Friday, February 27, 2015

Judge's Den: A New Series


 Ariel with Wizardden.com here again, but this time with something new. In celebration of my recently passed Level 2 judge test we are launching a new series called Judge's Den. These usually brief articles will go over the interesting questions and situations that come up when judging. This week's topic? Moving to combat, what does it really mean and when does it really happen?

Situation: Active player, lets call him Alvin, has four untapped lands, a Goblin Rabblemaster, and a 1/1 red Goblin token. Nonactive player, lets call him Nathan, has three untapped lands. Alvin says "move to combat" Nathan responds by casting a Hero's Downfall targeting the Goblin Rabblemaster. Alvin has no response, puts the creature in the graveyard, and proceeds to cast a new Goblin Rabblemaster. At this point I am called over.

Alvin says he is still in the main phase and can therefore cast a creature before moving to combat. Nathan says it was already agreed they were moving to combat. Thus the debate begun. Most of the room at this FNM was fairly polarized on the topic even after I explained it. What was my ruling? They are still in the main phase.

500.2. A phase or step in which players receive priority ends when the stack is empty and all players pass IN SUCCESSION. Simply having the stack become empty doesn’t cause such a phase or step to end; all players have to pass in succession with the stack empty. Because of this, each player gets a chance to add new things to the stack before that phase or step ends.

That is the rule on how to move to the next phase. When Nathan added something new to the stack after Alvin passed priority the phase could not change. Alvin being the active player then gets priority after the stack empties. Empty stack plus being in the main phase means he may play sorcery speed spells such as a new Goblin Rabblemaster.

The story doesn't end here however. A spectator, lets call him Steve, was particularly against this ruling because of his experience on MTGO and actually emailed WoTC about this. Two very important things were later learned. First, WoTC customer support does not always know how to answer rules questions, this is why we have judges. They responded to his email with incorrect information that was very confusing for Steve since he by that time understood that actual ruling on it. Second MTGO has a setting that assumes you are done with your main phase entirely if you pass priority on an empty stack. This setting can and should be changed if you play online so you can determine for yourself when you want to pass priority regardless of how rare it becomes this important.

Thank you for joining us at Wizardden.com and feel free to send us your rules questions, I am always happy to answer questions that don't relate to banding.

Tuesday, February 17, 2015

If You Aren't Casting Siege Rhino, You're doing it Wrong.


Josh here with WizardDen.com 's Team RogueT3ch. All my decisions are changing. I am going through a mid-rotation crisis (similar to mid-life, except I don't get a Porsche). Sometimes you just need two GameDay playmats to slap you in the face before you realize: if you aren't casting Siege Rhino, you're doing it wrong. Team Roguet3ch member RogueT3ch member Will Lotz terrorized the Boise valley Game Day events bringing home not one but two of those sexy Ugin mats with a third one being missed only by a rough finish in a third event. Abzan continues to show its worth and I don't see it ending anytime soon. 

Personally I have lost hours of sleep trying to find a way to battle past the giant rhino. But this morning I remembered the best phrase I've heard since starting my journey with Magic the Gathering, if you can't beat 'em join 'em. Here's the list Will put up nearly three game day wins with.

4x Sylvan Caryatid
4x Fleecemane Lion
3x Courser of Kruphix

4x Siege Rhino
3x Wingmate Roc
2x Tasigur, the Golden Fang

3x Bile Blight
4x Abzan Charm
3x Hero's Downfall
1x Utter End

1x Garruk, Apex Predator
3x Elspeth, Sun's Champion

2x Forest
2x Plains
4x Windswept Heath
4x Sandsteppe Citadel
4x Temple of Malady
3x Temple of Silence
2x Caves of Koilos
3x Llanowar Wastes 
1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth


Sideboard:
3x Thoughtsieze
3x Glare of Heresy
2x Drown in Sorrow
2x End Hostilities
2x Duneblast
2x Liliana Vess
1x Ajani, Mentor of Heroes


There are a few spicy additions that I am not accustomed to. Perhaps this is what put the deck over the top. Garruk, Apex Predator seems like a very solid top end. I can't imagine a world where Elspeth in to Garruk doesn't win you the game. More than Siege Rhino Will Lotz put what are quite literally the best cards in the format together and showed what raw power level does: Win Games. I speak not only for myself but for all of RogueT3ch when I say if you want to take down a PPTQ or even an FNM in your area sleeve up Abzan, the rewards will be great as at it's core Abzan is a deck that is made to prey on on the other clans, color combinations, or even mono-colored decks of the format. Abzan may not be ahead by a landslide in all match-ups, there are no truly bad match-ups either. Which means if you take the time to really learn the deck, you will be greatly rewarded (in playmats and 1,000,000 prize packs). That's all for today. be sure to check out the new FKK draft I've released and happy battles to all!!

