A Planeswalker's Guide to SPPf (Magic: the Gathering)

[the3rdH0kage]

I'm planning on an Exalted deck after Gatecrash comes out. But anyway went to FNM last night and did better then lst time. Got killed in my first game of first match. Almost won in the second match (Lucky Draws and opponent didnt get many lands). But lost 2-0 in first round. Second round went up against a similar deck and lost 2-0 got 4 lands total in that match. But still had fun sold some cards and bought some new cases. Black with the Nicol Bolas symbol. Got a RTR Booster pack and puller Mana Bloom as my rare. Do overall decent night.

[Kamotz]

I just played in a tournament at the local shop for a Commander's Arsenal. Twelve people. It was split into four rounds and then the Top 4. I ended up going 2-2. Played some AWESOME games tonight. Intense and always interesting. My losses were just to some incredible players, and they just out-played me. But I still learned a LOT from all four rounds. I'll post the details for each game tomorrow when I've got the time/energy.

[the3rdH0kage]

Sounds like fun. I plan on trying out a Commander/Planechase game soon. I think that would be pretty epic. But anyway. I put up the deck that I used last night with some modifications (a Sideboard). But yeah rate it and give some help. It been one of my better decks.

[Kamotz]

So last night was the local shop's first tournament for one of their Commander's Arsenal sets. I think there were a total of 12 people involved. Less than expected, but still enough to get the tournament going. I got there extra early (because I only live a few minutes away) to hang out and do some trading/testing.

And who did I see there but a friend of mine and an AMAZING Magic player, Anthony Lowry. Lowry is all-around a great guy and a fantastic Magic player. He writes for LegitMTG.com, so you can check out all his articles here (you'll be a better player/person if you read them). He's unnervingly serious during his games, but I find that playing him brings out the best in me and pushes me to my limit. We chit-chatted while he deck-tested against another friend of mine (who I'll call Thundermaw Hellkite here), and this let me get a look at the decks they'd be playing later that night.

Lowry and I did some trading. I ended up with a Temple Garden, Overgrown Tomb, Blood Crypt, and 2 Restoration Angels. He got a Tamiyo, a Terminus, an Entreat the Angels, and a Rhox Faithmender. I know...I only got lands and the 2 angels, but Lands are probably the best investment you can ever make when it comes to Magic...EVER (and I had more-than full playsets of all the other cards I traded).

I did some testing of the changes I made in Bant Control against another friend of mine who was playing Four Color Control - Grixis Colors (Red/Black/Blue) and Green for Ramping and Thragtusk. Game 1 I didn't see any of my counterspells at the right time, and he managed to get out his Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker. We boarded and then I swept through games 2 and 3.

I tested my Naya Midrange deck against him too. Lost game 1 but took Games 2 and 3 pretty easily. I was in a great mindset for the tournament with 2 victories under my belt so I just decided to do some scoping out of the competition and talk with people.

Then the Tournament began. Four Rounds and then cutting to the top Four.

I was playing Bant Control (White/Blue/Green), a deck I'd been testing and tweaking for a long time now.

Round One I played against Thundermaw (my friend, not the card). He used to play the WUr Midrange/Tempo deck with Thundermaw Hellkite (which is why I gave him the name), but before the tournament switched over to UW Flash. I think the switch and lack of testing really hurt him. I've played this guy SO many times in the last month. We probably play more than 50 games a week, easily, so we're both very familiar with the other's play-style.

Game 1: He was wearing me down with just a Snapcaster Mage, knowing that he had to get the damage in first. I managed to remove the mage but he had 2 Restoration Angels, and then I was down to 9. I threw a Detention Sphere on the angels and continued taking hits from the Snapcaster until I was down to 5. I took 2 damage off of a Shockland coming in untapped so I could play Centaur Healer and go up to 6. All this time the only damage he'd taken was off a Hallowed Fountain coming in untapped. But I managed to stabilize at 2 life with Sigarda and Angel of Serenity (Thragtusk and a Restoration Angel under it) on the field before Restoration Angel targeted Centaur Healer and I went up to 5. My two big angels swung for 10, dropping Thudermaw to 8 and leaving me with 2 blockers and 5 life. He drew his next card and scooped.

