Alpha

In the beginning, there was alpha. Well, not really, there were play test cards, and several rounds of that. But thats not why I am here.

Alpha was never a set I cared about, seriously. Up to when I quit Magic the first time, 2000 time frame, Alpha was considered nothing more than a collector's set. Why you ask....

When I played, for the first several years, no one used sleeves. Never heard of them, didn't care. Prices were not silly. You could trade some commons for dual lands. You could actually buy Mox for under $50. And generally, people were not insane about condition; just no marked cards.

The key was- no sleeves. Which meant Alpha could not be played unless ALL your cards were Alpha because of the corners. As pointed out here, even Unlimited versions of the same cards were worth more because of the unplayable-ness of the cards.

Flash forward to a few years later, everyone with a brain had sleeves, and Alpha still was not that usable. Still a collectable thing. Why?
If I recall correctly, you could call the judge, "JUDGE!" Ask the opponent to de-sleeve to make sure no proxies were being used... and there was a wild hair rumor that you could force your opponent to play un-sleeved. Hence not being able to use Alpha still because they were considered marked cards. I know I know... but you all have sleeves, what does it matter?!
Well, that was the problem with "back in the day" stuff. We didn't know any better. Funky was frowned upon.


Example #2 of funky:
When my friends started playing, they would go to the Armory in Pikesville to buy their Magic. The location still exists, but it does not sell directly to the public. This store was a MAJOR distribution center for the mid-Atlantic gaming scene. For the most part it was figures, D&D, and stuff like Warhammer. Anywho- you could buy packs, starters, and such directly from them in the store. When they FIRST went there, the store still had unlimited starters and packs. However, they also started to get revised starters and packs in.
The problem was, back then, no one could tell them if they could still play unlimited cards with revised. No one knew. Seriously. Revised was available, unlimited seemed a little more sketchy, so they bought the revised because they thought they could keep playing with that set. Don't get me started on Legends packs.

Ah, early Magic. Cloaked in mystery and no sleeves!

Proxy/fake cards

I've admitted it, I bought a bucket ton of fake/proxy cards. They were the cheapest out there, white core, laminated front and back. Good enough sleeved up for me. I could play the game, and not care about investing THOUSANDS of dollars to just play the game I wanted to play. I was never going to spent 10 hours on a Saturday at a pro-tour stop, nor a SCG event. Just not why I am playing. Sure, the local card store doesn't care about proxies, I'm down for that. And oh, it is VERY obvious my cards are fake once unsleeved. (anyone want a foil Lotus? I have one!)

However, I have a different proposal for fakes:

   (this is for all the collectors and Wizards)

What happens if the people making these proxies/fakes get them so good that people cannot tell the difference? I mean, shipped off to a grading service and returned with grades sort of well off cards. (btw, it has happened)
Keep in mind, the fakes are only going to get better, not worse. Take for example, this site. They proport to have multiple generations of printing stock and better technology to get more accurate prints. Be sure to check out their gallery of fakes.


My point being, if the fakes are so good that they are not different from the real cards- what is the response? I suspect the market crashes, only cards slabbed (graded and sealed) before a certain time frame will be considered to be genuine. Though that pretty much makes playing in any tournament hard.
Wizards would have to respond somehow. Their self imposed restricted list of cards they will never print again might have to be re-thought.
Perhaps bring back runs of these cards with holograms, or even my thought- purple boarders. Allowing Wizards to make a buck, and keep the fakes at bay. People will buy old World Championship decks to get the hard to find cards, even though they are in gold boarder. Or even the collectors edition cards which are square corners and gold backs.


The point being, the time is coming. I hope the market and Wizards are ready for a response to when the fakes are just as good as the real thing.


Btw, if you want a MUCH longer, likely much better written version of what I might have been trying to say, check out this SCG article from almost 3 years ago. It lists pretty much exactly the same points, but in much better detail.

From the same box

I drafted both of these cards, and all the packs from the draft were from the same box.

So it appears the one on the left is really what the card should look like.  We had several cards in the draft which were bleached looking. Not sure what happened at the old printing company, but it was an odd sheet.

