World War P (TQ)

So here we are, my last Friday off.  Since the beginning of September I have been working a 4 day week and had every Friday off, but from next week it is back to working 5 days a week and only playing Magic for 2!  Having said that my last 3 day weekend coincides with the first ever Sheffield PTQ so that seems pretty cool.  Today I wanted to look at how to survive the rigours of a PTQ and look at the top 5 cards for Return to Ravnica sealed.  Firstly lets have another look at that sweet venue:

Tomorrow we  play cards here...

PTQs are quite an experience, many people who have not played in them before will find they are tested like never before when they are playing 7 or 8 rounds of competitive Magic.  Here is a PTQ "Survival Guide" to help you not only in this tournament but in many others to come:

1. Get an early night.  Some people will sit up all night "practising" and not get any (or have very little) sleep.  Don't do this.  Every scientific study of human responses ever shows that without question you perform better on 8 hours sleep than 2 hours and a crate load of coffee.
2. There are rules to this thing...  As a player you are required to do the following:
   Players are responsible for:
   
   • Behaving in a respectful manner toward tournament officials, other tournament participants, and spectators and refraining from unsporting conduct at all times.
   • Maintaining a clear and legal game state.
   • Complying with announced start times and time limits.
   • Bringing to a judge's attention any rules or policy infraction they notice in their matches.
   • Bringing to a judge's attention any discrepancies in their tournament match record.
   • Informing the DCI of any discrepancies in their overall match history, rankings, or Planeswalker Points as soon as they become aware of it. If players believe there is an anomaly in their match history, ranking, or Planeswalker Points they should refer to the Magic: The Gathering Event Appeals Policy, located at http://www.wizards.com/WPN/Document.aspx?x=Event_Appeal_Policy.
   • Having a single DCI membership number. Individuals holding more than one number must contact Wizards of the Coast Customer Service at http://www.wizards.com/customer service so that their numbers can be merged.
   • Refraining from enrolling in tournaments they are not allowed by policy to participate in (e.g. the winner of a Magic: The Gathering Pro Tour Qualifier is barred from playing in further Pro Tour Qualifiers that season).
   • Being familiar with the rules contained within this document.
   • Being physically present for the tournament. Players are not permitted to register for a tournament solely to collect participation Planeswalker Points.
   
   A player must bring the following items to a tournament in order to participate:
   
   • A physical, visible, and reliable method to maintain and record game information (tokens, score counters, pen and paper, and so on).
   • A valid DCI membership number registered in the participant's name. New players may register for DCI membership when enrolling in the tournament.
   • Any materials specifically required for a particular tournament format, such as assembled decks and/or decklists for constructed tournaments.
   
   Players retain their responsibilities even if a judge provides them with extra assistance.
   
   The individual members of a team are considered players, and are equally responsible for required tournament procedures, such as accurately filling out their match result slips. However, players are only responsible for the games they play themselves and not separate games being played by their teammates.
   
   Players who do not fulfil their responsibilities may be subject to penalties and review by the DCI. Wizards of the Coast and the DCI reserve the right to suspend or revoke a player's membership without prior notice for any reason they deem necessary.
   
   The full tournament rules can be found here.
3. Don't forget to eat and drink.  You will find if your game goes to time that you have little to no time to get lunch etc during the course of a 9 - 10 hour tournament.  Having a bottle of water with you is a must - being dehydrated will not make you play better, in fact the exact opposite will probably be the case!  Having some form of snack food available is also a good idea.
4. Get a decent bag.  The best MTG accessory I ever bought is my Berghaus TwentyFourSeven 25 Litre backpack.  It cost £35 and has been worth every penny and fits all of the stuff I could ever want to take to a tournament inside it.  Having got through 4 bags last year, because I bought cheap crap ones, I cannot recommend this highly enough.  As you will be moving around a lot at a big tourney it is the most useful thing you can have.

There are other good makes as well...


5. Bring something else to do.  Even with the greatest planning in the world sometimes things go wrong, or you get a buy and have to sit around while everyone else plays cards. Bringing along a book or other entertainment will give you something to do and give your mind a rest from MTG, you know what they say - "A change is as good as a rest".
   
6. Don't store other cards with your deck.  Your deck box for the day should only have the cards you are playing with in it (and possibly some tokens).  Don't put anything else in there as being disqualified and subsequently banned will ruin your day somewhat!
   
