Changing it Up

By Norman Ralph

Weeks 3 and 4 of my FNM story have shown me how difficult a challenge this is going to be. Having missed a week to play Modern at FNM in order to prepare for a couple of big modern events in Chesterfield and Manchester, I went back to the standard tournament at Travelling Man with high hopes of another top 4 finish and another profitable evening. I went 1-3 and cam second last. I should have gone 3-1 and come in the top 4 but I punted a game where I had the win in hand and discarded a mountain to Faithless Looting when I should have pitched the Island that I kept. In the other game I lost that I should have won I just screwed my maths up and ended up being a spell short on the killer blow. Though the maths was made complicated with an on line Trading Post there was really no excuse.

I am not going to go into a long tournament report for week 3 as most of the decks and match ups are ones I've spoken about before and my own deck's weaknesses and strengths haven't changed. I still would really want a set of Boros Reckoners or Geists of Saint Traft in the sideboard to beat a control deck and I am still really wanting to upgrade some of the Guildgates into other lands, but with rotation so close I don't think either is a good plan just yet.

Speaking of rotation, week 4 saw me change tactic and eschew the standard event for an M14 booster draft. The main reason for this change was the fact that I need cards in my pool for post rotation and also some trade/sale fodder to fix my deck when Theros hits at the end of September. With a steep entry cost compared to prize credit (£11.50 in and max £10 credit) it was a risky manoeuvre but essential if I want to take FNM Hero into the new set.

My gamble paid off as I drafted a very solid UW deck with 2 Scroll Thieves, a couple of Air Servants and Divinations, 4 Celestial Flare and 2 Pacifism. The big win for the draft was a foil Archangel of Thune. Not only is it a high value card in terms of money, but also won me the game every time it resolved.

This was my final 40:

1 Archangel of Thune
2 Scroll Thief
2 Master of Diversion
2 Griffin Sentinel
2 Charging Griffin
2 Air Servant
1 Wall of Swords
1 Trained Condor

3 Celestial Flare
2 Divination
2 Pacifism
1 Cancel
1 Disperse
1 Claustrophobia

8 Islands
9 Plains

Unsurprisingly I went 3-0 and came top.

Entry: £11.50
Prizes: £10 + Dimir Charm FNM Promo

Playing to your (meta) Strengths

By Norman Ralph

Week 2 of my FNM Hero series was a roller coaster ride. I again ended up going 2-2 but this time without the help of a bye and yet still managing to come fourth in the Swiss, meaning I made my first ever FNM Hero profit!

My sideboard is still causing me headaches and removal heavy decks are still trouncing me in every match up, but against mid range and aggressive decks that are light on removal I have the edge pre-board and on the play, so winning 2-1 is my usual course.

One of the biggest lessons I have learnt so far in FNM Hero is that I really should have considered the local meta when deciding on my deck. My main deck Pillar of Flames are the cards I take out most often, along with my Guttersnipes. Pillar comes out as we have a Voice of Resurgence light meta (although Strangleroot Geist appears in a couple of local decks) and getting red on turn 1 to kill the mana elves is awkward the majority of the time. Making the decision between turn 1/2 Pillar of Flame and Thought Scour/Izzet Charm/Faithless Looting is also a really tough one against a lot of match ups. I wonder whether this would be better as an Unsummon or similar. or even a set of Mizzium Skin across the main deck and board. I am always disappointed to draw a Guttersnipe as I feel that if the game goes long enough where the damage from Guttersnipe is relevant, then I have already lost. In an ideal world, I would swap these out for Geists of Saint Traft, but seeing as I have £20 to play with, I doubt that I could manage that, even if I got super lucky on eBay. The other priority is the mana base. The Guildgates are great and help fix the mana better than basic lands, but after turns 1 or 2 I usually prefer to throw them away to a Faithless Looting than a basic. Ensuring a more stable access to white to allow me to play cards like Nevermore or Blind Obedience is something that I am considering too.

R1: UG Tempo, won 2-0
R2: Jund, lost 2-0
R3: Bulletproof Eggs, lost 2-1
R4: RG Aggro, won 2-0

Round 1
I was playing a brand new player and it was barely a contest. In game 1, I won with Young Pyromancer and Elemental Token beat down. Game 2 saw me combo off turn 5. In neither game did my opponent play a threat. 

Round 2
This was the match up I had been fearing since I picked this deck. The combination of efficient threats and excellent removal package is tough for me to fight through. In game 1 I was in with a shout, despite multiple Huntsmasters of the Fells, until he found a Mizzium Mortars with enough red up to overload it. I had the combo in hand to win the next turn. With a flipped Huntmaster on the table and no bodies in my hand I scooped in my draw step on hitting a blank and being dead on board. Game 2 was not as close, my opponent kept the nut draw for Jund and won at a canter.

Round 3
This was a match up that I wasn't expecting in our local meta, but the Bulletproof Eggs deck should be a good match up for me as I actually benefit from having Electrickery in the sideboard and being a turn faster to win. This was borne out in game 1 where I won the race comfortably. After sideboarding in Electrickery's and Wear // Tear I was confidant of game 2. I was even more confidant when my opponent then mulliganed to 5 on the play. Unfortunately, the 5 he kept was 3 land, hexproof 1 drop and Unflinching Courage. The lifegain was just too much for me to race and I drew my Electrickery turn 3, a whole turn too late. Game 3 was just a horrible draw for me and I lost the race after flooding out.

Round 4
My favourite match up, RG Aggro. I won quite comfortably in 2 games after my opponent kept a 1 lander in his 6 cards after a mulligan in game 1 and then he drew no red mana in game 2.

Cost to enter: £3.50
Prizes: £5.00

The Best Laid Plans

By Norman Ralph

My first FNM with my Izzet Blitz deck was at my local games store, Travelling Man. They offer a relatively good prize structure of two boosters in the prize pool per player and will pay out store credit in lieu of boosters if so desired. They charge £3.50 for entry, so I needed to get two booster's worth of prizes to make my first profit.

The list I took to FNM was slightly different to the list I posted last time due me to having some excellent luck on eBay in the first half of the week. I managed to pick up my Steam Vents really cheaply, which meant I could also splash out on a Hallowed Fountain and a cheap sideboard plan.

+1 Hallowed Fountain
-1 Plains

My sideboard looks like this:

2 Izzet Staticaster
3 Electrickery
2 Faith's Shield
2 Turn // Burn
2 Wear // Tear
2 Shock
2 Skullcrack

Some of that is redundant, some of it is just space filling, but having tested thoroughly online for the last week I decided I needed some answers to Bant Hexprood (Wear // Tear for the enchantments and Electrickery for the Invisible Stalkers). I also found that my Jund match up was awful due to their plethora of removal. I decided to try out Faith's Shield in the sideboard to try and use up their removal before I combo'd out.

I also picked up some sleeves and a deckbox. You can see the most up to date list and transaction tracker here.

There were four rounds of standard at the FNM and I did OK going 2-2 with a bye. I only faced one T1 deck, RWU flash, against which I made a good fist of both games. My sideboard plan definitely needs to include some number of cpopies of Nevermore as in all the match ups I was dead to pretty much a single card.

R1: RWU Flash, lost 2-0
R2: BUG Control, lost 2-0
R3: Bye
R4: RG Aggro, won 2-0

Round 1
A tough match up against Warleader's Helix and Snapcaster Mage as the 4 damage is pretty much the only card that kills Nivix Cyclops. Saw all of my opponents copies of these plus saw them flashed back with Snapcaster Mage. Warleader's Helix is definitely a Nevermore target.

Round 2
This was an un-winnable match up against a hard control deck running at least 16 removal spells plus a set of Liliana of the Veil. There was no point in this game that I felt I had a chance.

Round 4
The aggro match up feels my most winnable as unless they hit their nut draw I can just combo faster than they can kill me. I got to combo twice in my 2-0 win, the second game saw me hit my nut draw and combo'd off turn 4!

Cost to enter: £3.50
Prizes: £2.50

It's an Izzet Blitz

By Norman Ralph

Deck decision made. I have decided to blow a lot of my budget on building a deck from scratch. It's likely to blow £60 ($55 on cards, plus sleeves and a deck box) of my £75 budget, which will leave me with about 4 weeks of capital to buy into events, meaning I will need to average 2 boosters per week in prizes to get through to Theros to replace about half of my deck. This, like my deck, means I am all in on this strategy.

My deck list:

Creatures (11)
4 Nvix Cyclops
4 Young Pyromancer
3 Guttersnipe

Spells (27)
4 Boros Charm
4 Izzet Charm
3 Artful Dodge
3 Feelings of Dread
4 Pillar of Flame
1 Shock
4 Faithless Looting
4 Thought Scour

Lands (22)
2 Steam Vents
1 Glacial Fortress
2 Azorius Guildgate
2 Boros Guildgate
2 Izzet Guildgate
3 Plains
4 Mountain
6 Island

I have been testing the deck online a lot and have found that Young Pyromancer is an all star - it wins a lot of games by playing nicely with the removal suite. I kill one of their guys and make one of my own with a single card spent.

