Stream of Consciousness #7

It was a crazy week and a bit, and that’s putting it mildly: a GP, the SCG Invitational and a whole bunch of discussion-worthy topics all around the internet. Magic occasionally goes through lulls where it’s hard to find something to write about, but weeks like this really make up for it.

Let’s start with the continued renaissance of Horde of Notions regular and renowned goat herder Brad Nelson, who followed up yet another Standard GP top 8 with a win at this past weekend’s SCG Invitational. Brad’s win was made all the more impressive by the fact that the top 8 format was Legacy, long considered Brad’s Achilles Heel. Not only did he manage to navigate through that, he did it by getting his revenge on the vastly more experienced (in Legacy anyway) Brian Braun-Duin before beating newly-inducted Hall of Famer Huey Jensen in the finals. Brad had more than his share of luck to get there, as first BBD then Huey whiffed at crucial points more times than the Jays.

Is 2010 Brad Nelson back? His results might be heavily skewed towards Standard (going 8-0 in the format in the Invitational) but they are VERY impressive, and he speaks with the same passion he showed back then. If he can start stringing together some results in other formats or if he can keep the winning habit going from this past weekend, it will be hard to argue against it.

Further proof? Naya Control. He went 8-0 in Standard with Naya Control. No, I had no idea it was a deck either.

Aside from Brad and Huey continuing their winning ways, some guy named Reid Duke took down the Legacy open with a Bant deck that seemed to be just a collection of good cards without much synergy, plus [card]Green Sun’s Zenith[/card]. Is Reid just that nice that his opponents will lose to him if he asks? Or are the cards just more willing to show up when he needs them if he asks nicely?

When sleep-in specials became part of the Platinum pro package and were somewhat regulated by Wizards, I was hopeful that we had heard the last of the non-stop arguments about what is essentially a privilege. Nope! Martin Juza brought a new problem to light this week as the organisers for GP Antwerp wanted people with sleep-in specials to have their decklists submitted on Thursday night. No sooner had Martin tweeted about this, involving Helene Bergeot in the process, than the organiser changed that policy. Mistake or sudden cover-up? You decide.

One offshoot of this was the discussion around when to include Helene or even Mark Rosewater in a debate about any aspect of Magic. Mark has always been a very public figurehead for the game on social media, and in recent years Helene has been the same for organized play. With that said it has become common for either or both to be tagged on almost any gripe about the game or a tournament, even if it’s out of their purview. Is this higher level of visibility and interactivity really a net positive? Could the same result not be achieved by directing these comments to the @wizards_cs account? I do like that the company’s bigwigs are accessible to the players, but there needs to be some moderation I think.

Another big new release was announced this week as Vintage Masters was confirmed to be making its way to Magic Online for the summer of 2014, complete with the Power Nine. Needless to say that our good friend the reserved list means that the set will be non-redeemable, but it will also sell for $7 a pack. Following in the footsteps of Modern Masters, a foil card will replace the basic land with that foil itself having a chance at being replaced by a Power Nine card. Expect foil Lotuses to fetch upwards of your first born child to start with, falling to an arm and a leg once the market settles.

Some old-school purists were left with their nose out of joint when they noticed the art on these iconic cards was, well, no longer the iconic art. Sorry, how exactly WOULD you like your free money folded? If the new (and frankly beautiful) art offends you that much, there are countless tutorials online that show you how to change the art displayed client-side on MTGO.

Of course there couldn’t be a release like this without the specter of the reserved list once again rearing its head. No matter how often this comes up it continues to polarise people, and there are valid arguments on both sides. As it stands I cannot see the current management and legal teams at Wizards/Hasbro reneging on this promise, but as the big players change so might the corporate approach. I hope so anyway, because the older formats cannot survive without it.

Am I really stuck playing Esper if I want to beat Blue and Black Devotion? Brad’s Naya Control deck looks really…confusing and he himself said it was a one-weekend deck. Maybe we can cut the green? What I really want is an excuse to cast [card]Rubblebelt Raiders[/card] or Scourge of Valkas in Standard. I hear Nykthos loves them.

Wizards has been coming out with more and more merchandise recently, with t-shirts in mass-market retailers and now even shirts asking for us to Coexist. With people like Felicia Day, Wil Wheaton, Brandon Sanderson and Sean “Day9” Plott talking about the game, and Day9 even doing a web series about it, the game might finally be poised to break back into the mainstream.

As if to prove the point, pros were all aflutter this week to find out that Allie Brosh loves Magic and spends hours watching streams. I know! Allie Brosh! How awesome is that? Who the hell is Allie Brosh and why is she important?!

As I write this I am four days away from head judging a PTQ for the first time. To say I’m excited would be an understatement, I have wanted this for over a year and for it to finally be here is a huge deal for me.

I played in my second ever Legacy tournament this week, going 2-1 with Jund, losing to Shardless BUG. Well it was kind of Jund, I had to play some of my own tweaks so I had a main-deck [card]Sword of Feast and Famine[/card] and a Jitte. I had too much discard in the main though, with 3 [card]Thoughtseize[/card] 2 [card]Inquisition of Kozilek[/card] and the full 4 [card]Hymn to Tourach[/card]. I think [card]Sinkhole[/card] might replace some of those. I really enjoy the format and having opening hands that are worth more than my Standard deck is no small part of that enjoyment.

I don’t read a lot of articles in a normal week, but having thoroughly enjoyed Paul Rietzl’s Pro Tour report I found myself checking SCG more often recently. I’m glad I did because otherwise I would have missed Brian Kibler’s excellent article on Originality. Any time a writer can combine philosophy with Magic, I am interested. When the Magic topic is one near and dear to my heart like brewing, I am doubly interested.

Kibler’s position was that playing unusual cards is often valuable, but only if there is a valid reason to do so. Being different for the sake of it is rarely the correct move. While I understand his point and mostly agree, I also think the “netdecking sucks” phase is very important for new players to go through. I know for me I had to learn why it wasn’t often a good idea before I could learn when it was, and I think learning in that order helped me get better at tweaking net lists now.

If you have people locally who like to brew and play with what you consider bad cards, it’s far more useful to have them tell you WHY they play them than it is to say “card X is bad.” Self-discovery is a potent learning tool and creates more lasting results as the subject often treats the thought as their own. If they are OK playing “sub-standard” cards and losing more than perhaps they need to, perhaps you don’t need to tell them they’re wrong.

The Eternal Championships are this weekend, and even if you don’t like Legacy and Vintage you should probably watch for the coverage teams alone: Randy Buehler and Chris Pikula both make their return to the coverage booth, even working together on the Sunday. A must-see.

Thanks for following the Stream this week. I’ll be back next week with more, but until then make all the right plays!