October Update

Greetings Everyone,

Let me apologize. I know I missed September's update and for good reasons. As an individual who works a full time job in the defense community in which I have been deploy a lot lately in preparation for my upcoming operation, Op-Projection. I am also a father of three amazing children with a beautiful and supportive wife who also vie for affection as well, on top of this I also act as a primary care-giver to my aging old mother who suffers from numerous mental and physical health problems. So, I decided to take September off to re-align and try to recharge. I took a weeks vacation, however it did not work out as Intended. I have so many videos that are now unnecessary as they are old, and I found myself more down and depressed and dreading having to go to work, I suffer from huge bouts of anxiety and depression, more so after the loss of two more military friends. I would wake up feeling sick and this poured into my lack of creation. I want to say that I am certified to recognize these signs and symptoms and with the support of my family I have been seeking help and being treated. I still refuse to use prescriptions as I feel they are an option of last resort, and want to try and find my way without them, grow and be better so that I can become better, much like Magic has been.

In spite of this. our Patrons have been slowly increasing and I have been asked twice now to host pre pre-release events for the last two set releases by wizards so I do have a lot to be thankful for. If you would like to help you can donate here, join Patreon or Like, Subscribe and share. But not only that just viewing my content anonymously helps as well. So where does this leave me? Well like Wizards I am trying to become better, and they have been trying. They created a number of new formats for people, in more recent times, the first creation was brawl followed by Pioneer.

While I personally spend most of my time and money on Commander, I have been bitten by the home grown format of #Oathbreaker, since I heard about it on Twitter nearly a year ago. I have been more keen on playing Oathbreaker, it has been my go to format for teaching kids at my L.G.S. and a weekly competitive event. I find it's good for ship life as well since it can lead to quick games and can be played between watches.

For more information on this new sensation and to help by donation or by sharing their message you can find more info through their YouTube trailer here at their >channel< . You can follow them on twitter here >Wierdkids<. Lets talk about Pioneer though. What is Pioneer? Pioneer is very similar to what most would say was the player created Frontier format.

This format will include cards starting from the Return to Ravnica block to the current Throne of Eldraine and forward. To me it feels like a Teir 2.0 from the old magic days before being named modern. The only main differences this format has is that starts off with a Banning immediately with the five allied Khans fetch lands, and with full competitive support from Wizards of the Coast.

This format will shake things up a bit with the re-introduction of old standard decks and will drive secondary market prices back up. for example my case of Dominaria I bought because it was out of print jumped nearly $100 over night and that is likely due to the Karn, Teferi and Mox amber, for UB Control and Artifacts. We will see things like Siege Rhino, Teferi control and Smugglers copter running about the multiverse again which begs the question as to what future bans will bring. I am sure that Pioneer will be a fun format for those that still have their old decks however with the secondary market uncertainty, and constant manipulation of the MTG Finance world I don't see people buying the old tried and tested decks which will bring in the home brewers to find counter deck options and jank brews to the competitive scene with all the cards available in this format. I know I will be.

You can head over to places like Channel Fireball and MTG Goldfish to find user submitted decks.

J, The Filthy Casual

CEO -------------------------------------------------------

This article is not in any way endorsed by Weirdcards, Channel Fireball or MTG Goldfish. and is an opinion of the writer.

Justin Morrison is CEO of The Phoenix Syndicate Gaming and is a 12 year veteran of the Royal Canadian Navy. He likes to, in his spare time create MTG Content and paying RPG's like Everquest and World of Warcraft. You can find him on Twitter >J, The Filthy Casual<