And so it begins.....
Wow, its been forever since I have blogged and I blame that on the insane amount of busy-ness that my life entailed. I began summer classes at the beginning of May and continued with those all the way til June 16th. June involved a TON of magic as most people know. Now I am back at home enjoying the comforts of being lazy. Attended the local Pre-release hosted at the downtown shop in Warrensburg, MO. Needless to say, here are my thoughts and the ten cards I believe will shape Standard.
1. The Titan's
Do I really have to say more? They have shaped standard for the past year and with their reprinting in M12 I cant imagine much changing here. To save five spots on our list I'll combine them into one.
2. Jace, Memory Adept
2 Blue 3 Colorless - 4 loyalty
+1 - Draw a card. opponent discards a card.
0 - Discard the top ten cards of target players library.
-7 - Any number of target players may draw twenty cards.
From what I hear not many people are very keen on the new Jace. They talk about how he cant protect himself and how he is a significant downgrade from The Mind Sculptor but what else does anyone expect? A new, equally great card that matches Jace 2.0 in power. At 5 mana he is significantly slower, provides less protection, and doesnt do quite as much for right now. Thats the key point though, "for right now." Innistrad has been confirmed as a graveyard themed block and what does Jace 3.0 do? "0 - Discard the top 10 cards of target players library." This card wont be sleeping on anyone because anyone who has a clue is picking up their jaces in hopes of another Mind Sculptor.
3. Visions from the Beyond
1 Blue
Draw a card. If a player has more then twenty cards in their graveyard, draw three instead.
With the previous card, Jace, leading us right into the sleeper card of the set. With the next block being graveyard themed, expect a lot of cards to just be chilling in peoples death piles and this cards ability is insane. Its an ancestral recall as soon as their are twenty cards in a players graveyard. ANY players graveyard, this is insane. at its worst it cycles and at its best it does what the same thing a card got banned for. Pick these up when you can and as often as you can.
4. Chandra's Phoenix
2 Red 1 Colorless
2/2 - Flying, Haste
When an opponent is dealt damage by a sorcery or instant or by a red planeswalker, you may return Chandra's Phoenix back to your hand.
Obscenely good and fits perfectly into any red deck. Who can complain about a red creature that keeps disentombing all the time. You can have an endless chump blocker or just start dealing damage very quickly. I believe this to the card of the set that people dont expect to be amazing but will skyrocket. Such a powerful ability.
5. Gideon Jura
2 White 3 Colorless - 6 loyalty
+2 - All creatures target player controls must attack Gideon next turn.
-2 - Destroy target tapped creature
0 - Until end of turn, Gideon becomes a 6/6 human soldier creature. Prevent all damage that would be dealt to him this turn.
With the reprinting of Gideon I was quite hesitant due for my fondness of Elspeth. Being rather new to the game I actually had never been able to play with Gideon until this past week in which I played him at two consecutive tournaments. For the longest time I didn't believe Gideon to be any good and that showed how little I knew of Magic. This card is straight beating and is very hard to kill. In my head previously he was just a waste of five mana because he would die immediately, but this dude doesnt seem to die and is a huge swing of momentum if you can get him to resolve and live. With the next card, this could turn into the theme of the set "Gather Your Allies."
6. Gideon's Avenger
2 White 1 Colorless
2/2 - When a creature an opponent controls becomes tapped, put a +1/1 counter on Gideon's Avenger.
This card just ruins any aggro theme deck to the dismay of red. Imagine your opponent has a Grim Lavamancer in play and attempts to kill your avenger by shooting him for two damage, well tapping the Lavamancer then puts the Avenger out of reach and it quickly rolls downhill from there. This card I believe will see significant play if Innistrad donates any amount of help.
7. Adaptive Automaton
3 Colorless
2/2 - Adaptive Automaton enters the battlefield, choose a creature type. Adaptive is a that creature type in addition to his own.
Other creatures you control of that creature type gain +1/1.
This card looks fun and I see it filling quite a bit of rogue decks in the near future. With red running rampant in peoples brains I can see people trying to brew other strategies to deter the effects of red and what better way then to get creatures out of shock or bolt range. Im not quite sure this card will find a legitimate tier 1 deck spot but will see a ton of play elsewhere.
8. Bloodlord of Vaasgoth
2 Black 3 Colorless
3/3 - Bloodthirst 3
Other Vampires gain Bloodthirst 3 when they are cast.
Im not quite sure what to think of Vampires at the moment. They are in quite the pinch, this card is really good late game for Vampires in case games due end going for quite awhile. Vampires try to kill quickly usually at the expense of their life and what better way then to add free counters to each of your vamps. I want to see what cards get leaked from Innistrad before seeing if this card will serious play but I would keep an eye out for it.
9. Oblivion Ring
1 White 2 Colorless
When Oblivion Ring enters the battlefield, target permanent is exiled.
When Oblivion Ring leaves the battlefield, you many return target permanent to the battlefield.
This card is absurd and there is a reason it sees play in legacy and multiple formats. Not many cards can swing a game quite like this one can at the cheap cost of three mana. From being able to exile a huge creature your opponent controls like emrakul to exiling your own huge creature to follow it up with Planar Cleansing this card is a strict beating. Being able to ring up any card on the battlefield is huge and I expect this to be a three to four-of in many decks running white.
