On the Pioneer Trail

Since the release of Arena, Magic players have been clamoring for Modern, and even Legacy to be added to the platform. I disagreed, and still do. I think Wizards has sound reasons for not adding older, non-rotating formats, and calling for those formats to be added suggests a fundamental misunderstanding of Arena’s purpose as a platform - which is, and always has been primarily to enter the esports market. The Historic format was Wizards’ compromise, non-rotating format solution for allowing players to still have some value to their collections after rotation. They have even stated that a curated selection of older cards will be added to the format. Seemed like a reasonable offering.

Then Pioneer was announced, and everything changed.

The interest in Historic has been lackluster, right from the start. It’s not well supported by Wizards, and we haven’t even gotten our curated cards for it yet – granted, they’ve been delayed because more work was being done on sorely needed client optimization, and that was a great and necessary choice of prioritization on Wizards’ part. Nevertheless, I haven’t played a single Historic game on Arena, and I haven’t brewed a single deck. Until the new cards get added, it’s really just Standard Plus, which was old Extended, which was a dumpster fire of a format for good reasons. Remember how much you hated that Control/Combo/Aggro deck that just rotated? Well, guess what, now it’s not gone!

Compare to that, however, how Pioneer has been received. The Magic community at large is on fire for it. Multiple tabletop events were scheduled immediately, Pioneer communities sprang up overnight, card prices have skyrocketed, and even Star City Games has ditched Legacy as a regular part of their Tour circuit and replaced it with Pioneer. Moreover, Wizards is taking an active role in promoting and curating the format, to the point where they’re doing a banned announcement weekly.

In short, Pioneer is a runaway success. It is a better format than Historic by every conceivable metric, and Wizards would do well to ditch Historic at this point.

Adding Pioneer to Arena is much more doable than Modern. For starters, the card pool is substantially smaller. Modern includes cards starting with 8th Edition, which was released in July of 2003, that’s over 16 years ago. Pioneer, by comparison, starts with Return to Ravnica, which was released in October of 2012, just 6 years ago. That’s a total of 31 sets in Pioneer, compared to the 68 sets in Modern. Kaladesh and Amonkhet have already largely been coded for Arena, although they may take some updating and revision to bring them up to spec.

I’m not suggesting that Wizards dump all of Pioneer on Arena in a matter of weeks or months. Not only would that be prohibitively expensive and problematic in programming costs and challenges, but it’s not a financially responsible course of action from a revenue consideration. If they space it out a bit, then they’ll be able to run more events, and generate more revenue. I would suggest a three pronged approach to introducing the format.

First, sell the Challenger Decks on Arena – both sets that have been printed so far. There’s a reasonable foundation for the Arclight Phoenix deck in the most recent set, all of the decks in the first run were reasonably competitive, needing only a few upgrades to bring them up to a high competitive level, and they are composed of cards which have already been coded for Arena, many of which may be viable for Pioneer.

Second, run annual or biannual “Masters” drafts. Construct a draft set which contains around 4 decks which are performing well in Arena. Include all of the necessary cards to construct a competitive version of that particular deck. This will ensure getting the most important cards into Arena in a reasonable time frame.

Third, run regular “flashback” drafts, even if it’s only once a year. Start with Amonkhet/Hour of Devastation, and then move backward one or two sets a year, as might make sense from an available resource/programming perspective.

Even if it takes a while to get a sizable selection of the most important Pioneer decks onto Arena, that’s fine. MTGO ran for years with a very limited Legacy pool. That didn’t hurt the popularity or viability of the client. If you code it, they will come.

I know that Wizards has good financial reasons for prioritizing Standard and Limited on Arena, and I’ve defended those reasons in a previous blog post. But people aren’t going to abandon Standard play, just because you give them another option. It didn’t happen on MTGO, and it won’t happen in Arena. New players to the platform will still need to run Standard, at least for a while. New players to Magic through Arena will want to stick to Standard until they get up to speed. People playing in competitive events will focus on Standard for testing when it’s relevant, and Wizards has full control over formats in the Mythic Championships.

Limited play has always been a big part of Arena, and of Magic as a whole. Pioneer won't change that. It’s a great way to build a collection, and many people just enjoy it more, and actively will play it over any constructed format – although, Wizards needs, needs, NEEDS to get pvp drafting up and running. If Eldraine has taught us anything, it’s that some problems with the bot-draft solution can’t be solved. I love the set, but even with adjustments, ridiculous Mill decks are still quite easy to assemble, and we face them far, FAR too often. In the modern age of online play, bot drafts, and League-style drafts, Wizards can’t make Limited Mill strategies this effective or easy to assemble. But I digress...

