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

Liquimetal Coating

Is the Truth.

More to come when I know more.  I'm pretty sure there is something there... The challenge is to not rely so much on Liquimetal Coating.  More to come when I know more.

Ving Rhames in Pulp Fiction

=

Koth of the Hammer: "The night of the fight, you may feel a slight sting. That's pride fucking with you. Fuck pride! Pride only hurts, it never helps."

Later...

Jace the Mindsculptor: What now?

Koth of the Hammer: What now? Let me tell you "what now". I'm gonna call a couple of hard, pipe-hitting niggas to go to work on the homes here with a pair of pliers and a blow torch. [to Giddeon] You hear me talking, hillbilly boy?! I ain't through with you by a damn sight! I'm gonna get medieval on your ass!

Jace: I meant, what now between me and you.

Koth: Oh, that "what now". I tell you what now between me and you. There is no "me and you". Not no more.

Jace: So we cool?

Koth: Yeah, we cool. Two things: one, don't tell nobody about this. This shit is between me, you, and Mr. soon-to-be-living-the-rest-of-his-short-ass-life-in-agonizing-pain rapist here. It ain't nobody else's business. Two, you leave town tonight, right now, and when you gone, you stay gone, or you be gone. You lost all your L.A. privileges. Deal?

Jace: Deal.

Koth of the Hammer has no home.

This is a travesty. He's so awesome. He swings games when he comes down. He's in a color that can protect him. He makes cards around him so much better.

However, like Ving Rhames in Pulp Fiction, he's getting screwed in the butt. (This analogy works because Ving and Koth kinda look alike...Huge black guys right?)

Koth likes him some mid-range Red decks. The problem is, the T2 format doesn't support mid-range all that well right now. How does a slower red deck deal with a resolved JaceTMS? How does any mid-range deck deal with that guy anyway? I mean, short of Mana Leak and playing Baby Jace and your own JTMS there really aren't many answers. Aggro decks like RDW and WW/Quest work out because they "do their thing" before Jace can matter, and they aren't even that good against him once he comes down unless they have enough dudes to swing into him and make shit happen. It is a sad day when a brother can't get an O-Ring...

You guys know I'm a mid-range player. I was playing Jund with Sprouting Thrinax at Regionals before Sprouting Thrinax was good. I loved that deck. So mindless. So elegant. Blightning>BBE>Blightning oops I win? Man I loved that shit. I loved Madness too. Remember the shinanigans of that deck? I even played it in Extended. But enough about my love of mid-range dominated formats.

The second best planeswalker in Standard needs a home. I say second best knowing that he's really the third best. The "real" second best planeswalker doesn't count. Jace Beleren reads:

Seal of Jace
UU1
Legendary Enchantment
Whenever Seal of Jace enters the battlefield, draw a card.
Sacrifice Seal of Jace: Destroy target Jace, the Mindsculptor.

That is pretty good actually. He gets the honor of being the second best planeswalker because they didn't reprint Oblivion Ring.

BUNK!

I know MBS is gonna give Koth some stuff. Wizards will want to support him. Tezzeret is going to push U/B beyond reachability no matter what his abilities are, so long as he's less than 6 mana to cast. However, my big black brother is also going to find a home.

First post! Wooo!

Thought I'd start out by explaining what this blog is.  There was a time when I really enjoyed writing.  I had time to do it.  I was required, by school, to do it.  However, with a family and a job I really don't get a chance to write so much anymore.  This blog will be my outlet for that love when I do find the time.  You may be asking what you might be able to find here.  This blog will be an outlet for all things Nick.  I love my family.  My wonderful kids and my beautiful wife are always on my mind.  My job might pop up from time to time.  I love Magic: the Gathering, I've been playing for 15 years or so.  I like talking about politics and religion, but FB people aren't too receptive...  So there you have it!