Level 3 Judge and Japanese coverage reporter Naoaki Umesaki has a video camera set up at Grand Prix Kobe 2009. He has put together a video for Game One from the finals match between 2007’s Player of the Year Tomoharu Saito and 2007’s Rookie of the Year Yuuya Watanabe. Subsequent games should be going up on YouTube as the week progresses.

Saito was playing the latest iteration of Zoo, tuned for the tournament with maindeck Ethersworn Canonist and Knight of the Reliquary (and some Treetop Villages for it to fetch) while Watanabe was playing with Storm.

Mike and I often joke about a “bloodbath waiting to happen” when referring to certain cards before a new set is released. There is no joking when it comes to the exclusive Top8Magic preview card. We are going to need a towel to talk about Glory of Warfare because the bloodbath is about to begin.

Somebody get me a towel!

This is no ordinary Crusade we are talking about here. Speaking strictly from an offensive persepctive it represents two Crusades when you have more creatures than your opponent and are doing the math for a alpha strike. I guess it also represents two Crusades when you are on your heels as well. Imagine a board full of token creatures — maybe you happen to playing Spectral Procession and Siege-Gang Commander in a deck that can support the Glory of Warfare for some reason — and your opponent attacking with a Woolly Thoctar. Obviously your opponent would never actually do that but imagine for a moment that they did. You could put four tokens in the way and your opponent could only kill one them since you have a +2 on defense from the enchantment.

This card is ideally suited to Windbrisk Heights powered decks. Green-white tokens has become a popular deck based on its success at the recent 5K results. I had been wary about the inclusion of Overrun in that deck simply because there were scenarios where it was going to be a dead card in your hand. The counterargument that was made for the inclusion of Overrun in that deck over Garruck Wildspeaker was that you could tuck the Overrun under the Heights.

Brian Kowal, the brewmeister of the very popular red-white tokens deck that has been ubiquitous in Standard commented on Overrun in the green-white tokens deck saying, “You don’t know fear until there is a possiblity that Overrun is under a Windbrisk Heights.” Tucking Glory of Warfare under the Heights may be 33% — or more when you factor out trample — less scary, it does allow you to upgrade from green to red and all the fiery goodness that implies. The deck already has a handful of creature based card advantage engines that can play well with Glory of Warfare:

• Spectral Procession — This becomes a squadron of Rishadan Airships that will usually finish your opponent off in two turn
• Siege-Gang Commander - Bigger nastier goblin gangs make for happy commanders.
• Cloudgoat Ranger — The landlocked version of Spectral Procession without the Siege-Gang ability to grenade themselves. Still when they send their Ranger skyward it is as a 7/3 flier. Like I mentioned earlier each creature getting a +2 to their toughness makes for some difficult-to-attack-into board positions
• Windbrisk Heights — This card is possibly the most impacted by the inclusion of GoW in the Standard format since it means that if there are sufficient attacking creatures to activate the Heights you have to worry about at least six more points of damage if this enchantment is hiding under there.

Other token generating cards that may get a boost from Glory of Warfare include:

• Dragon Fodder — In block I could see this getting some play…especially when played in conjunction with…
• Goblin Assault — Spitting out a 3/1 hasty attacker each turn sounds a lot more appealing. They will never have much of an opportunity to benefit from the boost on your opponent’s turns but let’s be honest…who cares?
• Spore Burst — I don’t know how much domain is going to get played in Standard or Block but you rarely get to see this many tokens out of one card if you can meet the requirements. It also brings to mind the old standby…
• Ordered Migration — Even better than Spectral Procession but even if this somehow got played in a format old enough for it to be legal I would be shocked to see Glory of Warfare make it there as well.
• Martial Coup — A staple card in Block Constructed, Glory of Warfare will make the army of Coup tokens into a formidable team that may only need one attack step to mop up the game.

Tribally I cannot imagine any group being more excited about the Glory of Warfare than the Kobolds — and any 0/1 tokens that are kicking around out there.

