Hiatus

I'm taking a short break over the coming 2 months. I'll need the time for my studies as well as to come up more content. Meantime, I will be reducing my posts to probably 2-3 post over the next month or so. 

I will be back after the Christmas Holidays (aka, next year) with more updates. Meantime, I'll finish up posting the contents I have in drafts and probably do one or two more before the year ends. 

The most frustrating: Sideboard

Please tell me I'm not the only one that finds sideboarding the most frustrating and the most time-consuming in deck building.

Is it just me that my initial options for sideboarding will always exceed the restricted 15 cards?

Also, is it just me or that more time is actually spent on sideboarding strategies rather than actually making sure the deck works?

Personally I love to play home-brew decks, but I'm not really an avid fan of brewing tons of decks and throw them around. To me, I prefer to build 1 or 2 competitive or non-casual decks, build them up proper with the proper tuning and just play with it. I really don't see the need to have 10 Modern decks or EDH decks when I only have time and energy to just play 1 at a time. Also, having lesser decks means being able to spend more time practicing and focus on being good at solely just one deck, I'm able to tune and make changes faster and more efficiently.

Hmm.. to side or not to...

But, here comes the part which frustrates myself; I prefer home-brew decks over competitive net-decks. Sure, I may take ideas from primers and net decks, but in the end, the final product is ensured to have some sort of personal expression or originality in it.  I actually dismantled a UW midrange deck after playing for a single event for my own homebrew. I personally preferred the latter deck still, but I digress.

If you look at my (almost) weekly gameplay reviews, I have been reviewing my gameplay for my Ally reanimator deck for months and I have not even fixed a finalized sideboard. The deck was a homebrew, which  which I have been working for almost a YEAR!

The "worst" part of the deck building that I have found when home-brewing a deck is the sideboard.
The sideboard is restricted to just 15 cards; we can never find enough space for our ideal list. Please tell me I'm not the only one who thinks 15 cards is, although the right number, really much crammed in space to jam in all our wants. I always have the problem in which I have a list of 20+ cards as ideas for sideboarding. After cutting out 50% of them, I then included the multiples, which always ended up more than the 15 slots, which then I went ahead to remove the cards that are too narrow in its hate or the intended disruption. Finally, I'll end up with 16 cards, not knowing which to cut (In fact, at this point of writing, my Ally Reanimator deck actually has 16 cards in the sideboard, which I left out the third Stony Silence out in favor of the third Pithing Needle.)

The need to separate the wants and needs is really crucial. But, in most games, our needs and wants are really separated by a vague line to be honest. That's frustrating...

Another issue that I can think of as to why sideboard is the "worst" part of the entire deck building journey is the almost lack of originality. Okay, I'm sure I'm going to get a lot of heat from this, but hear me out! When it comes to the sideboard, more time is spent actually on analyzing local meta and this can be frustrating as the local meta differs, but the decks that are present is usually not. The main difference is the percentage variation of the different archetypes and decks present that makes up to the meta.

Building on the point mentioned above, since so much time is spent on analyzing meta, it naturally meant that more time is spent building the sideboard (which is a good thing by the way; means I am really looking into the meta and fighting against it properly). But, it still doesn't give much variation to the sideboard in terms of originality. Strong sideboard cards have already been tested and proven to be effective against certain decks and match-ups. So, even if its a home-brew deck, the sideboard may eventually be winding up as the same as the other guy across the room, playing the same archetype.

Sure, I'm not blind to notice that there are variations to the "hate" and stax cards that are used against match-ups; I'm pointing out that the sideboards in the certain archetype would eventually look the same. For example, creature-heavy decks would eventually use Kataki, War's Wage over Stony Silence against Affinity match-ups. The variation is there in the cards, but not the hate. Eventually, the sideboard is not just dependant on the deck I make, but also what decks other people make.

In essence, the most frustrating thing in Sideboard building is not actually the building; that's the easy part: finding the cards to hate. But, it is not so simple as to just jam in 15 hate cards and done.

How does the hate cards hinder your game-plan? 
How does the additional cards going to affect the mana curve? 
How does the cards going to affect your other games? 
Are there better options out there? 
Are the options flexible enough to cover more than intended? 
What cards are you going to side out? 

