Huge collection for sale! (currently 1700€)

Update:
Auction will be closed on 9/5/2009, 23.59.
New bids have to be at least 50€ more than the previous one.

I'm calling it quits for now... That's why I'm selling my whole collection.

I started casually in 1997, gradually turning to the tournament scene. Odyssey-Tormen-Judgement marked the start, and from Onslaught on, I drafted a lot, and started playing constructed tournaments too: block constructed, extended & standard.

Last year, I started taking it easier, and my collection didn't grow as much anymore.

I own a lot of cards, and thanks to my interest in tournaments, I have most of the "playable" commons/uncommons from then till last year.

I just writing this as something to keep in mind, to give you an idea of my collection of cards. Note that I've played a lot, so most cards won't be in mint condition. I did however, always take care when playing.

So what I'm selling (ALL OR NOTHING):

7000 uncommons
a similar amount of commons
1000 rares (including some that have seen constructed play, but probably not anymore)

(these amounts are guesstimates, probably on the low side)

in addition to the following:

3 Pithing Needle
4 Siege-Gang Commander
4 Wrath of God
5 Birds of Paradise

2 Doran (1 Foil)
3 Gaddock Teeg
2 Profane Command
3 Thoughtseize
2 Scion of Oona
3 Mistbind Clique
3 Cryptic Command
2 Sower of Temptation
3 Garruk
3 Gilt-leaf palace
2 foil Auntie’s Hovel
1 Auntie’s hovel
5 Wanderwine hub
3 ancient Amphitheater
4 Secluded Glen
1 Jace Beleren
5 Cloudthresher
3 Thorn of Amethyst

1 Vendillion Clique
4 Reveillark
2 Chameleon Colossus
1 Vendillion Clique
2 Mutavault
1 Murmuring Bosk

1 Swans of Bryn Argoll
3 Reflecting Pool
1 Fire-lit Thicket
1 Sunken Ruins
1 Graven Cairns
1 Vexing Shusher

1 Twilight Mire
1 Fetid Heath
1 Rugged Prairie

1 Tezzeret
3 Ranger of eos (1 foil)
1 Cruel Ultimatum

3 Slaughter Pact
1 Bridge from Below
1 Pact of negation
3 Venser, Shaper savant
4 Tarmogoyf
1 Glittering Wish
3 River of Tears
2 Horizon Canopy

4 Extirpate
4 Damnation

4 Ancestral Visions

4 Dark Confidant
4 Loxodon Hierarch
5 Chord of calling
4 Blinkmoth Nexus

3 Isamaru
4 Glimpse of Nature
4 Umezawa’s Jitte

5 Chalice of the Void
4 Chrome Mox

2 Engineered Explosives
2 Enduring Ideal
1 Protean Hulk
1 Infernal tutor
4 Leyline of the void

4 Blistering Firecat
3 Ravenous Baloth
3 Decree of Justice

4 Temple Garden
4 Sacred Foundry
4 Watery Grave
4 Overgrown Tomb
4 Stomping Ground
6 Steam vents
4 Godless Shrine
4 Hallowed Fountain
3 Blood Crypt
4 Breeding Pool

5x4 onslaught “fetchland”

10x4 “painland” (enemy color from apocalypse, allied color 13 from IA, others from base edition)

4 Mind’s Desire
4 Threads of Disloyalty
5 Gifts ungiven
1 Vedalken Shackles

1 Quirion Dryad
4 Meddling Mage
3 Eladamri’s Call
4 Living Wish
4 Cunning Wish
4 Burning Wish
4 Grim Lavamancer
4 Balancing Act
3 Solitary Confinement
3 Ichorid
5 Golgari Gravetroll
4 Life from the Loam
4 Anurid Brushhopper

1 Genesis
4 City of brass
4 Savannah Lions

4 Powder Keg
4 Sapphire Medaillon
1 Academy Rector
4 Hypnotic Specter
4 Force of Will
2 Vampiric Tutor
1 Yawgmoth’s Will
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Sol Ring
1 Cursed Scroll
4 Tithe
2 Tradewind Rider
1 Trinisphere
4 Spectral Lynx
1 Fledging Dragon
1 regrowth
1 Tividars Crusade (it)
1 Stroke of genius
1 Masticore

4 Ancient Tomb
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Aether Vial
4 Nimble Mongoose
6 BB Force Spike (4 English, 2 italian legends)
4 asian 4th E Counterspell

4 Early harvest
6 Heartbeat of spring
4 Nostalgic Dreams

3 Ohran Viper
3 Scrying Sheets
5 Serra Avenger
4 Teferi
4 Vesuvan Shapeshifter
4 Bogardan Hellkite
3 Magus of the scroll
5 Greater Gargadon
3 Spectral Force
3 Saffi Eriksdotter
6 Lotus Bloom
4 Flagstones of Trokair
4 Psionic Blast
4 Dragonstorm
4 Call of the herd
4 Shadowmage infiltrator
7 lightning angel
4 mystic snake

