Bloodchief Ascension Revisited: Examining the Bloodchief Ascension Deck

I still genuinely believe that Bloodchief Ascension is a card that will help define the new Standard environment. However, it hasn't quite found a home in a deck yet.

I guess there are two ways to approach the [B] Enchantment - Aggro or Control.
Aggro seeks to get Bloodchief Ascension online as quickly as possible by consitently throwing either dudes or burn at your opponent.
Control seeks to get Bloodchief Ascension online slowly and carefully, as once it's online then you have inevitably behind you.

I've put together a list of card that have excellent synergy with Bloodchief Ascension. They are listed, with commentary, below.

CREATURES

BLACK

* Vampire Lacerator [B][Aggro]: Probably the perfect Turn 1 drop for the Aggro BA deck. Yes, you will hurt from the downside of the card, but once BA comes online that should all turn around in your favour.
* Dredgescape Zombie [1B]: It's not great, but it's not terrible. The unearth is what's really attractive, being able to push through damage is pretty important in the Aggro version of the deck. However, Dredgecape Zombie has never been good enough to go mainstream, and it's unlikely that we'll use him.
* Surrakar Marauder [1B][Aggro]: Another interesting 2 drop, mainly because of the situational unblockability. However, with all the black two-drops running around, including Vampire decks and Putrid Leech, it's unlikely he'll make the grade.
* Bloodghast [BB][Aggro/Control]: Bloodghast seems the best card so far. Your opponent will unlikely want to trade and therefore Bloodghast will likely get the counters happening. In a control deck you can play multiple sweepers and bring this guy back with no card loss. Great with Earthquake. Seems an auto-include.
* Gatekeeper of Malakar [BB][Aggro/Control]: Great in both control and aggro. Removal + Dude = Awesome. Should be treated as a 3-drop.
Black Knight [BB][Aggro/Control]: Far more situational, and unlikely to make the cut. Probably a great sideboard card against mono-white Soldiers and Boros.
* Hypnotic Specter [1BB][Control]: Okay, you're not gonna get this guy on Turn 1, but he's pretty strong in a format with as little card drawing as the current Zen. Plus, once online, each time he hits and your opponent discards, you get a 4 point life swing as well. To heavily considered in the control deck.
* Vampire Nighthawk [1BB][Aggro/Control]: Nighthawk has so much going for him. A 3 Toughness rump that really matters in the current metagame. Lifegain to keep you at the table. Deathtouch for removing fatties well above his punching weight. Likely an auto-include.
* Vampire Nocturnus [1BBB][Aggro]: A much more situtional card, heavily dependent on the number of Vampires we run. Unlikely as an include, but a good consideration.

RED

* Golbin Guide [R][Aggro]: He'll be great in aggro, especially considering we'll run him along side Vampire Lacerator and Blightning, thus making up for the card advantage we lose having him in the red zone.
* Hellspark Elemental [1R][Aggro/Control]: He's a great dude that sees a fair amount of play. Important to consider him in the Control deck as with sweepers in your deck he can quickly come back from the grave to get another counter on BA.

BLUE

* Hedron Crab [Control]: Probably unlikely to see play maindeck, but a sideboard option.

MULTICOLOURED

* Esper Stormblade [W/B U][Aggro]: 3/2 flyers for 2 mana are pretty insane. Will come down to (a) our ability to turn him on and (b) whether we play Blue maindeck.
* Grixis Grimblade [u/R B][Aggro]: An interesting choice, but one we probably won't play.
* Jund Hackblade [B/G R][Aggro]: Again interesting, but not good enough.
* Shambling Remains [1BR][Aggro]: This guy seems very suited for an Aggro deck. You don't care about his inability to block, and he'll possibly die while your 2/2s that still matter get through. His unearth ability is quite important as well.
* Anathemancer [1BR][Control]: Dome your opponent without even swinging? Perfect for control.
* Kederekt Creepr [UBR][Control]: Probably too slow for aggro, an interesting choice for control. You opponent gets a horrible decision - card disavantage or an other counter on BA.
* Sedraxis Specter [UBR][Control]: Hypnotic Specter on crack. We'll consider him. Unearth, again, is important.
* Lightning Reaver [3BR][Control]: Unlikely to play, but he's out there.

DIRECT BURN

* Lightning Bolt [R][Aggro/Control]: The best burn spell ever, an auto-include.
* Burst Lightning [R][Aggro/Contro]: Does exactly what we want, two or four damage to the dome.
* Punishing Fire [1R][Control]: Without some sort of combo, Punishing Fire is probably to slow and low for use in the deck.

REMOVAL

* Disfigure [B][Aggro/Control]: A great removal spell, but probably second place over burn.
* Doom Blade [1B][Aggro/Control]: Again, does the job admirably, but probably comes in second place to Terminate.
* Terminate [BR][Aggro/Control]: Other than Path to Exile, the premier removal spell in Standard. A definite sideboard card, may be needed maindeck depending on the metagame.
* Hideous End [1BB][Control]: A card made for working with BA. The right colour, instant removal, and helps get a counter on BA. Definitely going in.
* Agony Warp [UB][Control]: Great for two-for-one-ing your opponent, may have a place in the deck.
* Bituminous Blast [3BR][Control]: Card advantage and removal all in one. However, does not place nice with Earthquake.
* Earthquake [XR][Control]: Would be ordinary, except it also hits your opponent. This makes it as a premier sweeper in a control deck.

