Post #18: Casually Innistrad

Innistrad comes out very soon and most of us will be opening tons of packs and buying singles to finish off those deck ideas we've been dying to build for the past couple weeks. What cards should be on your radar?

These past few months have been very busy with EDH/Commander product, then jumping head first into Standard, and finally selling and trading cards to hunt down Relics. Unfortunately, this hasn't left a lot of room for Casual Magic and the kitchen table. I hope to start building 60 card fun decks again very soon and I'll use my Innistrad commons and uncommons to make it happen.

One card I really like from white in this set is Fiend Hunter. This card is sick because he's a 1/3, so he survives 'Shock' effects and he has the ability of Journey to Nowhere built in him. He can remove a threat your opponent has on the board to help your army punch through or prevent your opponent from using their utility creature, like Fauna Shaman, Qasali Pridemage, etc. Unfortunatley, when he dies, your opponent gets their dude back, but that's ok considering they'll lose a significant amount of tempo when you exile their creature. Fiend Hunter also has synergy with Sun Titan, Reveillark, and other recursion. If you're one of those U/W Fish/Blink fans, he's fantastic against Wrath of God effects, saving you dudes in an instant, similar to Momentary Blink, Parallax Wave, and Ghostway.
He's also a human/cleric, which has a lot of relevance, especially with all of the human themed equipment in the set. I predict human decks being very strong in casual in the upcoming year. Furthermore, being a cleric makes him perfect for mono w or w/b Clerics in casual, giving the tribe their much needed exile spell against problematic creatures that can bypass their insanely powerful damage prevention.
Cards with strong 'enter the battlefield effects' will always see play in multiple formats, this guy in Birthing Pod in Standard or used as a General killer in EDH/Commander and Fiend Hunter is no exception.

Another cool card I saw after a quick scan of the spoilers is Invisible Stalker. This guy is ridiculous and the equipment deck's dream card. Bant equipment along Stoneforge Mystic are going to love this Hexproof/Unblockable guy and I know it will see play. Equipping your Invisible Stalker with a Loxodon Warhammer, any of the Mirrodin protection swords, Quietus Spike, or even Grafted Exoskeleton can end games quicker than I'm comfortable with. Equipment decks have been wanting a reason to play blue for a few years and now they have it.

This black card is really crazy. When I first saw Reaper from the Abyss, I wasn't sure what to think about this guy, but now I realize is potential his incredible. He has an Admonition Angel feel to it where it removes threats if you fulfill the condition of the triggered ability. Playing additional lands can be difficult after you reach 6 mana, unless you're running Crucible of Worlds, Land Tax, or some other land card engine. Reaper from the Abyss just requires a creature to have died that turn. Um. Birthing Pod, Innocent Blood, No Mercy... the list continues, for miles. This card adds 'destroy target creature' on top of almost all of your creature removal spells. This can become extremely powerful card advantage in the late game, especially if your opponent's creatures are necessary to their success. I guess I have to put out the disclaimer that this card is terrible against the Rakdos Demon deck.. (yes, they exist)

A cool green card I was very impressed with was Bramblecrush. I don't know why, but cards that are extremely versatile in green never fail to impress. This card adds a ton of versatility to your green based aggro or control deck. Destroying a vital noncreature permanent on your opponent's side of the field can be crucial in the mid game or late game when you need to take out your opponent's Debtor's Knell, unactive Oblivion Stone, or even a Planeswalker. Wait! Green can completely wreck Planeswalkers? Yes! I wouldn't be surprised to see control decks to splash green to use this awesome piece of utility.

Speaking of splashable green control cards, what about that Mayor of Avabruck card. He's interesting because he forces your opponent to kill him, otherwise he just gets out of hand, since he turns into a 3/3, then makes more 3/3's without any mana investment. This seems like one of the perfect win conditions for decks that can protect him with counter magic. He's similar to Creakwood Liege, Scute Mob, and Master of the Wild Hunt, which all had big impacts on the Casual format.

