Reminder about Standard and Extended Set Legalities on M12 Release

Hey all!

For those who are still getting used to how Standard and Extended rotates in and out sets since their changes a year or two ago, I'll remind you about certain sets' legalities as of M12 and when Innistrad releases in the Fall.

M12 Release Set Legalities: Standard
Remember, unlike the pre-M10 Core Sets, the release of a new Core Set does not automatically knock out the previous Core Set.

When M12 officially releases Friday, M11 will still be legal. Yes, for example that gives Goblin decks access to 4x Goblin Guide (from Zendikar), 4x Goblin Grenade (from M12), and 4x Lightning Bolt.

At least, for a little while.

Each Core Set is now tied to the block that immediately preceded it. For example, M11 ties to Zendikar block for rotation purposes, and M12 will tie to Scars of Mirrodin block.

What does this mean for when rotation happens?

Well, remember that Standard is a 2-year format. A block only stays legal for 2 years counting from when the first set in that block released. (So for example, even though we just finished up Scars of Mirrodin block, it rotates out in full in Fall 2012 when the block after Innistrad starts).

SO...all of THAT was to say...M11 will rotate at the same time as Zendikar block. That is, when Innistrad releases on September 24th. So at the same time we lose Goblin Guide, we'll also lose Lightning Bolt (for example).

So here are all the Standard-legal sets as of M12's release Friday (in chronological order):
Zendikar
Worldwake (except for Jace, the Mind Sculptor and 99.999999% of the time Stoneforge Mystic)
Rise of the Eldrazi
M11
Scars of Mirrodin
Mirrodin Beseiged
New Phyrexia
M12


When Innistrad releases on September 30th, though, here's our (much more shortened) list:

Scars of Mirrodin

Mirrodin Beseiged

New Phyrexia

M12

Innistrad

M12 Release Set Legalities: Extended

Extended is like a "double Standard" in that the oldest block is 4 years old instead of Standard's 2. (This took effect a year ago, I believe). So when Innistrad releases in the fall, Lorwyn/Shadowmoor "mega-block" will rotate out of Extended.

What does this mean for the Core Sets, though?

The same rotation plan will happen.

M10 seems to tie to Shards of Alara block, M11 still to Zendikar, and M12 to Scars of Mirrodin.

So what happens when Friday hits? Nothing except for M12 being added to the format, just like Standard. :) Your Extended list will look like this on Friday:

Lorwyn

Morningtide

Shadowmoor

Eventide

Shards of Alara

Conflux

Alara Reborn

M10

Zendikar

Worldwake

Rise of the Eldrazi

M11

Scars of Mirrodin

Mirrodin Beseiged

New Phyrexia

M12

Once Innistrad hits on September 30th, though, Extended will lose its oldest block, in this case Lorwyn/Shadowmoor "mega-block" and Extended will look like this:

Shards of Alara

Conflux

Alara Reborn

M10

Zendikar

Worldwake

Rise of the Eldrazi

M11

Scars of Mirrodin

Mirrodin Beseiged

New Phyrexia

M12

Innistrad

"So when does the next Core Set rotate out, then?" Well, if I'm right, M10 ties to Shards of Alara block, so when the block after Innistrad starts and every year thereafter, the oldest Core Set will rotate out with the oldest block in the format just like it does now with Standard.

...

That is, unless they change format rotation strategies again. :p

Our Normal Draft Rules: SMM's M11 Draft Primer

Hey everyone!

Next week we have our M11 "Release" Draft! But I'm hoping for new people to show up, and those people aren't up to speed on our Draft rules.

Don't worry! It's mostly the same as normal drafts, just a few exceptions to how we draft Rares and foils.

So without further ado...Saturday Morning Magic's Draft Rules!

1. We start as normal, with 3 sealed booster packs ready to be drafted.
2. Open the first pack, but note the Rare (and any foils) you open on a separate sheet of paper.
3. Draft as your normally would draft, passing cards to the left after each pick.
4. Repeat for Pack 2, writing down the Rare (and any foils) you open. This time, though, pass to the right.
5. Repeat for Pack 3, writing down the Rare (and any foils) you open. This time, though, pass to the left.

