So, it’s been almost a month since my last MTG entry. I missed a few weeks with the holidays and all, but since that last report I’ve played 4c PeddleCaster (fun but I made a couple too many mistakes and missed the cut on breakers at 2-1-1), Dark America (went very badly, mostly because I again played poorly, finished 1-2 drop—but still a fun deck), and UWR Flash (2-1-1 then lost in the top 8 to Dark Naya, played a little better but should not have had the one draw on time; however, this was not a fun deck, not sure why). So, time for something new!

Having just completed my grand survey of RTR Standard, and since my son was playing Golgari meaning I had no access to Overgrown Tombs, I decided to play Naya this week at FNM. Naya has been getting more popular lately at big events, and I haven’t played it yet, so I went with it. Here’s the list I played:

Naya Midrange

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Creatures (27) 4 Avacyn’s Pilgrim 3 Borderland Ranger 3 Centaur Healer 4 Huntmaster of the Fells 4 Restoration Angel 1 Sigarda, Host of Herons 4 Thragtusk 2 Wolfir Silverheart 2 Angel of Serenity Spells (10) 2 Bonfire of the Damned 4 Farseek 3 Selesnya Charm 1 Garruk, Primal Hunter Lands (23) 3 Cavern of Souls 2 Forest 2 Kessig Wolf Run 1 Mountain 2 Plains 4 Rootbound Crag 1 Slayers’ Stronghold 4 Sunpetal Grove 4 Temple Garden Sideboard (15) 1 Bonfire of the Damned 2 Grafdigger’s Cage 2 Pillar of Flame 1 Rest in Peace 1 Sundering Growth 2 Loxodon Smiter 2 Oblivion Ring 2 Triumph of Ferocity 2 Zealous Conscripts

5 rounds of Swiss, cut to top 8 as per usual at my FLGS, Montag’s.

Round 1: Parker playing RDW
Parker has been playing RDW pretty consistently for a while so I knew what I was in for. Since my custom is to switch decks every time, he had no idea what he was facing. Game 1 I curved beautifully for this matchup: Centaur Healer, Huntmaster, Thragtusk. Too much life gained for him to win the race once a Silverheart came down. In came the Pillars, the Smiters, and the third Bonfire. Game 2 he came out blazing. I had a turn 3 Healer but his first three turns were Rakdos Cackler, Ash Zealot, two more Cacklers. I never really caught up to that, and when he put Volcanic Strength on his Ash Zealot, though I had no Mountains, even a Huntmaster didn’t get me back into this one. Game 3 I again had an early Healer and then a Huntmaster, both of which got burned off, but I carried it with a Resto soulbonded to a Silverheart.
1-0 matches, 2-1 games

Round 2: John, playing Selesnya life gain
This is a deck based around Trostani and other life gain dudes (Centaur Healer, Rhox Faithmender, etc.), set up to crush RDW and Rakdos aggro/BR Zombies. Unfortunately for him, I wasn’t playing either of those decks. Game 1 it was me with the life gain with a turn 4 Thragtusk followed by a Huntmaster that flipped, followed by an Angel of Serenity to clear the board and let me swing for lethal. I don’t remember what I boarded for this one. Game 2 was a little more back and forth, but I hit a Bonfire when he had only 3-toughness dudes out and that was enough of a path clear for me to win.
2-0 matches, 4-1 games

Round 3: Jeff, playing Jund Midrange
This is a really interesting matchup in that the two decks share a lot of cards (Farseek, Huntmaster, Thragtusk, Bonfire, etc.), but still have important differences. Naya gets the re-use of the value creatures through Resto and the top-end power of Angel of Serenity, Jund gets more removal (including the very good Sever the Bloodline) and Olivia. Olivia, it turns out, is very good in this matchup, and it’s what carried game 1. I had a Selesnya Charm in my hand most of the game, but he never put a second counter on Olivia and I never got a flier to stick (never drew Serenity) and he ground me out. His tech play of the day was I had two Huntmasters out and he cast Abrupt Decay just to kill a wolf token on my end step to keep them from flipping. Pretty good, particularly when he next topdecked Sever to kill both of them. Grr. In came the third Bonfire and the two Zealous Conscripts, and possibly the ORings though I’m not sure about those. Game 2 contained a sweet play for me, though I don’t remember the exact sequence of events that got us there. Regardless, the board state was me with a flipped Huntmaster and a Thragtusk, he played Thragtusk to go back to 19. My next turn: Zealous Conscripts! I borrowed his Thragtusk to swing for 17 and brought him down to 2 while I was at 27. So that one went my way. Game 3 featured another battle of value life-gaining creatures. I got a Huntmaster and two Thragtusks, he got a Huntmaster and only one ‘Tusk—the total life gained on both sides was silly. I again broke the board stall with Zealous Conscripts, stealing Thrag and getting through. I was all set up for an amazing following turn, as I had a Resto in hand and a Stronghold out with enough mana to Resto the Conscripts and activate the Stronghold. Unfortunately, on his turn he killed the Conscripts. It took away my tech play but actually since he didn’t play a creature I had enough to swing for lethal with Wolf Run anyway.
3-0 matches, 6-3 games

