Twenty-five combatants made their pilgrimage from afar to Selden for the chance to battle it out among their peers and win a full box at Brothers Grim on Saturday, and after the smoke cleared there could only be one champion. I have been called many things in my life; my given name, jobless, Ahab, the rattlesnake, the Marlboro Man, high school dropout, Mike “Seven Cliches In the First Sentence of His Article” Evans, etc. But on saturday I could call myself champ!

Now that I’ve completely been self-congratulating I can get down to business. Anyone who has played me since December knows I play decks with Spectral Procession and Windbrisk Heights. The combination of those two cards has been on the top-tier of Standard for as long as they’ve both been legal, and to me there is no better two card synergy in the format right now. For the longest time I’ve played Black/White Tokens (as opposed to “Tokin’” which is what Omar does) and the deck has been good to me. For this tournament I was told to expect red decks, and while Black/White Tokens isn’t terrible at all against red, playing a deck with Bitterblossom in it leads to me to be sweating in many a match against red. This led me to pay Green/White tokens which is not only a great deck that has my favorite two-card combo in Standard, but also coasts against red. I believe it also has even or better odds against most of the other decks in the format right now, with the exception being Blue/White Reveillark based decks and Swans. It also contains Overrun, a card that I believe is the best thing you can do off a Windbrisk Heights. Overrun can make games a complete blowout, break stalemates, or win games you are far behind. This is what I sleeved up:

Ethersworn Canonist in the board is for decks that rely on cascade for their card advantage. It makes Swans winnable, although still a really hard matchup. It also makes Bloodbraid Elf and Bituminous Blast bad versions of Boggart Ram-Gang and Lightning Blast respectively. Cloudthresher was for Faeries, Paladin En-Vec for 5-color Bloodbraid, Wrath Of God for Black/White Tokens, Pollen Lullaby for Black/White Tokens and the mirror, and Dauntless Escort for Black/Green Elves and anything I think indestructibility would help me for.

Round 1 vs Jund Aggro

In game one I kept a hand I probably shouldn’t have, two Treetop Villages, a Brushland, Two spectral procession, a Cloudgoat Ranger, and a Path to Exile. I never drew a second or third source of white mana despite getting to 5 lands, and he overran me with Anathemancer, Boggart Ram Gang, and Bloodbraid Elf. I sideboard in three Paladin En-Vec and an Ethersworn Canonist and out came four Qasali Pridemage. In games two and three I simply drew Paladin En-Vec and let my deck do what it normally does in the mean time, which is enough to win in this matchup.

1-0(2-1)

Round 2 vs Pat Albergo with Faeries

I’m pretty confident in my matchup against Faeries. If they don’t have Bitterblossom for the entirety of the game it’s hard for them to win. In game one he didn’t have a turn two Bitterblossom so I was feeling good at that point. He never did play one, and I simply played guys and Pathed any Mistbind Cliques I saw and won. I sideboarded 3 Cloudthresher for 2 Overrun and a Dauntless Escort. Overrun is really bad against decks with Cryptic Command in them. In game two he kept a hand with one land and a bunch of one-cost spells(I saw Peppersmoke and two Death Mark), and while he was able to stop me for a bit with those cards he drew his second land far too late.

2-0(4-1)

Round 3 vs John Madonia with 5-color Bloodbraid

I don’t like how my deck compares to this one in game one, but I’m really confident after sideboard. Game one I led off with a Treetop on turn one, a Treetop and Hierarch on turn two, a Forest and Hierarch on turn 3 activating treetop and attacking for five, and attacking for five with a treetop again on turn 4. I had him at ten life early without playing any of my big spells, and he had yet to play a spell, so I was feeling good. Then he started cascading and playing Cryptic Commands and I just lost miserably. I sided in 3 Ethersworn Canonist and 3 Paladin En-Vec, and sided out 4 Qasali Pridemage and 2 Overrun. Much like the first round simply playing one or more Paladin En-Vecs wins me the game unless they have an answer. Unfortunately he never drew his sideboarded Wraths and I won the next two games.

3-0(6-2)

Round 4 against Ralph Navarra with Putrid Elves

Another matchup in which I’m confident. To be honest I don’t remember what happened in game one, but I won. I sided out a Pridemage for a Dauntless Escort. In game two I dealt him about 80 damage over the course of the entire game, but his double Loxodon Warhammers and endless draws into men kept him alive. I kept playing 1/1′s and trading with his men in hopes he would run out and I could start dwindling his life. That didn’t happen and when he attacked with a 13/7 Cloudthresher with trample and Double Lifelink I lost. I put the 4th Pridemage back in for his Warhammers and took out the Escort I had sided in. I also don’t remember what happened in game 3, I was very tired, but I know I lost. I’m pretty sure it had something to do with Profane Command.

