Islandhome: July 2008

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Islandhome #22

==ISLANDHOME #22==

July 30th 2008

==IN THIS ISSUE...==

Promo Week: I've got tons to give away!
Eventide Launch Party Recap!
Madonia Minute
US Nationals: A quick good luck to our Nats-attending comrades.
Rules Corner: With all sorts of crazy Eventide shenanigans!

==THIS WEEK'S SCHEDULE==

PROMO WEEK!
I have tons of leftover DCI promo cards that I've been giving out slowly, but this week I'm feeling generous - I'll be giving out lots of promos this weekend at both sanctioned events I run, but the only way to get them is to play! I have 50 of them to give out, so no one should walk away empty handed!

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

Eventide is legal for Standard now, so it's time to start metagaming!
Sunday's back to Chaos Draft again, by popular demand. Though I might do it a little differently this time....

FNM comes to Brothers Grim in September!
After months of begging, sending in pictures of the store to prove it Is a Store, and emailing, I've finally been told I'll be able to sanction FNM at Brothers Grim in September. Yay FNM promos!

==EVENTIDE LAUNCH PARTY RECAP==
Author: Brian Paskoff

Well the Eventide Launch Parties are over, and the set's now legal for all your limited and constructed needs! We had a smaller than usual turnout at both stores, and from talking to other TOs, judges, and players from around the Island, it seems everyone had a small showing for some reason. Most people think it's due to the lack of a "hype" card in Eventide; Lorwyn had planeswalkers, Morningtide had Chameleon Colossus and Mutavault, Shadowmoor had bomby uncommons, but Eventide doesn't have many outstanding cards. Lots of good ones, sure, but nothing on the level of Mutavault, Thoughtseize, or Garruk. Hopefully Shards of Alara's rares and mythic rares will be enough to get everyone to show up!

Everyone who did show up had a lot of fun however! There were lots of upsets as less-experienced players beat much more experienced players a number of times, and as expected, many decks were enemy-color themed due to Eventide. There were of course lots of rules questions about the new cards, most of the ones I can remember featured in the Rules Corner below.

FNC held lots of raffles for various prizes through the day, and Grim had a strange sale: Every card in excess of six in their showcase was half off! Everyone walked away with dirt cheap painlands and other useful cards - I know I spent $84 (in store credit) on painlands and the like.

Dave Porter won Grim's Launch Party event, while Rob Grippa and Eric Marro split in the finals of FNC's Launch Party. Congradulations to everyone!

==MADONIA MINUTE==
Author: John "Metagame" Madonia

As a semi-serious magic player, I'm usually on the internet scouring for new and exciting decklists from around the world. I come across a lot of "team" centric postings that most players are part of a core playtesting group that builds various decks for their respective PTQ or PT seasons. New York is over six million people deep in a twenty mile area, yet their is little to no collaboration from various grouping of players. I know that some players in the city have a small grouping, which I've worked with on and off for Nationals testing. On most Thursday evenings I'll end up testing any findings over the week and work to hopefully send someone through as a National champion. (Even though I'm not attending due to it being an composite rating event.)

Long Island has a strong player base with people that love the game and want to improve. I've thought my plan of attack through and id like to introduce my plan.

Ideally I'd like 10-15 PTQ or above level players to form a united team that would help one another get to the next level, whether it be PTQ top 8 or day 2 at a PT.
The candidate would need to be active in the community with a varied knowledge on different formats.
Willingness to help the team attain its goal.
People that want to improve and are willing to help improve its team members with constructive criticism and helpful advice.

I feel like everyone is to individualistic and worried about personal gains. A team setting would guarantee solid playtesting and a myriad of ideas hopefully allowing a solid conclusion and results at the end.

If anyone has any serious interest in this, let me know. You don't have to be a 2000 rated player, just someone that wants to get better while helping others do the same.

What I'd play at Nationals:

3x Mystic Snake
3x Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
2x Venser, Shaper Savant
2x Platinum Angel
3x Kitchen Finks

4x Cryptic Command
4x Snakeform
4x Rune Snag
4x Ancestral Visions
3x Pact of Negation
3x Firespout

8x Island
3x Yavimaya Coast
3x Shivan Reef
3x Cascade Bluffs
3x Flooded Grove
2x Reflecting Pool
3x Desert
1x Academy Ruins

SIDEBOARD:
2x Razormane Masticore
4x Tarmogoyf
3x Flashfreeze
2x Krosan Grip
2x Cloudthresher
2x Tormod's Crypt

This is 100 percent what I would have played at Nationals. It doesn't everything that a blue deck is supposed to do without losing its raw power with adding different spells to it. I've worked on the mana base almost exclusively, its not 100 percent, but I feel if I worked a little harder I could perfect it.

The sideboard is geared to deal with problematic matchups i.e. Faeries with the correct draw.

Matchup percentages:
Elves- 55/45- 50/50 depending on build
Faeries 45/55
Reveliark 75/25
Merfolk 50/50
Red 60/40
RG variants 65/35 deck dependent
Storm 30/70 if popular sideboard can bring to 50/50
5 color stuff- 70/30

I finally have that workstation thing at limited disposal during work breaks and on home time when the computer is available. I've tested the deck nearly 100 games with the findings above. Its something against the grain, but it holds its own.

This is getting long, so if anyone would like sideboarding help or has any interest in the deck, let me know

Thanks
-John Madonia

==RULES CORNER==
Author: Brian Paskoff

Q. With a Godhead of Awe in play, how big is my Faerie Swarm if I control two blue permanents? What if I turn one of my Islands blue later on?
A. To determine how big Faerie Swarm is, we use a system of layers. Power and toughness related continuous effects apply in layer 6, and there's a series of sublayers in there.
6a: This is the characteristic defining ability (CDA) sublayer, and the continuous effect that Faerie Swarm's static ability generates is an example of a CDA. Faerie Swarm is a 2/2.
6b: "Other" p/t-related stuff applies here, including Godhead of Awe's "everything else is a 1/1" ability. Faerie Swarm is now a 1/1.
6c: Counters. Faerie Swarm doesn't have any counters on it, so it's still a 1/1.
6d: Static abilities that modify a creature's power and toughness, so long as they don't set its power and toughness, apply in here. If there were a Steel of the Godhead or something on Faerie Swarm, it'd get bigger, but since there isn't... it's still a 1/1.
6e: Power/toughness switching effects apply here, such as those from Inside Out. None of them are affecting Faerie Swarm right now, so it's still a 1/1.

Though playing more blue permanents will change how Faerie Swarm looks in the CDA sublayer, Godhead of Awe will keep it a 1/1.

Q. My Figure of Destiny is fully pumped up to an 8/8 Kithkin Spirit Warrior Avatar with flying and first strike. If someone Mirrorweaves their activated Mutavault, what is my Figure now?
A. Quite strangely, an unactivated Mutavault with flying and first strike. This is again thanks to layers: In layer 1, the Copy layer, Figure of Destiny looks like a plain ol' Mutavault. Layer 2 is Control effects, and layer 3 is Text. Nothing's relevant in either. In layer 4, the Type layer, Figure of Destiny's activated ability tries to make it a Kithkin Spirit Warrior Avatar, but since those are creature types and it's not a creature, they can't apply. In layer 5, the "everything else" layer, Figure's ability gives it flying and first strike, because these abilities aren't dependant on it being a creature. In sublayer 6b (see above), the Figure's activated ability tries to make it an 8/8, but since only creatures can have a power and toughness... you guessed it. So your once mighty Kithkin looks like a Mutavault with FoD's last activated ability applied to it.

Bonus: Since Mutavault specifically says it becomes a creature, if there's another animated Mutavault in play other than the one Mirrorweave targets, that Mutavault will stay a 2/2.

Q. Okay, layers again. What happens if I target my 8/8 Kithkin Spirit Warrior Avatar with a Mirrorweave? What does my Grizzly Bears become?
A. It'll become a Figure of Destiny that is still yet bound for greater things. Copying a creature copies its printed characteristics, plus any other applicable copy effects. The pump ability isn't a copy effect, so it's not carried over by Mirrorweave. If you have the mana, you can pump up your Bears of Destiny all the way to an 8/8, and it'll stay that way long after Mirrorweave wears off.

Q. My opponent Scars my Quillspike. Can I pay a green to take that -1/-1 counter off of it to pump it before it dies?
A. Once Quillspike gets a counter, it becomes a 0/0 and dies before you even get priority to play its ability. However, if you have another creature in play with a -1/-1 counter on it, you can leech a -1/-1 counter off in response to the Scar, and then once Scar resolves, Quillspike will be big enough to survive even with the -1/-1 counter on it. Just remember to siphon it off before the turn ends!

Q. Is there a way I can flash in a Plumeveil and block with it before my opponent can tap it with his Silkbind Faerie?
A. No. In order to block with your Plumeveil, it has to be in play during the declare attackers step. During the declare attackers step, after attackers are declared, the attacking player gets priority. If they pass, you get priority and can flash in Plumeveil. But once Plumeveil resolves, both players will get priority again, so he can tap it with his Faerie. If you flash it in during the declare blockers step, it's too late - blockers are declared as soon as the declare blockers step begins, and Plumeveil isn't in play at that point.

