A fun installment in the Magic TV series, from Channel Fireball online.
Find the original post here.
Monday, October 17, 2011
Horde Magic: Surviving the Zombie Apocalypse
From Wooberg.com.
Wooberg discusses a new, and very interesting Magic format called Horde Magic. A good piece, and a very interesting varation.
First of all, I have written my own slight variation on the rules to make the game more balanced. We STEAMROLLED the Zombie Horde almost every time we played, and while it was still fun, a little more of a chance that the zombies will win would have increased the amount of fun that was had.
Secondly, the horde deck that we played against tended to have less-than-epic turns as far as the amount of zombie tokens that flipped each turn. It tended to only flip 1-2 cards, and those cards were not so much more powerful than a token that they made the zombies' board state increase in power to any significant degree.
Some tips for making a good Horde deck:
Make sure all non-token cards are SIGNIFICANTLY more powerful than the average token: Rotting Fensnake didn't make the cut in my horde deck. I left those spaces open for things like Gluttonous Zombie or Tresserhorn Skyknight.
Needs more card advantage/recursion/answers: When the opponent cannot make decisions, finding good answers is tough. Fleshbag Marauder was in the sample Horde deck and makes the deck-without-a-pilot make a decision of which creature to sacrifice. I used cards like Living Death and Plague Wind to try and give the zombies more of an advantage. They effectively cannot do anything that is considered "the best" to do in magic. No card drawing, no "mana ramping"...Ghoulraiser is an important addition, because it gives the Horde a little recursion without targeting/causing a decision. I also considered Empty the Catacombs and may still add it at a later time.
You can see both the sample Horde deck and my horde deck on the Hoard Magic page here, don't get this format confused however with the Horde format from the Magic . People often name formats the same thing as others that haven't seen much play over the years and it makes cataloging them quite hard.
Wooberg discusses a new, and very interesting Magic format called Horde Magic. A good piece, and a very interesting varation.
I was recently introduced to a fun, if not all that balanced format called Horde Magic that was featured on Quiet Speculation recently. The format has a TON of potential and I wanted to share some of my thoughts with my readers.
First of all, I have written my own slight variation on the rules to make the game more balanced. We STEAMROLLED the Zombie Horde almost every time we played, and while it was still fun, a little more of a chance that the zombies will win would have increased the amount of fun that was had.
Secondly, the horde deck that we played against tended to have less-than-epic turns as far as the amount of zombie tokens that flipped each turn. It tended to only flip 1-2 cards, and those cards were not so much more powerful than a token that they made the zombies' board state increase in power to any significant degree.
Some tips for making a good Horde deck:
Make sure all non-token cards are SIGNIFICANTLY more powerful than the average token: Rotting Fensnake didn't make the cut in my horde deck. I left those spaces open for things like Gluttonous Zombie or Tresserhorn Skyknight.
Needs more card advantage/recursion/answers: When the opponent cannot make decisions, finding good answers is tough. Fleshbag Marauder was in the sample Horde deck and makes the deck-without-a-pilot make a decision of which creature to sacrifice. I used cards like Living Death and Plague Wind to try and give the zombies more of an advantage. They effectively cannot do anything that is considered "the best" to do in magic. No card drawing, no "mana ramping"...Ghoulraiser is an important addition, because it gives the Horde a little recursion without targeting/causing a decision. I also considered Empty the Catacombs and may still add it at a later time.
You can see both the sample Horde deck and my horde deck on the Hoard Magic page here, don't get this format confused however with the Horde format from the Magic . People often name formats the same thing as others that haven't seen much play over the years and it makes cataloging them quite hard.
Find the original post here.
A tribute to the International “Suit Up”-Day
From Completely Casual online.
I laughed out loud when I read this. I'm a big fan of How I Met Your Mother, and especially Barney Stinson, and this post perfectly defines a new segment I'd like to start, which celebrates the most obscure of holidays in the only way I know how: by linking them somehow to Magic. Enjoy, Hayden.
In America, they still sit down with their shorts and reverse baseball caps to play Magic: the Gathering. The most “Suited Up” it gets in the American Magic community is when some girl puts on a Magic card dress at PAX – and is later denounced as a marketing scheme. Instead of mocking her, I believe it is rather time for the all-White-foils prom gown to go with her date’s tuxedo.
Here in Europe, the Frenchman and long time Magic Professional, Raphael Levy, already showed us how that works. In 2008, at Pro Tour Berlin, Germany, he got 80 of the 454 participants to show up dressed in suits. Some even went all-in with neck tie and black shoes, as Wizard stated in their recap of the events. Raphael Levy explained his motivation to organize this “Suit Up” initiative in an interview with Brian David Marshal: “I can’t remember seeing a pro chess player wearing a baseball cap. I believe Magic needs a new face, and that could help. And it would indeed be awesome!”