7. Check your deck list/sealed pool/etc.  You get 20 minutes for pool registration and I have yet to see a judge beat someone around the head because they took a couple of extra minutes to make sure they had recorded it correctly.  Also make sure the first thing you do after a game is de-sideboard!
   
8. Don't guess, get help!  There will be time in games when you and your opponent screw it up.  Don't try to sort it out yourselves call a Judge.  The Judges are there to help the players - use them.  Stop playing if it has all gone wrong, stick your hand up and call Judge.  In seconds someone will be with you to sort out the problem.  Also if you are uncertain on a play or how something resolves call a Judge.
   
9. Enjoy it.  This is a game, you should be enjoying it.  If not you are either doing it wrong or you need to go home and forget it for the day.  The more high level play you are part of the better player you will become (as long as you are honest with yourself about your mistakes).

Before I go I also wanted to look at the top limited cards of Return to Ravnica, things you can be happy you opened and that will win you games!

First on our list and so technically in 5th place is Street Spasm.  An instant burn spell for non flyer's which kind of becomes a poor mans Bonfire of the Damned for it's Overload cost is pretty good all round.

In 4th place we have the Dreg Mangler.  A 3/3 guy for 3 mana is ok, give him haste and you have a great chance to get in for a bit of face beating and then later you can chump block with him and scavenge back 3 +1/+1 tokens onto your 5 or 6 drop.

In 3rd we have the Azorius, Selesnya and Golgari charms.  All of these are real work horses which give you a wealth of options during the game.

2nd Place goes to the guildmages.  This cycle of powerful 2 drops can make a massive difference to your game both early on and in the late game.  Always worthy of consideration, if you have the mana they will win the game for you.

In 1st place there is only one contender!  I had avoided rare and mythic cards to this point but this is possibly the best limited card ever.  Arguably once you have this thing in play and copied you only ever want to draw more swamps to make more pack rats, you cannot race this card you will lose.

Well that is it have a fantastic weekend what ever you do.  I will be back on Monday to look at Legacy and have a big announcement for top competitive play in Sheffield.  See you then...

Pauper's rebellion

Don't start that talking
I could talk all night
My mind goes sleepwalking
While I'm putting the world to right
Call careers information
Have you got yourself an occupation?

Oliver's army is here to stay
Oliver's army are on their way
And I would rather be anywhere else
But here today

"Oliver's Army" by Elvis Costello, 1979

I often find my deck inspiration from very strange sources and this is one of them.  A cracking song from the late 70's which is a protest against the exploitation of working class men/boys as  part of the armed forces occupying several places around the world at the time (Ireland, Palestine, Germany).

I heard the song on something about 3 weeks ago (could even have been my iPod) and it gave me the idea for a pauper deck - soldiers.

There are some great common cards with the soldier sub type and combining these together into a classic white weenie deck seemed like a cool idea.  Hordes of soldiers that buff one another can also develop into a serious threat very quickly.

It does feel like there are just too many common soldiers you want to play, some of them even have ETB effects which are pretty good...

There is also the "Hey, lets just make a bunch of token guys" that get buffed by your other troops.  Of course you need some guys that finish well and that leads us to these guys:

Seems like a plan.  I also understand that there is some good common removal in white too, not to mention the occasional combat trick or two...

One soldier who will not be joining us is the Kor Skyfisher.  The reason being that we have a new banned list!  Having scoured the Wizards forums I finally found the "official" modern pauper banned list and here it is in all it's glory!

The following cards are BANNED in Modern Pauper:

Ancient Den

Cloudpost

Cranial Plating

Empty the Warrens

Great Furnace

Kor Skyfisher

Mystical Teachings

Seat of the Synod

Vault of Whispers

Tree of Tales

Ponder

Preordain

Rite of Flame

Wild Nacatl

Of course Modern Pauper at FNM is kind of overshadowed by the fact that the first ever Sheffield PTQ is this Saturday at the Mercure St Paul's in the centre of Sheffield.  Pre-registration is available through the Patriot games website (link at the top of this page).  You can also pay on the door, with loads of side events, 2 GPTs and an expected 170 players for the main event this promises to be the biggest Magic event Sheffield has ever seen outside of last years National Championships!  If you play Magic in Sheffield you need to be there.

