Bags for EDH Decks

I now have well over 10 EDH decks, so I went looking to find a new solution for storage and transport.  (Even though I've only been carrying them around the house during the pandemic.)

About six years ago I got really excited about using tool boxes.  I got two, one for decks and another for drafting supplies, which stays in my office most of the time.  It works great, but it is a bit heavy.

Time to find a new solution!  Here's what I'm looking for:

• A bag of some sort that will hold 12+ EDH decks (120-card boxes).  The more, the better.
  
• Zipper(s) to close it.
• It can lie down and be opened so that all deck boxes are visible.  (And aren't threatening to fall out.
• Some kind of a handle or strap.  I don't know whether I prefer a backpack or handle or shoulder strap.
• Not crazy expensive.  I especially don't want a big markup because it's marketed for gaming.
  

What I would really like is a shallow 31-style bag, but with a zippered top.  After lots of looking around, that's not really an option, as far as I can tell.  I did look at a lot of bags and some camera bags.  Here's what I did find:

• Gaming Plus Bag from Miniature Market: $40 - Designed for trays of miniatures, but it should hold about 16 decks.
  
• Slim, expandable laptop backpack: $30 - Should hold 16 decks.
• ESDDI Camera Backpack: $55 - Should hold about 15 decks.
• Vanguard 46 Camera Bag: $75 - Should hold 20 decks.
• CADeN Camera Backpack: $40 - Should hold about 15 decks.
• Pirate Lab Large Deck Bag: $75 - Holds 12 decks. 
  

In the end, I decided to try out the CADeN bag.  It had lots of padding and I saw comments about storing magic cards in them.  After trying out a few configurations, I was able to fit 17 EDH decks in, with various kinds and sizes of deck boxes.

 

Here's a video demonstrating the bag with all the decks: 

I can't wait until the pandemic is over so I can take these to go play!

Drafting WUBRG: Theros Beyond Death

I had my first Theros Beyond Death draft last night.  I definitely want to do it more.  I was afraid there wasn't much mana-fixing, but that's not entirely true, mostly thanks to Unknown Shores, which I drafted three of.  I picked them kind of high, but they all paid off.  

While drafting, I didn't have much of a strategy in mind. I went with a lot of flash things and "Whenever you cast your first spell during each opponent's turn" cards.  (WYCYFSDEOT?)  I grabbed a Shimmerwing Chimera, because it seemed like it would be really good with Omen of the Hunt (which it is) but it turns out to be really good with lots of things.

 

Draft Pool.  The Underworld Breach came around real late.

WUBRG cards you'll want to prioritize:

• Unknown Shores, because land-based fixing is always good.
• Temples, if you see any.  (I did not.)  I mean, you're probably rafting anyways.
• Altar of the Pantheon.  
• Omen of the Hunt.

As far as Traveler's Amulet goes, maybe I shouldn't even have run it.  Next time I hope I won't need that kind of help.

 

My deck at the end of the night.

I wound up being really heavy in Blue, with a bit of Red, though I decided not enough to run Purphoros.  White, Black, and Green were just splashes, though a lone forest was enough to justify Omen of the Hunt.  The deck really enjoyed the interaction between Shimmerwing Chimera and the five ETB enchantments I had.  I only went 1-1 (2-1 with a first-round bye) but my games were good.  Most of my creatures were fliers, which was great.  The low curve was very out of character for me.  I usually have a few 7 or 8 CMC cards competing for slots, but that didn't happen here.

Next time I'll probably try a similar strategy, though I'll look harder for the Shimmerwing Chimeras and the Omens of the Hunt.  Those three Unknown Shores really kept me in the game, though.  I'll need to make that happen again.

Definitely a better WUBRG format than I was expecting!  I'm looking forward to doing more of it.

EDH Kingdoms and Variants

I like free-for-all multiplayer, but sometimes I want the games to go a bit faster.  It's nice to have some rules that speed things up while still maintaining a fun multiplayer atmosphere.

I saw a post on /r/MagicTCG many years ago providing role cards for Kingdom EDH, an adaptation inspired by Bang!.  I printed out the cards and played a few games, but it was pretty clear that the Usurper role was the most difficult to win with and least fun to play.

My playgroup unsuccessfully tried some alternatives.  It seems that others had a similar opinion, because I saw more variants of Kingdom arise.  (I found a lot of these on a different reddit (/r/EDH) thread.

