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By: BlippyTheSlug, Volker Kirstein
Jan 22 2015 1:00pm
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BlippyTheSlug on MTGO
Blog: Read At Your Peril (NSFW!)

 

 

Kick Me

My client forgot to pay me again. They'll pay on Monday, but that still leaves me high and dry for the weekend. I had to borrow money from Riddles to cover my entry fees for Friday Night Magic and the Fate Reforged pre-release. It's sad when one missed check means the difference between having a fun weekend and feeling frustrated, at the mercy of the universe. I wanted to eat this weekend, as well.

It's just a little thing, I know. In the grand scheme of things, I'll get paid, pay back the money I borrowed, buy some food, and life goes on. I still have some Top Ramen, half a loaf of bread, and some peanut butter, so it's not like I'm going to be literally starving, but it's going to be slim pickin's til Monday. 

In the meantime, I'm adrift again, floating unanchored down life's metaphorical sewers. For the past fifteen years this has that been the state of my existence. I can't make plans. Not because I'm incapable, but because my present is always subject to change at a moment's notice. I am not the captain of my own destiny. I don't live, I survive off the largesse and sufferance of almost everyone I know.

And almost everyone I know is a young adult coming up on, or around, my sons ages. Even the grownups I hang with are in their 30s. Some of this is very likely my own "I may be old but I refuse to grow up" mindset. That being said, it'd be nice to talk to someone my own age.

Here I sit typing away into my laptop, waiting for people to file in for FNM, trying hard to keep it together, and not be a cranky old buzzard. It would have been nice to pay from my own pocket. People sit all around me, loudly putting food in their mouths. My tummy rumbles, and I feel saliva pooling in my mouth. I'm going to stop writing for now; go outside to smoke another cigarette.

Oh yeah. Livin' the dream.

FNM (6 Pack Sealed)
January 16

Mardu

Round 1 vs Brock
L 0-2, 0-1 Overall

Round 2 vs Jason
W 2-1, 1-1 Overall

Round 3 vs John
W 2-1, 2-1 Overall, 4th/8

Fate Reforged Midnight Pre-release
January 17

Round 1 vs Trystan
L 0-2, 0-1 Overall

Round 2 vs Jason
L 1-2, 0-2 Overall

Round 3 vs Mitch
W 2-0, 1-2 Overall

Round 4 vs Derrick
L 1-2, 1-3 Overall

Round 2 vs Frances
W 2-0, 2-3 Overall, 19th/35

I did bum some more money after Round 1 of FNM to hobble over to Subway and order myself a foot long Spicy Italian. I'm usually tempted to do a Big Gay Al impression when I do this, but not tonight.

So. Deeper into the hole, but [REDACTED], I'm hungry.

 

I didn't keep very good notes of either event, other than the win/loss. Sorry. I picked Mardu as my clan, and did note that I pulled a Polluted Delta and a Siege Rhino. I ended up building a mostly Abzan build with a goodly splash of . More like Jund with a splash of . The games themselves were usually close nail biters, but I'm very blurry as far as details go. Many trips were made to the back alley. I may be a peripatetic leech, but I've gotten good at my craft

At 530AM we packed it in after 5 Rounds, and by 6AM I was dead to the world

Satyrday

Round about 10AM, the outside light was enough to wake me up once again. I guess 4 hours was enough.

Most of Satyrday was a blur. I tried to write, staring at the empty page, my fingers poised over the keys, but nothing was coming out. Hooligans came and went, mass quantities were consumed, but nothing went to page. With little sleep over the past two days, I retired early.

No sooner had I put head to pillow than the soft >ding!< of an incoming message caused me sit back up with a sigh. What now?

I looked. Okay, I'm dreaming already. I looked again. No, I'm not dreaming. An avatar from a grown up in-town follower of the opposite gender!?!? Asking about one of my favorite subjects?!?! Needless to say, I quickly woke right back up, and proceeded to engage in that intricate word dance, and a little after midnight, she was on her way here. 

I had promised to be a gentleman, and held true to my word, so nothing untoward happened. This is just so you don't get the wrong idea. I was oh so tempted, though; she smelled really nice, and is visually appealing. Anyway, we stayed up consuming mass quantities and watching Lilehammer. I don't think she liked it all that much. Or maybe she was just really stoned. Around three thirty she made her way back home, and I finally stumbled back into my bed.

Alone.

Sunday was very much a repeat of Satyrday, with not getting any writing done. Except this time I know why I wasn't getting any writing done. I'm pretty sure you know, too. I am so transparent in some areas.

Which brings us to...

 

M'banor Monday 

 

Modern

 

Pod is gone! Let the bells ring out, let the people shout: Pod is gone!

And, of course, there's the other side of the coin. Everyone who's crying that their favorite deck has been nerfed, and their cards are now worthless! Huh? Other than Birthing Pod, what cards, exactly, are now worthless? Your foil Birds of Paradise? Your Siege Rhino?

Hey! Ya know what? Replace the four Pods with three more Rhinos and a third Restoration Angel, and Bob's your uncle, you've got a perfectly serviceable Abzan midrangy thing. You'll hafta tweak the other creatures around a bit, add some removal, and blah blah blah, but that deck is still a thing. 

And the people who are so miffed that their favorite deck got nerfed that they're quitting Modern altogether? Whatcha gonna do? Play Standard?

