Cube Poll 2: Brainstorm Version Poll

Hey guys!

Well, by a score of 1-0, Lotus Bloom beat Lion's Eye Diamond for preference in the Cube. So unless I get more input of which would be a better add-in for the Cube, I'm gonna keep Lotus Bloom until I maybe get a Black Lotus.

This Cube Draft poll is pretty simple: Brainstorm will stay in the Cube, but which version would you prefer?

The options are pictured below (all pictures come from MagicCards.info):

A)

 B)

 C)

 D)

(The promo version, D, is the only foil version available)

In a reply here or in an E-mail, select option A, B, C, or D. The version with the highest total gets preference.

Thanks for your input!

Mirrodin Beseiged Spoilers, Part 2: Pre-Release Promos!

With the latest (and final) Magic Player Rewards promos came oversized versions of the Pre-Release cards for the Mirrodin Beseiged Pre-Release event. And since we're looking at possibly getting one (with some strong numbers to show for it), I figured it was pretty important to get these out ASAP.

First off, though, a few teasers...

1) Combined Grave Titan with a form of Exalted, and what do you get?
2) B/G gets some artifact retrieval, the opposite of what this Legendary Elf did in Mirrodin.

See the cards...after the jump!

Attempt at EDH/Commander Saturday

Hey guys!
  While it won't be a tournament format (at least, not yet), we're looking at doing a round of EDH/Commander games this Saturday (January 1st). If you need rules, go here: http://mtgcommander.net/rules.php

Enjoy building!

Legacy Banned List Update: Survival of the Fittest BANNED, Time Spiral UNBANNED

The ban hammer came down on the strongest card in Legacy right now.

ANNOUNCEMENT

Effective January 1, 2011, the following changes occur in Legacy:

BANNED
Survival of the Fittest

Thorn in the side of Legacy players for months. Good riddance!

Basically, the reasons they banned Survival of the Fittest were that it was too resilient to removal and that all decks had to start carrying anti-Survival cards just to have a chance against the decks. If those decks didn't draw their answer to Survival, the game was as good as over.

They contemplated banning Vengevine, but R&D noted that other cards, like Necrotic Ooze, were comboing with Survival of the Fittest so a Vengevine ban would be useless.

The root of the problem was Survival of the Fittest, so now those roots are cut.



UNBANNED
Time Spiral

THIS...oughta be interesting...

Yep. Basically a "free" version of Time Reversal. Or I guess you could say it was an attempt at a free version of Timetwister but double the initial cost. Sounds fair, right? If you've gotta get to 6 lands to make this effectively free, you're trading off time for cost.

Yeah, but when it dominates tournaments, it's anything but fair.

While I don't have a history lesson for this card, I do know Mark Rosewater considered the "free spells" in Urza's Saga to be the absolute worst design decision in the history of the game. Combine it with a piece of the Power 9 and...yeah, it doesn't take long for things to go crazy.

But apparently R&D felt the environment had changed enough in Legacy since it was initially banned to be safe to unban it.

Will it be a powerhouse by itself? Or will another previously-ignored card bring Time Spiral to dominance once again? Find out, starting January 1st.



As for the other formats, no changes.


Enjoy planning your new Legacy decks!

Possibility of Mirrodin Beseiged Pre-Release HERE!

I've got some exciting news for SMM!

Morgan Hardy, the guy who runs Organized Play in Knoxville, has made an offer we can't refuse...if we can get the crowd for it.

Morgan's suggested that he can come down here to run a Mirrodin Beseiged Pre-Release the morning of January 29th!

Yes, you heard that sound in the back of your head right. We're nearing legitimacy as a Hixson gathering ground for Magic players.

Here are the details as best I know them (so all details are subject to change):

SMM Mirrodin Beseiged Pre-Release (Tentative)
Site: Baha'i Faith Center, 2405 Hamill Road, Hixson, TN 37343
Date: January 29, 2010
Time: We'll open the doors at 8:30 AM, Pre-Release at 9 AM. Morgan has to make the run from Knoxville and be back in time to run his Pre-Releases at Organized Play, so we're going to try and accommodate his schedule as best as we can.
Format: Sealed Deck; make a 40-card decks from the contents of 3 Scars of Mirrodin packs, 3 special Mirrodin Beseiged faction-alligned** packs, and basic lands.
Entry Fee: $25-$30, like a normal Pre-Release
What do you get for the Entry Fee: 6 packs (noted above) and a Pre-Release Foil Promo card (card TBA).


**So what are these "faction-alligned" boosters anyway?

The story of Scars of Mirrodin starts with the Phyrexian hordes invading the plane of Mirrodin (the home of planeswalker Karn, Memnarch, Glissa, Slobad, and others from 2003-2004). As the Phyrexians start to take over, the locals of Mirrodin, calling themselves the Mirrans, fight to fend off the poisonous advances of the mechanical lifeforms attempting to convert Mirrodin into a "New Phyrexia".

Specifically for the Pre-Release, Mirrodin Beseiged will have its packs split into two factions: One set of packs for the Mirran side of the conflict, one for Phyrexia. A Mirran pack of Mirrodin Beseiged will have only Mirran-watermarked Mirrodin Beseiged cards in it (basic land and foils notwithstanding), while the Phyrexian pack will have only Phyrexian-watermarked Mirrodin Beseiged cards.

From this Magic Arcana

When you sign up, you'll choose one of these factions: either Mirran (so far, all colors) or Phyrexian (so far, only Black, Green, and artifacts, with some Blue involved). You'll get 3 packs of Scars of Mirrodin, which are normal packs you're used to getting, and 3 packs of either Mirran-aligned or Phyrexian-alligned Mirrodin Beseiged boosters.


Again, all these details are tentative, meaning "subject to change."

HOWEVER, I need to see what kind of interest level we can get for this. If you're interested in having a Pre-Release directly in the Hixson/Chattanooga area, feel free to leave a comment or E-mail me directly at CardGameNut@gmail.com . If I can get enough interest, it just may be worth Morgan's time and effort to join us. And we can finally thank the man face-to-face for all he's able to do for us down here. :)

Mirrodin Beseiged Spoilers from SOM Game Day and Worlds!

(info and pics from Worlds come from this Magic Arcana. Info and pics from SOM Game Day from this Magic Arcana.)

Hey guys! Sorry I'm late with a couple of these spoilers, but school was in the way then so we can focus on some Magic stuff now. :)

Scars of Mirrodin Game Day brought 2 mirrored spoilers, while Worlds this past weekend gave us 2 more mirrored spoilers (including the Buy-A-Box Promo).

How do I mean "mirrored"? Well, you take a Mirran-alligned card, reverse it for Phyrexia's flavor, and you have the Phyrexian version of the card.

You'll see what I mean...after the jump!

Commander Ban List and Rules Update: December 2010

(All information comes from MTGCommander.net)

With the upcoming release of Commander theme decks next year, the EDH Commander rules committee have made some rules changes that will impact deck construction on a few generals now and possibly open up some design space for Wizards of the Coast to work with in future sets. As well, they've gotten rid of a big Eldrazi-sized thorn in the Commander format's side.

