Islandhome #39

==ISLANDHOME #39==

November 26th 2008

==IN THIS ISSUE...==

Chaos Draft
Euro Lands Promotion: Buy a box at Brothers Grim, get some pretty lands!
Way of the Wurm: A guest article from David "The Wurm" Drebsky!
Guest Articles: Islandhome is once again accepting guest articles, so send 'em in!

==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: Chaos Draft at Brothers Grim ($13 entry) @ 2 PM

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Also John Madonia would like to state that this Saturday at FNC is "Dress for Success" day, and the best dressed will get free entry into the tournament for some reason, so get out your suit and ties!

==EURO LANDS PROMOTION==
Author: Brian Paskoff

So the other day when I received my latest FNM promos for Brothers Grim in the mail, I got a little extra surprise with it. Though to be fair it was only a surprise because I forgot I had signed up for it. See, Wizards is doing this promotion exclusively for FNM-hosting locations where they send out packs Euro Lands to those stores. But unlike the other promotional cards Wizards sends out, you don't get these for playing - instead, you get them for buying a full box of any Magic set!

The Euro Lands are special lands with artwork representing different locations throughout Europe. They came in three different versions depending on their wrappers, but the ones I got are the blue pack, seen here. They feature scenes of the forests of Schwarzwald, Germany, the Danish Islands of Scandinavia, the mountains of Vesuvio, Italy, the Scottish Highlands, and the swamps of Ardennes Fagnes, Belgium. This is the first time that these lands are available to players in the US, and they're quite rare. Five come in a pack, one of each land.

Supplies are limited though, so if you were planning to buy a box of Shards for someone as a holiday gift, do it as soon as possible! this promotion will be running at Brothers Grim only for as long as we have packs to give out.

==CHAOS DRAFT==
Author: Brian Paskoff

Sundays at Brothers Grim are the perfect days to try new things; there's no big tournament going on anywhere really, so we usually try to do a Chaos Draft. In a normal draft, everyone gets the same amount of product, usually three packs of Shards since that's the newest set. But in a Chaos Draft, everyone gets something different. Sometimes we throw a bunch of packs into a bag and let people pick them out one by one, so that no two players have the same product - and usually, no two packs are even alike. Some people don't like the idea of drafting and getting cards they won't ever play with, which is why sometimes we do a Standard Chaos Draft where all the packs are from sets that are legal in the current Standard format.

Drafting the same thing over and over again gets kind of stale, which is why Chaos Drafts are so exciting. Even though sets in different blocks each have their own unique themes, every set since Mirage has been designed with limited play in mind, so each set is guaranteed to have the staple cards you need for your draft deck. Look at any set and you'll see a good mix of bomby creatures, removal spells, enchantment/artifact hate, etc. Sets in concurrent blocks tend to overlap more than ones released further apart, as Wizards takes care to make sure there's a lot of synergy in Standard. For instance, at the Chaos Draft this past weekend I found some great synergy between persist creatures and Bone Splinters - I could just weaken my creature instead of removing it from play altogether, while still getting rid of my opponent's creature. And of course there's lots of synergy between the Lorwyn and Shadowmoor mini-blocks, as all of the tribes from Lorwyn/Morningtide are represented in Shadowmoor/Eventide... and some of them even make an appearance in Shards of Alara! And don't forget Eventide's Mimics and Hatchlings, which go great with Shards of Alara's tri-colored cards. So what usually happens during a Chaos Draft is that you'll start to notice things about cards that you never thought of playing with together before.

Here's my Chaos Draft deck from this past Saturday, so you can see some of the synergies available between sets. We used only Standard-legal sets, and let everyone pick their own packs, with the catch that they couldn't pick the same set twice. I chose Shards-Morningtide-Eventide, and ended up with this:

CREATURES:

Blister Beetle (2x)
Bog-Strider Ash
Carrion Thrash
Harvest Gwyllion
Hatchet Bully
Lys Alana Bowmaster
Moonglove Changeling (2x)
Rendclaw Trow
Scuzzback Marauders
Smouldering Butcher
Vein Drinker
War-Spike Changeling
Winnower Patrol (3x)

SPELLS:

Bone Splinters
Eyeblight's Ending
Obelisk of Jund
Pack's Disdain
Jund Charm
Violet Pall

LANDS:

7 Forest
3 Mountain
8 Swamp

With ten ways to hit kinship with Winnower Patrol in play, I was guaranteed to... well, never ever hit ever. But that's just my horrible luck; I don't think I've ever hit on kinship cards, even when drafting straight-up Lorwyn/Morningtide. Even though Lorwyn's creature types don't extend into Shards of Alara with the exception of Elves and Goblins, all of Morningtide's classes are well represented on Alara. Carrion Thrash was my only Warrior, though to be honest most of the Shards packs were a little thin in good creatures this draft, at least by the time they got to me. I did manage to pick up a Bone Splinters, which as I said went well with my persisting dudes, and a Jund Charm, which goes well in decks that play black, red, and green, or can splash for Jund Charm.

If you want to come check out this format, stop by Brothers Grim on Sundays! The entry fee is $13, same as any other draft, unless we happen to be using some crazy old packs like Urza's Legacy or something, which happens very rarely.

==WAY OF THE WURM==
Author: David "The Wurm" Drebsky

The Kithkin Concept

Many of you across Long Island have faced off against me in Type 2 and stared down the deck I have come to refer to as "The Legendary Kithkins." Originally when I built this deck, it was a Kithkin soldier deck based on the concept of Cenn's Tactician, Field Marshall, Mirror Entity, Preeminent Captain, Mutavault, Ballyrush Banneret, etc. Obviously it has evolved a great deal since then, particularly since the advent of Mirrorweave. The deck as I now play it has had very few modifications since Block season, with the bulk of the changes being in the sideboard. To date, the deck has taken down such players as Jon Finkel, Zvi Moshowitz, Rob Seder, and John Madonia (formerly ranked #1 in New York).

Having seen more than a few of my peers take a stab at building the Kithkin deck, I would like to share my full decklist with sideboard, and explain how to properly sideboard against the most popular decks in the format, and go into why I reject certain sideboard choices. I do not claim to be the definitive voice of Kithkin advocates, but I believe I have played the deck long enough to justify the claim that I know what I'm talking about.

Below is the list of my current Kithkin build. This is a complete custom build. No other Kithkin deck looks exactly like it, and its success speaks for itself.

