Category Archives: magic

magic

Need for speed

Game day, magic, MtG


It’s Standard Showdown season once more. Naturally I went along to the first one at my FLGS The Hobbit Hole.

When I arrived at the store a X-Wing “mini” competition had started. The game still looks lovely when out on the table. Shame I was never able to get the game to the table and sold out of it. Well exchanged my collection for a couple of games I wanted. But I still miss the models, they are stunning. I don’t miss buying models just for the cards.

John and I tried to have a friendly game to test our decks, but with having to serve customers it was frequently interrupted. In the end John conceded with a dominant board state on my side ready to swing in.

This Standard Showdown was a pretty well attended one for a Saturday, with 10 entrants.

Round 1 – John (merfolk)

Sadly I was unable to continue the success of our earlier test game into the tournament.

I won the first game. But it was down hill from there. The second game saw me desperately play 3 Nexus of Fates to try and draw into an answer and snatch the win. But it was to no avail and just delayed the inevitable. Our third and final game was better for me. However John still managed to get into a superior position and get the win.

But close, fun games. I like those sort of games.

Result: Loss 1-2

Round 2 – Kar-Fai

Our first game must have been frustrating for Kar-Fai. He had me down to 2 life, before I stabilised and snatched the win from him.

You would have thought having won the first game so dramatically I would have remembered I had won it. But by the time I won the second game it had totally escaped me that I had won. The draw backs of old age.

Result: Win 2-0

Round 3 – Sophie (pirates)

Sophie had built her deck the day before. It still needed work. But the idea was good, and it has promise. Being more consistent and having more than one copy of cards would be the first improvement to make.

This was an easy match up for me. My deck walked all over it because of the reasons given above.

A bit more work and this deck will cause me problems.

Result: Win 2-0

Round 4 – Dean (dinosaurs)

My deck just didn’t fire in this match up. In some ways I need to be faster. But not sure exactly how. But my deck does struggle against fast aggro like decks. Something I need to look into. Fast aggro does seem to be a strong force in our meta.

Result: Loss 0-2

Afterwards Dean and I played a friendly game. This time I did much much better. But his Vivien Reid ultimate kicking in was the inevitable end for me. Trying to pump out oozes to delay things until I could hit a Krasis was futile.

Friendly Loss

After getting beat again by Dean but at least putting up more of a challenge, I played my mono blue mill deck against Kar-Fai in another friendly game. Which I lost. I hit none of my walls. So was at the mercy of Kar-Fai’s deck.

Friendly Loss

Final position: 7th with a 2-2 record

I only got a participation pack this time. Too many entrants to also get a Showdown pack. But I pulled a Repudiate//Replicate. That’s a sweet card for my deck. A strong card for going into the sideboard.

But another great afternoon playing MtG.

War of the Spark Weekend has no D&D

D&D, magic, MtG, RPG

As far as my FLGS is concerned the D&D side of the two Ravnica weekends were a success.

WotC had provided two scenarios for stores to use

  • Krenko’ s Way
  • A zib for your thoughts

Ok Krenko’s Way was from the at the time just released, or about to be released Guildmaster’s Guide to Ravnica source book. But had some pre-made characters with it.

A zib for your thoughts was a brand new adventure that picks up after Krenko’s Way. It can be used with the characters from the first adventure or with supplied characters (I didn’t manage to get a copy of these, they are not included in the scenario pdf).

Apparently the weekend equivalent to the two Ravnica Weekends for War of the Spark will not have a D&D crossover scenario. But it will have something new and exciting instead.

I’m interested to see what this new and exciting is. But also disappointed that WotC didn’t use a three adventure story arc. And continue it to it’s conclusion as an option along side whatever else they have planned.

They provide enough ideas for a further scenario to use at the end of the second scenario.

“If you’re continuing a campaign set on Ravnica, this adventure sows numerous seeds to use as a part of your campaign. If you’d like, you can review the list of questions below to help inspire future adventures:

• Who was Vezska’s client? What do they intend to do with the information they sought?

• Who is in possession of the vial at the end of the adventure?

• What is the identity of the Dimir operative that sent retrieval teams to obtain the vial?

