Islandhome #16

==ISLANDHOME #16==

June 18th 2008

==IN THIS ISSUE...==

Chaos Draft: A random draft format, this Sunday at Grim!
EDH: It's league time!
The Madonia Minute: An article by John Madonia.

==THIS WEEK'S SCHEDULE==

Friday: Grim Draft @ 7 PM
Saturday: FNC Standard @ 1 PM
Sunday: Chaos Draft at Brothers Grim @ 2 PM

==CHAOS DRAFT!==

You might have noticed that bright red new entry up in this week's schedule and wondered what exactly I'm on about. Chaos Draft is an exciting and fun format (we're quite big fans of those types of things at Islandhome if you haven't noticed) where your only clue about what your opponent has in their deck comes from the expansion symbol on their cards. When you first sit down, it'll all seem like a normal every day draft... until you get your packs. Everyone will get three random packs of different sets, and drafts with those packs.

A Chaos Draft can't be sanctioned, since everyone would need to receive the same packs for it to be "official" (yes, you can sanction things like triple Mirage, or Lorwyn-Morningtide-Shadowmoor, or even Alpha-Fifth Dawn-Tempest-Chronicles if you want), but like a sanctioned draft, everyone will keep the cards they draft at the end.

The Chaos Draft will cost $14 (to balance out the cost of the different packs). Prize will be in store credit, which can be used to buy lots of different packs from different sets! Make sure you come down to Grim this Sunday and have some fun!

Apocalypse
Betrayers of Kamigawa
Champions of Kamigawa
Coldsnap
Darksteel
Dissension
Fifth Dawn
Future Sight
Guildpact
Homelands*
Judgment
Legions
Lorwyn
Mirage
Mirrodin
Nemesis
Onslaught
Planar Chaos
Ravnica
Saviors of Kamigawa
Scourge
Shadowmoor
Time Spiral
Torment
7th Edition
8th Edition
10th Edition
And possibly more!

* Two packs of these sets equals one pack for the purposes of drafting.

==ELDER DRAGON HIGHLANDER LEAGUE==

Well everyone's been asking for details on the EDH league I'm planning, and I finally have them! It'll work like any other tournament really: pay to enter, play random opponents, etc. These rules aren't written in stone yet, so if you like them/don't like them and have any suggestions, let me know before next Wednesday!

- Entry fee is $5, which will all be put into the prize pool that will be divided among the top two players.

- Every Wednesday, the next round's pairings will be put up. You'll have a week to play your next match; the best days of course are Friday night at Grim, Saturday afternoon at FNC, or Sunday afternoon at Grim. So every week is a round.

- At the end of the week (Tuesday, since a "league week" starts on Wednesday with the latest release of Islandhome), if two players haven't played their match, the winner will be the player who showed up at Grim or FNC that week. If neither player showed up, or both players made an effort to show up, just on different days, the match will be a draw.

- The league will start in July. July is perfect because there are no PTQs in our area that month, so everyone should be available every week barring any personal reasons. It also gives everyone over two weeks to prepare their decks.

- No proxies allowed; EDH cards are easy to find (most of them are dollar-bin rares).

- The Elder Dragon Highlander rules (and banned list) can be found here.

==THE MADONIA MINUTE==

This will be my first article for Islandome. For anyone who doesn't know me, my name is John Madonia. I've played for years on and off, with my proudest moments, in no particular order: winning a PTQ, top 16-ing countless others, and currently having one of the top constructed ratings in New York State. At the moment I'm not playing any sanctioned events, but if you're looking for a competitive edge in your next event, then listen to some of what I have to say.

The first format I'd like to tackle is Type 2. The format is very healthy at the moment, with greedy landbases and powerful spells a plenty. I've been having a lot of fun designing and tweaking new lists.
Upstart Dean Duprez won last week's installment of FNC Saturday with a powerful 5-color concoction using such gems as Cryptic Command, Doran and Zur the Enchanter. The deck had a mana base similar to the French Pro Tour deck, but didn't drub up the mid-game with five mana 2/2 flyers, instead playing cards that have an immediate impact on the game (Teferi, Collosus, Doran, etc.). I don't want to post my list in this article because I'm hoping for it to catch players off-guard this week yet again. A list that has spread that I had a hand in creating for the current format is Mono Blue. As the format shifts to beat the tribal decks, the mid-range decks have issues dealing with counters. Your worst counterspells are better then their five or six drop.

My current mono blue:

3x Patinum Angel
2x Venser, Shaper Savant
3x Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
1x Oona, Queen of the Fae
3x Vedalken Aethermage
1x Arcanis the Omnipotent

4x Cryptic Command
4x Rune Snag
3x Remove Soul
1x Commandeer
3x Pact of Negation
4x Ancestral Visions
1x Slaughter Pact
1x Damnation
1x Thoughtseize

3x Tolaria West
1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
3x Desert
1x Urza's Factory
3x River of Tears
12x Island
2x Dreadship Reef
1x Academy Ruins

Board
2x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
2x Damnation
4x Flashfreeze
3x Plumeveil
4x Bottle Gnomes

The list has evolved, most people play around Plumveil, so Vedalken Aethermage takes its spot. He not only grabs any creature in your deck (sans-Platty), he bounces Collosus and Time Walks a turn for you. Your plan is to Stay Alive, counter relevant threats and control the late game, where your deck shines.

