Islandhome #29

==ISLANDHOME #29==

September 17th 2008

==IN THIS ISSUE...==

Magic Player Rewards
Shards of Alara Spoiler Season: More spoilers, and five rumors that may surprise you.
Running Out of Time (Spiral): In which I make no apologies for any puns.
Magic, Online: How to draft and play sealed deck online for free!
Madonia Minute
Five Tips for New Players: A guest article from veteran Pat Albergo

==THIS WEEK'S SCHEDULE==

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

==MAGIC PLAYER REWARDS==
Author: Brian Paskoff

If you're not already signed up for Magic Player Rewards, I have three great reasons for you to: http://wizards.com/mtg/images/tcg/mprcards.jpg

Back yet? Yes, the new textless MPR promos are Flame Javelin, Unmake, and Cryptic Command! In order to get them, you have to be signed up for the Magic Player Rewards program. Then it's just a matter of playing in enough tournaments to get them in the mail. For every five sanctioned tournaments you play in, you get one new random textless promo and one older random textless promo (past ones include Disenchant, Mana Tithe, Giant Growth, Putrefy, and Mortify, among others), and for every twenty tournaments you play in, you get the newest foil textless card. The textless foil Cryptic Commands, like Wrath and Damnation before them, are going to be worth a fortune when they first come out, but will eventually drop to around the $20-25 range.

Cryptic Command is a weird choice. It's certainly the wordiest card they've ever made textless, and might actually cause some confusion in tournaments thanks to the order of the modes mattering. Usually it's going to be "counter and tap you out" or "counter and draw a card", but there are situations where knowing the order of the modes on the card does matter. For example, if your opponent has a Gaea's Herald out, you can't choose to bounce it and then counter his Tarmogoyf that's on the stack, because the "counter target spell" effect always happens before the "bounce target permanent" part. If you're ever in a tournament where someone plays a Cryptic Command and chooses modes where the order would matter, it might be a good idea to call a judge if you're not sure... and that goes for any textless card!

To sign up for Magic Player Rewards, visit the Magic Player Rewards homepage and click the signup link at the bottom of the page.

==SHARDS OF ALARA SPOILER SEASON==
Author: Brian Paskoff

More and more details about the upcoming Magic expansion are pouring in, after one of the slowest rumor seasons of the past few years. Thanks to the official spoilers on magicthegathering.com, we now know the theme of each shard, and their respective abilities - Grixis has Unearth, Bant has Exalted, Jund has Devour, Esper has nothing but artifact creatures, and Jund has big spells and big creatures. For the official info you can always visit the official visual spoiler and jam the refresh button on the Magic website every night at midnight, but you need to get your hands a little dirty for the underground rumors. Always remember take rumors with a grain of salt, because they can easily be either dead wrong, fake, or half-right. During the rumor season for Planar Chaos, at least two of the cards had their abilities switched on the unofficial spoiler.

I was half right when I predicted each color would be getting a reprint. I thought blue would get Thirst for Knowledge and most of the others would get reprints straight out of Future Sight's futureshifted subset, but it turns out that I was way off about the cards. Instead, white gets Oblivion Ring, blue gets Cancel, black gets Infest, red gets Goblin Mountaineer, and green gets Naturalize. Now it's strange for Wizards to reprint cards in expansion sets that are already in a Core set; they haven't really done that since the days when Disenchant was in every Core set and every large expansion. If these cards really are in Shards, it'll be interesting to hear Wizards' reasoning for them: Do they really want them in Shards block constructed so bad, are they so good at what they do that they don't want to waste time printing a card that's "worse than Cancel" just for the sake of printing a new counterspell, or some other reason? Oblivion Ring is the best white removal spell since Swords to Plowshares, Cancel is the best cheap counterspell Standard has now that Rune Snag is going away, Infest is a decent replacement to Damnation and means black decks don't need to splash for Firespout, and Naturalize will give green an edge in block against the all-artifact-creature Esper creatures... but you don't even want to know how good Goblins will be in Standard once Goblin Mountaineer is legal. Why not just print Dark Ritual again, Wizards?

In all seriousness, the more you know about the set early on, the better prepared you'll be for the (pre)release events and future limited and constructed events!

==RUNNING OUT OF TIME (SPIRAL)==
Author: Brian Paskoff

This weekend is the last sanctioned Standard event I'll run where Time Spiral block is legal. Next weekend is the prerelease, and even though there'll probably be a tiny Standard event at FNC, it won't be the same as if everyone was there. The week after that is the Shards of Alara release event, where there'll be no constructed event... and even if there were, Time Spiral rotates out the day before. Or to be more precise, Time Spiral, Planar Chaos, Future Sight, and Coldsnap are all going away. No more Rune Snag, Ancestral Visions, Greater Gargadon, Lord of Atlantis, Slaughter Pact, Damnation, Skred, Venser, Teferi, and oh... no more Tarmogoyf, either. My "all types" Standard deck is going to suffer for sure.

It shouldn't be a shock that Standard will change drastically when it loses about 900 cards, the largest loss to the card pool most of you have seen before, and probably will see, what with sets being a lot smaller from now on. So what does it really mean for Standard? Without a full Shards spoiler, it's hard to say what decks are still going to be good and which ones are unplayable. As new sets come out, there are typically less and less cards from older sets played because of the larger card pool and the "answer cards" Wizards likes to print. Decks that lose the cards they're based around will be gone for good. It's kind of hard to play Pickles without Brine Elemental and Vesuvan Shapeshifter, just like it's hard to play TarmoRack without Tarmogoyf and The Rack. Some decks barely use Time Spiral/Coldsnap cards, so they'll be safe - Kithkin is basically a block deck; some builds from Nationals top 8s around the world don't even use any Time Spiral cards! Disenchants and Sunlances are definitely replaceable.

The weeks after a new set comes in and pushes out the old block is the best time to be a constructed player. Entire archetypes are left in ruin, and until there's a major constructed tournament and net decks rear their ugly head, it's up to your own creative mind to find a deck you like. Find a card, or group of cards, that you like from the new set and try to build a deck around them. You never know, you could come up with the new big thing that everyone's packing at the top 8 tables at the store, a PTQ, or a Pro Tour! All the famous decks started with someone noticing that certain cards played well together. And don't worry if your deck isn't the most streamlined pile of sixty cards anyone's ever shuffled; look at how many different versions of Reveillark there were before it became stable! Even Faeries began as a sloppy UG aggro/control deck before someone realized that Bitterblossom was a great card and turned it into the "best deck in Standard".

For a while, you'll watch as some players play old archetypes using new cards to fill in the blanks that the loss of Time Spiral block left behind, and some players play brand new creations. Even if you've found Standard to become stale and boring, you should definitely take an interest in the "New Standard" while it's still got that new-format smell.

==MAGIC, ONLINE==
(Drafting and Sealed'ing online for free!)
Author: Brian Paskoff

As with any PTQ season, the people who have the greatest chance of winning are the people who prepare the most. And that can be difficult when the big upcoming tournament is a limited event. Buying a box of tournament packs and a box or two of boosters and playing a few sealed deck practice games with some friends can be fun, but it's certainly not the most cost-efficient way to play. The best way to playtest is online, and there's no need to spend hundreds of dollars on Magic Online to do it; MTGO won't even have Shards of Alara until after the PTQ season is over, anyway! Your best option is to use a program called Magic Workstation.

