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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

Standard Deck Examination: Green/White Humans

Hello everyone and welcome back to another edition of the emporium, today will be covering the Green/White Humans build currently around in standard which may or may not include my new favorite card of all time Hero of Bladehold so let's begin as per usual with a list courtesy of Star City Games and it's open series which comes to us via a player named Steven Wilson

Steven Wilson's Green/White Humans - 3rd Place [Standard] Star City Open Invitational Qualifier


Creatures
4 Avacyn's Pilgrim
4 Champion of the Parish
4 Elite Vanguard
1 Fiend Hunter
4 Hamlet Captain
4 Hero of Bladehold
4 Mayor of Avabruck
4 Mentor of the Meek
3 Mirran Crusader

Spells
2 Oblivion Ring
4 Green Sun's Zenith

Lands
2 Forest
2 Plains
4 Razorverge Thicket
4 Sunpetal Grove
3 Gavony Township
2 Ghost Quarter

Sideboard
2 Fiend Hunter
1 Mirran Crusader
2 Silverchase Fox
2 Oblivion Ring
2 Dismember
3 Purify the Grave
3 Creeping Corrosion

Green/White humans is the first deck that is so packed full of creatures spells and lands are cut to make room for these dominant 1 and 2 drop humans, Mentor of the Meek to provide draw power for your lower power creatures, Mayor of Avabruck to give them a needed +1/+1 boost and of course Hero of Bladehold for it's constant 7 power worth of creature combination and it's threatening ability to always have tokens at the ready making this a decent and devastating archetype of a deck in standard, with that being said let's take a look at the next list courtesy of the Star City Open Invitational's with a deck brought to us by Noah Winslow and his 7th place finish at the open invitationals for Doylestown, Pennsylvania

Noah Winslow's Green/White Humans - 7th Place [Standard] Star City Open Invitational Series


Creatures
4 Phyrexian Metamorph
4 Avacyn's Pilgrim
4 Blade Splicer
4 Champion of the Parish
4 Hero of Bladehold
4 Mayor of Avabruck
4 Mirran Crusader
2 Mikaeus, the Lunarch

Spells
2 Oblivion Ring
2 Beast Within
3 Garruk Relentless

Lands
7 Forest
6 Plains
2 Gavony Township
4 Razorverge Thicket
4 Sunpetal Grove

Sideboard
3 Angelic Overseer
2 Angelic Destiny
1 Oblivion Ring
4 Celestial Purge
2 Dismember
3 Surgical Extraction

This list is a bit different then normal as the important stuff is all 4's in this deck including Hero of Bladehold, Mirran Crusader and of course Champion of the Parish, however here's the surprising card i never thought i'd see in a humans list, Phyrexian Metamorph which basically is a new and improved Clone for all colors for a change thanks to of course the phyrexian mana in it's cost, but the surprising cards are Mikaeus, the Lunarch and Garruk Relentless in this list which are both main deck choices of course, however the surprising part of this is the lack of Mentor of the Meek which was switched out for Blade Splicer in this list, anyways enough about this list let's move onto our third list which is provided via Tom Hendricks whom got 8th place at the same invitational qualifier

Tom Hendrick's Green/White Humans - 8th Place [Standard] Star City Open Invitational


Creatures
3 Adapative Automaton
4 Avacyn's Pilgrim
4 Champion of the Parish
4 Elite Vanguard
3 Gideon's Lawkeeper
4 Hamlet Captain
4 Mayor of Avabruck
4 Mentor of the Meek

Spells
2 Nevermore
3 Oblivion Ring
2 Dismember
3 Gitaxian Probe

Lands
8 Forest
9 Plains
4 Sunpetal Grove

Sideboard
4 Fiend Hunter
3 Mirran Crusader
2 Nevermore
2 Dismember
1 Naturalize
2 Purify the Grave
1 Creeping Corrosion

This third list is a bit different as it focuses on the lords aspect of a mass creature deck with 11 lord type creatures in the deck that include Mayor of Avabruck, Adaptive Automaton and of course Hamlet Captain, of course the standard package of humans include Mentor of the Meek for the card draw, Lawkeeper, Vanguard and Champion to beat down with a mana ramp creature in the form of Avacyn's Pilgrim, the lack of Hero of Bladehold in this list is a surprise though but the sideboarded Mirran Crusader's are a tad surprising as well, i never thought they'd be in the sideboard of this deck, plus this deck has only 21 lands in it, 17 basics and 4 Sunpetal Grove instead of the standard package of Gavony Township/Razorverge Thicket/Sunpetal Grove that was seen in other lists, that's why this deck is so interchangable i feel and gives a new style to rogue deckbuilders. Now without further ado let's take a look at the MTGSalvation.com Primer list for this deck style of choice.

