When all else fails...

Play Triumph of the Hordes.

While you won't find me at the top of the Sheldon Menery fan list, I can get on board with his Triumph of the Hordes ban theory. I mean...let me start over:

I love Triumph of the Hordes. I think you can equate my happiness playing Triumph of the Hordes is the same as a small child in footie pajamas running downstairs on Christmas morning and seeing a crap ton of presents. However, the payoff of Triumph of the Hordes is like finding out all those presents are socks. Sure they are useful and at the end of the day, it's something you will use, however, you would have been happier with a Gameboy.

Triumph of the Hordes falls into a category that my friends and I have been making of cards that, while not powerful enough to ban, do what they shouldn't do in EDH. Example?

Yep. Cards that should be fine on their own, but they make the EDH rules work for them instead of the other way around. Infect is a mechanic that does this. What Triumph of the Hordes should read in EDH is:

Until end of turn, all of your creatures get +1/+1, trample and all of your opponents life totals become 10.

Yep. Nice and tidy.

I was playing a game last night where I was playing Elves (link goes to deck list) and I was able to go: Concordant Crossroads, Genesis Wave (for 9), Triumph of the Hordes. Win. Did I get the win? Yes. Did I feel good about it? No.

So, you have to look at Triumph of the Hordes as a card that does something that it shouldn't do. We have already banned cards that do things that they shouldn't do in EDH. Does this card warrant a ban also? If we do that, do we ban other cards that simply do things that they shouldn't? You know, that Felidar Sovereign just wins you the game? He does that. Infect is just a mechanic that isn't made for EDH.

However, on the other side of the coin, the argument of why to ban it is exactly the reason why it can't be banned. If you ban Triumph of the Hordes, you should also ban the following:

ALL OF THESE

If you ban something that is related to the mechanic that makes it broken, then you would need to ban the mechanic all together. Triumph of the Hordes is a great card, but, if you are looking for friends, I don't suggest Triumph of the Hordes.

We are going in circles here. Point being, Triumph of the Hordes wrecks.

A great P1P1 cube

So, I wake up, and find this:

I honestly can't make this pick. At first I thought:

1. Time Walk
2. Jace the Mind Sculptor
3. Mox Ruby
4. Maze of Ith
5.....My brain exploded.

Who can make this pick? The biggest problem is that after you pick Time Walk, you will be splitting blue with the next 3-4 players (depending on where they pick Mox Ruby and Treachery).

Ugh. Just had to share this. But I think Time Walk is pick 1.

Angus Mackenzie Version 2.0

Bigger. Faster. Stronger. More foiled.

General (1) Angus Mackenzie Lands (36) Savannah Tropical Island Tundra Hallowed Fountain Breeding Pool Temple Garden Vivid Meadow Vivid Creek Vivid Grove Flooded Strand Misty Rainforest Windsweapt Heath Selesnya Sanctuary Simic Growth Chamber Azorius Chancery Ancient Den Tree of Tales Seat of Synod Stirring Wildwood Celestial Colonnade Seaside Citadel Command Tower Reflecting Pool Vesuva Maze of Ith Academy Ruins Reliquary Tower Minamo, School at Water's Edge Forest x2 Plains x3 Island x3 Creatures (21) Mother of Runes Birds of Paradise Noble Hierarch Ethersworn Canonist Grand Abolisher Gilded Drake Edric, Spymaster of Trest Peacekeeper Jace's Archivist Windborn Muse Solemn Simulacrum Kuldotha Forgemaster Silklash Spider Sphinx of Jwar Isle Consecrated Sphinx Sun Titan Frost Titan Vengeful Archon Blazing Archon Inkwell Leviathan Blightsteel Colossus Planeswalkers (7) Tezzeret the Seeker Venser, the Sojourner Ajani Goldmane Gideon Jura Jace, The Mind Sculptor Jace Beleren Garruk, Primal Hunter Instants (9) Path to Exile Swords to Plowshares Condemn Constant Mists Tangle Capsize Bant Charm Fact or Fiction Cryptic Command Sorceries (7) Ancestral Vision Armageddon Wrath of God Time Warp Bribery Hallowed Burial Recurring Insight Artifacts (13) Sol Ring Expedition Map Voltaic Key Howling Mine Lightning Greaves Grim Monolith Scroll Rack Swiftfoot Boots Horn of Greed Crawlspace Gilded Lotus Norn's Annex Mindslaver Enchantments (6) Elephant Grass Luminarch Ascension Rites of Flourishing Ghostly Prison Propaganda Future Sight

Gen Con Indianapolis 2011

By this time tomorrow, my plane will be landing in Indianapolis. 

Why, one would ask, would someone voluntarily make their way to the hottest place on the planet (yes, I know that is from about 2 weeks ago, but it is still bloody hot)?

Gen Con Indy.

Magic 24/7. US Nationals. Legacy championship. EDH tournaments. Drafts. ETC ETC ETC!!!!

So, I am going to try and update this as often as I possibly can. But after the tournaments, I will have tournament reports, deck write ups, pros and cons, and pictures.

Very exciting. Stay tuned!