Quest for the Golden Parmo: Part 2

By Chris Mander

Now onto the sideboard, a difficult decision when new to the format. I had a pile of roughly 30 possible cards to narrow down, a difficult task with a somewhat unknown meta and a lack of knowledge of the format. After lengthy questioning of my much more knowledgeable teammates I narrowed it down to this:

1 Sword of Light and Shadow: Protection from Swords to Plowshares, this was mainly to bring in vs creature matchup’s like Maverick, or to give my creatures protection from Dispatch.

1 Leonin Bola: It doesn’t look like much, a card that was pretty good in limited, but not really made an impact elsewhere, but as I learnt a couple of weeks previous against Hypergenesis, this card can do some serious work against all in type strategies.

2 Tormod’s Crypt: I’ll be honest, these are a no brainer in most sideboards, abuse of the graveyard is prevalent in Legacy, even if I didn’t really know when I should be siding them in.

3 Ethersworn Cannonist: Insurance vs combo, slows down swarm type decks, doesn’t die to dread of night (That card, as I was soon to learn, is just horrible for me.)

3 Jotun Grunt: Dodges lightning bolt, shrinks Goyf, removes Snapcaster targets and can get in the red zone.

2 Judge’s Familiar:  Slows combo, stacks with Thalia, and can do a pretty good job as a sword carrier.

1 Leyline of Sanctity: I knew combo and Burn were present at the tournament, if I’d have owned 2 I’d have put 2 in.

1 Fiend Hunter: Gets stuff out the way, fairly good on the defence, and can do fun things with a Flickerwisp

1 Phyrexian Revoker: See part 1, so many uses.

I was fairly happy with the board, although I think I’d like to try a tutor board, but not having time to obtain the narrow hate cards I’d have liked, I went with what I had, and into round 1, and mono red burn.

Round 1: Burn

G1: Ouch, my lifepad tells the tale of this game, the numbers dropping faster than Felix Baumgartner, I was dead before I could make any sort of impact. Creatures ate shocks, and despite managing Mangara taking a mountain into exile nothing could stop the lava spike to the face.

Out went Mangara, too slow for this one I feel, in came Leyline of Sanctity, and 2 Judge’s Familiar.

G2 :Mulligan for 1 card is not a thing (Trademark, Alex Gershaw), but somehow I managed it. I hit the Leyline on my second mulligan, and forced my way through the burn with a Flickerwisp with Jitte and a Batterskull.

I brought in 3 Jotun Grunts, as they seemed able to dodge most removal.

G3: This was extremely close, a grindy game with the burn dropping me to 1, before I managed to hardcast Leyline (yes, I know, very lucky to draw into it). Smash to Smithereens was a thorn in my side, but managed to keep a Jitte for an attack and saved myself with its lifegain ability. Drawing 3 Jotun Grunts in a row got me there, smashing their way in.

(2-1)

Round 2: RUG Delver

G1: Muligan to 5, and I never really got going, his Wasteland on my Karakas turn 2, followed up by a Force of Will on my Aether vial left me in a pretty deep hole. Delver beatdown followed, and I scooped holding nothing of note.

Game 1 was so fast my opponent didn’t know what I was playing. In came the Jotun Grunts and Judges Familiar, I can’t quite recall what got evicted.

G2: I always felt like I was behind in this game, pretty soon I was staring down 2 Goyf’s, a Mongoose with threshold and a flipped delver, with my board being 3 Mother of Runes. A timely stifle on my Wasteland, and a Fire on 2 of my pro green mother of runes finished me off. Very much outplayed.

(0-2)

Round 3: W/B Stoneblade

G1: My opponent began to destroy my hand, but had no answer for 2 Serra Avenger’s dropped in 2 turns. When the Sword of Fire and Ice hit the table there was nothing a few lingering souls could do against the angelic onslaught.

G2: The reverse of game 1, my opponent dropped Dark Confident, Stoneforge Mystic and fetched up a Jitte, I had no answer for the beatdown, dying quickly with very little on the table, and no damage done to my opponent.

G3: Here my notes get sketchy, I must have been a bit engrossed in the action to take any, but if I recall rightly this game involved an early Revoker naming Liliana (It was in his hand), followed by a Serra Avenger carrying a Sword of Fire and Ice. My opponent didn’t recover, and the Sword trigger brought the game home.

(2-1)

Round 4: Show and Reanimate?

G1: I mull to 5, and drop a Revoker, naming Griselbrand, this quickly met a reanimated Angel of Despair, killing my revoker. The next line reads Iona, so I guess you can all see how this game went from here, unable to cast most of my deck isn’t really a good position to be in.

G2: I dropped a few weenies, including a Stoneforge Mystic, which fetched my trump card in this match, the Leonin Bola. I managed to keep a Griselbrand tapped down, and began the beats with a Flickerwisp, the game ending pretty soon after that.

G3: A non-event really, my opponent had to drop to 5 cards, and didn’t draw any gas, the game was quickly over with my fliers beating in.

(2-1)

So I’d made it into a top 8 cut, finishing 3^rd out of 18, to be honest I was not expecting to get near the top 8, but my luck seemed to be holding. My next game was against affinity, a matchup recently a final at SCG, and one Tezzeret won, thanks to the Dread of Night. My notes here become sketchier, and so these parts might be a bit brief.

Quarter Final: Affinity

G1: This game revolved around a Revoker naming Cranial Plating, a card of which my opponent held 2 in hand. I was staring down 3 Etched Champions, but a Flickerwisp saved the day carrying the Sword of Fire and Ice, burning away the defences, and smacking Tezzeret around on its path to victory.

G2: T1 Dread of Night by my opponent is pretty much an auto scoop when my hand is lands, Flickerwisp, and a Mother of Runes.

G3: Inkmoth Nexus with a Cranial Plating is a scary sight, and my error of forgetting it could be equipped at instant speed led me to take 7 poison damage pretty quickly. My board of Flickerwisp and two Avengers just got me there; the angels’ last act was to throw themselves in the path of the Nexus, allowing the Flickerwisp to end the game.