Now you ask, "Why did I write down those Rares and foils?"

Easy. They're mostly our prizes.

When we started drafting here, we didn't have the luxury of $2.50 packs. We had to spend ~$4.40 per pack, making our drafts over $13! I couldn't add any more to that fee, so we wouldn't have prizes if we did a normal draft.

So I got this idea: "Let's use the Rares and foils as our prizes! That way we'll have something to give out and people won't draft money cards just to get money cards."

But there was a problem with that: What if the person who came in last opened a $15-$20 card in their booster? If they finish last, chances are they won't get a comparably-valued card to pick in the prize pool.

Thus, our draft prize tradition started.

Draft Prize Pool Rules
1. When you are out of the tournament, put all Rares and Foils you drafted into the Prize Pool.
2. After the tournament ends, starting with the winner and going in finishing order, each player may reserve 1 (one) Rare or Foil card they had opened from their 3 booster packs and take that as their first pick. (For example, if you opened a Baneslayer Angel, Dark Tutelage, foil Llanowar Elves, and Birds of Paradise in the 3 packs you opened, you may take one of those 4 and only among those 4 as your first pick.)
3. Anyone who did not reserve a Rare or Foil will then pick from the remaining cards in tournament finish order for their first pick.
4. After everyone has picked up one Rare or Foil card, starting with the winner and moving down the finishing order, each player gets to select one remaining Rare or Foil card in the pile.

The hope in these rules was to protect the players' investment: If the person who ends up dead last opened a $10 Rare, I want them to be able to keep that Rare and make back their money (and keep playing, but shh! You didn't hear that from me. ;)  ). If they didn't open something that nice but someone else opened a $5 Mythic Rare they didn't want (maybe they reserved the $10 Rare they opened instead), that gives the last place player a chance to recoup a vast majority of their $8 entry fee.


But overall, it's about the fun and excitement of playing with new cards no more than a week after their release...and on the cheap, too! Just sit down and enjoy some new cards with a great group of players.

And remember, we'll have Sun Titan and Ancient Hellkite promos to give out (you can see the promo images in the post below this) courtesy of Organized Play in Knoxville. If you win, you're guaranteed one copy of each, whereas everyone else will be at the mercy of the "While Supplies Last" fine print: If I don't have enough to go around, I'll randomly award promos so that everyone has a chance at getting at least one of the promos.

I hope to see some first-timers next weekend! If you have any questions, feel free to post a comment here or E-mail me at CardGameNut@gmail.com .

M11 Official Rules Change: Deathtouch

You remember how Deathtouch changed so dramatically last year? The big thing was it got to ignore the "creature queue", the order in which you'll do damage to your opponent's creatures. The nice thing about that was if you made a mistake in the blocking order you didn't have to worry about it as deathtouch would let you pick at whichever creature(s) you wanted in any order.

Here was the revised text for Deathtouch, circa M10:
Deathtouch (Creatures dealt damage by this creature are destroyed. You can divide this creature's combat damage among any of the creatures blocking or blocked by it.)

That changes for M11.

Here's the revised Deathtouch text for M11:
Deathtouch (Any amount of damage this deals to a creature is enough to destroy it.)

That's much simpler, isn't it? It gets across what deathtouch does very succinctly (2 lines compared to over 4).

But it also has some major rules implications.

First of all, Deathtouch now constitutes "Lethal Damage." Why is that important? Read the new Trample wording (which apparently took effect with Archenemy):
Trample (If this creature would assign enough damage to its blockers to destroy them, you may have it assign the rest of its damage to defending player or planeswalker.)

Let's say Avatar of Might (an 8/8 with Trample and nothing else equipped or affecting it) goes up against Bestial Menace's tokens (a 1/1, a 2/2, and a 3/3). You put the creatures in that order when they block it. Avatar of Might has to assign 1 point to the 1/1, 2 to the 2/2, and 3 to the 3/3 before it could hit the opponent for 2 damage.

