That being said, I wanted to take some time to talk about my part in the StarCityGames Cincinnati Team Open, playing alongside Scott Campbell (MTGPackFoils) and Jeremy Beardsley (StrictlyAverage).

Friday – Fun Prep and Legacy

Legacy is a format I greatly adore, and I spend a lot of time with it. Unsurprisingly, Legacy is the format I wanted to play for our team. At the same time, as you might have read in Scott’s article about how he played Dredge, I had a fair amount to do with that decision as well. As defacto “Team Captain” I made a call that involved playing a deck that I also played in the Modern seat because familiarity would help if I needed to assist Scott (Turns out Scott managed better than I could have hoped). I also somewhat identified that being on a Faithless Looting deck for Modern felt appropriate given the current climate of the format.

As for Legacy I decided to continually tune and play a variant of Nic Fit I call Scapewish, because I know the deck exceptionally well and deck knowledge is really powerful in the world of Legacy.

Not only did I tune Scapewish more, but I also developed a sideboard map for the deck, something to allow my brain some time to work a little better during the event without having to puzzle out a board plan.

The weekend of the event arrived after much prepping and playtesting. That Friday evening, Jeremy and Jon Medina and I attended my LGS (Epic Loot Games in Centerville, OH) FNM. I played four rounds of Legacy effectively going 4-0 (3-0-1 to split with a friend).

I played against – DnT (1-0… with a 50 minute Game 1), Grixis Delver (the all powerful wizard Lawrence Harmon), Eldrazi Post (Against Team Lotus Box member Collins Mullen) and played my last round for reps against a friend on Goblins.

I felt pretty happy with how the play went, and went into the event with my head held somewhat high.

Of course things never go that well at a large event.

Saturday – Legacy

My event went thusly as my own personal record for the team:

R1 – LED Dredge (LOSS 0-2) – I nearly had Game 1 of this match, as I was 1 land short of a lethal Scapeshift.

R2 – Grixis Delver (LOSS 0-2) – My opponent sat down and commented that I was on Nic Fit, and I immediately cursed my vocal nature on the deck. He had my number and got me good. I also mulled to 5 Game 2, so that didn’t help either.

R3 – Eldrazi (LOSS 1-2) – Game 3 was a little nuts and I probably misplayed but a Smasher and a 6/6 Endless One got me good.

R4 – Sneak and Show (LOSS 0-2) – This dude had no idea what I was playing (but was really super nice and we gave him and his team some tokens) and just did Sneak and Show things. I kept poor hands. I did have a cool interaction of taking him off SnT for a turn by casting Surgical Extraction on a Brainstorm.

R5 – Death and Taxes (WIN 2-0) – He felt sort of new to the deck, and I was able to just push ahead of all of his disruption.

R6 – Elves (LOSS 0-2) – As most people know, I hate the Elves matchup against Nic Fit with a sheer passion only dwarfed by my friend Arianna (quite possibly). So yeah, it basically seems like no matter how I approach this matchup, they always just topdeck the nut draw and get me.

At this point, the team and I were 1-4-1 (That draw still haunts me). So we ended up dropping from the main event and headed home, slathering our faces in Raising Canes (the ultimate scrub out food) before turning in for the night.

Regardless of how the main event went and how I felt afterwards, I do know that we did enter as a team and we did leave as a team. It felt really good to have Scott and Jeremy there to keep me afloat.

Sunday – Modern

The Sunday of the Open we rolled down to do some side events, with Scott partaking in the Modern Classic. I opted to switch gears a bit and play a little Modern. You might be surprised that I enjoy Modern, but I do play the format (somewhat out of necessity in my area, as it is highly popular where I live) and I enjoy Modern Dredge enough.

I ended up playing in a 4 round challenge, going 2-1-1 (beating the mirror, Burn, and losing to Mono-Red Phoenix) and won some packs. We ended up leaving the venue a little early and going home (Jeremy wasn’t feeling well and Scott had dropped from the Classic), but in all it was a fun weekend filled with friends and Magic. And of course, that evening Jeremy and I watched Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse so, win win, right?

Wrapping Up

That’s all I’ve got from my third of things. I don’t know if Jeremy will write something or not about the Standard side, but it would be a lot cooler if he did. (Editor’s note: hint hint) Regardless of how things went, these things sometimes happen and the best thing to do long term is take the failure and learn from it, and move on. I was thankful I was able to spend some time with Scott and Jeremy that weekend, moreso because I was hanging out with two dudes who got me, and that was more than enough for me.

Until next time, Space Cowboy!

Joseph Dyer II

Joseph is an avid player of eternal Magic formats, including Vintage and Legacy.  As a Nic Fit player who will tell anyone who will listen about his deck, Joe spends his time analyzing and playing on Magic Online and various online platforms, while prepping for competitive events.  To follow more Joe, check out his Twitter!

http://www.twitter.com/volrathxp

The Strictly Average Patreon has been running a contest, sharing articles on social media outlets; suffice to say the contest was quite a success. We have had a tremendous traffic boost, all thanks to the wonderful people of our Patreon.

This being the final day of the contest, I want to take a moment to talk about Strictly Average: who we are, and what we do. This site started as a self-deprecating joke by our founder, Jeremy; however, it has gained some pretty surprising traction as the content on this site has grown. We’ve had a few growing pains here or there, but we are slowly arriving at a much better place in terms of content base. It has been awesome to see it grow.