Favorable Matchups - Reveillark, Juniper, RG Ramp, Mono Black, RB Tokens, French Decks, Zur Decks.
Average Matchups - RG NY, Elves, Faeries without turn 2 Bitterblosom start, Kithkin, Storm, Burn, Dralnu, Pickles.
Bad Matchups - Merfolk, Faeries with turn 2 Bitterblossom start.

I recommend playing this deck if you practice with it exclusively. Don't build it and sign up for a tournament, you will be disappointed. It rewards consistent play and carefully thought out play. its not a powerful deck, its doesn't have a oops I win game in its arson, its a consistent deck that has strong matchups against the evolving field.

Block Constructed, I haven't delved to far into. I think the control route is the way to go, and if you are serious about winning a ptq, mutavaults have to be in your deck it seems. Id play a deck with a board sweeper and big creatures. I hope to get a little more block testing done this week and next week ill have a primer on a deck I think is viable for the upcoming season.

I do have to vent for a moment. Can people just pay their Pacts? It's not the Future Sight Prerelease, we are almost to Eventide and people at an alarming rate have lost games in which they just forget to pay. Two players on Saturday had commanding board position and lost because they weren't in the moment. If you want to win a tournament you need to be 100 percent devoted to it, you can't have mental errors that can be easily negated by a simple dice or a bird dropping. Pact the spell and put a dice on your deck, it's that simple. Also if your opponent forgets don't tell him until the card is in their hand, as supposedly if the card is off your deck near the cards in your hand, its not considered 'drawing'.

Whether you agree with everything I've said or nothing I've said, just know when you lose to a Madonia deck, don't hate the player, hate the game.

Thanks for Watching

- John Madonia

==RULES CORNER==

Q. My opponent has a Lurebound Scarecrow in play with green chosen, and has two green creatures. If I Mirrorweave everything into that Lurebound Scarecrow, will everything die?
A. There will be a lot of 4/4 scarecrows in play, but none of them will die. Choices that have been made by a permanent's ability aren't copiable, so it's undefined (rule 503.7). The original Lurebound Scarecrow will still die if its controller doesn't control any green permanents after his creatures become colorless Scarecrows.

Q. I have an animated Mutavault in play and my opponent Mirrorweaves everything into an Axegrinder Giant. What does my Mutavault look like?
A. Your Mutavault is a 2/2 red creature with all creature types named Axegrinder Giant. So why isn't it a 6/4? It's because of those confusing layers again. Layer 1 is the "copy" layer, where Mirrorweave applies. At this layer, your Mutavault is an exact copy of Axegrinder Giant. But Mutavault's activated ability applies in layers 4 (type) and 6b (other power/toughness effects), later than the copy layer. Basically, your ex-Mutavault is an Axegrinder Giant that has Mutavault's activated ability applied to it. It's not a land though, since the phrase "it's still a land" just means Mutavault's activated ability makes the object it applies to keep its existing supertypes/subtypes/types when it changes any of those.

Q. I play a Slaughter Pact, targeting my opponent's Teferi. Then he plays Venser, bouncing Teferi back to his hand. Do I need to pay for Slaughter Pact next turn?
A. Slaughter Pact's "pay or lose the game" is part of its effect that happens when it resolves. Since Teferi is no longer a legal target, the Pact fizzles and you don't need to pay it next turn.

Have a rules question you want answered? Send it to IslandhomeMTG@gmail.com!

==THE ISLANDHOME BLOG==

One of the things I wanted to do was have an archive of past issues online so I could refer people back to them as well as let new readers peruse old issues to see what all the fuss is about. So I've archived all the old issues on the blogosphere at islandhomemtg.blogspot.com. Go and relive all the past moments of glory!

==UPCOMING EVENTS==

June 7th - August 31st: PTQ Season for PT Berlin
The next PTQ season starts this summer, and it's going to be Lorwyn Block Constructed! Lorwyn block will consist of Lorwyn, Morningtide, and Shadowmoor. Eventide won't be available during the beginning of the PTQ season, but will be legal before it ends.

July 12th-13th: Eventide Prerelease
I'll be head judging the prerelease on Long Island again, so come see what all the fuss with enemy-colored hybrids is about! Also, Gray Matter will be holding Two-Headed Giant events instead of Team Sealed!

PTQs in our general area this season:

• 6/21 - Philadelphia, PA
• 6/28 - Edison, NJ
• 8/9 - Philadelphia, PA
• 8/16 - New York, NY
• 8/30 - Edison, NJ
• 8/30 - Hartford, CT
• 8/31 - Rochester, NY

==STORE LOCATIONS & CONTACT INFO==

Brothers Grim
1244 Middle Country Rd.
Selden, NY 11784
Phone: 698-2805
Website: www.brgim.com

Friendly Neighborhood Comics
3 Grant Avenue, Suite 2
Islip, NY 11751
Phone: 470-7984

==FIN==

See everyone this weekend!

Got forwarded Islandhome and want to sign up? Send an email to IslandhomeMTG@gmail.com!

-Brian Paskoff
L1 NY