Time Sparrow The main thing with playing blue is that you're generally not playing your turn. You're setting things up for future turns (yours or your opponent's). Scry stacks and filters your deck. Returning creatures to an opponent's hand or to the top of the library are both hindrances that buy you time. Card draw gets you more options. It requires a much higher level of strategic analysis than, say, Goblin or Elf tribal. Counterspelling is the one exception to this, in that it is basically Blue's panic button. If something comes down that is clearly detrimental to your master plan you can go "NOPE!" and counter it. On the flip side, Goblin and Elf tribal (or any deck of its ilk) is much more into the tactical analysis, much like the second-guessing Sean did during his last turn where he ran through all the possibilities and worked to make each one as costly for Jon as possible. Red and Green are generally focused on aggressive strategies, while Blue is geared more towards the control-ish strategies. I find it difficult at times as well.
"I'm not going to *not*...drink the unicorn blood. It's for *me* now." This needs to be a shirt, Geek & Sundry and I would happily buy at least one (if not more) for myself and three others to give to some of my MtG friends.
"Hey would you like to come play a friendly game of Magic the Gathering on an internet TV show?" "Yeah, that sounds great!" "TOO BAD I'M PLAYING BLUE, MWAHAHAHAHAHA"
Fun tidbit: Jon Heder has firm beliefs, one of which is that he has chosen to avoid cursing. Look at his face before and after the "F#^ck Yeah!" by Sean at 8:45. There was a cut. Maybe they had to have a little talk...
12Rman21 Honestly though, Sean's deck seems better overall or maybe he just drew perfectly. Even though the other guy misplayed like no tomorrow, he may have stood a better chance if he didn't have a 1/4 with reach in his deck lol.
Is there anywhere i can see the decks that you are using? It would be awesome if you could link the decks in the bio or something! I'm kinda new to the game and i think that Jon's swamp-elf deck look cool so i wanted to try it out! And thanks for the videos it helps alot to understand the game! :)
Can someone please explain why bone to ash would kill the creature? It counters the spell not the creature? I looked it up in Google. Still not making to much sense
Geek & Sundry The past 2 Spellslingers videos have not been on the playlist; they're just independent videos on the channel & got lost (for me) amongst all the other Geek & Sundry stuff. Please fix.
Garth Palmer Not llikely. But Maro has been known to be easy to contact for this sort of stuff. Maybe they'll get to him someday. I'd love to see someone like Graham or James from LRR, but they live in Canada. Where is this show recorded? Maro lives in Seattle.
At 3:00 , Jon states that elves and wolves Do Not belong together. However, if he looked up Elf Quest, he would learn that there is a tribe of wolf riding elves!
Oh Sean you innocent child, you never just stop playing blue, it's like stealing the heart of a player and tormenting it with cigarette burns while he watches... it so fucking addictive.
Sean... Why? You've dedicated so much time and effort in the noble pursuit of fighting the forces of Blue. Why would you turn to the "Blueside" ( instead of Darkside)? I blame this on Day of the Moon. Somewhere a lighthouse is crying... Just kidding! Great episode as always and I thought you did an awesome job playing outside of your comfort zone. You are 1 and 0 starting right now (Rocketcar logic).
I just want to see the gag reel where Jon claps and some poor intern has to come and shuffle his deck, while he's there just holding that posh pose. :D
You always could. Way back in the day, artifact abilities didn't work if it was tapped, but it never affected creatures. The only things a tapped card can't do is a) tap again, or b) attack or block. (I could be forgetting something but those are the main restrictions.)
Yeah, I've seen someone try to figure out how to hope. It's when they cast an Anticipate in response to a lethal haste creature or pump spell. SUCK IT, BLUE!