(2-1)

Semi Final: Storm

I’ll be honest here, I had no idea what I was doing in this match, and won game 1 through a play error by my opponent, who didn’t account for his mana correctly. Game 2 and three he stormed off, tendrils corrupting me, and removing me from the tournament.

Conclusion

Death and taxes is a legitimate deck, with a decent chance against most decks. I feel it’s a deck which improves with the pilot, and I’m sure I will get better as my knowledge of the format becomes broader. I wish I managed to dodge the storm deck until the final, as I fancied myself vs Maverick, a much more favourable matchup for my deck. I was often too quick to become the aggressor, something I’ll work on as this deck does well going long.

My card of the day was the Leonin Bola, it really did some work and I like its versatility, now all I need it wizards to print more utility equipment! I think I will probably change to a tutor board next tournament, and play 2 Judge Familiars main deck at the expense of a revoker or two. The card seems well placed at the moment.

It was nice to have the Team Leeds lads together, and a feeling of community is growing again. We all had a fantastic time with the Boro’ lads and the meal following the tournament was worth the trip alone, the Golden Parmo attained. If you are interested in joining the format, or just want to know more feel free to email me at MangaraLock@gmail.com.

Quest for the Golden Parmo: Part 1: Deck Overview

By Chris Mander

  

This Saturday I attended my first big Legacy tournament, at Meta Games, Middlesborough. We traveled up in my little Corsa with Dan, James, Lawrence and Alex. Much magic was discussed, sideboards were dissected, and rules questions solved. A brief stop over in a café led to our deck lists being confirmed, and we set off to find the shop. Arriving an hour and a half early we were confident we were only 5 minutes away, and the sat-nav indicated it wasn’t far. We didn’t account on the sat nav leading us into Fallout 3’s wasteland, but luckily a quick phone call to Wizbit saved us from the deathclaw assault.

The shop itself is a good venue, with several tables, lots of room, friendly staff and a hi-tech TV method of showing the matchups, which avoids the crush around the piece of paper nicely. Attempting to register we were unable to find my DCI number, (For some reason I have no country, and I can’t seem to fix it) so a new DCI number later I sat down for my first match.

Now, a little bit of history of me as a player, I am a recent convert to legacy, mainly due to watching some truly awesome games in Patriot Games Leeds and discussions with James. I am at heart a mono-white man, and I was recommended Death and Taxes by James, after proxying it up vs. Dan at the team Harrogate meet I knew it was the deck for me.

The Decklist + Rationale

The Creatues:

4x Thalia,Guardian of Thraben

3x Phyrexian Revoker

3x Mangara of Corondor

4x Mother of Runes

4x Flickerwisp

4x Stoneforge Mystic

4x Serra Avenger

The Instants:

4x Swords to Plowshares

The Artifacts:

4x Aether Vial

1x Umezawa’s Jitte

1x Sword of Fire and Ice

1x Batterskull

The Lands

4x Wasteland

3x Rishadan Port

1x Kor Haven

4x Karakas

11x Plains

Thalia: She is such a beast in many match ups  she slows combo, she carries equipment like a boss, and she has a few fun interactions with Karakas and damage.

Phyrexian Revoker: Can really hurt any strategy, the uses for this guy are so vast I’ll not go too deep. He stops Jace and the likes, can turn off equipment, and can even attack fairly well and block Etched Champions.

Mangara of Corondor: If the game goes long this is the main way to win, with it and karakas you have a reusable permanent exile effect, and if you also have an Aether Vial on 3, you’re in a real good spot.

Mother of Runes: Negates removal, blocks anything on the ground all day long, and is generally a real menace for decks looking to get rid of her. If she gets to untap she’s lived too long.

Flickerwisp: Much like Revoker, this card has several interactions, from flipping a delver back over, acting as a Karakas for Mangara, and many more uses. Also carries equipment really well.

Stoneforge Mystic: Quite bonkers as a card, its ability to drop a Batterskull on turn 3 for 1W is just broken. Also important in some matchups in fetching the utility equipment that can turn the tide against some decks.

Serra Avenger: A dumb beater, but probably one of the best, a 3/3 vigilance flier, for WW, with a drawback negated by a vial on 2. If you get a sword on this its probably already over.

Swords to Plowshares: W, get rid of almost anything. Yes please.

Aether Vial: The deck is creature heavy, the vial helps you use your lands for other uses (Mana denial through ports is common) and it helps you drop your creatures in relative safety.

Umezewa’s Jitte: Trademark Dan Hiscutt: it’s a Plainswalker on a sword. So versatile, some nifty tricks with first strike, and colourless removal. This sword is just silly.

Sword of Fire and Ice: Protection from red is very useful in the land of lightning bolts, pro blue means your creatures can smash through delver, and you get to draw a card and shock a creature (or player) . Unreal.

Batterskull: A ridiculous threat with a Stoneforge Mystic active and a very good flicker wisp target, if you’re looking to beat down, or stabilize with life gain, this is your card.

Rishadan Port: Keeping a player off a colour can be the difference between a win and a loss, unfortunately this requires you to know the format, and being fairly new I tend to miss opportunities for this card. Will get more and more useful the more I play I’m sure.

Karakas: Bounces legends, both offensive in the Mangara interaction,  and defensive in the Show and Tell matchup.

Kor Haven - It was meant to be a fourth Rishadan Port, but mine were in the post. Seemed a good white utility land, and could save me

Wasteland: Furthers the mana denial strategy, as mentioned above, keeping a player off a colour can win you the game.

So we have come to the end of part one. You've met the deck and I've explained the cards. The deck itself can be played as a control deck, looking to go long to ensure the Mangara Lock, through mana denial, taxing and timely use of removal. Some matchups you need to be the aggressor, dropping threats, and getting in the red zone. It’s a deck with many interactions, and a bit of an all rounder. Its favorable matchups are against other creature decks, and its weakness is a lack of speed, especially against combo. As I learn to play the deck my main issue is my lack of patience, sometimes my desire to win can lead to mistakes, return for part 2 to see if it gets the better of me!

