Monday's 12/6 Updates

Monday edition!  Kinda slow out there today, but some noteworthy ones...

Real Play Improvements by Mike Flores, Of course I jump all over the Mikey Flores goodness, and I'm sure most have you have already read this one. I really enjoy nearly all of his articles, because very few of them are directed at a specific snapshot of time in a format. Sometimes, when he has a sick brew, he'll focus on the metagame, but typically we get timeless, thought provoking stuff. I liked this article, like the rest of his, and this topic specifically I wondered why no one really writes about. For my personal taste, was a bit surface level; although, I really enjoyed this article, I hope he (or someone else) takes it one step further.  Of course every n00b knows not to chump block a 2/2 with your Llanowar Elf on turn 3 when you're at 20, but where do you draw the line?  Obviously it's deck/matchup dependent, but some actual tactical articles would be interesting.  Going one step further, when to counter a spell, when not?  This is a much, much deeper tactics/strategy concept, but I think would really be great for players trying to get the hang of the game.  (Aside: AJ Sacher wrote a great one about Pondering Brainstorm a while back, a must read for anyone playing blue in Legacy.)Although, those people are probably learning from their friends more than surfing the web for tips.  He gives an example highlighting Accumulated Knowledge, that was pretty interesting, and exactly in the vein of what I'd personally be interested in an article about improving one's play.  There's also some bits that may be helpful for anyone who's going to an all-day premier event for the first time, about being prepared and comfortable for a long day.  Great read if it was from anyone else, but I know Mike could have given us a little bit more here.  Sequel next week Mike?

ManaLeaks: Banning Survival and Saito Patrick Chapin (SCG Premium)

I'm not going to spend too much time on this one.  If you have premium, its no question you're reading Chapin. This was an interesting read, but not really aimed at anything I'm personally interested in.  He goes in depth on his thoughts on the rumored banning of Survival of the Fittest.  He also comments at length about the Saito suspension.  To be brutally honest, I could have stopped after I read the title.  Luckily, Chapin has a way with words, and even when the content isn't exciting to me, I always enjoy the read. Not sure why this would be something you'd need to pay an annual fee to get access to. I'm certainly not dogging on Chapin, because some weeks he'll put out multiple pieces, and other weeks 10000+ word epics that break down every thing you wanted to know about a topic.  With Worlds on the horizon, and tech held close under lock and key, I wasn't too shocked to see an article like this.

Friends Are Important Ben Hayes This was a pretty interesting Introspective, over on Mananation.com.  We got one gamers perspective on how he used Magic and his friends to get through a tough time.  Everyone has had those times, and having a support system is always important. I found I could relate to it, and was smiling as I read the whole thing.  Nothing surprising or shocking to read here, but the article was extremely readable.

Gamers of a Certain Age Robby Rothe Jr

I picked this one up off the new "Timmy" section of Quietspeculation.com. I don't play EDH, and I really don't play casual magic at all, this article was really interesting to someone in my position. Not sure that its everyone's cup of tea though. He talks about the balance of Magic and Relationships/Work to a gamer as they get older.  It has me worried that I may end up an EDHer *cough* Commander player soon enough. I love birding the EDH games between rounds at our store, the crazy interactions are comical, but taking the time to build/maintain an EDH deck is intimidating.  I got into competitive magic a little "late". Gave up on it early in high school, and just didn't pick it back up until well after college.  While I've met some great friends, it took me longer than most to network with good players than most would. There are plenty of guys about my age, or even slightly older who show up to drafts, and they are solid players, but that draft time (appears to me) to be their only time thinking or trying to improve their game. I totally understand the reasons why this is the case, because I experience it too. I draft very frequently, but on multiple occasions I've had to drop from the draft to make it to work on time.  People ask, "Why even come?" Or suggest, "Call in sick."  But the fact is, I don't have the opportunity to practice my game with good players much, so I show up at the scheduled time, and get as much in as I can.  At the end of the day, someone's gotta bring home, cook, and eat the bacon.

