Weekly Modern Update - March 29th, 2016

Modern Monday has passed us by and here we are again with another update to how I did. I brought my Grixis Delver deck again which is listed below and I must say I thoroughly enjoy this deck and how much fun it brings. While it is not in the top tier of decks I love the many ins and outs you have. Snapcaster Mage must be my favorite card in the entire deck. Enough about the gushing of Snappy let's get to it!

 

Round 1: Grixis Delver vs. Slivers

So I've gone up against Slivers before in the past as Delver and have been able to win. This time though it was the opposite. I lost 0-2 and I did have answers to disrupt my opponent and kill their Slivers and counter but it wasn't enough. Both games being able to flood the board I was not able to do anything. At least it was over quickly!

Results: 0-2 LOST



Round 2: Grixis Delver vs. Esper Control

This was sure to be a long grueling round. Many counter battles were had, many kill spells played but in the end Grixis Delver got the upper hand. Thank you Delver of Secrets! You did your job! Nothing too special happened during the games but they were grueling.

Results: 2-0 WON



Round 3: Grixis Delver vs. Jund

This was probably my favorite round of the night. In all 3 games it was very close and we both constantly kept going back and forth. Just when my opponent thought he could kill me I would snap in a response. It was rounds like these that make me fall in love with Grixis Delver. I know I could easily go Grixis Control as well but I love my little Delver guy. The fact that I sacrifice so much life to try and get the upper edge and being able to come back when I'm at 2-3 life is so much fun. You're on the edge of your seat thinking your opponent has a kill spell ready but you manage to claw and fight your way back to victory. I lost this round though but not without giving my opponent a struggle.

Results: 1-2 LOST



Round 4: Grixis Delver vs. Burn

Normally I would write down what happened during the game but these were very much non games that I don't feel like getting into. I will say I ended up winning 2-0 but not the most gracefully.

Results: 2-0 WON


Overall: 2-2

So I'm still stuck in the 2-2 slump with Grixis overall. I need to make some additions to the deck such as Fulminator Mage, Spellskite and Blood Moon and I will get those eventually. I'm starting to become more familiar with the deck each time I play and what hands to keep and seeing the different lines of play. I need to keep going to these Monday Night Moderns in order to get better at the format so when I go to the next IQ or PPTQ that's Modern I can be better prepared.

Thanks for reading! I'm hoping to finish my Goblins deck soon and then my Ensoul Artifact pet project. My big deterrent is time right now. The older you get the more responsibilities you have! Till next time!

Weekly Standard Update - March 28th, 2016

Another week, another FNM gone by! This week I decided to take my Eldrazi Ramp for a spin again! Listed below is the decklist so let's get on with the tournament results!

 

Round 1: Eldrazi Ramp vs. Esper Control 1-1 DRAW

Round 2: Eldrazi Ramp vs. Midrange Landfall 2-1 WIN

Round 3: Eldrazi Ramp vs. Esper Control 2-0 WIN

Round 4: Eldrazi Ramp vs. BR Dragons 1-2 LOST

So game 3 of Round 4 was basically a non game. My opening hand in game 3 was 6 lands and a Nissa's Pilgrimage. Yuck! Had to mulligan down to 4 cause the next set of hands consisted of no lands! It was a blow out but it happens. It's what Magic is all about right?

In other news, Shadows over Innistrad prerelease is this weekend! Woot! Who else is excited? I know I am!

I'm also getting excited for redoing my Eldrazi Ramp deck, here are my thoughts of what I will be adding and replacing:

                   

                       Rattleclaw Mystic                    change to                         Leaf Gilder

Since Rattleclaw Mystic is going away I figured the next best Manadork we have available to us right now. I've seen Hedron Crawler being used but that just doesn't work out for me since the majority of my deck is Green and I already have plenty of access to colorless mana. So Leaf Gilder is a shoo-in here.

                         

                        Wooded Foothills                     change to                       Game Trail

For this change I'm thinking not using a whole 4-of Game Trail but instead maybe go to 2-3. If I go down to 2 I will add 1 more forest and 1 more mountain, If I go 3-of then just 1 more forest. The rest of my mana base should be fine.

                       

                 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon                 change to                     Chandra, Flamecaller

With Ugin leaving our next best choice is Chandra. While the board wipe isn't the same quality as Ugin's, it is something. We'll just have to see how this pans out.