Now let's say instead you equipped Avatar of Might with Quietus Spike (which grants Deathtouch). Even under the old Deathtouch rulings, even though 1 damage would be enough to destroy each creature, you still had to assign an amount of damage at least equal to each creature's toughness before "trampling over." On the flip side, though, you could have assigned any of that 8 damage to any 1, 2, or 3 creatures if you wanted to make absolutely sure you destroyed one of the tokens.

Under the new Deathtouch rules, you don't get to ignore the "creature queue". You must deal with the 1/1 before moving on to the 2/2, and you have to deal with the 3/3 before you can trample over. However, now 1 damage is considered lethal damage. How does this change the damage calculations?

Under the old Deathtouch rules, you had to assign 1 damage to the 1/1, 2 damage to the 2/2, and 3 damage to the 3/3 in any order before you could trample over for the remaining 2 damage.

Under the new Deathtouch rules, you must assign at least 1 damage to the 1/1, then must assign at least 1 damage to the 2/2 (since any amount of damage from a Deathtouch source is now considered "lethal damage"), and then must assign at least 1 damage to the 3/3 before trampling over. If all goes according to plan, you get to Trample for 5 damage!


So to summarize, what changes with Deathtouch?
1) Deathtouch still counts 1 point of damage as enough to destroy a creature.
2) Deathouch now counts as "lethal damage."
3) Deathtouch does not let you skip around in the creature queue order.
4) Deathtouch now lets you "creature trample" by allowing you to only have to assign 1 damage to a creature before proceeding to the next one in line in the "creature queue."


Aaron Forsythe explained the reason for the change was because they felt the version from last year was a cobbled together piece that attempted to make Deathtouch work the way it did before the big M10 rules changes (the internal timeline from idea to print was a matter of weeks, not months). In the last year, they've come up with a better way to not only shorten the reminder text but also allow players to logically understand how Deathtouch works without too many extra rules.

So what do you think? Do you still have questions about how Deathtouch works? Leave a comment and let me know!

Until later, take care!

Idea for July 10th: M11 Pre-Release at Organized Play?

UPDATED June 17th below all this information. 

As you may remember, Organized Play in Knoxville (link in the title of this post) helped us out with Rise of the Eldrazi Pre-Release and Release promos for our ROE "Release" Draft the week after the set came out.

They're also helping us with Wayne's "Crazy World" tournament by sending a couple Mirrored Depths Planechase Planar Cards and sold us a Tazeem and Horizon Boughs promo Planar cards.

To help pay them back, I was hoping you'd be open to the idea of going to Organized Play for the M11 Pre-Release.

I'll get details soon, but what I do know is it's July 10th. I think the format is Sealed Deck, but I'm not 100% sure.

Need an extra incentive? Once you see the Pre-Release foil promo, maybe you'll be convinced to go:

(I previewed the card below this post, just FYI. ;)  )

I'd personally love to go to the Pre-Release, especially with such a good card being handed out. And it's something different for us; we stick to the Hixson area so much it'd be nice to get out and play somewhere else, even if it's just for a day. And it'd give us another place to advertise; there may be others from Hixson/Chattanooga/surrounding areas who would love a more local place to play for more casual gaming.

At the same time, it is a two-hour drive (roughly), and they open at 11 AM so we'd need to leave before 9 AM that day to get there before they open (to give ourselves the best chance at entering and getting the promo). And I don't know the cost, but if it's Sealed it'll probably be $15-$20 in one hit.

But I want your thoughts. So E-mail me (Defiant359@comcast.net, Subject: "M11 Pre-Release") or leave a comment here.

Give this careful thought. I think it'll be fun: brand-new set, brand-new store, and hopefully we can make some contacts in the area who can help advertise for us!


