyfs early, I didn't have any extra tix for the Grim Lavamancers; so I just replaced him with my most favoritest card ever - Dark Confidant.

My logic was simple. Nothing in the deck costs more than 3 (4 Molten Rain/ Vindicate in the deck) so you basically start to trade the 1 or 2 damage you take every turn from him for a 2-5 damage burn spell. Even more importantly, Bob keeps a steady flow of gas (creatures along with burn) so that the deck can consistently deal enough damage to finish off with Tribal Flames or Gaea's Might. He basically did what Grim Lavamancer did, except differently. Lavamancer takes the spells you've already played and turns them into late game gas. Bob just draws the gas for you, plus he can swing for 2.

One October morning, I took my very rough Domain Zoo deck (with Swiftblade and Bob) to an Extended PE and, whaddya know, I top 8!! Going 4-1 overall with an ID into the Top 8 was a small accomplishment that I'm still pretty proud of considering how techy Bob was at the time (and considering it was my first constructed PE ever). Though I lost in the quarterfinals to a RG beats deck, I felt I was heading in the right direction by playing Domain Zoo. Plus I brought my online constructed rating back into the black for the first time in over a year. (Block and Standard 8-mans have not been kind to me...)


...weeks pass.


I get in a few Ext games on MTGO when I get frustrated with drafting or testing for Standard, but I have yet to start seriously testing the format. It's nice to let out your frustrations with a good MTG beatdown once in a while (hear that, control players? Take a note from Richard Feldman: beating down is fun).

However, once PT: Valencia wraps up, I get the bug... My friend Kevan and I began Ext testing very early last season to some decent success for both of us. So we bust out the old Apprentice and start it up again. With the new cards from Lorwyn on MTGO now, I have 2 very solid avenues of tuning my Zoo deck (3 if you count real life testing... which we haven't started yet). I take a note from Koike's and Herberholz's Valencia lists and decide to try a more "consistent" version of the deck, adding Molten Rain/ Vindicate and some solid burn while cutting the gimmicky Swiftblade/ Gaea's Might combo. One word: Wow. Two Words: It works.

Through our testing I discover one thing about Zoo: maindeck Threads of Disloyalty hurts this deck like a muther.

This wouldn't be a huge problem except for the fact that Cloud Strife (read: Remi Fortier) ran THREE of them in the maindeck of his PT winning CounterTop Goyf. So now, according to the laws of netdecking, the "number one" deck in the format is one of my toughest matchups. To boot, CounterTop Tog served me my only 2 losses at GP: Dallas last season, so I already have a personal vendetta against this archetype. (How's that for foreshadowing???)

I take the new Zoo deck and begin a little winning streak on Ext 8-mans. I start out with my newly tuned, more consistent than ever Zoo deck (now replacing the Lavamancer with 3 MD Gaddock Teeg main for Modo budget purposes) and parlay 8 tix into 2 Grim Lavamancers. Throw another one in their from my own pocket change and we have a deck! If it weren't for all the dang Lorwyn release events I would've taken the deck to a PE right then and there. But I'm a patient guy, so I wait it out, testing and tuning with Kevan more.

Early in the week, I find out that there's a Extended PE event on Wednesday. Sweet! Time to get that 2nd Top 8...

I rush home from work and scramble selling crap rares to get enough tix together to enter the PE. Here's the build I took:

It's Zoo Biatch:
4 Dark Confidant
1 Gaddock Teeg
3 Grim Lavamancer
3 Isamaru, Hound of Konda
4 Kird Ape
3 Mogg Fanatic
4 Tarmogoyf

4 Lightning Helix
3 Seal of Fire
2 Tarfire
4 Tribal Flames
2 Umezawa's Jitte
3 Vindicate

4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Windswept Heath
4 Wooded Foothills
1 Blood Crypt
1 Godless Shrine
1 Mountain
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Steam Vents
1 Stomping Ground
1 Temple Garden

Sideboard:
3 Slaughter Pact (for aggro)
3 Kataki, War's Wage (for pretty much any deck that runs artifacts)
3 Molten Rain (for control/ combo)
2 Engineered Plague (for Goblins and maybe a random elf deck)
4 Leyline of the Void (for Dredge, but also Aggro Loam, any Tog deck, etc.)


Note: I would run 4 Vindicate, 3 Seal of Fire and 1 Tarfire/Firebolt, but do you know how expensive Vindicate is on Modo? Do you know do you know do you know? Ya...

The PE almost doesn't go off, but after half an hour of advertising in the other rooms (read: spamming "ONLY __ MORE FOR EXT 2X PE!!"), we finally get started!


Round 1 - CounterTop Goyf

Of course I get paired with the most unfortunate of pairings right off the bat. The good thing about Zoo is that it punishes mediocre hands and that is exactly what my opponent has. Game one isn't much of a contest as the tempo is too much.