So there you have it. I'm not sure on sideboard changes yet due to not being sure what we'll see. I will be sure to post results on how this new ramp deck does and if it is worthy to take to the next PPTQ I'm attending which is on April 23rd!

Thanks for reading everyone!

              

Magic with Zuby Episode 013 - I will not concede!

With Shadows over Innistrad fully spoiled Zuby discusses some other cards. Zuby also discusses two other articles that irks him a little bit and gives his opinion on both! Be sure to follow Zuby and the podcast on Twitter @MagicwithZuby and @Zubatron. Also find Magic with Zuby on Facebook! The Magic with Zuby just recently showed up on Stitcher!! Be sure to check it out on there as well!

iTunes Link

Stitcher Link

Direct Download

What's considered fair?

If you've been around your local game store long enough or even at competitive REL events you've probably heard the following few phrases tossed around:

"This deck is unfair!"

"Well, that's fair"

"Seems fair.." said with a sarcastic remark

And so on and so on. You know what I'm talking about. The people who complain that certain decks and deck archetypes are deemed unfun and unfair because they are seemingly impossible to beat against your deck. It's probably confirmation bias hitting me but it seems like I hear these phrases uttered more and more often lately. So what is fair?

If we look at the definition of fair it is as follows:

"Agreeing with what is right or acceptable"

"Treating people in a way that does not favor some over others"

"Not too harsh or critical"

So now that we have that out of the way what is fair again? Most times when I hear people complain about unfair decks it's most likely caused with them losing to a deck that is not well suited to theirs or a control deck that locks you down. Can we really call those unfair though?

Most people will argue that Magic the Gathering is about fun right? It is just a game some would say after getting lambasted that an opponent's deck was deemed unfair. So what fun is it if someone plays a deck that locks down someone else or it has an infinite combo and there is seemingly nothing you can do?

I can understand this point of view, you go to FNM or to your LGS to play some Magic and it can be no fun if the one super competitive person brings their awesome deck and beats everyone with it. Whether this just be a free for all play or a commander game. It can bring no fun for everyone else. This is where playgroups can make up house rules where they all agree not to play certain cards or combos and everyone can be in agreement and happy.

On the other hand though, Magic has always been about (to me) ways to figure out how certain cards work and figuring out cool combinations and spells and effects and building a deck from there regardless of the format. Saying that the one person who brings their one deck that can destroy yours and your playgroup that they can no longer play it or certain cards within it, how fair is that for that person? Instead of setting the game on an easy difficulty, why not take that challenge to figure out a way to defeat that particular deck?

But again, you can argue, I just play for fun and don't want the stress or non enjoyment of playing against those kinds of decks. Which is fine in itself, because Magic caters to all types of players and I can agree. I personally don't take EDH/Commander very seriously so my decks are not anywhere near being considered competitive. I don't always put the optimal cards in them either, I prefer fun cards. The only time I do not agree when people complain about decks being unfun or unfair is when it comes to competition.

When it comes to FNM or higher level Comp REL events whether or not a deck is unfair or not should not even be questioned. There are caveats to this of course. I am of course referring to bannings that have happened in Magic's past. Whether that is the splinter twin banning, the summer bloom banning as well as pod and etc..... You can find all the banned cards here:

Unless a particular card is so warping of the format or a deck is warping the format should there be someone to intervene but as a player while you are waiting for a particular card or deck to be banned, should you just sit by and let it take over or should you figure out ways to beat it?

If doing well at competitive events means a lot to you then you need to figure out ways to beat that deck that seems so unfair to you. Practice against it and even play as that deck so you can understand all the lines of play and understand it's weaknesses!

A good example of this is the takeover of Eldrazi in Modern. When Eldrazi swept the Pro Tour a few months back everyone was calling for its ban. Wizards decided to let the meta evolve and see if people can figure out ways to beat it and there have been some attempts! If you look at all the big Modern events on mtgtop8.com you'll mainly see Eldrazi Aggro running rampant everywhere! Does this mean we should ban some parts of the Eldrazi deck?

You could make a good argument that yes you should. Right now at mtgtop8.com Eldrazi Aggro

takes up 27% of the meta. I don't think there has been a Modern deck that has ever taken up that much but I ask once again should we just give up and let Wizards take care of the format or allow them to maybe print some answers to help us combat the Eldrazi invasion or have the fine pro minds develop ways to combat the Eldrazi?