The Command Tower - Tales from the Drawing Board

by Alex Gershaw

It's lunchtime I'm sat at my desk looking around the MTG Salvation Commander forum, I am obviously bored and looking for a new project to start. I reminisce about the previous deck I built, Niv-Miz, you know the one. It runs such dull instant win combos such as Niv-Miz-curiosity and Niv-Miz-ophidian eye but I love it. It didn't start that way - just ask the little slips of paper in front of my Curiosity or my Ophidian Eye, the ones that say Spiraling Embers or Scrabbling Claws. The deck started out "fun" and all the baggage that complicated word implies.

Commander is this "fun" format where everyone playing is a Timmy (please read that article before telling me I am defining Timmy incorrectly) - not in the "lets all play Craw Wurm" way but in the "We are in this for our enjoyment" everyone involved in a multiplayer commander game is looking for enjoyment.

I enjoy winning. This isn't contradictory to the rules of Timmy, but it is contradictory to the rules of other Timmies - Cue the white mist as we travel to the not too distant past to a game where I am ahead with the capabilities of taking some player from 40 (crazy format commander is) to 0 life in a matter of a double striking, double combat phase. So I do. He sits there grumpy as the rest of us take 30 minutes to finish the game, he didn't find that very fun even though my experience was completely enjoyable. My reasons at the time were clear, "Don't touch my Mirari's Wake", but was it worth watching a friend suffer for 30 minutes... No. I annihilated some one's enjoyment of the game by ending it before they had their fill of crazy EDH goodness.

Back to my story, the one about searching online for a new commander deck - I know quite a journey we went on there. I stumble upon a deck I like the look of a Hermit Druid combo deck. "OMG" I said to myself, like an American teenage school girl, it potentially wins turn 4 against a whole table and it's packing disruption the likes of silence, orim's chant and Teeg with a whole suite of saucy flashback spells. I print off the net-deck and go about highlighting and circling all the cards I didn't believe were necessary so I could make some personal touches.

As a quick aside, I don't often construct decks in this way and I would suggest using either magiccards.info or gatherer as a toolbox to start construction, in this case there was an idea someone else came up with that I wanted to try. Also there is nothing fundamentally wrong with net decking in general but for Commander you should learn and try your own style both in construction and in play, you might learn something.

Back to the story again... "I print off the net-deck and go about highlighting and circling all the cards I didn't believe were necessary so I could make some personal touches." ...

Then it hits me. The back of my mind there is a voice that says, "this deck has no interactivity in fact it goes about silencing and stopping the opponents for an easy win which isn't fun for you or them." I put the highlighter down and I step away from the desk. The reason why none of my playgroup have been vocal about Niv-Miz is because he is relatively new, relatively under tuned and I play the deck in a way that doesn't hamper the fun of others. Sure I counter the occasional vital spell, but sometimes Rite on Wit needs to be experienced.

In the words of a true friend of mine "Winning turn 4 sometimes, isn't fun for all the people involved, it would be much better if you could win turn 15 every time, so that everyone gets a game, everyone gets a chance to play some spells, get some experience and learn something before you combo for the win."

Needless to say (or not since I'm saying it) the deck list went into the recycling bin and I drew a card.

Which leads me to my final point - Combo for the win is legitimate, as much as land destruction and games of chaos. Whatever way you choose to win is fine, as long as everyone picks up their cards at the same time, in order to say "another game?"

Thanks for reading

Alex

PS. If anyone wants me to build a Commander deck for them I am willing just define your commander, play style, favourite cards and budget, just post a comment.

UK Modern PTQ Schedule 2012

By Wagz

Hi all! Sorry for the lack of regular content recently, my Camtasia subscription ran out and I haven't had much focus on any particular Magic formats. I've been looking a little at Modern, but with potential bannings/unbannings coming up on Tuesday I haven't been committing to any particular decks. I've been committing to buying Tarmogoyfs though, that card is going to be great in a bunch of decks (get your Spell Snares now). For those who are interested, Modern is the format of the next PTQ season, the schedule for which can be found below:

21st Jan - Manchester - Fan Boy 3
18th Feb - Dublin - Gamers World
3rd March - Glasgow - Spellbound Games
10th March - Cambridge - Inner Sanctum Collectibles
17th March - Leeds - Patriot Games
24th March - London - Dark Sphere
31st March - Cardiff - Firestorm Games

As you can see, this is a pretty good spread around the country with a couple in the North, a couple in the South and one in each of the three non-England countries. This obviously isn't a perfect spread but it's much fairer than we've had previously. The big news in particular is a LEEDS PTQ :D. I'm sure this is exciting for many people and we really want a big showing at the event (which I highly doubt will be in the Patriot Games store itself) to show the PTQ organisers we mean business.

Team Leeds Drafting #3 - Cube with Wagz and Catton

By Wagz

Hi all! We have an unusual format for you today. I've not talked about my Cube on the blog before apparently but it's just over 400 of the best Commons and Uncommons since original Mirrodin (Peasant Modern to some) in one box, ready to draft with. Why would you bother, I hear you say? Well, everyone has their fun casual formats (e.g. EDH) but some like theirs to be a competitive one. Also, a great way to keep up the competitive skill levels is to play a variety of formats. This will help develop your "fundamentals".

"Fundamentals" are important in Magic because it helps in a variety of aspects of the game, from generic Card Evaluation, to Format Evaluation and Deck Selection, and simply in regular Draft Formats also. Being able to get a general feeling for why one deck style beats another one and which cards make a difference to the general rule helps to make a good player a highly competitive one. We've gone to the effort of trying to record one such draft, using the Fact-or-Fiction style.

We have 92 cards from the Cube (6 boosters of 15 cards, with an additional 2 for reasons soon described) shuffled and piled up. 4 cards are removed from the top and laid face up. Just as with the card "Fact or Fiction", one player splits the cards into two piles and the other chooses which pile they take (with the splitter getting the other pile). By repeatedly alternating this process both players end up with a bunch of cards to make their deck from.

