The Magic School #1: Copying and...Copying.

I finally have a moment to get a few questions put in for the first edition of The Magic School. Today I'm looking at copy effects and how they'll resolve properly.

CREDITS: These questions come from www.mtgsalvation.com and its Cranial Insertion section, either in whole or in part. The way I answer, though, is my own doing.


The first question concerns situations like enchanting a Mountain with Crusher Zendikon and copying it/getting token copies somehow like with a kicked Rite of Replication. What do you get: just copies of the land, or do you get multiple Zendikons for your copying efforts?

ANSWER: Sorry, you "just" get 4 additional lands.

When a card says to copy or "put a token that's a copy...onto the battlefield", it only gets the copiable (pronounced like "Copy-able") values of the card it's trying to copy.

So what are copiable values? From the Comprehensive Rules:

"706.2. When copying an object, the copy acquires the copiable values of the original object’s characteristics and, for an object on the stack, choices made when casting or activating it (mode, targets, the value of X, whether it was kicked, how it will affect multiple targets, and so on). The “copiable values” are the values derived from the text printed on the object (that text being name, mana cost, card type, subtype, supertype, expansion symbol, rules text, power, toughness, and/or loyalty), as modified by other copy effects, by “as . . . enters the battlefield” and “as . . . is turned face up” abilities that set characteristics, and by abilities that caused the object to be face down. Other effects (including type-changing and text-changing effects), status, and counters are not copied."

So what is that saying in layman's terms?

If you have a permanent being copied, you only get what the original card was printed with.
If you have a spell being copied, you get the spell's original effects along with any additional effects tacked on while on the stack and all choices made for that spell (like how much was paid for X, what the targets for that spell are, which effect(s) you chose when you're able to choose between a number of effects, etc.)

So in this case, we're copying a permanent: Mountain.

What can we copy when it comes to a Mountain? Not a lot. The copied card will have all printed characteristics, so we'll get a token that looks like this:

Mountain
Basic Land - Mountain
(Token)

Notice there's no "Basic Land Creature - Beast" or "4/2" or anything from the Crusher Zendikon? We're only concerned with copiable values; that is, the printed values on the card we're targeting.

As a quick aside, this is true for any "manland" (a land that you can turn into a creature). When you copy a "manland", you only get what's printed. For example, copying an "animated" (land turned into a creature) Celestial Colonnade, here's what you'll get:

Celestial Colonnade
Land
Celestial Colonnade enters the battlefield tapped.
TAP: Add W or U to your mana pool.
3WU: Until end of turn, Celestial Colonnade becomes a 4/4 white and blue Elemental creature with flying and vigilance. It's still a land.
(Token)

Notice I didn't give the token 4/4 or flying or vigilance or a creature type? That's because Celestial Colonnade wasn't printed with those on it. It was printed as a land with an ability that lets it become a creature.


So as a slight segue into the next question: If my opponent just cast a Comet Storm and paid a total of 7 colorless: 4 went for X (so 4 damage to anything he targets), and 3 toward Multikicker and choosing myself and 2 of my creatures. He only has one creature. I Twincast his Comet Storm. What all happens now, assuming I make the strategically best choices?

ANSWER: First, technically a judge should never answer strategy questions, so if you're at a tournament be sure to ask EXACTLY what you mean when you have a question.

But I'm not an official judge, so I get to help you out.  :)


So look back at the copiable values rule. I'll copy-and-paste the appropriate section:
"When copying an object, the copy acquires the copiable values of the original object’s characteristics and, for an object on the stack, choices made when casting or activating it (mode, targets, the value of X, whether it was kicked, how it will affect multiple targets, and so on)."

So what's copiable on Comet Storm?
1) The original text that lets you deal X damage to a target and, if mulitkicker was paid, deal X damage to an additional target.
2) The value for X, which here is 4.
3) The multikicker target choices, which are you and your 2 creatures.

Normally, you'd have just screwed yourself over since the targets are set in stone. But luckily, Twincast and most other "copy target spell" effects let you change targets!

So you'll be able to deal 4 damage to up to 3 targets of your choosing (remember, this is thanks to Twincast's effect letting you change the targets). But strategically-speaking, you've only got 2 good targets: Your opponent and his lone creature.

