Magic: The Gathering

[Yellow Mage]

Just got back home from the Return to Ravnica prerelease an hour and a half ago. Played Azorius. Went 3-2-1. Two wins were against Selesnya players who were still green behind the ears, one was against a no-show; the losses were both against Rakdos decks way too fast for me to handle with my rather mediocre sealed pool (well, technically one of them was Golgari I think, but he was playing Jund colors). The tie was against an Izzet control deck, Control v. Control . . . yeah. Ranked 25th at the shop, a somewhat distant stone's throw from the top 16 that continued to do stuff after I left.

Overall the event was more than mediocre, but I wasn't as psyched as I was going undefeated at the Avacyn Restored prerelease, for obvious reasons. Really bummed that two of my six Rare cards (including the one in my Guild booster) were Palisade Giants (2/7 for 4WW that redirects all damage you or your permanents would take to itself; pretty awful for the cost). Two were really good Selesnya cards, and I tried using them at first, before concluding that splashing Green wasn't at all worth the trouble. The other two (the Promo and Cyclonic Rift) were the bombs around which my deck essentially needed to be constructed.

It's worth noting that I got a few cool things for my Rafiq of the Many Commander deck, though there are still other things I want from this set. Notably Isperia and Sphinx's Revelation, but also Azorius Charm (I got the Selesnya one!) and Selesnya Keyrune (I will mention here how much I love the Keyrune cards as a concept). So much trading and deckbuilding and budgeting and what nonsense lies ahead, because I really can't afford anything to buy anything else after this event.

[Taskmage]

Just got back from my prerelease. Pretty small tourney, only 4 rounds swiss. I played an aggressive Izzet deck and went 1-2, the two losses very close matches against other Izzet players. Good times. Each match had at least one game where the winner said "phew, I thought you had me there." I probably didn't quite have the creatures to support my strategy, but when I opened two Teleportals, I couldn't resist.

decklist

7x Mountain
7x Island
2x Izzet Guildgate

1x Judge's Familiar
1x Crosstown Courier
1x Frostburn Weird
1x Gore-House Chainwalker
2x Goblin Electromancer
1x Tower Drake
1x Cobblebrute
1x Voidwielder
1x Mercurial Chemister
1x Hypersonic Dragon

1x Dynacharge
1x Electrickery
1x Street Spasm
1x Mizzium Mortars
2x Teleportal
1x Pursuit of Flight
1x Annihilating Fire
1x Paralyzing Grasp
2x Inspiration
1x Thoughtflare
1x Izzet Keyrune

My son played Selesnya and came out with a better record than I did, 2-1.

Oh, and we both opened mythic rares. He got Rakdos, Lord of Riots and I got the BG planeswalker Vraska the Unseen.

[Malacite]

Hmm, Golgari seemed like the best pick for draft to me.

[Taskmage]

Selesnya was far and away the most popular pick at the venue I was at. I'd say it was 40% of the field. Rakdos, Izzet, and Golgari were more or less tied in representation, with possibly slightly more Rakdos and slightly less Golgari. I only saw one Azorius box and I'm not 100% sure he even played.

I've gotta say after seeing populate in action that I thoroughly underestimated Selesnya. The massive armies of tokens they can generate just "oh, by the way" as they cast their other spells is obscene. That's massive card advantage. Most of the Selesnya cards I saw previewed just made 1/1 birds, which is fine, but there are were also plenty of 3/3 centaurs, 4/4 rhinos, x/x slimes and 8/8 elementals stomping around.

[Yellow Mage]

lol at the Selesnya pack getting Rakdos and the Izzet pack getting Vraska. Ah well, at least you guys left with stuff that was of value. Decks playing those cards are going to be insane, I predict.

Me? The most valuable Rares were the ones I played with (and intend to continue playing with in my Rafiq deck). I did neglect to mention one of the Rares I got in my post above (Palisade Giant and the promo Archon of the Triumvirate were both in the Guild booster), but that's because it was lol Guild Feud.

TM, I believe you have found the Izzet conundrum: having great Instants and Sorceries to use on Creatures in the Instant-and-Sorcery Guild, but not-so-much Creatures to use them on. If you intend on playing and Epic Experiment deck or the like in Standard (or whatever), I recommend making a good chunk of those spells token generators, such as Talrand's Invocation or Krenko's Command/Goblin Rally, and being as minimalistic as you can with the actual Creatures (understandably difficult, as there are quite a few tempting support Creatures to choose from).

Also, for the record, Red and Black were most prominently on display among my store's participants. A good chunk of Rakdos players, but also quite a showing of Izzet and Golgari. Azorius and Selesnya had a few token appearances.

