The Planeswalker's Stronghold

(Rant mode on) Those that know me are aware that I am a pretty serious Indianapolis Colts fan. From the time I lived in Indiana in 1992, I’ve followed the Colts, through the dismal failure of Jeff George, to the brief success of Jim Harbaugh, through the misery of multiple 3-13 seasons, to the first overall draft pick, to the brilliance of consecutive 12+ wins in the last seven seasons. With this in mind, it should come as no surprise to me what happened yesterday afternoon. After starting the season 14-0, with home field advantage clinched through the playoffs, all of the personal milestones achieved (50,000 career passing yards, fyi), the Colts once again decide to bench all of their starters with about 6 minutes to go in the 3rd quarter. They were leading 15-10 at the time, with every indication that they were likely to defeat the New York Jets. But then they just gave up. Peyton Manning grimaced on the sidelines, pleading to his Offensive Coordinator Tom Moore to let him come back ...

Happy Birthday Buddy. We would have gotten you a bigger cake, but it turns out that many candles are a fire hazard, even on the internet! I know your big day is often over shadowed by that "other guy" born this time of year, and while you probably will never be the basis for a sweeping global religious movement, I truly appreciate you as a friend, and contributor to this sites efforts. I hope this year was twice as good as last year, but only half as good as the next.

Week Three of the Legacy Series at SciFi was our best turnout yet. We had 12 players - but several new faces to the Legacy scene. Add in the regulars who didn't make it this week, and we're growing stronger every week. I'm running the same list I've been running for 3 weeks now - my Dark Zoo build has proven itself to be very potent in our meta. The list I ran two weeks ago is here - the only difference between that one and what I ran this week is that the 3 Ancient Grudges in the SB are now Krosan Grips. I finally don't end up with a Round one bye, and instead get paired against Shoebox with his Sushi Merfolk build. I know I'm in for a fight - I struggle against Shoebox in every format, and his sideboard is almost entirely dedicated to beating Zoo. I really need to be able to get the quick blowout in game one, and hope that going first in game 3 gets me there. Sadly, I lose the dieroll, and have to mulligan to a slow 6-carder game one. A timely Wastela...

Submitted by Mike Lewis (luudes from scifi) So pretty good turnout, if we keep slowly getting one or two new faces then this thing might pick up! So 12 people, 4 rounds. No byes for Mike M this week!  I start off against a new face in the room , ( a ugrad at Duke… I should keep notes so I would remember his name). He just threw a deck together to come out and see what legacy is like. It was mostly a standardish monogreen elf ramp deck.  He would try to get rofellos in play and a couple of elves and ramp into a quick overrun. I’m playing my rocky top build ( Ubg countertop).  Game 1 I lead with a hierarch and a top while he gets mana dork into mana dork. He gets rofellos down when I don’t have countermagic (and don’t know what to counter).  He then gets some three drops through a counterbalance/top softlock and proceeds to beat my face. I board in propaganda and EExplosives . He doesn’t have a sideboard. Game two I am able to EE away his early m...

So I have been able to do a bit of testing since my last revision , but no actual events. I've really been underwhelmed with both Knight of the Reliquary, and Ranger of Eos. I think these may have real value in Standard/Extended version of the deck, but for Legacy I just feel like they are dead cards in my hand, only really being cast when I'm desperate. For this reason, I'm going to cut it, but it brings up the same old problem, of what to use to fill the spot? I've beat this horse to death, and just haven't been able to find a good answer for this.  I've spent some time this week, going over my notes from past deck development efforts, in preparation for Extended conversion discussion. I think I may have found just the thing, a card M.Nash and I help bring to the spot light during the Timespiral period, in a little deck I called Gobladon. I'm going to fill that slot with Greater Gargadon. What you're cutting a 3 drop for being to slow, and replacin...

2009 has been one of the most incredible years for budget players ever. M10, and Zendikar were two sets which had higher then average values, so buying and opening packs really made sense. The entire year also brought about several uncommons, with unexpected value, and created several trade opportunities which were not to be missed. Path to Exile, Hellspark Elemental, Vampire Nighthawk, Valakut- the Molten Pinnacle, and Ant Queen were all given out as promo cards this year, and still maintain excellent value, despite the extra quantities in circulation. Each of these is in key decks right now, and should see at least casual play for years to come. This was a tough year for commons. The introduction of Mythics, and the resulting extra packs that were opened, have virtually brought the death of the chase common. There simply is too many packs opened for any given common to have much maintain much in the way of extra value. Despite all this, there were a few stand outs in the common...

