Well I started playing back in revised or 3rd before it became M13 as core sets go. I stepped out after Ice Age, I also played heavily during the Urza’s block playing away my high school years. I then went off to college while my cards hid in the closet plotting their return. I kept my closest kept secret near to me, my “illegal” for standard and legacy play discard deck. It sat in an innocent enough looking play card box. I started talking to Iplayislands about the days of old when we played, we suddenly decided to fall prey to our addictions once again.
We rejoined again in the Alara block by splitting a case and going to tournaments to see how standard had changed. I found myself looking at standard and wondering how the people I played against managed, or adapted to magic after so many changes. After Zendikar rotated out I found myself wondering if I would continue to play, feeling as though my time of ideas and play style were no long valid. I was looking more for social play and enjoying what the game was about. A few weeks before Iplayislands was coming to visit I was strongly considering put my cards away or even selling them, figuring one last play was all this magic player was good for. Clearly Iplayislands must have seen that my will to play standard was over and introduced me to the format that made me ask “what the hell” at first glance.
I’m writing, naturally, about Commander or Elder Dragon Highlander, because of course “there can be only one!” This format involved one of each card in your deck of one hundred cards excluding your wonderful basic lands. At first we put together the most dreadful decks that could have been good, had we had more sleep, or known which cards that we had at our disposal in my crypt (also known as the closet tub of cards). Of course we picked legendary creatures from sets we knew for sure. We both made two decks. I choose to make Malfegor and Empyrial Archangel. At the time I did not know the archangel was not legendary, but that’s what happens when the only copy I had was in Japanese! Iplayislands made Lorthos, the Tidemaker and Uril, the Miststalker. Later that day we played multiple games, both piloting two decks and playing no favorites, so as not to confuse that we were playing two headed giant.
After that weekend I searched through pages and pages of EDH decks ideas on mtgsalvation.com I came to the conclusion that my will to play was not gone, it was now in a social format were I could play out huge cards with large casting costs–the larger the better. I started thinking about what decks I wanted to build the most and checked prices to build decks according to my way of playing. I started with two decks and looked at more, thinking about how it would be to play against others. Mainly the idea of playing magic again was to play my opponents, and not watch to see which one of us would make the first mistake and how to could capitalize on it to WIN. Overall I found that no one game would ever be the same as the last game, unless people did not shuffle. Shortly after building my fourth deck, I watched a youtube video with the “godfather” of EDH Sheldon Menery, which if you have not see yet, stop reading and go watch that video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCajbruQr7U&feature=channel&list=UL This article will still be here…
Welcome back, unless of course you’ve already seen it. In any case, after watching that video I watched another, in which he talked about his Intet deck or “the deck he likes the least”. I realized just how much EDH was made for social magic, gatherings, and not just about winning. This caused me to look over my library of built decks and build one that might win while making everyone wonder just what the hell happened. Anyway, before I keep myself up and maybe yourself, let me stop and say I have more to say but hopefully this has piqued your interest in EDH/Commander.
If you’d like to know which decks I built stick around, there’s more where this came from…

I think the next card is also going to make an impact on standard as well as commander. Tamiyo, the Moon Sage is going to be everything we hope she will be. I was her biggest skeptic at first and honestly I had said that I will need to actually use the card. Well…I put her in a control shell and the very first game I played, she went ultimate. Do you have any idea how amazing her ultimate is with Day of Judgment in hand? Sweep every turn, swing with Gideon Jura. These two are made for each other like peanut butter and Jace, the Mind Sculptor. Tamiyo is going to make an impact as an Icy Manipulator in the same fashion that Ajani Vengeant made. So she costs 5? With the right support team, she will be a threat and will need immediate attention. Let’s talk about her -2 ability because let’s face it, planeswalkers live and die by their first minus ability. How about this, I swing with my team knowing that she isn’t going to make it another turn, target myself, and draw 3 cards? Would you pay 5 to draw 3 cards? I would!

The next card I have absolutely fallen in love with. And by love I really hate it as well. I’m talking about the best Miracle card in the set. Entreat the Angels? Temporal Mastery? None of these compare to Bonfire of the Damned. This card is absolutely everything you want in an aggro deck. It is my personal opinion that Miracles are going to ruin the fun level of magic. Miracles reward luck, not skill. That being said, this Miracle card is hardly ever bad. In hand you can sweep a board of pesky 1/1 creatures for 3 mana. Off the top of the library that turns into a Pyroclasm. Oh yeah, lets also not forget it deals damage to my opponent too. At 7 mana, you have a Slagstorm that hits in both modes, but only for my opponent. Off the top you sweep the board of most threats in standard. This card has so much reach. Out of gas and just need that last 4 damage to kill your opponent, Miracle off the top! This is easily my most favorite of the Miracle cards and I see it fitting into any aggro deck that splashes red.

Now i’d like to talk about the big guy. Not Craterhoof Behemoth, not Avacyn, I want to talk about Griselbrand. Frites decks are going to be cheating this guy out for a while, black control decks are going to curve into this guy, and I even see black/green pod decks with him at the top of their curve. In a meta where aggro is so prevalent, lifelink is going to be all the more relevant. But seriously, who cares about his lifelink? Ok maybe I do a little bit, but I much prefer his draw ability. In Frites, you stick him, you will draw 7 more cards. If they target him with a spell, you can pay 7 life and draw 7. The only card I see shutting him down is Angel of Jubilation (keep that in mind kids). Griselbrand is going to be drawing cards in commander, in standard, and perhaps even modern. He is everything a Mythic Rare should be. Beefy, mythical, strong, and at the very least, he is incredibly flavorful.

The next card I’m going to discuss is probably going to slip under the radar a bit. I’m talking about Champion of Lambholt. This fragile 1/1 for three mana is an absolute beast. If you cannot kill this card the turn it enters the battlefield, it will be big and you will not be blocking your opponent’s creatures. Unblockable is a VERY strong ability—giving it to your team is just phenomenal. In a couple of goldfished games, I’ve seen this card get up to a 7/7 with a team of 3/3s and weenies crashing in for the kill. Do not underestimate this card. I see a demand for this card if GW Aggro becomes the real thing. She will be the keystone of this deck. With all of the token creators this color combo can support, she can get out of control fast. This is my sleeper pick of the entire set.