• Didthepartywithholdanyadditionalinformation they learned?

• What do the etchings mean on the door that Delrim discovered?

• Are there any NPCs that could become future con- tacts for one or more characters?”

I know my FLGS would have liked another scenario. There are plenty of ideas above to create their own. Or they can use the advice contained in the excellent chapter 6 (if I recall correctly) of Guildmaster’s Guide to Ravnica for rolling your own adventures. Or find a third party one online. So they have options.

Maybe we will see the D&D stuff return when WotC move to their next plane, and I’m sure print their next source book for it.

Time is fleeting, Madness takes it’s toll

magic, MtG


Well I’ve surprised myself by looking at a third MtG card in the current Standard format.

This time I’m looking at a card that has been controversial since it was printed!

Nexus of Fate started it’s life as a Buy-A-Box promo for Core Set 2019. Nothing wrong with that you may think. You buy a booster box and get a copy of Nexus of Fate (while stock lasted).

But for many it’s appearance confirmed their worst fears about these promo cards since their reintroduction with Dominaria. That WotC would print a tournament legal card which has a small print run, and the price of the card would shoot up. Especially if it was a powerful card. Plus there were reports of some unscrupulous LGS’s not giving the buy-a-box promo with the booster boxes when purchased and selling them separately on eBay.

The tail end of last year Nexus of Fate turned up in a deck called Turbo Fog. Being super lazy after hearing talk about the deck in podcasts that didn’t go into much detail except to mention the deck had a few fog cards in it, and Nexus of Fate. I didn’t rush to the Internet and look at deck listings.

Naturally because it had a weekend in the spotlight at a pro tour or whatever the official event was, the price jumped. But that happens to a lot of cards.

What made people salty naturally was the “exclusivity” of the card. To have them you had to had bought a booster box, or for a playset four booster boxes.

I did hear the argument that being a buy-a-box promo instead of just a Mythic in boosters meant that there were probably more copies of the card out there in the wild than if it had just been only in boosters. So it could have been a big benefit for players that it was a promo.

I checked the price of Nexus of Fate a couple of days ago, and it was sitting at around £25. That’s not cheap. However it’s cheaper than buying a £90 booster box to get one. In fact a playset costs about the same as a booster box. Ok you haven’t got 36 booster packs as well. But you do have that playset of a card you want!

So while I would baulk at paying that for a card, there are many out there that wouldn’t. Especially if they are taking part in these big official tournaments where they are expecting get into the prize pool.

Jump forward to last week and in the digital world of MtG:Arena in the best of one format the card has been banned. Apparently there are decks on there that go infinite using Nexus of Fate that have no actual win condition. Except that your opponent quits or something. Plus for their e-sports and twitch streamers it makes boring viewing. Which is probably more the reason that it was banned, bad tv, over it not being not a fun experience to be on the end of.

So 7 CMC is not a cheap card. Without any ramp (which blue doesn’t have) this isn’t being played before turn 7 at the earliest. So with a deck like Turbo Fog the fog is basically there to keep you alive until you can start playing Nexus of Fate, and other big cost cards that might be in the deck.

As an instant you can play this any time. During your end step, during your opponents. And this is what I think makes the card powerful. If it was a sorcery that could be played on your turn only it would be a bit less powerful.

Once you play the card, you get to take an extra turn after the current turn ends.

The fact you shuffle the card back into the library is important. When you get to the last few cards of your library you are going to be constantly drawing the card. Which means you basically have infinite turns! That’s game over for your opponent.

So that’s the controversial Nexus of Fate.

Horrors from the deep surface

Commander, Game day, magic, MtG

I’ve not been to a Monday Commander session at my FLGS The Hobbit Hole since the first one was held a few weeks ago.

So half term gave me the ideal excuse to get along to another one.

When I arrived a couple of ex-students of mine Josh and Tom were there, as was Andy a regular at the shop and training MtG judge. It appeared a bit of Commander deck building advice was being given to Josh.

