Why you should be excited for M13:

- The fall of Titans: This is the biggie. While Titans have largely been the face of standard for the last two years, I will be sad to see them go. It's refreshing to know that no matter what color you choose, there would always be a solid option for a 6 drop. The titans themselves were always unbalanced. There are two camps for the Titans:

Combo:

Prime Time (by far the largest offender)

Sun Titan

Value:

Grave Titan

Inferno Titan

Frost Titan

The problem with these guys is that they are largely unbalanced. For example, I built a Blue/Green ramp deck, and was picking out my options. Frost titan was a shoe in, but if I wanted Prime Time, I would have to build an engine with him. For example, I would have to consider splashing red for Kessig Wolf Run. The same is true for Sun Titan, sure, a 6/6 vigilance for 6 is 'fine', but compared to the other titans or, say, Elesh Norn, he is quite underwhelming. You have to build a deck to take advantage of his 'real' ability.

Overall, I will miss the 'value' camp of Titans, but say good riddance to the 'Combo' Titans. I do hope they return, but perhaps only part of the cycle at a time.

- Awesome reprints!: This is a big one as well, since depending on the returning cards you might see some returning players. For example, one friend I know hasn’t played since Nocturnus was in Standard, since he was upset he ended up losing $30 each (and he has a playset). Now, with his return (not to mention Nighthawk), he can just resleeve those guys and get back into the game relatively simply.

Some of the awesome reprints coming back are:

- Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker

- Vampire Nocturnus

- Vampire Nighthawk

- Battle of Wits (seriously, I love cards like these)

- Door to Nothingness, along with:

- Guilded Lotus

- Mutilate

- Serra Avenger

- Rancor

- Tormod's Crypt

- Duress

- Rewind

- Planar Cleansing

- Ground Seal

So we have a pretty sweet lineup for our older players out there. You have Rancor for the aggro guys, Rewind and Mutilate for control players, Door and Battle of Wits for combo dudes, Tormod's Crypt and Ground Seal doing some work for graveyard hate. But I'm very ecstatic about Guilded Lotus, that card will fuel some combo and control decks, like hitting that Bolas early, or making Door to Nothingness way easier to achieve.

Money - This is a great money set. Here, I'll let the numbers do the talking:

Average Mythic Value - $12.65 (*Fun fact - the two new walkers are fetching the top prices here)
Average Rare Value - $2.21 (*Fun fact - This is a very high number, considering there is no $10 plus rare, [i.e. no Snapcaster or Cavern slot])
Average Rare Slot Value - $3.5 (This is generally your average pack value. This does not include commons/uncommons, but generally they are of nominal value.)

So basically, if you bought 100 packs at $3 a pack, you would likely make $50 bucks profit. This does not include foils, so you are also buying a chance at hitting a foil walker, which is usually worth it anyways. You can read my article about this is you want to know more.

Exalted Returns: One of the better but not broken mechanics, Exalted makes us rethink how we normally attack with creatures. This is a fun yet somewhat challenging mechanic to master.

Nicol Bolas: Yes, he gets his own spot. He is lightyears better than Karn, and he has been getting play too. Easy to cast now with Guilded lotus, I foresee many a Grixis control deck featuring this end game boss.

M13 - Quick Math

As of today there are 193 spoiled cards for M13.  Granted, most of the money cards are likely spoiled, but here is this set's "Quick Math" thus far:

M13
Average Mythic Value - $12.65 (*Fun fact - the two new walkers are fetching the top prices here)
Average Rare Value - $2.21 (*Fun fact - This is a very high number, considering there is no $10 plus rare, [i.e. no Snapcaster or Cavern slot])
Average Rare Slot Value - $3.5 (This is generally your average pack value.  This does not include commons/uncommons, but generally they are of nominal value.)

Average of $3.50 a pack?  Sounds pretty nice!  Heres a comparison of the Avacyn Restored values in case you were wondering:

Average Mythic Value - $9.69(* Fun Fact -Tons of 10 buck plus mythics here - Grislebrand, Avacyn, Bonfire, Sigerda, Entreat, Tamiyo, Temporal)
Average Rare Value - $2.04 (*Fun fact - Vexing Devil is only $5.99 now, and doomed to plummet even further.)
Average Rare Slot Value - $3

This is mostly due to the 25% price increase before a set hits, but still its pretty certain that M13 will be a money set, due to the fact that Avacyn Restored is also a money set.  Want a example of a poor set?  Let's look at Mirrodin Besieged:

Average Mythic Value - $6.80 (*Tezz is only $7 bucks!)
Average Rare Value - $1.18  (*Fun fact - Green Sun's Zenith is still high at $10, but Inkmoth has dropped from $15 to $5.)
Average Rare Slot Value - $1.88

Quite a bit of difference!  You'd have to get 2 packs of Mirrodin Besieged for the price of one pack of M13 for it to be worth your while. (and still I would'nt recommend it.)