BANNED LIST UPDATES
Emrakul, the Aeons Torn is now banned.

No more tentacle rape for you!

Emrakul was warping games. And apparently if you built your deck right, it could come out multiple times in a game. If your local group hadn't already banned Emrakul, here's the official update proclaiming "no more!".


RULES UPDATE: "COLOR IDENTITY"
Previous to this update, Commanders had to only have the colors of their mana cost. This meant cards like Bosh, Iron Golem or Thelon of Havenwood couldn't be used as Generals Commanders. The colors in their effects didn't match up with the colors (or lack thereof) in their mana costs.

Now, the "color identity" rule exists.

Along with a creature's mana cost, any costs and/or effects and/or any characteristic-defining abilities will determine the color(s) of a card (and more importantly, a Commander). (This does not include reminder text).

A few examples of potential Commanders this opens up: Memnarch; Bosh, Iron Golem; Thelon of Havenwood; Daughter of Autumn

You know you've always wanted to build around her as a Commander. Admit it!

If there are any other changes because of this rule, I'm oblivious since I don't keep up with EDH/Commander. If anyone out there has further implications of this rules change, feel free to post below.


Enjoy building your new Emrakul-free, "off-color" Commander decks! :)

No More EDH...Kinda...2011's Casual Project Announced!

Well, another year comes and everyone wonders...what's going to be the multiplayer casual release this year?


Well...Let's say it's the first time I remember Wizards of the Coast doing 100-card preconstructed decks. (Not counting two-player releases like the Duel Deck series or Beatdown, etc.).

Let's also say it's a current casual favorite format.

Yes, it's EDH (Elder Dragon Highlander) Preconstructed Decks!


But...it's not EDH...kinda.

And they've got some nice surprises, like...

MTGCommander.net Preview

More details...after the jump!

End of Year Schedule PLUS Christmas Tournament Announcement

As we approach the end of the year, we need to get the schedule of events that help round out our upcoming festive month.

DECEMBER

4th: Casual Day

11th: Christmas Tournament! See the rules below. Also, last league of 2010!

18th: Off Day

25th: Christmas Day!!!! I hope you enjoy the day with friends, family, and loved ones.

JANUARY 2011

1st: Casual Day. Show off any new cards you got over the Christmas break. :)

Rest of Month: TBD

Okay, so the big thing here...THE CHRISTMAS TOURNAMENT!

If you can guess by now, you're gonna build Red- and Green-themed decks. But if I leave it completely open, I'm afraid I'll get some Jund variant that's not really a lot of fun to play. So let's help the fun factor a bit:

1) Legacy format

2) Singleton, meaning only one copy of any card unless it's a Basic Land.

3)  Un- cards are okay except for Granny's Payback.

4) The only legal colors are Red and/or Green. No Colorless cards, and no multi-colored cards that you cannot use Red and/or Green mana exclusively to pay for any and all costs on the card (including mana cost).

5) You may only make Green and/or Red mana from your mana sources. If you make any other color, you get 1 Colorless mana instead for that color.

6) Your deck cannot be mono-colored: You must have a mix of Red and Green (and/or Red/Green multicolor) cards in the deck. I have no mandated ratio of Red-to-Green cards, but be honest with yourself: If 99% of your deck is Red, chances are it's gonna come across as a mono-Red deck splashing Green for one or two cards.

7) "Christmas Gift" 1: If you run all Snow-Covered Forests and Snow-Covered Mountains as your lands, you may start the game with 1 extra card in hand and increase your maximum hand size by 1.

8) "Christmas Gift" 2: If you include Goblin Snowman in your deck, you may start the game with 1 extra card in hand and increase your maximum hand size by 1.

NOTE: The "gifts" accumulate, so having all Snow-Covered Forests and Snow-Covered Mountains PLUS Goblin Snowman will give you 2 extra cards in hand at the start of each game and increase your maximum hand size by 2.

I will do some kind of hand-out, but I'm not sure what I'll do. I've got promos left over, so I may do that but I'm not sure which ones to use. Regardless, I'll do something.

Oh, did I mention? Cost is free! Who can argue with that in the month of Christmas? ;)

Cube Draft Version Poll #1: Lotus Bloom vs. Lion's Eye Diamond

Here's the first in a series I'm hoping to do to help us with keeping the Cube going strong and healthy.

Every so often, usually once a week, I'll post a poll asking about either A) preferred versions of cards in the Cube, B) Replacements vs. what's in the cube currently, or C) preferred "proxies" of cards that should be in the Cube.

This first poll takes the last option: The preferred proxy for a card that should be in.

I don't have a Black Lotus...yet. But we can get awful close to it with a few cards in the game.

The card I've got in right now is Lotus Bloom:

Lotus Bloom is literally the Suspend version of Black Lotus. Suspend it, and 3 turns later you get a Black Lotus. The only problem is speed: In the late game, Lotus Bloom could be a dead draw.

On the other hand, we've got this to consider for replacement...

Lion's Eye Diamond has the same "get into play QUICK" speed as Black Lotus, but at a steep cost early: you have to discard your entire hand.

BUT...with enough good mana-costing abilities on permanents you've got, and late in the game, it could be worth the hand discard, especially when you could use it the turn it comes down.

So what do you all think? Does Lotus Bloom stay, or do we want to try Lion's Eye Diamond?

Put up a post below and I'll count up the responses in the next week or two.

Until then, take care!

Opinions Wanted: Cube Draft Changes?

Hey guys!
  I want to get some feel on what you feel our Cube needs in order to move it forward and get some variety into the format.

  Currently, blue reigns supreme. The reason it wasn't supported too well this last draft? Because we all had to make a conscious decision to pass up Blue cards. It seems like it didn't matter what Blue cards went around, we had to force ourselves into other colors.

  So what I want, using specific card examples, is:

  1) How can we punish Blue a bit more?
  2a) Is control in general (not just in Blue) too much of an influence? If so, what control-type cards always seem to make it in?
  2b) What aggro/combo cards would you suggest adding to the Cube to help combat control cards?
  3) Is there any effect that's normally "off color" (i.e.: Not normal for that color) that you'd like to see? If so, what is an example(s) of it?


I'm already planning changes for the next cube, including:

1) Taking out cards that never hit the Main Decks. There's no point in including cards that always get put off to the side.
2) Adding Scars of Mirrodin cards, including all 3 Planeswalkers, Molten-Tail Masticore, and Mimic Vat.
3) Replacing Lotus Bloom with another 0-mana artifact that makes 3 of any one color. (sorry to get your hopes up, but it's not that card. Though I am shooting to get one eventually. :)  )
4) Upgrades to current cards, like an original Rorix Bladewing, foil Urza's Saga Avalanched Riders, and a fairly nice upgrade to a dual land.


Any help is greatly appreciated! Let's make the Cube something that's fun no matter when and how we draft. :)

Cube Draft 4 Next Saturday!

Well, apparently we just love the Cube. Yay! That means we get to do this more often, and I'm definitely not opposed to that.