Magic Workstation is a great little program - it can help you organize your collection, let you build decks and print the decklists out, let you play online against either your friends or strangers, or even generate a sealed deck to play. First you'll need the program itself, which can be downloaded from the Magic Workstation homepage. You'll also need the database files that include all the data for every Magic card in existence, which can be found at SlightlyMagic.net. Once you've installed everything (see the FAQ on the Magic Workstation and/or SlightlyMagic.net database page if you have trouble), you can open up Magic Workstation and start building decks.

To generate a sealed deck in Magic Workstation, just go to Tools -> Generate Sealed Deck, or press Ctrl+G. Up at the top of the sealed deck window there'll be a pull-down list of all the boosters and tournament packs available. Since Shards of Alara isn't available yet, I'll show you how to build a Shadowmoor/Eventide sealed deck. Select Eventide booster and click "Add to List" twice, then select a Shadowmoor starter and click "Add to List" once, then hit Generate. Then click the "As Deck" button in the "Work with it" section. When it asks if you want to move all the cards to the sideboard, click Yes.

Now you'll see a list of every card in your generated card pool. Everything is in your sideboard right now, as you can see by the numbers in the "sideboard" column. To move them to your playable maindeck, click in the card's quantity column (QTY) and type in a number, then click in the sideboard column and subtract whatever you took. Keep doing this until you have the right number of spells (remember, 23 spells is the magic number for limited decks!), and then find whatever basic land you want in the top section and click the little green down arrow to add them to your deck until you have at least 40 cards. You may want to save your deck along the way while you're constructing it, as MWS has a tendency to mysteriously crash at random intervals.

To test your deck, save it, then either press Ctrl+T to goldfish your deck in solo mode, or you can press Ctrl+I and find an opponent online. When you press Ctrl+I, a window will pop up asking you what server you want to connect to. mwsplay.net is busier and therefore better for finding random opponents online, while mwsgames.net is more of a meeting ground for players who know each other. If you have a friend who's also building a sealed deck at the same time as you, you can create a game by joining a server (press the "Call" button) and then typing their name in the "New Game" box and hitting Create. Your friend can then look for that game on the server by joining the same server and clicking the Join button next to your game.

It's going to be very hard to find a sealed deck game with a random person online, which is one reason I recommend playing with a friend. Even if you're playtesting Standard, I don't recommend playing online against people you don't know.

I won't go into how to play using the program here in great detail, but here's a few tips:

Ctrl+S shuffles your library.
Ctrl+I rolls a die.
Ctrl+D draws a card.
Ctrl+M mulligans.
Double-clicking on a card in your hand puts it into play.
Double-clicking on a card in play taps or untaps it.
Double-clicking on your life total lets you change it.
Right clicking on anything will give you a context menu.
Use the phase buttons to change what step/phase you're in.
Double click on the last phase button to pass the turn, but say "End my turn" or something first to give your opponent a chance to do anything at end of turn.

If you're itching to play sealed deck, I'm usually up for a game if I'm online. The Shards patch for MWS should be out soon after the prerelease, so you'll have plenty of opportunity to playtest for the PTQ season!

You can draft online for free too, using a program called NetDraft. It's a little more complicated than just doing a sealed deck or practicing Standard because of all the steps involved. First, download the NetDraft 2.0 program, install it, and then go to the official patch page and download the Eventide beta patch (EVbeta_nd.zip). Unzip the Eventide patch into the NetDraft folder where you installed it, and read the guide for instructions on how to draft. Unless someone you know is hosting a draft and willing to give you the info for it, you'll need to use an IRC client to connect to the solidirc server and join the chatroom #draft4u. If you don't know what that means, don't worry - you can just go to Magic League's chatroom and use the web form.

While you're in the #draft4u chatroom, eventually someone will post something like "127.0.0.1 SSE". Copy the IP address (the numbers), open up NetDraft (the program itself is called idraft.exe), and click File and then Connect. Either paste or type the IP address into that window, and hit connect. If you don't have a friend joining the same server, you can pair up with anyone who's asking for "mws cas" (a casual game on Magic Workstation, as opposed to Magic League league game for Magic League rating points or whatever they do there.) Once the draft starts, double click a card to pick it, and right click a card to read its oracle text. After you're done drafting, you'll use the built-in deck creation tool to build your deck, add lands, and then save it. Open it up in Magic Workstation, and find your opponent on whatever server you agree on. That's why joining a draft with a friend is more fun, because you get to play them and not worry about finding random.player on the internet.

Using NetDraft isn't really a perfect substitute for a real draft. It tries to follow the "print runs" - Magic cards are printed on big sheets and then cut up - but sometimes goes out of whack and will put out two identical packs. Eventide's print runs haven't been programmed in yet, so aside from a rare, three uncommons, and a few commons, the Eventide packs it generates won't look like the average Eventide pack you open in a real draft. There's also no foils, which is great if you're practicing drafting for Nationals. It's also not a tournament; you'll only play the person across from you, unless anyone else in the draft wants to play you after using the same draft decks. Oh, and you don't get to keep your cards, obviously!

Playing online is fun, but it's only practice for the real thing. Testing your draft and Standard skills will definitely give you an edge when competing for real prizes at FNM at Grim or our regular events at FNC.

Maybe I'll see some of you online!

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

Good day and welcome to another installment of the Madonia Minute. I'll begin our journey with everyone's favorite event: The Madonia Invitational.

Sadly, Mike Innace was able to elude 20 other combatants and claim the first event. He has taken a real interest in winning my tournament; maybe he's looking for the product, maybe he's jealous of how many hugs I get in an average week, all I know is, if you're looking to win the event be prepared and make sure you focus on the stronger players like Mike. I've even heard rumors of Mikes domestic partner Ralph may be joining the FNC ranks for the next few weeks.

I am keeping the statistics for the event, and in next week's article I'll list the top 16 players at our almost mid-point.

I wish there was a relevant format I could talk about. I can't spoil any Extended talk as I'm sworn to secrecy about any and all testing. I will say that I'm going to be prepared and I'll have a deck I'm confident with. I know my limitations going in, im a solid player, nowhere on the level of these players. But, I can't think that way, or why should I waste my time.

I'm in a bowling league every Friday night. I decided that my illusions of grandeur, or the $10,000 first prize at the end of my league, would allow me to not play Magic on Fridays. After last week, we were near last place after three weeks. My team was feeling like the league might be a waste of time because the teams we compete against are far superior to us. My team doesn't feel like we can win, and we probably can't honestly, but why compete if you don't think you can win.

I know many people do social activities for fun, not to win. I feel that you want to be the best at whatever you do. If you enjoy Magic casually, then you want to build the best EDH deck or singelton deck possible, and if you are a competitive player like myself you want to do the best you can at the grandest stage. I feel like I can do well at the Pro Tour, many champions comes out of nowhere to win major titles so I don't see why I can't with good preparation and some lucky breaks, make a great showing.

One thing at FNC I've noticed watching people play, is players play way too quickly and don't read their cards out loud to themselves. A lot of you guys also don't think before you play. You get 50 minutes each round, or 4 hours if you play in a Paskoff tournament, that's plenty of time to get a Kithkin/Mono-red match in. Make sure you know what every card in your deck and every card in you opponents deck does. Nuckalvee doesn't fly, but Evans lost a game because he assumed it did and didn't read the card. Grippa gave two games away by not playing lands and allowing Rune Snags to be lethal to his game plan.

This week's tournament is the grand finale of Time Spiral Standard. I personally will miss everything about Time Spiral. It was an innovative, thought provoking format with various options. The decks weren't built for you, and the best players in the room won PTQs, not players that can auto pilot a Faerie or Kithkin deck. If this new set continues the trend of bland deck building I'm honestly considering leaving Magic, although a possible new position at my job may force that hand as well. We'll find out in the coming weeks, but hopefully it will work out.

