Sunday report: Quick update

I played in a 4 round FNM. Here is how it went
Game 1 I was against UW deck. Game 1 I won with well timed thoughtseizes, in game 2 I lost to double aetherling and a bunch of detention spheres. In game 3, it went to time, and I was able to get a draw but really I would have lost because I thoughtseized an aetherling from him, but then he used elixer of immortality and got one off the top on his next draw that I couldn't deal with.
I don't know, in this match, it just seemed like I had to hope to strip aetherling and elspeth was very annoying but managable with whip of erebos.
So I drew in round 1.

In round 2 I played against RG devotion. I went 2-0, I basically killed off as much stuff as possible early and was able to hero's downfall or attack his planeswalkers, making sure his board state never got out of control.

In round 3, I played against an esper deck. I lost game 1, but after boarding in erebos's and duresses and LBZ I was able to strip BBoV and keep him from gaining life with sphinx's. Game 3 I drew timely far/away's to deal with BBoV and won.

In round 4, I went up against mono red devotion. I barely won game 1 off of whip of erebos regaining me life and nightveil specter pulling mountains and then additional blockers for me. In game 2, I drew 3 pharika's cures which helped me stall for such a long time and let me win.

So I ended up going 3-0-1. I really wish I would have considered gainsay. I think it might have been nice at countering detention sphere and aetherling. I don't know, those feel like the worst cards for me to play against.

I have been thinking of going 4 temple of silence and just playing sin collector. But I'm not sure. I don't like the fact that I essentially have 8 CIPT lands (watery grave, I feel like I usually want it to CIPT). I really like splashing a color because mono black, while powerful, feels like it has glaring weaknesses, but I don't like the inconsistency of not having blue or so many different lands that pain me or cipt. Maybe I'm just hard to please haha.
However, I do think that I will try out gainsay. I hate that I feel that UWx feels like my hardest uphill matchup every time all the time. I really just want my SB to be 4 duress 4 gainsay but I know that I need the SB slots for other things.

Thirsty Thursday: Mono black with blue splash

So last time I did a deck tech, it was right after States when I played Junk Midrange. However, as time has passed since then, I have realized that the deck had a big problem, it's mana base. I would constantly lose because of my own mana base. If I drew mana correctly, I had a 60% or better chance to win (with mono blue devotion being about 55%) according to the numbers and games I played.

So, my quest to re-do the deck went underway. I still feel that junk (with a proper manabase) is one of the strongest decks in the format. However, I went from junk to golgari midrange. From there, I have gone to mono black after seeing it's great success and the fact that every matchup is 50% or better. I like those odds.

So, I have lately been running Owen Turtenwald's GP winning list. You can view it here:
http://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/eventcoverage/gpabq13/welcome

However, I wanted to try to change it up a bit, based on what I've read and seen, I have taken a slight twist to the deck. Is it any good or better? Maybe, but most likely probably not. However, I thought I'd do a deck tech on it. I plan on going to FNM with it tomorrow so we'll see!

The deck at a glance:

//land
13 swamp
4 mutavault
4 watery grave
4 temple of deceit

//creatures
4 gray merchant of asphodel
3 desecration demon
4 pack rat
4 nightveil specter
1 erebos, god of the dead

//spells
2 dimir charm
4 thoughtseize
4 hero's downfall
1 ultimate price
1 whip of erebos
4 underworld connections
3 far//away

//sideboard
4 pharika's cure
4 lifebane zombie
1 doom blade
1 dark betrayal
1 far//away
2 duress
2 erebos, god of the dead

---

Now let's talk about some of the cards and decisions

So mutavault is the first card I want to talk about. I think it is too integral to not run. The synergy between it and pack rat is too good, that I think running four of both is key. Additionally, it can block pro black stuff (biggest thing is blood baron of vizkopa!). It allows you to go from midrange to very aggressive and I think having four is a very good call, despite all others only running 2-3 when splashing.

Desecration demon is a great card. 6/6 flier for 4cmc. It is something that is very good and acts as pseudo removal on its own. However, with the way that the meta is shaping itself, with more white weenie, aggro, and blue devotion making itself well known, this card is not doing as well as it was a few weeks ago. Additionally, since I am not running devour flesh (to gain my self some life) this card is less good as well. It still is a great card, but that is my justification to only run 3 when most run 4 regardless of splash.

In testing, this card has been amazing. Most 2 cmc removal is conditional, and you must pick based on meta shifts, but I think right now this is a good call. In every matchup there are things you will want to hit with it. Most notably, it hits master of waves, nightveil specter, and pretty much anything from an aggro deck. Its other modes are also relevant. Countering an anger of the gods, mizzium mortars, thoughtseize can all be good. Additionally, vs control, getting to fateseal after a scry can be good as well. However, I realize there are some decks that this card is bad in (G/W comes to mind) and for this reason I only run 2 that way I can board them out and board in the correct removal.