OTHER SPELLS

* Duress [B][Control]: Excellent control card, removing any threats against BA.
* Countersquall [UB][Control]: For BA, a straight-up upgrade of Negate, with a bonus counter for BA.
* Grixis Charm [UBR][Aggro]: A possible include, depending on how deep into blue and aggro buld goes.
* Blightning [1BR][Aggro/Control]: An excellent card for both card advantage and getting another counter on BA.
* Mindbreak Trap [2UU][Control]: Probably a sideboard card in a blue build.
* Archive Trap [3UU][Control]: A win condition with a fully loaded BA, a dead card without it. One to consider.
* Trapmaker's Snare [1U]: For fetching traps, if we run them.
* Sign in BLood [BB][Control]: One of the best card-drawing cards in the set. An auto-include in a control build.
* Volcanic Fallout [1RR][Control]: A decent sideboard deck against Vampires and Boros, not so much against anything else nowadays.

PLANESWALKERS

* Lilliana Vess [3BB][Control]: Tutors up a BA, or the card you need to control the board. To be heavily considered. Plus, once BA is online, her +1 ability is posively brutal.
* Sorin Markov [3BBB][Control] His +2 ability is perfect with BA, as is his -3 ability. Mana cost is a little excessive, but his ultimate is brutal. A worthy consideration.

All things considered, I'm going to go with a Control build with BA. The build is almost a game of 'death by a thousand cuts'. You want everything your opponent does to hurt. Play a creature? Have it hideous-ended, lose two life. Play a non-creature? Have it Countersqualled, lose two life. Play multiple creatures? Have them Earthquaked, lose two or more life.

Here's the build I'm considering:

[1 Mana Spells]

4 x Bloodchief Ascension
4 x Lightning Bolt
2 x Burst Lightning

[2 Mana Spells]

4 x Bloodghast
4 x Countersquall
2 x Sign in Blood

[3 Mana Spells]

4 x Blightning
4 x Hideous End
4 x Vampire Nighthawk

[5 Mana Spells]

2 x Liliana Vess

[X Spells]

4 x Earthquake

[22 Lands]

The deck has a lot of powerful synergies.

Firstly, between Liliana and Bloodghast, it has plenty of card-drawing and tutoring. This gives it a big lead over many of the current decks in Standard that fall quickly into top-deck mode. This also helps assure your capacity to find Bloodchief Ascension.

Secondly, almost every card is capable of turning on the Bloodchief Ascension, including Sign in Blood. In theory, even without BA, you are quite capable of winning, as your ability to win any attrition war against your opponent is pretty high.

Thirdly, there is high-quality interaction between Earthquake and your two creatures, Vampire Nighthawk and Bloodghast. Bloodghast doesn't mind dying to Earthquake, and Vampire Nighthawk isn't touched by it. Earthquake is also very good at killing off opposing Planeswalkers.

Fourthly, Vampire Nighthawk is very good at both maintining life disparity with your opponent, as well as fending off any attack against Liliana. Mind you, Liliana is probably pretty vulnerable in this deck.

If I can round up the cards I'll try playtesting it and see how it goes. Again any and every piece of feedback is welcome.

Labels: analysis, deckbuilding, magic

Building a Digital Card Collection on MtGO

I was recently (today!) asked on Twitter various questions about MtGO. These included questions around trading, safety, pricing, boosters, singles, etc.
So firstly some upfront links. Read 'em, then come back here:

* Official WoTC MtGO page
* Wikipedia page on Magic Online
* LSV: Going Infinite on MTGO
* Historical article by Ben Bleiweiss: The Current Economic State of Magic Online
* Jeroen Aga: Going Infinite drafting on Magic Online... A Myth?

About my Digital Habits

No, I’m talking about picking my nose. Before I begin, I think I should disclose how I play MtGO before I recommend you do anything. Here's a snapshot of me as a digital player:

* I have a high level of disposable income, some of which I budget for MtGO
* I invest far more in paper Magic than MtGO.
* I live at least half-an-hour away from the nearest store that runs events.
* I buy a draft set and six tickets at the beginning of the week and see how far I can get without buying more
* I am slowly investing in the cards needed to play constructed but don't currently play in the constructed queues
* I redeem often. Most of my paper cards are through redemption. This is largely the reason why I don't play a lot of constructed online.
* I don’t care for foil cards, either online or off.
* My online collection is small but tactical.
* I have only recently attempted to trade for profit.

With that in mind, here's my advice regarding MtGO.

The ‘Players’ Involved

The following is a lazy snapshot of the ‘players’ involved in the MtGO community:

* The casual players – these are the people who make up the vast bulk of the MtGO community. They spend a lot of time in the casual room or tournament practice room, but not necessarily in the queues.
* The hard-core players – these are people who aim for the prize payouts in constructed and limited events online. They generally attempt to make a profit off MtGO through prize support.
* The traders & bot owners –these are the people who attempt to make a profit through trading cards
* The bots – these are the machines who make the healthy trading community possible, essentially automated scripts that allow a human to trade cards and tickets with a machine.
* The ORCs – These are WoTC employed staff that monitor the chat rooms and provide support online.