Q. My opponent has been attacking with a Stillmoon Cavalier enchanted with an Armored Ascension and a Steel of the Godhead on it for three turns, gaining a lot of life and dealing me a lot of damage. Once someone notices, what happens to the enchantments?
A. This is a far-fetched example of an illegal gamestate - both the enchantments are white, and are attached illegally to a creature with protection from White. Once a judge becomes aware of the situation, they'll apply the proper penalties for Illegal Gamestate, Failure to Maintain Game State for the opponent of the player who committed the infraction, and immediately apply state-based effects: the Auras will be put into their owner's graveyard. Of course this is an extreme example, no one would be oblivious enough to not realize that a pro-White creature was enchanted with two powerful white Auras in real life.

==US NATIONALS==

This weekend is US Nationals, an invite-only huge tournament in Chicago. A few local players are going, including FNC veteran Mike Bauer, who qualified at City Champs this past season, and Grim veteran Dave Porter, who's trying to grind in by winning a Last Chance Qualifier at the event. Good luck to everyone who's going!

==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!

==GUEST ARTICLES==

If you've noticed, in the past few weeks I've been having a few more guest articles in Islandhome. With tournaments all weekend and work all week, sometimes it's hard to find time to sit down and write an entire newsletter, which is why I love it when I get article submissions! Not only does it give more introspective on the Long Island Magic community from those who are a part of it, it saves me work. ;) It's especially useful to get articles from players who are a part of the metagame, as judges are notoriously bad players.

If you've got an article you'd like to submit, send it to IslandhomeMTG@gmail.com. Try to keep it a reasonable length - there's no word limit, but look at previous Islandhome articles for guidance - and avoid bad language and personal insults. Also try to maintain good grammar and spelling; doesn't have to be perfect, but you should see how long it takes me to spellcheck the Madonia Minute every week!

I can't promise every submission will make it into the next week's Islandhome, but I'll try to get as many in as I can, especially ones that are relevant to a previous/upcoming event.

==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, Shadowmoor, and Eventide.

September: FNM comes to Brothers Grim!
Yes, after a long wait and bugging Wizards every month, Grim is finally getting FNM sanctioning! FNM promos are coming!

PTQs in our general area this season:

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

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Islandhome #21

==ISLANDHOME #21==

July 23rd 2008

==IN THIS ISSUE...==

Eventide Launch Party Details!
Eventide Limited Tips
Tournament Report: My dueling adventures this past weekend.
EDH League: Quick Updates, including a new player and a match result!
Magical Misunderstandings: Split Second

==THIS WEEK'S SCHEDULE==

Friday: Eventide Sanctioned Booster Draft at Brothers Grim @ 7 PM
Saturday: Eventide Launch Party at FNC @ 1 PM
Sunday: Eventide Launch Party at Brothers Grim @ 2 PM

==EVENTIDE LAUNCH PARTY DETAILS==
Author: Brian Paskoff

Eventide gets released this weekend, and there's going to be release events at your favorite stores to celebrate! At either event you attend, you'll get a Shadowmoor tournament pack and two Eventide boosters, using those to build a minimum 40-card deck. Like any other limited event without decklists, you'll be able to change your deck between rounds, so don't worry if you don't get it right the first time. Everyone who signs up to play will receive a foil Figure of Destiny promo, one of the hottest cards in the set!

This Friday is also when Eventide becomes legal for both limited and constructed events, so Friday will be the first sanctioned Shadowmoor-Shadowmoor-Eventide draft at Brothers Grim!

FNC
Date: Saturday, July 26th @ 1 PM
Entry Fee: $26
Product: 1 Shadowmoor Tournament Pack, 2 Eventide Boosters

Brothers Grim
Date: Sunday, July 27th @ 2 PM
Entry Fee: $23
Product: 1 Shadowmoor Tournament Pack, 2 Eventide Boosters
Brothers Grim will also be holding special sales on Sunday, and I've been told they'll be "interesting"!

Wizards of the Coast (and Islandhome) doesn't guarantee any assortment of cards in a pack, but if you do open anything unusual, please let me know as soon as you realize. Unusual things include two or more of a Shadowmoor card of any rarity (unless one's foil), more than two Eventide cards of any rarity, and two or more Eventide rares.

We may do deck swaps at both events - that's where you open the packs you get, check off how many of each card you've got, then put the cards back in the box and hand them to me, where I'll pass them back out at random. This helps prevent both cheating and accusations of cheating, so it helps everyone.

==EVENTIDE LIMITED TIPS==
Author: Brian Paskoff

The addition of Eventide to Shadowmoor block limited is a huge bonus. No longer do you have to worry about getting mana screwed when you're not playing one of the five allied color pairs, because a red/white deck for example gets enough spells from Eventide to smooth out the manabase. When you crack open your sealed product this weekend, here's some tips to build a winning deck.

Removal is still high on the list. Thankfully it's not as rare as it was in Shadowmoor-only limited, especially if you're playing red. Puncture Blast gets rid of significantly more creatures than Puncture Bolt, Fire at Will can turn the tide of the combat step, Unmake is one of the strongest removal spells ever printed for limited, and so on. Don't underestimate the power of Flame Jab; even its measly one damage can add up, especially when facing a field of X/1s or getting mana flooded.

Speaking of retrace spells, they give you another reason to play 18 land in SHM/EVE limited, because every extra land you draw and don't need turns into a copy of any retrace spell in your graveyard. The "tried and true" spell to land ratio of limited decks is 23 spells, 17 land, but in a block like this one with traditionally slower decks and retrace spells, it might be a good idea to play 23 spells and 18 land, playing a 41-card deck. Your mileage may vary.

Like with any limited format, you should try sticking to two colors, maybe with a third-color splash if you have the mana fixers to support it. Although mono-color decks are easy to build in a draft format, with sealed deck you're not in control of what cards you get, so your bombs may be spread out between at least two colors. Pay close attention to the mana costs of your spells; you might find that your deck can run a lot smoother if you play only one type of basic land, even if you need to cut a card or two.

Having two packs of Eventide means it's possible to abuse Mimics to great effect. If you manage to get even one in your colors, you shouldn't think twice about including as many cards to "activate" it as possible, including any hybrid Auras to match its colors. Other creatures that should be in your deck without question are the Hatchlings. Even if you're only playing one of a Hatchling's two colors, it shouldn't take much to turn your 2/2 into a 6/6. And don't forget the fun combos with Hatchings and Fate Transfer, or Quillspike, or any useful instant speed spell that shares a color with your Hatchling in order to double as a combat trick!

Quillspike is deadly in limited. Sure it dies itself to even one -1/-1 counter (that is, if it's not already pumped up and you don't have the mana to siphon off its own -1/-1 counters), but it combos with Hatchlings, persisting creatures, and any of Shadowmoor's "put a -1/-1 counter on me to untap me" creatures. Oh, and it can grow unreasonably large with Devoted Druid. Tap the Druid to add green to your mana pool, put a -1/-1 counter on the Druid to untap it, then use that green mana and remove the -1/-1 counter to feed your Quillspike. Then repeat the process an infi... arbitrarily large number of times. If you're lucky enough, you can then fling it at your opponent with Rite of Consumption for lots and lots of damage.

Lastly, you can always practice your sealed deck skills on Magic Workstation; the database for Eventide is available, so you can generate sealed pools and play against your friends online. It's a great way to learn which cards are useful and how to construct a deck.

Whatever you crack this weekend, good luck!

==TOURNAMENT REPORT: FNC 7/19/08==
Author: Brian Paskoff

It's been inexplicably bothering me for a few months now that my constructed rating was stuck at 1697. Judging about fifteen times the number of events I've played in meant my rating was slowly gathering dust, and while a 1700 rating doesn't get you a bye at a major event or anything, it's still somewhat of a milestone... especially for a judge. FNC's metagame is a little different than most places; the two most popular decks in the format, Faeries and Reveillark, don't usually have much of a showing there. Aggro decks are the big thing, and there are quite a few mono-red burn decks. So in a rare moment of clarity, Madonia had a good idea: I should play his mono-white Life deck (see Islandhome #19). Since the last Standard deck I played with any sort of regularity was my homebrew WG Ramp deck, which also hoped to stall out the aggro decks with life gain, playing mono-white seemed like a great idea.

Round 1: vs. Rob Grippa, playing Faeries
Faeries is definitely the worst matchup for this deck, with Reveillark a close second, so of course I played the only Faerie deck in the room in the first round. Actually, it has problems with anything that plays Cryptic Command and Rune Snag. In both games Rob suspended obscene amounts of Ancestral Visions, and countered everything relevant I played; the only spell I resolved the first game was a turn two Martyr of Sands. I planned to use the 21 life I gained off of it and the five damage it did in the first few turns where he did nothing to race the two Bitterblossoms he eventually played, but he only got down to 11 before the faerie swarm got too much for me. Game 2 was only a little different in that he Mistbind Clique'd me every turn.
Loss: -3 points.

