The Casual Planeswalker

Category: Blog

  • Dueling Planeswalkers and Core Set 2013

    Dueling Planeswalkers and Core Set 2013

    Fans of the Magic video game Duels of the Planeswalkers may be aware of the what now seems to be yearly release of the latest version of the game. I’ve played both Duels of the Planeswalkers games so far and they have been pretty fun. I’m much too impatient to play it at times, having to wait out every step of a turn and every chance for a response to spells and abilities. Yet for this reason the game is great as an introduction or refresher course to Magic.

    If that’s all the games offered then it wouldn’t be a very exciting game for more experienced Magic players. My favorite has always been the puzzles, giving you one turn to win the game from what usually looks like a hopeless position. What looks interesting in 2013 in addition to puzzles are encounters. These sound like a normal game against a deck built to win using popular strategies such as mill, elves, burn, and others. The games always try to mix things up too, with 2012 including Archenemy and now 2013 will have multiplayer Planechase. It doesn’t look like they will include Archenemy again this time though. But as usual, the new game comes with brand new decks to try against new opponents.

    A lot of these decks are also tied to the new 2013 Core Set as well. The game is doing some heavy duty promotion for the next core set, including tons of cards from the core set in these decks. Wizards has been using the week before the release of Duels 2013 to preview new cards While most are reprints as usual, the coolest cards make use of this years mechanic, Exalted, in some awesome ways. I don’t want to spoil too much for those that prefer to be surprised, but there are lands with Exalted, black creatures with Exalted, and even a way to give every creature Exalted.

    One thing worth spoiling, if you haven’t seen it already, is the promo cards for buying Duels of the Planeswalkers 2013. Now you get a little booster pack of 6 cards, probably an assortment of 2013 cards that can be found in the game. You are guaranteed a great card though, depending on which platform you buy the game on. Xbox users get an excellent green Primordial HydraPrimordial Hydra to go along with the logo. Those that buy it on the sleek, black PS3 get an intimidating Vampire NocturnusVampire Nocturnus. Those that buy it on Steam or the clean, white iPad get a Serra AvatarSerra Avatar. All cards worth playing and a great bonus for buying the game when it’s released June 20th.

  • Casually Chasing Perfection – The Mistakes we Make (part 1 of 2)

    Casually Chasing Perfection – The Mistakes we Make (part 1 of 2)

    It’s game 3 of round 1.

    You’ve got well over 5 minutes left on the round and you’re holding the trump card. Looking across the table, you can tell you’ve got this one. You’ve been focused all match, playing tight when you need to play tight, and loosening when appropriate. You’re just biding your time, waiting for the right moment to close it down.

    He’s out of options and you both know it. He goes for it. You exhale, smile a little on the inside and reach to tap your lands and blow him out

    Wait. Something is wrong. Why is your land tapped this way? You had no reason to leave yourself in this position. Unfortunately you’re not playing at the kitchen table anymore, and there are no take-backs in the real world. You can’t cast your trump card. Seriously!?!! You just blew it! You had it!!!

    And that’s where it all goes to hell.

    For the next 6 rounds, you slouch more and more, play with a little less edge, and expect your opponent to have it most of the time, even it you should be hoping with every fiber of your being that they don’t. You peel cards off of the top of your deck, practically willing them to be crap instead of action. As much as you tell yourself you’re playing to win, you’re really not even in the game anymore

    Sound familiar? Alot of players refer to this as being “put on tilt.” Here’s the thing; we all make play mistakes. I don’t care if it’s your first time playing in 11 years, and your too busy reminiscing about Sliver QueenSliver Queen‘s and RancorRancor‘s to notice you forgot to attack, or if you’re in a legacy feature match, and you took the bait and cracked your Misty RainforestMisty Rainforest during combat to turn on their SubmergeSubmerge when you didn’t have to. Our brains aren’t constructed to be super computers, and if they were, we would find more satisfying ways to test their skill than Magic. I’ve probably read a dozen articles by the pro’s talking about taking their losses in stride, and how to avoid getting put on tilt in the face of mistakes or tough losses they felt they could’ve avoided.

    However, I do think that there is a level beyond that realization. A level that can work wonders for any player smart enough to face up to it. What i’m talking about is recognizing your self confidence, and learning how to do it with an objective eye to your magic playing throughout. To illustrate what that means i’ve prepared a list of 3 things to try and remember for the casual or competitive player that will help you avoid repeating your mistakes over and over again;

    1. The “secret” to success in life is positivity. Don’t show up to play magic in a poor frame of mind whatever environment you’re playing in. There’s a reason Lebron James reads a non basketball related book before playing in games. It clears his mind.

    2. Play with as many different people as you can, with an eye towards better players when you can. You learn infinitely more from your losses than from your wins. Especially if you’re able to set your ego aside when taking criticism. A good rule to remember is that if you lose to the same player more than 50% of the time, it probably means they’re a stronger player than you for one reason or another. Respect that rule and learn from them.

