Mistform Mondays: Pack Wars

A day late but like they say, it's the late wyrm that catches the bird that rises too early. Here we go!

Unfortunately, due to being busier and long distance from my good bud and blog partner in crime MGR, the Mistform Monday articles are going to be rather short as I can not meet with him to test different formats as often as I'd like. I'll still try to get a game in when I can but most of my articles will probably be on my thoughts of new formats I've learned about and want to try.

It's sort of the same. You do all get to ride a tank together while playing.

Today I'll talk about one of the more popular casual formats: Pack Wars. Well, there may be competitive pack wars players out there and maybe I'll join their ranks one day. GP Vegas had a single elim pack wars wherein you added an additional pack each time you won a game and kept going up the ladder until you were the last man (or woman!) standing with a bunch of Modern Masters packs and presumably a 300 card deck. It sounded like great fun for all involved. It was free so that was even better. Alas, I wasn't able to make the trip but I'm hoping this is a tradition that continues with GPs in the future. (Edit: just learned from MGR that GP Sacramento's site is up: http://www.gpsacramento.com/. Check it out! It features a nice Friday pack wars event for those who can make it.)

I'm not the best rules writer out there so here is the info copied directly from the MTG website:
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Mini-Master (also known as Pack Wars)

You and your friends have just bought some booster packs. You're going to open them to get to the good stuff inside. But wait—why not play some Magic as you're opening your packs?

Setting up for Mini-Master is very simple. Each player needs a single booster pack of Magic cards. Without looking at the contents, each player opens his or her pack and adds in three of each basic land (Plains, Island, Swamp, Mountain, and Forest). They then shuffle up and play a game of Magic just like normal. Because players don't know what cards are in their decks, Mini-Master offers up the same surprises players get when they open a fresh new pack of Magic cards. Is the rare you're hoping to open going to help you beat your opponent? Or will you lose the game but still walk away happy with the cards you managed to crack? Mini-Master is great for letting you play with new cards while still keeping the excitement of opening a new booster!

Many Mini-Master variants exist. A different way to do it is for each player to open a booster and have that entire booster become his or her opening hand! During each player's turn, that player may choose a basic land from outside the game and put it into play. Players play without libraries; effects that say to draw a card have no effect, and there is no penalty for being unable to draw.
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Seems pretty simple, right? Setup just involves 2 booster packs and 30 basic lands. I've been a big fan of this format ever since I've heard of it as you get to open that sweet booster for a hopefully sweet reward but also turn it from a solo booster opening experience (with maybe a friend or two viewing and cheering you on) into a cooperative expeirence with the friend that makes all those probably tossed away commons and uncommons (and the occasional Meletis Charlatan) usable! And sometimes, winning with the jank rare vs your opponent's foil Thoughtseize is worth having opened a junk rare to begin with.

I strongly recommend this format if you find yourself planning to pick up some packs or have just won some packs. It definitely beats going 1-2 in Swiss draft and thinking, "sweet I won a pack!" and then getting home and being welcomed home by this friendly sight:

You should have stayed in the shadows, man. But good to see you too.

I'll end this article by saying I've never seen a rare table a draft table so often and I may finally have a rare I can collect to fill one of those Ultra Pro binders. So far I've got a playset. Only 356 more to go!

Oh yes, random creature type of the week: Dragon.

Big mana! Doing devotion style permanent checks before it was cool.

How can you not like dragons? Without dragons, this format would not exist! While I may have enjoyed Elder Phelddagrif Highlander, even I am glad we didn't have a one deck format. So to dragons, I say thank you for being so old and awesome. I can see why dragon collectors are out there as their flashiness oozes cool, raw power. WotC knows this too and thus they made the first From the Vault star dragons. I'm also glad that despite forcing a dragon in every set*, they are at least pushing dragons to be more unique, if not just powerful enough to see play. Gone are the recent days of "vanilla" dragons who had some form of firebreathing and flying and 5/5 or so stats. Rather boring and made dragons feel less special and more like Vizzerdrix**.

He eagerly awaits his fated fight against Trained Orgg.