Mind-Boggling Technology - Preparing for Worlds by Kyle Boggemes over on ChannelFireball.com.  I know they just "lost" Saito, but not been very impressed with the content on this site lately. The All Star drafts are cool, but as I've posted previously, I really just don't have the time to watch a jillion videos. The actual writing has dwindled, and it looks like that's the format they're leaning towards. Kyle's article missed me completely this time.  It appears he wanted to give us a recap of how he felt about each format coming up for Worlds, but I think he would have been better off picking one of them and focusing on that. Each section was so surface level, that really the only takeaway was the stock decklists. The farther I go through these articles, the pros seem to be a little sub-par in my opinion in recent weeks, and perhaps its the balance of preparing for a multi-format tournament that is affecting the time they have available to write. I would have liked to see more information about the decks he was recommending, what types of problems he runs into, sideboard variations he recommends if the meta is shifted one way or another in your local area, etc.

Chandra Unleashed Duncan MacCallum from 60cards.com

Here we go! This was sweet.  Now, I've got no idea if this deck is good, but you can bet the farm I'll be running it this coming Friday.  He sold the deck on it's fun level.  Described how a few matches played out, and punched me in the face when I realized that Chandra Ablaze has an ability that says "Draw 3 cards" on it.  Did anyone else notice that?  I didn't. Did anyone else notice you can "Draw 3 cards" with her -2 ability TWICE before having to +1 again (if thats what the situation called for)?  Not to mention, she punishes other planeswalkers by dealing 4 to the dome if needed, or by emptying that jace players hand down to 3, while you're drawing back up to 3. Wow. Yes, yes, she cost 6.  I get it. He admitted he hasn't played the deck quite enough yet, but took it to a local tournament with some success, and I think players like me, who like to play something fresh in Standard, would love taking this for a whirl one weekend. Kudos on this very creative idea. I hope he's still playing it, and will update us all on any revisions as he tests it more.

Drafting with Nico Nico Bohny on Blackborder.com

Nico is a great drafter, and it's hard to argue with a Level 5 pro, who deems themselves a "Draft expert".  But, I'll try. This draft was pretty bad, and fairly lacking in the "insightful information" department. He opens a Argent Sphinx P1P1, and explains why he took it over Tumble Magnet and Paladium Myr. That'd normally be interesting, except the fact the pack also had a Corpse Cur and an Ichorclaw Myr, along with no other black cards at all, and some very late pick green cards (Molder Beast, and Withstand Death).  Not only that, but he completely ignores infect cards going forward, and hate-picks sub-par cards in empty packs, instead of solid infect dudes.  I had trouble seeing past the picks I disagreed with, but for the purposes of the blog, I'm going to try and be constructive about how this article could have been better.  1- Address the fact you're obviously avoiding infect like it's actually infectious.  2-Give more than one sentence explainations.  Things like: "Another rather weak pack. Neurok Replica is just the best card in here, followed by Rust Tick, which I don't like too much in draft, because there are decks that don't play too many artifacts."  Really doesn't explain WHY you like it better.  I guess it explains why you don’t like the Rust Tick.  Then why is the Rust Tick the 2^nd best card here?  I flat out disagree, especially since there was a Sylvok Lifestaff in the pack, that Iwould have taken over either one of those cards, but apparently I'm the only one that thinks it’s the best non-rare equipment.  If I were to support that idea, I might say: "The Lifestaff is great in this deck because it comes down turn 1 allows me to potentially hit turn 2 myr, turn 3 4/4 steed.  Any 1 drop artifacts that are actually useful, and not filler are a premium in this archetype.  Also, my colors have a large number of defensive creatures available, and while the Replica is one of the best of them, I can probably find a solid replacement for it, In fantasy baseball speak, we call this VORP (Value over replacement player, See: Opportunity cost).  Furthermore, the lifestaff will gain me life as my blockers die, which is helpful against non-infect decks, and the cheap equip cost makes it useful as I'm attaching to mana myr to trade with infectors."

Anyway, that's where I weigh in on today's stuff.  It may be easier for me to just write these up each day, so I don't get overwhelmed during the week. I thrive on feedback, lemme know what you think!

Also, big thanks to those who have given feedback/comments thus far, its made this much more enjoyable for me knowing people are actually reading it.