\>0

Hey all, decided to get on with my life rather than talking 'bout Magic. That one's tmrw :)

In any case....

CSE: got test tmrw, about the 3 philosophies/religions of China Decided to cover through why the CCP (China Communist Party) is so interested in reviving it after bashing at it for so long.

#1: To fill the ideological void left by the demise of the Marxist-Leninist Ideology (AKA fall of the Soviet Union, or USSR)
#2: To counter-balance the influence brought about by western beliefs/values and domestic cult practices (eg. the Falun Gong.)
#3: Introduction of "soft power"
#4: Popularity of Asian Values as a reason for the rise of Asian Countries (mainly Singapore, Thailand, etc.)
#5: Hu Jintao's concept of "Harmonious Society"
#6: Curb excess of Nationalism

Those in red means I had forgetten about it, and is more likely to forget, hence they're in red to remind me.

Actions taken:
- Confucianism: Revival of annual memorial service dedicated to Confucius; September, the birth month of Confucius, declared a cultural month; Govt funding of 248 Confucian Institutes in 64 different countries, in order to spread Chinese Language and Culture; Teachings of Confucius included in Sec. Sch. Curriculum.
- Buddhism: Hosted 1st and 2nd World Buddhist Forums in Hangzhou, Zhou Shan and Wuxi at 2006 and 2009 respectively.
- Daoism: Sponsored an International Forum aimed at interpreting and promotion of Dao Te Ching in HK.
- Usage of Media
- Celebrating ang promoting Dragon Boat Festival, Tomb-Sweeping Day, Mooncake Festival, etc.

Impact and Influence:
- Increase in no. of Chinese that honored their ancestors (2007-50mil, 2009-120mil)
- Yu Dan's Analects of Confucius became national bestseller, about 4mil copies sold, topping that of Harry Potter ( 2mil copies sold.)
- According to a poll by Shanghai University, 31.4% considered themselves religious (abt 300mil people)
- 200mil believers in Buddhism, Daoism, or worshippers of any legendary figure (no, not Rafiq of the Many, its Dragon King or God o' Fortune.)
- Rise of Christianity- abt 12% of all believers, or about 40mil, as compared to 12 mil at 2005.

Econs: Had a test last week, could'nt finish cos I was too slow. (shit.) On the other hand, covered Supply and Demand.

Details:
Supply is the amount that suppliers are able and willing to sell at a certain price, holding other things constant (hereafter known as Ceteris Paribus)
Demand is the amount that consumers are able and will to buy at a certain price, ceteris paribus.

Determinants:
Price: Supply and Demand will always respond to a change in price. This would lead to a movement along the Supply/Demand Curve.

Non-Price Determinants:
Demand: (would cause a shift in the Demand Curve)
Taste: preference for a certain product, resulting in more people wanting to or already buying more of the product.
Household Income: The real disposable income of a household, which is the income used to fulfil wants after taxes and other essentials, determines demand. More income, more likely to be able to afford a product, higher demand.
Expectations of future prices: The price is always changing due to changing circumstances. Therefore, if a consumer has prior knowledge of a change in price, this will lead to a change in demand accordingly. For instances, if in the future prices are going to increase, consumers are likely to purchase more of that product while it is still cheaper. This leads to an increase in demand.
Changes in demand for related goods: Related goods are products that are simillar, or complement the product in question. This is divided into 2 parts:
Substitute Goods: If there is a simillar and cheaper product available, consumers are more likely to buy more of that product. This means demand for the product in question will fall.
Complementary Goods: This are goods that go together either very well, or well to the point that one canot do with the other (eg. one cannot go around with nice shoes if he ain't wearing no pants :x). In any case, if demand of that product goes up, people would want to get more of the product in question. This leads to an increase in demand.

*Yawn* Tired sia, tmrw got fencing training somemore. Night~

Signing off,
Ernie

A new Frontier - cont.

Ah... the is a continuation of the prev. post because I'm too lazy to finish in one shot :p

All right, it's a new frontier because I'm working on a new deck, poly students gotta go back on 12 April, and spirits will be definitely crushed. (if not crushed, then most certainly grinded.)

Anyway, I went through 1 of the 3Ds last post- Discard, leaving the others glossed over. I should probably look through them now :)

Destroy:
Lightning Bolt: Easily one of the most solid spells in standard at the moment. What better way to see it off in its farewell tour than with a deck?
Burst Lightning: Very versatile. 2 damage is nice for removing pesky blockers, 4 for pushing through those last few points of damage. Me likey.
Smother/Doomblade/Terminate: Depends on your meta. each has its pros and cons (mainly Doomblade can't kill black dudes, Smother can't kill mana cost >3, Terminate for its colour cost.)
Bituminous Blast: Solid card advantage, but bit expensive and heck, we're not running a Jund Deck here.
Dark Temper: Just listed here, who knows, it may be just as good. (mana base friendly, kills all)

