Welcome readers to another edition of the unofficial War Torn Front Blog. These last two weeks have brought us some of the most exciting things to come to Manteca, since, well, War Torn Front opened. This edition will tackle Jason Gulevich's rise to the World Stage, Ben Lopez's win at Red Sky, Matt Woods win at the GPT for Oakland, and Finally Placido Galvin and Eric Avila's Top 2 and 4 finish in the TCGPlayer 2k. Then we will speak a little about Theros, and wrap up with another EDH play by play. You with me? Lets get started!
Chronologically speaking, I will start from last weekend. Two weeks ago, Saturday July 27th, War Torn Front held a Grand Prix Trial for Oakland. The format was sealed M14 to get practice for the Grand Prix with. 9 players showed up to duke it out, and Matt Woods walked away, defeating Lukas Bradshaw for the 2 byes to Oakland and $50 bucks. Pretty good for a few hours of Magic, if I do say so myself. While War Torn Front will not be hosting any more GPTs they do look forward to seeing many of you players there. Moving onto the next day, Red Sky held a TCG Player Invitational. With a pretty good turnout, Ben Lopez took down the event, defeating Jason Reed in the finals. His prize, $100 cash, an invite to the TCGPlayer 2k that next weekend, a playmat, and 20 Maxpoints.
Things were off to a good start and only got better as we started Magic World Championship week. While most people were glued to the Top 4 of the World Championships, War Torn Front got to see their own Jason Gulevich representing Team USA during the Team Cup. Jason tore it up and defeated several pros and teams before ultimately meeting their end at the hands of Team Israel. Still a great show and great heart from the WMCQ champion of the West Coast. Jason's results guaranteed him some cash payout and Pro points as well. I hope to interview sir Jason about his experience is the next few weeks. In the meantime, War Torn Front can proudly say we have had two players jump to the Pro level. Who else can claim that in Manteca!
Finally, Stockton-Con reared it's head and it was time for the TCGPlayer 2k event. Many of the shop regulars and MTGNorcal players showed up to battle in Red Sky's 2K with Byes for the GP in Oakland on the line. 112 players came to battle, and 7 rounds were had. Tears and blood were shed, and some people may have sore butts, but at the end of the day, Dylan Curtis took the event down. However War Torn Front did get Placido Galvin and Eric Avila into the Top 2 and Top 4 respectfully. Placido walked away with $400 cash, a TCGPlayer Top 8 mat, 40 Maxpoints, and a two round bye to the TCGPlayer big event. Eric walked away with $200 cash, a TCGPlayer Top 8 mat, and 30 Maxpoints. Chia Lee, Tyler Clary, and Anthony Heffernan rounded out the individuals that walked away with prizes, which were TCGPlayer mats and Maxpoints. Great Job to War Torn Front! War Torn Front, the only place to play in Manteca!
Moving onto shop news, War Torn Front is wondering, Is it time to bring back EDH? Many players in the shop have lists and love the format Maybe it is time we revived the EDH league or construct a new one? Give your thoughts or ideas to War Torn Front, rather in store, on the Facebook, or Twitter. I think it is high time we showed some love to more of our casual players and show them how amazing War Torn Front is.
Finally, Theros. At this point, many of you readers have seen what Theros may be bringing to the table. If not, here is a quick rundown of what to expect from the set. First, Theros will be a Greek inspired block focused on Enchantments mattering. The number of legends in Theros will be higher than a normal expansion set, but still lower than Kamigawa's sets. The set has a distinct theme split up into three groups of creatures: Heroes, Monsters, and Gods. Each of these groups will have some mechanic attached to them to make them unique. On the topic of Gods, There will be a total of 5 God cards: One for each color on Mana. These cards will have unique borders to differentiate themselves. In addition, 2 other mechanics will be joining the set, including an old mechanic that needed to be reworked because R&D felt it was too weak before. In addition, the prerelease for this set will be featuring a unique take on Heroes in the from of "vanguard"esque cards. I will dive more into that as we reach the prerelease. However, if you are curious, please follow this link for the full information
With that, Here is your EDH Play-by- Play
Bryan- Kaalia of the Vast Joe- Chainer, Dementia Master
Matt- Sen Triplets Me(Brandon)-Borborygmos Enraged
Turn 1: Bryan 40, Matt 40, Joe 40, Me 40. Bryan won the die roll and started with Graven Cairns. Matt plays a Swamp and plays Sensei's Divining Top. Joe plays a Terramorphic Expanse and cracks it for a Swamp. I play a Tranquil Thicket.
Turn 2: Bryan 40, Matt 40, Joe 40, Me 40. Bryan plays a Plains and plays Rakdos Signet. Matt uses his Top on his upkeep, then plays Dromar's Cavern returning the Swamp. Joe plays a Swamp and casts Reassembling Skeleton. I play a Mountain and pass.
Turn 3: Bryan 40, Matt 40, Joe 40, Me 40. Bryan plays a Swamp and casta Kaalia of the Vast. Matt plays a Swamp and casts Dimir Signet. Joe plays a Swamp and casts Nezumi Graverobber. I play a Forest and cast Yavimaya Elder.
Turn 4: Bryan 40, Matt 40, Joe 40, Me 40. Bryan plays a Vault of the Archangel and attacks with Kaalia into Matt, dropping Master of Cruelties for Kaalia's trigger. The master's trigger puts Matt to 1, and Matt dies to the Kaalia hit. Bryan finishes the turn by casting Increasing Ambition. Joe plays a Swamp and uses Nezumi Graverobber to exile Increasing Ambition out of Bryan's yard. I play Glacial Chasm, sacrificing Tranquil Thicket and pass the turn.
Turn 5: Bryan 40, Matt -1, Joe 40, Me 40. Bryan plays a Grand Coliseum and sends Kaalia into Joe. Kaalia's trigger brings Avacyn, Angel of Hope into play attacking Joe. Joe takes 10 from the hit. Joe takes his turn and plays a Swamp, he then casts Undercity Informer. Joe sacrifices Reassembling Skeleton, Nezumi Graverobber, and the Undercity Informer to mill 6 cards off of Bryan. At the end of turn I sacrifice Yavimaya Elder to find a Forest and Mountain and draw a card. On my upkeep I take 2 for Glacial Chasm. I play a Forest and cast Azusa, Lost but Seeking. With my two extra land drops I play a Mountain and a Maze of Ith.
Turn 6: Bryan 40, Matt -1, Joe 30, Me 38. Bryan starts his turn by playing Command Tower and sends Kaalia and Avacyn into Joe. I Maze Avacyn. Bryan then uses Kaalia's trigger to sneak Angel of Despair into play blowing up my Glacial Chasm. He then proceeds to cast Wrath of God. Joe plays Massacre Wurm, which kills Kaalia and makes Bryan lose 2 life. I play a Mountain and cast Kodama's Reach, putting a Forest into play tapped, and a Mountain into my hand.
Turn 7: Bryan 38, Matt -1, Joe 28, Me 38. Bryan plays a Sword of Feast and Famine and equips it to Angel of Despair. Angel of Despair and Avacyn bash into me, but I Maze Angel. I take 8 from Avacyn. Joe plays a Swamp and plays Necropotence. He pays 5 life and ends his turn. I cast Restock getting Azusa, Lost but Seeking and Glacial Chasm back. I play Glacial Chasm sacrificing a Mountain.
Turn 8: Bryan 38, Matt -1, Joe 23, Me 30. Bryan plays Rocky Tar Pit, then casts Debtor's Knell. He sends Avacyn and Angel of Despair into Joe. I Maze the Angel and Joe takes 8. Joe plays Volrath's Stronghold and casts Sorin Markov. He uses Sorin's downtick to put Bryan to 10. On my upkeep I take 2 for Glacial Chasm. I cast Azusa, Lost but Seeking and play 2 Forests and a Kessig Wolf-Run. At the end of turn, Bryan casts Entomb putting Sire of Insanity into the yard.
Turn 9: Bryan 10, Matt -1, Joe 15, Me 28. Bryan's upkeep returns Sire of Insanity to the battlefield. Bryan then casts Sun Titan returning Battlefield Forge to the battlefield. He then cracks Rocky Tar Pits, grabbing a Swamp. Angel of Despair and Avacyn are sent into Joe. I Maze the Angel, and Joe takes 8 from Avacyn. Joe draws and decides to use Necropotence to kill himself paying 7 life. On my upkeep I take 4 damage from Glacial Chasm and pass the turn.
