Expensive Walkers

Today's post will be on the expenses that all players should be aware of before they get too far down the rabbit hole.  Magic is not a cheap game and to play competitively outside of drafts it gets pretty darn expensive pretty fast. Take for example the decks that are winning FNM's, National Qualifiers, and Game Day competitions right now.  The four most competitive decks out there today (using the previous qualifiers) are Jund, UWR, UW, and Mythic.
Of those decks Jund is easily the least expensive coming in around $150 see this link here to go to my most current Jund build (note my lack of Malestrom pulses which easily brings this deck into the $200 dollar range).  And the most expensive is the new UWR Planeswalker control which can run from $700-900 (my UWR that I am most fond of can be found here.)  Note my lack of Elspeth and a full complement of Scalding Tarns which drops the price into the more "reasonable" $500 price range but is still incredibly playable.  UW control and Mythic fit somewhere in the middle.

Note that (with the exception of most Jund decks) all of these decks run planeswalkers and most run at least 3 copies of Jace, the Mind Sculptor which explains it's designation as the most expensive card in Standard. The introduction of planeswalkers that happened a few sets ago started slowly, but has since ramped up to alter the MTG gameplay dramatically.  As players have come to recognize the power of these "helpers" in the standard arena their value and subsequently price will continue to rise. (It could be argued that the format has devolved into who can stick and keep a Jace around for 2+ turns, but I think I will cover that in another article.)  Now that planeswalkers are getting the power recognition they deserve they are getting incredibly expensive because of their Mythic Rare status. This all leads to me ask the question; will Wizards ever print a non-Mythic Rare planeswalker and if yes what would it look like?

A couple thoughts I will leave you with on this note...
A non-mythic rare planeswalker would have a lower cost and could be used more widely, thus allowing many more casual+ players the opportunity to play competitive magic for less of a monetary investment. This would make the scene much more competitive, bring more people to the game, and balance the meta game slightly from those who have serious money to spend and those who do not.      
Obviously the storyline is important and preserving Planeswalkers rarity is important, but putting out a few planeswalkers that are either less versatile, less powerful, have less abilities, or who lack an "ultimate" would bring an interesting dynamic to Standard and allow more players to have the fun of playing with a walker.

I still remember my first experience playing with one of the walkers...it was amazing and made MTG a lot more interesting and fun than I remember. Now I will admit there is nothing better than sticking a turn four Jace, the Mind Sculptor behind a Wall of Omens when I know an Ajani or Gideon will be following soon. But I would also enjoy playing a slightly less powerful walker, while treasuring the fact that I didn't have to spend $700 to enjoy my deck.

As always comments are welcome and if you also think a non-mythic rare walker would be a good addition to liven up the game of MTG then perhaps hit Wizards up with an email or comment in the forums and let's get the ball rolling.

Decklist of the Day Grixis Control

Basically ever since I saw Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker I have the itch to play with him.  He is such a ridiculous card that when resolved demands an answer the next turn or its gg. Therefore, I have played around with Grixis decks for the last couple of weeks and after ROE came out I finally hit on a combo that I really think has the legs to do a decent job in standard.  


Had to start with 3 Nicol Bolas because the whole theme of the deck is to overwhelm-->win using this card. Sarkhan is a card draw machine and considering almost all of my spells costs 2 or less he will get a few draws easily.  Plus against UW or Polymorph he can dragonize their biggest threat, making it much easier to eliminate. (It is generally easier to kill a 5/5 dragon token than a Baneslayer angel or Emrakul...)


3 Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker
2 Sarkhan, the Mad
5 Planeswalkers


The Specter makes an excellent harasser and a great discard to a Blightning.  His unearth ability makes him a natural in a deck like this because it is cheap and you get great return out of it.  (Would you play 4 of a card that does 3 damage and discards one card for 2 mana?  I would!)


4 Sedraxis Specter
4 Creatures

The spell section is the real heart of this deck.  The deck is revolved around disruption in every possible form. Blightnings and Duress (in the SB) for card disruption, Lightning Bolt for utility, Spreading Seas for Mana disruption and card draw, countersquall as the mainboard counter option, consume the meek as black's best sweeper, and terminate for creature removal.  Mind spring is included for crazy card draw and the Chalices get us to Bolas that much faster.

