dastels @ 10:29 pm
This weekend was Grand Prix Oakland. A GP a quick train ride away. So it was an easy choice to drop by for a while on Saturday.
I spent most of my time there today catching up with some old friends and picking up some cards I had been looking for.
I did take the time to get a draft in. My first pack had Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle. It seemed good… heavy red is always fun. Splashing black is seldom a bad idea. Well, not too much black goodness was forthcoming but there were some decent blue cards, so i figured red with a blue splash. Pack 2 gave me Hellkite Charger… tasty! With the red I picked from the Zendikar packs, I was solidly in red by the time we got to the pack of Worldwake. The red just kept on coming: 3 Skitter of Lizards, 2 Claws of Valakut, and so on. I ended up with enough good playables (IMO) to build a mono red deck. That played well with Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle, Claws of Valakut, and Spire Barrage. Here’s the list I settled on:
Basic Lands (14) Lands (2) Creatures (11) | Sorceries (4) Instants (1) Enchantments (4) Artifacts (4) |
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Round one was a fairly solid win for me against a RB deck. In game one I was down to 2 life before my Hellkite Charger came online and commenced the burnanating. Game 2 saw my life total being chipped away 20-18-17-10, at which point my deck took off and dropped him from 20 to 8 in one turn. My opponent quickly did the math, and.. GG.
Round two was against a U deck: Fire against water. He took the first game, while handily took the second. Game three saw me unable to do much other than get hit by his fliers, until he finally did the leathal damage.
One memorable play was dealing the final point of damage by playing a kicked Deathforge Shaman.
11 Creatures is a bit light, and I could have played a Tuktuk Grunts in place of the Zektar Shrine Expedition, although being the only ally I had it was on the pricy side.
In any event, the draft was fun and I was pleased with how well I did given that it was my first Zendikar block draft and my first time seeing Worldwake cards (I couldn’t make it to the prerelease this time, haven’t gotten product yet, and didn’t even look at the spoilers).
dastels @ 10:44 pm
I just got this sleeved up and am ready to test it.
My plan was to call it “Holier Than Thou”, but at least over the holidays, I’ve dubbed it “Angels We Have Heard On High”.
The Curve looks good. Lots of life gain & damage prevention in the 1-4 slots, heavy at 4. Then the angels start showing up.. plenty at 5, a few at six and a showing at 7, 8, & 9.
I picked Reya Dawnbringer for the general, mainly for her recurring resurrection effect. Sure she costs 9 to play (the first time) but you likely won’t have many angels in the graveyard until turn 10 anyway.
I built the deck using plains from Urza’s Saga, 8 of each art. The images of Serra’s Realm are a natural fit for the theme of the deck.
General (1) Basic Land (32) Land (8) Planeswalkers (1) Creatures (28) | Artifacts (1) Enchantments (11) Sorceries (7) Instants (11) |
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The approach is simple: early game fog and life-gain effects. Sweepers to control the board. Angels to beat with, and a few ways to resurrect them. A bit of pump thrown in for good measure.
Just a note. The deck looks way nicer than is shown above. As I said, I used Urza’s Saga plains. Also, all cards are original printings (except for the WoG)… it just a sweet looking deck.
Merry Christmas, y’all.
dastels @ 9:11 pm
I didn’t get to the Planechase release.. surprise trip back home… I was planning to go.
Anyway, I went to Superstars today to play some casual EDH. PIcked up the set of Planechase decks, and played some of that, then shuffled up all 41 planes (I ended up with the promo plane as well, thanks to a friend) and used it with EDH (see Sheldon’s column here).
Man! That’s some fun shit. Just be careful about using Krosa in EDH… a turn 1 Kresh isn’t fun.
Bottom line: Planechase is fun. I’m looking forward to trying it in multiplayer.
dastels @ 12:14 am
I spent a couple hours with @power9pro Wed night introducing him to Elder Dragon Highlander (EDH). He played my 5C Sliver deck (Sliver Queen as general), and I piloted my BR Dragon reanimation deck (commanded by Bladewing the Risen in all his vault-foily splendor.. er.. um.. gruesomeness).
My deck actively worked against me in our first game… giving me land, a Blistering Firecat and a few reanimation spells.
The second game went long. with damage flying (thanks to Pulmonic Sliver) in both directions. And so we get the the penultimate turn. He goes all in with his half dozen or so slivers, dealing 7 and taking me to (iirc) 4… well within range of lethal on his next attack. Over to me. He’s at 15 life. I have Bladewing in play, along with a Crucible of Fire. So 7 power. All his guys are sideways, and all his mana is tapped (I forget exactly why… some sliver abilities I think).
So.. I have 7 power in the air.. no blockers. That leaves him at 8. oh.. my land… Blood Crypt, Badlands, Shizo, Death’s Storehouse, 5 Swamps, 4 Mountains, and Rishadan Port. In hand I have a Mountain and a Dragonspeaker Shaman. With that I can pump Bladewing by 6/6 for a 13 damage. Two points short of lethal. Then he’s lethal after untapping. I need a miracle.. I need some shinanigans.
I draw.
I look at the card.
I chuckle.
I laugh.
I tap my 5 Swamps, floating BBBBB. I tap Shizo for B. I tap the 2 duals for BB. That’s 8 black. I drop the Mountain that’s in my hand. I tap the 5 Mountains to float RRRRR. I tap the Port for 1. “Using a red & 2 for…” and I drop the card I drew… Seething Song for RRRRR, which gives me 8 black & 8 red floating… into Bladewing to pump him to 15/15. FTMFW. Epic. Dragon. Hijinx. Oh ya. That’s what I’m talkin’ about.
EDH. if you aren’t playing it… it’s time to start. Tell your friends.
dastels @ 9:22 pm
Cold & rainy too… but that’s not what I’m talking about. I’m in NYC this week and had the chance to draft twice.
No ordinary drafts either. Tuesday night I was invited by BDM to join the group at Jon Finkel’s place for a couple AAC drafts. Good times.
And Thursday night we had a “reject rare” draft at work, 3 Googlers and 3 guests.. once again including BDM. (Brian, do you crash every draft in the area or what?) This was pretty cool. People bring random rares, put a pool together, randomize and pull out “packs” of 15. Distribute & draft. Sounds like a cube, but a cube is typically full of powerful cards whereas this format generally uses not quite so good rares (i.e. “reject rares”, or “junk rares”). As Mark put it “It’s like a cube I’m willing to leave at work”.
Once again… good times and great fun.
dastels @ 9:15 am
Although it was announced on the Magic Arcana last Wednesday, I just got around to looking at it this morning after listening to Monday Night Magic podcast #148 (from this week).
Tom, Eric and Gavin conjectured that it might be built around Dinosaurs, Pirates, or a Mayan/Aztek theme.
I must respectfully disagree with all 3. The first thing that came to mind when I heard “Zendikat: Deadly Perils, Priceless Treasures” was Indiana Jones.
Also, the logo definitely looks like a stylized gemstone.
Finally, “Zendikar”… reminds me of “Zanzibar”… it doesn’t sound (or look) Mayan or Aztek. It seems African to me. the Mines of Solomon, lost cities, and such. unspeakable dangers and unimaginable riches. Elephants, Big Cats, Rhinos… we could do an African themed set. Voodoo.. witch doctors, etc, etc. lot so of fun things to play with.
That’s my opinion.
We’ll have to wait a while to see some spoiled cards to see what the truth is.