The last card I'll discuss is Balefire Dragon. This card doesn't look like much, considering the titans at 6 mana have a stronger power level an entire turn earlier. However, I think this card has a lot of potential. It doesn't fit the flavor of the set very well, but it has a Steel Hellkite, Scourge of Kher Ridges, and a Oros, the Avenger feel to it and hitting your opponent's board in addition to making them eat 6 damage from an evasive flyer is pretty awesome. Balefire Dragon's damage also kills opponent's titans, which is always relevant. Red having their semi-Wrath effects is no joke and can easily take an overwhelming board to a manageable level for the red deck.

That's all for my quick review of Innistrad. I think this set has a great flavor and will be a blast to play. Good luck to everyone buying booster packs and hope you guys pack awesome cards! Until next time Magic players.

Interested in more Magic content? Check out every series on the MTG Casual Network Archive!

-David J.

Follow us on Facebook!

Quest for the Holy Relics #2: The 1-2 Punch

After starting the relic hunt, I went on a selling frenzy at my local store. After following prices carefully for the past couple months, I knew exactly what to look for. I would find cards they were buying, then trade for those cards with other players, or I would buy them from another store or website that was selling them for less than my local store's buy price. I know, it's sneaky. But it's also very risky. Since the buy prices and eBay prices fluctuate so frequently, it's difficult to really snag a great deal all the time, so I try to settle for the small ones where you can make a buck or two easy. After getting Tundra last time, I was feeling really good about the next relic. I had done my research and found cards that they valued a bit higher than what the cards were selling for on eBay, so those are the ones to move first.

I try to pickup cards that are 'hot' or have a high demand when I find someone who doesn't really care for it or value it highly. Those cards are generally easier to move when you find something you really do want. Card shops also value their buy prices on these cards highly too, considering they are usually in low stock and in high demand. This also varies regionally, some shops may have certain meta games that favor certain archetypes, so cards in those decks or cards used to counter those archetypes tend to move quicker and at a slightly higher value in those regions. The key is to know what's hot and where it's in demand.

My list looked like this:

3x Quicksilver Amulet

1x Timely Reinforcements

1x Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite

3x Puresteel Paladin

1x Blightsteel Colossus

1x Elspeth Tirel

1x Mimic Vat

2x Molten-Tail Masticore

1x Tempered Steel

1x Venser, the Sojourner

1x Felidar Sovereign

1x Goblin Guide

1x Gifts Ungiven (FTV: Exile)

2x Coat of Arms

3x Mistbind Clique

1x Scion of Oona

3x Glimpse the Unthinkable

The second list contains:

1x Dominus of Fealty

2x Cloudthresher

4x Elvish Archdruid

1x Primeval Titan

2x Sorin's Vengeance

1x Myr Superion

1x Norn's Annex

1x Go for the Throat

1x Green Sun's Zenith

1x Slagstorm

1x Argentum Armor

1x Obstinate Baloth

3x Blade of the Bloodchief

1x Noble Hierarch

1x Quietus Spike

1x Idyllic Tutor

2x Leaf-Crowned Elder

4x Wren's Run Packmaster

1x Staff of Domination

1x Mind's Eye

1x Chandra's Firebrand

$7

For the two lists, you can kinda tell that most of the cards involved are casual cards that I used to use back in the kitchen table magic days. Some I picked up in trades since I knew they could move and some are just random cards my shop was buying that day. Some of the cards were extra cards that I haven't been able to trade away for a while, so I was more than ok to sell them. For the second list, the condition of some of my cards weren't that great, so they gave me a bit less on trade value. I had to throw in $7 to finish off the deal. 

Both lists yielded... drum roll*

Tropical Island: valued at $95.84 and Volcanic Island: valued at $76.67

An interesting lesson in this trade was the condition of the cards. The Tropical Island was in slightly played condition, while the Volcanic Island was in heavily played condition. When obtaining relics, condition plays a huge role in the transaction. Considering both cards were considered with a vague 'played' I was unable to determine the condition before the transaction was completed. I also lost money on the transaction because of the played cards I had tried to sell. Unfortunately, back in the days of kitchen table, I didn't treat cards as well as I should have and consequentially, they lost value. This is a lesson to always play with sleeves and take care of your cards. When the time comes that you want to sell, trade, or hand off cards to friends, having them in good or fair condition can make all the difference. I was disappointed with the condition of Volcanic Island, considering I had lost quite a bit to obtain it. I eventually came to terms that the Volcanic Island had been through hell and back and must have quite a story to it. I'm comfortable knowing I would be responsible for giving it a good home for the rest of its duration. Until the next relic, Magic players!