In: 3 Molten Rain, 3 Kataki War's Wage
Out: 2 Tarfire, 1 Seal of Fire, 3 Mogg Fanatic

He has Goyfs too, so I figure boarding out the Tarfire wouldn't be so bad. The tempo gained from an LD suite against a deck like this is decent enough to add in the double R, 3cc spell. I didn't really need them though as game 2 is a wash. After my opponent goes land, Mox (imprinting Counterspell) into Counterbalance, he fails to draw a third mana source for the rest of the game. All my spells slip under/ over his revealed Thirst for Knowledge and lands, respectively.

The match finishes fairly quickly (around 10 minutes), but I am alarmed to discover that I wasn't even the first one done! I try to check what decks the other speedy guys played, but replays were down at the time. The sad thing about finishing so early was I had to read all my opponent's gripes about how he played such a "skill intensive" deck and how "his luck is the worst" and all that mambo jambo... Heard it all before, son. I even apologized for his bad draw, but he still went on in the chat room about the bad beats. C'mon man! Didn't you read Zaeim's article? Sheesh...


Round 2 - CounterTop Goyf

I feel like Denzel Washington in that movie where he travels back in time and sees himself (and that girl who looks a lot like Alicia Keys). This time around, the tempo goes to my opponent as he draws 3 (one, two, three) Threads of Disloyalty in game one. He follows this, of course, with 2 (one, two) Threads in game two. I quickly reference Fortier's list on the Wizards website and verify that he ran only THREE Threads in his deck and not the SEVEN that my opponent appeared to be running. The matches aren't even close and I quickly go from "Woot! I just beat CounterTop Goyf!" to "Dammit, I just lost to CounterTop Goyf" all in less than an hour. And we're barely getting started.......


Round 3 - CounterTop Goyf

I quickly switch from Denzel to Bill Murray in that movie where everything keeps happening again. I start off the round joking with my opponent, "Please tell me you're not playing CounterTop Goyf..."

He replies with a

...

I know I'm in for a long one.

Game one goes off without a hitch. The 4 Colored Army beats through before the flavor of the month even gets a chance to set up.

I board In and Out similarly to my first round, and the shuffler sets us up for game 2. Well... He sets my opponent up, at least. I start off with a one drop and a two drop. After a few swings back and forth, my opponent trades with a blocker, then steals my Goyf with Threads. I now drop Kataki, set on wrecking his board of Island, Seat of Synod, Chrome Mox, Sensei's Top, Umezawa's Jitte and my Goyf. However, he manages to escape this dire situation, drops a land, equips his Jitte to my Goyf and beats me down with it! I take the hit, but Kataki gets pinged and we're back where we started. However, with Vindicate and plenty of burn spells in hand, it's just a matter of time before I draw my third land, get my Goyf back, swing in and finish this match...

I said, it's just a matter of time...

Hello? Land? Where are you? Now it's my turn to .. We go to game 3.

To try and help with the "stolen Goyf" situation, I decide to go

In: 2 Slaughter Pact
Out: 2 Seal of Fire

I start off strong, once again. The strong start leads up to my opponent playing Venser on my Jitte and blocking an Isamru. I don't mind the trade because I respond with another Isamaru and a Gaddock Teeg for Engineered Explosives protection. My opponent, now with 3 cards in hand casts a Trinket Mage and plays the Divining Top he fetched. Now comes the pivotal decision... I have enough burn in hand to take the match after 1.5 swings. I really don't want my opponent to find a Threads and regain control. Plus, he's already played a Venser this game so I feel it's pretty safe to cast...

Slaughter Pact.

I add some burn in and pass the turn. During his main phase, my opponent taps island... island... Breeding Pool... Forest -and I know what's coming before the little picture even comes on the screen. The 2/2 Legend comes into play bouncing my Godless Shrine (and lone black source) back to my hand. During my upkeep I try to click it as if to hope it'll magically drop onto the screen and prevent my untimely demise. Unfortunately, this is Magic, not magic... Greed got the best of me this game and it stung like a B.


Round 4 - RGB Aggro Control

At this point, if I see another Breeding Pool into Sensei's Divining Top on turn 1, I would have thrown my laptop into the street -straight up Evan Erwin style... Luckily for me and my Dell, my opponent leads off with Forsest, Birds of Paradise. I go on my normal curve out and it takes a while for me to actually figure out what he's playing. I see a mid-game Troll Ascetic and a late game Sword of Fire and Ice, but that combo comes way too late as I finish my opponent off with some hefty burn.