November 13th will be our 4th Cube Draft. The rules are simple: I'll make "Packs" of 15-25 cards each built from certain cards from my collection. We'll draft with 3 "Packs" like we would if we had opened 3 packs of any set. We'll follow our normal draft rules (except no picking a card you "open").

The entry fee will be $2, and prizes will come from Scars of Mirrodin pack splits.


As always, I'll have some additions and replacements to the Cube. For example...

1) A special version of Lightning Bolt.
2) A red Mythic gets a foil upgrade.
3) The oldest, cheapest Black land destruction.
4) One new Mox...but which one??


Guess you'll have to play on the 13th to find out that and more. See ya then!

Necrotic Ooze Sees Legacy Play at Nashville

HA! I knew it was abuseable!

This weekend was the Star City Games Open Series tournament in Nashville. Today was the Legacy part of the event, with Magic 2011 and Scars of Mirrodin making their marks. Koth of the Hammer, Fauna Shaman (which apparently is not a worse Survival of the Fittest), Memnite, and more saw some decent play at the Legacy portion of the event. And you know how hard it is to make it into Legacy, whatwith all the powerful stuff that's as old as the game itself at times!


But Scars of Mirrodin made use of not only a new card from the set but also two fairly old cards, one of which hasn't seen print since Alliances 14 years ago!

Find out more...after the jump!

The Halloween Special Theme Week

Halloween is fast approaching! And because one of our days falls so close to Halloween I'm doing a special theme week!

(Name TBD)

The rules are simple: Theme up your deck for Halloween!

(...)

Alright, for a bit more clarification:

1) Your creatures must have Halloween-themed creature types or fit Halloween norms, whether that be in the card name or the creature's type(s) or even the flavor text. For example, Seedcradle Witch is fine since witches are a major theme of Halloween. Examples of Halloween-themed creature types include Wizard, Horror, Goblin, Zombie, Demon, Vampire, and Warewolf. (And they are just examples. If you have a question on if your creature type fits, feel free to ask.) I'd heavily suggest staying away from White and possibly Blue, since they don't really evoke that Halloween feel to them (White is a peace, harmony, and healing color, and blue is more a cunning and clever color,  hardly the themes of Halloween). However, if you can make it work go for it!

2) No creatures with the Changeling ability. (I feel that cheats the "specific creature type" rules of any interesting format.)

3) Non-creature spells need to have some scary or dark-themed artwork. For example, Animate Dead has some skeletons rising from the grave. Try telling me that's not spooky and/or Halloween-themed. EXCEPTION: If a card specifically mentions something Halloween-related in its flavor text or card name (examples: All Hallow's Eve or Season of the Witch), feel free to use it as it themes up.

3) Lands are fine. Don't worry about artwork or theme. Your deck needs to be playable, after all. ;)

4) Just because some powerful tribes are allowed, I advise you to not go for a deck that can just outright beat people to a pulp. Have fun with this! We don't do a lot of theme weeks and the fun of it is there's a bit of room to work but you don't just get all the power cards to work with. So for example, as much fun as it may be to build an all-Goblin deck with 4x Siege-Gang Commanders and 4x Goblin Sharpshooters and 4x (insert Goblin here), I'd suggest you bring them at most to 1 per deck in favor of some more interesting Goblins you don't normally use.

5) Unglued and Unhinged are okay, but don't go overboard. Keep the number of Un- cards fairly low relative to how many normal cards you've got in the deck.


For an incentive...I'm still working on that. It may be free Worldwake booster packs (I have enough left I think. I'll have to check). Or it may be leftover promos from the last few set releases. Rest assured, you'll get something for the effort.


That's it from me for now. Enjoy building to the theme!

Good Promo News, Bad Promo News...Which Leads to Semi-Good News

 We've had a bit of a promo mishap of our own.

I've got Steel Hellkite promos, so everyone will get one! WOOT!

I've got the Wurmcoil Engine extra that I personally bought on the off chance Morgan couldn't send any, so that will still go out to the highest finisher who did not get to a Pre-Release.

I've got the 3 Nissa Revane promos, so those will go out as I've detailed below.

I do not have the Liliana's Specter, Sylvan Ranger, or Syphon Mind promos...yet. A packaging mistake kept me from getting those promos on time. If you get to choose from one of these 3 promos, I'll write your name down and which promo you picked. I should have those promos next week.

Now you've got incentive to drop by again. See how Morgan and I work like that? ;)  lol.

See you all tomorrow! Remember, $2.75 for loose packs and an $8 entry fee for the draft. HINT: Bring LOTS of cash. ;)

Promo Distribution Ideas

With HUGE thanks to Organized Play and Morgan Hardy in Knoxville, we've got a number of promos headed our way for the Scars of Mirrodin Post-Release draft Saturday!



Now that I've got a promo list, I've got an idea of what I want to do, so here are the details:

Steel Hellkite: Guaranteed handout to the first 15 players (I doubt we'll hit that many, so it's pretty well 100% you'll get one).

Wurmcoil Engine: I bought 1 Wurmcoil Engine just to make sure I'd have a copy of the Pre-Release Promo. Because I only have 1 copy, I'm reserving this for the highest-finishing player who did not get to a Pre-Release. (If not such player exists in the tournament, it'll be a random draw.)

Nissa Revane: I'll have a few (3) Duels of the Planeswalkers Nissa Revanes I'm able to hand out. I have one friend I want to give one to (as long as he plays in the draft, since he doesn't get around to many of our events), but the other 2 will be random giveaways. You may decline the Nissa Revane promo in favor of one of the promos listed next.

Liliana's Specter (full art), Sylvan Ranger, Syphon Mind: Everyone who didn't receive a Wurmcoil Engine or Nissa Revane will get to choose from the following promos until everyone has 2 total promos (Steel Hellkite + Wurmcoil Engine OR Nissa Revane OR one of these three).

So to recap, everyone will get 2 promos total:

1) Guaranteed Steel Hellkite promo.
2) Highest finisher who didn't attend a Pre-Release gets the lone Wurmcoil Engine promo.
3) Friend who will get 1 Nissa Revane promo (unless he earns the Wurmcoil Engine and declines the Nissa).
4) Random drawings for the other Nissa Revane promos. (You may choose to decline this in favor of one of the other 3 promos listed below)
5) Anyone not getting a Wurmcoil Engine or Nissa Revane gets their choice of one Liliana's Specter (full art), Sylvan Ranger, or Syphon Mind.


So...clear as mud? Sorry! It's the best I can do with all the cards I've got coming our way. Here's hoping it helps our attendance figures.  :)

Video Editing Not Cooperating

I'm working on the Cube Draft 3 videos, but my editing software's apparently giving me fits. :(  I've got Part 1 of Round 1 posted, though:





Enjoy Part 1 as I get the others worked on Friday. :)

Possible New End of Match Procedure. Please Discuss!

As we're an informal group (we don't follow DCI rules to the letter, for example), we get to consider things like different formats (outside of Standard or traditional Drafts), procedures, etc.

I want to consider a procedure change for our "end of match" determinations.

Currently, we do adopt the DCI's "five extra turns" rule: At the end of time, after the current turn there are 5 additional turns (total) in the game.

