Category Archives: MtG

Commander 2019 Spoilers I Like Part 2

magic, MtG

Welcome back to Darren talks more total bollux about MtG. Especially about cards from the Commander 2019 spoiler season that’s just finished.

So let’s get down to business.

These first 2 cards are definitely candidates for big green stompy. Momentous Fall looks an interesting card to play to get card draw and a little life gain. Especially when you know that your creature is going to die.

Giant Adephage ticks the box of being big and green. But that damage ability. If left unchecked this is going to get out of control exponentially. Dragonmaster Outcast is so going in my dragon tribal deck.


Board wipes are always good. Despite it’s cost Phyrexian Rebirth is nice because after the board is wiped clear you are left with potentially a really big body on the battlefield.

Desolation Twins is a reprint that will go nicely into a colourless deck along side some of the other colourless big hitters like Emrakul and Ulamog. I’m not sure how that deck will work, but with this card and others a target instantly goes on your back at the table.

Geth, Lord Of The Vault is just a nice zombie to try in the Scarab God Deck. I really like the activated ability. Steal an artifact/creature from their graveyard and mill the player. Nice.

Magus of the Balance I like because it’s activated ability is a nice leveller. All of a sudden everyone is on even grounds with the weakest player on the table.

Song of the Worldsoul I like for my mono white angel deck. Not sure it would really work in the token spam. It might. I may give it a try.

Tectonic Hellion, I like this in my mono red aggro deck and the gloves off land hate version of it.

Voice of Many might find a home in the elf deck. The way that deck plays, every player at the table will have less creatures than me.

Roc Egg all I’m going to say is look at my words below about the defender/wall idea. This would be a great include.

Another great include for mono red Magmaquake. Board wipe leaving flyers alone. Could work in my favour as long as the other players don’t have flyers. But an ideal include for the dragon deck.

Arla Palani, Nest Tender, I do like the idea of building around this card. Being able to cheat out creature cards for free that’s nice. It even leaves you in a good place after a board wipe. Have some large say colourless creatures like the twins above in the deck. Hmm a deck idea is starting to formulate.

Rolling Temblor another potential board wipe for red. But more a card for keeping those pesky token decks under control.

The thing I like about Purify the Grave is cheap graveyard hate for white.

Cliffside Rescuer is an interesting card. I’m just having second thoughts about it as I look at it writing this post. I like the protection bit, but for the current turn only makes me think meh!

What does a goblin deck need? Ramp. Dockside Extortionist gives that with it’s etb.

Back in Core Set 2019 we got new versions of the Elder Dragons. You know the ED in EDH (the original and still name for Commander). One of those Elder Dragons, Arcades, the Strategist loves cards that have the keyword defender, which a lot of walls have. Wall of Stolen Identity although missing the defender keyword is definitely a card I’d like to include in an Arcades defender/wall commander deck.

Sadly that Arcades deck idea could not have Pramikon, Sky Rampart in it thanks to that splash of Redon it’s casting cost. But I think this is a fun Commander card either as a Commander or one of the 99. I do like cards that changes the game, or causes interactions that enhance the political side of the game.

Green needs more ramp cards! Tempt with Discovery allows that with a little quandary thrown in for your opponents. They may need that land, but at the cost of giving you another? A hard choice for them.

Apex Altisaur a candidate for the dinosaur tribal deck and also the big green stompy deck. It’s big and green, it’s etb is removal, that can be a board wipe with that enrage trigger!

Ok that’s the wrap for the spoilers I like from the Commander 2019 spoilers. What ones caught your eye?

Commander 2019 Spoilers I Like Part 1

magic, MtG

After a week of no gaming and boring you with some posts as my contribution for #RPGaDAY2019, it’s my turn to bore you with some MtG stuff.

With GenCon and now the past week it has been spoiler season for…

In about 2 weeks time we will get our hands on the physical cards. But in the meantime it’s time for me to share with you some of the cards that caught my eye.

But first let’s talk about the elephant in the room. For the second year running we are seeing a price hike in the cost of the decks. A taster of the things to come with the Throne of Eldraine.

If you have seen the Commandzone spoiler season coverage they mention the value in each deck (based on reprints alone) but fail to mention the cost of the deck increase. It’s almost as if WotC asked them not to mention it.

The value is irrelevant really, it’s whether the reprints are any good, and Commander staples that matters. And that’s how they should be judged.

Another factor I take into account about a deck, and it only really comes into play once I’m playing them. Are they fun to play? It’s a hard one to quantify. And it’s very subjective, and personal.

At the moment based on the deck lists I think the deck I’m most excited about, and think I will enjoy the most is the morph deck Faceless Menace.

With the decks that have graveyard shenanigans like the Madness deck I keep thinking ok these decks will be ok when played against each of the other pre-cons. But graveyard hate is a thing. I use it in my decks, these 2 cards go in almost by default these days.

