First, a small update from Gp gothenburg. I went 3-3 on the 2 drafts on sunday giving me an record of 10-5 and 67th place. Kinda bummed i missed out on the money with 3 places but overall satisfied with my performance. A more deatiled report from the Gp might appear here on the blog on this summer, who knows?

Had an interesting dilemma from a Momir daily the other day:

He has the hellkite charger which gives him an extra combat step if he pays 5RR, i have trislevus who creates Flying mogg fanatics for 1,

Last turn i decided to go to 1 after his Hellkite Charger attack figuring Triskelavus would buy me more time to maybe turn the tide. I have to now plan my next 3 turns at once and what i do this turn decided how the other turns will play out: I have the following options:

A) Make an 8-drop this turn and be dead if i don't hit a flyer or something that removes Charger ( i)

B) Make a 7-drop and a chumper this turn and make a 8-drop next turn and be dead if i dont hit (i) this turn or the next.

C) Make a 6-drop and 2 chumpers this turn and make a 7-drop and a chumper next turn and be dead if i dont hit (i) this turn, the next turn, or the third turn

D) Make a 5-drop and 3 chumpers this turn and make an 8-drop next turn and be dead if i don't hit (i) this turn. the next turn, or the third turn.

How would you play it?

Ligger 7-2 på Gp:n och gick dag 2. Nöjd trots att jag låg 7-0 innan de sista två rundorna. Ska bli kul att drafta idag, måste dock gå 6-0 för att top8, men vi får se vad som händer!

Jag har hittat en ny favoritlek i pauper efter att ha spelat UR-Post en lång tid. Detta är en lek som vinner på Kiln Fiend och Nivix Cyclops med mängder av cantrips. Leklista:

4 Kiln Fiend

4 Nivix Cyclops

4 Delver of secrets

4 Ponder

4 Preordain

4 Gitaxian probe

4 Distortion strike

4 Assault strobe

1 Mutagenic Growth

3 Apostles Blessing

2 Dispel

1 vapor snag

4 Lightning Bolt

2 Izzet Guildgate

7 Mountain

9 island

Kortval:

Kiln Fiend/Nivix Cyclops: Lekens bästa kort, gräv efter dessa med ponder/preordain om du inte redan har dem.

Delver of secrets: Förvånansvärt oviktig i den här leken, såpass att vissa varianter flyttat dem till brädan. Den här leken gör skador i stora chunks, och där blir delver irrelevant. Den är dock väldigt bra i grindiga matchups, tex mot post där de måste hantera den elelr långsamt bli ihjälslagen av den, och därmed banar den väg för dina övriga gubbar. Kortet är mest bete i den här leken faktiskt och många motståndare överskattar den. I Mirrorn gör Delver lustigt nog ingenting förutom att vara en chumpblockare. Allt är ett race till att drämma 20 i huvudet på motståndaren. Efter bräda blir delver något bättre då båda spelarna dödaar varandras gubbar och ibland kan en delver gå hela vägen om det blir grindigt.

Gitaxian Probe: var väldigt sparsam med den här och spela den endasdt om du har Kiln fiend elelr cyclops ute eller om du absolut måste hitta action. Att spela den runda 1 för info är inte rätt sätt att spela det här kortet i den här leken.

Distortion strike: vissa spelar shadow rift istället men jag gillar den här bättre. Den ersä'tter också sig själv men skillnaden är att du drar en actionspell rundan efter istället för ett random kort från toppen. Sämre än shadow rift när du ligger efter, dock kan +1/+0 vara relevant väldigt ofta, särskilt med Assault strobe.

Dispel: Sämsta kortet i leken men ett metaval mot fissurelekarna som går av med Snap. Fissure leken verkar vara bästa leken i formatet just nu, men man brädar foat ut det här kortet.

Assault strobe: ett brutet kort men den brädas ofta ut mot UR-post då matchupen ofta blir en grind.

Hur spelar man leken? Detta är i princip samma lek som en Infectlek i legacy eller modern. Du måste ha action på starthanden och bör mulla händer som inte innehåller en gubbe. Om du har 2 cantrips och assault strobe/distortion strike-kombo kan det vara ok att hålla då du har så många outs. Spara Gitaxian probe tills du går av som jag nämnde innan, och bolta bara gubbar du måste bolta, en bolt kan potentiellt vara 6 i skada om du sparar den tills du har Kiln Fiend/Cyclops ute (9 med assault strobe)

Hur ser en bra bräda ut? Du vill ha 4-8 blastar, 4 electrickery och något mot affinityleken. Fler sätta att skydda din gubbar mot removal kan vara gött mot kontrolllekarna (T.e.x Mutagenic growth)

Sist men inte misnt, leken är väldigt billig att införskaffa, frågan är dock hur länge till den kommer att vara det om leken tar fart. Kiln Fiend och Preordain, kort som bara tryckt en gång i set med några år på nacken kan gå upp rejält i framtiden. Kag skulle skaffa leken nu om jag vore du.

