First Up:

At first when I saw this card, I wasn’t too impressed. Scry 2 once a turn for 1 mana doesn’t seem all that great. The real power of this card is being able to manipulate the top of your library. In constructed this may mean shenanagins with polymorph or oracle of mul daya type decks. I’m not sure if this card will be making many constructed deck lists for a while but it won’t hurt to playtest. In limited however this card is great as it lets you get rid of two lands when you really need that removal spell. Drawing what you need is on par with “Draw 1″. Being able to go in any color deck means you’ll have to be ready to pick them up early if you want to have it in your deck.

Next Up:

Obstinate Baloth is especially interesting because it’s an obvious solution to Blightning. 4 toughness means a bloodbraid elf cascading into a blightning nets you 1 life -1 card, and a 4/4 body on the board, enough to block the bloodbraid with ease. I will be interested to see if there will be other discard effects in the future that this guy will be able to abuse, or if he was just the “jund hoser”. In limited this guy is obviously a bomb and should be taken early if you’re in green.

As for power creep, just look at Ravenous Baloth

M2011 is shaping up to be very exciting, and I can’t wait to start playing with these cards.

-Bryan Dowse

I tried playing Masters Edition 3 online since I’ve been told it’s a pretty fun set to draft. Before I started playing I looked over all the cards and had a decent idea of what was good and what tricks to watch out for.

4-5 butt creatures are big in this format, and horsemanship is strong as well. Flying is actually the true evasion since there are only 3 common and uncommon flyers in the set.

I started off fairly well picking up some strong green and picked up what I thought were good green red legends as I saw them including The Lady of the Mountain and Jerrard of the Closed Fist. I followed those up with good mana acceleration like Spoils of Victory and Three Visits

Sadly I didn’t get a lot of removal. I should have taken Desert Twister in pack 3. But overall I had a decent start.

Overall pack 1 was pretty straight forward. Big dudes, mana acceleration. Tuknir Deathlock was really the card that put me into green red.

In this pack I first pick a Livonya Silone and follow that up with a Tracker.

I really liked the tracker when I played with him and would highly recommend him as an early pick. The Silone not so much. I mean sure it’s a good card, but any sort of removal is better like the Trip Wire I passed. Horsemanship is actually much more common in this format then legends.

Third pick I pick a jungle lion which is nothing fancy, but it’s an early creature. I also get a 6th pick Astrolabe. It seems like a decent card, and I’m a big fan of cards that I can play without losing card advantage.

I get some late pick minotaurs, namely Hurloon Minotaur and Anaba Spirit Crafter which will act as the base for my midgame creatures.

Here we go, a Fire Ambush. That’s what I’m looking for, especially since it’s followed up with a Tracker. In this pack I finally pick up the Trip Wire and it serves me well in the matches to follow. I flesh out some more minotaurs and acceleration with Raging Minotaur and Three Visits.

Overall not a bad first M3 draft. Check out the video below to see the matches.

Matches Part

- Erik Lundblad

So I did my first Zendikar draft recently, and it went pretty well. I made some decisions that I’m not sure I would make again, but it worked out this time. I knew going into the draft that Zendikar is a very fast format, which definitely colored the way I drafted.

First pack, first pick, I took Hideous End over Bala Ged Thief. This ended up working very well for my deck, but if black had not been open, I could’ve had problems, whereas the Thief would be splashable in an Allies deck. Given that choice again, I would probably take the Thief. However, I proceeded to pick up Quest for the Gravelord, Guul Draz Vampire, Arrow-Volley Trap (possible second color), Piranha Marsh, Carnage Altar (never drew it, but seems pretty good), Scythe Tiger (another possible second color), Hagra Crocodile, Mountain, Forest(nothing good in the packs), Magma Rift (11th pick removal, I think I’ve found my second color), Blood Seeker, Caller of Gales, Ruinous Minotaur, Slaughter Cry (15th pick combat trick?).

At this point, I’m not extremely pleased with my deck. It has a couple pieces of removal, a few good creatures, but nothing spectacular. Then came pack 2, where my cutting off black (and apparently no one going red) paid off. Murasa Pyromancer made me a little sad that I had not taken the Thief in pack 1. Another Hideous End helped cheer me up again. Nimana Sell-Sword is ok, and I wanted to pick up more allies for my Pyromancer. Punishing Fire, Crypt Ripper, Torch Slinger, Vampire Lacerator, Blood Seeker, Vampire Hexmage, and Plated Geopede (amazing, should not be 10th pick!) are all solid creatures/removal. Ravenous Trap, Soul Stair Expedition, 2nd Piranha Marsh, Beast Hunt and Mountain finish off the pack.

My deck is now looking much better, as I have 19 cards that I would not mind putting in there. Pack 3 finished my deck off nicely, although the first pack was very weak for me, leading me to take a Shepherd of the Lost, never fun to play against. Gatekeeper of Malakir, Disfigure, 2nd Nimana Sell-Sword, Adventuring Gear, 2nd Plated Geopede, Highland Berserker, and Tuktuk Grunts are all good for my deck. Island, Grim Discovery, Kazandu Refuge, Seismic Shudder, Seascape Aerialist, Mire Blight, Mire Blight finishes the draft. 14th and 15th pick Mire Blights was rather surprising. They ended up not making the deck, as I had enough removal, but I had enough first strike that they maybe should have been in there, although I don’t know what I would’ve cut for them.