The way we do the "who wins" consideration is this:

CURRENT POLICY
Games 1 or 3: Whoever has the most life at the end of the 5 extra turns wins the game and thus the match (winner would either be 1-0 or 2-1, so there's no need for an extra game).

Game 2: If there's no clear winner, the winner of Game 1 wins the match.


To be honest, I'm personally tired of losing Game 2 in extra turns because I can't kill my opponent. And I've had opponents not even go to Game 2 because time was about to run out and they had no chance to kill me. If Games 1 and 3 get to determine their game (thus match) winner by ending life totals, I want Game 2 to do something similar and mean something.


So I want us to consider this end-of-match policy:

PROPOSED POLICY
Games 1 and 3: Same as normal, since the game records would give one player the clear win of the match.

Game 2: At the end of the extra 5 turns, the winner of Game 2 is determined by who has the highest life total. If it's a tie, ignore non-combat damage/life gain and go to the first combat damage dealt. If there's no clear Match winner (after extra turns, the result is 1-1), go to Game 3. In Game 3, non-combat damage is ignored, as is non-combat life gain. First combat damage in Game 3 wins.



This is just an idea. The crux of it is I want Game 2 to possibly mean something, to not let people quit just because the winner of Game 1 got to run the clock out. I want to do some form of "go to Game 3 if the match score is tied after extra turns", but I don't want cheap burn/life gain to win the game by itself in Game 3. Combat damage would make you work for it. I know it would take longer, but I think it's be a better system to ensure the person who works hardest wins, not the guy who happens to luck up on the clock/direct damage topdeck/life gain topdeck.


Feel free to comment below or send an E-mail to CardGameNut@gmail.com . Chances are we won't implement this for the Scars of Mirrodin draft unless we get a majority approval, so take your time to think about this and respond.

Bit of an Issue with Promos for Saturday

I got the E-mail today about what we can expect for promos.

Sadly, zero Wurmcoil Engines extra. WotC screwed up Organized Play's "Buy a Box" promos so Morgan had to resort to giving away extra Wurmcoil Engines in place of the Memoricides that WotC should have sent his way.

We will have Steel Hellkite promos, though. :)  Hopefully enough to go one per person, but I need to see what the other promos he sent are.

So stay tuned for word on what we'll do about Promos for this event (what promos we'll get and how I'll distribute them).

EDIT: Here's what we have to work with:

10x M11 WPN Sylvan Ranger

15x Steel Hellkite

3x Duels Nissa Revane

10x WPN Syphon Mind

10x Gameday Liliana's Specter

I'll definitely do Steel Hellkite guaranteed handouts. With 15, I doubt we'll run out.

The question is...what to do with the rest?

These above-and-beyond promos are to make up for the lack of Wurmcoil Engine promos. I don't want to blow the whole lot in one event, so I'll probably start by doing the Nissas somehow.

I welcome any and all suggestions you've got.

REMINDER: Scars of Mirrodin Post-Release Saturday!

I hope everyone's had a good weekend! For those who play Standard FNM's, I hope Scars of Mirrodin was good to you. I see Wurmcoil Engine is seeing the most play easily. Apparently if you're going to be like Mitotic Slime you need to have some extra abilities on the split-up tokens.


I wanted to remind everyone that our traditional Post-Release draft for Scars of Mirrodin will be this weekend!

DETAILS
Entry Fee: $8
Format: 3x Scars of Mirrodin Draft (ie: 3 packs of Scars of Mirrodin to draft with.)
Prizes: Rares/Foils from the packs (to be collected as players drop out)* PLUS 1 booster split from Scars of Mirrodin.
Promos: May include Wurmcoil Engine Pre-Release promo and/or Steel Hellkite Release promo, but confirmation is still pending. If we have fewer promos than people, we'll give out a Wurmcoil Engine to the winner and remaining promos will be given on a random lottery basis starting with any remaining Wurmcoil Engines then Steel Hellkites until supplies run out.

*When you open your packs, write down any Rares/foils you open from your packs (yes, including normal Mythic Rares and any foil you open). At the end of the tournament after all the Rares/foils are collected and the SOM pack split is open, starting with the winner, each player may reserve 1 (one) Rare/foil they opened from their own 3 packs. This is each player's first pick. Players who did not choose to reserve a card will get first crack (in finishing order) at the remaining cards. Once everyone has one card (from either the Rares/foils or the pack split), starting with the winner each player gets a turn to get 1 remaining card until all cards are gone.


We hope to see you there for a fun Limited format.

*SIGH x2* Tuesday Videos...I Hope

I tried getting some Cube Draft 3 videos up Friday but the process is taking longer than I remember. Tuesday I have a completely free afternoon to work on the videos. Sorry it's taken nearly 3 weeks to get these up. Next set of videos will be up a lot sooner as long as school doesn't interfere.

Standard Rotates Today, but Welcome Scars of Mirrodin!

Hey all!
  Today we lose some valuable members of the Standard metagame.

We bid farewell to Bloodbraid Elf; Sprouting Thrinax; Elspeth, Knight-Errant; Master of the Wild Hunt; Sphinx of the Steel Wind; and a host of others.

Today is the second Standard rotation since Wizards of the Coast changed up the way Core Sets and Standard/Extended format rotations would work.

Today in Standard, we lose 4 sets: Shards of Alara, Conflux, Alara Reborn, and Magic 2010 Core Set.

In their place, we picked up Scars of Mirrodin since it released today.


Extended lost a lot more. Extended loses Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir; Venser, Shaper-Savant; Tarmogoyf; Wrath of God; Damnation; and more.

Extended rotates at the same time Standard does and only keeps the last 4 years' worth of expansions and a few Core Sets. Therefore, rotating out with Scars of Mirrodin's release are Time Spiral, Planar Chaos, Future Sight, and 10th Edition.


To catch you up on the current Extended list, here are the permitted blocks and Core Sets:

Lorwyn mega-block (Lorwyn, Morningtide, Shadowmoor, and Eventide)
Shards of Alara block (Shards of Alara, Conflux, and Alara Reborn)
Zendikar block (Zendikar, Worldwake, and Rise of the Eldrazi)
Scars of Mirrodin block (currently only Scars of Mirrodin)
M10
M11

Extended format rotates once a year now, at the same time as Standard, and is looses the oldest block (out of a 4-year list). I'm not sure how the Core Set rotation goes, but if it's like Standard M10 will tie in with Zendikar block and won't rotate out for a while.


Be sure to update your decks if you're playing these formats! I'd hate for you to end up DQ'd because you've got the wrong Elspeth in your deck.

Ooo...Kay...So NOT Wednesday Night Cube Draft Videos

Sorry again guys. No videos yet. I'll try during the day Thursday but no promises. I'll get them up Friday even if it kills me! (...okay, not so literally, but you get it. :p  )

*Sigh* Cube Videos TOMORROW.

Hello!
  The Cube videos are gonna have to wait. My video editing software decided it didn't want to do what I wanted so I missed the opportunity to get them up today. I'll work on it tonight, but I'd say tomorrow afternoon's the best I can do, maybe tomorrow night.