The idea behind this site is to provide great content, not just for Magic but for gaming in general. To that end we also have a Patreon that allows like-minded individuals to work together, trade, and chat amongst themselves (via our Patreon Discord server). Our goal is very simple: to spread a message of positivity and awesomeness in all our interactions.

If you’re reading this, I want to take a moment to thank you. We are very grateful for our wonderful authors who devote their time and efforts providing awesome content. We are also extremely grateful that you give us your time as you read through our content.

If you find yourself interested in joining our cause, please be sure to check out the Patreon link on the sidebar. Doing so gains you access to our Patreon Discord, where you can interact with others who support the cause as well.

In addition, if you think you would like writing for us, we are always seeking out new authors. This is a fantastic way to break into writing about Magic, or gaming writing in general. If you believe you might be interested in this, please check out this form to apply!

To wrap things up, thank you again for taking the time to check out our site. I hope that we can continue to make things a little Strictly Average in the future.

Joseph Dyer II

Joseph is an avid player of eternal Magic formats, including Vintage and Legacy.  As a Nic Fit player who will tell anyone who will listen about his deck, Joe spends his time analyzing and playing on Magic Online and various online platforms, while prepping for competitive events.  To follow more Joe, check out his Twitter!

http://www.twitter.com/volrathxp

Gerry Thompson, well known Pro MTG player and all around awesome guy, is protesting the current state of Professional Magic by actively refusing to participate in the World Championship in Las Vegas, NV. Which uh, just so happens to be this weekend.

Oh wait, you didn’t know that? Gerry addresses that in his Reddit post, which you can read right here.

Specifically, Number 2 of Gerry’s point:

“Wizards does not promote its players well. “Oh, Worlds is this weekend? I had no idea.” How many people can name all 24 players qualified for this year’s World Championship? How many could name 15? If you can’t, don’t worry, you’re not alone.”

Gerry goes on to talk about the state of coverage (hint: it’s awful), the number of Pro Tour invites actually available measured against the current state of the player base (hint: there’s not enough), and also the fact that people like Alex Bertoncini and Jared Boettcher are still allowed to play Magic at high level events despite being known cheaters. He describes the entire system as “a system designed to create losers.”

Gerry mentions a slew of issues in regards to Wizards of the Coast and their relationship with the Pro community, and even mentions the disasterpiece that was the Silver Showcase, where Wizards had invited players that had left the game for Hearthstone for a very specific type of draft (i.e. Beta) that can’t even be easily replicated by all those new faces on the game.

Gerry points to the SCG Tour and how building player-driven narratives and greater visibility will help people connect with Pros, and also how there should be more Pro Tour invites available. He also mentions how commentary and coverage should be better and to hire better people for the job, more training, etc.

At the end, Gerry mentions that he would like to apologize to the Judges and Officials involved on site at the event, since they are in no way shape or form responsible for any of this situation.

In short, this is an interesting situation to follow all around. Gerry T is a highly respectable player and as it stands right now Twitter is blowing up about this. It will be curious to see if anyone else follows in his footsteps before Worlds this weekend, and I applaud Gerry for sticking to his convictions on this.

I’ll be keeping an eye on this myself via the Twitter. What do you think of all this? Let us know in the comments below or on Twitter!

Update:

Wizards’ Official Twitter Account has made a statement on the situation along with the same statement read by Rich Hagon at Worlds. You can check it out here.

It’s also worth noting that many have come forth on Twitter, from Patrick Sullivan to Gabriel Nassif expressing their support of Gerry’s message and even going so far to state that they won’t even watch coverage of Worlds (which is pre-rotation STANDARD) in support of Gerry.

Monday Update: LSV did an interview with Gerry T on Channel Fireball! Read it here.

Joseph Dyer II

Joseph is an avid player of eternal Magic formats, including Vintage and Legacy.  As a Nic Fit player who will tell anyone who will listen about his deck, Joe spends his time analyzing and playing on Magic Online and various online platforms, while prepping for competitive events.  To follow more Joe, check out his Twitter!

http://www.twitter.com/volrathxp

Ravnica is a popular plane, and it’s history is very storied and interesting. We’re going to be doing a brief overview/timeline of the plane’s major historical events and a fun little overview of each of the Guilds within the plane.

Let’s hop to it shall we?

The Erstwhile

Prior to the Guildpact, prior to much of Ravnica’s actual history, there was a race of soldier factions called the Erstwhile. Eventually all of the Erstwhile perished, but were sealed away in the very bowels of the plane. Their resting place was Umerilek, Mausoleum of the Erstwhile. They would later be raised as zombies by Mazirek of the Kraul for Vraska.

The First Guildpact

Taking place ten thousand years before the events of Ravnica: City of Guilds, the plane of Ravnica was wracked by violent and bloody conflicts, one after another. Various factions fought ferociously, each seeking total control of the world. The Sphinx planeswalker Azor saw this violence and realized it would eventually consume the entire plane. In his wisdom, he gathered together nine others from the various factions, proposing a way to end the violence and suffering.

Thus, the Guildpact was created. Ten leaders, known as the Paruns, each signed the magical document. The power of the Guildpact essentially prevented overreach; factions couldn’t interfere with each other’s business, and each faction fulfilled established roles within the society. The magic contained with the document provided the power necessary to nullify any actions taken of hostility towards the other factions. In time, these factions became known as the Ten Guilds of Ravnica.

During the Guildpact’s signing, Azor himself added extra magic to the document. In the event that the magic was ever broken, this fall-back system would activate. In doing so he created what became known as the Implicit Maze.

