Here in my local area, there are a couple Grand Prixs coming up in the next month so I'd like to get everyone acquainted with how Competitive REL works, what it means, and what things to be aware of to prepare you for a GP. If it's not your first GP, then you probably understand just fine how it all works, however, there are some interesting changes being made by Wizards of the Coast to the Grand Prix structure and I'll discuss that as well so there's something for everyone here!
First off, a little bit of information on what a Grand Prix is. A Grand Prix is the largest competitive Magic event that's open to anyone. That means you don't have to qualify to go to one. For most, all it really takes is some trip planning to get there as they are only in bigger cities, usually. This means that you'll get thousands of players from all over the region that the GP is located in, and that means that it's going to be a tough event! Right now, a Grand Prix caps out at 15 rounds over a two day event, usually doing 9 rounds on day one, and 6 for day two. Anyone with a 7-2(7 wins, 2 losses) record or better at the end of day one will advance to the day two rounds. After the 6 rounds of day two are done, the top 8 players with the best records(including tie breakers) will move on to the Top-8 finals. You'll get paired up based on record(8th plays 1st, 7th plays 2nd, 6th plays 3rd, and 5th plays 4th) and play in 3 single elimination rounds to determine the winner. Everyone who makes the top-8 cut will be awarded with cash prizes, pack prizes and paid airfare and invitation to the season's Pro Tour tournament.
That's a lot of work right?! It definitely is. The best players in the world understand that a Grand Prix is more than just good magic. It takes a little luck, a lot of planning and probably some pack lunches. At the event, there won't be any food breaks so staying alert and energized can be hard. With that many people at the event, you'll end each round past the allotted time anyway, so you might be able to use that time in between rounds to find some food at the convention center that you're located in. If you're the one going to time each round, you might need to think about bringing some snacks with you in your backpack so you can eat when you need to. Don't forget to drink plenty of water too! It sounds like common sense, but you'll find out real quick that even if you have time to go get food, there are tons of others doing the same and you might not get enough time to get to the front of the line to order before the next round starts! Plan ahead! Plan ahead!
These events are very challenging so it's important to stay focused. Treat every round like it's the finals! Getting frustrated and tired will only make you play sloppy and miss things you wouldn't normally miss. Take your time with everything you do and take it seriously or else you'll wind up dropping before you know it.
Next, let's take a look at how the event is run. It is a Competitive REL(Rules Enforcement Level) event which means the judges will be a lot more strict on your mistakes and rules violations than they would at FNM, which is Regular REL. The first big difference you'll notice, is that you have to register your deck or your sealed pool after you finish drafting. This generates a lot of issues when you accidentally write down something that's not consistent with the deck you're playing. Pay special attention to your deck registration sheet and check it 2-3 times before turning it in to avoid any mistakes. Deck registration sheets allows judges to check your deck at anytime and make sure you aren't slipping in different cards illegally. This can be bad though if you forget to take out your sideboard from your last match so that's a big thing to remember.
The hardest part about Competitive REL is having a pretty broad understanding of the basic mechanics of how the game works. Not the mechanics or abilities of the cards(though you should know how those work too), but how to cast spells, how the stack works, how priority works, etc. This way, you can avoid playing a card at the wrong time and having your opponent call a judge over to issue you a warning. If you're confused about some of the things I mentioned, it would be a good idea to ask your local judges to help you out. Most judges are pretty friendly and are there to help you, so don't be afraid to ask questions!
Another big thing to understand is that you WILL need sleeves for your deck. Aside from the fact that you should be protecting your cards at all times, it's too easy to get a scratch on a card and have your opponent call a judge over to disqualify you for "Marked Cards". Don't play without sleeves... ever. Also, have extra sleeves to replace the ones you break while shuffling. Sleeves break and if you can't replace them, you're going to be in big trouble for the exact same reason as playing without sleeves and having marked cards. Just take care of your cards and your sleeves.
Finally, it's important to note that most people will be taking the event very seriously and are ready to call a judge on you in a heart beat when you mess up. I think it's important to be respectful and considerate at all times and not get in a fight with someone who might be acting like a jerk because you made a mistake. In fact, if you get flustered when they do something like that, it'll affect your game play so it's best to not let it bother you and continue playing good magic as best you can. Apologize for the mess up after the match, shake hands, and move on. The event will be hard enough without letting each opponent mess with your head.
The last thing I want to talk about with Grand Prixs, are the changes that Wizards of the Coast are making for them. The changes can be referenced HERE but I'll sum it up. Firstly, they are greatly increasing the number of Grand Prix events that happen across the world which means more opportunities to travel to these fantastic events and get into the Pro Tour! Each year, we will now have 24 in the U.S., 14 in Europe, 5 for Mexico, Central and South America, 7 in Asia-Pacific, and 4 in Japan.