Conspiracy!

I drafted my second Conspiracy Take the Crown set last night.

Let me just say this at the outside, I am not a great drafter... I need two, maybe three, drafts to really understand whats going on. So the first time I played the set, I think I could have done well if I didn't get mana hosed. This time, I sort of went the same direction with the drafting. I went mostly W with some light G. Lots of ways to take the crown. Yes, I know it meant I would be a target, but I counted on others being worried about each other.

It turned out, I won with 1 life for 3 rounds. Muahahahaha...

Players as I saw it:

- Rob was playing something that never worked. Got totally mana screwed, and only came in second because of a Ghostly Prison. No one ever had the mana to pay for it and the 3 creatures he had in defense

- Andy was playing a R/U flying deck which never showed any fliers. He was the only one I saw with direct damage. He also had the Rogue's Passage which is huge in this format. I got EXTREMELY lucky when he killed James during the one turn he could have killed me. The down side of his deck, he never got any fliers out.

- Dan was G mostly with some W. He had lots of trickery, moving enchantments around, pumping stuff. He was also on the other side of the table so I was never sure what he had out. He did have some of the largest critters, and had them removed three times.

- James was on the other side of me. He likely had the best deck out there, R and G. Fairly large creatures, but the kicker was the Dragonlair Spider. He became public enemy number 1 when he played it, there was just no way that could last. Thank goodness he was out before me, otherwise I would have not won.


Things that helped me win:

• Hold the Perimeter. That little card helped knock about 12-15 life off everyone else while I just sat and built defenses.
• Juniper Order Ranger- (x2) This guy helped later game in pumping up everything I had. My little sac'd Doom Traveler became 2 2/2 Flyers! Woot. (They lead to killing the last three opponents)
• Spectral Grasp- (x2) Helped save me from the biggest creature out there in the mid game.
• becoming the Monarch- I had six different cards that allowed me to become Monarch just by playing them. The card advantage was huge.
• Beast Within- This allowed me to kill off Dan by removing his one threat and killing him with my 2/2 flyers.
• Netcaster Spider- Allowed me to discourage any flyers. (plus it came down after the Juniper, so +1/+1!) 

     My true MVP though- Protector of the Crown. It came down, grabbed a +1/+1 from the Juniper Order Ranger, and became my "survive another turn" card. It was down fairly late game, so no one took my 1 life TOO seriously. (we can kill you at any time!) No one could do anything about it. Even if I was tapped out, I could easily recover. They would need to do 6 damage JUST to kill that, then have to attack me again to get one damage. Hence why I had to kill Andy to remove the chance at direct damage.
     Also, this time and my previous time, I drafted Ghostly Possession. First draft I nearly won with this card alone. The second time, I never drew it. If I had, put it on the Protector of the Crown, and I would have been nearly invincible. Well, almost. 

    Happy note- I did open the 4 packs of Conspiracy I won. I know, I know... I should have saved them for a later draft. Honestly I don't know when I was going to do that. I opened a Kaya, Ghost Assassin. One of the most "valuable" cards in the entire set. Ha. (well, top 10 in value) It was the only value card opened all night from the set.


postscript:  One aspect of this set that I am really bad at- the politics. I kept quiet for the most part. I allowed everyone else to talk about what they might or might not do. The deck I drafted reflected my attitude in the game for the most part. Stay low, stay strong, stick around long enough to have a chance. 

Which deck?

My friends play legacy, and I enjoy it as well. I'll admit it... lots of broken things, not all of them though.
Next weekend, I am setting up a small tournament for us. Likely between 5 and 8 people total. Like I said, small. Double elimination. Proxies allowed. I'm one of the participants. (thats where I am able to play, my tournament, my rules!)

So the question is, which deck? I've recently enjoyed a new Shardless Bug build. It has been fairly popular on Cockatrice. I also enjoy a certain build of Eldrazi. There is also Infect. Ugh... I don't know. Heck, I have even thought about Lands and D&T. All are solid decks for different reasons. I am leaning towards Shardless Bug v2.0 because most the guys I play against don't know about it. They haven't seen me play it at all, and likely not expecting it from me.

