2024 legacy

 I've been lapse to say the least. 2024 started off horribly. I was just in an AWFUL funk. I did not want think about Magic, play Magic, do anything with the game... trading, etc. 

I spent about 2-3 months with that idea. I missed out on the local new Legacy league called the DMV Legacy. I think I could have maybe made the championship if I had bothered just showing up and not doing anything, but noooooooooooooo, I was in a funk. Hopefully for 2025 they bring the league back... provides a good motivation to actually pay attention and stop playing crap decks.

After 2023's AWESOME time at Enteral Weekend, my travel friends wanted to at least run it back to jam side events. The main event is not for us anymore... we love playing, but we are NOT that crowd. Thats perfect for us. The downside- they took FOREVER to reveal the date. It turned out to be the weekend before Thanksgiving, which was already booked for a family trip. GAH!
I mean its not the worst, but ugh. I did help in the way I could- I shipped off basically my paper legal copy of Moon Stompy to a guy I knew from the store. He ran into some really bad luck and crashed out after starting out really well. Not my fault. Haha.

I had the guy get Richard Thomas to sign some cards for me... unlimited Blue and Red blasts... along with two Black Vise. One of which I had sent to my buddy in England to roped me in to the game back in the day. He used to run a land destruction deck with Black Vise as the main method of winning.

Side benefit of not attending the event- I didn't get one of those GOD awful EW playmats with Frog on it. Eek gad.

One of the more awful things to occur was the complete lack of WoTC support to take care of the health of the format. They let Grief run wild for WAY too long... and then when they finally did, Frog took over and it SUCKED. Now that both are gone, *sigh*... I am still very sad at them not even mentioning Nadu. F the bird.
While I really enjoy the format- I am always reminded that I mostly collect cards that occasionally get played. Its the truth. 

I think one of my favorite pick ups this year was getting a full playset of The Dark- Blood Moon. There is just something about that art with that printing. *chefs kiss*

I also had to "rebuy" some Tron lands because of Planar Nexus. To the point that I got my Towers signed by Mark Poole and the Mines by Mark Tedin. (still a questionable signing but might as well get the set, right?)

Went to most, if not all, of the pre-releases available.
REALLY enjoyed the release of MH3, did two pre-releases and two drafts. (which is a lot for me)
Drafted some... not as much as I wanted to, but oh well. Rather play legacy than draft. 

For the beginning of 2025 I plan to keep jamming stompy of one of two flavors- Moon or Eldrazi. Both are right up my ally of provide roadblocks and press on their necks. Etc. 

If I have any goals for 2025 it is as follows:

• Be consistent, with deck and play
• Get to EW again if nothing else than to jam side events and get some more awesome autographs
• Invest in maybe another dual land or two if I have the opportunity. God knows I rarely if ever will get to play them.
  

Old vs New

Yesterday I received two cards via CardSphere. Nothing new there. 

The card on the left was from Oath of the Gatewatch released in 2016. 

The card on the right was from Antiquities released in 1993. 

Why did Magic change their backs so much? When did this happen? I noticed it when I got back into the game in about 2015/6. I didn't understand why the new backs were so much lighter/less contrast. 

Both pass the green dot test. Thus both were printed with offset printers... but what caused the backs to change so much over time?

two weeks of red stompy

 The previous two weeks I ran slightly different versions of stompy. First was on 6/18, I went over to Game Haven just because I had the Wednesday off... I didn't know how long it would be, but having the next day off allowed a stress free test. 

Here is the version of stompy I ran. Less Moons, more roadbumps and card draw with 4 Rings. 

Round 1 (after a mix up of players... it happens)
Lands with field of the dead

I honestly don't recall the game specifics. I think I won 2-1... It felt pretty darn good. Its a matchup I wish I had more moons. 

Round 2 vs the Mirror

The other player is well known to me, and we trade ideas... he plays WAY more than I do, so its more me asking questions. However, he realized through game 1 that he miss built his deck and did not have enough lands in it. Which explains why I was able to survive a double Ring play and still win

Game 2 I believe he got COMPLETELY mana hosed and I just had to laugh. I knew any Fable Goblin had to be killed, which happened. It felt good even if he messed up his own mana base. 

