MTG Weekend Update 5-09

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Happy Monday MTG peeps,

A solid chunk of our weekend was spent getting one member of the MTG Realm playgroup up to date on a Commander decklist that she is wanting to launch.  Quite specifically, she had the nucleus of the list all together and the group helped flesh it out.  The next step is to sell some of the many different infinite and limited combos that are available - such as taking additional turns through Thopter Assembly + Time Sieve, or perhaps a repeatable (one-sided_ board wipe with Nevinyrral's Disk + Darksteel Forge.  Anywhoos, much more to think about with this.

Next up, as indicated by the post title, a quick summary of this past weekend's standard constructed results from Grand Prix New York and Grand Prix Tokyo.

The 2015 World MTG Champ Seth Manfield took top spot at Grand Prix New York with a W/B Control build.  Just over 2,000 players gamed in this event and WotC staffer Marc Calderaro has a great article on what the post Shadows Over Innistrad metagame looks like.  As expected, White-Green Tokens, Bant (now four colour) Collected Company and White-Black Control were the decklists to beat.  Here are the Top 8 -

Grand Prix New York 2016

1st W/B Control Seth Manfield

2nd 4C Company Louis Deltour

3rd 4C Company Scott Lipp

4th White-Green Tokens Michael Majors

5th White-Green Tokens Michael Sigrist

6th W/B Control Daniel Ward

7th White-Green Tokens Brandon Ayers

8th Grixis Control Ralph Betesh

Here's Seth's List

On the weekend a world away, Riku Kumagai landed a spicy Naga Midrange decklist in 1st place at Grand Prix Tokyo.  This build included Dragonlord Atarka, Nahiri, the Harbinger and Chandra, Flamecaller.  The Top 8 here provided a bit more variety -

Grand Prix Tokyo 2016

1st Naya Midrange Riku Kumagai

2nd Grixis Control Kazushige Suzuki

3rd White-Green Tokens Takuma Morofuji

4th White-Green Tokens Carlos Ballester

5th Black-Green Aristocrats Kazuki Yada

6th Mono W Humans Takaya Saito

7th Grixis Control Kensuke Kato

8th 4C Company Eng Chu Heng

Here's Riku's List

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Izzet Thopters

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Happy Tuesday MTG peeps,

It is that time again here at MTG Realm when we start brewing up all sorts of crazy and far-fetched deck lists with the release of a new Magic: the Gathering set.  Over the next few posts we wanted to try out the following standard constructed lists at our kitchen table with the playgroup before 'graduating' the list to Friday Night Magic -

• Izzet (blue / red) Thopters featuring Pia and Kiran Nalaar

• Orzhov (white / black) Enchant featuring Helm of the Gods, and

•   Golgari (black / green) Elves featuring Dwyne and company

Anwywhoos - straight on in to our very first (and certainly not last) iteration of Izzet Thopters.  There was a rather succinct  artifact sub-theme with Magic Origins and the list essentially builds itself.  The real trick here is to start cutting the poorly performing chaff over the next few weeks.  With our first build, we attempted to kick in everything and the kitchen sink to see what worked well -

4x Ornithopter
3x Bonded Construct
2x Ghostfire Blade
2x Springleaf Drum
3x Ensoul Artifact
1x Chief Engineer
1x Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
3x Shrapnel Blast
3x Thopter Engineer
2x Chief of the Foundry
2x Artificer's Epiphany
3x Pia and Kiran Nalaar
2x Thopter Spy Netwok
2x Hangarback Walker

4x Shivan Reef
3x Temple of Epiphany
4x Darksteel Citadel
2x Foundry of the Consuls
2x Tomb of the Spirit Dragon
2x Mana Confluence
3x Mountain
3x Island


   
We think this may be a good starting point at which to start getting the feel of this thing and in a few weeks hope to start focusing on where we want to steer this next.

