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    Shaman Ben

    @Shaman Ben

    The Librarian of Leng

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    Website Www.mtgunderground.wordpress.com Location Detroit Age 142

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    Best posts made by Shaman Ben

    • RE: Two Card Monte

      Preface to a Series of Crimes:

      This is the first in a series of appendices intended to supplement and slowly transmogrify the primer of my good friend @thecravenone into a work all my own, in my usual subtle yet entertaining fashion. This mirrors my time with the deck itself, which I started playing after @JACO crushed me with his version in round one of Vintage Champs in 2015. Since that day I have not played another vintage deck. My life and love belong to 2 Card Monte.

      My list, which I will vaguely reference throughout my supplemental material:

      # Two Card Monte
      ## Shaman Ben Version
      
      Lands:
      4 Mishra's Workshop
      4 Ancient Tomb
      4 Mana Confluence
      4 Gemstone Mine
      1 Tolarian Academy
      1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
      
      Mana Rocks:
      1 Black Lotus
      1 Sol Ring
      1 Mana Vault
      1 Mana Crypt
      1 Mox Emerald
      1 Mox Jet
      1 Mox Pearl
      1 Mox Ruby
      1 Mox Sapphire
      
      Combo Pieces:
      4 Leyline of the Void
      4 Helm of Obedience
      4 Painter's Servant
      4 Grindstone
      
      Tutors:
      1 Demonic Tutor
      1 Vampiric Tutor
      1 Demonic Consultation
      1 Tinker
      
      Card Draw:
      1 Ancestral Recall
      1 Timetwister
      1 Wheel of Fortune
      1 Memory Jar
      
      Protection:
      1 Trinisphere
      3 Defense Grid
      3 Red Elemental Blast
      1 Disenchant
      1 Ancient Grudge
      
      Sideboard:
      4 Nature's Claim
      1 Ancient Grudge
      1 Balance
      3 Containment Priest
      1 Red Elemental Blast
      3 Mindbreak Trap
      1 Sphinx of the Steel Wind
      1 City of Brass
      

      Addendum One: Goblin Welder is Not Your Friend

      When you were young, you always felt like an outcast. The world was trying to dress you in the trappings of a life that did not fit you. To mold you into something else. Something ugly. Something uniform. You cursed silently and tried to resist, but each day took more from you. It was tearing you apart, and forcing the pieces back together to form some caricature of you that you could not recognize or embrace. It was slow torture and soon there would be nothing of you left. Just the shell of who you could have been forced into being what their world decided.

      alt text

      Things changed the day you met [[Goblin Welder]].

      You were standing by yourself outside of a Mirrodin concert, trying not to look nervous or out of place. Feeling like an impostor, you felt only panic as the grimiest little guy in the street came charging your way. He was bellowing Agnostic Front lyrics and stomping about with questionable balance. He thrust a [[Mindslaver]] full of an unknown substance at your face, and you had no choice but to drink it. It burned as it went down, but with the warmth came inebriation. Fast and strong, it was a welcome departure from the emotions twisting about inside you like [[Teferi’s Puzzle Box]]. You would not remember much from that night, a theme that would recur throughout the years you would spend together. His methods and madness would rattle you like the [[Chains of Mephistopheles]] but they would leave you feeling alive.

      From that day on you ran the scene together. You were unstoppable. A [[Juggernaut]] tearing through the walls that used to contain you. The world was yours. Side by side, your companionship was forged in darksteel and penned in aether. It felt like it would last forever, like nothing could knock you from the high of endless nights of consuming [[Serum Powder]] and [[Thousand-Year Elixir]]. The spirit of Lin-Sivvi was coursing through your veins.

      When you were an [[Apprentice Wizard]] it was easy to ignore the writing on the walls as you tore them down like a [[Dwarven Demolition Team]]. Every moment was a new opportunity, and consequences never manifested if you did not look too closely. Never mind that the path was paved with problems, you had to keep charging into the light. It was more important to escape the darkness than face the music.

      Punk Rock forever.

      Each passing sunset made it a little harder to disregard the price of your friendship. The freedom you felt at his side began to show the true cost. He was always taking your things. Sometimes your nice things. Sometimes things you needed. Things you cherished. And he was trading them for things he told you that you wanted. That you could not live without. Things that he needed. His next fix. He was giving you the refuse from his crime-laden lifestyle and making you an accomplice. You could only turn a blind eye and swallow the truth for so long. Your [[Limited Resources]] were strained. Soon they would be [[One with Nothing]].

