Barcelona Block

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Happy Monday MTG peeps,

We all know that MTG Realm is a casual Magic the Gathering blog, but we cannot help ourselves to see what those Magic the Gathering pro-players are doing from time to time, especially after a set release like Avacyn Restored.  Anywhoos, this past weekend, pro-players descended upon Barcelona, Spain to participate in the Pro Tour Avacyn Restored tournament, which featured Avacyn Restored booster draft and Top 8 Innistrad-Avacyn Restored Block Constructed format.

Fellow Canadian Alexander Hayne (associated with Mana-Deprived) built a deck featuring 16 of the new 'miracle' cards and battled other well-known Magic players like Jon Finkel, Joshua Cho, and Gaudenis Vidugiris to take the title of Pro Tour champion.  You can see all the Top 8 Decklists HERE.  What we here at MTG Realm are interested in is what, if any, impact this latest tournament may make on standard constructed and more specifically, what should we expect of the metagame at our local store during Friday Night Magic events.

We think the following article, 'Top 5 Cards of Pro Tour Avacyn Restored', may provide some insight and evaluation of the fresh new cards we've received with the last set and suggest you give it a read.  We are certainly not surprised that Wolfir Silverheart made this Top 5 list - there was an incredible 22 copies in the top eight decklists.  Since the Avacyn Restored spoilers wrapped up, we've been itching to construct a build with Wolfir Silverheart and Champion of Lambholt.  What we were surprised about was the popularity of 'Miracle' mechanic cards.  Only a crystal ball will give us foresight as to whether its popularity in block constructed will transplant into standard constructed.

Righto - let's have a look at their Top 5 picks now.  We've supplemented this list with comments from the Gatherer card database.

#5 : Mist Raven
•  Love this guy. Probably the best blue common in the set. Potential first pick in a draft. Bouncers are always good, and paying an extra Blue to give a Man-o'-War flying? Sold. 5/5. Posted By: Mickacabra
•  So adding 1 gives a Man-o' War or an Aether Adept flying? Not bad at all, and another abusable ETB creature.
On a more facetious note, looks like we now have Storm Crow, Tempest Owl, and Mist Raven... I like the raven. Ravens are awesome. Posted By: Trygon_Predator
•  This card is a lot of fun with Conjurer's Closet.  Posted By: arfentul

#4 : Borderland Ranger
•  Okay on its own, really good with blink effects. Cloudshift him if you have the mana and need land.  Posted By: SyntheticDreamer
•  He's back! And when Ravnica comes back, his brother Civic Wayfinder will join the standard crowd!  Posted By: Binaro
 
#3 : Bonfire of the Damned
•  The cost isn't that expensive if you think about Bonfire's ideal targets. The only time you'd want to sweep the board is when there are many creatures, which often time are weenies with 1~2 toughness. Wildfire was a successful deck type utilizing heavy artifact mana and achieves 6+ mana by turn 2~4, the same could be applied here.  Posted By: Cyberium
•  This is an interesting one - I think it will basically be cast for its miracle cost whenever it can. There are few incentives to hold this card longer because it takes a lot of extra mana at most points to make more out of it and at the very least it's a Blaze on your opponent.  Posted By: djflo
•  This card will see a ton of play. One sided board wipes are Uzra's days status. And in a burn deck, this card is just too good not to play.  Posted By: MindEcho

#2 : Temporal Mastery
•  This thing is going to be so annoying with Brainstorm... And to be quite honest, I'm very surprised that they decided to bring back Time Walk. That card really is the last card I'd expect to see reprinted. Oh well, at least they found a way to balance it out better.  Posted By: Binaro
•  Barring drawing this one turn 1 or 2, at worst its an Explore for blue. How is that bad? If you draw it on turn 4 with a Delver and Geist in play, you can swing for 9 damage, untap, swing for 9 again. How is that bad?  Sure it might be "situational", if you mean its only good 95% of the time.  Posted By: Scormio

#1 : Wolfir Silverheart
•  Pair with another Wolfir Silverheart. Double 12/12's. Get some evasion on them and game is yours.  Posted By: TheWallinator74
•  Outrageous in limited. I'd imagine he'd be crazy in standard as well, paired with Invisible Stalker or Latch Seeker.  Posted By: nopemx6
•  The combo of choice for me is Wolfir Silverheart & Champion of Lambholt.  If the champion was out first (which it should be) you now have an 8/8 and a 5/5, which can't be blocked by anything with less than 5 power. And really, you ought to have brought out a few creatures once Champion of Lambholt is out, so realistically it's more like a pair of 8/8s which are more or less unblockable.  Posted By: ElCarl

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Finally,
Since we are rather focused on Top X lists today, here, from the folks over at MTG Mint Card are the ten most sold single cards . . .
1. Huntmaster of the Fells / Ravager of the Fells
2. Kessig Wolf Run
3. Hellrider
4. Delver of Secrets / Insectile Aberration
5. Forbidden Alchemy
6. Drogskol Captain
7. Tragic Slip
8. Intangible Virtue
9. Skaab Ruinator
10. Dungeon Geists
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Innistrad Humans

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Happy Tuesday MTG peeps,

With the entire Innistrad set now out in the open, it is time to soak up these delicious new Magic the Gathering cards and start thinking about builds to put them in. We are planning to provide over the next week or so, several builds showcasing each one of the 'tribes' of Innistrad - Humans, Spirits, Zombies, Vampires, and Werewolves.