The picture above hangs over the stairs to the City Suite which is where the PTQ is taking place.  To give you an idea of the type of accommodation when I went there with Jim last week they were getting it ready for an Ambassador's dinner!  I will be back on Friday with a PTQ survival guide and a look at the sealed cards on choice in return to Ravnica, see you there...

Once more with feeling...

I originally started to write this blog before the invitational and then circumstance overtook me and I abandoned it for later use.  Now with the PTQ only one week away I think it is a great time to look at this subject, namely, the Mulligan.

Carey Mulligan - nothing to do with this blog...

The exact origins of the term Mulligan seem to be lost to history but it was originally a golf term meaning a free shot following a bad play previously from the same spot as the last one.  It is strictly disallowed in tournament play!  In Magic the mulligan is not only allowed but is an essential part of the game.

When Magic was young, a player could only mulligan if they revealed their hand and it was either 7 land cards or no land cards.  This was changed to the Paris Mulligan system we have now where a player elects to mulligan and draw a new hand containing one less card without revealing their original hand.

Rule number 45 - play this for 9, win the game!

So what does it take for you to decide to start the game with 1 less card in hand?  If you are "on     

the play" (going first) this can give up some serious card advantage (as we have discussed in the past, card advantage is king).  Land is the most common reason for having to take a mulligan, either too many or not enough.  If you have not already seen the video of Mike Boon keeping a one land hand at the invitational watch it here , it is a stark reminder of how quickly not taking a mulligan can destroy you.

It's all part of the plan...

Other than the whole land situation the second key factor when it comes to the mulligan is asking yourself the question "What does my hand do?"  This is vital, if your hand has only one plan and your opponent has the counterspell for it - game over.  Obviously a mix of land and spells would seem a good idea, but there is a lot of questions to answer before you can be sure if a hand can "get there".  Stolen from an article by Ken Krouner in 2003 here is a list of stuff to consider when you look at that opening hand:


Do I have any land at all?
Am I playing or drawing?
Is my deck aggressive or defensive?
Is my opponent's deck aggressive or defensive?
Do I have enough land to go with the spells I have?
Do I have the right colour mana?
Can I win the game if I don't draw more land (or spells, depending on what the hand is missing)?
What are my odds of drawing the missing pieces of this hand?
Is there a threat in my opponent's deck that I have a limited number of ways of dealing with - and can this hand deal with that threat in time, assuming that I get an average draw?
Do I have a good balance of threats and answers, considering my deck?
Do I have the mana to support the curve in my deck?
How many"comes into play tapped" lands do I have in my deck, and is drawing them as good as (or better than) drawing a regular land?
If my opponent comes out blazing, can I stabilise?
If my opponent deals with the threats I have drawn, can my deck recover?
How much worse is this hand than an average hand of one less card from this deck?
Do I have enough early game cards to set up a good board position?

Above all else do not be afraid of the mulligan. Keeping a hand of 7 cards that does nothing will lose you the game. Mulliganing down to 6 or 5 cards that actually do something is far better, remember games are won or lost on your decision. Always remember - if in doubt, mulligan!

Some numbers:

With a 60-card deck containing exactly 24 lands, your chance to have at least 2 lands and at least 2 non-lands in your opening hand of 7 cards is 84%. With 30 lands, it is 90%; with 18 lands, it is 69%. In an opening hand of 6 cards, these probabilities are 75%, 81% and 58%. 5 starting cards give you 59%, 65% and 45%; 4 cards 36%, 39% and 27%.

This means that with a typical mana distribution of 40%, you will already mulligan nearly every sixth of your initial hands just because they don’t meet the fundamental requirements of providing you with at least two lands and at least two non-lands! Also note how much each mulligan reduces your chances to meet that basic criteria even further – every fourth 6-card hand in a typical deck fails to do so.

Now for examples of slightly stricter requirements: Here are the probabilities for an aggressive deck (deck A), running on 21 lands, where you, quite reasonably, wish to have at least 2 lands and at least 3 non-lands in your opening hand, and for a controllish deck (deck B) running 28 lands, where you want to see at least 3 lands, but still at least 2 non-lands:

A: 74% with 7 cards; 59% with 6 cards; 35% with 5 cards; 0% with 4 cards.