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M15 Artifacts

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Happy Tuesday MTG peeps,

For today's post on the MTG Realm blog, we wanted to start covering off some of the new Magic 2015 core set card offerings that may make a splash into standard constructed.  We're certain that within a few weeks after the M15 official release this weekend, Magic: the Gathering players will be fine tuning standard constructed decklists during tournaments and casual events like Friday Night Magic - and what we make note of here may be phophetic as metagame absorbs and adjusts to the new cards - or simply be just wrong.  If you still need to get equipped with the latest cards, pop on over to MTG Mint Card.

Anywhoos, a few cards we took an interest to as the spoilers and previews rolled out over the last few weeks involve a potential of articfact-centric decklists thanks in part to a few new key cards.

Chief EngineerWhen we first saw this card with a sweet convoke ability for artifacts, our imagination went wild - powering out a bunch of small creatures to convoke artifact fattys like Soul of New Phyrexia or even a Scuttling Doom Engine.  We thought we might just be looking at another resurgence of affinity - or at the very least, another great inclusion into some Modern lists.  Dropping two zero-costing Ornithopter turn one, a Phyrxian Revoker turn two, the Chief turn three and then you'd be on you way to get Soul of New Phyrexia out earlier.

Ensoul Artifact 
Another M15 card which jumped out at us was Esnoul Artifact.  We realise that to maximize playtime for this aura may require the use of Heliod's Pilgrim to dig the aura out of your library and get it into your hand - this might just be reasonable.  In this case our imagination had us playing this right on turn two on either the indestructible land 'Darksteel Citadel' or even better, on the zero-costing 0/2 Ornithopter morphing into a 5/5 flyer.  Another lovely target for this aura could even be the 2/1 Armored Transport costing three mana - the cool thing here is that you can make it a 5/5 that doesn't take any combat damage from blockers.

 










Another interesting aura to consider may be Aqueous Form that will give you an unblockable creature - with the bonus of scrying when you attack which will smooth out your draws.  Obviously we are looking at decklist featuring blue as a primary colour - but do we need a second colour and if so, which one?  The new M15 card Shrapnel Blast.  For one colourless and one red, this instant will allow you to blast five damage to target player or creature for the additional cost of sacrificing an artifact - not too shabby we think.  Madcap Skills is another aura - and a rather popular red one which may now give this decklist a With the likes of Springleaf Drum, yet another artifact, you could get some decent access to any colour.

Wherever you may take this, we think it will deliver a lot of fun and engaging games.  Feel free to shoot us an eMail or drop a comment below.
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M11 Dev Chat

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Good Day MTG peeps,

We have for you today, what we would like to call a 'filler' post - this is a blog post which may be mildly interesting to some and rubbish to others. Today's post concerns the recent Dev Chat (or Magic 2011 Developer Chat) which took place on Tuesday, July 27th at 3pm PDT / 6pm EDT. In this forum, players and MTG fans of all variety are afforded an opportunity to ask a limited number of questions of Wizards of the Coast personalities regarding the last set release - this being the Magic 2011 Core Set - all in real time.

On Tuesday, a number of questions were put to the head of R&D Aaron Forsythe and designer/developer Tom LaPille. Many thanks to forum member PhoenixLAU, who posted the transcript. We suggest you read the full transcript here as we have provided only Question and responses related to the upcoming Scars of Mirrodin release . . .










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<%Mono789> What efforts were made to connect M11 to the blocks surrounding, i.e. Zendikar block and Scars of Mirrodin block?

<@TomLaPille> We used individual cards to do that, mainly

<@AaronF> Erik Lauer, the set's lead dev, is always looking to make those kind of cross-block connections, and the design team helped out.

<@AaronF> There are several "artifact-matters" cards, like Hoarding Dragon, Phylactery Lich, and Steel Overseer for Scars.

<@TomLaPille> For example, Primeval Titan connects well with both landfall and expensive spells

<@TomLaPille> We tried to go in both directions.

<@AaronF> Right, green Titan was definitely made to interact with ZEN.

<@AaronF> There we even cards made to interact with Shards block, although they were subtle and I don't recall them at the moment.

