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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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

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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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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.

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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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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.