The Draft:


I was reasonably happy with my deck but it lacked in certain areas, which become apparent in the games. My decklist for reference -
1: Sunlance, Ponder, Dismember
2: Merfolk Looter, Vedalken Mastermind, Flashfreeze, Mana Leak, Remove Soul
3: Fathom Seer, Willbender, Wall of Frost, Flickerwisp, Blinding Souleater, Wall of Denial, Necrotic Sliver, Crystal Ball, Oblivion Ring
4: Guardian of the Guildpact, Ninja of the Deep Hours, Faith's Fetters
6: Nucklavee, Kiss of the Amesha, Mindculling
Lands: Vivid Creek, Jwar Isle Refuge, Dread Statuary, 7 Plains, 7 Islands

Games 1 & 2:


Game 3 + Conclusions:


Fundamentals to be learned are mentioned in the videos, but I'll reiterate them here for clarity. Decks with many colours often have to play lands which enter the battlefield tapped in order to reliably cast their spells. A great way to beat those decks is to take advantage of them effectively using their mana to make land drops and use all your mana to be very aggressive in killing them. If your deck is unable to kill them quickly, then you'll need to beat them on card quality or present some kind of trump card. My deck wasn't really able to do either of these so my best bet was to try to beat him on card quantity - as I managed in the one game you saw me win (the off-camera game we played I had a draw which attacked him before he fixed his mana).

The other lesson is that when you're not in much trouble it is better in general to develop your board rather than try to cut back theirs. On the other hand, when you are in trouble then it can be better to try to cut down your opponent's board than try to develop your own. This basically boils down to the advantaged player having or not having lots of options and being able to press their advantage accordingly. I should ask people to pay heed, however, to a common misconception of general rules - they should be seldom broken or else they're no longer General Rules! If you commonly deviate and use the excuse that it's okay to do so sometimes, then you haven't understood what "sometimes" means. Anyway, that's all for now so I hope you enjoyed the videos and took away something about competitive Magic being found in uncompetitive formats :).

Team Leeds Drafting #2 - Inn with Wagz

By Wagz

The second in our series of draft videos recorded on MODO - this time Wagz drafting 3x Innistrad. With the PTQ in Manchester coming up this is a relevant format for anyone intending on top 8-ing. Please leave any feedback in the comments below - where would you have done things differently?

The Draft (note that if the video quality is not high enough for you then try maximising the screen, or buying Team Leeds a massive computer):

Round 1:


Round 2:

Round 3:

Controlling Red inn Standard - One Game

By Wagz

Hi all, the new Standard is shaping up and I believe the format is fairly under-explored. When a ramp deck with Primeval Titan can take the format by surprise it's indicative that people aren't really thinking about it, since that style of deck was extremely constraining for the entirety of the last season. Although I'm happy to just play whatever the best deck is (or at least the best deck I have available to me, as with my Zoo forays in Legacy), regardless of deck archetype, I am often at my happiest playing Control. Mostly Aggro-Control, but pure Control is good too.

When building a control deck in an uncontrolled format, you have to account for all the possible avenues of attack. One of the fore-runners in aggressive decks is the Red Deck. An emergent deck in any format, since some people are just that way inclined, this plays aggressively-costed damage-dealing permanents and cheap, efficient burn spells. There is still some discussion on the optimal builds of current Red decks, but the important cards appear to be Stromkirk Noble, Stormblood Berserker, Shrine of Burning Rage, Brimstone Volley, and Koth of the Hammer. After that people are filling out their curves with an array of cards from Furnace Scamp to Volt Charge. Personally I think they're all fairly interchangeable so long as you have a good aggressive curve and match your own personal play style.

I have been playing on Cockatrice with Manaleak store owner Tu Nguyen a lot, mostly in control mirrors, but I occasionally throw other decks at him for the lols. This time around I played the role of the Red deck versus his Grixis control list. So here begins our one game:

My opening hand had no one drop, but it had two copies of the dreaded Shrine. Also, I was on the play so I could sneak one under a Mana Leak and then see what happened later on to resolve the second one. While this hand may not look really powerful, it has a plan and Tu doesn't know if my plan is Stromkirk Noble into Stormblood Berserker, or Goblin Arsonist into Shrine. This sort of dilemma is exactly why it's hard to build a control deck right now - if you want to be a deck with the right answers then you have to defend against creatures of all sizes and speeds, Artifacts, Planeswalkers, really all sorts.

I made my Shrine on turn 2 and had drawn a Koth and then a Grim Lavamancer. Although slightly fearful of a counter, I manned up and cast my second Shrine, which resolved alongside my Lavamancer to charge up the Shrines. At this point my plan was to merely cast my spells and get damage in where I could, but at some point I would be able to simply deal enough damage with the Shrines.

On my previous turn I had attacked for one, then got an Arc Trail Dissipated and landed a Spikeshot Elder. This turn I had drawn a third Shrine, but I didn't really need this one. I held up the mana to shoot Tu for one damage with my Elder because my Shrines were getting me to the point that a single damage really was giving Tu one less turn to draw out of things.

My Spikeshot got killed at the end of Tu's turn, but without drawing another Mountain I was content to attack with Lavamancer and pass the turn to keep mana open for my Shrines. This game really was all about them, and as we see:

Tu luckily draws the Geistflame in the last possible turn to kill both my Shrines and I'm forced to concede. I mentioned earlier the great draw of turn 1 Noble into turn 2 Berserker, and if we look at the cards Tu's drawn then he would have handily handled that curve (though I still have all these in my hand). Control decks really need to be able to answer a lot of different things right now if they want to stay reactive, which is why a lot of the decks that appear controlling (e.g. Solar Flare) are really quite proactive in what they're trying to achieve. It remains to be seen how people choose to make a true control deck in this format (if it is achievable and/or good) but my thoughts are heavily in favour of a draw-go style deck with a lot of Flashback going on since Snapcaster Mage really is the best creature in Standard (all the best creatures ever cost 2 it seems).

Dwarven Trader – Investing In Innistrad

By Dan Hiscutt

Greetings, and welcome to my first article on Magic finance. It’s geared mainly towards newer players, but hopefully everyone will find one or two of these tips useful.

I will be concentrating on buying cards for cash, rather than trading, as this is my forte. As long as you carry a smartphone or a printout of Starcity Games latest buy/sell list, trading should be simple and relatively hassle free.

***

The Magic year

Let’s kick things off with the yearly cycle of set releases :-

The “Big” Autumn set – this set – currently Innistrad, is drafted roughly a million times more than the others, Innistrad sealed is also the format for the coming PTQ season. There will be a lot of this set around for trade and purchase, keeping the prices reasonably low. Look at the price of Scars of Mirrodin cards now to see the kind of values Innistrad cards will eventually level out too.

