Archive for the ‘Popular Posts’ Category
This week in Magic: A new deck and Mailbag Time!
Thursday, August 14th, 2014
Welcome back to another “This week in Magic.” For those of you who have been following for a while, this will probably the last time I mention Mono Red Burn for a while. Reason being is that we’ve neared the end of the Modern season. There are a few more slightly major tournaments I can think of, but I won’t be playing Burn at them. The deck got it’s last bit of play this past weekend when I attended the TJ Collectibles Modern weekend.
There was a cash tournament on Saturday. I went 5-2 and was able to cash the event. Thanks to that result, I was able to play in the PTQ the following day. I didn’t do quite as well there. It was the first time I had played against Hatebears which also hates red…a lot. Mark of Asylum is just killer and once they dropped it, I found it almost impossible to win. It may have just been Phyrexian Unlife.
It’s really interesting to take a look at the deck I initially started with to what I ended up playing t the PTQ. The biggest difference is that I was able to get my hands on fetchlands. They made Searing Blaze (which was always the worst card in the deck without landfall) another reliable burn spell. They fuled another addition – Grim Lavamancer.
Now that the season has slowed down a bit, I’m going to try my hands at another deck. Here, take a look:
GR Tron
3x Wurmcoil Engine
2x Spellskite
1x Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
1x Sundering Titan
4x Karn Liberated
4x Oblivion Stone
4x Ancient Stirrings
4x Chromatic Star
4x Chromatic Sphere
4x Expedition Map
4x Sylvan Scrying
2x Relic of Progenitus
3x Pyroclasm
4x Urza’s Mine
4x Urza’s Tower
4x Urza’s Power Plant
1x Forest
1x Eye of Ugin
1x Ghost Quarter
1x Llanowar Wastes
4x Grove of the Burnwillows
If any of you are familiar with this list, this is the same list Cedric Phillips is known for playing. I’ve always been a big Tron fan and I think it’s set up pretty well right now. I know a lot of people are playing the Mono Blue version, but I like being able to have all of these tutor effects at my disposal.
I get that I’m completely vulnerable to any counterspells, but thanks to the absurd amount of mana I can potentially make, spells like Mana Leak and Spellpierce become moot. Remand isn’t even a problem since I can cast most things twice in one turn.
Still, I haven’t gotten a good chance to play this deck yet, but I’m hoping that will change soon. I am trying to make it to GP New Jersey which is happening in October. It’s Legacy fomat event, and I’ll be playing burn (which I’ll talk about another time). However, thanks to my performance at GP Boston, I’m actually close to accumulating enough Planeswalker Points for two byes at the event. That means I would need to squeeze in solid outings at a few events coming up – one of them being PTQ in New Hampshire the last day of the season.
It’s at these outings where I’ll try my luck with Tron. Hopefully I’ll have more to report on the deck then.
Mailbag Time!
Here on “This week in Magic” I’m going to try something new. Earlier this week I posted on all of the various Battleground Games & Hobbies social media accounts that I’d be holding a mailbag session for this week’s article. Let’s just say I’m happy I got a few submissions. So without further ado, let’s get to them.
This first question comes from Aaron. He writes:
Dear Simeon,
I know you have been doing well recently with Mono Red decks in both Standard and Modern, but what drew you to the color in the first place? Was it just purely for budget?
Good question Aaron. To tell you the truth, I have always considered myself more of a midrange player. There was a time where I thought I was a decent player, and had some success to back it up. That was during a time when I was playing “Esper Lark.” If you ask some of my other friends, they’d say I had some success with another deck called “Boat Brew.” This was a Boros aggro deck that flooded the board with Kithkins and Goblins and aimed at making them really big.
However, I’ve never really played a Mono Red deck. It was always too aggressive for my playstyle. I guess over the years it may have evolved into that. As far as Red being a budget deck, for Modern that is a big reason why I chose the deck. Fetchlands are very expensive right now thanks to the popularity of the Modern format. If Mono Red Burn didn’t have the success it had, I would not have had this much to write about.