Round 3 vs Ryan F on Frog-scam

We wound up splitting so he could eat, and I could go home. We played a game for fun, and I really didn't know the match up at all. He as basically scam with Psychic Frog.  I was way too aggressive and it showed. 

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I took my winnings and got a few cards I was aiming for, namely my first Planar Nexus. Need to get the set so I can build out KarnPost- or a version of it. 

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Before my most recent results I did get some cards in trade via CardSphere. They all have reasons for various deck ideas or needs.

Quick run down-

Kozzilek's Command for a possible Eldrazi stompy deck
Witch Enchanter because its good for possible decks
Bloodstained Mire, finally getting them
Leyline of Sanctity- just completing a matched set. Hate having different versions.
Urza's Towers because I literally just traded mine a month before the release of MH3. That should teach me never to trade them. Another way to produce turn 2 Karn with two lands.
Hogaak, because I didn't realize he was under $1. Ha.

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I also spent a grand total of $5.50 to pick up some copies of Sundering Eruption for my Moon Stompy. I wanted to take out the Den of the Bugbear, and it also swapped out two of the Shatterskull Smashing.
The dual effect of the Sundering sorcery side was pretty good in my opinion. The mana bases of these decks right now are VERY greedy. Moons with the ability to remove likely their only basic feels pretty good. 

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Here is the deck list I wound up running at Level Up's weekly, 26 player jamming.

Round 1 vs Chris P on 3 color delver

Game 1 I got a Moon down fairly early, followed up by a Sundering Eruption to remove his single basic island... he thought about it for a minute and scooped. I kinda felt bad for him as he cast two brainstorms, two ponders, and just couldn't find action. He couldn't beat what I had, and he didn't have any other basics. Felt good.

Game 2 I got my first couple plays counted, and quickly didn't have much of anything- but he didn't have a ton either other than a flipped delver beating me up. I thought I had a window to turn it around, but that ended when he showed me 2 lightning bolts for my face. Damn.

Game 3 It felt good- He forced my turn one Chalice, which is fine. But my turn two Blood Moon just locked him up. He didn't have a fetch up and no countermagic. That was pretty much all she wrote after I dropped a turn 3 Rabblemaster and turn 4 Broadside. 

Round 2 vs 3 color delver again, with frog this time  (note- never saw frog)
Newer legacy player, I could tell he was a bit nervous. Which is fine... but also gave me a little confidence knowing I likely knew the match-up better.

Game 1  A turn one Chalice kept things in check. Even with a wasteland on my tomb, I still managed to have plenty of mana and dropped a Blood Moon to make things even harder. Took it down pretty quickly.

Game 2 I mulliganed a hand with no real lands in hand, my second 7 I made a mistake and bottomed a basic mountain. That proved to be my downfall. Quickly scooping after he made pork pie out of my face with lighting bolts. I tried, he just had a commanding presence. 

Game 3 Was back and forth sort of game. I was able to land a turn 2 Moon after a Chalice which I should have known meant he had a Meltdown- ugh. Damn. Well- the first one didn't crush my soul, just my Chrome Mox and Chalice. It was the second Meltdown that got all my treasure that could have been awful... He had just landed a delver after starting to beat me with a Dragon Rage Channeler, when I topped a Fury. Never have I counted lands so fast- FIVE LANDS! Muhahahaha... hard cast and hope he doesn't force... oh thank god he did not have the mana nor the second blue card for it. WHEW.  Got there

Round 3 vs Gene on lands at seat 1

We agreed to split and I went home because I was worried about some nasty storms on their way.

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In the case at Level up- you know, something to shoot for with all the store credit I have. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH

MHIII, a pre-release

 

I was slightly excited for this pre-release. It was pricey- don't get me wrong. However, I want to like this set. I did some research, but not much. (basically watching some of the LRR pre-prerelease) Otherwise, I was hoping to just open a card or two I wanted to put in a Legacy deck. [read: green post]

As an aside, I had recently fleshed out a one of each type Alpha basic lands. So- with that in mind, I sleeved up all the Alpha basic lands I had, filled out the rest of the lands with Betas- and off I went to Gamer-Corps. It had been a long while since I went there- months and months. Hit my winter duldrums, and just didn't feel like drafting the sets they had out. 