This is a card that I constantly think if I want to cut or not. However, right now, I think it is fine as a 1 of. It gives good contingency if I decide to start discarding things to pack rat, it gives lifelink which can become very important vs aggro or the mirror match as well. Additionally, it can make pack rat token permanent when it reanimates pack rat. This would be the 4th desecration demon if it were to be taken out.

The original reason to splash blue. Being able to far something that has pro black (blood baron) is very good, it acts as devour flesh as well for 1 more mana. For 5 mana you get to take care of 2 of your opponents creatures, something that this deck I think needs. Last standard there was mutilate and barter in blood. I feel that this can act as a pseudo barter in blood that has some flexibilty. Additionally, you can use Far to unsummon your own gray merchant to recast it! Or, more importantly, to counter a detention sphere's target triggered ability.
The only thing to consider is that I have 4 in my 75, something to debate as well.

Finally, a sideboard card. This will be the only sideboard card I talk about, I think the rest are pretty self explanatory. With my changes, I feel that I lose some power to G/W (as mentioned above) and G/R devotion decks. That is why I up this card to 4. Additionally, this card can hit blood baron of vizkopa or boros reckoner. This card is essentially unblockable outside of the mono black mirror match, which is an argument to bring him in any game that you have additional slots.






Anyway, that is my standard deck in its current form. I don't know if it's better than going back to Owen's original list. In testing vs mono blue and esper, it has done very well. I will let you know how it goes this weekend though!

Casual quizzes

So, I am here to talk about something that anyone can do on MTGO. And that is Academy Quizbot! (Spelled Academy_QuizBot)

With this bot, you can trade this bot once a week. If you can answer its question correctly you get 3 free cards it has in its collection. It has tons of commons and uncommons. It's just a fun way to spend 5 minutes getting those couple of commons if you are a budget player or cards for your commander deck.

Now, here is the question I got this week,

Can you answer it? Without looking at the back of a magic card (like I did?) haha

Modest Monday: Theros sealed practice, conclusion

So, last week I showed you the sealed pool I had. Well, this is the deck I ultimately ended up with

I honestly felt like going into red was a trap. I felt like White might be a good color to go with black. I had two scourgemarks and a erebo's emissary and white had good heroic cards, blue also looked strong with the god sea's revenge and curse of the swine. But I just went with this because it seemed more aggressive and stormbreath dragon looks like it can just close games on its own. However, I want you guys to note that even though I have more red cards, I really feel like black is the strongest color in this pool.
Traveler's amulet seems really loose and bad, but oh well. It's what I went with. One thing I quickly discovered was that I like constructing paper decks over doing them on MTGO. There is a lot less space to spread out your cards, etc.

---

So round 1, I played against someone playing simic splash black

Here was the results of game 1:

As you can see, my RB aggro start was good.

Game 2 wasn't so good, I just couldnt' deal with prognostic sphinx

So game 3, I decided to take a risk and go transformative

Curse of the swine did so much work!!! It was a super board sweep with X=4

 There you can see my opponent decides not to block my triton hunter, I discard two creatures and have just enough to drain with gray merchant.

---

So round 2, I had the perfect curve my opponent couldn't deal with in game 1:

Game 2 was close, I was holding most of the cards the entire game but my opponent decided to get mad and say I was lucky:

I mean most of those cards were cards I had in my hand the entire game, like the gray merchant etc. I ember swallow'd early because I was getting mana flooded and was stuck on 4 lands post ember swallower for a long time. I mean it's not like he had his own bombs of gray merchant as well or nighthowler... Oh well

---

So I played out round 3. However, I forgot to take screenshots as my second round was short and I left for a while, when I came back a few minutes had gone by and I was nervous! The guy had a white red deck that was heroic centric and had lots of combat tricks!

However, here is the results:

Theros sealed practice

So I decided to go onto MTGO and play a theros 6 pack sealed (in preperation for GP Sacramento right?)
Anyway, here is the sealed pool I opened

How would you have built this? Comment below! Think this is a good sealed pool, bad? Any and all comments!

Let me know in the comments! Next time I will show what I built and how well I did!

Link to the above picture for easier viewing maybe: http://i.imgur.com/HJk49n0.jpg

Theros Drafting for fun

So I decided to do a THS draft on MTGO. P1P1 I got a reaper of the wilds and kept getting black passed to me, I saw black was pretty open. I was pretty sure that most people were going some type of heroic.

Anyway, here is what I was left with after the opening:

There were hardly any removal that I saw! I took sip of hemlock which was like pick 6 in that pack.
I took the fabled hero because I didn't want to lose to it. It is just too good of a card. I took the asps early because if you can get them online they are hard to get rid of (dodges all burn and the lash), additionally, with all the mana ramp I have in the deck, I look like I should be able to do decently, right?