I ended up with a very solid, all-out aggro deck with fast, efficient creatures and solid removal. The final decklist was as follows

Creatures:

Guul Draz Vampire
Vampire Lacerator
Highland Berserker
2x Plated Geopede
2x Blood Seeker
Vampire Hexmage
Gatekeeper of Malakir
Crypt Ripper
2x Nimana Sell-Sword
Tuktuk Grunts
Torch Slinger
Murasa Pyromancer
Artifacts:
Adventuring Gear
Carnage Altar
Spells:
Disfigure
Soul Stair Expedition
Quest for the Gravelord
Punishing Fire
2x Hideous End
Magma Rift
Lands:
2x Piranha Marsh
7x Mountain
7x Swamp

Round 1 vs Red/White Aggro
His deck was very fast and aggressive, but lacking removal, and the creatures were not quite as good as mine. Game 1 was a close race between his Goblin War Painted Steppe Lynx and Slaughter Crys and my Plated Geopedes. At the end, I swung to put him at 2, knowing he needed a land and the Cry to kill me. He had the Cry, but no land, and took me to 1 before I finished him off. Game 2 he got a slower draw and never stood a chance.

Round 2 vs Blue/Red

I only saw a total of 6 cards out of his deck, as it was not fast enough to keep up with mine.

Round 3 vs Blue/Black

Game 1 I made a couple of play mistakes, plus missed a couple of Blood Seeker triggers. It was still a close game, but between my mistakes and his 3 counters (Summoner’s Bane + 2 Cancels), I couldn’t pull it out.

Game 2 I got out to a fast start and slaughtered him.

Game 3 I again got out to a fast start, but he managed to somewhat stabilize at 2 (hovering between 2 and 4 for awhile) thanks to a Vampire Nighthawk that just barely kept me from getting enough damage through to finish him off, and enabled him to occasionally attack so he could get another creature through my Blood Seeker. Also, his Shoal Serpents made a formidable wall, although Plated Geopede equipped with Adventuring Gear took out one before dying to the second (5/5 first striker is really good.) Eventually, I had enough creatures to get one through, and the Gear plus a land made all of them lethal.

-Bryan Dowse

I mixed it up last night and played a 4-3-2-2 online Shards of Alara draft last night. The first pack didn’t have anything too exciting so I took a Hissing Iguanar to leave me open for grixis, naya, and jund. A second pick Branching Bolt set me up for a nice naya or jund deck with a third pick Vithian Stinger solidifying the picks.

But it got interesting when I got a 4th pick Grixis Charm. When dealing with shards, the general rule of thumb is when you see a late pick charm, that’s a good signal that the shard is open. I pick up the charm, since my only green was a Branching Bolt. Pick five I get a second Hissing Iguanar and pick six I get a Magma Spray, very late for such a great card.

I was planning on building a red deck with a splash of grix and jund. It didn’t exactly turn out that way though.

So after getting the Grixis Charm 5th, I get a late Agony Warp 7th pick. This pack however is still packed full of goodies, a 7th pick Tower Gargoyle? A Crumbling Necropolis? Someone opened the nuts here. It must have been something like, a foil bomb rare, regular bomb rare, a charm, an Oblivion Ring, and two other strong removal cards to get cards like these this late.

Overall Pack one was very good to me. I have 2 Grixis cards, 1 Jund/Naya card, and the rest are red. I can be pretty greedy with my colors in the upcoming packs.

With the two Hissing Iguanars I am planning on leaning towards Grixis agro and direct burn to the face as a style of deck, but I can play pretty much anything. I only have 3 creatures, so I will be looking out to get a few in the following packs.

Pick one I take the Volcanic Fallout. It’s a great card and it works well with my Hissing Iguanars. Pick two I take a Armillary Sphere over an Absorb Vis or a Goblin Outlander. I am a huge fan of this card. It lets me be even more greedy with my picks as I get fixing for 2 colors (watching the replays below, there were two hands I would have mulliganed if I didn’t have a sphere in my hand). A pick 3 Armillary Sphere just gives me more of a card I already love. Pick 3 also had the same common print run as the second.

Pick 4 was a bit of a tough choice. Do I go more burn to the face, or play the Sedraxis Alchemist or the Vedalken Outlander? I decide to go for the Exploding Borders since at this pint I’m ramping up to go primary red, splash 3-4 colors. Pick 5 didn’t really have anything too interesting. The Kaleidostone is a decent filler card, but I decide to go with even more burn to the face and pick up a card I usually don’t play, Quenchable Fire (This ended up in the sideboard). Pick 6 I want to take the Aven Trailblazer, but I also want to stay in 4 colors, I pick up the Might of Alara as a nice combat trick instead. Pick 7 I get another Exploding Borders. I could have taken the Fleshformer or the Canyon Minotaur but with as much burn to the face that I already have, I decide this is the right choice. Pick 8 there’s a double black Scepter of Fugue and a Aven Trailblazer. I decide screw it, I’m going to splash for the 2/5 flyer for 3. Pick 9 through 11 I pick up Kranioceros just because I need more creatures. I end up not playing any of them, but if I wasn’t able to pick up any beef in the final pack, some of them would have made the cut.

Pack 3 first pick I get a Deathbringer Thoctar. This guy is awesome in every sense of the word. If you get one counter on him, he can take out an army of 1/1 tokens and he’s a huge threat if not dealt with. No question on picking him over Terminate for my deck. Pick two I could have taken the Crystallization but decide I need cheap dudes so I take the Naya Hushblade. Pick 3 I take Esper Stormblade because 3/2 flyers for two are always good. Pick 4 I could take the Mistvein Borderpost as another fixer, but decide the removal is better so I take the Crystallization.

Pick 5 I take the Igneous Pouncer as a 5/1 haster that can give me a land if I need it. Pick 6 I take the Sangrite Backlash over the Kathari Bomber. I like cheap removal and my 3 drops were already pretty full, plus this is very late removal. Pick 7, nothing much to see here but a Messenger Falcons works well for my 4 drops. It’s a creature, it cantrips, and it works with my curve. A Stun Sniper at pick 8? Ok, that’s fine. I guess there aren’t many naya players. I get a 9th pick Mistvein Borderpost and a 10th pick Gorger Wurm. I’d much rather play the wurm over my current 5 drop Kranioceross. Plus the wurm works with my Hissing Iguanars if I need to squeek that final few points of damage through. At 11th pick I get a Gloryscale Viashino. I end up main decking him, but after pretty much every match side him out for a 17th mana.

