A Unified Theory of Commander

Jason Rice

Commander is a complicated game. Despite being a “casual” format, the massive pool of playable cards, multiplayer politics, and varied expectations of what constitutes the “Spirit of Commander” can make trying EDH for the first time quite intimidating. The trouble finding sound advice on how to build and play a deck online doesn’t help the situation much for new players either. While veteran players in places like the EDH subreddit are happy to share their knowledge of the format with new players, their advice is often complicated, contradictory, and overly specific.

It’s no surprise then that new players often turn to a preconstructed product like the recent Commander 2013 decks or to copying a list they find online to get started. It often takes months of trial and error, adding and subtracting, and lots of long, difficult games before a player begins to understand what their deck really wants to do, let alone what cards are actually effective at helping them have fun and win a few matches along the way. This steep learning curve inspires some players to improve, but also drives some players clear out of the format.

Just imagine what he might tweet if someone tried to teach him Commander.

Easy to Learn

Contrast this to any thread where a player asks for advice on how to draft for the first time. Veteran players virtually trip over each other to be the first to post the BREAD system for drafting. If you aren’t familiar with the system yourself, it provides a basic framework for how to draft an effective deck no matter what three packs the players are cracking at the table. It goes like this:

B is for Bombs – The first thing players should be looking for are cards that win the game. These are powerful cards that are difficult for opponents to deal with and usually either win the game immediately or put the player so far ahead that the opponent has little chance of coming back.

R is for Removal – After game winners, players need cards that remove or otherwise disable powerful creatures and other troublesome permanents played by their opponents.

E is for Evasion – Creatures that can fly, are unblockable, hexproof, or are otherwise good at pushing through damage are said to have evasion. While these cards don’t usually win the game themselves, they can put a player well ahead if left unanswered.

A is for Aggro – Aggressive cards are usually cheap or undercosted creatures and spells that let a player race ahead in damage.

D is for Duds – Usually the last few picks in any pack are the “bad” cards in the format, or at least the ones with very narrow utility. Pick these last, but look for cards in your colors that might provide a good sideboard option in a specific match-up.

No matter what set a player might be drafting, he or she can generally follow this advice and find success in an event. Each time the player picks up a stack of cards, whether its a “pack one, pick one” moment or the dregs of the third pack, evaluating the available picks using the BREAD system sets a player up for success. Of course there are other nuances to drafting, like knowing when to force a particular deck archetype or how to signal your picks to the table, but these additional elements are dependent on the player first applying the BREAD system effectively.

Difficult to Master

So why is it so easy to communicate a basic theory for drafting, but so difficult to offer sound advice on how to play Commander? Why can a five-letter acronym start any player off at Friday Night Magic, but building your first deck for a casual game of EDH requires multi-thousand word essays to explain? Some might argue that the complexity of the format demands this much detail. Others will suggest that since there is a wide spectrum of expectations for the format that fall somewhere between the casual “House Rules No Counterspells, No Attacking Until Turn Ten” and the cutthroat “Stax Lockdown No One Plays But Me” playgroups, that any general advice is essentially meaningless.

I disagree. I believe that if you break Commander down into its constituent parts and examine every deck that successfully creates fun and interaction at the table, you can assemble a list of rules for EDH deckbuilding and playing that are as simple to learn and apply as BREAD. Whether you are building a casual squirrel tribal deck for laughs or assembling a competitive Animar list for a local tournament, I’d like to suggest a Unified Theory of Commander that can help inform your decisions both during deck construction and while you are slinging spells at the table.

While I don’t have an acronym like BREAD for you, I do have a mnemonic device to help you remember the theory. Repeat after me:

My Deck Tickled A Sliver.

Not sure I actually want to know what could make her giggle…

No. I’m not advocating you do a little stand-up comedy in a brood pit. I want you to remember the five letters MDTAS in that particular order. My Deck Tickled A Sliver. MDTAS. Got it? Good. Now let’s learn what it means:

Mana, Draw, Threats, Answers, Synergy

Why is the order important? Because I believe that understanding the ordinal value of each of these elements can help players make good decisions about how to assemble a fun and functional EDH deck. Applying this theory to both building and playing a deck will cut down on the more frustrating parts of learning Commander and help new players start enjoying games more quickly. It might even teach a few veterans a thing or two as well.

So let’s do a brief introduction to each element of the theory.

Mana

Whether a player is attempting a [card]Hermit Druid[/card] combo deck meant to win every match (and lose all his friends) or a group hug [card]Phelddagrif[/card] deck with zero win conditions, playing cards in Magic requires access to mana. If a deck does not produce enough mana to reliably cast its spells, then the deck does not work. You cannot play the game without mana.

This may seem like a truism, but its a fact that is often lost on new players. They often run too few lands in their decks and when presented with the choice of adding a mana rock or another cool threat, they pick the threat. Unfortunately, that often means eight-drop game-winners end up as dead cards in their hands because they are stuck on six mana. So no matter your commander, your colors, your deck archetype, or your goals, the most important part of any Commander deck is access to mana.

Draw

Volumes of work have been written about how to define card advantage in Magic and not all accounts agree, so I won’t try to summarize or compete with the various arguments here. All you need to know for the purposes of this introduction to my Unified Theory of Commander: more cards is good. Fewer cards is bad. So drawing cards is one of the most important things your Commander deck can do.

Imagine for a moment that a game of Commander is a shoot out. Your hand is your gun and the cards in your hand are your bullets. The more bullets you’ve got access to, the more shots you can take and the more likely you are to start hitting your targets and eliminating threats. So run cards that reload your hand and keep you in the fight.

Threats

Brace yourself for another truism everyone: You must resolve threats to win a game of Commander. You need to play your cards to actually play the game, right? But what do I mean by threats? I mean cards that can win the game for you quickly if they go unanswered. Whether that means a giant creature, combo pieces, or an explosive spell, each deck should run enough game enders to make sure it can reliably have an impact on the board state in each game.

Now before players that pilot decks with goals other than winning the game grab their pitchforks, remember that for most players, the object is to win the game. So a threat is usually defined with that objective in mind. If you are piloting a deck with the goal to keep the game going until everyone has to concede and go home, then a “threat” means something different for you. It means a card that advances the mission of your deck.

Answers

This is perhaps the easiest element of my Unified Theory to explain, but potentially the most contentious part for new and casual players to swallow. Commander is not a four-man solitaire game. So even if you are running a theme deck with only a single, complicated win condition, it is not the responsibility of the rest of the table to let you play solo until you finally get that game ender online. It does not violate the spirit of Commander to interact with your janky deck.

It’s important for each deck builder to consider what removal options are available in her colors and which permanent types might be a problem. For instance, a monoblack player will likely need to consider some colorless options for removing enchantments. Do your homework and make sure your deck can respond to the win conditions other players drop on the table. Even a group hug deck needs to occasionally consider tucking someone’s commander to keep the game rolling and execute a political path to victory.

Synergy

The lowest ranked item on my list is perhaps the most discussed topic in any deck building thread. When a new player asks for advice online about getting into the format, the responses tend to be chock-full of suggestions about picking a commander and filling the deck with synergistic cards. But take a quick glance at the rest of my list and perhaps you’ll see why that’s a trap. Focusing on synergy can tend to make players overvalue cards that do not develop access to resources, threaten to win the game, or deal with the threats of others. Most sinister about this problem is that the synergy between cards can make the deck feel pretty good in certain instances, leaving players without a gut understanding of why its being ineffective.

Picking cards that synergize well with a commander must be less important than these other elements. Synergistic cards don’t matter if you can’t play them (lack of mana), can’t get them into your hand (lack of draw), can’t threaten to win the game (lack of power), or respond to the game plans being executed by other decks (lack of answers). Players have been advising each other to build their decks in reverse order. No wonder the format feels so difficult to understand.

Feeling Ticklish

Now you might have noticed that I didn’t include specific cards in this article. That’s because I didn’t want to distract you by talking about details. Like BREAD for drafting, the Unified Theory of Commander should be card agnostic. It’s a universal system that you can apply to any deck. But have no fear. I’ll be diving deep into each element of the theory in future articles. We’ve laid the foundation with My Deck Tickled A Sliver. Next we can start looking at what those tickle-fingers look like in practice.

