Thursday, July 30, 2009

M10 Top 10





















by Calvin (click here to see complete article)

10. Birds of Paradise
9. Harm’s Way

8. Darksteel Colossus

7. Silence

6. Land cycle
5. Ball Lightning

4. Pithing Needle

3. Lightning Bolt

2. Honor of the Pure

1. Baneslayer Angel


Comment:
Yup! Baneslayer's No. 1!

More M10 Rules Impacts

Quoted DCI Judge List email:

I'm pleased to announce that on Monday we'll release major revisions to the main Magic tournament documents. They'll available in the Document Center at http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dci/doccenter/home

Coincidentally, there are seven major changes, which, in terms of impact, parallel quite nicely with the seven changes announced in the M10 Rules Announcement. You've all read that, right? I thought I'd take a few minutes to run down them here for you and give you some insight as to why they've changed. There are other little details - this isn't a substitute for actually looking at the documents - but they can wait for now.

1) Graveyard order - just as with Simultaneous Mulligans, we're adapting a technique that is already used in casual circles to make tournament Magic a little easier to play. The last time Wizards printed a card that cared about the order of your graveyard was over 10 years ago, in the form of Stronghold's Volrath's Shapeshifter, and R&D has been very clear that they don't want to use this as an explorable design space. As a result, as long as they're playing in formats with cards from Urza's Saga and on, we no longer care how the players order their graveyard.

2) Cosmetic changes - Just as "removed from game" has changed into Exile, so has much of our terminology been tweaked. The holy trinity of documents you remember - the Penalty Guide, the Universal Tournament Rules and the Magic Floor Rules - have been merged and reconfigured into two documents: the Magic Tournament Rules and the Magic Infraction Procedure Guide. Both documents are devoted solely to Magic, and have been divided into information that players should generally be expected to know (the MTR) and information more geared towards judges (the PG).

Lots of changes cascade from this. Communication is now part of the MTR. Deck/Warband Errors become Deck Errors. Card-Game Specific Rulings move into the main body (which has an impact on what upgrade path infractions are on). Everything is renumbered. Just as with "cast", "exile" and "Battlefield", the changes are mostly cosmetic - an organizational shift to make the documents easier to read.

The MTR is particularly worth highlighting. Two years in the making, a ton of judges have made substantial contributions to it. Space prevents me from highlighting all the judges who were involved, but special mention must go to George Michelogiannakis, Falko Goerres, Nick Sephton and Jason Ness, all of whom contributed large sections or took a full whack at the document at one time or another. All your tournament policies should be in here, but they're cleaner, easier to read, and polished up from years of questions.

3) Mana burn has confused new players for years. Drawing Extra Cards has been a source of similar pain for judges. If I evoke Mulldrifter without blue mana, it's a Game Rule Violation, but casting Counsel of the Soratami without blue mana is Drawing Extra Cards? If I take the actions on Cruel Ultimatum out of order, which is it? If I activate Jace to have us both draw a card, and it's the second activation this turn, who gets a penalty?

We spent a lot of time debating options on these and similar questions, and eventually produced a much narrower definition for Drawing Extra Cards: If you are told to draw cards, and draw too many, it's Drawing Extra Cards. Otherwise it's a GRV. This is partly to reflect the fact that it can be very hard for an opponent to notice how many cards you've drawn and we were able to do this because we've been reasonably happy with the success of the GRV backup approach to dealing with the extra drawn card and believe it can be applied more widely.

Read full article

MAGIC 2010 CORE SET M10 CARD SPOILER (249/249)





UPDATED: 07/03/2009
Information courtesy of MTG Salvation, Gathering Magic, & Wizards of the Coast
Basic Lands Not Shown

Click here to see complete list

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Pre-M10 Standard Winners and Losers


Michael Pozsgay's Cascade Swans
Pre-M10 Standard - Winner, Columbus OH PTQ

Main Deck

60 cards
2 Battlefield Forge
2 Cascade Bluffs
4 Fire-Lit Thicket
2 Ghitu Encampment
4 Graven Cairns
1 Mountain
4 Reflecting Pool
4 Treetop Village
4 Vivid Crag
1 Vivid Creek
4 Vivid Grove
1 Vivid Marsh
4 Vivid Meadow
37 lands


4 Bloodbraid Elf
4 Enlisted Wurm
4 Swans of Bryn Argoll
12 creatures 2 Ad Nauseam
2 Bituminous Blast
2 Captured Sunlight
1 Primal Command
4 Seismic Assault
11 other spells

Sideboard

2 Aura of Silence
4 Countryside Crusher
2 Maelstrom Pulse
1 Primal Command
2 Vexing Shusher
2 Wickerbough Elder
2 Wrath of God
15 sideboard cards
_____________________________________________________________

