Hello everyone and welcome to the year of magic in review, this year has been quite a entertaining one with new products arising, tons of new tournaments as well as new faces to the game and heck even returning legends make a appearance back to magic every once in a while, so with that let's get started on the year in review in magic month by month.
January - With the beginning of a new season there is always tension when it comes to various things in magic, this new season began with a bang taking Extended for a ride in Atlanta, Georgia with the only set of Scars Block, Scars of Mirrodin legal at the time of the event, though it's not to say that Star City Games had it's share of excitement too with their 2011 invitational series underway a few weeks beforehand, Jason Ford took Atlanta by storm and won the whole event with a impressive record to beat Ben Stark 2-1 to take the finals with ease. We also learned a bit about Mirrodin Besieged during the spoiler season for the month with the respective factions of Mirran and Phyrexian having a different promo card for the first time in prerelease history, depending on whom you sided with the Mirrans got a sweet foil edition of Hero of Bladehold while Phyrexian players got a foil Glissa, the Traitor for taking root in the deep oil of the phyrexian menace, spoiler season was fun to say the least for this, we learned of the fact the set was split down the middle 50/50 for both sides with each side having different rares and such like Mirran Crusader and Phyrexian Crusader as well as the fact for the first time ever we had Faction Packs for the event of the prerelease for Mirrodin Besieged which was pretty cool to be honest, but back then there was still the menace of such cards like Lightning Bolt and such that delivered a lot of sweet decks in the game of magic..
February - During the month of february, we learned a lot of new things, for example we learned of the first introduction of Event Decks which were powerful preconstructed decks which could be used at a local FNM event since both decks were standard legal mind you, we also learned a old face from the Shards of Alara block came back in the form of Tezzert, Agent of Bolas which became the staple for Blue/Black short afterwards, as well as having tournaments out the wazoo, with Paris being first at the first ever Magic Weekend Paris, thanks to a rather uncouth year in the player of the year race, we had the first ever player of the year playoff bewteen the United States's Brad Nelson and France's Guillame Matingon for the title of player of the year as well as the typical stage of pro tour paris to go along with it, but thanks to a little cunning from brad nelson we had our 2010 player of the year wrapped up along with the usual winner of the event which was Ben Stark, along with a whole slew of other events during the month the first real competitive month of magic came to a head, ending the month of february in a neat fashion.
March - It was during this time magic had come to a turning point, we had just learned the third set of scars's block was going to be called Action with 2 cards officially spoiled for the set, however it was a slow month for magic as a tournament game, with only one grand prix to speak of during the month of March, which took place in Barcelona and was won by Martin Schenin late in the month of march, magic had also taken a turning point with the recent rise of a certain deck called Caw-Blade which was winning tournaments left right and center, Magic R&D however had announced a quarterly change during the month of march which affected the format of Two Headed Giant and how poison counters worked, it changed from being 10 counters to 15. We were also in the midst of Mirrodin Besieged War league's across the world which would determine the fate of the third and final set which saw the phyrexians winning at every turn to take the lead and would they dominate the world of mirrodin or fail in their quest.
April - This was one of the worst months in recent history for the game, since the leak incident happened during the last 2 weeks of the month, as well as the fact we learned that the 3rd set was going to be called New Phyrexia, worst of all the leaks were caused by a world champion and his friends causing them to get banned from the game for a while, we won't be seeing them for a while yet since the bannings for 2 of the culprits do not end for a year and the remaining two are banned for 3 years, you should not have done that, that's for sure. With the entire set of New Phyrexia basically spoiled it meant for the first time in spoiler history we knew the set inside and out 3 weeks in advance. March/April however brought us a new product in magic for it's Duel Deck series in the form of Knights vs Dragons which had a few good cards for it but not that many, i did however like the new alternate art Knight of the Reliquary that's for sure. Along with new products came new tournaments with Dallas/Fort Worth Texas seeing a standard tournament where it was perfectly legal to play Caw-Blade and Kobe, Japan seeing a extended round of events this time around, as well as Grand Prix London which leaked into the first day of May and that saw us a Scars of Mirrodin/Mirrodin Besieged Booster draft for the last event of the month of April.
May - With the month of may we saw the release of New Phyrexia which hit store shelves on the 13th of May, as well as the fact we had a few things rise and fall in terms of popularity, Infect was becoming more of a dominant threat in magic with the fact the scars block had been completed and the fact we had ourselves another Scars of Mirrodin/Mirrodin Besieged Sealed/Booster draft in Prague, then we moved from Prague to Providence, Rhode Island for the 1st of 2 Legacy events of the season, this really gave us a idea of what to expect from scars block to be popular this season and it showed why Dismember was really high valued even in Legacy of all places, however may didn't have much else in terms of interest for magic, for we moved into the first of 3 months of summer for magic in June.
June - Where to start, with Magic Weekend Nagoya arriving in the first 2 weeks of the month we were treated to a awesome Scars Block Constructed event and Scars draft which pretty much showed why Tempered Steel was still a beast of a deck which dominated scars block constructed the entire weekend, but that wasn't the only big thing happening in June, with June there was a new multiplayer product, or rather a endorsement of a already existing format called Elder Dragon Highlander or EDH, but now there was 5 pre constructed decks for the format with 51 new cards for the thing as well, i know i picked one or two of these up for kicks since EDH is now my favorite of all formats to talk about i dunno about you folks.
July - July gave us another usual core set shenigans again this time with the new arrival of 3 new walkers and 2 old returning friends, Sorin Markov and Gideon Jura whom were replacing Ajani and Lillana respectively for this particular edition, as always though the new walkers are pretty impressive since we got a few new cards for the set in terms of cards named after the walkers including the true fashion of each and every one of the colors, Game Day for this particular core set was decent since we have 2 event decks at this point in time for each set coming out, with the arrival of the core set however also brought another 2 event decks to the table, Illusions and Vampires which were both perfectly legal at the time they showed up, which isn't a surprise to me at all.
August - August is what i like to call spoilers month in magic, it usually brings a new from the vault, this time from the vault: legends arrived on store shelves in late august, we got a sneak peek at innistrad at PAX thanks to the magic conference there as per usual, along with Gen Con we got our fair share of magic during the month of august, but this also gave rise to the spoiler season for Innistrad believe it or not since we learned a few of the cards in the set at this point in time.
September - Not only do i love september as a whole, but i also love the fact it's always a spoiler season month, espically since the fall prerelease falls right around my birthday every year, sweet present to myself if you ask me. Innistrad arrived on store shelves and so did Ajani vs Nicol Bolas which was the latest duel deck in the series of awesome, but it did turn out it kinda tanked honestly, though Innistrad was a new thing with all those sweet horror tropes hitting the scene with vampires, werewolves, spirits and even humans being present in the set, along with sweet new mythic rares.
October - Usually when a fall set becomes legal for events i tend to cringe, but Innistrad was a decent set to draft honestly with cool stuff like Geist of Saint Traft and Olivia Voldaren in the set as a whole it turned out to be a nice change of pace since we all got mythics based around specific colors or tribes of creatures all except for werewolves whom got the shaft but got Garruk, the Veil Cursed/Garruk Relentless the first ever dual faced walker in magic's history which was neat. Game day for this was also kinda nice with two new event decks being present for the 4th time this year, a B/U/G style deck and a White Weenie beatdown deck being constructed for the events in question, as well as any shenigans a player can think of.
November - With november it was time for the final wizards held events of the year, a few GP's and Worlds later the japanese came out on top for the final pro tour worlds event in magic's history, congrats to them for winning it all when it counted, we got us some sweet new standard and modern style decks for the event, as well as a few other things, but with november means the holiday season is upon us and magic has a life of it's own with the holiday season.
December - The final month of magic came and went with a scandal or two, the infamous Star City Games Invitational scandal which saw the winner of the event Alex Bertocinni banned from the DCI and his prizes revoked as well with the titles going to Gerry T and Adam Prozak for player of the year and invitational winner, nice work SCG you earned a bit of respect in my eyes for doing this. The Quarterly bannings also happend with Wild Nacatl and Punishing Fire getting the ban hammer from modern as well giving zoo one less option and the Fire/Grove combo is killed off thanks to the bannings, nothing else was banned either which is a surprise honestly. We also got a sneak peek at Dark Ascension and the new Multiplayer product Planechase 2012 which comes out in June, a super fun idea to bring back which is nice to see honestly, i cannot wait to see Planechase next year.
Anyways that's it for the yearly wrap up, if i missed anything important, lemme know in the comments below, other then that Happy New Year and see you all in 2012, this is vergil signing off.
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Banned and Restricted List Update: December 20th, 2011
It's that time again, hello everyone and welcome to this special edition of the emporium, yes it's the quarterly bannings and unbannings period in magic, this particular edition we have 2 cards to talk about being banned which are Punishing Fire and Wild Nacatl believe it or not, so let's get down to the bannings as a whole
In all the other formats today nothing got banned believe it or not, Standard hardly needs a ban enforced, Legacy just had one, Vintage well it's up in the air as far as i am aware, Modern is a whole different story wizards is basically just saying ban 1 card from a good deck now, and those two are the two affore mentioned cards stated above. Let's see the reason why Nacatl is banned first off, so as stated in this article ---> B&R List Explanation nacatl is banned due to the fact it's just a really good creature that blocks and attacks well as well it is a component of Zoo which is pretty dominant so banning this card actually gives Zoo a lot less options in terms of anything, i don't see why this should have been banned honestly but it's Wizard's call on this one.
Punishing Fire however i understand got banned for a specific reason since it was part of a combo with Grove of the Burnwillows but this combination of cards as stated is a "Very slow and reliable win condition" as well as being "Devastating to creature decks that rely on 2 toughness creatures". In all honesty this should have been banned prior to this announcement, here's when this changes kick in for tournament magic.
Announcement Date: December 20th, 2011
Effective Date: January 1st, 2012
Magic Online Effective Date: December 21st, 2011
So for you magic online players this is your last chance to play those cards in modern, before you see the ban hammer for them, for the full statistics go to the following link --> B&R List Announcement
But for now this is vergil saying, adios for 2011 in terms of magic updates, see you at the year end wrap up on December 31st 2011 and remember have fun playing magic it's only a game, this is vergil signing off.
In all the other formats today nothing got banned believe it or not, Standard hardly needs a ban enforced, Legacy just had one, Vintage well it's up in the air as far as i am aware, Modern is a whole different story wizards is basically just saying ban 1 card from a good deck now, and those two are the two affore mentioned cards stated above. Let's see the reason why Nacatl is banned first off, so as stated in this article ---> B&R List Explanation nacatl is banned due to the fact it's just a really good creature that blocks and attacks well as well it is a component of Zoo which is pretty dominant so banning this card actually gives Zoo a lot less options in terms of anything, i don't see why this should have been banned honestly but it's Wizard's call on this one.
