****Update Dec 5: I can't stick around tonight, so there won't be magicking! This draft is cancelled!****
Hello all!
Wednesday of this week (Dec. 5) is the best day for magic, so let's do it! I think we'll plan on doing some sort of limited team format. Thus, it'll probably be a draft, but there will be teams since we'll likely have lots of people not used to drafting. Probable options are: Emperor, 2HG, Tag-Team or Archenemy. If you've got another idea, just let me know.
I would guess that we'll start around 6:10ish. (We'll probably go until 10 or 11; maybe not quite as late.) As normal, let me know if you think you'll be running late; we can start later. I'll bring a few decks so we can play a bit before things get started. Naturally, if you show up early, feel free to come extract me from my office (329R).
The cost is $10 for three packs. I'll have plenty of basic land.
I won't post my phone number here, but feel free to email me and I can give it to you. :)
Awesome! :-D
If you are planning on coming, it would be helpful for you to let me know. Either email me or post here. (Please don't do both or I'll double count you.)
Bonus! :)
Sunday, December 2, 2012
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
End-of-Semester Magicking!
This week is Thanksgiving. After that there are two more weeks of classes. Let's play some magic! :-D
There was some clamoring for a casual constructed night. Also some people are interested in drafting. Hmmm... I think we should probably shoot for a casual draftish thing. Perhaps some sort of team format will work well.
We also really need to determine what our constructed WittCon event will be. I'm thinking along the lines of EDH. Last year fell through a little bit because only two people built decks for the format; it is probably better to have deck construction be less stringent. (Despite the fact that I love crazy constructed formats!) So, should we talk about this at our next event or should I start a separate blog post about that? Please let me know!
Either respond to my email or post here about which nights are good for you in the final 2 weeks of class (Mon-Thurs are what I'm looking for usually). I can already tell you that Thursday, Nov. 29th is not going to work.
Awesome! See you all soon! :-D
There was some clamoring for a casual constructed night. Also some people are interested in drafting. Hmmm... I think we should probably shoot for a casual draftish thing. Perhaps some sort of team format will work well.
We also really need to determine what our constructed WittCon event will be. I'm thinking along the lines of EDH. Last year fell through a little bit because only two people built decks for the format; it is probably better to have deck construction be less stringent. (Despite the fact that I love crazy constructed formats!) So, should we talk about this at our next event or should I start a separate blog post about that? Please let me know!
Either respond to my email or post here about which nights are good for you in the final 2 weeks of class (Mon-Thurs are what I'm looking for usually). I can already tell you that Thursday, Nov. 29th is not going to work.
Awesome! See you all soon! :-D
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Tested out a Tag Team Format
At the last Wittenberg draft, we had four people and decided to try out a Tag Team format. This idea was first formulated by Don Goldin many years ago. I don't know how faithful I recalled his original idea, but however well we (Patrick, Nathan, Earl and I) figured it out, it was lots of fun!
The basic idea is that you have two teams of two players. One player from each team is inside the ring at any point in time, facing down one of their opponents. Players can switch places by paying ever-increasing amounts of mana. While "in the ring", that player can attack and target their opponent, etc. While outside the ring, that player still takes turns, etc, as usual, but can't attack or target anything any other player controls. Any spells they cast only affect their own board state.
Here are some more specific rules:
We played two games, using different rules for tagging out. In the first game, the first swap per team cost 3 colorless mana, and went up by 1 each time. Either player could activate the swap.
In the second game, the first swap cost 1 colorless, but only the player in the ring could ever pay the mana to tag out.
To set up, we drafted like normal (triple Return to Ravnica) sitting across from our teammate. I decided to change my strategy in two ways. First, I would be on the look out for cards that would be good to play while I was tagged out (this led me to value Inspiration highly and take it early). Second, I figured we would be able to set up a long game, so I didn't mind taking cards with high casting costs. When all was said and done, I had something like 6 cards with CMC 7 or more. (I also didn't mind dipping into all 5 colors, but that is not a change from my usual drafting strategy. :-P) Looking back, I would probably value targetted removal slightly lower since teams can always swap places to fizzle those spells.
This wound up working out really well as Earl drafted Rakdos-Golgari. We were good to go: he started both games in the ring, going aggro, and we tagged it up as necessary. Tapping out became a more dangerous move since not only did it mean that you didn't have any tricks, but it also meant you couldn't swap in or out unexpectedly. Even though we only swapped about 5 times per game per team (an estimate) the potential to swap was often a big deterrent to opposing plans. I don't think I ever felt like I had too much untapped land available.
It's important to note that these games tended to run long. Even longer than 2HG, probably because although there are less card interactions going on at any one time, there are still a large number of potential interactions, thus making decisions about when to switch really tough.
We discussed adding a mechanism for one team forcing another to swap. That could be very nice. In either case, both of the variants we used were awesome; I definitely want to play this again!
Think of something we didn't? Anything I forgot to mention? Questions? What can be done to nail down the rules for this more?
Also, if you give Tag Team a try with your play group, I want to hear about it! :)
The basic idea is that you have two teams of two players. One player from each team is inside the ring at any point in time, facing down one of their opponents. Players can switch places by paying ever-increasing amounts of mana. While "in the ring", that player can attack and target their opponent, etc. While outside the ring, that player still takes turns, etc, as usual, but can't attack or target anything any other player controls. Any spells they cast only affect their own board state.