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<+andrew_holder> Voltaic Key has a history of being a strong card that leads to many powerful interactions and even sees eternal play. How much debate, if any, went into giving the Key a reprint, especially with Scars around the corner?

<@TomLaPille> Key breaks with other broken artifacts, like Mana Vault and Time Vault (heh)

<@AaronF> Key wasn't ever really the problem card, it was always the other insane cards like ... see above

<@AaronF> It's like blaming Hypnotic Specter when the real broken card is Dark Ritual.

<@AaronF> Key does stuff with Scars block, but I don't anticipate brokenness.

<@TomLaPille> Key does cool and fun and reasonable things with cool and fun and reasonable artifacts

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<+GlenDonald> Was there specific thought given to making M11 feel nostalgic so as to tie in with Scars?

<@TomLaPille> To me, M11 is built to be nostalgic for anyone who knows anything about baseline fantasy

<@TomLaPille> Everything there is sometihng you recognize

<@AaronF> Not particularly more than I'd want any Core Set to feel nostalgic. They should all contain familiar cards, as well as some new hotness. So no, no special treatment here.

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Well that's it. Make certain you keep your ear to the ground for the next Dev Chat. One can participate through the following methods . . .

via widget: tinyurl.com/mtgdevchat (Should take you directly to a login screen)

via mibbit: mibbit.com/chat (Takes you to a screen where you type in your desired username and your channel name (the channel will be #mtgdevchat )

via IRC: If you have an IRC client, you can access it by going to the mibbit IRC (irc.mibbit.net) and then the channel (/join #mtgdevchat).

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And lastly, we suggest you get over to MTG Mint Card - this is your LAST CHANCE to get the discounted M11 Card Sets from only $29.99 ! Check out this solid deal for Magic 2011 Core Set M11 Uncommon & Common Set X4.
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Post M11 Artifact Deck

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We are going to yatter about a post M11 artifact deck today. Quite a few cards in this build will not be around when they Shards of Alara block and M10 rotate out of standard this fall so we suggest, get in the best 3 months of gaming right now while you still are able.

Anywhoos - starting off, let's have a peak of that metallic angel found inserted in your M11 boosters. The art suggests a new Platinum Angel art, or a new Angel not seen before (most likely). Some rumours insists that we could see a return to coloured artifacts.

Text : Scars of Mirrodin

The corrosion begins October 2, 2010

Journey back to this harsh metallic Plane. This time, will you leave in one piece?

We many hints from all quarters that Scars of Mirrodin will be artifact heavy, we ensured we had our deck set of Steel Overseer now for $4 before it jumps to $14 this fall. Speaking of artifacts, and Steel Overseer, we had a great weekend testing a post-M11 artifact deck, starting at Friday Night Magic, and then a few times throughout the weekend at the kitchen table going up against a variety of different decks. We had a blast, not only was this deck fun to play but also performed not badly.


Here's the deck list - as usual, we ask you the readers to help us out and provide suggestions as to what you would do . . .


38 Spells
3 x Ornithopter
3 x Elixir of Vitality
3 x Voltaic Key
4 x Etherium Sculptor
3 x Metallurgeon
4 x Steel Overseer
3 x Oblivion Ring
3 x Fabricate
4 x Master of Etherium
3 x Lodestone Golem
3 x Scourglass
2 x Platinum Angel

22 Lands
11 x Plains
7 x Islands
2 x Gargoyle Castle
2 x Dread Statuary

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Right off the bat - Our original build had the Ornithopters sitting in the sideboard - that was a mistake. Since main-boarding, we count over half the games won by a pumped-up Ornithopter. The exilir of Immortality was good as well and saved our butt a few times by supplying a quick life boost.

Voltaic Key and Steel Overseer are at the heart of this deck and makes everything bad-a$$. We especially loved any game which had Etherium Sculptor and Lodestone Golem out - cheaper artifacts for us and more expensive spells for our opponents. Fabricate performed well by allowing us to look for an artifact in our deck and Master of Etherium was always a solid drop. The big kick to our opponents was Scourglass which wiped their side of the game table but left ours intact. We never really got a chance to play Platinum Angel which means we need more play-testing - we feel that having the Anel out along with the Exilir of Immortality could save us from otherwise stalled games.