An oldy but goody for this week.

3x Vesuvan Shapeshifter
3x Brine Elemental
1x Venser
3x Teferi
3x Mistbind Clique

4x Ancestral Visions
4x Rune Snag
1x Commandeer
4x Crypic Command
2x Pact of Negation
3x Terror
4x Bitterblssom

4x Mutavault
4x River of Tears
3x Underground River
2x Sunken Ruins
10 Island
1x Mishra's Factory
1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth

Thanks for reading

John Madonia

==FIVE TIPS FOR NEW PLAYERS==
Author:Pat Albergo

It may not seem like my style to write an article mainly to agree with someone else, but I was struck by how much Mike Innace's article last week had to offer the beginning player. If anyone out there who is struggling to win more than a round or two at FNC didn't read that article for whatever reason, you should really dig up last week's email and check it out.

Basically everything he said by way of advice for new players was not only dead on, it targeted a lot of areas where FNC players could stand to improve. The big one, which Mike touched on implicitly but I want to call attention to in a direct way, is the tension between someone asserting they are a "fun" or "casual" player and yet at the same time showing up to tournaments and complaining when their opponents beat them. While I disagree with Mike when he says that players would, deep down, rather win than have fun, it's certainly true that even players who want most of all to have fun would rather win than lose while they do it.

I want to elaborate a bit on some of what Mike discussed. I realize that some of these sections are long, so I've used bold headings to make it easier to skim through.

1. Play good cards. This is the lesson of Mike's Howling Mine story. Don't judge a card by how good it "seems" to you. Ask other players whether the card is good. See whether the card is being played in top level tournament decks. Howling Mine, for instance, is not. ("Turbo Fog" is not a top level deck.) Even if you are opposed to "net decking"--which you shouldn't be, but that's a topic for another time--you can at least use the information from high level decks to evaluate cards before you decide to play them. However, playing good cards isn't enough by itself. Time Walk is a massively powerful card, but there are decks in Vintage that don't play it because it doesn't fit their game plan. That brings me to my next point:

2. Have a plan. Make sure that you understand what your deck is supposed to be doing. This is the lesson of his story about Nester. If Nester really intended for his deck to be aggressive, then there really is no place for 0/5 walls. (It may have been that Nester's deck wasn't so much "aggro" as a "big monster" deck, but even then it may still be better to play two-drops that can attack and use one-drop mana accelerants) While it's important to play good cards, don't fall into the trap of thinking that any "good card" belongs in your deck. Wall of Roots is a good card, but not if your plan is to attack with creatures and win the game before your opponent has a chance to react to or neutralize your strategy. Thorn of Amethyst is good in some decks and some circumstances, but probably not in a deck that wants to win in the middle turns by attacking with big creatures. If the game has gone on that long, most non-combo decks won't be severely hampered by the Thorn.

3. Come prepared. This doesn't mean that you need to practice night and day before you play in a local Saturday tournament, but it does mean that you should at the very least have a sideboard. MIke is right that a sideboard can make all the difference in the world between winning and losing. At Regionals in June, I was playing Reveillark and was facing down a mirror match in the seventh round. His build had Bonded Fetch and mine did not, so he was better equipped to win the mirror in game one, and he did. However, I had expected this matchup and had cards in my sideboard (Wheel of Sun and Moon and Teferi) that were designed to shore up the matchup. In game 2, I stuck an early Teferi that forced him into a suboptimal position for the rest of the game, until he lost. In game 3, I resolved a second turn Wheel of Sun and Moon when he tapped out, and I saw as the entire combo ended up on the bottom of his library. My sideboard flat out won me this match. Having a sideboard is not a luxury if you want to win your matches.

4. Anybody can win any match. I understand that at a store like FNC, there can sometimes be a large divide between the best players and everyone else. That doesn't mean that the best players can never lose. Mike could not be more right about how bad it was for Travis to adopt a self-defeating attitude. It's even worse that Madonia, whom a handful of young players look up to, will come out and say that there's no point in playing a difficult matchup. I think Travis's attitude comes from knowing that there are other players who come to the tournament with more experience and more resources for deckbuilding, so he's at a disadvantage. However, that doesn't mean that he should resign himself to losing before he even plays a match. It's possible to win with inferior cards, and contrary to what Madonia said, it's possible to win difficult matchups, too.

I'm going to tell a long (but hopefully interesting) story to illustrate this point. I was playing Aggro Loam at an Extended PTQ in 2007, and I was paired against Counterbalance Psychatog, a matchup I considered basically impossible. Loam needs to resolve two mana spells to win, and while discard spells can help force those spells through against other control decks, Sensei's Divining Top and Counterbalance make that a difficult task. Top allows you to leave your best spells in your library, safe from Duress and Cabal Therapy, until you want to draw and cast them. Counterbalance, once in play, can't be Duressed away the way a conventional "counter target spell" card can be. When he opened on Watery Grave and Top, I figured I'd lose and began thinking about how many other matches I'd need to win to make the top 8. As it turned out, his next turn involved activating Top on his upkeep and then passing back to me without making a land drop! He kept a terrible hand (control decks need mana to function) that didn't yield him a second land until turn FOUR, at which point I had the game well in hand and went on to win. He kept a similarly risky hand in game 2, but this time his land showed up and he managed to have three lands, a top, and a Counterbalance out on turn 3. However, he didn't have mana untapped, so I snuck a Terravore out while he still had a five-drop on top of his deck. The next turn, I took a gamble because I knew that just sitting there with a small Terravore would not beat Counterbalance-Top over the course of seven or so turns. I tested the waters with a Burning Wish, and when he didn't find a two-drop for it with Top, I went ahead and played a Devastating Dreams, which resolved! It cleard the board of everything but my Vore, which let me win in a couple of turns. The Loam-Tog matchup was every bit as tough as I thought (and at least as tough as the Teachings-Faeries matchup), but I was able to win because my opponent kept bad hands and was unfortunate enough to whiff on Counterbalance when I just threw my best spells out there in the early turns.

I'm not saying that you should expect stories like this to happen all the time, but there are no "guaranteed loss" matchups in a game with as many random elements as Magic. Every match IS winnable, as Mike said last week.

5. Little changes make a big difference. I'm adding this one as a general reaction to what both John and Mike wrote last week. John said flat out that Five Color Control ("Quick 'n Toast") "was a bye" for his Doran deck. He's wrong. Besides the fact that no matchups are actually byes, Five Color has cards that are effective in the matchup. Cryptic Command, Wall of Roots, Cloudthresher, Condemn, Bogardan Hellkite, and even Rune Snag can muck up what Doran is trying to accomplish. Even so, the matchup is still

If you've stuck with me through this whole article, thanks. I hope it was worth it. If you see me around at an event and want to give me some feedback, go for it. If you like this and want more, bug Paskoff about it and maybe I'll write again sometime.

-Pat Albergo

==RULES CORNER==
Author: Brian Paskoff

Q. Since Executioner's Capsule is an artifact, can I sac it to kill a Chameleon Colossus?
A. Traditionally, artifacts have been colorless, but it's about to become increasingly more common - at least for a while - for artifacts to have a little color in them. A permanent's colors are determined by the mana symbols in their mana costs, so as long as there's nothing changing the color of the Capsule, you can't target a Chameleon Colossus with the Capsule's ability.