Here are some more specific rules:
- Each team takes a simultaneous turn.
- The swapping of players can be activated whenever a player has priority.
- Swapping places costs colorless mana to activate. The amount of mana is exactly one more than the last time that team activated it. (We had different starting values; see below.)
- Players cannot swap out during combat after blockers have been declared. If the defending team swaps places before blockers are declared, all attacking creatures are still attacking, and the newly in-the-ring player is the new defender. If the attacking team swaps places (also before blocking) all those attacking creatures leave combat and there are now no creatures attacking.
- Targets of spells and abilities opponents control "vanish" when their controller tags out. This can cause those spells and abilities to be countered as normal.
- The effect of swapping places does use the stack.
- Permanents owned by players who are out of the ring do not die just because they are in another player's zone. This became important because my team (me and Earl) used Stab Wound to kill Nathan in the second game.
We played two games, using different rules for tagging out. In the first game, the first swap per team cost 3 colorless mana, and went up by 1 each time. Either player could activate the swap.
In the second game, the first swap cost 1 colorless, but only the player in the ring could ever pay the mana to tag out.
To set up, we drafted like normal (triple Return to Ravnica) sitting across from our teammate. I decided to change my strategy in two ways. First, I would be on the look out for cards that would be good to play while I was tagged out (this led me to value Inspiration highly and take it early). Second, I figured we would be able to set up a long game, so I didn't mind taking cards with high casting costs. When all was said and done, I had something like 6 cards with CMC 7 or more. (I also didn't mind dipping into all 5 colors, but that is not a change from my usual drafting strategy. :-P) Looking back, I would probably value targetted removal slightly lower since teams can always swap places to fizzle those spells.
This wound up working out really well as Earl drafted Rakdos-Golgari. We were good to go: he started both games in the ring, going aggro, and we tagged it up as necessary. Tapping out became a more dangerous move since not only did it mean that you didn't have any tricks, but it also meant you couldn't swap in or out unexpectedly. Even though we only swapped about 5 times per game per team (an estimate) the potential to swap was often a big deterrent to opposing plans. I don't think I ever felt like I had too much untapped land available.
It's important to note that these games tended to run long. Even longer than 2HG, probably because although there are less card interactions going on at any one time, there are still a large number of potential interactions, thus making decisions about when to switch really tough.
We discussed adding a mechanism for one team forcing another to swap. That could be very nice. In either case, both of the variants we used were awesome; I definitely want to play this again!
Think of something we didn't? Anything I forgot to mention? Questions? What can be done to nail down the rules for this more?
Also, if you give Tag Team a try with your play group, I want to hear about it! :)
Monday, October 29, 2012
One More Before Thanksgiving?
Wanna get together one more time before Thanksgiving? Cool! We need to pick some time in the next two weeks, because after that I will be gone for a full week. Again, we're looking for evenings, MTWTh, starting around 6.
I guess it's not clear whether we'll play constructed or limited. If you've got a preference, let me know! :)
I guess it's not clear whether we'll play constructed or limited. If you've got a preference, let me know! :)
Saturday, October 13, 2012
Alternative Formats I've Tried
When Fallen Empires was released in my first year of Magic playing, I set up a rainbow match with four of my friends. We each chose a color (I greedily grabbed green; the one stuck with red complained rightfully) spent a while building our decks then sat in our respective places (see the back of any card for an illustration). Each player was teammates with their two neighbors and opponents with the two sitting across. If any two teammates died, their shared opponent would walk out of the game a winner.
I was super interested to see how the politics would play out. Who would die first? Who would be the first winner?
Instead the black and white players executed a planned partnership and quickly took out the other three players. The Star format---specifically the rule of not-being-able-to-attack-teammates---didn't exist yet. Sadly another game was not to be had. It wasn't until 2002 that I tried another set-specific rainbow game with some college friends and a box of Onslaught.
Here's a list of alternate formats I've been a part of. Some are limited-specific, others constructed. Some I've tried only once or twice, while others I've played tons of times. Many of them are combinable; feel free to mash together as many as you like!
No doubt I'll forget some and have to add to this list. If you know of formats I really should try, please let me know!
*********************
Emperor (best as a Draft): This is my favorite 6-person limited format. I recommend giving everyone the same "target range" of either 1 or 2. If the emperors can start off targeting the lieutenants, but they can't target the emperor back, it can become a little frustrating for the lieutenants. I think I've had the most success using a range of 2, because otherwise the emperors are mostly limited picking up spells that pump and protect their lieutenants creatures. Ranges of 2 make the drafting a bit less predictable. In the past, I've always played the game with 6 separate turns per round, but I would really like to try team turns in the past. Once in 2005, I managed to gather 11 other people (Donny G saved us by being that last person) for a four-team emperor draft tournament. It was awesome! If you have 6 people about to draft, see if you can convince them to do this instead.
Group Game Draft: I just tried this over the summer with three friends from Boston University. It was awesome! Great for 4-6 people if you want to draft a fourth pack and have aggressive matches.
Winston Draft: This is the best way to draft for two people, and also works great for three. I don't know if I've done this with more, but I would probably add more piles.
