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Viewing 1 - 6 out of 6 Blogs.
So, Ive been doing alot of play testing with the newest set: Morningtide, and Ive noticed something that is a little disturbing. It started out with Prowl. Nice Idea right? Ok, The Frogtosser Banneret was next. I then put Morsel Theft, Noggin Whack and the previously mentioned all next to each other. Banneret makes Morsel a lightning bolt on player with a cantrip and life gain because it cost 1 less to play if you swung with your prickly boggart this turn. Almost can be spoken in the same breathe as lightning helix. Then I get to the part where thoughtseize just looks like shit. Dont get me wrong, Thoughtseize is AMAZING. But when your opponet has 3 cards in hand, and you noggin whack them for 2, OWCH. They pitch their good crap, yoou leave them their land. Or you pitch their land, and leave them manaless. Earwig squad is good at murdering off martyr/turbo fog real quick by the way. And he is a rogue...Grab the beacons, and its only a matter of time. Of course, I splash in green for the sideboard against retarded things like story circle. I HATE THAT CARD! Anyways, here is my list: 3 Thoughtseize 4 Nightshade Stinger 4 Prickly Boggart 3 Stinkdrinker Bandit (pushed through REAL damage, not the 1 dmg pings) 3 Earwig Squad 4 Morsel Theft 4 Oona's Blackguard 2 Shreikmaw 4 Noggin Whack 4 Oona's Prowler 4 Frogtosser Banneret 2 Mutavault 2 Pendelhaven 17 Swamp Sideboard: 3 Llanowar Waste 3 Gilt-Leaf Palace 3 Naturalize 4 Extirpate 2 Bitterblossom ( Mirror Match-ups or vs. Control)
So, here I am in the final round. ME = Red Black Husk. HIM= Martyr Im screwed...right? Well...So I thought. This is basically how it played out: ----------------------------------------------------- He went first. Dropping a Martyr of Sands. Go figure. His land was a snow covered plains. I proceeded in Aunties Hovel with Mogg Fanatic, killing off the Martyr. He drops a second snow covered plains and tels me to go. I drop a Cairns and a Mogg War Marshall. He goes, plays his land, and a martyr. I swing, Pollen Lullaby. I dont untap after thee clash either. It goes on like this for quite some time. With Charms, Lullabys and Holy days. LOT of Fog effects. As is expected. This however was not expected, and this is when I was like...What the eff? EOT- he scrying sheets and grabs his land. Its his 3rd snow covered swamp. Ok. Whatever. Revilark gets played. And dies. Bringing in two Martyrs. Ok, i can deal. Whatever. I swing, he chumps, gains a little. Still no gravepact in sight, and I dare not play Maralen in this match up and ts not game 2, so I dont have my Labotomy Spector :[ . So, on my turn, I tap 6 lands producing 3 red and 3 black. I then proceed to scarificing my entire field to Gargadon. Something I should NEVER EVER DO. Ok, no crib swap yet...I use 2 Red and a Black for Fatal Frenzy.No swing yet. Still in Main Phase. Ok, NOW he taps out (whoopie) and plays crib swap. Gargadon Dies, I have nothing but a 1/1 changling and 3 floating mana. And to finish him off... I utilize the remaining 3 mana to play Bitter Ordeal. Grabbing: 4 Beacon of Immortality 2 WoG a 2 Sunscour 1 Mouth of Ronom I proceeded to get more mana, play small critters and beat him down with a 1/1 changling till I got out Seige Gangs (2 of them), a Knuckle bone and a Sensation Gourger- Which eventually milled HIM out. I finally beat that blasted deck... Game two: ------------------------------------- Blah Blah Blah...He T3 played Idyllic Tutor, and T4 Played Story Circle - Red. ...That blows... Then he plays the one out of his TOP DECK...on Black. GG. NOT! I play out my mana barbs. TWO of them.and Waited for 10 turns for 2 garadons to come into play. He got mana screwed after the Circles and was facing down 2 raging gargadons and a crib swapped Wort. He didnt hit another land. But before the final blow, I actually played Maralen, and Sensation Gourger. After he grabbed and pitch-played sunscour. He grabbed a Holy Day next and was tapped out beause of scrying sheets in a desperete attempt at another scour...or something...i dont know why to tell you the truth, but it pinged him and gave me the opening to win. My upkeep, I kinship. Its a knuckle bone. I reveal. Each player discards their hands. He begins to draw as i kindly remind him of Maralen's effect. Neither player has a hand, I tutor out a fatal frenzy and play it on Maralen, swinging for the kill. only 6 damage...