-Josh

Monday, February 16, 2015

Fate Reforged Draft!! Winners of MTGO Fetchlands announced!! (Video)


The Draft:

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

Overall I really like the deck that was drafted being able to stay two colors is very strong and all of the cards that we played worked very well together.. It's a shame that we had the bye round as I would have really like to have played with the deck a bit more. Thanks for watching and be sure to keep watching for future raffles and give aways!!

Thursday, February 12, 2015

Siege Rhino is still as hot as your mom.



Nick with WizardDen.com 's Team RogueT3ch here. It's been several weeks since Fate Reforged has come out. You know what the hottest card is? Nope not Monastery Mentor. If you said Ugin, The Spirit Dragon, guess again.

If you got a clue from the image, It's Siege Rhino. Currently Wizardden.com is sold out, and TCGPlayer reports 3x sales of Siege Rhino since February 1st. Several other retailers are sold out.

Luckily for everyone involved, enough Khans of Tarkir was opened that despite the demand increase, the price hasn't moved much. But with a strong place in Modern, its doubtful it can stay low forever.

So whats all the hype? Well to start its not new hype. The card is really really really good. It fits into every abzan list regardless of aggro, mid-range, control ect. Its a work horse at the 4 drop slot. And upon resolution has instant game impact with a 6 point life swing.

Point of this article? As you are deck brewing, and planning how to crush your next event. Remember this, you either need to play Siege Rhino, or play a deck that beats Siege Rhino. So be looking for (or looking out for) good responses like Glare of Heresy and Valorous Stance (just to name a few).


Good Luck Brewing!


-Nick

Monday, February 9, 2015

Fate Reforged RG Monsters in Standard (Video)



Hey!! Josh here with wizardden.com's team roguet3ch, Today I bring you a list that has stolen my heart at least until Dragons of Tarkir releases: RG Monsters. This deck didn't get a lot out of Fate Reforged but Shaman of the Great Hunt is no slouch and definitely raised the power of this deck dramatically. Below is the list and the videos from today, I hope to see this list sleeved up more because the results you'll get will be keeping a VERY big smile on your face.

RG Monsters
4x Elvish Mystic
3x Rattleclaw Mystic
4x Heir of the Wilds
4x Goblin Rabblemaster
4x Fanatic of Xenagos
2x Boon Satyr
3x Shaman of the Great Hunt
3x Ashcloud Phoenix
4x Stormbreath Dragon
3x Craters Claw
2x Lightning Strike
4x Wooded Foothills
4x Temple of Abandon
8x Mountain
8x Forest

Sideboard:
4x Magma Spray
4x Destructive Revelry
3x Harness by Force
2x Arc Lightning
1x Barrage of Boulders
1x Xenagos, the Reveler


Deck Tech


R1 Vs Mono Red



R2 Vs Sultai Control


R3 Vs UW Heroic



Thanks for watching be sure to subscribe by this Saturday 2/14/15 for your chance to win a KTK Bloodstained Mire and a KTK Polluted Delta on MTGO. 

Modern Burn and You!


Christian here to talk to you about my favorite format, Modern! We are post pro-tour fate reforged and there was a lot of excitement surrounding modern and what archetypes would reign supreme on the big stage in D.C. The top 8 was a rather diverse group and that is thanks to the recent ban list update, with Treasure Cruise, Dig Through Time and Birthing Pod getting the axe, it left a hole in the meta game and it looks like it was just big enough for siege rhino to fit through.

A large majority of the field this past weekend was non other than Junk midrange. It was a staggering 28% of the field. With a showing like that, it would have taken an act of god or nature to keep it out of the top 8. It took two spots on Sunday with Eric Froehlich taking top seat running the traditional version of the list and Jacob Wilson on the "Podless Pod/Wilt-leaf liege" version. There are significant differences between the decks but they are not what I'm here to talk to you about today.

The second most represented deck is one that is very near and dear to my heart, Burn. Burn is one of those decks that has always been around but has a lot of hate cards that can keep it in check. With the loss of treasure cruise, Delver disappeared from the meta entirely and Burn was waiting in the wings to take it's spot. With it taking two spots in the top 8, despite the numerous Kor Firewalkers and timely reinforcements in everyone's sideboard, I can say the deck is the real deal.  Let's take a look at one of the lists and see what burn was bringing to the table this past weekend.

