Right now I'm at University of Michigan and am planning on studying computer science.  I'm not sure if I want to go into programming, or something to do with graphics.  Being a freshman I have time to decide

The article was mediocre at best, and is obviously not intended for people that play magic.  I almost feel like it was some attempt to show how 'good' hasbro is for offering scholarships and prize money.  However, I consider any article that brings magic to the rest of the public to be good.  It didn't use any examples that would be to confusing to general people.  

        I don't think the general public would know what we mean when we say "broken" or "pwned"

A store I play at gives out a Box of ultra pro binder pages for its 'tournaments' because... you know, people otherwise would have nothing to keep their cards in! they'd just sit in boxes! *end sarcasm*

When everyone keeps comparing Frantic Search with Time Spiral...your forgetting one thing.   Timespiral is a game altering spell.   It's a must counter from the control players point.  Frantic search is not.

I"ve not done sufficient testing enough to say whether or not F.S. is better than spiral, but I will say this is something you are not going to get from goldfishing.  You'll actually have to play someone who can react.

Do not play dragon.  The stack tricks are complicated at first and the play decisions are not the easiest.  Dragon is NOT a beginners deck.  It may not be hard as far as combo decks go, but it is not easy.

Play TnT.  Its competitive and the situations are pretty straightfoward.  Do yourself a favor, and for the first tournament, enter the attack phase.  It'll make your overall experience much more enjoyable as you learn how things go.  And you'll be playing your games longer meaning more time to enjoy playing and getting back in the swing of things.

Anyway, in whatever you chose, have fun.  Tourney's are  a blast.

Collectors edition cards cannot be played in sanctioned DCI events.... Hence the reason they are some 200 dollar tournaments.

In my opinion, they are overpriced as is.  They are really just overpriced proxies.  ALthough, i have heard of some store TO's allowing them.  

Save your money.  Don't buy CE cards.  Buy the real thing.

Steven Wolodkin

Age: 18

Location: HIllsdale MI...Soon to be Ann Arbor since i'm going to UofM in the fall...

I plan on studying Computer Science or Computer engineering, but for now, just a summer job

Playing t1 for.... 2-3 years.
Theres no T1 in my area, so when I play its me traveling, which sucks for me.

Favorite deck: EBA used to be it...back when phids were good

I was spizzard on the old boards....In fact, i'm probably the only spizzard you'll ever see on any board, since I made up the nickname.

I was big into DiabloII, but now I mostly play CounterStrike.

When good players play good decks.... or decks they are so familiar with, they tend to post good results.  Big deal anyway. Think back to Grow-a-tog or 4 FoF BBS....thats when something actually had to be done.

If you start testing EBA with Factories and DoJ, I think you'd seriously be better playing Landstill.  Sure, there may be a little synergy with Face down + standstill, but from that point, you've really already won.

I played EBA ~ 6 months ago for quite a long time, and became familiar with the deck.  I was running Ophidians, which have greatly fallen out of style, and for reasons that are quite apparent.  But what I don't quite understand, is how Skeletal Scrying fully replaces Ophidian.  The life loss hurts very little once you have an angel, so thats of little importance.  But having a large enough X to get a great benefit out of it just often isn't there.  Most lists I see only are running ~ 24 land, which is fine while you are not running the full compliment of Wastes + strips.  But you are still not going to have enough to get a great boost out of scrying.  However, due to lack of better options, it may be the best fit.  Has anyone tried running SoLoMoxen + Crypt, then playing Thirst for Knowledge?  Thirst might be a nice fit considering most lists run maindeck Dampning Matrix, which will be dead against some decks.

Maindeck Vindicate ~ I ran the one Vinidcate maindeck, which a few people are doing.  However, I also ran Wastes + Strip which often made the Vindicate another Land-d spell.  If you are not running Cunning WIshes, the one Vindicate is very necessary even if you are not Cunning Wish.

