So, I’m back and all bleary eyed from my Khans of Tarkir prerelease experience. Wow…what a time! Let’s get out in front of this…I didn’t do very well. I played in the Two-Headed Giant prerelease on the Sunday evening and it was packed! We ended up in the pizza joint next door for deck construction as overflow and it was nuts. With that many players it was bound to be a tough hill to climb and it was exactly as I expected. My brother, who is my usual partner, and I had a record of 2 wins, 3 losses, and 1 draw. We ended up way down the standings, but had tons of fun and really didn’t feel like our record was indicative of the strength of our decks.
In the first game we were a little slow off the mark but were starting to make some headway and stabilize the board. It wasn’t helping matters that I drew land for 6 consecutive turns forcing my partner to handle the load of the work. However, just as we were turning the corner and getting things set up to really get in the match we got hit with a HUGE Icy Blast that tapped us down for 2 full turns. Needless to say, we didn’t last long because that sort of tempo play is just backbreaking. We took it on the chin and were 0-1 to start.
In game two our opponents got out to a quick start and built up some solid board presence. However, they got tentative and tried to slow roll us as they set up their kill stroke. However, when both our decks roared to life at the same time, and yet another HUGE Icy Blast later, we had them dead and kicking themselves for playing so slowly. We moved on in a very respectable 1-1.
Game 3 was a situation where we came out and dictated play reasonably well. We had strong board presence, had preserved our life total reasonably well, and generally were in good shape…until they hit us with…you guessed it…Icy Blast. Well, that was the game and we were 1-2. You may have noticed that we were just getting crushed by Icy Blast and it was doing some work. Essentially, whoever resolved Icy Blast typically won out and it proved to be a ridiculous bomb.
Game 4 we were on the beatdown plan pretty hard. We had them on the ropes pretty good and were laying waste to them pretty hard when out of nowhere came End Hostilities clearing the board. Since they knew it was coming they could follow up with some explosive creatures and very quickly we found ourselves in a hole. We just never recovered from the Board Wipe and they quickly mopped up the rest of the damage to leave us 1-3 and feeling pretty sorry for ourselves because we felt we deserved a better fate,
Game 5 was one of those games that everything went our way. We dodged all their big spells, countered or killed all the most relevant threats and generally had the run of things. However, they scrounged and wouldn’t give up and we ended up going to extra turns. In the end we drew, but it should have been a win for us…with our life total being at a ridiculous 49 life to their 2 points and all the threats in the world. We just couldn’t quite seal the deal leaving us in a draw. This sort of game leaves a bad taste in your mouth because we had the win…we could see it…we just didn’t quite get it in time. Sweet…everyone loves to be 1-3 and a draw.
It was at this point that we dropped the actual event, but we did sit down with some buddies of ours who came with us to play. They had fared much the same way we had and were way down in the standings, so they dropped too and we played them in a sort of exhibition game with our Limited decks. It was pretty fun but we pretty much ran them over quite quickly. I’ll call this a win for us, even though it doesn’t appear in the standings. 2-3 and a draw…not ideal, but fairly reasonable.
Here’s my deck:
Overall, my impression of the format was that it felt very slow. With so many tapped lands entering play to enable the wide array of colours, early pressure was super important and usually left your opponent reeling. The good news was that it was easy as pie to meet your mana requirements in terms of colours. I found that all evening I was able to cast my spells and never in need of looking for double black or double white to cast my spells…I always had it. The “Refuge” land cycle was hugely important because it was occupying a common slot in just about each booster pack and was readily available to provide the fixing that was needed. Also, casting costs seemed to be generally pretty high and did not have a ton of easy to cast 1-2 and 3 drops. The argument on the flip side was that Morph could enable a quicker play, but a 2/2 for 3 is pretty poor considering what else we can get. I’m not sure I saw Morph get used to its fullest abilities in this first go around, but it definitely looked powerful and could do some very neat things. I liked the Limited play in general, but deck construction proved very challenging as I had to balance a number of colour requirements, a reasonable curve, and generally manage the demands of straining my mana that little bit further than normal.
Icy Blast- This was a devastating card all night long. Every time it resolved it pretty assured that a winner was going to be declared soon. For limited this is a ridiculous bomb and automatic include in your deck. If you see this in a Draft, grab it, even if you aren’t in blue just to ensure you don’t need to face it down.
