Post #20: Ahead of the Game

EDH games are all about doing awesome stuff. I know this seems like a generic statement, but I'll explain. Most constructed formats are about winning as efficiently as possible (ex: Red Deck Wins in Standard), while keeping your opponents from killing you (ex: Merfolk in Legacy). EDH doesn't have the consistency to play control nor a low enough life total to support aggro, so to some extent; everybody in EDH plays a Combo deck. Most players are eliminated when one or more players possess a ridiculous board state and swing for lethal damage (or 21 general damage) in one turn or destroys all opponents' permanents (which happens to be Krark-Clan Ironworks, Spine of Ish Sah, Myr Turbine, and Dross Scorpion for me). This ridiculousness doesn't happen until about turn 20 or so (which can feel like 400 turns in a large multiplayer match). Regardless, all players have a good, long time to set up their field and bring out the best of their decks.

All interactions in the universe have a limiting factor that determines their speed and success. Magic happens to have two such limiting factors; cards in hand and available mana. David explained earlier how card advantage is important in EDH as a deck can quickly run out of steam if the player runs out of cards. Assuming you play one land and one spell each turn, a player will run out of cards in hand by turn seven and the game will slow down for that player. Obviously this doesn't happen every time, but unless you have a way to refill your hand, you'll likely run out of interactions with most of your opponents' plays. Most players Foresee this issue and play cards like Concentrate, Greater Good, Sign in Blood, and other card draw spells to keep gas in the tank. Similarly, spells in Magic (with few exceptions) cannot be played without mana. This is why an opening hand in EDH often has four lands, some ramp to ensure a strong mana base to player larger spells. Cards like Land Tax, Cultivate, and Armillary Sphere give the player a few extra lands for later turns. Solemn Simulacrum gets a special nod for doing both. =p

An article on TCGplayer.com by Craig Wescoe, Top 8 contender at Worlds 2011, discusses Three Models of Evaluating a Magic Game State. I'm going to try to summarize them quickly to illustrate my point. The card advantage model explains that the player with more cards has more options and has a better chance of winning the game. Deep Analysis allows the player to draw two cards for the price of one card (draw 4 after Flashback), which is an example of positive card advantage. Mind Rot, on the other hand, drains your opponent of two cards for the price of one, providing your opponent with negative card advantage (similar to tug-of-war, this equates to positive card advantage for you). Card advantage also occurs on the battlefield. Arc Trail can kill up to two creatures with one card; Acidic Slime destroys an artifact, enchantment, or land and usually takes a creature down when it dies using it's Deathtouch ability. The tempo model suggests that a more developed board in fewer turns presents a greater threat. Ramp spells like Sol Ring and Rampant Growth allow you to play big threats earlier by putting you ahead in the race of available mana. Aggressive creatures like Hero of Bladehold provide a player with seven power across three creatures that will win the game if left unanswered. Similar to the card advantage tug-of-war, bounce spells like Boomerang and Vapor Snag put your opponent behind on tempo, and thus push you further ahead. While the card advantage mode tends to manifest in control decks by giving a player more late-game options, the tempo model is the ideology behind aggro decks who plan to win the game before card advantage becomes relevant. The philosophy of fire model is a bit more tough to explain, but is most effective at deciding how to win the game. This model is concerned with managing resources and the most valuable resource is the 'continue playing the game' resource (life, cards in library, poison counters).

Now all of this theory-crafting and analysis compiles into one statement that I know has been beaten to death on this blog: ban Sword of Feast and Famine in EDH. Assuming it connects, SoFaF untaps your lands, forces your opponent to discard a card and deals two damage to the opponent (effect of the equipped creature not withstanding). Following the aforementioned theories, this provides your opponent with negative card advantage, provides you with extra tempo, and takes away life from your opponent's life total; satisfying all three models as a successful card. *In recent Standard, control deck Caw-Blade, aggro deck Boros Landfall, and combo deck Quest for the Holy Relic all benefited from the Stoneforge Mystic/Sword of Feast and Famine package. Whether you're reanimating fatties with Teneb or summoning legends with Sissay, Sword of Feast and Famine never quite seems to be a bad draw in an EDH game.

I hope you've enjoyed this week's installment of 'Rail on Sword of Feast and Famine.' Just Kidding! (but seriously, the card is kinda OP). Thanks for reading and feel free to comment on the article and give your opinion. See you next time!

