So I’m in Washington (the state) in advance of Grand Prix: Seattle (aka GP C-Tack). And I’ve been without something that I’ve come to depend on, to hold dear, for oh so many years …
… the Internet.
After experiencing a high-speed Internet “blackout” when we moved to Germany, I thought that my time without the Information Superhighway was over when we finally got DSL there. But what I’ve come to find is that, while I may value the Internet as a prized possession and helpful tool in all manners around the house, I never remember that not everyone feels the same way.
We drove from Colorado to Utah, and then on to Washington on the second travel day. We were staying with parents of a friend in Olympia over the weekend, and then we were headed out to the peninsula through the middle of the week before returning to Seattle, and the Grand Prix. I had plans to finish this column over the weekend, and then email it in to Craig some time on Sunday.
Oddly, though, I was thwarted. The people we were staying with were very pleasant, but lacking in the available Internet connection, and while there were local wireless networks available to, ahem, “lease” bandwidth from, they all were security-enabled.
Guess people are finally getting smarter about that.
So I’m finally out on the coast of Washington state, and in a hotel that has wireless Internet. A day late and a dollar short. (That’s just a euphemism, please don’t dock my pay.)
As we cruise up to the Grand Prix, I have a handful of little topics to cover that don’t merit an entire column. This seems like a perfect time to handle those.
The Golden Deck
Last week, I gave you my Regionals report, and listed off the deck that I was most likely to play in Seattle. I am definitely playing the deck in Seattle, and if you are the superstitious type, I hope that you will remember me in your kewpie dolls and incense-burning rituals. I’m not superstitious myself, but I would never look a gift incense-burning in the mouth.
We made some adjustments to the sideboard, but changes continue to keep coming. The performance of Cascade Swans at GP Barcelona really makes life difficult — I think we squeezed in something for Faeries, BW Tokens, Reveillark, Sanity Grinding, and Turbofog, and now there’s another deck that I have to figure out a decent sideboard option for? Geez. After reading the coverage, particularly the Top 8 mirror match between Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa and eventual winner Joel Calafell, I think I’m decided on Dawnglow Infusion. I already have Kitchen Finks and the Sledge, but I think gaining eight or ten life off of the Infusion may push me to a high enough life total to push through the damage before the Seismic Assault takes me out.
We’ll probably playtest the matchup once some more Colorado Springs players show up in town. And once I get back to Seattle proper myself … as I am out on the peninsula. We’ll get to that in a little bit.
Creatures (25)
- 4 Kitchen Finks
- 4 Wilt-Leaf Liege
- 4 Steward of Valeron
- 3 Qasali Pridemage
- 2 Knight of New Alara
- 4 Dauntless Escort
- 4 Bant Sureblade
Lands (24)
Spells (11)
Rare Cost Summary:
Dauntless Escort ($6.00 x 4 = $24.00)
Knight of New Alara ($3.00 x 2 = $6.00)
Wilt-Leaf Liege ($10.00 x 4 = $40.00)
Wrath of God ($15.00 x 2 = $30.00)
Brushland ($3.00 x 4 = $12.00)
Mosswort Bridge ($1.50 x 3 = $4.50)
Wooded Bastion ($10.00 x 4 = $40.00)
Somehow the price of Wooded Bastions have gone up, but it looks like all of those Shadowmoor Block filter lands have increased in price recently. They’re in hot demand, with Regionals, the Standard qualifying season, and the Standard GPs as well.
If you’d like to try out this deck at your local FNM, increasing the number of Knight of New Alara is okay rather than dishing out the cash for those Wilt-Leaf Lieges, which will rotate in a matter of months. With the Knight having been a Launch Party promo, I bet they’re around in your friends’ binders if you look for them.
The Dawnglow Infusion slots in the sideboard are obviously flexible at this time. It may be more correct to run two Infusions and the fourth Qasali Pridemage. It may also be right to just have two Wheel of Sun and Moon, and the third Wrath of God in the extra slot.
