Timewaster's Guide Archive

Is everyone invited to this, or is it something exclusive? (I mean the get-together, not LTUE.) Incidentally, why isn't it LTUAE? Or LUE? Or even LTU&E? Seems like "and" is being discriminated against.

The '&' is definitely being discriminated against. Nothing personal though...it's policy. The word 'and' is clearly superior, but its long length makes it feel superior to acronyms and it chooses to be excluded.

All these dates are February dates, right?

Last night we played a large, 6-person game of Magic, and I think a generally good time was had by all in attendance. As we were leaving, I made a comment to EUOL about how I had removed one of the players from play, as he had been engaged in a different game at the time, and I received a comment back from another source that it was mean of me to do this to a less experienced player. (Names being omitted in part because I don't know the correct TWG IDs for all involved.) While I didn't think the comment was serious at all, I didn't like the suggestion that I had done something mean, and commented back that I could have killed the individual making the statement much earlier in the game. I hadn't wanted to end the conversation then, but it was late and people were departing, and that was where the conversation ended.

I'll admit, the comment sounded bad, and it could easily be taken as me toying with people throughout the game. What I wished I could have added at the time was why, although I could have taken that person out of the game earlier, I didn't. I couldn't really. Fortunately, the experience also makes for a good point about playing Magic: The Gathering in multiplayer.

In the first few draws of the game, I got sufficient tools to build my mana base (playing a 5-color deck, I had to keep the hand) and a number of instants. That wasn't the best hand I could have imagined, but I played through it. I never did get many permanents out on the table, but I held onto three different cards throughout the vast bulk of the game: Darigaaz's Charm, Blinding Beam, and Consume Strength. I managed to get plenty of land in play, but ended up being able to put little other than land and a bare minimum of blockers in play the entire game long. The one card that most kept me going was a single Aven Redeemer.

Considering the person to whom I had commented that I could have killed them much earlier, the statement was correct as they fell to less than three life some time before they died to a player other than myself and Darigaaz's Charm could have killed them at any point thereafter. The point I was trying to make was also correct...that I hadn't been trying to pick on less experienced players. The truth was that I fully couldn't afford to use the card to do so, and I wasn't playing anyone for fools.

Three other players were on the board, I had an inferior field position, and a subpar life total. My only hope of remaining in the game was to rely on my combat instants to respond to attacks, and only when I couldn't afford to not use them. I took quite a drubbing over the course of the game while waiting for the right moment to use those cards. While some people mentioned during the match that I was trying to look weak and building up, nearly the opposite was the case: I *was* weak, I was holding onto everything I could get my hands on to survive, and I was just hoping to draw something to let me get into the game. In the end I did draw Treva, the Renewer and came back to win the game, so I can't say that their assessment of what could happen was incorrect, only that I wasn't pretending to be weak.

What can be learned from the situation?

1. Versatile combat instants are powerful, but only when used correctly. At various points in the game, I was facing the possibility of being struck by a threat that I would have to expend one of my combat instants to fend off. Saving Consume Strength to kill an Undead Warchief to debuff a zombie army at instant speed or to allow my Aven Redeemer to pull a trade out of a battle with a buffed Boros Swiftblade were two examples. Had those theats been played against me, it would have forced me to play my hand sooner. In the end, I used Consume Strength to kill a flier and allow Treva to win me the game. Conversely, the Tribal Flames I used to kill a player after they attacked me with a monstrous rat was a Sorcery, and after it became apparent that I couldn't afford to face down the same threat a second time, I had to act proactively to remove them from the game.

2. Reading hand size and board position can tell you the opponent's hand. I sat through most of the game with at least 4 cards in hand on top of a mountain of mana, and I had color versatility. I also kept three mana open as often as I possibly could. While the exact nature of my hand was secret, of course, that information could be read easily enough to show that I had cards in my hand that were better there than aiding my inferior board position, and that I needed at least three mana to use them. A cautious attack strategy against me that didn't expose gaps in a player's defense, but that exceeded the strength of my board position could have been used to draw out my secrets.

It's not like I've been a consistent site attendee for years anyway, but that's beside the point.

Warp World is a reset button, but more complicated in style than staples we've seen for years like Wrath of God. Warp World presents many more deckbuilding restrictions than Wrath or Obliterate do, as you need to be prepared for what happens after it goes off, and it's cost is pretty beefy. Additionally, Warp World isn't in the best color for building permanent counts. Red/Green would be one way to go, building up large numbers of tokens so that a late-game Warp World would allow you to put most of your deck into play.

I think the Boros guild gives us a more elegant solution, however. Consider the following deck fragment:

x4 Warp World
x4 Flame-Kin Zealot
x4 Loxodon Gatekeeper

The rest of the deck would consist of an aggressive Boros strategy that moderates itself by focusing on putting creatures out and keeping its permanents in play rather than by taking red-ish risks for short-term damage gains. If the aggressive creature rush fails, most Boros decks run dry and have to hope for a finishing burn. Warp World would help the deck have a late-game finish...or at least a chance for one.

By the time you hit the 8-mana threshhold for Warp World, you'll want enough permanents in play to have a solid chance of finding at least one Flame-Kin Zealot and at least one Loxodon Gatekeeper from the Warp World reset effect.

Since the Loxodon Gatekeeper comes into play simultaneously with your opponent's creatures, those permanents would come into play tapped. (check this with a local rules judge, which I am not) The Flame-Kin Zealot would strengthen your army and provide all of them haste, allowing for a game-ending alpha strike.

Drawing cards is the main concern in the deck, since you're lacking green, blue, and black. There aren't many solutions in Ravnica: City of Guilds, so extending out to other blocks for some basic card drawing may prove valuable. You could also stay pure to Boros by using the guild lands (the ones that tap for RW) which don't help draw cards or develop your mana curve more quickly, but do give you a better mana per card draw ratio and help ensure that you won't be stuck waiting too long for that 8th land. (Running 4 of them in any 60 card deck is probably a mistake, however.)

One counterintuitive way to increase your chances of finding the combo would be to increase your sorcery/instant count (not something normally desired in a Warp World deck) and use up your sorceries and instants in order to reduce the number of cards split between your library and the in-play zone. That might not work, but it would be one thing to try. Playing a number of Sunforgers and using them to pull the selected instants out of your deck would be a variant form of card drawing that would, as noted above, slim down the deck and increase your chances of pulling off the Loxodon Gatekeeper combo with Warp World.

Note: One thing I missed while writing the post above is that the Flame-Kin Zealot need not be found during the Warp World effect. It can be played from your hand after your other permanents hit the table. The Loxodon Gatekeeper, conversely does need to be found when Warp World goes off in order to make the timing work right. Keep a Flame-Kin in your hand, and play Loxodon Gatekeepers, so that Warp World will take them back into the library. They'll bog down opponent's defensive efforts anyway.

Just checking: We're not doing the party today then?

Give me a time and place. I'll be there with all my toys.  

Well I talked to U-HAUL yesterday, and for their smallest truck, they wanted 19.99 + 0.89 per mile, which would round out roughly to $55 for the trip I need to take. Given that the two desks together only value up to around $120 together, I'm pondering other options right now.

OK so I didn't know what day it was....

Anyway, I got sick on Wednesday and delayed in replying until today because I was hoping I'd be better. I'm going to push the move date back though. I'll post again when I find out more. Thanks for the support so far.

My Prerelease Tactics article is in the system now. It doesn't have HTML coding in the body yet.