I didn’t realize that it had been nearly two months since my last post. Unfortunately, life has a bad habit in getting the way of living. In my last article, I explained where I’ve come from, and as the second part of the trilogy, it seems only appropriate to establish where I am.

I am about to enter the final two months of my degree, so the majority of my writing is technically focused on my dissertation and a couple of other deadlines. Its rather scary to think that in 61 days time, my time in university will be over, and a new stage of my life will begin, hopefully one that in some part will contain more games of Magic. Sadly, much as I would love to, its difficult for me to commit to the game right now, but a few snatched games of EDH every fortnight are helping stay in the game.

I currently have no Standard decks. Standard is a format that for the most part, simply does not interest me. However, I do think that apart from the abundance of Thragtusk and Sphinx’s Revelation, the format is the freshest it has been since Ravnica/Time Spiral whilst my interest in it is only passing, I do look forward to seeing what Dragon’s Maze and M14 are going to bring to the format.

Modern season is coming to a close, and I’ve traded away my deck and turned it into a couple of Mutavaults and some other random bits and pieces. I’m expecting them to be reprinted in Modern Masters, but i think they’re gonna hold value for the most part. I really like the idea of Modern as a format and think its got a lot of potential, its just that this new format needs to be given a chance. Yes, it isn’t the power level of Legacy, and yes, Wizards are beating it with the nerf-stick, and yes, fetches really could do with getting reprinted and everything else, but look at it like this: Wizards cut Extended from a seven year rotation to a four year rotation, not just killing the format, but dancing on its grave. We, the people complained, and created Over-Extended, which was more or less what Extended should have been, and those that played it, loved it. Wizards paid attention to this and created Modern, which at this moment in time is what Extended would have been, plus Affinity, and yet people complain… Incidentally, I am now working on a new Modern deck and picking the pieces up whilst they’re cheap, but I’ll discuss that in a future post. Needless to say, just because YOU play Legacy doesn’t make other formats suck.

On the subject of Legacy… Oh lord, I wish I had 4 Candelabra of Tawnos. I still goldfish Spiral Tide from time to time, but sadly haven’t updated the list in a while due to my Sunday and Tuesday commitments clashing with the Legacy events at my LGS. I am picking up random bits and pieces for variants of it, but sadly, those bits and pieces aren’t worth $350 a pop…

Finally, EDH. As ever, my format of choice, and I’m currently on decks, which in some ways is a shame as I tend to only get three games at most when I do get to play.

Ashling the Pilgrim: Ashling is the first EDH deck I built on my own, and was only desleeved for the first time without being resleeved around a fortnight ago, the reason for this being that in all her foily goodness, she has one hell of a curve to the cards. The whole deck is currently residing underneath a book (Chuck Palahniuk’s Haunted) and eight comic compilations (Spawn 1-5, Tales of the Jedi Volume 2, The Return of Superman, and Judge Dredd Volume 11). She’s a mix of Voltron and red control, and whilst not my best deck to play (I go through phases), she’s still my favorite.

Norin the Wary: Thank you Gaka. Any deck that results in the threat ‘After playing against it once I swear to god I’ll take a two by four to Neil’s face if he ever tries to play it again.’ has to be awesome.

Phage the Untouchable: There are not enough words to describe how much I love this deck. Phage is one big game-ending puzzle that even with tutors is nigh on impossible to play out the same way each time. You have to plan two turns ahead whilst at the same time having to derail your own plans so as not to die, then curse yourself as you realise that your awesome win is derailed due to having no way of destroying your own Torpor Orb.

Edric, Spymaster of Trest: Another Gaka special, combining Edric with Dredge. Its a bit of a brainmelter to play at first (and I really could do with a Bazaar of Baghdad), but once you get used to it, whilst without the Bazaar you won’t be getting the turn two and three wins Gaka can, you will confuse the hell out of your opponent and pull wins out of nowhere.

