Christmas Eve afternoon, and here I am putting the first words onto what you're going to be reading on Christmas Morning. I just finished my work day. My roommates have half days, and are starting to arrive. I've been sitting here all morning with Riddles consuming mass quantities, which just keeps on coming. *sigh* I can do this.
The one thing that stands out in my mind is that this is the first year that Overdrive! has fired every Monday, and this series has fired every Thursday. Overdrive! started in July of 2011, and Overdriven! in December. Then, in 2012, I took a vacation, and Overdrive! didn't happen for two weeks, even though I kept right on writing. In 2013 I was homeless, then netless for a few weeks. During that time, everything was on hold. I look back the stuff I wrote back then, and I can see how much more energized I was, anxious to share my spew with the world.
This past year has seen quite the decline in that, as I'm sure you've noticed. That certain sumthin' sumthin' ain't there.
I'm not phoning them in, but I do find it harder and harder to find things to write about, and inclination to write about them. I want to bring you more MTGO and Magic stuff, like I used to, but wizzos seems determined to make it unpalatable for me to go anywhere near any of their online portals. Everything I'm seeing nowadays is second or third hand. I'm sure you're tired of me telling you how rarely I play online anymore.
So what do I write about? Am I excited about Modern Masters 2015? Yes. And again, I'm stuck in poorville, and won't be able to afford much more than a draft or two. You're prolly sick of hearing about me being dirt poor and one step away from being homeless, too.
My forays into the paper world, where I'm doing meh!? Not too sure that's gonna go over too well in the long run. I'm not a pro level player. Let's face it: "stoned old man who plays so-so Magic" is only so entertaining for so long.
My Magic world is in transition, and I'm not sure where it's going. In the meantime this series hobbles about and lurches aimlessly like a zombie with its fly open. And it's you that has to suffer while I struggle to find direction.
And now hooligans are starting to arrive, and I have to entertain. They'll all be out soon, and I'll have the house to myself. Well, me and the puppy. Maybe I'll crank up some Bob Seger Dead Kennedys, put on my cheap sunglasses, and dance around the empty house in my underpants. Give the dog a scare.
At least I didn't give you syphilis.
Merry Christmas.
Terra Incognita
It has been said of Modern: "The most important thing about Modern is [its] diversity. It's by and far the most open format right now, there are huge tracts of land no one has explored. It's the new frontier of competitive Magic.", and "The nice thing about Modern is that the format is very open. There's a lot of room to explore and find decks that can work".
To hammer home this point, here are maps from some recent explorations:
NOTE: There were no "new" decks I found in the past week, so I'm bringing you a blast from the past. This may happen again next week.
Ride The Lightning (from May 2014)
I breathe, and I seethe
When I have scorched ev'ry earth
I will die ablaze
Burn, baby, burn! There is not much new that I can say about RDW/Burn. We all know what the game plan is: throw fire and lightning at your opponents head till he dies. It doesn't get much simpler than that. The burn brigade has been a factor in Magic since Day One, winning games and taking events. I would go so far as to argue that RDW burn is the very first recognizable archetype to emerge, predating the stack, the 4-of rule, even the 60 card rule. How many of you OLDE skoole Magic players remember 6 Mountains and 24 Bolts? Yes, that was a deck once.
With Ravnica block came Sacred Foundry, Lightning Helix, and the Boros Guild. It also gave us the first incarnations of White Lightning style burn decks. The Boros archetype, which could only be considered a burn archetype if you stretch the boundaries, is more aggro oriented, and has a heavier investment. White Lightning has always been a burn deck that splashes . Some call it "barely Boros."
There is nothing I can really add to that long and sordid history, so I'll just say "look at that nasty burn deck!", and "here's another one:"
Good ol' Mono Red is still a force to be reckoned with. Again, there's not that much to say: the basic game plane is throw fire and lightning at you until you die! It doesn't get much simpler than that. I could go on about how it's not quite as simple as burn, baby, burn!, or how complex game states effect your decision trees, or how this is one of the few decks where a one land hand could be a keeper/god hand, but no. I'll just show you another one.
Here's one where I do have a few words, 'cuz it has Edelweiss... no... wait... Edel... Edsel... uhhh... Eidolon! (why do I have such a hard time with that word?) Yeah, that's it. Eidolon of the Great Revel. That Burning Man guy. Which at first is counterintuitive, as every single spell in the deck has a CMC of or less. I asked about that...
Ok. So grind the game out. Hmm. Ok, And then pop a Shine. And what's this? Mainboard Molten Rain? Nasty! And Mogg Fanatic is so cute... until he pings that last point home. Yeah. I like this deck.
We can't talk about RDW without mentioning the dark side...
Bump in the Night. This Lightning Bolt (with a Flashback cost of , to boot!) found a home in RDW decks the second it was previewed in the Innistrad spoilers, and R(akdos)DW has been a factor in the Modern meta ever since. Bump decks sometimes splash for Boros Charm and/or Lightning Helix, and at one point (when Deathrite Shaman was still legal) splashed as well.
Even after all these years, It still feels strange referring to a two, three, or even four color deck as RDW, but Bump decks are essentially burn decks that splash.
There is nothing that I can add to the RDW story that hasn't already been told. But I do love playing burn, and I'm sure I'm not the only one.
Overdrive!, which started on July 4th, 2011, is the original Modern format Player-Run Event! In fact, Overdrive! is even older than Modern, having started out as an event in the Overextended format. Overdrive! is a single elimination event: two men enter, one man leaves. Registration is done via Gatherling. You can find more information at the main event thread here.
Overdrive! #163
Players: 15
Champion: ChineseNotebook / Melira Pod
Runner up: Plainswalker83 / Big Zoo
Decklists and results from all Overdrive! events can be found here.
ChineseNotebook brought his Pod deck to the brouhaha, and proceeded to Pod his way through Tempo Twin, Merfolk, White Weenie, and Thundercats to come out on top as Overdrive! #163 champion.
That's two in a row!
Plainswalker83 brought overweight cougars to the party, and turned the pain machine on for Jeskai Ascendancy, Ghostpants, and Big Zoo before falling to Melira Pod.