Islandhome

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Islandhome #28

==ISLANDHOME #28==

September 10th 2008

==IN THIS ISSUE...==

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

==THIS WEEK'S SCHEDULE==

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Dear Magic tournament player,

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

Most retail stores are only allowed to run one tournament of 24 players maximum. Once the 24 limit is reached, nobody else can play. Many players will show up at retail stores expecting to play and will be turned away. Gray Matter Conventions is allowed to order product for hundreds of players at each of our Shards of Alara event sites.
The special mythic rare foil card for Shards of Alara is expected to be very popular. Most retail stores are only getting 24 foils. Gray Matter Conventions will be getting hundreds of foils of Ajani Vengeant.
Retail stores are NOT allowed to run team events at all. Gray Matter Conventions will be running either 2-Headed Giant or Trios events at all of our Shards of Alara events.
Most retail stores will not have certified judges at their events. Gray Matter Conventions will have certified judges at all of our events. Most of our certified judges have judged, on average, over 100 events.
Most retail stores will not have dealers on site who buy and sell cards. Gray Matter Conventions will have multiple dealers at most of our sites which provide you a bigger marketplace for buying and selling.
Gray Matter Conventions has been running pre-release events for more than 10 years. We know how to run large, well-run, fun events. Come join us Saturday, September 27th and Sunday, September 28th for the Shards of Alara pre-release.

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

==CUBING==
Author: Brian Paskoff

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rd 1 the veteran Joe

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

Rd 2 Mike Evans

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

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

Rd 4 Omar playing Swans of John Madonia

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

Top 8 Nestor Nestor

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

Top 4 Jimbo

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

Top 2 Innace

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

Props of the weeks:

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

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

How it will work:

I'll formulate it as a City Champs type tournament

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

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

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

Thanks for reading

-John Madonia

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

0-1 (1-2 in games)

Round two against JR, playing Black/White Kithkin

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

1-1 (3-3 in games)

Round three against Frank Barbato, playing red.

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

2-1 (5-3 in games)

Round four against Chianese playing Quick 'n' Toast

We draw so we both get into the top 8.

(2-1-1)

Quarterfinals vs. Evans playing a good mono red deck

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

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

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

Finals against...nobody...

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

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

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

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

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

Until next time,
-Mike

==RULES CORNER==
Author: Brian Paskoff

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

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

==THE ISLANDHOME BLOG==

One of the things I wanted to do was have an archive of past issues online so I could refer people back to them as well as let new readers peruse old issues to see what all the fuss is about. So I've archived all the old issues on the blogosphere at islandhomemtg.blogspot.com. Go and relive all the past moments of glory!

==GUEST ARTICLES==

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

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

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

==UPCOMING EVENTS==

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

==STORE LOCATIONS & CONTACT INFO==

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

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

==FIN==

See everyone this weekend!

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

-Brian Paskoff
L1 NY

Islandhome #27

==ISLANDHOME #27==

September 3rd 2008

==IN THIS ISSUE...==

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

==THIS WEEK'S SCHEDULE==

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

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

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

Some interesting discoveries so far include:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

==CUBE DRAFTING==
Author: Brian Paskoff

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

==RULES CORNER==
Author: Brian Paskoff

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

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

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

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

==THE ISLANDHOME BLOG==

==GUEST ARTICLES==

==UPCOMING EVENTS==

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

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

==FIN==

See everyone this weekend!

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

-Brian Paskoff
L1 NY

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Islandhome #26

==ISLANDHOME #26==

August 27th 2008

==IN THIS ISSUE...==

FNM and Other Tournament Changes
Madonia Minute

==THIS WEEK'S SCHEDULE==

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Torrent u

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

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

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

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

Thanks for reading!

==RULES CORNER==
Author: Brian Paskoff

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

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

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

==THE ISLANDHOME BLOG==

==GUEST ARTICLES==

==UPCOMING EVENTS==

June 7th - August 31st: PTQ Season for PT Berlin
The next PTQ season starts this summer, and it's going to be Lorwyn-Shadowmoor Block Constructed! Lorwyn-Shadowmoor block consists of Lorwyn, Morningtide, Shadowmoor, and Eventide.

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

PTQs in our general area this season:

8/30 - Edison, NJ
8/30 - Hartford, CT
8/31 - Rochester, NY

==FIN==

See everyone this weekend!

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

-Brian Paskoff
L1 NY

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Islandhome #25

==ISLANDHOME #25==

August 20th 2008

Woo, 25th issue!