Interested in more Magic content? Check out every series on the MTG Casual Network Archive!

-David J.

Follow us on Facebook!

Post #17: Laying Down the Ban Hammer

Today, WotC posted their updated Ban List for all formats, which was directly intended to 'fix' the Modern format after Pro Tour Philadelphia 2012's combo filled environment. The format was dominated by Zoo control (or Counter Cat), U/R Splinter Twin, U/R Pyromancer Ascension, 12-Post Eldrazi, Mono Red Through the Breach, Mono R Affinity, and Mono U/r Infect. (Here's the Top 8 List, in case you were interested) Notice anything? There's a ton of Blue and Red combo decks. The format was completely dominated by turn 2-5 kills that most aggro or control decks did not have enough tempo to keep up with.

I think everyone can agree that Blazing Shoal needed to go, considering it allowed as early as turn 2 kills with Inkmoth Nexus, Blighted Agent, and Glistener Elf. This combo forced aggro and control decks to respond with a turn 1 instant speed creature removal spell that could keep them alive, and if they didn't have one, on to Game 2. 


I was surprised by Green Sun's Zenith and Cloudpost. I figured with enough land destruction, 12-Post could be kept in check. However, not every color has access to land destruction and more importantly, basic land destruction. The 12-Post decks (with Cloudpost, Vesuva, and Glimmerpost) ran a very unstable mana base and it was more important to destroy their basic colored lands, rather than actually attack the locus lands. So unfortunately, a simple Tectonic Edge or Ghost Quarter could not keep the deck in check. As for Green Sun's Zenith, the synergy with Dryad Arbor gives the deck a lot of momentum in the early game and a complete tool box with creatures in the late game. I'm more than certain that was what the card was intended to do, but never was really supposed to play with Dryad Arbor outside of Legacy. 

The bans I were happy about, were with Preordain, Ponder, and Rite of Flame. The two card draw spells are the enablers for all the combo decks, which ran 4 copies of each. I had a problem with Preordain when it was in Standard and saw just as much play as Jace, the Mind Sculptor and Stoneforge Mystic. As for Ponder, a card restricted in Vintage, plays an extremely powerful role alongside fetch lands and enables an unfair amount of consistency that gave the combo decks a huge edge in the Pro Tour. As for Rite of Flame, the boost for 1 red mana makes the card very strong and speeds up Through the Breach, Empty the Warrens, Goblin Charbelcher and other red-based control strategies by several turns. Having access to rite of flame could allow you to combo off on turn 1-3, which is exactly what WotC is trying to avoid with the Modern Format. For these 3 enabler cards, WotC didn't want to ban the combos outright, rather slow down their performance so aggro and control decks stand a fighting chance against them. 

I hope the Preordain/Ponder bannings gives light to the true elephant in the room for Legacy, Brainstorm. Brainstorm's incredibly powerful interaction with 'shuffle your library' effects in fetch lands, tutor cards, and other 'search' cards, turns Brainstorm into Ancestral Recall. I'm not sure if Brainstorm should be banned from Legacy, but I hope that people realize how powerful cards that give consistency and allow you to see cards in your library truly are. 


What should you expect after the bannings? Unfortunately, these bannings mean Tarmogoyf will get better (and more expensive) and Zoo will have a stronger presence in the metagame. As for innovation, hopefully you didn't forget about Black. Remember Dark Confidant, Thoughtseize, Damnation, Death Cloud, and Kokusho, the Evening Star? I hope so!


