Guilds of Ravnica Standard

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Happy Thursday MTG peeps,

Tomorrow evening, Magic: the Gathering players will experience a brand new standard format as the newest set, Guilds of Ravnica is released.  Four sets - Amonkhet / Hour of Devastation and Kaladesh / Aether Revolt will be rotating out.  Typically, we would now tell you something along the lines of 'Thank goodness, X is finally rotating' given that 'X' was such pain to deal with at Friday Night Magic.  Not so much this time - really no complaints, although some players will be sad to see Walking Ballista walk off the stage.  There will be of course some nostalgia for the Kaladesh / Aether Revolt Energy Decks, but Wizards of the Coast did kill those off fairly early in January, 2018 with the Anning of Attune with Aether and Rogue Refiner.

Anywhoos, let us not dwell on the past but rather this Friday.  Should you still have some hesitation as to what new / improved Guilds of Ravnica standard decklist should be, do not look any further.  It is that time again with the very popular HareruyaWayfinder, Guilds of Ravnica edition where Kenji Tsumura and other Magic: the Gathering Pros provide a number of suggestions as to what to build, or rather build upon, seasoned with your own personal preferences and the particular local metagame.  There are 18 standard format decklists and something for everyone, whether your game is Aggro, Midrange, Tokens or Control.  There are also 5 Modern Decks to look over as well.

The complete list is posted over at the Hareruya MTG website linked right here.

Aggro Decks
Deck 1 Golgari Ghalta
Deck 2 Boros Aggro
Deck 3 Izzet Aggro
Deck 4 Abzan Knight

Midrange Decks
Deck 5 Dimir Midrange
Deck 6 Golgari Midrange
Deck 7 Golgari with Izoni
Deck 8 Golgari Explore

Control Decks
Deck 9 Izzet Control
Deck 10 Azorius Control
Deck 11 Jeskai Control
Deck 12 Esper Control

Token Decks
Deck 13 Boros Tokens
Deck 14 Selesnya Tokens

Other Strategies (Ramp / Mono Colored)Deck 15 Simic Ramp
Deck 16 Mono White Weenie
Deck 17 Mono Red Goblins
Deck 18 Keld Red

Happy Brewing folks !

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Magic: The Gathering Commander Frontier

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Happy Monday MTG peeps,

We had a great time on the weekend at our local gaming store, OMG! Games, here in Barrie, Ontario playing Magic: the Gathering ‘Frontier’ format.  This very new casual (not officially recognized by Wizards of the Coast) game format, also known as Postmodern is a casual constructed MTG format allowing expansion and core sets from Magic 2015 onward.  Essentially, this format uses the modern card frame incorporating the custom WotC Beleren font, the holofoil stamp for rares / mythic rares, and collector information, where deck construction rules are the same as in Standard and Modern format.

Specifically, the following card are legal.
• Magic 2015
• Khans of Tarkir
• Fate Reforged
• Dragons of Tarkir
• Magic Origins
• Battle for Zendikar
• Oath of the Gatewatch
• Shadows over Innistrad
• Eldritch Moon
• Kaladesh

Of note is that the format also allows for cards appearing in the Magic Origins sample decks, Welcome 2016 expansion and Planeswalker decks.  The format does exclude (quite rightfully) the Masterpiece cards (some players calling it ‘treasure cards’) within the Kaladesh set (and those going forward). 

So how did we get here?  Similar to other MTG casual game formats - a grassroots movement by the gamers.  Should this catch on with other gamers wanting to play the format and gaming stores throw in support to organize events, then we on certainly on the road leading to a recognized format.  In late September, two of the larger gaming stores in Japan, BigMagic and Hareruya, known for a robust Magic: the Gathering player base announced that they would be organizing weekly Frontier tournaments.  Greatly assisting the spread of the news of this format was the fact that both stores also offered very generous prize support.

Another reason for the genesis of this format may be attributed in a way to the the discontinuation of ‘Extended’, a format very similar to that of the new Frontier but with the addition of Theros Block (Theros, Born of the Gods and Journey into Nyx).  The big difference here was that Extended was a format that (formerly) rotated annually with each new ‘fall’ block in the Autumn.  With the rise of popularity in Modern, Wizards of the Coast decided to retire Extended, which may have left an open space near and dear to some players.  How did MTG Realm get interested in Frontier?  A few reasons come to mind, the foremost though was a nostalgia for a few decklists we were very sad to see rotated out of standard.