I used my Muldrotha deck for the first game of Commander. Which was a true roller coaster ride. I do regret using my Cyclonic Rift to save Tom from a massive attack by Andy that would have killed him. I had already “bluffed” Andy not to attack me the previous turn of his. Well it wasn’t a bluff, I had the card in hand with the mana open to cast it. But Andy wasn’t sure of that.

What was my reward for saving Tom’s butt? Yeah you guessed it, a few rounds later he killed me first before moving on and killing Andy and Josh in a single strike.

Game two for the afternoon saw the Horrors from the Deep wake from their slumber and head towards the surface to wreck havoc and destruction.

Trench Gorger is such a great card to play once you have sufficient mana out. As you can see in the game yesterday it got rid of my remaining 22 lands, to become a 22/22. With trample. Which is nice. But the big benefit is that it gets rid of dead draws. Well not completely. There were still one or two cards that were in the deck to help me ramp and get lands, and therefore useless now. But that’s better than nearing 30.

Andy took out Josh. His threat assessment was that Josh was the bigger threat. Well he’d know because it was his deck Josh was playing.

With my big threats on the board I was able to take Andy out, well at that point I had them all with flying whilst grounding everyone else’s fliers.

It then took a couple of rounds for the horrors that had surfaced to pound Tom into submission. And get me my first win with this deck. Wow.

It was great to catch up with Josh and Tom. Everyone had a fun time. It’s great that The Hobbit Hole hosts this for those that are at a lose end on a Monday.

More Simic Deck Testing

Deck tech, Game day, magic, MtG, MtG Deck Building

Yesterday it was Ravnica Weekend at your FLGS if it does the whole MtG thing. Which means they were running a new D&D MtG cross over one-shot, plus a poorly promoted store championship using the draft format.

Sometimes, especially recently since Arena went into open beta, that WotC are trying to push everyone to the digital format of the game. They deny it naturally, but as the saying goes “actions speak louder than words”. And the actions of WotC are sending a very clear message to players and FLGS’. But this rant should be for another day and another post. Let’s get back on topic.

I went along to my FLGS The Hobbit Hole with the hope to test out my latest iteration of my Simic deck.

Naturally there were a few D&D sessions in progress when I arrived. Plus there was a Pokemon tournament about to kick off.

Table space was at a premium. Luckily I was able to find a player to test my deck with and more importantly a corner of the shop to play.

Michael who I was playing against was playing a mono white aggro deck. It was using life gain as an effective way to pump up some of his creatures. Which was very effective and in one particular game fast and deadly.

I didn’t use the sideboard. I think that still needs to be settled on. But just playing the main deck and getting a feel for it was good.

I know technically I have a 50/50 split between creatures and spells. But I’m counting Frilled Mystic as a counter spell. I think it’s a nice two for one in this deck. Counter spell and body on the ground.

In a recent MtG podcast I listened to there was mention that Nexus of Fate was being used in one or two decks that were Simic. I thought that sounds interesting, I have a couple of them. So I thought I’d add my copies to the deck give them a whirl. See what the fuss was about.

However against this white aggro deck I either needed more bodies out or bounce spells like Blink of the Eye.

I definitely wasn’t hitting the counter spells consistently enough in this match up. When I did they were the games I won. I was thwarting the game plan of my opponent, buying me time to get my pieces into play.

My feeling at the moment is that Steel Leaf Champion and Carnage Tyrant get moved to the sideboard fully and replaced with counter spells.

Ok here is the version 2 of my main deck that I played yesterday.

Creatures:19

4 Llanowar Elves
3 Hydroid Krasis
2 Incubation Druid
2 Steel Leaf Champion
3 Frilled Mystic
2 Zegana, Utopian Speaker
2 Biogenic Ooze
1 Carnage Tyrant

Spells:19

2 Open the Gates
4 Syncopate
4 Essence Capture
3 Thought Collapse
3 Wilderness Reclamation
1 Vivien Reid
2 Nexus of Fate

Lands:22

2 Breeding Pool
6 Forest
1 Hinterland Harbor
5 Island
1 Memorial to Genius
2 Memorial to Unity
4 Simic Guildgate
1 Woodland Stream

Michael and I finished off the afternoon of MtG with a couple of 1v1 Commander, his vampire deck against my Simic Horrors from the Deep deck. I’m not a big 1v1 Commander fan. For me it’s not Commander, at that point it’s Highlander (and that’s a different way to build decks).