Maindeck StP's ~ I strongly feel that one or two are necessary, with the remaining in the SB.  The current environment is full of creatures.  Combo seems to be making little showing and StP's often have a valid target.  Whether and opposing angel or welder.  It may not fit the theme the best, but it is necessary in situations where Meddling Mage is not effective and against the aggro matchup.  Angel can't always race quick fat... or any fat.  And there will be time when Angel doesn't come out fast enough.   Something to fall back on for these situations is great.

Maindeck Wishes ~ I tested wishes and they just don't fit the theme of EBA.  If you have a threat that you need to wish an anwser for, barring Drain Mana, it is often too slow.  Playing in this Aggro-control deck, wish is reactive, where this is a primarily proactive deck, which is why it differs from keeper/Germbus.


Here's my list I will be testing:

Mana ~ 25
4 Polluted Delta
4 Tundra
4 Underground Sea
1 Island
1 Flooded Strand
3 Wasteland
1 Strip mine
1 Library of Alexandria
5 SoLoMoxen (On Color)
1 Mana Crypt

Creatures ~ 7
4 Meddling Mage
3 Exalted Angel

Draw ~ 9
4 Brainstorm
3 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Ancestral Recall

Restricted Goodness ~ 5
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Mind Twist
1 Time Walk
1 Yawgmoth's Will

Answers ~ 14
3 Duress
4 Force of Will
4 Mana Drain
1 Vindicate
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Dampning Matrix

Sideboard ~ 15
3 Swords to Plowshares
2 Dampning Matrix
1 Balance
3 Energy Flux
2 Blue Elemental Blast
3 Deep Analysis
1 Exalted Angel

(The sideboard obviously needs work)

I must not have said this clearly enough in the beggining thread.  Reaplace isn't a traditional combo deck.  It is mainly control... goldfish doesn't really matter that much (Average is about 4, which is way too slow for combo)



If someone wants to hit thier own land with a Wasteland, they can go ahead and smoke thier own land.  Gush is much of the same way.  Except that I don't have to just change the color of thier land.  I'm not saying it'd be a good idea, but you can change Gorilla Shaman, Moxen or any other permanent that may be more likely to stick around and then combo.  
Cunning Wish for Hate always hurts.  But then again, that hurts most combo decks anyway.

Dragon dies to creature hate, whereas ReapLace does not.  And while Dragon is faster, MAY be more consistent,  that doesn't not mean that reaplace isn't viable.  The shock value of comboing with Reaplace is great.  Many opponents really have no idea what you are playing/doing which leads to sideboarding/play mistakes.



   This arguement has been used before.  Why play keeper when you can play a better control deck in Tog?  Just because a certain deck does something better than another, doesn't justify playing it over another.  Tog and GaT are combo decks that can play control, but both decks get hit by hate that reaplace does not, seeing as they revolve around creatures.



I think you are saying Reaplace has dead cards against the above decks.   In that case, you discard them to TfK or Brainstorm them away.  I can't really see having dead cards since everything has its use.  Sure, you may combo out holding certain cards in your hand, but thats game over anyways.



I considered Scepter a while back.  But being able to only combo with a Scepter w/ Reap and Time Walk, I threw it out.   It gets hit with artifact removal that can be devastating.  The fact that this does allow you to combo with just a Scepter w/ Reap and Time Walk rather than two Reaps, does give it some viability.  I'll try some testing with it.  (-1 Wish, -1 Brainstorm?, +2 Isochron Scepter.)  I didn't even mention a first turn Scepter w/ a Lace imprinted... that is obviously good providing that scepter can activate.

Hopefully, some of you may remember Reap-Lace.  An older deck that revolved around the obscure combo of Reap + Laces and then used a Lotus for infinite mana and wins via recurring an Ebony Charm, infinite turns with Time Walk or decking via Ancestral Recall.  Except, this, unlike most combo decks, can play the control game very well, and then win when it desires.  It can recur counters while setting up the combo.

       
Back on the original forums, Zoneseek started this thread http://www.themanadrain.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=11454  If you have not read it or at least looked at it, I suggest doing that.  The combo is explained much better as well as thoroughly.