Punishing Fire however i understand got banned for a specific reason since it was part of a combo with Grove of the Burnwillows but this combination of cards as stated is a "Very slow and reliable win condition" as well as being "Devastating to creature decks that rely on 2 toughness creatures". In all honesty this should have been banned prior to this announcement, here's when this changes kick in for tournament magic.
Announcement Date: December 20th, 2011
Effective Date: January 1st, 2012
Magic Online Effective Date: December 21st, 2011
So for you magic online players this is your last chance to play those cards in modern, before you see the ban hammer for them, for the full statistics go to the following link --> B&R List Announcement
But for now this is vergil saying, adios for 2011 in terms of magic updates, see you at the year end wrap up on December 31st 2011 and remember have fun playing magic it's only a game, this is vergil signing off.
Monday, December 19, 2011
Magic the Gathering News: Vol 13, Avacyn Restored, GP Promos, Magic Comics and More
Hello everyone and welcome to this edition of the emporium, in this edition we will look at the latest Grand Prix Promotion Card, some news on the next installment of the Magic Comic Book series due to hit store shelves soon, as well as the news on Avacyn Restored's big secret and SCG's big Invitational Scandal, so let's get going.
First on the chopping block for this month's news is the recent suspension of Invitational Winner Alex Bertonici whom was caught cheating several times on camera during this year's invite run, now this lead the DCI to suspend him for a full 18 months, but he's not going to be playing magic since his twitter account @amentalmisstep basically stated he's no longer playing period after this year's invitational. However it also means he's basically also been stripped of his prize winnings and the power nine he received for winning the second invitational in a row, grats to you star city for making the proper decision in this closed matter.
For next year's Grand Prix's you will end up receiving a sweet promotion card, much like Malestrom Pulse was for this year, next year's big card of choice is a old zendikar favorite in the form of Goblin Guide which has yet to be made a promotion card in any sense, it suits the current Grand Prix choice however with Mono Red being dominant in standard these days or so i would think, let's take a look at the promotion card.
Wow that is one heck of a good promotion card, if you read Brian David Marshall's the Week that was last week you would have already seen this particular card, not a bad promo card for those who are going to the GP's next year, but onto other news.
Magic's 4th edition of the magic comic book starring the mysterious Dack Fayden is scheduled to launch sometime next year with this edition being shrouded in mystery, let's see the pretense for this edition of the comic.
So he finds the mage whom slaughtered his home village, but will he fail prey to the same spell which is draining hundred's of life forces, we will see, for the full news on this see the link below
Info on Comic ---> Magic Comic #4
Last but most certainly not least is the information on Avacyn Restored we've all been wanting to know is it going to have Double Faced Cards like Dark Ascension and Innistrad, the answer is no thanks to the following tweet on Mark Rosewater's official twitter account.
@maro254: I've gotten a lot of people inquiring, so let me set the record straight #mtgdka will have some cool new DFC's, #MTGAVR will have none
Yes another inciteful piece of information from one Mark Rosewater, we basically know DFC's are a judging nightmare and one of the many reasons why i didn't attend Innistrad Prereleases or Release Event's considering the rules for them were only issued a few days prior to the prerelease and no one is quite clear on what Opaque sleeves are in my area at least, anyways that's it for this edition, i guess you can consider the December Wrap Up for 2011, so until next time this is vergil signing off.
First on the chopping block for this month's news is the recent suspension of Invitational Winner Alex Bertonici whom was caught cheating several times on camera during this year's invite run, now this lead the DCI to suspend him for a full 18 months, but he's not going to be playing magic since his twitter account @amentalmisstep basically stated he's no longer playing period after this year's invitational. However it also means he's basically also been stripped of his prize winnings and the power nine he received for winning the second invitational in a row, grats to you star city for making the proper decision in this closed matter.
For next year's Grand Prix's you will end up receiving a sweet promotion card, much like Malestrom Pulse was for this year, next year's big card of choice is a old zendikar favorite in the form of Goblin Guide which has yet to be made a promotion card in any sense, it suits the current Grand Prix choice however with Mono Red being dominant in standard these days or so i would think, let's take a look at the promotion card.
Wow that is one heck of a good promotion card, if you read Brian David Marshall's the Week that was last week you would have already seen this particular card, not a bad promo card for those who are going to the GP's next year, but onto other news.
Magic's 4th edition of the magic comic book starring the mysterious Dack Fayden is scheduled to launch sometime next year with this edition being shrouded in mystery, let's see the pretense for this edition of the comic.
So he finds the mage whom slaughtered his home village, but will he fail prey to the same spell which is draining hundred's of life forces, we will see, for the full news on this see the link below
Info on Comic ---> Magic Comic #4
Last but most certainly not least is the information on Avacyn Restored we've all been wanting to know is it going to have Double Faced Cards like Dark Ascension and Innistrad, the answer is no thanks to the following tweet on Mark Rosewater's official twitter account.
@maro254: I've gotten a lot of people inquiring, so let me set the record straight #mtgdka will have some cool new DFC's, #MTGAVR will have none
Yes another inciteful piece of information from one Mark Rosewater, we basically know DFC's are a judging nightmare and one of the many reasons why i didn't attend Innistrad Prereleases or Release Event's considering the rules for them were only issued a few days prior to the prerelease and no one is quite clear on what Opaque sleeves are in my area at least, anyways that's it for this edition, i guess you can consider the December Wrap Up for 2011, so until next time this is vergil signing off.
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Arcana Announcement: "Roll" is known as Avacyn Restored
Yes hello everyone and welcome to this edition of the emporium, today's edition covers the announcement of the 3rd set of Innistrad block being called "Avacyn Restored" which is quite a large set, so let's take a look at the details for the set first.
Set Size: 244 Cards
Yes you read that correctly it is a large set compared to New Phyrexia last time around with it matching the first sets of the new blocks usually by a single card which isn't that bad, it also beats out Rise of the Eldrazi by 11 cards as a large third set of choice, since rise ended up being 233 cards total so i cannot wait to see how this one influences the next while.
Prerelease Events: April 28th and 29th, 2012
Release Events: May 4th, 5th and 6th, 2012
Release Date: May 4th, 2012
Magic Game Day Dates: May 25th and 26th, 2012
Pro Tour Date: May 11th, 12th and 13th, 2012 at Pro Tour Barcelona
So we know the release date is about the same time as a usual third set, somewhere in the first week of may as well as the fact the game day for this set is being held on the last official weekend of May meaning it will be a pretty busy year starting next year with Dark Ascension in like a month and a half, this coming out in May and Planechase 2012 coming out just a week or two after the game day for the event.
There is a piece of art which goes along with this, let's take a look at it.
Wow, if that's not a cool art i don't know what is, for full details of the set and the designers behind it as well as the set symbol check the following arcana listed below
3rd set announcement ---> Avacyn Restored Arcana
Well that's about it for this edition of the emporium, since i'm out of things to talk about again, this is vergil signing off.
Set Size: 244 Cards
Yes you read that correctly it is a large set compared to New Phyrexia last time around with it matching the first sets of the new blocks usually by a single card which isn't that bad, it also beats out Rise of the Eldrazi by 11 cards as a large third set of choice, since rise ended up being 233 cards total so i cannot wait to see how this one influences the next while.
Prerelease Events: April 28th and 29th, 2012
Release Events: May 4th, 5th and 6th, 2012
Release Date: May 4th, 2012
Magic Game Day Dates: May 25th and 26th, 2012
Pro Tour Date: May 11th, 12th and 13th, 2012 at Pro Tour Barcelona
So we know the release date is about the same time as a usual third set, somewhere in the first week of may as well as the fact the game day for this set is being held on the last official weekend of May meaning it will be a pretty busy year starting next year with Dark Ascension in like a month and a half, this coming out in May and Planechase 2012 coming out just a week or two after the game day for the event.
There is a piece of art which goes along with this, let's take a look at it.
Wow, if that's not a cool art i don't know what is, for full details of the set and the designers behind it as well as the set symbol check the following arcana listed below
3rd set announcement ---> Avacyn Restored Arcana
Well that's about it for this edition of the emporium, since i'm out of things to talk about again, this is vergil signing off.
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Grand Prix/Pro Tour Update: April to August 2012
Hello everyone and welcome to this special edition of the emporium where today i will discuss the recent announcement for the additions of pro magic from April 2012 to August 2012 where i will go over each event as it was announced by wizards of the coast here ---> Tournament Announcement so let's begin.
So the second of 3 pro tours next year will take place in Barcelona, which hasn't really been there since 2001 in pro tour form anyways, Grand Prix's have been there though plenty of times prior to this announcement with one held there this year in march, so it's nice to see a place like this represented, also a reminder thanks to the new system the winner of Pro Tour Barcelona will automatically get a invitation to worlds in Gen Con next year, so good luck to them for attempting to make it next year.
Grand Prix's are also represented with additions representing various locales next year, for people in canada you'll be pleased to know the first event here is in Vancouver June 23rd and 24th, 2012, more american events have been added though in the forms of Grand Prix's at locations such as Minneapolis, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Columbus and Boston for the american events for those particular months with each event varying in date of course, check the listing for the date necessary for the event, for the rest of the world however we know now that locations such as Manchester, Yokohama and Sao Paulo are going to be for the GP's for the year, again for event details check the link at the top of the article, so for sure i know we will see some interesting play next year, provided there is a lot of outcome thanks to the new rules and how to qualify, but good news if you win a Grand Prix you get a pro tour invite thanks to the article above explaining it, so no more discouragement from you GP players ok. Anyways that's about it for today, i figured i'd bring the information to roost for the updated schedule, till next time this is vergil signing off
So the second of 3 pro tours next year will take place in Barcelona, which hasn't really been there since 2001 in pro tour form anyways, Grand Prix's have been there though plenty of times prior to this announcement with one held there this year in march, so it's nice to see a place like this represented, also a reminder thanks to the new system the winner of Pro Tour Barcelona will automatically get a invitation to worlds in Gen Con next year, so good luck to them for attempting to make it next year.
Grand Prix's are also represented with additions representing various locales next year, for people in canada you'll be pleased to know the first event here is in Vancouver June 23rd and 24th, 2012, more american events have been added though in the forms of Grand Prix's at locations such as Minneapolis, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Columbus and Boston for the american events for those particular months with each event varying in date of course, check the listing for the date necessary for the event, for the rest of the world however we know now that locations such as Manchester, Yokohama and Sao Paulo are going to be for the GP's for the year, again for event details check the link at the top of the article, so for sure i know we will see some interesting play next year, provided there is a lot of outcome thanks to the new rules and how to qualify, but good news if you win a Grand Prix you get a pro tour invite thanks to the article above explaining it, so no more discouragement from you GP players ok. Anyways that's about it for today, i figured i'd bring the information to roost for the updated schedule, till next time this is vergil signing off
Thursday, December 1, 2011
December 2011 FNM Card - Savage Lands
Hello everyone and welcome to another edition of the Emporium, today we look at the latest Friday Night Magic promotion card to be fully revealed and it is none other then Savage Lands, which is the Alara block tri land for Black/Red/Green so without further ado let's see the FNM card of choice for the month of December.
