Yo! MTG Taps! – WotC Removes A Fade Counter

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This week, bigheadjoe is rejoined by Stephen Marshall on the last leg of his spirit journey to catch up a bit and then tackle the big question of the week: is Magic on the decline? We dig deep for the answer!

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Yo! MTG Taps! – bigheadjoe’s Live Journal

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This week, bigheadjoe records the show solo to talk about a range of topics including Standard, Sealed, anxiety, crowdfunding, and promoting a podcast. He also previews a track by the band Wildspeaker that is totally awesome.

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Yo! MTG Taps! – The Chain Veil AKA The Real Deal

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This week, Stephen and bigheadjoe discuss results for GP Memphis and GP Vancouver, discuss some interesting lists that popped up on an online PTQ, and then look back at past spoiler episodes to see how wrong they were about certain cards.

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Yo! MTG Taps! – Pre-Taped Call In Show

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In this episode, Stephen and bigheadjoe discuss their Standard decks for the upcoming San Antonio Grand Prix, work out some fringe sideboard options, and discuss the Pax Austrailia announcement a full 12 days after the announcement was made.

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Yo! MTG Taps! – Sonichu’s Your Own Adventure

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In this episode, Stephen and bigheadjoe go over a wide variety of topics, including Vintage Masters, Modern, Standard, M15, and bad Sonic fan art.

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Yo! MTG Taps! – Vintage Germor!

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In this episode, bhj and Stephen are joined by local favorites Joel Martin and Ryan Germor to discuss their experiences over the weekend playing Conspiracy, and to discuss Vintage Masters. Also, bhj gets assaulted by his cat.

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Yo! MTG Taps! – Hairway to Stephen

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In this episode we meet Stephen Marshall, talk MTG New Year’s Resolutions, rant a little about the Invitational coverage, and then are joined by some dude to talk about our favorite albums of 2013! (and 1 from 2012, apparently…)

The Swasey Shuffle

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Balthor the Defiled Commander By Bigheadjoe EDH BRAH

Sup jerks?

(An aside about the beginning of this post: I have no idea how to write HTML code, so I went to my last post on here and copied the image code. I accidentally highlighted the words “Sup jerks?” from said post as well, but decided that, as you are all COMPLETE AND UTTER JERKS, to go with it.)

(As an aside to my aside, I hope that you are all familiar with my sense of humor by now. 😀 )

Lately I have been getting a lot of requests to share my Balthor the Defiled Commander deck. Well, it just so happens that I pulled the trigger on a Japanese Foil Balthor (Thank you Smedlock for the photo link) just last night. When Joey informed me tonight that yet another person was requesting the deck, I jumped at the chance to finally get around to it. I’m really excited about this deck and am about to begin the arduous task of finding the rest of the foils for it.

Before I post the current list, I want you all to take a look at the original list I posted back on November 9, 2009, on my long-deceased blog Otherworldly Journey. We had just posted episode TWO of Yo! MTG Taps! at the time of this blog entry. I had obviously just started building the deck and was far from finished getting the deck where I wanted it to be.

What a difference 22 months make!

Key:
BOLD indicates foil.
(J) indicates Japanese
Sets will follow each card name and will be represented by whatever 2-3 letter code I come up with for them.

Balthor the Defiled

Commander:
Balthor the Defiled JDG (J)
Creatures (35):
Apprentice Necromancer UD
Boneknitter ONS
Cemetery Reaper M12
Corpse Connoisseur SOA
Corpse Harvester (signed) (HOLY CRAP WHAT IS AN ABBREVIATION FOR “LEGIONS” THAT DOESN’T JUST LOOK LIKE AN ABBREVIATION FOR “LEGENDS????” I’m looking it up.) LGN
Death Baron SOA
Filth JDG
Fleshbag Marauder SOA
Gempalm Polluter LGN
Geth, Lord of the Vault SOM
Grave Defiler APC
Grave Scrabbler FUT
Gravedigger ODY
Gravespawn Sovereign ONS
Grixis Slavedriver CFX
Grotesque Hybrid TOR
Khabal Ghoul ARN
Korlash, Heir to Blackblade (Prerelease Promo) FUT
Lord of the Undead Xth(J)
Mass of Ghouls FUT
Nested Ghoul MBS
Nightmare M10
Shepherd of Rot ONS
Skinrender Gateway
Skirk Ridge Exhumer FUT
Soulless One ONS
Stromgald Crusader COLDSNAP
Stronghold Assassin STR
Undead Gladiator ONS
Undead Warchief SCR
Vengeful Dead SCR
Vengeful Pharaoh M12
Visara the Dreadful FTV:L
Viscera Dragger SOA
Withered Wretch TSTS