Bonus section:
I want to discuss Desolate Lighthouse real quickly. I think this is the card that UR Delver is missing. Late game when this deck runs out of burn, lighthouse can pitch a land and grab something relevant. I think this card is probably the strongest land in this set’s cycle.

Ok, now that I’ve got all of the good stuff out of the way, I want to talk about my bottom five cards of Avacyn Restored. What the hell, I’ll start with the most controversial of my bottom five cards. Gisela, Blade of Goldnight is entirely overhyped. What deck plays her? Pod? Frites? Boros? 7 mana for a card that doesn’t have an absolute immediate impact on the board isn’t that great. Ok, I just spent 7 mana to cast her. I’ll crash in with my team. Chump block? Kill her next turn? She doesn’t protect herself except from burn. And seriously if you are a burn deck and haven’t won by the time your opponent has hit the mana to cast her, you’re doing it wrong. She doesn’t pass the Dismember test. You’re more than likely tapped out after you cast her with no way to protect her either. The only deck I see her really going into is a Commander deck. Kaalia of the Vast loves Avacyn Restored, but I am going to say that standard does not love Gisela. There I said it!

The next card I’m going to discuss is also probably loved by many, but after some brief play testing with it, I’m convinced it too is awful. Not Gisela awful, this card is a trap. Demonlord of Ashmouth looks amazing on paper. 5/4 Flying Undying for 2BB. Let me tell you why this card is a trap. Let’s talk about how much of a blowout it can be. I cast Demonlord with only one critter to sacrifice against Delver. They Vapor Snag my dude. Not only am I now tapped out, I’m down 1 life, and I’ve completely lost a card and an entire turn. Turns against tempo decks like Delver are critical; Demonlord is not going to battle well against them. I think that Demonlord is best left on the sidelines. He’s not good in Pod, he’s not good in Mono Black, let’s face it, short of token or weenie strategies, how often do you have a ton of creatures in play by turn 4? He might find a home, but I feel like people will see the light and realize he just isn’t that great.

So let me tell you a story about Alchemist’s Refuge…At prerelease I pulled this card. Awesome it’s going to work great for me! As the day went on and my tiltness (its a word now!) grew, I began to accidentally call this card Alchemist’s Refuse. This card is garbage. The extra 2 mana investment is just not going to work to flash in non-land cards. Its just not worth it. Even a card that costs 3 mana now costs 5. How am I supposed to properly curve out with this?? I’d rather just cast my Oblivion Ring on my turn and keep Mana Leak mana open. I used it once in limited and even then the best I could do with it was flash in an enchantment that pinged a dude for 1. Whoopiedie do! For those of you talking about flashing in Prime Time at 8 mana, you’re smoking crack. Being fancy with this card is only going to lose you the game, I promise.

This just in, Enchantments that do nothing the turns they come into play are probably really bad. Compound that with the fact that all this Enchantment does is give you a 1/1 body each turn and you have a recipe for an absolutely terrible card. Wait it costs 5? Wow, pay 5 essentially tapping out and maybe get a 1/1 next turn? I’ll pass. Commander’s Authority is just not good; I wouldn’t play it in my sealed deck!

The next card I’m going to touch on is Dreadwaters. How is this a good mill spell? There are tons of other good mill outlets and this sure isn’t going to get the job done. Even in a game of Commander, what is this going to do at best, 15? Bad spell is bad, I’m not even sure if it gets the job done in a limited match. Curse of the Bloody Tome kicks the crap out of this card. Next!

Finally, for my bonus card, I’m going to nitpick. I am beyond sick of seeing Demolish printed. This spell is WotC’s way of saying, “well, we won’t print good land destruction because the masses just don’t like it. So let’s instead print a versatile land destruction spell and attach artifacts to it and cost it one more.” This card is way too slow to make an impact on any format. In a set with Ancient Grudge, you’re really going to say, here, take strictly worse artifact destruction. Shatter is even better than this nonsense. Bring back Stone Rain. Quit whining newbies, the game was a lot more mean back in the day, Counterspell was a real card, Force of Will was a real card, Stone Rain was a real card! Stop nerfing good spells!

That’s all I’ve got. When I’m done drowning my sorrows from my less than stellar 2-3 per-release I’ll have a brief account of how terrible my sealed pool was and my impressions on the set as a whole and the metagame shift that it brings.

This site started out as one dedicated to my Maintenance Automator Action and other Mac subjects but since I went back to Windows 7 I haven’t done anything with it. Currently the only Mac I have is a Mac Mini Core Solo that won’t run Lion, so I wouldn’t be able to do proper testing. I work in a Windows environment so buying a Mac isn’t really practical as it use to be when I was a Computer Art student. I also enjoy gaming and most of the games I play are Windows based. I am planning on keeping the Maintenance page up for memory sake but I will not be developing it anymore. I am also going to take the Mac Toolbox down as I have not updated the list in years and don’t plan to.

The site design is going to stay the same, I am pretty happy with how everything looks.

RegentCid and I haven’t hashed out everything we are going to talk about but it will be a variety of topics. We both are interested in a lot of Magic and non Magic things and we both have LOTS to say about them! I want to get as many readers as I can so don’t be surprised if there are some wacky topics popping up.

I have also closed user registration to the site, I keep getting flooded with spam users and do not feel like dealing with it right now.

Counter Burn

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Creatures (12) 4 Delver of Secrets 4 Snapcaster Mage 4 Chandra’s Phoenix Spells (23) 4 Mana Leak 3 Brimstone Volley 4 Gut Shot 4 Ponder 3 Dismember 3 Incinerate 2 Psychic Barrier Planeswalkers (3) 3 Chandra, the Firebrand Land (22) 4 Sulfur Falls 5 Mountain 9 Island 4 Copperline Gorge Sideboard (15) 2 Disperse 1 Quicksilver Geyser 3 Phantasmal Image 3 Slagstorm 3 Ancient Grudge 3 Flashfreeze

I ended up piloting this deck to a 3-1 finish and made the top 4, only losing to a Haunted Humans deck, which regretfully was my own cards and my own personal spin on the build. In my defense, he had the nut draw and my deck decided that it was terrible all at the same time. The changes I made were also a metagame call and I soon realized how good they were starting out with match 1.