Sorry for the long delays.

Scars of Mirrodin Spoiler Released! Plus Reprint Roundup

It's here! It's here!

The official Visual Spoiler is now updated with all the cards in Scars of Mirrodin! Check it out here: Official Scars of Mirrodin Visual Spoiler

As promised, though, I said I'd give you a reprint roundup to see what you don't have to spend money on here if you've already got the cards. And I may even be nice and give you some Scars of Mirrodin/M11/Zendikar-block Standard applications for them.

I count a total of XX reprints, so let's go ahead and get started...after the jump!

Coming Soon: Full SOM Spoiler, Tournament Schedule, Cube Videos

How's everyone doing today?

I thought I'd better get some business out of the way while it was still fresh on my mind (and I had the energy to post it. :p  ).

A)  SCARS OF MIRRODIN SPOILER

The full spoiler for Scars of Mirrodin comes out tonight at midnight. If you're going to a Pre-Release this weekend (where you can get that nice Wurmcoil Engine. ;)  ;)  ), you might want to scope out the spoiler and see what you think will be good, great, and not so hot. A little preparation may go a long way in the Sealed Deck format.

In the next few days, I'll post a re-cap of the reprints (and one "pre-print" from Future Sight finally seeing the light of legitimate day) before the Pre-Release.

B) SCHEDULE UPDATE
I'm updating the schedule here to include a few off-weekends and to schedule new tournaments. (The full updated schedule is just below the list of changes.)

Changes include:
1) OFF WEEKEND this weekend. Some of us are going up to Dicehead in Cleveland for their Pre-Release (yeah, we're cardboard crack addicts. At least we admit it!).

2) Our next tournament is our Scars of Mirrodin Post-Release on October 9th. $8 entry fee gets you 3 packs of Scars of Mirrodin from which we'll draft. Prizes are as usual, and if Organized Play in Knoxville comes through like they have the last few sets we'll have Steel Hellkites and Wurmcoil Engines to give away! I'll probably buy at least 1 of each though if I can't confirm how many of each we may get, so we'll have at least one of each promo ready to hand out.

3) October 23rd is now a Casual Day. The next tournament will be October 30th.


SMM SCHEDULE

SEPTEMBER
9/25: Scars of Mirrodin Pre-Release Event at Dicehead Games & Comics. $25 Entry Fee, which should include 6 packs of Scars of Mirrodin (for Sealed Play) and the Pre-Release foil Wurmcoil Engine. Tournament starts at 6:00, so be prepared for a long day.

OCTOBER
10/2: Casual Day
10/9: Scars of Mirrodin "Release" Draft, details TBD
10/16: Casual Day
10/23: Casual Day
10/30: Tournament Format TBD, may do some kind of Halloween special but I'm not sure yet.




C) CUBE DRAFT VIDEOS
I recorded gameplay videos from the Cube Draft we did this past weekend. I'll post those sometime before the Pre-Release. 


Enjoy the remainder of Scars of Mirrodin Spoiler Season! And be sure to check out the full SOM spoiler starting at midnight. It's sure to be a great rest of the set!

SOM Preview 3! How far can a 0-mana creature go? And more!

Welcome back all!

I haven't had much time to update during spoiler season (stupid classes...), but I've cut into the day a bit and found some stuff to give you that you might enjoy!

First off, though, I've gotta give you hints.

1) Counterspell may yet see the light of day in Standard...thanks to a new mechanic.
2) See the title of this post.

3) Could Sleeping be dangerous for your opponent? They may wake up to find nothing left.
4) Masticore reincarnated? Hmm...it looks like we found a way around the Reserved List, then...





The previews and impressions...after the jump!

The Un-Wound (Delayed) Tournament Report

Hey there guys! Sorry for the lack of tournament reports. School's started back up and, honestly, I just haven't had the energy to get reports up.


But I figured I better get this up since, well, that was part of the reason for this blog: to get interest built up from those who don't know about us.

So after a week of waiting...here's the Un-Wound Tournament Report!


(Duh-duh-Duuuuuhhhh!)

Tiff set this up as a Sealed Deck tournament: She split her Un- set stuff (along with a few oddball regular cards) into 5 piles, one for each color (plus some random artifacts for each deck). We determined our colors by random die roll. After we got built up and shuffled up, it was off to Crazy Town!

Of course, a visit to Crazy Town wouldn't complete without a soundtrack. Included for Tiff's Crazy Town? Well, when "Bananaphone" makes the soundtrack, expect some crazy song choices!

You know what else was crazy? Butt-Head  from the cult classic Beavis and Butt-Head decided to play!

Heh..Heheheeeh!!

Oops! Sorry folks, it's just Mick. It's so easy to get the two confused. :p

So we start, and you'd think in a format where we're forced into one color it'd be apparent after the first turn what everyone's playing.

Julian: Plains
Tiff: Mountain
Preston: Swamp
Mick: Forest
Wayne: ... Swamp?

Ha! Trickery is among us. If only Tiff hadn't put a Hooded Kavu in my Red pile...

We're also doing a mix of Planechase and Archenemy (everyone starting at 40 life). Everyone remembers the Archenemy scheme flip, no problem! It's the Planechase we're having issues with. It took a full turn around the table until someone remembered to roll the Planar Die...and Planeswalks off the bat! (Except we don't really use the Planes that much, so they don't pop up unless it was game-breaking for one of us).

So we're all getting set up. Mick starts his creature horde with Vile Bile thanks to his Marionetting skills. Still in the early stages, we even saw a nearly 100 Life total! Wayne flipped My Wish is Your Command and looked at Mick's hand...and Mick happened to have Granny's Payback ready and waiting. All of a sudden Wayne shoots from around 40 to over 90! Already we're worried; we've said we'd base tiebreakers on kill count first and life points second, so if the game goes to time Wayne just won it.

All of a sudden, we've all got a new target.

I start the assault by taking out one of his Swamps with Touch and Go, trying to delay his land setup. Of course, I'm a serious player. I don't expect to get the weird and wacky stuff off. I mean, usually everyone's pretty guarded with "Gotcha!" cards.

Not today...

Gotcha!

So of course, I go after another land trying to stall him again. As we're going around the table, I've got a 5/5 Dragon token, 5 1/1 Saprolings, a couple other creatures, all ready to take to the red zone against Wayne.

Then I have to Behold the Power of Mick's Destruction.

As I'm starting over, Julian's building up Cardpeckers and a Bosom Buddy to help gain life, Wayne's got a few creatures out, and Tiff's not doing so hot with just a Carniverous Death-Parrot and/or a Bursting Beebles. It looks like we can put a pretty good hurting on Wayne...

Then Mick Masterstrokes everyone but still tosses what he can toward Wayne. Still, with time starting to run out, he's still got too much life for us to do much to him.

I try building up again, getting a couple Dumb Asses on the board, Julian has a Cardpecker and a couple other creatures out, Tiff's still hurting for creatures. We're ready to go at it with Wayne, but nature shields its enemy instead of its own. Julian also gets this scheme going, giving the Eanes clan a near-permanent protection from most attacks.