Q. I attack with a bunch of guys, and my opponent Mirrorweaves his animated Mutavault. I know it turns all my creatures into unanimated Mutavaults, but can I activate them to make them keep attacking?
A. Once a permanent stops being a creature, it's removed from combat. You can activate them again, but they're not in combat anymore.

==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==

September 27th: Shards of Alara prerelease
Gray Matter is hosting the Shards of Alara prerelease at the Sheraton hotel in Hauppauge, which will have dealers, team events, and multiple flights you won't find at in-store release events. Click here for details and directions!

October 4th - December 28th: PTQ Season for PT Kyoto
The next PTQ season kicks off October 4th, and the format is Shards of Alara sealed deck! The PTQ schedule should be released within the next few weeks.

October 4th (Saturday): Shards of Alara release event at FNC
More details soon!

October 5th (Sunday): Shards of Alara release event at Brothers Grim
More details soon!

==STORE LOCATIONS & CONTACT INFO==

Brothers Grim
1244 Middle Country Rd.
Selden, NY 11784
Phone: 631-698-2805
Website: www.brgim.com

Friendly Neighborhood Comics
3 Grant Avenue, Suite 2
Islip, NY 11751
Phone: 631-470-7984

==FIN==

See everyone this weekend!

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

-Brian Paskoff
L1 NY

Islandhome #28

==ISLANDHOME #28==

September 10th 2008

==IN THIS ISSUE...==

States is Back!
Shards of Alara Prerelease Info
Cubing: An introduction to Cube Draft, and the official Islandhome "limited cube".
Madonia Minute: Including details about the second Madonia Invitational!
Learn from the Worst: Mike Innace's tournament report.

==THIS WEEK'S SCHEDULE==

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

==STATES IS BACK!==
Author: Brian Paskoff

Only a few short weeks after Wizards' controversial announcement about the cancellation of States, they've announced that it will be run this year after all! States is a great opportunity for less experienced players to play in a large event. With no Pro Tour invites or anything on the line, there's less intense competition; everyone's playing for fun (not to mention the boxes and boxes of prize that will probably be paid out to the top 32 players), and the K-value is less than a Pro Tour Qualifier. Everyone who plays will get a free promo card, rumored to be Hypnotic Specter. If it's anything like previous States, everyone who makes top 8 will get a special foil full-frame promo card... and my guess is they're finally bringing the promo Mutavaults to the US!

So mark your calendars for November 8th, as the largest Standard event in the state is coming back to New York!

==SHARDS OF ALARA PRERELEASE INFO==
Author: Brian Paskoff

As most people know, Wizards is doing prereleases for Shards of Alara a bit differently than previous sets. Now stores get to hold individual prereleases instead of just big TOs like Gray Matter. However, prereleases at local stores aren't going to be half as intense as Gray Matter's prerelease, and the other day, Gray Matter sent out an email flyer explaining the differences. I'm reposting it here because I think it's important:

==============================

Dear Magic tournament player,

Wizards of the Coast has announced major changes in the pre-release program starting with Shards of Alara. Players will now have the opportunity to play in a pre-release at some of their local game stores as well as at Gray Matter events. But you need to be aware of the differences between them.

1. Most retail stores are only allowed to run one tournament of 24 players maximum. Once the 24 limit is reached, nobody else can play. Many players will show up at retail stores expecting to play and will be turned away. Gray Matter Conventions is allowed to order product for hundreds of players at each of our Shards of Alara event sites.

2. The special mythic rare foil card for Shards of Alara is expected to be very popular. Most retail stores are only getting 24 foils. Gray Matter Conventions will be getting hundreds of foils of Ajani Vengeant.

3. Retail stores are NOT allowed to run team events at all. Gray Matter Conventions will be running either 2-Headed Giant or Trios events at all of our Shards of Alara events.

4. Most retail stores will not have certified judges at their events. Gray Matter Conventions will have certified judges at all of our events. Most of our certified judges have judged, on average, over 100 events.

5. Most retail stores will not have dealers on site who buy and sell cards. Gray Matter Conventions will have multiple dealers at most of our sites which provide you a bigger marketplace for buying and selling.

6. Gray Matter Conventions has been running pre-release events for more than 10 years. We know how to run large, well-run, fun events. Come join us Saturday, September 27th and Sunday, September 28th for the Shards of Alara pre-release.

==============================

==CUBING==
Author: Brian Paskoff

Last week I talked a little bit about the process of "cube drafting" - a big box of (usually) the best cards in Magic's history that you deal out randomized "packs" to each player, and then draft. If you've been around FNC or Brothers Grim lately, you might've noticed some people trading for random, powerful cards, and while sometimes they're for EDH, the new big thing is cube. A cube usually contains 50 cards of each color, 50-60 artifacts, 50-60 non-basic lands, and a smattering of multicolor/hybrid cards, usually around five of each color pair. Most cubes look very similar to each other in the same way that one Faerie deck can look the same as another Faerie deck - a few different cards here and there, but it's still a Faerie deck. It makes sense - there are only so many "best" cards in Magic.

There's usually a cube or two at Brothers Grim on Sundays, so in addition to Chaos Drafts, we'll be doing a cube draft as well! When my cube is ready, I'll be bringing it around with me everywhere. Rather than the best cards in Magic, my cube's made out of the best commons and uncommons from current Extended, before the October '08 rotation. It's full of limited staples you're already probably familiar with, such as Prison Term, Mulldrifter, Shriekmaw, Flame Javelin, Imperious Perfect, Murderous Redcap, Trip Noose, and Vivid lands, but also some cards from limited formats of yore: Calciderm, Fact or Fiction, Nezumi Graverobber, Fireball, Sprout Swarm, Consume Strength, Aether Vial, and the Ravnica bouncelands to name a few oldies but goodies.

Commons and uncommons have more synergy with each other, even ones from different sets, while the rares typically found in a high-powered cube are just bomby.

Oh and I need an Izzet Boilerworks, Golgari Signet, Frost Marsh, and a Highland Weald if anyone has any of those lying around!

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

I would like to congratulate myself on becoming the number one rated player in New York State. Honestly, this doesn't mean anything unless you're trying to pick up ladies or lead your fantasy hug league. I do have a drama filled tournament report, where I played a three year old deck to a 6-0 finish.

I decided after pulling out 75 percent of Paskoff's cards that I would play a Doran deck. I figured that the format has issues with a second turn nearly un-killable threat. I also refuse to play a deck without Thoughtseize if I don't have access to Cryptic Command.

Rd 1 the veteran Joe

Joe has been playing Magic for quite a while, he's more of a casual dueler, but he was bringing a red deck starting four Stigma Lashers and other anti-life gain cards. I was able to elude him on the back of Kitchen Finks and Oona, Queen of the Fae. The latter has no business in the deck, but I like having another win condition when the game is stalled out.

Rd 2 Mike Evans

Mike Evans decided on yet another burn deck. He was packing the now defunct Magus of the Moon and some Boggart Ram Gang tech. I played poorly the whole match, fortunately I was able to fend off his creatures and proceed to survive 2-1. Game 2 I was locked out under Magus, maybe I should have played basics.

Rd 3 Trocolli
Trocolli played ub Omar. The games took 5 minutes to finish, his deck has no answer for Bitterblossom.

Rd 4 Omar playing Swans of John Madonia

Omar fell asleep on the toilet so after waking him up, we got to our epic contest. The games were long and irritating. Teferi is always a problem for mid range decks like Doran. I felt that the matchup was in his favor, but the draws he had were inconsistent and my turn 2 Doran with Thoughtseize backup in game 3 got me to the 4-0 bracket.