Game 2: I had a much easier time. Side-boarded in Artifact-removal for his Runechanter's Pike; a Jace, Memory Adept, and MANY more Counterspells. I don't have as many notes on this game, but I ended up landing Memory Adept and milling him out. Not my favorite way to win the round, but I still managed to win.

Record: 1-0.
________

Round Two was against another good friend playing Junk (White/Black/Green) Reanimator. It's one of my hardest matchups, and he's very very good.

Game 1: Went back and forth for a while. I just didn't see enough answers and he managed to Unburial Rites a Craterhoof Behemoth with 5 other creatures on board and swung for Lethal.

Game 2: I sided in Graveyard hate and counter-magic, but I saw none of it and couldn't stabilize. I managed to get rid of most of his real threats, but he'd sided in Sigarda which was very tough for me to deal with. I was forced to Terminus at 3 life, but then he played a Selesnya Charm to make a Knight token and attacked with that (and Gavony Township) for lethal.

Record: 1-1
________

Round Three was against another Bant Control deck. This guy and I had played a few weeks before and our first game went over an HOUR AND A HALF long. I was prepared for the long game, so I knew to play with my A-Game.

Game 1: He took a mulligan to 5 cards, and I kept my 7. I was very happy with my hand: farseeks, counterspells, and just the right amount of mana. The game went back and forth. It was a long one, and I went down to 9 while he was all the way at 30 off of Thragtusk life-gain. I killed his Jace, Architect of Thought with one of my own, and played my second one. I got a lot of card advantage off of him and managed to stabilize with Tamiyo. I even got her Emblem. I was swinging with Angel of Serenity and Thragtusk and had infinite ability to counter his spells because of Tamiyo's emblem. He scooped and we went to Game 2.

Game 2: I sided in more countermagic and Jace, Memory Adept. He took a mulligan to 6 again and I kept my hand. I kept all of his threats in check, even when he played Restoration Angel on his Thragtusk to go to 25. But I had Jace, Memory Adept and Tamiyo out on the field, and then played a Garruk, Primal Hunter. We went to time and he scooped (he was 0-2 at that point and admitted he just didn't have the answers to my game position.

Record: 2-1
________

Round Four was, of course, against Lowry. Of all the games we've played, I think I've beaten him once. But I didn't let that get to me and went in with my gameface on.

Game 1: I took a mulligan to 6 and started off trying to get my threats on board. He managed to keep my threats off him and his Tamiyo with Supreme Verdicts and Terminus, allowing him to get her Emblem. At this point he had infinite access to Ghost Quarter (to destroy my land), Sphinx's Revelation (to gain life and draw), and Dissipate (to counter all my spells), so despite being at 31 life to his 17, I decided to scoop and go to game 2.

Game 2: was a bit more back and forth. He got his Tamiyo out early, which I promptly Oblivion-Ringed, only for him to play a second Tamiyo. I killed the second one, but he used a Detention Sphere on my Oblivion Ring to get the first one back. He had several Geist of Saint Traft, too, which I had to spend my resources against. In the end, the plays I made keeping his Tamiyos and Geists in check let him get up to 40 life via Sphinx's Revelation and draw into an Entreat the Angels. He used it and got out 4 angels. At that point I was at 11 life and had only my one Angel of Serenity. He was swinging for lethal next turn. I scooped and wished him luck.

Record: 2-2

I got one prize pack along with the other 2-2's that night. One opened a Jarad, one opened some other junk rare, I opened Armada Wurm.
________

Lessons of the night: Tamiyo was a powerhouse, both for me and against me. Sphinx's Revelation worked better against me than it did for me, since I seemed to always be drawing it in the early game. But it's such a good card when you use it right. Jace, Memory Adept was the breakout star of the night, and I'm very happy with him in my sideboard. Jace, Architect of Thought didn't pull the same weight he usually does, but I played some unfortunate matchups where he just wasn't that well situated.

Overall I'm very happy. My two losses were against two incredibly skilled players and I put up as good a fight as I could. I learned a lot about what was good to do and what not to do. This was one of my best tournaments and the one I felt I did best in (in terms of growing/learning/playing). In the end Lowry and Reanimator-guy ended up splitting the Arsenal. I was not surprised. They were both very good and both played incredibly good decks.