Currency

The major currency of Magic Online are Event Tickets. Event tickets are sold by WoTC as digital objects in lieu of trading money online. In essence, US$1 = 1 Ticket, although it doesn’t always work out that way. Depending on the number of Nix Tix events (where no tickets are used), Nix Pax events (where ONLY tickets are used, not product) and current prize payouts, you can ‘buy’ Event Tickets through the bots for less than US$1, often through paypal websites. Event Tickets has shrunk as low as .89, but are usually around the mid-to-high .90s.
New booster packs generally cost US$3.99, or 4 tickets, from a bot. As boosters go out of the store, their cost in the bots grows. Often the bots sell boosters available in the store for less than 4 tickets, as they have bought them off players who have won events, not the store itself. The rare exception to this was M10 product, which clung onto the 4 ticket value due to the expected Earned Value from every M10 packet.
Cards themselves have a broad range of value. However, the commonly acknowledged pricing structure for normal-value, non-foil commons, uncommons and rares is as follows:

* Commons :: .02 - .05 tickets
* Uncommons :: .08 -.20 tickets
* Rares :: .25 to 1 tickets

Once a card is a ‘chase’ card online, the price will spike significantly. For example:

* Gush, a common, has only been issued in the “Jace vs Chandra’ Duel Set and goes for 3 tickets
* Daze, a common, has only been issued in the “Jace vs. Chandra’ Duel Set and goes for 9 tickets
* Spell Snare, an uncommon, goes for .40 of a ticket
* Bloodbraid Elf, an uncommon, goes for 2 tickets
* Mana Drain, a rare, has only been issued in Masters Edition 3 and goes for 15 tickets
* Force of Will, a rare, has only been issued in Masters Edition and goes for 64 tickets

Many of the bots use a credit system; if you only spend .43 of a ticket, the other .57 will be reserved against your account name for future purchases. As many of the bots are tied together, you may find your credits extend across multiple bots; this is a secondary currency market within MtGO. Some bots have various promotions they use that allow for discounts over time, like frequent flyer miles. I suggest doing a lot of research into the bots if you want to get the most out of them.

Starting a Collection

Firstly, begin with the end in mind. What format do you intend on playing in? On MtGO there are four major constructed formats; Classic, Extended, Standard and Pauper. I would rate the cost of these in the following order, from most expensive to cheapest:

Classic > Standard > Extended > Pauper

Here are some recommendations for building a collection within a format:

* If you intend on playing in the constructed queues for profit, build a Pauper deck first. It requires the least dollar investment to create a great Pauper deck, you can learn how to play in-game properly, and if you hate MtGO you can get out with as little loss as possible. A great primer for creating and pricing a pauper deck can be found here at puremtgo.com.
* Drafting will build a collection, but it will cost you an absolute fortune. Unless you have a 1900+ rating and know what the hell you’re doing, don’t do it.
* Understand what is redeemable and what is not. That Standard deck you just built? Redeemable for the next four years. That Classic deck with the Tropical Islands and Flooded Strands? You’ll never be able to redeem it. If you don’t care about redemption, the ‘perennial’ cards, such as Birds of Paradise, have high variance in price depending on the set. Cards from old sets that are not redeemable, but still being printed in new sets, are generally cheaper than newer editions (but not always).
* Thanks to the wonders of having digital cards, you don’t need more than four of any card. Ever. No matter how many decks you use that card in, or how many formats that card exists in. If you have anything over four of a certain card, unless you’re holding back and waiting for a spike rise, you may as well trade the excess away.
* Build in the off-season of the equivalent paper magic tournaments. Many paper players will build equivalent decks online, thus forcing the prices of tickets up at that time. The recent Dark Depths increase is an excellent example of this – a single Extended Pro-Tour drove the price up from 2 tickets to 15 tickets.
* Understand the bots are not your friends. They are there to make money. They will try to rip you off if they have the chance. Be a smart shopper – compare prices, do searches online, search the classifieds page for the lowest price. I recommend doing a quick browse of Cardhoarder.com, Abugames.com, and, essentially, mtgolibrary.com, which has a wonderful search engine across the people that use its bot service to find card prices.
* There are some non-widely-known chat areas, such as the auction area. This can be accessed by typing /join auction or /join auction2. Players run their own auctions for bulk card lots in the chat. This is a highly cost-effective way of picking up cards.

With those recommendations in mind, once you’ve chosen a format you wish to build a collection for, here’s my advice:

* Concentrate on getting the mana base first. The mana base will likely be the most expensive part of any non-pauper deck you play, and as a result you may not realise the cost of the constructed deck until you get to buying the mana base at the end, and then your budget will be screwed or your deck won’t be competitive.
* Once you have your mana base, it’s wise to try to get the staple artifacts out of the way. I’d suggest the following artifacts are must-haves, depending on your intended format – Aether Vial, Pithing Needle, Chrome Mox, Engineered Explosives, Tormod’s Crypt, Umezawa’s Jitte, Relic of Progenitus, Chalice of the Void, Vedalken Shackles, Crucible of Worlds.
* Once you’ve got your land and your artifacts, it’s only a matter of pulling together a deck. I certainly can’t recommend a deck for you, but you can be assured the more popular the deck, the more popular it will be online. Sometimes the best thing you can do is build the deck that beats the popular deck and get rich off that. Metagaming is a time-honoured tradition, never more so than on MtGO.

