Best. Advent Calendar. Evar.
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Posted on Dec. 2, 2015, 7:14 a.m. by clayperce
Inspired by an old Cardboard Crack cartoon, this year we're doing a crack-a-pack Advent calendar :-)
We've got packs from 25 different expansions, so we're looking forward to seeing a bunch of cards we've never seen before. They're all super-cheap though, so we're not expecting anything amazing. Still, you never know!
Anyone else in?
clayperce That is really cool I didn't get to play or learn in the 90's when it came out, but I do love those old foils. That is interesting about the shooting star, I was just thinking they were promos then ,but I guess not. I really want to do this next year I love opening old packs. Good pull on the sliver guy. Did you get the packs from your lgs or online somewhere?
December 10, 2015 10:59 p.m.
Just a quick update: Today will be a Scourge pack, but Friday morning insanity = we won't be opening it until this evening :-(
December 11, 2015 10 a.m.
Thanks McSleuthburger; you're welcome back anytime :-)
akatalin -- Nobody in our family was playing in the 90s either, so this has been a really fun history lesson for us! We got the packs online, from a bunch of different TCGplayer sellers. We know buying high-dollar single packs can be a really bad idea (especially from sets that have been pack-mapped), but we figured the low-dollar packs we got would be just fine. We're not sure what we're going to do next year. We were originally planning to save up for MM2 (originally RussischerZar's idea), but this has been so much fun, we're not sure now ...
December 11, 2015 7:15 p.m.
December 11th
We cracked a bunch of really interesting cards today. Scourge had a bunch of "CMC matters" spells (e.g., we got a Dragon Shadow), so our Scornful Egotist -- which on first look was perhaps the most overcosted 1/1 we'd ever seen -- actually made sense.
Other fun cards were Treetop Scout (a non-flying flyer?!?), and a couple from the, er, cycling cycle: Noble Templar and Shoreline Ranger.
Scourge also introduced the Storm mechanic, which made Hindering Touch our top pick at common. Reward the Faithful at uncommon was better though. But Pick 1 went to our rare:
December 11, 2015 7:33 p.m.
FAMOUSWATERMELON says... #7
*9
I actually like it, it seems like it could work well in the right build. And green instants that don't give a small boost are fairly uncommon.
December 11, 2015 8:33 p.m.
nice , I like that . With the right ramp it could be magical.
December 12, 2015 3:45 a.m.
Oh 9 mana in green would have been easy. OK, not easy, but no worse than getting 9 for a big Eldrazi today.
The block was super-tribal, so a green deck could have been almost solid mana dorks. And Seedborn Muse was in the set right before. Now, I'm not saying it was a windmill slam Pick 1 (taking that much of a build-around that early is kind of risky, and by letting it go I'd either get it back or know exactly what the green mage across the table was building towards and could play around it), but I still feel it was a solid pick.
And today of course, Ashnod's Altar makes 9 in a token deck trivial.
December 12, 2015 7:04 a.m.
Forgotten Ancient was another rare in the set too, which could have made everything about +1/+1 counters extra-spicy.
December 12, 2015 8:26 a.m.
December 12th
Today was Fifth Dawn, and we were super-excited to crack it.
First, despite all the great rares available in the set, ours was basically lame:
But the rest of the pack was really cool, with stuff like Screaming Fury (fun despite the Sorcery speed) and Early Frost. And despite the downside of Blind Creeper, we were all excited about the idea of swinging with a 3/3 on turn 2.
We actually had five decent choices for 1st pick, and none of us knew enough about the archetypes to know what would have been best.
- Mirrodin was an super-heavy artifacts block (there were 7 in our pack alone!), so maybe Circle of Protection: Artifacts?
- Neurok Stealthsuit, for some shroud-y goodness (at Instant speed if blue)?
- Condescend, as a solid counterspell at any point on the curve and a Scry 2 (incidentally, Firth Dawn introduced the Scry mechanic)?
- Eternal Witness, for all the obvious reasons?
In the end though, it all came down to this:
December 12, 2015 10:14 a.m. Edited.
Oh I get it CheeseBro, but in this household, about the only thing better than a Snek would be an Expedition Snek :-D
December 12, 2015 1:01 p.m.
December 13th
Today was Saviors of Kamigawa, and we were looking forward to seeing some of the Japanese-style Spirits and curious mechanics of the set.
Some noteworthy Spirits-matter cards included Haru-Onna (supposedly very powerful in draft), AEther Shockwave, and Fiddlehead Kami. It was also interesting to see cards-in-hand-matters cards too, like Sokenzan Spellblade, Kitsune Loreweaver, and Oppressive Will. Most intereting though was probably the Soulshift mechanic. We'd never seen it before and it allows you to return Spirit card with lower CMCs from your graveyard to your hand. Kami of Empty Graves was one example, but the Promised Kannushi we cracked would have been our 1st Pick in a real draft.