Legacy was also hit pretty hard with this bannings with the announcement of Mental Misstep. I'm excited about this change because it allows non blue decks to shine, considering Blue has been the most dominant color for the past few months in the Star City Games Legacy Open Top 8s. WotC sort of explains why the banned Misstep in the article, but weren't very specific. They printed the card to give non blue decks a weapon against combo decks, ex: High Tide. However, the card made blue decks better. Even though all the blue decks still paid 2 life to cast the card, Misstep became a huge tempo booster for the control and combo decks when on the draw, it could fight Brainstorm in the mirror match, and Blue players could pitch Mental Misstep to Force of Will when Misstep becomes more irrelevant mid-late game. WotC has to take risks, so formats can grow and they misjudged how the card would be used, not so much its power level. 


How does any of this affect Casual magic? Well, it really doesn't. It does give us some insight into why some card are banned, such as Emrakul, the Aeon's Torn in Commander/EDH. I think that these bannings can help us define what cards are good in a casual format and what cards are too good. I think this could also help define what cards are overly powerful for house rules across all kitchen table Magic environments. Until next time Magic players. 

Interested in more Magic content? Check out every series on the MTG Casual Network Archive!

-David J.

Follow us on Facebook!

Post #16: Magic Celebration Indeed!

This past weekend was full of Magic: the Gathering goodness and I had a blast playing a ton of magic these past few days and I'll let you know how my weekend went.

On Friday, I visited Paladin Tech and Games for the first time because a friend of mine would be playing there. It was a nightmare trying to get there on an insanely busy main road with Friday rush hour traffic. If it's taught me anything, I will arrive 1hr before the events start. Unfortunately, when I got there, I had to sign up with a round 1 loss due to my tardiness. I ended up playing my favorite deck for standard right now, U/B Control. The deck plays great against other control decks and usually grinds out wins against aggro decks.

Here's the build I put together (with the help of Ali Aintrazi (U.S. Nationals 2011 Winner) and Martin Zimmerman (German Nationals 2011 Top 8) of course.

Creatures (7):

2x Grave Titan

2x Consecrated Sphinx

3x Solemn Simulacrum

Spells (27)

4x Mana Leak

4x Inquisition of Kozilek

4x Preordain

1x Despise

2x Doom Blade

2x Go for the Throat

1x Dismember

4x Jace Beleren

1x Liliana Vess

1x Karn Liberated

1x Into the Roil
1x Consume the Meek
1x Black Sun's Zenith

Lands (26):                                                                            Sideboard (15):

4x Darkslick Shores                                                               4x Flashfreeze

4x Drowned Catacomb                                                          3x Disfigure

4x Creeping Tar Pit                                                                1x Despise

4x Tectonic Edge                                                                   2x Duress

5x Island                                                                                1x Wurmcoil Engine

4x Swamp                                                                             1x Black Sun's Zenith

1x Mystifying Maze                                                                1x Memoricide

                                                                                             1x Surgical Extraction
                                                                                             1x Dismember

So far, I've been really pleased with the deck. The biggest all-stars of the deck have been Inquisition of Kozilek and Preordain (which sadly rotate).

For round 2, I played against a U/W Knights deck that ran an excessive amount of countermagic. Playing around his countermagic made this match up a bit more unique than a mirror match against control. In Game 1, I got completely shut out by a turn 3 Mirran Crusader that I was unable to answer. After siding in Black Sun's Zenith, Memoricide, and Despise, Game 2 and 3 fell quickly in my favor. Record: 1-1

In round 3, I played against U/G Infect. For Game 1, I was on the play and used Inquisition of Kozilek to see Glistener Elf, Ichorclaw Myr, and a pair of Mutagenic Growth. After taking the elf, I used Despise to strip my opponent of his infect dude and quickly went to Game 2. After sideboarding 3x Disfigure and Despise, the match was sealed. Record: 2-1

For the final round, I played against the U/B Control mirror. For Game 1, I used Inquisition to see 2x Jace Beleren, Mana Leak, Preordain, and Liliana Vess. After taking Mana Leak and playing my own turn 3 Jace, my opponent was out of useable spells till a turn 5 Liliana Vess, which was too late for I had setup with Solemn Simulacrum, then a turn 6 Karn Liberated. In Game 2, I brought in 2x Duress, 1x Despise and Memoricide. After my opponent missed their 4th land drop, and playing around countermagic and removal spells, my pair of Creeping Tar Pit kept him on a clock that he could not answer. Record: 3-1

Overall, I had a great time and everyone at Paladin Tech and Games was very friendly. I ended up getting 3rd place and winning 3 packs and hopefully some Planeswalker Points! If only it wasn't so far away from where I live.

