Guest Article: PTQ Win with Next Level Bant, by Mick Edwards

By Mick Edwards

Having missed out on my chance to play Standard at a more competitive level this year (since I was auto-qualified for Nationals), I was quite worried that the format would have changed to 'whoever has the most expensive mythics wins'. Unfortunately I was a little right. Fortunately for me, fellow Team Leeds member (or maybe he's Team York or something) Chris Vincent was unable to attend the PTQ and kindly offered to lend me some of his mythics. Here is the list I decided to play:

4 Celestial Colonnade

5 Forest

2 Island

4 Misty Rainforest

1 Plains

4 Seaside Citadel

1 Stirring Wildwood

3 Sunpetal Grove

3 Birds of Paradise

1 Borderland Ranger

4 Noble Hierarch

4 Sea Gate Oracle

3 Sphinx of Lost Truths

4 Vengevine

4 Wall of Omens

3 Elspeth, Knight-Errant

2 Gideon Jura

3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

2 Oblivion Ring

3 Path to Exile

Sideboard:
2 Celestial Purge

2 Day of Judgment

2 Meddling Mage

3 Negate

2 Linvala, Keeper of Silence

2 Oust

2 Sphinx of Jwar Isle


Since the PTQ was at Fanboy 3 in Manchester, as well as begging for cards I was also begging for a lift. Kindly Kenny Hall offered to drive via Leeds to pick me and Fu Sheng-Wong up. In the car Kenny told me that riding in his car would bring luck since the past 3 lifts he had given had been a winner and two finalists - I apologised to him and Fu explaining that I would be the one to continue that streak with a win. Fu joked about not bothering to register in that case.

About the deck:
Some of my many reasons for playing this deck were:
Elspeth + Path <3 (editor: it's true, Mick goes to bed with these and Figure of Destiny)
Lots of card draw means more consistency and combined with BoP/Heirach means less mulligans
Brian Kibler won a GP with a similar list
It has the option to play aggro or control depending on the match up (editor again: Mick only plays aggro)

Changes/Unusual Sideboard options:
I decided the Ranger + Scute Mob was good, but not as good as Sphinx of Lost Truths, therefore I cut the Ranger package to make room for an extra Sphinx. This also allowed me to play an extra BoP as a turn 1 mana guy is the ideal start and accelerating into a turn 3 planeswalker is key to winning alot of match ups.
Mythic seemed like the 'deck to beat' and an argueably stronger choice, and my sideboard reflects this with Ousts, Linvala and Day of Judgement. Meddling Mage can also be good against mythic as they have have little removal so it's often like a much better Thought Hemorrhage.

When we arrived at the event and met up with some other members of Team Leeds I realised I needed a 4th Vengevine. I spoke a bit to Seb Parker who told me he had just been hunting around for Vengevines and struggled to find a few so I decided to buy one and quickly scribbled down a decklist in time for Round One.

Round One: Grixis
I won the dice roll and accelerated into a turn 3 Vengevine to bash for 5 as he did nothing until turn 3 when he made a Nighthawk. I decided not to play a turn 4 planeswalker and opted to O-ring his Nighthawk and continue the beats. On turn 4 he Earthquaked away my team so when I dropped 2 creatures to get back vengevine that was pretty much game.
Side: -4 Wall -1 Sphinx LT +2 Purge +2 Negate +1 Sphinx Jwar Isle (I think)
Game two went a similar way from my side: turn 3 Vengevine but with a turn 4 Jace (using +2 to get to 5). I also managed to turn 2 Purge his turn 3 Specter which was nice. Then on his turns 5 and 6 he cast Blightning twice killing Jace and stripping me of my hand. This confused me a little as I had expected him to board Blightning out, but in this game it was surprisingly effective against me - although it didn't matter as that had given me enough time to get beats in with the Vengevine.

Round 2: Aaron Copping with Grixis
Aaron also came with us in Kenny's car so I knew he was Grixis so I was pretty confident after how round one had gone. These games went quite different to round one but ultimately his deck's spot removal wasn't enough to keep up with the many many threats I made. In game two I think he got stuck a little on awkward mana too.

Round 3: UW Control
I dont really remember this round, only that it gave me great confidence that the Bant deck crushes control decks :D
Side: -4 Wall +3 Negate +1 Sphinx Jwar Isle

Round 4: Ben Scoones with Naya Conscription
I knew Ben was playing some kind of Conscription deck so was a little worried when he won the dice roll. He made turn 2 knight but I had turn 2 O-ring. Then he didnt really do anything while I quickly ended the game. I later found out he had triple Sparkmage in hand and was stuck on red mana.
Side: -4 Wall -1 BoP -1 Ranger -1 Sphinx +2 Oust +2 Linvala +2 Day of Judgement +1 Meddling Mage
Game two I had what I thought was the god draw with turn 3 Linvala and Planeswalkers. However, since he won the dice roll he got to play his turn 3 Linvala first, meaning I was mana screwed and he had the win before I could get an answer to Linvala or a 4th land.
I game 3 I made a misplay (in hindsight) that cost me the round. Although it was game 3 I hadn't seen any red yet (though he might have played a Ravine in game 2) so I assumed he was a more conventially mythic deck but with a splash. So when I made a turn 2 Meddling Mage I named 'Baneslayer Angel', then immediately regretted it. Baneslayer Angel is usually one of the best cards to name against Mythic as it comes down easier than Sovs, but changes the board to make it very dificult to win through giving them the time to get the Sovereigns/win. However, most of the less conventional Mythic decks dont even run Baneslayer. After he played turn 3, 4 Sparkmages and turn 5 Blodbraid into sSarkmage he ripped apart my mana (and Mage) and I quickly realised I had named the wrong card.

3-1

Round 5: Turbofog
This round was quite a slog and one I'd had no practice against with Bant so wasn't sure if it was a good match up or not. Fortunately game one I was able to go ultra aggro with Vengevines, which seemed the best way to win.
Side: -4 Wall -1 Gideon +3 Negate +2 Meddling Mage
Game 2 I was able to get some advantage by discarding double Venegvine in my cleanup, but made yet another Meddling Mage blunder by naming Angelsong. The correct card to name against Turbofog is Time Warp and he proved it by 'going infinite' casting 4 Time Warps (+1 with Twincast) then discarding Emrakul to shuffle them back in. I conceded to get chance to play a third game.
Game 3 I managed to win in the first game of extra time. This time I named the right card with the Mage, he even cast Angelsong in response this time (expecting me to name the Song). I confused everyone a bit by calling for an oracle wording on Angelsong (since my oponent was using foreign cards). I was 99% sure I knew the wording on Angelsong, but knew where was one fog effect that meant you could still attack planeswalkers. Checking these things costs nothing and the judges are there to help (editor: quite right. also, it's Safe Passage).

Round 6: UW control
As with Round 3, this deck crushes control in general. In game two I even played for the long game and managed to keep all three planeswalkers so there was nothing he could do.

Round 7: ID
As I was 5-1 at this point I gladly excepted the ID. My oponent was 5-0-1 so technically could have played to try and knock me out. I was glad of the spare hour to go for a Burger King to celebrate making another top 8 at Fanboy.

Quarterfinals: Some Scottish guy (not Guy) called Andy with UW control
For some reason he thought I was playing red (he said it was the red sleeves). Then I managed to confuse him further with a start that looked like it could have been Naya/Mythic. Eventually I lost game 1 because I played too aggressively, being too careless with my planeswalkers when I probably could have used their card advantage for victory.
Side: -4 Wall +3 Negate +1 Sphinx Jwar Isle
I got a fairly fast win and he 'punted'. This caused him to get really annoyed at himself to the point of slamming the table in anger. The Situation: I had lethal on the board including a manland (I think it was Borderland Ranger + Elspeth). He had 6 lands (1 was Tectonic Edge). He made Gideon and made me attack it, so I O-ringed
Gideon and swung for the win. Aparently he could have played Jace instead and bounced the ranger and blown up my wildwood so I can see why he was annoyed.
He never really gained control in the 3rd game as I just played threat after threat. When he knew was dead he tried to claim I had tapped my mana wrong to make a Gideon I shouldn't have. This annoyed me as I had made special care to show clearly which mana I was using for what as I knew it was a mistake that could easily happen. Fortunately a judge had been watching the whole time (and many other people), but the guy even had the cheek the argue with the judge and claim that the judge hadn't actually seen!

