MTGMINTCARD.COM: Sell your MTG Cards to Hong Kong!

If you're a bit out of the loop when it comes to the local common trading routes of Magic: the Gathering in your area, I might have the solution to your problem. I was browsing for things-that-shouldn't-be-there on a global auction site, when I ran into this seller: MTGMINTCARD.com.

Apparently they have a service wherein they will buy from you the cards that you have and send the equivalent dollars to your PayPal account. The condition is that they have to get the cards you shipped to them in 10 business days. Where are they located you ask? It depends on your address, or so the site says, but from where I'm located, they say they I have to send the cards to Hong Kong.

They even have a handy form, complete with prices, a drop down list, several check boxes, etc. for easy invoice creation.

Personally, this is something worth considering, or at least investigating. I'll try selling a few dollar rares first just to test the waters - it may be a scam after all. If it isn't though, then all I have to say is this: booyah!

Epic Fail: I picked Elves because I thought they'd be cheap.

When the news broke that Eventide's Nettle Sentinel was a 2/2 Elf Warrior for one green mana at common, somewhere deep down inside I rejoiced.

When I heard that it untapped itself when you played a green spell, I looked at my Heritage Druid based Elf deck and I rejoiced.

When I heard that there's a new green chase rare that's "in-tribe," I printed a picture of Michael J. Flores, tacked it to a cardboard box, looked for a knife, and proceeded to stab said picture with my knife. I was fueled by the murderous intent of some dark, forgotten, Summerian god.

Damn you Wizards! My wallet hates you.

Hybrid Insanity

It's been a week now and still nobody's been able to figure this one out.

What's the CMC of this card!

Look, a lady!

You know what Magic: the Gathering needs right now? Female professional players.

Not that there aren't any already. It's just that they don't really have a presence. In quantity I mean, not in quality. After all, American Player Melissa DeTora beat Gabriel Nassif during the 8th round of ProTour Kuala Lumpur; that's a sign of quality right there if there ever was one.

Honestly, I'm really starting to root for Melissa. If anything, Magic needs another breakout celebrity. Kinda like the Sliver Kids (Chris Lachmann and Jacob Van Lunen) of Two-Headed Giant fame. You know, the zero-to-hero type cinderella story. WotC really needs the good press, since they haven't been handling player relations very well lately (tournament cancellations and all that).

So, that said, good luck Melissa! Win Kuala Lumpur!

Timmy: Overrun!

About a week ago, I read on the Bennie Smith's column over at Starcitygames that green hero, Jamie Wakefield, had a problem with the power level of elves in the new standard.

Laugh as much as you want, you can't really blame the guy. As Mr Smith said, Wakefield isn't really a hundred percent into the game, so being aware of tournament results is something that I'd expect to come in last in Wakefield's list of priorities.

Anyhow, all you Wakefieldian players out there, yes, all you Timmies, if you'd allow me a few seconds of your time and listen to me for a while, I'd like to tell you a few things. I'd like to ask you to stop testing all your RW Giant decks for a moment, and go back to the color that Timmies love the most: Green.

We all now that G/X Warrior builds will be something that Spike will love for it's lightning fast aggro capabilities, and the space the Deck skeleton has for spot removal. However, there's a mono-green build that managed to be competitive and it has not a single bf removal in it. It's solution? Overrun.

Here's GPT Shizuoka 7th placer, Shuhei Nakamura's List:

Lands: 23
14x Forest
4x Treetop Village
3x Mutavault
2x Pendelhaven

Creatures: 31
4x Boreal Druid
4x Bramblewood Paragon
4x Chameleon Colossus
4x Civic Wayfinder
4x Imperious Perfect
4x Llanowar Elves
4x Wren's Run Vanquisher
3x Wren's Run Packmaster

Spells: 2
2x Overrun

Artifacts: 4
4x Obsidian Battle-Axe

Sideboard: 15
4x Serrated Arrows
3x Seal of Primordium
3x Tormod's Crypt
2x Cloudthresher
1x Elvish Champion
1x Viridian Shaman
1x Primal Command

Nothing but green, and nothing but smash-face. Timmy enough for you?