Today, though, we were most excited to pull this card:
We got a foil too: Death Denied
. Not sure when it happened, but Wizards obviously moved to full-foil somewhere in there, for all-over shiny goodness :-)
December 13, 2015 5:36 p.m.
canterlotguardian says... #22
TheDevicer as someone who may be building Nekusar in the near future, why does it not want Mikokoro, Center of the Sea? (gif not required for explanation, though I wouldn't complain, lol)
December 14, 2015 7:57 a.m.
It's a bit like Academy Ruins in something like mono u combo. Yes, the effect is indeed powerful, however, how often is it that you actually activate it? How often is it that you could have used a basic island because of high tide or needed to cast several saturated spells? The simple fact is that Mikoko doesn't tap for colored and given the high number of utility lands the deck wants as is, that opportunity cost matters. Nekusar also necessitates several saturated as hell cards.
December 14, 2015 8:21 a.m.
canterlotguardian says... #24
Well yeah but something like Chromatic Lantern could alleviate that, and that's basically a required card in any EDH deck that doesn't start with "mono-".
December 14, 2015 9:18 a.m.
Chromatic lantern isn't good enough in absolute top level. That's why I say it's good for most players. Nekusar isn't even what you want to be playing at that level anyways.
December 14, 2015 9:33 a.m.
Coinman1863 says... #26
You would end up playing Mizzix Storm by that point since storm is the only way to go in those colors. Also I have played against double Mizzix Storm at a competitive table with a variation of Epochs, Dreamcrusher. Playing the "Stop Everyone from Loosing Simultaneously" game for the whole game was very stressful...
Ended Up loosing in the end because I wasn't able to draw a counterspell :(
December 14, 2015 9:37 a.m.
December 14th
Today was Alara Reborn, which was an all-gold set ... and the pack was pretty much amazing.
Almost every card was fine or better. Naya Hushblade, Violent Outburst, Singe-Mind Ogre, Pale Recluse, Colossal Might, and Putrid Leech were standouts at Common, and Flurry of Wings, Zealous Persecution, and Messenger Falcons looked decent at Uncommon.
Our Rare though was the pick:
December 14, 2015 7:13 p.m.
FAMOUSWATERMELON says... #29
So you basically got the first cards for living end. And yeah, leech at common must have busted that standard.
December 14, 2015 7:40 p.m.
Today is a pack from Scars of Mirrodin, and with all the extremely good (and very expensive) cards in the set, this is easily our most anticipated pack so far.
And we still have to wait a while longer ...
:-(
December 15, 2015 4:53 p.m. Edited.
December 15th
FINALLY! :-)
So without further ado, here we go ...
for a 6/4 flavor text) and December 15, 2015 6:24 p.m. Edited.
canterlotguardian says... #32
Painful Quandary is a house in B/x EDH decks. I dropped that against a Melek, Izzet Paragon storm deck. He scooped within two turns.
December 15, 2015 6:27 p.m.
canterlotguardian,
Congrats on the scoop! Yeah, it would have been fun in draft and certainly looks good for EDH (though we generally don't like giving opponents choices ... even if they're bad choices).
We were actually very pleased with the pack ... though I have to confess it felt a little like when cracking a BFZ Expedition but it's "only" a Smoldering Marsh :-)
December 15, 2015 6:40 p.m.
canterlotguardian says... #34
Haha true that. Though I'd probably just be happy with whatever Expedition I find, as I run enough EDH decks to find a use for it somewhere. (Though I do know exactly where you're coming from. Lol)
December 15, 2015 7:25 p.m.
December 16th
Tonight was Mirrodin Beseiged, and our pack had all the Mirran vs Phyrexian drama we were hoping for.
The underdog Mirrans had their Metalcraft cards like Mirran Mettle and Spiraling Duelist, a great "we really hate Infect" card in Burn the Impure, and the best flavor text of the pack in Gnathosaur. But fun flavor text woouldn't have stood for long against Phyrexians with cards Blightwidow, Phyresis Nested Ghoul, Ichor Wellspring (surprisingly decent at common), and Phyrexian Rager.
Especially if led by our very nice Pick 1 rare:
And we cracked a shiny (but otherwise extremely nasty-looking) Island too!
December 17, 2015 12:14 a.m. Edited.
McSleuthburger says... #37
that Alara Reborn pack looks amazing
TheDevicer I was at that pens game haha
December 17, 2015 12:04 p.m.
December 17th
A pack of Innistrad today? Oh, yeah!
Nobody in our family has ever drafted Innistrad, but it makes sense now why so many people say it was the best draft ever.
Today's pack was good, almost top to bottom. We loved the transform mechanic, as seen on Rampaging Werewolf Flip, the graveyard hate of Unruly Mob and Graveyard Shovel, the graveyard love of Ghoulcaller's Chant, our Intimidate bear Spectral Rider, the flexibility of Bonds of Faith, and the color fixing of Shimmering Grotto.
