In this article I will be talking about a new format that I created called Blackblade Singleton. If there is a reasonable amount of interest via the comments of this article, I will start running a weekly Player Run Event in this format with the following stats.
| Blackblade Singleton Weekly Tournament |
Location: join/blackblade |
Structure: Single Elimination |
Cost to Enter: $0 |
Time: TBA |
| Place |
4-7 Players |
8 - 15 Players |
16 - 31 Players |
32+ Players |
| 1st |
4 tickets |
6 tickets |
8 tickets |
12 tickets |
| 2nd |
2 tickets |
3 tickets |
4 tickets |
6 tickets |
| 3rd-4th |
0 tickets |
1 tickets |
2 tickets |
3 tickets |
| 5th-8th |
0 tickets |
0 tickets |
1 ticket |
2 tickets |
If this doesn't interest you, then feel free to ignore the rest of this article. If this does interest you, read on and learn why I believe Blackblade singleton is a great format.
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Why do we play the formats we play? There are many reasons why we pick one format over another. Many of us play multiple formats, but very few of us play them all. There just isn't enough time to spend learning the basics to every format. Whenever someone suggests adding a format to the mix, there better be a good reason for that format. Otherwise it's just one more distraction in a sea of distractions. Well, I think there is a good reason to add another format to the mix, and I would like to make a case for that format with this article.
There are many reasons that we play this game. They are often different and varied. Do control players and aggro players play the same format for the same reasons? Probably not, but there are some universal reasons that players use to pick a format. These reasons usually focus on their likes and dislikes. I dislike playing Faeries. I like playing with new cards. I dislike testing my deck for a reasonable period of time. I like not being able to predict what will happen in formats like Sealed decks, drafts, and Momir Vig. These are the kind of statements that define why we play certain formats.
I think most formats fit a niche. There is a reason behind why we play a particular format beyond the reasoning that "it's fun." I would like to explore this further. See if you can guess what format I think goes best with the given reasons.
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"I want to play something different each game."
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100 Singleton can best be described as controlled random chaos. It's great. With 100 different cards, it's very difficult to get two games that play out the same way. There's always room for something new and different and there are just so many variables that it boggles the mind. If you're looking for a constructed environment that doesn't get stale, this is the format for you.
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"I don't like Format X because it is dominated by decktype Y"
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Anything but Standard, Block, and Pauper
Any format that is heavily played will generate a lot of players playing the same deck. Since block, standard, and pauper are all heavily played, they all tend to succumb to the mob mentality. That is when a lot of players create a sea of copycat decks that can quickly make a format seem boring. The human mind seeks novelty. If we end up playing what seems like the same match-up over and over and over again, we lose interest quickly and find something else to do.
Sometimes we will play anything but [fill in the blank format]. Most formats tend to get stale after you've played them extensively. In this case, some players will try a new format because it is a welcome change from some other format. This is why it is important to have a variety of formats that offer different challenges and different types of decks.
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"It has a cheap cost of entry."
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Sometimes we have a very limited budget and we just can't afford to spend that much money to buy a deck. Sometimes we don't want to invest that much money on a deck because we tend to get bored with decks easily. What's the point of buying a standard deck if we're only going to want to play it a couple of times. With Pauper, you can construct several different decks for less than the cost of one deck in other formats. This is especially appealing to new players for obvious reasons.
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"I don't like having to buy a new deck with each new release."
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Some players like stability. They like the fact that they can continue to play the way they've always played. Classic has its die-hard fans because it offers a format where decks are not likely to outdated with each new set that comes out.
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"I don't like losing because I drew too many/too few lands."
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Every format except Momir Vig has a strong element of land drawing based luck. I've won and lost countless games because either I've drawn a very unlikely amount of lands in the first 5 turns of the game, or my opponent has drawn them. Unfortunately, if you're looking for a format devoid of this kind of luck based victories, Momir Vig is hardly the right place to look. In Momir Vig, you avoid the problem of a match being determined by drawing lands or non-lands at the appropriate times but it introduces the luck of getting random creatures all over the place. I therefore suggest the following format.