There are other cards that do similar, but I like these. Plus they are cheap and easy to get. Also Leyline of the Void is also a nice graveyard hate card.

Remember when I choose these cards I’m evaluating them for if I think I can i]use them in an existing deck. You know upgrading it (MtG players are known to do that). And if they inspire ideas for a new deck.

So let’s look at these new cards.

Beacon of Unrest get something back from the graveyard, and you get to do it again later. That’s always a neat trick. Dark Withering is a nice removal that with a later cars becomes super cheap with the madness cost. And Faith of the Devoted also combos off nicely with that later card also.


I think I already play From Under the Floorboards in my Scarab God Zombie deck. If I,don’t it needs to go in. 9 CMC for a board wipe seems expensive but In Garruk’s Wake I think is worth it (just). Mainly because it’s a board wipe that leaves your creatures and Planeswalkers alone. Nightshade Assassin now that I’m writing this I’m cooling on. I like it’s etb but not sure how big that X will be unless you can keep cards in hand.

Ok this next one isn’t a zombie, but it generates zombies. And the nice thing is a board wipe will leave you with zombies. It’s expensive but still I like Overseer of the Damned. I can see it being a sweet card in a Kaali (sp?) deck. Zombie Infestation is just a nice card that allows you to get rid of dead cards and get a zombie token. You can guess the deck I’d try those 2 cards in. Now Warstorm Surge is a sweet sweet card for my mono red Commander deck. Basically each time you cast a creature it’s removal or direct damage. Plus any other etb or effects they have.

Another card now that I look at the card I’m not sure about is Flayer of the Hatebound. I just don’t do much playing from the graveyard that involves red. But I do like that it comes with the same ability as the Warstorm Surge. Solemn Simulacrum is a body and mana ramp with it’s etb. A good utility card. Bone Miser is a great card with those activated abilities around the discarding of cards.

Wow do I like Nightmare Unmaking. It’s removal with that rather nice keyword exile. Destroying is ok. But exiling is better, especially those pesky indestructible creatures. Curse of Fool’s Wisdom there is only one player that will get this card. It’s whoever has Rhystic Study out. The last enchantment is such a funny graveyard hate card. Exile their graveyard and then cast it against them. Oh the chuckles I can see coming from this one.

Rogue’s Passage below is a land that definitely will be going into the Ninja deck. Making the ninja’s unblockable once they have been ninjitsu’d out on the next turn very very handy.

Emmara Tandris despite being an elf with a rather nice ability that my elves (would love to benefit from. Sadly it splashes white along with it’s green. So it can’t be there. But in my token spam deck it will be amazing.

Grimoire of the Dead combos with the Bone Mixer very nicely.

Well that’s it for the first part of my look at the new Commander decks. Part 2 tomorrow.

A pleasant Thursday afternoon gaming

Game day, magic, MtG

Yesterday afternoon was the complete opposite of Tuesday.

My FLGS for starters was much much busier. MtG and games were going on as the owner was rushed off his feet unpacking and checking a delivery. A lot of new Pokemon stuff had arrived, plus that massive Armada Super Star Destroyer model (see yesterday’s post for a photo of it).

I started off playing some 1v1 Commander. My opponent was testing their new deck which was doing some graveyard shenanigans. My mono red deck was still deciding to play hide and seek with it’s lands. Which proved problematic and gave two relatively easy and predictable wins for my opponent. For the third game I pulled out my tweaked Elf deck. That proved too powerful for my opponent, especially when his elves helped power up my deck.

Afterwards I taught Penny Lane to a friend. Who despite losing loved the game. So much so they want to buy the game when it comes out.

I then had a three player game of Penny Lane, with my friend (shows how much he liked it) and the store owners assistant. I’d not played Penny Lane with more than 2 players since getting it. Despite a slow start, I ended up triggering the end of the game. But my friend managed to grab the win. However the assistant loved the game also, and told the store owner that they will be ordering some copies for the store.

I did point out to them the difference between my copy and the one they would get on release. Which apart from a single Kickstarter exclusive building card, the foiled coins were just cosmetic.

But I was chuffed and taken aback by the reaction from both. I like the game. And wasn’t expecting the reaction I got.

As for my thoughts on playing with 3 players. It’s a slightly different experience than a 2 player game. Your tactics have to change, especially if you are third in the turn order. It means you are most likely not going to get one of the actions to get money. So you either take the first player token, or buy a building (assuming there is one you can afford) and try and get a money engine going with completed coin icons and hopefully the building bought. And it was the later approach I took. But either way you are more or less writing off that turn or turns until you get that engine going and become less reliant on the money action. It’s a different problem to solve. But still really enjoyable.

I had a fun afternoon. A nice combo of MtG and playing a game. No stress. No drama. Playing with great people. Some banter with the owner. Some gossip about the games industry. What else could you want?

Well after seeing the Asmodee UK price sheet for the FFG stuff announced Wednesday, a stiff drink.