The Divine Aristocrats

Ken Crocker

While I still intend to battle with my trusty RUG Monsters deck for the foreseeable future, that has not put a halt to my desire for a good brew. With that in mind, let’s talk about a spicy number that I have been thinking about since the Journey into Nyx prerelease.

[deck title=The Divine Aristocrats by Ken Crocker]
[Creatures]
*4 Cartel Aristocrat
*4 Voice of Resurgence
*4 Lotleth Troll
*3 Varolz, the Scar-Striped
*3 Athreos, God of Passage
*2 Pharika, God of Affliction
*2 Scourge of Skola Vale
*4 Desecration Demon
*3 Polukranos, World Eater
[/Creatures]
[Planeswalkers]
*2 Ajani, Mentor of Heroes
[/Planeswalkers]
[Spells]
*1 Dark Prophecy
*4 Abrupt Decay
[/Spells]
[Lands]
*4 Mana Confluence
*4 Temple Garden
*4 Overgrown Tomb
*4 Godless Shrine
*3 Temple of Malady
*3 Temple of Silence
*2 Swamp
[/Lands]
[/Deck]

Our Gods Are Awesome Gods

As always, it may be useful to go over some card choices:

Obviously, for an Aristocrats-style deck, we need to have some sacrifice outlets. [card]Varolz, the Scar-Striped[/card] and [card]Cartel Aristocrat[/card] fill that role nicely, but I felt we needed more. Thus, the two [card]Scourge of Skola Vale[/card].

Another key component of an Aristocrats deck is its difficult-to-answer threats. [card]Cartel Aristocrat[/card], [card]Varolz, the Scar-Striped[/card], [card]Lotleth Troll[/card], and both Gods fit that criteria rather nicely, each requiring different answers. Furthermore, our deck is also fairly [card]Supreme Verdict[/card] proof, given Lotleth Troll’s and Varolz’s regeneration, [card]Voice of Resurgence[/card]’s ability, and the gods being indestructible.

Value is the whole point of an Aristocrats deck. There is obvious value in Varolz’s ability (remember, a god is still a creature in the graveyard), but the added value of [card]Lotleth Troll[/card] pitching a God, and then scavenging it onto a [card]Cartel Aristocrat[/card] is something that cannot be ignored. Plus, both gods are gods of valuetown as it is!

Speaking of value, the one-of Dark Prophecy was just too juicy to not consider. It is triple black, helping turn on both gods, and it adds to the overall theme of value in our deck.

Topping out our curve at [card]Desecration Demon[/card], [card]Polukranos, World Eater[/card], and [card]Ajani, Mentor of Heroes[/card] is to make sure we still have threats that our opponent has to deal with, if they get past all the Aristocrat action. This might be one of the better Ajani decks, given that there are 30 targets in the deck for him to hit with his second +1 ability (29 if you count himself).

[card]Abrupt Decay[/card] handles [card]Detention Sphere[/card], one of the few ways that your creatures or gods can be dealt with permanently. It also has the added bonus of killing whatever might be in your way early on. It basically slices, dices, and makes Julian fries.

The mana base is skewed more toward black. Notice that you only have six comes-into-play-untapped lands. The rest are either scry lands or shock lands. This is not by mistake. You do not have any turn-one plays, so we do not need to pay life on turn one. However, there are more shock lands than scry lands because we want to curve out from turn two and onward.

But What Does It All Mean?

Undoubtedly, many of you have seen either B/W Athreos decks or B/G Dredge decks. Both are solid deck choices that other pros have written about extensively. Assuredly, they have tested them to a certain extent and nobody else that I have seen has written about a Junk Aristocrats deck. So what are the advantages of playing this deck over either one of those?

Divine Aristocrats vs. B/W Athreos

Divine Aristocrats gets more value out of the cards you are playing even if you opponent lets your creature cards go to the graveyard. Yes, [card]Athreos, God of Passage[/card] has a sweet ability, but remember, it is an ability that gives your opponent a choice. In a straight B/W Athreos deck, your opponent gets a chance to mitigate the damage of this choice by making the worst choice for you. In our Divine Aristocrats deck, even if our opponent chooses to take the damage, we get extra value vis-à-vis [card]Pharika, God of Affliction[/card] and [card]Varolz, the Scar-Striped[/card].

We get access to [card]Abrupt Decay[/card], Varolz, [card]Voice of Resurgence[/card], [card]Ajani, Mentor of Heroes[/card], and [card]Lotleth Troll[/card]. While B/W gets the sweet synergy of [card]Xathrid Necromancer[/card], our overall card quality is higher, all things being equal.

We do not get as blown-out by [card]Anger of the Gods[/card]. Yes, as of right now, nobody plays that card. But some of us diligent Magicians have placed it in our sideboards, just in case. While both decks suffer from Anger of the Gods, ours has plenty of cards that play around it, including [card]Desecration Demon[/card], [card]Polukranos, World Eater[/card], [card]Varolz, the Scar-Striped[/card], and [card]Lotleth Troll[/card].

Divine Aristocrats vs. B/G Dredge

Our deck does not rely as heavily on the graveyard. I have played from the B/G Dredge side of things. Cards like [card]Scavenging Ooze[/card], [card]Agent of Erebos[/card], [card]Crypt Incursion[/card], and [card]Tormod’s Crypt[/card] do exist. While only one of them sees any competitive play, if the B/G Dredge deck picks up any steam because of the addition of [card]Nyx Weaver[/card], then we could see an uptick in graveyard hate. Bad for us, worse for the Dredge player.

We get access to Athreos, [card]Voice of Resurgence[/card], and [card]Ajani, Mentor of Heroes[/card]. Once again, our card quality, on the face of it, seems higher than theirs, especially since their cards are much more reliant on synergy than ours.

Sometimes the B/G Dredge deck just misses. While it has been constantly upgraded with the release of every new set, the B/G Dredge deck does not actually play like a Legacy Dredge deck. It can be inconsistent and it can miss. If that happens, there is not much of a Plan B for the deck. The Divine Aristocrats has several plans, including backup plans to our backup plans. This is just another way of saying we are more consistent than the B/G Dredge deck.

There are two areas that these other decks have ours beat: they have been more thoroughly tuned and, as a result, their mana bases are better. My response to those who make these claims is: nobody has tested the Divine Aristocrats. So of course it will not be as tuned and, as a result, the mana base is probably not optimal. That’s where you lovely readers get to get your hands dirty.

Cards Not Included

Here are some cards that did not make the cut, and the reasons why:

[card]Xathrid Necromancer[/card]: Just not enough humans to take advantage of his ability. Would have to be a whole different deck in order to want to include him.

[card]Brain Maggot[/card]: Why did they have to change the templating!? If this would have stayed a [card]Mesmeric Fiend[/card], it would have been an easy four-of in the maindeck. As it stands, a 1/1 for two mana that does not get any value when dead does me no good.

[card]Nighthowler[/card]: This may actually work. As of right now, I feel like this card is too inconsistent in power level to include it. However, I would be willing to be shown I am incorrect.

[card]Herald of Torment[/card]: See Nighthowler above. The only difference is that this is less inconsistent. If I were to start tweaking and playtesting today, this would be the first card I would look to add. Probably in the [card]Dark Prophecy[/card] / [card]Scourge of Soka Vale[/card] spot.

Build a Better Sideboard

Some of you may have noticed that the decklist at the start of the article did not have a sideboard. There is good reason for that. Some people say that you should build a 75-card deck, figure out the best possible configuration, and make that your main, moving the other 15 cards to the sideboard. Others, like myself, think that you build your 60 card main deck, then look for places to shore up certain matchups with your sideboard. However, when I am theory-crafting, I tend to leave the sideboard out of the equation, in order to determine if the main deck is viable. But I won’t leave you completely stranded.

Obviously, we want some amount of discard for the U/W/x Control decks. Probably about four to five cards. So some mixture of [card]Thoughtseize[/card] and [card]Duress[/card] seems appropriate.

Mono-Blue is still going to be a deck. Better pack some hate. While [card]Mistcutter Hydra[/card] might be great here, I think I would rather have [card]Skylasher[/card]. Skylasher is capable of flashing in, is more mana efficient, and actually has a power/toughness for Varolz to scavenge later, if needed.