The rules are simple. Everyone plays a 60 card classic singleton deck, and a Dakkon Blackblade Avatar, and a 15 card sideboard.
Here are just a few of the features of Blackblade Singleton
1) You never draw too many or too few lands.
2) It's a classic format in which you don't have to buy the really expensive dual lands in order to play competitively.
3) It's a format that challenges your decision making skills each turn.
So, why create a format around Dakkon Blackblade? Afterall there are a ton of Avatars out there, and several of them would make interesting formats. What makes Dakkon Blackblade worthy of a format over other avatars? In my opinion Dakkon Blackblade fills a whole in the formats that are offered right now. Let's face it, a large portion of magic games are won or lost not because of skillful play but because one player fails to anything. I could play in a standard tournament with a deck containing 24 Swamps and 36 Relentless Rats and win a game occasionally due to land related dumb luck. I believe a Dakkon Blackblade format will appeal to all those players who are sick and tired of so many of their games being decided by land. Unlike other avatars, Dakkon Blackblade creates a format that is more than simply "well, that's interesting." It actually creates an environment that reduces the number of brain-dead luck wins that many players loathe like nothing else in the game.
Piggy-backing off of 100 singleton
Now I can probably guess what you're thinking. Isn't this a bit too similar to 100 singleton. Afterall, you can simple cut-out the land (roughly 40 cards)from a 100 singleton deck add a Blackblade avatar and have a blackblade singleton deck. Yes you can do this and it might work, but it wouldn't be very well tuned to format. In some ways this is important. Most formats have some kind of piggybacking from one format to another. There are Jund and Naya equivalents in Standard and Standard Singleton. There are Vampire decks in Standard and Zendikar Block. There is a mono-red burn deck in just about every format. Whenever you start a new format, it's nice to have at least some similarities to other formats. This makes it much easier for players to design decks for a new format.
However I must stress that Blackblade Singleton is not just a repackaged version of 100 singleton. Besides being able to control how many lands you play, there are other differences between the formats. Here are some of the some notable differences that I've discovered so far.
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If you play a really large expensive creature as a land, then target it with Flickerwisp, it will return to play as the really expensive creature. This basically turns Flickerwisp into an extremely powerfult combo card. To a lessor extent, Wormfang Turtle and Wormfang Newt also work as combo cards in a Dakkon environment.
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Blackblade Singleton decks have very few land. In fact, the only lands you are going to want in your deck are bounce lands like Selesnya Sanctuary, Utility lands such as Treetop Village or Volrath's Stronghold or search targets for cards like Wood Elves like Taiga. I'm guessing that most 60 cards decks will have 5 or fewer lands. This means that cards that care about card color are significantly more potent.
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You can always play your expensive cards as land, and you can always build up to an expensive spell. So really expensive and powerful spells get a lot better in a Blackblade Highlander.
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There are some spells that are situationally awesome or terrible. These cards get a lot better in Blackblade Highlander because they can always be used as land if you're not in a situation where they will be useful.
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Since every card has a dual purpose and discarding next to useless land in the mid-to-late game is not an option, every card you can force your opponent to discard will be a business spell. As long as you can avoid Wilt-Leaf Liege, discard becomes a lot more useful in Blackblade Highlander.
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Land destruction is not nearly as useful in this format because your opponent will never run out of land. Even an Armageddon shouldn't stop your opponent for too long, as he can start recovering right away on his next turn no matter what he draws.
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In 100 singleton you can control which colors of mana you get very easily. Between every fetchland ever created and all the dual lands, you can find any combination of land colors you want. This means that playing spells with very complicated mana costs is fairly easy to do assuming you don't run into a Blood Moon. In Blackblade Highlander most of your lands (if not all of them) will be basic lands. Therefore getting complicated mana costs becomes more difficult. Also playing a Doran for a random Forest/Plains/Swamp is not always an optimal play. In other words, Blackblade singleton allows you to control how much land you draw but not necessarily which color of lands you need. Therefore 1 or 2 color decks may be much easier to manage in Blackblade singleton.