Turn 10: Bryan 10, Matt -1, Joe 0, Me 24. Bryan sends his team into me, dealing no damage due to Glacial Chasm. Sun Titan's trigger returns Rocky Tar Pit to the battlefield. On my upkeep I take 6 damage from Glacial Chasm and pass my turn.
Turn 11; Bryan 10, Matt -1, Joe 0, Me 18. Bryan casts Lord of the Void and plays Volrath's Stronghold. He attacks with Sun Titan dealing 0 to me and returning Cavern of Souls on Angel. On my upkeep, I take 8 damage from Glacial Chasm and pass the turn.
Turn 12: Bryan 10, Matt -1, Joe 0, Me 10. Bryan plays a Demonic Tutor and cracks Rocky Tar Pits and passes. I am forced to sacrifice Glacial Chasm and attempt to attack with my team and fail. I scoop them up.
Final result: Bryan wins on Turn 13.
Well guys, that is another heaping helping of the Unofficial War Torn Front Blog. COme back in the next few weeks as we will get some insight from our War Torn Front Players and talk Theros.
Monday, August 5, 2013
Friday, July 26, 2013
War Torn Front: The Speculation Game Edition
Welcome back faithful readers to the War Torn Front blog for the week of July 22nd. Despite the two week break, we come back to quite a bit of speculation, rumor, and general resentment regarding the recent decisions made by Wizards. Today, we are going to discuss San Diego Comic Con and the Planeswalker product, From The Vault: 20, and the new Commander product for 2013 So with that on the plate, lets go.
So last week, San Diego played host to one of the biggest conventions for Pop Culture, Comic-Con. While the panel at Comic-Con did have quite the tasty morsels of information regarding the future of Magic for this year, It was what was on-sale that had the community up in arms. The Hasbro Toy Shop was selling a set of the M14 Planeswalkers, done in the art style of black-on-black. These 5 planeswalkers would only be available through Comic-Con weekend and on the Hasbro Toy Store Website after Comic-Con. The MSRP on this set was set at $65 on-site, and $60 plus tax when it went online. The result of this was pretty evident. By the end of Friday, July 19th, Comic-Con was sold out of the Planeswalker product. Ebay prices on these sets are skyrocketing with the lowest bid/buyout on Ebay today, July 24th, at $330. This is absolutely absurd in my opinion. I understand collectibles at Comic-Con are going to be pricey, since they are exclusive only to Comic-Con. However, asking $300 minimum for a set of Planeswalkers that may not necessarily be good. While collectors will pay the price for this set, I feel Wizards missed out on a chance to give many players a great gift, especially with the push of planeswalkers as the main focus for Magic. However, Wizards' decision to release information about the new products following in the year may have taken some pressure off the Comic-Con decision, it also created a whole new can of worms to deal with.
The biggest news to come out of Comic-Con was the official spoilers to the From the Vault for this year: FTV 20. This set would present 20 cards from Magic's past winning tournament lists, one from each year. In this way, the community can celebrate the cards that turned Magic into what it is today. The bomb dropping for the FTV is Jace, the Mind Sculptor. As soon as this key card was announced, The price on the FTV shot up, with sales ending as high as $450 for pre sales. In addition to Jace, Gilded Lotus, Impulse, Akroma's Vengeance, Hymn to Tourach, Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni, Cruel Ultimatum, and Venser, Shaper Savant are all making an appearance in this years FTV. Many players are still in shock over Jace being reprinted and are trying to decide whether it is time to drop him or simply hold onto him. Chia Lee said it best in regards to the Sculptor of Minds. "The foil prices will fluctuate, the regular ones will still hold value." I believe this idea to be true as well. We have had reprints of Tarmogoyf and Swords, yet their overall price has not been greatly affected. Personally, I am still looking forward to what is left in FTV:20. There are still plenty of spots left to make this FTV great, as opposed to making this FTV: Jace.
Now that I covered the sets that are causing some conflict in the community, I can switch gears and talk about sets that I am genuinely looking forward to. Let us lead with the Commander product coming in November. Wizards announced 5 new Commander decks will be released. These 5 decks will be Shard aligned. This means we get Naya, Esper, Jund, Bant, and Grixis Commander decks with brand new generals and new cards. This product will introduce 51 new cards to Vintage and Legacy, and each Commander deck will have 15 new cards legal only in Vintage and Legacy. Over the Comic-Con weekend we got to see two of the new generals: Prossh, Skyraider of Kher and Jeleva, Nephalia's Scourge. Prossh is a 3RGB 5/5 Flying Dragon with Whenever you cast Prossh, you make x 0/1 Kobolds of Kher Keep, where X is the mana you spent to cast Prossh. Finally, he has a second effect: Sacrifice another creature: Prossh gets +1/+0 until the end of turn. Jeleva is a 1URB 1/3 Flying Vampire Wizard with whenever you cast her each opponent exiles X cards from the top of their libraries where X is the amount of mana spent to cast Jeleva. Her second ability is whenever she attacks, she can cast an instant or sorcery from the exiled zone without paying it's mana cost. I really like both of these generals. I love how they are turning the Commander tax on generals from a detrimental effect into a beneficial one on certain generals. Even better than this is the fact that this product may not be as badly limited in terms of production as the FTV or the Planeswalkers set. I feel this product set will still end up being fairly reasonable for a 5 100 card decks, that most people should be able to get their hands on. While there is some pretty badass news on Theros, I feel Theros deserves its own article. So next week, I will tackle Theros and what it means for the future of Magic. With that, I leave you guys with the EDH play-by-play.
Players: Chris F: Xira Arien, Bryan S: Animar, Soul of Elements Matt W:Sen Triplets Cody: Rhys, the Redeemed
Turn 1: Cody wins the die roll and leads with Plains. Bryan plays an Izzet Guildgate. Chris plays a Misty Rainforest. and Matt plays a Plains.
Turn 2: Cody plays a Forest and plays Rhys, the Redeemed. Bryan plays a Gruul Guildgate. At the end of Bryan's turn, Chris cracks the Misty Rainforest (-1), and gets a tapped Overgrown Tomb. Chris plays a Graven Cairns and plays Bitterblossom. Matt simply plays a Watery Grave into play tapped.
Turn 3:Cody passes the turn and discards Rain of Thorns. Bryan plays a Fire-Lit Thicket, and casts Animar, Soul of Elements. Chris starts his turn by making a Faerie (-1), plays a Mountain, and casts a Sensei's Divining Top. Matt plays an Island and casts Dimir Signet.
Turn 4: Cody passes the turn, still no land drop. Bryan plays a Coalition Relic and passes. At the end of Bryan's turn Chris uses Top. Chris makes another Faerie (-1), plays a Forest, casts Wood Elves getting a tapped Stomping Ground and sends his first Faerie into Bryan for 1. Matt plays an Isolated Chapel and casts a Coalition Relic.
Turn 5: Cody:40, Bryan 39, Chris 37, Matt 40. Cody passes his turn still missing land drops. At the end of Cody's turn, Bryan and Matt both charge their Relics. Bryan plays a Mosswort Bridge, then casts Coiling Oracle netting a Forest. He then finishes his turn by playing Rhystic Study. At the end of Bryan's turn, Chris uses his Top. Chris makes another Faerie token (-1) and plays Bojuka Bog on Cody. He then continues the turn by playing Sakura-Tribe Elder and Xira Arien. He then sends two of his Faeries into Bryan. Matt takes his turn, plays a Swamp and casts Keiga, the Tide Star.
Turn 6: Cody 40, Bryan 37, Chris 36, Matt 40. Cody plays a Plains for the turn and casts Glorious Anthem. At the end of Cody's turn Bryan and Matt both charge their Relics and Chris sacs his Elder for a Swamp. Bryan plays a Heartwood Storyteller, Somberwald Sage,a Wurmcoil Engine, and a Breeding Pool into play tapped. Chris makes another Faerie token (-1), plays a Twilight Mire, casts a Graveborn Muse and sends 3 Faeries into Bryan. Matt plays a Chromatic Lantern and passes the turn.