"Burn"
Piloted by Seth  Manfield

4 Arid Mesa
4 Wooded Foothills
3 Sacred Foundry
2 Mountain
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Stomping Ground
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Rift Bolt
4 Skullcrack
4 Searing Blaze
4 Boros Charm
4 Lava Spike
4 Monastery Swiftspear
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Goblin Guide
4 Eidolon of the Great Revel
2 Shard Volley
2 Lightning Helix
1 Grim Lavamancer


4 Destructive Revelry
1 Lighting Helix
3 Kor Firewalker
3 Molten Rain
2 Deflecting Palm
2 Path to Exile

There are several different versions of this deck ranging from mono-red to five colors. The chosen flavor this weekend was boros. Getting access to powerful burn spells like boros charm and lightning helix for the mirror match. The deck splashes green for destructive revelry out of the board almost solely to blow up leyline of sanctity. The deck matches up well against both splinter twin and junk midrange. 

Against Junk it really wants to have a skull crack in it's opening hand. If it is able to stop the life gain from siege rhino, it is usually able to burn them out the following turn or two, depending on some friendly draws. Skullcrack becomes more important post-board as it has to stop timely reinforcements. Having played the match more than a few times I can say that if you are able to stop the first reinforcements you typically win the game. 

Now splinter twin is tricky. With it coming down to a race more often than not. Do you have enough burn to win before they combo off? Seth was missing a key sideboard card against twin. That being Combust. He instead has path to exile. That is a fair trade off, Path being able to catch more things but is able to be countered. I can't say that switching them would have changed the turn out for him at all but it's not a bad alternative if you want to save a few dollars on path to exiles. 

All in all i'm happy to see burn do as well as it did. Hope to see you guys suspending rift bolts in the coming future. With that being said, thanks for reading.
Until next time,
Christian.


Thursday, February 5, 2015

A Glance into Fate Reforged Limited



Hey guys, Josh here with Wizardden.com's Team Roguet3ch. Some time has passed since the release of Fate Reforged and with it's release, a vast amount of knowledge has been gained in regards to the cards limited and constructed implications. Today I bring you some of the lessons I have learned from FRF limited. I apologize I was unable to get videos of prerelease events up but I have been under the weather and was pretty much unable to speak. Not only that I also got engaged this week so I have been very busy. However, I did play a ton of pre-release events on MTGO as well as in real life, and also took down Boise's only limited PPTQ to lock up a spot in the RPTQ in April. I hope this helps you take down a draft or sealed event in your area!!

I'll start with sealed and move in to draft as there are quite a few differences between the two. Since Fate Reforged released the new  sealed format is composed of three packs of FRF and three packs of KTK. One thing I have noticed is that FRF adds a slew of good non-creature spells and a few solid creatures where KTK offers some very strong creatures and very few efficient non-creature spells. This is a broad statement as all of the rare creatures in FRF are playable as is the cycle of choose to put a +1/+1 counter or get some extra value in some way or another and lest we forget the solid non-creature cards of KTK such as Feat of Resistance, Arrow Storm, Treasure Cruise and many more. For sealed there are several ways to build your deck and I still believe post FRF that Jeskai is the strongest color combination. As for the other four clans they are all very solid choices and you are not going to be punished for not opening the insane Jeskai pool (Which I opened at the PPTQ only to pass to Mr. Nick Crabs). The current sealed format is very open and as long as you are able to identify your strongest color combination, you will reap the benefits of a very strong deck.

Draft is where things get a little more interactive. With well over 70% of Fate Reforged being limited playable it makes it quite difficult to pick up on signals early on in the draft. To give an example of this, let's look at a pack one pick four. Your first three cards are Mastery of the Unseen, Lightform, Pyrotechnics. You look at the pack and find Destructor Dragon, Whisperer of the Wilds, Hooded Assassin, Douse in Gloom, Mardu Scout, Thornwood Falls, Harsh Sustenance, Cunning Strike, Dragon Bell Monk, Aven Surveyor, Refocus. I know that is a lot to look at but in this example, I would say that one of the two people to my right are also in white with green being grossly open. However, the people to your right easily could have run off with Whisperwood Elemental, another Pyrotechnics, or much more. With the power level of the green cards in the hypothetical pack I would take the Destructor Dragon simply to keep myself open. Even more than with the sealed format I believe that draft is very flat in regards to the clans power level meaning that there is no clear cut winner for the strongest clan; though if I were asked about this I would say Abzan is in the lead by a very narrow margin. It is very difficult to gauge where some packs are going, though that is not always the case as I have done several drafts where I go in to the KTK packs with only a single color of cards (generally white which always makes my head explode as I would say white is undoubtedly the strongest color for limited in FRF.) The important thing is making sure that you don't back yourself into a wall only to find you are getting cut out of all of the colors you chose in FRF. This means having a willingness to being open during the Fate Packs. As I mentioned earlier in this article, well over 70% of Fate Reforged is limited playable which means you can be very open in regards to colors during this pack and can very easily fill any holes with the cards of KTK. I have also found myself in situations where I will end up with four colors worth of solid picks, a Cunning Strike and a Harsh Sustenance only to be able to bring everything together in Khans walking away with a 3-0 or worst case 2-0 into my only loss kind of deck.

