Bye for now, and thanks for all the fish

Hey everyone. Dude to financial reasons, I've given up Magic for a while. Since this blog is about me playing Magic, it no longer has a place. So this is bye for now I suppose. Its been fun.

My Accomplishment

You see, this weekend I accomplished something that I've been working towards for the better part of 7 years. I started Playing Magic: The Gathering online in 2002. I was in the middle of my Yu-Gi-Oh phase at the time, but hate the once a week tournaments. I just didn't think I'd get better unless I played against different people. So my friend got me Magic: The Gathering Online, which allowed tournaments any time of the day or night, 365 days a year. I didn't want to play 2 different card games seriously at once, so Magic started off a casual thing that I played when I wanted to play Yu-gi-oh but couldn't. This continued till 2005.

In that year alot happened. I moved back from Florida to New York, leaving my best friend, for the hope of a better future. I met my wife. I changed careers. I quit Yu-Gi-Oh due to the format turning towards a more luck based combo architecture, and the lack of a tournament I could attend regularly. I tried to play serious Versus system card game, and actually won quite a few tournaments, but then they stopped having them. Apparently, if the same 10 guys show up every week, and the same guy trouces them everyweek no matter what deck he plays...people stop coming. Weird right?

So, with two games now defunct, I turned to my casual game to keep my skills semi-sharp, and reconnected with my best friend who'd been frosty to me for the past couple of months. He apologized for this, and admitted that I'd been a really good friend to him. This is atypical for my friend, or most guys for that matter. He also wanted me to try drafting Magic.

For those of you unfamiliar with drafts, the format is simple. Each person has three packs of 15 cards. You open the pack, take what you think is the best card in the pack, and then pass it down the line. Then you get passed another pack, and you choose the best card for your draft deck, and the process continues. In the end you have 45 cards, which you then trim to the best 23, add 17 lands, and play against the other people in the draft. This is alot more skill intensive then it seems, and it took me years to be able to win a draft. I accomplished that within my first year. I now win at least the first round of draft more often then not.

My accomplishment this weekend revolved around constructed Magic though. Now I had been a top Yu-gi-oh and Versus player, however, in Magic I've yet to achieve that skill level. The main reson that I think are for two main reasons:

A) The shuffler algorithm in the online game has something wrong with it. You get land screwed(too little land) and land flooded (too much land, and not enough spells) far more then in paper (real life) Magic playing. I can admit when I've made mistakes in gameplay, but not being able to play your spells, or not drwing any spells is just a shitty way to lose.

B) I don't see my opponent. This is very crucial to my style of playing cards, and it's taken me a long time to adjust. I can usually read people very well, and I use this in my card playing. I can usually tell whether my opponent has the card he needs in hand, and much like playing poker this skill can make or break the game. Being deprived of that, one must always play with the assumption that the opponent has basically the worst possible card for you in his hand. This leads to very cautious gameplay, a style I've had to work on as it doesn't come naturally.

So over the last two years when I started to get really serious about constructed, I joined strategy websites, played all different kinds of decks, and I saw incremental improvement, but nothing really solid. Recently, I'd been thinking about giving up the game due to it's cost. It's the thing I spend money on the most. Though it's not alot in the long run, I had come to the conclusion that if I wasn't going to improve then I probably shouldn't waste money on this. Maybe I just wasn't cut out for playing Magic. I've been thinking about this for many months now. Then, this weekend happened.

Over the past week, I've participated in many tournaments. I had found a deck that I really knew how to play well, and decided to play that this particular weekend. For the first time, I won both an 8-man constructed standard. I'd won block (less cards and skill) before as well as extended (more cards, but more defined metagame then standard oddly), but never a Standard whose metagame is extremely hard to crack. Well this weekend I did it not once, but twice. I won an 8 man, and then the next morning I won a 60 man daily. I came in first place in each and won over 76 dollars in prizes. I was on cloud 9, and felt that I had completed some quest or journey.

Now my name will be among those of the decks of the week this Thursday on Magicthegathering.com along with my decklist. This only happens to the winners of Daily's, which is something I've never done before in any format.

This achievement was a really spectacular day for me, and thanks for letting me share it with you.

BTW, here's the decklist I used

9 Island
5 Plains
4 Path to Exile
4 Cryptic Command
3 Jace Beleren
4 Mulldrifter
4 Ponder
4 Sower of Temptation
3 Gargoyle Castle
4 Glacial Fortress
4 Reveillark
4 Meddling Mage
4 Kitchen Finks
4 Mystic Gate

Sideboard
3 Celestial Purge
3 Glen Elendra Archmage
2 Hallowed Burial
1 Broken Ambitions
4 Burrenton Forge-Tender
2 Negate

My Magical month of May (Going Infinite)

As you can see, I didn't play a lot of limited in the beginning of the month. Once 5/23 came however, all bets were off due to the new Alara Reborn Set being released. I played the release events like I always do, but alas it's my worst format, and so I didn't do so great. However, things picked up in the last week of the month, where I not only won an Alara Block draft, but got a good grasp of the format as well. One thing to keep in mind above all else is to have 4-5 sources of mana fixing. If you have those then you can easily play 4, possibly even 5 color decks. 4 is the standard though, if you get less mana fixing, then it's probably best to limit your shards options. I've tried to draft the most prominent deck in the format, which is UW aggro. I've come across this deck many times, and it trounces me almost every time. The only way to beat them is to draw a tone of early removal.