4 Troll Ascetic
2 Liliana Vess
1 Haakon Stromgald Scourge
4 Phyrexian Arena
1 Akroma, AoW (asian, scourge)

4 Sickening Shoal
6 Cranial Extraction
1 Arashi
4 Disrupting Shoal
2 Promise of Bunrei
2 8.5 tails
5 Shining Shoal
1 Night of souls Betrayal
2 Iwamori
4 Keiga
4 Meloku
3 Kokusho
4 Yosei
6 Boseiju
1 Kiki-Jiki

3 Bottled Cloister
4 Vinelasher Kudzu
3 Glare of subdual
1 Rumbling slum
7 Orzhov Pontiff
4 Burning-tree shaman
2 Debtor’s Knell
4 Skeletal Vampire
5 Angel of despair
4 Ghost-Council of Orzhova
4 Giant Solifuge
3 Rakdos Augermage
1 Lyzolda, the Blood Witch
1 Char
3 demonfire
3 Firemane angel
1 Simic Sky Swallower
2 Teysa
3 Grand Arbiter Augustin

4 Mindslaver
4 Oblivion Stone
3 Myr Incubator
2 Duplicant
4 Sword of fire & ice
1 Memnarch
1 Platinum Angel
5 Arc-slogger
4 Triskelion
3 death Cloud
1 Kataki
3 Pulse of the fields
4 Beacon of creation
1 Tooth and nail
5 Sundering Titan
4 Pulse of the forge
1 Glimmervoid
1 Mikokoro
1 Second Sunrise

2 Oversold Cemetary
4 Rotlung Reanimator
3 Akroma’s Vengeance
1 Xantid Swarm
4 Goblin Goon
3 Starstorm

Uncommons & commons like:
4 Brainstorm
4 Accumulated Knowledge
4 Fireblast
2 asian 4th E Lightning Bolt
4 Impulse
4 Hymn To Tourach

4 Counterbalance
4 Putrefy
4 Arrogant Wurm
4 Eternal Witness (asian)
4 Flametongue Kavu
4 Goblin Ringleader
4 Goblin Warchief
1 Goblin Matron
4 Isochron Scepter
5 cabal therapy
11 BB Urza’s lands (mix of English & asian: 4/4/3)
4 Engineered Plague
4 Lightning Helix
4 Psychatog
4 Fire/Ice
4 Fact or Fiction
4 Sensei’s Divining Top
4 Cryoclasm
4 Wall of Blossoms
2 Wirewood Symbiote
3 Wirewood Hivemaster
4 Heritage Druid
5 Brain freeze
4 Kird ape (revised)
4 Smother
4 Thirst for knowledge
4 Remand
4 spell snare
4 treetop village (UL)
4 Faerie Conclave (UL)
4 Ghitu Encampment (UL)
4 Gemstone Mine
2 Zuran Orb


Legend membership promo’s:
1 Counterspell
1 Incinerate

Shiny:
Tons of prerelease foils
3 Gp Call of the herd
1 GP spiritmonger
1 foil damnation( player rewards)
2 foil hypnotic Specter (player rewards)
4 foil psychatog (player rewards)
32 FNM promo’s

If you are interested, you can mail me: friedmeulders at hotmail dot com
Or you can leave a comment here.

It's possible to check out the collection, in Leuven, if you are seriously interested.

I don't have a price in my mind yet, I'm just trying to see what interested buyers are offering.

GP Madrid, part 3

In the previous parts, we learned that I, the hero of the story, made it to the second day.

All this glory comes with a hefty price though: I had to get up at the ungodly hour of something like 6.30 am.

There's a 6.30 in the am now?

With the GP starting at 8am (<3), I met up with Jurgen (Baert) in the hallway for our daily 45 min journey to the site.

I was going to look for my draft pod in the coverage of the GP, but I can't find them. Anyway, my first pod featured Frank Karsten and some randoms like my archnemesis Nestor Santos (who put a halt to my rise to the top at nationals a couple of years ago).

I first picked Wilt-Leaf Cavaliers. It's G and W, but I'm happy playing either of those colors. I stayed on track and after booster 1, I had mostly green cards. Including 2 Gloomwidows. I'm all about 3/3's for 3. 2/2's for 2 with extras are also totally my bag. after the first 2 packs, I had 2 Safehold Elite, 1 Safehold Sentry, 1 Wilt-Leaf Cavaliers and 3 (!) Gloomwidow.

Nice curve.

The Eventide booster was disappointing though. I figured I should be set up to receive lots of the green gems eventide has to offer, but I got the mix of deep packs and empty packs we all love to hate. I did manage to table a Savage Conception?



1 Duergar Assailant
1 Medicine Runner
1 Safehold Sentry
2 Safehold Elite
1 Woodlurker Mimic

1 Wilt-Leaf Cavaliers
3 Gloomwidow
2 Hoof Skulkin

2 Rune-Cervin Rider
1 Canker Abomination
1 Desecrator hag

1 Savage Conception
1 Old Ghastbark

1 Spirit of the Hearth

1 Viridiscent Wisps
1 Curse of Chains
1 Last Breath
1 Recumbent Bliss

9 Plains
8 Forest

Actually, this is not what my main deck was, but what it should have been. I chose to play a Strip Bare main deck.
It was a leftover from the couple of SSS drafts I did, were hybrid enchantments reigned, and where I didn't mind main decking Strip. Bare.