Here is a taster. The Marvel Champions Core set is £60. The Marvel Miniatures game £90. The expansions for the miniatures game £35 iirc.

Yeah not cheap. I may rant about this in a future post. Depends how I feel and if I want to waste my breathe shouting about something that won’t change. All I and others that don’t like it can do is vote with our wallets.

Games Played: Penny Lane

Tuesday Commander – Ruined

Commander, Game day, magic, MtG


All I wanted was to play some Commander. Try out the changes I’d done to the mono red aggro deck. Which I really must give a cool deck name. Something like Etali Red Menace or Etali Ground Hog Day.

And that’s how my visit to my FLGS started yesterday. Myself, a friend, and some-one I know/played against had a 3 player game of Commander. My friend was using the Lord Windgrace Commander pre-con from last year. I was mana screwed, watching Windgrace get an abundance of mana. The other player was doing better on the mana front but not able to compete with Windgrace. Despite some pity, the inevitable was only being delayed. The Windgrace deck stomped all over us.

Things went tits up when a fourth player joined us. The omens were not good when they sat down and basically slagged off casual Commander! I paraphrase the words here but the basic gist was “people say that Commander is a casual game, but they are wrong it’s competitive. Everything can be competitive. Do I use my regular deck or my broken deck?” Fortunately they went with a “regular” deck.

And this new person just wouldn’t shut the feck up. Talk about verbal diarrhoea. I was taking a dislike to this person. But I thought I can be strong, it’s just for a game.

But things were only going from annoying to worse.

The only person this annoyance attacked during the game was me. I was being targeted, despite at that point the other two being the bigger threats. I’ve been on the receiving end of this sort of targeting before. It’s not fun.

This guy was ruining the game for me.

So I decided to scoop. I’d had enough. I also let them know what a dick they were.

They did try to apologise, unsure what they had done, and explain it as the way they act is part of their personality. I called them a twat at that point. Trying to use such a weak excuse to justify being a dick. Implying that it’s something they have no control over. Which from personal experience I know is bollocks.

So that was Tuesday afternoon spoiled, even ruined by a dick.

I was going to share the changes in this post. But that can wait for another day. One where I have played them some more.

Epic Ninja Skills

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

After taking Mum for her weekly Monday shopping trip to Morrison’s, I needed to play some MtG to unwind.

Luckily my FLGS as regular readers will know, runs a Commander Monday thing for those that find themselves at a lose end on a Monday afternoon.

When I got there all that was going on in store was a game of 40k. So while I was waiting for other Commander players to show up I made some changes to the ninja assassin deck.

Andy and Sam turned up with their Commander decks, and thus combat was started.

I was stuck on 3 mana for a few turns. It didn’t help that Sam countered or removed a couple of pieces that would have aided in me being able to play stuff. Whilst I was basically defenceless Sam then got a few cheap shots in with a 1/1 flyer. I was feeling a bit targeted by Sam.

For a ninja deck, my ninjas were staying rather well hidden. The only one I was able to ninjitsu out was my Commander!

Once my deck started delivering lands and cards so I could start stabilising and doing stuff, I was way behind on the mana front. Luckily Andy saw Sam as more of a threat than me, so he targeted Sam and not me. That really did give me the breathing space to get ready for the moment Sam was killed.

Fortunately for me, in a fitting moment of revenge it was me that delivered the killing blow to Sam.

The showdown between Andy and me was epic. He was casting cards from hand for free. Luckily Rhystic Study and God-Pharaoh’s Statue provided some cost to him. It also helped that he was top decking as well. Andy also had a massive life total. My only chance of victory was Commander damage.

But I was getting to a board state that if Andy didn’t do anything was going to give me the win. My Commander was buffed and unblockable by Andy. Archetype of Imagination really helped with that. Plus all my creatures were ninjas thanks to Conspiracy.

So I was swinging in for 4 Commander damage each turn. And that’s how I won. Sadly for Andy his Cyclonic Rift remained locked deep in his deck.

I like this deck a lot. It’s fun to play. At best I’d say that power wise it’s a 6.

On the way home I started thinking about updating the mono red aggro deck. I’ll play that next.

Ok you are probably at least curious about the changes I made to the deck. So for your entertainment and great comedic effect here is the section of the post that lists version 2 of the deck.

But before I go any further it’s probably best I give my boiler plate get out of jail disclaimer for my decks.

“I’m not claiming these are the best decks in the world, they certainly are not top competitive decks. They are hopefully fun, affordable (subjective I know) decks. I don’t try and keep to a target price point. I try and use as many cards in my collection as possible to keep my costs down. I’m certainly not a master deck builder claiming this deck will win tournaments, if it is fun to play and does it thing then I’ll be happy.“

16 new cards (bold italics below), which sees lands decrease to 34 from 37. The lands also see a rejig with the number of basic lands dropping also to make room for some more non-basic lands, including the new staple (for me anyway) Lotus Field.