I. The Deck

Land:

14x Plains
3x Mutavault
4x Rustic Clachan
4x Windbrisk Heights

Creatures:

4x Figure of Destiny
4x Goldmeadow Stalwart
4x Knight of the Meadowgrain
4x Wizened Cenn
2x Mirror Entity
2x Wilt-Leaf Liege
4x Cloudgoat Ranger

Other Spells:

2x Surge of Thoughtweft
4x Spectral Procession
3x Unmake
2x Mirrorweave

Sideboard:

2x Ajani Goldmane (Kithkin, Merfolk, sometimes Quick N' Toast, or any deck that runs a lot of aggro weenie creatures)
4x Burrenton Forge-Tender (Red Deck Wins, Quick N' Toast)
3x Oblivion Ring (Faeries, Merfolk, Elves b/c of Chameleon Colossus and Garruk, R/G/B tokens, Reveillark, or any deck that runs big creatures or a lot of planeswalkers)
2x Stillmoon Cavalier (Kithkin, Faeries, Mono Black Control)
2x Wilt-Leaf Liege (Reveillark, Kelpie, sometimes Quick N' Toast if they run Esper Charm)
2x Reveillark (Red Deck Wins, Quick N' Toast, Reveillark or any deck that runs a lot of mass removal)

II. Controversial Tech

Most Kithkin decks consistently reject Surge of Thoughtweft and Mirror Entity... I consider these good tech and they have bailed me out of a lot of close calls.

Surge gives the deck card draw and an extra unexpected combat trick, both of which give the deck teeth. White almost never gets card draw and sometimes the card you draw off the Surge will win you the game (or at least fix your draw), and instant speed pump can be priceless in much the same way that Rustic Clachan and Windbrisk Heights help further that goal.

Mirror Entity is an extra win condition almost by himself. Side ME out against any deck that runs Sower of Temptation, though. Usually if they try and steal him, you will have 3 basic options...(1) pay 0 mana with his activated ability and "wrath" the field in response, killing everything on your side of the field and fizzling the steal trigger (obviously not good for you, but better than letting opponent get control of a creature that will win them the game), (2) let them steal Entity, then Unmake the Sower after resolution (assuming you are lucky enough to have Unmake in hand), (3) let them steal Entity because you will win anyway (generally only when opponent is on low life and/or you have superior board position and them having control of Entity is not a big deal). Entity is the weakest link in the deck, you won't use him often...but the point is, if he sticks, the opponent is upset. And nothing is better to pop out of Heights than this guy...not even Mirrorweave. Just ask Jim Chianese about that one.

Some decks are phasing out Mirrorweave and Wilt-Leaf Liege...I don't really get the point, each of these cards is extremely powerful and a major asset to the deck. Simply put, Mirrorweave allows you to win games you're supposed to lose and come back out of nowhere or completely disrupt the opponent's combat phase. The Liege is a beater and a pumper and with the advent of new discard tech like Blightning and especially Esper Charm, this guy is truly king. In short, I don't believe either of these cards should ever leave the deck in its present form.

Also, the Wilt-Leaf vs. Thistledown debate...I'll be brief here, but simply put, us Kithkin players have learned from Block season and beyond that Wilt-Leaf is unquestionably superior to Thistledown. A few reasons why...he resists Firespout and most burn spells...he's a better target for Mirrorweave...he resists discard and can be played for free as a "must" effect if opponent forces him out of your hand. He's not a Kithkin and he doesn't have flash. So what? He's a threat by himself...as a 4/4 for 4, he's a must deal with. Thistledown costs the same...and is a wimp.

III. Rejected Tech

Some cards simply don't need to be used even though they are sick on paper. I reject Ranger of Eos as feasible tech; it is an okay card, nothing special. The main reason is that the 4-drop spot is dominated by Mirrorweave and Wilt-Leaf Liege and you usually want to side in Ajani Goldmane against the decks that would require bringing in the Ranger (like Quick N' Toast). The card is simply unnecessary and it doesn't further the cause of token overwhelm which is the real heart of the deck.

I also don't like Oversoul of Dusk; the card is good, but expensive and not always relevant. Yes, it's game-breaking against Mono Red but that deck is our easiest match-up and we can win without spending 5 mana on a card that can't even block Demigod of Revenge. Yes, it's good against Faeries but they can still tap it down with Cryptic Command and we simply don't need this giant win-more beatstick. We win in numbers. If we wanted big guys, we'd be playing Thoughtweft Trio.

Thirdly, Wispmare...this card hits basically 2 things, Bitterblossom and other Oblivion Rings. We don't need this against Faeries, half the time they side Bitterblossom out against us game 2 and 3 (bad idea on their part, the card is ALWAYS good against us), and Oblivion Ring speaks for itself as strictly more wide-reaching tech. Other O-Rings we can O-Ring ourselves, or just ignore. We throw out so many things that a few O-Rings shouldn't be anything we're afraid of.

Lastly, Elspeth, Knight-Errant. I'm not going to bash this card, it's actually extremely good but I have found few situations where I would rather not just play Ajani Goldmane. The card is strictly better for this deck and believe me, the opponent is more scared of Ajani than they are of Elspeth. We don't need more tokens, we have enough dudes that fly, and the opponent should be dead long before we would make our non-planeswalker permanents indestructible.

IV. Using Mirrorweave

Just a short explanation here on using Mirrorweave (it's an intricate card, obviously, with a crazy amount of rulings, which I would suggest reading up on), as some people I've watched consistently try to target Wizened Cenn or a Liege and just get in for ridiculous amounts of damage. While this is a good strategy, Mirrorweave is actually the most versatile card in the deck and you must try to get the most out of it. It rarely should be a "dead card" and sometimes the best way to use it is defensively.

Let the opponent swing, make your blocks, and then Mirrorweave one of the weakest targets. With a Surge of Thoughtweft in hand, or if you've already put counters on your guys a la Ajani Goldmane, you'll generally wipe out the opponent's forces completely if it was an alpha strike.

Also, very important...with Figure of Destiny, you can select it as a target, then make pumps if you have mana open...in many cases, your opponent won't have red or white mana available if you time this correctly (hell, it's even easier if they can't produce those colors in the first place) and this will give you a big advantage in combat. Plus, any guys you pump while they are Figures will stay pumped-up Figures when the Mirrorweave wears off. Thanks, layering rules!

One final thing, the timing of Mirrorweave is important. You don't always just let the opponent declare blockers or declare attackers and then use it before damage. Sometimes you want to use it before either declaration occurs (either due to triggers, strategic purposes, or some other reason). The point, look at the field and always consider the implications of your choice.

V. Sideboard Choices

What do you do about the sideboard? What comes in? What goes out? Read and learn what I consider to be the optimal choices against the most popular decks in the current format.

You're facing Red Deck Wins:

+ 4 Burrenton Forge-Tender
+ 2 Reveillark

- 4 Goldmeadow Stalwart
- 1 Mirror Entity
- 1 Mirrorweave

You're facing Faeries:

+ 3 Oblivion Ring
+ 2 Stillmoon Cavalier

- 1 Mirrorweave
- 2 Mirror Entity
- 1 Spectral Procession
- 1 Cloudgoat Ranger

You're facing Kithkin:

+ 2 Ajani Goldmane
+ 1 Stillmoon Cavalier
+ 1 Oblivion Ring

- 1 Mirrorweave
- 1 Cloudgoat Ranger
- 1 Spectral Procession
- 1 Plains

You're facing Quick N' Toast:

This one is tough, as there are several variants on the five-color control concept. This one addresses the "classic" choice.