Haha yeah whenever I play blue it's just to splash and it's only cards that have an ability my deck needs and can't find in other colors, like draw power
About time Day 9 win in this season. Good thing is we don't know nothing about the next match and in the last one have some spoilers from the trailer from the actual season. It was sad for Jon but sometimes magic can hit you as hard as life hits you in the face, sort of. Nice episode indeed
"I'm used to getting huge, I'm used to being huge, but now I just have a little something and I never let them play, but i'm going to do it," -Sean 2015
There was a mistake they made, when Jon played that first Yeva's Forcemage and Sean countered it with his Bone to Ash, Jon added +2 attack to his wolf for some reason, even though when you counter something it cannot even enter the battlefield since it gets removed from the stack. So Sean received 2 more damage than he had to, due to this mistake.
Well that was pretty bog standard. No rare bombs; no hail-mary aggro or expensive-card madness. Just two near-pauper mid-rangish decks going head to head. Not to shabby by me. I guess Jon made the mistake of not using his Leaf Gilder to hit his 4-drop early, but even then all he had was Weight of the Underworld (3B, enchantment, target creature gets -3/-2). His deck didn't really seem to embody any of the strengths either colour had. When Jon was in lethal range (6 life) he could have cast his 1/4 spider. Yeva's Forcemage is effectively a 3-mana 2/2 on defense. Worse yet attacking with his TimberPack Wolf when he should have been defending with everything might have sealed his fate. In Jon's position I probably would have 2-for-1ed Sean's Undercity Troll while Sean didn't have the mana to regenerate him. With an unused mana pool he'd serve as an even more effective harrier later on. Even then it still would've been a sticky situation to get out of. His Leaf Gilder really wasn't doing much for him that game. Incidentally Bone to Ash is not a particularly good card, yet Sean was able to use both of those when he needed them the most. Likewise he only had a Bounding Krasis to cast if he have had nothing to counter that turn. Either way Sean got his card advantage going, and that's where he was really able to put on some pressure. I'd say the most valuable card of the game was Anchor to Aether. Time Ebb is already an amazing blue card in more recent sets, tossing "Scry 1" on top of it potentially makes it the best removal spell of the set.
I'm not understanding why Jon had to discard his creatures when their abilitys were countered by Bone to Ash. It doesn't say Destroy target creature that got ability countered by Bone to Ash, and I didn't see anything on it online? Was Sean in the wrong here or am I missing something?
Ryuu27 It's not the creature's abilities being countered. It is the SPELL itself being countered. In magic, each card is considered a spell that needs to resolve before they become their respective type, be it Creature, Enchantment, etc. If you cast it but the spell was countered, it just goes to the graveyard.
Just saying, if a card is countered, it's "enter the battlefield" ability doesn't work( which means Sean does not had to take the 4 damage, he only have to take. 2
Jaqen No. Once an ability is activated or triggers it doesn't depend on the card that created it (unless it specifically says otherwise). If a creature is blocked and triggers Somberwald Alpha, it keeps the +1/+1 for the turn even if the wolf later dies. Same thing with the trample ability. If Jon had a removal spell he could have played it before blocking to prevent the +1/+1 ability from triggering. The was no way to prevent the trample ability since Sean could activate it in response to a removal spell - and again, once activated, killing the wolf doesn't remove the trample effect. However Jon could have survived by killing the wolf like this (if he had a way to do so). Sean would be forced to give one of his creatures trample in response, before blockers. Jon could then block the two non-trample creatures and would take at most 5 damage. Then he'd die on the next turn instead. Note that Nessevi is correct that combat damage happens at the same time, but it doesn't matter for this situation.
![Day [9] vs. Gavin Stenhouse in Magic: The Gathering: Spellslingers](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/l_4y57I7iUY/mqdefault.jpg)
![Day [9] vs. Gavin Stenhouse in Magic: The Gathering: Spellslingers](/img/tr.png)
![Day[9] vs. Kyle Hill | Magic: The Gathering: Spellslingers | Season 4, Episode 6](/img/n.gif)
Whoever writes the comments/explanations for Spellslingers: I think I love you. Don't ever change. You are awesome.
I say this still counts as a loss for Sean since he played blue.
slimj091 Its a definite loss for Sean.
slimj091 He may have won the game, but he lost so much more...
+Matt Spaulding Wil and Sean lose a chunk of their souls to Satan everytime they win ahah
VietyV They have to make payments on their deal somehow.
