The Original Mustache

Oh sure the Recombobulator is cute and all, but let's not lose sight of the ORIGINAL overwrought 'tache before hipsters appropriated it.

This is a card banging on all cylinders. Killer flavor text, overdone symbolism (snake eyes on the dice, balance out of kilter), and about the only card in all of Fallen Empires that I can even vaguely recall. A brassclaw something-or-other?

But most of all:

Your move.

The L is Silent - 00006

The gang returns with what will surely go down in history as an all-time classic podcast episode. Jed and Pete duke it out playing Oddsmakers with Brent as the host, moderator, judge, and jury.

Who will prevail? What happens when the contestants pick the same odds? Who will ingratiate himself to Brent best? Find out in this week's episode.

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12/20 Draft and Match Recap

Gamma Ray Games, once again in Pod 2. 10 person pod, two of them under the age of 12. So this is probably going to be a fiasco.

Pack 1

Pick 1

   

Pretty straightforward pack 1. Master of Pearls is the clear pick being not only a quadrant all-star, working in multiple decks, but qualifies as a genuine game-winner.

12/13/14 Match Recap

Recap

Round 1: 

Facing a messy Abzan deck. Unfortunately, this deck highlights my tragic lack of winners or bombs.

The first game I keep a two lander. unfortunately I miss my mana drops on 4 & 5, only getting to five land (aka Throttle territory) on turn 7. I actually stabilized and lived the dream but Abzan Ascendancy is SO GOOD. Each time I attacked I just created more 1/1 fliers I couldn't block. So dumb. I actually pull out game 2 by leaping out to a bit of lead and then Archer Parapet-ing him down. So inelegant but hilarious! But game 3 saw an on-curve Ivorytusk and that was game.

Ultimately I had no answers for:

  

(1-2)

Round 2

Facing a messy Jeskai deck. Both games he leaps out to fast attacks

   

But I stabilize and wear him down with the Glacier as he floods out.

Game two was a little more harrowing. Similar quick-start but rolls into Leaping Master and the Kirin. Drops me to 7 before I get the shields up and morphs. Honestly his deck wasn't very good. He played Swift Kick.

Don't ever play Swift Kick, I don't care how many Prowess triggers you have.

(2-0)

Round 3

Now facing a much more competently put together Temur deck. It was interesting chatting with him because he 1st pack opened a Savage Knuckleblade and then never looked back. It's like how I drafted all of a month ago! The first game I ruthlessly overwhelm his weenies. The second game I stall dangerously on four mana and he hit all of his tricks complete with a unopposed Snowhorn Rider. I was a turn away from stabilizing but he broke through with a savage 13 point attack on turn 6. Brutal.

But game three, game three was epic. I stall on four mana for two turns and get whittled down to 13. Then I get some attacks in with my Scions and burrow him down. Then he cannily baits out my Sultai Charm and drops Riverwheel Aerialists (that should have been mine) and a Savage Knuckleblade. I start chump blocking, get out a Attendants. I have three throttles in my hand. He chumps the deathtouch with the Knuckleblade. Next turn he recasts it with some other stuff, but not enough blue to bounce it. I throttle it down. One threat remove. He has swung me to 5 and is one turn (presumably he has something) away from victory. But an end of turn Throttle followed by a main-phase throttle wipes out enough of his blockers that my lame team of Sultai Flayers, Sagu Archers, and Shambling Attendants can power the last 7 health.

Two packs of khans! Victory!

MVP (tie)

 

Both of these surprised me with their performance. The Scion often puts Villain in an awkward quandary and can start chipping away life totals. The Flayer is a great value play and often puts opponents into some terrible choices with the amount of potential lifegain on trading/removal. Especially hilarious when there are two Flayers on the field.

Other notes:
Three Throttles might be too many. It would be great for one of those to be, say, a debilitating injury.

Don't forget to come up with a way to actually, you know, win the game. I loves how my deck felt but I never committed to a way to finish. Sultai needs 2-3 reliable threats to win a game, Abomination, Sultai Scavenger, Mystic of the Hidden Way... SOMETHING.