+ 4 Burrenton Forge-Tender
+ 1 Ajani Goldmane
+ 2 Reveillark

- 4 Goldmeadow Stalwart
- 1 Mirrorweave
- 1 Mirror Entity
- 1 Cloudgoat Ranger

You're facing Doran or Elves:

+ 3 Oblivion Ring
+ 1 Ajani Goldmane

- 2 Unmake
- 1 Mirrorweave
- 1 Mirror Entity

You're facing Merfolk:

+ 2 Ajani Goldmane
+ 1 Oblivion Ring

- 2 Mirror Entity
- 1 Mirrorweave

You're facing Mono Black Control:

+ 2 Stillmoon Cavalier
+ 1 Reveillark
+ 1 Wilt-Liege Liege

- 2 Mirror Entity
- 1 Mirrorweave
- 1 Cloudgoat Ranger

You're facing Reveillark:

+ 2 Wilt-Leaf Liege
+ 2 Reveillark

- 2 Mirror Entity
- 1 Mirrorweave
- 1 Cloudgoat Ranger

VI. Closing Comments

The rest of my secrets you will have to figure out for yourself. I hope this Kithkin building/playing tutorial has been of help to some of you aspiring Kithkin players, or if you are on the other side of the field, to understand some of our thinking and get better in fighting against this extremely powerful aggro deck. There are literally a wealth of Kithkin builds, and many are splashing other colors. You may want to try looking at some of those. So far, splashing red or splashing black seem to be the best options. But I still stay true to mono white.

This isn't the perfect build for everyone. You have to play what you feel comfortable with. I like combat tricks and surprises (as anyone who has ever seen/heard me play Windbrisk Heights knows) over straight token overwhelming, and this build reflects that idea. That's all for now. See you all on the battlefield.

~ David "The Wurm" Drebsky

==GUEST ARTICLES==
Author: Brian Paskoff

After a short break, Islandhome is once again accepting guest articles from our readers!

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.

==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!

PTQs in our area this season:

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

==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 #38

==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

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.

==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

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 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!

PTQs in our area this season:

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

==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 #37

==ISLANDHOME #37==

November 12th 2008

==IN THIS ISSUE...==

Promo-rama: Wizards is upping the foils!
States 2008 Wrap-Up

==THIS WEEK'S SCHEDULE==

Friday: FNM Booster Draft at Brothers Grim ($13 entry) @ 7 PM
Saturday: FNC Grand Opening Sealed Deck ($30 entry) at FNC @ 1 PM
Sunday: Booster Draft at Brothers Grim @ 2 PM

I have some extra foils to give out for Friday's FNM at Brothers Grim. And good ones too, no Icatian Javelineers or Fiery Tempers! What are they? Well you'll have to come play to find out!

==PROMO-RAMA==

Wizards is going promo crazy! Not only do you get FNM promos just for playing (this month's is Isochron Scepter; that's right, come play FNM at Brothers Grim and you could win a foil alternate art Isochron Scepter!), but Wizards is also holding a special deal for the holidays. If you play in at least two FNM tournaments between November 14th and December 12th, you'll get a special foil Hypnotic Specter in the mail in your next Magic Player Rewards mailing. But to qualify, you must be signed up for MPR, so go on and register!

==STATES 2008 WRAP-UP==

States is over, and it was intense! We had 134 players total, just barely enough for eight rounds. Players from all over New York showed up to compete for prizes and receive the coveted Dauntless Dourbark promo (not a single copy of which made it into any of the 134 decklists present, oddly enough). The competition was fierce, and the metagame wasn't quite so diverse, but many of our hometown heroes perservered despite the intense competition.

Michael Evans went 6-2, just edging out of the top 8 in eleventh place. Evans was playing an Elf deck very similar to this one, which won Gamingetc's $3,000 tournament last month. There were a few tweaks to the deck, notably the presence of only one copy of Twilight Mire... simply because he couldn't find another one in time. His only loses were to a Faerie deck in an early round, a hard but not unwinnable matchup, and a seventh round loss to a 5-Color Control deck that was specifically tuned to beat aggro decks. The only other Elf deck I saw with a similar build wound up in 113th place, so it was either the missing Twilight Mires or Evans's play skill that propelled him to the top 16... and I'll leave jokes about which one it was up to the professionals.

Rogue decks at States were few and far between, a stark contrast to past State Championships, though I'm not sure of the reason for the change. I saw only one "Fellowship of the Rings" decks (the sixteen Planeswalker list), one tuned up Naya theme deck, and a mono-white Light from Within deck, and Omar Khater's Worm Harvest deck, among the handful of rogue decks in attendance. The star rogue deck of the show was Matt Brocking's Sanity Grinding deck, which FNCers know from his astounding record with the deck at Saturday events. Matt used Sanity Grinding combined with a deck full of five-mana Spirit Avatars, Memory Plunders, Cryptic Commands, and Oona to maximize his chance to grind his opponent's deck for huge numbers. In one late round, I walked by just in time to see him mill for 38, hitting two Godhead of Awes, a Ghastlord of Fugue, Avatar of Fealty, Overbeing of Myth, Memory Plunder, Oona, and two other Sanity Grindings, with a single Island as his only miss. Matt finished in 36th place overall with this list:

GRIND U

4 Dominus of Fealty
4 Ghastlord of Fugue
4 Godhead of Awe
1 Oona, Queen of the Fae
4 Overbeing of Myth
4 Boomerang
4 Cryptic Command
3 Evacuation
4 Sanity Grinding
2 Twincast
3 Jace Beleren
19 Island
4 Shelldock Isle

Sideboard:
4 Plumeveil
2 Vendilion Clique
1 Evacuation
3 Memory Plunder
4 Negate
1 Twincast

Another rogue deck that did fairly well was Mike Flores's RGB Ramp deck featuring cards like Farhaven Elf, Primal Command, and Broodmate Dragon. None of those cards see much play in the competitive tournament scene, but Flores brought back to old mana ramp deck that was thought to be dead after the rotation of Time Spiral block and Coldsnap. I didn't get a close look at the deck, but it's sure to be a popular archetype in the next few weeks. He finished in 14th place with a 6-2 record.

I hadn't been to the new Neutral Ground in months; previous Gray Matter events had been in held in the backup location, Fight House, while Neutral Ground underwent renovation. There were more lights in the bigger end of the room, more tables, and most importantly of all, air conditioning! I'm sure everyone is very thankful for that last one.

The top 8 was definitely not diverse at all: Three Faerie decks, two Kithkin, two 5-Color, and one fringe-y Mono-Red deck splashing black for Blightning. New York is a very competitive area and many players tend to play proven builds - not a bad thing, but it makes for a fairly boring top 8. I didn't stick around to see who won, anticipating the long train ride home after an exhausting, but fun day of judging.

I managed to snag the final standings as the top 8 was starting, so here's how some of our dear readers did at States (apologies to anyone I might have glanced over):

11th - Michael Evans
27th - Jim Chianese
36th - Matt Brocking
37th - Michael Lapine
58th - Anthony James
59th - Tanner Nowicki
85th - Omar Khater
92nd - Robert Towers
98th - Lee Cruceta
102nd - J.R. Tolentino
114th - Chris Neilsen
122th - Mr. Wiggles
126th - Lisa Mercogliano

Congradulations to everyone who came out and competed in the 2008 State Championships!