After having played with the set quite a bit I would like to list what are in my opinion the top five uncommons and top ten commons of both Fate Reforged and Khans of Tarkir in order to assist you in evaluating your picks.

Fate Reforged Uncommons:
1: Lightform
2: Cloudform
3: Valorous Stance
4: Destructor Dragon / Temur Sabertooth (very close between these they are probably 4-5 in my opinion)
5: Pyrotechnics / Elite Scaleguard / Wardscale Dragon (Same situation, all of these are cards you should be very happy to see, especially if you get them pick 3-5.)

Khans of Tarkir Uncommons:
1: Murderous Cut
2: Armament Corps (Color intensive but an insanely powerful card)
3: Mardu Heart-Piercer
4: Ride Down (Also a bit color intensive but for some reason your opponent never sees it coming)
5: This one really depends on the deck you are in but some very potent choices include: Jeskai Elder, Bellowing Saddlebrute, Dead Drop, Arc Lightning, Hordeling Outburst, Heir of the Wilds, Pine Walker, Sultai Flayer, any of the Charms. I'm sorry that there are so many coming in at number five but again, the picks will be determined by the colors you are in and these are all fine choices.

Before I jump to the commons one honorable mention for the uncommons that I believe skyrockets in playable value with the addition of the manifest mechanic is Ruthless Ripper. Playing around this guy is all but impossible as you can completely turn a game around with the Ripper. If you thought it was hard attacking into manifested creatures before, this guy keeps it just as scary, even if you are tapped
out.

Fate Reforged top 10 commons:
1: Reach of Shadows
2: Sandblast
3: Sandsteppe Outcast
4: Hunt the Weak
5: Bathe in Dragonfire
6: Typhoid Rats
7: Abzan Skycaptain
8: Whisk Away
9: Aven Surveyor
10: Douse in Gloom

This may not be the right order but I do feel as though these are the ten strongest commons in the set.

Khans of Tarkir top 10 commons:
1: Feat of Resistance
2: Kill Shot
3: Abzan Guide (purely for power level)
4: Arrow Storm
5: Debilitating Injury
6: Throttle
7: Alabaster Kirin
8: Ainok Bond-Kin
9: Mardu Warshrieker
10: Bitter Revelation

Again, possibly not in the right order. and to give you a better idea of how strong the commons are in Khans of Tarkir 25 cards went through my mind as options for this list.

I hope this helps you take down a few drafts and sealed events. I'd love to hear any arguments against these lists as well. I'll try to get up some constructed videos once I get back from vacation (probably Thursday) with the release of FRF I am on a very fun deck I'm excited to show you all. Don't forget to check out the YouTube page for a few videos and be sure to subscribe before Valentine's Day for your chance to win a KTK Bloodstained Mire and KTK Polluted Delta on MTGO! Thanks for reading and happy battles!

Josh Kreiter
Wizardden.com

Wednesday, February 4, 2015

Mardu Tokens at Grand Prix Trial Kyoto




Hey T3chers! DannyO here and I'm here to recap my tournament report for GP Trial Kyoto. It was a place for me to do a little dry run for my latest creation, Mardu Tokens. In my last article I talked about how I took R/W tokens and got it to Mardu and wanted to see how it worked... Well...

It was awesome. I didn't flat out win the whole thing, but I learned a very important tid-bit... Thoughtseize is a really good card. Have you heard of this thing? It literally lets you look at their hand(write everything down of course), pick the one card they have that you don't have a good answer for or that will disrupt your strategy and make them discard it. It was the ridiculously sturdy crutch made out of unobtainium on which I leaned.

