It's the moment we've all been waiting for...for months, literally!
We're set to start out Innistrad League this upcoming Saturday, 12/31!
Initial entry fee is $18.50. This gets you 6 packs of Innistrad to use in a Sealed Deck that will be used in part during the duration of the League, which runs through May unless we decide to shorten it (which we'll talk about Saturday).
The $2 over the normal entry fee goes to prizes. Here's what we'll have in the first 2-week prize pool:
* 1 pack of Innistrad
* 1 Animate Dead from Premium Deck Series: Graveborn
* 1 Exhume from Premium Deck Series: Graveborn
* 1 Buried Alive from Premium Deck Series: Graveborn
* Cards from 2 packs of Innistrad and/or Magic 2012
These cards will be placed on a table after the 2-week period is over and, starting with the player with the most points and working down and back around, each player will pick 1 thing from the prize table until everyone is either happy with what they have or prizes run out.
Also remember, you get a free Tormented Soul promo card just for playing the League!
If you have any questions, the rules are a few posts down from this one. Feel free to leave feedback or E-mail me directly (CardGameNut@gmail.com).
We hope to see you Saturday! :)
Monday, December 26, 2011
Thursday, December 22, 2011
First Prize Pack for Innistrad League (Mostly) Decided
Here's what I'm looking to put into the first prize pool of Innistrad League for splitting, to be given out January 14th for the 2 weeks running December 31st through January 13th (assuming 6 players minimum):
* 1 full pack of Innistrad
* 1 Buried Alive from Premium Deck Series: Graveborn
* 1 Exhume from Premium Deck Series: Graveborn
* 1 Animate Dead from Premium Deck Series: Graveborn
* Contents of 2 packs of M12 and/or Innistrad, to be picked one card at a time
The 2 packs will be opened and their contents splayed out before the winner has to make any choices on whether they'd pick a single card or the full pack of Innistrad. So the prize table will have 33 single cards plus a full pack of Innistrad on it to be picked, starting with the winner of the 2-week period and working our way down and back around until all the prizes are picked or everyone is happy with what they have.
This leaves $2.25 left over if we have 6 players, so I'm thinking of storing that as "extra" toward more prizes into the overall prize pool at the end of League. What do you all think?
* 1 full pack of Innistrad
* 1 Buried Alive from Premium Deck Series: Graveborn
* 1 Exhume from Premium Deck Series: Graveborn
* 1 Animate Dead from Premium Deck Series: Graveborn
* Contents of 2 packs of M12 and/or Innistrad, to be picked one card at a time
The 2 packs will be opened and their contents splayed out before the winner has to make any choices on whether they'd pick a single card or the full pack of Innistrad. So the prize table will have 33 single cards plus a full pack of Innistrad on it to be picked, starting with the winner of the 2-week period and working our way down and back around until all the prizes are picked or everyone is happy with what they have.
This leaves $2.25 left over if we have 6 players, so I'm thinking of storing that as "extra" toward more prizes into the overall prize pool at the end of League. What do you all think?
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Updated Innistrad League Rules: Feedback Needed Still
Hey guys!
I have a new version of the Innistrad League rules up on Google Docs. Go here to view it:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1BTJZZCZbTDOq2FkqvlnH81TjqbzZp9KHFao7Gikny8I/edit?hl=en_US
If you have any feedback on any aspect of the League or feel some rules could be clarified better, whatever the feedback is, feel free to leave it here or contact me directly (CardGameNut@gmail.com).
We will start on December 31. That's one week from this upcoming Saturday. Whatever I get no feedback on, I'm going to keep, so I encourage you to let me know if you disagree with any aspect of these rules.
Thank you for your time and effort to help ensure a fun League for everyone! :)
I have a new version of the Innistrad League rules up on Google Docs. Go here to view it:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1BTJZZCZbTDOq2FkqvlnH81TjqbzZp9KHFao7Gikny8I/edit?hl=en_US
If you have any feedback on any aspect of the League or feel some rules could be clarified better, whatever the feedback is, feel free to leave it here or contact me directly (CardGameNut@gmail.com).
We will start on December 31. That's one week from this upcoming Saturday. Whatever I get no feedback on, I'm going to keep, so I encourage you to let me know if you disagree with any aspect of these rules.
Thank you for your time and effort to help ensure a fun League for everyone! :)
Newest Banned/Restricted List Updates: Modern Affected
(The announcement of the updated Ban/Restricted lists can be found here; if you click on this link you'll see the official explanation for the updates)
Hey guys!