+slimj091 sean lost his soal he is slowly turning to the darkish hehehehehe blue is the best color of all time
Yes, Sean. Taste our blue cookies and rejoice! For you know what it is to manipulate the opponent's turn, and it is sweet.
Landis963 I always have wanted to play blue I just suck at playing it.
Now with extra unicorn blood! And a hint of cinnamon.
Time Sparrow The main thing with playing blue is that you're generally not playing your turn. You're setting things up for future turns (yours or your opponent's). Scry stacks and filters your deck. Returning creatures to an opponent's hand or to the top of the library are both hindrances that buy you time. Card draw gets you more options. It requires a much higher level of strategic analysis than, say, Goblin or Elf tribal. Counterspelling is the one exception to this, in that it is basically Blue's panic button. If something comes down that is clearly detrimental to your master plan you can go "NOPE!" and counter it. On the flip side, Goblin and Elf tribal (or any deck of its ilk) is much more into the tactical analysis, much like the second-guessing Sean did during his last turn where he ran through all the possibilities and worked to make each one as costly for Jon as possible. Red and Green are generally focused on aggressive strategies, while Blue is geared more towards the control-ish strategies.
I find it difficult at times as well.
Landis963 And then they printed exquisite firecraft. well, time for 21 mountains in my deck.
Landis963 This season:
Sean without blue: 0-3
Sean with blue: 1-0
Soon he will be on our dark side. :)
Awesome mythical beasts hit the battlefield. Can Sean "Day[9]" Plott survive the SWEET majestic freakin' wrath of Napoleon Dynamite's Jon Heder?!
So, when will you bring us a new season of Spellslingers?
Yeah you won Sean but at what cost? AT WHAT COST?!
Sean finally submitted to the addictions of blue fever.
PhaTnObeasT Tree Swish?
Of course, Mr. Sicarian will not be happy with this.
"I'm not going to *not*...drink the unicorn blood. It's for *me* now." This needs to be a shirt, Geek & Sundry and I would happily buy at least one (if not more) for myself and three others to give to some of my MtG friends.
Maybe also include an image of a single blue mana with a translucent image of Sean Plott within the blue mana.
Noooo Jon discarded Weight of the Underworld with his Macabre Waltz, ahhh the pain of it all.
This. I was like: "Nooo... you can win!!"
I wanted to see you win again, but not like this, Sean. Not like this
"Hey would you like to come play a friendly game of Magic the Gathering on an internet TV show?"
"Yeah, that sounds great!"
"TOO BAD I'M PLAYING BLUE, MWAHAHAHAHAHA"
As a blue player, watching your opponent plan when nothing they can even do matters is the greatest gift of all.
Whoever does the lower thirds and titles. Never stop. I snickered heartily at the "plurals of spiders" 1:26
"This is if I'm trying to pull you into a helicopter" LOL
Fun tidbit: Jon Heder has firm beliefs, one of which is that he has chosen to avoid cursing.
Look at his face before and after the "F#^ck Yeah!" by Sean at 8:45. There was a cut.
Maybe they had to have a little talk...
"Have you ever watched someone try to figure out how to have hope? It's upsetting." - Sean 'Day9' Plott 2015
I love how the FILTHY blue player never makes Eye contact with his Opponent after that first Counter Spell.
Mr 9 bullying a new player, little sad
12Rman21 its like watching mike tyson fight an infant.
12Rman21 all he had to do was assasinate the elf turn 3 and not discard his removal for the troll... blah hard to watch so many play mistakes.
LASER PENGUIIN IT saddens me because i too played mtg as a boy scout and now my entire troup plays
12Rman21 Honestly though, Sean's deck seems better overall or maybe he just drew perfectly. Even though the other guy misplayed like no tomorrow, he may have stood a better chance if he didn't have a 1/4 with reach in his deck lol.
Anas Kaadan Maybe he could have explained to the new player that you can double block and the spider would not be so bad?
