STANDARD ROATATION CHANGE, again?

Effective immediately, standard rotation will go back to once a year rotation, instead of twice a year. This is due to players that have voiced a difficulty in keeping up with the twice yearly rotation. It is a barrier to collection that WotC has decided it needs to eliminate.


Instead of 18 months, Kaladesh will be in standard rotation for 2 years with the large set that is to be released in 2018. After that time, Aether Revolt will rotate out with Kaladesh. Meanwhile, in 2017,  the Amonkhet set won't be rotating out.


When Amonkhet is released the standard line with look like this:

• Battle for Zendikar
• Shadows over Innistrad
• Kaladesh
• Amonkhet

When the time comes for the next rotation, the Battle for Zendikar and Shadows Over Innistrad blocks will rotate out together, making the standard set fluctuate between 5 and 8 legal sets.


As always thanks for reading my blog!

PROTOUR KALADESH HALL OF FAMER WINNER

Recently, on the beautiful island of Honolulu, Hawaii held the largest pro-tour in Magic: The Gathering history. It showcased the newest set: Kaladesh. Shota Yasooka, in his fourth career pro-tour, made it into the top 8. Another top 8 player, Carlos Romao, has made it to the finals with Shota. Both players’ decks are full of controls.


The card composition of a control mirror deck is pretty interesting; here’s Shota Yasooka’s deck:


Planeswalker (1)
1 Jace, Unraveler of Secrets


Creature (6)
2 Torrential Gearhulk
4 Thing in the Ice


Sorcery (6)
2 Radiant Flames
3 Painful Truths
1 Transgress the Mind


Instant (21)
2 Unlicensed Disintegration
3 Harnessed Lightning
3 Void Shatter
2 Glimmer of Genius
1 Ceremonious Rejection
2 Negate
4 Galvanic Bombardment
1 Essence Extraction
3 Anticipate


Land (26)
4 Spirebluff Canal
2 Wandering Fumarole
4 Evolving Wilds
4 Sunken Hollow
3 Smoldering Marsh
2 Mountain
2 Swamp
5 Island


Here’s Carlos Romao’s control deck:


Planeswalker (2)
2 Dovin Baan


Creature (5)
2 Archangel Avacyn
3 Torrential Gearhulk


Sorcery (5)
2 Fumigate
3 Radiant Flames


Instant (20)
2 Summary Dismissal
4 Harnessed Lightning
4 Glimmer of Genius
3 Immolating Glare
3 Void Shatter
1 Blessed Alliance
3 Anticipate


Enchantment (2)
1 Quarantine Field
1 Stasis Snare


Land (26)
4 Port Town
4 Aether Hub
3 Inspiring Vantage
1 Spirebluff Canal
4 Island
6 Plains
4 Wandering Fumarole


Notice how both players have Torrential Gearhulk in their control decks? The decks were basically built around that card. These decks even took out the two aggro vehicle decks that appeared in the top 8. Now that the pro-tour is over, these cards are sure to go up in price. Everyone is going to want these key cards for their own decks, if not all of the cards required to reconstruct the decks used by the final two players. Play on!


As always, thanks for reading my blog!

THE STACK, what is it used for?

The Stack is a game zone area where spells and abilities are played and wait to be resolved. Spells and abilities go to this area as the first step in play and are removed from it as the last step of playing. It’s also an area where other players can ‘respond to’ with their spells and/or abilities while it's still on the stack. The stack is played from the top to the bottom, where the ‘respond to’ spells are played first since it's on the top of the stack. The picture below depicts the stack and is the best representation I have found.

Actions that do not use the stack are as follows:

• Paying cost.
• Playing mana abilities.
• Turning a face down creature face up (Morph).
• Playing a land card

I’m sure most experienced players have a good idea of how the stack operates. To a new player, when we mention the stack, they probably think it means this:

Be sure to use the stack as often as you can, as correctly as you can, if you are in a Pro Tour or Grand Prix-like event, where they will have judge’s all over the place. Also, be sure to explain to the new players what the stack is and how to use it. Sure it will be confusing at first, but if they like the game enough they will learn about it quickly.

As always, thanks for reading my blog!

PUCATRADE SWEEPSTAKES HUB!

The new updated Magic: The Gathering trading website “Pucatrade” has recently announced a new addition to their website: The Sweepstakes Hub. What you can do is use the Pucatrade points that you’ve accumulated to unlock entries to the sweepstakes.

Each 100 puca points you use in the sweepstakes will enter you in the giveaway. You can use as many puca points as you want, to earn entries to get the prize. So far a few winners has been chosen already. One winner won a tropical island card, and the recent winner has won a japanese booster box of kaladesh, and now they are giving away a 

Lifetime Member Bundle

You get more entries for spreading the word around on social media, so if you really want this to fancy one of your decks, using your points and spreading the word helps. The cards/products are coming from the Pucatrade staff’s personal collection. You won't be getting any bad cards that are ripped up or damaged in any kind of way. They will make it worth the points you spent in the sweepstakes. To check out the sweepstakes, you can use the website link provided and enter if you want to. Just click on this sweepstakes word and it will take you to the site.

As always, thanks for reading my blog!