MTGSalvation.com Primer - Green/White Humans


Creatures
4 Avacyn's Pilgrim
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Blade Splicer
2 Geist-Honored Monk
4 Hero of Bladehold
2 Llanowar Elves
3 Mentor of the Meek
1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
2 Mikaeus, the Lunarch

Spells
1 Mortarpod
2 Oblivion Ring
2 Naturalize
3 Elspeth Tirel
3 Overrun

Lands
7 Forest
4 Plains
4 Gavony Township
4 Sunpetal Grove
4 Razorverge Thicket

Sideboard
1 Mortarpod
1 Spellskite
2 Mirran Crusader
1 Stony Silence
2 Dismember
1 Naturalize
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
2 Creeping Corrosion
4 Timely Reinforcements

Now as you may come to expect from this list it's more green then anything, with very few actual white creatures besides our legends in this list, Elesh Norn and Mikaeus, the Lunarch, this list reflects the basics of humans and the fact they are 1-3 drop creatures most of the time but the good stuff is usually 4 and above in casting costs, this deck shows that humans aren't always cheap, let's move onto the neceessites of the Green/White Humans basics

Avacyn's Pilgrim - If your running any kind of ramp, this guy filters into white and is a human himself, so the bonus of having a turn 2 Mentor of the Meek is showing here with this guy as a 4 of in our team.

Hero of Bladehold - Again if your running white why aren't you running this dude, 4 drop that can be ramped by either Birds of Paradise/Avacyn's Pilgrim, drops 4 extra power worth of creatures when it attacks and is a mere 4 drop in our deck, not bad, consider him as a 3-4 of with 3 maindeck and 1 in the sideboard.

Mentor of the Meek - For humans i could think of no other card drawing creature then him that is currently in standard right now, 2/2 for a 3 drop that you can pay one when another 2 power or lower creature hits the board, draw a card off and go right back into the thick of things, should at least be a 3 of in this deck.

Mirran Crusader - Sure he may cost 1WW but when the thick of things come through this guy is a must have for any human deck, protection from green and black, double strike and equipping something onto him he is nasty, plus he's a 2/2 so mentor card draw is possible off him.

Mikaeus, the Lunarch - If i was you folks, i'd put this guy as a 2 of in any humans list, he's versatile, can be cast for a rather nice 3 mana to make himself a 2/2 triggering Mentor of the Meek again is big when we need extra cards to draw into good threats

Gavony Township/Sunpetal Grove/Razorverge Thicket - Fixing our mana and powering up our creatures is a must in this list, we need to deal as much damage as humanly possible with each creature and township is a perfect 4 mana pump spell that effects all creatures on the board, plus coupled with Lunarch this is like having a serious swinging force on the team, consider this a 4x for each card listed here.

Elspeth Tirel - Life gain/Making more creatures for mentor to target plus a ultimate board wipe, this is just asking for trouble, plus it costs 5 mana to bring her out, in this list she's a 3 of easy.

Champion of the Parish - If your not playing ramp but need a good one drop, this is your man for the job, 1 white mana for a 1/1 that gets bigger off humans, triggers on mentor when it hits the battlefield right away and is easy to get out consider it's cost, consider this a must have 4 of in lists that don't run Avacyn's Pilgrim as a ramp creature

The rest of humans varies from time to time, with different lists popping up everywhere if you want to take a look at the current humans lists, then i suggest you check out the star city games link that is provided, till next time this is vergil signing off.

Green/White Humans Lists ---> Star City Games Deck Database Green/White Humans

Standard Deck Examination: Mono Red

Hello everyone and welcome back to another edition of the emporium, today it's a decent article with the return to a mono red deck, the first list will be the one from Star City's Nashville Standard open and the next will obviously be a 1st place list then a primer list for this deck with a overall final list of what cards should be played in this list so let's go. When you think mono red you think quick, aggressive and rather unsubtle strikers, this is correct in this fashion and you expect this to be as fast as humanly possible while maintaining a standard feel to the deck, this first list will be the 3rd place list at the standard event at Star City Nashville.

Nick Veccie's Mono Red - 3rd Place [Standard] Star City Open, Nashville


Creatures
3 Chandra's Phoenix
2 Grim Lavamancer
2 Hero of Oxid Ridge
3 Spikeshot Elder
4 Stormblood Berserker
4 Stromkirk Noble

Spells
4 Shrine of Burning Rage
4 Brimstone Volley
2 Gut Shot
3 Incinerate
3 Arc Trail
3 Koth of the Hammer

Lands
4 Rootbound Crag
19 Mountain

Sideboard
2 Perilous Myr
1 Hero of Oxid Ridge
4 Vulshok Refugee
4 Ancient Grudge
2 Dismember
1 Arc Trail
1 Traitorous Blood

Now this list contains some of the basics of Mono Red, Koth, Shrine, Phoenix, hell even Hero of Oxid Ridge is in here to prevent the massive 1/1 tokens from chumping, not bad, what is the premise of Mono Red you ask it's simple, get your opponent to 0 life before you die, throw all your burn at him as fast as humanly possible while getting 1 and 2 drop creatures on the board in the form of Grim Lavamancer, Stromkirk Noble, Stormblood Berserker and of course Spikeshot Elder to do the maximum amount of damage in a short period of time, which of course is not surprising with this deck, now for your viewing pleasure let's take a look at the 1st place list of one David Doberne whom managed to run Mono Red to a victory at Star City Indianapolis's Standard Event just 3 days after the rotation.