I’ve added a bit more removal that allows me to handle Planeswalkers. But still nothing that allows me to get rid of enchantments specifically. I’m still relying on the rather blunt instrument of bouncing all permanents back to hand. Not ideal. But for now it’ll have to do.

Creatures:36

1 Changeling Outcast
1 Hired Poisoner
1 Mist-Cloaked Herald
1 Pilfering Imp
1 Siren Stormtamer
1 Cerulean Drake
1 Daring Saboteur
1 Duskmantle Operative
1 Metropolis Sprite
1 Skullsnatcher
1 Thrill-Kill Assassin
1 Warkite Marauder
1 Adaptive Automaton
1 Eyeblight Assassin
1 Mist-Syndicate Naga
1 Mistblade Shinobi
1 Slippery Scoundrel
1 Stronghold Assassin
1 Throatseeker
1 True-Name Nemesis
1 Walker of Secret Ways
1 Yuriko, the Tiger’s Shadow (Commander)
1 Azra Smokeshaper
1 Etrata, the Silencer
1 Ingenious Infiltrator
1 Moonblade Shinobi
1 Ninja of the Deep Hours
1 Storm Sculptor
1 Fallen Shinobi
1 Higure, the Still Wind
1 Ninja of the New Moon
1 Okiba-Gang Shinobi
1 Throat Slitter
1 Archetype of Imagination
1 Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni
1 Silent-Blade Oni

Spells:30

1 Bag of Holding
1 Brainstorm
1 Grafdigger’s Cage
1 Price of Betrayal
1 Scheming Symmetry
1 Sensei’s Divining Top
1 Silent Gravestone
1 Sol Ring
1 Crook of Condemnation
1 Cyclonic Rift
1 Pillar of Origins
1 The Elderspell
1 As Foretold
1 Commander’s Sphere
1 Golden Demise
1 Icon of Ancestry
1 Rhystic Study
1 Urza’s Incubator
1 Cryptic Command
1 Damnation
1 Diabolic Tutor
1 Mass Manipulation
1 Mastermind’s Acquisition
1 Vraska’s Contempt
1 Conspiracy
1 Devastation Tide
1 Increasing Ambition
1 Vanquisher’s Banner
1 God-Pharaoh’s Statue
1 The Immortal Sun

Lands:34

1 Arcane Lighthouse
1 Barren Moor
1 Blasted Landscape
1 Command Tower
1 Cryptic Caves
1 Crystal Vein
1 Darksteel Citadel
1 Dimir Aqueduct
1 Dimir Guildgate (a)
1 Dismal Backwater
1 Dreadship Reef
1 Evolving Wilds
1 Field of Ruin
1 Gateway Plaza
1 Guildmages’ Forum
1 Halimar Depths
5 Island
1 Isolated Watchtower
1 Jwar Isle Refuge
1 Lonely Sandbar
1 Lotus Field
1 Morphic Pool
1 Mortuary Mire
4 Swamp
1 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Unknown Shores
1 Watery Grave

So now you know the cards in the deck, it’s time for those pointless graphs.

What do you think of the changes?

I’m thinking I might try and squeeze in the leylines. Not sure what they would replace.

Silent but deadly

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

For the holidays my FLGS is running daily events on the days it’s open. Luckily for me there were a handful of us with spare time and a Commander deck at the store to play some Commander yesterday afternoon.

My initial activities at the store involved me putting the finishing touches to my Ninja Assassin deck. I’d got the majority of the cards I needed. I just hadn’t put the finishing touches to it. So I added some new Core Set 2020 “staples”, plus I took one or two cards out of my Scarab God Zombie deck.

It certainly could do with some optimisation. But as a “first draft” check I’m I’m along the right lines and that the general game plan works, it’d do.

I also got a rather nice fancy deck box for it. That fancy box being the Dragon Shield N100+ (or something like that).

It’s like a slim version of an Ultrapro deck box I have. The Ultrapro box is rather fancy, and was extremely difficult to get hold of at the time. These cool Dragon Shield N100+ boxes are easy to get for starters. Which is a big big plus.

We managed a couple of Commander games. The first one was a 3 player (Glen, Alex and myself) game, and I had Grafdigger’s Cage out, and it was keeping Glen’s deck under control. It stopped him using some graveyard shenanigans. So Alex kept attacking me! Naturally once I was out of the picture Glen was able to step up his game, use those shenanigans I’d kept under control and win.

Our second game was a five player game. Most of us had our moments, and were able to do something pretty cool. I particularly liked that I was getting to play some of those new “staples”. Scheming Symmetry was used really effectively in this game. I went and got a 7 CMC ninja and put on the top of my deck. Whilst the player I selected to join me in finding a card and putting it on top of their deck, went and chose a card that was going to be painless if used against them. That’s the nice thing having a ninja threat that let’s you exile the top 2 cards of their deck and cast the cards for free! Remember that 7 CMC ninja? Well with my Commander connecting that meant I hit everyone for 7 damage.