Disrupt/enial- Screws tempo, or your $$$ back :)
Spreading Seas: hehe, mana bases nowadays are a tad bit unstable. Spreading Seas helps utilise that. Also cantrips, allow a nice follow up (T2 Sea, T3: Blightning. Mwahahah.)
Convincing Mirage: Your Sea copies 5~8, doesn't cantrip though. Used mainly for pesky blue decks. Heck ,You may want a mana-denial strategy in the side. Read on to know more.
Tectonic Edge: Yeah, after Troy, we had a laugh with that one. (same goes for Tectonic Fiend.) Kills off essentials. 2~3 of, depending on stability of mana base.
Goblin Ruinblaster: Tectonic Edge stapled on a 2/1 body with haste. Goes deeper and wipes out more lands.
Roiling Terrain: With fetchlands being eaten like there's no tmrw, coupled with a mana denial strategy, Roil Terrain is going to be = 4~5 dmg in the mid-game. Typically underestimated, You can pick up a few copies easily.
Essence Scatter/Negate/Cancel: Counters are traditionally denial. Meh.

Well, looks like we're all set. Throw in a couple of cantrips, plus a couple of beats here and there, and you get the following deck:

the 3Ds- V.1.0

3 Creeping Tar Pit
2 Tectonic Edge
4 Dragonskull Summit
4 Scalding Tarn
2 Islands
x+y Swamps and Mountains to taste.
23 Lands (may add more, you'll never know.)

4 One-Drop (Goblin Guide, maybe?)
4 Slavering Nulls
4 Sedraxis Specter
4 Goblin Ruinblaster
16 Creatures 1st.

4 Lightning Bolt
4 Burst Lightning
4 Terminate
4 Blightning
4 Mind Rot
1 Grixis Charm/ + 1 Anywhere.
21 Other Spells

4 Nyxathid
4 Smother
4 Spreading Seas
3 Convincing Mirage
15 Sideboard

Yeah we know the SB needs work, but that one, depends on the meta. Typically I'd include land denial, a few wraths, and a couple of silver bullets. But this one is up to you.

About the Mana Denial Strategy:
Heck, this one, mainly for the griefers who like to see their opponent squirm. Just up the Edge count to 3, main-deck 4 mirages and seas, and dump in 2~3 copies of Roiling Terrain. I'm keeping this one just in case. You'll never know (hehe, I plan to use this one against Brendan. See how much he likes being mana-screwed. shhhh~)

Well, that's all for this post. Cya soon.

Signing off,
Ernie.

New week, Soon-to-be New month, another Educational Frontier.(to crush)

Phew, finally made it through the week, and finally feel like updating this wretched record.

Long story short, I take my N.U.T.M.E.G. dec. to practice and get creamed, inside and out, by my teammates, who went up easily many levels of skill since our days at school. Honestly, to be able to maintain such a high standard, kudos to them.

Here are the decks I faced:

Vampires: Got owned while stabilizing by that creature I copied the other day. Apparently he drew into extra copies :(
Jund: 'Nuff Said. I got pwned.
R/B A.N. Sligh: A rogue deck by JVL, which I feel should be called a zoo deck, due to the no. of one drops. Brendan decided to sling it. Close match, but in the end, got ran over by an entire bunch of 1-drops.
U/W Control: A really awesome deck I'm proud to faced up against, built up by Brendan, modified by Wesley. Honestly guys, if you 2 start working together like this, our team would be UNSTOPPABLE. Really, it was an absolute pain to go up against, always had removal or counter on hand, Solid Game Finisher in Iona. Pounded it when Wesley piloted it, lost 2-1 when Brendan did. Okay, maybe it needs some work, but then again you had no idea how to run it then.
G/W Eldrazi: This one was a wacky game. It went a FULL HOUR in a STALEMATE. Serious. Then again Brendan made some misplays. Oh well.

Therefore, I want to display some problems of the N.U.T.M.E.G.
#1: I have to w8 until my forces are assembled before I could beat face. This, I do not like, because I want to be smashing away, not stoning there like some dope.
#2: All my games dragged too long. This doesn't bode well, I need to finish at least 2 games withing 50mins per round. I can't go 1HR, that would be stupid. Ah well.
#3: No protection. Gawd, many times I build up, many times I got blown out by a wrath. This sucks.
#4: No solid solutions. Iona locks out my green, no token making, no beats. Blue, no solutions. Damn.

On the other hand, this would make a good multi-player deck. Loads of dudes means I can be smashing 24/7. So fun. ALL it needs is some counters.

Alrighty then, time to put aside N.U.T.M.E.G. for the time being. Onwards then.

