Tag Archives: MTG

On the Tabletop

How to Play Your Dragons (of Tarkir)?

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(Editor’s Note: Ultimately, I had to decide not to bring the boys to a prerelease because Liam isn’t feeling well, but I’m interested in in what everyone thinks about this.)

With the last set in the Tarkir block imminent and big changes on the horizon for the game, I wanted to do a preview article of some sort. Since so many others have already written articles that list the best cards for this format or that format, I don’t want to (nor do I feel comfortable) add to that. If you’re looking for those articles, I recommend LSV’s take on limited (The link takes you to his thoughts on gold, colorless, and lands. There are links to the other colors in the article) or Channel Fireball’s Magic TV video that discusses constructed Standard. The video is long but worth the watch. I still haven’t finished the whole thing. If Chris and I are going to seriously pursue constructed decks, though, I will have to watch the rest of it.

The 2 Guys Gaming pride ourselves in bringing a fresh voice in the gaming community. We may not have the most current or cutting edge content, but we try to make it fun, entertaining, and maybe even a little informative. I initially drew a blank on how to approach this article. I know that I want to focus on the prerelease. I’m positive that I want to include my sons in some way. I am struggling with the angle. Chris and I are going to talk about the set this weekend. That narrows the possibilities even more.

I want to write an article about this weekend’s prerelease and children. Okay, I got it! As usual, inspiration hit last night while in that weird place that your brain resides as you are on the verge of sleep. I will write an article about the prerelease and children. So obvious and simple, right? Why did it take me so long? Sometimes my muse takes time off. Maybe she extended her St. Paddy’s Day celebrations. She finally showed up just in time as she likes to do and I’m ready to write this article.

I’m a member in a Magic group on Facebook. It is an eclectic group and mostly friendly, so I fit right in. An offshoot group formed last year called MtG Secret Santa that encourages members to send cards other anonymous members. I am not a huge fan of Facebook, but every now and then, the stars align and it leads to something great. The reason that I bring up the group is that it contributed to inspiration for this article.

One of the most common questions in the group is some variation of “What age is good to start my kids on Magic?” More often than not, one of the first answers is an attempt at humor, “As soon as possible because then they won’t have money for drugs.” I must admit that one always makes me chuckle. As generally happens online, after the trolls get it out of their system, people give genuine responses. Most give the advice that they would start as soon as possible because the came can teach math reading, critical thinking, and other valuable skills. While that might be true, that is not the reason that I taught my kids the game. Truth be told, they weren’t even considerations. I taught them the game for the same reason that I wanted to learn it myself and still play. It is a fun game. Plus, they had the added advantage of already having played Pokemon. Teaching them has the added benefit of being able to share with them something that I enjoy.

The reason that I bring all of this up is that there are always two sides to every one of these discussions. I always try to consider both sides before making a decision. The predicament, as you can no doubt guess, revolves around whether or not to take my sons to the prerelease. i took Liam to the Theros prerelease and he had fun. I took both of them to the Khans of Tarkir one and even though there was a monumental mix up, we ended up having an okay time. Before recently, I never even considered that either one of them at the events was a problem. I can honestly say that I don’t have a problem with them going. There have been other children at the other two prereleases. Admittedly, not many and they may have been older than my kids, but they were there.

So, what’s the problem? Well, I might not see a problem and you might not either. However, I recently learned that there might be a problem because others don’t like the idea. I can’t definitively say that their attitudes extend to the prerelease. The conversations always start with Friday Night Magic and end with several people gleefully telling stories of how they demoralized some kid who shouldn’t have even been there.

Forget, if you can, that they are most likely grown men who are bragging about beating a child. That might be difficult since I just made a point to remind you. Let’s put that to the side and stick to the main point. Clearly, there are those in the community that don’t want children at these events. I know that not everyone likes children. Hell, I don’t like some of the people that I meet at a Magic event. In the spirit of competition, we are encouraged to respect our opponents.

I agree and sympathize with the sentiment that young kids shouldn’t be at competitive events, even as spectators. I’m going to Star City Games in Providence and Worcester in April and May and I’m not taking either of the boys. They get bored easily, so there’s no way they would last all day at one of those. Friday Night Magic might be borderline. I have never been to one of those, so I don’t know how seriously or casual people take those games. I have been to two prereleases, as I said, and those are more suited for kids. I even saw that they have a new dice rolling game for Dragons of Tarkir, so Wizards seems to be skewing the demographic younger by themselves.