• Kingdoms, from EDHREC
• Expanded Kingdoms, from Scotty Makes Games.  Here's an imgur album with the same card set.
• Regicide, the Game
• Imgur album of alternative cards
• An MTGSalvation thread on Kingdom EDH
• MTG Treachery, something very similar to Kingdom, but with lots of different roles.
• Highlander, another fan-created game that's very similar.
• Battle of the Gatewatch, a similar thing based on the MTG Gatewatch.

None of these seemed perfect for my playgroup.  I'm not certain why.  Maybe because they were either too complicated, or maybe because we just wanted to fix the Usurper problem with our own invention.  

This summer, I think we finally got it right.  We created four extra roles, which are shuffled together, then one is chosen at random to be the fifth card in addition to the King, Knight, and two Barbarians.

We tried to maintain the basic templating of the Kingdom cards from the original post I had printed cards from.

The randomness of the fifth role really adds an element of uncertainty to the game play.  Even though the intentions of the Barbarians and Knight may become clear before the actual role cards are revealed, the role of the fifth player remains hidden, keeping everyone on their toes.  In the few games we've played, it's a lot of fun.

Disclaimer: We didn't even play enough games to test all four of the different random roles.  Future changes may be coming.  Nevertheless, we considered that all of these were included, so they all played a part in our games.

To make it very clear, to play with these cards...

1. Print out the cards from the original album, aside from the Usurper card.  You should have a King, a Knight, and two Barbarians.
2. Print out the four cards shown above.
3. Randomly choose one of the four cards above without looking at it.
4. Put the original four with the chosen one in opaque-backed sleeves and shuffle those five.
5. Pass them out to the five players.
6. Whoever has the King card reveals their card to everyone.  They go first.
7. Play EDH.  Whenever someone dies, reveal their card.  Someone's winning conditions may be triggered.  If someone wins, they reveal their role, then the game ends.

If there are six players, then the plan is to choose two of the random roles instead of one.  Although we haven't playtested this, we'd like to think that the rules hold.

In addition, these can be used with Oathbreaker with a small modification: the King begins with 26 life and everyone else begins with 20 life (instead of 40 and 30, respectively).

Credit: I don't remember who came up with each role exactly, but I think Bob Solorio was the originator of many of the extra four roles.

Bonus: I put all the card images in one PDF for easy printing.

Drafting WUBRG: Core 2020 - Better Results

In the past two Core 2020 FNM drafts I've done, I've gone 5-1 in total.  The key both times has been Renowned Weaponsmith. 

Friday's Draft Deck

Tips:

• Get Renowned Weaponsmiths.  So good.  Even one is enough to build around; the other cards are definitely not trash.
• Grab Heart-Piercer Bows high.  They're good even without the Weaponsmith, but if you get it, you'll wish you had as many as possible.
• As always, the dual lands ("Gain Lands") are really good.  Nab 'em.  You really can't take too many.
• Also amazing with the bows: Ogre Siegebreaker.  Attack, poke things in the heart, then kill them dead.
• Vial of Dragonfire is certainly going to be worth taking.  Tutor it up with the Weaponsmith!
• Angel of Vitality turns out to be really good with the dual lands.  Gain 2 instead of 1, that can turn the Angel on really fast.
• Other fliers are really good.  Cloudkin Seer, Warden of Evos Isle, Spectral Sailor, etc.  
• I like Moat Piranhas for slowing down the ground game until you get your bombs.
• Other artifacts work well with the Weaponsmith.

Two weeks ago I had one weaponsmith, and did great.  Last weekend, I had two and really wished I had taken more bows.  They work so much better in groups.

I didn't think I would enjoy WUBRG in Core 2020, but now I'm psyched to do it again.  

Drafting WUBRG: Core 2020 First Try

I haven't had a draft this disastrous in quite a while.  0-3 with zero game wins.  Urf.

I made it to the final event of the Core 2020 draft weekend. I tried a draft strategy based on the first card I got and it didn't work.  I opened a foil Mystic Forge and grabbed another (non-foil) one in pack two, so I figured that stockpiling artifacts was a good plan.  Only later did I realize I took a bunch of Golems.  Naturally, I was also heavily drafting the basic duals and Evolving Wilds (which combos really well with the Mystic Forge plan). 

Here's the deck.

