The M14 pre-release is this weekend. I plan on attending two pre-releases because I like playing and enjoy the people and place where I usually go.
Despite that, the set itself appears pretty lackluster. Only 3 non-basics is a bit of a letdown. I really would enjoy filter land reprints for EDH.
Speaking of EDH. I had a rare chance to get a hold of a copy of Angus Mackenzie, Legends Bant Fog-Master. I have been pondering (no pun intended) in what type of shell I best want to use Angus.
First I tries a Bant midrange disaster that doesn't even appear good on paper.
I then attempted to put him in a Legacy-style enchantress shell. I was unimpressed, it super-sucked.
I looked at my not-so-vast collection of Foil cards in Bant colors (It is well known that I fully enjoy Foil cards) and Progenitor Mimic, Phyrexian Metamorph, Restoration Angel, Angel of Serenity, etc. caught my eye.
It is time to send in the clones, in a bant control shell.
Bant has several clone effects.
-Progenitor Mimic
-Clone
-Phyrexian Metamorph
-Phantasmal Image
-Sakashima, the Impostor
-Sakashima's Student
-Vesuvan Doppelganger
-Body Double
-Duplicant
Bant also has several fun things to make copies of.
-Terastodon
-Sylvan Primordial
-Angel of Serenity
-Avenger of Zendikar
-Armada Wurm
-Mulldrifter
-Reveillark
-Thragtusk
Bant also has several ways of "Blinking" creatures.
-Restoration Angel
-Flicker
-Venser, the Sojourner
I think we can all see where this is going.
So, I think I am going to use Angus as a Fog-Engine until I can assemble an army of stupidly powerful creatures. More updates to follow.
Until next time.
Thursday, July 11, 2013
Monday, July 1, 2013
Three Days - Three Formats
I got to play magic Friday, Saturday and Sunday this past weekend - so it was a pretty awesome weekend.
Friday night Nick and I went to Games&Stuff for Modern FNM. He played the Blistercoil Weird/Paradise Mantle list I sent him and finished 3-1. That deck looked so much fun and I might have to try it out at an FNM some time.
Instead of Aggro Mill, I played the Turbo Mill list that's had some success on magic-league.com. I lost to Eldrazi 1-2 in the first round. I really needed the black trap card that exiles a graveyard, but didn't find one before the tourney. I won the next round against a scrub then in round 3 lost game 2 when my Affinity opponent had 2 cards left in his library (and I had missed a crab trigger earlier) and then lost game 3. The last round I played probably my best matchup - Valakut. And game one I got to Archive Trap AND Surgical Extraction Valakut before even taking a turn!
So I finished 2-2. I might give the deck another shot, but it's severely less fun than Aggro Mill.
Saturday morning I scrambled to get the cards to play Travis Woo's Izzet Blitz deck, visiting 3 different card shops and finding everything except for a single Faith's Shield. I sign up for the SCG IQ at Xanadu just in time.
First round I lose to Jund 0-2 and want to drop to go play in the standard tourney at G&S, but decide to play one more round for some practice with the deck. Second round vs Bant Control goes way better for me as I get the 4th turn kill game one, and a single Guttersnipe goes all the way game two. I conceded with a lethal Boros Charm on the stack and drop from this event to head to G&S.
We have 19 players, so 5 rounds and top 8.
Round 1 vs R/G Aggro. Game 1 I had the combo kill while he was tapped out and hit him for 20 when he would have dealt lethal to me next turn. Game 3 he's at 14, taps out for Hellrider and swings with him, a Boros Reckoner, Burning-Tree Shaman and two 3/3 Flinthoof Boars, putting me to 4 with the Hellrider triggers. I have a Boros Reckoner of my own, a Geist of Saint Traft and a Nivix Cyclops. I also have two Boros Charms in hand, and 3 untapped lands. I win this game :)
I block his BTE with Geist, Hellrider with Reckoner and a boar with Cyclops leaving his Reckoner and other boar unblocked. I give his Hellrider doublestrike with Boros Charm and give my Reckoner first strike. When first strike damage resolves I shoot his unblocked boar and then go to 1 from the unblocked Reckoner. On my turn I topdeck a Thought Scour to make Cyclops 4/4, Boros Charm to make him 7/4 doublestrike for lethal!
1-0
Round 2 vs Jund. Game 1 he mulls to 5 and is tapped out on my turn 5 while at 25. I'm able to get my Cyclops to 13/4 unblockable with doublestrike for the game. Game 2 he mulls to 5, me to 4. I keep a hand of two lands and two Geists. He has a Rakdos Return for 2 and I'm left with my 3rd land and 1 Geist in hand. I play him and he goes the distance since my opponent never plays another spell.
2-0
Round 3 vs R/G Aggro. I get the combo kill turn 4 while he's tapped out. Games 2 and 3 are grinds. Game 3 Faith's Shield w/ Fateful Hour to survive a lethal swing and have a turn to topdeck Boros Charm for the win, but don't hit it after looting.
