All nighter

So tomorrow night I'm going into my freezer at work and I'm going to put it onto an inventory management system.  I'm taking four other people with me and we are going to do this thing.  Dammit I'm going to do it.

Basically, we have to work all the freight and then scan everything in after doing an inventory.  The team I put together consists of some of the most reliable and hard-working people I've ever had the pleasure of doing business with.  I know we'll succeed.

However, tonight I have to stay up late so that I can sleep tomorrow during the day.  I'm planning on switching between MTGO and Call of Duty on the PS3.  I've really gotten into CoD since Black Ops came out.  Honestly with last year's games I was more of a fan of Battlefield: Bad Company 2.  This Black Ops game is addictive though.  The leveling/unlocking system is what does it.  I've hit second prestige and love it still.  Mostly play Domination, but will spring for a game or two of CTF if the mood hits me.

MTGO looks like a bunch of green dudes for me right now.  I've saved up tickets for a draft if that mood hits me tonight as well.  I'm playing Mono-Green Aggro in Standard right now, but can't afford Vengevines or Lotus Cobras.  I do have Eldrazi Monuments and Fauna Shamans, but am only using the Monuments.  Shamans aren't that incredible unless they involve a Vengevine or two.  Wolfbriar Elemental has been really good.  I missed playing him in last year's standard, so I thought I'd break him out, even though he doesn't have his buddy MotWH anymore.

Kids already sleeping.  Wife warming up some leftovers.  Gonna piss and then change into more comfortable clothes and maybe MTGO some more before NCIS is over and I can fire up the PS3.

Whoever is out there, wish me luck tomorrow night!

Ok, Christmas is really over.

Got the house cleaned up and all the toys put away today.  Went after toy boxes with a pair of scissors this year.  I swear to doG there is some Bangladeshi dude in Bangladesh giggling every time he twists on those stupid wires to the back of the cardboard that holds Fischer Price toys.

No more tree.

No more toys.

Well, thats not entirely true.  There is now a blue "toy box" in our living room.  We had it there before and put some of the kid's toys in it before Christmas.  Its back.  However, I don't mind it that much.  That tree was getting on my nerves.

Anna is happy right now.  The wife seems content.  Danny is at school.  I have the day off so I get to pick him up today. He likes that.

Gonna set the Wii back up in a bit after picking up the kid.  We had it packed up because we took it over to my sister's house for a party a couple weeks ago and we were too busy to care.  I'm thinking about moving it to the bedroom so it doesn't encroach on PS3 Call of Duty: Black Ops time.  Theresa has a new game from Christmas for it...

Theresa got me a playset binder and a smaller 9-slot binder for Christmas from starcitygames.com's Black Friday sale.  The playset binder has a picture of M11 Act of Treason and the 9-slot has a picture of Imperious Perfect...  Switched out my playsets and more expensive cardboard last night from the big binder I had in my bag.  Gonna be nice to not have to lug around that huge monstrosity of a binder on my back when we go to a big event.  Boy did that suck last summer at GP:Columbus.

Been messing with G/W Gaddock Teeg agro for Extended on MTGO.  Don't know why...  I'm probably not going to play extended this year, and MTGO PTQ's always attract like 500+ people.  I should trade it off and pick back up my Koth's... At least I'll still feel creative.  Or I could trade away shit and get Elves put back together, so that my online deck matches my real-life one for standard.  Never too early to start practicing for events, and I'm pretty sure Elves will be around as at least a tier 2 deck when GP: Pittsburgh and Regionals rolls around.

Thinking about going out to eat with some Applebee's gift cards.  That would require a shower... Meh... Its worth it I think.

NYE

Christmas is over...Finally.

I'm sick.

With the stress from work and screaming kids, the flu crept up on me.

Going to mom's tonight for New Year's Eve.  Probably won't eat/drink much.  Blah.

-4 Palladium Myr, +4 Etched Champion
Thinking about Dread Statuary.  It is an "artifact land" afterall.  Perhaps as a 2-of.  I'd be tempted to drop Tectonic Edge to a 3-of then.  Don't want to remove too many mountains, would make Koth less effective.

