==ISLANDHOME #38==
November 19th 2008
==IN THIS ISSUE...==
Weekend Tournament Report
News: A bunch of news bites that wouldn't fit anywhere else.
EDH: A peek at one of my newest decks to help you build your own!
==THIS WEEK'S SCHEDULE==
Friday: FNM Booster Draft at Brothers Grim ($13 entry) @ 7 PM
Saturday: Standard Constructed at FNC ($5 entry) @ 1 PM
Sunday: Casual Day at Brothers Grim @ 2 PM
==WEEKEND TOURNAMENT REPORT==
Author: Brian Paskoff
==NEWS!==
Author: Brian Paskoff
Don't forget, there's only one month until Brothers Grim's Mox Tournament! Make sure to playtest hard, because the competition for a shiny new old Mox Emerald will be intense for sure.
Thanks to an accidental screw-up at WotC's FNM distribution center, I received twice the number of Isochron Scepter promos I was supposed to. After contacting Wizards, they told me I could distribute the extras however I wanted at sanctioned tournaments. So, I've got a whole bunch to give out, way more than the eight I need for the two remaining FNMs this month. I'll be giving a bunch of them (and other foils!) out at Grim's Mox Tournament next month, but that still leaves me with extras... so I'll be giving some out at every sanctioned tournament I run.
My newest Cranial Insertion article went up on Monday, so go check it out!
There's a sealed PTQ this weekend in Philly, and although I won't be going, there's lots of our readers who are, so good luck everyone!
==IN THIS ISSUE...==
Weekend Tournament Report
News: A bunch of news bites that wouldn't fit anywhere else.
EDH: A peek at one of my newest decks to help you build your own!
==THIS WEEK'S SCHEDULE==
Friday: FNM Booster Draft at Brothers Grim ($13 entry) @ 7 PM
Saturday: Standard Constructed at FNC ($5 entry) @ 1 PM
Sunday: Casual Day at Brothers Grim @ 2 PM
==WEEKEND TOURNAMENT REPORT==
Author: Brian Paskoff
Before we begin, a fond farewell to our foreign friend Jaroslav Nachtigall, who will be returning to his homeland of the Czech Republic, a mystical land full of eggs and zero Chinese buffets, if I've understood his stories well enough. Jaroslav played Merfolk and split in the finals with Michael Bauer's homebrew Elf Ball concoction, posing for a final picture with both of FNC's belts before heading off for a goodbye dinner at the Chinese buffet. Jaroslav may play one last US tournament at the Philadelphia PTQ this weekend (an event I'm sadly not planning on attending), but of course the last tournament he played in that mattered was FNC's last weekend. Good luck in the Czechleslovokian tournaments, Jaroslav!
John Madonia ended his long-time winning streak on Saturday by losing to David "The Wurm" Drebsky in an intense battle for the ages. Madonia played Merfolk in the event, lamenting over a round one bye, winning his next round, and losing to Wurm's pesky Kithkin deck in the third round.
Speaking of people we'll not see again for a while, Dave Porter, fresh off a recent retirement, came to Grim on Friday night and decided to play in the FNM booster draft, where he used the interesting strategy of drafting a two-color deck in this three-color format. Dave drafted straight up red/black, splashing green only for a single Sprouting Thrinax. Dave snagged every unearth creature he could, combining them with a pair of Bone Splinters among other removal spells. The expendable creatures were hard to remove, and Dave's deck served as a red/black weenie deck with Scourge Devils for alpha strike power. He split with Dean Duprez in the finals, whose drafting of Necrogenesis and Relic of Progenitus made it difficult for Dave's deck for it to do what it needed to, leading to an unintentional draw in an earlier round when neither's deck could win.
It seemed like the new big thing at FNC was Elf-Ball, with many players trying to port the Extended deck into Standard with mixed results. Michael Bauer and Jim Chianese both made it into the top eight with the deck. Although it lacks the massive draw power of Glimpse of Nature, the Standard versiono of Elves! still has draw in the form of Manamorphose, Elvish Visonary, and even a blue splash for Distant Melody. The deck could win with either a swarm of Elves or a huge Roar of the Crowd.
John Madonia ended his long-time winning streak on Saturday by losing to David "The Wurm" Drebsky in an intense battle for the ages. Madonia played Merfolk in the event, lamenting over a round one bye, winning his next round, and losing to Wurm's pesky Kithkin deck in the third round.