Okay, if it isn't, here's what could happen: If you've got a Bramblewood Paragon out, along with an Obisidian Battle-Axe, your Chameleon Colossus is a 7/6 hasted, trampling beat-stick for 4 mana. If you have 4 mana extra you can pump it to 14/13.




If the 14/12 isn't enough to wet your Timmy pants, how about this: if you've got the Paragon out, along with a Perfect, you can create an army of 3/3 trampling Elf Warrior tokens. Cast Overrun a turn later and you're one happy puppy.

Amusing isn't it that the monetarily cheaper Overrun is actually better than Garruk in this deck? More than that, the Packmaster's in the deck! w00t!

Shadowmoor Sighted

Some intrepid surfer on the intarwebs decided to be kind to the magic loving community and share a collection of Shadowmoor packaging shots he ran into.

The boxes are the awesomesaucenessnessiest.

You manage to glimpse at a freakier version of Lorwyn's Greater Elementals (Horrors?), an anthropomorphic blue thing merged with flowers (Oona?), a bad-ass-looking Kithkin (Mistmeadow Skulk and his kin), some sad pathetic Elf, an elemental looking thing, and a mutant Merrow with fish heads. (Does this mean we see smart, devious, malevolent Boggarts?)

So the dark/alternate Lorwyn theory is pretty much pseudo-confirmed. All we have to wait for now are the mechanics - which, according to MaRo, aren't very tribal at all. At least we get more cards of the same type, so the synergy with Lorwyn is there.

Now I'm wondering if they actually changed the colors of each race. For one thing, them Kithkin look awfully white/black to me.

Spike: How's white weenie doing?

Go to any Magic: the Gathering forum right now and there's probably a thread discussing the future of the color white.

Why the discussion? Well, that's because popular opinion is that the color white as a whole isn't getting much support from WotC. Sure, every now and then you get an Oblivion Ring, but then you get a vanilla 2/10 at rare. Imagine the expletives you'd be saying if you open that in a pack.

The complaints range from the very simple "white gets bad rares!" to the very thoughtful, "Wizards just seems to be going through the motions with white right now. They finally managed to fix green, now they're trying to figure out how to focus/fix white."

The funny thing is, that despite the debates and the numerous rants about how bad white is right now, the color can still manage to surprise several metagames and place 1st. In that same tournament where a Reveillark deck managed a top 8 finish, this combination of 75 cards posted the best results:

GPT Shizuoka 2008 - Chiba
1st
Ishimura Shintaro

Creatures:
4 Cenn's Tactician
4 Goldmeadow Harrier
4 Goldmeadow Stalwart
4 Kinsbaile Borderguard
4 Knight of Meadowgrain
4 Wizened Cenn
1 Tivadar of Thorn

Spells:
3 Oblivion Ring
3 Griffin Guide
4 Sunlance

Lands:
13 Plains
4 Rustic Clachan
4 Horizon Canopy
4 Mutavault

Sideboard:
4 Soltari Priest
2 Stonecloaker
1 Tivadar of Thorn
1 Wispmare
1 Militia's Pride
4 Mana Tithe
2 Coordinated Barrage

Looking through the list I saw another Japanese 1 of in the form of Tivadar of Thorn. Yes, them Japanese folks love 1 ofs in decks, they seem to draw what they need, when they need it. It's called listening to "heart of the cards." A secret technique perfected by an ancient master named Yugi. Anyhow, what makes Tivadar stand out is that he's white's weenie's solution to the changeling menace. Protection from Goblins means protection from Mutavault, Chamelleon Colossus, Taurean Mauler, and Nameless Inversion. Protection from Goblin Rogues is an added bonus.

Another element that surprised a lot of forum pundits is the presence of Cenn's Tactitian in full force. Most folks deemed that white weenie wouldn't have time to pump creatures with the Tactitian's tap ability. Turns out, you just need him for his cost, and his other ability that lets you block better. The tap ability's just a bonus that ties in with the Borderguard in the deck.