Being that Extended season is over, I haven't played too much of it. I tried my friend Glenn's Kalidescope (new all multi-colored card format) deck, and it worked pretty good. Once Alara reborn came out, I tried the hypergenesis deck where you Cascade into Hypergenesis and summon a whole swath of creatures. It's a really fun deck, but it has a ton of holes.


Now we get to the action. Standard was actually getting kinda dull for me in the beginning of May. The new set was already out in the real world, but I still sat in the pre-Alara Reborn world in Magic Online. Once Alara Reborn came out, however I had some money saved up, and got all the cards I needed to compete in the new standard. After that I took a look at the Regionals decklist, and chose my favorites. I then tested them 5 times each (unless they lost 3 times in a row, then I skipped that deck). This led to my week of over 70 games of Magic in ONE WEEK between constructed and limited. The best deck by far was BW tokens, as it was the "Best Deck" going into the testing, and it proved itself, garnering itself the best record (4-1) of all the regional decks. However, it was not the ultimate victor. That title went to the Cascade Swans deck that started popping up right after GP Barcelona. The Swan deck just took victories out of no where, and it's currently the "Best Deck", dethroning BW Tokens after only two weeks in the top spot. In the last week of the month, I experimented with a cascade deck that is decidedly anti-swans. While it works against swans very well, it loses to pretty much anything else. So I'm still tweaking that for now.




Alara block was again mostly quiet in May, due to the format becoming increasingly stale. Basically it was that you play Naya, and you face mirrors. Whoever stuck Battlegrace Angel first basically won. After the the Week o Standard however, and with Alara Reborn giving the additions of terminate, Maelstrom Pulse, and Bloodbraid Elf, to Jund decks, allowing them to reclaim their former top position. The current Jund Cascade deck that my friend and I cobbled together works beautifully. It has a 10-4 record, and my friend even played it in the Season 2 championship. However he ran into some mana issues and rogue decks which cleaned his clock making him get a 2-4 record. It's working fine for me though, so I chock that up to bad luck.


Wow, I played over 100 constructed games of Magic in a month...Maybe I need to cut back a bit.



I think this is my greatest achievement. The fact that I spent over 150 dollars on tournaments this month, but I won all of it back, and even made a little profit. I'll definitely call that a good month.

So until next time...remember...all work and no play

"Going Infinite" results for the week of 4/25

So it was pretty much an all Block two weeks here in the Scott household.  After trying a grixis "anti-block deck" and an esper deck that I thought looked neat; I eventually returned to playing the Naya deck that Glenn and I built together.  The only difference between our builds is that I include Titanic Ultimatum for the mirror.

I can tell you one thing.  The other players rarely see this coming, and I've taken my fair share of wins because of it.  Glenn doesn't think it really gives me an edge, but I believe it gives me a "surprise Factor" that isn't in most Naya decks.  

Also, if you'll notice I didn't spend a dime this week, which is a great sign for my goal of "going infinite".  I'll be back next week with more news, and I hope more "non-spending" results.  

In other news, the Alara Reborn Pre-Release was this weekend, and the entire set is now spoiled.  It looks like this ALL GOLD set, the first of it's kind will really shake things up with it's powerful cards at low mana costs, and it's new keyword ability CASCADE, which looks primed to overthrow Storm as the most dangerous keyword in standard.

Stay tuned for more exciting Magic: The Gathering results and news.

And remember, all work and no play...  

No results this week

As a result of not playing Magic all week due to being very busy at work, there are no results to post. I'll be back next week with this week's worth of results. Also coming up is the Alara Reborn set-review which I'll be posting towards the end of the month.

"Going Infinite" results from the week of 4/11

Sorry this is a little late this week, easter weekend was CRAZY!

There are no limited results this week as I stuck mainly to std and block constructed

"Going Infinite" results from the week of 4/4

Trying something new this week folks. Let me know if you like it.




Man does it feel good to be playing Magic again. It really is a part of me, and I never want to go another month without it again. While this week's constructed record was sub-par, my excellent week in limited more then made up for it. I'm still in the positive, even with more losses then wins, which I think is very good. The losses numbers are skewed slightly cause if I win 1st round, and lose second I get a 1-1, so unless I win the whole event I'm always picking up a loss.

Well that's all for this week, until next time remember, all work and no play...

So where the HELL have I been?

My apologies for being away for a month. This happened because I was banned from Magic Online since March 2nd. Why I was banned, well I don't want to get into it. I explained it on my life blog, and I do not wish to repeat myself. Perhaps I should have posted here sooner, but honestly for about 2 weeks there I didn't know if I would get my account back at all. Since i didn't want to think about that possibility, I kind of withdrew from all Magic related activities, this blog included. However, after a 30 day suspension, I have been informed by Wizards of the Coast that my account has been reactivated.