For the first two weeks of the SciFi Genre Legacy Series, I’ve come out on top at the end. Both Sundays I’ve been 1st place once the dust settled. Is it luck? Skill? Something else? I have to admit, it’s gotta be mostly luck. The Zoo brew I put together IS a very good deck – but it has it’s auto-losses. I’ve yet to face a countertop deck, and considering my entire deck is made of 1s and 2s, I’d be shut down pretty hard once someone got a CounterTop soft lock on me. That hasn’t happened yet though. So far, I’ve faced: 2 1st round byes - I swear I’m not manipulating Reporter. Heck, week two, when we only had 5 players, the other four decided to just start playing while I was out smoking, so I got the bye by default. 1 R/w Goblins – Is this typically a good matchup? Perhaps. It’s all about racing, and can really come down to who draws better. I do have a fairly solid draw engine in Dark Confidant and Sylvan Library – but really, I think it came down to the pilot of the Goblin ...

Worldwake is still more then a month away, and we have very few reliable cards at this point, but of course the rumors are running rampant. One card that we know to be correct, Celestial Colonade, has really started teh rumor mills running at double speed. That's right folks, this land really does have a little bit of everything. Not only is it an aligned dual land, but it is also a man land. When activated it becomes a 4/4 w/u elemental creature, with flying and vigilance. You read that right it has vigilance, which means it can swing in on the attack, and still be tapped for mana mid combat. I think this really accounts for the high activation cost, and provides a huge versatility for the creature/land. This allows you to cast nearly a half dozen mid-combat tricks is standard alone, and who knows how many more activated abilities. I can here you already, "So what, I'd never cast Constricting Tendrals anyway!". That may be true, and you would get no argument fr...

One of the primary reason I choose Zoo as my entry point into Legacy, is the fact that it is an ever present deck in every format, and converts easily back and forth. I've recently been giving some thought to Standard, and seeing what it would take to make this deck viable for Standard. I found a very interesting deck list , which puts me nearly there. The fetchland selection really don't make much sense here, unless you are simply that afraid of Pithing Needle? I think Arid Mesa makes a lot more sense then most in the list. From this revised list I would need only the following; Knight of the Reliquary Ranger of Eos x2 Honestly $20 for three cards is a lot, but getting back into Standard is a worth wild goal, and I expect I'd be able to pick these up in trade, so no cash outlay would be required. This deck would be viable in Standard for roughly another 10 months, so I should be able to get some good use out of it. These cards also convert nicely into Extended, alth...

Submitted by Jeff Darran So we had our first Sci-Fi Legacy tourney on Sunday. I decided to play the mono red burn deck I’ve been working on for a while, cause, well, to know me is to understand my relationship with mountains, lightning bolts, and generally setting things on fire. It’s “me.”  So I go rolling in with my deck (aptly titled Jeff Red – Legacy E d ition ) and proceed to get paired against Jeff Abbott (Crispy), the man responsible for me playing legacy.  I started off in an interesting state of mind though , an omen of sorts, as I count my board and find only 14 cards…. What? There’s supposed to be 15. So I pile shuffle the main deck and discover 61 cards. Well pooh. I start looking thru, and discover that I have done something horribly wrong. With all the excitement from FNM, then states on Saturday, where I took and passed my L1 judge test (official L1 Magic judge now! Woot) I have somehow forgotten to actually prepare and make sure there were no proxies ...

So I had to call a couple of audibles on Sunday morning just prior to the first SciFi Genre Sanctioned Legacy Event. I ended up with the following list, and sideboard. The most recent changes (from my prior development) are in italics . Creatures: Kavu Predator x4 Kird Ape x4 Knight of the Reliquary x2 Qasali Pridemage x4 Wild Nacatl x4 Tarmogoyf x4 Ranger of Eos Spells: Invigorate x3 Lightning Bolt x4 Sensei's Divining Top x2 Swords to Plowshares x3 Punishing Fire x3 Umezawa's Jitte Land: Arid Mesa x3 Horizon Canopy Ghost Quarter Grove of the Burnwillows x4 Plateau Sacred Foundry Savannah Stomping Ground Temple Garden Terramorphic Expanse Tiaga Windswept Heath Wooded Foothills Forest, Mountain, Plains 1 each. Sideboard: Gaea's Blessing Relic of Progenitus x2 Tormod's Crypt x2 Red Elemental Blast x2 Firespout x3 Vexing Shusher x4 Choke The event went really well, and we were able to sanction the very first time with 11 playe...