David Doberne's Mono Red - 1st Place [Standard] Star City Open, Indianapolis


Creatures
3 Chandra's Phoenix
2 Goblin Arsonist
3 Grim Lavamancer
2 Hero of Oxid Ridge
2 Spikeshot Elder
4 Stormblood Berserker
4 Stormkirk Noble

Spells
4 Brimstone Volley
4 Shrine of Burning Rage
3 Arc Trail
3 Incinerate
3 Koth of the Hammer

Lands
23 Mountain

Sideboard
1 Sword of War and Peace
2 Perilous Myr
2 Hero of Oxid Ridge
3 Manic Vandal
4 Vulshok Refugee
1 Arc Trail
1 Traitorous Blood
1 Mountain

Yes your eyes do not deceive you, a land is in the sideboard of this deck, let's go over the notable differences from the 3rd place to the 1st place list, first thing is first 1st place list has 4x Hero of Oxid Ridge 2 in the main deck and 2 in the sideboard, with a Sword of War and Peace where as the 3rd place list didn't have a sword in it's list, the one constant about the deck is the 3x Koth of the Hammer/4x Shrine of Burning Rage, this plus Arc Trail and the creature base are consistent with very few changes, Goblin Arsonist is in the list where as the 3rd place list had 2 Gut Shot instead of another creature in the main deck itself , both decks are running artifact removal which is another constant in the sideboard, but a constant nonetheless with Manic Vandal being present in the first place list, with Ancient Grudge splashing green for it's flashback cost which is something the first place list doesn't have, a green splash. Pretty much all the deck is a constant, the creature base is the same almost with 1x Spikeshot Elder being removed for another copy of Grim Lavamancer but other then that the basics of the deck stay the same, onto the primer list.

MTGSalvation's Mono Red Primer List


Creatures
3 Chandra's Phoenix
2 Hero of Oxid Ridge
3 Furnace Scamp
3 Grim Lavamancer
4 Stormblood Berserker
4 Stromkirk Noble

Spells
4 Shrine of Burning Rage
4 Brimstone Volley
4 Gut Shot
3 Incinerate
3 Shock
2 Arc Trail

Lands
4 Rootbound Crag
17 Mountain

Sideboard
3 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Hero of Oxid Ridge
4 Vulshok Refugee
4 Ancient Grudge
2 Dismember
1 Arc Trail

Now if you look straight away you'll see the constant changes this deck can produce for instance, no Koth of the Hammer is present in our primer list and we splash green for the flashback cost of Ancient Grudge but this also means we cut our land count to 21 for this list so we can splash in a few extra pieces of burn namely Shock, #3 and #4 Gut Shot and of course removing Goblin Arsonist and a 3rd arc trail from the main deck to throw in 3x Furnace Scamp as another 1 drop of choice for this deck, based off the 3 list presented let's take a look at the key cards for this deck as a whole


Stormkirk Noble/Stormblood Berserker - These two are key for this deck as the 1 and 2 drops of choice, these guys are a auto 4 of in any mono red deck, making them super powerful and way better then expected.

Chandra's Phoenix - This particular 2/2 recursion flyer is perfect for this deck since we have nothing but red at our disposal except for Shrine of Burning Rage plus it has haste and should be a 3 of in mono red since it's cost is 1RR in this build and we have no ramp to speak of.

Hero of Oxid Ridge - I grant you this guy is iffy, some builds have 4, some builds have 3, i'd stick with 3 in this particular deck of choice, 2 in the main deck, 1 in the sideboard plus it's 4/2 haste and makes all 1 power or less unable to block is kinda key, did i mention battle cry for that extra few points of damage.

Grim Lavamancer - Now not only is this guy your Shock on a body but he costs a mere 1 red mana and is a 1/1, working off the spells you play and make this a late game threat means you win faster.

Shrine of Burning Rage - This is a auto 4 of in any build, it's colorless, works off the red spells/upkeep and deals damage equal to it's charge counters to target player or creature when it's sacrificed.

Arc Trail/Brimstone Volley/Incinerate - The three go to spells for burn in this, arc trails does a nifty 2 for 1, brimstone volley deals max damage when something dies, Incinerate is well, Incinerate and is stupidly fun for this deck making these at least 3 arc trail, 4 Brimstone, 3 Incinerate as a auto include in most mono red builds.