2-1
Round 4 vs Junk Reanimator
I win game 1 after double pillar on Fiend Hunter to get my Cyclops back. Game 2 Deathrite Shaman owns me. Game 3 I'm on 3x Guttersnipes and burning his face with Charms and Pillars but he eventually finds the lands to stablize and take the game.
2-2
Round 5 vs Naya
I like this matchup because they play very little removal. Game 1 he dies to Guttersnipes, Game 2 to unblockable beaters.
I make top 8 in 7th seed.
Quarterfinals vs R/G Aggro (from round 3).
Game 1 I keep a bad hand with Thought Scour, Geist, Cyclops and 4 lands. I get STOMPED!
Game 2 I find a late Reckoner and use 3x Feeling of Dread's defensively to just stay alive. I have one turn to find Harvest Pyre for the win, rip an Izzet Charm to dig two more, but don't find it and die.
After the 8 rounds across two tournaments I made some of my own changes to Woo's list. Here's where I'm at now:
3 Clifftop Retreat
1 Glacial Fortress
4 Hallowed Fountain
4 Sacred Foundry
4 Steam Vents
4 Sulfur Falls
3 Artful Dodge
4 Faithless Looting
4 Pillar of Flame
4 Thought Scour
2 Azorius Charm
4 Boros Charm
4 Feeling of Dread
3 Izzet Charm
4 Boros Reckoner
4 Geist of Saint Traft
4 Nivix Cyclops
Sideboard:
2 Electrickery
2 Faith's Shield
2 Azorius Charm
1 Harvest Pyre
2 Skullcrack
2 Snapcaster Mage
4 Guttersnipe
I plan to work on this list for the next few weeks and play it at the Invitational in Jersey.
Sunday was Legacy at Xanadu. I get there when Mike does and Jimmy and Nick show up shortly thereafter. I really want to play Standard and Commander, but sign up for Legacy anyway after some prodding from Jimmy. I'm running Mono-blue Omni-Tell and lose to Death & Taxes round 1. (FYI - phasing out a creature with a "leaves the battlefield" ability does not trigger that LTB ability - so I don't get my Omniscience back from Leonin Relic-Warder). After the round Ben and I are in the middle of one of our best Krenko VS Talrand games of EDH ever, so I drop from the tourney to finish the game. We play a couple more during round 2 and get a 4-player in with Jimmy (Riku) and Kurt (Edric) before round 3. I sign up for the Legacy side-event for $5 instead of $30 because Ben is such a nice guy and it finally fires right before I'm about to go home. So I decide to play Belcher and get it over with, win or lose. I play against a Cloudpost deck and take game 1 easily. Game two I battle through a Chalice-for-1, Mindbreak Trap and Powder Keg and have a couple turns to draw any business spell but can't find one. Game 3 I have the turn-1 kill with Belcher and he lays down Leyline of Sanctity (his only copy). I don't find any other business and spend a couple turns belching a PrimeTime and a Kozilek. At this point my deck is completely stacked, but he has the resources to Eye of Ugin AND play Emrakul the same turn, and I die on his extra turn.
A sweet weekend of magic even though I didn't have much success in Modern or Legacy. I'll most likely be playing Omni-Tell at the Invitational at the end of the month.
e
Friday night Nick and I went to Games&Stuff for Modern FNM. He played the Blistercoil Weird/Paradise Mantle list I sent him and finished 3-1. That deck looked so much fun and I might have to try it out at an FNM some time.
Instead of Aggro Mill, I played the Turbo Mill list that's had some success on magic-league.com. I lost to Eldrazi 1-2 in the first round. I really needed the black trap card that exiles a graveyard, but didn't find one before the tourney. I won the next round against a scrub then in round 3 lost game 2 when my Affinity opponent had 2 cards left in his library (and I had missed a crab trigger earlier) and then lost game 3. The last round I played probably my best matchup - Valakut. And game one I got to Archive Trap AND Surgical Extraction Valakut before even taking a turn!
So I finished 2-2. I might give the deck another shot, but it's severely less fun than Aggro Mill.
Saturday morning I scrambled to get the cards to play Travis Woo's Izzet Blitz deck, visiting 3 different card shops and finding everything except for a single Faith's Shield. I sign up for the SCG IQ at Xanadu just in time.
First round I lose to Jund 0-2 and want to drop to go play in the standard tourney at G&S, but decide to play one more round for some practice with the deck. Second round vs Bant Control goes way better for me as I get the 4th turn kill game one, and a single Guttersnipe goes all the way game two. I conceded with a lethal Boros Charm on the stack and drop from this event to head to G&S.
We have 19 players, so 5 rounds and top 8.