Without getting too deep into the Eldrazi mess in Modern. I mainly just wanted to state, that in Magic, especially at higher level events (which is where this article sort of sparked from), if a deck is truly unfair. Maybe you just didn't prepare right for the event, or played a deck that was poorly suited for the meta. Whatever the issue may be, figure out why the deck is unfair and figure out how to fairly beat it!

Weekly Standard Update - March 21st, 2016

Another week has passed us and another FNM has gone by. With a few weeks left of this current standard before rotation happens it appears my current LGS's FNM has become considerably smaller. Whether it is due to the end of standard coming soon or lack of interest I'm not sure. Hopefully we get more people coming as Shadows over Innistrad comes out.

So I decided to bring Jeskai Dragons with me this week again. This time I stayed for all 4 rounds where last week I did not as I was completely exhausted and could barely stay awake. Life has started taking a toll on me much more than it has been. Below is my deck list I am currently running:

 

Rather than going by a match by match analysis as I usually do I figure I'd rather discuss what possible implications Shadows over Innistrad might have on standard. While I don't usually like guessing what may or may not come from the new set it is worth looking at but before we begin here is how I did:

Round 1: Jeskai Dragons vs. UR Prowess 2-0 WIN

Round 2: Jeskai Dragons vs. Atarka Red 0-2 LOST

Round 3: Jeskai Dragons vs. Atarka Landfall 2-0 WIN

Round 4: Jeskai Dragons vs. Eldrazi Aggro 2-0 WIN

So overall I got 3rd place since 1st and 2nd split. Instead of prize money I took 2 prize packs instead and managed to pull a Kozilek's Return and Chandra, Flamecaller. So definitely worth it.

Now back to Shadows over Innistrad. The rare lands were just spoiled today as you can see below:

These lands tell me that it may be possible for 3 colors to still exist albeit possibly the shard colors instead of the wedge colors. It's still really early to tell but these new rarelands will definitely make Dual colored decks much easier to handle.

So what may we see come this new standard? I definitely think an all zombie's deck is possible with Relentless Dead and Khalita's floating around. Possibly a B/R Vampire deck as well could be a good beatdown deck. I can also see a landfall type deck still existing but going from an aggro shell to a midrange shell adding in Mina and the new Arlin Kord Planeswalker.

Personally the deck I'm excited about the most to try and build is a new Sphinx's Tutelage deck. With cards coming to the forefront such as Thing in the Ice and the new Jace along with Startled Awake. I'm excited to try and build this and mill out my opponent. Mill has always been one of my favorite mechanics in the game and one of my favorite ways to win. Of course I don't expect this to be competitive but there is that hope.

So what other sort of decks are you hoping to see in the new Standard? Comment below and let me know!

Magic with Zuby Episode 012 - Maybe Shadows over Innistrad is worth it

We welcome back Alec from last week's episode to discuss more Shadows over Innistrad! If you have any questions for Zuby please hit him up at Twitter @Zubatron or @MagicwithZuby or email him at mtgzuby@gmail.com!!

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Modern - Grixis Delver

When I first discovered and started "delving" (bad pun I know) into Modern I was instantly drawn towards Grixis. Dimir (Blue/Black) is easily my favorite color combination and splashing/adding in red makes for a lot more fun. So if I had to choose, I really enjoy the Grixis colors the most out of any other color combination. So what about Grixis Delver made me choose this deck to build? First and foremost it is not a linear deck, it is very reactive and always making sure you have the upper hand and ready for anything coming at you. It's also a thinker's deck, what I mean by that is, sometimes the lines of play are not always clear and sometimes you may have to sacrifice something in order to get ahead. It's definitely not an easy deck to master.

So today we are going to go over the deck and why you put in certain cards. Know this, the deck I have is still ever changing, especially the sideboard so I will not be going over that. Sideboards, especially in Modern, should be based on your local meta unless you are going to a Comp REL event and prepare for top tier decks at that point. The decklist is shown below:

Creatures:

Delver of Secrets- A most inconspicuous 1/1 creature. At face value it doesn't seem that threatening. What makes this card great is not only can you get a 3/2 with flying by potentially turn 2 you also get to kind of, somewhat Scry 1 on your next turn even though you have to reveal the card to flip the Delver. If you flipped your Delver by Turn 2 you're already pressuring your opponent into making a decision of whether to keep at their plan or dispose of this Delver as quickly as possible. 