Round 10: Tony Martins
He had Kithkin Shielddare in his RW deck. I lold.

8-2

Round 11: Andreas Nordahl
Andreas was playing a BG deck, centered around Flourishing Defenses, which seems to have gotten a lot better with Eventide.
In the first game, I curved it up, since that's what my deck does. Curse of Chains on his Ashling kept up the pressure. but he somehow started to stabilize. Rune-Cervin Rider was about to deal the final points, when he showed me Gloomwidow Feast. No problemo though, I had more random dudes to seal the deal. Or not. Sturdy hatchling showed up, bringing along 4 tokens thanks to Flourishing Defenses. Andreas topdecked Tower Above to deal lots and lots of wither damage, for 8 more tokens, and that's how he took the first game.

In the second, I came out of the gates blazing, with turn 2 Woodlurker Mimic, turn 3 Wilt-Leaf Cavaliers. Andrekes first play was A farhaven Elf. On my 4th turn, I could either play Canker Abomination, with 1 counter and attack with a now 4/5 Mimic and the Cavaliers, or I could attack first and play my Abomination afterwards, as a 6/6.
The first option seemed like the best one, since there's hardly a difference between a 5/5 and a 6/6, plus I'd get more damage out of my Mimic this way.
On his fourth turn, Andreas played a Sickle Ripper and passed the turn with 3 mana up.

*insert foreshadowing music*

I got in there with all of my guys. The Sickle Ripper chumped my Cavaliers, making it a 1/2. Farhaven Elf traded with my Mimic. Canker Abomination turned into a 0/0 snake. What a blowout.
I was running out of gas, and another Snakeform later, it was all over but the crying.

8-3

I talked with Andreas afterwards. He was sitting on my right during the draft, and picked amost solely green cards. While he had the Flourishing Defenses theme going on, I managed to get a couple of good green cards in the first series of packs. But in Eventide, I had him to blame for the rather unfortunate outcome.

Round 12: Ricard Tuduri
Ricard had drafted himself a UB deck.
And he mulliganned to 5 in the first.
In the second, it seemed like I was winning, until he had Biting Tether. And then I drew Duergar Assailant.
In the third, Ricard was a little shy on spells. His Soul Reap wasn't helping either versus my monogreen army.

9-3

My second draft featured Antoine Ruel to my left and some more randoms. Well, I did recognize the name Yves Sele from a couple of years ago.

My first pack had Midnight Banshee and Spectral Procession. I love white and I hate black in this format (KKK anyone?), but the Banshee is sooooo sick. Also, black decks are also able to cast Unmake and 2/4 withers for 4. My following picks were Glen Elendra Liege, Faerie Macabre and Wasp Lancers.
<3. plan. together.

In pack 2, I opened Furystoke Giant and nothing black or blue. I picked it, since I was mainly monoblack anyways... I followed it up with some more black picks.

Pack 3, was a complete disaster. Call the Skybreaker provided another bomb, but I just wanted solid playables. Which i didn't get. I also needed something cheap/some removal, but I picked Soul Snuffers > Soul Reap. I ended up with a lack of playables which made me resort to main deck Splitting Headache and Scarscale Ritual.



1 Oona's Gatewarden
1 Sootstoke Kindler
1 Sickle Ripper
1 Nightsky Mimic
1 Inkfathom Witch
1 Fang Skulkin

2 Faerie Macabre
1 Wasp Lancer
1 Rendclaw Trow
1 Gravegill Duo
1 Wingrattle Scarecrow

1 Soul Snuffers
1 Glen Elendra Liege
1 Desecrator Hag

1 Cultbrand Cinder

1 Rattleblaze Scarecrow
1 Midnight Banshee

1 Call the Skybreaker

1 Gloomlance
1 Scarscale Ritual
1 Splitting Headache

13/5 or 14/4 Swamp/Island

However, again this is what my deck should have been. My deck consisted out of a lot of dorks. And Furystoke Giant is good with a lot of dorks. I also wasn't sure how good Inkfathom Witch really is, so the deck I registered had -1 Witch, +1 Furystoke Giant, with 5 Mountains. Obviously, I was never able to cast my Wasp Lancers on turn 3, never Furystoked and boarded to the UB version every time.

Round 13: Andres Madruga
He had a GW deck, that also didn't get there and featured cards like a 3/2 for 4 that gives blue creatures shroud.
I don't really remember any exciting plays except me activating Inkfathom Witch when my opponent attacked. Because his guys had -1/-1 counters on them from the Soul Snuffers I had cast a while ago.
I won 2-1

10-3

Round 14: David Magallon Martinez
David had a nearly monoblue deck, splashing for Incremental Blight.
Basically the Banshee took down both games. Even though he got to cast his Blight, Midnight Banshee is pretty good imo.

11-3
Antoine played him the previous round, so I asked him what my opponent in the finals was playing, which tricks he had etc... But Antoine knew the guy, so he wasn't going to tell me.