The draw back of having a fun afternoon of playing MtG was Michael and I didn’t qualify for any of the cool promos that were being given away for Ravnica Weekend. But still a fun afternoon.

Thrashing around

magic, MtG

Yesterday I talked briefly about my love of being able to play dinosaurs in MtG thanks to our visit to the Ixalan plane. I also looked at probably one of the star cards for green from the set, Carnage Tyrant.

In today’s post I thought I’d look at another card that won’t be with us for much longer, because it will be keeping Carnage Tyrant company when the Ixalan block rotates out. Yeah I know why am I only just looking at these cards now then? Because, reasons!

But over the last few months I’ve grown to really like this card.

Today we are looking at a great utility card for green, which is definitely a really good sideboard card, and that’s Thrashing Brontodon.

At 3 CMC for a 3/4 body it’s pretty good. Plus it doesn’t die to removal after it hits the battleground. Well unless they hit it a couple of times. Which I’ll take that trade any day. Plus it can block and still be around afterwards.

But in this current Standard meta where enchantments like Wilderness Reclamation and Experimental Frenzy are very popular, there has to be some form of removal in your deck. That’s where the ability of paying one mana and sacrificing Thrashing Brontodon comes in. If you pay that cost, you lose the body naturally, but you get rid of that enchantment or artifact.

I can assure you Wilderness Reclamation especially with a couple out can be abused in combination with the right cards. I’ve already in a previous post about my Simic deck described one such situation. And John the owner of my FLGS has been on the receiving end of such an abuse. I’ve been on the receiving end of an Experimental Frenzy. Not fun if you can’t get rid of it.

And that’s why you will find copies of Thrashing Brontodon in the sideboard of a lot of decks that splash green in Standard. In my Commander decks it’s an instant include. And despite technically not being a big stompy creature it’s in my big stompy deck.

With the almost default inclusion of Llanowar Elves in decks with green, having your copy of Thrashing Brontodon out turn two is a realistic play. But even if not, it’s still a great turn three play.

If you are remotely interested what card would you like me to look at next in the current Standard legal sets? You will notice that these two posts so far have been from the Ixalan block, and cards that I have used and played in my decks. But more than happy to talk about other cards.

All Hail The Carnage Tyrant

magic, MtG

For me one of the fun things about Ixalan and Rivals of Ixalan was being able to build decks that had dinosaurs in them.

I have a fun (for me) to play Commander dinosaur tribal deck. Which could do with an update. Add some of the tribal cards I’ve gotten since building the deck, replace one or two of the cards with the more powerful option that I now have. But I digress.

There are a few dinosaurs from those sets that I just love. The elder dinosaurs fantastic. Ghalta, Gishath, Regisaur Alpha, Burning Sun’s Avatar, Rampaging Ferocidon (unjustly banned in Standard), Thrashing Brontodon and Raptor Hatchling to name some of my favourites.

The incredible thing is that two or three of them still have a place in the Standard meta. They will always have a place in my dinosaur tribal deck (until we ever return to Ixalan).

But there is one that if you splash green in your deck is an auto include. And when it comes out strikes fear in your opponent.

Yep Carnage Tyrant.

If Carnage Tyrant isn’t in your main deck, there is usually a copy or two in the sideboard.

For a 6 CMC, it’s not a cheap card. But you get a lot of bang for your buck. First off it’s a 7/6 body with trample. So no chump blocking with a 1/1 to stop the damage getting through.

But it’s these next two abilities that make this card so powerful, and an auto include. Carnage Tyrant can’t be countered. So those pesky control players can’t use their counter spells to stop you casting it. Then when it is out on the battlefield it has hexproof. Which means that now it is out they can’t target their removal at it.

And that’s why at the very least you will see copies of it in the sideboard. It’s the anti-control card.

But even at 6 CMC being green, you have ramp. So in all likely hood Carnage Tyrant could be out turn four, definitely turn five. There is not much that will be out at that point to stop it.