I don't board anything in this matchup as I expect to take my opponent down with speed. Game 2 comes down a lot tougher than game 1. While I go on my normal weenie curve, my opponent sets up a turn 2 Troll Ascetic and a turn 3 Phantom Centaur. The board gets stalled as I hold off the crazy Troll with random chumps. It all goes downhill when my opponent combines the SoFI with a SoLS (Sword of Light and Shadow... Ya. the other sword) So now his guy's really big, I can't kill him, and I can't block him with anything except for Tarmogoyf. Bad times...

For game 3 I don't board anything in once again, simply hoping the heart of the cards will be on my side. This win comes a little tougher than game 1, but the burn in hand saves me before his SoLS equipped BoP can do too much damage.


Round 5 - Goblins

I've played against this deck a lot in the tourney practice room, but never in an 8-man or PE. I knew that it was a tough matchup overall, so I paid extra attention not to misclick or misread or misplay in general. Game 1 went down to both players in the red zone, but the old red circus, lead by 2 Goblin Ringleaders, overpowered my 4 color army in the end.

In: 3 Slaughter Pact, 2 Engineered Plague
Out: 3 Seal of Fire, 2 Gaddock Teeg

Plague is icy hot nuts in this matchup, obv. Pact lets me burn and kill creatures, then swing through the proceeding turn. I mulled to 6 and kept a hand with a creature, a burn spell, the Plague and some lands. After my opponent accelerates into a quick Warchief (which is burned) and I drop the Plague on turn 3, he quickly concedes.

Game 3. One game to rule them all... This is probably the closest game I've had all tournament. Exchanging burn spells for Goblins and cycling Gempalm Incinerators for my dudes, we go into late game topdeck mode. With no cards in hand, I topdeck a Kird Ape and a Mogg Fanatic consecutively. My opponent has to hardcast his 3rd Gempalm to chump the Ape, but finishes the game with 4 cards in hand.

*ding* (I get a PM from him)
Him: You got me...
Me: Wow, that one was close. What do you have in hand??
Him: 3 Naturalize and a Chrome Mox
Me:
Him: I have the best breakers though, and 2 people have already won who have better breakers than you.
-I check this-
Me: No, only one person has 9 points right now and I have better breakers than him. I also have better breakers than the 2 people still playing.
Him: Oh... You're right.
Me: If I knew I was 100% out of it, I might give it to you, but I think I still have a shot. Sorry man, ggs.
Him: ggs

He concedes the match and now I play the waiting game...

Suddenly, the main room chat announces the tournament is done and congratulations to the Top 8 players. I'm expecting the "Duel" screen to pop... But it doesn't. I check the standings and see that the other 9 pointer had better breakers than me in the end. The Goblin player killed my breakers! gahhhh!

0.0188...

If my Opponent's match win percentage had been 0.0188 better, I would've been in the Top 8! How's that for frustrating? Coincidentally, the 2 CounterTop Tog players that beat me had Top 8'ed as well, so I don't know how well I would have done. And strangely, there is no record of the Wednesday EXT 2x Tournament in the MTGO PE Room, so I can't go back and check what the Top 8 decks were for you guys. (I promise to check immediately after the tournament next time!) Those are the breaks, I guess (pun intended). To be honest, I'm not even mad at my performance. This is just a stepping stone to better tournaments in the future, I hope.

Overall, I think that this is a very strong deck with strong potential. It brings the most quick, efficient threats in Extended; backs it up with a plethora of burn and a catch all answer in Vindicate; has card draw to keep your hand full of gas and brings in Lightning Helix to help keep your painful manabase afloat against other aggro decks! Some changes that I am currently testing are

- MD: Goblin Legionnaire (he serves the same purpose as Mogg Fanatic, but isn't as weak in the mid-game)
- MD: tuning of the burn spells (Firebolt vs. Seal of Fire vs. Tarfire -one HAS TO be better than the others. Which one is it?)
- SB: Ray of Revelation (A reusable option to take down Threads and Counterbalance, but also viable against Solitary Confinement, Seismic Assault, Collective Restraint and Form of the Dragon. This slot could possibly be Ronom Unicorn but I don't like the fact that it can be killed before he is useful. Testing will reveal the answers...)


Thanks for reading and I hope you all get a chance to test out some Extended soon!

Peace.


Jeremy Fuentes
60 Card Monkey on MTGO

This is a Public Service Announcement brought to you by Jeremy Fuentes and the good folks at Market Watch.


To anyone looking for a deal, check the States Top 8's. Like, ASAP...


Prices are already beginning to swing, but if you're looking to unload that overhyped card at a strong price or looking to pick up the next Tarmogoyf before it reaches those ridunkulously high prices, now is the time to act.


If you already know your State's Top 8, you have the inside info. Don't be the last one to jump on the wagon. Put in those few extra minutes to check the standings all around and save yourself a few Jacksons and Hamiltons...


Have an excellent day. Peace...

