11 Things I've Learned

I've learned a lot this semester, here are just 11 of them:

1) Even though I sell phones for a living, I never knew what GSM meant. Sadly. For reference, it means Global System for Mobile

2) I learned about how sites are indexed via search engines.

3) I learned about how bots will "crawl" on sites to index them.

4) I learned that Javascript and Java applets and scripts are not "crawlable", making it difficult to index them properly.

5) I learned about Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising, and how companies pay for advertising this way.

6) I learned about Crowdsourcing and how it has impacted the professional world. Many sites allow for amateurs to get paid to do professional editing of documents and many other jobs.

7) I learned about Web PR, and how ORM works in relation.

8) I learned the specifics of online copywriting

9) I learned about Basic/Feature/Smart phones, although the definitions in the books are a little out of date.

10) I learned about the different types of Operational Management used in creating a marketing plan

11) I learned about the innovation that Augmented Reality will bring to many types of technology over the years.

It's been a great class!

Legacy WastePox

It seems that I'm on a roll with decklists this week, and one for every format no less! We have already discussed the card that I'm trying to implement into Legacy - Waste Not. As I mentioned in the article last week, this was the community-created card that the MTG community created last year. Without further ado, here's a decklist featuring Waste Not:

Mono Black Waste Not/Pox

Creatures - 3

3 Bloodghast

Spells - 30

3 Waste Not

4 Dark Ritual

4 Hymn to Tourach

3 Inquisition of Kozilek

3 Thoughtseize

4 Smallpox

3 Cabal Therapy

4 Sinkhole

2 Innocent Blood

Planeswalkers - 4

4 Liliana of the Veil

Lands - 23

4 Wasteland

4 Verdant Catacombs

4 Marsh Flats

11 Swamp

This list heavily relies on Waste Not, so I'm not sure how well overall it will function. However, if you can get a nut hand of Dark Ritual into Waste Not + a discard spell, you could potentially empty your hand on turn 1 and leave your opponent with nothing relevant in their hand. For example, let's say you draw the following 7-card hand:

Swamp

Wasteland

Dark Ritual

Waste Not

Thoughtseize

Hymn to Tourach

Innocent Blood

If your opponent does not counter the initial Dark Ritual or the Waste Not, it's going to be very hard to come back from the beating your hand will take. That line of play would go something like:

Swamp > Dark Ritual > Waste Not > Thoughtseize > Draw a Card. 

Next turn, you Hymn to Tourach and just go off.

Now like most Pox lists it will suffer heavily from lack of countermagic, especially in the recent Delver-heavy meta. Like the other lists I posted this week though, it is just a cool idea that came to mind after Waste Not was spoiled.

Let me know what you think about this list in the comments below!

Modern Necromancer's Stockpile

M15 has been one of the coolest core sets in recent history. Seriously, they have printed so many just COOL cards that are going to be played across many formats. However, today I want to talk about one card in particular:

Necromancer's Stockpile

Some people have been discussing what implications this card will have in Modern in tandem with cards like Gravecrawler, Vengevine, or Bloodghast. That said, let's look at a sample decklist I came up with:

Creatures - 22
4 Gravecrawler
4 Bloodghast
4 Vengevine
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Demigod of Revenge
2 Squee, Goblin Nabob

Spells - 18
4 Necromancer's Stockpile
3 Darkblast
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Faithless Looting
3 Grisly Salvage

Lands - 20
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Marsh Flats
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Stomping Ground
1 Blood Crypt
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Blackcleave Cliffs
2 Copperline Gorge
2 Swamp


Now the main point of this deck is to take advantage of cards like Necromancer's Stockpile and Faithless Looting to put Vengevine and Demigod of Revenge into the graveyard, and then bring them back with land drops (Bloodghast), by having another zombie (Gravecrawler), or simply by casting another copy (Demigod). I think this list could potentially be a little too "cute" as the format is a little too fast for this kind of deck, but it's still a cool idea that could be developed and further explored. Necromancer's Stockpile is just too cool of a card to let go to waste.


Let me know your thoughts on this list below!

M15 Standard G/B Midrange

We've looked at a lot of the new cards from M15, and now that the entire set has been spoiled it's time to look at a sample decklist that I came up with. The list is a RB Midrange deck that curves out into Garruk, Apex Predator.