Round 4: Michael playing Jund Midrange
Sometimes from 3-0 you can ID in with the number of players we had, but I couldn’t because I got rounded down and so my opponent needed to play. Michael’s build was a little different than most, as he ran a few off the beaten path cards like Deadbridge Goliath and a one-of Mikeaus, the Unhallowed. I have to admit I’m a little fuzzy on the details of these games, especially game 1. I know in game 1 that I Charmed a Deadbridge at one point and won by grabbing another Deadbridge and a couple cards from my graveyard with Angel of Serenity. Game 2 we did a lot of my creatures trading with his removal, but his board was pretty light, and when I cast the big Angel it was to his empty board so I pulled three things from my yard. He managed a Thragtusk when he was at 8 followed by a Deadbrige. I came back with Zealous Conscripts. He came back with Mikeaus and then made a tech play by casting Disciple of Bolas, sacrificing his own Thragtusk with Mikeaus out to gain 11 of life and create another big blocker, which was pretty cool. I played another Zealous Conscripts to borrow Mikeaus and bash him down to 2. I was at 9 from the swing backs, and then he played a Nighthawk to give him a blocker for the Angel, but I had a Wolf Run out and drew another land, so the Angel got there with trample damage.
4-0 matches, 8-3 games

Round 5: ID with American Midrange
We were the only 4-0s, so we shook hands and watched everybody else.
4-0-1 matches, 8-3 games

Quarterfinals: Zack, playing Azorius Humans
We sat down to shuffle up and then Zac realized his ride was on the way so he scooped. I felt bad that we couldn’t play, but sometimes this happens—it was getting late. I wasn’t sure what my winnings would end up being, but surely something, so I gave him a pack out of my projected winnings.
6-0-1 matches, 8-3 games

Semifinals: ID
So, it turned out that the quarterfinals took forever. My third-round opponent, Jeff, played my fifth-round “opponent” and they took three incredibly long, grindy games to come up with a winner. The top 4 was thus two Jund Midrange and two Naya midrange. It was after midnight at this point and these were probably going to be long matches (yay for 16 copies of Huntmaster and 16 copies of Thragtusk in the top 4). There was a PTQ the next morning and one of the guys in the top 4 was going to be playing in it, so we just decided to split. I came out with $27.50 of store credit, minus the pack earlier, and bought two Liliana of the Dark Realms and a pack of Pokemon for my younger son. I went with Liliana because I don’t have any and I have a suspicion that with Boros Charm coming up that Mutilate will be making a comeback in control decks.
6-0-2 matches, 8-3 games

Thoughts on the Deck
Well, I can see why it’s become a more popular decks as it’s very good. However, I didn’t face a single deck with any kind of counterspell in it all night, which seems a little on the lucky side to me—that seems tougher for this deck. Some thoughts on specific cards:
• I’m glad I played two Wolfir Silverheart. He seemed really good most of the time. I almost didn’t play these and I think it would have been a mistake.
• Zealous Conscripts are fantastic. I didn’t main deck them because they’re bad against control and not particularly great agains the really fast aggro, but they rock in the midrange matchups.
• Angel of Serenity was also very good, but I do think two is the right number. It’s not the easiest card to cast, though with the Pilgrims and with Farseek it’s not too hard to hit the right mana, but I don’t think you want three of them. The 1 Sigarda was in the slot instead, and that seemed pretty good, though I might relegate that to sideboard duty next time around.

Not sure what I’m playing next week; we’ll see what my son wants to play and therefore what dual lands are available to me…

Hey, wow, a non-MTG post from me. I know, it’s been a very long time indeed…

Introduction
In summer of 2008, I went car shopping and even test drove several competitors. I ultimately bought a 2008.5 MazdaSPEED3 because while the Mini was great, it was so much less practical and so much more expensive than the Mazda that I simply could not justify it. Anyway, “2008.5” is kind of an odd designation, but Mazda did a mid-year refresh on the Speed3 and it essentially the same as the 2009 model. This is before the current generation and the giant grin that Mazda gave the front end to all the 3-series cars. Frankly, I think the new ones are goofy-looking in most colors, and I don’t care for the hood scoop now sported by the Speed3.

I wrote a post about it at 1500 miles and, four years later, not a lot has changed about how I feel about it.