If Wizards brings Pioneer to Arena, in the long run, it won’t hurt Standard Play. It will result in more people playing on Arena, and that benefits everyone.

Here kitty, kitty, kitty...

When I was a kid we had cats, because no one ever owns just one cat. We did have this one, though, that would assault the electric can opener every time you tried to use it, because it had been Pavloved into thinking that sound meant it was going to get fed. I could have been opening a can of paint, and the infernal monster would still be trying to stick its head in.

Cat Food may not be exactly Tier 1, but it amuses me endlessly, and I really enjoy playing it – so much so, that I’m brewing a Black Devotion deck for Pioneer that includes the Cat Food combo. I mean, I get to play with COMBO in STANDARD! Who doesn’t love that?

16 Swamp (ANA) 58

3 Midnight Reaper (GRN) 77

3 Priest of Forgotten Gods (RNA) 83

4 Gutterbones (RNA) 76

4 Knight of the Ebon Legion (M20) 105

3 Lazotep Reaver (WAR) 96

4 Footlight Fiend (RNA) 216

4 Witch's Oven (ELD) 237

4 Ayara, First of Locthwain (ELD) 75

4 Cauldron Familiar (ELD) 81

4 Murderous Rider (ELD) 97

4 Castle Locthwain (ELD) 241

2 Witch's Cottage (ELD) 249

1 Syr Konrad, the Grim (ELD) 107 

As is my wont, I’ve gone with basic Black. There are definitely merits to including Red – notably for Mayhem Devil, or White – notably for Cruel Celebrant. However, I really enjoy the smooth operation of a mono-colored build. Trying to run multiple colors in the current Standard meta also has the potential to greatly slow down your board development, as the majority of available dual lands enter tapped.

One great aspect of this deck is that it operates super low to the ground. You can do most of your set up before your opponent has counterspell mana available. It can easily recover from board wipes, and it doesn’t actually need to attack to win. Because of this, I’ve actually found the deck to have a decent match up against Oko/Food. You can also dodge some spot removal with your sac outlets, and occasionally goozle a Murderous Rider, sending it to the bin, instead of on an Adventure.

In your first turn or two, you typically want to play to maximize your combat damage. So if you have a Gutterbones and a Knight of the Ebon Legion in your opening hand, you’ll want to run out the Gutterbones first. After that, look to maximize your combo situations. A great turn 2 play is Priest of Forgotten Gods, because you’ll be able to run out 1-2 more creatures on turn 3, and sac them immediately for value, making your opponent sac a creature, and giving you more mana to develop your board further.

Keep an eye on synergistic plays. For example, the Knight of the Ebon Legion will get pumped off any type of damage done, as long as it amounts to at least 4, so it’s possible to trigger it just off combo damage, even if you don’t have a profitable attack with it.

Be very judicial with your use of Murderous Rider. There’s precious little removal in this deck, and you’re going to want to hold those up for threats which can get around or above your wall of chump blockers.

Don’t be shy with your Castle Locthwain activations, but be smart with them. If you’re going to activate it on your turn, consider doing it before your draw step, so you’ll have fewer cards in hand. Of course, be sure to play out everything you can before firing it off.

I’ve mostly been playing this in Bo1 ranked play, and it’s done fairly well there. I’m not sure at this time how I’d construct a sideboard. Duress and The Elder Spell would certainly be potential inclusions.

Thanks for hanging out. I hope you have a great time tossing cats at your opponents’ faces.

I’m Tweeting now @23rdPlayable. As always, you can find me on Facebook in the MTG Arena Players group, where I’m a mod. 

Have fun, Play on, and Be kind to one another. 

Building a Better Lucksack

Here’s the situation. Throne of Eldraine draft. I’m at 16 life, my opponent is at 7. They have one card in hand, I have none. On their side of the board, Redcap Rider, Raging Redcap, (each with enough +1/+1 counters to make them 4 power) and a Venerable Knight with Summoning Sickness. On my side, brave Syr Konrad, the Grim standing alone against the forces of evil, and four Food Tokens, that’s all. I have 7 mana available.

My opponent attacks with both Goblins.