Therefore, starting today, I will resume my Magic the Gathering Blog, and my quest to "go infinite"

Again, please forgive this momentary blink in content, and now back to our show!

Week ending 2/28 Magic results

MAGIC THE GATHERING ONLINE status at a glance: Week ending 2/28/09

Drafts and Sealed:
Drafts Played Triple Shards of Alara (4-3-2-2): 5
Drafts Played Triple Conflux (4-3-2-2):2
Drafts Played Shards shards conflux (4-3-2-2): 4
Match Record SOA(Draft): 2-5
Match Record CON (Draft):0-1
Match Record SOA/CON (Draft):5-7
Match Record SOA/CON (Sealed):1-6

Constructed:
Queues played this week: 19
4-player Constructed pauper 2player:1
4-player Constructed (Ala Block):52
4-player Constructed (Extended):14
4-player Constructed (Standard):15
100 card singleton:1
Daily events std: 2
2 player Constructed std: 8
2 player Constructed block:4
2 player Constructed extended:1
Total Queues played: 91
Overall Shards of Alara Match Record: 49-63
Conflux decks:
Match Record (extended White weenie): 1-2
Match Record (Red-White Block):0-1
Match Record (Domain Block):0-1
Match Record (BR aggro Block):3-3
Match Record (Naya ramp Block):5-3
Match Record (5 color control std):0-1
Match Record (5 color control std 2):0-1
Match Record (5 color planeswalker std):0-1
Match Record (blightning aggro std):0-1
Match Record (Dark Bant std):0-1
Match Record (esperlark std):3-1
Match Record (gw planeswalkers std):0-1
100 card singleton(white): 0-1
Overall Conflux Match Record: 9-18

Winnings:
Packs won this week: 19
Packs won total: 69
Tickets from packs this week: 47
Tickets from packs total: 250
Net ticket gain this week: -29
Net ticket gain total: +40
Money spent this week: 76
Money spent Overall (Started on 1/1/09): 210

So this week heralded the release of Conflux online. I've gotten all the Conflux cards I wanted thanks to an infusion of cash from my job giving us profit sharing(we actually made money last year). I have alot of new constructed decks to test out, but I've been mostly playing the new conflux limited format. As a rule, I am not that great of a limited player. I fully admit I need work, although I DO take pride in the fact that I have alone brought my limited rating from a 1386, it's low point during Ravnica draftr which I was utterly horrible at back up to 1600, where my current rating is. I once again demonstrated my horrible deckbuilding ability by going 1-6 in the 2 sealed tournaments I joined. The triple conflux drafts haven't gone much better. As you see, I entered 2, but only finished 1 game that I lost. That is because the Magic Online Servers were plagued with horrible lag this past weekend. The gameplay didn't suffer much, but trading, joining, and leaving games all were slow as shit. I think wizards need to put more game servers up for the next release, otherwise it's been a real blast playing magic.

In constructed, you'll see alot of 0-1 records. These are new decks that I am not familiar with, and just got stomped. Not being that familar with the deck it was hard to know what hands to keep against what decks. I will continue testing these decks in the coming weeks. The decks i did have some great luck with was the Naya ramp deck that my friend Darque built. It basically takes Noble heirarchs, Druid of the anima's, and gets to 6 mana on like turn 4 to cast Realm Razer and remove all the land. With the Noble's Exalted ability and Realm's decent stats, it is really hard for the opponent to come back. Pack in some Wooly Thoctars, a Battlegrace Angel or 4, splash removal, and you have yourself a kick ass block deck. Esperlark is the controlling version of Boat Brew, using reveillark to bring back great tempo and card advantage creatures instead of the aggro creatures Boat brew usies. Esperlark won the Richmond StarCityGames 5k, and it's proved great for me. Something that I really cannot get ahold of playing are the 5-color control decks. I know they are good, in fact the number (2) build above is the same as the one that won the recent Grand Prix. However I tend to either get horribly land flooded with these decks almost EVERY TIME. I mean I draw literally ten cards with various draw effects, and it's just land land land land land. This type of non help makes me lose whatever control I had on the game....which is really bad for a "control" deck. I'm going to try and "grow" as a player by playing these types of decks more, but just maybe in practice instead of tournament. So not off to a great start with Conflux, but it's just the beginning so stay tuned.

