Visions from Beyond - Embracing the Monochrome

Visions from Beyond- Embracing the Monochrome

Greetings readers! 

This is Samuel Wells, back with more Visions From Beyond. Khans standard is kicking off now and deck speculation is at its peak right now. Most decks that I have seen speculation on are people trying to make the different wedges viable. Temur monsters, Mardu midrange and the like. All of this talk about these three color midrange and control has led to me wondering, will we see viable mono colored decks in standard this season. For the purposes of going more in depth I will exclude the red aggressive decks because they are already receiving extensive talk as one of the decks post rotation. I am interested in looking at the prospects and the plausibility of devotion once Khans of Tarkir comes out.

The three main devotion decks of this past standard were mono-green, mono-black, and mono-blue devotion lists. Each of these decks have been discussed to death and many people have declared that these decks will die as RTR rotates out. The only deck that people have seemed confident about it surviving rotation is mono-green devotion.

The speculation around mono-green is centered around two creatures that people have predicted to be the best in the next standard. These creatures being Sylvan Caryatid and Courser of Kruphix. The hype for Caryatid is more for the three color midrange decks that will be popping up in the coming standard, but it is still the best ramp spell, it buffs devotion, and it it still helps to block a lot of early threats. It is everything that people have been using it for and it is not just swept away by Supreme Verdict. Having a slower board wipe really helps cards like this because you get more time to set up and go off with the deck. The card that gets the biggest boost in the upcoming format is Courser of Kruphix. Courser’s interaction with fetchlands is ridiculous. The fetchlands end up not damaging when you have Courser on the battlefield. And you get to shuffle away cards that you don’t want to draw, because courser allows you to see the top of the deck, when you have a fetchland. 

Lens of Clarity - Release... the PRE-RELEASE!

Lens of Clarity: Release the prerelease

with Adriel Colon

Of the prereleases I have attended I was most excited for the Khans block prerelease this weekend. I love gold cards because they can mix abilities from the color pie and the power/toughness combinations or sometimes “above the curve” so to speak. Moreover, each of the mechanics in the set I find easy to use on the field and grasp for newer players with the exception of the morph mechanic for anyone who has never seen that ability in use before.

My favorite thing about the Khans prerelease has to be the art. I am stunned by much of the new art in this set and with M15 having been the typical bland (but good) art style I am happy to get back to a themed set. When Wizards leverages their considerable resources to produce new flavorful art even for reprints like Despise and Shatter, to me, I get to rediscovering them again.

BSB Podcast! -Khans-cast Part 1 & Part 2

BSB Podcast! -Khans-cast Part 1 & Part 2

Welcome back everyone! Here we have Part 1 and 2 of our massive two part Khans of Tarkir Podcasts! Enjoy, and just in time for pre-release weekend. Enjoy your clan packs, and hopefully you win all your games. Well, because winning is fun, right? It was amazing having members from the BSB community join Pete and myself on the Podcasts. Big thanks to Jason, and Zach. Maybe you will be in the next one! Tune in!

**Note: I was not able to fully edit each of the Podcast Audio, sorry about that folks. Sometimes it's just too much for me, after all I'm not an audio guru!**



Part 1: Pete, Jason, and myself.





Part 2: Pete, Zach, and myself.

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Join our community!

Facebook at: BoltSnapBolt group, request membership and follow guidelines, would love to have new fresh members!

Hit me up personally @Vbrews on Twitter, I use that for deck-brewing and anything magic related, my Twitch stream also broadcasts on there!

Follow @Boltsnapbolt

Any/all questions related to blog/podcast email us at Boltsnapbolt@outlook.com

Visions from Beyond- Khans Legends

Visions from Beyond! - Khans Legends

with Samuel Wells

**Samuel Wells, the writer who brought us the column "Metagame Check" is back from a break and brings us a new column. Visions from Beyond!**

Greetings readers! I am back from the dead. Before I get into any and all things magic, I would like to explain where I am and why I haven’t been writing as much. For the past three weeks and for the next several months, I have been in Vietnam studying abroad. I am finding this an amazing opportunity to study and grow as a human.

Unfortunately, this has prevented me from interacting with magic the same way that I was over this summer. I feel like I can not be an authoritative voice on the meta-game check. So for now I will be sidelining my usual article. I also am limited in the amount of play-testing that I am able to do. That being said, I will be continue to bring more decks to you in the future. In the mean time, I will be looking at magic in broader strokes and hopefully some new insight. Without further ado, let’s talk some magic.

I picked one remarkable time to leave. Since my last article there have been huge shake ups in magic. Tom Ross won the invitational, again. This is astounding and cements him near the top for current players. We will be getting a new standard format lasting 18 months and will be spanning 3 2-set blocks. This completely warps the standard environment. It prevents decks from dominating as long, it lets wizards more aggressively reprint reprint cards, and breathes new life into a format that seemed to be reaching a low point in the overall pacing of its metagame. Did I mention more aggressive reprints? Because wizards started out with some very aggressive reprints coming in Khans. The onslaught fetches are back with a vengeance. This isn't just for standard though, we will be seeing these fetches hit modern for the first time ever. This is huge! Are we going to see an esper or grixis deck take over as the control slot in modern or will UWR still be the control deck to beat. My mind is spinning with these reprints.