If a GP has 3,600 players or more, the cash prizes will increase to $70,000 paying down to 230th place. For team GP's, the cash pool increases to $78,000 paying down to 76th place so there's a lot more opportunities to cash out!
So, I think that covers a lot of what to think about in preparation for a Grand Prix. In summary, make sure you plan a lot and know your schedule for the weekend, take plenty of sleeves or plan to buy some there. Stay hydrated, bring snacks or pack lunches, and stay focused throughout the event. Take your time with your game play and don't let others get to you!
Thanks for reading and I hope your next GP experience is a good one!
DannyO
WizardDen.com
Wednesday, July 30, 2014
Monday, July 7, 2014
Have you heard the good word about our (hive)Lord and Savior? Christian is here to share the sliver gospel!
This is Christian of rogue tech and I am here to talk to you about everybody’s favorite tribe, Slivers! Now I know what you’re thinking. When it comes to slivers “Sometimes dead is better…” and as that may be true, M15 brought a lot of cool slivers that I think will rock Standard for the next three months and I am here to spread that good word!
I will start with what everyone is talking about, Sliver Hivelord.
Nobody is new to rainbow costed sliver lords but this guy is hands down the best. 5/5 indestructible for five is not bad but it also makes the other boys in the band indestructible which is pretty nuts! The one of each color casting cost seems to be a problem but with Mana Confluence, Sliver Hive, the M15 Painlands and Shocklands, it is far from impossible. Also keep in mind, we have access to Manaweft Sliver. Tap 5 slivers and he is on board and ready to rumble. If one of those 5 slivers is sentinel sliver, you do this post combat after swinging for a nice chunk of damage. Let us not forget that this bad boy solves the biggest problem for slivers, mass removal. “Nice supreme verdict, bro.”
Nobody is new to rainbow costed sliver lords but this guy is hands down the best. 5/5 indestructible for five is not bad but it also makes the other boys in the band indestructible which is pretty nuts! The one of each color casting cost seems to be a problem but with Mana Confluence, Sliver Hive, the M15 Painlands and Shocklands, it is far from impossible. Also keep in mind, we have access to Manaweft Sliver. Tap 5 slivers and he is on board and ready to rumble. If one of those 5 slivers is sentinel sliver, you do this post combat after swinging for a nice chunk of damage. Let us not forget that this bad boy solves the biggest problem for slivers, mass removal. “Nice supreme verdict, bro.”
Next on my list of amazing meat-hook wielding super beasts is Leeching Sliver.
Who needs evasion when just having a huge mass of slivers attacking can finish the game before damage? Not only does this stack, it’s also life loss. I can’t say that turbo fog is a “thing” right now, but it’s nice to have a win con that works around that. When I first read him, I thought; “This is my hellrider... a full playset mainboard sounds about right!”
Who needs evasion when just having a huge mass of slivers attacking can finish the game before damage? Not only does this stack, it’s also life loss. I can’t say that turbo fog is a “thing” right now, but it’s nice to have a win con that works around that. When I first read him, I thought; “This is my hellrider... a full playset mainboard sounds about right!”
There’s one other sliver I need to talk about. Diffusion sliver.
Diffusion Sliver solves a HUGE problem. Spot removal can be a pain for this super tribe. Now making them spend resources to remove a 1/1 or 2/2 seems okay, but you have to keep in mind that by themselves these creatures are just fancy bears at best. You need at least two if not three on board to make an impact. Making their doom blades and bile blights cost four is really nice given the absence of a hexproof sliver.
Diffusion Sliver solves a HUGE problem. Spot removal can be a pain for this super tribe. Now making them spend resources to remove a 1/1 or 2/2 seems okay, but you have to keep in mind that by themselves these creatures are just fancy bears at best. You need at least two if not three on board to make an impact. Making their doom blades and bile blights cost four is really nice given the absence of a hexproof sliver.
That rounds out the new M15 slivers in my deck, but I'm also interested in using a sweet new treat given to us, Chord of Calling!
Chord of Calling lets us fetch out any sliver that is relevant at any given moment. If your opponent casts Supreme Verdict, you can respond by finding the Hivelord and giving your guys Indestructible. If they tap out and leave your next combat alone, fetch up the Leeching Sliver and bring the pain! The best part is that Sentinel Sliver gives your slivers vigilance so they can attack and provide tappers for the Convoke.