Dragon's maze adds some sick cards to the momir basic cardpool, although they dont require much strategy.

7drops:

Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts

A really sick card, not only does she stop any offense barring something like Magmatic Force until you are at the brink of death, she is also immune to all removal in the entire format. Basically the only thing that stops her are Kederekt Leviathan. Oh and she also clocks the opponent for 4 a turn.

Emmara tandris:

I think its funny that this card which have been scorned and deemed unplayable in all format is a house in Momir since all creatures are tokens. She is basically Avacyn although worser, since she doesnt attack for 8 in the air and doesnt stop your team from cards like Teysa and Dread.

Boros Battleshaper

Also very good since he blanks their best creature and eats their small dudes one by one. Not before long you can start alpha with your guys since he has made sure all your opponents small creatures are gone. if you hit him, be patient. the long game will favor you.

Trostanis Summoner

She immediatly stabilizes the ground, though since she only creates groundpounders, this is still worse than the other 7drops and probably not as sick as in DGM-draft. They probably will have trouble getting through, since the ground usually is gummed up at this point, though if a slot of trading have happened, things cut get good for you....

6Drops:

Aetherling: While you can't protect him, he can hit for up to 8. usually hes going to be at most a 3-turn clock. I think if the board is even remotely stable, you should start clocking your opponent, probaly for the maximum, since making a 2-5 drop usually isnt worth the damage in this stage of the game (7-drops +)

Sometimes you wont have an island and might topdeck one with no cards in hand after you started with your 8-drops. Again, if the board is even remotely stable i think its worth skipping your drop for one turn and start cloking the opponent.

if your opponent hits aetherling and doesnt have an island, think about going an aggressive rout since if opponent hits an island, you could be dying very fast.

Sire of Insanity: You rather hit this on the play, since your netting a card this way. You will be faced with the dilemma of skipping drops to hit your 7+drops. If the board is even i probably would go for bigger drops, but if youre behind you usually cant afford it. If youre ahead, you also might want to press your advantage.

The mazes:

I think the redand the blue one is the best, followed distantly by the black. The red one is sweet in a way since multicolored high drops more oftan have flying than haste, benenfiting more from it. Deathtouch is also less relevant on them.

5-drops:

Zhur-Taa Ancient.  This could go poorly for the guy who hits it, since opponent could start making 10 or 12 drops the turn after, depending on if the person who hits it was on the play or draw.

Species Gorger. A bad card, I would probably let it return itself close to 100 % of the times the next uppkeep. While a 6/6 attacker can seem tempting sometimes, its unlikely you can sustain it for long.

2-drops:

Zhur-taa-druid: A really sick card and the best 2-drops in Momir that we have seen a while.

Blood scrivener: you will be faced with the option to hit bigger drops for the cost of 1 life per turn. I will go for it if im not under huge pressure, and it also possible to turn this guy off by not making a landdrop.

To summarize, dragons maze adds further to the 7-drops with 3 sick ones. While the set includes some stinkers; Ruric thar, species gorger, savageborn hydra, no drop hurt you in a huge way like Phage, Denizen of the deep, countryside crusher

Spelade in en draft, är dock en aning ringrostig när det gäller att spela och kommentera samtidigt.

Sista delen fattas av partiet. Det som hände var att hon aldrig hittade en annan giant till Blind-spot. Jag förmodar att hon satt med feudkiller's verdict på handen då hon clashade en Weight of Consicence till botten med 5 land i spel och scoopade med 5 land i spel. Man skeppar inte en pacifism till botten om man inte är i desperat behov av ett 6:e land. rundan efter hade feudkiller varit för sen då hon hade legat på 4 och ej fått en 5/5:a.

Är nyligen hemkommen från Gotchon och tyckte det var väldigt kul, dessutom var priserna bättre än någonsin ävem om det surt att det är så mkt boosterpricer. I vilket fall tänkte jag här ge lite tips inför konvent.