As the our game in the Quarters took longer than the other three, Amar Dattani (my semis opponent) had seen how the game had ended and told me that I could have as much time as I wanted to relax before we started. This was very nice of him as he had probably been waiting around for some time.

Semis: Amar Dattani with Naya Conscription
The first 2 games were fairly straight forward. He had a great hand game one and flattened me with a giant BoP. Game two I had Linvala to help me out, followed by a Sphinx and a Gideon which I used to make his 2/2 Knights have to attack into my bigger flyers :D
Game 3 was much more close. He made no play until turn 3, and had a similar multiple Sparkmage hand to Ben in round 3. I also had a slow hand, too many tapped lands (and him shooting my mana guy) meant that my first real play was Day of Judgement to get rid of the Sparkmages. He followed up with another Sparkmage (from a Bloodbraid I think) so was quickly able to deal with my Elspeth. A second Day of Judgement from me allowed me to begin to stabalise on 3 life since his Bloodbraids + pings had been adding up. I then drew mostly card draw so gave him a worrying amount of time to topdeck a Sovereigns to finish end the game. I eventually Ousted a Linvala to buy me the time to win. After the game he flipped the top card to reveal Sovereigns so the Oust really made the difference.

Finals: Tom "End Boss" Harle with Next Level Bant
Game one took a long time and Tom made me realise I may have been too hasty to dismiss Ranger of Eos as he used 2 to gain huge army that eventually swarmed round my team which was about half the size. Before the game I had decided not to board in Day of Judgements but based on how game one had ended I quickly changed my mind.
Side: -4 Wall -1 bop -1 Sphinx +2 Oust +2 Linvala +2 Day of Judgement
Game two I won by being able to stick and protect more planeswalkers, I was slightly surprised by Toms sideboard choices though as he had brought in Deprives, Negates and several Jace Beleren. I personally don't like bringing in counterspells in against this matchup as it doesnt suit the way I play the deck and I find the Bant deck has a lot of solid creature based threats that Negate obviously doesn't answer.
Game three I kept something amazing like 3 land, Heirarch, Oust, Jace, Elspeth while Tom was not so lucky. He mulled to 6 before playing turn 1 Scute Mob.
Although I expected the game to end quickly in my favor, since he got stuck on lands. However while I was making planeswalkers he was answering them with Deprives, Negate, O-ring etc. On Turn 8 I cast Day of Judgement + Gideon to put him further behind on mana, Then he finally started drawing lands, but this meant he had stopped drawing his answers so I was able to kick Sphinx of Lost Truth for the win.

Editor: Mick didn't supply an ending so I assume he's very happy to have won the PTQ and wishes all members of Team Leeds, and to a lesser extent the other readers of this blog, luck in their future PTQs to join him in his trip to Amsterdam. Mick's too cool for real endings.

Pro Tour San Juan - *182nd place*

By Wagz

Not the most astounding of positions but one I am reasonably chuffed with for my first Pro Tour. I want to write this article to give a taste of the Pro Tour to one who has not yet experienced it, so there will be less Tournament Report and more story if I get it right ;).

My trip started way back in January but began in earnest on Monday 24th. Matt Light had come up to stay the night before and we went over to Manchester to catch our plane to Puerto Rico. There was a long stop in Newark where we had to wait for several hours but it gave us a chance to walk about after the long flight and we met up with Manveer Samra and Stuart Wright at the gate. We chatted for a while about the format and had a bit of a laugh getting to know each other. After a while we got bored of the gate not being called and it not going up on the display so we went to check what was going on. Turns out they're a bit more `relaxed' about domestic flights and didn't bother to call it, so we had in fact missed our flight. After a bit of controlled panicking on my part we sorted out a hotel room for the night which was close-by and had a free taxi service. We were (unchargedly) put on the first flight the next morning and finally arrived at San Juan early on the Tuesday afternoon.


Matt and I went to our hotel, leaving the others to go back to theirs, and we shared a taxi with an American who had the intelligence to work out we were Magic players :). We met a different American in the hotel lobby who was there with his Mum and this guy ended up hanging out with us a lot as he didn't really know anyone else it seemed. Good for us as he was a nice guy and made our hotel room 4 people for playtesting. Our room-mate Mark Mc Govern was waiting for us at the hotel and we quickly made our acquaintances.


San Juan is beautiful in parts and slightly slummy in parts. The natural elements are truly wonderful and there are some very nice rustic-style buildings, but there is also a lot of more ghetto-style areas. I didn't feel unsafe anywhere except inside some of the taxis at night, but I did feel like I might have hurt myself on broken glass or something. Due to it being Tropical Storm Season we didn't venture too far into the countryside or anything as it accelerates from sunny to downpour in seconds a couple of times a day. Another thing - the sun was very warm but not stiflingly so. I don't enjoy the sun in England as I feel suffocated but in Puerto Rico it felt a lot more natural.


The rest of the Great Britain team were in a rented flat a short taxi ride away (and a long walk, we tried it). We had a bit of trouble getting to them on day 1 as there is little phone signal there and the person who had rented them the flat was not supposed to do so, leading the security guards to be hesitant to rush to our aid. Also staying in the same complex were Ben Rubin, Brian Kibler, Pat Chapin et. al., you will meet these people at the pro tour so don't be weird about it. The advantage to hanging out with so many people at once are twofold: 1) there is always something to do - football, draft, playtest, drink beer etc and 2) someone will have a deck you want to play. In our case it was Marco's UW Loldrazi control deck which peaked our interest. Mike Flores is currently advertising this as Dan Gardner's deck, lol.

We changed the sideboard a little bit after testing showed a few of their cards weren't quite up to scratch. They disagreed with our picks but at the end of the testing process it's just about personal preference anyway. Here's the list:

4 Eldrazi Temple

2 Eye of Ugin

4 Celestial Colonnade

4 Sejiri Refuge

6 Island

1 Misty Rainforest

4 Plains

1 Tectonic Edge

2 Kozilek, Butcher of Truth

4 Sea Gate Oracle

2 Sphinx of Lost Truths

2 Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre

4 Wall of Omens

4 All is Dust

1 Day of Judgment

4 Everflowing Chalice

1 Into the Roil

4 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

4 Oust

2 See Beyond

Sideboard:
3 Felidar Sovereign

3 Narcolepsy

2 Domestication

2 Perimeter Captain

2 Tectonic Edge

3 Spell Pierce


The only real differences are that they have Spreading Seas over our Tectonic Edge and they have Gideon Jura. We like casting our All is Dusts so we didn't go in for these permanent-based spells because of the tension they cause. I would have played another Narcolepsy over one of the Perimeter Captains given another chance, but I was definitely happy with Spell Pierce over Cancel as it costs about 3000 less mana. This format really wants Negate :/.


We went to the venue the day before the Pro Tour for the Pro Players Party. This typically involves a buffet, some music, some drinks, a free t-shirt, a free draft set, and tables to play on. The food was nice and the view was beautiful. It was during this evening that I really reflected on how much of a good thing™ being On Tour is. If you manage to get there some day then I advise you enjoy the moment. Don't necessarily go out of your way to do things you don't want to do but have fun doing what you are doing and be happy that you are where you are.