But that set-up was just in time for Mick to Masterstroke again. This time, though, all our life totals are fairly low and Mick decides if he's going to lose based on life totals he'd just do whatever damage he could and take out whoever he can.

Which is a great way to accept defeat...if it wasn't defeat at all. By this time, we've Planeswalked all the way to the Kamigawa plane and landed in Sokenzan. The attack power's definitely in Mick's favor.

Mick attacks and takes out no one. Which would be fine by him, as he's just doing whatever damage he can do.

Mick takes his free Planechase die roll...

(drum roll...)

CHAOS!

Mick untaps and gets ready to attack. I'm around 5 life, maybe a bit more, so I do something unorthodox.

I touch Vile Bile.

That takes me to within 5 life, enough for the Dumb Asses alone to kill me.

Why do that?

Guess what happened at the end of Mick's turn?

TIME!

Mick took out Tiff and Julian before time was called, but 1 kill was all he needed.

Final score, 3-0-0-0-0, Mick's favor.

Mick wins Un-Wound!


For his effort, Mick got a Jace Beleren out of an M11 pack split. That's one of the few Planeswalkers he has, so I was happy he got a card he could use.


I hope you enjoyed the first tournament report in a while! If you've got any comments, complaints, questions, oddball mumbo-jumbo, anything, feel free to E-mail me: CardGameNut@gmail.com . I've finally got my junk filter sorted out so I'll see your message fairly quickly.

Thanks for reading, and enjoy your weekend!

Scars Previews Day 2! Planeswalker, New and Returning Mechanics

I told ya I'd be back today with more previews. Seriously, you've got to trust me a bit more on getting fast updates done. (hears from the crowd "Yeah right!"...and they'd have a point.)

Today I'm doing the same format as the last update: 1 Common, 1 Uncommon, 1 Rare, and 1 Mythic Rare.

And aren't you all in for a doozy!

But first, some hints to get you to want to read on (not like the promise of spoilers isn't enough, but this makes it just a tad bit more exciting!)

1) A new mechanics that, like Affinity, cares about how many artifacts you control.
2) A Mirrodin mechanic makes its return here...and no, I'm not cheating with using a mechanic that simply originated in Mirrodin.
3) A functional reprint of a favorite Kamigawa block Sorcery.
4) This Planeswalker's been seen in different forms in the storyline...but now our Shaper Savant gets his well-deserved spark.

Find out what these hints mean...after the jump!

Scars of Mirrodin Previews

It's that time again! That time that comes every 3-4 months when a new set comes around.

Time for Scars of Mirrodin spoilers!

The next few days, I'll get one card each at Common, Uncommon, Rare, and Mythic Rare to preview per post.

We've already had a few hints as to what'll come around, so here are a few teasers for you over the next few days to keep you watching:

1) An original Mirrodin mechanic comes back.
2) Of course we have new Planeswalkers! One may even use a recent new templating to allow you to do something Celestial Purge could only do conditionally.
3) A small creature that's never been done before. (HINT: It might involve the word "Free" in one way or another)
4) Of course we have new mechanics, too. One even requires you to keep track of your artifact count.
5) The Pre-Release promo is an upgrade on a recent Magic 2011 new card.

We present you with the first batch of official spoilers...after the jump!

Updated Schedule: Dicehead SOM Pre-Release and Cube Schedule Shuffle

It's a new month, which means we've got a new schedule!

We're still doing our American Pride Day on 9/11. Instead of staying at home and wallowing over the day, do what the terrorists don't want you to do, which is enjoy your freedom and go on with your lives. I know it may sound like an extremist Republican saying, but I feel that's as real as it gets.

So we'll enjoy our freedom with the Magic: The Gathering version of a "Thank You" to those who serve our country.

The basic rules are simple: Bring in a deck that contains only Red, White, and/or Blue cards (determined by mana cost)* and play with that deck to get 1 free pack of Magic 2011!

We're talking about going to the Scars of Mirrodin Pre-Release up at Dicehead in Cleveland. If we do, we're going to re-arrange our schedule to fit with a regular who can only come down once every two weeks. To do this, we're moving the 3rd Cube Draft up to September 18th. I've got the cards I want to add to this Cube, so we're ready from that standpoint. The Cube Draft was scheduled for October 2nd, so this move makes that a free day.

Everything else stays the same, including our normal local post-Release event for Scars of Mirrodin.

So now...The Schedule!

SEPTEMBER
9/11: American Pride Day. Show up and play with a deck consisting of only Red, White, and Blue cards and get a free pack of M11!*
9/18: Cube Draft 3, including a special set of additions for this round.**
9/25: Scars of Mirrodin Pre-Release Event at Dicehead Games & Comics. We'll meet at the church at 10:00 and go straight to Dicehead (those who live closer to Cleveland just go straight on). $25 Entry Fee, which should include 6 packs of Scars of Mirrodin (for Sealed Play) and the Pre-Release foil. Tournament starts at 6:00, though, so be prepared for a long day. (Yes, if we're going for the promo card, it's best we be there extra early to ensure we've got a card.).

OCTOBER
10/2: Casual Day
10/9: Scars of Mirrodin "Release" Draft, details TBD
10/16: Casual Day
10/23: Tournament, Format TBD.
10/30: Casual Day, may do some kind of Halloween special deal but I'm not sure yet.


*Details of this promotion are updated from last week:

1) Colorless artifact cards are okay so long as they A) could produce at least 1 of the 3 colors or B) have activation costs requiring colored costs of at least 1 of the 3 colors.

2) Multi-color cards are okay as long as they are at least 2 of the 3 colors and only those colors. For example, Lightning Helix is okay since it's R/W, but Woolly Thoctar isn't because it has Green in its cost.

3) Lands that provide multiple colors of mana are okay as long as they could produce at least 1 of the 3 colors.

4) *ADDITION* The spirit of this theme day is to allow Red, White, and Blue cards to shine. But by allowing cards that could generate Green and/or Black mana, you could include White cards that have Green abilities and utilize off-color abilites. To close this loophole, any Green or Black mana produced is instead treated as Colorless. For example, Seaside Citadel provides either Green, White, or Blue mana. If you choose "Green", instead it produces 1 Colorless mana.

Scars of Mirrodin "Leak": Mana Myr Cycle Returns

Those who got advanced copies of Duel Decks: Elspeth vs. Tezzeret I don't think noticed this little tidbit.

Well, no one but one of the MTGSalvation posters.

Take a look at part of the deck sheet for Tezzeret's side of the deck. (Picture from this MTGSalvation post):

See it yet?

Look 4 cards down at Silver Myr.

Now look at what sets the sheet says it's from.

Yeah buddy! A Scars of Mirrodin preview!

It looks like we'll be getting the "Myr Moxen" back from Mirrodin.

Say hello to him and his little friends!

Because they're reprints in a new set, they'll probably have new artwork. It'll be fun to see what they do with the Myr in Scars of Mirrodin, AKA "Mirrans vs. Phyrexia".