Hearthstone Ogres, Ranked

Goblins vs Gnomes introduced a handful of minor themes, including spare parts, piloted mechs and ogres. This whole set has been tremendously fun to play, with randomness woven into the gameplay in ways that are only practical in a digital environment. For instance, I've already shown you how fun Recombobulator is. Today, we're talkin' about ogres.

NERDS!

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Pete, Jed, and Brent return after a Thanksgiving break with the never-before-attempted Double Crack-A-Pack. In episode 5, the fellas discuss everyone's favorite 4/5 again and make the first two picks for both seats of a pretend two-man draft pod.

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12-13-14 (heh) Draft Report

Enough of this hearthstone nonsense. Let's talk magical cards. Gamma Ray Games, two tables of eight and I'm assigned to the kids' table. "Kids table" in the sense that the guys with LR sleeves talking loudly about signals and draft strategy are at the other table.

Pack 1

Fantastic Cards from Goblins vs Gnomes - Recombobulator

Part 1 of an undeteremined length series - Recombobulator

"You might feel a little tingle"

I love this card. I love everything about this card.

The name is great. Say it out loud. "Re-com-bob-u-la-tor!"

The art is fantastic. Look at this moustache! (and those eyebrows!)

I bet Stache is so jelly

And... it is a great card to play. I think it is so much better than it looks on the surface. The stats are fine if you need to run it out early just to get a Bloodfen Raptor. But don't do that if you can afford to wait.

If you draft a lot of minions with big battlecry values (and I do), he's amazing. Use the battlecry effect. Attack the next turn, even it it is just the Villain's face, then transform your dude into something new. If you can kill an enemy minion and leave your dude clinging to one or two health, then recombobulate him, it is even better. Check out the example below.

"I am sorry"

In this game, the mage Villain got an early start with Mana Wyrm then some mechs you can see. I played two Aldor Peacekeepers to slow things down, traded one off and killed the 2/3 Wyrm with the other. This left me with a 3/1 body, which got recombobulated into Injured Blademaster, but since he doesn't injure himself with his battlecry, I get the full 4/7 stats!

For another memorable example, I was playing mage and Unstable Portal-ed into a Silver Hand Knight. I get the 4/4 and the 2/2 at a discount, then next turn trade up for the Villain's 4/3 with the Squire and a ping, then kill a 2/4 with the Knight, leaving a 4/2 body remaining. This is where the Recombobulator does his magic, taking the 5-cost Knight and turning him into any number of real sweet bodies. In this case, I get Doomguard, but without the discard two clause! And by virtue of his charge, I get to attack face for five that turn as well. Such Value! (yeah, I won that one)

I think of Recombobulator like as Earthen Ring Farseer that only works on my guys, but can sometimes have much better (and sometimes worse, to be fair) results. Pick him in the Arena. You won't regret it.

I am loving many of the random effects in the new expansion. They are super-fun and if you can manipulate them to your advantage, they can also be super-powerful.

Play Arena for Free with Unreleased Goblins vs Gnomes Cards

To celebrate (hype) the upcoming release of the new Goblins vs Gnomes Hearthstone expansion, Blizzard has generously gifted all players one free Arena run. And there's the bonus: until the expansion goes live on Monday, December 8th, it will be the only place you can play with the new cards. It's basically a prerelease event, but for Hearthstone! Just log in before the 8th to get your free Arena ticket (value: $.199 or 150 in game gold)

HYPE!

If you haven't played Hearthstone for a while, this is a great time to get back in there and see all the new hotness on the house. The community's understanding is that Arena runs won't pay off in GvG packs until Tuesday, so if you want to wait until then to play your free Arena, that is understandable. Or, you could start the run now, play up to two losses or 11 wins, then wait and finish the run after the official launch next week.

Our Blizzard overlords have also changed a couple existing cards, so dust Gadgetzan Auctioneer and Flare now for full value, especially if you don't think you'll play them for a while.