"You'll know what he's playing soon enough"
*wink*

Round 15: Yves Sele
"Soon enough"
Monored?
Monored.

In the first game, Ashenmoor Gouger recieved Fists of the Demigod, and I didn't draw my single out.
I boarded in a lot of cheap dorks like a 1/1 for 1, a 2/2 for 3. In the second game, Yves didn't have the uberbroken draw and was lacking some gas in the end.
In the third, he had another blazing start again, but without 4/4's for 3 this time. But I had turn 3 Wasp Lancer and played Soul Snuffers on turn 4, netting me a 3-for-0.
BAM.
I was at 12 at this point. Yves at 17, from 1 Lancer attack. My hand was lands and a Cultbrand Cinder.
Yves played a Noggle Hedge-Mage, dealing 2 to me and bringing me to 10. He missed another land drop (3 in play) and still had some cards in his hand.
I drew another land. So what's my play here?

Wasp Lancer is definitely attacking. I want to take advantage of the temporarily edge I have here. I'm at 10 versus the red deck and have only 1 spell. I probably want to play my Cultbrand Cinder this turn, to keep up the pressure. However, it might be kind of a waste, since I can kill of ton of his guys with it.
I could also just attack with the Lancer, keep back the Soul Snuffers to trade with his 2/2 and keep the Cultbrand Cinder in my hand to kill his next play?

The clock is ticking, we all know card advantage is good, but I had to kill him fast.
In hindsight, the play to make seems to play Cultbrand Cinder before attacking, turning his 2/2 into a 1/1. This way he can't trade versus Soul Snuffers and I have maximized the amount of pressure.
What I did however, was attacking first. A mashup between the aggro and card advantage plan, I'd give my opponent the chance to trade with my 2/2. If he did, I'd keep my Cultbrand Cinder in my hand, and just pass the turn. If he didn't, I'd play it anyway.
The thing is, I think I have to be the beatdown at this point. I can't just reduce my clock to Wasp Lancer and give him a chance to catch up again.

Yves didn't block, going down to 13. After combat, I played Cultbrand Cinder. Yves played a land, a 1/1 and passed the turn with 3 mana up. I know he his Fire at Will in his deck, adn with several cards in his hand, it was pretty likeley he had it right now.
So I drew another land, and just attacked with the Wasp Lancer, to avoid getting owned by Fire at Will. Yves is at 11 now and I pass the turn.
Yves doesn't do anything relevant and ships it back to me.
I realize I want to kill him faster and attack with more than just Wasp Lancer. I can't attack with both the Lancer and Soul Snuffers though, as Fire at Will kills them both. So I attack with Soul Snuffers and Cultbrand Cinder. He chumps them both with 1/1's and finishes the job with Fire at Will. Card advantage for me, but my board position suddenly seemed a lot worse. I think I should just have attacked with my Cultbrand Cinder and deny him the opportunity to trade his 2 irrelevant 1/1s + Fire at Will for my 2 bigger guys.
Yves plays Cinder Pyromancer. I draw another land and attack him to 9.
Yves doesn't do anything. I draw another land and attack him to 7. Yves pings me to 9.
Yves doesn't do anything. I draw a spell! I attack him to 7 and play Rattleblaze Scarecrow. Yves pings me to 8. Yves playes Smash to Smithereens taking me to 5. Yves pings me to 4.
He untaps and finishes the job with Burn Trail.

What an anticlimax. The game & match seemed to be mine after my fourth turn. But I drew land after land after land. And Rattleblaze Scarecrow is not that good when your opponent has been waiting for it with a Smash to Smithereens for the last X turns.

I opened the Soul Snuffers, passed it and was sure I could never beat the person who had it.
I never thought I'd win that last match, phew.

-Yves Sele


I never thought you'd win it either.

11-4, 41th

And that kids, is how Jeanke de Coster became the best Belgian at GP Madrid.

BONUS:
This should have been up half a year ago, but then I suddenly stopped writing. I was bored and my inner Kyle Sanchez got the upper hand.


Greggie McG:



Jan:



Marijn Bitching at the end of last PT season (when his hair was still longer):

GP Madrid, part 2

Soo....


I had just built my deck. I was unsure though whether I did the best job I could. Another advantage of having 3 byes though (they keep feeling like cheating to me), is that you have lots of time play some games and discuss the job you did , building your deck.
You can also relax and take your time to have breakfast/lunch en get ready for the big show.

LET'S GET IT ON.

Round 4: Alberto
I was about to make a Samson & Gert joke to him, but since he was Spanish or whatever, it would have been a waste of my comical talent.
Oh, did I mention he was Spanish or whatever? And he had 3 byes. Yup, I was living the dream.
But of course Alberto crushed me for my arrogance. Both games were: turn 3 or 4 Augury Adept, followed by a Steel of the Godhead the following turn. Having outs doesn't make always make you a winner.

3-1

Crybaby as I am, I was immediately depressed. Losing to some random, because of Steel of the Godhead, while all the hybrid enchantments have gotten worse! I mean... Could I be any unluckier?