Because Magic got more and more players over the last half decade and still is not losing its growth in popularity, it is starting to raise attention in the mainstream. Do Magic players really want to be seen as those geeky guys who still live in their moms garage? I say: “Hell no!” Because it is not true. Rather, we are sophisticated guys, who will later become Hedge Fund Managers, like our icon Jon Finkel did, or will have, models as girlfriends, like former Magic player David Williams does (though David Williams got disqualified for cheating and went on to play poker instead. Not implying that cheating in Magic is actually a good thing). It has to be admitted that Finkel is not dating models, but rather a tech blog intern he met on a dating site, as we recently discovered.
Raphael Levy explained his affinity for suits in the above mentioned interview: “The game suddenly looks more serious and professional when you sit down at the table and take off your jacket. Players look like gentlemen and not like kids anymore. Players in suits always have this kind of awe around them.” Even when playing in dart tournaments nowadays, you have to wear black long trousers and a jacket – a game normally played by fat dudes wearing sweat pants, after drinking a pitcher of beer at their local bar.
I beg you, Wizards: It really is time to make the Pro Tour a black shoes and tie-only event. It is about time to “Suit Up!” Magic has become too popular not to (and to keep the geeky-ness, make an exception for cosplayers. We wouldn’t wanna miss the one guy playing at the local Modern Grand Prix dressed up as Jace, the Mind Sculptor. Better keeping the card banned instead of him).
Even if Wizards, as a company, does not force us to play better dressed in fear of driving people from attending, it is your responsibility as casual and competitive players to finally “Suit Up!” You do not have to show up in a tuxedo with a bow tie, but a shirt instead of the stained baby blue Jace T-shirt you got at the Worldwake pre-release. If you want to go a little fancier, while still wearing your fan shirt, you might find that it looks quite slick if you just put a jacket over it. Suddenly you evolve fashion wise from Lvl 1 Magic nerd to a Lvl 7 guy who wears a funky T-shirt for fun under his jacket. Regarding his intent to repeat future “Suit Up”-Pro Tours, Raphael Levy stated: “I have had that in mind, but let us first see what the ‘Private Pro Tours’ look like. Maybe they can be a good opportunity to do it again.” As Wizards had announced for 2012, Pro Tours will stop being open conventions for everyone and will start to become “Private”. What exactly that means, was not revealed until now. But it might be a good opportunity to become more “grown up” for Magic tournaments.
I am hoping Levy makes his promise come true. Now as Hipsters all around the globe are adapting the “Nerd Style”, with these black horn-rimmed spectacles and those checkered sweaters combined with Chucks, I believe it is time for us Nerds to move on. Who wants to be identified as a hipster? – I’d rather dodge that.
Find the original post here.
I laughed out loud when I read this. I'm a big fan of How I Met Your Mother, and especially Barney Stinson, and this post perfectly defines a new segment I'd like to start, which celebrates the most obscure of holidays in the only way I know how: by linking them somehow to Magic. Enjoy, Hayden.
Might it be time to finally “Magic-Suit Up”?
What better time is there to talk about this topic, than the International “Suit Up Day”, happening every 13. October.In America, they still sit down with their shorts and reverse baseball caps to play Magic: the Gathering. The most “Suited Up” it gets in the American Magic community is when some girl puts on a Magic card dress at PAX – and is later denounced as a marketing scheme. Instead of mocking her, I believe it is rather time for the all-White-foils prom gown to go with her date’s tuxedo.Here in Europe, the Frenchman and long time Magic Professional, Raphael Levy, already showed us how that works. In 2008, at Pro Tour Berlin, Germany, he got 80 of the 454 participants to show up dressed in suits. Some even went all-in with neck tie and black shoes, as Wizard stated in their recap of the events. Raphael Levy explained his motivation to organize this “Suit Up” initiative in an interview with Brian David Marshal: “I can’t remember seeing a pro chess player wearing a baseball cap. I believe Magic needs a new face, and that could help. And it would indeed be awesome!”
Because Magic got more and more players over the last half decade and still is not losing its growth in popularity, it is starting to raise attention in the mainstream. Do Magic players really want to be seen as those geeky guys who still live in their moms garage? I say: “Hell no!” Because it is not true. Rather, we are sophisticated guys, who will later become Hedge Fund Managers, like our icon Jon Finkel did, or will have, models as girlfriends, like former Magic player David Williams does (though David Williams got disqualified for cheating and went on to play poker instead. Not implying that cheating in Magic is actually a good thing). It has to be admitted that Finkel is not dating models, but rather a tech blog intern he met on a dating site, as we recently discovered.Raphael Levy explained his affinity for suits in the above mentioned interview: “The game suddenly looks more serious and professional when you sit down at the table and take off your jacket. Players look like gentlemen and not like kids anymore. Players in suits always have this kind of awe around them.” Even when playing in dart tournaments nowadays, you have to wear black long trousers and a jacket – a game normally played by fat dudes wearing sweat pants, after drinking a pitcher of beer at their local bar.