Matches Part 1


Matches Part 2

- Erik Lundblad

2 Standard events in less than a month, I may be becoming a Constructed player. As much as I enjoyed playing 5CC at Gameday, I think Baneslayer Control was the best choice for the metagame (plus, I’ve always enjoyed playing Reveillark decks, which is basically what it is.)

Unfortunately, I ran into some problems getting out of the house and just as I arrived at the tournament site, they were just posting seating for the player’s first round matches.

I organized and sorted my deck and played a quick hand of online poker on my laptop to relax.

I was still able to register, but had to take a first round loss.

The Decklist:

Round 1 vs Punctuality

Missed it by that much. Went and got some cards signed, sat around and waited.

Round 2 vs Merfolk (0-1)

Game 1 I mulliganed to 5 on the play, but used Knight of the White Orchid to accelerate into a Baneslayer Angel, which won the race handily.

Game 2 He keeps a 1-lander on the play. Good game. All I played were Glen Elendra Archmages… on turns 5-8. How conveniently they play out… swing for 2, play the second, swing for 4, play the third, swing for 6, play the fourth, swing for 8… oh, that’s exactly 20. Good game.

Round 3 vs Baneslayer Control (1-1)

Game 1 We go back and forth for awhile, but eventually he pulls it out.

Game 2 I chose to draw, as I think it is better in this matchup (easier to get the Knights to activate, winning the mana war wins the game).

Game 3 He started off strong, but I was taking over when we went to turns. At turn 5, I had 3 Cryptic Commands in hand, but no way to kill him.

Round 4 vs 5-Color Control (1-1-1)

This was a very interesting match. His build of 5CC was pretty different from mine. Not only was he running Ajani Vengeant (which I probably would if I played it again) and Baneslayers as his only kill creature, but he was playing Glen Elendra Archmages and Identity Crisis maindeck.

Game 1 I think I’m in pretty good shape, then he Identity Crisis’ me and drops a Baneslayer. Ouch. Then he plays a Mulldrifter, accidentally draws a third card. As soon as he sees it, he pulls it away from the rest of his hand and calls a judge on himself. The judge comes over, says, “I’m pretty sure I know the ruling, but I’m going to go check, just to make sure.” He walks away, talks to a few judges for a few minutes, then comes back… and gets called back by one of the judges. A few minutes later, he comes back over… and again gets called back. Finally, after about 8-10 minutes of this, he comes back and awards my opponent a game loss, which apparently is now the penalty for drawing extra cards but not mixing them into your hand. We were both rather surprised.

So we sideboard and shuffle up for Game 2, and as we present, we get hit with a mid-round deck check… after already needing a time extension from a long judge call, and being in the draw bracket… not the best choice of games to deck check. Eventually, they bring our decks back, and apparently my sleeves are 2 different shades of black, not that anyone around us can tell at all. Fortunately, they were unable to find a pattern, so it was just a warning and I needed to resleeve asap.

Game 2 Finally, we are able to start playing again, with about 20 minutes left in the round, and a 20 minute extension. This time, I’m able to get out a couple Baneslayers and protect them, and get the win.

Game 3 He topdecks a Cruel Ultimatum, and wrecks me. Good game.

Round 5 vs R/G Aggro (1-2-1)

Game 1 Turn 1 Noble Hierarch, turn 2 Boggart Ram-Gang, 16, turn 3 Bloodbraid Elf, Great Sable Stag, 10, turn 4 Bloodbraid, Ram-Gang, good game.

Game 2 I gum up the ground with some Knights, Meddling Mages, and Mulldrifters, drop to 1 life, use Reveillark to get back my Knights and Mulldrifters, finally draw and drop a couple Baneslayers and win.

Game 3 He gets off to a slow start, which means he doesn’t stand a chance.

Round 6 vs R/B Discard (2-2-1)

Game 1 I wasn’t sure what I was playing against at first, as I was not seeing any of the typical early plays of R/B Aggro, so the Meddling Mage sat in my hand not knowing what to name. Finally he played a Megrim, and I knew what he was playing. A pair of Burning Inquiry’s hurt, but I took over from there.

Game 2 Now that I knew what I was playing against, he didn’t stand a chance. Counter the spells that are important, drop a Baneslayer Angel and win.

Round 7 vs Goats (3-2-1)

Game 1 I thought I was playing against Kithkin until I used Vendilion Clique to look at his hand and saw Springjack Shepherd and Mirrorweave. I got rid of the Mirrorweave as I was about to drop a Baneslayer, which was unfortunate, as I proceeded to draw Meddling Mage, which named Mirrorweave anyway, as that would be really bad for me (and it was the right call, as he had one under his Windbrisk Heights). His Soul Wardens gained him a lot of life, but Baneslayer evened things up in a hurry.

Game 2 This one wasn’t even close.

Round 8 vs Faeries (4-2-1)

Game 1 I was playing against someone I’ve played many times before, and we both knew that we were really just playing for pride and rating, so we were able to relax and have some fun. The first game, his Bitterblossom did most of the work, with the tokens not doing much other than chumping.

Game 2 This was very close, but he managed to pull it out when he was at 2 life.

Game 3 Again it was very close, and we were at a stalemate, both of us drawing lands. Finally I complained to my deck that all I wanted was a Mulldrifter or a Baneslayer and I’d be happy. So I immediately drew a Mulldrifter, played it, then next turn drew a Baneslayer Angel. I guess I have to try that more often.

Round 9 vs Merfolk (5-2-1)

Game 1 Merfolk should be a pretty easy matchup for me, but I mulligan to 6, he gets a fast draw and I lose.

