Outside Information - PTQ Vegas

The last of this summers PTQ's on this side of the Mississippi have come to an end, and while none of us Q'd, we all came closer than we have in a long time. See, before this standard season, I was the last person to top 8 a PTQ in December of 2008 for sealed. Until three weeks ago when Charley made top 8 with Time Sieve, none of us had broken into another top 8, and were at the tail end of the standard season for 2010. That's over a year and a half. We had some major incentives to do well, and I know that they drove me to do better, and as a whole we all did. At the end of the day, we put three players into the top 16; Alex into the top 8 with Time Sieve, Matt Bartimus landed 13th with his own designed UW control (no elspeth/guideon/main DOJ/Baneslayers, so yes it was his own build) and I landed exactly on 16th playing RGU Destructive Force. Matt and I both went 6-2, and extending further down the bracket you had Charley and Seth who both finished at 5-3. Heres the list that I used:

Lands
5 [M11] Island
3 [ZEN] Scalding Tarn
3 [WWK] Raging Ravine
4 [ZEN] Misty Rainforest
5 [M11] Forest
4 [M11] Mountain
1 [M11] Rootbound Crag

Creatures
4 [M11] Inferno Titan

Spells
4 [M11] Mana Leak
4 [M10] Garruk Wildspeaker
4 [WWK] Jace, the Mind Sculptor
3 [M11] Destructive Force
4 [M11] Cultivate
4 [M10] Rampant Growth
2 [M11] Chandra Nalaar
3 [ZEN] Into the Roil
3 [M10] Lightning Bolt

Sideboard
4 [ROE] Overgrown Battlement
3 [ROE] Pelakka Wurm
2 [M11] Flashfreeze
4 [ZEN] Goblin Ruinblaster
2 [M11] Pyroclasm

Remember how Strider posted his picks per color? I agree with most of them. Ya know what was scarily consistent? A ramp spell on turn 2 or 3, a Garruk after that, untap and cast destructive force, untap, play a land, drop an inferno titan on my opponent that had zero board, and usually only two or three cards in hand. The question I got asked all day long - ALL.DAY.LONG. - was "Is inferno titan really better than Primeval titan in this?" Answer? Yes. Inferno titan gives this build the reach it needs. Sure, primeval titan ramps hard, and lets your lands recover faster after a destructive force, but is it necessary? Think about it, when your opponent has between zero and one land, whats going to help more; hitting him for six, over four turns, while you ramp fast, or hitting him for 10+, and just killing him? Safe money on the 10+. If they have the one mana removal, green titan doesn't dodge it, but it might give them the time to find it. There are situations where green titan is better, and it is a situation called R/G Valakut ramp. Red titan also crushed more opponents with its E.T.B. Arc lightning, usually destroying mana dorks, fauna shamans, and planeswalkers alike. The rest of the deck is straightforward. You have ramp spells, planeswalkers, and utility cards. The two Chandra Nalar may seem odd, but they are a huge curveball most people scramble to deal with, since two turns after she drops, she clears their board and takes them to single digits by herself. Jace is self explanatory, as is Garruk. Into the roil was amazing all day. It bounced opposing planeswalkers after I cast a Destructive Force, stopped early fauna shamans from activating, bounced fast lotus cobra fed expensive spells, and often saved my own walkers and inferno titans from being sent into Oblivion. Lightning bolt was perfect as a three of as well, usually sniping walkers or mana guys, it showed up when I needed it, and I was never sad to see an extra one.
The board is fairly standard, and obvious switches should be seen. Pelakka Wurm usually comes in for Destructive Force, either pyroclasm or flashfreeze for Chandra, ramp walls for ramp spells, and ruinblaster against anything I can color or land screw. usally for an assortment of ramp spells, chandra, and a destructive force. Which ramp spell depended on if I was on the draw or play. The deck mulls well, and wants to mull into business hands. Round 1, game 1 I mulled to 5 against 4 color Shaman (hybrid of conscription package mythic and naya) and still handily won. In my first eight games, I mulled 4 times, half of them being R1G1, but it continued about the same for the rest of the day.
My losses were in round 2 against vengevine jund, and round 6 against a naya colored monument deck. vengevine jund killed me on turn 4 game one, and game two I thought I stabalized with an inferno titan clearing most of his board until he slave of bolased my titan and I conceded. Against the monument deck, It went to game three being very close, but he had a higher threat density than I did in game three, and I sided out destructive force for some reason, which I believe to be a mistake now. Overall, if there was another constructed PTQ in the season, I would take this deck as is and run with it, not making a single change. Congratulations to Alex, who lost to jund in the top 8, and to Matt B for showing his building skill and doing very well. Thats all for now,

Steve

M11 Woot

What can I say no updates in a while because we haven't had anything to really talk about. But with M11 here and being able to play with some of the new cards all I can is wow. I haven't like a set like since well since onslaught the power level of cards are just right. The sure variety of stuff in this set is what makes it good. Almost every format got something they can play I can't wait for my box to get here. Now for the top 5 of my favorite cards for M11 by format.

Top 5 Standard

Green
1)Primeval Titan – The decks this card will go in. The decks this might make viable I can't wait.
2)Obstinate Baloth – Hi Blightning meet Obstinate Baloth he wants to have a chat with you.
3)Cultivate – As good as Harrow is Cultivate is just a little better will difinately see play.
4)Fauna Shaman – Get 4 now if you want to play anything green in it for a long time.
5)Autumn's Veil – Gonna need this with black and blue getting some much needed love.

White
1)Sun Titan – I like this card simply because you can get Jace 1.0 back and kill Jace 2.0.
2)War Priest of Thune – Its not that strong but hey it kills a leyline and is a body.
3)Leyline of Sanctity – FU Discard, FU Burn, FU Mill, love this card.
4)Knight Exemplar – Cute card 3 months of this and Knight of the Reliquary but after those 3 months who knows.
5)Day of Judgment – Yeah it's back now why don't they start making better regenerating creatures.

Blue
1)Frost Titan – This maybe the worst Titan but its still good and thats saying alot.
2)Mana Leak – This changes everything....everything!
3)Leyline of Anticipation – I don't know yet about this card but I know If I was playing the control mirror I would want one out.
4)Conundrum Sphinx – When you build around its a Thieving Magpie for you and a hard choice for you opponent. Name something to deal with it or name something to further there board position.
5)Diminish – Good answer to a lot of cards and its blue.

Black
1)Grave Titan – What hasn't been said about this card besides amazing get them and get them quickly.
2)Leyline of the Void – FU Vegevine, FU Knight of the Reliquary, /sigh I like those cards.
3)Captivating Vampire – I guess we have to use it if we got nothing better when Nocturnus rotates.
4)Dark Tutelage – This ahhhh I just don't know needs scry to be good but lucky we got some cards to go with it.
5)Phylactery Lich – This will only get better when Scars comes out maybe will even get a cheap good indestructible Artifact.