The next deck tactic I want to try out has been my favourite since my Duelmasters days.
First let's look at the tactics based on it: THE 3Ds of R/B:

Discard
Destroy
Disrupt/enial

Alright, the 3Ds form the basis of my deck idea. But 1st look at the meta. The decks are, like the climate, based on extremes- SUPER FAST Aggro, SUPER SLOW Control, IN BETWEEN Midrange. right then.... Aggro decks in the meta suffer a bit. That doesn't stop them from emptying their hand in an accelerated rate, stripping resources, Stomping life counts down to 0.
On the other hand, Mid-range to Control's gotta wait till the onslaught's over right? Till then, their resources- and life are ripe for the taking. What better way to do this then with fast beats, loads of burn, loads more removal, and DISCARD- LOADS of it :)?

So then, first we gotta have conditions:
#1: It's basically a hit-and-run operation or for your hapless foe - EAT and RUN :) You gotta make sure when you hit, you sustain near to nothing losses. This is important especially in the early game, when resources are king. ON the other hand, you gotta make them attacks as frequent as possible. Never give'em a breather.
#2: Never run out of threats - you need them if the game drags too long.
#3: Commit as much as you like, but never over-commit- You don't want to get blown out by wraths. But commit if your dudes are dominating.
#4: Stick CA around if possible- cos everyone likes a lttle bit now and then.
#5: Follow the 3Ds closely, will surely lead your to the right path.

Alright, now that that's done and dealt with, lets go over the elements of the deck- mainly, the cards.
D#1: Discard (I like this best.)
Sedraxis Specter: Flying, efficient, rips out hand whenever it hits, 4-of. NOW.
Blightning: Rips out hand and spits at your foe's face while doing it? I gotta admit, it's got spunk.
Mind Rot: Another card that rips for 2, more manafriendly too.
Slavering Nulls: Does what Specter does, albeit w/o evasion and less dmg. Good though.
Duress: No one likes to see their hand ripped apart, less so if it's done clinically.
Rotting Rats: I dunno, seems pretty meh. I wish Ravenous Rats were still in. :(
Sanity Gnawers: Hehe, at random too.
Scepter of Fugue: need some commitment, gets the job done though.

D#2: Destroy
Typically, anything that send opponent's monsters to the graveyard goes under there. 'Nuff Said.

D#3: Disrupt/enial
Counters, Mana denial, and silver bullets go in here.

Well, that's all I'm gonna cover, I gotta go sleep. Will be back tmrw with a deck :)

ONE LEG KICKING, LAST PART.

Well, welcome back guys. If you're reading this because you like it, You are either very, very interested in Magic, or you're just a very creepy stalker who likes to while away their time reading other people's blogs. But let's not get to that. Besides, I needed the views. To all who may be reading this blog for the first time, I welcome you, and hope you won't get turned off by this TCG nerd's banter about his really, really awesome deck of whom you have no idea what I'm talking about.

Alright, as the title, which you may or may not see due to something unprecedented I do not know yet, this is the final update of the N.U.T.M.E.G.B dec. before I drag it to practice this coming Saturday. For starters, I played a couple of goldfish games and felt that it was a wee bit too clunky. As some of you probably know, I favour streamlined decks which comes out punching one turn at a time.


WARNING: EXTREMELY WORDY BANTER ABOUT MAGIC UP AHEAD. UNLESS YOU'RE ABLE TO DIGEST LONG, DULL ESSAYS W/O FALLING ASLEEP, GOOD LUCK. If not, skip ahead to how was my day :)


Problems:
#1: My hype about Oracle is slightly unfounded. w/o much protection, she dies. Too easily. Also, after I filter out the lands I need, what next?

#2: The Curve doesn't feel right. T1: Land, Accelerator, T2: Land, Harrow, Spreading Seas (or some 2-drop), T3: Land, Ant Queen, T4: Land, Swing for 5, hoping that it won't get nailed by removal, make 3 ant tokens in response. T5: ..... let the game flow. Seriously, the first 5 turns are the most important. It's the turns in which one builds up tempo that will carry through to victory, or when you attack that person while he's building up tempo. Decks like Boros Bushwhacker and RDW follow the latter strategy very closely, and sometimes can easily disrupt one's battle plan, either through removal or otherwise. One must have other ways to setup for the long-term, and yet be able to disrupt very closely. That's why Jund decks in my opinion are so successful. They are able to build up for the long-games and yet disrupt with powerful cards like Blightning. I mean seriously, T1: CIPT Land, go. T2: Land, Putrid Leech. T3: Swing for 4, removal, or Blightning, or Thrinax. T4: Bloodbraid Elf into more removal, Thrinax or Blightning. Swing for at least 7. T5: GG. Seriously, people say the Jund dec. is slow. Yet look at their gameplay. Really scary. By T5, the Jund player is up at least 7-power worth of nasty beaters, nice versatile mana-base to rely on all game, while their opponent is squirming with near to nothing blockers, a badly decimated hand, and down at least a ton of life. Ouch. This is what the mid-range to control rogue decks are up against, terrible odds. However, the ability to disrupt is a very fair double-edged sword, those successful decks can be nailed by it.

#3: Still have problems with Treasure Hunt. Meh.

Alright, now that that's done and over with. First of all, out with the under-performers.