[card]Deicide[/card] is both good against us, and a powerful card to have access to for our sideboard.

Since we are very much aware of the B/G Dredge deck, packing some hate seems like a good idea. [card]Scavenging Ooze[/card] seems to be one of the best answers, and it has the added bonus of getting big enough to fight some of the creatures.

With all this (and more) in mind, here is my first complete decklist:

Feel free to leave any comments about the deck. May the gods be forever in your favor!

Pitt Imps Podcast #67 – Our Pre-Releases

Pitt Imps 01:32:34

In this weeks episode we have on Matt from the posse for the next listener guest. We go over the subject of phones. Then we ramble about banning Standard since Melira didn’t get banned. Oh yea there was some pre-release stories in there as well.

Your hosts: Angelo & Ryan

Angelo’s Twitter: @Ganksuou

Ryan’s Twitter: @brotheryan

Show’s Email: [email protected]

Guest – Matt Twitter @stackopamcake

Brewing with Journey Into Nyx

Josh Milliken

Welcome back for Brewing with Journey into Nyx. I’m going to run you through some possibilities that this great new set has created for us. One thing I can’t do is provide complete sideboards, but I will provide some suggestions to look at when you decide to take one of these decks out for a spin. The other thing to remember is that these decks may require some tuning. As with every new set, the metagame shifts and makes it hard to predict the exact cards you will always want in your main deck.

Updating the Old

There are two decks that get cards that could be very good for them, but don’t really change how the deck looks, so let’s start off with those decks since I’m not going to bother with lists for them.

Mono-Black Devotion gains a few significant weapons with [card]Dictate of Erebos[/card], [card]Extinguish All Hope[/card], and [card]Silence the Believers[/card]. What [card]Dictate of Erebos[/card] means for this deck is not having to worry about dying to [card]Blood Baron of Vizkopa[/card] or hexproof creatures as often, as now you can just kill your own creatures to make them sacrifice theirs. [card]Extinguish All Hope[/card] provides a mid-game wrath effect that may or may not be good enough depending on hope the metagame develops. While [card]Silence the Believers[/card] is a pretty reasonable way to deal with gods and creatures, getting better the longer the game goes.

Mono-Blue Devotion gets a few cards that aren’t necessarily auto-includes, but are very solid none the less. One option is [card]Dakra Mystic[/card], which could replace [card]Judge’s Familiar[/card] to draw some extra cards when you run into a slow board state. The other card is [card]Hypnotic Siren[/card], which could also replace [card]Judge’s Familiar[/card], to allow you to steal your opponents creatures when you get into the late game, or even when you draw a [card]Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx[/card].

Brewing the New

[deck title= Selesnya Enchantress]

[Creatures]
4 Elvish Mystic
4 Voyaging Satyr
4 Voice of Resurgence
4 Eidolon of Countless Battles
4 Courser of Kruphix
4 Eidolon of Blossoms
[/Creatures]

[Spells]
4 Banishing Light
2 Unflinching Courage
3 Ajani, Mentor of Heros
3 Elspeth, Sun’s Champion
[/Spells]

[Land]
4 Temple Garden
4 Temple of Plenty
4 Mana Confluence
2 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
4 Plains
6 Forest
[/Land]
[/deck]

Enchantress has really only been a deck in Legacy for the last few years, but with [card]Eidolon of Blossoms[/card], it is now a possible strategy in Standard. Getting [card]Ajani, Mentor of Heros[/card], to get even more card advantage and [card]Banishing Light[/card] to deal with hard-to-answer permanents, this deck can compete with the rest of the field. Running [card]Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx[/card], allows for some very explosive draws since everything in the deck sticks around.

Sideboard Suggestions: [card]Arrest[/card], [card]Deicide[/card], [card]Rootborn Defenses[/card], and [card]Sphere of Safety[/card].

[deck title= White Weenie]

[Creatures]
4 Dryad Militant
4 Soldier of the Pantheon
4 Aegis of the Gods
4 Imposing Sovereign
4 Precinct Captain
4 Banisher Priest
3 Brimaz, King of Oreskos
[/Creatures]

[Spells]
3 Brave the Elements
3 Launch the Fleet
2 Spear of Heliod
2 Godsend
[/Spells]

[Land]
3 Mutavault
20 Plains
[/Land]
[/deck]

This classic strategy gets some very potent new toys with [card]Aegis of the Gods[/card] to slow the burn decks down and hinder [card]Thoughtseize[/card] until Aegis dies. [card]Launch the Fleet[/card] will be huge, allowing you to get in several extra points of damage while adding to your board presence. In addition, [card]Godsend[/card] is a very unique card that can push you through your opponent’s creatures. Expect mad rushes of white creatures in the immediate future.

Sideboard Suggestions: [card]Ajani’s Presence[/card], [card]Banishing Light[/card], [card]Deicide[/card], and [card]Fiendslayer Paladin[/card].

[deck title= Mono-Red Devotion]

[Creatures]
4 Frostburn Weird
4 Prophetic Flamespeaker
4 Boros Reckoner
4 Fanatic of Mogis
4 Stormbreath Dragon
[/Creatures]

[Spells]
1 Blinding Flare
3 Magma Jet
4 Mizzium Mortars
3 Hammer of Purphoros
2 Harness by Force
3 Chandra, Pyromaster
[/Spells]

[Land]
4 Sacred Foundry
4 Temple of Triumph
3 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
13 Mountain
[/Land]
[/deck]

This deck is set up to maximize a mana advantage with [card]Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx[/card], with a plan to abuse [card]Blinding Flare[/card] and [card]Harness by Force[/card] to the max. It is also set up to gain card advantage from [card]Prophetic Flamespeaker[/card] and [card]Chandra, Pyromaster[/card] while adding a lot of devotion to the board. Most of the creatures are reasonable threats by themselves as well. I won’t be surprised when I see this deck doing well in the near future.

Sideboard Suggestions: [card]Banishing Light[/card], [card]Chained to the Rocks[/card], [card]Deicide[/card], and [card]Eidolon of the Great Revel[/card].

[deck title= Jund Midrange]

[Creatures]
2 Scavenging Ooze
4 Sylvan Caryatid
4 Courser of Kruphix
3 Reaper of the Wilds
4 Stormbreath Dragon
[/Creatures]

[Spells]
4 Thoughtseize
2 Abrupt Decay
3 Mizzium Mortars
3 Underworld Connections
4 Hero’s Downfall
1 Whip of Erebos
2 Rakdos’s Return
[/Spells]

[Land]
4 Temple of Malice
4 Temple of Malady
4 Mana Confluence
4 Blood Crypt
4 Overgrown Tomb
2 Stomping Ground
2 Forest
[/Land]
[/deck]

Jund is a deck that I just keep coming back to every set, sometimes it’s good in the metagame and sometimes its not. This version should play out a lot like the Mono Black Devotions decks by generating massive amounts of card advantage. The new cards that really help Jund out are actually just some lands, as smoothing the mana out was a huge concern before.

Sideboard Suggestions: [card]Duress[/card], [card]Lifebane Zombie[/card], [card]Sire of Insanity[/card], and [card]Vraska the Unseen[/card].

[deck title= Mono-Black Aggro]

[Creatures]
4 Gnarled Scarhide
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Tormented Hero
4 Pain Seer
4 Master of the Feast
4 Herald of Torment
3 Mogis’s Marauder
[/Creatures]

[Spells]
4 Thoughtseize
2 Bile Blight
3 Hero’s Downfall
[/Spells]

[Land]
4 Mutavault
20 Swamp
[/Land]
[/deck]

Mono-Black Aggro just keeps getting all the toys, this time getting [card]Gnarled Scarhide[/card] and [card]Master of the Feast[/card]. While adding these cards cuts back on the two-drop slot, they also allow you to play out two creatures on your second turn, more often leaving the three-drops still on curve but more dangerous.

Sideboard Suggestions: [card]Dark Betrayal[/card], [card]Duress[/card], [card]Gift of Orzhova[/card], and [card]Lifebane Zombie[/card].

