Today on Daily MTG, wizards posted the deck list for Teeth of the Predator, the Garruk deck based off of the video game Duels of the Planeswalkers. These pre-built 60 card decks are going for $15 each, but if I intend to get any of them, it will certainly not be Garruk's deck. Heres the decklist:
24 Forest
4 Civic Wayfinder
1 Duskdale Wurm
2 Giant Spider
1 Molimo, Maro-Sorcerer
1 River Boa
1 Roughshod Mentor
3 Runeclaw Bear
2 Spined Wurm
2 Trained Armodon
1 Troll Ascetic
1 Verdant Force
1 Vigor
2 Wall of Wood
2 Blanchwood Armor
3 Giant Growth
1 Howl of the Night Pack
1 Loxodon Warhammer
1 Natural Spring
2 Overrun
2 Rampant Growth
2 Wurm's Tooth
The first thing I was looking for in Garruk's deck was Garruk himself, but he isn't in here. It wouldn't be peculier at all to include a planeswalker in a box set, they have already released 4 planeswalkers in Box sets: Jace Beleran & Chandra Nalaar in Jace vs Chandra, and Garruk Wildspeaker & Lilliana Vess in Garruk vs Lilliana. Maybe they don't want to make too easy to get plaeswalkers? Everyone loves them, and they're not even all tournament staples. Of the 4 I just mentioned Garruk is the only one who sees play in high level tournaments. Jace is still good, but the Mind Sculptor has bumped Beleran down a level. Anyways, beyond the dissapointment of not having a planeswalker in a deck named after him, there are 5 rares in this deck: Molimo, Troll Ascetic, Verdant Force, Vigor, and Loxodon Warhammer. 3 of these guys have already been rares in recent box decks: Molimo (Tenth Edition starter deck), Verdant Force (Elemental Thunder Planeschase), and Loxodon Warhammer (Metallic Dreams Planeschase). None of these rares are insanely exciting, and we still don't know what booster pack will be included with the deck, ROE?
Another thing about the Duels of the Planeswalkers decks, there are 5 of them. There are 5 colors in MTG. Wouldn't it make sense to have a deck every color? Wizards apparently has stopped doing things that make sense and replaced the white deck for another green/black deck, featuring (well, at least named after) Nissa Revane. I will not spend a penny on this product. The only one i was interested in getting was Jace's because I could use Jace, but if one deck doesn't have the planeswalker you can expect that none of them will.
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Eldrazi MiniMaster
So today was quite the day of Magic for me. I opened 2 boxes of ROE that i picked up on Friday, and split them with friends. There were 5 of us that had a small mini-master tournament. Mini-master is a very odd, but fun format. Basically you open 2 booster packs, then make a deck out of the cards you just opened. Then you play your round against an opponent. After the round is over, everyone opens up 1 addtional booster pack, adds it to the previous pool of cards to put together a new 40 card deck. Basically you start with a 5 color deck and try to cut one or two colors as fast as you can to build as stable a deck as possible. While i have only ever played this format with Eldrazi, i think it would be easier than Zendikar-Worldwake because ZW has a lot of non-basic lands and could force you to play every single spell in your first 2 packs. ROE, on the other hand, has only evolving wilds, which fixes your mana, and eldrazi temple, which powers out your eldrazi, and doesn't come into play tapped. Also, there are many powerful colorless spells tht can fit any deck build in ROE.
Because there were only 5 of us, we thought playing 1v1 games would be awkward, so we played a format called star. This is fairly confusing, but essentially is an open 5, and to win the 2 people opposite you must lose. I personally would up being the first one out each time, but thats probably because I made enemies by attacking with small creatures as soon as i could, and failing to finish off my opponents before they dropped silliness in the form of Artisan of Kozilek and co.
While I had a ton of fun playing in the minimaster, I had a ton of fun cracking packs in general. I have opened up 33 ROE packs to date, and have hit some nice bombs. I opened Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre, Gideon Jura (later traded for Emrakul, the I Win Lols), 2x Eldrazi Temple, Momentus Fall (later traded for another), among others. My friend opened up the greatest pack I have ever seen with a Sarkhan, The Mad and a foil guy that was sweet but i will add later when he reminds me of what it was. I was sad to have not seen any vengevines opened. There are however 9 more packs waiting to be cracked by my buddy whose coming down next week to hang out. If he opens it im sure he will be laden with gifts from everyone opting to trade for it.
I'm thinking about getting a playset of polymorph and putting together a simic morph deck that has been gaining popularity with the Emrakul i traded for. I'll post some results and a dramatic play by play next time. Until then, have a wonderful day
Because there were only 5 of us, we thought playing 1v1 games would be awkward, so we played a format called star. This is fairly confusing, but essentially is an open 5, and to win the 2 people opposite you must lose. I personally would up being the first one out each time, but thats probably because I made enemies by attacking with small creatures as soon as i could, and failing to finish off my opponents before they dropped silliness in the form of Artisan of Kozilek and co.