Secret Mage: Super-Fun and Cheap Hearthstone Deck

There is only one week before the confirmed release of the Goblins vs Gnomes expansion on December 8th! In the meantime, while you are saving up all your gold and dust, I have a sweet constucted list that I have been playing on the ladder recently and having an absolute blast with. And best of all, as long as you have completed Naxxramas, it only includes two easily replacable legendary cards and four rares.

It is something I haven't seen others playing on the ladder at all and besides being fun, it is also pretty good and brings a little bit of the randomness we're expecting once the expansion hits. As the name of the deck says, it is a mage deck that revolves around secrets. Here's the list:

Why should Hunter secrets have all the fun?

The idea is to gain tempo or tempo and card advantage by playing Mad Scientist or Kirin Tor Mage early. Playing as a mage, you get the most value out of your Scientists because the secrets are all three mana cards, compared to hunter's two and paladin's one. Since we are running three different secrets, our opponents will be on the back foot and not necessarily be able to play around all the possibilities.

Mad Scientist is the backbone of this deck. When a Scientist dies, you get to draw a free card and then get three free mana and then get to play it immediately. All for the low cost of two mana! That's bordering on absurd and doesn't even count the 2/2 you also had for a time.

Kirin Tor Mage isn't quite as broken, but it is still a free Black Lotus (or 1.5 Innervates) when you play it and a secret on the same turn. All while getting an on-curve 4/3 for 3!

Really!

One typical opening sequence I've had on the draw:

* turn 1 - Mana Wyrm
* turn 2 - Coin + Kirin Tor Mage + Secret. Attack with 3/3 Wyrm. End turn 2 with a 4/3, a 3/3, and Mirror Entity up.

I generally mulligan secrets away unless I have Kirin Tor Mage ready to deploy on turn two. Since we only run six secrets, Mad Scientist could potentially lose value if we no longer have any to fetch from our deck when he dies. Remember, he won't go get a duplicate (small d) secret to one you already have up and he also won't give you any benefit if the only eligible secret left is already in your hand.

Duplicate (big D) has been very strong in this deck. The trick is the timing of when to play it. The best minion to get extras of is Sludge Belcher. I don't think that is a shock to anyone. Water Elemental is another great choice, although since this deck runs 14 spells, I have grown some large Mana Wyrms from time to time. Help anyone who kills Sylvanas on an empty board into a Duplicate, thinking it is a safe time. Watch out against Shaman and Mage players. If you telegraph the Duplicate, they might just give you two Frogs or Sheep, which is not what we want.

Sorcerer's Apprentice is the two drop I am least likey to play early. It can enable some big turns later, saving 2-3 mana the turn you play her in the right circumstance. Both Apprentice and Loot Hoarder are in the deck mostly for curve considerations.

Flamestrike may be a surprise inclusion for some of you. I think most mage decks on the ladder have cut this, which only increases its power for me. Literally no one expects this (outside of Arena) and it can generate insane value.

If you don't have The Black Knight or Sylvanas Windrunner, don't despair. They aren't essential to this build. I'd add in another Polymorph to take care of the large taunt minions and a bigger-stat threat like Chillwind Yeti or Sunwalker.

Of course there were some other cards to try that just missed the cut for me. Secretkeeper and Ethereal Arcanist were too cute and not powerful enough even though they fit the theme. Loatheb could go in just about every deck but doesn't fit in our plan. As for secrets themselves, Ice Block is excellent in a Freeze Mage-style deck where you just need one extra turn to Pyroblast your opponent to death, but this is not that. Spellbender is close to making the cut. Your opponent will never see it coming, but usually it is just equivalent to or worse than Counterspell.

Against Hunter's Mark, Arcane Shot, Blessing of Wisdom, Blessing of Might, Blessing of Kings, Holy Smite, Divine Spirit, Inner Fire, Backstab, Cold Blood, Sap, Earth Shock, Rockbiter Weapon, Hex, Reincarnate, Ancestral Spirit, Soulfire, and Mortal Coil, Spellbender is better than Counterspell. But versus Swipe, Explosive Shot, Cone of Cold, Hammer of Wrath, Holy Wrath, Power Word: Shield, Shadow Madness, Holy Fire, Betrayal, Shiv, Siphon Soul, and Slam it is worse. I think on balance, the second group is more heavily played and there is more downside than there is upside to the first group. That being said, having one in the mix adds to the fun of watching your opponent try to play around your secret correctly. I imagine most figure it's an Ice Block and are really shocked when their spell gets bent.