==IN THIS ISSUE...==

Shards of Alara (Pre)release Details
PTQ Berlin Recap
Dean's Beans: Guest article by Dean Duprez

==THIS WEEK'S SCHEDULE==

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

==SHARDS OF ALARA (PRE)RELEASE DETAILS==
Author: Brian Paskoff

I thought it was time to share some details about the Shards of Alara prerelease and launch party events. With the recent changes in the Organized Play structure at Wizards, stores are allowed to have prereleases now. Without the risk of seeming biased, this takes away a lot of business from big TOs like Gray Matter, who make most of their money on prereleases and use that to support things like PTQs and Grand Prix Trials. Instead of sanctioning an in-store prerelease, I'm going to be head judging Gray Matter's prerelease again. From talking to a lot of players at the last prerelease, I've learned that most players want to keep going to these large Gray Matter prereleases, mostly because it's more fun to play against people you rarely see than doing a sealed deck tournament in your own store with players you see all the time. Drafts aren't allowed at prereleases anymore for some reason, not that a draft has ever gotten off at Long Island events anyway.

The launch party events will be in stores though, but the format is a bit different than usual. It'll still be sealed deck, but with a catch. Shards of Alara is based on "shards" of what was once a single plane, blah blah blah fantasy story. Each shard is a main color and its two allies: for example, Naya, the green shard, is primarily green with a splash of white and red. If you look at the back of a Magic card and pick a color from the circle as the main, the ones to its right and left are its allied colors. While in normal sealed deck tournaments you can build a deck using any colors you want, for Shards of Alara's release event, you can only use colors from a particular shard. That means if you're playing white, you can only use cards that are white, green, or blue. You can't use cards that are black or red in your deck at all. (Elder Dragon Highlander players should find this familiar.) Unfortunately this isn't optional, the event has to be run this way. Don't worry though, I'm sure the set's designed with "shard sealed" in mind.

I'll have details on Gray Matter's prerelease and more details on our launch events soon!

==PTQ BERLIN RECAP==
Author: Brian Paskoff

New York's PTQ for Berlin was Saturday, and it was quite the intense event. 172 players competed to win an invite to Pro Tour Berlin in October, and although no one from our area made it to the top 8, everyone did pretty well for themselves. Prizes were paid out to the top 32 players due to the outstanding attendance. Even with 172 players competing, the finals came down to two Faerie decks in a mirror match that was predictably decided by Bitterblossom. There were hardly any exciting surprises in the metagame, except for two decks that I thought were unique and showed up in very little numbers.

The first was a mono-red deck which made top 8. In game 1, there was nothing unique about it - besides the presence of two Puncture Blasts and a strange-looking mana base. Instead of the usual assortment of Mountains, it sported both Rugged Praries and Graven Cairns despite no white or black cards in the maindeck. The color splash was for the sideboard, which included metagame choices such as Soul Snuffers and Unmakes.

Another deck that seemed interesting was the blue/black deck known as "Grave Games". Grave Games is based around River Kelpie, an obscure dollar-bin rare from Shadowmoor that lets you draw cards whenever a spell is played from the graveyard or a permanent is put into play from the graveyard. Like Quick n' Toast, which was a popular deck at the PTQ around the top tables, Grave Games plays Makeshift Mannequin with evoke creatures such as Mulldrifter and Shriekmaw, with Soul Snuffers in place of Cloudthresher as a maindeck answer to Faeries that works even better against ground-based aggro decks like Kithkin and Merfolk than the 7/7 elemental. Raven's Crime and Oona's Grace draw multiple cards, especially with the up to 27 land in the deck. With all the -1/-1 counters bouncing around, some versions play Necroskitter in the sideboard.

Highlights of the day included Dylan Duprez going 4-4 with his Goats deck, Lisa Mercogliano going 0-1-7 (maybe a slight exaggeration), The Wurm coming in 10th place, and that loud capoeira dancing lasting almost two full hours I think. Hopefully we'll be back to having tournaments at Neutral Ground by next PTQ season!

This weekend there's a PTQ in Baltimore, and next week there's one in Connecticut and Jersey on the same day. I'm not sure which one I'm going to just yet.

==DEAN'S BEANS==
Author: Dean Duprez

Hey everybody, figured I would give a guest article a shot.

What I want to focus on is the market of Magic. The market changes so constantly these days, that it is pretty hard to follow (like me if we have ever had a conversation lasting more than 2 sentences). A single event can change prices majorly, the most recently being Bitterblossom, which quickly went from a 5 dollar rare, to $25 almost overnight when it started to be an obviously good card, most specifically in faeries. That and Mutavault went even higher after they both played a huge role in the Hollywood pro tour.