The number of mana appeared to be good as well but we did not really get a chance to use Dread Statuary of Gargoyle Castle which means more play-testing again which we will not mind at all given the big fun factor of this deck.

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And lastly, we suggest you get over to MTG Mint Card - this is your LAST CHANCE to get the discounted M11 Card Sets from only $29.99 ! Check out this solid deal for Magic 2011 Core Set M11 Uncommon & Common Set X4.

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Lorwyn Artifacts

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In Magic: The Gathering, Artifacts represent magical items, animated constructs, pieces of equipment, or other objects and devices. In previous sets, Artifacts were often inanimate creatures, sometimes a land, and once even a fortification. Like enchantments, artifacts remain in play until something removes them. Artifacts are distinct from other cards in that they are colorless, and can be played using any color or colours of mana. Only once do I recall an artifact card requiring 2 colourless and one blue mana.

Recently (OK, a few short years ago), Wizards of the Coast introduced Equipment Artifacts. Equipment has carried over to the Morningtide set in the form of Tribal-themed Equipment. These Equipment cards enter play just like other Artifacts and may be attached or equipped to a player's creature to provide the stated effect. Should the creature be slayed (may your Deity forbid it) during the course of the game, the equipment still remains in play and may be equipped to another creature.

We are presented with 12 Lorwyn-set Artifacts consisting of 7 rares and 5 commons. Of this bunch, only two are equipment.
NAME / COST / Rarity
Colfenor's Urn / 3 / Rare
Deathrender / 4 / Rare (Equipment)
Dolmen Gate / 2 / Rare
Herbal Poultice / 0 /Common
Moonglove Extract / 3 / Common
Rings of Brigthearth / 3 / Rare
Runed Stalactite / 1 / Common (Equipment)
Springleaf Drum / 1 / Common
Thorn of Amethyst / 2 / Rare
Thousand-Year Elixir / 3 / Rare
Twinning Glass / 4 / Rare
Wanderer's Twig / 1 / Common













As for the Morningtide set, there are 6 Artifacts containing 1 rare and 5 uncommons. Of this, 5 are equipment cards.
NAME / COST / Rarity
Cloak and Dagger / 2 / Uncommon (Rogue Equipment)
Diviner's Wand / 3 / Uncommon (Wizard Equipment)
Door of Destinies / 4 / Rare
Obsidian Battle-Axe / 3 / Uncommon (Warrior Equipment)
Thornbite Staff / 2 / Uncommon (Shaman Equipment)
Veteran's Armaments / 2 / Uncommon (Soldier Equipment)

The flavour and theme of the Lorwyn block are again echoed within Artifacts. There are 5 Artifact Equipment cards for each of the five classes offered; Soldiers (Kithkin, Giant, Treefolk, Merfolk, Faerie), Shamans (Elemental Flamekin, Treefolk, Goblin, Elf), Wizards (Giant, Elemental, Merfolk, Faerie, Kithkin), Warriors (Giant, Goblin, Treefolk, Elemental Flamekin, Elf), and Rogues (Goblin, Merfolk, Kithkin, Faerie, Elf) within Lorwyn.

The common text within these cards read "Whenever a (stated Class) creature comes into play, you may attach (stated Artifact Equipment) to it". Furthermore, a mana cost is provided to equip the given artifact to the creature which varies from card to card, but expect to pay 2 to 4 mana.

Whatever type of deck you have decided to build, chances are that there is a spot for an artifact which may play an integral part to that deck's success. Personally, I have had some limited success with the inclusion of several Springleaf Drums in my Merfolk Milling Deck to satisfy my tap-happy fish. I have also provided a pair of Door of Destinies in another aggro deck to enhance what my tokens may swing for.

For an engaging article stuffed with Artifact yumminess, drop by WOTC and read Mark Rosewater's article.