Anyway, game 1. Here was the only screenshot I bothered to get:

As you can see, I am going to play mogi's maurader on attack for just enough lethal on my turn.
However, game 2. I draw my 7. No lands. Draw my 6, 1 land. Draw my 5, 1 land. I keep that hand because I don't want to mulligan to 4. This is after I sideboarded in an extra forest. I never drew another land and he was stuck on 3 lands that whole game. It was brutal.
So the event crashed during my game 3, so I am waiting for a response from wizards on that...
Anyway, since I haven't done anything on MTGO in a while, thought I'd share. Thanks for reading!

Evaluation of Standard

Every standard season that I have ever played in, I always hear people saying how much they hate it. How much it is stale.
However, I feel like these people are complaining. Usually they are people who did well with a deck last season who are not doing well now. For example, people who loved Jund in INN-RTR who can't play such a powerhouse of a deck now, say they hate standard. However, I do not think Standard is stale. In many ways, it's a fun format because of the fact that the decks rotate every 6ish months. We

Although powerful, it was not oppressive last season

have barely had theros for a few months and people already are calling it stale! But those same people don't find modern stale! Especially at the local level, it's going to be the same few decks that everyone plays (because modern decks are 2 or 3 times more expensive), and the modern meta isn't that diverse either. BGx, UWR, Splinter twin, affinity, pod, and tron are basically the main decks that are considered tier 1. That's the same number of decks that would be considered tier 1 in standard at the moment: mono black, mono blue, esper, RG devotion, Rx aggro, and Gxx midrange.

Anyway, my rant aside, I wanted to talk about standard seasons that were TRUELY STALE. What do I mean by this? In my opinion, I think a stale environment would be one where this is a best deck. Even decks that are meant to beat the best deck don't do very well against said deck. These seasons are stale, in my opinion, because everyone is going to be playing the same deck, it's going to be a ton of mirror matches and similar games, and luck is going to play a bigger factor than it normally would.

Going backwards, the most recent standard season that was stale, in my opinion, was ROE-SOM standard. This was the infamous cawblade season.
What made this season so powerful?

AKA: Jace the wallet shredder

Jace the mind sculptor. The prior season, Jace was kept in check by jund, particularly blood braid elf (cascade into blightning? Means a dead jace and discarded cards). However, now that jace was unchecked, he was king to rule all. Everyone played this deck. Jace, on his own, was powerful. I mean you get to brainstorm every turn, and you had the worldwake fetches to shuffle away the two cards you wanted! But SOM added the powerful swords to the mix, stoneforge mystic and squadron

Ms. Anti-Jace

hawk became extremely powerful as they could easily grab and carry a sword to your opponent's face. Additionally, SOM also added phyrexian mana, essentially free spells such as gitaxian probe, mental misstep for faster decks that would try to combat jace, and such. This format even had baneslayer in it!!
This season was extremely one sided, as every match was cawblade vs cawblade.
This season also saw a lot of people leaving the format. Probably because of the dominance of the most powerful deck being so expensive (Jace x4 and baneslayer x4 meant over 400 dollars right there!)

Here is a sample list from the era:

• 4  Celestial Colonnade
  4  Glacial Fortress
  5  Island
  1  Misty Rainforest
  4  Plains
  4  Seachrome Coast
  4  Tectonic Edge
• 4  Squadron Hawk
• 4  Stoneforge Mystic
• 4  Day of Judgment
• 1  Deprive
• 3  Mana Leak
• 4  Preordain
• 4  Spell Pierce
• 1  Stoic Rebuttal
• 1  Sword of Feast and Famine
• 1  Sylvok Lifestaff
• 3  Gideon Jura
• 4  Jace, the Mind Sculptor

 So, the next big deck to talk about was faeries! This was a monster of a deck that oppressed many during the TSP-LOR season. I mean, let's talk about faeries for a minute. Bitterblossom, one of the most feared cards during the time is banned in modern for no reason other than the fact that it was once oppressive!

Combined with spellstutter sprite, it was pretty much a hard counter! Bitterblossom pretty much just

So much rage when you play this

made your army on your own, while you could spend all your resources to just countering what your opponent did. If you did, you could get to a point where mistbind clique could just lock someone out of the game, especially if you had two on the field.
This season even had damnation! Black wrath of god, to deal with fast aggro decks or for the mirror match of bitterblossom armies! Back that up with cryptic command, one of the best counter spells ever created, and you had a monster of a deck! It even had thoughtseize!
This season was essentially a field where you played faeries or anti-faeries. However, faeries for the most part was extremely dominant, with it only losing power because of rotation.