Anyways, I feel, at least as someone who will stay up until 5 AM just watching eBay auctions, and sometimes picking something up, that I am somewhat qualified in looking at cards, and how their monetary value might change.

(Homage to Red Hot Chili Peppers)

Dean's GIVE IT AWAY, GIVE IT AWAY, GIVE IT AWAY NOW! card list

Talara's Battalion

The reason I say that this is something to give away now is simple. It was an overhyped card that has yet to see any major tournament play. The only thing i can think of is Manamorphosing for it, but what person in their right mind would play Manamorphose? ^^ It doesn't make the cut in a competitive elf deck (G/B being the most common) because Wren's Run Vanquisher is just a better 2 drop. Simply put, Talara's Battalion can be scary, but Vanquisher IS scary. Expect it to plummet from the 9 dollar mark to 4-6 dollars soon, unless manamorphose becomes the sleeper common of the format ^^.

Card(s) to consider picking up now

Stillmoon Cavalier

Over the last 3 days, I have noticed that sets of these babies have been selling at $32, 8 dollars each on EBAY when RETAIL STORES/ONLINE STORES sell them at 5-6 each. They were apparently a hot seller at the GP this past weekend, as noted on mtgsalvation.com. I would pick these up if you find them, try to get yourself a set, and throw them on an auction site or something. I expect these to hit at least 8-10 at stores soon, possibly higher.

==RULES CORNER==
Author: Brian Paskoff

Q. I have a Kinsbaile Borderguard with two +1/+1 counters on it, and my opponent Puncture Blasts it. How many Kithkin Soldiers do I get?
A. You'll wind up with five tokens. Puncture Blast deals 3 damage to the Borderguard, dealt in the form of -1/-1 counters. Each counter +1/+1 counter gives it +1/+1, and vice-versa for -1/-1 counters, so it's a 0/0 with three -1/-1 counters and two +1/+1 counters on it. All state-based effects are checked simultaneously, and the ones that apply here are the ones that say +1/+1 and -1/-1 counters "cancel out" and that a creature with zero or less toughness are put into their owner's graveyard. The Borderguard dies at the same time as the counters cancel out, so when the game looks back in time to check out many counters it had on it, it sees five. Kinsbaile Borderguard doesn't care what kind of counters were on it when it left play, just how many.

Q. I ask my opponent, "Enter combat?" and he says "Okay." Then I activate my Mutavault and try to attack with it and my Scion of Oona, but he says it's too late for Mutavault to attack. JUDGE!
A. After Mirrorweave questions, this was the most common judge call at the PTQ. There's a relatively new section of the Penalty Guidelines that goes over shortcut policy, and one of those shortcuts is that "Declare attackers?" or "Enter combat?" means that the player saying that is moving to the Beginning of Combat Step and passing priority. The step immediately after that is the Declare Attackers step, where creatures are immediately declared as attackers before anyone gets priority to do anything (like, say, activate Mutavault), so if you use this shortcut and pass priority and your opponent passes back, you're in the Declare Attackers step, and only things that are already legally able to attack can do so.

Q. Okay, but I didn't know that. Why am I forced to use a shortcut I didn't agree to though?
A. This is the tricky part - in order to ensure everyone's "playing the same game" and make sure judges are consistent in their rulings, certain shortcuts are "default". While ahead of time you and your opponent can agree that "Enter combat" means whatever you both want it to mean, such as "I'm passing priority in my main phase and want to move to the Beginning of Combat Step" or "Let's meet at White Castle after the round's over", telling a judge that you didn't mean to use that shortcut won't get them to let you attack with your Mutavault. The reason that this shortcut stands is that your opponent telling you that he's passing priority tells you that he doesn't want to do anything to your potential attackers - and that's too much information to let you back up and activate your Mutavault in the Beginning of Combat Step.

Q. My opponent says "Declare Attackers?" and I tap his creatures with a Cryptic Command. Then he activates his Mutavault and attacks with it. JUDGE!
A. In order for a step to end, both players have to pass priority without doing anything and with an empty stack. In the Beginning of Combat Step, you tapped his creatures with Cryptic Command, both of you passed priority, and Cryptic Command resolved. Now the activate player gets priority again, and can take an action such as activating their Mutavault.

==THE ISLANDHOME BLOG==

==GUEST ARTICLES==

==UPCOMING EVENTS==

8/30 - Edison, NJ
8/30 - Hartford, CT
8/31 - Rochester, NY

==FIN==

See everyone this weekend!

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

-Brian Paskoff
L1 NY

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Islandhome #24

==ISLANDHOME #24==

August 13th 2008

==IN THIS ISSUE...==

PTQ Berlin
Madonia Minute
Rules Corner: All the rules interactions I could think of for LOR/SHM Block! This is a must read if you're playing Saturday!