EDH Lessons:

I saw a guy use Hymn to Tourach on Evan in an EDH game a while ago. Kinda mean, but whatever, it's his perogative. However, when I heard the same fellow talk about playing a multiplayer EDH match, he mentioned that he had to 'remove some of his 1v1 EDH cards.'
Lesson: if you have cards in your EDH match that are exclusively good in one-on-one matches, you might be a dick.

David pulled off his Karmic Guide/Necrotic Sliver/Reveillark/Phyrexian Altar combo from Teneb the other day on a 2-hour EDH game; I've never been so happy to lose. Later that day, he exiled Karmic Guide and Reveillark from his hand because he thinks the pair interact too favorably together.
Lesson: infinites are useful when you just want to end the game. If you're constantly trying to pull them off, you might be a dick.

Evan used Jokulhaups in one of our matches the other day. Although I was annoyed that all my hard work was gone, i had to laugh because so was everybody else's (except David's Garruk, Primal Hunter; oops).
Lesson: use board whipes with cautino. Warning: may contain salt and laughter.

After a Day of Judgement, I was still left with a Shrine of Loyal Legions at six counters and Swiftfoot Boots on the field with a Myr Battlesphere in hand. Just when I thought I'd won, C.J. used Insurrection and nearly wiped me out on the spot.
Lesson: be prepared to deal with surprises when your opponents have many cards in hand.

My deck gets annihilated by Aura Shards (I play Hanna, Ship's Navigator as my general).
Lesson: if you find a common card that you have trouble against, FIND AN ANSWER.

EDH is predominantly a casual format and everybody just wants to have fun showing off their cool ideas. Cards like Erayo, Soratami Ascendant and Winter Orb RUIN THE GAME.
Lesson: don't be a dick or nobody will play with you.

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-Francisco Javier Remy

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Philosophy Behind #6: Combo

I would like to welcome everyone to the exciting conclusion of this three-part series as we finally address the deck archetype; Combo.

Combo, another very popular strategy in MtG, attempts to win as quickly as possible by using a few cards to gain an almost sure win. Often, combo decks attempt to try to search out the deck for the combo pieces in order to achieve this goal. These decks really focus on the interaction of two or more cards.

There are three things that combo decks value; power, consistency, and speed. A combo ought to be strong enough to ensure a win and should be able to achieve the combo before the opponent gains the upperhand.

Degenerate combos usually make an infinite amount of something, whether it be creatures, mana, life, cards, or even try to perform an infinite loop (by repeating a process over and over). In casual magic, and even in competitive play, you often won't make a lot of friends by playing with a degenerate combo (it's very frustrating for players to play against), so keep that in mind. Similar to my previous articles, here are few aspects regarding Combo decks:

• Few Creatures: Attempting to enable the desired combo, Combo decks don't ordinarily win by attacking. Creatures usually are used to enable the combo or as part of the combo itself. As such, creature removal isn't usually very efficient against most combo decks.
  
• Few Non-Land Permanents: Most combo decks hold on to creatures, artifacts, and enchantments until the turn they're ready to aim for the win. A good place to attack a combo deck is in the hand with discard spells. a timely enchantment removal spell or counterspell can also be effective in defeating a combo player.
  
• Life-Total Clock: Sometimes a combo deck will take as long as possible to win (i.e., the turn before the player would otherwise die, or the turn it has a definite win) to get as many draw steps as possible. Having a lot of cards act as viable resources for a combo player. A good strategy is to put pressure on combo decks, either with creatures or threatening spells, to coerce them into attempting to win prematurely.
  
• Narrow Strategy: Combo decks tend to be greatly focused, with their objective of initiating that combo. One strategy is to try to take away just one of the combo pieces (like via Memoricide or Cranial Extraction).
  
• Poor Defense: Many combo decks trade removal and responsive spells so that they can have room for cards to enact their combo.
  
• Specific in Nature: Combo decks are more diverse than other deck types and can vary vastly. Artiact removal might be great against one variant, but completely useless against another.

White operates very well with equipment-based combos, like Stoneforge Mystic and Quest for the Holy Relic. white has been also known to use 'blink' strategies to take advantage of 'enter the battlefield' and/or 'leave the battlefield' triggers. When it comes to life-gain combos, Felidar Sovereign and Test of Endurance come to mind. Karmic Guide and Sun Titan are great examples of white reanimation spells that can be the start of some irritating combos. White also has potent synergies with using enchantments, like Sigil of the Empty Throne. The most notable White tutors include Enlightened Tutor, Steelshaper's Gift, and Idyllic Tutor.