Red
1)Inferno Titan – Talk about over kill if you get one good swing with this guy he will end the game.
2)Ember Hauler – Is amazing with combat damage not using the stack anymore we can keep getting good creatures like this can't wait.
3)Chandra's Spitfire – Stupid things you will do with this card make me laugh.
4)Fling – Oh no my ball lightning that I draw late is terrible your at 12 life and about to gain more good thing they printed this.
5)Destructive Force – Wildfires was good hey why not tack 1 more everything to it and see how this one does.

Multiplayer:Arch-Enemy

When I sat down to play this I thought to myself I hope this is fun. When I got to be the Arch-Enemy I became the juggernaut and it felt good. Flipping schemes is exciting and fun you never know what your gonna get and the rest of the table sits there waiting for you to see how badly your gonna screw them.Taking on 5 people and almost winning is a feat in of itself and its epic. Before I play again though I need to make a Arch-Enemy EDH deck and a normal deck for when I'm the Arch-Enemy. My idea centers around hard to kill creatures that smash face with selective creature wipe and a little bit of life gain. Next week I will have deck list because this is gonna take a lot of brainstorming I'm so pumped!

TLDR version:I love ARCH its great multiplayer format and I hope wizard continues to make more. This how it feels to be the Arch-Enemy Kicking ass Link the spear is a fireball.

Now for house rules that should help your ARC experience.

Stay away from combo decks.
5 vs the ARCH should be the max but if you feel you want more go for it.
More to come as I play more.

Outside Information – The New Extended

For those of you “in the loop” this won’t be anything much besides my own observations, but for anyone who hasn’t fully read the changes to extended, go check this out.

http://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/feature/95b.

If that doesn’t throw the format on its head I don’t know what will. Let’s take a look at what sets are going to be relevant

Time Spiral, Planar Chaos, Future Sight, Tenth Edition, Lorwyn, Morningtide, Shadowmooe, Eventide, Shards of Alara, Conflux, Alara Reborn, Magic 2010, Zendikar, Worldwake, and Rise of the Eldrazi. At least until Scars of Mirrodin comes out, then the Time Spiral block and Tenth Edition will rotate as well.

For the majority of us, we will be looking at extended as just being Lorwyn/M10 and up, since the only thing that will include TSP block in high level play is Pro Tour Amsterdam. The past four years of magic that had the new extended legal sets in them brought us some of the most interesting and hated decks I can remember, a quick glance gives us this list.

5CC
RW Cruise Control (aka Boat Brew)
Faeries
UW Fish
Planeswalker Control
UW control (all variants of)
Jund
Naya
Bant (all forms of)
RW Aggro
Time Sieve (Yeah!)
Elves (combo and BG)

That’s a lot of really REALLY good decks, and while some held their place longer than others, all of them had an impact, but seeing that list, we see a trend; of the twelve decks there, seven of them rely heavily on blue, after that the next most common color is white. What does this tell us? If you don’t have a set of Jace TMS, Cryptic Commands, and Mystic Gates, go get them. Now. Like right now. Stop reading this article and go buy them. If you don’t have them they will go up in price, and probably spike as extended season gets closer. To those of you bitching about your Goyf’s, they are still a legacy staple. If you don’t want to play Legacy, then get rid of them for cryptic commands and other cards you should be on the lookout for. Here is a great place to start

http://www.deckcheck.net/mpc.php?format=Lrw_M10_SoA

Other than that, do some research yourself on whats been good the past couple of years, it shouldn’t be too hard with the decks listed above and the deck check link. That’s all for now. As the format gets explored more and I get more relevant information, look for updates on both Standard and Double Standard (new extended).

Stephen Moss

Outside Information – Looking forward

The current state of the metagame is one that is dominated by aggro. For combo/control players like myself, we find it rather boring. Sure, sending guys into the red zone over and over is fun, watching your bloodbraid elf cascade into win far more often than it should never gets old, right? Time Sieve/Open the Vaults is a deck I champion every chance I get to, but honestly the metagame has shifted out of its favorable slice of the pie. This forces us to either play a subpar deck for the format, adapt, or move to aggro. Personally, I choose to adapt, and with that I present today’s Outside Information

Mono Black Control
A Standard Magic deck, by Paul Beemer
4th place at a Nationals Qualifier tournament in California, United States on 2010-05-16
As reported at http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Events.aspx?x=mtg/daily/eventcoverage/natqual10/california
Creatures
4 Abyssal Persecutor 
4 Gatekeeper Of Malakir
3 Hypnotic Specter
3 Vampire Hexmage

Instants
3 Consume The Meek
3 Smother
4 Tendrils Of Corruption

Planeswalkers
1 Liliana Vess
1 Sorin Markov

Sorceries
3 Consuming Vapors
3 Mind Sludge
3 Sign In Blood

Basic Lands
23 Swamp
Lands
2 Dread Statuary


Sideboard:
3 Pithing Needle
3 Scepter Of Fugue
1 Hypnotic Specter
1 Malakir Bloodwitch
1 Vampire Hexmage
3 Doom Blade
1 Smother
1 Haunting Echoes
1 All Is Dust

Ahhhh good ol MBC. I’m partial to the deck myself; I stated competitive magic with MBC in Odyssey/Onslaught standard. Enough nostalgia though, let’s look at why I believe this is the control deck to play.

The creature package is impressive. 2/1 first strikers that deal with planeswalkers and provide a solid defense against most of the creatures currently played. Gatekeepers give you the 2 for 1 removal you need, more often than not taking something out with it on the block. Hypnotic specter is a vastly underrated card, and is a must answer card. It may be a slow clock, but it’s still a clock, still flies, and discards at random. Persecutors are a much better wincon than most people give credit. Its often left on the field a turn or two too long, and ends up winning the game from advantage since the deck doesn’t lack ways to kill it off when its time.

The removal package does its job well, consume, smother, and tendrils are the three best black removal spells around, since they aren’t restricted in the same way doom blade is (non black is bad right now I hear) and consuming vapors paired with tendrils gives you the life resources to outlast and take control of the board situation.

Mind sludge paired with specter provide six sources of quality hand disruption, the sign in blood gives you the much needed card draw, and the planeswalkers should speak for themselves. 25 lands may seem light at first, but seeing the overall curve feels correct. The deck wants to draw black sources, so I agree with the lack of fetchlands. Dread statuary is often forgotten about until it kills an attacking creature, or an unaware opponent.