==THIS WEEK'S SCHEDULE==

Friday: Booster Draft at Grim @ 7 PM
Saturday: PTQ - BERLIN in NYC
Saturday: Standard Constructed at FNC @ 1 PM
Sunday: Chaos Draft at Brothers Grim @ 2 PM

==PTQ BERLIN==
Author: Brian Paskoff

New York's PTQ for Pro Tour Berlin is this Saturday! It's definitely an event you shouldn't miss, as it's your best opportunity to qualify for the Pro Tour, and for many readers, the best opportunity to play in "the big leagues". Here's the details on when and where to be:

Location: The Fighthouse in NYC at 122 W 27th St., between 6th and 7th Avenues. It's only a few blocks from Penn Station, about a ten minute walk.
Time: Doors open at 9 AM, registration starts at 10 AM. Remember, getting there early gives you time to fill out your decklist without rushing!
Format: Block Constructed (Lorwyn, Morningtide, Shadowmoor, and Eventide).
Entry Fee: $25
Prizes: 1st place gets an invite to Pro Tour Berlin, free airfare to Berlin, and a box. 2nd-8th places get a box, and all top 8 competitors get a top 8 pin.

I'll be leaving from the Ronkonkoma train station at 6:43 AM, which will get into Penn Station at about 8:10, plenty of time for a stop for breakfast. And it's good to get there early to fill out your decklist! If anyone wants to meet at the Ronkonkoma station around 6:30, let me know. It's about an hour and a half train ride, so there's plenty of time to metagame on the train.

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

One could say I have a lot of free time at work, even though I'm constantly dealing with the rigours of difficult customers every minute of each day. Most customers tend to enjoy venting to me for over a half hour about how my company has shown them injustices and that we are criminals etc.. This gives me a lot of spare time while yes-ing and apologizing them to death to build a slew of Magic decks. My latest idea came from a lovely lady during Twilight Zone Thursday who said to me, "I wish I was a wizard and could make Geico disappear." My immediate reaction was I wish I could make Bitterblossom disappear forever. Honestly I wish they never printed Lorywn block(s), but since they did I decided to go against the grain and build a deck that handles the format's inner strength (Faeries, Kithkin Elementals) whilst working to beat the rogue decks people try and come up with.

Without further ado:

I have a wizard in my pants

Creatures
4x Stonybrook Banneret
4x Merrow Reejery
3x Sower of Temptation
2x Vendillion Clique
2x Shrikemaw
4x Charmelon Colossus
4x Silvergil Adept
2x Sygg, River Guide

Utility
4x Nameless Inversion
4x Cryptic Command
3x Sages Dousing

4x Vivid Creek
3x Vivid Grove
4x Secluded Glen
4x Wanderwine Hub
3x Reflecting Pool
4x Flooded Grove
2x Mutavault

Sideboard
3x Thoughtseize
3x Cloudthresher
3x Firespout
4x Burrenton Forge Tender
2x Puppeteer Clique (suggested by Dean)

Since the deck has some obsecure card choices ill evaluate the deck:

4x Nameless Inversion, 2 Shrikemaw. Being able to deal with the Elemental decks Smokebraider is a crucial part of your plan. You don't want to see a early Horde of Notions or Reveillark as that stunts your growth where the deck is the best (early mid game). Shriekmaw is also a sure removal plan to the troublesome Figure of Destiny. Just an aside you can't Mirrorweave a FOD and get your desired results with it. Paskoff explained to me there are about 492 layers that allow the initial target to stay its normal power and toughness and any copies with the Mirrorweave become a pitty 1/1. FOD figures to be a heavily played card this weekend so I made sure I was prepared for it, most players will run it out early especially against a 'Merfolk' deck only to realize its alterior removal package suite leaves some outs to the 'Pokemon' esque creature.

Chamelon Colossus - This is your mid to late game answer-me-or-die card. He gives most red deck fits and gives you an advantage against the rising in popularity BW decks, since they're limited to 3 outs against it (Oblivion Ring). He doesn't exactly have a true fit in the deck, but he does give you a answer now card that in early testing I was lacking. The mana base allows a reliable cast every game.

==RULES CORNER==
Author: Brian Paskoff

This week's Rules Corner has a few repeat questions from weeks past, but with a major Block tournament coming up, I felt it was good to cover the most common questions that'll be asked.