Give this deck a shot; I guarantee you'll have fun and you should do a fair bit of winning at the same time. And once GvG hits next week, I'll be back with some brand new Arena runs to get you up to speed on all the wackiness of the new cards.

Legacy Cube Draft #1

Wizards introduced a new online format a while back called "Phantom" events. These events accept a second virtual currency, phantom points, or regular event tickets, but the prize payout is in phantom tickets and you don't get to keep the digital objects you draft. It is a way to play events for the fun of playing without necessarily incurring the high cost of drafting at retail price and selling the rares after the fact, which is right up my ally.

Wizards generously added a large allotment of phantom points to all active accounts over the summer in a "Please test out the version 4 client" move. I didn't use mine then, so this event (and a few more) will be on the house, which makes me feel better about using the v4 client and losing to clock because of the interface.

For more info on the Legacy Cube, read here, or check out the full card list here. There are plenty of oldies and goodies in this, what amounts to a Greatest Hits draft. The major difference is that only Legacy-legal cards are in, which means no Power Nine. And with that preamble out of the way, let's dive into a Swiss Legacy Cube event with the pick-by-pick replay.

Land Collecting

I have always loved land. I don't really know why, I think it's because it is simultaneously humble yet a source of creativity. My first collection were the seasonal Mishra's Factories!

    

(note I have lost them with my blue/white deck that is somewhere in a box of my college belongings. Yes I'm still a little pissed about that)

I need a new trading goal; a reason to leaf through other people's Magic cards. So here it is: I now want to collect dual lands. My trade binder has pages nine, 3x3. One page blue/white, next page green/white etc. etc. But how to fill each page in an organized, systematic manner?

Stefan House Tournament

Stefan hosted a little tournament a few weekends ago. 6 man draft, go!

Pack 1

Open the first pack and see a Duneblast. Well that was easy. I snag a Chief of the Edge and I'm looking to make abzan happen... it gets really, really dry. I'm not seeing enough lands to go 5 color and I really have very little feel for what's going on. However, midway through the pack there's a Dragon Grip (a pretty solid red) as well as a Snowhorn Rider. From this point I'm thinking Temur.

Pack 2

Sagur Mauler? Temur it is! I actually hate a good deal of the rest of this packbut I land a late fixing and Mardu Blazebringer is surprisingly not-terrible in this deck. About the only tough call was whether or not to hate-draft an Ankle-Shanker over a Become Immense.

Pack 3

I hoovered a lot of Riders here. I got a little greedy and tried to wheel a Temur Ascendancy, uh, twice. I probably should just have grabbed it.

Deck:

Creature: smoke teller, Rattleclaw Mystic, Horde Ambusher, Mardu Blazebringer, Bloodfire Mentor, Sagu Archer x2, Glacial Stalker, Snowhorn Rider x4, Sagu Mauler, Bear's Companion, Sultai Flayer, Scaldkin

Spells: Savage Punch x2, Become Immense, Dragon Grip, Barrage of Boulders, Winterflame

Lands: Swiftwater Cliffs x2, Thornwood Falls, Forest x6, Mountain x5, Island x4

I'm not too unhappy with the deck itself though I'm leery about how few early drops I have. Will I be punished for this?

Teh Gamez

Unfortunately I ate a lot of bad luck and ran into a lot of good decks. The first match was against Stefan and I opened with a double-muligan. I foolishly traded Morphs with him with my 4/5 morph that would have powered some Ferocious bear punching. I also had absolutely no answer for 

 

That's a lot of powerful deathtouching creatures. When a Abzan Guide also hit the field, it was all over. (0-2)

Next match was against Derek and I didn't do a lot better. Another double-mull following by whiffing on land drop on turn 3, 4, and 5 meant that his Ankle Shanker didn't have a lot to do beside deliver the coup de grace. The second round I put up a little more of a fight... but not really. (0-2)

Finally against Zoe my deck actually pretends to function. It helped that I was facing a similarly slow deck, except he didn't really have answers for my relentless barrage of 5/5 tramplers. On game two I had a dominate board state with both a Rider and a Mauler up to his lone morph. He has six mana, stares at his hand, and says "Go". 99% it's our good friend!