On Day 1 we went to the venue to write up our decklists and join the player meeting. I had my deck all sleeved up and sorted the night before so it was just a case of writing it up, checking it and buying the last couple of cards from the dealers. I sat down for the player meeting (this is when all the players sit down before round 1 pairings are announced for the Head Judge to make a few announcements about what they expect from players etc) opposite Guillaume Wafo-Tapa but a quick look around confirmed that being next to somebody famous is pretty normal at this level of event.

Richard Hagon came by us on his usual Podcasting run and interviewed us both, asking if I would be up for the challenge of facing Wafo-Tapa round 1. I said no, since although I was pretty sure he was classic UW and our deck was good against that, Wafo-Tapa is good against everyone regardless. I go to find pairings for round 1 but somebody's head is covering my opponent's name. It's usually good form to check this to help make sure you're at the right table but I could see my name and table number so I just went with it. I sit down facing towards the timer and then Hall of Famer Rafael Levy comes and sits down opposite me.

Ouch.

Thankfully he was extremely friendly and chatty and I had a really good time playing him. We had very clear communication all through the game, confirming life totals a few times (we had a few discrepancies but I was always right :)) and I managed to get through a win via Felidar Sovereign beating down into his Monument Green guys. This was a great first match for me as I pulled out a win against a Hall of Famer and I really felt like I could actually compete at this level.

I won't bore you with a round-by-round report since this is not what I intended to write about, but to summarise: I lost to Robert Van Medevoort (Vampires), beat a random (UW), lost to Petr Brozek (Brozek Red obv), beat a random (UW) then in the draft beat Tomoharu Saitou (UBr control), lost to David Ochoa (Ur levellers) and finally lost to a random (RG tokens). The last match and the Vampires match were pretty unwinnable but I punted slightly against Ochoa (basically played for the second best line rather than the best line) and drew infi-lands against Brozek. I also kept a speculative anti-control hand against Vampires game 1 and mulled to 4 game 2, so I feel like I had a bunch of opportunities to make day 2 run away from me.

Day 2 I didn't want to play any real life events as my rating was qualifying me for Nats and I didn't want to ruin it. I joined the Magic Online Live Series Championship on a whim and got through the first round with a terrible WR control deck with only really Keening Stone and Mammoth Umbra on a flier to win the game, with Hedron-Field Purists, Lightmine Field and a bunch of removal spells to save me from dying. I had a Hellion Eruption if I clogged the board up but I was slightly creature-light and often sided it out (you can see me playing the matches in some of the feature coverage). In the Semi-Finals I drafted the nut-high UW levellers deck with Lucas Siow on my left drooling at the card quality. I then got flooded+screwed to go straight out of contention but it happens so I walked away calm. I also got a few Team Drafts in and watched people play in various side events.


On the Sunday (top 8 day) I did a survey and entered the Champion's Challenge twice to get myself a free draft set, got my picture taken with Ulamog, the Infinite Gayer and did a small judge questions thing to get myself a foil Broodmate Dragon before a few more Team Drafts. We cubed at the guys' flat that night and then prepared for coming home the next day.

So, I had a few unlucky moments but basically the Pro Tour is the most fun thing ever and I hope this gave people an insight into what goes on. Don't beat me in the next PTQ, because I want to go again :)

Drafting with Team Leeds: Rise of the Eldrazi

By Wagz

Hi all, this weekend I got 7 of my good local friends together for a draft with some boosters I have of the latest set. While I won't provide an in-depth tournament report, I will give you the decklists and the results for you to draw your own conclusions from:

Results:
1) Rob Wagner
2) Rob Catton
3) Andy Devine
4) Chris Vincent
5) Jim Marlow
6) Rick Meeson
7) Mick Edwards
8) Robertas Aluzas

Match Results:

Round 1:
Rob W 2-0 Robbie
Chris 2-1 Mick
Rob C 2-1 Jim
Rick 0-2 Andy

Round 2:
Rob W 2-0 Andy
Chris 1-2 Rob C
Robbie 1-2 Rick
Mick 1-2 Jim

Round 3:
Rob W 2-0 Rob C
Chris 2-1 Rick
Jim 1-2 Andy
Mick 2-0 Robbie

Decklists (not including basic lands):

Rob Wagner:
1 Zulaport Enforcer

2 Goblin Tunneler

2 Kiln Fiend

1 Tuktuk the Explorer

1 Gloomhunter

1 Battle-Rattle Shaman

2 Escaped Null

1 Zof Shade

1 Valakut Fireboar

1 Sarkhan the Mad

1 Devastating Summons

2 Vendetta

1 Virulent Swipe

2 Last Kiss

2 Surreal Memoir

1 World at War

1 Heat Ray


Rob Catton:
1 Overgrown Battlement

1 Mul Daya Channelers

1 Aura Gnarlid

1 Rage Nimbus

1 Sporecap Spider

2 Vent Sentinel

1 Ondu Giant

2 Kozilek's Predator

1 Wildheart Invoker

1 Ulamog's Crusher

1 Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre

1 Flame Slash

2 Ancient Stirrings

1 Ogre's Cleaver

1 Warmonger's Chariot

1 Growth Spasm

1 Snake Umbra

1 Bear Umbra

1 Heat Ray

2 Eldrazi Temple


Andy Devine:
1 Enclave Cryptologist

2 Skywatcher Adept

1 Caravan Escort

1 Kor Line-Slinger

1 Ikaral Outrider

1 Knight of Cliffhaven

3 Halimar Wavewatch

1 Hada Spy Patrol

1 Dawnglare Invoker

1 Venerated Teacher

1 Hedron-Field Purists

1 Makindi Griffin

1 Kabira Vindicator

1 Ulamog's Crusher

1 Smite

1 Guard Duty

2 Hyena Umbra

1 Deprive

1 Time of Need

1 Drake Umbra

1 Evolving Wilds


Chris Vincent:
1 Renegade Doppelganger

1 Overgrown Battlement

3 Sea Gate Oracle

1 Phantasmal Abomination

1 Wildheart Invoker

1 Merfolk Seascout

2 Kozilek's Predator

1 Nema Siltlurker

1 Artisan of Kozilek

1 Gelatinous Genesis

1 Might of the Masses

1 Naturalize

1 See Beyond

2 Narcolepsy

1 Regress

1 Awakening Zone

1 Drake Umbra

2 Dreamstone Hedron


Jim Marlow:
3 Zulaport Enforcer

1 Null Champion

1 Bloodrite Invoker

1 Lavafume Invoker

1 Lagac Lizard

1 Zof Shade

3 Battle-Rattle Shaman

1 Valakut Fireboar

2 Emrakul's Hatcher

1 Pestilence Demon

1 Hand of Emrakul

3 Last Kiss

2 Wrap in Flames

1 Heat Ray


Rick Meeson:
1 Joraga Treespeaker

2 Soul's Attendant

2 Stalwart Shield-Bearers

2 Nest Invaders

1 Ikaral Outridre

1 Umbra Mystic

2 Aura Gnarlid

1 Kabira Vindicator

1 Pelakka Wurm

1 Prey's Vengeance

1 Demystify

1 Hyena Umbra

1 Naturalize

2 Eland Umbra

1 Boar Umbra

1 Gravity Well

2 Repel the Darkness


Mick Edwards:
1 Null Champion

1 Runed Servitor

2 Bloodthrone Vampire

1 Gloomhunter

1 Arrogant Bloodlord

4 Cadaver Imp

2 Bloodrite Invoker

1 Soulsurge Elemental

1 Bala Ged Scorpion

1 Virulent Swipe

2 Staggershock

1 Last Kiss

1 Surreal Memoir

2 Consume the Meek

1 Corpsehatch

1 Eldrazi Conscription


Robertas Aluzas:
2 Skywatcher Adept

1 Enclave Cryptologist

2 Champion's Drake

2 Halimar Wavewatch

1 Nirkana Cutthroat

1 Sea Gate Oracle

1 Guard Gomazoa

2 Venerated Teacher

1 Merfolk Skyscout

1 Crab Umbra

1 Emerge Unscathed

1 Distortion Strike

1 Ogre's Cleaver

1 See Beyond

1 Puncturing Light

1 Eel Umbra

1 Narcolepsy

1 Survival Cache

1 Reality Spasm

Prerelease Report - Rise of the Eldrazi Online Prerelease

By Wagz

Hi all! We're going to try something a little different this week - for the first time on the Team Leeds Blog we have videos. You'll have to excuse the quality as this is an experiment using screen capture software. Firstly, here is my pool:



and the deck I made from it:

