The first question I ask back when someone asks me what deck they should play at XXXXX event is simple. What are your goals for playing Magic at this event? This question does throw some people off, but I feel it is the most important thing to consider both when choosing what deck to play, and in some cases what event(s) to play.  This refers more to lower-level events, but asking yourself that question will help guide you in deck decision, even at larger events (I’ll get back to larger events in a few; for now, let’s stick to weekly FNM style events). When attending weekly events at your LGS, you may find that you have many possible and varying goals week to week.

My current goal at FNM is simply to test out more cards, and variations on my Modern UW control deck.  On a week to week basis with that as my goal, I don’t necessarily consider what deck to play. Instead I consider what silly tech will I try out. Getting more practice with a deck is a viable goal for attending a weekly event.

Another scenario that comes up often is using Magic as a tool to just get outta the house.  Some weeks I just want to get out of my house (the one downside of working from home) and see my buds.  This means playing a deck like my current UW list, or a deck like Storm are off the table.  These are the weeks I gravitate towards Burn or a similar deck that will let the outcome of my match be decided in the first 7 minutes of the round. I can spend time between rounds talking to friends and trolling other guys playing grindy matchups.

On some rare occasions, my goal for a weekly event is to just plain have fun, not care about winning, and do things unexpected.  Have fun with my opponents by playing a deck they do not expect, or decks that leverage cards not commonly played.  With limited live MTG time these days, this scenario is few and far between.  A couple gems from this goal are my short love affair with Mono-Blue Turns (Back when Jace, the Mind Sculptor was banned, and Nexus of Fate was just a bad idea and not a card) and my short spell-slinging fling with Troll Worship. Brief Disclaimer: If you are strapped for cash and trying to earn credit or cash from weekly events, this is a terrible idea.  But loads of fun!

My final weekly goal for deck choice is the ‘HOLY COW, I just got this super sweet card, now I need to show it off to my friends’ goal.  It may sound strange that I would actually include this; but let’s face it, they call me Strictly Average for a reason. Recently, I acquired a playset of my most sought-after card.  The one I have always wanted, but never owned.  And that is the WCMQ Thalia, Guardian of Thraben. So, in order to properly show her off to my friends, I am working on shoring up a UW spirits list that will allow me to cast her in all of her foil glory. This deck probably will never see ultra-competitive play for me, as it’s just not my style.  But with a goal of sick brags, this deck choice is perfect.

Take a step back and look at this theory; ask yourself what your goals are for an event at the larger scale?  If you’re heading to a PPTQ, IQ, GP, or an Open, the level 1 answer is to win as many rounds as possible. If you are going to one of these events for the first time, or are generally a novice at higher level play, the answer is to play your most comfortable deck.  This ties into the goal of winning as many games as possible and getting better.

For those who regularly attend these events, the equation gets super complicated.  I mean, Differential Equations complicated. ‘Well, such and such a deck is better than this one.’ ‘So and so won an event last week with this one deck, everyone is gonna try to beat them with this other deck, and I am gonna be Smart and Level 3 them by choosing the deck that beats the deck that beats this other deck.’

This is all enough to make you go mad. Simply put, having clear goals for a larger event will help guide the deck choice. I attended a Standard PPTQ a while back, and it was after the emergence of RB vehicles style decks. My goal for that PPTQ was straightforward.  I didn’t want to lose to RB, so I crafted my deck to hose RB. (Truthfully this was a poor decision because I went 2-3 at the event).  Although I did terribly versus non-RB matches, I didn’t lose a single game to RB. Some may read this and think I failed because I went 2-3.  Nope, I succeeded in my goal.  I was happy with the outcome because it led to adjusting my overall decklist and playstyle for the rest of that standard format.  And Teferi, Hero of Dominaria and Search For Azcanta have paid for themselves multiple times over in prizes.

I hope after sitting through this random stream of thought that the next time you ask yourself, or someone else, ‘What Deck should I play?’ you follow up with asking yourself ‘What are my goals at this event?’

Be Kind to eachother!

-Strictly

Jeremy Beardsley

Jeremy aka “Strictly Average” is an ‘average’ guy with ‘average’ plans. He is the creator and overboss of Strictly Average Gaming, which includes the Patreon group and StrictlyAverageMTG.com

https://strictlyaveragemtg.com

“Don’t worry everyone….I’ll be back.”

We have seen several iterations of Oblivion Ring over the years (though I feel a bit bad not giving credit to Faceless Butcher), and each card has seemed less powerful than before. I’m speaking of cards such as Journey to Nowhere, Banishing Light, and even Grasp of Fate and Aligned Hedron Network. The problem I find in these cards is their lack of permanence. Yes, they are permanents, which is part of the issue; they don’t grant a permanent solution to your opponents’ threats. If I’m spending a card to remove one of theirs, why would I give it a chance to come back?

