More IzzetClops

By now I hope you've seen my article over at PureMTGO.com discussing the IzzetClops deck I'm currently playing in the Hipsters of the Coast Standard Pauper Event. While my Week One match ended in a loss, I have been fairly successful in practice matches with the deck. For today's post, I thought I would treat you to a video Deck Tech for this particular deck as well as my most recent practice match as I prepare for my match in Week Two.

 

 

Hope you enjoyed the videos. Don't forget, you can get a sneak peek at my matches from this event before they are officially published over on YouTube.com. Simply search for "gwyned42," select one of my videocasts, and click the Subscribe button.  You can also keep up with everything I'm doing for this event on Twitter at the username gwyned42; check out my profile here and click on Follow.

Thanks for reading and watching. See you soon.

Emergency Espresso Repair

While I have blogged quite a bit about two of my favorite passions - Magic the Gathering and fantasy literature - there is one subject that I have been silent on thus far. And that, as you might guess from the title and picture, is espresso. Like my father, I am a true coffee-snob, preferring my own hand-crafted roasted espresso beans prepared fresh in my own grinder, extracted via an Italian made espresso machine, and enjoyed blended with hot milk.

But over the last week or so, the worst happened. My espresso pours were drastically declining in quality. Rather than the thick, luscious golden crema, my pours were little more than dark sludge. After some troubleshooting, I decided that my water pump must be going out. I began dreaming of the brand new machine I would purchase. Eventually, however, the price tag associated with my dream machine brought me back to reality, and I decided instead to see if I couldn't fix whatever malady had affected my machine.

After some research through my friend Google, I discovered that my problem was not uncommon. As it turns out, Gaggias are prone to a scale buildup inside the three-way solenoid valve that the espresso machine uses to limit the amount of excess water that runs through the group head. I soon stumbled upon a blogpost detailing the exact same problem I was having, as well as a step-by-step illustrated guide to cleaning out said valve.

Two screws later, and I was in.

Without much difficulty, I unclipped the proper hose, loosened and remove the nut and washer, and lifted off the magnet, exposing the brass valve in question. Said valve was, unfortunately, attached with two hex screws within a very tight space. Removing them was tough; getting them back on was nearly impossible. But eventually I was able to extract it.

If you look closely, you can see the mineral buildup inside the lower of the two holes in the valve. That's where the water passes through, and apparently it takes very little scaling to clog it up. Using a Q-tip, I cleaned out both holes, then somehow survived the arduous task of getting my massive hands to squeeze back inside the machine to refasten the valve with the hex screws, then put everything back together again.

Just to make certain all was clean, I purchased some descaling treatment especially for espresso machines, and made sure to run it through the entire system several times.

Then came the moment of truth. Had all my work paid off? 

Ah! Success!! While not my best pour ever, this is significantly better than anything I've been able to pull over the past week or so. In all my troubleshooting, I adjusted my grind several times, so it will take some time to get everything dialed back in correctly. I also refilled the tank with distilled water, which I will use exclusively from now own to help keep down the scaling. 

Even as I write this I am sipping my freshly brewed latte, and all is once again right with the world!

See you next time.

Updates and Info

For today's post I have two pieces off information that I want to make sure I get out to my readers.

First, I have just submitted my introductory article over at PureMTGO.com for the Hipsters of the Coast Standard Pauper event. If you want to keep up with this great event, make sure you keep up with my weekly articles over at PureMTGO for the duration. As soon as it's published, the article should be available here.

Second, way back in February I mentioned that MTGOstrat.com was a decent source of information for Standard Pauper. Earlier this summer, the main content producer Dan wrote an entire article on the Flickergate deck and how it stacks up against the field in Standard Pauper. Despite the release of Magic 2014 since then, the content is still very relevant. Considering that this deck archetype continues to achieve strong finishes, I strongly suggest you check this out. To whet your appetite, here is a video where he discusses the deck.

That's it for now. If you are on Magic Online late this afternoon (EDT), you might be able to catch me playing out my match against rbernardinello for the first week of the Hipsters event. If not, next time you're online, send me a Standard Pauper match challenge! I always enjoy the chance to get to interact with other Standard Pauper players.

See you next time.

Two Important Announcements

Today I have two important announcements to call to your attention, especially if you are a devotee of Standard Pauper.

First of all, for those of you who are planning on participating in the Hipsters of the Coast Standard Pauper event, by now you should have received an E-mail confirming the start of the event. Included in that E-mail is the contact info you will need to contact your opponent for this week. Don't forget that you only have until next Monday at noon to complete your first round match. For this week I will be submitted an article to PureMTGO.com for an introduction to this event and will begin videocasting my matches, so be sure and keep an eye on my Twitter feed for when those go live. Frankly, it is amazing that this event has drawn over 150 players from 15 different countries!

