Islandhome #12

==ISLANDHOME #12==

May 12st 2008 ---- FREE

==IN THIS ISSUE...==

Store Updates: News, sales, and other things.
Rules Corner: So about that 420.5n deck....
Contest Time: The winner of Islandhome's first contest, plus your suggestions!

==THIS WEEK'S SCHEDULE==

Friday: Brothers Grim Draft @ 7 PM
Saturday: FNC Standard @ 1 PM
Sunday: Brothers Grim Lorwyn-Shadowmoor Block Constructed @ 2 PM [NEW!]

==STORE UPDATES==

I've got a few updates on the latest happenings and what-have-you at stores on the Island that I need to share.

First off, but in no particular order, Brothers Grim. As you can see from the weekly schedule above, there's a Lorwyn-Shadowmoor Block Constructed tournament this Sunday at 2 PM! Entry's $5, and the legal sets are Lorwyn, Morningtide, and Shadowmoor. Eventide's not legal yet, so please leave your Hellkite Overlord decks at home. Block's a much smaller card pool than Standard, so you might see some surprising card choices that don't usually pop up in Standard. We need eight people for the event to be sanctioned, so come down and bring your friends! It'll be great practice for Block season, which starts June 7th.

Grim's also having a 50% off sale on all foils this week only, so stop by and pick up some cheap shiny cardboard!

FNC got their hands on a Mox Pearl recently, certainly something to gawk at. You'll notice that the borders on it are a little yellow; that's because someone took a highlighter to it many, many years ago, probably before it was ever worth anything.

==LOSING LIKE A CHAMP==

So in my first ever Standard tournament since March 1st, I went 1-3 at FNC, drawing horribly with a deck I wasn't familiar with. Was I upset? Sure! No one wants to end a tournament with a losing record, but I didn't let it get to me. I kept it bottled inside, then went home and cried myself to sleep. I mean.... what I mean to say is, no one should take Magic seriously enough that they get too upset when they lose or mess up. Making mistakes and/or losing is just part of the game of Magic. If any of us could play perfectly every time, we'd be making tens of thousands of dollars on the Pro Tour! There's really not much at stake at a local tournament - you're only spending $5 to play Magic for a few hours and maybe win some packs. The real reason to play at a local event is to have fun, so whether you win or lose, go home happy!

==RULES CORNER==

Q. I attack with a 2/2 creature and my opponent blocks with his Cinderbones. With damage on the stack, he regenerates it, and in response I target it with an Inquisitor's Snare. Does the Cinderbones regenerate?
A. "Regenerate this creature" is a bit misleading, and comes from the pre-6th edition rules where the timing rules regarding regeneration were a bit more complicated. The regeneration ability creates a regeneration shield on Cinderbones when it resolves, but while it's still on the stack, Cinderbones isn't protected, and can still be destroyed. If your opponent had 1B open, they could regenerate it again in response to your Inquisitor's Snare.

Q. How does the "420.5n" combo work with Greater Gargadon, Juniper Order Ranger, and a persist creature such as Murderous Redcap?
A. Big combos using trickiness with the stack have always been a source of confusion. Lots of players knew Reveillark, Mirror Entity, and Body Double were a combo, but even some players who tried the deck out didn't know how it worked at first! Beware - this is some tricky stack trickiness.

To start the combo off, you need a Gargadon suspended, and both Juniper Order Ranger and a creature with persist (let's say Murderous Redcap) in play. First you announce you're playing Gargadon's ability, which moves it to the stack, then sacrifice the Redcap to pay for its ability. That triggers Redcap's persist trigger, which goes on the stack on top of Gargadon's "remove a counter from me" ability. Once the persist trigger resolves, Redcap comes back into play with a -1/-1 counter and its comes-into-play (rule 187 for those of you keeping score) ability and Juniper Order Ranger's ability trigger. Being as you control both triggers that are triggering at the same time, you choose the order they go on the stack. If you put Redcap's 187-ability on the stack first and the Ranger's ability above it, the Ranger's ability will resolve first. It'll put a +1/+1 counter on itself and one on the Redcap, and thanks to rule 420.5n, the +1/+1 counter and -1/-1 counter annihilate each other. The Redcap will be a 2/2, so it'll deal 2 damage when its 187-ability resolves. You could do it the other way around, having it deal 1 damage and then getting the counter put on it, of course, but if you're going to go "infinite" you may as well do it right! Once those two abilities resolve in whichever order you choose, you have a Redcap with no counters on it, a Juniper Order Ranger with a +1/+1 counter on it, and Gargadon's "remove a counter from me" ability on the stack. You can respond to that ability on the stack by sacrificing Redcap to it again, which starts the whole process over. It's "infinite" damage, though you can only do it until your opponent's life total drops below 1 and they lose the game. You can gain an arbitrarily large amount of life with Kitchen Finks this way too!

Q. My opponent and I are playing a 420.5n mirror match and he gained infinite life with Kitchen Finks. If I combo off with Murderous Redcap a turn later, can I kill him, or is the game a draw because you can't really subtract infinite from infinite?
A. There's really no such thing as infinite in Magic - that's why I used the term "arbitrarily large" above! When you combo off with an "infinite" combo, all you're really doing is specifying a number and saying you're auto-repeating that sequence of actions that number of times. So if you do your combo so you're at a trillion life, your opponent can later combo off to deal you two trillion damage.

Q. I play Ember Gale, targeting my opponent. Once it resolves, if my opponent flashes in a Prismwake Merrow, can he block with it?
A. Once Ember Gale resolves, it sets up a continuous effect that lasts until the end of the turn. Since this continuous effect doesn't change the characteristics of anything (characteristics being an object's name, mana cost, color, card type, subtype, supertype, expansion symbol, rules text, abilities, power, toughness, or loyalty), it instead changes the rules of the game, and means even creatures that came into play after the effect was generated can't block.

Q. What is "slow play"? I think my opponent is taking a lot of time, but he says his options are really complicated.
A. No matter what kind of options a player has, there's no reason for them to do nothing for more than about thirty seconds. Of course this is just a rough estimate - the real measure of what's considered playing slowly is up to a judge watching the match!

Have a rules question you want answered? Send it to IslandhomeMTG@gmail.com!

==CONTEST RESULTS==

Congradulations to Matt Brocking who won our first ever contest. Matt was selected at random from thousands upon thousands of entrants, and will be receiving $5 Pasgoyf Fun Bucks (tm) valid for paying for his next tournament entry at either Brothers Grim or FNC!

Lots of people chimed in with suggestions for Islandhome. Most of the suggestions were for more tips on playing constructed and limited, or for player interviews. So starting next week, there'll be an interview with at least one dueler in the newsletter, with hard-hitting questions that'll get you inside the minds of some of the greatest players on Long Island. I'll also have a feature in the next issue involving a Shadowmoor draft walkthrough, since the best way to learn how to draft is by watching someone good drafting, and the second best way is to read about it on the internet.

==UPCOMING EVENTS==

June 7th: NJ Regionals
Gray Matter is hosting the regionals for our area in the basement of St. Matthew the Apostle church in Edison, NJ. The format is Standard constructed, and I'll have more details as I hear about them. I'm sure I'll be judging it, so I'll find out ahead of time what's going to happen with Grim and FNC that weekend.

June 7th - August 31st: PTQ Season for PT Berlin
The next PTQ season starts this summer, and it's going to be Lorwyn Block Constructed! Lorwyn block will consist of Lorwyn, Morningtide, and Shadowmoor. Eventide won't be available during the beginning of the PTQ season, but will be legal before it ends.

PTQs in our general area this season:

• 6/21 - Philadelphia, PA
• 6/28 - Edison, NJ
• 8/9 - Philadelphia, PA
• 8/16 - New York, NY
• 8/30 - Edison, NJ
• 8/30 - Hartford, CT
• 8/31 - Rochester, NY

==STORE LOCATIONS & CONTACT INFO==

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

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

==FIN==

See everyone this weekend!

-Brian Paskoff

Islandhome #11

==ISLANDHOME #11==

May 14th 2008 ---- $free

==IN THIS ISSUE...==

The Metagame: Standard decks that aren't Faeries!
Rules Corner: More rules, including a very tricky Shapeshifter question.
Contest Time: Submit feedback, win prizes!

==THIS WEEK'S SCHEDULE==

Friday: Brothers Grim Draft @ 7 PM
Saturday: FNC Standard @ 1 PM
(This week's FNC event will be sanctioned by Dean Duprez so he can keep his TO membership. I'll be there either judging or playing!)
Note: Starting May 10th, FNC events will begin at 1 PM!