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In order to search for lands, you need to have them in your deck. This is not a problem in 100 singleton. In Blackblade singleton, if you put lands in your deck, you need to risk drawing them in the late game when you potentially don't want them. Therefore, anything that searches for a land is not quite as powerful as it was in 100 singleton. Oddly enough Ranger of Eos and Imperial Recruiter can now be used to find a card of the appropriate color which can then be used as a basic land of the color you need.
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An Example of why I like the idea of Blackblade Singleton
This is a fairly typical opening hand for a 100 singleton Goblin deck.
There are not many decisions to make with a hand like this. Even though this hand is a bit heavy on land, it's not bad enough to mulligan. Every player who plays this hand, will play a Mountain and Goblin Cohort on the first turn, and depending on our draw, play out Sparksmith on turn 2. The only real decision is whether or not to wait until turn 4 in order to kick the Ruinblaster. That is largely going to depend on what else we draw and what our opponent does. There really isn't anything wrong with a simple game plan such as this, however there also isn't anything here to distinguish the good players from the exceptional players.
Here is a fairly typical opening hand for a similar Goblin Deck in Blackblade Singleton
We now have a lot more choices. Since Lightning Bolt is superior to Chain Lightning and Incinerate, we wouldn't use it as a land drop before those two, so we have to choose one of the seven remaining cards as our land drop. Without knowing anything about our opponent I would probably use (Chain Lighting) as the first Mountain and then use my opponent's first turn play to decide which card to use as my second land drop. Against a creature light control deck Flametongue Kavu will probably become a Mountain and Vexing Shusher looks like a decent turn two play. Against an aggro deck, Flametongue Kavu is golden and Vexing Shusher is nothing more than a decent Mountain or Forest. Every turn in Blackblade Singleton, we have at least half a dozen decisions like this to make. This is the kind of format where the differences between good play and great play are determined. Each turn, we have to reevaluate the power of the cards in our hand and choose the weakest to use as land or skip a land drop entirely.
Why make this a singleton/highlander format?
Besides the fact that Dakkon Blackblade looks like a highlander and swords and highlander kind of go together! Dakkon Blackblade could fit in just about any format. I've even thought about it as a viable way to spice up a booster draft format. (A draft format where you can't add basic land in your deck and you have to play every card you draft along with a Dakkon Blackblade Avatar.) Well, regardless of whether that is a good idea or not, there are several reasons why I chose Dakkon Blackblade as a Singleton format
Well, here's the list of reasons.
1) Singleton/Highlander formats are harder to break. Many of the Avatars break the rules in some way or another and make otherwise poor cards into broken pieces of digital art. Dakkon Blackblade is no exception, as it does make cards like Flickerwisp substantially more broken than they were meant to be. The main difference between a fun card and a broken card is often how dedicated a deck is to breaking it. Example: Bloodbraid Elf is one of the cards that many players find annoying because Jund decks are finely tuned to take advantage of it, and it often leads to broken results such flipping over a Blightning for a 3 for 1 advantage and 6 points in damage. In 100 singleton and Standard Singleton Bloodbraid Elf is a lot more fun because it's not always turning over a Blightning. A Dakkon Blackblade deck that wasn't singleton would be much more prone to degenerate draws and quick one-sided victories which is not the result that most players are looking for if they are sick and tired of losing because they drew too many or too few lands.
2) It encourages more thinking. Just by looking at my examples you can see that there are a lot more decisions to be made in Blackblade Singleton. This means that there is a lot of room for games to be decided by who plays better rather than who has the better draw.
3) It encourages longer games. Singleton formats are generally slower than other formats because you don't have as much control over your deck. Dakkon Blackblade allows you to control how many lands you draw, so it gives you more control over your game. However if it wasn't singleton that added control over the game would lead to combo deck mirror matches which are not very interactive. The players who are most interested in avoiding mana issues are the same players who don't want to lose before they can really play a game due to an opponent getting out an early combo.