Although there is not so much of a rush to pick up Innistrad cards compared to other sets in the block, there is still an opportunity to get yourself a pre-order bargain. Simply because people are slow to evaluate all the new mechanics and interactions at the start of a block, and often mis-price cards.

The middle set – “Dark Ascension”. This set will strengthen and add nuances to the themes in Innistrad, cards will generally be evaluated quickly, they will fall straight into existing decks and will be priced correctly much sooner. You will have to be quick to grab a bargain.

The last set – currently unknown name. Drafted the least, I highly recommend picking up any cards you need from this set as soon as you can, as the prices will only go up.

The core set – Wizards seem to use this set to experiment and plug gaps, as they (in theory) can pull a card from the next year’s core set if it becomes a problem. In practice they seem to keep popular (and/or financially expensive) cards in for two years, so they don’t anger players. See Baneslayer Angel and the Titan cycle. It will have a few key cards for standard, but plenty of junk rares and reprints too.

Trading tips

So then, in no particular order, here are some tips.

• The day before the pre-release is the best time to pre-order cards (before anyone has a chance to actually play with them and re-evaluate). Buying as early as possible gives the most reward, but also the most risk! As a rule of thumb, ignore the 6-8 most expensive rares in the set, and also the 20-30 or so cheapest. Crap rares are evaluated quickly, and chase rares can be subject to irrational cardlust. I’d recommend picking up anything from the middle section that appeals to your tastes, if it also displays card advantage, appears undercosted, or has powerful synergy with the rest of the set.
• Planeswalkers are risky, they usually drop in price after release, sometimes massively. Liliana 2.0 is proving me wrong so far though, she was $20 at one point!
• About a month before a new set is released, just as the very first spoilers appear (typically the buy a box promo, pre release card or something to do with Duel of the Planeswalkers) take time to look back through previous sets in the block and the rest of standard. You would be surprised how many cards are forgotten about until an old block leaving standard re-invigorates them. Tips like this lead to £7 Elspeth Tirel’s and many other bargains.
• Use Twitter. It will often give you a one day lead on the pack, and let you grab cards before some webstores adjust their prices. I bought my Splinter Twins for $1 each, a day later they were nearly $10. @mtgmedina, @thejrrr, @NextLevelSpec are worth following – but I recommend following all the pro players too, as they are more carefree with their tips (the speculators only go public after they have bought what they want). Last Thursday for example, I read a retweet from a webstore owner to Brian Kibler – mentioning that he saw Kiblers name on one of his invoices, buying up his entire stock of Daybreak Ranger. At this point the card was $0.79 on some stores. On Friday Kibler published his article on Starcity Games Premium regarding Daybreak Ranger, it’s now $3.99. Information and timing are important!
• While eBay can be a bargain, think about how many transactions you make, ten different purchases from several different traders leads to an awful lot of postage charges. Sometimes it’s better to buy in bulk from a single webstore.
• If you don’t draft much, consider buying a 4x common/uncommon playset rather than random boosters. This will set you back somewhere in the region of £24 plus postage on ebay, less for small and core sets. Almost every set has a “power uncommon” Kitchen Finks, Bloodbraid Elf, Path to Exile, Inquisition of Kozilek, Dismember and so on. The price of a 4x playset of these alone can often be in the region of £12-£15 at their peak of popularity.
• Buy from America if you can. No, really. Prices are literally half of those over here.
• It’s worth your time looking for a “mom & pop” Magic webstore who are slow to update their prices. When a junk rare becomes a pivotal piece of a new deck or strategy overnight (especially true of Modern and Legacy), you can grab them at the junk rare price if you are lucky. My current store for this is bazaargames.co.uk, although I’m sure they will tighten up their act eventually and I will have to find somewhere else - £6 Vesuva’s when everyone else raised them to £25+ , yes please!

Just to hammer home the point about buying from America, consider my Innistrad preorders:

Card	TCG Warehouse 23/09/2011	Magic Madhouse 23/09/2011	Magic Madhouse 04/10/2011
Hinterland Harbor	3.56	5.99	5.99
Isolated Chapel	3.53	5.99	5.99
Sulfur Falls	3.53	5.99	5.99
Woodland Cemetery	3.53	5.99	5.49
Clifftop Retreat	3.21	5.99	5.99
Heartless Summoning	2.24	3.99	3.99
Mentor of the Meek	2.24	4.99	3.99
Bloodline Keeper // Lord of Lineage	1.99	3.99	4.99
Tree of Redemption	1.76	4.99	3.99
Army of the Damned	1.60	3.99	3.99
Champion of the Parish	1.60	2.99	2.99
Stromkirk Noble	1.60	2.49	4.99
Moorland Haunt	1.44	2.99	2.99
Mayor of Avabruck // Howlpack Alpha	1.25	3.49	3.99
Stony Silence	0.96	1.49	1.49
Kessig Wolf Run	0.89	1.99	1.99
Cackling Counterpart	0.83	2.49	1.99
Kruin Outlaw // Terror of Kruin Pass	0.80	1.99	2.99
Nevermore	0.80	1.99	1.99
Splinterfright	0.80	2.49	2.49
Gavony Township	0.64	1.99	1.99
Nephalia Drownyard	0.64	1.99	1.49
Unbreathing Horde	0.64	2.49	1.99
Curse of Stalked Prey	0.57	1.49	1.49
Stensia Bloodhall	0.48	0.99	0.99
Falkenrath Marauders	0.32	0.99	0.99

(All prices are in £)

TCG Warehouse was the American webstore I used this time round, with the comparison function on magic.tcgplayer.com. I mostly use Challenfireball.com to be honest, but they were undercut by many other traders on Innistrad. Magic Madhouse prices are given to show typical UK prices in comparison.
Most of the above is baseless speculation and hedging before a metagame develops, but really, at these prices there is little that can go wrong. Trading them on for profit if they fail to deliver is pretty easy. I seem to have lucked out on Stormkirk Noble in particular  Edit: it’s now a $10 card on American websites, ker-ching!