Game 2 Now that my Hallowed Burials and Austere Commands are in, this should be a lot easier. It takes awhile, but eventually Baneslayer allows me to race.

Game 3 I mulligan to 6 again, miss a land drop, and am constantly 1 mana short of doing what I need to do.

So I ended up 5-3-1 (5-2-1 in played games)j, not quite as good as I would have liked, but enough to get my rating quite a bit closer to 2 byes in Tampa in a month and a half, so I’ll take it. I never drew the Sower of Temptation that I put in at the last minute to steal opposing Baneslayers and Scion of Oona and such, but I think it was still a good inclusion.

- Erik

I took a trip into the seldom-visited world of Constructed Magic for M2010 Game Day. It’s not that I mind playing constructed, and usually if I can build a competitive deck, I will play in the PTQ’s and such, but I prefer not to netdeck (which is very hard to not do and be competitive these days) and I prefer to play control decks, where Wizards keeps pushing aggro.

A couple weeks ago, I played a home-brew Blue/Black Mill deck using Mind Funeral and Haunting Echoes in an 8-man Standard and went 2-1. I was pleased with the deck’s performance, but did not really enjoy playing it, so I broke down and borrowed the cards I needed to build 5-Color Control, which was not only one of/the top deck in the format, but fit very well with my play style.

The version I ran initially had 1 Baneslayer Angel, 1 Broodmate Dragon, and 1 Bogardan Hellkite, but I was testing against Blightning Aggro with Anathemancers maindeck and having trouble, and I expected a lot of those, so I added a 2nd Baneslayer in place of an Esper Charm. I ended up not playing a whole lot of Blightning Aggro, but still was glad for the 2nd Angel. I originally intended to run 4 Great Sable Stags in the sideboard, but was only able to get a hold of 2 and replaced the others with Path to Exiles, which served me just fine.

Here’s the final decklist:

Round 1 vs R/W Control

Game 1 I managed to outlast him due to the counters.

Game 2 he dropped Anathemancers turns 3 and 4… ouch!

Game 3 he got stuck on 3 lands and I Identity Crisis’ed him.

Round 2 vs Kithkin

Game 1 he drops turn 2 Honor of the Pure, turn 3 Spectral Procession, turn 4 Honor, Harm’s Way to save 2 of his guys from my Volcanic Fallout, turn 5 Honor. Fortunately, I had (and used) 2 more Fallouts to kill his 2 4/4 Spirits, and I was able to keep anything else off the board until I took control.

Game 2 I mulliganed down to 5, but he got off to a slow start, which let my 3x Cryptic Command hand catch up and take over.

Round 3 vs Tom (Black/Red Aggro)

This matchup is not too bad without Anathemancer in the maindeck.

Game 2 was a little close. I was at 3 life. He had just Flame Javelined me in response to my Path to Exileing his creature. I countered the Javalin with Broken Ambitions for 2 since he had 1 open, and he revealed a Demigod of Revenge on top. Unfortunately, he then shuffled it back in due to the Path. I had 2 Cryptics and 2 Baneslayer Angels in hand, and had to decide whether or not to take the risk playing the Baneslayer, knowing that I lose if he draws burn. However, if I sit back on Cryptic, I’m never going to get out of burn range. I play the Angel, and he draws the Demigod that ended up back on top, and that’s basically the game.

Round 4 vs Jund Aggro

I get a couple of bad draws this round and get rolled pretty quickly.

Round 5 vs Kithkin

It is very hard for 5 Color Control to lose to Kithkin. I cruise into the last round at 4-1 with top tiebreakers, should be a lock to draw into Top 8.

Round 6 vs Ian (Jund Aggro)

We draw into the Top 8 and he crushes me in the two games we play for fun.

Top 8

Quarterfinals vs Ian again

This time I drew a lot better and won rather easily.

Semifinals vs Merfolk

This kid talks nonstop (I think he was trying [unsuccessfully] to get into my head) and his friend kept asking questions about what cards I was running in my version of 5CC. I just shrugged and ignored them and proceeded to beat him soundly.

Finals vs Adrian (5 Color Control)

Game 1 I played horribly but drew better than him, and this matchup is all about drawing well.

Game 2 I topdecked the Hallowed Burial to get rid of the 2 Great Sable Stags hitting me (he bounced one of my vivid lands to try and keep me off 5 mana, but I had a couple other lands, just no Burial ^_^

Not bad for a format I didn’t play at all for the whole season.

-Steve Bahnaman

If you’ve drafted M10 three or more times, there’s a good chance that you’ve run into at least one deck that only had Swamps and no other lands. There’s a good chance you may have lost even though you thought your deck was pretty darn good, especially if your deck was green-white.

The monoblack deck has been discussed a fair amount, probably more than any other archetype in the M10 draft universe, largely because it has a number of good cards to use in the deck without needing another color to add power. There’s something wonderful about never having to worry about getting color-screwed. Of course, there are other advantages as well, many of which are really just the advantages of “archetype drafting” as opposed to “good cards drafting.”

What’s So Great About Monoblack?

1. Value Elevation

I’ll define “value elevation” as the simple principle that many cards you might pick are better in certain kinds of decks than in others. For example, a black drafter who is also drafting much of any other color wants zero or perhaps one Looming Shades in his deck. It’s just a bad or barely adequate card if you only have one or two Swamps in play. For the monoblack drafter, however, Looming Shade is often a Nightmare without flying. You can play two or three Shades in a monoblack deck; the only reason you don’t want more is that they become much worse when you have two of them in play. Other cards also get much better in monoblack decks, including Tendrils of Corruption, Consume Spirit, Sign in Blood (because of its drawback’s negation by Tendrils’ life-gain), Dread Warlock (because the likelihood of a black opponent decreases: you’ve been taking the good cards!), and even Doom Blade. Elevating some of these cards doesn’t make them that much easier to draft: people take Doom Blade and Tendrils pretty high anyway. But adding Dread Warlock and Looming Shade into the list of cards you’d be happy to take helps you draft better decks, and gives the archetype better…

2. Depth

Black is a very deep color in M10. Look at this proposed pick order for monoblack drafting in M10. Note that these picks only include black cards and artifacts (no splashes, though you could correctly splash for something like a Fireball), and assume you already *know* you’re drafting monoblack.