      Times were changing. Your battle raged on, but the more you pushed against the [[Rule of Law]] the more you were left with only [[Exhaustion]]. The purpose of the fight had become so hazy that you could no longer be sure there was an enemy. You began to question why you were fighting at all. The [[spirit of resistance]] dwindled. You were working too hard and accomplishing too little.

      Things had to change.

      When [[Goblin Welder]] got locked up, it was a breath of fresh air. You took a job at the [[Bazaar of Baghdad]] to try and get your things together. After some courses at the [[Tolarian Academy]], you established yourself in a real career working for Mishra. By the time you went out on your own and founded [[Gifts Ungiven]] incorporated, your reckless Goblin friend was a fading memory.

      alt text

      We will fast forward through the years to last week, when [[Goblin Welder]] showed up unannounced to your Suburban home front to the extreme discomfort of your new and rather conservative wife.

      At first, you are elated to see your old friend. Sealed away in the confines of nostalgia, you remember him as a safe, fun-loving brother from your [[Glory]] days. You [[recall]] things being much better than they were, and you are excited to catch up and maybe even get a taste of your former life.

      So you spend an evening pounding beers and trying to keep him quiet as he tells stories that make your new spouse cringe and send you into a panic as you worry about your kids overhearing his steady stream of profanity and vulgarity as they are supposed to be asleep down the hall. You drop numerous hints that it is time to wrap things up. He has a comfortable disregard for your prodding and your wife’s discomfort, and after a few more beers he cannot possibly manage to get anywhere safe.

      So he is sleeping on your couch.

      He will be gone in the morning.

      But when you get home from work the next day, there he is, cutting out lines of [[Serum Powder]] in front of your mother in law talking about the time you stole [[Squee’s Toy]] and hid it in the private chambers of the [[Adventurer’s Guildhouse]] after properly compensating [[Rubinia Soulsinger]]. As you erupt in anger to keep him from providing the most intimate details of your past in front of your nearby children, too overwhelmed to begin addressing the open use of substances in front of your family, he stares at you in disappointment.

      His feelings are hurt.

      He tells you that you have changed, and sulks off into the living room. He plops down on your couch as you follow him, wondering if he is right, too rattled to know what to do. Your new life is a little too close to the molded shell they were making for you when you met him, but it is a hell of a lot better than waking up smelling of vomit and holding your head to keep it from throbbing, trying to figure out where you are as you stumble out of an abandoned warehouse near the [[Rishadan Port]].

      Youth has its place. And that place is the past.

      You try to explain things to him, and he pretends to understand, but the conversation is distant and full of unspoken resentment on both ends. He agrees to pack his things and head out the next day, telling you about a fishing trip he has planned with [[Karn, Silver Golem]] that he was going to drag you along on as a surprise for your upcoming birthday, despite the fact that your birthday was a month ago. You begrudgingly agree to let him stay one more night in exchange for his promise to reign in his behavior, knowing well that you are already in over your head with your family for his exploits.

      You look in on him from the kitchen as he drinks a bottle of your expensive scotch on your couch, dripping it down his GG Allin shirt that smells like it has not been washed since before the [[Time Spiral]]. It is a sad sight on tired eyes.

      They say Legends never die. But let’s face it. The last thing your successful and happy life needs is an old legend bringing up the time you snorted [[Serum Powder]] off the belly of the [[Masked Gorgon]] to get so snow blind that she could not turn you to stone. Even as you reflect on this you have to worry that he is working on trading your four door sedan that you use to drop your kids off to school for a [[Goblin Charbelcher]], unaware that you no longer keep a stock of green mana around to fire it up by the pool. With any luck he has not already turned your lawn mower into some [[ticking gnomes]] or traded your satellite dish for a [[darksteel reactor]]. There is just no place in your life for [[Goblin Welder]].
      alt text

      Let go of the past. Punk is dead.

      To Sum things up in a more direct manor, Goblin Welder does not make the cut these days. He is a liability at best. I played him for too long, trying to make him good, but it was more work than it was worth. He is at his best if they kill or counter him, fearing him from some memory reflex instead of practical application.

      You are playing Leyline of the Void, making him worse against your opponent at least some of the time. Removal in main decks increases every day, and even when the Shops deck does not shut him down with a Revoker they shoot him with a Ballista. Goblin Welder is a weapon of the past, better left to rest in memory than tarnish in resurrection.