Here is a sample list from that era:

• 2  Faerie Conclave
  4  Island
  4  Mutavault
  2  Pendelhaven
  3  River of Tears
  4  Secluded Glen
  2  Sunken Ruins
  4  Underground River
• 4  Mistbind Clique
• 4  Scion of Oona
• 4  Spellstutter Sprite
• 3  Vendilion Clique
• 4  Ancestral Vision
• 4  Bitterblossom
• 4  Cryptic Command
• 4  Rune Snag
• 4  Terror

 
The next deck I am going to talk about is one of the most infamous decks in standard, affinity.
This deck was blazing fast, where anti-artifact decks could not even keep up!

The iconic card of affinity. Funny enough, it doesn't have the affinity keyword

 Turn 1 disciple of the vault, turn 2 arcbound ravager, ornithopter, and you get free frogmites with your artifact lands! Turn 3 after you attack with a buffed up army, you get to sacrifice everything to ravager so you can drain them with disciple!
The deck was TOO efficient. Thoughtcast, you get to draw 2 cards for 1 blue. You get 2/2 and 4/4 for free. Wizards had already banned skullclamp, but it wasn't enough to stop this powerhouse.
This deck was so oppressive, wizards banned so many cards for it in standard including ravager, the artifact lands, disciple, and aether vial!

Here is a deck from that era:

• 4  Blinkmoth Nexus
  3  Darksteel Citadel
  1  Glimmervoid
  4  Great Furnace
  4  Seat of the Synod
  4  Vault of Whispers
• 4  Arcbound Ravager
• 4  Arcbound Worker
• 3  Atog
• 4  Disciple of the Vault
• 4  Frogmite
• 4  Myr Enforcer
• 1  Myr Retriever
• 4  Aether Vial
• 4  Chromatic Sphere
• 4  Cranial Plating
• 4  Thoughtcast

The next oppressive deck is one called academy. This one was before my time in magic, but I had heard a lot about it from other players. It essentially was boring because it was a turn 1 solitare into a win with it's flagship card, tolarian academy.

With the craziness that was urza's saga and all the powerful artifacts that it produced, it's no wonder that the BEST deck was one that utilized the above land with synergistic artifacts. The problem was that it came down to a coin flip. Who gets to go first wins. No force of will type of effects in the format.

Here is a decklist from the era:

• 4  Ancient Tomb
  9  Island
  4  Tolarian Academy
• 1  Capsize
• 3  Intuition
• 4  Lotus Petal
• 4  Mana Vault
• 4  Mind Over Matter
• 4  Mox Diamond
• 4  Power Sink
• 3  Scroll Rack
• 4  Stroke of Genius
• 4  Time Spiral
• 4  Voltaic Key
• 4  Windfall

The final deck I'll post is necro. I know that when this deck was around, you could just not beat it.

 Necropotence, aside from yawgmoth's bargain, is one of the greatest card advantage engines ever. I think of current standard and mono black devotion, and if underworld connections was this card, it

Such strong discard

would by far be the best deck. Necro had some of the best 1 for 1 removal, had discard spells such as hymn to tourach! and had hypnotic specter, a key card in the old days! It also had dark ritual so you could do this turn 1! Decks that were meant to beat it could just not beat the card advantage that necropotence accumulated.

A final sample decklist:

• 1  City of Brass
  1  Lava Tubes
  4  Mountain
  1  Strip Mine
  4  Sulfurous Springs
  12  Swamp
• 4  Black Knight
• 4  Hypnotic Specter
• 2  Knight of Stromgald
• 4  Order of the Ebon Hand
• 1  Black Vise
• 4  Dark Ritual
• 3  Drain Life
• 1  Fireball
• 1  Hymn to Tourach
• 3  Incinerate
• 4  Lightning Bolt
• 3  Necropotence
• 2  Shatter
• 1  Zuran Orb

So, in conclusion I think that standard hasn't been stale or oppressive. There is no one best deck, the format is much more of a rock paper scissors format, which I think is healthy for a metagame in my opinion.  If anyone thinks the current format standard is stale and oppressive now, I would like for them to think of these standard seasons instead.
Instead, I think the current standard season is healthy. There is no best deck, as evidenced by the various SCG opens and GPs lately. I think it is healthy because it also is a bit more user friendly, and standard is THE format for new players to get into as it has the newest cards, and limited is usually more skill intensive and intimidating for a newer player. I hope that people embrace standard instead.

Sunday Report: GPT Sacramento and Sunday Standard

So we are back for another Sunday report. I haven't played competitively in a sanctioned event in a while! And I got to play two days in a row of standard!

For standard, I traded very aggressively to turn my Junk deck into mono black devotion. I may do a deck tech on this in a week or two (depending on time. With school finishing soon for the semester, who knows how much time I'll have!)

Anyway, that is the deck I played. First off, we have the event: GPT Sacramento. The winner of this event gets 2 free byes for GP sacramento. So I went, planning that I will go to GP Sac.

So, let me get started in talking about it.