Here are the deck listings for each build:


Shardless Bug v2.0
4 Abrupt Decay
3 Ancestral Vision
3 Baleful Strix
2 Bayou
4 Brainstorm
1 Creeping Tar Pit
4 Deathrite Shaman
3 Force of Will
1 Forest
2 Hymn to Tourach
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Leovold, Emissary of Trest
2 Liliana of the Veil
1 Maelstrom Pulse
1 Misty Rainforest
4 Polluted Delta
4 Shardless Agent
1 Swamp
4 Tarmogoyf
1 Thoughtseize
2 Tropical Island
4 Underground Sea
4 Verdant Catacombs
2 Wasteland
1 Vendilion Clique
SB: 2 Grafdigger's Cage
SB: 1 Nihil Spellbomb
SB: 2 Pithing Needle
SB: 1 Night of Souls' Betrayal
SB: 1 Golgari Charm
SB: 1 Submerge
SB: 2 Flusterstorm
SB: 1 Maelstrom Pulse
SB: 2 Disfigure
SB: 2 Mindbreak Trap


Eldrazi deck #5
1 Karakas
2 Wasteland
2 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Ancient Tomb
4 Cavern of Souls
4 City of Traitors
4 Eldrazi Temple
4 Eye of Ugin
1 Endbringer
1 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
3 Oblivion Sower
4 Eldrazi Mimic
4 Endless One
4 Matter Reshaper
4 Reality Smasher
4 Thought-Knot Seer
4 Chalice of the Void
2 Warping Wail
2 All Is Dust
1 Crystal Vein
1 Thorn of Amethyst
SB: 1 Oblivion Sower
SB: 1 Warping Wail
SB: 1 Karakas
SB: 1 Dismember
SB: 4 Leyline of the Void
SB: 1 Null Rod
SB: 1 Pithing Needle
SB: 2 Ratchet Bomb
SB: 1 Spatial Contortion
SB: 1 Thorn of Amethyst
SB: 1 Umezawa's Jitte

Infect:

1 Forest

1 Pendelhaven

1 Wasteland

4 Inkmoth Nexus

4 Misty Rainforest

4 Tropical Island

4 Verdant Catacombs

4 Blighted Agent

4 Glistener Elf

4 Noble Hierarch

1 Crop Rotation

2 Spell Pierce

2 Berserk

1 Daze

4 Force of Will

4 Brainstorm

4 Invigorate

3 Vines of Vastwood

1 Ponder

2 Gitaxian Probe

2 Stifle

1 Island

2 Ensnaring Bridge

SB: 2 Flusterstorm

SB: 1 Pithing Needle

SB: 2 Krosan Grip

SB: 1 Moment's Peace

SB: 1 Relic of Progenitus

SB: 1 Berserk

SB: 1 Bojuka Bog

SB: 1 Submerge

SB: 1 Karakas

SB: 2 Surgical Extraction

SB: 1 Sylvan Library

SB: 1 Become Immense

A deal

I've been on the hunt to get ten basic beta lands for my collection recently. Hopefully I can simply trade some current stuff to get them... but sometimes I find deals on them. In this case, it was an eBay auction.

It was shown as 3 beta Forest, the same version, starting bid of $2.50, but I won it for $4.25. I didn't expect them to be in great shape, but very well played. As long as they were not chewed on by rats, I would be happy- they were going to be sleeved during play anyhow.

When I got them, there was something different... I noticed right away. The corners were more rounded than normal cards. They had Alpha lands, not Beta.

For most players, they will never know the difference... its old, its black bordered. Whats the deal?

Well, Alpha cards actually have a more rounded corner than their next printing of Beta. I would consider these cards rating to be at about Moderately Played... according to the TCG Player grading guide.
The Beta value of this card, according to TCG, is about $3 a land.
The Alpha value of this card, according to TCG, is about $3- $4 a land.