As far as it being what I played in Standard, it’s something that was under the radar at the time. Thanks to that reason, playing the deck was more on the affordable side in Standard. At the same time, I should add that the deck is a lot of fun to play. I’m not sure I can say it’s the real deal right now. It’s only been out a few weeks. Although, it’s solid outting at the recent SCG Open shows that it could be here to stay. That is until it rotates out of Standard in October.
The next question comes from a player named Micah. He wrote:
Dear Simeon,
Why do you enjoy Modern so much?
That’s a fair question Micah. I like Modern because of it’s diversity. There are so many decks in the format that could win a tournament on a given day. This past weekend, there was a deck that play Generator Servant (a new creature from M15). The point of this deck was to get out a turn three Master of Cruelties. Yes, you heard me right. This is something you’d see in Standard, probably. However, here it was, doing well at a Modern PTQ. I don’t know how it finished, but it was sitting around the top tables for a bit.
Another example of diversity in Modern was a Mono Blue/ Turbo-Fog deck. Talk about annoying to play against, but I’m sure it was a lot of fun to play. This deck played cards like Gigadrowse to tap your opponent’s permanents, Exhaust to tap your opponent’s lands, and then take numerous turns with spells like Time Warp. How did it win? With Laboratory Maniac of course!
Our final question comes from someone who wishes to be called, “Puntmastr 4K.” He wrote:
Dear Simeon,
First of all, I’m a big fan of your writing. This is a two-part question. First, how does Scapeshift work? Secondly, assuming you’re using Scapeshift to get Valakut out, how exactly does the combo work?
Thanks for writing in “Puntmastr 4K.” That is an excellent question. So, Scapeshift is a sorcery speed spell from Morningtide that costs 2-colorless mana and 2-Green mana to cast. It allows the caster to sacrifice any number of lands from their battlefield, and then get that many lands from his or her library and put them into play. Don’t forget to shuffle your library afterwards!
To answer the second part of your question, if you get Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle and enough Mountains, you can actually kill your opponent. So how does it work? Well, if your opponent is still at 20 life, you’ll need at least eight lands. The kind of lands you sacrifice doesn’t matter. The important thing is that you search your deck for two Valakuts and six Mountains. I’m not going to get too detailed with the timing and rules, but remember to have eight lands if your opponent is still around 20 life. With two Valakuts and six Mountains, this would deal 36 damage to your opponent.
Now of course, this can all change depending on how much your opponent has shocked or bolted themselves. In Modern, this is something that occurs all the time. In the event your opponent has hurt themselves because of fetchlands and shocklands, then you may only need seven lands to combo with. Here you would need a Valakut and six Mountains. This would deal 18 damage to your opponent.
Well, that’s it for now. I hope you all enjoyed this week’s column, and more importantly, I hope you all enjoyed this Mailbag. If you want to participate in the next Mailbag, then send your questions to Sims@Battlegroundgames.com. I would love to answer your questions.
About the author
Simeon is now the Community Manager for Battleground Games & Hobbies. If you have any questions or inquiries, then you can reach him at Sims@battlegroundgames.com. He is also an avid gamer who loves to play board games and video games. He graduated college with a degree in Political Science, and now serves the public by writing about games. You can check that out here. Don’t forget to “like” him on Facebook as well. It’ll update you on all of his newest content. Best of all, you can follow Simeon on Twitter (@SimeonCortezano) for some real time hilarity. Thanks for reading!
Donate to the Extra-Life fundraiser!
Join the Battleground Games & Hobbies community forums!
Please don’t forget to check us out on Facebook and follow us on Twitter @battleground_gh!
Tags: GR Tron, Magic the Gathering, mailbag, MTG, scapeshift, Simeon Cortezano, valakut
Posted in Blog, Card Games, Featured Author, Featured Post, Magic: The Gathering, Popular Posts | 1 Comment »
D&D Next Player’s Handbook: Initial Reaction by Sam Pearson
Tuesday, August 12th, 2014
As many of you might know, I get excited about things. That’s kind of my job. But even I wasn’t prepared for what the 5th edition Player’s Handbook for Dungeons & Dragons did to me. Never before have I been such a roiling vortex of anticipation, wringing Twitter dry for each precious drop of information leading up to the release. You could have held a match to me, and it would have ignited. I was being held back from joy by the cruel, unrelenting slowness of time.