In the end Glenn and myself were head to head. But he was able to lock me down with enchantments long enough to grab the win.

I actually really enjoyed playing this deck. I love the ninjitsu mechanic. The deck needs some form of enchantment/artifact removal. Also I may have to dig out a Settle the score for those indestructible creatures. But I’m happy with the power level. It’s a 5 at best. Which is about right.

But before I go any further it’s probably best I give my boiler plate get out of jail disclaimer for my decks.

“I’m not claiming these are the best decks in the world, they certainly are not top competitive decks. They are hopefully fun, affordable (subjective I know) decks. I don’t try and keep to a target price point. I try and use as many cards in my collection as possible to keep my costs down. I’m certainly not a master deck builder claiming this deck will win tournaments, if it is fun to play and does it thing then I’ll be happy.“

Creatures:36

1 Changeling Outcast
1 Hired Poisoner
1 Mist-Cloaked Herald
1 Pilfering Imp
1 Siren Stormtamer
1 Cerulean Drake
1 Daring Saboteur
1 Duskmantle Operative
1 Metropolis Sprite
1 Skullsnatcher
1 Thrill-Kill Assassin
1 Warkite Marauder
1 Adaptive Automaton
1 Darkblade Agent
1 Eyeblight Assassin
1 Mist-Syndicate Naga
1 Mistblade Shinobi
1 Slippery Scoundrel
1 Stronghold Assassin
1 Throatseeker
1 Walker of Secret Ways
1 Yuriko, the Tiger’s Shadow (Commander)
1 Azra Smokeshaper
1 Etrata, the Silencer
1 Ingenious Infiltrator
1 Moonblade Shinobi
1 Nightshade Assassin
1 Ninja of the Deep Hours
1 Storm Sculptor
1 Fallen Shinobi
1 Higure, the Still Wind
1 Ninja of the New Moon
1 Okiba-Gang Shinobi
1 Throat Slitter
1 Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni
1 Silent-Blade Oni

Spells:27

1 Bag of Holding
1 Brainstorm
1 Grafdigger’s Cage
1 Scheming Symmetry
1 Sensei’s Divining Top
1 Silent Gravestone
1 Sol Ring
1 Crook of Condemnation
1 Cyclonic Rift
1 Dowsing Dagger
1 Pillar of Origins
1 Assassinate
1 Commander’s Sphere
1 Dimir Locket
1 Icon of Ancestry
1 Murder
1 Rhystic Study
1 Urza’s Incubator
1 Creeping Chill
1 Cryptic Command
1 Damnation
1 Diabolic Tutor
1 Drawn from Dreams
1 Mastermind’s Acquisition
1 Conspiracy
1 God-Pharaoh’s Statue
1 The Immortal Sun

Lands:37

1 Arcane Lighthouse
1 Barren Moor
1 Blasted Landscape
1 Command Tower
1 Cryptic Caves
1 Crystal Vein
1 Darksteel Citadel
1 Dimir Aqueduct
1 Dimir Guildgate (a)
1 Dismal Backwater
1 Dreadship Reef
1 Evolving Wilds
1 Field of Ruin
1 Gateway Plaza
1 Guildmages’ Forum
8 Island
1 Isolated Watchtower
1 Karn’s Bastion
1 Morphic Pool
8 Swamp
1 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Unknown Shores
1 Watery Grave

Oh and here is the obligatory mana curve.

Throne of Eldraine and Booster Fun Fun Fun! #MTGEldraine

magic, MtG, news

Over the weekend at a panel/talk at SDCC Chief MtG Game Designer extraordinaire Mark Rosewater dropped some bombs about the new set coming out at the start of October and changes to products/boosters.

This post is going to be my thoughts on what was said/written, and won’t cover everything. If you want to see what the full article says you can pop on over and read it on the WotC site HERE.

New Set

So let’s start with the name of the new set (which was actual released Friday) and that is Throne of Eldraine. As this tweet from during the talk shows it’s got a pretty cool theme in my opinion.

And I have to admit from the art they shared on Twitter, also during the talk (one or two bits I’ve shared below), I’m loving the look and art.

I love the mashup. Just with the pieces shared so far I was going oh that’s “Snow White”, that’s “The Little Mermaid”.

But below the mashup between what obviously is King Arthur and Snow White, and the Planeswalker emblem made out of a castle/Camelot in the middle. I hope this becomes a playmat. It’s a fantastic mashup of genres.

But the whole look has a kind of twisted fairy tale feel to it. I’ve seen a similar take before, just can’t put my finger on where. Does it get more twisted than the Goldilocks and the Three Bears below. What a wicked, twisted, image. I have expect this image to be shared over the internet naming and shaming Goldilocks and her trophy hunting of bears.