The main thrust of the deck, however, is to play a Nivix Cyclops and untap with him so you can attack with an artful dodge (cast and flashed back) plus a Boros Charm's double strike mode which deals 20 damage from a creature that can't be blocked. Some of the lists online run Faith's shield instead of the 22nd land to try and protect the combo from removal, but I found that I almost never drew it when I wanted it and when I did draw it I really just wanted a charm or a Faithless Looting instead. I think it might be right to play some copies in the sideboard for games 2 and 3, but a sideboard is a bit of a luxury I can't afford right now.

Talking of sideboards, at the moment I don't have any cards for it, but I definitely need ways of interacting with control decks and protecting myself against the super aggressive match ups. For the control decks, I think a Delver based conversion might be the way to go. For the aggro decks, several copies of Electrickery are in order.

As usual, any comments are more than welcome.

Picking a Deck

By Norman Ralph

Having made my call to arms last month, FNM Hero Team Leeds style is starting to warm up. M14 has been released bringing with it the official start date for my challenge. From release day onwards, any Planeswalker Points I earn will be with my FNM Hero deck.

Talking of decks, the Event Deck for M14 has now been spoiled. In terms of cards per pound Event Decks are almost certainly the best way to go but, as with a lot of the recent Event Decks, I have been left unimpressed with the offering. Whilst there are some good cards in the deck, I feel that they could have been stronger. My thoughts on Event Decks for the last few sets have focussed on why Wizards keep producing decks that are OK but are missing some glaringly obvious cards. I want an Event Deck to be a strong deck out of the box whilst being open to improvement. I understand that Wizards won't just package up a fully powered Jund deck or similar and I would not want them to. I appreciate a budget deck that works without the more powerful additions. I would love them to make a R/G deck that plays well against the big boys straight out of the box, not because it is stuffed fall of bombs and mythics but because it is built with synergy and fluidity in mind.

Having said all of that, I am quite tempted to start off with this Event Deck mainly due to the fact that all of cards are going to be Standard legal for the whole of the coming year which means that I can focus my initial budget and any winnings on replacing cards with better options rather than having to replace cards once they rotate out. The other option is to build an Izzet aggro deck built around Young Pyromancer, Nivix Cyclops and Guttersnipe. This has the benefit of fitting my play style better as well as being relatively cheap to build. It does, however, rely on some cards that will rotate out of Standard in September.

I have created my tracking documents for people to follow my card pool and budget. You can them on my Google Drive.

As we are now fully underway on FNM Hero I will be bringing you updates on a weekly basis from now on, so get this added to your feed reader, or favourite the site, and keep up with the fun and frolics of the next 12 months.

Comments are always welcome.

FNM Hero

By Norman Ralph

Can you remember being a new player? It was only eighteen months ago that I was sitting down at my very first draft at my first FNM as a registered player. I had played at the pre-release for Innistrad the week before with some friends for my first taste of magic in several years and the experience got me hooked.

The thrill of building that sealed pool and then drafting the set the week after was a great feeling. However, the real excitement for me came when I had to put my first standard deck together, an horrific mono blue mill deck that went 1-3. Building a deck after playing magic for two weeks with cards pulled from a pre-release and a draft, plus a handful of boosters I'd picked up was a challenge that I relished at the time and was the sticking point (that moment when your allegiance to a hobby goes from passing interest to a full on commitment). Winning the match, even though it was effectively a dead rubber, was such a high that I wanted to do it again and again. Unfortunately, it took a while to replicate that success in standard but it did come and the lessons I learnt from that early period in my Magic career have shaped it ever since.

After speaking to some fellow members of Team Leeds, and having read the brilliant series on SCG by Adam Prosak by the same name, I decided to try and recreate that new player feeling by issuing a challenge.

Can you become an FNM Hero?

The goal is simple. Relive that first year of your Magic life by starting again from nothing. This is Team Leeds, and as we are a competitive bunch at heart, there will be a twist.  With a small budget to buy cards, accessories and entry fees, aim to cover the cost of your FNM's for a year with the aim of getting enough Planeswalker Points off the back of those FNM's (and any other tournaments you enter using the FNM Hero budget) to qualify for a place on next year's WMCQs.

As I have set the challenge, it is only right and proper that I partake, so you can read my exploits over a series of articles over the coming weeks and months. I will maintain a public card pool and list of transactions so you can see how I am doing, along with a variety of tournament reports and other odds and ends.

If you are up for the challenge, or have any thoughts on the series, then leave a comment here, or contact me on Facebook or Twitter and let me know what you think.

The Rules

1. Starting Budget

The initial capital for this challenge will be £75. This means you will have a maximum starting budget for the year of £75 with which to buy all cards, product, accessories etc. as well as cover any entry fees to FNM or other tournaments. You may not add any additional funds of your own to this budget, but you may add any prize-money or store credit you win through playing in the challenge to it.

2. Card Pool

Any cards you buy, product you open or prize support you receive will be added to your card pool for the challenge. This card pool is the only source of cards you may use for building decks, trading or selling. You may not use personal collections nor may you borrow cards from other players or receive free cards as gifts. You may add to this pool through trading and buying cards from either vendors or other players by following the Trading/Buying rules below.

3. Trading (inc. Buying/Selling)

You may buy or sell cards to vendors without restriction, except that any cards you sell to a vendor must have been played in a minimum of two tournaments within the challenge (this does not apply to door prizes, promo cards or tokens that are opened/awarded).

You may trade to and from other players using a recognised website for valuation (e.g. SCG, Patriot Games etc.). Again, any cards you trade away must have seen play in at least two tournaments and, again, this won't apply to promos etc.

When buying or selling to players then this must be done at market value. Buying must be done at retail buy prices (eBay completed listing prices for example) and selling must be done at Buy List prices (e.g. SCG, Patriot Games etc.).

The WNM GPT and going Rogue

By Wagz

Recently I played in a PTQ for Pro Tour San Juan and was lucky enough to win it. The next day I played in a GPT for Madrid in Manchester. I am going to the Grand Prix in Madrid, which is next weekend so decided trying to get some byes and practicing my deck would be top notch. I went 3-0, ID, ID, win Quarter Finals and lose Semi Finals. I checked my DCI Total Rating the next Wednesday to find with horror that I had actually lost 10 points at the GPT, bringing me to 1943 which is 7 points below the level for 2 Byes.

I had actually lost a Bye at a GPT.

I therefore had to play in WNM to get my rating up to the level. However, since my rating was so high I needed to outright 3-0 two WNMs in a row and hope that one of my opponents had a decent enough rating to give me 2 points from the match. Half of my wish was answered when 2 weeks ago I played Time Sieve Combo at WNM and went 3-0, gaining 4 ratings points in the process. I went into tonight's battle needing to 3-0 to succeed. Here's what I played:

4 Birds of Paradise

4 Noble Hierarch

4 Hedron Crab

4 Knight of the Reliquary

4 Ranger of Eos

4 Baneslayer Angel

3 Path to Exile

4 Ponder

2 Trapmaker's Snare

4 Archive Trap

4 Misty Rainforest

4 Terramorphic Expanse

3 Halimar Depths

3 Plains

4 Island

5 Forest

Sideboard:

4 Rhox War Monk

4 Negate

1 Path to Exile

3 Wall of Reverence

1 Trapmaker's Snare

2 Felidar Sovereign

The plan was to mill them game 1 and side into fat lifegain creatures games 2 and 3 after they screw up their deck in sideboarding (or get more mill in against control decks).

Round 1

Was against Colin Ward piloting Jund. I kept a slightly sketchy Birds, 2 Forest, 2 Island, Path, Archive Trap but draw a second Trap straight away to 26 him off a fetchland. I made the Birds turn 1 and turn 2 was able to EOT Path his Sprouting Thrinax and use the Trapmaker's Snare I'd drawn to fetch my third Archive Trap. I drew the Hedron Crab now (how lucky) and milled him another 3 cards and another 3 the next turn to put the game away.

Game 2 I get two mana guys down by turn 2 and he had a Pyroclasm to wreck my team. I wasn't so happy with this but was able to make a 4/4 Knight of the Reliquary on turn 3, discard 2 lands to the Bloodbraid-Blightning combo and then make a second 6/6 Knight of the Reliquary. I didn't attack to keep the option of Pathing my own guy (only card left in hand) to avoid getting wrecked by Maelstrom Pulse but he doesn't have it so I Path his Putrid Leech EOT and start swinging with my fat monsters.

Round 2

This round I played Dan Hiscutt who was running a B/R Unearth deck. He was unable to get hold of some Extractor Demons before the tournament started but I didn't fancy drawing him cards by milling his Unearth cards. I therefore used my Crab to mill myself to 'level up' my Knight of the Reliquary to stem the tide of his attacks before getting a Baneslayer Angel down who is just obnoxious really.

Game 2 it takes me a lot longer to get there as I kept Terramorphic Expanse, Birds, Hierarch and spells (I kept Terramorphic Expanse, 2 Birds and spells last game) but he had the removals. I draw turn 3 Plains, turn 4 Terramorphic Expanse to start casting my spells on turn 5 but luckily my massive creatures stop his from killing me and I take the match.