And until next time remember...all work and no play

Back from Vacation and changes to Magic

First I'll post this weeks results, actually the last two weeks:

MAGIC THE GATHERING ONLINE status at a glance: Week ending 2/21/09

Drafts Shards of Alara (4-3-2-2): 5
Match Record (Draft): 2-5
Queues played this week: 7
Constructed pauper 2player:1
Constructed (Ala Block):46
Constructed (Extended):13
Constructed (Standard):15
100 card singleton:1
Daily events std: 2
2 player: 1
Total Queues played: 71
Match Record (pauper mono-red):0-1
Match Record (extended Death cloud):2-0
Match Record (extended Death cloud2):0-3
Match Record (extended Dragonstorm): 2-1
Match Record (extended UR Storm): 0-1
Match Record (extended Ad Naseum): 2-0
Match Record (extended Affinity): 5-3
Match Record (extended mono red ext): 0-2
Match Record extended Zoo):0-1
Match Record (Bant ext): 0-2
Match Record (Bant Block): 5-9
Match Record (Bant std): 1-1
Match Record (Glenn Jund Block):2-6
Match Record (Rich’s Jund Block):0-2
Match Record (Rich’s Naya/Jund Block):18-15
Match Record (Rich’s Naya Block):0-1
Match Record (Naya Block2):0-1
Match Record (Naya Block3):0-3
Match Record (Mono-White Block):
Match Record (Esper Block):0-1
Match Record (BR tokens std):1-4
Match Record (WR reveillark weenie std):2-4
Match Record (WR reveillark weenie std version 2):4-3
Match Record (Cruel control std):5-5
100 card singleton(white): 0-1
Overall Match Record: 49-63
Packs won this week: 11
Packs won total: 53
Tickets from packs this week: 51
Tickets from packs total: 203
Net ticket gain this week: +48
Net ticket gain total: +65
Money spent this week: 3
Money spent Overall (Started on 1/1/09): 139

WHOA! Do you see that! Positive 48 this week and positive 65 overall. It was a great two weeks tournament wise, but funny enough I generated all that profit on the last day. I didn't play any magic the week I was away because I was busy hanging out with my friends. The day I got back however, I managed to read about the comeback of affinity in the extended format and the lastest tech used in the deckbuilding. So I headed to the extended queues and played this new affinity deck:

4 Seat of the Synod
4 Tree of Tales
4 Great Furnace
3 Darksteel Citadel
3 Blinkmoth Nexus

4 Arcbound Ravager
4 Arcbound Worker
4 Frogmite
4 Ornithopter
4 Delay
3 Myr Enforcer
3 Tarmogoyf

4 Chromatic Star
4 Springleaf Drum
4 Cranial Plating
4 Thoughtcast

Sideboard:
4 Ancient Grudge
4 Pyrostatic Pillar
3 Relic of Progenitus
3 Trickbind
1 Tarmogoyf

The deck is very resilient to the common affinity hate. Tarmogoyf and Darksteel Citadel are in there as a non-artifact finisher and indestructible land source respectively. The Darksteel is especially nice when someone tries to Ancient grudge your land after sideboarding. Delay actually was the all-star card of the night. Even though I got criticized by one of my opponents for running it, the "bad" counterspell from future sight got me more then 1 or 2 wins. Just by intercepting that crucial Damnation or Hurkyl's Recall when I needed 1 or 2 more turns to secure the victory. While it's not a standard "affinity" card that the deck normally plays, it was a useful bit of tech. This deck was really good against the majority of the extended metagame. Oddly enough, I had the most trouble with the mirror. I chock this up mostly because I never drew my sideboard cards in either matchup. I'll continue to see if this or the Master of Etherium version is better, especially given that the extended environment just changed radically yesterday with the addition of conflux being made legal.

Ch-Ch-Ch-CHANGES!

Some changes have occured on Magic Online, this blog's structure, and with the core sets this week. There is change in the air, and I'm here to embrace it. First, Magic Online's constructed queues. 8-player queues, once the only queues available have now been replaced by 2 and 4 player queues. Now this comes as a very little surprise to me as I have been playing the 4-player queues almost exclusively almost since they came out. The reason? Value of course!

The prize structure worked out like this.

8-player:4-3-2-2 (6 tickets to enter)

4-player:2-1 (3 tickets to enter)

In 8-player queues, if you lost first round you were out 6 dollars, and if you won, you got 8 dollars off the packs that you won. So a profit of 2 dollars.

In 4-player queues, you only risked 3 dollars, and if you won the first round you made a 1 dollar profit. Here's the kicker though. If you played 2 4-player queues and only won the first round on both...then you make the same profit for the same money, but at a slightly less risky upfront cost. Once people figured this out, 8-player queues almost never fired. Wizards of the Coast noticed, and decided to change the format. The new constructed queues are:

4-player 4-2 (6 tickets to enter)

2-player 1 (2 tickets to enter)

I think that these queues are a better value in general. For 2 tickets now, I have the ability to get 4 dollars, so an upgrade from the previous 4-player queues. The four player queues improve on the 8-player by allowing 2 wins to equal a 10 dollar profit rather then a 6 dollar one. All in all I'm going to play alot more 2 player queues now, cause the value to risk ratio is just nuts. The 4-players aren't bad either, and I actually might play them more then I played the 8 player ones. So my verdict on the change is : IT'S GOOD!