So, what's Modern gonna look like without Pod? Let's starts by remembering what the pre-Khans Modern meta looked like. Easy enough, rewind to September 2014 and add Taylor to most RDW decks, and take out Pod.

The biggest thing that's gonna happen, I think, is an explosion of Abzan (nee Junk). With Treasure Cruise and Dig Through Time out of the picture, Inquisition of Kozilek, Thoughtseize, and Liliana of the Veil suddenly get that much better. Siege Rhino is a must answer threat, and fits right in. Add some Abrupt Decay, and a Restoration Angel or two. Path to Exile, Murderous Cut, Dark Confidant, etc. Your basic pre-Khans "Junk Midrange plus Siege Rhinos."

 

With Pod out of the picture, Bad Kitty and friends will also suddenly have new territory to explore. Look for a resurgence of Zoo. Especially Domain Zoo. I believe Geist of Saint Traft is going to be seeing a lot more play, in both Domain Zoo, and Jeskai Aggro/Tempo. Wild Nacatl into Tarmogoyf into Geist of Saint Traft is nothing to be sneezed at.

Speaking of Jeskai, with Treasure Cruise and Dig Through Time gone, Snapcaster Mage is back in the spotlight again, which means those annoying Jeskai Control decks decks may be coming back.

Golgari Grave-Troll is a conundrum. Dredge, of sorts, has been seen in Modern, but not often. Sure, the Troll has a deeper dredge than Life from the Loam, Stinkweed Imp, what have you, and comes in with a counter for every critter in your graveyard. He certainly makes Vengevine a tasty looking morsel. But is it enough to push Dredge up into the rank and file? I don't think so, but people are going to experiment, and it will be a player in the upcoming weeks.

 

 

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! #167
Players: 16
Champion: pierakor / U Tron
Runner up: drinkard / Burning Zoo
Decklists and results from all Overdrive! events can be found here.  

pierakor returned to his signature U Tron, a proceeded to Tron out W Soldiers, Aristocrat Sisters, Tempo Twin and Burning Zoo to come out on top as Overdrive! #167 champion.

pierakor also streamed his event, and I stole the videos below from his YouTube channel. You can also catch his streams live on his TwitchTV channel.

drinkard brought his Burning Zoo deck back for another run, and took out Goblins, UG Infect, and W(g) Lifegain before falling to U Tron.

 

 

 

 

The Twitterverse

Magic Online

Other MTG/Wotc


 

Contact me if you wish to add your event.

3адерганный!

8 Comments

You can totally turn your pod by Joe Fiorini at Thu, 01/22/2015 - 13:23
Joe Fiorini's picture
4

You can totally turn your pod deck into an awesome GBx deck.
All you need is four tarmogoyfs, four dark confidants, four Liliana of the Veil, and you're set. I'm sure that the average player has those cards in their binder.
All sarcasm aside, yes, some of the cards will have some use.

Wish you would've talked a by pierakor at Thu, 01/22/2015 - 13:51
pierakor's picture

Wish you would've talked a bit about TC and DTT ban. Thanks for linking my VODs.

"The biggest thing that's by Paul Leicht at Thu, 01/22/2015 - 18:50
Paul Leicht's picture

"The biggest thing that's gonna happen, I think, is an explosion of Abzan (nee Junk). With Treasure Cruise and Dig Through Time out of the picture, Inquisition of Kozilek, Thoughtseize, and Liliana of the Veil suddenly get that much better. Siege Rhino is a must answer threat, and fits right in. Add some Abrupt Decay, and a Restoration Angel or two. Path to Exile, Murderous Cut, Dark Confidant, etc. Your basic pre-Khans "Junk Midrange plus Siege Rhinos.""

You mean like that?

No more like: TC deserved the by pierakor at Fri, 01/23/2015 - 04:00
pierakor's picture

No more like: TC deserved the ban because it was just a mistake and should've never happened. DTT didn't deserve the ban because we didn't get to see it as much and while it does make twin and scapeshift better we have not seen if these decks will become oppressive post-pod/tc. Also Delver with DTT would've not been as good and deserved another try before forcing Delver back into Tier2. If Delver remains too strong or scapeshift/twin become to strong they could've banned DTT next time around. I am just sad to see DTT go and blippy didn't really talk about it much.

In my eyes, the TC/DTT thing by BlippyTheSlug at Fri, 01/23/2015 - 08:50
BlippyTheSlug's picture

In my eyes, the TC/DTT thing was such a no-brainer, I thought no discussion was necessary. It (mainly TC) is something I've been talking about for months, so I just kinda auto-piloted to "now that it's gone."

Opposing opinions. You should by Paul Leicht at Fri, 01/23/2015 - 14:06
Paul Leicht's picture

Opposing opinions. You should address it in your next article.

I just wanted to know his by pierakor at Sun, 01/25/2015 - 04:54
pierakor's picture

I just wanted to know his opinion and as an example I posted mine. I didn't want him to reinforce my position.

I agree with you that Junk/ by romellos at Thu, 01/22/2015 - 18:49
romellos's picture
5

I agree with you that Junk/ Abzan decks will be one of top options. I think Junk package is better than the Jund version right now. We may even see some different versions of it with Noble, Thalia, KotR, Rhino and Restoration Angel, etc...

I guess, Anafenza will also see more play in this new Modern meta. She is basically a natural predator for new Dredgevine decks. And she is on the curve for Junk decks.