All that being said, here is a rough draft of what I have been brewing:
Chord of Calling lets us fetch out any sliver that is relevant at any given moment. If your opponent casts Supreme Verdict, you can respond by finding the Hivelord and giving your guys Indestructible. If they tap out and leave your next combat alone, fetch up the Leeching Sliver and bring the pain! The best part is that Sentinel Sliver gives your slivers vigilance so they can attack and provide tappers for the Convoke.
All that being said, here is a rough draft of what I have been brewing:
Creatures: 31
3 Diffusion Sliver
4 Leeching Sliver
2 Sliver Hivelord
Spells:6
2 Chord of Calling
Lands: 23
4 Sliver Hive
4 Battlefield Forge
4 Caves of Koilos
4 Yavimaya Coast
3 Shivan Reef
Sideboard:15
1 Diffusion Sliver
I chose to stick with pain lands simply because they are faster and not needed for color if you get a Sliver Hive or a Manaweft Sliver on board. Boros Charms back up the slivers with some added protection from Supreme Verdict or similar spells while also being able to push in the last extra bit of damage to close out the game. Speed is the name of the game with this build and hopefully it will live up to my expectations. Only time will tell and I can’t wait to sleeve this up for FNM.
That’s all I got. Until next time,
Christian.
WizardDen.com
Friday, July 4, 2014
M15 constructed playables and limited bombs!
Hey guys, I know we're all getting pretty excited for M15 so let's talk M15!
As of writing this, the entire set has been spoiled, so if you haven't seen it all yet...what do you live under a rock or something?
Basically, I want to take a look at some of the cards that could shake up the Standard format a bit. It is a core set after all so you usually don't get anything that just blows your mind and crushes formats but there are some interesting tidbits here that might help existing archetypes or create new ones. Personally, I'm looking forward to a format with a little less Mono...
So to start, I'm pretty excited about the enemy colored "Pain Lands" cycle from Apocalypse(Already got my playsets!). These lands probably get a lot of praise and hate from players because they are not quite obvious on how good they are. Personally, I think they're fantastic. I've been complaining about how slow the format is for a while now and these lands finally speed it up a bit, granted, for certain color combinations.
If you haven't noticed, these lands come into play untapped... UNTAPPED!! Finally... Aggro decks have been limited to mono colors since if you add colors, you add Temples to fix mana and slow yourself down too much. I think aggressive decks have the advantage right now with Esper control decks running 12 temples and 12 shock lands and just about every other deck with two colors has their 4 temples and shocks too. The Pain Lands allow you to play a second color and have mana fixing that let's you curve out too. This is exactly what this format needed. With these in standard now, I wouldn't be surprised to see a little less control running around. You can make a competitive aggro deck with just about any of these 2 color combinations and I'm excited to try all of them.
Garruk, Apex Predator
Many people either love or hate this guy and I won't lie, when I first saw him spoiled a few days ago, I was leaning towards the hate side. After some second thoughts, I actually think he'll be amazing in Standard. One of the things I believe people forget about is that he is green. Green has two of the most powerful mana accelerators in Sylvan Caryatid and Courser of Kruphix and they'll be even better after rotation pending something even better in Khans. You also have access to some of the best removal spells standard has ever seen in Abrupt Decay, Hero's Downfall and Thoughtseize. Why people think he will never work at 7 mana is beyond me. All of the cards I just mentioned can control the game enough for a turn 6 Garruk. His -3 ability is probably the weakest. Unless you need to kill a Stormbreath Dragon or something with evasion(Unblockable, Trample, etc.), then you just put Deathtouch Beasts in front of them and suddenly they're not attacking you anymore. Plus, you can probably just kill it with a Downfall or something. After awhile, the Beasts will overwhelm your opponent and close out the game. I'm pretty sure he'll close out many games just like Elspeth does, but Garruk eats Elspeth for breakfast.
The Souls are being hyped a bit but more-so the Soul of New Phyrexia. I've heard people saying that he's an auto include for Modern Tron and my question is what do you take out for it? I've heard people say Wurmcoil Engine and that just blows me away. How can you possibly think that Soul of New Phyrexia is better than a Wurmcoil Engine?! Time will tell I suppose, but my guess is that none of the entire cycle will see competitive play, maybe some commander or casual stuff, but not competitive.