But she can't help you if I don't need to cast anything so I just continue to beat down hard. That's the difference between a card that can break parity and one that can help you come back from behind.

Lessons learned: Temur is a funny deck because it feels like it really wants to be a classic control deck: have one big thumpy guy alive (5/5 will tussle with just about anything in the set) and protect him from all threats. I think this is where my deck construction was poor as I had a bunch of bad fits. My spells should be either counterspells or removal, not combat tricks. My creature base should either be fast-ish defenders or big thumpy. Example of useless: 

Perfect decent card, definitely has its place in Abzan and Sultai decks. But if Temur is spending 5 mana to un-morph something, it damn well better be a threat. So, if given a choice, next time I'm cutting the Barrage of Boulders, Winterflame, Become Immense, Sagu Archer and Sultai Flayer.

Cheap defenders: Bloodfire Mentor, Monastery Flock, Dragon Eye Savant, Mardu Blaze Bringer

Control Spells: Bear Punch, Stubborn Denial, Disdainful Stroke, Burn Away, Bring Low

I also probably should have ran Treasure Cruise. I think that was a mistake. I also wish I had at least one Scout the Borders Brent. IT WOULD HAVE GONE IN BRENT. But ultimately, I was happy that I stayed open and found the undrafted clan. That's something I've been trying to work on.



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On episode 4, the gang argues about raw power versus consistency, then discusses the merits of staying flexible in pack one and how to draft like the pros draft. There is even a little Arabian Nights talk thrown in for the old-timers.

Toodle-oo!

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• Some sound effects and music courtesy of  freesfx.co.uk

Jeskai Combat Tricks, rated

                                           

Jeskai is the archetype I most want to play and the one I've had the least success doing so. Most of the experts categorize it as 'fragile'. Explosively dominant when it works and completely self-destructs when it doesn't; it handles like a Ferrari at a speed-skating track. Therefore more-so than most decks, it requires careful drafting. Many key Jeskai creatures are not drafted aggressively by other clans (there are exceptions like Seeker of the Way and Bloodfire Expert) so understanding your available spells will be key.

available spells are rated on the following conditions
A) Overall power level. How well does it effect the board state?
B) Cost. Cheapness matters if you're triggering Quiet Contemplation or Goblinslide
C) Proactivity. This is a tempo deck, not control. Waiting to react to your opponent is bad.
D) Instant vs. Sorcery. Trigger Prowess after your opponent has been forced to guess.
E) Card advantage. While not as important, a steady stream of spells to fuel Prowess is nice

The L is Silent - 00003

Our intrepid hosts welcome a special guest to episode 3 of The L is Silent, physicist Dr. Jonathan <REDACTED>.

The boys chat about Heisenberg's morph, value-based drafting, Winchester Winston drafts, play "In or Out" with Khans 23rd cards, and go deep on whether you should Scout the Borders or not.

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• Some sound effects and music courtesy of  freesfx.co.uk

Breaking: Crackgate II

Here from the tournament floor, I bring breaking news of a recent player suspension. It seems that Gerry Giraffe has engaged in excessive bullying through social media by posting "selfies" exposing the lack of well fitting pants in Stefan's living room. The players are all but "cracking up". In a rebuttal, the group of occasional magic players has had Gerry suspended from further drafts until 2017.

Some of the pictures depict only subtly exposed skin such as the following.

More egregious postings include clear visibility of a deep crevice, as can be seen below.

The latter was particularly damning to Gerry's character as it also evidences his apparent massive alcohol consumption at the event. These behaviors have no place in the distinguished world of competitive magic. 

The smug smile on Gerry's face makes it clear the photos were taken with expressed interest in embareassing the delicate magic community. 

We hope everyone can move on after this incident, and be comfortable showing up for events without the fear of bullying. Even if they are skanky little hoes with tramp stamps.