One Guild (the Dimir) would eventually fade into legend as the missing “Tenth Guild.” This was actually intentional; one of the clauses of the Guildpact specified that no one could ever reveal the existence of House Dimir.

The Signing of the Guildpact was widely regarded as a cause for celebration. Every year the Festival of the Guildpact took place within the city to commemorate the lasting peace made possible by the magical document.

Ravnica: City of Guilds

Ten thousand years passed. Upon the cusp of the Decamillenial Celebration of the Guildpact’s signing, it suddenly came crashing down.

Agrus Kos, an officer of the League of Wojek, began investigating the death of Saint Bayul. Fonn Zunich, a Ledev Guardian, helped him track the killers. They eventually discovered a conspiracy to kill Mat’Selesnya (the consciousness that governed the Selesyna Conclave).

The Devkarin Elf Savra was being manipulated by Szadek, the ancient Parun of the Dimir Guild. Aided by the Golgari Guild’s ancient Parun Svogthir, Savra was taking control of the Golgari Swarm away from the Sisters of Stone Death. This manipulation culminated in an attack on the Selesnyan Conclave, using the Guild’s Quietmen. Agrus Kos was instrumental in stopping this conspiracy. In doing so he very publicly arrested the vampire Szadek at the Decamillenial.

Due to the clause in the Guildpact that prevented the reveal of the Dimir, the public arrest of Szadek single-handedly broke the Guildpact’s magic (though many would not know for some time that this had occurred). Szadek was imprisoned by the Azorius Guildmaster and secretly executed.

Guildpact

Agrus Kos retired from life as a Wojek officer, stepping down from detective work to instead work for his friend Pivlic in the Utvara Reclamation Zone as an Orzhov Security Guard. However, it wouldn’t be long before the former Wojek again crossed paths with danger. Agrus’ former friend Feather, an angel, left to find the Boros Firemane Angels. Baroness Teysa Karlov moved to Utvara to claim her inheritance. These two events pushed Zomaj Hauc (an Izzet Guild Archmage) to accelerate his plot to hatch dragon eggs within the reclamation zone.

Joining up with Teysa (in addition to Gruul Vor Golozar and the goblin Crixizix), Kos infiltrated Zomaj’s base of operations. Unfortunately the acceleration worked; the dragons hatched. During the ensuing chaos, the Izzet observation sphere carrying Kos and Crix crashed, fatally wounding the Wojeck officer. Zomaj was killed and his plan stopped, but Kos perished despite Crix using a teardrop (a mana healing device) to try to heal Kos’ broken body.

His funeral was attended by many that he had known during his time as savior of the world twice-over.

Dissension

Unfortunately for good old Agrus Kos … death was not the end of his service. Conscripted as part of a clause in his Wojek contract to serve as a spirit guard for the Azorius Senate, Kos was once again called into action by the Azorius Guildmaster Grand Arbiter Augustin IV. Szadek, Guildmaster of the Dimir, although he had been executed, was loose as a ghost. Clearly didn’t think that one through – Editor

As Kos had unknowingly broken the Guildpact, Kos was now conscripted to find him.

Several major events occur during the timeline of Dissension.

This section starts out reasonably enough, but gets pretty intense; hold on to ya butts – Editor

We find out that the Boros Angels and their flying ship the Parhelion have discovered Aygrem, a place where ghosts from Ravnica congregate. (Aygrem came into being because the Guildpact prevented planar travel into and out of Ravnica). Feather found the Parhelion and met with Razia, the Parun of the Boros Legion. The Angels were embroiled in conflict with the ghosts, and Razia was killed by the spirit of Szadek. Feather was able to hide in Agyrem and later escape. The Parhelion, however, began returning to Ravnica, set on a collision course with Prahv, the seat of Azorius power.

Also during this time, Jarad, Guildmaster of the Golgari and his son Myc Zunich (For those of you not keeping score at home, Fonn Zunich was at one time married to Jarad, resulting in little Myc) are abducted by Rakdos cultists. They are taken to Rix Maadi, where Lyzolda (the acting Rakdos Cult Guildmaster) uses his blood in addition to draconic cerebral fluid taken from the remains of Zomaj Hauc’s dragons to revive Rakdos, the ancient demonic Parun of the Guild. (Don’t try this at home, kids. Ever.) Myc thus develops a mind-link with the demon until he is saved by his parents. Jarad is killed by Lyzolda during this time, but uses his powers to raise himself as a Lich.

Meanwhile, Crix of the Izzet finds a group of Nephilim, ancient beings that crawled out from the depths of the Utvara Reclamation Zone, feeding upon the draconic corpses left by Zomaj Hauc’s plot. The Nephilim grow in size and strength because of their draconic meal, and head towards more populated sections of Ravnica. Crix attempts to warn Niv-Mizzet, the Parun of the Izzet Guild, but Niv-Mizzet feigns disinterest and leaves the scene. This causes Crix to abandon the Guild.

The Parhelion crashes into Prahv as Kos is conscripted to find Szadek by Augustin IV (Azorius Guild Leader). The day’s delights continue to multiply: Kos is informed that due to the magical law surrounding Szadek and the Guildpact, Kos is the only person who can destroy the vampire. Augustin IV sends Kos to infiltrate the seat of the Simic Combine. The Simic Guild, not a machine for harvesting corn or wheat – Editor

The Simic are reported to be working with both Szadek and the God-Zombie Svogthir (who has taken residence within Savra, Jarad’s sister and previous Matka of the Devkarin Elves). Seriously, this is beginning to feel Byzantine – Editor

Kos infiltrates the Simic, but blows his cover. He also takes up residence inside the body of Savra. Think weird Russian Doll situation rather than Super 8. Not that that really makes it better – Editor

After overpowering Svogthir, Kos kills Momir Vig, the Guildmaster of the Simic Combine. He’s not fast enough, however, to prevent the Elf from release Project Kraj, a living cytoplastic marvel that consumes every piece of cytoplasm in the city of Ravnica in mere moments. Kraj rampages into the city, taking on Rakdos who is now under the full control of Lyzolda (now that the mind link with Myc Zunich has been severed).

