The Pauper Price Creep

Hello again. 🙂

Valeri’s recent rededication to writing and blogging finally inspired me to get my ass in gear and write too. I hope you like the result!

The Pauper Price Creep on QuietSpeculation.com.

Thanks for reading!

Dylan

PS: My MTGO username is kinarus, and I’m almost always up for playing Pauper against anybody. Especially if you’d like to do any serious playtesting of the format! Look me up. 🙂

(UPDATED!) Buy My Bazaar!

All photos thanks to Niko Flores.

(NOTE: Updated 05/17/2011 9:10PM)

Hello! 🙂

Here’s the treasure I have left. Unfortunately, I’m not going to make it to Grand Prix Providence. 😦 Anyone who had asked for cards to be held there is encouraged to arrange a deal with me anyway. 🙂 Please buy my cards!

Arabian Nights Bazaar of Baghdad, front and back

This card is in flawless condition. It was literally taken from a booster pack to a sleeve and a hard case and then not touched for a decade. It could have just as easily come out of an NPH booster pack this weekend.

I want $250 for it, and I would entertain any reasonable offers. I’d also consider trading it for easy-to-move cards but let’s face it, you’ll get a much better value if you have cash.

$55 – Alliances Force of Will, front and back

$80 or $155/two – Revised Volcanic Islands, front and back (PENDING)

$75 – Revised Tundra, front and back

$36/four – Paul McCabe Force of Wills, front and back

$38 or $74.50/two Darksteel Swords of Fire and Ice

$8 or $31/four or $38/five – Mirrodin Chalices of the Void

$8 or $15.50/two – Odyssey Standstills

$24 – Urza’s Saga Exploration

$12 – Japanese Weatherlight Peacekeeper

$16 – German Mirage Enlightened Tutor

$14 – Mirrodin Mindslaver (FOIL)

$5 – Darksteel Shield of Kaldra (PRERELEASE FOIL)

$14 – Urza’s Saga Goblin Lackey, front and back (PENDING)

There’s also a slightly played Tolarian Academy ($23) that somehow didn’t get uploaded, but I can upload it if anybody is interested! 🙂

I’m taking offers on the Bazaar. It’s in excellent shape as you can see, having lived in a hard case and not moved for most of the last decade. As far as I know it’s never been played. 🙂

There’s also a huge stack of cards that won’t make it into pictures because of time restraints, but that I would definitely sell. Personal Tutor, Sol Ring, Enlightened Tutors, Earthcrafts, Lotus Petals (tons of Lotus Petals), artifact lands (stacks of artifact lands!)… I have stacks of Tinkers, Fact or Fictions, Mothers of Runes, Goblin Ringleaders, most Invasion & Odyssey block commons and uncommons, Psychatogs, Counterspells, Slivers.

Etc., etc.

The prices on everything is negotiable, though most of them should already be very competitive. And, as this is the only way I’m going to be able to make it to Grand Prix: Providence pay my bills, I would really appreciate your help and support in spreading this link around! A ReTweet or Facebook sharing would help me so much. 🙂

Thanks!

Dylan

MSS Draft #1

Hello!

First thing’s first: Today is four and a half since I started dating Valeri. No matter what we call each other, it’s been the best time of my life. ❤ I love you Valeri!

I loaded up my first Scars Block draft since MBS on MTGO earlier today, and it was a ton of fun. I drafted a UB/r Control deck featuring Tezzeret. Please don't be shy about pointing out play mistakes!

Drafting

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

Thanks for watching! Please comment on play mistakes or with suggestions. 🙂

Dylan

You Don’t Mulligan Enough

Hi 🙂

Expanding my ever-growing collection of sites to write for (are you interested in another writer for yours?), here is my first offering for Red Site Wins.

You Don’t Mulligan Enough

Please check it out, and check out the rest of the site while you’re at it. 🙂

Thanks!

Dylan

A Stoneforge Mistake? Pyromancer Ascension in GP Dallas

Hello 🙂

I forgot to update here when the second half of my trip report went live last night – A Stoneforge Mistake? Pyromancer Ascension in GP Dallas.

Thanks for reading, and do be sure to check out the rest of my work here at The Brewery and on Quiet Speculation!

Thanks,

Dylan

A Most Magical of Weekends

Six Months Ago

The 2011 Grand Prix schedule had just been revealed online, and I was dead set on doing whatever it took to finally make it to one. After years of being out of the game, I had been playing quite a lot on MTGO and was writing about Standard almost every single day at The Brewery. It seemed natural that April’s stop in Dallas (actually Fort Worth – the relevance of which to be determined later!) for a Standard Grand Prix would be a sure thing.