A smidge more... but a tad bit cooler on the "what is that" factor.

Formats

When I started to play, way back when, there were no formats in Magic. All you had was the pile of cards you owned. There were no sideboards, no meta game. About the only thing was that we all played with lands on the top and creatures at the bottom. Dual lands were valued at about $5, and Moxes went for $25-$75 depending. (outrageous!)

After a few years though, Type I (1), and Type II (2) emerged. Type 1 was all the old stuff with restrictions, it is now called Vintage. Type 2 was all the newer stuff only, whatever was current for a bit of time and would rotate as new sets came in. You now know of it as As time went, people still liked some of the middle range stuff, so Type 1.5 was made. It banned all the one of restrictions of Type 1, and thus Legacy was born.

I was out of the game when they came up with Modern, which I guess was another attempt to push away from broken things in Legacy, which was a push away from ALL the broken things in Vintage.


When I got back in, I gravitated towards Legacy. The friends I play with like the format as well. Most of them have a fairly large investment in the game, and like playing broken things. However, I stay with it because of one simple reason that helped drive me out the first time- the pyramid scheme of Magic. This mostly applies to Standard, and some to Modern- to stay competitive, you need to keep buying the latest material. Either singles, packs, boxes, etc. Yes, I know Pauper is a thing, and for the price of two Chipotle dinners you could get a new deck- I don't want to know all the random commons anymore. I don't have time, I don't have the energy, and I don't want to go that route.

With that in mind- I keep tabs on new Legacy trends mostly. I currently have 9 different Legacy decks built and ready to go. I've gravitated towards Death and Taxes, and Sneak and Show as formats that appeal. I could build two more decks, but don't have the sleeves to do it. Ha!  Currently I am running Berserk Infect, and have killed on turn 2. Toughest match-ups for it- oddly Lands, and Death and Taxes. The key to locking it out- kill its Tropical Islands. Seriously.

Pre-release events

Since getting back into Magic, the only officially sanctioned events I have attended have been prerelease events. These have been very fun for me, and actually beneficial on each one I have attended. I've gone to Battle for Zendikar, Shadows over Innistrad, and Eldritch Moon. In each case, I have won at least 2 packs. Two of the events I attended included lunch in the $30 cost, and was very well organized. The other place was $25, but it was not as sane and no lunch.

Here are the best pieces of advice I have acquired for attending a pre-release:

• Take some water in a tight container
• Take a HEALTHY snack, it is a 2-3 hour event
• If you are sleeving your deck, pre-sleeve your basic lands, I do 10 of each. That has saved me twice!
• Don't take anything you don't need to play in the event. 
• Unless you are planning to do trading, or meeting friends before/after, there is no need to bring extra
• Make sure you understand any new mechanics, even if you don't want to be spoiled with the cards. KNOW how the new stuff works! 
• Have fun, this is a low pressure sort of environment. Or at least it should be... Heck, I once ran in to a guy's bachelor weekend. He was out playing the pre-release with a couple buddies.

     Even though the entire set is usually spoiled the week before pre-release weekend, I can never study up too much. I don't play mock sealed via Cockatrice. I go in knowing the new mechanics mostly. Thats the most helpful thing. Twice I tried to study up on the commons, and both times I got almost none of the ones I was hoping to get. That and I didn't use the colors I was expecting.

     I also have not landed a bomb (aka HUGE creature/spell towards the end of game) in the one time I had one in my pool. Two of my better decks were super heavy flyer decks. The only things that defeated me were a deck that seemed to pump creatures out faster than I could deal, and horrible drawing. Otherwise, little flyers always got me there. They had no answers. Loved it.

I make sure I put the weekend of the pre-release on the family calendar, just to make sure it is noted WELL in advance that I will be disappearing for a few hours.

Cockatrice- free on-line magic play

When I was getting back in last year, I discovered Magic OnLine. I was not as thrilled as I could have been. Yes, there was still collectability to it, but it failed as a platform. It is slow, clunky, awkward, and generally pretty poor as an interface for the official on-line platform. Yes, I realize there are a metric-ton of programming for all the possible interactions, but it should be a lot better.