Here’s the best way to explain how those 50,000 miles have gone: I’m one of those people who, whenever in a bookstore, used to always pick up Car and Driver or Road and Track. I was constantly on the lookout for new options to think about in cars. I never do this anymore and now actively dread the idea of looking for a new car. For the first time ever, I want this car to last forever. I know it won’t, but I have never been happier with a car than I am with this one. That’s pretty unusual for me. Here’s my breakdown…

Performance
This is, of course, the major selling point of this car and the reason I bought it in the first place. It has never ceased to deliver on this. The car is a total blast to drive. It’s quick, it’s fast, and it corners incredibly well. The important thing is that it’s just as zippy and fun now as it was when I first got it—it hasn’t slowed down, and the feeling of fun when driving it has never gotten old. Of course, now it’s more familiar. I know exactly how hard I can corner before the stability control will kick in. Or, rather, I know exactly when i need to turn the stability control off when I don’t want it. I know where the car’s limits are, or more particularly, where the limits are for the combination of me and this car. I’ve never actually owned a car like this before and the long-term issue it has created is that it will be very hard for me to ever go back to something that isn’t as quick or handles as well. I’ve become quite good at managing the torque steer, which isn’t great but is managed adequately well by the computer. One of the funniest parts about the performance aspect of the car is the response from friends and neighbors. One of my son’s best friends just loves it when I’m giving him a ride somewhere and he’s always asking me to punch it or take corners fast. “I love your dad’s car” is something I’ve heard more than once. Always good to have the kid fun seal of approval.

Utility
This was one of the major factors in choosing this car over the MINI in the first place, and I had no idea how big a deal it would turn out to be. One of my sons plays football, and the other plays lacrosse, and there is simply no possible way, even in the Clubman version of the MINI that I could fit the gear for both of them in my trunk. My wife drives a good sized crossover, so I rarely need to lug big loads, but the ability to handle all the kids’ stuff is a requirement, and this car can do it, just. I have become a huge fan of the hatchback form—it’s just so bloody useful, without being a lumbering hulk.

Operating costs
This is, of course, the thing you really learn only after you’ve owned a car for a long time. How has it held up? How much does it cost to keep on the road? I’m breaking this down into three categories:

Maintenance/reliability
Other than routine maintenance, the car has only been in the shop a three times in 50,000 miles. That’s pretty good, with one notable exception that I’ll cover last. The first time was for a faulty gas cap, which was something the dealer knew about and that they fixed in less than five minutes for free. It was annoying because I was out of town and it failed for my wife, which caused her some undue stress, but it was minor. Another was a lit Check Engine light that turned out to be due to a faulty sensor, total cost less than $100. There was a recall on the windshield wiper motor, but I didn’t make a special trip for that, I just had them take care of it when I was in for some other routing maintenance, probably the 30,000 mile service.

The one really bad moment was, of course, one week after my 3-year warranty expired. What happened to the guy who took these pictures is exactly what happened to me:

Broken Shifter 1
Broken Shifter 2

Shift lever snapped off as I was shifting into 5th getting on the highway. Loads of fun!

My suspicion was that the bottom of the shift lever was cracked ever so slightly when they drilled the hole for the pin that holds it in place, and it took three years to finally fail. Or rather, three years and one week, since it failed eight days after the warranty expired. It was kind of scary to have the shifter just come off the car mid-shift as I was merging onto the highway, but the highway wasn’t busy so I just pulled onto the shoulder and checked it out. The car was still drivable, though probably not the safest thing in the world. I brought it to the dealer and, despite it being out of warranty, they fixed it quickly and without charging me a dime. I suspect, given that I’m not the only one who experienced this failure and the speed with which it was handled, that Mazda knows that this happens every once in a while, and they just quietly take care of it.

So, while that last one was a little odd, other than that, the car has been almost bulletproof. And let’s be clear about this—I drive the car hard. This will come up again soon.

Fuel
If you’re buying a performance car, gas is not your primary concern, nor was it mine when I bought it. Interestingly, though, my car was the first model year under the revised EPA mileage estimation procedures. The car is rated 26 highway and 18 city, and I do indeed drive about 50/50 city/highway. Since this car is my first in the smartphone era, I have a little app that tracks mileage. Here’s the graph for 184 tanks of gas that have been put in the car—I started tracking this at 792 miles in, so I missed the first few tanks. Note the green region above the EPA numbers and the pink region below it:

All those large peaks that reach into the green are mostly-highway road trips. So, the overall answer is that the car can beat the EPA estimate on the highway when using cruise control going not too terribly fast, but for me that’s pretty rare. The good news is that it has never dipped below the city number, and the overall average is almost exactly 22 MPG, the average of the EPA estimates. So, at least for me, the new EPA procedure is pretty good. Also, the car does about what it should do in terms of gas consumption.

Note that the Speed3 requires premium gas—performance engines often do—so I’m also paying a little extra. The app t