If you’ve reached this blog through the article link, welcome! If you’re reading this from the blog page on Tcgplayer, you can find article I will be referencing here: [link]

The sideboard is a crucial part of any Magic deck. In any tournament, more than 50% of your matches are going to be played post-board (often more than 60%!).

Because the sideboard is so important, I wanted to give it its’ own spotlight and not just throw it on to the end of the article. Again, we will run through the “Question analysis” and I will guide you through how I built the sideboard for the “DoranAndFriends” deck. So let’s get to it!


WHAT
By now you should have already surveyed the metagame and have some idea of what decks you predict will be at your tournament. After you’ve built, tuned and tested your deck, ask yourself, “What are my strong matchups? What are my weak matchups? Of the bad matchups, what percent of thefield is going to be playing those decks?”

Therapy time: Take a deep breath and repeat after me. It’s ok to admit your weaknesses. It’s ok to admit your weaknesses. It’s ok to admit your weaknesses. Every deck has them. Ideally, you’d like to think your pet deck that you’ve been working on since you saw the Lorwyn spoilers has no weaknesses and will pwn the meta. I mean hey… you built it step by step just like the article said and it’s a solid deck, right? However, in order for you to take your deck to the top, you have to shine a serious light on it and find its’ holes. Once you find its’ holes, you can use your sideboard to try to make up for the shortcomings and win those game twos and threes.

The BGW Midrange deck I built is an overall fine deck. Like many midrange decks it is solid against “curve out” aggro and medium control decks. But decks in the middle are generally susceptible to being overwhelmed by fast aggro swarms and overpowered by heavy control archetypes. The good news is that given your colors, you can transform to take on almost any type of deck.


HOW
Once you realize what your weak matchups are, formulate a plan on how you can turn them around. Think about what their weaknesses are and try to list out your options to capitalize on them. Use the question “how” to generalize your strategy and then list out your options just like you did when you first built the deck.

Personally, I’m a big fan of the “transformational” sideboard. I like to show my opponent one thing in game one, then bring in something they totally wouldn’t expect in the post-board games. Sometimes your strategy doesn’t need to be that intense and can be difficult if you’re a dedicated fast aggro or heavy blue control deck. However, being in the mid-range gives you a wide variety of strategic options to change the game up on your opponent.

I’ve already stated that from previous testing I found the BGW deck to be weak when facing the extremes of the aggro and control spectrum. Thankfully there is a plethora of weapons available to combat those decks and swing those match percentages into our favor. Here’s the raw list of cards I came up with while brainstorming for this deck:

Jotun Grunt
Gaddock Teeg
Saffi Eriksdotter
Mystic Enforcer
Damnation/Wrath of God
Deathmark
Oblivion Ring
Naturalize/ Seal of Primordium/ Krosan Grip
Prowess of the Fair
Thoughtseize


WHY
Get your cleaver ready (or Sword of Fire and Ice, if you prefer) because it’s time to make some big cuts. For this portion of the building process, take your sideboard list and analyze each card asking, “Why should this card be in my sideboard? Why should I run this over the other options?”

Sometimes you will need answers to very specific threats (ie. Kataki vs. Affinity in Extended). But in a wide open metagame like States, I feel it is better to have answers to general problems instead of individual cards (ie. The ultimate “catch all answer” Vindicate). The cards you choose for your sideboard will largely depend on how well you’ve tested your deck and how maturely developed the metagame is.

Off the bat, I know that I will need a plan for heavy control and Teachings decks. In testing, I have not lost a game against control where a Gaddock Teeg successfully resolved, so he’s a shoo-in. Also, because getting Teeg to land is just as important as drawing him, Thoughtseize is automatically in as well. Lastly, protecting Teeg once he’s on the board is very important against control. I’d like to fit in some number of Saffi’s in here, but let’s see if we have room.

Next comes the aggro problem. Because the dedicated aggro decks come out significantly faster than us, we need a plan to regain board advantage and stabilize with our larger threats and spot removal. Damnation is perfect for this. You might question why one would run a board sweeper in a “creature deck,” but the beauty of the midrange is that this deck can morph into a more of a controlling role when it needs to.

With those bases covered, we now have the utility and support spells. If there was a specific artifact or enchantment I knew hosed this deck, I would probably pick Krosan Grip for the board. However, to be on the safe side, I’ll stick with Oblivion Ring as my “catch all” answer.

The rest of the cards are good, but this board proved to work out better for the when it was tested. Jotun Grunt is a nice threat and post-Wrath bomb, but was too conditional to drop early/mid-game. Mystic Enforcer was another solid card, but it just didn’t do enough without Threshold. Deathmark is a very underrated card that I might have included if I suspected everyone would be running Elves and Kithkin. Prowess of the Fair would probably be a solid sideboard card in a dedicated Elf aggro deck, but not here.