And lastly, trading magic cards is a gamble. Don’t risk what you can’t afford and never go into debt. Because for every one of these;

Or these;

Or even these;

There is almost always one of these!

The Command Tower - Building Hanna

by Alex Gershaw

Hey.

Before I get started with my EDH/Commander (hereby referred to as EDmander) deck tech, I want to outline what my goals are and why I am doing this. I was inspired by a fellow planeswalker of mine, Andy Pemberton, who originally began posting EDmander articles on the Team Leeds blog before he got drafted by MTG:UK (check out his articles - they are all good). His style is to post about his commanders, do some set overviews and post about his EDmander experiences, I will not be stealing his thunder. Instead I will be taking suggestions of commanders and doing a deck tech for them. I hope you enjoy.

Hanna Ship's Navigator

A friend of mine once asked me to look over his Hanna deck a while back and I didn't manage to do a great job, possibly because I would have preferred to gut the deck and start again, this is what I have done this time around.

Observations first, this commander doesn't have haste, I don't mean in the conventional red creatures and some green or black creatures "This creature is unaffected by summoning sickness" kind of way. I mean in the "This creature works immediately, I don't have to pass a turn to use it" way (read that article, if you haven't before). Hanna requires you to either give it haste or pass the turn in order to use her and one set of turns is a very long time in EDmander. This fact alone makes Hanna a slightly harder commander to work with.

On the upside of observations, her ability is definitely a "build around me" ability and it has given me plenty of options when building the deck. The deck list (with notes) is as follows:

Cheap Artifact suite:

Aether Spellbomb - Bounce effects are often useful for indestructible or hard to deal with creatures, this seems like a good cheap re-usable toy for Hanna to play with.

Dispeller's Capsule - Cheap, easy to use, just what every dispeller needs.

Elixir of Immortality - A favorite card of the friend who wanted me to build this deck there will be many of these. Crafting an EDmander deck is a personal experience and the deck needs to be fun for everyone but especially the pilot. There are many of these in the deck.

Expedition Map - I won't go into great detail on the lands until later but needless to say this can fetch a multitude of great effects (except I did have to say it).
Everflowing Chalice - Solid ramp in slow ramp colours especially when after casting Hanna from the command zone once to get her effect, she loses value every time. This should help offset that in the late game while also being a useful early game ramp spell.
Sensei's Divining Top - Any deck with enough shuffle effects should pack a top, it's like drawing another three cards every time you shuffle.
Pithing Needle - Need to shut down a commander with a tap effect... look no further than the handy-dandy Pithing Needle, shuts down important combo pieces, no questions asked. No refunds if Mindslaved into injecting your own commander with the needle.
Sol Ring - Obviously
Tormod's Crypt - Because graveyards won't remove themselves, actually sometimes they do.
Wayfarer's Bauble - It's like ramp but colourless.

Other Ramp Artifacts:

Green is the best colour for ramp effects sadly since Hanna can't run any of them she has to stumble around looking for baubles, signets and talismans to get the job done.
Azorius Signet, Talisman of Progress, Armillary Sphere, Darksteel Ingot, Coalition Relic, Solemn Simulacrum and Coldsteel Heart.

Tutors:
EDmander is about inconsistency and some people find the use of tutor effects in this format a problem, I do not think this, I think you can use tutors to make different choices than you did in the last game thus making the overall experience different:
Tezz 1.0 - The -x ability can be used on 1 to get any of the cheap artifact suite (or even 0 to get the Crypt or artifact lands). Which brings me on to... Trinket Mage the EDmander blue workhorse, if I had an artifact for every time I resolved Trinket Mage, I would have used him correctly.
Enlightened Tutor, Mystical Tutor, Idyllic Tutor and Fabricate as ways of getting useful singletons from your library to your Brain pan scroll room (read hand). The only one of real interest is the Mystical Tutor as it doesn't seem to be doing anything so far, but you shall see, you'll all see.

Draw spells:
Rhystic Study Asymmetrical effects are generally considered a good thing, this three mana enchantment either slows opponents down or gives you a card, make sure you ask politely.
Let me give you the Opportunity to see a great instant speed draw spell, reload at the end of an opponents turn and have a full grip for your turn.
Fact or Fiction - Has netted me somewhere between 2-4 cards at instant speed in the past, never be surprised about how wrong opponents can get your piles since they don't know what you know.
I also can't recall how many times I have stroked myself... but enough about my personal life.
Future sight and Magus of the Future - What if I told you every land you played and every spell you cast came with an additional "Draw a card" clause... What? Wait... Five manas?
Pulse of the Grid - I find this card a draw spell to find draw spells, when it's my only option I probably only have 3-4 cards in hand while my opponents have 6, so I can use it twice at the end of an opponents turn and dig four cards for something better. This is a bit of a personal choice but ever since a friend started using Pulse of the Tangle I knew I wanted to run is one in a couple of my decks.
Courier's Capsule - Re-usable instant speed draw when using Hanna. It might not be great and the first thing I would put on the chopping block.

Counters:

So you happen to be playing Blue so you have all of these counterspells to choose from which do you pick:
Hinder and C-c-c-crumple are two counterspells that I personally dislike (not that I don't or haven't used them in the past) but they are very useful for getting rid of pesky commanders who just won't die. These were selected personally as cards wanted for this deck.
Some Mages won't take "no" for an answer, but now you can tell the repeatedly with Forbid.
Glen Elendra Archmage, Draining Whelk and Venser, Shaper Savant are all wonderful options for counterspells, Glenny with her re-use-ability, Whelk with "I'm also a beat stick" and Venser with his versatility, all personal favorites.
Time Stop - Exile the stack? End the turn? I use this and Riftsweeper in my Bant deck to hopefully one day stop two turns in a game as it exiles itself.
Decree of Silence - I have no idea why my playgroup doesn't run this apart from the "risk of hardcasting" it into a dull game. Cycle this for six mana and get a nigh on uncounterable counterspell and draw a card. (Note those are the only four effects in the game that I can think of that usefully stop triggered abilities aside from maybe Sundial but that card sucks anyway). Also for this deck in particular it is an enchantment so for three more mana Hanna can fetch it back.

Removal:
All decks need some form or removal usually in the form of wraths although spot removal is necessary too.
Wrath of God and Rout for creature clearing.
Austere Command and Oblivion Stone for a general destroy everything (or some of everything) kind of wrath.
Path to Exile, Swords to Plowshares and Soul Snare backing up your sweeps with some spot exile.
Aura of Silence and Seal of Cleansing which backs up the Dispeller's Capsule for more point artifact and enchantments hate. (Be aware that some of the above removal spells are either artifacts or enchantments and thus reusable with Hanna, time and time again).
Finally in this section Stonecloaker - Evacuate your MVP, or pay three to exile a card and bounce it to use again. Stonecloaker is an almost auto include for any deck I build carrying White.

Enablers:

Usually this section would be for any combo enablers I would have. I have neglected to give this deck a combo finish, it is more of an attrition style build and as such likes to grind down its opponents and beat them with fatties (in a later section). So in this section I have included cards which give Hanna haste and one which gives the deck a bit of a boost.
Lightning Greaves, Swiftfoot Boots and Strider Harness to grant Hanna actual haste, although if I was going to cut back here, I'd let go of the Harness as it doesn't protect your commander.
Thousand-Year Elixir - If your commander has a tap ability and does not have haste or enough of your creatures, this is an auto include.
Rings of Brighthearth - Since the deck is built upon activate abilities, you might want to use them again, copy them for two mana... Bargain.

Fatties:
These are just eight big Blue/White/Artifact Creatures I could find, Since this deck wants to exhaust the opponents and then win, it didn't really matter what I put in these slots. You get the added bonus of their effects, some are draw, removal or recurrsion but mostly they are here to bring the pain.
Sun Titan, Yosei, the Morning Star, Consecrated Sphinx, Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite, Deathless Angel, Wurmcoil Engine, Godhead of Awe and Rite of Replication (not technically a creature, but also technically five creatures).

Lands:

Due to budget considerations, I'm not going to tell you how to build the mana base, technically 18 Island and 18 Plains should do it. I wanted to inform you of the best lands in these colours (and colourless).
For this deck specifically: Ancient Den and Seat of the Synod due to Tezzeret's -x ability.
Generally: Kor Haven, Reliquary Tower, Tolaria West, Winding Canyons, Prahv, Spires of Order, Terrain Generator.

If budget wasn't an option I'd cut the two cards I mentioned earlier (Courier's Capsule and Strider Harness) for Land Tax and Scroll Rack. I would also suggest a whole swath of lands you could use ranging from Tundra to Mystic Gate to Glacial Fortress.

If anyone has any suggestions for Commanders you want me to build around, tell me the general, how competitive your play group is (from casual to competitive on a 1-10 scale) and how involved you wish the deck to be (from easy and fun to challenging and involved on a 1-10 scale). Please do not suggest either Hakkon or Phage as all you will get is a Mono-Black Control deck with no care about the commander.

Thanks for reading.
Alex

Team Leeds Drafting #1 - M12 with Rob Catton

By Rob Catton

In a new series for the Team Leeds Blog™, Rob Catton will be presenting some of his online drafts which he will record for our viewing pleasure. To get things going we have a triple M12 draft - a format quickly going out of style but a good format which can teach us much about tempo. Please leave any feedback in the comments below - where would you have done things differently?

The Draft (note that if the video quality is not high enough for you then try maximising the screen, or buying Team Leeds a massive computer):

Round 1:

Round 2:

University Prerelease Report - Innistrad

By Wagz

Hello and welcome! One thing we've done here before is live coverage of our pre-releases. While not possible this time around I did manage to take some notes while I was there, so I can bring some posthumous coverage - here goes!

We managed to get a whopping 50 players at the event for Innistrad Sealed deck and managed an 8-man draft along the way. Some familiar faces came back, along with many new ones, and even some very old ones. We managed to begin our coverage with a feature match in round 2:

Round 2: Steve Parker vs Andy Pemberton

For game 1, both players decided to send back their opening hands and after a pair of lands apiece, Silverchase Fox on the draw began the board development by Steve. Crossway Vampire from Andy presented a potential blocker, but Steve fearlessly sends his pet, and backs it up with a Voiceless Spirit. Attempting to break the tempo of the attacks, Andy makes and equips a Blazing Torch, but once more Steve doesn't care for it and attacks to take Andy to 14.

A Galvanic Juggernaut for Steve presents Andy with quite a conundrum. Andy passes without a play once more, and Steve attacks before reinforcing his army with an Abbey Griffin. Andy attempts a comeback with a 3/3 flier for 5 mana, but a Fiend Hunter takes it out of the game and Steve is able to press even more damage through. Andy is unable to bring enough defences out to stay alive, and concedes the game - Steve 1, Andy 0.

Both players topped off at 5 lands of two types in game 1 - were their decks hiding any bombs? Steve's turn 1 Traveller's Amulet for a Forest in his previously- White/Red deck would indicate that something should come along soon. Andy makes the first creature with a Kessig Wolf, a 3/1 for 3 mana which can gain first strike - quite a difficult card to play against perhaps. Steve looks visibly annoyed at himself as he untaps, but makes a Voiceless Spirit to block. The Spirit is Exorcised, allowing for an attack for 3 damage, and after another attack into Steve's Abbey Griffin, Andy makes the Innistrad answer to Siege Mastodon.

Steve lays a Kessig Wolf Run, answering the question of what the green mana was for, and starts to clog up the ground with a Pitchborn Devils. The 5 mana creatures trade in combat, taking Steve to 11 life. Finally making the card he'd missed out on turn 2, Steve offs the 3/1 Wolf with a Geistflame, flashing it back to kill a Village Ironsmith. Both players make a few more creatures, but the Wolf Run means that Steve is able to push through lethal damage, taking the match.

Steve 2 - 0 Andy

During round 3 I was busy setting a side draft going, but I managed to note a few interesting sights around the pre-release:

• Johannes Ihli curved out with turns 2-5 Werewolves in draft but due to casting spells each turn doesn't transform them for too long - not as aggressive as desired.
• Craig Stevenson makes a turn 2 Mayor of Averbrook in both games of his match, that'll sting in the morning.
• Kenny Hall made a Grimoire of the Dead, discarded 3 creatures to it and took 7 total back onto the battlefield at once.
• Old-school pro Gordon Benson was seen bothering the top tables - does this herald a return to Magic?