Remember those caveats I mentioned? Let’s look at them. The early versions of this effect are worded so they can exile something for good. Faceless Butcher and Fiend Hunter are solid choices for decks built to sacrifice and recur their creatures when there’s a sac outlet handy that can be utilized at instant speed. If the deck is designed for this then full speed ahead; otherwise I feel they aren’t worth playing. The same holds for Oblivion Ring and Detention Sphere. Considered staples for enchantress decks, without ways to sac enchantments I would not look to them. Sphere gets some bonus points when facing token decks, and both it and Ring are great with Sun Titan, so indeed there are exceptions. The one version I find to be interesting is Palace Jailer. If you have a meta that is low on combat damage, it can be quite strong when coupled with the continued card draw from being the Monarch. I want to play in your meta – Editor

“I REALLY hope this bubble doesn’t burst.”

Since I am arguing against these effects, how about some cards that can (and probably should) replace them? Swords to Plowshares and Path to Exile are the obvious choices, but likely those are already used. So let’s dig a little deeper. One of my favorites is Crib Swap. It may only target creatures, but for the same CMC as O-Ring, all they receive is a 1/1. It also will trigger some tribal abilities; it will give you a token if you’re playing Edgar Markov, and Depala, Pilot Exemplar will put it into your hand when revealed. Another fine mention is Ashes to Ashes. At first glance the five damage may be scary, but it is a small price to exile two creatures with a single card. And since those two are for creatures, I’ll end with something for those pesky artifacts and enchantments. Return to Dust is a must play, but even cards like the recent Forsake the Worldly are fine choices. Exile plus the ability to cycle is very handy in EDH.

Again, I know cards like O-Ring have their place. For some strategies they can shine, as long as your deck caters to them. But in too many games I’ve seen them used as general (not commander) removal. Suddenly they are swept away by Austere Command or Acidic Slime, leaving the original culprit back on the battlefield. So please, when you fill out your removal package, choose those cards that will be a more permanent solution to troublesome permanents.

Chris Nicholson

Chris is a Strictly EDH player and thorough Melvin from Columbus, OH. He squeezes in games whenever he isn’t on adventures with his wife and toddler daughter.

No, this time we’re here to talk about the real balance between this silly little game and the dreaded notion of real life. Yes, I know this is not totally Eternal MTG related, but hey, it’s still important to talk about.

It can be very easy to be 100% invested in Magic at all times. There’s so much content out there to devour that it can be very simple to just let yourself be consumed by it all. Working on MTG content ramps this up by a large notch and sometimes it’s easy to let real life pass you by.

One can imagine that this gets even worse once you start mixing immediate family into it. I am married and have a three and a half year old daughter. Keeping up with the ongoings of the MTG world while having to acquiesce to the demands of a fiercely independent toddler is hard, obviously. It makes traveling to events a big ordeal and requires a plan.

The key to it all is compromise, of course. There are numerous approaches to this. My wife and I often establish one night a week for FNM, to go out and play local Magic. Generally this works out in her favor because I frequently stop at a local late-night donut shop on the way home and pick up breakfast goodies for the next morning. I also seasonally participate in a work Magic league, so I generally get an additional day during these times to go play Magic.

For larger events, we talk things out and determine the best course of action. However, again because of real life, not every large event is within reach. I have missed large events before because of other real life things going on. For example, my wife and I own a horse, and the commitment to that is pretty hefty; we compromise on making it work out so that both can coexist. Ultimately,  this ends up being fine. I don’t necessarily need to participate in every large event to still be competitive enough to play to win at the events I do attend. 

Another great approach is the use of Magic Online. I’ve found often that MTGO helps scratch that itch more when real life gets heavily in the way and makes time difficult. Being able to play at your leisure is helpful at times.

A third approach is to try to involve. My wife does not really play the game, but she does understand why I enjoy it. Often times large events can coincide with real life by involving your family in the trip. I know several friends who make big trips out of large Grand Prix’s and take their families with them to enjoy the sights of a new town as well. This is a great way to involve your family while balancing it with Magic. Another is to branch out and try other games that might be fun!

Recently my wife and I made a trip down into Virginia for a horse/tack auction, one that involved driving a little bit further south to spend a night with friend and collaborator Dennis Gabriels and his wife. Dennis is a friend primarily through Magic, but when in company of spouses, we did spend a good amount of time just talking about real life stuff. Even when we did finally get to sit down and play, we ended up playing just one match before getting everyone else together to sit down for a rousing game of Ticket to Ride (which is amazing, highly recommended). Everyone had a great time, and it was enjoyable. Magic might have brought us together, but it was the balance of real life that makes us friends.

It can be very easy to dip off into the deep end; even I am sometimes guilty of this. You can very easily lose yourself in Magic, which is why it is ultimately important to compromise and keep yourself grounded.

Wrapping Up

That’s all the time we have this week folks! Next week, I’m going to be looking at another entry in our Budget Legacy series, a deck that’s stepped up a little bit from Burn and Dredge, but is still reasonably inexpensive. Monoblack Reanimator!

See you next time on Grizzlebees Strikes Back!