So many questions to think through and answer before I can actually decide on a good sideboard. It's the analysis and research needed as downtime to understand the local meta in your community and actually plan and work against it. It is also the time needed to look at your decklist and understand the minor synergy between the cards, how they interact each other. By including the new cards from the sideboard, how are the interactions going to be different? How the game-plan is going to change? That's the frustration.

It is very clear to anyone who played a decent amount of time in MTG to know that the sideboard is the most important 15 cards out of the 75.  It is the crucial plan in your entire deck that determines your decks' viability against the meta, literally making and breaking your games.

The meta is forever changing as more deck ideas will come up overtime. We only have to keep up.

Commander 2014: Hyped? [First Look!]

I'm going to say something that I'm sure it's going to get a lot of heat from the viewers...

Commander 2014, in my opinion, is not worth the price as it is now. (~$40 per deck)

Long time followers of the blog will know I will usually do a "First Look" article for almost every new expansion set. However, due to my commitment in studies and my other workload, I could not take enough time off to do any amount of research for this new product.

I am still rushing out this article over the weekend, around in time for the release; but, it's not going to be anything like how my normal "First Look" articles will be like. Any case, back to business. As I mentioned, what I can say for now is this; Commander 2014 is NOT worth the price it is being tagged at the moment.

Range of $35 to $45... Almost completely out of stock.. Really?! (7th Nov 2014) [www.starcitygames.com]

Okay, so why am I saying this? In comparison to Commander 2011, the first print, we know that it is significantly a larger print run and with such a larger print runs, reprinted EDH staples is not going to tank in the price; Foils are exception of course. 

Now, with more going around in circulation, the means that the chance for it to see price spike or rise is going to be in Eternal Formats, actually, just Legacy itself. Remember True Name Nemesis? Yea, I'm sure we all do.

Ohh.. this going to be fun in EDH! Oh wait....

So if history is going to repeat itself, so what cards are going to see legacy play? This is definitely the first question we are asking ourselves.

I was looking around the web and many are looking at the price of the pre-constructed deck and dismantling it into its components for value. On this point, many are arguing that the Red and White ones are the best valued ones. Well, kinda. Looking at SCG prices above and the known reprints in the decklists,  we can draw a statement that it would most likely be so. 

Decklist: http://www.thebagofloot.com/commander-2014-spoilers/

However, don't forget the larger print runs; second wave of prints etc. Do you really think the prices will tank after that? sure, at the moment now the cards will see some value, but once the print runs hit the second wave, we have to re-evaluate the questions asked.

Thirdly, It is a smart move to print mono-coloured EDH, so it actually caters to more relevance to the other multi-coloured decks currently out there in terms of staples and the demands. Then again, look at what is actually going to be played and used. Staples in the new CMD 2014 is sure going to see play and well, are gonna be grabbed up, the other cards which, however new, are going to compete for deck slots against deck ideas to actually see any chance of price increment. 

"Lieutenant" is going to be more useful in Voltron decks or decks that is going to see its commander most of the time; it's not going to be useful in decks like Child of Alara going for superfriends strategy or my version of Ghave, Guru of Spores, which can actually work without the commander. 

I'm not going to use the Offerings cycle in 1v1 matches... 

Get the idea?

Nevertheless, I'm still going for the tradition; Here are my Top 10 picks for Commander 2014. Note that this list will only feature new cards in the top 10. Again, not in any order!

If you haven't noticed by now, my top 10 picks are merely by appeal in art or flavor. It is by no means that those are the best 10 cards in terms of power or value. It's merely just the top cards that caught my eye or my desire to want it for whatever reason.

My Top 10 Picks!

10: Arcane Lighthouse

Okay, show of hands... Who hates shroud, Hexproof in EDH when its NOT on your own creatures? I have a friend playing a Voltron Bruna EDH which can end up having a 20/20 double strike, shroud, etc... I hate it cos not many of us in the playgroup can deal it. I also don't like Geist or Jenara with Hexproof as a commander. 