Turn 7: Cody 40, Bryan 34, Chris 35, Matt 40. Cody plays a Forest and casts Trostani, Selesyna's Voice. At the End of Cody's turn Chris uses his Top and draws with Xira, and Matt plays Mystical Teachings getting Desertion and charges his Relic. Bryan starts the turn by casting Woodfall Primus hitting Chris' Bitterblossom. He then plays Simic Growth Chamber, his own Keiga, the Tide Star and sends Animar and Wurmcoil to Chris. Chris uses a Faerie to block Wurmcoil and Wood Elf to block Animar. Bryan gains 6 life from Wurmcoil. Bryan ends the turn by casting Vexing Shusher. Chris takes 1 from Graveborn Muse and draws a card. Chris casts Lurking Predators and passes the turn. Matt simply plays Sen Triplets, triggering the Predators. Chris gets a Phyrexian Plaguelord.
Turn 8: Cody 40, Bryan 40, Chris 34, Matt 40. Cody plays a Parallel Lives, triggering Predators. Chris gets a Dimir House Guard. Bryan activates his Mosswort Bridge casting Blightsteel Colossus. Predators hits an Eternal Witness which returns Chris' Misty Rainforest back to his hand. Bryan continues and casts Consecrated Sphinx, Predators triggers giving Chris a Sylvan Primordial. Chris' Primordial hits Bryan's Rhystic Study, Cody's Glorious Anthem, and Matt's Chromatic Lantern. Chris searches up 3 Forests and puts them into play tapped. Bryan continues with the turn and attempts to cast Phyrexian Metamorph, which Matt counters with Desertion. Bryan responds and casts Draining Whelk on the Desertion. Phyrexian Metamorph comes in and copies Woodfall Primus targeting Lurking Predators. Bryan continues the trend and casts Acidic Slime hitting Matt's Dimir Signet. Bryan then sends Animar, Wurmcoil, Keiga, and Woodfall into Chris. Chris uses three of his Faerie tokens to block Keiga, Woodfall, and Wurmcoil, and Eternal Witness blocks Animar. Before damage, Chris sacs his Faerie token blocking Wurmcoil to Phyrexian Plaguelord to give Somberwald Sage -1/-1. Chris takes 5 trample damage from Woodfall Primus. Chris untaps and takes 1 for Graveborn Muse and responds by activating Top. He then plays Fire-Lit Thicket and Tops during his turn. Chris proceeds to sacrifice his board to Plaguelord, plays a Bloodghast, sacs that and the Plaguelord, and casts Living Death. Chris returns Sakura-Tribe Elder, Wood Elf, Graveborn Muse, Dimir House Guard, Sylvan Primordial, Eternal Witness, Phyrexian Plaguelord, and Bloodghast. Matt, Bryan and Cody's boards are wiped, but Bryan ends up with a persisted Woodfall Primus, 2 tokens from Wurmcoil Engine, and a Somberwald Sage. Bryan's Woodfall Primus hits Chris' Fire-Lit Thicket. Chris' Sylvan Primordial hits Bryan and Matt's Coalition Relics and Cody's Parallel Lives. Wood Elves plus the Primordial net Chris 4 more Forests. Eternal Witness gets Chris Living Death. Chris then casts Survival of the Fittest and casts Fleshbag Marauder. Bryan sacs his Somberwald Sage while Chris lets Bloodghast die. Chris then ends his turn. Matt simply passes his turn.
Turn 9: Cody 40, Bryan 40, Chris 29, Matt 40. Cody plays a Plains and casts Scion of Vitu-Ghazi, making a bird token and Populating it. Bryan plays a Garruk's Horde revealing a Body Double. At the end of Bryan's turn, Chris uses Survival pitching Acidic Slime to get Butcher of Malakir. Chris takes one for Graveborn Muse plays a Misty Rainforest and uses Survival pitching Big Game Hunter, paying the Madness Cost to hit Garruk's Horde. Chris fetches Nether Traitor and casts Butcher of Malakir. Chris then sends his team into Matt for 26. Matt untaps, plays Tamiyo, and uses her down tick targeting Chris to draw 11 cards.
Turn 10: Cody 40, Bryan 40, Chris 28, Matt 14. Cody plays a Forest and casts Collective Blessing. He sends his small team to Chris. Chris responds by saccing Fleshbag Marauder, Wood Elves, and Sakura-Tribe Elder to Phyrexian Plaguelord making everyone sacrifice 3 creatures to Butcher of Malakir. Chris takes no damage. Bryan casts Urabrask, the Hidden, then casts Body Double copying Wurmcoil Engine. During Bryan's turn Chris sacs Bloodghast to Plaguelord, cracks his Misty Rainforest (-1)to get a Forest to return Bloodghast back to play, which he sacs again to Plaguelord. This makes everyone sacrifice two creatures. At the end of Bryan's turn, Chris uses Survival to pitch Nether Traitor to get Avenger of Zendikar. Chris takes 1 for Graveborn Muse and uses Survival pitching Charnelhoard Wurm to find Madrush Cyclops. Chris casts Avenger of Zendikar making 17 tokens, Madrush Cyclops and Sulfurous Springs making his plant token army bigger by 1. He then sacrifices Big Game Hunter to Plaguelord to make everyone sacrifice 1 creature. He sends 32 points of damage at Bryan, and 20 points at Matt. Matt dies due to the damage.
Turn 11: Cody 40, Bryan 8, Chris 26, Matt Dead. Cody plays a Forest and casts Trostani's Summoner making a 4/4 Rhino, a 3/3 Centaur, and 2/2 Knight. Bryan plays a Rogue's Passage and passes. Chris takes 1 for Graveborn Muse, plays a Woodland Cemetery making his tokens bigger by 1. Chris then casts Primal Surge and bricks on Diabolic Tutor after leaving himself with 17 cards in Library. Chris sends his team all out to Cody and Bryan killing them.
Final Result: Chris 25, Matt Dead, Bryan Dead, Cody Dead.
Until next week, loyal fans See you at War Torn Front!
So last week, San Diego played host to one of the biggest conventions for Pop Culture, Comic-Con. While the panel at Comic-Con did have quite the tasty morsels of information regarding the future of Magic for this year, It was what was on-sale that had the community up in arms. The Hasbro Toy Shop was selling a set of the M14 Planeswalkers, done in the art style of black-on-black. These 5 planeswalkers would only be available through Comic-Con weekend and on the Hasbro Toy Store Website after Comic-Con. The MSRP on this set was set at $65 on-site, and $60 plus tax when it went online. The result of this was pretty evident. By the end of Friday, July 19th, Comic-Con was sold out of the Planeswalker product. Ebay prices on these sets are skyrocketing with the lowest bid/buyout on Ebay today, July 24th, at $330. This is absolutely absurd in my opinion. I understand collectibles at Comic-Con are going to be pricey, since they are exclusive only to Comic-Con. However, asking $300 minimum for a set of Planeswalkers that may not necessarily be good. While collectors will pay the price for this set, I feel Wizards missed out on a chance to give many players a great gift, especially with the push of planeswalkers as the main focus for Magic. However, Wizards' decision to release information about the new products following in the year may have taken some pressure off the Comic-Con decision, it also created a whole new can of worms to deal with.
The biggest news to come out of Comic-Con was the official spoilers to the From the Vault for this year: FTV 20. This set would present 20 cards from Magic's past winning tournament lists, one from each year. In this way, the community can celebrate the cards that turned Magic into what it is today. The bomb dropping for the FTV is Jace, the Mind Sculptor. As soon as this key card was announced, The price on the FTV shot up, with sales ending as high as $450 for pre sales. In addition to Jace, Gilded Lotus, Impulse, Akroma's Vengeance, Hymn to Tourach, Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni, Cruel Ultimatum, and Venser, Shaper Savant are all making an appearance in this years FTV. Many players are still in shock over Jace being reprinted and are trying to decide whether it is time to drop him or simply hold onto him. Chia Lee said it best in regards to the Sculptor of Minds. "The foil prices will fluctuate, the regular ones will still hold value." I believe this idea to be true as well. We have had reprints of Tarmogoyf and Swords, yet their overall price has not been greatly affected. Personally, I am still looking forward to what is left in FTV:20. There are still plenty of spots left to make this FTV great, as opposed to making this FTV: Jace.
