{"id":1648,"date":"2012-11-02T07:00:14","date_gmt":"2012-11-02T11:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ajmtg.com\/?p=1648"},"modified":"2012-11-01T19:31:13","modified_gmt":"2012-11-01T23:31:13","slug":"modern-family-prepping-for-grand-prix-chicago","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/ajmtg.com\/?p=1648","title":{"rendered":"Modern Family \u2013 Prepping for Grand Prix Chicago"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Hey everybody! Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Chris Adraneda. I am a long time Magic player dating all the way back to when Legends first dropped in 1994.<\/p>\n

A brief history: one day my brother came home with a bunch of extra commons and uncommons from Revised and Legends that a friend gave to him. Needless to say, that is all it took. I was addicted. Fast forward 5 years and I’m PTQ grinding all over the midwest: Madison, Urbana-Champaign, St. Louis, Iowa, Ohio and obviously my hometown of Chicago. A few years after that I decided to let the game go. Around the time\u00a0Phyrexian Scuta<\/a>\u00a0was the next\u00a0Juzam Djinn<\/a>\u00a0I sold off my entire collection to help finance an engagement ring and a wedding, I got married, completely forgot about the game and moved on.<\/p>\n

One evening, years later, I’m teaching a Photoshop class at the local college I was working for. My demo illustration of a Frost Monster was projected onto the wall. It was titled “Icy Manipulator<\/a>.psd.” After the demo a student comes up to me and asks, “Did you used to play Magic: The Gathering?”<\/p>\n

And once again, that’s all it took. He brought in what cards he had. I did the same. I was swinging with\u00a0Rancor<\/a>ed\u00a0Kird Ape<\/a>s!\u00a0I was hooked all over again.\u00a0That was right around the time of Ravnica (original Ravnica) and Time Spiral Standard when I traded in what old cards I had left for some new stuff.<\/p>\n

I have always been interested in writing about Magic, attempting at first a blog about my FNM experiences, which nobody read and I eventually gave up. Now I’m thankful for this opportunity to be writing again.<\/p>\n

One of my biggest issues with Magic, and a main reason for quitting the first time, is the need for rotation of the most important format, Standard. I completely understand that Magic: The Gathering is a business first and rotating formats is how they make money. I get that. But it still bugs me that spending $20 on a\u00a0Day of Judgment<\/a> one day it becomes a $2 nothing another day. The same goes for tons of other cards:\u00a0Baneslayer Angel<\/a>,\u00a0Vengevine<\/a>, Lotus Cobra<\/a>,\u00a0the Titan cycle, etc.<\/p>\n

My point isn’t to complain about Standard but really to segue into Modern.<\/p>\n

Any Magic player worth his or her salt already knows what Modern is made of so I won’t bother with the format’s details. But I will say that because it is an eternal format it doesn’t rotate like Standard. Format staples hold their value (for the most part). Reprinting of important cards is possible, i.e. Shocklands and the soon to be reprinted\u00a0Tarmogoyf<\/a>\u00a0in Modern Masters.<\/p>\n

Being an old school player with barely any old cards, Legacy has been out of the question. Having issues with rotation makes Standard annoying. Modern has been a perfect fit for me.<\/p>\n

I really want to discuss a few decks that I will be testing for the upcoming Modern Grand Prix in Chicago. Since I moved to Florida a few years ago, it will be nice to return to my old\u00a0Stomping Ground<\/a>s\u00a0to rock some Modern.<\/p>\n

I have been testing a few decks, mainly Jund and Valakut but the latest Pro Tour: Return to Ravnica has shaken the Modern format up a bit.<\/p>\n

Here is what I am looking at playing:<\/p>\n

JUND<\/h4><\/div><\/div>