© Natalia Arias, Venus of Averbury,  2006

© Natalia Arias, Venus of Lenpuque,  2006

© Angelike Sher, AC/DC 2, from the series Thirteen, 2007

© Angelike Sher, Pink slippers, from the series Thirteen, 2007

© Ahndraya Parlato, Untitled, from the series Inscape, 2003-2008

© Ahndraya Parlato, Untitled, from the series Inscape, 2003-2008

“I am interested in how we structure our personal worlds, in how we imbue them with a sense of direction, purpose, and security when, in fact, we can actually control very few things. The idea that we’re not working towards anything, that completion and wholeness are unattainable fictions, and that chaos rules, is a scary possibility to consider. The world can unravel at any moment – no matter how perfect your yard is.

Our feelings are elusive. It may take us years to know why we do certain things, or feel certain ways. Because of this, we’re often operating without reason. We believe we know why we’re doing what we do, but, in fact, we’re blind. We’re magicians. My reality is an illusion that I’ve created. I may recognize it as an illusion, or I may not; I may continue to accept it, and to call it reality, thus rendering it real. Or it may vanish before me like the fleeting chimera it was.

I want to show the world in a way that recognizes the fragility of our constructions, that accepts, and perhaps welcomes the discovery of a torn veneer. My subjects accept the failure of order; they sense their own inability to control the world, and yet, they continue to try. Their world is marked by both a loss of comfort and the search for new and unusual methods of consolation, despite the impossibility of complete consolation.”

Personnal Statement

More of Ahndraya’s work here

I have been reading ‘The Reformers and Their Stepchildren,’ by Leonard Verduin, in the last week or so. It is not the first time that I have read this book, having read it some time ago – probably 10 years ago now I would say.

This is a book that I would recommend to any believer, but particularly to a Reformed believer, whether he be Paedobaptist or Baptist. Verduin seeks to analyse the Reformation and the relationship between the Reformers and their ‘stepchildren’ from a Biblical standpoint, rather than any particular denominational standpoint. Though he does defend the stepchildren, he does so only when they are in line with Scriptural teaching on the point being discussed within that particular chapter.

Who are the stepchildren? The stepchildren or the ‘second front,’ as Verduin also describes them, are those believers who sought a complete reforming of the church. In fact, it may be fair to say that these believers sought a complete break from the Romish church, and a new church built on the teachings of Scripture and modelled on the New Testament church alone.

The frustration for these nonconformist believers was that the reform movement only went so far and did not result in the complete renewal that they desired and that the situation required.

Thus far I have read only the first two chapters of the book and once again I am finding it a very worthwhile read. I find myself in substantial agreement with the position of many of the stepchildren and with Verduin. With as much respect as I have for the Reformers, such as John Calvin, Martin Luther and John Knox, I too would have found myself frustrated at the level of reform achieved by them (though they were better men than I). A complete break and renewal would have been the way forward I believe.

The first two chapters deal with the joint secular-religious church-state that was set up at both the time of Constantine and then at the Reformation in the various Protestant nations that embraced the Reformation. They deal with the all-embracing religion that was constructed in such centres as Geneva and the ‘unified’ approach to it, as well as the reaction of the stepchildren and their withdrawal from it.

This book is as close to a must read for believers as there is I think – especially of the Reformed persuasion.

My copy of the book (paperback) is by William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. and was printed in 1964.

Target Earth is a 1954 science fiction film. It was directed by Sherman A. Rose and stars Richard Denning, Kathleen Crowley, Virginia Grey, and Whit Bissell. The film focuses on a deserted Chicago cityscape and a small group of people who have been overlooked during a mass evacuation due to an invasion of robot like beings from the planet Venus. The movie was based on the 1953 short story “Deadly City” by Paul W. Fairman.

Trivia:

Kathleen Crowley

Virginia Grey

Amazon Specials!

The Back Story

This morning I received a message on facebook from Dillon reminding me that States is right around the corner. I’m glad he did because I didn’t have it on my list of things to think about this month. Good thing I’ve been thinking a lot about standard the past few weeks. I’ve been tinkering with goblins specifically built around Warren Instgator, I’ll get to more on that later.

Flash to this afternoon with a timely visit from John, Arcane Order club member, to talk about the development of decks in the new standard. We spent the better part of an hour analyzing decks on tcgplayer.com. There are a lot of interesting builds out there, mostly aggressive and few control oriented. I don’t think I saw a Cancel all day. To state the obvious Baneslayer Angel is the best creature in most decks and fetch lands will be ever present.

Standard A GoGo

I’m not sure what I’ll be playing everything from Jund to the new Bant looks tempting. Mono red looks hot but the Planeswalkers deck is also intriguing. It is going to be a challenge figuring out who will be playing what as there hasn’t been a clear leader in the current meta.

Back to my goblins. I started with this in a more casual mindset but it has some interesting potential. I’ve played a few games and love putting chieftan onto the battlefield because of instigator. Anyway take a look and let me know what you think. Keep in mind this is based on cards I own and not what I think is the best build.

Creatures
4 x Raging Goblin
2 x Goblin Bushwhacker
1 x Goblin Guide
4 x Warren Instigator
4 x Goblin Chieftain
4 x Goblin Razerunners
2 x Siege-Gang Commander

Spells
4 x Burst Lightning
2 x  Fireball
4 x Lightning Bolt
4 x Dragon Fodder
1 x Goblin Assault
2 x Trailblazer’s Boots

Land
20 x Mountain
2 x Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle

This past Saturday was the much heralded Zendikar Game Day. I had traveled to Pandemonium in Garden City with my lovely wife to play in a Grand Prix Trial for Minneapolis. The “Game Day” tournament didn’t start until 2pm and we figured we could jump in it if our sealed decks didn’t shape up.

