The Planeswalker's Stronghold

So here I sit, with under 24 hours till the big event in Richmond. I've been watching the Standard coverage for today's 5K, and the player total just kept climbing! 561, that is a bit scary, since many of these players may stay for the Legacy event, and it may be much bigger then I anticipated. More players, means more random decks, and less effective sideboards. Oh well, not much I can do at this point. I did make a couple of last minute adjustments this week. I've been testing -1 Grove, +Wooded Foothills all week. My final call is to keep the list the way it is, but I need to get on the ball and pile shuffle every time. I refuse to lose games and matches because I fail to shuffle. After all the prep work I've put in, that would just be stupid. I spent a large portion of my time this week testing against CounterTop, in an attempt to nail down my sideboard. Turns out Shusher is just not getting the job done. There is simply to much spot removal, to try and ride this g...

Art by Daarken.

So with less then a week before the Richmond Legacy 5k, I've finalized my main list, and working on the side board. I was able to trade into a pair of Stoneforger Mystics last week, and have been testing different options between that and Jitte. While I still want to get a second copy of Jitte for a number of reasons, I have found that one each of Jitte, and one Mystic is the best option for this weekend. With this in mind, I will be running the following list; Creatures: Kavu Predator x4 Kird Ape x4 Tarmogoyf x4 (Woolly Thoctar x3) Qasali Pridemage x4 Wild Nacatl x4 Grim Lavamancer x3 (x4 on the "B" team) Stoneforge Mystic Spells: Invigorate x3 Lightning Bolt x4 Sylvan Library x2 Swords to Plowshares x3 Punishing Fire x3 Umezawa's Jitte Land: Arid Mesa x4 Grove of the Burnwillows x4 Plateau x3 (Sacred Foundry x2) Savannah x2 (Temple Garden) Tiaga x2 (Stomping Ground) Windswept Heath Wooded Foothills Forest, Mountain, Plains 1 each. The rea...

February's Repack event was another great one. We had 11 players participate, including 2 new players, and a spectrum of ages involved. An unexpected star this month, was my own son Tater, who went 2-0-1, and took second, only to dear old Dad. His 45 card deck, was a little too short on Land and creatures in my opinion, but is appears to have gotten the job done. Every creature in the deck was solidly above the curve. I really enjoyed the drafting process this month, hearing several veteran players comment how how hard it was to make draft choices with so many good options. That's just the sort of thing a TO in this format wants to hear. While I've been very pleased with the events using the current pack set up, several TO's and I have been discussing a slight shift, in order to address several deficiencies in the format. Repack tends to be very creature focused, with very little color fixing, and short on removal. There has also been a lot of interest in expanding t...

If you are reading this, it probably comes as no surprise that the Legacy format has become a power house recently. It has experienced unprecedented growth over the last year, and the format is more popular today then at any other point in it's history. Some very reasonable estimates indicate that there are 10-20x more active Legacy players today then there were just one year ago. Even taking into account the recently massive growth of Magic on whole, the Legacy format has been growing by leaps and bounds. Wizards, the DCI, and TO's of all sizes have done a great job of giving players reasons to want to play Legacy. That is what brings us to the potential problem. We have created a situation of relative limitless demand for the format, and thus the cards with which the format is built. Supply of many of these cards doesn't even come close to meeting the current demand. Future demand runs the risk of being insurmountable in magnitude. For instance nearly every multi-color ...

January's Repack Draft event was great. We had a 9 person turn out, and becaus eof how everything finished up, everyone who entered was able to win something. So with no further bluster, here is Week 7 of the repack Walk Through. Each week I crack a repack, and do a walk through of the contents. I've seen these sort of draft walk through done a lot of different ways, but in my mind, there is one critical question to ask about every card. Should this wheel and why? I use a three point system to analyze a pack  In a "normal" pack, there should be 5 cards of each grade in them. 1) Shouldn't Wheel- these are the best cards in the pack, and should be scooped up before the pack comes back around. Your first pick should almost always come from this group, since odds are you shouldn't see any of them again. If one of these does come back around, and it still fits your developing plan, it's almost a sure thing to pick up on the wheel. One of these coming around m...

Wow, here we are in Week 6 of the repack Walk Through. Each week I crack a repack, and do a walk through of the contents. I've seen these sort of draft walk through done a lot of different ways, but in my mind, there is one critical question to ask about every card. Should this wheel and why? I use a three point system to analyze a pack  In a "normal" pack, there should be 5 cards of each grade in them. 1) Shouldn't Wheel- these are the best cards in the pack, and should be scooped up before the pack comes back around. Your first pick should almost always come from this group, since odds are you shouldn't see any of them again. If one of these does come back around, and it still fits your developing plan, it's almost a sure thing to pick up on the wheel. One of these coming around may also indicate an open color, or deck strategy, and always worth giving a little thought to. 2) May Wheel-I put these at a 50/50 to wheel. your second pick in the pack will us...

(...Follow up to Grim Tidings #18) Late in the fourth quarter of Superbowl 44, as the Colts were down 24-17, Peyton Manning threw an interception which was returned for a TD. The game was slowly slipping away, and that misplay essentially killed any chance for a miraculous comeback. I cursed in disgust, threw my hat on the floor, and conceded defeat at that point, How could my team, and experienced team of veterans, let the NFL Championship slip away like this? The Colts were outplayed and outcoached on February 7th, 2010. Sean Payton coached a gutsy game plan, laying it all out there in an attempt to win. From their 4th & Goal attempt to the onside kick, the Saints were fearless. They adjusted to the Colts, and did what it took to secure the win. The Colts were really stunned by that onside kick. I was too. Just when the Defense expected to Peyton to go out there and add to their slim lead, they were forced to return to the field and resume being dominated by the rolling Saints of...

Welcome back to Walk Through Project, now in it's fifth week. Like every other week, I'm going to crack a repack, and do a walk through of the contents. I've seen these sort of draft walk through done a lot of different ways, but in my mind, there is one critical question to ask about every card. Should this wheel and why? I use a three point system to analyze a pack  In a "normal" pack, there should be 5 cards of each grade in them. 1) Shouldn't Wheel- these are the best cards in the pack, and should be scooped up before the pack comes back around. Your first pick should almost always come from this group, since odds are you shouldn't see any of them again. If one of these does come back around, and it still fits your developing plan, it's almost a sure thing to pick up on the wheel. One of these coming around may also indicate an open color, or deck strategy, and always worth giving a little thought to. 2) May Wheel-I put these at a 50/50 to whee...