W00t! I hate that deck...SO much. Anyways, it was fun...I guess. EXTREMELY LONG GAMES! 
Well, for the second time in a row, I got second place in my city champs with my GargaHusk deck. Ive been hearing alot of crap about how bad the deck sucks, but recently, its been rolling over control and aggro.Martyr...not so much. Maybe if I get the right pulls. Malaren will help. NOT! Beacon every turn, dont think so...ugh. Maybe the extraction critter... About Martyr, though, there is one thing Im seriously scared about : Idyllic. When ever they play this and grab a story circle, what the heck am I supposed to do? Oh yeah, thats right, die. One hits naming red, and gargadon and Seige-gang go down the drain, and then black rips apart the rest of the deck- no competition. What is a Black Red player supposed to do against this? Die. Blue has bounce and counter. Green has destruction. Red...and Black...not so much. Now, I understand that most people who read this are just gonna say "Play blue" cause they are egotistical and blue hellbent jerkfaces who rely on Desert and Cryptic Commands. NOT saying those are bad, I like Sonic Boom and whatever, its just Im tired of hearing that answer, and I know there isnt an answer to Idyllic Story. Manabarbs is about as close as I can get. Isnt there anything else?? Discard it after its sought? Thoughseize? Thats if they dont play it on that turn... Funeral Charm when its the only card in their hand? Geeze, thats desprete. Comment me and help me out here guys! (Reposted on Forums)
Melancholy sets in once again-
You've been play testing the same deck over and over, and now you're finally
bored with it. Bored with the card pool, bored with the players, even bored
with the metagame.
Everyone is getting ready for the big tournament, you know, the one that the
small pool of people who congregate at the local card shop play. Mainly because
it cost too much to drive to a big city like Springfield or Kansas City- And
there you are, stuck between a rock and a hard place. You, of all people, have
the resources to get to Springfield, but you don't exactly want to leave your
pizza parlor/coffee shop/ Nerd-Ville completely behind...So what can you do?
T here are several players
facing this dilemma every day. The simple answer is to car pool with a small
group of friends and get out of the mundane, even if it’s just for a day. It's
safer to carpool over going it alone too, because you can switch out drivers
periodically, it's cheaper on gas, but it’s a lot more inconvenient and slower
than normal (Mainly due to more frequent Taco Bell and bathroom stops). But
despite these minor cutbacks, traveling in groups, in the end, seems to be
"much more beneficial in the long run," said John Davidson, owner of
the "Changing Hands Book Shoppe," in Joplin, MO and veteran magic
player.
Blaine Smith, a player from the shoppe, agrees that "when you travel
with friends, you end up having a lot more to trade in when the time comes, and
even more fun."
Blaine and his card pool (friends) have been traveling up to Springfield to
visit "Meta games," and "Dragon's Den," for quite some time
now. "It's a whole lot of fun to actually get out of the 'pizza place
rut', and get to a place where players come every day to play test for serious
tournaments. I think it makes a better player out of you if you can extend your
testing that far," said Blaine.
Sydney Ward, one of the Joplin players in Blaine's pool, said that
"Going to different scenery is always worth the cost. Whether it's just
eating different food than the everyday junk, getting new cards, or even just
sitting around with friends play testing like you would back home - It all
seems much better when you step out and do something out of the mundane."
Going out of your average
parlor or nerd shop and into the unknown isn't exactly a
invigorating thought, considering the cost of gas and what-not; But
when you start thinking like this, go to your local vintage stock, you
know the one that everyone has already raped of all the
decent stuff, and most of the new stuff. Check out your collection of Moonlace,
Sunrise Sovereign and Ravnica Dual Lands, and remember- The grass
is always greener...on the other side of town.