Ok, on a more serious note. After play-testing a deck that just always felt like it was missing something, I finally found out what that missing link was. I firmly believe that Thoughtseize single-handedly won me games. Sultai control is getting popular fast, and with it, Bile Blight and Drown in Sorrow are a dime a dozen. I can't exactly play Rabble and Hordeling Outburst and sit back as an army of goblins just win games for me. In Red and White, there is no good way to deal with that either. Maybe Dictate of Heliod? But that won't save tokens from Bile Blight and it is just outside of the mana costs I'm willing to pay... at least for that effect. However, for ONE MANA(!!!!!!!), I get full information on their current hand and can then sculpt my game-play accordingly. If you're worried about playing 3 colors, just look at how well Abzan has been doing at GP's, Pro Tours, Worlds, and more-so across the world at every FNM.

Anyway, enough bragging about Thoughtseize (which you probably already knew was awesome). Let's take a look at my matches and see how those went.

Before we do though, here's a reminder of the list I had so you can keep up.

Lands: 23
Battlefield Forge
Bloodstained Mire
Caves of Koilos
2 Mountain
Nomad Outpost
1 Plains
1 Swamp
Temple of Silence
Temple of Triumph

Creatures: 12
Goblin Rabblemaster
Monastery Mentor
Seeker of the Way
Soulfire Grand Master

Spells: 25
Hordeling Outburst
Magma Jet
Mardu Charm
Raise the Alarm
Sorin, Solemn Visitor
Stoke the Flames
Thoughtseize
Valorous Stance

Sideboard: 15
Abzan Advantage
Chandra, Pyromaster
Crackling Doom
Mardu Charm
Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker
Searing Blood
Sorin, Solemn Visitor
Valorous Stance

3 Rounds Swiss, cut to Top-8

Round 1 - VS. Sultai Control

Game 1: Mull to 4 :(
On the play, I only have one land, draws were - Temple, a second Raise the Alarm, Temple, Rabble. He gets stuck on an Island and a Swamp and scoops as soon as the Rabble hits board on turn 5. It happens.

Game 2: Boarding in the extra Stance, Chandras and Mardu Charms. Boarding out Sorin, 1 Outburst, 2 Seeker of the Way and 1 Soulfire.

He hits land, keeps my board very clear and ends up with Ugin to lock me out.

Wish I could remember more detail here, but I don't recall any plays I could have done differently.

1-0

Game 3:

Well, he got stuck on lands again and I curved out nicely so he scooped with much frustration as anyone would... There was a big play in this game worth mentioning though. I accidentally cast a Stoke at the end of his turn where I didn't have the resources to cast it and he cast Negate in response. I immediately put it back in my hand saying I couldn't cast that and now he knows I have a stoke and I know he's got a Negate... I feel a little dirty, but we continue. I couldn't exactly cast Stoke then knowing he's got that so I'm playing around that and play a Rabble instead. He untaps with Bile Blight, Negate, Crux in hand(I thoughtseizes earlier, then found Negate). He's at 4, I have Rabble and 1 Token, Stoke in hand. He makes the mistake of casting Crux instead of Bile Blighting the Rabble leaving only enough mana to cast either Bile Blight or Negate afterwards. I had Valorous Stance to save the Rabble. Then whether he decides to use the last of his mana to Blight the Rabble, or Negate the Stoke, he's dead either way. He could have gave himself a few extra turns, but it happened anyway. He didn't know I had the Stance either, so there's that.

Round 2 - VS. Mono Green Devotion

Game 1 - on the draw

He gets turn one Mystic into a turn 2 Hornet Nest which is not very fun. Luckily, I was able to punch through it by going very wide and remaining on offense while keeping bigger threats like Polukranos off the board with Valorous Stance and finishing off with Stokes/Jets.

Game 2 - Bringing in Crackling Dooms, Valorous Stance, Searing Blood. Taking out Mentors and Mardu Charms.

I don't remember what I did much here, but he got another turn 1 Mystic into turn 2 Hornet Nest, Turn 3 Polukranos, and curved out into a Hornet Queen. I didn't have the right removal for his tempo and died.

Game 3 - On the Play, Trade Mainboard Rabbles for the Mentors I benched earlier.

My removal was perfect. Temple go. Mystic? You don't say...(everytime). Miraculously draw a Bloodstained Mire to fetch an untapped red source to Searing Blood the crap out of that Mystic. Knowing that there is literally nothing for him to do with 2 mana was awesome and as expected, he played his second land and said go. I play a third land and get Monastery Mentor on board while nothing is going on. He untaps and plays Hornet nest(right on time). I respond in kind with a Crackling Doom that not only gets rid of the Nest without making stupid bees, but triggers Prowess, gets me a Prowess Monk token and I swing for 3... oh and hits him for 2! He plays another Hornet Nest and unfortunately I don't have the second C-Doom for it, but I have a lot of Prowess-triggering spells in hand and decide to go wide and punch in. A turn or two later, I'm attacking with 4 or 5 monks, a Mentor, and burn in hand... done.