At 7, Aiden might be on the border of acceptable. He got bored and a little whiny towards the end of Khans of Tarkir and we had to leave early as a result. I will try again at the next one (not Dragons, more on that later) and if he can’t handle it, I will wait a couple of years until he is at least 10. That’s how old Liam is and both times he was well behaved and independent enough to build his own decks. He even won a match during Theros.

As it stands, this who decision is no longer relevant. I might be going but I won’t be taking the boys to the prerelease because Liam isn’t feeling well. Hey, kids are unpredictable! It’s why we love them. It’s why they drive us nuts. Still, the larger point remains valid. Magic is a game that appeals to a wide variety of people. You probably won’t get along with every person you meet at an event. You should still respect your opponents both during and after the game. Especially new players, since without them, the games that we love so much might cease to exist before long.

I don’t feel bad taking my kids to the prerelease. Should I? What do you think? I’d like to know if this is honestly a big problem for the community at large. It might be that the only people that I hear saying this are Twitch chat. We know how they can be about pretty much everything. Let me know in the comments or via email how you feel about this.

On the Tabletop

Overdose on Cardboard Crack

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(Editor’s Note: I know that I’ve been heavy on the Magic articles lately, but this is an exciting time for the game right now. I will do something on Diablo III on Friday to prepare for the podcast next week.)

As most of you already know, Pax East was this past weekend in Boston. Since it is the most “local” of these conventions, I made a vow last year to go this year. Coincidentally, I made the same vow this year for next year. I broke that vow and the gaming gods punished me accordingly. Among the constant stream of Twitter and Facebook updates (that I checked in between rounds of the Star City Games GP in Miami), was news of a new Orcs Must Die game, a Hearthstone adventure mode with more cards, and many new spoilers from the latest Magic the Gathering expansion set. They’ve never done a dragon themed expansion before and we quickly learned that they weren’t lying when they said that “Here there be dragons (of Tarkir).”

The block started with a plane on which all of the dragons had been hunted to extinction. Having relatively recently lost big time to Chris’s dragon deck, I thought that this was a great idea. I love my dragons and all of their destructive power, but this loss was especially devastating for some reason. Usually, I take the losses in stride, but I immediately started to plan ways to exterminate that dragon deck. I still haven’t quite finished the planning stages of my “Dragons Be Gone” deck and I’m afraid that it might be too late now.

The second set, Fate Reforged, saw one of the characters travel back in time and reverse the events that led to the deaths of the dragons. It is this set that introduced the dragons, obviously, and started to turn the plane topsy turvy. Five powerful beasts rise from the fray to destroy the puny human clans and take their rightful places as the rulers of Tarkir. Several prominent characters saw their fates changed as a result of what happened. I suppose that’s where the name of the set came from. While somewhat underwhelming to me and Chris, Fate Reforged provided a perfect bridge between past present, and future or alternate past and present…or whatever actually happened.

Truth be told, I lost interest in Magic to such a degree that I had no idea the new set was imminent and that spoilers were about to happen. I remarked to Chris that it felt really early, but then they were happening. A couple of dragonlords, command cards (that let you choose two of four options), new mechanics (like Megamorph, which always makes me think of Power Rangers), and a set that looks to blow the roof off, as I thought it might. Both Chris and I found a renewed interest and excitement for the game as the days passed and new cards were added to the web pages.

Enter Pax East. By the end, we met all of the dragonlords. We witnessed the final destruction of the clans and a refocus on ally 2-color magic instead of the 3-color wedges of the clans. We saw Sarkhan changed by his successful alteration of the timeline, or creation of a new timeline….or whatever happened. Other than the lords, we got new dragons. Lots of dragons. Dragons that breathe fire and those that breathe acid. Dragons that morph, dragons that clear the board. Dragons that buff others, dragons that draw cards, dragons that alter the effects of spells, dragons that don’t really do much…okay, that one so far is a lie. Almost all of these dragons look impressive and no matter which ones I end up pulling from my fat pack and booster box, I will put them into at least one of my decks. I’ve already started. I have a dragon in my Mardu deck and I’m thinking of putting one in my new Abzan deck. As I said to Chris, it is at the point of “If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em.”