I ran over to her as fast as I could and asked her if she wanted to go with me. It had been ages since we had been on a real vacation together. April of 2009, to be exact (unless you count our failure of a family vacation with her parents to Lake Charles). Fitting then that the next Standard Grand Prix would be a road trip waiting to happen.

She said yes, as I was certain she would.

Friday, April 8, 2011

I was leaving for Grand Prix Dallas in 6 hours, but there was no way I was sleeping. I had played a few late night matches on Magic Online with my Pyromancer Ascension deck, and I knew that I should either be sleeping or grinding out games, but something else was on my mind.

I clicked from one Craigslist ad to another. None of the titles were catching my eye. Every part of this seemed wrong; I’m still so in love with her, I thought to myself. For the few things I read that even remotely interest me, I know she’s all that and more.

I like country music,4 wheeling, fires, and cuddling. Send me a pic and I’ll send you mine. I won’t lie looks are important I promise mine won’t let you down.

No thank you.

I want to get married to a handsome established white man. Interested send a pic. 🙂

I just feel wrong even looking at this.

I am done playing games and I am looking for a man that is mature enough to be open and honest with. If you have any questions please let me know.

How about: What the hell am I doing right now? I’ve never before been more certain that she’s the one for me, but after what I put her through last December she hasn’t been able to say the same.

That we were even still planning to go to Dallas together was a minor miracle by itself. Craigslist can wait… forever, if I had my way.

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

After the hell that I had gone through and back over the last six months, I felt at times lucky to even be alive. That I still didn’t have a deck for the Grand Prix, let alone plans of any kind for how I was going to make it there (except the knowledge that it would cost $80 in gasoline), seemed kind of trivial. I had missed States two years in a row, every PTQ in Katy, most MTGO PTQs, Pro Tour: Austin, and Grand Prix: Houston the previous year. The SCG Open in Dallas one month earlier came and went, and my plans fell through the way countless others had since I had come back to the game.

Maybe it was just time to give up. The Grand Prix was in less than three days, and after all, spending an entire weekend (and an entire weekend’s worth of money) on a road trip and a tournament seemed more and more dubious every day.

And then everything started to come together. Quiet Speculation writer and trading god Ryan Bushard said he could get me a deck. There would be space for both of us in Ryan’s and fellow QS writer Corbin Hosler’s room, along with a few guys from Oklahoma. I decided then and there that I was going to make this trip no matter what it took.

———————————–

The drive to Dallas was breathtaking. My passenger glowed in the setting sun, a smile plastered on her face as she felt the respite from every care and worry that had been plaguing her for months. She had been having a difficult stretch. We both had. A carefree vacation together was exactly what we needed. And as I was driving through the beautiful Texas hills, watching the most beautiful sunset I had ever seen in my entire life, on the road with the most beautiful woman I have ever known, I realized all of my worries had vanished too. I had a good feeling about our trip as we began.

After dark we stopped in a rest stop that bragged of its “clean restrooms.” I meandered my way through the hungry souls looking for chips and candy and pushed open a door into hell. The filthiest bathroom I had ever been in, and I have been in quite a few filthy bathrooms, awaited my presence. There was feces in places where no fecal matter should be, pee on every surface, and I’m pretty sure that something bled out on the seat of the first of two stalls I checked in. No joke.

It was to my shock and astonishment then when I pushed open the door to the larger stall. It was pristine. It looked like a marble palace, and was by far cleaner even than the bathroom that I left behind at home. I considered for a moment whether I should even take off my shoes before tracking in bloody feces, but the porcelain throne called out to me too quickly. I had to take my rightful seat, and I felt like a King.

There was one last stop to make before we would arrive at the hotel room. She said she needed to change, so I got off at the next exit and pulled into a Jack in the Box to use their facilities. After a brief minute of relief and about five minutes of waiting, she emerged from the bathroom looking like a goddess. How the fuck had I gotten so lucky? Her long brown hair was down and messy and she had changed into her sexy red dress. It fit her almost as well as the look I saw across her face. I was in heaven as we settled back into the car for the last hour of driving.

And what an hour that would turn out to be. Instead of sticking to I-45 as far as I could take it, I was relying on the Honda’s built in navigation to save time on US-287 through Waxahachie (Google Maps thinks it should save 3 whole minutes), but the treachery of US-287 in the dark made it feel more like a Mario Kart raceway than an actual highway.