Sideboard wise is a little tough to call on this one and can vary from deck to deck, but if you know your meta well, go for it and build a SB that's pretty unstoppable if you play mono red at your local game store/tournament event, anyways that's it for me today, tommorow begins the examination of Green/White Humans and remember the lists that have tournament competition are below, till next time this is vergil signing off.

Tournament Lists ---> Mono Red Tournament Lists

Standard Deck Examination: Solar Flare

Hello everyone and welcome back to another edition of the emporium, today we will be looking at perhaps the most abused deck list since the rotation Black/Blue/White Solar Flare which was the most played deck at Star City's Nashville Standard open this past weekend with the top 16 having 7 different solar flare decks make the top 16 including one Jonathan Medina's list whom we are going to analyze today, so let's go.

Jonathan Medina's Solar Flare List - 4th Place [Standard] Star City Open, Nashville


Creatures
1 Consecrated Sphinx
1 Phantasmal Image
2 Snapcaster Mage
3 Sun Titan

Spells
3 Oblivion Ring
3 Doom Blade
3 Forbidden Alchemy
3 Think Twice
1 Tribute to Hunger
3 Day of Judgment
3 Timely Reinforcements
3 Unburial Rites

Planeswalkers
2 Jace, Memory Adept
3 Lillana of the Veil

Lands
4 Island
2 Plains
2 Swamp
4 Darkslick Shores
2 Drowned Catacomb
4 Glacial Fortress
4 Isolated Chapel
4 Seachrome Coast

Sideboard
2 Nihil Spellbomb
2 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Stony Silence
2 Dissipate
1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
1 Jin Gitixais, Core Augur
1 Jace, Memory Adept
1 Day of Judgment
2 Revoke Existence
1 Timely Reinforcements

First off when you think of Solar Flare, what comes to mind a Dragonball Z reference from the good old days when Tien used a Solar flare attack, this is different i assure you, this is a deck designed to be as devestating as possible with no drawbacks, as well as having basically 8 copies of specific spells in the deck to do the business thanks to Flashback on the Snapcaster Mage, it's also meant to control the match for as long as possible while bringing out big guns like Sun Titan and such to reuse those permanents over again after a board wipe like Day of Judgment. This means the deck to beat this year is this, but hang on we aren't done this article in fact there's a comparison i'd like to do of course with the 2nd place list of Christian Valenti

Christian Valenti's Solar Flare - 2nd Place [Standard] Star City Open, Nashville


Creatures
1 Grave Titan
1 Wurmcoil Engine
2 Phantasmal Image
3 Snapcaster Mage
2 Sun Titan

Spells
1 Batterskull
3 Oblivion Ring
1 Celestial Purge
3 Doom Blade
4 Forbidden Alchemy
3 Mana Leak
3 Think Twice
2 Day of Judgment
3 Timely Reinforcements
2 Unburial Rites

Lands
4 Island
4 Plains
2 Swamp
1 Darkslick Shores
4 Drowned Catacomb
4 Glacial Fortress
4 Isolated Chapel
3 Seachrome Coast

Sideboard
1 Wurmcoil Engine
2 Azure Mage
1 Consecrated Sphinx
1 Celestial Purge
2 Dissipate
2 Surgical Extraction
1 White Sun's Zenith
1 Day of Judgment
2 Revoke Existence
2 Sever the Bloodline

There are some serious notable differences between the two lists, for starters no walkers are present in this list. The second thing that is different is the notable change in spells/artifacts, the 2nd place list has itself a Batterskull and a Grave Titan in the mix where as medina's list doesn't, did that affect how this deck plays, yes because it got 2 places higher with the Grave/Batterskull pairing then without the two of them, meaning if you were to look at it at a perspective of something important i'd say 1 of these two make the list doable, more then likely the Batterskull since it affects the board state 2 turns earlier then the titan does. Now let's look at the primer for this deck since this deck is established and the boys over at MTGSalvation.com have come up with something in regards to this list.

Here is the primer list for the site MTGsalvation.

MTGSalvation.com Primer List - Solar Flare


Creatures
1 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Consecrated Sphinx
1 Phantasmal Image
3 Snapcaster Mage
3 Sun Titan

Spells
3 Oblivion Ring
3 Doom Blade
4 Forbidden Alchemy
3 Think Twice
1 Tribute to Hunger
3 Lillana of the Veil
3 Day of Judgment
3 Unburial Rites
3 Timely Reinforcements

Lands
4 Island
5 Plains
2 Swamp
2 Darkslick Shores
3 Drowned Catacomb
4 Glacial Fortress
4 Isolated Chapel
1 Seachrome Coast

Sideboard
2 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Oblivion Ring
2 Stony Silence
2 Dissipate
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
1 Day of Judgment
2 Revoke Existence
1 Timely Reinforcements

