They should change the deck name to Karn

Hi everyone,
Contrary to what the image above shows, I'm not talking about Karn specifically. In fact, all I know is that Urza (probably) or maybe Mishra built him way back in Urza Block but somehow later went and created Mirrodin. I'm not even sure that's  right. In fact, I'd bet against me being right on all that.

Karn is an important card in Tron decks in Modern. I'm not a fan of Modern. That said, I have been playing Modern a lot lately because I finally shelled out the cash for a playset of Grove of the Burnwillows (read Dans series on RG Tron if you want a great explanation of why Grove is essential when there are other land options).

I always felt like Tron was a deck that just mindlessly played big spells. There's no finess or skill, just big spells. I also always felt hopeless playing against tron with a non-tron deck. In my playing two things surprised me greatly.

The first surprise was that the amount of hopelessness my opponent felt does not equal the amount of hope I felt. I was surprised when I played literally one spell in the game (granted it was Karn or Ugin somewhere on turn 4 or 5) and my opponent would scoop. Sometimes they even had enough power on the board to kill my planeswalker. It was crazy. I thought it would make me feel unstoppable but there were plenty of reasonable things (that my opponent never seemed to have) that I could lose to.

The other assumption I made before playing the deck was that to play Tron the object is get tron as fast as possible and play big spells, like some kind of unintelligent brute. I will tell you, It did not dissappoint. Aside from minimal occassional thinking Tron played its self. Plan A is play planeswalkers and giant creatures. plan B is use Eye of Ugin and land searchers to find Emrakul and enough mana to cast him.

When I believe in Magic

Hi Everyone,
I'm not a fan of Standard but I am a fan of all the eternal formats. I remember playing Magic in Junior   High when there were two kinds of deck, control and decks that lose to control. Wizards kept Magic fresh and pushed the envelope (for the time) and kept people interesting. There were mistakes that could have been avoided. Magic managed to survive and grew to be the phenomenon it is today.

Why have other card games not seen the same success? I think some of it had to do with Magic being the first of it's kind. It is the first collectible card game. Don't get me wrong, Magic is the best game ever, but what kept it alive during Combo Winter (Urza Block Standard) and the dominance of Ravager Affinity in Mirrodin Standard and even the awful Kamigawa Standard that followed.

I also think the times Magic was worst (excluding Kamigawa) Magic still had one thing. I've talked about it before and I think it's so big that it can't be overlooked here. It's that Magic always explores and area of fantasy that hasn't been beaten into the ground already. I just wanted to talk about the best game ever for a little even though it's had some rough spots along the road.

ML Bot is now "Free for non-commercial use"

Since 2007, ML Bot has been a paid bot: you could either purchase a license or pay the rental fee of 2.5%.  We are happy to announce that today we make a big shift: we decided to make ML Bot "free for non commercial use". 

What does it mean? It means that if you  use the bot on a small scale (for example to sell your leftover draft cards) you will not pay to use the bot. If your trading will be low enough and do not exceed 5 tixs in rental fees in 30 days, the fees will be zeroed automatically. This amounts, more or less, to the buying and selling of 200 tix worth of cards in a month. At the end of the month our servers will cancel the rental fees automatically and start you back from zero. You will be notified via email when this happens.

The core idea is that if you are just using the bot as a little shop to resell few cards or sell your draft leftovers, you pay nothing. We give you the client, the server, and wikiprice - for free.
If you are a little shop the extra 2.5% margin can give you more freedom, you can try different strategies like squeezing your margins to get more traffic or using higher margins to buy new hardware or inventory. A whole new world of possibility awaits, enjoy!

Which decks do you want to see in the Pauper Gauntlet S03? Vote here!

For a full explanation of what the Pauper Gauntlet is look here: http://mtgolibrary.blogspot.se/2015/11/the-pauper-gauntlet.html

71 decks are qualified for the Pauper Gaunlet S03. They will be presented in my article here on Sunday. The Champion competition - in which you can win 100 bot credits from mtgotickets.com - will also begin on Sunday and be in that Sunday article.

Now its time for you to decide seven more decks that will get into the third season of the Pauper Gauntlet.

During Open Deck Submission some decks did not receive a "yes" or a "no". They were simply put on hold. Here I will list those decks and explain why they were not accepted into the Gauntlet.

Its now up to you to decide which decks you want in the Gauntlet.

You get THREE VOTES per person. No cheating. Vote for the three decks you want to see in the Pauper Gauntlet. The seven decks with the most votes get in.

Voting will close on Friday November 20th 9 AM GMT+1.