Apparently nobody knew about the GP Trial because there were a grand total of like 20 players. So we sat down in about 1/4 of the space available in the room and set about registering some sealed decks. The card pool I opened wasn’t too bad, with a few removal spells and a couple decent creatures. I wouldn’t have minded receiving it back. I heard more than one person say “I hope I don’t get this crap back.” and only 2 say they’d be overjoyed to receive theirs.

I was one of the ones that got someone else’s crappy pool. My only removal was 1 disfigure. I had multiple copies of such winners as Goblin War Paint, Spidersilk Web thingy, and Kraken Hatchling. The only real standout of the pool was the blue, which had about 3 bounce spells. Unfortunately the blue offered about 3 creatures, 2 of which were Kraken Hatchlings (and I had no good equipment) and no early drops to out-tempo someone. So I went black-red-green splashing the green for solid creatures. Going 2-color wasn’t really an option as the pool was just so abyssmal.

Later when my wife and I compared pools I saw hers and said “not too shabby, should be good to top8 a 20-person event.” And she said “Yuck!” when she saw what I had to work with. My thoughts exactly.

I believe I won the first round, but shipped the next three with reckless abandon. I was so disoriented and confused with the deck sideboarding wise (I was siding in multiple cards, usually cross-colors, just to have a fighting chance) that I mis-sideboarded at one point, got deck-checked, and received a game loss. That’s my first ever penalty in tournament play. Unless you count a caution I once received for something silly long ago.

So at 1-3 of a 5-round 20-person tournament I decide to drop (good call, only one 3-2 player made it in) and play in the ZEN game day. My wife was doing well with her pool and went 3-1-1 to secure a spot in the draft.

I briskly walk to the store and let them know I’ll be entering the game day and when I realize entry is only $5 I’m elated (I thought it would be more). There were only about 10 people playing in it, which also suprised me. Then I learned there was a PTQ in Ohio that day and it all made sense. I think they got over 200 people. So I sleeved up a Jund list and prepared for battle. The tournament was three rounds of swiss, cut to top 4. The most fun part of the tournament was that nobody had any idea what the prizes were until the finals, where we learned there was about a $6 difference in store credit and a lovely certificate.

My wife and I share a collection and the night before the tournament we spent a great deal of time trying to construct 2 different playable decks from the cards available to us. While waiting for the game day to start I had to break-down her deck to give me a better Jund build. And thanks to Kurt for letting me borrow some Planeswalker goodness and lands!! Here’s the list I ended up with:

3 Dragonskull Summit
4 Forest
2 Mountain
4 Rootbound Crag
4 Savage Lands
4 Swamp
4 Verdant Catacombs
 
4 Bloodbraid Elf
3 Broodmate Dragon
2 Thornling
4 Putrid Leech
4 Sprouting Thrinax
 
3 Bituminous Blast
4 Blightning
2 Garruk Wildspeaker
1 Terminate
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Maelstrom Pulse
 
Sideboard
4 Duress
3 Goblin Ruinblaster
3 Jund Charm
2 Thought Hemorrhage
3 Great Sable Stag

I had heard that Thornling was good in the mirror and happened to have some with me, so I tossed those in and ran with it, expecting to play against Jund all day. Little did I know…

round 1: Boros Bushwhacker (Dan Hojnacki)
All of my opponents on the day were polite, including Dan. He raced out to a ridiculously fast start in game one and I barely caught up. But catch up I did and when he didn’t draw the burn to seal the deal I was Bloodbraiding into Lightning Bolts to finish the deal. In game two he got stuck on two lands and just couldn’t keep up the pressure.
1-0 rounds, 2-0 games

round 2: Boros again (Gian Colista)
This time with a different pilot, but similar result. I won in two straight but I’m unsure of how the games played out. I know I almost lost one game but after removing his Lynx and Geopede he drew no more creatures. Game two he had a Goblin Guide running wild but only for 2 turns as I had a Leech followed up with a Thrinax. I think it was game 2 when I was stuck on 2 lands after dropping the Leech and he was debating a Path to Exile on it. I was praying he had a path so I could search out a basic and drop the Thrinax, and he went for it, which enabled my 3rd turn Thrinax which he could only sigh at and Bolt. I generated the saprolings to block his Guide and that was all she wrote as I promptly drew a 4th land and got silly with Cascade.
2-0 rounds, 4-0 games

round 3: Pyromancer’s Ascension (Vivek Soi)
Third round against the always exciting Dr. Soi. A tournament regular who we always manage to run in to at various events and a really nice guy. I knew what he was playing due to my last match taking all of 7 minutes and his taking the full round. So I had a feeling I would be able to win. He did have the craziest tech of the day, however, Swerve. Swerve is very silly and redirected about 4 of my Blightnings on the day from 2 different opponents. The games were surprisingly quick as I had good draws both times and he ran out of gas in game 2. He swerved the blightnings but couldn’t get the Ascension online and succumbed to Cascade card advantage.
3-0 rounds, 6-0 games

top 4: Boros yet again, same guy from round 1
Dan and I clashed again with the same result as round one.
4-0 rounds, 8-0 games