On a side note: my Naya Midrange deck performed pretty decently too. It'll be a fun pet-project for the next few weeks while I continue to tinker with and tech Bant Control.

[The Admiral]

Sounds pretty great on whole.

Completely new PW for Gatecrash. I like him, plus he's a three-coster. I think he'll go places, especially if RG is playable on some level.

[Kamotz]

The new Planeswalker, IF he's real, is pretty awful. He's 3 mana, putting him right in Abrupt Decay territory. His +1 sucks, his -2 is Prey Upon, which is just fine. His -7 is pretty great, but he probably won't stick around for 4 turns.

Also, I'm skeptical as to this card's legitimacy. Every (if not all) previous planeswalkers have SOME part of the art popping out of the frame. This guy has none. It's possible, but strange.

[the3rdH0kage]

IDK. Looks a bit funny to me personally. But I probably wouldn't use him if he was real.

Card that killed my deck Friday night: Geist of Saint Traft.

[Kamotz]

Geist is very good. But looking at your deck, I don't see why you couldn't deal with him. He's a 2/2. You should have easily been able to trade damage. Just block it with a 2/x of your own. Giest is best when the deck is built around protecting him. In which case you adapt by forcing them to waste all their resources. Looking at your deck, you're also pretty vulnerable to Thundermaw Hellkite and Sigarda...or anything with Flying.

Also, more reasons to doubt the new Planeswalker: He's Red. We already know that Ral Zarek will be in Dragon's Maze, as an Izzet, he'll be R/U. The New Gideon also looks to be Boros Aligned (R/W). Having a third red planeswalker just seems like...bad planning. I suppose you could say Innistrad did that with Black (Half of Garruk Relentless, Liliana of the Veil, and Sorin, LoI), but Garruk was still green in his casting cost.

Ral Zarek: R/U
Gideon: R/W
Domri: R/G

They could surprise us and make Gideon mono-white, but...

Anyway, looking forward to this regardless.

[the3rdH0kage]

Yeah you called it, Thunderaw was a beast. I had a stupid moment and forgot to double-block. But yeah I made some notes and am trying to find a Sublime Archangel. I was also thinking throwing 1 Avacyn in but I'm not sure yet.

[Kamotz]

Don't use Avacyn. She costs WAAAY too much (mana-wise) and you don't have the luxury of waiting till turn 8 (in your deck) to cost a creature that does nothing and is easily O-Ring'd or D-Sphere'd. You need fast, low-costing, efficient beaters.

[the3rdH0kage]

Wouldn't Sublime Archangel be threatened by those cards also?

[Kamotz]

Yes, But the turn Sublime Archangel comes in you can attack and get her exalted bonus. Avacyn comes in and doesn't immediately effect the board state. You're usually tapping out for Avacyn (at 8 cmc). Sublime Archangel is half of that, meaning you can get her out much earlier and your opponent has fewer turns to go through their decks and have answers to your attacks. There's a reason Avacyn is $10 and Sublime Archangel is $24.

[the3rdH0kage]

StarCity has Sublime at $30 but I can probably get one cheaper then that. There is a guy at my local shop that buys Legacy stuff and I have a bunch of Legacy cards.

[Kamotz]

Starcity really inflates their prices for a lot of things, especially the stuff that's in-demand. The reason Jace, the Mind Sculptor jumped to ~$90 is because StarCity started pricing him that way (just because of a RUMOR that he might be unbanned in Modern). I prefer TCGPlayer's price listing. Because you can get the average price things are selling at.

[the3rdH0kage]

aahhh. ok didnt know that thx.

I have something we can talk about that I've been wondering about here latley.

When your building/editing a deck, and you want to add a card if you have an older version of the card do you put the newer one in or the older one.

I personally prefer the older cards I think the art is cooler. Like my Mind Rot is from 7th Edition, all of my Plains are from Ravnica: City of Guilds except for my Full-Portrait one from Zendikar, and all of my Swamps are either Full-portrait or older (Shadowmoor with a few from R:CoG).

[Kamotz]

I personally like to go with uniformity. If most of my cards are in the modern frame, I'll use the modern frame. I don't like seeing the old stuff sticking out like a sore thumb. And I ONLY use full-art Zendikar basics, but that's just a personal preference. A lot of the time, however, it depends on the art difference. I prefer the M13 Mutilate over the old one. I prefer the Tenth Edition Kamahl, Pit-Fighter over the Odyssey one. But on the other hand, I prefer the Invasion Reya, Dawnbringer over the Tenth Edition one.

