The Battle of Wits video and Some NPH thoughts

We are on a count down to New Phyrexia hitting the streets. May 13th is when we are flooded with new goodies for all kinds of decks. I mean, we are at the dawn of a new age. We are standing on the sidewalk and we can see the street being built, we just can't cross it yet...it's a pretty looking street though, but a bit windy. I wish I could help you navigate through this treacherous journey, I can only really show you the pot holes to avoid.

This is the giant, $50.00, planeswalker elephant in the corner of the room. Just ignore it and it might go away on it's own. The one cool thing I've heard about Karn is that he is currently the only way to get rid of poison counters. However, once you play him, get him up to the ultimate ability and use it, you will be more poisoned than after eating a grande meal from Taco Bell. He looks so shiny and colorless and can be played in any deck, but he really just isn't that appealing to me. I might change my tune after I have my face beat in by him, but until then, just say no to Karn. Pull him in a pack and ship him for some other card around the $50.00 range.

I've been hearing a pretty big stink about this card and I'm not all that super thrilled about it. The problem with it is that those interweb people keep saying you can play it, pull creatures out of their deck, then reanimate them....what creatures are we talking about buddy? I mean, let's go through a couple decks and see what we have:

Caw-Blade
I'm seeing a Sun Titan main deck aaaannnnnddd.....yeah. Awkward. This wouldn't exactly be the prime deck to try and reanimate against. Plus, I'm pretty sure you are just locked out and done by turn 6. They have their own Day of Judgements to keep the board clean too.

RUG
A bit more on the crunchy side. Avenger of Zendikar is something I'd like to see dropped on my side...but oh wait, they'll kill you way before you can even start to think of a turn 6. Sure, you can play it....and get Mana Leaked.  "No, I'm not crying, it's just Mana Leaking on my eyes...."

R/B Vampires
You are playing black already so there are for sure some guys in here they would work for your team. Kalastria Highborn being one of them that would be pretty sick...just....just for the love of god don't put their Bloodghasts in there. I mean, you could be this guy. But, just don't. This is one deck I will yield and say this card would be good against it.

Valakut
Ka-ching! This is the deck that, IF you can pull this off, you are in great shape. Strip your deck of Primeval Titans? Yes please. But again, this Wraith + Buried Alive costs 6 and...well....just good luck.

Goblins/Kuldotha/things that are red

.........

Infect
Grabbing Skithiryx is pretty sweet and ripping Crusaders out of their deck can be pretty great too. You can't infect without infect cards.

Overall. I'm not too impressed with Life's Finale.

Lastly:

I see this card hurting more than helping. Let's run through this scenario: You look at your opening hand and you see two of this little bastard. Doesn't that just suck? Having more than one of them in your hand is just clogging things, however, there is the problem that you WANT to run more than one of these to get it out faster. Let's play through another scenario: You are on the draw, your opponent is able to play their Hawk or Stoneforge before you can play this. Yeah. Awkward.

So, in my second to last blog post I mentioned the greatest Magic win ever...remember that? What's that? You want video proof that this happened?! Ugh! Fine. Here:

Proof

But I'm going to make you sit through an ad first.

Well, there you have it. I have to get ready for that "work" thing so until next time.

New art = New great card nickname

So, we are all well aware of the nicknames of Magic cards.

Boots = Lightning Greaves
Mogg Fantasic = Mogg Fanatic
etc.

Cards can also get a nickname from their at. Remember Sex Monkey:

Well, we have a new one folks!

Does Glissa have the worst gas ever? Love it. That's all I have to say about tonight.

You know why I like Legacy?

Because of this shit:

Battle of Wits Featured by Ken Adams on 2011-05-01 (Legacy) Print this deck!
Maindeck: Artifacts 1 Crucible Of Worlds 1 Expedition Map 1 Meekstone 1 Null Rod 1 Oblivion Stone 1 Pithing Needle 4 Sensei's Divining Top 1 Tormod's Crypt Creatures 1 Eternal Witness 4 Knight of the Reliquary 1 Qasali Pridemage 4 Sakura-Tribe Elder 1 Sower of Temptation 4 Tarmogoyf 4 Trinket Mage 1 Vampire Hexmage Enchantments 4 Battle of Wits 1 Humility 3 Moat 1 Oblivion Ring 1 Solitary Confinement Instants 1 Argivian Find 4 Brainstorm 4 Counterspell 4 Enlightened Tutor 4 Force of Will 4 Gifts Ungiven 4 Go for the Throat 4 Intuition 4 Path to Exile 1 Reclaim 2 Spell Pierce 4 Swords to Plowshares Legendary Creatures 2 Progenitus	Sorceries 1 Day of Judgment 4 Duress 4 Green Sun's Zenith 4 Inquisition of Kozilek 4 Life from the Loam 4 Natural Order 4 Nature's Lore 4 Ponder 4 Preordain 1 Regrowth 4 Scapeshift 4 Search for Tomorrow 3 Thoughtseize 4 Wrath of God Basic Lands 2 Island 2 Plains Lands 4 Arid Mesa 3 Badlands 2 Barren Moor 3 Bayou 4 Bloodstained Mire 1 Bojuka Bog 3 Flooded Strand 4 Horizon Canopy 2 Lonely Sandbar 4 Marsh Flats 1 Maze of Ith 4 Misty Rainforest 2 Mystic Gate 4 Polluted Delta 1 Reflecting Pool 4 Savannah 1 Scalding Tarn 4 Scrubland 2 Secluded Steppe 4 Tundra 4 Underground Sea 2 Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle 4 Verdant Catacombs 2 Vesuva 4 Volcanic Island 4 Windswept Heath 3 Wooded Foothills Land Creatures 2 Dryad Arbor Legendary Lands 1 Academy Ruins 1 Karakas 1 Volrath's Stronghold Legendary Snow Lands 1 Dark Depths	Sideboard: 4 Dark Confidant 1 Eternal Dragon 1 Oracle of Mul Daya 3 Sterling Grove 1 Mindslaver 1 Thrun, the Last Troll 4 Firespout

