Teaser from Tenacious

Tenacious community manager Subtle Thunder posted a bit of a teaser for some information that will be forthcoming in the next couple of weeks about the upcoming official release and also The Spoils Tournament Experience (tm). Nothing very substantial in the posts today except a date for an announcement regarding the tournament play, Oct. 13. But in the next couple weeks we will get to see some of the cards in the set that weren't in the Beta, some cards that have been slightly changed since the Beta release, and some more finished art.

Changes to VS System Organized Play in 2007

Upper Deck Entertainment recently announced changes in the VS. System Organized Play for 2007 which you can read about here. There are some major changes here, so I'd like to go over how I feel about them.

The first major change is one "vacation" PC per year. I like this idea despite its being blatantly stolen from M:tG. One of the main draws for me when I started playing Magic competitively several years ago was the chance to do some traveling, see the world if you will. The Magic Pro Tour changed destinations from year to year, with one stop in Europe and one in Asia (Japan). The constant change of scenery added an element to the PT. VS. System so far, with the exception of Amsterdam has pretty much gone to the same places for three years. This will only change somewhat as GenCons SoCal and Indy will still host a PC every year.

Next, is the consolidation of Modern Ages. Instead of Marvel Modern and DC Modern, there will just be Modern Age, consisting of the 4 most recent sets. Along with this change they will be cutting one PC per year. As far as the new Modern Age, there was some pretty intense debate on the Internet about whether the formats were good for the game. I didn't really care one way or the other. I do think that a 4-set format will lead to more balance than 2-set formats, but I wasn't calling for change. On to the new 3 PC per year structure. Until we know more about the $50K events, store championships, and exactly how much more money will be awarded at PC's, it's hard to judge this change. On the one hand, VS. System is now 3 premiere events per year behind M:tg (assuming you count Nationals as a premiere event). I don't think the added money per event will make PC's drastically better than PT's in Magic, but how the $50K's and Store Championships are handled will determine in my mind whether Professional VS. is considered a peer to Professional Magic or just a bad imitation.

The final change will be to the Hobby League. Since the changes at this point are still pretty vague, and I don't live in a town with a Hobby League these changes don't really affect me. But from Internet reactions, Hobby League is in need of a revamping. And Hobby Leagues help bring in more casual players which is what will keep the game thriving. Hobby Leagues are there to bring new players to the game and give casual players a chance to play against some new people. Anything that makes Hobby Leagues better, will in turn be beneficial to the game.

Initial Impressions of Time Spiral

The Time Spiral prereleases ran this past weekend. While I did not attend one as I am 2 hours from the nearest event, I am really excited about this new set. Maybe it's just the gamer in me ready to get back into the game, but I can't remember being this excited over a Magic set since Apocalypse. Right now, I am just looking at this set from a limited point of view since I haven't really studied and of the constructed formats to get a grasp of any of their metagames. Once I go back and learn the cards from the Ravnica Block, I will start getting some ideas of how Time Spiral will affect Constructed.

For Limited the set seems pretty balanced. Just from looking over the spoiler, at this point I think black is probably the best color. Time Spiral gives us two of the best removal cards this game has ever seen in Sudden Shock and Sudden Death. I'm not sure if everyone realizes how powerful Split Second is, but they will learn soon enough. With the split second mechanic, a Spectral Lynx cannot be regenerated, Jaya Ballard can't burn anything, Spike Feeder can't be used to gain life, etc. Split Second is a very powerful mechanic.

I don't think Suspend will have a huge impact on Limited. There are some cards that are powerful enough to play on their own (Ancestral Vision much?), but overall I think if Suspend is used at all, it will be used in Constructed where there will be a little more structure to getting things set up. I have a few ideas of things I want to try with the Suspend mechanic, but I'll admit that right now they seem more like gimmicks to me than actual decks. We'll see how they turn out though.

A final note for anyone who hasn't already realized this...Enduring Renewal+Basal Sliver+Mindlash Sliver=infinite black mana.

My First Spoils Open Beta

I played in my first Spoils Open Beta tournament this weekend at my local card shop. I thought my pool of cards was a little below average but workable. I did get Ashes of Zenobia, which I thought was powerful, but I didnt' realize at first just how good it was. It combo'd well with my Nasty Butler and also allowed me to continually bounce my blocker to hold off a 7/7 Thief Doyen until I could get a better answer. Ominous Oozling was pretty much the kill card in all my
games. I ended up not losing a game.

From a strategy perspective, I'm still getting used to the gameplay. One thing I noticed was that at the beginning of most of my turns, I found myself almost always choosing to develop a resource, while most of the other players were choosing to draw. I think I only used the beginning of turn to draw three cards all day. I'm interested in what other people tend to do with their beginning of turn. Do you mostly draw, do you play resources, do you start out playing resources and then switch to drawing after you've developed a certain amount of resources. I realize this is pretty situational, but I was surprised at how often I chose the resource option even very late in a game.

Overall the game is a lot of fun to play and also requires a high amount of skill. There was one unfortunate soul who couldn't read many of his gearsmith cards. Perhaps he's just not quite enough of a nerd to play this game. Everyone's overall impression was positive, and I think the game won a few players over this weekend. I think there is one more Open Beta here before the set releases in November.

First post of CCG Gamer blog.

This is the first post of this blog dedicated to CCG Gaming. I quit playing Magic:the Gathering several years ago, but I have missed the comraderie and sense of competition. I have recently decided to start gaming again. In this blog, I will share my thoughts and experiences as I return to the gaming arena. In addition to returning to Magic, I have also started playing UDE's VS System and will play my first Spoils Open Beta this Saturday at my local game store, Galaxy Comics.