==CRANIAL INSERTION==
Author: Brian Paskoff

New Cranial Insertion from me on Monday! I know it's earlier than I said, but the schedule got switched around a bit. So luckily enough, I get the first post-States article (the one two days after States was written before States took place), so it'll include all your questions from Saturday!

==RULES CORNER==
Author: Brian Paskoff

Q. My opponent has a Gaddock Teeg and a Reveillark in play. If I I wrath the board, can he bring Teeg back?
A. Yes! ...But Teeg's in play, so you couldn't play Wrath of God to begin with. This is one of those things where a judge might answer differently at Regular REL than he would at Competitive or Professional RELs. It's very dangerous for a judge to answer questions that aren't directly asked; in this case, the question was "Can Reveillark bring Teeg back with its trigger if both die at the same time?", not "Can I play Wrath of God with Teeg in play?" At a Regular REL tournament like FNM however, a judge might (but doesn't have to) feel inclined to steer the player away from making an illegal play.

==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 - 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

==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

==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 #36

==ISLANDHOME #36==

November 5th 2008

==IN THIS ISSUE...==

Local News: News about FNC and Brothers Grim you need to know!
Cranial Insertion
PT Berlin Results

==THIS WEEK'S SCHEDULE==

Saturday: State Championships at Neutral Ground, Registration @ 9 AM
Sunday: Booster Draft at Brothers Grim @ 2 PM

I'll be judging States this Saturday, and everyone should be there!

==LOCAL NEWS==
Author: Brian Paskoff

Here's a bunch of information tidbits about FNC and Grim:

Well the new FNC is open, and twenty combatants came to FNC on opening day to duel among the towers of comic book boxes and sealed boxes of Bella Sara cards for the chance at winning some major packs - an entire box was given out for the twelve player sealed tournament, while even more packs were given out for the eight-man single-elimination unsanctioned Standard event! The new store is a much further ride for me (*grumble*), but much bigger. We pretty much have the entire size of the old store, sans-walls, to play in. And even though we'll miss the ices place, there are many other food locations around the new FNC, including a full-fledged deli next door and a nearby bar for all our over-21 readers. I won't be there this Saturday thanks to States, but I was happy that I could be there for the grand opening. Thanks to everyone who came out to see the new store!

FNC will be holding a Timetwister tournament sometime in the near future, so watch for details about that!

Brothers Grim is holding a Mox tournament, with the grand prize being a Mox Emerald. I'm not quite sure of the date yet, but it looks like December 20th or 21st are the best days - let me know which one works for you! The format will be Standard, and of course there will be other side events (EDH anyone?). More details will more than likely be in the next issue of Islandhome, so mark your calendars for next Wednesday!

I'm currently working hard to figure out some fun alternative Magic format events to try out on Sundays, and they'll be announced soon. If anyone has any ideas on alternative formats or fun tournaments, feel free to suggest some! Specifically, I'm looking to start cube drafts (using a different cube each time) as well as bringing Chaos Drafts back to Brothers Grim.

==CRANIAL INSERTION==
Author: Brian Paskoff

As everyone knows (or is just finding out if this is your first time getting Islandhome), my first Cranial Insertion article on mtgsalvation.com came out on Monday! Go read it if you haven't - there's twenty two shiny rules questions, including some good information for future reference. The more you know about the rules, the better plays you can make! Unless you're a judge, in which case your play skill is actually inversely proportional to the amount of rules knowledge you have.

==PT BERLIN RESULTS==
Author: Brian Paskoff

Even though we're still in Shards limited season, it's kind of hard to test for a format where your decks are completely unknown before you go in. So, everyone's gearing up for the next big constructed season, and that's Extended season starting in January. With the rotating out of Invasion and Odyssey blocks and Seventh Edition, players were struggling to figure out what to do with the loss of so many cards. Practically every deck got shaken up, with some archetypes disappearing altogether. Pro Tour Berlin was the first major Extended tournament post-rotation, and everyone was looking forward to it, eager to see what the Pros would come up with.

The biggest surprise from the PT was the astounding results of "Elf Ball" decks. Heritage Druid, Birchlore Rangers, Glimpse of Nature, and Nettle Sentinel provide the mana acceleration and card drawing engine necessary to either play a bunch of green spells and fire off a lethal Grapeshot, or massive Predator Dragon, or even the random Brain Freeze. Strangely, this seems to be a twist on a casual Standard deck that didn't make much of a splash in that format. The bulk of the deck is made up of Standard legal cards, the biggest missing pieces being Chord of Calling and Glimpse of Nature. A grand total of six out of the top 8 decks were the Elf-Ball archetype, a staggering number only rivaled by Faeries back at the peak of its popularity. Pro Tour top 8s are usually very diverse, but this deck took the field by storm.

Although Elves made a strong showing in the final tables, the most popular deck of the Pro Tour was Zoo. This wasn't a big surprise to any Magic player who had even a small amount of tournament knowledge, as the lure of Wild Nacatl was too strong for over 25% of the Pros to resist. With Zoo able to play a 2/3 or a 2/2 (that becomes a 3/3 next turn) on turn one, Zoo set the bar for fast aggro decks extremely high. Ethersworn Canonist was another useful card that found its way into many Zoo decks' sideboards, being an excellent storm-combo killer as well as a decent body. Still going with the 2/2s for 2, many builds ran Tidehollow Sculler to limit their opponents' options. One of the biggest things Zoo lost after the rotation was Vindicate, but that was easily replaced by a slightly-less-universal answer: Oblivion Ring. However, Zoo decks were little match for the Elves decks which could win as quickly as turn three, and despite the huge amount of decks at the PT, none of them made it to the top 8.

There's lots of buzz about Elves, but the breakout hit of the Pro Tour was a little deck called "Tezzerator", named for the planeswalker who is the centerpoint of the deck (and I'll let you guess who that is!). The main part of the deck bears some similarity to the Wizard decks of last Extended season. In fact, every creature in the deck is a Wizard: Vendillion Clique to either filter unwanted cards or check out an opponent's hand, Venser for bounce and Riptide Laboratory shennanigans, and Trinket Mage to fetch out Engineered Explosives, Chalice of the Void, Aether and Pyrite Spellbombs, Pithing Needle, Tormod's Crypt, etc. And if Trinket Mage wasn't enough search power, Tezzeret himself can fetch out bigger artifacts such as Vedalken Shackles, Trinisphere, and Ensnaring Bridge.

Faeries made the top 8, though I think it's just because it legally has to make an appearance in the top 8 of every tournament at this point no matter what the format. Extended Faeries has the benefit of having access to all the toys Standard Faeries no longer has, like Ancestral Visions and good two-mana counterspells (and then some!). Umezawa's Jitte replaces Loxodon Warhammer, and lets it pick off pesky Elves, while Riptide Laboratory can do some very mean things with Mistbind Clique and/or Spellstutter Sprite.