So your best course of action is to deal 4 damage to your opponent, 4 damage to his creature (assuming it's not Stuffy Doll of course!), and 4 damage to one of your creatures already being targeted by your opponent's Comet Storm. Yeah, it sucks, but it still gets to hurt your opponent which is what you were wanting to do with Twincast anyway.


I'm going to keep this one short because copying effects are pretty tricky and I don't want to mess you up too much with other issues (that and I'm already late on delivering something in the form of new content so I figure something good would be better than a lot of small and relatively weak stuff). We'll delve into more rules issues next week when I'll have some time for sure to deliver something a lot better.

Until then, take care! And we hope to see you for the Master of Commander tournament Saturday.

Breaking News: School Sucks. More At 11.

School's biting into my time hard lately, so no updates today. Maybe Friday? We'll see! If I get a chance to do updates, it'll be alot at one time.

Catch you then!

New Feature: The Magic School

We all know how complicated a game of Magic can get. We've got the basic rules, the Comprehensive Rules, Card Set FAQs that can modify the Comprehensive Rules, errata that changes how a card works, M10-style rules changes that affect the game on a massive scale...it's a ton to keep up with.

Which is why I'm going to start a new feature here that hopefully everyone can learn from.

On Wednesdays or sooner, I'm going to start The Magic School. The Magic School will bring together a few interesting rules questions from either situations that came up at SMM or questions I've read online and answer them using the Comprehensive Rules, various set FAQs, or maybe even just a refresher of the basic rules in some cases.

I hope to get the premiere edition set up and ready for Wednesday. Please comment on it and help me make it interesting, getting questions you want answered, or anything else you think will help the section.

Thanks for reading, and I hope you'll stop by Wednesday for the first edition of The Magic School!

No Updates...At Least, Not Yet

I said I'd update on the Pro Tour before the weekend's out.

...Not too much luck there.

I do have some quick recaps I'll expand on throughout the week.

1) Luis Scott-Vargas (affectionately also known simply as LSV) was 17-0 with his new Naya deck combined with a strong ZEN-ZEN-WWK draft showing before being beat by Jund in the Semifinals. LSV set a new record for most consecutive match wins; the previous record was 14-0 before that player lost in the Quarterfinals of Pro Tour - Tokyo (not too sure of names and dates/events, but I do remember the record being 14-0).

2) Jund won....again. I mean, how much skill does it take to win with Putrid Leach, Bloodbraid Elf, Bituminous Blast, and Lightning Bolt, plus the new manlands Raging Ravine and Lavaclaw Reaches?

3) Stoneforge Mystic, which I talked about just a couple posts down? Remember I said it was $1.50 - $2 each before Pro Tour - San Diego? And that it went up to $4-$5? Try $8-$10!! If you stocked up before Friday, you made huge money!

4) Jace, the Persuasion Master seems to be stuck in a rut. 3 copies in the Top 8 at last weekend's Grand Prix (Extended format), 3 copies in the Top 8 at last weekend's PTQ (Legacy), and as I was hoping Gabriel Nassif and his buddies would Top 8 at Pro Tour - San Diego we still ended up with only 3 Neo-Jace in the Top 8. And one Legacy side event at the Pro Tour? 3 Neo-Jaces in the Top 8. *sigh* At some point, good ol' fashioned Control will be back at the top, and this Jace will shine in the Pro Tour limelight. I tell ya what, though...at least it's a good rut to be in.


That's the quick update for everyone! As I get to watch the Top 8 video I'll post more impressions. Until then, hope you have a good day and catch you later! I hope you've enjoyed this so far.

"Master of Commander" Tournament 2/27 NEXT WEEK

EDIT: When you come in Saturday, use the main church entrance to come in. There's a small hallway beside the chapel area that leads to a library. That's where we'll be.

If you read the first post of this blog, you know part of its purpose is to keep you informed of our attempts to set up tournaments for more casual players in the Hixson, TN area.

So here's a tournament for that crowd!


A couple of us here have wanted to try a 2-player version of EDH/Commander since we found the format. So we've basically taken the EDH/Commander rules and put them into a tournament for next week.


"Master of Commander" Tournament Rules

A. Deckbuliding

1. Singleton: Your deck can only have 1 copy of any card that's not a basic land or Relentless Rats.

2. 100 cards: Your deck must have 100 cards in it, counting your eventual Commander.