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 don’t have a GP near you, and traveling would be too far, mailing your cards directly to the artist is a great way to have your cards signed. The first thing to note when getting your cards signed through the mail is that not all artists do it. This is typically the case when artists have several projects they are working on, and cannot devote the time to signing cards. It’s not that they don’t appreciate their fans, it’s just they feasibly can’t sign all of the cards in a timely manner. There are also some artists that flat-out do not respond to signature requests, likely because they are too busy and do not want to say no. It is not personal.

To contact an artist and request them to sign their cards is simple. Look up the artist and find their website. On the artist’s website, there is typically a section entitled “Send Magic Cards.” If an artist does not have this on their page, go to their contact info and find their email. In your email, let them know you’d like cards signed, ask how much they charge, and let them know how many cards you have; some have a limit and some do not. Do not request any special alterations or additions from the artist. It is too difficult for them to manage these through the mail.

A typical signature charge is $1-2 per card. If there is no charge, please always tip. These artists take the time out of their day to sign cards, and a tip shows them that what they do is appreciated. Including a thank-you note adds a personal touch to the envelope; just like the tip, your note will be much appreciated.

The other caveat to sending cards through the mail is not only do you have to pay shipping to the artist, but shipping back as well. Artists will not pay to have your cards shipped back to you, and if you send them cards without a return envelope they will likely remain somewhere within the aether. The complete package I send to artists consists of the following:

• 8.5×11 manilla envelope with tracked shipping to artist
• 10-20 cards in a single, oversized Toploader
• Handwritten thank you note
• Cash tip (if I did not pay or tip through PayPal)
• 4×6 manilla envelope with tracked shipping from artist to me

Tracking is imperative when sending cards, especially if they are expensive. The artist is not responsible for your cards if they never reach them. The only damage the artist is responsible for is damage done to the card during the actual signing process itself. If a pen explodes on your card, the artists will almost always work with you on an amicable solution. Of course, you can always consider it an alter. Tracking for getting your cards back also helps gauge the turnaround time for that specific artist. I’ve had artists send back cards the same day they receive them, and I’ve also had artists send back three months after delivery. If you send your cards out on Monday, do not expect them back by FNM. If you’re hesitant about sending cards because of the turnaround time, ask the artist. They will be upfront if they won’t get to them for a while. Don’t send cards and then email the artist two days after they’ve been delivered. This will only annoy the artist.

The more complicated it is for the artist to unpack your cards, the less likely they are to sign again, for you and perhaps anyone. Use minimal tape when packing. Do not have individual cards in individual sleeves and top loaders. This creates a maddening experience for the artist. A single oversized toploader makes it easy for the artist to open the package and sign the cards. Put 4-6 cards in penny sleeves an into the toploader. Expensive cards can be individually sleeved and put within the toploader.

All of these points are generalities. Each artist is different and has their own set of expectations and guidelines when receiving cards to get signed. My method is a boilerplate structure I use for each artist. Other methods may work for you. But, I have sent out 200+ cards through the mail using this method and have had no issues.

Please comment if you have any tips, tricks, cheat codes, etc about getting cards signed. I’d also love to hear if you have an experience with an artist you’d like to share.

Loren Toporek

While not a mix of sugar, spice, and everything nice, Loren wishes to share his love of Magic with everyone. Loren plays Modern (not well) and EDH (not well). He lives in northern Arizona with his girlfriend and vault of artist-signed cards.

1. Evaluate the sideboard of my decks prior to every event. I treat my sideboard as a series of answers to problems that I expect to encounter at the event.  I’ll often have multiple sideboards I use. I’ll create one for the local play where the metagame is known, and another for a more wider metagame that may be unknown.
2. If I chose to play an established deck list, I always revisit the sideboard. Yes, I do ‘net deck.’  Sometimes pure home-brewing isn’t competitive enough, and the correct move is to play an established deck. Whenever I do this, I try to remember that the sideboard used for that event may not apply to the event I’m playing in now, since the sideboard should be determined by the expected metagame. I’ve found that my metagame is usually far different than the ones at high-level events.
3. Solve as many problems with as few cards as possible. If I can put a card in my sideboard that can address multiple threats at once I’m happy, because I can free up more spots for answers.  If I expect to see a metagame with artifacts and enchantments that I have a hard time interacting with, I may put less powerful cards in my sideboard that deal with both threats, in order to free up space for other answers to other problems.
4. Sometimes it is okay to ignore the hardest deck to beat and focus on increasing win percentages against the rest of the field. This tip is less intuitive but when analyzed it makes more sense. If I know that my matchup verses one deck is horrendous. Even if I can gain a few percentages points with a card in my sideboard, I may ignore that deck altogether and focus on improving my percentages against more decks.  For example, let’s say that my GW Humans list has a 20% win rate against another deck in the format, but a 40% win rate against three other decks, I may ignore the 20% win rate deck in my sideboard, and focus on making my win rate against the other three decks better.
5. My sideboard is not an overflow catch for cards that didn’t make the 60 card cut. Using the sideboard for good cards that didn’t make the cut in the main deck is a popular approach for many of my friends, and I have recently started to move away from this.  I used to add cards that I thought were good to my sideboard, because they were good cards, but not quite better than cards in my mainboard. I found that more times than not, I would never move those cards into my main deck because as I originally observed, my 60 cards already in the deck were better than those cards.
6. I’ve learned to allow my sideboard to free up space in my main deck. This is especially true when I build control decks. Instead of building my lists to catch all threats in the main deck, I am able to use more focused answer and leave room for other answers in my sideboard. In a metagame of low to the ground fast decks, I will mainboard sweepers and ways to deal with many threats at once, while putting single target removal and permission in the sideboard. The ability to have answers in my sideboard greatly changes how I construct my deck in these cases.
7.  I’ve made it a point to not let the outcome of a game change whether or not I sideboard. It is common practice for players at the weekly events that I attend to just move on to game two in a match without looking at their sideboard. I’ve forced myself to look at my sideboard and analyze how it can increase my chances of winning the rest of the match no matter what happened in round one. Doing this at local events is bad because it leads to habitual behavior, and if I’m attending a larger event, I find that my habits from weekly events kick in, especially when I am tired.