The Chain Veil
If you haven't heard the buzz, there's an infinite combo with this in Standard that I'm sure someone will try to make... it might be me. So the combo is Veil, Ral Zarek, Nissa Worldwaker(Or Xenagos, the Reveler with 4 or more creatures on board). How it works is you +1 Ral Zarek, +1 Nissa, activate Veil. The Veil lets you activate your planeswalkers as if they haven't been activated yet this turn so you +1 Ral to untap your Veil, +1 Nissa to untap 4 lands to use on the Veil activation and repeat as needed. Once Ral is around 200 loyalty, you can use Ral's ultimate and grab some extra turns(every turn), and beat in with 4/4 Lands from Nissa since their entire board is tapped down from Ral's +1. It's a little cutesy, but it works and it's been a while since there was a legitimate combo in standard. Not to mention that it's in good colors; Red, Blue and Green. This gives access to Mizzium Mortars, Cyclonic Rift, Courser, Caryatid and Kiora. There could be a reasonable shell around this so we'll see if it's actually competitive or not.
What about limited? Pre-release is coming up next weekend and I'm excited to get my hands on the new cards. So what's gunna be good? Well there's a few things, let's take a look at some prospective limited bombs;
First off, flying creatures are good and they can be tough to deal with so I'm looking at cards like Welking Tern which is basically a Vaporkin reprint, Geist of the Moors, a 3 mana 3/1 vanilla flyer, Soul of Ravnica, Ob Nixilis, Unshackled. All great creatures that will put insane clocks on your opponent. The removal isn't great, so they'll do some work.
Speaking of removal, there are a few decent spells however. Polymorphist's Jest is a bomb here as it can make all their guys 1/1's and you basically have perfect blocks set up even with your smallest creatures. Considering it can possibly be a 3 mana wrath on your opponent's side, I'd play it every time as long as I'm in blue.
Other than that, the removal is pretty light and situational. Ulcerate is decent by being a Bile Blight for 1 less mana at the cost of 3 life(and it only hits one creature) but the life loss might prove to be too much for a 1 for 1. There's Flesh to Dust for 5 mana and various blue cards that bounce permanents so removal is pretty bad here. Just play your biggest guy and let him do his thing.
For value creatures, the ones I'm liking the most are;
Goblin Rabblemaster
He puts out tokens every turn that can put a lot of pressure on your opponent if they get a slow start or have creatures with 1 toughness that will die to the tokens.
Ajani's Pridemate
This guy can get out of hand real quick with any life gain. If you have access to something that gives you life every turn, then he'll win the game on his own. Like I said, the removal is bad so committing a bit to your creatures is probably a safe bet.
Chasm Skulker
This guy isn't amazing at first, but if he's left alone for a few turns, he gets to be quite the nuisance. Then, if they manage to kill him, he floods the board with a ton of tokens so not bad.
Ancient Silverback
Ancient Silverback is a pretty nice bomb at Uncommon. 6 Mana isn't terrible especially for limited and M15 sealed/draft looks to be a little slow too. A 6/5 means he can trade with just about anything else and he's incredibly hard to deal with since he comes with the ability to regenerate at the low cost of only 1 mana. You should be jamming this guy everytime if you're in Green.
There are a few other decent guys like Frenzied Goblin, Kalonian Twingrove, Hornet Nest, All of the Paragons(Anthems for the color). But they're self explanatory.
The format looks like it'll be pretty fun because there's not a lot of disruption which means both players get to play their deck each game. You can always lose to your lands, but for the most part, I think I'll enjoy just being able to jam my guys and get in as much as possible.
For pre-release weekend, the 5 playable promos makes me want to choose black because it's a 5/3 flyer for 5 and let's you draw extra cards unless they sacrifice a creature or lose 3 life each turn. However, the rest of black is pretty weak so I think it's a bit of a trap. I actually think that while the white promo costs 7 mana, the rest of white in the set is fairly powerful. Lots of token generators, life link, combat tricks, flyers and decent creatures. So I'll probably be going white next weekend. I also think that Blue has a lot of good creatures and spells but the promo isn't very good so I'd rather pick white and throw in the supporting blue cards I end up with in my pool. That being said, Red is probably a close second choice. The dragon can just crush games and the rest of the red cards in M15 are pretty nice. Lots of burn, good creatures and combat tricks so if they don't have white up for grabs, I'll take Red most likely. Green isn't terrible either but the promo is pretty bad in my opinion. It can trade with just about anything which is nice, and then it comes back on it's own, however it comes back tapped on your next upkeep so everytime he dies, you don't get to use him again until 2 turns later. Still not the worst creature ever printed, but not amazing.
Well, those are my thoughts on the set for constructed and limited. Let me know what things you're excited to play this weekend in the comments below!
Until next time,
DannyO
WizardDen.com
As of writing this, the entire set has been spoiled, so if you haven't seen it all yet...what do you live under a rock or something?