B: 69% with 7 cards; 53% with 6 cards; 30% with 5 cards; 0% with 4 cards.

These are realistic mana distributions and seemingly reasonable requirements – but they already require you to mulligan more than every fourth hand with the aggressive deck, and for the controllish deck, they seem already too strict – would you really mulligan a two-lander in the hope of getting a three-lander or four-lander with only 6 cards (your chance for that is just a tad over fifty percent)? Don’t you think you’re better off hoping that an otherwise fine two-lander will deliver the needed additional land during your next draw steps than hoping for the miracle of a perfect 6-card hand and risking a totally unplayable one? (Actually, if you really need your land drops in a deck, it is usually a wiser course to use a lot of card draw for 2 or less mana than to rely on seeing 3 lands in your opening seven cards.)


Right, I will be back on Monday with more details of the PTQ and yet more blogging. This Sunday we are playing EDH at the shop from 11am - hope to see you there.

By who's standards?

Well here we are again - I am sorry to say that I have not finished any of the video footage from last weekend yet so that will have to wait till later this week before I put it up.  Thanks to "Magic" Steve for helping me on commentary - he is really good, I think he has missed his calling in life, he should be doing colour commentary for the WWE.

This is a blog of many parts, for the main part of it I will hand over to Mark Smith who has a few things to say about Standard and other formats.  I then have my Monday - "this is what I am playing Friday..." and then we have an announcement about the Invitational in 2013 and the PTQ, oh yeah less than 2 weeks to the PTQ!

Hi everyone, I'm Mark Smith, and I decided that I'd like to have a go at this blog writing thing and talk to people about format diversity and how to get into some of the different formats we play at relaxed.

Some of you guys might now be thinking to yourselves "who is this scrub, and why is he getting to write a blog? What does he know?" And the simple answer to that is, because I asked (And apparently Rich liked it).  Also, although I've not really been playing long, this puts me in a great position to offer advice to those that may not know quite where to start, as I can relate my recent personal experiences on how I myself got into these things.

I know a fair few people that believe that Standard is the most popular format, mainly because it is one of the most played, (Mike, I'm looking at you!) but after a little discussion with a few people down at the pub on Friday, I found that some people would rather play Standard, mainly because they lack cards from anything but the recent sets, and are therefore put off of other formats due to lack of cards.

 

A modern and standard staple.  Not worth keeping a one land hand for though...

This is where Rich's vision of FNM Relaxed comes in, as the aim isn't to build top tier competitive decks, it's to build decks that allow you to have a fun evening playing magic. And while a competitive Legacy deck might cost you hundreds, or thousands, of pounds, a FUN Legacy deck can cost you as little as £10. (Roll on next time, Flanking, that's different, right?)

This may or may not be in Mark's deck.

A big limitation for people is always money, but that's where the shop has you covered. While everybody loves the feeling of opening a booster for some new cards, there are boxes and boxes full of older cards just sat waiting to be explored.

 

Old cards can be really good - a nice team mate for Lingering Souls.

If like me, you take 15-20 minutes a week just having a look through for cards that catch your eye, you'll soon find yourself with a much broader range of cards to play in the older formats at a reasonable price. Modern Pauper is great in that respect, because for just less than the cost of a booster of new cards, you can get yourself 23 cards that will all be playable, and in colours or with effects that you actually want to play, because you'll have actually picked them. It can be boring just looking through the piles and piles of cards sat in those boxes, but the feeling you get finding that one card that makes you go WOW, to me is better than the feeling of opening a booster with a decent rare.

 

Forever awesome in Modern Pauper!

Alternatively, something else that might be daunting to new players is exactly where to start building a deck. With such a large catalogue of older cards, especially when it comes to legacy, the most obvious answer is probably; exactly the same place you'd start when building for Standard, but that's not really too helpful. I've found that picking a theme for the deck is generally the best way to start. Creature types work well for this, such as elves or goblins, but in Legacy, the power cards for those types of deck are generally quite pricey. Instead, look to less well known types, Thallids, Samurai, Giants, or even look to keywords or effects, like flanking, ninjutsu, or lifegain. They might not end up being powerful decks, but odds are you'll have fun playing them, and they won't cost you and arm and a leg, maybe just a finger or hand!

 

Goblins - always a good place to start with Legacy.