Another change was that Wizards of the Coast announced yesterday that the format of the Core Set was changing. The bi-annual set was all reprints of past cards, and generally set the base and support cards for standard during it's "reign". Well, if you head over to www.magicthegathering.com, you can check out Aaron Forsythe's full article on the changes. I'll summarize them for you here, my reactions and comments will be in pararentheses.

-The Core set will no longer be called "Nth" edition, like the current 10th edition, but will be in a new yearly format. The next Set will be called Magic 2010 Edition or M10 for short.

-M10 will for the first time contain NEW never before seen cards. Almost half of the 229 non-land cards in the set are brand spanking new.(As a fan of the game I like this. As a collector that was finally at the level where the core set would contain almost everything I already had just with new art....I'm slightly peeved that I'll have to get new cards now. However, it is a smaller set, and new cards are always good.

-M10 will have more classic fantasy flavor to pull in newer players. Highly flavorful cards such as Serra Angel and Black Knight will return. (Yay, black knight is back, I hope it's part of a cycle or at least paired with white knight)

-M10 will have Mythic Rares for the first time. Of the 15 mythics, 6 will be new cards. Of the 9 reprints, 5 of them will be the Lorwyn Planeswalkers. (Oh good, they are sticking around another year. If i get the new ones in draft that would be neat, but I already have 4 of each, so no biggie)

-Core sets will now be yearly and will rotate out with the block that preceded them. What this means is that M10 will rotate out of standard with the Shards of Alara block, and for three months in the fall of 2010, both M10 and M11 (Magic core set 2011) will be legal at the same time. Another first. (I like this, 2 years was a bit too long, and I was not a fan of the "fourth sets" like coldsnap.)

-Of the 16 cards that have been in every core set...only half will be returning...will Wrath of God skip a year?

-The Core set will receive Pre-launch parties, and release events just like expansion sets.

-Some Tournaments will use M10 drafts

-There are new "pain-free" duel lands in M10. No fetch lands, painlands, or Ravnica Shocklands. (My guess is a cycle based on either Grove of the Burnwillows, Nimbus Maze, or River of tears from future sight. My money is on Grove. I also hope they aren't rare, as that will be sick on the wallet. Come to think of it, with all the land type things in alara block, we might be looking at a Grove/Mumuring Bosk hybrid)

New Format: Conflux has rotated in.

So the chief complaint I have had about the weekly results have been:

Having just the deck name doesn't reveal the build of the deck

So I will now link the builds I use to the deck names. Also, I have retired the shards of alara decks from the three major formats, and replaced them with Conflux era decks. I have retained the win/loss records from the previous block, and will hopefully give me a better view of the Magic Online metagame as it evolves. See you guys at the end of the week.

until next time remember...all work and no play

Headed South for the week

I'll be heading south to see my beast friends this week, and therefore will not be posting regularly if at all. I'll return the next weekend and update with my latest Magic results then.

Until next time...remember...all work and no play...

MAGIC THE GATHERING ONLINE status at a glance: Week ending 2/7/09
Drafts Shards of Alara (4-3-2-2): 5
Match Record (Draft): 2-5
Queues played this week: 8
Constructed pauper 2player:1
Constructed (Ala Block):43
Constructed (Extended):8
Constructed (Standard):12
100 card singleton:1
Daily events std: 2
2 player: 1
Total Queues played: 64
Match Record (pauper mono-red):0-1
Match Record (extended Death cloud):2-0
Match Record (extended Death cloud2):0-3
Match Record (extended Dragonstorm): 2-1
Match Record (extended UR Storm): 0-1
Match Record (extended Ad Naseum): 2-0
Match Record (extended mono red ext): 0-2
Match Record extended Zoo):0-1
Match Record (Bant ext): 0-2
Match Record (Bant Block): 5-9
Match Record (Bant std): 1-1
Match Record (Glenn Jund Block):2-6
Match Record (Rich’s Jund Block):0-2
Match Record (Rich’s Naya/Jund Block):15-13
Match Record (Rich’s Naya Block):0-1
Match Record (Naya Block2):0-2
Match Record (Mono-White Block):
Match Record (Esper Block):0-1
Match Record (BR tokens std):1-4
Match Record (WR reveillark weenie std):2-3
Match Record (WR reveillark weenie std version 2):4-2
Match Record (Cruel control std):4-4
100 card singleton(white): 0-1
Overall Match Record: 41-57
Packs won this week: 9
Packs won total: 42
Tickets from packs this week: 35
Tickets from packs total: 153
Net ticket gain this week: +14
Net ticket gain total: +17
Money spent this week: 21
Money spent Overall (Started on 1/1/09): 136

I had a really good week this week. The new R/W Reveillark deck really worked great, and the cruel control deck made a comeback. Also, I made the most profit then I ever have since I've been keeping records. Honestly, that just makes me feel good that this thing might be possible. I also found out that if you save up the packs until you have 3, then you get more tickets then if you sell them individually, so I am definitely going to keep doing that. Until next week, remember, all work and no play...

