Visions from Beyond - "BW Kill-Stuff"

Visions from Beyond - "BW Kill-Stuff"

Greetings readers! This is Samuel Wells with another Vision From Beyond. I am continuing my series of decks that I predict making it in the coming standard. Today I will not be going quite as deep as my last article. Instead of going with one of the highly synergistic decks, I am going to try and discuss a deck that will immediately be good and fits with the fundamentals of a new format to me.

Visions from Beyond- Sultai Dredge (KTK/THS Standard)

Visions from Beyond- Sultai Dredge (KTK/THS Standard)

Greetings readers! This is Samuel Wells bringing you yet another Visions From Beyond. For the upcoming weeks, I will be going through a small series of articles discussing deck archetypes that I am excited to see in the new standard.

The first deck that I want to see get testing is a deck that I alluded to in my first article coming back. I want to discuss the Sidisi Dredge deck that I outlined when I was discussing the viability of Sidisi. When I first wrote the article I was at my lowest point with excitement for Sidisi. The more I thought about how Sidisi worked in the deck the more synergies I saw in the deck. This made me excited to see how Sidisi could work in this shell and what he brings to the table as a threat.

So here is the list that I came up with:

Threats: 4 Nemesis of Mortals 4 Nighthowler 3 Sidisi, Blood Tyrant 1 Empty the Pits Yard Fillers: 4 Satyr Wayfinder 4 Commune With The Gods 1 Jace, The Living Guildpact Ramp: 4 Sylvan Caryatid Recursion: 1 Whip Of Erebos Interaction: 4 Thoughtseize 4 Sultai Charm 2 Hero's Downfall 2 Murderous Cut

Lands: 4 Polluted Delta 2 Temple of Malady 1 Temple of Mystery 1 Temple of Deceit 1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth 3 Yavimaya Coast 3 Llanowar Wastes 2 Island 3 Forest 2 Swamp Sideboard: 2 Polukranos, World Eater 1 Pharika, God of Affliction 1 Erebos, God of the Dead 1 Jace, The Living Guildpact 1 Whip of the Erebos 2 Hero's Downfall 2 Drown In Sorrow 2 Gainsay 1 Clever Impersonator

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.

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

----------

Join our community!

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

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

Play Twin and Win- A story from Theo Manley

Play Twin and Win! GP Worcester

with Theo Manley

featuring Patrick Dickman

OK guys here it goes again. I've said it before and I'll say it again I'm not a writer. I'm typing this on my tablet, and I'm not the greatest with grammar, but I know Twin like the back of my hand, and my experience in Worcester is full of info. So please just try to get past my writing skills and take the info for what it is. With that said here it is:

Hi everyone, my name is Theo Manley and I've been playing magic since the beginning of Time . It's the one thing in my life I've always had the most passion for and modern is my favorite format. I've been on Twin since day one, and have played every iteration of the deck. This is my story of GP Worcester and the months leading into it.

My journey starts in Richmond where I had the worst showing with the deck ever in my life. I went 2-4 drop with one bye. So I only won one match with the deck. The funny thing is, that's the best thing that could have happened to me. See after dropping from the main event I was outside collecting my thoughts, when I hear someone asking for a light. I look up, and see Patrick Dickmann standing in front of me. I give him a light, and say hey your name is Patrick right? He says, "Yes it is." I respond with " dude you are hands down the best twin player in the world ". That's when his friend Valentin mackl says " ha ! He is how you say scrub" and they laugh. That's when it happens, the moment that I become friends with 2 of the best in the world. I say " now he is no Valentin Mackl but he is alright. They laugh and we hang out after every round day one and two.

Now I know you are thinking, what's this have to do with Worcester? Well everything. They asked me which version I was playing and I tell them American. The frown a little and ask my recor . I say dead, and they laugh and say it's because America wins only in war and Olympics! I laugh. Dickman asks how long I been on twin in general, and why I chose this version. He asks to see it. He tells me,

"It's too cute and all over the place need to tune it to do one thing or the other."