Hopefully this should give you a good idea on how to get a collection started on MtGO. If you have any questions, feel free to hit me up on twitter, or find me in game – weirdly enough my handle in MtGO is wrongwaygoback. See you online.

Labels: analysis, mtgo

Don't Believe the Negativity Over MtGO PTQs

Recently starcitygames.com posted an article by Kyle Sanchez that was critical of Magic the Gathering Online (MtGO), in particular the new Pro-Tour Qualifiers that were recently launched within game.
The problem for starcitygames and Kyle Sanchez is that every argument fails to stand up to scrutiny. Here's an analysis of the article and why it's demonstrably wrong.

"My initial reaction was “it’s about time the dedicated online players got their chance,” but as I started reading, I became horrified when I learned there would be a whopping SIXTEEN qualifiers in a short three-month period. I couldn't believe it, and am still flabbergasted right now reading over the schedule here." - Kyle Sanchez

This argument would only make sense if paper players were banned from participating in online events. However, they are not.
There are around 60 PTQs in North America each year. Those that play paper magic in the US go from having 60 assessable PTQs to 76 accessible PTQs.
Online exclusive players go from having zero to 'a whopping SIXTEEN' - against the rest of the world.
But that's not Kyle's real problem. His real problem is that:

"To me, MTGO represents everything that is awful about gaming. First and foremost, I'm not playing against anyone. I'm sitting in front of a computer monitor in my undies with my legs draped out of the desk in front of me, unshaven, unshowered, hair nappy and awkwardly shaped from the pillow that was supporting my head just moments before I logged on. The interface is shoddy, with misclicks aplenty, and the cherished gaming environment that I grew up in is replaced with stupid over-bossed graphics and a mechanical box that determines my fate." - Kyle Sanchez

Mental image of Kyle Sanchez flicking between MtGO and porn browser aside - actually, I may never get it out of my head - everything Kyle says here is demonstrably wrong. Unless Kyle is playing Solitaire exclusively on MtGO, he's generally up against another, hopefully not similarly clad, human being. Misclicks are generally few and far between, and are always due to operator error, not the game itself. And a mechanical box does not determine Kyle's fate, his play skill does.

"More so than MTGO, I'm pro life, and I figured out a few years ago that I'd rather be out of the house doing something than idling away my time in false light with the world at my fingertips. I understand what a great tool the Internet is, and certainly MTGO within it, but such lifestyles would be the end of me if I embraced them again, and I'd go down that dark road of bad hygiene, lower back strains from sitting in a chair too long, and lacking that all important hand to hold and body to cuddle." - Kyle Sanchez

It's almost as if Kyle hasn't met MtG players in competitive environment in real life. Sweaty, smelly, and rarely participating with a life partner.

"Magic to me is meant to be played at a game shop. It’s meant to be played with friends and fellow magicians, and most importantly supporting the stores that introduced us to this great spectacle." - Kyle Sanchez

I don't follow this argument at all. Most PTQs I've been to don't happen at a game shop; they happen at larger venues. So I'm not sure how playing at a shop affects PTQ participation. And supporting WoTC is as important as supporting the local store. They're in a symbiotic relationship of producer/retailer. They need each other. And when one prospers, so does the other. The more people that buy WoTC product online, the healthier the company is, the more it produces, the more the local store can sell.

"It’s about actually owning the cards in which I invest my money, rather than being a glitch away from losing thousands of dollars in digital cards that are MTGO can freeze at any moment. Just ask my friend Zesty234 from the MTGSalvation forums what he thinks of digital gaming. He is the infamous player that used to do those clever riddle spoilers. After they found out it who he was in real life, they banned him two years from the DCI and later that day froze his Online account containing thousands of dollars of cards." - Kyle Sanchez

Few people have lost digital cards due to a 'glitch' - even the example Kyle Sites isn't a glitch. It was a player deliberately breaking the MtGO Terms of Service - what did Zesty234 or Kyle expect? WoTC to write cryptic haikus to Zesty234 to let him know he was in double-deep shit?
Kyle’s argument also ignores one of the best features of MtGO; the ability to convert those digital cards into real cards, something I've taken advantage of again and again.
'Licensing' digital objects is a damn side easier to control legally than managing digital objects others own. This is the exact same model World of Warcraft and other MMOs use to manage digital goods in a world with innumerable trading and ownership laws across the globe. To expect otherwise is to be naive to the realities of digital gaming.
Given this, the fact that WoTC allows for card redemption is amazing.
But back to Kyle:

"So now we have sixteen PTQs available to us online. This is horrible for the real life game, the game we all love. It's astonishing that those sixteen Q's represent a quarter of the PTQs available to those located in the U.S." - Kyle Sanchez

Wrong - they represent a fifth (16 + 60 = 76. 76/16 = ~20%). Again, just because they're online doesn't mean you can't participate if you're in the US. I'd wager that for a lot of people in the US it significantly increases the number of PTQs they can participate in.

"It's astonishing that Wizards would opt to put such a high value prize in a format that is so easily abusable. Magic was meant to be played one on one, my intellect opposite yours, my deck configuration against yours." - Kyle Sanchez

Just like it's done online.