The speed limit was an inexplicable 65mph for a two-lane winding highway with no lights anywhere. Except, of course, for the traffic lights that really had it out to get me and the headlights screaming by me at breakneck speed. At one point, I was lost in a blurry haze of traffic cones and headlights, and I’m pretty sure I might have done a rollercoaster loop of some sort. AC/DC’s Highway to Hell came on midway through, and the irony sure wasn’t lost on me. I decided that I would haunt whoever designed this terrible roadway if I met my untimely demise that night, but it eventually gave way to a real Interstate again. Safe at last.

In the end, we left six hours later than I had planned, but we left in a car full of clothing, food, and the few cards I owned for my chosen deck. And we made it all the way to Fort Worth with plenty of time to spare to gather all of the cards I needed, get in a couple of test games, and crash in the hotel room feeling more excitement than I had felt in months.

The Grand Prix

Look for a recap of my matches and deck choice (and Saturday night’s shenanigans!) on Quiet Speculation within a couple day’s time. 🙂 I played a slight modification of Chad Havas’ U/R Pyromancer Anew deck to a 4-2-2 record including the bye, and it was very powerful.

Sunday

We woke up early Sunday morning, and both of us agree we were probably still drunk. The night before was definitely fun, but parts of it were missing. Okay, not so much missing, but coming back in bits and pieces throughout the morning.

She had been unbelievably supportive and amazing throughout the entire weekend, and now was finally our time to spend together. Over the course of the next six hours, we walked miles across Fort Worth, and then Dallas, taking in the cities and just enjoying each other’s company. It was quite magical, much appreciated, and to say it was a long time coming is woefully lacking. After months of struggling with grief and finances, depression, and a whole host of obstacles, it was finally just her and I together. The 48 hours we spent spent together that weekend were, far and away, my happiest 48 hours of at least 2011 and perhaps farther.

We stopped at a quaint country shop on the drive home that sold groceries and prepared food from their farm. Their pecan pie blew my mind, and we both definitely foodgasmed together while we ate. Before we even left the store we were planning our next trip back just to get more from them.

And to cap off the road trip, as if responding to an unspoken challenge to make the drive south even more beautiful than driving north, the Texas ground bursted with wildflowers. Blues, yellows, pinks, and oranges dotted the roadside for hundreds of miles. I almost didn’t care that Houston’s angry clouds buried the sunset behind them this time.

———————————–

Later that night, some of those cares and worries started seeping slowly back into my mind, threatening to pop my blissful bubble. It all came down to whether or not she was with me in that metaphorical bubble.

She saw the look on my face as I was thinking and instantly knew something was amiss. There’s no hiding your face from a truth wizard, so I spilled my guts to her.

“I’ve… It’s felt like you… might not beinlovewithme anymore.” The words were probably said more to the ground than to an actual human being, but I looked up at her immediately when I finished. Pain shot across her flawless face as my words barfed their way out. Empathy is usually one of her strongest qualities.

“What makes you say that?”

I’ve always had an affinity for language and for writing, but I also sometimes spontaneously lose the ability to speak coherent, useful sentences. This was one of those times. I mumbled my way through something about her not kissing me like she used to and a few now-irrelevant additions.

“You know what, I can’t deal with this conversation right now. It’s been such a long day.” We had walked off our hangovers through downtown Fort Worth that morning, and then walked a few miles around Dallas when we drove there on a whim instead of going straight home. It really had been a long, amazing day. She quickly relented: “Fine, we’ll hang out right now, can you go get us some wine?”

Minutes later I was downstairs in the kitchen to pour us each a glass. The staircase creaks when even our largest cat walks down them, so I easily heard her coming, but I kept getting the drinks ready like I had no idea. I didn’t want to seem too desperate, as if anything could possibly be riding on what either one of us had to say. I couldn’t risk ending such a magical journey on any sort of sour note.

“I don’t really have the energy for this conversation right now, but I promise you I am still so in love with you.” Her eyes and her face were her interpreters, and nothing was lost in translation. We kissed and all doubt instantly left my mind.

I couldn’t imagine this weekend having been any more of a success.

Dylan

Stoneforge What? Pyromancer Ascension for GP: Dallas

GP Dallas is going to be my first Grand Prix since Atlanta in 2004 and my first major B&M event since PT Columbus in 2005. Yeah, it’s been a while. Yes, I’m fucking excited! The plan was to start testing at the beginning of last month for a really cool Standard format. PT Paris had shown the power of CawBlade and the format was finally less awful (Valakut makes me :(). So of course I started my GP Dallas testing quite late Thursday night with the following decklist:

Decklist

4 Lightning Bolt
4 Burst Lightning
3 Arc Trail
4 Preordain
4 See Beyond
4 Mana Leak
4 Into the Roil
3 Unsummon
4 Pyromancer Ascension
3 Jace’s Ingenuity