[deck title= Orzhov Humans]

[Creatures]
4 Soldier of the Pantheon
4 Tormented Hero
4 Pain Seer
4 Cartel Aristocrat
3 Imposing Sovereign
3 Athreos, God of Passage
3 Brimaz, King of Oreskos
3 Mogis’s Marauders
4 Xathrid Necromancer
[/Creatures]

[Spells]
4 Bile Blight
[/Spells]

[Land]
4 Temple of Silence
4 Godless Shrine
4 Mana Confluence
3 Mutavault
4 Plains
5 Swamp
[/Land]
[/deck]

Kind of an alternate to Mono-Black Aggro, the Orzhov Humans deck got the super powerful [card]Athreos, God of Passage[/card] to punish the slower decks that can’t afford to pay the ferryman’s toll. It also gets to run lots of very good cards in the sideboard that can turn the tide on any matchup.

Sideboard Suggestions: [card]Fiendslayer Paladin[/card], [card]Lifebane Zombie[/card], [card]Sin Collector[/card], and [card]Thoughtseize[/card].

[deck title= Big Boros Devotion]

[Creatures]
4 Precinct Captain
4 Boros Reckoner
3 Brimaz, King of Oreskos
3 Iroas, God of Victory
4 Stormbreath Dragon
[/Creatures]

[Spells]
4 Chanined to the Rocks
4 Mizzium Mortars
4 Banishing Light
3 Chandra, Pyromaster
3 Elspeth, Sun’s Champion
[/Spells]

[Land]
4 Sacred Foundry
4 Temple of Triumph
4 Mana Confluence
3 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
5 Plains
4 Mountain
[/Land]
[/deck]

Just go bigger is this deck’s motto. It has removal and creatures at nearly every mana cost, putting a lot of devotion into play each turn as well. The big new cards for this deck are [card]Iroas, God of Victory[/card], and [card]Banishing Light[/card], allowing the deck to just keep pushing through damage.

Sideboard Suggestions: [card]Anger of the Gods[/card], [card]Assemble the Legion[/card], [card]Deicide[/card], and [card]Hammer of Purphoros[/card].

[deck title= Selesnya Flash]

[Creatures]
4 Elvish Mystic
4 Experiment One
4 Voice of Resurgence
4 Aegis of the Gods
4 Boon Satyr
3 Brimaz, King of Oreskos
[/Creatures]

[Spells]
3 Gods Willing
4 Selesnya Charm
4 Advent of the Wurm
3 Ajani, Mentor of Hope
[/Spells]

[Land]
4 Temple Garden
4 Temple of Plenty
4 Mana Confluence
2 Mutavault
6 Forest
3 Plains
[/Land]
[/deck]

This will be the deck to give Mono-Black Devotion and the U/W Control decks fits. Being able to run twelve creatures that you can push into play on their turn while having [card]Voice of Resurgence[/card] to keep them in check on your own can be a huge blowout quite often. I expect quite a few decks like this to be doing well early on while people push towards the old decks that they know.

Sideboard Suggestions: [card]Banishing Light[/card], [card]Deicide[/card], [card]Fiendslayer Paladin[/card], and [card]Unflinching Courage[/card].

[deck title= Golgari Rock]

[Creatures]
4 Elvish Mystic
2 Sylvan Caryatid
4 Courser of Kruphix
3 Pharika, God of Affliction
2 Polukranos, World Eater
3 Reaper of the Wilds
[/Creatures]

[Spells]
4 Thoughtseize
2 Abrupt Decay
3 Underworld Connections
4 Hero’s Downfall
1 Whip of Erebos
2 Silence the Believers
1 Dictate of Erebos
2 Vraska the Unseen
[/Spells]

[Land]
4 Overgrown Tomb
4 Temple of Malady
2 Mana Confluence
2 Mutavault
5 Forest
6 Swamp
[/Land]
[/deck]

Golgari Rock is another deck that I like to work on to see if it’s viable each new set. Just like the Jund Midrange deck, Golgari Rock games play out a lot like those of Mono-Black Devotion decks that currently have a stranglehold on Standard. It already gets to run [card]Thoughtseize[/card], [card]Underworld Connections[/card], and [card]Hero’s Downfall[/card], so adding [card]Pack Rat[/card] to the sideboard to make it a pseudo mirror against Mono-Black Devotion is a pretty solid choice.

Sideboard Suggestions: [card]Devour Flesh[/card], [card]Extinguish All Hope[/card], [card]Lifebane Zombie[/card], and [card]Pack Rat[/card].

That concludes this brewing article. I’ll be back soon with some updates to my Mono-Green “Beast Wars” deck that seems to have taken off. I also hope to be back for some brewing with M15 in a few months as well. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them below and I will do my best to answer them.

Thanks for Reading,

Josh Milliken

@joshuamilliken

Forced Fruition Episode 7: Devotion to Cube

Andrew Cochran

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=videoseries?list=PLs4gxqbLAAD6dLhiofdGdf4zkIBkn0lQv&w=640&h=360]

Intro

Cube drafting as a format is wonderful because you get to make all kinds of crazy things happen. You get to play with powerful cards that span the entirety of Magic and use them to crush your opponents mercilessly. This week on Forced Fruition, join me as I power through an un-powered cube with a blue devotion deck? Yup that’s right, we picked up the two cards that hinge on the devotion mechanic in blue and use them to great effect (you’ll see why in Match—trust me its good). Along the way, we’ll also encounter one of the most complicated board states I’ve developed. I hope you enjoy watching this episode as much as I enjoyed recording it. Please let me know what you think in the comments section and enjoy the ride.

Drafting Packs 1 and 2

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qX_L9CDA-pE&w=640&h=360]

Drafting Pack 3 and Deckbuilding

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-cGP_3rrgY&w=640&h=360]

[deck title= Devotion to Cube]
[Creatures]

*1 Venser, Shaper Savant

*1 Master of Waves

*1 Thassa, God of the sea

*1 Coralhelm Commander

*1 Snapcaster Mage

*1 Phantasmal Bear

*1 Cursecatcher

*1 Wolfir Silverheart

*1 Thrun, the Last Troll

*1 Sylvan Caryatid

*1 Llanowar Elves

*1 Edri, Spymaster of Trest

*1 Myr Battlesphere
[/Creatures]
[Spells]

*1 Future Sight

*1 Mana Leak

*1 Miscalculation

*1 Preordain

*1 Ancestral Vision

*1 Genesis Wave

*1 Primal Command

*1 Plow Under

*1 Sylvan Library

*1 Thran Dynamo
[/Spells]
[Land]

*1 Tropical Island

*1 Scalding Tarn

*8 Island

*7 Forest
[/Land]
[/deck]

Match 1 Game 1

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7Qw0dleGrM&w=640&h=360]

Match 1 Game 2

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLSJnBPbTGE&w=640&h=360]

Match 2 Game 1

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHjRTuBLVIw&w=640&h=360]

Match 2 Game 2

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTj79aF9_Dg&w=640&h=360]

Match 2 Game 3

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATVWYG2XxTE&w=640&h=360]

Match 3 Game 1

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpkYToyXSJ8&w=640&h=360]

Match 3 Game 2

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m48NoYxfk9A&w=640&h=360]

Match 3 Game 3

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gA1e4qubok&w=640&h=360]

Serum Visions: The Biggest, Beeriest Beer

Andrew Colman

Hello, everyone, and welcome back to Serum Visions!

deschutes-barley-wine-bottle-square This week, we are going to be talking about the beeriest of all beers. The beer that takes the beer flavors you know and love and makes them larger than life. This week, we are talking about barley wine! The two examples I have of this style on my cellar-shelf at the moment are called Burleywine, by my local micro-brewery, and Thor’s Hammer, by Central City Brewing. You will more often than not find a barley wine with an epic name, because that’s just what the beer is: epic.

Barley wine is one of my favorite beers to bring to gatherings where the people who are in attendance are new to drinking good beer. This is happening more often, which is awesome, because of all the popularity that craft beer is gaining right now. Also, as soon as someone finds out I make beer, they ask me about the process. I’ve gotten my monologue of grain to glass in down to five minutes. After that, people just want to know what the beer I drink tastes like. They seem to have figured out that no one could be so passionate about yellow fizzy water, and so there must be something more to it.