End Hostilities- Another disgusting bomb that messed things up. Not as scary as Icy Blast, but still very good and pretty uncool to try and face down. At least now you have the option of countering it, but it is still pretty crushing if you can hit it.
High Sentinels of Arashin- This is a disgusting bomb. A 3/4 flier for 4 mana is pretty good, but it is the additional abilities that makes it just busted. It gets +1/+1 for each creature you control with a counter on it. Cool…but in Abzan that’s EVERYTHING. This was routinely a 8/9 creature for me, and with the “Sliver-esque” feel to the Abzan it could get first strike, trample, Lifelink, or anything else really. It’s pretty crazy to say the least.
Abzan “lords”- As I said, the “Sliver-esque” ability of the Abzan to grant each other abilities can make for a devastating combination if left unchecked. It resulted in gross amounts of life gain through the Lifelink granted by Abzan Battle Priest and coupled with the High Sentinels I had a full team of disgusting, Lifelinking monsters to terrorize my opponents. I liked them and they all synergized well together.
On the whole, I liked the Outlast mechanic, but I found it very slow. Some of the other abilities, like Prowess or Ferocious ended up being easier to trigger and it was a bit of a challenge about when to spend the mana on the Outlast counter and tap the creature down versus when to keep it up to block.
Feed the Clan. Normally I would never run a card like this. Pure, unadulterated life gain is just not something I like to play, but we kept getting blown out on Icy Blast and such. So, both my brother and I main decked one of these with the express intent of firing one off to save our bacon and let us buy another turn in order to staff out getting knocked out of the match. Believe it or not, it worked. It bought us considerable time in one match and was not a dead card in another game we played. I could hardly believe it was playable. I’m still not convinced based on my small sample size, but I will be keeping an eye on it.
My MVP was Armament Corps. My opponents would always allow this to resolve thinking that it was just a 4/4, but it could target itself and be a nasty 6/6 to cope with it. However, the real benefit was in dumping the +1/+1 counters on other creatures (without utilizing their Outlast mechanic) to gain the benefits of the Abzan “lord” cards or to trigger the High Sentinels. It proved to be a terrific barrier to shut out an aggressive ground game and a great way to enable powerful plays through the synergy with other Abzan cards. This was a quiet star and one I was always glad to see turn up.
Honestly, while it was useful a couple of times, Take up Arms largely disappointed. This is not M15 limited where Triplicate Spirits and the like are defining cards. This is an expensive card that spews out some counters that could be neat if you are all aboard the Warrior-tribal theme…but I think will usually be an under performing card. 1/1 tokens just aren’t relevant enough because they don’t really trade profitably with much unless you double (or usually triple!) block a creature. I would have rather played something more powerful at 5 mana than this.
I really enjoyed the Prerelease and wished I could have played a few more over the weekend, but needless to say that wasn’t possible based on my schedule. It was a ton of fun, but it was just a glimpse of the Limited format that is going to shape up now that Khans is hitting the stores. This format seems light years more complicated and nuanced than M15 which felt very narrow and stifled, but Khans is crazy diverse and a breath of fresh air. The next several months are bound to be fun.
Well, there we have it, thanks for reading this week. I’ll be back to my usual affairs of putting together a crack a pack and I’ve got some other irons in the fire in order to brew up some new decks and some other fun things. So, stay tuned as we start to ramp up some of the brewing and news now that Khans is here.
Until next time, keep it fun, keep it safe…and most importantly keep it is Casual.
by Bruce Gray – Casual Encounters @bgray8791 on Twitter
I have to admit, the Magic community is really pretty terrific. By and large most people you meet and interact with while playing Magic are genuinely nice, helpful, and just friendly. Let me share with a little anecdote. Not too long ago I was trying to think up some new twist I could bring to our next Casual Magic night because we got into a bit of a rut. We all love Multiplayer Magic, but the games take so long and if someone gets skunked on land they find themselves quickly eliminated and having to sit and watch the others play. That really isn’t all that fun, so I was trying to come up with some way to mitigate this issue. When I was drawing a blank I turned my attention to the Magic Community and reached out on Facebook for suggestions and was rewarded in short order with tons of great suggestions. Today I thought I would share some of those fun options so that you could use them the next time you play around a kitchen table with your friends.
