Modern Masters Weekend Coverage

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Happy Monday MTG peeps,

Although we here at MTG Realm only took part in our local Friday Night Magic event at OMG! Games here in Barrie, Ontario, many Magic: the Gathering players took part in something rather special - the Modern Masters Weekend.  These Grand Prix events over last weekend boasted some of the biggest and well-attended  MTG events of the year.  Here are some key stats from Modern Masters Weekend include:

• More than 20,000 fans of the card game Magic: The Gathering participated in a global celebration of the game that spanned three continents.

• An estimated 5,000 fans played in Grand Prix Chiba, Japan; another 5,000 in Grand Prix Utrecht, Netherlands; and an estimated 11,000 played in Grand Prix Las Vegas.

• The weekend included many cosplayers, four weddings, and tournaments as large as 3,800 players.

• Over the course of the weekend more than 40,000 main event matches and thousands of side events were played, over 90 thousand packs of cards were opened, and countless spells were cast.

• An estimated 1 million fans watched coverage of the events across English, Japanese, and Chinese language video streams, and the events generated more than 21,000 tweets.

We've noted a very interesting (and welcome) change in coverage by Wizards of the Coast over the last weekend that Redditor XoXeLo had summarised very well - 

Also, we think that there has been a wonderful / lovely change in social media coverage headed up by Alison Luhrs (Community Manager for Wizards of the Coast) and others.  Quite specifically, some attention has been moved from off the rock stars at the Top 8 tables to down in the trenches where average players like us (and perhaps you) are forming the foundation of a great, vibrant gaming community.  

Be sure to check out Wizards / WotC pages on Tumblr, FaceBook, and Instagram.  Here's a sampling of a more 'human side' of the lovely recent coverage.

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Modern Masters 2015 Sealed

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Happy Monday MTG peeps,

With Modern Masters 2015 release weekend simultaneously taking place soon on 28th to 31st May in large Grand Prix tournaments in Las Vegas, Chiba, Japan and Utrecht as well as your favourite local gaming store (like ours - OMG! Games here in Barrie, Ontario), one should start preparing now for this.  Try out a sealed pool generator to train yerself up - info below.

The overwhelming format of choice for these events are Modern Masters 2015 Sealed in which you will receive 6 packs of Modern Masters, make a 40 card deck out of them and then battle.  There are a lot of other variants and we've even heard of a store that will add one more sealed pack that you can use in your build with each match one (we of course can't find where we've seen it now).  Anywhoos, here are some tips - VERY GENERALLY SPEAKING -

MANA : Depending upon your pool, have 22 to 23 spells with 17 to 18 lands.

MANA COLOUR : Typically two-coloured builds are the norm with one-colour and three-colour being sometimes rarely possible if your pool is good.  If you go 4 or 5 colours, you are crazy or more brave than us.

BOMB : Have at least one or two bombs which have the potential to win you the game.

CURVE : Try to keep 5+ Converted Mana Cost (CMC) to no more than 4 or 5 with the remainder gradually increasing to 2 CMC.  Avoid 1-drop creatures without an ability unless it is required for acceleration, combat tricks, or removal.

SNEAKING DAMAGE : If you have evasion on your creature (flying / unblockable) this would typically make the cut.  Similarly, if you have a cheap spell that does this, give it consideration.

REMOVAL : Unless you have a cinch of cool first striking deathtouch creature (or similar creature-based pseudo-removal) you should pack at a handful of removal spells.

We suggest you pop on over to the mothersite here and here to get proper tips on sealed play. For now, here is a sealed pool generator developed by our buddy Cam and the six packs we cracked - 

First Pack

Just the 'juice' from the next 5 packs

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Full MM2015 Spoiler

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Happy Saturday MTG peeps,

Yesterday over the the mothersite, the entire Modern Masters 2015 edition was previewed in the Card Image gallery.  If you've not already had a look, pop on over here.  

Modern Masters 2015 is a 249 card set consisting of reprints of cards originally printed between Eighth Edition and New Phyrexia. Modern Masters 2015 is exclusively booster-based, designed to be drafted. Each booster contains 15 playable cards: 10 commons, 3 uncommons, one rare or mythic rare, and one foil card of any rarity replacing the basic land which would normally be found in a booster as Modern Masters 2015 does not contain a run of basic lands.