Round 5: Ivo Silva
I'm sure Ivo is a nice guy. But he was also pretty bad. He started game 1 with a Madblind Mountain.

Fo rizzle?
Fo shizzle.

Nuff said.

4-1

Round 6: Riccardo Bertellini
In the first game, he was manaflowed and didn't have Spitting Image. So he lost.
In the second game, I was manaflowed. But I however, did have Spitting Image. I had to bash through 2 Recumbent Bliss, but Spitting Image can do that...
The funny thing is that he sighed and complained every time I had another land. Starting from land # 7, all the way to # 14. Good times.

5-1

Round 7: Victor
He had what appeared to be a sick sealed deck. Nearly monored, splashing black for some nasty surprises.
In the first, I get completely demolished, by his Ashenmoor Gouger, RW Liege, Demigod of Revenge, Flame Jab, retrace, retrace draw...
To make things even worse, I had to mulligan to 5 in game 2, on the play. Victor kept his initial 7. Luckily, I went 2 drop, 3 drop, Noggle Bridgebreaker. Victor had the less impressive turn 4 Horde of Boggarts, turn 5 Beseech the Queen for Incremental Blight. I drew Sturdy Hatchling, and while I got 3-for-1'd, the untargetable Hatchling took it down.
In the third game, the villain had another subpar draw.

6-1

Round 8: Fabian
A chatty German, who assured me his deck was bad. But his opponents have been mulliganing all day long. So I went to 5 in the first game. But with a series of good spells, I was able to stablize: River's Grasp on his turn 4 play, discarding his Wickerbough Elder (since I had Recumbent Bliss in my hand). Gloomlance took out another fatty and his last card: Burn Trial. Recumbent Bliss swung the game in my favor. But a timely topdecked Wickerbough Elder # 2 later, I was shuffling for game 2. Which I won, since I drew the answers for his quality creatures like the previously mentioned Elder, but also guys like Wilt-Leaf Liege, Witherscale Wurm, etc...
In the third however, I didn't.

6-2

Fabian apparently felt bad for me.
"Do you want some candy?"
"Sure, I'll accept candy from strangers."
And then he gave me a cookie and some chewing gum. I declined an apple, since that's too healthy for a Magic tournament.

Round 9: Bruno
In the first game, Bruno got a decent start with some early beats. I was playing really tight to race his couple of fliers with my bigger creatures on the ground. When Selkie Hedge-Mage bounced one of his fliers, the game appeared to be in the bag. But Bruno had Hallowed Burial. I ran out of gas to win the game, so he easily dealt the last couple of points.
I won both the second and the third with a combination of draws a little less stellar on Bruno's side and me knowing that he has a Wrath in his deck.

7-2

And since 3 byes really is like cheating, my tie breaks were good enough to make day 2.

GP Madrid, part 1

The only reason I play Magic is to ctrl+f my name in Rich Hagon's latest Starcity article. The one about Hollywood was titled "Yet More Disappointments", I was sure on of his disappointments was that I wasn't there. When in fact the search result in the article turned up to be "fried chicken", I knew it was time for action.

Madrid would be the big comeback. Summer Series, mo' money, mo' pro points. I practiced with daily modo drafts, went to pre-releases and even got together in Ghent for a whole day of drafting.

That doesn't mean I/we had a clue though. I "kinda liked" monored, but had no idea it was going to turn out to be everyone's pick for "best draft archetype" I read about in the coverage of various events on magicthegathering.com.
I also knew I'd like to draft a deck that was able to cast Unmake.
That's about it.

I somehow tricked StanV into buying a ticket to Madrid. His sudden rise in spellslingin' appetite quickly switched to

Man,
I hate

Spain
GPs
Spaniards
Magic
Spain

You can still be a racist when you're black, Stan!

But it was too late, he bought his ticket, so he was going. Only the legendary Gert Coeckelbergh had the balls to buy a ticket and then not go because "he didn't feel like it".

(true story)


Saturday
I absolutely hate it when people talk about the 'broken sealed deck they openened & registered, but then had to give away', so I'm not going to do that.

What I am going to do is list my card pool and try to go through my deck building process. But doing so in real life is hard enough, I have no idea how much you can learn from the textual approach. I think it's pretty hard to build a deck when you can't pick up the cards...

The Pool
Artifacts
1 Cauldron of Souls
1 Thornwatch Scarecrow
2 Shell Skulkin
1 Wingrattle Scarecrow

Lands
1 Sapseep Forest

White
1 Strip Bare
1 Pale Wayfarer
1 Barrenton Medic
1 Rune-Cervin Rider
1 Armored Ascension
2 Recumbent Bliss

Blue
1 Deepchannel Mentor
1 Put Away
1 Cerulean Wisps
1 Ghastly Discovery
1 Whimwader
1 Merrow Wavebreakers
1 Parapet Watchers
1 Dream Thief

Black
1 Ashenmoor Cohort
1 Blowly Infestation
1 Disturbing Plot
2 Meroow Bonegnawer
1 Gloomlance
1 Syphon Life