Thats when I discovered Cockatrice. Its a bit daunting at first, but after playing for a while, I really love the ease. It doesn't have the slick interface, nor the collectability angle that official Magic has. I have copied a deck list, Ctrl-C, and started using it by pasting it in within a minute.

The single most confusing part of the game are the Ctrl interface. It took me a bit, but I cobbled together this cheat sheet. I have shared it with several newer players on the software. Here it is in the hopes others use it: (please note- you can pretty much edit your version of the software to have shortcuts however you like! Within the software, click on Cockatric, then Settings. Happy editing!)

F5 move to untap phase
F6 move to draw phase
F7 moves to first main phase
F8 moves to beginning of combat step
F9 goes to second main phase

F3- view library
F4- view graveyard

Ctrl +...
W views top cards
S for shuffling
I to roll dice
M to draw hand, then mulligan if needed
D to draw
E to draw multiple cards
Shift and d undoes last draw
L sets life
F11 minus 1 life
F12 plus one life
U untaps all
R removes all drawn arrows
T brings up token creation menu
G makes clone of last token
F3- view sideboard

Select a card and then...
Ctrl del moves to graveyard
Ctrl a attaches enchant/equip to a card
Ctrl h makes a clone of card selected
Ctrl + increases power ONLY
Ctrl - decreases power ONLY
Alt + increase toughness ONLY
Alt - decreases toughness ONLY
Ctrl alt + increases BOTH power and toughness
Ctrl alt - decreases BOTH power and toughness
Ctrl p sets power and toughness manually

Tokens

Just a small rant- why can't more tokens be like the double sided Zombie Token from the Eldritch Moon pre-release?

Seriously, it makes too much sense. Many tokens have advertising on the back- and I know NO ONE who cares or pays attention to that.

I put forth to Wizards, make ALL tokens double sided... and perhaps even sell a token pack like that. Throw some foiled versions in to make sure they get bought. You will make money.

My Magic history

I first heard about Magic when my childhood friend told me about it in 1994. It was before I transferred to be in school with him. He talked about this card game, how they would go to a place called The Armory in Baltimore. I still recall him saying they had Unlimited packs for sale, but they didn't buy them because no one could tell them if they could use them with the new sets coming out. Yeah, those were the days.

When I did finally start playing, I quickly fell for blue. The one card that made it all amazing was The Counterspell. (hence the name of this blog) I could STOP other players from doing things with two simple blue. Entire kingdoms could end with even the threat of two blue available. Oh those were the days.

I never really took place with the epic 100+ card decks many people were running. They would mass huge armies of creatures, large stalemates, until someone broke it, or just launched a HUGE fireball at someone's head and end the game. Those took 30+ minutes apiece. I didn't like those to be honest. I liked the more strategic, slightly quicker pace games.

We even held our own Magic tournaments back in the at the school. The only players were friends we knew, almost all from the school. Nothing amazing like Mox and Power cards played, just friendly games playing for rares. Pseudo ante.

When I left college I kept playing. Going to local game stores to play some, trade, etc. I would participate on-line quiet a bit with a site that was fairly popular- The Dojo. (I'm still listed!) I loved the discussions, considerations, trades, and community. It was great. It was in this late 90s time period that I aquired a set of Power 9. I had them all...

Then I realized in 2000 or so, that I wasn't having fun anymore. Almost all my friends stopped playing. I was going to a mall on a Sunday morning in my 20s to play against high school kids who were punks. I was done, I didn't want to play anymore.

I sold every card I had. I took what I couldn't sell, and traded to my friend Rob for some help with stuff. He still plays with some of the cards I gave him to this day.
I was out of the game for 15 years basically. I was good, no regrets. I had a ton of other things I did. I missed out on a lot... but I got back last year, and well- its been fun. I don't worry about the money anymore, I just play to have fun. Collecting is a side result.


Thats the short of my story... I will hopefully be posting commentary about the game, things I know, stories I have, and if I ever get around to it- videos of game play. (who knows)