So a couple stories to share. The very first dragon I got was this beauty:

The last one non-modernized!

I got it back in high school from a random Invasion pack. Back then I didn't know it's power because there was no way I was able to make a 3 color deck work on my limited collection. I may have tried but I'm pretty sure it failed miserably. But wow, what a powerhouse it would have been! It may just be nostalgia goggles, but I still think it's decently powerful. Great against tokens (like the ones produced by Rhys and, less so, Prossh) and at worst, ou use it as a sorcery speed Evacuate if you ned to bounce an on color swarm of creatures. I ended up trading it and some other cards for an Avatar of Woe (which I still have!) and a couple random cards. I don't regret the trade but I do miss my very first dragon and want to pick it up again one day.

The second story was when FTV: Dragons was released. I stopped by the store late in the day to try and pick one up and it was then I found out how limited these things were. To give the store credit (Games of Berkeley FTW!), they handled it very well and held a raffle to pick who could buy it at MSRP. I think this is probably the fairest way to do things. Fortunately, all was not lost as many ears later, MGR gave me this other beauty:

Because sometimes you hit 16 mana in momir and want a guaranteed flier to desperately stop your opponent’s storm crow from dealing lethal.

And that's it for the super cool dragons!

*A decision I don't entirely agree with. I'd rather they put them in when they fit and when they've got a good design. Like Stormbreath Dragon being Typhon was something I never knew but was super cool to learn about.

**Yes, Vizzerdrix fans, I apologize for the comment. I'm sure Duel Decks: Dragons v Vizzerdrix will happen soon. Just keep on dreaming!

Tournament Preperation

So something I wanted to talk about today, this Tuesday, was tournament prep. The reason? With GP Sacramento coming up in a few months, and it fresh in my mind, I thought it would be a good time to talk about.

Now this is talking about competitive REL tournaments, but here is a simple checklist of things you should do before and during a tournament:

1. Sleep Well
2. Bring snacks and water
3. Double check your decklist the night before and print out a decklist (if constructed)
4. Write your decklist legibly if in sealed or draft
5. Announce all triggers and life totals
6. Play slow
7. Bring dice, bring a notepad and pen
8. Don't bring anything more than you absolutely need to play
9. Relax and have fun.

 So I'm going to go into a bit of detail with each of these. Following all of these tips will help ensure maximizing your play and giving you the best edge to doing well!

1. Sleep well: This one is pretty obvious. Don't bother test playing the night before, instead just make

Don't let sleep deprivation lead to this

sure you sleep well. It might be especially hard if you are excited to play the next day, but sleeping well is good for many reasons. One, if you have to drive to the tournament location, you want to have the mental capacity to drive safely. Two, again if this is your first big tournament, it will be a lot, A LOT longer of a tournament than normal. You can expect to be playing magic for twelve hours, and when the later rounds matter most, those are the rounds you will be most tired.

Drinking this round 1 will cause a crash 

by round 8

2. Bring snacks and water: This is pretty important. There are probably not going to be any food areas in your immediate area, sometimes the nearest food place will take half an hour to walk there. You do not want to be in this situation, playing against slow decks and never having a long break. You also
don't want your mind being on the fact you are hungry while in the middle of a match, and you can't always depend on having a friend having the time to get you food. Additionally, water is even more important. You must stay hydrated. Dehydration will cause slight lapses in judgment, headache, and make it harder to think in general. I say water and healthy snacks because, things high in sugar will eventually cause your blood sugar to fall faster, which will ultimately mean you will need more sugar to boost you back up or your mind will start to crash.

3. You always want to double or triple check a decklist, have it all ready the day before and don't make any changes on the way there. I have been on the side where you make those last minute changes and forget to write one card, causing game losses. Printing out a decklist is almost always preferred as you can go back and double or triple check it and easily edit it before printing it. Additionally, judges will like it as typed is always easier to read than handwriting.

Can you even read this?

4. Especially in limited, you will always want to write legibly. If a judge deems your handwriting illegible, he might give you a warning or a loss, or even a DQ if he thinks its intentional. Just better to take the extra time.