Red
1 Intimidator Initiate
1 Bloodmark Mentor
1 Power of Fire
1 Boggart Arsonists
1 Knollspine Dragon

Green
1 Tilling Treefolk
1 Monstrify
1 Flourishing Defenses
1 Viridiscent Wisps
1 Hungry Spriggan
1 Aerie Ouphes

UW
1 Worldpurge

GW
1 Medicine Runner
1 Shield of the Oversoul
1 Raven's Run Dragoon

UB
1 Gravegill Duo
1 Helm of the Ghastlord
1 River's Grasp
1 Wasp Lancer

BR
1 Emberstrike Duo
1 Fists of the Demigod
1 Manaforge Cinder
1 Murderous Redcap

GR
1 Scuzzback Marauders
1 Morselhoarder
1 Manamorphose
1 Giantbaiting
1 Runes of the Deus

RW
1 Fire at Will

UR
2 Inside Out
1 Clout of the Dominus
1 Noggle Ransacker
1 Noggle Bandit
1 Noggle Bridgebreaker

UG
1 Fable of Wolf and Owl
1 Favor of the Overbeing
1 Spitting Image
1 Shorecrasher Mimic
1 Selkie Hedge-Mage
2 Sturdy Hatchling

BW
1 Restless Apparation
1 Nip Gwyllion
1 Beckon Apparition
2 Nightsky Mimic

Should be 75 cards, if it isn't, an irrelevant card is probably missing.

I'll go through the steps I took to build me deck. Maybe you can learn something that way. Or maybe you can teach me something, if you point out my mistakes!

1) I sort my cards by colors because the dumbass who registered my pool didn't. I think he gets a warning or whatever if I call a judge and I might get some extra time. But I'm not sure about this, so I just quickly sort the cards...

2) I cut the crap.
I make one 'if I really have to' pile, which contains crap that might make the deck if certain conditions are met (eg. I want to make a 2 color deck and need an extra 'playable': cards like Pale Wayfarer, ...). The hybrid aura's without enough ways the get there also find their way quickly in this pile.
I sort my other cards by color, and thanks to the hybrid card this means a lot of piles. I seperate the really good cards, cards that draw my attention, from the other playables in that pile.

3) I try recognize the most powerful cards in my pool. I'll be trying to play as many of these as possible, as long as they are supported by a solid base of other playables.

4) I eliminate at least 1 color, but I keep in mind possible splash options (for example, if your red is clearly not going to make the deck as a main color, you might still want to play that Puncture Blast).
This step reduces the number of piles, since you will also rebuild your hybrid piles (say you remove red, you can put you can merge your UR pile with the blue cards, etc...).

5) I stare at the cards still on the table for 10 minutes, until I can 'see the matrix'.
Well maybe not for the whole 10 minutes, but I see the people around me already building, when I'm still sitting there, staring. I try to see which colors are deep enough to be a base color of the deck, I keep in mind the cards that 'excite me' and keep in mind possible options for splashing.
Obviously removal is crucial, but also some plan, the way your deck will be winning.

6)I iterate through a couple of builds and hope I made the right decisions when I start writing down my deck with 5 minutes left on the clock.

In practice, for this pool, it means something like this:
(exciting cards get tagged with a *)
The Pool, filtered

if I really have to
2 Shell Skulkin
1 Thornwatch Scarecrow
1 Pale Wayfarer
1 Put Away
1 Ghastly Discovery
1 Blowly Infestation (might be good in the right deck, not a bad per se, more kind of a possible flagship -to use the Floresian term)
1 Intimidator Initiate
1 Bloodmark Mentor
1 Tilling Treefolk
1 Flourishing Defenses (again, possible flagship. I underrated this card, and it seems to have gotten better with Eventide).
1 Gravegill Duo
1 Helm of the Ghastlord
1 Manaforge Cinder
1 Manamorphose
1 Giantbaiting
1 Runes of the Deus
1 Noggle Ransacker

White
1 Barrenton Medic
1 Rune-Cervin Rider
*1 Armored Ascension
*2 Recumbent Bliss

Blue
1 Cerulean Wisps
1 Whimwader
1 Merrow Wavebreakers
1 Parapet Watchers
1 Dream Thief

Black
*1 Gloomlance
1 Syphon Life

Red
*1 Power of Fire
1 Boggart Arsonists
*1 Knollspine Dragon

Green
1 Viridiscent Wisps
1 Hungry Spriggan
*1 Aerie Ouphes


GW
1 Medicine Runner
1 Shield of the Oversoul
1 Raven's Run Dragoon

UB
*1 River's Grasp
1 Wasp Lancer
1 Wingrattle Scarecrow

BR
*1 Murderous Redcap

GR
1 Scuzzback Marauders
1 Morselhoarder

RW
1 Fire at Will

UR
2 Inside Out
1 Noggle Bandit
1 Noggle Bridgebreaker

UG
*1 Spitting Image
1 Shorecrasher Mimic
*1 Selkie Hedge-Mage (only when you play enough Islands)
*2 Sturdy Hatchling

BW
*1 Restless Apparation
1 Beckon Apparition
2 Nightsky Mimic

So now the pool is somewhat filtered and easier to grasp.