Round 3

Crunch time - win and in, as they say. I faced John Ingham who always has wacky brews. He borrowed 2 Sunpetal Grove and a Stoneforge Mystic off me at the start of the tournament so I dread to think what he has. He starts with Kitesail Apprentice into Bone Saw, swinging in for 3 on turn 2. I was a bit surprised but I get a start with a mana guy and 2 Hedron Crabs to start the milling about. I make a Knight of the Reliquary after getting put to 9 life opposite a Kitesail Apprentice with a Bone Saw, a Knight of the White Orchid and a Kor Skyfisher. John tapped 3 of his 4 lands for a Sigil of Distinction, equipped it to the Skyfisher and used Brave the Elements to give his guys protection from White. He'd forgotten that my Hedron Crab could block his Knight unfortunately and so only dropped me to 2. I untapped, used Ranger of Eos for the last 2 Crabs and used Knight to get a fetch into a normal land, dropping me to 1 life but exhausting his library to make him lose in his draw step. Sorry John :(

Game 2 I keep a bit of a slow one with turn 3,4,5,6 lifegain monsters. Sometimes it's just not good enough though as he makes turn 1 Kor Duelist, turn 2 Mystic for Sigil, turn 3 Sigil for 3 equipped to Duelist and knock me to 12, I make my Rhox War Monk but he has a Kor Hookmaster and swung me to 5. A Wall of Reverence for me briefly gained me 3 life but a Path to Exile took it to game 3, jinkies!

Game 3 I keep another slowish one but I have the advantage of being on the play, so I don't take 50,000 damage before I cast a spell. I get turn 3 War Monk, turn 4 Knight of the Reliquary. I make a turn 5 Wall of Reverence but it is pathed before I gain any life. He uses the Mystics to fetch and make Unscythe which he equips to a Kor Skyfisher and I make a Baneslayer so we start to develope a stand-off. I get a second and a third Baneslayer down, using Ponder and Fetchlands and Knight into Halimar Depths to generate good cards in hand and have Path to Exiles to clear a Path for my Baneslayers to start swinging in and dropped John to 0 life, who knew Baneslayer was bonkers?

I don't think this deck is the bees knees but it took people by surprise, which is often what it takes to get a few wins. I don't think going rogue gives you a huge advantage if the deck you are playing is crap but it does generate an advantage you wouldn't normally have - confusion. So long as the deck you're running is good enough and you don't lose much value by not playing the good deck instead then going rogue can provide a lot of value to win a tournament.

I'll have to play something else a bit funny next WNM but I won't be so scared of losing next time, that's for sure!

P.S. Make sure to watch the Pro Tour San Diego coverage this weekend, Team Leeds' very own Andy Edwards is going to win it.

Guest Article: A Standard Tournament Report

By Andy Pemberton

Well, I played my first FNM with the deck (Finally) last night, after getting everything together the week before. I played the following list;

Deck
23 Lands: 5 Forest 4 Plains 2 Swamp 4 Verdant Catacombs 4 Marsh Flats 3 Sunpetal Grove 1 Gargoyle Castle	26 Creatures: 4 Noble Hierarch 4 Lotus Cobra 3 Putrid Leech 4 Knight of the Reliquary 2 Borderland Ranger 3 Emeria Angel 4 Baneslayer Angel 2 Thornling	11 Other Spells: 4 Path to Exile 4 Maelstrom Pulse 1 Behemoth Sledge 2 Elspeth, Knight-Errant	15 Sideboard: 2 Acidic Slime 2 Celestial Purge 2 Deathmark 2 Duress 3 Great Sable Stag 2 Qasali Pridemage 2 Zealous Persecution

Keeping in mind this was my first Standard tournament since Mirrodin / Kamigawa / 8th Standard, I was looking forward to a change and see how Standard has evolved since I was last involved. I went with a deck that I thought would have a good shot at the field, with the tried and true method of dropping huge threats and beating face.

R1: Vs. Mirror Match. This was against a guy I discussed the deck with before Christmas, and we realised we were both aiming to build the same deck . He plays a slightly different variation to me, with no leeches, but main boarded Stags, Garruk and an extra Sledge or two.
G1: I kept a decent hand with a Cobra and Hierarch as well as a Leech and Elspeth, but a turn 3 Garruk followed by turn 4 Stag and Cobra with a double Oran-Rief the Vastwood pump and me not able to keep a threat on the table meant we were on to game 2.

Sideboard: -1 PtE; -1 Cobra; +2 Deathmark

G2: He kept a dicey hand, and I kept a hand with 5 lands, a Pulse and a Leech. He was able to take away 2 of my Pulses (1 drawn) with 2 Tidehollow Sculler that he boarded in. He was mana screwed for the longest time, but a Path on his Sculler after I blocked it meant he was able to get green mana for his own three Pulses. Unfortunately, I couldn't race his top decked threats with mine.

0-2; 0-1

Round 2: I played against a hybrid GWrb Cascade deck that did silly things with Enlisted Wurm and Bloodbraid Elf.

G1: I kept a nice hand of ramp and threats, but his 4th turn Ajani Vengeant kept my Forest tapped, and as I was trying to get rid of it, he was busy playing Enlisted Wurm into Bloodbraid Elf into Lightning Bolt, then the same into Harrow. He kept gaining life through Ajani and Sledged threats, and I couldn't race him.

Sideboard: -2 PtE; -1 Cobra; -1 Leech; +2 Deathmark; +2 Acidic Slime

G2: I went in hoping I could deny him off mana with the Slimes, though I didn't draw any this game. It came down to a race of his two Knights against Mine, and we ended up going into a war of attrition until I could finally sit a Baneslayer down without it being tapped down or Pathed. Same old Wurm-Elf antics, but luckily he hit Harrow and not removal, and we were onto game 3.

G3: He kept a dicey hand, and didn't a land drop after 3. An Acidic Slime on his lone Swamp left him with 2 mountains, and he promptly conceded.

2-3; 1-1

R3: I played yet again against a GW deck, but this time it was a Bant variant of the Junk deck, running Rhox War Monk.

G1: I kept down a Sledge and Baneslayer, and from the life gain from it and the loss from my opponent, we were onto Game 2. I got a lot of removal for his threats, though a late Conquerer's Pledge tried to keep my Elspeth from going Ultimate with success. Luckily she was still alive to pump BSA for the win.

Sideboard: -1 PtE; -1 Cobra; +2 Deathmark

G2: We raced for a lot of the game, trading threats with Paths. Eventually, I got him to 6, but couldn't draw a big enough threat to finish him off, and we went to Game 3.

G3: Baneslayer absolutely rocked in this game. By mid-game, I was top decking BSA, and with Sledge and Elspeth pumps I was doing 10 damage a turn. He was keeping afloat with a Sledged Elspeth, and falling for a Brave the Elements, he was able to gain more life off of my blocked Baneslayer. Eventually, the onslaught was too much, and Baneslayer took the game. I ended at 69 life.

4-4; 2-1

R4: I played against my first round opponent's friend, playing Bushwhacker. Unfortunately, we got kicked out of the venue at 10, so we were only able to have 1 game.

G1: He kept a 1-landed with four 1-drops, whereas I tried to build a board ready to block against his alpha strike. I managed to dig a Marsh Flats off of the top each time his Goblin Guide swung in, and as he swung in with a Skyfisher, Guide and Lynx, I blocked and double-Pathed his creatures to stay safe. This gave him the mana for Ranger of Eos, and some careful blocks left me at 4, with him having another Bushwhacker in hand. I managed to clear his doubly Lynx with a Pulse, then drop a Baneslayer. I was able to drop an Elspeth and make some Soldiers to hold the ground, and I promptly took him down a few turns later from 19-10-4-0 after a couple of Elspeth pumps and Exalted

I ended 2-1, since they didn't count the last match results due to the time constraints. Still, I felt the deck performed very well. Some changes I'm contemplating:

-1 Less Path to Exile: I found I was siding one or two out most of the time for the Sideboard removal specific for the decks I faced (Usually Deathmark). It's good removal, in that it trades threats for land, but it sometimes has the ill effect of getting your opponent out of mana screw. In it's place, I'd probably put in an extra 4-drop. I found my deck was a little convoluted at 3, and an extra Elspeth / Garruk / Emeria Angel would probably even the curve a little, and at 7 removal slots main deck, you should in theory have enough for Game 1, and board in Purge / Deathmark / Persecution from the board to up the count if need be.

-Behemoth Sledge: It's nice when it happens early or late, making it invaluable when you're trying to stay in the game against aggro opponents. I'm running one at the moment, but I may find space for a second if I can find the room.

-I love the Toolbox idea of the Sideboard. It helped to just extend my removal range in case I needed it. With 4 Maelstrom Pulse and 3 / 4 Paths, you should have enough Game 1, and be able to synch your removal for games 2/3. It also allows for removal of your creature removal in the face of USA / Grixis control in favour of Stags to up the threat count.

-I'm contemplating an Oran-Rief, the Vastwood as a target for Knight, just as a one-of. When I played against it in the Mirror match, it ended up making very powerful Stags, and even something like a Cobra becomes a threat, especially with a Garruk Wildspeaker out. Certainly worth testing, I feel.

Well, I hope you enjoyed reading as much as I enjoyed playing and writing up. We'll see if Draft brings me anything good next week :)

Andy P.