3. Legendary Creature as your Commander: As part of your 100 card Singleton deck, you must have at least 1 Legendary Creature in the 100 cards you use. You'll pick 1 Legendary Creature in your deck to be your Commander.
      *Braids, Cabal Minion and Kokusho, the Evening Star are banned from being Commanders. (You'll see why later in the rules)
      *As a matter of simiplicity, you may only designate 1 Legendary Creature as your Commander for the whole tournament; if you have multiple Legendary creatures, you cannot switch out which one is your Commander between games/matches.

4. No Cards Off-Color from Your Commander's: You may only use colorless cards and cards that share a color(s) of the Commander you end up using in order to pick the cards for your deck.
      * Hybrid and Split cards count as all their colors. So for example, if you use Agrus Kos, Wojeck Veteran (3RW mana cost) and want to use Marisi's Twinclaws in your deck, you're out of luck because Twinclaws is a Red, White, and Green creature, whereas Agrus Kos is only a Red and White creature.
      * EXAMPLES: If you use Sliver Queen, you may use any card you like as they'll all share a color with your Queen. If you use Wrexial, the Risen Deep you are confined to Blue and/or Black cards and/or colorless cards in your deck (i.e.: your cards cannot have White, Red, and/or Green in their mana costs).

B. Gameplay Rules

5. Commander in the Command Zone: Before each game, you'll take 1 Legendary Creature in your deck and put it in the "Command Zone." This is like a "really really removed from play" zone in that nothing can target that area and it's not considered to be an in-play area.

6. Summoning your Commander: You can cast your Commander at any time you could normally cast a creature (Flash abilities notwithstanding) by paying your Commander's mana cost.

7. Commanders don't "die" per-se: If your Commander would end up in your Graveyard or Exiled, you may instead move it back to the Command Zone. (so in a sense, your Commander never "dies").

8. Additional Payment after Death and "Resurrection": Each time your Commander is "resurrected" (sent back to the Command Zone), you have to pay 2 additional colorless mana to cast it for each time it's been sent back. So a General that normally costs 3RW would instead cost 5RW the first time it's "resurrected", then 7RW the second time, 9RW the third, etc.).
    * Just because a Commander is destroyed, exiled, etc., doesn't mean it stops being a Commander.

9. Mana Production Rules: You can only produce colorless mana or mana of the colors of your Commander only. Any mana produced that's not in your Commander's colors instead makes Colorless mana for that color.
    * EXAMPLE: Bartel Runeaxe (3BRG) is your Commander. You use an Orzhov Signet to try to make 1 Black and 1 White mana. You'll get the Black mana just fine since Bartel is Black, but because Bartel Runeaxe isn't White you'll get a single Colorless mana for the White portion, netting you 1B (1 Colorless + 1 Black) instead of WB (1 White + 1 Black).

10. Instant Loss Rule: If you're dealt more than 20 points of combat damage by a single Commander, you lose the game, no matter your life total.
    *Think of this like Poison, except it requires 21 counters instead of 10 and that 1 point of combat damage = 1 counter.

11. Specific Ban List: Commander does have its own separate ban list, found here: http://www.wizards.com/Magic/TCG/Resources.aspx?x=magic/rules/100cardsingleton-commander
    * Any Legendary creature on that list is only banned from being a Commander; for example, you may use Kokusho, the Evening Star in your 100-card deck, but you can't use it as your Commander.

12. Clarifications:     * The Legend Rule does apply to Commanders.
     * No abilities of your Commander are active while in the Command Zone; the only time you get the benefits will be when your Commander is on the battlefield (or in the graveyard if it has a "while this is in the graveyard"-type ability, of course.

Aside from the ban list for Commander itself, we'll use the Legacy banned/restricted list.

We charge $2 for every Constructed tournament, and this will be no different. Prizes will be pack splits of Worldwake. ("Pack Split" is us taking a pack(s) of cards, opening the contents, and spreading them out on a table. The winner gets first choice of cards, second place gets second pick, and so on.)

Let us know what you think about these rules, what needs to be changed, if certain cards needs to be banned, and all of that. I usually ban auto-win/auto-loss cards, but I slipped a bit on remembering to do that so they're legal for this tournament.

We hope to see you next Saturday for this exciting format!

Initial Pro Tour - San Diego Card Updates

So we're into the first day of the Standard format Pro Tour - San Diego and we're already seeing breakout cards from Worldwake making a big splash.

First off...

