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By: SpikeBoyM, Alex Ullman
Jul 21 2008 3:26pm
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PDC is an all player run format on Magic Online. It consists of competitive games using exclusively commons cards. Games can be found in the "/join pdc" room and events can be found on the Magic Online official message boards. For more information please visit pdcmagic.com

 

This past week has been hectic, to say the bare minimum. In addition to general life and looking for work, I packed up Obi-Wan (Yes, I'm the sort of nerd who names his Honda Civic after a Star Wars character) to the gills and drove from my graduate school apartment in Buffalo across the state to good old Brooklyn, and have moved back in with my parents for the time being. Let me tell you, thinking about potential decks helps make the eight plus hours go by a lot faster.

As if that was not enough, I had volunteered to work at my old summer camp on Sunday, helping to sell merchandise for the Alumni Association during the visiting day for parents. So that meant more driving, but this time the car was not nearly as packed and handled much better. I did not fare as well, getting lost approximately three times of the way up. Highly embarrassing considering that I went to this camp for thirteen years as either a camper or staff member.

Monday was spent preparing for an interview on Tuesday, coming up with a presentation. The thing about this interview is that it was in Boston, and there was no way I was driving. So Tuesday morning I get up before dawn (which is really freaking early in July) to take the Amtrak to Boston for an interview at a university there. The good news is it went well. So now I'm here, writing this article, on that same Tuesday, on the Amtrak back to good old Brooklyn, hoping to catch a sizable portion of tonight's All-Star game on the telly. And there's this really cute girl in the booth with me, but she's busy reading. Oh, and she's cute, so of course I'm going to be a wuss and not talk to her. Instead, I'm going to tell you about my Saturday.

You see, I was originally scheduled to host the Classic PDC on that Saturday, but as I was moving home and needed to set up my computer for the house internet, I found out Friday that I was not going to be able to fulfill my hosting duties. I would like to thank Tyler (also known as walkerdog) for taking over at the last minute. He is a Good Man all around. Thanks a ton man.

Despite this set back, I still had the urge to play some Magic. I was lucky as this weekend was the Eventide prerelease, and in NYC that means Gray Matter Conventions. These guys have been running tournaments forever (at least as long as I've been playing, which is close to 14 years) and just run good events. I check their website and see that the event is being held at Fighthouse. This is not the location I am used to, so I check it out. Turns out this is the sort of place where people train in all sorts of martial arts and hand-to-hand combat. I thought that this would be a nice sized space (and well ventilated) to hold an event. I was right- aside from table covers that were a bit tacky and wore out my sleeves quickly, everything was awesome.

So I load up my bag with dice and paper and head on the F Train into Manhattan. I listen to some We Are the Union to get me pumped and I arrive at the event in time for the third major flight. Gray Matter runs flights in the morning of 4 rounds, and you get 1 pack for participating and extra packs for 3 and 4 wins. They also do bonus flights, drafts, and Two-Headed Giant events. Having played in the old style of one major flight and tons of side events, I have to say I prefer this mode, as it allows you to see more cards (for more money, of course) and provides more flexibility in how you play. I pay my fee, get my foil, and await for them to call my flight. I see some familiar faces and then they call my flight to sit down and see the new cards.

I'm at the far end of the stretch of tables for Green flight, seated around some younger players (one of which needed help opening his boosters) and some blokes from England who were obviously more casual (“Mate, I'm running nine creatures!”) who needed me to tell him to put Pili-Pala in his deck with Power of Fire.

As for my pool, it was absurd. I could have easily built three different solid decks from the cards I received. I will post my pool and list here, but would love to hear what you would have done with the cards. What's awesome is I don't have my list with me on the train, but it doesn't matter because I can just save and input this stuff later. I love technologies.