I think that will do for now, hopefully, if Rich lets me have another go at this, I'll talk a bit more about deck construction for formats, and a few simple do's and don't, that I've picked up or been shown as I've got back into playing magic.

Thanks for that Mark - an inside view form the FNM Relax guys.  This Friday is Standard in FNM Relax.  I rarely net deck but this weekend an awesome fun deck has come to my attention which I have to try.

 

This guy's flavour text should just say COMBO!!!!

 The deck is a RUG variant which doesn't run bloody Thragtusk main deck (it must be the only one at the moment).  It looks so much fun to play and can make infinite mana, infinite life and infinite guys!  Living the dream baby, living the dream!

 

I hit you with my 200, Hasty, wolf tokens...

Last, but far from least, people have been asking "how do I get an invite to the next invitational?"  Well there are several answers to that and I will let you know more in the next few weeks.  I can announce that the top 2 players at the PTQ on Saturday 17th November 2012 will each get (as well as other prizes) an invite to the invitational in 2013.  Don't forget there is also a sealed GPT for GP London and a modern GPT for Lisbon as well as the Pro Tour Qualifier.  See you there...

Win, Lose or Draw?

So today is really easy for me as I hand over the reins to someone else. In this case I am very proud to present your winner of the first ever Patriot Games Sheffield Invitational - Robert Tinsley (cue round of applause).

Rob: My name is Rob. Some of you may know me. For those who don’t, I’m Richard’s son. I’m also the guy who lucked out all weekend, managing to win the Invitational. Not long after this whole FNM Relax blog thing started, I was supposed to write an entry on sideboards. I got about half way through, but then life got a little busy, so I put it down & never made it back.

It was my intention to have another attempt at it this evening, but mid-shower I had the sad realisation that rotation has happened, meaning that most of my favourites that the article would cover are now gone. This made me pretty sad, seeing as Combust, Celestial Purge & Flashfreeze are spectacular “colour-hosers”, but with Return to Ravnica being present & multicolour dudes being flavour of the week, I could see how maybe across this block they would have been a bit too good at their jobs.

You're playing Rakdos?  Oh dear...

Having noticed this point, I tried to work out what I would have to talk over now. My brain started off with Tormod’s Crypt, before making it to Purify the Grave.

I’d had 2 copies of it in my sideboard for the Standard segment of the Patriot Games Sheffield Invitational this weekend, mainly to hate on Mr Boon’s 4-colour reanimator deck, just in case I came across it. The card is also reasonable against Zombies & Snapcaster/Runechanter’s Pike decks.

Pro tip - graveyard hate is good...

All of this got me thinking about the deck I played for the standard portion of the Invitational – 4 Colour Control. This deck has been given two proper names; Professional Griefing, or, P.M.A. (Positive Mental Attitude).

Personally, I prefer the second option, as it is how you have to approach every opening hand, draw step or Jace, Architect of Thought’s -2 ability.

Card advantage on a stick - Tamiyo's boyfriend

I won’t lie to you, this deck is A) really freaking greedy, B) not suitable for playing in an FNM Relax standard event, and C) definitely not a deck you can build with bank balance issues. On the flip side, it has been great fun to play, only losing 1 game out of the 8 it played in the Invitational.

So I’ll give you the 75 with a breakdown/deck tech style approach after...

Main Deck (60)

4 x Farseek

2 x Azorius Charm

2 x Dissipate

2 x Detention Sphere

2 x Supreme Verdict

3 x Jace, Architect of Thought

3 x Tamiyo, the Moon Sage

4 x Thragtusk

2 x Deadeye Navigator

3 x Terminus

3 x Angel of Serenity

1 x Devil’s Play

2 x Sphinx’s Revelation

2 x Entreat the Angels

4 x Hallowed Fountain

4 x Glacial Fortress

4 x Temple Garden

3 x Steam Vents

2 x Hinterland Harbour

1 x Sunpetal Grove

1 x Clifftop Retreat

1 x Sulphur Falls

1 x Rootbound Crag

1 x Desolate Lighthouse

1 x Alchemist’s Refuge

1 x Plains

1 x Island

Sideboard (15)

2 x Purify the Grave

1 x Azorius Charm

2 x Izzet Charm

2 x Negate

2 x Centaur Healer

1 x Trostani, Selesnya’s Voice

1 x Restoration Angel

2 x Zealous Conscripts

2 x Syncopate

So, first point, I’ve spelt Harbour & Sulphur correctly, which is why if you choose to search in gatherer, you might not find them.  Ignoring that, the real first point is that this list is actually a prime example of how to not build a normal deck. It does throw caution, colour & the concept of curve to the wind.