Cutthroat: The best way to play a game with three people. Normal 3-player games can suffer from extra politics and drag on longer than desired. Kevin Chudyk explained this format to me: when you attack, all creatures attack both opponents instead of just one apiece. Those players assign blockers together, and any damage that gets through (unblocked or by trampling, etc) is dealt to both defending players. There are some additional effects I'm not sure how to handle, but I raised the point in this reddit.com post. (For example, what happens when Thieving Magpie deals combat damage to both opponents? What happens if one of your opponents has Teferi's Moat out?)
Rainbow-Star: A five-player format based on colors. Each player chooses a color and builds a deck with spells of only that color, then sit around the table arranged as on the back of a magic card. Each player has two teammates (those sitting next to them) and two opponents (those sitting across from them). You may not attack your teammates. You win if you kill both your opponents (at that point you leave the game as a winner. This is fun to do if you open a box of a set with little or no multi-colored cards and divide them amongst five players. Best when combined with Cutthroat as described below.
Star: A five-player format not tied to specific colors. As above, but players can run whichever cards they like. Drafting to play this format is fun! Best when combined with Cutthroat as described below.
Cutthroat Star: A combination of Cutthroat and Star (both above). When a player attacks, they attack both opponents, just as in cutthroat. Also just as with 3-players, cutthroat speeds the game up and keeps some adverse effects of politics low.
Deckmaster: An intense format that can be combined with 1-pack sealed or draft. In deckmaster, there is little need to shuffle your deck. At the beginning of the game, you choose whatever 7-card hand you like. Then, whenever you have priority, you may rearrange the order of cards in your deck. This format was taught to me by Ben "JC" Allen. I haven't found the web resource he learned it from, but it's an extremely intense format. Even with only 15 spells, games take a long time. As JC put it, this format will improve your magic playing.
Archenemy Draft: A one-versus-all draft format. Choose one person to be the Archenemy, then draft as normal. When playing, the Archenemy uses a deck of scheme cards (we just shuffled all of the schemes together into one massive deck), then play as normal. I've only done this once: 3 versus 1, and it went pretty well: 2-1 for the archenemy.
Anaconda Draft: Ever wanted to change drafting strategy mid-pack? Stuff back some cards you took already to get more choices! Compatible with any other draft format.
Back Draft: Ever wanted to play a format where everyone has a terrible limited deck? Note: DO NOT combine this with a Winston draft!
Two-Headed Giant: How have you not played this yet? My favorite part about prereleases is playing with people you know. The shoft-lived team-sealed didn't cut it because you weren't supposed to be talking to your team. How is that fun?
Wacky Draft: Want to see how cards interact across blocks in limited? Bring whatever three packs you want to a wacky draft and open them in any order. Note: for packs with less than 12 cards, you'll need to open two of them instead of one. Compatible with any draft format.
Progressive Draft: One-on-one tournament drafting for many people. Each round you shuffle your and your new opponents' card pool from the previous round, then draft with those 90 cards (build random 15-card packs or, probably better, Winston Draft them). After that match, take your new card pool to the next round and draft them again.
Ironman Magic: In this format you get to tear up cards. We did this once with Unhinged; it was very satisfying!
Zombie Horde Magic: Need a co-operative adventure? (I still need ~30 zombie tokens to complete my deck...)
Danger Room Magic: Help teach new magickers to play by using the same exciting deck.
OneCC: Which casting cost is the best? This is a constructed format where each deck uses non-basic-land cards that all have the exact same casting cost. I've seen some awesome decks with costs R, B, 2GG, and... um... no cost. Important: this enforces exactly casting cost not converted casting cost. That means Tundra Wolves and Boros Recruit cannot be in the same deck. The same is true of Memnite and Pendelhaven. I most recently ran a Modern tournament that luckily banned Hypergenesis. Still, R was incredibly good and probably deserves a ban... assuming anyone was playing this format.
Pauper: A constructed format that allows commons only.
Peasant: Similar to Pauper, but you are allowed five uncommons.
Choose-Your-Own-Standard: Which standard deck was the best? A constructed format where each player picks two successive blocks and a core set that was legal with both of them to build their deck from. Adhere to block bannings (otherwise you'll see lots of Raffinity).
Build-Your-Own-Standard: Which blocks should have been legal together? Just like Choose-Your-Own-Standard, except that you can use whichever two blocks you like, as well as any core set. Usually we restrict this to sets since Sixth edition.
Mental Magic: Play whatever card of the same casting cost you want. Your brain will hurt. Have fun! Excellent if there is an unwanted stack of commons left over from a draft.
Bounties: Want to coerce other players to destroy permanents or people? Whenever you have priority, you can pay X life to put a bounty of X on a permanent or player. When that permanent or player is removed from play, whomever controlled that effect gains that X life, so long as it wasn't the same person that declared the bounty. Start with 30 life apiece and enjoy games that drag out way longer than they should. I played a lot of this between 1995 and 1997.
Mercenary: We never got these rules nailed down, but we were young enough that it didn't matter. There were two "Lords" who were trying to kill each other and everyone else were mercenaries, fighting amongst themselves. Lords were not adjacent to each other and had to "march" creatures through mercenaries' territories. It was loads of fun, but not well-defined.
*********************
Here are some formats I've never played (but want to). If you have any other suggestions, please let me know!
Grand Melee Magic.
Tag-Team: I really want to give this a try!
Rooster Draft.
I was super interested to see how the politics would play out. Who would die first? Who would be the first winner?