Now the notable differences about this primer list is that Wurmcoil Engine is a 3x in this deck 2 in the sideboard and 1 in the maindeck, while we have the obvious additions of both Surgical Extraction and Stony Silence to our sideboard for the deck, it's pretty much the same, except without Jace, Memory Adept to do the business he does so well, since there isn't a lot of black spells in this only Lillana, Unburial Rites and Tribute to Hunger in the main deck it would make sense there isn't a lot of black sources in the primer deck with 7 potential black sources in all for 3 main deck cards total, the usual creature base of Phantasmal Image, Snapcaster Mage and Sun Titan make this deck pretty damn decent with the exception of course of one Consecrated Sphinx which is only 1 of 2 draw sources in this deck, the final notable difference about this deck from the rest is the sideboard Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite to deal with the weenie matchups/tokens other then that this is one deck for the ages and i'd love to see how Dark Ascension affects this deck in the long run, perhaps a new Sorin Markov variant as a main deck card of choice or perhaps something new, we will wait and see when Dark Ascension hits in feburary of next year, till then this is vergil signing off, also i will be adding the statistics for this deck as a link below

Full List of Results ---> Solar Flare Full Results

Standard Deck Examination: Wolf-Run Red

Hello everyone and welcome back to another edition of the emporium, as promised today is a look at one of the newest standard decks to hit the scene since Innistrad's arrival into the constructed format, following the Star City Games open series today's deck is featuring a winning deck which took 1st place at the standard portion of the event by the name of Wolf-Run Red which is a variant of Red/Green Aggro Ramp apparently so let's get started, this list is courtesy of Brian Sondag

Wolf Run Red 1st Place By Brian Sondag - SCG Open Nashville [Standard]


Creatures
1 Acidic Slime
1 Birds of Paradise
3 Primeval Titan
3 Solemn Simulacrum
4 Viridian Emissary
3 Wurmcoil Engine

Spells
4 Beast Within
4 Garruk. Primal Hunter
4 Green Sun's Zenith
4 Rampant Growth
3 Slagstorm

Lands
4 Copperline Gorge
9 Forest
4 Inkmoth Nexus
2 Kessig Wolf Run
3 Mountain
4 Rootbound Crag

Sideboard
4 Ancient Grudge
1 Ratchet Bomb
1 Slagstorm
3 Sword of Feast and Famine
3 Thrun, the Last Troll
2 Tree of Redemption
1 Viridian Corrupter

As you can see via the main deck it basically says get out a Primeval Titan or a Wurmcoil Engine and use Kessig Wolf Run's special ability to maximize damage effectively with a bunch of mana dorks to support you such as Birds of Paradise/Solemn Simulacrum/Viridian Emissary and smash for damage unseen basically. Garruk, Primal Hunter is there as a reload of the hand, while giving you extra attackers as well, Beast Within to deal with nasty permanents such as Gideon Jura, etc and of course what ramp deck would be complete without Green Sun's Zenith to fetch your titans/birds/emissary's/slime.

It should be noted since this took first place at a major event it is now the deck to beat, of course that means all the other particular decks will now have sideboards to deal with this plus the usual matchups, this deck is consistently also able to 2-0 each round as seen by the SCG coverage page espically in the top 8 of the event the first 2 matchups were a 2-0 sweep, so i expect to see someone to beat this deck but hell it's sure to be a fun format again, besides this was a rogue deck present at a major tournament event with the likes of Solar Flare/Mono Red/U/W Blade and of course/RUG which are all proven and tested decks by the masters of standard, i should expect to see another run of Wolf-Run Red in the near future probably at worlds and of course other SCG events in the US, anyways that's all the time i have today, join me tommorow when i look at another SCG standard open deck in the form of Solar Flare, this is vergil signing off

Dark Ascension Rumours

Hello everyone and welcome back to another emporium update, today is the 11th of october the day after canadian thanksgiving and this is your 5th update for the month of October and today rumours of Dark Ascension are abound due to the fact a few questions were asked in the latest Mark Rosewater article on the mothership let's examine the two questions that give rumours to the next set.

Question: Why did you choose flashback over Unearth? It seems like unearth is even more horror themed.

Now his reply to this question gave us some very detailed hints about Dark Ascension or "Roll" the third and final set of Innistrad block.

Answer: Later in the block we... oh I can't tell you about this yet. Never mind, Um this is awkward. Don't worry you'll see what i'm are talking about later in the block.

So this means a potential return of "Unearth" is very likely in the near future cause let's face it unearth was a fun mechanic and shouldn't be underestimated at all, this next question was aimed more towards double faced cards then anything.

Question:  Why are the double-faced cards only creatures turning into creatures?

Answer: There are more double-faced cars coming in the block, and not all of them will be creatures transforming into creatures.

So the potential this hints at is that there are Artifacts/Enchantments that will turn into creatures alongside Planeswalkers and Creatures turning into night time forms, meaning we're not done with the double-faced card mechanic yet folks we've still got 2 whole sets to go for the potential of this. If you want to read the full article on this please go to the link below.

