Merfolk

Forget everything bad I've said about Merfolk.

I'm on the fish train, and I'm not looking back. They're possibly the most fun I've had playing Magic in the last few months, without exception, and I'm not even a little ashamed of saying it.

I played in a local even last night, which is set up in such a way that going X-1 basically eliminates you from the prize pool. None of us are very happy with the single elim style event, but it's the way the store runs it to keep it under 10 hours. The store is in a mall, and they have a pretty firm time they need to close the shop up. Anyway, here's the list I played:

3 Wasteland
4 Mutavault
1 Dust Bowl

4 Island
3 Tropical Island

6 fetches

4 Cursecatcher
4 Silvergill Adept
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Merrow Reejerey
2 Wake Thrasher
2 Cold-Eyed Selkie

4 Tarmogoyf

4 Aether Vial
4 Force of Will
4 Daze
3 Stifle

SB
2 Relic of Progenitus

4 Blue Elemental Blast

3 Krosan Grip

3 Sower of Temptation

2 Seasinger

1 Umezawa's Jitte

First of all, card availability was an issue in some of my card choices. I had to scrape together some things at the last minute, because I really only decided to play the deck about two hours before the event, and didn't have a lot of people coming to borrow cards from. I would have liked Standstill in the deck, and the Dust Bowl should obviously be the 4th Wasteland. I didn't ever get a Wake Thrasher or Selkie in play, so I'd like to see them in action before I really judge them, but they may not be needed if I have Goyf (which was ALWAYS smaller than Cursecatcher) and Standstill. Other than that, however, the deck is much more solid than I expected it to be, even against decks not running blue. I'm concerned about the "red deck" matchup - Burn, Sleigh, and Zoo, but I'm still playing with options for them. Possibly Chill, or Kira, Great Glass Spinner. I think I'm going to play this for a time, so I'll let you all know how it goes.

Significant changes at the Mothership

Well, it's gone and happened again.

Wizards of the Coast, in all their finite wisdom, has decided that Magic, a game which has never seen the kind of success that it has at this moment, needs to be changed on a fundamental level. And here we are, stuck figuring out what that means to us.

I'm not happy. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that I'm upset. And yet, as each moment passes, I realize that I'm not really as mad as I was the moment before. I may even be coming to terms with it. See, I played way back when, back when things were much different. Back when Mishra's Factory was a much worse card, when Lotus Vale was pretty simple to understand, and when Mogg Fanatic, while good, was far from Mogg Fantastic. For those people who remember playing the game under pre-sixth edition rules, these changes - or at least the one getting the internet all abuzzled (the combat changes) - should seem like a return to form, more than a change for the worse. In reality, we should consider the past ten years as an interesting variant on the game that we had been playing for years prior. Of course, the fact that we've now been working under this rules paradigm for longer than the period between the game's origin and Sixth Edition is not a trivial one, but we must remember that we've seen changes this fundamental before, and while some players were lost, overall the game continued to push on.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not happy to see many of the best creatures in the game be relegated to the injured reserve. Morphling - once hailed as the best creature ever printed - is now pretty much garbage in combat. Ravenous Baloth is significantly worse. And hardest for me to swallow, my new love Qasali Pridemage is no longer a rootin-tootin Disenchant with a punch. Now he's pretty much just a three mana Disenchant - still ok, but not the powerhouse he was yesterday.

And yet, if you step outside the focus of a player who knows the rules intricately, and take an objective view of the way combat should work, there is no reason why a creature should be able to exchange blows with another, and then, in the final grips of death, go out in a blaze of glory and take himself out for a beneficial gain. Realistically, should you be given a mortal blow, you're dead. If you want to make a valiant play on the way out, you shouldn't get to punch your opponent's Tarmagoyf along the way. This all makes sense to me. I think in time, with some distance from the issue, it will to many other players, as well.

I don't really have much else to say on the matter. It's annoying to me that yet again, people are calling mutiny against the vile dastardly villains at WotC, but at this point, I'd be more surprised if no one picked up that flag. So I say, let's let the chips fall where they may, and get used to this change for a while before we really judge it without experiencing play with it. Maybe we'll see it as a positive change somewhere down the line, just like we all do about the Sixth Edition changes today.

Guest report from Vestal - Zach Tartell

Hey all! My teammate Zach Tartell (of internet obscurity) has been gracious enough to put his report up on the site with us. Here's his take on the tournament! Thanks Zach!