==THE METAGAME: STANDARD DECKS==

NJ Regionals is right around the corner, and it's time to start getting prepared for the no doubt diverse* metagame that'll be there. The obvious deck to beat is Faeries. The deck hasn't changed at all with the release of Shadowmoor. Even Sunken Ruins, which seemed like a perfect fit, isn't played much because of the small potential to get color-screwed. Just look at these results from StarCityGames.com's $2000 Open, where Faeries took five out of the eight top spots, or the $5000 Open where Faeries made up the top two. Here's some of the non-Faerie decks you might see at Regionals this time around.

WG Ramp: An increasingly popular choice, WG Ramp is tuned to beat anything but an aggro-control deck that packs counterspells like Faeries or Merfolk. Into the North, Coldsteel Heart, and/or sometimes Search for Tomorrow accelerate into big white/green spells such as Oversoul of Dusk, Akroma, Cloudthresher, and Akroma, and they of course pack Wrath of God and Austere Command as reset buttons. Even though it has multiple answers to Faeries - Cloudthresher, Crovax, Austere Command naming small creatures and enchantments, etc., it still has a tough matchup.

Goblins: Practically every deck packs some kind of mass removal these days, so Goblins plays to lose - creatures, that is. Goblins has multiple answers to a Wrath - Murderous Redcap comes back, Mogg War-Marshal replaces itself, Mudbutton Torchrunner is built to die, and Gargadon happily eats up anything else that would be lost. Goblins even plays Bitterblossom, not caring much about the life-loss even with two out, since it aims to win faster than Faeries. The deck beats Faeries and has a good matchup against most other aggro decks, but loses to anything with lots of life gain such as WG Ramp.

Fiery Justice: The Kavu Predator/Fiery Justice combo is seeing the most play it's seen since Time Spiral Block Constructed, with additions such as Kitchen Finks, Wooded Bastion, Fire-Lit Thicket, and Last Breath. It has enough life-gain to survive against most aggro decks, and seeing as how most removal spells played in Standard aim at killing small creatures (burn spells, Nameless Inversion, etc.), a huge Kavu Predator is a big threat.

RG Land Destruction: There hasn't been this much good LD in Standard since the days of Magnivore and Stone Rain, but is it enough propel a winning deck? Fulminator Mage is a solid beater and almost strictly better than Stone Rain in the format, Mwonvuli Acid Moss accelerates and denies a land, Avalanche Riders has always been powerful but hasn't found a fit in a while, and Magus of the Moon is great against decks that don't play many basic lands (such as Faeries). It's a very tempo-based deck however, and missing an LD spell for one early turn is as bad as not making your own land drop.

GB Elves: Before everyone realized how good Reveillark and Faeries were, GB Elves was the deck to beat in early Lorwyn-era Standard. Now that Faeries and ultra-fast aggro decks have knocked Reveillark out of popularity, people are starting to play Elves with good results again. The deck's the same as it always was, though probably with more Faerie-hate in the sideboard along with a few Kitchen Finks.

Reveillark: If not for Faeries, this would probably be the deck to beat in Standard. Aggro decks can't touch it as long as it can combo out, and it plays enough counterspells to deal with any control deck that's not too heavy on counterspells. However since it loses almost every game to Faeries, it's not a very popular deck anymore. Except in Japan for some reason.

Merfolk: Merfolk have better "lords" than Faeries, eight maindeck with Lord of Atlantis and Merrow Reejery. They also have access to Sage's Dousing, a cantripping Mana Leak with a Banneret in play. Some recent builds are even playing Mirrorweave to make all their Merfolk copies of Lord of Atlantis and swinging for massive amounts as each Lord pumps each other one.

Swan Assault: This is basically a combo deck that plays Seismic Assault, Swans of Bryn Argoll, and Dakmor Salvage. Shoot the Swans with a Dakmor Salvage, dredge it, draw, shoot your opponent, and so on. It's very vulnerable to enchantment hate, and Nameless Inversion kills the Swans, but it can still catch an unprepared deck off-guard.

Matt Brocking played an interesting deck at FNC last week, using a combo I hope to draft in every Shadowmoor draft: Elsewhere Flask and Howl of the Night Pack. He ramped up to seven mana, got an Elsewhere Flask into play, then played Evacuate at the end of his opponent's turn, unleashing the hounds (sorry) next turn with a massive Howl of the Night Pack. Even the Japanese are getting into the action, just look at this mono-green ramp deck from Japan's Five Dragons Cup tournament that plays three Howls as one of its win conditions.

* At least 50% faeries, and that's if you're lucky and the other 50% of players can't find Scion of Oonas in time for the event.

==RULES CORNER==

Q. How does Vexing Shusher work exactly?
A. The important thing to remember about Shusher, and all non-mana activated abilities actually, is that the ability doesn't have an effect until it resolves. Let's say you play a Tarmogoyf, and your opponent responds with a Cancel. You activate your Shusher targeting the Tarmogoyf, and in response, your opponent plays another Cancel targeting the Tarmogoyf. Assuming neither of you do anything after, the second Cancel would resolve and counter your Tarmogoyf, and the Shusher's ability, lower on the stack, wouldn't be able to stop it.

Q. My opponent plays Counterbore targeting my Tarmogoyf, and in response I make my Goyf uncounterable with my Vexing Shusher. Does Counterbore fizzle since all of its targets are illegal?
A. There's a big difference from not being able to target and not being able to affect a target. Counterbore can target an uncounterable spell just fine, and since is second effect is not conditional on countering the spell (It'd probably say something like "If that spell is countered this way...." if it was), you'd get to search out and RFG all other copies of Tarmogoyf you're able to. Counterbore can even target a Vexing Shusher on the stack!

Q. So I evoke a Cloudthresher and before it dies, tap Cauldron of Souls to give it persist. When it comes back with a -1/-1 counter on it, will it just die again?
A. With Cloudthresher's "sacrifice me if you paid my evoke cost" on the stack, you can activate Cauldron of Souls to give it persist. Cloudthresher will die, then come back into play as a new object with a -1/-1 counter on it. This Cloudthresher is "new" as far as the game knows, so it won't have been played for its evoke cost.

Q. If I attack with a Spawnwrithe and a Vesuvan Shapeshifter that's copying a Spawnwrithe, what's the token created by my Shapeshifter-Spawnwrithe look like?
A. Oh copy effects. I remember when Clone had tiny tiny rules text, but now that's all handled in the rules! Let's have a look:

"An object's "copiable values" are the values that are printed on the object, as modified by other copy effects, plus any values set for face-down spells or permanents and any values set by "comes into play as" abilities. Other effects (including type-changing effects) and counters are not copied."

Your Vesuvan Spawnwrithe token looks a lot like a regular Spawnwrithe token would. Its name is Spawnwrithe, it's green, it's a 2/2, its converted mana cost is 3, it has the ability that makes a copy of itself when it smacks a player, but it does have one important difference: Since the token is created as a copy of something that is modified by another copy effect, it copies that too. So the Spawnwrithe from Vesuva has the ability "At the beginning of your upkeep, you may turn this creature face-down." However, it doesn't have morph, so unless you can somehow benefit by having a face-down 2/2 with no name, converted mana cost, colors, or abilities, I wouldn't suggest it. Underneath it'll still be a Vesuvan Spawnwrithe with the upkeep trigger, but there aren't any non-cheaty ways to flip it back up in Standard.

Q. Will you sign my Tarmogoyf?
A. http://paradoxian.com/Islandhome/Pasgoyf.jpg

Have a rules question you want answered? Send it to IslandhomeMTG@gmail.com!

==CONTEST TIME!==

You know, I'd love some more feedback on Islandhome. Namely, what people like about it, don't like about it, and most importantly, what they want to see in future editions of the newsletter! Also I heard you like getting free stuff. So with those two things in mind, I'd like to announce the first Islandhome contest! Entering is easy, all you need to do is email some feedback to Islandhome about what you'd like to see in future editions and you could win!

One random email-er who emails me something constructive by Friday before 5 PM will get $5 off their next tournament entry to either FNC or Brothers Grim, whichever they play in first, so long as I'm there to pay (i.e. the store's not involved, it's coming out of my pocket).