Top 8 Nestor Nestor

He beat Innace so that made my life. He was playing a homebrew GW deck with every obscure card in creation. Game 1 was intense as I actually sat for a solid four minutes on Profane Command modes, I felt like his deck was geared toward the long game, so I wanted to force his hand and end the game quickly. I felt I made the right play and beat him soundly after he found ineffective creatures and I found Oona. Game 2 I mulled to 5 and proceeded to just beat down on double Finks as Nestor stalled on land.

Top 4 Jimbo

Quick and Toast was a bye for the Doran deck. My threats are too efficient and my real threats are immune to Firespout. After an intense clash of titans, we cracked a Mutavault sold it and watched Frank Barbato eat 1100 chicken fingers.

Top 2 Innace

Hurricane Madonia was in full force at this point, so I decided to let Innace become the FNC champion and knowing I'd have enough points to usurp the previous number 1 I didn't need to play anymore.

Props of the weeks:

Frank Barbato for putting Applebees out of business
Our waitress Saturday night
Willis
The Wurm for being a girl stealer

I like to announce the Madonia Invitational II
This is to celebrate FNC's two year anniversary as well to give back to everyone that makes FNC an enjoyable store to be in.

How it will work:

I'll formulate it as a City Champs type tournament

1st place 10 Madonia points
2nd place 7 Madonia points
3-4th 4 Madonia points
5-8th 2 Madonia points
9th-on 1 Madonia point

The next five Standard tournaments will count for this. The top 8 players will have their own tournament. 1st place will be a box, entry fee is the same five dollars you pay normally. Single elimination Winner takes all! The winner will also receive six months of tournaments free from the date of the Finals. That's a 250 dollar first prize!!

Anyone is eligible to play in the event, I will keep the standings for the events. Any ties for playoff spots will be decided based on number of events played and average finish.

Thanks for reading

-John Madonia

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

This Saturday at FNC, I took first place with the infamous Faeries archtype that everyone is oh-so fond of, that which I've been rocking for several weeks now. While most people would call first place a victory, I've been beating myself up over my round one loss against "Green/White Aggro". Firstly, this is the list of Faeries I've been using, which I haven't changed a single card in during the last 5 weeks or so:

4 Ancestral Visions
4 Bitterblossom
4 Spellstutter Sprite
4 Mistbind Clique
3 Scion of Oona
4 Terror
4 Rune Snag
4 Cryptic Command
2 Slaughter Pact
2 Remove Soul

4 Secluded Glen
4 Underground River
2 Sunken Ruins
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
3 Mutavault
1 Pendelhaven
3 Swamp
8 Island

//
4 Damnation
4 Thoughtseize
3 Extirpate
2 Razormane Masticore
2 Flashfreeze

I'll talk about this list for a second, because most people comment on some of my spells when they see me cast them. You'll probably notice this is one of the few lists that runs Slaughter Pact and Remove Soul. With the majority of the FNC metagame being swarmed by Demigod Red variants and not-so-stock Kithkin lists, I figured it was right to play some more reasonable spells that get rid of annoying creatures. While Slaughter Pact is underwhelming when facing a Demigod of Revenge or even an Ashenmoor Gouger, it makes the Faerie player feel safe about Magus of the Moon, which is much scarier than the former. The Remove Souls are good for all three of those creatures mentioned as well (at least the first Demigod), and is very helpful when you stabilize against Kithkin and they drop a Cloudgoat Ranger or Mirror Entity.
You might also notice the lack of Faerie Conclave. Say I have three lands in play and a Cryptic Command in hand. My opponent has put some serious pressure on me in the form of Spectral Procession and some 2/2 guy and Wizened Cenn and I believe he has a Mirrorweave in hand, or even worse, under his Windbrisk Heights. On my fourth turn, if the fourth land I draw is a Faerie Conclave, this game might as well be over. Swap that draw step with a basic Island and I may have a chance at winning this game 1 against Kithkin.
In short, I lowered the curve, and excluded "Come-into-play-tapped" lands to make sure I can keep up with the aggro decks.

Now onto my FNC, 9/6/2008 tournament report.

Round one against Nester, playing Green/White "Aggro"

I put "Aggro" in quotes because I don't remember a typical time in Magic history when an aggro deck ran walls in its 2-drop slot. We are living in a time of Tarmogoyfs, Vanquishers, Marauders, Prowlers, etc... I'm talking about three power for two mana, people! An "aggro" deck that opens up something like "CIPT land, go...land, wall, go..." hardly seems like an aggressive strategy. Am I right?
Anyway, game one I had to mulligan to six. Which didn't seem so bad when I looked at three lands, an Ancestral Visions, a Bitterblossom, and a Terror. This game took much longer than it should have. I found myself on the business end of a Loxodon Warhammer by around turn 7, putting him at about 25 life and me at around six. I'm throwing all kinds of Spellstutter Sprites and Mutavaults in front of everything he equips the 'hammer to, hoping he'll run out of steam and my Scion/Blossom will win the race. I lose when he casts an Oversoul of Dusk and I don't have a counter for it. I might survive if I draw Mistbind Clique, which will keep him from equipping next turn, or if I draw Cryptic Command which will tap him down. I draw land, and we move on to game two.
I didn't quite sideboard correctly. In fact, it was downright terrible. I took out my Spellstutter Sprites and Mistbind Cliques for 4 Damnation, 2 Flashfreeze and 2 Razormane Masticore. My game plan was simply to make sure he didn't have anything on the board to equip a Warhammer to. It seemed like a sound game plan. Did I mention he wasn't playing Treetop Village OR Mutavault to combat possible Wrath effects? ::moan::
So game two I get to start with seven cards.
Yada, yada, yada. I win. But during this game I noticed he's playing two cards that seem absolutely abyssmal. Those cards are Wall of Roots and Thorn of Amethyst. I still don't know what reasoning there is for having Wall of Roots, but I imagine he wanted to play Thorn of Amethyst because it's got a shiny gold expansion symbol. If Cryptic Command cost 2UUU, it would probably still be the best spell in standard. He tried to play a Warhammer for three mana, under Amethyst "pressure" and I corrected him quickly. I don't like it when players think that cards like that only affect their opponent. Especially after I questioned his card choice and he defended himself as best he could. Then he forgot it was out and ignored its effect. ::louder moan::
Game three, I had to mulligan again, and this time I'm on the draw. I'm not scared of his deck, but no one ever feels OK when they mulligan. So my opening hand was something like three land, Terror, Bitterblossom, Flashfreeze, I think. He has the stellar aggro opening of Murmuring Bosk tapped, then turn two land and Amethyst. My second land drop used to mean I could cast any of those cards in my hand, depending on how his first two turns develop. A reasonable turn two play for a mage claiming to be green/white aggro would have been Wren's Run Vanquisher, Gaddok Teeg, Tarmogoyf, Safehold Elite, Knight of Meadowgrain, Ronom Unicorn, Wizened Cenn, Elvish Warrior, Grizzly Bear, Bramblewood Paragon, Knight of the Holy Nimbus...you get the idea...you know, any of those cards that deal damage to opponents. But not this time--it was Thorn of Amethyst. So while I could have dealt with any of the aforementioned plays and probably taken the game into my favor from turn two, I just have to play a land and wait longer. He was then able to play Wilt-Leaf Cavalier, Gaddok Teeg and Oversoul of Dusk. I used my Terror to stop his first creature, thinking I'd win the late game, but because of Teeg I couldn't cast my Cryptic Command when it was crunch time and I lost. And it was mostly because of the stupid Amethyst. We exchanged some words because we all know I don't like losing to players I should beat. I don't like when someone happens to have a card that fits nowhere in the synergy of their deck, and it just happens to mangle your current hand. It's different if I were playing like...Dragonstorm, and he sideboarded in Thorn of Amethyst to seriously slow me down. But no, somewhere in his brain, it says this card helps his game one strategy. Did I mention he doesn't have a sideboard? ::triple moan::
In all fairness, I could have used my own sideboard better. I don't blame my losses on luck...ever. In retrospect, Rob is right. Scion of Oona should have been the first card to come out. Then probably Rune Snag. If I keep Spellstutter Sprite and Mistbind Clique in the deck, I can try to control the board proactively. Four Terrors, two Slaughter Pacts and two Razormane Masticores ought to be enough to kill a Gaddok Teeg if I need to cast Damnation. Rob thought I shouldn't have even sideboarded Damnation, but it was my only answer to Oversoul of Dusk or his Troll Ascetics, if either happens to stick. I imagine he also had a Chameleon Colossus or two in the deck, which Damnation could have been good for. The moral of this story, however, is to learn from your losses and hope they never happen again. Because in the end, Nester didn't even top 8, and Faeries went on to win the tournament. But I'll bet Nester still thinks Thorn of Amethyst and Wall of Roots rightfully belong in his deck.