The book is out. I’m better now.
So let’s take a look at what patience and agony have bestowed upon us. Let’s see the PHB!
The Look
The first thing you’ll notice about the new Player’s Handbook is the art. You can’t escape it; it’s glorious. From the first glimpse of King Snurre’s rage on the front cover, to the paradigm-shattering sword-and-board fighter on page 148 (seriously, look it up), to page 191’s epic confrontation, the art draws you in and holds you. The style is unique, and every image evokes a whole universe of stories. Do yourself a favor and just page through once to look at the pretty pictures. Even if you’re a die-hard rules fan, it’s time well spent.
The Rules
Okay, this is the big one. I’ve heard the question a lot over the past year: “How do the new rules stack up?” The answer is: amazingly well. Gone are the restrictions of 4e, limiting players to a short list of powers and a gridded combat area. Gone is the arms race of 3.5, with players quickly outpacing any challenge the DM might be able to conjure. Derek calls 5e the best edition, and I agree. Let’s talk about why.
First, it’s easy. The core mechanic revolves around ability checks: roll a d20 and add a modifier from one of the six ability scores. That’s familiar ground for most D&D players, and takes five seconds to explain to anyone just starting with the game. There’s also a mechanic called advantage/disadvantage. Say you make an attack roll against an orc wearing a blindfold (who doesn’t happen to be a kung-fu master or something). You would make the roll with advantage: you roll two d20s and take the higher of the two to determine your result. It’s easy, effective, and intuitive. Conversely, say you’re attacking an orc while YOU wear the blindfold. Now you roll with disadvantage: roll two d20s and take the lower roll.
Show of hands. Who figured out what disadvantage was before I got to the end of that sentence? It’s such a simple concept, but anyone who sits down to play immediately grasps that advantage is something you want, and disadvantage is something you want to avoid like a huggy fire elemental. The mechanic also neatly addresses the problem of mountains of stacking bonuses. In 5th edition, you almost never have an ability score above 20. Without rare magic or twenty levels in barbarian, you simply can’t. This means that a check with a DC of 20 is always a difficult thing, even for high level characters. You never say “I smash through the iron door with my face. I don’t need to roll.” 5th edition has taken the sweet spot of 3.5, that fifth to tenth level range, and expanded that feeling to cover the entire play experience.
All right, on to the second big benefit of D&D Next: magic feels like magic. One of the big issues with 4e for a lot of players was that spells were just powers like any other. A fighter attacking everyone within two squares felt very similar to the wizard spraying fire in all directions; the mechanics were largely the same. But even 3.5, and by extension Pathfinder, made magic feel mundane. “Oh, look, another +1 sword. Shame I have a better one already. I guess we’ll sell it back in town.” I don’t know about you, but I feel like finding a magic item should never be boring. Magic should be wondrous. It should be a cut above the ordinary, a way to go beyond the normal framework of life. 5th edition brings back that wonder.
Spells slots are back, for a start. Powerful magic is a limited resource. But cantrip spells can be cast freely, all day, every day, so a wizard never becomes just some goofball in a pointy hat. And magic items are a big, big deal. They can’t be bought, for a start. You’re not going to find a store full of fabulous arcane equipment in every random village, and even large cities won’t have a magical emporium. If you want a +1 longsword, you go to a library, research King Arthur, puzzle out the final resting place of Excalibur, and go fight zombie knights until you can wrest your prize from the cold grasp of a long-dead king. And if you get tired of it, good luck selling it! Dropping that down in a general store and asking for coin would be like paying for your gum at a gas station using a gold brick. These items should be strange and wonderful, and the system is designed with that in mind. No longer is it assumed that a fifth level character has at least a +1 weapon and some magic armor; you can go all the way to level twenty without ever needing enchanted equipment. That just makes it all the better when you do find it.