Stoneforge Mystic was a sleeper. Sitting around $1.50 to $2, she's doubled to tripled in the span of one night to $4-$5. Why? In Extended, she's used to search up the Umezawa's Jitte you need to win; Brian David-Marshall was also talking about a G/W deck that used Chord of Calling to search up a Stoneforge Mystic at the end of a turn to get SoFI (Sword of Fire and Ice) so that next turn all the player needs to do is equip SoFI to a creature and attack. She's a two-mana Equipment searcher, and used with the right Equipment she's dangerous. In essence, ignore her 1/2 stats since you don't care about her as a creature but rather as another efficient White tutor. :)

Basilisk Collar is getting a bit of attention too, but so far it seems to have been priced about right since release at $4-$5. Basilisk Collar is the popular Standard format target for the Mystic, effectively making any creature into a Vampire Nighthawk.


Next is talk of the "Donate on legs", Bazaar Trader.

 

 "Seriously? WTF!? I mean, he's a 1/1 for 2 mana. He needs to do something better."

He does. He permanently takes control of opponent's creatures.

"Say WHAT!?"

It's true. Take Mark of Eviciont or Act of Treason.

So let's say your opponent's Baneslayer Angel is getting you down. You played Bazaar Trader last turn. You can deal with it. How? Cast Act of Treason/Mark of Mutiny, targetting Baneslayer Angel. The Angel is now under your control. Now TAP Bazaar Trader, letting "target player", that's you, take control of the Baneslayer Angel you now control. Congraulations! You just gained permanent control of Baneslayer Angel! Bazaar Trader's effect doesn't last until end of turn, so it's now under your control for the rest of the game. :)

This isn't the only interaction going on with Bazaar Trader. The obvious is Abyssal Persecutor. Get your opponent down to 0 or fewer life, then just switch control of Persecutor to your opponent and BAM! You win.

How about going as far back as Shards of Alara? Remember that "crap Rare" Immortal Coil? Yeah, Bazaar Trader's seeing a bit of play with that, too. "Go ahead, take my Immortal Coil. Lightning Bolt for 3...oh no! You don't have enough cards in your graveyard. GG!"

Finally, how about a sleeper? One that's been sleeping since Time Spiral...

And they said Counterspell was the best counterspell around...

Seriously, it is seeing play. Gabriel Nassif's playing a new U/W deck and some of his main decked cards are indeed Cancel, Counterspell's replacement. Some players were going "For 3? No way! I'll use [insert popular counterspell of the time here] instead! That's bull****!"

....

So who actually stepped into that pile of bull****?

That's a quick rundown of some of the bigger cards I've heard are being played pretty heavily at Pro Tour - San Diego. I'll post another update or two before the weekend ends, along with impressions after the Finals Sunday night. Until then, take care and we hope to see you around soon either here or IRL!

EDIT: I'm using card pictures from magiccards.info, which I believe to be 1000 times faster and better than Gatherer. Give them a try and see if you don't agree. They also include a price guide of sorts so if you see a card you like you can get a rough idea of what it's worth thanks to the online stores who stock those cards and are effectively advertising their stores on this search engine.

Worldwake Draft Results

Last Saturday was our Worldwake "Release" Draft day. I tell you, the set is popular! Counting the draft pile, we went through a whole box in just a few hours. We didn't get any Jaces but we saw 4 Mythics (Comet Storm; Novablast Wurm; Wrexial, the Risen Deep; and Abyssal Persecutor) and all but 1 of the manlands (we doubled up on Ravaging Ravine) so I'd call it a decent box.

After we got off our new card craziness we got going with the draft. Of course, I let the players keep one Rare they opened but the rest have to go to the prize pool. Right off the bat, Damon started laughing and wrote his rare down. Unfortunately for the rest of us, it was Abyssal Persecutor. This naturally put him into a mostly black deck. The rest of of were unsure how well our decks would work (we're not pros here, ya know!) so we were just taking the best we could get.

As I got my first few picks I was hopeful I had recruited enough fliers and Calcite Snappers to be okay on the offense, so I went W/U with two manlands: Lavaclaw Reaches and Celestial Colonnade. Man, was the Lavaclaw Reaches the WRONG thing to do! I figured I would have had enough land search/deck thinning to get to my splashed Mountain and Swamp, but each time I'd have rather had a Plains or Island than them. Needless to say, each Game 2 I swapped out the Mountain, Swamp, and Lavaclaw Reaches for a couple Islands and a Plains.