Gurmag Angler- Since this card has come out I've found it to be a surprising addition to the list but I completely understand why it was added. A 5/5 is nothing to scoff at in Modern, the fact you can get this 5/5 by Turn 2 or maybe even Turn 3 makes it that much better. 

Snapcaster Mage- Probably one of the most iconic cards in Modern (besides Island *wink wink*) and for good reason. It's ability to add any instant or sorcery in your graveyard flashback makes it extremely valuable. Need that kill spell you used a few turns back or that counter? Snapcaster is there for you!

Tasigur, the Golden Fang- Similar to Gurmag Angler, you can manage to get Tasigur by turn 2 or 3 if you're lucky enough. Even a 4/5 is nothing to laugh at as well. Tasigur's ability is perfect for a deck like this cause even if you put something in the graveyard that your opponent doesn't choose, your Snapcaster can save you and give you what you need!

Young Pyromancer- If this card goes unanswered for long your board can get rather big and uncontrollable.  I would normally try and play this card if you have something to protect it with on the same turn because this creature normally doesn't live for long.

Spells:

Electrolyze- A more expensive Forked Bolt that has a major advantage. It allows you to draw cards which is a blue player's favorite thing.

Forked Bolt- A shock spell that has the advantage of being able to split the damage among creatures or players, perfect for when your opponent is trying to swarm you.

Gitaxian Probe- Card advantage is always going to be something you want in any format. Knowing what your opponent has helps you even more.

Kolaghan's Command- Probably the best Command card to come from Dragons of Tarkir. You're able to choose 2 out of the 4 modes and it's all pure value for you. 

Lightning Bolt- The classic smash in your face or creature's face card. One of the best burn spells in Modern at your disposal.

Mana Leak- Another classic counter. Since we have no access to Counterspell this is one of our better options.

Remand- While it has the downside of putting the spell back in your opponents hand, it does give you a card as well.

Serum Visions- The best draw card spell we have in this format. Being able to draw a card and then Scrying 2? Yes please all day!

Spell Pierce- This card has always been a hit or miss for me. Sometimes I may not even mainboard it that night or if I do mainboard it, I never see a use for it. Perhaps it is my local meta but it's still a noteworthy card.

Spell Snare- Since the CMC of most Modern cards can be 2 this card fits perfectly. You normally will never want a full playset of this in your deck it's still a very valuable card to have.

Terminate- Destroy Target Creature. What more could we want? Can't regenerate? Ok!

Thought Scour- Our delving engine. You'll normally want to target yourself with this card as it can provide delve fuel for Gurmag and Tasigur as well as more spells in your graveyard for Snapcaster to use.

So there's the deck in a nutshell. What I like about this variant of Grixis Delver, if I want to switch it to Midrange or Control it's relatively inexpensive to do so since most of the cards you'll need you'll already have. You would have to invest in Flip Jace and some Pia and Kiran's if you go that route but it's worth it in the long run.

As I've said before I enjoy this deck and the non linearity of it. The Top Tier decks of Modern as of right now are mainly linear beat 'em down type decks. While reactive decks such as this are not exactly in the spotlight right now it does not mean they are not viable. In the right hands this deck can be very nasty. Thanks for reading!

New section to the site!

As you might have guessed, from time to time I tend to play other games besides Magic the Gathering and as much as I enjoy playing Magic I enjoy other games just as much. They can range from Video Games to Tabletop Games. I also really enjoy writing! 

Starting today I am starting a new section called Gaming with Zuby! In this section I will talk about a variety of games that I tend to play! I do particularly enjoy Blizzard games such as World of Warcraft, Starcraft and Diablo, as well as Hearthstone and Heroes of the Storm. Maybe I'll write up some Hearthstone deck techs? Maybe about some of my experiences and memories of WoW and Starcraft? Who knows what!

I will also be talking about a tabletop game that I have been developing off and on for over 12 years now. It's been shelved for about 3 years now but maybe now is the time to pick it back up and dust it off and finally finish it? Actually, now that I think about it I have two tabletop games I've been developing, one has only been around for 4-5 years though. We shall see!

Just wanted to bring this up as I am excited to start this! This does not mean I will be forgetting about Magic, I just have been wanting to write about other stuff besides Magic as well! 