Yes that is the FNM card for the month of December and will be the last for 2011, remember folks if your playing FNM this week this is the going to be the first week with this up for grabs, so keep that in mind whether you Draft, Play standard or do some other ridiculous event like Winston Draft or something of that nature, this card of choice is not legal for standard at all anymore but when it was in Standard it was a powerful card for a land, since it helped Jund to victory so many times when Jund was a dominant force in the game of magic, however that is all for today since i wanted to bring this to your attention, this is vergil signing off.
Yes that is the FNM card for the month of December and will be the last for 2011, remember folks if your playing FNM this week this is the going to be the first week with this up for grabs, so keep that in mind whether you Draft, Play standard or do some other ridiculous event like Winston Draft or something of that nature, this card of choice is not legal for standard at all anymore but when it was in Standard it was a powerful card for a land, since it helped Jund to victory so many times when Jund was a dominant force in the game of magic, however that is all for today since i wanted to bring this to your attention, this is vergil signing off.
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Magic Holiday Promotion Card - Yule Ooze
Hello all and welcome to this special edition of the emporium today's edition sees the return of the Holiday Magic Card tradition, with the latest holiday card being revealed known as Yule Ooze, wanna see the card itself let's see it here.
It's the ooze that keeps on receiving if i may say so, now your probably wondering how you get this well there's Ebay, but prices for these holiday promos are a little steep at around 50 bucks these days, there's being a member of wizards's of the coast's staff which is perhaps the easiest way to get this and of course there's being a business partner to wizards of the coast as well, i am neither so i won't be getting my hands on this promo anytime soon and Ebay forget it, as per tradition this card basically represents one of the things of the holiday season, this edition we see a ooze eating up a christmas feast which was supposed to be only Jello, kinda funny if you ask me, with each year since 2006 we've seen different holiday cards let's go back a bit and start with the history of these holiday cards.
2006 came around and it was basically the first year of this big holiday card theme, the first of which was a fruitcake themed card named Fruitcake Elemental
This particular card was created in the one of the traditions of the holidays which was fruitcakes which are not that great honestly, this one kinda depicted a fruitcake going rogue and merging with a elemental to turn into the giant hulking mass seen before you, 2007 was a really funny take on a Kamigawa card called Gifts Given which took the alternate persona of Gifts Ungiven
When this card was thought up i kinda laughed a little and found it quite nice, since Gifts Ungiven was one of my favorite Kamigawa block cards, besides the obvious Umezawa's Jitte and Sensei's Divining Top it was nice to see this put into the holiday theme and given a new persona basically when it comes to alternate holiday cards, 2008 however saw a card no one expected in the form of Evil Presents which was literally depicting presents coming to life and attacking, such is the way with black cards.
Not a decent choice of card, but funny all the same, 2009 gave us a funny little take on a family tradition, with the usual season's greetings, instead we got Season's Beatings this was probably the most humored card of the current holiday tradition, depiciting a goblin standing outside a home with a bag in hand, wondering if he was allowed in, a very nice and funny take on a old tradition.
This was itself perhaps the best current holiday card, 2010 however took a whole new turn, with a new decade came another tradition in the form of Snow Mercy
This was a snow globe that gave us no mercy espically with the wording "Shake Gently, Contents may cause choking, hypothermia, and/or planar invasion" which kinda seemed dumb at first but it was all that worth it, but that's pretty much the most recent holiday cards printed so far, what awaits in the next holiday card who knows, but with a friendly greeting the emporium wishes you a safe and happy holidays in advance, this is vergil signing off, have a good one.
It's the ooze that keeps on receiving if i may say so, now your probably wondering how you get this well there's Ebay, but prices for these holiday promos are a little steep at around 50 bucks these days, there's being a member of wizards's of the coast's staff which is perhaps the easiest way to get this and of course there's being a business partner to wizards of the coast as well, i am neither so i won't be getting my hands on this promo anytime soon and Ebay forget it, as per tradition this card basically represents one of the things of the holiday season, this edition we see a ooze eating up a christmas feast which was supposed to be only Jello, kinda funny if you ask me, with each year since 2006 we've seen different holiday cards let's go back a bit and start with the history of these holiday cards.
2006 came around and it was basically the first year of this big holiday card theme, the first of which was a fruitcake themed card named Fruitcake Elemental
This particular card was created in the one of the traditions of the holidays which was fruitcakes which are not that great honestly, this one kinda depicted a fruitcake going rogue and merging with a elemental to turn into the giant hulking mass seen before you, 2007 was a really funny take on a Kamigawa card called Gifts Given which took the alternate persona of Gifts Ungiven
When this card was thought up i kinda laughed a little and found it quite nice, since Gifts Ungiven was one of my favorite Kamigawa block cards, besides the obvious Umezawa's Jitte and Sensei's Divining Top it was nice to see this put into the holiday theme and given a new persona basically when it comes to alternate holiday cards, 2008 however saw a card no one expected in the form of Evil Presents which was literally depicting presents coming to life and attacking, such is the way with black cards.
Not a decent choice of card, but funny all the same, 2009 gave us a funny little take on a family tradition, with the usual season's greetings, instead we got Season's Beatings this was probably the most humored card of the current holiday tradition, depiciting a goblin standing outside a home with a bag in hand, wondering if he was allowed in, a very nice and funny take on a old tradition.
This was itself perhaps the best current holiday card, 2010 however took a whole new turn, with a new decade came another tradition in the form of Snow Mercy
This was a snow globe that gave us no mercy espically with the wording "Shake Gently, Contents may cause choking, hypothermia, and/or planar invasion" which kinda seemed dumb at first but it was all that worth it, but that's pretty much the most recent holiday cards printed so far, what awaits in the next holiday card who knows, but with a friendly greeting the emporium wishes you a safe and happy holidays in advance, this is vergil signing off, have a good one.
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Magic the Gathering News: Vol 12, French Suspension [Again]. Worlds Overview, Player of the Year Race and much more
Hello everyone and welcome to the 12th edition of the monthly wrap up of magic news this month's news covers a few big things, Premium Deck Series Graveborn is finally out and available for the general public, another french suspension, worlds information and top 8, as well as the player of the year race effectively ending at worlds 2011, some big changes to how organized play is now done and so much more, so let's go.
Premium Deck Series: Graveborn has arrived on store shelves this month and it's quite a package as i've spoiled in this article ---> Graveborn List and is available for around 40-50 dollars roughly depending on the local game store you go to, expect this to go quick however as it's a highly demanded product, onto some more important news though.
Another french player has been given a ban and his name is Lucas Florent, he got a lifetime ban for the following comment "I made a joke on the french forum, i said i was going to rape helene bergeot at worlds, after the announcent, i personally know helene and i sait right after it that i was gonna have a talk with her about the meaning of the announcments, and know i receive this." so this makes him the 3rd major french player banned this year for something that wizards didn't like, the first 2 were for the incident with the whole godbook of new phyrexia which was spoiled almost a month early, his lifetime ban basically negates him from ever attending any more Wizards Play Network events ever even little store events like prereleases, have a nice life Lucas, it's gonna be a boring one since your banned and all.
Worlds 2011 happened earlier this month and was in the nest egg of san francisco which was basically the last time we will see a worlds event in any place other then indiapolis since that is where worlds is being held next year effectively, we had a heap of a worlds this year with both the team and individual events happening but there could only be one really whom dominated this year, congratulations to Junya Iyanaga for winning the 2011 world championships, Team Japan for winning the team competition and of course Rookie of the Year going to Matthias Hunt
Organized Play in magic is perhaps the single biggest thing for magic today, with hundreds if not thousands of players going to gun at the next big Grand Prix or perhaps even attempting the pro tour, but as of this month wizards has done a few things i'm not particularly proud of, the first of the new changes was the ending of 16 long years of history by killing off the pro tour event that made worlds what it is but as of this month it's all dead guy ale basically and this means starting next year we can expect to see a Invitational Like event for worlds where the top 16 will battle it out at Gen-Con to become the best of the best, but the question is how do you get there to be fighting for the title of being the best magic player, let's take a look at the 5 ways you'll get to do so.
1) Win a Pro Tour - yes to basically get into this major event you gotta show off and be the best you can be, one of those spots is already taken thanks to Samuel Estrattie whom won the first Modern PT earlier this year, 2 more of those spots however have yet to be decided as of this point.
2) Be the World Champion - It wouldn't be fair to the defending champ if he/she didn't get to defend the title they worked for would it, no it would so be unfair to them and believe me wizards took considerations into this change for organized play.
3) Qualify via Your Geo Region - Your geo region is your continent basically, taking the planeswalker point system into account and determining via that who has the best PWP for the continent, this hurts smaller countries but doesn't really affect bigger countries, but magic countries like the United States will have very few particpants as of now in this big time event.
4) Win the Magic Online Title - Yes this spot is always decided somehow near the end of the year and whomever wins the event at Worlds usually ends up getting a shot to go to the next one, this year's defending MTGO champ will have his chance to fight for the world title next year, good on you wizards.
5) Professional Planeswalker Point Total - All that grinding you fine folks did earlier before this event basically is taken into account, the remaining slots which is who knows who many will be decided via the highest totals among all active players today, so this still gives those whom didn't win a Pro Tour a shot or didn't get in via Geo-Region a shot in the dark basically.
This change also affects how the National Championships are done, it basically means that nationals as we know it are no longer going to be feeding into worlds and those whom win their national title will get a substantial amount of Planeswalker Points plus the cash for winning the event as per usual, but the chance to go to worlds ended as of this year's big event, sorry all you folks whom were looking to go to nationals to win a shot to go to worlds this next year. During the process of this change it also means the end of the current Pro Players club system which pro players use to pay for their expenses and stuff at the events they attend, though it ends as of this current year, it means that all the events they were eligible for will still be able to be attended but 2013 is a whole new ball game with no idea what comes next in terms of this major change.
With the Player of the year this year it came down to worlds and how it all ended for the season, but i am pleased to say congratulations to the 2011 player of the year Owen Turtenwald of channel fireball for winning the title for the last year, good work dude.
In other news most recently a new promotion card has surfaced in the form of a card called Faithless Looting which is a new promotion card that is being featured in the 2nd edition of the Magic the Gathering comic starring a new face named Dack Fayden, here's the image for the card promo.
It's confirmed to be in the new set Dark Ascension which hits store shelves as of Feburary next year, this does beat a lot of the current red cards of choice, but since the promo versions are always rares it will have a different which we know this to be a common from the set thanks to this arcana Faithless Looting and it will have new art besides this of course, expect it to be a interesting set then with Flashback on a Careful Study
Last but most certainly not least it's time to take a look at something i feel is important for all you Friday Night Magic Players, the last FNM card of the year, which is going to be Savage Lands yes the alara block tri land that was the Red/Black/Green tri land of choice and i will be sure to post the necessary information picture in the next edition of the emporium which will follow this, so stay tuned, but for now this is all i have for the month of November, thank you for reading and i will see you at the Year End wrap up for Magic for the year of 2011 in December, this is vergil signing off.