The Sweepstakes is open to all legal residents of the 50 United States and Canada (excluding Quebec) who are at least thirteen (13) years of age at the time of entry. Employees of Islandhome, its affiliates, subsidiaries, Madonia, franchisees, agents, retailers, advertising and promotion agencies, and fulfillment companies, and its immediate families (parents, children, siblings, spouse) and members of their same households (related or not) are not eligible to participate in the Sweepstakes.

==UPCOMING EVENTS==

June 7th: NJ Regionals
Gray Matter is hosting the regionals for our area in the basement of St. Matthew the Apostle church in Edison, NJ. The format is Standard constructed, and I'll have more details as I hear about them. I'm sure I'll be judging it, so I'll find out ahead of time what's going to happen with Grim and FNC that weekend.

June 7th - August 31st: PTQ Season for PT Berlin
The next PTQ season starts this summer, and it's going to be Lorwyn Block Constructed! Lorwyn block will consist of Lorwyn, Morningtide, and Shadowmoor. Eventide won't be available during the beginning of the PTQ season, but will be legal before it ends. To help prepare for it, I'm going to try to sanction some Block Constructed tournaments after Shadowmoor is released.

PTQs in our general area this season:

• 6/21 - Philadelphia, PA
• 6/28 - Edison, NJ
• 8/9 - Philadelphia, PA
• 8/16 - New York, NY
• 8/30 - Edison, NJ
• 8/30 - Hartford, CT
• 8/31 - Rochester, NY

==FIN==

See everyone Friday or Saturday!

-Brian Paskoff

Islandhome #10

==ISLANDHOME #10==

May 7th 2008 ---- $free

==IN THIS ISSUE...==

Shadowmoor Release Event Wrap-Up
Penalties: The dirty part of a judge's job.
Rules Corner: A few more rules questions.
The Metagame: Shadowmoor's top uncommons!
Upcoming Events: Events that are upcoming.

==THIS WEEK'S SCHEDULE==

Friday: Brothers Grim Standard & Draft @ 7 PM
Saturday: FNC Standard @ 1 PM

Note: Starting May 10th, FNC events will begin at 1 PM!

==SHADOWMOOR RELEASE EVENTS==

The Shadowmoor release events at Brothers Grim and FNC were equally successful, each one bringing in 31 players. Grim's lasted a bit longer than FNC's due to everyone in the top 8 deciding to hold a draft to build all new decks for the top 8 playoffs, which can only be described as intense. We had enough product and promos for everyone, and since every store gets sixty-four Vexing Shusher promos, both stores had plenty left-over. Since they're not allowed to be sold, you might see them pop up if you do well enough at other tournaments....

With the new deck reconfiguration rule in effect that lets you change your deck between rounds, it was interesting to see decks evolve over the course of the tournament as players realized which cards were good or bad in their build. Any sealed/draft event where decklists aren't used are fair game for changing your deck around between rounds, so feel free to experiment! Constructed events still make you keep your deck the way it was when you started the event, however.

Oh, we'd also like to congradulate Bryan Fazio on his first top 4 appearance at FNC in like seven months. The Faz rode his Goldenglow Moths all the way to the semi-finals, a card most pro players wouldn't think of playing, and hopefully he'll never think of playing again, god help him. You the man!

==PENALTIES==

On a local level, giving out penalties are the hardest part of a judge's job. No one wants to be the "bad guy", especially when local judges (like myself) are friends with almost every player. Investigating your friends for cheating isn't fun, and neither is giving out penalties... but the only alternatives are unsanctioned events. I actually think that in the past I've been too lax in regards to catching wrong things going on, something I'm trying to fix: and the best prevention is an ounce of pre-emptive strike, or however that saying goes. So I want to go into the three most common infractions that can happen during local tournaments so everyone knows what's right and wrong.

Unsporting Conduct - Randomly Determining a Winner
Using or even offering to use any kind of random non-Magic way of figuring out the winner of a match is forbidden. Even if two players in a match think the only way one of them can make top 8 is if one of them scoops to the other, there's still no way to randomly determine that. Either one player will have to humbly step down so the other can get in, or they'll have to take their chances with a draw. Unfortunately this is one of the most common DQ-worthy infractions done by well-meaning players, because choosing who wins in a random way seems fair to both players... but it's not fair to everyone else who had to make it to the top legitimately! The "good" part of this infraction is that if the head judge believes the player truly didn't know offering to flip a coin was wrong, they can issue a Match Loss instead of a DQ. Not a very happy alternative, but it's still less harsh than a DQ.

Unsporting Conduct - Bribery & Wagering
Bribery is probably the most common infraction done by not-so-well-meaning players. Offering anything for a match win is very bad, and so is accepting a bribe, but probably the most common belief is the idea that a "prize split" is legal - it isn't. In the finals of a tournament, the top two players can agree to a prize split. But, one player has to agree to drop from the tournament in exchange for part of the prize. "Getting the win" in this case is just on paper, no rating points are gained or lost if you "win" or "lose" this way. If you want the points, play it out! You can legally agree beforehand to split the prize evenly no matter who wins or loses, as long as it doesn't change the outcome of the match.

Wagering's part of this too - you can't bet on the outcome of a match, not that I've ever heard of players doing that. I'm sure there are some bookies in Vegas making a killing on the Duprez vs. Innace matchups....

Cheating - Stalling
The most common time this happens is during the last round, after players read the standings and figure out they can draw in... if another match goes the way they want it to. Playing slowly in order to wait for the results of that match is stalling. Another common way this infraction takes place is taking time to run out the clock and hope for a draw, or the win if the offending player has won the only game played so far. Thankfully, I've never seen an example of stalling in the second sense, but unfortunately I have seen the first. There are lots of signs a player is actively stalling as opposed to just playing slowly, and judges are trained to pick up on them.

==RULES CORNER==

Q. I block my opponent's Boggart Ram-Gang with my newly-played Dusk Urchins, which of course immediately gets a counter. When damage resolves, how many cards do I draw?
A. All the -1/-1 counters from Boggart Ram-Gang will go on your Dusk Urchins at the same time. Just like a creature can be dealt damage to it greater than it's toughness, a creature can also have more -1/-1 counters on it than its toughness would seem to allow. So your Dusk Urchins gets three -1/-1 counters put onto it during the combat damage step, and once state-based effects are applied, you'll draw four cards, one for each -1/-1 counter the Urchins had on it when it left play.

Q. If I target my creature that's enchanted by my opponent's Curse of Chains with my Pale Wayfarer's ability to give it protection from blue, what happens to the aura?
A. Since Curse of Chains is blue (and white), giving a creature protection from blue will cause the Curse to fall off right into the graveyard. Just remember the DEBT acronym: A creature with protection from foo can't be Damaged, Enchanted (or Equipped, or Fortified), Blocked, or Targeted by a source with the quality foo.

Q. I control a Wingrattle Scarecrow without any -1/-1 counters on it and an Ashenmoor Cohort, when my opponent plays Wrath of God. Does Wingrattle Scarecrow see that I control a black creature so it comes back because of the persist ability?
A. Persist is a "leaves play" trigger, and all those types of triggers look back and check the prior state of the game. You controlled a black creature when Wingrattle Scarecrow left play, so it had persist and comes back with a -1/-1 counter on it.

Q. I've got a Corrosive Mentor in play and I play a Murderous Redcap. If I target my opponent's creature with the Redcap's ability, will it put two -1/-1 counters on the creature it hits?
A. All damage dealt by creatures with wither to other creatures is in the form of -1/-1 counters, not just combat damage, so the Redcap will put two -1/-1 counters on whatever it deals damage to when it comes into play.

Q. Can I name Bitterblossom with Runed Halo?
A. Yes!

Q. Oh, I see what you did there. Will it do anything?
A. Unless your opponent somehow animates Bitterblossom and attacks with it, no. While you can name Bitterblossom, it only prevents you from being damaged, enchanted, blocked, or targeted by it, none of which Bitterblossom does. Its tokens are named Faerie Rogue, which brings me to the next question....

Q. Can I name Faerie Rogue with Runed Halo?
A. Even though Wizards has printed inserts to use as tokens, Faerie Rogue still isn't an actual card name, so it's not legal to name it with Runed Halo.

Q. Okay, last Runed Halo question. My opponent names Faerie Rogue with his Runed Halo and says "go". Do I have to tell him he can't pick it?
A. Sadly there's no way to let your opponent make that bad of a play - you'll have to call a judge, who'll tell him to choose a legal card name. If he picks Bitterblossom though, feel free to laugh at him as you swing with your Faerie Rogue tokens next turn.