5. Announce all triggers and life totals. You want to announce everything. In casual games or casual REL you probably may never do this. However, you want everything announced right away in case there is any disparity, the game has not moved forward at all. Additionally, you do not want an opponent accusing you of missing a trigger to a judge, that is usually an automatic warning for missing triggers, even you are trying to shortcut them and just go past them. Always announce everything.

6. Play slow: I will say this with caution. Playing too slowly may make your opponent think you are stalling, and you will be given a warning by a judge. However, always play slowly and think everything out. Do not assume any play is automatic, always take an extra second to think if there is something else you need to do, if you are walking into a trap, etc. This is especially true for those opponents who try to rush you.

You don't need tokens this expensive or fancy, but have something!

7. Bring dice, notepad, and a pen: Dice is always important. Assume that no one will lend you dice, and assume that your opponent won't have any either. Always keep track of life on pen and paper. Never with dice, never with a phone. Some judges may disallow phone apps, with paper you can
always keep track of all life from beginning of a game to end, and if there is ever a dispute the judge will always look more favorably with the person with the pen and paper vs those without. Finally, if you are going to be using tokens, don't use dice as your tokens. You cannot tell if a dice is tapped or untapped, and your opponent may tell you that you cannot use dice. Additionally, in longer games that exhaust you easier, you may forget as well. It's best to play it safe and err on the side of caution.

8. Don't bring anything more than you need: outside of your pen, paper, tokens, dice, deckbox, snacks, water, do not bring anything else. In big tournaments, there will always be people looking to

Type of bag I would bring

get easy steal. These places will easily get crowded and it is very easy to get stuff stolen. If you need to, bring a messenger bag or something that will go over your shoulder and can't be easily snatched, has zippers so people can't easily slip their hand inside and do a quick grab, and you can sit on your lap during a match just so no one else will take it.





9. Finally, relax and have fun. You play the card game to have fun, so do it! Relaxing is very important. Letting your nerves get to you can be really bad, cause you to make misplays, and is very easy to read in terms of body language. Your opponents may even pick up on this and press you, causing further misplays or oversight on simple things. Just relax, slow down, and take a deep breath if you need to.

Finally a bonus tip. Always call a judge when in doubt of anything! Use your biggest voice, and call a judge. Don't think of it as a jerk move, just do it.

Hello! I've been away for quite a long time due to "mysterious" reasons (which probably had to do with trying to assemble a real life Pikmin army) but I am almost settled and ready to make more posts. It's Elder Dragon Sunday so here I am to offer up another report on the matches that MGR and I have been conducting.

Today it's two new decks: Lyzolda (MGR) vs Reaper King (Me). Both powerful additions added to the ever increasing roster of EDH decks we own and actively use. Fortunately we've set a hard ceiling on the total number of decks in contention for the year so we won't ruin our ability to see which is the top deck. Unfortunately, that year ends in just two months and we've already added 5 or 6 new decks. EDH sure does inspire fun new builds that can be relatively cheap. More on that process in a future article I'm sure.

So MGR piloted the aggressive, sacrificial, land hating Lyzolda of the Rakdos Guild and I piloted the artifact and land loving Reaper King. Seems like a funny battle of resources. Will Lyzolda waste the lands before Reaper King reaps and sows? We'll find out after the break!

This break brought to you by Random Card of the Day. Hey it fits!

...Okay break over. Game 1 was not the best showing for Lyzolda. Stuck on two lands for a while, MGR was unable to destroy lands nor start his Lyzolda card advantage engine while I just ramped more and more till I was able to drop Reaper King unmolested and eventually win. These games are the worst showcases of a deck's ability and unfortunately sometimes that just happens with variance. But we're not here to showcase fixed games and thus Game 1 counted and went to Reaper King.

He didn't do much this time but he's an all-star in Lyzolda.

Game 2 fared much better for MGR in the mana and land destruction department. However, I was able to draw into Summer Bloom and other sources of additional land plays and make the single land destruction spells less effective. Eventualy I controlled the board with the Sunforger and charm package and won.