Crazy as it is, that wasn’t even the best Magic news to come out of Pax East this weekend. They also announced the theme of the last core set in the form of a double sided Liliana card. On one side is a legendary form and the other side is a planeswalker form. More information reveals that the set will focus on five different planeswalkers and tell the stories of how and when their sparks ignited. As somebody who simultaneously liked and hated the core sets, this is exciting and interesting news. I am a fan of the two sided cards even if I haven’t found a way to use them in my decks. The main thing that I don’t like about the core sets is the amount and quality of reprints. Since it is the last core set, they can go one of two ways. They can either go crazy with the reprints to give players one last chance to get some of the cards from the past that are very expensive on the secondary market or they can have one last core set where they showcase their imagination and originality.

Personally, I think that they will lean towards the latter. They might reprint some cards as they always do because they are also taking the occasion to relaunch their Duels of the Planeswalkers series with the same Origins branding. They are making the game free to play to draw in that audience. They also have brought back some of the more popular games modes that they removed in the last version of the game. Making new players feel like they have a chance is key to getting those players to enjoy playing your game, so giving those new players cards to play in a card game seems legitimate. Hearthstone does a terrible job of this, in my opinion, but they report huge numbers of players, so what do I know?

This article isn’t about Hearthstone. It is about Magic and there is still plenty to discuss. There may be reprints in Origins for the reasons outlined in the previous paragraph, but I don’t think that there will be a large number of reprints. My main reasoning is that Wizards also (I know, right?!) announced their new Modern Masters set. I remember the first Modern Masters as an overpriced set of reprints. This appears to be the same, but one of the cards spoiled has me excited beyond reason. Upon seeing the card, I wrote a message to Chris telling him that I was considering an order of a box of the set at $350+. Thankfully, he talked me off the ledge, but that card still speaks to me on a deep level and I’m not sure why. Modern Masters 2015 contains reprints of Tarmogoyf. Widely considered to be one of the best cards for many modern decks, fewer copies of the card exist than maybe should because at the time of printing, not many considered it to be that good of a card. While not on the price level of Alpha cards, it still costs quite a bit. None of that matters to me, though. I just think that it has the most fun name of any Magic card ever created. As I said in my recap of the Star City Games modern tournament, I defy you to find a card that is more fun to say than Tarmogoyf. $300 for a chance at bragging rights on a card that is fun to say? Shut up and take my money! Totally worth!

Are you all newsed out after announcements of Dragons, two sided planeswalkers, a relaunched digital game, and reprinted tree zombies? Well, prepare to be severely disappointed because there’s more. After learning of the origins of five of the planeswalkers, Magic is bringing us back to Zendikar. They haven’t announced any more than the name of the first set, but just that one word was enough to send players into either a near orgasmic state of joy (me, for one) or spastic fits of rage (many of the standard players) in a fight that some are calling the “Battle over the Battle for Zendikar”. Not really. I’m almost sure that I just made that up.

So, what (aside from nearly everything) could divide the player base into warring camps? We don’t know how the events on Tarkir have affected other planes, but when we last left Zendikar Eldrazi were devouring it. If you think that a set full of dragons is going to make for powerful decks, wait until the mana consuming Eldrazi make their comeback. Sure, they have huge casting costs, but (and they have big butts, too) the costs are always colorless, they swing (usually at your face) for massive amounts of damage, and they have annihilator to destroy any board that you might have built to try to counter them. I’m not a competitive player and only got to play the Eldrazi in an old version of Duels of the Planeswalkers, so I’m excited for the possibilities of being able to annihilate (haha, get it?) my opponents. Oh, and from a purely Magic nerd point of view, Zendikar was the set of full of art lands. So, that possibility exists. If you give me a chance at full art lands again, I welcome our new Eldrazi overlords.