It seems to me, this could be a time for ReapLace to make a comeback.  Graveyard hate seems to be at a low with 'little' fast combo to hate on this deck.

Here is what I feel to be the core of the deck.

Main:

4 Lace (Death/Prismatic)
4 Mana Drain  (There are many targets....)
4 Force of Will
3/4 Reap (1 Sideboard might be a possibility)
2-4 Cunning Wish
4 Intuition
X Restricted Cards

Here is an old list... keep in mind it has not been updated over the course of several new sets.

//Mana Base
4 Polluted Delta
3 Underground Sea
4 Tropical Island
2 Volcanic Island
1 Strip Mine
1 Library of Alexandria
1 Black Lotus
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Emerald

//Restricted Stuff
1 Time Walk
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Regrowth
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor

//Combo Stuff
2 Deathlace
3 Pristmatic Lace
4 Reap

//Other Spells
4 Accumulated Knowledge
3 Intuition
4 Brainstorm
3 Cunning Wish

//Counters      
4 Force of Will
4 Mana Drain

//Sideboard (I realize this may not be a very good sideboard)
1 DeathLace
1 Prismatic Lace
1 Intution
1 Fact or Fiction
4 Red Elemental Blast
1 Fire/Ice
1 Ebony Charm
1 Coffin Purge
1 Blue Elemental Blast
1 Skeletal Scrying
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Gush

This was an older build which I played Post-GaT/Pre-Long era.  It is not up to date and I'd suggest not playing this particular version at unless you are just trying to get a feel for the deck.

Over the course of the past few sets, some cards should be examined to see if they would be a better fit in reaplace than some of the current cards.

Thirst for Knowledge
Pros:
-Sink for Drain
-Draws cards as well as allowing you to get a combo piece into the graveyard for faster comboing.
Cons:
-Puts resources into the graveyard... hurts when you can't combo that turn

Result:  It may find a place.  Testing will show whether it's better than Intuition/Ak Engine since the Hulk Matchup could be bothersome.

Serum Vision
Check this thread
http://www.themanadrain.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=16840

Serum Vision may be better than brainstorm in this deck, however, I doubt it.  It clears chaff away which sometimes is very hurtfull.  However, not having the ability to shuffle away dead cards may be too much.

Elvish Spirit Guide
Pros:
-Fast Mana
-On Color for Reap
Cons:
-One time use
-Off color for most of the deck
-No help when comboing out

Fast mana helps assemble the combo, but since this is more of a control deck now, ESG doesn't seem like a very good fit.
Here's my current build i've been testing.

// Counters
        4 Mana Drain
        4 Force of Will
// Draw
        4 Brainstorm
        3 Thirst for Knowledge
        3 Intuition
        3 Cunning Wish
// Other
        1 Regrowth
        4 Reap
        2 Deathlace
        3 Prismatic Lace
// Br0ken
        1 Time Walk
        1 Yawgmoth's Will
        1 Demonic Tutor
        1 Vampiric Tutor
        1 Ancestral Recall
// Manabase
        1 Library of Alexandria
        4 Polluted Delta
        3 Volcanic Island
        4 Tropical Island
        3 Underground Sea
        1 Sol Ring
        1 Mox Sapphire
        1 Mox Ruby
        1 Tolarian Academy
        1 Mana Crypt
        1 Mox Pearl
        1 Mox Jet
        1 Mox Emerald
        1 Black Lotus
// Sideboard
SB:  1 Fact or Fiction
SB:  1 Deathlace
SB:  1 Fire/Ice
SB:  2 Deep Analysis
SB:  1 Intuition
SB:  1 Ebony Charm
SB:  1 Coffin Purge
SB:  1 Mystical Tutor
SB:  1 Prismatic Lace
SB:  1 Blue Elemental Blast
SB:  4 Red Elemental Blast

Thirst for Knowledge has been excelent.  Not having to set up AK's with the first Intuition helps.  Its better to just go for Reaps, Laces or depending on whats in hand, Reap/Time Walk/Lotus.

