Tuesday, June 4, 2013

War Torn Front: The Happenings Edition

Welcome back faithful readers to another edition of the War Torn Front Blog. This week we are going to discuss upcoming events and delve a bit into an EDH play by play. So let's jump in.

War Torn Front and several other shops have been busy this week with the upcoming release of Modern Masters. This set promises to be one of the most fun sets to draft outside of cube, and the people are really showing their enthusiasm. If you have a box on pre order with War Torn Front, please make sure to pay it off as soon as possible. Do not delay yourself from the multicolored, chocolatey goodness that is Modern Masters. That being said, what if you are not buying a box and are still curious about the set? Well do I have news for you! First, friday June 7th, Red Sky Comics will be hosting a Modern Masters draft. It will be $25 and has seating for 24 players, so make sure you get there asap or call (209)-726-0667. Second, sunday June 9th, Krier's Cards and comics will be hosting 3 Modern Master's drafts starting at 1 P.M., 2 P.M., and 3 P.M. with the top 2 getting Modern Masters product. The price is $35 to play, but includes a pack of Ultra-Pro sleeves to ensure the maximum life out of your draft product. As of this writing, only 12 spots remain between the 1 and 3 P.M. draft slots, so hurry on down and register with John Krier @ 209-522-0511. Finally, War Torn Front has been doing some crunching and is close to announcing their own Modern Master's draft. More than likely this will be announced via the Facebook page and Twitter, so make sure to watch those feeds, if you feel like drafting Modern Master's this entire weekend. For those who do not like giant lines of text, 3 Modern Master's drafts being potentially fired by 3 different stores, all over 3 different days. It is a good time to be a Magic player. Now time to shift gears, and talk about War Torn Front's plans for the future, and wait more Modern Masters too!

War Torn Front has announced a special Invitational series coming up toward the back half of this month. This announcement came up towards the back half of last week, but it is worth bringing up again. This Invitational series is a set of 4 Standard tournaments, each costing $30.  The prize payout is cash to the top 8 and packs down to 16th place, but the most important piece of this is what the Top 2 get. The top 2 players from each tournament will be invited to play in a free Modern Masters draft, with the payout being a Modern Masters box for first. What a summer War Torn Front is offering! Make sure to register early and Play to Win @ War Torn Front this summer. All the invitational dates and important tournament information can be found here. With those announcements out of the way, let's jump into an EDH play-by-play that happened this weekend at War Torn Front.

So this weekend, I had the chance to sit down with Placido Galvin, Dave Murzi, and Nick Disanto and battle in a pretty interesting EDH game. I have recorded the play by play of the match here, and if you are interested in more of this play-by play action, whether it be EDH, Standard or whatever, please let me know by leaving comments here on the Facebook page. Decklists will be provided at a later time, if the community so wishes to see them.

Placido and Dave were both on Xiahou Dun, the One-Eyed, Nick was playing Sharuum the Hegemon, and I was playing Melek, Izzet Paragon. I won the die roll and opted to keep.

Turn 1: I led with Island and Soothsaying. Nick played a Watery Grave into play tapped. Placido led with a Swamp and Dave played a Polluted Mire tapped.

Turn 2: I played an Island and Pondered my fate. Nick played a Polluted Delta cracking it to find an Underground Sea taking 1. He then cast Azorius Signet. Placido played a second Swamp, cast Nether Traitor and attacked Dave for 1. Dave played a Swamp and cast Bitterblossom. At the end of the turn, I cast Brainstorm.

Turn 3: I passed my turn with no land drop. Nick played a Guild-Stamped Swamp, cast Orzhov Signet, and Crucible of Worlds. Placido played a Swamp, cast Sol Ring, and played Smokestack. Dave took 1 for Bitterblossom and got a token, played a Swamp and cast Sign in Blood targeting himself losing 2 life. At the end of turn, I activated Soothsaying for 2.