Speaking of people we'll not see again for a while, Dave Porter, fresh off a recent retirement, came to Grim on Friday night and decided to play in the FNM booster draft, where he used the interesting strategy of drafting a two-color deck in this three-color format. Dave drafted straight up red/black, splashing green only for a single Sprouting Thrinax. Dave snagged every unearth creature he could, combining them with a pair of Bone Splinters among other removal spells. The expendable creatures were hard to remove, and Dave's deck served as a red/black weenie deck with Scourge Devils for alpha strike power. He split with Dean Duprez in the finals, whose drafting of Necrogenesis and Relic of Progenitus made it difficult for Dave's deck for it to do what it needed to, leading to an unintentional draw in an earlier round when neither's deck could win.
It seemed like the new big thing at FNC was Elf-Ball, with many players trying to port the Extended deck into Standard with mixed results. Michael Bauer and Jim Chianese both made it into the top eight with the deck. Although it lacks the massive draw power of Glimpse of Nature, the Standard versiono of Elves! still has draw in the form of Manamorphose, Elvish Visonary, and even a blue splash for Distant Melody. The deck could win with either a swarm of Elves or a huge Roar of the Crowd.
==NEWS!==
Author: Brian Paskoff
Don't forget, there's only one month until Brothers Grim's Mox Tournament! Make sure to playtest hard, because the competition for a shiny new old Mox Emerald will be intense for sure.
Thanks to an accidental screw-up at WotC's FNM distribution center, I received twice the number of Isochron Scepter promos I was supposed to. After contacting Wizards, they told me I could distribute the extras however I wanted at sanctioned tournaments. So, I've got a whole bunch to give out, way more than the eight I need for the two remaining FNMs this month. I'll be giving a bunch of them (and other foils!) out at Grim's Mox Tournament next month, but that still leaves me with extras... so I'll be giving some out at every sanctioned tournament I run.
My newest Cranial Insertion article went up on Monday, so go check it out!
There's a sealed PTQ this weekend in Philly, and although I won't be going, there's lots of our readers who are, so good luck everyone!
==EDH==
Author: Brian Paskoff
Author: Brian Paskoff
FNC is holding an EDH league thing on Friday nights, and while I unfortunately can't attend (I'll be at FNM at Grim on Friday), this combined with the recent EDH article on the official Magic site has gotten a lot of readers asking me for tips on building an EDH deck. So I thought I'd share one of my current EDH projects, Sek'Kuar, Deathkeeper.
The idea for the deck came about when I noticed that my two "complete" - as far as an EDH deck can be complete - decks, Wort the Raidmother and Grand Arbiter Augustin IV, had no black in them. I had experimented with a mono-black Oona deck, using Extraplanar Lens and Gauntlet of Power to generate tons of mana, but that didn't work out too well - it was too fragile to counterspells and especially artifact hate. Green/black has always been a favorite of mine, so I tried a Savra, Queen of the Golgari deck. I used Grave Pact and lots of sac outlets to make sure my opponent had no creatures on the board, but I ran into a problem - some of the best spells that deal with sacrificing, reanimating, and swarms of tokens were in red, and I didn't have access to them. So then I settled on Sek'Kuar, Deathkeeper, and came up with this list:
Creatures:
Deranged Hermit
Eternal Witness
Fleshbag Marauder
Genesis
Greater Gargadon
Indrik Stomphowler
Loaming Shaman
Marsh Flitter
Murderous Redcap
Mycoloth
Nantuko Husk
Nezumi Graverobber
Phyrexian Ghoul
Phyrexian Plaguelord
Sakura-Tribe Elder
Savra, Queen of the Golgari
Shriekmaw
Siege-Gang Commander
Silverglade Elemental
Solemn Simulacrum
Sprouting Thrinax
Stalking Vengeance
Sylvan Safekeeper
Symbiotic Wurm
Thelonite Hermit
Wickerbough Elder
Withered Wretch
Woodfall Primus
Yavimaya Elder
Spells:
Ashnod's Altar
Bitter Ordeal
Chord of Calling
Corpse Dance
Death Cloud
Dread Return
Fecundity
Fires of Yavimaya
Grave Pact
Greater Good
Harmonize
Harrow
Hull Breach
Kodama's Reach
Krosan Grip
Life from the Loam
Makeshift Mannequin
Natural Order
Pernicious Deed
Phyrexian Altar
Profane Command
Putrefy
Regrowth
Sensei's Divining Top
Skullclamp
Sol Ring
Sprout Swarm
Sudden Death
Torrent of Souls
Vicious Shadows
Lands:
8 Forest
2 Mountain
7 Swamp
Badlands
Barren Moor
Blood Crypt
Dust Bowl
Fire-Lit Thicket
Forgotten Cave
Gilt-Leaf Palace
Golgari Rot Farm
Graven Cairns
Jund Panorama
Karplusan Forest
Llanowar Wastes
Overgrown Tomb
Pendelhaven
Savage Lands
Stomping Ground
Sulfurous Springs
Tainted wood
Tranquil Thicket
Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
Vesuva
Basically, the theme of the deck is to sac creatures as often as possible for big results. Like decks in any other format, this one doesn't have just one way to win. There's numerous ways to make lots of things die in a turn, so Bitter Ordeal can strip an opponent's deck of win conditions. I don't like using the card in multiplayer games, because searching a single deck for each gravestorm copy can cause the game to come to a screeching halt for minutes. In fact, after my first multiplayer experience at GP Montreal, I swore I'd never use the card in a multiplayer game again; it causes everyone to want to take a break while you riffle through everyone's libraries.