Here are the 14 candidates:

5-color Green: http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/5-color-green-1/
Shyft4's crazy deck made it very far in the first season of the Pauper Gauntlet. Do you want to see it again?

BG Ivy Combo:  http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/bg-ivy-combo/
Original? You decide. I felt it was quite similar to Project X.

Darker Ping: http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/darker-ping/
Mono Red Ping had a suprising run last season and this is the latest evolution of that deck. 

Extort Control: http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/08-11-15-extort-control/
Who doesn't love Extort? We haven't seen a deck trying to abuse it since Gray Ghost in season one of the Pauper Gauntlet.

Glass Cannon Red: http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/red-glass-cannon/
This deck has the most popular Pauper video on youtube.com/magicgatheringstrat with a turn two kill (which apparently is more fun than a turn one kill which we also have on video with another deck). Its original creator jphsnake did not submit it this year (it was also in season two), probably because Mono Red Heroic (a top 10 deck that is in this year) has evolved to look very similar to this.

Green Grifters: http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/green-grifters/
Green Grifters had an amazing run last season and in the end I will let you vote if you want to see it try again this year.

Mono Green Ramp LD: http://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/339169#online
We have a Mono Black LD, Mono Red LD and RG Crusher LD in the Pauper Gauntlet this year. I have no problem playing another LD deck AND it is somewhat fitting to let this deck in during BFZ block, isn't it?

Orzhov Tron: http://deckstats.net/decks/15197/358457-orzhov-tron-magicgatheringstra
Tobias has played this deck on video on MagicGatheringStrat and we have very few Tron decks in the Pauper Gauntlet this year (only RUG Tron I think).

Persistently Undying: http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/persistently-undying-v2/
Nothing ever truly dies. Or at least it does not die once.

Suicide Black: http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/11-11-15-suicide-black/
All the other colors have better aggro decks with creatures as powerful without needing to take damage. Still you guys seem to love this deck for some reason so here it is for your consideration.

Temur Freed Combo: http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/wind-in-the-willows-1/
Love Train (a Freed from the Real combo deck) is already in (again). Do you want another Freed from the Real combo deck?

Thunder Trees: http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/thunder-trees/
There are a couple of similar grindy midrange lists in the Gauntlet but maybe you like to see one hour grindfests?

Tortured Toolbox: http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/31-08-14-tortured-toolbox/
This deck was also in season two and there are already other Tortured Existence decks that are in. They are not exactly the same as this deck though.

1-land-spy: http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/1-land-combo/

Do not vote for this deck. Who am I kidding? Vote for whatever you want. I will play it if I must.

Please weigh in the quality of the sideboard plans and play instructions when you make your decision.

Brewers, if you want your deck to win the Pauper Gauntlet S03, make sure you add mulligan tips to your deck description as well. Whatever you can do to help me play your deck better will help.

The vote is yours. Use it wisely.

Please visit our sponsor Mtgotickets, new customers receive 10 tickets for $8. Click on this link to check out mtgotickets

MTGO Library Bot 10.57

We have just released ML Bot 10.57. The update contains some minor fixes, in particular we fixed a crash happening on the background price updater while loading oversell protection.

MTGO shortcuts

Time is a precious asset, once it runs out the game is over. Time taken off the clock cannot be recovered, so I'm presenting all shortcuts that offer us MTGO. Most of these will probably be well known by people who’ve used MTGO a lot, but I think some of you may find this information very useful.

F2 - Pass priority once.

F4 - Pass priority for the rest of the turn or until your opponent does anything or you’re prompted to attack or block.

F6 - Pass priority for the rest of the turn, unless you’re prompted to attack or block. Use this when you have nothing and you don’t want to bluff.

F7 - Place all triggers on the stack automatically. .

F8 - Pass priority for the rest of the game.

F3 - Cancel all previous "F" buttons.

F9 - Shortcut for choosing “Yes.”

F10 - Shortcut for choosing “No.”

Holding M while tapping a land for mana will make it automatically use the mana ability printed first on the card. This is particularly useful with painlands as they’ll tap for colorless.

Ctrl + U or Ctrl + Z - Undo the previous mana tap.

Holding down the Ctrl while casting a spell will maintain priority and allow you to cast another spell before giving your opponent a chance to respond.