The Frontier experience at OMG! Games
Our local game store in Barrie has solid gaming community for Standard and Modern (as well as Commander) and Frontier offered a unique bridge to those who may have wanted to try out the ‘other’ format.  In our recent tournament, most of the field was Jeskai Ascendancy variants - combo, control, aggro, and tokens.  Perhaps not too surprising given the huge past popularity of Dig Through Time and Treasure Cruise (Frontier has not banned or restricted cards).  There were four other lists which were not Jeskai - a cool Mill deck (run by Richard the LGS Owner), an Abazan-Blue list (love for the Siege Rhino), a Blue-Black control list and ours - the single Hardened Scales list in the tournament. 

How did we do?  Not too shabby actually - we went undefeated until our last match going 2 wins, 1 draw, and 1 loss.  Here is the list we went with :

In summary, we rather like this format just as it is.  Some may say that given the mana base (half the fetch lands, missing pain lands), this may lead to slower game play.  This in turn may, develop into an imbalance of archetypes perhaps, but given the future additions of new sets, we do not see this as a systemic issue.  Should you have a chance, we’ll definitely encourage you to give Magic: the Gathering Frontier format a try.  Pop on over to the Frontier community at this link on Reddit to learn more.
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Legacy Inferno

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Happy Friday MTG peeps,

We have a special treat for you today from a fellow Blogger and friend of ours who we hang out with at FNM. Richard Laurie of Legacy Inferno (website HERE, twitter HERE) had accepted a request from us to write up an article on Magic the Gathering's Legacy format - a format which we have yet to explore but are excited to learn more about. As we have been playing casual only since Lorwyn block, we are looking forward to this tour that Richard will give us. Please check out his other great articles .
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Legacy Of The Force, By Richard Laurie

Those of you who don't know the now, the now is Legacy – It is Magic The Gathering's second largest format mostly due impart by the Star City Games Open Series. If you are unfamiliar with this tournament series is run almost weekly all over the U.S.A. It is a 2 day event with the Standard (Type II) run on the Saturday, and Legacy run on the Sunday. Due to this series it has opened up and essentially exploded the Legacy format into the Magic mainstream.

So why is Legacy so much fun? Well I think this is clearly a personal question for each and everyone of us as players, or pros. I can give you my answer, and it is very simple, standard no longer offered me a challenge or enjoyment so I moved in a direction that brought me back to the Eternal format.

This direction started 3 years ago for me, I had left magic for a little while to pursue my professional career. I left after the Mirrodin Block, and returned during Lorwyn. I will admit that from that point forward I didn't play many standard events, I drafted a lot, but to be honest, I suck at limited, because the irony of this, is I feel so limited within it. So I drifted away from drafting and moved myself into a more casual environment to E.D.H. - What EDH/Commander offered me was the chance to go through all my old cards and build and tinker with decks. Particularly taking the best cards in magic and building a deck to play them in. What it reminded me of was back in high school when I would sit in the cafe with my friends and play during our spare periods or lunch break. But it also re-lite a fire within me for my real passion of the game.

Around the same time LSV was winning with Black/White Tokens, this deck intrigued me so much that I built and modified it for Legacy, so I could play with some local players against their Legacy decks, which was a sui-black, leyline, and landstill deck. To be honest the deck sucked against those decks. So I moved on, and evolved, like how this game continues to evolve.

Legacy as a format is has a continuous evolution, more so than any other format in the fact that it has a larger card pool to draw from. “As of Jan 31st, 2011, there are 20,043 unique cards. This includes EVERY card, from promo cards to tokens.” if you compare that number to say Standard which currently has the Zendikar Block, M11, and Two parts of the Scars of Mirrodin block (New Phyrexia due out soon) the card pool is literally a few times larger.

Since the diversity of Legacy is so vast, the ability to build a top tier competitive deck also increases as it is clearly available to mix the old with the new. If you pay attention to the standard universe, you would see right now, the top deck is Caw-Blade and it's variants. Would it surprise you to learn that there is also a Caw-Blade deck in Legacy? Which for all intense and purposes hasn't really shown up on any tournament winning top 16/8/4 finishes, but Legacy players were actually intrigued by Brian Kibler's brain child for standard. I myself have even tinkered with the Caw-Blade deck for Legacy, I certainly won't say how bad it turned out to be for myself playing it, but it is a deck that unlike it's Standard partner is in the developmental stages for Legacy by those working to try and crack it.

So what are the Top Deck's in Legacy? Well, there are many, if you asked me this exact same question last year, I would look at you like a donk and think what are you new? It's survival of the fittest. But when survival of fittest got banned, Legacy was just winding down it's 2010 season, and because of this players resorted back to Aggro, Control, Combo, and Rouge decks.

