| Adios, Splinter Twin and Summer Bloom. You will not be missed. I probably shouldn't speak for the entire Magic community when I write these things, as I'm sure there will be some people who will miss Splinter Twin and Summer Bloom, but I certainly won't be one of them. Sure, I joined #TeamSteamVents at #SCGCHAR, but that was more of an admission that I should have been playing U/R Twin the entire time in Modern. Yes, U/R Twin brought interaction along with it, but I'm not sure it's the kind of interaction Magic wants - because if you don't interact with the card Splinter Twin, you lose the game. Immediately. No questions asked. As for Summer Bloom? At #SCGCIN, Bobby Fortanely may have gotten that card banned all by himself. And if his win at #SCGCIN didn't do it, his article singing its praises almost certainly did. So what's next for Modern? Who knows! That's what the Modern Classic at #SCGATL this weekend is for. And speaking of #SCGATL, I suppose I should mention that it's the debut of Oath of the Gatewatch! That means we finally get to see Oath of Nissa, Chandra, Flamecaller, Linvala, the Preserver, and, hopefully, Hedron Alignment in action this weekend. I'll be joined by Patrick Sullivan, Nick Miller, and the rest of the @SCGLive crew as we work our way through fifteen rounds of new Standard action and crown our third SCG Tour champion of 2016. If you can't make it down to Hot'Lanta, be sure to watch all the action at twitch.tv/scglive! — Cedric Phillips, Marketing Manager @CedricAPhillips |  |  | Financial Fallout From The Modern Bans With Splinter Twin and Summer Bloom banned, what happens to the financial value of the decks in which those cards were central players? How about decks like G/W Hate Bears that existed solely to prey on them? What about decks like Faeries that couldn't be played because of them? Chas Andres has the answers! |  | Fact or Fiction: A Banner Week For Modern There's nothing I love more than a little battle, so watching Ross Merriam and Shaheen Soorani duke it out this week certainly brought a smile to my face. Did they think banning Splinter Twin was a good decision? Should Ancestral Vision be unbanned? Let them tell you in this week's Fact or Fiction! |  | The Ultimate #SCGATL Guide To Rally The Ancestors With #SCGATL around the corner, everyone is trying to figure out how Oath of the Gatewatch factors into our Standard format. Everyone except Ari Lax, of course. Ari doesn't think OGW is going to change how dominant Four-Color Rally has been over the past month. After reading his thoughts, I think you might just agree. | | | | | The boys are back at it! Justin Parnell, Stephen Green, Jonathan Suarez, and Wes Wise are here for another Commander VS video, and this time, they're building on a budget! With only a budget of $100, who will be creative and crafty enough to win the second episode of Season 2? Watch and find out! |  | | It might be freezing cold in Atlanta, but things are going to heat up when the SCG Tour rolls into town for #SCGATL. Oath of the Gatewatch brings plenty of fuel for the fire and should help change the landscape of the Standard format. As far as I can tell, there's only one deck that really jumps out and punishes my opponent: | | With the new Oath of the Gatewatch cards, G/R Eldrazi receives several upgrades, going from tier 2 to public enemy No. 1!  Kozilek, the Great Distortion is an obscenely good creature. The sheer amount of card advantage it can provide is staggering, and this deck does a great job of utilizing those extra cards. One thing that these Eldrazi decks have been missing is a way to disrupt the opponent, and Kozilek, the Great Distortion and a couple other cards from Oath of the Gatewatch have provided that disruption. Thought‑Knot Seer fills multiple gaps that this deck has always had. An early game beat-stick, this 4/4 lets you strip your opponent's best card. In the event of its death, it replaces the exiled card with a random draw from the top of your opponent's deck, which is almost always going to be a better trade for you.  If you haven't picked up your set of Sylvan Advocate yet, this weekend might be the last chance you have before the price spikes. G/R Eldrazi was always forced to play Jaddi Offshoot as a way to keep the shields up against aggressive decks. With the addition of Sylvan Advocate, the deck now has eight impressive two-drops that play defense in the early game while also providing a threat if drawn later. A ramp deck won't have much trouble reaching the six lands needed to turn on the Advocate by around Turn 4, so filling the board with multiple 4/5's for only two mana seems like something we should be interested in.  