8 Island
2 Mountain
7 Forest
1 Forked Bolt
1 Skywatcher Adept
1 See Beyond
1 Deprive
1 Narcolepsy
1 Bramblesnap
1 Halimar Wavewatch
1 Nest Invader
1 Growth Spasm
1 Snake Umbra
1 Aura Gnarlid
1 Guard Gomazoa
1 Sea Gate Oracle
1 Sporecap Spider
1 Kozilek's Predator
1 Merfolk Skyscout
1 Ondu Giant
2 Drake Umbra
1 Broodwarden
1 Frostwind Invoker
1 Stomper Cub
1 Heat Ray

The deck seems okay, a bit of removal, bit of card advantage, couple of bombs (Drake Umbra). Basically I wanted to play cards which I would be happy to draw at any time and would give me options against a lot of decks. Here's how I fared:
(n.b. videos are of replays due to wishing to save on file size and also I don't have a microphone FML - enjoy!)



or external links:

Match 1 Game 1
Match 1 Game 2
Match 1 Game 3

Match 2 Game 1
Match 2 Game 2
Match 2 Game 3

Match 3 Game 1 - Modo did not give me the replay for this one, presumably because (on the play) I went turn 3 Growth Spasm, turn 4 Kozilek's Predator, turn 5 Drake Umbra, turn 6 Snake Umbra and Heat Ray his Nirkana Revenant which got a scoop. 1 Massive guy is obviously good enough.
Match 3 Game 2
Match 3 Game 3

Match 4 Game 1
Match 4 Game 2
Match 4 Game 3

I made a few punts in the last match and one on match 2 game 2 turn 3 which worked out okay but overall I think I played pretty tightly and had a good deck. Bramblesnap is an obvious winner but basically it seems like if you keep up the aggression and get every point of damage in it should be okay. Who needs massive Eldrazi anyway? Any comments are welcome below, thanks for watching :D

p.s. no spoilers about match results, but comments on plays are extremely welcome.

Player of the Year Race Update 04/05/10

By Wagz

Hi all, it's been a long while since the last one but the blog is on a slow period so it seems like a perfect time for a player of the year race update!

35 points - Andy Devine
33 points - Andy Edwards
31 points - Mick Edwards
28 points - Rob Catton and John Ingham
23 points - Andy Bodle
22 points - Steve Tyson and Chris Vincent
21 points - Rob Wagner
19 points - Mark Hammond

Hotting up towards the top of the tables but Andy Edwards has gone away for at least a month, Andy Devine says he probably doesn't want to draft Rise, Mick leaves Uni for the summer and I'm in the middle of a period of not playing to protect my rating (1 more month of abstinence). With that kind of overhaul is there room for someone to sneak in the Leed (sic)? Rob Catton has been making good moves in recent months and Steve Tyson had a good month getting some Bloodbraid Elves.

The race finishes with Nationals, so still plenty of time to get in. Not quite sure what to do with the results - top 8 draft perhaps? We'll see nearer the time.

*Live* Coverage of the Team Leeds Rise of the Eldrazi Launch Party

By John Ingham and Rob Wagner

ROUND 1; Steve tyson vs Luke Saffin

Steve tyson wins the roll

Game 1
Luke applies the ancient art of gypsy magic to make his hand good
TURN 1:

• Steve tyson: land


• Luke Saffin: land, goblin arsonist

TURN 2:

• Steve tyson: land, ikiral outrider


• Luke Saffin: land, swing for 1, grotag siege runner

TURN 3:

• Steve tyson: land, go


• Luke Saffin: swing with guys...ikiral blocks grotag, SMITE!, land aura gnarly

TURN 4:

• Steve tyson: land, zof shade


• Luke Saffin: swing both guys, miss vital land drop...hand full of fatties..awkward

TURN 5:

• Steve tyson: land, swing back with both guys, play dread drone


• Luke Saffin: swing for three. land!...make wildheart invoker

TURN 6:

• Steve tyson: 12 life/17 life. swing with drone, wildheart blocks..trade. caravan escort, level up terrible ikiral guy


• Luke Saffin: fail to find land again...pass

TURN 7:

• Steve tyson: land, swing with zof shade, block with arsonist, pump shade. gobbo dies, pinging escort dead


• Luke Saffin: land! woo! make Magmaw, pass

TURN 8:

• Steve tyson: land, (4 swamp, 3 plains if anyone cares) gang block. pump twice. all die. pass


• Luke Saffin: draw, still not lands. play stomper cub, pass

TURN 9:

• Steve tyson: induce despair, revealing skeletal wurm, killenate cub, swing for two


• Luke Saffin: draw-not land. play raid bombardment, pass

TURN 10:

• Steve tyson: swing with vigilance lump. play skeletal wurm


• Luke Saffin: traitorous instinct the wurm, hit, blocked by a spawn, terrible plays!

TURN 11:

• Steve tyson: skeletal wurm #2 and the game is pretty much done


• Luke Saffin: make some bad chump

TURN 12:

• Steve tyson: beats with wurms and ikiral, ...saff's at one..make zof shade..GG!

Game 2
steve mulls to 6
TURN 1:

• Luke Saffin: land


• Steve tyson: land

TURN 2:

• Luke Saffin: land, tuskcaller


• Steve tyson: land, go

TURN 3:

• Luke Saffin: land, gobbo arsonist, level up the caller n swing


• Steve tyson: land, go

TURN 4:

• Luke Saffin: level up. level up, make elephant, swing with gobbo


• Steve tyson: land, go

TURN 5:

• Luke Saffin: land, invoker, make elephant


• Steve tyson: land...all swamps...cards in hand, all white!... scoop

Game 3
GYPSY MAGIC!..."worked for G2!"
TURN 1:

• Steve tyson: land, plains! caravan escort


• Luke Saffin: land, go

TURN 2:

• Steve tyson: land, level up. swing for two


• Luke Saffin: land, tuskcaller

TURN 3:

• Steve tyson: level up, land, swing


• Luke Saffin: swing for 1, land, grotag siege runner

TURN 4:

• Steve tyson: land...all white this time!level up escort


• Luke Saffin: swing with grotag, no blocks. level up twice, makes an elephant

TURN 5:

• Steve tyson: sighs! no black sources. make lone missionary, gain 4 life. oust the tuskcaller. give 3 life to Luke


• Luke Saffin: make battle rattle shaman, pump elephant, swing, block and smite

TURN 6:

• Steve tyson: level up, in for 5


• Luke Saffin: make tuskcaller, level up

TURN 7:

• Steve tyson: swing for 5. make linvala! bust your tuskcaller tech


• Luke Saffin: swing for 4. make kozi's predator

TURN 8:

• Steve tyson: in with linvala in the air, make dread drone...woo a swamp!


• Luke Saffin: fail to draw land again..still on 4. traitorous instinct the escort, swing everyone...chumps happen, drone and spawns

TURN 9:

• Steve tyson: in with angel, play zof shade


• Luke Saffin: draw land..."nope that's your game!"

