"I don't know man. He just came alive and started eating the Czechs face!" - The Horde

Hello hello all you mages out there in LGS land. I hope everyone had a great time at a release party this past weekend. A group of us went for our first standard event post rotation. There were some great matches and lots of strong looking decks around. Of course some of the pre-rotation decks were there, but a lot of new decklists were in attendance as well. There should be plenty to speculate on, look forward to, and capitalize upon.

Now seeing as how this is a new blog, we are still moving things around and geting situated. So I'd like to try
a little change in format here for Scene In The Store. What I would like to do is provide you with a quick recap and
then jump right into a list of what's hot at the moment. Remember folks, this blog is aimed at the casual/non-tourney person. Please don't expect a lot of card evaluation and future speculation, that's what the other writers here at Quiet Speculation are great at. I am going to attempt to provide you with a physical look into the local game store scene so you can compare all the data here on this sight and make your own calls.

So recap then Shane! Ok, the metagame in standard is shaping up to be an interesting one. Several pre-rotation decklists are still in contention while a few newcomers are making waves. As usual, mono-red aggroed itself into top spots everywhere this past weekend. From the Mono a Mono-red showdown in Indianapolis, to the two mono-reds that placed in the Top 4 at our local standard event. (Yours truly took 2nd...on the back of Stromkirk Noble and a buddy named Brandon...Liliana FTW!) With the Noble and hot new burn spell Brimstone Volley, red is going to continue to be a major player in the near future. The Human archetype has really been getting some love and showing a strong force. Watch for some W/x or U/x Human deck to have some solid staying power. I think we can truly expect to see B/R Vampires become a solid build again too.

Without further ado, let's run down some of this weeks observations...

* Stromkirk Noble has got to be my favorite card of the set and probably the most utilitarian in my opinion.
The Noble has been a hot commodity no matter where I go or who I talk to. They've slowly been creeping up in price since the pre-release and I dont see them stopping anytime soon. And just wait till they find their place in a top deck!
* Brimstone Volley is the new big burn spell. Foils of these should be highly sought after.
* Stony Silence is showing strong and these will be going into the display case at the store.
* Mask of Avacyn is insane in foil! I'm hunting these in particular for pimp points in the stores display
case. I think this card has the potential to be a stand out for many years to come.
* Cackling Counterpart When did blue open up an instyprint? Several people have been playing this card and,
many more have been talking it up. I would jump on at least a few of these before we see them go up much more.
* Laboratory Maniac is going to be a card I try to keep a few of at all times. Alt win conditions are huge
in the casual scene, especially multiplayer-FFA. There are a couple cards in particular that will help with this and
I'm interested in seeing how this alt-win plays out. There's a nice little write up here by Carlos Gutierrez (#1 under "build around me" cards).
* Olivia Voldaren has a lot of brewmasters talking lately. More as that story develops.

So that's this Tuesday's blog friends. I hope you like the new format, but be prepared for some tweaks as we get settled in. Comments and feedback are always welcomed. As the layout gets more to our liking we'll cover more material as well as brainstorm about how to make a stronger scene for all involved.

Have fun out there and go be Scene In The Store!

-Shane-