Bruna, Flight of Alabaster: I describe this as my most vicious deck. It does have the downside of pretty much going play Bruna, swing with Bruna, win with Bruna, but the efficiency she does it with freaks the hell out of me.

Sasaya, Orochi Ascendant: Again, a deck that I love. I don’t think I’ve ever won with her, because I really don’t care. I’m going big and inevitably going home. Stupid amounts of mana and stupid ways of spending it. This is both a complete deck and a work in progress, as I’m aiming to get the entire thing custom/altered as a leaving present to myself. Its currently around 50% foiled, 5% altered, and thanks to the UK Alters group on Facebook, well on the way to getting completed.  It was originally going to be fully blinged, but then I found the cost of foil snow-lands… I have almost exactly a year to get this completed, and its looking to be just about on track. If anyone wants to help, just comment here.

Ixidor, Reality Sculptor: Still technically a work in progress, as I’m short a handful of cards for it. All the Blue Rangers! Really looking forward to finally being able to play it.

Bosh, Iron Golem: My first custom brew in a while. The problem with Bosh is that everything he does, someone else does better. Flinging stuff? Brion Stoutarm. Artifact goodness? Karn. (or someone blue)/ That said, I really like the way he’s been put together and I’m very proud of the tribal features. I will at some point post a decklist for those who’re interested.

I’ve also got another decklist I’m working on, but again, I’m gonna save that for a future post as I want to get it just right first (and for the cards to actually be printed…)

 

SO untill next time (which should be sooner than I think because I want to do a post on You Make the Card 4.0 *insert witty phrase to do with Magic!*

 

I’ve found the problem with writing a blog, is finding some kind of focus, especially when I have so many random ideas in my head. Therefore, today, I’m gonna try and give myself a bit of direction. I’ll probably miss the mark completely, but if nothing else, I’ll be writing again and get many random thoughts down, and maybe give you food for thought.
Its been maybe five months since my last post, and a lot has changed in my life. Indeed, much of it has got in the way of writing this post, something I’ve been intending to do for a good two months. I’m finally hitting the grind of my final year of uni, and I am getting closer and closer to my life changing forever. To cut a long story short, just before starting this blog, I got engaged to the love of my life, and the enormity of the situation is really starting to sink in. For the forseeable future, this involves moving to another country. Am I scared? I’d be crazy if I wasn’t at least a little, but more than anything, I’m excited. New faces, new(ish) culture, and the next step in what, if not growing up, is at least growing old. Of course, a move of this nature means some serious downsizing and taking stock of pretty much everything that I own, and that’s scary. I’ve lived the majority of the past ten or so years out of a single room, a kitchen and a bathroom, and now… Its going. Yet as I look round the room in the dim light of the monitor, the thing I see most of? Magic. Cardboard reminders of what I do, who I am, and how I am the person I am today.

I stumbled into the game, and indeed gaming, by accident. I was twenty years old, around six months out of my first long-term relationship, and in a vain attempt to gain promotion at work, had moved to Liverpool and was living in a house-share. I knew pretty much no-one outside of work, and other than going out and hopefully meeting my workmates where we intended on a Friday (of which we succeeded in doing so maybe five times in my entire time of living in Liverpool), didn’t have much of a social life, but I was happy. At the time, I was playing a lot of Doom 3, and had randomly seen the board game in stores. I’d has a particularly nauseous morning at work, and was sent home early, inevitably leading to my falling asleep on the bus. When I woke up, I vaguely recognized where I was, knew it to be walking distance, and figured I might as well make the effort. A short distance from home, I saw a shop I hadn’t previously seen… Thadiun. With the money burning a hole in the pocket, I figured that given the random gaming paraphernalia in the window, they might have the Doom board game. Needless to say, thanks to the expert sales skills of (my now friend) Pete, I walked out with £30 of Heroclix. Of course, you might think that I’m just dribbling on and none of this is relevant, but the thing is, Pete selling me those clix nine years ago wasn’t just the beginning of a beautiful friendship, but the beginning of many beautiful friendships, and indeed, my life as I know it now.