4 Scalding Tarn
4 Halimar Depths
8 Island
7 Mountain

Sideboard:
3 Combust
4 Spell Pierce
3 Trinket Mage
1 Darksteel Axe
3 Shape Anew
1 Darksteel Colossus

Versus U/W CawBlade:
+3 Combust, +4 Spell Pierce
-3 Unsummon, -3 Arc Trail, -1 Burst Lightning

Versus Darkblade:
+3 Combust, +4 Spell Pierce
-3 Unsummon, -3 Arc Trail, -1 Burst Lightning

Versus Valakut:
+4 Spell Pierce, +3 Trinket Mage, +1 Darksteel Axe, +1 Blightsteel Colossus, +3 Shape Anew
-3 Unsummon, -3 Arc Trail, -1 Jace’s Ingenuity, -4 Pyromancer Ascension, -1 Into the Roil

Versus G/W Aggro:
+3 Trinket Mage, +1 Darksteel Axe, +1 Blightsteel Colossus, +3 Shape Anew
-4 Mana Leak, -4 Pyromancer Ascension

Versus RUG:
-X Arc Trail, -(4-X) Unsummon
+4 Spell Pierce

Versus Boros:
+3 Trinket Mage, +1 Darksteel Axe, +3 Shape Anew, +1 Blightsteel Colossus
-4 Mana Leak, -4 Pyromancer Ascension
Versus RDW:
+3 Trinket Mage, +1 Darksteel Axe, +3 Shape Anew, +1 Blightsteel Colossus
-4 Mana Leak, -4 Pyromancer Ascension

Versus U/B Control:
+4 Spell Pierce
-3 Arc Trail, -1 Unsummon

Versus U/B Infect:
*

Versus Eldrazi Green:
+3 Spell Pierce, +3 Trinket Mage, +1 Darksteel Axe, +3 Shape Anew, +1 Blightsteel Colossus
-3 Unsummon, -1 Jace’s Ingenuity, -3 Arc Trail, -4 Pyromancer Ascension

*I don’t really know. My brain is kind of fried. Any thoughts here? I ❤ your comments. 🙂

Those were the Sideboard plans. One match win in the Tournament Practice room against Vampires and another win in the 2-man queues against Eldrazi Green, and I was ready to metaphorically scribble all over my decklist and rebuild it from scratch.

So of course I changed 4 cards.

Decklist

4 Lightning Bolt
4 Burst Lightning
4 Arc Trail
4 Preordain
4 See Beyond
4 Mana Leak
4 Into the Roil
3 Jace Beleren
4 Pyromancer Ascension
2 Jace’s Ingenuity

4 Scalding Tarn
4 Halimar Depths
8 Island
7 Mountain

Sideboard:
3 Combust
4 Spell Pierce
3 Trinket Mage
1 Darksteel Axe
3 Shape Anew
1 Darksteel Colossus

I’m not going to redo the sideboarding plans on principle. If you take a look at what comes in and what comes out above, you should be able to expand that to the second decklist. A quick explanation of the changes:

Cutting Jace’s Ingenuity for Arc Trail

Over my gigantic sample size of 5 games, I drew too many of them. Adding Arc Trail to the maindeck makes my Aggro matchup slightly better, tightens up the decklist a little with another 4-of (and a 2-of) instead of two 3-ofs. I haven’t done the math on that but I have to imagine it’s at least a tiny bit better for triggering Pyromancer Ascension.

Cutting 3 Unsummon for 3 Jace Beleren

My first thought when Chad Havas (@torerotutor) shared this decklist with me was that the large removal suite (4 Lightning Bolt, 4 Burst Lightning, 4 Arc Trail, 4 Into the Roil), Jace Beleren would be extremely easy to protect against most deck. Even Aggro decks should struggle to keep threats on the board long enough for Jace to provide as many (or more!) cards for you as the more expensive Instant bearing his name.

Unsummon was the spottiest card in the deck. It was originally Treasure Hunt, a card that I’ve never been fond of, but the addition of Jace Beleren makes me excited to continue testing. And hey, if I bomb out of the Grand Prix, at least it won’t be with Unsummon in my deck.

On the Transformational Sideboard

This is definitely the way to go with a Pyromancer Ascension sideboard today. Boarding into Titans isn’t sustainable with the versatile removal in Standard right now, and they simply aren’t the powerful game-ending effects that Pyromancer needs them to be to make that plan worthwhile. Similarly, treating Pyromancer as a high-powered U/R Control shell and boarding into more Counterspell effects, more board sweepers, etc. doesn’t seem worthwhile.