# Få i dig mycket C-vitamin. Det är väldigt mkt männiksor på konvent och du utbyter virus med dina motståndare när du kuperar, blandar eller läser på vad tusan det kortet din motståndare just spelade gör. Dessutom sover man ofta lite, det är drag i lokalerna för att få bort nördlukten. Kort sagt, konvent är som upplagt för att göra folk sjuka under eller precis efter konventet.

# Du behöver inte spela alla turneringar. Ofta finns det enormt många turneringar under ett konvent och det kan vara lockande att spela alla, men det är ju ofta så att det är någon turnering du tycker är viktigare än de andra. Jag brukar ofta skippa minst en turnering jag tänkte vara med på, bara för att vila hjärnan, se till att alla kort/leklistor är fixade inför det vktiga turneringen etc.

# Om du är på en skola kan du ta med eget lås och låna ett skåp. Detta är stor tillgång då du slipper springa till bagaeinlämningen hela tiden. Där är det kö och du måste ta allt du behöver på en gång och sedan lämna in bagaget igen. Med eget skåp kan du även placera den strategiskt nära din sovsal. Dessutom slipper du ha ångest över alla dina dubbelländer som ligger i bagageinlämningen utan ha dem säkert i ett skåp istället.

# Cash is king. De mesta transaktioner sker med kort, och ibland kan det vara svårt att hitta alternativt vara ganska långt till närmsta bankomat. Att ha 10 minuter till time och vara dödshungrig med inga kontanter på fickan är inte kul. Ha därför med en hel del kontanter till konventet, Du kan om du följer mitt ovanstående tips ha majoritetet i skåpet.

# Ta det lugnt med kaffet. På många konvent har jag sovit väldigt lite på nätterna. Jag trodde först det helt enkelt bara var det hårda golvet och folks avgrundssnarkningar. Kaffet är ofta billigt på konvent och det blir lätt ett kultur på konvent där folk fullkomligt bälgar i sig kaffe. Jag dricker inget kaffe efter klockan 8, bara för att kunna sova sen.

Gatecrash Limited is a fast format. There is no denying that. If yore not affecting the board in the first 4 turns you are usually losing. That means you have to make sure you get enough of these early drops during the drafting portions. However i have seen so many players go overboard with this strategy and even taking Gutter Skulk over Sepulchral Primordial. I think this is wrong for some number of reasons.

1) It is still possible to play control in this format. You do have to get a lot of tools to interact in the early game. Devour Flesh, executioners swing, gutter skulk*, corpse blockade etc. However, there is no point playing a controldeck if you cant reap the rewrads for doing so. How does a controldeck win? It wins by answering the oppoent deck 1-for-1 and then either draw multiple cards, get 2-for1 or drop a finisher. See if youre only answering your opponents threats 1-by-1 and don't have a way to go over the top, youre just playing a bad aggrodeck and youre going to get overwhelmed by your opponent at last.

Ex: I played Izzet aggro against an opposing Izzetdeck in RTR-limited. We both had ways to remove the others threat but he had 2 Thoughtflare which pulled him ahead. I managed to wina very close game 1 by just being a little bit too fast for him. In game 2 i had a much slower start, but still an acceptable hand. He answered my threats and i was down to my last threat a Cobblebrute. It actually went the whole way and won the game. It turned out he had boarded out the 2 Thoughtflare just because he thought they were too slow for this matchup. But by doing so he had no way to pull ahead of me and ran out of answetrs eventually.

2: Early ways to interact is important, but they are much harder to get by than resilient threats. One of my favourite archetypes in this format is Esper control. I try to answer my opponents early rush and then drop a threat like the black primordial.

Urban evolution constantly wheels and i think the card is very underrated.

the way to play urban evolution is not play it in a durdly 5colordeck. you are going to get overrun. I like to play it in my semiaggressive Simicdecks or splash it in my Gruuldecks. If you play alot of early threats you are sometimes going to run into a brickwall. Having a way to refill you hand and dig for some bomb or evasiondude is Priceless at that point. I like to play it like i played thoughtflare in RTR, flood the board with dudes and threats and when my opponent have stabilized, i just refill my hand.

Shadow Slice is also very underrated. This card is just busted and can win games on its own. Even if youre only getting one hit in, its 6 damage for 5 mana, and that is not even counting the fact that you might have extorttriggers. See the reason people play Hands of binding is the fact that they rely on the creature getting through. Otherwise the card is just a bad Crippling chill. So if hands of binding is playable this card is even more so. It is slower but on turn 5 most of the opponents removal should be deleted, on the flipside.

