In General: The Value of Vintage Masters

Hello and welcome back to another In General. The column where we discuss just about anything really. Long time followers of the blog will know that I rarely touch upon the subject of finance. I find price speculation and arbitrage to be a sordid business. In most cases I would rather not mix business with pleasure.

However, my interest has been piqued by the new Vintage Masters product. I, like many others, am thrilled to get the chance to play with Vintage-Legal cards on MtGO. At the time of this writing I haven't yet drafted the set, but I hear the format is a blast; a true paradise for drafters who favor high synergy decks. The only thing I am not excited about is the price tag.

Like its predecessor Modern Masters, Vintage Masters boosters carry a higher price tag. Historically, speaking, opening booster packs has never resulted in higher expected value than simply leaving it in the package. Very few sets contain a high enough density of chase cards to incentivize people to open boxes en masse, ex. Zendikar/Worldwake. When this occurs, the price of those chase cards comes down quickly as the market becomes saturated, ex. Shocklands in Return to Ravnica Block.

There are examples of high-value cards from box sets that drive the sale value of the product up, ex. True Name Nemesis in Commander 2013. This is due almost entirely to the limited supply of the product that has been manufactured, ex. From the Vault series. With an online-only release, supply cannot be a limiting factor. You can open virtual booster packs for days and they will never run out as long as you keep buying. They limit the supply artificially by only offering the chance to buy or draft the product for a limited amount of time, occasionally allowing second and third chances in the form of 'throwback drafts'.

So how does VMA compare? Is it worth it to crack them open? What is the expected value from a pack? I am setting out to answer that question. I have compiled a chart of all the cards of Rare and higher rarity. Using some information about the density of rarities provided by Wizards: Here and here. I am going to attempt to compute the average ticket value of an opened pack of VMA. Below is the chart. Followed by the answers to a few questions I know people will have.

Card Name	Value (tix)
Ancestral Recall	113		Total EV per pack:
Black Lotus	200		3.232140985
Mox Emerald	82
Mox Jet	82		Base odds: 1/53
Mox Pearl	82
Mox Ruby	86
Mox Sapphire	115
Time Walk	78		Avg
Time Twister	25		95.88888889
Armageddon	1
Balance	1		Expected value per pack:
Bazaar of Baghdad	6		1.809224319
Channel	0.5
City in a Bottle	0.5		Base odds: 1/8
Coercive Portal	0.5
Dack Fayden	4
Demonic Tutor	2		Avg
Eureka	0.5		2.833333333
Fastbond	1
Jace TMS	12
Library of Alexandria	2		EV per pack:
Lion's Eye Diamond	20		0.354166667
Mana Crypt	5
Mana Drain	11
Marchesa, the Black Rose	0.5
Memory Jar	0.5
Mishra's Workshop	6
Morphling	0.5
Muzzio, Visionary Architect	0.5
Oath of Druids	3
Scourge of the Throne	0.5
Skullclamp	0.5
Sol ring	1
Time Vault	1
Tolarian Academy	1
Upheaval	0.5
Wheel of Fortune	1
Yawgmoth's bargain	0.5
Yawgmoth's will	1
academy elite	0.25
acncient tomb	2.25		Base odds 7/8
ankh of mishra	0.25
badlands	3		AVG
baleful force	0.25		1.221428571
baleful strix	0.5
basandra, battle seraph	0.25
bayou	4		EV per pack:
beserk	0.25		1.06875
brago, king eternal	0.25
burning of xinye	0.25
burning wish	1
chaos warp	1
clickslither	0.25
control magic	0.25
council's judgment	0.5
crater hellion	0.25
crescnedo of war	0.25
crovax the cursed	0.25
cruel bargain	0.25
cursed scroll	0.25
dack's duplicate	1
decree of justice	0.25
derganged hermit	0.25
drakestown forgotten	0.25
edric, spymaster of trest	1
ephemeron	0.25
eternal dragon	0.5
flowstone sculpture	0.25
flusterstorm	1.5
force of will	24
future sight	0.25
gamble	1
genesis	0.25
gerard's battle cry	0.25
gigapede	0.25
goblin lackey	0.25
goblin piledriver	0.25
grand coliseum	0.25
grenzo, dungeon warden	1
hermit druid
ichorid	1
jareth, leonin titan	0.25
karmic guide	2
karn, silver golem	0.25
keldon necropolis	0.25
kjeldoran outpost	0.25
kongming, sleeping dragon	0.25
lake of the dead	0.25
laquatus's champion	0.25
lightning dragon	0.25
living death	1
magister of worth	0.25
mana vault	0.5
masticore	0.25
mind's desire	0.25
nature's ruin	0.25
necropotence	0.25
nevinyrral's disk	0.25
norwood priestess	0.25
null rod	0.5
palinchron	0.25
parallax wave	0.25
plateau	2
plea for power	0.25
pedator, flagship	0.25
realm seekers	0.25
recurring nightmare	1
regrowth	0.5
reign of the pit	0.25
ring of gix	0.25
rofellos, llanowar emissary	1
rorix bladewing	0.25
saproling burst	0.25
savannah	3
scrubland	3
sea drake	0.25
selvala explorer returned	0.25
shivan wurm	0.25
silvos, rogue elemental	0.25
smokestack	1
sphere of resistance	2
spirit cairn	0.25
spirit mirror	0.25
spiritmonger	0.25
starstorm	0.25
strip mine	1
stroke of genius	0.25
sulfuric vortex	0.5
survival of the fittest	2
sylvan library	2
taiga	3
thawing glaciers	0.5
tradewind rider	0.25
tropical island	6
tundra	10
underground sea	12
vampiric tutor	2
visara the dreadful	0.25
volcanic island	12
volrath's shapeshifter	0.25
winds of wrath	0.25
woldgorger dragon	0.25
yavimaya hollow	0.25
zhalfirin crusader	0.25

FAQ:

"What about foils?" - I didn't have a sufficient body of reliable information to base the price of foils on. They are valuable, and do add to the EV of opening a pack, but I couldn't state that additional value quantitatively at the time of this writing.