"With online gaming involved, there is nothing stopping the savvy professional players already qualified from taking over someone’s account and maneuvering around a field of average players with ease. There’s also no safeguard for a team of players to sit around a computer to provide more minds, therefore making less mistakes. I know of several pros that have already been paid to play in the October 8th qualifier, and of several joes that are grouping together to get their team qualified one by one." - Kyle Sanchez

Sad to say, there is nothing stopping anyone from doing this in paper world either. Fame/identity issues aside, there's no reason why a pro-player can't turn up to a offline PTQ with another player's DCI card, qualify and win right now. I know in the PTQs I've participated in I've entered with no further information than a DCI number scrawled on the back of an old business card. This problem is equally present in the paper world as it is online.
I've also seen teams turn up to PTQs and Pre-Releases with the intent of capturing the top spot and succeeding. Certainly there's no advice on plays, but there's a lot of talk on sideboarding strategy, opponent scouting and preferential concessions and intentional drawing.

"“I paid some dude $100 to win nine rounds for me on my account. Man, that guy is such a master...”
Really?
“No, it actually only ran me twenty bucks and the cost of the tournament…”
And this guy gets to hop into the most prestigious tournament in Magic, for which we've driven millions of miles, woke up untold hours early, and invested our hearts, souls, and blood to succeed? All for $20! And with sixteen PTQs, there could be SIXTEEN of these $20 pro players!" - Kyle Sanchez

This is the most inane argument of all. The online PTQs are a 11+ hour event. At $100 that's a lousy $9/hr. At $20 that's a $2/hr. If the pro-tour player willing to work for that kind of money could please let me know, I have a full-time job I'd like him to take. Gold farming.

"In a world where everything is having to embrace Internet avenues to keep up with those around them, I felt Magic was unique because to be a top level player you were forced to compete face to face with spells in hand. The age in Magic where actually casting spells, rather than clicking a mouse, to win tournaments and advance to the next level is behind us." - Kyle Sanchez

Fuck me. 'Actually casting spells'?
Okay. Settle.
Right now, most of the innovation and competition in MtG is being driven by the Internet. The 'secret tech' that used arrive in magazines months after it's been discovered now takes a couple of hours to reach around the globe. Those that are on the net are innovating faster, smarter and getting in more practice than paper players.
Just like the Gran Turismo GT Academy, there is no doubt that at some point a dedicated MtGO player is going to end up winning a Pro Tour.
Wait a sec, what the fuck am I talking about?
Here's a safe bet; every Pro Tour winner this year has played on either MtGO or Magic Workstation this year to either test, practice, or participate in a competitive environment. Hell, LSV, Oliver Ruel and co write up articles every damn week on how they went drafting *online*.
The idea that MtGO players and paper players are a separate group of entities - especially at the competition level - is ridiculous.
And that's the problem with Kyle's argument. There is no "us" and "them", no deep division between the paper players and the digital players. Paper players can download MtGO tomorrow, and digital players can buy a booster in the local store. Paper players can participate in the online PTQs and digital players can participate in the offline PTQs.
Interestingly, I met a guy at the Melbourne GP who had never played in an offline event before, but drafted twice a day on MtGO. Had no byes, but made Day 2 with flying colours.
Kyle sees the MtGO PTQs as a major risk to... someone. I'm still not sure who. Nothing has been taken away from the mystical paper players who actually cast spells. In fact, they have a new opportunity - take their skills online and beat the noobs there who don't know how to play 'real' magic at their own game.
I think they may discover the players online are better than the 'real' magic players give them credit for.

--- :: ----

As an aside, here's a comment from Patrick Chapin from the starcitygames.com thread for Kyle's article:

Let me tell you how it will really work.
There will be no money exchanged.
Pros will not be playing "for" people in exchange for anything.
What will really happen is that decent/good/has been/almost was/more popular than they are current players will play their own games, but with chat windows open. In addition, they will be hanging out with a ringer friend who is just watching over their shoulder, making suggestions, talking with them about their options. There is little incentive for people to straight up cheat, when it will be so easy to just hang out with ringers friends while they are battling and get advice that will produce 99% of the result of the ringer playing for them.
That is how it will work and that is why half of the 16 slots of the hardest ptqs in the world will go to friends of ringers. The worst part is, anyone who is "popular" and wins a slot this way will immediately be viewed with an eye of suspicion, since it doesn't even matter if they actually got a little help or a lot or none at all, since people will think whatever they want anyway. Besides, what is the official policey? Does it actually say anywhere that when you are playing in a ptq that you are not allowed to ask for help? If you can ask for help once, why can't you ask 99 times or everytime?
I think that if you are going to have slots available this way, you might as well just take the logical step of offering them for sale for a thousand dollars or so. Why not? Just as long as Prize pool/invites < $entry fee, and by a reasonable amount, then why not? The only reason not to before was to preserve the integrity of the event.
That integrity is vastly diminished under the new system. - Patrick Chapin

Okay, I agree with Patrick to a certain extent. Certainly, there is no incentive for a pro-player to straight-up run a PTQ on behalf of a friend. And certainly some people will get help and support from their buddies as to plays over the course of the event. And if Magic is a game of incremental advantage, isn't this terrible?
No.
Because it fails to take into account that the ringers will likely not be as good as the best MtGO players anyway. It assumes a sort of magical ringer status that assures PTQ wins against any level of player.
And it ignores just how good the top-level MtGO players really are. And let's not forget a number of the top-level MtGO players just happen to be Pro-Tour players anyway.
Now, maybe a couple of people will be lucky enough to have a Pro-Tour player as their ringer. But I'd wager on any given day, half the Pro-Tour players would *not* be guaranteed of winning any given PTQ. A good chance, sure. But guaranteed? Not hardly.
The MtGO PTQs are undoubtedly the hardest PTQs to win. I think the best thing to come out of them will be the opportunity to see how the top MtGO players perform on the Pro-Tour.