10. Garruk, Primal Hunter
3 Green 2 Colorless - 3 Loyalty
+1 - Put a 3/3 Beast token creature onto the battlefield.
-3 - Draw cards equal to the greatest power amongst creatures you control.
-6 - Put a 6/6 Wurm token creature onto the battlefield for each land you control.
I see this card being completely built around and seeing quite a bit of standard play. He protects himself through an endless stream of 3/3 bodies. He offers card advantage through his +1 and his draw ability and to top it all off he pretty much ends the game outright with his ultimate unless his opponent carries a Day of Judgement which currently is not seeing much play at all in sideboards let alone main decking. This card is going to go a long way and I expect him to be the post played Planeswalker in the format.
This is my opinion on how standard is going to shape up in the future 2/3 months. I expect many people trying to beat face with red as red has obtained an infinite amount of help for this time period. Never in the history of Magic has Lightning bolt, incinerate, and shock been legal in standard and you throw all the other burn in along with grim lavamancer and this deck is going to wreck for sometime.
Until next time, have a good one.
Hutch
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Saturday, April 23, 2011
New Phyrexia Thoughts - Spoilers!
Hello again!
I have gotten my hands on all the cards from the New Phyrexia block which I can only imagine upset WOTC greatly. The whole set looks rather intriguing. There are quite a few EDH cards, free spells, and a ton of cards that seem to mix things up. There are cards that make already very powerful cards even more powerful. It should be interesting where the meta-game heads after the release. It shall be interesting.
With that, lets get started on my top 10 cards from the next set (in no particular order):
Batterskull
5 colorless mana to cast
Living Weapon - 4/4 Lifelink and Vigilance.
3 mana - Return to controllers hand.
The card that seems to be deemed the most powerful card in the set by many top end players. It is a very solid card that can be tutored up to your hand via Stoneforge Mystic and be played for 2 mana thanks to the Mystic. This card makes Mystic crazy good. It was already considered the best card in standard and with the addition of Batterskull...its only getting stronger. Its to the point where I believe that WOTC will have to consider banning Mystic. Can you imagine playing this for two mana, have three artifacts on the battlefield with Puresteel Paladin in play....play and equip for two? yes please. This combo is going to be absolutely absurd. Good grief, I mean you can play a 4/4 creature with lifelink and vigilance for two mana.....Too good.
Mental Misstep
1 Phyrexian blue mana(play for 1 blue mana or 2 life)
Instant - Counter target spell with cmc of 1.
I do not possess very much legacy background, little to none actually. From what I know about Legacy, there are quite a few cards that dominate this format that cost 1 converted mana cost(cmc). This card essentially can be played free(2 life), which life in legacy I have heard is not the most important especially when it can stop the majority of the cards that will wreck your deck. This card looks like it will see a ton of play in legacy and possibly some in Standard.
Dispatch
1 White mana
Instant - Tap target creature.
Metalcraft - Exile target creature.
I have not seen many people talk about this card and I see it as the underdog card in this set. I could this card getting wide spread use in standard as people will be running white quite a bit anyways thus whats not to like about exiling a creature for a single mana? It wrecks many decks that have few bombs such as U/B control. I see it as the darkhorse. I would keep my eye on this card and its value. I could see it getting around the Go for the Throat price area.
Urabrask the Hidden
3 colorless 2 Red
4/4 - Creatures you control gain haste.
Creatures your opponent controls come into the field tapped.
Possibly my favorite card in the set. Easily the most playable of the Praetors. Mr. Alien/Predator looks wicked as well. I can see this being thrown into any deck running red as its a game changer and allows aggro decks to be effective late game as much as they are early game. If you pair him with Jor Kadeen which grants all creatures you control +3/0 in a goblin deck this could get real ugly late game.
Glistener Elf
1 Green Mana
1/1 - Infect
This card makes Infect decks far stronger due to its early game potential. This also grants Standards first second turn kill in awhile. Play 2 Groundswell and a mutagenic growth(which can be paid with 2 life) and swing on turn two for 11 poison. This card adds depth and early game potential for infect and seemingly makes me want to run infect more. Its got potential but with some cards in the set that can wipe infect clean this should be an interesting aspect. It makes infect very strong but not broken, I cant wait to give this a try.
Geosurge
4 Red Mana
Sorcery - Add 7 red mana to your mana pool. Can only be used to cast artifacts and creatures.
This card offers a possible turn 3 Inferno Titan or Urabrask and plus some. I can see this card begging to be broken. I hate dealing with titans let alone when I only have 2 available mana. It seems easily counter-able but for those decks that run little to no counter...this is terrible. In a mirror match-up you can board this card in and absolutely overwhelm them. Seems like a legit contender for a great side-boarding option if not a permanent 1 or 2-of in the main deck.
Dismember
1 Colorless 2 Phyrexian Black
Instant - Target creature gets -5/-5 until end of turn.
This card doesn't seem too overpowered but appropriately designated. It wipes out many 5 life threats such as Baneslayer Angel. A lot of people would take a 4 life hit to get rid of Baneslayer Angel as she alone is a win condition. I think this card will see a ton of play in the meta-game and is making mono-black control more and more viable. I think once Zendikar cycles, we will seeing an increase in mono-black decks. Innistrad is looking dark themed and can only imagine black becoming stronger.
Melira, Sylvok Outcast
2 Green Mana
2/2 -You get no poison counters.
Creatures you control can't have -1/-1 counters on them.
Creatures your opponent control lose poison.
This card at first looks really not all that simple. It doesnt allow you to have poison counters but takes away your opponents poison abilities? Its built this way to hinder you from gaining more poison but its not broken due to the fact that their creatures do not become useless. Imagine if you couldnt gain poison counters....they would never be able to kill you or your creatures. Her third ability allows your opponent some consolation.
Jor Kadeen, the Prevailer
3 colorless 1 Red 1 White
5/4 - First strike
Metalcraft - Creatures you control get +3/0 if you have three or more artifacts.
I really would like to see this card become really strong. I can imagine a kind of caw-blade boros brew in which this card would give birds +3/0 which would be sick. This is my favorite card in the whole set as I am partial to the Mirrans and wished they had won. Him being the leader I would really like to see him do some damage and not be an after thought much like Glissa.
Karn Liberated
7 Colorless
Planeswalker - 6 loyalty
+4 - Target player exiles a card from his or her hand.
-3 - Exile target permanent.
-14 - Restart the game, leaving in exile all non-Aura cards that were exiled by Karn. Then put those cards on the battlefield under your control.
Easily the face of this set. A lot of people have varying opinions as you can imagine. I believe he will become significantly stronger once Zendikar rotates out of standard. Zendikar cards provided a fast moving metagame that would usually have the game decided around turn 3-4 or at least aiming towards where the game was going. Once it is gone, the format I believe will slow down significantly and 7 mana is not a lot for a ramping green deck. I can see him being a factor later on in New Phyrexia's lifetime.
~ These are ten cards I figured I would share with you all and cards that I believe will have an impact on the metagame. I also put in a few of my more favorite cards that I think are darkhorses to be serious contributions to Standard. New Phyrexia is taking shape as a huge legacy, casual, and EDH set due to many cards in this set being good for all formats. I believe this is one of the best all around sets we have seen in sometime due to the completeness of touching base in all formats. I am looking forward to this set and I can not wait til May! Later on I will be bringing another spoiler of cards and I love sharing with you all. Have a great day!
See you on the flip side,
Hutch
I have gotten my hands on all the cards from the New Phyrexia block which I can only imagine upset WOTC greatly. The whole set looks rather intriguing. There are quite a few EDH cards, free spells, and a ton of cards that seem to mix things up. There are cards that make already very powerful cards even more powerful. It should be interesting where the meta-game heads after the release. It shall be interesting.
With that, lets get started on my top 10 cards from the next set (in no particular order):
Batterskull
5 colorless mana to cast
Living Weapon - 4/4 Lifelink and Vigilance.
3 mana - Return to controllers hand.
The card that seems to be deemed the most powerful card in the set by many top end players. It is a very solid card that can be tutored up to your hand via Stoneforge Mystic and be played for 2 mana thanks to the Mystic. This card makes Mystic crazy good. It was already considered the best card in standard and with the addition of Batterskull...its only getting stronger. Its to the point where I believe that WOTC will have to consider banning Mystic. Can you imagine playing this for two mana, have three artifacts on the battlefield with Puresteel Paladin in play....play and equip for two? yes please. This combo is going to be absolutely absurd. Good grief, I mean you can play a 4/4 creature with lifelink and vigilance for two mana.....Too good.
Mental Misstep
1 Phyrexian blue mana(play for 1 blue mana or 2 life)
Instant - Counter target spell with cmc of 1.
I do not possess very much legacy background, little to none actually. From what I know about Legacy, there are quite a few cards that dominate this format that cost 1 converted mana cost(cmc). This card essentially can be played free(2 life), which life in legacy I have heard is not the most important especially when it can stop the majority of the cards that will wreck your deck. This card looks like it will see a ton of play in legacy and possibly some in Standard.
Dispatch
1 White mana
Instant - Tap target creature.
Metalcraft - Exile target creature.
I have not seen many people talk about this card and I see it as the underdog card in this set. I could this card getting wide spread use in standard as people will be running white quite a bit anyways thus whats not to like about exiling a creature for a single mana? It wrecks many decks that have few bombs such as U/B control. I see it as the darkhorse. I would keep my eye on this card and its value. I could see it getting around the Go for the Throat price area.
Urabrask the Hidden
3 colorless 2 Red
4/4 - Creatures you control gain haste.
Creatures your opponent controls come into the field tapped.
Possibly my favorite card in the set. Easily the most playable of the Praetors. Mr. Alien/Predator looks wicked as well. I can see this being thrown into any deck running red as its a game changer and allows aggro decks to be effective late game as much as they are early game. If you pair him with Jor Kadeen which grants all creatures you control +3/0 in a goblin deck this could get real ugly late game.
Glistener Elf
1 Green Mana
1/1 - Infect
This card makes Infect decks far stronger due to its early game potential. This also grants Standards first second turn kill in awhile. Play 2 Groundswell and a mutagenic growth(which can be paid with 2 life) and swing on turn two for 11 poison. This card adds depth and early game potential for infect and seemingly makes me want to run infect more. Its got potential but with some cards in the set that can wipe infect clean this should be an interesting aspect. It makes infect very strong but not broken, I cant wait to give this a try.
Geosurge
4 Red Mana
Sorcery - Add 7 red mana to your mana pool. Can only be used to cast artifacts and creatures.
This card offers a possible turn 3 Inferno Titan or Urabrask and plus some. I can see this card begging to be broken. I hate dealing with titans let alone when I only have 2 available mana. It seems easily counter-able but for those decks that run little to no counter...this is terrible. In a mirror match-up you can board this card in and absolutely overwhelm them. Seems like a legit contender for a great side-boarding option if not a permanent 1 or 2-of in the main deck.
Dismember
1 Colorless 2 Phyrexian Black
Instant - Target creature gets -5/-5 until end of turn.
This card doesn't seem too overpowered but appropriately designated. It wipes out many 5 life threats such as Baneslayer Angel. A lot of people would take a 4 life hit to get rid of Baneslayer Angel as she alone is a win condition. I think this card will see a ton of play in the meta-game and is making mono-black control more and more viable. I think once Zendikar cycles, we will seeing an increase in mono-black decks. Innistrad is looking dark themed and can only imagine black becoming stronger.
Melira, Sylvok Outcast
2 Green Mana
2/2 -You get no poison counters.
Creatures you control can't have -1/-1 counters on them.
Creatures your opponent control lose poison.
This card at first looks really not all that simple. It doesnt allow you to have poison counters but takes away your opponents poison abilities? Its built this way to hinder you from gaining more poison but its not broken due to the fact that their creatures do not become useless. Imagine if you couldnt gain poison counters....they would never be able to kill you or your creatures. Her third ability allows your opponent some consolation.
Jor Kadeen, the Prevailer
3 colorless 1 Red 1 White
5/4 - First strike
Metalcraft - Creatures you control get +3/0 if you have three or more artifacts.
I really would like to see this card become really strong. I can imagine a kind of caw-blade boros brew in which this card would give birds +3/0 which would be sick. This is my favorite card in the whole set as I am partial to the Mirrans and wished they had won. Him being the leader I would really like to see him do some damage and not be an after thought much like Glissa.
Karn Liberated
7 Colorless
Planeswalker - 6 loyalty
+4 - Target player exiles a card from his or her hand.
-3 - Exile target permanent.
-14 - Restart the game, leaving in exile all non-Aura cards that were exiled by Karn. Then put those cards on the battlefield under your control.
Easily the face of this set. A lot of people have varying opinions as you can imagine. I believe he will become significantly stronger once Zendikar rotates out of standard. Zendikar cards provided a fast moving metagame that would usually have the game decided around turn 3-4 or at least aiming towards where the game was going. Once it is gone, the format I believe will slow down significantly and 7 mana is not a lot for a ramping green deck. I can see him being a factor later on in New Phyrexia's lifetime.
~ These are ten cards I figured I would share with you all and cards that I believe will have an impact on the metagame. I also put in a few of my more favorite cards that I think are darkhorses to be serious contributions to Standard. New Phyrexia is taking shape as a huge legacy, casual, and EDH set due to many cards in this set being good for all formats. I believe this is one of the best all around sets we have seen in sometime due to the completeness of touching base in all formats. I am looking forward to this set and I can not wait til May! Later on I will be bringing another spoiler of cards and I love sharing with you all. Have a great day!
See you on the flip side,
Hutch
Thursday, April 21, 2011
National Qualifier
Hello again,
Hutch is back and not better than ever. National Qualifiers did not go as planned and I am looking for ways to rebound. I went 3-5 with a deck that was completely revamped by my friend Chris Miller. I had no experience with some of the cards we decided to run in my Tezzeret deck. The main card that was added was Jace, the Mind Sculptor. This plus adding multiples of such cards as Tezzeret, Kuldotha Forgemaster and Wurmcoil Engine changed the complete integrity of the deck.
This is the deck list of what I ran:
Lands:
7 Islands
3 Swamps
4 Darkslick Shores
4 Drowned Catacomb
4 Creeping Tar Pit
Planeswalker:
4 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
4 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
Creatures:
3 Wurmcoil Engine
3 Kuldotha Forgemaster
1 Blightsteel Colossus
1 Myr Battlesphere
Spells:
2 Preordain
4 Tumble Magnets
3 Sphere of the Suns
3 Everflowing Chalice
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Stoic Rebuttal
2 Mana Leak
2 Go for the Throat
With little to no experience with the Mind Sculptor I surely was laid out to dry.
Round 1 - Cawblade
With the changes in my deck and facing the most popular deck in standard first round out was not the best. I found out very quickly that my deck no longer was favored against Cawblade and I was chewed up. The first round ended in usual cawblade fashion with him getting a Stoneforge Mystic out on turn 2 and the Squadron Hawks soon followed. I boarded 2 more Go for the Throats and a steel sabotage. Game two ended in a different fashion as I never saw a Stoneforge but with the constant pestering of 4 hawks I succumbed.
0-1
Round 2 - Mono-Black Control
This rogue matchup didnt offer any spectacular plays. I ended up receiving a game loss due to me forgetting to mark the exact number of Tezzerets on my deck list. As I began the first match with the gentleman I found out rather quickly what he was running black control and the match-up was favorable. I only showed blue mana to the guy and he came out turn 2 everflowing chalice and turn 3 memorcided me and he guessed at me running Mind Sculptors and sure enough he dispatched them all. I wasn't too worried, but then he top decked a second memorcide and as he previously got to see my deck, he quickly cleansed Tezzeret from my deck and hand. I began to feel helpless until he top deck for the third play in a row, memorcide. He disbanded my kuldotha forgemasters quickly and it came down to me being able to top-deck any of my wurmcoils. He eventually got home though.
0-2
Round 3 - Mono-blue
After starting out very poorly I knew my day was done but I figured what did I have to lose. I came to gain experience and to increase my playing skill. I should have just scooped and ended the day at 0-2...the rest of the day offered nothing more than more bad luck. This matchup I found out very quickly was extremely favorable for me as I could constantly tutor threats with Tezzeret and Jace. I ended up losing the first game to some extremely poor luck. I started out mana low and never recovered. My opponent was not of the highest caliber and I had to instruct him on what all my cards did. I felt like I was playing against a kid who just mashed cards together and somehow try and make it work. Second game I drew a solid hand and ran the kid off the table. The third game I was mana drained again and we were staring down the barrel of full time. He ended up mind controlling my two wurmcoils and somehow I still lost by a life due to Tezzeret ultimate being dropped on him. I just barely lost and should not have. I made all the plays I could and just out of sheer bad luck I lost.
0-3
~After this match it was lunch and boy was I happy to leave that place for awhile. Chris and I, being on short time due to my match going the distance, drove to the closest place to eat and grabbed a few mcdoubles and drove right back to play almost immediately. I thought about dropping again but decided I would stick it out and see how the rest goes due to my poor luck I figured why not, my day was already ruined.
Round 4 - Mono-White
Shortly after shoving food down my throat. I sit down to wait on my opponent. I keep on waiting for 10 minutes and finally he arrives. The judge catches him rushing in and realizes its past last call. He receives a round loss. In sympathy I offer to play him anyways as I was forced to take the win. We decide to play out a few games and all of them in lopsided fashion in my favor and he comments that he was glad to have just taken the loss early because he would have lost anyway. Unfortunately this isnt how i imagine my first tournament win going. A win nonetheless.
1-3
Round 5 - U/B Control
I faced a straight up Blue-Black control deck. As the mirror match is completely favorable my way due to my aggro part of my deck. For the first time all day my deck decided to play fair enough and gave me solid draws and not leaving me mana short or way too much. In quick fashion I dispatched the gentleman in two. Nothing serious got played, he tried to counter or remove all my creatures but was running Go for the Throats instead of Doomblades and It wasnt enough to keep all my wurms and Battlesphere at bay.
2-3
Round 6 - Cawblade
After scrapping back into a respectable record from my previously atrocious split, I get paired with my worst matchup. This round went surprisingly much better than the first round, he won the die roll and decided to play first but I end up overwhelming him after some early counters and removals thanks to my great top deck draws. Second game he pulled out in usual Cawblade fashion. The third game ended up going to the wire and He sneaked out of the matchup with a lucky Day of Judgement on my 3 wurmcoils.
2-4
Round 7 - G/W Allies
This rogue deck wrecked me. I just couldn't keep the masses back and by the time I drew some removal in the games he had 4-5 10/10 creatures just sitting around the field. I ended up not being able to contain all his monsters of humans. The second game provided my best play I have pulled in my magic career. We ended up getting quite a ways into the game, turn 13/14ish and he had 9-10 creatures with roughly 8-10 power/life each. As I was staring down the barrel I knew that he would shortly whittle my 47 life, that my wurmcoils provided me with, very quickly. I played a Kuldotha Forgemaster a few turns back and having no other outs I let him swing all out which came to a grand total of 46 life. 1 short. After declaring my blocks, I sacrificed my forgemaster and 2 wurmcoils to tutor up my Blightsteel Colossus. As the Colossus hit the table my opponent scooped seeing as the inevitable outcome of the match was displayed. The third game ended very similarly to the first game and I ended up scooping and congratulating him as he mentioned the impressive Blightsteel combo. He had never seen it before but I know it is quite the popular move to pull on people.
2-5
Round 8 - No opponent?
I ended up sitting at the match table for 15 minutes waiting and a judge said I could move on as he figured my opponent would never show. I filled out the slip and went and watched my buddies make the top 16.
3-5
Not the way to end a day in my book. As it was my first tournament I figured I would give it a rest on my brain as I was mentally taxed afterwards. I was exhausted after playing nearly 11 hours of magic. It was even more taxing due to the constant feeling of helplessness. All I could do was sit there and watch as my opponents crushed me over and over. From now on though I will stick with my decks, as is. I know my friends were trying to help but all that happened was the fact that I ended up playing a deck that had a completely separate demeanor from my original go around. I play tested my original deck list for two weeks and only losing twice to my friends I felt prepared and the outcome of the day did not feel like what I figured would happen. I was hoping for at least a split record 4-4 but to be honest I was handed two of my three wins, granted my luck kept me from winning about 3 matches. As most will come to find out, my luck is not the greatest.
The majority of my friends group ended up in the top 30 and two of my friends finished just outside the top eight unfortunately to breakers. A successful day for most of us nonetheless and we decided to go celebrate by eating at the world famous Gates Bar-be-Que. In all, it was a great learning experience which I will take a lot of hard learned lessons home with me. I have become a far better player by going to such an event and I cant wait to give another one a go around.
This coming week I might go back to my kuldotha goblins deck as I need a fresh week of something different. I might try mono-white as it is my favorite color. My next article will most likely be on the visual spoilers that were leaked out and I got a glimpse of them. It will include my top 10 cards I am looking forward to in New Phyrexia. Until next time.....
See you on the other side,
Hutch
Hutch is back and not better than ever. National Qualifiers did not go as planned and I am looking for ways to rebound. I went 3-5 with a deck that was completely revamped by my friend Chris Miller. I had no experience with some of the cards we decided to run in my Tezzeret deck. The main card that was added was Jace, the Mind Sculptor. This plus adding multiples of such cards as Tezzeret, Kuldotha Forgemaster and Wurmcoil Engine changed the complete integrity of the deck.
This is the deck list of what I ran:
Lands:
7 Islands
3 Swamps
4 Darkslick Shores
4 Drowned Catacomb
4 Creeping Tar Pit
Planeswalker:
4 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
4 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
Creatures:
3 Wurmcoil Engine
3 Kuldotha Forgemaster
1 Blightsteel Colossus
1 Myr Battlesphere
Spells:
2 Preordain
4 Tumble Magnets
3 Sphere of the Suns
3 Everflowing Chalice
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Stoic Rebuttal
2 Mana Leak
2 Go for the Throat
With little to no experience with the Mind Sculptor I surely was laid out to dry.
Round 1 - Cawblade
With the changes in my deck and facing the most popular deck in standard first round out was not the best. I found out very quickly that my deck no longer was favored against Cawblade and I was chewed up. The first round ended in usual cawblade fashion with him getting a Stoneforge Mystic out on turn 2 and the Squadron Hawks soon followed. I boarded 2 more Go for the Throats and a steel sabotage. Game two ended in a different fashion as I never saw a Stoneforge but with the constant pestering of 4 hawks I succumbed.
0-1
Round 2 - Mono-Black Control
This rogue matchup didnt offer any spectacular plays. I ended up receiving a game loss due to me forgetting to mark the exact number of Tezzerets on my deck list. As I began the first match with the gentleman I found out rather quickly what he was running black control and the match-up was favorable. I only showed blue mana to the guy and he came out turn 2 everflowing chalice and turn 3 memorcided me and he guessed at me running Mind Sculptors and sure enough he dispatched them all. I wasn't too worried, but then he top decked a second memorcide and as he previously got to see my deck, he quickly cleansed Tezzeret from my deck and hand. I began to feel helpless until he top deck for the third play in a row, memorcide. He disbanded my kuldotha forgemasters quickly and it came down to me being able to top-deck any of my wurmcoils. He eventually got home though.
0-2
Round 3 - Mono-blue
After starting out very poorly I knew my day was done but I figured what did I have to lose. I came to gain experience and to increase my playing skill. I should have just scooped and ended the day at 0-2...the rest of the day offered nothing more than more bad luck. This matchup I found out very quickly was extremely favorable for me as I could constantly tutor threats with Tezzeret and Jace. I ended up losing the first game to some extremely poor luck. I started out mana low and never recovered. My opponent was not of the highest caliber and I had to instruct him on what all my cards did. I felt like I was playing against a kid who just mashed cards together and somehow try and make it work. Second game I drew a solid hand and ran the kid off the table. The third game I was mana drained again and we were staring down the barrel of full time. He ended up mind controlling my two wurmcoils and somehow I still lost by a life due to Tezzeret ultimate being dropped on him. I just barely lost and should not have. I made all the plays I could and just out of sheer bad luck I lost.
0-3
~After this match it was lunch and boy was I happy to leave that place for awhile. Chris and I, being on short time due to my match going the distance, drove to the closest place to eat and grabbed a few mcdoubles and drove right back to play almost immediately. I thought about dropping again but decided I would stick it out and see how the rest goes due to my poor luck I figured why not, my day was already ruined.
Round 4 - Mono-White
Shortly after shoving food down my throat. I sit down to wait on my opponent. I keep on waiting for 10 minutes and finally he arrives. The judge catches him rushing in and realizes its past last call. He receives a round loss. In sympathy I offer to play him anyways as I was forced to take the win. We decide to play out a few games and all of them in lopsided fashion in my favor and he comments that he was glad to have just taken the loss early because he would have lost anyway. Unfortunately this isnt how i imagine my first tournament win going. A win nonetheless.
1-3
Round 5 - U/B Control
I faced a straight up Blue-Black control deck. As the mirror match is completely favorable my way due to my aggro part of my deck. For the first time all day my deck decided to play fair enough and gave me solid draws and not leaving me mana short or way too much. In quick fashion I dispatched the gentleman in two. Nothing serious got played, he tried to counter or remove all my creatures but was running Go for the Throats instead of Doomblades and It wasnt enough to keep all my wurms and Battlesphere at bay.
2-3
Round 6 - Cawblade
After scrapping back into a respectable record from my previously atrocious split, I get paired with my worst matchup. This round went surprisingly much better than the first round, he won the die roll and decided to play first but I end up overwhelming him after some early counters and removals thanks to my great top deck draws. Second game he pulled out in usual Cawblade fashion. The third game ended up going to the wire and He sneaked out of the matchup with a lucky Day of Judgement on my 3 wurmcoils.
2-4
Round 7 - G/W Allies
This rogue deck wrecked me. I just couldn't keep the masses back and by the time I drew some removal in the games he had 4-5 10/10 creatures just sitting around the field. I ended up not being able to contain all his monsters of humans. The second game provided my best play I have pulled in my magic career. We ended up getting quite a ways into the game, turn 13/14ish and he had 9-10 creatures with roughly 8-10 power/life each. As I was staring down the barrel I knew that he would shortly whittle my 47 life, that my wurmcoils provided me with, very quickly. I played a Kuldotha Forgemaster a few turns back and having no other outs I let him swing all out which came to a grand total of 46 life. 1 short. After declaring my blocks, I sacrificed my forgemaster and 2 wurmcoils to tutor up my Blightsteel Colossus. As the Colossus hit the table my opponent scooped seeing as the inevitable outcome of the match was displayed. The third game ended very similarly to the first game and I ended up scooping and congratulating him as he mentioned the impressive Blightsteel combo. He had never seen it before but I know it is quite the popular move to pull on people.
2-5
Round 8 - No opponent?
I ended up sitting at the match table for 15 minutes waiting and a judge said I could move on as he figured my opponent would never show. I filled out the slip and went and watched my buddies make the top 16.
3-5
Not the way to end a day in my book. As it was my first tournament I figured I would give it a rest on my brain as I was mentally taxed afterwards. I was exhausted after playing nearly 11 hours of magic. It was even more taxing due to the constant feeling of helplessness. All I could do was sit there and watch as my opponents crushed me over and over. From now on though I will stick with my decks, as is. I know my friends were trying to help but all that happened was the fact that I ended up playing a deck that had a completely separate demeanor from my original go around. I play tested my original deck list for two weeks and only losing twice to my friends I felt prepared and the outcome of the day did not feel like what I figured would happen. I was hoping for at least a split record 4-4 but to be honest I was handed two of my three wins, granted my luck kept me from winning about 3 matches. As most will come to find out, my luck is not the greatest.
The majority of my friends group ended up in the top 30 and two of my friends finished just outside the top eight unfortunately to breakers. A successful day for most of us nonetheless and we decided to go celebrate by eating at the world famous Gates Bar-be-Que. In all, it was a great learning experience which I will take a lot of hard learned lessons home with me. I have become a far better player by going to such an event and I cant wait to give another one a go around.
This coming week I might go back to my kuldotha goblins deck as I need a fresh week of something different. I might try mono-white as it is my favorite color. My next article will most likely be on the visual spoilers that were leaked out and I got a glimpse of them. It will include my top 10 cards I am looking forward to in New Phyrexia. Until next time.....
See you on the other side,
Hutch
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Magic: The Gathering
Hello Community,
My name is Michael Hutchison and I am relatively new to the blogging and article areas of the internet but I believe in my writing ability enough to feel that I can make a difference in the lives of others. I have a huge interest in the game of Magic: The Gathering and I desire to learn every aspect of the game. I am a quick learner and I have come a long way from when I began playing in January of 2010. I am a 20 year old student who attends the University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg, MO. I enjoy sports and anything competitive. I am extremely interested in becoming a better player of Magic as I have a part of me who longs for card games and Magic seems like the best fit for me as it offers a competitive environment. Its a game that also does not require a large up front investment, much like professional Texas hold'em.
I would love to be able to document the good and the bad of my matches by also being able to report on how my tournaments and Friday Night Magic events I attend. I have a fairly competitive environment to learn in as many of the kids i play travel around the nation to play in the starcitygames opens and do fairly well. I also attend a few places located in the Kansas City area where even more competitive play is being offered. I have done fairly well in the past month and a half as I have gone 21-3 piloting a Kuldotha Red Deck. I have moved on from the deck as it is consistently inconsistent and is extremely vulnerable to any deck that can outlast the beginning three to four turns. I do recommend this deck to any beginning magic player as it has the capability to be competitive at a local level almost instantly. Wizards has released two event decks, one of which consists of the basic framework for Kuldotha Red. I would recommend this deck only to those that are beginning as it is fairly simple to run as your toughest decisions are knowing the deck in and out and when to mulligan. The decks are worth the investment as the cards you get back are worth more then the 20-25 dollar price tag.
Here is a link to the event decks and their contents: http://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/arcana/648
I am the middle child of my siblings which number in the two digit region, 10 to be exact. =) I love having such a large family and I would never trade them for anything. The downside to having such a large family is that my parents can not help me with paying for college and all of my university costs come from me. This tends to take a toll on the checkbook and thus Magic gets affected. I have never bought a booster box in my life and I have pre-ordered my very first booster box which will be New Phyrexia which will released May 13th, 2011. I have bought fat packs, booster packs, and individual cards or play-sets off ebay. The latter is a rare commodity when i have an extra 20-30 dollars and need a play set of a dual land or such. As I have not had the benefit of being able to buy a lot of cards my deck choices are limited in what I can run effectively at a fairly competitive level.
This coming weekend I will be attending a convention the St. Louis Area with my fiance in which I will also be participating in my first serious competition as 80 people have signed up, The previous most I have played with in a tournament was 36. The tournament will run all day saturday and I am looking forward to this tournament. I am not quite sure what I will be running at it as my kuldotha red self-brewed deck has had the best win percentage of any of my decks but as most people are starting to board in such cards as Day of Judgement or Pyroclasm my deck is becoming more and more vulnerable. The problem otherwise is that I can not field a consistent deck as I have a bunch of great cards such as Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas and Sword of Feast and Famine.
The deck I will be playtesting the next couple days in preparation of the tournament is an artifact based deck composed of white, blue, and black. So here is the decklist of my self-brew at the moment:
Lands:
5 Islands
5 Plains
5 Swamp
4 Drowned Catacomb
3 Seachrome Coast
2 Glacier Fortress
Planeswalkers:
1 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
1 Venser, the Sojourner
1 Jace Beleren
Spells:
4 Mana Leak
4 Stoic Rebuttal
4 Preordain
2 Tumble Magnet
2 Doom Blade
2 Go for the Throat
1 Black Sun Zenith
1 Contagion Engine
Creatures:
1 Kuldotha Forgemaster
1 Wurmcoil Engine
2 Myr Battlesphere
3 Treasure Mage
1 Frost Titan
3 Mirran Crusader
2 Sun Titan
Obviously there are some aspects of this deck I would love to change. The fact that I have a ton of 1-of cards kills my belief in the deck. I believe if the deck was tuned properly that this thing could do some damage at even a fairly competitive level. I would like to add a few more Tezzerets, Wurmcoils, and Vensers I believe this deck could become quite devastating. These are my thoughts for this time and I look forward to reporting tomorrow night on how the deck runs during play testing tomorrow.
Farewell,
Hutch
My name is Michael Hutchison and I am relatively new to the blogging and article areas of the internet but I believe in my writing ability enough to feel that I can make a difference in the lives of others. I have a huge interest in the game of Magic: The Gathering and I desire to learn every aspect of the game. I am a quick learner and I have come a long way from when I began playing in January of 2010. I am a 20 year old student who attends the University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg, MO. I enjoy sports and anything competitive. I am extremely interested in becoming a better player of Magic as I have a part of me who longs for card games and Magic seems like the best fit for me as it offers a competitive environment. Its a game that also does not require a large up front investment, much like professional Texas hold'em.
I would love to be able to document the good and the bad of my matches by also being able to report on how my tournaments and Friday Night Magic events I attend. I have a fairly competitive environment to learn in as many of the kids i play travel around the nation to play in the starcitygames opens and do fairly well. I also attend a few places located in the Kansas City area where even more competitive play is being offered. I have done fairly well in the past month and a half as I have gone 21-3 piloting a Kuldotha Red Deck. I have moved on from the deck as it is consistently inconsistent and is extremely vulnerable to any deck that can outlast the beginning three to four turns. I do recommend this deck to any beginning magic player as it has the capability to be competitive at a local level almost instantly. Wizards has released two event decks, one of which consists of the basic framework for Kuldotha Red. I would recommend this deck only to those that are beginning as it is fairly simple to run as your toughest decisions are knowing the deck in and out and when to mulligan. The decks are worth the investment as the cards you get back are worth more then the 20-25 dollar price tag.
Here is a link to the event decks and their contents: http://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/arcana/648
I am the middle child of my siblings which number in the two digit region, 10 to be exact. =) I love having such a large family and I would never trade them for anything. The downside to having such a large family is that my parents can not help me with paying for college and all of my university costs come from me. This tends to take a toll on the checkbook and thus Magic gets affected. I have never bought a booster box in my life and I have pre-ordered my very first booster box which will be New Phyrexia which will released May 13th, 2011. I have bought fat packs, booster packs, and individual cards or play-sets off ebay. The latter is a rare commodity when i have an extra 20-30 dollars and need a play set of a dual land or such. As I have not had the benefit of being able to buy a lot of cards my deck choices are limited in what I can run effectively at a fairly competitive level.
This coming weekend I will be attending a convention the St. Louis Area with my fiance in which I will also be participating in my first serious competition as 80 people have signed up, The previous most I have played with in a tournament was 36. The tournament will run all day saturday and I am looking forward to this tournament. I am not quite sure what I will be running at it as my kuldotha red self-brewed deck has had the best win percentage of any of my decks but as most people are starting to board in such cards as Day of Judgement or Pyroclasm my deck is becoming more and more vulnerable. The problem otherwise is that I can not field a consistent deck as I have a bunch of great cards such as Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas and Sword of Feast and Famine.
The deck I will be playtesting the next couple days in preparation of the tournament is an artifact based deck composed of white, blue, and black. So here is the decklist of my self-brew at the moment:
Lands:
5 Islands
5 Plains
5 Swamp
4 Drowned Catacomb
3 Seachrome Coast
2 Glacier Fortress
Planeswalkers:
1 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
1 Venser, the Sojourner
1 Jace Beleren
Spells:
4 Mana Leak
4 Stoic Rebuttal
4 Preordain
2 Tumble Magnet
2 Doom Blade
2 Go for the Throat
1 Black Sun Zenith
1 Contagion Engine
Creatures:
1 Kuldotha Forgemaster
1 Wurmcoil Engine
2 Myr Battlesphere
3 Treasure Mage
1 Frost Titan
3 Mirran Crusader
2 Sun Titan
Obviously there are some aspects of this deck I would love to change. The fact that I have a ton of 1-of cards kills my belief in the deck. I believe if the deck was tuned properly that this thing could do some damage at even a fairly competitive level. I would like to add a few more Tezzerets, Wurmcoils, and Vensers I believe this deck could become quite devastating. These are my thoughts for this time and I look forward to reporting tomorrow night on how the deck runs during play testing tomorrow.
Farewell,
Hutch
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