Slaughter Games
Rare
Sorcery
2BR
Slaughter Games can't be countered by spells or abilities
Name a nonland card. Search target opponent's graveyard, hand, and library for any number of cards with that name and exile them. Then that player shuffles his or her library
R1: Tempered Steel (2-0)
Not much to see, I wound his lifelink flyer and bash in with stingers and specters before he gets me, distress on tempered steel gets in there too I believe
R2: Red Deck Wins (2-1)
First game he leads with spikeshot elder and my 1/1's look pretty bad. He crushes me before I get anything going. G2+3 I smash him in with Vatmother and Crusaders and finish him off with a fair amount of life left both games
R3: Mono Black Infect (0-2)
He draws Lashwrithes and skittles and I don't :/
R4: UB Control (2-0)
I distress him t2 and then crusader comes down and mops him up game one. In game two I connect with a sworded up spellskite for a couple of turns as he fails to develop much of a game
R5: Township Token (2-0)
He creates a bunch of tokens, but none of them fly and I come over top with flyers and big skittles in the first game. In the second game I bomb away his tokens and get him with Lashwrite for damage
R6: Solar Flare (2-0)
Kind of a unconventional version with obliterators , but ultimetly he's too slow to compete with me and my discard spells.
R7: Wolf Run Ramp (Dungrove Version) (2-1)
8 players with 5-1 means everyone needs to play. The games are all quite tight and the one game I lose is when I only had 1 infect creature and it was too slow to get there.
Quarters: Wolf Run Ramp (WG version) (2-1)
He's running a planeswalker heavy version with Gideon in them as well. First two games are split and pretty standard. The third game we battle with him having two mirran crusaders and me having two phyrexian crusaders, but ultimately I manage to win the game on a topdeck to lashwrithe up my creature and win on 2 life
Semis: Wolf Run Ramp (Dungrove Version) (1-2)
I mulligan to 4 the first game, destroy him in the second game and in the third game he goes quad runner to win the game with 9 poison damage :/
I think that I would have won the finals against Bant Pod since that should be a pretty good matchup, but oh well
Top 8 was ;
1 Bant Pod
2 Wolf Run Ramp
3 Infect
4 Wu Humans
5 Infect
6 Wolf Run Ramp
7 Wolf Run Ramp
8 Unkown
Even being a Saskatchewan resident, I have no idea just how many judges live in the province, but the number is probably comparable to Manitoba.
The one thing that irks me about this change is the choice to have the tournaments in April, compared to mid-May the past few years. Yes, I'm a student, I have finals and whatnot (insert obvious bias here), but personal conflicts aside I'm still curious as to why they thought some of the smaller-scale events should be on Easter weekend. Doesn't really make that much sense...
I have issues with April as well due to work since I work with flooding and April is usually very bad for me. I'm guessing I won't be able to play this year
Burst my bubble? What? One slot in Kelowna is one more than the maximum I had ever imagined before this announcement. Of course Kelowna won't get more than one slot. There's only one damn store. It'll likely get one. Again, I wouldn't compete anyway because I will be qualified on rating. Are you under the impression that some stores are going to be awarding multiple spots? The announcement clearly states otherwise.
1 slot per tournament, but there are multiple dates so I'm guessing one store could have multiple tournaments with 1 slot each
Ottawa will not receive a regional qualifier. We're too close to Montreal, which is simply a better city to hold one in. The distribution is expected to be Vancouver, Montreal, Toronto, and one in the prairies (probably Alberta or Calgary). It's unfortunate that our population is spread so much that regional qualifiers are troublesome to travel to, but that's why they're introducing the local qualifiers this year.
One thing that's going to be a problem with the qualifiers is Judges. There's no word as of yet if these require a certified Judge. GPT's do, and only offer byes at an open invitation event. These events offer invitations to a closed event that has a certain level of prestige. If they do, we're going to have some problems up in Canada. The maritimes only have four judges spread across all their provinces. Given that these events happen at the tail end of university exam time, it's likely more than a few people will be unavailable. The majority of Canadian judges are already in or near major cities. It's a logistical nightmare to think we can have a judge at all 45 events, especially since it'll be 20-25 events each weekend, during exam season.
It's unfortunate that the maritimes don't get a regional qualifiers. They have an incredibly high percentage of magic players by population. Unfortunately, the low dispersed population makes it difficult to hold events in that region. Simply, Montreal has a higher population than New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and PEI combined, and can accommodate hundreds of players coming in for an event.
I don't actually believe that Ottawa will get a regional qualifer, but nothing would surprise me.
As far as judges goes I'm pretty sure Manitoba only has one level 2 judge, and very few level 1 judges. I'm not sure SK has any L2's, don't know about L1's.
Imho you can't run these local store events without having at least L1's, L2's would probably be prefered tbh.
That maritimes doesn't get a regional q is just as bad as Winnipeg not getting one. Wpg-Calgary is like 14 hrs thereabout and I doubt we will get much more than 2 slots for in store events.