WHEN
After you’ve made the major cuts, it’s time to trim the fat. In your post-board plan, when do you need to draw your sideboard threat in order for it to be effective? Is it necessary for you to draw and play it in order to win? These are the questions you need to think about when trimming the numbers.

The sideboard has much more limited space than the maindeck, so take that into careful consideration when tuning it. You don’t want to fill everything out evenly with threes when certain cards have more importance than others. Finding the best tuned sideboard comes only from thorough testing and re-testing your matchups.

With a list of:

Gaddock Teeg
Saffi Eriksdotter
Thoughtseize
Damnation/Wrath of God
Oblivion Ring

…the “three x five” approach might seem like the easy way out. But to better increase my chances of winning against the problem matchups, I can break down this list with the “when” analysis to show how I came up with more correct numbers.

As I predict control to be the biggest problem at States, I want to have full access to Gaddock Teeg and a backup in case the first one dies suddenly (note: Sudden Shock and Sudden Death evade the Saffi protection). Also, Thoughtseize is best when drawn early and never usually dead when drawn anytime against a control deck. Simply put, it protects your threats like a proactive counterspell. I have no problem devoting eight slots to ensure that we draw these power cards against control.

Damnation is a card that’s nice to have in a pinch. The thing is, in an aggro matchup you don’t want to have this card when you’re ahead and you probably don’t want to draw doubles. That being said, three is the perfect number for this. It leaves you room to draw it mid-late game, but doesn't leave a large chance of drawing more than two.

That leaves us only four slots for two cards. That’s ok. Saffi is Legendary and isn’t that great in multiples. If they’re stressing that much to kill Teeg, you’re probably already ahead and in good position to win anyway. Also, I have issue with only running two Oblivion Rings. It’s just kind of there to make you feel safe in a tight situation. It stops random Teferi’s Moats, pro-black creatures, or any other weird things the random States meta will throw at you.


REVIEW
Due to the fact that you will play more post-board games in a tournament than pre-board, testing with the sideboard is the most crucial part of tuning your deck. This is the only way you can fine tune the numbers and cards for your list.

Test as thoroughly as possible and take good notes. Along with life totals, mulligans and mana notes, note what you brought in and what you took out. Note if you drew your sideboard cards or not. After this is done, try to review your notes and see if the changes you made had any significance in the matchups.

Go over the questions and see if the cards you chose worked out how you’d hoped. If so, great! If not, go back to the drawing board (your raw list) and try other options. Though you shouldn’t quit on a deck until you’ve exhausted all your options, realize again that sometimes there aren’t enough cards to make some decks work.

Here's the final list one more time for reference:

MAINDECK

3 Boreal Druid
4 Doran, the Siege Tower
4 Garruk Wildspeaker
4 Llanowar Elves
2 Shriekmaw
4 Tarmogoyf
2 Wren's Run Packmaster
4 Wren's Run Vanquisher

3 Crib Swap
4 Eyeblight's Ending
2 Loxodon Warhammer
2 Terror

3 Brushland
3 Caves of Koilos
4 Gilt-Leaf Palace
4 Horizon Canopy
4 Llanowar Wastes
2 Pendelhaven
2 Treetop Village

SIDEBOARD

3 Damnation
4 Gaddock Teeg
2 Oblivion Ring
2 Saffi Eriksdotter
4 Thoughtseize

 

The boarding plan for Aggro would be something like:

IN: 3 Damnation.

OUT: 2 Wren's Run Packmaster, 1 Garruk Wildspeaker

(also possibly IN: 2 Oblivion Ring, OUT: 2 Terror -if they have some amount of pro-black creatures)

 

For Teachings/control I would automatically go:

IN: 4 Gaddock Teeg, 4 Thoughtseize, 2 Saffi Eriksdotter.

OUT: 2 Terror, 2 Shriekmaw, 2 Loxodon Warhammer, 2 Eyeblight's Ending, 2 Wren's Run Vanquisher

 

Note that these are just rough guidelines to give you an idea of what I would do. Each matchup is different and each player's deck would be different so being able to adapt to what you actually see in the tournament will be key to winning.

 

I don’t know how I can stress it any more than to say careful planning and thorough testing are crucial building blocks for successful deck building. Thanks for reading and have fun building the next great sideboard! Peace.

What's good? I mean that as a greeting, rather than a serious question, but that's what a lot of you may be feeling right now... You went to the Lorwyn pre-release and got a bunch of cards. Now how do you decide what goes in your good binder, what goes in the junk binder and what must go on eBay immmeediately to take advantage of that crazy high price?

 

Well I've been doing a little research and I have some of the inside scoop for ya... So here's the “ticker” for Lorwyn!