Whilst we may be the objects of ridicule to some, playing with “plastic men” and “stupid pieces of cards”, gaming has shaped me. I no longer play Heroclix, and indeed I think most of my collection ended up getting lost when my house got broken into. However, the house was where I had my first game of D&D, and were it not for the generosity of one of the Thadiun regulars, I’d still have been living on my own. I can walk into any gaming store in the UK, and I know that I’ve got a connection with at least one person there, even if I’ve never met them. Roleplaying has given me confidence I never knew I had, and started conversations with people, even none-gamers that I might never have done so, and in some aspects, I’m now a bit of a social chameleon, finding myself able to fit in with a crazy variety of random social peers.

Magic itself however, is my creativity. Its not just a game, but my method of expression. A bad day or week results in a vicious, dull and controlling EDH deck. A good day results in something fresh and original like my (nowhere near as good as I hoped it would be) Borb Enraged deck. Even my upcoming marriage and end of studies are influencing my thought processes with regards to the game-as I’m getting closer to the finish line as it were, my uni life is less about the fun stuff, and more about achieving the win. As a result… I’m finding myself thinking like a spike. I can’t play like one, but I’m definitely starting to think like one. I can’t play like one at all, I like doing the crazy EDH plays and jumping through hoops to play Phage too much to just play Azami.dec.

So now, nine years later, I’ve a room full of miscellaneous dross and gaming paraphernalia. Some of it is going to be donated to the Scythe and Teacup, a chunk of it has already made its way to CRAGS. The games? They’re just things. I can replace them eventually, and I’ve already got a few bits and pieces (covered in my next post), ready for when I make my new, strange friends in a new, strange country.

Thank you Pete, for giving me nothing, and letting me leave with everything.

Wait… Pack to Power?
For the uninformed, a Pack to Power Challenge is when a Magic player such as myself buys a single booster pack of Magic, and ultimately trades up into a piece of the Power 9. I actually have no use for a piece of the Power 9, and I’m not the most amazing trader in the world, so I’m settling for a Revised Tropical Island, simply because my friend PJ suggested it.

So How Does This Work?
As with any challenge, there are certain rules to which one must abide. Taken from Jonathon Medina’s Pack to Power Intro from GatheringMagic:

• Only One Pack – The seed pack will be from the new set, Magic 2013. It will be random and sealed. I will open only one pack, no cherry picking the best pack.
• Trading - I must trade only the contents of the pack which is opened, or cards acquired through trading the contents of the pack. This means that I cannot use any other cards from my collection to aid me in my quest.
• Documenting - I will record every trade and keep careful records of the entire journey.
• Spend No Money – The only money that I can spend is the money that I use to purchase the pack, or money that I obtained by selling cards that I have traded for in the process of Pack to Power.
• Free Cards – I cannot accept free cards. I must trade for the cards that I get.
• No Crushing Newbies - Trick made sure I knew I wasn’t allowed to make unfair trades with new players without making them aware.

But Why?!
I’m not too sure. I rarely buy boosters due to bad luck and rarely having the money, preferring to buy singles. To be honest I’m actually selling up most of my collection in bulk due to needing the extra cash, but this keeps me in the trading game, and lets be honest, a bit of a challenge over a long boring and sadly unpaid summer. Having one naysayer within 30 seconds of opening the pack kinda cemented the deal.

What is in the Pack in Pack to Power Peej and Pritchard Picked?