Now that I covered the sets that are causing some conflict in the community, I can switch gears and talk about sets that I am genuinely looking forward to. Let us lead with the Commander product coming in November. Wizards announced 5 new Commander decks will be released. These 5 decks will be Shard aligned. This means we get Naya, Esper, Jund, Bant, and Grixis Commander decks with brand new generals and new cards. This product will introduce 51 new cards to Vintage and Legacy, and each Commander deck will have 15 new cards legal only in Vintage and Legacy. Over the Comic-Con weekend we got to see two of the new generals: Prossh, Skyraider of Kher and Jeleva, Nephalia's Scourge. Prossh is a 3RGB 5/5 Flying Dragon with Whenever you cast Prossh, you make x 0/1 Kobolds of Kher Keep, where X is the mana you spent to cast Prossh. Finally, he has a second effect: Sacrifice another creature: Prossh gets +1/+0 until the end of turn. Jeleva is a 1URB 1/3 Flying Vampire Wizard with whenever you cast her each opponent exiles X cards from the top of their libraries where X is the amount of mana spent to cast Jeleva. Her second ability is whenever she attacks, she can cast an instant or sorcery from the exiled zone without paying it's mana cost. I really like both of these generals. I love how they are turning the Commander tax on generals from a detrimental effect into a beneficial one on certain generals. Even better than this is the fact that this product may not be as badly limited in terms of production as the FTV or the Planeswalkers set. I feel this product set will still end up being fairly reasonable for a 5 100 card decks, that most people should be able to get their hands on. While there is some pretty badass news on Theros, I feel Theros deserves its own article. So next week, I will tackle Theros and what it means for the future of Magic. With that, I leave you guys with the EDH play-by-play.
Players: Chris F: Xira Arien, Bryan S: Animar, Soul of Elements Matt W:Sen Triplets Cody: Rhys, the Redeemed
Turn 1: Cody wins the die roll and leads with Plains. Bryan plays an Izzet Guildgate. Chris plays a Misty Rainforest. and Matt plays a Plains.
Turn 2: Cody plays a Forest and plays Rhys, the Redeemed. Bryan plays a Gruul Guildgate. At the end of Bryan's turn, Chris cracks the Misty Rainforest (-1), and gets a tapped Overgrown Tomb. Chris plays a Graven Cairns and plays Bitterblossom. Matt simply plays a Watery Grave into play tapped.
Turn 3:Cody passes the turn and discards Rain of Thorns. Bryan plays a Fire-Lit Thicket, and casts Animar, Soul of Elements. Chris starts his turn by making a Faerie (-1), plays a Mountain, and casts a Sensei's Divining Top. Matt plays an Island and casts Dimir Signet.
Turn 4: Cody passes the turn, still no land drop. Bryan plays a Coalition Relic and passes. At the end of Bryan's turn Chris uses Top. Chris makes another Faerie (-1), plays a Forest, casts Wood Elves getting a tapped Stomping Ground and sends his first Faerie into Bryan for 1. Matt plays an Isolated Chapel and casts a Coalition Relic.
Turn 5: Cody:40, Bryan 39, Chris 37, Matt 40. Cody passes his turn still missing land drops. At the end of Cody's turn, Bryan and Matt both charge their Relics. Bryan plays a Mosswort Bridge, then casts Coiling Oracle netting a Forest. He then finishes his turn by playing Rhystic Study. At the end of Bryan's turn, Chris uses his Top. Chris makes another Faerie token (-1) and plays Bojuka Bog on Cody. He then continues the turn by playing Sakura-Tribe Elder and Xira Arien. He then sends two of his Faeries into Bryan. Matt takes his turn, plays a Swamp and casts Keiga, the Tide Star.
Turn 6: Cody 40, Bryan 37, Chris 36, Matt 40. Cody plays a Plains for the turn and casts Glorious Anthem. At the end of Cody's turn Bryan and Matt both charge their Relics and Chris sacs his Elder for a Swamp. Bryan plays a Heartwood Storyteller, Somberwald Sage,a Wurmcoil Engine, and a Breeding Pool into play tapped. Chris makes another Faerie token (-1), plays a Twilight Mire, casts a Graveborn Muse and sends 3 Faeries into Bryan. Matt plays a Chromatic Lantern and passes the turn.
Turn 7: Cody 40, Bryan 34, Chris 35, Matt 40. Cody plays a Forest and casts Trostani, Selesyna's Voice. At the End of Cody's turn Chris uses his Top and draws with Xira, and Matt plays Mystical Teachings getting Desertion and charges his Relic. Bryan starts the turn by casting Woodfall Primus hitting Chris' Bitterblossom. He then plays Simic Growth Chamber, his own Keiga, the Tide Star and sends Animar and Wurmcoil to Chris. Chris uses a Faerie to block Wurmcoil and Wood Elf to block Animar. Bryan gains 6 life from Wurmcoil. Bryan ends the turn by casting Vexing Shusher. Chris takes 1 from Graveborn Muse and draws a card. Chris casts Lurking Predators and passes the turn. Matt simply plays Sen Triplets, triggering the Predators. Chris gets a Phyrexian Plaguelord.
Turn 8: Cody 40, Bryan 40, Chris 34, Matt 40. Cody plays a Parallel Lives, triggering Predators. Chris gets a Dimir House Guard. Bryan activates his Mosswort Bridge casting Blightsteel Colossus. Predators hits an Eternal Witness which returns Chris' Misty Rainforest back to his hand. Bryan continues and casts Consecrated Sphinx, Predators triggers giving Chris a Sylvan Primordial. Chris' Primordial hits Bryan's Rhystic Study, Cody's Glorious Anthem, and Matt's Chromatic Lantern. Chris searches up 3 Forests and puts them into play tapped. Bryan continues with the turn and attempts to cast Phyrexian Metamorph, which Matt counters with Desertion. Bryan responds and casts Draining Whelk on the Desertion. Phyrexian Metamorph comes in and copies Woodfall Primus targeting Lurking Predators. Bryan continues the trend and casts Acidic Slime hitting Matt's Dimir Signet. Bryan then sends Animar, Wurmcoil, Keiga, and Woodfall into Chris. Chris uses three of his Faerie tokens to block Keiga, Woodfall, and Wurmcoil, and Eternal Witness blocks Animar. Before damage, Chris sacs his Faerie token blocking Wurmcoil to Phyrexian Plaguelord to give Somberwald Sage -1/-1. Chris takes 5 trample damage from Woodfall Primus. Chris untaps and takes 1 for Graveborn Muse and responds by activating Top. He then plays Fire-Lit Thicket and Tops during his turn. Chris proceeds to sacrifice his board to Plaguelord, plays a Bloodghast, sacs that and the Plaguelord, and casts Living Death. Chris returns Sakura-Tribe Elder, Wood Elf, Graveborn Muse, Dimir House Guard, Sylvan Primordial, Eternal Witness, Phyrexian Plaguelord, and Bloodghast. Matt, Bryan and Cody's boards are wiped, but Bryan ends up with a persisted Woodfall Primus, 2 tokens from Wurmcoil Engine, and a Somberwald Sage. Bryan's Woodfall Primus hits Chris' Fire-Lit Thicket. Chris' Sylvan Primordial hits Bryan and Matt's Coalition Relics and Cody's Parallel Lives. Wood Elves plus the Primordial net Chris 4 more Forests. Eternal Witness gets Chris Living Death. Chris then casts Survival of the Fittest and casts Fleshbag Marauder. Bryan sacs his Somberwald Sage while Chris lets Bloodghast die. Chris then ends his turn. Matt simply passes his turn.
Turn 9: Cody 40, Bryan 40, Chris 29, Matt 40. Cody plays a Plains and casts Scion of Vitu-Ghazi, making a bird token and Populating it. Bryan plays a Garruk's Horde revealing a Body Double. At the end of Bryan's turn, Chris uses Survival pitching Acidic Slime to get Butcher of Malakir. Chris takes one for Graveborn Muse plays a Misty Rainforest and uses Survival pitching Big Game Hunter, paying the Madness Cost to hit Garruk's Horde. Chris fetches Nether Traitor and casts Butcher of Malakir. Chris then sends his team into Matt for 26. Matt untaps, plays Tamiyo, and uses her down tick targeting Chris to draw 11 cards.