 

Inquisitor's Snare

Mine Excavation

Safehold Sentry

Strip Bare

Twilight Shepherd

Ballynock Trapper

Kithkin Spellduster

2x Kithkin Zealot

Recumbent Bliss

Biting Tether

Drowner Initiate

Flow of Ideas

Ghastly Discovery

Sinking Feeling

Spell Syphon

Banishing Knack

Razorfin Abolisher

Wilderness Hypnotist

Ashenmoor Cohort

Corrosive Mentor

Disturbing Plot

Creakwood Ghoul

Crumbling Ashes

Merrow Bonegnawer

Smoldering Butcher

Soul Reap

Burn Trail

Flame Javelin

Inescapable Brute

Intimidator Initiate

Power of Fire

Puncture Bolt

2x Hotheaded Giant

Devoted Druid

Foxfire Oak

Gloomwidow's Feast

Nurturer Initiate

Aerie Ouphes

Monstrify

Phosphorescent Feast

Wickerbough Elder

Mistveil Plains

Barrenton Cragtreads

Plumeveil

Repel Intruders

Steel of the Godhead

Gravelgill Axeshark

Oona's Gatewarden

Scarscale Ritual

Sygg, River Cutthroat

Tattermunge Duo

Lurebound Scarecrow

Rattleblaze Scarecrow

Thornwatch Scarecrow

Wingrattle Scarecrow

Antler Skullkin

Fang Skullkin

Scarecrone

Mistveil Plains

Dawnglow Infusion

Fracturing Gust

Old Ghastbark

Safehold Duo

Favor of the Overbeiing

Gilder Bairn

2x Grazing Kelpie

Shorecrasher Mimic

Sturdy Hatchling

(Kilrath Knight)

Sootwalkers

Creakwood Liege

Drain the Well

Gift of the Deity

Rendclaw Trow

Woodlurker Mimic

Clout of the Dominus

2x Noggle Bandit

Nucklavee

2x Stream Hopper

Duergar Assailant

Double Cleave

Moonhold

Rise of the Hobgoblins

Rise of the Hobgoblins

Restless Apparition

Unmake

And here's what I played:

Biting Tether
Burn Trail
Flame Javelin
Intimidator Initiate
Power of Fire
Puncture Bolt
Devoted Druid
Nurturer Initiate
Aerie Ouphes
Wickerbough Elder
Kulrath Knight
Tattermunge Duo
Grazing Kelpie
Shorecrasher Mimic
Sturdy Hatchling
Creakwood Liege
Rendclaw Trow
Woodlurker Mimic
Clout of the Dominus
2 Noggle Bandit
Duergar Assailant
2 Island
8 Forest
7 Mountain

 

A few things about constructing a Shadowmoor block sealed deck- you need a lot of space or good “court vision.” Let me explain. It is really freaking hard to fit 16 piles on a small square of table (one for each pair, one for each color, and one for Artifacts and Land). This will probably be remedied on MTGO, where you have effectively infinite space to organize your deck. However, it also pays to be able to see the pool as a whole with various options. This is what I mean by court vision- the term from basketball for the quality of a good point guard to see all the potential options at the same time, and act upon them. This comes from practice and an understanding of the format. I think that Shadowmoor and Eventide sealed actually makes building the deck easier, as you can easily go two colors with a light splash and have the mana work wonderfully, as was the case with my deck. Even though I had cards of every color, I was essentially RG splash U, and my splash helped me to play some of my RG cards.

Here is why I went this way. First, Red had a lot of good removal and a plus card in Flame Javelin. It also had a card I think is huge in this format in Noggle Bandit. This card effectively reads “if you opponent does not have Plumeveil they are in big trouble.” I had two of these beaters (Noggles for days) which led me to run the Izzet Aura over it's Simic counterpart. I was also savagely lucky to open Gilder Bairn, which is insane in this format, alongside Power of Fire. This combo alone won me round two and quite a few other games during the day. Also, if you play this format, play your Hatchlings. These dorks become big very quickly and can really swing games in your favor- unless your opponent has a better one than you.

This deck had good mana, strong interactions, and a nice curve. Sure, I had to forgo a bomb in Twilight Shepherd, but I was still able to run my fair share of bomby cards like Biting Tether, the Javelin, and Creakwood Liege.