Full Article ---> Innistrad Questions

Next some unrelated Dark Ascension rumours were found out a while ago but never reported on here, it seems the third set "Roll" will have 2 walkers at least with one new face and a whole new backstory as well so this should prove to be interesting at least, remember these are only rumours and i will more then likely confirm them as time passes but as of now those rumours are to be taken as a piece of speculation with a grain of salt of course, well that's it for this edition tommorow i will be writing about the latest standard deck to take the world by storm, R/G Werewolves sounds like fun, till next time this is vergil signing off.

Draft Report: October 7th, 2011

Hello folks and welcome back to the 2nd innistrad draft report, today's edition of the draft report will chronicle the second official innistrad draft for Friday Night Magic at my local game store 401 games toys and sportscards, friday's draft marked the first official time i traded as well but that's for another part of the article, we are here to chronicle the draft itself so let's begin there were 28 players this week at my local meta and all of them wanted a shot at this month's FNM card Contagion Clasp here is what i drafted

Red/Black Vampires/Zombies


Lands
8 Mountain
8 Swamp
1 Ghost Quarter

Creatures
1 Abattoir Ghoul
1 Diregraf Ghoul
1 Walking Corpse
1 Vampire Interloper
1 Crossway Vampires
1 Ghoulraiser
1 Rotting Fensnake
1 Bloodcrazed Neonate
2 Riot Devils
1 Markov Patrician
1 Rakish Heir
1 Night Revelers

Spells
2 Bump in the Night
1 Moan of the Unhallowed
1 Cobbled Wings
1 Ancient Grudge
1 Trepanation Blade
1 Curse of Oblivion
1 Desperate Ravings
1 Traitorous Blood
1 Night Terror

Remaining Draft Picks
1 Evil Twin [Only Rare]
2 Typhoid Rats
1 Kessig Wolf
1 Pitchburn Devils
1 Rage Thrower
1 Ghoulcaller's Bell
1 Cobbled Wings
1 Dream Twist
1 Feeling of Dread
1 Kindercatch
1 Curiosity
1 Wreath of Geists
1 Maw of the Mire
1 Curse of the Pierced Heart
2 Nightbird's Clutches

Onto the recap of the 4 rounds of friday then, let's start with round 1.

Round 1 vs Blue/Black/Red Mill


This was a very odd matchup to start the match since my opponent ended up at the draft table farthest from me so i didn't know what to expect Game 1 was a rather slow but well paced game with my opponent playing 2 Deranged Assistant's during the first game however he also managed to fix his mana enough to play Olivia Voldaren whom pinged my 2/2 tokens after i played Moan of the Unhallowed then stole them and the one she stole had Trepnation Blade and Cobbled Wings meaning i couldn't block and she swung for lethal for the first match. Game 2 was a bit of a slow paced match up with my opponent constantly milling himself via the Armored Skaab and Deranged Assistant's while holding me off by bouncing my tokens/countering my stuff, eventually though i managed to get through for the final points of damage and onto game 3, Game 3 was a barn burner, i managed turn 1 Diregraf Ghoul into a turn 2 Cobbled Wings when i found out my opponent had 3 Deranged Assistant's i was like wtf and i let him mill himself while taking one of a Armored Skaab every turn for 5 turns till eventually he said "You don't have any sportsmanship, do you" then he conceded, what a ass

1-0 for me as of this point.

Round 2 vs White/Blue Aggro


The card i now despise is Cloistered Youth/Unholy Fiend as it was my bane during this match, i tried to play Moan of the Unhallowed and a few other creatures to back me up namely Riot Devils however with him having 2 Cloistered Youth's turning into Unholy Fiends i was overwhelmed did i mention he brought out nothing else that game that i can recall, kinda wow much, onto game 2. Game 2 was a land screw for my opponent, since he never drew his fourth land and eventually scooped after i overwhelmed him via Moan of the Unhallowed/Bloodcrazed Neonate and we were onto game 3, game 3 is where i made the crucial error of him having a human when i misread the Night Revelers thinking it was me who had to have a human oops on my part, i realized my mistake but eventually lost to a nasty overrun of his Unholy Fiend while having nothing to play or block with.

1-1 at this point.

Game 3 vs No One


Let me explain why, my original opponent didn't show up because he dropped from the event prior to round 3, so that left me wondering, go up and down stairs to figure out why and explain to the tournament organizer what exactly happened according to the other players, at that point i was like huh and realized a win was a win so i took it and went onto a nice 2-1

2-1 at this point.

Game 4 vs Red/Black Death


Due to the previous screw up my opponent was another person all together, after getting it sorted out since my win was counted as a loss previous round, due to a mistake on the tournament organizer's end, i got paired with another opponent after costing 10 minutes in the round, it was nothing short of stupid that it was, i don't even thinking it was worth mentioning that i lost 2-0 due to a lot of early mistakes and Bump in the Night which is the worst 1 drop spell of the set, never draft that stupid card unless you get 6 of em.