Where I find the deck lacking is the sideboard. It’s rather chaotic. Black has trouble with planeswalkers as a whole outside of hexmage, so I agree with the 4th one in the board, but I think pithing needle should go to a 4 of. It never lacks targets in an environment of walkers, manlands, fetchlands, and multiple creatures and other cards with an activated ability (like time sieve!). A single Bloodwitch makes me cry, since it should be interchangeable straight across for persecutor in most situations. Heres the board I would take to a PTQ tomorrow.

4 Pithing Needle
4 Malakir Bloodwitch
2 Haunting Echoes
2 Ravenous Trap
1 Hypnotic Specter
1 Smother
1 Vampire Hexmage

Ya know whats scary? Vengevine. Ravenous trap and echos stops it dead, as well as providing side hate against any graveyard shenanigans, and echos wrecks midrange and control. The singletons here provide the fine tuning against whatever matchup your playing against, and they should all be self explanatory. The most important thing here is that all of the board cards cover a wide range of decks that they provide value against. Depending on your metagame you can go without some cards, and some other cards like Duress or Deathmark may better suit your needs. Give the deck a thought if you’re looking for something off radar to play, it takes a lot of people by surprise. Till next time,

Stephen Moss

How focus ties into Magic.

We all get to a point, no matter the time or situation where we tell ourselves to focus. Whether its deck building, the beginning, middle, or end of a tournament, and life in general.

Magic players are a little ADD by design. Things are constantly changing. The internet brings constant change to almost every format. One constant is focus. Focus on what you want in deck design. The theme, flow of the deck and mana base all must tie in and be focused on a singular goal of being a functional deck.

I have a specific scenario in mind. We have a player at our local shop. I overheard that he lost all his matches that night so I told him to bring me his deck and his extras. His deck had a theme (totem armor) and a fairly balanced mana base. But it was all over the map after that. His 1-of's were

Sphinx of Magosi
Archon of Justice
Path to Exile
Lone Missionary
Goliath Sphinx
Marshal's Anthem

This is a small sample. But he had some Umbra's, several aura's, and 4 Totem Guide Hartebeast.

I took a look at his extras and I find some ways to stabilize his mana a bit more. I take out his 1 of's and a few of the weaker aura's. Add more aggressive cards, lower the average cost of the cards in his deck, and add a little better removal, the final addition was adding the creature that makes all his aura's Totem Armors. It's not going to win a PTQ but I guarantee he'll hang in better at the local FNM.

All of this is done without any outside help. All I looked at was his spare cards. The best part was that I was able to strengthen what he wanted to do without overhauling the core of the deck.

This isn't just deckbuilding, its about gameplay as well. I've been in half a dozen bigger tournaments starting 3 - 1 or 4 - 1 even 5 - 2. Once the pressure builds I lose focus. This leads to sloppy play which leads to me starting a 9 round 5k tournament 4 - 1 and finishing 5 - 4. The sad part was that all of my losses were winnable matches. My own lack of focus (never forget about your opponent's Garruk) cost me a chance to win $2000 dollars.

How do we counteract this lack of focus. Well in the above scenario I go way too concerned with going 8 - 1 instead of focusing in round 6 on going 5 - 1. That's a big start. I can't control what happens in three round. I can control the game in front of me. Even further I can focus on the play in front of me. One play at a time. We can only focus on what we can control.

There are many ways to make yourself a better player. Focus is a big part of that stride.

Rant:Winning=Fun?

Rant:Does Winning=Fun?

When I first started playing it was a lot of fun to play magic with my friends. Then something terrible happen I wanted to win more and more. My only goal was to finally win a FNM I went to great lengths to better my game and try to perfect it. And some where along the line the fun got lost in the shuffle to be the best. Instead of just having some people over to play cops and aliens or go to Carl's Jr after the FNM and play multi-player it all just became play testing. Play test for this play test for that nobody wants to play multiplayer anymore.

For a time I thought this was ok but now I just want to have fun again. So I decided to try to get people to excited about other formats besides standard. I have been pushing EDH in my circle now with great success slowly but surely my friends are coming back to there senses and realizing hey I used to just play for fun. Winning is always good but winning should be a bonus not what you focus on all the time. The journey to a win or lost is what you should focus on not the outcome because hey you won't win them all. Might as well have fun.

Moral:Play something you like not something that wins and you will enjoy the game much longer.

With regards to Jund...

So I was supposed to write up a tournament report this past week on my new adventures with Jund. I recently gave Plated Geopede a start out of the bullpen and I was to write about my experiences with the local FNM especially with May 22nd being Magic : Gameday with Rise of the Eldrazi. Well I set of lost notes and one cold later here I am. Instead I talk about "GeoJund" how it performed for me and compare and constrast different styles of Jund and what version might be right for you the reader.

There was sadly only 29 people that showed up which is a smaller crowd than our shop is getting used to. Six rounds of swiss is becoming more and more of a normal occurrance in Lancster, but today is only 5.

I ended the swiss rounds 3 - 1 - 1 with the draw being intentional in round 5. My top 8 match was against Sarkhan the Mad Jund. I would have had to play the matchup round 5, but since we decided to draw we just played a few games, sadly this helped me more than him as I figured out my sideboard plan (little to nothing as opposed to a lot of stuff) and promptly overwhelmed my opponent before he could get Sarkhan online both games. I do remember getting a lucky Goblin Ruinblaster topdeck in game 2 as well.

Top 4 was against the only person to beat me in swiss, (even though I almost forced a draw through a triple Vengevine draw with some insane top decks) and he ended up getting there again in a close three games. The deck was Vengevine Naya and he ended up in first after splitting the prizes and took down 26 packs.

Anyway onto my deck choice.

4 Savage Lands
4 Raging Ravine
4 Verdant Catacombs
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Misty Rainforest
3 Evolving Wilds
3 Forest
3 Swamp
3 Mountain

4 Plated Geopede
4 Putrid Leech
4 Sprouting Thrinax
4 Bloodbraid Elf
4 Siege-Gang Commander
1 Borderland Ranger

4 Lightning Bolt
3 Maelstrom Pulse
2 Bituminous Blast
4 Blightning

Sideboard
4 Sedaxris Specter
1 Vapor Snare
1 Island
2 Consuming Vapors
2 Deathmark
2 Doomblade
2 Goblin Ruinblaster
1 Bituminous Blast

The blue sideboard plan was ok. It really only made a difference round 1. Would have like to commit less cards to accomplish the same effect.

The deck has essentially the same shell as a normal Jund deck but is fundamentally different. You sacrifice a lot of the decks reach in order to accomplish a quicker kill. Plated Geopede is a monster under certain conditions, and when I open the game with a turn 2 Geopede I feel confident that I can go the distance.

The weakness hear is quite different from a "stock jund" or something similar to it though. Jund's inherent weakness is its mana base.