Q. My 4/4 Figure of Destiny got hit by a Nameless Inversion, and now has a Peppersmoke aimed at it. What happens if I activate its first ability again?
A. After Nameless Inversion is applied to your Figure, it's a 7/1 with no creature types, so its second and third abilities can't be activated. But you can start the whole chain all over again! Activating its first ability will turn it into a 2/2 Kithkin Spirit, which will keep it alive when Peppersmoke smacks it.

Q. My Figure of Destiny is fully pumped up to an 8/8 Kithkin Spirit Warrior Avatar with flying and first strike. If someone Mirrorweaves their activated Mutavault, what is my Figure now?
A. Quite strangely, an unactivated Mutavault with flying and first strike. This is again thanks to layers: In layer 1, the Copy layer, Figure of Destiny looks like a plain ol' Mutavault. Layer 2 is Control effects, and layer 3 is Text. Nothing's relevant in either. In layer 4, the Type layer, Figure of Destiny's activated ability tries to make it a Kithkin Spirit Warrior Avatar, but since those are creature types and it's not a creature, they have no effect. In layer 5, the "everything else" layer, Figure's ability gives it flying and first strike, because these abilities don't necessarily need to only be on creatures. In sublayer 6b (see above), the Figure's activated ability tries to make it an 8/8, but since only creatures can have a power and toughness... you guessed it. So your once mighty Kithkin looks like a Mutavault with FoD's last activated ability applied to it.

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

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

Q. What happens if someone kills my Thistledown Liege in response to me targeting it with Mirrorweave?
A. Since Mirrorweave's target is now illegal (on account of not being in play anymore), the spell fizzles and does nothing.

Q. My Sower of Temptation is controlling my opponent's Chameleon Colossus. If my Sower is hit by a Snakeform, what happens to the Colossus?
A. Your Snake of Temptation (no, stop giggling!) is still the same object, so you won't lose control of the Colossus. Sower's triggered ability sets up a continuous effect with a duration that lasts until Sower of Temptation leaves play, and a creature's name on the card really means "this object". So as long as the object known as Sower of Temptation remains in play, no matter if it looks like a Snake, a Mutavault, or a 1/1 Figure of Destiny thanks to Snakeform/Mirrorweave, you'll retain control of the Colossus... which is also a Snake, while we're on this topic.

Q. My Figure of Destiny is pumped up to an 8/8, and I Mirrorweave my Thistledown Liege with no other creatures in play. How big is my Figure of Destiny now?
A. Layer again! In layer 1 (the copy layer), Figure of Destiny looks like a Thistledown Liege. In layer 4 (type), it gets its Kithkin Spirit Warrior Avatar creature types, and in layer 5 (other) it gets its flying and first strike abilities. It becomes an 8/8 in layer 6b, then since it's blue and white and you have a Thistledown Liege in play, it gets +1/+1 for being white, and +1/+1 for being blue, both of which apply in layer 6d. Total: 10/10.

Q. Can I use a Snow-Covered Plains in my Lorwyn/Shadowmoor Block Constructed deck? It's a basic Plains, isn't it?
A. The weather reports in Lorwyn and Shadowmoor are quite boring. Lots of sun in Lorwyn, lots of dark in Shadowmoor - but it never snows in either. Even though a Snow-Covered Plains is a basic land, the legality of cards aren't checked by their supertypes and subtypes, but by the expansion they're from. Snow-Covered Plains aren't in Lorwyn, Morningtide, Shadowmoor, or Eventide, so they're out.

Q. I play a Demigod of Revenge, and have two more in my graveyard. My opponent slams down a Cryptic Command and chooses to counter the Demigod and tap all my creatures. Once the stack resolves, what happens?
A. Demigod is one of those "skill tester" cards where not knowing the rules can land you in serious trouble game-wise. As soon as you play Demigod of Revenge, its triggered ability goes onto the stack. Your opponent announcing Cryptic Command before that trigger resolves means they're countering Demigod before its friends in the graveyard are brought back into play. So what happens is that the original Demigod is countered, sending it to the graveyard, and all creatures you control become tapped. Then its triggered ability resolves, returning it and the rest of the Demigods in your graveyard to play. Oops! What your opponent should have done was announce that he was letting the triggered ability resolve, letting the two Demigods in the graveyard return to play, then play Cryptic Command, countering the original Demigod and tapping your creatures - which include the two freshly risen Spirit Avatars.