Instead the black and white players executed a planned partnership and quickly took out the other three players. The Star format---specifically the rule of not-being-able-to-attack-teammates---didn't exist yet. Sadly another game was not to be had. It wasn't until 2002 that I tried another set-specific rainbow game with some college friends and a box of Onslaught.
Here's a list of alternate formats I've been a part of. Some are limited-specific, others constructed. Some I've tried only once or twice, while others I've played tons of times. Many of them are combinable; feel free to mash together as many as you like!
No doubt I'll forget some and have to add to this list. If you know of formats I really should try, please let me know!
*********************
Emperor (best as a Draft): This is my favorite 6-person limited format. I recommend giving everyone the same "target range" of either 1 or 2. If the emperors can start off targeting the lieutenants, but they can't target the emperor back, it can become a little frustrating for the lieutenants. I think I've had the most success using a range of 2, because otherwise the emperors are mostly limited picking up spells that pump and protect their lieutenants creatures. Ranges of 2 make the drafting a bit less predictable. In the past, I've always played the game with 6 separate turns per round, but I would really like to try team turns in the past. Once in 2005, I managed to gather 11 other people (Donny G saved us by being that last person) for a four-team emperor draft tournament. It was awesome! If you have 6 people about to draft, see if you can convince them to do this instead.
Group Game Draft: I just tried this over the summer with three friends from Boston University. It was awesome! Great for 4-6 people if you want to draft a fourth pack and have aggressive matches.
Winston Draft: This is the best way to draft for two people, and also works great for three. I don't know if I've done this with more, but I would probably add more piles.
Cutthroat: The best way to play a game with three people. Normal 3-player games can suffer from extra politics and drag on longer than desired. Kevin Chudyk explained this format to me: when you attack, all creatures attack both opponents instead of just one apiece. Those players assign blockers together, and any damage that gets through (unblocked or by trampling, etc) is dealt to both defending players. There are some additional effects I'm not sure how to handle, but I raised the point in this reddit.com post. (For example, what happens when Thieving Magpie deals combat damage to both opponents? What happens if one of your opponents has Teferi's Moat out?)
Rainbow-Star: A five-player format based on colors. Each player chooses a color and builds a deck with spells of only that color, then sit around the table arranged as on the back of a magic card. Each player has two teammates (those sitting next to them) and two opponents (those sitting across from them). You may not attack your teammates. You win if you kill both your opponents (at that point you leave the game as a winner. This is fun to do if you open a box of a set with little or no multi-colored cards and divide them amongst five players. Best when combined with Cutthroat as described below.
Star: A five-player format not tied to specific colors. As above, but players can run whichever cards they like. Drafting to play this format is fun! Best when combined with Cutthroat as described below.
Cutthroat Star: A combination of Cutthroat and Star (both above). When a player attacks, they attack both opponents, just as in cutthroat. Also just as with 3-players, cutthroat speeds the game up and keeps some adverse effects of politics low.
Deckmaster: An intense format that can be combined with 1-pack sealed or draft. In deckmaster, there is little need to shuffle your deck. At the beginning of the game, you choose whatever 7-card hand you like. Then, whenever you have priority, you may rearrange the order of cards in your deck. This format was taught to me by Ben "JC" Allen. I haven't found the web resource he learned it from, but it's an extremely intense format. Even with only 15 spells, games take a long time. As JC put it, this format will improve your magic playing.
Archenemy Draft: A one-versus-all draft format. Choose one person to be the Archenemy, then draft as normal. When playing, the Archenemy uses a deck of scheme cards (we just shuffled all of the schemes together into one massive deck), then play as normal. I've only done this once: 3 versus 1, and it went pretty well: 2-1 for the archenemy.
Anaconda Draft: Ever wanted to change drafting strategy mid-pack? Stuff back some cards you took already to get more choices! Compatible with any other draft format.
Back Draft: Ever wanted to play a format where everyone has a terrible limited deck? Note: DO NOT combine this with a Winston draft!
Two-Headed Giant: How have you not played this yet? My favorite part about prereleases is playing with people you know. The shoft-lived team-sealed didn't cut it because you weren't supposed to be talking to your team. How is that fun?
Wacky Draft: Want to see how cards interact across blocks in limited? Bring whatever three packs you want to a wacky draft and open them in any order. Note: for packs with less than 12 cards, you'll need to open two of them instead of one. Compatible with any draft format.
Progressive Draft: One-on-one tournament drafting for many people. Each round you shuffle your and your new opponents' card pool from the previous round, then draft with those 90 cards (build random 15-card packs or, probably better, Winston Draft them). After that match, take your new card pool to the next round and draft them again.
Ironman Magic: In this format you get to tear up cards. We did this once with Unhinged; it was very satisfying!
Zombie Horde Magic: Need a co-operative adventure? (I still need ~30 zombie tokens to complete my deck...)
Danger Room Magic: Help teach new magickers to play by using the same exciting deck.
OneCC: Which casting cost is the best? This is a constructed format where each deck uses non-basic-land cards that all have the exact same casting cost. I've seen some awesome decks with costs R, B, 2GG, and... um... no cost. Important: this enforces exactly casting cost not converted casting cost. That means Tundra Wolves and Boros Recruit cannot be in the same deck. The same is true of Memnite and Pendelhaven. I most recently ran a Modern tournament that luckily banned Hypergenesis. Still, R was incredibly good and probably deserves a ban... assuming anyone was playing this format.