The Mindset
Quite apart from the rules, the biggest change in D&D Next is one of approach. Wizards of the Coast has given us a Player’s Handbook that meets us halfway, or more than halfway; these are tools to tell your own stories. There’s a list of gods in an appendix for several campaign settings, including historical Earth (yes, you can be a cleric of Zeus). There are quotations, pictures, and references to the Forgotten Realms, Greyhawk, and Dragonlance throughout the book. Advice is given on how to make characters come to life, since roleplay is now as important a part of the system as combat, but the book always gives you options, never mandates. With this Player’s Handbook, Wizards of the Coast isn’t saying “Here’s our game, take it or leave it.” They have made it abundantly clear that this is our game, to play as we wish. 5th edition will never tell you that you’re having fun wrong.
As you read through the book, options abound. Strange races like dragonborn are there, but it’s explicitly mentioned that they may not fit all campaign settings. Feats exist (and are amazing), but are an optional component; you don’t have to have a twenty-level feat progression just to play the game, and it works fine without them. Each and every class has two or more different variants, from the many schools of magic for wizards to the different paladin oaths, providing extensive character customization. A party of five fighters can be as varied as any other, and still be quite effective.
And the options aren’t limited to the player’s side of the screen. D&D Next returns to an emphasis on DM rulings, not rules. The system gives DMs simple tools to describe and adjudicate any situation, then quietly lets you get on with it. One upshot of this method is compatibility: with appropriate monster conversions, you can run any adventure from any version of D&D or Pathfinder, converting the encounters on the fly. I’ve done it with the Tomb of Horrors and Expedition to the Barrier Peaks, running both straight out an AD&D 1st edition reprint. And with the Monster Manual coming out in September with its monster creation rules, and the Dungeon Master’s Guide in November with a whole host of options to hack the game for whatever you want to do, D&D Next will give us more freedom to play the game we want than we’ve ever had before.
Final Thoughts
I could go on. If we were standing around at the Plainville store, I probably would. I would talk about the beautifully simple spell preparation system. I’d tell you why fighters are better fighters than anyone else. I’d tell you why I want to play every single class in the whole Player’s Handbook, or how to make a dwarf wizard in armor, or how to know seven languages at level one. But all of that is just wasting time. The rules are out there, and as a wise man once said, you don’t have to take my word for it. I’ve found my favorite D&D, and maybe you will, too.
About the author
Sam is a passionate gamer who obviously loves his Dungeons and Dragons (see photo above). When he is not playing games he can be found working on his next novel. Did we mention he also works for Battleground Games & Hobbies? He does!
Join the Battleground Games & Hobbies community forums!
Please don’t forget to check us out on Facebook and follow us on Twitter @battleground_gh!
Tags: DND, dnd 5th edition, dnd next, Dungeons and Dragons, Player's Handbook, sam pearson
Posted in Blog, Dungeons & Dragons, Featured Author, Featured Post, Popular Posts, Role-Playing Games | 4 Comments »
This week in Magic: Another second place finish
Thursday, August 7th, 2014
Ever since GP Boston-Worcester, I’ve had the competitive bug. This past weekend were the TCG Modern State Championships. So, I decided to take my burn deck and try my hand at this. To be honest, I went into the tournament not knowing too much besides the format of the tournament. I didn’t even know what I was playing for. I guess, in a way, this is a good thing. Concern yourself with winning first, then figure out what you get after.
On to the deck. For reference, here is what I played this past weekend.
Mono Red Burn:
4x Goblin Guide
4x Eidolon of the Great Revel
4x Hellspark Elemental
4x Lightning Bolt
4x Lava Spike
4x Shard Volley
4x Searing Blaze
4x Skull Crack
4x Rift Bolt
4x Flames of the Blood Hand
15x Mountain
1x Arix Mesa
4x Scaling Tarn
Side board:
3x Combust
3x Shattering Spree
3x Searing Blood
2x Relic of Progenitus
2x Anger of the Gods
2x Molten Rain
There was a pretty good showing for a Sunday tournament: 52 players. As you can see, I haven’t made any major changes to the deck as far as the core spells go. However, I was able to get my hands on some fetchlands. I was actually concerned about how it would affect my game. It definitely felt different playing with them. Obviously it made my Searing Blazes amazing, but it’s hard to explain exactly how going from a budget deck to playing with fetchlands made me feel.