- Steve Rose
So I've recently hit this dilemma- Goblins or Husk/ Gargadon? My RB Goblin deck is fast, for sure, but the Husk/ Gargadon combo deck is more efficient. I'm just not sure what to run... Turn one on the goblin deck usually consist of a land (obviously) and A) a knucklebone witch or B) Mogg Fanatic. Turn two is usually followed up by war marshal or magus of the scroll. three is Mad Auntie and hopefully by turn five or six, Wort. Turn one on the Husk/Gargadon deck, I'll call it Husk to keep the name short and easy to type, is usually just a land with a Mogg Fanatic. It's possible to have a Gargadon suspended turn one, but it's usually better to drop the fodder before the big guy in this case. Turn two, hopefully, is a War Marshal or an Epochrasite. Three is most of the time a Husk, War Marshal isn't bad if you chose to suspend the Gargadon on turn one, or even on turn two. and then turn four MUST be Grave Pact, and it MUST stick. IT HAS TO, or it is virtually game over till one is dropped. Kher Keep is an amazing combo piece with this enchantment too. But I'm not one to talk, before I played this deck, I thought Kher Keep was "Kher Krap." Anyways, I'm sure you've seen deck lists for both decks. Which deck do you think is the better of the two? I need to know, cause at this point, I'm shooting blanks and I'll probably just end up running Husk so I don't have to think about it anymore. Aggro players aren't supposed to have to think... Just Kidding! 
So, it's draft time again, we are all congregating around the table, the Sanctioner / Judge passes out the three packs, and we finally crack open the first pack. I, being the watchful butt hole I am, wrote down each of my packs, each time I got them, and my final deck. Here, take a look at pack one: Jace Beleren, Makeshift Manequin, Adler Staff- Boggart, Aqetic's Will, Avian Changling, Battle wand Oak, Boggart Birth Rite, Boggart Loggers, Fist Full of Force, Judge of Currents, Lash Out, Kithkin Daggerdare, Steam bed Aquitetics, Tar Fire, Surge of Thoughtweft. Naturally, I took Jace. Pack two was passed and I about shat my self. Rings of Brighthearth was on top. followed by a few boggarts, kithkin and random stuff like another fist full of force and Aqui... Will. I took Rings. So, I'm sure you can see where this is going... Final Deck: 1 Jace Beleren
2 Rings of Brighthearth
4 Drowner of Secrets
1 Faerie Trickery
3 Broken Ambititions
1 MullDrifter
1 Ameboid Changling
1 Deep Tread Merrow
1 fallowsage
1 Familiar's Ruse
1 Turtle Shell Changling
3 Aquitech's Will
1 Runed Stalagtite
2 Spring Leaf Drum
2 Wanderer's Twig 16 Islands 41 Cards. First Place. Jace with Rings was brutal, and with the Mulldrifter and the Fallowsage, extra draw was almost always there for me. Suprisingly, the twigs and drums helped out a lot more than I thought they would. I was only using them so I could go mono blue. I actually won 2 of my matches with the turtle shell changling card- more than how I won with Jace. One match, both games, the boggart deck lost to Jace. I was sceptical about this deck, because of the lack of critters in a mainly aggro set...but the counter spells really shined through, and countering a PURITY with Faerie Trickery was what won me the last game and first place at the tournee...So... Contrary to popular belief...mono blue IS possible and CAN win against the normal manequin or boggarts or big green Lorwyn draft decks. Yeah, I know...I got lucky. But not as lucky as one (explicit) who pulled a Jace and a foil Chandra! Ahh I wanted to punch him sooo hard. Anyways, Till next time... - Steve Rose Excuse me...Edit: IT WAS DEFINETLY NOT A REYA. LOL. IM SOOO TIRED. IT WAS THE "PURITY" CARD. IM SORRY FOR THE CONFUSION. (i got 2 hrs of sleep last night thanks to my snoring room mate) Sheesh!
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