While I won’t go into detail about all four of my games this week, I want to talk about my changes. First, and foremost, you may see a certain Planeswalker in there that you didn’t see before. I ran 3 copies of Chandra, the Firebrand in the deck so I could ping off little creatures with her, or for an added boost, I could copy a Brimstone Volley with its Morbid ability. In case you’re wondering, I got to do it on back to back turns in match 1 for a whopping 20 damage—talk about a blowout! The funny thing about Chandra is that she is a Gut Shot on a stick. When she resolves, unless the board is already flooded with big dudes, she essentially locks down the game for you from any */1 critter. I was also able to win a game on the night by pinging my opponent 5 times in a row, forcing him to throw an Incinerate at her instead of at my face. The next turn I ripped my own and it was good game.

The other change you might notice is that I dropped Vapor Snag from my deck all together. I decided that since I run 4 Mana Leaks, that Vapor Snag may buy me a turn, but it won’t win me the game the same way countering a big creature can. As a result, I ran Psychic Barrier, and that too was a star for me all night. I also decided on dropping 1 Brimstone Volley. After doing some reading, it made sense to me that Brimstone Volley is a terrible removal spell and that typically holding multiple copies of it in your opening hand is just bad. Finally my last change to the maindeck was dropping 4 Mountains and adding 4 Copperline Gorges. This was due to my assumption that Tempered Steel would be on the rise. My assumption was correct as I faced a Tempered Steel deck in Match 2. Let’s just say that I steam rolled that match.

The sideboard also saw some changes in the form of Slagstorm over Arc Trail. I found that if I’m on the draw facing an Honor of the Pure, Arc Trail typically doesn’t do much for me and that 3 damage was really the way to go even though it could potentially hurt me as well. Finally, the last change I made was the move over to Flashfreeze in the sideboard. This worked decently for me, but in the match-up against Haunted Humans, I really, really wanted Flashfreeze to be a Negate. Going forward that is what I will be using in place of Flashfreeze. Everything I Flashfroze on the night could also have been Negated.

Overall, this deck still throws people off and is quite competitive in most FNM metagames. Give it a shot if you’re looking for something that can play the beat down and/or control when necessary.

With that being said, I’d like to share 3 decks that I want to try and make work for the current metagame. I will warn you now, they are untested and I have just been spit balling while at work with these. I am open to any suggestions that you may have for them via Twitter @iplayislands or via the comments section at the bottom of the page.

I have really wanted to make Day of Judgment work again and I think I may be onto something starting with this deck list:

UW Control

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Creatures (5) 3 Snapcaster Mage 2 Consecrated Sphinx Spells (25) 4 Day of Judgment 3 Forbidden Alchemy 4 Mana Leak 3 Batterskull 3 Dissipate 4 Ponder 2 Oblivion Ring 2 Visions of Beyond Planeswalkers (4) 2 Karn Liberated 2 Gideon Jura Land (26) 4 Seachrome Coast 4 Glacial Fortress 2 Ghost Quarter 8 Island 8 Plains

Another archetype that I really want to work again is RUG. I think right now that even though I want Day of Judgment to work, that Slagstorm is the better sweeper. The only cards that really laugh at Slagstorm are Phyrexian Crusader and Hero of Bladehold being a close second. I think we’re starting to see a decline in the Mono-Black Infect decks that we saw last month and the month before at our shop and that Slagstorm is ready to make a triumphant return. With that being said, here is the RUG deck that I cooked up:

RUG Control

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Creatures (14) 4 Snapcaster Mage 2 Consecrated Sphinx 4 Viridian Emissary 2 Inferno Titan 2 Frost Titan Spells (20) 4 Mana Leak 4 Slagstorm 4 Incinerate 4 Think Twice 4 Beast Within Lands (26) 4 Sulfur Falls 4 Copperline Gorge 2 Rootbound Crag 4 Hinterland Harbor 3 Forest 4 Island 5 Mountain

I want to talk a little about Beast Within. I think it is a completely underutilized card at the moment, and when used correctly, it can be a well…a beast. Always Beast Within on your opponent’s Upkeep unless a situation requires you to do it otherwise. If you’ve got a Slagstorm to follow on your turn, you lose absolutely no tempo by blowing up something important on their side leaving them with a summoning sick Beast Token. Beast Within is a major catch-all right now as it can remove Oblivion Rings and other annoying Enchantments that may plague you. It is also really good at taking care of an opponent’s mana screw and putting them even more behind the eight ball. It’s not just good at taking care of that, but it helps take care of the best land in standard; Moorland Haunt. Oh you thought I was going to say Inkmoth Nexus or Kessig Wolf Run? Sure they’re dangerous, but neither is dangerous when you’re packing removal. Inkmoth is particularly vulnerable due to the fact that it is both a creature and an artifact and Kessig Wolf Run is worthless if you keep your opponent’s board clear of creatures. It is the simple fact that Moorland Haunt is live in almost every game it gets played is why it is the best land in standard right now.

This deck feels like it is the best of the decks that I am sharing and I will likely be working on this one as the weeks go on. I feel that this deck can only get better as time goes on.

The other deck that I was toying with is just based off of a concept already known to the world. Phantasmal Image + Lord of the Unreal = 3/3 Hexproof beat stick. I asked, what does Phantasmal Image + Dungrove Elder make? Well it makes a Hexproof */* beat stick that is tough to remove and gets bigger than a copied Lord of the Unreal. With that in mind I constructed this deck:

UG Aggro

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Creatures (15) 4 Dungrove Elder 4 Phantasmal Image 4 Delver of Secrets 3 Primeval Titan Spells (23) 4 Mana Leak 4 Ponder 3 Gitaxian Probe 4 Rampant Growth 4 Green Sun’s Zenith 4 Think Twice Land (22) 11 Forest 4 Hinterland Harbor 7 Island

There you have it, 4 decks to take in, digest, tweak and have fun with. Just remember that these decks are built purely based upon my observations of our store’s metagame. While they may (or may not) work for me, they may not be good for you. That is why you must go out and observe! Have fun with them and message me @iplayislands on Twitter if you have any questions or comments.

There will be some weeks that I don’t even play at Friday Night Magic, but that doesn’t mean I’m not researching, testing and tweaking some of the best decks out there. In case you didn’t already know from other articles, I’m somewhat biased toward blue. You can follow me on twitter @iplayislands. This past Friday I piloted the Blue Red Delver of secrets counter-burn deck.I’m going to get this out there first and foremost: my deck was not a stock 75.