Barley wine must be one of the “beeriest” tasting beers you can get. This is obviously debatable, but I would argue that the flavor of a well-balanced barley wine is almost a caricature of beer. There are simply more beer ingredients per gallon of water than any other classically produced beer (more on this in a bit). A weak barley wine will weigh in at around eight percent ABV. A stronger example of the style could reside around 13 percent or more. It makes sense that this beer would really taste like beer. Let’s take a look at an edit of the tasting notes from an American barley wine.

Flavor: Strong, intense malt flavor with noticeable bitterness. Hop bitterness may range from moderately strong to aggressive. While strongly malty, the balance should always seem bitter. Moderate to high hop flavor (any variety). Low to moderate fruity esters. May have some bready or caramelly malt flavors, but these should not be high. Roasted or burnt malt flavors are inappropriate.

When I say caricature, I mean to say that all of the signature flavors of beer are accentuated in the same way a cartoonist would accentuate Jay Leno’s giant square chin. In the flavor portion of the BJCP tasting notes, we notice that the two main flavoring ingredients of beer (malt and hops) need to be strong, intense, and aggressive. It needs to be strongly malty but balanced toward bitterness. Any extra-fruity flavors from the esters or extra-malt flavors such as roast or burnt are simply called inappropriate. What I understand when I read these notes is, “We want to taste the ingredients used to make beer and nothing else!”

The way the brewers achieve these qualities is by using more of the ingredients. Ray Daniels, the author of the book Designing Great Beers has this to say about the making of Barley Wines:

“The making of barley wine often turns into an exercise in logistics. Grain brewers will find the limits of their systems severely challenged if they try to produce a full-sized batch of barley wine. In general everything will be bigger than you expect…”

To give some perspective on the amount of grain used to make one, any beer at 4.5 to five percent ABV will have around six pounds of grain per five gallons (the size of a home-brew batch) This is just under a pound per gallon. A barley wine around 12 percent will have around 22 pounds of grain per five-pound batch. That is just over four pounds per gallon. That is a crazy amount of grain!

A Bit of History

The earliest development of the style is thought to come from the aristocratic houses of England. It was brewed for these houses first because to making it on a commercial scale at that point in England was not feasible. Because England is not one of the great wine producers of the world, their supply was not always as reliable as might be desired. It was then used a a sort of back up and it would often age in barrels for an entire year before it made its way to the table. Their version of barley wine, which was described to have vinous nature, was brewed when supply of wine was short and there was a need for something to stand in its place at the table.

The first recorded barley wine was commercially produced in Burton upon Trent by Bass Ale. It was called No.1 Barley Wine. It was in both London and Burton where “strong ales” were mostly produced. The difference between the two of them came in part because of the water profile difference between the two cities. Burton on Trent is famous in the beer world because of mineral profile of its water. It has a naturally high carbonate and sodium chloride content which lends itself to sweeter, maltier beers. The London water had a lower content of these minerals and so the beers ended up having more of a hop character to them. It may not be a surprise to find out that London beers were indeed hopped more aggressively and heavily dry hopped. The Burton version of the beer would have little to no dry hopping.

It was eventually Bass from Burton that coined the term barleywine and thus set a real starting point for the style. It’s popularity has waxed and waned over the years. Rationing due to the wars and pressures from prohibition pushed the alcohol percentage lower and lower until it was no longer a barley wine. In the US, Anchor Steam picked up the style with Old Foghorn as well as Sierra Nevada with Big Foot. With the advent of the craft beer movement, and even more with the trend of extreme beers, the barley wine style is as healthy and popular as ever. It is often the defacto Christmas beer or specialty beer that a brewery will make in honor of an anniversary or some special occasion.

One reason for its celebratory status is that this is one of the few beers that can be aged for a few years and gain character rather than lose it. In fact, breweries that release a yearly barley wine will often label it with its vintage the same way a winery does. I do recommend that when you are picking up a barley wine to pick up as many bottles as you can justify. I have four beers of a six pack left of the barrel aged Burley Wine made by Half Pints, the one microbrewery in Winnipeg, from 2012. I had one a few months after getting it for Christmas with a friend. The flavor almost literally knocked me off my chair. It was so strong tasting I couldn’t believe it! I then had one a full year later and it had mellowed considerably and was far more enjoyable. I promise when I crack the next one I’ll let you all know how it is.

Style of the Week

Barley wine… of course! I don’t need to expound on it virtues any more. You can find the full BJCP tasting notes here. As always, try to find a local version first. If you can’t find on of those you should be able to find Fog Horn by Steam Anchor or Big Foot by Sierra Nevada.

Thanks for hangin’, everyone!

Andrew

Brainstorm Brewery #98 – Research and Development

Brainstorm Brewery 01:01:39

No need to pinch yourself—you’re not dreaming. The very special guest for this episode is none other than Mr. Aaron Forsythe (@mtgaaron) himself. How can the gang cope with having a larger-than-life figure on their humble podcast? Will they manage to sneak in a Pick of the Week? What information can we glean about future sets, the future of Magic Online, and the upcoming Magic: The Gathering film? Is a third Un- set confirmed? Can they get Mr. Forsythe (as Jason insists that he insists on being called) to comment on the future of the Reserved List? There are quite a few lines to read between, but don’t pretend you don’t love to speculate. The typical format is abandoned this week in an episode that will have you sitting in your driveway to hear the end of. Join us for a very, very special Brainstorm Brewery.

The gang is joined by a very special guest: Wizards of the Coast R&D Director Aaron Forsythe (@mtgaaron).
There’s no reader e-mail this week, ending the streak at one episode.
How did Aaron Forsythe become involved in Magic: The Gathering?
How does a typical day for Aaron go?
Conversation leads to the marketability of Planeswalkers and the upcoming film.
How committed is Wizards to the Reserved List?
Modern Masters 2?
Why hasn’t the success of Duels of the Planeswalkers translated to Magic Online?
The address is brainstormbrew at gmail dot com.

Cabe Riseau produced the intro and outro music for Brainstorm Brewery.

Contact Us

Brainstorm Brewery – website – email – twitter – facebook

Ryan Bushard – email – twitter – facebook – gatheringmagic.com

Corbin Hosler – email – twitter – facebook – quitespeculation.com

Jason E Alt – email – twitter – facebook – gatheringmagic.com – quitespeculation.com

Marcel – email – twitter – facebook

Conjured Currency #11: Speculation for Annihilation

Douglas Johnson

Welcome, speculators! Magic financiers, PTQ grinders, EDH junkies: you’re here because you want to not spend so much money on this game we all know and love, and are looking to find a place to learn to do just that. This is that place. If you keep up to date on spoilers for upcoming product, you’ll know that [card]Wrath of God[/card] is about to be printed for the fifteenth time, in the From the Vault: Annihilation product scheduled to be released this August. However, the other fourteen are currently a mystery. This week I want to take a look at some of the other candidates for reprint coming this summer based on the description of the product, and need for a reprint. For starters, let’s look at some of the higher priced, powerful spotlights that could be used to sell the product. I don’t think there will be more than one of the following in the product, but WotC has surprised us before.

Potential Chase Cards

[card]Damnation[/card]

They probably could have just named the product: From the Vault: Here’s your stupid Damnation reprint. While the color-shifted Wrath just recently made its ascension to the current absurd price of $45, I still think this is a strong candidate to be the “headliner” of the product. It was only around $28 when the product would have been designed 18 months ago, and it’s a strong casual favorite that does see fringe play in Modern. While I don’t think the card will plummet if it finds a home in Annihilation, it’s safe to say to stray away from buying these at the current $45 price tag, especially if you don’t actually need them to play with.

[card]Karn Liberated[/card]

Is there anything more annihilating than picking up every single card, board, hand, graveyard, exile and all, off of the table (except maybe Karn’s permanents), and shuffling them back into their owners’ decks? I’ll admit this one is a bit of a stretch, but it’s worth considering. Karn is an iconic planeswalker known for his worldshaping deeds, so maybe 18 months ago Wizards predicted that this guy would need a bit of a release valve and decided this was the appropriate slot. Wizards hasn’t exactly succeeded in matching the prices of the cards in these From the Vaults to add up to MSRP, so maybe Annihilation will give us a monster like Karn.