 

 

SELL (aka hype kills):

Thoughtseize - Almost $20 for a Duress? I know it's good, but it's not that good. Let's look at similar black "power spells" from MTG history. Both Cranial Extraction and Extirpate both started out at crazy high prices. Once the dust settled however, the cards reached equilibrium at around $10-12... I think Thoughtseize will drop in similar fashion, maybe settling closer to $14.

 

Gaddock Teeg - I think this card is amazing. It is exactly the type of card that aggro needs to shift the balance of power and is easily my favorite card from the set. However, it feels more like a $9-12 card than the $14-16 card it is pretending to be right now online. I love this guy and he'll fit in any and every aggro deck that can cast him, but wait for the hype to settle before you pick this up.

 

Cryptic Command - I will admit that this card has a lot of potential. However, I still stick to my opinion that it is really overhyped. $12-15 seems too high for what the card does and should settle around $9 or $10. If you're not gonna use it for States/Champs, trade or sell them if you can get the high price.
Eyes of the Wisent - This card looks good. It looks really good. But to me, it looks like a really good Defense Grid that is restricting to you playing Green and your opponent playing Blue. Trade em away if you can. They’re going for $8-10 but won’t be worth more than $5 or 6 once the hype dies.

 

 

PUSH (aka put em on ice..)

 

The Planeswalkers - Before this weekend, I was expecting to
write this mini-review with the Planeswalkers in the "Sell pile".
However, with Garruk at the high end (close to $10), Ajani and Lilliana
at the bottom (near $5), and Jace and Chandra wandering around the
middle, the new card type's demand is right where it should be. The
reason I don't think they'll drop too much to new set hype is because
of "the Timmy factor." When Ravnica released, Doubling Season and
Glimpse the Unthinkable were obvious crazy Timmy cards. The thing that
astonished me was the fact that they held their prices all the way
through until their rotation. I feel the same thing will happen with
the Planeswalkers, as some Timmy will try to build some deck running
the big win effect. That being said, don't expect any of them to drop
below $4 or $5.

 

The New Duals - The new duals seem extremely good in the tribal decks that they fit in, but not very good outside those decks. That being said, they're currently hovering above $5 but under $10 where I think they should be (slightly above the Painlands). I don't see these being any less than $5 so trade accordingly.

 

Thoughweft Trio – This card is one of the better “champion” cards and is sure to be at least a 3-of in any Kithkin deck. However, you have to remember that he comes stock in the Kithkin Militia deck. This artificial injected supply should keep the price down unless it turns out to be absolutely, ridiculously bah-roken (ie Jitte status), which is highly unlikely. Don’t expect this card to be making too many big moves, regardless of the price. Same goes for other rares in the precon decks.

 

 

WATCH (aka put em on your eBay "Watch List")

 

Doran, the Siege Tower - Three casting cost for a 5/5 is really good. Three casting cost for a 5/5 that makes your walls and big butt treefolk into HUGE offensive threats is really, really, reeeaaalllyyy good. Trying to hit three different colored mana on turn three or four to make this guy effective is the challenge. The price is pretty high right now (ranging $7-10). Whether or not Doran can sustain that price will depend highly on whether or not people can cast him (Treefolk dual land, donde estas?)

 

Sower of Temptation – It’s like Control Magic on a stick. You’re right. As if blue control needed more help? The thing is, it kinda doesn’t. Sower of Temptation will be fighting for spots in the blue control deck. The upside? This card is pretty cheap right now and if it pans out to be a staple could double up to be $4-6.

 

Masked Admirers – This is another rare that seems like it should be going for more, but isn’t. Masked Admirers seems like an overall very solid card. It replaces itself (draw is a rare find in green) and when it dies, has the possibility to come back. Throw in some Wren’s Run Packmasters for even more shenanigans! Elves have traditionally been a low casting cost aggro deck rather than a mid range aggro curve deck. If the elves move to the midrange, look for this card to move up above its current $2-3 value.

 

BUY (aka cop these early and you won’t regret it)

 

Foil Power Commons/Uncommons – Think back to when Ravnica first came out. We all knew Remand was a “power uncommon.” Do you remember ever seeing a foil one for about $4 or 6? Seemed expensive right? Did you know that foil Remands peaked at $12? Foil commons and uncommons and the equivalent of “junk bonds” in investing (also know as “high yield” bonds.) They require very little money to invest in, but if they hit, you can see your money double or triple very easily. I’m not saying sell your Black Lotus (the investing equivalent of Google) to invest in these, but keep an eye on trade binders and random foil piles at small shops and you might uncover a gem. Here’s my list of cards with “high yield” potential:

- Crib Swap – The most important thing to note about this card is that it is a shapeshifter, meaning you can use it as a tribal card for any deck.

- Goldmeadow Stalwart – Kithkinmaru, dubbed by Risky, should be a tournament staple as long as it’s in standard.