List:

3 Cephalid Coliseum
4 City of Brass 

3 Gemstone Mine 

1 Undiscovered Paradise (I'm not sold on this) 

4 Ichorid 

4 Narcomoeba 

4 Bridge from Below 

4 Cabal Therapy 

2 Dread Return 

2 Deep Analysis 

4 Lion's Eye Diamond 

1 Flame-Kin Zealot 

1 Eternal Witness 

4 Golgari Grave Troll 

4 Stinkweed Imp 

3 Golgari Thug 

4 Breakthrough 

4 Putrid Imp 

4 Unmask 

Sideboard: 

4 Firestorm 

4 Pithing Needle 

4 Chain of Vapor 

2 Wispmare 

1 Ancestor's Chosen (MVP) 

Thoughts on the list: 

If I knew a better place to put the Unmasks I'd drop them in a heartbeat for the 4th Coliseum, the 3rd Deep Analysis, and 2 Careful Study. I love Careful Study like nobody's business. Daemon says it's terrible, and I'm inclined to agree with him, as Unmasks can hit your opponent as well, but I love drawing me some cards, and it helps dig for boarded cards, and everything else. Except that the the board is fairly fixed. I'd consider losing the Wispmares (as I didn't like them even against Plague) and maybe a Firestorm for them. But then I'd need to find a place for the fourth, or whatever. Ancestor's Chosen is AMAZING. Don't ever not play it. I wish I could find a place for it main deck (and, I wish I could find a place for a third DR and a cool maindeck target (like the persist non-creature Vindicate guy)). It saved me two times, and was amazing. A 3rd DR might be worth discussing, 'cause using Witness twice or three times is great. That's probably the card I'd put first into the main deck (over Careful Study even). But, onto the report: 

Round 1: Dave Trimberi, Mono-R Burn 

Game 1: Dave wins the die roll, drops a mountain and then Lava Spikes me. I put 50 cards into my graveyard with a LED, Breakthrough, Troll, Troll hand (into a Deep Analysis). I win after a suspended Rift Bolt. 

Game 2: My life totals go as follows: 20, 17, 14, 12, 62, 59. My notes suggest that nine Zombie tokens and a certain 4/4 First Striker turned sideways on turn 4 for a win. 

1-0-0 

Round 2: Robe Pierre-Olivier, Naya Zoo 

Game 1: I win the die roll, lay a turn 1 Putrid Imp. Robe drops some sort of turn one threat (as my life drops by two instead of three), probably a Kird Ape or a Figure. I get in for one twice, and then two, and then, after some tricky combat math, Robe burns my face off. 

Game 2: My life totals (every time I use Ancestor's Chosen I'm probably gonna make you read my life totals for hilarity's sake) are: 20, 17, 14, 11, 8, 5, 20 (fifteen cards in yard), 17, 15, 36 (a clever Therapy followed by one of those great "without passing priority, DR targeting AC" tricks), 31, 24 (Goyfs must have come into the mix), 23, 21, 16. Robe's go a little quicker: 20, 18, 2. 

Game 3: This game includes a turn-three Ancestor's Chosen for 39 life and 9 zombies. 

2-0-0 

Round 3 vs. Mike Farrell's RG Goyf Sligh 

These games go quickly, and Mike's notes explain it fairly well. He open hands a Fanatic (I must have been sloppy while shuffling, 'cause he mulled to it) that makes my bridges suck. Both games. The first game just includes me dying to burn while the second makes me think I might have a chance: I tear his hand apart with some fun Unmask/Therapy action, then dredge my face off with a pretty sick LED/Breakthrough/Troll trick. He promptly rips a Crypt to end my hopes of back-bouncery. 

2-1-0 

Round 4 vs. Bobby Didn't-write-a-last-name's Counterbalance Painter (next-level-flavory) 

Game 1: I do my Ichorid thing, Bobby spends a lot of time spinning his top. He takes two from a threshed PImp, then 18 from a horde of Zombie tokens. 

Game 2: Bobby takes his turn three win. When I'd've milled my whole deck anyway. Makes me totally wish I still had the Mike Edinger tech of a copy of Krosan Reclamation in the board. 

Game 3: Bobby Goyfs me down to 15, then starts to assemble his combo pieces. He drops a Servant, then thinks about it for a second. I know from a previous Therapy that he's holding a Force. Bobby shrugs and asks me if it really matters. I tell him, "Name black! That way my Shriekmaws won't be able to hit your stuff!" Trinket Mage finds a Grindstone, and he plays it. On my turn I DR my Witness for a Chain of Vapor. He activates Grindstone and I bounce Painter in response. He forces away a Dark Confidant, and I remind him it's black. He points at his Painter, and then I remind him again that it's black. He gives me the sad panda face and scoops up his cards. I - no bullshit here - bought him a hotdog to make him feel less bad. Ketchup only. 

3-1-0 

Round 5 vs. Rick Argero (Jander)'s Cascade/Hypergenesis combo 

Game 1: I win the die roll, and keep a hand of LED, LED, Breakthrough, Troll, a Bridge, and a City of Brass (pretty good for six, right?). I go absolutely busted on his face, Therapying him twice on turn on one for his two combo pieces in hand, leaving him with a Progenitus or something. I have an easy turn two win. 