Creatures - 15
4 Sylvan Caryatid
4 Courser of Kruphix
4 Desecration Demon
3 Nightveil Specter

Spells - 19
4 Hero's Downfall
4 Sign in Blood
2 Ultimate Price
4 Thoughtseize
2 Whip of Erebos
3 Abrupt Decay

Planeswalkers - 3
2 Garruk, Apex Predator
1 Vraska the Unseen

Lands - 23
4 Temple of Malady
4 Overgrown Tomb
1 Golgari Guildgate
3 Mutavault
11 Swamp


Now obviously this is a very basic first draft, but I think the idea deserves some consideration. The deck already has a lot of great tools in cards like Courser of Kruphix and Nightveil Specter, and with the reprinting of Sign in Blood and the addition of cards like Garruk, Apex Predator, I think a GB Midrange deck could find a place in the new standard format.

It has the versatility of the current GB lists with cards like Abrupt Decay, Hero's Downfall, etc, and while it does not pack Underworld Connections, Sign in Blood definitely makes up for it. Some people would argue that Connections is better because it draws you more cards over the course of the game, but the advent of the other GB decks has made them fodder for opposing Abrupt Decays to a point where it's almost not worth playing it unless you are playing Gray Merchant of Asphodel as well.

What do you think? Let me know in the comments below!

Scoops Phase Apparel is Here!

Hey everyone! By popular demand, we have finally created 3 different designs for t-shirts, mugs, and other products on our CafePress site! You can find the full site here. Without further ado, here are the designs that are now available!

Design 1 - Drafts and Drafts

That's right! The popular Drafts and Drafts series finally has it's own shirt! For those unaware, the D&D series involves myself and Anthony Harrison doing a draft on MTGO (Magic the Gathering Online) where we do a Vintage Masters draft or the current set, and on Cube Tutor, where we do drafts of our cubes! We have only released a few episodes so far, but we have more coming soon!

Design 2 - Wrong Magic

Very often when I tell people that I "play Magic", they think I'm talking about some type of LARPing environment or doing magic tricks (or Illusions, as some would call them). This is obviously a common misconception as many people I speak with have never even heard of it before talking to me about it.

Design 3 - Untap, Upkeep...Scoops?

Now the Scoops phase is part of your turn! Untap, upkeep, Scoops! "Scooping" is a common magic slang meaning to concede the game by "scooping" up your cards, and since people call me Scoops, I figured the connection was a pretty easy one to draw. 

I hope you like the new apparel! If you want to purchase it, just click the link at the top of this post to visit our CafePress site! 

Video Game Testing Opportunities!

Click Here!

or

Click Here!

These links will bring you to a site that will allow you to get paid to play video games! Big companies are using sites like these to get gamers who can play, test, and review upcoming games and they need people now more than ever!

You might be asking yourself, "Why are you promoting this on your Magic site? This seems crazy." Well, although the main point of this blog is Magic-related, I do also love playing video games and will do everything I can to help people who want to play games for a living!

When I was a kid, I wanted to get paid to play video games for a living (like most people my age at the time). Sadly enough, I never really pursued that dream and decided to go with a more traditional business major in school. I still play games when I have time, but I would definitely not have time to write in-depth reviews for a website with this site already in my mind and working 40 hours a week! That's where you guys come in! Hopefully if you have time you can pick up my extra slack!

Will you necessarily get a high-paying job doing this? Probably not. But it's kind of cool to get paid a little extra money to do something you enjoy doing anyway, especially if it involves playing new games before anyone else!

Each link will bring you to a separate opportunity to get paid to play. Let me know how they turn out!

M15 Spoilers (Non-Planeswalkers)

Hey all! If you haven't already seen them, you can click the following links to see my posts about the new planeswalkers that are being printed in M15:

M15 Planeswalkers - Part 1

M15 Planeswalkers - Part 2

There are a couple non-walker cards I'd like to talk about though, since planeswalkers aren't the only cool cards!

Waste Not

Waste Not was the "You Make the Card 4" winner that the community voted to create on the Wizards home site last year. The card is really quite good, and while I'm not sure it will have much impact in standard, it could be cool in Modern or Legacy. Combined with Thoughtseize, Hymn to Tourach, or Liliana of the Veil, Waste Not will gain you lots of advantage pretty quickly. Even in Legacy though, it might be too slow since it doesn't make an immediate impact on the game. I could see decks like Pox playing it just to create more incremental advantage with each spell they play, but that has yet to be seen.

Genesis Hydra

Genesis Hydra is pretty sweet. It's cheaper than Genesis Wave, but you get a body. The only downside is that instead of getting ALL non-land permanents with CMC X or less, you only get one card. The card is still really cool for EDH, and might even be good in Standard with all the Nykthos and mono-green lists already running around. Imagine getting a 5/5 for 7 mana but also getting a free Nissa, Worldwaker or Polukranos. Seems good.

Those are the cards I think are really sweet from M15, and while there are others that are cool too, many other people online have already talked about them. 

Let me know what you think about the new cards in the comments below!