Wizards of the Coast absolutely crushed it with these announcements. I don’t know if anybody else had the same reaction as Chris and I did. We both considered finding another hobby because we were both so unimpressed by the set. Fickle? Perhaps, but Magic can be an expensive hobby and if it isn’t returning that expense in terms of enjoyment, I can think of many other ways to spend that money. I, for one, am interested in Magic again in a big way. Well played, Wizards. I might not be your white whale, but you will continue to get my hard earned money for at least the next year.

On the Tabletop

Majorly Modern Magic

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(Editor’s Note: I challenge you to find a Magic card that is more fun to say out loud than “Tarmogoyf”.)

StarCityGames.com held their first Modern Open Tournament this past weekend in Baltimore. I watched nearly every (maybe every) featured match on their Twitch stream. I kept chat open. For the most part, I’m glad that I did. The Magic audience seems to be closer to my demographic than the normal Twitch chat.

That’s not to say that chat was a completely positive experience. This is still Twitch, after all. Some players generated intense hate from viewers because of slights (perceived or real), board states (angled graveyards and land in the front as illustrated in the comic), and seemingly no reason once or twice. That has to be the single thing about competitive gaming that bothers me most. It is the same thing about other sports that I don’t like.

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Instead of just being able to enjoy the games, there is so much baggage. We attach all of these perceived offenses to “our” team perpetrated by the “other” team. Very seldom are fans able to congratulate that “other” team on a well fought victory. Adding to their ability to suck any and all fun from the games, every minor detail of the game gets analyze, overanalyzed, and then criticized. Due to the mostly younger demographic, the video games community skips right to the criticism. There is no resolution or nuance in the conversations. Just a constant drone back and forth. What ever happened to simply watching and enjoying the games.

Okay, rant over, now to the event itself. Part of the reason for the outrage in chat is that like many competitive card game tournaments, players brought decks that were a variation on a theme. Maybe part of the reason that it didn’t bother me as much is because I don’t play modern, so I wasn’t as familiar wit the decks and haven’t experienced the frustration of playing against them. Still, I came into this event with no baggage or expectations.

I learned quickly about the intense hatred for the so called “Twins” decks and the card Blood Moon. Many are calling for it to be banned while others defend it to their last breath. It’s the typical conversation that surrounds controversial cards or combos. I made my usual joke on the topic.

“x needs to be banned.” –Every player who ever lost a single game to x.

“x is fine.” –Every payer who has ever abused x‘s broken mechanic to their benefit.

Honestly, though, as a completely neutral party, I didn’t see a problem with Blood Moon. Sure, it can be frustrating to encounter, but it also seems easy to deal with. By my understanding, the decks that run it do so because of an abundance of nonbasic lands being played in Modern. Seems to me that modern players just need to adjust. I don’t know much about the competitive Magic scene as a participant, but isn’t that a part o it? Players adjust to one another, decks, cards, and combos. While one of the blood moon decks was in the final round, they didn’t dominate to a point where it felt unfair. Let’s take a look at the standings to see if this is on the level of Treasure Cruise or Pod.

Two of the top four decks of the open used Blood Moon either in their main deck or sideboard. Four of the top 8 represented a “Twin” deck, the archetype mentioned that led to this discussion of Blood Moon. Only three of them ran the card, but people were calling for the heads of these players all the same. Those calling for a ban are just full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. While the decks might be mostly unoriginal and a pain to face, that is just the nature of competitive card games from what I can tell. All of the tournaments that I watch feature the same decks. If you want innovation, then you need to innovate.

Witness the the other decks played at the tournament. Twenty seven different archetypes were identified in day two of play from Abzan to good old zoo. Even if we look only at the four other top eight decks, we get a Jund with Chandra and Liliana, White/Black tokens with Soren and Liliana, and four color control built around Snapcaster Mage as the only creature. I have simulated a few games with each of these decks and they are fun to play for a player like me who enjoys the control aspect of Magic. So far, I have watched Vintage and Modern and both formats heavily favor control, making me wonder why I haven’t followed these formats more closely before. My main reason, as is usually the case in these types of situations, was ignorance. I heard, and believed without evidence, that the games were dominated by the same decks and boring to watch. While that might be true in Standard, which is a format limited to the last few sets for its card pool, both Modern and Vintage have proven to be interesting and fun to watch.

