I know it has been a while since the last set of cast but with cards flooding into the M11 Visual Spoiler page on the mothership Mike and I got together, with a special guest appearance from the hirsute Steve Sadin, to discuss Conundrum Sphinx and his spoiled friends from M11. It was a fun set of ‘casts to record as the three of us have not done anything together in quite some time and there were plenty of exciting cards to discuss. Topics of discussion included the tournament worthiness of Sphinx of Jwar Isle, which cards will win the most money for the rest of the year, and which cards seem like they are being overrated (Hint: It rhymes with with Rhyme Dispersal).

Make sure to check the Visual Spoiler page and the various weekly columns for the rest of this week and next as more cards are revealed every day. And of course, don’t forget to make your plans for the M11 Prerelease in a little over a week.

Sphinx or Sub-Sphinx? Part 4

I know it has been a while since the last set of cast but with cards flooding into the M11 Visual Spoiler page on the mothership Mike and I got together, with a special guest appearance from the hirsute Steve Sadin, to discuss Conundrum Sphinx and his spoiled friends from M11. It was a fun set of ‘casts to record as the three of us have not done anything together in quite some time and there were plenty of exciting cards to discuss. Topics of discussion included the tournament worthiness of Sphinx of Jwar Isle, which cards will win the most money for the rest of the year, and which cards seem like they are being overrated (Hint: It rhymes with with Rhyme Dispersal).

Make sure to check the Visual Spoiler page and the various weekly columns for the rest of this week and next as more cards are revealed every day. And of course, don’t forget to make your plans for the M11 Prerelease in a little over a week.

Sphinx or Sub-Sphinx? Part 3

I know it has been a while since the last set of cast but with cards flooding into the M11 Visual Spoiler page on the mothership Mike and I got together, with a special guest appearance from the hirsute Steve Sadin, to discuss Conundrum Sphinx and his spoiled friends from M11. It was a fun set of ‘casts to record as the three of us have not done anything together in quite some time and there were plenty of exciting cards to discuss. Topics of discussion included the tournament worthiness of Sphinx of Jwar Isle, which cards will win the most money for the rest of the year, and which cards seem like they are being overrated (Hint: It rhymes with with Rhyme Dispersal).

Make sure to check the Visual Spoiler page and the various weekly columns for the rest of this week and next as more cards are revealed every day. And of course, don’t forget to make your plans for the M11 Prerelease in a little over a week.

Sphinx or Sub-Sphinx? Part 2

I know it has been a while since the last set of cast but with cards flooding into the M11 Visual Spoiler page on the mothership Mike and I got together, with a special guest appearance from the hirsute Steve Sadin, to discuss Conundrum Sphinx and his spoiled friends from M11. It was a fun set of ‘casts to record as the three of us have not done anything together in quite some time and there were plenty of exciting cards to discuss. Topics of discussion included the tournament worthiness of Sphinx of Jwar Isle, which cards will win the most money for the rest of the year, and which cards seem like they are being overrated (Hint: It rhymes with with Rhyme Dispersal).

Make sure to check the Visual Spoiler page and the various weekly columns for the rest of this week and next as more cards are revealed every day. And of course, don’t forget to make your plans for the M11 Prerelease in a little over a week.

Sphinx or Sub-Sphinx? Part 1

So is anyone still complaining about blue? Okay, I have actually heard plenty of people complaining about blue but it has a different tenor than the complaints from little over a year back. It does not seem that long ago that blue mages were hitting the mana-lines looking for handouts to keep them going. “Why is Wizards making blue so bad?” they would ask. “When will R&D give us some good blue cards?”

Be careful what you ask for or you might find yourself staring across the table at four mana, flying, blue Ophidian that you know is bigger than a Lightning Bolt can deal with on its own. Get a load of Conundrum Sphinx, the exclusive Top8Magic.com M11 Preview Card.

At first glance it seems like one of those Liar’s Pendulum-type cards that have a lot of text, promise to maybe draw you a card once in a blue moon, and before long are relegated to the back pages of trade binders at FNMs everywhere.

But if you think about the cards that blue has available to play with — and that are currently being played extensively in Standard — it is not too hard to imagine a scenario where the Conundrum Sphinx is able to start flying over on turn four and drawing its controller — possibly even you — an extra card a turn.

I will certainly be testing this card in my Standard gauntlet as I prepare to compete in Nationals. Think about it for a second. Play a turn two Everflowing Chalice and land this bird on turn three. Assuming you get to untap with it in play you can use any number of cards to get maximum value out of it and even protect it.

Halimar Depths is a card that leaps to mind and will actually net you you two extra cards while dealing 8 damage over two turns since you arrange three cards so that you get one when the Sphinx attacks, one on your next draw step and then the third one when you attack again. Halimar Depths is so exciting with this card that I fully expect to playing a set of Deprives to accompany it — especially if this is a more aggresive blue deck that can play some early threats and protect them with bounce and counterspells.

There is also an entire suite of cards that will coexist in Standard until Scars of Mirrodin shakes things up that let you smooth out your draws and solve the riddle of the Conundrum Sphinx. Ponder, the newly minted Preordain, Augury Owl…

…Jace, the Mind Sculptor. I know that there are pretty much no card that you can mention that don’t get better with a little help from everyone’s favorite Planeswalker but he really shines in concert with the Sphinx and a little countermagic to make sure the whole plan comes together. Even if you only attack once with Jace in play you will have drawn a total of three cards. Which seems like a good thing to be doing.

Mike and will be posting an M11 Preview podcast after the weekend to discuss this card and all the other goodies that have been unleashed over the past 24 hours.

I made a post earlier this week on twitter via @top8games that  “I am amused by people who say “Tier 1 only, no red deck pls” in the Tournament Practice room.” I was trying to test out a PTQ winning decklist and as soon I would play Quest for the Pure Flame, Howling Mine, or Goblin Arsonist I could not get any “serious” players to stay in the game. I ended up hopping over to the 2-Man queues and picking up a virtual third of a box in pretty short order — call it collecting on Goblin insurance Money.

Goblin Insurance Money
Hugh Raynor — Winner
PTQ Amsterdam: Sydney 6/21/10

3 Howling Mine
4 Quest of the Pure Flame
1 Searing Blaze
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Burst Lightning
4 Staggershock
4 Forked Bolt
4 Hell’s Thunder
4 Goblin Arsonist
4 Hellspark Elemental
4 Goblin Guide
16 Mountain
4 Teetering Peaks
Sideboard:
3 Mana Barbs
3 Unstable Footing
3 Mark of Mutiny
3 Punishing Fire
3 Earthquake

According to tournament organizer Lindsay Heming the finals — which saw Hugh facing off against the wildly popular Turboland deck — went something like this:

Hugh led off with Mountain and Goblin Arsonist. His opponent Martin played a land of his own. Hugh untapped and played another Arsonist, laid Quest for the Pure Flame and attacked for one. His opponent played land number two. Hugh topped off his Quest at four counters by playing Hellspark Elemental and attacking with all three creatures — his opponent fell to 14. The opponent played Explore and two lands and passed the turn. Hugh sacrificed the Quest, unearthed the Elemental and attacked for 10 and finished him off with a doubled Burst Lightning.

I did not get the play by play notation for game two but despite his opponent turboing out Jace and a sideboarded Pelakka Wurm the red deck was able to win easily.