Additionally, I just posted a Tournament Report Thread here in Alt. Card Discussion. It's a place where we can report and discuss tournamets (FNM, Buy-a-Box, etc) that we participate in.

[the3rdH0kage]

There is one Mountain I would use in every deck if I could. My Unhinged Mountain. and for Legacy/Commander I use any Unlimited cards that go well in the deck. I have a Unlimited Dark Ritual in the deck and it is awesome. I would go to all Full-Portrait Zendikar lands if I could find enough lands. atm I have 1 Plains, 1 Swamp, 1 Island, and 1 Forest That are Full-Portrait. I also have a origanal Lorwyn Obilivion Ring in my deck. My 7th Edition Mind Rot. 1 really like the Lorwyn lands they are really cheerful and colorful I like using those also. I have a bunch of Timeshift Swamps I use in Mono-Black decks. I really like the origanal Pacifism art. It looked cool and had a different flavour text then the one we have now. I'll probably post in the Tournament thread soon. Next time I go to FNM or something.

[niedude]

Subscribbing.

Nothing to add as of yet, except I just now took a look at the new Gatecrash cards in magicspoilers.

MY GOD Aurelia, you're gonna be a staple in every deck that can run you. And Borborighnasif too, since there's that Green golgari aligned card that could fetch a heck of lands from the grave which he could use. Or was that from the original Ravnican set?

Wait, it had Delve right? So it's original...
Still, he's kind of a beast... right?

[Kamotz]

Yeah, that's Life from the Loam, and it's from Original Ravnica (Dredge).

Eh. If those cards are real then they're still pretty expensive for their effects. Boborygmos will probably see more of a home in 4-color-reanimator. But they'd still probably rather be running Angel of Serenity, Griselbrand, and Craterhoof Behemoth in that high-costing spot. Maybe he's more of a Jund finisher. Not many of the Guild Leaders from RtR see much play. Trostani and Niv are probably it.

As for Aurelia. There are some shenanigans you could pull off with her and Cloudshift to attack 3 times in a single turn. But that would require playing Cloudshift, which isn't really a constructed-playable card. Still, she could fit pretty well in a Naya build.

[The Admiral]

Yeah, Life from the Loam was in the original Ravnica and probably will never ever come back outside a one-off in a Commander/Planechase/Archenemy/Duel Decks product (PDS was retired due to, iirc, low demand -- which may have SOMETHING to do with the bollocks price point of thirty-five dollars and the fact that the foils tend to warp if you BREATHE on them!). The reason for this being that, outside of Time Spiral Block (which screams of foisting playtesting on the players (which is at least still tons of fun)), mechanics are not generally printed as one-offs in sets.

[Kamotz]

PDS?

Well, Dredge was just too powerful. It still has a huge presence in Modern...and it can hardly be called Magic. It's almost a different game altogether, kinda like Storm in a way.

[the3rdH0kage]

So that R/G PW was legit. MTGMint confired it and posted a pic on Facebook.

[Kamotz]

Ew. That's kinda awful. Well...maybe not. It depends on how the rest of the meta changes come gatecrash.

[The Admiral]

PDS?

Premium Deck Series. i.e. 60-card pre-con but all foils. The pre-cons were all themed (Slivers, burn, reanimator), and mostly decent (subject to typical pre-con constraints such as one of a rare each, mind you). Used an alternate foiling process which, in my opinion, made them stand out much more, but also made the cards warp a lot (kind of like what happens to From the Vault boxes -- I've yet to check out Realms, but I've owned at least one card from each of the others and knew many folks who had them, and none of them had them in non-warped condition). That, and the contents are usually not worth $35 even when foiled, especially since once the big reason to buy them (e.g. Chain Lightning, Entomb) gets announced, prices tended to drop like stones.

[Kamotz]

Oh, okay. Yeah. A friend of mine uses some of those (Graveborn, Fire/Lightning) in his Cube. They're nice art.

I like the limited release sets. I won a FTV: Realms and as long as you keep the cards protected they don't warp. Mine are in a binder (for now) and are in perfect shape.