The big winners in this I'm guessing will be southern ontario which will probably get an additional 10+ slots now :/
snubbed? at least you dont have to pay 700 plus a year just to go to nats....
Welcome to central Canada, plus we get the bonus of 15 hrs to the regional tournaments (assuming Calgary is even one of the 4 big ones, I wouldn't be shocked if it was Vancouver, Ottawa, Montreal and Toronto....)
So crunching the numbers it looks like this actually decreases the number of spots awarded by qualifiers in canada by 3 whereas in the states it increases it significantly. It is somewhere in the neighbourhood of 70+ more spots for US i think. As a Canadian, I am ok with this as I will be qualified on rating anyway unless there is going to be a change to what qualifies you on rating as well.
Actually, more than being ok with it, I feel this is a very strong positive move for Canadians. I have generally been in a position where hitting regionals is a 7 hour drive one way. Now I'll probably only have to drive 3 hours to get a shot. Hell, next year my LGS will probably be one of the stores that gets to run one of these. Not that it's relevent to me this year, but I would have killed for it over the last 3 years.
hate to burst your bubble but I'd be surprised if Kelowna gets more than 1 slot. I'm expecting Winnipeg to get 1-2 slots. 2 Years ago we got 8 slots, then down to 4 slots and they took away our PTQ's as well. Competitive mtg in Winnipeg might not exist in 2012
Not on ebay. Its finally into the $70-$75 range on ebay now. Most online stores are selling it between $75-$80 these days from what Ive seen. Ive been selling it at the shop I sell at for $75 and no higher (I base my prices on ebay prices) and though people commented that when other shops had them available they were about $5-$10 higher than my prices, it still never hit $95 that I saw to be sure. Maybe AT the PTQs or something, but you get the idea.
Skullcage 4
Artifact
At the beginning of each opponents upkeep, Skullcage deals 2 damage unless he or she has exactly three or four cards in hand. Only a focused mind can survive it.
Found these on thestarkingtonpost.com , and I didn't see them here All these cards have images on his site, please visit Bill's site and support him!
Canopy Cover1G
(U)
Enchantment - Aura
Enchant Creature
Enchanted creature can't be blocked except by creatures with flying or reach.
Enchanted creature can't be the target of spells or abilities your opponent controls.
98/145
Join the Ranks3W
(C)
Instant
Put two 1/1 Soldier allies creature tokens onto the battlefield
9/145
Quest for the Nihil StoneB
(R)
Enchantment
Whenever an opponent discards a card, you may put a quest counter on Quest for the Nihil Stone.
At the Beginning of each opponent's upkeep, if that player has no cards in hand and Quest for the Nihil Stone has two quest counters on it, you may have that player lose 5 life
64/145
Wind Zendikon U
(C)
Enchantment - Aura
Enchant Land
Enchanted Land is a 2/2 Blue Elemental Creature with flying. It's still a land.
Whenever enchanted land is put into a graveyard, return it to it's owner's hand.
46/145
Dread Statuary
(U)
Land
T: Add 1 to your mana pool
4: Dread Statuary becomes a 4/2 artifact creature until end of turn. It's still a land.
135/145
Manitoba had 78 players, biggest champs yet afaik in MB.
Went 5-1-1 with Saito Jund and lost in the top 4 to RDW.
Top 8 had;
Saito Jund
Jund with Lotus Cobra
Jund with Master of Wild Hunt
Naya Lightsaber
Naya Lightsaber
RDW
Vampires
Bant
Jund was probably 50% of the field, turbo fog second most played deck with like no good results ;they were basically duking it out on the lower tables all day long.
Very few Baneslayers in the room; just wasn't any to be had :/
Rare
Sorcery
2BR
Slaughter Games can't be countered by spells or abilities
Name a nonland card. Search target opponent's graveyard, hand, and library for any number of cards with that name and exile them. Then that player shuffles his or her library
Top 8 had the following ;
Jund
Faeries (Mono blue)
Death and Taxes
UW Tron
Splintertwin
RDW
Naya
1 deck I can't remember
4 Inkmoth Nexus
3 Spellskite
4 Phyrexian Crusader
4 Plague Stinger
4 Whispering Specter
2 Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon
2 Sword of Feast and Famine
3 Distress
3 Victim of Night
3 Virulent Wound
2 Doom Blade
1 Go for the Throat
1 Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon
1 Postmortum Lounge
1 Distress
2 Despise
2 Black Sun's Zenith
3 Phyrexian Vatmother
1 Doom Blade
3 Ratchet Bomb
1 Virulent Wound
R1: Tempered Steel (2-0)
Not much to see, I wound his lifelink flyer and bash in with stingers and specters before he gets me, distress on tempered steel gets in there too I believe
R2: Red Deck Wins (2-1)
First game he leads with spikeshot elder and my 1/1's look pretty bad. He crushes me before I get anything going. G2+3 I smash him in with Vatmother and Crusaders and finish him off with a fair amount of life left both games
R3: Mono Black Infect (0-2)
He draws Lashwrithes and skittles and I don't :/
R4: UB Control (2-0)
I distress him t2 and then crusader comes down and mops him up game one. In game two I connect with a sworded up spellskite for a couple of turns as he fails to develop much of a game
R5: Township Token (2-0)
He creates a bunch of tokens, but none of them fly and I come over top with flyers and big skittles in the first game. In the second game I bomb away his tokens and get him with Lashwrite for damage
R6: Solar Flare (2-0)
Kind of a unconventional version with obliterators , but ultimetly he's too slow to compete with me and my discard spells.