Q. My opponent plays a Profane Command, choosing to give -5/-5 to my Figure of Destiny and return his Shriekmaw from his graveyard to play. I only have a Boartusk Liege in my graveyard. What choices can I make if I play Wild Ricochet?
A. The first thing Wild Ricochet does when it resolves is change the targets of the spell it's targeting. If there's at least one other creature in play that is a legal target for Profane Command, you may to change the target of the -5/-5 mode to one of those creatures. If there isn't one, you can't change the target, so that part of Wild Ricochet has no effect. Your Boartusk Liege isn't a legal target for the Profane Command, because while you're changing the targets, your opponent still controls the spell. If you want to change the target of that mode, you must choose a creature in your opponent's graveyard with converted mana cost 5 or less for him to return to play under his control. The second thing Wild Ricochet does is create a copy of the spell. Since you're controlling the source that put the copy into play, you control the copy. By default, the copy has the same modes and targets chosen for it. You can't change the modes, but you can change the targets! Because you control this copy, your Boartusk Liege is a legal target for the Profane Command copy.

Q. If I Wild Ricochet my opponent's Primal Command, can I change the targets to allow me to search my library for a creature instead?
A. Primal Command's creature-tutoring mode isn't targeted, so you can't change what that does. If your opponent chooses to search, you can change the target of the other mode, but they'll still search their own library for a creature when it resolves.

==THE ISLANDHOME BLOG==

==GUEST ARTICLES==

==UPCOMING EVENTS==

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

==FIN==

See everyone this weekend!

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

-Brian Paskoff
L1 NY

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Islandhome #23

==ISLANDHOME #23==

August 6th 2008

==IN THIS ISSUE...==

Goyf's Guide to Etiquette: Things to remember the next time you go to a tournament.
US Nationals Coverage
PTQ Berlin: Next week in NYC!
Madonia Minute: In which Madonia rambles about... something.

==THIS WEEK'S SCHEDULE==

Friday: Eventide Sanctioned Booster Draft at Brothers Grim @ 7 PM
Saturday: Madonia Birthday Bash Box Tournament - Standard Constructed at FNC @ 1 PM
Sunday: Chaos Draft at Brothers Grim @ 2 PM

John Madonia's birthday is August 14th, but since there's a PTQ that a lot of FNCers are going to that Saturday, we're celebrating it a week early instead! To celebrate the man, the myth, and the metagame, we're having our usual Standard tournament at FNC... but the grand prize will be a box of Eventide as long as we get 24 or more players!

==GOYF'S GUIDE TO ETIQUETTE==
Author: Brian Paskoff

I hate to be the bearer of bad mojo, but this is one of those "bad news" articles. There's a few things I want to warn people about doing at our events.

First off, there's been somewhat of a problem with players leaving trash on the tables when they leave. This goes especially for Grim, where drafting Shadowmoor/Eventide creates lots of trash in scraps of paper for life totals, ripped up cards/paper for tokens and counters, booster pack wrappers, etc., not to mention the "how the heck did someone eat all this without dying" amount of Taco Bell food wrappers. Out of respect to our local stores who give us a place to play, please clean up your area before you leave! I hate to invoke the awesome power of the Penalty Guidelines, but leaving excessive amounts of trash on the table is actually an example of Unsporting Conduct - Minor, which is a Warning at all levels.

I also want to warn players against revealing any information about their picks during a draft. I know everyone's excited to slam down that foil Altar Golem first pick, but please don't show anyone! Unfortunately, I need to start cracking down on players who reveal information during a draft. The penalty for Cheating - Hidden Information Violation is very strict - a disqualification without prize at all levels of the game, even Regular. ("A player in a Magic booster draft intentionally reveals a card she drafted to another player during the draft.") It's Very Bad to even talk about the draft at all while you're picking cards, so it's best to remain quiet while drafting, or at least talk about something else besides Magic.

Sorry to harsh everyone's buzz, but these things needed to be said before these problems got further out of hand. With the bad news out of the way, let's get to the rest of Islandhome!

==US NATIONALS COVERAGE==
Author: Brian Paskoff

Welcome to our live coverage of the 2008 US Nationals! Wait... it's over already? Well there was a lot of excitement at this year's US Nationals, an invite-only, combined Standard/Draft tournament held this year in Chicago. Many Long Island players attended, including FNC veteran Michael Bauer, who nabbed an invite at the recent Connecticut Regionals (not City Champs as I said last week, sorry). Bauer started off strong with a 2-0 record with his all-foil 420.5n deck, and in the third round, he faced Mark Herberholz, a Pro player who eventually wound up in the top 8. Bauer was fortunate enough to be in a feature match with the long-time pro, which was the subject of a magicthegathering.com article that can be found here. He lost that match, though the second game was close, getting Herberholz down to a mere 4 life, but the one-two punch of a Pact of Negation followed by an Extirpate let Herberholz untap with an Oona in play, and Bauer couldn't find an answer. Bauer was apparently interviewed by everyone with a microphone, video camera, and/or notepad, so expect to see more of him in the next few weeks.

