Fulminating on Extended

Happy New Year — or it would be if I was not so mad at one MichaelJ Flores. Steaming mad. Sooooooo mad.

OK, not actually mad but he did deprive me of getting banana pudding and that is hard to forgive. I spent the afternoon with Mike wandering around the Lower East Side, eating Berkshire Pork Belly, and talking about the fresh Extended season that lies ahead of us. Along the way we ended up at a desert place called Sugar Sweet Sunshine and he suggested that I get a Yum Yum Bar, insisting it was the best treat they made. I was skeptical but I got it. As we were leaving I saw a sign on the inside of the door that read: “Do You Dream of Pudding”, which is something I indeed do dream of.

As I read further they discussed their upcoming pudding tasting and, specifically, their banana pudding.

“Mike, did you know this place has banana pudding?”

I will leave the rest to the listener to discover for themselves but suffice it to say the Yum Yum Bar was not the correct play.

Not.

Even.

Close.

Random Encounters Part 4

So it seems like Mike wants to make a habit of meeting in Grand Central Station for podcasts. Apparently it is easier than him coming downtown to the new Top8Magic.com digs — which he has still not even come to visit yet. Somehow one of the busiest commuter stations in the world is the least acoustically challenging space we can agree to meet at. This time it did lead to a couple of random encounters including local Level 3 judge Eric Smith and a quick drive-by with Mario Batali (we did not speak to Mario, just made note of him passing by) as well as some random people asking for directions and attempting to menace us into giving them money for their CD.

Random Encounters Part 3

So it seems like Mike wants to make a habit of meeting in Grand Central Station for podcasts. Apparently it is easier than him coming downtown to the new Top8Magic.com digs — which he has still not even come to visit yet. Somehow one of the busiest commuter stations in the world is the least acoustically challenging space we can agree to meet at. This time it did lead to a couple of random encounters including local Level 3 judge Eric Smith and a quick drive-by with Mario Batali (we did not speak to Mario, just made note of him passing by) as well as some random people asking for directions and attempting to menace us into giving them money for their CD.

Mike and I were talking on this set of ‘casts — or was it the previous set — about Necrotic Ooze in Standard. It seems pretty exciting to me with Molten-Tail Masticores, Gigantomancers, and other cool-but-too-expensive-to-ever-summon creatures like Kalitas. Anyway, here is a rough list — sans any sideboard — that I have been toying around with on MTGO this week.I have had a couple of turn four kills when my three members of my one-drop squad got by unblocked with an Ooze in play and Gigantomancer in the yard. This is a very rough list but it has been a lot of fun so far and seems like something to build on.

Ooze Line Is It Anyway?
Brian David-Marshall

2 Drowned Catacomb
2 Grim Discovery
4 Birds of Paradise
1 Bloodshot Trainee
1 Swamp
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Llanowar Elves
7 Forest
4 Gigantomancer
4 Molten-Tail Masticore
4 Vengevine
4 Necrotic Ooze
1 Kalitas, Bloodchief of Ghet
4 Verdant Catacombs
2 Island
4 Hedron Crab
4 Fauna Shaman
4 Darkslick Shores

Random Encounters Part 2

So it seems like Mike wants to make a habit of meeting in Grand Central Station for podcasts. Apparently it is easier than him coming downtown to the new Top8Magic.com digs — which he has still not even come to visit yet. Somehow one of the busiest commuter stations in the world is the least acoustically challenging space we can agree to meet at. This time it did lead to a couple of random encounters including local Level 3 judge Eric Smith and a quick drive-by with Mario Batali (we did not speak to Mario, just made note of him passing by) as well as some random people asking for directions and attempting to menace us into giving them money for their CD.

Over the course of this last couple of ‘casting sessions Mike has begun to brew up a TurboLand variant with Genesis Wave. He recently wrote about this list over on TCGPlayer.com.