Sadly because it is such a good card in Standard, it’s not a cheap card to buy. So Commander players will have to wait for it to rotate out to pick their copies up.

I have heard/read that in some decks now with Hydroid Krasis now on the scene that Carnage Tyrant isn’t as powerful as it used to be in some decks. I can’t really comment on that, I’m not really playing at the high levels the people making those statements are. For me in the decks I’m building and playing it’s a star card.

I’m going to miss Carnage Tyrant when it rotates out, I hope it likes it’s retirement homes in my dinosaur tribal deck, and the big green stompy deck.

A Potential Tweak To My Simic Standard Deck

Deck tech, magic, MtG, MtG Deck Building

While I was looking through my Ravnica Allegiance pulls to see if I had any Tithe Takers or Unbreakable Formations to use in my Commander Death and Taxes deck. Although unbreakable Formations may well be finding it’s way into any of my decks that splash white. I came across the Frilled Mystic I’d pulled.

I’m seriously considering using this as a card in my Simic Standard deck.

What attracts me about the card? It’s a counter spell and a body on the board. So a two for.

I’m ok with the 4 CMC because of the value it gives. Although being a 3/2 it does die to a shock. But if it counters a spell and forces them to use a shock. That’s two cards to my one. I’ll take that bit of card advantage. I’d prefer that it was not two forests and two islands, but maybe one of each and two of any. But I suppose there is that delicate line of making sure that the card is not too over powered.

But what goes to make way for it? I’m thinking the two copies of Open the Gates in the main deck, and the copy in the sideboard. Plus the third copy of Simic Ascendancy in the sideboard.

I just need to play test this change now.

I’m having a hard time accepting the stupid high price of Hydroid Krasis. It’s a good card. But wow. So glad I got mine before that nasty spike.

I know with my deck the lands could be better. I’d love a play set of Breeding Pool and Hinterland Harbour. It would speed things up on that front. But I don’t think the cost justifies it. The deck could also do with another Vivienne Reid. But that too has spiked. Another Incubation Druid would be nice, potential go up to a full play set.

The deck is fun to play. There are some slight improvements that if this was for a GP or something might justify the extra expense to make them. But seeing as this is a Standard Showdown deck. I don’t think splashing out for those cards is justified. If I can trade for them then I can live with that, but not at spending more. In fact I am mid trade. I’ve traded a shock land, and just waiting for my friend to see if he has a spare one of the ones I need.

Well time to end this post. I’ve already reenforced Jonathan’s views of MtG being a money pit. Which it can be. I don’t deny it. But that doesn’t detract from the fact that the game is still pretty awesome. Time to read some RPG manuals.

Testing 1,2,3 Testing

Game day, magic, Magic League, MtG

Yesterday was the start of the Ravnica Allegiance Magic League with my FLGS.

I discussed this format for MtG in previous posts, but for those new to the blog, MtG or just poor memories and don’t want the trauma of remembering my posts, I’ll try and summarise it briefly.

Magic League is a sealed event, where a player buys three booster packs, and with the contents builds a 30 card deck to play against other participants. The league takes place over four weeks, and each week you are able to buy an additional booster to strengthen your deck. Also after three losses you can also buy a booster pack to strengthen your deck. At the end of the league you get a cool promo card for participating.

The nice thing about the league is that it is accessible for new players. It provides a level playing field between new and old by removing the large card collection, and having to spend lots of money to get a “competitive deck” (although you can build a competitive deck on a budget).

After buying my three packs for the league, naturally I cracked them open and did the first thing every MtG player does. I went to the back of the pack and looked at the rares and uncommons I’d pulled.

With two Simic Guild Gates pulled I was getting the distinct hint I should be leaning towards a Simic deck.

After just throwing my Simic cards together I had no decision making to make to get the right number of cards. I had the right number to build the deck with. Instead of playing a league match we played some Commander!

I only had the one Commander deck with me. It was my big green stompy deck. I didn’t win any of the three games we played. But I had a blast. My deck did it’s thing. I got creatures out, made them big, and stomped over a player or two.