I sincerely hope that those reading this will take away something from these lessons I have learned.  If you feel like I am wrong about any of these, I’d love to chat more about it.  Drop me a comment and I will respond accordingly.

Good Luck and Have Fun!
Strictly

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO SUPPORT THE STRICTLY AVERAGE MOVEMENT, FEEL FREE TO CHECK OUT OUR PATREON

Jeremy Beardsley

Jeremy aka “Strictly Average” is an ‘average’ guy with ‘average’ plans. He is the creator and overboss of Strictly Average Gaming, which includes the Patreon group and StrictlyAverageMTG.com

https://strictlyaveragemtg.com

Much to my surprise, this is a very well documented approach to drafting. BREAD is an acronym for how to evaluate cards during the draft.  The letters stand for:  Bombs,  Removal,  Evasion,  Aggro, Duds/Dregs. I’ll go through each of these categories and list out a handful of cards that fall into each one.  Keep in mind while considering this approach to drafting that this is a series of guidelines, not hard and strict rules.  Sometimes switching colors to acquire a Bomb or Removal card makes sense, while other times it is just silly and will make your deck worse off.  The tricky part about becoming better at Limited is to learn when it is correct to make a drastic change or not.

Bombs

These cards are exactly what the name implies.  They are the cards that are usually picked first for a very good reason. A Bomb is a card that needs to be answered, or it can completely take over the game.  Some traditional examples of Bombs are massive creatures that are hard to interact with or Planeswalkers. Usually, these are the cards that will force a player into a particular color because they know if they can resolve a bomb, they’ll be winning the game.  In the context of Aether Revolt, some of the bombs I’ve observed are Exquisite Archangel, Herald Of Anguish, Lightning Runner, Battle At the Bridge, and Heart of Kiran.

Removal

This is my personal favorite type of card to draft.  Having answers to my opponents threats is a good way to open the door for my threats to do their job, and win me the game. Removal cards are answers to threats played by an opponent. These cards can often directly kill (or otherwise disable) opponents creatures or permanents.  This category can even include combat tricks that may help your creatures survive while killing your opponent’s creature. Removal can be tricky because not all removal is created equal. Some removal cards use mana inefficiently which can put you far behind on tempo. Aether Revolt is loaded with interesting removal and just a few examples of them are Fatal Push, Caught in the Brights, Shock, Hungry Flames, Thopter Arrest, Cruel Finality, Foundry Hornet, Yahenni’s Expertise, Monsterous Onslaught and Natural Obsolescence. For a full list of removal check out the Aether Revolt Removal List on MTGGoldfish.

Evasion

Evasion creatures are the bread (no pun intended) and butter of a successful draft deck.  These are creatures that are hard to block or hard to interact with.  The first obvious type of evasion is Flying but some of the other important keywords in the evasion category would be Menace, Unblockable, Deathtouch, Double Strike, and First Strike. These creatures should be prioritized higher than ‘vanilla’ creatures with very little keywords or abilities. In the case of Aether Revolt, I would add mana efficient hard to kill creatures to this list, mainly because of cards like Lifecraft Cavalry. Some of the best evasive threats in AER are Dawnfeather Eagle, Aethertide Whale, Aether Swooper, Solemn Recruit, Aether Chaser, Glint-Sleeve Siphoner, Scrapper Champion, Greenbelt Rampager, Ridgescale Tusker, and Outland Boar. In deeper discussions with some seasoned Limited players, they kind of treat this category as a catch-all for good spells.  Others would add cards like Tezzeret’s Touch and Weldfast Engineer in this bucket since they are very synergistic with this set.

Aggro

This heading is for aggressive creatures and other serviceable spells. Your draft will typically be comprised of many cards from this category. One to two of this level of the card will not determine the direct outcome of a draft, but having a series of good aggro cards will contribute positively to the number of prizes that can be collected at the end of an event. In this current draft format, I would be happy with a deck filled out with cards such as Winding Constrictor, Silkweaver Elite, Countless Gears Renegade, Aetherstream Leopard, Audacious Infiltrator, Scrounging Bandar, Narnam Renegade, and Greenwheel Liberator.