Turn 10: Cody 40, Bryan 40, Chris 28, Matt 14. Cody plays a Forest and casts Collective Blessing. He sends his small team to Chris. Chris responds by saccing Fleshbag Marauder, Wood Elves, and Sakura-Tribe Elder to Phyrexian Plaguelord making everyone sacrifice 3 creatures to Butcher of Malakir. Chris takes no damage. Bryan casts Urabrask, the Hidden, then casts Body Double copying Wurmcoil Engine. During Bryan's turn Chris sacs Bloodghast to Plaguelord, cracks his Misty Rainforest (-1)to get a Forest to return Bloodghast back to play, which he sacs again to Plaguelord. This makes everyone sacrifice two creatures. At the end of Bryan's turn, Chris uses Survival to pitch Nether Traitor to get Avenger of Zendikar. Chris takes 1 for Graveborn Muse and uses Survival pitching Charnelhoard Wurm to find Madrush Cyclops. Chris casts Avenger of Zendikar making 17 tokens, Madrush Cyclops and Sulfurous Springs making his plant token army bigger by 1. He then sacrifices Big Game Hunter to Plaguelord to make everyone sacrifice 1 creature. He sends 32 points of damage at Bryan, and 20 points at Matt. Matt dies due to the damage.
Turn 11: Cody 40, Bryan 8, Chris 26, Matt Dead. Cody plays a Forest and casts Trostani's Summoner making a 4/4 Rhino, a 3/3 Centaur, and 2/2 Knight. Bryan plays a Rogue's Passage and passes. Chris takes 1 for Graveborn Muse, plays a Woodland Cemetery making his tokens bigger by 1. Chris then casts Primal Surge and bricks on Diabolic Tutor after leaving himself with 17 cards in Library. Chris sends his team all out to Cody and Bryan killing them.
Final Result: Chris 25, Matt Dead, Bryan Dead, Cody Dead.
Until next week, loyal fans See you at War Torn Front!
Tuesday, July 9, 2013
Back on Track: A Week in the lives of War Torn Front
Welcome back readers to another weekly roundup of events here in the MTGNorCal area and specifically War Torn Front for the week of July 1st-7th. This week we are going to touch upon Tuesday's new event, the Saturday fallout, and battling it out on Sunday for EDH prizes and more, so lets hit it.
Starting this week, Placido Galvin debuted a brand new event for Tuesday nights, calling it Tuesday Night Casual Fight. This evening event features a diverse mix of fighting game covering the PS3 and Xbox 360, all for fun. This event replaces the former Tuesday Legacy event, which has dried up due to lack of interest. That being said, Fight Nights was a good success for it's first outing. There were about 10 people switching between Marvel vs Capcom 3: Ultimate Edition, Street Fighter 4, Persona 4, and various other games before the shop closed that night. Placido has made mention that various other fights will get a spot light including one of my favorite: Super Smash Brothers. If you are looking for a nice way to unwind on a Tuesday and get better at your favorite fighting games, look no further that War Torn Front's Tuesday Night Casual Fights!
While the success of Tuesday was inspiring, it unfortunately can not cover for the sadness that is the cancellation of the War Torn Front Invitational Series. The numbers were simply not there for this event and after much deliberation, Chia announced the end of the series. Josh Hickman and Chester Moon will be awarded prizes for their seats in the invitational. That being said, I have a personal opinion piece I am currently writing with my feelings on the subject. It should go live with this piece so make sure to take a look and give me some feedback.
So with the end of the Invitational Series does this mean War Torn Front will not be doing anything on Saturdays for the next few weeks? That is incorrect. Chia has announced a Grand Prix Trial for GP Oakland. This Grand Prix Trial is $30 and is an M14 Sealed. First place is two byes for GP Oakland along with additional prize support based on attendance. This is your chance to get some practice in for the GP as the event is M14 sealed. So come on out and win some byes and get your sleep-in special ready for the Grand Prix in Oakland.
Finally, Kriers played host to an EDH tournament. 15 brave souls showed up to battle it out for a Commander's Arsenal. These 15 players were separated into three 4 man pods and one 3 man pod. Yours truly ended up in the 3 man pod and was wiped out by Navdeep piloting Endrek Sahr. The finals table for the event consisted of Josh playing Riku of Two Reflections, Navdeep playing Endrek Sahr, Master Breeder, Ryan playing Prime Speaker Zegana, and Chris playing Vorel of the Hull Clade. The game was ended pretty quickly by Ryan thanks to Sylvan Primordial and Progentitor Mimic. Congrats to Ryan and for those curious I have included a Play-by-play of the game below.
Ryan- Prime Speaker Zegana
Navdeep- Endrek Sahr, Master Breeder
Josh- Riku of Two Reflections
Chris- Vorel of the Hull Clade
Turn 1: Ryan started the game with Tropical Island.
Navdeep played a Swamp
Josh played a Forest and cast Sol Ring
Chris played an Island.
Turn 2: Ryan played a Forest and cast a Sol Ring of his own.
Navdeep played a Swamp and cast Nether Traitor. He then attacked Ryan for 1 with Nether Traitor.
Josh played a Breeding Pool into play tapped and cast Somberwald Sage.
Chris played a Simic Guildgate and passed the turn.
At the end of Chris' turn Ryan cast Worldly Tutor revealing Coiling Oracle.
Turn 3: Ryan plays an Island and casts Coiling Oracle. The oracle reveals Capsize. Ryan then casts Phyrexian Metamorph, paying 2 life to copy Josh's Sol Ring.
Navdeep plays a Swamp and evokes Shriekmaw targeting Somberwald Sage. He then sends Nether Traitor into Chris for 1.
Josh plays a Command Tower and casts Riku.
Chris plays a Thespian's Stage and passes.
Turn 4: Ryan casts Sylvan Primordial targeting Josh's Sol Ring, Chris' Simic Guildgate, and and Navdeep's Swamp. Ryan fetches up three Forests. He then sends Coiling Oracle into Chris for 1.
Navdeep played a Volrath's Stronghold and sends Nether Traitor into Josh for 1.
Josh attempts to cast Phyrexian Metamorph, but Ryan responds by playing Force of Will, losing 1 life and pitching Diluvian Primordial. Josh passes the turn.
Chris plays an Island and passes.
Turn 5: Ryan plays a Jace, the Mind Sculptor and uses his 0 ability. He then plays a Forest and casts Progenitor Mimic copying Sylvan Primordial. The Mimic blows up Chris' Island, Josh's Command Tower, and Navdeep's Swamp. He then sends the Sylvan Primordial and Coiling Oracle into Navdeep for 7.
Navdeep plays a Swamp and casts a Skullclamp. He then sends Nether Traitor into Ryan for 1. He ends the turn by clamping Nether Traitor.
Josh plays Cephalid Colosseum and passes.
Chris plays a Forest and casts Energy Chamber.
At the end of turn, Josh casts Venser, Shaper Savant targeting Progenitor Mimic and took 1 for tapping the Colosseum.
Turn 6: Ryan uses Jace's 0 ability and then casts Progenitor Mimic copying Sylvan Primordial. The Mimic blows up Chris' Thespian Stage, Josh's Breeding Pool, and Navdeep's Swamp. Ryan then sent Sylvan Primordial into Josh for 6 and Coiling Oracle into Chris for 1. Ryan played Forest and cast Gilded Lotus.
Navdeep plays a Strip Mine and passes.
Josh just passes the turn.
Chris plays a Phyrexia's Core
Turn 7: Ryan's upkeep the Progenitor Mimic spits out a copy of Sylvan Primordial which pops Chris' Island, Navdeep's Volrath's Stronghold, and Josh's Cephalid Colosseum.
At this point the remaining players at the table decided to scoop it up.
This wraps up another week in War Torn Front's news. Come back next week as we talk about the M14 Pre-release and M14's impact on the formats and prices.
Starting this week, Placido Galvin debuted a brand new event for Tuesday nights, calling it Tuesday Night Casual Fight. This evening event features a diverse mix of fighting game covering the PS3 and Xbox 360, all for fun. This event replaces the former Tuesday Legacy event, which has dried up due to lack of interest. That being said, Fight Nights was a good success for it's first outing. There were about 10 people switching between Marvel vs Capcom 3: Ultimate Edition, Street Fighter 4, Persona 4, and various other games before the shop closed that night. Placido has made mention that various other fights will get a spot light including one of my favorite: Super Smash Brothers. If you are looking for a nice way to unwind on a Tuesday and get better at your favorite fighting games, look no further that War Torn Front's Tuesday Night Casual Fights!
While the success of Tuesday was inspiring, it unfortunately can not cover for the sadness that is the cancellation of the War Torn Front Invitational Series. The numbers were simply not there for this event and after much deliberation, Chia announced the end of the series. Josh Hickman and Chester Moon will be awarded prizes for their seats in the invitational. That being said, I have a personal opinion piece I am currently writing with my feelings on the subject. It should go live with this piece so make sure to take a look and give me some feedback.