While I had a ton of fun playing in the minimaster, I had a ton of fun cracking packs in general. I have opened up 33 ROE packs to date, and have hit some nice bombs. I opened Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre, Gideon Jura (later traded for Emrakul, the I Win Lols), 2x Eldrazi Temple, Momentus Fall (later traded for another), among others. My friend opened up the greatest pack I have ever seen with a Sarkhan, The Mad and a foil guy that was sweet but i will add later when he reminds me of what it was. I was sad to have not seen any vengevines opened. There are however 9 more packs waiting to be cracked by my buddy whose coming down next week to hang out. If he opens it im sure he will be laden with gifts from everyone opting to trade for it.
I'm thinking about getting a playset of polymorph and putting together a simic morph deck that has been gaining popularity with the Emrakul i traded for. I'll post some results and a dramatic play by play next time. Until then, have a wonderful day
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Battling Bant Allies
So it's 2am, and I'm writing a blog. That sounds appropriate. A couple hours ago, i was hanging out with my friend Paul, among others, and we decided to play some games and test out a couple of my decks that didn't get much play. Paul decided to play Bant Allies in the 2 games to be dramatically re-enacted. Right now the hot allies deck is Naya allies, because it is hastier and provides card advantage with the bloodbraid elf. I personally think people are addicted to bloodbraid elf, because if you are looking for card advantage, blue is clearly the color to go to. White and green are staples in ally decks, so Bant it is. 2 cards that synergize nicely is the Sea Gate Loremaster (tap: draw a card for each ally you control) and the Harabaz Druid (tap: add x mana of any color to your mana pool where x is the number of allies you control). Basically, draw 4 cards, then get an extra burst of mana to play everything you just drew. Next turn draw even more cards and make even more mana. Pretty soon everything has lifelink and protection from all the necessary colors and its game over. Yeah, it's pretty sweet.
For out first game, i decided to play a unique white weenies deck i have never actually played before. This deck has only 17 lands (9 plains, 8 fetch lands), and every card has a CMC of 2 or less. What's supposed to happen is I use my fetch lands to get all the land out of my deck, and then i draw spells every turn when my opponents may have dead land draws. Also, i decided to actually use a theme put together by wizards, which no one ever seems to actually do, and used Kor + equipment. Overall, it can be a very fast deck and exciting to play.
I won the roll, and decided to keep:
2 Marsh Flats
Bone Saw
Path to Exile
Kitesail Apprentice
Trusty Machete
Armant Master
On my first turn, I used the Marsh flats to fetch a plains, which i then used to cast the Kitesail Apprentice, and then i played the free Bone Saw. Paul had also kept his original draw, and opened with a Celestial Connelade.
Turn 2, I drew a plains and payed it. Then I equipped the Apprentice with the Bone Saw and attacked for 3. Post combat, i played my Trusty Machete. Paul played a plains, followed by an intimidating Kazandu Blademaster, probably the best ally to get out first because its such an effective beater. [Me: 19 Paul: 17].
Turn 3, I played my Marsh Flats, and fetched another plains, and then equipped the Apprentice with the Machete and attacked for 5. Paul played a plains, cast a second Kazandu Blademaster, and attacked with the first Blademaster, but I used my path to exile on it. Paul searched up a forest and passed the turn [18/12].
Turn 4, I played a plains, and then the Armant Master. I euipped him with the Bone saw, and then attacked with my now 6/5 Apprentice. Paul played a second forest, and then 2 Harabaz Druids, pumping his Blademaster. The blademaster then swung in, but I slapped this one with a path to exile as well, which led paul to fetch for a plains, commenting on how there are no islands in the deck (something i may change now) [18/6].
Turn 5, I drew and played a plains, and then swung in for lethal damage with the Kitesail Apprentice. The only problem with the plan was that the Apprenice was shown the lonely path to the land of exile. I fetched a plains, and then passed the turn. Paul played a Kabira Evangel and a Sea Gate Loremaster, then passed the turn [18/6].
Turn 6, I equipped everything to the Armant Master, and then attcked for 5, but he too was shown the path to exile. However, this time I used my freshly top decked Brave the Elements to protect the Master, who then was blocked by a Harabaz Druid instead. During Paul's turn, He played a forest, Oran Rief Survivalist, and another Kabira Evangel before passing the turn. [18/6]
Turn 7, i played a Kor Skyfisher, returned a plains to my hand, which i simply played again, and then mistakently attacked with the Armant Master. The Armant master was a 5/3, and i didn't notice, or had forgotten about, the Oran Rief Survivalist who was now a 3/3. The 2 creatures traded, and I made my second mistake of the turn by not equipping the Kor Skyfisher. Paul responded by playing a Stirring Wildwood, drawing 4 with his Sea Gate Loremaster, and proceded to dump a Kazandu Blademaster and Hada Freeblade onto the batlefield. Attacking with both Kabira Evangels put me down 4 life [14/6].