I didn’t start the day well, I lost my first match to Tarmo-Twin. This time, the deck had the newly added Huntmaster. I felt the match was close, but he seemed to always have the edge. The Huntmaster adds a whole new dynamic to the deck and the match. You would never think much of it, but the act of gaining life (any amount) against a burn player hurts so much.
Starting the day with one loss meant that I had to win out. It was a six round tournament with a cut to Top 8. My next match didn’t start well either. I was up against Scapeshift. This is a match that tends to favor me, but two early Remands and a Cryptic Command kept enough at bay that he has able to combo off. Also, remember how I had mentioned playing with fetchlands was a different feeling. Well, what was a great matchup for me, became a decent matchup. Dealing myself, albeit, only a couple points of damage is enough for Scapeshift to combo off a little bit earlier on me.
I quickly got game two, but I was a little on tilt because of my round one loss. Even my opponent noticed how cautious I was playing. Game three was where things really changed for me – not only in the match, but for the day as well. I had to take a mulligan and went down to six cards. My opponent had decided to keep a seven-card hand. However, my opponent (who was on the play) drew a card on his first turn. This is always an awkward situation, but in a higher competitive tournament, i had to call the judge over, even though I knew it was an obvious mistake. My opponent wasn’t happy as well; his unhappiness with not with me, but with how he could have allowed himself to draw a card, especially during game three.
The judge came over and the situation was explained. I’m never sure what the rulings are going to be here, but I was hoping he would at least get to play the last game. I don’t remember what the official ruling was here, but I know my opponent had to take two cards, at random, from his hand and shuffle them back into his deck. I ended up winning this match, and I had a very good feeling as to why. My opponent, after the match, confirmed that feeling. The two cards that he had shuffled back into his deck were two forests. During our game, I saw how much he was digging into his deck, knowing he was looking for a forest. Luckily for me I was able to burn him out. A win is a win.
I ended up winning out leading into the sixth round. A bit of gambling on my part, and I was able to draw into the Top 8 in sixth place.
The Top 8 favored me if things played out the way I wanted them to. There were three decks I was unsure about, and my quarterfinal opponent was one of them. His first turn play meant I was playing the mirror. Funny thing is, I have never played the mirror before. The closest I have come to playing the mirror was at a GPT leading up to GP Boston-Worcester. That wasn’t Mono Red Burn, though. It was RWB Burn.
Our match went to game three and that was a tight game that I got thanks to 75% luck. My opponent kept a one land hand (something that a Burn player can afford to do thanks to so many one-drops in the deck). By turn two, his groan had made it obvious and I sat up straight, poised to win. However, I was sitting on two Searing Blazes that had yet to see a target. Thanks to some fetchlands, I had brought myself down to a respectable burn range for only two lands. My opponent wasn’t doing too well either. I just needed one more burn spell. I was starting to flood, though. While, they were not the greatest threat against burn, I still played my Hellspark Elementals. My only fear at the time was them getting bolted or something else. I hadn’t even considered them getting targeted by Searing Blood.
The first time I played the Hellspark, it got killed via a Searing Blood dealing 3 to me. My opponent drew a card and passed. I followed that up by unearthing my Hellspark. That was met with another Searing Blood dealing 3 more to me. At this point, my life total was now at 5. I was sweating. I was going to lose this game. It was going to be heartbreaking. At the same time, I was excited to see such a great comeback from another burn player.
On his turn he cast a Skull Crack and passed the turn with mana open. I was clueless. This was either the worst slow-roll or he didn’t have anything. I just needed a burn spell, forget creature, I just wanted something I could point at him and deal him damage. I flipped the top card and revealed a Skull Crack of my own. My opponent extended the hand and replied, “Well at least one burn deck will move on.”
