The MagicGatheringStrat podcast

Even though this is episode 1 of the podcast, it really is not a new podcast. We used to call it the Standard Pauper Show but found that the format was a bit too narrow for a full-length podcast.

I am one of the co-hosts. The main host is Brennon Rankin, the hugging care bear of Standard Pauper and my third co-host is Sam the VaultBoyHunter, the master of Player Run Events.

I did start out as a guest talking about the Pauper Gauntlet but now that S02 is over I just overstayed my welcome, became a host.and Brennon & Sam are too nice to kick me out.

What is this podcast about?
We still cover Standard Pauper (the cheapest format on Magic Online) but we now also talk about Magic in general with a focus on cheaper formats such as Pauper and the formats used in the Player Run Events (PREs).

Starting with episode 2 we will cover Pauper Classic Tuesdays, my favorite PRE at Gatherling.com.

There is also general tomfoolery and the occassional outburst in Swedish.

What are Player Run Events?
Player Run Events are free to enter tournaments ran by players (often sponsored by Bots so that you can win prizes despite the events being free).

Marcos Rodriguez will tell you more about the PREs here: http://puremtgo.com/articles/why-you-should-be-playing-player-run-events

How can you find the MagicGatheringStrat podcast?
We are on itunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-standard-pauper-show/id918846260?mt=2&uo=4

We also upload every episode to the youtube channel MagicGatheringStrat
https://www.youtube.com/user/magicgatheringstrat

Facebook: facebook.com/MagicGatheringStrat
Twitter: @MagicGathStrat
Twitch: MagicGatheringStrat

The decks of the Modern Noob: Time Walk

I am a noob when it comes to playing Modern. That's why I have started a series about learning modern. You can follow it on my YouTube channel (youtube.com/magicgatheringstrat), puremtgo.com, my website mtgostrat.com and here.

This is a longer explanation of what The Modern Noob is: http://puremtgo.com/articles/modern-noob

I will use this space to present the decks I am playing while I am trying to learn the modern metagame. I am mainly playing cheaper decks that have put up results. This deck has some results but has only been played by its maker; Farfere. It is quite unusual.

The Deck
It turns out that there are several Time Walk effects in Modern. What would happen when they are combined in a deck? Well, this is what would happen:

4 Temporal Mastery
4 Cryptic Command
4 Walk the Aeons
4 Serum Visions
2 Jace Beleren
3 Sleight of Hand
4 Howling Mine
24 Island
4 Time Warp
1 Elixir of Immortality
2 Spell Snare
4 Remand

Sideboard
2 Spell Pierce
1 Laboratory Maniac
2 Gigadrowse
2 Swan Song
2 Ætherize
2 Echoing Truth
2 Trickbind
2 Rapid Hybridization
Sideboard plan

Jund: -3 Sleight of Hand, +2 Spell Pierce, +1 AEtherize
Bad matchup

Affinity: -4 Remand, +2 Aetherize, +2 Hurkyl's Recall
50/50

GR Tron: -1 or 2 Spell Snare, +1 or 2 Spell Pierce
Very good Matchup

Melira Pod: -2 Spell Snare, +2 Spell Pierce
Good matchup

UR Splinter Twin: -2 Spell Snare -3 Sleight of Hand, +2 Swan Song, +2 Trickbind, +1 Rapid Hybridization
Very bad matchup

UWR Control: -2 Spell Snare, +2 Gigadrowse
Very good matchup

Scapeshift: -2 Sleight of Hand, +2 Swan Song
Good matchup

GW Hatebears: -4 Remand, +2 Aetherize, +2 Rapid Hybridization
Good matchup
Mono Red Burn: -3 Sleight of Hand, -1 Remand, +2 Spell Pierce, +2 Gigadrowse
Bad matchup

Living End: -2 Spell Snare, +2 Swan Song
Very good matchup, watch out for Ricochet Trap

Kiki Pod: -2 Spell Snare, -2 Sleight of Hand, +2 Spell Pierce, +2 Trickbind
Bad matchup

Strategy
Step 1: Ensure we draw more than one card per round with either Howling Mine or Jace Beleren.
Step 2: Start timewalking
Step 3: Ensure you don't deck with Elixir of Immortality.
Step 4: Ultimate Jace Beleren two times.
Step 5: Profit

What happens if you actually play this crazy deck in a tournament?

I just did that a couple of hours before I wrote this blog post. Check out the full tournament report here: http://mtgostrat.com/2013/11/modern-noob-nov-2-update/

It was extremely stressful and I definitely need to practice more with the deck, but I did win a lot.

Where can you learn more about the Modern Noob?
I publish a weekly summary on mtgostrat.com. here is an example: http://mtgostrat.com/2013/10/modern-noob-progress-report-new-deck-goblins/

More articles here: http://mtgostrat.com/category/mtgo-modern-noob/

New videos are posted several days a week on youtube.com/magicgatheringstrat


My contact information
Twitter: @MagicGathstrat, youtube.com/magicgatheringstrat, magicgatheringstrat.facebook.com and mtgostrat.com

An introduction to Classic Heirloom

What is Classic Heirloom?