Though certain decks are favored, as I discussed, the formats are not stagnant. Different types of the same deck play differently. With 60 cards, instead of 30 like Hearthstone, to use to build decks, even the same deck will look different from game to game. The same cannot be said for Hearthstone. Most games can be predicted by even the most novice viewer after only a few games. I admit that I was wrong. Competitive Magic is great to watch and I’m going to follow more closely.

You may have noticed that I’ve only focused on 7 of the top 8 decks at the event. The reason for this is that the deck that took the top spot in Baltimore deserves more than a mere mention. During the event, I jokingly called the deck “Sultai cards that I found in my couch cushions” since SCG only could only identify it as “Sultai”. The decks creator, Gerard Fabiano, ensured that they would not be able to be more specific in their classification. The story behind the deck is that he held an internet pull to choose his deck and “Sultai cards I own” won. I immediately fell in love with the idea, watched all of his matches closely, coined my own pet name for the deck, and kept writing Chris with updates that I’m sure he didn’t care all that much about.

The deck (found here and an absolute blast to play and watch) inspired me to make plans to go to Star City Games events in Providence and Worcester, so look for my in person reports from them in April and May. It has also helped to contribute (along with my discovery of Vintage Super League) to my renewed interest in Magic. I felt underwhelmed by Fate Reforged, but I’m back in and looking forward to Dragons. I might even sign up for a prerelease again.

You may sat that is quite a lot to attribute to one deck. I tend to agree and it might not be completely because of the deck, but have you seen that deck? I’ll give you time to click the link. Back? Not only does it have many Modern staples, but it has cards like Feed the Clan, too. It has everything; counter spells, creature removal, forced discard, peeks at the opponents hand, graveyard manipulation, life gain, the ability to steal creatures that you don’t remove/have already removed, and Tarmogoyf. The entire deck list is like something snatched right out of my fevered Magic dreams after passing out from too many whiskey shots. It is an absolute work of art from top to bottom and Mr. Fabiano has a new fan boy for life.

If you haven’t had a chance to watch the finals match of him playing the deck, you can find it here. It is a thing of beauty. You can actually watch all of the matches on the playlist there, but the finals match was some of the most fun I’ve had with Magic. Hell, I even found myself searching prices for Tarmogoyf and coming away disappointed that I will never own one. Nevertheless, this event looking forward to checking out the events in person in April and May.

Episode 1 – Khans!

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Here it is.  The debut of the 2 Guys Gaming podcast.  In the show, we talk about the release of Khans of Tarkir, relive our adventures in Gears of War and go retro with the Sony PSP.  Enjoy and be sure to leave lots of love and suggestions!

2 Guys Gaming
2 Guys Gaming
Episode 1 - Khans!
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On the Tabletop

Mono Green Ramp-Eldrazi Edition (Legacy)

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eldrazi

I know, I know, Shawn already posted his brutal mono green ramp deck (and it is brutal, take it from me), but I figured that variety is the spice of life or something like that, so I wanted to share with you, our loyal readers, my own mono green ramp deck.

Strengths: Lots of mana accelerators, lots of big green beasties, and some big ol’ Eldrazi. Once you get past the 5th turn of a game, this deck can really take over.

Weaknesses: This deck is designed to be mid range so aggro decks can be an issue depending on how fast they are.

 

The List (60 cards)

Creatures Artifacts

2x Ulamog’s Crusher 2x Scuttling Doom Engine

2x Hydra Broodmaster Spells

1x Artisan of Kozilek 1x Eldrazi Conscription

1x Pathrazer of Ulamog 2x Titanic Growth

2x Arbor Colossus 2x Phytoburst

3x Deadly Recluse Lands

4x Llanowar Elves 18x Forests

1x Nyleas’s Disciple 2x Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx

2x Arbor Elf Planeswalker(s)

2x Boon Satyr 1x Garruk, Primal Hunter

2x Golden Hind Legendary Enchantment Item

1x Witchstalker 1x Nylea’s Bow

1x ElderScale Wurm

2x Karametra’s Acolyte

1x Primordial Hydra

2x Primeval Titan

2x Sedge Scorpion

On the Tabletop

Graveyard Dredge (Legacy)

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dshaman

Here it is..our 2nd deck list for your viewing pleasure. As the title suggests this is a black and green graveyard deck, I’ve had pretty good results with it (9-2) but once again, we will post our disclaimer: we cana’t promise you that you will win tournaments, or in general, that you will win every game that you play. What we can promise you is that it’s a fun deck to pilot. Without further ado, we present The E.C’s Graveyard Dredge:

Strengths: Dominant mid-range deck, lots of removal, big creatures quick,

Weaknesses: Control decks can be an issue(when are they not?) , or any deck with a lot of removal.