Premium Deck Series: Graveborn has arrived on store shelves this month and it's quite a package as i've spoiled in this article ---> Graveborn List and is available for around 40-50 dollars roughly depending on the local game store you go to, expect this to go quick however as it's a highly demanded product, onto some more important news though.
Another french player has been given a ban and his name is Lucas Florent, he got a lifetime ban for the following comment "I made a joke on the french forum, i said i was going to rape helene bergeot at worlds, after the announcent, i personally know helene and i sait right after it that i was gonna have a talk with her about the meaning of the announcments, and know i receive this." so this makes him the 3rd major french player banned this year for something that wizards didn't like, the first 2 were for the incident with the whole godbook of new phyrexia which was spoiled almost a month early, his lifetime ban basically negates him from ever attending any more Wizards Play Network events ever even little store events like prereleases, have a nice life Lucas, it's gonna be a boring one since your banned and all.
Worlds 2011 happened earlier this month and was in the nest egg of san francisco which was basically the last time we will see a worlds event in any place other then indiapolis since that is where worlds is being held next year effectively, we had a heap of a worlds this year with both the team and individual events happening but there could only be one really whom dominated this year, congratulations to Junya Iyanaga for winning the 2011 world championships, Team Japan for winning the team competition and of course Rookie of the Year going to Matthias Hunt
Organized Play in magic is perhaps the single biggest thing for magic today, with hundreds if not thousands of players going to gun at the next big Grand Prix or perhaps even attempting the pro tour, but as of this month wizards has done a few things i'm not particularly proud of, the first of the new changes was the ending of 16 long years of history by killing off the pro tour event that made worlds what it is but as of this month it's all dead guy ale basically and this means starting next year we can expect to see a Invitational Like event for worlds where the top 16 will battle it out at Gen-Con to become the best of the best, but the question is how do you get there to be fighting for the title of being the best magic player, let's take a look at the 5 ways you'll get to do so.
1) Win a Pro Tour - yes to basically get into this major event you gotta show off and be the best you can be, one of those spots is already taken thanks to Samuel Estrattie whom won the first Modern PT earlier this year, 2 more of those spots however have yet to be decided as of this point.
2) Be the World Champion - It wouldn't be fair to the defending champ if he/she didn't get to defend the title they worked for would it, no it would so be unfair to them and believe me wizards took considerations into this change for organized play.
3) Qualify via Your Geo Region - Your geo region is your continent basically, taking the planeswalker point system into account and determining via that who has the best PWP for the continent, this hurts smaller countries but doesn't really affect bigger countries, but magic countries like the United States will have very few particpants as of now in this big time event.
4) Win the Magic Online Title - Yes this spot is always decided somehow near the end of the year and whomever wins the event at Worlds usually ends up getting a shot to go to the next one, this year's defending MTGO champ will have his chance to fight for the world title next year, good on you wizards.
5) Professional Planeswalker Point Total - All that grinding you fine folks did earlier before this event basically is taken into account, the remaining slots which is who knows who many will be decided via the highest totals among all active players today, so this still gives those whom didn't win a Pro Tour a shot or didn't get in via Geo-Region a shot in the dark basically.
This change also affects how the National Championships are done, it basically means that nationals as we know it are no longer going to be feeding into worlds and those whom win their national title will get a substantial amount of Planeswalker Points plus the cash for winning the event as per usual, but the chance to go to worlds ended as of this year's big event, sorry all you folks whom were looking to go to nationals to win a shot to go to worlds this next year. During the process of this change it also means the end of the current Pro Players club system which pro players use to pay for their expenses and stuff at the events they attend, though it ends as of this current year, it means that all the events they were eligible for will still be able to be attended but 2013 is a whole new ball game with no idea what comes next in terms of this major change.
With the Player of the year this year it came down to worlds and how it all ended for the season, but i am pleased to say congratulations to the 2011 player of the year Owen Turtenwald of channel fireball for winning the title for the last year, good work dude.
In other news most recently a new promotion card has surfaced in the form of a card called Faithless Looting which is a new promotion card that is being featured in the 2nd edition of the Magic the Gathering comic starring a new face named Dack Fayden, here's the image for the card promo.
It's confirmed to be in the new set Dark Ascension which hits store shelves as of Feburary next year, this does beat a lot of the current red cards of choice, but since the promo versions are always rares it will have a different which we know this to be a common from the set thanks to this arcana Faithless Looting and it will have new art besides this of course, expect it to be a interesting set then with Flashback on a Careful Study
Last but most certainly not least it's time to take a look at something i feel is important for all you Friday Night Magic Players, the last FNM card of the year, which is going to be Savage Lands yes the alara block tri land that was the Red/Black/Green tri land of choice and i will be sure to post the necessary information picture in the next edition of the emporium which will follow this, so stay tuned, but for now this is all i have for the month of November, thank you for reading and i will see you at the Year End wrap up for Magic for the year of 2011 in December, this is vergil signing off.
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Arcana Announcement: Planechase 2012
Hello everyone and welcome to this special edition of the emporium, today's edition covers the announcement of the newest multiplayer format which will hit store shelves in June of 2012, that is Planechase 2012 effectively. For the purpose of the article i will be talking a little about the previous edition of this multiplayer game and featuring all the new information we have on it, so let's get started.
Planechase is a multiplayer game where 1 deck of oversized cards is placed in the center, then the first player in the game flips over the top oversized card, which grants specific effects in game, along with various field bonuses towards all or one player depending on the card flipped over, each turn a player may roll a Planar Die which has two symbols, a chaos symbol which represents the card's chaos effect and a planeswalker symbol which sends you from one planar card to the next. When the game was introduced in the middle of 2009, i was just a young punk back then who didn't know what multiplayer was essentially, however with this new Planechase coming out, it's sure to be different.
In this edition of Planechase we are going to have 32 new planes to venture onto, 8 different Phenomenon effects and 21 new magic cards introduced with this format, like this guy for example
Maelstrom Wanderer is a legendary creature introduced with this format, wait what's that i see do i see haste for all creatures you control, but that's not all, a 7/5 double cascade dude, wait what not a single cascade as introduced on let's say a Bloodbraid Elf or Bituminous Blast but two cascades for the price of one, he's also listed a mythic rare with a casting cost of 5, a blue, a red and a green mana so essentially he's a enemy color legend introduced solely for this format, impressive wouldn't you agree. Now moving on from creatures we have ourselves the first new planar card to show off as well by the name of Time Distortion
This particular card is the first Phenomenon introduced to us via the latest arcana announcement, it basically makes the game go in reverse order any time this is flipped, so if you were playing clockwise, you'd go counter clockwise and so forth. This is a weird card but good nonetheless, now let's move onto the details of this particular multiplayer format and when it hits store shelves.
Release Date: June 1st, 2012
MSRP: 19.99 US
Planechase is a multiplayer game where 1 deck of oversized cards is placed in the center, then the first player in the game flips over the top oversized card, which grants specific effects in game, along with various field bonuses towards all or one player depending on the card flipped over, each turn a player may roll a Planar Die which has two symbols, a chaos symbol which represents the card's chaos effect and a planeswalker symbol which sends you from one planar card to the next. When the game was introduced in the middle of 2009, i was just a young punk back then who didn't know what multiplayer was essentially, however with this new Planechase coming out, it's sure to be different.
In this edition of Planechase we are going to have 32 new planes to venture onto, 8 different Phenomenon effects and 21 new magic cards introduced with this format, like this guy for example
Maelstrom Wanderer is a legendary creature introduced with this format, wait what's that i see do i see haste for all creatures you control, but that's not all, a 7/5 double cascade dude, wait what not a single cascade as introduced on let's say a Bloodbraid Elf or Bituminous Blast but two cascades for the price of one, he's also listed a mythic rare with a casting cost of 5, a blue, a red and a green mana so essentially he's a enemy color legend introduced solely for this format, impressive wouldn't you agree. Now moving on from creatures we have ourselves the first new planar card to show off as well by the name of Time Distortion
This particular card is the first Phenomenon introduced to us via the latest arcana announcement, it basically makes the game go in reverse order any time this is flipped, so if you were playing clockwise, you'd go counter clockwise and so forth. This is a weird card but good nonetheless, now let's move onto the details of this particular multiplayer format and when it hits store shelves.
Release Date: June 1st, 2012
MSRP: 19.99 US
Initial Concept and Game Design: Mark Globus (lead), Kelly Digges, Dave Guskin, and Ryan Miller
Final Game Design and Deck Development: Mark L. Gottlieb (lead), Ryan Miller, Lee Sharpe, and Ken Troop, with contributions from Matt Tabak
That's about it for this edition of the emporium for more information see the link below for the arcana announcement, till next time this is vergil signing off.
Monday, November 21, 2011
Worlds 2011: Thoughts and Overview
Hello all and welcome back to another edition of the emporium, after i've given the game in card form, let's talk about something that's more recent like i don't know Worlds 2011 for Magic, oh yeah that's this weekend so this will be probably the only time i get to talk about it, this weekend we're gonna see a lot happen, Hall of Fame Inductions will happen obviously, Legacy/Modern and Standard for the team events will also happen, as well as Draft, Standard and of course the Top 8 where it's always standard at worlds. Also after worlds we will be seeing some Dark Ascension maybe early december, middle of december, or perhaps they will do it like last year where they previewed two cards at Worlds, i'm looking at you Mirran Crusader and Phyrexian Crusader. But enough talk about last year's cards let's see the results of the event after the grand finale of the top 8/team finals competition, starting with the team competition.
The team competition as it is this year was down to the wire with Japan and Norway leading the way into the top 8 live webcast, but only one could come on top, however it's not to say it wasn't a boring team competition to be honest, we had Modern, Standard and Legacy matches taking place at the same time, with the respective team members of each running specific decks, in the standard portion it was Ryuchiro Ishida's White/Green Wolf Run Ramp deck vs Kristoffer Johnson's White Green Tokens build while in the Modern table side it was Sveinung Bjørnerud's Big Zoo deck vs the Pester Twin deck of Makihito Mihara. Legacy saw itself a barn burner of a deck spree with Fujimoto Tomoya's Show and Tell deck vs the awesome raw power of Andreas Nordahl's No Cat Zoo deck, however there could be only one with the team of Japan taking the title in a convincing 2-0 sweep, making it so simple it wasn't even funny.