I learned a bit here. I don't know if it would have won me game 2, but taking out Mentors instead of Rabbles was a huge mistake. Rabbles needed to come out because he has Hornet Nest and I have no good way to deal with it aside from Thoughtsieze. Game 3 was a steam roll victory on the back of a Mentor, so that felt good to realize that stupid mistake before it was too late. I also learned that Valorous Stance is nice.

2-0

Round 3 - VS. Sultai Control

Game 1 went by pretty quick and I don't remember much. I had Thoughtseize, picked off Bile Blight, curved out and crushed.

Game 2 he keeps a 2-lander, I Thoughtseize his Satyr Wayfinder and he draws no more land allowing me to goldfish.

Only real lesson here was that without Thoughtseize, he would have found a 3rd land and played a game of magic. I don't think this was a game to chock up to variance. This was all Thoughtseize.

3-0(could have drawn in, but we were playing for PWP and not taking it too seriously)

Top - 8!

Round 1 - VS. Abzan Aggro

Game 1 was another game that went by pretty fast. I remember not knowing for sure what he was playing because he didn't play much. I think I saw a Siege Rhino hit the board and it met a Valorous Stance and my deck had sick tempo and synergy to overpower an already stale game.

Game 2 He plays Rakshasa Deathdealer, Anafenza and I figure out that he's on Abzan Aggro. Thoughtseize picks apart his strategy while Magma Jet answered Deathdealer, Anafenza gets Stance'd, and Mentor does what he does. I believe I was buying back Stokes by the end of this game too.

This match-up was over really quick and I don't think it should have been that way. His 2-drops are very resilient to most of my removal and, in general, his creatures are much bigger than mine. The biggest difference is that I put out a lot more than he does. As long as I can curve with a few token generators and keep the right blockers off, it feels like a pretty easy match-up. At least 60/40 my favor.

Round 2 - VS. Mono Green Devotion(Same one as swiss)

I made two... HUGE mistakes this round. The worst part is that I usually pride myself on the fact that I am really good about not making play mistakes to ON-BOARD INFORMATION!!!

I got game 1, but game 2, he sees Temur Sabertooth. He wins the game at 8 life and I have a stoke in hand, just shy of buying it back a turn ahead of time to get there. I wasted a Stoke earlier in this game trying to kill this Sabertooth only to find that his bounce ability grants him Pro Retard(Indestructible).

If I had just hit him with it, he would have been at 4 at the end of that game when I had the last Stoke to finish him off, rather than... not.

Game 3 I make the second big mistake... and worse, it was because of the Sabertooth again! He's at 8, I'm at 1. He attacks with 5 bees, Sabertooth and a Mystic. I have a Stoke in hand, Soulfire on board, and buyback up, to go up 4 life putting me to 5 and him to 4. Then the 5 bees kill me. BUT! Soulfire has lifelink, blocks the Mystic and I gain 2 life, and a token blocks the Sabertooth. After damage, I go to 2, I can untap and Stoke for the win... is what should have happened. But, what DID happen was he bounced his Mystic that my Soulfire was blocking with the Sabertooths ability before combat damage and I didn't gain those 2 points of life, and died to those damn bees... Sorry Dane Cook.

Obviously this was a huge RTFC moment for me and I blew it. I could have won both of those games had I read the card and been aware of it throughout the game. I realized, shortly after, that had I used Soulfire to block the stupid cat himself, he wouldn't be able to bounce(has to target another creature), and I could have gained those precious life points.

It sucked hard, but I learned a lot on this one. I now know how to play around this cat better. But aside from that, Hornet Nest is a REAL problem for me. Short of Thoughtseize, my only option is to go wide and hope enough tokens survive to push in the next few turns. That's not something I want to do in this match-up, but unfortunately there's not a ton of options. I can run Chained to the Rocks, but now that I'm 3 colors, I can't rely on having a Mountain. I can run Banishing Light, which while it might be the best option, costs 3 and severely slows me down. But if it works, it works. I don't know if the 3 mana is worth it yet. Crackling Doom is fine, but if he even has an Elvish Mystic on board, I can't touch the Nest with it. My best thought, was to sideboard hard board wipes like End Hostilities, Mass Calcify, or even Anger of the Gods. None of these are friendly to my strategy. Mass Calcify costs too much, End is probably ok, and Anger is only good if I have a Soulfire out to net me a crap-ton of life.