Game 2: After a mull to five (wait for it), I keep (wait for it) Breakthrough, LED, Golgari Grave-Troll, Land, Narcomoeba. G-d's chosen people, right? I get another two Therapies out on Rick, leaving him with a Volcanic fallout (excellent choice for the day) and an ESG. I have a turn 2 Eternal Witness into Breakthrough into more ridiculousness. 

4-1-0 

****If you're reading this to hear about somebody do well, this is where it ends. I go 0-3 for my last three rounds.**** 

Round 6 vs Matt Abold's Elf Survival 

Game 1: I mull to six, Unmask Matt for Natural Order (he has a turn 2 combo hand). He drops a Priest, topdecks a Survival, and goes nutty. 

Game 2: I mull to five, keep a choice 5 (Firestorm, Land, Breakthrough, Dredger x2), wrath Matt's turn one two LLanowar hand, then die to Lord beats. 

4-2-0 

Round 7 vs Anwar Ahmad's Eva Green 

Game 1: Anwar mulls to five and I dredge for shit. Remember that report that he wrote when he top 8'd the Syracuse $2000 event? His hilarious Vishnu-related banter? Turns out that twelve-armed bastard was indeed looking out for Team Brown. 

Game 2: I lead with a busted LED/Breakthrough hand with two (count 'em, two!) GGTs, and hit.... nothing. I hit an Ichorid that, over the course of a couple turns, empties Anwar's hand with a pair of Therapies (turns out hitting two Goyfs blindly is pretty close to the ultimate tits, and getting his Engineered Plague with the first, blind one, was sweet). Except that I continue to worthlessly for some turns so he runs out of fuel. Anwar Sinkholes one of his own lands to fill his yard to drop a Tombstalker that kills me in increments of 5. 

4-3-0 

Round 8 vs. John... something. 

Game 1: While we're shuffling up he tells me he's so greatful that he's not playing against Dredge again. I lol to myself. I do my busted Ichorid thing, and he spends most of his time going through his sideboarding plans. 

Game 2: A turn one Relic is bested by a turn 1 Needle thereon. Which is beaten in turn by a turn 2 Crypt. He beats me with a Rhox War Monk for a while, and I pick up my cards. 

Game 3: For a guy who hates playing against Dredge so much he's doing pretty well: I Therapy for Relic, hit one, and he Crypts me twice in three turns. Rick Argero is sitting on his side of the table (having gone into the scrub brackets after I ruined him for other men), and sees the (to borrow a phrase from Arsalan Iftikhar) redonculous draws John gets, and then shamlessly fucks with him. 

Brief Props: 

-Jim, first and always. Neither of us did much dreaming that day, but he was there for it anyway. 

-Colin for blah blah blah I certainly don't remember the story you told. 

-Jack M. F. Elgin, for recognizing my zero tolerance policy for fucking around. 

-Parcher, for the sweet list. 

-Rick, for driving. 

-Former servicemen and -women, for making delicious (and completely un-nutritious) food during the event. 

-Eli, for his great events. 

Breifer slops: 

-Stupid non-white people G-ds, for not looking after us white folk. 

-Bad dredging. 

That's all I've got - look out for the Grapist, folks.

Binghamton Lotus event - Scrubtacular!

I'm not gonna lie, I scrubbed out of the event this weekend.  Hard.  Like, take the worst you've ever done at a tournament, and then pretend that I'm you, and that was how I did.  I suppose it would have been prudent for me to have tested the format some, or to have actually attempted to tune my deck for some sort of predicted metagame.  Instead, I went in blind, and was thanked for it by a 1-2 drop record, and spent the day in the bar.  Here's what I played:

Lands
4 [ON] Flooded Strand
2 [CHK] Island (3)
4 [ON] Polluted Delta
4 [R] Tropical Island
3 [R] Tundra
2 [u] Underground Sea

Creatures
4 [FUT] Tarmogoyf
3 [RAV] Dark Confidant
2 [LRW] Sower of Temptation
2 [ARB] Lorescale Coatl
2 [ARB] Qasali Pridemage

// Spells
2 [FD] Vedalken Shackles
4 [CST] Swords to Plowshares
4 [5E] Brainstorm
4 [CS] Counterbalance
4 [NE] Daze
4 [AL] Force of Will
3 [LRW] Ponder
3 [CHK] Sensei's Divining Top

Sideboard
SB: 3 [TSP] Krosan Grip
SB: 4 [R] Blue Elemental Blast
SB: 2 [TSB] Tormod's Crypt
SB: 2 [FD] Engineered Explosives
SB: 4 [7E] Engineered Plague

I hated the deck.  I mulligained at least three times in all three rounds - twice to 5, once to 4.  I hit a land on Counterbalance almost every single time I played it.  I would top into irrelevant cards with no way to shuffle them away.  I hated Lorescale Coatl because it cost far too much mana, and I almost never wanted to see Sower of Temptation.  I hated Bob, because he forced me to expose my manabase, and made it really difficult to have all the mana colors I wanted at the same time.  Having a Bob, a Pridemage, and two fetchlands in your opening hand was a beating all day.  Which one is more important to play?  All in all, this was a pile of cards I do not intend to bring back to an event again.  Honestly, I had a ton of fun playing with Natural Order Thresh, and I may just go back to that.  Anyway, I was smashed by Landstill round 1, and then beat my friend with Elf Survival round two (which knocked him out of the event - I HATE doing that), and then was knocked out myself by Merfolk round three.  Lame.