I have a critical decision here. I could block with Konrad, hoping to trade with Redcap Rider. If they have On Alert (the Adventure half of Silverflame Squire), then I’ll lose Konrad, and they’ll keep their entire board. That would be disastrous for me. A quick calculation shows this attack is not for lethal damage (4 + 4 double strike = 12). If oppo has a pump spell it’ll be for either +2/+2 or +3/+0. Either way, the most they’ll add is 6 points, and I can snack some food in response and still not die.

So what do you do?

Magic is full of critical decision points like this. Are you the aggressor or the defender? What is the best way to use your limited resources? Go for the win this turn, or wait for more information? Learning to navigate these decisions is part of what’s going to really elevate your game. It can be very difficult to parse these situations. 

In this example, my chances of winning this game are very small. The best I can do is nudge them a little one way or another. My opponent has a clear advantage,  despite my substantial life total. If I trade Konrad off here – assuming that is successful – then I’m still taking a whopping amount of damage, and I’ll be playing entirely off the top of my deck. Knowing what removal is available to me here is also important, and I don’t think I have a copy of Bake Into A Pie left in my deck. Even if I do, there's a very small chance that I'll draw it, since there's only one or two copies total in my deck.  So at this point there’s very little I can do about the double striking Goblin, except continue to chump him. 

I choose to not block. My opponent casts no pump spells, and I fall to 4 life. Now is the second critical decision point. Do I snack food and gain 9 life, or do I activate Konrad and attempt do burn my opponent out? The difference here is between playing to win the game, or playing to not lose the game. It’s important to understand that taking the more offensive line is not always the correct decision. It can very much be the case that gaining the life will buy you the time to make one or two additional card draws, which is what you need to lock your opponent out.

In this situation, gaining the additional life felt like it was only prolonging the inevitable. Regardless of what the top of my deck produces, I would be in essentially the same position on their next turn. Slightly worse, actually, since I’d be going in at 13 life instead of 16, and with only 1 Food Token, instead of 4. I would be expending resources for no real gain. It would not improve my slim chances at victory, and I’d be priced into chumping the double-striker on their next attack, losing my Konrad for absolutely no value.

So I activate Konrad three times, and hit two creatures (including my Clackbridge Troll), putting them to 5 life. Go to my turn.

I top deck a Tempting Witch. This isn’t a particularly impactful card. I could cast it, and get another food token, but that’s not really going to leave me in a better place for their next attack. I’d have to chump with the Witch, and probably will still have to use Konrad to block the 4 power goblin. At this point, I am committed. I’m either going to win off Konrad, or lose, that’s just how it is.

I attack Konrad into their Knight. Why? Because they’re at 5 life, and when it’s reasonable, you should give your opponent the opportunity to screw up. They might have mis-clicked and failed to block. They might have lost track of their life total, or spaced on Konrad’s power. I realize that the chances of any of these are pretty small, but it’s a low risk attack since I can activate Konrad's ability at instant speed, and I wasn’t expecting to win that way in any case. They throw their knight in front of Konrad’s heroic assault, and then SURPRISE! On Alert! They had it after all. If I’d blocked with Konrad the turn before, I’d be completely sunk now.

Well, it’s do or die time. In response to the pump spell, I go for the win.

Activate Konrad once.

Two creatures hit the yard. Oppo goes to 3. 

Activate Konrad a second time.

One creature hits the yard. Oppo goes to 2.

This is it, I need to hit 2 creatures here, or I’ve lost the game.

Activate Konrad a third, and final time…..





















BAM! Got there! Two creatures hit the bin, oppo goes to 0, and Syr Konrad and I ride off into the sunset, victorious.

This brings me to what ultimately prompted this post. Some people will dismissively call me lucky here. You see it all the time, where someone rips a sweet top deck, and gets exactly what they need to win the game. Angry cries of “lucksack” echo across the land.

It’s true that variance broke in my direction this time. but the point here, and in most of these cases, is that I put myself in a position to benefit from that luck. If I had played to “not lose” then I would never have had enough mana to activate Konrad enough times to win. I would have drawn into essentially dead cards, and my chances to win that game would have gone from slim to none.

It’s also true that if my opponent had cast the pump spell on their double striker, I would have had to snack a food to not die, leaving me short on mana for the win. But I believe that they correctly assessed that they were in the winning position and didn’t need to overextend. Also, this particular pump spell untaps a creature, so if I’d drawn into a removal spell, it gave them a surprise blocker to protect against Konrad attacking back. Not going for those 4 extra points there seems like the correct line on their part.

