David Given Schwarm

Married, Father, United

Tag: Magic: the Gathering

  • Born of the Gods Deck Tech

  • Born of the Gods Game Day @ Monsters & Magic in Mission Viejo, CA

    Tuesday Crew headed down to Mission Viejo for some drafting on Born of the Gods Game Day. We drove down in Lisa’s mini van.






    David Welty was there for his first Magic event in a long time.



    Scott drafted like a champ & had some really good cards–Xenegos among them.


    Derek went for a three color strategy–he lost close ones in round one, but I think he won his next two rounds easily.


    Cameron’s daughter Briana was there & playing some very close matches.


    Alex played in his first even & needed more help then he got–I think he had a lot of fun, but he did not draft well & struggled to score at all throughout the day.


    We had two complete pods in the draft.




    Preston was also playing in his first even & he did very well. 




    Cameron ended up winning my pod with a classic Green/ White Heroic strategy.



    David was stoked to take home so many rares.


    It was a super fun day.

  • Modern Muffins

    Another fun morning with the Tuesday Crew.

    Lisa made Lemon muffins.



    Jack made very quick proxies for his new modern deck

    I played Evan the Canadian–his black deck has tricks, but could not over come the Simic.

    There were several other very close matches.


    And then the boys were off to Middle School.

    A great way to start a Tuesday!

  • Jesse’s Cards

    Jesse dragged a box of cards out of his garage & I sorted them out by color.


    Filed them back into the box & will let Jack take a look to see if there is any value.


    Should be a good history lesson.

  • Pile of Backpacks.


    Another fun Tuesday.

    Tuesday crew continues to grow–we have added Preston who has some Pokemon background & is playing very well.


    Cassidy was out sick & Alexander was exhausted after GATE day.


    But we had the extra table out and a full flight of 4 games going the entire time. 

    There was some very solid play as the kids continue to improve their decks.

    they are also starting to make their own rules decisions & not relying on me as much, which is nice.


    Andrew and Jack are likely the dominant players. 



    Muffins went fast this week.



  • Trades Trades Trades

    Tuesday through down again this week–tons of games, skill level is really increasing, and the kids are now very interested in Trades.

    The games are getting much more lopsided as some of the Team are spending a lot of time on their decks and getting much better & others are just showing up on Tuesday.


    But we are still having a ton of fun.

  • Deck Tech Friday Night Magic 02/07/14

  • Friday Night Magic 02/07/14

    Friday Night Magic at Mercenary Market in Costa Mesa was a blast. It started with trying to solve this puzzle from the Hero’s Path:


    Luckily I had cheated and looked it up on bing, otherwise I would have never figured this out–I think that these puzzles need to be a whole later more simple.

    We drafted to Born of the Gods & one Theros which was awesome.

     Jack was in the other pod and built  a strong UW Heroic deck. He crushed me during play testing before things started.

    However my deck was fairly consistent in other games and I was able to pull out a 3-0 [6-1] record and take home a few packs.

    My deck was mostly a Wolf Pack which I am likely going to try to build out as a Standard Deck this week.

  • Pump after the Block

    I swing with Beetleform Mage:



    Matt blocks with Young Pyromancer:


    I pay the two to pump the Human Insect Wizard and hit for four taking none. 

    Matt argues that I can pump after blocks are announced; however, the flying effect does not override the fact that I was already in blocked state.

  • Best Play Ever

    At Dice House on Saturday, during the 12:00 Noon Prerelease, I saw the greatest play I have ever seen…

    Francois plays Nessian Wilds Ravager: 


    Johnny does not pay tribute. 

    In response to the ‘enters the battlefield’ trigger, Johnny casts Hold at Bay:



    targeting Artisan of Forms [the only creature Johnny has on the battlefield]:


    Francois’ Nessian Wilds Ravager fights Johnny’s Artisan of Forms’ Nessian Wilds Ravager copy and dies. 

    Johnny does not take damage because he prevents the six points that Francois did.

    Even after the cheers and the judge and the rest of it it was a pretty much perfect play.