Remember the times where Swiftfoot Boots and Lightning Greaves is the most headache artifacts to deal with? Well, here we are. A good answer for just 2 mana! 

9: Commander's Sphere

In EDH, mana rocks and ramps are never enough. What's even better is that this can actually draw you a card if needed. I can go on about how good this card actually is as a mana ramp, but I think I'll leave it as it is. More hints? it gives a ramp + draw. period. Find me a card that does that for ANY deck colour identities. 

8: Containment Priest

"This is a very good card that may actually see Legacy play" ~ The internet people.  

While I don't disagree, I really would want to ask Legacy players what relevance does this card do in your meta. I don't play legacy so I'll leave the statement as it is await for your comments. 

Looking at the EDH format point of view, it's really strong in the sense is that it stops Quicksilver Amulet and Tooth and Nail kind of cards which cheats creatures into play. Reanimators will also suffer because of this girl. 

This card is one of the cards that makes the white decks are currently the more pricy ones with the red matching it. 

Speaking of the Red deck...

7: Dualcaster Mage

In EDH, anything that copies something is always relevant. Now imagine this copying well, a ramp spell or and land destruction spell, yea you get the picture..

6: Freyalise, Llanowar's Fury

Do you know how insane this card is in a heavy green deck? In fact, she is really insane in any green deck! Her +2 gives you a Llanowar Elves, -2 is a naturalize and -6 is well... remember Regal Force? In fact, it looks as though she is made to be suited well into a heavy green deck to supply ramp, removal and card draw! I love this card! 

5: Intellectual Offering

I'm not really a fan of Offering spells, but politically speaking, this is a good tool to manipulate opponents into "allies" to conspire against well, the remaining poor dudes.. I like this one especially as it is essentially a draw spell + untap everything. It may seem odd at first, but to me, it really has its applicability. 

4: Masterwork of Ingenuity

To me, this card has a heck load of use in EDH and Legacy. It copies any Equipment! That Umezawa's Jitte! Batterskull! 

Even in EDH, the boots suddenly seem a lot more appealing to you eh? It's a good card that will see some form of play in Legacy and in EDH. However, I don't expect to see it breaking any formats soon.

3: Tyrant's Familiar

As a dragon card, this card does what it meant to do. An expensive spell with a huge P/T and it flies and has haste! "Lieutenant" makes it stronger and honestly without it, there are better dragons out there. 

While I like this card for the art and the flavour text. It seems kind of weird that for a dragon, it's tamed if you get my drift... 

2: Wave of Vitriol

Hoho... This board-wipe is surely going to screw a lot of people playing the tons of non-basic lands and stuff... Because the keyword here is sacrifice, "Indestructible" keywords can be thrown out of the window! I think I have found my favourite mass removal after Merciless Eviction. That being said, more foil basic lands!

 1: Necromantic Selection

In terms of flavour, effect and artwork, I really like this card. It's steep in the casting cost, but imagine the board-state at 7 mana. Destroy everything and then return a creature back. Most of the time it sets your opponents back for 1-2 turns, but if you played right, it's enough to turn the tide around if it isn't going to your favour. To me this card will see its impact for the more casual groups and not really for the competitive ones. Heck, EDH is in the first place, meant to be a casual format... 

To wrap up, I'd figure that unless you are in a rush or need to get the cards as soon as possible, I really don't think it is a need to get them now. I'll wait for the prices to settle down before making my purchases. Reprints like Wurmcoil Engine will definitely take a hit in the prices and right now, it will see decline. I won't risk to jump in to buy them now. A personal judgment will be to wait for the second wave before deciding what to jump into. 

A mistake I made was to buy Mind Seize last year, hoping that the price will go up. However, when Wizards announced a change in the structure of print, giving 2 Mind Seize + 3 other random of the remaining, it killed the price. Furthermore, True Name Nemesis didn't hold its $50 price tag for long. 

Basically the point would be that if you are confident in moving the cards fast for that quick buck, go ahead and get the Red and White decks. If not, hold back for this one. Fate Reforged is coming out soon; or just get more Shocklands or Abrupt Decays.