I'd also like to congradulate Long Island player Michael Lapine on his 14th place finish at Nationals. Though he's never attended an FNC or Grim event, you may have played against him at a prerelease. Lapine played a Merfolk deck he's been tweaking for months (I remember him testing it back when Morningtide came out!), proving that the key to doing well is to pick a deck you like and sticking with it. Congradulations Mike!

The top 8 decklists are available on Wizards' official website here. Michael Jacob won the entire event with a deck that costs about $63.25 to build, a mono-red deck with Figure of Destiny being its most expensive card, a $10 rare at most at the time of this writing. Like every major event, the winning decks of US Nationals will change the face of Standard as we know it. For one thing, you can expect to see lots more mono-red decks at local events. They're cheap and easy to make, and the only thing you need to know to play them is to keep the pressure on.

Figure of Destiny is the new breakout star of Standard, being the most played Eventide creature in the top 8, with as many Figures as there were Tarmogoyfs! The dangerous one-drop will be the most sought-after card for both Standard and Block, so get them while you can!

==PTQ BERLIN==
Author: Brian Paskoff

Next Saturday, August 16th, there's a PTQ for PT Berlin in the city. For those of you new to the whole big tournament scene, PTQ stands for Pro Tour Qualifier. This PTQ is for Pro Tour Berlin, and although the Pro Tour itself is Extended, PTQs for it are Lorwyn-Shadowmoor Block Constructed. The best players from the area will be in attendance, all vying for that first place spot which brings them an invite to the Pro Tour in October. Although only one person can make it, there are lots of other prizes. The payout depends on the player turnout, though it's not uncommon for Gray Matter to pay out packs to the top 32 players! On top of that, while our local tournaments are only 16k, PTQs are 32k. You're able to take 32 rating points from a good player, so PTQs are a perfect opportunity to boost your rating.

Block Constructed is a strange beast. Being that the only legal sets are Lorwyn, Morningtide, Shadowmoor, and Eventide, you're missing a lot of staples from Tenth Edition, Time Spiral, Planar Chaos, Future Sight, and Coldsnap - almost half of Standard is missing! So what usually ends up happening is that cards which are deemed mostly unplayable in Standard are brought into the limelight. Cards like Incremental Blight, Surge of Thoughtweft, and Consign to Dream are frequently seen in the top 8 of many Block tournaments.

A good way to study the metagame is to check the top 8 decklists from various Block tournaments around the globe on deckcheck.net. This'll help you prepare for the tournament by showing you exactly what you'll be up against. My money's on most people netdecking from the results of GP Kobe, the most recent major Block Constructed event. However, while those are certainly highly competitive decks, I suggest looking at PTQ results from the east coast. There are none posted right now, but you should pay close attention to what the popular decks are at this weekend's PTQ in Philly, as many of the same players (and by association, their decks) will be at New York's PTQ.

I'll be judging the New York PTQ as usual (not Philly this weekend), and while I don't know the format very well at all to offer advice on winning, I can offer tips on how not to lose... from penalties, at least. PTQs are Competitive REL, so penalties are much more strict than our local tournaments, which are Regular REL.

The first difference you'll notice is that the PTQ will use decklists. By far the most common game loss penalty at a major event is a decklist mismatch infraction from a player filling out their decklist incorrectly. It's a good idea to get to the event early so you can fill out your decklist without rushing. Sort your deck out and make sure to count out each card as you write it down, then doublecheck it after you're done. If you cross out a card, make sure you cross it out completely and double-count to make sure you replaced that line with the correction. It sounds strange, but most of the errors I've seen come from a player crossing out a 4-of on their sideboard, and replacing it with a 3-of, forgetting to add one to another card and ending up with a 14-card sideboard listed on their decklist. Check, double check, and triple check, and have a friend do the same if you need to, there's no reason you should lose a game due to a clerical error!

The second most common game loss penalties come from Drawing Extra Cards. If you're about to draw a card, make sure you doublecheck both that you're supposed to draw and that you know how many cards you're supposed to draw. Just a little bit of attention to the cards you're taking off the top of your deck can help you avoid an untimely game loss.

Most of all, make sure you read your cards, and your opponent's cards as well. Even though they're not game losses, warnings can add up over time, and can be upgraded if you make the same infraction multiple times. If you're not sure of something, you can always call for a judge to help you avoid making an illegal play.

Next week's Islandhome will be all about the upcoming PTQ, including Block Constructed tips from good players, details on how to get there, and more!