Duds and Dregs

These are usually the last cards picked, and add little or no value to a draft deck.  I usually make a pile closer to my deck box of these, because I hope that I will not end up playing these in my deck. These are the cards that I will actually be upset with if I end up getting them as the last card.  Cards like Secret Salvage have little or no business getting sleeved into a draft deck.  This category can also include cards that require a setup that is just plain not worth the payoff.

I hope this little primer on BREAD theory was informative and useful.  Please feel free to leave a comment below with questions, concerns, feedback, or just to say Hello.

Good Luck and Have Fun!
-Strictly

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO SUPPORT THE STRICTLY AVERAGE MOVEMENT, FEEL FREE TO CHECK OUT OUR PATREON

Jeremy Beardsley

Jeremy aka “Strictly Average” is an ‘average’ guy with ‘average’ plans. He is the creator and overboss of Strictly Average Gaming, which includes the Patreon group and StrictlyAverageMTG.com

https://strictlyaveragemtg.com

Indestructibility

Question #1 came in on Facebook from a local friend and supporter of the site. David writes:

‘Hey man, last night I had a really strange interaction that I have never encountered before. I blocked my opponents 1/1 attacker with a 2/2 blocker.  After damage, my opponent casts Shock on my creature, I respond to Shock with a spell that gives my creature indestructible. After everything resolves, he cast a spell that gave my creature -1/-1 and claimed that my creature was dead because it had damage and he reduced the power and toughness.  Neither of us knew the correct answer, so I agreed with him and put the card in my bin.  Was this correct?’

My instincts tell me that that the creature should have survived.  The damage on the creature from blocking was irrelevant along with the damage from the Shock because indestructible means that the creature cannot die from damage.  The -1/-1 effect is also irrelevant as the creature’s toughness is still above 0. The actual ruling on indestructible is:

702.12. Indestructible
702.12a Indestructible is a static ability.
702.12b A permanent with indestructible can’t be destroyed. Such permanents aren’t destroyed by lethal damage, and they ignore the state-based action that checks for lethal damage (see rule 704.5g).

Spell Quellering a x Mana Spell

The next question came in from a patron. The users writes:

‘Hey Strictly, I have a good one for you.  I was in a game recently and I Spell Quellered my opponent’s Walking Ballista. He killed my Queller on the next turn, and we were unsure on how we should have played his casting of Walking Ballista. What are your thoughts?

This one seems to come up more and more often with cards that care about a spell’s mana cost.  This question actually brings up two important points on Spell Queller and other cards that care about the cost of spells with X in the mana ability.  Keep in mind with Spell Queller, if the amount spent on X puts the cost above 4, the spell cannot be targeted by Queller’s ability. So if the Walking Ballista was cast using 6 mana to make him a 3/3, it is an illegal target for the Spell Queller.

When Spell Queller dies, the Ballista can be cast the Walking Ballista for free, X will be 0.  This will make the Ballista 0/0 when it enters the battlefield, its toughness is checked (0), and it is immediately placed into the graveyard. Here’s the text from Gatherer.

For spells with in their mana costs, use the value chosen for X to determine if the spell’s converted mana cost is 4 or less.

If the card has in its mana cost, the player must choose 0 as the value of X when casting it without paying its mana cost.

Cards that Enter Battlefield at the Same Time

Our friend Marcus from the Puca Minute Podcast recently asked a question about cards that enter the battlefield simultaneously.

I used to play Skapeshift Valakut. When I would play a Primeval Titan and get 2 mountains all at once my opponents usually thought that they don’t take the damage from the Valakut trigger if I already didn’t have the 5 mountains in play. I never knew how to explain it other than “trust me it’s legal.”

Yes, Marcus, it is legal.  I learned much about how these rulings worked when I played Bant Humans in Standard with Collective Company (CoCo). I’d constantly get lucky hits off of CoCo and get two Thalia’s Lieutenants.  Although they are entirely different cards in entirely different formats, the reason why the each Lieutenant gets two counters is the same reason why your opponent takes damage from your Mountains that entered the battlefield.

When cards enter the battlefield at the same time, they see each other on the battlefield when the checks happen for the enter the battlefield effect. In the case of Thalia’s Lieutenant, the two cards see each other.  Both cards get a counter for the When Thalia’s Lieutenant enters the battlefield ability and a counter because of the When another Human enters the battlefield ability. In the Case of Valakut, you would need to have four other mountains in play when getting the land coming into play from PrimeTime. Both mountains would enter at the exact same time and when the check for the 5 other mountains would see the 4 already in play, and the additional mountain that entered at the same time.  The opponent would take 6 damage, 3 from each of the mountains that entered the battlefield. This is clearly explained in the Rulings on the Gatherer page for Valakut.

If multiple Mountains enter the battlefield under your control at the same time, Valakut’s second ability could trigger that many times. Each ability takes into consideration the other Mountains that entered the battlefield at the same time as the one that caused it to trigger.

Timing of Expertise Cards

Craig wrote in a question related to the Expertise cards in Aether Revolt.