      Next up will be addendum 2, the Draw 7 Diatribe, but I think this is as much as I have in me for the morning.

      posted in Decks
      Shaman Ben
      Shaman Ben
    • RE: Two Card Monte

      I will play 2 card monte in any and every environment. If I knew everyone was packing 4 null rods, I would still play it. As such, my opinion about its positions is at least a little biased, if not down right insane. I am not going to win many games playing safe and strategic magic. I am going to win by killing someone on turn one while they still have a null rod in hand. I am going to win by destroying null rod with ancient grudge. I am even going to win by playing a painters servant, naming blue, and then casting demonic consultation for the last remaining red elemental blast in my deck. If it is not in the first six cards, I will red blast the fuck out of that null rod and grindstone my fiendish opponent for bringing such an offensive little weapon to this battle for justice and the future of our delicate species.

      posted in Decks
      Shaman Ben
      Shaman Ben
    • RE: [IMA] Change to rules on Blood Moon effects

      First, we played Dark Depths with Vampire Hexmage. But that was not good enough. So we started playing it with Thespian's Stage, and that was not good enough either. So we decided to make it cost a little more and have less stability and play it with Solemnity, and no matter how bad that was we could at least talk about if not terribly execute the plan with Mirage Mirror.

      But none of this was enough.

      So now, we are going to play our own, hate card, play dark depths, and destroy our hate card to get MARIT LAGE!

      You people sure like to work hard at things.

      Before anyone figures it out, I am going to let you in on the next piece of brilliant and unexplored bit of Dark Depths Technology.

      For 30 mana spread out over however many turns you can manage to live, you can summon MARIT LAGE with only one card!

      But how you ask?

      The options are limitless.

      Modern uses some combo from Hour of Devastation and Devoted Druid to create infinite mana. Why not make just 30 and summon MARIT LAGE?

      You could Animate a Worldgorger Dragon. I have killed people with Caller of the Claw and 20,666 bears, why not Marit Lage?

      You could cast power artifact on your basalt monolith and pretend you are playing oldschool, making MARIT LAGE the newest pair of shoes on the power line.

      If you gain enough life, its reasonable to cast channel and summon Marit Lage in exchange for 30 life.

      Only you can prevent forest fires. Dont get caught up trying to summon Marit Lage to do so.

      posted in Vintage News
      Shaman Ben
      Shaman Ben
    • RE: Feature request: Collapsible Deck Lists

      Listen.

      Most decks cannot stand up on their own as it is.

      They are propped up by shoddy foundations that will inevitably collapse on their own.

      Building them to be "collapsible" is going to get someone hurt.

      It is poor judgment and I urge you to reconsider your request. Think of the peasants.

      posted in TheManaDrain Metadiscussion
      Shaman Ben
      Shaman Ben
    • RE: Podcast: Masters 25 preview, Short History of Doomsday, and Arabian Nights Review

      I enjoyed the part where you discussed my win at the Team Serious Invitational. Mostly because I like to hear about me. Great work as always gentlemen.

      posted in Vintage News
      Shaman Ben
      Shaman Ben
    • MTG Underground: Mono Green Oldschool Blog Update

      I updated my blog tonight, talking about mono green in Oldschool. Hardly vintage, but all community. If 93/94 magic is your thing, you could probably read worse words. Because mine are fucking awesome.

      Love you all.

      [link text]https://mtgunderground.wordpress.com/2017/02/11/argothian-daydreams-hailing-the-leaf-in-the-oldschool-underground/(link url)

      posted in Vintage Community
      Shaman Ben
      Shaman Ben
    • MTG Underground Blog: Sum of Your Achievements

      New Blog Update. Full report on my experience at Eternal Weekend.

      https://mtgunderground.wordpress.com/2017/12/09/the-sum-of-your-achievements-mtg-underground-at-eternal-weekend/

      posted in Off-Topic
      Shaman Ben
      Shaman Ben
    • RE: Cards to unrestrict

      I want to play with 4 copies of channel.

      I want to play with 4 copies of demonic consultation.

      I will not say whether or not these are good ideas, but they would make vintage more enjoyable for me, as I try very hard to make things less enjoyable for my opponent.

      posted in Vintage Community
      Shaman Ben
      Shaman Ben
    • RE: Hollow One

      I played a build of this deck to a 5-1 finish at our local Vintage today, losing the first round to shops on the draw, then beating Oath twice, Landstill twice, and finally the other 5-1 Pyromancer deck. I likely would have beat shops on the play and the other matches never felt close.