The last piece of the puzzle is Kozilek's Return, which is one of the most efficient sweepers printed in the last few years. An instant-speed Pyroclasm is nothing to scoff at, and with the wealth of tokens being produced in Standard from Gideon, Ally of Zendikar or Secure the Wastes, this card can handle them all. If the board ever gets clogged up after the first time you cast Kozilek's Return a giant Eldrazi can clean all of that up for free, thanks to the "return" part of Kozilek's Return. That it is also an instant is also absurd, giving you tons of play and ways to control the board. This seems like the last part this machine needed to achieve greatness, as it shores up almost all of the deck's weaknesses. Whether we like it or not, this deck is going to be a major player moving forward in Standard. It's time to accept our new noodly-appendaged overlords and welcome them with open arms…although I suspect embracing one would be really, really slimy. — Mark Nestico, @DynamoNestico | | With #SCGATL being the first tournament in which Oath of the Gatewatch is legal, things are kicking into high gear in the SCG Tour Player of the Year Race. A new Standard format generally rewards ample testing and intuitive brewing, and we should see plenty of that this weekend from our competitors. But Standard isn't the only format that received a shake-up this past weekend, as both Splinter Twin and Summer Bloom were banned in Modern. There should be plenty of eyeballs on our Modern Classic at #SCGATL, especially with Pro Tour Oath of the Gatewatch on the horizon. One player who is looking to have an especially successful #SCGATL is Caleb Scherer. Caleb has been on quite a hot streak since last autumn when he won the 2015 Season Four #SCGINVI and then followed that with a runner-up finish at the Legacy Classic at #SCGCHAR. Currently sitting at second place in the Player of the Year Race, Caleb is a player who is in for the long haul, as he will be at every Open weekend of the 2016 SCG Tour. Whether he is Storming his opponents out (using his Storm counter, of course) or beating down with robots in Modern, Caleb Scherer is going to be a strong contender for Player of the Year. |  | | Gerry Thompson is a player you can never count out when it comes to year-end accolades. The SCG mainstay has moved back to Roanoke, and the fire is burning once again. A Top-16 finish at the #SCGINVI in Las Vegas, followed by Top-8 at the Standard Classic at #SCGCHAR has put GerryT in a great starting position for the Player of the Year Race. And can you ever really count out the only player to ever win back-to-back Opens? Look for Gerry to show up at #SCGATL with something spicy to match the competitive fire that has been revitalized in him. #SCGATL will bring forward new archetypes, new cards, and new Standard for the first time this year on the SCG Tour! Will a new brew take down the event, or will the old guard stand pat? Will anyone be able to take first place from Jeff Hoogland on the Leaderboard, or will he continue to take the lead in the Player of the Year Race? Join us at twitch.tv/scglive and watch for yourself as we continue the SCG Tour Player of the Year Race! |  |  | | Thursday, January 21 | | Invitational Qualifiers East Windsor, NJ - Gamer's Realm Hobby | Friday, January 22 | | Invitational Qualifiers Oak Ridge, TN - Stabler's Games Springfield, VA - Curio Cavern | Saturday, January 23 | | Invitational Qualifiers Bel Air, MD - Bel Air Games Burlington, VT - Brap's Magic Cary, NC - East Coast Gaming Clay, NY - Larger Than Life Toys & Comics Harrisburg, PA - The Adventurer's Guild Jacksonville, NC - Lion's Eye Games Kenilworth, NJ - WildPig Comics Lafayette, IN - Legendary Games Lexington, KY - D20 Hobbies Newington, CT - Your Friendly Neighborhood
Tabletop Shop Prairieville, LA - Gamers Paradise Vacaville, CA - Forgotten Path Games GPT (IQ Prizes) Garden City, MI - Pandemonium Games | 1K Super Invitational Qualifiers GPT (1K Super IQ Prizes) Shakopee, MN - Phantasy Hobbies | Sunday, January 24 | | Invitational Qualifiers Columbus, OH - Comic Town Lexington, KY - Legendary Games Roanoke, VA - Star City Game Center Shakopee, MN - Phantasy Hobbies Winston-Salem, NC - House of Cards GPT (IQ Prizes) Dallas, TX - Common Ground Games | 1K Super Invitational Qualifiers East Windsor, CT - Ice Imports Fenton, MI - BC Comix & Games, LLC PPTQ (1K Super IQ Prizes) Falls Church, VA - Victory Comics | Tuesday, January 26 | | Invitational Qualifiers Brooklyn, NY - Kings Games | Thursday, January 28 | | Invitational Qualifiers East Windsor, NJ - Gamer's Realm | If you would like to unsubscribe and stop receiving these emails please click here. |
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