• Kher Keep — This has shown up in a handful of Extended decks and seems exciting with Glory of Warfare. This represents a real threat that can mount over time. Again, not sure that the decks playing with this card want to be playing with GoW but it does call to mind another land that has seen play in Standard…
• Springjack Pasture — I could see this being a one-off card that provides a steady stream of 2/1 or 0/3 critters for the tokens decks playing with Glory of Warfare. The ability to sacrifice goats and make mana could also play nice with Martial Coup.
• Springjack Shepherd — I have dreams of this guy being Constructed playable but I know it will likely not come to pass. You could easilly power out an army of six or seven tokens on turn four with a seamless draw but despite the upside potential he is nearly useless without the Glory of Warfare in play and does not give you the guaranteed card advantage of cards like the Procession or Cloudgoat. Still the dream of the Draw Goat deck lives on.

One of the more interesting ramifications of this card comes on the defensive side of the table. Assuming that weenie players can use Mark of Asylum to shut down Volcanic Fallout this card will close off Infest as an option. It also shuts down Pyroclasm or any sorcery speed sweeper that does two damage. I have been talking about tokens mostly but if you take 2/2 creatures into account it also shuts down Firespout. All in all this is a pretty exciting card that should justify the bloodbath pronouncements at the beginning of the column!

Of all the cards to show up on the Alara Reborn Visual Spoiler so far, this is the easilly the most exciting creature of the bunch. What is not to love about a 3/3 flier for three mana that can grow as big as needed? The only downside I can see to this critter is  its legendary status when everyone is going to want to be playing with this card. Jenara is going to be exciting for players looking for the Noble Hierarch into 3-drop into Rafiq parlay and is a suitable finisher for 5-color players.

I am very excited about this card in the 5-color decks. I have been playing around with one list that was more or less creatureless with a handful of counterspells and Martial Coup as the only way to win. With Alara Reborn I can see this deck making room for anywhere up to a full set of four — although you rarely see four-ofs in a deck that have the legendary tag.

I think it has to draw inevitable comparisons to the Serra Angels in Brian Weissman’s The Deck from the primoridal days of competitive Magic and it is not far off. It is not too hard to imagine scenarios where this is getting played once a player has five or six mana — to protect it with either Hindering Light or Cancel — and using mana to pump it only when there is a clear window to do so.

There is a flexibility to Jenara that is unmatched by the game’s first contol deck finisher — as any 90’s era player who has stared at a useless Serra Angel in hand while getting smashed by Savannah Lions and White Knights can attest. Mono-white Exalted has been taking the top spot in MTGO Block PEs for the past few weeks. Jenara seems like a fine weapon to come down early and scale with the exalted threat from your opponent.

Basically, this card is vying with Broodmate Dragon for the creature slot in these decks so it will become a question of mana cost versus card advantage. While the Dragon is the clear winner on the table the ability to drop this guy early and slow down opponents playing more agressive strategies will certainly merit some attention.

In the Bant decks Jenara will be vying with Rhox War Monk, which comes with a crucial fourth point of toughness and the ability to double up on the lifelink with Battlegrace Angel to put the damage race out of reach very quickly. Flight and pumpability vs. Lifelink with the drawback of legendary status weighing it down on the first side. My guess is that in Hierarch based block decks Jenara will serve as 3-drop’s five through eight (or maybe only six or seven) to ensure that Noble Hierarch has something to power out on turn two.

Top8Magic with Mike Flores and BDM - Part 5

BDM and Flores the local PTQ scene and Alara Reborn.

Top8Magic with Mike Flores and BDM - Part 4

Flores and BDM discuss PTQs and Alara Reborn.

A response to Will Price of Progress’s tongue-in-cheeck Tweet RE: Sages of the Anima.

Recently seen on Twitter:

Translation:

<Will Price> BDM, what are the odds that michaelj will build a deck with Congregation at Dawn and Sages of the Anima?

I have found Twitter to be both fun and awesome for communicating. Like if I hadn’t happened upon Will’s post I might not even have looked at Sages of the Anima.

For myself I know this is true, but Will, Matt, and Brian would all have to answer for themselves… A lot of the time I don’t have the time to answer every Facebook email, personal email, and so on (even blog comments) that friends, readers, and so on send my way… But on Twitter? I find myself engaging much more with people’s questions just due to the nature of the format. If you want to follow any of the Top8Magic team on Twitter, here are our handles…

• FiveWithFlores / Michael Flores
• Top8Games / Brian David-Marshall
• sloppystack / Will Price
• MattWang97 / the elusive Matt Wang
• Top8Magic / Top8Magic Blog Updates and Other Surprises! [Added by Matt Wang]

Anyway… Back to Sages of the Anima…

So why does he think I am going to make a deck with Sages of the Anima and Congregation at Dawn?