4) It's not about killing combo. It's about making combo work for its victory. Formats that have a large variety of deck types usually last longer than ones that degenerate into one style of play. I like playing aggressive decks, but that doesn't mean I want aggressive decks to be the only viable deck type. In 100 singleton, I almost always play some kind of aggro deck, however I really enjoy playing against control and combo decks. It's strange, but I feel that mirror matches are some of the least interesting matches you can play. That doesn't matter if it's aggro vs. aggro or control vs control or combo vs. combo. Variety is the spice of life, and I want a format that is reasonably balanced. A Blackblade Avatar classic based format that isn't singleton would need to ban a lot of cards to make combo comparable in power level to aggro and control. Especially with the 8 card starting hand that Blackblade gives players.
Which comes first? Format Support or Players playing a Format
-> 
-> -> -> -> -> -> ....
There are basically three factors that can generate interest in a new format. These factors are Structural Support, Prize Support, and Player Support. Structural Support are things like creating a format category that can be used in practice rooms and maintaining a banned list for a format. Prize support comes from WotC offering tournaments but it can also come from PREs (player run events). Player support is players playing the format, writers talking about the format, and players introducing other players to the format. Many of these factors feed off of each other, and there is a bit of a chicken and the egg problem. Sometimes WotC starts supports a format that isn't being played such as Standard Singleton and Kaleidoscope and sometimes players start a format that WotC later supports like Pauper and 100 singleton.
WotC can't be expected to support every idea that some insane internet writer like myself comes up with, so it's obvious that I need to support this format to see if it works. With your help, we can get a reasonable number of players to support this format and then maybe we'll get a category to use in the practice rooms and eventually some WotC sponsored tournaments. But, for now, I want to start small. If there is enough interest in the comments of this article, I will run weekly tournaments with the following prize support provided by myself.
| Blackblade Singleton Weekly Tournament |
Location: join/blackblade |
Structure: Single Elimination |
Cost to Enter: $0 |
Time: TBA |
| Place |
4-7 Players |
8 - 15 Players |
16 - 31 Players |
32+ Players |
| 1st |
4 tickets |
6 tickets |
8 tickets |
12 tickets |
| 2nd |
2 tickets |
3 tickets |
4 tickets |
6 tickets |
| 3rd-4th |
0 tickets |
1 tickets |
2 tickets |
3 tickets |
| 5th-8th |
0 tickets |
0 tickets |
1 ticket |
2 tickets |
The Banned List
Without dealing with a banned list, a format can become degenerate very quickly. I do not like to make banning decisions alone, because my personal opinions and preferences could get in the way, however to get things started, I would like to propose the following banned list, taken mainly from 100 singleton.
Banned
Balance
Flash
Lion's Eye Diamond
Mana Crypt
Skullclamp
Strip Mine
Tinker
Umezawa's Jitte
Vampiric Tutor
Worldgorger Dragon
Gifts Ungiven
Intuition
Demonic Tutor
Goblin Charbelcher - added because it's now a 1-card combo
Unbanned
Life from the Loam - The combo with wasteland is severely weakened in Blackblade Singleton
Crucible of Worlds - The combo with wasteland is severely weakened in Blackblade Singleton
Imperial Seal - There are stronger tutors that are already legal in the format.
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With Dakkon Blackblade, you no longer need to construct decks that contain land. Therefore Goblin Charbelcher no longer needs Mana Severance to be an "I win" combo. I therefore am banning it from the tournaments that I'm running. A two card combo is fun and interesting. A one card combo is broken
The Watch List - These are not banned, but I'm not convinced they're unbroken
Armageddon is one of the reasons why Goblin Recruiter is kept in check. An armageddon played against a player who just used a (Goblin Recruiter is usually game winning play. With Dakkon Blackblade you can play Goblins as land, so you don't need to be that scared about land destruction ruining your game plan. At the same time, the ability to stack your deck with any number of Goblin cards is slightly weakened by the fact that your opponent isn't going to get any wasted draws due to the nature of the format.
If your opponent is playing a mono-colored deck with no land or artifacts, then Grindstone is a one card combo. I don't think this will come up, and Gaea's Blessing is still a reasonable foil to the strategy, so I don't think it's ban-worthy yet.
