Everyone’s been begging me to write about what I’ve been doing since the changes to Extended were announced, and up until this point, I’ve been busy actually swinging trades!  The announcement came unexpectedly, and along with some Legacy changes, totally shook up the Extended format, which we anticipate will effect the Winter PTQ season.  I was fortunate enough not to own ‘Goyfs or Shock Lands or anything else that was about to take a nosedive, but I did make a few mistakes when making my purchases.  Thankfully, I made enough smart trades to make up for it.

Read the rest on MTGO Academy!

I have so much to say about this, I need to digest my thoughts.  But just so people know where my wallet is these days, here's a ledger of what I just picked up on MTGO.  Just curious to see what people think of my acquisitons!

We all have them.  They're ingrained in our brains as immutable fixed concepts, and we think they make us smarter and more experienced.  I'm talking about knowledge that's "a given".  For example, how many times did you hear "Blue just isn't good in this format?"  How soon after that did Patrick Chapin revitalize the UW Control archetype?  Right.  Another example is Jon Medina's de-foiling process.  For a long while, Jon's Given was that he "didn't trade his foils".  We all have them, and they're doing you more harm than good.

Mine is my EDH box & my cube.  While the cube is a delicate ecosystem and can't be traded-from on a whim,  I'm going to revisit my EDH box today and consider what needs to be made available again.  I, of all people, need to stay honest about what cards would be better as liquid assets.  For example, I have a Tarmogoyf, Mox Diamond and a Force of Will in there.  That's about $200 of cards locked up that will never ever get me value.  What would happen if I put them in the display case (or in your case, trade binder) and only traded them when the deal was most favorable?  Since they're cards I dont use often anyway, I can trade them out for value and then take any chance to pick up those cards if/when I locate them at a discount.

Another example is of a friend who isn't playing a lot of Magic these days.  He needed more time to take care of other priorities in life, including his health, his SO, and his career.  He realized that playing FNM was something he just automatically did each week, but didn't really enjoy a whole lot, nor did he get good EV from it.  By reassessing his "given" he freed up at least 4-5 hours a week, which is quite a lot for someone who's got no free time.

I find this process to be good when building a Limited deck too.  Sometimes you have a card in your deck that's "too good to cut", but halfway through your 1st match you realize it's just awful in your particular deck.  That's why you need to ignore those shortcuts sometimes and re-assess what was formerly something unquestionable.  I know I'll be looking for more ways to do this in my daily life, Magic and otherwise.

What are some of your givens that need re-evaluation?

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7zbkQbroa8]

The kind folks at WotC sent me a review copy of the Garruk DOTP deck, so I did what any blogger would do. I did a review!

I've been buying up a ton of cards in my store lately, and while it's great to sit upon a mountain of cardboard like a dragon hoarding gold, my business sense tells me to do otherwise.  I'm using this as a good excuse to get started using Magic Online Trading League, something that Jon Medina of MTG Metagame has been telling me to do for ages.  You can check out all the stuff I have for sale right here!  The prices are pretty good, and there's a smattering of all sorts of interesting stuff from Standard and older. 

In light of the LSV and Co. performance in Seattle with Turbo Land, Jon Medina and I were discussing the future value of the card.  I've been loving this card for ages, and was expecting it to be huge in post-Rotation Standard.  I'd like to know what my readers think the highest price of AZ will be during it's tour of Standard (that's from now until Oct 2011, remember?).  It's at around $6 as I write this, so vote in the poll on the right!

If you vote "Over $5", that implies "Under $10", etc.  If you think AZ will settle between 10 and 15, vote Over $10.  The prize is knowing you're wicked smart, so GO VOTE!

This has nothing to do with Magic or gaming, but I just got an email from my lovely mother of all people.  She's a writer by profession (it's where I get the genes, I guess) and her book just hit Amazon!  I'm linking it here because she's one hell of a writer.  Seriously, I got nothin' on her skills.   She paints a wonderful picture of Brooklyn without drawing on the stereotypes that most non-New Yorkers rely upon.  It's definitely more of interest to women, but I can't imagine that a few of my Magic-playing readers don't need a cute little gift for a wife or girlfriend soon!

I don't usually take up front-page space to plug stuff, but this is worth the read.  I would very much appreciate if you bought a copy and gave it a readthrough.  She's a great writer and really knows how to tell a story.  Let me know how you like it if you go ahead and get a copy!