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

This article might be a little more lengthy then most, but I have a lot of positive thoughts and theories id like to share this week. Im first going to start with a brief but all together thorough FNC report this past Saturday.

20? Players journeyed from as far as Canada to attend the first post-Eventide standard event in FNC's illustrious history. I decided to end my retirement ala Brett Favre and come back in a blaze of glory and attempt once again to become a champion. Unfortunately, my provider of cardboard crack decided that bringing cards to a Magic tournament is too difficult a task and left any relevant card at home, some four hours away. Good thing he decided to bring his 11 Elder Dragon Highlander decks so if the format was singleton I could maybe win a round. I then was reminded that we had my White control deck that I wrote about last week that, with the exception of those flying faeries, the deck would have a favorable overall matchup.
The deck already had sleeves on so any interlude aside we begun our quest for greatness.

Rd 1 against Grego

Grego +r was sporting a cowboy hat similar to one John Wayne in the pre-"when Mike Innace had hair" days. He decided to against his normal Elf-ball variant and pilot a risque but effective Underworld Dreams(look it up it's a goodie) deck. Game 1 began with a quizzical look from yours truly as a second turn Wheel of Fate began our proceedings. I drew some more land, and with two Underworld Dreams in play a lovely evoked Mulldrifter yielded me two pieces of gold in Martyr of Sands. I gained an arbitarily large amount of life (35) and proceeding to Oblivion Ring his Underworlds and ride the only creature that didn't hit an extipate that game (Kitchen Finks) to a surprising game 1 triumph.
After sideboarding my entire "don't lose to that Swans deck" package of Runed Halos, Wispermares, and Wheel of Sun and Moons, I felt confident in my plan to disrupt his plan and hoping one of my larger then x/3 creatures would swoop in for the kill.
Game two was reallly a blowout, I resolved an early Divinity of Pride and his pro black removal ability alowed me to earn a hard fought victory in my first T2 match in many Magus of the Moons.

At this point I decided that my deck honestly wasn't good enough to win the event and dropped without being a charity case and giving money to people that don't deserve it. I then sat and watched some epic contest between lovable Tim Johnson (USA) and the ever pesky Brian Fazio.

Fazio played some Dredge-a-Lark concoction with 192 win conditions, none of them really working with the other. His plan hinged on Traumatizing (no pun intended) himself and hopefully finding some infinite loop that I and every opponent didn't comprehend.

I sat down with him after his first top 8 appearance in 12 years to discuss how the deck wins and his life story.

(Disclaimer: The following paragraph is not... well whatever. - BJ)

Brian Fazio was born Franklin Willis Barbato IV in January of 1992. His parents knew he was destined for great things when at age four he got third place at the chatterbox nursery school 3 legged race. His passion for Magic began at age nine when he asked a girl out on a date to which before he responded she said "Just so you know, I'm not going to go on a date with you, so before you ask it's no", The Faz, no relation to The Fonz, as his fans call him decided that this game would encompass his life and hopefully one day impress that girl that so vehemently turned him down with no remorse. The Faz continued to hone his craft with limited successes. He thought about retiring, he said he had enough, but decided one last time to win it for the gipper and play in that tournament for one last time. It didn't end well for The Faz, he was defeated in the top 8 and almost lost more as Innace's knight in shining armor and himself had a verbal altercation for the ages. Fortunately for the knight, The Faz had it in his heart to forgive him, and move on to his next conquest, even though a prickly Wurm has entered his path.

I would like to also announce the 1st Annual Madonia birthday celebratory tournament.

Time 1pm Saturday August 9
Format Standard (Type 2)
Prize 1 box for 1st place if 24+ attend
Fee: Same Five dollar entry fee
Why an event?
We've had some run at FNC turning a real hole in the wall into one of the most successful weekly tournaments on the East Coast.
I decided to celebrate my birthday by giving back to the players and my friends that have made every Saturday an enjoyable one.

Next week I'll have a strong primer for anyone looking to PTQ in the city.

==RULES CORNER==
Author: Brian Paskoff

Next week I'm going to have a bunch of questions about Mirrorweave, Figure of Destiny, and Mutavault, since that's what 99.9999% of the questions I'm going to get at the PTQ will be. Mmm, copy layer questions....

==THE ISLANDHOME BLOG==

==GUEST ARTICLES==

==UPCOMING EVENTS==

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

==FIN==

See everyone this weekend!

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

-Brian Paskoff
L1 NY

Islandhome

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Islandhome #28

Islandhome #27

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Islandhome #26

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Islandhome #25

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Islandhome #24

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Islandhome #23

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