The Azorius Senate prepares to declare martial law to take control of the plane. However, Kos objects and reveals the truth: Augustin IV was responsible for Szadek, sending the Vampire’s ghost to Aygrem to rally the ghosts against the angels, and was even responsible for Momir Vig being killed. He had engineered everything that had happened, with the goal of creating a new Ravnica in the image of the Law.

In the end, Augustin IV is defeated, destroyed by Szadek himself as the Vampire turns on him. Kos is raised back as a semi-corporeal ghost two years later as Aygrem overlays onto Ravnica, creating the Ghost Quarter. Feather, the new Boros Guildmaster reveals that a new Guildpact has been created, one that does not rely on magic. Kos is tasked with becoming the commander for the Boros within Aygrem, as Szadek’s ghost has escaped there.

Interim

The non-magical Guildpact does not officially recognize House Dimir as an official Guild, but the Guild remains active under the leadership of the shapeshifter Lazav. During the interim between the original Ravnica block and Return to Ravnica, it is revealed that the Guilds themselves face near-dissolution before reforming. Feather was ousted as the leader of the Boros Legion, replaced by the war-angel Aurelia.

Relative peace settled upon the plane, preparing it for its next event: The Implicit Maze.

Return to Ravnica and the Implicit Maze

The Planeswalker Jace Beleren, having called Ravnica his home for a long while (being the first plane that he planeswalked to from his home plane of Vryn), begins undertaking research that had been discovered by the Izzet League’s Parun, Niv-Mizzet. Codes and symbols confront the Guilds, leading to the discovery of something none of them could have ever anticipated.

Amidst the constant conflict between the Guilds, Jace discovers that the messages left behind point to becomes known as the Implicit Maze.

Azor, the Sphinx Planeswalker who was Parun to the Azorius Senate, had known that the Guildpact could be broken. He thus created the Maze as a way to force the Guilds to work together to reinstate the Guildpact Reborn.

At the same time that Jace makes this discovery, so does Niv-Mizzet. Niv, however, does not understand what the Maze’s goal means. He believes that the Maze means ultimate power for the Guild that completes it, and he puts out a call to the other Guilds. Each Guild presents a champion to run the Maze in order to gain that power. As the Guild Champions fight and feud, Jace finds his way to the end of the Maze. He comes face to face with the Baliff, a being that declares Jace as the Living Guildpact. Jace is now a mediator of magical law, the living embodiment of the Guildpact documents.

Vraska, the Kraul, and the Look Ahead

Jace settled into his office as the Guildpact, but became challenged by the planeswalker Vraska. Vraska attempted to take control of Jace, but the Guildpact was able to shrug off her advances. Jace left Ravnica to find Garruk Wildspeaker and eventually to help save Zendikar, forming the Gatewatch in the process. Vraska stayed on Ravnica and sought to gain power over the Golgari Swarm.

By working with those disenfranchised within the Guild, including Mazirek of the Kraul, Vraska was able to discover the presence of the Erstwhile below Ravnica’s soil. The Zombie army was raised by Mazirek to carry out a coup of the Guild.

Vraska was then approached by Nicol Bolas, who promised to give her control of the Golgari if she were to utilize her talents on Ixalan for him. Vraska performed this function for him, procuring for him the Immortal Sun. She returned to Ravnica to become Guildmaster of the Golgari. She also used her powers to petrify the Sphinx Isperia, leaving a power vacuum within the Azorius Senate.

As we look ahead to the Guilds of Ravnica storyline, we know a few big important things:

• Isperia is petrified, leaving the Azorius Senate vulnerable
• Lazav of the Dimir suspects that at least some other Guilds have fallen under an invader’s influence (i.e. Nicol Bolas)
• Niv-Mizzet’s control of the Izzet League is slowly being peeled away, likely by the Planeswalker Ral Zarek (confirmed minion of Nicol Bolas)
• Five Guilds will fall to Bolas’ influence, while Five will not

The Guilds of Ravnica

So now that we’re caught up on history, let’s talk turkey and go over some of the players and details of the Guilds.

The Azorius are classified by the colors Blue and White, and believe in Law and Order above all things. Their Parun was the Sphinx Planeswalker Azor I (otherwise known as just Azor) and the known Guildmasters include Grand Arbiter Augustin IV, Leonos II, and the Sphinx Isperia. The champion Lavinia was chosen to run the Implicit Maze. However, she ended up becoming a personal assistant to the Living Guildpact, Jace Beleren. The Azorius handle the governmental and legal sectors of the City of Ravnica.

Classified by the colors Red and White, the Boros Legion serve in both army and security functions across the city of Ravnica. The Guild’s Parun was the angel Razia; she held her position as Guildmaster until the events of Dissension when which she perished at the hands of Szadek of House Dimir. Pierakor az Vinrenn D’rav (aka Feather) took over as Guildmaster in her stead, swiftly followed by the war-angel Aurelia (simultaneously imprisoning Feather). The Guild’s Champion for the Maze was Tajic, Blade of the Legion. The Boros are separated by various tiers of service; one of these is the League of Wojek which provide law enforcement services throughout Ravnica. The human Agrus Kos was a Captain of the Tenth District within the League of Wojek.