There’s more to luck in Magic then just having variance break your way. Your turn by turn decisions through the game can put you in a position to benefit when things do go your way, and also to recover when they don’t. Variance is a huge part of this game. It keeps things fresh, different, and exciting. But it doesn’t eliminate the power and importance of your decisions.

Magic isn’t solved. Unlike some games, it’s not entirely luck, or entirely skill, but a blend of the two. In the end, your objective isn’t really to win. It’s to increase your odds of winning as much as possible.

I’m Tweeting now @23rdPlayable. As always, you can find me on Facebook in the MTG Arena Players group, where I’m a mod.

Have fun, Play on, and Be kind to one another.

23rdPlayable's Guide to Eldraine PreRelease Food Token Options

With the imminent release of Throne of Eldraine, the question on everybody’s mind is - "What snacks can I use for Food Tokens at my PreRelease?" 

Well, fear not, I’ve got you covered!

Here's my 100% guide to the best and worst snack foods for your 

Throne of Eldraine PreRelease!

M&Ms/Skittles - I’m lumping these together because, let’s face it, Skittles are just fruity M&Ms anyway. While these are very conveniently sized, and the candy coating makes them pretty clean, the round shape makes it hard to distinguish between tapped and untapped food. With a huge selection of choices, these are good for those 5 color decks. 8/10

Fun size candy bars - Although somewhat bulkier than M&Ms, these are an excellent choice. They are generally oblong in shape, which is good for denoting tapped/untapped. But I suggest keeping the wrapper on until it’s time to sac your candy food tokens for value. 9/10

Celery sticks - Healthy, tasty, and crunchy! Low mess. An all around fantastic Food Token. (but skip the cream cheese or peanut butter) 10/10

Pretzel sticks - Dry and easy to handle, these are a solid choice. However, they can be very crumbly. Remember, they’re salty, so you’re going to want to have a refreshing beverage on hand. 9/10

Twizzers - I’m not partial to licorice, even red licorice, but I hear it’s popular with the kids these days. These are handy, but long, so they take up an excessive amount of board space. You could cut them down a bit. Also, they’re lacking the hard shell of the M&M, so you’re more likely to get sticky fingers. 7/10

Bite size Pop-Tarts - These are a newer addition to the snack food world, only having been released in 2018. They’re a great size, and nicely shaped for Magic play. There’s a variety of flavor options, but they are crumbly and can leave a little greasy residue. 7/10

Rice Krispies Treats - Inexpensive, as they can be made at home, and conveniently sized. But these are super sticky, and crumbly to boot. If you're going with this option, be sure to bring some handy wipes to clean your fingers! 4/10

Doritos/chips - There’s a world of variety in the chip world for your munching pleasure. USE CAUTION if going the chip route. They can be very greasy, and leave lots of crumbs. Use a napkin or paper towel over your play surface to prevent messes. 4/10

Bread rolls - These are a little hit or miss. Some of them are fine, somewhat crumbly but mostly dry to the touch. Others are very oily and unsuitable for Magic play. 6/10 or 2/10 

Pizza Rolls - While these are the perfect size and shape, they are very oily. Moreover, they’re seriously going to get cold over the course of a PreRelease, and who wants a cold Pizza Roll? 1/10

French fries - Too long, too oily, and they’re going to get limp and cold. 0/10

Buffalo wings - Seriously? No. Just, no. 0/10 

Thanks for popping by my little blog. Good luck with your PreRelease this upcoming weekend!

I’m Tweeting now @23rdPlayable. I’m also occasionally streaming on Twitch as 23rdPlayable. And, as always, you can find me on Facebook in the MTG Arena Players group, where I’m a mod. 

Have fun, Play on, and Be kind to one another. 

Twice Baked Rotatoes

Twice Baked Rotatoes

Rotation is coming! It’s the most exciting time of the year, as Magic players all around the globe wait with great expectations for Jolly Old St. Rosewater to come stuff their deckboxes full of new and exciting cardboard! Tinsel is hung on the Tree of Perdition, and chestnuts are roasting over the Furnace of Rath. But what does this mean for Arena?

If you are new to Magic, here’s what happens and why. The format you have been playing so far is “Standard”. This consists of the most recent two year’s worth of sets. When the Fall set releases, the oldest year’s worth of sets leave Standard, and the new set rotates in. For this rotation - the first since the start of the Open Beta - this means that we’re losing Ixalan, Rivals of Ixalan, Dominaria, and CoreSet 2019. We’re keeping all three Ravnica sets, and Core 2020. What’s coming in is Throne of Eldraine.