      This is the list I played:

      Main Deck:
      4 Basking Rootwalla
      4 Vengevine
      4 Hollow One
      1 Anger
      1 Wonder
      1 Slimefoot the Stowaway
      1 Memnite
      2 Bomat Courier
      4 Survival of the Fittest
      4 Bazaar of Baghdad
      1 Ancestral Recall
      4 Faithless Looting
      1 Time Walk
      4 Deathrite Shaman
      3 Birds of Paradise
      1 Black Lotus
      1 Mox Jet
      1 Mox Emerald
      1 Mox Sapphire
      1 Mox Pearl
      1 Mox Ruby
      4 Windswept Heath
      4 Wooded Foothills
      2 Gaea's Cradle
      1 Forest
      1 Bayou
      2 Taiga
      1 Tropical Island
      1 Riftstone Portal
      
      Sideboard:
      2 null rod
      3 ingot chewer
      2 firestorm
      1 big game hunter
      1 Waterfront Bouncer
      1 stingscourger
      2 mindbreak trap
      2 ravenous trap
      1 leovold, emissary of trest
      

      I recognize that Slimefoot is just gratuitous, but I said I was going to play it and I held to my word. I would definitely like to play Leovold in that slot. The sideboard can use some work.

      posted in Decks
      Shaman Ben
      Shaman Ben
    • New MTG Underground Blog Post

      MTG Underground

      Posted in my blog today. Oldschool tournament report from the Oldschool Players Ball. Not vintage content, but a worthwhile read for likeminded folk.

      posted in Off-Topic
      Shaman Ben
      Shaman Ben

    Latest posts made by Shaman Ben

    • RE: How Do You Store Your Power?

      I keep mine in my liquor cabinet most of the time, in my oldschool deck.

      posted in Art and Collecting
      Shaman Ben
      Shaman Ben
    • July 8th - Livonia, Michigan - Unlimited Proxy Vintage

      Our next Unlimited Proxy Vintage is on July 8th, come out and play.

      https://www.facebook.com/events/806106853111174/

      posted in Vintage Tournaments
      Shaman Ben
      Shaman Ben
    • RE: 6/3/18 - Livonia, Mi - Unlimited Proxy for an Unlimited Time Walk

      @topical_island The event was a ton of fun. It would have been great to have you out

      posted in Vintage Tournaments
      Shaman Ben
      Shaman Ben
    • RIW Time Walk Tournament - 26 Players - Livonia, Michigan

      We had 26 players come out to battle through five rounds of swiss and the following elimination rounds. In the end, Charles Rolko @Rolko took home the Time Walk.

      A break down by Player and Archetype at the end of Swiss, the playout of top 8, and eventually, top 8 deck lists can be found below:

      End of Swiss Standings:

      1. Charlie Krug Esper Humans
      2. Shaman Ben (Me) 2 Card Monte
      3. Matt Wareham Shops
      4. James Crouch UW Teferi
      5. Justin Waller UWR Mentor
      6. Charles Rolko UWR Mentor
      7. Jake Weinmann Oath
      8. Daniel Overbeek Esper PO
      9. Kevin Cron UWR Mentor
      10. Kyle Lenox UWR Mentor
      11. Alvaro Mendez-Gomez Shops (had time vault and voltaic servant)
      12. Andriy Yatskiv Dredge
      13. Yuriv Yatskiv Shops
      14. Aaron Katz Bant Mentor
      15. Jeremy Pinter Esper PO
      16. Andrew Mclennan Two Card Monte
      17. Nam Tran Brass City Vault (Shops)
      18. Tom Brownell 4c Landstill
      19. Mike Shops
      20. Greg Kraigher Mono Red Prison
      21. Mark Kubiak Esper PO
      22. Mitchell Castaldini UR Pyromancer
      23. Scott Wilding Blue Belcher
      24. Chad Teuscher BK Oath
      25. Marland Moore UWR Stoneblade
      26. Marcel Moore Shops

      Top 8:

      Charlie Krug (1) defeats Daniel Overbeek (8)
      Shaman Ben (2) defeats Jake Weinmann (7) with his own Griselbrand
      Charles Rolko (6) defeats Matt Wareham (3)
      James Crouch (4) defeats Justin Waller (5)

      Top 4:
      Charles Rolko (6) defeats Charlie Krug (1)
      James Crouch (4) defeats Shaman Ben (2)

      Finals:

      Charles Rolko (6) defeats James Crouch (4) to win the Time Walk
      1st:

      # UWR Mentor
      
      ## Charles Rolko
      
      Main Deck:
      1 Mox Sapphire
      1 Mox Ruby
      1 Mox Pearl
      1 Black Lotus
      1 Ancestral Recall
      1 Time Walk
      1 Ponder
      1 Brainstorm
      4 Preordain
      1 Monastery Mentor
      1 Young Pyromancer
      3 Snapcaster Mage
      1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
      2 Lightning Bolt
      2 Dack Fayden
      2 Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy
      1 Gush
      1 Dig Through Time
      1 Treasure Cruise
      1 Gitaxian Probe
      1 Search for Azcanta
      2 Swords to Plowshares
      2 Pyroblast
      1 Flusterstorm
      3 Mental Misstep
      4 Force of Will
      2 Stony Silence
      3 Flooded Strand
      4 Scalding Tarn
      2 Volcanic Island
      2 Tundra
      1 Library of Alexandria
      3 Snow Covered Island
      1 Mountain
      1 Snow Covered Plains
      