Finals: UWR Planeswalkers (Michael Schlotz)
I don’t believe I’ve played against this guy before but he played well. Sadly my deck did not. I kept some decent hands but Swerve reared its ugly head and sent my Blightnings back my way. Game one saw me going for it with turn 3 blightning, he had the swerve, of course, which made me pitch a land and I think a Broodmate. I then went for turn 4 Bloodbraid for which he had the Double Negative. I drew lands and Bit Blasts for the rest of the game and I believe he burned me out with Chandra. Game two was much of the same but I hit a land clot after about turn 6, and by the time his Luminarch Ascension was creating 4 Angels a turn I had upwards of 12 lands in play. Ah well. The deck put out some amazing gas for five rounds every game then petered out in the last one. Peak Oil? Hmmm…
4-1 rounds, 8-2 games

So even though the Trial was a bust for me, it was great for Sarah as she got to do a formal top 8 draft and proceed to punt the quarterfinals with a pretty good deck. Her opponent’s deck was ridiculous, though, so I’m glad she almost beat him. She claims that the savage punting was due to me walking over to watch after my top4 match. I claimed innocence, but she may have a point.

I received my $12 in store credit and used it to obtain a Sunpetal Grove. Woot! I was looking to get a Baneslayer (by dropping $22 in addition to the credit), but I think my finals opponent beat me to it. It was still a fine day for Standard, even though I missed out on that glorious certificate… and I am not the official “Zendikar Champion” of the store. /wrists

(oh, and R.I.P. my Limited Rating after that fiasco! Down to 1793 from 1843. 50 points for a GP Trial!!! At least my Constructed went up to 1886… from 1880… yeah, 6 points. :| )

(Oh, one more aside. I’m not a fan of Jund in the current Standard and I’ll have a post about my reason for that and what deck(s) I would play, coming soon!)

Welcome back to Casual Magic.

This month I’m planning on attending GASP con, which stands for Gaming Association of Southwest Pennsylvania. This will be my second time attending GASP con and I’m looking forward to it. Three days of gaming with a Zendikar sealed event on Friday. You can read my recap from last year here. I’ll be attending with Aaron who runs Buymorecards.net. He’s working on a new design for is site so stay tuned for an announcement when he gets it fully operational.

Anyway it has been a while since I’ve been to a good con and I’m hoping to get into some good non magic board games. Recently I’ve been playing a D&D campaign. My first. It has been very enlightening and a lot of fun. I’m expecting to meet some great people and learn some new games.

Back to Magic.

Last friday I attended my first FNM in a while. The first in Zendikar Standard for sure. Over the past few weeks I’d been tied up with events and obligations therefore keeping me from gaming. I probably wouldn’t have played because I didn’t have a deck together. But after looking at that weeks building on a budget I realized that I probably could put that deck together, and I was right.

The deck is essentially a cheap Jund build. Cheap meaning not all the expensive cards like Maelstrom Pulse and fetch lands. I felt that this build is just as good and terminate costing less that pulse is ok because most of the time I was only killing one creature at a time. Pulse in the current meta (at least for me) would have been irrelevant. Terminate costs one less and easily cast-able in this deck.

I went 3-0 at the FNM beating out vampires, a blue/white/black milldeck, and a goblin home brew. I felt that vampires was an easy matchup. The vampires were too slow against me and my removal was better. Yes they have tendrils but my lightning bolt, blightning and terminate keeps their hand, life and board under control. In my opinion vampires have a lot of potential but from what I’ve seen they are just too slow in a 1v1 match up. At the multiplayer table seems like a decent deck.

The mill deck was next and I felt that this was a 50/50 matchup. I won in two games, but game one he didn’t draw a blue mana until turn 10 and his wrath and white control could only hold out for so long. In that game I had to terminate my own Sprouting Thrinax to get creatures in around his Wall of Denial. Game two saw him either have mana or card trouble. I had to play around his Path to Exile and Archive Trap. Not a huge problem, just don’t search your library when playing against the Mill Control deck. This was even easier when my deck didn’t have a card that needed me to search.

The goblin matchup was also a smooth ride. My extra spells with bloodbraid elf and removal were hard to play around. In this decks defense I don’t think he was playing chieftan or instigator. But rather he was experimenting with Zendikar block goblins and some standard removal. I think this deck was red white with new oblivion ring that only hits creatures. I didn’t take a look at his deck list after the match although I wish I had now.

Anyway I had a lot of fun playing cheap jund especially with the fair amount of success I had with it. What are you experimenting with in the new standard? Next post I’ll share my own goblin homebrew deck list.

© Rui Calçada Bastos, Untitled, from the series Life in a Bush of Ghosts, 2008

© Rui Calçada Bastos, Untitled, from the series Life in a Bush of Ghosts, 2008

“Rui Calçada Bastos also exploits astute readings of the early conceptual artists. He talks of “revealing the City’s intimate histories and continuous memory” and “the sensitivities that become attached to spaces”. That is a large plateful since Berlin is certainly a city that abounds with histories – some are intimate to the story of the city itself and other to the individuals who live there – but Calçada Bastos´ intention is to focus on particulars, to dig them out by attention to detail. He avoids the large stories: Berlin of the Second World War, Berlin of the Fall of the Wall, Berlin of the night life of the neo expressionists, from Fetting, Salome etc running on down until it ran out, Berlin with its Beuysian Academy, Berlin with the presence of Michael Werner, Sigmar Polke, Jorg Immendorf, and Markus Lupertz, Berlin of the spy films, of Lotte Lenya, of the Air Lift, of Willy Brandt, Berlin of May 68, of cheap property, of artist studios, of immigrants. He tries to find more what Cezanne called les petites sensations, the glimpses of things that suggest the city’s sensitivity, its moods and rhythms, the soundscapes, the sense of roaming the city, the accumulation of visual knowledge that finally allows us to feel at ease, to somehow belong.”