Here is my list:

Counter Burn

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Creatures (12) 4 Chandras Phoenix 4 Delver of Secrets 4 Snapcaster Mage Spells (26) 4 Brimstone Volley 3 Dismember 4 Gut Shot 3 Incinerate 4 Mana Leak 2 Vapor Snag 2 Dissipate 4 Ponder Land (22) 9 Mountain 9 Island 4 Sulfur Falls Sideboard (15) 3 Manic Vandal 2 Disperse 1 Quicksilver Geyser 3 Arc Trail 2 Spellskite 3 Mental Misstep 1 Steel Sabotage

My reasoning for not including Stromkirk Noble and Grim Lavamancer are simple: they kinda suck right now. Grim Lavamancer feels terrible now that fetch lands are gone, and it also feels completely counterproductive being that I want to keep my graveyard for Snapcaster Mage. So instead of those creatures I added a package of “removal” in the form of 2 Dissipate and 3 Dismember. Dismember is really good right now and if you aren’t running it again, I highly suggest you take a look at your builds. I also included Gut Shot over Geistflame due to the fact that I can cast it turn 1 on the draw to kill off a Champion of the Parish or a Birds of Paradise. Not to mention baiting an attack from an Inkmoth Nexus turn two by playing an Island instead of a Mountain is just phenomenal! I’m going to say this now because I will be repeating it. There are a LOT of */1 creatures in this format that are worthy of just blowing up as soon as you see them. In hindsight, Dissipate was incredibly disappointing in the deck and at the end of the article I will discuss my modified build with the notes I was able take from the night’s events.

I piloted this deck to a record of 3-0-1 on the night. We split the finals and went home. I also was able to ID the last round. So without further ado, let’s get into the night!

Round 1

I had to immediately mulligan my hand to 6 against an unknown deck. Turn 1 he played a Champion of the Parish and I put him on UW Humans. The next turn he followed with more dudes and I was dead pretty quickly drawing no action, and no outs. It turns out he was Mono-White Humans.

Game 2 I brought in Arc Trails benching one Ponder and two Dissipates. I was soon on my way with a pair of flipped Delver of Secrets and Arc Trails clearing the way for the quick win. Snapcaster absolutely shined for me in this matchup as it was able to bring back Arc Trails to kill off what I needed.

Game 3 was almost a carbon copy of game 2. He couldn’t keep creatures on the board while I played a couple of Chandra’s Phoenix and swung in the air for the win. Arc Trail out of the sideboard is great against these tribal and token type decks because you can sit on it and two-for-one them all day. This was the type of matchup that I anticipated I would do well against simply because they have very little interaction against me. He was however packing Fiend Hunters and I lost a Phoenix to one. I was able to get it back with a timely Snapcaster Mage and Arc Trail + Gut Shot.

Round 2

I am paired up against our very own @Jessehogie and his GW Humans deck. This match didn’t really turn out to be the match I expected it to be. He was very mana screwed and didn’t get to do much of anything in the 2 games that he lost. Game 1 he kept a 1 land hand and was blown out by Gut Shot and a Phoenix. I had an answer to everything that he was able to try to cast and we were on to game 2.

Game 2 I brought in the Arc Trails and ditched the Dissipates and Ponder (seeing a pattern yet?)I faced a turn 4 Thrun, the Last Troll. It was at this point I realized that I had absolutely no answer to this beast. Mental Note taken, he beat me to a pulp and we were on to game 3.

Game 3 he mulliganed a 1 land hand into a no land hand, into a 1 land hand into a 4 land hand. He kept his 4 land hand and we were off. I was able to draw some action early and put some pressure on, but he managed to draw another Thrun off the top for turn 4. I had already hit him twice with a Phoenix and knew we were off to the races. Another Phoenix evened up the race but he was starting to hit some action in the form of a Hamlet Captain. I blocked Thrun with one of my Phoenixes and hit him in the face with a Brimstone Volley for 5. This is where things got interesting as I was now in top deck mode as well. After hitting a Ponder I saw Snapcaster Mage, Brimstone Volley and Mana Leak. I drew the Snapcaster Mage leaving the Brimstone Volley on top for my next turn. I was then able to play the Snapcaster as a blocker bringing back my Brimstone Volley in the graveyard for another 5. A few turns later I was able to set up the same play for the win. This game was the toughest I had for the night and I’m thankful that he had to mulligan down to 4 as Thrun just ruined me.

Round 3

Round 3 I’m paired up against a Wolf Run Ramp deck with red in it. I have played that deck for the previous 4 weeks and know it well. My opponent just decided to play it Friday night to give it a try. He was playing a version I hadn’t seen yet, sporting Devil’s Play and Birds of Paradise. He seemed to be on a removal heavy package as well with fewer true threats in his deck. This to me was ideal because I was able to disrupt his tempo fairly easily.

Game 1 he played an Inkmoth Nexus and passed the turn. I played Island and said go. He followed with another land and tried to swing in with an Inkmoth Nexus which was met with a Gut Shot. I followed with another land and a turn 3 Phoenix to put on the pressure. He was able to drop another land and start ramping, but I was holding all of what I needed to win in the next few turns while he spent time ramping and not playing any threats. Finally I was able to get him within burn range and he tapped out for a Primeval Titan. I let it resolve knowing that he was dead on my upkeep.

Game 2 he was much more hesitant to swing with his Inkmoth Nexus and he kept them back for ramp and removal. He was able to hit my Delver with a Beast Within and then Slagstorm it all away. I was able to keep pressure on with Brimstone Volley and Snapcaster Mage. He then attempted to tap out for a Primeval Titan which was met with a Mana Leak from me and shortly thereafter it was over.

Round 4

I was paired up against 1 of 3 or 4 Mono-Black Infect decks at our shop. I was anxious to test things out against this deck. We had agreed to intentional draw before this round, but both of us were interested in testing things out. We ended up playing 6 games in the time it took for the round to end. I can tell you that at couple of good things and bad things came out of this matchup. First, I realized how terrible my sideboard strategy was against this particular deck. Second, he learned how to properly sideboard against my deck, and third, things were going to change for my next build. I ended up winning the first 2 games we tested and then proceeded to only win 1 of the next 4. We discussed my sideboard options and his and decided that most of my sideboard was worthless against him, especially my Manic Vandals. They just sat in my hand doing a whole lot of nothing.