I felt it was time to resurrect an old favorite that I believe can once again become viable.   I am interested in hearing input from Ben Kowal.  If memory serves me correct, he played Reaplace at Waterbury? a while back.

Can you elaborate on exactly what chump blockers you are talking about?
A decklist would be helpful of what you are running.

I can think of 4x Welder, 1-2 Shaman as a possibility, 1 Karn?  Thats not exactly a lot of chump blockers... especially using a card you dont really want to chump with (welder)

Thats weird, I was talking 2nd turn Wishing which isn't that bad of an idea when your going for the win asap.  

I'd like to know how your able to drop sphere, a chump blocker and still attack the mana base enough to have an effect on the secound turn.  (And please don't give an example of some uber-broken hand.)



I think its his 6sphere deck that we initially started with.  But the discussion is mostly on workshop prison in general.

I wouldn't say there's no way for him to get off a wish...
If he played a tog first turn, he also has the mana to wish.  Trinisphere wont help against the wish so your hope is to play Sphere.  If he's able to drop anothere land, he can pay the one.  That is assuming you can safely cast the sphere.

Do you not run Mana Drain or something?  Can you not FoF the end of your opponents turn?  Sometimes Draining into a Disk isn't the best play.  Have fun in the control mirror relying on 4 Standstills + 1 Ancestral to draw you the cards.  Granted, manlands turn this in your favor but Fact or Fiction is just a bomb.  It turns games just by itself.  Much the way LoA does.



The fact that you call Fact or Fiction a 2nd rate card drawer just boggles my mind and brings down some of your arguments.

I ran it in a tournament a couple weeks back.  It's surprisingly pretty good.  It fetched decree a couple times which leads to the win as well as getting removal, card draw or Balance.  I was quite happy with it.  It's especially good with Balance... which is also really good... i'd suggest testing again with it before cutting.  Balance is near the number 1 reason why you should run White.  Aggro is one of the worst matchups, Balance helps a lot.

The lotus is in reasonable condition, thus I'm pretty sure we can assume its not beat.  Since beat and reasonable are pretty different.  I'd assume it can pass the bend test.  I'd suggest if you can get a scan of it, someone might be able to tell from that.

Mana Drain + Fact or Fiction is useful early game and late game.  You'll often have 1 Blue left over, and even spending the mana to cast it to get counters and whatnot, wins you the game more safely than would a single swing for two.



Balance is quite good in this deck.  You have no real creatures, so it is always a wrath of god.  Slowing your opponent down in the land department on top of strips + stifle is effective.  And Balancing then keeping a standstill + manland is very good.

I liked running a Mystical Tutor which can fetch Balance.  I"m not going to go into the viability of running Mystical, but it does make Balance much better, as well as fetching a win condition in Decree.
Now, you obviously wouldn't play Balance when your winning.  However it is too good a reset button to ignore.

Why on earth would you morph an Angel against sligh without mana to unmorph??
Anyway...

Have you tried deathlong?  It's a little different than draw7 and maybe  you'll have better luck with it.  

Also, if your looking for a fun deck, try reaplace.  It may not be the best deck to play, but it is a ton of fun.

This only works if there are no other artifact creatures in play.  Sacrificing Ravager to himself and moving the counters is a great way around removal.  Which is why I can see keeper having a bad matchup against this type of deck.

Reaplace can take infinite turns.  Ask if you want to see a list.

Yes, that is the same Matt Smith.  I've played and talked to him on a couple of occasions and he did mention playing BBS against Chapin in the finals.

Bazaar without Squee, is card disadvantage.  You'd need two squees for a +1 card gain.  Sure, there may be few positions where you could absolutly abuse bazaar with squees in control, but the majority of the time, you will only be breaking even.

Wasting 8 slots for card draw that will mostly break even (card quality) is not worth it.  Card draw in control needs to do just that.... draw as many cards as possible.