Phoenix Red

20 Mountain
4 Tectonic Edge

4 Perilous Myr
4 Palladium Myr
4 Kuldotha Phoenix
4 Wurmcoil Engine

4 Everflowing Chalice
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Galvanic Blast
4 Koth of the Hammer
3 Mimic Vat
2 Destructive Force

Smashing the living shit out of a couple decks in the competative practice room on MTGO.

Ramp so far is an auto-bye.  In three matches I've absolutely shit stomped them into a mud hole with land-d.  The one verson that did make it to game 3 was the one with Overgrown Battlement and Joraga Treespeaker.  I actually sided in Brittle Effigy and found myself wrecking Walls and Eldrazi tokens with it to keep the guy off of Titan mana.

Beat a U/B control deck.  Beat a U/W deck.  Lost to RDW.  Played 2 games where they quit when they saw turn 2 Liquimetal Coating... Not out of fear, but probably because they weren't willing to play against a rogue deck, figuring I'd be wasting their time...  I've done the same thing in the past.  Can't blame them for it, I mean you only get so much time to play Magic, and when you see a card that you know is jank it might be better to just quit than waste time.

Thinking about Destructive Force as a 2-of.  May test it out over Ruinblasters in the main.  May put in 2 Hoard-Smelter Dragons for the other spots that open up.  Ruinblaster is so damned good though.  Every deck in the format has a target for him, his body is just so small.  I guess the Manic Vandal is small too.  VindiSlinger or VindiKavu is better than Avalanche Riders, but Ruinblaster is always Avalanche Riders, while the other guys are sometimes dead in the hand.

Had one guy side in Ratchet Bomb against me as a knee jerk reaction to seeing multiple dudes hit the table or something.  That went bad for him.  He had Mimic Vats as well...Bad times for that guy all over the place.  I guess I'm trying to justify keeping the tricks.  Its really fun.

Koth does his job.

IS there a deck where Ruinblaster is bad?  Vs. RDW he's pretty bad.  Goblins he's bad.  Elves he's not terrible (Oran-Rief and Tectonic Edge).  How good is Hoard-Smelter Dragon in here?  How good is Destructive Force?  I'm gonna test it out and see.  Worth a try.

Liquimetal Red

I've seen some versions of Liquimetal Coating decks running a R/G base to get the most out of the land-destruction strategys they employ.  I love the idea of these tricks with the Coating, but I'm worried that the deck would be too narrow and focus too much on having Liquimetal Coating in play.  I propose not only running other ways to win, but further strengthening those hands without the deck's namesake artifact.

Playing cards like Perilous Myr and Wurmcoil Engine gives me the ability to play Manic Vandal and Oxidda Scrapmelter without Coating and still net some gain.

+=

Sure Wurmcoil dying and losing his removal-proof shield makes him more vunerable, but the pair of wurms and new Scrapmelter might just be the 9 damage I need to push through.  Also, I've played with Perilous Myr a lot in the last couple of days.  It sometimes is an absolute bomb and other times just sits and pings for one every turn, not 2-for-1ing anything.  Playing him here gives more options.  The myr turns my 8 "kill artifact guys" into a bunch of Ghitu Slingers.  With Coating down of course those 8 guys are now more like Vindicatetongue Kavus...

This combination gives a whole lot of love to my new favorite planeswalker... Koth of the Hammer.  All those mana hungry cards feed off of Koth.  They protect him with their Hill Giant and Grey Ogre bodies.  It all works together.  Thats what you need in standard to succeed.  Everything has to be clicking if you plan on slinging with the current control decks.

Here is the tentative list:

20 Mountain
4 Tectonic Edge

4 Perilous Myr
4 Goblin Ruinblaster
4 Manic Vandal
4 Oxidda Scrapmelter
4 Wurmcoil Engine

4 Liquimetal Coating
4 Everflowing Chalice
4 Koth of the Hammer
4 Lightning Bolt

Other stuff that could be considered:
Chandra Nalaar
Hoard-Smelter Dragon
Shatter
Mimic Vat
Destructive Force
Kuldotha Phoenix