"What about Commons, Uncommons, or card X?" - There are certainly some Commons and Uncommons that carry value. The problem is that they tend to lose that value very quickly as more booster packs are opened. This is an ASSUMPTION of my research method: As time goes on, the total EV of the C/U cards in a VMA pack will approach zero. The same can be true of any individual card that carries value. Classical economics clearly explains that each pack of VMA opened will marginally decrease the value of all copies of card X.

"Where did you get your numbers?" - Searching through the classified section on MtGO. Looking specifically for BOTS buying individual copies of the card in question. Not the value from wholesale bots or human buyers. This 'data' is only as reliable as you believe it to be. It was true at the time it was collected, but not necessarily true for the future. Also: I am only one person, looking at a small number of classified listings, this is not a representative sample. For many cards, I did some rounding. For many other cards that are not sought after, finding an exact value wasn't possible. So, for cards that basically have no value I set a minimum price floor. Mythics are valued at 0.5, Rares at 0.25.

"Your math is wrong because reasons." - You must phrase your answer in the form of a question. Also, yes. My math is wrong. It is simplified. Potentially over-simplified. I don't have all the information I would need to make it 100% accurate. That information could potentially be available or become available though. If you have seen a better predictive model elsewhere, please share in the comments.

"Can I get a blank copy of this spreadsheet to use on any set?" - No. Go make it yourself ya mooch.

"Are you a certified expert in any of the following fields....?" - No. I mean probably not.

"Are you a wizard, Harry?" - Brilliant, Hermione.

Card Corner: Scourge of the Throne

Heya Zoners!

I'm back on this glorious Thor's Day to bring you a card from Conspiracy I feel is worthy of the Mjolnir-wielder himself- the beat-me-over-the-head mythic dragon, Scourge of the Throne, or as I like to call it, "Scourge of Dethrone."

While it's probably no surprise that this card represents a colossal amount of damage, I find there's sometimes a huge discrepancy between the card's rules text and in-game practical application.

This was something I thought could very well be the case with Magic's latest Dragon. It's a strange phenomenon, but with so many variables, including design and playgroup, and perception of threat, you never know how something is going to perceived. In my head I refer to this as the "Odric Glasses," a strange set of lenses that seem to force us to want to spend removal on cards that feel more than dangerous.

Surely, this is something to spend removal on, no holds barred, especially if your opponent is winning on the bottom line, in terms of life total. The combination of Dethrone, evasion, and an extra attack phase is the proverbial "Spicy Meatball" symbol of quality, and in the two games in which I've played it, Scourge of Dethrone has been the MVP of these matches, keeping me in games when I'm 10-20 life points behind, and in this small not-even sample size, even turning games around.

Now, I haven't had a chance to put him out in multiplayer, where the removal will be plenty, but 1v1 matchups have really given him the extra turn necessary to attempt an attack. Still, with protection, haste, or a combination of the two, Scourge of Dethrone could make a case for being one of the better aggressive Dragons in the format.

I know I'm still not telling you guys what you don't know, but if there was any doubt, or apprehension about its $4 price tag, consider this the endorsement you need to get yourself a copy and Aggro your opponents into submission.

I know my opinion isn't the only one, so share your thoughts if you've gotten a chance to see Scourge in action.

Pass.
-UL

Command Zone OG's #5: Axis of Grixis

Heya Zoners! Hope your Tuesday's going well.

We're back today with another installment of Command Zone OG's, our Commander Familarity Initiative here on The General Zone to educate and keep fresh all those decks and strategies that come from the minds of deckbuilders everywhere.

The topic is Red, Blue, and Black- The scary, controlling colors of Grixis. so let's get going.

ON THE RISE

The latest TappedOut trend I predicted has been slightly affirmed in the last couple weeks, with the emergence of Grenzo lists.

This is something I'm happy about, because of the uniqueness of Grenzo, and his ability to fit into some of the pre-existing Goblin Tribal decks people wanted to play with Black-Red Wort.

With a scalable power, and a longer game, Grenzo is a great addition to the Rakdos guild as it tries desperately to interact in our format. While the design of this card is strange, it is chock full of so many neat things I have a hard time criticizing it.

Most of the lists I looked at were focused on scry and Goblin Tribal. Going Aggro, getting Grenzo out, and recurrable beats. I'm not sure if it works in practical application, but I'm totally okay with trying new things. Glad to see other people doing the same.


ALWAYS AROUND

Looking back at my Commander 2013 review, if anyone cares, I talked mad crap about this card- and that's not likely to change here.

