Alphabet of the People

[Matt]

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=mtgcom/daily/cm80

The Auction of the People format looks interesting.


Here's the only X cards, to get you started:

Xanthic Statue   
Xantid Swarm   
Xenic Poltergeist   
Xiahou Dun, the One-Eyed   
Xira Arien   
Xun Yu, Wei Advisor

[Jacob Orlove]

I'll be thinking about a deck for this.

[Mr. Nightmare]

This is an interesting subject, and I have a deck built that I'm testing already.  I think your best bet is to focus on the difficult letters (Q is easier than I expected, but there were some tough ones for sure), and work from there.  It's easier to have a plan for the narrow letters and work out, than to work in from another perspective and use bad cards.

[Jacob Orlove]

5. The decks will be selected based on a combination of creativity, entertainment and play value. We are not looking for the most powerful deck. There will be many submissions, so choosing offbeat cards and/or an offbeat strategy will help set your deck apart from the others.

I'm trying to focus mine more and more heavily on my chosen theme. The two keys, I think, are building your manabase first, and picking a theme that allows you to play strong cards. It'll be a lot of work to find flavorful options for each letter, but I'll have to see what I can do.

[jro]

Anyone have a suggestion for a good search technique to use for finding cards of the various letters?  magiccards.info will let you search for two letter combinations in the title, but doing that rigorously would take forever, and skipping unlikely combinations might miss useful cards (like Yxilid Jailer).

[Smmenen]

My deck is basically finished.

I'm tuning it right now.   It's maybe 2-3 cards off from a final list. 

I really think it will catch their eye. 

[Mr. Nightmare]

My deck is basically finished.

I'm tuning it right now.   It's maybe 2-3 cards off from a final list. 

I really think it will catch their eye. 

I'm about the same.  I have one card I know I don't want in the final cut, but other than that, I'm solid.

[Matt]

We should have a tournament for this format. Like, before Wizards does.

[Anusien]

Time for me to get started, I guess.

[jro]

We should have a tournament for this format. Like, before Wizards does.

Before or after the deck submission deadline?  That is, would the tournament be for the purpose of tuning decks for submission, or for sorting out which submitted decks are good performers?

[Jacob Orlove]

Also, how would we do bids? Because there's no way my deck is competitive if everyone starts at 7/20.

[Matt]

Also, how would we do bids? Because there's no way my deck is competitive if everyone starts at 7/20.

Lol, I think I know what that means.

[Jacob Orlove]

...that I built a Xira Arien deck? Also, I should clarify that by 7/20, I meant 7 life and 20 cards, not today's date.

[Anusien]

Also, I should clarify that by 7/20, I meant 7 life and 20 cards, not today's date.

I'd love to build a Legacy legal deck for 7 life and 20 cards.

[Jacob Orlove]

Haha, whoops. You know what I meant.

Also, is anyone actually running basic lands for this? As far as I can tell, they just make your deck less consistent.

[Matt]

I figured it's either burn or Tendrils, to take advantage of lowered life totals. Double points if you used Higetsu's Second Rite.

[Jacob Orlove]

I already told you; I'm building a Xira Arien deck. My point was not that I need people on low life, but that my deck is a pile, and I need free ancestral recalls to have a shot.

[Illissius]

You could adapt quite a lot of standard Legacy decks to this format, because you can just fill out the alphabet with nonbasic lands -- there are good ones for nearly every letter. Not being able to play two cards of the same letter is actually a much bigger restriction than having to play one of each. And this would be easy enough to try and break -- the trouble is they're not looking for power, but the ever enigmatic "creativity, entertainment, and play value". Designing a deck is much more straightforward when you have a clear goal to aim for, which this one isn't. I thought of crafting a deck around the Greatest Combo Ever Conceived -- Graceful Antelope plus Quarum Trench Gnomes -- but would that then be considered too weak? Feh. Anyone know what exactly they're looking for?

[Matt]

I already told you; I'm building a Xira Arien deck. My point was not that I need people on low life, but that my deck is a pile, and I need free ancestral recalls to have a shot.

In what sense is Xira Airen or her ability free?

[Jacob Orlove]

I was still talking about why my deck needed the bidding system: if the good decks get bid down to, say, 5/15, and my deck only goes to 7/15, then I'm up two cards, or, more poetically, a "free ancestral recall".

Xira Arien is most decidedly *not* free, and contorting my mana base to produce UU on turn two and BRG on turn 3 was an interesting challenge.