The other decks I knew about were a Junk deck, a Jund deck, two Twin decks, and still another deck I didn’t know about. The semi-finals came and things were really favoring me because both Twin deck were eliminated – one of them being my opponent from round one that I had lost to.
My semi-final opponent was against Adam Snook, a well known player in the local tournament scene and was playing Junk. We knew what each other was playing and he was not looking forward to it. I got game one as expected, but I tried not to let myself get ahead of things. Game two was a humbling point as I flooded out and he smashed me with hand removal, Goyfs and a Treetop Village. While I appreciate the humbling moment, I was still able to crush game three and move onto the finals.
How I derped the finals
Here is what you’ve all been waiting for. My finals opponent had beaten Affinity in his matchup, meaning I was facing him and his Jund Deck. If you ask me, everything was coming up Simeon at this point.
Our game one did not start out how I wanted it to. He won the dice roll and won the match. I got a little flooded, but there are just some things you can’t help. This was one of them. Our second game went how I thought it would, I was on the play and I just burned my opponent out.
I kept a seven-card hand, and my opponent had to take a mulligan. He kept six. He opened with an Inquisition, and took one of my many burn spells. I opened with a fetchland into Lava Spike. His turn two had him shocking himself to 15 life to play a Tarmogoyf. He played a fetchland, fetched for a land, swung with his Gofy bringing me to 16, and passed the turn. I had, in my hand, a Lava Spike, two Shard Volleys, and a Molten Rain. I played my third land.
Now, any smart person would have played their Molten Rain and set their opponent back a land. In a deck that plays three colors, this can be a big game changer, but I am not a smart person. I, instead, elect to Lava Spike him bringing him to 11 life. I paid for not blowing up his land. He played Liliana of the Veil on his next turn and ticked her up. I chose to discard the Molten Rain I failed to play. He swung with Goyf and brought me down to 10. That was a six point hit thanks to grabbing an Eidolon from an early discard spell.
I drew a land on my next turn and now only had two Shard Volleys in hand. I had to pass the turn. My opponent drew and activated Liliana again, then swung with Goyf bringing me down to 4 life. I had responded to Liliana by using both of my Shard Volleys. This brought him to 2 life and I had two lands left.
Looking back, I realized how bad of a situation I was in. At the time though, I had put a lot of faith in my deck. but I failed to realize how many of my burn spells I didn’t want to draw – Searing Blaze, Searing Blood, Flames of the Blood Hand. I gathered my lands up and my opponent said to me, “You should windmill slam it.” Referring to the top card of my deck. Everyone who had stuck around (even Josh ‘cause he didn’t have a choice) began to lean into the table. I reached for the top card of my deck. I braced myself. I was looking for a Bolt, another Volley, a Spike, or even a Skull Crack. It was at that moment I could hear the trumpets in the background as they played the infamous “Womp Womp.” I had flipped over a Mountain.
About the author
Simeon is now the Community Manager for Battleground Games & Hobbies. If you have any questions or inquiries, then you can reach him at Sims@battlegroundgames.com. He is also an avid gamer who loves to play board games and video games. He graduated college with a degree in Political Science, and now serves the public by writing about games. You can check that out here. Don’t forget to “like” him on Facebook as well. It’ll update you on all of his newest content. Best of all, you can follow Simeon on Twitter (@SimeonCortezano) for some real time hilarity. Thanks for reading!
Donate to the Extra-Life fundraiser!
Join the Battleground Games & Hobbies community forums!
Please don’t forget to check us out on Facebook and follow us on Twitter @battleground_gh!
Tags: Magic the Gathering, Modern, mono red burn, MTG, Simeon Cortezano, TCG, Wizards of the Coast
Posted in Blog, Card Games, Featured Author, Featured Post, Magic: The Gathering, Popular Posts | No Comments »
Lloydel Pictures and Battleground Games & Hobbies Presents: Grudge Match – Calder vs. Lowe!