Match 1 was against Damon's U/B Persecutor build. What hurt me was every time he stuck Persecutor he won; all he had to do was bounce Persecutor to his hand after I was in negatives for the win. The combination of a 6/6 with Flying and Trample was just too much for me. Even with the fliers I had, I couldn't absorb enough damage and deal it to kill the Persecutor. Wrexial, the Risen Deep sealed the game in his favor Game 1. Game 2 I got a fast start with some early fliers and an Enclave Elite guaranteed I could outrun him to the finish. Game 3 was Persecutor winning, but barely with a score of 10-9 when time was called. (Our tiebreaker is to finish the current turn and check life totals. Higher life total wins the match if it's Game 1 or 3. For Game 2 matches, the Game 1 winner wins. Most of this is a time issue, as we don't have a lot of time to finish up our tournaments.). One of the games I did get Goliath Sphinx out, but it just wasn't enough and either met a bounce spell or was killed blocking a Persecutor.

We do a "double elimination" of sorts with our tournaments. We play one round, separate the losers and winners, and basically run two tournaments the rest of the way: one for the first-round losers and one for the first-round winners. This way we're all guaranteed at least two matches during each tournament. So I got...

Match 2: My U/W Fliers vs. Mick's G/R Burn/Aggro Allies
We only did one game here, so the match came down to the winner of this getting 4th place (out of 5 players. Yeah, not a lot, but it's still a lot of fun!). I started off pretty early with Basilisk Collar and some 2- and 3-mana fliers. I kept attacking for 2 while Mick was building up.  I eventually got Lightkeeper of Emeria, so I effectively turned an Uncommon 3/3 into a bigger Vampire Nighthawk. The game kind of stalled life-wise for me: I'd attack and gain 3, he'd attack and take 3-4 out of me at a time. He ended up getting a Graypelt Hunter up to 10/4 through its own effect and Claws of Valakut. A few attacks there would have dealt the death blow but he kept holding back on it. I really think Mick had the match well in hand but maybe tiredness got the best of him? I won a game I shouldn't have, but it was interesting fighting around all he had.

I ended up 1-1 out of 2 matches in 4th, but I got to take home a Wrexial, the Risen Deep; Celestial Colonnade; a foil Bajuka Bog; and a few other cards I can't remember right now. That's not too bad for $9. ;)

Our winners, their places, and the type of decks they played:
1st: Damon, U/B
2nd: Wayne Eanes, ?? (memory's shot. Sorry!)
3rd: Tiff Higgins, G/W Beatdown
4th: Preston Hamill (aka The Loveable CardGameNut!), W/U Fliers
5th: Mick Pheres, R/G Ally Beatdown/Burn

Thanks to our 5 guys (and gal. ;) ) for making this Worldwake Draft so enjoyable!


PS: We hold these "Release" drafts around a week after a set is officially released, so be sure to try and make the Rise of the Eldrazi Draft May 1st. Will Eye of Ugin be worth anything play-wise? Come by and find out!

Jace, the Persuasion Master

Normally, I hate spending more than $10-$20 on a single card, let alone $40-$50.

But after seeing the results of this weekend's Pro Tour Qualifiers (PTQs), I couldn't help myself.

I broke down and bought 2.

For those who are still unfamiliar with our lovely new blue Planeswalker:

 

This is our new blue friend. 4 abilities, a +/-0 repeatable ability, and he only costs 1 more mana than his predecessor.

So why does neo-Jace deserve $40+ per copy?

1: He doesn't die to burn...at least, not easily. After you cast him and he resolves, you just activate his +2 ability to up him to 5 loyalty counters. The only way for burn to deal with this is use up two cards (most casual burn goes for quick and powerful, and most of those only deal 3-4 damage at a time).

2: His +2 ability doesn't have to fix your deck ("...top card of target player's library..."). You can look at the top of your opponent's deck and send a threat away if it's a spell or let them keep a land if they're topdecking (Landfall notwithstanding, anyway)...the potential is high for an abuseable ability.

3: His +0 is a Brainstorm. And we all know how powerful Brainstorm can be by itself. Imagine getting it every turn! I guess this could effectively be the new Sensei's Divining Top of Standard.