So after that pretty awesome art. Which did the intended job of getting me excited for the upcoming set. Let’s look at the fiddling with booster packs and cards!

Changes Already in Place

“…the chance of getting a foil has increased from less than one in four boosters to one in three.” Maybe I was unlucky but I didn’t seem to get more foils when opening boosters. Not a very scientific, fact based opinion. But I don’t record those sort of things whilst opening a booster box.

The new token frames, and particularly the art on them for Core Set 2020 has been stunning. Everyone at my FLGS has been commenting how much they like them.

The New Frames

I’m indifferent to the changes that are coming like the borderless Planeswalker cards, extended art frames and the showcase frames. I’m pretty sure if I pulled one, especially the borderless Planeswalker cards of a Planeswalker I really wanted, I’d be jumping the moon with excitement. Like I would now if it was a foil. And I’m pretty sure if I pulled any of them I’d be “oh wow”. Because even though the card images look cool on screen. They really look amazing when held in the hand. The images do not do the physical card justice.

Collector Boosters

An interesting product indeed. $20 – $25 boosters! I have no doubt this will sell. How much it will impact the sale of regular booster boxes or boosters I don’t know. It’s also going to be interesting to see how this effects the secondary market. Technically it’s putting more copies of the rare and mythics out there, especially in the new frames, and also more foils. It might be something I’d buy an odd booster of. But do the math 36 (assuming that a booster box is 36 packs and not 24) x $20. That’s $720 a box. An FLGS might sell a box for slightly less. But this has the potential to be the most expensive MtG product yet! But there are folks out there that will pay this.

Brawl Decks

Falling under flogging a dead horse. Brawl has been dead for over a year now. In fact it burned brightly for a couple of months, and then disappeared. WotC have announced that with Throne of Eldraine they will be producing preconstructed Brawl decks. So Brawl versions of Commander and Challenger decks. Too little too late? This was a product players were calling for when Brawl was introduced. But now?

When I read the article I thought why? Surely WotC know this is a dead format? Then I saw the tweet below.

I still think that WotC are missing the point with 1v1 versions of multiplayer formats. It’s the multiplayer part that makes them popular. But with them introducing the format to Arena, it’s natural that they would try and resurrect and breathe life back into the format. Because let’s face it they want the Arena players to be able to go into their FLGS and play the format also. Which I don’t think will happen.

I’m not sure the Brawl decks will sell. Unless all the cards in the Brawl decks are standard legal and these “new mechanically unique cards” become core to a top tier standard deck. I just don’t see these decks selling as well as the Commander products, or for that matter the Challenger decks.

No one plays the format. So why buy decks for a format no one plays? Unless it’s for the cards to use in other formats.

And yes Arena is still dead to me. And when it eventually does come out on iOS it will still be dead to me. WotC will have to do something they will never do and be generous with all the Arena codes I have sitting in a pile gathering dust, and let me use them all. But from the sidelines, the restrictions on the number of codes that a person can use is still ridiculously mean. The new master tree thing looks like another way to fleece players. It seems the only lessons WotC are learning from the video game industry is all it’s worst practices.

We won’t revisit why Arena is not beta software. Ok let’s, if you are running million dollar events relying on the software, paying celebs and streamers to use and stream your software. Then that’s not beta. You don’t run high profile events on beta software. That was shorter than I thought.

In the meantime they continue trying to bend the physical game to make life easier for Arena players, what looks good for streaming, and easier for their coders.

Also in a weeks time it’s spoiler season time once more…

From leaked spoilers last week we already know the core mechanics that will be in the four new Commander decks. But I’ll talk about those and how I feel about the new decks at the time of the spoilers.

So that’s my thoughts. What do you think of theses announcements?

WotC Ruin Saturdays

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


The first Not Saturday Showdown since Core Set 2020 hit, and WotC changed how they did prize support for organised play, and killed off Standard Showdown.

A simple explanation of the new prize support is now each store gets an allocation of prize packs (the equivalent of the old Showdown packs) based on the tickets and engaged players that they have.

Each pack is made up of 4 cards. You can get the full break down HERE.These new packs replace FNM promos, Open House promos, and Standard Showdown packs, etc.

I think my FLGS gets 8 or 10 packs a week to use as prizes for all events in a week. It used to get 6 Standard Showdown packs a week, plus promos for FNM, and any event specific ones.

Just how would this new system work?

Not very well.

Basically there were 2 packs up for grabs 1 each for the top 2 spots. No door prize for last place. And no random draw for the remaining packs for the week. So there was less prizes, and less chance of getting a prize. Pretty shitty.

For me WotC have ruined our Not Standard Showdown. They spent all this time trying to build up the standard player base. Which is what they want really. It sells packs/booster boxes. Now with abandoning the Standard Showdown event, cutting down the prize support they are putting this at risk, and undermining the store and that format.