The List: (60 cards)

Creatures (22)

 Spells (20)

2x Nyx Weaver

2x Strength From The Fallen

1x Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord

4x Putrefy

4x Nemesis of Mortals

4x Grisly Salvage

2x Nighthowler

2x Murder

1x Avatar of Woe

4x Commune With The Gods

2x Dreg Mangler

2x Treasured Find

1x Ghoultree

2x Drown in Filth

2x Sedge Scorpion

Lands (18)

2x Slaughterhorn

2x Overgrown Tomb

2x Deathrite Shaman

10x Forest

1x Lotleth Troll

8x Swamp

2x Deadly Recluse

The Strategy

Nyx Weaver, Commune with the Gods, Grisly Salvage and Drown in Filth are the backbone of this deck. Use them to self-mill into your graveyard. Once you’ve milled a few times, you should have enough creatures in your graveyard to pump up Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord and Nighthowler while also casting Ghoultree and Nemesis of Mortals for next to nothing. Don’t panic if your opponent gets the jump on you, save your removal spells for clearing a path for when you drop a big creature onto the board. Use Treasured Find to save anything you didn’t want to mill.

On the Tabletop

Circle of Protection: Bank Account

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mtglogo brokeguy

 

We’ve all been there: a new expansion is on the horizon, you eagerly scour the internet for the spoilers that are leaking everyday, anticipating the holiest of all Magic days: new expansion release day, and by god, you are prepared to let your wallet recklessly explode all over your local game store’s counter. Well, hold on a second, with the upcoming release of Khans next Friday, I figure that now is as good of a time as any to give you a few tips that I use to enjoy the hobby while not denting my bank account.

1. Shop for singles: This tip has saved me the most money by far. Instead of buying sealed product, make a list of the singles that you are interested in owning and go to Starcitygames.com and/or eBay. When I started playing again, Gatecrash had been out for a couple of months and I wanted two Boros Reckoners (as well as a handful of other cards), so I went to the game store and bought ten
packs and ended up just pulling one plus another two of the other cards I wanted. Well that wasn’t enough, I needed one more. So instead of going straight to eBay I bought five more packs and pulled none. Again, instead of just buying the ****ing card online, I went back and bought five MORE packs and finally pulled the second Reckoner but nothing else I wanted. So all in all, to pull four cards out of the ten or eleven that I wanted, I spent 79.80 + tax. At the time Reckoners were going for $25.00-$35.00 for a set of four on eBay. Ouch.
Of course now he only goes for around $3.00 a piece (sonofa…).The point is that in my experience, I’ve been able to get 90-95% of the cards I’ve wanted for the price of 10-20 booster packs, and you are GUARANTEED to get what you want. “But Blondie, opening boosters is fuuuuuunnnnnn!” Stop whining, yes, I agree but so is building up a savings account. It’s a different kind of fun, it’s fun in a financially responsible way. Ok, ok, it’s not fun, but you’ll thank me when your
car craps the bed and you get the repair bill. What? You thought your mechanic took payment in the form of Thoughtseizes and Mutavaults?

2. Wait for the block rotation to buy the high end singles: I know, I know, pick your jaw up off of the floor. I’m well aware that this tip requires a certain amount of patience (and a massive amount of willpower) and if you are a regular participant in Standard tournaments, this obviously won’t work for you. For the rest of us that play Modern and Legacy this one will save you some scratch. As I illustrated with Boros Reckoner in tip #1, after a block rotates out of Standard (or even if it’s about to), the value of the majority of high end cards in that block drop significantly as people are looking to unload them. This is your chance to swoop in and grab those cards that at one point were financially unattainable. Now with next year’s changes to the block rotation format, this money-saving tip is more feasible than it was in the past.