The decks Power_T submitted to the Pauper Gauntlet S03

The Pauper Gauntlet Open Deck Submission is going on right now. Check it out here: http://mtgolibrary.blogspot.se/2015/11/the-pauper-gauntlet.html

You can submit a deck until noon GMT+2 November 17th 2015. Hurry! Hurry! Because blogspot.com has problem handling too many comments (it worked fine last year) you can now also submit your decks in the comments to this article. Please do read the original article first

Power_T is a player who has been quite important for my magic career. Lets see;  He built UB Trinket Control which was the first deck played on my YouTube channel. He taught me Magic back in the Viking Age. He coached me into winning Nationals. He is my buddy and co-host of the podcast Game of Thrones Chat.

Yes, I do a podcast about Game of Thrones with Power_T. You can find it here:  https://itunes.apple.com/se/podcast/game-of-thrones-chat/id972440953?mt=2

On top of all that the guy is also one of the recurring brewers in the Pauper Gauntlet.

This year he has submitted three decks and none of the decks that he submitted last year (!).

These are his three deck and his own words about them. Power_T, you have the mic!

Counterkitty
Background: For followers of the Pauper Gauntlet, Azorius Kitty (AZK) is a familiar deck. Last year two different versions was included in it. I used to play this deck a lot but then I stopped. Part of the reason for that was that I felt that other decks had evolved, grown stronger, making AZK relatively weaker.Therefore I decided to change my version of AZK as well, as you can see from the decklist. If I actually succeeded in making it better, well I guess I am not really sure.

22 Lands: 2 Azorius Chancery, 2 Azorius Guildgate, 1 Halimar Depths, 8 Island, 2 Kabira Crossroads, 3 plains, 4 Tranquil Cove
19 Creatures: 4 Dream Stalker, 4 Kor Skyfisher, 3 Lone Missionary, 4 Sunscape Familiar, 4 Mulldrifter
20 spells: 4 Counterspell, 4 Journey to Nowhere, 2 Prophetic Prism, 4 Spreading Seas, 3 Reality Acid, 2 Capsize, 1 Deep Analysis

15 SB: 2 Hydroblast, 2 COP: Green, 2 Last Breath, 2 Reprisal, 3 Negate, 3 Holy Light, 1 Deep Analysis

SB plan
Affinity -1 deep, -1 acid, -1 prism, -1 capsize+2 hydro, +2 reprisal
(UB)(Turbo) Angler -1 missionary, -1 acid -4 familiar, +3 negate, +2 reprisal, +1 deep
Boroskitty -1 journey, -1 lone missionary, -1 sunscape familiar, -1 stalker, +2 last breath, +2 hydroblast (not sure about this plan)
Burn -4 journey, -2 acid, -1 deep, +2 hydro, +3 negate, +2 last breath
Delver -3 acid, -2 capsize, -2 missionary, -1 stalker, +1 deep, +3 holy light, +2 last breath, +2 negate
Delverfiend +2 hydro, +2 last breath, +2 reprisal, +2 negate, +1 deep, -3 acid, -2 capsize, -4 familiar
Elves -3 missionary, -2 journey, +3 holy light, +2 last breath
(UWB) Familiars -3 missionary, -1 deep, -1 stalker, -3 journey, +2 last breath, +3 holy light, +3 negate,
(Turbo) Fog/Mill -4 journey, +3 negate, +1 deep
Goblins -1 deep, -3 acid, -1 familiar, +2 hydro, +3 holy light
GW Hexproof -4 journey, -3 missionary, -1 deep, +2 COP: Green, +3 holy light, +3 negate
MBC -2 familiar, +1 deep, +1 last breath
Stompy -1 deep, -1 acid, +2 COP: Green (Not sure here)
G Tron -3 missionary, +1 deep, +2 reprisal
RUG Tron -3 missionary, -1 deep, +2 negate, +2 reprisal
UB Control (some creatures) -3 missionary, -1 familiar, +3 negate, +1 deep

UB Control (no creatures) -4 journey, +3 negate, +1 deep


Gary Busey LD
Background: The inspiration for this deck was the monoblack LD deck showcased in last years Pauper Gauntlet. 
Name: Originally the name was BR Flashback. Then I saw a clip where actor Gary Busey goes ”We'll be back in a flash with more of this thrash”. So I changed the deck to Gary Busey LD.Playing the deck: You can beat anything as long as they don't draw enough lands. You can also lose to anything if they do draw enough lands. The deck is no powerhouse but it does ok.I like playing the deck because it is different and, well, it is mine. Some people will hate you for playing LD. If you can't deal with that, don't play this deck.
Link to the gary busey clip (Check it out at 3.45):https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVgE_T7Ffss