Standard Showdown was fun (still is). It was/is cheap to enter. However just getting a booster pack for participating and a greatly reduced chance of a prize is not enough to attract me. Now I ask the question do I travel the half hour to my FLGS to get just a booster pack or do I stay local and play with friends? The later option sounds a lot more attractive now. Back to kitchen table magic.

In the above equation I also need to factor in the meta. In my FLGS meta it’s getting a bit stagnant. Only two or three of us play different decks on a regular basis. The majority play the same deck week in week out, with the odd tweak when new cards come out. Some of those decks are pretty strong, and means they finish in the higher places regularly. Which reduces the chances even more of a prize in the new prize support structure. And it’s not much fun. Oh it’s your aggro dino deck again, oh cool burn. This new less generous prize support is only going to encourage more of this sort of meta. In fact it’s going to encourage more net decking for the better decks.

So reflecting on the above what WotC have decided for me is no more Not Standard Showdown. I’ll probably only attend pre-releases now. Won’t bother with booster boxes. I’d already dropped the bundle because of the change to it for Core Set 2020. I’ll target buy the cards that I need for Commander when new sets come out. Which actually hurts WotC because they don’t see any of that money. And just concentrate on playing my favourite format of Commander with friends.

It’s going to be interesting to see if my decision is reflected amongst other MtG players, and if is if the number doing so will make a difference.

So yesterday in my actual event games I did crap. No hiding from it. Being mana screwed in a few of them just didn’t help.

Now the casual games was a different story. Especially against Bob. But when it counted he won. Our casual game where I played Orzhov against his burn was funny. The games were over in seconds! First game opening hand Leyline of Sanctity. So a turn zero play. He saw that, slammed his hand on the table, put it on top,of his deck, and conceded. Game 2, I mulliganed into the Leyline again. Same result. It was funny his reaction. But we are used to that from him. Plus mono red burn typically doesn’t have any enchantment removal. Leyline of Combustion also proved affective against burn.

Let’s look at the cold hard numbers that don’t lie, but don’t tell the whole story either!

Casual Games

Bob (before): Win 2-1

Kid (before): Win 2-0

Bob (between using Orzhov deck): Win 2-0

Bob (at end): Win 1-0

Not Standard Showdown Stats

Participants: 11

Rounds: 4

Round 1: Sam Loss 0-2

Round 2: Buy Win

Round 3: Dean Loss 0-2

Round 4: Bob Loss 0-2

Record: 1-3

Final Position: 9th

Prizes: 1 participation pack

So for the history books this is version 2 of the Gruul Dino deck that I used at the weekend. You can, if you are even remotely interested to see my initial version of the deck, look at the post with the deck list here.

But before I go any further it’s probably best I give my boiler plate get out of jail disclaimer for my decks.

“I’m not claiming these are the best decks in the world, they certainly are not top competitive decks. They are hopefully fun, affordable (subjective I know) decks. I don’t try and keep to a target price point. I try and use as many cards in my collection as possible to keep my costs down. I’m certainly not a master deck builder claiming this deck will win tournaments, if it is fun to play and does it thing then I’ll be happy.“

Creatures:27

4 Marauding Raptor
3 Otepec Huntmaster
4 Raptor Hatchling
3 Ranging Raptors
2 Ripjaw Raptor
4 Shifting Ceratops
3 Charging Monstrosaur
2 Regisaur Alpha
2 Ghalta, Primal Hunger

Spells:12

3 Commune with Dinosaurs
2 Act of Treason
3 Rhythm of the Wild
2 Vivien, Champion of the Wilds
1 Vivien, Arkbow Ranger
1 Vivien Reid

Lands:21

3 Evolving Wilds
8 Forest
7 Mountain
3 Rugged Highlands

Sideboard:15

3 Thrashing Brontodon
2 Grazing Whiptail
1 Burning Sun’s Avatar
1 Carnage Tyrant
2 Grafdigger’s Cage
2 Savage Stomp
2 Tibalt, Rakish Instigator
2 Leyline of Combustion

And as is tradition for when I give a deck list here is the mana curve and cost of the deck.

Core Set 2020 Draft Weekend

magic, MtG

For your FLGS the cash injection that is a MtG release continues. There was Pre-release last weekend, and then this weekend it was the actual release and all product could be sold, and draft events.

While waiting for the draft to start I got to play some games of Standard against Sam and his deck. He was playing a deck built around Arclight Phoenix and Crackling Drake. It’s a strong deck. I didn’t sideboard anything. I think I’ll need some plummets in the sideboard to take this deck on. Plus some graveyard hate.

We started the draft and I pulled a Leyline of Sanctity in my opening pack. Sweet. I now had a playset of them. I’m very happy with that. It also set the colour I started drafting. That first pack I drafted only white cards. I knew I’d need a second colour, and decided to go blue.