OUT:

- 3 Treasure Hunt

- 2 Basic Land

- 3 Oracle of Mul Daya

That'll do for now.

IN:

+ 2 Dread Statuary

+ 1 Ant Queen

+3 Arbor Elf

+2 Eldrazi Monument

On the other hand, I was pleasantly surprised on how well the Ant Queen performed. Also to short-term protect my dudes, Eldrazi Monument should do the trick nicely. WHO'S UP FOR 2/2 FLYING INDESTRUCTIBLE ANTS!!! (A.K.A. 2/2 F.L.I.N.T. Ants :)) Arbor Elf is also in because he helps me ramp earlier. Also makes nice chumper :) Another card I'd add is Convincing Mirage, it'll be easy to switch to a control strategy by sideboarding. As for Dread Statuary, it's just plain awesome. Please refer to my 1st post to know why I say so :)

I'll post the final list next time, as I may make more changes through the week.

Now, today was the 1st day of the new term. The J2s have their block tests, and we have a NEW ECONS TEACHER!!! WOOT! Her name's Mrs/Ms/Mdm (I forgot:p) Ma(o?)rganes and she's introduced a weird way of asking whether we understand. 3 signal cards. (Orange, Green, Yellow) Green if you're clear, Yellow if you have enquiries and Orange if you're sotong. Anyways I got bored... drew on them. I'll add pics if I can find my web cam. Only problem, she didn't seem to notice my friend as he slept in class today. ON THE FRONT ROW SOMEMORE. He's bragging 'bout it in FB now. Today we learnt about Market Sys.(s) and Supply and Demand. Nice.

DAM, we ran out of time

All well, I'll cya next post. :p

Signing off,

Ernie

P.S. @ Wesley: Why not updating team blog? o_O

LEG IT!!! \>0

Hey guys, I'm back, and I made some awkward changes :) As you can see, I put up my notice... Not much, but good enough. 2nd no. of changes, I made to my U/G deck, for which I have finally came up with a name!!! Yes, that was the homebrew deck mentioned 2 posts ago, hence I decided to call it NATURAL TERRAMORPHIC ELEMENTS GONE BERSERK, or N.U.T.M.E.G.B. for short (next time you're old, don't get nutmeg, it's a conspiracy.) Anyways here is a brief, swift, to-the-point, lacking-in-detail, glossed-over, and packaged-ever-so-neatly-so-that-you-won't-see-the-flaws evaluation of the deck.

1. Easy to stabilize, when it does, tough to finish it.
2. Loads of wacky ways to win.
3. Really bashes, pound for pound (not really.)

In any case, a few cards I deem redundant in this kind of deck: Great Sable Stag, although awesome in the current meta, has no place here in this deck. Lodestone Golem can punish cascade and other expensive cards, but dies too easily to burn (as proven over the last few games) and its effect is really difficult to take into account. Another under-performer is Treasure Hunt. Despite allowing explosive refilling and land filtering (improves draw), sometimes I earn only one card. Let's face it, w/o proper preparation, Treasure Hunt is like a roulette. I either draw 1, or I draw 3~4 per spell. Despite that, perhaps it still has some potential, or maybe I'm not using it right.

Therefore out 1st:

3 Lodestone Golem
3 Great Sable Stag
2 Sphinx of Jwar Isle (okay wtf?)
1 Basic Land
2 Arbor Elf

Before you go bananas on me, Let me explain. I want a definite win condition, one that will lead to victory. The Sphinx, while being an awesome beater and all, does not help provide that. It's merely a one-man hitter, easily chumped over and over again. Therefore, out it goes, reducing the curve a bit. However, keep an eye for it, I'm putting it in my side because it's that good. (i have a PLAN B ;D)

In:
1 Spreading Seas
1 Into the Roil
2 Ant Queen
4 Elvish Visionary
3 Oracle of Mul Daya

1st of all, let me explain my choices: Spreading Sea because it's so awesome, Into the Roil cause I want it there, Ant Queen because it helps me get closer to my win-condition, Elvish Visionary because it's a 2 for 1, and Oracle of Mul Daya because its like Treasure Hunt to an extent, only better(you get to put them in play :))

Another card I'd like to fit in is Ponder. Other then being an awesome set-up for Treasure Hunts and Oracles, It' a freaking cantrip, how cool is that? and since we be drawing up a storm, Alara Reborn uncommon Lorescale Coatl may want to join in.

Well, that's all I have for you this week. Enjoy your week ahead!!

SIGNING OFF,
ERNIE.

Kicking around.... part 2 :)

Hey... welcome back. Sorry abot not updating yesterday... loads of stuff to do.
In any case nice simple day. Did most of my HW, packed a deck and went for team practice. But the deck I brought proved to be a bit clunky, hence i threw in some blue. Here's the list.