4 Blightning
2 Consume the Meek
4 Countersquall
4 Everflowing Chalice
3 Lightning Bolt
3 Mind Spring
4 Spreading Seas
3 Terminate
25 Spells

4 Creeping Tar Pit
4 Crumbling Necropolis
2 Dragonskull Summit
3 Island
3 Lavaclaw Reaches
3 Mountain
4 Scalding Tarn
3 Swamp
26 Lands

The sideboard is designed to be flexible against a variety of decks.  Adjust it to fit whatever the popular deck styles are in  your area. I decided to fill out Consume the Meek, thrown in some duress, a bunch of counters, or deathmark for any mythic deck. Let me know if you have any additional suggestions.

Sideboard
3 Negate
2 Flashfreeze
3 Deathmark
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
2 Consume the Meek
3 Duress

You have to stall out your opponents for the first 5-6 turns countering their big spells, terminating their creatures, and sweeping anything that needs to be swept.  (any starting hand that has spreading seas and the requisite mana is very good btw)  By this time you have enough to cast Bolas.  If you have two in hand or are very ahead in the board go ahead and cast it right away, if not then wait to have some counterspell back up because a resolved and protected Bolas spells game over for your opponent very quickly.  Once Bolas hits the board just make it your priority to protect him and the game should be yours quite quickly. I will be testing this out all weekend and I will let you know how it goes and what kind of SB'ing I did.  In the mean time have fun at FNM and other events this weekend. And look for my follow up post on Monday.

Trevor Isham

About Me

This blog should detail my attempts to get into the game of Magic the Gathering from a complete n00b's perspective. I played magic off and on in junior high and high school, but never more than buying a few packs, opening them with friends, building some decks and goofing around.  Every so often I would rifle through my mishmash collection from at least 8 different sets and put together some fun new decks, but never entered a tournament ever.  Fresh out of college and a couple years into staring at a computer screen all day have led me to pick up a hobby that can engage my brain, meet some new people, and play a fun game in the process. 


After making the decision to get into playing some Magic my first step was to hit up some local card/comic book stores to find out what the local scene was like. I quickly discovered a shop right near my house and it seemed they had a fairly decent FMN turnout.  I spent the next two weeks voraciously reading articles, news highlights, decklists, and blogs in order to get caught up on the current state of standard version Magic.  I learned about the awesomeness of Jund, the woes of UW control, and far more about Magic than I ever thought I would ever know. 


The funny thing about my experience in these first two weeks was that I still had not purchased a single Magic Card! I knew all of these cards, decks, and the magic scene but had not a single card to play with.  Then an article by Jacob van Luren (who is in my top 2 of all MTG writers I have read) about a Jund deck that would perform well in the mirror.  After reading about it, thinking it over for about a day I decided to just order that deck, along with some of his sideboard suggestions and see what happens.  That week I also took place in my first booster draft of all time, Zen-Zen-WW!  


I had never done an online draft, didn't actually know how a draft worked, and couldn't really tell you anything about the Zendikar and Worldwake sets at all.  Needless to say it went about as predicted.  I drafted a really terrible blue black deck and went 0-3...sounds miserable...right?  Actually I had the time of my life...drafting was exhilerating, playing a new deck that I had just about 7 minutes to put together was very fun, and I met some really cool people. 


Well now about 3 weeks, a pre-release, a release, and a few drafts under my belt I thought I would start this blog for a couple different reasons.  The first being that I don't fit the typical Magic Community writer mold.  I am not a top 8 player, I haven't been playing for years, and I still ask a lot of rules questions whenever I play.  Namely I am a n00b, that happens to be a decent writer, and loves the game of MTG.  This gives me a unique perspective and one that I think Magic needs, if it is going to continue to grow and attract new players. 


I plan on posting my MTG experiences, thoughts I have about other player's articles, card reviews, decklists, and occasionally/hopefully have some guest writers on the blog.  My goal is to aid newer players in picking up the game of Magic, remind experienced players that a lot of Magic should be about teaching new players, and hopefully inspire some new thoughts on playing MTG.  Thanks and I hope you enjoy!!!


Trevor Isham