However, blanking your opponent’s Game 2 plan (however gimmicky it may seem) is an extremely powerful effect. Again, small sample size, but my 2-man Queue opponent boarded in Ratchet Bomb and kept an opener with the artifact. As awesome as you imagine it is to see your opponent cast a sideboard card that is 100% irrelevant, it’s even more awesome than that. Really. I hope I don’t have to take Chad’s word on how amusing it is to see someone whiff on a Memoricide.

Think of it as turning a card your opponent thinks is powerful into a virtual mulligan. Awesome, right? On a much smaller scale, it reminds me of the game-breaking rules in playing postboard with or against Dredge in Legacy.

Plus you get to fuck with your opponent for Game 3. Should they board back in their Gatekeepers of Malakir? What about Enchantment hate? Unfortunately, Jace, the Mind Sculptor and Into the Roil have tons of game against you and are unlikely to come out of an opponent’s deck for Games 2 or 3. The downside to having this particular transformation is that I’ll be left with a 7-card sideboard (3 Combust & 4 Spell Pierce) against CawBlade, RUG, and most other Blue-based decks.

CawBlade

Like I could actually get through writing anything on Standard today and not include a separate section for CawBlade in some way. Well, as of 2:30 AM on Friday morning, I still haven’t played the matchup. Seriously. I’m banking on bumping into it on MTGO at some point and finding someone in the hotel room to test against Friday night.

I’m banking on having a pair of gameplans to make the matchup as winnable as the traditional UW Control match.

Lightning Bolt, Burst Lightning, and Arc Trail

Before CawBlade, I played a Pyromancer Ascension deck that got away with a removal suite of simply 4 Lightning Bolt, 2 Burst Lightning, and 3 Pyroclasm. Before that, 4 Lightning Bolt & 4 Burst Lightning was the standard. All of this was supplemented, of course, with Call to Mind.

Now, I’ll be working with 12 removal spells for CawBlades 1/1s and 1/2s. I’ll have 4 Into the Roil to answer Swords, albeit to minimal effect. Eight of those removal spells, as well as the Into the Roils, are Instant-speed to battle equipment. The only cards that should truly scare me are going to be Gideon Jura and Jace, the Mind Sculptor. This is the main matchup that encourages me to play Jace Beleren instead of Unsummon.

Second, I’ll have the Pyromancer Ascension over-the-top plan to beat the UW Control element of the CawBlade deck. CawBlade is such a dominant force in part because it can play a very solid Control game, or a very solid Aggro game, and it can switch back and forth with relative ease with the help of Sword of Feast & Famine. That Control element though is pretty lacking in its ability to stop a 1R enchantment. My hope is that I can keep the board clear of a swordbearer long enough to set up inevitability through Pyromancer Ascension

So, there you have it. The insomniac ramblings of an overly excited Mage. Please be sure to check out Quiet Speculation all weekend long, as long as I’m not too overwhelmed by the Grand Prix experience, I intend to do some weekend updates from Dallas, TX!

Dylan

@dtlerch on Twitter

PS: If you can name this decklist something awesome in the comments, I’ll credit you here and ship some MTGO tix or something. I don’t want to register a deck with a boring, lame name. 😦

PPS: If you’re going to be at GP: Dallas, I want to meet you. Email me (dtlerch at gmail dot com) or something. I haven’t gone on a road trip in ages and could use an epic fun time. 🙂

PPPS: If you plan on playing against me in the Grand Prix, boo on you for reading about my deck. 😦

MTGO Scars of Mirrodin Draft #1

Hello 🙂

This has been live on YouTube for a couple of days, but the last video is finally up and ready. YouTube has been giving me so many problems!

Draft (1/2)

Draft (2/2)

Round 1 (1/2)

Round 1 (2/2)

Round 2 (1/2)

Round 2 (2/2)

Dylan

Live! PT: Paris 2011 Semifinals + Finals

So if you were hoping to read this up-to-the-minute, I hope you were reading on Twitter when I posted links in real-time, but here are the Semifinals and Finals of PT Paris as I saw them 🙂

Thanks for reading!

Live! Pro Tour Paris 2011

I’d appreciate any and all comments!

Dylan

Live! Pro Tour: Paris, 2011

Hello! Please excuse the recent dearth of content here at The Brewery, it’s been a rough couple of weeks! However, Pro Tour: Paris is nearly finished, and I’ve done a bit of writing about the topic tonight 🙂

Brad Nelson versus Guillaume Matignon for the 2010 Player of the Year

PT: Paris Top 8 Analysis & Decklists

Check back on Quiet Speculation and here at The Brewery for up-to-the-minute results of Pro Tour Paris tomorrow morning! The Top 4 webcast begins at 6:30 AM Central time.

Thanks for reading!

Dylan