Blue's card draw and library manipulation give it the tools for a great color for Combo decks. Want to mill your opponent away using Brain Freeze? Another storm card that has been known for some potent combos is Mind's Desire. Hive Mind also prompts some powerful interactions with the right cards. Blue loves artifact combos, such as degeneracy with Mycosynth Lattice. Blue is also known to have great sorcery and instant cards, like Time Warp, where the player wins by taking multiple turns. The most notable Blue tutors include Personal Tutor, Tinker, Fabricate, Trinket Mage, Treasure Mage, and Mystical Tutor.

Black is great in Combo decks since it has the potential to tutor any card. Dark Ritual, Tendrils of Agony, and Necropotence have been in very popular combo decks. Animate Dead is one of many popular Black cards that interact with the graveyard to perform some powerful combos. Grave Pact is good with decks that have sacrifice outlets. With cards like Underworld Dreams, a player can win via forcing their opponents to draw into defeat. With some manipulation of the graveyard, one could play Bitter Ordeal and eliminate all spells from a player's library. The most notable black tutors include Vampiric Tutor, Demonic Tutor, and Diabolic Tutor.

You'll notice for Red, I don't discuss tutors because Red is a weak color in that area. I've seen Red combo decks that use Pyretic Ritual into Seething Song to finish off with Dragonstorm. Similar decks also involve Grapeshot, Ignite Memories, and Pyromancer's Swath. Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker can combo with some creatures to form infinite attackers, such as Pestermite and Deceiver Exarch.

Green's combos almost always involve either creatures and/or lands, staying true to the philosophy of the color. Tooth and Nail and Protean Hulk operate to gain two creatures to combo out or gain insurmountable card advantage with. Hermit Druid and Survival of the Fittest are popular in Dredge/Reanimation combos. In addition, Glimpse of Nature works well with cheap elves to draw your entire deck. The most notable Green tutors include Scapeshift, Natural Order, Chord of Calling, Wordly Tutor, and Green Sun's Zenith.

With that, I'd like to mention that many combos in MtG involve more than one color, especially the more viable ones and the list does little to compare to the comprehensive list of combos. With that, I'd like ton conclude this discussion on Combo decks. Also, I'd like to credit the following articles as a reference and helping me write this article. Aggro, Combo, and Control by Jeff Cunningham and Wikipedia.

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-Michael Hood-Julien

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Quest for the Holy Relics #4: Pack to Power

I started my first Pack to Power project a little more than half a year ago and failed miserably. I used a binder that was rather clunky and cumbersome to move around and I felt embarrassed to hold a binder full of 'junky' cards in the beginning. Worst of all, I didn't have my trading priorities in order.

(If anyone's curious, Pack to Power is a project started by Jonathan Medina on Gatheringmagic.com. For more details, check out Quest for the Holy Relics #1: Humble Beginnings)

At the time, trading had become a big thing and I thought I was ready for the next step. Using my personal trade binder, I had been able to trade for almost anything I wanted or needed at the time. Unfortunately, I was so caught up in trading for things I wanted or cards that looked cool instead of cards I knew could move. At the time, I was unable to make the switch from personal trading to a 'next-level' trading. This time, I'm all in.

I picked up a new, light-weight binder that will make it easier to move around and it'll have a better presentation. I've also put Standard deck building aside to completely commit to the Quest. This shouldn't be too difficult considering I want to play more EDH and Casual magic in the next few months and dedicate more time to articles about them and growth of the casual formats. Any involvement I have in Standard will be reduced to borrowing decks and commenting on the format by following the Star City Games Standard Open Series and other big events. This will help me maintain focus on the Quest. I've also slowly emptied my personal binder towards Power and relics to reduce the amount of binders I'll be carrying.

I picked up this binder a couple days ago along with this lone Innistrad pack that I hope will become a piece of power one day and a binder that will be my Trusty Machete. I was aiming to pull an Innistrad dual land, a rare that sees play in sideboards or maindecks, or even a mythic rare to help me get through the grueling beginning stages. Unfortunately, none of those things happened.

Our beginning contents begin with an overly impressive assortment of cards. yay..