UPDATE June 17th: The main Pre-Release event is at 7PM. It's Sealed Deck, 6 packs and a Sun Titan promo for $25. It's 4 rounds, and your prizes depends on how you do during those 4 rounds:

2-2: 1 M11 Pack
3-1: 3 M11 Packs
3-0-1 (3 wins, 0 losses, 1 tie): 7 M11 Packs
4-0 (undefeated): TEN M11 packs!

They'll also do side Draft events all day for $15. I don't think Sun Titan promos are given out with these events, but they award packs on a 4-3-2-2 basis: 4 packs to the winner, 3 to 2nd, and 2 packs each to 3rd and 4th places.

Our problem will be time. If we go for the main event and want to do the whole tournament, assuming a 50-minute round so we'll round up to an hour plus at least 30 minutes for deck-building and deck registration, a 4-round tournament will take until nearly midnight to finish (at earliest). That puts most of us getting back into town at 2 AM, and Wayne to 3 AM at the earliest.

I'll hold off on my feelings about this, but feel free to respond in the Comments section or E-mail me.

M11 Pre-Release and Release Promos

Hey guys!

Today Wizards of the Coast previewed the M11 Pre-Release and Release promo cards. And I've gotta say, the pre-release one looks outstanding! Let me give you a small preview: What if you could take one of the cheapest Planeswalkers that died earlier in the game and could return it directly to play...and get a decent creature out of the deal?

Find out what it and the Release card are...after the jump!

Some New M11 Previews

So the spoilers are starting to hit faster and faster, which means I may not get to each one.

But I'll do what I can!

We've got some interesting Commons today, and one more keyword retemplating. Find out what it may mean...AFTER the Jump!

BREAKING: M11 Changes Deathtouch Slightly

New previews means more BREAKING NEWS!

Someone's got their hands on real M11 cards (way ahead of schedule, but they are authentic) and posted a few new Green cards.

Among them (and this is word-for-word, no shorthand notations or simplifications)...

Greater Basilisk
3GG
Creature - Basilisk
Deathtouch (Any amount of damage this deals to a creature is enough to destroy it.)
5/3
Common


So you're wondering, "What does this mean for how Deathtouch works in combat? With the template change, there's no mention of being able to break the "creature queue" set up in M10."

Even though we don't have the official Deathtouch change rules summary, I'd hazard a guess to say there's little to no change.


The current template is way too long. I mean, read it:
Deathtouch (Creatures dealt damage by this creature are destroyed. You can divide this creature's combat damage among any of the creatures blocking or blocked by it.)

The current version explicitly states how you treat Deathtouch damage. Which is nice...if it's the only ability on the card.

On Vampire Nighthawk, that takes a total of 4 lines of text. AND they had to fit Flying and Lifelink (with reminder text on Lifelink) in the same text box. If it were shortened up a bit, it wouldn't look as cluttered and confusing for a creature that basically reads "Flying, deathtouch, lifelink".

Plus, reminder text doesn't catch every little nuance of the rules behind the reminder text. It should, however, give enough to guide you through most situations.


Under the current template, you still get 1 point of damage being able to destroy a creature. That's fine.

But unlike the current Deathtouch template that explicitly breaks the "creature queue" rule, this version is more subtle but does the same thing. Normally, a creature takes lethal damage when it takes damage greater than or equal to its toughness. Deathtouch seems to re-define "lethal damage" ("any amount of damage...is enough to destroy it."). As such, when you have to deal "lethal damage" to creatures in the queue in order to move on to the next creature in line, Deathtouch will say that just 1 damage will be enough and lets you move on.

Whether you'll get to jump around at will or not I don't know. Under the current template, if you have 5 creatures in the queue blocking a Deathtouch creature, that creature could assign its damage to the 4th and 5th creatures in line when it normally had to go straight through the first 3 to even have a chance of hitting that far back.

Either that, or the official rules will take back the ability to skip around in the creature queue and force you to go in order as long as you have enough Power to go through the "queue."

So wait until official word hits about how Deathtouch will work, but also keep in mind this shorter template will be around starting with M11 in July.

Reactions? Leave them in the comments here!

Until later,
Preston