Earlier this morning Wizards of the Coast posted their December 20th Banned/Restricted List update to take effect January 1, 2012.
No formats were touched...except Modern.
NEW BANNINGS IN MODERN
Punishing Fire
Wild Nacatl
Wild Nacatl and Punishing Fire were both featured in Zoo builds.
Punishing Fire would be combined with Grove of the Burnwillows to either do a net of 1 damage to the opponent that's reuseable or to get a reuseable 2 damage hit to creatures. And with enough mana and Punishing Fires, that turns into 4, 6, or 8 to a creature in exchange for some life gain the opponent will end up losing because you're re-re-reusing your Punishing Fires.
Wild Nacatl has a lot in common with Kird Ape. Kird Ape was popular in the then-new Extended format. It could easily be a 2/3 creature on Turn 1 thanks to Taiga being legal in the format then. Because it was so efficient, it got banned. And in later years, everyone laughed that a potential 2/3 for 1 mana ever got banned in Extended.
Flashforward to Modern. Wild Nacatl has a little more going for it. We have the Modern equivalent of Dual Lands in the form of "shock lands". As well, Wild Nacatl has a friend Kird Ape never had :"Fetch lands." Yes, on Turn 1 Wild Nacatl could easily be a 2/2 for 1 mana, then next turn a 3/3 for 1 mana with little chance for an opponent to answer until a few turns later. Here's all it takes:
Turn 1: Arid Mesa, "crack" the Fetchland to get a Temple Garden/Stomping Ground, cast Wild Nacatl. Now that you control a Plains/Mountain (whichever of those lands you got), you have a 1-mana 2/2.
Turn 2: If your opponent didn't have a Lightning Bolt, you play any of the other Plains and/or Mountain "shocklands" and Wild Nacatl becomes a 3/3. Add Noble Hierarch to the mix and you have a 4/4 when attacking on Turn 2.
And it seems this kind of play happened more often than not. With fetchlands and Exalted triggers, it's easy to make Nacatl much more powerful than it was for Kird Ape to ever be and much faster too.
For these reasons, the DCI felt that the variety of the format was being threatened. Zoo decks are too prominent, in part because of Wild Nacatl and in part because of the Grove of the Burnwillows/Punishing Fire combo. As well, the Grove/Fire combo was being used as a win condition in other decks that could afford to run the combo.
And because deck variety was being threatened, the DCI felt the need to ban these 2 cards.
On the plus side...this is the fewest bannings that have happened to Modern since the format sprang up earlier this year. Last update had 6 cards banned, and the initial announcement (on August 12th) had a whopping 21 cards on it. With 29 cards on the list, I have a sneaky suspicion we'll see at least a couple cards come off the list next update (scheduled for March 20th to be effective April 1, 2012).
What do you all think? Are these bans the correct move? Should something have been unbanned? What about in other formats? Feel free to leave your comments here and share and discuss! :)
Hey guys!
Earlier this morning Wizards of the Coast posted their December 20th Banned/Restricted List update to take effect January 1, 2012.
No formats were touched...except Modern.
NEW BANNINGS IN MODERN
Punishing Fire
Wild Nacatl
Wild Nacatl and Punishing Fire were both featured in Zoo builds.
Punishing Fire would be combined with Grove of the Burnwillows to either do a net of 1 damage to the opponent that's reuseable or to get a reuseable 2 damage hit to creatures. And with enough mana and Punishing Fires, that turns into 4, 6, or 8 to a creature in exchange for some life gain the opponent will end up losing because you're re-re-reusing your Punishing Fires.
Wild Nacatl has a lot in common with Kird Ape. Kird Ape was popular in the then-new Extended format. It could easily be a 2/3 creature on Turn 1 thanks to Taiga being legal in the format then. Because it was so efficient, it got banned. And in later years, everyone laughed that a potential 2/3 for 1 mana ever got banned in Extended.
Flashforward to Modern. Wild Nacatl has a little more going for it. We have the Modern equivalent of Dual Lands in the form of "shock lands". As well, Wild Nacatl has a friend Kird Ape never had :"Fetch lands." Yes, on Turn 1 Wild Nacatl could easily be a 2/2 for 1 mana, then next turn a 3/3 for 1 mana with little chance for an opponent to answer until a few turns later. Here's all it takes:
Turn 1: Arid Mesa, "crack" the Fetchland to get a Temple Garden/Stomping Ground, cast Wild Nacatl. Now that you control a Plains/Mountain (whichever of those lands you got), you have a 1-mana 2/2.
