Jacob from GatheringMagic.com and I were lucky to get our hands on the Duel Deck: Phyrexia vs the Coalition early I don’t know how he did it, it just happened. Imagine the worst thing possible. Yeah, that’s the ticket.
Anyway, here’s the trailer for the video:
Filed under: Duel Decks, GatheringMagic, Magic: The Gathering | 5 Comments »
So deep undergound, you can't find it anywhere
Listen, no matter how you feel about the Reserved List, it’s clear what the position that Wizards has taken is to reprint a few cards, then lock up the Reserved List forever. That’s fine, it’s a business decision as there have been several WotC employees who have come out against the Reserved List. I’m not here to get into what it happened, or what it’s been doing to the game (for those of you following me on Twitter, that’s been my secret project for a while, a huge, huge Reserved List article that goes over the whole situation and possible solution. It will appear soon).
What we have to do is move on. Of course, there’s the issue that most people are worried about: Eternal formats. While it does close off such re-printings of certain cards, there was almost no chance of WotC reprinting the Power 9, or any of those high cost cards. The worry comes from a format not getting an new players, so the growth gets stunted and therefore, eventually “dies off.” I know what it’s like when no one around you doesn’t play the same format as you. And since that has happened to Vintage, people (like me), are worried the same thing might happen to Legacy, right as it’s starting to grow and get more and more popular.
I believe that niche cards can be expensive because they fit in niche decks. The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale only sees play in one deck, 43 land. While it’s disgusting to see a land see prices of $300+, the deck only runs one and it’s only one deck. Lion’s Eye Diamond is approaching $50, needs a playset, and is seen in one or two decks. Force of Will is practically $50 as well, but sees play in a variety of decks, and was uncommon. But I believe that it’s all okay for all of that to happen (maybe not Force, but that’s another article) for Legacy to survive if not for one thing.
Dual Lands.
They’re on the Reserved List too.
Filed under: Design Class, Legacy, Magic: The Gathering, Reserved List, Wizards of the Coast | 6 Comments »
This is what happens when you find a stranger in the Alps!
Let me tell you something that might shock you: I’ve never been in a large tournament Top 8 before. As you know from previous posts, I don’t get to do all the much “serious” playing and when I do, I don’t play such decks that are commonly referred to as “The Best Deck in the Format;” it’s more of a fun roguish build.
Anyway, when I watch players in the Top 8, I always imagine them having a good time having fun and enjoying the moment. But before the matches, I think they would trash talk to each other. “You think your Blue-White control deck can really handle my Jund deck? Ha!” You know, things like that. I just take it one step further.
This is semi-dedicated to/inspired by Kurt Porter, the 8 year-old who made Day 2 of Grand Prix: Kuala Lumpur. He’s not old enough to see this movie, and is as old as the oldest cards in Extended. I don’t want to see Chris Hanson or have people up in arms over this, it’s all a spoof. NSFW language follows.
The Top 8 Lebowski
It’s the last round of a large local Magic tournament. The event has been pretty tense as the night continues on. Three friends, CHRIS, GREG, and NELSON are sitting at a side table playing EDH while the last table is still competing. Chris knows he’s going to be in the Top 8 and is trying to ease his mind while playing some EDH with his friends. Also on his mind is the fact that he’s helping his friend who had his card shop burgled and the cards are being held for ransom by the unknown party.
INT. GAMING CENTER – NIGHT
People are gathered around the last two people competing for the coveted Top 8 spot. JESUS QUINTANA and HENRY are battling it out. The music emitting from JESUS’ headphones is Hotel California by The Gypsy Kings. As JESUS gets ready for his next turn, he shuffles his hand around, licks one of his cards lovingly, stares intensely at his opponent, then untaps and draws. The camera pans in towards his card hand and off the right is the name “JESUS” stitched on his shirt pocket above a Magic blog’s name. With a smooth motion, he drops a Bloodbraid Elf on the table, and Cascades into Maelstrom Pulse, killing his opponent’s only creature.
This insures his victory.
As the beat of the music changes, JESUS rises up from the table and starts to dance. He points to his friend LIAM as he points back. JESUS starts to strut to the judge’s table with his slip in hand as he looks towards CHRIS, GREG, and NELSON who are half playing EDH and half watching him. NELSON watches JESUS’ every move as JESUS blows him a kiss. After he gives the slip to the judge, JESUS sticks his arm up in the air and points to the sky. Read more »
Filed under: Enough Pop Culture References Already, Magic Cinema, Magic: The Gathering | 2 Comments »
What would you caption this image?
This is what happens when you don’t follow me on Twitter (@mtgcolorpie), you miss out fantastic contests and games. Sure, there have been better contests on twitter such as ManaNation’s win Revised and Legend’s packs and GGSLive’s contest which has been going on for about 20 weeks (is that thing finally over?). But with this game, it’s all in good fun and coming up with something creative (Aww, isn’t it cute, the little Magic blog is trying to compete with the big boys).
I’ve taken an image which seems to be a “confirmed” (by non-WotC sources, but said they got it from Wizards) for the new set Rise of the Eldrazi. All I asked you to do was to tweet me (or use the #TGotD tag for Twitter Game of the Day) a caption of the image and if you win, you get a signed card by me.