The event was sold out- so good on them. I was shocked at how many people were picking up setboxes, and even collector packs at $35 a pop. 

My deck list came together fairly quickly as black, red, and blue were not solid enough. I could have sprinkled in any one of them due to some mana fixing, but I didn't feel it was worth it. 

Here is my deck list from the event.

    Good god it slapped. I had synergry. I had a singular bomb that just wrecked the game. I had some light recursion. I had A LOT of tokens.  I had removal that felt better than just Bolt- it kept my creatures about and got me things (life, counters, etc)  I knew it was gonna be a good night when I kept an opener with two Flare of Fortitude and didn't cast them in that game.
    I wound up going 3-0 and 6-0 in games. I think the lowest life total of the night was 9. Just everything clicked. Example- I was tempted to remove a flier they had with Fowl Strike, but waited. Turned out the good call because they moved the equipment to another creature which I then killed when it flew instead. Another- I cycled my Warped Tusker, and they admitted they were hoping I cast something because they played a creature/force spike combo. Just zoinks.

I picked up 2 more packs because of store credit I had floating about, and got 3 packs for "my troubles."

    In my pre-release kit I got very little value. The Ajani was the most "value" I found. The credit packs showed me a full art Ajani. Really? Really?

    In my winnings packs I had a killer pack with both a foil Necrodomiance and Psyhic Frog. In the third pack I opened my THIRD Ajani. I get it... you want me to have cats. Noted. 

Prize pack 1

Prize pack 2

Prize pack 3

Paper vs MTGO ?

 Disclaimers:

1. I have never played MTGO.
2. I don't know the market/economy of MTGO.
3. I am, at best, a casual paper player.
4. I am an okay-ish player at constructed, and not so okay-ish at draft.
5. My format of choice is Legacy, the second most expensive format. Thank god we don't deal with power. Whew.

---

I don't have time to practice my hobby, which in theory would allow me to be better and have more fun. I wish I had the time and money to practice on MTGO. There are all sorts of caveats to that, like online metas being different from paper, or a misclick or a timeout ruining your results.

I wish I could just hang with friends and jam games, but that's not always possible. Lives get in the way. Interests. Family. Other things. Hell, I can't even remember the last jam session I had with friends for a few hours.

With that in mind, how do people play both paper and MTGO? I've seen plenty of people who play a lot of MTGO and don't have paper collections. They borrow lots of pricey cards from friends and compete in regulation tournaments that way. Then again, I've also seen plenty of paper players who just have one or two decks and ALL the proper cards for those decks. They MASTER them and all the play patterns. That's all they ever play. Not deck super specialists, but good god, it's close. They know why they put that 14th sideboard card in and what matchups it's for.

What I have seen for the most part is that those who succeed are fairly single younger guys. Not saying this is always the case, but for the most part, that's who plays this format and does well. (I DO NOT DO WELL). I wish I had more time. I wish I had more brain power. I just don't.

So the question is, how does anyone succeed at both MTGO and paper play? I don't know...

Legacy 2024, week ?

After another week away, I brought Moon Stompy with 2 Stingerback Terror in the main to see how they do for science. Basically stealing xjcloud's current list.  I was hoping to figure out if the big boy dragon was good or what... feels a bit slow overall, but in the world of Murktides- not TOO bad.

Round 1 vs Mono Black Scam: Lost 1-2
I knew he was on Mono black as he is almost every week. Not sure how moon stompy goes vs them.]

Game 1- Lost fairly quickly as I think I flooded? Don't recall.
Game 2- Won with going wide with my beats. Controlled the board and graveyard.
Game 3- Ran out of steam, hit a pocket of land, and he found a Sheoldred which I could not answer.

Round 2 vs Mono Black Scam: Won 2-1
I didn't know he was on mono black scam until he was on it... also a smidge unlucky to get both mono black players back to back in the room. Not GREAT for 6 main deck moon effects. However, makes it MUCH easier to know what to cut for sideboarding. 

