[Standard] Jeskai Ascendancy and Villanous Wealth

This is just a testing deck. It is FIVE colors and is running a very weak mana base. That means that I lost more than 80 percent of the time. I played it a lot, and got to see how important mana dorks are to feed the Jeskai combo.

Here is one of the very few winning games. You need to pay close attention to re-tapping your mana dorks and to make sure you have lots of cards in hand you want to discard and close to the right mana generated to cast the new cards. 

Slowly buying fun Khans of Tarkir cards

I am very pleasantly surprised with the new set. It has some very playable cards, even in three colors. Jeskai Ascendancy is hot as could be because it is in a seemingly-broken combo in Modern. I have other posts about this card, and also about Villanous Wealth, which I am a huge fan of.

Here is the first batch of fun buys.

I lucked out with Jeskai Ascendancy and got me a play set at $2.70 each before the card spiked. I was able to get all of the other ascendancies for a lot less.

October 13: I speculate that the next set is heavy on artifacts, and others have speculated that Ugin will be a planeswalker in it. Here are "extra turns" buys. These cards are not getting heavy play right now even though they are Mythic Rares. I got both playsets for $5.

 

[Modern] White Black Warriors from Khans of Tarkir

KTK is adding some nice warriors in White and Black. Here they are in what is now a fun, casual deck.

Here is a nice game that became a draw-go stand-off until I was able to remove a Doom Blade with a Thoughtseize and exile a Deathtouch with a Path to Exile.

Here is a 20/20 token from the Ajani ultimate.

Here is a very close game where Thoughtseize won the game by letting me remove board wipers.

Here is a beat-down game.

Legacy staples right before Khans of Tarkir

[link to previous article in expectation of a Legacy product]

I chose a small sample and only kept cards that were found at least 2 of in that sample.

And I just don't see how a Legacy Masters can happen next summer. There are some cards that really need a reprint in Legacy in digital form, and also in paper form, but the latter has the restricted list. In digital form, many of these cards can be added to a product.... I just can't speculate how Wizards can solve this conundrum: Vintage was helped by reissuing many digital staples that coincidentally are Legacy staples, and reissuing cards like Jace, the Mind Sculptor, Force of Will, and the original ten dual lands yet again in one year will seem like overkill. And this is why I want this product but don't see how it can be issued, even as a digital only set, so soon after Vintage Masters.

If Legacy remains a mostly-dead format for another year, that will give me more time to prepare. I was not prepared for Vintage Masters, and I wish that I had been.

[link to next eagerly expectant article on this subject]

Khans of Tarkir online prerelease

I picked up my first Fetchland.

[Legacy] More annoying Goblins

I love Hellrider. This deck is a brutally simple and brutally efficient casual build. I am sure it doubles over and dies against tournament decks, but against other casual builds it will annoy and IT WILL WIN, maybe at the cost of all of your friends.

Hellrider, how I love thee!

More annoying Goblins winning.

[Standard] Green Devotion Version 2

I have made many changes to my budget green Devotion deck. It is a budget deck, and can win reliably against other budget decks, but is very weak to money decks.

Here is a game with a nice big ending.

Look at those 20/20 and 23/23 critters hitting For the Win (FTW).

Here is yet another win.