I am going to be attending my first Aether Revolt draft this week and I was wondering if you could Explain how Expertise Cards work.  If I cast Yahenni’s Expertise and choose to cast a creature off of it for free, does my creature survive?

The wording of Yahenni’s Expertise makes it so that the two relevant lines of text are separate and do not rely on each other.  The abilities of the card happen in the order they are written, so All Creatures get -3/-3 until End of Turn resolves before you Cast a card with converted mana cost 3 or less ability.  The creature cast from this ability will be safe from dying as it wasn’t on the battlefield when the -3/-3 happened.

While on the topic of Expertise cards, I heard a scenario from another friend that was interesting that I wanted to discuss. They were theory crafting deck ideas and wanted to find a way to recur their Expertise spells by casting a card for free off of them.  The idea was to cast Yahenni’s Expertise and for the free spell cast a card with an effect similar to Eternal Witness and try to get the Expertise card back from the graveyard.  Sadly because the Witness is cast as part of the Expertise card, the Expertise card has not completely resolved and hence has not entered the graveyard when Eternal Witness enters the battlefield. This means it would not be a legal target for Eternal Witness’ ability.

Well friends, that’s all I have for now. I’d really like to be able to make these sort of mail bag articles a regular thing.  Send me a message on the Contact Us form with any thoughts, feedback, or suggestions and I will be happy to include your topics in future posts.

Don’t Forget to laugh,
Strictly

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO SUPPORT THE STRICTLY AVERAGE MOVEMENT, FEEL FREE TO CHECK OUT OUR PATREON

Jeremy Beardsley

Jeremy aka “Strictly Average” is an ‘average’ guy with ‘average’ plans. He is the creator and overboss of Strictly Average Gaming, which includes the Patreon group and StrictlyAverageMTG.com

https://strictlyaveragemtg.com

40 cards!  No more, no less.

The first two things that I look at is the total land count and total card count.  Forty cards are the legal minimum number of cards in a draft deck and it is highly recommended that this number is adhered to.  A 40 card draft deck will give you the most chance of drawing the cards you need to win and the lands you need to cast them. It is surprising how many people up there card counts to 45 or 50, without considering the impact on their mana.

The accepted standard for land count is 17, and I have seen many successful draft decks with 18.  Anymore, there is a risk of getting flooded and any less there is a risk for not drawing enough lands. I usually will up my land count to 18 if I have a high-cost spell or creature that I know will win me the game and I want to make sure I draw enough lands throughout the course of the game.

Stick to two colors

Another major mistake I see is drafters forcing three colors.  In the current format, there is little mana fixing to help with this. Being greedy with three different colors is a surefire way to guarantee not drawing the proper mana when it is needed. There are many arguments that can be made against my stance on this, but I see all too often people saying ‘I would have won that game if I only drew the right mana for my bomb.’ Splashing for a win condition is useless if the card becomes uncastable in most games because of diluted mana.  Two-color decks are far more consistent and give you a higher percent chance to win your match than spiking just once or twice throughout the night.

Determining Land Count

Throughout the years I have heard and observed dozens of different approaches to deciding how many of each basic land type to add to a deck.  I prefer simple math to figure out my mana base.  It is far easier than most people think.  I simply add up the total mana symbols for each symbol in my deck and look at the ratios.

Let us use my 3-0 draft deck from last night as an example.  I had 15 white mana symbols and 10 green symbols.  Simple math tells me that I have a 3 to 2 ratio of white spells to green spells and my mana base should be 3 to 2 in favor of plans.  I split my lands out to be 10 plains and 7 forests. A 10 to 7 split isn’t inherently a 3 to 2 ratio, but I simply added lands in that ratio until I was over my count of 17 lands.  This left me with a count of 12 and 9, and I took 2 out from each to get to my number of 17. This math isn’t exact, but it brings me close enough to where I felt confident.

When I started implementing these simple guidelines for my mana base I found that my issues around being able to cast my cards seemed to almost go away.  Magic is a game of variance, so there is always random bad draws and rough runs on mana. I prefer to ensure that when I lose to variance, it really is variance and not poor deck building.

I hope you learned something from my mistakes.  Please leave a comment or reach out to me on Twitter and let me know what you liked in this article, what you hated or what you would rather have read about.

Don’t Forget to laugh,
Strictly

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO SUPPORT THE STRICTLY AVERAGE MOVEMENT, FEEL FREE TO CHECK OUT OUR PATREON

Jeremy Beardsley

Jeremy aka “Strictly Average” is an ‘average’ guy with ‘average’ plans. He is the creator and overboss of Strictly Average Gaming, which includes the Patreon group and StrictlyAverageMTG.com

https://strictlyaveragemtg.com

Instead of doing a cookie cutter article – listing four to five untested deck lists with a pile of cards designed to get you to buy the new set, I’m going to talk about the process that I go through to make a deck.  My goal is to have my own polished list by the time Game Day rolls around in a few weeks.  The day before a set becomes legal is usually when I get asked this question the most, ‘Hey Strictly, can you help me with this brew?’ Usually, the decks are pretty solid, but sometimes they’re just bad. Sometimes I’ll suggest an unexpected card, and they respond with ‘Well isn’t such and such card just better?’ I laugh to myself “You’re the one with the deck idea, why don’t you tell me?” I don’t bother verbalizing my question, because I already know the answer.  Everyone has their own process for building decks. Picking the four most powerful cards in the colors and slapping some lands together doesn’t work for me.

