The Planeswalker's Stronghold

So Fall has come around, and along with the cool weather is the annual rotation. So Zendikar has rotated out of, wait what do you call it, oh yeah Standard. The good news is, this has next to no impact on me at all. I've slowly come to the realization that Standard just holds no interest for me, so I've written it off completely. I've been toying with the ideas of waiting until after the Standard rotation of a set before even really worrying about picking up any new rares or mythics for my casual deck. This should allow me to miss out on all the Standard price inflation, and pick up some much better values on the cards. Secondly, I should have a much better idea of what cards I really want, and cut back on things that end up in the bulk sell bin before they are even used. When I go back over my notes from Zendikar block, I find that my initial lists are much larger then what I really want now. So what is there on my acquire list for the rotated block? Great question, glad

Man, it has been such a long time since I wrote anything for this outlet, mostly because it has been a really long time since I carried enough to have anything to say. I really had to look back over my last few posts to even remind me what had been going on, then I remembered why I hadn't cared in a while. I had come to the conclusion to stay an active force in this game, as a budget player, you had to play Standard and win packs. Then I was reminded how, with just a little resources, I had managed to brew up a fairly original Standard deck. It was really coming along, developing a winning record, and the ability to bring home packs consistently. Then...they banned my deck. Well, they didn't ban the whole deck, but the one card that made the the whole thing work. I simply will never understand why DCI takes the approach of banning utility cards, which allow for creative deck building instead of banning the problematic work horse card. Stoneforger Mystic was a utility card t

So after a strikingly unimpressive, and bordering on humiliating showing at FNM a few weeks ago, I tuned my deck up again, and decided to make another run at it. Special props to my little Mage for cracking a Batterskull and a Mental Misstep from a a pack during packwars. Hooray for $30 packs! I made some last minute tweaks to the manabase which I hadn't talked about yet, so let me start with a full list. 19 Plains 2 Mox Opal 4 Signal Pests 4 Ornnithopter 4 Memnite 4 Steel Overseer 4 Porcelain Legionaire 3 Stoneforge Mystic 2 Etched Champion Hex Parasite Darksteel Juggernaut Triskelion Wurmcoil Engine Myr Battlsphere Vault Skirge 4 Tempered Steel Sword of Vengence Sword of Body and Mind Sword of Feast and Famine Batterskull This build did so much better. It had less explosive potential, but far higher consistency. The multiple Tempered Steels were crushing when backing multiple affected creatures. The combination of Stoneforge, and Batterskull was nothing sho

I tried folks, I really tried. I found myself with no plans for a friday night, and a desire not to sit at home. So I decided to play constructed FNM. After a bit of research, and a quick glance through my meager Standard collection, I found that I could put something together drawing on the affinity concepts, and throw in a blade package for a certain leg up. The synergy between certain low cost artifact creatures, Signal Pest, and Steel Overseer is simply too strong to be denied. Toss in some singleton cards I wanted to test out like Tempered Steel, and a variety of high end threats, and I felt like I had a deck worth plopping down 5 bucks and trying to make a run at it. Turns out I was on the right track, but still falling short. The deck was capable of some explosive starts, often having 3+ power on the aggro available to swing on turn2. I was very often able to put my opponent on their back foot right out of the gate, but lacked the ability to finish out the game, no matter ho

So I managed to not attend a Prerelease even, and some how I survived. I don't even feel like I really missed out on anything. My Sealed skills have been so poor for so long, I mostly saved myself the frustration of watching my pool laugh at me all day long. I've been giving the card selections for the new set a bit of thought. I've found that I can get a un/common set for about $35. Given that the one playset I know I want will run $20, this seems like a good way to go, and all but eliminates the need to open packs, or attempt to draft the set. In other words, for the cost of one playset, and one draft, I can have the whole set. Seems good. I'm also thinking about doing the release event, but will most likely come down to what Tater wants to do. The draft could be a lot of fun for us both, and the promo card seems like a good addition to both of our collections.What ever excess cards we happen to get, could simply go to tater's box, as fodder for what ever deck

Okay, here is something you have never seem on this blog before: Put down the Magic cards cause it's free comic book day ! In a more topical vein, Wizards has released a Magic related comic as on of the freebies.  What a great way to encourage reading in kids of all ages.