0-1 (1-2 in games)

Round two against JR, playing Black/White Kithkin

I don't remember much about this match. It went to game three, which was exciting I suppose. I never learned why he plays black in his Kithkin deck. He casts some cards like Unmake and the black/white Liege, but you could cast those cards just the same in Mono White. Last time I played him, he used that +3/+3 to black/white creatures aura, but I didn't see it in three games this time. Anyway, Cryptic Command pwned the "Dark Kithkin" deck.

1-1 (3-3 in games)

Round three against Frank Barbato, playing red.

Frank's opening each game started with something reasonable on turn one, and then a Howling Mine on turn two. I don't know if you guys know this, but blue mages LOVE LOVE LOVE drawing cards. But here's the more important lesson. Howling Mine is not a good card. Some simple math will show you that Howling Mine two-for-ones yourself. You cast Howling Mine, which does not affect the board in any way...ever, making your card advantage for the game negative one (-1). Now you say go, and your opponent draws an extra card. This makes his card advantage positive one (+1). Not only is that a two card swing in favor of your opponent, but he didn't have to spend any mana to do it. You might as well have cast Timewalk on your opponent. Wait, it gets better. Howling Mine NEVER balances out. Next turn you'll draw ONE extra card. Putting your card advantage at a whopping ZERO, closing the card advantage gap by one, until your opponent's next draw step, where it's back to two. Howling Mine MIGHT be good, if it could be cast as an instant, and you could cast it at the end of your opponent's turn. Even then, every time he draws, he's a card up on you. Don't play this card if you want to win tournaments. If you want to play the oh-so-exciting Turbo Fog, then yes, I concede that Howling Mine actually does fit into your strategy. When you're packing sixteen copies of Fog-like spells, and drawing five cards per turn, the player that has to attack to win cannot possibly keep up (most of the time). So OK, Turbo Fog players...you may still run Howling Mine without Mike Innace criticizing your card choice.

2-1 (5-3 in games)

Round four against Chianese playing Quick 'n' Toast

We draw so we both get into the top 8.

(2-1-1)

Quarterfinals vs. Evans playing a good mono red deck

Game one was a blowout. My turn two Bitterblossom did about 4 or 5 damage to me, and before I knew it, Evans has three cards in hand, five lands untapped and I have nothing in my hand but another Bitterblossom and some land. I don't remember how it happened. So Evans wins game one like twenty, to negative nine. I quickly sideboard out my Bitterblossoms for two Razormane Masticore and two Flashfreeze.
Game two was the most fun I had all day at the tournament. He has out a couple Figures of Destiny and a Mogg Fanatic or something when I drop my Razormane Masticore. Evans proves he's paying attention when he notices that my only blue sources of mana are Underground Rivers, so he alpha strikes into the Razormane Masticore, knowing that every blue spell I cast from here on out is like a free Lava Dart. I swing with Masticore and two Mutavaults, dropping Evans to eleven. I have three or four cards in my hand, Evans has none. Sounds like a good situation for me, right? Wait, I forgot to mention I am at one life...and Evans has a Flame Jab in his graveyard. This gives Evans about fifty outs to draw at this point. He can draw ANY burn spell, ANY land...even Mogg Fanatic or Keldon Marauders would finish me off as well. But he draws Blood Knight. Masticore kills the Blood Knight, while he eats another Cryptic Command. I draw a Secluded Glen, revealing Scion of Oona. I have just enough mana to cast that Scion, activate two 3/3 Mutavaults and swing for the exact eleven points of damage I need to finish him off. He has a land for Flame Jab on top.
AND THAT WAS ONLY GAME TWO!!
Game three, he kept a hand with just one or two lands and kept on drawing Demigods and Flame Javelines instead of land or two-casting-cost spells. And I'm onto the semifinals.

Semifinals vs. Travis playing the other blue/black control deck in standard (the one without faerie cards)

The only spells Travis cast during both games were Think Twice and Nameless Inversion. The Think Twice/Nameless Inversion combo wasn't enough to keep up, and Travis didn't get there.

Finals against...nobody...

Madonia dropped and took second prize, and I go home with some extra packs.

Final Record: 4-1-1 (5-1-1 if you count the finals, win by default)

Here's a little aside that's running through my head right now, and I'm not intending it to sound like I'm bashing Travis or anything, but maybe other people can get something out of this. I notice Travis has a very pessimistic attitude whenever I play him, and very often when I observe him playing other people. He also fools around a lot during his own matches. I know Magic is a GAME, and everyone wants to try to have FUN...but no matter how much anyone SAYS that, deep down, they would rather be Saturday's winner than have fun. Travis made it to the semi-finals and then just seemed to give up. Mostly because Madonia told him to. Madonia said something like "Innace can paris to two, and that will still be your worst matchup, Travis". Which is probably true, but couple that with the fact that Travis is convinced he can't beat certain players no matter what he does and you have a losing attitude. Travis will call it cockiness, but I call it a positive attitude. Maybe if some people at the store made some minor improvements to their strategies, they'd have fun AND win every so often. Fact of the matter is, Travis had a winning record in the preliminary rounds, which got him to a 3rd/4th place finish. He accomplished all that with a negative attitude, a bad deck and a not-so-serious outlook on a very skill-intensive game. If he chose to improve one or all of those things, maybe it'll mean a first place finish for him. And maybe if you're reading this, thinking you might also fall into the same category of Magic player as Travis...you can stop blaming your losses on luck and turn 9th or 5th place into 1st place.

I have one more piece of advice for the amateur FNC player. MAKE A SIDEBOARD. Between 50%-66.6% of your games are going to be played with a sideboard. Might as well bring one, right? Sideboards make good matchups better and bad matchups winnable. If that doesn't convince you, let's count how many top 8 players have sideboards at the next FNC Saturday afternoon tournament. If I could have a 25 card sideboard, I would. But some people don't even bring a fifteen card one!! What is that all about? And then they'll complain about losing, and shrug off the loss as being unlucky, or having a lucky opponent. That's not the case. Your opponent was probably better prepared in one or several aspects of the tournament. Perhaps he chose a better deck for today's metagame. Perhaps he mulliganed instead of keeping an iffy hand. Perhaps he was looking two turns ahead when you were only looking one turn ahead. Perhaps he had four miracle sideboard cards that hose your basic strategy. If a player complains about losing, I assume that means that same player cares about winning. There are many things you can do to improve your game. Calling an opponent "lucky" isn't one of them. After a loss, it's best to reflect on it. Go back a few turns and see if there were plays you could have made differently. Every match is winnable. Ask an observer if they noticed you make any mistakes. Ask YOUR OPPONENT if they noticed you make any mistakes. Build a sideboard for crying out loud. And if that isn't working out for you, change decks. Most people do better with certain deck strategies. Some players play control better than aggro, and vice versa. Maybe it's your time to switch. In the words of Elton John, "You gotta lose so you can win". Use your losses as learning experiences.