Have a rules question you want answered? Send it to IslandhomeMTG@gmail.com!

==THE METAGAME: SHADOWMOOR'S TOP UNCOMMONS==

Not since Ravnica, with the likes of Remand, Lightning Helix, and others has a Magic set had this many powerful uncommons. It's so much that many players have been theorizing that Wizards booted some rares down to the uncommon level during development to give players a "gift". It's probably just a myth, but the power level of some of the uncommons in this set is definitely above average, and some of them would easily be some of the top money-rares in the set had they been printed with that shiny gold symbol on them. As it is, all of these uncommons are going for over a dollar already!

Boggart Ram-Gang: Well this is what an aggro creature should look like! Three power for three mana, with haste and wither and no drawback other than having to wait a turn if you play an early Mutavault, Boggart Ram-Gang is going to be a staple of red/green aggro decks for as long as it's in Standard, and will be even bigger in Block should a red/green aggro deck make the top tier.

Firespout: Now Firespout's probably right on the power level for uncommons, where this kind of board-sweep-by-damage effect has stuck for a long time: just look at Pyroclasm. It's an extra damage for one extra mana, and if you want, it can sweep all the Faeries out of the sky while leaving your flightless dudes free to swing in.

Flame Javelin: In mono-red decks, this is almost strictly better than Char! Having to wait an extra turn to play it if you drop a Mutavault early shouldn't be that big of a deal if you use the Javelin as a finisher, though getting mana-screwed with lots of colorless mana can be a hassle. However, Char was much more splashable than Flame Javelin - decks where non-Mutavault lands don't produce red mana shouldn't even try to include this.

Guttural Response: Red Elemental Blast is back! Well, the "destroy target blue permanent" effect would be too powerful for one mana these days, even at rare, and Guttural Response can only target blue instants, not even cards with flash. So is its admittedly narrow usefulness too narrow to make a home in Standard/Extended sideboards? We'll see!

Kitchen Finks: Persist is a great ability in Standard, where the sheer amount of Wrath effects and spot removal keep all but the most efficient creatures from being played. Loxodon Hierarch saw a lot of play because it was an efficient beater attached to some lifegain, and there's no reason why Kitchen Finks won't get played for the same reasons. It's a 3/2 for 3 that gives you a total of 4 life, and comes back after a Wrath!

Murderous Redcap: This is a card that's going to have a tough place existing in decks with Shriekmaw. Both cards are probably equally good overall, though they of course have certain situations where their usefulness doesn't overlap. With the Redcap in Standard, Goblins have yet another creature that survives a Wrath. Just thinking about it coming into play, dealing 2 damage, attacking for 2, then sacced to Gargadon or Marsh Flitter twice for 1 extra damage has got me wanting to build Goblins!

Raking Canopy: As if Faeries didn't have enough hate against them with Firespout and Cloudthresher in the format, Raking Canopy makes it impossible for Faeries to attack with anything less than four Scion of Oonas in play. Still, many players are saying that this card just won't make the cut, as it's bad against every other deck, and Cloudthresher is a much better answer.

Tattermunge Maniac: Not only has Shadowmoor brought back Char and Red Elemental Blast, it's also given beatdown decks a new Jackal Pup! Tattermunge Maniac was one of the most anticipated cards all rumor season, and now that it's finally out in paper form, expect many decks to be packing it.

==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 Block Constructed! Lorwyn block will consist of Lorwyn, Morningtide, and Shadowmoor. Eventide won't be available during the beginning of the PTQ season, but will be legal before it ends. To help prepare for it, I'm going to try to sanction some Block Constructed tournaments after Shadowmoor is released.

PTQs in our general area this season:

• 6/21 - Philadelphia, PA
• 6/28 - Edison, NJ
• 8/9 - Philadelphia, PA
• 8/16 - New York, NY
• 8/30 - Edison, NJ
• 8/30 - Hartford, CT
• 8/31 - Rochester, NY

June 7th: US Regionals
Gray Matter is hosting the regionals for our area in the basement of St. Matthew the Apostle church in Edison, NJ. The format is Standard constructed, and I'll have more details as I hear about them. I'm sure I'll be judging it, so I'll find out ahead of time what's going to happen with Grim and FNC that weekend.

==FIN==

See everyone Friday or Saturday!

-Brian Paskoff

Islandhome #9

==ISLANDHOME #9==

April 30th 2008 ---- $25

==IN THIS ISSUE...==

Shadowmoor Release Events: Details for what you're doing this weekend!
Release Event Tips: Tips for making top prize at the multiple launch parties this weekend.
Annoucements: How to avoid getting caught not cheating... by not cheating! It's foolproof!
Block Season: Block season starts in June, so start getting ready!
Rules Corner: A few more rules questions.
Upcoming Events: Some new info on area PTQs as well as the 2008 Regionals!

==THIS WEEK'S SCHEDULE==

Friday: Brothers Grim Standard & Draft @ 7 PM
Saturday: FNC Standard @ 3 PM

Note: Starting May 10th, FNC events will begin at 1 PM!

==SHADOWMOOR RELEASE EVENTS==

I'll be running Shadowmoor launch parties at FNC and Brothers Grim next weekend, so come and play and win fabulous prizes! Players at each event will receive a tournament pack of Shadowmoor and two Shadowmoor boosters to construct a 40-card minimum deck. We'll have deck boxes and life counters to be given out, and each participating player will receive a promo Vexing Shusher, one of the chase rares of the set!

FNC Launch Party
Entry Fee: $25
Date: Saturday, May 3rd
Starting Time: 1 PM

Brothers Grim Launch Party
Entry Fee: $24
Date: Sunday, May 4th
Starting Time: 2 PM

==RELEASE EVENT TIPS==

Well I'm not the best limited player in the world, but I've got a bunch of basic tips on how to increase your chances at getting top prize at a Shadowmoor launch party this weekend.

First, Shadowmoor is a strange set in terms of color. Ironically, all the multicolored cards make it easier than ever to play monocolor! It looks like rather than playing two colors and a splash like most sets, you'll be solidly in two colors, or even one color and a splash! It's also good to stay in allied colors, because some of the best cards have three or more hybrid mana symbols in their cost. In a red/green deck, a card that costs 2(R/G)(R/G) can be played with any four lands in your deck, but in a red/blue deck, you might not be able to play that four-drop until turn five or six!

Keep your deck at 40 cards, 41 at most. There's no reason to go over the required minimum, and the closer you are to 40 cards the more reliably you'll draw what you want to. 23 spells and 17 lands is the industry standard on limited deck construction, and there's rarely a reason to diverge from it. Maybe 22 and 18 if your mana curve is really high, though some people (like myself) like to play 23 spells and 18 lands to make sure they hit their land drops in a mana-hungry deck. Shadowmoor has a lot of beefy 4-drops you'll want to cast reliably on turn four, so it might not be a bad idea to try it out!

Creatures are king in limited - there's no alternate win conditions, so turning your team sideways is the key to victory! To achieve that you'll want to play at least sixteen creatures, over a varied mana curve that will ensure you're always keeping creatures on the field to attack and/or block. Since creatures are the key to every deck, of course removal is extremely important... and there's not much of it in Shadowmoor. Anything that destroys, RFGs, or keeps a creature from attacking or blocking should find a place in your deck.

In a limited event, every card you have in your pool that you're not using is your sideboard. Check it between games to make sure you're not forgetting anything important that can help you against your opponent's best stuff; there's lots of color-hosers in this set!

==ANNOUNCEMENTS==

I'd like to thank everyone who's planning to attend one or both of my release events ahead of time for a successful event! But before you open up your tournament packs and start sniffing the sweet New Card Smell (tm), I have a few announcements to make.

Build your own deck! With the new penalty guidelines that came out last month, Outside Assistance at regular events (such as a launch party) has been changed from a disqualification to a Warning, but that doesn't mean it's any less wrong. Tournaments are about testing the skill of a player, whether it's deck building or playing, not their ability to follow advice from their friends. Little comments about cards are okay, and definitely understandable when it's the first time most of you have seen these cards, but the line is drawn when you start giving advice on what to play. I'll definitely be giving out Warnings for Outside Assistance, and upgrading to Game Losses as necessary... but I don't expect to be giving out (m)any Game Losses. Anyone who intentionally helps someone build their deck knowing that it's "just a Warning" could be asked to leave the event.