    3. Be a gentleman when you play magic. Treat every win, every loss, every cool person you meet and every obnoxious or socially awkward d-bag with the same respect. We all win, and we all lose all the time. If you remember this, it will go further for you than you could ever imagine in the long run.

    Let me know if any of this stuff resonates with you. Do you have a story like the one I started with that you always remember? Let me know in the comments and i’ll see you guys next week!

    Until then, take care and play magic.

    – Ben Bateman

  • Casual Friday-Keeping it Casual

    Casual Friday-Keeping it Casual

    Have you ever had a new guy join your casual Magic group and have him dominate every game that didn’t involve teaming up against him? Maybe you had some awesome deck encouraged a collective groan from the group as you started shuffling it. There are plenty of tournaments that encourage players to bring their strongest, most competitive decks, and it can be tough when decks made to win a tournament play against more casual decks. Casual play always seemed like the place to get away from playing to win as fast as possible and trying new strategies or just focusing on the fun. Here are some of what I think are the best ways to make a deck more casual and more fun.

    Lower Power

    Magic cards are built to have some cards be clearly better than others according to their rarity. The best cards are naturally going to be in shorter supply than others. Some more competitive players, used to just buying whatever is needed to make a deck great, can run into the problem of making a deck too strong for casual play against players that just make decks out of whatever they find in booster packs. Thus there needs to be some balance between the strongest cards of your deck against everyone else’s cards.

    This is a really hard thing to avoid because the coolest cards are always the most rare. Engulfing SlagwurmEngulfing Slagwurm is a really cool card, eating up all your opponent’s creatures instantly. It’s an awesome blocker, and with LureLure, it is a devastating attacker. A friend in our play group had this combo in his deck and could play it by turn 5 or so. Any kill spell could easily take it down but when he follows up with Eldrazi there eventually comes a point where nobody can get rid of these huge creatures. I always dreaded playing this deck because I always feel I have to rush and focus on taking down this one person before they can get too much steam and become unstoppable.

    Of course it’s no fun to deliberately put awful cards in a deck, but when the odds are stacked in such a way then games may end up turning into Archenemy whenever someone play’s their ultra-powerful deck. Some formats have also been created to avoid these gross imbalances of power. Pauper Magic and other similar types that restrict players to only commons or limit the number of cards at higher rarities can allow newer players to build a more competitive deck while forcing veterans to stretch their creative muscles building a strong deck without the strongest cards.

    Reduce Complexity

    I am probably most guilty of making a deck that is too complex. I love creating the most convoluted schemes to achieve victory and the most complicated battlefields in Magic. Yet sometimes decks can get too complex to be any fun for anyone else in your playgroup. Some people don’t like having to take 10 minutes looking at the field before making a decision as simple as playing an awesome spell or even to not do anything at all.

    I made a deck like that before. It used one of my favorite cards of the whole Scars of Mirrodin block: Knowledge PoolKnowledge Pool. A card that stops everyone from playing their spells and forces them to pick some other spell? The only thing better than that would be two Knowledge Pools at the same time! I almost immediately got 4 of them, easy enough because nobody else wanted them, and filled it with cheap and nearly harmless spells I could swap with others. I played the deck against 3 other people, able to play two Knowledge Pools at the same time. If you’ve ever used this card, you can imagine how excruciatingly long it takes to do anything. Needless to say, that was the first and last time I ever played that deck.

    Make It Unpredictable

    A deck of 60 cards, with 24 lands, only needs a minimum of 9 different cards. Why not make those cards that will always lead to the win? Red decks, the color that is supposed to love chaos, seems to benefit the most from this. Throw in 4 Lightning BoltLightning Bolt, Ball LightningBall Lightning, Lava SpikeLava Spike, and others and you can win pretty quickly. It’s great to have that consistency in a competitive format but when playing just for fun with a casual group, it can be pretty boring to play a deck that will always do the same thing. It’s great to mix it up with a wider variety of cards even if they are really powerful.

    The Highlander format really embraces this strategy. When there can only be one, it’s a lot harder to know what the deck is going to do. It’s a favorite format of many, especially the Elder Dragon Highlander, or Commander. This format is great because it allows some of the more interesting and expensive cards to be used. Where else would someone be able to play Magmatic ForceMagmatic Force consistently?

    Let The Opponent Play

    Land destruction is, I hope, the most hated ability among most players. Even if you’re playing great, if all your lands are gone you’re probably going to be stuck with whatever you have on the field until the game ends. Then you have all sorts of really cool cards in your hand without any way to play them. All that’s left to do is sit around until your opponent gets the upper hand and kills you. 

    The same situation occurs when locked down with counterspells. Strong combos like CounterbalanceCounterbalance and Sensei’s Divining TopSensei’s Diving Top are not very fun to play. Really, a lot of the most powerful combos are frustrating because really good decks will be able to win the game with them in only a few turns. One of the worst new combos I’ve played against was Splinter TwinSplinter Twin with Deceiver ExarchDeceiver Exarch. It’s a horrible infinite combo that makes you lose the game against an army of millions of copied creatures. I really hate when my friend plays the deck, but avoids using the combo even though it could easily win him the game. I don’t know if it’s just me, but I hate winning only because someone else chose not to win when they clearly know they could. I think it’s best to remove these types of combos if you want to have fun casual games.