Pauper: A constructed format that allows commons only.
Peasant: Similar to Pauper, but you are allowed five uncommons.
Choose-Your-Own-Standard: Which standard deck was the best? A constructed format where each player picks two successive blocks and a core set that was legal with both of them to build their deck from. Adhere to block bannings (otherwise you'll see lots of Raffinity).
Build-Your-Own-Standard: Which blocks should have been legal together? Just like Choose-Your-Own-Standard, except that you can use whichever two blocks you like, as well as any core set. Usually we restrict this to sets since Sixth edition.
Mental Magic: Play whatever card of the same casting cost you want. Your brain will hurt. Have fun! Excellent if there is an unwanted stack of commons left over from a draft.
Bounties: Want to coerce other players to destroy permanents or people? Whenever you have priority, you can pay X life to put a bounty of X on a permanent or player. When that permanent or player is removed from play, whomever controlled that effect gains that X life, so long as it wasn't the same person that declared the bounty. Start with 30 life apiece and enjoy games that drag out way longer than they should. I played a lot of this between 1995 and 1997.
Mercenary: We never got these rules nailed down, but we were young enough that it didn't matter. There were two "Lords" who were trying to kill each other and everyone else were mercenaries, fighting amongst themselves. Lords were not adjacent to each other and had to "march" creatures through mercenaries' territories. It was loads of fun, but not well-defined.
*********************
Here are some formats I've never played (but want to). If you have any other suggestions, please let me know!
Grand Melee Magic.
Tag-Team: I really want to give this a try!
Rooster Draft.
Friday, October 12, 2012
Drafting on Thursday, Oct. 18! :)
Drafting on Thursday! As usual, we'll try to start around 6:15. This
is a draft, so it will cost $10 (or you can bring your own packs). I
have lots of Return to Ravnica, and I expect that I will still have lots
of it! :)
I think we may have a bunch of people come who are new to drafting. Because of that, I'll try to push for some kind of team format. If anyone hates that, let me know! Being able to consult with teammates about drafting tactics and/or deck-building tactics could be very helpful to many.
Awesome! :)
I think we may have a bunch of people come who are new to drafting. Because of that, I'll try to push for some kind of team format. If anyone hates that, let me know! Being able to consult with teammates about drafting tactics and/or deck-building tactics could be very helpful to many.
Awesome! :)
Friday, September 28, 2012
Drafting in the next two weeks
When should we do it? Which evenings are you free? Let me know!
Email me or leave a comment below! :)
Email me or leave a comment below! :)
Thursday, September 6, 2012
Next time: Casual Constructed Evening
EDIT: Wednesday, Sept. 19: Moving the meeting a week back due to illness. We will meet at the same time, but on Sept. 26th instead. Hope to see many of you then! :-D
Hey all,
let's have a casual constructed event next time. (That means it's totally free to show up!) Let me know when you're free over the next few weeks. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights are all possibilities (up through Sept. 20). Send me an email or reply right here. :-D
I've got plenty of extra decks I can bring, as well as planes for planechasing and schemes for archenemying.
I'm working on putting together enough zombies for this co-op format. (I still need 33 2/2 zombie and 3 5/5 zombie giant tokens. If you have some and want to donate them, please let me know. If you're looking for other tokens, I'm happy to donate mine to you!) I'd also like to put together a danger room deck to help people learn to play. That sounds like a really cool format, but I certainly haven't put together a deck yet.
Alum Aaron Dugger has put together a cube, which I'm sure he'd like to draft soon too!
In case you haven't seen my GoogleTalk bot, send a message to cardpricemonkey@gmail.com. That has access to my entire collection and also has my want list. There are over 21,000 cards listed! (I still haven't added the cards from Tuesday's draft.)
Let me know when you might be free in the next two weeks! Let's play some magic!
Hey all,
let's have a casual constructed event next time. (That means it's totally free to show up!) Let me know when you're free over the next few weeks. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights are all possibilities (up through Sept. 20). Send me an email or reply right here. :-D
I've got plenty of extra decks I can bring, as well as planes for planechasing and schemes for archenemying.
I'm working on putting together enough zombies for this co-op format. (I still need 33 2/2 zombie and 3 5/5 zombie giant tokens. If you have some and want to donate them, please let me know. If you're looking for other tokens, I'm happy to donate mine to you!) I'd also like to put together a danger room deck to help people learn to play. That sounds like a really cool format, but I certainly haven't put together a deck yet.
Alum Aaron Dugger has put together a cube, which I'm sure he'd like to draft soon too!
In case you haven't seen my GoogleTalk bot, send a message to cardpricemonkey@gmail.com. That has access to my entire collection and also has my want list. There are over 21,000 cards listed! (I still haven't added the cards from Tuesday's draft.)
Let me know when you might be free in the next two weeks! Let's play some magic!
Friday, August 31, 2012
First Witt Draft of 2012-13
Hey gang! After tallying the emails, here's what's going down:
A wacky draft! Either bring any three 15-card packs, or get them from me when you show up ($10).
Tuesday, Sept. 4, room 327 in the science building. We'll try to start by 6pm (I'll be there a bit early).
A wacky draft! Either bring any three 15-card packs, or get them from me when you show up ($10).
Tuesday, Sept. 4, room 327 in the science building. We'll try to start by 6pm (I'll be there a bit early).