Other forms of cheating won't be tolerated either, especially the blatant kinds like slipping in cards that weren't in your sealed product or trading cards among your friends. That's one thing that fortunately hasn't been downgraded, and DQs for Manipulation of Tournament Materials are very serious and could mean the next set you're allowed to play in the release event for isn't even in development at Wizards' R&D yet. If you see anyone doing anything suspicious like trading cards or adding their own, please let me know so I can do my investigating thing that I hate to love to do.

Sorry to sound harsh, but release-type events are notorious for cheating because some bad apples think it's okay because they're "just" release events, and I know even one cheater can ruin the experience for every other player.

==BLOCK SEASON==

Tournament Magic goes in seasons: Standard season, Extended season, Limited season, Two-Headed Giant season, and so on, where all the big tournaments for a period of time are the same format. extended season just ended last month, and because Wizards cut one annual Pro Tour, there's been a bit of a gap until the next season. But Block season is coming up soon, starting June 7th (see the Upcoming Events section for a list of the PTQs in your area), and it's the perfect time to prepare for it!

Block constructed is like a small slice of the Standard pie. You lose some of the staples of the Standard card pool, and have to innovate a little and use cards that usually don't see play outside of limited because there are better alternatives in standard. For example, Tarmogoyf is the best two-drop in Standard, but it's not available in Block. Wrath of God's not in Lorwyn/Shadowmoor block, but the pricier Austere Command is! Even whole decks don't have equivelents in Block constructed. Project-R doesn't have Body Double to pull off its infinite combo, so while you might see a UW tempo deck using Reveillark and Momentary Blink-replacement Turn to Mist, it's not as dangerous as its bigger brother that can go infinite.

To help prepare for Block season, I'll sanction some Block constructed events if there's enough interest for it. I'm sure there will be as we get closer to the first New York area PTQ.

==RULES CORNER==

Q. My opponent has a Reveillark in play and he plays a Mirror Entity. Can I play Cryptic Command and choose to return the Reveillark to his hand before I counter the Mirror Entity, so that the Mirror Entity isn't in his graveyard when Reveillark triggers and he can't get it back?
A. Short answer no, long answer is also no, but it's a longer answer. The short answer is that when you play a spell, you have to follow the instructions in the order they're written. In Cryptic Command's case, countering a spell comes first and bouncing a permanent comes after, so that's the order they happen. But that's not exactly why you can't prevent your opponent from bringing back his Mirror Entity with Reveillark's trigger. Just for the sake of argument, say you could "stack the modes" so that you bounce Reveillark first and then counter Mirror Entity. Reveillark would return to its owner's hand and its ability would trigger. Then Mirror Entity would be countered and placed into its owner's graveyard. Then, as Cryptic Command has nothing left to do, it too is put into its owner's graveyard. Then Reveillark's triggered ability would be put onto the stack and its controller would choose a target, one of which the countered Mirror Entity is a valid target for. It doesn't matter in what order Cryptic Command's modes happen, because Reveillark's "leaves play" trigger can't go on the stack until a player would get priority... which is after Cryptic Command resolves.

Q. My opponent plays a Stotterzauber-Sylphide, but I don't know what it does! Isn't he required to have an English version in his deck and show it to me?
A. It seems common in unsanctioned local tournaments and small playgroups to enforce the rule that you can only use foreign cards if you have an English one with you. The DCI allows cards of any language to be used in a player's deck. But if you get confused about what a foreign card does, you can always ask a judge for the Oracle text of any card. The Oracle is the name for the big database of Magic card text, and it's searchable on gatherer.wizards.com.

Q. What's the converted mana cost of a Dragonstorm copy?
A. Since an object's mana cost is a copiable value, a storm copy of Dragonstorm will have a converted mana cost of 9. Unless you have nine faeries in play, Spellstutter Sprite isn't going to save you from getting burnt to a crisp by a stormed-out dragon.

==UPCOMING EVENTS==

Saturday, May 3rd: Shadowmoor Launch Party at FNC starting at 1 PM
See above for details.

Sunday, May 4th: Shadowmoor Launch Party at Brothers Grim starting at 2 PM
See above for details about how you should see above for details.

June 7th - August 31st: PTQ Season for PT Berlin
The next PTQ season starts this summer, and it's going to be Lorwyn Block Constructed! Lorwyn block will consist of Lorwyn, Morningtide, and Shadowmoor. Eventide won't be available during the beginning of the PTQ season, but will be legal before it ends. To help prepare for it, I'm going to try to sanction some Block Constructed tournaments after Shadowmoor is released.

PTQs in our general area this season:

• 6/21 - Philadelphia, PA
• 6/28 - Edison, NJ
• 8/9 - Philadelphia, PA
• 8/16 - New York, NY
• 8/30 - Edison, NJ
• 8/30 - Hartford, CT
• 8/31 - Rochester, NY

June 7th: US Regionals
Gray Matter is hosting the regionals for our area in the basement of St. Matthew the Apostle church in Edison, NJ. The format is Standard constructed, and I'll have more details as I hear about them. I'm sure I'll be judging it, so I'll find out ahead of time what's going to happen with Grim and FNC that weekend.

==FIN==

This weekend is going to be intense! Come down to Grim on Friday night for drafting, then FNC Saturday for their release event, and Sunday for Grim's release event! It'll be more Shadowmoor than you can handle!

-Brian Paskoff

Islandhome #8

==ISLANDHOME #8==

April 23rd 2008 ---- $50

==IN THIS ISSUE...==

Shadowmoor Report: How'd you like the prerelease? Really? I had fun too, thanks!
The Metagame: Shadowmoor deck ideas.
Shadowmoor Release Events: Details for what you're doing next week!
Rules Corner: Shadowmoor rules questions from the prerelease.

==THIS WEEK'S SCHEDULE==

Friday: Brothers Grim Standard & Draft @ 7 PM
Saturday: FNC Standard @ 3 PM

==SHADOWMOOR PRERELEASE==

Shadowmoor is finally here, the death metal to Lorwyn's epic power metal, and the prerelease was a huge success! There were no major problems (sorry for the wait starting the team event and orange bonus flight, but we just squeezed by with enough seats after green flight wrapped up) - no printers breaking, computers crashing, or judges breaking and/or crashing this time, and everyone I talked to said they had a great time. It was also my first time head judging a large sanctioned event, so if you have any thoughts on how the event was run, I'd love to know so I can take things into consideration for next time.

Now that you've had a chance to play with the cards in a limited environment, here's the time to start brainstorming up decks using Shadowmoor cards for standard and block constructed when the set comes out, and becomes legal, on May 2nd! Both FNC and Brothers Grim will have release events that weekend, so circle May 3rd and 4th on your official Girls of Islandhome calendars! You guys did get that mailing, right?

==SHADOWMOOR RELEASE EVENTS==

I'll be running Shadowmoor launch parties at FNC and Brothers Grim next weekend, so come and play and win fabulous prizes! Players at each event will receive a tournament pack of Shadowmoor and two Shadowmoor boosters to construct a 40-card minimum deck. We'll have deck boxes and life counters to be given out, and each participating player will receive a promo Vexing Shusher, one of the chase rares of the set!

FNC Launch Party
Entry Fee: $25
Date: Saturday, May 3rd
Starting Time: 1 PM

Brothers Grim Launch Party
Entry Fee: $24
Date: Sunday, May 4th
Starting Time: 2 PM

==THE METAGAME==

With the addition of about 300 new cards to the standard environment on May 2nd, the metagame should shift drastically. Old decks will rise or fall a tier or two, and new ones will take their place. One of the major changes predicted is that faeries, probably the best deck in the format right now, will have a hard time staying in the top tier with things like Vexing Shusher, Guttural Response, and Raking Canopy.

Like with any big set release, there's a lot of new deck ideas based on the new cards, and none of them are really fleshed out yet. Sometimes even the best decks start out as random ideas in poorly-constructed decks: for example, Dragonstorm, the deck that won Worlds two years ago during Ravnica-Time Spiral block standard, started out as a bad mono-red deck before someone had the idea to splash blue for Gigadrowse. So here's some of the decks you might be facing come May 2nd!