WNM Report - Time Sieve

By Wagz

Hi there, it's been a while since I posted but I did really well at WNM last night with an underplayed deck so I feel I really should. I played Time Sieve Combo because I believe most of the hate to be gone from the format and the deck's worst nightmare (my previous favourite deck) has rotated down to about 2 cards (Swamp and Island much?). Here is the list I played last night (not exactly what I wanted to play, but what I could scrape together - the sideboard is incorrect):

• 7 Island
• 2 Plains
• 1 Swamp
• 4 Glacial Fortress
• 2 Drowned Catacomb
• 4 Mistvein Borderpost
• 4 Fieldmist Borderpost
• 4 Kaleidostone
• 4 Howling Mine
• 1 Font of Mythos
• 3 Time Sieve
• 4 Angel Song
• 4 Spell Pierce
• 2 Tezzeret the Seeker
• 2 Jace Beleren
• 3 Glassdust Hulk
• 1 Thopter Foundry
• 4 Time Warp
• 4 Open the Vaults
• 
  
• Sideboard:
• 1 Platinum Angel
• 4 Day of Judgment
• 1 Baneslayer Angel
• 3 Vedalken Outlander
• 2 Path to Exile
• 1 Celestial Purge
• 3 Negate

In round 1 I faced Kier Teasdale and kept a slightly slow hand. He admitted he also had kept a slow hand so I got some combo pieces down early. He had light disruption in the form of Tidehollow Sculler and Duress before revealing his deck to be a Sanguine Bond combo deck. The last possible turn before I would die I took infinite turns and swung in with humungous guys via Tezzeret. Game 2 was similar, but he had more disruption and took me down to zero the turn before I could get there. Game 3 was a very long one as I got a Platinum Angel out. At -5 life I countered his Path to Exile and was able to combo off the next turn, swinging in for 32 with unblockable Hulks (this guy is sick).

Round 2 saw Andy Edwards in the hotseat with Jund. We know each others decks from playtesting and lending cards so I wasn't happy when he won the dice roll. He was more unhappy when he got stuck on 2 lands. I was playing around Blightning and Maelstrom Pulse on my borderposts for ages by keeping Spell Pierce up but eventually just made guys with Thopter Foundry and swung in. Game 2 was more back-and-forth but I landed a Baneslayer, which races hard when you get to keep taking turns.

Round 3 I met Sam Walsh and didn't know what he was running. I saw Savage Lands straight away so had him on being Jund and so played around the Pulse+Blightning. He got a Sprouting Thrinax and a Bloodbraid into a second Sprouting Thrinax and had the burn the turn before I was going to combo (being on the play is so much better with this deck). Game 2 I cycled my 3 Glassdust Hulks early and was able to Open the Vaults them back into play. I found 2 artifacts to be able to swing in for lethal over 3 turns. Game 3 Sam had to mulligan twice, which was unfortunate. I was able to punish this with 2 early Vedalken Outlanders which swung in after I took a few extra turns.

Round 4 I faced Andy Devine and we decided to ID to confirm the prizes. He was playing a Steppe Lynx Bant deck and we went 1-1 in practice games.

I came 2nd in the Tournament and would heartily recommend this deck for future WNMs, but I would change the sideboard to 2 Baneslayer Angel, 4 Vedalken Outlander, 4 Day of Judgment, 3 Celestial Purge, 2 Negate and I would change the M10 Duals to 4 Marsh Flats and another Plains and a Swamp to help cast the Borderposts.

Thanks for reading!

Naya Zoo in Standard

By Jim Marlow

Hey Everyone,

I have been away from Leeds this week so i couldn't crush the draft, leaving it to Beard and Chris Vincent to take down the 2 pods in this weeks triple Zendikar draft.

Luckily, i have returned for another week of standard, meaning i have to test whatever deck i make against numerous jund and vampire decks, awesome.

I started trying to reinvent the bant control deck i had conjured last week, then when i saw my esper charms i immediately started examining 5 colour build (traditional, not cascade) I was having a real hard time building a 5 colour deck, mainly because i knew i wanted to use baneslayer as a win condition, but tbh jwar jwar sphinx is a lot better because when you eventually fling out you're lightning rod for removal its still no good, but sadly i dont have any of the shroud sphinx....and i gave up after trying to build a 4 colour control (no red).

Here's what ill be playing if i can muster some cards from other people

4 x wild nacatl
4 x knight of the reliquary
4 x woolly thoctar
4 x bloodbraid elf
4 x baneslayer angel

4 x burst lightning
4 x lightning bolt
4 x path to exile
3 x ajani vengeant
1 x behemoth sledge

2 x jungle shrine
4 x rootbound crag
4 x sunpetal grove
4 x arid mesa
4 x mountain
4 x plains
2 x forest

S/B
4 x volcanic fallout
4 x great sable stag
4 x celestial purge
3 x luminarch ascension


The deck is painfully simple to build and play, but aggressively costed creatures and removal spells is the oldest combo in magic, so im pretty sure this deck can get there against any of the other decks in the current field. I thought i would take a break from playing decks im not good enough to pilot and play a no brainer for once.

See you all Tuesday


Untill then,


Jim


As always, feel free to comment on this article, or anything related or unrelated to magic whatsoever. If you would like to contribute to the TLM blog, please email any pictures, ideas or articles to ss07jm@leeds.ac.uk

Tournament Report - Leeds FNM 13th October

By Jim Marlow

Harrow!,

So the first Standard event in Leeds since Zendikar became legal is firmly in the history books....and boy what a difference those wraths and fetchlands made

1st & 2nd

Jund
5 Colour control

......oh

Its no real surprise that Zendikar wasn't going to revolutionise standard, the huge effect of Zendikar becoming legal is all the cards you lose, not the cards you gain (there are about 700 of them after all)

Obviously though, and even in this very early stage, there are some interesting decks to emerge from zendikar, using most of the 28 cards in the set. This of course is the boros fetchland landfall deck, combining good weenie's with crazy landfall triggers and getting there with goblin bushwacker (who's insane btw)

So with the choice between Jund, Boros and a worse deck than those i was more than happy to oblige with the latter.....my islands, precious islands!

Here, of course, is the deck i played


4 x baneslayer angel
4 x knight of the reliquary
4 x rhox war monk
4 x wall of reverence
2 x essence scatter
3 x negate

3 x bant charm
4 x path to exile
3 x day of judgement
3 x jace beleren
1 x behemoth sledge

4 x seaside citadel
4 x misty rainforest
3 x glacial fortress
3 x sunpetal grove
2 x gargoyle castle
4 x plains
3 x island
2 x forest

Sideboard
3 x luminarch ascension
1 x day of judgement
4 x celestial purge
3 x meddling mage
2 x oblivion ring
1 x essence scatter
1 x quest for ancient secrets

Round 1 - Matt Kitchen (Landfall Zoo)

Game 1 - Matt keeps lynx, geopedo 5 lander and draws good....i keep 5 lander and draw land, and these games dont take long.

Game 2 - I keep 3 land, 2 wrath 2 path to exile (nuts amirite)......i die with 3 lands in play having drawn a 3rd path to exile, 2 bant charms and a celestial purge, with 3 wraths in hand, sigh.

I was pretty beat up about this, but i felt like i still had a strong deck. I just love how every creature in my deck is really annoying for an aggro player.

Round 2 - Wayne Cook - Vampires

Cant remember this round exactly because it was sooo tight, and i was being harassed by people asking me for the details of Game09 as if i was some kind of guru (which they were right to assume).

In the end i took the round, im fairly sure 2-1, and fairly sure because in game 3 i kept 3 celestial purges in my opener and 4th draw was celestial purge - BANG!

Round 3 - Steve Parker - Boros

Game 1 - Steve kept but it seemed risky, my hand was ok as i knew i had war monk turn 3, which is pretty nutty. Steve played turns 1 and 2 elite vanguard but had no 2nd land....i made war monk, then wall of reverence, then baneslayer......

Game 2 - Steve hit me pretty hard with bushwackered dudes, i wrathed, he rangered for goblin guide and bushwacher for a rinse repeat...putting me pretty low. I wrath again only for steve to play 2nd ranger of Eos...nice. I manage to stem the bleeding with wall of reverence, but when im all but dead i finds me a baneslayer off my last jace activation, she seems pretty good.#


Round 4 - Some noob - Archive trap Mill

Game 1 - Bye (0-1) my wall of reverences, wraths and essence scatters are dead...and im pathing hedron crabs (i kept them in for this!)

Sideboard

+3 meddling mage
+1 quest for the ancient secrets
+2 oblivion ring
+3 luminarch Ascennion

-4 wall of reverence
-3 day of judgement
-2 essence scatter

I managed to take games 2 and 3 down, a combination of opponants not finding the right mana and in game 3 luminarch ascension just getting there, even after i missed the chance at the first activation.


Overall the deck performed ok, i would almost certainly drop the essence scatters, which were god awful. I would probably play either wall of denial or adding the 4th bant charm and negate, but i am more tempted by the denials with the negate in the board, although bant charm was good all day.