Round 2: vs. Frank Barbato, playing RG Aggro
For some reason Frank wasn't playing his usual control deck this week. I was at lower-than-comfortable life for a few turns in the first game, not drawing any of my life-gaining spells except for a Martyr of Sands I popped early on. I knew Frank was holding a Molten Disaster in his hand, and knew I had to stay above his mana to stay alive. Why he didn't split-second-ize it and deal me a boatload of damage, kill my problematic Crovax, and clear the way for his graveyard full of Call of the Herds (he seemed to draw four of them every game) and any burn spells he might topdeck to finish me off, I'll never know. But I finally drew a Martyr and got back into the game. Game 2 he boarded in Everlasting Torments. Even though I knew they were coming in, I didn't board my Wispmares, wanting to see how I could fare against the card. Surprisingly, it worked great for me. He dropped it early, but it cost him a turn to do so. It made my Condemns almost better than Swords to Plowshares, and changed my Knight of Meadowgrains from "first strike, lifelink" to "first strike, wither". I got rid of it with an Oblivion Ring when I was ready, and was able to get back into the game.
Gain: +5 points.

Round 3: vs. Travis Tricoche, playing Lorwyn/Shadowmoor Block Quick n' Toast
Travis was playing a block deck that he managed to borrow off of someone. I was a little worried because the deck played Cryptic Command and Broken Ambitions, but only Cryptic Command could reliably counter a Martyr of Sands, and the turns I bought with life gain helped me stave off the aggro rush. Only Oona would have really been a problem, but he never got her out in either game. Even Reveillark and Makeshift Mannequin bringing back Fulminator Mages over and over to shoot my lands out from under me wasn't enough to stop me from regaining tempo by gaining life and getting back creatures with Reveillark.
Gain: +6 points.

Round 4: vs. Grego McConnel, playing homebrew Elves
Grego's Elf deck is fast, but it had two weaknesses - well, one was a part of the other really. It seemed to run only a few lands due to the abundance of mana-producing creatures like Llanowar Elves and Birds of Paradise, which made it even MORE vulnerable than any other aggro deck to Wrath of God. Game 1 he played a Summoner's Pact for a Chameleon Colossus, and next turn I Oblivion Ringed his Birds of Paradise, stranding him on three mana and making it impossible for him to pay for his pact.
Gain: +6 points.

Round 5: I drew with Jon Lorig, who was playing a homebrew deck based around Vigor. I knew that with almost all the 9-pointers drawing, I had a chance to get knocked out of top 8, but I didn't really care about making it.
Loss: -2 points.

So my constructed rating is now a respectable 1709. Do I plan to go for the big 1800? Maybe some day, if there's a deck that inspires me enough, but maybe my next goal will be to get my limited rating from 1670 to 1700!

==EDH LEAGUE: QUICK UPDATES==
Author: Brian Paskoff

New Entry: Nester "Nester" Ramirez, playing Reaper King

Michael Bauer beats Nick Seidler 2-0!

My match with Bauer is on hold for now, but I'm up a game 1-0. Hooray!

==MAGICAL MISUNDERSTANDINGS: SPLIT SECOND==
Author: Brian Paskoff

Probably the most headache-inducing mechanic since banding, split second has caused me to want to bang my head against the nearest solid wall more than any other rule in Magic. I'd even wager to say that more people have misunderstood the ability than any other ability in Magic - I swear I remember banding being relatively well understood, but that was because everyone who played when banding existed "grew up" with it. But when Time Spiral came out and split second was unleashed on the Magic playing world, it caused all sorts of confusion.

Let me tell a story of a playtesting game between two players, let's call them Aaron and Neil, just because I love the Active player/Non-active player names from the judge tests and I don't want to use any real names. Aaron was playing Ravnica-Time Spiral era Dragonstorm. What Neil was playing doesn't matter, but it had the then-freshly-released Extirpate in it. Aaron had four mana up and played Seething Song. Seething Song resolved, adding RRRRR to his mana pool. Knowing that Neil had an Extirpate in his hand, Aaron whispered to me, "Can I play another Seething Song, then in response play another Seething Song, without passing priority to let him play Extirpate?" I said yes - Aaron was the active player, and once he played the second Seething Song this turn, he had priority to play a third before Neil got priority to play Extirpate.

Aaron took three mana from his pool, tapped his remaining Mountain for R, and said "Seething Song, in response, Seething Song," showing the next two in his hand.
"Wait!" said Neil, "In response to the second Seething Song, I'll Extirpate the first one you played this turn."

Neil hoped to get the third Seething Song out of his hand before he could play it, but I explained how priority works and how Aaron could keep priority and keep playing spells "in response" before he passed to Neil.

"That's not true, then how do counterspells work?" Neil asked. I tried explaining how the stack doesn't all resolve at once, and once one player added all his spells/abilities to the stack and passed priority, the next player could target any of those spells/abilities with counterspells/Stifles.

It was just then that Neil's friend came in and Neil explained his side of the story to him. Neil's friend said I was right, but, and this is the worst part: "It doesn't matter if you have priority though, because Extirpate has Split Second!"

So you see how the name "Split Second" caused so much confusion. Players assumed split second meant just that - that it was somehow "faster" than any other spell, and you could play it whenever you wanted. I used to have players arguing with me that they could play split second spells as instants while Teferi was in play because they were too fast for Teferi to stop, or that a Counterbalance wouldn't be able to counter a Sudden Shock.

The worst part about all this misunderstanding? Split second's reminded text states on the card everything that it does: As long as this spell is on the stack, players can't play spells or activated abilities that aren't mana abilities. Not many abilities' reminder text explicitly spell out exactly what they do in their reminder text; reminder text generally gives a vague idea of what the abilitiy does. But for split second, it does - while the spell is on the stack, neither player can play spells or activated non-mana abilities. Triggered abilities and special actions such as unmorphing a creature work fine while a spell with split second is on the stack.

==RULES CORNER==
Author: Brian Paskoff

Q. With Merrow Bonegnawer, who chooses the card to be removed from the game?
A. Merrow Bonegnawer's ability has only one target: a player. When the ability resolves, that player chooses a card in his or her graveyard and removes it from the game. Hopefully, your opponent won't have too many cards in their graveyard, so activating it a few times will get rid of the card you want.

Q. There's a Temporal Isolation on my Stigma Lasher, but I attack with it anyway. With damage on the stack, I sacrifice my Stigma Lasher to my suspended Greater Gargadon. Can my opponent gain life later?
A. Good trick getting that pesky Temporal Isolation off your Stigma Lasher. Since it's not in play anymore, it can't prevent any damage, and combat damage from Stigma Lasher will resolve as normal. However, while "last known information" allows the game to know just about anything it needs to about the former elemental, if for example you had an ability that triggered whenever a red source dealt damage, Stigma Lasher isn't in play anymore either. So, it's triggered ability can't trigger.

==THE ISLANDHOME BLOG==

==GUEST ARTICLES==

==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, Shadowmoor, and Eventide.

July 26th (Saturday): Eventide Launch Party at FNC
See above for details!

July 27th (Sunday): Eventide Launch Party at Brothers Grim
See above for details!

PTQs in our general area this season:

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

==FIN==

See everyone this weekend!

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

-Brian Paskoff
L1 NY

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Islandhome #20

==ISLANDHOME #20==

July 16th 2008

==IN THIS ISSUE...==

Eventide Prerelease Recap
Eventide Launch Party Details
Elder Dragon Highlander: Eventide Card Review
EDH League: Pairings!
Learn from the Worst: A guest article from Michael Innace!
Rules Corner: Packed with Eventidey goodness!

==THIS WEEK'S SCHEDULE==

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

We had a lot of fun drafting SHM-SHM-EVE at Grim last week, and if enough people bring packs again, we might be able to do another unsanctioned draft! Otherwise, it'll just be another Chaos Draft. Either way, come down for some fun!

Reminder: Eventide is NOT legal in any constructed formats this weekend.
It's also not legal to sanction any draft using Eventide until next Friday, so the draft at Brothers Grim on Friday will be our last sanctioned SHM-SHM-SHM draft.

==EVENTIDE PRERELEASE RECAP==
Author: Brian Paskoff

I hope everyone had fun at the Eventide prerelease this past weekend! We had way more players than we expected, so I apologize for any delay in starting events or getting pairings up. We even ran out of Overbeing of Myth promos! And that's not all we ran out of: By the time team events started, we realized we were fresh out of Shadowmoor tournament packs. After calling Glen Friedman, the TO of Gray Matter, he gave us the idea of replacing the two tournament packs each team would normally get with six packs of Eventide. Each tournament pack has 45 unique cards and 30 basic lands, so three boosters = one tournament pack. This led to some busted decks, and while a load of fun, proved why drafting triple Eventide would be a bad idea. Almost every deck was "mono color" Mimics and Auras, and the winner of the game was usually the player who equipped their Nightsky Mimic with an Edge of the Divinity and swung for 7 enough times by playing only white/black spells, or any other Mimic, Aura, and their respective colors.