Mono Green also has Disciple of Nylea to gain too much life for me to combat with. I can't keep his devotion down enough and he digs for them with Genesis Hydra. Not fun. This might be a really unfavorable match-up, but these were the only games I played against the archetype so far. I'm pretty confident it's bad though.

All in all, the biggest things I learned from these games were:

1. I need 4 Valorous Stance in the mainboard. Both modes are huge tempo plays for this strategy. It's perfect. I boarded in the 3rd Stance every round.

2. Mardu Charm is very underwhelming. I only ever used it as a Duress and that was fine, but they were boarded out more often than not. Against control, where I'd want to have them, I'd be better off bringing in Despise. It hits the popular threats right now, Ugin, Ashiok, Tasigur, Prognostic Sphinx. At one mana, it's much more likely to resolve and keep me on a tighter curve.

3. 2 Seeker of the Way is awkward. I dedicated 12 slots for creatures. 4 Rabbles, 4 Mentors, and I wanted 2 Soulfires, so Seeker filled up the other 2. While they make sense in theory in this list, they really weren't good in practice. The best thing they did was bait removal for my real threats. But, more often, they just stood there and stared at lions, rhinos, and centaurs. I think these 2 slots can be used much more efficiently somewhere else.

4. I need more efficient ways to get through blockers. Relying solely on Stoke and Magma Jet to clear the way is no good. This reason actually makes me want more burn in the main too. I don't know if I want to sacrifice the power level of the tokens and the two best token-makers in standard to do so though. Sure, they trigger prowess, but there were many games where I was just a few points away from closing it out. Either having more burn, or being able to get more damage through on the ground is the way to go. One of the best ideas I've had to answer this problem, is Ashcloud Phoenix. It provides me with a powerful, evasive creature, while also doubling as a great anti-control threat, almost always guaranteeing a 2-for-1. I'll likely find room here for the sideboard.

5. Abzan Advantage was terrible. I talked it up a bit in another article I wrote, and it was probably good for the deck it was in(Abzan Aggro I think?), but in my list, it was no good. It probably had to do with the match-ups I played, but it was never relevant and it stayed benched the entire night. 3 slots in the side opened up and I have plenty of better things to do with them.

6. Killing turn-1 Mystics is VERY good. It will likely make the MGD match-up much easier, even if still unfavorable. There's not a ton of good ways to do it, but Wild Slash isn't bad, and it overlaps my wanting more burn. If Slash fits in anywhere, however, it's probably in the side.

7. Outpost Siege. There's a lot of debate between running Outpost Siege or Chandra. While they both do the same thing(Choosing Khans for the siege and Chandra's "0" Ability), I think the Siege is better here, because it doesn't eat Downfalls. Chandra probably isn't going to 0 the turn you play her anyway, so there's not much argument for that. I just feel that the Siege is much more likely to sit there for the rest of the game and bury them in card advantage. On the other hand... if enchantment hate picks up a bit, and potentially to the point where it's in mainboards, it's better to switch to Chandra. I like having access to both between Main/Side.

I'm sure there are many more important things for me to mention here, but I want to move on to my latest changes that sparked from this event.

Here's where I'm at now:

Lands: 24
Battlefield Forge
Bloodstained Mire
Caves of Koilos
1 Mana Confluence
2 Mountain
Nomad Outpost
1 Plains
1 Swamp
Temple of Silence
Temple of Triumph

Creatures: 10
Goblin Rabblemaster
Monastery Mentor
Soulfire Grand Master

Spells: 26
Hordeling Outburst
Magma Jet
1 Murderous Cut
Outpost Sige
Raise the Alarm
Stoke the Flames
Thoughtseize
Valorous Stance

Sideboard: 15
3 Anger of the Gods
Ashcloud Phoenix
Chandra, Pyromaster
Crackling Doom
Despise
1 Kolaghan, the Storm's Fury

Went up a land. Added a Caves, and swapped a fetch for a Mana Confluence to lean me slightly towards more untapped lands and consistency in colors. Cut the 2 Seekers, 1 Outburst, 2 Mardu Charm. Those 5 slots turned into a land, 2 Outpost Siege and Valorous Stance 3-4. Hordeling Outburst came down because of the amount of Bile Blight running around. I have quite a diverse crowd of tokens here, but you don't want to play too much into one type to get blown out by a timely Blight. Sorin comes out for a Murderous Cut. Sorin was another card that was good in theory and I wanted to play him to see how it felt. The games I had him, he was overkill and there were times that I needed a way to get through a Hornet Nest, so Murderous Cut will sub in for the time being.