This card has an unbelievably broken effect. However it hasn't proved to be that disruptive in 100 singleton, so I'm going to leave it alone.
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Well, let me know if you're interested in this wonderful format. After I get some feedback on when people are available, I'll set a time and date for the first weekly Blackblade Singleton Tournament.
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Marcus, the man with a Magic Online name that is so long it takes him two log on screens to connect on Magic Online (Shuyin Knight of Zanarkand on Magic Online)
ArchGenius@aol.com
48 Comments
I really like the sound of this format, seems well thought out, interesting to play and relatively budget friendly (no expensive mana bases). Hope you get a good turn out for your tournaments.
If you are interested in playing in my tournament, let me know which of the following times you can make/can't make.
I have a regular full-time job, so I have to limit the times when I can run the tournament somewhat.
1. Saturday 3 pm EST
2. Saturday 6 pm EST
3. Sunday 3 pm EST
4. Sunday 6 pm EST
5. Monday 7 pm EST
6. Tuesday 7 pm EST
This is an interesting idea and I just checked Blackblade avatar's price and saw that it only costs $0,15. I will think about a few deck ideas in the coming days and I'll let you know my findings. Right now all I can say is that it sounds interesting. You can expect a reply from me here in a few days.
LE
I don't believe Worldgorger Dragon is banned in 100CS as I have built several decks trying to get it to work in the format and I don't recall seeing it become banned any time recently.
- platipus10 (sorry didn't want to go back and log in)
I believe you are correct. It is banned in highlander and not 100cs. When I was looking at what cards needed to be to avoid creating a degenerate format, I used Tarmotog’s article http://puremtgo.com/articles/one-double-o-27-exodus-and-no-bans on ban lists and I simply didn’t double check it, my apologies.
For the time being, I’m going to leave Worldgorger Dragon on the banned list for Blackblade singleton. It can create a number of turn 2 combos with Entomb and Animate Dead type effects. Especially since you can play win conditions (such as Murderous Redcap) as lands in order to pull off the combo without an instant speed kill card. One of the main reasons for this format is to allow players to play longer games that are based around skill based decisions and not luck-of-the-draw based losses, and a turn 2 combo could disrupt that reason.
I may reconsider taking it off the banned list after I’ve run a couple of tournaments and have a better feel for the metagame.
However, playing something like Darksteel Colossus, Sundering Titan, Red Akroma as your lands then casting Through the Breech for a Worldgorger Dragon seems busted enough to be ban worthy in Blackblade where it wouldn't be in regular 100CS.
Non-colored artifacts like the Colossus and Titan can't be played as lands, but other than that, your point is well valid.
I'm keeping World-Gorger on the banned list for now.
Looks good, 100 cs variation is always up my alley
well saturday at 3pm est might cut into the finals of my tribal event, not that i would mind but some of my players could be very interested in this, maybe 4pm on saturday would be great. I would play too as long as i had a bit of wind down between hosting an playing. Another reason i suggest 4 instead of 3.
That does sound like a lot of fun.
i see this coming down to "who has the money' cards like all other formats!
If Goblin Charbelcher is banned, Rally the Horde probably should be as well. True, it takes one turn longer, but it's still a one-card win.
I assume Flickerwisp combos are legitimate?
Not entirely sure how Rally the Horde works with the final 1-2 cards in your library, but isn't there a very real possibility you'll just deck yourself? Or does it stop if it can't remove 3 cards at once?
Okay, I did a practice game and Rally the Horde and it strips you of your entire library. So it basically causes you to lose unless you can give your army haste. I therefore don't think it needs to be banned.
And yes, Flickerwisp combos are legal.
Let's see how insane they get...
I would be in for Monday or Tuesday night. I'm willing to throw a couple tickets toward the prize pool also if I'm playing.
RoryTheGreat on magic online
I would keep an Eye out for Mind Funeral. Without Lands, this is also an easy one card win.
I never considered Mind Funeral.
I'm guessing that most decks will have somewhere around 5 or fewer lands so I'm guessing Mind Funeral by itself would be too easy a win.