Pick orders change depending on what you have already drafted, but you should notice already that once you include mythics and rares, there are 42 different cards worthy of inclusion (at least once in a great while) in a monoblack draft deck. That’s a lot of options to choose from, and includes every black common except for Unholy Strength and Soul Bleed. Depth is very important because it gives you a run of cards to pick from pack after pack, and with so much variation between decks it’s unlikely that each monoblack deck you draft will have identical lists or even the same threats. Still, the monoblack drafter benefits from a lot of…

3. Clarity of Focus

Monoblack decks do three things well. They block well with their regenerators and creatures that like to trade such as Child of Night (Douse in Gloom was pretty amazing). They remove creatures with commons Tendrils, Weakness, and Doom Blade, as well as uncommons Consume Spirit and Deathmark. And they gain card advantage straight up with Sign in Blood and Mind Rot. Every monoblack deck you draft will contain these elements. The decks are unlikely to be balls-to-the-wall aggressive unless you get a rare like Vampire Nocturnus or Coat of Arms and a ton of zombies, which isn’t going to happen often. Trade and gain a long-term advantage in terms of cards, then beat them down with an evasion creature. Essentially every monoblack deck does this, which makes it a very comfortable deck to play.

So, monoblack in M10 has everything you want in any draft archetype:
1. Cards whose value is specifically elevated because of other cards the archetype likes.
2. Depth, including a large number of cards with similar characteristics.
3. A focused, repeatable game plan, leading to comfort and better decisionmaking the more you play the deck.

Some Notes on Drafting Monoblack

A. Acolyte of Xathrid is better than you think (but only a little). It pings players and has provided late-game problems for me; you can’t stabilize against totally unblockable damage. It’s a low pick, but an acceptable 23rd spell.

B. Whispersilk Cloak is amazing with Looming Shade. It’s a 2-3 turn clock at most, and it prevents the dreaded Sparkmage Apprentice trump when you’re tapped out.

C. Cards that really *change* in value in this archetype (and hence you end up with many copies of) include Looming Shade, Sign in Blood, Dread Warlock, and many of the filler creatures (Warpath Ghoul, Vampire Aristocrat).

D. A fifth-pick Tendrils of Corruption or a fourth pick Consume Spirit is a good signal to go monoblack. These cards aren’t splashable, and so won’t be drafted by people off-color, but also are easy for people passing them to remember they’ve shipped.

E. Cutting off the player to your left helps, but it is completely possible to draft a very good monoblack deck to the right of someone drafting a half-black deck. There are just a lot of good cards.

F. Deathmark is maindeckable at least in one; with you playing no white or green, the odds of any given opponent playing one of the two colors are usually above 70%.

G. Unholy Strength is very savage tech against multiple copies of Ice Cage. Don’t even think of playing it otherwise.

H. Weakness is very good against blue decks and red decks, destroying Merfolk Looters, Goblin Pikers, Viashino Spearhunters, Prodigal Pyromancers, and making Wind Drakes very irrelevant.

I. If you have to play maindeck Duress, wait until about turn 4 or 5 to play it (after casting a creature and having a mana up, for example). Though you’ll have mana open turn one, you should still wait until your opponent has drawn a few cards. What you really want to hit is a great card like Overrun, Sleep, Fireball, or Armored Ascension; give yourself the best odds possible to catch them! Duress is a good sideboard card against green and white decks, which have both combat tricks you can nerf like Giant Growth, Harm’s Way, and Safe Passage, as well as the ever-present Overrun, and the slow but solid Entangling Vines and Divine Verdict.

J. Draw cards fearlessly with Sign in Blood. You’ll find a Tendrils or a Consume soon enough.

Best of luck drafting monoblack!

I decided to play Warp World for the M2010 game day. I really like the deck and it got me to the top 8 with a record of 4-0-2. Since there are about 16 different versions of the deck I had my work cutout for me and I had figure out which cards I was going to run. I started reading on what cards were successful in other players experience and did a little testing before coming up with a list I felt comfortable playing. For those unfamiliar with the deck, the deck uses a lot of mana accelerators (like Trace of Abundance, Fertile Ground, and Farhaven Elf) to ramp up quickly to big creatures (Like Siege-gang Commander, Bogardan Hellkite, or Broodmate Dragon). Then, if the warp world deck player has board position they will keep beating down or playing more creatures, if not, they cast Warp world. With 56 permanents mainboard, the warp world player will generally kill their opponent the next turn.

There were a couple of cards that were good in the deck, but didn’t make the cut for me.

1. Keeper of Progenitus, I liked this card, but wasn’t thrilled that he took my 4 drop spot. He also really sucks against kithkin, one of the hardest matchups for this deck already. He’s a 1/3 so he survives Volcanic Fallout and Jund Charm, but I decided that wasn’t enough reason to play him. When I play tested Bloodbraid Elf over him, I was pleasantly surprised. The elves will always find mana acceleration, while I have to wait to untap with the keeper.

2. Wort, the Raidmother, I tried this card as a one-of, but it took up the spot of one of my late game dragons. Having the ability to conspire a warp world would generally win me the game outright, but I decided if I warp world I will generally win anyways, I don’t really need to do it twice.

3. Ant Queen, I wanted to put this card in, but I rarely found a time that it was useful. Ant Queen is good when the board is stalled, but in my play testing, I rarely ran out of cards to make her ability useful. With the Keepers out of the deck, the ant queens lost even more oomf.

4. Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund, I play tested him and didn’t like him. He really didn’t do anything if you hard cast him and seemed to rather be really good off a warp world. I didn’t want cards that relied on warp world to be good.

There were also cards that I was pleasantly surprised play testing with, and even more surprised playing with them.

1. Spellbreaker Behemoth, this was my number 1 surprise playing the deck. He is really good to get out turn 3 as he stops almost all early game creatures right in their tracks, giving you time to set up your mana and late game cards. Also, the fact that he was uncounterable, AND made my hellkites uncounterable made him maindeck material.

2. Bloodbraid Elf, I was dubious playing this guy at first, but he is really, really good in this deck. He will always hit a mana accelerator and give you at least 2 permanants, 3 if you hit a Farhaven Elf.

3. Thought Hemorrhage, I didn’t think this card was that good vs control until I started playing it. Hot damn this card wrecks control decks. At one time I double Thought Hemorrhaged a control player on turn 6. He didn’t recover.

Here’s the final decklist:

The day went as follows:

Match 1:  Jund something.
In the first 6 turns of game one I had a Spellbreaker Behemoth, Murderous Redcap, and a Broodmate Dragon while he had a Sprouting Thrinax. Eventually he played his own Bogardan Hellkite, which I killed with a later turn Siege-gang Commander. He used Makeshift Mannequin to get it back but he was too low. He eventually ended up using Lightning Bolt on his own thrinax to have enough blockers.

Game 2 he got mana screwed and I rolled over him.

Match 2: Blue White Kithkin

This player was playing with cards like Sleep, Meddling Mage, Negate, Essence Scatter, and the typical Kithkin rundown. Game 1 his turns went like this: Turn 1 Goldmeadow Stalwart, turn 2 Honor of the Pure, Turn 3 Honor of the Pure and a Silence at the start of my turn, turn 4 Wizened Cenn, a Silence at the start of my turn, turn 5 Spectral Procession.

Game 2 I sided in 3 Caldera Hellions and 3 Kitchen Finks and took out 2 Spellbreaker Behemoth 4 Bloodbraid Elf. I mulliganed to 6 and kept a questionable hand. I accelerated out fairly early and had a Kitchen Finks on the board but he had a turn 1 Burrenton Forge-Tender, 2 Knight of Meadowgrain turn 3 Honor of the Pure. Turn 5 he played a Cloudgoat Ranger. I Finally hit my 8th mana with no creatures on the board and 3 Bogardan Hellkites in hand. I proceeded to play them back to back and eventually swung for 15 in the air twice while he was at 30.

Game 3 He had a turn 2 Knight of Meadowgrain and a turn 3 Wizened Cenn. I accelerated out nicely and by the time he played 2 Meddling Mages naming Siege-gang Commander and Bogardan Hellkite (both in my hand actually) I cleared his board with a Caldera Hellion. He played a Honor of the Pure and Spectral Procession, and I used the Siege-gang to pick them off.

Match 3: Jund
This was actually vs a buddy of mine. He was playing Bloodbraid Elf, Putrid Leechs, and Anathemancers and such. He won game one, I won game two and we decided to draw since both our decks were good.

Match 4: Revelark Control

Because of the draw I got paired with a 2-1 player. He was not a very good control player and was misplaying cards like Hallowed Burial when he had two Tidehollow Scullers on the board. In the final game he tapped all but 1 mana and on my turn I cast Warp World. He conceded before it resolved and showed me his hand which had 2 Countersquall.

Match 5: 5cc Control
This was a tough matchup for me. He kept my creatures down but in the first game he tapped out to counter a Bogardan Hellkite and on my turn I played a Warp World, the first to resolve the entire day. I won after he put hardly anything in play and I dealt 11 damage to him with come into the battlefield effects.

In the second game he countered some early game mana acceleration and got Ajani Vengeant out keeping my land tapped. I got stuck on 2 lands and wasn’t able to go off.

Game 3 was pretty straight forward. I played my guys, he countered some, but I eventually over whelmed him.

Match 6: Draw
After some nifty calculation my opponent and I decided to draw into the top 8.

Top 8: 5cc Control
This was the same player I had played in match 5. I had an opportunity to tap out and play a Warp World when he had 2 mana open, but I was fearful of a Negate or Broken Ambitions so I instead went to 3 cards and played a Bloodbraid Elf. He then proceeded to play a Cruel Ultimatum the next turn and wreck me the rest of the game.

Game 2 I got stuck on 5 mana. I Frantically used my Mulldrifters to try to draw into some more acceleration but nothing came up. He eventually used a Baneslayer Angel to kill me.

Overall I like the deck and plan to play it again. The key parts of the deck will stick around after ZEN comes out, but will need to get some love to stay alive. Fertile Ground and Mulldrifter are both very important in the deck but will be rotating out. We will have to wait and see what happens then.

-Bryan Dowse

Last night I started my first online Magic2010 draft. I first picked a Djinn of Wishes and went from there. There was nothing else really in the pack, and it was the best card by far. Also, blue seems underdrafted right now so I’m happy picking it up early and forcing blue. The second pick Wind Drake just solidifies my blue choice. A Goblin Artillery third pick generally means that red is open so I pick that up; the other notable cards are the Gravedigger and Stone Giant.

Pick 4 however gets a bit interesting. The only red or blue card in the pack seems to be a Cancel. Instead of a solid red card, I see a nice Rise from the Grave. I take it since my only red card is an Artillery; I could be black if it keeps coming.

At this point I have 2 solid blue cards, one red card, and one black card.

By pick 4-5 I was making the choice between blue-red or blue-black. I had already picked up a Rise and now pick 5 gives me a Sign in Blood, so I’m ready to dump red if I don’t get any cards to support it.