     

    Don’t Hate

    This is tough to do with some decks in multiplayer games because some just have to focus on another player to play effectively. Mill, Discard, and Burn decks become less effective as it plays against more than one opponent. Most people can accept being targeted by these decks as it is the only smart choice, but other decks can usually do okay in multiplayer at least.

    I’m mostly referring to decks that are made only to play against another particular deck. There’s nothing wrong with responding to the meta game, like including more counterspells in decks if everyone tends to tap out for huge creatures and spells. However I have seen people play a deck with Blue Elemental BlastBlue Elemental Blast, Absolute LawAbsolute Law and other similar cards to use every time someone pulls out their favorite red deck. These one-sided matches are never very fun to see.

    These are some of the most common problems I’ve seen playing casual Magic. When new players join your group these problems can come up again and again. Have you run into players that have decks that are way too competitive? Have you made rules to keep casual Magic fun and casual?

  • The Evolution of a Casual Planeswalker (Part 3 of 3)

    The Evolution of a Casual Planeswalker (Part 3 of 3)

    Last week I stated that there is a casual player inside every competitive player, but suggested that the flip side of that coin may not be so true.

    Is there a competitive player in every casual player, and if so, which profile do I fit? The answer is not so simple, and the explanation may shine some light on the shortcomings of many a casual magic enthusiast turned competitive.

    Today, i’m going to pick up where I left with some thoughts regarding my transition from casual planeswalker, to aspiring professional planeswalker. You see, many of the greatest minds to ever play professional magic are gifted at not just this one game, but have incredible innate talent at many other numbers based hobbies, the most common of which are Poker and blackjack. A number of great writers have explored this subject exhaustively, so i’ll spare you the details for now, but the point i’m trying to illustrate is that to succeed at magic ahead of the expected learning curve, it’s likely that you’re drawn to the game for reasons it takes many of us years to realize for ourselves. I’ll give you an example you’re probably familiar with; when asked to explain the gist of the game to someone that has no concept of it, my explanation usually sounds something like this;

    Me: It’s like poker meets chess, mixed with lord of the rings. Roughly.

    Person: Wow, sounds pretty crazy. Do people dress up and stuff?

    Me (lightly frustrated): Rarely. It’s not really about that. The flavor, though important, holds no bearing on the game play. It’s just numbers and percentages really.

    Person: Oh, so then it’s a math game.

    Me: On paper it can look at it that way, but math isn’t the reason it’s fun. Unless i’m explaining it in this context, math is a pretty narrow aspect to focus on. I’s important to win, but not to play.

    Person (confused and no longer interested does not respond).

    You see, the aspect that makes magic interesting and easy to grasp for the professional is precisely the opposite of the aspect that draws most people to the game. My earlier statement regarding player types existing inside each other may have been confused in retrospect. There may in fact not be a casual player in every competitive one, only because so many of them bypassed the casual part of the game completely when they learned how to play. Some of them just want to win, no matter the cost.

    So when you’re sitting across the table from one of these players, and you curve out with Aether FlashAether Flash into Swans of Bryn ArgollSwans of Bryn Argoll, your thought process is completely different from theirs. While you may be grinning on the inside, excited by the turbo MulldrifterMulldrifter you’ve just made, they’re not registering the art, the flavor, or the awesome synergy you’ve just presented at all. They’re just thinking about how they’re going to abuse your swans for their benefit, and how cumbersome that combination is compared to playing a Vendilion CliqueVendilion Clique and a Jace, the Mind SculptorJace, the Mind Sculptor instead. Some pro’s i’ve spoken to have even admitted to being so conniving, they’ll placate you or intentionally hurry you just for the sake of breaking your focus.

    Sound a little foreign to you?

    Welcome to the vast majority of my life playing magic.

    There are 3 basic player profiles that they talk about in card design that will basically show both sides of the matchups i’m talking about.

    1. Timmy: The casual player interested in having fun and only fun. This is his reward for playing.

    2. Johnny: The creative mind interested in winning games on his own terms, and with his own deck designs and favorite cards. Cleverness is the bees knees here.

    3. Spike: The competitive or professionally minded player. Win. At. All. Costs.

    The articles that really break these psychographic profiles down can be found here and here, but the reason I mention them is that if you’re anything like me, you’re a hybrid of the second and third category, and that puts you in a position to fall harder than anyone else. You’re essentially incapable of giving in to common sense and playing with generally “good” cards, because that would be too obvious. However, you’re unwilling to keep your clever little creations out of the tournament room because you really want to win. You want to prove to the world that you’re good at this game you spend so much time, money and weekends playing, and the combination of those two will be the end of you.

    Unless you adapt.

    I believe it’s possible to do, and if I didn’t i’d probably quit magic tomorrow. I mean seriously. Who wants to lose that much.