This is perhaps the easiest of all the Casual variants and it takes very little in the way of set up. Essentially all you need is a booster pack and some land and you have all the ingredients for a game. People have said for a long time that just cracking a booster pack is a waste of time. You rarely get a solid return for you money spent, once open it is just 15 more cards, and really is a very short lived experience. However, you can draw that experience out by opening your pack and just shuffling in some land and playing a game! Typically you would want 3 land of each colour and then the spells are whatever you open, meaning you have little to no strategy, curve, or any other technical element to your game. However, it does cause you to think on your feet and adapt to the situation and making due with obviously substandard cards. The best part is, it could be any two packs…not even from the same set…and everyone is on the same respective level (unless they open some silly bomb). I gave it a try with a buddy and we laughed ourselves silly with the sheer ridiculousness of some of the cards we played…and really at the end of the day it really is all about having some fun.
One of the main complaints with Multiplayer Magic is that it takes so long because everyone runs out of cards. It’s true…I have routinely seen games grind to a halt as everyone ends up in Top-deck mode praying that they rip some awesome bomb off the top of their deck. However, a great strategy to ensure everyone has enough cards and speed up the game is to give everyone a Howling Mine effect. This means everyone draws 2 cards instead of the usual 1. This really speeds up matters and ensures everyone can play with the cards in their deck instead of just sitting around top decking…drawing a dud…and then passing the turn.
Not all that long ago Wizards had a product that essentially pitted one deck against two others. The idea being that the one deck was super powerful and that the other two were more marginal, but could team up to beat the superior deck. So, why do you need a particular product from Wizards to play this? The answer is…you don’t. Playing 2 or 3 on 1 is a great way to even out the playing field, so find that buddy with the super powerful deck and have him play solo…and then the rest of you get to see if you can take him out. It sounds really fun because if you are the solo guy, you want to see just how awesome your deck is against multiple opponents. If YOU get the win solo…damn…you be DA MAN! For the guys teamed up on you, you get a chance to dismantle THAT guy…you know…the guy who almost wins. Even if it is in a handicapped situation, there is no better feeling than beating that guy. A nice variation on this is to build the deck that the player who will be solo together as a group, so you all know just how awesome it is. There is a lot of fun to be had in group deck construction.
This classic team games pits 2 vs 2 and each pair of 2 players take their turn at the same time. This ends up being a wildly fun and exciting way to play. It can be played with constructed decks if you like, but is just as much fun in a limited environment. The ability to sit and discuss strategy with your team mate is one of the highlights of this format and helps you to explore a variety of different strategies. This one also shows up from time to time at pre-releases and such, making it a little more mainstream and sometimes competitive, but even there is generally regarded as being a fun and friendly format.
One way to mix up your multi-player free-for-all game is to have each player roll a die to determine which other player they will be attacking this turn. Sure, it takes a little longer, but in the end it usually avoids one person getting ganged up so badly that he gets blown out the game. Remember, you are here to play Magic…not blow someone out of the water…and giving each person the chance to not get attacked and develop a bit of a board only makes the game more enjoyable for everyone.
[Gregsterism Addendum] Back in high school, we played a lot of multiplayer games and to prevent players from ganging up on one person early on, we used a Token Sanctuary (in reference to Island Sanctuary). As long as you have the token no one can attack you or your Planeswalkers. The first person to get attacked gets the token, it stays with that player only till the next player gets attacked, they then get the token. It continues moving as the last player to get attacked has the token. We usually used a coin or a a miniature statue to represent the token.
For those who love to draft…why draft boosters from the same set/block? There’s no set rules come Casual Magic night…so everyone show up with different boosters and just see what you get. The randomness and unpredictable nature of the Draft environment makes for tons of fun as one guy brings in a pack of Modern Masters, and the next guy brings in a pack of Dark Ascension…and let the mayhem begin.
One of the major complaints with multi-player free-for-all games is that they take a lot of time. You spend forever sitting there waiting for everyone else to finish their turn and twiddling your thumbs, all the while hoping you don’t get hated out of the game ASAP. Well, one way to speed the game up significantly, and create all sorts of mayhem and chaos, is to have everyone at the table take their turn at the same time. There’s no waiting for the turn to come around…you’re going at the same time as the guys sitting beside you. Now, resolving spells, attacking, blocking and the like is pretty complicated, but between the bunch of you I’m sure you can figure out a system to make it all work for you guys. This seems like the most insane and disgustingly fun format I have ever encountered and really want my play group to give it a try. I can only imagine the arguments, shenanigans, and ridiculous scenarios that will get cooked up with this format…bring it on.