Round 1 vs R/G Aggro. Game 1 I had the combo kill while he was tapped out and hit him for 20 when he would have dealt lethal to me next turn. Game 3 he's at 14, taps out for Hellrider and swings with him, a Boros Reckoner, Burning-Tree Shaman and two 3/3 Flinthoof Boars, putting me to 4 with the Hellrider triggers. I have a Boros Reckoner of my own, a Geist of Saint Traft and a Nivix Cyclops. I also have two Boros Charms in hand, and 3 untapped lands. I win this game :)
I block his BTE with Geist, Hellrider with Reckoner and a boar with Cyclops leaving his Reckoner and other boar unblocked. I give his Hellrider doublestrike with Boros Charm and give my Reckoner first strike. When first strike damage resolves I shoot his unblocked boar and then go to 1 from the unblocked Reckoner. On my turn I topdeck a Thought Scour to make Cyclops 4/4, Boros Charm to make him 7/4 doublestrike for lethal!
1-0
Round 2 vs Jund. Game 1 he mulls to 5 and is tapped out on my turn 5 while at 25. I'm able to get my Cyclops to 13/4 unblockable with doublestrike for the game. Game 2 he mulls to 5, me to 4. I keep a hand of two lands and two Geists. He has a Rakdos Return for 2 and I'm left with my 3rd land and 1 Geist in hand. I play him and he goes the distance since my opponent never plays another spell.
2-0
Round 3 vs R/G Aggro. I get the combo kill turn 4 while he's tapped out. Games 2 and 3 are grinds. Game 3 Faith's Shield w/ Fateful Hour to survive a lethal swing and have a turn to topdeck Boros Charm for the win, but don't hit it after looting.
2-1
Round 4 vs Junk Reanimator
I win game 1 after double pillar on Fiend Hunter to get my Cyclops back. Game 2 Deathrite Shaman owns me. Game 3 I'm on 3x Guttersnipes and burning his face with Charms and Pillars but he eventually finds the lands to stablize and take the game.
2-2
Round 5 vs Naya
I like this matchup because they play very little removal. Game 1 he dies to Guttersnipes, Game 2 to unblockable beaters.
I make top 8 in 7th seed.
Quarterfinals vs R/G Aggro (from round 3).
Game 1 I keep a bad hand with Thought Scour, Geist, Cyclops and 4 lands. I get STOMPED!
Game 2 I find a late Reckoner and use 3x Feeling of Dread's defensively to just stay alive. I have one turn to find Harvest Pyre for the win, rip an Izzet Charm to dig two more, but don't find it and die.
After the 8 rounds across two tournaments I made some of my own changes to Woo's list. Here's where I'm at now:
3 Clifftop Retreat
1 Glacial Fortress
4 Hallowed Fountain
4 Sacred Foundry
4 Steam Vents
4 Sulfur Falls
3 Artful Dodge
4 Faithless Looting
4 Pillar of Flame
4 Thought Scour
2 Azorius Charm
4 Boros Charm
4 Feeling of Dread
3 Izzet Charm
4 Boros Reckoner
4 Geist of Saint Traft
4 Nivix Cyclops
Sideboard:
2 Electrickery
2 Faith's Shield
2 Azorius Charm
1 Harvest Pyre
2 Skullcrack
2 Snapcaster Mage
4 Guttersnipe
I plan to work on this list for the next few weeks and play it at the Invitational in Jersey.
Sunday was Legacy at Xanadu. I get there when Mike does and Jimmy and Nick show up shortly thereafter. I really want to play Standard and Commander, but sign up for Legacy anyway after some prodding from Jimmy. I'm running Mono-blue Omni-Tell and lose to Death & Taxes round 1. (FYI - phasing out a creature with a "leaves the battlefield" ability does not trigger that LTB ability - so I don't get my Omniscience back from Leonin Relic-Warder). After the round Ben and I are in the middle of one of our best Krenko VS Talrand games of EDH ever, so I drop from the tourney to finish the game. We play a couple more during round 2 and get a 4-player in with Jimmy (Riku) and Kurt (Edric) before round 3. I sign up for the Legacy side-event for $5 instead of $30 because Ben is such a nice guy and it finally fires right before I'm about to go home. So I decide to play Belcher and get it over with, win or lose. I play against a Cloudpost deck and take game 1 easily. Game two I battle through a Chalice-for-1, Mindbreak Trap and Powder Keg and have a couple turns to draw any business spell but can't find one. Game 3 I have the turn-1 kill with Belcher and he lays down Leyline of Sanctity (his only copy). I don't find any other business and spend a couple turns belching a PrimeTime and a Kozilek. At this point my deck is completely stacked, but he has the resources to Eye of Ugin AND play Emrakul the same turn, and I die on his extra turn.
A sweet weekend of magic even though I didn't have much success in Modern or Legacy. I'll most likely be playing Omni-Tell at the Invitational at the end of the month.
e
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