Where the name "Fear the Reaper" comes from

In round 1, I faced off against Golgari Aggro. He had such cards like Lotleth troll, Deadbridge goliath, dreg mangler, abrupt decay,and reaper of the wilds. In fact, there is a popular deck of golgari
aggro called "fear the reaper" that brian kibler has played in the past GPs, which is where I think has got its popularity. Anyway, facing this deck was pretty easy. I waited for my opponent to tap out to take out his trolls and reaper of the wilds. Sometimes I would kill his other stuff so I could devour flesh his one and only creature. I would follow up with my own evasive guys: Nightveil Specter and Desecration demon. He never got me below 12 health in both games.

So I won my first game. Alright! Starting off strong.

Also known as protection from my deck

In round 2, I played against an esper deck. This was an extremely hard deck to face. In game 1, I was doing alright, playing around his supreme verdicts by slowly putting out threats, but the game
dragged on a bit too long. He was able to resolve back to back sphinx's revelations which I could not deal with. In game 2, he mulligan'd to 5 which gave me a considerable edge as I thoughtseized him twice in the first two turns, taking his only threats. He flooded out on mana as I had a desecration demon out. It quickly ended the game. In game 3, I could not deal with two blood barons. Devour flesh was able to take out one as I lost to the other.

So second game, sucked that I lost. 1-1 isn't the worst record, I just know I can't really afford to lose any more games. The next round is especially gut wrenching going in.

Round 3: I played against naya midrange. This deck was relatively easy for my deck. Naya tries to play big bombs in its colors that are very effective, but my spot removal is too much. In game 1, he dropped 3 loxodon smiters which met their downfall (hero's downfall) and in game 2, I was ready for his stormbreath dragons. He did surprise me with a 6/6 mistcutter hydra, but that was only for one turn as I made it pay the ultimate price the next turn.

Alright, 2-1. This tournament is five rounds, I just need to win the next two...

Round 4: RG devotion. I was playing practice matches against this deck and I know that it is pretty

Vs pack rat: Super ineffective

much a 50/50 matchup. In game 1, I thoughtseized away his garruk and he flooded out on lands with just a few mana dorks on his table. in game 2, I played a pack rat on turn 2. Then I thoughtseized, and saw that he had a few plummets in his hand (from his own sideboard). So, I started discarding my nightveil specters to my pack rat, which meant that I was leaving him with dead cards in his hand as I was making my rat power grow.

Alright. 3-1. Last round. If I win, I'm in, right?

Round 5: Vs another esper deck. Apparently this person was paired up with me, his record being 2-2. So, it's going to be easy right? Well, he was going to make me for the fight of my life...
In game 1, things were going back and forth. Both of us just killing everything the other person had. However, I ran out of removal and started flooding out as he had a blood baron of vizkopa that I could not deal with, at all...

The whip really is just him giving the middle finger to esper

Game 2, a resolved Erebos was MVP. He had a blood baron again, but the fact that he could not gain life meant my own pack rats could easily race it. There was a point in this game where I thought I was going to lose, as again I was flooding out. But then I draw a pack rat with lands in my hand. I discard them all over the course of my opponent's turn and my turn, going from 1 rat to 5 rats very quickly!

Secret technology vs Esper

Game 3, okay... this is it, I thought. I was extremely nervous as he went first and I had to mulligan to 5. I put out an early pack rat that gets detention sphere'd. Then he plays a pithing needle naming swamp (which had an underworld connections). Then he plays another detention sphere getting the erebos. Afterward he starts sphinx's revelation. He gets another pithing needle for the second pack rat I have. Then I realize that he has sphinx's revelated 3 times, and that he is about to deck himself out. I also notice that we have 30 seconds before time gets called. So we go to turns, with me at 5 life and him at 20 life. I am probably going to lose, I thought, as he has a blood baron and an aetherling. His first turn, I block with a mutavault to the blood baron and play hero's downfall on aetherling, causing him to blink the aetherling. Then I go, draw a land and pass. Then it's his turn
again, he attacks, I play ultimate price on aetherling, and let the blood baron hit me. This brings me down to 1 life. Alright, my last draw. I draw... psychic spiral! I try to hero's downfall again which causes him to blink the aetherling, leavin ghim with only two mana. I psychic spiral him and force him to deck himself out.
Wow. The one random psychic spiral I sideboarded in because I only had 14 cards, it worked! (Sidenote, i had far and away in my sideboard as well because I couldn't fill up my sideboard in time.)

So I'm 4-1. I should get in right? No, instead i get 9th place. Don't get the cut to top 8. Oh well.

Pretty bummed about the whole thing. But something I've learned is to just go forward.

So, I entered the Sunday Standard tournament even though I'm busy with schoolwork. Why? Because the first place prize was a table mat! Those things usually retail for 80 dollars, and it would look really cool!

Picture of the tablemat and what it looked like

QSP said he would join me but he didn't. I felt disappointed.