I would have liked to face jund to see exactly what the deck could do against it, so i am in no illusions that this is in fact the real deal after a 3-1 at fnm, and im pretty sure just going with bant aggro could be the answer, because war monk and bant charm are so solid its unreal, then you have rafiq and finest hour to auto-win....all on turn 3 with the help of heirarch or cobra. Also, it means you still have access to wall of reverences (sick), luminarch ascension, celestial purge and meddling mage...which will probably be making up for most of my sideboards for the next few months..

Anyways, im pretty excited about the weekend, its Game09. I had a massively shit time last year, but anyone who knows why knows its more my fault for being a hilarious fool, and nothing to do with Game08.

Rumour has it that a certain R.Powell may be gracing Leeds with his presence once more, which alone is enough to make me wet my knickers.

Anyway, hopefully i will have a (winning) report up on the PTQ early next week, and probably some more incoherent babble to look like im doing something in between.


Untill then,


Jim


As always, feel free to comment on this article, or anything related or unrelated to magic whatsoever. If you would like to contribute to the TLM blog, please email any pictures, ideas or articles to ss07jm@leeds.ac.uk

Shiny New Zendikards!

By Wagz

Hi all! I haven't written a column in a long while. Mostly the reason for this was a) going on holiday, then b) helping run WNM having passed my level 1 judge test. Under the previous tournament rules if you are judging an event then you cannot play in it. This rules makes obvious sense at high-level events, but at low-level events such as WNM it is a little annoying to not be able to get in on the action. Thankfully, as of October 1st this rule has been altered and I can take part in drafts. Yay for me! With that in mind, I took part in last night's draft, the first with Zendikar, and the biggest draft in a very long time - 26 players making 3 pods.

Before I got through my deck I'll mention some of my picks. My first pick was Kor Hookmaster. I got some criticism for this from people who haven't yet worked out how good this guy is. The booster was fairly shallow anyway without any removal spells so I was basically taking the best creature and hopefully one without too much of a mana commitment. This guy is the nuts, helping to race, helping to stay in the game. He does so much for so little. Anyway, I then got passed 2 Burst Lightning and Errant Ephemeron.. I mean Windrider Eel. So I felt pretty committed to Red Blue at this point. The Lightnings can be easily splashed, but I was getting passed them and most of the colours in this set want a good commitment to those colours - so if you can just run them as part of your colour that is better than splashing them. I went for a good tempo deck with a hint of Landfall going on, probably not taking the best use of the mechanics in the set but getting a deck which was likely to get there a few times:

2x Plated Geopede

1x Goblin Shortcutter

1x Welkin Tern

1x Tempest Owl

1x Torch Slinger

1x Ruinous Minotaur

1x Gomazoa

2x Shatterskull Giant

1x Bladetusk Boar

1x Windrider Eel

1x Merfolk Seastalkers

1x Living Tsunami

1x Sky Ruin Drake

1x Trusty Machete

2x Burst Lightning

1x Ior Ruin Expedition

1x Magma Rift

1x Paralyzing Grasp

2x Spire Barrage

1x Khalni Gem

2x Teetering Peaks

7x Mountain

7x Island

This is a good deck. Some notes on the play: I didn't kick Torch Slinger, instead running him out on turn 3 just to get a guy on the board. Limited is about getting guys down and beating face, or making sure your opponent can't do that. You don't want to skip your turn 3 to have a slightly better turn 5. Khalni Gem was solid, not for the mana fixing, but to reload on landfall and Teetering Peaks. The Peaks were good for pumping my blue fliers - it is wasted on red creatures mostly. I also had 4 Faceburn spells, which help seal the deal if my evasive and massive guys don't get me there.

In the event I went 2-0-1, ID-ing with Mick in the final (he likes to keep his rating and I like to keep my winning record against him :p) though he looked at my deck and reckoned I'd have won anyway. I heard a lot of people saying they just didn't know what to draft in this format. I think it's basically like a normal format - if you can "theme out" your deck then that can help but just make sure you have good creatures and removal as always. Don't confuse your deck's aim by playing off-theme cards (my Gomazoa was good on the day but doesn't beat so was probably the wrong card for my deck) and make sure you have a good curve but something to use the excess mana in the end (Kicker is good here). Thanks for reading, see you next Tuesday for Standard.

WNM - planechase multiplayer

By Jim Marlow

Hey everyone,

I hope wednesday served as a cold reminder that magic isn't just about making a half-awake train ride to the nearest PTQ before crapping out and getting at home at midnight with bad beats and punts on your mind, its just a game, one thats meant to be played for fun.

John did a magnificent job of organising an event, presummably the first of it's kind in this country, and creating a real buzz around with various hilarious events happening on separate tables that were being shared accross the room.

Before i became part of the Leeds magic group two years ago i spent around 6 months or so soley playing multiplayer games of all kinds with some housemates, mostly with precon decks, maybe with very slight alterations, and im very aware of the exciting tales that come from multiplayer action.

Paradoxically, the strength of the players in the Leeds group can also serve as it's weakness in acquiring new players to the game....it can be a daunting task coming up against some of the better players in the country in your first couple of weeks (that said, Leeds still has one of the largest fnm groups in the country). Even the FNM's played in Leeds are very competative, and given the level of the players, the decks are highly tuned, so players rarely get the chance to showcase their helix pinnacle monstrousity, or their mesa enchantress pile.

In all honesty, i got knocked out of both my games, and didnt have the best of times doing it, but these were not because it wasnt fun, i just didnt get a chance to get sigil of the empty throne working and bust out some sick turns.

For reference, here's the deck i played

4 x mesa enchantress
1 x reveillark
4 x martial coup
3 x idylic tutor
3 x sigil of the empty throne
4 x oblivion ring
4 x curse of chains
4 x pacifism
4 x runed halo
1 x armoured ascension
1 x rise of the hobgoblins
1 x endless horizons
1 x greater auramancy

23 x plains
2 x gargoyle castle



Overall, despite my poor performance in the event, it was a great idea, and certainly the majority of players in Leeds were going pretty mad for it, i cant remember a Leeds FNM being that rowdy with crowds of exciting magic players telling each other how they died, or killed the others.

Being my first time playing planechase, it certainly was a new experiance for me, and although i didnt have as much of a blast as most of the other players, i think it was a great idea, and certainly a tournament that i would like to see repeated in the future.

The planechase events will be fantastic events to bring new players too, because the effect of player skill on the outcome of the game is greatly reduced, yet the fundamentals of the game are the same. Also, it was great to see people that dont often win FNM's to be crushing games of planechase and winning themselves a load of boosters, because i remember having a huge chip on my shoulder until i won my first FNM.


Anyway, i certainly look forward to the next planechase event. Even though i dont enjoy them as much as other types of magic, they are still loads of fun, and i think they are great for acquiring new players and for less serious magic players.


See you all at the Weekend for the Release event...just to let everyone know im 21 on Monday, so a case or 2 of Zendikar would be much appreciated.



Untill then,


Jim


As always, feel free to comment on this article, or anything related or unrelated to magic whatsoever. If you would like to contribute to the TLM blog, please email any pictures, ideas or articles to ss07jm@leeds.ac.uk

Leeds WNM - saying goodbye to Lorwyn

By Jim Marlow

Hey everyone,

This week's T2 standard constructed event marked the last time to play lorwyn block before zendikar rotates in. The lack of recent articles, and the content of the few produced, have surely made my feelings clear on the current state of standard.

All in all, it was a good season. There were plenty of winning, and potentially winning decks made, made better, and unmade in the last 18 months. However, like anything, after 18 months the format was fairly exhausted, the metagame unpredictable (at high level, let alone fnm).

So this left me with quite the dilemma over what to play, with days untill wnm i was speaking to wagz about how i had no deck, whereas Rob is decktesting his decks for unsanctioned multiplayer planechase over a week away (dedicated?)

I had a choice between many decks, because i have been lucky enough to bag sets of most key cards in the format up till now, only really excluding m10. But, looking around i didnt see a deck i either liked, or hadnt played to death for the last year.

In the end i played this.

4 x noble heirarch
4 x treefolk harbinger
4 x putrid leech
3 x gaddock teeg
4 x doran the siege tower
4 x kitchen finks
4 x wilt leaf liege
2 x chameleon colossus

4 x maelstrom pulse
4 x path to exile
1 x behemoth sledge

4 x murmuring bosk
4 x gilt leaf palace
3 x twilight mire
2 x wooded bastion
2 x sunpetal grove
2 x reflecting pool
3 x forest
1 x plains
1 x swamp

S/B

2 x primal command
1 x behemoth sledge
3 x garruk wildspeaker
4 x great sable stag
2 x cloudthresher
3 x infest

Im not going to do a massively in depth report, but i ended up 2/2 on wednesday, which is respectable, but not quite what i was hoping for. My two wins were to a doran splash red for bloodbraid deck, and faeries. MY losses, were of course, to warp world and a goat deck. I did manage to bag 4th place for my troubles, and overall it was a really nice end to a really nice format.

The zendikar prerelease looms, im sure i am not the only one who is massively excited by this set. If nothing else, a fetch land almost pays for the entire prerelease, and there seem to be some interesting cards in the set.

Having talked about it recently however, it seems Wizards has a habit of making sets with a larger number of money and ridiculous rares in, but its a horrible limited environment (especially sealed),

Or

a set with very few money rares, but it makes for an awesome drafting and sealed environment.

