Ponderings and the Kentucky Open 2009

So it has been a while since I have even thought about writing in this blog about Magic. I had a less than stellar performance at the PTQ in Indianapolis and there has not been any events within range to justify traveling for. I have been playing a lot of MODO most recently. Unfortunately my favorite deck will be coming to an end when M10 comes into digital form. The Cascade LD deck has been pretty insane. With the loss of rain of tears and boomerang this deck is basically garbage, which some may say it was in the first place LOL. Anyways we are onto new things in this new M10 meta. The elephant in the room is Kithkin followed by those always dominating faeries. Red Deck Wins will see some play, but I think the deck will not be able to hold its own. The Jund Cascade decks are still very strong and will still be at the top tables. Im not sure how I feel about Reveillark. Most of my friends have moved onto other decks and left this behind so I think I will follow. Although I do like my Reveillarks in the Elementals deck which is very strong at the moment. Elfball is fairly sick and will seem some rise in popularity now that wrath is gone.

This past weekend was the M10 prerelease. I showed up to the site to sell some cards and hang for a bit. Low and behold some old friends from GO Games had started playing again. Austin and Steve were 2 of the younger players at the old store that had very solid game and minimal play mistakes. They both did very well for themselves when JSS was still around. Anyways after chatting with them a while we decided we would start playtesting again for the Kentucky Open this upcoming weekend. Steve is looking at Kithkin as being the best aggro deck is something he is used to playing. Austin is looking into Faeries as he played it for a bit before he took his break from the game. On the other hand Joe Hein and myself have been looking into 5 Color Control again as I think Anathemancer is taking a seat on the bench for a bit. Here is the list we have been testing.

3 Mulldrifter
2 Broodmate Dragon
1 Platinum Angel
1 Bogarden Hellkite
4 Esper Charm
3 Broken Ambitions
4 Cryptic Command
2 Pyroclasm
2 Firespout
3 Hallowed Burial
1 Doomblade
2 Cruel Ultimatum
3 Runed Halo
2 Maelstrom Pulse
1 Makeshift Mannequin
4 Reflecting Pool
2 Exotic Orchard
4 Vivid Creek
4 Vivid Marsh
3 Vivid Meadow
3 Sunken Ruins
3 Mystic Gate
1 Cascade Bluffs
3 Island

The deck has been performing very well against the top tier decks. There have been many times to where Kithkin has gotten the nuts and we have been able to stabilize around 4-6 life. The sideboard is still in progress and will change throughout testing in the week. Right now it looks like there will be a handful of Plumeveils, some Volcanic Fallouts, possibly a couple Essence Scatters, and a lot of 1 ofs. The deck is already playing so many threats that some choices seem suboptimal. Anyways check back next week as I report back with how we all did. We will be heading the the PTQ in Kentucky the next day also. Check for live feeds at Twitter PHILAPHUNK