I also start to see blue and white are being cut hard and I figure someone to my right is going white-blue fliers. There was probably another white mage to my right too. Then on pick 6 I see a Wall of Frost. Um ok. This card is removal, folks; it prevents 1.5 attackers a turn. Windstorm was going late, but at 7th pick, I picked the Ponder over it. The Stone Giants and Sparkmages going 10th and 11th shows me that red is great to get from the right side. Since my only black cards are the Rise and the Sign in Blood I decide to go red-blue and ditch the black.

At this point I and am happy with my pool and have 8 maindeck playables. You need 23, and you almost always get more in pack 2 than pack 1 because you’ve cut off the table to your left.

Pack two starts off fine, a Dragon Whelp, followed by a Lightning Bolt over an Air Elemental. This was a tough choice but Lightning Bolt is so good, especially with pingers.

I’m happy with a mid pack Divination and Sparkmage Apprentice I don’t know why these go late, they are very good in a couple of archetypes.

I also pick up a Canyon Minotaur as an ok midgame beater and a Phantom Warrior as a decent evasion creature. The double blue really turns me away form this guy. If there’s a Wind Drake and a Phantom Warrior in the same pack I really have to look at my mana symbols. Both are great cards, but If I have a lot of double red guys already, the Wind Drake may be the right choice. The Phantom Warrior also can’t block fliers. A Wind Drake and a Goblin Artillery can hold back a Serra Angel in most cases.

I pick up a couple of playable red and blue commons for the rest of the pack.

In pack 3 I had to make a choice between Gargoyle Castle and Prodigal Pyromancer. I looked at my only flying beater, the Djinn. I really wanted another flying beater but having a second pinger is just too good.

I also get a second pick Pyroclasm which is great. For a second I looked at picking up the Sleep because the Pyroclasm would kill all my spark mages and the Pyromancer I just picked up, but then remembered that’s the wrong way of thinking.

Pyroclasm is good even in a deck where half you’re creatures will die to it. A turn 2-3 Pyroclasm can WRECK a board if your opponent plays a lot of early 2-butts. Plus this isn’t an aggro deck, so I needed the mass removal option.

The rest of the pack gave me a second Goblin Artillery, a second Wind Drake, a Seismic Strike Yippee! I like multiples of great cards that work together!

The late Ignite Disorder is a decent sideboard vs the white blue fliers deck that I assumed was out there. Speaking of a white blue deck…

Match 1:

The first game was vs a white blue opponent, with at least 2 Illusionary Servants and a Merfolk Looter. The first game I got 2 Artilleries out and a Prodigal Pyromancer early, then the Djinn of Wishes hit the table. I attacked with the Djinn while his board had a tapped Air Elemental, a Griffin Sentinel, a Horned Turtle, and 1 white mana open, he cast Silence. In response I popped the Djinn’s ability and got a Sparkmage Apprentice which I used to target the Air Elemental, I then hit it with my Pyromancer and Artillery, killing it. When the dust settled, he took 4 damage from a Djinn of Wishes to the face and I passed the turn. He then played a Whispersilk Cloak and tried to attach it to the Griffin Sentinel, and in response I Lightning Bolted it. He then tapped out to attached it to the Horned Turtle. I hit him with my goblin artillery, having myself go to 10 and putting him at 13. Next turn I swung with the Djinn and played a Wind Drake. He played a Wind Drake and a Divination. I shot the drake with the artillery and shot him in the face with my second artillery, going to 4 and leaving him at 6. Next turn I swung for 6 in the air.

The second game I kept a hand with a Mountain, Island, Horned Turtle, Goblin Artillery, Wind Drake, and Prodigal Pyromancer. He played a turn 2 Merfolk Looter and a turn 3 Illusionary Servant. I played a turn 3 Pyromancer. He looted a bunch to try to find an answer to the Pyromancer but couldn’t. He swung in the air with the Servant and the next turn I pinged it. I was playing more of a control game and decided I didn’t need the extra two damage each turn so I opted to play the Goblin Artillery over the Wind Drake. I also would like to be able to kill a turn 5 Air Elemental if I drew a Sparkmage Apprentice. He instead tapped 5 for a Siege Mastodon and I topdecked a Stone Giant and played it. I also pinged his Looter. On his turn he Act of Treasoned my Goblin Artillery and swung with the Mastodon, I didn’t block and took 3, and he then used the Artillery to kill my Pyromancer. On my turn I drew my 6th land and played 2 Wind Drakes. I held back the Stone Giant. On his turn he didn’t play anything and passed. On my turn I swung with the Drakes and played a Sage Owl and [card]Canyon

Match 2:

Match two my opponent is playing green-red and starts off with a turn 1 Llanowar Elves. I roll my eyes because that’s the best turn-1 play green can make. Thankfully he has no turn 2 play. On turn 3 he drops a Giant Spider. I drop an Artillery on my turn and pass. He swings with the spider and I don’t block.

He plays a Stampeding Rhino and I hit it with my Artillery and Pyroclasm killing everything besides his spider. He swings again with the Spider. I play a Stone Giant and he doesn’t swing and just passes the turn, at this point he has 6 forest as his only lands and is color screwed. I play a wind drake and he plays a Birds of Paradise. I debated hitting the birds with the artillery but decided I didn’t want to lose more life. I swing with the Drake forgetting the spider can block flying. He blocks with the spider and I let damage resolve. I then I hit the spider with the Artillery, in response he Giant Growths, and in response to that, I Lightning Bolt. I play a Pyromancer and on his turn he hits it with a Sparkmage Apprentice and plays a Craw Wurm. I play a Wall of Ice and a Wind Drake. And he plays a Berserkers of Blood Ridge. I swing with the Drake and on his turn he swings with the Berserkers. I block with the Wall of Ice. He plays an Enormous Baloth and I drop a second Stone Giant and a Pyromancer. Two turns later he attacks with both the Baloth and the Berserkers. I double block the Baloth with my 2 Stone Giants and block the Berserkers with my Wall of Ice. I ping the Baloth for the final damage and kill it. I swing with the team for the rest of the game.