See, in MaRo’s twitter contests you don’t win anything.
Me: 1, Rosewater: 0.
What? They’re challenges? Whatever. I’m putting my own cards on the line here.
Normally I wouldn’t do a blog post on this, but I wanted to share with everyone the great answers I received for this contest. If you guys liked this, then I’ll gladly do more. What’s funny about this is that people saw different things in the image; it’s like a Rorschach test. Some people saw a mushroom, others a crab, and others some very strange things. And now, the captions:
Crabs Category:
cikesef: we have finally found it, men! AT LAST, A GIANT ENEMY CRAB!
Filed under: And now for something completely different, Magic: The Gathering, Rise of the Eldrazi, Twitter, Twitter Game of the Day | 5 Comments »
Whoa, this is the first of March; why are we looking at a set that’s two months away? Wasn’t Worldwake released like three weeks ago?
Oh, yeah, spoiler.
As captured by Gatheringmagic.com so nicely, Dailymtg spoiled this card on March 1st (click the link, it’s worth it), so it’s all fair game to talk about. Now that we have to wait until April 17th to hold this card in the Rise of the Eldrazi pre-release, we might as well talk endlessly about it. And of course, we’ll answer every question that’s going on through your mind.
So, what’s going on here?
What we have here is the first official spoiler card for Rise of the Eldrazi. Gleaming information from this and Eye of Ugin, we can actually get a good idea of the set.
Filed under: Magic: The Gathering, Rise of the Eldrazi, Worldwake | 8 Comments »
Oh no, my Angels!
Rosterbation is a term that I learned from the great Seattle Mariner’s blog USSMariner (couldn’t find it’s true origin). When talking about dream lineups and rotations and trading players the term gets thrown around a lot in comments and forums (as well as the verb “Stop Rosterbating”). The ability to make the dream roster using whatever players there are in the game is something that passes through the mind of almost any sports fan and engages in great conversations. It’s not a bad thing, and in fact can be a healthy from time to time.
Magic has it’s own semi-related term: “Magical Christmasland” as coined by Brian David-Marshall (@Top8Games) (or Michael Jacob). It presents what the best situation is to get the most explosive opening hand draw. If your deck worked exactly like this every time it would be unstoppable. Of course, with Magic there is randomization and the very real possibility that you may never get a hand like that. When players are looking at new cards for the first time, it’s always the Magical Christmasland situation that gets people up in arms about how good a card actually is. It’s the hope that drives people to play those decks for the one time it does work.
Rosterbation is about what you would love to have but can’t get for a set of something while Magical Christmasland is the order that you would prefer it to be. There is cross-over in both areas: In baseball you want your lead-off guys to get on and your 3 & 4 hitters to drive them home (Magical Christmasland).
Today I’m going to talk about the other side: rosterbation for Magic. No, it’s not about acquiring cards that you need to build a deck, but having access to the cards needed to build it. Confused? Well answer me this: can you build a reanimator deck in Standard at this current time: (SHA, CON, REB, M10, ZEN, WWK)?
Filed under: Alara Reborn, Conflux, M10, Magic: The Gathering, Rise of the Eldrazi, Shards of Alara, Tenth Edition, Worldwake, Zendikar | 3 Comments »
Have I sold out? I don’t know. Since Lotus Cobra is Evil has finished its run, I’ve been approached by advertisers of all kinds wanting to promote their services on my blog. Needing the money (after all, I need to buy more Magic cards), I decided it was time.
So, here’s how it’s going to work: On some Sundays, I’m going to show you the sponsor of the week. Make sure you go and buy their stuff. Here to kick it off is our first sponsor:
Next week, if you’re lucky, you might get the debut of something awesome. Still working out the details.
(Click here if you don’t get the joke, it goes to a NSFW (Language) -YouTube Clip)
Filed under: Enough Pop Culture References Already, Hopefully People See I'm Joking, I don't care I did this for myself, Weekly MtGCP Sponsor | 1 Comment »
Sure, only 2 packs, but awesome
(Editor’s Note: multiple images in this post. Sorry dial-upers)
Oh Mark Curry, where did you go?
This past weekend was the Worldwake prerelease. I had fun, met a few friends and fellow bloggers, as well as got something so awesome done, everyone who saw it cried intently at its beauty (they should’ve sent a poet). Oh, yeah I played some cards as well.
I met up with fellow bloggers GatheringMagic.com. They had decided to come out to the 6:30 am flight to get done early and go in another flight or do whatever crazy people do when they want to do a 6:30 am flight. I got there around 10ish, signed up for my flight, and found Reinhart in the middle of one of his matches. After being a ninja, we decided that we would meet up for an EDH game between rounds.