Therefore I'm going to add Mind Funeral to the banned list.
I think two card win conditions are fine... but 1 card win conditions are a bit too easy....
Fun. I've been running a Dakkon classic vanguard deck which uses land- and permanent-removing nightmares other than the dragon to cheat fat into play, it should be adaptable to this.
My first thought was "Oh man, he's just complaining about decks that lose because someone was greedy with their mana curve. He's experienced. He should know better." Mana screw isn't just part of the game, it's a part of the game that skilled players can _manage_.
But after the Goblins example, I was won over. I like the strategy behind "Against a control deck, you're the mountain, and against an aggro deck, you're the mountain instead." So I'll give this a try.
/join blackblade in the client? The room is empty right now. Did the first event start two hours ago?
What's wrong with Balance? Or Flash for that matter? It looks like 100cs just arbitrarily bans some Classic staples. But good call on Mind Funeral.
I'm waiting for feedback until finalizing a time and date for the first of the weekly tournaments.
Once I set a date, I'll include it here and post a message on the PRE forum on the mothership about it to gather some more interest.
One More Question - sideboard? yes/no?
The rules are simple. Everyone plays a 60 card classic singleton deck, and a Dakkon Blackblade Avatar, and a 15 card sideboard.
could be fun, i'll def try putting together some decks for it, but i can see it becoming dominated by certain decks through fliker/nightmares.. maybe not, only a test run would tell i guess
This is a really cool format idea. I hope it takes off.
This sounds like a really promising format, could be a lot of fun. Saturday would probably work best for me, monday night would be the one night I definitely couldn't make. Sunday at 3 would conflict with Chaos, another player run event I like to go to.
Okay, I just came accross two really silly cards. Abundance and Recross the Paths. Basically you reveal cards from the top of your library with both cards until you find a land card. Then you take that land into your hand (or put into play) and put the rest of the cards on the bottom of your library in ANY ORDER!
Now, imagine a deck without any lands please... You basically reveal all the cards in your library and then re-order it the way you want. Like, this turn I get me my Akroma, the next turn my other silly fatty and then I get me my Flickerwisp.
Neither Abundance nor Recross the Paths will win you the game on their own, but as I sad, they're just silly cards. Oh and with Abundance you can do that every turn and with Recross the Paths you can do that also more than once assuming you win the clash each time.
LE
Sounds like an interesting format, I'll have to look at some deck possibilites. I'd rather not do the 3pm on Saturday due to Shard's tribal event.
From the feedback I've been given, it looks like Saturday evening is the best fit that doesn't conflict to badly with other PREs.
So the 1st Blackblade Singleton PRE will be Saturday 1/9/09 6PM EST.
I will be taking registrations 1/2 hour beforehand and run the event in a room named "blackblade"
That time unfortunately leaves me out. Too late for me :(. Can you not make it at least 5PM EST? 5PM would be 00:00 for me but I think I can endure the wish to sleep and play.
Let me know.
LE
I was actually debating whether or not to make it 5PM EST or 6PM EST.
Very well, I will change it to 5PM EST Saturday 1/9/09.
I can't do weekends, maybe we could alternate between Sat. and Monday each week? The format sounds awesome.
RoryTheGreat on Magic Online
Conflicts with the Bengals playoff game this week, but maybe after the Superbowl...
Okay, no one has brought it up, so I guess I will. First, I will cover my own rear end in not having to defend any of my claims, since it appears this will be run on weekends. On weekends I am out of town either visiting my girlfriend or at work. Same reason I haven't been able to join any of the other weekend events which I really want to play in. lol
Anyway, as a long time player of Dakkon,I'd like to share a story with you. My friends and I all got Dakkons when they first came out and played "Dakkon Format." Granted we played it as regular deck build, without lands obviously, but all 4x's. One big problem came up and killed the format. BLUE. A well made burn deck could easily beat it, but it would have to be a dedicated burn deck. Aggro could fight it a little, too. But realistically, it all came down to one word: Moonfolk. A whole tribe of creatures that let you put lands back into your hand. It gets rid of the decision making process. It didn't really matter what you played as a land, because you could always get it back with Moonfolk. And moonfolk run the spectrum. There are 14 moonfolk that allow you to put lands back into your hand, and they can be in play as soon as turn 2. The biggest threat of which goes by the name Meloku. Pay 1, return a bomb card to your hand: Put a creature into play. Pretty nice.