My buddies and I have grown tired of having players sit and posture in a multiplayer game. Anyone can durdle…heck…I’m one of the best at it. However, to create an incentive to being more aggressive, we award points for having taken out other players at the table. At the end of the game, the player who has the most kills is actually declared the winner, even though he’s not last man standing. This absolutely speeds up the game and makes people play much more aggressively, but you need to watch out for the “cherry picking” as one guy does all the work to KO one player at the table, only to have his point stolen from him by an opportunist who swoops in and delivers the final blow to take the point. In either case, there is no doubt that this gets people moving and out of their defensive posturing shells.
So, there we have a number of suggestions to help spice up your next Casual night. These could be a breath of fresh air for your playgroup and be options that you guys opt to maintain as house rules for when you play. Maybe you give them a try and find out that you don’t much care for some of these variants. That’s fine. There’s no wrong way to play Magic so long as everyone is having some fun and slinging spells. In either case, give them a try and see what you think.
What do YOU guys do when you sit around your kitchen table to play? Do you use one of the variants that I’ve listed above or do you have your own house rules? This is a great time to share these ideas with Conspiracy here and the new 2015 Core Set just released giving us an influx of great new cards to liven up casual games further. Let me know what you think. Hit me up with a tweet and let’s hear what other people are doing out there in the wide world of Magic.
Thanks for reading and remember keep it fun, keep it safe…keep it casual.
by Bruce Gray – Casual Encounters @bgray8791 on Twitter
I hope everyone had a great weekend and a fun M15 prerelease experience. I have to say, I don’t get out to play in the shops very often, but I make a point of going to the prerelease. It is a fun environment, is a little less stressful than full on tournaments and is just a great way to try out some of the new cards in the newest set.
The shop that I attend hosts a Two-Headed Giant event on the Sunday evening which is reasonably well attended (although not packed like the other 4 events they run during the weekend) and is my preferred time slot and format. If you haven’t tried a Two-Headed Giant event I would strongly recommend that you do. For starters, it is a fresh and different way of playing Magic at a Local Game Store. We routinely assume that you have to play a 1 on 1 duel but it becomes very evident that Two-Headed Giant can work just as readily. At our prerelease events you get your sealed product and can open up your stuff, but can then share cards with your partner to make the best decks possible. This means that deck construction can be done with a partner and with a larger pool of cards meaning you are assured to be able to play a reasonable deck in the colours of your choice. I particularly like building my deck with someone else. I spend most of my time building my deck solo, so to have a second opinion and fresh eyes is refreshing and a pleasant change. The strategy of a Two-Headed Giant game is also substantially different because the 30 life you start with, while it is only 10 more than normal, is much harder to deal with. Your deck needs to take on much more of a mid-rangey feel because a full out aggro assault is very likely to come up short and out of gas. In the actual game play, you get the same time allotment as you would if you were playing a 1 on 1 duel, but only need to complete 1 game meaning that usually you are done in good order. This is nice so that you can get a little bit of a breather, get a drink of water, or visit the bathroom. There were a few games that went the distance and resulted in draws and such, but they were far from the norm.
How did my partner and I fare? My partner for such events is my brother. He’s the guy who can claim responsibility for getting me into Magic back when we were in High School and he is most often my partner of choice for such events. He’s a very good player and is quite polished in his game play…and we tend to think along the same lines when we sit down to build decks meaning that we can easily complement each other. I’m not sure the fact that we are brothers is a huge benefit, but we certainly are familiar with each other and know what to expect from the other person. In the end we went 4-1 and placed 2nd out of 20 teams which was a very strong showing for us. Here’s a look at the deck I was running.
As you can probably tell I played the White seeded pack and was generally pretty happy with the outcome. The intent of the deck was to get out early with the 2 drops (Welkin Tern, Dauntless River Marshal, Oreskos Swiftclaw and Ajani’s Pridemate) to apply some early pressure to get us to the long game plan of the Archangel and Boonweaver Giant. I packed in a couple of auras and a little removal but was stunned to have opened 0 counterspells. I admit, I felt kind of naked without knowing that I had a little bit of counter magic, but you get what you get and play the games. My brother on his end played the Black seeded pack and opted for a wildly aggressive B/R build running tons of goblins and bringing loads of pain. In the end, our decks complemented each other pretty well and we seemed to have reasonable synergy such that we could really get out front of our opponents and then close down the match.
