Random MTG Pack Break: Planar Chaos

In hindsight, Time Spiral is probably my favorite Magic: The Gathering block ever. It had a very interesting past, present and future gimmick and because of New World Order, there will never be another block like it again. Unfortunately I was starting college about when Time Spiral came out so I didn’t buy many packs. Of course there are a bunch of cards from the block that are worth a pretty penny nowadays.

Planar Chaos is the second set of the block and it has the alternate present gimmick. In Magic there are five colors of magic and there is the color pie which defines what each color can do. Planar Chaos distorts the color pie with “reprints” of cards in a different color. For the record, Time Spiral celebrated the past with reprints that many players would have never dream of seeing again and Future Sight teased the future with crazy cards with crazy mechanics, many bending what players deemed possible at the time. Because of that, this block has a lot cards that unique and again Wizards will never do anything like it again because one of the downside of the past, present and future mechanic was that this was perhaps one of the more complex block they ever printed. But for Johnnies like me, we embrace cards that are quirky and unlike any other.

Anyways, I was at a card shop the other day and I saw a packs of Planar Chaos for sale. They cost like double what I normally would pay for a pack but it was just too tempting. I had to bust one pack just for the heck of it.

The pack:

Silvers are one of the more beloved creature in Magic and they are going to be back in Magic 2014!

Examples of the alternate present gimmick. Who would have thought Wizards would print a black counterspell or a blue removal spell?

More examples of the crazy cards in the block.

My rare is Benalish Commander. It is worth $1.50, not exactly a junk rare. My brother may use it in his token Commander deck.

If this was a booster draft, pack 1, pick 1 I would probably pick the Sliver. Benalish Commander is good but not really impactful enough and I would love to force a Slivers deck.

Dragon’s Maze Brew: Jund Aggro with Varolz and Sire of Insanity

Here is a gimmicky Jund aggro deck that I threw together to play with some of the new cards from Dragon’s Maze. This deck can easily be converted for the Return to Ravnica block format.

Jund Aggro:
4x Lotleth Troll
4x Spike Jester
3x Gyre Sage
4x Dreg Mangler
2x Vampire Nighthawk
2x Varolz, the Scar-Striped
4x Ghor-Clan Rampager
2x Exava, Rakdos Blood Witch
3x Sire Of Insanity

3x Putrefy
1x Dreadbore
3x Farseek
1x Gruul Keyrune

4x Blood Crypt
4x Dragonskull Summit
4x Overgrown Tomb
4x Woodland Cemetery
1x Stomping Ground
2x Rootbound Crag
2x Cavern of Souls
2x Kessig Wolf Run
1x Forest

Sideboard:
3x Appetite for Brains
2x Cremate
3x Golgari Charm
2x Olivia Voldaren
3x Pillar of Flame
2x Vampire Nighthawk

Here is the deck on Tappedout.net

The basic gameplan is to sculpt a superior board position and play a Sire of Insanity to seal the deal. It is a bit slower than the traditional Jund aggro decks and I admit in testing it can get awkward as it is kind of a mash between the Jund aggro and Jund control decks but there are a lot of tricks, synergies and shenanigans built into this list. For example Varolz works quite well with Exava and Gyre Sage.

The list is probably not optimal (ie not playing a set of Falkenrath Aristocrats) but it uses a lot of the new cards I wanted to play with and I am going to give it a roll for a FNM.

2010 Topps WWE and Topps WWE Platinum Pack Break

I picked up a couple of packs from the card machine the other day, four packs of 2010 Topps WWE and a pack of Topps WWE Platinum. As always with any packs from the card machine I wasn’t expecting much but (and I can’t remember the last time this happened) I actually pulled a hit from one of the packs.

It is a John Morrison Elimination Chamber mat card. The rest of the cards aren’t really worth mentioning. OK if you’re curious it was a bunch of base cards, a John Cena foil insert and a Kofi Kingston Topps Town.

Here is the pack of Topps WWE Platinum.

The Kelly Kelly card is some sort of parallel and the Bobby The Brain Hennan card is an insert.

