Tree of Tales – The Rules of Engagement

Welcome to the Tree. It’s been a while since our last visit, and for that I apologize. My life kinda crept up on me and took the driver’s seat for a bit. Things have gotten back to normal, and I can finally start writing somewhat regularly again.

Quite a bit has changed of late, with the new core set (M12) now legal following the bans of last month. Standard has become a format of variance again, with top 16s at major tournaments sporting as many as 12 different archetypes, a diversity not seen for quite some time. This being said, I don’t really want to talk about Standard.

For that matter, I don’t really want to talk about other formats either. I want to talk about something that I think most of us could work on. What I would like to talk about is etiquette. Etiquette is a rather broad subject when it comes to this game, covering everything from behavior in a match to general provisos to help keep our community thriving. Ultimately, what we all want is a strong community to help provide lots of opportunities to play this game we love.

1. Don’t lose your cool. I place this first in my list of things to do, mostly because it’s the one thing I’ve attempted to work on the most over the years. Each of us has had good reason at some point in time to lose composure, either because of external stimuli or otherwise. This being said, find a way to extricate yourself from any situation where you think you may become a problem, either by leaving or finding a solution. Rather than start an altercation, maybe you simply defuse the situation, leave, and find something else to do that day, since gaming was obviously not the proper answer. In any event, who really wants to be the jerk who’s ruining someone else’s day?
2. Play your game thoroughly. As I’m sure many people would agree with me on this point, I’ll summarize by saying no one wants to play against an opponent who doesn’t keep track of life totals, exact numbers of counters, etc. While people that play like this often lose games simply by making casual mistakes due to carelessness, it is still preferable to play against someone who keeps his board neat and readable.
3. Respect the people around you. Another of my personal foibles, understand that you are surrounded by others looking to enjoy themselves, and attempt not to detract from that enjoyment. Having personal freedom to attempt to have fun does not mean you should make it so others cannot. When everyone cooperates and respects one another, it is easier for everyone to have fun. If you don’t get along with certain people, simply ignore them, or find ways to avoid them so as not to add conflict to something that doesn’t need it.
4. Be respectful of the feelings of others. We all have different opinions on just about every subject on earth, and lots of the time this can lead to arguments and heated debates, which is fine. We all reserve the right to disagree with others. However, if this turns into denigration or profanity, then a line has been crossed and a situation has gone out of control. If we all remember to respect each other, this can be avoided.
5. Respect the property of others. We all know how expensive this game can get. With the price of singles steadily climbing, even building one deck can be prohibitively expensive. Each of us dedicates an allotment of money to this game, and that should be respected. Obviously don’t steal from others, which should go without saying. Even beyond that, however, make an effort to keep the environment free from theft of any kind. If you find a deck, turn it into the store owner, who will make the most concerted effort to find the owner. If you see someone stealing or being dishonest in regards to card ownership, make an effort to ensure that the proper person knows what is going on. Don’t go all vigilante, but strive to ensure that you game in a place where if you lose something, it will likely return to you.
6. Make sure you are presentable for minors. While I like racy pictures and funnily altered tokens, make sure that they are not in use when playing against those who might find them offensive. Your nude female cheerleader beast tokens may be great fun for you, but I’m betting that the 14 year old’s parents might get a little upset if you use them against him. I’ll even expand this to cover the other precept of don’t be sexist. If you’re playing against or around female gamers, try not to make vulgar comments in regards to their gender. There are few enough of them as it is without the male populations driving them out the door because they cannot comport themselves in a manner fit for a pig sty.
7. If you smoke, be courteous of those who don’t. Most of our shops have a smoking area that is fairly close to their front door, despite legal limitations. I would assume it is because they want their players to be able to hear when a round gets called. In many of these cases, I see customers entering, bothered by smoke that they cannot avoid despite there being lots of space where those customers who do smoke (myself included) could stand and not bother them. I have made a concerted effort to stand away from the front door of most of these shops, although it is hard in the summer months, as all you usually want to do is find shade. In either case, you wouldn’t want someone blowing dust into your air, so we shouldn’t blow smoke into theirs.