Accomplishing a tri-color mana base in today's standard format is difficult and cards that attack a Jund player's mana such as Goblin Ruinblaster, Spreading Seas, Tectonic Edge, and Ajani Vengeant are incredibly effective. I have lost many a game on turn 2 when that Spreading Sea's comes down and locks me out of a color. If a Jund player can establish a stable mana base his/her threats create so many issues and can attack a player in a variety of ways. Fighting through the mana disruption is key the the survival of the Jund player.

The difference with the Plated Geopede version is quite different. The mana base is easily developed. Nine fetchlands provide the colors necessary and make the Geopede a viable threat the bust through that early Wall of Omens or to eek out those extra points of damage. The trade-off as I mentioned before is a lack of reach. Without a viable late game, decks like Vengevine Naya, Mythic Conscription, U/W control, and Super Friends, can win handily provided they can weather the initial storm. Lacking more of that inevitability with cards like Sarkhan the Mad, and Broodmate Dragon definately is a pain.

No matter what version you play you need to consider a few things.

1. How do I fight through Spreading Seas?

2. How do I establish my board presence?

3. How do I kill my opponent?

4. How will I construct my sideboard?



Jund is slowly moving away from that "stock list" and branching out to find different ways to fight through all those bad matchups. Grand Prix DC showed us very distinct versions of the deck.

Jund
A Standard Magic deck, by Owen Turtenwald
2nd place at a Grand Prix tournament in Washington, District of Columbia, United States on 2010-05-23
As reported at http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/eventcoverage/gpwas10/top8decks

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Maindeck:

Creatures
4 Bloodbraid Elf
1 Broodmate Dragon
4 Putrid Leech
1 Siege-gang Commander
4 Sprouting Thrinax

Instants
4 Bituminous Blast
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Terminate

Planeswalkers
2 Sarkhan The Mad

Sorceries
4 Blightning
4 Maelstrom Pulse

Basic Lands
3 Forest
3 Mountain
3 Swamp

Lands
4 Dragonskull Summit
1 Lavaclaw Reaches
4 Raging Ravine
4 Savage Lands
4 Verdant Catacombs

Sideboard:
2 Prophetic Prism
4 Goblin Ruinblaster
1 Malakir Bloodwitch
2 Doom Blade
4 Duress
2 Pyroclasm

Very close to a stock list, the few changes are a 4th Maelstrom Pulse, and 2 Prophetic Prism to fight the Spreading Seas.

I especially like the Prism because not only does it help vs. Spreading Seas it cantrips, negating the card gained by Spreading Seas.

Jund
A Standard Magic deck, by Joshua Wagner
4th place at a Grand Prix tournament in Washington, District of Columbia, United States on 2010-05-23
As reported at http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/eventcoverage/gpwas10/top8decks

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Maindeck:

Creatures
4 Bloodbraid Elf
2 Broodmate Dragon
4 Putrid Leech
2 Siege-gang Commander
4 Sprouting Thrinax
1 Thornling

Instants
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Terminate

Planeswalkers
1 Sarkhan The Mad

Sorceries
4 Blightning
4 Maelstrom Pulse

Basic Lands
3 Forest
3 Mountain
3 Swamp

Lands
1 Dragonskull Summit
3 Lavaclaw Reaches
4 Raging Ravine
1 Rootbound Crag
4 Savage Lands
4 Verdant Catacombs

Sideboard:
4 Pithing Needle
3 Goblin Ruinblaster
3 Malakir Bloodwitch
3 Royal Assassin
2 Deathmark

This is more of a heavy removal build. Thornling is something I was thinking about but wasn't sure about the green investment, nice to see it work here.

The item I really like here is the Royal Assassin in the sideboard. I've seen some people talk about a Cunning Sparkmage plan for Jund I was highly opposed. Not only was it clunky at best, you had no way of finding both cards aside from drawing them. Royal Assassin however solves this problem. Resolving this against Mythic should be game over. Dauntless Escort becomes critical against you and your 12 maindeck removal spells should help you fight through that.

The last list I want to talk about is probably the most "outside of the norm"

Jund
A Standard Magic deck, by Bradley Carpenter
7th place at a Grand Prix tournament in Washington, District of Columbia, United States on 2010-05-23
As reported at http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/eventcoverage/gpwas10/top8decks

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Maindeck:

Creatures
4 Bloodbraid Elf
1 Borderland Ranger
4 Hell's Thunder
4 Lotus Cobra
4 Putrid Leech
2 Siege-gang Commander
4 Sprouting Thrinax
4 Vengevine

Planeswalkers
3 Sarkhan The Mad

Sorceries
4 Maelstrom Pulse

Basic Lands
3 Forest
3 Mountain
3 Swamp

Lands
2 Dragonskull Summit
4 Raging Ravine
2 Rootbound Crag
4 Savage Lands
1 Scalding Tarn
4 Verdant Catacombs

Sideboard:
3 Cunning Sparkmage
2 Terminate
4 Blightning
4 Consuming Vapors
2 Forked Bolt

Holy Vengevine Batman! This deck is either going to play multiple dudes and get a Vengevine back or kill your dudes and still get damage in. Turn 3 Siege-Gangs and Sarkhan the Mad seems pretty effective as well via Lotus Cobra.

These four lists I've shown you are pretty much the different ways to go with regards to Jund. So if you want to start cascading just ask yourself those 4 questions and figure out which list answers them best for you.

Later

CA Nat Qualifier 5/15/2010

The air was thick with the stench of burning corpses. I stood alone in front of the massive dragon who held my princess captive, the beautiful Ellen Page. I glared at the dragon waiting for him to make his move. A thousand warriors met a cruel fate standing in this very same spot, but I would not meet the same fate. No sword, no shield I was prepared for nothing but ready for anything.
The dragon lifted his head high into the air and took a deep breath. I bent my knees and prepared for his fiery breath. He lunged forward opening his massive jaws spewing fire everywhere. As the dragons head extend towards me I leaped into the air landing on the top of the beasts head. I slid down the creatures back launching off of its tail into the air towards the princes!
I landed in front of her and released her from her prison. The dragon turned and took another deep breath. I held the princess in my arms as I ran from the beast. She put her arms around my neck and begged me to keep her safe. I looked into her eyes and grinned, "of course I will" *WINK. I ran as fast as my legs would carry me. I looked over my shoulder to see the dragon flying into the air letting loose a burst of flames that nearly engulfed the princess and I. The fire dissipated and the dragon was gone! "My hero!' princess Ellen cried as she pulled my head down to give me my reward.

Suddenly the sound of reality came screaming into my ears just before I attained my glorious, and well deserved reward. It was the sound of my alarm clock attempting to drag me out of my perfect world at 5:30 in the damn morning on a Saturday morning. I was laying in bed wearing my boxers half covered by the sheets. Starring straight through the ceiling. My gaze peirced the heavens cursing the gods for their cruel and malicious sense of humor. I rolled out of bed got ready for Nat qualifiers 2010 and met up with the rest of the crew. We made our way to the Radisson hotel in southern California.