Wednesday, August 6th, 2014
Tags: Grudge Match, Lloydel Pictures, Magic the Gathering, MTG, Nick Lowe, Paul Calder, YouTube
Posted in Blog, Card Games, Events, Featured Post, Magic: The Gathering, Popular Posts, Store Related | 1 Comment »
This week in Magic: Making Day 2 of GP Boston-Worcester
Thursday, July 31st, 2014
This past weekend was definitely a good weekend for me. In case you missed it, I made Day 2 of GP Boston-Worcester. It was so much of a surprise to myself that I was not at all prepared. I was such a mess that day, I didn’t even have a belt, and my pants were falling all day. Long story-short, I am in the middle of a move and my belt is in storage.
Not only was I missing a belt, but when I made Day 2 I was in scramble mode to find a place to sleep since my buddy Josh didn’t make it and wasn’t planning on driving into Worcester from the South Shore again. I was lucky enough to have a couple of offers to crash on the floor of friends’ hotel rooms. (Thanks to both Carl and Jason, by the way).
It should be no surprise what I played at the GP. If you’ve been following me for a while now, you’d know that I played Mono Red Burn. I went 7-2 on Day One, and unfortunately finished 2-3 on Day Two. While I missed out on cashing, I was just happy to make Day Two, as well as many of my other friends.
The journey to this point was not easy. I did a fair share of testing, and while testing, I got my fair share of stares and losses. There were times I felt defeated playing this deck. Day Two was never in my sights. I didn’t even pack a bag. Still, I managed to persevere. For your enjoyment, here is the list I ran:
Mono Red Burn aka 20 Mountains
Main Board:
4x Goblin Guide
4x Hellspark Elemental
4x Eidolon of the Great Revel
4x Lightning Bolt
4x Lava Spike
4x Shard Volley
4x Searing Blaze
4x Rift Bolt
4x Skull Crack
4x Flames of the Blood Hand
20x Mountain
Side Board:
3x Combust
2x Relic of Progenitus
2x Anger of the Gods
2x Molten Rain
3x Shattering Spree
3x Searing Blood
Hellspark Elemental was a last minute change over Spark Elemental. After some playtesting with my friend Jay, I had come to the conclusion that Spark Elemental was missing something. That something was being able to use itself over again. Hellspark Elemental’s ability to Unearth itself is huge. You’re essentially running eight of them.
I came across a nice variety of decks at the GP. In fact, during Day One, I played against two 8Rack decks. My two losses came against Merfolk and Fairies. I’ve never had a good run against Fairies, even when the deck was in Standard. I also did not test against it much outside of the tournament. My wins came against Jund, 2x 8Rack, 2x Scapeshift, GB, and UR Twin. Aside from the Twin match, the other decks were great opponents for me. As for my Twin matchup, he got land screwed game one, and then I just out burned him game two. He was gracious in his loss, and wished me luck after the match.
I should add that my two losses were within the first four rounds of the day. Thus, I had to win out the entire day. I definitely felt the heart palpitations coming on near the end of the final match. It went to third game, and thankfully I won it.
Day 2 was a little rough for me. Round one had me against my worst matchup in round one, Ad Nauseum. My only two wins came from another 8Rack match and a Jund match. The losses came from Ad Nauseum, Affinity (which was a heartbreaker for me), and Twin. Those last two losses were very close. Both my opponents let out big sighs of relief. Although, I’m not sure if it was because the matches were close, or they didn’t want to lose to Mono Red Burn. It could have been a combination of both.
Overall, I had a good time at the event. I mean, if you make Day 2, then there isn’t much to complain. Especially if you’ve never done it before. Sadly, I have been sick the past several years that a GP has been in the area – whether it was in Massachusetts or in Rhode Island. One year I made showed up on the second day of GP Boston the last time it was held in the Hynes Convention Center. However, I was so sick that day, I don’t remember much of it.
There were some things to be said about the GP on a finer level, but I’ll save that for another time.
Making changes to the deck
You already know I changed my Spark Elementals to Hellspark Elementals. There is very little I would change in the deck. If you’re looking for a very budget deck to run in Modern that has a good shot of winning a small sized tournament, this is your deck. If I were to run it in another major tournament, maybe something that is coming up in a couple of weeks, I would definitely throw in fetch lands. I would need to do more testing before I suggest running four or eight fetch lands, but, either way, they need to be run. The main reason: Searing Blaze.