In the regular edition of the top 8, we saw all 4 members of Channel Fireball take on their respective opponents, all the members being Luis Scott Vargas, Paulo Vitor Damo Da Rosa, Conley Woods and of course Josh Utter Leyton all running the exact same deck this weekend which was believe it or not Tempered Steel, the exact same build for all the respective players, but a bit of good news for you canadian fans, we got a canadian in the top 8 of this year's worlds by the name of David Caplan whom was running Mono Red this weekend against one PVDDR for short, we saw their match was a barn burner and would have given anyone a run for the edge of their seats. But in the end again the one whom was crowned world champion was of course Junya Iyanaga whom showed wolf run ramp can indeed get the job done at the big show, we look forward to seeing you at worlds next year.
Anyways the Player of the Year race was a little different this time around, with of course having a few challengers this time around, but we know it was going to be an american as Player of the Year this year, but a big congrats go out Owen Turtenwald for winning the title but that is all she wrote for this year's event in short, this was a excellent event overall and proved that worlds went out in a blaze of glory, however this was the last time we get to see something like this with the new worlds format taking over next year at Gen Con in Indy but until next time this is vergil signing off, for full detailed coverage of the event go to the link below.
Worlds 2011 Coverage
The team competition as it is this year was down to the wire with Japan and Norway leading the way into the top 8 live webcast, but only one could come on top, however it's not to say it wasn't a boring team competition to be honest, we had Modern, Standard and Legacy matches taking place at the same time, with the respective team members of each running specific decks, in the standard portion it was Ryuchiro Ishida's White/Green Wolf Run Ramp deck vs Kristoffer Johnson's White Green Tokens build while in the Modern table side it was Sveinung Bjørnerud's Big Zoo deck vs the Pester Twin deck of Makihito Mihara. Legacy saw itself a barn burner of a deck spree with Fujimoto Tomoya's Show and Tell deck vs the awesome raw power of Andreas Nordahl's No Cat Zoo deck, however there could be only one with the team of Japan taking the title in a convincing 2-0 sweep, making it so simple it wasn't even funny.
In the regular edition of the top 8, we saw all 4 members of Channel Fireball take on their respective opponents, all the members being Luis Scott Vargas, Paulo Vitor Damo Da Rosa, Conley Woods and of course Josh Utter Leyton all running the exact same deck this weekend which was believe it or not Tempered Steel, the exact same build for all the respective players, but a bit of good news for you canadian fans, we got a canadian in the top 8 of this year's worlds by the name of David Caplan whom was running Mono Red this weekend against one PVDDR for short, we saw their match was a barn burner and would have given anyone a run for the edge of their seats. But in the end again the one whom was crowned world champion was of course Junya Iyanaga whom showed wolf run ramp can indeed get the job done at the big show, we look forward to seeing you at worlds next year.
Anyways the Player of the Year race was a little different this time around, with of course having a few challengers this time around, but we know it was going to be an american as Player of the Year this year, but a big congrats go out Owen Turtenwald for winning the title but that is all she wrote for this year's event in short, this was a excellent event overall and proved that worlds went out in a blaze of glory, however this was the last time we get to see something like this with the new worlds format taking over next year at Gen Con in Indy but until next time this is vergil signing off, for full detailed coverage of the event go to the link below.
Worlds 2011 Coverage
Monday, November 14, 2011
Grand Prix: San Diego Overview
Well the last Grand Prix of the season has been finished, we now await worlds 2011 in the heart of california this year, in the region of San Francisco but before we get into the top 8, let's take a look back at the history of San Diego's past magic events.
The most recent event in San Diego prior to this was Pro Tour: San Diego held in the year 2010 and won by Simon Gortzen by ending the run of one Luis Scott Vargas whom was going on a undefeated streak with a impressive 16-0 record before taking the title and beating Kyle Boggemes for the title capping off his best event ever in my humble opinion. We venture back even further to 2007 when Time Spiral block was still around and it was the last official pro tour Two-Headed Giant event where the infamous Sliver Kids Jacob van Lunen and Chris Lachmann drafted slivers all weekend long to take the title from the hands of Kentaro Yamamoto and Yuuta Takahashi to take the event in all it's glory and claim their infamous spots on the pro tour and eventually become writers for the mothership. In 2004 there was another Pro Tour here at San Diego with Mirrodin Block this time around and this time it was a norwegian by the name Nicolai Herzog whom dominated the field in limited that year, taking his next victory with a bunch of artifacts.
2002 again San Diego gave birth to another Pro Tour with Winston Draft, for those whom don't remember Winston Draft don't bother it's non existent anymore. But we saw a Frenchman in the form of Farid Meraghni take the title that event and dominate the field. The last time we saw a Grand Prix in San Diego believe it or not was 1999, yes that's a long time ago but let's move onto the current age of magic.
This past weekend was a Innistrad Sealed/Booster Draft with Sealed on Day 1, Booster Draft Day 2 and for the Top 8, but a serious congrats to Shahar Shenhar for winning Grand Prix San Diego beating out Aaron Cheng in the quarters, Ricky Sidher in the semis and then to take the finals against Richard Bland with a undefeated 9-0 in day 2, let's look at the winner's decklist first.
Shahar Shenhar's GP Winning List
Lands
9 Plains
8 Swamp
Creatures
1 Abattoir Ghoul
1 Chapel Geist
2 Doomed Traveler
2 Falkenrath Noble
1 Screeching Bat
1 Selfless Cathar
1 Silverchase Fox
1 Slayer of the Wicked
1 Spectral Rider
1 Thraben Sentry
1 Vampire Interloper
1 Village Bell-Ringer
1 Village Cannibals
Spells
1 Altar's Reap
1 Bonds of Faith
1 Corpse Lunge
1 Moment of Heroism
1 Rebuke
1 Unburial Rites
2 Victim of Night
Sideboard
2 Abbey Griffin
1 Altar's Reap
1 Bramblecrush
1 Cellar Door
1 Curse of Oblivion
1 Full Moon's Rise
1 Ghoulcaller's Chant
1 Hollowhenge Scavenger
1 Nightbird's Clutches
1 Spare from Evil
1 Spidery Grasp
1 Travel Preparations
1 Unruly Mob
1 Urgent Exorcism
1 Village Cannibals
1 Wooden Stake
2 Woodland Sleuth
Anyways a big congratulations goes out to him for taking a 3,500 US prize for the weekend and 10 pro points to his name, but i am afraid that is all the time we have today, i hope you enjoyed this overview of the event and look forward to talking about worlds next week when we learn whom the champion is going to be, the player of the year and whom the last team is going to be winning the event but if you want more coverage of GP: San Diego go to the link below But for now this is vergil signing off.
Grand Prix: San Diego Full Coverage
The most recent event in San Diego prior to this was Pro Tour: San Diego held in the year 2010 and won by Simon Gortzen by ending the run of one Luis Scott Vargas whom was going on a undefeated streak with a impressive 16-0 record before taking the title and beating Kyle Boggemes for the title capping off his best event ever in my humble opinion. We venture back even further to 2007 when Time Spiral block was still around and it was the last official pro tour Two-Headed Giant event where the infamous Sliver Kids Jacob van Lunen and Chris Lachmann drafted slivers all weekend long to take the title from the hands of Kentaro Yamamoto and Yuuta Takahashi to take the event in all it's glory and claim their infamous spots on the pro tour and eventually become writers for the mothership. In 2004 there was another Pro Tour here at San Diego with Mirrodin Block this time around and this time it was a norwegian by the name Nicolai Herzog whom dominated the field in limited that year, taking his next victory with a bunch of artifacts.
2002 again San Diego gave birth to another Pro Tour with Winston Draft, for those whom don't remember Winston Draft don't bother it's non existent anymore. But we saw a Frenchman in the form of Farid Meraghni take the title that event and dominate the field. The last time we saw a Grand Prix in San Diego believe it or not was 1999, yes that's a long time ago but let's move onto the current age of magic.
This past weekend was a Innistrad Sealed/Booster Draft with Sealed on Day 1, Booster Draft Day 2 and for the Top 8, but a serious congrats to Shahar Shenhar for winning Grand Prix San Diego beating out Aaron Cheng in the quarters, Ricky Sidher in the semis and then to take the finals against Richard Bland with a undefeated 9-0 in day 2, let's look at the winner's decklist first.
Shahar Shenhar's GP Winning List
Lands
9 Plains
8 Swamp
Creatures
1 Abattoir Ghoul
1 Chapel Geist
2 Doomed Traveler
2 Falkenrath Noble
1 Screeching Bat
1 Selfless Cathar
1 Silverchase Fox
1 Slayer of the Wicked
1 Spectral Rider
1 Thraben Sentry
1 Vampire Interloper
1 Village Bell-Ringer
1 Village Cannibals
Spells
1 Altar's Reap
1 Bonds of Faith
1 Corpse Lunge
1 Moment of Heroism
1 Rebuke
1 Unburial Rites
2 Victim of Night
Sideboard
2 Abbey Griffin
1 Altar's Reap
1 Bramblecrush
1 Cellar Door
1 Curse of Oblivion
1 Full Moon's Rise
1 Ghoulcaller's Chant
1 Hollowhenge Scavenger
1 Nightbird's Clutches
1 Spare from Evil
1 Spidery Grasp
1 Travel Preparations
1 Unruly Mob
1 Urgent Exorcism
1 Village Cannibals
1 Wooden Stake
2 Woodland Sleuth
Anyways a big congratulations goes out to him for taking a 3,500 US prize for the weekend and 10 pro points to his name, but i am afraid that is all the time we have today, i hope you enjoyed this overview of the event and look forward to talking about worlds next week when we learn whom the champion is going to be, the player of the year and whom the last team is going to be winning the event but if you want more coverage of GP: San Diego go to the link below But for now this is vergil signing off.
Grand Prix: San Diego Full Coverage
Friday, November 11, 2011
Premium Deck Series: Graveborn List
The list is courtesy of Graveborn Spanish list and is translated for you folks today, this was just revealed so enjoy.
21 Swamp
1 Polluted Mire
1 Ebon Stronghold
1 Crystal Vein
1 Avatar of Woe
1 Crosis, the Purger
1 Inkwell Leviathan
1 Sphinx of the Steel Wind
1 Terastodon
1 Verdant Force
1 Blazing Archon
2 Putrid Imp
2 Hidden Horror
1 Faceless Butcher
1 Twisted Abomination
1 Reanimate
1 Entomb
1 Zombie Infestation
1 Cabal Therapy
2 Last Rites
2 Sickening Dreams
3 Exhume
3 Duress
3 Animate Dead
2 Buried Alive
2 Diabolic Servitude
2 Dread Return
That's it for today since i'm busy all day, so a short but sweet article is in order, this is vergil signing off
21 Swamp
1 Polluted Mire
1 Ebon Stronghold
1 Crystal Vein
1 Avatar of Woe
1 Crosis, the Purger
1 Inkwell Leviathan
1 Sphinx of the Steel Wind
1 Terastodon
1 Verdant Force
1 Blazing Archon
2 Putrid Imp
2 Hidden Horror
1 Faceless Butcher
1 Twisted Abomination
1 Reanimate
1 Entomb
1 Zombie Infestation
1 Cabal Therapy
2 Last Rites
2 Sickening Dreams
3 Exhume
3 Duress
3 Animate Dead
2 Buried Alive
2 Diabolic Servitude
2 Dread Return
That's it for today since i'm busy all day, so a short but sweet article is in order, this is vergil signing off
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Premium Deck Series: Graveborn Update #2 - Alternate Art Galore
Hello everyone and welcome back to another edition of the emporium, today's edition will cover all the latest graveborn spoilers to be revealed thus far, we have 2 things to talk about with this which is the 2 alternate art cards previewed for us thanks to wizards of the coast, we already know one of the three which is going to be Cabal Therapy which i showed off the art for in the latest graveborn update, let's get to it though.