So, it was only 3 rounds, not that many people, so it was single elimination. Round 1, I played against white weenie, but it was powered down. The person was playing pegasus and vanilla creatures, I easily won.
In round 2, I played against red deck wins. Both games I went down to 2 life, thinking that I would just die, but in game 1, I was able to spot remove all of his guys and nightveil specter allowed me to luckily remove the burn spells off the top. In game 2, I was able to start chaining gray merchants which allowed me to just drain life win.

So I made it to the finals!
In the final round I played against RG devotion deck. In game 1, I got him down to 4 life, and we kind of stalled out. I had pack rat chump blockers against his arbor colossus army. However, I

Really starting to hate this guy

couldn't punch through any more damage and was trying to just draw a gray merchant to drain him or something. However, it never happened.
In game 2, I was able to get a thoughtseize turn 2 to take his garruk. Turn 3 I lifebane zombie'd away his arbor colossus. Turn 4 I did the same thing. This left him with not much as I had lifebane zombies attacking for 6 every turn.
In game 3, it was an interesting one. I kept a shaky hand since I mulligan'd to 6, no plays for the first 2 turns. I had a swamp, temple of deceit, mutavault, hero's downfall, underworld connections, and desecration demon. My opponent got to go first as well, which did not help. As on his turn 2 he went burning tree, burning tree, burning tree, into a voyaging satyr. Then he followed up on turn 3 with garruk, caller of beasts. I used the downfall on that. I slowly was able to kill off his army with nightveil specter, gray merchant, and desecration demon. However, he was double blocking my gray merchant and drew a arbor colossus that was able to kill desecration demon with its monstrous ability. I then played an ultimate price on arbor colossus and attacked with nightveil specter. It removed a forest off the top. He was at 1 life, with no board presence and no cards in hand. However, I also had no cards in hand at that point, and he top decked.... arbor colossus. I couldn't do anything about it! He then monstrous'd it and proceeded to win as I couldn't draw any answers at that point.

So I didn't win the table mat :(

Hump Day: Even more EDH

Let's just get started with the report! Two games and standings!

---

The first match is between Nekusar and Karador.

In game 1, Nekusar was stuck on 3 lands while Karador quickly ramped into a sylvan primordial

An early sylvan primordial usually spells a quick death

hitting lands. That quickly ended the game.

In game 2, Nekusar came out on turn 4 followed by 2 incendiary commands for their wheel effects meant that Karador lost a lot of life very quickly. Karador was ready with a Hornet queen defense, but Nekusar had a decree of pain ready for all of the queen's hornets. Thus, game 2 went to Nekusar.

In game 3, Nekusar was slowly building up his combo of Spiteful visions + Nekusar. However, Karador had already summoned the mighty vish kal. With Karador and Golgari Grave Troll, Vish Kal became a 14/14 very quickly and was shooting stuff down left and right.

Nekusar (MGR) 1 - Karador (QSP) 2

---

The second match was between Oloro and Rhys!

Rhys got out an early doubling season in game 1 with a lot of elf tokens, then followed up with a

For the right price, you can find anything here

quick humility to negate all of Oloro's big creatures. However, Oloro was able to mindslaver Rhys, and make Rhys use his own return to dust on Humility and Doubling season. Oloro then followed up by opening Lim Dul's Vault, finding Academy Ruins, thus locking Rhys out of the game.

In game 2, Rhys got out a few early elf tokens on turns 2 and 3. Then started using his special redeemed powers to quickly double his army. He had 16 elf tokens that were pumped up by the spear of heliod. Oloro's life gain could not match that much damage output.

Always surprises me when this land does well

So we went to game 3. Oloro seemed to be doing well with a putrid imp pitching some strong creatures, and reanimating a consecrated sphinx, a Drogskol
Reaver, and a Myr Battlesphere. However, Rhys was able to sacrifice the Grove of the Guardian land, making an 8/8 token that he started doubling every turn. Rhys had 8 8/8 tokens with vigilance that Oloro could not draw any kill spells for.

Oloro (MGR) 1 - Rhys (QSP) 2

---

Finally, here are some standings as we go into the Thanksgiving Break!

More EDH fun

So here we go, some more EDH reports!
---

First off, we had Kaalia versus Lyzolda!

He loves eating Karoo Lands

Game 1 was a sad experience. On turn 2, Kaalia lays down a karoo land, and Lyzolda counters with a simian spirit guide to an avalance riders, effectively putting Kaalia's board state to starting, where as
Lyzolda had 3 lands in play. By the time Kaalia had a chance to recoup, Lyzolda had a bunch of lands and a sire of insanity out. It was a quick game by that point.

Game 2, was the game of answers. Kaalia was summoned quickly, but Lyzolda quickly bitumous blasted her. Kaalia then summoned Oros the Avenger and equipped some Lightning Greaves, but Lyzolda then used Chainer's Edict to get rid of the dragon. Kaalia just ran out of gas at that point.

