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I feel the need to point out that if you destroy Thragtusk in response, you don't get the two cards because you can't sacrifice the aura... it will be destroyed by state-based effects first.

i would like it if we explored alternate formats a little more. maybe a commander challenge, or modern. once or twice a block extended or pauper. standard isn't the only way to play magic, and week in week out standard with no restrictions is a little boring. they dont even need to be big restrictions. one good one might be "your deck must be a combo deck". point is, restrictions make stuff interesting and varying formats keep the column from being stale

Jan 15, 2013 -- 12:20PM, Lesurgo wrote:

Jan 15, 2013 -- 10:30AM, EyeballFrog wrote:

Drawing the cards is not conditioned on sacrificing the aura.  They're just two things the ability makes you do.

You can tell this because it doesn't say "if you do, draw two cards."

Yep! This is accurate. Like any good Ransom, it's a trap for the other person.

Jan 15, 2013 -- 11:03AM, gruulsmash wrote:

i would like it if we explored alternate formats a little more. maybe a commander challenge, or modern. once or twice a block extended or pauper. standard isn't the only way to play magic, and week in week out standard with no restrictions is a little boring. they dont even need to be big restrictions. one good one might be "your deck must be a combo deck". point is, restrictions make stuff interesting and varying formats keep the column from being stale

I try and switch it up with the restrictions reasonably often. For example, just within in the past couple months we've had weeks for all five guilds, and restrictions for budget and Modern.

Something important to note is that restrictions don't keep things as fresh insofar as simply choosing fresh decks does. Restrictions can help encourage decks with that heuristic, but at the end of the day the restriction isn't as important for freshness as what deck is featured - and with 150+ decklists to comb through each week, there's practically always something new and exciting in there.

As far as formats go, I'll admit it is going to have the majority geared toward Standard since it's the most popular format and the most popular constructed format for FNM.  However, I do try and make sure other formats get some time. I do Modern every few weeks, and I just did a Commander article last week. I plan to continue to keep trying new things from time to time.

first of all, thanks for taking the time to respond.

However, that commander article was not a challenge for us, it was more of a boab than a reconstructed (minus budget).

the fun part about this column is submitting decks, at least for me. and one of the things restrictions do is force us to think out of... well, our standard mindspace. still, actually responding to this is something no other columnist has done, minus mike cannon, and i respect that.

The preview card, Soul Ransom , is pretty cool, but there's this little problem called Restoration Angel . She will rip up your pathetic little ransom note and call Thragtusk to heel. I guess you get a 3/3 beast out of the deal, at least. :-)