That's not even including cards like Cloudstone Curio, Gush, Daze, Fathom Seer, Living Tsunami, Flooded Shoreline, and Waterspout Djinn. Force of Will and Commandeer just became a lot better. So did sanity grinding. I don't mean to sound negative, but I can see this format quickly descending into what we saw. Either you play Blue (or Blue/X) or you build against Blue.
I'd like to be wrong on this, so please please please build a deck that proves me wrong. I hate blue so much!
Funny that. I predicted that blue would be awesome in this format, so the first deck I built was a burn deck. It also has a light black splash for cards like Duress, Blightning, and Imperial Seal. (In this format there's no reason not to have a few silver bullets.)
If we ever get up to "60 bolts", mono red is going to be annoying. The thing that kills "20 mountains, 40 bolts", besides hate, is drawing the wrong amount of land. Or not having the correct Mountains to cast Fireblast or whatever. But in this format my opening hand is always the ideal 5 spells and 2 land. Good luck racing me with creatures.
Oh I agree. The only deck that could be stronger than Blue is red. When we were playing 4x, my deck looked something like, 4 Lightning Bolt, 4 Shock, 4 Char, 4 Flame Javelin, 4 Pulse of the Forge, 4 Magma jet, 4 Shard Volley. You get the drift. It was the only thing that could beat my 4x Blue deck. Running singleton burn? I think it's still good, but your number of good "bolts" decreases, whereas my number of counterspells is huge. I can run all my favorite counters and side in 15 more as the case may be, and a Chill to top it off. I think it would be an interesting match up. A true Jace vs Chandra meeting.
To be honest, I wouldn't run anything that is mono in this format. That would make a very easy target for Grindstone.
LE
It's 2010 man, get with the times! Sounds really fun though.
So, I made a deck for this. Sideboard is pretty random as of yet. Anyone interested, feel free to message me when I'm online. I'm eager to play a few games in this format.
MTGO Name: Norden
Sounds very cool.
The only thing I'm not bowled over by, is the fact that it's single elimination. Why no swiss? (i can understand if numbers are small, single elim is prob better, but still, most people play PRE's to play!)
Unfortunetly I don't have much experience running PREs. I've played in several but I've never run one myself before. So I figured that I should start out with a very easy tournament structure in order to avoid administrative problems.
Also, I currently don't have a method to do SWISS pairings quickly that avoids duplicate matches of players with the same record. (IE two players being paired up with each other more than once in the same tournament if they have the same record)
I think the DCI Reporter could be used for pairings etc., but that's just a suggestion from someone who just recently started playing online.
Is there somewhere I can read about the results of this tournament? I was really intrested in it, but couldn't attend. Also, was there ever an updated banned list? Thanks!
Is there somewhere I can read about the results of the 1st tournament? I was interested in it, but I couldn't attend. Also, did the banned list get updated? Thanks!
I thought you might like to know:
We have a Peasant PRE every Sunday night (like Pauper but with 5 uncommons) and every so often add alternate spins to mix it up. This format has inspired us enough that on the 24th we'll be running Dakkon Singleton Peasant - overlaying these rules on the Peasant format. It sounds fun so thanks for the inspiration!
http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75846/22194273?sdb=1&post_nu...
awesome.... I will definitely be writing about it in my next article....
The second Classic Blackblade tournament will be SWISS with at least 3 rounds of play for everyone. It will be on SUNDAY instead of Saturday.
Time: Sunday 1/17 4:00pm EST (registration starts at 3:30pm EST)
Everything else will be the same as the first one.
I missed the first two tournaments, could a few people post there deck lists?
If the next tournament is a Sunday or Monday I can probably play.