Cube Poll: Edition Preferences of Older Cards

(NOTE: All pictures come from http://magiccards.info 's database except the From the Vaults Sol Ring, which is from Kelley Reid of QuietSpeculation.com ) 

Good day, everyone!

Today I want to get a feel for how people feel about the Cube Drafting. Specifically, I'm curious how I should be updating the Cube with different versions of cards.

The Cube is interesting because not only does it represent the general best of Magic but also the personalities of the players who build and play it. Does the person building it love broken cards? In go Time Walk, Sol Ring, Winter Orb, Yawgmoth's Will, etc. Does the player base love newer power cards? Grave Titan, Enclave Cryptologist, and others might be fairly plentiful.

But one thing all Cubists agree on is "We want our Cube to be uber-pimp!!!"

So then we go...what's cool enough to be "pimp"?

Let's take, for example, Black Knight.

I think we can all agree that a card as classic as Black Knight shouldn't have its M10/M11 artwork in the Cube unless there's no way around it:

New modernistic art and reminder text? For the Cube...BLECH!

And ever since White Bordered cards were introduced, "1337" players have hated White Bordered cards, so any version in a Core Set after Beta and not a promo is out:

Nice...if it were black bordered. :(

So what is cool enough to make it in? Generally...

A) Killer artwork, even if it's on a newer-framed card.

B) Foils.

C) The oldest version available in Black Borders (when not ridiculously high in price).

For Black Knight, then, that leaves two versions:

1) Alpha/Beta

2) An FNM Foil with this older artwork and no reminder text:

This may be fairly easy. I'd be tempted to go with Alpha as that's the oldest printing. BUT...if I wanted to "bling" the deck out and be super-shiny wherever possible, I'd be tempted to go with the FNM promo (especially since it uses the original artwork and is still old bordered).

Now let's introduce Sol Ring in.

Sol Ring's had 3 versions available:

1) Alpha/Beta/Unlimited/Revised (here, White Border is pretty well a necessity since Alpha/Beta versions are too expensive, but the older the better, even if it's White Bordered):

The oldest White-Bordered (read: "reasonably priced") Sol Ring from Unlimited.

Then, you've got the Judge Promo. Even though it's the newer 8th Edition border/framing, it's the iconic artwork from Alpha with a beautiful foil artifact frame.

Iconic Art + Foil New-Frame Artifact = ZOMG!!!

AND THEN...we've got the new From the Vault: Relics version with new art but still looking sexy as all get out.

DAMN!!! Stop making sexy foil artwork, Wizards!

I think you see the dilemma now among Cube builders. When we go to upgrade the Cube to its absolute best, we go "...so which version is best? Which one will WOW! my players, maybe even influencing if they'll even play it and build around it in order to get it to work?"

So here's the poll:

If I'm looking to update the Cube for you all and I'm battling between different versions of cards, what's your order of preference of what's considered "cool"/"pimp"/"shiny"?

1) Old Cards with Black Borders: The older, the better...especially if the card's older than me!

2) Foil Cards: Ohh, shiny!!!!  *drools* I don't care if it's new art or new border or whatever, just...SHINY!!!

3) Whatever works: The card's function doesn't change just because it's Old or Foil, so it doesn't matter to me.

Just leave a comment or E-mail me directly (cardgamenut@gmail.com) and let your voice be heard! I want to have the most fun Cube experience possible, even down to what versions of the cards you'd love to see.

(PS: Just because you're not in the area or don't come to SMM, don't think your input's less influential. I'd love whatever opinions I can get. :)  )

Crazy World, Take 2! Tiff's Un-Wound Tournament

We're continuing our Crazy World series with an entry by Tiffanie Higgins!

Presenting...

Tiff's Un-Wound Tournament!

Rules are pretty simple:

1) Tiff will split up her Unglued and Unhinged collection into the 5 colors.

2) We'll randomly get 1 pile of cards, all of 1 color with artifacts mixed in.

3) Each person builds a deck with the cards they've got plus any basic lands they'll need. Minimum deck size TBD.

4) This will be a multiplayer Archenemy AND Planechase format!

5) Extra surprise(s) the day of the tournament.


Pretty simple! Just bring $2 for the entry fee this Saturday, 9/4, and you'll play, and you don't even need to bring any pre-made decks or anything!

Surviving, though, that's the hard part... >:-D

Duel Decks: Elspeth vs. Tezzeret Spoiled!

Here's the moment some of us have been waiting for.

We've seen that we'll get the lovely Elspeth, Knight-Errant (with new Emblem wording) and the superficial artificial Tezzereet the Seeker. Both will be the highlighted foil, new-art Mythic Rares of this Duel Decks set, already making it worth more than the $20 MSRP.

(pics from the WotC message boards)

(EDIT 8/26: See the VERY bottom of this post for the other new art cards, courtesy of the Magic Arcana posted today on dailymtg.com . I also added the Scars of Mirrodin preview cards in the deck lists)

But we all know 2 cards cannot a good deck set make. Even with Planeswalkers that themselves could sell quite easily as a package for $20 total, the deck they're in need to be decent with some good cards to really make these a joy for casual players.

And deliver did Wizards of the Coast!

See what all you can get starting September 3rd and if it's a good value...after the jump!

Tournament Schedule Update

Hey guys! Sorry for the lack of posts. I've been busy as you-know-what the last few weeks. Between getting a driver's license, room cleaning, recovering from doing a Judo/Karate double dose when you're not used to it...doesn't leave a lot of time to go "Oh, I'll put up a nice little post here!" lol.

So here I am with a much-needed tournament schedule update.

Tomorrow, 8/14, is a casual day. No tournament, just nice play with nice friends. :)

Next week, 8/21, is also a casual day. We had a tournament from Tiff scheduled for this day, but with all she has going on it's been tough to find time for her to get ready for it, so I'd rather take pressure off her than hold us to the schedule.


So with the next two weeks out of the way, here's what our schedule's looking like for the next few..well, months!:

AUGUST
8/14: Casual Day
8/21: Casual Day
8/28: Casual Day

SEPTEMBER
9/4: Tiff's "Un-"Orthodox Tournament. Rules still TBD. $2 Entry, prizes come from M11 prize pack splitting.
9/11: *NEW* American Pride Day. Show up and play with a deck consisting of only Red, White, and Blue cards and get a free pack of M11!*
9/18: Tournament TBD
9/25: Casual Day

OCTOBER
10/2: Cube Draft 3, including a special set of additions for this round.**
10/9: Scars of Mirrodin "Release" Draft, details TBD
10/16: Casual Day
10/23: Tournament, Format TBD.
10/30: Casual Day, may do some kind of Halloween special deal but I'm not sure yet.


Hopefully we've got a decent line-up of stuff in the pipeline. We've got 2 tournament days we need ideas for, so feel free to post suggestions and get involved. It's always more fun when people come up with new ideas!

Until we see you next, take care!


* In acknowledgment of the 9th anniversary of 9/11, we'll do a bit of an American Pride theme to the day. Show up with a deck consisting of only Red, White, and Blue cards and get a free pack of M11 for your effort.