To be honest, the lack of Affinity at the PT surprised me, as well as many other people. In the weeks leading up to and immediately after the rotation, there were many players groaning about how Affinity was going to be the dominant deck of the format, since every single one of its core cards was still legal, and it could be backed up by Alara's Master of Etherium. It was widely speculated that Hurkyl's Recall was reprinted in Tenth Edition was a direct attempt by Wizards to give players a fighting chance against the deck. But, Affinity's numbers at the PT were extremely small, perhaps due to the fact that would-be Affinity players were anticipating lots of anti-Affinity sideboard tech. And there were plenty of Katakis, Shattering Sprees, and Ancient Grudges in sideboards.

We still have two months before Extended season, so there's plenty of time for the metagame to change. After a strong finish at a big event, decks tend to get "hated out". With many players anticipating playing many carbon copies of those decks, they'll add things to their sideboards to deal with those archetypes. Expect to see some major changes in these decks by January!

==RULES CORNER==
Author: Brian Paskoff

Q. If I see a player making an illegal play, do I have to report it?
A. It's not just judges who have a responsibility to make sure tournaments run smoothly and fairly - it's also up to you the players to make sure this happens! If you see a player making an illegal play, whether it's playing a spell for the wrong mana or forgetting a trigger, it's your obligation to tell a judge. Don't interrupt the match though, that's Outside Assistance; just quietly find the nearest judge and tell them what you saw.

==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!

November 8th - State Champs
States makes a return on November 8th, with a massive Standard tournament in each state! New York's will be at Neutral Ground, as usual. Everyone who enters gets a free foil Dauntless Dourbark, and each player who makes top 8 gets Shards product, a playmat, and the winner gets a plaque and free entry to Gray Matter constructed events for an entire year!

December - 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

==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

==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 #35

==ISLANDHOME #35==

October 29th 2008

==IN THIS ISSUE...==

FNC Grand Opening
Cranial Insertion
States '08 Metagame Breakdown

==THIS WEEK'S SCHEDULE==

Friday: Spooooooky Halloween FNM Booster Draft at Brothers Grim ($13 entry) @ 7 PM
Saturday: FNC Grand Opening Sealed Deck ($30 entry) at FNC @ 1 PM
Sunday: Booster Draft at Brothers Grim @ 2 PM

==FNC GRAND OPENING==
Author: Brian Paskoff

FNC is dead! Long live FNC! Sorry.

FNC is reopening its doors at a new location: 19 Udall Road, West Islip. We're going to have a lot more space to play in now, so no one will need to play on counters, and the "bigger boned" players won't need to squeeze in to find places to play. To celebrate the new digs, we're having a FNC Grand Opening Sealed Deck Tournament this weekend! Entry fee is $30, and of course there will be fabulous prizes and stuff to go with it, like a full box of Shards of Alara and a bunch of foils (including Figure of Destiny and Ajani Vengeant promos!) so come and check out the new location!

==CRANIAL INSERTION==
Author: Brian Paskoff

Big announcement! Monday, November 3rd will be my first article for MTGSalvation.com's Cranial Insertion, their weekly rules article. I'll be one of the official writers for it, which means I'll have a new article up there about every three weeks. I'm honored to have gotten selected among all the other candidates who applied, because Cranial Insertion was one of the things that helped me immensely on my way to becoming a judge. Before I took the judge test, I read CI every week, and back-articles as far back as I could. I even contacted Eli Shiffrin, one of the writers and editors of CI, who's become one of my best friends and judge mentors. And now I get to be part of that team! If you're looking to become a judge, or just polish up your rules knowledge, there's few resources out there as good as Cranial Insertion.

Don't worry though, I'll still be bringing you Islandhome every Wednesday as usual! In addition to the questions I get in the CI Mailbag, I'll also be answering the questions YOU send me in my articles, so send them in!

I'd like to thank both Dr. Tom and Urchin, writers of CI who are stepping down for various personal reasons, for writing over the years.

==STATES '08 METAGAME BREAKDOWN==
Author: Brian Paskoff

Next Tuesday is the election, and next Saturday is States. Even if you're not old enough to vote, you can still do your patriotic duty by playing in the 2008 State Championships! It's Standard, a format most if not all of you are familiar with... but States will have some tougher competition than your local tournaments - not because people at FNC, Grim, etc. aren't competitive players, but because there's a wider range of players, decks, and a more competitive atmosphere. I've got some tips to make things go smoother for you. Not just play tips, but tournament tips in general from someone like myself who gets to see the grand-plan of things players don't get to see.

Be very, very careful about foils. Foils have a tendency to warp for any number of reasons: humidity, left out of a sleeve too long, left in a sleeve too long, because you looked at them funny, etc. You can play with foils of course, but I'd advise against it if you have only certain cards foiled. For example, if all your basic lands are foil and no other cards are, this is a problem. If you only have your Cryptic Commands foil, it's a problem too. A good way to test your foils is to shuffle your deck and look at it from all angles. Cut your deck a few times and see if you can cut to your foils; even "most of the time" is bad. This will be an issue with promo Figure of Destinies. Players are frantically searching for non-foil Figures to use in their Standard decks just for this reason.

States will use decklists, and it's been a while since I've talked about those. We judges use decklists at tournaments to make sure everyone's playing a legal deck. Sixty or more cards and a fifteen or zero card sideboard, all of those cards Standard-legal. When you're filling out your decklist, make sure you count the final list at least twice; have a friend verify it if you want. If you make a mistake and leave a card out, it's a game loss - and since we're checking lists during round one, you'll get that game loss at the start of round two. Not good, no matter how you did in round one. Be careful of confusing names on your lists too. There's some leeway on ambiguous card names, but if we can't make a reasonable guess, it's going to make us hunt you down for it. Back in Time Spiral days there were a lot of these problems, like the two Akromas, but there aren't many in current Standard. Still, when in doubt, write the full name of the card! Decklists aren't that scary though, under 5% of decklists come up with a problem.

Now for talking about the actual metagame and not just the meta-metagame! Decklists from tournaments all over are coming in, and it's becoming apparent that the metagame is diverse. The decks that seem to be making top 8s are: 5C Control, Faeries, Kithkin, Mono-Red, 5C Merfolk, Reveillark, Doran, and Elves. That's more or less in tier order, with the most popular and better-performing decks at the start there and the lower tiers towards the end, though not necessarily totally in that order.

5-Color control, i.e. the deck formerly known as "Quick n' Toast" or just "Toast" is by and large the most popular deck right now. Prices of Reflecting Pools and Cryptic Commands are sky-high right now, and will probably stay that way until after States. The deck doesn't need much of an introduction at this point. It sets up in the early game, stabilizes with mass and spot removal, and turns the tide with Cruel Ultimatum and a horde off efficient creatures like Mulldrifter and Kitchen Finks. Expect to play against this a lot at States, where there's a lot of players who can afford the expensive deck. Its main weakness is that it takes a few turns to set up, and because it wins most games by taking a beating and then recovering, it'll stay down if you can beat it in the early-game.