The addition of Eventide to Shadowmoor block limited seems like a major change. Not only are mono-color decks even easier to build, smoothing out manabases and allowing you to play a "five color" deck using only one type of basic land, but two color decks previously difficult to build in pure Shadowmoor are easier now with enemy-colored hybrids. No longer do you need to worry about mana problems if you've got bombs in both white and black, because there are enough white/black cards to bring your deck together.

Auras are still king in SHM/EVE limited, but the relevance of some of them are a little diminished. Steel of the Godhead is an amazing card, but now you've got less opportunity to pick up blue/white hybrid creatures. A lot of the time, I saw Shadowmoor Auras on creatures who only turned on half of the enchantment. Giving your Cold-Eye Selkie +1/+1 and making it unblockable is great though, even if it doesn't get lifelink.

Now here's the bad news. Wizards' new "grass roots" initiative has put prereleases in the hands of stores, not big TOs like Gray Matter. Big prereleases like the one you attended last weekend might be a thing of the past. To me and lots of other players, prereleases were the only real "big tournaments" we got to attend, and a rare and welcome chance to play with people you never get to meet. Plus, little stores aren't going to be able to run multiple flights, team events, side drafts, etc. But Gray Matter may try to hold another large prerelease at the same location for Shards of Alara in late September. What I'd like to know is, if there was another big prerelease at the Long Island location, would you rather play there, or at a local store prerelease? Reply to this email and let me know!

And thanks again to everyone who came out!

Keep next weekend free for Eventide Launch Parties at Brothers Grim and FNC!

==EVENTIDE LAUNCH PARTY DETAILS==
Author: Brian Paskoff

So now that the prerelease is over, the next big event coming up is the Eventide Launch Party! I'll be hosting two of these release events, one next Saturday at FNC and one next Sunday at Brothers Grim. FNC's release event will be at 1 PM on Saturday the 26th, and Grim's will be at 2 PM on Sunday the 27th. Save the date for one or both, and I'll have price and other details in the next issue!

==ELDER DRAGON HIGHLANDER: EVENTIDE REVIEW==
Author: Brian Paskoff

I don't know about you, but the first thing I look forward to when a new set comes out are the legends to build an EDH deck around. There's only two legends in the set, and neither of them are very useful. Ashling the Extinguisher is only a 4/4 for 4 with no evasion, forces you to play mono-black, and its saboteur ability isn't even that useful. There are much better mono-black legends, such as Horobi, Death's Wail, and Maga, Traitor to Mortals, if you want to go that route. The other legend, Sapling of Colfenor, is BG, a powerful color combination in EDH, but while its ability might come in handy when it hits, there's much better card advantage available in BG. Industructability is a fine ability, but it doesn't shrug off things like Oblation, Condemn, or Spin into Myth.

Now for the cards themselves:

WHITE:
Archon of Justice: Being able to remove a permanent from the game is very useful, if you can control when the Archon dies.
Endless Horizons: The amount of removal in the format makes this card very risky, unless your plan is to thin your deck out... or you're up against a deck with no enchantment removal like a Kaervek the Merciless deck.
Hallowed Burial: A great alternative Wrath against reanimator decks.
Spirit of the Hearth: Making yourself untargetable shuts down more things than you think. Your opponent's not going to be playing Gifts Ungiven while this cat's in play.

BLUE:
Cache Raiders: There's lots of things that benefit from being replayed again and again - Mulldrifter, Karmic Guide, Mystic Snake... just find any permanent with a good "comes into play" effect and have fun.

BLACK:
Nightmare Incursion: I'm so excited about playing this card in a mono-black EDH deck I could plotz.

RED:
Rekindled Flame: This card gets better and better the more players there are in the game.

GREEN:
Helix Pinnacle: Let's get one thing straight: the only reason this card is playable, even in EDH, is because it has shroud. EDH games go long, and avoiding mass removal for a few turns can mean certain victory.
Primalcrux: Mono-green decks might be able to use this.
Regal Force: See above.
Wicker-bough Elder: It costs 1 less than Indrik Stomphowler, even though it technically makes up for it by costing G to blow something up... but it's a decent body with an important removal ability.

WHITE/BLACK:
Cauldron Haze: Ghostway is a much better anti-removal spell.
Deathbringer Liege: Yes. Play this if your deck can support it. It's probably one of the top five creatures in the set for EDH.
Divinity of Pride: "Players start at 40 life." It's an 8/8 flying lifelink for 5.
Evershrike: Could be interesting with recurring enchantments such as Rancor or Spirit Loop.
Unmake: It sadly gets outshined by Swords to Plowshares, but if you need another removal spell....

BLUE/RED:
Call the Skybreaker: It turns late-game lands into 5/5 fliers.
Dominus of Fealty: Bringer of the Red Dawn couldn't be played in anything but a 5-color deck, but this can be played in as little as two colors, plus it steals even non-creature permanents.
Mindwrack Liege: It's expensive, but bringing out red/blue fatties for 4 mana is awesome.
Nucklavee: Playing both Anarchist and Scriviner in your blue/red deck and need a card slot free? Here you go!

BLACK/GREEN:
Creakwood Liege: Verdant Force sees a lot of play in EDH, and this could too, despite it being easy to kill and the token-making not quite as out-of-hand in multiplayer.
Desecrator Hag: There's better Raise Dead effects (Eternal Witness?) but it's a fine card.
Doomgape: Green produces enough tokens to feed it, and it's a 10/10 trampler.

WHITE/RED:
Balefire Liege: If it could Lightning Bolt creatures too it'd be a lot better, but the life gain and pumping is good.
Moonhold: I can't decide if this card is too narrow or not, it seems very "win more".
Waves of Aggression: Perfect for an aggro-heavy deck.

BLUE/GREEN:
Cold-Eyed Selkie: It's only a 1/1, but with the right pump spells - and an opponent playing blue - this creature can get ridiculous.
Murkfiend Liege: Seedborne Muse definitely sees play in EDH, and while the Liege only affects your blue and green creatures, it's still very good.
Overbeing of Myth: Drawing an extra card every turn is good I hear.
Spitting Image: This is the EDH card I've been waiting for, literally! There are lots of creatures you'll want to copy in the format, and the ability to do it over and over again is amazing.

ARTIFACTS:
Scarecrone: Lots of hardcore EDH players like to take on the challenge of making a Karn, Silver Golem deck. I can't see this not being included in it. Even if you're not playing an artifact-heavy deck, getting back creatures such as Sundering Titan, Duplicant, and Solemn Simulacrum is a good deal.
Ward of Bones: Playing this in a multiplayer game won't make you any friends.

LANDS:
Of course all the enemy-color filter-lands are auto-includes if you're playing those colors. Springjack Pasture... not so much.

==ELDER DRAGON HIGHLANDER LEAGUE==
Author: Brian Paskoff

PAIRINGS!
Well last week I had a realization: since the idea of this league is to test your EDH deck on a "tournament" level, and some league players can't make a tournament every week, having a new "round" of pairings every week doesn't really make sense. Instead, everyone is going to play everyone in a sort of "round robin" style, and at the end, the player with the best record is the winner. This also lets us hold EDH league events during months with lots of large events that some of the more hardcore players might attend. And, it lets players join up late, since if they don't play a match in time, it's their loss.

So without further ado, ladies and gentlemen and lhurgoyfs, here's your starting lineup!

Brian Paskoff - Grand Arbiter Augustin XIII
Michael Bauer - Cromat
Michael Evans - Sisay
Nick Seidler - Phelddagrif

It's sparse right now, but I've been told by a few players that they're putting the finishing touches on their decks, so we'll see!

- We'll be using the "Big Deck" mulligan rule - that is, you get one free mulligan. After that, go to six.

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

- You will be allowed to tune up your deck between rounds, as long as you keep your general the same.

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

- General reservation will be on a first come, first served basis.

- Matches will be best 2-of-3, though if both players want to play one game because it takes a long time, you can report it 2-0 if you want. (I had a match with Matt Brocking that lasted about two hours, finally losing to a Serra Avatar with a Flickerform on it.)

==LEARN FROM THE WORST==
Author: Michael Innace

Hello everyone, and welcome to the first installment of Learn From The Worst, with me, Mike Innace. Brian Paskoff has been kind enough to help me pass my free time this summer by writing strategy articles for Islandhome. As you may or may not know, I'm a public school teacher during the regular school year. My summers are usually spent working at a beach camp on Fire Island, commuting on the ferry every other day. This year, I dropped that job like hot garbage and found myself with lots of time with which I have nothing to do. So, writing a strategy article might help keep me off the streets while possibly providing some insight to aspiring competitive Magic players.