Monday, August 27, 2012
First Magicking of 2012-2013
When and what should we do? A draft? Some chaotic planechase games?
Let's get together in the next two weeks and play some magic. Let me know which evenings you're free. Usually Monday - Thursday evenings from about 5:30 to 10ish is what we choose from. In the case of a draft or something, we can wait a little bit for someone if necessary.
We should also figure out what to do for WittCon. We usually do a sealed tournament and some sort of wacky constructed tournament. I was thinking EDH combined with Star/Emperor/2HG depending on the number of people. In the past we've had really strict deck construction rules and haven't seen many people build decks, so it might be better to shoot for something more mainstream this year.
Finally, there are a bunch of colleges nearby. Does anybody know of good rules to have a tournament with two opposing sides? It could be fun to challenge another school to some magic and use a format that pits us versus them.
Happy new semester! Let me know when you're free in the next two weeks! If you'd rather draft or not, I want to hear about those preferences! (It might be that we have enough people to have some drafting and others playing constructed.)
Either respond here or email me! :)
Let's get together in the next two weeks and play some magic. Let me know which evenings you're free. Usually Monday - Thursday evenings from about 5:30 to 10ish is what we choose from. In the case of a draft or something, we can wait a little bit for someone if necessary.
We should also figure out what to do for WittCon. We usually do a sealed tournament and some sort of wacky constructed tournament. I was thinking EDH combined with Star/Emperor/2HG depending on the number of people. In the past we've had really strict deck construction rules and haven't seen many people build decks, so it might be better to shoot for something more mainstream this year.
Finally, there are a bunch of colleges nearby. Does anybody know of good rules to have a tournament with two opposing sides? It could be fun to challenge another school to some magic and use a format that pits us versus them.
Happy new semester! Let me know when you're free in the next two weeks! If you'd rather draft or not, I want to hear about those preferences! (It might be that we have enough people to have some drafting and others playing constructed.)
Either respond here or email me! :)
Saturday, June 30, 2012
Archenemy Draft Results
Okay, that was really fun!
Sadly, due to a big storm, it was only me versus a team of three. Still, it went very well. I won 2 of 3 games, so it wasn't a complete blow out. Game 1 I ended up with life comfortably in the twenties or thirties. Game 2 I lost, but game 3 I was down to 13.
I opened M 2012 first, then Zendikar, then Rise of the Eldrazi. The three players drafted a total of 4 Avacyn, 2 Dark Ascension, 1 Innistrad, 1 Zendikar and 1 Eventide.
My deck consisted of:
Creatures:
Kozilek, Butcher of Truth (Thank you, Eldrazi!),
Gravetiller Wurm,
Aerie Ouphes,
Wolfir Silverheart,
Spitemare,
2 Gryff Vanguards,
Nephalia Smuggler,
Gravedigger,
Village Bell-Ringer (What a bomb!),
Spectral Gateguards,
Geist Trappers,
Heartstabber Mosquito,
Oran-Rief Recluse,
Other Spells:
Harrowing Journey,
Spidersilk Net,
Rush of Blood,
Mind Control (Picked this over Flameblast Dragon; not sure if that was a good move),
Banishing Stroke,
Terrifying Presence,
Recumbent Bliss,
Mark of Mutiny,
Shattered Perception (I never should have run this.)
Land:
Evolving Wilds,
Graypelt Refuge,
Soaring Seacliff (Used this as janky removal in 2 games with the Aerie Ouphes and the Oran-Rief Recluse!),
3 each of Swamp, Mountain, Forest, Plains,
2 Island
The heroes came up with the plan of divvying out colors partially ahead of time, which I think was really smart. We didn't allow "table talk" during the drafting, but collaboration ahead of time was okay. They agreed to each choose one color (Green, White and Blue) and then splash the other two (Red and Black) as they saw fit. As it wound up, they each played their main color and also Red!
I think with 4 or 5 heroes, they probably could have taken another game from me, but it's not obvious. It was a little lopsided on drafting experience also; one of them drafts a lot, another has drafted a few times before (I don't know exactly) but for the third, it was their first draft.
Sadly, due to a big storm, it was only me versus a team of three. Still, it went very well. I won 2 of 3 games, so it wasn't a complete blow out. Game 1 I ended up with life comfortably in the twenties or thirties. Game 2 I lost, but game 3 I was down to 13.
I opened M 2012 first, then Zendikar, then Rise of the Eldrazi. The three players drafted a total of 4 Avacyn, 2 Dark Ascension, 1 Innistrad, 1 Zendikar and 1 Eventide.
My deck consisted of:
Creatures:
Kozilek, Butcher of Truth (Thank you, Eldrazi!),
Gravetiller Wurm,
Aerie Ouphes,
Wolfir Silverheart,
Spitemare,
2 Gryff Vanguards,
Nephalia Smuggler,
Gravedigger,
Village Bell-Ringer (What a bomb!),
Spectral Gateguards,
Geist Trappers,
Heartstabber Mosquito,
Oran-Rief Recluse,
Other Spells:
Harrowing Journey,
Spidersilk Net,
Rush of Blood,
Mind Control (Picked this over Flameblast Dragon; not sure if that was a good move),
Banishing Stroke,
Terrifying Presence,
Recumbent Bliss,
Mark of Mutiny,
Shattered Perception (I never should have run this.)