Stay tuned for a short M13 set review/prerelease primer next week.  Enjoy the math!

Marks of Misery Update

Been working on Marks of Misery a bit on my mini-vacation.  I have two trial decks ready to go, so we will be starting the Alpha testing next week.  I did a little PvP "solitaire" and found that the battles ended way too quickly, like 1 to 2 mins tops.  Also, if dailys were to be allowed (Which wouldn't make any sense) it would matter on who won the die roll, and thats no fun.  The following rules are to be set into place prior to the alpha testing regarding PvP:

- Daily cards are banned.

- Encounter cards are optional.  (I'd recommend a ruling that had them do 1/2 damage if you use them)

- Cards that force players to skip turns or attack phases instead reduce the damage dealt next turn by 50%.  (Example: Ray of Frost)

- All status effects are subject to a saving throw, whether or not the card calls for one.

- Players start with 2 healing surges. These can be used normally.

After we do some testing, I'd expect some changes to this, as we are only in the Alpha stage of testing.

I also created a template for a Character Sheet.  I went into this project wanting a clear, concise form of data.  I ended up leaving too much info out, such as the Luck stat, and the Healing Surges, but here is the first draft of it:

The goal is to use this to capture all of the needed data, and use cards for the rest (spells, equipment, etc).  I might even use healing surge counters or cards to reduce the clutter on these sheets.  The sheets need to be as user friendly as possible and as simple as can be.

Last post, I spoiled two of the "At-Will" cards.  Those are cards that will be in your physical deck.  You will also have access to Encounter and Daily cards.  These are different as you have access to them at anytime.  They also exhaust when used, taking some time to refresh.  Think of them as "cooldowns" on World of Warcraft.  The encounter ones will reset after each battle, but the daily ones are only available once per dungeon!

Here are two spoilers/examples of this:

Finally, I will present a diagram that might clear up any questions about the cards themselves:

As always, feedback is appreciated!

Marks of Misery (plus spoilers!)

Introduction

Had some requests about my custom tabletop/TCG, Marks of Misery.  Its currently in the alpha stage but planning to move into the beta stage testing sometime next month.  As such, I cannot reveal to many details.  But here's a few facts and the first spoilers!

Game Facts

- Magic/TCG/D&D fusion, with some Torio flair here and there.
- Smaller deck sizes, currently looking at 20-30 card "At-Will" decks.
- Earn new skills and equipment as you progress through the game, giving you the option of building your character as you see fit.
- Currently up to 6 classes to choose from and over 200 skills. (expect these numbers to continue to grow)
- Earn rare loots!  From rare equipment to rare spells, there is a ton of different ways to max your characters abilities.
- Choose your own skills!  If you are a wizard, you can build an all-fire deck, maximizing your damage against cold creatures.  Or you can opt to use some of each element, giving you more options.  The choice is up to you!

Products

So far, the only way to obtain cards for this game will be:
- Starter Decks
- Dungeon Expansions (more on this later)
- Winning "in-game" loot rolls
- Completing "in-game" quests
- Participating in PvP events

In closing/SPOILERS!

As far as the cards, which is roughly 40% of the game, I used MSE2 and the VS. card frames.  I wanted something different than the same old magic borders, and the VS. card frames did the trick. 

And here is the first official spoilers for Marks of Misery.  Let me know what you think, and I just might reveal more about this exciting project...

Introducing: The SPG Cube

Hey guys,

I'm working on a ton of projects this month.  Between logging in 40 hours a week at work, from various side-jobs from web design to business management, attempting to hit 6 or so hours a week into D3, working on Marks of Misery (my upcoming D&D based card game), working on custom sets, keeping the SPG group alive and fresh with different, fun ways to play TCG's (did a Avacyn Restored draft last week and doing Planechase all this week), keeping up with M13 spoilers, trying to marathon Big Bang Theory, well, let's just say I've been keeping pretty busy. 

Yet another simultaneous endeavor I'm currently amidst is creating the SPG Cube.  Cube is a pretty vague term for a collection of cards that are carefully selected and put into a box (cube) and used to play Magic with, primary limited formats.  Cubes can be various sizes but for our group I'm aiming for a 275-300 card cube, since rarely will there be more than 6 players at one time.  Most cubes select the best cards throughout the history of Magic, making the Cube format a random yet very potent format.  I plan to keep the power level pretty high, but keeping the majority of the cards within the recent years (mostly Zendikar+, with some notable exceptions).  If you've been following on facebook I have been polling on some suggestions for possible Cube inclusions.  For example, I asked for a Zendikar card of each color at the uncommon rarity and more than likely the top votes will see play in the cube!  Most of the cards in the cube will be the definitive high power cards like the Titans, but doing community votes like these will help bring variety in the power level for our cube.

I'm still going to be adding more cards and tweaking it until the end of the month, but here is the cube so far:

Green (26)

Primeval Titan
Birds of Paradise
Llanowar Elf
Viridian Corruptor
Arbor Elf
Avacyn's Pilgrim
Fauna Shaman
River Boa
Strangleroot Geist
Wolfir Avenger
Obstinate Baloth
Oracle of Mul Daya
Thrun, the Last Troll
Acidic Slime
Wolfir Silverheart
Krosan Tusker*
Avenger of Zendikar
Terastadon
Vines of the Vastwood
Explore
Rampant Growth
Beast Within
Cultivate
Garruk Wildspeaker
Garruk Relentless
Green Sun's Zenith

blue (23)

Mana Leak
ponder
Preordain
Frost Titan
Delver of Secrets
Snapcaster Mage
Phantasmal Image
Sea Gate Oracle
Fettergeist
Dungeon Geists
Mist Raven
Phyrexian Metamorph
Sphinx of Lost Truths
Inkwell Leviathan
Spell Pierce
Counterspell
Jace Beleren
Deep Analysis*
Jace, the Mind Sculptor
Tamiyo, the Moon Sage
Time Warp
Voltlion Reins
Sphinx of Jwar Isle

Red (33)

Lightning Bolt
Burst Lightning
Inferno Titan
Goblin Guide
Grim Lavamancer
Vexing Devil
Spikeshot Elder
Stromkirk Noble
Ember Hauler
Goblin Wardriver
Plated Geopede
Kargan Dragonlord
Hellspark Elemental
Stormblood Berserker
Ball Lightning
Chandra's Phoenix
Goblin Ruinblaster
Hellrider
Hound of Griselbrand
Archwing Dragon
Siege-Gang Commander
zealous Conscripts
Faithless Looting
Arc Trail
Incinerate
Searing Blaze
Brimstone Volley
Chaos Warp
Staggershock
Molten Rain*
Chandra the Firebrand
Chandra Nalaar
Devil's Play

Black (25)
Doom Blade
Go for the Throat
Black Sun's Zenith
Grave Titan
Diregraf Ghoul
Pulse Tracker
Vampire Lacerator
Bloodghast
Gatekeeper of Malakir
nantuko Shade
Vampire Nighthawk
Hypnotic Specter
Geralf's Messenger
Abyssal Persecutor
Phyrexian Obliterator
Bloodgift Demon
Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief
Unburial Rites
Sheoldred, the Whispering One
Duress
Tragic Slip
Dismember
Barter in Blood
Liliana Vess
Sorin Markov

White (25)
Baneslayer Angel
Day of Judgement
Terminus
Sun Titan
Oblivion Ring
Path to Exile
Elite Vanguard
Student of Warfare
Wall of Omens
Lone Missionary
Stoneforge Mystic
Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
Mirran Crusadar
Fiend Hunter
Blade Splicer
Hero of Bladehold
Restoration Angel
Angel of Jubilation
Condemn
Journey to Nowhere
Honor of the Pure
Lingering Souls
ajani Goldmane
Gideon Jura
White Sun's Zenith

Gold (12)
wall of Denial
Havengul Lich
Bloodbraid Elf
Venser the Sojourner
Sarakan the Mad
Terminate
Blightning
Edric, Spymaster of Trest
Glissa, the Traitor
Putrid Leech
Qasali Pridemage
Unmake*


Artifact (22)
Sword of War and Peace
Sword of Feast and Famine
Sword of Body and Mind
Eldrazi Monument
karn Liberated
Mindslaver
Ratchet Bomb
Duplicant*
Palladium Myr
Myr Battlesphere
Molten-Tail Masticore
spellskite
wurmcoil Engine
Phyerxian Revoker
Everflowing Chalice
Sphere of the Suns
Manalith
Basilisk Collar
Batterskull
Lightning Greaves*
Mortarpod
Tumble Magnet

Land (24)
Fetches
Terramorphic
Evolving Wilds
Shimmering Grotto
Core Duals
Manlands WW
Hailimar Depths
Shards Tri lands

*Pre Alara card deemed needed in this format.

Avacyn Restored Primer

No fancy setup, no pics, no links.

Just raw data this time around.  Wasnt even going to do this but this is mainly for myself to check back on prices and such.  If you get some knowledge or entertainment out of it thats great and all, but I'm pretty much done trying to impress others and instead I'm just going to use this for research purposes.

Avacyn, Angel of Hope
Current Price $14.99
Short Term $10-12
Long Term $8-15

Notes: Reanimation target.  Not impressive, but that might change next rotation.

Bonfire of the Damned
Current Price $5.99 and out of stock
Short Term $4-6
Long Term $2-4

Notes: Powerful miracle, way overpriced otherwise.  Great for fighting off lingering souls tokens either way.

Bruna, Light of Alabaster
Current Price $5.99
Short Term $4-7
Long Term $4-6

Notes: Commander.  No noteworthy auras in standard currently, but might be of use if some auras break out.  Otherwise meh for standard

Entreat the Angels
Current Price $5.99 and out of stock
Short Term $3-5
Long Term $2-4

Notes: Horrible anytime in the early time.  Worse than Decree of Justice nearly all the time.  Limited uses in standard.

Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
Current Price $7.99 and i dont know why
Short Term $3-5
Long Term $3-5

Notes: Decent commander.  Fair reanimation target.  Feels like too much of a gamble since she's so weak to nearly all removal.

Griselbrand
Current Price $9.99
Short Term $7-9
Long Term $6-9

Notes: Reanimation of course.  I wrote off that draw 7 until I seen it in action.  It does some major work. Interested to see what becomes of it.


Misthollow Griffin
Current Price $4.99
Short Term $4-6
Long Term $4-6

Notes: Two uses in legacy already, pitch to force of will or use in food chain combo.  Laughs at O-Ring.  Seems like a solid contender to me. 

Sigarda, Host of Herons
Current Price $14.99
Short Term $10-15
Long Term $10-25

Notes: Superb in Commander.  Green Sun Zenith target.  Laughs at Barter in Blood, Liliana, Geth's Verdict, Killing Wave, Tribute to Hunger, etc.  Hard to deal with her!  Great card all around and will hold some value or tick up later on.

Tamiyo, the Moon Sage
Current Price $39.99
Short Term $25-35
Long Term $15-20

Notes: Love this card but I've seen it enough to know better: shes way overpriced.  Look forward to seeing it do some work in U/G Ramp/tempo

Temporal Mastery
Current Price $39.99
Short Term $39.99
Long Term $30-50

Notes: Pretty safe bet that this card will do some damage to legacy, up to and including bannings if needed.  Brainstorm might finally end up banned thanks to this guy.  Strong in standard too if in the right shell.

Tibalt, The Fiend Blooded
Current Price $24.99
Short Term $20
Long Term $8-15

Notes: It's all about the +1.  The other ablities dont matter at all.  Can you use the cards in your graveyard?  Does it matter that its random?  I would discount this but the fact that its only 2 mana is the only reason i will give this guy a shot.

Cavern of Souls
Current Price $24.99
Short Term $20-30
Long Term $15

Notes: This card upsets me.  Maybe M13 and Ravinca will have answers.  Either way, standard will be miserable for a while thanks to this+titans.

Aftermath Spoilers: Inuyasha Alternate Arts.

Aftermath is the final set in the Weathered Hope block, and its in the polish stage (all cards are finished but require spellchecking, grammar, rules check, rewording, etc.).  If you dont already know, every card in Aftermath is part of a cycle (aka the Titans) in one way or another.  One such cycle has been dubbed, "The Inuyasha Cycle".  These are altered names and art of preexisting cards I had in a random database, resurrected for this fun and special cycle.