The combo is kind of obvious; when you have Sages of the Anima in play, you can potentially “Ancestral Recall” if there are three creature cards on top of your library. Lo and behold - Congregation at Dawn can put three such creature cards on top of your deck.

Unfortunately I don’t think it very likely that I will play those two cards together in a Constructed deck any time soon. Here are the top five reasons why:

1. What happens when I draw them in the wrong order?
   That is, what happens if I have an open to resolve the reasonably but not exceptionally sized Sages of the Anima, but haven’t drawn the other side of my combo yet? That’s right; I’m never going to draw the Congregation.
2. I like drawing lands.
   With Sages in play, I’m not going to be drawing many, ever again. Heck, with Congregation at Dawn, I’m going to be setting myself up to not draw any! How am I supposed to afford these fives with no lands?
3. It actually goes against everything else I have been moving towards given my personal realizations in the last few months.
   See…
   • The Grinch That Stole Mike’s Rating,
   • Previous Level Green, and…
   • The Physical Reality of Magical Spells
4. What would I really be getting out of it?
   Ultimately… not a whole lot. This is a two-card combo where one of the cards is an expensive but not overpowered rare adn the other half is a pretty good “helper” card that has had some successful builds under its belt… But in Extended, where this combo would probably live, I’d like to hope I have something better figured out.
5. Like I’m really going to bogart some idea that Will published on Twitter.
   You know… like I’m really going to bogart some terrible idea that Will published on Twitter, first.

For a broader look at the same new card, check out my non-Will Price of Progress / Congregation at Dawn exploration of Sages of the Anima at Five with Flores.

LOVE
MIKE

Top8Magic with Mike Flores and BDM - Part 3

Top8Magic with Mike Flores and BDM - Part 2

Bituminous Blast showcases a snazzy new mechanic from Alara Reborn; Cascade. When you play a spell with Cascade you get to reveal cards from the top of your library until you hit a card with a lower converted casting cost and then you can play that spell without paying the casting cost. It is the kind of mechanic that gets you excited to play some Magic — Limited or Constructed. In Limited it will usually result in a free creature since you generally play 16 or 17 of them in a 40 card deck but when you hit a spell it should pretty much be a blowout. But what about Bituminous Blast in Constructed?

Build a better bolt!

At instant speed, there seems to be little doubt that this will be a Constructed card that see abundant play. Prophetic Bolt saw play — although, to be fair, it was a little more flexible in that it could hit players — and all that netted you was a free Impulse. There is obviously not a shortage of exciting, blowouts you can Cascade into with this ranging from a zero casting cost Ancestral Visions to the cost-capped Cryptic Command.

The cold cascaded Cryptic Command is obviously going to be the Holy Grail for this card. Your opponent plays some back-breaking spell and you kill a guy and randomly hit the Command to counter it and draw a card. A free Sarkhan Vol or Garruck is also pretty spicy — who knows what will come off the top of your deck when you blast a creature.

Maybe someone will know… It seems like the ability to arrange the top of your deck will become much more valuable once Cascade cards hit the format. Excluding any new cards that might enter into the equation in Alara Reborn I did a Gatherer search for Standard looking for the character string, “back in any order” and came back with a disappointingly small number of options — and none of them are in Block:

Discombobulate — Is Standard ready for this countermagic to take its place on the Constructed stage? Counter your spell and arrange the next four cards so I draw a land and have a Cryptic Command looming on top with the Blast in hand? It seems far fetched even to me and I made a case for playing Nemesis of Reason in rooms other than kitchens!

Gilt-Leaf Seer — I cannot imagine any scenario where this happens outside of a wacky packs draft.

Inkfathom Divers — I would rather play with Nemesis of Reason.

Ponder – This is obviously the standout here. It is already played in Constructed formats and is even restricted in Vintage.

Sage Owl — Words fail me…

We are basically left with just Ponder as an tool for the Blast from that pool of cards. Other possibilities for managing your Blasts include:

The Harbinger cycle — Flamekin Harbinger is probably the best of the bunch here. On color and something that has seen play in Constructed before and could be part of an Elemental or Shaman strategy.

The Clash mechanic – Lash Out sees play and is also on-color. You don’t get the ablity to manage much but it is still better than nothing.