[Taskmage]

If you intend on playing and Epic Experiment deck or the like in Standard (or whatever), I recommend making a good chunk of those spells token generators, such as Talrand's Invocation or Krenko's Command/Goblin Rally, and being as minimalistic as you can with the actual Creatures (understandably difficult, as there are quite a few tempting support Creatures to choose from).

That is an excellent idea.

[Melody]

Magic The Gathering. What series is being run? I doubt Yyg would take me as a serious MTG player, but I'd like to see for myself what this whole shin-dig is about. I like running Elves. Better yet, Thallids.

[Mezlo]

I doubt Yyg would take me as a serious MTG player

I believe there are spots open, Yyg would take you I'm sure.

[Taskmage]

Magic The Gathering. What series is being run? I doubt Yyg would take me as a serious MTG player, but I'd like to see for myself what this whole shin-dig is about. I like running Elves. Better yet, Thallids.

We gave up on the Magic Online idea. It's just not flexible enough for us to do what we want. I don't know what you mean by asking what series is being run. The most recent expansion was Return to Ravnica, which just came out this weekend and starts a multicolor block, and the most recent core set was Magic 2013 which came out over the summer. Elves aren't really a big thing right now. Between the two sets I named, there are only about 10 elves. Thallids also not so much, but the green/white guild in Ravnica is pro out pumping out massive amounts of token creatures.

In other news, I am officially re-hooked now. I've just been sitting here making a fantasy deck list for what my UR deck would look like if I had access to all the cards I wanted. There goes my disposable income for the next ever.

[Yellow Mage]

Same. I just thought of a solidly workable Mono-White Soldier deck that nobody in the current metagame would possibly see coming. Won't cost an arm and a leg to put together, either!

Shame that participating in FNM on any sort of regular basis can be a pretty big money-sink (especially if Rakdos decks end up out-aggroing it, which seems very very likely), or else I'd totally run with it.

Also, I actually like the new Guild symbols better, though then again, it's not like I have any nostalgia goggles for Ravnica's debut.

[Taskmage]

D'oh. I didn't even notice I had used the old one. Thanks for pointing out the mistake.

[Malacite]

Well, if they ever released a GOOD version of the Planeswalker games, I'd consider that.

But as it is, I hate those games because they don't let you customize the decks fully, only mix & match cards you unlock for them - you can't even tweak the # of lands in them.

[Firewind]

Yyg vs Melody in a battle to the death...Not a bad idea, I mean whoever loses we still win.

[Melody]

I run a White Life Deck with Ajani Goldmane. I need to get my old deck out. I did at one point run Arcbounds but I gave them to my friend. God forbid Yyg coming out with a Black Lotus. Guh....and I hope to god he's not the type to run Eldrazi's. Oh that reminds me I need.....that one card for my Elf Deck. Something Piper. I forgot the name...I'll need to look it up when I get the chance. But I do believe my best ran deck is Counter/Control deck and I usually will run Reality Twist for a turn or two before hand. Fun card. Very fun card.

Ran this card along with Coat of Arms and Wound Reflection with Thallids. Good lord it's a mean card.



I'm a bit rusty on combos but here's a few I picked up.

Platinum Angel+Indomitable Archangel = Puts the game into a stalmate. Usually good for whoever finishes the other first and then running a card that forces you to sacrifice an artifact. It can however backfire. Since I DO believe by MTG Judge standards, whoever loses life first is announced the official loser and if you sacrifice the card you lose automatically being you lost your life count first. I'm not sure if you could use a Life Gain card to go from 0 to + x amount of Life and win. Never tried.

Prototype Portal+Golem's Heart = Infinite Health, good for pissing people off, but also good if your opponent has heavy hitters.

Wound Reflection+Door of Destinies+Coat of Arms = Very good if you run a swarm deck of one creature type. In this case Thallids, which are a fungus. Running Thallid Germinator for a quick sweep. A Zerg rush type deck.

Indomitable Archangel+Inkmoth Nexus = Good for Infection players, since it turns your land into an 2/2 Flying Artifact Creature. Plus under the protection of the Angel, you'll rack of Poison Counters fairly quickly.

I also did see someone run a Phyrexian Juggernaut with some other card that doubled the amount of uhh Poison Counters you got per hit. So I am not sure how that worked. If I remember anymore I'll be sure to post them. Oh and here is....Reality Twist.



Only problem running this is the Upkeep, which is 3+ each turn that passes. So 3-6-9-12. It's good if you have mana already out and need to buy time so you draw something beneficial.

[Yellow Mage]

You run Door of Destinies instead of Coat of Arms.

Cheat out an Eldrazi with Elvish Piper? Cute.

I don't think Yyg's the kind to just have Black freaking Lotus laying around.

Did you run Cradle of Vitality in your Lifegain deck? If not, what was your primary win condition?

ADD: Well, now that you've added to your post, it's apparent that somebody is Johnny, Combo Player.