Not sure on the first pick actually, because we're just not familiar with the archetypes or gameplay of the set. Into the Maw of Hell, probably? Or maybe some Smite the Monstrous (we actually had no idea it was first printed in Innistrad)?
Or, does anybody know how much ramp was available to black in ISD? Because we would have hated to pass this mythic ...
December 17, 2015 10:54 p.m. Edited.
December 18th
More Innistrad block tonight! We cracked a Dark Ascension pack, and as expected, the forces of good were on the receiving end of some serious beatdown.
We liked our forest bear Somberwald Dryad and our were-hermit Hinterland Hermit Flip. We really liked the flavor of the Fateful Hour "last stand" mechanic in Gather the Townsfolk vs. our Zombie Lord Diregraf Captain.
But we absolutely windmill slammed our Mythic:
So this has been a pretty amazing run: 3 packs, 3 days, 3 Mythics. Wow.
Which makes us want to do a shout out to +EV Games and Alter Reality Games. When we started this calendar, we knew buying individual packs was kind of risky, as there's a huge incentive for sellers to reseal packs, or pack map, or whatever. But there are at least two sellers that will clearly not hesitate to send us Mythic packs! Very cool.
December 18, 2015 10:55 p.m.
December 19th
Well the whole Mythic thing was cool while it lasted, but we were back to a normal pack today with Avacyn Restored.
Though the flavor was supposed to about Acacyn restoring hope/light/joy/shimmery goodness/whatever, the bad guys were clearly still on top of things in our pack, with cards like Bone Splinters, Death Wind, and Maalfeld Twins as the highlights.
Thunderous Wrath was actually our top pick, as our rare was pretty underwhelming:
Most bizarre part of the Advent calendar today: We were VERY surprised to see how few packs remain. Are we really that close to Christmas?!? Eeek!
December 19, 2015 12:43 p.m.
FAMOUSWATERMELON says... #44
I mean, this was the Standard with Grisel and Avacyn, so...
December 19, 2015 1:01 p.m.
December 20th
Today was Return to Ravnica, which is one of our favorite sets ever.
We cracked some complete dross (Catacomb Slug, anyone? Anyone?), but overall, the pack was as decent as we'd hoped. We got a good start on some Rogue tribal with Stealer of Secrets and Tavern Swindler. And Knightly Valor was a surprisingly sweet Common.
We ended up with three great choices for our 1st Pick, and kind of had a split decision. Selesnya Charm was great value and, in the end, our 1st Pick. But we went back and forth with Teleportal, which looked awesome too ... the sorcery speed isn't as cool of course, but oh those Overload cards! And we also seriously considered our rare:
December 20, 2015 5:47 p.m.
I recently had to take that away from my Ravnica cube as not enough cards could react with it and it made Selesnya kinda bonkers.
December 20, 2015 5:55 p.m.
December 21st
The stack of Advent calendar packs is getting very short, there's still a TON of stuff to do before Christmas, we're now into sets we were already familiar with (today was Gatecrash), and this was a really weak pack (nine of our cards were flat bad for draft) ... which is all a long way of saying, "Sorry, but today's writeup is going to be brief" :-)
Our only Boros card was a 1/1 Soldier token :-(
Shadow Slice and Gruul Charm were the only cards better than Meh, and our first pick was Kingpin's Pet.
Our rare was good in EDH at least:
December 21, 2015 1:27 p.m. Edited.
December 22nd
Opened some Dragon's Maze this evening and were frankly underwhelmed.
I mean, it was fun to see the Fuse cards again, like Protect / Serve (decent) and our rare:
And we enjoyed seeing the Gatekeepers again, like Opal Lake Gatekeepers. But when your #2 card is Runner's Bane and your Pick 1 is Beetleform Mage, you know it wasn't exactly the best pack ever!
Ah well, there's always tomorrow ...
December 22, 2015 10:41 p.m.
December 23rd
Theros today, and it was a really solid pack. Seriously, we think every card was playable.
We were excited to see Vaporkin, for some solid evasion-style value. And the flavor text of Stymied Hopes made a good card even better. The Centaur tribe was laying down some whup, with Centaur Battlemaster and Chronicler of Heroes, green was doing their fight-style removal hing with Time to Feed, and our monstrous trampling Ill-Tempered Cyclops (also with great flavor text) looked decent as well. Cards with the Bestow mechanic were looking really good though, with Baleful Eidolon, Leafcrown Dryad, and our #1 Pick, Thassa's Emissary.
Our rare was fine too (just not a high pick for draft):
McSleuthburger says... #1
Best of luck with the packs, i'll have to remember to come back and check to see if you got anything good later in the month
December 10, 2015 10:01 p.m.