Blasphemous Act

Delver of Secrets

Bloodcrazed Neonate

Silverchase Fox

Spare from Evil

Geistflame

Stitcher's Apprentice

Mulch

Smite the Monstrous

Armored Skaab

Blazing Torch

Unburial Rites

Rolling Temblor

Rakish Heir

Wolf Token

Double-Faced Card Proxy

Hm. Not the best pack in the world, but we can work with it. Blasphemous Act has seen play in Standard decks' sideboards that don't have the means to get double red for Slagstorm but still want to kill off the token armies. Delver of Secrets is also really hot right now, I'm just not sure how many people haven't already bought their copies. There's also that Unburial Rites that's in a strange spot of being good, but not good enough. I'm hoping to find someone with a B/W EDH deck that hasn't picked up their copy yet. The proxy card is obviously, priceless. After putting everything away in the binder, I sat down to play some Casual games with a couple of guys sitting around. One of the guys (that also had the name David!) spotted the Rakish Heir and needed it for his red deck. Awesome start!

-1 Rakish Heir $0.59

+1 Brutalizer Exarch $0.20

Total: -$0.39

(Prices taken from Coolstuffinc.com)

Already off to a loss, I made a few mistakes with this trade. I should have thrown in another common or two considering he really needed the card and I didn't think the Rakish Heir was worth more than a quarter. Hopefully, I can find someone with a green EDH deck that needs an exarch, considering he's very strong. I'll have to be more aggressive in the future trades. Live and learn. 

Going back about a week ago, I had been stalking the price of Underground Sea for a while for the Quest. The price of the dual had been on the fall recently, since the U/B decks in Legacy had been falling short these past few months. To my surprise, a mint condition Sea was listed, when there had only been played versions available for several weeks. A lot of the trade opportunities that have come up for Underground Sea have fallen through too many times and I knew I had to act fast. 

I had a quite a bit of cards ready to sell set aside to obtain it, considering it's the most expensive of the dual land cycle and I knew it would be a tough one to tackle. After putting everything in the buy cart, here were the numbers.

Daybreak Ranger

Mikaeus, the Lunarch

Knight of the Reliquary (promo foil)

Green Sun's Zenith

Seachrome Coast

Basilisk Collar

Stoneforge Mystic

Necroskitter

2x Damnation

Helm of Kaldra

Pristine Angel

Decree of Pain

Buried Alive

2x Black Sun's Zenith (promo foil)

Damnation (promo foil)

Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of all the traded cards because it was an FNM night and the local store was crazy with people running around, sorry about that. The store was packed and I patiently waited for the staff to resolve (i got jokes!) all of their other plethora of buy orders of Yugioh cards. I kept myself entertained watching Evan dance around frustrated at them taking so long and the text messages from CJ, complaining about how late we were for his friend's birthday party. Relics have priority tonight. I walked home with this awesome pick up.

Underground Sea: valued at $127.79

After nabbing the Sea, I felt a really big sense of accomplishment and realized there were only 3 more duals left to tackle, Savannah, Scrubland, and Plateau; all relatively easier to the one's I've already obtained. This dual also set the precedent of starting the hunt for Power of 9. A feat I've never had experience with and am extremely reluctant to start. I've already received offers and potential trades for Power, but I've been almost afraid to put so many resources in to obtain. It's difficult to justify trading away a bunch of playable cards for a relatively unplayable piece of power, unless you're jumping into Vintage. There's a grey area in Magic cards between utility and luxury. An idea I'll have to Ponder over for the next few weeks. I'll save the bigger complications and details behind my recent Power searches in another post. Until the next relic, Magic players!

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-David J.

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Standard Corner #5: Delving into the Tourney Table

So, who would have thought? Delver of Secrets is a tournament worthy card. I wish I were joking. When I first saw this card, I thought it was a cute card for Innistrad sealed, but nothing more. Now that we look back on his Top 8s, what is the potential of this guy?