As most of us remember the alternate art cards are usually pretty cool in the art department and the first candidate for preview today is a bit better then it's original art, i am of course talking about Crosis, the Purger whose original art was pretty decent let's see it first before we preview the alternate art of this particular card.
That was the original art and card from Invasion, now let 's see the new and improved alternate art form of Crosis, the Purger
Shows how much it pays for alternate art eh, he finally gets a gold bordered frame to show he's a multicolor card and has new and improved art to go along with that gold bordered frame, nice job wizards really nice job, it's time to talk about the second card of choice for this update, in the form of Animate Dead, now this past monday wizards did a little arcana on this card, which can be found be here ---> Animate Dead Arcana detailing the history of the card in question as well as any versions of that card which date back as far as Limited Edition Alpha the set, nowadays we got ourselves a brand new spanking alternate art Animate Dead but first let's see the original
This is the Limited Edition Alpha version of the card, which was card no 1 in the set back when colors meant squat for order, now let's take a look at the brand spanking new alternate art form of Animate Dead
Not only does this have alternate art which depicts a Sun Titan being revived but it has updated wording to go along with it's brand new shiny black bordered frame, alternate art and is now finally a Aura not a enchant creature card, thank you wizards for this nice and very welcome change to this old style card, it was very refereshing to learn this was getting the alternate art treatment.
So now we have information on all three alternate art cards which i also mentioned last graveborn update, you will be able to get your hands on these when you purchase the Premium Deck Series: Graveborn deck at your local game store of choice, but for now this is all i've got left for the rest of the day, until next time this is vergil signing off.
As most of us remember the alternate art cards are usually pretty cool in the art department and the first candidate for preview today is a bit better then it's original art, i am of course talking about Crosis, the Purger whose original art was pretty decent let's see it first before we preview the alternate art of this particular card.
That was the original art and card from Invasion, now let 's see the new and improved alternate art form of Crosis, the Purger
Shows how much it pays for alternate art eh, he finally gets a gold bordered frame to show he's a multicolor card and has new and improved art to go along with that gold bordered frame, nice job wizards really nice job, it's time to talk about the second card of choice for this update, in the form of Animate Dead, now this past monday wizards did a little arcana on this card, which can be found be here ---> Animate Dead Arcana detailing the history of the card in question as well as any versions of that card which date back as far as Limited Edition Alpha the set, nowadays we got ourselves a brand new spanking alternate art Animate Dead but first let's see the original
This is the Limited Edition Alpha version of the card, which was card no 1 in the set back when colors meant squat for order, now let's take a look at the brand spanking new alternate art form of Animate Dead
Not only does this have alternate art which depicts a Sun Titan being revived but it has updated wording to go along with it's brand new shiny black bordered frame, alternate art and is now finally a Aura not a enchant creature card, thank you wizards for this nice and very welcome change to this old style card, it was very refereshing to learn this was getting the alternate art treatment.
So now we have information on all three alternate art cards which i also mentioned last graveborn update, you will be able to get your hands on these when you purchase the Premium Deck Series: Graveborn deck at your local game store of choice, but for now this is all i've got left for the rest of the day, until next time this is vergil signing off.
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Premium Deck Series: Graveborn Update
Hello everyone and welcome to another edition of the emporium, hosted by me vergil as always, let's get down to business this edition and take a minute to discuss Graveborn, the latest of the premium deck series which is scheduled to arrive soon on store shelves on November 18th, 2011 and has a MSRP of 34.99 US dollars.
The first major update for this series deck is the fact we know what the front of the box is going to contain, i'll attach the picture below for you fine folks to observe.
It will contain Avatar of Woe, Buried Alive, Animate Dead [New Art], Crosis, the Purger [New Art] and of course Entomb which entomb has dropped 15 dollars since the announcement of it's inclusion into the deck, remember this will be all foil, so expect shenigans to ensue of course, the obvious 20 sided dice is included in with this and has a skull where the 20 is normally, pretty cool inclusion for that if i might add, anyways onto the next bit of news in regards to this premium deck.
Anyone care to tell me what art this is from, well it's from a old card which is getting new art for this set, anyone take a guess, no well it's Cabal Therapy's new art and it's getting included in this 60 card premium deck, if anyone remembers cabal therapy here's the original card form with original wording of course.
Yeah the judgment card with the flashback is back in this set and i feel it's a perfect inclusion in this set as a revamped card that is for sure, but wait there's one more bit of news in regards to this premium deck, it apparently will also contain a mythic rare from the Shards of Alara block, which one is unknown as of this point but people are speculating it's Sphinx of the Steel Wind or even Empyrial Archangel but we will have to wait and see of course as per usual, in the meantime that's all for now i am afraid, the next article i write about this premium deck will be about the deck list itself and believe me i know it will be good since we've got the standard reanimator package included on the front of the box in the form of Buried Alive, Entomb and Animate Dead but for now this is vergil signing off.
The first major update for this series deck is the fact we know what the front of the box is going to contain, i'll attach the picture below for you fine folks to observe.
It will contain Avatar of Woe, Buried Alive, Animate Dead [New Art], Crosis, the Purger [New Art] and of course Entomb which entomb has dropped 15 dollars since the announcement of it's inclusion into the deck, remember this will be all foil, so expect shenigans to ensue of course, the obvious 20 sided dice is included in with this and has a skull where the 20 is normally, pretty cool inclusion for that if i might add, anyways onto the next bit of news in regards to this premium deck.
Anyone care to tell me what art this is from, well it's from a old card which is getting new art for this set, anyone take a guess, no well it's Cabal Therapy's new art and it's getting included in this 60 card premium deck, if anyone remembers cabal therapy here's the original card form with original wording of course.
Yeah the judgment card with the flashback is back in this set and i feel it's a perfect inclusion in this set as a revamped card that is for sure, but wait there's one more bit of news in regards to this premium deck, it apparently will also contain a mythic rare from the Shards of Alara block, which one is unknown as of this point but people are speculating it's Sphinx of the Steel Wind or even Empyrial Archangel but we will have to wait and see of course as per usual, in the meantime that's all for now i am afraid, the next article i write about this premium deck will be about the deck list itself and believe me i know it will be good since we've got the standard reanimator package included on the front of the box in the form of Buried Alive, Entomb and Animate Dead but for now this is vergil signing off.
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Announcement: Worlds 2012 Change and New Format for Event
Hello all and welcome to this special edition of the emporium, today is a grim day for all us hopefuls whom wanted to go to worlds, because today they killed any hopes of those dreams in my eyes at least, would you like to know more about this, of course you would that is the direct point of this article, let us get down to business.
So earlier today in a special article written by the folks at wizards, they announced a few changes to the 2012 World Championships as well as how it would work, let's take a look at that article in question which will be linked here ---> World Championship Changes
For the first time since the creation of the Pro Tour, Magic: The Gathering will have a single tournament to determine the best player in the world: the 2012 World Championship.
This sounds all well and good, however wait till you see the rest of the article.
EXCUSE ME, your basically saying Nationals don't mean crap anymore, not for worlds then what is the point of nationals anymore, this basically says we are privatizing magic and making it exclusive for the big boys only folks like Patrick Chapin and of course channel fireball's Luis Scott Vargas whom both provide in depth coverage of decks/events and much much more, so your making it exclusive for 16 players, 3 of those slots go to pro tour winners, top ranked players in the planeswalker point system get invites, top ranked players from each geo region, ok, so i'd have to be the best in north america, ain't gonna happen, the defending champion gets a invite, as well as the magic online champ ok really, is this necessary wizards, but wait there's more.
So earlier today in a special article written by the folks at wizards, they announced a few changes to the 2012 World Championships as well as how it would work, let's take a look at that article in question which will be linked here ---> World Championship Changes
For the first time since the creation of the Pro Tour, Magic: The Gathering will have a single tournament to determine the best player in the world: the 2012 World Championship.
This sounds all well and good, however wait till you see the rest of the article.
To accomplish this goal, the World Championship is changing from a Pro Tour-sized event to an exclusive sixteen-person tournament. These sixteen titans of Magic will battle for a $100,000 prize purse at Gen Con 2012 in Indianapolis (August 16-19). The field will be made up of the following players:
- 2011 World Champion
- 2011 Magic Online Champion (determined at the 2011 Magic Online Championship held at Magic Weekend San Francisco)
- Winners of the previous three Pro Tours (Philadelphia, Dark Ascension in Honolulu, and the second Pro Tour in 2012). Pro Tour Philadelphia champion Samuele Estratti is the first invitee to the 2012 World Championship.
- The top-ranked player from each geo-region (Asia Pacific, Europe, Japan, Latin America, and North America) in the Planeswalker Points 2012 Professional Total who are not yet invited based on the above criteria.
- The top-ranked players in the worldwide Planeswalker Points 2012 Professional Total who are not yet invited based on the above criteria sufficient to bring the total number of invited players to the 2012 World Championship to sixteen.
EXCUSE ME, your basically saying Nationals don't mean crap anymore, not for worlds then what is the point of nationals anymore, this basically says we are privatizing magic and making it exclusive for the big boys only folks like Patrick Chapin and of course channel fireball's Luis Scott Vargas whom both provide in depth coverage of decks/events and much much more, so your making it exclusive for 16 players, 3 of those slots go to pro tour winners, top ranked players in the planeswalker point system get invites, top ranked players from each geo region, ok, so i'd have to be the best in north america, ain't gonna happen, the defending champion gets a invite, as well as the magic online champ ok really, is this necessary wizards, but wait there's more.
In 2012, a player's Professional Points total consists of the Planeswalker Points earned at Pro Tours, Grand Prix, and the 2011 World Championships for a twelve-month period (see Premier Event Invite Policy for specific dates), so this will select the players who have done the best against the highest level of competition for an entire year.
"Think of the best Pro Tour Top 8 ever and then double it," said Aaron Forsythe, Senior Director ofMagic R&D. "The live coverage will be awesome as we showcase these players as the masters of the game. The 2010 Player of the Year playoff showed how Magic fans around the world got behind seeing the best play against the best."