Round 5's Feature Match was:

Round 5: Rob Catton vs Steve Tyson

On the play, Steve mulligans once and makes audible concerns about the hand he does keep. He has three different basic lands on turn 3, and makes the first play of the game with a Screeching Bat. Rob matches it with a Thraben Sentry, but it can only dream of attaining the 5/5 size of the Vampire on the flip-side. A Bonds of Faith deals with the Vampiric entity, and the game notably slows down as Rob summons a Skirsdag High Priest, promising to itself summon some 5/5 fliers.

Scourge of Geier Reach attempts to clog up the ground of the battlefield for Steve, and his Rolling Temblor as an attempted Plague Wind is thwarted by Rob's own small burn spell. An Angelic Overseer from Rob is rolled out to try to break the deadlock, but it is forced to Fight the Pacified Vampire. Another attempt to get things rolling is also nullified, and Steve is makin' Morbid Bacon to fill the gap. It finds itself Rebuked on its attack, and Rob is the first to draw more creatures - killing his own Pitchborn Devils with a Harvest Pyre to deal the last few points of damage.

On the draw for game 2, Rob makes the first play with a Rakish Heir. A Tribute to Hunger allows the vampire to get in Steve's hair, but a Bloodgift Demon threatens to single-handedly take over the game. Rob attacks and Steve blocks with his Demon, Rob using two different cards to save his own creature and kill his opponent's, losing out on cards but ensuring he wouldn't quickly lose the game. The Rakish Heir is dealt with, and the players resort to draw-go for a few turns, with a 5/4 trampler staring down a 1/1 deathtouch.

An Angelic Overseer is shot down by a Geistcatcher's Rig, and a first attempt to Geistflame the deathtoucher is thwarted by a Spidery Grasp. It is removed on the flashback, and Steve is forced to use 2 Rolling Temblor to not quickly lose any kind of race. A Gallows Warden is taken down via a Prey Upon, but a final Village Ironsmith is not met with an answer and Rob is able to attack in for lethal damage once and for all.

Rob 2 - 0 Steve

Round 6: Danny Whitaker vs Nathan Edwards

Two Leeds prerelease veterans face off in the finals, but neither one has ever won a feature match here - who will manage to end their streak today? A Deranged Hermit on turn 2 for Nathan on the play signals a ramped start. It only attacks for one on turn 3, but is soon stopped by a Chapel Geist. Milling an Unburial Rites while generating mana for an Angelic Overseer, Nathan threatens a very aggressive start to the game. Not to be outmatched, Danny summons the Angel's Evil Twin. Although Danny was yet to supplement his Angel with a Human, Nathan was unable to attack due to losing a racing position due to the Geist. Danny soon found a Human and a deadlock was reached - who would first be able to deal with their opponent's Humans and then Angel?

For many turns creatures were summoned and dealt with on both side of the battlefield, the action revolving around the two identical Angels in the centre. The mighty Grimgrin, Corpse-Born shows up to break the stalemate, but his Bloodline is Severed to keep the fight fair once more. Danny begins to gain an upper hand in terms of flying dominance, with some less-relevant 4/4 and 3/2 creatures which were building up to a lethal attack team. Nathan cannot find a second Island, presumably for some stockpiled spells, but also for the flashback on a milled Cackling Counterpart.

Danny finally draws enough removal spells for all the Humans, and aims a finishing blow at Nathan's Angel, but the Village Bell-Ringers ring in the town's defences to aid their champion. Taking the game another way, Danny is able to deal with Nathan's other flying creatures, and sends in his team for a large strike. A Murder of Crows finds its end, but 15 damage is inflicted to the defender. Another dies the next turn, and a brief flurry of spells seeks to save Nathan enough damage, to no avail. The players apologised for what looked like a boring match, but this writer saw nothing but a tense show-down the whole way through. Danny 1 - 0 Nathan.

The same, unfortunately, could not be said for the second game of the frame. Nathan's Deranged Assistant makes another turn 2 appearance, but Danny cuts off the Dead Weight. Nathan misses his third land for a ocuple of turns, and Grimgrin returns to take revenge for his quick death in the previous skirmish. Tearing through both armies alike, he inflicts cutting blows on Nathan, and a Stitched Drake called to Grimgrin's side is enough for Nathan who raises the white flag. We have our winner,

Danny 2 - 0 Nathan.

Thanks to all who attended the pre-release and making it yet another great day and tournament. I took notes on which archetypes were represented at the event and will be collating the data soon when I'm not so tired (I've judged 2 prereleases in the last 24 hours :s). See you at an events soon!

Team Leeds is Recruiting!

Hi all! Some of you may remember this Blog from before but most of you are unlikely to. Team Leeds is the competitive branch of Magic play in Leeds. We are aiming to play the best Magic we can, and win events.

Magic in Leeds has undergone a lot since I last posted here. I used to run a weekly event in the University, which is still going on Wednesdays, which was the only option for sanctioned Magic play at the time. Since then Travelling Man began running events, and a player at the Wednesday events (Mark Hammond, who now runs the Wednesday events) set up a branch of Patriot Games in Leeds.

It is really great to see so many players wanting to play Magic in Leeds, and having a place to play. However, what I really want to see is players looking to go that little bit further. I want to see players who wish to improve themselves, to try to win. This isn't in any way opposing having fun playing Magic, it's something additional.

If you feel like you want to stop slinging cardboard around a table and take an active part in just being better at the game we all enjoy, then come to the banner of Team Leeds. Anyone and everyone is welcome to add themselves to the Planeswalker Points table (link here, message me your name and DCI number), and anyone and everyone is welcome to write for this Blog. If you feel like you have anything to contribute then please ask - you will be printed! If you are scared that people will disagree with you, don't be. Discussion is how you improve as a player. Look through our archive for many instances of people lodging their opinions and being wrong (I've done it more than enough). We will try to stay up to date with all the local news and provide details of local and competitive events, but this blog is an open book for anyone wishing to improve. I hope to hear from you soon.

Wagz