My Version of "Going Out" on a Friday Night: Friday Night Magic

So I've been playing in Friday Night Magic Standard constructed tournaments every Friday night for the past few months.  It's a lot of fun, and I'm getting better at the game.  I feel like updating you on my adventures for those of you who enjoy MTG.

Up until now, I've been doing pretty back, but I've slowly been getting a handle on both deck building and how to actually play this game with all its subtleties.

Two weeks ago, I had a 3-1-1 using a Grixis Dragon Control deck:

Creature (10)

• 1x Dragonlord Kolaghan
• 1x Dragonlord Silumgar
• 1x Dragonmaster Outcast
• 2x Icefall Regent
• 2x Kolaghan, the Storm's Fury
• 1x Silumgar, the Drifting Death
• 2x Thunderbreak Regent

Instant (15)

• 3x Dig Through Time
• 4x Foul-Tongue Invocation
• 4x Scatter to the Winds
• 4x Silumgar's Scorn

Land (27)

• 4x Bloodstained Mire
• 6x Island
• 1x Mountain
• 4x Polluted Delta
• 3x Smoldering Marsh
• 4x Sunken Hollow
• 5x Swamp

Sorcery (5)

• 2x Crux of Fate
• 2x Languish
• 1x Radiant Flames

Planeswalker (3)

• 2x Ob Nixilis Reignited
• 1x Ugin, the Spirit Dragon

Sideboard (15)

• 2x Disdainful Stroke
• 2x Dispel
• 2x Horribly Awry
• 2x Infinite Obliteration
• 2x Rending Volley
• 1x Ruinous Path
• 2x Self-Inflicted Wound
• 1x Transgress the Mind
• 1x Virulent Plague

It's pretty fun to play, though control  takes a while to get the hang of.  I like this deck because it gives me lots of decisions to make while I'm trying to survive until the late game when my dragons can take over.
I like dragons.  They are fun.  Fun with fire.  And sometimes ice.

This past week, I went 3-2, which I also am happy with (I'll take a winning record any day), with a mono-black aggro warrior deck.

Creature (28)

• 3x Blood-Chin Rager


• 4x Bloodsoaked Champion
• 1x Despoiler of Souls
• 4x Drana, Liberator of Malakir
• 3x Erebos's Titan
• 2x Graveblade Marauder
• 2x Hangarback Walker
• 1x Liliana, Heretical Healer  Flip
• 4x Mardu Shadowspear
• 2x Mardu Strike Leader
• 2x Ruthless Ripper

Land (20)

• 4x Bloodstained Mire
• 1x Island
• 4x Polluted Delta
• 1x Rogue's Passage
• 3x Sunken Hollow
• 7x Swamp

Instant (6)

• 1x Butcher's Glee
• 2x Coat with Venom
• 1x Murderous Cut
• 2x Negate

Sorcery (6)

• 1x Bone Splinters
• 1x Duress
• 2x Grave Strength
• 2x Ruinous Path

Sideboard (15)

• 1x Bone Splinters
• 1x Clutch of Currents
• 1x Coat with Venom
• 1x Despise
• 2x Disdainful Stroke
• 2x Dispel
• 1x Duress
• 2x Infinite Obliteration
• 2x Self-Inflicted Wound
• 2x Transgress the Mind

This deck is really fast and really fun.  And also pretty consistent and can do well with only a few mana.  Grave Strength is a card no one expects, and sometimes makes people angry.

FNM at my local store is $6 to play, and no matter your record at the end of the night you get a booster pack (a.k.a. a Pity Pack).  But 2 wins gets you 3 packs, 3 gets you 4, etc.  I've finally started winning packs with my winning records!

I even opened some decent cards this week.

Shiny!

Mythic!

Fortunately (or unfortunately?) for me, Jack in the Box is directly on my way home from the game store.  So 12:30 at night I stop by so I can enter a greasy food coma before bedtime.

I like tacos.  These are sort of like tacos.

Magic: The Obsession of the Gathering

Magic the Gathering is really the epitome of collectible card games.  In the past, I've bought intro packs just to play for fun with my brother or friends, but have never taken the game seriously.  The result is that I've accumulated a fair amount of crappy cards over the years that get very little use.

Last week, some friends invited me over to play some Magic.  I quickly threw together a pretty disjointed Red/Black deck just to have something to play with.  There were 4 of us playing at once.  It was pretty wild.

But hey, I won a game!  It was way too much fun.  We also were drinking.  That helped too.

The real problem here is now I'm hooked and want better cards.  I already have a boardgame problem.  I don't need another hobby to eat my money.  Though I guess Magic counts into my boardgame hobby, so it's really the same thing.  But even more expensive.

In this past week, I've spent over $200 on singles to help me make a couple new decks.  I know maybe this isn't a lot of money at all for cards, but it's like 4 boardgames for me.  That's pretty significant.

Luckily, my CoolStuffInc discount on card singles is up to 6% so I saved like 5 bucks!

Anyway, this is a super addicting hobby.  I've been spending a lot of time looking at cards and deck ideas online (and I think I'm finally starting to get the hang of what I'm doing!), which is a great way to spend that downtime at work when you're done eating but still "at lunch."

I may keep you updated on my Magic shenanigans as I begin this fun and addictive journey.