Kaalia (MGR) 0 - Lyzolda (QSP) 2

---

Apparently even Progenitus can't escape the Eye's Doom

The next match we have is Progenitus facing off against Nekusar. The battle of last place!
In game 1, Progenitus called upon the superfriends Koth, Ajani Goldmane, and Gideon, Champion of Justice. He was attacking Nekusar's open board for 11 a turn. However, Nekusar summoned the army
of the damned, and Progenitus was having a hard time getting through. Nekusar was at 10 life and Progenitus was on the field, but Eye of Doom spelled an end to Progenitus's lethal swing. The following turns, the army of the damned overran all the superfriends.

In game 2, Nekusar seemed to be building up all of his pieces. He was out on the field with a spiteful visions, and Progenitus was taking 6 a turn just on his draw step. However, Progenitus summoned Sorin Markov, bringing Nekusar to 10. The following turn, Nekusar took 3 damage to his own draw step, followed by Sorin's +2 bite, and Ajani Vengeant's Lightning Helix.

Game 3 was a quick one. Progenitus was stuck on Black and blue when he needed green and white to even be effective. Nekusar once again had spiteful visions out and progenitus could not recover quickly enough.

Progenitus (MGR) 1 - Nekusar (QSP) 2

---

The final match for today's report, Karador versus Marath!

In game 1, Karador had a Teneb and himself out dealing a lot of damage. However, as Marath seemed

Marath's trusty hammer

down for the count, he got a sunforger to get all of his answers. A selesnya charm for Teneb, a condemn for Karador, and a boros charm when Karador tried to sunblast angel to wrath Marath's board.

In game 2, Marath had out a witch hunt and was constantly being resummoned after removing all of his counters to ping Karador's life total. Karador had a vish kal out, but because of witch hunt and all of the exile effects Marath had, Karador could not come through.

Karador (MGR) 0 - Marath (QSP) 2

Sample Saturday: Value menu!

So here we are with another sample saturday. This time, it will be a bit short but with some burger king value items!

First up, here is pictured a BBQ Rib sandwich, one of the 1 dollar value menu items:

The first thing I will say is that this sandwich is trying hard to copy the McRib. The meat that it uses is somewhat similar. The best way I can describe it is reheated pork. If you ever have had a frozen dinner before you will understand what I mean. In this sandwich, the pickles are extremely overwhelming and do not feel like they belong in the sandwich at all. The BBQ sauce is tangy, it is the same sauce they give you. I felt that the amount of BBQ sauce was a bit on the lacking side. Additionally, the meat is so thin that you cannot even taste it with everything else. 2/5


Next time is a picture of BK's new french fries, the satisfries:

These are one of the few items that actually look as advertised in the posters they have on the wall. They have the same crunch as a regular french fry, but because they are thicker, they taste more starchy and less greasy as a regular fry. They have less salt than a regular french fry. I personally prefer the regular french fries, but these are pretty good too, and tout a "healthier" alternative. 3/5.


The final item for today's review is the Big King:

This is burger king's copy of the Big Mac.
It tastes very similar to a big mac. If you haven't had a big mac, go have one just so you can taste how similar it is. The sauce tastes very very similar. The only differences are the chopped onions in the mcdonald's sauce, versus the straight chopped onion here. The chopped onions taste better. The bun used here is way thicker, it almost takes away from the taste of everything else, especially the middle bun.
For those who haven't had a big mac, this burger tastes like a regular double cheeseburger but with extra bun and the special thousand island dressing that is in it. The dressing is something that some people love, and some people hate. I personally like it, I think it adds a mild zest to the burger that does not overwhelm but compliments instead. Overall, I would give the tip of the hat to the Big Mac over this burger, although honestly, both the big king and the big mac are overpriced compared to almost any other burger you can get. 2/5

Hump Day: EDH adventures

So time for some EDH adventures!

First up, we had a new commander on the block! Derevi (piloted by me), who took the place of Rafiq as master tactician in charge of the bant army vs Rhys (piloted by QSP) and his token armies.

Will she have what it takes to become master tactician?

The bane of Bant armies

Game 1 between these two was extremely close. Rhys got Derevi down to 1 life very quickly with an aggressive start. Derevi had to oblivion stone twice (with the help of academy ruins) to live through. Then Derevi was able to wargate a thragtusk back in and start blinking it to regain life, thus shutting down Rhys's intense pressure.
Game 2, Rhys got an early torpor orb, and most of Derevi's creatures were useless. However, a
bribery into elesh norn was able to seal the deal as most of Rhys's creatures and tokens could not even live through an Elesh Norn.