Turn 8, I double equipped my Kor Skyfisher and swung in for 5. Paul responded by animating his Celesial Connelaide and blocking. However, I used my freshly drawn Brave the Elements to get through and bring Paul down to 1 life. Paul played a Seaside Citadel, and then a Harabaz Druid before drawing 7 with his Loremaster. He decided to play a Talus Paladin, giving hiss pro white army lifelink. Attacking with his Blademaster, Hada Freeblade, and two Kabira Evangels caused a 24 life swing making a favorable 14/1 situation become a bad 2/13. I resigned after drawing a land.
We decided to play again, but this time I played with my Izzet deck featuring 2 Niv-Mizzets, that sweet dragon i was ranting about in my first post. For this game, I remembered to record my draws, so that is what [D - CARDNAME] means. I was going first because i lost our previous game, and we both kept our opening hands. Mine consisted of:
Island
Terramorphic Expanse
Magasoi, the Waterfall
Burst Lightning
Pyromancer Ascension
Howling Mine
Electrolyze
Turn 1, I used my Terramorphic Expanse to find me a Mountian. Paul started by playing a Seaside Citadel [20/20]
Turn 2, [D - Pyromancer Ascension] I played an Island, and then a Pyromancers Ascension. Paul played a plains and a Kazandu Blademaster (why does the blademaster always get our first?) [20/20]
Turn 3, [D - Terramorshic Expanse] I plaed my Terramorshic Expanse and fetched another Mountain. Then i stopped the Blademaster shenanagans with a Burst Lightning. Paul drew, played another Seaside Citadel, and passed. [20/20]
Turn 4, [D - Mind Spring] I played Magasoi, the Waterfall and then Howling Mine. Paul played a forest, followed by an Oran Rief Survivalist followed by a Hada Freeblade [20/20]
Turn 5, [D - Electrolyze, Island] I cast the Electrolyze, doing both damage to the Freeblade, and drew a Ponder. I played my Island, cast ponder, and put Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind into my hand. Paul played a Harabaz Druid, followed by Halimar Depths. He then attacked for 4 with the Oran Rief Survivalist [16/20]
Turn 6, [D - Pyromancers Ascension, Magasoi, the Waterfall] I played the Waterfall, a second Pyromancers Ascension, and then cast Electrolyze killing the Harabaz Druid and doing one damage to the face. In response, Paul used Path to Exile on his own druid so he could fetch a plains, while still taking one damage. I drew a divination. Paul played Halimar Depths, and then Kabira Evangel, giving protection from red. His Survivalist attacked for 5 more. [11/19]
Turn 7, [D - Fireball, Burst Lightning] I cast Niv-Mizzet, knowing i could use my draw spells to kill his creatures. Paul had a great turn, playing another Seaside Citadel, and then a Sea Gate Loremaster, and a Jwari Shapeshifter that came in as a copy of the Sea Gate Loremaster. He attacked with the Kabira Evangel and the Oran Rief Survivalist to do 9 damage an put me in a precarious position. [2/19]
Turn 8, [D - Terramorphic Expanse, Ponder] I used the Terramorshic Expanse to fetch a mountain. I then cast a Burst Lightning, which in combination with the 2 cards i drew at the beginning of my turn, put a total of 4 damage on the 7 toughness Survivalist. By casting the Burst Lightning, i had also put 2 quest counters on both of my Pyromancers Ascensions, so every instant or sorcery i cast would be cast 3 times instead. The first spell to get the triplized treatment was Divination. I drew 6 cards, allowing my to do 6 damage and kill the Survivalist and Kabira Evangel. A ponder cast thrice also allowed me to kill the Jwari Shapeshifter. Paul recovered by playing Celestial Connelaide, and then Talus Paladin followed by a Jwari Shapeshifter in the form of the Paladin. He then drew 3 cards with the Loremaster, and played another Jwari Shapeshifter in the form of the Loremaster. [2-19]
Turn 9, [D - Island, Misty Rainforest] I played a crumbling Necropolis, and then a Searing Blaze to kill both Loremasters and do 9 damage to Paul. I then tapped Niv Mizzet to draw another card and ping Paul for one more, and closed by casting Time Warp, which after replicating was giving me 3 extra turns in a row. [2-9]
Turn 10, [D - Time Warp, Gelectrode] I played an island, and then a lightning Bolt to kill all his paladins (with the help of the pinging Niv Mizzet does at the beginning of each of my turns). Another lightning bolt tripled up was enough damage to end the game.
I showed Paul my second Time Warp in my hand and we just laughed at the thought of taking a total of 7 turns in a row.
Overall i found these two games to be incredibly exciting because we were both pushed to the end before dramatic comebacks. I feel the Bant Allies deck has a lot of potential, and maybe a few changes can make it epic.
I just realized i have been typing for an hour, a feat which would never happen if this were academic, and 3am is probably pushing the late night partying. But hey, when does way too late at night become way too early in the morning? Maybe I can pass myself off as a morning person... a really early bird if you will. Anyways, I had tons of fun cardslinging against the Bant Allies deck. Let me know what you think!