Unfortunately, it wasn't enough.  I lost 0-2 to WUR Flying Weenies, 0-2 to UB, and finally 0-2 to UBG. 

I even had some great openers...

Turn 3 Living the Dream: WUBRG and a big stomper.

But it wasn't enough.  I only saw one Mystic Forge, and only in the final match and far too late in the game.  I played two or three cards off of the top, but it was too little, too late.  I never drew the Ceratops, so my deck never showed off it's green side.  I never saw the Meteor Golem.  A lot of things just didn't come together.

I think I should have gone harder into the Prismites after getting the Forge.  They're pretty good anyways and I would have liked to have more throughout the matches.

I don't normally do a post after my first attempt (though maybe I should).  However, I'm not really sure when I'm going to get to draft again, and there have been a bunch of sets released in recent months (or so it seems, anyways).  So... this is what I've got. 

I do think five colors is a viable strategy here.  I really enjoyed it in Core 2019 after a few tries, and I hope I get the chance to do it again!

Drafting WUBRG in War of the Spark

Do you want to draft 5-color Super Friends?  Of course you do.  Although I've only done two War of the Spark drafts, I already like it way more than Allegiance and I really hope I get the chance to do it more.

Yes, this can be your hand.

The strategy here is still pretty simple:

Prioritize Color Fixing:  There aren't gates in every pack, but there are still lots of good things.  Gateway Plaza continues to be excellent.  Interplanar Beacon is really good (though the planeswalker-only part isn't great).  Mana Geode is great, Centaur Nurturer is real good, and Prismite is a body that may come in handy.  Mostly, though, I'm relying on the lands.  I pulled two Gateway Plaza in pack three on Friday night for a total of three and that plus one Interplanar Beacon really made the deck, to the point where I cut Prismite.

Planeswalkers: Draft them all.  I got passed two Nahiri on Friday which was nuts.  Ashiok was integral in two of my wins (I decked one person, even milling their Lab-Maniac-Channeling-Jace so they couldn't pull off the win.  Another opponent got Bolas's Citadel out, but I managed to kill them with zero cards left on their library.)

Proliferate: This keyword appears a lot.  On creatures that can do it, it's extra good.  Grab 'em when nothing else shines out.

Friday's draft deck.  My curve is not usually this focused!

Don't forget that you will need creatures to protect your friends.  And removal is always good, though some of that will probably come with the planeswalkers.

The hardest draft decision here is choosing between Gateway Plaza and a planeswalker.  Of course, this depends on the 'walker, but in pack one, I recommend going hard into the mana fixing.  Many of the planeswalkers will get snatched up early in that first pack as the rest of the table picks colors.  In packs two and three, a bunch of planeswalkers will show up.  Grab 'em.

When playing, go slow and make sure you are always checking in on the static abilities of your planeswalkers (and Interplanar Beacon, which triggers upon casting, not entering the battlefield).  I missed things and paid dearly for it.  Thankfully, my opponents also missed things (Nahiri granting first strike is real good). 

In my two drafts at my FLGS, I've gone 2-1 both times.  I hope I have another shot at going 3-0.  Either way, I've had a blast!  I'm bummed that this format is going to be gone soon.

WUBRG Zombie Repack Draft

Way back in the fall I held a draft with "packs" I'd created out of older cards I'd been donated.  (I hold these every so often.)  As always, I drafted five colors.  Unlike always, I drafted a Zombie tribal deck, and had zombie-relevant cards in four of five colors.

I recently found the deck, unsorted back into the collection!  I'm never going to draft anything like this again, so I'm really glad I found this again.  Here's the decklist:

Zombie-Matters cards (11):
Diregraf Captain
Forsaken Drifters
Infernal Caretaker
Ingenious Skaab
Phyrexian Bloodstock
Putrid Warrior
Quagmire Druid
Scathe Zombies
Strength of Night
2x Zombie Boa

Mana Fixing (4):
Chromatic Sphere
Elves of Deep Shadow
Quirion Explorer
Reef Shaman

Other spells (8):
Baton of Courage
Brimstone Volley
Crossbow Infantry
Enduring Victory
Ghost Warden
Goblin Legionnaire
Kabuto Moth
Power of Fire

Non-Basic Land (9):
Azorius Guildgate
2 Bloodfell Caves
Boros Guildgate
Dimir Guildgate
2 Evolving Wilds
2 Unknown Shores

(I don't recall which basic lands I included)