Announcing the Winner of our New Phyrexia Intro Deck Giveaway
First of all, we’d like to thank everyone who participated in our latest comment contest for a New Phyrexia Intro Pack- we had a lot of great remarks and insights, and they always make the site richer. It would be impossible to pick just one for distinction- so thank goodness we do these randomly and let Random.org do all the work!
The contest this time had a twist, as we let the readers decide the deck to be given away based on the amount of feedback (a bit like an “applause-o-meter”). The deck that had the most discussion around it- and the one we’ll be awarding- is Artful Destruction!
Thanks to the mighty powers of Random.org, we’re pleased to announce that the winner of the contest is btspike. We’ll be sending btspike an email shortly, and get the deck out the door!
If you didn’t win, don’t worry- there’s another deck giveaway going on right now… and a few other surprises ahead!
2008-09 Precon Championships: Turian Division
Welcome back, fans of competition from across the Blind Eternities! We have a full plate of matches lined up for you today as five different decks are battling it out to see who will be the last deck standing- and the one to represent the Turian Division in the race for the finals! Only two victories will stand between today’s Divisional winner and the Championship, and each of these decks can lay claim to a shot at it all! Without further ado, let’s look at today’s contestants.
Time Spiral: Reality Fracture Review (Part 1 of 2)
There’s a scene you might remember from 1989’s Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure as the film approaches its climax. Having spent the greater part of the movie rounding up the likes of Abraham Lincoln, Genghis Khan, and Napoleon, the boys are ready to do their ‘history report’ but run into a little problem- all the historical figures have been arrested and locked up in the San Dimas jail. The clock is ticking, and if they can’t break them out so they can participate in the history report, they’re going to fail with the direst of consequences to follow (military school, etc).
(Outside)Bill: How’d it go?
Ted: Bad. Our historical figures are all locked up and my dad won’t let them out.
Bill: Can we get your dad’s keys?
Ted: Could steal them but he lost them two days ago.
Bill: If only we could go back in time to when he had them and steal them then.
Ted: Well, why can’t we?
Bill: Cause we don’t got time.
Ted: We could do it after the report.
Bill: Ted, good thinking dude. After the report we’ll time travel back to two days ago, steal your dad’s keys, and leave them here.
Ted: Where?
Bill: I don’t know. How about behind that sign? That way when we get here now, they’ll be waiting for us. (bends down and picks up the keys) See?
Ted: Whoa! Yeah! So after the report we can’t forget to do this, or else it won’t happen. But it did happen! Hey, it was me who stole my dad’s keys!
Bill: Exactly, Ted. Come on. (goes over to the car) Mom?
Missy: Yes?
Bill: Can you please bring the car around back?
Missy: Sure.
Bill: (stands up) Come on, Ted. We’ve got some historical figures to rescue. (source)
If that exchange makes any sense to you, then it’s time to slip on the chronomancer’s shoes and fracture reality. Because while your dad’s keys might not be the same thing as a 6/6 unblockable Kraken, as we’ll see the principles underlying the both of them are not so very different.
Time Spiral: Hope’s Crusaders Review (Part 2 of 2)
Decks aren’t always what they seem. To be certain, you can gain a very good understanding of a deck by breaking it apart and examining the 60 cards that comprise it, but that doesn’t necessarily give you the full understanding of how everything fits together. Candidly, Hope’s Crusaders was the deck I was least enthused about, seeming like a White Weenie deck with a hodgepodge of- surprise- White Weenies. Jimi and I sat down to play last night- she’d selected Reality Fracture to oppose the deck with- and played our ‘friendly.’
The friendly is the first game we play when we begin our reviews. We roll our spindowns to see who has first option for play or draw, then play a match whose results we don’t record. This gives us time to see the deck once, note some of its themes and interactions, and to get a sense of what we’re up against. The friendly has no real affect on our review, aside from both giving us further insight and observation to bring into our writeup, and to determine who chooses play/draw for the start of our first recorded match.
Although we had to break for the night after our friendly (fussy baby), we finished the matches today. Despite my early misgivings, the deck took me entirely by surprise in the friendly, an impression which would only be further reinforced in the matches. Here are the notes from the playtest.
New MBtB: The Five Best Intro Decks of Scars Block
With New Phyrexia having been fully reviewed here on Ertai’s Lament, it’s time to take a look at the block as a whole. Join us for this week’s Magic Beyond the Box, our weekly precon-themed feature over at Quiet Speculation, as we pick the top five Intro Decks- you might be surprised at what makes the list!