U/G.... ermm.... (i don't have a name :p)

4 Misty Rainforest
3 Halimar Depths
4 Oran Rief, the Vastwood.
x Rainforests
y Rainforests
25 lands
(Where x+y=14)

4 Llanowar Elves
2 Arbor Elf
3 Great Sable Stag
3 Wolfbriar Elemental
3 Lodestone Golem
2 Sphinx of Jwar Isle
17 Creatures

2 Into the Roil
3 Spreading Seas
3 Treasure Hunt
4 Harrow
3 Garruk Wildspeaker
3 Rite of Replication
18 Other Spells

Making the deck, I've absolutely NO IDEA how the gameplay would be like. The answer? See the 3 games i played.

Game 1: Against Vampires (piloted by Bryan.)
This is, to an extent, a budget variant. It lacks fetch lands, but still packs a wallop.
we quickly keep our starting hands, and he came out guns ablaze with a Vampire Lacerator, followed by a Bloodghast.
I had a slow start and was down to 13 by turn 3. Fortunately, He was stuck on 4 lands most of the game (one of his swamps got spreading sea'ed) And I slowly stablised and built up to 9 mana.
I had a Sphinx, but decided not to cast it yet. Instead I just waited.
This happened on 2nd last turn:
Bryan: If I get another land, I win. (Not really what he said, but you get the gist.)

Well, it wasn't that accurate, he killed off most of my dudes, and I was down to 2 life. He had the Bloodghast in the graveyard, but I could handle that (I still had a blocker). He drew-

And NAILED THAT 5th LAND, bringing a hasty 2/1 back from the graveyard. Attacking with it was not on his mind though. He tapped out and CAST Malakir Bloodwitch. Her effect would have drained me of my last 2 life. BUT-

My ace was in my hand. Remember that I wouldn't cast that sphinx? Well, I had another card. I nailed the Bloodghast
with a KICKED Into the Roil, allowing me to draw one more card.... So the Bloodwitch's effect counted only itself, and nailed me for 1, leaving me with 1 life... which meant I would had one more turn before that Bloodwitch flew over my blocker ftw. I drew-

AND SCORE! A Rite of Replication, and I had the mana to kick it :) Out came 5 copies of the Bloodwitch, and I fried Bryan all the way down to 0 (5 effects of drain for 5). Epicness.

Game 2: Against U/R/G Summoning Trap
That one, was really close. I had him on the run with 2 sphinxes (I had a good draw, loads of ramp :)) And was happily smashing away when he cast that Summoning Trap. He looked at his 7 cards....

And Summoned Iona, Shield of Emeria. Now normally legends ain't a problem (I legend-rule them to death) But this one had the abilty to lock out my blue spells, which contained some of my gamebreakers. Now, I'm doomed right? Alright, maybe I am :( (I used Into the Roil, but.... I checked the rules. I can't respond to Iona's effect with a removal spell.Well this stinks.) On to game 3, because if Into the Roil didn't bounce Iona, will I win?

Current score: 1-1(?)

Game 3: Rematch with above.

I had a nice rampy start this time. I bashed away with Lodestone Golem, but.... He roasted that with Burst Lightning. Then he used Summoning Trap, this time, to bring out Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund!!! He smashed me down to 5 with it. Luckily, I drew Rite of Replication, Using it to Legend-rule it to death :) I summoned the Sphinx. Then he had a fatty in the form of Borgadan Hellkite. We traded fatties. Then I managed to kick Wolfbriar Elemental a couple of times (Pumped with Oran Rief, the Vastwood). We were on to the next game.

Current Score: 2-1(?)

Game 4: Rematch (Again :))
No Summoning Trap shenanigans this time, he got stuck on mana, and again I smashed face with the Lodesone Golem.
And again, It got burst lightning'ed :(. Poor sap. Again, I kicked Wolfbriar Twice, the followed it up wih another kicked thrice :) Although he had some blockers, and had destroyed my elemental, it wasn't enough to prevent me for swinging for lethal.

Final Score: 3-1 (?)

All in all, it wasn't so bad.... I had a blast with this deck. What I could do to improve it... would be to add maybe more utility, or maybe some thing to take advantage of certain cards.

Come back next week to check out what improvements I'm making to this deck. ENJOY YOUR WEEKENDS!! :)

How to dissect this day? With a paper-shredder, of course :)

Well' I'm back. To my usual audience, which is no one in particular, welcome back. To those asked to refer to here due to my friend Wesley's absence, Nice to eat you.... wait did I say "eat"? My bad ;p Seriously, nice to meet you.

Well, easy simple day as usual. Went to school to attend a economics essay workshop. Wasn't much, but really dead useful. Emphasis on DEAD. Serious, this can help in a ton of areas I'm not to know yet :)

Now that the boring bits are kicked aside... we can move on to our tactic for today... KICKER! Yes, that mana-intensive, super-versatile ability that has been here since... well forever. Why is it so good? Simple reasons already explored by tons of people, to the point of AD NAUSEUM.