    From summer 2007, when I discovered the drafts and the tournament room at Cardhaus games in Lynnwood, WA, all the way through last weekend playing at my 8th competitive REL level event in this year, i’ve grown through many of the challenges that serious magic presents to its aspiring players. I’ve played homebrew decks dozens of times (not always to failure by the way), and i’ve won as many drafts as i’ve lost. However, whether losing or winning, the transition from Denny’s to international convention centers is a long one, and one that is fraught with peril and self exploration for the casual player.

    That about does it for my introductory series here at The Casual Planeswalker, but don’t worry. If you’re enjoying my writing you can check back here every Wednesday for my brand new weekly column!

    Until then, take care and play magic.

    – Ben Bateman

  • Casual Friday-Planechase Edition

    Casual Friday-Planechase Edition

    Today marks the release of the latest in casual Magic: Planechase 2012. It also marks the return of Casual Friday where I will be looking at the most fun casual cards every week. This week I thought I’d give the rundown on the 4 planechase decks that will be available to play. They all look very cool and are reminiscent of planes old and new. Each one focuses on one or two abilities and look to be a lot of fun, especially with a a few additions.

    Chaos Reigns

    ‘Chaos’ is definitely the best way to describe this deck which makes the most use of all 5 colors and the cascade mechanic from Shards of Alara. The decks ramps up the mana to play tons of 2-for-1 cascade spells. As it is it plays a pretty simple strategy that uses cascade to play more spells than the opponent and gradually gain the advantage. Of course, the deck also comes with an assortment of planes to add even more chaos to the battlefield.

    This deck seems to really embrace the idea of chaos, perhaps a little too much. All the planes look pretty neat, especially OrzhovaOrzhova which will return all creatures from the graveyard to the battlefield. But that plane, and many others, don’t really help the strategy of the deck which is cascading into multiple spells each turn.  My favorite plane from this deck would have to be Windriddle PalacesWindriddle Palaces. It’s like Future SightFuture Sight that everyone can play, giving you more options for cards to play or a hint at what card you would play with cascade.

    But Cascade is a pretty strong ability on its own so creatures with it don’t really have many other strong abilities. You’ll have to rely a lot on your planes or other spells to really pull of some cool stuff. A lot of creatures in this deck do have flying though, with evasion being the best way to deal damage other than a Mass MutinyMass Mutiny to end the game.

    Like any preconstructed deck it could use some new cards to make things more interesting. A couple planes, Izzet Steam MazeIzzet Steam Maze and MinamoMinamo, could really help you get the most out of casting multiple spells with cascade. For the deck itself, it could really use some stronger spells to make cascade really useful. It’s hard put some order into the deck but you can at least make some guarantees by controlling the type of cards you have for two mana or less. If they’re all kill spells then you know that every time you play something like Shardless AgentShardless Agent you get to kill something. It’s a neat trick that could be made the focus of the deck by adding more 3 mana cascade spells and more strong 2 mana spells.

    Night of the Ninja

    A lot of people have been fascinated with ninja and I know a few people that really liked their brief appearance in the Kamigawa set. Starting long after Kamigawa, I never had the chance to check out this neat ability. Betrayers of Kamigawa sets were never available at my local card shop. With 2 brand new ninja this deck includes all 10 cards with Ninjutsu, along with plenty of cards to help them take out your opponents.

    The Ninjutsu ability allows these creatures to swap replace an attacking creature if your opponent declared no blockers. The ninja comes in unblocked as well, allowing you to sneak some damage and a pretty strong ability after damage is dealt. Thus this deck is centered around two key mechanics: having unblocked creatures, and creatures with “enter the battlefield” or “leaves the battlefield” effects. With cards like Baleful StrixBaleful Strix you can easily draw a card from playing it, fly over defenders, Ninjutsu something awesome into play, then playing the Strix again to draw another card.

    Most of the planes in this deck do real well with this strategy. The top planes for this deck are probably TakenumaTakenuma, drawing you cards when you Ninjutsu, and Bloodhill BastionBloodhill Bastion, giving your ninja double strike giving you double their effects. Other planes are great as well, but I’m not sure why the Zephyr MazeZephyr Maze was included in this deck. While the flying creatures in here would become a threat, there are only a few and they should be swapped with Ninjutsu after attacking. This also makes the smaller ninja pretty useless as their abilities won’t activate if they don’t deal damage.

    As for the regular 60 card deck, I feel it’s pretty well put together aside from a lack of power that comes with all preconstructed decks. I think the biggest weakness with this deck is the inclusion of all the ninja, of which only a few are really great. The most versatile are probably the classic Ninja of the Deep HoursNinja of the Deep Hours and the new Sakashima’s StudentSakashima’s Student. The strongest, particularly Silent-Blade OniSilent-Blade Oni, can be difficult to play with their high cost. It could probably also use a couple more cards that make the ninja difficult to block once they are on the battlefield. Whispersilk CloakWhispersilk Cloak and Vela the Night-CladVela the Night-Clad are the only cards in this deck that help with that.

    Primordial Hunger

    This deck uses another ability from Alara: Devour. It’s clearly a JundJund deck, even including the card in the planar deck. The deck also throws in a bit of Selesnya from Ravnica too, making creatures more than just the means to obtain the strongest creatures. It’s still not the Jund that dominated standard during Shards of Alara, but it should prove pretty fun.