I've now played against this deck twice, and it's silly and annoying. Perhaps one of the most unexciting decks I've played against in recent memory. One of the players even admitted, "I don't know how I'm supposed to win."

My problem with this deck is that it's just too full of cards aligned with trying to make the game go too fast that it can't catch up, which creates an unnecessary Kingmaker-style deck.

Aside from not being a Wizard, and it's ridiculous 2/4 power, this card is just a can of groans and moans every time it hits the table.

UNDER THE RADAR

Last, we've got some Dimir action with Grimgrin.

This is a card I've been talking crap about since it came out in Innistrad, back when TGZ was just me and GG talking spoilers and playing 1v1 in our apartments 3-5 times a week.

However, I've actually changed my tune and attitude towards the UB monster. Mostly because his combo potential is absurd. Using and abusing the Zombie tribal's penchant for reanimation and card advantage, the Grimgrin deck can not only tutor and create infnite loops, but also protect them with access to blue. The redundancy of Zombies and ability of substitutes also makes winning a lot easier than Oona.

This is a deck I have yet to see in complete optimal form, but I have played against a pretty good one in my metagame. Cards like Shepherd of Rot, Gempalm Polluter, and Undead Gladiator have insane power, and with Corpse Harvester, it's not difficult to get what you want. And with Living Death, Patriarch's Bidding, and even Living End, it's not difficult to get all of it back.

Have you guys seen Grenzo in action? Have you built or witnessed the wrath of Grimgrin? Have you been as utterly annoyed with Nekusar nonsense? Let me know in the comments below!

Pass Turn.
-UL

In General: Conspiracy - Disillusion

Hello and welcome back to In General, the column where we apparently discuss just about anything as long as it is tangentially related to Magic: the Gathering. Today I will conclude my ongoing rant about Conspiracy, by finally discussing The Disillusion Problem.

This idea is so named for a fake Magic card that I first saw years ago. Take a look:

The name is a double entendre, referring both to this card specifically, but also to the idea that you don't necessarily have to only take the cards that R&D gives you. With sufficient knowledge, design skill, and inspiration, you can create new cards to address specific issues in your casual play environments. In this example I am exclusively considering Powered Cube, where the format is defined by fast artifact mana. Without a way to interact with those cards, Black is severely limited in the 'fair' decks it can build.

This idea of 'peeking behind the curtain' of R&D can be liberating and scary. The strange, new draft-altering cards presented in Conspiracy broke many of the fundamental rules of the game. This creates a slippery slope: what is sacred? If you break one rule, what is to say you can't break a different one?

The Disillusion Problem stated simply is this: "If they can break the rules. Why can't I?"

There is a debate inside R&D between Mark Rosewater, who believes the color pie by should be defined by what each color is 'good at', and Aaron Forsythe, who believes the color pie should be defined by what each color has access to.

We can see Rosewater's idea with a card like Hornet Sting. Green isn't 'good at' direct damage, so this card is weak compared to Shock (the standard for this type of effect).

We see the other side of the coin with Disenchant and Black. Black...just doesn't have one. Zero total ways to answer a Doubling Season or Tangle Wire. Well technically, Black has Gate to Phyrexia and Phyrexian Tribute, but I am going to take up the stance that these cards are not good enough to see play in any format.

What is missing from this picture?

Is it Thoughsteize? Is it really? The point is that SOMETHING is missing and in the interest of a more balanced play experience for my own Cube, SOMETHING should occupy this space. I don't think that Disillusion is a printable card. However, there is an established theme within the design of Black cards that has been used hundreds of times of the years: Pay life to get what you want. These are more mechanically sound examples:




This isn't an article about how to design balanced cards. It is just meant to inspire you to take some initiative in creating your own fun. R&D breaks a few rules every once in a while, why can't you?

-GG

Ill-Gotten Games: Theros Block Draft #2

This week on Ill-Gotten Games Grandpa dives into the deep end. This is what happens when you get bored of a draft format. You find yourself trying new things, not to explore the boundaries of strategy, but simply to entertain yourself after the fun has passed.

I find it especially boring because the new PTQ season is for Modern Constructed. Theros block draft is essentially dead only a few weeks after it even became legal. With no high level events in the future, most people will be moving on to play other formats. This is the perfect time for Grandpa to do what he always wants to do: force draft five color.

Better Deckbuilding: UL's Starke of Rath

Continuing in my "Double Rainbow" of Mono-Colored decks, today's feature on Better Deckbuilding is the latest and strangest tech out of Landdrops Laboratories- Starke of Rath.

WHAT!?!?!? WHY STARKE OF RATH?

When I decided to take on a second set of mono-colored decks, I needed a way to distinguish the decks. Not only can the strategies get ubiquitous, but so can the cards, if you're not careful.

Seeing as Heartless Hidetsugu is a very aggressive, combo-aggro deck with not a whole lot going on, my options for Red were pretty open.

When combined with my old border/new border requirement, Starke separated himself from the short list of mono-Red guys that I felt could give me some removal, even with his hefty drawback. And thanks to the development of a handful of awkward and strange cards, I was able to create a workable base for design.

THE STRATEGY

Part of the reinforcement for inspiration came from Stephen's Starke of Rath list featured on CMDR Decks in early May.

In his list, Stephen employed the help of a handful of weird ways to abuse Starke's abilities without getting smacked with his own ability.