 

 

- Oblivion Ring – The new Vindicate isn’t as good, but it’s still solid, especially at common. Should be a staple in white decks of all speeds.

- Wizened Cenn – The Kithkin’s Glorious Anthem on a bear. Not great, but pretty good.

- Faerie Trickery – A solid counterspell considering not many people are expected to play Faerie decks.

 

 

- Familiar’s Ruse – This card, with Ponder, are the 2 I believe have the most “Remand” value potential. The tempo loss is minimal when you’re bouncing Venser or Mystic Snake back.

- Ponder – It’s not Brainstorm, but it will be interesting to see how this card will compete with similar cards in Gro decks.

- Nameless Inversion – If you honestly haven’t heard yet, this is the card that’s supposed to make Haakon ridunkulous. At the very least, it’s a “changeling” Last Gasp or an odd pump spell in a pinch.

- Prowess of the Fair – Post Wrath/Damnation recovery for elves. Absurd in multiples. 1/1’s are still 1/1’s though. Solid card, but not amazing.

- Boggart Shenanigans – Forget the puns, this enchantment has the possibility for some real shenanigans. If only the rest of the goblin deck was playable…

- Flamekin Bladewhirl – Jackal Pup with no drawback is almost as good as Isamaru, except that people expect Elementals to be better than Kithkin.

- Imperious Perfect – It’s like an Elvish Champion that doesn’t pump your opponent’s elves. And it makes tokens? Staple staple staple.

- Wren’s Run Vanquisher – The new Watchwolf has “deathtouch” now too? –W, make you reveal an elf. Still seems good.

 

 

The “Greater” Elementals – Guile, Dread, Hostility, Vigor and Purity are all very solid finishers. For some reason (I guess because they’re not dragons), they’re not generating as much hype as the Kamigawa finishers. I like these because they have great abilities while they’re IN play. And when they die, they can come back! AND they’re not legendary (though not that great in multiples). Don’t go out of your way to pick up sets of them on eBay unless you’re going to use them, but at $2-4 each, try to get them as throw-ins in your trades.

Thorn of Amethyst – This card will be especially valuable in foil to all those vintage players running Stax and possibly Fish. I think this card has a lot of potential as a sideboard card for aggro decks to slow to control and combo decks and is a steal at $2-3.

 

 

Looks like we’ve put together a solid list of cards to keep track of (especially for just a blog). I hope it wasn’t too overwhelming... Until next time, take it one trade at a time and keep your eye on the market!

–Peace

"GW Decks have always been and will always be horrible" -Kyle Sanchez... 

 

I must say, this card will put GW decks on the map. I know a lot of people have been liking this card. Maybe due to the hype? Maybe because they genuinely see what I see....

Let's breakdown the facts, first for the upcoming Standard. The dominant aggro deck of the last block was? GW (along with GWr variants). What did it get beat by? Primarily Damnation/WoG/Void/Molten Disaster (mass removal) and Tendrils of Corruption (spot removal + HUGE tempo swing in the form of lifegain). Ok, now let's read Gaddock Teeg...

"Target opponent cannot sweep your board. Target opponent cannot Tendrils your dudes. Target control player must deal with this guy before he proceeds with anything. Target Reanimator player must deal with this guy before he proceeds with anything. Target combo player must deal with this guy before he proceeds with anything."

Maybe that'll be the errata version.  But you get my point? But, one thing Sanchez did mention (which was a very good point) was that this guy paired with Saffi is going to make for tough times for the control player (save Split Second effects). But the thing that caught my eye the most is what Teeg's text reads from the Extended lens...

"Target Teps player can't combo off. Target control player can't WoG/Damnation OR play Engineered Explosives. Target Tron player can't play Decree of Justice (though they CAN still cycle it). Target jerk can't play Chalice of the Void. Target William Spaniel cannot reanimate Cephalid Sage (though the Ichorid/zombie strategy will probably kill us anyway)."

... Wow?  Wow... Wowowee! This guy is pretty much background singing for Mr. West "Control player did you say something? Nah uh, you can't tell me NUTHIN"

 

On another note, I don't know if today is official "Let's Disagree with Mike Flores Day" but I almost completely disagree with his analysis for the newest Lorwyn preview card:

http://wizards.com/default.asp?x=mtgcom/daily/mf163

(article from "the Mothership" for reference)

 