The mysterious tenth guild that never existed, House Dimir is classified by the colors Blue and Black. The Guild’s Parun is the ancient vampire Szadek, who sought to undermine the Guildpact by proving the Guild’s very nature of existence. Szadek succeeded in this venture by lowering his guard to Agrus Kos and allowing himself to be arrested. Dimir is responsible for much of the espionage and assassination in the city. It is currently headed by the shapeshifter Lazav, and its Implicit Maze champion was the vampire Mirko Vosk.

Classified by the colors Green and Black, the Golgari actually serve an important role in the City of Ravnica, performing agricultural work and waste management.  The Guild’s Parun is the ancient God-Zombie Svogthir, an undead necromancer of great power. The Golgari Swarm has arguably had the most power plays for control of its guild than any of the other Guilds. Svogthir was defeated by Gorgons known as the Sisters of Stone Death, who were then overthrown by Savra (and Svogthir). After Savra’s demise, Jarad (Savra’s brother) took command of the Guild, persisting even through his death in Dissension when he became a Lich. Jarad ruled the Golgari until the Planeswalker Vraska overthrew his leadership with the help of Nicol Bolas. The Guild’s champion for the Implict Maze was Varolz.

Classified by the colors Red and Green, originally the Gruul were charged with maintaining the wild nature of Ravnica. Much to their chagrin they found that civilization overgrew those places, and eventually the Gruul were left without a job. Several other Guilds sought to take on the mantle of caring for nature. The Gruul decentralized into numerous clans and thus have no one leader. However, the largest clan is led by the cyclops Borborygmos, who is considered by many to be the de facto leader. The Clans also revere the being known as Ulasht, the Hate Seed, despite it not being officially affiliated with the Guild. The Guild’s champion for the Implicit Maze was a two-headed ogre named Ruric Thar.

The Izzet League is classified by the colors Blue and Red; they are scientists, engineers, and some of the most brilliant minds on the entire plane. The Guild is controlled solely by the dragon Niv-Mizzet, who is known as the Firemind. The Izzet are known for their zealous nature in the pursuit of science, oftentimes killing themselves with a new experiment gone wrong. One of the chief members of the Guild, the Planeswalker Ral Zarek, has secretly taken control of the Guild while the Firemind himself is distracted by his own research. Ral Zarek is secretly in league with Nicol Bolas. The Guild’s champion for the Implicit Maze was a Weird named Melek, Izzet Paragon.

Classified by the colors black and white, the Orzhov is the Guild of Deals, handling banking and protection as well as religious services as one of the plane’s largest religious orders. Dealings with the Guild extend often into one’s afterlife. The Parun of this Guild is actually a group, known as the Obzedat, the Ghost Council of Orzhova. The Obzedat is comprised of past patriarchs and matriarchs of the Orzhov lines, although it is unclear which of these was present for the signing of the Guildpact. One of the primary Orzhov aligned characters in the lore and also the Champion for the Implicit Maze is the Advokist Teysa Karlov, who secretly harbors hatred for the Obzedat, and has recently attempted to destroy the Ghost Council.

The Cult of Rakdos is classified by the colors Red and Black, and their fanaticism is bar none among the forces of chaos. Although the Cult provides numerous services in the form of entertainment, food industry, and manual labor, they are also heavily involved in murder and slavery. Their Parun is the ancient sleeping demon Rakdos, for which the Guild is named.  Many have taken up the Guild leadership while he sleeps. The Guild’s Champion for the Implicit Maze was Exava.

Classified by the colors Green and White, the Selesnya see themselves as stewards of life and nature, providing services such as healing and religious faith (competing directly with the Orzhov) as well as charity work. The Guild’s Parun is the spirit Mat’Selesnya, which is the formation of several dryads into a single elemental being. Mat’Selesnya lives within the Vitu-Ghazi tree, until it was ultimately destroyed by Kraj and Rakdos during Dissension. The current Guildmaster is the triple-dryad named Trostani, and the Guild’s champion during the Implicit Maze was Emmara Tandris, a nature mage who had a close relationship with the Planeswalker Jace Beleren.

Classified by the colors Blue and Green, the Simic work towards perfection of life sciences and conservative efforts for the improvement and betterment of society through science. They handle are responsible for many of the physicians and much of the medical care within the city. Out of all the Guilds it is actually unknown who the Simic Parun is/was; it was once mentioned that the Parun was supposed to be a Vedalken Biomancer with the surname Simic. The Simic have seen the most change of all the Guilds, as their Guildmaster Momir Vig was killed during the events of Dissension along with Project Kraj. After this, the Guild rejected the corruptive nature of science for advancements through nature and magical means, reorganizing under the merfolk Zegana. The Guild’s champion for the Implicit Maze was Vorel.

Wrapping Up

That’s all we have this week folks! I hope you enjoyed our little trip down Ravnica’s memory lane! I love doing these since it’s just a lot of fun to delve into the history of the planes and lore of this game.

Until next time!

