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Greetings, speculators!
This weekend was a busy one. Between Pro Tour: Avacyn Restored and SCG Madison we have a ton of deck lists to talk about. These events, the Pro Tour especially, have driven the price of some singles that no one could have predicted would be so useful.
Wolfir Silverheart a 12 dollar card? Well, Quiet Speculation called that one at $1.50.
What is the world coming to? Who won the Pro Tour? I’ll get to that in a bit. First, though, let’s have our dessert.
My recommended first pics
Redditor rick 21n brings us this comic that you may have seen before. Not only is it good to see Magic mentioned, it's good to see a distinction made between "nerd", "geek" and "dork."
Redditor MrPKMNBattler brings us the Minecraft design he has in progress: the beginnings of a very detailed rendering on the back of a Magic card. It looks pretty good, though maybe a bit tough to shuffle unassisted.
Avengers Assemble!
Redditor Alopex brings us this altered Wurmcoil Engine inspired by "The Avengers." Nice find!
Redditor Bladewing10 was distracted during the movie by what he thought he heard. He's not alone. I could have sworn I heard it, too. When people asked why I was laughing during the movie, I told them I was thinking about that picture of Jeremy Renner's mullet.
Friendship is Magic: the Gathering
Redditor Kingtomy found this pic and asked why anyone would do this to power. Funny enough, the cards actually belong to Redditor Solaran_X who responded in the thread. His response? It's a Brony thing; you wouldn't understand.
Redditor Fork-H brings us picture from the packaging on his new PC. No thanks; I'm looking for a modern PC, not one that's banned in Modern.
Redditor Xavierwoodshed noticed the idiot-proofing on a pack of sleeves. Honestly, if you needed this kind of help, maybe Magic isn't the game for you.
Redditor Wingedinsect was watching MTV and noticed a familiar face: Magic's own Brian Kibler!
SCG Madison
If you read my article last week, you may have done a double take. Once again, GR Aggro is the winner and, once again, RW Humans makes a showing in the top 8. I am a big fan of the inclusion of Wolfir Silverheart in GR Aggro. He makes a great Green Sun's Zenith target and makes their titans look vaguely ridiculous.
I think this card is the real deal and not just a good choice for block. If you can snag these for under 10 bucks, now may be your last chance.
Congrats to Mason Lange on the win!
Ian Ellis took top honors with "Junk" (err, Dark Horizons), an old favorite of mine.
Even more exciting, both Dredge and Dream Halls made top 8. It's very exciting to see some non-Delver decks doing well. Legacy continues to be a dynamic format where any given list on any given Sunday can get there.
The Main Event
Pro Tour Avacyn Restored Coverage
Miracles really can happen! With 16 Miracle cards in his innovative block deck, Alexander Hayne defeated stiff competition, including Johnny Magic himself to take home first prize.
There is a lot to be gleaned from how the pros innovated a format with such a small card pool. Usually relegated to MTGO, Block Constructed can be a window into cards that may make a huge splash in standard after the rotation.
So much green! I see a lot of Wolfir Silverheart, which lead to its dramatic price spike from 3 bucks to 12. Again, Insiders got the top off on Thursday, which makes those email blasts worth it.
Hayne's winning deck looks like a ton of fun to play. Is it even better ported to standard, a format where we have access to Noxious Revival? Maybe Entreat the Angels is closer to Decree Of Justice than we thought. Hayne rolled with the punches, adapting to a format likely to be filthy with Cavern of Souls by eschewing counters for board wipe and control in the form of Feeling Of Dread (a card which I think is Standard playable) to deal with uncounterable dudes.
Great job, Alex!
This is the end, my only friend
That's all I have for you this week! But first I have a sneak preview of next week's article.
I am currently on a week-long road trip with binder grinder extraordinaire Ryan Bushard. This trip is an epic shop crawl, culminating in a big sell off at GP Minneapolis. I will be tweeting my progress from the road and summarizing what I learned about shop crawling in next week's article. You won't want to miss it!
Follow me on Twitter @JasonEAlt for up-to-the-minute updates and check this space next week!
Redditor Bladewing10 was distracted during the movie by what he thought he heard. He’s not alone. I could have sworn I heard it, too. When people asked why I was laughing during the movie, I told them I was thinking about that picture of Jeremy Renner’s mullet.