Ok. This guy goes bananas over how great he thinks this card is. Like this ish is bananas, B-A-N-A-N-A-S... I beg to differ. In recent memory, when has a 4cc counterspell ever ever EVER been good? Once. Once, when you could untap your lands after it resolved (Rewind, you will be missed). Let's run down the list of other 4cc counterspells in recent memory: Discombobulate, Dismal Failure, Frazzle, Induce Paranoia, Minamo's Meddling, Quash, Spellshift. (Note: I didn't include Mystic Snake and Venser.) Ok, so how many of those have been good? Dismal Failure could've been a Teachings target somewhere in a block deck, sure. Frazzle might've been played in Ravnica block (no one really remembers). Quash was decent in it's time, but still very situational. The point I'm getting at is that 4cc counterspells have to do something RIDICULOUS in order to be played (like, pay for themselves, ie. Rewind) The reason is that blue players like to keep mana open so they can Counterspell with Counterspell backup, eot Teferi, eot play big draw spell... 4cc counterspells tie up mana early in the game and sometimes let other stuff slip through like a bait and switch. I realize this card can do other stuff too... The other effects are all good. Picking 2 of them is even better. But to put this card at RARE constitutes you having to think of it's constructed potential, of which I believe is lacking... 

 

But just because Flores said it's good, it'll likely fetch high prices at the Prerelease... Don't always believe what you read. Sell 'em while you can boys (and girls). Though we've only seen a little bit so far, Lorwyn really looks like it's gonna be a fun set. I'm hoping the rest of that cycle will be a little more playable though... Until next time, always keep your eye on the market!

The months of summer are officially coming down to a close... Luckily we've reached a cool spot in the weather here in the Bay, but other places in the US are peaking in heat nearing "Indian Summer". This is a fairly eventful time for most people... Kids are going back to school. Baseball pennant races are winding down. Football season is starting (go Niners!!). Lots of stuff is going on everywhere... everywhere except for the world of MTG...

 

These are the dog days of Magic. After last weekend, Time Spiral Block season was officially over (thank the gods... I hate Block season). The summer set has already dropped. We sit around waiting for Lorwyn with... nothing... to... do... Some players are so bored that they begin to get delusional with the heat. So delusional that they write crazy articles about the non-existent "Post-Lorwyn Standard" and "Unbeatable.dec"s (someone get that Flower some WATER!). Thankfully, I've come up with a list of things every player can do while waiting for the new set and help to survive the dog days.

 

1) Organize your collection - Doesn't sound like too much fun, right? But I truly recommend that everyone organize and consolidate what they have before a new set comes out for several reasons. With States coming right after the new set releases, you need to know what TSP and Core Set cards you already have. After figuring out what you already have, you can sell the extras! Pre-releases are great times to do this. Tons of traders and kids and dealers and people looking for cards all in one room? Priceless. Also, this may be your last chance to ditch those Ravnica Block rares that are soon to drop in price and be forgotten forever...

 

2) Draft Xth - Go to your local shop and play with some Xth! Ya, I know they're ALL reprints, but how many of you have all the staples you need to go into the new Standard? Many of us (myself included) have relied so heavily upon the Rav duals that we've sold off many of our good ol' painlands. Also, a lot of us sold off our Pithing Needles cuz there were no more Jittes to stop... (gonna need 'em to stop those Planeswalkers now though, buddy). Not only will these cards rise in price again, but the Xth painlands are ALL BLACK BORDERED! Note I said DRAFT Xth. Along with filling out those holes in your list in staples, you can use this time to brush up on some of your limited skills. It's not the same as necessarily drafting 3x "Expert" set, but getting back to the fundamentals never hurt anyone...

 

3) Start Playing MODO - One thing I've been telling all my friends who want to get better: "Play online." Sure it seems more expensive, but there are lots of tricks you can use to help reduce your costs (many of which I'll be talking about in an article). But you want to play online, but don't want to break the bank on singles? Draft! Brush up on your limited AND build your collection at the same time! Xth is going to be in Standard for 2 more years so that is a very good place to start (also see point #2).

 

4) Pick up another hobby - Learn an instrument. Play fantasy football. Play REAL football. Learn how to cook. Draw. Paint. Go outside and run. Play Madden. Start writing. WHATEVER! Go do something BESIDES Magic! After GP:San (Jose) Francisco, some of my friends were, for lack of a better word, lost. We were all kind of left with a feeling of "so... now what?" My friend Justin was very disappointed and wanted to make the Pro Tour just as badly as I did. So badly, he went crazy trying to think of ways to improve his game. But I recommended that he just take a break for a few weeks. We have some time before Lorwyn comes out. You would be wasting your money if you tried to draft Time Spiral. It's pointless to start building decks until we know what cards are going to be in the set. We're sadly not going to Valencia, so Extended is out of the question. We've playtested so hard the past few months... I think we deserve a break. You can even try picking up a new format. Mental Magic, Type 4 and Unhinged draft are all fun choices (message me if you need the rules). But if at all possible, I suggest you take advantage of this time to rehab your body from all the "addictive ink." Until next time, good luck surviving the dog days (and never forget to always keep an eye on the market! )