--- :: ----

Oh, it's so easy to fall into the trap of "us" vs "them". Paper players and digital players overlap in a not inconsiderable way. There is no barrier of entry for one group to participate in the other, and for that reason they are largely one and the same.
Pro-Tour Qualifiers are not easy prey for Pro-Players to dominate - watching the successes and failures of various MtG Entities across the various Magic websites is proof of that. The idea that someone will be able to dial-a-Pro and instantly win a PTQ is fanciful, if not ludicrous.
Ultimately, the MtGO PTQs pose less of a threat to the Magic community than a tired, bedraggled, half-naked Kyle Sanchez does to his own keyboard.

Silence Scepter Ascension [An Extended Deck]

For you control junkies out there, here's a deck that you may like to play in the new extended.

[2 Creatures]

1 Baneslayer Angel
1 Iona, Shield of Emeria

[5 Artifacts]

1 Chrome Mox
4 Isochron Scepter

[2 Enchantments]

2 Luminarch Ascension

[8 Sorceries]

4 Ancestral Vision
2 Day of Judgment
2 Wrath of God

[1 Planeswalker]

1 Jace Beleren

[19 Instants]

1 Condemn
1 Path to Exile
1 Negate
1 Essence Scatter
3 Gifts Ungiven
1 Lightning Helix
3 Mana Tithe
4 Spell Snare
3 Silence
1 Muddle the Mixture

[23 Lands]

1 Sacred Foundry
2 Glacial Fortress
2 Reflecting Pool
1 Emeria, the Sky Ruin
2 Island
4 Plains
2 Tolaria West
4 Hallowed Fountain
1 Academy Ruins
1 Steam Vents
4 Arid Mesa

UR Pauper Landfall

For those of you interested in Pauper, here's a simple permission/aggro deck you might get a kick out of. The only real expense in the deck are the four Daze.

4 Burst Lightning
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Disrupt

4 Plated Geopede
4 Zektar Shrine Expedition
4 Gush
4 Daze

4 Windrider Eel

4 Traumatic Visions

4 Teetering Peaks
10 Island
6 Mountain
4 Terramorphic Expanse

Clearly there's a lot of synergy here, all built around abusing the landfall mechanic. The 'drawbacks' of the alternate costs of Gush and Daze suddenly become powerful additions to the deck. Traumatic Visions will either help find the land the need or stop dead your opponent. Gush and Disrupt help the card drawing continue.

Let me know if you play it and how it goes.

Labels: magic, pauper

Analysing Maindeckable, Playable Commons in Zendikar Limited

One thing I noticed while playing in Zendikar drafts was how many people were attracted to the same colours, thus making signalling difficult to accomplish. I decided to take a look at the coloured commons in the set to see if it may give some clues why that may be the case.

Following are lists of what I consider to be the Zendikar limited maindeckable, playable commons.

White (10 playable, 1 removal, 2 combat tricks)

Steppe Lynx (w)
Shieldmate's Blessing (w)
Kor Skyfisher (1W)
Ondu Cleric (1W)
Journey to Nowhere (1W)
Kor Hookmaster (2W)
Kor Sancitifiers (2W)
Makindi Shieldmage (2W)
Bold Defense (2W)
Kor Cartographer (3W)

Blue (13 playable, 3 removal/combat tricks)

Kraken Hatchling (U)
Tempest Owl (1U)
Welkin Tern (1U)
Into the Roil (1U)
Ior Ruin Expedition (1U)
Reckless Scholar (2U)
Umara Raptor (2U)
Paralyzing Grasp (2U)
Cancel (1UU)
Windrider Eel (3U)
Sky RUin Drake (4U)
Whiplash Trap (3UU)
Shoal Serpent (5U)

Black (12 playable, 3 removal (inc. Heartstabber Mosquito), 1 combat trick)

Guul Draz Vampire (B)
Vampire Lacerator (B)
Disfigure (B)
Vampire's Bite (B)
Soul Stair Expedition (B)
Surrak Marauder (1B)
Grim Discovery (1B)
Giant Scorpion (2B)
Hideous End (1BB)
Hagra Crocodile (3B)
Heartstabber Mosquito (3B)
Nimana Sell-Sword (3B)
Crypt Ripper (2BB)

Red (13 playable, 3 removal (inc. Torch Slinger), 1 combat trick)

Burst Lightning (R)
Goblin Bushwacker (R)
Goblin Shortcutter (1R)
Highland Beserker (1R)
Plated Geopede (1R)
Zektar Shrine Expedition (1R)
Torch Slinger (2R)
Ruinous Minotaur (2R)
Slaughter Cry (2R)
Bladetusk Boar (3R)
Shatterskull Giant (2RR)
Spire Barrage (4R)
Tuktuk Grunts (4R)