The following day was Magic Celebration! If you didn't get a chance to go, you definitely missed out. It was a great chance to open FREE booster packs and meet a lot of people. After each round, if you won the round, you could open another booster pack to add to your deck (while keeping a 40 card minimum). It gave everyone a chance to open tons of booster packs that day. I had a great time going and I hope WotC plans to do many more of these in the future. I was really surprised that the Boys and Girls Club of America brought some of their kids to our local game store for Magic Celebration. I think it was a great way to promote the game as well as reach out to kids in our community about strategy gaming and community. I was very proud to call myself a Magic player.

Now, down to the rounds. I opened my first pack to see Grand Abolisher, who surprisingly enough did a lot of damage in game 1 and prevented my opponent from interacting with my cards at end of turn. Along with Jade Mage, the game was sealed 2-1. Unfortunately, the rest of the Mini-Masters Tournament went like a blur, so I don't remember too many of the matches. My final record was 4-0 and 1st place, gaining 5 free packs during the rounds. Whoo!

Thanks to Jav and Gyula for joining me this weekend, I had a great time and I hope to play some more magic with you guys very soon. Until next time Magic players.

Interested in more Magic content? Check out every series on the MTG Casual Network Archive!

-David J.

Follow us on Facebook!

Quest for the Holy Relics #1: Humble Beginnings

So, I'm starting off this new segment to explain a project that I plan on embarking on very soon. After I get a few things settled in my life in terms of career and applying for school, I will vigorously tackle this challenge till its end. Some of you may be familiar with Pack to Power, but if not, it's a project that started with Jonathan Medina, where one purchases a booster pack of magic cards and uses its contents to trade and form an independent collection that you eventually trade away for something expensive or a piece of the Power Nine. I started out with this project a few months ago, but got discouraged very quickly, because I didn't enter the expedition with the right mind set. 'Nothing to power' is a quest and you'll face many challenges that will hurt your progress, but hopefully strengthen you as a person along the way.

Recently, after enduring unemployment for a couple months and being unable to find a job, I've been feeling the effects of depression and not feeling able to achieve goals I set out for myself. Unfortunately, it's a slippery slope full of self loathing, but I won't get into that too much. I found a parallel after reading some of the Pack to Power articles, how many journeys are crushed in the middle of their quest and how these dreamers lose their way. I know that feeling all too well. However, some stories ended in success. Those stories featured protagonists who overcame challenges, criticism, and most of all, doubt. After doing some self reflecting, I decided to hit the books hard and improve on skills and create positive challenges for myself and apply to school again. One of those challenges will be the Quest for the Holy Relics. Similar to Pack to Power, but we're going big.

I've always wanted the Dual Lands from 3rd Edition/Revised. They've always been incredibly expensive and completely out of reach. There's also something really exciting about having a piece of magic history and the dual lands will always be the best fixing in the game to help you cast whatever broken spell Wizards of the Coast prints next. But, I decided to make this challenge incredibly difficult that will exhaust every resource I have available. I'm also hunting the Power 9.

That's right. I will obtain a copy of each of the Power 9 from Unlimited (white border, because I want to keep my house). The rules for this challenge are not as easily identified as in other challenges. I'm giving myself the ability to sell old toys/collectible card games and other clutter in my house, so I can do some cleaning and make my parents happy. I'm also giving myself the ability to use the Pack to Power challenge to obtain duals and/or power. If you see me running around with multiple binders, you'll know why. I'm also allowing myself to add 'minimal' amounts of money to any trade binder. Considering I'm very poor, this shouldn't be a huge issue to viewers holding torches and shouting for my head. The rules are a bit flexible so I can actually achieve the end goal. I can accept donations as well. Expect to see me holding the tin cup for change on the side of the street very soon. I expect this challenge to take a copious amount of time, but I'm hoping that in addition to making me a better business man and magic player, it'll make me better at handling personal challenges. In this section of the blog, I'll be posting my quest and explain exactly how I obtain each relic. I'm hoping that some of these techniques help you guys on your quest for cards to finish off decks and obtain cards you've always dreamed of owning.