Faeries has replaced Rune Snag and Ancestral Visions with Broken Ambitions and Thoughtseize, and now uses Agony Warp in place of Nameless Inversion. Besides that, it's mostly the same deck as it used to be, sometimes sporting a Loxodon Warhammer, a trick that hasn't been tried since the early days of Faeries. (On a judge-ly note, watch out for players trying to equip their Faeries with a Scion of Oona in play!) Some even use Jace to get better card draw in a pseudo-Phyrexian Arena style. It's still heavily reliant on a turn two Bitterblossom, and still gets overran by a good Kithkin or RDW hand.

Kithkin has made a couple of adjustments to the 5C-dominated metagame. There's less reliance on Mirrorweave and more on global effects like Glorious Anthem, which can combine with Wizened Cenn or another Anthem to put most of the creatures in the deck out of Firespout range, a very important card for the deck to avoid. It still doesn't stop Wrath, but there's not much to be done about that except Reveillark or the old tactic of not over-extending.

Mono-Red or RDW (Red Deck Wins) is the oldest archetype in the game, and doesn't disappoint. Flame Javelin, Incinerate, Lash Out, Figure of Destiny, Boggart Ram-Gang, Demigod of Revenge (let the trigger resolve!) and every other red spell you'd expect is in the deck. Magus of the Moon would make the deck obscenely powerful in the current Reflecting Pool format, but unfortunately without that the deck needs a fast start to beat the overwhelming control decks.

5-Color Merfolk is a relatively new deck, and even though it's not tier 1, it's a strong deck. Even though it's a Merfolk deck in name, while not every creature in it is a Merfolk, every creature is a Wizard. Stonybrook Banneret makes Sage's Dousing a better Mana Leak, makes Nameless Inversion cheaper, and enables a turn three Chameleon Colossus, which is probably the best Merfolk ever printed. Of course, the obligatory playsets of Reflecting Pool and Cryptic Commands makes it one of the more expensive decks in the format, and it has similar trouble against Kithkin and RDW as Faeries does.

Reveillark is a hard deck to play in this format, because relying on five-mana creatures in decks that aren't already putting pressure on the board is hard to do. There's no Momentary Blink or possibility of an infinite combo anymore, so it's partially a reanimator deck now, using creatures such as Tidehollow Sculler, Sower of Temptation, Mulldrifter, and Glen-Elendra Archmage, getting them back via Reveillark or Makeshift Mannequin.

Then there's Doran and Elves, which are basically sprung from the same archetype, Rock. Both decks rely on quick beats backed up by hand disruption like Thoughtseize and/or Tidehollow Sculler in Doran's case. Both decks can put a big threat out on turn two: Either Doran or Wren's Run Vanquisher, and can recover in the late-game with Profane Command. These two decks probably changed the least after the last rotation.

And of course you could always go rogue. States is the tournament many players come to test out their custom creations, such as the Sanity Grinding deck Matt Brocking played last week using all the five-mana blue Avatars from Shadowmoor/Eventide and other blue-heavy spells to make sure he usually hit for over thirty cards with Sanity Grinding.

In closing, if you want to see what you'll be up against next Saturday, take a look at the top 8 decklists from Neutral Ground's anniversary tournament. The decks there are probably going to be the same ones you'll see from most of the players there, almost card for card.

==RULES CORNER==
Author: Brian Paskoff

Q. At our FNM, the draft lands are kindly provided by the store, but some of them are in bad shape from being used so much and being so old. Can I still use them, or do I have to buy sleeves?
A. If your lands are marked, you're going to have to either find lands that aren't marked, or use sleeves. It's nice to share lands, but any card that gets shuffled and played with a lot will be noticeably more worn than the fresh new cards from the packs you just opened. You get a few new fresh lands in the packs in Shards of Alara, but on average you'll only get three - not enough to build a 40-card deck with. Single packs of fifty sleeves are cheap, and will last you many drafts if you're good to them.

Q. My friend was looking at my trade binder the other day for Figure of Destinies, but he didn't want my promo ones because he said he wouldn't be able to use them at States. Is he right?
A. Well, sort of. If all the copies of Figure of Destiny in his deck were foil and nothing else was, that'd be a problem. Foils tend to warp and bend differently than non-foil cards, no matter how careful you are or what kind of sleeves they're in. If you can shuffle a deck and cut to the Figures even "most of the time", that's Marked Cards - Pattern, an automatic Game Loss. It always comes down to the head judge's discretion if he or she determines your cards are marked, but chances are if you suspect they are, then they are. BUT, avoiding foils altogether is a drastic measure! You can avoid Marked Cards penalties by making sure you have a decent distribution of foil and non-foil cards so that when you shuffle, you don't always cut to a foil, and keeping your cards in sleeves when you're not using them - they won't warp noticeably unless they're left out too long. To calm your worries even more, practically everyone has foil promo Figures at tournaments, and 99.5% of them aren't in danger of getting a Game Loss.

==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!

November 8th - State Champs
States makes a return on November 8th, with a massive Standard tournament in each state! New York's will be at Neutral Ground, as usual. Everyone who enters gets a free foil Dauntless Dourbark, and each player who makes top 8 gets Shards product, a playmat, and the winner gets a plaque and free entry to Gray Matter constructed events for an entire year!

December - 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

==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

==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 #34

==ISLANDHOME #34==

October 22nd 2008

==IN THIS ISSUE...==

FNC is Moving!
States '08
The Future of Magic
Madonia Minute

==THIS WEEK'S SCHEDULE==

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

==FNC IS MOVING!==
Author: Brian Paskoff

Friendly Neighborhood Comics will be moving to West Islip on November 1st, and to say goodbye to FNC's original location, we're having a huge tournament this weekend. Come down, play for big prizes, and join us in the last tournament at FNC Islip! (As John Madonia IMs me five thousand times a day, "fnc u!")

I'll miss the little store I helped build up over the last two years, from a little store with a half dozen players with 86 card "green decks" to a thriving store with Grand-Prix-top-8 level decks piloted by skilled players, the same ones who two years ago were playing Blaze in their red decks. I don't mean to sound like I'm taking credit for the drastically improved skill level of players (watching me play, you'd think I'd have players still playing giant mono-colored decks) - I'm proud of everyone's effort to be the best player they can be, and this goes for every Islandhome reader. It seems like every once in a while, some new player comes to FNC with a "Pro" deck because they heard FNC was a "kid's store", only to get smashed into the losers' bracket by the skill of the "kids" they thought they were sure to beat.

Hopefully this tradition continues at the new FNC, where the bigger venue and location on a main road will attract many more players. FNC has a casual atmosphere with lots of friendly competition and nice players, and I hope to see everyone there on opening day!

==STATES '08==
Author: Brian Paskoff

In just over two weeks, as we find out who the next President of the United States is (Tarmogoyf '08!), Magic players all over the country will be participating in their state's State Championships! After cancelling one of the most popular annual tournaments, Wizards has caved in to popular demand and has brought back States. A casual-competitive level event, States appeals to everyone, and the fact that there's no Pro Tour invite or large cash prize on the line makes it a much friendlier playing environment than a PTQ.