MTG Brewer: Time Spiral Block Slivers

Slivers are back in M14! Slivers are one of the most beloved creature types in Magic and I can’t wait to draft M14 where everyone is going to be forcing Slivers. I know I will.

Anyways I thought it was fun to dig up my old Sliver deck. I had one with the Tempest block Slivers a long, long time ago but the deck is long, long gone and plus it wasn’t very good. I do have my Time Spiral block Slivers deck.

Time Spiral Block Slivers:
4 Screeching Sliver
4 Virulent Sliver
4 Gemhide Sliver
1 Two- Headed Sliver
1 Spinneret Sliver
4 Homing Sliver
4 Frenetic Sliver
1 Shadow Sliver
4 Dormant Sliver
3 Telekinetic Sliver
1 Reflex Sliver
4 Cancel
1 Logic Knot
11 Forest
6 Island
3 Mountain
3 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Grove of the Burnwillows

If you rather see the list on Tappedout.

I have good memories with this deck and it is a ton of fun to play. It can be an aggro deck with a Virulent Sliver draw, it can be a combo deck drawing a ton of cards and then play a ton of Slivers with the Dormant Sliver + Frenetic Sliver combo and it can also be a lockdown control deck with Telekinetic Sliver.

The deck probably need a little fine tuning (especially the mana base) but I so want to play this deck again. I also have my fingers crossed for Standard playable Slivers in M14. So far the only ones remotely playing is the 1W vigilance one and the R first strike one. I am guessing therey will probably be at least three or so rare Slivers (one red, one green and one white) and probably a mythic Sliver lord. Even if Slivers aren’t Standard playable I will definitely come up with a brew.

Free Comic Book Day 2013

Quick post today as I am preparing for StarCity Open Somerset tomorrow, a Team Sealed Magic event. It is kind of a test run for my team to prepare for the bigger Grand Prix Providence, another Team Sealed event.

Anyways, today was Free Comic Book Day and it just happened to land on May the 4th…

I went to two different comic book stores with my brother and here is our haul. I couldn’t stick around for the signings since the bigger ones (like the Jim Lee signing) already had a line and I needed to take my dog to the vet.

The comics are:
World of Archie Digest
Spongebob Freestyle Funnies
Atomic Robo
Grimm
Valiant 2013
Superman Last Son of Krypton
Infinity
The New 52
Batman Earth One

I am going to have a lot of free time between rounds tomorrow so I may have a little review of the comics.

Pack Battle: Topps Chrome WWE Heritage III vs 2008 Tristar TNA Cross the Line

I have a little pack battle today. It is WWE vs TNA. Topps vs Tristar. Representing the WWE and Topps I have a pack of Topps Chrome WWE Heritage III and for TNA and Tristar I have a pack of 2008 Tristar TNA Cross the Line.

The pack of Topps Chrome WWE Heritage III

A refractor of Jimmy Wang Yang (yea his gimmick was kind of lame but I was a fan back in the day) and a base chrome card of Ric Flair are the standouts for me. That is going to be hard to beat.

The pack of 2008 Tristar TNA Cross the Line

Sure the Chrome Heritage design is a throwback so it isn’t the most original design and concept in the world but the Cross the Line design is definitely not one of Tristar stronger designs. They are actually kind of ugly. The only saving grace in the pack is the Eric Young drawing insert because it is so weird and I love oddball cards.

I guess the underdogs don’t win this time. The Topps/ WWE easily wins this pack battle. Chrome is a tried and true formula for success. Collector just love shiny things and I am no different.

The Hobbit Heroclix Pack Break

I picked up a couple of The Hobbit Heroclix packs in Target while I do some of my grocery shopping. Here are a couple of the figures I pulled.

I also pulled a Gandalf figure like a week or so ago.

That is a quite the rag tag team. Gandalf is the probably the best figure in terms of his dial, his sculpt and of course his name recognition. Bombur The Dwarf is a Target exclusive so that is pretty sweet. He is actually quite valuable, around $15- $25. His dial though is fairly weak (only four speed) and needs his buddies, Bifur the Dwarf, Bofur the Dwarf or Bilbo Baggins to be decent. As for Fimbul the Hunter, I have no idea who he is and I probably will toss him in the common box.