4: Two cards make his Brainstorm ability that much more useful:

Halimar Depths lets you get a Sensei's Divining Top on Turn 1 in Standard and makes up for not being able to play one Turn 1 in Extended because of the Enters the Battlefield Tapped (EBT) clause. Use Halimar Depths to set up Treasure Hunt, or if you're late in the game use Jace's Brainstorm ability to try and get 2-3 lands on top of your deck so you can draw past all those lands and get to a spell that'll help you win the game.

This ability is not to be underestimated. When faced with a land clump, Jace ensures you're able to draw into a spell you can use.

4: An Unsummon ability. Most Planeswalkers can "protect themselves" through various abilities (Garruk makes a 3/3 Beats token, Chandra Nalaar can take out a creature with her -X ability,

Nicol Bolas can take control of an opponent's strongest creature, etc.). Jace is no different...if you're willing to go down some loyalty.

5: Jace's "Ultimate" (the last ability of a Planeswalker). You exile an opponent's library and put their shuffled hand in its place. So late game...what, maybe 1-2 turns? And if you can get the ability sooner than you should (*cough*Doubling Season*cough**cough*Gilder Bairn*cough*), maybe 4-6 turns at most? Oh yeah! :) I've read some playtesters saying they can not only get Jace up to 12 to get his ultimate off but also when they do activate it, it's pretty well game over. That's what you get for putting a strong Mill effect on a highly useful Planeswalker...

So I broke down and ordered 2 at $40 or so each, but I probably won't get a third through online sellers unless the price is around $35.

Am I wrong for not wanting to pay $40 for this guy? I mean, he's good, but is he that good? PTQ reports had 3 copies of Jace total in two decks in the Top 8. Jace also appeared 3 times at Grand Prix - Oakland, all in the hands of Conley Woods, who I understand is the developer of the "Magical Christmasland" Standard deck.

Keep in mind, the set had only been officially released for one week when the PTQ and Grand Prix happened. To have this kind of success only a week out from a set's release is mindblowing to me. (But then again, I'm just a casual joe typing random thoughts out to nobody. :p )

With Pro Tour - San Diego coming up this weekend, we'll see just how prolific New Level Blue can be with Jace and the possible combination of him, Halimar Depths, and Treasure Hunt. Or will Jace win it all by himself without such strong deck manipulation/card draw? Will black decks start featuring Vampire Hexmage just to deal with neo-Jace?

I guess we'll all find out at Pro Tour - San Diego. If Jace performs well, I'd expect to see $60+ on eBay before the end of the weekend (possibly $70+ from card stores and online stores). If he does poorly, I think the potential to break him will keep him at $40, with the Extended PTQ and Extended Grand Prix from this weekend keeping him propped up.

I should get a chance to playtest him myself next week. I'll be sure to give you my impressions of him after that!

Initial Worldwake Price Impressions

Part of the fun of spoiler season and the excitement of a new set for me personally is what will the Rares and some of the Uncommons go for?

We've learned from Tarmogoyf and Baneslayer Angel that we don't want to miss the boat on anything good and cheap and full of potential.

So what are my picks for undervalued cards?

Because of time constraints, I'm going to focus a bit on one card right now. That card?

Death's Shadow  We've seen what a one-mana 12/12 could potentially do. Now we have a 1-mana 13/13...with the condition that you're at 0 life. Not a problem. That's the purpose of Platinum Angel! If you're at a negative life total with Platinum Angel out, not only do you live, you'll have a huge Death's Shadow (for example, if you're at -20, your Death's Shadow "loses" -(-20)/-(-20), or in actuality +20/+20 [Algebra 1: "minus a negative means plus a positive"], making it a 33/33.) Hmm...Behemoth Sledge never looked so good! And thanks to Ranger of Eos (a card finally seeing the love it deserved, play-wise and price-wise) it's never too late to have Death's Shadow ready to go.

But let's take this outside the realm of Standard. Extended still has Pandemonium and Angel's Grace legal. Cast Angel's Grace so you don't lose, cast Ranger of Eos to fetch out a Death's Shadow or two, have Eos' Pandemonium damage target you to help power up Death's Shadow, then hopefully if you're at a low enough life total you can just pop off 2 Death's Shadow for game and match.

Death's Shadow is currently running around the $1-$2 each range. I say pick them up if you can get them for around $5 per playset. Something tells me he'll be around $4-$5 each at his highest if he just finds a tournament deck. If he gets a deck good enough to Top 8 some Pro Tours and Grand Prixs, expect higher but I think the ceiling will be around $7-$8 if it were to get anywhere near that high.