3-1(6-4)

I drew the last round to get into the top 8.

3-1-1(6-4)

Top 8 against Pat Albergo playing Faeries

It was much like round 2. He either didn’t play Bitterblossom or had it destroyed by a Pridemage when he did, and I won.

4-1-1(8-4)

Top 4 against Robert Grippa playing BG Non-Elves

In game one I started off with a Windbrisk Heights and saw the wonderful Overrun in the top 4 cards, and was happy to put it under. I played a Hierarch on turn two, and a Spectral Procession on turn 3. He played a Kitchen Finks, and when I untapped and drew I Pathed the Finks, attacked, and flipped Overrun over for 15 big damage. He couldn’t recover from that and we went on to game two. I sideboarded the same way as I did against Ralph, -1 Pridemage +1 Escort, as Escort is good in this matchup and he could possibly not have the Warhammers that Ralph did. Game two involved him getting me down to twelve early with two big Putrid Leech attacks, but I had some token attacks of my own, and was also able to kill off the Leech. The deciding moment of the game saw me at 5 life, he was at 11, and I had him dead next turn. He had to win this turn or do something that wiped my board. He couldn’t, and I won. He showed me that he had a Profane Command, but he was exactly one mana short of Profaning me for 5 and winning.

5-1-1(10-4)

Top 2 against Ralph Navarra with Putrid Elves

We split the prize and decided to play for rating and the win. I once again don’t remember much about these games, I guess Ralph has that effect on me, but I won. I’m pretty sure he didn’t care much about playing and wanted to get the hell out of there.

Being the first time I played this deck I was pretty happy with how it performed and I’ll probably continue to play it. We chaos drafted afterward and George Newell opened a Dark Confidant and a Tarmogoyf in the packs that I gave him to draft with, while I opened such great cards as Breath of Fury and Scarblade Elite. I was tired and my draft deck was really bad, so after going 0-2 and losing to milling I called it a night.

I will leave you all with the most fun card from M10:

Hive Mind
5U
Enchantment
Whenever a player casts an instant or sorcery spell, each other player copies that spell. Each of those players may choose new targets for his or her copy.

Alara Reborn is finally here and millions of players across the world got their first taste of this great new set this past weekend at Pre-Releases around the world. I myself was volunteering as part of the staff at the big Gray Matter pre-release, but due to circumstances I did end up playing in a flight and two booster drafts.

In the main flight I had only a short period of time to build. I ended up in five colors due to the power of my bombs, which I usually dislike doing in sealed (love it in draft). With limited time to build and a fair quality of removal and fixing I figured I would play all of my bombs. This is what I ended up with:

1 Grixis Panorama
1 Naya Panorama
4 Island
4 Swamp
3 Mountain
2 Plains
2 Forest

1 Deadshot Minotaur
1 Nemesis of Reason
1 Spellbound Dragon
1 Skyclaw Thrash
1 Deathbringer Thoctar
1 Pale Recluse
1 Jund Sojourner
1 Blitz Hellion
1 Feral Hydra
1 Fleshbag Marauder
2 Wall of Denial
1 Stoic Angel

1 Bone Splinters
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Teriminate
1 Veinfire Borderpost
1 Behemoth Sledge
1 Obelisk of Esper
1 Obelisk of Jund
1 Obelisk of Bant
1 Jund Charm
1 Grixis Charm

In my very first game I managed to play a Stoic Angel on turn four, followed by a Nemesis of Reason on turn five and a Behemoth Sledge, equipping to Stoic Angel on turn six, and won. None of my other games were that great though as I found myself either unable to cast the spells in my hand or beaten by a faster shard-based deck, and I went 1-2 drop.

In my first booster draft I got Agony Warp, Tidehollow Strix, and Blister Beetle in the first three picks and ended up with a really aggressive Esper deck.