Entry fee is only $25, and everyone who plays gets a free foil Dauntless Dourbark. I know - not the most exciting card in the world, but it's a collector's item that you can't get anywhere else. In previous years, pre-cancellation and resurrection, Wizards printed a special full-frame chase rare for everyone who placed in the top 8. Because they didn't have time to print a new card after reanimating the State Champs program or some other reason, there's no top 8 promo this time around. Instead, everyone who makes it to the top 8 table gets a Predator Dragon playmat that's sure to raise a hefty price on eBay. The winner of it all though gets a new prize: free entry to all Gray Matter constructed events for an entire year! That's right - you can play in every Gray Matter constructed PTQ for free, with nothing at stake other than your rating and pride!

John Madonia has some ravings about the Standard metagame in his column, but I'll offer some of my limited expertise on constructed right now. I'll go out and say that five-color control decks will be by far the most popular choice, probably rivaling Faeries's showing at some large Standard tournaments pre-Shards rotation. With the best mana fixing ever in Standard (besides Reflecting Pool + City of Brass), Toast decks can play any card they want. The major weakness of the deck is that it relies on big spells, like that oh-so-trendy Cruel Ultimatum. Thanks to lots of mass and spot removal, as well as life gain, Toast can swing back around after being battered down in the early game.

A small percentage of the field will be packing anti-five-color decks. Toast has trouble wth quicker decks that pack counterspells of their own, such as Faeries. That archetype seemed to be dead after it lost Ancestral Visions and Rune Snag, but its good matchup against Toast even without its most powerful spells might give it renewed life... at least until Toast loses popularity.

I'll have more Standard metagame review next week's article, as I expect the majority of the decklists from States to come straight out of this weekend's StarCityGames $5000 tournament this weekend.

==THE FUTURE OF MAGIC==
Author: Brian Paskoff

Welcome to the world of tomorrow! Well, not just yet. It's going to be about three months before we even get a look at a new Magic card, so get used to Shards of Alara. On Monday, Wizards released the official name of the third set in the Alara block: Alara Reborn [ARB]. According to the little bit of information given about it in the press release, Alara Reborn is going to be all about the five Shards coming together to become one world again. As anyone who's remotely interested in the fluff behind the game is aware, Alara block's storyline is about the post-post-apocalyptic plane of Alara after it was torn apart into five different worlds by something called "The Sundering". Conflux, apparently, is all about the five Shards starting to rejoin, as seen in the promotional art on the back of some token/tips cards. That art seems to show Progenitus, the giant hydra god sleeping beneath Naya (see Relic of Progenitus and Keeper of Progenitus), invading Bant and about to enjoy a nice angel food cake.

So what does all this nerdy storyline talk have to do with the game itself? Well, for one thing, it gives us some clues about the theme of the next two sets. Conflux is widely believed to be the "enemy shard" set, just as Eventide mirrored Shadowmoor by switching from allied color pairs to enemy color pairs. Blending the lines between the shards would be a good mechanical way to show the reformation of Alara, and even better, gives us some new colors to work with, such as BGW - Doran colors! However, it'd present some difficulty with limited. Players have already learned that there are two ways to draft Shards of Alara: either stick rigidly within a particular shard, or go four colors with enough mana fixing to make it worthwhile. Introducing enemy shards in the third pack would make it hard for the first option to work, especially if there were the same ratio of good tri-color cards to non-tri-color cards as in Shards. You'd be forced to go at least four colors, or ignore the tri-color stuff entirely.

On the bright side, there are hints of strong "all color" mana fixing in Conflux. Out of the leaked card names, two stand out as possible mana fixers. There's Obelisk of Alara, which if it follows the theme of Shards of Alara's Obelisks, will be a mana fixer. And the generic name tells us it has something to do with adding mana of any color. Then there's Mana Cylix, a one mana artifact reprinted from Planeshift that lets you tap it to filter any color mana into another color. Shards purposely avoided mana fixers that added mana of any color to your mana pool, but with Conflux having at least one such fixer confirmed, you shouldn't be too afraid of being mana screwed in a four or five color deck.

As for Alara Reborn, it's anyone's guess as to what they're going to do with the colors. Will it mix and match color triads from all over the back of the Magic card? Be a four-color or even five-color set? Or do a total 180 and be a strictly old-school-Magic feel set with no multicolored cards whatsoever? The possibilities are wide open, and we'll have to wait until at least late March to find out what Wizards has in store for us, because the set itself will be released April 30th.

After Alara block is all done with, the block code-named Live, Long, and Prosper kicks off with Live, sometime in the fall of 2009, which will give Lorwyn, Morningtide, Shadowmoor, and Eventide the boot out of Standard. But before that, probably in June or July if history is any indication, 11th Edition will be released. 11th Edition will be the smallest core set in Magic's modern history, with only about 229 cards (the final number has yet to be released). 11th Edition may or may not have black borders like 10th; that too has yet to be determined. But the most excitement over 11th Edition comes from speculation over what rare lands will be in the set. The dual lands in core sets are perhaps the most important cards they add to Standard. For a long while now, we've relied on the classic painlands - well, not so much anymore with Vivid lands, Reflecting Pools, and Shadowmoor/Eventide filter lands allowing all five colors of mana to be produced by turn two - but there is a lot of hope that 11th Edition will reprint the shocklands from Ravnica block.

Personally, as someone who played back then (and without the sizeable collection I have now), I'm not looking too much forward to a possible future containing the shocklands as the defacto land in Standard. Standard decks in the Kamigawa/Ravnica and Ravnica/Time Spiral days could cost hundreds of dollars on the manabase alone, with every deck featuring multiple shocklands - some of which cost over twenty dollars! On the other hand, in a much smaller set, shocklands would be easier to obtain than they were back then... but I'd still expect the most popular shocklands to breach the $20 barrier, at least at first.

Whatever new things Magic brings to the table (literally) in the next few years, the game will stay as fun as it's always been. New sets are always exciting, and you'll be cracking packs of Live before you know it!

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

I sit amongst the 10,000 or so Big Gulp cups that surround by twin bed as I write to you this October. An autumn night with leaves falling slowly and a brisk wind forcing a light sweatshirt to be worn as a trip to the drug store awaits. I peer out my window and notice a young specimen maybe 19 or 20 years of age, female, jogging to her hearts content as my hearts races yearning to speak to her. She passes by my home each evening around 8:00pm usually in a swift manner with her blond hair waving along as she shirt slowly moves around as each passing step my heart palpitates and hungers for one opportunity to be great and have that courage to go over to her and tell her that she's the most interesting person I've ever met and that I promise not to call her 24/7 and call her self-absorbed. And yet I sit here, yet again with my heart buried in my hands wanting to reach out, but I cannot handle the possible rejection that has hindered my fourfathers (spelled this way on purpose) I cannot bear to hear the words im not going to date you, I will instead continue to play Diablo 2 and wear pleather jackets and one day find that special one that will allow me to take me to a place many men know well, the sushi date 08.

The preceeding paragraph has little to do about Magic but it had sentimental value and needed to be addressed.