Weekly Modern Update - March 15th, 2016

Another week, another Modern Monday under my belt. I decided to take Elves for a spin again only because I felt like playing a little bit of a simpler and quicker deck. I was pretty tired and a deck like Grixis Delver can be pretty involved and some games can take awhile as well.

So I took Elves for a spin and I feel like I know the deck pretty well by now. As usual, I normally come mentally prepared on Monday's and Friday's with the thought of wanting to play better and winning comes as a by product. I have not made any changes to my sideboard yet. I plan on too eventually. Adding in maybe a Spellskite or two. Possibly Dismember as well. We shall see. Let's get to it though, how did I do? As usual my decklist is below:

 

Round 1: Elves vs. Affinity

Ah, good ol' Affinity. Let's just say I managed to lose Game 1 extremely quickly. I lost via poison counters by turn 4. A 5/5 Inkmoth Nexus is nothing to scoff at. I had no answers in hand and we quickly went to Game 2.

Game 2 was much the same as Game 1, I got over zealous and he wiped my board and then I drew nothing but land. It was over quickly.

Results: 0-2 LOST

Round 2: Elves vs. Esper Control

So this was a homebrew deck and it was a fairly good one. The guy I played against had been working on this for awhile and it's pretty good. He locked me out very well game 1 and I lost. I couldn't play any spells and he continually killed my creatures.

Game 2 however I sided in Choke and Beast Within and Aven Mindcensor and locked him out instead. After flooding the board with Elves he had no answers and I won quickly.

Game 3 was a bit trickier. He countered a few of my collected companies, and even one of the companies I managed only to draw one creature, a Mystic, and it was looking grim. He went down to 1 life but couldn't kill me and I managed to play Shaman of the Pack ending it all for him.

Results: 2-1 WON

Round 3: Elves vs. Goryo's Vengeance

This was the first time I played against this deck so I wasn't sure what to expect. I was familiar with what it could potentially do so I thought this may have been a blow out for me. Game 1 went extremely quickly for me as by Turn 4 my opponent scooped as he had no answers for the throng of elves awaiting to attack him.

Game 2 my opponent managed to combo off pretty quickly and I let him go off on the combo, mainly because I wanted to watch him and also partly to see if he would screw up to my favor.

Game 3 was very similar to Game 1. I managed to get a very quick board and it was over fast.

Results: 2-1 WON

Round 4: Elves vs. Green Devotion

Another homebrew deck to end the night. I wasn't sure what to expect but the list seemed to be a very similar Theros Green devotion standard deck with some older green cards to help speed up the mana ramp. Unfortunately for him Elves is a bit faster though. Game 1 was over by Turn 4 and Game 2 I managed to get Elvish Champion out very early and he had no answers whatsoever.

Results: 2-0 WON

Final Results: 3-1 (5th Place)

So this was the first time in Monday night Modern I managed to break my 2-2 curse and go 3-1. I managed to get 5th place, I didn't get in Top 4 but oh well, it happens. I feel like since I am getting more familiar with the match ups and general overall knowing of my deck I am smarter about what hands to keep and which ones to mulligan. I also need to learn not to get overzealous and overextend myself when I don't need to. If I have the advantage I need to hold back and keep the board state unless something changes and react accordingly. Easier said than done but I'm getting there.

Magic with Zuby Episode 011 - Is Shadows over Innistrad worth it?

On Today's episode we have another guest, Alec! He is here to convince me whether or not it is worth it to buy Shadows over Innistrad! If you wish to get a hold of me, email me at mtgzuby@gmail.com or on Twitter @Zubatron or @Magicwithzuby.

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Modern - Elves

When I first decided to jump into the format of Modern, I had a hard time choosing what deck I wanted to build and stick with. I spent a lot of time researching and watching Modern games to see what sort of deck fits best without completely breaking my wallet. This was also around the time when Dragons of Tarkir first released that I started to get interested in Modern. Elves for me, was a good choice as I had a lot of the cards at the time in Elves but what really pushed it over the edge for me was when Magic Origins came out that cemented my choice for Elves. With cards such as Shaman of the Pack and Dwynen's Elite being spoiled I knew I wanted to play this deck.