Time Spiral Theme Deck Giveaway
It’s that time again- a new set and a new comment contest! We’ll be handing out a brand-new copy of Reality Fracture, one of the more intriguing of the set’s decks:
The Reality Fracture deck highlights the interaction between suspend and storm. Manipulate the time stream just right, and you’ll set up a single, explosive, game-winning turn!
Time Spiral: Hope’s Crusaders Review (Part 1 of 2)
Late Summer, 1993.
After spending a little extra time in Burlington, one of my best mates- Pat- returns home on college break, and he’s got something new to show us. We’ve all been part of the same Dungeons and Dragons gaming group for years, and this new fantasy-themed collectible card game, “Magic: the Gathering,” is an instant hit. We sit on the floor for hours upon hours, casting Craw Wurms and Drudge Skeletons, hurling Fireballs and healing up with Streams of Life. Black Vises come down, and creatures get boosted with Blessing. As it happens, the mall’s gaming shop has a box of booster packs for sale, and soon we’re oohing-and-ahhing over exotic and dangerous additions like the Royal Assassin and Mana Short. Someone gets hit with a brutal Mind Twist, and we crowd around the card reading it over. True to form, we keep our new cards secret from each other, reveling in the look on our hapless opponent’s face as we play our nastiest surprises. There’s no collected list of every card- no Player’s Guide, no Gatherer- so the only limit to what’s in those booster packs is our imagination.
I quickly develop a taste for a hundred-card fortress-style Blue/White deck, which hides behind Circles of Protection and cards like Veteran Bodyguard and Karma, sending over a Phantom Monster or Air Elemental for damage. I’m absolutely hooked, and we spend countless hours playing and discussing the game. Arabian Nights, Antiquities, the impossible-to-find Legends… Those were wonderful days. After Legends I’d move away and abandon the game, but the memories would stay with me forever.
Indeed, the game had made such an impression that I would return before long with 1997’s Visions, retiring again in ’99 at the end of Urza Block. A decade later, looking for a new hobby that wasn’t so isolating as World of Warcraft, I dropped into my local gaming store and on a whim bought some Zendikar. The rest, as they say, is history.
New Phyrexia: Ravaging Swarm Review (Part 2 of 2)
Finally, we’ve arrived at the final game for New Phyrexia. We’ve seen a Phyrexian mana-based deck, a tribal Golem deck, a removal deck, and a skies/equipment deck all represent the block, at last it’s time for the infect/proliferate. Ever bold, Jimi selects the tribal deck- Artful Destruction– to serve as opposition, and after a few shuffles and a die roll, we’re off!
More MBtb: On Stoneforges and Event Decks
Although we’ll have today’s Part 2 of our Ravaging Swarm review up this evening, those wanting their fix of precon coverage before then will be happy to know there’s a bonus Magic Beyond the Box piece up on Quiet Speculation! In today’s article, I discuss the preorder experience for the upcoming Event Decks in the wake of the discovery that a pair of Stoneforge Mystic will be included in one of the decks. Come check it out!
New Phyrexia: Ravaging Swarm Review (Part 1 of 2)
In a sense, much of the entire block has lead up to this deck. Breaking custom by including two full-bore mechanics in a single construction, Ravaging Swarm is something of an endcap for all of Scars block. From the very beginning, infect and proliferate were designed to work in tandem to ensure the steady death of your enemy. Get some poison counters out there, then proliferate your way to victory. Of course, insofar as intro decks are concerned, it didn’t quite pan out that way.
From the initial set, Deadspread was designated as ‘the proliferate deck.’ Relatively weak on its own, it nevertheless hinted at the promise that was possible with the mechanic. Meanwhile, infect was highlighted in the somewhat pedestrian Phyrexian Poison. In keeping with what we knew of the Phyrexians at the time, both decks carried a Black component, while Deadspread paired with Blue and Phyrexian Poison with Green.
Things became a bit more of a muddle with Mirrodin Besieged. Infect took a straightforward if unusual path, dropping the Black and picking up White for Path of Blight. Meanwhile, proliferate was cobbled together with the new living weapon mechanic and baked into Doom Inevitable, a deck that more or less ‘splashed’ proliferate on only a trio of cards: Steady Progress, Contagion Clasp, and Spread the Sickness. Not exactly a shining moment of glory for the mechanic, sadly.
But like two star-crossed lovers who start at opposite ends of the ballroom and dance toward one another, the climactic moment of reunion is upon us. Infect and proliferate have had their time apart.
Now it’s time to see what they’re capable of together.
Ertai's Lament 