2-1 to Steve Tyson

ROUND 2; Andy Edwards vs Mick Edwards
Andy Edwards: GBw
Mick Edwards: GBr

Andy Edwards wins the roll

Game 1
Andy has a mulligan to start things off, will it hinder him?
TURN 1:

• Andy Edwards: Forest


• Mick Edwards: Swamp

TURN 2:

• Andy Edwards: Swamp and Beastbreaker of Bala Ged


• Mick Edwards: Swamp and a less impressive Prophetic Prism, looking to set up his future mana

TURN 3:

• Andy Edwards: another Swamp and swings in with a level 1 Beastbreaker (Mr Slave obv)


• Mick Edwards: Forest, 2nd Prism and a Joraga Treespeaker

TURN 4:

• Andy Edwards: third Swamp, in for 4 and a Nirkana Cutthroat (20-12 in Andy's favour)


• Mick Edwards: also third Swamp, filters 2 mana through his Treespeaker and makes the deathtouch Daggerback Basilisk

TURN 5:

• Andy Edwards: Plains, levels up the Cutthroat and an attack trades Slave with Basilisk, bringing Mick to 8. A post-combat Treespeaker follows


• Mick Edwards: Bloodrite Invoker and hardcore Pawn of Umalog look to give Mick a better board position but he can't get in for damage

TURN 6:

• Andy Edwards: Treespeaker levels up, uses the mana to make a Mul Daya Channelers and a Dawnglare Invoker empties Andy's hand to set up a win next turn (Vendetta on top of library, must be)


• Mick Edwards: Last Kiss deals with the Invoker just in time and buffs Mick back up to a healthy 10 life (no bloodied mechanic here) before adding his own Invoker, the Wildheart

TURN 7:

• Andy Edwards: Channelers reveals a black Invoker so is a 5/5 this turn. Cutthroat gets leveled up once, no twice to become a monstrosity. It and the Channelers get in for beats and Mick is forced to block. Bloodrite Invoker takes one for the team, being replaced by a Spawn


• Mick Edwards: Overgrown Battlement is Mick's last card and he fails to level up his Trespeaker for free - or is he keeping up Invoker mana?

TURN 8:

• Andy Edwards: Andy draws the Invoker and reveals a Zof Shade so the Channelers are once again huge. It and the Cutthroat attack, pawn blocks Cutthroat, Green Invoker blocks Channelers and Mick tries to +5/+5 the Invoker, which dies to Vendetta. Andy makes the Invoker and passes


• Mick Edwards: Pestilence Demon is a very nice Rip for Mick and turns a Spawn token into 1 damage to everything via a Prism but Mick stays back on defence, being 16-4 to Andy

TURN 9:

• Andy Edwards: draws the Shade and reveals a Wildheart Invoker. Cutthroat attacks in and Battlement becomes a spawn token


• Mick Edwards: Demon gets in for 7, putting Andy to 9 so is threatening to take the game next turn

TURN 10:

• Andy Edwards: Andy draws the Invoker and reveals a swamp. During his draw step Mick activates Pestilence Demon twice to kill Andy's Channelers and Treespeaker - he uses the mana to make the shade bigger but Mick has 2 tokens on defence - the Demon takes the game!

Game 2
TURN 1:

• Andy Edwards: Forest


• Mick Edwards: Forest, neither have the Treespeaker

TURN 2:

• Andy Edwards: Swamp and Mr Slave


• Mick Edwards: Swamp and Propephetic Prism - one of these plays is not like the other

TURN 3:

• Andy Edwards: Plains (nice manabase) and a 4/4 Mr Slave for foursies


• Mick Edwards: Swamp and a Pron of Ulamog for the bad defences

TURN 4:

• Andy Edwards: second Swamp and a bit of a tank. He gets in for 4 and Growth Spasms his way into a second Forest and a spawn token


• Mick Edwards: second Swamp and Ondu Giant brings a sense of skewed symmetry to the match

TURN 5:

• Andy Edwards: third Swamp and Mr Slave turns Ondu Giant into a 0/1. Nirkana Cutthroat joins the army, as does Null Champion, but both are level 0 grunts for the moment


• Mick Edwards: Mick cashes in his token for a Pelakka Wurm, going to 19 again

TURN 6:

• Andy Edwards: Andy counts his 8 mana, which is awkward because he cannot upgrade his creatures 3 times - as he is quick to point out as Mick asks if he has the Crusha. The Cutthroat gets 2 counters, ready for some swingy turns


• Mick Edwards: Treespeaker and a triple level up is all we have for Mick's turn

TURN 7:

• Andy Edwards: third level on Cutthroat and a Bloodrite Invoker are Andy's plays before he swings in with the 5/4 First Strike Deathtoucher - putting Mick back to 14


• Mick Edwards: Mick draws the Pestilence Demon, which must be nice. One activation kills 3 of Andy's guys and he feels like scooping

TURN 8:

• Andy Edwards: draws and once upgrades a Joraga Treespeaker, upgrades the Beastbreaker to level 2 and passes the turn


• Mick Edwards: Forest (land 9), Demon bashes Andy to 12 and a second Ondu Giant ramps Mick even further. Prism allows Mick to Flame Slash Andy's Cutthroat and that draws the Concession. Demon is pretty busted

2-0 to Mick Edwards

ROUND 3; martin sylvester vs mark hammond

Mark wins the roll, chooses second?!

Game 1
7 cards, all terrible
both mull to 6.
TURN 1:

• martin sylvester: land


• mark hammond: land

TURN 2:

• martin sylvester: land, go


• mark hammond: land, knight of cliffhaven

TURN 3:

• martin sylvester: fail to make land, pass


• mark hammond: land, level up, swing

TURN 4:

• martin sylvester: fail to make land again


• mark hammond: land, swing, make kabira vindicator

TURN 5:

• martin sylvester: land, finally, mushroom spider...(sporecap)


• mark hammond: level up vindicator, go to the red zone! make gobbo arsonist

TURN 6:

• martin sylvester: nest invader, it's like a land?


• mark hammond: eldrazi temple, to the red zone! Martin to 12!...make emrakul's hatcher and some spawns

TURN 7:

• martin sylvester: martin ondu giants to find a land


• mark hammond: land, "hmm, you have blockers, I'll stay home(Judge, thinking is not the way!-to the red zone with you!)..makes ulamog's crusher!

TURN 8:

• martin sylvester: make random guy...scoop phase entered. :P


• mark hammond: ...the Win-Zorrrrr!

Game 2
no mulls
TURN 1:

• martin sylvester: land, zulaport enforcer


• mark hammond: land

TURN 2:

• martin sylvester: land, bloodthorne vamp, swing


• mark hammond: land, go

TURN 3:

• martin sylvester: land, in for two, make invoker


• mark hammond: oust!, land

TURN 4:

• martin sylvester: wildbeats invoker


• mark hammond: land-eldrazi temple, hatcher!...using the ramp!

TURN 5:

• martin sylvester: level up zulaport, pass


• mark hammond: land, sac token...ha! the ulamog's crusher happens!...red zone with the hill giant hather!

TURN 6:

• martin sylvester: land...#thinks, makes the hmm noise#...level up the zulaport...


• mark hammond: to the red zone chaps...annihilator two!...post combat, hatcher.

TURN 7:

• martin sylvester: "right" level up enforcer, in for 5. Mark to 10.


• mark hammond: make kabira vindicator. red zone with the crusher and two hatchers...eldrazi squasheth a chump, wild-evoker and a hatcher trade.

TURN 8:

• martin sylvester: in with intimidate enforcer, 5! Mark to 5.


• mark hammond: "need to win now..." make hedron card draw box, break it, draw cards, heat ray teh enforcer...extend hand. GG!