For out first game, i decided to play a unique white weenies deck i have never actually played before. This deck has only 17 lands (9 plains, 8 fetch lands), and every card has a CMC of 2 or less. What's supposed to happen is I use my fetch lands to get all the land out of my deck, and then i draw spells every turn when my opponents may have dead land draws. Also, i decided to actually use a theme put together by wizards, which no one ever seems to actually do, and used Kor + equipment. Overall, it can be a very fast deck and exciting to play.
I won the roll, and decided to keep:
2 Marsh Flats
Bone Saw
Path to Exile
Kitesail Apprentice
Trusty Machete
Armant Master
On my first turn, I used the Marsh flats to fetch a plains, which i then used to cast the Kitesail Apprentice, and then i played the free Bone Saw. Paul had also kept his original draw, and opened with a Celestial Connelade.
Turn 2, I drew a plains and payed it. Then I equipped the Apprentice with the Bone Saw and attacked for 3. Post combat, i played my Trusty Machete. Paul played a plains, followed by an intimidating Kazandu Blademaster, probably the best ally to get out first because its such an effective beater. [Me: 19 Paul: 17].
Turn 3, I played my Marsh Flats, and fetched another plains, and then equipped the Apprentice with the Machete and attacked for 5. Paul played a plains, cast a second Kazandu Blademaster, and attacked with the first Blademaster, but I used my path to exile on it. Paul searched up a forest and passed the turn [18/12].
Turn 4, I played a plains, and then the Armant Master. I euipped him with the Bone saw, and then attacked with my now 6/5 Apprentice. Paul played a second forest, and then 2 Harabaz Druids, pumping his Blademaster. The blademaster then swung in, but I slapped this one with a path to exile as well, which led paul to fetch for a plains, commenting on how there are no islands in the deck (something i may change now) [18/6].
Turn 5, I drew and played a plains, and then swung in for lethal damage with the Kitesail Apprentice. The only problem with the plan was that the Apprenice was shown the lonely path to the land of exile. I fetched a plains, and then passed the turn. Paul played a Kabira Evangel and a Sea Gate Loremaster, then passed the turn [18/6].
Turn 6, I equipped everything to the Armant Master, and then attcked for 5, but he too was shown the path to exile. However, this time I used my freshly top decked Brave the Elements to protect the Master, who then was blocked by a Harabaz Druid instead. During Paul's turn, He played a forest, Oran Rief Survivalist, and another Kabira Evangel before passing the turn. [18/6]
Turn 7, i played a Kor Skyfisher, returned a plains to my hand, which i simply played again, and then mistakently attacked with the Armant Master. The Armant master was a 5/3, and i didn't notice, or had forgotten about, the Oran Rief Survivalist who was now a 3/3. The 2 creatures traded, and I made my second mistake of the turn by not equipping the Kor Skyfisher. Paul responded by playing a Stirring Wildwood, drawing 4 with his Sea Gate Loremaster, and proceded to dump a Kazandu Blademaster and Hada Freeblade onto the batlefield. Attacking with both Kabira Evangels put me down 4 life [14/6].
Turn 8, I double equipped my Kor Skyfisher and swung in for 5. Paul responded by animating his Celesial Connelaide and blocking. However, I used my freshly drawn Brave the Elements to get through and bring Paul down to 1 life. Paul played a Seaside Citadel, and then a Harabaz Druid before drawing 7 with his Loremaster. He decided to play a Talus Paladin, giving hiss pro white army lifelink. Attacking with his Blademaster, Hada Freeblade, and two Kabira Evangels caused a 24 life swing making a favorable 14/1 situation become a bad 2/13. I resigned after drawing a land.
We decided to play again, but this time I played with my Izzet deck featuring 2 Niv-Mizzets, that sweet dragon i was ranting about in my first post. For this game, I remembered to record my draws, so that is what [D - CARDNAME] means. I was going first because i lost our previous game, and we both kept our opening hands. Mine consisted of:
Island
Terramorphic Expanse
Magasoi, the Waterfall
Burst Lightning
Pyromancer Ascension
Howling Mine
Electrolyze
Turn 1, I used my Terramorphic Expanse to find me a Mountian. Paul started by playing a Seaside Citadel [20/20]
Turn 2, [D - Pyromancer Ascension] I played an Island, and then a Pyromancers Ascension. Paul played a plains and a Kazandu Blademaster (why does the blademaster always get our first?) [20/20]
Turn 3, [D - Terramorshic Expanse] I plaed my Terramorshic Expanse and fetched another Mountain. Then i stopped the Blademaster shenanagans with a Burst Lightning. Paul drew, played another Seaside Citadel, and passed. [20/20]
Turn 4, [D - Mind Spring] I played Magasoi, the Waterfall and then Howling Mine. Paul played a forest, followed by an Oran Rief Survivalist followed by a Hada Freeblade [20/20]
Turn 5, [D - Electrolyze, Island] I cast the Electrolyze, doing both damage to the Freeblade, and drew a Ponder. I played my Island, cast ponder, and put Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind into my hand. Paul played a Harabaz Druid, followed by Halimar Depths. He then attacked for 4 with the Oran Rief Survivalist [16/20]
Turn 6, [D - Pyromancers Ascension, Magasoi, the Waterfall] I played the Waterfall, a second Pyromancers Ascension, and then cast Electrolyze killing the Harabaz Druid and doing one damage to the face. In response, Paul used Path to Exile on his own druid so he could fetch a plains, while still taking one damage. I drew a divination. Paul played Halimar Depths, and then Kabira Evangel, giving protection from red. His Survivalist attacked for 5 more. [11/19]
Turn 7, [D - Fireball, Burst Lightning] I cast Niv-Mizzet, knowing i could use my draw spells to kill his creatures. Paul had a great turn, playing another Seaside Citadel, and then a Sea Gate Loremaster, and a Jwari Shapeshifter that came in as a copy of the Sea Gate Loremaster. He attacked with the Kabira Evangel and the Oran Rief Survivalist to do 9 damage an put me in a precarious position. [2/19]
Turn 8, [D - Terramorphic Expanse, Ponder] I used the Terramorshic Expanse to fetch a mountain. I then cast a Burst Lightning, which in combination with the 2 cards i drew at the beginning of my turn, put a total of 4 damage on the 7 toughness Survivalist. By casting the Burst Lightning, i had also put 2 quest counters on both of my Pyromancers Ascensions, so every instant or sorcery i cast would be cast 3 times instead. The first spell to get the triplized treatment was Divination. I drew 6 cards, allowing my to do 6 damage and kill the Survivalist and Kabira Evangel. A ponder cast thrice also allowed me to kill the Jwari Shapeshifter. Paul recovered by playing Celestial Connelaide, and then Talus Paladin followed by a Jwari Shapeshifter in the form of the Paladin. He then drew 3 cards with the Loremaster, and played another Jwari Shapeshifter in the form of the Loremaster. [2-19]
Turn 9, [D - Island, Misty Rainforest] I played a crumbling Necropolis, and then a Searing Blaze to kill both Loremasters and do 9 damage to Paul. I then tapped Niv Mizzet to draw another card and ping Paul for one more, and closed by casting Time Warp, which after replicating was giving me 3 extra turns in a row. [2-9]
Turn 10, [D - Time Warp, Gelectrode] I played an island, and then a lightning Bolt to kill all his paladins (with the help of the pinging Niv Mizzet does at the beginning of each of my turns). Another lightning bolt tripled up was enough damage to end the game.
I showed Paul my second Time Warp in my hand and we just laughed at the thought of taking a total of 7 turns in a row.
Overall i found these two games to be incredibly exciting because we were both pushed to the end before dramatic comebacks. I feel the Bant Allies deck has a lot of potential, and maybe a few changes can make it epic.
I just realized i have been typing for an hour, a feat which would never happen if this were academic, and 3am is probably pushing the late night partying. But hey, when does way too late at night become way too early in the morning? Maybe I can pass myself off as a morning person... a really early bird if you will. Anyways, I had tons of fun cardslinging against the Bant Allies deck. Let me know what you think!
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Dramatic Game Re-enactment
Hey, i hope you are having a wonderful day today. Mine started out interesting, i woke up to see my car was victim of a hit and run.... It's not fun, but it's what i got to work with. Last night i was hanging out with my friend paul at a time my mom thought was just ungodly. We decided to get together at 10pm - 1:15am for some card slinging action. After a couple hours of deck building, which is awesome because paul has all cards from invasion and earlier, we started playing some games.
I was playing my mono green ramp deck vs his mono red burn deck, and after our first game, where I was up to 8 forests and Oran-Rief, the Vastwood on turn 4, with turn 5 including a 5x kicked Wolfbrier Elemental, turn 6 had a 6x kicked Wolfbrier, and then turn 7 ended with an overrun for 74 trample damage, I remembered that i had this blog, and i should take notes to replay the games online.
Our first game that I recorded was pretty miserable. I kept a hand of:
2x forest
Primal Bellow
Khalni Heart Expedition
2x Harrow
Thornling
The problem was that i didn't draw a 3rd land for the rest of the game. In 6 turns i got burned out. Turn 1 burst lightning to face, turn 2 incinerate to face, turn 3 sisters of flame (creture that has TAP: add R to your mana pool), turn 4 pyromancer's ascension, barbed lightning to face, turn 5 spire barrage + sisters attack, and then turn 6 lava axe put me down fairly quickly.
However, our second game, starting at 1am was more interesting. Paul and i both kept, I was on the play, and my hand consisted of:
3x Forest
Explore
Elvish Visionary
Harrow
Deus Of Calamity
Turn 1 was uneventful, with just a forest and mountain on the field, and no spells cast, but turn 2 is where i started ramping. I played my forest, then cast explore, dropping my third forest from my hand. (I didn't write what my draws were, but looking at my notes, the cards i had drawn over the course of the game were 3x forests, harrow, and a Primal Bellow). Paul played a mountain followed by incinerate, hinting at the shenanagans that had unfolded the previous game. On my third turn, I played a forest, followed by an arbor elf, harrowed for 2 more forests, and then used them to cast an elvish visionary. Paul played a mountain and a pyromancer's ascention on his turn, leaving 1 mountain up. On the 4th turn, I played a forest, then another harrow, followed by Deus of Calamity. I then attacked with the visionary for 1. Paul used his turn to play a mountain, then Incinerated my face (putting a counter on the ascention), followed by a burst lightning. At the end of the turn the life totals were at [Me: 12, Paul: 19]. Turn 5, I played a forest, then a Primal Bellow on the Deus of Calamity (8 forests -> +8/+8 = a 14/14 Deus of Calamity). I attacked with the Deus and Visionary for 15 damage, and I forced Paul to sacrifice a mountain (When Deus of Calamity deals 6 or more damage to a player, that player sacrifices a land). Paul played a mountain on his turn, cast barbed lightning at me, and then resigned.
Overall I had a ton of fun messing around with the Ramp deck, and I can't wait for Rise of the Eldrazi to get released in 2 days. Green is probably the most powerful color in this set, and both the Mythics are making me get excited. Vengevine is obviously a sweet card because it never dies, and the Hydra can be an 8/8 trampler for free, which i am perfectly alright with. Until next time, have a good time out there.
-rLackie
I was playing my mono green ramp deck vs his mono red burn deck, and after our first game, where I was up to 8 forests and Oran-Rief, the Vastwood on turn 4, with turn 5 including a 5x kicked Wolfbrier Elemental, turn 6 had a 6x kicked Wolfbrier, and then turn 7 ended with an overrun for 74 trample damage, I remembered that i had this blog, and i should take notes to replay the games online.
Our first game that I recorded was pretty miserable. I kept a hand of:
2x forest
Primal Bellow
Khalni Heart Expedition
2x Harrow
Thornling
The problem was that i didn't draw a 3rd land for the rest of the game. In 6 turns i got burned out. Turn 1 burst lightning to face, turn 2 incinerate to face, turn 3 sisters of flame (creture that has TAP: add R to your mana pool), turn 4 pyromancer's ascension, barbed lightning to face, turn 5 spire barrage + sisters attack, and then turn 6 lava axe put me down fairly quickly.
However, our second game, starting at 1am was more interesting. Paul and i both kept, I was on the play, and my hand consisted of:
3x Forest
Explore
Elvish Visionary
Harrow
Deus Of Calamity
Turn 1 was uneventful, with just a forest and mountain on the field, and no spells cast, but turn 2 is where i started ramping. I played my forest, then cast explore, dropping my third forest from my hand. (I didn't write what my draws were, but looking at my notes, the cards i had drawn over the course of the game were 3x forests, harrow, and a Primal Bellow). Paul played a mountain followed by incinerate, hinting at the shenanagans that had unfolded the previous game. On my third turn, I played a forest, followed by an arbor elf, harrowed for 2 more forests, and then used them to cast an elvish visionary. Paul played a mountain and a pyromancer's ascention on his turn, leaving 1 mountain up. On the 4th turn, I played a forest, then another harrow, followed by Deus of Calamity. I then attacked with the visionary for 1. Paul used his turn to play a mountain, then Incinerated my face (putting a counter on the ascention), followed by a burst lightning. At the end of the turn the life totals were at [Me: 12, Paul: 19]. Turn 5, I played a forest, then a Primal Bellow on the Deus of Calamity (8 forests -> +8/+8 = a 14/14 Deus of Calamity). I attacked with the Deus and Visionary for 15 damage, and I forced Paul to sacrifice a mountain (When Deus of Calamity deals 6 or more damage to a player, that player sacrifices a land). Paul played a mountain on his turn, cast barbed lightning at me, and then resigned.
Overall I had a ton of fun messing around with the Ramp deck, and I can't wait for Rise of the Eldrazi to get released in 2 days. Green is probably the most powerful color in this set, and both the Mythics are making me get excited. Vengevine is obviously a sweet card because it never dies, and the Hydra can be an 8/8 trampler for free, which i am perfectly alright with. Until next time, have a good time out there.
-rLackie
Monday, April 19, 2010
Hello World
Hello World!
My name is Ryan Lackie, and this blog will be dedicated to talking about Magic: The Gathering. I'm not much of a spike player, so this blog is dedicated to all the Timmys and Johnys out there. I am relatively new to the game, I played a little during the end of Ravnica block, but then came back near the end of Shards block, and have been a much more involved player during the entirety of Zendikar block. Some things you should about me and blogging is that I am usually a poor speller, and that i love puns. My comeback to whenever someone comments on my spelling is that I explain how I am a computer programmer, and that i can name variables anything i want, so matter what it represents. I could make a variable "asgfbvaev" if i wanted to.
Introductions aside, its time for my first bit of content. I will usually talk about cards in standard simply because that is what i know, but i do have friends who have very old cards and they can make guest appearances. As far as new content goes, how about cards that haven't even been officially released yet? Yes, Rise of the Eldrazi is all the talk these days, and I am going to talk about a couple interesting things i see from this set, let's go!
First, I think it's really funny how in the preview articles, they said cards like Glory Seeker (vanilla 2/2 for 1W) were going to be very weak in this set because of how the limited environment was. They used that specefic example at least 3 times leading up to the pre-release. Low and behold, what do i see in the visual spoiler, but the Glory Seeker himself. Well isn't that just glorious? To be completely honest, if your seeking glory, you can pass by this guy.
One of the decks that I play is an Izzet RU deck, and of course i made sure to include a pair of Niv-Mizzet, the Fireminds in there. In addition to just being a cool dragon in my colors that thematically IS Izzet, i say it makes all my blue cards more aggressive. One game i had him out, with no cards in my hand. I drew a mind spring and cast it, with X = 6. Draw 6 cards, 6 free damage to take out a pair of 2/1s and 4 damage to the face all for 6UU? When it comes to things like this, i like to break it up and see how i could represent this one cards ability as if i was casting multiple cards at once. Heres one combination of cards i came up with: Electrolyze (2 damage divided as your choose [take out 2 2/1s], draw a card 1UR) + Flame Javelin (4 damage [to the face] RRR) + Divination (Draw 2 cards 2U) + Ancestral Recall (Draw 3 cards U). That totals up to 1UR + RRR + 2U + U = 4UUURRRR. 11 mana and 4 cards vs 8 mana and 2? I'll go with the later.
What i'm getting at is that I think Niv-Mizzet is the man, because he can also tap to draw more cards and do more damage for 0 mana. So then i saw an ROE card released called Snake Umbra (Enchantment - Aura, Whenever enchanted creature deals damage to an oppenent, draw a card, +1/+1, Totem Armor). While it didn't hit me immediatly, i soon realized that you could combo that with Niv-Mizzet and instantly win as long as your library has more cards in it than your opponent has life. If you for some reason have less cards in your library than your opponent has life, than you can stop stop drawing at any point because Snake Umbra specifically says that you MAY draw a card. So now you can draw 8 cards at the beginning of your turn, do 8 damage to your oppenent and then proceed to bash with all the sweet spells you just drew.
So lets build a deck with this combo. I like to keep my decks budget friendly, because while its cool to talk about how have 4x Jace, The Mind Sculptors would be, i don't want to drop $220 on something that someone could kill with a $1 playset of lightning bolts. That being said, This deck is interesting, because it is 3 colors, but not in a shard. UGR. I see this as bieng a combo of Blue draw spells, Green land fetchers/color fixers, and Red removal. Here is my decklist:
Creatures:
3 Niv-Mizzet, The Firemind
3 Rampaging Baloths
Other Spells:
4 Harrow
4 Rampant Growth
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Ponder
3 Electrolyze
4 Snake Umbra
4 Flame Slash
4 Ancient Stirrings
Land:
10 Forest
7 Mountains
5 Islands
I always work out the non-basic lands last btw. When i looked at this list, i felt it was too heavy on the green lend fetching and too light on actual damage outside of our combo, so i decided to cut the Ancient Stirrings for 4 deprives for some defense. So here is the final list, which a budget mana base:
Creatures:
3 Niv-Mizzet, The Firemind
3 Rampaging Baloths
Other Spells:
4 Harrow
4 Rampant Growth
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Ponder
3 Electrolyze
4 Snake Umbra
4 Flame Slash
4 Deprive
Land:
5 Forest
4 Mountains
4 Islands
4 Kazandu Refuge
4 Terramorphic Expanse
2 Halimar Depths
I look forward to putting it all together after ROE is released, but i don't think it will cost much at all to put together, The rares are:
Niv-Mizzet, The Firemind (3 x 9 = 27)
Rampaging Baloths (3 x 5 = 15)
For a rares total of $42. <--- How perfect!
I was actually shocked when i saw that Niv-Mizzet was going for $9, i bought 2 a few months ago at $4 for the Guildpact one, and $8 for the FTV: Dragons one. Now its $9 and $12 respectively.
Anyways, I hope you have enjoyed my very first post on this new blog. I will be returning as often as i can for fun deck creations, or developing thoughts. One thing that I'm thinking about is a great infinite mana combo consisting of Filigree Sages + Training Grounds + Khalni Gem. Considering all the crap blue has been getting, i will make a mono-blue deck that can take advantage of infinite mana. I'm thinking Mind Spring.... Lorothos, the Tide Maker....
Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this article! Let me know what you think!
Lackie_XC_06@yahoo.com
My name is Ryan Lackie, and this blog will be dedicated to talking about Magic: The Gathering. I'm not much of a spike player, so this blog is dedicated to all the Timmys and Johnys out there. I am relatively new to the game, I played a little during the end of Ravnica block, but then came back near the end of Shards block, and have been a much more involved player during the entirety of Zendikar block. Some things you should about me and blogging is that I am usually a poor speller, and that i love puns. My comeback to whenever someone comments on my spelling is that I explain how I am a computer programmer, and that i can name variables anything i want, so matter what it represents. I could make a variable "asgfbvaev" if i wanted to.