"Geese Lightning" or "Swan Song": There's no doubt that Swans of Bryn Argoll is one of the most breakable cards in Shadowmoor. Like Reveillark, it seems like an innocent card, but its ability has so many potential uses. This deck idea revolves around hitting the Swans for massive damage and therefore massive card advantage. The most popular idea is to use Swans with Seismic Assault and Dakmor Salvage, the only dredge card in standard. The combo involves pitching Dakmor Salvage to Seismic Assault, targeting the Swans, then dredging the Salvage back, drawing a card, and repeating the process until you have enough lands in your hand to hit them for 20. The deck plays Gaea's Blessing to restock the library with all the cards ditched by dredge. The only problem is that it's very vulnerable to Extirpate, even moreso than the Reveillark combo since the deck ONLY revolves around the combo.

Enchanted Eve Combo: Enchanted Evening seems like a jank rare at first, but some metagamers feel that it can be devastating with the wealth of enchantment hate in standard right now. It turns Ronom Unicorn into a better Necrotic Sliver, and Krosan Grip into a split second Vindicate. But the best uses of the enchantment come from Patrician's Scorn and/or Spring Cleaning, the latter of which can destroy everything your opponent controls if 1G if you hit on the clash. In case you want to destroy all permanents with Patrician's Scorn, the deck plays creatures with persist to restock the board once it's wiped out. Pinpoint bounce on Enchanted Evening in response to an enchantment-killing spell can hurt the combo however.

Druidstorm: Devoted Druid is a pretty cool card. The turn after you play it, you can tap it for G, untap it, and tap it for G again. The only problem is that you can't tap it again, because while you can pay the cost to untap it, it's got zero toughness and dies before it actually untaps. Druidstorm plays Might of Old Krosa and Giant Growth to pump the druid up, allowing you to get lots of mana out of it in a single turn.

Mono-Red Burn: It gets a drawback-less Char in the form of Flame Javelin (which apparently comes one per case, as I cracked almost two boxes and didn't see a single one), and a new anti-life gain sideboard trick, Everlasting Torment.

Of course other existing decks also get new tricks. The filter-lands, i.e. the other allied color Graven Cairns, will see lots of play, as will Reflecting Pool. Right now it's hard to say what cards will be format-defining because no one's gotten any real testing in, so start metagaming now - sanctioned Shadowmoor standard is only ten days away!

==RULES CORNER==

This week I've got some rules questions I got at the Shadowmoor prerelease for you. Since prereleases are often full of casual players who don't get out to tournaments larger than their local FNM, and the set's full of cards and mechanics no one's seen before, judges get asked a lot of questions, often the same ones over and over until answering them becomes a reflex. I'm sure these will get asked even more at the release events

Q. My opponent plays Traitor's Roar targeting my Chainbreaker and pays its conspire cost. When conspire's "create a copy" trigger resolves, he targets my Chainbreaker with the copy. In response to the spell, I tap my Chainbreaker to remove a -1/-1 counter from it. Now what happens?
A. Traitor's Roar says to target an "untapped creature". If the creature it targets somehow becomes tapped, the target is now illegal and the spell is countered by game rules.

Q. My opponent's at 12 and controls only a single Loamdragger Giant. If I play Traitor's Roar and pay its conspire cost, can I target the Giant with the copy to deal him 12 damage?
A. You can target the Giant twice if you want, but unless you can find a way to untap the Giant after the first Roar resolves, you won't win the game this way. Once the copy of Traitor's Roar resolves, the Giant is tapped, and the original Roar will be countered on resolution because its target requirement - an untapped creature - hasn't been met.

Q. My Spawnwrithe has a -1/-1 counter on it and it gets in there for one damage to my opponent. When the copy is created, will it also have the -1/-1 counter on it?
A. Your new Spawnwrithe will be much healthier than the one that created it. Copy effects (you can tell if something's a copy effect because it has the word "copy" in it) only check the printed values of the card it's copying, plus any applicable copy effects. That latter part just means that if, for example, your Spawnwrithe was turned into a Loamdragger Giant through something like Mirrorweave with the "make a copy of me" trigger on the stack, the token copy would be a Loamdragger Giant.

Q. I've got a Drowner Initiate out and my opponent plays a blue spell. Can I pay 3 to make him put the top six cards of his library into his graveyard?
A. Drowner Initiate has a triggered ability that triggers whenever a player plays a blue spell. When it's resolving, you have a chance to pay 1. If you do, you can mill someone for two, but you only have one shot at it for each blue spell played.

Q. My 2/2 creature blocks a Sickle Ripper and gets two -1/-1 counters. As it dies, can I use Fate Transfer to move its -1/-1 counters onto my opponent's creature?
A. Once combat damage resolves, your 2/2 gets two -1/-1 counters. Then, before any player gets priority, it's put into the graveyard as a state-based effect. By the time you have priority to play Fate Transfer, your creature's already in the graveyard.

Q. I've got a Blowfly Infestation out and attack with a 3/3 that has a -1/-1 counter on it. My opponent blocks with his Safehold Elite. Can I stack the triggers so that when Safehold Elite comes back, Blowfly Infestation puts a -1/-1 counter on it?
A. Even though the Active Player/Non-Active player rule says that Safehold Elite's persist trigger will be put onto the stack last and therefore resolve first, both triggers are put onto the stack at the same time, and Blowfly Infestation requires a target. As soon as it's put onto the stack, you have to pick a target for it, and Safehold Elite hasn't re-entered play yet.

Q. How many copies of Burn Trail can I create if I control six untapped creatures when I play it? (#1 question at the prerelease!)
A. Only one! For each instance of conspire on a spell, you can tap two creatures as part of its cost if you want to create a copy. But sort of like the Initiates I mentioned in an earlier question, you can only do it once per spell. However if one of those creatures you controlled was a Wort, the Raidmother, your Burn Trail would have two instances of conspire and therefore you could tap two additional creatures that share a color.

Q. Can I use Merrow Wavebreakers's ability to give it flying before my opponent declares blockers?
A. Indeed! You could argue that it's what the designers intended you to do. For a mere 1U, you can give the merfolk flying and pseudo-vigilance for a turn. Declaring the Wavebreakers as attackers causing them to become tapped. During the declare attackers step of the combat phase, you can pay 1U and untap it. By the time the declare blockers step rolls around, the fish are already flying. It's worth noting that pulling this trick after your opponent declares a block with a non-flier won't cause the Wavebreakers to become unblocked.

Q. Does the copy of Burn Trail created by conspire have conspire itself?
A. It does - however, you're not playing the copy, it's just put onto the stack, so you can't pay the copy's conspire cost.

Q. If I play Torrent of Souls to bring back a Siege-Gang Commander, will the tokens it creates get +2/+0 and haste if I paid both red and black mana?
A. This was actually answered incorrectly on another site where Torrent of Souls was spoiled. The first thing Torrent of Souls does is bring back the Siege-Gang Commander. SCG's triggered ability triggers at this time, but since no player is getting priority while Torrent of Souls is resolving, it doesn't go on the stack yet. Then Torrent of Souls gives all creatures you control - including the Commander - +2/+0 and haste until end of turn. As the last part of the spell resolving, Torrent of Souls is put into its owner's graveyard, and then the game puts Siege-Gang Commander's triggered ability on the stack. The goblin tokens are way too late to the party at this point, so they're just regular 1/1s.

Q. If I control a Flourishing Defenses, what happens if I play a Grief Tyrant?
A. Your Grief Tyrant will come into play with a bunch of elf buddies to cheer him on. The counters that creatures come into play with count as being put on them, so Flourishing Defenses triggers four times, giving you four elves.

Bonus Combo!: Just to show how crazy this rule can be.... If you control Flourishing Defenses and a Doubling Season and then play a Grief Tyrant, he'll come into play with eight -1/-1 counters and promptly die. Then Flourishing Defenses will create sixteen elf tokens (eight from the eight -1/-1 counters, doubled to sixteen from Doubling Season). Since he left play with eight -1/-1 counters, you can put sixteen -1/-1 counters on a target creature. If you put them all on one of your elves, it'll die painfully and spawn thirty-two more elf tokens. Net result: 47 elf tokens in play. For a standard-legal version of this combo, just play two Grim Poppets and a Flourishing Defenses for infinite elves at instant speed.

==FIN==

Well that's all for this week. This weekend is the last time you'll get to play Shadowmoor-less standard, and probably the last time you'll ever get to draft Lorwyn-Lorwyn-Morningtide, so come on down to Grim and FNC!

-Brian Paskoff

Islandhome #7

==ISLANDHOME #7==

April 16th 2008 ---- $ 4/8

==IN THIS ISSUE...==

Tournament Report
Shadowmoor Prerelease: How to survive the prerelease and win packs of the new set!
Rules Corner: Shadowmoor rules!