Silvercoat Lion
Bloodhunter Bat
Disentomb
Sentinel Spider
Hydrosurge
Bloodthrone Vampire
Evolving Wilds
Arbor Elf
Griffin Protector
Divination
Healer of the Pride
Rewind
Primal Clay
Serra Avenger
Mountain

The Trades So Far…
The first few days have actually been kind of successful. The Rewind got traded into a foil Amass the Components, and my friend Dan was looking for a Llanowar Elf. The Arbor Elf got traded into a Llanowar Elf, which in turn got exchanged into a stack of 85 or so commons and uncommons.10 of the commons then got traded in at the store and became 2 Bounty of the Hunt, a Sedraxis Specter, and an Elixir of Immortality, leaving my total spoils at:

2x Attended Knight
1x Aven Squire
1x Battleflight Eagle
2x Captain’s Call
1x Erase
2x Divine Favor
4x Griffin Protector
1x Guardians of Akrasa
1x Pacifism
1x Pillarfield Ox
2x Silvercoat Lion
1x War Falcon (Foil)
3x War Falcon
1x Amass the Components (Foil)
1x Divination
1x Encrust
2x Essence Scatter
1x Hydrosurge
1x Mind Sculpt
1x Scroll Thief
1x Dragon Hatchling
1x Wall of Fire
1x Bloodhunter Bat
1x Bloodthrone Vampire
1x Disentomb
2x Arbor Elf
1x Bountiful Harvest
1x Centaur Courser
1x Deadly Recluse
2x Elvish Visionary
1x Farseek
1x Fog
1x Plummet
2x Primal Huntbeast
1x Ranger’s Guile
1x Sentinel Spider
1x Serpent’s Gift
1x Sentinel Spider
1x Evolving Wilds
2x Healer of the Pride
1x Rewind
2x Cower in Fear
1x Crimson Muckwader
2x Bounty of the Hunt
1x Flinthoof Boar
1x Revive
2x Elixir of Immortality
1x Ring of Kalonia
2x Primal Clay
1x Sedraxis Specter
1x Serra Avenger
9x Plains
1x Island
1x Swamp
4x Mountain
8x Forest
1x Soldier Token
1x Wurm Token
1x Hellion Token

I’ve no idea if this is actually a good start or not, but given for the cost of an uncommon and a common I’ve substantially increased my card pool, I’m erring on the side of yes…

So until next time, *witty slogan related to Magic*!

This is probably the post where I should try and ensnare you and convince you to continue to read my blog. First of all, you’ll have to excuse the lack of fancy visuals and a gif of moonwalking Garruk, I’m a total newbie when it comes tot his kind of thing, but I’ll try and make things all fancy and pretty as the blog goes on.

So… Me and Magic. I’ve been playing Magic since just before Betrayers of Kamigawa, and haven’t made that many achievements worth shouting about-I think my most prolific accomplishment was making top 16 in a Win a Mox Legacy Tournament playing a Budget Pox deck. I’m a Rules Adviser and am technically practicing for my L1 Judge test. In terms of formats, I tend to avoid standard-off the top of my head I think I’ve played in five standard events since Zendikar came out. I dabble somewhat in Legacy, with a Burn deck and Spring Tide currently built, with the intent of upgrading to Spiral Tide at some point, so if anyone would like to donate three Time Spiral, three Force of Will, three Scalding Tarn and three Misty Rainforest, I’d find it difficult to refuse… My main format however is EDH. For me, Magic is a personal experience. Everyone has their own way of the having fun, and for me, its about doing big stupid things that look awesome, or cynical clever things that annoy the hell out of people. EDH is my medium, and as I’ve grown older,my decks at times have come to reflect on me and my state of mind. Of particular note was earlier this year when I was trying to establish some control within my life. This resulted in a very irritating and unfun Linvala deck which pretty much resulted in nothing happening in the game every, as a reflection of the rut I found myself in. I have since taken that deck apart. I openly admit to using other people’s decklists for assistance-my own Norin deck is almost identical to Gaka’s because I think the deck is that damn good.

I’m actually not too sure what exactly I’m going to write about-I have many random thoughts related to Magic in my head, so there’ll likely be some of those, the usual random decklists, and the chronicle of my Pack to Power.

So until next time, *witty slogan related to Magic*!