The “why” of this is a little more complicated, and goes almost all the way back to Magic’s beginning. It became apparent, within a couple of years, that scarcity would be a huge barrier to entry for new players. This is further complicated by the collector aspect of the game, and the need to protect the value of older cards in the secondary market (for which the Reserved List was created). Bringing in new players is essential to Magic’s long term survival. So if you can’t just reprint any card you want, and new players need access to those cards to compete, how do you resolve this? Wizards’ solution in 1996 was to create constructed formats - originally just Type I (now known as Vintage) and Type II (now known as Standard). The emphasis would be put on Standard play, keeping it more accessible for newer players, while Type I existed so more enfranchised players could still use their entire collection.

So how is the Arena metagame going to change? Some of the decks you’re facing now in constructed events are going to disappear entirely - anything that relies heavily on cards or mechanics from those sets. Orhzhov Vampires, for example, is unlikely to survive. Other decks may still exist, but will change which cards they play. U/B, U/W and Esper Control will probably be good examples of this. Those decks are less set or mechanic dependent, and more representative of larger archetypes. There are other decks which *may* survive rotation. I suspect that Temur Elementals will still be viable after rotation. Finally, there will be some exciting new decks which will enter the format. Look for B/W Knights to emerge as a competitive deck.

It is impossible to predict with any certainty what decks will be good, and what won’t. We don’t even know all the cards yet, so the format is obviously not “solved”. So what should you play in those first days after rotation? I’d recommend taking one of two approaches. You could run something very aggressive. RDW (Red Deck Wins) is likely to exist in some form or another, and aggressive decks tend to do well in new, and unknown formats, as the midrange and control decks are looking for optimal builds and play patterns. The RDW Cavalcade of Calamity deck survives almost 100%, with Gingerbrute easily replacing Fanatical Firebrand, which is the only card from the main deck rotating out. Alternately, I’d recommend running an existing deck that you’re familiar with, which will mostly survive rotation. Again, Temur Elementals is a good candidate for this, or possibly Boros Feather. Piloting something which you already understand will make it easier to navigate the new decks you’ll be facing.

In the spirit of the holiday, I’ll end this post with a festive recipe for Twice Baked Rotatoes!

Ingredients:

5-10 medium or large potatoes (always in multiples of 5)
Cooking oil, or cooking spray
Food coloring in a variety of shades
Chives or green onions
Bacon bits or Ketchup
1 cup Sour Cream
Cracked black pepper
Bleu Cheese
Butter or margarine
½ cup Milk

Supplies:

Baking sheet
1 large Mixing bowl, and 4 separate smaller bowls
Cake decorating bag with a large star-tip
Electric mixer

Directions (for 5 potatoes):

1. Preheat your oven to 400°

2. Wash the potatoes, pierce them with a fork, then put them on the backing sheet

3. Bake for approximately 1 hour (until the insides are soft), remove from the oven, turn it down to 375° and allow potatoes to cool enough to handle

4. Slice the potatoes in half lengthwise, and scoop out the insides into your mixing bowl

5. Using your electric mixer, add ½ cup milk, ½ cup sour cream, and 2 tablespoons of butter. Blend the potato until smooth.

6. Split the potato mix into 5 equal portions. Using the cake decorating bag, fill the first potato

7. Mix into each of the other portions of potato a few drops of food coloring to make Blue, Black, Red and Green mixes. Fill each of the other potatoes with these mixes.

8. Place the filled potatoes onto the baking sheet and put them back into the oven for 15-20 minutes, or until the tops are golden.

9. Arrange potatoes into WUBRG order on a serving dish, and serve with garnishes for people who want to make Guild, Wedge or Shard colored potatoes. Sour cream for White, Blue Cheese for Blue, Cracked Black Pepper for Black, Bacon Bits and/or Ketchup for Red, and Chopped Green Onions or Chives for Green.

Thanks for stopping by, and consider to heading out to your local game store for their Throne of Eldraine PreRelease event(s)!

I’m Tweeting now @23rdPlayable. I’m also occasionally streaming on Twitch as 23rdPlayable. And, as always, you can find me on Facebook in the MTG Arena Players group, where I’m a mod.

Have fun, Play on, and Be kind to one another.