Kevin Power

To see more of Rui’s work click here

© Gábor Gerhes, Addition Falsed, 1999

© Gábor Gerhes, Solved Problems Before Unsolved Ones, 2006

© Gábor Gerhes, Can I Believe in Something, Which Can Not Believe in Me, 2006

More of Gábor’s work can be seen here

Screening’s tomorrow. Today’s like christmas eve. I want to see everyone’s work. If it’s like last time, I’ll be surprised, in a good way. It’s easy to get wrapped up in your own project and assume that no one else is working as hard as you. Obviously that’s not the case, and I think that the screening is one of the most educational parts of this whole course. You get to see what other people did with similar subjects, what sorts of documentary styles proliferate.. and I think you really get a better sense of why a film works or why it does not. You watch so many films, and you start to find patterns — the best docos had certain common elements.. or the bland docos were unengaging because of the following… etc.

How do I think our film (now titled Beyond Explanation — look out for it) will stack up? I think our approach will be refreshingly different. I can’t really say anything without watching many of the other docos, but I think that ours will be more.. ‘atmospheric’. Rather than create an informative documentary on a certain topic, we’re dealing with personal stories and personal belief systems, in an abstract, fairly eclectic sort of way. Yes, it’s constructed, it’s contrived, it doesn’t look “real” as such. But I do think we’ve constructed something that augments Gitta’s real story. Rather than heading out into “the real world” to get the inside scoop on something, we retreated into darkness.. into quiet, controlled environments where we could set up lights and project imagery. It’s not “raw” or “edgy” or “down to earth”, but it has allowed us to create something that’s visually polished and aesthetically charged. It’s less about “truth”, or about learning anything particular.. and it’s more subjective. Some parts of it are polarising — you’re either captivated, or you dismiss them as contrived or unnecessary. I’m fine with that. Strong reactions are better than no reactions, I feel. Last semester’s film (Straight to Video) technically worked.. it was well executed, but it lacked guts. It wasn’t daring.. we were afraid to take a specific direction.. was it drama? action? comedy? You get what I mean. I’m immensely pleased that this semester, I’ve been able to work on something that has some definite affect. No matter what you think of our visual style, Gitta’s a very captivating person to listen to, and to watch, I’d argue.

So yes. I’m pleased. Maybe even “proud”. But pride’s dangerous in this industry. If you’re proud, you’re content, and at risk of becoming complacent. But at the same time, you need a sense of confidence, a sense that you know what you’re doing, that your production is actually worth something. Without that, you have no drive to continue. And that’s pride.

Whatever. This post is devolving into a semantic debate. We’ll just see what happens at the screening. That’s the only thing that counts.

I’ve been looking at the standard decks coming out of the Philly $5k and have been thinking about a landfall-based deck. Sure, Vampires are cool and everyone loves some Jund… but there’s clearly more to be developed in Standard. I find it really funny when some pro says on their twitter feed or in an article on SCG or some site that they’ve “broken” standard. I think I’ve heard it like five or so times since Zendikar came out yet none of the decks they speak of have done anything (if they even discuss the deck). I just don’t think it’s as easy as casually mentioning “oh I broke Standard today, btw.” Like somewhere in between brunch and lunch they found a way to dominate the current format.

I definitely don’t claim to have broken the current Standard, as I’ve done zero playtesting. But since this is my only public forum I feel like I should throw something out there that at least gets you thinking about something other than Jund, Vampires, and Boros Bushwhacker (thank you, Kelly Reid!).

The first deck I’m rather fond of was a part of the Philly $5k 16-deck extravaganza, Naya Lotus Angel. This deck does most of what I want to do in the current Standard.  Here’s the list from top 16 player Rob Theiringer:

4 Baneslayer Angel
4 Bloodbraid Elf
2 Enlisted Wurm
4 Knight of the Reliquary
4 Lotus Cobra
2 Noble Hierarch
2 Rampaging Baloths
4 Woolly Thoctar
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Naya Charm
3 Path to Exile
5 Forest
2 Mountain
3 Plains
4 Arid Mesa
4 Jungle Shrine
3 Rootbound Crag
3 Sunpetal Grove

Sideboard:

2 Behemoth Sledge
3 Dauntless Escort
1 Enlisted Wurm
1 Qasali Ambusher
1 Luminarch Ascension
4 Celestial Purge
1 Naya Charm
1 Volcanic Fallout
1 Earthquake

This deck does just many things I’m a fan of. It abuses new cards like Lotus Cobra and Rampaging Baloths while dropping phatties like Baneslayer Angel and Woolly Thoctar. I’m pretty sure I’ve gone on at length before about my love for Thoctars.  Sure they die to tons of removal (Doom Blade, Hideous End, Path to Exile, Pitfall Trap, Bituminous Blast), but they’re so damn snugly! I also enjoy the ability to side in white answers to current threats like Behemoth Sledge for aggro decks and Celestial Purge for Jund/Red decks (excuse me Sprouting Thrinax, I’m gonna let you finish, but Woolly Thoctar is one of the best three-drops of all time! Of All Time!!!).

I expect the Naya Lotus Angel deck to do nothing but evolve into a bigger badder monster. This is only the beginning of the Nayan war on Standard. Rawr.

Now for something less competitive and potentially more abusive. My own concoction of a Black/Green/White deck that attempts to use Landfall in the best ways.