Reveillark has been one of my favorite non-blue cards printed in recent memory. The first decks packing this card were built around infinite damage and infinite life-gain. Even the best of players had difficulty piloting this deck and with a near unwinnable game against Faeries, so it feel by the wayside. At the end of the Time Spiral Standard season, the deck made its return as a tempo-based control deck winning various Grand Prix.

I decided to try and look at some cards that could fit well in a Reveillark themed deck. I looked at the current metagame as Five Color (5c), Faeries, Kithkin, Elves, Merfolk and Red based variants. I feel at an average States event that a solid 25-30 percent of the field would be piloting 5C. You need to be able to have a strong matchup against the deck if you have any shot at doing anything this season. The only problem is it's near impossible to fight their spells, as they can play any card in the format. Some of their lists play Cruel Ultimatimum, some have Negate to counteract them. Your best plan at the moment is to fight their mana-base. Although we don't have Magus of the Moon at our disposal, we do have various spells to keep their game in check.

I started building with the core cards:
4x Reveillark
4x Mulldrifter
4x Cryptic Command

Most decks pack these cards in 4-ofs. Mulldrifter is a key creature and reanimator target. Of course any control deck has to pack Cryptic Command.

Utility Creatures:
4x Tidehollow Sculler
4x Fulminator Mage

Anyone that used Mesmeric Fiend knows how good this type of card is. It's Thoughtseize 5-8 in the early game and forces your opponent to waste spot removal on a Grizzly Bear. It's usually never a dead draw, as it's at worst a 2/2 and it also gives information, which when your opponent has card(s) in his hand can be crucial for decision making.

Fulminator Mage plays a similar role to Stone Rain in the old Magnivore style deck. It can severely hurt 5c mana and taking out a stray Mutavault or Windbrisk Heights.

So we have 20 cards, 16 creatures. Other utility cards are crucial to our gameplan. I attempted each Charm with limited successes, except for Esper Charm and Bant Charm. I decided on 3 Esper Charm and 2 Bant Charm as I feel the early Bitterblossom pressure is too important to ignore. Bant Charm is for the the stray Collosus or Demigod that slips through your removal package.

So to update
4x Tidehollow Sculler
4x Mulldrifter
4x Reveliark
4x Cryptic Command
4x Fulminator Mage
3x Esper Charm
2x Bant Charm

We tried Bitterblossom for a short time, but it counteracted everything I wanted to do with my deck. I felt that although my three-to-five drop slots are consistently powerful I need spells on the beginning of my curve. I looked at a utility card like Unsummon and Boomerang which in theory would allow tempo and great opening. Boomerang never seemed like a dead card was especially damaging early. So I decided on 4.

4x Boomerang
3x Thoughtseize

I feel any control deck I play needs to have either Cryptic Command or Thoughtseize main deck. I feel that any advanced knowledges helps me prepare much stronger, like which spell to Rune Snag or Mana Leak, and which spell warrants a game breaking spell.

3x Makeshift Mannequin

This inclusion is more or less an obvious include.

Mana
4x Reflecting Pool
2x Mystic Gate
2x Sunken Ruins
2x Vivid Meadow
2x Vivid Creek
2x Vivid Marsh
3x Fetid Heath
1x Arcane Sanctum
1x Island
1x Swamp
1x Plains
1x Underground River
1x Adarkar Wastes
1x Caves of Kolios

I usually don't have mana issues, so I usually use my normal formula to tabulate the mana correctly.

Sideboard choices

3x Ajani Vegenant
This card is a pseudo Tangle Wire and Lightning Helix foiled into 1.

4x Kitchen Finks- I feel that I have enough early tempo to disrupt the control decks and to an extent Kithkin decks. This helps the mono red matchup immensely.

3x Wrath of God - For the Kithkin matchup. If the deck becomes overwhelming for our deck then utilizing these maindeck would come to the forefront.

3x Negate - Countering a Cruel Ultimatum for two mana sounds really good, also forcing an early Spectral Procession to not resolve can work wonders for you.

2x Hallowed Burial - Also helps our Kithkin matchup, good tech for the mirror as well.

If Paskoff allows me to make the deck this week, I might play it at the last FNC event in history.

Appreciate the time,

John Madonia

P.S

Here are the players that are on the inside track to making the Madonia Invitational Top 8

David Drebsky
Nestor Nestor
Joe Aprano
Mike Bauer
Dan Gould
Mike Evans
Mike Innace
Lee Cruceta
Dylan Duprez
Jim Chianese
John Lorig

Top 8 will be announced next week!

==RULES CORNER==
Author: Brian Paskoff

Q. Can I make a Cryptic Command counter itself with Swerve?
A. Technically, no... although Swerve can be used to counter a counterspell. Spells on the stack can't target themselves, it's put that plainly in the rules. However, you can target the Cryptic Command with Swerve, and as Swerve resolves, change Cryptic Command's target to Swerve itself! Swerve is still a legal target, since it's still on the stack while it's resolving. Swerve will finish up, and Cryptic Command will still be pointed at it. But when it tries to resolve, it'll find that its new target is illegal and Cryptic Command will be countered. There's one sticky little caveat here though - if Cryptic Command has two targets, it's not a legal target for Swerve, which needs a target spell with a single target. Cryptic's "tap all creatures your opponents control" and "draw a card" modes don't target, but "counter target spell" and "return target permanent to its owner's hand" modes do, so as long as Cryptic Command has one and only one of those targeted modes chosen, it's a legal target for Swerve.

Q. If I Twincast a Torrent of Souls that had both red and black paid to play it, do I get to return a creature and give all my dudes +2/+0 too?
A. If black was paid to play Torrent of Souls, you get to Zombify a creature, and if red was paid, your guys get +2/+0 and haste. But nothing was paid to play the copy of Torrent of Souls, so it'll just be a priority speedbump on the stack, doing absolutely nothing when it resolves. You pick a target before you actually pay for the spell though, so you can bluff your opponent by picking a target for the copy and hope they fall for it by countering it. Of course, that won't work on anyone who's read this article!

Q. I have a Runed Halo out naming Wren's Run Vanquisher, and an Empyrial Angel in play. If I don't block my opponent's attacking Wren's Run Vanquisher, does my Empyrial Angel die?
A. It depends - do you want it to? There are two replacement effects both tugging at the damage about to be dealt to you: Runed Halo is set to prevent the damage, and your Angel wants to take the damage for you. Since you're the affected player, you get to choose which replacement effect (well technically protection's effect is a prevention effect, but same difference) happens first. If you let Runed Halo prevent the damage first, Empyrial Angel will have no damage to soak up and deathtouch won't trigger. If you let Empyrial Angel take the hit, the Vanquisher's deathtouch ability will trigger, destroying the big bad mythic rare.

==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!

November 8th - State Champs
States makes a return on November 8th, with a massive Standard tournament in each state! New York's will be at Neutral Ground, as usual. Everyone who enters gets a free foil Dauntless Dourbark, and each player who makes top 8 gets Shards product, a playmat, and the winner gets a plaque and free entry to Gray Matter constructed events for an entire year!

December - 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:

10/26 - Rochester, NY
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
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