In this article we're going to take a look at Lorwyn Block Constructed. I'm aware that the format is about to change, but I don't think that will affect the ideas I'll be presenting. This format has five decks that you'll regularly find at Pro Tour Qualifiers. If you don't know much about this format, those decks are (in no particular order):

Faeries
Kithkin
Quick 'n' Toast
Elementals
Oversoul.dec

Remember when I said "no particular order"? I lied. Those first four decks are considered the tier 1 decks of the format, and Oversoul.dec is the only resounding tier 2 deck. Oversoul.dec (which I've been calling 'Jumanji') is nothing to scoff at, and I happen to believe that Gaddok Teeg is one of the best cards in the format. However, a well-timed removal spell from Jumanji's opponent can put Jumanji in a very bad card disadvantage situation. I'm talking about:

Jumanji: "Attempt to cast Shield of the Oversoul on my Kitchen Finks."
Opponent: "Nameless Inversion. Untap, play big spell. Wow, my board is much better than yours, eh?"

You might be saying to yourself "But what about Goblins and Rogues and Soldiers and Elves?" But forgive me when I say that anything but these five decks as of right now would be considered tier three or worse.

So far this season, I've been rocking Elementals. There are way too many sneaky plays you can pull off with Incandescent Soulstoke. Smokebraider is also unfair. Here's the list I was using:

4 Smokebraider
4 Incandescent Soulstoke
4 Nameless Inversion
4 Reveillark
4 Makeshift Mannequin
4 Mulldrifter
4 Fulminator Mage
3 Cloudthresher
2 Shriekmaw
2 Primal Command
1 Horde of Notions
4 Reflecting Pool
4 Primal Beyond
2 Fire-Lit Thicket
2 Graven Cairns
2 Mystic Gate
1 Sunken Ruins
1 Wooded Bastion
4 Vivid Crag
3 Vivid Marsh
1 Vivid Grove

You may notice the absence of Flamekin Harbinger. It was a very tough call, but after some extensive testing with this deck, all he was really good for was making sure you had a Smokebraider to cast on turn 2. Don't get me wrong – that is quite powerful, but his late game power didn't compare to that of Primal Command. Primal Command gets the Elemental you need without the expense of a card AND THEN does something else!
Against Kithkin, it would usually gain 7 life. Against other Reveillarks it would shuffle up their graveyard. You name it, it was good. This version of Elementals starts Fulminator Mage because of the monstrous number of Toast decks I encountered at my first PTQ. The last version only had three lonely Mages in the sideboard. After deciding that most skilled players like the powerhouse deck that Toast is, 4x Fulminator Mage and 4x Mannequin seemed like a good battle plan.

My sideboard was as follows:

4 Thoughtseize
4 Firespout
2 Austere Command
2 Shriekmaw
1 Cloudthresher
2 Puppeteer Clique

I'll make the sideboard explanations short, because I don't want Elementals to be the focus of my article. Thoughtseize went in against decks with Cryptic Command. Firespout went in against decks with…well…creatures. Austere Command was Firespout 5 and 6. Shriekmaw was extra spot removal. Cloudthresher obviously came in versus Faeries and Puppeteer Clique comes in against other Reveillark strategies.
I had a theory on my way to the New Jersey PTQ last weekend. I rode in with Ralph Navarra and Rob Grippa. Ralph and I were piloting the exact same 75 cards (no gay jokes, please). Rob was playing a Pseudo-Mono-Black Control deck that he created himself. I'd give you the list, but I can't for three reasons:

#1) Rob would get mad if I did that, and I can't disobey his trust.
#2) Rob played 2 games with the deck before the PTQ -- it's not tested or tuned.
#3) I…don't have a list.

Anyway, like I was saying…I had a theory just before the tournament. I noticed along the way that when testing for this format we only tested against three decks: Kithkin, Faeries and Toast. We disregarded the Jumanji matchup thinking that most players piloting that would be less skilled. And enough games with any deck, and you can assume how a mirror match is going to go. My theory was that going rogue might be the best bet in a format like Lorwyn Block Constructed. There are only five competitive decks. Two of those decks are found often in Standard, so you may already know how to play against them well. In a format like Standard, where there are close to a dozen 'good' decks, or Extended where there are several thousand good decks and their variants, it's near impossible to get testing in against every matchup. When testing LBC, you can get probably ten good games under your belt in about 30-45 minutes. So to test against a gauntlet of LBC decks, you'd really only need to devote about three hours of your time. To boot, most LBC decklists are stock lists, with very few adjustments made, thanks to R&D handing us the Tribal "Mechanic".

My theory proved somewhat right, based on the final standings of my trio. Ralph and I, who are 1900+ players, with extensive testing under our belts went 5-3 and 4-4 respectively after 8 rounds of swiss. Rob, who played five games AT MOST with his deck, and has been sporting a 1700 rating for the last six years went 6-2. His round one loss made his tiebreakers really awful and only one 6-2 finisher made it into the top 8.
I'm convinced that Rob's success has less to do with playskill (no offense, buddy) and more to do with the fact that his opponents had no idea what was coming next. With a little tuning, his deck may have taken down this tournament.

Knowing your matchup is an important path to victory, and when you go rogue, that's an advantage you automatically take away from your opponent. It reminds me of my miserable showing at Regionals 2002 in Ohio. I'd been playing Blue/Green Madness, what I believe to be one of the most powerful Standard decks that didn't get cards banned from it. It was unconditionally the best deck of that format, the trick was finding ways to outclass the mirror match. I'd won every FNM at my local store with that deck week after week. Every Saturday in Jamestown there were cash tournaments. I'd bring the house down with Blue/Green Madness and take home the $25 or $30 that a college student most desperately needed for…refreshments. Then along came Regionals. Round one I am paired up against the scrub to end all scrubs. He is playing some cockamamie Blue/White/Green Astral Slide deck with cards I'd never heard of. He's cycling and drawing, cycling and drawing, casting more 5cc sorceries and enchantments than all the Circular Logics in the world could counter.

I lost.
I lost bad.

But not because he was the better player than me. Far from it. He was better prepared for this game than I could have ever been. I had one hundred or more matches against Mono Black Control, AstroGlide, the Mirror, Red/Green Aggro, White/Green Aggro, under my belt. But he built his homegrown UWg Astral Slide deck and made sure the first deck he tested against was Blue/Green Madness so he could take 32 points from his first round opponent.

My point is that if you're playing a rogue deck, you've given yourself a serious advantage. Provided you have tested against the tier 1 decks and have plans against them. Expecting the unexpected is not something Magic players who test a lot are good at. You often lose to a card you have to read, because "expecting the unexpected" meant "expecting the totally unknown".

So for your LBC endeavors this August (no local PTQs in July), I recommend you find your favorite Eventide card and build some pile around it. Put some powerhouse block cards in there like Cryptic Command or Mind Shatter to keep your opponents on their toes. Test it against the five decks that we see at PTQs. Figure out where it's weak, tune it and devote some sideboard slots to its weaknesses.

That's that. Now I want to share my thoughts on some Eventide cards, now that the full spoiler is out.

Stigma Lasher
This is the one most people are talking about. Rightly so. Truth is, you get quite a handful of big creatures for the price of two mana nowadays. I'm talking of course about Tarmogoyfs and Vanquishers. So a 2/2 for 2 doesn't seem all that spectacular. Tack on this ability and this guy becomes a giant lightning rod. Red's always lacked in decent 'bears', but this guy fits the bill. Admittedly, he's not going to get through very often, but no red deck will be without this guy as long as red is still trying to get you to zero as quickly as possible.

Hallowed Burial
Hey, why not have five Wrath effects in Standard? Not that anyone plays Austere Command in Standard, but you catch my drift. Kitchen Finks may get around the first Wrath, Firespout, Damnation, and Austere Command…but this card says "screw persist". I foresee white decks using this as Wrath 5 and 6.

Dream Fracture
I think there are very few cases where this card isn't strictly better than Cancel. A control deck usually wins the card-for-card game if they can survive an early rush. I think of this card as a version of Remand that's better in the late game. Cancel doesn't really see much play right now, so this probably won't either. I'm just trying to say that I think it's better than Cancel.

Ashling the Extinguisher
A 4/4 for four mana in black is good to begin with. Tack a Diabolic Edict onto it and I think it may be playable in constructed. Standard might have different plans for black, but the idea of having Profane Command and this guy in the same deck is making me grin.

Nettle Sentinel
Alright, so green now has two decent two-power creatures for one mana. Some ballsy players will try to exploit this guy and Tautermunge Maniac for all they're worth. About a week after Eventide is legal, those players will remember that Kitchen Finks are still in the format. Oops. In any case, this card is solid.

Unmake
Still doesn't kill Chameleon Colossus, but this card is good.

Canker Abomination
If this guy was just green, he probably wouldn't be good. But he's black. That's the color that's really good at killing creatures, right? Seems to me if you're packing an average amount of removal in your black deck, this guy is a Juzam Djinn at least. I expect to see a Doran revival with the addition of this card.

Figure of Destiny
Read it carefully. Very carefully. This card is good.

Snakeform
This card is very good. In a blue control deck it will help you survive a big attacker while not giving up any card advantage. In green, it's a very good way to slow down (if not kill) an opposing Chameleon Colossus. I anticipate this card will see play in Standard.