I've played very few games with Outpost Siege before this event, but every game I had one out, it was fantastic and I definitely want room for it here. The card advantage off of it rivals Tasigur and can easily win you games very quickly. Rather than putting in more burn, the Siege can act as another method of punching in extra points by being able to flood out more and dig into the burn spells you have.

The sideboard gets much more streamlined as before I was just kind of throwing some relevant stuff together for the event. Keeping Crackling Doom and Chandra from the original sideboard since they both performed fine. Crackling Doom was perfect in many situations. Chandra less so, but she's the right call for control match-ups. 3 Ashcloud Phoenix make their way in as well as 3 Despise from what I mentioned earlier. 1 Kolghan because he's another evasive creature and while he's great on his own with haste, he can also be a nice blow-out with a huge pump to my entire army.

Finally, while I'm hesitant with the idea, I think Anger of the Gods is the right wrath spell for this deck. It'll probably end up getting cut before much else, but while it wipes my own board, with Soulfire, it can at least put me up enough life to attempt to establish a new board presence faster than my opponent or gives me enough time to just burn them out in a couple turns. Also, Prowess resolves on the trigger before the spell does, so there could be a situation where I could cast a couple things before Anger and have my Mentor and some Monks live to tell the tale.

One last thing before I go. I have definitely given a lot of thought to Brutal Hordechief. I think he can be really good in this deck. After reading him again the other night, I found out that not only does he hit your opponent's life on combat, but he gains you that much life too. He's practically a better Sorin. He won't gain you as much life, but he gives you a sort of evasion that can help push through some extra damage that might be the difference in winning or losing some games. I'm very excited to test with him as a 2-of in the main, but I don't want to say he's there for sure yet. I think I'll cut the Murderous Cut and a Valorous Stance or Outpost Siege to fit 2 in and see how he goes. My biggest concern is that he isn't good on his own and he relies so much on having a wide board-state already. We'll see...

Anyway, that wraps it up. Sorry it's a bit long, I just feel that this deck has a lot of potential and if I can tighten up my plays a bit, I'll find a nice solid list that'll be tier-1.

Thanks for sticking with me and I'll see you at FNM!

DannyO
www.WizardDen.com

So much events, much wow. Announcing TINY LEADERS!




The event scheduled is starting to get nuts in our local area, here at WizardDen we want to make sure you are never confused and get to attend the events you find most interesting.

First there are always a couple great ways to see our upcoming events:

Facebook
Events on the WizardDen website.

If checking the intarwebz doesn't catch your fancy (which is ironic because you are reading this blog), these are our regular weekly events (with some changes in BOLD):

Monday:
 - $10 Entry Modern - 7pm
Tuesday:
- Chaos Draft (every first tusday of the month) - 7pm
Wednesday:
- $12 Entry Draft - 7pm
Thursday:
- $5 Standard (some Thursdays are GPTs for point grinding, still $5 entry) -7pm
Friday:
-$5 Entry Standard - 7pm
-$5 Entry Commander (1st and 3rd Friday) - 7:15pm
-$5 Entry Tiny Leaders ( 2nd and 4th Friday) - 7:15pm
-$12 Draft - 11:30pm
Saturday:
-Special Events (see event calendars)
-$12 Entry Draft - 7pm
Sunday
- Casual Commander (people usually show up at 1pm)
- $5 Entry Tiny Leaders (will keep as an event as long as interest holds)

Upcoming Special Events:

GPT Vegas:
Sunday March 15th - Sealed -$30 Players meeting 11am sharp (facebook event)
Saturday April 25th - Sealed -$30 Players meeting 11am sharp (facebook event)
Sunday May 17th - - Sealed -$30 Players meeting 11am sharp  (facebook event)

Game Day:
Saturday Feb 14th - Standard- $5 entry 12pm and 7pm flights (Fate Reforged) (facebook event)
Saturday April 18th - Standard -$5 entry 12pm and 7pm flights (Dragons of Tarkir) (facebook event)

PPTQs:
Sunday March 8th - Standard - $25 entry Players meeting 11am Sharp (facebook event)

Real State Championship Trial:
Saturday Feb 28th - Standard - $5 entry. Players Meeting at 11am Sharp (facebook event)