There are no 1-mana spells in the main deck (& only 2 in the sideboard). This gives you the ability to just drop a tapped shock on turn 1, to open up your mana base faster over the next few turns. Also, it means if you have the rootbound crag & a business land (Lighthouse/Refuge) or plains as your opening hand lands, you can still go into a farseek on turn 2. Trust me, you *want* to play farseek as your first spell. This deck loves lands. It genuinely wants “MORE MANA THAN GOD” as the quote goes. Farseek is our friend in this endeavour. 

It was me that had more mana than god by the way...

It only has 6 two cost spells, & 4 at three mana. It wants to move past that point, really quickly. Turn 2 farseek gives turn 3 board wipe or Jace, & turn 4 Tamiyo or Thragtusk. These are pretty good as options go.  The game plan is pretty simple, if somewhat risky. It looks to the opponent, stipulating that they have 3-5 turns to successfully kill you, not accounting for miracles along the way. If they don’t manage this, the deck will stabilise, and then winning will become a very difficult task for them. Ideally, stabilising eventually leads to Angel-shaped beatdowns or a Tamiyo Emblem. The deck loves a Tamiyo Emblem in much the same way it loves having a massive quantity of lands, for pretty similar reasons.

What Jace did after Liliana...

I got asked a lot as to why I was only playing 2 counterspells in the main, followed by why Dissipate, not syncopate. There are only 2 because the deck does tap out a lot to play Thragtusks & Planeswalkers, and because they are frequently dead cards against aggressive decks like Zombies due to Cavern of Souls. I play the dissipates over the syncopates due to the Tamiyo plan. Late game, the opponent may be able to just about dodge the extra cost, whereas dissipate is just a straight up repeated “No”, making it far superior post-emblem.

The Azorius charms are predominately for facing down the speedy aggro decks, allowing you to slow down the board state for just long enough to play Supreme Verdict. Also, after entreating for a few angel tokens, the lifelink option can have a huge effect if you’re near dead versus some Dreg Manglers & Geralf’s Messengers. When facing control, the charms will typically just act as deeper digging, as seeing a greater number of cards will frequently be what determines who comes out on top.

The Detention Spheres are fairly obvious in function as multi-utility removal, whilst Jace acts a little like a larger version of Azorius Charm by slowing down any creature based issues, or more often than not, drawing some extra cards & distracting the opponent from hitting you in the face for a short time. When being backed up by a Tamiyo, the pair can give access to a much longer game/more time to find stabilising tools (Thragtusk/Angels/Wrath Effects).

Thragtusk fits perfectly into this deck simply because of the resilience it presents when faced with mass removal. Also, exiling dead ones with Angel of Serenity gives you insurance on the angel.

$25 for a rare and with 3 in every deck you know he's worth it!

Deadeye Navigator got added to the deck at last minute, because in testing, I found myself wanting another chunky creature at the top end, & I kept feeling a bit let down by my Thragtusks once they had hit table. Originally, I was playing either Snapcaster Mages or Restoration Angels in their place, but the Snapcasters didn’t have enough targets far too

often, & the Restoration Angels struggled to have flicker targets on the turns they were being played.

I am surprised this doesn't see more play.

The single Devil’s Play acts as a partial kill condition/Tamiyo emblem finisher. It could also have been a Pillar of Flame, but due to the lack of red mana sources a lot of the time, it wasn’t as fast as I wanted post-emblem without playing Chromatic Lantern.  Sphinx’s Revelation is a Blue Sun’s Zenith with benefits, & Entreat can be a kill-con, stabiliser or just a removal baiting distraction.

When life gain spells are good...

For the main deck, the only other card needing red is the looting lighthouse. I am a big fan of this land, mainly from its ability to fire miracles off in your opponents turn. It’s also good for cycling away extra land in the late game so you can maintain pressure with real spells. The Alchemist’s Refuge is fantastic in the control match as it puts you in a position where you never have to play a spell in your own turn. It almost gives your creatures haste, whilst providing instant board control if things hit the fan.