2-2 at this point and that ended the night, again i fell short of the prize contention due to annoyances/etc oh well next week i'm going to skip draft and go straight for EDH instead where i will be putting my Mimeoplasm EDH deck to the test against the best toronto has to offer, till next time this is vergil signing off.

November 2011 FNM Card - Go for the Throat, Speculation for Next Buy-A-Box Promotion Card

Hello everyone and welcome back to another emporium update for the month of october, today i will be talking about two things, the november Friday Night Magic promotion card and the slated names for the Buy-A-Box and Prerelease for Dark Ascension the 2nd set of the Innistrad block so let's go.

As we all well know friday night magic is all about cool promos and the ability to play magic on those days, whether it be draft or standard, today i bring the official photo of the new FNM card for november 2011.

Go for the Throat which was featured in Mirrodin Besieged as the next big removal spell of choice is the choice card for november 2011, it also has new artwork for it as well as it having the obvious symbol for a promo card of this caliber, now let's compare it to the old artwork which was the original

Pretty different eh from the original, plus it's the english version of the text this time instead of the different language used in the photo below, anyways time to move onto the speculated names for the Buy a Box and Prerelease for Dark Ascension the 2nd set of the Innistrad block.

Here is what we know so far, the names of Ravenous Demon and Gravecrawler are the names of the two promo cards so far, the demon is rumoured to be the buy a box promotion card and the Gravecrawler is rumoured to be the prerelease card for the set, now known information aside time to speculate, the demon sounds like something in black, the gravecrawler is sounding a hybrid type of card, perhaps this is the notion that the hybrid cards are coming back, who knows, names aside this is pretty much all we know for the set so far since wizards doesn't seem to wanna give us hints as of yet these days, though i could be wrong like always but again speculation is speculation it means nothing till proof is shown, if i know wizards though they will be tight lipped about this until the worlds event in november, since that is the event before the prerelease of Dark Ascension which is also rumoured to have a new Sorin Markov variant in it, due to the pictures shown at the Penny Arcade Expo, anyways that's all for today i just wanted to bring these two things to everyone's attention i will be continuing with my set review as always and expect it to be shoved down the pipeline before the 20th of this month, till next time this is vergil signing off.

Innistrad Event Decks: What to Expect, Deck Lists

Hello everyone and welcome to another edition of the emporium, in today's first real edition for october it's time to discuss the Innistrad Event Decks since they aren't due out for a couple of weeks at least, let's first take a look at the colors of both decks.

Ok so one is supposed to be Mono White and the other a combination Blue/Black/Green from various sets in standard now you'd think the Blue/Black/Green would have Birthing Pod i am afraid to say it doesn't because here are the lists for these decks

Mono White Hold the Line

Creatures (22)
1 Champion of the Parish
4 Doomed Traveler
2 Elite Vanguard
4 Gideon's Lawkeeper
4 Accorder Paladin
1 Elite Inquisitor
4 Fiend Hunter
2 Mirran Crusadar

Other (14)
2 Silver-Inlaid Dagger
4 Bonds of Faith
2 Honor of the Pure
2 Butcher's Cleaver
4 Oblivion Ring

Land (24)
24 Plains

Sideboard (15)
3 Nihil Spellbomb
3 Suture Priest
4 Leonin Relic-Warder
4 Celestrial Purge
1 Nevermore

B/U/G Deathfed

Creatures (21)

1 Birds of Paradise
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Boneyard Wyrm
3 Viridian Emissary
2 Merfolk Looter
1 Splinterfright
4 Armored Skaab
2 Acidic Slime

Other Spells (15)
1 Ratchet Bomb
4 Mulch
1 Gnaw to the Bone
4 Forbidden Alchemy
2 Bonehoard
2 Spider Spawning
1 Green Sun Zenith

Lands (24)
1 Hinterland Harbor
13 Forest
7 Island
3 Swamp

Sideboard (15)
3 Naturalize
4 Flashfreeze
4 Negate
2 Gnaw to the Bone
2 Mind Control

These lists are courtesy of MTGSalvation and may or may not be legitimate, but till further notice this could i mean COULD be the Innistrad event decks which are supposed to come out before game day this set, so keep that in mind as you think about these decks and their costs which adding up the rares for the Mono White deck value in at about 24 dollars that's just rares mind you. The rares for the B/U/G deck value in at as well as 24 dollars, according to the totals of Star city games, which isn't surprising, so your going to get 24 dollars worth of rares plus whatever else the cards are worth in each event deck, not bad but not good either, when this is confirmed to be the 2 lists i will do a follow up to this in the monthly news for sure, but that's all for now, if anyone was curious i've finished part 2 of my Innistrad set review and it can be found at  the link below.