So to start, I'm pretty excited about the enemy colored "Pain Lands" cycle from Apocalypse(Already got my playsets!). These lands probably get a lot of praise and hate from players because they are not quite obvious on how good they are. Personally, I think they're fantastic. I've been complaining about how slow the format is for a while now and these lands finally speed it up a bit, granted, for certain color combinations.
Garruk, Apex Predator
Many people either love or hate this guy and I won't lie, when I first saw him spoiled a few days ago, I was leaning towards the hate side. After some second thoughts, I actually think he'll be amazing in Standard. One of the things I believe people forget about is that he is green. Green has two of the most powerful mana accelerators in Sylvan Caryatid and Courser of Kruphix and they'll be even better after rotation pending something even better in Khans. You also have access to some of the best removal spells standard has ever seen in Abrupt Decay, Hero's Downfall and Thoughtseize. Why people think he will never work at 7 mana is beyond me. All of the cards I just mentioned can control the game enough for a turn 6 Garruk. His -3 ability is probably the weakest. Unless you need to kill a Stormbreath Dragon or something with evasion(Unblockable, Trample, etc.), then you just put Deathtouch Beasts in front of them and suddenly they're not attacking you anymore. Plus, you can probably just kill it with a Downfall or something. After awhile, the Beasts will overwhelm your opponent and close out the game. I'm pretty sure he'll close out many games just like Elspeth does, but Garruk eats Elspeth for breakfast.
The Souls are being hyped a bit but more-so the Soul of New Phyrexia. I've heard people saying that he's an auto include for Modern Tron and my question is what do you take out for it? I've heard people say Wurmcoil Engine and that just blows me away. How can you possibly think that Soul of New Phyrexia is better than a Wurmcoil Engine?! Time will tell I suppose, but my guess is that none of the entire cycle will see competitive play, maybe some commander or casual stuff, but not competitive.
The Chain Veil
What about limited? Pre-release is coming up next weekend and I'm excited to get my hands on the new cards. So what's gunna be good? Well there's a few things, let's take a look at some prospective limited bombs;
First off, flying creatures are good and they can be tough to deal with so I'm looking at cards like Welking Tern which is basically a Vaporkin reprint, Geist of the Moors, a 3 mana 3/1 vanilla flyer, Soul of Ravnica, Ob Nixilis, Unshackled. All great creatures that will put insane clocks on your opponent. The removal isn't great, so they'll do some work.
Speaking of removal, there are a few decent spells however. Polymorphist's Jest is a bomb here as it can make all their guys 1/1's and you basically have perfect blocks set up even with your smallest creatures. Considering it can possibly be a 3 mana wrath on your opponent's side, I'd play it every time as long as I'm in blue.
Other than that, the removal is pretty light and situational. Ulcerate is decent by being a Bile Blight for 1 less mana at the cost of 3 life(and it only hits one creature) but the life loss might prove to be too much for a 1 for 1. There's Flesh to Dust for 5 mana and various blue cards that bounce permanents so removal is pretty bad here. Just play your biggest guy and let him do his thing.
For value creatures, the ones I'm liking the most are;
Goblin Rabblemaster
Ajani's Pridemate
Chasm Skulker
Ancient Silverback
There are a few other decent guys like Frenzied Goblin, Kalonian Twingrove, Hornet Nest, All of the Paragons(Anthems for the color). But they're self explanatory.
The format looks like it'll be pretty fun because there's not a lot of disruption which means both players get to play their deck each game. You can always lose to your lands, but for the most part, I think I'll enjoy just being able to jam my guys and get in as much as possible.
For pre-release weekend, the 5 playable promos makes me want to choose black because it's a 5/3 flyer for 5 and let's you draw extra cards unless they sacrifice a creature or lose 3 life each turn. However, the rest of black is pretty weak so I think it's a bit of a trap. I actually think that while the white promo costs 7 mana, the rest of white in the set is fairly powerful. Lots of token generators, life link, combat tricks, flyers and decent creatures. So I'll probably be going white next weekend. I also think that Blue has a lot of good creatures and spells but the promo isn't very good so I'd rather pick white and throw in the supporting blue cards I end up with in my pool. That being said, Red is probably a close second choice. The dragon can just crush games and the rest of the red cards in M15 are pretty nice. Lots of burn, good creatures and combat tricks so if they don't have white up for grabs, I'll take Red most likely. Green isn't terrible either but the promo is pretty bad in my opinion. It can trade with just about anything which is nice, and then it comes back on it's own, however it comes back tapped on your next upkeep so everytime he dies, you don't get to use him again until 2 turns later. Still not the worst creature ever printed, but not amazing.
Well, those are my thoughts on the set for constructed and limited. Let me know what things you're excited to play this weekend in the comments below!
Until next time,
DannyO
WizardDen.com
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