But I’m not bringing you another article covering these topics, because by now everyone and their mother has covered these topics. Instead, I’m going to be covering some cards near and dear to me because to some degree they were what brought me back into magic. I will be discussing the legends from Khans of Tarkir.

Magic Mondays!- Massive Khans Update-Part 2

Magic Mondays!: Massive Khans Update-Part 2.

Magic Mondays! (Again on a Tuesday this time)

Hello everyone, time for another edition of Magic Mondays! Well...I know it’s on a Tuesday this time around. Though I want to take this time to say there will be a lot of content coming to BSB, and I have been fairly preoccupied with that. Setting up new articles/writers, making sure the Podcasts come out in a more timely manner. I will say, again, I apologize for the delay on the content here at BSB. I want to take full responsibility, but, please forgive me. I do a lot here on the back-end at BSB trying to keep this going and provide great content for everyone. I also have to come out of my comfort zone, editing audio, and making sure to proof read and re-proof read everything. Even then, some things slip through the crack. No one here gets paid or compensated (yet) and everyone who contributes to BSB is purely passion based. So, thank you again another time, for sticking with us.

That being said. Here is part 2 of the Khans spoiler (now fully spoiled) and I wanted to keep the same format. Giving Financial anecdotes along the way for each of the cards I want to highlight. I will be highlighting more cards this time around, since the set was fully spoiled.

Ascendancies:(all of them together)

I think these are all very similar in terms of playability in Standard. Outside of standard I think these could be solid addition to EDH decks, and table-top players. As far as a competitive environment, they are all mediocre. Though, Temur Ascendancy has the most promise out of the bunch. I have seen in a few places people speculating and brewing to some varying success to using Temur Ascendancy, mainly alongside Knuckleblade, Stormbreath Dragon, and Sagu Mauler. Which seems fairly solid, giving giant 4+ power creatures haste, and also giving you some cards along the way. I would have to say it stops there, the other Ascendancy cards will inevitably go into the junk rare bin. I could really be wrong, but comparing these to a format of Goblin Rabblemaster, and Courser of Kruphix, I think there’s better things to do with three mana. The one thing any of these (again mainly Temur) has going for them is the fact that they give 2 devotion to multi-color gods, which can buoy their effectiveness *maybe* in Standard. Though more so in EDH/casual games.

Financial Anecdotes: I really can’t say much about these other than being in the .25c rare bins. Even if Temur Ascendancy does end up getting more attention and is a playable card, I can’t see it peaking more than 2$, if that. I think there’s just better rares that will soak up more of the value of the set than these cards. Fetches/Mauler/Knuckleblade just to name a few.

Breaking Bad...cards! -with Andrew Wise

Breaking Bad...cards!- with Andrew Wise

Time for the first official weekly episode of...

BREAKING BAD...CARDS!


with me, Andrew!


The subject this week is one of the biggest "build around me" cards in M15; Kurkesh, Onakke Ascendent!

For those of you who might not know what he does (and didn't look at the picture), he lets you copy the activated ability of an artifact for the measly cost of R. 

I remember when M15 came out people were talking about how there just aren't the cards available to make him work. I don't buy it! I believe in the power of our group, and you the readers. Let's figure out something so crazy it just might work . 

I know I have some ideas, how about you? The final deck-list will be posted next Wednesday. 

Begin!

Down the line, we will be attaching these Community challenges to some sweet prizes! That's what Chaz told me anyways, figured I relay the message to all of you!

Either post them here with a brief description in the comments below, or email them to the BSB email (also listed below!)

Happy brewing!

Andrew

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Join our community!

Facebook at: BoltSnapBolt group, request membership and follow guidelines, would love to have new fresh members!

Hit me up personally @Vbrews on Twitter, I use that for deck-brewing and anything magic related, my Twitch stream also broadcasts on there!

Follow @Boltsnapbolt

Any/all questions related to blog/podcast email us at Boltsnapbolt@outlook.com

Lens of Clarity- Khans of Tarkir reactions

Lens of Clarity - Khans of Tarkir reactions

with Adriel Colon

Khans of Tarkir is going to be a a unique and game changing set. Lots of cards are coming in but more is going out on rotation. Get ready to have the format at first defined by what leaving us rather than what is coming in. I want to highlight a few cards that represent the upcoming Khans mechanics and what my impressions of these cards as well as the impact the mechanics will I fell will have on constructed play.