The Genesis Wave Motion Gun
Mike Flores

4 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
4 Joraga Treespeaker
4 Lotus Cobra
4 Oracle of Mul Daya
4 Overgrown Battlement
4 Primeval Titan
4 Explore
4 Genesis Wave
8 Forest
4 Halimar Depths
4 Island
4 Khalni Garden
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Tectonic Edge

Sideboard:
4 Into the Roil
4 Negate
3 Obstinate Baloth
4 Pelakka Wurm

Random Encounters Part 1

So it seems like Mike wants to make a habit of meeting in Grand Central Station for podcasts. Apparently it is easier than him coming downtown to the new Top8Magic.com digs — which he has still not even come to visit yet. Somehow one of the busiest commuter stations in the world is the least acoustically challenging space we can agree to meet at. This time it did lead to a couple of random encounters including local Level 3 judge Eric Smith and a quick drive-by with Mario Batali (we did not speak to Mario, just made note of him passing by) as well as some random people asking for directions and attempting to menace us into giving them money for their CD.

This is the Kuldotha Afterbirth deck that we discuss early in this four part series.

Kuldotha Afterbirth
Chris Cannon — Winner
Georgia 2010 State Championships

4 Arid Mesa
4 Scalding Tarn
1 Smoldering Spire
1 Teetering Peaks
11 Mountain
4 Goblin Guide
4 Goblin Bushwacker
4 Goblin Cheiftan
3 Mox Opal
4 Kuldotha Rebirth
1 Basilisk Collar
1 Infiltration Lens
3 Panic Spellbomb
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Memnite
3 Galvenize Blast
2 Spikeshot Elder
1 Darksteel Axe
1 Molten-Tail Masticore

Sideboard:
3 Mark of Mutiny
3 Arc Trail
3 Goblin Ruinblaster
3 Tunnel Ignus
3 Shatter

Quest for the Rail Yard Part 3

The last of a three part podcast from me (Brian David-Marshall) and Mike Flores. In Mike’s continued quest to find acoustically challenged sites to record podcasts he set up this session inside Grand Central Station rather than travel to the new but slightly less conveniently located Top8Magic.com offices. Over the course of the three podcasts we discussed Mike’s States performance, mused about a couple of new decks, and dropped the recorder on the floor.

Finally, here is the blue deck that Mike was advocated as we wound down the podcast:

Make it Snow

4 Frost Titan
2 Jace Beleren
4 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
3 Trinket Mage
1 Brittle Effigy
1 Elixir of Immortality
2 Everflowing Chalice
4 Into the Roil
4 Mana Leak
4 Preordain
2 Spell Pierce
2 Treasure Hunt
2 Volition Reins
Spells [22]
4 Halimar Depths
17 Island
4 Tectonic Edge
Sideboard:
3 All Is Dust
1 Elixir of Immortality
2 Flashfreeze
1 Jace Beleren
2 Negate
4 Ratchet Bomb
2 Spell Pierce

Quest for the Rail Yard Part 2

The second of a three part podcast from me (Brian David-Marshall) and Mike Flores. In Mike’s continued quest to find acoustically challenged sites to record podcasts he set up this session inside Grand Central Station rather than travel to the new but slightly less conveniently located Top8Magic.com offices. Over the course of the three podcasts we discussed Mike’s States performance, mused about a couple of new decks, and dropped the recorder on the floor.

Here is one of the deck’s Mike ended up building after there were recorded:

Infect.dec

4 Corpse Cur
4 Hand of the Praetors
4 Ichor Rats
1 Liliana Vess
4 Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon
2 Sorin Markov
4 Contagion Clasp
2 Contagion Engine
4 Everflowing Chalice
2 Mind Sludge
1 Nihil Spellbomb
4 Sign in Blood
20 Swamp
4 Tectonic Edge
Sideboard:
2 Consume the Meek
4 Consuming Vapors
4 Memoricide
2 Mind Sludge
3 Nihil Spellbomb