This card can really make or break the deck. Alone, it can be both the best card in the deck and it can be the absolute worse thing ever. It all depends on the landfall trigger. Even then, you can only cast this card on your turn. Thus, you’re never able to take full advantage of the spell. I’m sure if I had fetchlands in this deck, it would have run a lot more efficiently. I would have been able to thin the deck out and almost guaranteed I would have a way to trigger landfall.
In the end, the call is yours. Just remember it can mean the difference between a $50 deck and a $410 deck.
About the author
Simeon is now the Community Manager for Battleground Games & Hobbies. If you have any questions or inquiries, then you can reach him at Sims@battlegroundgames.com. He is also an avid gamer who loves to play board games and video games. He graduated college with a degree in Political Science, and now serves the public by writing about games. You can check that out here. Don’t forget to “like” him on Facebook as well. It’ll update you on all of his newest content. Best of all, you can follow Simeon on Twitter (@SimeonCortezano) for some real time hilarity. Thanks for reading!
Donate to the Extra-Life fundraiser!
Join the Battleground Games & Hobbies community forums!
Please don’t forget to check us out on Facebook and follow us on Twitter @battleground_gh!
Tags: gp boston-worcester, Magic the Gathering, Modern, MTG, Simeon Cortezano, Wizards of the Coast
Posted in Blog, Card Games, Events, Featured Author, Featured Post, Magic: The Gathering, Popular Posts | 3 Comments »
Wizards of the Coast Announces Sweeping Changes to ‘Magic’ Organized Play
Wednesday, July 30th, 2014
Wizards of the Coast announced yesterday sweeping changes to the Magic the Gathering organized play program as a result of unprecedented growth in both it’s Grand Prix program and Pro Tour Qualifier programs. Based upon feedback from the community at large, including judges, players, and local-game-store’s alike, the following changes were announced:
A New Path to the Pro Tour
The take away:
- New path to the Pro Tour will now feature a two-tier event series to qualify – a Preliminary PTQ feeding a Regional PTQ;
- Winners of Preliminary PTQ’s are invited to participate in the Regional PTQ;
- Preliminary PTQ’s will be run by local game stores;
- Qualified players may play in any Regional PTQ they wish;
- The top four finishers of the Regional PTQ qualify for the Pro Tour, including airfare;
- If a Regional PTQ has 128 participants or more, the top eight players qualify for the Pro Tour instead.
Improving Grand Prix Events
The take away:
- Amount of Grand Prix events increased from 46 to 54;
- The top eight (top four for a team event) will receive invitations to the Pro Tour regardless of event attendance;
- Everyone with 39 match points – or a record of 13-2 – will qualify for the Pro Tour;
- Total prize pay out increased to $70,000 if attendance is 3600 or more.
Changes to the Pro Player’s Club
The take away:
- Pro Points at Pro Tour’s will now be awarded based upon final match point score instead of final swiss standing beyond the top eight;
- Pro Points at Grand Prix events will likewise now be awarded based upon final match point score beyond the top eight;
- Players at the Pro Tour finishing with 33 match points or more will receive an invitation and airfare to the next Pro Tour;
- Minor changes to the threshold needed to reach Platinum Pro-level status;
- Gold Pro-level no longer awards a $500.00 appearance fee. Instead, Gold Pro-level now awards airfare to all Pro Tours for the season.
What do you think of these sweeping changes? Is this better for the Magic the Gathering organized play program or worse? Tell us what you think of the new changes effective beginning in August in the comments below!
Tags: Changes, Grand Prix, Magic the Gathering, MTG, Organized Play, Pro Tour, Pro Tour Qualifier, PTQ, Wizards of the Coast, WOTC
Posted in Blog, Card Games, Events, Featured Post, Magic: The Gathering, Popular Posts, Store Related | 1 Comment »
« Previous Page|Next Page »
© Copyright 2012 Battleground Games & Hobbies
Designed by
contact@battlegroundgames.com | (781) 261 - 9640
Social: