#joy plays magic

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If anybody has recently opened a box of Unstable, would you mind sharing how many common, uncommon, rare, and mythic rare Contraptions you opened (and whether any were foil)? I’m trying to figure out the rarity ratios of Contraptions so I can accurately reflect it in my Unstable cube.

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I woke up feeling happy this morning, so ridiculously and unreasonably happy that I was surprised to learn it was Monday, because why the heck would I be so happy if it was Monday? Then I realized it was because I'd been drafting Unstable all weekend. That's how much I love this set.

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I’m a level 1 judge :D

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I left the sideboard for WU Spirits at home during last week's Modern event. I was very kindly allowed to borrow 15 cards from the store's collection; it wasn't ideal, but it was something. (Still went 4-0, woot woot.) Long story short, Settle the Wreckage was *amazing* and I will probably start playing it in the sideboard over Supreme Verdict, maybe even maindeck.

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Unstable Adventures #1: Black/Red Contraptions

(The full deck list is here.)

My first Unstable draft began with a pick-one Dispatch Dispensary. I passed up the rare, Mary O’Kill, since it didn’t strike me as a very fun build-around. After a pick-two Finders, Keepers, I spent the rest of the pack drafting controlling black cards and good Contraptions without committing to a second color.

I went into red after I opened Baron Von Count in my second pack, and ended up with a controlling, black/red, Contraption-themed deck. Somehow, I got my hands on Grusilda, Monster Masher; Infinity Elemental; and Steamflogger of the Month. What the heck.

I lost my first match to another black/red deck that dropped Hangman on turn one, twice. That card is a lot better than I would have thought. I won my next two matches, first against a blue/white deck and then another black/red one. The latter was sitting next to me, so I was surprised that he ended up in the same colors, but his deck was significantly more aggressive than mine.

Sadly, I never won a game with Baron Von Count nor Infinity Elemental. Grusilda did save me once in the nick of time, but the real all-stars of my deck were the seven removal spells, seven Contraptions, and six Contraption-assemblers.

Drafting an all-in Contraption deck was interesting. Like conspiracies, they generate “free” value, but you risk not having enough playables if you draft too many of them. Despite this, I ended up with a perfectly serviceable deck. I suspect it worked because I mostly stuck to Contraptions that generated card advantage (in retrospect, I should have cut Targeting Rocket).

I will say that going off with Contraptions was a ton of fun. Once the engine got rolling, the amount of value I generated was absurd. Playing with Unstable has solidified my desire to built a cube out of this set, and one of the things I’m most looking forward is playing with more Contraptions.

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Just watched today’s Game Knights episode, and I gotta say, Unstable looks really fun. If I get any money for Christmas that I can put towards Magic, I might just buy a whole box with an eye toward assembling an Unstable cube.

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4-0 at Standard today! W/U Spirits is still a fun and powerful deck.