Fetch lands of course worried me because i hoped this wasnt a money rare set, but looking at zendikar it looks like loads of fun, and that with landfall it looks like the set has been really well worked to integrate the money rares into the whole theme of the limited environment.

Anyway, ill have a report from the prerelease up early next week,


Untill then,


Jim


As always, feel free to comment on this article, or anything related or unrelated to magic whatsoever. If you would like to contribute to the TLM blog, please email any pictures, ideas or articles to ss07jm@leeds.ac.uk

Tournament Report - WNM at Runik Games, Bury St Edmunds

By Jim Marlow

Hey Everyone,

I hope everyone is having an enjoyable release week. I am very excited about the changes M10 will bring to Standard, because i have been finding standard a bit stale for the past couple of months, with the decks that seem to be performing being the ones i would rather not play, or when i play something else, i crap out to the aforementioned decks.

I didnt come prepared for this week because there isnt really a scheduled series of events in Bury like in Leeds, but i was really hoping to be drafting. Sadly, my plans fell at the first hurdle when i found out the shop had 0 (zero) boosters in stock......o any expansion or core set, i guess Yu-Gi-Oh really is doing that well then.

It turns out it was another T2 Standard Constructed event, which is ok, but i still had my jund deck from last week probably would have done ok, but i felt like playing something different, so i knocked together this list.

4 x figure of destiny
4 x knight of the white orchid
3 x ethersworn canonist
4 x stillmoon cavalir
4 x kitchen finks
2 x ranger of eos
3 x wall of reverence

4 x path to exile
2 x oblivion ring
4 x ajani vengeant
2 x martial coup

4 x ancient ampitheatre
2 x moutain
18 x plains

S/B
3 x wrath of god
4 x burrenton forge tender
3 x celestial purge
3 x reveillark
1 x loxodon warhammer
1 x ethersworn canonist


I know what your thinking, this deck is a little bit poo. Well, i guess your right, but if you know me you know i carry round a folder with a load of good cards should i need them for a deck or to lend to someone. I sort this folder by colour, and this deck was basically made up by taking out the first page and a half of white cards, and adding a lot of plains....done.


Round 1 - A nice man who lent me a D20 then left later on - jund aggro

My opponant was playing the hackblade/colossal might aggro, which as i was sitting down (when he was wished good luck by the store owner....yeah i strike fear into the hearts of men) he professed to 'go off' by turn 5.

Game 1 - Turn 5 came and went, and im pretty certain i was still on a sizeable amount of like, like 10 or something. I had a stillmoon cavalier and my opponant has a jund hackblade left after some battling. He attacks, i block, and he reveals the surprise colossal might..... +1/+0 then first strike i guess....

Game 2 - On turn 4 my opponant finds his 3rd land for a ram gang, i take 3 and make mi figure 4/4, then make a turn 4 wall of reverence....he races?

Round 2 - Grant - kithkin.

I guess this is an ok matchup post board as i have more wraths and the stillmoon cavaliers, but i need to survive to find the cards i need first.

Game 1 - I get a pretty killer draw and get early beats on with triple figure of destiny...nom. Grant finds some land and makes a couple guys but i can still get round for damaghe, and my stillmoon cavalier only needs to swing once to finish him off.

Game 2 - Grant finds all 4 of his path to exiles, 2 celestial purges for my ajani's, an unmake and wraths my stillmoon. I am finding all my removal too, and despite finding another stillmoon grant has too many guys for me. I get an ajani up some counters to keep his guys tapped, but his forge tender stops me a helix, and then i make a mistake pathing the forge tender and not the figure he has. In the end i decide to armageddon and then wrath, take 8 leaving me on 8 then next turn i can play a creature from my hand, and hopefully draw something. I draw a plains, play my knight of the white orchid but grant draws plains and plays his last card in hand, his 4th path to exile...shame.

Game 3 - I bring in the noobhammer, which i mistakenly leave out of game 2 in this match which is essentially a race. Grant gets ahead on the board but i wrath, then i mistakenly play out a second stillmoon cavalier as i think i can beat for the win but this time grant wraths, leaving him a figure in hand courtesy of ranger of eos. The figure bites it and luckily i find another stillmoon cavalier after we both draw dead, and finally i have something to equip my noobhammer onto, especially since i have been drawing land. I smash in for 9 twice, putting me to 42 life i think, grant finds a mirror entity, with an equally large mass of land, but misses a chance to crack back when he forgets to tap my kitchen finks at end of turn, meaning his attack in turn 3 of extra turns for 27 doesnt get there, as he has no way to stop the cavalier.

Great Games.

Round 3 - Meo - Combo Elves

Meo asked me what to play today between a jund deck which didnt look to exciting and a really nice build of combo elves, but his uses banefire as a finisher. I love it because it uses gilt leaf archdruid and the druid accelerant package, which is awesome, although i think he would be better off using the primal command and mirror entity package to just bash through, with banefire as backup.

Game 1 - I resolve turn 2 ethersworn canonist, and Meo plays a birds of paradise, then a llanowar elves, then another birds of paradise in the next three turns. I make big men and smash.

Game 2 - Meo thoughtseizes my canonist, which is annoying, but despite finding the right mana generators he cant find either a regal force or primal command, and so has to start chumping. He keeps finding useless mana dorks and can banefire me for 10 simply from the mana his guys can make, but i an getting in with my guys and this is not enough.

3-0 is obviously a great result, and winning is good, especially with a deck i know little about and that i made 5 minutes before the event (played my first round unsleeved) My rating has finally decided its had enough of going south and has begun the long and painful journey back to where i was at a few months ago...although i must say that i am doing better than ever at limited so Finkel watch out.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


I hope you enjoyed this, the draft i promised will finally go up tomorrow, so keep an eye out for that.

Nats is getting very close now, i hope everyone is excited about it.

See you there


Until then,


Jim


As always,feel free to comment on anything about this article, or anything unrelated to magic whatsoever. If you would like to contribute to the TLM blog, please email any ideas, articles, pictures or anything else to ss07jm@leeds.ac.uk

Tournament Report - WNM at Runik Games, Bury St Edmunds

By Jim Marlow

Hey Everyone,

Another week and this time Type 2 constructed magic was the order of the day at Runik Games.
I never really know what to play anyway, and metagaming for a really diverse field (much moreso than leeds) on top of choosing a deck to play made it pretty hard to prepare.

I decided on jund ramp as i wanted to play some lavalanches.

Here's my decklist

4 x kitchen finks
4 x chameleon colossus
4 x putrid leech
2 x broodmate dragon

4 x rampant growth
4 x garruk wildspeaker

3 x lavalanche
2 x jund charm
1 x volcanic fallout
4 x maelstrom pulse

2 x primal command
2 x banefire
1 x loxodon warhammer

4 x savage lands
4 x twilight mire
2 x firelit thicket
2 x reflecting pool
4 x treetop village
4 x forest
2 x swamp
2 x mountain

S/B
4 x anathemancer
2 x cloudthresher
3 x volcanic fallout
3 x thought hemorrhage
2 x firespout
1 x primal command


Round 1 - Neil - B/W non tokens

Game 1 - This is the kind of matchup the deck is built for, as long as his various silly b/w men dont get too big. Sadly, neil has a edge of divinity on his nip gwyllian turn 2, followed by a deathbringer liege and wall of reverence. Luckily my double finks enable a garruk to land safely, but Neil unmakes a finks, killing the other meaning im left with only garruk. This is ok, because i can untap lands with garruk to lavalanche for 6, killing his whole team, but leaving him on a pretty healthy 32 life. I follow up with chameleon colossus and broodmate dragon, then get in for more than 32 in 1 swing.

Game 2 - Neil doesnt have any plays for the first 3 turns, missing his 3rd land drop, whilst i have double putrid leech, which seems good. I make a chameleon colossus after a leech gets unmade and attack for 8 twice, which just about gets it done.

1-0 (2-0)

Round 2 - Chris playing all in green

Game 1 - I realise this is a pretty bad matchup because i have no spot removal meaning i pretty much have to win before i see any of chris' threats, which is a pretty mean feat. I make putrid leech into finks which beat down chris down to 6 who is on an apparently slow draw, but then he makes a diety of scars and a noble hierarch. I attack with both my men and he wisely blocks both, pretty much meaning i cant win, as i was hoping to push through enough damage for volcanis fallout to finish it.

Game 2 - I keep a 2 lander and miss my 3rd land drop, which is a bit poo. I draw a savage lands for turn 4 but on chris' 4th turn he impromptu raids into a woodfall primus to destroy my savage lands.....savage.

1-1 (2-2)

Round 3 - Dan? - Kithkin

Game 1 - Im pretty happy about this matchup as it is essentially what my deck is made to beat, many little men. I take minimul beats from dan who from the looks of it has kept a 6 lander with figure of destiny....ok. Dan gets his figure to 4/4 which is annoying, but i get garruk online. Dan paths the finks i use to protect garruk but doesnt get in with he mutuvault to kill him as garruk was up to 5. O well, best lavalanche for many then. I attack with a putrid leech twice and a lavalanche for 9 wins the game.