Luckily for you guys, I've already started.

I went to my local gaming store and was looking at some product to get with store credit from selling cards. I had my eyes on a Vendilion Clique, so I could start building a Legacy deck. I had a pair of Phyrexian Obliterators that I was in the market to move. I had obtained them earlier to build a mono black deck, but realized quickly that Obliterator dies to Dismember. This wouldn't normally be a problem; however, every color and every deck easily has access to Dismember. So, I wanted to move them quickly, while the buy price was relatively high. After putting a couple cards in the sell cart, I noticed my total was kinda higher than I expected. I usually check the buy prices to see what the store is purchasing at a fair or even generous amount. Stores often give you a percentage bonus if you use the amount as in-store credit, so the payout had a small multiplier on it, which can make it better than selling the card on eBay. After playing around with a few numbers, here's what it came out to.

2x Phyrexian Obliterator
1x Batterskull
1x Mox Opal
1x Sliver Legion
1x Verdant Catacomb
1x Sorin Markov
3x Timber Protector
2x Teramorphic Expanse
3x Vampire Nighthawk
1x Timely Reinforcements
1x Rupture Spire

After looking at the list, I realized it wasn't really 'that' much compared to some trades I've conducted. I felt comfortable trading away Batterskull because I had just picked up a foil copy from a good friend earlier that week. And I wasn't particularly attached to Sliver Legion, from a deck I played many years ago, and Verdant Catacomb which was my 4th copy. Some of the clutter commons/uncommons came from Ajani v. Nicol Bolas Duel Deck and the vampire Event Deck from M12 that I purchased not too long ago. After looking at the pile of cards for a couple minutes, I gladly handed it over and received my first relic.

Tundra: valued at $105.45

Until next time magic players! 

Interested in more Magic content? Check out every series on the MTG Casual Network Archive!

-David J.

Follow us on Facebook!

Casually Hirarious #3: Liliana of the Veil

She idly walked through the forest, literally killi everything she touched. And then she saw him again-the one man who could resist her disease-ridden touch.

“Time to finish the job,” she said with a smirk. It was as if she glided to him and him to her, her hands clasping around his-she sat up immediately.

“Damn it, another STUPID dream!!” she screamed. She turned her head and realized it was another typical morning-the skeleton of the man too horny to resist her steaming, undead, almost immortal body and his ghost cursing up a storm in the other room. She quickly put it with the others… in her closet… she figured just another secret or exhibit; however you want to look at it. She put on her veil and fed her most loyal grappler spider. Yeah, Grappler Spider. She opened up her window and it was a gorgeous day. Yes, Liliana was looking up intently upon a cloudy sky, the beginnings of a brutal hurricane, the EYE OF THE STORM. Not five seconds later, she saw him approaching, a hoard of hungry wolves followed closely behind him. He stopped about a half mile away from her citadel of sex and 

corruption. It was the most awkward, heated stare-down if there ever was one.

“That bitch gave me undead AIDS…,” Garruk grumbled in his head.

“I gave him undead AIDS,” she thought with a smile.

She descended to ground level, keeping her eyes on her victim. “I can see you’re wearing more clothes this time,” she laughed.

“Yeah, ‘cause that shit itches!!!” He could no longer hold back scratching the gate through which his ailment entered his body. Seriously, this was like super, black death AIDS. It was a miracle that he was even alive. Like, little Garruk was hanging on for dear life.

“I’m actually kinda glad you lasted this long. With the other guys, it’s like a storm at a water park: You never get to ride.”

That lit his fuse. He charged, his hoard closely following. She slowly walked, her Grappler Spider beside her. Garruk never felt so jealous…

Interested in more Magic content? Check out every series on the MTG Casual Network Archive!

-Carlos Cabrera

Follow us on Facebook!