With live video match coverage each round, in-depth player interviews and deck techs, analysis from experts in R&D and the world of Magic, and more opportunities for fans to follow and support their favorite players through social media, the 2012 World Championship promises to be unlike any other Magic tournament ever.
"Under the current system, you can make an argument for several different players being the best in the world," said Scott Larabee, Magic Organized Play Program Manager. "Is it the Player of the Year, who had the most top finishes but may not have won a major tournament? The World Champion, because that's what the title suggests? A Pro Tour winner, because Pro Tours probably have the toughest field of players? We wanted a clear answer, and the new World Championship provides that."
So basically we're being told that the only real way to qualify is by going to every GP, every pro tour and worlds 2011, um why didn't you tell us three weeks before now, dammit wizards you douchebags.
I cannot begin to express my disgust towards this, but wait there is even more.
National Championships will no longer be feeding a larger global event. With the World Championship moving to its new model, as well as a growing need for individual regions to tailor their organized play offerings, it was necessary to separate Nationals from a larger organized play path. This change helps individual regions develop the right tournaments and events—from Wizards Play Network events up to National Championships—to meet the needs of their region's player base.
"As the Magic brand grows across the world, Wizards has faced challenges in attempting to apply a one-size-fits-all approach to certain programs, and Nationals was one of those," said Helene Bergeot, Director of Organized Play Programs and Operations. "It is up to the regional offices to decide on the size and scope of their countries' National Championships, and we've seen that in many of those countries, the pride of being your country's champion is a primary motivation for players."
National Championships will be run at a Planeswalker Points multiplier of 8x, the same as Grand Prix. Along with the expanded Grand Prix schedule, Nationals provide a good opportunity for many players around the world to experience a large-scale Magic tournament and earn high amounts of Planeswalker Points in a single event.
Expect to see the complete National Championship schedule by April 2012.
So basically nationals gets the big boot from being the feeding point to worlds, now it's just a glorified GP, no thanks again wizards you've killed my pro interest in the game thanks.
The rest of the article goes on to talk about how the pro tour points are affected and stuff like that, basically it says, No thank you you are not welcome at worlds unless your the best truly, plain and simple, way to kill the player base wizards i cannot begin to describe my disgust towards this decision, effectively magic is dying because of decisions like this, which basically drive the casual gamers/grinders away and make it for the truly hardcore, then what is the point of nationals nothing anymore, nationals as i said is now a glorified GP, pathetic, well that's all for this edition of the emporium today, sorry folks but this has to end sorry, i am just pissed at this decision this is vergil signing off.
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Magic the Gathering News Vol 11: Magic Comic Book, States Results and Much Much More
Hello everyone and welcome back to the Magic News for the month of October, let's see what happened this month in the 11th edition of the magic news, Magic's first ever comic book is getting a promotion card, some serious states results and of course what we would be here at the emporium without some form of update on a Grand Prix level, so let's get this party started with our comic book news.
Magic's first ever comic book which is due to hit store shelves in December has itself a promotion card for the first issue. The card is a printed card of course which was in worldwake, we know it to be the card Treasure Hunt however, we are getting a alternate art version of the card in the comic book, let's see the alternate art version.
This alternate art version of Treasure Hunt gives us a sneak peek at the comic book's newest addition to the planeswalker crew in the form of Dack Fayden whom is rumoured to be introduced soon in a set of magic the gathering since the comic does have some tie in with current stories as expected, however we don't know much but when we do know more i will be sure to report on it as always and give people the information they want to know about this, till then this topic is veto for me.
States was last week and wow did it produce some serious numbers, the top 3 decks of states i've seen so far are Wolf Run-Red, Township Tokens and Solar Flare which all had tremendous showings of course in each state/province since it is all over north america, even some pro tour players got in on the action such as Gerry Thompson, Cedric Phillps and more, for the full list of results known go to the link below of course for more information on this.
States/Provinicals Results ---> States/Provinicals Results
Anyways enough about the states results, it's time for a update on the newest addition to the premium deck series in the form of Graveborn, which is off the rumor mill at MTGSalavtion, 5 cards apparently can be seen on the front of the box in the form of Crosis, the Purger, Animate Dead, Entomb, Buried Alive and Avatar of Woe, this source of information is confirmed via here ---> Confirmation of 5 Cards and i am sure it will be something entirely new, since of course this product goes on sale in a couple of weeks, i will be sure of course to inform you fine folks at home about this, let's see what other news and such that has happened this month.
Grand Prix's are perhaps one of the most public type of events out there since of course the Pro Tour is becoming a more private function now, where you would have to get a invite via a PTQ or have enough Planeswalker Points to be invited, or already be on the tour prior to this change, we had a few of these this month, one of them a Legacy event at GP Amsterdam, two were a Innistrad Draft one of which was at GP Milan and the other was at GP Santiago which was this past weekend and one was a standard event at of course GP Brisbane with only a few weeks to go before the worlds in San Francisco this is sure heating things up a lot personally let's wait and see how it goes down and next month i'll go in depth of worlds for the 12th edition of the magic news.
Anyways that's pretty much all she wrote for this edition of the news, stay tuned of course for the next month where i will be going more super in depth on the Premium Deck Series: Graveborn, Worlds analysis and of course in depth spoiler coverage of the next set Dark Ascension, till next time of course this is vergil signing off.
Magic's first ever comic book which is due to hit store shelves in December has itself a promotion card for the first issue. The card is a printed card of course which was in worldwake, we know it to be the card Treasure Hunt however, we are getting a alternate art version of the card in the comic book, let's see the alternate art version.
This alternate art version of Treasure Hunt gives us a sneak peek at the comic book's newest addition to the planeswalker crew in the form of Dack Fayden whom is rumoured to be introduced soon in a set of magic the gathering since the comic does have some tie in with current stories as expected, however we don't know much but when we do know more i will be sure to report on it as always and give people the information they want to know about this, till then this topic is veto for me.
States was last week and wow did it produce some serious numbers, the top 3 decks of states i've seen so far are Wolf Run-Red, Township Tokens and Solar Flare which all had tremendous showings of course in each state/province since it is all over north america, even some pro tour players got in on the action such as Gerry Thompson, Cedric Phillps and more, for the full list of results known go to the link below of course for more information on this.
States/Provinicals Results ---> States/Provinicals Results
Anyways enough about the states results, it's time for a update on the newest addition to the premium deck series in the form of Graveborn, which is off the rumor mill at MTGSalavtion, 5 cards apparently can be seen on the front of the box in the form of Crosis, the Purger, Animate Dead, Entomb, Buried Alive and Avatar of Woe, this source of information is confirmed via here ---> Confirmation of 5 Cards and i am sure it will be something entirely new, since of course this product goes on sale in a couple of weeks, i will be sure of course to inform you fine folks at home about this, let's see what other news and such that has happened this month.
Grand Prix's are perhaps one of the most public type of events out there since of course the Pro Tour is becoming a more private function now, where you would have to get a invite via a PTQ or have enough Planeswalker Points to be invited, or already be on the tour prior to this change, we had a few of these this month, one of them a Legacy event at GP Amsterdam, two were a Innistrad Draft one of which was at GP Milan and the other was at GP Santiago which was this past weekend and one was a standard event at of course GP Brisbane with only a few weeks to go before the worlds in San Francisco this is sure heating things up a lot personally let's wait and see how it goes down and next month i'll go in depth of worlds for the 12th edition of the magic news.
Anyways that's pretty much all she wrote for this edition of the news, stay tuned of course for the next month where i will be going more super in depth on the Premium Deck Series: Graveborn, Worlds analysis and of course in depth spoiler coverage of the next set Dark Ascension, till next time of course this is vergil signing off.
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Standard Deck Examination: Township Tokens
Hello everyone and welcome back to another edition of the emporium, today will be the final deck examination, in the form of Township Tokens which is the newest token deck on the block, we will be looking at the latest results of this deck plus of course the primer from our fine friends at MTGSalvation, so let's go. This first list is brought to us via the latest results of the Star City Games Open series at Nashville's Standard Open from one Robert Smith, let's break down the list
Robert Smith's Township Tokens - 12th Place [Standard] Star City Open Nashville
Creatures
2 Blade Splicer
2 Doomed Traveler
2 Hero of Bladehold
1 Mikaeus, the Lunarch
Spells
4 Shrine of Loyal Legions
4 Honor of the Pure
4 Intangible Virtue
2 Oblivion Ring
4 Midnight Haunting
3 Day of Judgment
3 Timely Reinforcements
4 Elspeth Tirel
Lands
9 Plains
4 Gavony Township
4 Inkmoth Nexus
4 Sunpetal Grove
4 Razorverge Thicket
Sideboard
2 Blade Splicer
1 Doomed Traveler
2 Hero of Bladehold
1 Oblivion Ring
3 Marrow Shards
4 Naturalize
1 Day of Judgment
1 Timely Reinforcements
The premise of the deck is to get a massive amount of tokens onto the board, plus a Intangible Virtue/Honor of the Pure and go nuts, this deck also has a compliment of Hero of Bladehold, my new favorite card of all time with 2 in the main deck and 2 in the side board which gives room for the 25 lands in this deck too, the surprising inclusion is the Inkmoth Nexus as part of the land base, this is a really weird inclusion and is a kind of a shocker to me personally, but the expected lands of Gavony Township/Sunpetal Grove/Razorverge Thicket are all here and a part of the main deck package, along with cards like Shrine of Loyal Legions and Midnight Haunting as the two main token generators for this deck after something like a Day of Judgment hits the board, well let's stop yabbering on about this deck and move onto a more recent result in the form of a states match championship deck brought to us courtesy of David Newman in Virginia's recent states event.
David Newman's Township Tokens - 1st Place [Standard] States, Charleston West Virginia
Creatures
4 Blade Splicer
3 Doomed Traveler
3 Hero of Bladehold
Spells
2 Mortarpod
4 Shrine of Loyal Legions
2 Dismember
4 Midnight Haunting
4 Intangible Virtue
4 Oblivion Ring
4 Elspeth Tirel
2 Garruk Relentless
Lands
3 Forest
10 Plains
3 Gavony Township
4 Sunpetal Grove
4 Razorverge Thicket
Sideboard
3 Celestial Purge
4 Naturalize
3 Surgical Extraction
2 Day of Judgment
3 Timely Reinforcements
This deck is a tad different then the rest, it has more token generators then it does creatures, 3 Hero of Bladehold in this list compared to the 4 of the previous list, sure of course you have your standard walker package of Garruk Relentless/Elspeth Tirel taking up 6 slots in this deck total, but it's good none the less, with no copies of Inkmoth Nexus present in this list with no real sweeper present in the main deck plus some decent removal for spells such as Stromkirk Noble/Tempered Steel and of course the obvious but friendly mirror match's Shrine of Loyal Legions however the surprising card in this particular build is Dismember as a 2 of in this build to deal with threats almost immediately after they hit the board, which isn't bad, but 10 creatures and a lot more token producers ended up winning David Newman his states championship with this deck, let's look at one more states list in the form of Mikael Conrow's Richmond Virginia Township Tokens deck.
