==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==
==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.
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.
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!
- 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.
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==
==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!
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====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.
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:
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
==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
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!
Got forwarded Islandhome and want to sign up? Send an email to IslandhomeMTG@gmail.com!
-Brian Paskoff
L1 NY
L1 NY
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