The Metagame Check

Meta Game Check

with Samuel Wells



Hello! once again to this special spoiler season metagame check. As I teased last week, the
card that I see as poised to takeover in m15 is Chord of Calling. 
This should come to no surprise to people who have seen this card in action. Unlike eternal
formats, Chord will not be used to find the missing combo pieces in the deck. What Chord does provide is the ability to reliably set up some very powerful engines. I will discuss two current Tier 1.5 standard decks that have the potential to blow up with the new tools coming out in the core set.

BSB Presents-The Metagame Check!

The Metagame Check -Week One

with Samuel Wells

Hey all! This is Samuel Wells and I am going to be going over the recent shifts in the standard metagame. What caused it, how people have adapted, what it is all about. Then, I will show you some of the tools that you have in the current standard to combat the tier 1 decks du jour.

First things first. The recent scg opens have experienced an unprecedented amount of success from mono red strategies in several forms. Most notably from Tom Ross at the invitational. Mono red aggro decks have been fairly non-existent in standard since about Born of the Gods. This all changed in the last month and three straight opens were taken down by the red aggressive decks. Before that, a mono blue devotion deck took the tournament down. Which is almost as surprising because the once powerhouse mono blue has seen next to no love since Journey to Nyx. This surge marks a massive shift in the format back to hyper aggressive decks, but what made this the right time for these decks to blow up.

That requires looking at what decks were popular just prior to this surge. Three decks were ruling most of the top tables at this time. Jund monsters, Black devotion, and UW control. But Samuel, you might ask, haven’t these decks been popular for quite awhile now and were strong when mono red was losing popularity. You would be right, to a degree. The green based ramp/midrange deck to a lesser extent, but all three decks have existed since about the beginning of this standard. But there is a key difference to all of these decks that wasn’t true a month or so earlier. They are slowing down. They are all trying to play for a longer game.

The Magic Mondays- Apex Predator...and other good ****

The Magic Mondays- Apex Predator...and other good ****.

With Chaz Volpe

Ohhhhhhh man. A LOT has happened in one week since our last time together here on Magic Monday’s. Hey everyone, how’re you? Oh, your head exploded from M15 spoilers? Mine almost did too. Did you sit there and jump up and down in your underwear when SCG spoiled Chord of Calling? ….Me too. With that being said, let’s get on with the Magic Mondays!

Wow.

FNM Fun! Fire & Ice

FNM FUN - FIRE & ICE

With Robert Blum

Welcome back for article number 3. This week I took a pretty successful deck in mono red devotion and tweaked it to add a splash of blue. My shop is pretty notorious for esper builds and guys running blood baron so I wanted to have an answer. This deck proved to be way more fun then I ever imagined and did some really crazy things in game. Well without further ado lets check out the list.

The Magic Mondays! Welcome.

The Magic Mondays- Welcome! M2015 Spoilers/Recent Decklists

Hello everyone! It’s me, Chaz, again. I elected to do another bit in addition to the financial piece I write every week. WELCOME, to The Magic Monday’s! In this segment I will go over mostly anything that people want me to go over, yes, it’s that simple! I ask you the readers, and members of our community at BoltSnapBolt (join, by the way) of topics to go over. This week I will tackle some fresh new spoilers, some recent placements of decks over the weekends at large events, and a deck I have been thinking about. That’s a lot! Let’s get started...shall we?

FNM Fun! -Launching a Thaumaturge

Hey everyone welcome back for week #2 in my FNM article series. First, I want to thank everyone for all the positive responses to last weeks article. It's nice to know that everyone appreciates a more fun view on competitive decks! I have a buddy I play with who's favorite quote is "It's all about the fun factor" and you know what I think he's right. A lot of the time we get caught up in the competitive nature of this game and we all forget why we originally started playing. Because it was fun!

FNM Fun! -Dega Humans

FNM FUN  - by Robert Blum

Hey everyone, welcome to my first article here on the BoltSnapBolt page. My weekly articles are going to focus around some unique and sometimes even off the wall FNM decks and then I'll be asking you guys for your opinions on how to make these decks more competitive in nature. Let me preface this by saying most if these decks won't be my builds however, as one of the more competitive players in my local store I do get asked for my input pretty regularly. I hope you guys enjoy this look into testing some unique builds. So with-out further ado let's take a look at our first deck.