==THIS WEEK'S SCHEDULE==

Saturday: Shadowmoor Prerelease

==TOURNAMENT REPORT==

Congradulations to Matt Brocking and Michael Bauer, FNC veterans who qualified for the City Champs Finals, both of whom made top 8 in the four-round, 11-player event in Valley Stream last Saturday. Though neither of them won, they gave their best and made us all proud!

Michael Innace and Ralph Navarra split in the finals of FNC's Saturday tournament.

Sadly there was no tournament last week at Grim; from what I understand lots of people were either on vacation or going back to school after Spring Break.

==SHADOWMOOR PRERELEASE==

Well the Shadowmoor prerelease is this Saturday at the Four Points Sheraton in Plainview (333 South Service Road off the LIE). The event kicks off at 8-9 AM with the first main flight and lasts all day. Here's the rundown:

8 AM - 9 AM: Main flights start. Entry fee is $30, and you'll get a Shadowmoor tournament pack and two boosters to construct a 40-card deck. You get a prize pack just for playing!
Noon - 2 PM: Bonus flights start. Entry fee is $25 if you've played in another flight, or $30 if it's your first that day. You get the same product as the main flights, and another prize pack just for playing, but the prizes are slightly reduced.
2 PM: Booster drafts start. Entry fee is $15 if you've played in a flight, or $18 if you haven't. The draft format is Shadowmoor-Shadowmoor-Shadowmoor.
2 PM: Team sealed event starts. Entry fee is $20 per player. Each 3-player team gets two tournament packs and six boosters to build three 40-card decks.

You get a prerelease promo card for each non-booster draft event you play in, including team sealed! The prerelease promo is Demigod of Revenge, a 5/4 creature with flying and haste for five black/red hybrid mana that brings back creatures with the same name as itself when you play it.

By now most of the people who get this newsletter have played in at least one limited event in their Magic career, but just in case your limited skills are a little rusty, here's how limited events work.

When the event starts, a judge will seat you and hand out your product. Then when the judge says to, you'll open your tournament pack and boosters and sort the cards out by color. Shadowmoor's an odd set, because half the cards in it are "hybrid" - two colors at once. But unlike regular "gold" cards, hybrid cards can be played using either color of mana. So a blue-black hybrid card could be easily played in a mono-blue or mono-black deck. One thing to watch out for though are cards with multiple hybrid mana symbols. In a white/green deck, a card that costs 1(W/G)(W/G)(W/G) basically costs 4 since you'll always have the mana to play it if you have four lands up. But in a white/blue deck, that same spell now costs 1WWW, and you won't be able to consistently play it turn 4 unless you've dropped three or more Plains.

In limited formats such as sealed deck or draft, the minimum deck size is 40 cards. Unlike constructed where the 60-card minimum is a hard-and-fast rule of deck construction for competitive decks, even some professional players play up to 41 cards if they feel their deck can support it. Staying in two or three colors is important, and your third color should be a "splash" - one to three cards with mana-fixers to allow you to easily play it whenever you need to. Efficient creatures and removal spells are king in limited, and your deck should have at least 16 creatures in it.

==RULES CORNER==

Well the rules primer for Shadowmoor is out, and we finally know how all of Shadowmoor's mechanics work. The rules primer document can get a little wordy at times since they're mostly for judges to get a handle on the new mechanics so they can give accurate rulings at a prerelease, so I'm going to go over the important ones here. Not a lot of rules questions this week, but next week I'll have a whole bunch from the prerelease!

-1/-1 counters are returning again. Although there are supposedly no cards in Shadowmoor that give +1/+1 counters, an important rule to remember when Shadowmoor becomes legal is that if a creature has a -1/-1 counter and a +1/+1 counter on it, both of these counters are removed at the same time as a state-based effect, which means it happens immediately with no chance to respond.

Q is the untap symbol. The rules work just like the tap symbol, except the creature must be tapped to use an ability with Q in its cost. Q follows the "summoning sickness" rule, which means it can't use Q-abilities unless it's been under your control since the beginning of your turn. Also, since untapping the creature is a cost, it can't be responded to, though the effect of the ability still can.

Conspire is an ability on spells that lets you copy the spell it's on by tapping two creatures that share a color with the spell as an additional cost to play it. If you tap your two creatures, a copy of the spell is put onto the stack. The copy has conspire too, but since it's put onto the stack and not played, you can't pay its conspire cost. And since paying for conspire is part of paying for the spell, you can't wait and see if your opponent has a counterspell for you before you tap your creatures.

Persist lets creatures come back from the dead, though a little weaker. When a creature with persist is put into a graveyard from play, the game checks if it had a -1/-1 counter on it. If it didn't, the persist trigger is put onto the stack, and when it resolves, the creature comes back into play with a -1/-1 counter on it. So unless you find a way to remove that -1/-1 counter from it, a persist-ing creature won't infinitely return from the dead.

Wither is one of the strangest abilities I've seen, but it's pretty simple to understand. When I first heard of it I thought it was a replacement effect, but it's not. Instead, wither does something different with damage. While ordinary damage dealt to a creature stays on it until the turn ends and destroys the creature if the accumulated damage is greater than or equal to its toughness, damage dealt by a source with wither is dealt to creatures as -1/-1 counters. It's still damage, so it can be prevented, redirected, triggers lifelink, and so on, and doesn't change how a source with wither would deal damage to a player or Planeswalker.

Q. If I have a 3/3 creature with Wither, Double Strike, and Trample, what happens if it's blocked by a 5/5 with no abilities?
A. Because one or more creatures have double strike (or first strike), another combat step is generated for those creatures to deal combat damage first. Your creature will deal three damage to the 5/5 blocker, and the damage is dealt as -1/-1 counters. Now in the regular combat damage step, the now 2/2 blocker assigns its combat damage, and your withering creature gets to deal another three damage. If you assign two of its damage to the blocker and one to your opponent, when damage resolves your opponent will take one and two more -1/-1 counters will be put on the blocker, killing it.

Q. It's my untap step and my Hollowsage (When Hollowsage becomes untapped, you may have target player discard a card.) untaps. My opponent and I have an equal number of cards in our hands. Will he discard the card so my Akuta, Born of Ash can trigger at the beginning of my upkeep?
A. While Hollowsage's triggered ability triggers during your upkeep, triggered abilities don't actually go onto the stack until a player would gain priority, and no one gets priority during the untap step. The first time in a turn anyone does get priority is at the beginning of your upkeep, and by that time it's too late for Akuta's ability to trigger.

==WRAP-UP==

Well that's all for this week. I hope to see everyone at the prerelease!

-Brian Paskoff

Islandhome #6

==ISLANDHOME #6==

April 9th 2008 ---- $ */*

==IN THIS ISSUE...==

I-Con 27 Post-Game Report: Another year, another successful I-Con. PLUS: My Sailor Moon costume idea for I-Con 28!
Rules Corner: The generically named column answers more of your rules questions and some secret Shadowmoor stuff!
Becoming a Judge: Since I've gotten lots of questions on the topic, I'll give a few tips.
Upcoming Events: Magic's Coming Attractions.

==THIS WEEK'S SCHEDULE==

Friday: Standard & Draft at Brothers Grim @ 7 PM
Saturday: Standard at FNC @ 3 PM

==I-CON 27 POST-GAME REPORT==

Well I-Con is over, and I'm still exhausted! There were two tournaments and at least sixteen drafts over the weekend, and I'm guessing all in all we had attendance somewhere in the range of one hundred to seven thousand players, but I lost count shortly through Saturday. Friday night was huge, with about five drafts before we ran out of product. Saturday was the busiest, with I think six drafts, a 10-proxy Vintage tournament, and a Standard tournament. (Side note: When someone tells you that you're allowed to proxy a Black Lotus in your deck, "No thanks" is only understandable if you have a real one in it already.) Sunday was predictably less crowded, with four drafts scattered throughout the afternoon and a massive free-for-all draft with no prizes at the end just to burn out the rest of the product. Everyone I talked to told me they had a great time, except of course the guys who had the nerve to complain about the prize for a five dollar draft. ;)

Next year I-Con's at the Brentwood campus of Suffolk Community College.