2-0 to mark hammond

ROUND 4; coverage not happening due to beginning a side draft and being lazy :)

ROUND 5; Chris Vincent vs Ashraf Abbas
Deck descriptions:
Chris Vincent: Naya
Ashraf Abbas in his first sanctioned tournament: UB Control

Chris Vincent wins the roll

Game 1
Chris takes a mulligan
TURN 1:

• Chris Vincent: Forest


• Ashraf Abbas: Swamp

TURN 2:

• Chris Vincent: Plains and Nest Invader to start the beats


• Ashraf Abbas: Island and pass without any action

TURN 3:

• Chris Vincent: attacks for 2, makes a mountain and Woolly Thoctar. Oops, I mean Lord of Shatterskull Pass (at the cost of 1/4 of his 2 drop)


• Ashraf Abbas: Island allows Ashraf to Deprive Chris of his Lord

TURN 4:

• Chris Vincent: Plains allows the Lord to be replayed after the Nest Invader attacks Ash to 16


• Ashraf Abbas: Island, Skywatcher Adept begins the board position while Narcolepsy halts the Lord's shenanigans

TURN 5:

• Chris Vincent: another attack for 2 which is blocked by the Skywatcher, a Plains and a Makindi Griffin come down


• Ashraf Abbas: Cadaver Imp explains the block and gets the Adept back into hand and into play after a Swamp comes down

TURN 6:

• Chris Vincent: Chris swings in and has his Nest Invader blocked by the Adept, then makes and levels up a Knight of Cliffhaven


• Ashraf Abbas: Island (land #6) and a Last Kiss on the Nest Invaders gets back 2 of his life

TURN 7:

• Chris Vincent: both 2 power fliers come in and 1 is chumped by the Cadaver Imp. Prophetic Prism draws a card but Chris just levels up his Knight to level 2


• Ashraf Abbas: Swamp and a pass, nothing to do apparently with his 1 card

TURN 8:

• Chris Vincent: 4 flying power come over, putting Ashraf to 10 and a Mr Slave joins Chris' team. After Combat Chris makes his Knight level 3 - nearly Angel time


• Ashraf Abbas: Island and nothing for Ashraf

TURN 9:

• Chris Vincent: Mr Slave becomes 4/4, Knight becomes 4/4, Chris swings in for the win.

Game 2
TURN 1:

• Ashraf Abbas: Island, Skywatcher Adept


• Chris Vincent: Evolving Wilds, which could even be a boat!

TURN 2:

• Ashraf Abbas: Swamp, swing for 1 and a Halimar Wavewatch begins the level-uppy goodness


• Chris Vincent: Wilds was a Forest and it gets joined by Mr Plains to make a Nest Invader

TURN 3:

• Ashraf Abbas: second Swamp allows Ash to play Contaminated Ground on Chris' Plains and the Skywatcher Adept attacks for 1. It gets blocked by the Nest Invaders but Virulent Swipe helps to offset the catastrophic attack


• Chris Vincent: Plains allows him to cast a Kor Line-Slinger

TURN 4:

• Ashraf Abbas: forgets the Virulent Swipe before he draws a card, plays an Island and taps 3 to cast Perish the Thought. 2 Prisms, Mountain, Plains and Beastbreaker of Bala Ged are Chris' hand but Ashraf takes the Mountain


• Chris Vincent: Chris makes his Beastbreaker and a plains before passing the turn - not wanting to pay 2 life to cast a Prism

TURN 5:

• Ashraf Abbas: Consuming Vapors kills Chris' token, gaining Ash 1 life before he has his Wavewatch tapped by the Kor


• Chris Vincent: Beastbreaker gets upgraded and swings for 4, Chris again playing a Plains and not paying 2 for a Prism

TURN 6:

• Ashraf Abbas: Ash rebounds the Vapors, which kills Chris' Kor after tapping the Wavewatch once more. Another Wavewatch comes in and gets levelled up to a 0/6 blocker


• Chris Vincent: Forest, Prophetic Prism, Prophetic Prism are all Chris does with his turn

TURN 7:

• Ashraf Abbas: levels up his first Wavewatch to give 2 0/6 beefy defenders. Sea Gate Oracle cycles a card before Ash ends his turn


• Chris Vincent: White Invoker comes down for Chris and picks up Hyena Umbra - this spells bad things in the long game

TURN 8:

• Ashraf Abbas: See Beyond draws Ash 2 and he levels up his Halimar Wavewatch to level 3 before tapping his Sea Gate Oracle to have it killed by Chris' 3/2 first striker


• Chris Vincent: Beastbreaker makes it to level 3 and Invoker flies over for 3 damage, making it 19-16 in Chris' favour

TURN 9:

• Ashraf Abbas: Corpsehatch takes down the Beastbreaker and the level 3 Wavewatch makes it to 4


• Chris Vincent: Invoker deals another 3, Mountain comes down and Chris plays a Broodwarden without any tokens

TURN 10:

• Ashraf Abbas: the Wavewatch makes it to level 5, and the tokens sacrifice themselves to upgrade the other straight to level 5 allowing Ash to get in with two 6/6 creatures


• Chris Vincent: Chris makes his 8th mana and swings in for 7, putting Ash to 6 but it must be academic by now

TURN 11:

• Ashraf Abbas: Chris pays 2 life to tap all Ash's creatures and Ash has only an Island left so concedes.

2-0 to Chris Vincent

Final Standings (Top 8):

# Name Points OMW%

1 Hammond, Mark I 13 69.3333

2 Sylvester, Martin 12 64.0000

3 Edwards, Mick 12 56.0000

4 vincent, chris 12 54.6667

5 Catton, Rob 10 58.6667

6 Abbas, Ashraf 9 64.0000

7 Devine, Andrew 9 60.0000

8 Edwards, Andrew 9 52.0000

Top 5 Decklists:

1st Place - Mark Hammond

2 Ulamog's Crusher

1 Dreamstone Hedron

2 Caravan Escort

1 Deathless Angel

1 Emerge Unscathed

1 Ikiral Outrider

1 Kabira Vindicator

1 Knight of Cliffhaven

1 Kor Line-Slinger

1 Makindi Griffin

1 Oust

1 Wall of Omens

1 Akoum Boulderfoot

1 Brimstone Mage

2 Emrakul's Hatcher

1 Explosive Revelation

1 Goblin Arsonist

1 Heat Ray

1 Splinter Twin

1 Staggershock

8 Mountain

8 Plains

1 Eldrazi Temple


2nd Place - Martin Sylvester

1 Kozilek, Butcher of Truth

2 Ulamog's Crusher

1 Dreamstone Hedron

1 Bala Ged Scorpion

2 Bloodrite Invoker

1 Bloodthrone Vampire

1 Cadaver Imp

1 Corpsehatch

1 Gloomhunter

1 Induce Despair

1 Nirkana Cutthroat

1 Zulaport Enforcer

1 Aura Gnarlid

1 Boar Umbra

1 Daggerback Basilisk

1 Nema Siltlurker

1 Nest Invader

1 Ondu Giant

1 Pelakka Wurm

1 Sporecap Spider

1 Wildheart Invoker

x Lands


3rd Place - Mick Edwards

1 Bloodrite Invoker

1 Cadaver Imp

1 Dread Drone

1 Hellcarver Demon

1 Last Kiss

1 Pawn of Ulamog

1 Pestilence Demon

2 Flame Slash

2 Heat Ray

1 Beastbreaker of Bala Ged

1 Broodwarden

1 Daggerback Basilisk

1 Joraga Treespeaker

2 Ondu Giant

1 Overgrown Battlement

1 Pelakka Wurm

1 Vengevine

1 Wildheart Invoker

2 Prophetic Prism

8 Forest

8 Swamp

1 Mountain


4th Place - Chris Vincent

1 Dawnglare Invoker

1 Guard Duty

1 Hyena Umbra

1 Kabira Vindicator

1 Knight of Cliffhaven

1 Kore Line-Slinger

1 Makindi Griffin

1 Mammoth Umbra

1 Puncturing Light

2 Soulbound Guardians

1 Flame Slash

1 Lord of Shatterskull Pass

1 Magmaw

1 Beastbreaker of Bala Ged

1 Broodwarden

1 Gigantomancer

2 Nest Invader

1 Ondu Giant

1 Ogre's Cleaver

2 Prophetic Prism

1 Evolving Wilds

2 Mountain

7 Plains

7 Forest


5th Place - Rob Catton

1 Makindi Griffin

1 Mammoth Umbra

1 Smite

2 Brimstone Mage

1 Flame Slash

1 Forked Bolt

1 Rapacious One

1 Spawning Breath

1 Staggershock

1 Wrap in Flames

1 Aura Gnarlid

1 Bramblesnap

1 Gelatinous Genesis

1 Joraga Treespeaker

1 Nest Invader

1 Ondu Giant

1 Snake Umbra

1 Sporecap Spider

1 Stomper Cub

1 Wildheart Invoker

1 Warmonger's Chariot

x Lands

Preview of Coverage of the Team Leeds Rise of the Eldrazi Launch Party

Preview followed by live coverage of Saturday's launch party between Leeds United players in Conference Hall.