Conflux visual spoiler and set review (Artifact & Land)

So White got the hook up, Blue was disappointing, black was ok, Red had some great hits,Green got some heavy hitters, gold got the power, and so we come to the artifacts and lands of the set. Let's see what wizards of the coast has in store for us this time.


Things to Note:
This is in regards mainly to Std only. I will mention some extended and Block possibilities where applicable, but on the whole, I'm generally reviewing in regards to std.

Star Ratings are from 1-5, here's how I break it down:

*-Absolute Jank, should not have been printed

**-Casual only card, will not see tournament play

***-A good stable card. Good sideboard material

****-These are what great decks are made of

*****-Bombs! These will almost singlehandedly win you the game
Constructed-***
Limited-***1/2

So here we have a creature version of Pillar of Paruns. I think it will be played more then it's predecessor due to it being a creature deck type of format. You might see 1 or 2 in a std decklist, but I think it will stay more popular in limited and casual.









Constructed-***
Limited-***

So here the artifact basic land searcher of the set. I can see this this being a very big mana fixer in limited. In std, Shards Convergence is a better mana fixer for 4 mana. Course spreading the cost over 2 turns has it's benefits, and it will be interesting to see which of these two mana fixers will make it into std and block.




Constructed-*
Limited-**

The zero casting cost in nice on an equipment, but I don't think +1 attack is enough to replace another more useful card in any deck.











Constructed-****
Limited-****

It's a reflecting pool for your opponents. Ok, reflecting pool is the most played land in std right now, and in this multi-color environment, you think having 4 more copies in your deck could hurt? Of course not. For any five color deck, a playset of these is almost mandatory, and I bet you'll see it pop up as a 1 or 2 of in alot of std decks.




Constructed-**
Limited-**

I've never been a fan of howling mine, and here they make a better one. Considering that howling mine is in std, some kind of decking deck might come out of it, but I doubt it. Giving your opponents cards is never relly a GOOD idea.









Constructed-***
Limited-***

I'm having trouble deciding on this card. On the one hand it's a cheap artifact that draws you a card. Late in the game is can help with all the 5 color casting costs in conflux. I think it might be played by a five color deck, but it's hard to say.







Constructed-**
Limited-***

Here we have an artifact version of Shimmering Grotto. I know it will be used in limited, but it has almost no hope in constructed.









Constructed-**
Limited-***

Manaforce mace is the equipment card for the Domain mechanic. Like almost all the other Domain cards in the set, it's just not quite there yet. I think if either the casting cost or the equip cost was reduced by 1, then we could have had something to talk about, but this is just too expensive of a mana investment to be anything more then a limited equipment card.



Constructed-****
Limited-*****

I think that we will be seeing this card in control decks for a long time to come. Yes, it is a 6 mana investment, but once it's online, the stuff you can do every turn is nuts. I mean, wanna do an incinerate or giant growth a turn. Gain 5 life, or screw with combat math, this is your card. In limited it is a legitimate bomb. It's a great first pick because no matter what colors you end up in, it'll help you.

Constructed-***
Limited-**

They made spellbook into a land...ok. I've never seen spellbook be put to any good use, but as a land it might have a different future. You might see it pop up in control decks so they can draw cards to their hearts content without discarding.









Constructed-****
Limited-****

So here is a land that comes into play tapped, and you have to pay 1. Then when it untaps, it can tap for ANY color. Wow, that is really really good. This must be a rare or at least an uncommon...wait, it's a common! The 1 mana investment and coming into play tapped is essentially the same cost as the Karoo lands from Ravnica. This is a really good land. It should be present in a lot of limited decks, and it might even make it into some constructed decks once the Vivid lands from lorwyn rotate out.
Constructed-**
Limited-***

This is the land that drafters will pick when they are scrouging for mana fixing at the end of a draft. It has no constructed potential whatsoever.











So the artifacts were kind of a bust, but the lands had 2 or 3 winners

cards to watch:
1)Exotic Orchard
2)Ruture Spike
3)Obelisk of Alara

Flavor: Conflux continued the flavor of Shards of Alara, which was chocked full of it. The flavor was continued into Conflux in spades. First off, I have to say that I am happy that there is such an abundance of Flavor text in this set. It really shows where the different cultures of Alara are coming from and how they handle the merging of the world. It really paints a detailed picture which i appreciate in a fantasy world.

All in all I really like the set, and I'm really interested to see how it will affect standard.


Until next time remember...all work and no play...

Conflux visual spoiler and set review (Gold)

So White got the hook up, Blue was disappointing, black was ok, Red had some great hits,Green got some heavy hitters, but in a gold themed set, the meat is going to be in the gold cards.


Things to Note:
This is in regards mainly to Std only. I will mention some extended and Block possibilities where applicable, but on the whole, I'm generally reviewing in regards to std.