Delve is back. Making spells cheaper/ adding to their effect for the cost of exiling cards from your graveyard is good. My favorite delve card is Empty the Pits. Instant speed token creation is fantastic and with the ability to exile cards AND dump mana into the spell you can feasibly have 5 zombies hit the battlefield on endstep. I know the XXBBBB mana cost will scare people however there is actually a tremendous amount of enablers for this card. Satyr Wayfinder, Sylvan Caryatid , Temples, Mana Confluence, Fetches and EtB tapped dual color lands all make this possible however the card that most enables this is Urborg. Both yours and your opponents who play Urborg turn this spell active. Satyr Wayfinder is a huge fixer for this card as it both fills the graveyard and culls up Urborg or other swamps for you. The graveyard and cards that work off of it will be relevant in standard.  

Cards I most want to use with: Purphoros, God of the Forge and Empty the Pits.

Magic Mondays! - Khans and more Khans (part 1)

Magic Mondays- Khans, and more Khans. (part 1)

Hey everyone! Chaz here again for Magic Mondays. There’s a lot going on these days, Fantasy Football, NFL, and of course Khans of Tarkir! That’s why you’re all here right? So, with another week of spoilers let’s talk in depth about a slew of new Khans spoilers. Let’s get to it. It will keep my mind off of losing my first week of Fantasy Football :sadface:

I wanted to bring these up first, since I think it’s a good place to start with how I want to structure this weeks article. These were the more recent spoilers in Khans so, let’s discuss their implications on Standard Khans and ultimately how they affect other cards currently in the pool, with a little financial anecdote. Since Khans can more directly be related to Shards in how they’re designed, I think the Khans tri-lands will ultimately end up seeing as much play as their predecessors. Which in truth wasn't much in the first place, in a standard format. Perhaps in a deck that wants to run 4c or even 5c, then perhaps they serve their purpose. Though, for now it will remain to be seen. As for the new “refugee” lands, closely comparable to the original ones in Zendikar I think will suffer the same fate, a budget friendly option that will end up being draft-able, but not competitive.

"Presents and Stuff" -Paul

Presents and Stuff

by Paul ‘Frodo’ Muller

Its Thursday! This means only one thing: it’s time for a look at competitive magic and a review of the Invitational this past week. Last Sunday, Tom “The Boss” Ross took down the invitational for the second time in a row. Talk about being on a heater! First off, I would like to congratulate him on the win. He is a prime example of how playing the decks you know can add those few percentage points to your win rate and push you over the top. He came into the weekend with everyone in the room essentially knowing 140+ of his 150 cards, and he still was able to crush the field. We all knew Ross would be on Rabble Red and Infect; the surprise, however, was not his deck but Reid Dukes'. The invitational runner up was playing four (count them - FOUR) Genesis Hydras. We've all had an idea of the power of this card, but for the most part no one had found a real home for this powerhouse until now.

**On a side note, a big congratulations to one of our strong local players, James Rynkiewicz, who placed 13th overall in the invitational and for following up that performance with a top 8 Sunday in the legacy portion of the Open series. James did much better than I did this weekend when It came to magic. **

On Saturday I started round 1 game 1 of the Open with a mull to 5 keep 1 land playing Jund walkers vs U/W control featuring Detention Spheres and no Planar Cleansing. It should be close to a bye for my deck, but variance was having none of that.. I kept my one scry land hand and . . . died with one land in play. Just one of those games. In game 2 he died horribly by way of Rakdos’ Return and 4/4 lands thanks to Nissa. Game 3 was a marathon affair which finally ended with him casting a third Revalation followed up by an Aetherling.

Magic Mondays- (On a Tuesday) Khans is here!

Magic Mondays- (On a Tuesday) Khans is here!

Hey everyone, Chaz here bringing you another edition of Magic Mondays (on a Tuesday). I realize it’s Tuesday but stick with me, my internet was out, but back on track now. It gave me more time to soak in and analyze everything that has been happening in the mtg world. Khans spoilers, and a PAXEast announcement that had people insanely pumped.

You can check it out here:

(Sean) Let's see that reaction one more time. Fetch. Lands. Confirmed. #MTGKTK #PAXPrime2014 http://t.co/Hz0unF7ER7
— Magic: The Gathering (@wizards_magic) September 1, 2014

 Wow. Quite the reaction for some pieces of cardboard. I kid, I kid, it’s been something the community has wanted for a while now. While Wizards has clearly been leaving breadcrumbs, for us older more seasoned vets, I’ve been picking up what they were putting down the past few months. It was only a matter of time, and I was entertaining the idea, and arguing its case some months ago, that Modern would see all the fetchlands like Legacy. Wizards solidified that fact, with that announcement, they clearly are supporting Modern. It will be interesting to see how this announcement will make ripples into all corners of the game. I know my fair share of mtgfinance, and it will certainly affect that. If you look closely you can see them already.

I digress, it’s KHANS time! Firstly let’s look at the mechanic and I’ll put them in no particular order, and my thoughts on them.