Click Here if you dont see the thumbnail!

This is something I've been considering for a while, but I finally began the planning stages of the QS Summer Tour.  I'm still in the process of scouting stops/locations and planning the route, but keep checking here and on the Tour blog for updates, maps, thoughts and so on.  Here's the About section so you know what's up:

View KB's Summer Tour in a larger map

Here's a copy of the Naya list people have been asking about.  Some testing last night showed that Baneslayer Angel let us play better cards, and won the same type of games Khalni Hydra did.  I'm benching our Octo-Headed friend for a little while and enjoying playing this Naya list.  It would be dumb to say I built it "from scratch", but I mainly just took a broad-scope look at the cards that red, white and green had to offer.

Ajani was Oblivion Ring for a while, but we ended up tagging him in because of his versatility against certain tough matches.  It seemed slightly better against Mythic than O Ring, and was a great card against Red decks too.  That also led us to include Goblin Ruinblasters as yet another Hasted creature.  Having 7 cards to perform mana denial while adding damage or other value to the board was very much a luxury!

My goal was to have almost every card in the deck do two things; advance the board state and change the tempo of the game mana-wise.  If you look at the cards closely, you will see clearly how each card alters the "virtual" turn you are playing on.  For example, untapping with Knight of the Reliquary puts you ahead by at least a turn, 2 or 3 if you have Cobra out.   A turn 1 Hierarch adds an extra damage and puts you a turn ahead.  Bloodbraid Elf hits the red zone immediately and then gives you an extra free play, which feels like playing two turns ahead.  An early Baneslayer can, and will, end some games.  Vengevine lowers your post-Wrath rebound time by at least a turn; often times, it makes Wrath and outright liability.  Your post-Wrath counterattack can easily hit 9 damage if you Cascade into a Ruinblaster and rebuy Vengevine.

Momentous Fall had to get a nod because it is just so filthy in the matchups where it's any good.  I will admit there are some games that I really hate Momentous Fall, but they are few and far between.  The deck's namesake earns its keep in almost every matchup.  Against Control decks, it lets you turn a Wrath into an excellent parry-riposte type situation.  By cashing in your best guy, you will probably have enough cards to hit back hard post-Wrath.  Doubly so if there's a Vengevine in the discussion.  It was even sicker with Khalni Hydra, but now that the deck has 9 ways to gain a LOT of life quickly, it's become nigh-impossible to outright race.

The brew is beatable, but it would probably be my top choice for an aggro deck for an upcoming PTQ.  It has a lot of Jund-like elements (ridiculous Cascades, tons of 2-for-1s, board presence), as well as having the life-gain that Naya can threaten.  It sacrifices a bit of removal quality (O Ring isn't Pulse, but it's kind of close) for versatility.  Goblin Ruinblaster does, in a roundabout way, everything you need a card to do; give you 4-drop power with 3-drop eligibility, puts you a turn ahead on mana, and effects combat immediately.   A lot more testing is necessary, but the deck is mostly tight.  Green is so deep right now, that I cannot fathom playing an aggro deck without Elf, Cobra, Vine, Hierarch and KotR. Momentous Fall is a far bigger beating than anyone realizes right now.   Baneslayer fills the "I Win" creature slot that Khalni Hydra once occupied.

It's a hoot to play, and you almost never feel like you're out of a game.  Sometimes you think you're out of it, but a Momentous Fall puts you back up to 10+ life and you suddenly untap and Bloodbraid + Vengevine them right out of the game.

New Game+ Naya

4 Bloodbraid Elf 4 Lotus Cobra 4 Vengevine 4 Noble Hierarch 4 Knight of the Reliquary 2 Steward of Valeron 3 Baneslayer Angel 4 Goblin Ruinblaster 3 Ajani Vengeant 3 Momentous Fall 1 Raging Ravine 2 Stirring Wildwood 2 Jungle Shrine 4 Verdant Catacombs 1 Misty Rainforest 1 Arid Mesa 2 Rootbound Crag 2 Sunpetal Grove 6 Forest 1 Plains 1 Mountain 2 Dauntless Escort

Named after the New Game Plus option in Japanese RPGs because of Momentous Fall's tendency to just rebuy entire matches. The sideboard needs to be constructed for your metagame, but it probably contains 4 Sparkmages, 1 Basilisk Collar, 2 Stoneforge Mystics, 2 Dauntless Escorts, and 6 cards of your choice.