1. Combos with spells that cast them for free ( Cascade, Hideaway, Etc.)
2. Allows the player to make a decision... cast it now, or later? (Marginal Analysis*, hehe)
3. Makes space for other utility ( 1 Kicker Card makes up 2 slots. (Eg. BOMB, UTILITY))
4. Any other reason I'm too lazy to go into. :)

Alright, now that that is done and over with, Let's make something useful. 1st, in order to utilise kicker to a good extent, we need mana, and loads of it. 2ndly, that mana will force a colour, there is a need for some fixing. 3rd, we need to know when to use it. Therefore. To address them:
1st: LOADS OF MANA IS EASY. Ramp cards like Harrow or Khalni Heart Expedition make good ramp. For the not-so-budget conscious, a card like Lotus Cobra works wonders (I point out something though, don't play a kicker decker with something so ****. There are better options.)
2nd: Now or later.... This is easy. Use cards that drastically change power levels with marginal cost. (A card like Strength of the Tajaru is good for that.)
3rd: Other utility now then, what good is it when you have a good load of mana, and yet lose still? What you're after is a load of protection. (this means a good amount of counter spells, Buff Cards, cards that do something to slow down your opponent's potentially faster advance.)

SO, a given exmple is in order:
http://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/deck/323
The following decklist is an easy reference. How does fulfill the requirements?
1st: There's a good amount of ramp, even though it's not very fast. Good stuff.
2nd: Nissa Revane, Garruk Wildspeaker, Rite of Replication. All have good gains given a little investment.
3rd: Due to some time constraint, This will be slightly glossed over. Don't flame me for it.
Nissa's Chosen, Negate, GSS can't protect the player's life total. Jace/Sphinx helps draw into more options. Master of the Wild Hunt wipes out blockers, and provides a steady stream of blockers.

So now, given all these, the player has fulfiled all requirements of the Kicker Deck, to a large extent. But, being a deck created before Worldwake, it is lacking... Therefore, You can update it any way you like, an not be accused of netdecking. Suggestions therefore:

1st: More ramp. GSS may not be needed all the time. Take this opportunity to thow in a few rampers. A good idea would be Harrow, Khalni Heart Expedition.
2nd: More Kicker. HOw to call it kicker deck with only one kicker spell. (I recommend cards like Wolfbriar Elemental, Spell Contortion, or Strength of the Tajaru.)
3rd: Know your opponent, knowing the meta contributes greatly to the 3rd condition. For instance, you can use Spreading Seas in a meta filled with Mana-Intensive Cards. (eg. Jund, may not be applicable soon though.)

That's all I'm gonna cover today. Next update will include a homebrew decklist I thought up, Using the lessons from today :)

Another Day, Down the Drain :)

Well, I'm back. Nice tiring day as per normal.

The Gist: Went to school, followed timetable. Nearly slept at CL
and CSE class. (I slept at 12 midnight last night. :p)
Thought up another list. I'll share it with you later.
Started reading Ctrl+Alt+Del comics (hereafter known as CAD comics).
They're awesome :)

Funny thing for the day... During CSE today, we covered the values of Daoism.
(Somehow, I feel that this is Taoism, but what the heck.) In any case, one of them is to
REJECT all form of Formal Education. Now here is the problem. Since we learnt 'bout
this in a FORMAL EDUCATION, those that mean we gotta reject that too? Kinda like
a paradox if you ask me :)

Magic.... Today I thought up of an improved list for the U/G ramp-control.

But 1st, we gotta look at them weaknesses.
1st: Too much Blue >.<
(Dun want to get hosed by pro-blue)
2nd: Not enough ramp.
(how to call it ramp when it don't get you to 6 mana by turn 3?)
3rd: Not enough options
(Oh no, an annoyance. Counter. another one... *looks at hand* shit.)
4th: w/o ramp, Inkwell is well out of my league. (mind the pun:D)
5th: wth am I supposed to do with these lands? (I draw too much)

So 1st, I take out some stuff.

-3 Noble Hierach (They cost a bomb, dammit)
-2 Mind Control (no way to abuse that)
-3 Jace, The Mind Sculptor (I resent that, but then again, these cost a bomb)
-2 Halimar Depths (When you are ramping, CIPT lands hamper you.)

Now then... what to do.
Oh ya, 1st of all, MORE RAMP XD
+3 Llanowar Elf (Budget :3)
+4 Khalni Heart Expedition.
+1 Inkwell Leviathan ('Nuff said.)
+2 Pilgrim's Eye

The resulting list? I'm too lazy to post it yet :) Will do so come next practice, when I get some
playtesting done. Cya next time.

Hey folks, I'm back :) Sorry I couldn't update yesterday, I had to travel 1 hour by bus to Woodlands and I got dog-tired. In any case... onward to business. It's raining as i type this entry.... may stop soon. Today I went back to school... had a few lessons. Simple as pie :) As I was going home, I went through a couple of strategies to beat the meta, then suddenly, an idea came to me. So pure and simple :) I'm typing out the decklist now so that I won't forget.