I beg you, Wizards: It really is time to make the Pro Tour a black shoes and tie-only event. It is about time to “Suit Up!” Magic has become too popular not to (and to keep the geeky-ness, make an exception for cosplayers. We wouldn’t wanna miss the one guy playing at the local Modern Grand Prix dressed up as Jace, the Mind Sculptor. Better keeping the card banned instead of him).Even if Wizards, as a company, does not force us to play better dressed in fear of driving people from attending, it is your responsibility as casual and competitive players to finally “Suit Up!” You do not have to show up in a tuxedo with a bow tie, but a shirt instead of the stained baby blue Jace T-shirt you got at the Worldwake pre-release. If you want to go a little fancier, while still wearing your fan shirt, you might find that it looks quite slick if you just put a jacket over it. Suddenly you evolve fashion wise from Lvl 1 Magic nerd to a Lvl 7 guy who wears a funky T-shirt for fun under his jacket. Regarding his intent to repeat future “Suit Up”-Pro Tours, Raphael Levy stated: “I have had that in mind, but let us first see what the ‘Private Pro Tours’ look like. Maybe they can be a good opportunity to do it again.” As Wizards had announced for 2012, Pro Tours will stop being open conventions for everyone and will start to become “Private”. What exactly that means, was not revealed until now. But it might be a good opportunity to become more “grown up” for Magic tournaments.
I am hoping Levy makes his promise come true. Now as Hipsters all around the globe are adapting the “Nerd Style”, with these black horn-rimmed spectacles and those checkered sweaters combined with Chucks, I believe it is time for us Nerds to move on. Who wants to be identified as a hipster? – I’d rather dodge that.
Find the original post here.
Packs going to $5?
This I'm sad to say is not mere speculation. Anyone who follows Magic the Gathering pricing trends has seen this coming. Notice: Innistrad booster boxes are around 10-15% more expensive then previous booster boxes. From speaking with folks I know who own businesses, their costs have been on the rise for the last 2 years. I'm sure we've only just seen the beginning of the coming price increases.
Modern to Replace Extended in 2012?
Here's a bit of interesting speculation from the MTGSalvation Forum: Modern will replace extended next year on the Pro Tour. I have to admit, Modern really excites me, far more then either Standard or Extended ever did. If this turns out to be true, you may see me competing on the Pro Tour in 2012!
New Version of Sorin to Appear in the Innistrad Block
I think the title of this post pretty much says it all. While this is still speculation, I think its safe to say it can be confirmed, and, the reprint of Sorin in M12 indicates the coming Sorin will be something entirely new. Cheers.
Humans in Standard
From the Command Zone.
Right now, I imagine the optimal Human deck to be Green/White, though mono-White certainly is well supported enough to be viable… however we’d be cutting off two really strong “Lords” in the form of Mayor of Avabruck and Hamlet Captain. Hamlet Captain is one of the principle reasons I’m even interested in building this deck, so I am not willing to lose Green… besides that, a Mono-White Human deck would be very much like a typical White Weenie deck, which is somewhat less exciting, as I’ve visited that archetype quite often over the years.
Here’s my starting list:
Let me preface this by saying this article is not intended or expected to produce a competitive Standard deck. I haven’t played Standard since Rafiq of the Many and the rest of the Bant Shard rotated out. But I don’t like to turn my back on 60-card Magic for too long, as I don’t want to let my 60-card deckbuilding skills atrophy too much. So at worst, this article might produce a deck that’s fun to play in the Casual room on MTGO or maybe, just MAYBE, good enough to make Top 8 at some local FNMs, but it’s not meant to be a serious deck.
Human is actually an extremely common creature type, but has never been officially supported as a true “Tribe” in that there were no cards that specifically referenced them in their ability text. No “Lord” creatures existed, nor other beneficial abilities to push players into playing Humans. Innistrad has changed all that, and quite drastically. There are plenty of Humans in Innistrad, of course, but plenty of cards with abilities that push you into playing Humans as a legitimate tribe. Some are great (Champion of the Parish) and some are not so great (Dearly Departed).
Right now, I imagine the optimal Human deck to be Green/White, though mono-White certainly is well supported enough to be viable… however we’d be cutting off two really strong “Lords” in the form of Mayor of Avabruck and Hamlet Captain. Hamlet Captain is one of the principle reasons I’m even interested in building this deck, so I am not willing to lose Green… besides that, a Mono-White Human deck would be very much like a typical White Weenie deck, which is somewhat less exciting, as I’ve visited that archetype quite often over the years.