Enjoy.

While it's important to note that you'll get the
+1/+1 bonus immediately after casting this,
its also important to know that because of
the wording, it will not stack if more
Adamant Barrage end up in the graveyard.

It's a powerful shielding effect on borrowed
time, but 5 turns should buy you enough
time to get back into the game.

A more potent pyroclasm that has an ill
side effect.  Usable in quick decks, but the longer
the game goes the more that side effect matters.

4 mana destroy target creature is probably fair
enough.  Dark Banishing was 3 and couldnt
hit black creatures.  Gaining 4 life is just gravy.
But the best part is that you get to tutor it up
when casting Iron Reaver.

This card was the perfect fit to start the cycle.
Potent effect, and a nice "scarring" aftermath.

Let's face it, you are playing this just for the
tutoring effect.  The packaged deal is nice for
the price, otherwise this is a lackluster card.

Bitter Turmoil - Complete Spoiler: Multicolor

Well, its a Lightning Blast.  Well, its a lot more than
that actually, as it could cantrip and it also
can help exile any forgotten cards that your opponent
could be stacking up against you.  So, if
red and purple is a viable deck, this card will be
in it.

Feels like careful study, but with a safety net.
If you pitched cards you couldnt flashback or animate
with careful study, those cards were pretty much gone.
With forget, you can stack useful cards in your forgotten
pile to cheat into play later, or just stuff some cards you
do not need at the moment and just save them for later.

Leave it to me to recreate Totem Armor as
a negative effect.

Superb sideboard stuff+awesome art= Nifty card.

Goofy card that doesnt fit into the quick
stratgem that goblin decks often have.
It does, however, work well in the late game.

Well, you wanted one, so here you are.
Nearly immortal and boosting your other gobbies
should make this guy a fine addition to your goblin deck.

Rejuvenate is a "Super Lifelink" ability that
I used a lot when Bitter Turmoil and Aftermath
were in their infancy.  I had to cut most of it,
and decided to keep this card in order to appease
those green/white players out there.

This is one of those few cards that I made a
long time ago and never had to change.  I love
how simple and effective it is.  A potentially
backbreaking card to be on the opposing side of.

This was the first card of Bitter Turmoil.  I used
it originally in Weathered Hope to appeal to
the "thinkers" out there that like to build decks
around complex cards such as this one.  I decided to
pull it from Weathered Hope once I knew I was doing
purple in Bitter Turmoil.  But, at that point, I didnt know
exactly what purple would be doing, all I knew
is that it involved complexity.  To sum things up,
it didnt feel like it felt like a purple card once the
Forget mechanic came into the picture, so I just kept it
the way that you see it today.  If you enjoy deckbuilding
crazy stuff, this one is for you.
(PS if you really need a hint as to why this is good, just
start with the Duration mechanic or Cumulative upkeep)

I know I know hes a Garruk Ripoff.  But thats
for a good reason.  Garruk was probably the most
balanced walker out there, so why not throw a
look-alike into the fray of this awesome set?

Craziness.  He not only works well with his master,
he holds his own just fine as well.  So many
options and all of them are good.

How is a reverse rewind any good?  It is
freaking Counterspell guys!  Maybe 10% of the
time they will embarrass you by playing another
spell with that mana you gave them but most of the
time this is indeed Counterspell!

Just had to have a Myr.  This one is Sacir's pet
and he follows suit with his ablities.

The most supported walker in this set by far.
The angel of death Sacir banishes everything
your opponent has, from their hand to their life total.
If that wasnt enough, how about erasing their
ENTIRE board with his ultimate?

Powerful on his own, and even more lethal
with Sacir.  If you need life, force your opponent to
draw and then use Sacir's plus ability!

Drains the foes life quickly and plays well with
Missive.  Does a ton of damage in Multiplayer.

Running blue/red artifacts?  (for some weird reason?)
This card was made with you in mind!

Super mega elf!  Bonus: You can cheat this guy
in turn three with the Green Planeswalker, Lork!

Thats a messed up looking sphinx! 

Ups and downs

Dark Ascension has hit, and while it was overall a very disappointing set, it did introduce a few new cards that may or may not warp standard.  Here are a few of the hyped cards, and I examine each one to see if the hype is real.