So what else stands out in this white weenie deck? Well, if you hadn't noticed, it has 25 lands. Shintaro must've been pretty much hellbent on using the reinforce mechanic on Rustic Clachan instead of playing it.

Observations aside, since word broke that it got first spot, folks have been trying out variations to the deck. Not that the deck itself isn't already a take on kithkin weenie before Morningtide was released.

Some are trying out Ajani Goldmane to place more emphasis on combat phase via the granted vigilance and +1/+1 counters. Others have thought it best to combine the weenie deck with the counterintuitive Wrath of God. The idea is that Kinsbaile Borderguard loves a reset spell anyway, so why not put it in your deck? Also, there are those who choose to go with the theme and are slaving away at getting the Ballyrush Banneret to work (much to the chagrin of those who think the deck's curve is good enough already).

Will the deck live past this one tourney? Who knows. Other archetypes are already coming out of the woodwork. There's the Bitterblossom-control archetype that's red/black instead of blue/black. And then there's the Pat Chapin-hyped mono-black Rogue aggro that allowed for Bad Moon to finally see competitive play again. I mean, who knew it was good with Marsh Fliter and Oona's Blackguard? *rolls eyes*

There's also the tier 1 staples in the form of Dragonstorm; the various builds of black/green, the ever popular RG mana ramp; the faeries of the green, black, and blue variation; and the many forms of changeling aggro. That's a lot of possible roadblocks right there.

On paper, the power level of the deck seems sub par compared to the staples, however, you can't deny a 1st place finish. I urge all the spikes out there to give this archetype some thought (because I'm not one of you, I'm a scrub) or better yet, some tweaking. Maybe it does indeed have the legs to be competitive.

Where's Countryside Crusher?!

Johnny: Reveillarking back and forth

Since it's been spoiled, people have been going gaga over the 4/3 flying elemental named Reveillark. Particularly because of Reveillark's very potent "when I leave play" ability.

With that in mind, do me a favor and imagine that you have a sacrifice outlet in the form of a suspended Greater Gargadon, a Nantuko Husk, or even a Mirror Entity that you intend to use to set your all your creature's power and toughness to zero. Got that in your head? Good.

Okay, now that you have those elements, check out the possible interactions that Reveillark has with either of the cards that are pictured below it.

Yes, you can go infinite with it.

As long as you can maintain a sacrifice outlet, you can endlessly recur a creature from your graveyard into play. This allows for Soul Wardens to gain you infinite life, for Mogg Fanatics to kill people for you, or for singleton Merrow Witsnipers to deck people. Nevermind the possibility of seeing a returning Martyr of Sands, a back-from-the-grave Mulldrifter, or a Venser gone mad.

Furthermore what's nice about the Reveillark combo is that it's flexible enough to allow you to take your deck in different directions.

Choosing Saffi as a Reveillark partner allows you to go either green/red/white or green/white/nlack. Red and green gives acces to burn, acceleration, and other ways to sacrifice your creatures - Thermopod for infinite mana anyone? Black, can help out in the tutoring and disruption department. It can also help with getting stuff from your hand to your graveyard. Who thought Oona's Prowler could be used primarily as a discard outlet instead of a 3/1 for 2 beater?

Body Double on the other hand, let's you bleed into counterspell/control territory - something that's always nice.

Surfing around the mtgsalvation forums, I ran across a list that somebody got from a Japanese tournament. The mix of 75 cards bellow supposedly managed to snag top 8.

Creatures:
4 Mulldrifter
4 Mirror Entity
4 Reveillark
4 Riftwing Cloudskate
3 Bonded Fetch
3 Body Double

Spells:
4 Prismatic Lens
1 Mind Stone
3 Condemn
3 Momentary Blink
4 Wrath of God

Land:
5 Island
4 Plains
4 Adarkar Wastes
4 Wanderwine Hub
3 Faerie Conclave
2 Calciform Pools
1 Urza's Factory

Sideboard:
2 Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
2 Draining Whelk
2 Sower of Temptation
1 Stonecloaker
3 Teferi's Moat
1 Mystical Teachings
4 Flashfreeze

Amazingly, going the Body Double/Mirror Entity route seems to have simplified things given that you can stack so many copies Mirror Entity's ability with X=0.