So, Derevi (MGR) 2 - Rhys (QSP) 0



---

Not as good as a lotus petal however

40 dollar powerhouse

Next up, we had more new contenders on the block! Lyzolda, the Blood Witch versus Jeleva, Nephalia's scourge!
In the first game, Lyzolda was able to get out a quick dwarven blastminer thanks to a simian spirit guide, and start taking down
all of Jeleva's lands. Avalanche riders and Lay wastes made sure that Jeleva never had any blue sources, sealing the deal in that game.
In the second game, Lyzolda was able to get an early Sire of Insanity against Jeleva, and with the land destruction to keep Jeleva off of red, Lyzolda was easily able to win despite Jeleva's True Name Nemesis.

Lyzolda (MGR) 2 - Jeleva (QSP) 0

---

The next match was the battle of kings. Oloro, king of his own island, the ageless ascetic versus the Reaper king!

A better damnation

A great reanimation creature

In game 1, an early toxic deluge keeps reaper king off the table. However, Oloro could not get through Reaper King as mishra's factory was constantly making tokens. So Oloro decided to get off of his throne and start drawing a bunch more cards. However, reaper king was able to set up an eternity vessel at 17, and Oloro could not punch through 17 damage. Additonally, Reaper King was setting up the maze's end win, so Oloro had to act extremely fast. However, Oloro was able to get the mindslaver lock, effectively winning the game.
In game 2, Oloro got an early buried alive putting karmic guide, sharum the hedgemon, and sphinx of steel wind in the graveyard. Next turn, he exhumed the karmic guide, getting sharuum, getting the sphinx. Reaper king once again summoned his eternity vessel at 15, but the trio of creatures was able to punch through for enough damage.



Oloro (MGR) 2 - Reaper King (QSP) 0

---

Devastating

Next up we had Lyzolda vs Oloro. Would Lyzolda be able to keep Oloro off of colors, or would Oloro's life gain be too much for the blood witch? We had to find out!
In game 1, lyzolda had a manaforge cinder which was great at filtering mana in the early turns, as all
she was drawing was swamps. Lyzolda had set up orcish settlers and was one turn away from destroying all of Oloro's lands, but Lyzolda's greediness didn't pay off as Oloro killed the goblin settlers. Filigree angel and Oloro's life gain was then too much for Lyzolda's aggro plan.
In game 2, Oloro was able to get a putrid imp to discard a sphinx of steel wind then exhume it. Lyzolda had 0 ways of dealing with it, and with the sphinx's life gain, it was all over very quickly.

Lyzolda (MGR) 0 - Oloro (QSP) 2

---

So Oloro was doing pretty well, we had to see if the king of the throne could continue. His next opponent, the champion of meletis, Daxos!

Anti-equipment girl

A naked man's favorite spell

In game 1, Oloro and Daxos were duking it out when Daxos decided to create a catalysm, destroying all but 1 land, creature, artifact, and enchantment. However, Oloro was able to rebuild his mana within a few turns and reanimate a karmic guide into a sphinx of steel wind. Oloro
ended up winning soon after.
In game 2, Oloro was going for the quick kill. He tried to buried alive but Daxos decided to daze it. Additionally, Daxos had an isochron scepter with a swords to plowshares imprinted. Things were not looking good for the ageless ascetic as all of his creatures were getting exiled! (And thus could not be reanimated). However, Oloro was able to get a mindslaver and enslave one of Daxos's turns. When he did, he decided to have Daxos cast cataclysm. Oloro was able to recover his mana faster and animate a sphinx of uthuun. However, Daxos had a banisher priest with a sword of light and shadow equipped, and the two were racing. Daxos had a decent setup, however! Sydri, Galvanic genius was there to decide Daxos's fate by making the swords of light and shadow a creature, thus it fell off the creature it was equipped to!

Oloro (MGR) 2 - Daxos (QSP) 0

---

And the final match of the night, could the Ageless king take down the bant tactician?
In game 1, oloro was able to get out an early oona, queen of the fae. It was facing off versus a derevi

Sometimes being queen isn't enough

Bant armies are very persuasive

and a sun titan. Derevi was able to keep oona off her back with a maze of ith. Then, Derevi casted a bribery that would end up becoming a big bribery chain: Bribery got a karmic guide from Oloro's deck, the karmic guide brought back the sun titan in Derevi's graveyard, which got back the eternal witness, which got back the bribery. The bribery was then cast again to get a consecrated sphinx! That ended the game soon after, as the card advantage and creature advantage proved too much.
In game 2, Derevi was able to strip mine a lot of Oloro's early lands with a sun titan to recur the strip mine to keep Oloro off of white. Derevi had an army of X/2's and Oloro was going to cast a famine to get rid of them; however, Derevi was able to Time stop to counter that plan. Then Derevi opened a wargate and get a Mirror Entity, and start swinging for X=7, Oloro could not recover from it.

Derevi (MGR) 2 - Oloro (QSP) 0

---

So that is the matches for this week. Here are the standings if you are curious!

The seedings are a bit messed up but hopefully will get fixed. The reason we are keeping track of seeds and records? QSP will talk about it in a future post...

Until next time!