AND!

Battle of Wits Zoo Featured by Kenny Mayer on 2011-05-01 (Legacy) Print this deck!
Maindeck: Artifacts 1 Bonehoard 1 Sword of Body and Mind 1 Sword of Feast and Famine 1 Sword of Fire and Ice 1 Sword of Light and Shadow Creatures 4 Bloodbraid Elf 1 Eternal Witness 4 Fauna Shaman 4 Figure of Destiny 4 Goblin Guide 4 Grim Lavamancer 4 Kird Ape 4 Knight of the Reliquary 4 Loam Lion 4 Lotus Cobra 4 Mirran Crusader 4 Mother of Runes 4 Noble Hierarch 4 Plated Geopede 4 Qasali Pridemage 4 Ranger of Eos 1 Scute Mob 4 Skyshroud Elite 4 Squadron Hawk 4 Steppe Lynx 4 Stoneforge Mystic 4 Tarmogoyf 4 Terravore 4 Trygon Predator 4 Vengevine 4 Vinelasher Kudzu 4 Wild Nacatl Enchantments 4 Battle of Wits 4 Oblivion Ring Instants 4 Lightning Bolt 4 Lightning Helix 4 Path to Exile 4 Swords to Plowshares Legendary Artifacts 4 Umezawa's Jitte Legendary Creatures 1 Progenitus	Planeswalkers 4 Ajani Vengeant 4 Elspeth, Knight-Errant Sorceries 4 Chain Lightning 4 Green Sun's Zenith 4 Natural Order Basic Lands 1 Forest 1 Island 2 Mountain 2 Plains Lands 4 Arid Mesa 4 Bloodstained Mire 4 Copperline Gorge 4 Flooded Strand 4 Horizon Canopy 4 Marsh Flats 1 Maze of Ith 4 Misty Rainforest 4 Plateau 4 Polluted Delta 4 Raging Ravine 4 Razorverge Thicket 4 Savannah 4 Scalding Tarn 4 Stirring Wildwood 4 Taiga 2 Tropical Island 3 Tundra 4 Verdant Catacombs 3 Volcanic Island 4 Wasteland 4 Windswept Heath 4 Wooded Foothills Land Creatures 2 Dryad Arbor Legendary Lands 1 Karakas	Sideboard: 1 Ethersworn Canonist 1 Gilded Drake 1 Loaming Shaman 1 Meddling Mage 1 War Priest of Thune 4 Eladamri's Call 4 Worldly Tutor 1 Kataki, War's Wage 1 Llawan, Cephalid Empress

I woke up on Sunday morning and turned on the Starcitygames legacy tournament and saw that this deck was being played. The announcers were all about this deck. They said they had a feature match of the Battle of Wits deck against a Sneak Attack/Show and Tell deck. I saw turn sequence go like this:

Mind over Matter = Player 1
Sneak attack = Player 2

Player 1 Turn 1: plays Stirring Wildwood. Pass
Player 2 Turn 1: plays Ancient Tomb, taps it to play Grim Monolith. Pass
Player 1 Turn 2: plays Razorverge Thicket. Pass
Player 2 Turn 2: Plays Volcanic Island. Taps it and Ancient Tomb for Intuition, grabs Emrakul with it. Pass
Player 1 Turn 3: Plays Wooded Foothills, Plays Tarmogoyf. Pass
Player 2 Turn 3: Plays Volcanic Island, plays Show and Tell.

Okay. Ready?

Player 2 reveals Emrakul. Player 1 reveals Battle of Wits. And wins.

Just look at it! It's beautiful!

And that ladies and gentlemen, is how Battle of Wits became my new favorite deck in Legacy!

I mean, this is what the deck really boils down to: Having fun at Magic. You get to essentially play the 240ish best cards in Magic and at any point in the game you can just say "I win?" and your opponent looks sad. ISN'T THAT GREAT!? This really gets to the root of playing Magic and having fun. In a single deck, you attack you opponent and interact, you combo out, you stall, you do EVERYTHING! I could go on and on about this one deck. Is it competitive? I guess not very much. Is it fun? Hell. Fucking. Yeah.

So! Projects I've been working on:

So, I saw that one of my buddies had a Experiment Kraj as his "Commander" and a friend of his cut it up and made it into a cool, 3D image. So...why can't you do the same thing, but change around the background? I agree. So I have been using Ezuri as my "Commander" so I took the Exacto Knife to him and got this.  So yeah, pretty fun.

Anyways, thanks a lot and I'll post again soon!