As an aside - even with three Merfolk decks making top 8, I still don't know if the deck is what it should be.  I've been thinking about it, and aside from the Islandwalk, I'm not convinced the deck wouldn't be better if it ran a creature base more similar to thresh.  It already runs Goyf in many lists, so what if it ran something like:

4 Cursecatcher

4 Goyf

4 Bob

4 Coatl

2 Wakethrasher

I dunno, something like that.  I think Cursecatcher is retarded, but I'm not sold on any of the other creatures as individual threats.  It's like, if you can answer the horde, the individual guys aren't all that scary.  Something to consider, anyway.

So, I scrubbed.  Yep, I do that on occasion.  They say that even the best of the best players in the world only win approximately 60% of their matches.  I'm by no means on that level so I can't claim the same, but I'd say this was one of those "40%" days.  It happens.

After round three, I decided to hit the bar.  The event was at a VFW (Veterans of Foreign Wars), which is a membership-based club where vets go to hang out and tell stories.  They're also awesome to hold tournaments at, and I got to spend my day paying $2 for drafts.  I think I know who the real winner was at this event.  I spent the first hour in there talking to the other patrons and the bartenders, and then after round 4, Colin Chilbert (Di on the Source) scrubbed and joined me for some casual Magic.  After a few games of EDH, we got down to brass tacks, and started Winston drafting a cube provided by eventual top 8'er Dominic Lodovichettie (Happy Gilmore on the Source).

I'm going to make a bold claim:  I firmly believe that I have Winston Drafted cube more times than any other Magic player alive.  I've had a cube in my house for almost two years, and my roommate and I have spent DAYS doing nothing but shuffling, drafting, playing, and repeating; over and over and over.  It's an excellent waste of time, and we've probably done over a thousand drafts.  I'm not saying this makes me the best cube drafter, but experience does factor into the equation.  Of course, Jack "I know everything about everything" Elgin asserts that I have my entire strategy of drafting completely backward.  He's wrong though.

Anyway, for the first draft, I went UBr with a bunch of Ophidian type dudes and Psychatog.  This strategy is risky, especially depending on what you do and don't see in the draft.  It looked like we shuffled a little light, because we hit a pocket of about 25 non-basic lands about halfway through the draft, which completely threw off all the strategies I had considered.  Colin drafted a RG sligh deck, and managed to take games one and three.

For the second draft, I took a risk and first picked a Workshop.  This sets me up for a very particular strategy, and if it doesn't come together, your deck is a PILE.  It ended up getting there with Braids, Elspeth, Ajani Goldmane, and The Abyss rounding out my serious color contributions, and Sundering Titan being bombtastic.  Colin lost both games we played with this pair of decks, taking most of the beatings from the Abyss.  His deck simply wasn't structured well enough to be able to keep up with The Abyss + Braids (with Lightning Greaves on it!).

In the final draft, I set out to make a UW control deck using Weathered Wayfarer to get ahead in card advantage.  What ended up happening, though, was that my UW deck turned into a UB deck, which then turned into a Wg weenie deck.  I know.  Still, with three different Pacifism effects (Arrest, Prison Term, and Faith's Fetters) as well as Loxodon Warhammer and Armadillo Cloak, which could help out my Swans of Bryn Argoll in smashing face, it worked out well.  Colin was not to be trifled with, however, with his four color monstrosity which contained bomb after bomb after bomb.  I managed to squeak out two wins of the three games, but by no means was this an easy victory.  He had me on the ropes the whole time, no doubt.

I'll say this - my BW Braids/Workshop deck would have beaten the piss out of any of the five other decks we drafted on the day.  As I said, if the Workshop deck gets there, it's amazing.  If not, it sucks.  This one got there.

So, that's pretty much what we did all day.  I had a bunch of fun with the cube and EDH, even though I didn't do so well at the event.  I managed to get pretty drunk, and ate a lot of food that was pretty awful for me at the same time.  In terms of performance, the event left much to be desired, but I would still call the day a success.

Topic for discussion in the comments - How high do you value Moxen, Sol Ring, Mana Crypt, etc in Cube drafting?  Does it matter if you're Winston Drafting or Pack Drafting?