Khans of Tarkir Sealed PTQ Report: Midwest Edition

As mentioned in an earlier post, earlier this week I made my way to the only PTQ within hundreds of miles of my new home.

Actual PTQ map. These are not the small states.

<SPOILER ALERT>

It did not go well. But now that we have that out of the way, I want to dig deeper into my pool and deck construction, see what I could have done better in hindsight, and share with the class some of my lessons learned.

</SPOILER ALERT>

Going into the day, I wanted great mana, tricky instants, and evasive threats. In my experience at these kind of events, you don't want to lose to your own manabase, you want to give yourself the chance to outplay your opponent, and you want to have ways to push through damage. Let's get to the pool and see what Lady Luck has in store for us.

The L is Silent - 00002

Episode 2 introduces listeners to another of our blog contributors, Brent Archer.

Brent and Pete follow up on unresolved Ugin and Ivorytusk Fortress issues  from episode 1, then crack another Khans pack and give you the lowdown on a great resource for starting your MTGO journey.

The L is Silent should now be available for all major podcatching technologies. Use the feed http://feeds.feedburner.com/thelissilent-magicanotes

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• Some sound effects and music courtesy of  freesfx.co.uk

11/8 Match Recap "18 lands, on the draw, with 2 lands in hand..."

So I plunged into battle with my 4.5 color mess. A glorious mess, but a mess all the same (weird creature base, this semi-red splash etc.)

11/8 Draft Report

Apparently it was PTQ weekend in Seattle so it was a little light at Gamma Ray Games. But we fielded a full pod of eight (first time with a proper number in a long time). I'm expecting some goofiness here though I have the judge sitting directly on my right. Bummer

Pack 1

(first pick is on the right, all the way to the Tusked Colossodon as my 2nd-to-last pick)

Not so Magical Results

Your hero moved to Saint Louis earlier this year, so this marks his first limited PTQ season in a new geo-political region. It turns out that there is one (1) PTQ within a 4-hour drive, so today was my only shot this season.

Quick & Dirty Khans Drafting Primer

Okay so I tried to bring Pete up to speed over Skype last night but he literally fell asleep on the call. I mistook his comatose stare for one of intense interest; it's an easy mistake to make I guess. So I'm going to rattle off a quick overview, fast draft tips, and some deck archtypes.

Regarding Cluestones...

I'm not alone:

Cardboard Crack - Halloween (http://cardboard-crack.com/post/101390631864/halloween)

In a couple years, Mr. Cardboard Crack can rerun this comic replacing Cluestones with Banners.

As a side note, is "Ad Cards" what other people call them? I've always said "Tips & Tricks" (but with a heavy dose of irony), because I believe that's what they were labeled the first time they appeared.

Happy Halloween!

And now a word from our sponsor...

(I'll update about my MTGO drafting experiences after just one more turn. Stupid alien wolf beetles!)

One Drop, Two Drop, Red Drop, Blue Drop

One of my big memories in drafting M15 was how it was defined by one toughness. With so many one power creatures running around, whether or not a creature could profitably interact (e.g. win) was a major defining valuation. Recall the sad fate of the Oreskos Swiftclaw. Well Khans is clearly defined by morphs: 2/2 creatures landing on turn three with extremely high reliability. As such, the efficacy of your creatures boils down to 'how does this interact with a 2/2 bear?' Does it win, lose, trade, or draw? This analysis can be brought into sharp relief by the batmobile:





On the surface this looks like a great value play: three abilities, one of them evasion, with a reasonable mana cost. Sign me up! But the bat is basically useless against 2/2s, It can't block them and the 1 power puts basically no pressure on the Villain. Imagine the Swiftwing in a set with tons of enchants floating around, like Theros. The 'French Vanilla' test (accounting for the bargain trio of abilities) would bestow a generous grade reflecting its high performance as two-drop with good upside. But here in Khans? What am I going to do, drop a Siegecraft on it? Gross.

Or to look at it another way, we have solved the mystery of not one but TWO Elmers in the set.

 

Let the 2/2s beware!