Land:
Evolving Wilds,
Graypelt Refuge,
Soaring Seacliff (Used this as janky removal in 2 games with the Aerie Ouphes and the Oran-Rief Recluse!),
3 each of Swamp, Mountain, Forest, Plains,
2 Island
The heroes came up with the plan of divvying out colors partially ahead of time, which I think was really smart. We didn't allow "table talk" during the drafting, but collaboration ahead of time was okay. They agreed to each choose one color (Green, White and Blue) and then splash the other two (Red and Black) as they saw fit. As it wound up, they each played their main color and also Red!
I think with 4 or 5 heroes, they probably could have taken another game from me, but it's not obvious. It was a little lopsided on drafting experience also; one of them drafts a lot, another has drafted a few times before (I don't know exactly) but for the third, it was their first draft.
Monday, June 25, 2012
Archenemy Draft?
I sent out an email at the end of last week about trying to integrate drafting with the Archenemy multiplayer rules. The idea is to draft like normal, but one will be the archenemy, facing off against the rest of the players afterwards. They will get to use the cards they drafted, but will also have all the scheme cards (used in the same way as Archenemy, but with the whole bunch of them shuffled together).
I'm ready to be the Archenemy! All we need is a willing bunch of opponents!
If you have any thoughts about this format or know when you would be free during the next week, please let me know. You can either post a comment here or email me (or both). I'll do my best to find a time available to as many people as possible.
Some basic estimates we made were that three or less "heroes" is probably too few to win consistently; four or five is a good challenge; and six and above tips the scales to the heroes' favor. I am really excited to test this out!
I'm ready to be the Archenemy! All we need is a willing bunch of opponents!
If you have any thoughts about this format or know when you would be free during the next week, please let me know. You can either post a comment here or email me (or both). I'll do my best to find a time available to as many people as possible.
Some basic estimates we made were that three or less "heroes" is probably too few to win consistently; four or five is a good challenge; and six and above tips the scales to the heroes' favor. I am really excited to test this out!
Friday, April 13, 2012
Good Articles about Magic Mediocrity
First up is a great article by The Ferret on Star City. How to Be a Mediocre Player contains lots of things even casual players need to pay attention to to get an edge without going full-pro-style. It was written back in 2007, but it's still relevant now. Excellent, simple advice!
Also containing the word "mediocre" is Seven Deadly Sins of Mediocre Magic by Michael Flores. This contains even more tips, but they are mostly directed towards pros and pro-hopefuls.
Enjoy!
Also containing the word "mediocre" is Seven Deadly Sins of Mediocre Magic by Michael Flores. This contains even more tips, but they are mostly directed towards pros and pro-hopefuls.
Enjoy!
Sunday, March 25, 2012
WittCon IX Wrap-Up (First Event: Modern OneCC)
Yesterday's magicking was fun!
We had five players in the Modern OneCC tournament, so we managed to complete a round-robin tournament before 3pm.
The format for this tournament was probably too restrictive; four of the decks were mine. Here were the five decks:
Aaron built his own deck with the casting cost of R, which went 4-0 and won the tournament. He only lost one game to Phil.
Darren came in second, playing an Aura-based 1W. This deck included: Spirit Loop, Eland Umbra, Kor Spiritdancer, Auratog, Pacifism, Forced Worship, Revered Dead, Kami of Ancient Law, Indomitable Will, Gather the Townsfolk, Benalish Cavalry, and Niblis of the Urn. Darren went 3-1.
Third was Phil, playing 3G to a record of 2-2. This deck had: Vital Splicer, Pouncing Wurm, Llanowar Empath, Timbermare, Mold Shambler, Patagia Viper, Wickerbough Elder, Ambassador Oak, Giant Spider, Timbermaw Larva, Wildslayer Elves, and Briarhorn.
I came in fourth at 1-3 playing 3R centered around Pandemonium. As well as Pandemonium, the deck had Lightning Elemental, Coal Stoker, Nova Chaser, Changeling Berserker, Tormentor Exarch, Hammerheim Deadeye, Needlepeak Spider and Vengeful Firebrand. This deck was a blast to play. Unfortunately, I think a CC of 4 is too high to compete with many decks.
Brian, playing magic for the first time (whoa!) took over 1U. He won no rounds, but did beat me in one game. This deck had: Hada Spy Patrol, Remove Soul, Dreamscape Artist, Mana Leak, Train of Thought, Willbender, Looter il-Kor, Fathom Seer, Kaijin of the Vanishing Touch, Shapesharer, Dream Stalker, Cloudseeder, Plaxmanta and Ghost-Lit Warder.
I think that next year we should probably go for something a bit more inclusive. Perhaps 2HG EDH. Unfortunately, this means we would need a multiple of 4 people to have everyone participate in each round, which might be tough...
We had five players in the Modern OneCC tournament, so we managed to complete a round-robin tournament before 3pm.
The format for this tournament was probably too restrictive; four of the decks were mine. Here were the five decks:
Aaron built his own deck with the casting cost of R, which went 4-0 and won the tournament. He only lost one game to Phil.
Darren came in second, playing an Aura-based 1W. This deck included: Spirit Loop, Eland Umbra, Kor Spiritdancer, Auratog, Pacifism, Forced Worship, Revered Dead, Kami of Ancient Law, Indomitable Will, Gather the Townsfolk, Benalish Cavalry, and Niblis of the Urn. Darren went 3-1.