7 Island
6 Swamp
3 Plains
1 Seaside Citadel

3 Esper Stormblade
2 Sewn-Eye Drake
2 Architects of Will
1 Ethersworn Shieldmage
1 Kathari Screecher
1 Etherium Abomination
1 Arsenal Thresher
1 Skeletal Kathari
1 Knight-Captain of Eos
1 Lich Lord of Unx
1 Grixis Grimblade
1 Tidehollow Strix
1 Dregscape Zombie
1 Blister Beetle

1 Agony Warp
1 Ardent Plea
1 Mask of Riddles
2 Deny Reality

In this draft I realized the power of the multicolored weenie cycle (Esper Stormblade, Grixis Grimblade, etc.) and cascade. Cascade was going to be good obviously, but its hard to realize just how good it is until you play a card with cascade. Deny Reality for example would be a really bad card without cascade. With cascade, it was absolutely amazing. Ardent Plea was even better. I went 3-0 in this draft.

In the second draft I first-picked Rafiq of the Many and ended up forcing Bant because of it. I was a little short on playable cards and ending up playing a couple bad ones, but I figured if I drew the good cards I could win.

7 Forest
6 Plains
4 Island

2 Akrasan Squire
2 Bant Sojourners
1 Enlisted Wurm
2 Pale Recluse
1 Leonin Armorguard
1 Rafiq of the Many
1 Talon Trooper
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Knotvine Paladin
1 Steward of Valeron
1 Sigiled Paladin
1 Bant Sureblade
1 Naya Hushblade
1 Grizzled Leotau
1 Court Archers

2 Captured Sunlight
1 Fieldmist Borderpost
1 Sigil of the Nayan Gods
1 Crystallization

In game one I mulliganed to five on the draw with a hand of one plains and two Akrasan Squire. I didn’t draw another land for the entire game and my two Squires weren’t enough. Game two was much better. I had a Grizzled Leotau, Bant Sureblade, and Rafiq in play. I played Captured Sunlight cascading into Sigil of the Nayan Gods, enchanting Rafiq. He played Scourglass, chumped, and blew up my board. I had another Captured Sunlight and Akrasan Squire in my hand so I was sure I could recover, but he played a Tidehollow Sculler taking my Squire and an Ethersworn Canonist shutting down my Captured Sunlight, and I lost. I was a little disappointed because I thought the deck was better than 0-1, but it’s hard to beat a scourglass.

After a full day of limited action I can proclaim with all certainty that this is by far my favorite limited format in magic history. The best parts of the other gold blocks are all here, but with much better fixing and even more synergy. I look forward to drafting this for the next six months. I leave you with my list, in order, of the best non-rare draft picks in the new set.

1. Bituminous Blast
2. Bloodbraid Elf
3. Terminate
4. Ardent Plea
5. Esper Stormblade
6. Intimindation Bolt
7. Crystallization
8. Jund Hackblade
9. Zealous Persecution
10. Sangrite Backlash
11. Vithian Renegades
12. Bant Sureblade
13. Marisi’s Twinclaw
14. Stun Sniper
15. Enlisted Wurm
16. Qasali Pridemage
17. Behemoth Sledge
18. Grixis Grimblade
19. Deadshot Minotaur
20. Naya Hushblade

Mike Evans
mjev89@gmail.com

The Extended season is over and oh my what a disappointing final PTQ it was. The plan to get to King’s Games in Brooklyn was to take a train from Long Island to Penn Station, then take the Q train to King’s Highway, a subway station which is right outside King’s Games. The plan was to get to Penn Station at roughly 8am, meet with wiley veterans Eric Marro and Will Deister, then take the subway together to Brooklyn. We should get there shortly after 9am and have plenty of time to relax, fill out deck lists, and maybe get in a test game or two. When you’re Mike Evans nothing works out that easily. When we get to Penn Station it’s pissing rain, and our Long Island asses had no idea where the Q train was. It took us a good twenty minutes of walking around in the rain and asking random people to find the Q train. By the time we got there we realized thanks to barely visible semi-informative signs that the Q train was not running there. So, we took the N Train to Kings Highway. Consulting our subway map we saw that it would take us a mere few blocks away from King’s Games. When we got to Kings Highway it was obvious that a few blocks was really twenty-two blocks. It’s evident to anyone who knows me that I am severely out of shape. It was 9:40am and we had to make it twenty-two blocks for a 10am PTQ. The next twenty minutes were spent laboriously braving the rain with a soggy cigarette in my mouth for my epic journey through Brooklyn streets. The thin Eric Marro and slightly-overweight-but-not-as-overweight-as-me Will Deister were paces ahead of me, but I finally made it. Exhaustingly I informed Paskoff that he would have to pay for me while I filled out a decklist. I was informed that I would be the 129th registrant, bringing it over the 8-round cap. The day didn’t get much better after that.