He gives the control decks an aggressive win condition, that they never had before. It also works very well when most of the spells in your deck are instants or sorceries. Remember that blue card, Snapcaster Mage that heavily relies on instants and sorceries? They have extremely good synergy between them when you're considering the amount of instants and sorceries you'll be playing in your deck. More on Snapcaster later. After transforming, Delver becomes a decently sized 3/2 body with evasion that offers Vendilion Clique like numbers in combat and a single copy puts your opponent on a 7 turn clock, similar to Creeping Tar Pit and Shrine of Burning Rage. Not bad. Delver is more powerful than most of the other transform cards, because he can't transform back. Having the 3/2 flier that can stay at that size on turn 2-4 with very little mana investment is very powerful. If he optimally transforms on turn 2, he can punch in for 3 very easily and starts performing with numbers closer to Wild Nacatl in Modern. Yikes. Considering the red deck in standard, or what's left of it, isn't running removal besides Brimstone Volley and maybe Galvanic Blast, the trade for a 1 mana threat for a 1+ mana removal spell provides you very strong tempo and forces your opponent to 'commit to the kill,' if you will. The same can be said for Beast Within in Kessig Ramp and Doom Blade or Dismember in control strategies. He also escapes the 1 damage spells that have been seeing play recently to kill Inkmoth Nexus and Birds of Paradise, including Geistflame, Gut Shot and Virulent Wound.

Where else can you see Delver? Surprisingly, Delver saw his debut in the Legacy and saw 4 copies RUG Tempo, alongside Snapcaster Mage and Tarmogoyf, grabbing a first and second place finish at the Star City Games Legacy Open in Las Vegas this past weekend. Delver is seeing play alongside these heavy hitters? If you didn't follow, Delver also saw a 2nd place finish in the U/R aggro deck at the Star City Games Standard Open in the same weekend! Delver is a serious contender and can't be ignored when innovating new decks for Standard, Legacy, and potentially Modern.

Who else is a big figure in the tournament tables? Hello to Snapcaster Mage. I purposely avoiding talking about this guy, because all the upside and hype about this guy is pretty obvious. This guy jumps right in with the set of amazing 2 drop creatures, like Lotus Cobra, Stoneforge Mystic, Fauna Shaman, and Dark Confidant that produce amazing tempo, card advantage, or simply unfairness. The ability to recur spells is strong and to do it at instant speed is absurd. This card is awesome in Standard, Legacy, EDH/Commander, and more than likely will be amazing in Modern (are there any Modern tournaments coming up?). I won't delve into too much detail, but this guy is awesome.

Another one of those cards to look after is Beast Within. i've mentioned this card a few times, but now he truly shines. Since green has had cards with mana cost as low as Birds of Paradise and Viridian Emissary and cards as high a converted mana cost as Primeval Titan or Garruk, Primal Hunter. Beast Within is not only a catch all, but fits in that sweet spot on the mana curve that can be played as quickly as turn 2 and has huge relevance in the late game. With Dungrove Elder and Green Sun's Zenith also filling up the 3-4 mana cost spells, it gives the green decks a smooth curve to operate optimally at all points in the game. Against a diverse field of U/B, Kessig Ramp and other 'weaker' decks of Tempered Steel, Birthing Pod, Mono Red, and random RUG decks, Beast Within offers a huge advantage and helps against most strategies and would rarely get sideboarded out. It's a strong card that will shine throughout this Standard season for the next year.

In other magic news, Sean Wang posted 'The Time to Act' article by Patrick Chapin concerning the 'weakened' support of the Worlds championship in 2012 and how this impacts professional magic players and their ability to sustain themselves on the Pro Tour/Grand Prix grind. Although I'm not directly affected, these changes have a few negative implications. If Wizards of the Coast and Hasbro do not implement changes to increase invitationals to give professional magic players the opportunity to obtain money, this will definitely hurt the skill level and the amount of content from sites presenting professional coverage, including Star City Games and Channelfireball, among many others. We all know that price of a particular card is dependent on demand and rarity. The pros help determine what cards are good and drive demand with Top 8 finishes at high level tournaments sporting those cards, almost like a sponsor. If there's no chance of opening awesome, playable, popular, and, not to mention, valuable, cards what incentive is there to buy a booster pack? Casual Magic and the Pro Tour will still exist for those who are die hard fans of the 'dream' of competing and winning one of those events, but what happens to the big names in the community who can't support themselves? I feel whoever is behind these changes are abandoning pro players and I feel as a community, many writers have had a huge voice against this movement and should continue to stand. Occupy Hasbro! I hope changes are on their way to help preserve the community and maintain the quality of high level magic. Until next time, Magic players!

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-David J.