G/W/B Landfall

4 Lotus Cobra
4 Putrid Leech
3 Oracle of Mul Daya
4 Ob Nixilis, the Fallen
2 Baneslayer Angel
2 Rampaging Baloths
4 Knight of the Reliquary

4 Path to Exile
4 Maelstrom Pulse
3 Harrow
2 Grim Discovery

4 Marsh Flats
4 Verdant Catacombs
3 Terramorphic Expanse
4 Forest
4 Sunpetal Grove
3 Swamp
2 Plains

I think this deck has a lot of groovy synergies (obv, right?) with the Cobras/Oracles ramping you into Ob Nixilis, Baneslayer, or Baloths. Personally, I think that the Cobra is overhyped. But time will tell if it makes the cut over that loveable little mana-ramper Noble Hierarch. The Baneslayer Angels might be out of place, but they just seem to be too good to ignore. The Cobras have the added benefit of producing black, which is nice when you need to get that Ob into play.

My only real concern is having enough time to setup against aggressive rush decks like Boros Bushwhacker. Maelstrom Pulse is a utility card but may very well need to come out for something else like Doom Blade or Day of Judgment. The other possibilities for the deck involve Green/White cascade spells and black discard disruption. I’m not a huge fan of the current discard (except for Blightning). I mean, Duress is a powerhouse in spell-defined formats. But given the power creep of creatures over the past few blocks, Standard is becoming a creature-based format, thus lessening Duress’ impact. Perhaps the best thing to do is go Jund. *shrug*  I’m still a fan of Naya and an even bigger fan of non-allied combinations like GBW or BUG.

I’m very curious to see what’s around the corner for this format. I haven’t been able to do much testing with the new stuff from Zen but hopefully I”ll get a chance in the months before January. I’d love to play more FNM to test out my ideas but the closest Standard FNM to me is at least an hour away and that’s just too much to do an FNM. Thanks for reading! Oh, and if anyone has some MTGO M10 Mythic Rares they’d like to give away please hit me up so I can finish my set for redemption.   I need 1 Baneslayer, 1 Jace, and 1 Vampire Nocturnus!

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Our resourceful décor team at Badec Bros Deco has created a wide range of contemporary mild steel Cubedec pots over the last two years.

Our Cubedec pots are manufactured out of 1,6mm mild steel sheets, which we fold and weld.  All our pots are manufactured with a round inner steel bar to support plastic planters, which come standard with all our pots, unless otherwise specified. 

You can choose between three finishes for your Cubedec pot:  rusted, mild steel finish, or powder coating in any colour you can dream of.  This is merely to protect the steel frame of your pot from rusting.

Our powder coating is SABS approved.  Once the chosen finish has been applied, we seal the pot to protect it from rusting.

We can manufacture your Cubedec pot with a 3mm lip, constructed from angle iron, which serves to round off the pot and also to strengthen it.  This lip will also hide the plastic liner in the pot.  It is very important to consider the measurements of your pot and liner, before adding a lip to the design, as you might end up with your liner to fitting into your pot.

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Saw this list floating around… OMG I’M PLAYING IT.

3 Island
3 Swamp
2 mountain
4 Drowned Catacomb
4 Dragonskull Summit
4 Crumbling Necropolis
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Ponder
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Worldly Counsel
4 Pyromancer Ascension
3 Pyroclasm
4 Grixis Charm
3 Jace Beleren
3 Double Negative
4 Time Warp
3 Cruel Ultimatum
SB
4 Duress
3 Swerve
3 Terminate
3 Sphinx of Lost Truths
2 Sorin Markov

With a few tweaks, of course. Worldly Counsel is exactly what this deck needs… good call. I think the DN might want to be negates, and it still needs a win con (Chandra Ablaze? or a sphinx of some kind?). Copying cruels is going to be awesome but you still have to win the game somehow. I don’t think there’s enough burn to do it as is. Also, swerve in the SB is probably a good call, but surely duress and sorin markov could be something better.

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Alternate Title: For some reason, people come to this blog searching for Hedron Crab, so I might as well indulge them.

Qualifying season for MOCS VII is over, but I managed to squeak in my 10th point last night by winning another M10 8-4, so I’ll be playing the LCQ come Thursday. Yay! Unfortunately, the format for this, the last of the season championships, is the lame duck standard format. Couldn’t they have picked a more relevant format for this time of year? M10 sealed even? Core Set Constructed (lol)? It looks like I’ll be playing faeries yet again.

But that’s not the point, the point is new decks in Zendikar. I, and I imagine a few other folk who frequent magic blogs and the article sites, am growing a bit tired of the same decks being talked about. These look like the bogeymen:

5c Cascade

Mono-Red

Mono-Black

Some deck that casts big spells with lotus cobra and ramping.

I think these are the most talked about decks in the new standard and will probably show up en masse to the first few events. The Philly 5k this weekend will give me more to go off of, but that’s a good start. Let me just present a few fringe decks that have been percolating in the back of my mind. I haven’t proxied or tested anything yet, but these look like fun-to-play alternatives to what other people will be bringing.

First, there’s my baby… The one I’ve been thinking about the most and the one that I really want to proxy out and test: UW progenitus combo. This is an almost creatureless deck that uses polymorph to play a progenitus or some other big dude. The problem with this archetype in general is that you play polymorph targeting a token, and they terminate the token, and you die a little inside. So, we have to build the deck with the right pieces. I ended up settling on white since it comes with the tools to both make tokens and protect them when I cast polymorph.

The combo:

Polymorph, Progenitus (or Iona, Shield of Emeria)

There are definitely other options for polymorph. These two seemed like the most “I will now endeavor to win the game forthwith” cards to me.