Second, I am delighted to announce that a new Standard Pauper event will be coming in the near future. While plans are still being finalized, I will be hosting a special "league-style" Player Run Event that will run in four week "blocks" and capped off with a massive Swiss-style event once a month. Currently, I have secured sponsorship for this monthly event for prizes up to $100 in value. Given the massive participation we're seeing with the Hipsters of the Coast event, I believe this has the potential to be very successful. But here's what I need for you:

I would like to make this event accessible to both European and American players. Obviously, with a "league-style" format, the weekly matches won't be a problem. But, for the once-a-month capstone event, I am hoping to find a time that will work for both audiences, most likely on a weekend.  Given that this audience spans somewhere around eight time zones, this will be quite a challenge!

So, if you are interested in something like this, let me know in the comments what would be a good time and day of the week for this capstone event. Remember, the goal is to make it accessible to both an American and European audience.

Thanks for reading!

Another Standard Pauper Tournament, Part 2

Last time, I wrote about a brand new, upcoming "league-style" Standard Pauper tournament starting next week, sponsored by none other than The Hipsters of the Coast. Shortly before writing that blog post, I contacted Zachary Barash, the host of the event, to register and to make a special offer to him related to the event.

Here's what I originally wrote:

... I was curious if you would be open to additional sponsorship. I would like to offer the following incentive: if we get at least 40 players participating,  I will throw in an additional booster pack each week for another random participant. If we fall short of that goal, I will still give out a foil Standard Pauper card each week valued at least 25 cents (even most foil Standard Commons rarely top out above 30 cents). I am also planning on videocasting my matches and blogging and/or writing an article about this event over at PureMTGO.com.

Obviously, I believe this is a great opportunity, and one which I will gladly support by putting my money where my mouth is and doing whatever I can to make this a success. But I had no idea just how popular this event had already become. Here's the response that I received from Zach:

Thank you so much for the kind words, your post, and your generous offer.  I'm happy to accept, though I must warn you—we've already topped fifty participants. You're welcome to videocast, blog, and continue to write about this (I'll be streaming and writing about it, as well).

So much for my incentive! Even without offering, we're already well past the 40 participant threshold! Nonetheless, my offer still stands. Each week, I will be donating a different booster from a Standard legal set to the host to give out to another random player.  And, as I said, I will be video-casting each of my matches and contributing a weekly article to PureMTGO.com each week covering this event.

And since so many MTGO players out there are planning on participating in this event, I'd love to hear what you think is the strongest deck in the format and why you think that. I'm personally playing with a couple different builds and testing them out, so between now and then you'll find me in the Just For Fun room on Magic Online playing lots of Standard Pauper. Hope to see you there!

Another Standard Pauper Tournament

Today, while I was browsing the Standard forum over at PDCMagic.com, I came across this post by former Standard Pauper player JMason. Apparently Hipsters of the Coast, a well known Magic blog based in Brooklyn, New York, is hosting a special Standard Pauper tournament beginning next week. While billed as a tournament, it is much more like a league, with multiple weeks of rounds with each player having a week to play out their match against their assigned opponent. And, best of all, here is the final prize up for grabs:

 

Yes, that's right, nothing less than a Revised paper copy of Taiga. In addition the host will be awarded prizes each week to a randomly selected player, so everyone has a decent chance of coming out ahead. And, with the ability to play out each week's match on your own time, and given that the tournament costs nothing other than the meager cost of sleeving up a virtual Standard Pauper deck, what have you got to lose?

I encourage you to check out the whole article here for full details. But here's my abbreviated summary:

• Signup by E-mail by Monday, August 19th at noon EDT to hotczach@gmail.com. Include your name, E-mail address, MTGO username, and nation of origin.
• Each round plays out Monday to Monday. You are notified of your opponent, and then have a week to schedule your match, play it out, and report the results back to the host, including a screen-cap of the victory pop-up if you are the winner of the match.
• Make sure you're match is using the Standard Pauper filter, 30 mins, and watchable.
• You can use whatever deck you wish, and even change it up as you go, but don't use any outside information to next-level your opponent - meaning, don't "pre-Sideboard" against a known opponent's deck.

That's it! Pretty simple. If you read this blog and are at all familiar with Magic Online and Standard Pauper, I strongly encourage you to participate. In fact, I am planning on some special incentives for this event, which I will announce on Thursday. This is going to be a great event, so don't miss it!

Edit: Don't miss my update to this event, including expanded prizes sponsored by yours truly. Check it out here!

Standard Peasant Event Part Two

Last time, I wrote about a special event I participated in using the Standard Peasant format. In case you're not familiar with that format, Peasant is similar to Pauper in that it utilizes only Commons, with the caveat that between your Sideboard and main deck you may include up to 5 Uncommons. Standard Peasant, then, is the Peasant format but limited only to the Standard cardpool. Got that straight now?