Everyone knows about Homeward Path as a way to retrieve Starke. However, when combined with Illusionist's Bracers, untap triggers, Indestructible artifacts, or artifacts/creatures you want to break, Starke of Rath can create a set of triggers on the stack that boomerang him back under your control.

Even with a workable way to control the board, the deck still needs a way to win. Unlike Stephen's deck, which is fortified with the major players in Goblin beat down (Kiki-Jiki, Krenko,  Sharpshooter), I decidemy design needed something a little more... dragon-y.

THE TECH

That's right. We're playing Dragonstorm. While Mindbreak Trap and Flusterstorm exist in this format, building storm count and getting enough threats out of the deck is totally feasible.

While we may not have the luxury of four copies of Bogardan Hellkite, or even the convenience of only having to do 20 damage, this is a card that we can play late enough in the game to get a significant amount of damage and avoid most of the removal your opponents might be too happy to play on Starke or earlier in the game.

And because the Dragons have drastically improved, so has Dragonstorm.

The first of the Dragons I want to talk about is Scourge of Valkas. His affinity (not Affinity, like the mechanic) for having Dragon friends make him a nice tutor target for Dragonstorm. When the triggers are stacked properly, he can create anywhere from 6-9 extra points of damage for your dragon squad from ETB effects alone.

Stacking this onto the effects of Bogardan Hellkite and Journey Into Nyx's latest junk rare, Spawn of Thraxes, you're looking at a potential third or half of an opponent's life total dwindling before you've even begun to attack. Obviously, our Spawn of Thraxes needs Mountains to do damage- but that's neither a problem for this deck, nor a personal design problem for me and my love of basics. Spawn has racked up anywhere from 8-12 damage for me alone.

In addition to ETB damage Dragons, we also have some nice design-friendly dragons based on or around artifacts. Hellkite Igniter leads the way with Haste and the world's cheapest value-driven pump effect. In a deck which plays many cheap cost artifacts for Starke to blow up and bring Storm count up, doubling, or more than doubling Igniter's power the second it comes into play is entirely possible. The more mana, the more nonsense happens here. This is a premier game finisher in this design.

The rest of the "Artifact Dragon" package includes Hoard-Smelter Dragon, Steel Hellkite, Hellkite Tyrant, and Hoarding Dragon. Most of these are straight utility, but they all provide solid Dragon staying power.

Darksteel Citadel is probably the best option next to Ingot for our multiple targeted removal when we play Starke. With untap, or copy effects, the trick works as follows.

1. With Starke untapped, tap to target Darksteel Citadel
2. In response, put copy/untap trigger on the stack.
3. Tap Starke again, targeting Artifact/Creature threat.

Because the stack resolves the last ability, our threat will go away, our opponent will gain control of Starke, then our undestroyed Citadel will remain undestroyed, but we'll gain control of Starke of Rath.

One of the few Goblins I didn't think this deck could survive without was Goblin Welder, so it's here.

Often, one of Red's biggest issues is the lack of graveyard interactivity and recursion. There's a lot of ways to discard cards for immediate value, but nothing that brings it back.

Not that Trash for Treasure is great, but it works well with what the deck likes to do when it's not playing Dragons.

Some of the good cards made better in this deck are the Wellsprings and my favorite Solemn Simulacrum. In conjunction with Gobin Welder and Trash for Treasure, this little package of goodies creates an underrepresented amount of value for a Red deck.

Kuldotha Phoenix is another cool little piece of card advantage. In this design, it's almost going to be as good as Squee, and in some cases better. It's pitchable, able to come back and attack, defend, and be blown up by Starke of Rath if necessary.

This dimension of the deck is what provides a unique flexibility. Cards that create "acceptable losses," things that you are okay with losing in the course of battle, really help you to focus more on actions and effects in the game, not necessarily the emotion that comes from "being hated out" through removal, disruption, or relentless attack. While this is probably just a glass half-empty way of looking at recursion and generating card advantage, it's always important to have various benchmarks for what you are willing to accept as result from your deck design. Creating those expectations will you lead you to being a more effective manager as you continue to understand the format.

As always, here's the list. +1s, suggestions, and critiques welcome.

Tony Stark(e) Built This In A Cave!

Pass (with a bunch of scraps).
-UL

In General: Conspiracy - Mechanics

Hello and welcome to In General. Here on the Sunday segment of The General Zone we discuss just about everything relating to the game of Magic and sometimes even more than that. This is part two of my discussion and analysis of Conspiracy.

For my thoughts on some individual cards from the set look: Here! 
For Uncle Landdrops article about the Legendary Creatures in the set look: Here! 

In today's article I will share my thoughts on Conspiracy as a whole: the mechanics, the design, and the idea of exploring 'untouchable' design space.

Mechanics:

Conspiracy - The eponymous mechanic of the set is embodied by this new card type. Conspiracies cost you a draft pick, but don't take up a slot in your deck. How do I feel about that? Bad actually. This creates a problem for me because previously you just drafted the CARDS that went in your deck. Now you are drafting something that ISN'T a card...strictly speaking they are closer to planeswalker emblems than real Magic cards. But how far are we willing to let this go? This may sound dramatic, but what if I said:

"My cube contains Snack cards. You can draft these cards, but they don't go in your deck. They simply entitle you to a snack."