All in all this deck performed very well (as I thought it would for our metagame). It is still under the radar as far as most metagames are concerned, but aside from Thrun, the deck is completely live against every other deck in the format. I would however make some changes as Dissipate was just horrible for me. The manabase is kind of shakey, but there was not one game where I was dead to mana screw. Ponder is really good at helping filter out any issues you might have along with digging for action when you’re getting low on cards. If I had to change the deck for this Friday, it would look something like this:

Counter Burn Revised

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Creatures (12) 4 Chandras Phoenix 4 Delver of Secrets 4 Snapcaster Mage Spells (26) 3 Dismember 4 Brimstone Volley 1 Geistflame 4 Gut Shot 3 Incinerate 4 Mana Leak 3 Vapor Snag 4 Ponder Land (22) 9 Mountain 9 Island 4 Sulfur Falls Sideboard (15) 3 Phantasmal Image 3 Burn the Impure 3 Crush 2 Disperse 1 Quicksilver Geyser 3 Arc Trail

Obviously now if I’m playing against an opponent with Green, I have to assume they are playing Thrun, the Last Troll and bring in the Phantasmal Images. They also double as removal against Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon as the only out I truly have against him is Dismember. Against decks that want to bring in Nihil Spellbombs, I can bring in Crush for instant speed removal, but it is also really good against opposing Sword of Feast and Famine and Sword of War and Peace along with any Lashwrithes or random equipment that could cause some problems. Burn the Impure is simply because our meta is flooded with infect decks. I suspect that the aggro deck of choice however will shift back to Tempered Steel after this past weekend’s worlds tournament. My bounce package is for threats such as Titans and Planeswalkers as well as any particularly annoying enchantments such as Oblivion Ring or Honor of the Pure. The reason I ditched Dissipate is mainly because the double blue mana wasn’t super easy to rely on, at least if I got hit with discard with a Phoenix in hand I was able to pitch that instead. Also you really still want to be able to play a Delver of Secrets and be able to counter a spell turn 3 if you didn’t have the turn 1 Delver. I also found myself siding out Dissipate every single game.

I’ll say it again, this deck is fun to play, it is live against every deck in the format right now and is still under the radar. Give it a shot, practice with it, and you absolutely need to know when you’re the beat down and when you’re control. It also has the ability to switch gears between the two quickly allowing adaptability over the course of a game. If you have any questions, DM me or tweet at me, I’ll be happy to answer them.

So here’s the plan:  I will be playing either the “Infect and Defile” deck or the “Into the Breach” deck.   If I had my choice I’d go with “Into the Breach” as it is much more my speed than playing Infect.  I’m not going to break down the cards in the deck or their synergy until I get my hands on them and play them in a FNM.  The decklists can be found on the mothership here: http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/arcana/648 Although they look fun, I’m not personally convinced they will pack a Wallop or even be competitive.  These feel more like kitchen table decks to be competitive there, not for the real deal or even something as low level as a FNM.

My experiment is simple.  Play the deck JesseHogie doesn’t and make Top 4 at our store.  Can it be done?  Will the lack of the Mythic Rarity in these decks really affect the outcome of matches?  Will “sub-par” cards be able to win the night?  It has been done before.  This will be a great challenge for myself and JesseHogie, and I hope to be able to take home a Top 4 with one of these suckers.  Stay tuned kids.

Until next time…

Expect more stuff after the holidays!

Decklist – Scars of Mirrodin Release – Top 4 finish

Artifacts:
Contagion Engine x 1
Nim Deathmantle x 1
Trigon of Corruption x 1
Grafted Exoskeleton x 1
Myr Galvanizer x 1
Contagion Clasp x 1
Darksteel Axe x 1
Leaden Myr x 2
Vector Asp x 2
Bladed Pinions x 2
Ichorclaw Myr x 1
Strider Harness x 1
Copper Myr x 1
Corpse Cur x 1

Black:
Geth, Lord of the Vault x 1
Carnifex Demon x 1
Skinrender x 1
Painsmith x 1
Plague Stinger x 2
Tainted Strike x 1
Contagious Nim x 1
Blackcleave Goblin x 1

Green:
Tangle Angler x 1
Tel-Jilad Fallen x 2
Copperhorn Scout x 1
Wing Puncture x 1
Ezuri’s Archers x 1
Blight Mamba x 1

Land:
Forest x 10
Swamp x 10

Pretty much a G/B infect deck. Combine that with Contagion Engine and Contagion Clasp and you get a lot of poison and -1/-1 counters. My only lost came in my first match and it came to the eventual tournament winner playing a mono white deck.

The deck plays pretty straight forward, attack attack attack. If they block, they get the counters that keep increasing due to the Engine/Clasp combo. If they don’t block, the same thing happens but with poison counters. I never had an issue with mana, the thing I feared the most. I never feel comfortable with the land count while playing a Limited event but I think I nailed it with this one. I was somewhat disappointed with the performance of Geth and Carnifex. Every time I played the card (when I actually drew it) they got an Arrest cast on them. I mean every single time too. Looking back this allowed for my infect creatures to pound through but I still wanted to use my big boys.

I would strongly advice giving infect a chance if you have the right pool. A few infect creatures will not do the job and a lot of infect creatures wont do the job unless you have a way to get them through unhindered or a way to add on the poison counters with proliferate. I saw a lot of decks fail because they didn’t have the right support (which happened to me last week).

Sealed– 1^st Place

Decklist:

I can’t remember my actual sealed pool because my prize packs mixed with my sealed pool.  I did however manage to keep my winning deck separate from my other cards.

Auriok Edgewright x1
Kemba’s Skyguard x2
Indomitable Archangel x1
Bellowing Tanglewurm x1
Cystbearer x1
Carapace Forger x2
Ezuri’s Brigade x1
Wall of Tanglecord x1
Ichorclaw Myr x1
Gold Myr x1
Copper Myr x1
Blunt the Assualt x1
Fulgent Distraction x1
Dispense Justice x1
Accorder’s Shield x1
Grafted Exoskeleton x1
Trigon of Infestation x1
Ratchet Bomb x1
Contagion Engine x1
Rusted Relic x1
Barbed Battlegear x1
Horizon Spellbomb x1
Tumble Magnet x2

It’s hard to remember exactly how all of my matches went, so I’m just going to highlight some of the better cards in this deck and why if you see these, you really, really need to put them in your deck.