[Matt]

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=mtgcom/daily/cm89

Well, decklists are up, and mine didn't make it. Here's what I submitted:

  1 All Hallow's Eve
  1 Burning of Xinye
  1 Capture of Jingzhou
  1 Diamond Valley
  1 Evincar's Justice
  2 Forcefield
  2 Grim Tutor
  3 Heart of Ramos
  1 Imperial Recruiter
  3 Juzam Djinn
  2 Khabal Ghoul
  1 Lich
  2 Mirror Universe
  1 Night of Souls' Betrayal
  1 Overwhelming Forces
  4 Polluted Delta
  2 Quicksand
  4 Rolling Earthquake
  1 Sea Drake
  1 The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
  4 Underground Sea
  4 Volcanic Island
  1 Word of Command
  1 Xiahou Dun, the One-Eyed
  3 Yotian Soldier
  1 Zodiac Dragon

  3 Mountain (preferably from Arabian Nights!)
  8 Swamp

[Jacob Orlove]

Here was my list:

2 Aquamorph Entity
4 Bloodstained Mire
2 Crosis's Charm
1 Disharmony
3 Engineered Explosives
3 Fact or Fiction
2 Gifts Ungiven
1 Hallowed Fountain
3 Ice (Fire/Ice)
1 Jester's Mask
1 Knowledge Vault
4 Logic Knot
1 Morphling
1 Nantuko Vigilante
2 Odds/Ends
4 Polluted Delta
1 Quicksilver Dragon
2 Regrowth
3 Sylvan Library
3 Tropical Island
2 Underground Sea
3 Volcanic Island
4 Wooded Foothills
2 Xira Arien
1 Yixlid Jailer
4 Zoetic Cavern

[Mr. Nightmare]

My not-selected Turboland build:

Land (25)
2 Forest
4 Island
4 Flooded Strand
1 Jungle Basin
2 Mishra's Factory
1 Oboro, Palace in the Clouds
3 Polluted Delta
1 Quicksand
1 Reflecting Pool
1 Simic Growth Chamber
4 Tropical Island
1 Yavimaya Coast

Creatures (9)
2 Azusa, Lost but Seeking
2 Drift of Phantasms
2 Vinelasher Kudzu
3 Xantid Swarm

Spells (26)
4 Brainstorm
3 Crucible of Worlds
4 Exploration
2 Gaea's Blessing
2 Horn of Greed
4 Impulse
1 Krosan Grip
1 Life From the Loam
1 Naturalize
1 Upheaval
2 Walk the Aeons
1 Zuran Orb

I was pretty amazed at just how good this deck is.  I wouldn't have been surprised to see it win the thing, especially after seeing the other decks it had to compete against.

[Illissius]

Here was mine:

1 Ascendant Evincar
1 Genesis
1 Juzam Djinn
4 Korlash, Heir to Blackblade
1 Trench Wurm
3 Xiahou Dun, the One-Eyed
1 Yavimaya Granger
1 Zombie Master

1 Drain Life
1 Enslave
2 Rise // Fall
4 Intuition
1 Haunting Echoes
1 Life from the Loam
1 Nightmare Void
4 Pernicious Deed
4 Sensei's Divining Top

4 Bloodstained Mire
2 Cabal Coffers
4 Maze of Ith
3 Overgrown Tomb
1 Quicksand
4 Rocky Tar Pit
3 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
2 Watery Grave
1 Volrath's Stronghold
2 Swamp
1 Snow-Covered Swamp
1 Mountain

[BC]

Alphabet Bomberfish:

3  Auriok Salvagers
3  Brainstorm
2  Counterspell
2  Daze
1  Engineered Explosives
4  Flooded Strand
2  Grand Arbiter Augustin IV
4  Hallowed Fountain
2  Ice Floe
2  Jotun Grunt
1  Kami of Ancient Law
2  Lion's Eye Diamond
3  Meddling Mage
2  Necrogen Spellbomb
1  Old Man of the Sea
2  Polluted Delta
2  Quicksand
1  Ronom Unicorn
3  Swords to Plowshares
4  Trinket Mage
1  Umezawa's Jitte
1  Vedalken Shackles
3  Wasteland
1  Xanthic Statue
1  Youthful Knight
3  Zoetic Cavern

2  Island
2  Plains

[andrewpate]

AlphaGAT

4 Accumulated Knowledge
4 Brainstorm
1 Counterspell
2 Duress
1 Echoing Truth
3 Force of Will
2 Ghastly Demise
1 Intuition
1 Jinx
3 Merchant Scroll
1 Nightmare Void
1 Ray of Revelation
1 Serum Visions
1 Venarian Glimmer
2 Zombie Infestation

2 Psychatog
4 Quirion Dryad
1 Wonder
1 Xiahou Dun, the One-Eyed


2 Hallowed Fountain
4 Island
1 Forest
1 Krosan Verge
2 Llanowar Wastes
2 Swamp
4 Tropical Island
4 Underground Sea
4 Yavimaya Coast