Played the Online Holiday Cube, Pulled a Black Lotus, did not get to Play It!

The title says it all. During the first game I got to play many cards I have never played with. I can improve a lot as a player! I at least got to see how some of the power cards from the older sets work.

I played a Thalia, Guardian of Thraben for an early lead.

My opponent killed it.

And then reanimated it from my graveyard under their control.

They played Shriekmaw.

I played Mesmeric Fiend, capturing a Liliana Vess, but I used the card to defend and my opponent regained control of Liliana Vess! That was a big mistake.

My opponent used Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni to gain control of a creature from my graveyard. 

I was able to play Bloodghast with Haste.

Here is when Liliana Vess returned to my opponent's hand. By that time it was game over anyways.

For the second time I played, I also got eliminated during the first game. I pulled a Black Lotus but did not get to play it. I played a Black Red deck against an opponent who chose the same colors as I did and was a much better player. I took screen shots of all but three cards. First row last on the right, there it is, a Black Lotus.... fleeting.

About the Secondary Market

1. Its simple supply and demand, if a large number of people are willing to build $200 Standard Constructed decks to win at the tournament level, more power to Wizards.

2. I also am frustrated with junk rares, yet it is true that there are fewer of them per set these days. Compare, say, 10th Edition, to Magic 2013.

3. No matter how playable some of the white-bordered cards are in the eternal formats, boy are they ugly! It is so sad to come across a white-bordered Black Lotus on ebay that is showing all of that dirt that older black-bordered cards do such a good job in hiding.

4. I am not worried about how much love I get from Wizards. For as long as we pay for the product, believe me, we will get the love.

5. The Kamigawa block had to be the "get out of Magic" block for a lot of people. So many of those cards are just plain terrible. Lucky for those who left then, you had many chances to come back with the much-better blocks that followed it.

I think Magic is in a historically great place as a TCG/CCG. And if you disagree, lookup some of the other TCGs and see how easy it is to buy the older booster packs because those cards became unplayable printed cardboard really fast and forever. (I am looking at you World of Warcraft).

I will complain about the $20 cards in the secondary market all day long....that just sucks for a budget player. It means that I will not be playing Liliana of the Veil even though it is an awesome card. Whatever forces that cause this great card to be a $20 card may be a neccessary evil, but it will always suck for me.

Tribal Commander Cube: Odyssey Kamigawa and Innistrad Blocks

I am continuing my scan of Modern Constructed blocks. Now that I am done scanning Mirrodin, I am moving on to Kamigawa. There are some very strong opinions against and for this block, although everyone does agree it is relatively under-powered when compared to the block preceding it, Mirrodin, and to the block following it, Ravnica.

The cards I get from Kamigawa will likely have lots of commanders, making a scan most fun if I don't drop too many bombs in this cube, and if I keep to one of each card. When I look at the top 12 tribes, this is what I find.

Together, these three blocks have great representation in these twelve tribes. When I look at the color and tribe combinations most commonly found, this is what I find.

There is plenty of fun to be had assembling this cube. Humans and Spirits are by far the largest tribes. I will try to complement the other tribes with cards from pretty much any set. The inclusion of the Odyssey block will make this my first foray into the old format. By design, this is a Legacy cube, and if I decide to make proxies of the cards that are beyond my wallet, then it is a Vintage cube.

This cube crosses many areas I am interested in exploring:

1. It continues my scan of the Modern Constructed format.
2. It should also have enough cards for casual Vintage, Legacy, and even Standard builds.
3. It is a commander-friendly cube.
4. It is a "twelve tribes" cube. This means that I will aim for a good coverage of the ten tribes I have selected. Humans and Spirits will do well without my help.
5. Because I do not have plans for Odyssey and Kamigawa blocks outside of this build, any other tribe that comes from these blocks will also be in this cube, including multiples of the same card.

Because I am excluding cards with more than one color-except for any that come out of the Odyssey and Kamigawa blocks, this cube is also ideal for mono-colored builds and will therefore not need any dual lands, or any land balancing at all-and if it does I will weasel out of including any mana fixing by calling it a casual build.

Grixis Mini Cube: Black Enchantments

I like these cards more than I use them.

Notice the slight variation in the next two cards: trample or intimidate, choose one.

Grixis Mini Cube: Black Instants

In no particular order. I have some of these in many decks containing black. We don't have a black that for one mana allows to "destroy creature." That would be a most powerful card.

Grixis Mini Cube: Black Sorceries

Many of these black sorceries are staples in Standard, and some even in Modern.

Grixis Mini Cube: Blue Sorceries and Enchantments

These cards are for the more fun, casual play builds, and are not really essential in a Grixis build-as the blue instants surely are.