If you've taken nothing else from this article, I'll restate the most important part for you.
Every match is winnable.

Until next time,
-Mike

==RULES CORNER==
Author: Brian Paskoff

Q. Does Pithing Needle stop my opponent from going off with Chain of Plasma and Swans of Bryn-Argoll?
A. I've gotten a lot of questions about Pithing Needle lately as people prepare in advance for Extended season in January, and it's very easy to figure out if Pithing Needle stops a card: If an ability is written as "Cost: effect", then it's an activated ability and Pithing Needle will stop it. There's one problem though, and that's if the ability is a mana ability. Any activated ability that generates mana and that doesn't have the word "target" in it is a mana ability, and Pithing Needle will ignore it.

Q. If I take my opponent's Avalanche Riders with my Sower of Temptation, do I need to pay its echo during my upkeep?
A. The wording of echo says "At the beginning of your upkeep, if this permanent came under your control since the beginning of your last upkeep, sacrifice it unless you pay its echo cost." Sure the most common way of a creature with echo coming under your control is playing it, but even gaining control of it will put the ability on the stack during your upkeep.

==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==

October 4th - December 28th: PTQ Season for PT Kyoto
The next PTQ season kicks off October 4th, and the format is Shards of Alara sealed deck!

==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

Islandhome #27

==ISLANDHOME #27==

September 3rd 2008

==IN THIS ISSUE...==

Shards of Alara Spoiler Season
Banned & Restricted List Changes - Extended, Legacy, Vintage, and EDH all have new B&R changes!
Cube Drafting
Madonia Minute

==THIS WEEK'S SCHEDULE==

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

==SHARDS OF ALARA SPOILER SEASON==
Author: Brian Paskoff

It's less than a month until the Shards of Alara prerelease, and that means it's spoiler season! The Orb of Insight is up and running, and official and un-official spoilers are beginning to trickle in from magazines and *ahem* "other" sources. There are going to be a lot of multicolor cards in the set, almost as much as Shadowmoor and Eventide had, although they're the old "gold" cards, not hybrids. Shards seems to focus on tri-color cards based around the different "shards" from the storyline. How will this affect drafting and deck construction in general? Well we'll have to see what kind of mana-fixing is available in the set before anyone can make a final judgement.

Some interesting discoveries so far include:

- Colored artifacts, centered around the blue shard.
- A new red Bitterblossom for goblins. It costs 2R, and the tokens have haste, but all goblins have to attack each turn if able.
- Four planeswalkers. Two of them are spoiled so far.
- No Future Sight reprints, and no Thirst for Knowledge either, despite it being an FNM card.
- There are 13 hits for Cycling in the Orb, and five hits for cycle, such as "When you cycle...", so Cycling is most likely a returning mechanic.
- Two possible mechanic names: "Devour" and "Unearth". Unearth probably has something to do with returning something from your graveyard to play/your hand, based on the name and other hits in the Orb.
- A cycle of cards that cost XXYYYZZ, centered around a shard, such as WWUUUBB. 10:1 odds on these being completely unplayable.

You can check out the spoiler on MTGSalvation, which is updated as new information comes in. Wizards's official spoiler is here, on the Shards of Alara mini-site.

==BANNED & RESTRICTED LIST CHANGES==
Author: Brian Paskoff

The banned and restricted list for multiple types of formats has recently been updated, with some surprising changes.

Extended: Sensei's Divining Top is banned. This is a big change, though it won't really be felt until Extended season next year. It will have an impact on PT: Berlin next month however. We won't know until Friday the exact reasons why Top got the boot, but the obvious answer is that the card adds 15-20 minutes onto every match... especially with heavily played shuffle effects like fetchlands in the format.

Legacy: Time Vault is banned. The card will be getting errata to be closer to its original wording soon, which would make it very broken.

Vintage:
- Time Vault is restricted.
- Dream Halls is unrestricted.
- Chrome Mox is unrestricted.
- Mox Diamond is unrestricted.
- Personal Tutor is unrestricted.
- Time Spiral is unrestricted.

Elder Dragon Highlander:
- Karakas is banned. All card-specific EDH rules are removed, so Karakas would be an easy, uncounterable answer to any general. My Grand Arbiter deck is going to miss Karakas + Venser though. :(
- Riftsweeper is banned. With no more card-specific errata, Riftsweeper would effectively remove a general from being playable as soon as turn 2.
- Protean Hulk is banned. There are too many instant-kill combos involving the card, so it's gone.
- Grindstone is banned, for tutoring/Painter's Servant combos.
- Lion's Eye Diamond is banned.
- Test of Endurance is unbanned, the reasoning being that it's hard to stay over 50 life for long, especially in multiplayer, which EDH is meant for.
- Rune-Tail, Kitsune Attendant isn't banned or restricted, but it now works as originally printed.

==CUBE DRAFTING==
Author: Brian Paskoff

Not too many players have been exposed to this format, which is relatively new to Long Island. Tired of drafting SSE? In a cube draft, your first pick choices could be between Darksteel Colossus, Swords to Plowshares, Force of Will, and Black Lotus! A "cube" contains roughly 400 of the best cards in Magic's history, and at the start of a cube draft, all of these cards are shuffled thoroughly and then distributed in 15 card packs between all the drafters. Since every card is a bomb, this leads to some incredibly interesting and/or broken decks, and you have to think carefully about what archetype (zoo, white weenie, burn, control, etc.) your deck is heading towards when you pick each card. Darksteel Colossus is a great card, but if you're in some kind of RW aggro archetype, Flametongue Kavu might be a better choice. A cube doesn't have to contain only the best cards in Magic; for example, there's a debate whether cubes should contain Power (Lotus, Moxen, etc.), and it's possible to build a "theme" cube... for example, maybe one with the worst cards in Magic history. Sorrow's Path first pick anyone? Anyway, many players with access to a large collection are working on cubes, so it shouldn't be long before someone brings one down for drafting!

==RULES CORNER==
Author: Brian Paskoff

First off, a correction from last week - if you draw too many cards at the start of a game, a judge will select cards at random from your hand until you're holding the correct number, and then take one more and shuffle those cards into your deck. I forgot the "one more" part.

Q. I have a Prismatic Omen in play, along with a Vivid Grove and a Forest. If my opponent plays Magus of the Moon, is my Vivid Grove still all basic land types?
A. No. Prismatic Omen and Magus of the Moon both change the types of objects, so both of their continuous effects apply in layer 4. And since both of them apply in the same layer, we use timestamps to determine what your lands look like. Magus of the Moon has the newer timestamp, so all your nonbasic lands are Mountains, overriding Prismatic Omen's effect. Your Forest still has all basic land types, because it's still a basic land and therefore unaffected by Magus of the Moon.

Q. So if my opponent had Magus of the Moon out and I played Prismatic Omen, they'd be all types?
A. Yes, in this case, Prismatic Omen's type changing effect is newer.