Let’s take a look at which Humans are available to us in Standard, at least those that are the most playable. I’ll run these down by mana-cost, starting with one drops.
One Mana
Champion of the Parish – Easily the best one-drop we have access to, this should be an automatic 4x in any Human deck.
Elite Vanguard – Another fantastic, highly aggressive Human for a single W. Also a likely 4x.
Gideon’s Lawkeeper – Not as aggressive, but could be a good side-board option.
Avacyn’s Pilgrim – It might seem a bit odd to include a “mana elf” in a deck with such a low curve, but I think this should also be a 4x.
Two Mana
Accorder Paladin – Seems ideal here, as a very aggressive two-drop that also pumps the rest of your guys. Highly playable.
Elite Inquisitor – More of a sideboard card, if anything, but a 2/2 First Striker with Vigilance is still playable.
Grand Abolisher – Not quite aggro enough for the main deck, but a very valuable sideboard option.
Puresteel Paladin – Fantastic in the right deck, but I doubt he’ll have adequate support in this particular deck.
Hamlet Captain – Definitely a 4x, as it’s one of the main reasons I wanted to build this deck.
Mayor of Avabruck – Your other humans get +1/+1… seems like something we might want. It does kinda suck if he flips, but you should have little trouble dropping two guys in one turn to flip him back.
Skinshifter – This guy is tough, as I can’t figure out if I want 4x of him, or zero copies. Seems pretty solid.
Three Mana
Fiend Hunter – Tough call. It seems possible to maindeck this guy, but as a 1/3 for 3 he’d be the least aggro creature in the deck, probably. I’d say 4x sideboard, or a 2x main deck.
Gideon’s Avenger – I’m a big fan of this guy, but if you’re not running other tap effects (such as Gideon’s Lawkeeper) I’m not sure he’s worth it.
Mentor of the Meek – A must-have for this deck, as we’ll likely be dumping our hand quickly, and need to keep our grip full to apply pressure.
Mirran Crusader – Best with some Equipment such as Sword of War and Peace or whatever, but probably still great on his own.
Elder of Laurels – Might be a 2x in a more casual, slow version of the deck. Too expensive for my build, though.
Four Mana
Hero of Bladehold – There’s only one creature powerful enough to be worthwhile above three mana, and this is it. I would love to have 2x of these in the deck, if we can fit them. Note that if we do have Hero, Avacyn’s Pilgrim definitely starts to look necessary.
Variable Cost
Mikaeus, the Lunarch – Probably too slow and costly for a truly aggro deck, but a fine casual card nonetheless.
That pretty much sums up the best of what Humanity has to offer us, for now at least. There are a lot of options here, and there’s no way we can fit all of these cards into a single 60 card deck. But that’s okay, because it gives us room for variance and customization. You should be able to tune the list to suit your playgroup’s power level, and your own personal play preferences. If Elder of Laurels and Mikaeus the Lunarch excite you the most, you can easily play a slower more deliberate version of this deck. Throw in the Lawkeepers and Fiend Hunters to control the board while you build up to critical mass.
Or, you can just see how far you can push the aggro side, and make the deck as fast as possible.
4x Champion of the Parish
4x Elite Vanguard
3x Avacyn’s Pilgrim
4x Accorder Paladin
4x Hamlet Captain
3x Mayor of Avabruck
2x Skinshifter
3x Mirran Crusader
2x Mentor of the Meek
2x Hero of the Bladehold
3x Beast Within
4x Mutagenic Growth
4x Razorgrass Prairie
4x Sunpetal Grove
4x Forest
10x Plains
For the non-Creature spells, I chose the most generically useful spells I could find, as I have no idea what opposition this deck might encounter. Mutagenic Growth is basically the best Giant Growth variant in Standard right now, and Beast Within is a pretty universal answer to any problematic Creature, Planeswalker or other permanent type.
A suggested sideboard might include:
4x Fiend Hunter
4x Elite Inquisitor
4x Grand Abolisher
3x Celestial Purge
Or something like that. I dunno. Another really compelling option is to run Triumph of the Hordes. It’s an Infect card, yes, so it kinda seems out of place with zero Infect creatures, but I think it might be worth it for the surprise factor. It can really screw up combat math for an opponent, who is expecting you to attack their life total, not poison them out. It can just end a game out of nowhere just as your opponent is starting to stabilize and looks to be clogging up the ground for your attackers. You pretty much have to kill them in one attack if you do cast it, otherwise you basically just skipped that turn, but that’s the appeal of Triumph: that card usually does end the game upon resolution.
Find the original post here.
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