Is there anywhere i can see the decks that you are using? It would be awesome if you could link the decks in the bio or something! I'm kinda new to the game and i think that Jon's swamp-elf deck look cool so i wanted to try it out! And thanks for the videos it helps alot to understand the game! :)
Can someone please explain why bone to ash would kill the creature? It counters the spell not the creature? I looked it up in Google. Still not making to much sense
"Can I shuffle it too?"
"Ugh yeah, you'll take up the entire budget for the episode but you can try"
BLUE! One of us. One of us.
'I'm going to...send in...' 'The clowns?' I laughed way too hard😂😂
Nice Pile Shuffle dude, that was spot on!
its great that he is a scoutmaster, i am a eagle scout now and it is a valuable experience in life
"I'll allow it." The most magical words when playing blue.
Have we figured out what the fade to black at the midpoint of every episode is for yet??
I got into Magic the Gathering because of this show. Thank you Geek and Sundry!
This is the part of the show where we test to see how quickly you can read lower thirds.
4:39
at 2:29 the effects guy flubbed and his hand has a partial black coating around it.
2:46 Jon Heder, go read Elfquest by Wendy and Richard Pini. It will all make sense.
That was a rules failing what with the Yeva's Forcemage. When a spell is countered, it never enters the battlefield, so the ETB would not trigger.
I realise Sean is wearing a Green Mana shirt but it looks like a giant piece of broccoli.
Oh, Sean your fall to the Blue-side was inevitable after the Stormtide Leviathan Incident. We saw what you did, Sean. We all saw it.
***** I fucking LOVE Stormtide Leviathan. It's the best thing in my unblockable damage Dimir deck.
Sean, please make a version of this with your own art. It'd be hilarious to see.
Holy shit! This episode must be the most expensive ever with the double clapping!
I really want to know the other cards that Sean has in his deck. i would like to build that deck
This is actually my favourite thing on the internet.
Good I was wondering when they were going to upgrade the backround cards of the intro
Geek & Sundry The past 2 Spellslingers videos have not been on the playlist; they're just independent videos on the channel & got lost (for me) amongst all the other Geek & Sundry stuff. Please fix.
"Have you ever watched someone try to find hope? Its upsetting" -Day9
You should have Maro on the show!
Does Sean even know him?
Garth Palmer Not llikely. But Maro has been known to be easy to contact for this sort of stuff. Maybe they'll get to him someday. I'd love to see someone like Graham or James from LRR, but they live in Canada. Where is this show recorded? Maro lives in Seattle.
Anarchic Cat Maro has offered to be on the show, but Geek&Sundry wants the guests to be well known outside of the magic community
Maro has offered? Crap man it should be a crime to not have him if he actually offered.
But they had LSV.
Back in the 90's my bestfriend had a blue mill deck that was a PAIN to play against lol.
At 3:00 , Jon states that elves and wolves Do Not belong together. However, if he looked up Elf Quest, he would learn that there is a tribe of wolf riding elves!
loved the text box for the Island.
GOD THAT FUCKING (probably accidental) WALLACE SHAWN IMPRESSION AT 10:30
I don't know why, but I am really interested in the opening sequence's production
Oh Sean you innocent child, you never just stop playing blue, it's like stealing the heart of a player and tormenting it with cigarette burns while he watches... it so fucking addictive.
2 things made this episode #1 Korean response at 14:00 and #2 Sean being a dirty blue player Love it
In the description of these videos he should link the sites they bought their gear at like their mats and card sleeves. This would be really helpful.
That handshake..I was a little worried a hockey game was about to break out. lol.
It would be nice if you could leave the deck build that was played in the episode in the description. :)
“It’s pretty much my favorite animal. It’s like a lion and a tiger mixed… bred for its skills in magic.”
Sean... Why?
You've dedicated so much time and effort in the noble pursuit of fighting the forces of Blue. Why would you turn to the "Blueside" ( instead of Darkside)? I blame this on Day of the Moon. Somewhere a lighthouse is crying... Just kidding! Great episode as always and I thought you did an awesome job playing outside of your comfort zone. You are 1 and 0 starting right now (Rocketcar logic).
elves and wolves get along just fine. how about turntimber ranger, wren's run packmaster, wolf skull shaman and tolsimir wolf blood?