There was around 250+ people attending the event. Our group from the antelope valley consisted of about 10 people. I was playing Mono red Devastating Summons. It went a little something like this.

Main Deck 60 cards:

Creatures
4 Goblin Guide
4 Plated Geopede
4 Kargan Dragonlord
4 Goblin Bushwhacker

Spells
4 Lightning bolt
4 Searing Blaze
4 Burst Lightning
4 Devastating Summons
2 Forked Bolt
2 Stagger Shock

Lands
12 Mountain
4 Teetering Peaks
4 Arid Mesa
4 Scalding Tarn

Side Board 15 Cards
3 Dragon's Claw
4 Goblin Ruinblaster
4 Earthquake
4 Unstable Footing

I was familiar with most of my match ups, but my testing period with this deck was short. I literally picked the deck up less then 6 days prior to the tournament. The deck was not only consistent it was fast, like every red deck should be. I was happy with the deck, but I wasn't expecting to do anything phenomenal today since I had been out of the big tournament seen for quite some time.

Round 1: Mirror Match
Game1: It happens every time I play mono red. I run face first into the mirror match every time! I normally get face rolled by the mirror as well. This guy was running almost the same build minus 3 dragon lords. He ran 1 plains and 4 path to exile side for bane slayer. I liked his sideboard, but his main deck choice for replacing the dragon lords was not acceptable at all. Some 2 casting cost red creature that got +3/+0 every time you played a sorcery or an instant. Its not even worth remembering, because the dragon lord is just better in every way. First game he was mana flooded, and I burned him out by the 5th turn. Nothing special.

Game2: I side in dragons claw and take out the forked bolts and a stagger shock. I got mana flooded and he burned me out by turn 6.

Game 3: I open with goblin guide swing for 2 he reveals a land and draws it. He plays a land says go. I rip another guide off the top and swing for 4 like a boss. He bolts a guide after revealing a stagger shock. He untaps draws and drops a land then passes the turn to me. I untap drop my land float 3 red cast D.S. sack 3 lands and cast a bushwhacker kicked and proceed to swing for 13. To my surprise he takes all of it and drops to 5. He draws and scoops up his cards.

In the red mirror match you can expect the person who wins the die roll to win the game most of the time.

AFTER ROUND 1 WE TOOK A LUNCH BREAK WTF MATE!

Round 2: Poly morph
Game 1: I burned every little token that hit the field. and he swallowed 2 damage from goblin guide until he was at 6. I cast double bolt and we went to game two.

Game 2: I took out forked bolts(because they are sorcery speed) and stagger shock. I put in 4 earthquakes. The plan was to wipe his field if he had multiple 0/1 tokens coming into play. I shuffled up and mulligan to 5. The keep able hand was 2 mountain 1 goblin guide 1 kargan dragonlord and 1 bushwhacker. I did not draw one burn spell and he poly morphed into a 15/15 fatty turn 5.

Game 3: I shuffle up and keep a hand that has a potential turn 3 bushwhacker D.S. combo and some burn spells for those little tokens of his. I play a land and say go. He does the same. I rip a goblin guide and drop him followed by a teetering peaks. Picking tempo back up and swinging for 4 turn two. I passed turn he dropped a land played explore and played another land after drawing a card. Turn three I draw a searing blaze and drop an Arid Mesa. I swing for 2 put the poly player at 14 and pass the turn. He draws a card drops a land that puts a 0/1 token into play and attempts to cast poly morph. I simply laugh and crack the mesa get a mountain cast searing blaze followed by a lightning bolt like a boss. He goes to 9 and passes the turn. I draw my card. It is a mountain! I burst lightning him to 7 float 3 red cast D.S. for 2 4/4 elemental tokens kick a bushwhacker and swing for 15. It was overkill, but I owed it to this guy to make up for our pitiful game 2.

Round 3: Mythic Conscription.
Game 1: I knew what this guy was playing before I even took my seat in front of him, because he played a good friend of mine round two. They had been sitting next to me, and I took a peak at their game. I'm sure he knew what i was playing as well, but that didn't bother me at all. I win the die roll and play first. Mountain goblin guide swing pass. He plays a forest followed by a Bird of Paradise. I untap slam another goblin guide down followed by a teetering peaks swing for 6. He chumps the 4/2 guide with his bird. He is sitting at 16 with another bird on the top of the deck. He draws plays an island and a Bird. I untap drop a mountain float three cast D.S. sacking 3 lands and kicking a bushwhacker (I do this all day) I swing at him for 16. He points at my bored and looks at me kinda funny. I just smile and say its 16 would you like to chump something? He picks his cards up and begins to sideboard.

Game 2: He plays a forest and a noble hierarch. I keep a hand that looks decent enough. Turn one goblin guide again. I swing and he picks up a land and I pass turn. He drops an island and a Rhox war monk. "Oh joy." I said in a very depressed voice. He passes and I draw and drop a land. I don't have an answer for the war monk yet. I cast Geopede and say go. He plays a land and yet ANOTHER war monk. I wanted to cry. he attacks gains some life and I go to 16(monk had +1/+1 from exalted). I draw a fetch land put it into play and sac it going to 15. I searing blaze and burst lightning the untapped monk and swing for 7 total. He goes to 15. He draws a card and plays a fetch land going to 14 searching for a plains. He drops bane slayer angel and proceeded to tear me apart with life linkers.

Game 3: Turn one goblin guide swing. He plays a man land tapped and passes. I play a second goblin guide and come in for 4. He reveals a land, draws it and reveals a noble hierarch. He untaps plays a forest and a lotus cobra. I untap, burst lightning the cobra and swing for 4. He reveals 2 lands and draws them. He plays a fetch land land and the hierarch. He ends his turn, and I respond casting burst lightning on the little fart. I draw and drop a land. I play a bushwhacker kicked and swing for 8. He reveals a cobra for the first guide, and cracks his fetch to shuffle it away. Reveals a hierarch for guide #2. I end my turn. He is at 6 I have a bolt in my hand and a D.S. He draws and picks up his cards.

Something very interesting happened in game 3. When I swung for 8 he revealed a lotus cobra with 3 land in play, one of which being a fetch land. His friend pointed out that if he had left the cobra on top of his library and drawn it he would have been able to cast bane slayer that turn. This is how. He untaps and draws cobra. Plays the cobra followed by a fetch land adding 1 white manna to his pool. Then he cracks both fetch lands gets 2 more white mana and two basic lands. At this point he will have 3 white floating and 2 untapped lands. He could tap and cast bane slayer, which I would have been unable to deal with in the current game state. Sucks for him, but awesome for me.