Sorin, Lord of Innistrad
Starting Price: $59.99
Current Price: $49.99
SCG buylist price: $25.00

Sorin is the most tricky card in Dark Ascension to evaluate price wise.  B/W tokens is indeed overhyped, at least until Ratchet Bomb and Sword of War and Peace rotates.  In any case, Sorin is a powerful but not broken card.  He feels like a $25-$30 card to me, but if the rumors are true, then Dark Ascension will be like Worldwake, which means there are less packs available and therefore less packs cracked.  This will shoot the price up, and if B/W tokens becomes a real contender post Scars, then Sorin will surely become a $50-$60 card.

Final Verdict: Pick these up right now if you ever plan on playing B/W tokens.  If you are iffy about B/W tokens, but still want the Sorins, wait a few months and pick them up when they dip. 

Huntmaster of the Fells
Starting Price: $19.99
Current Price: $14.99
SCG buylist price: $5.00

Well, it's no secret that Huntmaster is fixing to plummet in price.  If SCG is offering $5.00 trade in credit, then its safe to say Huntmaster will be dropping to $9.99 very soon.  That said, Huntmaster has to be the most surprising card in this set.  I had a chance to test it out in a RUG type deck recently and I was very impressed with the way it just dominates the game if your opponent cannot remove it quickly.  I would be willing to compare its power to even the likes of Hero of Bladehold. 

Final Verdict: Huntmaster will dip in price, but I recommend picking them up once they do.  It's a fine green sun's zenith target, and once Scars rotates, I see this guy stepping up into the spotlight.


Grafdigger's Cage
Starting Price: $9.99
Current Price: $5.99
SCG buylist: $2.00

If we go by my theory on SCG buylist prices, then if this goes to $3.99, then this card will have been the most overhyped card of the set.  More than a 50% depreciation in less than 2 weeks marks this card as a huge overhype, and many people who preordered this in playsets are shooting themselves in the foot right now.  That said, this is a very solid sideboard card in legacy vs dredge.  Time will tell if it will impact standard at some point.  Being an artifact is a huge downside, since we have Ancient Grudge in standard, Red/green decks can trade just one card for 2 of these. 

Final Verdict: It might be worth picking up a pair of these when they hit 4 bucks.  I would not over invest into these, however, since the disadvantage of being an artifact is a quite the liability these days.

Bone to Ash

Price isn't really an issue here, but I just wanted to point out that this card exists.  I think this is as close to Dismiss as we are going to get.  Every deck is going to run creatures in some fashion or another, so this should be at least a 1 of in your control decks.  Being able to negate their whole turn and punish them by making them go down a card and you maintaining your card advantage is nothing to scoff at. 

Final Verdict: This is the best Anti-titan card, hands down.  A fine 1-of, and you should make room for 1 or 2 in your board.

Strangleroot Geist
Starting Price: $0.99
Current Price: $1.99
SCG buylist: $0.10

Even though the price on him went up, he is extremely overhyped.  Yes, he might find a home at some point, but he has two places right now: Birthing Pod and Mono-Green.  He's great in Pod but in tri-color decks how often does he hit turn 2?  Turn 3?  And he's one of the strongest plays in Mono-Green, but Mono-Green just doesn't have enough cards to make it right now. 

Final Verdict: I see this card being a true player in 6 months, but right now you need to store him on a dusty shelf and don't fall for the trap.


Snapcaster Mage
Starting Price: $29.99
Current Price: $29.99
SCG buylist: $17.50

This guy is the real deal.  Even I didn't think he would impact standard the way he has.  I do think that he is mostly played in standard so once he rotates, he will drop like a rock in price, but if you plan on playing standard for the next 2 years, you better jump on the snapcaster wagon and shell out $120 for your playset.

Final Verdict: A huge player in all formats, and used more than Jace 2.0 was in standard.  You aren't going to be able to get around playing $30 for the best card in standard, so just buy them now.

Extended Economical EDH

Hey guys, some of you already know about this, but this will be helpful for you anyways in case a question comes up. 

Anyways, some friends and I have been toying around with a way to get some use out of our old cards (we have a ton of zendikar) and have been wanting to get into Commander/EDH but a lot of the staple cards are too expensive.  The solution we came up with is called Triple E: Extended Economical EDH.