    The planes look to be pretty neat, with Jund giving every creature devour 5 and providing some token generation. This feels like a really strong ability when combined with this deck. MycolothMycoloth and Preyseizer DragonPreyseizer Dragon really benefit on Jund, really pumping their devour power. The inclusion of the Selesnya Loft GardensSelesnya Loft Gardens is also sure to be a big hit. This plane is a Doubling SeasonDoubling Season on it’s own, with the chaos ability also doubling mana.

    It’s going to be real tempting to wait for Selesnya to appear to make all your tokens and devour all the creatures. There are a lot of cards in this deck that are real exciting for a player like me that wants huge game-ending effects. Some great cards include Warstorm SurgeWarstorm Surge and Hellion EruptionHellion Eruption. They are lots of fun to use on their own but together with some tokens the game is over with 5 creatures. The great thing about casual is that this is a combo that is a bit easier to pull off. The Kilnspire DistrictKilnspire District can also help provide the mana for these awesome combos.

    This deck also comes with my favorite new card in this set: Thromok the InsatiableThromok the Insatiable. It’s a simple card, a 0/0 with devour X. His power increases exponentially so you want to devour everything once you play him. This deck doesn’t look like it has enough token generation to make him more than a 25/25 at max, but the potential for awesome is there. He might make a really cool Commander for a red-green deck.

    Savage Auras

    Enchantments are the focus of this deck with a lot of the coolest enchantment cards from Zendikar. and some great new ones. The deck is light on creatures and heavy on enchantments but a lot of those have Totem Armor, including the new Felidar UmbraFelidar Umbra. This enchantment is easily moveable allowing you to protect any creature. It can also be used to move this enchantment to something like Bramble ElementalBramble Elemental or Krond the Dawn-CladKrond the Dawn-Clad that may show up later in the game. Felidar Umbra can keep your creatures alive at instant speed and can protect you with Lifelink.

    For planes, the real star of this deck is AkoumAkoum, giving all enchantments flash and allowing you to destroy creatures without an enchantment for its chaos ability. In this deck there is nothing better than surprising an opponent by blocking than throwing down a Spirit MantleSpirit Mantle or Indrik UmbraIndrik Umbra to take out an attacker. For those that like putting all their enchantments on one creature, Astral ArenaAstral Arena should be real great.

    Like all of these preconstructed decks there are some weird additions to the planar deck as well. KessigKessig is thrown in here even though there are no werewolves anywhere in this set. It’s a little weird, but it’s also nice that there are planes that can be used in decks with more specific themes.

    This deck is probably my favorite overall in this set and would be my first pick at the release event. However each deck has something really awesome, including a new mythic rare legendary creature for fans of Commander. What do you guys think about the new set and the new cards?

  • The Evolution of a Casual Planeswalker (Part 2 of 3)

    The Evolution of a Casual Planeswalker (Part 2 of 3)

    When I have an idea for a new deck, nobody gets a word in but me. It doesn’t matter if I ask for your opinion, i’m really just waiting for my turn to talk so I can continue convincing you. You may try and explain that the way i’m doing something is strictly worse than another way, but it doesn’t matter. Once i’m on the warpath, I need to see the deck perform before i’ll change my mind. I wish I could say that this trait is a gift and a curse, but unfortunately the rogue decks I build for tournaments never win anyway.

    And this is how I met O’sheen.

    He was a very slight fellow, with a fairer complexion and though it’s hard to be entirely sure of it in retrospect, i’m fairly certain was a ginger. We were magic buddies around the time I first made the transition from casual to competitive magic, but unfortunately for his sake, O’sheen was repeatedly beaten over the head by my over-zealousness in what turned out to be an extremely one dimensional friendship. If you’re reading this story, please accept my apologies buddy. I was having too much fun.

    Aside from a couple of pre-release sealed events over the years, and the odd novelty draft at my local store here and there, my history with magic predating the summer of 2007 had been punctuated almost exclusively with casual games of one on one with friends at summer camp, or my older brother and his friends. We would play with 60 card decks with no concept of sideboards or proper rules enforcement, commonly deferring to the local store owner for ruling disagreements, of which there were many. Over the years, he actually had to politely ask me to stop calling for rulings so frequently, as the frequency of calls were getting in the way of business. All that aside, the first 12 years or so of my experience with magic was pretty awesome. From ’95 when I was hotly anticipating the release of ice-age, all the way until 2005, with the release of Champions of Kamigawa, I played on and off, never staying away for more than a year or so, and though I periodically considered selling my cards, I managed to maintain my collection enough to encourage my return every time.