Innistrad Set Review Part 2 ----> Blue's Set Review

Until next time this is vergil signing off.

Draft Report: September 30th, 2011

Hello all and welcome to a draft report by me vergil here at the emporium, yesterday was the first chance to draft Innistrad outside of the prerelease and let me tell you it was the bomb, let's show off the deck i managed to put together, while i wasn't forcing Green/White it's what i got for the draft

Deck - Green/White Aggro


Lands
11 Plains
6 Forest

Creatures
2 Doomed Traveler
1 Champion of the Parish
2 Village Bell-Ringer
1 Avacynian Priest
2 Elder Cathar
1 Spectral Rider
1 Selfless Cathar
1 Abbey Griffin
1 Chapel Geist
1 Slayer of the Wicked
1 Orchard Spirit
1 Grizzled Outcasts
1 Kindercatch

Spells
1 Spare from Evil
1 Paraselene
1 Rebuke
1 Caravan Vigil
1 Make a Wish
1 Inquisitor's Flail
1 Cobbled Wings
1 Sharpened Pitchfork

My remaining picks were as follows for this draft

1 Night Revelers
1 Rotting Fensnake
1 Moon Heron
1 Furor of the Bitten
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Armored Skaab
1 Infernal Plunge
1 Lost in the Mist
1 Silent Departure
1 Graveyard Shovel
1 Ghoulcaller's Bell
1 Silverchase Fox
3 Ranger's Guile
1 Prey Upon
1 Grave Bramble
1 Urgent Exorcism


Let's start with the recap of the four rounds shall we, round 1 was a doozy and didn't last very long for me but it went all three games.

Round 1 vs Blue/White Spirits
Game 1 went fast and the spirits player ended up dropping a bunch of weenies to interrupt my path of destruction, i managed to get out Champion of the Parish in the early game but couldn't finish it since my opponent hit me three times with a evasion 4/4 and it was pretty much game over, onto game 2. Game 2 was a decent fit and such, with me dropping all of my early drops quickly and quietly, getting enough damage past his land screw to move onto game 3. Game 3 was a barn burner, we traded blows via Inquisitor's Flail and eventually i ran out of steam, i managed to stop his Bonds of Faith via Paraselene but the on presence threats on the board were too much and i ended up scooping to a 10 damage attack after being at ten life with no way to block, onto round 2.

0-1 at this point

Round 2 vs Blue/White Humans
Game 1 was super fast with me dropping threat after threat, Champion of the Parish into Spectral Rider, my opponent was only able to drop 1 or 2 creatures prior to me swinging for lethal on turn 8 with a Rider equipped with the flail since he didn't have any creatures by that point, onto game 2. Game 2 was another fast one with again i dropped Champion and Rider in succession again luck i think not, after a turn 4 drop flail and equip putting it on the rider i swung for near lethal then the game stalled for a turn with him putting a Doomed Traveler onto the board which was dealt with rather quickly, i ended up taking my first 2-0 of the night via this match.

1-1 at this point in time.

Round 3 vs Blue/Green Mill
My opponent tried to mill me game 1, but had no defenses other then a Fortress Crab which couldn't do much but block my stronger creatures, eventually he dropped a Curse of the Bloody Tome enchanting it onto me of course but i quickly dealt with that via Paraselene, swinging for lethal 2 turns later, onto game 2. Game 2 was really slow, he had the crab again while i dropped turn 1 Champion, turn 2 Doomed Traveler into turn 3 Orchard Spirit which couldn't be blocked by him, eventually he scooped after i dropped flail and rider ending the match in another 2-0 sweep.

2-1 at this point still in prize contention.

Round 4 vs Black/Red Undead
This was a really fast paced match, i ended up getting overrun via Moan of the Unhallowed and Riot Devils while managing to deal with a Screeching Bat/Stalking Vampire via a Rebuke which lead to a game 1 defeat, game 2 ho!. Game 2 was a real quickie as well i managed to get all my big threats all he was able to drop was the bat and riot devils, i overran him for lethal, onto game 3. Game 3 went as fast as the first two, ended up dropping a Orchard Spirit and a Abbey Griffin along with my new favorite white card Chapel Geist however the evasion wasn't enough since i was overran via Brimstone Volley into another Moan of the Unhallowed and he even managed to bring out a Rage Thrower with me eventually scooping at the point in time, ending it in a 2-1 victory for my opponent.

2-2 after round 4

Overall the 4 rounds were pretty good, if i might say this, your bound to have a player whom rare drafts at your table and if you do get that type of thing well it's not that bad since drafting isn't all about the money rares such as Lillana of the Veil, etc. Instead go with something your familar with and run with it, even if it hurts you in the long run, your bound to get used to drafting Innistrad, if i might say this is actually a fun set to draft period you've got so much potential to draft in Innistrad it's not even funny, stay tuned next week when i do this all again for kicks, till next time this is vergil signing off.