So with the end of the Invitational Series does this mean War Torn Front will not be doing anything on Saturdays for the next few weeks? That is incorrect. Chia has announced a Grand Prix Trial for GP Oakland. This Grand Prix Trial is $30 and is an M14 Sealed. First place is two byes for GP Oakland along with additional prize support based on attendance. This is your chance to get some practice in for the GP as the event is M14 sealed. So come on out and win some byes and get your sleep-in special ready for the Grand Prix in Oakland.
Finally, Kriers played host to an EDH tournament. 15 brave souls showed up to battle it out for a Commander's Arsenal. These 15 players were separated into three 4 man pods and one 3 man pod. Yours truly ended up in the 3 man pod and was wiped out by Navdeep piloting Endrek Sahr. The finals table for the event consisted of Josh playing Riku of Two Reflections, Navdeep playing Endrek Sahr, Master Breeder, Ryan playing Prime Speaker Zegana, and Chris playing Vorel of the Hull Clade. The game was ended pretty quickly by Ryan thanks to Sylvan Primordial and Progentitor Mimic. Congrats to Ryan and for those curious I have included a Play-by-play of the game below.
Ryan- Prime Speaker Zegana
Navdeep- Endrek Sahr, Master Breeder
Josh- Riku of Two Reflections
Chris- Vorel of the Hull Clade
Turn 1: Ryan started the game with Tropical Island.
Navdeep played a Swamp
Josh played a Forest and cast Sol Ring
Chris played an Island.
Turn 2: Ryan played a Forest and cast a Sol Ring of his own.
Navdeep played a Swamp and cast Nether Traitor. He then attacked Ryan for 1 with Nether Traitor.
Josh played a Breeding Pool into play tapped and cast Somberwald Sage.
Chris played a Simic Guildgate and passed the turn.
At the end of Chris' turn Ryan cast Worldly Tutor revealing Coiling Oracle.
Turn 3: Ryan plays an Island and casts Coiling Oracle. The oracle reveals Capsize. Ryan then casts Phyrexian Metamorph, paying 2 life to copy Josh's Sol Ring.
Navdeep plays a Swamp and evokes Shriekmaw targeting Somberwald Sage. He then sends Nether Traitor into Chris for 1.
Josh plays a Command Tower and casts Riku.
Chris plays a Thespian's Stage and passes.
Turn 4: Ryan casts Sylvan Primordial targeting Josh's Sol Ring, Chris' Simic Guildgate, and and Navdeep's Swamp. Ryan fetches up three Forests. He then sends Coiling Oracle into Chris for 1.
Navdeep played a Volrath's Stronghold and sends Nether Traitor into Josh for 1.
Josh attempts to cast Phyrexian Metamorph, but Ryan responds by playing Force of Will, losing 1 life and pitching Diluvian Primordial. Josh passes the turn.
Chris plays an Island and passes.
Turn 5: Ryan plays a Jace, the Mind Sculptor and uses his 0 ability. He then plays a Forest and casts Progenitor Mimic copying Sylvan Primordial. The Mimic blows up Chris' Island, Josh's Command Tower, and Navdeep's Swamp. He then sends the Sylvan Primordial and Coiling Oracle into Navdeep for 7.
Navdeep plays a Swamp and casts a Skullclamp. He then sends Nether Traitor into Ryan for 1. He ends the turn by clamping Nether Traitor.
Josh plays Cephalid Colosseum and passes.
Chris plays a Forest and casts Energy Chamber.
At the end of turn, Josh casts Venser, Shaper Savant targeting Progenitor Mimic and took 1 for tapping the Colosseum.
Turn 6: Ryan uses Jace's 0 ability and then casts Progenitor Mimic copying Sylvan Primordial. The Mimic blows up Chris' Thespian Stage, Josh's Breeding Pool, and Navdeep's Swamp. Ryan then sent Sylvan Primordial into Josh for 6 and Coiling Oracle into Chris for 1. Ryan played Forest and cast Gilded Lotus.
Navdeep plays a Strip Mine and passes.
Josh just passes the turn.
Chris plays a Phyrexia's Core
Turn 7: Ryan's upkeep the Progenitor Mimic spits out a copy of Sylvan Primordial which pops Chris' Island, Navdeep's Volrath's Stronghold, and Josh's Cephalid Colosseum.
At this point the remaining players at the table decided to scoop it up.
This wraps up another week in War Torn Front's news. Come back next week as we talk about the M14 Pre-release and M14's impact on the formats and prices.
Monday, July 1, 2013
WTF: The Hiatus Return Edition
Welcome to another edition of the War Torn Front unofficial blog page. This blog is a source of information for events not only concerning War Torn Front, but other shops in the area. I am your returning host, Brandon, and boy do I have some updates to give out. This week, I will cover the first WTF Invitational, The TCGPlayer Silver Event, new events being scheduled at War Torn Front, and close out with an EDH Play-by-Play.
WTF has been busy these last two weeks with two events aimed at all you Standard players. First, The 1st War Torn Front Invitational fired off. Unfortunately, we only had 8 people show up. This is pretty disappointing showing for a shop willing to ship out cash prizes and Modern Masters packs. If you guys want events like this to continue, you have to show the support. However, for the 8 people who did show up, there was a Modern Masters draft. After a single elimination draft, Josh Hickman and Chester Moon stood tall as the first two participants in the Modern Masters August draft for a box. Congratulations to both of them. The next day, Sunday June 23rd, Krier's held a Standard event for a box from the Return to Ravnica Block. 30 players descended to do battle, but only one walked away with a box. Congratulations to Navdeep Singh for taking it down with America, because Fuck yea! Moving on, WTF held a TCGPlayer Silver event this past weekend. Jason Reed took the event down after 18 competitors showed up to duke it out for cash, product, and TCGPlayer points.Sunday, Krier's played host to a Modern tournament for a FTV: Realms. At the top of the heap came one Chia Lee, who scored a victory and picked up the FTV.
Again, it has never been a better time to be a Magic player at War Torn Front or here in the Valley. So If you need more Standard action this week, come down for the 2nd WTF Invitational starting at Noon with a $25 entry fee, and a chance to win cash and a free entry to a Modern Masters draft for a box of Modern Masters. If you looking for some more casual oriented events, come by Krier's this Sunday for EDH action. Yours truly will be there, if not playing recording games for future EDH play-by-plays and EDH articles, so come on down and have some fun.
War Torn Front has been in a rut with Tuesdays these last few weeks. As many of you may not be aware, Tuesdays tend to be Open Play days due to the lack of Legacy players showing up. However, Tuesdays are about to change. Starting soon, Tuesdays will play host to Casual Fight Nights. While details are still sketchy, watch for Placido Galvin and War Torn Front to make the official announcements regarding video game fight nights. In addition, I will be running a D20 Tabletop game called Mutants and Masterminds starting this week. If you have been curious about Tabletop, come on by and take a look.
One last piece of news before I leave you with the EDH play-by-play. These last two weeks, Thor Barerra, Matt Woods, Skott Jacobson, and Myself have been sequestered away working on something special for the community. With most of the leg work done, I feel I can safely announce it here. A podcast is in the works for War Torn Front and MTG Nor Cal. Right now, the podcast is called From The Front Line, or Live from the Front. We have recorded two episodes and are currently working on editing these pieces along with finding hosting. Once they are ready, I will announce where you can find them.
And Now: The EDH play-by-play
Players: Matt Woods: Sen Triplets (M)
David Myers (Taco): Rafiq of the Many. (T)
Harold Stancliff: Horde of Notions. (H)
Dave Murzi: Merieke Ri Berit (D)
Turn 1: Matt leads with Glacial Fortress.
Taco plays Hinterland Harbor.
Dave plays Academy Ruins.
Harold plays a Plains.
Turn 2: Matt plays Command Tower and casts Orzhov Signet.
Taco plays Temple Garden tapped.
Dave plays Riptide Laboratory and casts Dimir Signet.
Harold plays Rupture Spire, using his Plains to pay for it.
Turn 3: Matt taps out and plays Nim Deathmantle and plays Dimir Aqueduct, bouncing his Command Tower.
Taco plays Glacial Fortress and passes.
Dave plays Darksteel Citadel and passes.
Harold plays a Mountain and casts Chromatic Lantern.