    In the Spring of 2007, after a painful breakup, and a year very lightly sprinkled with MTG, I returned to magic for one of the more memorable summers of my life. A dear friend of mine had experienced a complete heartbreak about a year prior and had been introduced to magic as a coping mechanism during that time by some mutual friends. When I joined the group for that summer, they already had a very healthy weekly game going on, and with my inclusion, the game moved to Denny’s and became an all night affair more often than not. We would play casual multiplayer, one on one duels, Commander and even chaos draft sometimes, ordering milkshakes at 1am and sampler platters at 3. The power level of the decks we played with was very low, as nobody had an encyclopedic knowledge of the cards available, so we basically played with what we had. We’d buy cards every week or 2 to add to the decks, but it was really about having fun, not winning. There’s an element of magic’s flavor that is missed by most tournament players, and to say we embraced it would be an understatement. My good friend Zeke hadn’t played since magic’s early years, and had just gotten back into the game, so he especially relished the classic cards, and made a point to cheekily quote the flavor text off of Feldon’s CaneFeldon’s Cane every time the card was mentioned or played. We all soon learned to follow suit. One Thursday night, another friend of mine showed up with a combo deck he found online that began winning games in 3 or 4 turns every game. We discussed this as a group and agreed that banning the deck from our weekly game was the only solution that made sense. Who cared about winning if you did it the same way every game?! I have many a fond memory of getting home at 4 or 5am in a complete junk food coma, and going to sleep as the birds started chirping.

    I kicked off that summer reeling from my breakup and going to the Futuresight pre-release in Bellevue, Washington. Bellevue is a little bit of a bus ride from Seattle, and for some reason the fact that I had to travel a distance made the whole experience feel a little less routine, and a little more special. It was at that prerelease that I experienced my first win in a large event. I don’t remember my sealed pool, but I do remember going 4-0 with it, and being awarded 18 packs for my hard work! I can recall thinking to myself, “what an amazing way to play magic! You can actually get more cards than you pay for if you win!” this marked a major turning point for me mentally, as my outlook on magic became more and more tournament oriented over the next couple of years, sometimes even eschewing the casual games I loved so much in favor of frantic preparation for constructed events.

    I soon started consuming as much information regarding competitive magic as I could as fast as I could, trying to understand how I could use the cards I liked well enough to win. My first high level event was Washington regionals 2007, the first match of which was documented by Great Designer Search 2 finalist Jon Loucks and can be read about here. The boogeyman in standard at the time was the original DragonstormDragonstorm combo deck, but Jon was playing the infinite life gain combo rock deck, titled “Project X.” I had decided to play DragonstormDragonstorm, but instead of actually playing the namesake card, I replaced it with Niv-Mizzet the FiremindNiv-Mizzet the Firemind, Ophidian EyeOphidian Eye and Jhoira of the GhituJhoira of the Ghitu. My deck was completely unreliable and infinitely worse than the original, but was at least unexpected and clever, two details I was beaming about until I went 2 and 5 with the deck at the tournament and admitted defeat. Although I realize now that the deck I played was terrible, I still have a soft spot for Jhoira of the GhituJhoira of the Ghitu and all things Time Spiral related, and i’m still trying to find ways to abuse JhoiraJhoira, Mishra, Artificer ProdigyMishra, Artificer Prodigy and ChronozoaChronozoa (good lord I love me some ChronozoaChronozoa).

    I wish I could tell you that I over the years i’ve learned my lesson regarding rogue deck choices, and that I don’t still harass my friends about the cards I love, but the truth is, it’s much easier to recognize these things than it is to put them into practice. As I called O’sheen so many times to explain over those first couple of years, every new idea or clever combination of cards seems like the best idea in the world at the time you have it, no matter how miserably it fails you in reality.

    In conclusion, it’s important to remember that there’s a casual player in every competitive player, but not a competitive player in every casual player. Which am I? You’ll have to come back for part 3 of this series to find out!

    Until then, take care and play magic.

    – Ben Bateman

  • Reigniting the Spark

    We are back everyone! After a long absence we are glad to return to give the latest in news, tips, and tricks for all the Casual Planeswalkers. We’ll have new articles from myself as well as from our newest author Ben Bateman who started with how he was introduced to Magic on Wednesday. And what better time to return than with the upcoming release of the next casual Planechase set coming June 1? We’ll be going into the cool cards in this new set soon as well as cooking up some hot combos from the previous Innistrad block as well. For now, here’s a quick rundown of the next set.

    Planechase was a great casual format first released a few years ago with new plane cards. One plane would always be present on the battlefield with a static effect that applied to everyone. Players could roll dice to try and change to the next plane or activate a chaos ability that usually did something pretty cool like playing creatures for free, adding tons of mana to your pool, drawing cards, and more. Planechase 2012 adds a bit more complexity and allows planes to do a lot more than the earlier cards. Some planes have you planeswalk away through abilities on the plane card itself, for example. Of course, the real draw of the new planar cards are the phenomenon cards. These cards will show up as you planeswalk, but instead of having a static effect these cards will do something awesome, like destroying all creatures, and then moving to the next plane card. This should add a bit of variety, instead of having a simple game of moving to each plane one after another.

    Like every new set, Planechase 2012 will come with 4 new decks and 21 brand new cards that will make a great addition to many casual decks. Many of these cards bring back abilities from older sets including ninjutsu, devour, cascade, and totem armor. It’s great to see the return of these abilities and what better was to do so than in casual sets? We’ll take a look at these new cards and the new decks soon, but for now it is just good to be getting back to the Casual Planeswalker!