Star Ratings are from 1-5, here's how I break it down:

*-Absolute Jank, should not have been printed

**-Casual only card, will not see tournament play

***-A good stable card. Good sideboard material

****-These are what great decks are made of

*****-Bombs! These will almost singlehandedly win you the game

Constructed-***1/2
Limited-*****

You know that mana ramp deck that I keep saying might make a resurgence in std. Well if it does, say hello to it's end game. This ia an example of a big Timmy card that has constructed potential. If the big mana deck that I think is coming does, you'll see 1 or 2 of these guys in it. If not, then I just see this as a dominating force in limited. Not only can you get a 10/10 for seven mana, but it can ping things as well. A good card that might become great.







Constructed-**(*) In multiplayer
Limited-***1/2

I like this card, mainly because it reminds me of rumbling slum, which was always a fav card of mine. An interesting design here is the second ability which is designed specifically for multi-player. Not many cards address the format, and it's nice to see it getting a little love. For 7 mana you get a 5/5 with flying and trample. It's not horrible, but it's not great either. The ability is what saves it from being utter trash, as this could truly impact the long game if it goes unchallenged. I forsee a bright limited and multi-player future for this card, but no std play.





Constructed-**
Limited-***1/2

For 7 mana, if I'm not casting an ultimatum, then it's really not worth it. the trample and 6/6 stats make his ability relevant, but unless limited slows down I don't see this being impactful in any format. i think if this and the vampire above would have cost 6 mana, then their fates might have been different in std.









Constructed-****
Limited-*****

If a 5 color deck becomes prevelant in the new std, meet one of of it's star players. A 6/6 trampler for 5 is nothing to sneeze at. And if you kill it, it pulls an Akroma's Vengeance and takes out any errant planeswalkers. It's too bad white has 2 cheap answers to this guy. I see a deck getting built that features him, and it possibly doing well, but I think that a white/red deck with path to exile will be more powerful.







Constructed-*
Limited-*

8 mana to get 5 cards into your HAND! PLEASE! This is the namesake card of the set, and it BLOWS! It's seriously the worst mythic rare yet, even over Lich's Mirror. Now, if this put them into PLAY, then it would be awesome, instead we have this sorry excuse for a spell.









Constructed-****
Limited-**

This card should read "Replace negate in all faerie decks with me", cause that's what it's going to do. If you're playing negate and black, then this card is clearly superior, and will replace negate in all decks that can support it.










Constructed-*
Limited-**1/2

A....6 mana...Aura. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Sorry sorry, but this card is absurd. In limited you might put one in to try and give some late game flying, but if you're casting this crap on turn 6, then your deck isn't that good. There is NO constructed possibilties for this. It costs WAY too much and offers no protection for the creature it enchants.








Constructed-***
Limited-***

3/3 flyer for 4 mana, nice undercosted creature for blue/white. I don't think it's good enough for std, but it'll be a nice staple in limited.











Constructed-****
Limited-****

What do you get when you combine Rampant Growth with Tribal Flames? A darn good card that's what. This is a great mana fixer combined with a powerful burn spell to the dome. I see it finding a home in both Std and Block.










Constructed-***
Limited-****

A vanilla 8/8 creature for 5 mana. That's on the border of being good enough for std. Obviously this is going to be a bomb in limited if your going 5 color, in std I don't know if it will make the cut, but I know an 8/8 is not to be ignored.










Constructed-**
Limited-***


I've never been a fan of "kill it after it hurts you" cards. The damage has already been done, ya know. I think the Exalted mechanic gives it a little more reach, but not enough to avoid the crap rare pile.









Constructed-***
Limited-***

All of the outlanders will be playable in the right deck. So my review for all of them is that they are 2/2's for 2, and will be played if a deck evolves that has they're colors.











Constructed-**
Limited-**

Casting a repeatable pacifism on creatures is good, but giving your opponents extra cards is not. Now if the effect was permanent then it might be usable, however all someone has to do is fry this guy with any type of burn, and all the creatures he took out are back in action. Not a good spell for competitive play.









Constructed-***
Limited-****

This is a well designed devour creature that rewards the player for using the ability that they are probably going to use anyway. I don't see much standard potential, but it'll be a nice limited card.











Constructed-***
Limited-****

3 mana for the ability to make any of your creatures unblockable. Yeah i see this guy going places in limited. The white/blue combination doesn't foster many aggresive decks and therefore might limit this card's usefulness in std.










Constructed-****
Limited-****

This card is already having extended and standard decks being built around it. In extended with it's fetch lands, this is generally a 4/4 when it comes out. It's ability can search for any land, and can get you out of color screw. This is going to be an "it" card from conflux, get 4 now!









Constructed-**
Limited-***

There are better Mana fixers that cost less, so i don't see this card making a big std splash. In limited it's a nice accelerator. If the Big mana ramp deck does develop, you might find this as part of it.











Constructed-*****
Limited-*****

Another "it" card right here. The Angel's ability is just too kickass for words. Obviously it's incredibly powerful if it goes off even once. I mean, imagine casting a cruel ultimatum off of this baby, game over right? A nuts card in block, limited, and std hands down. I don't know how much of a role Path to Exile is going to play in making this card work in a viable deck, but I think we will be seeing this card show up every now and then for the next two years.