Cream of the Crop – I love this card and would be thrilled to have it see Constructed play but I don’t see this working out the way I want it to since you have to spend your mana on a creature, set up your deck, and still have enough mana to Blast something.

Footbottom Feast – Not brimming with excitement over this one.

Hag-Hedge Mage — This is kind of interesting and makes me pine for Reclaim. The colors work even if the mana might not. You need to have two forests in play to reclaim anything.

Tutoring can be a Blast!

Lilliana Vess — The Villainess is the best option so far as she lets you go get exactly the card you want to have on top and costs no mana to use beyond what you need to spend to get her into play. I could see this actually happening in a 5-Color Planeswalker deck. Vess tutors Ajani Vengeant to the top and then you Blast it into play. You do also have Cryptic Command in that deck. This could be a spicy one!

Moonring Island – Doesn’t let you manipulate anything but it does let you know whats coming.

Telling Time — This is another fine card to mix with Cascade and could see play. It might just be better than Ponder but that may be my bias for instants coming through.

It is clear that Vess is the best of the bunch, not only letting you set up your Bituminous Blast but finding it for you in the first place if that is way you need. I will be eager to see if the AJ Sacher Planeswalker Control deck makes room for Cascade spells.

Nemesis of Reason — or should I write it, “NEMESIS OF REASON!!!!!!!!!!!!” like the forum denizens do when talking about this card? — is the kind of card Tony Tsai used to pay his mortgage with. Tony was a long time eBay seller of Magic cards and he could often be seen at various PTQs, Prereleases, and Regionals trading away Polluted Deltas, Cranial Extractions, and the like for as many Nut Collectors and Traumatizes as he could get his greedly little shark fins on. Nemesis of Reason is a card that tournament players sneer at but will clearly the centerpiece of many a kitchen table top masterpiece.

Constructed or no?

When you look at previous cards that had similar effects; Scaplexis, Traumatize, Glimpse the Unthinkable, and Sanity Grinding, to name a few, you do not find many Constructed all-stars. Hell you can’t even find a utility infielder in that bunch but I can’t help but wonder if this card might have a role it could play in a sixty card deck. It is an obvious powerhouse that is justifably a first pick in Limited, where it will usually end the game in two swings and is capable of holding the ground admirably against the fattiest five-power dudes Naya can throw at you. Seven toughness for five mana is nothing to sneeze at. But what about Constructed?

The first place to look is Block Constructed — a format relevant for players heading to Honolulu and MTGO players hoping to mise a seat at the 2009 MTGO Championships. I can see this card causing all sorts of problems for players who have a dozen lands that come into play tapped but they still get a turn to deal with it but if you have one…there may be three more where that came from. Over the course of a long game you may only need to untap once with this in play to defeat the 5Color player.

One of the problems with this guy in Block could be that there are number of strategies that are built around getting guys into your graveyard. The Esper decks are much more comfortable with their graveyard as a resource than their deck or hand and Nemesis of Reason may just be doing them a favor. Similarly the Blightning colored decks are pretty happy to take three, mill ten cards and unleash a barrage of Extractor Demons, Dredgescape Zombies, and Shambling Remains on the next turn. If he could mill either player when attacking — he is worded to only affect the defending player — he would be a much more likely candidate for this format. If he does see play it would most likely be as a sideboard card against 5Color but I don’t lean strongly in that direction.

In Standard he seems even less likely despite having more tools to make him effective; Makeshift Mannequin, Heat Shimmer, various doppelgangers, and shapeshifting changelings. I just have a hard time imagining a format that can be as quick as this — think about staring at him in your opening hand against Black-White Tokens — finding a place for this card. But when you look at the winning deck from Kyoto, played by the amazing Gabriel Nassif, you see a deck that hopes to nullify aggro strategies with Plumveil and Wall of Reverence. Imagine for a moment a deck playing against the Nassif deck that, instead of trying to deal twenty damage, transformed to a post board version with four copies of Nemesis of Reason which is not going to die to their defensive creatures, and aimed to mill twenty instead.

Hmmmm…maybe I am talking myself into this. I can imagine this guy getting imprinted on a Soul Foundry on the old formica tabletop but I could also see a shot at him making a case for himself in sideboards in Block and possibly even Standard. Whatever you do, don’t let these go to cheaply at the Prerelease even if it never makes the Top 8 decks page on the mothership.