  • The Evolution of a Casual Planeswalker (part 1 of 3)

    The Evolution of a Casual Planeswalker (part 1 of 3)

    Do you remember your first kiss?

    How about, getting your first job? Graduating college? Flying on an airplane for the first time?

    What about the first game of magic you ever played?

    If you’ve been playing magic as long as I have, then the answer to the last one is probably a little hazy. However, crystal clear or not, I’ll bet you smiled a little inside thinking back on it. For me, the things I remember the most vividly are the visuals. Little snapshots of nostalgia that illustrate the story I remember so fondly.

    I was 7 years old, and the newest expansion, Fallen Empires, had just been released. My older brother, who was 17 at the time was trying to explain the basics to me in the minutes between homework time and family dinner. Having armed me with a stack of Llanowar ElvesLlanowar Elves, Kurd ApesKurd Apes and FireballsFireballs that had come from the dregs of his collection, he continued to destroy me one game after another.

    In my hand was a Craw WurmCraw Wurm, and with it I was determined to win my first game. He passed the turn to me having played nothing of his own, and before un-tapping, drawing a card or even taking a breath, I windmill-slammed the Craw Wurm on the table grinning like an idiot!

    It was at that moment that I saw Mana DrainMana Drain for the first time.

    Have you ever seen a real live Mana Drain before? It’s picture is some sort of red electric jellyfish creature sucking energy from what I presume is the ocean floor. Though, to add some even weirder wrinkles, this jellyfish looks armored and like it’s filled with blood. It’s a much more complex and frightening image than a Craw Wurm, which is essentially just a big green dragonesque worm. Add to this, the fact that Mana Drain was printed in that early period of time when magic sets all had black borders and used significantly darker ink. Craw Wurm on the other hand, was white bordered and looked washed out in comparison, being from the recently released revised edition, which used lighter ink and white borders. Next to each other, they looked like Oscar Mayer roast beef and perfectly cooked, medium rare filet mignon.

    I grabbed it from him to read it and see what this “counter” business he was talking about meant, and was totally shocked something that trumped my wurm even existed. It seemed impossible that there could be something better than 6 power worth of writhing green wurmy goodness. I was pretty convinced he was cheating, so I demanded an explanation. However, before I could be satisfied, my mother called to us for dinner. Though I ate dinner with the family that night, my mind was never really there. I was too focused on trying to figure out what the hell “countering a spell” meant. My imagination was totally captivated by the endless possibilities magic presented, and I was dead set on getting back to it.

    Flash forward 16 years. I’m sitting in the waiting room of a major casting office in Beverly Hills, preparing to audition for the lead role in a new JJ Abrams TV show. I’ve spent an enormous amount of time preparing the lines, and I’ve even been made to sign a confidentiality agreement regarding the show’s content. These kind of opportunities don’t come around often, and can change your life instantly. What am I doing while I wait?

    I’m using my smartphone’s magic database to decide on a blue 2 drop to play in my modern Grand Architect/Mishra, Artificer Prodigy deck, and I’m totally stoked to be doing it. In fact, I’m probably the only person in the room who isn’t squirming in their chair and/or sizing each other up, due to the fact that I’m 100% mentally invested in something else. Much like the kitchen table that night so many years ago, this is a pretty accurate snapshot for much of my life regarding magic; for better or for worse.

    Whether it’s at the kitchen table trying to win games with Dovescape combo decks, or in a room with 1,500 other people from all over the world trying to win the Counterspell war, magic has always been an endlessly engaging and totally rewarding hobby that I’m proud to play casually or competitively.

    I hope you enjoyed reading this story, and that it made you get a little sentimental about your own experiences. I’ll be writing part 2 of this article series next week, so check back to hear a story or two about the transition from Craw Wurms, to PTQ’s and grand prix’s.

    Until then, take care and play magic.

    – Ben Bateman

  • Better than Grizzly Bears?

    Better than Grizzly Bears?

    Grizzly BearThere are a lot of standards in Magic that let you know what you should expect to pay for certain abilities on cards. Perhaps the simplest one to recognize is that the minimum power for a creature that costs 1G is to be  2/2, Grizzly Bears. As the bottom line for cards that cost 1G, useful and exciting Magic cards that cost 1G need to be better than Grizzly Bears.  We’ve seen plenty of these over the long history of Magic from commons that have the ability to be stronger than Grizzly Bears during certain conditions to rare cards that can go beyond normal cost restrictions.