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Post #19: Brambling Around

I'm not entirely sure what to talk about today, since I don't really have an itinerary or anything pressing to discuss, so I thought I'd just ramble about stuff that's been happening to me.

I just got back in Orlando from a trip to Gainesville to visit my girlfriend. I just want to thank everyone in Gainesville for their hospitality and hope to see you guys again soon. In trading news, Gainesville was a Wasteland for trades and I was a bit disappointed with the casual environment. It seems to have fallen off the Clifftop Retreat since I left.

 I did have an interesting ordeal, where someone had two relics in the name of Scrubland and Savannah for trade. He was a nice guy and was looking for U/B cards for his Standard control deck. I put up a Liliana of the Veil, Snapcaster Mage, Consecrated Sphinx, gameday promo Black Sun's Zenith, and about $20 in random cards (including the $9 in my pocket) for the pair, which I thought was fair. Unfortunately, he didn't agree and started retracting from the trade as the 45min dragged on. After a lot of waiting and agonizing, the trade didn't go through. Win some, lose some. 

In other news, Brendan posted the standings for the Kansas City Star City Games Standard Open Series on the Casual Net Facebook Group. Both U/W decks in the finals? Other than that, the top 8 was pretty varied. It's nice to see that Wolf Run Green isn't running the entire show. I really wish the price of Scars of Mirrodin lands would drop to a more reasonable price. I'm reluctant to buy any because they will be almost near useless once they rotate, considering eternal formats have better lands and EDH/Commander has better options. I am excited to see where this mono Black infect deck goes. It's cool to see Whispering Specter and Lashwrithe go all the way. 

So, what about that Graveborn? I'm really excited to see all these reanimator goodies. Entomb, Animate Dead, and probably Reanimate itself, is pretty awesome. More importantly, I'm really excited for Crosis, the Purger. If you guys don't know, I'm really obsessed with the 10 dragons (5 from Invasion and 5 from Planar Chaos). My mentor, Roger who taught me how to play the game, had insanely powerful casual decks designed around the older 5 dragons, so it's difficult not to respect and admire their power. As they already paid homage to the Planar Chaos dragons in the 2011 summer Commander product, the older 5 have been slightly neglected all these years. Fortunately, Rith, the Awakener had a make over in the From the Vault: Dragons set and Treva, the Renewer saw a sweet promo for the 2009 Pro Tour season. I'm extremely anxious to see how bad ass Crosis looks. Be on the lookout November 18th!

The one thing I did have some focus on today was to talk about Sword of Feast and Famine; one last time. 

I'm going to make a bold (and possibly foolish) statement: Sword of Feast and Famine is the strongest equipment ever printed. Yes, even more than Sword of Fire and Ice and even the infamous Umezawa's Jitte. This pro G/B sword can do things than none of the other swords can; provide tempo advantage. The ability to untap your lands is very reminiscent of Time Walk and can easily feel like taking an extra turn with every swing. This sword allows you to run spells on the board significantly quicker than your opponent because you're able to use your mana twice every turn upon sword impact. The mana doubling advantage is obvious when you see the power of Mirari's Wake, Mana Reflection, and Mana Flare in casual games and in EDH/Commander. Sword gives you that ability and then some. The sword's second ability also gives you card advantage. When your opponent loses a card after every hit, you're almost guaranteed to have more cards in your grip than your opponent, giving you a higher probability of having a threat or an answer to their threat. I don't think it feels good to be hit by a Hypnotic Specter with a Bear Umbra on it. As explained by Javier, the limiting factors to playing spells are the number of cards in your hand and the amount of mana you have to play those spells. Sword of Feast and Famine affects both by limiting the amount of cards your opponent has and giving you more resources to cast more spells. 

Having more cards than your opponent is paramount in multiplayer formats and is extremely powerful in competitive formats. Just take a look at U/W Blade, Wolf Run Green, U/B Control in standard, arguably the best decks in the format right now; all packing this Sword. Look at Legacy, U/W Stoneblade running a copy or two of Sword of Feast and Famine in the maindeck over both Sword of Fire and Ice and Umezawa's Jitte. This sword is the real deal and it's not surprising why this sword is fetching a $35+ pricetag. 

I hope this was entertaining and somewhat informative, I'll hopefully have a more in depth post next week. I just finished building my Intet, the Dreamer EDH deck and I'm really excited to test it and get back to you guys with the details. Until next time, Magic players!

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-David J.

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