Mikael Conrow's Township Tokens - 1st Place [Standard] States, Richmond Virginia
Creatures
2 Blade Splicer
4 Doomed Traveler
4 Hero of Bladehold
Spells
3 Shrine of Loyal Legions
4 Intangible Virtue
2 Oblivion Ring
1 Beast Within
3 Dismember
4 Midnight Haunting
4 Elspeth Tirel
3 Day of Judgment
2 Timely Reinforcements
Lands
3 Forest
9 Plains
4 Gavony Township
4 Sunpetal Grove
4 Razorverge Thicket
Sideboard
1 Shrine of Loyal Legions
2 Beast Within
2 Celestial Purge
3 Naturalize
3 Purify the Grave
1 Garruk Relentless
1 Day of Judgment
2 Timely Reinforcements
So this particular deck is a tad different then most we see the obvious 10 creatures but with different numbers instead of the 2nd deck with 2 Blade Splicer instead of the 4 in the previous list and 4 of both Hero of Bladehold and Doomed Traveler as the first immediate change, second is the change of Shrine of Loyal Legions in this particular list with 3 shrines in the main deck and 1 in the sideboard with a singleton copy of Beast Within taking up that 4th slot of shrine. 3 Dismember's are in this list compared to 2 and the sideboard is so interchangable it's not even funny, with a singleton Garruk Relentless in this sideboard, weird yet true, now the final list is always going to be the MTGSalvation Primer list, so let's take a look at Township Tokens or as they call it Green/White Tokens
MTGSalvation's Primer List - Township Tokens
Creatures
3 Doomed Traveler
4 Hero of Bladehold
3 Mikaeus, the Lunarch
Spells
4 Shrine of Loyal Legions
4 Intangible Virtue
4 Honor of the Pure
3 Dismember
4 Midnight Haunting
4 Elspeth Tirel
3 Day of Judgment
Lands
3 Forest
9 Plains
4 Gavony Township
4 Razorverge Thicket
4 Sunpetal Grove
Sideboard
2 Sword of Feast and Famine
2 Oblivion Ring
2 Naturalize
4 Purify the Grave
1 Day of Judgment
4 Timely Reinforcements
You'll note straight away this deck runs 3 Mikaeus, the Lunarch, 4 Hero of Bladehold and only 3 copies of Doomed Traveler with our standard package of Elspeth, Honor of the Pure, Intangible Virtue, Shrine of Loyal Legions and Day of Judgment all in the same deck, the sideboard is a little different with 2 copies of Naturalize, Oblivion Ring and Sword of Feast and Famine it's a little different then what i'd come to expect of this primer list, but then again i've not seen this deck run a single copy of any sword in the main deck or the side board at all since starting this article, anyways time to look at the package for this deck.
Sunpetal Grove/Gavony Township/Razorverge Thicket - If you can only get 2 of these lands then go for it but i'd suggest Grove/Township over anything else since Township is part of the name of the deck and is kind of the core for it.
Shrine of Loyal Legions/Midnight Haunting - Should be a auto 4 of in any deck of this type, generates the advantage after a sweeper spell like Day of Judgment and allows us to attack for a decent number the next turn, this isn't a sideboard material package either it's main deck all the way.
Hero of Bladehold/Doomed Traveler - I'd recommend 3 Hero's and 4 Travelers to do the business for this deck, plus whatever other token generator you want in the deck whether it be Mikaeus, the Lunarch or Blade Splicer
Day of Judgment/Dismember - Best off running like 3 Day's and 2 Dismember's main deck and sideboard the rest, since most of the stuff you'll deal with is pretty low key after that, plus you'll have the threats necessary for this deck by the time the next turn comes around.
Anyways that's about it for this edition of the emporium, the next article on here will be about the States/Provinical's that happened this past weekend all over North America, so till next time this is vergil signing off, remember listings for this deck will be below
Township Token Listings ---> Township Tokens
Robert Smith's Township Tokens - 12th Place [Standard] Star City Open Nashville
Creatures
2 Blade Splicer
2 Doomed Traveler
2 Hero of Bladehold
1 Mikaeus, the Lunarch
Spells
4 Shrine of Loyal Legions
4 Honor of the Pure
4 Intangible Virtue
2 Oblivion Ring
4 Midnight Haunting
3 Day of Judgment
3 Timely Reinforcements
4 Elspeth Tirel
Lands
9 Plains
4 Gavony Township
4 Inkmoth Nexus
4 Sunpetal Grove
4 Razorverge Thicket
Sideboard
2 Blade Splicer
1 Doomed Traveler
2 Hero of Bladehold
1 Oblivion Ring
3 Marrow Shards
4 Naturalize
1 Day of Judgment
1 Timely Reinforcements
The premise of the deck is to get a massive amount of tokens onto the board, plus a Intangible Virtue/Honor of the Pure and go nuts, this deck also has a compliment of Hero of Bladehold, my new favorite card of all time with 2 in the main deck and 2 in the side board which gives room for the 25 lands in this deck too, the surprising inclusion is the Inkmoth Nexus as part of the land base, this is a really weird inclusion and is a kind of a shocker to me personally, but the expected lands of Gavony Township/Sunpetal Grove/Razorverge Thicket are all here and a part of the main deck package, along with cards like Shrine of Loyal Legions and Midnight Haunting as the two main token generators for this deck after something like a Day of Judgment hits the board, well let's stop yabbering on about this deck and move onto a more recent result in the form of a states match championship deck brought to us courtesy of David Newman in Virginia's recent states event.
David Newman's Township Tokens - 1st Place [Standard] States, Charleston West Virginia
Creatures
4 Blade Splicer
3 Doomed Traveler
3 Hero of Bladehold
Spells
2 Mortarpod
4 Shrine of Loyal Legions
2 Dismember
4 Midnight Haunting
4 Intangible Virtue
4 Oblivion Ring
4 Elspeth Tirel
2 Garruk Relentless
Lands
3 Forest
10 Plains
3 Gavony Township
4 Sunpetal Grove
4 Razorverge Thicket
Sideboard
3 Celestial Purge
4 Naturalize
3 Surgical Extraction
2 Day of Judgment
3 Timely Reinforcements
This deck is a tad different then the rest, it has more token generators then it does creatures, 3 Hero of Bladehold in this list compared to the 4 of the previous list, sure of course you have your standard walker package of Garruk Relentless/Elspeth Tirel taking up 6 slots in this deck total, but it's good none the less, with no copies of Inkmoth Nexus present in this list with no real sweeper present in the main deck plus some decent removal for spells such as Stromkirk Noble/Tempered Steel and of course the obvious but friendly mirror match's Shrine of Loyal Legions however the surprising card in this particular build is Dismember as a 2 of in this build to deal with threats almost immediately after they hit the board, which isn't bad, but 10 creatures and a lot more token producers ended up winning David Newman his states championship with this deck, let's look at one more states list in the form of Mikael Conrow's Richmond Virginia Township Tokens deck.
Mikael Conrow's Township Tokens - 1st Place [Standard] States, Richmond Virginia
Creatures
2 Blade Splicer
4 Doomed Traveler
4 Hero of Bladehold
Spells
3 Shrine of Loyal Legions
4 Intangible Virtue
2 Oblivion Ring
1 Beast Within
3 Dismember
4 Midnight Haunting
4 Elspeth Tirel
3 Day of Judgment
2 Timely Reinforcements
Lands
3 Forest
9 Plains
4 Gavony Township
4 Sunpetal Grove
4 Razorverge Thicket
Sideboard
1 Shrine of Loyal Legions
2 Beast Within
2 Celestial Purge
3 Naturalize
3 Purify the Grave
1 Garruk Relentless
1 Day of Judgment
2 Timely Reinforcements
So this particular deck is a tad different then most we see the obvious 10 creatures but with different numbers instead of the 2nd deck with 2 Blade Splicer instead of the 4 in the previous list and 4 of both Hero of Bladehold and Doomed Traveler as the first immediate change, second is the change of Shrine of Loyal Legions in this particular list with 3 shrines in the main deck and 1 in the sideboard with a singleton copy of Beast Within taking up that 4th slot of shrine. 3 Dismember's are in this list compared to 2 and the sideboard is so interchangable it's not even funny, with a singleton Garruk Relentless in this sideboard, weird yet true, now the final list is always going to be the MTGSalvation Primer list, so let's take a look at Township Tokens or as they call it Green/White Tokens
MTGSalvation's Primer List - Township Tokens
Creatures
3 Doomed Traveler
4 Hero of Bladehold
3 Mikaeus, the Lunarch
Spells
4 Shrine of Loyal Legions
4 Intangible Virtue
4 Honor of the Pure
3 Dismember
4 Midnight Haunting
4 Elspeth Tirel
3 Day of Judgment
Lands
3 Forest
9 Plains
4 Gavony Township
4 Razorverge Thicket
4 Sunpetal Grove
Sideboard
2 Sword of Feast and Famine
2 Oblivion Ring
2 Naturalize
4 Purify the Grave
1 Day of Judgment
4 Timely Reinforcements
You'll note straight away this deck runs 3 Mikaeus, the Lunarch, 4 Hero of Bladehold and only 3 copies of Doomed Traveler with our standard package of Elspeth, Honor of the Pure, Intangible Virtue, Shrine of Loyal Legions and Day of Judgment all in the same deck, the sideboard is a little different with 2 copies of Naturalize, Oblivion Ring and Sword of Feast and Famine it's a little different then what i'd come to expect of this primer list, but then again i've not seen this deck run a single copy of any sword in the main deck or the side board at all since starting this article, anyways time to look at the package for this deck.
Sunpetal Grove/Gavony Township/Razorverge Thicket - If you can only get 2 of these lands then go for it but i'd suggest Grove/Township over anything else since Township is part of the name of the deck and is kind of the core for it.
Shrine of Loyal Legions/Midnight Haunting - Should be a auto 4 of in any deck of this type, generates the advantage after a sweeper spell like Day of Judgment and allows us to attack for a decent number the next turn, this isn't a sideboard material package either it's main deck all the way.
Hero of Bladehold/Doomed Traveler - I'd recommend 3 Hero's and 4 Travelers to do the business for this deck, plus whatever other token generator you want in the deck whether it be Mikaeus, the Lunarch or Blade Splicer
Day of Judgment/Dismember - Best off running like 3 Day's and 2 Dismember's main deck and sideboard the rest, since most of the stuff you'll deal with is pretty low key after that, plus you'll have the threats necessary for this deck by the time the next turn comes around.
Anyways that's about it for this edition of the emporium, the next article on here will be about the States/Provinical's that happened this past weekend all over North America, so till next time this is vergil signing off, remember listings for this deck will be below
Township Token Listings ---> Township Tokens
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