Constructed-**
Limited-***

Very interestingly designed card, but far too expensive for what it does. If it was 20 life, I'd say it was a lot better, but 10? Either you're in trouble and are stalling, or you're taking a few points off an opponent in the lead. 7 mana should effectively end the game, this barely effects it. Workable in limited, but crap in constructed.









Constructed-**
Limited-***

Discard your hand...Um no thanks, I don't like losing. So this card says, you give up your hand, which on turn six is about 2-4 cards. They sac 2-4 creatures, and then use the rest of their hand to remove this guy, and beat the piss out of the now topdecking idiot. Sorry if I'm being harsh, but this game is too dependent on card advantage to be tossing away your hand.








Constructed-***
Limited-*****

Ooh, I so want to make this card work in a deck. The effect is nuts if it gets to go off. In std, I think the fact that it can be hit by terror and all it's similar effects plus Path to Exile plus Celestial Purge, I just don't think it's going to see all that much play unfortunately. in draft though, you will FIRST PICK this guy everytime.









Constructed-***
Limited-***

All of the outlanders will be playable in the right deck. So my review for all of them is that they are 2/2's for 2, and will be played if a deck evolves that has they're colors.











Constructed-**
Limited-*****

Ah, Nichol Bolas, the biggest baddest planeswalker this side of Dominaria.
Yes, he is ultra-powerful, and his abilities reflect that
Yes, his ultimate ability wins the game
Yes, he can be an insane disruptive force on your opponent.
Yes, he will be play in std tournaments...oh wait no, this one is wrong.

While being the big "get me" card of the set, Nichol Bolas just doesn't effect the board enough at 8 mana to justify his inclusion over the cheaper Cruel Ultimatum. While the casual players and limited players will love this guy, he won't be in any constructed top 8's.

Constructed-***
Limited-***

Protection from Everything! Excuse me while i go have a Timmygasm. The Legacy circle is already trying to find ways to abuse this. I'm working on a Dramatic Entrance deck that features it even. Now, in Legacy, a competitive deck might evolve, and someone smarter then me might make Dramatic entrance work for it too. I hope it does, cause I would love to play with this card. I mean, it can't be targeted, no blocking, can block everything. Nuts card, but way too expensive and difficult to cast.






Constructed-**
Limited-***

Hmm, 5 mana for a 2/3 exalted that gives you 3 life when it comes into play. First off, at 5 mana in an exalted deck you want Battlegrace Angel, not this card. It's also way under the curve compared to it's closest relative Loxodon Hierarch, which was 4 mana, gave 4 life, and was a 4/4. This is just an overpriced underperforming card.








Constructed-***1/2
Limited-***1/2

Well move over Nantuko Husk, a better sacrifice outlet was just printed. Some kind of Husk deck always makes it's way into the std metagame, and this time they'll have this big boy to make the sacs count for counters instead of just +2/+2 for a turn. Very nice card.









Constructed-***
Limited-***

Ok, so it's Ashenmoor Gouger with one less toughness, one less colored mana, and unearth. The unearth might help this card supercede it's heartier cousin, especially with all the good unearth creatures in this set, but time will tell. I think this is good enough for std, but I might be wrong.









Constructed-**
Limited-**

6 mana, underpowered, crappy ability. Crap rare, NEXT!













Constructed-**
Limited-**

So for 4 mana in esper I can have a 4/4 flying Gargoyle, or I can have this guy. He's a 3/3, and I get an ability when I cast my other esper guys. There's already a more efficient creature at his mana cost. he'll end up in esper limited deck, and then the trade binder.










Constructed-**
Limited-***

I think this card is too expensive for what it does. However, it does fetch any creature from your esper deck so it might find a home.









Constructed-**
Limited-***

This is a limited only card. It's too expensive and doesn't do enough. I think it's extremely flavorful, but just a narrow card. It'll get played in limited, but not in constructed.











Constructed-**
Limited-***

This will be a nice addition to the "Power of Five" draft deck. Regenerate is a great ability for that deck, and this card will be a welcome member. Won't see play outside of limited though.











Constructed-***
Limited-***

All of the outlanders will be playable in the right deck. So my review for all of them is that they are 2/2's for 2, and will be played if a deck evolves that has they're colors.











Constructed-**
Limited-***

This guy will be played in limited only. His ability is cheap and useful, but at 5 mana he just costs too much.













Constructed-***
Limited-***

All of the outlanders will be playable in the right deck. So my review for all of them is that they are 2/2's for 2, and will be played if a deck evolves that has they're colors.











Constructed-***
Limited-***

All of the outlanders will be playable in the right deck. So my review for all of them is that they are 2/2's for 2, and will be played if a deck evolves that has they're colors.














So gold definately got the most powerful cards of the set as it should have. Tomorrow's the atifact and land review and reflections on the set as a hole. Don't miss it.

Card to watch out for:
1)Maelstrom ArchAngel
2)Child of Alara
3)Exploding borders
4)Knight of the Reliquary
5)Apocalypse Hydra