First and foremost, I want to touch on Auriok Edgewright.  I only pulled one and got to play it in only one game.  It drew a lot of attention from my opponent and was removed some 3 turns later.  I didn’t ever get to attack with it because at the time I hit Metalcraft, he was blown off the board.  Indomitable Archangel on the other hand single-handedly won me a match.  It gave my important artifacts Shroud.  Now normally this isn’t a big deal, but when your opponent can’t Remove them  and you get to keep Metalcraft active, you tend to win games.  At the end of game 3 I was able to attach equips to it and swing for 10 Infect damage in the air—yikes!  Ezuri’s Brigade however was the trump card in my deck.  I had this card out turn 4 in some games and had Metalcraft.  Being that most people had no answer to this guy, he won me many games in a quick and painful fashion.  Plus equpping him with Grafted Exoskeleton, he was a 10/10 trampling Infect critter.

Now onto the Artifacts.  I want to start with an all-star in the form of Tumble Magnet.  This thing is just nuts in Sealed.  I tap your blockers and either hit with Infect damage, or I tap your attackers and allow myself another turn to buy time.  I found myself using this card more often than not to tap a darksteel creature so that I could punch through some damage every now and then.  Trigon of Infestation helped me so much in the way of creating chump blockers, it wasn’t even funny.  I almost think this card is viable in constructed play—it was that good for me!  Rusted Relic was awesome in this format as well.  I very often had a 5/5 by turn 3 due to having a Myr or two on the battlefield.  I mean honestly how do you deal with a 5/5 by turn 3?  This card is a must run in this limited format.  This stalled out so many people from attacking the second I dropped it and had Metalcraft active.  I have two more cards to discuss in my deck, and both of them were my huge removal.  The first is Ratchet Bomb.  Man this card causes so much fear its amazing.  This I feel is going to do better in constructed than it will in sealed, but just ratcheting this thing once or twice stalls out so many people.  They just don’t want to waste a turn dropping a creature I can blow up.  And forget dropping this thing late game.  I can set it up to what I need, sac it, and clear my opponents chump blockers so I can go in and hit hard.  This is a must run in sealed, and I now know the power it will bring to constructed in about a week’s time.  Finally I’d like to talk about an amazing piece of removal for limited:  Contagion Engine.  There are so many */1 creatures in this format that it alone can clear the board.  Untap with it though, and crazy things can happen.  I had people scoop after I dropped it because they just didn’t have an answer to my one sided Day of Judgement.

So that was my sealed experience.  I can’t really believe I pulled off the win, but going undefeated and drawing into the top 4 is quite a good feeling.  Oh yeah, I also pulled an Elspeth Tirel out of my prize packs!  It was a great time, a great learning experience, and I think I have a really good feel for potential archetypes in Scars of Mirrodin limited.  I’ll be gun-slinging again next Saturday at the official Launch party!

White:  I’m not seeing a ton of removal in this set, so keep an eye on Arrest.  While not removal, it sure should take care of that fattie you’re facing.  With the Abundance of equipment in this set, if you pull a couple of Auriok Edgewrights, be sure to play enough equipment in your deck to not only equip these bad boys, but allow the requirement of Metalcraft so you can do some major damage.  Any Planeswalker you pull will do some damage in a sealed tournament, and Elspeth Tirel is no exception.  Look for her to be clearing boards everywhere at pre-releases this weekend.  Glint Hawk isn’t only great for sealed, but he might find his way into some constructed decks.  I’m not entirely sure how much of an effect Indomitable Archangel is going to have on sealed, but I think it has potential to flat out end games.  A 4/4 flier for 4 is nothing to mess with in sealed and will have to be dealt with quickly regardless of whether its Metalcraft condition has been met.   As far as Kemba, Kha Regent goes, I’m not entirely sure how I feel about her.  Being that I still haven’t seen great removal, and she’s a 2/4 out of “bolt” range, I think this card could potentially be an amazing chump blocker-producer-thingamajig.  That’s my technical term for great blocker.  The fact that you could potentially spit out 2 or 3 2/2’s a turn is beyond good because on top of that you’re still casting spells.  The tough part is, I feel like you’re going to have to invest all your time on equipping this kitty instead of focusing on other threats.  Leonin Arbiter while amazing in eternal formats and quite possibly a standard near you, will probably not make much of a dent in sealed.  If you’re going tribal with the Myr, then you’d better hope you have a ton of em in your sealed pool, but if you don’t, Myrsmith can potentially fill in the gaps.  The final 3 cards in white are all potential game enders.  Sunblast Angel has one of the biggest bodies in the set as a flier, and destroys those pesky tapped creatures.  Tempered Steel is a great boost to all of the artifact creatures in this set, and could potentially give your deck that extra push you need while you’re building it.  And finally there is True Conviction.  To me this card is to sealed as Eldrazi Monument is to constructed.  Stick this card, and win the game, period.

Blue:  Patrick Chapin covered Argent Sphinx here: http://www.starcitygames.com/magic/misc/20130_Exclusive_Preview_Argent_Sphinx.html

I agree with everything he says about this card, but I’d like to add that in a Metalcraft deck in sealed, this is going to be beyond a nightmare to deal with.   Disperse can be nice to buy you a turn near the end of the game or bounce a nasty infect creature about to hit you with lethal poison counters.  Darkslick Drake and any flier is great in sealed, keep an eye on these guys, you will face them, and they will be a nuisance.  I’m not sure how I feel about Dissipation Field in sealed.  I feel like by the time it’s doing anything for you, it’s probably too late—the same goes for this card in constructed, I feel like it is a wasted slot in most decks.  Grand Architect is just great all around.  For sealed you might have to try and focus your deck more around blue creatures in order to really make him work, but none the less, he will be effective for powering out some of the more expensive artifacts.  Quicksilver Gargantuan looks to be the second biggest body of the set so far, so keep that in mind when you’re looking for a bomb to play—this guy is it!   Any card drawing is great in sealed, so if you’re going to run blue, consider Riddlesmith, much like Crystal Ball in M11, it can help you dig for answers quicker than the traditional draw-go.  Shape Anew is probably terrible unless you’re running only powerful artifacts in your sealed deck.  With that being said, I want to see it work in constructed.  Steady Progress might be asking a bit much to just draw a card, but add Proliferate in a deck that has tons of counters, and now we’re talking.  Stoic Rebuttal while probably really nice in constructed Metalcraft decks, might not be amazing in a sealed deck—I’d sideboard this when necessary.  Thrummingbird is my favorite blue card in this set and I feel like it will give people fits in sealed and constructed.  There aren’t a TON of fliers in this set that come out turn 2 and really start getting to work.  Trinket Mage will be pretty good in this set if you need to Snag a low costed artifact for a combo, say like Chimeric Mass or any of the Spellbombs, but in general you’re going to be paying 3 for a 2/2.  Vedalken Certarch will annoy many people this Saturday and through many sealed and draft tournaments.  This is fantastic control against an artifact heavy deck while protecting your heavy artifact deck.  Good investment, probably, at worst he’s a 1/1 for 1 and an early drop to help out Grand Architect.  Finally in blue we get Volition Reins.  Cool, I can take over your Planeswalker!  I think this card will be seen more though taking over people’s Platinum Emperions and locking their life totals.