A great card when you can't afford Exploration or Azusa.

Result: Lyzolda vs Reaper King: 0-2

This wasn't the best opening act for Lyzolda but later matches will prove that her land destruction abilities are rather potent and demand that you not keep a shaky hand with too high a curve. This game also displayed just how powerful Sunforger is if you can afford the mana to equip and use it within the same turn. And at 5 mana, that's not that tough. Especially versatile with access to all five colors. This match showed MGR it's power and he's decided to it into one of his EDH decks as well. A great card that I'll talk about more this Tuesday as that's when I'll post Reaper King's deck tech article.

Sample Saturday: Back, with some food!

So I know that I personally have taken the week off of blogging for more important things (university midterms and such) but I am back (and hopefully to stay)
Anyway, here is some food reviews that I did while I was gone!

First up, here is a taco bell review!

I decided to order the crunchwrap supreme box! I had already tried the new doritos taco in a previous review so I decided to pick something else that was big on their menu.

Here is what it looks like when you open the box:

First up, we have the regular taco:

There really is not much to say about it. They use colby cheese, standard chopped iceburg lettuce, and ground beef with cumin in it. I would say it's a pretty average taco, great for their standard price. I would rate a 3/5. It's something that I would try at least once if you never have, even if just a value item.

Next up we have the supreme burrito. Although they call it a supreme burrito, there was not much in it. Every bite just tasted like lettuce and beans. When I looked inside of it, it just had sour cream, lettuce, and beans. It tasted like a very standard bean burrito, with the lettuce kind of mushy and hard to taste and the sour cream was not able to be tasted over the beans anyway. 2/5

Finally, we had the crunchwrap:

I was curious what was inside the crunchwrap as I never had tasted it before.

So inside, it looks pretty much like a regular taco except with chopped tomatos and with no meat in it. Seems decent right? Well, with every bite there was a lot of nacho cheese in it, so much that it pretty much overpowered everything except the tortillas. There was even points where the nacho cheese was oozing out because there was so much of it. I guess if you are a fan of nacho cheese you would like this. I rate it a 2/5.


Okay, so there is the taco bell review!
Next, onto a place that I went to called Umi Sushi. I asked the waitress there what was one of the most popular items. She replied with the bento box teryiaki chicken. Here is what it looked like:

First, I want to talk about the teriyaki chicken, the main part. The chicken was very dry, but they put a lot of the teryiaki sauce on it. The sauce was good, a bit strong on the sesame seed oil, however overall pretty good. 3/5, is what I thought upon initial bites. However, as I kept eating the chicken, the sauce was starting to get too overbearing, especially the aftertaste. Additionally, it felt like it was getting TOO salty, and needed something like water to tolerate it. I would rate it 2/5 at the end.
The white rice was average, not too dry yet not too moist. Would rate a 3/5.
The vegetables they used tasted very fresh. The cabbage was good, it did not taste as strong as you would normally expect pickled cabbage to taste. Would rate them a 4/5.
The california roll that was at the top was pretty standard. The avacado that they used was very ripe though which I liked, giving it a rating of 4/5.
Overall, the bento box seems like a great value at under 10 dollars, however, I would pick something besides the teriyaki chicken.

Commander 2013 Special Review Part 2: Red, Green, Artifacts, and Land

And we're back to finish the review of the 51 new cards introduced specifically for EDH and maybe even a Legacy playable card or two. Once again, MGR and I are tackling this set review together and are quite eager to see if our card eval skills will measure up when we finally see these cards in action. After all, I once thought Oni of Wild Places was unplayable but it beat me once and now I respect it for the powerhouse it truly is.

MGR: This is probably the best curse with the best incentive. Looting is always great.

QSP:

MGR: This is a reason to play more basic lands. I wish this was modern playable. I can see this getting played and used a lot in any deck that has red, in combination with price of progress, ruination, etc.