Ham sandwich may not disrupt the draft much. Probably a 4-8th pick. Snickers Bar on the other hand is probably a windmill slam and would drastically alter the environment.

Do you think I have gone too far? There is a Conspiracy that says you just get to go first. Period (almost). That card exists in Pokemon, not Magic. There is a Conspiracy that makes all your lands tap for any color. Now the resource system is more like Hearthstone than MtG. It is not that much of a stretch to think there could have been a Conspiracy that reverses the turn order. At that point we are really just playing Uno.

Hidden Agenda - The Hidden Agenda ability is already on my nerves. I am in love with the idea of competing information. What can you discover? What can you hide? What can you assume safely? This is a fantastic interplay that already exists in many games.

Hidden Agenda is inelegant. It essentially forces you to wear a sign that says: "I HAVE A SECRET!" Why is your Conspiracy face down? Pretty obvious.

Although there are some ambiguities in the rules, I am a firm believer that the sideboard and the command zone are distinct game areas and MUST BE physically separated for clarity - just the same way you separate your graveyard, library, hand, and battlefield. Worse still, once you flip your Hidden Agenda up and reveal what you have named, EVERYONE else in the draft will know what you are trying to do, simply by virtue of being in the same room.

Parley - Nowadays, it seems as though every product that gets released features some mechanic that is a boring rehash of an older mechanic. I dare anyone to explain to me why Strive is not just multikicker. I don't think a convincing argument exists. Parley feels very similar to Clash, which was already not a favorite of mine.

The only real difference seems to be that everyone draws the card instead of having the option to Scry it away. And 'winning' the Parley happens by seeing a higher number of nonland cards instead of a higher converted mana cost. Time to catch the bus to Yawnsville. This is as tired and contrived as it gets.

Will of the Council - I say this at the risk of getting a bit too political for a game blog, but heck, here goes nothing. Democracy is an atrocious way to decide ANYTHING within groups of people. If you could trust humans to act in the best interest of the group YOU WOULDN'T NEED A GOVERNMENT.

Will of the Council is quickly going to devolve into 'punish the guy who played it'. This is the exact reason I advocated against playing punisher cards. Your opponent(s) have absolutely no incentive to agree to anything that lets you profit. You are always going to be better of playing something that doesn't give the opposition the option to improve their position.

Dethrone - This isn't exactly an uninspired reimagining of something old. It is new...in a way. My issue here is that this is so bland and so shallow though. This is something that I would have rather seen on a single card. Perhaps an Artifact or Enchantment that gives this to your Creatures. No need to create a new keyword for something so simple and automatic.

Draft - The draft-altering cards, for lack of a better name, are hit or miss for me. There are certainly times where I have looked at a pack and thought: "I wish I could just take 2-3 of these cards and pass on the rest." On balance though, this is a gimmick. I do not suffer gimmicks lightly. Some of the cards are also dependent on multiplayer games to some degree and I am not the biggest fan of multiplayer gameplay.

Also, there are many ways to play limited other than booster draft, and this product does not give them any service. Sealed Deck, Stack, Winston draft, Rotisserie Draft, Rochester Draft - these are all fun in their own ways. They add spice and replay value to your limited sets. Why make a CASUAL draft product that doesn't even address the idea of playing the casual-only draft formats?

I have a second issue with these cards that I will remark on briefly, as I will be saving the bulk of this topic for next week.

If you design something that breaks the rules of the game in some way, you are inherently entering new design space that had previously been restricted. It can be easy to overlook that this design space may have been closed off for a reason. Most people don't care, they like the game the way it is. There is a subset of the player base however who has ALWAYS considered this restricted design space to be open. These people are creative and savvy. They see a niche, a gap in the design and they fill it. It could be creating a new format. It might mean creating a new card or card type. It almost always means breaking a few rules.

Take Commander as an example. Why do we have to abide by the rule of four? What if we instead had a rule of one? And who says we need 60 card decklists? Let's make it an even hundred.

I am in this category of player. You can't give me something 'new' and ask me to buy it. I already have it. I imagined it. I experienced it already. I refer to this issue lovingly as: "The Disillusion problem." And I will be discussing how it relates to Conspiracy in the next In General. After that: Vintage Masters, baby!

As always, thanks for reading. Shout it out in the comments.

-GG

The Stack #55- Mana Geology

Welcome back to The Stack!

It's been a while since we did one of these, with our staff all moving in different directions since the beginning of the year.

However, we've got quorum this week to talk our favorite mana rocks, so let's get it going.

THIS IS THE STACK!

GRANDPA GROWTH'S PICK

Grandpa Growth- THUMBS UP
This is a toss up between Mana Vault and Grim. Jumping straight to a fatty is a good start to any game. These don't have the constant benefit that Sol Ring does, but they provide a larger jump which can have some surprise value. Grim is awesome because it lets you move straight from two to six mana so you can begin deploying the beef while your friends are stuck banging rocks together. The untap abilities aren't even always relevant, but once you use the mana to further accelerate yourself it is easy to then make a second jump to an ungodly number like 11. Once you have played with/against these cards, it seems difficult to justify not playing them in every deck.

Johnny Confidant- THUMBS UP
When I'm building my mana base for a deck i do at least 2 checks: 1. am i running green? if not 2, let's find mana rocks and Grim Monolith is an amazing choice. Lets look at its main (Affordable) competitors, Basalt Monolith and Mana vault. Basalt is at least turn 3, untap for three and makes three, but Mana vault is a possible turn one but comes at a cost and can only be untapped during your upkeep. While these two are good in their own right, Grim has a unique middle ground between the two and the price differential shows.