Green (11, 1 removal (inc. Oran-Rief Recluse), 1 combat trick)

Scythe Tiger (G)
Vines of Vastwood (G)
Oran-Rief Survivalist (1G)
Khalni Hear Expedition (1G)
Niss's Chosen (GG)
Grazing Gladehart (2G)
Oran-Rief Recluse (2G)
Harrow (2G)
Mold Shambler (3G)
Timbermaw Larva (3G)
Terrotrial Baloth (4G)

To me this analysis indicates a few things:

1. You're more likely to think Blue, Black or Red as 'open' due to the higher levels of playable commons likely to be passed.
2. You're most likely to be able to shunt others out of White early through a few key picks.
3. Considering White's removal is pretty splashable (unlike, say Black or Blue), you might see non of it even if you're in white.
4. Red is far better than most give it credit for.
5. Red probably wins the kicker value wars at common level with Bushwacker, Torch Slinger and Burst Lightning all good cards.
6. Speaking of red, it seems easy to draft twenty points of common level burn. Just sayin'.
7. With the Stonework Puma added there are eight playable Allys at common level. Move in quick or not at all.
8. There are seven common fliers; blue is blessed with five of them. Luckily Spidersilk Net is also a common.
9. There are twelve coloured common cards worth playing with landfall mechanics; white only has one of them (Steppe Lynx).

What's it all mean? Well, I certainly think that if you go Red, Black or Blue you're more likely to find quality cards deeper in the pick order, but at the same time risk more opponents snaking your oil. At the same time, White seems so shallow at common that you almost better hope you're the only player drafting it at the table. As for myself, right now my favourite colour combo is Blue/Red. The combination of efficient aggro (Plated Geopede, Welkin Tern, Umara Raptor), evasion (Blue's flyers, Goblin Shortcutter and Bladetusk Boar), long-range burn (Burst Lightning, Spire Barrage) and removal (Into the Roil, Torch Slinger, Whiplash Trap, Burst Lightning) make it a powerful, fast combination even without any uncommons or rares.

I partipated in three Sealed events and three Drafts events over the GP Melbourne weekend.

The three Sealed events:

* GP Melbourne Trial Grinder #2 (2-1 knockout)
* GP Melbourne (2-2 drop)
* PTQ Austin (0-1 drop)

I was completely overwhelmed by the quality of the pools I opened and passed away - and completely underwhelmed by the pools I received. Particularly disappointing was the PTQ Austin pool. I gave away an amazing UW control pool with Luminarch Ascension and a metric tonne of removal, and then passed through an astounding BR deck with double Geopede and Hideous End and the Bloodchief himself, and ended up with a deck with no finishers and no removal.

Three terrible sealed pools in a row made my mind kinda want to explode. When people look at your pool, shrug, and tell you to give up Magic, you know the Gods have it in for you.

On the flip side, I had three interesting Draft events:

* FNM Draft Event
* 2 x Sanctioned Drafts

FNM Draft Event

I drafted UW for the FNM draft event. I confess, I'm a little in love with Blue in Zendikar draft. However, there was a major problem with this particular draft - FOUR players opened a Sphinx of some sort, three in the first packs. So three players immediately went blue. The one player who didn't was a Japanese pro-player, who simply picked up the pieces with a truely insane BR deck. He had triple Geopede, triple Lacerator, triple 2/1 black intimidator dude, and Adventuring Gear. I met him in the finals, and though my deck was pretty aggressive (four Lynx, 2 tern), it simply could not keep up the pace and I came second.

Sanctioned Draft #1

I think I probably got lucky in this draft. I P1P1 a Scute Mob. I started heading into a Gr deck, a few big dudes and mana acceleration. I grabed a Nissa's Chosen as well, as I've seen them played and they're very effective holding the ground. Then P2P1 was Nissa Revane. I've already tweeted how many Nissa Revane I've opened; she and I have a thing together. Suddenly I'm prioritising Nissa's Chosen over everything. Then P2P2 is an Oracle of Mul Daya. That card is insane. Mana accelerate? SURE! Never draw another land again? SURE! Trigger landfall a million times? NOT A PROBLEM! Obviously my deck is now insane. And with Blade of the Bloodchief and Carnage Altar, the shennanigan possibilities are huge. Certainly the card advantage is. I go an easy 2-0 and ID at the top for packs.

Sanctioned Draft #2

I open yet another Jwar Sphinx, but that's okay, because Blue is fairly open. Red is clearly available, and I draft a wonderful UR deck with so. much. burn. I had three Spire Barrage, a card I believe is hugely underrated at the moment. Sure, it's Sorcery speed. But these so little to counter or prevent it, it can hit just about anything, and it can end a tight race fast. If you count a Spire Barrage as five damage, the deck was packing 23 points of burn. My first game I simply stomped my opponent. My deck had a beautiful curve: Turn 1 Adventure's Gear; Turn 2 Geopede; Turn 3 attach, landfall, attack, Welkin Turn; Turn 4 Bladetusk Boar, etc. I really dig Bladetusk Boar in this format and he was going all the way each game. Game 2 was the toughest, my opponent has a very fast BG deck with triple Hideous End. However his Lacerators did him more harm than good, as he was racing and I had so. much. burn. The final game ended with a five damage Spire to the face on one turn, and another five damage Spire on the next. Not a lot of decks can deal with that. Again I ID'd at the top for packs.