I’m not here to tell anyone how to play the game they love.  If you want to brew your own way, feel free to do so.  Also feel free to share your methods, I’d love to hear them.  My hopes are to share my process for brewing a competitive deck in an attempt to help you improve in your own brewing process.

Accepting Failure

My first step in coming up with a deck idea is accepting that I will most likely fail.   Chances are whatever deck that I brewing could be just plain bad, and I may end up with a Net Deck. If my deck ends up being a pile of poo, I’ll accept failure and treat the rest of the brewing process as a learning practice.  If you fail, and learn from the failure, than you’re better off than if you succeeded initially. I treat every card  while testing as a data point.  This awareness and focus helps me see new possible interaction that I hadn’t thought about before.

Before going down the rabbit hole of card selections, It’s important to share the tools I use for brewing. I prefer Tappedout.com and  MTGGoldfish for my decklist. Tappedout has the best mana base tool, and helps me quickly adjust land counts when needed.  Goldfish’s interface is easier for me to use when building the list, and the pricing on the deck page is helpful for figuring out a budget for acquiring cards. Testing in person is not always an option for me, so I am becoming more active on MTGO and Xmage. Xmage is a free clone with rules enforcement. I use it for the bulk of my testing. Once the decklist is near complete I acquire cards on MTGO start jamming events.

Pick a plan

Some questions I find myself asking those who send me deck lists is ‘What is your plan?  What are you trying to do here?’ More times than not, their decks that are all over the place. This happens because they didn’t consider what type of deck they wanted to build. They lose focus and pile on cards that are good but lack synergy, and expect that to be enough to win.  These decks have no identity, and just tend to be doing too many things at once.

I usually let the known meta, or what I expect the meta to be in a format guide me. For Game Day, I expect to see the multiple combos and later game scenarios where my opponents can win on turns 5 – 6. To combat this I want to come up with a super fast aggressive list.  Energy decks are very combo orientated and can fall apart against some strategies.  With all things considered, I suspect that there is a humans list out there just waiting to be found. Plus, Thalia’s Lieutenant is still legal! Humans is the only tribal deck that has ever suited my play style, so I think I may be a bit biased in testing this deck. My deck will be base White, but I’m still undecided on the other color.  I suspect it will be a White Red human list when I am done.

The Core

Once I know the identity of the deck, I try to figure out the core components of the deck. These are cards that are an instantly going to have three or four copies in the list. I’m very careful not to just pick the obvious four-of for the deck. This is an easy trap to fall into. I try to keep the list low because I want to let testing determine the final counts. For the deck I am currently working on,  the initial core of the deck was four copies of Thalia’s Lieutenant, three copies of Always Watching, four Harnessed Lightning and two Declaration In Stone. The six removal spells will be replaced last and will be very much meta dependent.  The Lieutenant is an instant add to any human deck for the card’s human synergies.  Always watching is also a no-brainer because of its sheer power level in this format.

The Meat

This is where things get counter-intuitive in my process.  Instead of assuming what creatures will round out the open 25 or 26 slots, I just start adding cards to the list as a singleton or sometimes a two-of.  Any card that synergizes with my plan is fair game.  Sometimes this stage gets me to 50 cards. For my Game Day deck, I added a series of 2-ofs, since I’d already done some heavy testing in the past with humans. Once the deck is close to the number of nonland cards that I want, I go to Tapped Out to work on the manabase. At this stage of the process, my deck usually looks horrible. If I make the list public, I usually get nastygrams about what a terrible idea it is to play EDH in Standard.

This is when I load up Xmage and throw my list in there.  My goal is to jam as many games as possible before making major changes, unless I can admit that I made a huge mistake. During these games, I ignore whether or not I even win the game. I am looking for card synergies and interactions I normally wouldn’t have thought of.  If I am lucky enough to be testing with a friend on Xmage, I’ll load up a match with no time limit, an absurdly high win count for the match.

My current list has a long way to go before I can even justify acquiring cards, let along sleeving it up for an event.

2 Expedition Envoy
2 Inventor’s Apprentice
2 Thraben Inspector
2 Town Gossipmonger
2 Aether Chaser
2 Kari Zev, Skyship Raider
4 Metallic Mimic
4 Thalia’s Lieutenant
2 Hanweir Garrison
2 Reckless Racer
2 Lightning Runner
Spells (6)
2 Declaration in Stone
4 Harnessed Lightning
Enchantments (5)
2 Gryff’s Boon
3 Always Watching
Lands (23)
4 Aether Hub
4 Inspiring Vantage
4 Mountain
4 Needle Spires
7 Plains

During the early testing, I found a massive mistake with my list. I had zero copies of Metallic Mimic and a singleton Kari Zev. I instantly made some cuts and put four mimics and two Kari in my list.  They are proving to be the All-Stars behind the Lieutenant and there is a good chance the pirate lady may end up as a three of in my deck. This is the part of the testing where I find out what card text matters, and what doesn’t. Currently Lightning Runner’s gain an extra attack text has not even come into play because when the card hits play he gets 1 or 2 counters from Always Watching or Metallic Mimics. I have chosen to not cut him yet, because the card is super powerful when played. Over the next few weeks, I’ll be firming up this list. I will share the evolution of the deck in a future article.