22 land: 1 mountain, 5 swamp, 2 radiant fountain, 4 rakdos carnarium, 4 bloodfell caves, 3 bojuka bog, 3 terramorphic expanse
14 creatures: 4 cuombaij witches, 2 crypt rats, 4 phyrexian rager, 4 chittering rats
25 spells: 4 firebolt, 4 dark ritual, 3 unearth, 4 chainers edict, 4 rancid earth, 2 stone rain, 4 earth rift

15 SB: 1 unearth, 3 gorilla shaman, 3 pyroblast, 1 pestilence, 3 oubliette, 4 gary

SB-plan:
Affinity: -10 LD, -2 cuombaij,  +1 unearth, +3 gorilla shaman, + 1 pestilence, +3 oubliette, +4 gary
(Random) Aggro: -9 LD (keep 1 rancid), +1 unearth, +1 pestilence, +3 oubliette, +4 gary
Boros Cyborg: -10 LD, +2 gorilla shaman, +1 unearth, +3 oubliette, +4 gary
Boroskitty: -2 Stone Rain, -4 Rancid Earth, +3 Gorilla Shaman, +1 Unearth, +2 Gary. (Not sure about this plan)
R Burn: -4 chainer's, -4 firebolt,+4 gary, +1 pestilence, +1 unearth, +2 oubliette
Delver: -10 LD, +3 pyroblast, +1 pestilence, +3 oubliette, +3 gary
Delverfiend: -10 LD, +3 pyroblast, +1 pestilence, +3 oubliette, +1 unearth, +2 gary
Elves: -4 earth rift, -2 stone rain, -2 rancid earth, +3 oubliette, +1 pestilence, +1 unearth, +3 gary
Esper Familiars: -4 chittering rats, +3 pyroblast, +1 pestilence
Goblins: = Random aggro
Kuldotha Jeskai: -4 cuombaijj, -2 stone rain, +3 gorilla shaman, +3 gary
Hexproof (Bogles): -4 firebolt, +1 pestilence, +1 unearth, +2 gary
Izzet Control: -10 LD, -2 cuombaij, +3 pyroblast, +1 unearth, +1 pestilence, +3 oubliette, +4 gary
MBC: -4 cuombaij, +1 unearth, +3 gary
Stompy: = Random aggro
Tron (G): -4 cuombaij, +3 oubliette, +1 unearth,
Tron (RUG): -4 cuombaij, -4 firebolt, +3 oubliette, +2 gary, +3 pyroblast

Ugw Turbomill: -4 chainer's, -2 crypt rats, -2 firebolt, +3 pyroblast, +4 gary, +1 pestilence


Pig Trinket
As you may know, I used to play a lot of UB Trinket. Eventually I stopped though. I guess I grew a little tired of the deck. Then I saw Dan play a deck in the Pauper Gauntlet called BUGs and Pigs.I liked that deck, so I started playing it, as well as tinkering with the list. Then someone wrote in a comment to one of Dan's videos that I was playing a combination of BUGs and Pigs and UB Trinket. My first thought was ”No, I don't!”. My second thought was ”why don't I?”. So I tried it, and it worked pretty well. At first it was hard to figure out the mana base, but I solced that pretty quickly.The biggest problem was another one though: I had gotten it into my head that I needed Land Destruction in the SB to beat Tron, so I had 7 or 8 of those in the Sideboard for a long time. This meant that I did not have enough good sb cards against a lot of other decks. In this version the deck did well but not great. So I decided to replace the LD in the SB with other stuff. The deck then started running much better. I also realized that I could beat Tron even without LD.In fact, the matchup is somewhat favorable! The worst matchup is instead Burn, where I am a big underdog game 1. I sideboard heavily for game 2 and 3 though, so for the whole match it is about 50-50.

21 lands: 2 forest, 2 island, 5 swamp, 2 bojuka bog, 2 jungle hollow, 2 thornwood falls, 2 simic growth chamber, 2 terramorphic expanse, 1 tree of tales, 1 vault of whispers
22 creatures: 4 fume spitter, 4 sakura-tribe elder, 3 crypt rats, 3 trinket mage, 2 brindle boar, 4 mulldrifter, 2 krosan tusker
17 spells: 2 execututioners capsule, 3 tragic slip, 2 undying evil, 2 sylvok lifestaff, 4 chainer's edict, 2 grim harvest, 2 deep analysis,

15 SB cards: 2 nihil spellbomb, 1 brindle boar, 1 deep analysis, 3 wickerbough elder, 1 crypt rats, 3 nature's claim, 4 duress

The sideboard plan is secret just like UB Trinket Control's SB plan is. Dan has it, though.