Serious question: I have, for some reason, trouble remembering that I need to draw my cards. Any advice to break this habit?
Bring this show back!
Fall to us, and join us in the churning depths of blue. Become one of us, join us in the chorus of Ode to the Counterspell
4:00 I've always thought about Vincent Price when reading that name lol, but I think most people do
Bone to Ash is nothing compared to the majesty that is Cryptic Command!
am i the only one who thinks its ridicuslously cool spellslingers gets guests like Jon
thats just awsome
I just want to see the gag reel where Jon claps and some poor intern has to come and shuffle his deck, while he's there just holding that posh pose. :D
Can you use a tapped creatures ability? You didn't used to be able to.
Mathew Anderson I think you can.
Mathew Anderson you can as long as the ability doesn't require the creature to tap
You always could. Way back in the day, artifact abilities didn't work if it was tapped, but it never affected creatures. The only things a tapped card can't do is a) tap again, or b) attack or block. (I could be forgetting something but those are the main restrictions.)
I understand the apeal of blue and control.if you do that makes you a formidable aggressive player.know your enemy better than your friends
Yeah, I've seen someone try to figure out how to hope. It's when they cast an Anticipate in response to a lethal haste creature or pump spell. SUCK IT, BLUE!
Did Sean say "SpellSLICKERS?" Just me? ok.
Martin Ipsen Too much saliva.
But blue is my favorite color...does that mean I'm an asshole?
yes
NOOOOOOOO!
I wouldn't go that far but you should feel bad
Haha yeah whenever I play blue it's just to splash and it's only cards that have an ability my deck needs and can't find in other colors, like draw power
Ryan Rognas Blue is the most powerful color in Magic historically, so no.
what Sean said at 14:00 I believe is Korean and means thank you. Ex GF was from Seoul
Are there any decklists of what they used?
About time Day 9 win in this season. Good thing is we don't know nothing about the next match and in the last one have some spoilers from the trailer from the actual season.
It was sad for Jon but sometimes magic can hit you as hard as life hits you in the face, sort of.
Nice episode indeed
Let the blue flow through you.
I just got acelyn restored, can't wait to play it!
1:29 Plurals of spiders?
17:50,
The Bucket, S'Lethkk's mortal enemy
doesn't the "enter battlefield effect" not trigger because it was countered? how could he swing for four?
"I'm used to getting huge, I'm used to being huge, but now I just have a little something and I never let them play, but i'm going to do it," -Sean 2015
14:00 the korean lol
Tayshwn Jackson And so little people actually understand it, ah so nice!
Firenter Gamsahhapnida
감사합니다 ~~~~~
Tayshwn Jackson 'His Starcraft roots took over again, even if only for a moment.
Tayshwn Jackson its funny when i heard i was like woo he knows Korean cuz im actually in Korea for the us army
"I'm going to send in...."
"The clowns?"
Mad respect for Jon Heder being a Scout Leader!
I always look forward to spellslingers.
ok he is a blue player now, never watching this again.
Kinda felt like Day9's deck was just way stronger in this episode. He played multiple copies of uncommons. Did Jon Heder just not draw his?
Craig Cainkar Jon made a lot of mistakes but its understandable since he is a new player.
There was a mistake they made, when Jon played that first Yeva's Forcemage and Sean countered it with his Bone to Ash, Jon added +2 attack to his wolf for some reason, even though when you counter something it cannot even enter the battlefield since it gets removed from the stack. So Sean received 2 more damage than he had to, due to this mistake.
VinylZer0 Nope. Jon attacked with both his creatures for a combined 4 damage. The +2/+2 was never applied.
im a Yugioh player... im starting to like this Blue XD
ashhole blue :P
Leverquin even more of an a******, blue-black
Blue red is okay
Really digging the special effects lol
so did they just stop making episodes or is there a schedule?
why didn't the troll grow those 2 times he hit Jon directly, after the first time? is renown 1 only good for a 1 time increase of +1/+1?