Clarifications for American Pride Day:
1) Colorless artifacts are fine as long as they...
   a) Can provide Red and/or White and/or Blue mana (so artifacts that make "one mana of any color" are okay, as they can provide these 3 colors), or
   b) Require Red and/or White and/or Blue activated costs.

2) Non-Basic lands that give you access to more than one color of mana are fine as long as they can provide at least 2 of the 3 colors (Reflecting Pool and Exotic Orchard are good since they'll only be referencing Red and/or White and/or Blue producers to see what they can make).

3) Of course multi-color cards are okay, as long as they contain only 2-3 of these 3 colors (example: Lightning Helix works, but not Woolly Thoctar)

I think you get the point of American Pride day: Red, White, and Blue will wave freely on 9/11 in Hixson!  :)


**HINT: Who can deny the force of American Power? You've gotta have a lot of Moxy to stand up to it.

From the Vault: Relics Preview

This week is GenCon, which means only one thing for the world of Magic: From the Vault full set previews!

Kelly Reid at QuietSpeculation.com won a pre-convention tournament and got a set of From the Vault: Relics to show off. And how off he did!

Here's the video of his showing all the cards in the set.



But seeing Masticore doesn't exactly do it for me for some of the awesomeness of this set, so let's look at a few other new-art cards.

(pictures from Star City Games' Facebook page, which were taken from Kelly Reid's video)

Ah...global destruction never looked so beautiful!

Now that  looks like an artifact just spewing with sweet mana goodness. *drools*

And finally, the Scars of Mirrodin preview card...

If this preview is like Hellkite Overlord from From the Vault: Dragons just before Shards of Alara, this will be the art used. And again I say...daaaayyyyummm! Wizards of the Coast did a wonderful job on the artwork in this limited edition foil set. And the card itself? When you hit your opponent, you get a 2/2 green Wolf and 10 cards off the top of their deck. For doing nothing more than attacking and hitting successfully. Not...too...shabby...  :)


That's all the time I have to quickly preview. I wanted to get previews up when the full list was known, but all you'd have gotten were older versions so you could see what they did. Hopefully having these scans was worth the wait.  :)

Wayne's Crazy World Tournament Rules!

Hey guys!

The M11 draft is behind us now. Thanks for all who showed up! I had 4 players, so everyone got one Sun Titan and one Ancient Hellkite promo. Congrats to Marcus for winning with an interesting W/B flying/aggro deck!

I'll get a report up during the week, but right now I'd like to get started in focusing on our next tournament! :)

Coming up August 7th is Wayne Eanes' "Crazy World" tournament! In this tournament, almost everything is a wild mixed bag of randomness! From random Planechase plane chasing to random Un- cards to even random turns, crazy world is expected to be, well, a crazy world!

I'm posting a direct copy-and-paste of an E-mail sent by Wayne. If you have any questions, feel free to post them here.

*   tournament will be a multi-player round table free-for-all (all entrants will play each other all at once) . .

 

*  decks will be 60 card minimum singleton (each deck can only have one copy of each card  ,  except for basic lands) . . . (NOTE: And Relentless Rats, since it specifically states so)

 

*  using vintage restricted list with the addition of . . . can also use "unglued & unhinged" cards . . .

 

*  will also be playing planechase format in addition to everything else (a "community" planechase pile will be provided , so you don't have to bring your own , unless you want to) . . .

 

*  entry fee will be standard $2.00 per player (which will enable us to have 1 M11 booster pack per person to put into prize pool) with "prize points" being awarded as 0 - last place  ,  1 - next to last  ,  2- 2nd to last etc. & so on with player with highest total points getting first pick out of prize pool and then on down .

 

*  will try our best to start tournament promptly at 11:00 and finish at least by 1:45 (so as to allow time for prize picks) and will play as many "rounds" as time permits . . .

 

*  free music and snacks will be provided to enjoy (or not   lol   ) while we battle . . . including  . . . (wait for it) . . . DONUTS ! . . .

 

*  every player wearing a funny , weird , odd , strange or crazy HAT gets to start out each game with their choice of either  -  starting "life total" of 25 instead of 20  - or -  opening "hand" of 8 cards instead of 7 (players must continue to wear hats entire match or forfeit 5 life or 1 card corresponding to which bonus they took) . . . and NO (for all you smart-alecks) , you don't recieve multiple bonuses for wearing multiple hats . . . limit one bonus per customer   lol   . . .

 

*  special crazy world weirdness  -  we will be playing along with a random timer set to go off between 1 minute up to possibly 10 minutes (that will keep being reset randomly again) . . . whenever the timer goes off ! everyone "freezes" whatever they're doing instantly (this means mid-sentence , mid-spell play , mid-response , whatever . . .) and then randomly  gets their seat exchanged with someone else and then play continues with each player assuming their new hand , field , deck , library , graveyard , life points etc ! . . . in other words  , you take over control of everything from the player whose seat you just inherited until next timer goes off or end of game ! . . .

 

*CLARIFICATION: When everyone randomly changes places, the player whose turn it is picks up their turn with their new place. For example, if Wayne, Tiffanie, and I are the only three left and my turn starts and the timer goes off in my first Main Phase, I'll switch to one of their places and I'll pick up my turn still in Main Phase 1, just with the deck of whoever I got randomly assigned to.

 

* "house" banned list  -  no specific card is banned on top of the vintage restrictions BUT "instant-win , one-turn-win , can't lose combos" are banned (everyone pretty much knows these when they see them . . . but if you have questions about a specific combo just e-mail preston & ask) to allow for more fun game play for all involved . . .

Again, any questions please feel free to ask.

We hope to see you there on the 7th!

Top 5 New M11 Cards: Casual

Hello everyone!

Today I figured for a change of pace from the "news updates constantly" format you might like to see some opinions on a few new M11 cards.

So I present...Preston Hamill's Top 5 New M11 Cards for Casual Play!

A few hints first...

1) Red Damage or Blue Mill, this handy little helps make you Immortal against both.
2) So she's not the most impressive Turn 1 creature...in some formats.
3) Love taxes? The cold giant loves you, then!
4) Akroma's not the only one who can wield a sword.
5) Hate those pesky "Sacrifice" costs? You can pay them with just a skeleton crew working for you.


The results...after the Jump!

Tournament Schedule Update

It's been a while since I've updated our schedule, so let me get a few dates down to give you a better idea of what's to come.

JULY
7/24: M11 "Release" Draft. $8 Entry. Sun Titan and Ancient Hellkite promos available; winner gets one of each. Prizes come from the Rares and Foils in the M11 packs opened for the draft and possibly 1-2 additional M11 prize pack splits.
7/31: Casual Day

AUGUST
8/7: Wayne's "Crazy World" Tournament. Rules will be posted the night after the M11 "Release" Draft. $2 Entry, prizes come from M11 prize pack splitting.
8/14: Casual Day
8/21: Tiff's "Un-"Orthodox Tournament. Rules still TBD. $2 Entry, prizes come from M11 prize pack splitting.
8/28: Casual Day


If we have any changes to this, I'll post a revised schedule when I know about the changes. But I'll also try to keep this updated every week with a new post.

Take care!