For today's post, we now provide you with a Green / White Human list in a Innistrad block format. We encourage you to use the comment thingy below to suggest improvements or to provide your own list.


The List . . .

37 Spells :
4 Avacyn's Pilgrim
4 Champion of the Parish
3 Elite Inquisitor
4 Hamlet Captain
4 Mayor of Avabruck
3 Spare from Evil
3 Mentor of the Meek
4 Fiend Hunter
3 Elder Cathar
2 Butcher's Cleaver
3 Village Bell-Ringer

23 Lands :
3 Gavony Township
2 Ghost Quarter
8 Forest
10 Plains
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Avacyn's Pilgrim : A turn one human mana dork tapping for white seems good.

Champion of the Parish : This deck runs humans so this thing should grow very nicely.

Elite Inquisitor : Love the vampire / werewolf / zombie protection but not very useful if your opponent is not running any. Still, first strike and vigilence is great.

Hamlet Captain : A temporary pump to other humans is decent and a 2/2 for 2 is OK.

Mayor of Avabruck : Yeah! this human lord pumps +1/+1 but he has a darker side - a 3/3 werewolf lord side which also produces wolf tokens.

Spare from Evil : This will allow you to land damage on your opponent or perhaps save you from an alpha swing.

Mentor of the Meek : Being able to pay to draw a card is never a bad thing - this is card advantage.

Fiend Hunter : This enter-the-battlefield spot removal creature is decent - just make sure he doesn't take a dirt nap or your opponent will get that creature back.

Elder Cathar : A 2/2 for 3 mana sucks but the ability to dump two +1/+1 counters on another human is a great insurance policy.

Butcher's Cleaver : This provides a +3/0 pump and lifelink if equipped to umm, let's say a first striker like the Inquisitor - not bad at all.

Village Bell-Ringer : This is one of the better commons in this set. A 1/4 which can be flashed in AND untap all your other creature - very nice.

Gavony Township : four mana to dump +1/+1 counters on all our creatures - yes please.

Ghost Quarter : Some of those other non-basic lands look dangerous - here's some protection. This could also be used to on yourself if you have all plains and no forest in your hand.
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Stay tuned for more Innistrad block deck thoughts . . .
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Lastly, if you have not yet thought about getting in your pre-orders for Innistrad, we suggest you may want to consider dropping by MTG Mint Card.

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What I'm Playing 6

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This particular episode of 'What I'm Playing' (WIP #6) features a deck which has yet undergone any playtesting to date. Hopefully, this will see some play that this week's FNM. Essentially, this is one of my older Naya decks featuring Realm Razer and Meglonoth at the business end tweaked to include new card goodness from the recently released Alara Reborn set.

Let's have a quick walk through to see where this is all going . . .


The requisite one-drop for many Naya decks is of course Wild Nacatl - a decent 1/1 which balloons to a 3/3 when you get a Plains and a Mountain on the board. There really is no other purpose here than to provide a board presence in the game's first turns.

Path to Exile provides good spot removal of threats. The purpose here is to trade your opponent's threats and replace them with a basic land card which you will get to remove when Realm Razer hits the board.

Many decent Naya builds also feature Druid of the Anima which provides additional mana to you at a critical time in the game. The Druid also gets a jump start on things when Realm Razer enters play and there is a sudden and distressing lack of mana.


Stun Sniper is a new addition and as I have mentioned has not been play tested yet. It appears that this will be a strategic inclusion in order to kill off single 1/1 tokens flying or not as well as being able to tap down any of your opponent's fatties which may hit the board.


Another new addition is Jund Hackblade. This card has been getting some fairly decent reviews from other players. The Hackblade's potential to become a hasty 3/2 on turn two provided the presence of another multi-coloured permanent on your side is enviable.


Woolly Thoctar is simply obligatory in any deck that runs the Naya colours of Red / Green / White. A 5/4 beastie for only 3 mana is just insane even considering today's power curve.


Many players consider the cascading 3/2 Bloodbraid Elf one of the best (non-rare / mythic rare) cards of the set. For only four mana, you get a hasty 3/2 AND a FREE random spell - which in this deck may be ANY of the previous cards - I'm personally hoping for the Thoctar or perhaps the Hackblade. I do agree with Evan Erwin (Mr. Magic Show), that Captured Sunlight may very well be on par with the Hackblade, but I thought that the colours were just a bit better with the Hackblade for this build.