QSP:

QSP: I see this card and two cards spring to mind: Cleansing Beam and Mizzium Mortars. Cleansing Beam is in the stock Kaalia list and usually seems hilariously overcosted. It is an instant which is a nice screw you against token decks like Rhys maybe but most of the time a pyroclasm would suffice. Or even Lightning Bolt. Now Mizzium Mortars does the hit only opponents creatures part too and does it better but is limited to 4 damage. I think this may be better than Mortars in EDH due to scalability and not making too many enemies at once. If only I could replace Cleansing Beam with it. Alas, that dream will face a sudden demise.

MGR: A much much much better cleansing beam. That's it.

QSP: This can be a very potent card in decks that want tokens. It's like that join forces card, Alliance of Arms, in token making power for everyone. Except it goes to show how tempting offer is a better mechanic than join forces. With Alliance of Arms, you have your work cut out for you to convince the other players to feed mana in so every gets a sizable army. And if you have some way to abuse it, well good luck getting them to contribute. But with this card, you pay the mana upfront and each other player sees if they can use a free army as well and I would imagine that someone is bound to agree to join in. As a plus, if it happens that the player to your right is the current top dog that needs to be dethroned, everyone around him will agree to your offer and he'll face multiple hastey tokens of doom.

MGR:This could be insane in a deck where you have doubling season or parallel lives, as you will still get double the tokens someone else does. I think overall it's a good card to play.

MGR: I don't really see the reason for this unless you have some way to give trample. It's pretty weak on its own, and it reminds me a lot of spitemare (which I would rather play)
At 4 CMC there are probably better things you can do.

QSP:

MGR: This is a great card, I could even see this seeing legacy play. There are so many shuffle effects in every format except standard, that this gives great incentive to not shuffle. Another reason to be playing more basics!

QSP:

QSP: It's like a beefed up Sulfuric Vortex! Give yourself shroud or hexproof and watch in awe as your opponents roll a die and accuse each other of witch craft. It's a fun card that I hope would have cost a mana or two less but as is, I think it's too easily dealt with and has too little impact for damage when it passes around like it does.

MGR:A fun "chaos" card, I think it's a pretty poor card in general. Would rather play sulfuric vortex or even Erebos for the can't gain life clause.

QSP: I might be overreacting here but this seems extremely powerful as a Reveillark-able, Green Sun's Zenith-itizing target for big rampy green decks. Fracturing Gust on a stick that sets back all the decks that use mana rocks to accel. It's as good as land destruction! But lots of decks depend on some utility artifacts or enchantments, including big green ramp decks, so this may be held in check. Who knows but I am not looking forward to facing it.

MGR: Although QSP thinks this will be a good card, I think it will be less so. A lot of decks depend on ramp, but decks that play reveillark or stuff also rely on artifacts and enchantments as well, as trying to just slow roll your way to 6 mana is pretty bad, even in multiplayer EDH. It also isn't the best to GSZ with, I think there are better targets at CMC6 or less.

MGR: This one is probably one of the better curses, as it gets better the more creatures you attack with. I can see this being really good in token strategies or the naya deck where you attack with a lot of guys. Pretty great with edric.

QSP:

MGR: This seems pretty bad, it might be fun just to see what everyone has on the top of their library, but there are way better creatures green has at CMC8. And, what if everyone reveals a land!!

QSP:

QSP: Giving everyone a Doubling Season effect may not matter most of the time since how many other decks are there that abuse +1/+1 counters or tokens. And if you do face one, you can play the waiting game till you can abuse it then hopefully remove it (maybe with Bane of Progress even!) before they take advantage of it. But I still think most of the time it serves as a nice budget Doubling Season #2.

MGR:It's nice as an additional doubling season, but I can see this backfiring on you very easily if your opponent starts proliferating or has a planeswalker or something. I probably wouldn't want to play it and just play doubling season and parallel lives.

QSP: What a cool card. You can target a land from any graveyard so, when combined with Strip Mine, this will be a gold mine! It's not the worst form of ramp when combined with fetch lands either. I want to try this out and see if it lives up to my expectations.

MGR:This could be a great sideboard card vs a lands deck in legacy, to take away a wasteland or something. In EDH, it holds the same value. Additionally, it acts as ramp, and can take an opponent's fetch easily. Great card.