Game 2 - Dan gets a far better draw here but i have volcanic fallout then lavalanche for his men. Sadly, having used these dan finds double stillmoon cavalier, which is annoying for my finks + leech. I find colossus to start beating, but dan is winning the race going aerial with cavaliers. Luckily for me i rip a firespout from the board and my team survives while go to the bin, leaving me free to swing for 6 then 14 next turn, the best!!!.

2-1 (4-2)

Round 4 - ? - jund tokens.

I cant really remember the details of each separate match because the games were both heavily interupted by me having to tell my opponant why most of the stuff he was doing was wrong. Im pretty good at handling new players to the game, being as nice as i can whilst explaining how they can achieve what i think they are trying to do, which is a bit of a skill as you are meant to be playing them at a game of magic. I always feel bad telling new players that they cant do this etc but i think its best they get a good grasp of the rules, and i think if you do this in a nice way and not rules lawyer people it can be really beneficial to their learning.

However, my opponant was basically a little shit, who was pissing me off quite a bit.

I had loaned the use of my playset of bloodhall oozes for the day, which was fine. I had them in my trade binder but he didnt have anything i wanted and i just got the 4th so i was thinking of keeping them anyway.

Game 2 he makes a bloodhall ooze turn 2, after making a b/r borderpost. He puts a counter on the ooze then makes a Sarkhan Vol, puts sarkan up a counter and puts 2 counters on the ooze, it takes me at least 5 minutes to explain this problem, and then another 5 minutes when i say the +1/+1 only lasts untill the end of turn. I obviously lavalanched both the ooze and sarkhan next turn, but whatever.

I always try to be nice to new players, and people in general, so i let him trade the whole playset of oozes off me for a fnm kitchen finks, which i didnt really want.

After i had done this however, i tried to discuss the game and how he could have done things differently, by perhaps making a 10/10 predator dragon which i knew he had all game, rather than devouring everything to mycoloth then me killing him. He basically threw this back in my face and then asked whether i cheated when i pumped my putrid leech to trade with his dragon broodmother after he had blocked with it and asked if it was a 2/2 when he blocked. Twat!

3-1 (6-2)


Anyways, its horrible to end on a rant such as this, and i hate facing people who i dont get on with, its such a shame, especially as im trying to help this guy. O well.

I have a draft to upload tomorrow from ages ago so look out for that.

See you all soon


Until then,


Jim


As always,feel free to comment on anything about this article, or anything unrelated to magic whatsoever. If you would like to contribute to the TLM blog, please email any ideas, articles, pictures or anything else to ss07jm@leeds.ac.uk

Tournament Report - WNM at Runik Games, Bury St Edmunds

By Jim Marlow

Hey everyone,

It's that time of the week again, and this time Runik have decided to put on a block constructed event.

I really didnt know what to expect at the event, so i just guessed everyone would play naya/jund, with a possibility of a random 5cc or two from some of the better players. This was mostly true tbh.

I was pretty intrigued by the glaze fiend/thopter foundry deck that Kibler and Rietzl managed to wreck PT honolulu with, so i knocked up a similar list.

Here's what i played

2 x court humunculous
4 x esper stormblade
4 x tidehollow sculler
4 x glaze fiend
4 x vedalken outlander
4 x ethersworn canonist
3 x master of etherium
2 x ethersworn shieldmage

1 x tezzeret the seeker
4 x thopter foundry
3 x path to exile
4 x fieldmist borderpost
4 x u/b borderpost (name escapes me)

4 x arcane sanctum
6 x plains
4 x swamp
3 x island

I was pretty happy with the deck, i couldnt get hold of a 4th master of etherium, hence the tezzeret, which was a bit annoying because the deck isnt meant to get to 5/6 mana to often.

Round 1 - Jin - esper aggro

No guys, it wasnt Jin Shen of old school Team Leeds fame, but this Jin was playing an almost identical deck to mine, awesome.

I took this round down 2-0 through, and im sure Jin would be the first to admit, a couple of mistakes on his behalf coupled with some aggresive draws. Jin said it was the first time he played with the deck and he hadnt played magic in a while, so i felt bad when he announced no blockers, and said i take 3, im afraid thats 7, sir, my master of etherium counts borderposts, too.

2-0

Round 2 - Grant - 5 colour cascade

Grant is a pretty decent player and certainly knows what he is talking about, i knew he was playing a cascady control deck, which i hoped was the type of deck mine was made for.

Luckily, in either match grant never drew past 3 lands, or 2 colours of mana, which was a bit of shame for him.

Game 2 grant mulliganed to 5 on the play, awesome for me i guess. Especially as i have a double sculler hand and the first sculler grant decides to terminate with the ability on the stack, guess i strip the only 3 spells you draw all game matey boy.

O well.

2-0 (4-0 games)

Round 3 - Matt - heralds?

I saw Matt's deck laid out on the desk downstairs when i arrived, and frankly it looked like a pile, but nevertheless very interesting. He was playing a concotion of the heralds from shards and the blades from reborn, which is pretty clever actually.

However, he was only playing 1 copy of each of his searchable creatures, so if he ever drew them they were pretty much dead untill turn billion when he could hardcast.

I blew matt out game 1 with a path to make asureblade trade with a court humunculous, which left him with only an angels herald.

Game 2 i made turn 2 glaze fiend into borderpost, stormblade. Then next turn i made borderpost, humunculous, stormblade. That will just about do it.

3-0 (6-0 games)

Round 4 - Alex - Esper control

Im not sure if this matchup is good or bad for me. I knew my sideboard was not particularly prepared for it, and that if i ever got behind i was pretty stuffed.

Sadly game 1 i mulliganned to 4, and i was way too far behind.

Game 2 i got aggressive, but i can beat sculptor, master, ethersworn adjudicator draws without seeing a martial coup. I stalled out with thoptors from a foundry for a while but i would have to start saccing borderposts, making even my boarded coup's dead draws. gg

0-2 (6-2 games)


Overall i felt good about the deck, i am pretty new to it obviously so im sure it can be played far better than i did. The mana seems a little tricky and i wonder if that could do with some work, although i dont think its really a relevent format for my interests right now.

Good fun was had nonetheless, even if my crappy tiebreakers got me 5th place for my troubles....yay i ripped a lavalanche, which even the shop wouldnt trade with me, sad times.

it was an awesome night anyway, i really have to commend the guys both from Runik Games, and the people who go there to play, because it is a really fantastic bunch of guys, except for Chris telling me how good militia's pride is every week (lord knows i will never conceed that argument), i hope he's not among the 4 people who read this.

O well i have bigger fish to fry this weekend......i wonder what the weather is like in Texas.


Until then,


Jim


As always,feel free to comment on anything about this article, or anything unrelated to magic whatsoever. If you would like to contribute to the TLM blog, please email any ideas, articles, pictures or anything else to ss07jm@leeds.ac.uk

FNM at Runik Games

By Jim Marlow

Hey everyone,

I hope the PTQ testing is going swimingly, i am certainly ready to bring the rain come the 4th of July in Manchester, hopefully this time i can get a match win.

Anyway, i'v just this second walked in from a great night of draft at Runik Games in Bury St Edmunds. I keep forgetting to comment on my fnm's because i have been a bit busy so they seem to come and go before i get the chance to write, so i made a point to do a bit on tonights debacle.

The format, due to lack of conflux boosters (who the hell has been buying those), was in fact Shards/Shards/Reborn, which was a little unorthadox, but hey its all good draft fun i guess.

My first pick was a pretty easy decision, with nothing special in pack except a tower gargoyle, tidehollow strix and crumbling necropolise, with the gargoyle as the obvious pick here.

I then get passed a tezzeret the seeker....

The rest of pack seems a little quiet, im pretty sure im being cut, with resounding wave type cards filling out a few weak picks before i get a late tidehollow strix into an arcane sanctum, nice.

Second pack i first pick a sanctum gargoyle, then get a 4th pick tower gargoyle. Other highlights include a 13th pick couriers capsule.

Reborn was mostly filling in with borderposts, esper stormblades and the shieldmage dude.

Here's my deck.

2 x tower gargoyle
1 x sanctum gargoyle
2 x talon trooper
2 x cloudhearth drake
1 x glassdust hulk
1 x fatesticher
1 x esper battlemage
1 x puppet conjurer
1 x tidehollow strix
1 x esper stormblade
1 x ethersworn shieldmage

2 x resounding wave
2 x couriers capsule
1 x crystalization
1 x slave of bolas
1 x oblivion ring
1 x mistvein borderpost
1 x tezzeret the seeker

6 x island
6 x plains
3 x swamp
1 x grixis panorama
1 x arcane sanctum

I hope you all agree that the deck is a pretty sick puppy, and i managed to take down the draft with it.

My only disappointment of the evening is not winning 1 match by comboing off with fatesticher, puppet conjurer and tezzeret. i thought it was quite clever to make all the humunculous i make by untapping into 5/5's, but apparently 3 tower gargoyles are better than 2, even if 1 costs 4.


See you all on friday night for testing and drinking, if anyone wants to!