[card]Kozilek, Butcher of Truth[/card]

Well, he has the word “annihilate” printed on the card. In addition, he’s the only one among his siblings to not have an additional printing; [card]Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre[/card] has FTV: Legends, and [card]Emrakul, the Aeons Torn[/card] has the prerelease promo. If any of the eldrazi get reprinted in an attempt to put more in circulation and sell product, it’ll probably be this one.

Medium Value Candidates

Obviously all 15 cards can’t be valuable staples. For every [card]Maze of Ith[/card] and [card]Jace, the Mind Sculptor[/card], that they stick in these boxes, there will be follow ups of [card]Windbrisk Heights[/card] and [card]Green Sun’s Zenith[/card] that people shove in their EDH decks and cubes. Here are a few cards that fall in between the cracks of “Expensive spotlight card” and “Wizards, why is this even in the box?”

[card]Child of Alara[/card]

When Wizards mentioned in their announcement for FTV: Annihilation that the player would be able to “sweep the battlefield clean” with “superweapons.” this is the type of card that comes to mind. It’s legendary, mythic, and certainly fits the definition of “annihilation.’ I’m pretty sure EDH players love this card, but maybe I’m biased because I have a Child deck myself. Until we learn whether or not this card is included, I recommend staying away from picking them up. It’s a great long-term pickup, but you have time to wait and see the full spoiler before making that decision.

[card]Rout[/card]

Here’s a real old one that actually hasn’t been on the printers for 14 years. While [card]Fated Retribution[/card] was just printed, Rout is generally seen as the iconic “instant speed Wrath you” from ages ago, and it wouldn’t shock me if they brought it back to exist in foil for the first time. It’s sat at $4 for years now, and the creation of a foil copy would likely have a strong multiplier, similar to how the [card]Swords to Plowshares[/card] from FTV: 20 has a 3x multiplier because foils are hard to come by.

[card]Austere Command[/card]

Another Commander all-star, the white cycle of the commands is one of the more versatile wrath effects, customizable to the caster’s need. Maybe I’m overestimating the number of EDH staples that Wizards is going to throw into this Annihilation product, but it’s definitely the format where most of them shine. I can see this getting some sweet new art, even if it has experienced a reprint in the Heavenly Inferno Commander deck in 2011.

[card]Bonfire of the Damned[/card]

Did you know that this card is still $5.00? A large chunk of that is likely due to price memory; similar to how [card]Thragtusk[/card] is chilling at above-bulk prices. I wouldn’t put it past Wizards of the Coast to throw this spell into the set with its new foiling, and bring back the dark memories that those of us who played Standard during that era experienced when playing against it.

Bottom of the Barrel

Unfortunately, there has to be some cards that fill in the bottom end of the value spectrum. We were all let down when [card]Kessig Wolf Run[/card] and [card]Char[/card] were revealed as the “all-stars” of their respective years, and no panties were thrown when [card]Desert[/card] was spoiled for Realms. Every FTV has a few cards that end up rotting in binders for years after the release of the product, but let’s try to guess at what a few of those cards could be, even if there’s little financial value to be had.

[card]Decree of Annihilation[/card]

While Karn at least usually brings a quick and speedy death to the artificial “game two,” this doesn’t carry the same mercy, unless someone has a planeswalker ready to ultimate. That being said, I’m not sure how much Wizards wants to push these super-nukes that drag games on for turn after turn while everyone tries to reassemble the pieces of their broken drea- I mean board states. Maybe they’ll bring it back for simple nostalgia and flavor reasons, just to show the power of some of the older cards to new players. As with Kozilek, the card literally has the word annihilation on it.

[card]Novablast Wurm[/card]

There aren’t many Green ways to say, “Blow up all of the life that we enjoy creating,” but maybe this Worldwake mythic will be their way of adding a green thumb to what I expect to be a predominantly red, white, and black group of cards.

[card]Evacuation[/card]/[card]Upheaval[/card]

If they’re going to put blue cards in the set, I have to imagine it would be something similar to either of these. They both made their mark on history at one point or another, and have to be respected as the color-of-manipulation’s old way of cleaning house of every problem at once. I briefly considered [card]Cyclonic Rift[/card] in this spot, but I don’t think its non-overload cost is impactful enough to be let into the club.

I think the main takeaway point from a financial perspective is that the original prices of the cards that end up being in From the Vault: Annihilation won’t drop too drastically. The FTV sets have always been tagged to have an “extremely limited print run.” Their unique foiling process deters many players from using them in Constructed decks, and those who buy the complete set are often only looking for a couple cards and are willing to move the rest for less.

Even if I’m not shoving methods of how to make money down your throat, there’s always a bit of fun to be had speculating what cards will be in upcoming product, and it might help some people make decisions about what cards to buy before seeing the completed product contents. However, if you feel strongly about any of these being in the product this summer and you’ve been eyeing the cards to jam in EDH/casual/Modern, then it almost certainly won’t hurt to wait and see if you can snag one of these sets for MSRP. Based on the pattern of past FTVs, you won’t be disappointed.

How do you think my predictions will hold up? Are there any obvious inclusions that I completely missed on? Do you think one of my ideas is idiotic and would never see print ever? I’d love to hear your feedback and explanations.

Inventory Management Part V: Strategy

Anthony Capece

Welcome to the fifth and final part of my Inventory Management series.

Last week I took a break to write about counterfeits, and I really appreciate all the feedback and conversation. I thought it was worth breaking up this series to get that article out faster.

Today we’re talking general inventory strategy and some miscellaneous closing thoughts thrown in for good measure. I’ve written quite a bit about inventory management over the past six weeks, so there won’t be too much heavy lifting in the final installment. You can find the first four articles below and you should read them before you continue if you haven’t already.

Part I: The Basics
Part II: Tracking
Part III: Turnover
Part IV: Sunk Cost

Aligning Your Business

The first four parts of this series covered some important inventory management concepts, but they were somewhat out of context. Now it is up to you to put them together and craft the inventory strategy that best supports your business.

Some things to consider:

How much capital do you have? When and how will you be selling cards? To whom? What are your overheads and total cash flow requirements? The answers to these questions will dictate what and how much you carry in inventory.

Store owners, for example, have much higher overheads than traveling traders or casual speculators. For a store owner, keeping the doors open (paying rent, bills, the employees, etc.) is the most important thing. Steady cash flow is absolutely critical so you need to move a certain amount of inventory each month just to keep going. That probably means plenty of sealed product as well as Standard and casual singles. Maybe you have a Modern crowd, maybe Legacy, maybe other games, but the point is that your overheads dictate reasonably good inventory turnover even if the margin isn’t as great as you would like.

Conversely, you may have a day job and deal cards out of your house on the side. You have plenty of cash but limited time to sell cards at tournaments or shops or even to list cards on eBay. This is definitely grounds for tilting your inventory back toward slower moving, higher returning items. If you have the cash, why not buy in to some duals or other Reserved List favorites? If the rent money is coming from somewhere else, you can afford to sit on them for as long as you need.

Remember, your inventory is there to support your sales, not dictate them. The goal is not buy a bunch of stuff and then try to figure out how to sell it. Instead, think about how you are going to sell and then buy inventory that compliments that approach. If all you do is buylist, then MP or HP Legacy staples are going to be tricky. Maybe try snapping up casual collections instead. You get the idea.

The Price Is Right

In Part IV, I talked about sunk cost. One of the takeaways there was that the buy decision is over and done with by the time you sell, and you shouldn’t let that influence you. What you can do is ensure that you are making solid buy decisions in the first place.

The majority of making good buy decisions boils down to one little word: price. Anything can be a good buy if you get it cheaply enough. Do your homework and put some effort into acquiring your inventory as inexpensively as possible. The art of finding a good deal will never die. Leave no stone unturned and work on your negotiation skills. When you do spot a good deal, don’t hesitate to pull the trigger (if you are doing it right you will have some cash on hand for this type of thing). Your future self will thank you when it comes time to sell.

Diversification

It’s a basic concept, but it too often gets overlooked. Diversifying your inventory will take a significant amount of risk out of your operation. It’s going to do this in two ways.