(Awesome aside) I was called to my flight and I was seated next to Brian David-Marshall (@top8games). I don’t know if you’ve heard about him; I guess he writes for a little website called “dailymtg.com” and has done a couple of other things. Whatever. I introduced myself to him earlier when I spotted him earlier registering for a flight and boom, sitting right next to him. While we opened packs, he showed me what he opened. He needed some basic land so we traded some (I asked him to sign an island he did, which was really nice of him). We played a couple quick games waiting for our round to be called, and unsurprisingly he beat me both times with his awesomeness. (/aside)
After round 2 (where I was 2-0), I caught up with the GatheringMagic guys again and we started to play a little EDH. There were complaints that they need sunglasses because my cards were all foil. After it was pointed out by someone actually paying attention to the game that Reinhart had an illegal land in play (one that made another color besides his General), we all complained that the game was tainted. We were forced to move our game because another flight that needed the table space and I my next round was about to start. We departed our ways (Leaf and Reinhart left because they got there at 6:30 am, and I had my next round), agreeing that we would defeat each other next time.
My prize winnings for going 2-1-1 was 2 packs. In the second pack (as you can see above) was a Jace. That’s right, the card that’s pre-ordering for $50. Getting a Jace was an awesome experience; I was high-fiving people and some of the other players came and saw their first real life Jace. The look on their face when they saw it was pretty cool. I bragged to GathteringMagic, displaying my winnings. He wanted to trade his 4-0 flight for my Jace (which I think is in some violation of the DCI on so many levels), then when I refused, he called me out. Multiple times.
Well, this post is for you, Reinhart.
Reinhart is obsessed with Jace; it’s actually pretty sad, he’s got a tramp stamp with Jace’s face on it. So, after the GatheringMagic’s guys left, giving me a bad time about having to go finish my flight, it was sweet to open one of these. When I awoke the next morning, I found my Jace missing from my card box. I looked everywhere for it, thinking I might have left it at the pre-release, but then I saw something moving on my table. It was Jace.
He was moving.
Apprently, this new Planeswalker is so powerful, he can do anything.
I took some photos of Jace exploring his new surroundings. Let’s follow him.
Jace is showing his former self who's boss.
Filed under: Enough Pop Culture References Already, GatheringMagic, Hopefully People See I'm Joking, I don't care I did this for myself, Magic: The Gathering, Wizards of the Coast, Worldwake | 3 Comments »
I hate to say this, but the comic has reached its finale; like all good things, this too shall come to an end.
Last week was the last new Lotus Cobra is Evil and here are the two Christmas comics that go in their rightful place. Instead of letting it end last week, I wanted to show it in its entirety with the poetic bookmark ending and its proper place in the order of the comic.
Life has focused Sixten’s attention elsewhere and I wish him all the luck in the world. It was an honor hosting his comic and as long as I have this blog (No end in sight), I will continue to do so (links to all the comics here).
Sixten said this about LciE:
Thanks to everyone who enjoyed Lotus Cobra is Evil during its short, 14-strip run…You made this all worth it.
No, thank you.
So, here’s the final two comics for Lotus Cobra is Evil (As always, and will be done by the amazing talent of HouseofSixten.com)
Next Sunday? I finally sell out and get sponsors. You won’t believe who I got.
Filed under: Lotus Cobra is Evil, Magic: The Gathering, Zendikar | Leave a Comment »
(Editor’s Note: Look, if you don’t know what’s going on after the first picture there’s nothing I can do for you; stop reading the post. If I didn’t get your favorite in here, I apologize, there might be a follow-up. – MtGCP)
INT. – WIZARDS OF THE COAST MEETING ROOM – MORNING
MARK ROSEWATER, KEN NAGLE, ELAINE CHASE are all sitting at a table in a conference room staring at a blue curtain that has been set up for a presentation. The three can hear hushed voices behind the curtain, but can’t understand them.
MARO
Listen, Ken. I’m really liking your new set, Worldwake. All of us are proud for you for what you did, especially for the first time leading a set.
KAN
Well, I’m really proud of it myself.
MARO
And I find it a little endearing that you want to kind of take over everything for this set including preview cards and advertising…
ELAINE
Hey, as head of Magic Brand, he’s made my job a easier.
MARO
But why do you want to go with these guys when we already have?
KEN
Well, I have a friend from California who’s friend said to give these guys a chance. They come from a different background and they have some new ideas and how we can market ourselves differently. Apparently, one of them’s really into Magic.
MARO
Alright, we’ll give them a chance. At least it’s not those two idiots this time.
ELAINE
I never got to meet them.
MARO
Count yourself lucky.
They look at the curtain and see a hand sneak out from behind it. It presses play on the CD player and the room is filled with a horn intro. The three look a little confused.
MARO
(Cont’d)
Wow, I haven’t heard this song in forever. I can’t quite remember it’s name…
After the drum intro, the song goes into its chorus and a man rips open the curtain and jumps out. He’s got cards in each one of his hands, a knife in his mouth and dancing spasticly to the music. The three WotC employees are in horror.
Filed under: Elaine Chase, I don't care I did this for myself, Ken Nagle, Magic Celebrity Commercial, Magic: The Gathering, Mark Rosewater, Worldwake | 1 Comment »
M:tG Color Pie RSS Feed
Robby
What... is your quest?
To write a blog about Magic: the Gathering design
What... is your favorite color?
Blue, no Green! AHHHHHHH!
Send all complaints and concerns to:
mtgcolorpie@gmail.com