The Shards of Alara junk rare Vicious Shadows is particularly devastating in this deck. If an opponent has any cards in hand, I should be able to sacrifice enough creatures in a turn to kill them. Hard-to-pull-off combos are a staple of EDH deckbuilding; lots of times deckbuilders will include cards just because they think "Wouldn't it be cool if I had this and this and this in play, and did this?" It's the same thinking that drives casual players to build decks, and EDH is a Timmy's paradise. I've had games where I've had out an Ashnod's Altar, Woodfall Primus, and a flipped Nezumi Graverobber, and could sac the Primus to the Altar twice, and then pay B to reanimate the Primus and start the whole thing over, destroying two non-land permanents in the process. It's a lot of setup, but isn't "B: Destroy two target non-land permanents" worth it? Never think an idea is too crazy to try to fit into an EDH deck, because even in a singleton 100-card deck, or especially in one, weird things can happen.
One of the biggest cards of the deck is Symbiotic Wurm. There's tons of synergy with sac outlets there, and he, along with smaller cousin Sprouting Thrinax, can generate some massive card advantage. Very often I'll sac him to something like Phyrexian Altar, and use the mana from that to reanimate him with one of my many reanimation spells, and sac him again. This can draw lots and lots of cards with Fecundity, generate lots of mana with Phyrexian Altar and Ashnod's Altar, and put a lot of tokens into play for swinging with Fires of Yavimaya.
Sticking to your theme is important. Lots of players tell me they start building an EDH deck, and then realize they're thirty-something cards over the limit. The best way to narrow things down to 100 cards is to cut out anything that doesn't fit the theme of the deck, no matter how good it may seem otherwise. I once tried to fit in Molten Disaster, Myojin of Night's Reach, and Akroma, Angel of Fury, among others, but they didn't fit the theme of sacrificing creatures for big effects, so out they went.
I hope this little peek into my mind helps you build your EDH deck. I won't be at FNC on Fridays, but any time you find me at either FNC or Grim, I'm usually up for a game!
The idea for the deck came about when I noticed that my two "complete" - as far as an EDH deck can be complete - decks, Wort the Raidmother and Grand Arbiter Augustin IV, had no black in them. I had experimented with a mono-black Oona deck, using Extraplanar Lens and Gauntlet of Power to generate tons of mana, but that didn't work out too well - it was too fragile to counterspells and especially artifact hate. Green/black has always been a favorite of mine, so I tried a Savra, Queen of the Golgari deck. I used Grave Pact and lots of sac outlets to make sure my opponent had no creatures on the board, but I ran into a problem - some of the best spells that deal with sacrificing, reanimating, and swarms of tokens were in red, and I didn't have access to them. So then I settled on Sek'Kuar, Deathkeeper, and came up with this list:
Creatures:
Deranged Hermit
Eternal Witness
Fleshbag Marauder
Genesis
Greater Gargadon
Indrik Stomphowler
Loaming Shaman
Marsh Flitter
Murderous Redcap
Mycoloth
Nantuko Husk
Nezumi Graverobber
Phyrexian Ghoul
Phyrexian Plaguelord
Sakura-Tribe Elder
Savra, Queen of the Golgari
Shriekmaw
Siege-Gang Commander
Silverglade Elemental
Solemn Simulacrum
Sprouting Thrinax
Stalking Vengeance
Sylvan Safekeeper
Symbiotic Wurm
Thelonite Hermit
Wickerbough Elder
Withered Wretch
Woodfall Primus
Yavimaya Elder
Spells:
Ashnod's Altar
Bitter Ordeal
Chord of Calling
Corpse Dance
Death Cloud
Dread Return
Fecundity
Fires of Yavimaya
Grave Pact
Greater Good
Harmonize
Harrow
Hull Breach
Kodama's Reach
Krosan Grip
Life from the Loam
Makeshift Mannequin
Natural Order
Pernicious Deed
Phyrexian Altar
Profane Command
Putrefy
Regrowth
Sensei's Divining Top
Skullclamp
Sol Ring
Sprout Swarm
Sudden Death
Torrent of Souls
Vicious Shadows
Lands:
8 Forest
2 Mountain
7 Swamp
Badlands
Barren Moor
Blood Crypt
Dust Bowl
Fire-Lit Thicket
Forgotten Cave
Gilt-Leaf Palace
Golgari Rot Farm
Graven Cairns
Jund Panorama
Karplusan Forest
Llanowar Wastes
Overgrown Tomb
Pendelhaven
Savage Lands
Stomping Ground
Sulfurous Springs
Tainted wood
Tranquil Thicket
Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
Vesuva
Basically, the theme of the deck is to sac creatures as often as possible for big results. Like decks in any other format, this one doesn't have just one way to win. There's numerous ways to make lots of things die in a turn, so Bitter Ordeal can strip an opponent's deck of win conditions. I don't like using the card in multiplayer games, because searching a single deck for each gravestorm copy can cause the game to come to a screeching halt for minutes. In fact, after my first multiplayer experience at GP Montreal, I swore I'd never use the card in a multiplayer game again; it causes everyone to want to take a break while you riffle through everyone's libraries.