Rise of the Eldrazi Launch Party
Venue: Conference Hall, Leeds University Union Date: Saturday, 24 April Kick-off: 1200 GMT
Coverage: Team Leeds Blog, Facebook

TEAM NEWS

Rise of the Eldrazi is shaping up to hark back to the old days of Magic™ while emphasizing massive creatures.

Rob Wagner and John Ingham will be judging the event and bringing you live coverage of the event as it happens. We will be asking the players to fill in deck lists to bring you the successful decks at the end of the event. We will also be running side drafts if you just want to get your hands on more new cards and see how massive spells affect drafting - is aggro still viable? We look forward to seeing you there to make the event a special one!

Predict Launch Party results in the comments below

But you can leave your Catt-on: a Prerelease Event Report

By Wagz

Hi all! Sorry we didn't have coverage from the Pre-release yesterday. The feature match area and live coverage is something we've heard good reports about from the Worldwake event but we simply didn't have the space this time. Due to the room we wanted being booked already we instead held the event in a slightly smaller room in the Leeds University Union. However, we've had a lot of new talent coming through recently so I took the precaution of simultaneously booking an extra room in case we had too many players.

We had too many players. Well, not too many to cope with, but this was the equal largest pre-release Leeds has held since records began. In terms of the DCI judge forums event report, we break down as the following:

Name of Tournament: Sat Leeds Prerelease Rise of Eldarazi

Details (Date, location, etc) Saturday 17th April University of Leeds
HJ = Me Floor Judges= Me, John Ingham, Jim Marlow Scorekeeper = Me
Number of players 48
Number of Side Events 2

There weren't any interesting rulings to give as far as I am aware; a lot of judging at prereleases tends to be reading the cards out loud to the players. The card Smite caused a little more trouble than other cards but it all otherwise went smoothly.

Perhaps due to my relative inexperience it always gets a bit hectic when we start running side-drafts. This is mostly because of trying to start a swiss round at the same time as starting a draft and making sure that everyone who wants to be dropped from the main event actually has been. We've got this down pretty smoothly now and I always use the side drafts as an opportunity to give one of the floor judges a bit more to do.

The winner of our main event after 6 rounds was Mr Rob Catton. It's shaping up to be a good year for him as he's already qualified for Nationals and will almost definitely be trying to show himself there. The side drafts were won by Colin Ward and Robertas Aluzas, two long-time Leeds players who always do well. I think it's a sign of a good format when the good players do well - less Variance = more skill. Unfortunately I don't have any deck lists for the winners as we never do deck registration at prereleases. If any of the winners would like to post decklists for anything in the comments I'm sure people would enjoy a quick read to help them figure out the format.

As an end note I will mention a draft a few of us did after the event (when very tired). It was unsanctioned so all a bit ad-hoc. I sat on the left of Mick Edwards so was mildly unhappy to open a Transcendent Master because Mick is renowned for playing White whatever the format. I got a second pick Heat Ray and took a third pick Growth Spasm to look at a GWr midrange-y deck. I then stumbled upon the slightly Theme Deck strategy of having 3 Aura Gnarlid, 2 Totem-Guide Hartebeest, 2 Guard Duty and 2 Snake Umbra. Not the most powerful of auras, but swinging in for 4 unblockable and drawing a card is pretty good in my book and with that much of the theme the strategy is pretty reliable. Rounding out my deck was a Kazandu Tuskcaller, a few 1 and 2 drops and 2 Prophetic Prism helping me to splash my 4 Heat Rays. Here was my final decklist:

1 Caravan Escort
1 Glory Seeker
1 Knight of Cliffhaven
2 Kor Line-Slinger
1 Tajuru Preserver
1 Kazandu Tuskcaller
1 Transcendent Master
3 Aura Gnarlid
2 Totem-Guide Hartebeest
2 Guard Duty
1 Prey's Vengeance
2 Prophetic Prism
2 Snake Umbra
4 Heat Ray
2 Mountain
7 Forest
7 Plains

I lost the first round against Mick Edwards after drawing about 10-12 lands each game but he had lots of removal so I think a fairer fight might still have been lost. I then beat Chris Vincent and Robertas Aluzas using large unblockable Gnarlids. I think this strategy might be quite decent if you can get better auras (Guard Duty in particular was underwhelming in my beatdown deck - the idea was to prevent counterattacks and pump my Gnarlids but it didn't do it by enough).

Anyway, that's enough about my prerelease, how was yours? I'd love to hear a more detailed report from someone as when judging you don't really get to see the matches being played. We should be back next weekend with live coverage of our Release Event, so hope to see you then!

Pre-release Preview

By Wagz

Hi all! Hope you're all looking forward to the Pre-release of the new set. It looks like it will be a big departure from Zendikar limited, with games going into the 4th and 5th turns easily. I'm not yet sure what to make of it all but I'll hopefully be collecting some data on the best performing decks at the weekend.

Our pre-release will be in Meeting Rooms 2 and 4 in the Leeds University Union, deck building beginning at 11am for the rounds to start at mid-day. It might be a cosy squeeze into the two rooms but we'll have everything running smoothly throughout the day to help everyone enjoy themselves.

What are people's initial thoughts on Rise of the Eldrazi limited then? I think flying (and unblockable) will be even more useful than normal as more creatures have bigger butts than usual. Unlike Zendikar some creatures will be actually capable of blocking and not dying so players will get to flex their combat abilities rather than their dexterity in putting cardboard onto table and tilting it 90° every turn. It will be interesting to see how reliably people can put the fat Eldrazi into play and how much scope there is for dealing with those things before they Annihilate™ your board position. Reason it out in the comments below!

Anyway, hope to see as many of you as possible tomorrow for some Sealed Deck Magic :D

Guest Column: Drafting Urza’s Saga – Part 2

By Ben Scoones

Editor's note: Ben didn't include an introduction for this article, unless you count part 1 of this 2-parter. Regardless, here he presents an application of his methods from part 1 and gives us a walkthrough of an Urza's Saga draft he did online, enjoy!

Pack 1 pick 1:



My Pick:



The pick here is basically between peregrine drake, a very strong blue card, and pestilence. Pretty obviously, pestilence is the pick, it just wins games.

Pack 1 pick 2:



My Pick:



Interesting pack here, discordant dirge and duress being the only black cards. The dirge is awful as it’s far too slow and I’d be pretty surprised if duress didn’t table. There’s also a catalog here, a perfect card to move into my favourite archetype Bu.

Pack 1 pick 3:



My Pick:



A tough choice between order of yawgmoth and despondency. The order is very powerful, and maybe I should have taken it. But when drafting Bu I have an idea of what the deck should contain, and 2-3 despondency is always in it, therefore I go for the despondency.

Pack 1 pick 4:



My Pick:



Veiled apparition is not a card I love, but it’s the best blue card in the pack and there’s nothing which would really want to make me switch colours, so I take the apparition.

Pack 1 pick 5:


My Pick:



Again, a pretty empty pack, but phyrexian ghoul is a fine guy and I’m happy to pick him up.