Scarecrone
I'm sure there will be something stupid to do with this card in Extended. It's late and I haven't thought of anything yet.

That concludes my first article. I hope you enjoyed it. Here's my advice to anyone playing in an Eventide Sealed event coming up. If you get a Call the Skybreaker, force it.

Until next time,
Mike

==TOWER OF BAUER==
Author: Michael Bauer

Ever wanted to have your own collection of signed cards, but just can't afford to travel due to time or money? Well, now you don't have to! FNC and Brother's Grim regular Michael Bauer is going to Nationals and he wants to help you!

Yes, this is Michael "The Tower of" Bauer here and I am offering to take your stuff to get signed at Nationals. For the next two weeks, I will be at FNC and Brother's Grim for the regular scheduled tourneys, plus probably a little before hand. If you want stuff signed, you just go to bring it to me. I will have order forms on hand (so nobody can tell me they gave me something they didn't) as well. Cards will be returned at the first tournament after Nationals, most likely the Saturday FNC Standard.

Special requests will be taken in (just don't go nuts) as I do you a favor in between my quest to be United States National Champion of Magic. If you have questions, catch me at FNC or Grim this weekend, shoot me an AOL IM at NewECWNightmare, or e-mail me at mikekilljoy@gmail.com.

Scheduled to appear:

Artists Aleksi Briclot and Dave Kendall

Creator of Magic the Gathering: Richard Garfield

Kenji (Hey, it could happen.)

Plus the USA's top pros!!

==RULES CORNER==

Author: Brian Paskoff

Every prerelease I try to predict the most common questions I'll be asked. This time it was a toss-up between "Do I have to pay the spell's mana cost too when using retrace?" (yes you do) and "Can I retrace as an instant?" (only if the spell is an instant). Well surprisingly, I didn't hear any of those, though as the head judge I didn't get a ton of floor-time to hear many questions. I'm sure as players get to mess around with the new cards, there'll be lots of interesting questions in the next few weeks, so send them in!

Q. If I open five Unmakes in my sealed pool, can I play them all?
A. There's no limit to how many of each card you can play in a limited deck, so go nuts! If you do manage to crack more than three of a common, uncommon, or more than one of a rare, it's a good idea to inform a judge and show them what you opened so they know there's no funny business. In a big limited event though, there'll be decklists and deck swaps to avoid such a problem.

Q. If I get a foil rare in my deck, can I trade it to someone for a non-foil one and play with it?
A. You have to play with whatever cards you get. If you don't want that foil Cascade Bluffs dinged up, shuffle carefully in sleeves, or don't play with it at all. Trading cards from your limited pool is very bad. I've only seen one instance of a head judge allowing a player to swap out a card in their limited pool: At a limited PTQ in the city last year, a player asked the head judge if he could swap the foil common he opened for a non-foil one. He had another of that common in his deck, a non-foil, and didn't want to give away the information that he had two of them to his opponent by showing a foil one game and a non-foil the next. And lastly, if it's humid in the room and foils are warped enough to be considered marked cards, the head judge may issue a proxy.

Q. I have Light from Within in play and my opponent Snakeforms my Divinity of Pride. How big is it now?
A. The only thing that's changed about your Divinity is its creature type, color, abilities, and power and toughness. So it still has five hybrid white/black mana symbols in its mana cost, and gets +5/+5 from Light from Within.

Q. I start my turn by untapping eight Islands and a Wake Thrasher. During my upkeep, my opponent tries to kill my Wake Thrasher with his Mogg Fanatic, but isn't it already a 10/10 by my upkeep?
A. While things can trigger during your untap step, they don't go onto the stack the beginning of your upkeep. So while those triggers are on the stack, your merfolk is just a puny 1/1.

Q. After I concede a game and scoop up my cards, my opponent and I realize that he won by pinging my creatures with Cinder Pyromancer. Can a judge overturn the game since he won illegally?
A. Unfortunately, once a game is over, it's over, and there's no going back. Even if the misuse of the Pyromancer had been caught at the end of the game, judges shouldn't and won't rewind the game - save for rewinding any illegal plays that just happened. Of course, a judge may investigate for cheating if he or she thinks there was any intentional "misreading" of a card. Since it's both players' responsibility to maintain the gamestate, it's extremely important for both players to read every card, especially at a prerelease where you're seeing cards for the first time.

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

==THE ISLANDHOME BLOG==

==GUEST ARTICLES==

==UPCOMING EVENTS==

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

==FIN==

See everyone this weekend!

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

-Brian Paskoff
L1 NY

Islandhome #19

==ISLANDHOME #19==

July 9th 2008

==IN THIS ISSUE...==

Eventide Prerelease Tips
Magical Misunderstandings: Book Burning
Elder Dragon Highlander League: Pairings!
Rules Corner: Retracing Eventide's lone keyword mechanic.

==THIS WEEK'S SCHEDULE==

Friday: Booster Draft at Brothers Grim @ 7 PM
Sunday: Shadowmoor-Eventide Draft at Brothers Grim @ 2 PM

Everyone who plays in this weekend's prerelease gets a free booster pack of Eventide no matter what place they get! If enough people bring their packs to Brothers Grim on Sunday, we can have an (unsanctioned) Shadowmoor-Shadowmoor-Eventide draft! Get experience with the new limited format early!

==EVENTIDE PRERELEASE TIPS==

This Saturday is the Eventide prerelease! The last set in the Lorwyn/Shadowmoor block will certainly have some new surprises for every format, but of course the first format it'll matter in is limited, as your first experience with the set will be sealed deck or draft. And to make sure you walk away with lots of shiny new Eventide booster packs at the prerelease, as always I've got some limited tips to help you succeed!

At the Eventide prerelease you'll get a tournament pack of Shadowmoor (as with every small set, there's no Eventide tournament packs) and three packs of Eventide. You'll need to build a minimum 40-card deck, and just like the 60-card minimum in constructed, it's best to stick to the minimum to make sure you draw what you need, when you need it. I and many other limited players like to play 41 cards - 23 spells and 18 lands (as opposed to the "standard" 23 spells and 17 lands) to maximize the chance of hitting every land drop without having to cut any playable spells. Plus with Eventide's retrace mechanic that lets you discard extra lands to play spells from your graveyard, it might be good to run 18 lands so you can get as much use out of your retrace spells as you can.

Eventide, like Shadowmoor, has a hybrid mana theme. Since a much greater than normal amount of cards in the set are playable with only one color of mana, it's possible to play a mono-color deck. If you can get away with it, great! But don't sweat it if you have enough bomby cards to splash a second or even third color, just make sure to include some extra mana fixing if you have it. The best way to figure out how many of each land to play in a two-color deck is to count up the number of mana symbols in each card. But since hybrid mana is involved, you'll need to separate your spells into TWO piles - one for spells that can be played with either color, one for spells that can only be played with Color A, and one for spells that can only be played with Color B. The ratio of one color to the other should tell you about what kind of balance of lands you should play.

Big, bomby creatures and removal spells are the kings of the format. An average limited deck should have anywhere between 15-17 creatures, leaning towards the higher side. Limited games more than any other type of format are decided in the red zone, so make sure to pick the right creatures for the job!

There's one more reason to attend Eventide's prerelease: cards are legal for Elder Dragon Highlander as of a set's prerelease! And there are a lot of great EDH cards in this set. Kelly Digges's Serious Fun column at magicthegathering.com just had an article yesterday talking about how the card he showed off, Murkfiend Liege, fits perfectly into his Momir Vig EDH deck.

There was an idea buzzing around for a while that Long Island's prerelease would include Two-Headed Giant instead of 3-Man Teams, but I've been given word that it'll be Teams, not 2HG, as usual.

==MAGICAL MISUNDERSTANDINGS==

It seems every other week someone asks me "How does Book Burning work?" The answer seems simple enough from its Oracle text: "Any player may have Book Burning deal 6 damage to him or her. If no one does, put the top six cards of target player's library into his or her graveyard." Most players are familiar with this concept from the Timmy-popular card Browbeat, which works the same way but is actually more on the "playable" side as far as Magic cards go. Unfortunately, while Browbeat benefits from being semi-recently reprinted with its correct and updated wording, the only copies of Book Burning that exist suffer from the most horrendous templating disasters ever. Take a look:

Unless a player has Book Burning
deal 6 damage to him or her, put
the top six cards of target player's
library into his or her graveyard.

Many players unfamiliar with what the rules and templating of Magic allow and don't allow assume that the first line, "Unless a player has Book Burning" is just what it sounds like. Unless a player has a Book Burning in their possession, the rest of the spell takes effect: they take 6 damage and mill for six. Written out as one sentence however, it's obvious that if the spell did work this way, the text would be riddled with grammatical errors. "Unless a player has Book Burning deal 6 damage to him or her, put the top six cards of target player's library into his or her graveyard." For it to "work", it'd need a few extra commas and an "and", like so: "Unless a player has Book Burning, Book Burning deals 6 damage to him or her, and put the top six cards of that player's library into his or her graveyard."