A few highlights were in game 1 we had fallen behind to a very aggressive Mono-Red deck that left us reeling. We had sort of stabilized at 12 life but were still in danger of being blown right out. In back to back top decks I ripped Boonweaver Giant and immediately tutored up Spectra ward for it giving me a basically untouchable 6/6 beatstick. The next top deck I ripped Resolute Archangel and swung our life total back for a ton and could then attack with impunity. The look on the faces of our opponents when the Angel came down was just priceless and the two 7 drops turned the tide of the game for us. In game 4 we were again under pressure and from an aggressive duo had just suited something up with their own Spectra Ward but I ripped my Spectra Ward suited up my Ajani’s Pridemate with 5 counters on him and we quickly closed out the game. In our final game it was once again Spectra Ward, this time on a Krenko’s Enforcer that did the damage to finish of a pair that had got off to slow start and were being punished.
Now that I have had a chance to sit down and really see the format, granted in a sealed setting and not draft, I have a learned a few things that I would pass along in the form of some Deep Thoughts
You may have got the sense that Spectra Ward is good. Based on the limited results we had, it was not just good, it was terrific. You can make ANYTHING into a basically untouchable bomb that can shred your opponent. I have rarely been excited for 5 mana auras, but I might be able to get behind this one. What is a disgusting combination is the Boonweaver Giant tutoring up the Spectra Ward for FREE and then closing out the game very quickly. If you see this one, take it because it does very good work.
There are a fair number of Goblins in this set and many of them are useful. Foundry Street Denizen is a terrific way to punish opponents for slow starts and Frenzied Goblin basically makes blocking a nightmare as they tap things down. However, the real star of the Goblin army is the Rabblemaster who is a one Goblin army. My brother put him to good use and routinely got in there for plenty of damage with him. Mix in the Red Paragon (yes, I know he’s NOT a Goblin) and you have an awesome combination to get out to blinding start with loads of damage.
If you weren’t sure before, I’m here to tell you that the removal in this set is very poor. It is either very situational like Pillar of Light or Banishing Light, super expensive and clunky like Flesh to Dust, or punishes you tremendously like Ulcerate. So, with the exception of Lightning Strike you are paying a ton for lousy removal. This puts extra pressure on you to curve out with creatures because the only real way to protect yourself is to block and to try and block profitably. I miss the days when removal was cheap, efficient and plentiful…alas, the times they are a changing and removal just got pricey.
All of us who enjoy playing limited are going to have to adjust to playing in a post Theros world where Bestow is no longer a deal. It means the requirement for Auras to be playable now needs to go WAY up. It also means that you can’t just load up one dude and have him smash away. I watched a number of opponents suit up there creature like they would have in Theros limited environments only to have them completely nullified by a single spell. Remember folks, don’t set yourself up for the 2 for 1 unless those auras are really good.
The new card frame got its debut and it looks solid. It isn’t really a major change and it still looks and feels like a Magic card. I think everyone will get used to it and will grow to like the new look.
One of the hardest parts of playing Magic at a lengthy event is making sure you get something to eat between rounds. Lots of people default to Mcdonald’s or Tim Horton’s, but I’m never really satisfied with those choices. Well, as I walked into the Shop to play I noticed that the small pizza joint next door had a promotion for a slice of pizza, a pop, and a garlic dip all for $5. The proximity to the store (namely, right next the game shop), a solid price, and the fact that it was pizza sealed the deal and was the meal choice for us. Pizza has rarely tasted to so good.
Oh, as a final point, at the end of the night for my drive home I stopped at the Tim Horton’s to grab a decaf coffee (I only ever drink decaf). It’s 10:30pm and surely most Timmies have decaf brewing, but not this weekend. I had to stop and wait while they brewed up a new pot. Now, I know this sounds very petty, but who exactly is buying regular coffee at 10:30pm on a Sunday night? Presumably people want to sleep and the caffeine pretty well sewers that. Decaf would be the obvious choice but for some reason the Timmies I visited seemed stunned that I would want decaf. Perhaps I’m being overly particular because when I was younger I worked at a Timmies…but I hardly think expecting to have Decaf on hand late at night is a shocker. Rant over…thanks.
I hope all of you had a fantastic M15 Prerelease weekend. I’d love to hear about other experiences out there and what you observed. Was Spectra Ward as good for you guys as it was for us? What did you think of the removal? Did anyone open some crazy awesome rares and just go off? I’d love to hear the stories. Send me tweet and let’s hear all about it!
Thanks for reading and until next time, keep it fun, keep it safe…keep it casual.
Bruce Gray @bgray8791