Uncle Landdrops- THUMBS UP
Tempo is the word I use to describe the investments these types of cards get. Kind of like a sturdier Dark Ritual that goes into any deck. One of the best ways to abuse these cards I've seen was in Daxos, where I turned their colorless mana into whatever I needed to cast bigger stuff. Most of my copies of these cards reside in mono-red decks right now, where they are really powered up by the color's need for top-heavy aggressiveness. Being on the draw a lot, I find these cards helpful as well. If you are second or worse in multiplayer matchups, it's hard to get out of the hole when everyone is Rampant Growth-ing and Cultivating.

JOHNNY CONFIDANT'S PICK

Johnny Confidant-  THUMBS UP
I have underestimated this card in the past, but now I have the inner-workings of the relic down and I am impressed. This artifact is a little bit of mana fixing mixed in with mana acceleration. I have even seen this do some damage with effects that increase counters or multiply counters put on permanents. Proliferate anyone?

Uncle Landdrops- THUMBS UP
This is a powerful card I find I don't use nearly enough. Just recently put it back in a deck, because I was going through my "sideboard," which is an expansive collection of just cards I pulled to put into decks, and almost hit myself when I saw I wasn't playing my copy.

Grandpa Growth -
This card is excellent. A staple of the format. That is beyond argument. But here is a good debate for you: Is Darksteel Ingot overpowered?  It is Indestructible at Common, which is basically unheard of. It has since seen a reprinting at Uncommon and an eerily similar spiritual successor in Manalith at Common. Coalition is obviously the Rare in this progression and it is a home run hit. My question is: Would this be broken if it were Indestructible, given that there is something of a precedent at LOWER rarities.

UNCLE LANDDROPS' PICK 

Uncle Landdrops-  THUMBS UP
I played the Chalice before I found the sexier FNM version, but this has really become a nice underrated card that supports design in decks needing rocks to keep up with green decks. While it may never outshine something like Mind Stone, which draws a card, it surely outclasses Sisay's Ring and Ur-Golem's Eye at the 4-for-2 spot, and has the potential to be bigger or smaller, depending on how much of a down payment you want to make. I've also cast this unkicked to sac it to Kuldotha Forgemaster, and to up a Storm count.

Johnny Confidant- THUMBS UP
I have come to appreciate this card in my Newest EDH deck that is mono red. Often i find myself wanting more mana and there is only so many artifact ramps that I'd want to run. This has gave me both something to accelerate with and even swap with my new favorite card Goblin Welder.

Grandpa Growth- THUMBS UP
I have definitely brewed lists that want this. Arcum, for example. Any four mana Commander is greatly enhanced by having a critical mass of two mana acceleration. Putting something like an Oracle of Mul Daya or a Braids (either flavor) into play a turn early is a big game.

Ironically, I have cast this on zero more often than I have at four or more. This is most likely a sign that I am too often trying to do something broken in Cube.

Be sure to share your favorite rocks with us in the comments below!

Pass the Turn.
-UL/GG/JC

You Make the Pick Live! Theros Block - Theros

Hello and welcome back to the final installment of You Make the Pick Live! This week on the blog we have been doing special YMTP segments with video! I, Grandpa Growth, cracked real packs and recorded my real live commentary for your viewing pleasure and comedic enjoyment.

These videos are meant to simulate what you would see looking at pick one from each pack of a Theros Block draft. On Monday we looked at Journey into Nyx. Wednesday was Born of the Gods. Today we finish up with Theros.

Links to the previous segments can be found here: Part 1, Part 2. Enjoy the vids!

Ill-Gotten Games: Theros Block Draft #1

Hello Zoners! This week on Ill-Gotten games we have a special treat. Grandpa's first Theros Block Draft on MtGO. Will there be laughs? Will there be "learning moments"? Only one way to find out.

You Make the Pick Live! Theros Block - Born of the Gods

It is time for part two of You Make the Pick Live! On Monday we kicked things off by opening a pack of Journey Into Nyx. Today we continue our mock Theros block draft with Born of the Gods! As a refresher, the link to Monday's video can be found: Here. Enjoy the video and be sure to check back Friday for the final installment with Theros.

Remember The Fallen: UL's Deck Flops of 2014

One of the many things that has kept me "away from the TGZ phone" so to speak is that I haven't had much to talk about along the usual routes- tech, decks, etc. I've made-and-barely-played more decks than I've let out of the works, and that's supposed to happen. I've built too many bad decks to really be afraid of failure, and that's kind of what today's chat is about. My bad ideas, what to learn, and how to be better.

The point of this exercise is to show you I'm not the deckbuilding master. I build a lot of nonsense, and have a metagame that supports the new and the weird, not the insanely competitive. So decks that aren't optimal have a chance to exist- and decks that are actually not going to work, don't. It's a nice environment and equilibrium, and since some of you don't have the time nor the playgroup to test and play in the sandbox, here's the latest on mine:

XENAGOS, GOD OF REVELS

The idea for this deck was to play "Ball Lightning.dec." Gather up all the cards that give "Trample, Haste, sac at end of turn," play Xenny, and go to work. We'd been talking about it during a game, and so I looked up the design space.