Play Testing

Once I narrow this list down to 6 or 7 unique creatures I will begin to play games with intention of winning.  This is where I start to consider sideboard cards as I learn what sorts of decks I am weak to. It’s here that I usually decide if the deck is a dud or not. This also when I start sharing the list with friends and ask them to test and give me their impressions.  If the deck is worthy of further tuning I will know almost instantly from this feedback. The idea is to get as many reps against real decks as possible.  This is where paper testing and MTGO are stronger.  Sometimes I’ll proxy out the top decks in the format and play a bunch of games with friends. One thing that is overlooked by a lot of brewers is the process of playing against your own deck.  I will hand my paper list over to a friend and play a bunch of games against my own list.  This helps to understand things from the other side of the table. It also helps if you test against better players.

There is No Magic Christmasland

If I want to determine if my list can stand up to variance in the game I purposely gimp myself. I remove my bomb or win condition in the deck, and replace with a different artwork land than I normally run. This will allow me to identify the close games I would have won with the win con, but still, determine if I have a serviceable win/loss record without my win condition.  A huge mistake people make when designing their decks is they always consider the best case scenario and ignore variance.  If I can still hold my own under adverse conditions I am confident the deck will stand up.

It is also very important to remember that a deck list should never be final and complete. Yes, obviously you need a complete list to compete.  I feel that lists should always be evolving as new information comes out and the meta shifts around you.  I am always looking for ways to improve not only my play but also improve my deck list. I may shelf a deck and move into something else because of evolving metagame but I rarely disassemble a deck that I have put this much work into.

I hope this little primer on how I evolve and brew my decks was helpful.  Feel free to leave a comment and let me know.

Try to have fun, and don’t forget to Drive a Tranquil Bargain Friends.

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO SUPPORT THE STRICTLY AVERAGE MOVEMENT, FEEL FREE TO CHECK OUT OUR PATREON

Jeremy Beardsley

Jeremy aka “Strictly Average” is an ‘average’ guy with ‘average’ plans. He is the creator and overboss of Strictly Average Gaming, which includes the Patreon group and StrictlyAverageMTG.com

https://strictlyaveragemtg.com

Before I started trying to improve my game, I was plain bad.  My entry fees into events were more of a donation to the better players. The only time I’d ever benefit financially from an event was when I’d get money rares from a draft.  Due to some unfortunate events in my personal life (I got shit canned from my job), I was forced to take a break from the game.  When I came back to the game, I didn’t have the luxury of donating entry fees or sinking tons of money into singles. I had to start actually caring about winning events. One of the best pieces of advice given to me from my MTG mentor and friend (Dylan, the co-creator of Strictly Average) was to simply play better players.

At first this concept sounded silly.  I wondered how losing would make me better. Then a lightbulb flickered on.  Instead of treating matches against better players as instant losses, I decided that I’d try to learn something from the matches.  I started paying attention to what they played, how they played cards, and the play lines that they took. I began to ask questions (not during a match, but after) about how they would have played a certain scenario, or what card choices they thought were best.  Instead of being an askhole (someone who asks for advice and ignores it) I was a sponge, taking in all I could from better players.

In my free time between rounds at FNM or after events were done, instead of just playing for laughs with friends, I would try to get matches in with the better players.  This is how I improved so rapidly. Even playtesting with someone who is better than you will help you improve.  Talk through decision points with them.  Also, try to learn from the mistakes other players have made, so that you don’t make the same ones.

I’ve found that surrounding myself with players far better than me gave me access to much of their knowledge. Before I knew it, I had improved.  Suddenly, players that I was beating in matches were coming to me for advice on what they should have done.  I may not have become amazing at the game, but when it comes to improving, I’ve had people ask me how I got better so fast.  My go to response is for them to play against better players.  Attend events at locations that you aren’t gonna win every week and force yourself to play better to win.

As with trading and finance, there is no one simple key to success.  Everyone needs to find their own path to success. The way that I learn, and have improved over time will not be an exact road map for success for everyone.  This is the first in a series of posts that will cover methods I have used to get better at this game we love. The posts regarding improving your MTG game will be titled Strictly Level Up posts.

Try to have fun, and don’t forget to Drive a Tranquil Bargain Friends.

Jeremy Beardsley

Jeremy aka “Strictly Average” is an ‘average’ guy with ‘average’ plans. He is the creator and overboss of Strictly Average Gaming, which includes the Patreon group and StrictlyAverageMTG.com

https://strictlyaveragemtg.com