Black:  Normally I’d say “meh” at Carnifex Demon, but this guy is the biggest flier in the set so far.  6/6 that can really take out a lot of the board is just bomb-licious in sealed.  Exsanguinate in anything other than multiplayer is not going to be very good.  Geth, Lord of the Vault on the other hand will likely win you the game if you can stick him and untap with him in sealed.  Yes, he’s that good.  Grip of Darkness might be our best removal against the */4 bodies in the set and everything smaller.  If you can get multiple copies of this and are running black, you should be in great shape.  Remember, removal is very important in Limited formats.  Hand of the Praetors…now this is a card I can get behind.  I think Infect decks could be viable for constructed, but sealed I’m kind of in the air on.  I think if you pull a slew of creatures and abilities with Infect and pull this dude, you’re going to be in great shape, if not, don’t force him into your sealed because he’s the rare.   Ichor Rats look pretty good, but again, don’t force infect if it’s not viable.   At the very least, they take a blocker down by -2/-2 if they get blocked and killed.  I think a lot of people are going to forget the Wither ability that is built into Infect and may underestimate it.  Memoricide won’t be good in sealed main deck, and in fact, it may not be good in a side board either, in all honesty, it may only be good for removing planeswalkers before they’re cast, that’s it.  Moriok Reaver is a vanilla 3/2 for 3, good, moving on!  Necrogen Scudder is a 3/3 flier with a slight drawback.  I would have rather had him give you poison counters rather than ping you for 3 life, but it is what it is, a third turn 3/3 flier can be pretty damaging.   Necrotic Ooze is a tough one to predict because in the right sealed deck, it can be a total powerhouse, otherwise you’re looking at a 4/3 for 4—which still isn’t terrible, but I’d rather not hit that as one of my rares when I bust open packs.  (Now that I’ve said this, I’m going to crake a Necrotic Ooze on Saturday).  I feel like Painful Quandry will win games in sealed, and might find its way into some control decks that splash black.  Painsmith would be nice if it wasn’t artifact spells that triggered its ability, but that wouldn’t really make sense now would it?  Plague Stinger is probably my favorite black card right now.  Much like Thrummingbird, you’re going to have to deal with it fast or you could potentially be in trouble.  My second favorite black card follows it in the spoiler as Skinrender.  This card should be given a look due to the fact that it acts as nasty removal/nerfing of your opponent’s creatures.  This card can potentially 2-for-1 every time it is cast.  Any card that can act like that is a good one in my book.  Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon might be hard to play in constructed where you will be inclined splash other colors.  I mean let’s face it, this card really costs 3{B}{B}{B}.  In sealed, this card won’t necessarily need to be hasted, it just has to live one turn and you have a nasty 4/4 flier that Regenerates to deal with.  Oh yeah, did I mention it’s got Infect too?  Wow.

Red:  Barrage Ogre is a “meh” card to me, even if you can bring back artifacts from the graveyard a lot, this card is still going to be underwhelming.  At 3{R}{R} it’s going to be hard to justify sacking artifacts to its ability when you have a 3/3 body on the battlefield instead.  Bloodshot Trainee however can potentially lock down your board position if you can manage to equip it and protect it.  This will destroy creatures till you play your finisher and then its good game.  Like Painsmith, I feel like Embersmith will kind of fall flat compared to Myrsmith and Riddlesmith.  Galvanic Blast will be fantastic in a Metalcraft deck.  It’s 4 damage people, not 3.  That’s a kicked Burst Lightning for {R} if you control 3 or more artifacts!  Goblin Gaveleer could potentially be as dangerous as Auriok Edgewright, but I’m seeing the Edgewright winning that battle.  Koth!  Koth will be great at powering out big critters in sealed and giving people fits.  Pretty sure he alone will win games.  Kuldotha Phoenix will be great if you can discard it and use its Metalcraft ability, otherwise triple red is going to give you problems in a sealed pool.   Molten Psyche just spoiled today will be fun and could potentially put the game away at the end of a match.  Will I maindeck it if I run red and pull it…probably.  Oxidda Scrapmelter will be a must have if you’re playing red.  This card is another 2-for-1 that will help you in your early game tempo.  Scoria Elemental is a Lightning Elemental on steroids, but not speed.  6/1 is nothing to sneeze at, but I feel like 1 toughness is just a little too fragile for this Limited format.  Shatter in an artifact heavy set, need I say more?  Spikeshot elder can ping Scoria Elemental all day with its ability, he is one of the reasons why I feel that 1 toughness won’t cut it, in fact I’d try to avoid a ton of those critters if possible.  Tunnel Ignus if said wrong sounds like a sexual act.  The only act you’ll see this card doing in sealed is sitting on the bench.  This is another rare I don’t want to crack open.