In terms of creatures, there's quite a bit of sweet tech. Almost unanimous, my playgroup and I all thought of Blitz Hellion, which was pretty funny because no one thinks or uses this card at all.

Even now, the prospect of this deck is still exciting.

Theoretically though, it was terrible. On top of the fundamental problems I'll talk about in a minute, I severely miscounted my lands, forgot ramp- something, which stalled this deck out really hard in the few 1v1 matchups I played with the party god.

However, the biggest problem with the deck is its speed, and lack of Hexproof. The best reason Red Deck Wins worked was because it was fast, and predicated on the size and percentage control decks dedicated to removal. Because I'm a fool, and sometimes forget about the rules of Commander, this obviously made it a bad idea. The additional requirement of Xenagos means that even if your creature gets through with extra pumps, the time it takes to produce the combos gives a good opponent with a decent deck way too much time to find an answer.

Recently, I've "uncovered" (obviously, I mean search for and remembered) a couple of nice cards that would drastically improve this deck along side an obligatory Asceticism- City of Solitude and Dosan the Falling Leaf. Still, two of these are in colors that make them completely untutorable, not to mention that they're all going to be hated out in such a short time they're probably not even worth playing. Short of being allowed to play another deck that Wraths every turn, or having an opponent in your meta who thinks it'd be a good idea to play this deck against Xenagos, this design really didn't have a lot of opportunity for success, and was dismantled quickly after it got to the table.

TAJIC, BLADE OF THE LEGION

Speaking of which, I've also tried my hand at Wrath.dec twice now.

The first time I made it creatureless, with just equipment, Instants, and Wraths. It was as basic and flat as it sounds, and because it was such an obvious strategy, it was easy for my opponents to prevent damage.

The second time I visited the deck, I dedicated some more resources to defense. Creatures and characters that had Pariah-style effects allowed me to create some neat combos and ensure that Tajic didn't get Withered to death.

In my quest to make Boros work, what I've noticed is that unlike most of the enemy colors, the problem is in the rigid shape the design has taken.

When you look at Golgari (Green/Black), for example, Green has access to ramp, noncreature permanent removal, life gain, and big creatures. Black has access to creature removal, drawing cards, reanimate spells, and a general theme of paying life to power up your stuff. They foil nicely.

Yet when you look at Red/White, everything is basically the same, and the cards that have both color identity don't provide any room for advantage. It's a frustrating institutional problem that we Commander players can't really solve. Hence the reason I've now tried to make every single RW Legend a Commander except Iroas, and I haven't had a whole lot of solid success.

SYGG, RIVER CUTTHROAT II

The Merfolk from the Dark Lagoon was once a deck I'd made to battle 1v1 against the forces of Grandpa Growth. The first time Sygg was fortified with quality stuff, but that got boring, so I took it apart.

This last time I decided to do something different- Go Rogue. As in, Rogue Tribal. I may have mentioned this before, but the deck was fortified with all the aggressive, cheap little Rogues I could find, and a sweet little theme- Steal Stuff. Interested in playing an aggressive-yet-entirely-opponent-contingent strategy, I played the Mind Control sweet, and a few cards GG used to demolish me with: Bribery and Desertion.

Overall, the design was neat, but drew inherent, unnecessary hate. No one was going to let me draw cards in multiplayer, so I got attacked, even when I wasn't the actual threat.

I made the joke that this deck was essentially a "Bad Edric" deck, mostly because it played little dudes, lacked a serious politicality, and a decent draw engine, but I think that's exactly right. The design was fine, the deck worked, but it wasn't enough to be consistent, and that was enough to take it apart, and never play again. I even sold my copy of Sygg, which was somehow $6.

Having been around a while, and knowing a decent amount of what I want to do in a given game, I'm not afraid to listen or get discouraged when a fun or exciting deck idea goes so terribly wrong. It's never fun, but it is part of the challenge.

Like movies, novels, music, art- not everything can be great. In fact, I watch a lot of movies I know aren't going to be close to what I think great films are (The Big Lebowski, Donnie Darko, The Lego Movie, even). Still, if you weather through the bad, even things you don't like, you're guaranteed to find the right kinds of decks as well as the other nonsense you will enjoy in this world. It's all about the search. So if you're on the strugglebus, keep going. Keep failing. You'll find what you're looking for.

Pass Turn.
-UL

You Make the Pick Live! Theros Block - Journey Into Nyx

Hey Zoners! Grandpa Growth here. This week we are bringing you three new YMTP segments and we are doing things a little bit differently. We have video! Yes, you can watch me crack packs and discuss booster draft in glorious, low definition, slightly green-shifted detail.

We will be opening and examining booster packs from each set in Theros block to simulate the full draft experience. Today we will see Journey Into Nyx, Born of the Gods on Wednesday, and on Friday we will finish up with Theros! Enjoy the video and make sure to tune in later this week to see the other segments as they go up on the blog!