Otherwise I’m playing exactly the deck as I listed it at the end of last week’s article. I love the addition of Overrun to this deck, as it single-handedly is the card that allows GW Tokens to compete against BW Tokens. I mean, they list the freakin’ deck as “GW Overrun” so I guess it’s pretty good. Mosswort Bridge has proven easier to flip for this deck than Windbrisk Heights, which is okay by me, and my wallet isn’t complaining either.
What’s in a Column Name?
I’ve realized that the name of this column is about eighteen months behind on its topicality. “Tribal Thriftiness” was a fine name back when I was making Warrior decks after Eventide came out, but we’ve been through a hybrid block and a shard block since then, and the name has stayed the same. I’m not suggesting to change the name of the column for each block — that may be a little ridiculous. But I would like to change the column name to something that keeps its relevancy once Lorwyn rotates out in a couple of months.
So I’m taking suggestions. Sound off in the forums. “Miser’s Page” (from the Mirage card Miser’s Cage) is about the only clever thing I’ve come up with.
A Theme Deck for Western Washington
So what are we doing in western Washington state, you might ask? Well, my wife is one of the many (or so I’m told) women outside of the target age range that are fans of Stephanie Meyer’s teen vampire romance novel, Twilight. (So how was that, pretty diplomatic?) So we are spending a couple of days in the setting for the series, a sleepy little town called Forks in the middle of Olympic National Park.
She says, “You should write about vampires for your column this week.”
And so I am happy to oblige. There are still vampires in Magic, after all, although they are dwindling in number with each new set. Standard currently only has four, if you ignore the Changelings. And they’re all rares.
Thankfully, they’re all also two dollars or less apiece, so I can smoosh them all into one deck.
Vampires as a Magic race have historically had the ability to get bigger as they feed on the weaker creatures on the board. The old base set mainstay Sengir Vampire ($1) is a perfect example of this; if he injures a creature and it dies, he gets plumped up. Vein Drinker ($0.50) takes it a step further by adding in the built-in one-on-one grudge match fight to the death. Blood Tyrant ($1) switches it up a bit, getting bigger as he feeds on you and your opponent.
The last vampire, Ascendant Evincar ($2), is really more a thematic vampire than anything (as Crovax was turned into a vampire somewhere in the Weatherlight saga), but he fits in the theme and makes all of our guys bigger, so he seems like a nice way to round out the vampires.
Creatures (19)
Lands (24)
Spells (17)
Rare Cost Summary:
Sengir Vampire ($1.00 x 4 = $4.00)
Blood Tyrant ($1.00 x 4 = $4.00)
Vein Drinker ($0.50 x 4 = $2.00)
Ascendant Evincar ($2.00 x 3 = $6.00)
I really love the addition of the Shard-tapped-lands for Standard, especially for the budget player. When Invasion’s taplands came around, they were a great alternative to the rare painlands that were in Standard as well. They were easy to come by due to their uncommon nature, and while they did slow down the format, they were still prevalent in most of the decks at that time that played allied colors. The Shard-taplands allow you to (essentially) play eight Urborg Volcanoes.
The deck is filled with support cards for clearing out little weenies while you wait for one of your strong flyers to show up. Infest and Volcanic Fallout will help there, and Terminate will clean up anything that the sweepers can’t take out. Bloodshed Fever was originally just a thematic card, but it works great with the vampire ability, forcing your opponent to send in his little 1/1s and 2/1s into your waiting fangs, growing your vampire army at every possible moment.
Sure, nothing sparkles, but those aren’t real vampires anyways. I’ll stick with the Magic idea of a vampire, thankyouverymuch.
Back to the Emerald City
Watch for my name in the GP: Seattle standings — hopefully I’ll be easy to spot, and not because I’m down at the bottom of the page. Next week I’ll have more from GP: Seattle!
Until next week…
Dave
dave dot massive at gmail and facebook and twitter