So I begun my slow acquirement of building Elves. It wasn't until about December 2015 I just took the plunge and bought the expensive pieces that I needed, namely Cavern of Souls. It was Christmas Time, so what the heck right? My sideboard is still not perfect, I think I can do with getting 1-2 Spellskites and then it would be fine. For now what I have will have to do with the deck tech explanation.

Just a note, I will not be going into different match ups, that's best left for my Weekly Modern updates when I bring Elves with me. Reason being there are so many different types of decks you can and will go up against it's hard to write about them all. So here's the decklist and let's go!

Creatures:

Dwynen's Elite- A 2 CMC Elf that gives you a 1/1 Elf Warrior Token Creature if there is another Elf on the battlefield. One of the newer elves to join the throng in the tribe. I feel he is a great addition especially on turn 2 if you managed to have a turn 1 Heritage Druid. Having 3 Elves right away on Turn 2 can be very rewarding for you.

Elvish Archdruid- Our 3 CMC Elf lord that also acts as a mana dork. When you see me mention the term lord, it usually refers to jargon or slang that usually buffs your creatures +1/+1. If your Archdruid manages to survive the next turn and you happen to have a lot of Elves out, welcome to endless mana for you to play with at this!

Elvish Champion- Our other 3 CMC Elf lord that gives our elves forestwalk. Now you have a chance of making your elves unblockable as well! This lord has served me well in the deck but sometimes he can be sideboarded out if your opponent is not playing green.

Elvish Mystic- Llanowar Elf of another name. He is functionally the same as Llanowar Elf and he is a perfectly capable turn 1 play.

Elvish Visionary- A 2 CMC Elf that lets you draw a card. Drawing cards is never bad. Other than that, Visionary makes a good chump blocker.

Ezuri, Renegade Leader- It's always sweet to drop him from Collected Company and proceed to pump up your elves and just manage to squeak by enough damage to kill your opponent. The bad thing about Ezuri is he will become a major target if he resolves. Keep him safe if you can.

Heritage Druid- This is the most expensive creature in the main board (If you don't main Spellskite) and for good reason. With her ability to tap 3 untapped elves immediately as she resolves gives you the ability to do a lot more on your turn. Imagine you have 3 Nettle Sentinels and a Heritage Druid, you have potential access to a crap ton of mana at that point. Living the elf dream!

Llanowar Elves- The classic mana dork of Magic the Gathering. What more can be said about him?

Nettle Sentinel- At first glance Nettle Sentinel may not seem that good. He doesn't untap normally? Paired with Heritage Druid is where Nettle's power is truly seen. Since the majority of our spells are green, Nettle Sentinel will be untapping a lot and potentially tapping for a lot of mana.

Shaman of the Pack- Probably the best Elf card to come out of Magic Origins. This card wins games just by entering the battlefield. It's always a pleasure CoCo'ing into a Shaman and proceeding to win the game.


Spells:

Collected Company- Or CoCo for short. This card not only allows for us to  potentially build up our board presence after a wipe it also helps out by triggering Shaman of the Pack, Dwynen's Elite and so on. This card has become a must in this deck now.

Lead the Stampede- Or what I like to refer to as CoCo's little brother. I've tried both the Chord of Calling variation and Lead variation of Elves and I have to say, I prefer Lead the Stampede over Chord of Calling. It acts very similarly to CoCo but they do not go onto the battlefield. It allows you to fill up your hand again though.


Normally I would go over the Sideboard but my sideboard is mainly tuned for my local meta and I change it up from time to time if I were to take this to a Comp REL event. My local meta is sort of devoid of the Eldrazi Menace right now but it has a lot of Affinity and Abzan and Jund so it's more tuned to that. What I recommend to others is study their local meta and adapt your sideboard to that. Fracturing Gust is a perfectly good card as a sideboard and I highly recommend Spellskite.

How do you play this deck then? I feel this deck can be very similar to affinity in a sense. You want to swarm the board with these little elves and kill as quickly as possible. If you know your opponent has board wipes be wary of how many elves you play and which ones and be sure to try and keep your hand as much as you can. Affinity is normally faster than Elves so try to swarm them before they swarm you.

Also, knowing which elves to play and when. Typically by turn 2 you'll want to have 3 Elves out by then so maybe by Turn 3 you have twice that many and so on. Having a Heritage Druid in your opening hand is always good as long as you have the other cards to support it, such as Dwynen's Elite or some Mana Dorks. As far as land is concerned you can get away with having 2-3 land. You're only playing with 18 land so if you get land flooded then I apologize as the gods of MTG have declared their hatred upon you.