Like I said, there were quite a few good decks in this pool. I would love to hear the thoughts of you guys in the forums.

So it's round one, and I sit down, paired against a nice guy named Michael. Sitting in the next spot over from us is Steve Sadin, which for a Magic dork like me is pretty much tops.

In game one Michael gets stuck on two lands and I'm just able to steam roll him. Game two I was in control early, but then he was able to build up his board with the Orzhov Hatchling with the Orzhov Aura (9/9 life link!), Grief Tyrant, Kithkin Spellduster, Rendclaw Trow and one or two other creatures to my board of Simic Hatchling, Aerie Ouphes, and my own Trow. In hand I had a Bold and a Javelin, and was facing down a 27-11 life deficit. My only way out was to make sure he had two creatures on the board, one of which was a Tyrant, to my empty board. It took some risky blocks but eventually I was left with nothing, and he had Tyrant and Trow. One Javelin later, I was able to reestablish control of the game and eventually won.

After this round, I had the opportunity to speak with Steve Sadin and Brian David-Marshall about magic. So of course, being the Pauper that I am, I posed this question:

First pick, first pack, what common do you want to open? I'd love to hear your responses in the forums.

They took the question in different directions. Sadin immediately answered (Errant Ephermon), citing Time Spiral draft as his favorite limited format. BDM gave me a few answers, but eventually settled on Glacial Ray. Of course, this led to a discussion of all commons cube draft, where the right pick is probably Rancor, Wild Mongrel, or Ninja of the Deep Hours.

I want to thank both of these gentlemen for taking their time to talk to me. BDM has watched me play for years and is really just a great guy. Sadin...what can I say, the guy loves Magic in all forms and was interested in everything I had to say about, of all things, pauper Magic. So awesome.

Round two, game one, was basically a blowout. I won both games on the back of stupid combos. In game one it was Clout and Noggle and game two was Bairn and Power of Fire. Game two was closer, but pinging for three a turn and killing Persisted creatures was bad beats for him.

I lost round three to a strong player with good cards. He had both Archon of Justice and Sapling of Colfenor. In games one and three, I just failed to draw removal and he had the cards.

Round four I was worried when he played out the Boros Liege, but I was able to handle the creature both games and eventually ran him over.

So I went 3-1 in the prerelease and got some packs for my troubles. Here are some thoughts on Eventide for PDC:

Noggle Bandit is good, and you should consider playing him in Blue, Red, or Izzet decks.

Edge of the Divinity is savage, and could mean a return or Ozhov Aggro style decks.

Unmake will have a huge impact across all PDC formats, as will Flame Jab.

Some people will try to make the Mimics work, but will do so at the cost of good decks.

Fire at Will will catch a ton of players by surprise.

Nettle Sentinel is going to make aggro interesting again.

Keep slingin' commons,

-Alex

 

0 Comments

by Anonymous (Unregistered) 204.132.58.73 (not verified) at Tue, 07/22/2008 - 12:35
Anonymous (Unregistered) 204.132.58.73's picture

My top-pick common of all time is probably Aurochs Herd.  Assuming we're talking about CCC or some other format where I can expect to see more Aurochs Herds.  At least three, but I've played as many as six.

If not, then something like Lightning Bolt or Incinerate.  You can never go wrong with cheap burn in Limited.  Although I would usually pick Kaervek's Torch over Incinerate in Mirage.  Not sure about 10th Edition.  There is some good blue and black in that format....

by Evu at Tue, 07/22/2008 - 12:36
Evu's picture

That was me.  Didn't realize I wasn't logged in.

by Anonymous (Unregistered) 24.224.99.5 (not verified) at Tue, 07/22/2008 - 11:25
Anonymous (Unregistered) 24.224.99.5's picture

Some people will try to make the Mimics work, but will do so at the cost of good decks.

Now are you meaning all the mimics?  Personally i could see Nightsky Mimic being part of the aggro orzhov.  Especially turn three you would have removal from unmake or pillory followed by a turn 4 blind hunter.