Season Results (April)

As I mentioned before, Magic Arena calls each month a season. This post captures my April performance.

Pulling stats from untapped.gg and capturing in a spreadsheet across different events:

This month, I continued to largely ignore standard ranked play and focused on constructed. As before, I had more fun without feeling the pressure to advance in the rankings.

Observations:

• I really like my mill deck, based on how frequently I play it. Oddly, blue is my least favorite, but most played, color.
• I played for 16 hours in April, three over my average. Yikes.

Fun times.

Framed

 Today, I received my order of "mystical archive" Strixhaven cards. They're both beautiful and annoying, for reasons I'll discuss below. But first, a primer on the Magic card frame.

Magic has had three main frames in its lifetime:

Frame 1 (1993-2003)

The classic look for the first decade, this first frame underwent a few changes in its 10-year run (like bolder print, set symbols, card numbers, and rarity colors), but retained the main look until . . .

Frame 2 (2003-2014)

Frame 2 was a major change, adding boxes to highlight name, type/set, and power/toughness. It would undergo a minor change with . . .

Frame 3 (2014-present)

Frame 3 made the black border a little smaller and changed the bottom to make the information machine-readable. It also added a foil stamp (not shown in the example) for rare and mythic cards.

[Dominaria (2018) added a minor border tweak for legendary creatures.]

Occasionally, there were cards with different frames released, but those were reserved for promos or special events, so these three above frames were how 99.999% of Magic cards looked.. Until 2019.

In 2019, Wizards made a major announcement relevant to frames: the addition of new frame treatments: borderless planeswalker cards, extended art cards, and "showcase" cards:

The first two are intuitive (and I really like them). The showcase cards started with Throne of Eldraine. From the above link, these cards are "not actually one treatment but a catch-all term to cover a variety of different treatments. Here's what a showcase card will be. For each set, we're going to come up with one or more cool treatments that embody the spirit of the set." These showcase cards are variations, produced in addition to the normal frames. I show Eldraine's showcase look above; below are some others from subsequent sets. Note how each has a different frame, and the art itself is of a unique style:

Since Eldraine, each set has had between 16-40 showcase variants (according to this site). Strixhaven, in place of showcase cards, has 60+ "mystical archive" cards, which look completely different. Check one out:

I like it! But I don't. While it is done well, it 'clashes' with the standard frames (and showcase variants). I deliberately provided only green cards as examples today, and you can see just how different they all look- imagine having a hand full of them in a game. They're functionally identical, but aesthetically clashing. 

A friend mentioned that he wishes these new frames would be limited to a separate, self-contained set. I agree. And, in fact, I think Wizards is heading that direction, with their recent announcement to handle licensed properties (like Warhammer and Lord of the Rings) with separate sets and new frames. They'll look different but have the same mechanics of regular Magic. But they'll be self-contained, and that's the important bit. 

Silly as it sounds, part of Magic's draw is the card frame and art. The mechanics alone are excellent and admirable, but the presentation matters, too. So while I enjoy the different treatments we've been seeing in their own way, it's producing a visual mess when the cards are played in the same deck. (And I imagine it's also confusing new players.) But time will tell how this pans out.

Set Release Notes

 The latest Magic expansion, Strixhaven, released today. As I perused the new cards, I came to an unfamiliar expression: "mana value" (see Spectacle Mage below for an example). Wondering if that was a new way of saying "converted mana cost," I turned to the Strixhaven release notes for the answer.

Release notes come out for every Magic set. Their purpose is explained well in the Strixhaven release notes link previously presented:

The Release Notes include information concerning the release of a new Magic: The Gathering set, as well as a collection of clarifications and rulings involving that set's cards. It's intended to make playing with the new cards more fun by clearing up the common misconceptions and confusion inevitably caused by new mechanics and interactions. As future sets are released, updates to the Magic rules may cause some of this information to become outdated. Go to Magic.Wizards.com/Rules to find the most up-to-date rules.

I never paid much attention to release notes, but I'm starting to. They confirmed my suspicion about mana value:

Strixhaven introduces the new rules term mana value. On cards and rules, wherever you previously would have seen "converted mana cost," you'll now see "mana value." They have the same definition. We're retiring the older term in favor of a shorter and hopefully more approachable alternative.

I like both the explanation and rationale- it's helpful to get some insight into the reason for the change. I also appreciate the clarifications and explanations of new mechanics. Of course, you could always consult the 250-page comprehensive rules for this information, but release notes provide a focused summary targeted to questions people will likely have about the new set. So start there.

Here are release notes from some recent standard expansion sets (2020-onwards):

- Theros Beyond Death

- Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths

- Core Set 2021

- Zendikar Rising

- Kaldheim

- Strixhaven: School of Mages

Take advantage of resources like this. 

Strixhaven Sealed

 

With Strixhaven's release, Arena is running a Sealed event. Fun! As my favorite limited format, I participated two times.

Sealed 1
Record: 0-3
This blue-red deck fell completely flat.

Deck

1 Oggyar Battle-Seer (STX) 209

7 Mountain (STX) 373

7 Island (STX) 369

1 Elemental Summoning (STX) 183

1 Spectacle Mage (STX) 235

1 Rootha, Mercurial Artist (STX) 227

1 Prismari Command (STX) 214

2 Prismari Campus (STX) 270

1 Frostboil Snarl (STX) 265

1 Shock (STA) 44

1 Claim the Firstborn (STA) 37

1 Storm-Kiln Artist (STX) 115

1 Urza's Rage (STA) 47

1 Enthusiastic Study (STX) 99

1 Negate (STA) 18

2 Bury in Books (STX) 39

1 Solve the Equation (STX) 54

1 Mentor's Guidance (STX) 46

1 Reject (STX) 50

3 Curate (STX) 40

1 Zephyr Boots (STX) 261

1 Environmental Sciences (STX) 1

1 Letter of Acceptance (STX) 256

1 Fuming Effigy (STX) 103

Sealed 2
Record: 3-3

A white-black deck worked okay, but had to be played aggressively to have a shot.

Deck

1 Introduction to Annihilation (STX) 3

1 Introduction to Prophecy (STX) 4

1 Expanded Anatomy (STX) 2

1 Environmental Sciences (STX) 1

1 Shineshadow Snarl (STX) 272

1 Silverquill Campus (STX) 273

1 Silverquill Apprentice (STX) 231

1 Beaming Defiance (STX) 9

7 Plains (STX) 367

1 Inkling Summoning (STX) 195

1 Spiteful Squad (STX) 237

1 Owlin Shieldmage (STX) 210

1 Professor's Warning (STX) 84

1 Unwilling Ingredient (STX) 90

1 Agonizing Remorse (STA) 24

1 Arrogant Poet (STX) 63

2 Essence Infusion (STX) 69

1 Hunt for Specimens (STX) 73

2 Promising Duskmage (STX) 85

1 Baleful Mastery (STX) 64

1 Tenured Inkcaster (STX) 88

1 Professor of Symbology (STX) 24

8 Swamp (STX) 371

1 Expel (STX) 18

1 Defend the Campus (STX) 12

1 Pillardrop Rescuer (STX) 23

1 Devastating Mastery (STX) 14

First impression: Strixhaven was fun but hard to figure out. The 'Learn' mechanic profits from having lesson cards in your sideboard, which was much harder to guarantee in a sealed environment. I want to explore the set more through drafting. 

Turbo Draft

Another day, another Magic format. This time, Arena was running an event called Turbo Draft. This follows the standard limited rules (drafting from three packs) save one:

With spells costing so much less, it certainly sped up things. I did this event once and went 5-3 with the following deck:

1 Pheres-Band Brawler (THB) 193

2 Aspect of Lamprey (THB) 85

1 Rage-Scarred Berserker (THB) 113

2 Nyxborn Colossus (THB) 191

1 Relentless Pursuit (THB) 195

2 Inspire Awe (THB) 175

1 Cling to Dust (THB) 87

1 Traveler's Amulet (THB) 240

1 Nylea's Intervention (THB) 188

1 Renata, Called to the Hunt (THB) 196

1 Nylea's Forerunner (THB) 186

1 Setessan Training (THB) 201

1 Plummet (THB) 194

1 Altar of the Pantheon (THB) 231

1 Agonizing Remorse (THB) 83

2 Pharika's Libation (THB) 111

1 Elspeth's Nightmare (THB) 91

1 Blight-Breath Catoblepas (THB) 86

1 Funeral Rites (THB) 97

1 Omen of the Hunt (THB) 192

1 Enemy of Enlightenment (THB) 92

7 Swamp (SLD) 105

8 Forest (SLD) 108

This was fun. I much prefer it over the Omniscience Draft. Two observations:

• Having reduced (but not zero) cost was a good twist, and not as crazy as Omniscience. Lands still mattered, as did colored mana cost portion (since the cost reduction affected only the "mana of any color" porstion of spells).
• In fact, cards that had three or more mana symbols in their cost were much harder to play than one would have thought. For this event, choose spells with no more than two mana symbols in their casting cost.
• Colorless artifacts were good to play, since many of them had their cost reduced to zero.

Turn 3 Win

Ignoring concessions, how quickly can one win a Magic game? I mean number of turns. It is possible, apparently, to win on "Turn 0"- check out this deck or this one for that insanity- but I'm talking decks that are still legal (in any format). 

I can tell you only that I've won as quickly as Turn 3, using the following cards/tactics:

Turn 1: 

- play land + Gingerbrute

- attack with Gingerbrute for 1 damage

Turn 2: 

- play land + Syr Faren

- attack with Gingerbrute for 1 damage

Turn 3:

- play land + Titanic Growth + Giant Growth (both on Syr Faren)

- attack with Gingerbrute and Syr Faren (whose ability boosts the Brute) for 18 damage

Boom.

Of course, I pulled this off only one time. It was a combination of perfect card draw plus an opponent playing a control deck that hadn't gotten going yet. I don't anticipate it happening often, but it was fun to win so quickly.

This was an aggro deck; playing other types of decks (like mill or control) can take much longer. The fastest I've milled someone is turn 5.

Though these quick wins are fun, I'm glad they're rare. The fun of the game is suspense and interaction; games that end so quickly are a novelty but would quickly become annoying if common.