I sideboard in a Flashfreeze and take out a Ponder. Game two he plays a turn 3 Borderland Ranger getting a Mountain and I play an Artillery. He swings with the Ranger and I don’t block, and he passes the turn. I play a Dragon Whelp. On his turn he plays a Stampeding Rhino and I kill the Borderland Ranger with my Artillery. On my turn I play a Stone Giant and swing with my Whelp. On his turn he swings with the Stampeding Rhino and I let it through. On my turn I play a Wind Drake holding back mana for the sideboarded Flashfreeze. On his turn he swings with the Rhino and I block with the Drake, after damage he tries to cast an Elvish Visionary, In response I hit the rhino with the artillery and he casts Regeneration targeting the Rhino, I counter the Regeneration with my Flashfreeze and the Rhino dies. He draws a card and plays a Mist Leopard. On my turn I swing with the Whelp and play my Phantom Warrior and a Wind Drake. On his turn he plays a Craw Wurm and passes the turn. I swing with all my evasion and play a Sage Owl. On his turn he swings all out, I block and he concedes.

Match 3:

Game one he plays 2 Rampant Growths and an Elvish Visionary while I play a Horned Turtle. On turn 4 he plays a Serra Angel and I play a Dragon Whelp. He attacks with the Angel and I attack with the Whelp. On his turn he plays a Deadly Recluse and Blinding Mage. I play a Pyroclasm and kill his entire board but the Angel. I play a Wind Drake. He then swings with the Angel again and I take it and he plays Rampant Growth and a Runeclaw Bear. On my turn I swing with the Whelp and the Drake. He blocks the Drake with the Angel and I Lightning Bolt the Angel. On his turn he plays Howl of the Night Pack pact for 5 tokens I play a Phantom Warrior and a Sparkmage Apprentice, on his turn he Overruns for a lot.

Game two mulligan a 1 mountain hand with a Sparkmage Apprentice, Lightning Bolt, Pyroclasm. I get a hand with 2 Islands 3 Mountains and a wind drake and keep it. He starts off with a turn 1 Llanowar Elves and a Rampant Growth into a Plains, I play a turn 3 Goblin Artillery he plays a Centaur Courser. I topdeck a Sparkmage and hit the Courser with it and the Artillery. On his turn he plays a Runeclaw Bears and a Deadly Recluse. He passes without playing a land. He’s stuck on 3 land. I topdeck a Wall of Ice, play it and hit the Llanowar Elves with my Artillery. I go to 13 while he is at 20. He plays a Stormfront Pegasus and I hit it with the Artillery and I play a Wind Drake. He doesn’t play anything and I play a Divination, holding a seismic strike in hand. He casts Pacifism on my Wind Drake and passes the turn. He’s still stuck on 3 lands. On my turn I topdeck a Whelp and hit his Recluse with my Artillery, going to 7. He plays a Blinding Mage and I hit that with the Artillery, going to 4. I swing for 5 with my Dragon Whelp. He plays a Rampant Growth into his second Plains and passes. I topdeck and play a Pyromancer and swing for 5. I figure he has the Angel in hand, which he does, and he taps out to play it. I hit his Runeclaw Bear with my artillery, going to 1, then on my turn I use Seismic Strike to kill his Angel and swing for exactly 10.

Game 3 he plays a turn 1 Llanowar Elves, and a turn 2 Rampant Growth. He plays a turn 3 Centaur Courser and turn 4 Emerald Oryx. I play a turn 3 Wall of Frost and a turn 4 Pyromancer. He swings with his oryx and courser and I block the courser with my wall and take two he drops an elvish visionary. I’m at 14 and have a hand full of 3 drops. I topdeck a Mountain and play an Artillery. He plays a Runeclaw Bear I play a Canyon Minotaur. He draws a land and taps out for an Ant Queen. I kill his Runeclaw Bear and Elvish Visionary with my pingers at the end of his turn and am at 11. On my turn I draw a land and play it and I use the Artillery and Seismic Strike to hit the Ant Queen for exactly 5. I also play a Phantom Warrior. He plays a Runeclaw Bear and passes the turn, I ping him for 1 putting him at 19. On my turn I swing with my Phantom Warrior and play a Divination and a Wind Drake. On his turn he plays a Serra Angel. I topdeck a Sparkmage Apprentice and use it, the Pyromancer, and Artillery to kill his Angel, then swing with my Drake and Phantom Warrior and play a Dragon Whelp. He cast Howl of the Night Pack for 4 tokens. On my turn I swing with my Phantom Warrior, Drake, Sparkmage, and Dragon Whelp. I have a Pyromancer and Artillery as pingers on the board. He blocks the Sparkmage with the Emerald Oryx. I ping his Courser and Pyroclasm, clearing his board and leaving me with a Drake, Minotaur, Artillery, and Wall of Frost at 5. I play a Horned Turtle. He concedes.

Overall I really liked this red-blue draft. I had some tough picks, like picking a Pyroclasm over a Sleep, and picking pingers very highly. All the pingers work so well together, 2 Artilleries takes out a Serra Angel, a Sparkmage Apprentice and an artillery takes out any 3 butt. I only had a couple of evasion, 2 Wind Drakes, a Whelp, and a Phantom Warrior, but I had a bunch of large butt creatures which I used to control the board and eventually swing for the win. The two Stone Giants were always welcome to see, and as usual I never used their ability. The Wall of Frost was great, early Horned Turtles were nice, the 2 Pyromancers always good.

Drafting this U/R control-pinger archetype I’d say the common/uncommon pick order is: