I just posted something less than 24 hours ago that was news related, but this is new news! Wizards announced today that the new Dual Decks will be Elspeth vs Tezzeret! (http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/arcana/459) The dual decks will go for $20. But wait? How can they get away with having the cover card for one of the decks go for over $50 individually, and then sell another 59 cards with it, and then have a $13 planeswalker on the other side plus another 59 card deck? Here's the secret: standard rotates out less than a month after this is released, so neither of them will be legal and thus both of their prices will dramatically drop.
Heres a look at all the planeswalkers ever released:
Llorwyn/M10:
Ajani Goldmane - $8
Jace Beleran - $9 ($10 in M10, $12 in Dual Decks)
Lilliana Vess - $7
Chandra Nalaar - $5 ($6 in Dual Decks)
Garruk Wildspeaker - $11
Shards of Alara:
Ajani Vengeant - $11
Elspeth, Knight-Errant - $53
Sarkhan Vol - $14
Tezzeret the Seeker - $14
Conflux:
Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker - $15
Zendikar:
Chandra Ablaze - $4
Nissa Revane - $10
Sorin Markov - $13
Worldwake:
Jace, The Mind Sculptor - $79
Rise of the Eldrazi:
Gideon Jura - $52
Sarkhan the Mad - $22
What is interesting to point out is that every single Planeswalker ever printed is still legal in standard. When Scars of Mirroden comes in, 10 of the current 16 planeswalkers will rotate out (5 from shards, 5 from M10). Obviously, it would be rediculous to have all 10 printed in M11, so for the first time ever we will see planeswalkers that are not standard legal. I think they will have no value once they rotate out because the formats they will be legal in (Extended, Legacy, Vintage) are way too fast for them to compete. In Extended, you can have a 20/20 flying indestructable creature come into play on turn 2 and kill your opponent on turn 3 (Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth + Dark Depths + Vampire Hexmage). In legacy, you can have any creature you want come into play under your control on turn 2 with multiple counterspells able to defend yourself (Entomb + Reanimate, Force of Will + Daze). Vintage is Legacy, but with power 9 restricted instead of banned, which means you can have 1 of each, so you could have a turn 1 emrakul in play with counterspell backup. The lowest costing planeswalker is Jace Beleran at 1UU, but he is just a card drawing engine, which isn't exciting enough to make a difference, and the other planeswalkers cost 4 or more, which can be far too much.
I will get this dual decks anyways, because it is a casual player's dream. The get $65 in planeswalkers plus decks for both all for $20 is not something i will pass on easily. Another thing i want to point out is how the dual decks system seems to be working. There have been 5 dual decks released so far, and one to come:
Elves vs Goblins - released November 16th, 2007
Jace vs Chandra - released November 7th, 2008
Divine vs Demonic - released April 10th, 2009
Garruk vs Lilliana - released October 30th, 2009
Phyrexia vs The Coalition - released March 19th, 2010
Elspeth vs Tezzeret - to be released September 3rd, 2010
Notice how they altarnate between tribe vs tribe and planeswalker vs planeswalker. Also, with the exception of Elves vs Goblins, the planeswalker battles happen in the fall and the tribe battles happen in the spring. All the decks have been mono-colored, with the exception of The Coalition. With the exception of that deck, heres how the colors are represented (including Elspeth vs Tezzeret):
White: 2
Blue: 2
Black: 3
Red: 2
Green: 2
The Coalition deck was heaviest on green and red, so before they announced this new duel decks, white and blue were getting hosed, and black was featured 3 decks in a row.
So what should you take away from this? I think the planeswalkers in M10 will all be reprinted in M11, sothe shards planeswalkers will all go down to less than $10 in value. Despite that, I recommend picking this duel decks up, because regardless of their tournament legality, getting $65 in planeswalkers plus 2 decks (which after Pyrexia vs The Coalition feature one additional rare per deck) all for $20 is simply nuts! The 3 duel decks that werent released this year currently cost $45 (Divine vs Demonic), $70 (Jace vs Chandra), and $80 (Elves vs Goblins). If you want to play some odds, maybe you should buy a bunch of these, not open it for 3 years, and then sell them back to the store you bought them from for prophet (although make sure to open one for yourself). I am excited, and I can't wait to get my hands on this new Duel Decks!
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
That Core Feeling
Hello, Hello, Hello! How art thou? If you like to read Daily MTG (I do every day), then you would have noticed the teasers building up to the next core set, Magic 2011 Core Set. Monday, we saw the new booster packs (http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/arcana/456), Tuesday, we saw the Intro Decks (http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/arcana/457), and Today we saw the fat pack (http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/arcana/458).
Let's start with the booster packs. I like the look of these booster packs A LOT more than the 2010 core set packs (http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/arcana/207). 2011 seems a lot more clean looking to me, and actually is a bit more enticing. Once again, they have 5 packs, and each one represents a different color. A random thing i want to point out from the 2010 boosters is the arts on the cards were on each rarity, and 2 were mythic rare cards. While it doesn't make a big differnce, I personally like having rarer cards represented on the packs (so when you're opening Worldwake packs with a buddy you can take all the packs with Jace on them to make yourself feel like you could win the lottery). Also, the box in 2011 is much brighter than it's 2010 counterpart, which is always appealing.
Moving on to Intro decks. Before I get to the packaging, I want to point out that these will have full 60 card decks, not 41 card, awkward sized decks, but will still have the booster pack in them as well. The 2011 packaging feels much brighter and nicer than the 2010 decks (http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/arcana/231), although the 2010 ones were fine in their own time. There are also 2 more subtle things that are different from the 2010 and the 2011 intro decks. The first is how the 2011 decks don't have names. I believe that this is the first time that Wizards has ever released a pre-built deck without actually giving it a name. I expect that in the future, when the decklists are released, that some sort of name will be given as opposed to calling it the white deck or the red deck. A second difference between them is how the 2011 decks tell you on the box what the 2 colors in the deck are. In 2010, the white deck splashed red, but you couldn't tell unless you looked at the decklist, or bought the deck. With these new deck boxes, just look in the upper left corner, or the center bottom, and you can see the primary color over the color it splashes.
Also on the Intro decks, we can see the card that's on the front, which has always been a foil rare. We can see the names, art, and subtype of the cover cards, but we can't see the mana cost or abilities. Starting with the White deck, we have an angel named Angelic Arbiter. Nothing special. Theres in angel in almost every single set. With the blue deck we have a sphinx named Conundrum Sphinx. I have noticed how sphinxes have become more prevalent in Magic recently. There have only been 18 Sphinxes printed, and heres how they break down by set:
Legends: 1
Ravnica: 2
Dissension: 1
Coldsnap: 1
Planar Chaos: 1
Shard of Alara: 3
Conflux: 2
Alara Reborn: 2
Magic 2010: 1
Zendikar: 2
Worldwake: 1
Rise of the Eldrazi: 1
Basically, there are 12 Sphinxes in standard right now of the 18 printed all time (67%), which is odd. Because 2010 and 2011 will be in standard together until Scars of Mirroden is released, there will be at least 13 of 19 in standard (68%). Moving on to the black deck, there is a Vampire featured on the cover. Vampires, as claimed by LSV, is not a deck in the meta-game right now, but they will be around for the next year regardless because its all in one block (like fairies was, and like jund is). Magic 2010 provided Vampire Nocturnus, which is currently the most expensive card in the deck at $20. There will be Vampires in the rare slot in Magic 2011, so Vampiric mages should be getting ready.
Our red deck features a dragon called Ancient Hellkite. I did a quick gatherer search on Hellkite, because I have heard it on other cards before. As it turns out, there have been 8 other dragons with Hellkite in their name. This is the only card that we can see part of its mana cost (4 colorless), so that means it probably has more colored symbols in its cost than the others. My geuss is it will cost 4RRR.
Finally, our last deck is the green one, featuring Overwhelming Stampede. With this card, we can not see a subtype, which signals to me this is an instant or a sorcery. The art also reminds me a lot of Overrun. With that in mind, I think this will be a variation of overrun. Maybe it will be an instant? That would be insane! In the 2010 Core Set, they had Giant Growth and Might of Oakes in the same deck. Might of Oakes was just the rare version of Giant Growth. Also, that deck had overrun, so there were a total of 5 spells that only boosted power and toughness, that was 12% of the deck.
Finally today we had the fat pack get revealed to us. The box followed the circular artistic theme of the previous things we saw, and we already knew the art of the boosters. The thing I want to point out is the novel that comes in the fat pack. Since Shards of Alara, fat packs have included a chapter of the book that is released with each set to build up the flavor. Core sets don't belong to a block and don't have any flavor, so with the Magic 2010 Fat Pack (http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/arcana/211) Novel, they had a story about Chandra Nalaar. By the end of the novel (i didn't read it, but i heard reports from those who did) Chandra talked about how she was going to the plane of Zendikar. We then know she was persued by Jace and they, along with the help of Sarkhan Vol, released the Eldrazi when Chandra cast ghostfire.
This time, we have Tezzerett on the cover, and the title is "Test of Metal". This is much more obvious than Chandra's story as what is to happen. By the end of the Shards block, Tezzerett was kicked out of Esper. We know he met with Nicol Bolas (http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Multiverse/Article.aspx?x=mtgcom/feature2/24a# go to the last page of the comic) but then we don't know what will happen next. We know Nicol Bolas had already grabbed Sarkhan Vol and made him into Sarkhan the Mad in Zendikar. Also, we know that we are going back to Mirroden, the plane made of metal, this fall. Also, Mark Rosewater said that they would be releasing a colorless planeswalker this fall (i don't know what article it was, I'm not about to scour through them all, but it was before they announced we are going back to Mirroden, that statement helped people guess). What does this all add up to? I think Tezzerett (who will be reprinted) will be a pawn of Nicol Bolas to wreak havok in Mirroden. Karn, Silver Golem will the the planeswalker that opposes him. Karn was a colorless planeswalker in the old flavor, before planeswalkers existed on cards. He will be the colorless planeswalker in SOM.
It's amazing how much you can pick up from such small hints given out by Wizards. I look forward to more being unveiled as time passes. Until then, happy brewing!
Let's start with the booster packs. I like the look of these booster packs A LOT more than the 2010 core set packs (http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/arcana/207). 2011 seems a lot more clean looking to me, and actually is a bit more enticing. Once again, they have 5 packs, and each one represents a different color. A random thing i want to point out from the 2010 boosters is the arts on the cards were on each rarity, and 2 were mythic rare cards. While it doesn't make a big differnce, I personally like having rarer cards represented on the packs (so when you're opening Worldwake packs with a buddy you can take all the packs with Jace on them to make yourself feel like you could win the lottery). Also, the box in 2011 is much brighter than it's 2010 counterpart, which is always appealing.
Moving on to Intro decks. Before I get to the packaging, I want to point out that these will have full 60 card decks, not 41 card, awkward sized decks, but will still have the booster pack in them as well. The 2011 packaging feels much brighter and nicer than the 2010 decks (http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/arcana/231), although the 2010 ones were fine in their own time. There are also 2 more subtle things that are different from the 2010 and the 2011 intro decks. The first is how the 2011 decks don't have names. I believe that this is the first time that Wizards has ever released a pre-built deck without actually giving it a name. I expect that in the future, when the decklists are released, that some sort of name will be given as opposed to calling it the white deck or the red deck. A second difference between them is how the 2011 decks tell you on the box what the 2 colors in the deck are. In 2010, the white deck splashed red, but you couldn't tell unless you looked at the decklist, or bought the deck. With these new deck boxes, just look in the upper left corner, or the center bottom, and you can see the primary color over the color it splashes.
Also on the Intro decks, we can see the card that's on the front, which has always been a foil rare. We can see the names, art, and subtype of the cover cards, but we can't see the mana cost or abilities. Starting with the White deck, we have an angel named Angelic Arbiter. Nothing special. Theres in angel in almost every single set. With the blue deck we have a sphinx named Conundrum Sphinx. I have noticed how sphinxes have become more prevalent in Magic recently. There have only been 18 Sphinxes printed, and heres how they break down by set:
Legends: 1
Ravnica: 2
Dissension: 1
Coldsnap: 1
Planar Chaos: 1
Shard of Alara: 3
Conflux: 2
Alara Reborn: 2
Magic 2010: 1
Zendikar: 2
Worldwake: 1
Rise of the Eldrazi: 1
Basically, there are 12 Sphinxes in standard right now of the 18 printed all time (67%), which is odd. Because 2010 and 2011 will be in standard together until Scars of Mirroden is released, there will be at least 13 of 19 in standard (68%). Moving on to the black deck, there is a Vampire featured on the cover. Vampires, as claimed by LSV, is not a deck in the meta-game right now, but they will be around for the next year regardless because its all in one block (like fairies was, and like jund is). Magic 2010 provided Vampire Nocturnus, which is currently the most expensive card in the deck at $20. There will be Vampires in the rare slot in Magic 2011, so Vampiric mages should be getting ready.
Our red deck features a dragon called Ancient Hellkite. I did a quick gatherer search on Hellkite, because I have heard it on other cards before. As it turns out, there have been 8 other dragons with Hellkite in their name. This is the only card that we can see part of its mana cost (4 colorless), so that means it probably has more colored symbols in its cost than the others. My geuss is it will cost 4RRR.
Finally, our last deck is the green one, featuring Overwhelming Stampede. With this card, we can not see a subtype, which signals to me this is an instant or a sorcery. The art also reminds me a lot of Overrun. With that in mind, I think this will be a variation of overrun. Maybe it will be an instant? That would be insane! In the 2010 Core Set, they had Giant Growth and Might of Oakes in the same deck. Might of Oakes was just the rare version of Giant Growth. Also, that deck had overrun, so there were a total of 5 spells that only boosted power and toughness, that was 12% of the deck.
Finally today we had the fat pack get revealed to us. The box followed the circular artistic theme of the previous things we saw, and we already knew the art of the boosters. The thing I want to point out is the novel that comes in the fat pack. Since Shards of Alara, fat packs have included a chapter of the book that is released with each set to build up the flavor. Core sets don't belong to a block and don't have any flavor, so with the Magic 2010 Fat Pack (http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/arcana/211) Novel, they had a story about Chandra Nalaar. By the end of the novel (i didn't read it, but i heard reports from those who did) Chandra talked about how she was going to the plane of Zendikar. We then know she was persued by Jace and they, along with the help of Sarkhan Vol, released the Eldrazi when Chandra cast ghostfire.
This time, we have Tezzerett on the cover, and the title is "Test of Metal". This is much more obvious than Chandra's story as what is to happen. By the end of the Shards block, Tezzerett was kicked out of Esper. We know he met with Nicol Bolas (http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Multiverse/Article.aspx?x=mtgcom/feature2/24a# go to the last page of the comic) but then we don't know what will happen next. We know Nicol Bolas had already grabbed Sarkhan Vol and made him into Sarkhan the Mad in Zendikar. Also, we know that we are going back to Mirroden, the plane made of metal, this fall. Also, Mark Rosewater said that they would be releasing a colorless planeswalker this fall (i don't know what article it was, I'm not about to scour through them all, but it was before they announced we are going back to Mirroden, that statement helped people guess). What does this all add up to? I think Tezzerett (who will be reprinted) will be a pawn of Nicol Bolas to wreak havok in Mirroden. Karn, Silver Golem will the the planeswalker that opposes him. Karn was a colorless planeswalker in the old flavor, before planeswalkers existed on cards. He will be the colorless planeswalker in SOM.
It's amazing how much you can pick up from such small hints given out by Wizards. I look forward to more being unveiled as time passes. Until then, happy brewing!
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Digging up Old History
Magic is a game that has managed to remain popular for a very long time. It has been around for 17 years, and in that time a significant amount of stuff has happened. One thing that I think is funny is how magic relates to itself.
I have only been playing magic alot for the past 10 months, so the only block i have a thorough knowledge of is Zendikar block. However, by passing time clicking the "Random Card" button on Gatherer for seemlingly endless periods of time, talking to friends who know older cards, and by simply crossing paths with them I have developed a large familiarity with older cards. There are a significant amount of cards in Zendikar block that are a mini time capsule.
First, there are the reprints. In every set there are cards that are reprinted (besides basic lands) to bring them back into standard. One example from Alara Reborn is Terminate, which was originally printed in planeshift. With reprints, any printing of the card may be used in a tournament. In Zendikar block, there are 16 reprints (other printings in parenthesis):
Zendikar:
-Cancel (Time Spiral, 10th Edition, Shards of Alara, M10)
-Demolish (Odyssey, 8th Edition, 9th Edition, 10th Edition) [Common now, but was uncommon from Odyssey through 9th Edition]
-Harrow (Tempest, Invasion) [Was originally uncommon in Tempest, moved to common in Invasion]
-Mind Sludge (Torment, 8th Edition)
-River Boa (Visions, 6th Edition) [Was originally common in Visions, got moved to uncommon in 6th Edition]
Worldwake:
-Quicksand (Visions, 9th Edition, 10th Edition) [Was originally uncommon, printed as common first in Worldwake]
-Smother (Onslaught)
-Twitch (Tempest, 10th Edition)
Rise of the Eldrazi:
-Battle Rampart (Mercadian Masques)
-Demystify (Onslaught, 8th Edtion, 9th Edition, 10th Edition)
-Glory Seeker (Onslaught, 8th Edition, 9th Edition)
-Heat Ray (Urza's Saga)
-Naturalize (Onslaught, 8th Edtion, 9th Edition, 10th Edition, Shards of Alara, M10)
-Regress (Mirroden)
-Smite (Stronghold)
-Vendetta (Mercadian Masques)
There are probably more reprints in Zendikar and ROE than Worldwake because of their larger set size. In addition to the reprints, there are also tons of cards that seem to be reprints of older cards. Sometimes it is, but just with a different name (Grizzley Bear --> Runeclaw Bear I'm looking at you) but usually there is either a little bonus attached or something added to balance the card.
Zendikar:
-Refuge Cycle: basically a reprint of the Invasion uncommon land cycle with extra life as a kicker
-Enemy Colored Fetch Land Cycle: Very similar to the cycle of ally colored fetch lands in Onslaught, which conveniently rotated out of extended when we planeswalked to Zendikar
-Burst Lightning: Shock with a kicker
-Day of Judgement: Wrath of God has been printed in every core set since Magic's birth except M10. Then here comes Day of Judgement. Even the name is similar, because the wrath of god will come down on the day of judgement
-Into the Roil: Basically a Boomerang that can't target lands, is easier to cast, and can draw you cards
-Lotus Cobra: Black Lotus is a card they are always trying to get back into play (Lotus Petal, Lotus Bloom, Lotus Vale) and this time its attached to a creature
-Shieldmate's Blessing: simply a really bad Healing Salve
-Slaughter Cry: Instant version of Lightning Talons
-Steppe Lynx: very similar to Kird Ape
Worldwake:
-Abyssal Persecutor: This is basically the anti-Platinum Angel
-Aether Tradewinds: Peel From Reality that can target any permanent, not just creatures
-Arbor Elf: Hello Llanowar Elves! (If you really want to get into it, they each have significant advantages over eachother, but for basic purposes they are the same)
-Bestial Menace: In playtesting this card was called Cone of Creatures. Compare this to Cone of Flame
-Man-Land Cycle: A dual colored version of the Man-Lands from Urza's Legacy
-Cunning Sparkmage: Prodigal Pyromancer with haste. But Prodigal Pyromancer is Prodigal Sorcerer in red....
-Everflowing Chalice: Mind Stone whose size you can pick
-Explore: Hello watered down, much less broken Exploration
-Jwari Shapeshifter: If you are playing Allies, this guy is Clone on clearance prices
-Leatherback Baloth: Woolly Thoctar for mono-green
-Loam Lion: It's a white Kird Ape! (Kird Ape, by the way started as a common before getting moved to uncommon, then to mythic rare)
-Omnath, Locus of Mana: The mono-green creature version of Upwelling
-Pilgrim's Eye: colorless version of Borderland Ranger
-Pulse Tracker: Infectious Horror's mini-me
Rise of the Eldrazi:
-Akoum Boulderfoor: A really big Sparkmage Apprentice
-Invoker Cycle: This is the second Invoker cycle in Magic's history, with the first coming from Legions (and being much weaker)
-Deprive: Counterspell is too powerful, so Cancel was made. But we love Counterspell, so we will reprint it with a small restriction (although i usually find it to be a good thing because I can play Halimar Depths again)
-Dreamstone Hedron: Mind Stone was cool, so 3x Mindstones is just sick
-Enatu Golem:http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/arcana/449
-Evolving Wilds: Terramorphic Expanse with a new name and a new artwork
-Forked Bolt: Shock, but only better
-Goblin Arsonist: Now that you can't use your Mogg Fanatic to do some combat-damage-on-the-stack-so-I-sacrifice-for-bonus-effects-type shenanegans, you have this guy
-Kiln Fiend: Wee Dragonauts without the requirement to be in blue, although his deck is currently of the Izzet variety anyways
-Last Kiss: this reminds me of another Guildpact card; Douse In Gloom
-Leaf Arrow: Pseudo Lightning Bolt for green
-Lone Missionary: Venerable Monk that exchanges one toughness for one less mana to cast
-Lust for War: This card reminds me alot of Nettling Curse
-Mnemonic Wall: The wall version of Izzet Chronarch
-Overgrown Battlement: A strictly better version of Vine Trellis
-Pestilence Demon: It's Pestilence on a demon!
-Prophetic Prism: Mana Cylix that draws you a card
-Realms Uncharted: even the artwork screams "I'm the green lands version of Gifts Ungiven!!" [http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/arcana/443]
-Shared Discovery: Heres another version of Ancestral Recall (previous version: Ancestral Vision)
-Shrivel: The sorcery version of the currently essential extended card Night of Soul's Betrayal
-Soul's Attendant: Soul Warden gave some souls over for this human cleric to attend to
I was thinking about ^^this^^ for a long time, so i finally brought myself to make a blog about it, but i was suprised by how many results i actually wound up with. Anyways, this is just for fun. Now I am going to peace out, like a Boy Scout (wait.....)
I have only been playing magic alot for the past 10 months, so the only block i have a thorough knowledge of is Zendikar block. However, by passing time clicking the "Random Card" button on Gatherer for seemlingly endless periods of time, talking to friends who know older cards, and by simply crossing paths with them I have developed a large familiarity with older cards. There are a significant amount of cards in Zendikar block that are a mini time capsule.
First, there are the reprints. In every set there are cards that are reprinted (besides basic lands) to bring them back into standard. One example from Alara Reborn is Terminate, which was originally printed in planeshift. With reprints, any printing of the card may be used in a tournament. In Zendikar block, there are 16 reprints (other printings in parenthesis):
Zendikar:
-Cancel (Time Spiral, 10th Edition, Shards of Alara, M10)
-Demolish (Odyssey, 8th Edition, 9th Edition, 10th Edition) [Common now, but was uncommon from Odyssey through 9th Edition]
-Harrow (Tempest, Invasion) [Was originally uncommon in Tempest, moved to common in Invasion]
-Mind Sludge (Torment, 8th Edition)
-River Boa (Visions, 6th Edition) [Was originally common in Visions, got moved to uncommon in 6th Edition]
Worldwake:
-Quicksand (Visions, 9th Edition, 10th Edition) [Was originally uncommon, printed as common first in Worldwake]
-Smother (Onslaught)
-Twitch (Tempest, 10th Edition)
Rise of the Eldrazi:
-Battle Rampart (Mercadian Masques)
-Demystify (Onslaught, 8th Edtion, 9th Edition, 10th Edition)
-Glory Seeker (Onslaught, 8th Edition, 9th Edition)
-Heat Ray (Urza's Saga)
-Naturalize (Onslaught, 8th Edtion, 9th Edition, 10th Edition, Shards of Alara, M10)
-Regress (Mirroden)
-Smite (Stronghold)
-Vendetta (Mercadian Masques)
There are probably more reprints in Zendikar and ROE than Worldwake because of their larger set size. In addition to the reprints, there are also tons of cards that seem to be reprints of older cards. Sometimes it is, but just with a different name (Grizzley Bear --> Runeclaw Bear I'm looking at you) but usually there is either a little bonus attached or something added to balance the card.
Zendikar:
-Refuge Cycle: basically a reprint of the Invasion uncommon land cycle with extra life as a kicker
-Enemy Colored Fetch Land Cycle: Very similar to the cycle of ally colored fetch lands in Onslaught, which conveniently rotated out of extended when we planeswalked to Zendikar
-Burst Lightning: Shock with a kicker
-Day of Judgement: Wrath of God has been printed in every core set since Magic's birth except M10. Then here comes Day of Judgement. Even the name is similar, because the wrath of god will come down on the day of judgement
-Into the Roil: Basically a Boomerang that can't target lands, is easier to cast, and can draw you cards
-Lotus Cobra: Black Lotus is a card they are always trying to get back into play (Lotus Petal, Lotus Bloom, Lotus Vale) and this time its attached to a creature
-Shieldmate's Blessing: simply a really bad Healing Salve
-Slaughter Cry: Instant version of Lightning Talons
-Steppe Lynx: very similar to Kird Ape
Worldwake:
-Abyssal Persecutor: This is basically the anti-Platinum Angel
-Aether Tradewinds: Peel From Reality that can target any permanent, not just creatures
-Arbor Elf: Hello Llanowar Elves! (If you really want to get into it, they each have significant advantages over eachother, but for basic purposes they are the same)
-Bestial Menace: In playtesting this card was called Cone of Creatures. Compare this to Cone of Flame
-Man-Land Cycle: A dual colored version of the Man-Lands from Urza's Legacy
-Cunning Sparkmage: Prodigal Pyromancer with haste. But Prodigal Pyromancer is Prodigal Sorcerer in red....
-Everflowing Chalice: Mind Stone whose size you can pick
-Explore: Hello watered down, much less broken Exploration
-Jwari Shapeshifter: If you are playing Allies, this guy is Clone on clearance prices
-Leatherback Baloth: Woolly Thoctar for mono-green
-Loam Lion: It's a white Kird Ape! (Kird Ape, by the way started as a common before getting moved to uncommon, then to mythic rare)
-Omnath, Locus of Mana: The mono-green creature version of Upwelling
-Pilgrim's Eye: colorless version of Borderland Ranger
-Pulse Tracker: Infectious Horror's mini-me
Rise of the Eldrazi:
-Akoum Boulderfoor: A really big Sparkmage Apprentice
-Invoker Cycle: This is the second Invoker cycle in Magic's history, with the first coming from Legions (and being much weaker)
-Deprive: Counterspell is too powerful, so Cancel was made. But we love Counterspell, so we will reprint it with a small restriction (although i usually find it to be a good thing because I can play Halimar Depths again)
-Dreamstone Hedron: Mind Stone was cool, so 3x Mindstones is just sick
-Enatu Golem:http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/arcana/449
-Evolving Wilds: Terramorphic Expanse with a new name and a new artwork
-Forked Bolt: Shock, but only better
-Goblin Arsonist: Now that you can't use your Mogg Fanatic to do some combat-damage-on-the-stack-so-I-sacrifice-for-bonus-effects-type shenanegans, you have this guy
-Kiln Fiend: Wee Dragonauts without the requirement to be in blue, although his deck is currently of the Izzet variety anyways
-Last Kiss: this reminds me of another Guildpact card; Douse In Gloom
-Leaf Arrow: Pseudo Lightning Bolt for green
-Lone Missionary: Venerable Monk that exchanges one toughness for one less mana to cast
-Lust for War: This card reminds me alot of Nettling Curse
-Mnemonic Wall: The wall version of Izzet Chronarch
-Overgrown Battlement: A strictly better version of Vine Trellis
-Pestilence Demon: It's Pestilence on a demon!
-Prophetic Prism: Mana Cylix that draws you a card
-Realms Uncharted: even the artwork screams "I'm the green lands version of Gifts Ungiven!!" [http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/arcana/443]
-Shared Discovery: Heres another version of Ancestral Recall (previous version: Ancestral Vision)
-Shrivel: The sorcery version of the currently essential extended card Night of Soul's Betrayal
-Soul's Attendant: Soul Warden gave some souls over for this human cleric to attend to
I was thinking about ^^this^^ for a long time, so i finally brought myself to make a blog about it, but i was suprised by how many results i actually wound up with. Anyways, this is just for fun. Now I am going to peace out, like a Boy Scout (wait.....)
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Creativity Mill
Last night, a very rare and wonderous thing happened; Mark and I played on the same team in a dual headed giants format! Well it wasn't really dual-headed giants because it was mark and I vs 3: Nick, Eric, and my brother. Even still, we made the most of it and played some very interesting games. One game, mark and I played 2 aggressive decks, Eldrazi Green and Bant Allies respectively, and bashed before the other guys could build up a board position. (They're decks were Mill (Nick), GW tokens (Eric), and Simic Graft (Kevin, my brother)). The next game Mark and I both switched to our WU control decks and won a 45 minutes long game. There were tons of other matchups, and they were all very distinct.
After the night of card slinging, Nick requested I write on this blog talking about Mill as a viable strategy. So here I will explain why Mill is such a small part of the metagame in every format. The problem with mill is that it is too slow. There are 4 ways to win a game of magic:
your oppenent has 0 or less life
your oppenent has no cards in their library when they try to draw a card
your opponent has 10 poison counters
cards that say "you win the game" or "target opponent loses the game" are fulfilled
Were going to disregard th 4th way to win, because you can't generalize it. When you start a game of magic, you have 20 life, 60 or more cards in your library, aqnd 0 poison counters. To win you must either deal 20 damage, move 60 cards out of their library, or get 10 poison counters on them. Based on those numbers, it's obvious that poison counters is the fastest way to win. When poison was still standard legal (there are only 2 poison cards, a sliver and an enchantment, and they are both future-spun cards from future sight) the winning dual headed giants team in the world was piloting side-by-side sliver decks that had 4 of the sliver that gives all slivers poisonous 1. However, it isn't standard, which means that the only other ways to win are by mill or by kill. Once again, you need to move 60 cards in their library to mill, or you have to do 20 damage to kill. That means it's 3x harder to win by mill. Yes I understand you start with 7 cards in your hand, but that's still 20 vs 53. The only way I would play a dedicated mill deck is if it was a mill/life gain deck. That would make it a 3 color deck (life gain is primarily white, and mill is primarily Blue/Black) and would be very weak.
That being said, I do have a mill deck planned on paper, but just not put together. Heres the decklist:
Creatures
3x Steel Wall
4x Maralen of the Mornsong
4x Hedron Crab
Enchantments
4x Bloodchief Ascension
1x Memory Erosion
Instants/Sorceries
4x Doom Blade
4x Hideous End
4x Sign in Blood
4x Archive Trap
4x Ponder
4x Dark Ritual
Land
4x Creeping Tar Pit
2x Evolving Wilds
3x Island
4x Jwar Isle Refuge
7x Swamp
Yes this is a mill deck, but if my opponent decks out, then my deck didn't work right. What is supposed to happen is I get Bloodchief Ascension and Maralen of the Mornsong out by turn 3. Then the Ascension gets counters when my opponent loses life to Maralen. Then when it is all juiced, I archive trap them (for 0 because they searched their library at the beginning of their turn) and when 13 cards go in their library, they lose 26 life and die. heres what i would consider to be the fastest start:
1 - swamp, Bloodchief Ascension
2 - Dark Ritual, Maralen of the Mornsong
(counter #1 on ascension during their turn)
3 - sign in blood on them (they can't draw cards, but they still take 2 damage), put 2nd counter on ascension
(counter #3 during their turn)
4 - search for Archive trap, mill kill on their turn
So the only reason I call this a mill deck is because that is what ultimately deals them the damage. I am consdering making this deck mono black to make it more consistant, i will post later if I come up with a new build.
Speaking of new builds, I just messed around with 3 of my decks, and conceptualized a cool one. When I say messed around with, I mean got rid of 2 and cut blue from the 3rd. Now enchanting angels is mono white. At the same time, my 2 soldier decks, Eldrazi Soldiers and Kor Weenies have been dismantled. I traded my Eldrazi monuments to Mark, and then took the deck apart because it was never good, even with the monuments. The Kor Weenies deck was a cool concept deck that would either win on turn 4 or burn out by turn 5.
The deck I conceptualized is called Boros Walls. Remember Boros Bushwhacker? That deck that got big and then died away in an incredibly short period of time just after Zendikar was released? Well this deck is the complete opposite, and it's worst nightmare. Boros Bushwacker was RW zoo-esque speed deck. This deck is all about stopping everything and then slowly killing you with Vent Sentinal. Here's the decklist:
Creatures
3x Cunning Sparkmage
4x Rage Nimbus
4x Vent Sentinal
4x Perimeter Captain
3x Soulbound Guardians
2x Stoneforge Mystic
4x Wall of Omens
Equipment
2x Basilisk Collar
3x Warmonger's Chariot
Enchantments
3x Lightmine Field
Instants/Sorceries
4x Lightning Bolt
Using cards like Rage Nimbus and Lightmine Field, entire armies of your opponents can be wiped out fast. If you have the money, Gideon Jura does an even better job of wiping out armies with Lightmine Field. When there are no more creatures, Warmonger's Chariot can have your huge defenders like Rage Nimbus and Soulbound Guardians punch in for 6 or 7 damage at a time. One other cool thing I threw in here is the Cunning Sparkmage + Basilisk Collar package. That combo got huge with the Boss Naya deck that LSV piloted to a 17-0 start at San Diego. Cunning Sparkmage and Basilisk Collar can be sided out if your opponent isn't playing a very creature heave deck, but the Stoneforge Mystic is awesome because it can grab both your powerful equipments.
Before I sign off for today, I won't to point out 2 websites that I have linked on the upper right hand portion of my blog. The first is the one titled "Mock Drafting". For those out there like me who don't use MTGO, this website will generate booster packs and you can play out a draft. At the end, it will give you a score for how well you drafted. On occasion, I like to print out my draft and make cuts and produce the mana base for the deck as if it were a real event, just for the practive of cutting cards and turning your pile of stuff into a major deck. 2 decks I recently drafted were UW and GW. UW deck stalled, drew cardsm and did small work with Caravan Escort until Kozelik, the Butcher of Truth came out, that draft scored me a 96%. The GW is one that I dream about, even though I only got a 50% on the draft. It featured 5x Aura Gnarlids and 4x Snake Umbras. Basically, by turn 4 I am bashing with a 4/4 guy that can't get blocked or killed and I am drawing 2x the cards you are.
The other website is the one titled "MTG Fanatic Deck Manager". This site lets you make an account and then post up your deck ideas online for others to view, rate, and comment on. I use this site all the time to save my crazy ideas, like the Boros Walls deck. I highly recommend you check it out.
Happy Brewing!
After the night of card slinging, Nick requested I write on this blog talking about Mill as a viable strategy. So here I will explain why Mill is such a small part of the metagame in every format. The problem with mill is that it is too slow. There are 4 ways to win a game of magic:
your oppenent has 0 or less life
your oppenent has no cards in their library when they try to draw a card
your opponent has 10 poison counters
cards that say "you win the game" or "target opponent loses the game" are fulfilled
Were going to disregard th 4th way to win, because you can't generalize it. When you start a game of magic, you have 20 life, 60 or more cards in your library, aqnd 0 poison counters. To win you must either deal 20 damage, move 60 cards out of their library, or get 10 poison counters on them. Based on those numbers, it's obvious that poison counters is the fastest way to win. When poison was still standard legal (there are only 2 poison cards, a sliver and an enchantment, and they are both future-spun cards from future sight) the winning dual headed giants team in the world was piloting side-by-side sliver decks that had 4 of the sliver that gives all slivers poisonous 1. However, it isn't standard, which means that the only other ways to win are by mill or by kill. Once again, you need to move 60 cards in their library to mill, or you have to do 20 damage to kill. That means it's 3x harder to win by mill. Yes I understand you start with 7 cards in your hand, but that's still 20 vs 53. The only way I would play a dedicated mill deck is if it was a mill/life gain deck. That would make it a 3 color deck (life gain is primarily white, and mill is primarily Blue/Black) and would be very weak.
That being said, I do have a mill deck planned on paper, but just not put together. Heres the decklist:
Creatures
3x Steel Wall
4x Maralen of the Mornsong
4x Hedron Crab
Enchantments
4x Bloodchief Ascension
1x Memory Erosion
Instants/Sorceries
4x Doom Blade
4x Hideous End
4x Sign in Blood
4x Archive Trap
4x Ponder
4x Dark Ritual
Land
4x Creeping Tar Pit
2x Evolving Wilds
3x Island
4x Jwar Isle Refuge
7x Swamp
Yes this is a mill deck, but if my opponent decks out, then my deck didn't work right. What is supposed to happen is I get Bloodchief Ascension and Maralen of the Mornsong out by turn 3. Then the Ascension gets counters when my opponent loses life to Maralen. Then when it is all juiced, I archive trap them (for 0 because they searched their library at the beginning of their turn) and when 13 cards go in their library, they lose 26 life and die. heres what i would consider to be the fastest start:
1 - swamp, Bloodchief Ascension
2 - Dark Ritual, Maralen of the Mornsong
(counter #1 on ascension during their turn)
3 - sign in blood on them (they can't draw cards, but they still take 2 damage), put 2nd counter on ascension
(counter #3 during their turn)
4 - search for Archive trap, mill kill on their turn
So the only reason I call this a mill deck is because that is what ultimately deals them the damage. I am consdering making this deck mono black to make it more consistant, i will post later if I come up with a new build.
Speaking of new builds, I just messed around with 3 of my decks, and conceptualized a cool one. When I say messed around with, I mean got rid of 2 and cut blue from the 3rd. Now enchanting angels is mono white. At the same time, my 2 soldier decks, Eldrazi Soldiers and Kor Weenies have been dismantled. I traded my Eldrazi monuments to Mark, and then took the deck apart because it was never good, even with the monuments. The Kor Weenies deck was a cool concept deck that would either win on turn 4 or burn out by turn 5.
The deck I conceptualized is called Boros Walls. Remember Boros Bushwhacker? That deck that got big and then died away in an incredibly short period of time just after Zendikar was released? Well this deck is the complete opposite, and it's worst nightmare. Boros Bushwacker was RW zoo-esque speed deck. This deck is all about stopping everything and then slowly killing you with Vent Sentinal. Here's the decklist:
Creatures
3x Cunning Sparkmage
4x Rage Nimbus
4x Vent Sentinal
4x Perimeter Captain
3x Soulbound Guardians
2x Stoneforge Mystic
4x Wall of Omens
Equipment
2x Basilisk Collar
3x Warmonger's Chariot
Enchantments
3x Lightmine Field
Instants/Sorceries
4x Lightning Bolt
Using cards like Rage Nimbus and Lightmine Field, entire armies of your opponents can be wiped out fast. If you have the money, Gideon Jura does an even better job of wiping out armies with Lightmine Field. When there are no more creatures, Warmonger's Chariot can have your huge defenders like Rage Nimbus and Soulbound Guardians punch in for 6 or 7 damage at a time. One other cool thing I threw in here is the Cunning Sparkmage + Basilisk Collar package. That combo got huge with the Boss Naya deck that LSV piloted to a 17-0 start at San Diego. Cunning Sparkmage and Basilisk Collar can be sided out if your opponent isn't playing a very creature heave deck, but the Stoneforge Mystic is awesome because it can grab both your powerful equipments.
Before I sign off for today, I won't to point out 2 websites that I have linked on the upper right hand portion of my blog. The first is the one titled "Mock Drafting". For those out there like me who don't use MTGO, this website will generate booster packs and you can play out a draft. At the end, it will give you a score for how well you drafted. On occasion, I like to print out my draft and make cuts and produce the mana base for the deck as if it were a real event, just for the practive of cutting cards and turning your pile of stuff into a major deck. 2 decks I recently drafted were UW and GW. UW deck stalled, drew cardsm and did small work with Caravan Escort until Kozelik, the Butcher of Truth came out, that draft scored me a 96%. The GW is one that I dream about, even though I only got a 50% on the draft. It featured 5x Aura Gnarlids and 4x Snake Umbras. Basically, by turn 4 I am bashing with a 4/4 guy that can't get blocked or killed and I am drawing 2x the cards you are.
The other website is the one titled "MTG Fanatic Deck Manager". This site lets you make an account and then post up your deck ideas online for others to view, rate, and comment on. I use this site all the time to save my crazy ideas, like the Boros Walls deck. I highly recommend you check it out.
Happy Brewing!
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Oh Lord!
Once again, it's late and I'm blogging. However, this time around even though I am alone in this room, I am skyping with Mark. We just played a couple games over the computer by moving the video camera over to where we are placing our cards and talking through every move that we are making. Of course our magic extravaganza didn't start there. It actually started 10 hours ago when he invited himself over my house, then we went to his house after a couple hours, and then we skyped each other for the past hour. While at his house, I traded him 3x Eldrazi Monument, and he turned his elf deck into an Eldrazi Green deck. We then played a few games with me piloting random stuff and he played Eldrazi Green. One game in particular was absolutely epic, but you can read about it in Mark's post on his blog (Deckmaster Central). And yes, we are still connected on Skype while we are both updating our blogs at the same time. This game was Eldrazi Green vs Enchanting Angels. Basically, he used Nissa's ultimate ability, but i was able to hold off the army for a couple turns thanks to 3 Angelsongs. While he was trying to bash face, I was playing enchantments and getting angels from Sigil of the Empty Throne. After he went completely all out, I used my last angelsong and then swung in for lethal damage with my angels.
But that's not what I'm really focused on. I don't know what I am really focused on this time around, but I want to point out how crazy lords are. A lord is a creature that buffs up other creatures, usually of the same creature type. Whenever I play Mark, he always seems to get an abundance of lords. One game, I was playing him Vampires deck, and he got all 4 Vampire Nocturnuses into play. All vamps got +8/+4 and flying... I quickly lost. Joraga Warcaller is in the same boat. In that Eldrazi Green deck, he has 4, and in combination with the mana producing elves, he has kicked a Warcaller 4 times against me once.
In his merfolk deck, he has 11 lords currently, and potentially 15. At first i thought I was fighting all 1/1s, but I always get slapped by 4/4s and 5/5s that are all conveniently unblockable.
Going back to elves, I played my Big Green deck against his Elves deck (this was before it became Eldrazi Green). We played a best of 3, which he won 2-1, but I am going to post all 3 games. The longest one went only 6 turns!
Game 1:
I won the roll, and kept:
3x Forest
Elvish Visionary
Garruk Wildspeaker
Beastmaster Ascension
Thornling
Turn 1, I played a forest, and Mark played a forest into Llanowar Elves
Turn 2, [D - Forest] I played a forest, and then played Elvish Visionary [D - Harrow]. Mark played a forest and a visionary of his own.
Turn 3, [D - Forest] I played a forest and a harrow. Mark played a forest, and a Joraga Warcaller kicked once. He then attacked with the Llanowar elves and the Visionary
16 - 20
Turn 4, [D - Overrun] I played a forest, followed by garruk who untapped 2 lands, allowing me to play Beatmaster Ascension. Mark played a forest, a second Warcaller kicked once, and then attacked with the other 3 creatures. I blocked his Visionary with mine, and he pumped his Llanowar Elves with a Giant Growth.
7 - 20
Turn 5, [D - Arbor Elf] I played a forest, created a Beast token, cast Thornling, and then Arbor Elf. Mark Played a third Warcaller kicked once and attacked with everything. I had enough blockers to only let one guy through. However, Mark had a second Giant Growth to finish me off with.
Game 2:
I mulliganed to 6 and kept:
3x Forest
2x Arbor Elf
Thornling
Turn 1, I played a forest into an Arbor Elf. Mark responded in the exact same way.
Turn 2, [D - forest] I played a forest and another Arbor Elf. Mark played a forest and Elvish Archdruid.
Turn 3, [D - Overrun] I played a forest and a Thornling. Mark played a forest followed by Arbor Elf and Nissa's Chosen.
Turn 4, [D - Terra Stomper] I played a forest followed by the Terra Stomper. I then attacked with the Thornling. Mark blocked with the Arbor Elf and pumped it with a kicked Vines of the Vastwood. "You walked right into that one." Mark played a forest, Nissa's Chosen, and then attacked with two arbor elves and a Nissa's Chosen. I blocked the Chosen with the Terra Stomper and took 4.
16 - 20
Turn 5, [D - Khalni Heart Expedition] I played the Expedition and then attacked with the Stomper. Mark responded by playing a forest and then attacked with the 2 Arbor Elves and a Nissa's Chosen.
9 - 12
Turn 6, [D - Forest] I played overrun and attacked for lethal damage
Game 3:
I kept my opening hand consisting of:
2x Forest
2x Arbor Elf
2x Elvish Visionary
Rampaging Baloths
Turn 1, Mark went first this game and started with forest into Arbor Elf
Turn 2, [D - Wolfbriar Elemental] I played a forest into my own Arbor Elf. Mark played a forest and then an Elvish Archdruid.
Turn 3, [D - Arbor Elf] I played a forest, an Arbor elf, and then the Elvish Visionary [D - Momentus Fall]. Mark played a forest, a second Arbor elf, and then a Joraga Warcaller kicked twice. He attacked with a 4/4 Arbor elf, which I blocked with my Visionary.
Turn 4, [D - Oran Rief, the Vastwood] I played by Oran-Rief, followed by Arbor Elf and Elvish Visionary [D - Forest]. Mark ended things fast by playing a Joraga Warcaller kicked 3 times! He then attacked with his whole army. While I was struggling to pick my blocks, trying to balance board position with a healthy life total, Mark showed me the Overrun in his hand, and I acknowledged I had no hope for a comeback and conceded.
After playing those 3 lightning fast games (i guess elves are fast, but no one calls it elvish fast. Maybe I should start a new trend...), I decided that Elvish Archdruid is extremely overpowered, and he is rightfully an $8 card. He is your standard lord AND he produces an insane amount of mana! He is simply nuts! When this guy hits the field, you better O-ring or kill him fast.
Speaking of Lords, I am thinking about making another blog about our Lord Jesus Christ. I am a strong catholic and I am obviously a computer person, so I am going to draw them together in the form of a blog. I don't know exactly what I am going to do with it yet, but you should check it out. http://rlackfaith.blogspot.com/.
Until next time, may your lords never go on a journey to nowhere
But that's not what I'm really focused on. I don't know what I am really focused on this time around, but I want to point out how crazy lords are. A lord is a creature that buffs up other creatures, usually of the same creature type. Whenever I play Mark, he always seems to get an abundance of lords. One game, I was playing him Vampires deck, and he got all 4 Vampire Nocturnuses into play. All vamps got +8/+4 and flying... I quickly lost. Joraga Warcaller is in the same boat. In that Eldrazi Green deck, he has 4, and in combination with the mana producing elves, he has kicked a Warcaller 4 times against me once.
In his merfolk deck, he has 11 lords currently, and potentially 15. At first i thought I was fighting all 1/1s, but I always get slapped by 4/4s and 5/5s that are all conveniently unblockable.
Going back to elves, I played my Big Green deck against his Elves deck (this was before it became Eldrazi Green). We played a best of 3, which he won 2-1, but I am going to post all 3 games. The longest one went only 6 turns!
Game 1:
I won the roll, and kept:
3x Forest
Elvish Visionary
Garruk Wildspeaker
Beastmaster Ascension
Thornling
Turn 1, I played a forest, and Mark played a forest into Llanowar Elves
Turn 2, [D - Forest] I played a forest, and then played Elvish Visionary [D - Harrow]. Mark played a forest and a visionary of his own.
Turn 3, [D - Forest] I played a forest and a harrow. Mark played a forest, and a Joraga Warcaller kicked once. He then attacked with the Llanowar elves and the Visionary
16 - 20
Turn 4, [D - Overrun] I played a forest, followed by garruk who untapped 2 lands, allowing me to play Beatmaster Ascension. Mark played a forest, a second Warcaller kicked once, and then attacked with the other 3 creatures. I blocked his Visionary with mine, and he pumped his Llanowar Elves with a Giant Growth.
7 - 20
Turn 5, [D - Arbor Elf] I played a forest, created a Beast token, cast Thornling, and then Arbor Elf. Mark Played a third Warcaller kicked once and attacked with everything. I had enough blockers to only let one guy through. However, Mark had a second Giant Growth to finish me off with.
Game 2:
I mulliganed to 6 and kept:
3x Forest
2x Arbor Elf
Thornling
Turn 1, I played a forest into an Arbor Elf. Mark responded in the exact same way.
Turn 2, [D - forest] I played a forest and another Arbor Elf. Mark played a forest and Elvish Archdruid.
Turn 3, [D - Overrun] I played a forest and a Thornling. Mark played a forest followed by Arbor Elf and Nissa's Chosen.
Turn 4, [D - Terra Stomper] I played a forest followed by the Terra Stomper. I then attacked with the Thornling. Mark blocked with the Arbor Elf and pumped it with a kicked Vines of the Vastwood. "You walked right into that one." Mark played a forest, Nissa's Chosen, and then attacked with two arbor elves and a Nissa's Chosen. I blocked the Chosen with the Terra Stomper and took 4.
16 - 20
Turn 5, [D - Khalni Heart Expedition] I played the Expedition and then attacked with the Stomper. Mark responded by playing a forest and then attacked with the 2 Arbor Elves and a Nissa's Chosen.
9 - 12
Turn 6, [D - Forest] I played overrun and attacked for lethal damage
Game 3:
I kept my opening hand consisting of:
2x Forest
2x Arbor Elf
2x Elvish Visionary
Rampaging Baloths
Turn 1, Mark went first this game and started with forest into Arbor Elf
Turn 2, [D - Wolfbriar Elemental] I played a forest into my own Arbor Elf. Mark played a forest and then an Elvish Archdruid.
Turn 3, [D - Arbor Elf] I played a forest, an Arbor elf, and then the Elvish Visionary [D - Momentus Fall]. Mark played a forest, a second Arbor elf, and then a Joraga Warcaller kicked twice. He attacked with a 4/4 Arbor elf, which I blocked with my Visionary.
Turn 4, [D - Oran Rief, the Vastwood] I played by Oran-Rief, followed by Arbor Elf and Elvish Visionary [D - Forest]. Mark ended things fast by playing a Joraga Warcaller kicked 3 times! He then attacked with his whole army. While I was struggling to pick my blocks, trying to balance board position with a healthy life total, Mark showed me the Overrun in his hand, and I acknowledged I had no hope for a comeback and conceded.
After playing those 3 lightning fast games (i guess elves are fast, but no one calls it elvish fast. Maybe I should start a new trend...), I decided that Elvish Archdruid is extremely overpowered, and he is rightfully an $8 card. He is your standard lord AND he produces an insane amount of mana! He is simply nuts! When this guy hits the field, you better O-ring or kill him fast.
Speaking of Lords, I am thinking about making another blog about our Lord Jesus Christ. I am a strong catholic and I am obviously a computer person, so I am going to draw them together in the form of a blog. I don't know exactly what I am going to do with it yet, but you should check it out. http://rlackfaith.blogspot.com/.
Until next time, may your lords never go on a journey to nowhere
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Deckbuilder's Toolkit/Archenemy Thoughts
I noticed that over 50% of my posts are written and posted between the times of 11pm and 2am, and this one won't disappoint. It's 11:45 pm, and im just starting to write this now.
Theres a new magic product coming out very soon, May 21st, that i have been getting exciting over for a long time, since wizards announced it back on November 3rd (http://www.wizards.com/magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/arcana/312). It's called the Deck Builder's toolkit. This thing is an amazing deal for anyone who is new to the game, or anyone who doesn't have a collection of standard cards (Shards block, M10, Zendikar block). For $20 heres what you get:
100 basic lands (20 each of M10 art)
4 booster packs (random, but all from standard: Shards of Alara, Conflux, Alara Reborn, M10, Zendikar, Worldwake, Rise of the Eldrazi)
125 random cards (100 common, 25 uncommon, all standard)
How to play guide
How to build a deck guide [that actually looks cool simply by itself]
Cool looking box to carry cards and decks in
I think this is simply an awesome deal because $16 can get you the 4 boosters, so you may want to think along the lines of getting 100 lands, 125 extra cards, guides, and a box all for $4.
Heres a link to where Evan Erwin, the guy who has a weekly show creatively named that magic show, opens up a toolkit, and battles his friend who has done the same: http://www.starcitygames.com/magic/misc/19334_The_Magic_Show_188_Deckbuilders_Toolkit_Examined.html
I know I personally will not be getting this, but only because I don't need it. I already have a solid collection, and the lands and bonus cards, which this really focuses on, aren't needed. Despite my own not needing, this is something i am going to reccomend to any of my friends who are new or coming back to magic. Wizards has been pushing to build up its mtg players base, and its working. There are more active players now than there ever was before in magic's history, and more product is being bought than ever before, despite how they dramatically shrunk the amount of cards they print each year starting with Shards block. (1110 cards printed during Time Spiral Block + 10th edition, 892 cards printed during Lorwyn/Shadowmoor block, 748 cards printed during Shards block + M10).
This product is another example of wizards making it easy for a new player to join. Think about this: you have a buddy who comes over while you are in the middle of an epic duel. He sees you guys going back and forth hanging on the edge of your next draw step. Soon, you play your finisher, and he plays counterspell. Yelling goes back and forth, the scene builds up even more. Your friend sees you in the midst of all this, and after the dust settles he may say something like, "What was that? Can I play?" Now he sits down plays a game or 2 with 3 different decks and picks his favorite. By the end of the day, he is probably wondering where do you get this stuff.
Before, when that situation would occur, you could say, "Hey, let's go down to Webhead and get you an intro deck". He goes, picks up intro deck, plays, and leaves satisfied. Now he wants to expand his collection. He really wants a certain card he played with earlier. Now you have to explain to him how there are different sets with different concepts behind them and different cards in each one. He gets a little confused, and you ultimately have to pick the pakcs for him.
Now, lets fast forward to later this week when the toolkit goes live. Post intro deck, you can give him the toolkit (birthday present?), and he gets the whole deal. He has storage, packs, cards, lands, and some tips & tricks. Soon he will be cardslinging something that will make you think twice (cuz as good as the intro decks are.... they're not high caliber).
Overall, I would say that this is a win for Wizards. This looks like an excellent product that I will refer my friends to. The only thing that is missing is a D20 life counter. However, this box isn't attached to any set, so there is no obvious choice as to what symbol would fill the 20 slot. Maybe M10? Anyways, I think this box is also another cool random limited format. 2 guys open toolkits, make decks, and fight for dominance.
BUT WAIT!!!! THERES MORE!!!!!
Because I started writing this so late, It took me into tomorrow to finish the above portion and Daily MTG has been updated for Monday. One of the articles is on the rules for the new format Archenemy (http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/feature/91)
The first thing i thought of... well really the second.... was how it reminded me of Planeschase. If you don't remember what planeschase was, its because it came, went, and fizzled fast. Basically, planeschase was a multiplayer format where each player has a planes deck and you could plaeswalk from plane to plane, where each plane has an ability that changes the entire game. For example, one of the planes was Llanowar, which gave every creature in play (yours and your oppenents) the ability [TAP: add GG to your mana pool]. This would help you if you had green in your deck, but would not necessarily hurt you if you didn't because you could fill the colorless part of your spells with it. As cool as it sounds, wizards hasn't supported it since its release and it has since faded out of relevent memory.
The first thing i thought of was how great and useful these new rules would be because whenever I play in a multiplayer game with my friends, everyone teams up to kill me before fighting eachother. If we set it up so that I was the archenemy, i may have a fair chance and it would be really cool.
The archenemy decks go for $25 for a 60 card deck with 20 scheme cards (read the article for more info). Decklists will probably be out next week, and I will chat about those a little when it happens. The 4 decks are:
Bring about the Undead Apocalypse (BR)
Assemble the Doomsday Machine (WUB)
Trample Civilization Underfoot (GW)
Scorch the World With Dragonfire (GR)
First, the deck names are epic. I think i like Assemble the Doomsday Machine the best, but Scorch the World With Dragonfire is a very close second. The other 2 have been used before.
As far as this set goes, I think I will hold off for now, unless there is a phenominal deck, but I will use the rules for play around the kitchen table. I can't really saw much more about Archenemy without any raw info, so i'm signing off for now. Have fun out there
Theres a new magic product coming out very soon, May 21st, that i have been getting exciting over for a long time, since wizards announced it back on November 3rd (http://www.wizards.com/magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/arcana/312). It's called the Deck Builder's toolkit. This thing is an amazing deal for anyone who is new to the game, or anyone who doesn't have a collection of standard cards (Shards block, M10, Zendikar block). For $20 heres what you get:
100 basic lands (20 each of M10 art)
4 booster packs (random, but all from standard: Shards of Alara, Conflux, Alara Reborn, M10, Zendikar, Worldwake, Rise of the Eldrazi)
125 random cards (100 common, 25 uncommon, all standard)
How to play guide
How to build a deck guide [that actually looks cool simply by itself]
Cool looking box to carry cards and decks in
I think this is simply an awesome deal because $16 can get you the 4 boosters, so you may want to think along the lines of getting 100 lands, 125 extra cards, guides, and a box all for $4.
Heres a link to where Evan Erwin, the guy who has a weekly show creatively named that magic show, opens up a toolkit, and battles his friend who has done the same: http://www.starcitygames.com/magic/misc/19334_The_Magic_Show_188_Deckbuilders_Toolkit_Examined.html
I know I personally will not be getting this, but only because I don't need it. I already have a solid collection, and the lands and bonus cards, which this really focuses on, aren't needed. Despite my own not needing, this is something i am going to reccomend to any of my friends who are new or coming back to magic. Wizards has been pushing to build up its mtg players base, and its working. There are more active players now than there ever was before in magic's history, and more product is being bought than ever before, despite how they dramatically shrunk the amount of cards they print each year starting with Shards block. (1110 cards printed during Time Spiral Block + 10th edition, 892 cards printed during Lorwyn/Shadowmoor block, 748 cards printed during Shards block + M10).
This product is another example of wizards making it easy for a new player to join. Think about this: you have a buddy who comes over while you are in the middle of an epic duel. He sees you guys going back and forth hanging on the edge of your next draw step. Soon, you play your finisher, and he plays counterspell. Yelling goes back and forth, the scene builds up even more. Your friend sees you in the midst of all this, and after the dust settles he may say something like, "What was that? Can I play?" Now he sits down plays a game or 2 with 3 different decks and picks his favorite. By the end of the day, he is probably wondering where do you get this stuff.
Before, when that situation would occur, you could say, "Hey, let's go down to Webhead and get you an intro deck". He goes, picks up intro deck, plays, and leaves satisfied. Now he wants to expand his collection. He really wants a certain card he played with earlier. Now you have to explain to him how there are different sets with different concepts behind them and different cards in each one. He gets a little confused, and you ultimately have to pick the pakcs for him.
Now, lets fast forward to later this week when the toolkit goes live. Post intro deck, you can give him the toolkit (birthday present?), and he gets the whole deal. He has storage, packs, cards, lands, and some tips & tricks. Soon he will be cardslinging something that will make you think twice (cuz as good as the intro decks are.... they're not high caliber).
Overall, I would say that this is a win for Wizards. This looks like an excellent product that I will refer my friends to. The only thing that is missing is a D20 life counter. However, this box isn't attached to any set, so there is no obvious choice as to what symbol would fill the 20 slot. Maybe M10? Anyways, I think this box is also another cool random limited format. 2 guys open toolkits, make decks, and fight for dominance.
BUT WAIT!!!! THERES MORE!!!!!
Because I started writing this so late, It took me into tomorrow to finish the above portion and Daily MTG has been updated for Monday. One of the articles is on the rules for the new format Archenemy (http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/feature/91)
The first thing i thought of... well really the second.... was how it reminded me of Planeschase. If you don't remember what planeschase was, its because it came, went, and fizzled fast. Basically, planeschase was a multiplayer format where each player has a planes deck and you could plaeswalk from plane to plane, where each plane has an ability that changes the entire game. For example, one of the planes was Llanowar, which gave every creature in play (yours and your oppenents) the ability [TAP: add GG to your mana pool]. This would help you if you had green in your deck, but would not necessarily hurt you if you didn't because you could fill the colorless part of your spells with it. As cool as it sounds, wizards hasn't supported it since its release and it has since faded out of relevent memory.
The first thing i thought of was how great and useful these new rules would be because whenever I play in a multiplayer game with my friends, everyone teams up to kill me before fighting eachother. If we set it up so that I was the archenemy, i may have a fair chance and it would be really cool.
The archenemy decks go for $25 for a 60 card deck with 20 scheme cards (read the article for more info). Decklists will probably be out next week, and I will chat about those a little when it happens. The 4 decks are:
Bring about the Undead Apocalypse (BR)
Assemble the Doomsday Machine (WUB)
Trample Civilization Underfoot (GW)
Scorch the World With Dragonfire (GR)
First, the deck names are epic. I think i like Assemble the Doomsday Machine the best, but Scorch the World With Dragonfire is a very close second. The other 2 have been used before.
As far as this set goes, I think I will hold off for now, unless there is a phenominal deck, but I will use the rules for play around the kitchen table. I can't really saw much more about Archenemy without any raw info, so i'm signing off for now. Have fun out there
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Feelin the Blues
So it has been less that 24 hours since i last posted something here (posted at 11:45 pm on the 12th, and i'm starting this at 4:30pm on the 13th), but I had to point out that there is an article today on Channel Fireball that amplifies the point i made in my previous post on cost of decks. Heres the link: http://strategy.channelfireball.com/featured-articles/rishadan-pawnshop-32-standard-pound-for-pound/
His polymorph deck costs $400, but after cuttign 4x Jace TMS it comes all the way down to $120, which is about where mine sat.
Answering my own question, I have come up with a sideboard, and reasons for the sideboard:
4x Negate - This deck only runs 1 set of counterspells, and negate is very useful. The most dangerous spells for morphing is a spell, not a creature (Day of Judgement, Oblivion Ring, Sadistic Sacrament <-- more on this in a minute)
1x Iona, Shield of Emeria - Imagine sitting across from the polymorph player running your mono-colored deck (Soldiers/White Weenies, Red Deck Wins, Vampires, Elves) and they polymorph. You were ready for this of course, and have a simple answer in the form of Day of Judgement, or somply by racing. But wait, that's not Emrakul, that's Iona, which means you aren't allowed to cast spells for the rest of the game. And now everything is getting bounced back to your hand...
4x Sleep - The worst thing for this deck is the aggresive creature based matchup. If you are getting beaten down by your oppenents creatures, this card will stop them for a turn, which could be enough to put that last piece together to morph into a freak of awesomeness, leaving you with enough of a life coushin to be comfortable
3x Unsummon - Another bounce spell for creatures can help slow down bad matchups
3x Fog - Another card to use as defense against creature matchups
I feel this deck will literally polymorph against creature heavy decks, because getting rushed is very bad. DJ made a Veggie Zoo deck that tops out at 4, this stops at 15. One card that I am going to piece into the maindeck somehow is Mind Spring. I think it may replace 2x Spreading Seas as a better card drawer. It's not efficient unless you are drawing 4 more more cards (6 mana +), so thats why we only want 2.
I said I would get back to it, and here it is; the perfect card to stop polymorph is Sadistic Sacrament. I was texting mark at 1am last night/this morning and he sent me on the hunt to find the sole black card (he will be running vampires) that can force me to concede without much question. After a couple honest guesses and a few cards that absolutely stink but would get the job done, I finally found the culprit. All he has to do is find my Emrakul or Iona and Exile it, along with 2 other cards that will no longer matter. I could play on, but i would be left with card drawing, 0/1 tokens, bounce spells, and counter spells. None of these cards can make me win, so I could only resign from there. Sadistic Sacrament on only effectively be run in a mono black deck however, because it costs BBB.
On a completely irrelated note, I was going through my decks yesterday and came upon an odd realization: I play a ton of blue! I have my decks split between 2 fat pack boxes: ROE fat pack for my good decks (6) and M10 fat pack for my weak decks (5). I was only looking at the good decks for this. Heres the list of those good decks:
Big Green - G
Izzet - UR
Vampires - B
Bant Allies - GWU
Polymorph - GU
Enchanting Angels - WU
Heres how they breakdown by color:
White: 2 decks
Blue: 4 decks
Black: 1 deck
Red: 1 deck
Green: 3 decks
I didn't realize how bant-aligned I was until this! Over the summer, when I was a horrid n00b who simply played with whatever I had in the form of a 73 card singleton deck with no synergy, I played bant - whatever - i - open - in - random - booster - packs. Also, I felt like rares were strictly better than commons no matter what, so I simply piled all the rares I had in color together. Interestingly enough, I didn't win much.
I think I like to play those colors because I like to play on the safer side. I prefer playing control over aggro. Interesting as well is the fact that I have a BR discard deck in my "bad decks" pile. Maybe I should update that and make it sweet? Anyways, it's chores time, so it is time for me to sign off, peace out.
His polymorph deck costs $400, but after cuttign 4x Jace TMS it comes all the way down to $120, which is about where mine sat.
Answering my own question, I have come up with a sideboard, and reasons for the sideboard:
4x Negate - This deck only runs 1 set of counterspells, and negate is very useful. The most dangerous spells for morphing is a spell, not a creature (Day of Judgement, Oblivion Ring, Sadistic Sacrament <-- more on this in a minute)
1x Iona, Shield of Emeria - Imagine sitting across from the polymorph player running your mono-colored deck (Soldiers/White Weenies, Red Deck Wins, Vampires, Elves) and they polymorph. You were ready for this of course, and have a simple answer in the form of Day of Judgement, or somply by racing. But wait, that's not Emrakul, that's Iona, which means you aren't allowed to cast spells for the rest of the game. And now everything is getting bounced back to your hand...
4x Sleep - The worst thing for this deck is the aggresive creature based matchup. If you are getting beaten down by your oppenents creatures, this card will stop them for a turn, which could be enough to put that last piece together to morph into a freak of awesomeness, leaving you with enough of a life coushin to be comfortable
3x Unsummon - Another bounce spell for creatures can help slow down bad matchups
3x Fog - Another card to use as defense against creature matchups
I feel this deck will literally polymorph against creature heavy decks, because getting rushed is very bad. DJ made a Veggie Zoo deck that tops out at 4, this stops at 15. One card that I am going to piece into the maindeck somehow is Mind Spring. I think it may replace 2x Spreading Seas as a better card drawer. It's not efficient unless you are drawing 4 more more cards (6 mana +), so thats why we only want 2.
I said I would get back to it, and here it is; the perfect card to stop polymorph is Sadistic Sacrament. I was texting mark at 1am last night/this morning and he sent me on the hunt to find the sole black card (he will be running vampires) that can force me to concede without much question. After a couple honest guesses and a few cards that absolutely stink but would get the job done, I finally found the culprit. All he has to do is find my Emrakul or Iona and Exile it, along with 2 other cards that will no longer matter. I could play on, but i would be left with card drawing, 0/1 tokens, bounce spells, and counter spells. None of these cards can make me win, so I could only resign from there. Sadistic Sacrament on only effectively be run in a mono black deck however, because it costs BBB.
On a completely irrelated note, I was going through my decks yesterday and came upon an odd realization: I play a ton of blue! I have my decks split between 2 fat pack boxes: ROE fat pack for my good decks (6) and M10 fat pack for my weak decks (5). I was only looking at the good decks for this. Heres the list of those good decks:
Big Green - G
Izzet - UR
Vampires - B
Bant Allies - GWU
Polymorph - GU
Enchanting Angels - WU
Heres how they breakdown by color:
White: 2 decks
Blue: 4 decks
Black: 1 deck
Red: 1 deck
Green: 3 decks
I didn't realize how bant-aligned I was until this! Over the summer, when I was a horrid n00b who simply played with whatever I had in the form of a 73 card singleton deck with no synergy, I played bant - whatever - i - open - in - random - booster - packs. Also, I felt like rares were strictly better than commons no matter what, so I simply piled all the rares I had in color together. Interestingly enough, I didn't win much.
I think I like to play those colors because I like to play on the safer side. I prefer playing control over aggro. Interesting as well is the fact that I have a BR discard deck in my "bad decks" pile. Maybe I should update that and make it sweet? Anyways, it's chores time, so it is time for me to sign off, peace out.
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Polymorph Report
So I said I would do it, and here it is: my official Polymorph report. Polymorph is a deck that has been around for some time (polymorph was printed back in Mirage), but is easier to put together more now than it ever has thanks to Eldrazi Spawn token makers. Before I get too far ahead of myself, here is the decklist:
1x Emrakul, The Aeons Torn
4x See Beyond
4x Ponder
4x Polymorph
4x Spreading Seas
4x Deprive
4x Into the Roil
3x Awakening Zone
4x Explore
4x Growth Spasm
4x Halimar Depths
4x Khalni Garden
7x Island
5x Forest
4x Misty Rainforest
I got this decklist from Patrick Chapin aka The Innovator from Star City Games. The only edits I made to it was cutting 4x Jace, The Mind Sculptor for $ome rea$on, and replaced him with 1 or 2 Awakening Zones, and more Into the Roils. Also i swapped out one forest for an island.
Overall I would say that the deck is very powerful, focusing on surviving and minimizing your opponents board control with bounce spells and counter spells while builing up lands and digging for all the right cards with your draw cards. One thing I noticed very quickly is how much extra shuffling you have to do in this deck. Here are the cards that can make you shuffel your library:
4x See Beyond
4x Ponder
4x Polymorph
4x Growth Spasm
4x Misty Rainforest
Almost half your library searches and shuffles it! Aside from that random point, I found this deck to be powerful, but not necessarily fun. I am not the biggest fan of the Annihilator mechanic. At 1 or 2 it's fine, but at annihilator 6, the fun factor is simply gone. When I attack you, you have to sacrifice everything you own if i have made sure to effectively bounce and counter your spells. Then you have a freakin 15/15 flyer coming at you. If you have a flying creature that survived the initial explosion, it goes up to annihilator 7 effectively.
I'm not a fan of the mechanic, but you can't argue against what it does. It tears apart decks and almost always leaves you on top. I haven't worked out a sideboard yet, but i know for a fact that 4x Negates are going in to protect Emrakul when he comes out. Also, if I get my hands on an Iona, Shield of Emeria, she will get sided in instead of Emrakul against mono-colored decks, because it will prevent their deck from doing anything at all while you can bounce anything that gets in your way, leaving the path wide open.
This deck just won a $5k somewhere (that's what my local cardshop owner told me) so the deck is legit. You knwo what other deck is legit? Superfriends, the 12 planeswalkers (3x Gideon, 3x Jace TMS, 3x Ajani Vengent, 3x Elspeth) USA deck. You know what the big difference is? The cost. In Magic, we play with 60 card decks. If you want 12 of those cards to be those planeswalkers, heres what your shelling out:
Jace: 3 x $67 = $201
Gideon: 3 x $50 = $150
Ajani: 3 x $11 = $33
Elspeth: 3 x $50 = $150
for a total of $534
(prices according to CardKingdom.com as of May 12)
This deck also is running approx. 4x Path to Exile ($32), 2x Martial Coup ($17), 2x Day of Judgement ($20), 3x Arid Mesa ($36), 3x Scalding Tarn ($39), and 4x Glacial Fortress ($44) among other less majorly expensive stuff. If you did the math on your own, you would see that these 30 cards of the deck costs $722!!! Half the deck costs over $700!!! Thats nuts!!! This is a deck I will never play, because it is simply impossible to put together!
Compare that to the non Jace TMS I made:
1x Emrakul: $16
4x Polymorph: 4 x $3 = $12
3x Awakening Zone: 3 x $8 = $24
4x Misty Rainforest: 4 x $13 = $52
for a rares total of $104, or $52 if you cut the Misty Rainforests. I was suprised when I was gettign these prices because when I got them, Awakening Zone was $3 each, so I got it cheap and easy. All these prices have gone up (Emrakul by 25%, Polymorph by 50%, Awakening Zone by 166%, Misty Rainforest by 8%) since Polymorph got really big, but the price isn't restrictive very much. The deck plays slow enough that Terramorphic Expanse can replace Misty Rainforest, and Emrakul was the free pre-release card if you went. Beyond these rares, everything else is a common.
The funny thing after doing the price comparasin is noting that Polymorph is favored against Super Friends in the head - to - head matchup. Enjoy spending $750 on that deck? Well I will enjoy bashing you with my $110 deck (Insert cynical smile here).
Wrapping up now, Polymorph is a very feasable deck if you want something Insanely powerful but not budget breaking. I am very likely to play this at my next FNM because the only proxies I have are 2 Misty Rainforest (which are probably going to become Terramorphic Expanses) and an awakening zone. One tip for playing the deck is to take your time before you cast polymorph. Make sure you can leave mana up to play a deprive or into the roil in case your oppenent has something like an oblivion ring which can get rid of emrakul.
One last thing, I have mentioned my good friend / arch enemy (on the battlefield) Mark a couple times in past posts. He now has a blog with the full intent to compete with mine. It's called Deckmaster Central, and you can find the link at the top of this page on the right, among a bunch of other sites.
Let me know what you would put in a polymorph sideboard, and what you think of the deck.
Peace!
1x Emrakul, The Aeons Torn
4x See Beyond
4x Ponder
4x Polymorph
4x Spreading Seas
4x Deprive
4x Into the Roil
3x Awakening Zone
4x Explore
4x Growth Spasm
4x Halimar Depths
4x Khalni Garden
7x Island
5x Forest
4x Misty Rainforest
I got this decklist from Patrick Chapin aka The Innovator from Star City Games. The only edits I made to it was cutting 4x Jace, The Mind Sculptor for $ome rea$on, and replaced him with 1 or 2 Awakening Zones, and more Into the Roils. Also i swapped out one forest for an island.
Overall I would say that the deck is very powerful, focusing on surviving and minimizing your opponents board control with bounce spells and counter spells while builing up lands and digging for all the right cards with your draw cards. One thing I noticed very quickly is how much extra shuffling you have to do in this deck. Here are the cards that can make you shuffel your library:
4x See Beyond
4x Ponder
4x Polymorph
4x Growth Spasm
4x Misty Rainforest
Almost half your library searches and shuffles it! Aside from that random point, I found this deck to be powerful, but not necessarily fun. I am not the biggest fan of the Annihilator mechanic. At 1 or 2 it's fine, but at annihilator 6, the fun factor is simply gone. When I attack you, you have to sacrifice everything you own if i have made sure to effectively bounce and counter your spells. Then you have a freakin 15/15 flyer coming at you. If you have a flying creature that survived the initial explosion, it goes up to annihilator 7 effectively.
I'm not a fan of the mechanic, but you can't argue against what it does. It tears apart decks and almost always leaves you on top. I haven't worked out a sideboard yet, but i know for a fact that 4x Negates are going in to protect Emrakul when he comes out. Also, if I get my hands on an Iona, Shield of Emeria, she will get sided in instead of Emrakul against mono-colored decks, because it will prevent their deck from doing anything at all while you can bounce anything that gets in your way, leaving the path wide open.
This deck just won a $5k somewhere (that's what my local cardshop owner told me) so the deck is legit. You knwo what other deck is legit? Superfriends, the 12 planeswalkers (3x Gideon, 3x Jace TMS, 3x Ajani Vengent, 3x Elspeth) USA deck. You know what the big difference is? The cost. In Magic, we play with 60 card decks. If you want 12 of those cards to be those planeswalkers, heres what your shelling out:
Jace: 3 x $67 = $201
Gideon: 3 x $50 = $150
Ajani: 3 x $11 = $33
Elspeth: 3 x $50 = $150
for a total of $534
(prices according to CardKingdom.com as of May 12)
This deck also is running approx. 4x Path to Exile ($32), 2x Martial Coup ($17), 2x Day of Judgement ($20), 3x Arid Mesa ($36), 3x Scalding Tarn ($39), and 4x Glacial Fortress ($44) among other less majorly expensive stuff. If you did the math on your own, you would see that these 30 cards of the deck costs $722!!! Half the deck costs over $700!!! Thats nuts!!! This is a deck I will never play, because it is simply impossible to put together!
Compare that to the non Jace TMS I made:
1x Emrakul: $16
4x Polymorph: 4 x $3 = $12
3x Awakening Zone: 3 x $8 = $24
4x Misty Rainforest: 4 x $13 = $52
for a rares total of $104, or $52 if you cut the Misty Rainforests. I was suprised when I was gettign these prices because when I got them, Awakening Zone was $3 each, so I got it cheap and easy. All these prices have gone up (Emrakul by 25%, Polymorph by 50%, Awakening Zone by 166%, Misty Rainforest by 8%) since Polymorph got really big, but the price isn't restrictive very much. The deck plays slow enough that Terramorphic Expanse can replace Misty Rainforest, and Emrakul was the free pre-release card if you went. Beyond these rares, everything else is a common.
The funny thing after doing the price comparasin is noting that Polymorph is favored against Super Friends in the head - to - head matchup. Enjoy spending $750 on that deck? Well I will enjoy bashing you with my $110 deck (Insert cynical smile here).
Wrapping up now, Polymorph is a very feasable deck if you want something Insanely powerful but not budget breaking. I am very likely to play this at my next FNM because the only proxies I have are 2 Misty Rainforest (which are probably going to become Terramorphic Expanses) and an awakening zone. One tip for playing the deck is to take your time before you cast polymorph. Make sure you can leave mana up to play a deprive or into the roil in case your oppenent has something like an oblivion ring which can get rid of emrakul.
One last thing, I have mentioned my good friend / arch enemy (on the battlefield) Mark a couple times in past posts. He now has a blog with the full intent to compete with mine. It's called Deckmaster Central, and you can find the link at the top of this page on the right, among a bunch of other sites.
Let me know what you would put in a polymorph sideboard, and what you think of the deck.
Peace!
Monday, May 10, 2010
Veggie Zoo and Merfolks Too
Today was a great day for deck building. I was hanging out with Mark, DJ, and Nick, and all 3 of us had a great time doing some deck building. I put myself 3 cards (1 Awakening Zone, 2 Misty Rainforest) away from having a cool Polymorph deck, and Nick made a grixis mill deck, then cut red, then scrapped the whole deck, but Mark and DJ were the big guns in deck building today. Mark made a nasty Merfolk deck (currently 40 cards, soon to be 60 when the rest of the pieces come together) that gave him seemingly endless cards in hand and lands to play spells with. Ultimately I died when I had 2 6/6 unblockables, and a 6/6 flyer coming at me. DJ, on the other hand, is what we call insanely lucky. In 2 fat packs, he opened 6 mythics: 2x Vengevine, 2x Emrakul, Linvala, and Transcendant Master. He quickly proceeded to make a GW deck with Vengevine, Linvala, and the Transcendant Master. Mark and I helped him out to make it Naya. It was soon named Veggie Zoo. There are still a few cogs missing, but for now, it is very impressive.
Me: Izzet vs DJ: Veggie Zoo
I won the roll, and kept:
Magosi, the Waterveil (cut from the deck for islands as soon as the game ended)
Mountain
2x Lightning Bolt
Electrolyze
2x Time Warp
DJ also kept his opening hand and I went first with a Waterveil, facing off against DJ's plains.
Turn 2, [D - Magosi, the Waterveil] I played the second Waterveil, and DJ played an Evolving Wilds that became a Forest.
Turn 3, [D - Electrolyze] I played a mountain, and then electrolyzed DJ for 2 [D - Mountain]. DJ then played a plains, followed by harrow (sac plains) for Plains and a Forest. He tapped those 2 for an elvish visionary.
20 - 18
Turn 4, [D - Cascade Bluffs] I played the Cascade Bluffs, followed by another electrolyze to remove the visionary and deal one more damage to DJ. On his turn, DJ played a mountain followed by Ajani Goldmane, who used his +1 ability to gain 2 life.
20 - 19
Turn 5, [D - Ior Ruin Expedition] I played the Ior Ruin Expedition, followed by a mountain, and then passed the turn. DJ played 2 Wild Nacatls and a Kor Skyfisher. He then used Ajani's +1 to gain more life. At the end of his turn, I played 2 lightning bolts to clean off the Wild Nacatls.
20 - 21
Turn 6, [D - Burst Lightning] I played a Time Warp and took my second turn immediatly. On my second turn I drew and played a Howling Mine before passing the turn. DJ played an Evolving Wilds, which became a plains, and than the Transcendant Master, immediatly leveling it up 2 times. Ajani used his -1 ability to put a +1/+1 counter on his creatures and hit me for 3 with the Skyfisher.
17 - 21
Turn 7, [D - 2 Islands] I played an Island, then Time Warped again. [D - Searing Blaze, Ior Ruin Expedition] I cast the Ior Ruin Expedition, played an Island, and then cracked my first Ior Ruin Expedition for a Divination and another Island. I then cast Searing Blaze and Burst Lightning to kill the Transcendant Master. DJ used his turn to use Ajani's +1 ability, play a mountain, and cast Linvala. He then continued to attack me with the Skyfisher.
14 - 20
Turn 8, [D - Ior Ruin Expedition, Cast Through Time] I played the Ior Ruin and an Island, and then cast Divination, getting me Time Warp and a Mountain. Dj played Garruk Wildspeaker, used his +1, and then cast Vengevine. Terramorphic expanse grabbed a Forest, and Ajani used his -1 to pump the whole team who proceded to attack me down to 1 life. (Where is my near death experience?!)
1 - 20
Turn 9, [D - Ponder, Burst Lightning] I played a mountain, cracked the Ior RUin Expedition for Searing Blaze and a Mind Spring. Ponder got me a Pyromancer's Ascension. I then Time Warped, Searing Blazed, Burst Lightninged, and Mind Sprung for 3 all for naught. I resigned.