Joseph Dyer II

Joseph is an avid player of eternal Magic formats, including Vintage and Legacy.  As a Nic Fit player who will tell anyone who will listen about his deck, Joe spends his time analyzing and playing on Magic Online and various online platforms, while prepping for competitive events.  To follow more Joe, check out his Twitter!

http://www.twitter.com/volrathxp

Unfortunately this week we do not have any video content for you guys. Things have been nutty for me as of late, so I just have not had any real time to record the video and get it done. Video stuff is super time consuming, so hopefully we can get back to this for future articles.

That being said, this week we are taking a look at the concept of building and tuning an archetype that came from Modern spice in the form of B/R Vengevine (or Bridgevine as it’s now called) in Legacy.

The Basics of the Deck

Bridgevine is a deck that attacks on the following axis: place cards like Vengevine and Bridge from Below into the graveyard, then use cards like Hangarback Walker / Walking Ballista along with Stitcher’s Supplier to trigger them, flooding the board with cheap creatures as early as Turn 1 to swarm the opponent.

In Modern, this tends to be very good because the level of early interaction is a lot lower than in Legacy. Our question, then: can this strategy be good in Legacy?

Well, it can, but the issue is that Legacy’s interaction is very high. This deck basically wants to do the same thing over and over, and not interact outside of discard.

As a result, this is something I would only recommend you play around with for fun, or maybe the occasional FNM. However, to see how deep the rabbit hole goes, let’s continue.

Variation #1

This is the first variation of the list that I settled on. Instead of cards like Greater Gargadon, we have access to Cabal Therapy, which has always been an all-star in decks with Bridge from Below in it. It also plays nicely with Stitcher’s Supplier and Gravecrawler.

What I found with this variation was that the green splash really didn’t do much for us. Hard-casting a Vengevine is not where we want to be, and for the average P/T of the creatures Nature’s Claim set our clock back too much to properly deal with Leyline of the Void and the like. Destructive Revelry felt too slow to deal with stuff like Leyline, so our interaction needed to be 1 CMC.

Wasteland also proved to be a severe problem to play against, especially with cards like Blackcleave Cliffs in the mix.

In researching some variants, I found myself turning to white as a splash. That led me to this variation.

Variation #2

One of the changes I made with this variation was cutting the Blackcleave Cliffs (since I found that Wasteland just legitimately boned the previous variation) and running more basic lands. The white splash is purely for sideboard interaction with Wispmare as 1 CMC interaction, with two sources of white (Scrubland / Plateau) to make that happen.

Overall, I’m not sure if this is absolutely 100% correct, and I think further work may need to be done to this list to fully get it up to snuff. Goblin Bushwhacker could likely be cut down, and Carrion Feeder brought in as a better sacrifice outlet than Viscera Seer.

I haven’t tested this version, but I look forward to playing around with the idea.

Do you folks have any thoughts on a deck like this? Sound off in the comments or on Discord on what you think!

Wrapping Up

That’s all the time we have this week folks! Short one I know, and no videos, but I at least wanted to talk about my experience in playing around with this archetype a little in Legacy. If you’d like to see a specific deck talked about or something new and interesting, please let me know! I’m always willing to poke at any kind of archetype!

Until next time, join me for another edition of Hollywood and Vine!

Joseph Dyer II

Joseph is an avid player of eternal Magic formats, including Vintage and Legacy.  As a Nic Fit player who will tell anyone who will listen about his deck, Joe spends his time analyzing and playing on Magic Online and various online platforms, while prepping for competitive events.  To follow more Joe, check out his Twitter!

http://www.twitter.com/volrathxp

If you haven’t heard about this yet, on August 25th Wizards of the Coast affiliated artists Anna Steinbauer, Magali Villeneuve, and Titus Lunter were detained at the SeaTac airport in Seattle, WA by customs, and denied entrance to the country. The three artists were expected to be in Renton to work on a concept push for Dungeons & Dragons.

Due to some details of the artist’s ESTA Visa Waivers (as confirmed by Titus Lunter over Twitter), the three were detained overnight by ICE until a flight could be established for the three to take them home. You can read a great article about all of this over here at Hipsters of the Coast, complete with statements by Villeneuve and Lunter. As of now, all three artists are home and safe.

While there is not a large amount of information available yet, we would like to reiterate what the Hipsters of the Coast article says (as well as what both Villeneuve and Lunter say as well). Please don’t point fingers at anyone involved in this mess. No matter what has happened, it’s important to remember that what really matters is that all parties involved are safe. Once more details are known, then we can begin to understand what led to this unfortunate situation.

We here at Strictly Average want to express that we are glad that the artists are home and unharmed. A lot worse could have potentially happened. All we can hope is that this situation is resolved for long term so that Steinbauer, Villeneuve, and Lunter can continue their work affiliation with Wizards.

Until next time friends, keep tapping that mana and keep being awesome people.

Joseph Dyer II

Joseph is an avid player of eternal Magic formats, including Vintage and Legacy.  As a Nic Fit player who will tell anyone who will listen about his deck, Joe spends his time analyzing and playing on Magic Online and various online platforms, while prepping for competitive events.  To follow more Joe, check out his Twitter!

http://www.twitter.com/volrathxp

It’s no secret that the world of professional Magic is muddy. It’s no secret to most as well that there are individuals, either regular or professional players that have made an impact upon the game, be it good or bad. Arguably the individual whose name appears in the title of this article has impacted the game, but quite ostensibly has done so for the worse I fear.