Third was Phil, playing 3G to a record of 2-2. This deck had: Vital Splicer, Pouncing Wurm, Llanowar Empath, Timbermare, Mold Shambler, Patagia Viper, Wickerbough Elder, Ambassador Oak, Giant Spider, Timbermaw Larva, Wildslayer Elves, and Briarhorn.
I came in fourth at 1-3 playing 3R centered around Pandemonium. As well as Pandemonium, the deck had Lightning Elemental, Coal Stoker, Nova Chaser, Changeling Berserker, Tormentor Exarch, Hammerheim Deadeye, Needlepeak Spider and Vengeful Firebrand. This deck was a blast to play. Unfortunately, I think a CC of 4 is too high to compete with many decks.
Brian, playing magic for the first time (whoa!) took over 1U. He won no rounds, but did beat me in one game. This deck had: Hada Spy Patrol, Remove Soul, Dreamscape Artist, Mana Leak, Train of Thought, Willbender, Looter il-Kor, Fathom Seer, Kaijin of the Vanishing Touch, Shapesharer, Dream Stalker, Cloudseeder, Plaxmanta and Ghost-Lit Warder.
I think that next year we should probably go for something a bit more inclusive. Perhaps 2HG EDH. Unfortunately, this means we would need a multiple of 4 people to have everyone participate in each round, which might be tough...
Sunday, March 11, 2012
WittCon IX: March 24
Wittenberg's own WittCon returns in two weeks. WittCon IX takes place in the Shouvlin Center on March 24 from 10:45 am to midnight. As with last year, we have both constructed and limited Magic events scheduled. Again, both are oriented to be very casual.
During the first session (11:15 am to 3 pm) we are holding our Modern OneCC tournament. In the OneCC format, all non-basic-land cards in a deck must have the exact same casting cost. Thus, it's not okay for grizzly bears to be in the same deck as incinerate, even though they have the same converted mana cost. It's also not okay for flamebreak and gray ogre to be in the same deck. Be wary of non-basic land! It's not okay for terramorphic expanse and llanowar elves to be in the same deck (sadly). If you want to use any non-basic lands, then all of the other cards cannot have a casting cost either (sorry evermind). 0 is different from nothing, so that even means terramorphic expanse and ornithopter cannot coexist in a deck.
Each of these 60-card decks must adhere to modern deck-building rules, meaning cards can come from 8th edition, Mirrodin block or any more-recent set (not Unhinged). There is a banned list to adhere to, which has a surprisingly large amount of cards! (The loss of hypergenesis probably kills the power of the no-casting-cost deck. Sad!)
I would love to see this format broken. Please do so! I have two decks nearly built, 1U and 1W. The entrance fee is $2 for this constructed event.
For the second gaming session (3:15 - 7 pm) we are holding a wacky sealed tournament. We'll be opening 5 booster packs apiece, then using those cards to build a 40-card deck (I will have basic land available). Players may open whatever 15-card packs they like. Currently the guild has Conflux, Zendikar and Mirrodin Besieged packs available. If you'd rather, you can bring your own packs or mix and match. (I also have a separate collection of packs; let me know beforehand if there's something specific you want.) Packs are $4 apiece through the guild (so $20 if you don't bring any yourself). The entrance fee is $2, but this is waived if you buy packs through the guild.
Dinner is from 7 to 8:15 pm. After that, during the third session (8:15 pm - midnight) we will continue with casual play. I will likely have to leave before this session.
Hope to see you join us for Magicking at WittCon XI!
During the first session (11:15 am to 3 pm) we are holding our Modern OneCC tournament. In the OneCC format, all non-basic-land cards in a deck must have the exact same casting cost. Thus, it's not okay for grizzly bears to be in the same deck as incinerate, even though they have the same converted mana cost. It's also not okay for flamebreak and gray ogre to be in the same deck. Be wary of non-basic land! It's not okay for terramorphic expanse and llanowar elves to be in the same deck (sadly). If you want to use any non-basic lands, then all of the other cards cannot have a casting cost either (sorry evermind). 0 is different from nothing, so that even means terramorphic expanse and ornithopter cannot coexist in a deck.
Each of these 60-card decks must adhere to modern deck-building rules, meaning cards can come from 8th edition, Mirrodin block or any more-recent set (not Unhinged). There is a banned list to adhere to, which has a surprisingly large amount of cards! (The loss of hypergenesis probably kills the power of the no-casting-cost deck. Sad!)
I would love to see this format broken. Please do so! I have two decks nearly built, 1U and 1W. The entrance fee is $2 for this constructed event.
For the second gaming session (3:15 - 7 pm) we are holding a wacky sealed tournament. We'll be opening 5 booster packs apiece, then using those cards to build a 40-card deck (I will have basic land available). Players may open whatever 15-card packs they like. Currently the guild has Conflux, Zendikar and Mirrodin Besieged packs available. If you'd rather, you can bring your own packs or mix and match. (I also have a separate collection of packs; let me know beforehand if there's something specific you want.) Packs are $4 apiece through the guild (so $20 if you don't bring any yourself). The entrance fee is $2, but this is waived if you buy packs through the guild.
Dinner is from 7 to 8:15 pm. After that, during the third session (8:15 pm - midnight) we will continue with casual play. I will likely have to leave before this session.
Hope to see you join us for Magicking at WittCon XI!
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