The UG package was a clear standout, I would be trying to play at least one of those colors.
White has 2 Recumbent Blisses, Armored Ascension + Restless Apparation. The latter two require a heavy white commitment though, and it's clear that this pool coudln't really pull that off.
Red has Power of Fire, Murderous Redcap, Scuzzback Marauders and a Dragon. But pretty shallow and no real splashing options, except for maybe Power of Fire.
Blue is pretty deep and a fine candidate for a base color.
Green has the UG cards and a couple of really solid guys.
Black has Murdurous Redcap and Gloomlance, but again, pretty shallow.

So I started with a Blue base. The easiest next step, was adding green. Splashing 2 Recumbant Bliss was kind of a no brainer for me. That was the deck I had when 15-20 minutes of the 30 we had for deck building, had passed.
The deck looked ok, but didn't have a lot of removal. And I still had a couple of good cards in my sideboard, which I'd love to play: River's Grasp, Gloomlance and Murderous Redcap.
I looked at the green cards I was about to play, and noticed that they were mostly 'just guys', except for Aerie Ouphes, which is way more.

So I tried UBw. I wasn't really satisfied, but it seemed better than the UGw deck.
Here it is:



The Deck
1 Beckon Apparition

2 Nightsky Mimic
1 Shorecrasher Mimic

1 Wingrattle Scarecrow
1 Parapet Watchers
1 Dream Thief
1 Noggle Bandit
1 Selkie Hedge-Mage
1 Wasp Lancer
1 Syphon Life
2 Recumbent Bliss

1 Noggle Bridgebreaker
1 Murdurous Redcap
2 Sturdy Hatchling
1 River's Grasp

1 Merrow Wavebreakers
1 Whimwader
1 Gloomlance

1 Spitting Image

The mana is a little icky, and I'm not really sure what the optimal configuration is. 3 lands for 2 splashed cards has always been my rule of thumb, so 3 Plains. I chose for 9 Islands and 6 Swamps instead of 8/7, because I although I don't need a lot of blue, I'll need at least one every time. 6 Swamps for a couple of BB cards, seemed reasonable to me, since they're still good late game (although Redcap is a much bigger beating on turn 4).

Another thing I wasn't sure of, is Syphon Life. It seemed decent in testing, but this isn't an aggro deck that needs somethign to deal the last points. Also, I already had something to do with my spare lands. This should probably have been a Cerulean Wisps or Inside Out, and I boarded it out most of the time. When Peter Vieren pointed out that 'it's just an Urborg Syphon-Mage without the body', I felt pretty awkward. I hadn't thought of it that way.

That's it for part 1...

Daily drafts

I'll be doing a daily draft on magic online to get back into shape. I've been playing a little better compared to a week ago. But I still can't get past round 2 of a 4322 queue :) My opponent's decks always seem bad/worse then mine. But I still manage to lose to a couple of gamebreaking cards every time (Incremental Blight, Howl of the Night Pack...). I'm not going to blame those cards, I just have some more learning to do.

Draftcap doesn't work for Magic Online 3, but when I think I have kind of a clue, I'll probably do a draft with my old friend PrtSc.

PT Kuala Lumpur, part II

So, I guess I'll pick up where I left off. I wonder if anyone still cares, but hey, I promised a second part... However, due to the x month span of procrastination, my memory is a little fuzzy (I have some notes though).

I was busy feeling pretty 8 Mile. The fact that my first draft got covered, confirmed that this PT was going to be epic.

The first draft

You can find the coverage here , but it's down while I'm writing this...

EDIT: It's up and when I look back at the draft 6 months later, I think I drafted like shit.

The draft left me pretty confused. The Guile in the first pack especially. In the end, I was pretty pleased with the deck nonetheless. Crib Swap is godawful in WG beats though.

Round 1
Taru, Genki [JPN] UW Merfolk
I lost a first to the synergy of infinite merfolks and Fallowsage made sure no comeback was possible. The other 2 were a different story. One I can't remember.

1-0

Round 2
Nakano, Yoshitaka [JPN], UB Rogues
In the first game, he had rogue nuts, prowling a Latchkey Faerie on turn 3. And 4.
In the second, his start was a bit slower. And it appeared like I was going to take that one down, but I was lacking more gas. Yoshitaka found Latchkey Faerie again, and combined with an evoked Aethersnipe and 2 Disperses, he won an extremely close race.

1-1

Round 3
Tsumura, Kenji [JPN] BG
A covered draft, but this wasn't even a feature match!
I started off by being the aggressor, but Kenji stabilized and began 2-for-1'ing me with his Dreamspoiler Witches. But I managed to keep drawing spells and eventually overwhelmed him. In the second he mulliganned and was mana screwed.

2-1

The second draft
I ended up with a GB deck. During the draft, I felt like I was really going with the flow, and drafted what I should have drafted. Also, 4th pick Oblivion Ring in pack 1, really?