Introductions aside, its time for my first bit of content. I will usually talk about cards in standard simply because that is what i know, but i do have friends who have very old cards and they can make guest appearances. As far as new content goes, how about cards that haven't even been officially released yet? Yes, Rise of the Eldrazi is all the talk these days, and I am going to talk about a couple interesting things i see from this set, let's go!
First, I think it's really funny how in the preview articles, they said cards like Glory Seeker (vanilla 2/2 for 1W) were going to be very weak in this set because of how the limited environment was. They used that specefic example at least 3 times leading up to the pre-release. Low and behold, what do i see in the visual spoiler, but the Glory Seeker himself. Well isn't that just glorious? To be completely honest, if your seeking glory, you can pass by this guy.
One of the decks that I play is an Izzet RU deck, and of course i made sure to include a pair of Niv-Mizzet, the Fireminds in there. In addition to just being a cool dragon in my colors that thematically IS Izzet, i say it makes all my blue cards more aggressive. One game i had him out, with no cards in my hand. I drew a mind spring and cast it, with X = 6. Draw 6 cards, 6 free damage to take out a pair of 2/1s and 4 damage to the face all for 6UU? When it comes to things like this, i like to break it up and see how i could represent this one cards ability as if i was casting multiple cards at once. Heres one combination of cards i came up with: Electrolyze (2 damage divided as your choose [take out 2 2/1s], draw a card 1UR) + Flame Javelin (4 damage [to the face] RRR) + Divination (Draw 2 cards 2U) + Ancestral Recall (Draw 3 cards U). That totals up to 1UR + RRR + 2U + U = 4UUURRRR. 11 mana and 4 cards vs 8 mana and 2? I'll go with the later.
What i'm getting at is that I think Niv-Mizzet is the man, because he can also tap to draw more cards and do more damage for 0 mana. So then i saw an ROE card released called Snake Umbra (Enchantment - Aura, Whenever enchanted creature deals damage to an oppenent, draw a card, +1/+1, Totem Armor). While it didn't hit me immediatly, i soon realized that you could combo that with Niv-Mizzet and instantly win as long as your library has more cards in it than your opponent has life. If you for some reason have less cards in your library than your opponent has life, than you can stop stop drawing at any point because Snake Umbra specifically says that you MAY draw a card. So now you can draw 8 cards at the beginning of your turn, do 8 damage to your oppenent and then proceed to bash with all the sweet spells you just drew.
So lets build a deck with this combo. I like to keep my decks budget friendly, because while its cool to talk about how have 4x Jace, The Mind Sculptors would be, i don't want to drop $220 on something that someone could kill with a $1 playset of lightning bolts. That being said, This deck is interesting, because it is 3 colors, but not in a shard. UGR. I see this as bieng a combo of Blue draw spells, Green land fetchers/color fixers, and Red removal. Here is my decklist:
Creatures:
3 Niv-Mizzet, The Firemind
3 Rampaging Baloths
Other Spells:
4 Harrow
4 Rampant Growth
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Ponder
3 Electrolyze
4 Snake Umbra
4 Flame Slash
4 Ancient Stirrings
Land:
10 Forest
7 Mountains
5 Islands
I always work out the non-basic lands last btw. When i looked at this list, i felt it was too heavy on the green lend fetching and too light on actual damage outside of our combo, so i decided to cut the Ancient Stirrings for 4 deprives for some defense. So here is the final list, which a budget mana base:
Creatures:
3 Niv-Mizzet, The Firemind
3 Rampaging Baloths
Other Spells:
4 Harrow
4 Rampant Growth
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Ponder
3 Electrolyze
4 Snake Umbra
4 Flame Slash
4 Deprive
Land:
5 Forest
4 Mountains
4 Islands
4 Kazandu Refuge
4 Terramorphic Expanse
2 Halimar Depths
I look forward to putting it all together after ROE is released, but i don't think it will cost much at all to put together, The rares are:
Niv-Mizzet, The Firemind (3 x 9 = 27)
Rampaging Baloths (3 x 5 = 15)
For a rares total of $42. <--- How perfect!
I was actually shocked when i saw that Niv-Mizzet was going for $9, i bought 2 a few months ago at $4 for the Guildpact one, and $8 for the FTV: Dragons one. Now its $9 and $12 respectively.
Anyways, I hope you have enjoyed my very first post on this new blog. I will be returning as often as i can for fun deck creations, or developing thoughts. One thing that I'm thinking about is a great infinite mana combo consisting of Filigree Sages + Training Grounds + Khalni Gem. Considering all the crap blue has been getting, i will make a mono-blue deck that can take advantage of infinite mana. I'm thinking Mind Spring.... Lorothos, the Tide Maker....
Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this article! Let me know what you think!
Lackie_XC_06@yahoo.com
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