Scott K. Bielick's Faeries
Pre-M10 Standard - 6th place, Minneapolis MN PTQ

Main Deck

60 cards
1 Faerie Conclave
6 Island
4 Mutavault
4 Secluded Glen
4 Sunken Ruins
3 Swamp
4 Underground River
26 lands


4 Mistbind Clique
4 Scion of Oona
2 Sower of Temptation
4 Spellstutter Sprite
14 creatures 4 Agony Warp
4 Bitterblossom
4 Broken Ambitions
4 Cryptic Command
1 Loxodon Warhammer
1 Peppersmoke
2 Thoughtseize
20 other spells

Sideboard

4 Deathmark
2 Infest
3 Peppersmoke
2 Sower of Temptation
2 Thoughtseize
2 Vendilion Clique
15 sideboard cards

_____________________________________________________________

Corey Baumeister's Green-White Tokens
Pre-M10 Standard - 2nd place, Minneapolis MN PTQ

Main Deck

60 cards
4 Brushland
4 Forest
4 Plains
4 Treetop Village
4 Windbrisk Heights
4 Wooded Bastion
24 lands


4 Cloudgoat Ranger
3 Dauntless Escort
4 Kitchen Finks
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Steward of Valeron
4 Wilt-Leaf Liege
23 creatures 3 Ajani Goldmane
3 Overrun
3 Path to Exile
4 Spectral Procession
13 other spells

Sideboard

3 Burrenton Forge-Tender
3 Cloudthresher
3 Guttural Response
3 Pithing Needle
3 Wrath of God
15 sideboard cards


Decks from http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/td/47

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Drop and Give Me 2010


Welcome to Magic 2010 Previews, Week Two. Today I'm going to explain how the design process for Magic 2010 differed from every other design I've ever worked on (after almost fourteen years, that's a lot of sets). I'll tell a few stories. And, as always, I have another shiny new preview card to show you. In fact, let's get that out of the way right now.

This card really doesn't need any set-up other than I think it does an excellent job of demonstrating the shift we've made in our approach to the core set (and beyond).

Let me give a few random thoughts on Baneslayer Angel before we get to the meat of today's article.

* The aesthetic in me loves the fact that she's a five mana 5/5 with five abilities.
* We've come a long way since Serra Angel was removed from the core set for being too good.
* If this was an Un card, the creature would clearly have protection from dungeons rather than demons.
* Didn't I once say I wouldn't put "protection from dragons" on a card? Why yes I did in my article Design Language. Here's what I said:

The tricky part of designing for Vorthos is that R&D has shifted over the years away from mechanical aspects that don't have any application. Yes, it's flavorful if a knight has protection from dragons, but if the line never comes up in play, R&D has generally decided not to put it on the card. This is a blow to Vorthos, because to him "protection from dragons" adds value to the card.

Comment:
I think Baneslayer Angel is better than (both) Akroma. It easier to cast and it's not a legendary creature so you can play 4 Baneslayers!

Baneslayer image from magicthegathering.com

Read full article...

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Three Black Lotuses in One, Anyone?


I started playing MTG in 1995, i think. And my first deck was a loaner from a friend-a white banding deck!
I never won any games with it. Until my banding deck slowly evolved to a "white weenie" based on the 1996 champion Tom Chanpheng and playing was never the same again. (see deck details below)

Back then, the Black Lotus was a myth, meaning, i have heard of it, but not seen one. It was the most expensive MTG card and i thought anyone who has it on their decks would surely win any tournament. I was totally a newbie!

I am now what you call a casual player. I don't join pre-releases anymore, nor play in any tournament. I just play with my friends...at home or in the office.

Until Now!

The 2010 Core Set had me going excited again.
From what the spoilers are revealing, i believe it's going to be one helluva set. Probably one of the main features would be the "Golden Lotus". A slower version of the Black Lotus but gives mana 3 times more-of any color! It does come with a 3-land sacrifice and comes into play tapped. But who cares now, can you imagine all the combos you can do with it? Wizards! No R1, No banning please of this card! We'll have to see when players start building decks around it. Definitely not a Black Lotus, but it has the make of becoming a classic...we'll at least for me. (image from Wizards.com)

White Weenie by Tom Chanpheng:
4 Order of Leitbur
4 Order of the White Shield
2 Phyrexian War Beast
4 Savannah Lions
2 Serra Angel
4 White Knight
1 Armageddon
1 Balance
4 Disenchant
1 Sleight of Mind
1 Land Tax
1 Lodestone Bauble
1 Reinforcements
1 Reprisal
4 Swords to Plowshares
1 Zuran Orb

4 Adarkar Wastes
1 Kjeldoran Outpost
4 Mishra's Factories
11 Plains
4 Strip Mine