Game 1- I think I lost? Pretty sure... remember thinking one more loss and I go home for the night. Also remember mulliganing an opener and being on the play.
Game 2- Did the same thing as last match, and just controlled the board and had two Leylines out. He couldn't get anything going.
Game 3- Closer, but I did good things by waiting for them to over commit to the board and using a sweeper to help clean up things for my goblin army. I do recall being hampered on mana, but he had no threats as well... an odd game 3, but I got there.

Round 3 vs Yorion D&T: Won 2-1

Game 1- Lost the die roll, and the game. A critical early Wasteland and being on the play made his Aether Vial brutal.
Game 2- I had all sorts of control and board control. He couldn't believe all the various ways I could clean up his board. Dropping a turn one Chalice really hampered everthing. He did get rid of it, but I then wiped his board with a Pyrokinesis.
Game 3 was crazy. I kept an ok-ish hand hoping my Fable would get me some Treasure to help with mana. Turned out, I was wrong there and slow on finding mana. I could get some things out, but not enough. He started to lock down my Broadside with a reoccurring Flickrwisp. I kept a Pyrokinesis and red card to help, end the game... however, I couldn't find a threat to get threw his wall of creatures. He was down to 8 and I had a flickered Broadside and an Ape. I topped another Broadside, attacked, threw the Ape for 5, and did the Pyro, which I thought was enough, for the win.

Editorial comment- I completely should NOT have won game 3. I completely miss-remembered Pyrokinesis. It does not say any target, which I though it did. I should not have won game 3. I need to apologize to the player next week... completely my fault and I was wrong. Lesson learned. Damn. Frick.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Today's mail day:

The Thwart is for an Omni-Tell brew.
The Battle Cry Goblin is for a Goblin Stompy thing
The Karakas is an upgrade from my Eternal Masters copies. I think I might need one more?
The UL StP is a fun card that I honesty don't need but is kinda fun to have.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

The same guy who sent me the Karakas and Unlimited StP, has plenty of early cards... like thousands in trade via CardSphere. I chatted with him pointing out other venues to maybe sell a lot of the A/B/U stock because I think CS might be a bit slow. Might be able to find some of those awesome private FB groups to make a massive sale all at once.
In the mean time, I mentioned to him that I would love to get a couple more Alpha basics to round out my collection... and he said he was more than willing to figure something out. w00t.

In related news, I am criminally insane. There is no good reason for me to have those cards. None. I just want them for me. Maybe some day I will find a deck that needs some one or two of basics and those will be wonderful to mix in.

Some people love foils, some people love alternative art... me? I like the old crap.

What else can you buy for $3,000,000? (Alpha Black Lotus)

 As covered by many news outlets, a new record for a sale of a magic card has occurred. Which is just silly. 

 $3,000,000.00

 

Alrighty then. So you have that kind of money... great. Invest away. However, what else COULD you get if you wanted to? (based on mtgstock values)

Alpha Dual sets

Underground Sea, $12649.99 x4= 50,599.96
Volc (beta),  $13499.99  x4= 53,999,96
Trop, $11059.52  x4 = 44,238.08
Badlands, $4674.99 x4= 18,699.,96
Bayou, $4999.00  x4 = 19,996
Scrubland, $9490.60  x4= 37,962.40
Tundra, $8624.17  x4= 34,496.68
Plateau $4820.00  x4 =  19,280
Taiga $3599.85 x4 = 14.399.4
Savannah $2700.00 x4 = 10,800

Just for x4 Alpha duals (1 beta)=   $217,373.12

Thats silly... lets throw an Alpha set of Mox in the mix:

Mox Sapphire $14,975.00
Mox Jet $13,700.00
Mox Ruby $12,500.00
Mox Pearl $8,579.99
Mox Emerald $6,155.00
Total:  $55,909.99 

Still at $273,283.11

Not even remotely close to 3mil... 

Hell, that site has a set of Alpha signed duals all graded BGS 9.5 for $300,000. 

 

Point being- the sale is SILLY. Its pure collecting, and several people have hinted that it was a bit setup by the grading company CGC by waving the grading fee and maybe even helping people find the card. But hey, what do I care? I doubt I will ever have a complete set of duals- until then, proxies ahoy.