Due to the higher expected average value of the cards contained in a booster and the lower print run, the MSRP of one booster of Modern Masters is set to $9.99 ($3 higher than the first Modern Masters set). Due to the higher MSRP booster displays only contain 24 packs, which is also the number required for a regular draft (three boosters for each of eight players), as the set was designed specifically for draft.  The cost to draft this set may be a titch too high for some players out there.

A number of cards change rarity from their original printing to create a better drafting environment or because mythic rare wasn't introduced until the Alara block. Examples include moving 'Eye of Ugin' from Mythic Rare to Rare or the Ravnica bounce lands from common to uncommon.

Some cards receive new artwork and we do not think there is enough of these at all -

Etched Champion
Daybreak Coronet
Pillory of the Sleepless
Tarmogoyf (same are as in first MM)
Vendilion Clique
Shadowmage Infiltrator

Of note, there is less of a tribal theme, like goblins / rebels in this Modern Masters edition (which we've never though lent well to drafting), and more emphasis related to colour like evoke / bloodthirst /  soulshift.  Although we are rather excited to see a printing of Daybreak Coronet (as we have an uncompleted Modern Boggles decklist), we really do not understand why this would make the cut in this set.  We would of course be rather happy opening up a Tarmo  or Karn but would cry if it was a Horde of Notions or Etched Monstrosity.  If you are one of those folks who get into the financial value of a particular set, we will likely be reading your article soon.
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Modern Masters 5-04

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Happy Monday peeps,

We do not often watch coverage of the large Magic: the Gathering events, but when it's basically in your back yard and most of your friends are attending, we have good cause.  In between all the cr@p we had to get done over the weekend, we took in as much Grand Prix Toronto coverage on Twitch as possible.  Mothersite coverage over here - http://magic.wizards.com/en/events/coverage/gptor15

One of our very fav pro players is the great Craig Wescoe who espouses much of our own playstyle but we can't but help root for our own fellow Canadians - in fact 3 of the top 8 were from Canada-Land.  In the end, two Canadians worked themselves to the final showdown - Lucas Siow (Abzan Midrange) vs Edgar Magalhaes (Mardu Dragons) with Lucas taking the win.  Rather odd that we did not see a ton of that blue - white Ojutai / control decklist making top marks.  In fact Craig's GW Collected Company sideboard contained 4x Windstorm to take care of this particular issue which did not really seem to present itself as many may have anticipated.

Anywhoos, since we've not made Top 8 at our local Friday Night Magic event at OMG! Games here in Barrie in weeks (maybe even months), we won't really go into any much details as to which decklist we think rocks.  What we really want to talk about is some of the new Modern Masters 2015 edition previews which have been rolling out.  Here is the full list to date - 

All is Dust
Austere Command
Bloodthrone Vampire
Cranial Plating
Cryptic Command
Dark Confidant
Daybreak Corornet
Dismember
Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
Endrek Sahr, Master Breeder
Etched Champion
Fulminator Mage
Goblin Fireslinger
Goblin Guide
Incendiary Command
Iona, Shield of Emeria
Karn Liberated
Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
Mirran Crusader
Mox Opal
Noble Hierarch
Primal Command
Primeval Titan
Profane Command
Rusted Relic
Spellskite
Splinter Twin
Stormblood Berserker
Swans of Bryn Argoll
Tarmogoyf
Tezzeret the Seeker
Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
Vampire Lacerator
Vendilion Clique

We sadly admit we were not moved to extreme excitement on the Modern Masters spoilers ‘n’ previews to date but are definitely exhilarated over this one.  We have an incomplete G/W (hexproof) Boggles decklist that is incomplete because we could not find these out-of-stock basterds anywhere.

OK, let’s yatter about the art.  The Future Sight art was uninspiring but the new Leonin fella rocking those Gryffindor colours float our boat !

Daybreak Coronet
Future Sight Art by Scott Hampton
Modern Masters 2015 Art by Johannes Voss
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Thursday Miscellany

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Happy Thursday MTG peeps,

A bit of a mixed bag for you today so bring a compass while we wander aimlessly over a bunch of Magic: the Gathering related news.