Aggro decks in Legacy have a few sub-categories. Zoo, Fish, Goblins etc... Zoo has been a mainstay deck in almost every format played. While the decks are similar in their nature, they certainly aren't similar in their design. Legacy Zoo for example capitalizes greatly on a super fast aggro strategy with a creature base that in all honest you really don't want to go against, because it takes the best of the best and beats you in the face with it. An example of these creatures is as follows:

Tarmogoyf
Kird Ape
Wild Nactal
Watchwolf
Isamaru, Hound of Konda
Goblin Legionnaire/Figure of Destiny
Woolly Thoctar

A very fast an aggressive play will keep you on your toys, if you aren't prepared for this, however, where this deck can fail, is of course against and equally aggressive control deck.

The control deck is for all intense and purpose a bane on any aggro players deck, if they aren't prepared for it. As much as, Aether Vial is a pain in the ass to any control deck, that allowed it to resolve. For a good example of control in Legacy, we can look at two different yet similar decks Mono Blue control, and CounterTop – Monoblue control is pretty straight forward, it is your basic permission deck, a low creature count, for their winning strategy, and keeping your field clear of anything that will hinder their win against you. - CounterTop on the other hand is a much more resilient style of deck, as it has a very aggressive aggro strategy to back up it's counter capability, the key components to CounterTop is manipulating the top of their decks with card's like Sensei’s Divining Top, Brainstorm, and in some cases depending on the build Jace The Mind Sculptor. These cards, are then entwined with the card that give's CounterTop it's name Counterbalance this two drop enchantment which states:

“Whenever an opponent casts a spell, you may reveal the top card of your library. If you do, counter that spell if it has the same converted mana cost as the revealed card.”

So with the ability to manipulate the deck, it gives you access to pretty much stop most things, however without counterbalance on the field, CounterTop decks relay on countering your key cards with Daze, and Force of Will, and a few other minor counter spell cards. Backed up with either a combo kill like Sword of the Meek and Thopter Foundry, or beat down creatures like Tarmagoyf, Progenitus etc. CounterTop decks can be a huge pain in the side against the Aggro player, Where counter decks can fail however is against not only itself sometimes, but also against Combo more importantly Storm.

Storm style decks and Combo decks have been part of Legacy for a while now. 3 of the biggest decks, in this scenario are The Epic Storm (TES), Ad Nauseam Tendrils(ANT), and Time Spiral/High Tide. These decks all have a similar aspect, but kill you very differently, TES for example, like it ANT uses Tendrils of Agony to drain the life right out of you, a first turn TES or ANT can be as surprising as getting a goblin charbelcher to the face on first turn and seeing that mountain flip and have it deal twice the amount of the damage revealed – However, TES unlike ANT has a back up plan, it plays a card called Empty the Warrens, which for it's storm count put's 2 1/1 goblin token into play

Sometimes and I have seen this happen many times, turn one you have ten goblins in front of you and you haven't even played a land yet. It's can be really heartbreaking when you lose to combo, personally, I respect the deck more, then I really ever respect the Combo player. It is just a stigma that I have, and I am not ashamed to admit it.

So this leaves us with one more topic, and that is the Rogue deck, these decks have and always will be a part of magic, they tend to be the deck that no one sees coming, no one is either A) Prepared for or B) Can completely devastate. Many of these rogue decks however, have become established competitive decks that many people play now. As I previously mentioned in this article Legacy has a huge card pool to draw from, with over 20,000+ spells to have access to, there is always going to be something new that can be added to this game, and always something that can be cracked wide open.

Well that is it, I would like to thank MTG Relem for giving me this opportunity to write for their page, and share with you my tidbits of information on Legacy. If you would like to read more about Legacy, then I suggest you come give me a visit at my own Legacy dedicated blog.

Richard's Magic the Gathering Legacy Blog -
Legacy Inferno

Richard's Twitter

Some informational links as well:

The Source: which is the site for Legacy forum chats, deck discussions and so on.

Crazy Talk – A podcast dedicated to Legacy from your hosts Kar Yung Tom ,Alexander Hayne,
François Richard and Jonathan Medina which can be heard at http://www.mtgcast.com

PLUG PLUG PLUG for mine and MTG Realm local shop: OMG Games & Collectibles. A wicked store for playing at with a great and knowledgeable staff. Special events from FNM, to video game tournaments if that's your thing. Check them out on Facebook for for event listings and such.

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Six Card Booster Pack

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Very interesting news today over at WoTC. We now have a new Magic : The Gathering product format . . . A six-card booster pack. You may be wondering if April Fool's Day came early and say "CopySix - go pull the other one", but I am not joshing you - just check the article out on Daily Arcana.
So, if you find yourself in a large mass-market store like Target or WalMart in the near future, you might see one of these. Well, here in my part of Canada, one is unable to purchase any WoTC product at a SprawlMart and must make a trek to the local gaming store, which is rather fine with me as I would rather provide patronage to the retailer that plays host to me (almost) every Friday evening.