I have no doubt both the Sanctioned Draft decks would of gone all the way - heck, the second deck had won four times without any losses and hadn't even played the Sphinx. I think Red is really underrated in this format and should be explored if you have the opportunity - Burst Lightning is a brilliant card. And, of course, Blue is just a powerhouse; Living Tsunami, Windrider Eel, the Sphinxes, Welkin Tern... what's not to like?

At the moment I don't rate Green in draft, although I'd always take an Oracle if I saw it. Nissa was good, but I had a really hard time killing my opponent in one game that just dragged to a halt. White is pretty conditional and has the most fun tech, but Red, Black and Blue are deep in opportunities and don't rely so much on everything coming together nicely.

That's my impression so far: Sealed is a bust (for me!), and Draft offers real opportunities if you have a plan.

One last thing: I think the general quality of cards is so good it's hard to detect signals from the other players. I also think the randomness of colours in packs is a little strange, with some packs almost devoid of one or two colours. In my second draft I had to hold firm in my belief that I was forcing Green, even though two packs in a row contained no green cards. Then I suddently had two Oren Reif Recluse passed to me in a row and I knew I was okay. Just something to think about.

Magic the Gathering - GP Melbourne - Day 1, Grinders - Part 2 of 2.

MtG :: GP Melbourne :: Day 1 - Grinders :: Part 1

A quick update on the deck I've been enjoying on the MtGO Beta:

4 Lotus Cobra
4 Putrid Leech
4 Borderland Ranger
4 Ob Nixilis, the Fallen

2 Doom Blade
3 Sign in Blood
4 Harrow

3 Maelstrom Pulse
4 Grim Discovery

4 Garruk Wildspeaker

4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Terramorphic Expanse
8 Forest
8 Swamp

Sideboard
4 Duress
4 Malakir Bloodwitch
4 Gatekeeper of Malakir
3 Scute Mob

Yes, I have happily swung with an 21/21 Ob Nixilis after doming my opponent for 18.

MTG DESIGN SPACE: ARTIFACTS

Based on feedback via Twitter I'm keeping up this series of articles. This is my third attempt at exploring design spaces in Magic the Gathering. This week, as requested over Twitter. I'll be exploring artifacts. Feedback is always appreciated. You can either e-mail me or catch me on twitter.


I wanted to muck around with artifacts today. Lately there have been a fair few artifacts with great upsides. I, however, wanted to explore the downsides as well. This led to the first card:

Vile Serum



The thinking behind this card was giving a temporary boost with a terrible downside. +3/+3 can swing a lot of games. But -2/-2 will kill a lot of creatures. So it's the kind of card that's really going to test your skill.

On the plus side, if you have a 3/3 creature or greater, it'll simply give a +1/+1 boost ongoing, which is not the worst boost you could give a creature.

But then I got distracted thinking about the briefly seen Future Sight ability, Fortify. I wanted to explore it a little. Firstly, I came up with this:

Temple of Hoqas



Originally I had a casting cost of 4 and a Fortify cost of 2, then realised for very little mana you could make a hell of a lot of angels. So I swapped it around to even up the cost a little. With mana burn no longer in existence, it's a simple matter of tapping the land to make an angel. But it will still cost three more mana to attach it to a second land, and that land need to be untapped as well, meaning it's a practical 4-mana expense for your second angel of the turn, which is not unfair.

Then I started to think how I could push the artifact line further, and tried a gamble with Tribal Artifacts. Here's one I showed a 'beta' of last week:

Restless Graveyard



I think this is a pretty elegant card. It's not overpowered, as it only triggers when you have no zombies on the board, but it's still a pretty mean card advantage machine. I also like the flavour, endless zombies coming out of a graveyard you control, and that you have to 'build' the graveyard first. Braaaaiiinnnsss.

Did I even mention I love zombies?

Here's another tribal artifact:

Firemount Warren



I think it's an interesting question; would you rather have these stats on another Goblin (eg. Goblin Chieftain) or on a spell that won't die to Doom Blade? I guess this gives another option for Goblin decks that try to play around certain cards.

Then I got to wondering, okay, if artifacts can fortify a land, can artifact creatures? And I came up with this:

Lorthan, The Walking Fortress



Lorthan is one of those great-in-limited-sucks-in-Constructed cards. But I love the flavour - a giant fortress that's unstoppable when resting, but vulnerable when moving? Mmmmm, Vorthosful. One thing the card needed was a way to detach itself from a land, so I invented the keyword Unattach. I think it's pretty self explanatory. If I were to design Lorthan again, I'd probably give it trample.

Then I thought, well, if an artifact creature can attach to a land, why not another creature? And came up with this:

Symbiotic Graftwurm



And I've come full circle - an equipment with upsides and downsides, a creature, and an artifact, and an equipment. Graftwurm gives a nod to Grafted Wargear. A question, rulesmeisters - could Symbiotic Graftwurm equip itself?


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As usual, I'd love to hear your thoughts on the cards and ideas, so be sure to comment on the post, or e-mail me or find me on twitter. I'd also like to hear on what next weeks article should be about.