First up - Your FNM meta

With the rise in populatiry of Esper Control in the Top 8 positions of Pro Tour Dragons of Tarkir, we fully expect to start seeing these at our local gaming store, OMG! Games here in Barrie.  Specifically, look for a rise in control decks with finishers such as Dragonlord Ojutai and / or Silumgar, the Drifting Death along with a singleton of Ugin, the Spirit Dragon.  

More regional tournaments are certainly evolving this way too but we still see a decent variety of decklists making top marks like Bant Heroic, Jeskai Tokens, Abzan Aggro and others.  We think that players will be quick to react and evolve to this change with tweaked or new lists such as Sam Black's Red / Green Bees (featuring Hornet's nest) or perhaps going all out mono-red like Raphael Levy's Mono-Red Devotion with fliers such as Ashchloud & Flamewake Phoenix and Thunderbreak Regent.

Next,

Earlier this week, Marijn Lybaert with Tournamentcenter.eu, (the organizer of Grand Prix Utrecht 2015) previewed two more Modern Masters 2015 cards - Splinter Twin and Spellskite, both rather popular in modern format.

While we are yattering about GP Utrecht, here is the very cool playmat by Rob Alexander which is to be part of the organiser's VIP package and prize wall. 

Lastly,

Some news about some of the controvesy you may have heard from the Pro Tour Dragon's of Tarkir tournaments.  Quite specifically, an update on the investigation into possible cheating which was posted to the mothersite yesterday.  

Filipe Valdivia has been suspended from playing in sanctioned Magic tournaments for six months following his investigation.  Felipe Valdiva took a scryland back to his hand and replayed it to scry before using Narset's +1 ability.

Stephen Speck has been suspended from playing in sanctioned Magic tournaments for 36 months following his investigation.  Stephen Speck disqualified for presenting a 53 card deck to his opponent with a 7 card hand off to the side.

Patrick Chapin was given a game loss and we won't get into that at all as we don't completely agree with the judge's call on it and yet at the same time can clearly see the other side of the argument.

Also Jeremy Dezani disqualified for misrepresenting the game state to the judge.  Jeremy had some previous history which could be considered questionable.  In this case the incident occurred in Round 8 when judges were called to his table by the players in the match and involved a missed trigger on an Eidolon we think. After an investigation, it became clear that Dezani had modified his version of the story while discussing the incident with judges.


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Modern Masters Rumours

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Happy Monday MTG peeps,

Hope all have had a great weekend.  This weekend for us was spent on a few epic games of Settlers of Catan, not to be confused with the popular Settlers of Brooklyn.  Anywhoos, we should probably get to some Magic: teh Gathering content - specifically Modern Masters 2015 edition, which is due to be released at the end of next month.

Since this post last week, the official previews have these five cards confirmed for reprint -
Vendilion Clique
Karn Liberated
Tarmogoyf
Emrakul, the Aeons Torn

Etched Champion

Three of the five card arts here are also to be featured on upcoming Ultra • PRO product offerings as well - 

Ultra • PRO Modern Masters 2015 Edition offerings
Deck Vault (Etched Champion), MSRP: $7.99, # 86256
Sleeves (Karn Liberated), MSRP: $8.99, # 86255
Play Mat (Vendilion Clique), MSRP: $21.99, # 86257

WotC has planned the Grand Prix weekend in Las Vegas, Utrecht, and Chiba to be the pivotal event for the release of Modern Masters 2015 and encourages gamers to use the hashtag #‎MakeMagicHistory to share stories 'n' pics.  As we won't be able to attend either weekend, we hope local gaming stores #‎MakeMagicHistory by keeping the price for Modern Masters to under 300% of the MRSP.

Not much else in the way of previews, but loads of tantalizing images, like Magic's European community manager, Dan Barrett who just needs to let us see inside that environmentally considerate MM2015 package he just cracked in this YouTube vid.

Wrapping thingys up, we want to touch on some rumours on MTG Sally provided by a mysterious (but trustworthy) source that includes the following cards -

All is Dust
Austere Command
Cryptic Command
Dark Confidant
Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
Fulminator Mage
Goblin Guide
Incendiary Command
Iona, Shield of Emeria
Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
Mox Opal
Noble Hierarch
Primal Command
Profane Command
Splinter Twin
Tezzeret the Seeker

Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre

Again, these are rumours but since the poster proved true last time (with the previous Modern Masters spoilers), we will provide a benefit of doubt.
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