Turn 4: Matt replays his Command Tower and casts Tamiyo, the Moon Sage. Using her uptick Matt targets Harold's Rupture Spire.
Taco plays an Island and casts Rafiq of the Many. At the end of Taco's turn Dave casts Fact or Fiction targeting Taco. Dave is takes a pile consisting of Keiga, the Tide Star, Polluted Delta, and Swords to Plowshares.
Dave takes his turn and plays Polluted Delta, plays a Chrome Mox imprinting Swords to Plowshares, cracks the Delta, losing 1 life, for an Underground Sea, and casts Merieke Ri Berit. He then casts Thousand-Year Elixir. He then activates Merieke and takes Rafiq
Harold plays a Plains and casts a Rakdos Signet.
Turn 5: Matt plays a Swamp, uses Tamiyo to tap Harold's Chromatic Lantern, and then casts Ethersworn Adjudicator.
Taco plays a Plains and casts Archon of Justice.
Dave plays an Island and transmutes Tolaria West for a Mana Crypt and plays it. He then attacks Harold with Rafiq for 8 general damage. He then activated Thousand-Year Elixir to untap Merieke, saccing Rafiq and using Merieke to steal Ethersworn Adjudicator.
Harold passes the turn with no play.
Turn 6: Matt activates Tamiyo targeting Harold's Chromatic Lantern, then plays Gilded Lotus.
Taco plays an Island and attacks Tamiyo for 4 with Archon of Justice. He then Krosan Grips Dave's Chrome Mox and then uses Bant Charm on Merieke. Ethersworn Adjudicator blows up to Merieke's leaves play effect.
Dave takes 3 damage from his Mana Crypt and plays Bribery on Matt, getting a Consecrated Sphinx. At the end of Dave's turn, Harold plays Unmake on the Consecrated Sphinx.
Harold simply plays Maelstrom Nexus and passes.
Turn 7: Matt uses Tamiyo to tap Taco's Archon of Justice and plays Sphinx of the Steel Wind.
Taco plays Swiftfoot Boots and equips them to Archon of Justice
Dave takes 3 for his Mana Crypt, and plays a morph.
Harold plays a Mirror Entity and cascades into Dimir Signet.
Turn 8: Tamiyo taps the morph and Matt casts Enigma Sphinx cascading into Azorius Signet. Matt sends Sphinx of the Steel Wind into Taco for 6. Matt gains 6 life.
Taco attacks Matt with Archon of Justice which Matt blocks with Enigma Sphinx. Using Archon's death trigger, Taco exiles Sphinx of the Steel Wind. Taco then plays Seedborn Muse. At the end of Taco's turn Dave flips his morph face up revealing Vesuvan Shapeshifter. He copies Taco's Seedborn Muse and uses Thousand-Year Elixir to untap the Vesuvan Shapeshifter.
Dave plays Mindslaver and passes the turn.
Harold plays Rugged Prairie, then casts Lignify on Dave's Vesuvan Shapeshifter, cascading into Elixir of Immortality. He then plays Oblivion Ring targeting Mindslaver. Dave responds to this and cracks the Mindslaver taking Matt's next turn.
Turn 9: Dave as Matt plays a Plains and casts Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre. Using Ulamog's cast trigger to blow up Lignify. Taco responds and casts Mystic Snake to counter Ulamog.
Taco plays Rafiq and equips Swiftfoot Boots to Rafiq, plays an Island and attacks Dave with Rafiq for 8 general damage.
Dave turns Vesuvan Shapeshifter facedown on his upkeep, plays a Marsh Flats and cracks it, losing 1 life, for a Tundra. He then turns Vesuvan Shapeshifter faceup to copy Rafiq, killing both the Shapeshifter and Rafiq. Dave then plays Sakashima the Impostor and copies Taco's Seedborn Muse.
Harold plays Cruel Ultimatum targeting Dave, cascading into Amulet of Vigor. Dave responds by playing Cryptic Command countering the Cruel Ultimatum and bouncing Mirror Entity. Harold plays a Flamekin Harbinger and passes.
Turn 10: Matt uses Tamiyo to tap Chromatic Lantern, and plays Yosei, the Morning Star
Taco plays Soul of the Harvest, equips Swiftfoot Boots and bashes Dave for 6. At the end of the turn Dave returns Sakishima to his hand.
Dave plays Mana Vault and casts Time Stretch. On his 1st extra turn, he takes 4 from his Mana Vault and Mana Crypt, Casts Acquire on Matt for Magister Sphinx putting Taco to 10 life. He then plays Sakishima the Imposter to copy Magister Sphinx putting Harold to 10 life. On his 2nd extra turn, Dave attacks Taco for 10 killing him. He then casts Keiga, the Tide Star.
Harold casts Shriekmaw, cascading into Wrath of God. In response to Wrath of God, Dave bounces Sakishima back to his hand. Matt uses Nim Deathmantle to return Yosei to play after the Wrath of God. Yosei's death trigger goes to Dave. Keiga's death trigger takes Matt's Yosei. Harold finishes his turn by playing Explosive Vegetation.
Turn 11: Matt casts Obzedat's Aid returning Magister Sphinx putting Dave to 10 life. He then uses Tamiyo to tap Harold's Elixir, which Harold responds and sacs the artifact to gain 5 life and reshuffle.
Dave takes 1 for his Mana Vault and plays Vesuva on Dimir Aqueduct, returning his Darksteel Citadel. He then bashes Harold with Yosei for 7.
Harold plays Bringer of the Blue Dawn cascading into Bloom Tender. He then plays Horde of Notions and bashes Dave for 5 general.
Turn 12: Matt uses Tamiyo to tap Mana Crypt and crashes into Harold with Magister Sphinx for 5. He then equips Nim Deathmantle to Magister Sphinx.
Dave pays for Mana Vault on his upkeep and kills Harold by attacking him with Yosei for 5. Dave then plays Sakishima copying Magister Sphinx putting Matt to 10 life.
Turn 13: Matt uses Tamiyo to tap Sakishima and attacks Dave with Magister Sphinx. Dave responds by playing Venser, Shaper Savant to bounce Magister Sphinx and untaps Sakishima with Thousand-Year Elixir Matt then plays Phyrexian Metamorph copying Yosei. The two dragons die and both players use their triggers on each other. Matt responds and uses Nim Deathmantle to bring back Yosei and Phyrexian Metamorph as Yosei. These two new triggers go to Dave making him skip a total of 3 untap steps. Dave realizing that he would take 3 from his Mana Vault and have to deal with 3 triggers of Mana Crypt concedes. .
Well, that is all for this week loyal fans. If you are interested in more EDH writing, let me know in the comments section here or on Facebook.Until Next Week, This is Brandon live From the Front!
WTF has been busy these last two weeks with two events aimed at all you Standard players. First, The 1st War Torn Front Invitational fired off. Unfortunately, we only had 8 people show up. This is pretty disappointing showing for a shop willing to ship out cash prizes and Modern Masters packs. If you guys want events like this to continue, you have to show the support. However, for the 8 people who did show up, there was a Modern Masters draft. After a single elimination draft, Josh Hickman and Chester Moon stood tall as the first two participants in the Modern Masters August draft for a box. Congratulations to both of them. The next day, Sunday June 23rd, Krier's held a Standard event for a box from the Return to Ravnica Block. 30 players descended to do battle, but only one walked away with a box. Congratulations to Navdeep Singh for taking it down with America, because Fuck yea! Moving on, WTF held a TCGPlayer Silver event this past weekend. Jason Reed took the event down after 18 competitors showed up to duke it out for cash, product, and TCGPlayer points.Sunday, Krier's played host to a Modern tournament for a FTV: Realms. At the top of the heap came one Chia Lee, who scored a victory and picked up the FTV.
Again, it has never been a better time to be a Magic player at War Torn Front or here in the Valley. So If you need more Standard action this week, come down for the 2nd WTF Invitational starting at Noon with a $25 entry fee, and a chance to win cash and a free entry to a Modern Masters draft for a box of Modern Masters. If you looking for some more casual oriented events, come by Krier's this Sunday for EDH action. Yours truly will be there, if not playing recording games for future EDH play-by-plays and EDH articles, so come on down and have some fun.