3. Sell to buy: If you absolutely insist on buying that booster box that you just can’t live without (you can but I won’t argue with you, junkie), and you apparently enjoy looking at the same commons and uncommons over and over again. ZING! Well, put down that debit card and make your existing collection buy it for you. Sell those unused rares and boxes of commons you have sitting in a closet on Craigslist or eBay. You’ll clean up some clutter and also get some
return back on your initial investment.

As I said before, I’ve used these tips myself for the past year and it has made a huge difference not just financially but how I feel about the hobby in general. It doesn’t have to be the money pit that some people make it out to be if you just take a step back, breath, and really think about if you need that box or those ten packs or even those five packs, or can you get the cards that you really want by just going singles shopping? My last bit of advice for you is to remember that these cards are not serial numbered, there are literally thousands and thousands of each one, budget yourself, they’ll still be there when you can comfortably afford them.

On the Tabletop

Magic-Stone: A New Format

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Late last year, Shawn brought Blizzard’s new baby, Hearthstone, to my attention. After hearing him talk about it on several occasions, I was intrigued and figured I’d give it a shot. I’ll be honest. I wasn’t a huge fan. I’m still not. Sure it was fun every once in a while but it didn’t really do it for me. Don’t worry this article isn’t another review for the game, it’s about our creation of a new MTG format based on the only redeeming quality (in my humble opinion) of Hearthstone, the mana system.

Those of you who have played Hearthstone know exactly what I’m talking about. At the beginning of every turn you get 1 additional mana crystal which is used to cast minions and spells. You see, In Hearthstone, there is no such thing as mana screw, and anybody who plays MTG has surely felt the pain and frustration of drawing spell after spell while your opponent pounds the snot out of you without mercy with no relief in sight. To us, mana screw casts a shadow over the game..instead of seeing who has the better strategy/deck, it provides players with an inaccurate assessment of their decks. So after a few conversations and some play-testing we came up with a way to adapt the Hearthstone mana system to MTG. So without further ado we present Magic-stone..

  • Players have two decks; a 20 card deck that consists of nothing but land, and a 60 card deck that consists of everything else (the main deck).
  • At the start of a player’s turn, that person firsts draws a card from their land deck, puts it directly into play and then draws a card from their main deck.
  • Mill cards don’t affect the Land deck.
  • Cards that damage a player for drawing do not do damage when drawing from the Land deck.
  • “Discard” creatures (i.e Balustrade Spy) that force you to mill your deck until you draw a land, are banned.
  • Any card that prevents a player from playing land is still legal. Hey buddy, that’s called control not mana screw!

Simple enough, right? During our play-testing we found that this style of Magic made for more interesting and competitive games. Instead of one or both decks being slowed down by lack of mana, both decks are able to fully function. It really shows players the strengths and weaknesses of their decks while also speeding the game up. However with this format, some cards are essentially rendered useless (Into the Wilds and Borborygmos Enraged come to mind), but in my opinion the pros definitely outweigh the cons. So grab a buddy or buddies, try it out and let us know what you think.

On the Tabletop

Collector’s Cache: The New Magic Block Structure

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As I scrolled through my Facebook feed a couple of weeks ago, an article caught my attention. The headline mentioned the changing block structure of Magic: the Gathering. At the time, I only perused the article and, as I often do against my better judgment, skipped to the comment section. Therefore, I didn’t really understand the ramifications of the change. I thought (as the comments said) that it was mostly in response to a stale and slow to change competitive format. That doesn’t affect me because I’m just not into the competitive gaming scene.

Chris sent me a message saying that he finally got around to reading about the change and inspired me to consider it as a subject on the podcast. There, we discuss the potential changes to friendly games like the ones that we play where the rules might not always match the book, but at least we always agree.

Researching for the podcast led me to a very informative article by Mark Rosewater (link) so I won’t spend much time on teaching you about the changes, either. That just leaves the first C in CCG and I am very interested in the collecting aspect of the game, so I will concentrate on that in this article. Every time a new set is released, I pick up a box of boosters and a fat pack. I put the cards in order, with the visual checklist preceding the set in a binder representative of the yearly block. I have never finished a set, but I think I’ve figured out a way, with an idea from Chris, to fill in the missing cards.