Game 4: vampires
Game 1: Game one I didn't know what I was playing exactly because I killed him so fast. I saw a couple vamps and assumed it was vamps. /shrug? I didn't test against vamps and I am pretty new to the current meta game so I was completely unfamiliar with this match up. I sided in Quakes and sided out fork bolts and stagger shocks. He duresses me turn one and turn two after I mulligan to 6. I am left with 2 land in play and 2 searing blaze in my hand with my opponent at 16. he slow rolls the game for a long time. Eventually I have him to 8 life with a bolt and a quake in my hand. He has 2 bloodwitches in play one that was tapped after attacking and one untapped, because it had just been cast last turn. I drew a 5th land and cast quake for 4. Dropping my opponent to 4 and me to 14. He untaps and swings for 8 I go to 6. I need to draw anything to kill him, anything but a land. I drew a land. My mistake was casting the quake for 4 instead of bolting him first. That would put him at 5 when I drew my 6th land and I would have the quake in my hand. I would have won. I lost the third game on sheer principal and swallowed my first lost in round 4.

Round 5: Some blue white allies deck.
Game 1,2. I crushed him. I still don't know what his deck was supposed to do.

Round 6 : Blue White control
Game 1: I explode on him taking him to 1 life by turn 4. he untaps drops a bane slayer and I don't draw a burn spell. I proceed to loose game one.

Game 2: He gets a triple bane slayer draw I deal with 2 of them but run out of steam before the third bane slayer can be dealt with. I loose 0-2

Round 7: Grixis Control
Game 1: I pulled off double goblin guide bushwhacker D.S. by turn three and he scooped. It seems that most people scoop to this.

Game 2: I don't side in anything because I don't know this match up at all, and I don't know what would be of any use. He had an answer for every creature I played and I simply couldn't draw enough burn to ride to victory on spells alone.

Game 3: I mulligan to 5 and keep a 2 land 3 creature hand. I knew what was coming.
He had a kill spell for all the creatures and he countered most of my burn. He tried to take a Jace2.0 to ultimate but I decided to throw all my burn at Jace2.0 and not allow him that pleasure. He ended up casting earthquake for 9 to kill me.

Round 8: Vamps
Game 1: I take him to 12 with goblin guides and finish him with burn.

Game 2: I mulligan to 5 and keep a no land hand. I draw lands off the top like a boss, but to my dismay he draws every removal spell in the book and consuming vapors was enough life gain to keep him out of the red zone an kill me with bloodwitch.

Game 3: nothing special happens... I beat on the poor guy with 2 goblin bushwhackers for a good 8 turns while he draws nothing but land. I eventually kill him with a few burn spells after he draws land for 10 turns in a row. Sometimes that's how the cookie crumbles, and sometimes cookies are delicious when they crumble like that!

Round 9: Mirror match
Game 1: This is not exactly a mirror. Hes playing red black only splashing black for blightning.
He had ball lightnings hells thunder and hell spark elemental. I did not approve of this non devastating summons build. I was saddened by its simplicity. It got him this far but he stood no chance in this match up. Mono red D.S. has to much power in comparison. I ran through him both games by casting bushwhacker/summons no later then turn 4 both games.

I finished 29th with a 6-3 record. A personal best! I ended up doing the best out of the AV group we came with and I was pretty happy with myself. I feel I could have taken a top eight spot had it not been for my round 4 play mistake that cost me the round. I plan to hit the PTQ's with this deck and I will keep you all posted on the future event results.

Until next time folks!

~Nick

THIS GUY!?

The name is Nicholas Gallagher, but everyone calls me Nick. I am 21 years of age, and I have played competitive Magic since I was 14. I have known the Reckless Bear crew since the first day I showed up at my first magic tournament. I have played a variety of decks throughout my magic career including all aspects of control, combo, aggro, and mid-ranged.

At heart I am a true aggro player, and I will always be an aggro player. I feel control is over rated and a smart aggro player will be able to control the control player. I have always been compelled by the mental game of Magic. Things like "Jedi mind tricks" and what not. The game has several aspects and angles to explore and research. I hope to bring to this blog, articles that can help players both understand the basics to being aggressive and winning with aggro in control dominated formats.

I will be posting tournament reports, as well as articles pertaining to other aspects of the game I feel are important to a competitive Magic Player.

~Nick G.

Regarding deck choice for a tournament.

So I recently traveled to the California National Qualifiers with a bit of trepidation. Why is this? Well my deck was no longer viewed as excellent in the current type 2 format. I played Jund, while I wanted to play the new version with Plated Geopede and a blue sideboard plan to make use of Spreading Seas, I didn't get the required cards until about an hour before the tournament. I decided to stick with what I knew and played my regular list.

This proved costly as I went 1 - 4 and finally dropped after I had gathered enough info about my card choices and had enough of getting my butt whooped.

This brings me to a very important choice a Magic player faces with a big tournament coming. That is deck choice. Does one play a deck they are comfortable with or play something better. This is a bit of a gray area in terms of what is the correct choice. Do you stick with something you know or do you play the better deck? Well sometimes, like my situation the correct choice is unfortunately only clear after you play the tournament.

For example, I was constantly outdrawn and consistently outclassed in card quality with the exception of my only match win (which was against vampires). What this tells me is that I needed a better deck. Something to withstand the constant barrage of land disruption that I must deal with being a 3 color deck.

The Plated Geopede Jund or "GeoJund" was probably a better option. With 9 fetchlands I had a somewhat slower but far more consistent mana base to work with.

Results like mine are definately disappointing but should not be discouraging. It is all part of the learning experience. I might never be a top level pro. But I will always try to improve at this game and will work to get better and hopefully help others along the way.

Anyway, Magic Gameday is coming up at Battlegrounds, and I have narrowed my choices to "GeoJund" and Polymorph. Hopefully my choice works this time around as I expect fairly decent competition.

Rant:Wizards and the secondary market

I'm ranting because I'm feed up with my constructed standard cards going over $40.
First it was Tarmogoyf.($50)
Then Wallet Slayer Angel.($50)
And now Jace 2.0.($70)


I know wizards doesn't care about the secondary market. I know the secondary market is a great way to move merchandise. But enough is enough $70 for Jace really? I thought wallet slayer angel was bad at $50. I never thought in my wildest dreams that she would go over $25. Stupid mythic rarity pushing cards way past what they should be on the secondary market. I wish I knew a solution to this problem but all I can think of is for wizards to actually put good cards in there theme decks. 1 mythic, 2 rares, and give the planeswalkers there own theme decks more expensive then normal theme decks with a fancy alt art holo. I love magic but with travel expenses and gas I don't want to chose between a bill and a set of Jaces because the bill will always win.