R7: Wolf Run Ramp (Dungrove Version) (2-1)
8 players with 5-1 means everyone needs to play. The games are all quite tight and the one game I lose is when I only had 1 infect creature and it was too slow to get there.
Quarters: Wolf Run Ramp (WG version) (2-1)
He's running a planeswalker heavy version with Gideon in them as well. First two games are split and pretty standard. The third game we battle with him having two mirran crusaders and me having two phyrexian crusaders, but ultimately I manage to win the game on a topdeck to lashwrithe up my creature and win on 2 life
Semis: Wolf Run Ramp (Dungrove Version) (1-2)
I mulligan to 4 the first game, destroy him in the second game and in the third game he goes quad runner to win the game with 9 poison damage :/
I think that I would have won the finals against Bant Pod since that should be a pretty good matchup, but oh well
Top 8 was ;
1 Bant Pod
2 Wolf Run Ramp
3 Infect
4 Wu Humans
5 Infect
6 Wolf Run Ramp
7 Wolf Run Ramp
8 Unkown
I have issues with April as well due to work since I work with flooding and April is usually very bad for me. I'm guessing I won't be able to play this year
I would be surprised if it's not east coast, like 90% of all nationals are there
I guess that's unfair, since 2000 nationals has twice been outside of the eastcoast, so only 80%
1 slot per tournament, but there are multiple dates so I'm guessing one store could have multiple tournaments with 1 slot each
I don't actually believe that Ottawa will get a regional qualifer, but nothing would surprise me.
As far as judges goes I'm pretty sure Manitoba only has one level 2 judge, and very few level 1 judges. I'm not sure SK has any L2's, don't know about L1's.
Imho you can't run these local store events without having at least L1's, L2's would probably be prefered tbh.
That maritimes doesn't get a regional q is just as bad as Winnipeg not getting one. Wpg-Calgary is like 14 hrs thereabout and I doubt we will get much more than 2 slots for in store events.
The big winners in this I'm guessing will be southern ontario which will probably get an additional 10+ slots now :/
Welcome to central Canada, plus we get the bonus of 15 hrs to the regional tournaments (assuming Calgary is even one of the 4 big ones, I wouldn't be shocked if it was Vancouver, Ottawa, Montreal and Toronto....)
hate to burst your bubble but I'd be surprised if Kelowna gets more than 1 slot. I'm expecting Winnipeg to get 1-2 slots. 2 Years ago we got 8 slots, then down to 4 slots and they took away our PTQ's as well. Competitive mtg in Winnipeg might not exist in 2012
2WW
Creature Angel
Flying
Metalcraft -Shroud for artifacts
4/4
95 Australian dollars = about 80 usd ......
http://www.thestarkingtonpost.com/articles/-/Magic_2011_Spoilers_at_Pro_Tour_San_Juan
Skullcage 4
Artifact
At the beginning of each opponents upkeep, Skullcage deals 2 damage unless he or she has exactly three or four cards in hand.
Only a focused mind can survive it.
Ill. Ron Spencer
Canopy Cover 1G
(U)
Enchantment - Aura
Enchant Creature
Enchanted creature can't be blocked except by creatures with flying or reach.
Enchanted creature can't be the target of spells or abilities your opponent controls.
98/145
Join the Ranks 3W
(C)
Instant
Put two 1/1 Soldier allies creature tokens onto the battlefield
9/145
Quest for the Nihil Stone B
(R)
Enchantment
Whenever an opponent discards a card, you may put a quest counter on Quest for the Nihil Stone.
At the Beginning of each opponent's upkeep, if that player has no cards in hand and Quest for the Nihil Stone has two quest counters on it, you may have that player lose 5 life
64/145
Wind Zendikon U
(C)
Enchantment - Aura
Enchant Land
Enchanted Land is a 2/2 Blue Elemental Creature with flying. It's still a land.
Whenever enchanted land is put into a graveyard, return it to it's owner's hand.
46/145
Dread Statuary
(U)
Land
T: Add 1 to your mana pool
4: Dread Statuary becomes a 4/2 artifact creature until end of turn. It's still a land.
135/145
Went 5-1-1 with Saito Jund and lost in the top 4 to RDW.
Top 8 had;
Saito Jund
Jund with Lotus Cobra
Jund with Master of Wild Hunt
Naya Lightsaber
Naya Lightsaber
RDW
Vampires
Bant
Jund was probably 50% of the field, turbo fog second most played deck with like no good results ;they were basically duking it out on the lower tables all day long.
Very few Baneslayers in the room; just wasn't any to be had :/