I titled this article this way, because for the life of me I can't remember what this set is called. After all the hype about who would win the war, and what this set would look like, I don't even know what it's called. I find that this is really indicative of my overall attitude about this set: I just don't care. I really just don't care. There is hardly a handful of cards which even peek my interest. The cycle of Praetors seem kinda cool and swingy, but I think I can pick most of them up in trade. The fact that 60% of the Mythics in the set are Legendary (Karn) sends a clear signal that my suspicion about the next block will be Legendary matters is correct. Batterskull seems like a great equipment, but Standard not withstanding, is not worth it's current price. If Stoneforger Mystic rotates, it should drop like a rock. I really think there is a good case to be made that Stonforger will be reprinted in M12, but nothing definitive. The Sword is the last piece

This month I had the unexpected opportunity to travel to Roanoke for a Legacy GPT. Recent set releases had a lot of new ideas floating around my head, but I really hadn't played enough over the last few months to evaluate such changes. I ended this small tournament day with a 2-3 record, having scooped a team member into the top8 in the last round. (Congrats to Jeff to winning the GPT!, good luck in the GP.) It became really clear that even my possible 3-2 finish for the day, my deck had become under-matched, and really needed to be brought up to date. Let the work begin! My prior list can be found here , the only difference being that a fourth Goyf replaced the fourth Lavamancer. I began by pulling the Grave package, and replacing it with a more traditional Zoo utility lineup. I'm not sure this is the correct call, but the surprise value of the Grove Package has run it's course on the local level, so it's time to at least test other options. -4 Grove of the Burnwill

Well the long sought day has finally come. I have found my signature 5color card, and it is none other then Warp World. I have been in the process of retooling my deck to accommodate this adjustment. The current deck list can be found here . DoMT has now become a story of three decks. There is two fully functional EDH/Commander decks shuffled with 100 fill in cards. Each of the stand alone decks has it's own sleeve color, to allow for easy pull out and separate play. The final 100 is split into two sleeve groups, one for "non-EDH consideration" cards, and the other for everything else. My hope is, this will make the EDH fine tuning process easier, so I don't have to look up card legality on the fly. Items removed since my last posting: Not all of these are gone forever. Many simply represent their current usage in a more vital deck, or have been bumped to test new interactions. Arid Mesa Benediction of Moons Berserk Brawn Brion Stoutarm Civic Wayfinder Co

I can't believe it took as long as it did, but it was well worth the work. After nearly 4 months of sorting, I now find myself a little over 40,000 Magic cards lighter. This bulk of excess cards has become a $200 store credit with CFB, a finished Legacy Merfolk deck, a fourth Goyf, 4 blue Onslaught fetches, several restricted Vintage cards, most of the cards I wanted from the current Scars block to date, and a handful of casual cards. Most importantly, all this bulk of under utilized cards is gone, and the room it took up is now empty. Not only can I actually find what I'm looking for far easier, even when a card has been misplaced. I also have discovered that the two bookcases in my office, are now empty, their sole purpose in life having been to house my massive Magic collection. They have found a better home else where. Before the Purge It was really amazing, not to mention startling, to discover just how much good stuff I had that I really and truly didn't even kno

That's right folks, no typo there. I used a $25 store credit to pay my entry, and despite not opening any super chase cards, I still managed to open or trade for $32 in cards specifically on my shopping list. Of course, that is in addition to the $11 in trade-bait rares I added to my binder, and the more then 70 un/commons for my personal collection. This was a definitive win value wise, unfortunately that did not translate to match results. It has long ago come to my attention that Sealed is not my format, having not produced a winning record since the release of Xth edition. Yes really , it's been that long. My seemingly limitless lack of skill, coupled with my need to maximize my value/cost relationship of my Magic efforts, I tend to not play in these events unless there is a clear value added. This most often comes in the form of the special foil promo card distributed for participation. The card of this event, Hero of Bladehold, having a $10 value and already being on my