FNM 9/20/19 - Road to Eldraine
Last night was my final sealed event of Core Set 2020 and I have to say even though I went 1-3 I was able to trade in a few cards towards two copies of Leyline of the Void to give me a playeset with the one I got when it first came out and another I pulled in my packs. I built Golgari but I had a pretty bad mana base and had to keep mulliganing. Plus I had 18 lands in my deck (I miscounted) so I kept getting land flooded in a few games. The last game of my fourth match was a big stalemate between me and my opponent until I decided to attack with everything causing him to block everything except for one creature so I could pump it up twice with two Growth Cycles. That got him down to one then I kept drawing land after land after land and there was no way for me to win so I just scooped. On another note my manager at work who I regularly see at the LGS I go to recently became a judge there so I’m going to be seeing him A LOT from now on. In between rounds I worked on my Elsha of the Infinite EDH deck (from the Flashback Commander deck) by sleeving it and making a few adjustments of my own. I might post the decklist once I get it to my liking. Next week is pre-release but I have to work so I’m going to miss but the week after which is release week I definitely plan to go if I’m not working. If not I plan to use the money I would have spent on singles from Throne of Eldraine. I have my eye on quite a few cards from the new set.
Now onto my thoughts about Throne of Eldraine. Overall it looks like a good set. I especially like the combination between Grimm’s fairy tales and Arthurian legends with the whole Knight theme. I definitely plan to draft knights at least a few times when this new set comes out. The one card I’m most excited for is this one here:
Even though it’ll most likely not see a ton of play in constructed I still like it for one reason: he’s a Piper. I don’t know if I mentioned this before but I’m a big wrestling fan and my all time favorite is the late great “Rowdy” Roddy Piper so I want to get all three versions of this card (black frame, no frame, and promo) for my collection to go with my Elvish Piper (the 8th Edition art with the bagpipes because Piper was half Scottish and played the bagpipes). I even found this edit on deviantart of him.
Now onto come cards for my Adeliz EDH deck (minus Arcane Signet of course). As soon as I saw these two I immediately knew they were going into my Adeliz wizard-tribal deck. With it built around instants and sorceries I can definitely make use of both of these. Gadwick because I have a lot of blue instants and sorceries and Irencrag Pyromancer because a lot of the cards have a low CMC and casting two spells in one turn should be no problem, even on my opponents’ turns.
This one I can definitely see going into my Yisan EDH deck just because it has a lot of strong creatures and mana sources. I’m still up in the air a little bit because it’ll take a while to get it out on the field even with Yisan’s ability assuming he doesn’t get killed by my opponents first.
Now onto this gem. I can definitely see this being a staple in Modern and EDH for the ability to get basic lands and then untap them if you control four or more lands. Right now in my Yisan EDH deck I’m running two dual fetches (I’m planning to get the other two once I get the money) and this will make a good addition. Plus I’ve heard that it might bring Prismatic Vista down a bit which I hope will happen.
And now this. The new Tocatli Honor Guard for Standard. She may have one less toughness but having flash AND the added effect of negating death triggers for the same CMC makes it a killer card, especially for sideboards.
And finally a reprint to keep one of the best cantrips in the game in Standard. I heard Jeskai might be making a comeback after rotation and if it does I can guarantee this card will see a lot of play.
Overall this is looking to be like one of the best sets in years in both limited and constructed. I got the ebook already and I can’t wait to start reading it. Last night I finished Ravnica: War of the Spark (R.I.P. Gideon) so I might start it tonight. I can’t wait for Throne of Eldraine to come out and get my hands on some of these cards.