Enchantments (7):
Call to the Grave M12
Enslave PLC
Gate to Phyrexia ANT
Phyrexian Arena APC
Tombstone Stairwell MIRAGE
Tortured Existence STR
Zombie Infestation ODY

Instants (2):
Songs of the Damned IA
Vampiric Tutor VIS

Sorceries (14):
Barter in Blood MRD
Beseech the Queen SHM
Black Sun’s Zenith MBS
Buried Alive WTL
Damnation MPR
Demonic Collusion TSP
Demonic Tutor REV
Diabolic Intent PLS
Dregs of Sorrow TEM
Ill-Gotten Gains US
Morality Shift JDG
Mutilate TOR
Sinkhole ALPHA! (Thanks, Tim McLaren)
Syphon Flesh COM

Artifacts (5):
Memory Jar (Signed) UL
Nevinyrral’s Disk (Signed) 4th
Sensei’s Divining Top CoK (yup that’s right I used the “CoK” abbreviation.)
Skullclamp FTV:E
Sol Ring (Signed) REV

Lands (36):
22x Swamp (all old card frame)
Bojuka Bog WWK
Bottomless Vault FE
Cabal Coffers Planechase
Crypt of Agadeem ZEN
Deserted Temple ODY
Lake of the Dead AL
Miren, the Moaning Well SoK
Phyrexian Tower US
Strip Mine (No Sky, No Tower) ANT
Subterranean Hangar MM
Thawing Glaciers Judge Foil
Unholy Grotto ONS
Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth PLC
Volrath’s Stronghold STR

So there’s the deck. I was going to get into more detail about why some of the cards are in the deck, and was even going to post another super awesome Commander list, but it’s now 6am and I can’t possibly stay up any later.

TO BE CONTINUED…
Bigheadjoe
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Musings: Tarmogoyf in Innistrad?

Several weeks ago, Bigheadjoe mentioned to me that he thought there was a possibility that Tarmogoyf would be reprinted in the upcoming Innistrad block. At the time, my reaction was along the lines of, “Sure, anything’s possible.” (I learned a long time ago to never say “never” when it comes to WotC.)

Since then, my mind goes back to that conversation every time someone mentions Tarmogoyf. So, yesterday morning I posed the question on Twitter.

Not surprisingly, I got a wide range of answers. Points against the reprint were that ‘Goyf was a “mistake” and would be “overpowered” and “format-warping.” @leet32 mentioned “Time taken to determine p/t. Awkwardly bounces off other copies.”

(Also not surprisingly, most all of those who seemed absolutely sure that Tarmogoyf would not be reprinted offered zero support for their argument. I’d guess these are the same people who shot down the idea of time-shifted cards in Time Spiral and the “priceless treasures” of Zendikar. Like I said before: Never say “never.”)

Don’t get me wrong—I’m not saying there’s a good chance Tarmogoyf will be reprinted. I’m not guaranteeing it, predicting it, or vowing to eat my hat or eat a Jace if Tarmogoyf doesn’t show up in Innistrad block. I’m just saying, if ‘Goyf is ever getting reprinted in Standard, this seems like a swell time to do it.