If you aren’t aware of who Alex Bertoncini is, a quick Google search should give you the rub of it. Alex is a name whose mere mention brings up the words “cheater” and whose reputation is that of a man who is unrepentant of what he has done. Jokes about Sowers, “2 Explores”, and even the nickname “Bertoncheaty” have surrounded this man for quite some time. During his time playing competitive Magic, Alex was suspended once for 18 months and then again for 3 years. When he came back to the game after this 3 year ban, many questioned whether he had truly reformed or if he would migrate back to his old ways and if it was simply better if he had been banned for life the second time.

So why are we talking about this now?

This past weekend comes off the heels of Grand Prix Los Angeles, a GP in which Alex Bertoncini (a Bronze level pro now) managed to Top 8. It is said that people were actively boo’ing him upon announcement of his name into the Top 8. The controversy of Alex being in such a position has stirred the collective community, from articles by CoolStuffInc’s Evan Erwin to an impassioned note by SCG’s Cedric Phillips (a man whose integrity is bar none in this day and age where not many seem to care about such a thing), and now finally an actual statement by the man himself.

Click here to read Alex’s statement. Go on, I actually implore you to do so before we continue forward.

In his statement, Alex blatantly comes forward with the statement: “I’ve cheated.” He openly admits to having done so to gain competitive advantage. He claims that cheating is irrational and that he never went into an event with the premeditated mindset to cheat. He further states that because of the cheating and the lies, his mindset grew toxic and that because of that his reputation grew as being unrepentant.

He even goes on to note that on his return to the game after his initial ban of 18 months, that he was apparently not cheating. Rather, he was playing so aggressively and sloppily that eventually his warnings and judge calls became so high that triggered his second ban.

Alex believes that he is reformed, that he can be good for the game. In fact, he is donating winnings and freely offering help to newer competitive players.

Personally, while I do believe that people can reform themselves (I am a big fan of redemptive villains), it is hard to take Alex at his word on this statement. After all, as he says, the onus is on him to prove that he is better, not on us to believe him. Alex’s reputation and his web of lies have grown terribly deep. People have been noting that even in this day and age there is a possibility that he is still cheating – an incident where he received a Game Loss for marked cards at an LCQ as well as an incident at the same event where he received a match loss by attempting to consult notes made prior to a match (by watching his finals opponent in his semifinals match) during the finals match.

Is it safe to say that Alex’s statement is one of playing the victim, that he isn’t truly reformed and is still playing the long game? Would instances like those mentioned above still be coming to light if he wasn’t? Granted, the sheer possibility that the marked cards issue was completely accidental is possible, but it apparently had to do with a foil Mox Opal (as in a singular Mox Opal in foil in the entire deck).

The issues presented above, the statements from those who have been wronged or cheated, those with the integrity to stand up and say something about it, all present one real question: If Alex Bertoncini really, truly loves the game of Magic and cares about its community as a whole, should he consider removing himself from paper Magic tournaments for a while? This is something that came up a fair amount in response to his Facebook statement. If Alex is serious about showing he has reformed, he could show his skills via Magic Online where his kind of cheating  is not possible.

I believe that this would be a good move for Alex. I fervently want to believe that even the villain of the piece can be ultimately reformed for good, and that someday perhaps Alex’s reputation would be a story of that redemption. Right now, though, continuing to play in sanctioned Magic may be harming him more than helping. He wants to show that he is capable of winning without cheating? That’s fine, do it in a scenario where you can’t cheat. Qualify for the Pro Tour through Magic Online, and use it as the tool it is to tune your play to the point where you don’t need to cheat because you are simply a good player. Return to paper Magic at some point to show that you are better.

If Alex Bertoncini really cared so much about this game I feel that he would do something of this nature, not promising to donate winnings to charity. He would make a small sacrifice in order to prove that he is redemptive.

But of course, do we think he will really do that? I doubt it. And thus, doubt will remain in people’s minds when they think of who Alex Bertoncini is and the reputation that precedes him.

What is more worrisome about this situation is the silence from Wizards during this time. I expect that there will be more silence to come from them about it. As a general rule, they mostly won’t comment on things of this nature; but I feel as a company they should make a statement. Something stating that they recognize Alex’s character prior to his initial suspension, and even potentially a confirmation of Alex’s statement about the second suspension being related to his warnings accumulating (a statement Wizards would probably never make for what it’s worth) would go a long way here. As it stands however, we will probably hear mostly silence.

Should Alex Bertoncini continue to be allowed to play paper magic, even after he believes he’s come clean about his past cheating? What are your thoughts on this situation? Please let us know in the comments what you think about this!

That’s all the time that I have for now. Until next time folks, please continue to be awesome to one another, and remember that cheating is never the way to prove yourself.

Joseph Dyer II

Joseph is an avid player of eternal Magic formats, including Vintage and Legacy.  As a Nic Fit player who will tell anyone who will listen about his deck, Joe spends his time analyzing and playing on Magic Online and various online platforms, while prepping for competitive events.  To follow more Joe, check out his Twitter!

http://www.twitter.com/volrathxp

This week we’re diving into a deck that has been a long-time deck in the Legacy format, but is only just now getting back into the swing of things with Deathrite Shaman and Gitaxian Probe gone, due to the fact that Leovold, Emissary of Trest is also seeing less play. This deck does one of my favorite things in all of Magic in that it draws cards. And I mean lots and lots of cards. It does this under the pretense that your opponent likely isn’t getting to play Magic for the most part.

That’s right, I’m talking about Enchantress.