Turn 4: I played an Island and cast Izzet Keyrune. Nick used Crucible to replay Polluted Delta. He then cast Scroll Rack and passed. Placido upped Smokestack to 1, cast Ancient Craving, losing 3 life, played a Swamp and a Skullclamp and attacked me for 1 with Nether Traitor. Dave lost 1 life to Bitterblossom, made a token and sacrificed the token to Smokestack, then cast Demonic Tutor, Sol Ring, and Sensei's Divining Top. At the end of the turn, Nick used Scroll Rack for 3 and cracked Polluted Delta, losing 1 for a tapped Hallowed Fountain.

Turn 5: I sacked Soothsaying to Smokestack and passed. Nick sacked his Guild-Stamped Swamp, and replayed Polluted Delta and passed. Placido decided to sack Smokestack to itself, then played a Swamp and cast Xiahou Dun, the One-Eyed. He clamped Xiahou and sacked him to return Ancient Cravings to his hand and drew 2 cards. He then played a Mana Crypt and a Phyrexian Arena. Dave took 1 from his Bitterblossom, made a token, played a Swamp, then played Braids, Cabal Minion. At the end of turn, I cast Cyclonic Rift returning Braids back to Dave's hand. Nick also used Scroll Rack for 3, then took 1 to crack his fetch to find an Island.

Turn 6: I played a Mountain and cast Gilded Lotus and passed. Nick replayed Polluted Delta and passed. Placido lost 1 life to Phyrexian Arena, played Thespian's Stage, Solemn Simulacrum and then clamped Solemn. He then cast Ancient Cravings losing 3 life. Dave lost 1 life to Bitterblossom, made a token, and played Cabal Coffers. He then recast Braids, Cabal Minion.

Turn 7: I sacked an Island to Braids, played an Island and cast Eye of the Storm. Nick responded to this by playing Fact or Fiction targeting Placido. Placido split up the 5 cards into two piles. Nick took the pile with Pact of Negation and Sword of the Meek, He then used Scroll Rack for 5 and cracked his fetch, losing 1 life for a Swamp. Eye of the Storm resolved and I cast Flame Jab, triggering Eye and using Flame Jab to shoot a Bitterblossom token. I passed the turn. Nick sacked an Island to Braids and cast Basalt Monolith, Sensei's Divining Top, and replayed his Polluted Delta. Placido sacked his clamped Solemn and drew 3 cards. He then lost 3 life for calling Mana Crypt wrong and 1 life for Phyrexian Arena. He then played Vesuva on Cabal Coffers, Guardian Beast, and then clamped the beast. Dave lost 1 life to Bitterblossom, sacked a token to Braids and proceeded to cast Syphon Mind. Eye of the Storm triggered allowing Dave to cast Flame Jab targeting Guardian Beast, then Syphon Mind went off. Dave drew 3 cards as the rest of us discarded. Dave then played Beseech the Queen, triggering Eye of the Storm. Dave Flame Jabed the Guardian Beast again, cast Syphon Mind again, and then cast Beseech the Queen. Dave finished the turn by playing Reliquary Tower.

Turn 8: I sacked an Island and proceeded to cast Mana Geyser, triggering Eye of the Storm. I cast Flame Jab targeting Guardian Beast, Syphon Mind hitting the table, Beseech the Queen, finding an Izzet Signet, and finally casting Mana Geyser. With the 14 red floating, I played an Island and cast Knowledge Exploitation. I explained to the group that I would now cast every single instant and sorcery from their decks, casting them repeatedly as Eye kept triggering, the table scooped.

If you think that board state is fun or sounds entertaining come on down to War Torn Front's EDH league. This league held every Saturday is a great chance to sling spells you have not touched in a while. Currently the league has 8 players and is constantly growing. If interested message me on Facebook, or War Torn Front's Facebook or Twitter.

Thats all for now faithful readers, come back next week as we talk primers for Pauper and Budget EDH, TCGplayer Silver events and the happenings at War Torn Front.