Until then,


Jim


As always, feel free to comment on anything about this article, or anything unrelated to magic whatsoever. If you would like to contribute to the TLM blog, please email any ideas, articles, pictures or anything else to ss07jm@leeds.ac.uk

WNM May 6th - Report

By Jim Marlow

Hey everyone,

It was a bit of a shame to only get 12 players for the first ever S/C/A draft in Leeds, and i always find 6 man pods very odd, as im sure everyone does. Either way i was really excited about seeing some alara reborn cards because i was home the weekend of the prerelease, and the only experiance playing i had was a 3 x conflux 3 x alara reborn winston draft i did with Robertas a few days before. (it was retarded too, we each got a martial coup!).

Tonight's event was both good and bad for me, good because i learnt a lot, saw some good cards, and learnt a lot (albeit the wrong way) about the change in card evaluation with Alara Reborn in the picture.....but bad because i 0-3'ed and played like an absolute cockmuncher! (swings and roundabouts i guess)

I never expect to do well because i am always awful at evaluating new sets when they first come out, i was speaking to wagz before the draft and we were talking about how well we adapt to new formats, and i certainly didnt dissapoint on this front.

I apologise for not having my draft picks up here, i completely forgot to note my picks for half the alara reborn booster because i was taking ages (having to read what all the cards actually do and all), but here are some key choices which i think caused a slightly underpowered deck.

Pack 1, pick 1 - branching bolt, naya charm, ranger of eos, tidehollow strix

I knew opening these cards would be my undoing as soon as i fanned them out. The obvious pick here is the tidehollow strix, obviously it is not the same power level as the branching bolt, but the other 2 put the other guys into naya. I wouldnt disagree with anyone taking the charm here either and signalling jund, but its such a risky move.

Also, i had Mick and Rob to my left, and i know both, albeit Rob moreso, have similar draft strategies to myself and tend to draft R/G/x depending on what is open, and i am sure seeing naya charms an ranger would have pushed them this way, despite my best efforts to cut.

Despite this, i took the branching bolt, and it is most definately a pick which i regret, and i am sure i would feel the same had i 3-0'ed with a sick deck.

My next few picks were of average power level, i got a 4th pick rhox charger which was obviously well received, and from here i draft a G/W/r deck.

I felt like my deck was fine, but probably lacked a bomb, and it was stuck between being a fast aggressive naya deck and a 5-power style one (my personal preference), and so was therefore neither successfully.

Another potential mistake i made, although im sure no one would argue with the pick, was picking a dauntless escort in pack 3 over a behemoth sledge. I have obviously heard a few things about the sledge in forums, but seriously this card is the nuts!! The sledge absolutely shits all over loxodon warhammer, and i had only drafted 1 volcanic submersion.

Anyways, i ended up with a fairly solid deck, i would have liked a welkin guide or two to give it a bit more reach, because without a bomb to speak of it was hard to get there if i got ahead and the opponant resisted with anything good, or if i was behind it was hard to get back in front.

Round 1) Wayne Cook - Bant

I knew Wayne liked drafting bant, and it came as no surprise when he revealed his first 2 picks to be rhox war monks, contraversial, but i feel bant is the archetype which is both the best and worst in the current format. You dont want to draft Bant because if you dont get the stone cold nuts your deck is very often an absolute pile, but on the flipside your opponants think this as well and it is often capable to draft the sickest deck ever and take the draft down. Alara reborn helps bant alot with a bucketload of g/w and u/w playables, and obviously being able to support the behemoth sledge is awesome.

Game 1 - Me and Wayne raced for a bit, but i think Wayne got ahead with a couple of guys early so i was already low on life and seeing as the bant archetype is mainly creatures, playing a creature almost every turn was enough to overwhelm me when i started paying my fatties.

Game 2 - I was in this game far more than game 1, where i spent too long landcycling and cracking panorama's, and i though i was in good shape when i had Wayne's board under control. Wayne managed to land a Behemoth sledge and from here i was in big trouble. I had to use premium removal to kill his guys in response to equip to fog for a couple turns, but i didnt have enough time to kill wayne and soon he was gaining too much life for me to do anything.

I didnt think much of it, but Wayne made really good use of sn enchantment which you can sacrifice to give all your creatures flying until end of turn. Its not the most suttle of tricks, but Bant is a deck which can often stall to opposing fat, so its a good way to get the final damage through, much like welkin guide, especially because one time Wayne made his 5/6 guy (7/8 thanks to behemoth sledge, and thats before exalted triggers) flying, which was pretty much game over for me.

So well done to Wayne on a well deserved victory, his deck was great and im really glad that he picked his behemoth sledge over a thought hemorrhage. The card was far more relevent to his deck and im sure won him a few more games on the night. Not to mention the thought hemorrhage got to me and i rare drafted it....

record - 0-1

Round 2) Matt Kitchen - Bears?

This round was probably the most odd iv ever played in any format with shards boosters.

Finks had basically drafted a ton of hastey bears, plus meniacal rage's and other pump spells to try and kill in 5-6 turns, and the result it has to be said was very effective.

I have to admit i chuckled a little when Finks told me he had picked rip-clan crashers 2nd, 3rd and 4th in the first pack, knowing he shipped me a rhox charger in the process, but i can assure you the smile was on the other side of my face when i saw all three of them in the second game i played against him.

Both games against Finks were super quick, especially the second. I feel like i punted the first game slightly when i was down to 2 or 4 and i attacked without reason with an extra creature, rather than just getting in for 1 less point of damage to leave to blockers open, especially considering i know that finks is playing at least 3 haste bears. Obviously finks untaps and plays a jund hackblade, which is a bit annoying!


Game 2 i was never in it, i got triple rip clan crashered, and i think i died on about turn 6.

It was awesome to see Finks draft, but more importantly, be successful with a different strategy that those that are allready widely known. Obviously it is very risky to put your hopes in the hands of a hastey bear for the evening, but you know what, if you have enough of the little buggers there is very little you can do, and barring jund charm or volcanic fallout you can easily take quick games down against the increasingly popular slow, mana intensive decks that are drafted.

Round 3) Mick Edwards - Naya/Jund

So for those of you that watched the abortion of a magic match that i played against Mick to avoid the fiercely contested wooden spoon, i am very sorry.

For some unknown reason i was pretty annoyed at doing badly because i thought my deck was quite good, i hope not woth an 0-3, so i was tilting from the start of this match. I usually dont let results get me down, and sometime i play my best magic when it doesnt matter so much.

Anyway, me and mick played some interesting games, going back and forth untill Mick forced game 3

Games 3 i forgot to pay for the upkeep cost of a wild leatau ( i think thats it), and Colin rightly put it in the bin. From here i left the room and pretty much left my deck in the hands of someone who has never played magic before. I have no reason why but the match between me and Mick seemed far more serious than my other 2 rounds, maybe because i actually had a chance, or just becaue Mick is my arch nemesis, probably the latter.

Either way, anyone who watched may have seen a couple of mistakes on my part in game 3, but either way Mick got there and left me with the pitiful record of 0-3.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

S0 0-3 is obviously a pretty bad result. I am not so much annoyed at this as i am the attitude that i had at doing badly when i should have done better, especially because i made a considerable number of play mistakes through the night. I certainly beat myself up when i do badly because i think i am a good player, but i dont want to turn into some Todd Anderson figure, blaming anything but themself, because if your deck isnt good enough in draft you can only blame yourself.

The draft has certainly knocked me down a few pegs, i probably thought of myself as a better player than i actually am, and i probably got a bit complacent in this draft, and it certainly looks bad for me having written thousands of words on how to draft better and then doing this. Hopefully i can sharpen my game up considerably for the next couple of weeks, especially if i am hoping to qualify for nationals.

I am really excited about the new format, and obviously it's something we are all going to have to perfect if we have any hope at Nats. At the moment, im not really sure what the best strategy is for drafting, because taking the 2nd shards booster really does change things, but im not sure whether this changes they way you should draft. I guess this is something only time will tell.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So another successfull WNM at TJ's, im looking forward to next THURSDAY'S standard, although i would love to have a new deck by then. Just as a last thing i would feel that there are some people to be applauded for various things.


1) Obviously, thanks to Colin and Rik for once again T-O'ing and judging, i feel like you two dont get enough thanks for all the work you do so cheers for all the effort you guys put in on a weekly basis. I look forward to you guys playing more regularly too!

2) Cheers to Colin for putting the wild leatau in the bin, ill never make that mistake again! (untill next draft anyway)

3) Congrats to finks on winning the draft (technically), but even moreso for supporting the Team by scooping to Wagz to get him to nationals, it was definately the play and i think it shows a great team spirit, let's hope that others follow this great example of the team spirit among Team Leeds

4) Wayne for picking the behemoth sledge over thought hemorrhage. It was the right pick and you got some deserved victories from it, im sure another day you could have won the draft with your deck.


If anyone is driving down to Birmingham or Leicester this weekend, please get in touch because i would be well up for going to some nats qualifiers. If not i will see everyone next thursday for some standard action, the Type 2 is always fiercely contested at Leeds and im looking to improve on the 2-2 record last week with my jund ramp, which i think im more than capable of after the tweaks i have made, so i will see everyone then!

Untill then,


Jim


As always, feel free to comment on anything about this article, or anything unrelated to magic whatsoever. If you would like to contribute to the TLM blog, please email any ideas, articles, pictures or anything else to ss07jm@leeds.ac.uk