I’m not going to relive the agony of the rest of the PTQ, but I will say that I was playing Astral Slide. I drew the first round unfortunately, which meant that being in the draw bracket for the rest of the PTQ I would probably not face many of my best matchups.

If anything can cheer me up it’s spoilers for a new set, and the Alara Reborn spoilers are not disappointing me. Exciting new mechanics, creative new cards, and old favorites returning makes a very happy Mike Evans. We only have a little over half of the 145 cards in the new set spoiled, but the following cards really caught my eye as cards to watch out for on the competitive side of things:

Meddling Mage, Creature – Human Wizard, WU, 2/2
When Meddling Mage comes into play, name a nonland card.
The Named card can’t be played.

One of the greatest utility bears returns and it’s bound to see play. The potential for this guy in the current metagame is exciting. Think of the possible cards to name: Volcanic Fallout, Cryptic Command, Bitterblossom if you’re on the play, Spectral Procession, Ajani Vegeant, the choices go on and on. There is always something extremely relevant for this guy to name. The immediate archetype I thought of when I saw that this guy was returning was an archetype I talked about as being already underrated in T2 right now; Merfolk. I think one of the only things stopping Merfolk from being a true Tier 1 deck right now is Volcanic Fallout, and this card certainly helps that. Here’s an early brainstorm:

Bituminous Blast, Instant, 3BR
Cascade (When you play this spell, remove cards from the top of your library until you remove a nonland card that costs less. You may play it without paying its mana cost. Put the removed cards on the bottom in a random order.)
Bituminous Blast deals 4 damage to target creature.

Cascade is one of the most exciting mechanics I’ve ever seen. I think it has potential to be as broken as Dredge or Storm. This card in particular has potential for tremendous card advantage. Picture playing this mid-combat phase to kill one of your opponent’s creatures and possibly play a blocker for free, or even another removal spell. Another really awesome interaction is with Swans of Bryn Argoll. Imagine hitting your own swans for 4, drawing 4 cards, and then playing a Seismic Assault, or even another Swans off of the cascade?

Terminate, Instant, BR
Destroy target creature. It can’t be regenerated.

Another old favorite returns in Alara Reborn. Terminate is one of the most efficient removal spells ever, and it will be interesting to see how it fits in the current format.

Qasali Pridemage, Creature – Cat Wizard, WG, 2/2
Exalted
1, Sacrifice Qasali Pridemage: Destroy target artifact or enchantment.

I can definitely see this as an upgrade to Kami of Ancient Law, filling the same role as the Kami does, particularly in extended, although it is possible it will see some T2 play as a way for the Doran-based decks to destroy a troublesome Bitterblossom while having a Watchwolf that beats down as well.

Maelstrom Pulse, Sorcery, 1BG
Destroy target nonland permanent and each permanent that shares a name with that permanent.

Wow. This is the one that I will want a playset of immediately. I see this as a better or worse Vindicate, or a better or worse Putrefy. It depends on the situaton, but it’s certainly on par with those cards and could be better. Putrefy is instant speed, but can hit less than Pulse. Vindicate can destroy lands, but can’t destroy multiple permanents (Empty the Warrens tokens for example). One thing that’s exciting is the possibility of a Green/Black deck in T2 to destroy multiple tokens without playing bad cards like Infest. One thing is for sure, Vindicate and Putrefy were and are staples in the formats they’re legal, and this will most definitely be as well.

Jenara, Asura of War, Legendary Creature – Angel, WUG, 3/3
Flying
1W: Put a +1/+1 counter on Jenara, Asura of War.

Noble Hierarch’s new friend.

With only about half of the cards spoiled I can already tell this set is the most exciting of the Alara Block, and I think has the most exciting playable future-format-staples since Lorwyn. I’ll be looking forward to cracking some new packs, and I hope to see you doing the same!

Welcome to the first addition of Magic: The Blathering! Your Monday source for everything on the mind of your favorite Mike Evans.

Let me introduce myself to the people who don’t know me from FNC or regional Magic events. I started playing Magic off and on when Starter 1999 came out, more so when Invasion block came out. I was pretty bad, a casual player with friends. When Mirrodin Block came out and Affinity was in full swing I got disgusted and quit, like many bad players do when they can’t figure out how to beat a really good deck. I picked it back up on the tail end of Ravnica/Kamigawa and started playing more seriously in Rav/TSP. »» read more