Green:  There are a good amount of cards in green that I like for sealed, but I’ll start at the top and work my way down.  Asceticism is a card that I’m 50/50 on part of me feels like this could end games with its Regenerate effect for all of your creatures, but the other part says this kinda sucks.  With so many cards with Infect, Regenerate tends to lose its luster.  Speaking of Infect, let’s start with green’s Blight Mamba.  Unless this guy gets -1/-1, he is going to give people fits.  Once again, the built in Wither is going to be hard to deal with on a regenerator.  Carapace Forger and Ezuri’s Brigade are going to be tough to deal with when Metalcraft conditions are met.  I think Metalcraft is going to be really good in sealed, and possibly on the same level if not better than Landfall was in Zendikar.  Cystbearer is a good addition to a B/G Infect deck at the 3 slot.  Look for this archetype in your store during sealed and during constructed because I think both are highly viable.  Engulfing Slagwurm is the epitome of a finisher.  Block with it and you destroy what it blocks and gain life.  They block it; you destroy the blocker and gain life.  They don’t block it, you just took 7 to the face.  Damn. Ezuri’s Archers are the card that Thrummingbird and Plague Stinger don’t want to see.  It’s a pretty awesome creature with Reach and it can lock down the skies of attackers with 4 toughness or less.  Ezuri, Renegade Leader while good on his own, will absolutely own in constructed elf decks.  I don’t think we’re going see his Regenerate ability used as much as the Overrun.  In sealed I don’t see this guy making a ton of an impact being that there aren’t a ton of elves out there.  Genesis Wave makes me go “huh?”  I feel like in order for this to be good you need to probably spend somewhere around 10 mana.  In which case, shouldn’t you already be winning if you have 10 mana available?  This is a win more card, the end.  Liege of the Tangle makes me scratch my head.  It’s good, and I think for sure it will win you the game the turn you can attack with it in sealed, but in constructed; this card could be a major disaster.  I think you have to play smart with this card.  Don’t animate all of your lands, remember, they become 8/8’s as well.  Animate 1 and you’re swinging for 16 damage next turn.  I can see why this guy is mythic.  Putrefax is a card my teammates and I have gone back and forth on.  After some pondering, this card in my Humble opinion is good.  I think it’s great in sealed and quite possibly great in a B/G Infect deck in constructed as a finisher.  Let’s not forget, you’re dealing with 5 Infect damage here.  Better have that bolt ready. Slice in Twain is asking a bit much to destroy an artifact or enchantment in constructed, even though it draws you a card, but in sealed, it can be a huge turnaround for you.  I’d likely maindeck this puppy.  Tangle Angler can be another nuisance by Withering down blockers that can’t kill it.  I want multiples of this guy in sealed.  Finally in green there is Withstand Death.  Sorry, I think even in sealed I’m not wasting a slot on this card.

Venser gets his own slot here, it doesn’t look like there will be any other multicolored cards in this set other than him.  This guy is great, he also can potentially win you games in sealed, but I don’t see things being slow to the point where you’ll get to use his ultimate.  I see this guy dropping, using his -1 and ending the game.  If the colors were in the color pie with Infect, this guy would be beyond good for sealed.

Artifacts:  There are around 55 artifacts spoiled at the time of writing this article, so I’m only going to touch on 10 or so because by now you might be bored to death by me stating the obvious about cards in this set already, so here we go!  Argentum Armor, play it in sealed, it’ll end the game.  Chimeric Mass will be great, calling it now.  Contagion Clasp and Engine are very interesting.  I’d like to see them work, I think they can in sealed and really do damage, but I’m not entirely sure how well they’ll do in constructed play.  Obviously the Myrs could be good depending on how many you draw.  I do want to touch on Myr Battlesphere.  God I love this card!  I see it potentially filling a hole in U/W control decks, but in sealed, this card could also potentially end games.  The Darksteel stuff can be pretty good—I’m looking at you Darksteel Juggernaut!  But…with all the Infect around, these can go bye bye fast.  I think Etched Champion can be a beast to deal with in sealed, but can also just as easily be shut down with other artifacts like Ichorclaw Myr.  Golem’s Heart will be a useful charm, and I’m considering running it maindeck if I pull one or two.  Memnites are going to be incredibly useful, but at uncommon, we may not see as many of these as we really want in a sealed pool.  Mindslaver is one that you will want to be on the lookout for at your pre-release.  I think this card can potentially finish your opponent off pretty quickly—on the other hand, they could have a card in their hand and you could totally whiff on your activation of your Mindslaver, be careful with this one.  I almost feel like this is going to be a card I maindeck and end up playing 4 matches before I realize it’s just not good for sealed.  Molten-Tail Masticore will be a factor and it will win you games despite what anybody says, this card is the real deal.  We’ll be seeing plenty of this card in the next year or so.  Mox Opal I think in sealed is going to be incredibly underwhelming and will waste a card slot where you could be playing a creature or bomb.  Hang onto it for constructed, I’m just saying don’t waste a slot in your sealed deck with it.  Now we get to some of the more interesting cards like Platinum Emperion.  If you’re not facing Infect, you will win the game by playing this card.  Precursor Golem can be fun in sealed, at worst you got 3 3/3’s for 5.  At best, you pump all 3 with a combat trick.  Don’t forget to read the card, sorcery or instants get copied, you can’t enchant all three of em with one spell.  I’m not worried about this card having a hard time in sealed unless it gets hit with Grip of Darkness.  I think that Prototype Portal can be nasty in this format as well, but I’m wondering if you’re going to have to spend too many resources on getting it to work.  Tapping X each turn to copy a mediocre artifact just doesn’t seem that great, and tapping a ton to copy a great artifact just seems like a major waste of resources.  I’d avoid this one if possible.  Now we get onto Ratchet Bomb.  Yes please.  I will play this in sealed. I will play this in constructed.  This is way too useful to not include.   Oh look, we got an artifact Craw Wurm in the form of Razorfield Thresher that costs 1 more.  At least the flavor text is good.  Rusted Relic will be good in Metalcraft decks, a 5/5 in this format will be tough to beat.  Semblance Anvil is also a good pick for me.  Yes, I’ll exile a Memnite and get my Artifact and Creature cards  get reduced by 2—love it!  Steel Hellkite is going to be tough to deal with, look out for this guy as a finisher in a lot of decks.  Better know what you need to save your removal for, cause this guy warrants a Shatter!  Hard to say no to a flying Engineered Explosives.  Oh and now we get to the Sword of Body and Mind.  Its good ok, people have talked about this for months since it’s been spoiled, its great in sealed, and can be good in constructed, just wait.  I think the Trigon cycle will be useful in sealed as well, anything that sits there and does stuff for only 2 mana can be dangerous, especially the Trigon of Infestation.  Chump blockers with Infect?  Sure!  And finally, the big daddy, the pre-release card:  Wurmcoil Engine.  What can I say that hasn’t already been said?  Look for this to Wreak Havoc at pre-releases and standard soon.  This can potentially replace quite a few of the Titans.

So there you have it, almost 3500 words later, you have my preview on what has been spoiled.  I hope this hasn’t been just me stating the obvious about cards and has given you some Insight into things to go after in your sealed pool, and things to avoid.  I am very excited about the pre-release and release of this set; I’m hoping to take home a 1^st place finish this Saturday.  I won’t be playing FNM so in place of my FNM Report, I’ll post my sealed pool and how I did.