However, how do you determine who "has" Book Burning, if it did work this way? You definitely have Book Burning, after all, you're the one playing it! But do your opponents? I've heard a lot of clever ways players have attempted to figure out if their opponents have Book Burning, such as asking them to reveal their hands, or show a Book Burning from their (randomized!) library. I even came across one case where I was trading with a young player, then when I flipped to the back page of his binder, he told me "Those Book Burnings aren't for trade, they're just there in case someone plays one against me." It took me a moment for what he was saying to sink in, and then I told him how the card really worked.

But perhaps the biggest reason for players believing the spell is a two mana 6-damage burn spell with an extra effect is that the card is horrible when you know how it works. It's much nicer to believe Book Burning is one of the most efficient "to the face" burn spells ever printed than it is to think it's one of the worst milling spells.

Next time: Split Second.

==ELDER DRAGON HIGHLANDER LEAGUE==

Next week I'm going to be posting the pairings for round one of the EDH league, so sign up soon!

- 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).

- You will be allowed to tune up your deck between rounds, as long as you keep your general the same.

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

- General reservation will be on a first come, first served basis.

- Matches will be best 2-of-3, though if both players want to play one game because it takes a long time, you can report it 2-0 if you want. (I had a match with Matt Brocking that lasted about two hours, finally losing to a Serra Avatar with a Flickerform on it.)

- If there's not enough interest, then, well, we'll play it by ear!

==THE MADONIA MINUTE==

I am one to use the term metagame a lot more frivolously then the average person. Most of my conversations contain "metagaming" even though it may have nothing to do with Magic, or anything at all.
The most important aspect of tournament level magic is being able to predict what decks will be there and how to combat them. Usually on the east coast, people play aggro decks, especially in the NY area PTQs. On the west coast, a lot of their tournaments are won by the perennial control deck of the format. Being able to pick your weapon and have a strong feeling its a strong choice is a key factor to having a metagame advance.
The majority of the players that read these articles don't have illusions of Pro Tour grandeur, but enjoy their Friday night drafts or Saturday afternoon constructed and want to do well each week. FNC is usually polluted with aggro decks usually involving a turn 1 Llanowar Elf, or Mogg Fanatic. Some players have started to show up with Reveillark to combat the aggro player, but subsequently lose to any control deck running a decent suite of counterspells. I float around the tables each week to see what decks are being played and how they interact with any new exciting decks people decide to bring.
I've worked on a mono-white deck for the past few days and I didn't want to share it until I felt it could compete against a metagame.

Here goes the list:

4x Martyr of Sands
4x Knight of Meadowgrain
4x Kitchen Finks
3x Reveillark
1x Twilight Shepherd
4x Mulldrifter
1x Crovax, Ascendant Hero

4x Wrath of God
4x Temporal Isloation
3x Oblivion Ring
3x Condemn
1x Sacred Mesa

4x Boreal Shelf
15x Snow-Covered Plains
1x Scrying Sheets
2x Mouth of Ronom
2x Mystic Gate

Sideboard
3x Wispmare
3x Story Circle
2x Oversoul of Dusk
4x Celestrial Crusader
3x Pull from Eternity

This deck has been tested more then most decks I produce normally. I've run it through the gaunlet of decks that you would normally see at FNC to really strong results. Life gain may not be a fun way to win, but its consistent and does the same thing each game. Your sideboard allows for a multitude of answers to the important cards in the format.
The deck is solely a metagame deck and I wouldn't recommend bringing it to an open field.

The deck has been tweaked and changed about 15 times since I began the testing process and this is the final list. Make sure if you do decide to use the list to play it card for card, as each spot is optimal and used to compliment each other card.

Sideboarding guide

Reveliark decks
-1 Sacred Mesa
-1 Wrath of God
-1 Oblivion Ring
+3 Pull from Eternity

Green decks
-4 Knight of Meadowgrain
-1 Sacred Mesa
+3 Story Circle
+2 Oversoul of Dusk

Faeries
+3 Wispmare
+4 Crusader
On draw -4 Muldrifter -1 Wrath -2 Knight of Meadowgrain
On play +4 Celestial Crusader +3 Wispmare +3 Pull
-4 Mulldrifter -1 Twilight Shepherd -2 Oblivion Ring -3 Martyr of Sands

Burn
+3 Story Circle
-1 Sacred Mesa -2 Mulldrifter

I'm looking for a team for the Eventide prerelease, preferably people that haven't done a team event before and need a third player.

Thanks for reading,

- John Madonia

=RULES CORNER==

Q. I bring back my Juniper Order Ranger and an Essence Warden with my Reveillark. Since they're both coming into play at the same time, do they both trigger?
A. Yep! Each creature will see the other coming into play and trigger accordingly. You'll gain 1 life and put a +1/+1 counter on both your Ranger and Essence Warden. (See Rule 410.10d. "Normally, objects that exist immediately after an event are checked to see if the event matched any trigger conditions.")

Q. When Eventide becomes legal, do Time Spiral, Planar Chaos, Future Sight, and Coldsnap rotate out of Standard?
A. Time Spiral block and Coldsnap don't rotate out until October, so you've got another three months to play with your Goyfs!

The Eventide rules primer is out, so here's the rundown on every set mechanic:

Retrace: Retrace is a static ability that functions while a spell with retrace is in a graveyard. Retrace spells can be played from the graveyard by discarding a land card in addition to paying the spell's other costs - yes, that includes its mana cost! You also need to follow the normal timing restrictions for that spell; sorceries will still need to be "retraced" whenever you could play a sorcery. Playing a spell using retrace is still playing the spell, and since the first step to playing a spell is to announce it and move it to the stack, there's no way to Faerie Macabre a retrace spell out of the yard in response to it being played. And lastly, unlike flashback, once a retrace spell resolves it goes right back to its owner's graveyard, letting it be retraced again and again.

Wait, that's it? Yes, Eventide has only one keyword. There's Chroma, but that's an ability word - it has no rules meaning, it's just a word on the card to tell you "this spell has something to do with counting mana symbols". If you know how Phosphorescent Feast from Future Sight (and now from Eventide) works, it's the same thing.

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

==THE ISLANDHOME BLOG==

==GUEST ARTICLES==

==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!

July 26th (Saturday): Eventide Launch Party at FNC
Details coming soon!

July 27th (Sunday): Eventide Launch Party at Brothers Grim
Details coming soon!

PTQs in our general area this season:

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

==FIN==

See everyone this weekend!

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

-Brian Paskoff
L1 NY

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Islandhome #18

==ISLANDHOME #18==

July 2nd 2008

==IN THIS ISSUE...==

Chaos Draft Report
The Madonia Minute
EDH League: More details and sign-ups!
Guest Articles: Islandhome is now accepting submissions!

==THIS WEEK'S SCHEDULE==

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

There won't be a Friday night event at Grim this week due to the Fourth of July holiday.

==CHAOS DRAFT REPORT==

Not as many people showed up for Chaos Draft as last week - only seven people, which regrettably led to someone getting the bye every round. After three packs, I realized that most of the packs I bought myself for the occasion were unpicked, and asked if everyone wanted to draft with four packs instead of three. We did, which led to some crazy sixty-card decks, and way more interesting interactions than before! Oh yes, there were banding questions. I myself had a Crypt Rats/Corrosive Mentor combo, which won me a few games by removing a few creatures and weakening the bigger problems to the point where they weren't so threatening anymore.

We did three rounds of swiss with a cut to top 4. Unfortunately this time I bombed out, my red/black deck (first pick Ihsan's Shade - who says Homelands is bad?) unable to draw removal for a surprisingly large amount of creatures with powerful evasion abilities. David "The Wurm" Drebsky won again, retaining his Chaos Draft Champion title for two weeks running. Last week he sent me an article submission for Islandhome, unfortunately too late to make it into that week's issue, but seeing as how this week's Chaos Draft was a bit unconventional, even for a Chaos Draft, I'm putting it here now below! We'll be doing another Chaos Draft this Sunday too, so come on down!