MGR: This seems pretty bad. 8 mana and you tie up a land to put a 5/5 into play. I am a bit tired, but I am pretty sure QSP will come up with something that is cheaper that puts tokens into play that's better.

QSP:

MGR: I like this card in big multiplayer strategies. You can get any land card, and can end up with a huge amount of lands. Seems great, especially with a landfall ability, you will make your opponent think twice about that.

QSP:

QSP: I think the theme of this multi part set review is that Hidden Strings is a good card. Derevi looks to be a great enabler for such strategies and this isn't even taking into account his Cheaty Face McGee powers from the command zone. I like it in a deck that wants to do things at instant speed all the time. Because it's stylish. Even if you walk right into a player who untaps and draws the counter.

MGR:It's nice, and as a bird wizard tactician, has nice flavor, but I really think Roon is the best commander in the list. However, I think this guy goes great with edric as his backup.

QSP: Of the two new Naya generals, I prefer Gahiji (who has an awesome name btw) since it feels fresher than Marath and his Ulasht/Ghave mish mash. I know this is just a mix between the abundance of power boosting effects and Edric's punish opponents ability but I like it. And it makes the token army into a real power house. More fun for all!

MGR:I feel that this creature is very uninspired, a very basic ability. But in a deck such as Naya, it works and is great. Especially since a lot of the cards printed in the naya shard depend on your creature having 5 power, and this effectively will get creatures to that threshold.

MGR: So I personally love this card because the ability is a bit different, although I do not think it will be that great. There is going to have to be some heavy ramp (in a edh deck that doesn't have green) to make this work, on top of things like the boot or greaves to make her work very well at all.

QSP:

MGR: I love that this card already had an errata to it, X cannot be zero. I can foresee some type of combo deck to just shoot your opponent out of the game and recasting him for more mana and more counters. I like his utility a lot and think he will be a great general.

QSP:

QSP: I've said before that I'm not a fan of this strategy but I'm glad Wizards has printed a general for those who are. I'm not sure how powerful he'll end up being as he looks easy to remove to me but he is a solid choice for all you fans of Windfall and Wheel of Fortune effects.

MGR: In addition to what QSP said, liliana's caress and megrim are also good cards to go with this general and what he said.

QSP: I've never had a deck built around life gain effects but this guy makes those decks far easier to function. I'm excited to try it out with the precon he's in. And the ability to draw cards off the life gain can quickly get out of hand. Gogo extort deck copter!

MGR:I personally think the ability is very good, and he seems the best of the 5 generals, however I think he is very boring in terms of ability and how to build a deck around him.

MGR: I don't really like jund token strategies, but Prossh is very good at what he does. An all in deck with prossh swinging in for a lot of damage seems very viable here.

QSP:

MGR: I think this guy is nuts, he can attack and activate his ability. The fact that he can hit any other creature is huge. I foresee blink and ETB being even more crazy.

QSP:

QSP: A trio of goblin brothers who like to shatter things, what's not to like? The abilities seem kind of costly but very versatile. I think Prossh makes for a better general for creature sacrifice decks but these guys would be fun to try out for the disenchant options. Makes me think about what kind of deck can really use all the options.

MGR:Nice utility commander, and I like the flavor a lot. However, like QSP said, I don't know any deck that can abuse the abilities. Maybe I am overlooking something.

QSP: She's so pretty! Just like MGR said in a spoiler article. Other than that, I like that esper players have another artifact themed general to choose that's not Sharuum. I'm sure esper Karn will be fun to use. Her ability to make artifact creatures into Vampire Nighthawks should not be underestimated either.

MGR: Reminds me of the opposite of Oblivion Stone. I think it will be funny if you can move the doom counters around, or if you start blinking this to have a lot of doom counters everywhere. First thing I am putting a doom counter on is an opponent's land!
I think this has great political power. I can see the following happening "We have to kill the general or you will die, don't put a doom counter on my permanent or I won't blow it up!"

QSP:

MGR: Seems like a really good card with landfall, and a great card to put in a deck if you know you are playing big multiplayer EDH games. Sadly though, it seems horrible in 1v1 EDH.