Here we go:
UG Ramp Control (I know the name isn't original, shut up :3)

4 Misty Rainforest
3 Seaside Citadel
2 Halimar Depths
X Islands
16 - X Forests (hehe, Algebra)
25 Lands Total

1 Inkwell Leviathan (I like him, combos well with Spreading Seas.) (May be taken out if needed)
3 Lorescale Coatl/Noble Hierach
2 Sphinx of Jwar Isle
6 Creatures Total


4 Ponder
3 Treasure Hunt/Divination
4 Spreading Seas
3 Into the Roil
2 Essence Scatter
2 Negate
2 Cancel/Mind Spring
4 Harrow
3 Jace, The Mind Sculptor/Garruk Wildspeaker
2 Mind Control
29 Other Spells



Ah.... Simple Gameplay. Simply get plenty of Lands and ramp 'em into 3 gamebreakers. Or switch to planB in the next round and mill 'em out with your side. Trouble is, I can't handle 'em
fast decks, and is considering a red splash for sweepers like Pyroclasm, Volcanic Fallout, or Earthquake. Heck, I might as well dump them all in, along with some Scalding Tarns. You'll also notice that there is some mana denial in there too.

Lorescale Coatl is in because....

You draw 3 cards with Jace, which in my opinion is AWESOME (+3 <+1/+1> counters). In any case, it's defensive capabilities is hampered by lack of removal. I"ll like to stuff in Sphinx of Lost Truths and Visionary, as well as some more counter spells. Maybe I'll take out treasure hunt, Its goodness is hampered w/o any landfall.

In any case, that's all I have for today. Cya next post.

13 March, 2010.

Simple day today. Stayed at my uncle's place, packed up some post-camp items, and went for my 1st MTG team training. The deck I brought wasn't as good as I hoped, like I said earlier, It was too clunky. In any case, I decided to stick with this deck for the heck of it, It will definitely be a challenge to make it tournament-worthy and still be an original decklist (no Elves or Mega-Ramp, I hate Netdecking.)

In any case, here's an updated list.

Mono-Green v.1.1

2 Dread Statuary
4 Oran-Rief, the Vastwood
18 Forest
24 Lands

4 Llanowar Elf
3 Arbor Elf
4 River Boa
4 Leatherback Baloth
2 Master of the Wild Hunt
3 Wolfbriar Elemental
20 Creatures

4 Vines of Vastwood
4 Harrow
3 Garruk Wildspeaker
2 Overrun
13 Other Spells

Now, I'm sure you noticed that this deck is currently incomplete. That's because I couldn't find a good 3-drop. Therefore, I decided to drop mono-green for the time being to wait for better green cards. Because, as they said, The Grass is GREENER ON THE OTHER SIDE (yes, that was a horrible pun.) I still wanted to keep the green though, and therefore, I made 2 decks on each end of the spectrum, but in all intents and purposes fulfil the same thing.

Green-Black Rock.

4 Verdant Catacombs
2 Dread Statuary
2 Savage Lands
4 Oran-Rief, the Vastwood
4 Swamp
8 Forest
24 Lands

4 Birds of Paradise (or Llanowar Elf for the budget version.)
4 Putrid Leech
3 River Boa
3 Great Sable Stag
3 Leatherback Baloth
2 Master of the Wild Hunt
4 Abyssal Persecutor
24 Creatures

3 Duress
2 Smother
4 Maelstrom Pulse
3 Garruk Wildspeaker
12 Other Spells

This deck seems to be more on the expensive side.... Its mana base and curve left me wanting.
But... It has powerful beaters in the form of Baloths, Leech, and Persecutor (which in my opinion is pure AWESOMESAUCE, but I wonder how to get rid of it once the foe hits -tive). Also, being a Rock deck, it should, in theory,be able to do something every turn in the early game. It is also able to move smoothly into aggro should the need arise.

In any case, I'll post the other list next post because I'm too lazy to continue. Night :).

Signed,
Ernie (Ernst)

1st day of this blog

Wow, when people said that the world is coming closer due to things like this (AKA globalisation), they weren't joking. :)

In any case, I decided to chronicle my thoughts into this blog, so as I look back, I get a laugh out of this. First of all, some basic rules. No spamming, No bullying, No yodelling, No vulgarities and most important of all, no calling me Yao Ming (my friends called me this back at Sec. School, it got on my nerves.)