In General: Conspiracy - Withholding the Beef

Welcome to a special edition of In General where we will be discussing the new casual product: Conspiracy. The set is somewhat small already, and contains only a handful of new cards. The set is also designed exclusively to be drafted, meaning that stereotypically under-powered Commons and Uncommons are littered throughout the set. For these reasons I will not be doing a full review of the set. Rather I will talk about a few key cards that I believe are playable in Commander. Next week I will discuss a few logistics issues that arose with the design and release of the set and give you my impressions of the mechanics. But first, a question:

New Cards

Starting at the top, we have a whole string of cards with the new mechanic - Will of the Wisp Council. Naturally, it is almost exclusively for use in multiplayer. However, based on the way some of these cards are worded, the possibility of a tie in the voting makes for interesting results in two-player games. Take this card for example. The result with always be that you choose a card....and you just get that card, regardless of what your opponent wants. That just to happens to make this one of the most efficient and versatile recursion effects available at common. And it is attached to a 3/3 Flier? Deal.


So I can't imagine anyone who is going to give you an extra turn for four mana. In a multiplayer game, if your board is empty as well as your hand you just aren't winning that game and no amount of pleas made to your opponents are going to help. You are almost certainly going to get the cards, but that is cool. It is a more splashable Concentrate. I can work with that.



Same story again here. You can almost always expect a single opponent to pick what is worse for you, but in a multiplayer game the same is going to be true in a different way. If your opponent casts a spell and then you Split Decision it, the other players are incentivized to just vote denial. Then you and the controller of the original spell are down a card, but no one else is. In effect, they profit from you trying to get cheaky. Either way, it is an easier to cast Counterspell OR Twincast. Same deal.

What is going on in this art though? It this guy going to get his hands chopped off? Sometimes creative gets a little carried away




This Demon token is going to be enormous. I am predicting that this will wipe away a few Creatures and then you get a 5/5 or bigger. The piece that this is missing is the word Instant somewhere in the middle of the card. Sorceries are so bad in Commander. They really have to be doing something incredible in order to be worth while.





Legacy playability will definitely help this card. Four point burn spells are pretty much always playable. Fetching Badlands instead of basic Mountains isn't free, figuratively speaking, but it will give access to a whole 'nother set of Flame Rifts. The deck isn't great, but this certainly isn't making it any worse.




The planeswalker, one of the few chase cards in the set at all, is a hit for fans of the lore. For constructed however, it isn't likely to make much of an impact. I can't think of any Commander deck I own that would want this. Perhaps Niv-Mizzet combo? It is cool to see Dack get his own card, but this is a little bit of a dud for me. The abilities just aren't relevant enough to the typical game. Stealing a Sol Ring could be a big game, but if they have had a Sol Ring for three turns and haven't done anything broken with it, they should have mulliganed.


Dack may be a lame card, but members of his posse have definitely got the juice. A Clone that gives Haste? This is something I have been waiting on for a long time and it is going to be crazy. This is the first and only card with Dethrone that I am going to be discussing. The ability is just very simple, very bland, and not powerful enough to change the landscape of a game. The possibility of cloning a Titan, Primordial, or Chancellor will have to be enough for now.



Drawing an extra card every turn is sweet. Getting to draw one on your opponent's turn is an excellent bonus to boot. Triggering Morbid is very easy, as we saw in Innistrad block limited. Commander is just absolutely FULL of removal and stuff to point it at, and Black/Green is the perfect color combination to get the maximum value out of this enchantment. Solid card, if a bit unexciting. Definitely worth slamming into decks like Savra or Glissa.



A Reanimate effect that doesn't restrict the targeting to your graveyard is awesome. A Reanimate effect that doesn't target at all is a card in very good company. This has none of the symmetry problems that plague things like Exhume, and you get the immediate bonus of being able to mill extra cards from both player's libraries before you decide what to return. Insane. Groundbreaking may seem like a strong word to use, but this truly is. Expect to see this card. It will come to define the standard for U/B reanimation effects.



The final new card I will be discussing is, in my opinion, the LEAST interesting of all the Will of the Council cards. I can say with certainty: I AM NEVER voting to return all the nonsense in my opponents' graveyards to the battlefield. No matter what the perceived benefit is, or the expected value, or how quickly you think you can win, I wouldn't do it. I won't even be playing this card. It is straight up worse than Immortal Servitude and Sunblast Angel. I don't even think any deck has room for another copy of either of those cards, particularly when this substitution has such high variance attached. Silly hats? No thank you.

I'll leave you now with a word about the reprints and my final thoughts on the set. There are a number of high profile reprints included in this set. Cards like Mirari's Wake and Pernicious Deed are highly sought after by the Commander community and making reprints of them available is a welcome gesture. However, the majority of these important reprints are at the Uncommon rarity or lower and don't command a particularly high price. Mortify is awesome and oft-played, but it wasn't pricing anyone out of Commander. At the same time Misdirection will drive up the price of Conspiracy packs as players clamor to open Legacy playables.

The decision not to release this product online makes sense. Programming the new multiplayer draft format into Modo would be a logistical challenge, but this product doesn't look like it is going to have enough appeal to the average player to actually make people want to play it on a consistent basis. The gimmicky draft-altering cards are not going to be making widespread appearance in Cubes, and with good reason. They are largely absurd, and as I will discuss next week, if you wanted this kind of thing you already had access to it: in your imagination.

I was disappointed by the Conspiracy product. There was a distinct lack of powerful new cards. The mechanics didn't to anything to stretch the bounds of design space or give me anything that I wanted more of. These, combined with the under-promotion of the product, has left me with a bad taste.

That is all for this week, Zoners. Until next time.

-GG