Q. My Sower of Temptation is stealing my opponent's Mistbind Clique. My opponent plays a Sower, retaking control of his Mistbind Clique. If I kill his Sower, do I get his Mistbind Clique back?
A. Sower of Temptation's control changing effect applies in layer 2, and since there are two control effects affecting the same object, they apply in timestamp order. His Sower effect is newer, so he controls his Clique, but because your control effect is still applying to the Clique, once his control effect ends, yours takes over again and you'll get the Clique back.

==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==

October 4th - December 28th: PTQ Season for PT Kyoto
The next PTQ season kicks off October 4th, and the format is Shards of Alara sealed deck!

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 here!

==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

Islandhome #26

==ISLANDHOME #26==

August 27th 2008

==IN THIS ISSUE...==

FNM and Other Tournament Changes
Madonia Minute

==THIS WEEK'S SCHEDULE==

Friday: Booster Draft at Grim @ 7 PM
Saturday: Standard Constructed at FNC @ 1 PM
Saturday: PTQ Berlin in New Jersey
Sunday: Chaos Draft at Brothers Grim @ 2 PM

I'll be in New Jersey on Saturday for the last Block Constructed PTQ of the season, so I won't be at Brothers Grim or FNC on Friday or Saturday.

==FNM AND OTHER TOURNAMENT CHANGES==
Author: Brian Paskoff

Starting September 5th, Brothers Grim's Friday tournaments will officially be FNM! Ever since I included the FNM announcement in the Upcoming Events section of Islandhome, players have been asking me if the tournaments are changing to Standard. It's a relatively little known fact that FNM can be either limited or Standard, and for the time being, our FNMs will be booster drafts. Unlike the non-FNM booster drafts, these will be 8k instead of 16k (you can win/lose a maximum of 16 rating points in a single match), but the biggest draw for FNM are the FNM promo cards! Each month there's a different foil alternate art promo card, with four given out at each event - two at random, and two to the top two finalists. September's FNM promo is Thirst for Knowledge.

Some players have been asking about Standard tournaments, so it's always possible to hold those as well. It's too late to change the format of September's FNMs, but October could be Standard if enough people want it!

In the past few weeks, we've been having trouble getting players to come down to Grim on Sundays, and I'm not sure why. Is it the Chaos Draft format (is it possible to hate fun?), or is Sunday just a bad day? Either way, let me know - I could even hold actual sanctioned tournaments on Sundays if there's enough interest!

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

This weekend, for many, is the final week of Lorwyn/Shadowmoor Block Constructed. After a month or so of trivial Type 2 tournaments, a brand new set (Shards of Alara) will replace my favorite block of all Tme... Spiral block (of course you can't forget Coldsnap). I've decided to eschew from the normal decklists this week and talk about how our game has changed in the past year and where we are going from here.

I, for one, absolutely love the new Pro Tour formatting. I hated it for about a day, I then realized that it actually allows the best overall player to win the event, not just a constructed or limited genius. For anyone that didn't read about the change, all Pro Tours will follow the Nationals format of half limited-half constructed. The top 8 of each tournament will be decided beforehand guaranteeing a top 8 with limited and one with constructed. Worlds next year, coming live from Rome Italy will finally get rid of the expensive legacy format and replace it with the always enjoyable extended.

I didn't like Wizards cancelling their yearly Invitational. I always enjoy watching the coverage of formats I've never heard of and it always seems everyone is having a blast, which besides myself, is the reason most people play. Wizards is still feeling the effect of their blowup with the miniature game Dreamblade (I'm sure Paskoff has some figures, if you're interested, he loves wasting money on games that last 9 minutes) they unfortunately, on the nagging of their parent company Hasbro, had to cut some corners to increase profit margin and revenue, especially in a miserable 2008 economy.

Mythic rares have also induced a slew of forum responses on many major websites. Most people I've talked to think its dumbing our game down making it similar to Yu-Gi-Oh, a game that we never wanted to be like, and tried to get players from. I personally think its' kind of like collecting baseball cards. Randomly inserted in packs are special field used cards and special redemption cards good for upwards of a game used jersey or autographed baseball from an all time great. I think that these mythic rares are nothing but a ploy for wizards to squeeze that extra penny out of its consumers. I absolutely plan on trading away any mythic rare I get during the early goings, especially from a noticeable hype card that I know won't see any play (Talara's Batallion, which I told everyone would be worth 99 cents and proceeded to trade two at 11 dollars on pre release day.) Wizards need to start giving back to their consumers, not taking away from them.

I know Block season is almost over but I have one last deck to pass along. I've been corresponding with some mid west players that have had some strong successes on the pro circuit in recent months. We've been working on a token deck for a couple of weeks and finally have a deck that can take a PTQ by storm this weekend.

Torrent u

3x Cloudgoat Ranger
4x Fulminator Mage
4x Kitchen Finks
3x Marsh Flitter
3x Furystoke Giant
1x Shrikemaw
1x Mirrorweave
4x Spectral Possession
4x Bitterblossom
4x Torrent of Souls
4x Makeshift Mannequin

4x Fetid Heath
2x Plains
4x Reflecting Pool
3x Rugged Prarie
2x Twilight Mire
4x Vivid Marsh
3x Vivid Meadow
3x Windbrisk Heights

Sideboard
3x Cloudthresher
4x Runed Halo
4x Thoughtseize
3x Shrikemaw
1x Primal command

I have about 13 or so emails on the list about the new deck, so if anyone has any questions or wants to know sideboarding plans please let me know before Friday.

Thanks for reading!

==RULES CORNER==
Author: Brian Paskoff

Q. Is there a way I can activate my Mutavault during my opponent's end phase and have it still be a creature during my turn?
A. I've heard this questions a few times lately, and since it deals with confusion between "at end of turn" and "until end of turn" effects, I figured I'd help stop this confusion. There are two steps in the end of turn phase: end of turn step, and the cleanup step. Abilities that say "at end of turn" trigger at the beginning of the end of turn step; it's just that if Turn to Mist said "At the beginning of the end of turn step...." it'd be a little too wordy. Abilities that say they last "until end of turn" however end during the cleanup step. For the most part, players don't get priority during the cleanup step, so Mutavault needs to be activated before then, and will stop being a creature in the cleanup step. Even if a player does get priority during the cleanup step somehow (if the conditions for state-based effects or triggered abilities exist, for example) and activates Mutavault, the game will generate another cleanup step after the first one to deal with it.

Q. Oh no! I drew seven cards when I mulliganed. Do I need to mulligan to five now?
A. Though a forced mulligan to one less than what you were supposed to draw used to be the fix for Improper Drawing at Start, there's a more fair fix now. If you accidentally drew too many cards, a judge will pick cards at random out of your hand until you're holding the number of cards you're supposed to, and then take one more. Those extra cards will get shuffled back into your deck and you'll start play as normal. If you drew too few cards, the judge will make you draw up to what you're supposed to.

Q. Whoa, new Ajani. Can I have the Lorwyn one and the Shards of Alara one out at the same time?
A. I've made a big deal out of planeswalkers not being "legendary" in the past, and here's why. Legendary permanents care about the name of the card (which is why Sakashima the Impostor can copy legendary creatures and not die), while planeswalkers care about the subtype of cards. Old and busted Ajani and new hotness Ajani both have the same subtype, so if they're both in play at the same time, state-based effects will prevent the multiverse from imploding.

==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-Shadowmoor Block Constructed! Lorwyn-Shadowmoor block consists 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:

• 8/30 - 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