I think I’m getting worse at this MtG thing. I managed to scrape a win against an ex-student. But otherwise things didn’t go exactly to plan. Against Sam I got mana screwed in our first game. Which never helps. But was the opposite to one of the losses I suffered against Andy in the first round when I flooded out! There was a little laugh with John when he beat me. When he was delivering his killing blow there was a misplay when he tried to do 2 direct damage to me from an ability. Only for me to point out to him that he was unable to target me, I was hexproof. It was a minor moral victory. Poor compensation for losing.

ok here are the cold hard stats.

Casual Games

Dean: Loss 0-1

Sam: Loss 0-3

Draft Stats

Participants: 10

Rounds: 4

Round 1: Andy Loss 0-2

Round 2: Tom Win 2-1

Round 3: Sam Loss 0-2

Round 4: John Loss 0-2

Record: 1-3

Final Position: 8th

Prizes: 1 participation pack

I have to say that I think with the changes to the prize support for events that WotC have made, things are definitely more stingy. If Not Standard Showdown plays our the way I think it will, then next week will be my last one. But we will discuss this in more detail next week. But the spoiler and headline for my theory that will be tested is that WotC are slowly killing off and discouraging these sort of events.

Gruul Dino’s and Big Green Stompy Things

magic, MtG

After spending a lot of the weekend playing MtG at Pre-Release events, there was only one way to spend the Monday afternoon (considering it’s the end of the academic year and I have no classes) playing MtG and particularly because it was…

Before we got into playing Commander I was lucky enough to get some test games of my new Gruul Dino Standard deck in with Andy. This was the deck I mentioned I ended up building real early Saturday.

We played 3 games, lost all 3 but they were not walk overs. Plus I didn’t side board any cards in that may have made a difference. I wanted to get a feel for the deck and how it played. What cards did I think I needed whilst playing? Had I got the mix right?

Overall I was happy with the way the deck worked.

Ok here is the deck tech bit for those interested.

But before I go any further it’s probably best I give my boiler plate get out of jail disclaimer for my decks.

“I’m not claiming these are the best decks in the world, they certainly are not top competitive decks. They are hopefully fun, affordable (subjective I know) decks. I don’t try and keep to a target price point. I try and use as many cards in my collection as possible to keep my costs down. I’m certainly not a master deck builder claiming this deck will win tournaments, if it is fun to play and does it thing then I’ll be happy.“

Creatures:29

4 Marauding Raptor
3 Otepec Huntmaster
4 Raptor Hatchling
3 Ranging Raptors
3 Ripjaw Raptor
4 Shifting Ceratops
3 Charging Monstrosaur
3 Regisaur Alpha
2 Ghalta, Primal Hunger

Spells:10

4 Commune with Dinosaurs
2 Rhythm of the Wild
1 Savage Stomp
2 Vivien, Champion of the Wilds
1 Vivien, Arkbow Ranger

Lands:21

2 Evolving Wilds
8 Forest
1 Lotus Field
7 Mountain
3 Rugged Highlands

Sideboard:15

3 Thrashing Brontodon
3 Grazing Whiptail
3 Adventurous Impulse
1 Grafdigger’s Cage
2 Hijack
1 Savage Stomp
2 Leyline of Combustion

Even though the AMC is 3.49, which is high for me, that’s not really an issue with this deck. Or it’s less than an issue than it could be. With the discount given by huntmaster and marauding I’m playing those more expensive dinos 1 or 2 turns early.

I’m also loving the cost of the deck, which because the app couldn’t price 3 cards is actually slightly more expensive. But still the cost of those cards will be minimal. For me I had the cards already, plus the new ones I pulled or traded on Friday/Saturday. So it’s a free deck for me. Which is nice. Come rotation this deck gets gutted. But in the meantime I think it’s going to be a fun one to play.

I might play around with the Planeswalkers. Vivien Reid for starters should be in this deck. But my only copy was sitting in my Big Green Stompy Commander deck. I’ve always needed a second, but been too tight to splash out the cash for one. The mythic Chandra would be cool to try out. Although thematically she doesn’t fit in with the deck. But I’m getting the impression that if you splash red in a deck she will be an auto include.

The sideboard does need tweaking. The new Tibalt needs adding for those matchups against lifegain decks.

I’m half tempted to try a game or two with leylines not in my colours! Void and Sanctity are powerful cards. It’s not as if you need the mana to play them if they are in the opening hands!

We were down for 6 player Commander. I was playing big green stompy, that had the new hydras added to it, Vivien Reid and Vivien, Champion of the Wilds, Unbound Flourishing and Wilderness Reclamation.

With Doubling Season out I did ultimate Vivien when she was played. That was fun. But one of us was playing a deck way up on the power scale compared to the rest of us. A bit of a dick thing to do really.

But still I did some stuff. Had a good time. Despite the dick stuff from that player. A great relaxed Monday afternoon. A glimpse of retired life. Sadly for now these are few and far apart.