First, let’s address the naysayers. In the four years since Tarmogoyf first appeared in Future Sight, we’ve seen some of the strongest creatures ever to be printed in Magic’s 18-year history. Wild Nacatl. Goblin Guide. Baneslayer Angel. Knight of the Reliquary. All five Titans. Pro Tour Hall of Fame hopeful Mark Herberholz remarked recently in an interview on the Top 8 Magic podcast that while he was active on the PT the game was spell-based, but now, “creatures are king.” A Tarmogoyf in Standard in 2011 would not be the same Tarmogoyf we knew in 2007 (which, by the way, was not deemed so powerful as to be ban-worthy). Wizards has shown us that they want creatures to be good. Tarmogoyf may have been stronger than was intended for the time (rumor has it that it was originally costed at 1GG instead of 1G), but in the context of today’s creatures, it fits right in. Overpowered? Hardly. Not in 2011.

Time taken to determine power/toughness? Creatures with variable P/T are fun and have been staples of the game since its inception. The time it takes to determine P/T is negligible in my opinion. People made the same “time” argument against the reprinting of fetchlands, but current Standard has those, plus a ton of other shuffle effects that add to the time a game takes. Squadron Hawk, Ponder, Primeval Titan, Birthing Pod…just to name a few off the top of my head.

Awkwardly bounces off other copies? Consecrated Sphinx has a pretty awkward interaction with other copies too, and not only because it bounces off itself. That didn’t stop Wizards from printing it. According to this argument, Wizards should never print creatures with toughness greater than power. You know, because it’s awkward.

In fact, the best argument that I could come up with myself (and I’m a little surprised no one mentioned it) is that Tarmogoyf is a Creature—Lhurgoyf. Not Creature—Werewolf, —Vampire, —Zombie, —Spirit, or —Human. “Lhurgoyf” isn’t “classic horror,” which is Innistrad‘s apparent theme. Then again, I don’t recall seeing any Planeswalkers hanging out with Frankenstein or Dracula, either.

So now that we’ve got that out of the way, why would Tarmogoyf be a good fit for this block? As mentioned, Wizards has been pushing creatures lately. They’ve also been upping the power level of green as a whole (a color that revolves around beefy creatures). With both the Zendikar fetchlands and the Worldwake manlands rotating out, mana fixing is taking quite a hit. While Innistrad will likely give us something to replace them, there’s a possibility that splashing for ‘Goyf won’t be so easy, thereby forcing more of a commitment to the color.

Innistrad is rumored to be a graveyard-based block. We already know that the flashback mechanic is returning, and we’ve seen several “plants” in M12 that will play nicely with graveyard strategies. Wizards loves to create tension in their designs. Cards like Visions of Beyond and Tarmogoyf want cards in the graveyard, and they want them to stay there; Grim Lavamancer and flashback also want cards in the graveyard, but work against Visions and ‘Goyf by emptying the graveyard. Jace, Memory Adept has synergies with all of them. If Innistrad is all about interacting with graveyards, Tarmogoyf is a great fit, as all its strength comes from what resides in that zone. Every time a Grim Lavamancer is activated or a card is cast for its flashback cost, there is the potential to change a ‘Goyf’s effect on the board.

Mark Rosewater and company have told us that Innistrad has a tribal sub-theme. This being the case, there’s a good chance we’ll be seeing some Tribal card types, even if it’s only a small handful like we saw in Rise of the Eldrazi. This would make it so that all cardtypes are present and relevant to boost a Tarmogoyf in Standard (unlike ‘Goyf’s first few months of existence, when there was no such thing as a Planeswalker card type, and only one Tribal—Bound in Silence).

Tarmogoyf is also legal in the recently-announced Modern format, and if Wizards wants to give this format a push, helping players get into the format by reprinting what will likely be a format staple seems like a splendid plan of attack. Tarmogoyf’s price is currently hovering in the $55-$70 range. A reprint would go a long way towards changing that, giving newer players easier access into a format which is likely to replace Extended.

And don’t forget, Tarmogoyf was a future-shifted card from Future Sight, a set whose timeshifted cards were intended to give us a look at potential futures.

Future Sight is not a peek into a single future but instead glimpses into a myriad of possible futures. Some of these futures are going to come to pass, while some of what you see in this set you’ll never see again. (- Mark Rosewater, April 2007)

While it’s perfectly possible that ‘Goyf falls into the latter category, it is always exciting to get cards from the former. With every new set, people clamor to find out if any cards from Future Sight have been reprinted. Since 2007, we’ve only seen 5 future-shifted cards show up (Rites of Flourishing and Foresee don’t count, as they weren’t actually future-shifted), and only Graven Cairns saw any serious play. There’s a sort of joy and satisfaction in discovering what sort of world the future-shifts originated from, at least on the flavor side of things.