Protect the combo:

Brave the Elements, Silence, Ponder, counterspells

I was really excited by Brave the Elements. Don’t ask me why, since I’ve never played WW or a deck that could make good use of it. I just like the effect. Silence is good, and it can save your butt sometimes in the opponent’s upkeep. Is anyone going to try putting that on a stick in extended? Ok, it’s no Orim’s Chant, I get it.

Token makers:

Elspeth, Conqueror’s Pledge, Martial Coup

Martial Coup makes guys, regardless of whether or not it Wraths, remember that? Yea, I totally forgot too. Anyways, it’s like a bad dragon fodder in white that offers us some flexibility (it’s still a Wrath sometimes).

Stay alive until I can cast polymorph:

Day of Judgement, Martial Coup, Path to Exile, maybe bad cards like Angelsong

Those are the pieces, now time to make a deck:

Creatures (2):

2 Progenitus

Spells (34):

4 Brave the Elements
4 Silence
4 Polymorph
4 Day of Judgement
3 Martial Coup
3 Conqueror’s Pledge
4 Path to Exile
4 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
2 Negate
2 Ponder

Lands (24):

4 Glacial Fortress
4 Sejiri Refuge
12 Plains
1 Island
3 Gargoyle Castle

I like this deck, even if it might be too slow to work the way I want it to. You’ve got some flexibility in Martial Coup, which can make dudes for you in a pinch, or act as sweepers 5-7. The problem is that I want to cast polymorph on turn 5, with a Brave the Elements or Silence to help out. The token generators in the deck don’t really allow for this. I won’t rule it out, but I don’t think it’s worth dipping into a third color (red) to get better token generation (Dragon Fodder, Goblin Assault). So, I’m looking at a reality of casting an elspeth or a conqueror’s pledge and probably having to wait til T6 to polymorph. A deck that has to wait that long probably needs to win on the spot. I’ll test it out and see how viable it is. If the metagame turns out to be heavily mono-colored decks, Iona could easily come in for Progenitus. Iona has a decent game against other decks, but most non-monocolor decks have targeted removal in two colors.

Next there’s the mill deck… the deck we ALL want to be good, but never is (ok, I did lose a lot to sanity grinding last season, but that’s because I’m a bad faeries player). It’s safe to say this deck will probably be UB, maybe splashing for a third color. We need a few pieces: draw spells (symmetric draws are the best), mill spells, and spells to stop yourself from dying. So let’s see what’s available…

Draw Spells: Howling Mine, Jace Beleren, Font of Mythos, Divination, Sign in Blood

I don’t think there’s anything better to do for a mill deck than play howling mine on turn 2. Font of Mythos and Divination are iffy. I like the idea of sign in blood as a flexible card that can bring your opponent closer to library death, or draw for yourself in a pinch.

Mill Spells (or spells that lead to library death): Mind Funeral, Archive Trap, Jace Beleren, Tome Scour, Hedron Crab, Haunting Echoes, Traumatize

There’s not a lot to say here. We’re already including Jace, and Mind Funeral, Archive Trap and Hedron Crab are what the deck needs to do its thing. The only debate is whether you should play Tome Scour, Haunting Echoes, or Traumatize, and how many of each you should play (Hint: It’s a nonnegative integer less than 4).

Keepalive Spells: Kraken Hatchling, Wall of Frost, Sleep, Doom Blade, Disfigure, counterspells, Time Warp

This is what will make or break the deck, and it’s also the weakest in terms of card choice. You might want to break into white to get some sweepers or fogs, or red to get more removal/sweepers. Sticking to UB, I think Kraken Hatchling is awesome for what it is. The format is going to be full of people playing 2/2, 3/3 creatures on turn 1 and you’re not going to live long enough to mill them. Wall of Frost is another excellent blocker, who can handle two dudes, render ball lightnings useless, and keep aggro in check (barring any doom blades, terminates, path to exiles, etc.). I’m still on the fence about Sleep. It seems like a good way to buy yourself time, but it’s also not a permanent solution. I’m definitely going to test it out though.

BONUS SECTION! Cute Spells: Twincast, Rite of Replication

Twincast seems like an auto-include to me, as it works well with Sleep, Time warp, and your mill spells. Being able to Archive Trap + Twincast on T2 is pretty awesome. Rite of Replication is probably going to be relegated to the strictly “fun” versions of the deck. Nine mana will make a lot of hedron crabs, but it’s not something you can do in constructed.

The decklist:

Creatures(8):

4 Hedron Crab
4 Kraken Hatchling

Spells (28):
4 Archive Trap
4 Mind Funeral
4 Twincast
4 Jace Beleren
4 Howling Mine
2 Time Warp
2 Sleep
2 Haunting Echoes
2 Traumatize

Lands (24):

4 Drowned Catacomb
3 Scalding Tarn
3 Verdant Catacombs
4 Swamp
10 Island

It needs work. I don’t think it’s resilient enough to live against any good aggro deck. I’m also not sure how many fetches to play, since they’re only there to make hedron crab better. The problem with adding a third color is that I want to be playing things on T1, and not playing an ETBT land.

Further out on the fringe of playable decks there’s UR control. This got some fun new toys in Pyromancer Ascension and Chandra Ablaze, but will it work? I think it has the possibility to work in the right environment, and that’s because of two spells that no other deck will be playing: Swerve and Double Negative (DN). If everyone’s playing Blightning, you want to be the guy playing 4 MD Swerve. By the same token, if everyone’s playing cascade, the guy with DN is sitting pretty. DN is not an allstar cascade-killing machine, but it does help to mitigate the free CA that cascade decks try to generate. So the goal of this deck is probably going to be a grind-it-out control affair, finishing things off with a big banefire, and maybe splashing B for some fun toys (Cruel Ultimatum and Thought Hemorrhage, perhaps). I don’t want it to become a grixis control deck, however. Another direction to go would be a more combo-y deck that relies heavily on Pyromancer Ascension and doing things like twincasting time warp. I’m not a rules guru, but I believe if you copy a spell on the stack( let’s say, banefire for 5), then the copy retains the value of X (5), so if you have an active ascension, then go banefire + twincast, that’s 20 damage for 8 mana. Cool! But let’s not fall into the Lotus Cobra Trap of only analyzing a deck’s best possible situation. So I think i’ll post two decklists, one control and one cooler.  But let’s look at the pieces first: Burn, Countermagic, Finishers, and Fun Stuff.

Burn: Lightning Bolt, Burst Lightning, Punishing Fire, Banefire, Fireball, Earthquake, Volcanic Fallout, lots of bad cards

Lightning Bolt and Burst Lightning should be in every list, and probably Earthquake & Banefire should, too. If you’re playing the ascension the X spells double as cheap things you can dump into the graveyard to activate the quest faster (banefire for 0).

Countermagic: Swerve, Double Negative, Negate, Essence Scatter, Cancel, Spell Pierce, …

Plenty of good options, but DN and Swerve should be all stars, and they discard to Chandra as well. In a deck with the right mana (this one), DN is a strictly better option than cancel. Swerve is a counterspell against most removal spells (assuming your opponent has legal targets) and counterspells (change the target to Swerve). I could see playing a Negate/Essence Scatter package, and maybe Spell Pierce out of the board for control matchups.

Finishers: Chandra Ablaze, Banefire, Sphinx of Jwar Isle, lots of options here

There’s probably some better options than the sphinx, but he’s big and shroudy. It’s the best I could think of off the top of my head. Chandra’s neg-2 ability doubles as a good way to get your ascension activated late game.

Fun Stuff: Pyromancer Ascension, Twincast, Time Warp

Obviously Pyromancer Ascension is a build-around card. Your decklist has to be very tight if it’s going to be any good (don’t play 3-ofs or 2-ofs). If you drop it, you gain some flexibility but lose the awesomeness the card can sometimes produce. Time Warp is the kind of thing you want to be casting with an active ascension.

Control deck:

Creatures (3):

3 Sphinx of Jwar Isle

Spells (33):

4 Lightning Bolt
4 Burst Lightning
4 Banefire
4 Earthquake
4 Volcanic Fallout
4 Swerve
4 Double Negative
2 Negate
2 Essence Scatter
1 Chandra Ablaze

Lands (24):

4 Scalding Tarn
4 Crumbling Necropolis
10 Mountain
6 Island

This one needs work even before I proxy it up. Swerve seems bad if your opponent has no targets for his removal spells, but it can still hit burn to the face and it can randomly be good (like if your opponent casts a Time Warp). I think Magma Phoenix might be a nice include here.

The cool version, aka Loses to Telemin Performance.dek:

Creatures (0)

Spells (35):

4 Lightning Bolt
4 Burst Lightning
4 Banefire
4 Earthquake
4 Swerve
4 Double Negative
4 Time Warp
4 Twin Cast
4 Pyromancer Ascension
3 Chandra Ablaze

Land (25):

4 Scalding Tarn
4 Crumbling Necropolis
10 Mountain
7 Island

I think this version might need Ponder, or some card draw. I’ll see if I can’t figure out where that should go. Also, bonus points if you can fit in the polymorph combo (though it would be pretty fragile here).

So that’s it. This is what I’m going to be tinkering with (while probably playing monored or BR blightning ascension until I’m confident in one of these). Now if only Zendikar would release online…

Alternate Title: Even though I’m generally not so good at constructed I can still theorize about stuff so here goes.

I was inspired by this article to start thinking more constructively about standard (beyond Bloodchief Ascension and Archive Trap). Actually, I think all of the decks presented are viable, and serve as more concrete examples of a few things I, and everyone else probably, had been mulling over. Naya Zoo seems like a solid deck, and sligh is also very exciting to me. Warp World is something that I absolutely want to try, since with the additions of ob nixilis and lotus cobra it seems like a much more reliable kill condition. With lotus cobra, you can warp into another warp world if the first doesn’t kill, etc. 8-mana sorceries don’t seem very viable but my gut tells me that counter-based control isn’t going to be doable in this format. All the aggro decks are looking at a turn 4-5 kill so acceleration has to be good, and that might be the downfall of the deck.

The deck I’m going to build right off the bat is BR Bloodchief Ascension. A rough decklist:

Creatures (14):

4xBloodghast

4xHellspark Elemental

4xGoblin Guide

2xOb Nixilis, the Fallen

Spells (24):

4xLightning Bolt

4xBurst Lightning

4xBloodchief Ascension

4xVolcanic Fallout

4xBlightning

4xSign in Blood

Lands (22):

4xDragonskull Summit

5xMountain

5xSwamp

4xArid Mesa

4xMarsh Flats

The land obviously needs work, but I really like the idea that every card in the deck turns on bloodchief ascension, and if you don’t get the turn 1 BCA (which is like 60% of the time, I think), the amount of damage going through regardless is going to keep the opponent on his/her back feet (you’re playing BR, after all). All the spells are low CMC, so once you hit 4 or 5 lands you can hopefully hold onto a fetch for some ob nixilis finishing power.

Other Possible inclusions:

Quest for the pure flame (seems unnecessary, and a terrible late-game draw, together with BCA that’s 8 dead topdecks)

Vampire flying 2/3 lifelink guy – seems good in aggro matchups or mirror

Now all I need is a good name.

Another deck, which I don’t think is a top-tier strategy, but it looks fun and is certainly something I’ll try. I haven’t hashed out a list for it, but something like UB mill splashing R for Pyromancer’s Ascension. The idea is to play a Hedron Crab on turn 1 and mill yourself with fetches until you get enough in the gy to get counters on the ascension. Burning Inquiry would also work well. In the purely casual version there’s probably a place for chandra ablaze and kicking rite of replication on hedron crab. Sounds fun to me.

So MTGSalvation.com just completed their Unofficial Zendikar Spoiler and I wanted to take some time to muse about the upcoming set and is impact on Standard.  And while I don’t think that Standard is super relevant to most people right now with the current PTQ season being limited and the next one Extended, I think  most people enjoy Standard and run it alot on MTGO and at FNMs.

I think that overall the set is going to be very good for Standard play (not to mention Extended). It has a lot of potential to kick out the jams. There are a lot of duds, though, that are just overcosted creatures with little impact on a game. Allies for instance, just seem weak.  They all seem to cost 3-5 mana and their “super-special” allied ability is just putting a +1/+1 counter on themselves.  Scute Mob just seems better than every Ally I’ve seen.

For instance, Turntimber Ranger seems good, at 3GG (total of 5 converted mana cost) you get a 3/3 ranger and a 2/2 wolf. Not bad. But compare that to Broodmate Dragon,  for a total cmc of 6 you get two 4/4 dragons. That’s 8 power for 6 mana compared to 5 power for 5 mana. Pretty obvious to see which card would make the cut in a constructed deck. “But Broodmate Dragon is THREE colors!” you say… Well how about Terra Stomper? 3GGG (cmc=6) for an 8/8 trampler… Still 8 power of dude for 6 mana compared to 5 power for 5 mana.  And yes, I love the Terra Stomper but wish it were more true to Force of Nature’s flavor and spectacular art. Also it doesn’t cost 2GGGG!

So allies are a bust and I think most of the impact cards for Standard are fairly obvious. Here’s a short-list of what I think is going to be playable (all of the cards can be found here: http://mtgsalvation.com/zendikar-spoiler.html):

Brave the Elements
Conquerer’s Pledge
Day of Judgment
Devout Lightcaster
Iona, Shield of Emeria
Luminarch Ascension
Archive Trap
Ior Ruin Expedition
Living Tsunami
Mindbreak Trap
Spell Pierce
Trapmaker’s Snare
Bloodchief Ascension
Bloodghast
Gatekeeper of Malakir
Grim Discovery
Malakir Bloodwitch
Ob Nixilis, the Fallen
Quest for the Gravelord
Vampire Hexmage
Vampire Lacerator
Burst Lightning
Goblin Guide
Hellkite Charger
Plated Geopede
Warren Instigator
Zektar Shrine Expedition
Harrow
Lotus Cobra
Oracle of Mul Daya
Rampaging Baloths
River Boa
Scute Mob
Summoning Trap
Vines of Vastwood
Khalni Gem
Trailblazer’s Boots
**All the enemy fetchlands, obv**
Crypt of Agadeem
Emeria, the Sky Ruin
Teetering Peaks
Turntimber Grove
Valakut the Molten Pinnacle

Now, truthfully I don’t think all of those cards will make an *impact* on Standard (think Baneslayer or Great Sable Stag), but they will pop up in decklists for sure. The real IMPACT cards are as follows:

Day of Judgment.
 This card is just plain ‘ole Wrath. The only playable cards that circumvent the regeneration clause in the new Standard are CUdgel Troll and River Boa. Neither will see much play, except possibly the Boa in sideboards. Wrath has been good since Alpha, so I doubt this will be any worse. Sure it’s slightly worse but nobody will notice til they print an amazing regenerator.

Luminarch Ascension.
 A card you must deal with ASAP. Vampire Hexmage is a great counter to this card’s effectiveness, but aside from that, this puppy is golden. Stall your aggro opponent with a couple fog effects or damage prevention, then plop out a Day of Judgement and some Paths or something to keep the critters at bay and BAM! unlimited angelic goodness. yum.

Mindbreak Trap.
 Pretty much the best counterspell in the set along with Spell Pierce (which is good, but not amazing). It really shines when your opponent plays a “cascade ultimatum” like Bit Blast into Bloodbraid into Stag. Exile all 3, thank you very much!

Bloodchief Ascension.
 Lots of hype around this one, but the jury’s still deliberating. Unsure.

Ob Nixilis, the Fallen.
 Just seems good. Lightning Bolt to your opponent just for playing a land? seems good indeed.

Warren Instigator.
 Probably going to make some small revival of Goblins. My guess is these decks will pop up and he will be a $20+mythic, then those decks will lose and he’ll go for around $10-15.

Lotus Cobra.
 This card is good. Time will tell. I’ll most likely be running it in some deck or another. Not Tarmogoyf.

Scute Mob.
 Also not Tarmogoyf. Pretty good, but not that good. I doubt another Tarmo-like creature will ever be printed. This guy is cute and gets largely out of hand pretty quick.

Summoning Trap.
 Let’s summon us up some 7/7 Iona action and really screw our opponents!

Enemy Fetchlands.
 Yeah, they will be in almost every deck. Especially in Extended.

Emeria, the Sky Ruin.
 White Weenie’s late game awesomesauce. Could be great in a controllish mono-white deck too if one is possible.

Well, that’s all I have time for for now. We’ll see if the set can live up to the hype surrounding it. I think it can and I sure hope sealed ZEN is fun!