    It’s pretty easy to be stronger than bears, apparently. A lot of times the slot of the Grizzly Bear is taken to create a 2/2 that gets stronger by using the mechanic that is big in the new set. Zendikar in particular has a whole lot of these guys. It started with the Oran-Rief Survivalist. He seems like a 1/1 at first, but he gains a +1/+1 counter as soon as he enters the battlefield. The Survivalist is my favorite of these “bears” so far, gaining more +1/+1 counters for each time another ally enters the battlefield. With allies and proliferate these guys get to be an early threat in many games.Oran-Rief Survivalist

    After that, Worldwake gave us the Gnarlid Pack
    Gnarlid Pack    . By using Multikicker it seemed like this pack added more grizzlies for each 2 mana you had to spare. These guys are pretty useful for their versatility since you can pump them up if you happen to draw them late game. Of course you also had the option to play them early and start attacking a few turns in. For a common they were pretty neat and were an easy introduction to the Multikicker mechanic.

    Rise of the Eldrazi had two great Grizzly Bears to demonstrate their two biggest mechanics. We had the Beastbreaker of Bala Ged
    Beastbreaker of Bala Ged    , a very straightforward leveler that became a 6/6 with trample once you put a ton of mana into it. The winner of best bear for this set though was easily Nest Invader
    Nest Invader    . You had your 2/2 for 1G, but he also came with his own Eldrazi Spawn as a refund.

    The Scars of Mirrodin Block had one typical “bear” and also a really cool rare one. Carapace Forger
    Carapace Forger     was a 2/2 for 2 that became a 4/4 with Metalcraft, but Melira, Sylvok Outcast
    Melira, Sylvok Outcast     is a card that shows what you can do with a rare Grizzly Bear. She’s a nice 2/2 that protects your creatures from infect damage and a killer combo with Phyrexian Unlife
    Phyrexian Unlife     can make you totally invincible. Gatstaf ShepherdGastaf Shepherd

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    The new Transform mechanic in Innistrad leads to yet another incarnation of Grizzly Bears. The Gatstaf Shepherd is what we’ve come to expect from bears, even though it doesn’t look like he would be able to fight them too well. Once you make use of the Transform mechanic he becomes an intimidating force to be reckoned with. He may not be able to keep getting pumped up like the Oran-Rief Survivalist, but intimidate does make sure that you will be able to attack for three, provided they don’t have green or artifact creatures. However there is a pretty strong tribal theme in Innistrad, so these Howlers will probably be pumped pretty quickly by other werewolves.

    Innistrad is looking to be an exciting set. Be sure to keep an eye out for how Magic fills the usual spots like the designated Grizzly Bears. Check out our spoilers for the rest of the cards in this set as the spoilers continue.

  • Casual Friday–Dominaria’s Most Ancient Evil

    Casual Friday–Dominaria’s Most Ancient Evil

    Nicol BolasComing up next week is the release of the latest duel decks. We will be able to recreate the events of the Shards of Alara block as Nicol Bolas fights against Ajani, filled with vengeance. It’s great to see that Magic has begun to focus on planeswalkers and their new card type has easily made them some of the the most in-demand cards in Magic. Today I’ll be looking at Nicol Bolas, one of Magic’s oldest and most powerful planeswalkers.

    Nicol Bolas is the last of the Elder Dragons, from which we get the Elder Dragon Highlander format. He first appeared in the Legends set with the 4 other Elder Dragons. All of these guys were 7/7 dragons for 8 mana, with each corresponding to a wedge of mana, much like the Shards of Alara that would be the focus of Bolas later. Not coincidentally, Nicol Bolas was the elder dragon of the Grixis colors of blue, black, and red, and he by far had the coolest ability of the whole group. Palladia-Mors
    Palladia-Mors     had trample and Vaevictis Asmadi had firebreathing of 3 different colors, but Bolas forced your opponent to discard their entire hand if he dealt combat damage to them. With that kind of ability it’s easy to see why he is a planeswalker and we haven’t heard of the others.

    With his return in the Shards of Alara block he seems to have put down his books and become the main antagonist of the Magic multiverse. Nicol Bolas, PlaneswalkerHe brought the five shards of Alara together, he engineered the Rise of the Eldrazi by sending the insane Sarkhan Vol
    Sarkhan Vol     to Zendikar, and also has plans for the New Phyrexians with his agent, Tezzeret
    Tezzeret    . Bolas is clearly extremely poweful and is able to manipulate even planeswalkers in his schemes. You can also become a willing pawn by summoning him to help you against other planeswalkers.

    If you can get the 8 mana needed to summon him he can usually win the game for you. That can be difficult to do without green, although you can get some help from various rituals, whether they be Dark
    Dark Ritual     or Pyretic
    Pyretic Ritual    , to help you cast him sooner. From there you can destroy noncreature permanents every turn if you wanted. This is a great way to get rid of other planeswalkers that decided to help your opponent. If some creatures are giving you trouble, you can easily take control of them permanently. His ultimate ability, a more cruel Cruel Ultimatum
    Cruel Ultimatum    , has to be the end of the game for your opponent. It’s hard to come back after losing 14 cards while still having to deal with Bolas.

    Nicol Bolas is a great finisher for casual decks, well as long as you are playing him. With the duel decks coming out September 2 you can easily pick up this powerful planeswalker and a cool deck that fits his theme well. One of the coolest modifications to this deck has to be the addition of the original Nicol Bolas creature. Know anyone that has been the victim of an attack by Nicol Bolas and Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker at the same time?