      Side Board:
      
      1 Flusterstorm
      2 Wear//Tear
      2 Pithing Needle
      1 Minbreak Trap
      3 Shattering Spree
      2 Blood Moon
      1 Grafdiggers Cage
      3 Containment Priest
      
      

      2nd:

      # UW Teferi Control
      ## James Crouch
      
      Main Deck:
      
      4 Force of Will
      4 Mental Misstep
      3 Mana Drain
      1 Mindbreak Trap
      2 Flusterstorm
      3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
      2 Teferi, Hero of Dominaria
      3 Snapcaster Mage
      2 Stony Silence
      2 Search for Azcanta
      1 Balance
      1 Supreme Verdict
      1 Swords to Plowshares
      1 Ancestral Recall
      1 Time Walk
      1 Dig Through Time
      1 Treasure Cruise
      1 Gitaxian Probe
      1 Brainstorm
      1 Hurkyl's Recall
      1 Mox Pearl
      1 Mox Sapphire
      1 Black Lotus
      1 Sol Ring
      1 Lotus Petal
      4 Tundra
      4 Flooded Strand
      1 Polluted Delta
      1 Scalding Tarn
      1 Misty Rainforest
      4 Snow-Covered Island
      1 Snow-Covered Plains
      1 Library of Alexandria
      1 Strip Mine
      1 Wasteland
      
      Side Board:
      
      3 Containment Priest
      2 Rest in Peace
      2 Grafdigger's Cage
      2 Swords to Plowshares
      2 Disenchant
      2 Energy Flux
      1 Hurkyl's Recall
      1 Council's Judgment
      
      posted in Official Tournament Results
      Shaman Ben
      Shaman Ben
    • RE: 6/3/18 - Livonia, Mi - Unlimited Proxy for an Unlimited Time Walk

      We had 26 players, and a pretty diverse top 8. I will have results thread shortly

      posted in Vintage Tournaments
      Shaman Ben
      Shaman Ben
    • RE: Twitter Handles

      I am @librarianofleng

      posted in Off-Topic
      Shaman Ben
      Shaman Ben
    • RE: 6/3/18 - Livonia, Mi - Unlimited Proxy for an Unlimited Time Walk

      5 days to go!

      posted in Vintage Tournaments
      Shaman Ben
      Shaman Ben
    • RE: [BBD] Spellseeker

      If this card is not getting channel, it can get kaervek's torch.

      posted in Single-Card Discussion
      Shaman Ben
      Shaman Ben
    • RE: Hollow One

      I played a build of this deck to a 5-1 finish at our local Vintage today, losing the first round to shops on the draw, then beating Oath twice, Landstill twice, and finally the other 5-1 Pyromancer deck. I likely would have beat shops on the play and the other matches never felt close.

      This is the list I played:

      Main Deck:
      4 Basking Rootwalla
      4 Vengevine
      4 Hollow One
      1 Anger
      1 Wonder
      1 Slimefoot the Stowaway
      1 Memnite
      2 Bomat Courier
      4 Survival of the Fittest
      4 Bazaar of Baghdad
      1 Ancestral Recall
      4 Faithless Looting
      1 Time Walk
      4 Deathrite Shaman
      3 Birds of Paradise
      1 Black Lotus
      1 Mox Jet
      1 Mox Emerald
      1 Mox Sapphire
      1 Mox Pearl
      1 Mox Ruby
      4 Windswept Heath
      4 Wooded Foothills
      2 Gaea's Cradle
      1 Forest
      1 Bayou
      2 Taiga
      1 Tropical Island
      1 Riftstone Portal
      
      Sideboard:
      2 null rod
      3 ingot chewer
      2 firestorm
      1 big game hunter
      1 Waterfront Bouncer
      1 stingscourger
      2 mindbreak trap
      2 ravenous trap
      1 leovold, emissary of trest
      

      I recognize that Slimefoot is just gratuitous, but I said I was going to play it and I held to my word. I would definitely like to play Leovold in that slot. The sideboard can use some work.

      posted in Decks
      Shaman Ben
      Shaman Ben
    • RE: Team Serious Open - 5/19/18 at the Kidforce Collectibles Berea, OH

      @ssasala I respect the evil of the Q.

      posted in Vintage Tournaments
      Shaman Ben
      Shaman Ben