So, while it may be unlikely, I think it’s entirely possible that we get Tarmogoyf back at some point in the next year (for those wondering, I’d expect it to be a Mythic, although I wouldn’t be too surprised to see it at Rare). To quote Matt Kranstuber of In Contention, ‘Goyf is “on theme, not overpowered by today’s standards, and [will] sell packs.”

I, for one, would welcome the return of our little green buddy.

Special thanks to everyone who shared their input on Twitter!
@_timmclaren
@Fenaris
@triforc3
@wortwelt
@NicholasAtSCG
@simongoertzen
@magnusmagicus
@dustyg013
@kstube
@vicious_bomber
@AllSunsDawn
@shameless_geek
@setzerg
@CapnTopDeck
@BigPReilly
@RealEvilGenius
@mikelinnemann
@BoltTheBird
@herodotusjr
@A_Magrini
@travishall456
@inSketch
@norbert88
@Antknee42
@dastels_mtg
@leet32
@ThaGatherin
@drsylvan
@thewachman
@chrisrossdipd
@Waldolio
@mixedknuts
@Kengy5
@WillieGMyPrez
@beardsonfire
@Daiches2
@mlanier131
@Schaf1
@TheCravenOne

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Quick Hits: Chapin Is (half) Right About Thrun

First, the card in question:

Pretty great creature, right? I personally love it, as it’s a throwback to one of my favorite green creatures ever, Troll Ascetic. My initial reaction was that I was a bit scared of it, being a control player. How do you answer this guy? Can’t target him. Can’t bounce him with Jace. Can’t tap him with Frost Titan or Tumble Magnet. Can’t Wrath him if they have mana to regenerate…etc.

Enter – Patrick Chapin:

Okay, so let’s think.

• Sacrifice effects will work. (Gatekeeper of Malakir & Consuming Vapors immediately spring to mind.) There are 109 nonland cards in the current Standard (pre-Mirrodin Besieged) that have the word “sacrifice” on them. While some of them don’t apply (e.g. Arc Runner, cards that create Eldrazi Spawn tokens), a good chunk of them are potential answers to Thrun.
• Anything that gives -1/-1 counters will work. This includes anything that has infect or grants it can answer Thrun. Here are 19 cards that fit that category, a list that will grow when Thrun & the rest of Besieged becomes legal. Also, don’t forget about the new black sweeper, Black Sun’s Zenith. Seems good.
• A Thrun of your own will take out an opposing Thrun. People have been doing this to Jace for nearly a year. Thrun’s legendary status is a liability. And you don’t even have to be playing green. If you’re able to copy Thrun (without targeting) with a card like, say, Clone, then the legendary rule will kick in to destroy all copies of Thrun in play.
• Or, you could just block it. Thrun is just a 4/4, so anything with 5 toughness will sit and block him all day. Here’s a list of 89 creatures in Standard (again, pre-MBS) that will make Thrun look a bit foolish. Token generators like Elspeth Tirel and Avenger of Zendikar will also keep Thrun from being very effective.

So yeah, when Patrick tweeted that there are 60 answers to Thrun in Standard, he was half right. Looks to me that there are at least double* that.

*=Obviously some answers will be better than others, but this is just a start to get the juices flowing.

EDIT: Just wanted to add this comment from Twitter, as it’s a good thing to keep in mind:

In other words, leaving an “incapacitated” Thrun in play (in Greg’s example, giving him three -1/-1 counters instead of four) will keep your opponent from easily playing another one. It’s quite likely that your opponent will just use the 1/1 Thrun as a chump blocker, so if that’s relevant to you (i.e., if you plan to win by attacking on the ground), you may want to factor in whether it makes sense to leave your opponent with a chump or to remove the Thrun entirely.

(This is why I love this game! So many decisions!)

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