QSP:

QSP: Ah the new card that takes the former Command Tower slot. I was curious how they'd try to top their previous EDH land and this one is a doozy. At worst it's a Shimmering Grotto which, let's be honest, isn't the worst possible land to have in a multicolor deck, and at best it pushes some generals into a nicer power/toughness stat for just one more mana. Sometimes that extra boost creates a turn faster clock so it evens out. It even combos with generals like Ghave, Skullbriar, and of course, the powerhouse Animar. I'm especially excited in that it reliably turns Progenitus into a two turn clock instead of three which can really matter in tight games. And if this is the 11th time I've cast Progenitus this turn, even better! I hope to live the dream one day.

MGR: I don't think this card is as good as people may think it is. Except for 1 spell you cast (no matter how many times you cast it) , every other time it is shimmering grotto. If you are playing a heavy deck that is 5 colors or you plan to recast your general a lot, this card is great. Otherwise, I think this card is just overhyped.

Sunday Report: Thursday Night Magic

So this past week all I really did was Thursday Night Magic. I was on junk midrange for standard. As usual, here is the report:

Round 1, I faced against mono green devotion. The life totals were all over the place, with his tuskers, a nylea, and a bow getting me down to 3 life. Luckily I had a trostani and an obzedat to start
gaining me life back, and start draining him.
In the second game, I got out a trostani turn 3, whip turn 4, obzedat turn 5, and it proved too much as I doom bladed a lot of his guys to keep Nylea off of devotion count. I won this match 2-0




Round 2 was against a mono red ramp deck. This deck had a burnished hart and ember swallower to try to win out the game.

In game 1, he was mana flooded, he ended up getting about 12 lands before I killed him. In game 2, he only brought out one burnished hart that I immidately devour flesh'd, then started swinging in with an unblocked obzedat, quickly ending the game. I won this match 2-0.

Round 3 was against a bant planeswalker deck.
In game 1, I was incredibly unlucky. Mulligan to 6, no lands. Mulligan to 5, no lands. Mulligan to 4, I have 2 lands, a doom blade, and a reaper of the wilds. I decide I have to keep it. I never draw a third land while he has 7 lands and is able to cast anything in his deck. I eventually just scoop them up as I look and see I am not drawing a land for another 5 turns.
So game 2 rolls around and I decide to shuffle it up very well. He has an ajani, caller of the pride with gideon, champion of justice combo. He is able to swing at me 10 life points a turn with this combo, but I am able to stabilize with the whip of erebos and gain more life than he can.
Game 3 comes up, and again I have to mulligan until I mulligan to 5 to get some lands. I am able to stabalize to 13 life but he destroys my whip of erebos, then his following turn he animates gideon, +1's with ajani, then summons a second ajani and +1's it again, then summons a third ajani to give the gideon double strike and flying. It is enough to put me at -1 life, thus losing the match.

The final round was against rakdos aggro. He brought me down to 1 life before I was able to summon a whip and stabilize. He had used a mogi's maurader and Tymeret, the murder king to shotgun me down to one life. I was only able to survive thanks to sylvan caraytid being hexproof and a great blocker at three defense.
Since I knew all of his tricks, second game I was playing around mogi's maurader, grey merchant of asphodel, and Tyrmeret the entire game. I drew an early trostani and regenerated it twice with a golgari charm to keep it alive, gaining me more life than he could do damage with.


So that is my report for this week. I only played one event, mainly because I didn't have anyone else to go with to any other events. I usually don't like to play events by myself, having friends is what makes events more fun!
Outside of the bad land hands, I am still happy with how this deck is running. I felt that lands were a bit clunky, as even in rounds I am winning I am stuck with 2 or 3 lands and having to have sylvan caraytid get me there. So I was faced with an option. Do I want to put in another land? Do I want to put in some way to fix my draws? Do I want to put in elvish mystics?

I settled with putting in 4x read the bones after Thursday Night magic. Sadly I haven't had a chance to test it since then, but maybe next week!