Turn 2: If your opponent didn't have a Lightning Bolt, you play any of the other Plains and/or Mountain "shocklands" and Wild Nacatl becomes a 3/3. Add Noble Hierarch to the mix and you have a 4/4 when attacking on Turn 2.
And it seems this kind of play happened more often than not. With fetchlands and Exalted triggers, it's easy to make Nacatl much more powerful than it was for Kird Ape to ever be and much faster too.
For these reasons, the DCI felt that the variety of the format was being threatened. Zoo decks are too prominent, in part because of Wild Nacatl and in part because of the Grove of the Burnwillows/Punishing Fire combo. As well, the Grove/Fire combo was being used as a win condition in other decks that could afford to run the combo.
And because deck variety was being threatened, the DCI felt the need to ban these 2 cards.
On the plus side...this is the fewest bannings that have happened to Modern since the format sprang up earlier this year. Last update had 6 cards banned, and the initial announcement (on August 12th) had a whopping 21 cards on it. With 29 cards on the list, I have a sneaky suspicion we'll see at least a couple cards come off the list next update (scheduled for March 20th to be effective April 1, 2012).
What do you all think? Are these bans the correct move? Should something have been unbanned? What about in other formats? Feel free to leave your comments here and share and discuss! :)
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Innistrad Initial Rules Posted
Hey guys!
Follow the link below for the initial Innistrad League details. Feel free to post any feedback here.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1BTJZZCZbTDOq2FkqvlnH81TjqbzZp9KHFao7Gikny8I/edit?hl=en_US
Any and all feedback is welcome! :)
Follow the link below for the initial Innistrad League details. Feel free to post any feedback here.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1BTJZZCZbTDOq2FkqvlnH81TjqbzZp9KHFao7Gikny8I/edit?hl=en_US
Any and all feedback is welcome! :)
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Preliminary Innistrad League Details (FINALLY!)
Okay, guys. Preliminary information about Innistrad League! (FINALLY! lol!)
Start date: December 31st
Run time: Roughly 14 weeks, give or take depending on feedback.
Basic Prize Support: Everyone gets a free promo Tormented Soul for playing (while supplies last). Devil's Play promos will be included at random periods as part of a bi-weekly further prize split. Other basic prize support TBD.
Entry Fee: $16.50 will get you 6 packs of Innistrad to use in constructing a minimum 40-card deck. Trades within the League will be allowed (details TBA). Also, add $2 to help with further prize support every 2 weeks (details TBA).
Pack Additions: Packs will be added every 2 weeks at $2.75 per pack, 1 pack at a time. This means on Week 3 you'll be at 7 packs, Week 5 up to 9 packs, etc.
Further Prize Support: I wish to incorporate the Graveborn pre-con deck somewhere in here (Premium Deck Series: Graveborn list link is about 4 posts below this). Also, I'll throw in packs of Innistrad either to the winner and/or to split among all the players.
EXACT details are still TBA, most likely tomorrow or Thursday. But I wanted to give a basic run-down and get some feedback before we get official details out.
Who's interested? Who would want to play?
PS: You WILL be able to use your League cards outside of the League. We'll have everyone type out their pack openings and any trades made so each player can have a record of what cards should go back into their League piles when playing for League games. Exact details on how this will work will be posted in the next few days.
Start date: December 31st
Run time: Roughly 14 weeks, give or take depending on feedback.
Basic Prize Support: Everyone gets a free promo Tormented Soul for playing (while supplies last). Devil's Play promos will be included at random periods as part of a bi-weekly further prize split. Other basic prize support TBD.
Entry Fee: $16.50 will get you 6 packs of Innistrad to use in constructing a minimum 40-card deck. Trades within the League will be allowed (details TBA). Also, add $2 to help with further prize support every 2 weeks (details TBA).
Pack Additions: Packs will be added every 2 weeks at $2.75 per pack, 1 pack at a time. This means on Week 3 you'll be at 7 packs, Week 5 up to 9 packs, etc.
Further Prize Support: I wish to incorporate the Graveborn pre-con deck somewhere in here (Premium Deck Series: Graveborn list link is about 4 posts below this). Also, I'll throw in packs of Innistrad either to the winner and/or to split among all the players.
EXACT details are still TBA, most likely tomorrow or Thursday. But I wanted to give a basic run-down and get some feedback before we get official details out.
Who's interested? Who would want to play?
PS: You WILL be able to use your League cards outside of the League. We'll have everyone type out their pack openings and any trades made so each player can have a record of what cards should go back into their League piles when playing for League games. Exact details on how this will work will be posted in the next few days.
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