There are 7 easy habits to get into that will help to keep your community healthy and thriving. Obviously not everyone is going to follow these rules, but those of us who do will find that it makes for a far more rewarding experience. I have been thinking on the values of ethics recently as I had a particular valuable deck go missing. My Hive Mind deck which I won several local tournaments with apparently vanished into thin air recently, and I have not been able to find any leads on where it may have disappeared to. That being said, it was either left or stolen while I was gaming, and no one turned it in. When you lose a deck valued above $1,600, it definitely brings the issues of ethics and etiquette to the forefront of your mind, and so I felt the need to get it off my chest.

That being said, anyone with information about this deck, there is a reward for it’s safe return. It is one of a kind, quite literally. It had autographed foreign Force of Wills, Unlimited Underground Seas, signed Lim-Dul’s Vaults and Polluted Deltas, foil Ponders (three m10, 1 Lorwyn), foil Hive Minds, all of which are fairly distinctive. It is worth a small fortune to me, and if anyone returns it the reward will be ample. I would hope that despite it’s obviously high value, if anyone has found it they would return it to me, as in the past I have had lost items returned to me via the community. If not, then I lament the loss of my prize deck, and move on.

The Vault

I can’t write an article about Magic and not really talk about Magic, can I? Of course not. I haven’t played an awful lot lately, but I have been toying with my Extended ideas, trying to get ready for next Extended season before it creeps up on me again. I’m quite excited about the rotation in October, when Lorwyn fades away and we are left with Alara Block forward. So many good cards, and the menace that is Faeries is gone, which opens up a lot of possibilities.

I want to use the utility of Green Sun’s Zenith in a tri-color deck, and I’m not sure which combination I prefer most. Bant is the most obvious choice, offering a range of creatures that includes Qasali Pridemage, Knight of the Reliquary, Rafiq of the Many, and many more. BGW offers quite a few options as well, most notably being Putrid Leech and Glissa, the Traitor. Black adds more in the way of spells than creatures, however, so it will not add as much to the Zenith plan. Even Jund offers a spin on the deck, where it can get cards like Sprouting Thrinax, Broodmate Dragon and friends.

Thus far, I’ve preferred the Bant version of the deck. Here’s what I’m currently testing:

I’ve made a few out of norm decisions with this list, most notably being the lack of Batterskull. I simply do not feel that he is potentially better than any of the swords, especially given that Knight of the Reliquary regularly dwarfs any creature on board. I much prefer Body and Mind, as Jace 2.0 is just as rampant in Extended as he was in Standard. Making him dig to find an answer to your potentially Jace-lethal threat means you have much better odds of rectifying the game state.

The mana base for this deck is sketchy, mostly due to the need for turn 1 green mana. Turn 1 untapped G is absolutely essential, and this deck usually provides it. When it doesn’t, you either mulligan or wince. The remaining Pridemages would be in the sideboard, as would be Obstinate Baloth for that painful RDW match (since Kitchen Finks will have rotated by next season).

It’s funny how relevant some cards are. Despite this deck having very little in common with Caw-Blade in it’s basic premise, still Stoneforge Mystic and Jace are such amazing cards that they are worth including purely because of their basic merits. It was surprising to me that others hadn’t realized this earlier. Stoneforge went into my Legacy deck nearly immediately after printing, as playing Stoneforge to get Umezawa’s Jitte and equip it to Bitterblossom tokens was just too good.

I really wish that there were better lands in the Extended format, as the ones we have access to are mostly sub-par.  The fast lands from Scars of Mirrodin are nice, but only in the first 3 turns, which is a pretty strong drawback.  The core set lands are hideous, and the tri-lands from Alara are too debilitating in a deck that needs mana advantage to gain control.  This leaves many decks with inherently poor mana bases, mostly due to the lack of opposite color combinations.  Think about it, this is 3 blocks now without enemy colored duals.  Is this an oversight, or are they specifically attempting to phase out certain archetypes?  And no, I don’t count the tri-lands, since there is no feasible way for them to enter the battlefield untapped without using terrible cards.

That’s it for this time. Until then.

-Mike