Still Livin' The Dream : Just at an FNM - 1st

I wasn't even going to play...

So Friday night my friend and Reckless Bear editor Beau invites yours truly and my lovely girlfriend Mercedes to a late showing of Iron Man 2. My buddy Nick and Lauren decide to join us all and just like that we have a nice group outing. Aside from my 5am work time that is.

So as the credits roll Lauren needs Benadryl for an allergic reaction. While we wait for them to return it starts creeping towards 1 am and I start really wishing I drove.

When it is all said and done I manage about 2 hours of sleep. I stumble through my morning an decide to nap for 45 minutes on my lunch break. Only I sleep about 90 minutes instead, whoops. On the plus side I felt great after. Now with such a lack of sleep I was going to skip the Saturday tournament but that extra 90 minutes had me feeling like Finkel at world's. I was down to cascade tonight. I roll up about 5 minutes to start time and shuffle up the former menace to standard.

Without further ado, here's is what I brought to the table.

4 Savage Land

4 Verdant Catacombs

4 Raging Ravine

1 Lavaclaw Reaches

1 Oran-Rief, the Vastwood

2 Dragonskull Summit

1 Rootbound Crag

3 Forest

3 Mountain

3 Swamp

4 Putrid Leech

4 Sprouting Thrinax

4 Bloodbraid Elf

3 Siege-Gang Commander

2 Broodmate Dragon

1 Sarkhan the Mad

2 Garruk Wildspeaker

4 Lightning Bolt

2 Terminate

3 Maelstrom Pulse

4 Blightning

1 Momentous Fall

Sideboard:

3 Deathmark

1 Vendetta

2 Jund Charm

2 Goblin Ruinblaster

1 Pithing Needle

2 Duress

2 Malakir Bloodwitch

2 Consuming Vapors

I haven't seen many lists with Sarkhan or Momentous Fall let alone any Jund discussion. So I decided to try things on my own.

Round 1 Vs Naya

Lots of Ramp and Control here. Not sure what to expect.

Game 1 : I keep and he plays 2 Trace of Abundance and Luminarch Ascension by turn 3. Ajani Vengent and Transcendent Master are turns 5 and 6. I peel Momentous Fall turn 4, decide after the Transcendent Master that now is as good a time as any and Fired Netting 3 life and Siege-Gang Commander, Broodmate Dragon, and Bloodbraid Elf, which power me to victory.

Game 2: Starts off with Oran-Rief, the Vastood for more power out a 3/3 Putrid Leech. A turn 5 Siege-Gang Commander, forces Day of Judgment. This intriguing part for me was Naya charm kept recurring the DoJ. Bloodbraid into blighting gets his to 1 and next turn I get it.

On a side note I did almost punt myself the game by forgetting to use the Oran-Rief on the Bloodbraid as another Ajani Vengent could have possibly forced me into a Game 3. Sometimes I lack focus. Sigh .

2 - 0

1 - 0

Round 2 Vs Vampires.

I'm positive this is budget vamps as I saw zero Nocturnus and/or Bloodghast. But nonetheless, he still has threats, threats that must be dealt with.

Game1: I see Duress, followed by Blood Seeker, Pulse Tracker, and Vampire Nighthawk. My team of Double thrinax and Double Bloodbraid probes the stronger

Game 2 : I do punt this one. I keep a bad hand and sit there as one pulse tracker whittles me to 10. Turn 5 Anowon the Ruin Sage prompts maelstrom Pulse. He answers to my Siege- Gang Commander with Vampire Nighthawk, Kalastria Highborn, and a kicked Gatekeeper of Malakir. A turn later I deal with everyone but the flier and sit at 1 life, with a Leech staring down Vampire Nighthawk. I peel Sarkhan the Man. After bringing him to the battlefield, I Jedi Mind Trick myself into using his 0 ability to draw a blightning with him at 24, I immediately shuffle for a game three where I just flat out outrace him.

2 - 1

2 - 0

Round 3: U/B Control

I really must cover this deck at a later date as a future post. Its good and has major potential "post Shards". But in the meantime, I have a Match to win. Time to focus as my opponent is one of the more skilled players in the room. And only one with a pro point.

Anyway I'm too aggressive game 1 with a Leech and Elf turns 3 and 4. Game 2 I duress a negate, follow with a Leech. Double Blightning pretty much seals the deal afterwards.

2 - 0

3 - 0

Round 4 Open The Vaults

This one is against my buddy Steve. He's been beating up on me lately, so I was determined to get this one.

Game 1: We both mull to 5 and my hand is 3 land double blightning. A Bloodbraid Elf nets me a third blightning and helps send me to game 2 up a game.

Game 2: Perimeter Captain and Wall Omens starts the game for Steve and puts me in a bad spot after I had mulled my 7 into a mediocre 6. Jace turn 4 and Sphinx of Lost Truths signals a game 3.

Game 3 : I keep my 7 this time while Steve takes a mulligan.

I curve out perfect turn 2, 3, and 4 with the Bloodbraid Elf getting me a Blightning. The key to the game was Consuming Vapors turn 5 that clears the way for my team.

2 - 1

4 - 0

Round 5 : Intentional Draw

Top Eight vs Open the Vaults

Rematch Time!!!

Game 1: Very Quick. Turn 2 Putrid Leech and turn 3 Blightning are all I need.

Game 2: I fight through a turn 2 Spreading Seas with Putrid Leeches turn 3 and 4. My friend sadly knows my play style well enough to know I am ultra conservative with my Leech. That approach plus a Bloodbraid Elf with a failed cascade gets him to six. It gets tough from here though. Two Perimeter Captain and a Wall of Omens followed by a Sphinx of Lost Truth gets him back to 24 . I fight through two of the walls and clear the way with Consuming Vapors again to make it to the top 4.

Top Four Vs Super Friends (U/W/R Planeswalkers)

Just got to say that this was a tough match.

Game 1: I mull on the play and keep a decent hand. He has Wall of Omens turn 2,3, and 4. While I chip away at the walls he tries getting planeswalkers to stick. I think I gain the upper hand with a Sarkhan the Mad making a dragon off of a Sprouting Thrinax, but he has all the answers. He assumes control and just doesn't finish me off. Game 1 lasts way too long and he finally finishes me after I mount a last ditch effort to Garruk him out.

Game 2: The thing I hate most is mulling on a play down a game. I have early aggression though, and Garruk and Sarkhan finish the job.

Game 3: This match wouldn't be complete without another mulligan by me. My 7 was keepable but lacked early aggression. The mull is a mixed bag with the early Leech and Duress but no red source. He gets his mojo going a little and he wont path my Leech so I can fix my mana. I chip away at his life and eventually play stuff and start trading blows. I end the game on 3 life staring down a lethal Celestial Colonnade.