The Core of the Deck

Whew. This deck is something to behold. What drives this deck for the most part is the fact that mana acceleration such as Utopia Sprawl and Wild Growth exists. A typical setup turn for this deck often consists of Turn 1 Sprawl/Growth, Turn 2 Argothian Enchantress, and play a second 1 drop enchantment to draw a card. From there, the deck plays prison pieces such as Elephant Grass, Solitary Confinement, and exile like Cast Out/Banishing Light to place its opponent in a position where they simply cannot play the game. Combine this power with the mana generation from Serra’s Sanctum, and you have a deck that durdles hard, but also draws more cards per turn than most blue decks will ever do in an entire game of Magic. The win condition of this particular variant of course, belongs to Living Wish, being able to go grab a creature out of the sideboard (usually Emrakul, the Aeons Torn) and use that to win the game.

One of this decks biggest issues however is that if you interrupt their early game of setting up an enchantress effect, sometimes the deck can simply not draw enough gas to win the game. However, if you can stick even just 1 Enchantress to the board, you will do well enough, even through a card like Chalice of the Void.

This particular version comes to us from MTG The Source user “Spatula of the Ages”, with a unique name in “Witch House” (a reference to H.P. Lovecraft). You can check out his thread on the Source over here.

For this deck we played 5 matches on XMage and for the first time ever since I started doing these articles, we went 5-0!!!!!! Let’s take a look at them!

Round 1 vs UB Affinity (2-1 WIN)

Round 2 vs RUG Delver (2-0 WIN)

Round 3 vs Soldier Stompy (2-0 WIN)

Round 4 vs Nyx Fit (2-1 WIN)

Round 5 vs Grixis Control (2-0 WIN)

Post Thoughts

Obviously we were pretty pleased at the fact that we went 5-0 with a list the very first time ever in these articles, and I was really pleased with the construction of this list. The extra 1 CMC Land auras like Abundant Growth and the main deck Gaea’s Touch really made this deck draw so many cards and made for some explosive turns. The Living Wish package was very spicy and made for some interesting decisions. I never saw every little card there, but I did get to play Wickerbough Elder in a game and that was hot fire.

While yes, this can be boring to watch for your opponents, if you like drawing cards this deck might be for you, and what’s even better is that this deck is only about 134 tix on Magic Online. So, if this tickles your fancy, then go forth and annoy the heck out of your opponents!

Wrapping Up

That’s all the time we have this week folks! Next week we’re gonna be doing something a little special and different. It’s the first time that we’re constructing a deck all on our own for Legacy! We’re taking a cue from recent Modern spice and hotness and seeing if we can convert the R/B/g Vengevine lists that have been rolling around into a Legacy version!

So join us next time on Little Shop of Vengevines!

Joseph Dyer II

Joseph is an avid player of eternal Magic formats, including Vintage and Legacy.  As a Nic Fit player who will tell anyone who will listen about his deck, Joe spends his time analyzing and playing on Magic Online and various online platforms, while prepping for competitive events.  To follow more Joe, check out his Twitter!

http://www.twitter.com/volrathxp

Let’s take a look, shall we?

The Core of the Deck

At its core, this version of Nic Fit is structured very much like a fair variant, utilizing the deck’s natural ability to cast powerful threats ahead of curve while leveraging the discard from Cabal Therapy and the utility of Green Sun’s Zenith. The major difference is the addition of the main deck Arena Rectors in addition to the planeswalker suite of Ugin, Elspeth, Nissa, and Liliana (the Super Team). With the Super Team, you can very easily cast any of these threats during the game or you can cheat out the bigger walkers off a Rector trigger.

Alongside your planeswalkers however, you have powerful threats in the form of Tireless Tracker, Thragtusk, and Archon of Valor’s Reach, giving you multiple angles of attack.

The sideboard of this variant prepares itself for the combo matchups by use of additional discard and cards like Gideon of the Trials, while having 4 Leyline of the Void for the graveyard matchups. Ensnaring Bridge gives the deck a leg up vs decks like Sneak/Show and go-wide strategies, while Carpet of Flowers gives you game against the fair blue decks like RUG Delver and Miracles.

For this deck we played 5 matches on XMage, going 3-2 in matches. Let’s take a look!

Match 1 vs DnT (2-0 WIN)

Match 2 vs Elves (2-1 WIN)

Match 3 vs Grixis Delver (2-0 WIN)

Match 4 vs DnT (0-2 LOSS)

Match 5 vs Enchantress Parallax Wave Combo (0-2 LOSS)

Post Thoughts

I really enjoyed this deck a lot. While I always enjoy Nic Fit lists, I enjoyed the different angles of attack and the sheer fun this deck has dumping an Ugin into play and watching the opponent cringe. Liliana was exceptionally good, as was Gideon and Nissa. Elspeth is also my favorite CMC 6 planeswalker, so there was a very real happy effect getting to use her. The only issue I had with the list and something I will likely look into more going forward is converting the Hymn to Tourach in the sideboard to maybe additional Thoughtseize. BB seemed like it would be easy but in the matchups you need Hymn, it felt difficult. Regardless, this was a very fun deck and I enjoy the fair + Rector package a lot.

Wrapping Up

That’s all the time we have this week folks! I’m on the hunt for something spicy! Do you have a deck you think I should try? Hit me up on Twitter or Discord and let me know!

Until next time, join me for another round of Eugene’s First Date!

Joseph Dyer II

Joseph is an avid player of eternal Magic formats, including Vintage and Legacy.  As a Nic Fit player who will tell anyone who will listen about his deck, Joe spends his time analyzing and playing on Magic Online and various online platforms, while prepping for competitive events.  To follow more Joe, check out his Twitter!

http://www.twitter.com/volrathxp