Comments? Suggestions? Leave a comment here. I look forward to doing more of these, so any suggestions to help it out are greatly appreciated.

Potential Pack Problems with Worldwake

I'm seeing a few posts on Twitter and MTGSalvation.com about Worldwake boxes coming with packs that don't have a Rare in them.

IF YOU GET ONE OF THESE PACKS:
1) Do NOT change the layout of the cards in the pack.
2) Save the packaging and the cards that came in them.
3) Take a picture ASAP.
4) Contact Wizards of the Coast (WotC) Customer Service.
5) Hold onto that pack until Customer Service tells you what to do.


Should this happen during our Draft, I will replace the packs until you get one that has everything it should have in it. I'll then do all the paperwork to get the pack(s) replaced.


I've got 3 boxes coming in, so we'll have plenty of Worldwake available no matter how much you want (well...not more than 3 boxes' worth anyway. :p  ).


We hope to see you Saturday for the Worldwake draft!

PS: I forgot to mention in the previous blog...the draft is 3x Worldwake packs.

Worldwake Draft Saturday the 13th

Okay...I'm trying to get Google's Countdown Clock thing to work, but to no avail.

So my first official blog post will have to do!


We're hosting a Worldwake Booster Draft February 13th around 11:30 AM. The admission price is $9; that gets you 3 Worldwake Booster Packs and puts a little bit away for a prize split of 1-2 booster packs.


Let me explain how our drafts work, as I believe it works out better encouraging good decks rather than hoarding.

Most of the time, the draft works like normal: We open one pack, take a card, and pass the cards to the left for the first pack. Then after we use up all 15 cards we open a second pack and repeat the process, this time to the right. Third pack's the same, but back to the left.

Here's where we're a bit different.

When you open a pack, write down any Rares or Foils you open. Then pick as normal. Do this for all 3 packs. Write down only what YOU opened.

Our prize support comes from using the Rares and Foils we opened from the packs. At the end of the tournament, we'll gather all the Rares and Foils together (along with any booster splits we do) and we'll pick the cards we want, one at a time in order of our finish.

So why did you write down your Rares/Foils if they're just going into the prize pool?

The first go-around on the prize pool, we'll ask if you had a card  you wanted to keep out. If you did, that's considered your first pick. We go through until we get through everyone. The bonus to not picking one of your cards: You get first dibs on anything that's left. Once everyone has 1 card, we go back to the finishing order and pick from there.

As normal, you keep any Commons and Uncommons you draft.

I feel that not letting you keep every Rare and Foil you draft helps the quality of the decks and helps everyone who plays preserve at least some of their entry fee. It's been a smash hit for everyone who's tried it, so if it ain't broke I ain't fixin' it! :)

I know one of your other questions if you're reading this is "Okay...WHERE IS IT?" I'd be wondering that myself, honestly. (Who wrote this crappy blog, anyway? :p  )   I'll get that information up later tonight or sometime tomorrow. We're one week plus a few days out, so I don't feel in a rush to NEED to get that up. Besides, we're brand-new so I'm going to be adding stuff as time goes on so just be patient. :)

We hope to see anyone who's interested show up for this draft. It looks like a good set with some good, Constructed-worthy cards worth getting. And for $9, you can't beat it...no matter how well you do! :)

 EDIT: I forgot to mention how we'll run the rounds. We do 30-minute rounds, best 2 out of 3. After the first round, we have a winner's bracket and a loser's bracket, so everyone's guaranteed 2 matches. Winners keep going for the top half positions, losers the bottom half. From there, it's single-elimination.

Welcome to Our New Blog!

Hello world!

We're the Church Games League of Hixson. We're a small group of Magic: The Gathering players in Hixson, TN who meet up every Saturday and enjoy the game we all love to enjoy together. Every few weeks we hold tournaments using both traditional and not-so-traditional formats...and have a blast running them!

This blog is an attempt to hopefully get the word out about our place, and maybe give our current locals a central place to check for updates and post a few ideas themselves.

This blog is BRAND NEW (less than 20 minutes old as of my typing this), so it's VERY barren at the moment. Bare with me as I get things going.

If you're interested in our little group just from this post, put up a comment or E-mail me (if that option's available. I don't know that it is; this is my very first blog so be patient! :)  ).

We look forward to sharing our stuff with you and hopefully at some point seeing you around here!