Surprise!!!!!

For the sideboard there are two main packages, the anti-aggro package of the Healers, Trostani, extra Az Charm & Resto, or Control Mirror with more counter-magic & AVR favourite game-changers Zealous Conscripts, for when you feel the need to steal their option of a Tamiyo emblem as opposed to making your own. The Syncopates weave their way in against most decks if you haven’t seen any indication of Cavern of Souls & a tendency to tap-out.

If I’d had more time to muck about, I did intend to sideboard 2 x Jace, Memory Adept for the control matches so that you can get on the mill bandwagon, “legend-rule” their Jace or simply draw 10 post-Tamiyo emblem. If I was to play this deck against more casual players, I’d probably try to find space for a third Supreme Verdict in the main 60, because experience shows that they are more likely to over-extend (play all their guys without any back-up plans) & not be able to come back after you nuke everything in sight a couple of times.

For results in the Standard portion of the Invitational, I beat 2 Golgari Zombie decks 2-0, a Bant aggro (Blue-White-Green) deck which consisted of Geist of St. Traft + Rancor + Silverblade Paladin style violence 2-0 & then drew 1-1 with Patrick’s Blue-White-Red control as he entreated for hordes at the last possible moment after having gone to time in game 2.

I thought the entire event was fantastic, with much thanks going to Dad, Jim & Justin for hosting/running it, to Jimmy “Future Pro Magic Player” Wild for opening such an insane sealed pool for me, & my friend Sophie for providing me with the funding to play in the whole thing.

Hopefully, we’ll all make the list next year & see each other in the top 6 (Y)

Aftermath...

So here I am some 32 hours or more after the invitational.  I don't really remember yesterday - I got up , it was cold, I went to work, thought I had forgotten my door key (even though I couldn't have got out of the house without it), went home, tried to watch the telly, fell asleep, went to bed, fell asleep and then there is now.  The invitational seems to have been a great success.  For those of you who didn't see it on Facebook - here are the final standings at the end of the weekend:

1 Robert Tinsley
2 Andrew Mather
3 Daniel Cocking
4 Andy Sims
5 Mike Boon
6 Patrick Bateman
7 John Roberts
8 James Brook
9 Diarmuid Verrier
10 Grzegorz Flis
11 Fabian Quinn
12 Stephen Kay
13 Richard Tinsley
14 Adam Pollard
15 Matt Cooper
16 Owen Debenham

That was pretty cool, I think we will make that an annual event!  Congratulations to all those who played in the invitational, all those who made day 2 and the top 6 who will make up Team Patriot Sheffield.  We are ready to take on the world (well at least the UK).  There were feature matches over the weekend and I will be editing the footage over next weekend to put up on You Tube.

For now here is FNM Relax's very own James Brook laying the smacketh down on Mike Boon's candy ass!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQOKCvWny2k&feature=youtu.be

Sorry couldn't resist that one!  Tom Behan asked on Facebook about the editing process.  I put in for some funding in the job I was doing 5 years ago for a bunch of digital media stuff which we got.  Part of these was the Adobe Premier video editing software which is pretty versatile.  I have only had time to chop out the audio and replace with Strange Kind of Magic by ELO and just show the first game in the match in raw format.  When I have finished I will be adding graphics with life counters etc which you make in Power point and overlay on the footage.

Following the highly laudable decision by Wizards of the Coast to stop putting up full deck lists for constructed decks from pro tour etc I will no longer be posting my full deck lists on here but will rather be talking about some of the cards in the deck.

I think this deck should be called "Noble Vampires" - oh wait that sounds a bit Twilight!

This week is extended and I thought I would have a go at a deck which is both tribal and linked into the whole guild idea, as well as being inspired by one of the players in the top 6 of the invitational - Patrick Bateman.  So this week I will be playing Rakdos Vampires!

Back with a vengeance!

BR Vamps was pretty good in Zendikar and now it has some sweet toys to fill up the top end of the curve.  4 Drop, indestructible, sac outlets with haste for 4 mana seem good too.

Happy I got these when they were worth nothing!

With 2 Liliana's that snuggle happily in the deck as well it seems I have a pretty cool line up of   cards to call upon.

What a card in a deck that loves you opponents to sacrifice stuff!