Modern Gameplay Review: 4th November 2014

Another coverage for the Modern event at MTG-Asia @ Aliwal Street. Again, it's my Ally deck. This time round, my focus will be more on the sideboard, rather than the gameplay.

Deck: 5C Ally Reanimator

I did a bit of tweaking to include Life from the Loam. The sideboard received a fair bit of rework to replace some cards and as well as to test out a couple of cards to see the effectiveness against certain match-ups.

Round 1: Jeskai Pyromancer (2-1)

UR Delver with a twist; Jeskai Ascendancy... This game was interesting to play as there are many things happening in the 3 games. I won the first game by stabilising the board after reanimating empyrial archangel. He managed to kill off 1 first before I reanimated it again, and later, the other.

I lost game 2 due to the speed of the deck and again, no combo pieces.

The third game proved that Iona, Shield of Emeria is really a good deck hoser if named the right colour. I named "blue" against the deck, shutting down his draw and digging spells. 

SB:

-2 Izzet Charm

-1 Harabaz Druid

-1 Kazandu Blademaster

-1 Angel of Glory's Rise

+2 Chalice of the Void

+1 Iona, Shield of Emeria

+1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite

+1 Batterskull

Against aggro deck, my initial thought was to remove Izzet Charm and a few creatures to push to stabilize or hoser. I specially included batterskull for that reason (later games showed it's not really that good for my deck) due to its lifegain.

Elesh Norn and Iona is in there to hose almost any deck; however, the former is better against aggro beatdown plan, while the latter is better off in spell-based decks; so the latter may be better in this match-up.

I managed to resolve a Chalice of the Void for 1 in game 2, but it's not as effective as it seems as the opponent can work around it easily. In this case it's not really effective in shutting the opponent down as I had hoped. 

Round 2:  GW Bogle (0-2)

Turn 1 Slippery Bogle with a lot of auras is too much for my deck to handle. It's simply too fast. The scaling of its power on a single creature is beyond my reach once it hits turn 4.

In game 2, my opponent shut my game plan with Rest in Peace. So things goes downhill from there.

SB:

-2 Izzet Charm

-1 Harabaz Druid

-1 Kazandu Blademaster

-1 Angel of Glory's Rise

+2 Chalice of the Void
+1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
+1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
+1 Batterskull

So the idea was simple when I tried sideboarding. I wanted to either get out Chalice (x=1), land a t4 Iona, Shield of Emeria to hose the opponent. Ended up I drew my Batterskull too late and yea, the 4 lifegain is irrelevant here.

Round 3: Abzan Midrange (1-2)

Won the first game by milling my opponent 144 cards. I later lost the other 2 games due to hate plans and well, no recovery plans; my opponent made a beat down plan after casting and targeting surgical extraction onto my reanimating Angel of glory's Rise. Third game is given due to the scavenging ooze running around... yea... a pain in the neck...

SB:

-1 Angel of Glory's Rise

-1 Harabaz Druid

-3 Izzet Charm

+3 Pithing Needle
+1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
+1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite

No comments for the sideboard as nothing came out for this match post-sideboarding. Yes, both games, nothing came out... so I can't comment.

Pointers for this week;

• Chalice of the Void under-performed in my opinion. It doesn't hose as well as it should. I'll remove it for other things.
• A suggestion was to include lifegain cards like Kitchen Finks, Wurmcoil Engine, etc.. I dismissed the idea as lifegain may help to prolong the game, but it does not actually help in stabilizing the game against aggro decks. Early game boardwipes of some sort or hosers will be a better options instead. 
• I often overlooked Izzet Charm as a removal / counter-spell. I should look into taking out other cards instead of Izzet Charm. It's really useful as a utility tool.
• Iona, Shield of Emeria has proven her worth here. Even it is just for a match, it's enough to show me her power as it really rendered the opponent useless.
• Always remember to go for the game-plan!

So far for my Sideboard:

4 more slots. I have the following as consideration:

1x Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite

3x Slagstorm

It probably seems that I would be sideboarding in 4-slot replacements. I'll look into the cards to affirm the slots, but until then, this would be my sideboard.