Tuesday 22 November 2011

FNM: 12-0 With U/W Aggro-Control!


Last week I had the pleasure of playing at Imperial Hobbies for FNM. It was an intense and grueling 5 rounds of battle, and I was pleased with my 4-0-1 which was really a 5-0 since we played out the last match (we’d drawn to ensure we got foil GftT). I then had the opportunity to square off against Eric’s Tempered Steel deck (which had gone 4-1) to see if I could beat the monstrosity that has a 40-0 record vs. my terrible G/U self-mill deck and took that one in 2 as well… 12-0 for the night!! ;)

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I played a list similar to this one with a few updates:

Here is the new list:

Removal Spells:

3x Oblivion Ring
2x Dismember
3x Day of Judgment
8

Control Spells:

4x Mana Leak
3x Dissipate
2x Timely Reinforcements
9

Card Advantage:

4x Ponder
4

Creatures:

4x Snapcaster Mage
2x Sun Titan
2x Consecrated Sphinx
2x Phantasmal Image
3x Hero of Bladehome
13

Lands:

26x Of Them!

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Since I was finally able to pick up my 4th Snappy (thanks Jeremy!) I had no choice but to play him and make room for the 4th ponder and another dissipate. I’d found that the Sun Titans weren’t making as big an impact as I’d hoped, so cut them to 2. Same with phantasmal image, he was ending up dead a lot of times, so he became the 4th Snapcaster.

There were some good lolz while playing Brandon. Quotes!

Brandon: “What the hell! You’re gonna mana leak it AGAIN, right?”
Me: “Yep! Mana leak #3… put that Mirran Crusader in the Grave!”
Brandon: “Cast Hero… mana leak #4?”
Me: “Nope! Mana leak #3… again. I cast Snapper and flash it back!”
Brandon: “That’s 4 mana leaks! Dude, I hate your deck! Crusader?”
Me: “No again… I cast another Snappy and flash another Mana Leak.”
Brandon: “5 LEAKS??? I HATE THIS GAME AND I HATE COUNTERSPELLS!!”
Me: “LOL!!”

Yea, take that aggro players!

MORE NOTES ON SNAPCASTER…

Snappy enables so many awesome plays! I was down to 1 life, played a Timely Reinforcements to go to 7, played another to go to 13, flashed it back with a Snapper to go to 19 (He was still @ 20 at the time)!

I find it interesting that Snapcaster seems to have had more success in Modern than Standard! It could simply be because the 4x Tempered Steel decks that made it to the T8 strangled out any other archetypes, but there was not a single control deck to be seen…

Meanwhile, Snappy has been showing up in a SLEW of great modern builds! Whether it be U/W/R control, Tempo-Zoo, Red-Bant, U/W Control or any number of other impressive decks. When ZOO is rockin’ him to double up on Lightning Helix, you KNOW the card has got to be good! :)

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On another note, my first article finally went live for www.quietspeculation.com! Whether fortunate or unfortunate, it’s an “insider” article, so you won’t be able to read it unless you subscribe… sorry! :*(. I’ll still be sharing stock tips with you when able though, so no worries!

BUT if you were interested in taking a look at my premium articles, I can honestly say that if your interests are more related to FINANCE, that it’s an EXCELLENT site to sign up for! If you’re more interested in decklists and strategy, it has a few articles on that as well, but it is primarily a financial website designed to help you trade, buy / sell, and profit.

I’ve been a site member there for almost a year now and can honestly say that it’s been paramount to stepping up my game and staying ahead of the curve when it comes to price changes and stock tips. Again, if you are interested in Financial tips and tricks, this is the place to be!

// END ADVERTISEMENT! (lol)

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THE OLIVIA VOLDAREN EXPLOSION!

How many of you had been heeding my words and have invested in a few Olivia when they were $5? Anybody?? Well you all know that your hero (me) did! Up to at least a dozen copies around $4-5 each that are now worth $12+… good times! Had you been speculating like I was, you’d have made some good coin on this one! J

12 (Quantity Owned) x $5 (Value upon Purchase) = $60 (Original Investment)
12 (Quantity Owned) x  $12 (Present Value) = $144 (Current Value)
$144 (Current Value) - $60 (Original Investment) = $84 (Profit)… it was that easy!

So how should I ensure that I end up covering my Original Investment ($60), make a tidy profit, and still have some Olivia? My plan is to sell 8x of my copies and keep the other 4. This will leave me with the following calculation:

8 (Quantity Sold) x $12 (Present Value) = $96 (Total Sale)
$96 (Total Sale) - $60 (Original Investment) = $36 (Profit) + 4 Olivia in Hand

I want to sell 8x of them now while they’re hot in case they slide a little, but I want to keep at LEAST 4x for myself to play with / continue to speculate on. As I keep saying over and over again, there are still 2x more sets to go that will have a strong Vampire theme and could make her even BETTER.

^^^ Look at all of the above a second time and begin to familiarize yourself with doing little calculations like these. They are VERY important if you plan on speculating, as you always want to have a “plan” in mind so that you can avoid possibly taking a loss, and plan out what your cash flow will look like for your NEXT investment.

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I’ll be playing FNM @ L.A. Mood this weekend and may even have a new deck… Prepare yourself foolish mortals! :P


Cheers,
Carl Szalich

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