On a personal note, I do have to tell you guys about the craziest draft I've ever been a part of. On Sunday it was so slow that I joined in on a draft to make it eight players. Don't worry, all the events at I-Con were unsanctioned. I got passed a Countryside Crusher and was very happy with making more than my $5 back... until I saw the rest of the cards in the draft. There was a regular Garruk, a regular Liliana Vess, a foil Garruk, a foil Liliana Vess, a foil Chameleon Colossus, a Wanderwine Hub (my second pick pack 2), a foil Doran, and a Sower of Temptation. It was easily the most money I've seen in a draft.

A big thanks (in no order whatsoever) to Chris Nielsen for overseeing the CCG stuff and running back and forth to his car every five minutes to get more product, Dean Duprez for running the huge FNC event in my absence, Showtime for running the Yu Gi Oh events and answering the judge calls that made my head spin when players starting asking me questions about Morphing Jars and Marshmallons, Brothers Grim for supplying the prizes, product, and lands (thankfully only the latter was stolen) for the drafts, and the entire I-Con staff for doing this thing.

==RULES CORNER==

The questions that came up at I-Con's events weren't that hard due to the casual level of the players there, so I'm going to fill in the blanks with some questions I've gotten from other players. Next week when the Shadowmoor rules primer comes out I'll have some questions involving Shadowmoor cards, but it's not usually a good idea to answer rules questions about yet-to-be-released cards because the rules can sometimes change... but pre-existing mechanics don't, so there's two sneaky questions in here that really involve Shadowmoor cards.

Q. How does regeneration work exactly?
A. Regeneration is a replacement effect. When a spell or ability that tells you to regenerate a creature (or other permanent) resolves, it sets up a "shield" on the creature that lasts until the end of the turn. Each time the creature would be destroyed, one regeneration shield on it is used up, and instead of being destroyed, the creature is tapped (if it was untapped) and removed from combat. It's a common misconception among new players that "regeneration" means "return a creature that was destroyed this turn from your graveyard to play", which explains the popularity of Herbal Poultice. You ever notice how much new players love that card? I mean it's in all my decks, but....

Q. Dylan attacked with a Wren's Run Vanquisher that had a +1/+1 counter and trample from his Bramblewood Paragon and Evans blocked with a Mulldrifter. When damaged resolved, Evans tried to say that since Dylan didn't assign trample damage to him, all of it was assigned to the creature. What happens?
A. There's shortcut guidelines for this sort of thing in tournament policy. One of the well established shortcuts is that the default for assigning trample damage is that the trampling creature assigns enough combat damage to kill all blockers, and the remainder to the defending player. So there's no way to rules-lawyer yourself out of taking trample damage!

Q. Since Knight of the Holy Nimbus regenerates if it would be destroyed, can it survive a Damnation if my opponent doesn't pay 2?
A. Even though the Knight regenerates if it'd be destroyed, Damnation has the magic word "can't". In Magic, "can't" effects override "can". Something tells me this question will be relevant soon.

Q. My opponent and I both have Reveillarks out. If I play Wrath of God, can I steal whatever he brings back with the Sower of Temptation in my graveyard?
A. Yes, but the answer would be a lot different if it wasn't your turn! There are two triggers at work here - your Reveillark, and your opponent's. Since both of them trigger at the same time, they go on the stack in what's called APNAP order - short for Active Player, Non-Active Player. The active player is always the player whose turn it is. Your trigger will go on the stack first, targeting your Sower of Temptation, and then his goes on the stack on top of it, targeting - for the sake of argument - his Mulldrifter. His trigger will resolve first, bringing the Mulldrifter into play, and the "draw two cards" trigger will go on the stack. Once that resolves, your trigger will resolve, bringing back your Sower, and its trigger will allow you to target the Mulldrifter. Had he been the one to Wrath during his turn, your Sower would come into play before his Mulldrifter did and would have nothing to target.

Q. I control a Bloodbond March and have two Mulldrifters in my graveyard. I play a third Mulldrifter and my opponent says "In response, I'll Cancel it." I say okay, and the Mulldrifter is put into the graveyard. Then I say that the Bloodbond March's trigger resolves and all three Mulldrifters, including the one that just got countered, are brought back, but he says he did it after the trigger resolved! What should we do?
A. Did he say the trigger had already resolved? If not, then unfortunately for him, it didn't, and the Mulldrifter he just countered is going to be back along with its two other flying fish friends. (If you couldn't guess, this question wasn't really about Bloodbond March.)

Q. Oh no! Cheerleading practice ran late and now I'm late for the tournament! Can I still sign up, Judge Paskoff?
A. Whoa, settle down there honey! The TO, at their discretion, can allow someone to enter a tournament any time before round one is over. I'll do it as long as you have a good reason for being late, and don't make a habit of it. If there's a bye and you show up within a reasonable amount of time (within ten minutes), you'll get paired with whoever has the bye. If it's longer than that though or there is no bye, you'll get entered as a late entry. It's sort of like a bye, except you get no points for it, as opposed to a real bye where you get 3 points. It's not a win or a loss, really... though it is more like a loss.

==BECOMING A JUDGE==

I've had a bunch of people come up to me and ask me what it takes to become a judge and how to start the whole process off. Becoming a judge isn't as easy as simply knowing the rules and taking a test, it requires a lot of commitment and dedication, as well as policy knowledge.

The first goal you should work towards is passing the Rules Advisor test on judge.wizards.com/exams.aspx. (You'll need your DCI number and password to login.) Being a Rules Advisor basically means you know the rules well enough that you can reliably answer rules questions. It's not actually a "judge" title, but being a Rules Advisor shows that you know the rules and any level 3 or higher judge (any judge can be a mentor, but only L3 and higher judges can test you) who might test you will take you much more seriously if you've passed the Rules Advisor test. But before you actually take that, you should take some of the practice exams offered on the site, because there's a waiting period to be able to retake the Rules Advisor exam. So start off with the easy exams and once you get confident in those, start taking the hard exams. The Rules Advisor test is somewhere in between those two difficulties.

Eric Smith is the local L3 judge for our area, and if you ever take the L1 exam, he'll most likely be the one giving it to you. He (or any judge you certify under) will want to see you judge at least two big events such as a prerelease or PTQ. Those events are often twelve hour work days with only a short lunch break, and those are the easy events! Just as an example, at GP Philadelphia last month, I was on the floor for a good 16 hours on that Saturday, answering rules questions, watching for infractions, cleaning off tables, putting up pairings, checking decklists, and so on, and it was some of the most fun I've ever had. If that sounds like fun to you, you should see a psychologist and/or take the L1 exam.

There's a lot of good resources on the web for rules info, some of the best being Cranial Insertion on mtgsalvation.com, Ask the Judge on starcitygames.com, and of course *cough* the Islandhome newsletter's rules column, but keep in mind older columns may be out of date as the rules of Magic are constantly changing. Once you pass the Rules Advisor exam, you'll be added to the [O]fficial rules mailing list for the DCI, MTGRULES-L. (By the way one of the authors of Cranial Insertion, Eli Shiffrin, was one of my best mentors when preparing for my L1 and is instrumental in helping me prepare for my L2 exam.)

Policy is a little harder to study, since you're not always using it when playing Magic. The best way to study these is to read the guidelines on your own, then watch how judges at your local events handle things.

The Comprehensive Rules, the big book of Magic rules, is available here, and the Penalty Guidelines, Magic Floor Rules, and Universal Floor Rules, all of which are on the L1 exam, are located at the DCI Document Center.

If anyone is really looking to become a judge, feel free to talk to me about it! While I can't give you the test to certify you, I can help mentor you and keep you on the right track.

==UPCOMING EVENTS==

April 19th-20th: Shadowmoor Prerelease
Long Island and New York City prereleases will be held on Saturday the 19th, and New York City on the 20th. Read The Rumor Mill forum on MTGSalvation.com as we get closer to the release date for up to date information. I'll be head judging the Long Island prerelease and more than likely judging the Sunday prerelease in the city.

Summer 2008: PTQ Season for Berlin
The next PTQ season starts this summer, and it's going to be Lorwyn Block Constructed! Lorwyn block will consist of Lorwyn, Morningtide, and Shadowmoor. Eventide won't be available during the beginning of the PTQ season, and I'm not sure if it'll be released in time for the end of it. I don't have a date yet on the official start of the PTQ season, but I should know relatively soon. To help prepare for it, I'm going to try to sanction some Block Constructed tournaments after Shadowmoor is released.

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Friday and Saturday are gonna be huge! It'll be nice to judge at my local hangouts again.

By the way, I'm trying to expand Islandhome to get out to more people, so if you know anyone who wants the newsletter, tell them to send me their email!

-Brian Paskoff