So to summarize, this is 3 of my favourite archetypes in Gtc-limited:

1) Esper control with lots of early ways to interact and 2-3 bombs. (Primordials, mythics, mind grind etc)

2) Simic decks with Urban evolution and 1-2 expensive overthetop-dude (Blue Primordial, Sapphire drake) etc

3) Gruul decks splashing Urban Evolution or something similiar (Fathom mage etc) and 1-2 overthetop-dude (Rubblehulk, Gruul ragebeast, borborgymos)

Try it nex time, you might be pleasantly surprised!

As i did with RtR i will do a little analysis of gatecrash's impact on Momir basic. As usual, the cardpool is large so effect will be small, but still here it is:

8drop: Borborgymos, the enraged.

This is probably the most intersting new card due to it being a 8drop, which people are doing the most of on average, and the fact that it provides some interesting dilemmas.

Normally you're not going to have any lands left in your hand when you make this, since the 8drop tends to be the last drop you make. He has the potential to deal 3 damage every turn though if you skip your drop. If the board is relatively stable and the opponent is at 9 life or less i would probably go for burning the opponent out. If you could just survive 3 turns you are winning. However if youre opponent is at higher than 9 i think the plan is going to be too risky generally. A lot can happen in 4 drops from the opponent. You could of course reevaluate from every drop from your opponent, though if you fall behind it isnt easy to catch up.

Another thing to consider is that if your opponent block Borborgymos with a 3/8 for example (Chorus of the conclave) you can shoot by throwing a land at it and the trample over for 2, giving you 3 lands and 9 damage.

Also i would like to live the dream by hitting Borborgymos right after griselbrand, just killing my opponent instantly with a landslide in their face.

The Primordials:

They basicalltý play themselves except for the red one who could require some thought. I think its cool that the two primordials with the best bodies (blue and black) are the ones who dont have any etb-effect in momir. Also the red primordial is worse than zealous conscripts in every other format, but better in momir since its going to steal something ,much more relevant turn 7 while also having a more sturdy body.

Gruul Ragebeast:

Pretty busted, especially since there almost always are some small guys left around, should you hit a guy you dont really want to tangle with something big. It is not fun with you hit a gigantomancer the turn after, though. :P

Angelic Skirmisher:

This card can completely change the entire game, but its probably very important to choose the right mode every combat. I think lifelink is going to be a common mode on offense since first strike is weird because of the very varying p/t creatures has. On defense i imgaine first strike is working better since gangblocking is going to halt the offense. Sometimes if youre chumping duty, lifelink could buy some time.

Aurelia, the warleader:

If this can swing freely, youre probaly winning so no strategy there, However, if this lady is dying on her first attempt attacking, i would be hesitant to cash her in for a large amount of damage. I think just waiting with her until she can set up a lethal attack is better, since the opponent has to thread very carefully not to die as long as the threat of her setting up an extra attack is there. Sometimes a threat is betetr than the execution.

Obzedat, Ghost council:

Very solid as a 5/5 who drains for 2. A word of warning though; please do not exile this guy eot, It will not end well.

Vizkopa confessor:

Two words of advise here; Please do not pay more than 1 life and please (This goes for all extort guys) do not leave mana up for extort. Just felt i needed to say it.

Balustrade Spy/Undercity informer:

No strategy here, i just want to mention that as a momirplayer i am grateful that they are designed like they are. Some people have complained about their design(rightfully so) that they should have milled only opponents, or milled until a nonland is hit. is it possible that wizard designed them the way they did to not ruin momir? I certainly hope so.

Simic Manipulator:

Hes very good, but i would probably try and slowroll his ability for a long time. The way i see it, i rather get one awesome guy than two or even mediumpower guys. because if you have experience from momir, you know that it is the huge over-the top guys who decide most games.

Vizkopa Guildmage:

Be aware that with 2WWBB available you can make a guy pseudounblockable by activating both abilities.

Skargg Guildmge:

Again we come to the threat > execution. As long as this guy is on the board you opponent has to respect the fact that you can make 1 or 2 4/4s and probably needs to leave some guys back. When it is passed to you, you dont even need to activate him but can just make your drop instead.

Legion loyalist:

I never make 1-drops and neither should you, but this guy is a very sweet one since with battalion you can make your entire team unblockable. (All creatures are tokens) I think that this guy is probably the best onedrop you can get in momir ( with the possible exception of Dragonmaster outcast and joraga treespeaker)