Well, now that this is out of the way, I have no idea how to kick-start a blog, hence, for starters, a little something of myself. 1st of all, I'm 16 years old, gonna be 17 come Nov 30, official height of 1.89m (measured at school, not accurate because I was slouching :) ). I studied, for the best of the last 10 years, at Christian Brother Schools, namely St.Michael's (now known as SJIJ) and St. Patrick's. Now, I go to Yishun JC, much to the dismay of my old school-mates, many whom are going to Polytechnics. I love card games and computer games, absoultely loathed football (no one ever passed me the ball.), and recently picked up a new hobby in a form of a CCA, not telling you what it is, I'm still challenging people to guess it on Facebook. I simply adore spicy food (hottest ranked at Jalapeno peppers, lowest rank at Japanese curry, which I feel does not deserve the title of curry whatsoever.), and hate, to this day, ginger and poorly-cooked onions. This is where I shall stop, more info could be found on my Facebook a/c. Here's the title:

Facebook URL :
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?ref=profile&id=100000343207324

Right then, now apparently I'm supposed to write about recent events. Due to my JC education, I'll not be so free, unlike some of my peers, to update this everyday. However, I can still update this every week, at least twice, if possible.

So then.... where to start.

Alright. Main event: During the week, from 09 March 2010, to 12 March 2010, I went to camp. (which incidentally, is a daily thing nowadays, but mine had some special highlights.)

Day UNO (or 1, or one, or etc.):

Went to the campsite at Bintan. Set up camp, had icebreakers with the facilitators, you know, stuff which people do on the 1st day. Lunch was ermmmm.... simple, Rice served with Achar (YAY.), green chili with salted fish (DOUBLE YAY.), some weird potato thing (TRIPLE YAY.)
and chicken that looks like pigeon, went well with rice. ( just pwned EATING STREAK FOR 300,000,000 gold. :( ). Now, this may not seem so special, but during the night, heading into:

DAY DOS (or 2, or two, or etc.)

THERE WAS A MEGA STORM. Now, to my knowledge, Bintan did not have any rainfall for the past 2 months. (due to El Nino) It was hot, sweaty and humid there. So when the rain 1st camp, in a form of a light shower, we rejoiced (easier to sleep now, yes, it happened while we're sleeping.). But then, the wind became stronger, our tent which did not have any support began to float. Water started to seep in. we quickly packed our things and lifted them up to prevent them from getting wet. Then the rain grew heavier and heavier, and the wind grew stronger until-

"WHOOSH."

Our tent flew up, up and away, flew to the left, and COLLIDED with the tent nearby. So there we are, no shelter, in the midst of a raging tempest. I wished I could say that we stood stoic in the rain, huddled together for warmth, or did something brave. We didn't. We panicked (yes, panic, with the screaming and all that) and there was a mad rush for the next tent. We were packed like sardines (45 people in a tent meant for 25), standing until 3am, when a teacher evacuated us from the soon-to-be collapsing tent (not really, but the light hanging there was about to fall off.) and sent us to the holding area. Our group (M5, btw.) was given the ballroom (no air-con) to sleep. We did not wake up till 9am.

Other that that, nothing special really happened.

Magic, the Gathering: Finally decided to show up at Games Day. I saw loads of really good decks, and wondered whether I could get back into the game. In the end, I got a few cards I saw as really good, and went off to make a mono-green deck. The end result left much to be desired, was to0 clunky, and didn't really have a come-out-of-nowhere finish. ('cept the Dread Statuaries, wonderful card to have after a Wrath.) But then again, It was play-testing, and I feel that there was room for improvement. (Perhaps a color splash, or maybe 1 or 2 copies of overrun.). Personally, colorless manlands are wonderful due to an uncanny ability to attack into a bunch of protected creatures. They are also great after you/the foe cleared the field, and they fit into any deck.

In any case, this is all I can, or wish to say. I'll be back next week to update.

Many wishes of good grace,
Ernie (which is friendlier then Ernst, anyway.)

P.S. Here's a list of the current deck, I'll provide an updated list every week, with some test game accounts and how I viewed the deck.

Mono-Green (I'm Back!)

4 Dread Statuary
4 Oran-Rief, The Vastwood
16 Forests
24 Lands

4 Llanowar Elf
2 Arbor Elf
4 River Boa
4 Leatherback Baloth
4 Lodestone Golem
4 Wolfbriar Elemental
22 Creatures

4 Vines of Vastwood
4 Harrow
3 Garruk Wildspeaker
3 Bestial Menace
14 Other Spells

3 Great Sable Stag
3 Slingshot Trap
4 Acidic Slime
3 Summoning Trap
2 Overrun/Eldrazi Monument
15 Sideboard Cards

Pros:
Easy, simple to use deck with a nice tool (Lodestone Golem) against the big daddy deck of the moment, Jund. Also has good side against some of the better decks in the current meta. Has cheap, efficient beats.

Cons:
Too slow. Unable to hold its own against fast decks like Boros Bushwhacker. Often mana-flooded or screwed, but that was due to poor shuffling tech. No come-out-of-nowhere finish. Being Mono-Green, suffers from lack of cheap removal.

Plans to upgrade:
Add some surprise finishers (eg. Overrun or Eldrazi Monument. Strength of the Tanjaru may work.). Add decent cheap blockers/ Faster acceleration. More combat tricks (eg. Primal Bellow/Groundswell).
Usage of removal may work (eg. Splash colour, Usage of alternate removal).