The Shards of Alara junk rare Vicious Shadows is particularly devastating in this deck. If an opponent has any cards in hand, I should be able to sacrifice enough creatures in a turn to kill them. Hard-to-pull-off combos are a staple of EDH deckbuilding; lots of times deckbuilders will include cards just because they think "Wouldn't it be cool if I had this and this and this in play, and did this?" It's the same thinking that drives casual players to build decks, and EDH is a Timmy's paradise. I've had games where I've had out an Ashnod's Altar, Woodfall Primus, and a flipped Nezumi Graverobber, and could sac the Primus to the Altar twice, and then pay B to reanimate the Primus and start the whole thing over, destroying two non-land permanents in the process. It's a lot of setup, but isn't "B: Destroy two target non-land permanents" worth it? Never think an idea is too crazy to try to fit into an EDH deck, because even in a singleton 100-card deck, or especially in one, weird things can happen.
One of the biggest cards of the deck is Symbiotic Wurm. There's tons of synergy with sac outlets there, and he, along with smaller cousin Sprouting Thrinax, can generate some massive card advantage. Very often I'll sac him to something like Phyrexian Altar, and use the mana from that to reanimate him with one of my many reanimation spells, and sac him again. This can draw lots and lots of cards with Fecundity, generate lots of mana with Phyrexian Altar and Ashnod's Altar, and put a lot of tokens into play for swinging with Fires of Yavimaya.
Sticking to your theme is important. Lots of players tell me they start building an EDH deck, and then realize they're thirty-something cards over the limit. The best way to narrow things down to 100 cards is to cut out anything that doesn't fit the theme of the deck, no matter how good it may seem otherwise. I once tried to fit in Molten Disaster, Myojin of Night's Reach, and Akroma, Angel of Fury, among others, but they didn't fit the theme of sacrificing creatures for big effects, so out they went.
I hope this little peek into my mind helps you build your EDH deck. I won't be at FNC on Fridays, but any time you find me at either FNC or Grim, I'm usually up for a game!
==THE ISLANDHOME BLOG==
One of the things I wanted to do was have an archive of past issues online so I could refer people back to them as well as let new readers peruse old issues to see what all the fuss is about. So I've archived all the old issues on the blogosphere at islandhomemtg.blogspot.com. Go and relive all the past moments of glory!
==UPCOMING EVENTS==
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!
December 21st - Mox Tournament at Brothers Grim
This December, Islandhome, in association with Brothers Grim, will be holding a giant Standard tournament. The first place prize will be a Mox Emerald, with many other prizes as well. Side events such as booster drafts and EDH multiplayer games will be held that day too, so keep reading Islandhome for more details!
December 21st - Mox Tournament at Brothers Grim
This December, Islandhome, in association with Brothers Grim, will be holding a giant Standard tournament. The first place prize will be a Mox Emerald, with many other prizes as well. Side events such as booster drafts and EDH multiplayer games will be held that day too, so keep reading Islandhome for more details!
PTQs in our area this season:
11/22 - Philadelphia, PA
12/13 - New York, NY
12/27 - Edison, NJ
11/22 - Philadelphia, PA
12/13 - New York, NY
12/27 - Edison, NJ
==STORE LOCATIONS & CONTACT INFO==
Brothers Grim
1244 Middle Country Rd.
Selden, NY 11784
Phone: 631-698-2805
Website: www.brgim.com
Friendly Neighborhood Comics
19 Udall Rd.
West Islip, NY 11795
Phone: 631-470-7984
Brothers Grim
1244 Middle Country Rd.
Selden, NY 11784
Phone: 631-698-2805
Website: www.brgim.com
Friendly Neighborhood Comics
19 Udall Rd.
West Islip, NY 11795
Phone: 631-470-7984
==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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