That said . . . if I did find myself out and about after regular business hours and happen to be in a 24-hour WalMart with an MTG itch I had to get a hit of cardboard crack, then perhaps I might pick up a few cards. Before this, let us have a look at what we are getting . . .

This new product format offering starting with Conflux we will call 'The Six Card Booster'. Thankfully, it will not replace regular booster packs, and it will only appear in mass market stores. The manufacturer's suggested retail price for this pack is $1.99 or approximately 900 Canadian pesos.

WoTC provides no guarantee as to the rarities of cards within packs, but one may expect a tips/token card, 1 land, 3 commons, 1 uncommon, and 1 'Wild-Card' slot that has an equal chance of being rare/mythic, uncommon, or common. We are informed that there may "even have a chance of opening a foil card".

In comparison, a regular MTG Booster pack contains 16-Cards : 1 Rare/Mythic Rare (Mythic rares are approx. 1 in every 8 rares), 3 Uncommons, 10 Commons, 1 basic land, 1 Token/Tips & Tricks card.

For those gamers out there who continually contemplate the odds of the long-shot, here are the approximate numbers for the Wild-Card slot :

A Common ~ 33.5 %
An Uncommon ~ 33.5 %
A Rare ~ 29 %
A Mythic-Rare ~ 4 %

In Canada, a typical (15 card ) booster pack goes for $5.00 and I would expect the 6-card booster (if they become available here) to retail for about $2.50 to $2.75. As I am not very much of a betting gentleman, I would most likely not bother to pick one up unless it is intended as a Christmas stocking stuffer for the spouse / kids. The community appears highly divided as to this new product offering just as they were upon hearing the announcement that Tournament Packs were to be discontinued.

So, as WoTC states, you will always get a rare or mythic rare in a regular booster pack, but if you find yourself in a mass market store and only have a couple of bucks to spend on scratching your Magic itch, you now have this as an option.

Goodbye Time Spiral

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Having been playing only since early 2008, this will be the first time I will witness a block rotating out of Standard play. Specifically, we will see Coldsnap, Time Spiral, Planar Chaos, and Future Sight are set to rotate out of Standard on October 3, 2008. For more information, read this POST at Wizards.

Friday Night Magic will never be quite the same. No longer will I see my matches go down the tube when one of the 'usual suspects' hits the table (Damnation, Greater Gargadon, Momentary Blink, and Tarmogoyf to name a few). I should very well expect to see myself winning more games than usual as the more experienced players leave their (older) killer decks at home to only come out for Extended play. As these players were winning prizes, I have been quietly creating lightening-fast deadly decks and combos with Shadowmoor and Eventide (insert evil maniacal laugh here).

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Anywho, lets get to some news . . .

WoTC now has Gatherer (the MTG card database) updated with all the Shards of Alara cards. I often use this useful tool to rapidly evaluate cards for deck inclusion and would suggest (if you have not already) give it a try.

For this weekend's release event, make sure you review the Shards of Alara FAQ HERE. If you are still somewhat unsure about Devour, Exalted, Unearth, Coloured Artifacts, 5 Power Matters, Panoramas, Cycling, Heralds, or Shard Charms, do yourself and your tournament Judge a favour by reviewing the FAQs.

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Alara Release : Theme Tournament

For details on when and where Release Events will take place this weekend, check the Wizards list HERE. For details on tournament format and structure check out THIS WoTC page.

The Shards of Alara Launch Parties on October 3–6, 2008 are Wizards Play Network events that feature a new format: the Theme Tournament. Designed to highlight the fun and flavorful aspects of the Shards of Alara set, the Theme Tournaments have the same structure as the Prerelease tournaments (Sealed Deck format in which each player receives one tournament pack and three boosters), with a few additional rules.

As players build their decks, they must choose one of the five shards (Bant, Esper, Grixis, Jund, or Naya). The mana cost of each card in a player's deck may contain only mana symbols that match the chosen shard's three colors. (Mana symbols in a card's text box are ignored.) Colorless cards may be played in any deck. In addition, a deck may not generate mana outside its shard's colors. Any card which would generate mana of a color that doesn't match the chosen shard generates colorless mana instead.

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Finally, Let's have another look at the absolutely brilliant work that artist Jason Chan did for the upcomming Conflux release promotion.
It looks like a very nasty Apocalypse Hydra got loose on the Shard realm of Bant. This critter is packed with big-time bad-a$$ery. We all knew that these five shard planes would leak together. Anywho, Mr. Hydra looks hungry. After it finishes eating the Leotau mount, it looks like it eat some Angel food cake. The rest of Bant's finest sigiled do their best not to be next course.
Good Luck this weekend and Stay tuned for more MTG goodness . . .