So why play Elves? As far as Modern Decks go, it is relatively inexpensive to play. Your most expensive card will most likely be the Cavern of Souls. I see it being relatively safe from any sort of banning from Wizards as Elves is not a top tier deck in the meta of Modern. So if it's not top tier why play it? Uhm, maybe because it's fun? Also, maybe because I'm afraid of investing into the top tier decks in Modern right now because Wizards likes to ban fun? So yea, that explains it pretty well. Who doesn't like to have a board full of creatures and you play a Shaman and go, you're dead!

That about covers my Elves deck. Next i'll be going into my Grixis Delver list and more! Thanks for reading!

Magic with Zuby Episode 010 - What is a Magic Judge?

Today we are interviewing David Wiggs, a Level 1 Judge in MTG! Come hear what a Judge is and what they do and how to become one! Be sure to check us out on Twitter @Magicwithzuby as well as magicwithzuby.com! You can email me with any questions at mtgzuby@gmail.com!



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Weekly Modern Update - March 8th, 2016

Another week has gone by and another Modern Monday has passed at my LGS. I once again brought my Grixis Delver deck and I was very surprised at how many people showed up to the event. We had over 20 people! It's appearing like Modern is becoming more popular than Standard right now at my LGS! I'm happy about that but at the same time I don't want Standard to disappear entirely. I hope with the upcoming rotation it will bring people back to the Standard foray and have more people play in FNM.

So how did I do this week? I unfortunately had to leave early due to it getting late and I was honestly just exhausted but I feel like I am understanding the Grixis Delver deck a bit better. I'm getting excited to play it more since the deck can feel so diverse and very reactive. I didn't make any changes to my list as I haven't had the time to devote to MTG lately. So here is the deck list again below:

 

Round 1: Grixis Delver vs. Burn

When I first saw the deck was burn I thought my opponent had it in the bag. Delver is not fast enough to deal with all that damage and plus with all the fetches and shocks I have, I run into the problem of helping my opponent reduce my life even further. Game 1 was a clutch win as I was able to keep plenty of counters in hand and slowly reduce his life with a single snapcaster mage.

Game 2 went rather fast as my opponent just had a really good hand while I didn't have enough disruption or counters. Even after thought scouring myself 2 times I couldn't find what I needed. Game 3 was another clutch win because at the end he got me down to 1 life and he was at 9. I had a Gurumag Angler, snapcaster mage and a 1/1 elemental token so I dealt 8 damage and managed to kill him with a Forked Bolt in hand that I had been keeping since the start of the game.

Results: 2-1 WIN

Round 2: Grixis Delver vs. Slivers

Ahh, good ol' Slivers. Slivers can be a scary deck for me as it can go wide and fast. Game 1 was over quickly as he flooded the board and I couldn't do much to stop since he had a Cavern of Souls out and I had no way to stop it.

I sided out some counters and put in an Izzet Staticaster as well as Anger of the Gods, a Terminate and Rakdos Charm (I still plan on taking this card out eventually). Game 2 went better as I was able to consistently wipe his board and get Izzet out and kill everything he had coming out and wittle him down. Game 3 went much the same as Game 2.

Results: 2-1 WIN

I wish I had more to talk about and more games to talk about but alas I had to leave early even on a winning streak. I'm planning on still building an Ensoul Artifact deck along with budget Goblins. I'll write up some deck techs soon hopefully (Just need to find the time!). Thanks for reading!

Weekly Standard Update - March 6th, 2016

So it's been awhile since I've done an article and I wanted to do a quick Standard Update. This past friday I did not go to FNM so why bother doing a Standard update then?

Not sure but I feel like writing one anyway. Standard has been as fun as ever, that is if you like playing 4 color rally or Bant CoCo. Collected Company will become the new Siege Rhino come rotation, as in it will be in every deck. The card is just too good to pass up.

So what am I itching to play? I've seen some Jeskai Dragons flying around so I've built that. I plan on doing a deck tech about it soon. There are two PPTQ's coming up that I'm hoping to participate in as well. March 26th and April 23rd. We shall see though!

So that's about it for me. I know, not much of an update. In my personal life I have been busy buying a house so that has been taking up a lot of my time! See ya guys soon!