Not a single time did Jon smile. Great job Sean.
What's so bad about Blue? I play it a lot and never seem to have any issues
How did you feel about Venser, The Sojourner?
Well that was pretty bog standard. No rare bombs; no hail-mary aggro or expensive-card madness. Just two near-pauper mid-rangish decks going head to head. Not to shabby by me.
I guess Jon made the mistake of not using his Leaf Gilder to hit his 4-drop early, but even then all he had was Weight of the Underworld (3B, enchantment, target creature gets -3/-2). His deck didn't really seem to embody any of the strengths either colour had.
When Jon was in lethal range (6 life) he could have cast his 1/4 spider. Yeva's Forcemage is effectively a 3-mana 2/2 on defense. Worse yet attacking with his TimberPack Wolf when he should have been defending with everything might have sealed his fate.
In Jon's position I probably would have 2-for-1ed Sean's Undercity Troll while Sean didn't have the mana to regenerate him. With an unused mana pool he'd serve as an even more effective harrier later on. Even then it still would've been a sticky situation to get out of. His Leaf Gilder really wasn't doing much for him that game.
Incidentally Bone to Ash is not a particularly good card, yet Sean was able to use both of those when he needed them the most. Likewise he only had a Bounding Krasis to cast if he have had nothing to counter that turn. Either way Sean got his card advantage going, and that's where he was really able to put on some pressure.
I'd say the most valuable card of the game was Anchor to Aether. Time Ebb is already an amazing blue card in more recent sets, tossing "Scry 1" on top of it potentially makes it the best removal spell of the set.
I'm not understanding why Jon had to discard his creatures when their abilitys were countered by Bone to Ash. It doesn't say Destroy target creature that got ability countered by Bone to Ash, and I didn't see anything on it online? Was Sean in the wrong here or am I missing something?
Ryuu27 It's not the creature's abilities being countered. It is the SPELL itself being countered. In magic, each card is considered a spell that needs to resolve before they become their respective type, be it Creature, Enchantment, etc. If you cast it but the spell was countered, it just goes to the graveyard.
is your troop 747 from cali if so i know them
Sean: I have kind of a dirty hand.
Me: Oh my. I hope that he doesn't mean what I think he mean.
Funny how people complain about blue until they actually play it.
Shredpirate84 The truly honest players dislike* (ftfy) blue long after they play it
Is spellslingers done? There hasn't been an episode in a few months.
+Dennis Kwasnycia it only releases in the summer
Haha! Jon's friggin hilarious "Yeah, I may be at negative one, but I don't think it's over yet... Just you wait." Haha
I didn't know you hated blue as much as I. All hail GREEEEEEN! We are cut from the same Magic cloth, sir!
That was brutal, but now you know the dark side of blue Sean, and it feels good doesn't it....
Just saying, if a card is countered, it's "enter the battlefield" ability doesn't work( which means Sean does not had to take the 4 damage, he only have to take. 2
If he had blocked and killed the wolf would that have prevented lethal as it would remove its buffing and trample abilities from play?
Jaqen Both the trample ability, and the +1/+1 when blocked ability would still go through because all creatures battle at the same time.
Jaqen No.
Once an ability is activated or triggers it doesn't depend on the card that created it (unless it specifically says otherwise). If a creature is blocked and triggers Somberwald Alpha, it keeps the +1/+1 for the turn even if the wolf later dies. Same thing with the trample ability.
If Jon had a removal spell he could have played it before blocking to prevent the +1/+1 ability from triggering. The was no way to prevent the trample ability since Sean could activate it in response to a removal spell - and again, once activated, killing the wolf doesn't remove the trample effect.
However Jon could have survived by killing the wolf like this (if he had a way to do so). Sean would be forced to give one of his creatures trample in response, before blockers. Jon could then block the two non-trample creatures and would take at most 5 damage. Then he'd die on the next turn instead.
Note that Nessevi is correct that combat damage happens at the same time, but it doesn't matter for this situation.