2024- so far

 Its been basically downhill for me since Eternal Weekend, at least in terms of satisfaction of playing and results. So much so that about a month ago, I swore off the weekly legacy, uninstalled Arena, and just double birded most of anything to do with playing the game. I stopped looking at ANY video, reading any articles, removed Discord and Twitch. I wanted nothing to do with it.
As a small aside, I had been sick with at least two different things over this time. Nothing life altering, but energy draining for sure. It didn't help my outlook when I didn't feel well and was tired more often than I wanted to be.

Basically I unplugged from playing the game of magic in any form. 

It took me that long not to HATE playing. I am currently neutral about playing, looking for positives. Its harder than I expected it to be. 

Why? Why all this horrible reaction?

It didn't matter the deck I played, the format, or whatever- the basic tenant was: my deck never did the right thing at the right time, and my opponents had every answer all the time. For weeks this happened, Arena, legacy, etc. I played many different decks, and it didn't matter to the point where it broke me and I unplugged. 

I kept shipping cards on CardSphere, and getting some new ones. Here is a condensed listed of recent pickups:

• 3x Triumph of Saint Katherine
• 3x Lotus Petal
• 3x UL signed Animate Dead
• Humility
• The One Ring (to complete set)
  
• Withdrew funds to buy a Revised Savannah

  Not huge things, but keeps me going.  I have a decent credit built up again after buying the Dual land... I would cash out again if I could find another Dual at a decent price via FB groups. Its worth the 10% withdraw penalty.

 

Will I go back to my weekly legacy? Likely. They started a new league for the DC area with several stores participating. Also local tournaments will support it as well. I already missed out on a couple. Eh. Previously I had considered going. 

Maybe after my kids spring break, I might try to swing back into the saddle. Who knows. Need to find a deck to sink my teeth into by then... right now- nothing "sparks joy."

The end of 2023

 ok ok ok... its been too long since I wrote something. I've got all sorts of excuses, some are WAY better than others. Like I had a car totaled under me. (Everyone was fine...) That really ate up December.

Oh, I did I mention I went to Eternal Weekend in Pittsburgh? Yeah, why not?! It was a great time. I did as well as I expected... ran into an almost winnable match in round 2, which really threw me off. Stupid Mono-Red Stompy with Bombardiers. Had a really good time there.
Super Duper excited one of the awesome locals- TK, take down the entire event! Was cheering for him the entire finals run. It was AWESOME.

Be sure to check out the great great interview he gave for Dark Depths podcast. Can't recommend that enough.

Instead of trying to create a running narrative, here is a bulleted list of things I can remember from the past two months:

• Joined the Initiative Discord, and got some awesome help/advice from them for the EW. Shahar is amazingly strong lady.
• Got to get some of my favorite art from Ice Age signed. (see above, Kaja signing my cards. Phil and Kaja were perfectly awesome!)
• Nearly lost my EW deckbox with deck. UGH. (only 3k worth of cards, but worse was hearing a Vintage player had lost theirs. EEK GADS!)
  
• Ate some awesome food in Pittsburgh
• The drive up to Pittsburgh was great, the drive home was sucky... also, entire trip on 1 tank of gas. 
• Played Painter for the first time at the weekly, went 2-1. Happy with that.
• Dragged a friend into Legacy instead of drafting, he surprisingly happy even though he had no clue what he was doing. 
• Tried to justify cutting Chalice in my deck for StP, but in the end just couldn't.
• Got a couple boxes of cards for Christmas, it was AWESOME. Got some great trade stock and some really good singles for the playable collection.
  
• Traded a bunch on CardSphere for some stuff, but the bigger news was that I cashed out some of my balance to buy a good Savannah for good value. Basically single I would never use for a Dual land. Nice. 
• Tested a bunch with my buddy Andy- which while good to do, also bad because you get one view of the magic world.
• Somehow misplaced, and/or lost a Grief. Really bugging me... at least it wasn't my entire deck. Right?
  

 

For 2024 though, I hope to just jam on Wednesday when I can. Play well, and try to learn something each time. Thats it. Maybe I can pick up another dual land or two. That would be nice. Maybe aim for two Badlands so I could have another deck that is paper legal in Re-Animator. (bad choice I know, but hey, gotta aim for something right?)

Wish for 2024- that Modern Horizons 3 doesn't CRUSH the format and cause major pains.