Pack 1 pick 6:



My Pick:



This pack is awful. The only playable card in my opinion is rune of protection: black, which I probably should have hate drafted given that I have a pestilence. But I was interesting in passing good signals so went with the spire owl.

Pack 1 pick 7:



My Pick:



Seasoned marshal is one of the better cards in white and again there’s nothing in either black or blue, so I pick it up in case I need to switch.

Pack 1 pick 8:



My Pick:



Hollow dogs is a huge beast in this format, getting him 8^th is a gift. What’s noteworthy though is the bevy of strong green cards still in the pack.

Pack 1 pick 9:



My Pick:



Nothing here, might as well hate draft an annoying card.

Pack 1 pick 10:



My Pick:



See previous pick.

Pack 1 pick 11:



My Pick:



A pretty late Viashino runner here, maybe red is open?

Pack 1 pick 12:



My Pick:



And again.

Pack 1 pick 13:



My Pick:



Pack 1 pick 14:



My Pick:



Pack 1 pick 15:



My Pick:



Pack 2 pick 1:



My Pick:



Vile Requiem is a pretty ridiculous card, just destroying their entire board if you can wait long enough (which you generally always can), pretty happy to pick it over ravenous skirge and looming shade here.

Pack 2 pick 2:



My Pick:



Yes, I just completely switched the pick from earlier. No reason why.

Pack 2 pick 3:



My Pick:



Not close, a premium removal spell over some dodgy creatures. Pit trap is nice, but not nearly of the same power level.

Pack 2 pick 4:



My Pick:



The deck is looking close to mono-black at this point, making him extremely powerful.

Pack 2 pick 5:



My Pick:



What an awful pack, annul is not really good enough to maindeck whereas in a deck with so few creatures, which this was turning out to be, the Viashino runner can be quite an annoyance.

Pack 2 pick 6:



My Pick:



Pack 2 pick 7:



My Pick:



I rate power sink a little higher than rewind, because of its use in the early game, making this pick between that and the veiled serpent. The serpent is a pretty huge defender, and it’s even better if they have islands, whereas I already have a lot of answers for whatever my opponent plays making the serpent perfect to take me to the late game.

Pack 2 pick 8:



My Pick:



Just in case, I was hoping it wouldn’t come to playing him.

Pack 2 pick 9:



My Pick:



A pretty sweet 9^th pick looming shade that I really wasn’t expecting to table. Thank you very much.

Pack 2 pick 10:



My Pick:



Pack 2 pick 11:



My Pick:



Skittering skirge is an interesting one, he’s very good in decks with few creatures, like this one, so he’s the pick over two pretty unexciting guys.

Pack 2 pick 12:



My Pick:



Pack 2 pick 13:



My Pick:



Pack 2 pick 14:



My Pick:



Well, that’s very odd for a 14^th pick. Catalog is still better, and I already have one duress.

Pack 3 pick 1:



My Pick:



Sweet, the deck needed another win condition.

Pack 3 pick 2:



My Pick:



Pack 3 pick 3:



My Pick:



I was tempted by tainted Æther to see how it plays, but it doesn’t seem too powerful as later on people can just start sacrificing lands to it, so instead I hate draft disenchant, a pretty efficient answer to my win conditions of pestilence and Zephid’s embrace.

Pack 3 pick 4:



My Pick:



Straight rare draft here.

Pack 3 pick 5:



My Pick:



Wirecat is completely unplayable in almost every deck, especially in a deck playing despondency. Unworthy dead is a decent defender so I go for him.

Pack 3 pick 6:



My Pick:



Pack 3 pick 7:



My Pick:



Quite the gift, and the second one really makes the deck.

Pack 3 pick 8:



My Pick:



Another great late pick. Now the deck has some real beef to actually kill pretty quickly with guys if necessary.

Pack 3 pick 9:



My Pick:



I have a pretty unhealthy love for the urza’s lands, especially foil ones, just ask Seb.

Pack 3 pick 10:



My Pick:



A pretty sick hoser or annul…

Pack 3 pick 11:



My Pick:



Pack 3 pick 12:



My Pick:



Pack 3 pick 13:



My Pick:



Pack 3 pick 14:



My Pick:



Pack 3 pick 15:



My Pick:

Here was the deck I played:
Lands (17)
6 Island
11 Swamp
Creatures (9)
2 Skittering Skirge
1 Unworthy Dead
2 Looming Shade
1 Phyrexian Ghoul
1 Order of Yawgmoth
2 Hollow Dogs
Other spells (14)
2 Duress
2 Despondency
1 Expunge
1 Veiled Serpent
4 Catalog
1 Vile Requiem
1 Befoul
1 Pestilence
1 Zephid’s Embrace

Round 1: Nishino
Game 1:
He gets down angelic page and sanctum custodian whilst I sit back with an unworthy dead. On turn 3 I catalog to draw pestilence, drop it turn 4 and then wipe the board in his end of turn phase so pestilence sticks around. I then drop a hollow dogs and start beefing in. He plays a guy which sees a despondency and then he chump blocks with it giving me back the despondency. I follow up with looming shade after he’s played a Chimeric staff. He draws, sees nothing and concedes.

Game 2:
This game is equally rapey. I play skittering skirge on turn 2, kill his first 2 guys and despondency the 3rd. All the while I’m busy cataloguing to refine my hand. I draw vile requiem, play it, wait for 2 turns and then destroy his board. At this point he’s on 4 life and after not drawing an answer to the skirge it hits him for the full 20 damage.

Round 2: Riamuriamu
Game 1:
I drop a veiled serpent and follow up with a skittering skirge. His first creature is blanked by the serpent and I Zephid’s embrace up the skittering skirge, bashing him for five. He plays nothing the next turn and he goes to 10 from my attack, and I play a vile requiem. This turn however, he has an angel of grace, protection from black, flying. Ah. I sit back for the long game safe in the knowledge that I’m going to wrath his team with the requiem as soon as it becomes a problem, and will at some point draw a corrupt to just burn him out. Then he plays urza’s armour. Ah. So with my plans crushed I set about cataloguing to find my creatures. After around 5 or 6 turns of draw go, I drop a hollow dogs and looming shade, killing my skirge in the process. I still cannot attack but another catalog into another hollow dogs and looming shade means I’m able to alpha strike after destroying his team, and he loses.

Game 2:
I drop Skittering Skirge on turn 2, with a hand packed with removal. I despondency his treetop ranger, and drop vile requiem. He casts hush to destroy all enchantments, and despondency returns to my hand. Never mind, I cast the pestilence in my hand attack and pass the turn, dropping to 10 from his attack, he then casts Acridian joining his argothian swine and treetop ranger in play. I attack, and in my end of turn phase destroy the board to play around symbiosis from him, and pestilence sticks around. He decides to play a creature for some reason, so I simply burn him out with pestilence in 2 turns time.

Round 3: Unknown

Unfortunately the replays are missing for these games so they won’t be particularly detailed.
Game 1:
I drop a looming shade on turn 3, blowing up his first two creatures with expunge and befoul. I follow up with a skittering skirge and commence the beats. He plays a Viashino outrider, but does nothing else before dying to my guys.

Game 2:
I despondency his first creature and play a veiled serpent. I play a vile requiem the following turn and simply wait until I draw action. I drop a hollow dogs, Zephid’s embrace it and bash 3 times for the win after wrathing his board.

So I win the queue and am 4 packs richer. Yes, only 4, due to urza’s saga drafts not being too popular, the 8-4s rarely fire, especially on a European morning when far fewer players are online. I had planned to show an 8-4 draft where I drafted BW, but a bug in round 1 caused me to time out, so it wouldn’t be a very good example.

I hope you’ve enjoyed these articles and they’ve not only given you an insight into what urza’s drafts are about, but have also wet your appetite to do one yourself.

Happy drafting,
Ben Scoones