Once more again into the unkown territory of new deck inclusions is Knight of New Alara. Although the Knight is a very tenuous and easily-removed 2/2 for a cost of 4, the proof of WIN is in this card's ability . . . "Each other multicoloured creature you control gets +1/+1 for each of its colours". When this card hits the board, Woolly Thoctar becomes an 8/7 monster and Jund Hackblade becomes a 6/5.

One cannot effect provisions for every possible late-game play but when things go into the ceramic bowl of games gone awry Wall of Reverence, may become very relevant. I needed something in this deck to deal with flyers other than Stun Sniper and this seemed most appropriate as the Wall can give the flaggin player new life . . literally. Life gain off one the afore-mentioned fatties is nothing to balk at.

Next up is Meglonoth. This vigilant / tramply (a real word?) 6/6 for six mana is a solid inclusion in this slot. An excellent threat is that whenever Meglonoth blocks, it also dings the attacking creature's controller for pain equal to it's power. If the Knight of New Alara is still out, this adds up to a total of 9 damage on the stack that your opponent is either going to have to take in the face or provide a strategy for.

Finally, we have Realm Razer. Realm Razer at 4/2 is again easily removed and you really do not want that considering that once this critter is gone, your opponent will have all those lands back in order to play all those nasty spells in their hand. Protect his creature with Meglonoth or at least ensure that it is pumped up with the Knight for a decent 7/5.

Also - I am still tweaking the mana base and need to include some artifact mana producers such as Firewild Borderpost or perhaps Obelisk of Naya so that I have an alternate deck power supply when Realm Razer hits play.

I am still working on a side board and would very much like to hear from you the reader - so please drop me a comment.

Stompy Razer - 60 Cards

Creatures - 40 Cards
4 x Wild Nacatl
4 x Path to Exile
4 x Druid of the Anima
4 x Jund Hackblade
4 x Stun Sniper
4 x Woolly Thoctar
4 x Bloodbraid Elf
3 x Knight of New Alara
3 x Wall of Reverence
3 x Meglonoth
3 x Realm Razer

Lands - 20 Cards
5 x Mountains
5 x Forests
6 x Plains
4 x Firewild Borderpost

Sideboard - ? ? ? (please assist)

Naya Aggro Help

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Hey all,

I hope to be heading into a BLOCK-CONSTRUCTED tournament this weekend and would be greatly appreciative of any constructive assistance you may be able to provide in helping me out in tweaking my Naya build.

The deck as it sits is overweight and needs to loose quite a bit.


In my sideboard (which may very well make it into the main deck) are some Ember Weavers (first strike reach), Naya Charms, Realm Razers and Battlegrace Angels.

Here is a shot of the Mana I can pull in or fix.


And here is the list . . . please help me fix it - - your suggestions please - post a comment.

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46 Creatures
4 x Noble Hierarch (G)
4 x Path to Exile (W)
4 x Wild Nacatl (G)
4 x Druid of the Anima 1(G)
3 x Steward of Valeron (G)(W)
4 x Knotvine Mystic (R)(G)(W)
4 x Woolly Thoctar (R)(G)(W)
4 x Oblivion Ring 2(W)
2 x Elspeth, Knight-Errant 2(W)(W)
3 x Cliffrunner Behemoth 3(G)
2 x Ajani Vengeant 2(R)(W)
4 x Megnlonoth 3(R)(W)(G)
3 x Titanic Ultimatum (R)(R)(G)(G)(G)(W)(W)
1 x Apocalypse Hydra X(R)(G)

22 Lands
4 x Ancient Ziggurat
8 x Forest
5 x Plains
5 x Mountain

Prophetic Posts

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You may recall the previous post on Tuesday title 'Nay Fatties' in which I had discussed a future desire to effect a Naya build. The deck in mind would be include the supporters of Knotvine Mystic and Druid of the Anima. These would hopefully bring early arrivals of the likes of Woolly Thoctar and Realm Razer.

I am always keen to see what others are playing to see where the metagame is going and to assist me in evolving and developing my casual game. To this end, I was very interested in seeing the results of recent decks of the week posted today over at Wizards.
More specifically, the recent Shards of Alara Block events on Magic Online gave me pause to think. From the 40 Top Eight decks in the five events held, almost 30 of these decks ( 75 % ! !) had builds with Druid of the Anima, Wooly Thoctar and Realm Razer.
Check it out . . .

Shards of Alara Block on Magic Online

2/2/2009 (Event #176867)
2/3/2009 (Event #176869)
2/3/2009 (Event #176870)
2/5/2009 (Event #184467)
2/5/2009 (Event #184468)

Here is a typical build on the winning decks.

4 x Battlegrace Angel
4 x Druid of the Anima
3 x Realm Razer
4 x Steward of Valeron
3 x Woolly Thoctar

4 x Ajani Vengeant
3 x Elspeth, Knight-Errant

Also included in the sideboards were a fair variation of removal or counter like Oblivion Ring and Naya Charm.

I am not one for 'net-decking' simply because it feels like I've borrowed someone else's deck at FNM. In this case however, I feel that I had arrived independently to a similar build. As I have most these cards already, I expect to be playing it soon at the local gammery store or the kitchen table.