Hosting Your Own Tournaments: A Different Way to Test

I mentioned in an earlier post that I’ve got some new playtesting partners, local San Marcos kids. Having partners who are available as much as you’re interested and on short notice is a god send. Hopefully, you can tell I’m really reinvigorated right now.

These guys are fairly new to competition, mostly making it to Austin and San Antonio for FNM’s, but they are looking to qualify for the Tour so we’re speaking the same language. So, in addition, to the unfocused battling we’ve been doing, I’d like to organize a weekly or biweekly tournament (I’ll tell Kyle to come up from San Antonio), probably round robin until we get some more people involved. Proxies will be legal and encouraged no matter what format we’re working on. I wanna get these guys regularly thinking about winning matches, preparing for it, making choices with that end (as opposed to card availability).

I’d like some kind of low-to-no-cost/high-incentive prize to add a little juice to the proceedings. any ideas? any input in general? let me know in the comments.

also look forward to plenty of material to come out of these nights once they get rolling. and if you’re in the area, let me know if you’re interested.

2-ofs a kind…What Funny Card Counts Have to Do with Winning.

Just had a quick idea, an addendum really to the brewing I’ve been doing lately and the reactions I anticipate from readers bamboozled by the density of singletons and two-ofs in the lists. Now, everything I’m about to say has nothing to do with the fact that I have no compunction about weird numbers in decklists I actually register. I am not about to make the case for this, even though I think there are many compelling psychological, mathematical, and strategic arguments.

I Like Scapeshift Zoo, but I Wouldn’t Wanna Marry It

Up until this week, I hadn’t played much Magic at all in the last few months. Maybe 3 or 4 Modo drafts (and all in a single sitting) and a single extended PTQ where I lost in the finals playing Elves.

I knew GP Houston was coming up soon, but it kinda snuck up on me. When Kyle Sanchez told me we needed to pick out a deck so Mike Conley and Heroes and Fantasies (out of San Antonio) could help us put them together, I looked through a few decklists and was struck by Scapeshift Zoo. Anyone familiar with my deckbuilding history (I’m looking at you, Zac Hill) knows that I thrive on finding ways to wedge extra game plans and phenomenal power into existing frameworks. I loved the way Jon Louck’s Scapeshift Zoo leveraged the namesake addition, turning aggressive beaters into combo pieces that could kill an averagely defended opponent on turn 4. Scapeshift seemed to give the decks a critical mass of nut draws. And I like being in that place.

The Deep End of the Pool – The Reality of an Eldrazi Endgame

Tonight I spent some time testing the UW control list from the previous post and learned the following:

The slowest, longest long-game axis of the Standard format will not be defined by manlands crashing through on empty boards after control has been established, but by this 6-8 card package: 4 Eldrazi Temple, 1 Eye of Ugin, 1 Ulamog/Kozilek/Emrakul. It’s possible that an extra Eye become necessary as the format adopts the package. It’s possible that you want 2 of the Eldrazi overlords. It’s also probable that the 15-drop becomes the finisher of choice as Path to Exile returns to vogue as the best answer for this Eye powered onslaught.