1. If anything really bad happens, the damage will be limited in scope.

2. It will help smooth out the peaks and valleys in your sales.

I talked about some risks in Part I of this series so I will only discuss them briefly here. Risk of loss, damage, obsolescence (like rotation), banning, etc. all fall into the first category. If you can identify one single thing that will really ruin your day, you need to diversify now. And I’m not just talking about the guy who has 400 copies of [card]Snapcaster Mage[/card] and nothing else.

If your entire inventory is for the same format, you risk that format falling out of favor or losing tournament support. If your entire inventory is in one room, you risk losing everything to a fire or the sprinkler system or a break-in (are you insured?). Heck, if all your money is tied up in Magic cards, you risk Magic losing popularity. It can happen. It’s not likely, but you should make sure that you can survive it if it does happen.

This might seem overboard if you are a casual speculator with a few long boxes of cards, but you wouldn’t feel that way if your livelihood depended on it. It’s worth the time to ponder all of these “what if” scenarios. Inevitably, you will find that you can reduce your risk exposure with relatively minimal effort.

Diversifying can do even more than that, however. Normal fluctuations in demand can be tougher on a business than you might think, and diversification can help smooth that out. I’m not talking about anything catastrophic, just a Standard season that isn’t particularly engaging (like this one) or a Modern season that sees low turnout because it got moved to the summer and everyone is at the beach.

Depending on the structure of your business, it doesn’t take much more than a few slow months to find yourself in an awkward position. A narrow inventory will make these scenarios even more likely. If you can stock at least something that moves well at each point throughout the year, it is probably a good move and worth going out of your way to do, even for casual speculators. It will keep the cash flowing which is super important for everyone, not just those paying for a brick and mortar store.

Wrapping Up

I’ve had a great time writing this series and I feel like I addressed the topic (specific to Magic) in more detail than previously available. That’s not to say I covered it all. I am going to explore the possibility of tackling other general business concepts and applying them to Magic in the future. All suggestions are welcome.

If you have any questions or thoughts, as always, find me on Twitter (@acmtg), on Reddit (acmtg) or write me here in the comments.
Thanks for reading.

Casually Infinite – JOU Standard Winners and Losers

Marc DeArmond

With all of Journey into Nyx spoiled, the question to be asked is the effect these cards will have in Standard. While decks falling out of favor play a role to speculators, there is often little money to be made in a fall from grace. What we care most about is the ascent of tier-two and -three decks that can suddenly reach top-tier due to the new set. The primary focus for MTG finance is which undervalued cards will see a spike due to these changes. First, we’ll see how top-tier decks fare with the changes then look at some outlying decks and see what potential stars may be on the rise.

Tier-One Decks

Esper/Azorius Control

Very few changes are present for the primary control decks in the format. The addition of [card]Banishing Light[/card] adds some ability to combat [card]Detention Sphere[/card] in decks running white but it also gives these decks an additional removal tool for dealing with cards that can’t be killed. [card]Athreos, God of Passage[/card] could cause some problems for Esper by blanking much of the removal in the deck, but with as many as three possible ways to deal with gods, I don’t see this being too great a problem. I’d expect this to stay a staple in the format through rotation, when the loss of [card]Supreme Verdict[/card] will take this deck out of the top tier.

Mono-Black Devotion

I feel like there are a few new answers to some of the threats posed by mono-black in the format, while the deck itself doesn’t gain much of anything. The possibility of [card]Silence the Believers[/card] as a one- or two-of exists, but I don’t see having more powerful late game removal as benefiting the deck all that much. Having an answer to gods may be the best use of this card. I’m curious if the unimpressive [card]Oppressive Rays[/card] makes a showing to stave off the early [card]Pack Rat[/card] or if [card]Reprisal[/card] becomes a solid play against [card]Desecration Demon[/card]. Either way, this deck has made a strong enough showing that I’d be surprised to see it take a formidable hit by anything in Journey into Nyx.

Mono-Blue Devotion

While many people seem to be of the opinion that mono-blue would never last, it has still made a successful showing across Standard. It hasn’t stood as tall as it did during Pro Tour Theros, but it has remained a top-tier deck landing in top eights with moderate consistency. I do feel that the release of JOU is probably the nail in the coffin for mono-blue. One of the biggest threats the deck has offered is the three-mana god, which was easily activated and always played a big role in the deck. With the addition of new gods at a low casting cost and numerous ways to deal with them floating around the format, [card]Thassa, God of the Sea[/card] will suffer from the additional attention aimed at gods. Blue didn’t gain anything that it wants from this set except for a [card]Howling Mine[/card], and that is a risky proposal at best. Maybe the recent Azorious splash will give this deck some good control options, but I still feel that this deck is losing much more than it is gaining.

Gruul Monsters / Jund Monsters

I don’t see anything for Gruul Monsters besides the inclusion of [card]Magma Spray[/card] to even raise an eyebrow. Magma Spray deals with Pack Rat, other mana dorks, and other aggro decks. I don’t see this deck having many new tricks but I also don’t see them getting blown out either. The deck is based on big creatures hitting hard. This will still be a thing. Xenegos never really expected to be activated for this deck to succeed and the planeswalkers will likely be just as effective now as before.

Non-Top-Tier Decks

G/W Hexproof Auras

I feel this deck takes one of the largest steps forward with the release of JOU. One card is an amazing boon which might be enough to push this into being a top-tier deck. Cards like this play a major role in any deck focused on building up a creature, and this one is as threatening as ever. Of course, I’m talking about [card]Bassara Tower Archer[/card]. Having a hexproof two-drop will provide the middle coverage that the deck struggled with. While cards like [card]Voice of Resurgance[/card] and [card]Fleecemane Lion[/card] will still play a role, being able to get started building your creature when the [card]Gladecover Scout[/card] doesn’t start in your hand is a great boon. For the most part, this deck plays towards its goal on turn two and couldn’t really start putting together an oppressive creature until turn four or five. By then, the [card]Desecration Demon[/card]s were out, there were too many [card]Pack Rat[/card]s, or your opponent had managed to activate Thassa. Being able to attack with a 6/4 first strike on turn four changes this drastically.

Pickups: [card]Fleecemane Lion[/card], [card]Witchstalker[/card]

White Aggro

There have been a couple of different versions of white aggro floating around. Options range from Boros, to all white, to Orzhov with [card]Xathrid Necromancer[/card]. I can’t say which deck will be the one to shine in the end here, but the addition of both Athreos and Iroas opens up white aggro to some truly impressive options. We also see some solid hate cards in the form of [card]Aegis of the Gods[/card] and [card]Eidolon of Retoric[/card], which can throw a notable loop into some other decks’ game plans. I expect to see a top-tier white aggro deck in Standard after Journey into Nyx. I’m not sure what the other color will be, but this deck has managed to put up solid showings and usually falls just short of true glory.

Pickups: [card]Soldier of the Pantheon[/card], [card]Precinct Captain[/card], [card]Xathrid Necromancer[/card]

Black Aggro

This is another deck that has floated around top eights at SCG Opens but never found its way to glory. The big change here is [card]Athreos, God of Passage[/card]. Any aggro deck that can get its creatures back or force damage to its opponent is a real threat. This deck benefits from the same opening plays as Mono-Black Devotion but has some crazy tempo plays that can really punish an opponent. I’m not sure if [card]Master of Feasts[/card] will find his way into this deck, but between that and Athreos, I don’t see this deck getting any weaker. It also gained [card]Banishing Light[/card] as a possible method for other removal that was otherwise missing, so I can see this deck taking the next step and ending games on turn five pretty easily.

Pickups: [card]Pain Seer[/card], [card]Herald of Torment[/card]

Golgari Graveyard

While Pharika may not be the god everyone wanted her to be, I think that some retooling of this deck could make her very powerful. We already learned from mono-blue what a three-mana god can do, and being able to turn your mana dorks into [card]Sedge Scorpion[/card]s is not an insignificant ability. Let’s not forget the addition of the G/B scry land, which alone managed to push control decks into the top-tier when [card]Temple of Enlightment[/card] became available. This deck hasn’t lost anything but has gained a few new tools, so I’d be surprised to see it dropping the ball. I don’t see a lot of solid pickups from this deck, since it is the most recent hype, but if it moves to a truly top-tier deck, all of its major cards could get another minor spike.