Liliana's +1 Ability is very effective when you have a certain BB cost vampire in your hands who loves to be in the graveyard and then leap back into play when you play a land.

Do you think he means me?

Anyway that is all I have time for today - will be back on Friday with a guest blog!  Who it is penned by will be a secret till then.  See you all soon...

Accepting the Challenge

Well what a weekend...  I managed to take my menagerie of non magical zoo creatures to a 3 - 0 finish in Pauper and won the event.  This is only the second time I have won FNM Relax and it feels good to have done so with a bunch of vanilla animals and a few squadron Hawks.

We have a new Pro Tour champion who played a deck called Eggs or now Second Breakfast.  Didn't mention that during my recent blogs on Modern.  I would like to say that I had never heard of the deck before but that would be untrue, I just didn't take it seriously - I think everyone will take it seriously now!  Keeping a no land hand and suspending 2 Lotus Blooms was pretty awesome I have to say...

I can wait three turns for a Black Lotus, sure.

The Pro Tour is over until Gatecrash and we have events at home which are far more pressing.  Saturday and Sunday see the first Patriot Sheffield Invitational.  I wanted to just spend a minute talking about the invitational, what inspired it, and who has been invited.

I watched SCGLive one weekend and saw some truly bad players playing some bad decks.  My first thought was "Wow we can do so much better than this" and then I thought "Why don't we?"  Patriot Sheffield is not Star City Games, but everything has to start somewhere and why should we not have invitational tournaments because we live in the UK?

I took the idea to Jim and Paul at Patriot and gave them a basic rundown of what I was thinking.  They liked the idea and had some really good questions with regards to formats etc.  We discussed it for a while and Paul said he could come up with an attractive sponsorship package for the "winners" and the scene was set.  

The invitational is a serious challenge designed to test players ability to play Magic over 4 different formats with the knowledge that if they don't "Bring It" on day one it is all over, they are going home, no day 2 for you.

As to who has been invited this was based on 2 factors - the players general results (originally I was going to base it on FNM results, so Glad I got talked out of that) and for people who have contributed to the Magic community in Sheffield by turning up and having a go.  Here for the first time is the list of players who have been invited:

Steve McAleer
Andy Mather
Mike Boon
Grzegorz Flis
Ben Pearson
Owen Debenham
John Roberts
Pengyi Liang
Patrick Bateman
Adam Pollard
Keith Miller
Ian Richardson
Stephen Kay
John Kay
Richard Tinsley
 Robert Tinsley
Alastair Kennedy
Zead Said
Sarah Sidaway
Michael Radford
Joe Alexander
Jimmy Wild 
Daniel Cocking
Richard Fuller
Christopher Parks
Ollie Firth
Lee Parker
Russell Clarke
Diarmuid Verrier
Fabian Quinn
Piran Oliver
James Brook
Matt Cooper
Andy Sims
Dave Hancock
Neil Lockwood
Bryan Connolly
Thomas Ellis
Michael Readhead
Callum Bilbe

Should this prove to be a success we will look to getting other stores interested in the concept and then we can look at team competitions like they are now doing at GP.  We will also have a feature match table which will be videoed and put up on You Tube after the event.  the purpose of this event is to promote high level play in Sheffield and give other places something to talk about.

In other news, this Friday at FNM Relax it is 2 Headed Giant and I have a little bit of Jund Midrange to play which looks like this:

 2 Cavern of Souls

4 Overgrown Tomb

4 Blood Crypt

4 Dragonskull Summit

3 Rootbound Crag

3 Woodland Cemetery

1 Kessig Wolf Run

2 Swamp

23 Lands

2 Blood Artist

3 Dreg Mangler

2 Olivia Voldaren

2 Desecration Demon

4 Huntmaster of the Fells

1 Rakdos Lord of Riots

1 Reaper form the Abyss

1 Griselbrand

16 Creatures

4 Tragic Slip

1 Devils Play

1 Bonfire of the Damned

1 Rakdos's Return

3 Dreadbore

1 Abrupt Decay

3 Rakdos Charm

3 Farseek

17 Instants/Sorcery

2 Liliana of the Veil

2 Garruk Relentless

4 Planeswalkers

If you are not in the invitational still come down and cheer on your favourites, there is a lot of Magic talent on display.  It may not be Pro Tour but it is in our own back yard.  Support Sheffield and its players.  Hope to see you there...