All I'm waiting for now is for someone to experiment with a more aggresive Blue/Red/White version that uses the Elemental tribe for Smokebraider and Incandescent Soulstroke based acceleration, that has Elemental Harbinger to search for stuff, and Greater Gargadon for inevitability. Yes, it may not be efficient, but the point is, the combo is so open, that it can go that route. Amazingly, WoTC printed all the tools to do so.

And here people were complaining that combo was dead.

Anyhow, those too "Spikey" to bother trying to assemble the pieces to get the combo going, relax, Momentary Blink still loves Reveillark. You see, what's ultimately nice about Reveillark is that it doesn't have to go infinite to get you the win.

Vorthos: Radha, Warrior Princess

I know the deck's been talked about for weeks now, and I'm well aware of the fact that every monkey and his uncle's been fiddling around a mix of 75 that contains Bramblewood Paragon, Obsidian Battle-Axe, and a random assortment of warriors/elves. However, I feel the urge to blog about the deck not because it is potentially competitive, or it's damned fun to play, I do so because of it's undeniable Vorthosian nature.

Yes, a deck that could be potentially competitive, and still full of vorthosian theme-love and geeky 90s TV references.

So, to jump straight into it, take a look at the deck-skeleton bellow:

Firstly, they're all women. Secondly, they're all warrior-women. Lastly, one of them is the Heir to Keld. If you're not hearing the Xena, Warrior Princess theme right now, think of this moment as my attempt at cuing the music for you.

[Ta dada ta dad a tum tamtamm...]

So, you've got Xena in the form of Radha. That's pretty much required, as Radha would likely be the only Legendary Creature in the Deck. Also, being a heir to Keld doesn't hurt either.

Gabrielle is probably any one of the three other warrior elf hotties -- probably the Paragon. Staff weapon? Check. Odd armor? Check. Lesbo aura? Double-check.

The remaining ladies could be counted as any number of numerous blade-weilding feminine fighters in the show. You know, those scantily clad ladies that often gang up on Xena and Gabrielle at the start of the show, and yet somehow end up on their side by the end of it? I mean, the ones that are there mainly to attract audience members with testosterone.

I'd like to go through Google right now and make a card to character comparison using a "Characters of Xena" fan-site that I might find. Just for the sake of Wren's Run Vanquisher and Imperious Perfect having character analogues and all that. However, doing so will probably make me feel a bit too dirty - all that implied lesbian love and all that. So, here's a link naughty peps, knock yourselves out.

The Obsidian Battle-Axe pretty much counts as a generic Xena-verse weapon. Too bad it isn't as stupid-broken as that returning flying chakram of doom that Xena actually uses.

The Keldon Marauders that show up in some lists obviously count as Xena's flunkies, so amazingly they're still in theme. The random assortment of burn/pump spells that make their way into deck lists can be explained away by counting them as funky 90s TV special effects unique to New Zealand, so all the non-permanents are still in theme.

As for the non-elf/warriors cards that show up in deck lists so far, most of them still fall into theme. Both the Chameleon Colossus and the Taurean Mauler fit well in the Xena-verse as that particular planar existence isn't short on shapeshifting titans and magical bulls. The same could be said for the much hyped Countryside Crusher.

Basically, as competitive as the list gets, as long as Radha's still there, the deck is still essentially a souped up Vorthosian theme deck that can kick ass and take names. Funny, no?

All of that aside though, what I love most about the deck as it shows up on several MtG related forums so far is the odd choice for some to include this card:

In the right build the Elvish Handservant is only slightly slower than a 2/2 for 1 mana. For Vorthosian purposes, he counts as the bitch-slave of the warrior ladies. Going with the theme, in the Xena verse he'd probably be this guy...

...and everyone knows how surprisingly useful he was during some of the warrior princess' misadventures.