Extended: Extended is dead, right?  Well not in this format.  This means we will be using cards from the two current blocks (right now that is Scars and Innistrad).  Since it is extended, we will extend that by the two previous blocks (Zendikar and Shards of Alara).  As far as Core sets, we will use M10 and forward.  This may rotate with Alara, and it may just remain M10+.  That's up to us.  One exception to this rule is that everyone may use the card Command Tower, which comes with any Commander deck and was not released in any set.  The group has also decided to include Spell Crumple has another exception, so you may include one copy of Spell Crumple in your decks as well.  This card is exclusive to the WotC released Commander decks.  It is currently under review by the members of the group if we can use any card that is exclusive to those decks, and I will post it up when a decision has been reached.  The good thing about this is that it lets us use those cards that might just be sitting around, and thats what this idea is based around.  It also gives us access to some important tools for Commander, like mana fixers and ways to get rid of commanders, like Spell Crumple.  The bad, is that this will cause confusion as to what cards are usable from Commander.  It also is semi counter productive to our plan to use our Zendikar block cards that we have so much of.

Economical: Besides your commander, no card in your deck can be worth more than $9.99 on starcitygames.com.  Now, prices will increase and decrease, so if you put a Koth of the Hammer into your EDH deck when he is worth $7.99, then he goes up to $12.99 over a month's time, then you will have a 30 day grace period in which you can change it out or wait it out.  If it seems that your card is stuck at an over $9.99 price tag, then you'll need to replace it in order to make the format fair for everyone.  Your commander can have any price, since there are only so many commanders.

EDH: You will build a deck of 99 cards, all of which besides basic land must have a different name.  No running 4 mana leaks in this format.  You will also choose a Commander, who basically decides what color(s) your deck can run.  For example, if "Grimgrin, Corpse-Born", a black and blue creature, is my commander, then I can run cards like Mana Leak(blue), Doom Blade(black), and Evil Twin (blue and black).  I cannot run cards like Oblivion Ring(white), Copperline Gorge(red/green), Sulfur Falls(blue/red) or Geist of Saint Traft(white/blue).  Basically, if the card has a mana symbol anywhere on it that does not match your commander, you ain't playing it. 

EDH also has a banned list, which most of are not relevant.  However as needed we will take votes on cards that are deemed too powerful.  So far the cards that are banned are:

Triple E Banlist:
- Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
- Jace the Mind Sculptor (which I doubt would ever drop below $10)

That's pretty much it.  Remember:
- Anything from Alara+ is fine for now.
- You can use a copy of Command Tower
- You can use a copy of Spell Crumple
- No non-commander cards worth more than $9.99
- EDH format, modifed banlist.

Any questions?  Any comments? Post below!

Decks of Dark Ascension: W/b Tokens

Here is my current build of a simple token deck, with a slight black splash.  No green splash in this varient.  If I build the W/b/g build I will post it up on here.

Main Deck:
4 Blade Splicer - Bread and butter token card.  Apply early pressure and sometimes just outright win with this potent creature.
4 Doomed Traveler - Our one drop.  Nothing special, but your opponent sure doesnt want to kill it!
3 Elspeth Tirel - Our end curve bomb.  If you set her up properly, her -2 will be very lethal.
1 Geist-Honored Monk - Another 5 drop.  Doesnt seem nearly as good as Elspeth, but I threw one in to spice it up.
1 Grave Titan - My infamous "one-of"
2 Hero of Bladehold - Powerhouse, but competes with Sorin as a 4 drop.  Sorin usually wins that battle, so I dropped her down to 2.
4 Sorin, Lord of Innistrad - Cornerstone of the deck, along with lingering souls.  I plan to 99% of the time use his -2 when he hits.

1 Honor of the Pure - Iffy, but it does boost over half of the deck, and you never want to go without an anthem effect.
4 Intangible Virtue - Essential
4 Lingering Souls - Cornerstone.  So much value for so little resources.
2 Midnight Haunting - Lingering souls 5 and 6, with the added benefit of being instant.
2 Mortarpod - So powerful with Vault of the Archangel.
2 Oblivion Ring - Basic Removal
2 Shrine of Loyal Legions - Gonna toy around with this, I dont like it but we are short on 2 drops so it makes the cut for now.

1 Evolving Wilds - Random one of to fix mana and thin deck.
4 Isolated Chapel - Essential
11 Plains
6 Swamp
3 Vault of the Archangel - People are running 2, 3 and 4.  I dont ever want more than 1.  But I want 1 for every game that goes long.  I think 3 is the correct number.