So, what does this change mean for this style of collecting? Well, the current block is unchanged of course. I will get boxes of cards for Magic 2015, Khans, and then the two sets that follow. I will put them into a binder, probably one that has Garruk on the cover because he’s one of my favorite characters in the Magic multiverse and I’m glad that he’s prominently featured this year.

As far as I can tell, that will continue going forward. Though, instead of there being three sets per block, there will be only two. All that means for my collection is that I will buy two smaller binders instead of one large binder each year. The big change coming is that there will be no more core set after next year.

Initially, I resisted this change. I often think of myself as flexible, but as I get older, change becomes scarier. As Abe Simpson said, “I used to be with it, but then they changed what it was. Now what I’m with isn’t it, and what’s it seems weird and scary to me. It’ll happen to you…” I considered the change, though, and reflected back to another recent change. When I saw the M15 spoilers online, I thought that there was something different. A conversation with Chris and opening the packs from my Fat Pack confirmed that they changed the design of the cards. As a collector, it was a welcome change. Trying to read the numbers of the old color bordered cards was very difficult on the green and nearly impossible on red. Since the bottom border is now all black, that problem is solved.

I think that doing away with the core set can have a similar positive effect on collections. The article above mentions that the change will help to keep the game fresh through more changes more quickly. Another thing that stood out to me as I opened the M15 packs was the number of reprints. At first, it was (somewhat) nostalgic to see the old cards with the new borders and I reasoned that reprints are inevitable. Certain cards are just staples for their color and useful in nearly any deck. Think Cancel or Pacifism.

However, I found myself becoming less excited and more “Meh” as I opened pack after pack and saw the same cards with the same artwork over and over. Reprints are inevitable and they won’t end with the new block structure, but there is a potential silver lining to the situation. As I sorted through my boxes of cards in the hopes of unloading some of the extras, I was reminded that reprinted cards from expansion sets were often given different artwork that reflected the style of the expansion. I can live with those reprints because they give another interpretation of the card and that is interesting to see.

Overall, while initially scary to hear (no third set! no more core set!) and easy to misinterpret their intentions behind them, the changes are welcome. They promise to keep competitive play fresh through more rapid changes. Any reprints will, hopefully, reflect the style of the expansion in which they appear and not feel quite so stale, either. As always, thanks for reading. What do you think about the changes in competitive, friendly, or collecting?

On the Tabletop

Mono Red Dragons (Legacy)

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Here it is..our first deck list..(wipes tear..). Now as with every deck list we will post on here we can’t promise you that you will win tournaments (are there even Legacy tournaments anymore?), or in general, that you will win every game that you play. What we can promise you is that it’s a fun deck to pilot. When it works the way it should, it’s not so fun to play against, but it’s not without it’s weaknesses which I will cover below.

Strengths: Big creatures, lots of burn removal, can be devastating in the mid to late game.

Weaknesses: Slower deck, struggles against aggro, and god help you if there is a board wipe, because that’s a wrap.

The List:(60 cards)

Creatures

 Spells

Kilnmouth Dragon x2

Bonfire of the Damned x1

Furyborn Hellkite x2

Flame Slash x4

Thundermaw Hellkite x2

Seething Song x2

Moonveil Dragon x2

Lightning Strike x3

Balefire Dragon x1

Lightning Bolt x4

Ogre Battledriver x1

Anger of the Gods x1

Scourge of Valkas x1

Mizzium Mortars x1

Dragonmaster Outcast x1

Awaken the Ancients x2

Hellrider x1

Annihilating Fire x2

Vexing Devil x1

Madcap Skills x2

Utvara Hellkite x1

Artifacts

Dragonspeaker Shaman x 2

Quicksilver Amulet x2

Guttersnipe x2

 Lands

Chandra’s Phoenix x1 

Mountains x 18

 

The Strategy

Use Quicksilver Amulets, Seething Songs and Dragonspeaker Shamans to get Dragons out as soon as possible. Use burn spells with Guttersnipe to keep opponent’s side of the board clean while pinging them for 2 damage for every spell you cast. If you are having trouble getting a Dragon out on the board, use Awaken the Ancients with Madcap Skills to keep your opponent busy.