With the ability to run this small number of Uncommons, the format is certainly defined by the Uncommons that are played, and in this particular case, the Uncommons that were considered Commons due to their printing as a Common in an earlier set. Like I mentioned last time, I made the choice to build around the Uncommon powerhouse Corrupt. Here is the deck that I ran in this event:

MonoB Peasant

by gwyned

Creatures 4 Bloodhunter Bat 4 Dead Reveler 4 Highborn Ghoul 3 Servant of Nefarox 3 Vampire Nighthawk 2 Sengir Vampire 20 cards Other Spells 4 Doom Blade 4 Quag Sickness 4 Sign in Blood 4 Stab Wound 2 Corrupt 18 cards

Lands 19 Swamp 3 Haunted Fengraf 22 cards Sideboard 3 One-Eyed Scarecrow 3 Mark of the Vampire 3 Duress 3 Devour Flesh 3 Tormod's Crypt 15 cards

While I initially thought I had a pretty strong build, I was somewhat disappointed with my results.  I ended up going 2-2, losing both Round 3 of Swiss and Top 8. I faced two very aggressive decks in Round 1 and 2, surviving thanks to the ample Lifegain available to this deck. Then in Round 3 I was demolished by a Hexproof deck that I really had no answers to. Then, in Top 8, I drew poorly and really never got going against a fast Selesnya deck.

If I ran this deck again, I would probably cut the Sengir Vampires for more removal and included four copies of Shrivel in the Sideboard. Shrivel would have been absolutely back-breaking against all three of the decks I faced in the Swiss rounds, and its absence was clearly a mistake on my part. It is also worth looking at the other Mono-Black deck ran by Malum for some other ideas worth trying out.

In any case, for your viewing please, I have included a videocast of my Round 1 match. I hope you enjoy watching it, and I will see you next time!

Standard Peasant Event

As I've mentioned in previous posts, one of the best sources of information in the world of Pauper is pdcmagic.com, which hosts all manner of formats related to Commons. One such format is Peasant, which utilizes the same restrictions as Classic Pauper, with the exception that you may also include a total of 5 Uncommons between your main deck and Sideboard. Malum hosts this event, and you find more information about it in the Season Document or on his articles over at PureMTGO.com.

Earlier this week, to celebrate the end of another season, Malum held a special Standard Peasant event. Essentially, this was the same format as Classic Peasant, but utilizing the Standard format legal cards alone. However, the format also came with a special twist. Here's the relevant blurb taken from Malum's most recent article:

Let me give a bit of context. Back before Magic Online included an official Standard Pauper filter, there were a small subset of Commons that would show up as being both "Standard" and "Common" legal, even though these cards were not actually printed at Common in the current Standard cardpool. Even worse, such cards tended to be quite powerful, including such powerhouses as Corrupt, Oblivion Ring, and Rancor. But within the context of this event, these cards would not only be legal, but were not subject to the 5 card restriction for Uncommons.

Naturally, it only made sense to build around one of these powerful cards. Can you guess which one I picked?

MonoB Peasant

by gwyned

Creatures 4 Bloodhunter Bat 4 Dead Reveler 4 Highborn Ghoul 3 Servant of Nefarox 3 Vampire Nighthawk 2 Sengir Vampire 20 cards Other Spells 4 Doom Blade 4 Quag Sickness 4 Sign in Blood 4 Stab Wound 2 Corrupt 18 cards

Lands 19 Swamp 3 Haunted Fengraf 22 cards Sideboard 3 One-Eyed Scarecrow 3 Mark of the Vampire 3 Duress 3 Devour Flesh 3 Tormod's Crypt 15 cards

This coming Thursday I'll post more about this deck and share how I did in the event. But until then, I'd love to hear what you think of this build? Should I have included fewer creatures and more spells? Was two copies of Corrupt enough? Did I miss any obvious inclusions?

See you next time.

Best Deal Event Part 2

Last time, I wrote about a special Player Run Event held a couple weeks ago. It was a Standard Pauper tournament sponsored by the BestDeal clan on Magic Online. While attendance was quite sparse, the prize up for grabs was nothing less than an entire playset of Standard Commons, so of course I had to compete!

Anomulus, my first round opponent, recorded quite a bit of content regarding his decklist and matches. Last week I shared with you his deck-tech video and the first round match he played against me. Today, I want to share with you a quick primer on the decklist I ran as well as giving you the opportunity to see the first round from my perspective. Enjoy!

Well that's it for this week. Sorry for the delay - yet again! - in getting this content out. With a new job and new house, there's just so much to get done! Still, I will do my best to get new content out as quickly as I can. So until next time, thanks for reading.