I also managed to get some testing of my Simic Standard deck against John and his Merfolk deck.

Our first game was a surprise to me and John. By turn four I had three Llanowar Elves out, three lands and I’d cast a Biogenic Ooze. Ramp wise this was a start I could only dream of. With my removal and counter spells, pumping out more oozes, and them getting bigger each turn. I easily took the first game.

In our second game of the best of three, it was more to plan. Ramp, Wilderness Reclamation , Biogenic Ooze, frustrating John with counter spells and bouncing creatures back to hand. A bit of mill with the walls. Threats from John to kick me under the table.

We started a second round of best of three. But this time I took out the walls and replaced them with two Incubation Druid’s (it’s all I have) and a Llanowar Scout.

Despite losing to John 2-1. I did like what these bought to the table. The Incubation Druid was pretty good, getting a +1/+1 on it was easy with the Essence Capture. So I wasn’t having to wait for the three mana it can tap for. My main problem during these three games was my mana sinks hadn’t come out. So I wasn’t getting the full value from them.

During these games John got to witness the double Wilderness Reclamation, Biogenic Ooze combo. There was a little questioning with the stores future MtG judge (he’s,in training) about the way that combo worked during the start of the end step. My interruption was correct.

Our third game was pretty close. If John hadn’t tapped down all my creatures when he did, my Hydroid Krasis would have swung in next turn for lethal. As it was I didn’t have enough tricks in hand to prevent the loss. I really like games that are like this, where they could go either way. Close games that turn on a moment. They are exciting. Even now the next day, I’m replaying the decisions I made at that point, and working out if I’d done things a little different would the result have been in my favour?

Afterwards there was general chit chat. But eventually I went home after having a great afternoon of MtG. The Hobbit Hole really does have a great MtG community.

Should My Golgari Go Sultai?

Deck tech, magic, MtG, MtG Deck Building

Listening to the latest MTGoldfish podcast they were discussing the state of Standard after a weekend full of big tournaments such as the Star City Games one, and happenings online and Arena since the release of Ravnica Allegiance. When I think Saffron Olive one of the hosts mentioned that some of the Golgari players were going Sultai, ie splashing blue so they could add Hydroid Krasis to their decks.

That struck me as an interesting idea.

I know my Golgari deck (you can find a deck list here) is not the normal one that gets played in all these big tournaments. In those decks they are exploiting the explore mechanic. But there is some common cards like Carnage Tyrant. Isn’t that the fun thing about deck building? These tournament players went one way with the explore, I went mid range/aggro playing lots of removal, John went with exploiting the undergrowth mechanic. All playing the same guild, some common cards, but all expressing ourselves differently.

But if I splashed blue as well I could add Hydroid Krasis to my deck. It’s an idea. What helped sell it was in the same discussion about Golgari decks splashing blue and becoming Sultai, was Assassin’s Trophy. In the meta the podcasters were playing in, with the arrival of Ravnica Allegiance and the availability of all ten shock lands, they were seeing more three colour decks, and decks with very few basic lands in. So often when the Assassin’s Trophy was being played the opponent wasn’t actually getting anything in return in a few cases.


Until Standard Showdown starts up again this weekend, I’m not sure if that’s something I’ll see in my local meta.

I know Dean who I’ve played against a couple of times now in the Showdown (and Commander) is planning a three colour deck. But the others who usually take part I’ve no idea what their plans are.

So with a couple of basic lands (islands), adding in the couple of Breeding Pool I have (I do need a couple more) and a couple of Hydroid Krasis, I have a second deck for this upcoming Standard Showdown season. If I make the changes to the mono blue mill deck as well that will be a third. Then each Showdown I have the hard decision of which deck to play.

On the subject of Hydroid Krasis. I’m so glad I got mine when I did. In a week (which also saw the official release weekend) they have nearly doubled in price. It’s insane. And would explain why the Simic deck was so costly. Three of those plus the Carnage Tyrants. Crazy. That’s the one thing I hate about the game. The speculation and cost of cards. It stops the game being accessible to all.

Now to decide what makes way for the Hydroid Krasis.