Pickups: [card]Herald of Torment[/card], [card]Deathrite Shaman[/card], [card]Nighthowler[/card]

Boros Burn

I don’t feel that we’re really looking at many changes for Boros Burn. [card]Magma Spray[/card] might fit into the deck, but we didn’t see [card]Shock[/card] playing a big role. [card]Eidolon of the Great Revels[/card] seems to hurt this deck more than help it; big cards like Keranos feel pretty slow. I’m pretty sure that I’d rather just throw another [card]Lightning Strike[/card] or [card]Annihilating Fire[/card] than spend five mana and wait to draw enough cards to burn out my opponent. I don’t see this deck reaching top-tier as it doesn’t get much help here and there are a few cards like [card]Eidolon of Rhetoric[/card] that can really punish the deck if it gets too far out front.

Chromanticore

While everyone agrees [card]Chromanticore[/card] is a powerful card, it has always been the five-color cost that is a deterrent. We’ve seen a showing of Cromanticore decks in Standard, with one even making a top eight in China. One thing that comes for this deck is [card]Mana Confluence[/card]. Having a five-color land makes the dream of playing Chromanticore on turn five a reality. With Mana Confluence and [card]Sylvan Caryatid[/card], we can realistically expect to find five colors of mana with some reliability on turn five. Unfortunately, all the problems with Chromanticore, such as dying to [card]Warleader’s Helix[/card] and [card]Mizzium Mortars[/card], as well as every kind of color hate like [card]Dark Betrayal[/card], [card]Gainsay[/card], and [card]Glare of Heresy[/card]. While I’m eternally hopeful and think that if ever Chromanticore had a moment it is now, I’m still doubtful that this will become a reality.

Have comments? Let me know below!

Getting LUCKy: Acting Too Quickly

Caleb Gothberg

Blue and Black, duh

It’s round four at SCG Detroit. Across from me is Joe, who is playing Mono-Black Devotion. He swings in with a [card]Nightveil Specter[/card] to deal two, but what do I care? I’m playing Gruul Aggro with [card]Skylasher[/card], [card]Titan’s Strength[/card], and [card]Armed // Dangerous[/card] in hand. He plays a second [card]Nightveil Specter[/card] and I panic. I still play my [card]Skylasher[/card] end of turn and pray for a [card]Ghor-Clan Rampager[/card]. Top-deck is…[card]Temple of Abandon[/card]. He’s only at 12. If I could just trample over it I’d be fine. Next turn he plays a [card]Desecration Demon[/card] and proceeds to pummel me.

After losing games two and three to Joe, Brainstorm Brewery’s very own Ryan Archer, who was playing next to me (who is now 3-1 to my 2-2) asked, “Why didn’t you block with [card]Skylasher[/card] that turn, you know he’s pro-blue?” My first thought was “And?” before it dawned on me that [card]Nightveil Specter[/card] is blue. I had game two won on turn four and didn’t slow down long enough to realize it. RTFC Caleb! How many times has this happened before? I knew this when I didn’t side them out game two but didn’t slow down enough to take advantage of it. All of this thanks to my ready, fire, aim mentality.

But Caleb, I know [card]Nightveil Specter[/card] is blue. I mean, half the card is colored blue. I know that all my readers out there know this and would have been 3-1 rather than 2-2. But how many times have we been hasty in other areas? How many sideboards have been made fifteen minutes previous to the tournament? How many cards have been sold only to peak a month or two later? When we aren’t “smelling the roses,” our decision making process has been crippled. There are decisions that we have made that we all wish we could go back and fix (*cough [card]True-Name Nemesis[/card]). But how do we make ourselves slow down?

Smell the Roses

Take a deep breath before every play. It sounds so cliche it’s not funny, but it’s cliche because it works. If we consciously take a breath before we move to attack step, we then realize [card]Arbor Colossus[/card] has reach. Probably not a good time to swing with [card]Stormbreath Dragon[/card], but awesome for our [card]Boros Reckoner[/card]. Maybe we were going to cast [card]Goryo’s Vengeance[/card] end of turn. Making a habit of breathing makes us reflect for just one second, makes us take a look at the whole picture. Most of the time our problems only need a single second to be discovered. I can’t count the number of times I have forgotten to play [card]Lightning Bolt[/card], only to remember during my untap step.

How does this help with finance, Caleb? Well, most of the time one breath won’t do. But my breath isn’t a breath at all. My breath is a tweet to #mtgfinance, a post to the QS forums, or even just an episode of Brainstorm Brewery. If the move I’m making lines up with what the Brew Crew is saying, we are probably on the right track. Without the “breath,” we tend to make decisions based on emotions, which can be wrong. There is plenty of sound financial support if we reach out. A second opinion is almost always relevant when money is involved.

Look at all your options. When playing, look at your entire hand and think of everything that could be in theirs. Is there a better play, or line of play that I could make? Should I be playing the safest line, or the fastest? What do I gain by going with one line over the other? These are all things we should look at before we make our plays. The better we get, the better our plays, but we must be careful not to let this keep us from thinking.

When we are dealing with finance we should also look to all options. Is it better to buylist this, or sell it on TCGplayer? Do I know someone local looking for this card? Could I trade up for something that helps me more? Is it worth taking a chance on this collection or would my money be better placed into speculations? Try to look at everything that could be done with cards/money before moving in on something. Jumping on the first thing you see is like keeping a hand when you’ve only seen one card in your hand.

Be conscious of your opponent’s pace. One of my favorite ways to throw an opponent off is to play faster that they are used to, or slower than they are used to. I know that if I can get them off their game, they will make mistakes. That is one of the reasons I picked Gruul Aggro. I have much experience with this kind of deck and it allows me to make opponents play at a pace that causes them to make mistakes. With an aggro deck, I’m able to capitalize on those mistakes very quickly. If your opponent is setting a pace that you aren’t comfortable with, slow it down. For one, you will make fewer mistakes. And two, you will cause opponents to make mistakes because they aren’t at their own comfortable paces anymore.

Buying, selling, and trading is the same way. One of the ways a shark will get you in a trade is by making you rush. When you are rushing, he will always win. Not that he shouldn’t win, but you should too. When buying, take your time, look at everything that you are buying. When you slow down, it will already put you at an advantage. Look closely at card condition, pause on certain cards. This will cause the seller to really think of what they have and reevaluate the value of his cards. This is one of my favorite ways to keep sellers from having an inflated sense of where their cards’ real cash value is before I make an offer. If someone is moving too fast for me, I maintain my walk-away power. You don’t need to be swindled into overpaying or overtrading.

SGC Detroit did get a little better for me. I lost one more after that placing me at a 2-3 record. I decided since it was a $40 entry I may as well at least get my $40 worth out of the day. The next five games went without a serious hitch and I was able to finish with a 7-3 record for 60th place and a fifty-dollar bill, taking “The Price of Magic” down. I also beat Deshaun Baylock, which is always a goal for me, especially when he’s playing control (dude’s a beast with control, seriously). [card]Armed[/card] was the card of the day for me. I felt like I still got LUCKy, just not quite as LUCKy as I would have liked. And just like everyone else, if I want to start Getting LUCKy, I need to slow down.

What is your [card]Nightveil Specter[/card]? When should you have taken a “breath” before making a play/ buy/ sell/ trade?

Forced Fruition Episode 6: BTT Draft R/W Heroic

Andrew Cochran

They Might be Heroes

Hello and welcome to the sixth installment of Forced Fruition! This week, I’ve brought you another Born-Theros-Theros draft where I find myself with some exciting white and red cards to make up a typical red/white heroic archetype. We get to play with some powerful creatures like [card]Ornitharch[/card], [card]Anax and Cymede[/card], and even the elusive [card]Gift of Immortality[/card] (that’s not a creature for the record). You’ll have to forgive me for not including a nice succinct playlist in the write-up this time. YouTube is being difficult and not allowing me to edit said playlist to be properly sequenced. That said, I hope you’ll come along for the ride and check out my latest draft episode!