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 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.

Mike Flores, myself and about two dozen other Magic players descended on a previously Magic friendly deli in midtown Manhattan this week to put the new Standard format through its paces. The goal was to run a four round Mock Standard tournament dubbed The Mother Lovin’ Cup (think Lord Stanley’s Cup or the World Cup) and inscribe/sharpie the winner’s name onto a foil Everflowing Chalice. We barely got through two rounds before we were politely — then much less politely — asked to leave. The group broke up and went its different ways but I found myself in a Penn Station coffee shop with Mike Flores, Lauren “Mulldrifting” Lee, Sean McKeown, Morgan Chang and a podcaster.

MisMocking Through Standard Part 4

We discussed the new format, the decks everyone played, and Mike and Lauren even battled for a few games with Mike’s All-American take on the popular blue-white control decks against Mulldrifting’s old-school Jund.

MisMocking Through Standard Part 3

Mike Flores, myself and about two dozen other Magic players descended on a previously Magic friendly deli in midtown Manhattan this week to put the new Standard format through its paces. The goal was to run a four round Mock Standard tournament dubbed The Mother Lovin’ Cup (think Lord Stanley’s Cup or the World Cup) and inscribe/sharpie the winner’s name onto a foil Everflowing Chalice. We barely got through two rounds before we were politely — then much less politely — asked to leave. The group broke up and went its different ways but I found myself in a Penn Station coffee shop with Mike Flores, Lauren “Mulldrifting” Lee, Sean McKeown, Morgan Chang and a podcaster.

We discussed the new format, the decks everyone played, and Mike and Lauren even battled for a few games with Mike’s All-American take on the popular blue-white control decks against Mulldrifting’s old-school Jund.

Mike Flores, myself and about two dozen other Magic players descended on a previously Magic friendly deli in midtown Manhattan this week to put the new Standard format through its paces. The goal was to run a four round Mock Standard tournament dubbed The Mother Lovin’ Cup (think Lord Stanley’s Cup or the World Cup) and inscribe/sharpie the winner’s name onto a foil Everflowing Chalice. We barely got through two rounds before we were politely — then much less politely — asked to leave. The group broke up and went its different ways but I found myself in a Penn Station coffee shop with Mike Flores, Lauren “Mulldrifting” Lee, Sean McKeown, Morgan Chang and a podcaster.

MisMocking Through Standard Part 2

We discussed the new format, the decks everyone played, and Mike and Lauren even battled for a few games with Mike’s All-American take on the popular blue-white control decks against Mulldrifting’s old-school Jund.

Mike Flores, myself and about two dozen other Magic players descended on a previously Magic friendly deli in midtown Manhattan this week to put the new Standard format through its paces. The goal was to run a four round Mock Standard tournament dubbed The Mother Lovin’ Cup (think Lord Stanley’s Cup or the World Cup) and inscribe/sharpie the winner’s name onto a foil Everflowing Chalice. We barely got through two rounds before we were politely — then much less politely — asked to leave. The group broke up and went its different ways but I found myself in a Penn Station coffee shop with Mike Flores, Lauren “Mulldrifting” Lee, Sean McKeown, Morgan Chang and a podcaster.

MisMocking Through Standard Part 1

We discussed the new format, the decks everyone played, and Mike and Lauren even battled for a few games with Mike’s All-American take on the popular blue-white control decks against Mulldrifting’s old-school Jund.

Seth is an old time NYC player, who sent this into us on Friday. We hope you enjoy it. - Matt

Black:

Arrogant Bloodlord:

He dies because he was so offended that he was blocked by a powerless wall? Lighten up Francis. Addendum: Still playable. Black has plenty of removal to clear his path.

Bala Ged Scorpion:

Nice combo with the Bloodlord but too weak on its own to be playable.

Consume the Meek:

1. Instant speed mass removal.
2. Demolishes token and weenie strategies.
3. Kills manlands.
4. Allows your edict effects to kill their best creatures.

Yeah, this card is good. Addendum: Five is a lot of mana. I still like Consume the Meek, but I’m willing to admit to its faults.

Consuming Vapors:

Consuming Vapors combos well with Consume the Meek. I expect the two of them together will help revitalize Black control. I don’t feel Vapors is a great card, but it is a pretty good one. Most importantly it has pretty good synergy with the other Black control cards we have at our disposable. Each edict effect makes the next one even better. As creatures improve, so does the value of creature removal. Addendum: It is hard to lose if you resolve Consuming Vapors plus rebound twice. Four creatures gone, some nice lifegain, etc. Black has plenty of cheap removal spells to make sure you haven’t fallen too far behind for Vapors not to matter. As I noted earlier, it is getting harder to be a weenie.

Contaminated Ground:

Well, you don’t get to draw a card, and you probably don’t have any Swampwalk creatures. Still, for two mana you get to turn a manland or an Eldrazi land into an awful land. Might be worth sideboarding.

Corpsehatch:

Good effort, but this costs too much and is a bit too slow compared to our other options. Read the rest of this entry »

An old time NYC-based Magic player, Seth Burn, sent this in to us on Friday. We hope you enjoy it!

Hello there. If you remember who I am The Sunset Squad will be arriving soon to take you away to the Near-Death Star. I feel like writing a set review of Rise of the Eldrazi, so please enjoy. I won’t be reviewing all the cards because I don’t have to, I’ll just be commenting on cards I feel are worth noting. Shall we (I) begin?

Colorless Eldrazi (AKA, not artifacts):

All Is Dust:

This card is exceedingly strong. It kills planeswalkers, enchantments, creatures, and some artifacts. All is Dust can cost as little as five mana with Eye of Ugin. I could see running this in a Green ramp deck, or a White based control deck, possibly splashing Blue or Black. It doesn’t win the game by itself (which is something you can reasonably ask of a seven mana spell), but it should put you in a good position to take control. Addendum: This card is nuts. Add Black control to the decks that can use this. Oblivion Ring just got worse, as has Journey to Nowhere. I know it costs seven, but we can painlessly play five lands main thateither make this two mana cheaper, or tap for two mana to cast it.

Emrakul, The Aeons Torn:

You get what you pay for. Possibly the best Summoning Trap target in both Type II and block. The immunity to spells isn’t quite all it appears to be as Day of Judgement and Journey to Nowhere can deal with Emrakul. I can’t imagine I’ll pay 15 for it too often, but I am excited to pay 4GG during my opponent’s end step for it. Polymorph is a cheaper option, and given the amount of token generators available it should be fairly consistent. Addendum: I’m glad this guy is the prerelease card, I have a lot of decklists right now with four Emrakuls.

The Prerelease Card

Kozilek, Butcher of Truth:

Am I the only person waiting for Blarthmein Dragon, Accountant of Truth? Anyway, Kozilek is the one Eldrazi creature I am planning on casting as well as trapping. Between Eye of Ugin, Eldrazi Temple, and our ramping options I’m fairly confident Kozilek’s casting cost is reasonable. Unfortunately Kozilek doesn’t have any defenses against removal, but for only costing ten mana (only ten mana!), I’ll let that slide. Addendum: 10 mana is a lot less than it used to be. Green decks can have him online consistently on turn 6, and occasionally on turn 5.

It That Betrays:

Not that All Is Dust needed any help, but the combo is pretty sweet. Addendum: Which is not to say that It That Betrays is any good.

Not Of This World:

Pretty narrow but I could see sideboarding this. It can’t protect Emrakul, but Ulamog and Kozilek are both vulnerable to targeted spells.

Read the rest of this entry »