Classic Heirloom is a community supported format that is not officially supported by Wizards of the Coasts.  Even though it is likely that Wizards will eventually support some Community driven formats, such as Standard Pauper, they will never come near Classic Heirloom. Why? Because Classic Heirloom is a financial format. Intrigued? Read on.

In Classic Heirloom you can only play cards that cost less than a certain threshold dollar value on mtgotraders.com.

Commons must cost no more than 10 cents.
Uncommons must cost no more than 20 cents.
Rares must cost no more than 40 cents.
Mythics must cost no more than 1 dollar.

Think about the implications of this for a second. There are plenty of interesting such implications.

At the end of this article there are links to more web resources for Classic Heirloom.


 Why should you play Classic Heirloom?

Unlike the formats that have sanctioned tournaments, Classic Heirloom is always far from solved. There is plenty of room for brewing and a suprisingly large number of decks are possible. I am fairly new to the format myself, but it seems that it is the best format for brewing ever. The card pool is enormous and the format will rotate naturally as soon as a card becomes too popular and goes up in price. Your deck will not rotate out but the format will reinvent itself constantly. This creates a format that is the best of rotating and eternal formats at the same time.

The format is very cheap. Even the top decks can be bought for somewhere between two and five dollars. The format naturally limits the cost of decks in a brilliant way.

Also, there are free Player Run Events (PREs) in the format, awarding you bot credits for winning without any risk.

 

Where can you play Classic Heirloom?

For the formats that has no support from the interface in Magic Online, you pretty much have to join a clan or find your sparring partners on twitter och on forums. The games are set up as classic on Magic Online so there is plenty of room for randoms to misunderstand or cheat. You will have to Contact your would-be opponents before playing them. This is a good olace to do so: http://mtgoheirloom.webs.com/

If you want to play tournaments, you will find a player-run event (PRE) on Gatherling.com. These events are free but still pay out prices to the winners, which means they are a great way of getting started on Magic Online. Read more here: http://community.wizards.com/forum/magic-online-player-run-events/threads/3946426

Where can you learn more about Classic Heirloom?

The official site has already been mentioned: http://mtgoheirloom.webs.com/

Tournaments can be found here: http://gatherling.com/gatherling.php

Heirloom legality list: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Ap0KPa_KcyJLdFV4Z0NCNEFpWnZyZUk2WjRWNm56Qmc#gid=1

Check if your deck is legal here: http://jpdefault.comuv.com/heirloom/

The future of ML Bot - ML Bot for v4 online now

Hello to everyone,

I am glad to announce that we are finally there, we have a public ML Bot running on MTGO v4. The account is named "The_Kate_Bot", and it's available for trade now!

The account is not a real "business" one because the collection is poor and we stop it frequently for debugging reasons.  Still you can trade with it and see how the development is going.  Any feedback is highly appreciated and encouraged!

Please spread the voice and trade a lot! Try for example to purchase cards...... try to sell some, or try to trick the bot doing "strange things" :-) ....  spend 5 minutes and write us when done!

UPDATE***: thanks to all, we had many trades today! The_Kate_Bot will be online again on Monday!



Thank you!
Albert
staff@mtgolibrary.com

Player Run Event

What is a PRE?

PRE stands for Player Run Event. Some who are unfamiliar with the unofficial avenues of tournament play may ask what a player run event is. A player run event is a tournament that is held by players typically in a designated chat room every week that is sponsored by a bot or bot chain. Entry to the event is free which draws in quite a large group of players. Prizes are awarded to tournament winners in the form of credit on a sponsoring bot.

How Does Sponsoring a PRE Help You?

Sponsoring a PRE costs you tickets and cards so how can it help you in the long run? The idea is that you bring new customers to your bot as well as create a relationship of trust and dependence with the event participants and community. Repeat customers are a huge part of a successful bot and getting your brands name out there as a supporter of the community can be your golden ticket to success.

The Costs of Sponsorship

You will have to put down tickets and cards to sponsor the event. In a typical situation you have the tournament winner payout, the payment for the individual hosting the event and any door prizes you wish to hand out. 

Different Levels of Sponsorship

Each of us is at a different place with what our bots are capable of and how large we have grown. With that said it’s not always wisest for the little guys to be sponsoring a weekly event if it costs them more than they can afford to lose. However there are different levels of participation. 

Mid-level Sponsorship

You don’t have to be responsible for payouts of an event to contribute and get your name out there. Those of us who cannot outright sponsor an event have the option to partner up with another chain of similar ability to contribute. Instead of paying 20 credits yourself every week you could pay 10 each with another sponsor.

Pauper-level Sponsorship

For those who cannot or do not wish to pay out quite so much but still wish to sponsor also have the option to perform small giveaways. Some giveaway ideas include door prizes (Giving out rare cards to random participants), Trivia (Showing up a half hour before the event starts and giving out credits for answering trivia questions) and/or offering special deals with your chain to those who participate.

Sponsoring PREs is a great way to give back to the community. It can be very emotionally and financially fulfilling  as you set yourself apart from other bot chains who do not engage socially.