I played it with my Vampire deck, which got land skrewed, and led to DJ going up 6 - 45 before I conceded thanks to a level 12 Transcendant Master. The Bant Allies Deck and Big Green deck both also faced off against the Vangeful Vines, but I won both games due to misplays.
Overall, I think it is a really nice deck, and with a few more cards (I'm looking at your ranger of Eos) it will be superb. Mark is making an MTG blog, I will post up the link to his once I learn it. Expect some polymorph on my next post, I'm getting excited for it! Until then, stay classy.
Me: Izzet vs DJ: Veggie Zoo
I won the roll, and kept:
Magosi, the Waterveil (cut from the deck for islands as soon as the game ended)
Mountain
2x Lightning Bolt
Electrolyze
2x Time Warp
DJ also kept his opening hand and I went first with a Waterveil, facing off against DJ's plains.
Turn 2, [D - Magosi, the Waterveil] I played the second Waterveil, and DJ played an Evolving Wilds that became a Forest.
Turn 3, [D - Electrolyze] I played a mountain, and then electrolyzed DJ for 2 [D - Mountain]. DJ then played a plains, followed by harrow (sac plains) for Plains and a Forest. He tapped those 2 for an elvish visionary.
20 - 18
Turn 4, [D - Cascade Bluffs] I played the Cascade Bluffs, followed by another electrolyze to remove the visionary and deal one more damage to DJ. On his turn, DJ played a mountain followed by Ajani Goldmane, who used his +1 ability to gain 2 life.
20 - 19
Turn 5, [D - Ior Ruin Expedition] I played the Ior Ruin Expedition, followed by a mountain, and then passed the turn. DJ played 2 Wild Nacatls and a Kor Skyfisher. He then used Ajani's +1 to gain more life. At the end of his turn, I played 2 lightning bolts to clean off the Wild Nacatls.
20 - 21
Turn 6, [D - Burst Lightning] I played a Time Warp and took my second turn immediatly. On my second turn I drew and played a Howling Mine before passing the turn. DJ played an Evolving Wilds, which became a plains, and than the Transcendant Master, immediatly leveling it up 2 times. Ajani used his -1 ability to put a +1/+1 counter on his creatures and hit me for 3 with the Skyfisher.
17 - 21
Turn 7, [D - 2 Islands] I played an Island, then Time Warped again. [D - Searing Blaze, Ior Ruin Expedition] I cast the Ior Ruin Expedition, played an Island, and then cracked my first Ior Ruin Expedition for a Divination and another Island. I then cast Searing Blaze and Burst Lightning to kill the Transcendant Master. DJ used his turn to use Ajani's +1 ability, play a mountain, and cast Linvala. He then continued to attack me with the Skyfisher.
14 - 20
Turn 8, [D - Ior Ruin Expedition, Cast Through Time] I played the Ior Ruin and an Island, and then cast Divination, getting me Time Warp and a Mountain. Dj played Garruk Wildspeaker, used his +1, and then cast Vengevine. Terramorphic expanse grabbed a Forest, and Ajani used his -1 to pump the whole team who proceded to attack me down to 1 life. (Where is my near death experience?!)
1 - 20
Turn 9, [D - Ponder, Burst Lightning] I played a mountain, cracked the Ior RUin Expedition for Searing Blaze and a Mind Spring. Ponder got me a Pyromancer's Ascension. I then Time Warped, Searing Blazed, Burst Lightninged, and Mind Sprung for 3 all for naught. I resigned.
I played it with my Vampire deck, which got land skrewed, and led to DJ going up 6 - 45 before I conceded thanks to a level 12 Transcendant Master. The Bant Allies Deck and Big Green deck both also faced off against the Vangeful Vines, but I won both games due to misplays.
Overall, I think it is a really nice deck, and with a few more cards (I'm looking at your ranger of Eos) it will be superb. Mark is making an MTG blog, I will post up the link to his once I learn it. Expect some polymorph on my next post, I'm getting excited for it! Until then, stay classy.
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Amazing Combinations
Today I was playing Magic with my friends (shocker!), and I had an insane series of events happen while playing my UR Izzet Deck. This deck is known by my friends as the one that makes me win by taking 5 turns in a row. Despite knowing that ahead of time, I was shocked when I won on my 5th turn in a row, with 4 more turns in que in case I needed them. Basically what happened is I had a Pyromancer Ascension with 2 counters on it and a Cast Through Time. I proceeded to cast Time Warp and take 4 bonus turns in a row.
Cast Time Warp, it gets copied by the Pyromancer Ascension. The spell then goes to exile because it has rebound thanks to Cast Through Time. I then cast it again from exile, which copies it again, so I take 4 extra turns for 3UU.
The only problem I ran into that game was Mark had no creatures in play, so my 4 Searing Blazes in hand were all duds. However, thanks to the Howling Mine in play and the Niv-Mizzet (yeah, that awesome guy again) in play, I was burning for 2 every turn just by drawing cards. Then my Lightning Bolts all did 12 damage. Needless to say, by the end of that game, we both leaned back (well he was already leaning back and watching, so just I leaned back) and decided to put the deck away.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
So that was a combo I played today, but there was one I read about online that was a little confusing. On ChannelFireball.com, there was an article all about rogue combos and how you could go nuts in your mono black vampire deck. In this version, there was a major sacrifice subtheme, so the deck was actually Jund to hold Dragon Appeasment, but it was very heavily black. Lets say this is our board position:
1x Vampire Aristocrat
1x Pawn of Ulamog
1x Bloodghast
1x Mortician Beetle
1x Dragon Appeasment
(the beetle and the dragon appeasment aren't required, but only make the combo better. If you want to go mono black, just cut the dragon appeasment)
So start by sacrificing the Bloodghast to the Aristocrat. This draws you a card, Puts a +1/+1 counter on the Beetle, puts an Eldrazi Spawn token in play, and gives the Aristocrat +2/+2 til end of turn. Sacrifice the Token to get more pumps and cards.
Then play a fetch land, bring back bloodghast, and repeat above.
Crack the fetchland, bring back bloodghast, repeat above.
Sacrifice Pawn of Ulamog + token he makes for more counters, pumps, and cards.
After running through all that, you will have:
18/18 Vampire Aristocrat (until end of turn, then it gets sucky again)
9/9 Motician Beetle (and stays that way)
8 Bonus cards in your hand
1 land more than what you started with
^^^That is awesome! While having to have 5 permanents in play make it less likely, you can get away with having Pawn of Ulamog + Vampire Aristocrat, and generally anything else. If your running Jund, having Mycoloth will give you insane amounts of tokens (but wont reap the benefits of the Pawn)
So that's what's new. I need to go play the drums now, and rock the last concert of my high school career. Peace out!
Cast Time Warp, it gets copied by the Pyromancer Ascension. The spell then goes to exile because it has rebound thanks to Cast Through Time. I then cast it again from exile, which copies it again, so I take 4 extra turns for 3UU.
The only problem I ran into that game was Mark had no creatures in play, so my 4 Searing Blazes in hand were all duds. However, thanks to the Howling Mine in play and the Niv-Mizzet (yeah, that awesome guy again) in play, I was burning for 2 every turn just by drawing cards. Then my Lightning Bolts all did 12 damage. Needless to say, by the end of that game, we both leaned back (well he was already leaning back and watching, so just I leaned back) and decided to put the deck away.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
So that was a combo I played today, but there was one I read about online that was a little confusing. On ChannelFireball.com, there was an article all about rogue combos and how you could go nuts in your mono black vampire deck. In this version, there was a major sacrifice subtheme, so the deck was actually Jund to hold Dragon Appeasment, but it was very heavily black. Lets say this is our board position:
1x Vampire Aristocrat
1x Pawn of Ulamog
1x Bloodghast
1x Mortician Beetle
1x Dragon Appeasment
(the beetle and the dragon appeasment aren't required, but only make the combo better. If you want to go mono black, just cut the dragon appeasment)
So start by sacrificing the Bloodghast to the Aristocrat. This draws you a card, Puts a +1/+1 counter on the Beetle, puts an Eldrazi Spawn token in play, and gives the Aristocrat +2/+2 til end of turn. Sacrifice the Token to get more pumps and cards.
Then play a fetch land, bring back bloodghast, and repeat above.
Crack the fetchland, bring back bloodghast, repeat above.
Sacrifice Pawn of Ulamog + token he makes for more counters, pumps, and cards.
After running through all that, you will have:
18/18 Vampire Aristocrat (until end of turn, then it gets sucky again)
9/9 Motician Beetle (and stays that way)
8 Bonus cards in your hand
1 land more than what you started with
^^^That is awesome! While having to have 5 permanents in play make it less likely, you can get away with having Pawn of Ulamog + Vampire Aristocrat, and generally anything else. If your running Jund, having Mycoloth will give you insane amounts of tokens (but wont reap the benefits of the Pawn)
So that's what's new. I need to go play the drums now, and rock the last concert of my high school career. Peace out!
Sunday, May 2, 2010
FNM at Harrison's
This post is coming a little late, but that's because I did my eagle scout project yesterday, leaving me very tired. But two days ago I went to the fnm at Harrison's Comics near my house. I went with a group of 5 people, and there were a total of 6 people playing in the fnm. The deck i was piloting was Bant Allies. Here was my decklist:
In going 2-1, i earned my money back in store credit, which i used to get a bunch of pieces of the mill deck im working together, which focuses on the combo between Maralen of the Mornsong, Bloodchief Ascention and Archive Trap. When i have it all finished i will be sure to post it up here!
I had a ton of fun at my first constructed fnm (i have done draft fnms in the past), and i am certainly going back. I think i'm going to try out a variety of decks (and hopefully remember to take notes this time) until one really sticks. I'm a huge fan of rogue decks, and one that i am considering running next time is my UW Enchanting Angels deck. This deck focuses on using Sigil of the Empty Throne and Luminarch Ascension to create a legion of angels while I hide behind Wall of Denial and Wall of Omens. I then send everything on a journey to nowhere or to oblivion using a ring, and then fly over for lethal damage. Mesa Enchantress provides tons of card drawing, so i never run out of options. I can't go to an fnm this week, but in 2 weeks i shoudl have a nice fnm report written up lamenting the deck.
- 3 x Jwari Shapeshifter
- 2 x Rite of Replication
- 3 x Sea Gate Loremaster
- 4 x Hada Freeblade
- 4 x Join the Ranks
- 3 x Kabira Evangel
- 4 x Kazandu Blademaster
- 4 x Path to Exile
- 3 x Talus Paladin
- 4 x Harabaz Druid
- 4 x Oran-Rief Survivalist
- 1 x Clarion Ultimatum
- 2 x Celestial Colonnade
- 4 x Forest
- 4 x Halimar Depths
- 6 x Plains
- 4 x Seaside Citadel
- 1 x Stirring Wildwood
In going 2-1, i earned my money back in store credit, which i used to get a bunch of pieces of the mill deck im working together, which focuses on the combo between Maralen of the Mornsong, Bloodchief Ascention and Archive Trap. When i have it all finished i will be sure to post it up here!
I had a ton of fun at my first constructed fnm (i have done draft fnms in the past), and i am certainly going back. I think i'm going to try out a variety of decks (and hopefully remember to take notes this time) until one really sticks. I'm a huge fan of rogue decks, and one that i am considering running next time is my UW Enchanting Angels deck. This deck focuses on using Sigil of the Empty Throne and Luminarch Ascension to create a legion of angels while I hide behind Wall of Denial and Wall of Omens. I then send everything on a journey to nowhere or to oblivion using a ring, and then fly over for lethal damage. Mesa Enchantress provides tons of card drawing, so i never run out of options. I can't go to an fnm this week, but in 2 weeks i shoudl have a nice fnm report written up lamenting the deck.
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