This match was intense and put me a bit on tilt so the finals are a bit fuzzy.

Finals Vs Naya

Round 1 rematch

Game 1: I trade blows with a Raging Ravine, but Putrid Leech and Bloodbraid Elf with my own Ravine is just too much for him.

Game 2: I try to get off tilt and fail. I play Pithing Needle naming Raging Ravine instead of Ajani Vengent and that ends up costing me the game.

Game 3: Very fuzzy but I only took damage to 2 of my Verdant Catacombs. VICTORY!!!

So I made some bad plays, made more good plays, and had some good cascades. But what did I learn? Well hopefully I learned to focus and RTFC (read the fucking card). I learned that I can go on tilt and win. I learned that I love Momentous Fall, I don't talk about it too much but the card was great for me all night.

But where do I go from here? Well I know Jund needs to adapt to the changes of standard. Here's a card combination I like.

4 Savage Lands

4 Verdant Catacombs

4 Raging Ravine

1 Lavaclaw Reaches

2 Dragonskull Summit

1 Rootbound Crag

1 Oran-Rief the Vastwood

3 Swamp

3 Forest

3 Mountain

4 Putrid Leech

4 Sprouting Thrinax

4 Bloodbraid Elf

3 Siege-Gang Commander

2 Broodmate Dragon

3 Lightning Bolt

2 Terminate

3 Maelstrom Pulse

2 Sarkhan the Mad

1 Momentous Fall

2 Trace of Abundance

4 Blightning

This isn't very special but it does replace Garruk with Sarkhan.

I did see a PTQ winning Jund build from Santa Clara that caught my eye. It turns Spreading Seas into a plus.

Jund by John Pham

1st Place at a Pro Tour Qualifier in Santa Clara

4 Bloodbraid Elf

2 Borderland Ranger

4 Plated Geopede

4 Putrid Leech

4 Siege-Gang Commander

4 Sprouting Thrinax

2 Bituminous Blast

2 Lightning Bolt

4 Blightning

4 Maelstrom Pulse

3 Forest

3 Mountain

3 Swamp

4 Evolving Wilds

4 Raging Ravine

4 Savage Lands

1 Scalding Tarn

4 Verdant Catacombs

Sideboard

4 Sedaxris Specter

1 Bituminous Blast

1 Burst Lightning

2 Doom Blade

2 Lightning Bolt

1 Chandra Nalaar

3 Consuming Vapors

1 Island

Deck Help:Eldrazi Ball

Deck Help Operation:Eldrazi Ball

A friend of mine he wants help with his so I will do my best.

Original Deck List

Land
Mountainx9
Forestx10
Swampx4
Kazandu Refugex1

Creatures
Nest Invaderx4
Kozilek's Predatorx4
Emrakul's Hatcherx3
Rapacious Onex3

Spells
Growth Spasmx4
Awakening Zonex4
Terminatex3
Brood Birthingx4
Fireballx3

Artifacts
Coat of Armsx4

Initial thoughts
For a constructed deck its missing a lot of power. But I do like the synergy of all the cards to make a big fireball. And his alt win condition of Coat of Arms but unfortunately Coat of Arms will always be bad.

The Cuts
Rapacious One- A 5/4 for 6 is not gonna cut it in a world of big gaint fat finishers. His ability is also just win more and if your doing damage with this guy you should be winning.

Coat of Arms-Never been good in constructed in a world full of wraths and pulses this has gotta go maybe for something less symmetrical.

Terminate and Swamps-The swamps will have to go there only place in the deck is for the terminates. Without the swamps the deck will only have to worry about its two main colors of mana. Which should make it much easier on wallet.

Fireball-Needs to become Bane Fire right now but until he cuts some will just cut it for now.

So this leaves us with 18 spots 14 nonland spells and 4 lands(will also change up the mana base as well).




Cards I want to Add

Broodwarden-This guy turns all those tokens into a threat and only gets better in multiples.
Lightning bolt-Anything running red needs this.
Hand of Emrakul-Good fat and can be a nice use of tokens if things go bad.
Kozliek, Butcher of Truth-Also good fat and nice draw my favorite eldrazi.
Vines of Vastwood-Nice way to protect some of your creatures.
Skittering Invasion-5 tokens+5mana=options
Eldrazi Temple-Auto include

Next Week:How does the new deck do? Do the new cards help? Or should the idea be scraped?

Interacting: Removal For Your Deck

Interacting with your opponent is very important being responsive or reactive that's what magic is all about. Learning when to be responsive and when to react is always hard that's why you need to play the right removal.

In this post I want to get out of the way why some removal is bad(situational) and others good(works almost all the time).

Why is Path to Exile good? You know its good because everyone tells you its good but why is better then say Divine verdict.

Well lets look at Path and see why it's good no conditions need to be meet to remove a creature.
It only cost 1 mana.
It's only downside is it gives your opponent a free basic land(not much of a downside).
And it removes Platinum Angel.

Now lets look at Divine Verdict first a condition must be meet.
It cost 4 mana.
Does not remove Platinum Angel.

Why do I say Platinum Angel? Because as you play you realize there are quite few creatures out there that don't have to attack to make your life miserable. And you need to be able remove these creatures to win.

The point is out right removing a creature is always better then disabling it.

My Introduction (still working out the kinks)

Message: Hi there, my name is Stephen. I will be a regular contributor to Reckless Bear. I have been a regular on the FNM scene since 2001. My focus at an FNM besides winning obviously is to help my fellow player improve and at the same time help myself be a better Magic player. My hopes for this blog are for at the very least 2 weekly columns. The first being a tournament report where I discuss where I went right, where I went wrong and everything else in between. The second being a general strategy and/or advice column primarily geared toward helping newer players improve their play faster than they would by simply going to an FNM and getting their butts whooped. If this blog gains ground, which I hope, I want to also write a mailbag column, where I publish and answer reader questions. I also want a catch phrase something cool like Evan Erwin's. But with that said I hope to have my first tournament report up by Sunday, and my 2nd in the days following. National Qualifiers are just around the corner folks and we need to be prepared. Until next time, I'm Stephen and may your cascade never whiff.

SM. For more information go to www.sprint.com/picturemail.

Hi and welcome to a Magic the Gathering Blog

My name is Beau and I had a brilliant idea to make this blog to help new and old magic players alike. And with help from my team we hope to provide you good and useful general info that may help you just become a better player.

Things were gonna discuss

-1) Why I think testing is important.
-2) Know your sideboard.
-3) Play people that are good at that deck.
-4) Make a Tester deck and describe how to make one.
-5) Have fun
-6) Why you should test.
-7) Tips and Tricks for new players.
-8) Card Reviews from timmy, johnny, and spike
-9) And Much more