This is David Drebsky, better known in Long Island's Magic circles as "The Wurm" for my love of one of Magic's most iconic creature types and also for my reckless play style and penchant for aggro builds. Last Sunday I placed 1st in the Chaos draft going completely undefeated with a 6-0 record and earning an Alpha Sinkhole for my troubles (yay for store credit). I wanted to list out my deck and then briefly explain why I thought it was such a face-stomper. Here's the deck:

Patriotic Beatdown (Red/White/Blue Aggro)

Land (18)

6 plains
6 islands
6 mountains

Creatures (16)

1 Advanced Hoverguard
1 Bogardan Lancer
1 Burrenton Bombardier
1 Clone
1 Freewind Equenaut
1 Frostling
1 Goblin Brigand
1 Inner-Chamber Guard
1 Kilnmouth Dragon
1 Knight of Sursi
1 Sea Sprite
1 Steamcore Weird
1 Stingscourger
1 Vigilant Drake
1 Voidmage Apprentice
1 Youthful Knight

Spells (6)

1 Browbeat
1 Deep Analysis
1 Grapeshot
1 Night/Day
1 Seal of Fire
1 Surging Flame

Sideboard (15)

1 Altar of Light
1 Aven Flock
1 Balduvian Barbarians
1 Battlewise Aven
1 Boggart Arsonists
1 Brutal Deceiver
1 Cryoclasm
1 Defender en-Vec
1 Fury Charm
1 Haazda Shield Mate
1 Hurly Burly
1 Lay Waste
1 Mothdust Changeling
1 Teremko Griffin
1 Ward Sliver

In any draft environment, there are always 3 things you want to put a premium on when creating a successful deck: synergy, removal, and evasion (in that order). Synergy is something we always strive for: putting together cards that, in synch with each other, become stronger. Even crappy cards, if they have good chemistry together, can tip the scales and defeat a superior player with superior cards. Removal is key; you need to be able to get rid of those threats that can't otherwise be dealt with. And evasion, things like flying, fear, landwalk, etc. are very helpful in breaking up otherwise stagnant ground wars between creatures (and no format is more creature heavy than draft).

I really liked this deck. There's 7 fliers in the main deck (Advanced Hoverguard, Burrenton Bombardier, Freewind Equenaut, Kilnmouth Dragon, Knight of Sursi, Sea Sprite, and Vigilant Drake, potentially 8 with the Clone), 6 cards support the idea of removal (Frostling, Steamcore Weird, Stingscourger, Grapeshot, Seal of Fire, and Surging Flame), and then you have all sorts of tricks. You can counter spells (Voidmage Apprentice), you can draw cards (Deep Analysis), you can pump your guys (Night/Day), you can force players to make uncomfortable decisions (Browbeat), you can do direct damage (Seal of Fire and Steamcore Weird), you can share in your opponent's wealth or double your own (Clone). The sideboard gives you a few options of dealing with specific opponents, such as Altar of Light, Boggart Arsonists, and Cryoclasm. It was a solid build.

Now, getting to the basics...we have decent synergy here, we have a good amount of removal, and there's a ton of evasion. Lots of fliers, damage and bounce to help them get through unchecked, and some useful combat tricks to turn the tides if we need to. Note that the curve of the deck is fairly high; we have only 2 1-drops, 8 2-drops, 5 3-drops, 5 4-drops, 1 5-drop, and 1 7-drop. That's okay, though...we just play with a high amount of mana. Our 2-drops can hold off until we can bring down the bad boys. We don't have to be a super fast deck because we're looking to win in the late game. The early game, we just stall and kill stuff. There is some definite lack of synergy in the deck; we have two fliers (I'm looking at you, Freewind Equenaut and Kilnmouth Dragon) with great abilities that we can't even take advantage of because we're running 0 enchantments and 0 dragons (except for a single Mothdust Changeling in the sideboard). That's okay...these creatures fly, and in draft, that's good enough to make them playable.

In conclusion, when participating in chaos draft, keep synergy, removal, and evasion always at the forefront of your mind. Your deck can do very well and lack one or more of these categories, but drafting has taught me that they are useful guidelines for consistently making your deck work.

One last tip: try to pick cards with useful abilities even if they may seem overcosted or even not very useful at first. For instance, I chose as a late pick a common from Homelands that completely shut down the deck of one of the other players, i.e. Sea Sprite, a 1/1 flyer with protection from red. He was playing red/white with Brion Stoutarm and lots of red removal. The card seems fairly weak until you consider that this creature is extremely hard to kill in chaos draft since many of the scariest fliers are historically red (i.e., dragons) and most of the removal are going to be damage-related red spells. Also, Inner-Chamber Guard was I believe a 14th pick but it's bushido ability makes it a phenomenal blocker and it helped turn the tides of more than a couple of games. The point is, sometimes you need to pick cards that, although they won't directly help you win, they will help stop you from losing.

That's all for now.

- David D. Drebsky

==ELDER DRAGON HIGHLANDER LEAGUE==

==THE MADONIA MINUTE==

Block Constructed PTQs are in full swing as players around the world do battle for that elusive "blue envelope". My expertise on the format is limited to reviewing top 8 lists on various internet sites and feedback from players in the front lines of the qualifing season. The consensus is that your deck needs to be able to handle the multitude of threats that the format has. The GW Aggro deck plays a fair game with efficent creatures and powerful mid-range game changers. This deck has eerie similarities to Time Spiral Block Constructed's GW deck as it punishes mediocre draws and is only hindered by its lack of range in the end game. It my limited testing with the deck, it seems to enjoy seeing an early Teeg backed up with Barkshell Blessing to blow out any tempo killing Nameless Inversion that comes from the Elemental and Faerie player.

I did a bunch of testing with Elementals on Friday against a couple of block stalwarts. The deck seems like a really strong choice for an experienced player that realizes each turn is pivotal. I'd compare the flow to the old UB Mannequin style deck. It forces your opponent to play your game while you combat them with explosive creatures. My favorite card in the deck in Smokebraider. Especially in the GW matchup where an active Smokebraider allows you to get the strong tempo advantage with their acceleration limited without Llanowar Elves or Boreal Druids.

Faeries seems to be a safe choice as its more or less a toned down version of the Standard staple. My only complaint with Faeries is the limited draw spells at its disposal. Ponder is a nice card, but doesn't allow you the explosiveness like Ancestral Visions does. I'd recommend Faeries for someone with limited knowledge of the format and wants to play a consistent deck. Cryptic Command and Broken Ambitions control the mid game and Mistbind Clique is even more powerful in a smaller scale format.

Dean Duprez played my block deck from last week at the PTQ with mild success. We may have missed on Oblivion Rings and Crib Swap but it seemed that his losses were to the relative inexperience with the deck, as well as the slight oversights in testing. I'd find room for Crib Swaps, I think, after hearing about the Collosus and Oversoul of Dusk horror stories. Austere Commands are also a card that is in careful consideration as well.

I played some type two this week at FNC with my mono blue control deck that continues to put up sterling results. We decided to add Bitterblossom to the main deck and after winning five games this weekend on the back of the ubitquious enchantment I realized that this card gives the deck so much more game against its difficult matchups.

Here's something fun I've been working on:

4x Magus of the Moon
1x Oona, Queen of the Fae
2x Venser, Shaper Savant
3x Vedlaken Aethermage
3x Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
2x Platinum Angel

4x Skred
4x Rune Snag
4x Cryptic Command
2x Pact of Negation
4x Think Twice
1x Slaughter Pact

4x Tolaria West
3x Shivan Reef
12x Snow-Covered Island
1x Boreal Shelf
1x Tresserhorn Sinks
1x Urza's Factory
1x Snow-Covered Mountain
1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1x Vivid Creek
1x Academy Ruins

SIDEBOARD:
4x Bottle Nnomes
2x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
2x Damnation
3x Flashfreeze
4x Sower of Temptation

I don't know how strong the deck is, but in a format with more color fixing then ever, a controlling strategy that forces you to have an answer to a innocous 2/2 that can realistically lock you out of the game it seems like a fun deck for an upcoming Standard tournament.

Uda mans and prowls of the week

Uda mans

Travis Trocolli - Won his first career tournament playing a mono-red homebrew with such gems as Raging Goblin and turn 1 Countryside Crushers. He can play burn decks so I'll give him that.
Anyone that graduated this week, congrats and welcome to the real world.

Prowl of the week

Opening an entire box of Morningtide and not seeing a Mutavault or Bitterblosson.

Next week will be an exclusive interview with a hand selected champion.

Thanks for reading,

- John Madonia

==GUEST ARTICLES==

==RULES CORNER==

Normally I don't like answering rules questions about previewed cards, but there's a few cards on the official spoiler that have raised a few questions which have easy answers.

Q. Once Stigma Lasher hits me, is there ANYTHING I can do to increase my life total?
A. There is literally nothing in the game that can make your life total any higher than it was at the time Stigma Lasher's triggered ability resolved. Even if an effect would switch your life total with an opponent who has a higher life total, such as Magus of the Mirror's activated ability, your life total is going to stay where it is. Any positive change in your life total is considered gaining life.

Q. Does my Heartlash Cinder get bigger from my Duergar Hedge-Mage?
A. Just like a white/red hybrid card is both red and white, a white/red hybrid mana symbol is both a white mana symbol and a red mana symbol. So yes, the Dwarf will give your Elemental +1/+0.

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

==THE ISLANDHOME BLOG==

==NEXT ISSUE...==

Limited tips for Eventide's prerelease!
Maybe some huge news!

==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!

July 26th (Saturday): Eventide Launch Party at FNC
Details coming soon!

July 27th (Sunday): Eventide Launch Party at Brothers Grim
Details coming soon!

PTQs in our general area this season:

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

==FIN==

See everyone this weekend!

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

-Brian Paskoff
L1 NY

Islandhome

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Islandhome #22

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Islandhome #21

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Islandhome #20

Islandhome #19

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Islandhome #18

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