Although I thought I had a good read, I didn't end up with a real tribal focus that is characteristic for the really broken decks of LLM. The morningtide part of the draft was also kind of unfortunate. I had some shallow packs which made me doubt that I was in the right colors, followed up by some really deep packs with 4 picks for my deck! But ok, I'm sure we've all been there.

Of particular interest was Obsidian Battle-Axe. I think this card is sick. But obviously you need to have enough Warriors. I picked the first Axe pretty early (1-3th pick). I got another one soon after that (4th?), and after a long time I chose to pick it instead of Elvish Warrior. Sixth pick, I received another Axe... This time I had no other options. It made me regret met Axe > Elvish Warrior pick, but I can't predict which exact cards will be passed to me. I figured it was more likely to receive Elvish Warrior, Treefolk Ambassador, Winnower Patrol or Game-Trail Changeling. All warriors, and the way the draft was going, I seemed like I was in a good position to get green.

But the packs weren't cooperating the way I wanted. Here's what I ended up with:

1 Vivid March
1 Vivid Grove
5 Swamp
10 Forest

2 Elvish Warrior
2 Blightspoil Druid
1 Leaf Gilder
1 Wren's Run Vanquisher
1 Wolf-Skull Shaman

2 Fistful of Force
1 Fertile Ground
1 Nameless Inversion

1 Elvish Branchbender
1 Battlewand Oak

2 Obsidian Battle-Axe
1 Moonglove Extract
1 Oblivion Ring

1 Moonglove Winnower
1 Leaf-Crown Elder
1 Cloudcrown Oak

1 Warren Pilferers
1 Orchard Warden
1 Oakgnarl Warrior

(with Axe #3 in the SB).

Round 4
Nassif, Gabriel [FRA] UB Rogues

He kept a 2 lander and missed land drops on turn 3 and 4. I guess he had a really good rogue start, if he'd draw a land. But he didn't and I won an easy first game. The second was a lot closer. Warren Pilferers was crucial here, being a 2 for 1 and blocking creatures with fear. Orchard Warden put the game out of Nassif's reach.

3-1

Lookin' good.

Round 5,
Lombardi, Paolo [ITA] UW Merfolk
I won the first versus a couple of mediocre Merfolks. I was also winning the second, versus a couple of better Merfolks (Judge of Currents, Stonybrook Schoolmaster), but Paolo didn't have a way to tap them. Until in one of his last drawsteps of the match, he mised Summon the School. Gaining like a gazillion life & tokens every turn made it hard for him too lose at that point. In the final game, I was battling versus Jace Beleren, and it seemed like I was winning an uphill battle. Sower of Temptation put a halt to that, and when I couldn't draw one of my outs in time...

3-2

Time for the bubble match...

Round 6
Barra, Giulio [ITA] BR
Giulio had himself a weird looking deck, part Elemental/part Goblin, with mediocre cards in both tribes. Both unfortunately he also had some good ones. Both games were pretty much the same: turn 3 Tauren Mauler, turn 5 Shriekmaw, and that was the end of my PT.

3-3

I was very disappointed, since I came pretty prepared to the PT, but it wasn't meant to be.
Kuala Lumpur was an awesome experience though (see pics in part 1 of the report). And that's what it's all about.

Although winning some $$$ at a PT adds a lot to the fun. I can't even remember the last time I cashed a PT...

Blogging

Blogs are hip.
I am hip.

A perfect match.

No seriously, the point of this blog is to make it easy for me and a couple of other writers to post some magic related ramblings. New entries should be linked to on mtgbelgium.be

I have been slacking a lot lately, magicwise. Haven't written an article in a long time. Haven't played a lot either. GP Brussels was kind of a disaster, partially because I almost hadn't played since Kuala Lumpur (aside from GP Vienna -66th).
I was busy with univ and oher things, and I slightly started losing my magical appetite. But skipping a PT and Marijn top8ing again, made it clear to me that I loved the travelling to big tourneys. And guess what. These tournaments are even more fun when you win.

I'm not a 'natural'. I need to play a lot to stay in/on top/somewhere in the middle of the game. That's why I'm getting used to the new Magic Online and I'll be trying to do a draft every day to get to know the cards again. I swallowed my pride and it'll be 4322's to begin with.

Yesterday was the first draft. I drafted some kind of monoish white deck with Pili-Pala and Power of Fire. Nice combo apparently.
Here's today's draft. Where I lost round 1:



I was about to disconnect. I mean, 'gg?'. COME ON!
But then I realized the world would be a happier place if we all just got along. So I just conceded.

It's funny how awful the plays I make during these drafts, are. I'm not blaming misclicks. I just miss some obvious plays. And I make assumptions about shadowmoor cards instead of reading them. Yesterday I played Niveous Wisps on my 2/2 to take down a 3 thoughness guy.

Huh? what?
Modo bugged again? Man, always the same...

Oh wait, Niveous Wisps doesn't make a guy white and give it +1/+0.
Awkward.
Concede in disgust.
/w


I don't know how much & what I'll be posting here on this blog.
I kinda like the possibilities though. You'll be able to search for certain posts & comment directly beneath the article/report.