War Torn Front has been in a rut with Tuesdays these last few weeks. As many of you may not be aware, Tuesdays tend to be Open Play days due to the lack of Legacy players showing up. However, Tuesdays are about to change. Starting soon, Tuesdays will play host to Casual Fight Nights. While details are still sketchy, watch for Placido Galvin and War Torn Front to make the official announcements regarding video game fight nights. In addition, I will be running a D20 Tabletop game called Mutants and Masterminds starting this week. If you have been curious about Tabletop, come on by and take a look.
One last piece of news before I leave you with the EDH play-by-play. These last two weeks, Thor Barerra, Matt Woods, Skott Jacobson, and Myself have been sequestered away working on something special for the community. With most of the leg work done, I feel I can safely announce it here. A podcast is in the works for War Torn Front and MTG Nor Cal. Right now, the podcast is called From The Front Line, or Live from the Front. We have recorded two episodes and are currently working on editing these pieces along with finding hosting. Once they are ready, I will announce where you can find them.
And Now: The EDH play-by-play
Players: Matt Woods: Sen Triplets (M)
David Myers (Taco): Rafiq of the Many. (T)
Harold Stancliff: Horde of Notions. (H)
Dave Murzi: Merieke Ri Berit (D)
Turn 1: Matt leads with Glacial Fortress.
Taco plays Hinterland Harbor.
Dave plays Academy Ruins.
Harold plays a Plains.
Turn 2: Matt plays Command Tower and casts Orzhov Signet.
Taco plays Temple Garden tapped.
Dave plays Riptide Laboratory and casts Dimir Signet.
Harold plays Rupture Spire, using his Plains to pay for it.
Turn 3: Matt taps out and plays Nim Deathmantle and plays Dimir Aqueduct, bouncing his Command Tower.
Taco plays Glacial Fortress and passes.
Dave plays Darksteel Citadel and passes.
Harold plays a Mountain and casts Chromatic Lantern.
Turn 4: Matt replays his Command Tower and casts Tamiyo, the Moon Sage. Using her uptick Matt targets Harold's Rupture Spire.
Taco plays an Island and casts Rafiq of the Many. At the end of Taco's turn Dave casts Fact or Fiction targeting Taco. Dave is takes a pile consisting of Keiga, the Tide Star, Polluted Delta, and Swords to Plowshares.
Dave takes his turn and plays Polluted Delta, plays a Chrome Mox imprinting Swords to Plowshares, cracks the Delta, losing 1 life, for an Underground Sea, and casts Merieke Ri Berit. He then casts Thousand-Year Elixir. He then activates Merieke and takes Rafiq
Harold plays a Plains and casts a Rakdos Signet.
Turn 5: Matt plays a Swamp, uses Tamiyo to tap Harold's Chromatic Lantern, and then casts Ethersworn Adjudicator.
Taco plays a Plains and casts Archon of Justice.
Dave plays an Island and transmutes Tolaria West for a Mana Crypt and plays it. He then attacks Harold with Rafiq for 8 general damage. He then activated Thousand-Year Elixir to untap Merieke, saccing Rafiq and using Merieke to steal Ethersworn Adjudicator.
Harold passes the turn with no play.
Turn 6: Matt activates Tamiyo targeting Harold's Chromatic Lantern, then plays Gilded Lotus.
Taco plays an Island and attacks Tamiyo for 4 with Archon of Justice. He then Krosan Grips Dave's Chrome Mox and then uses Bant Charm on Merieke. Ethersworn Adjudicator blows up to Merieke's leaves play effect.
Dave takes 3 damage from his Mana Crypt and plays Bribery on Matt, getting a Consecrated Sphinx. At the end of Dave's turn, Harold plays Unmake on the Consecrated Sphinx.
Harold simply plays Maelstrom Nexus and passes.
Turn 7: Matt uses Tamiyo to tap Taco's Archon of Justice and plays Sphinx of the Steel Wind.
Taco plays Swiftfoot Boots and equips them to Archon of Justice
Dave takes 3 for his Mana Crypt, and plays a morph.
Harold plays a Mirror Entity and cascades into Dimir Signet.
Turn 8: Tamiyo taps the morph and Matt casts Enigma Sphinx cascading into Azorius Signet. Matt sends Sphinx of the Steel Wind into Taco for 6. Matt gains 6 life.
Taco attacks Matt with Archon of Justice which Matt blocks with Enigma Sphinx. Using Archon's death trigger, Taco exiles Sphinx of the Steel Wind. Taco then plays Seedborn Muse. At the end of Taco's turn Dave flips his morph face up revealing Vesuvan Shapeshifter. He copies Taco's Seedborn Muse and uses Thousand-Year Elixir to untap the Vesuvan Shapeshifter.
Dave plays Mindslaver and passes the turn.
Harold plays Rugged Prairie, then casts Lignify on Dave's Vesuvan Shapeshifter, cascading into Elixir of Immortality. He then plays Oblivion Ring targeting Mindslaver. Dave responds to this and cracks the Mindslaver taking Matt's next turn.
Turn 9: Dave as Matt plays a Plains and casts Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre. Using Ulamog's cast trigger to blow up Lignify. Taco responds and casts Mystic Snake to counter Ulamog.
Taco plays Rafiq and equips Swiftfoot Boots to Rafiq, plays an Island and attacks Dave with Rafiq for 8 general damage.
Dave turns Vesuvan Shapeshifter facedown on his upkeep, plays a Marsh Flats and cracks it, losing 1 life, for a Tundra. He then turns Vesuvan Shapeshifter faceup to copy Rafiq, killing both the Shapeshifter and Rafiq. Dave then plays Sakashima the Impostor and copies Taco's Seedborn Muse.
Harold plays Cruel Ultimatum targeting Dave, cascading into Amulet of Vigor. Dave responds by playing Cryptic Command countering the Cruel Ultimatum and bouncing Mirror Entity. Harold plays a Flamekin Harbinger and passes.
Turn 10: Matt uses Tamiyo to tap Chromatic Lantern, and plays Yosei, the Morning Star
Taco plays Soul of the Harvest, equips Swiftfoot Boots and bashes Dave for 6. At the end of the turn Dave returns Sakishima to his hand.
Dave plays Mana Vault and casts Time Stretch. On his 1st extra turn, he takes 4 from his Mana Vault and Mana Crypt, Casts Acquire on Matt for Magister Sphinx putting Taco to 10 life. He then plays Sakishima the Imposter to copy Magister Sphinx putting Harold to 10 life. On his 2nd extra turn, Dave attacks Taco for 10 killing him. He then casts Keiga, the Tide Star.
Harold casts Shriekmaw, cascading into Wrath of God. In response to Wrath of God, Dave bounces Sakishima back to his hand. Matt uses Nim Deathmantle to return Yosei to play after the Wrath of God. Yosei's death trigger goes to Dave. Keiga's death trigger takes Matt's Yosei. Harold finishes his turn by playing Explosive Vegetation.
Turn 11: Matt casts Obzedat's Aid returning Magister Sphinx putting Dave to 10 life. He then uses Tamiyo to tap Harold's Elixir, which Harold responds and sacs the artifact to gain 5 life and reshuffle.
Dave takes 1 for his Mana Vault and plays Vesuva on Dimir Aqueduct, returning his Darksteel Citadel. He then bashes Harold with Yosei for 7.
Harold plays Bringer of the Blue Dawn cascading into Bloom Tender. He then plays Horde of Notions and bashes Dave for 5 general.
Turn 12: Matt uses Tamiyo to tap Mana Crypt and crashes into Harold with Magister Sphinx for 5. He then equips Nim Deathmantle to Magister Sphinx.
Dave pays for Mana Vault on his upkeep and kills Harold by attacking him with Yosei for 5. Dave then plays Sakishima copying Magister Sphinx putting Matt to 10 life.
Turn 13: Matt uses Tamiyo to tap Sakishima and attacks Dave with Magister Sphinx. Dave responds by playing Venser, Shaper Savant to bounce Magister Sphinx and untaps Sakishima with Thousand-Year Elixir Matt then plays Phyrexian Metamorph copying Yosei. The two dragons die and both players use their triggers on each other. Matt responds and uses Nim Deathmantle to bring back Yosei and Phyrexian Metamorph as Yosei. These two new triggers go to Dave making him skip a total of 3 untap steps. Dave realizing that he would take 3 from his Mana Vault and have to deal with 3 triggers of Mana Crypt concedes. .
Well, that is all for this week loyal fans. If you are interested in more EDH writing, let me know in the comments section here or on Facebook.Until Next Week, This is Brandon live From the Front!
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.
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.
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