Quitting is really hard, and people often decide to come back at one point or another.  Unless you really need the money, i'd suggest hanging on to a lot of the type 1 stuff.  The value for it just keeps getting higher.

As far as the collection value: here's a rough estimate and may be a little off
2x Unl Lotus - 900
1x Unl Timewalk - 200
5x Beta Moxes ~ 1500-1700
Beta Ancestral ~ 350

~3000 for the power.
~425 or so for bazaars.
The T2 and BB stuff varies.

Hope I helped a little,
           Steve


BTW, if you do decide to sell, hit me an email.

Red is used for:

A:)2:1 removal through fire/ice - which is never dead, whereas swords is.
B:)REB's from the Sideboard
C:)Rack and Ruin/Shattering Pulse from side is often just as good as disenchant.
D:)Lightning Bolt is never dead, and surprisingly effective removal.

White does have Decree of Justice which is very synergistic, but outside of decree, Balance and swords, there is nothing there.  Red can cover for swords, yet it still offers much more to the deck.

I disagree.  The mana base of running 3 colors is doable while still running manlands.  However you are more suceptible to hate, but it does work without too much trouble.   The version I played of three color, doesn't run white as heavy as your build, which could be the problem.  Here is what I recently played:



3x Decree of Justice

4x Standstill
1x Ancestral Recall
1x Fact or Fiction

4x Mana Drain
4x Force of Will
3x Stifle
2x Misdirection


3x Nevinyrrals Disk
1x Balance

2x Lightning Bolt
3x Fire/Ice
1x Time Walk

4x Mishras Factory
4x Tundra
4x Volcanic Island
4x Flooded Strand
1x Island
4 Wasteland
1x Strip Mine
1x Library of Alexandria
1x Sol Ring
1x Mox Sapphire
2x Faerie Conclave
1x Black Lotus

But not running swords, the need to have W early is allieviated.  Use fetches for Volcanics.  LIghtning Bolts are good early as well as never dead.  The above deck doesn't really need white early.  Its great later for Decrees and the occasional Balance.

I've been trying to think on how much green helps this deck, but I just don't see it.  I see it hurting more than helping.
      Channel has GG as the cost, so I don't see you being able to reliable cast this early, barring some gilded lotus use.
      Fastbond will help early, but I hardly see it as essential to this deck since you still have lock components to stall early game.
 
I think if you dropped green entirely, you could do something of the following

Mana Base-28-
Mishra's Workshop X4
Tolarian Academy
Mox Jet
Mox Pearl
Gilded Lotus X3
Tundra X4
Flooded Strand X4
Wasteland X4
Strip Mine X1
Island x4

The Lock-16-
Trinisphere X4
Sphere of Resistance X4
Chalice of the Void X4
Tangle Wire X4

The Kill-11-
Mishra's Factory X4
Faery Conclave X4
Decree of Justice X3

The Draw-5-
Standstill X4
Ancestral Recall

Get out of Jail-1-
Balance

Tangle Wire can be great with manlands (Factory) and also great with decree.  It slows the game down greatly.

Dropping Green Makes the Mana Base much more solid.  One of the strengths of this deck is its resistance to artifact hate.  It doesn't rely on them for the win so if boarded in, your opponent is left with 'dead' cards.[/b]

Cut an Impulse for  Library if you feel you cannot cut a land.  The lack of synergy between Impulse and Standstill is apparent.  Landstill hasn't needed the type of draw that Impulse provides.

I'd consider cutting the other for Fire/Ice or a Disk depending on what you see a lot of in your metagame.  I'd lean more towards fire/ice going into an unknown meta.

Its important to realize that all of those calculations were just based on the t8.  A lot goes into making t8.  Trinisphere hated, hate cards being used against the correct decks cutting them from t8.  Just because it didn't appear in the t8, doesn't mean it wasn't played by multiple people.

The same thing applies when you add the hate cards used against dragon and those against workshop/artifact.  I'm willing to bet there was much more artifact hate (null rods, etc) that were played main board, but just by players who failed to make t8.