Rock Paper Scissors just went to the next level

Sometimes you hear in Magic that there is a Rock-Paper-Scissors effect in the Meta. What does that mean? Basically play rock paper scissors, but instead of saying, "rock, paper, scissors" you name 3 decks. Here's a generic rock paper scissors setup: Aggro beats combo because it kills them before the combo deck can go off. Combo beats control because its narrow spells (dispell) protect the combo carefully and in one fell swoop dominate the game beyond the other player's control. Control beats aggro because it just throws up some cheap walls with a high toughness and the beatings stop. Rock Paper Scissors is awesome in the Meta because it means there is no one single deck that wrecks face (I'm looking at you pre-Worldwake Jund). Instead, if one deck becomes to popular (rock), its paper will become more popular and balance the Meta again.

All 3 brands of decks got an epic card released today (and one I didn't notice until late yesterday), so let's start with an aggro planeswalker who should suck much less, Koth of the Hammer. Why do I say an aggro planeswalker that doesn't suck? Well, the most popular planeswalkers are all control 'walkers. For example Jace 1 + 2 and Gideon. On the contrary, the more aggressive planeswalkers have seen much less play. Chandra 1 + 2 and Sarkhan 1 (2 has seen just a little bit...) are never played. Even though he costs 4, if your opponent casts Day of Judgement, Sarkhan Vol is chillin out there very awkwardly with no creatures to go all Fires of Yavimaya on. Even if he doesn't see initial play, I intend to get a set of Koth for my mono-red deck. One problem with mono-red is that it can be inconsistant. Either you completely destroy them in as little as 3 turns (1 - Goblin Guide, 2 - Goblin Guide/Lightning Bolt, 3 - Devastating Summons, Bushwacker kicked) or you fizzle and things get weird. With Koth, things get really sweet. First, the turn you play him you can either +1 to attack with a 4/4 (or just untap and use for mana) or you can -2 and mana ramp a little. As Flores Explained in his article, on turn 5 you can play Koth, go -2 to make 5 mana, and then tap a mountain to drop a Planeswalker AND a crazy Titan with only 5 lands. From there you pwn as you have multiple lands to cast spells with, after casting spells, you can untap a used land to attack, and when you attack with the Titan as well, you kill any cump blockers in your path. Just in case that all doesn't work out, you could just pump Koth to his ultimate ability, and laugh at the nuts mind games your opponent is staring down.

Koth is all about card advantage, and none more so than his emblam-making ability. Now when your opponent attacks, you don't have to use cards to kill their stuff, just use your mountains as an army of Cunning Sparkmages. Now your opponent doesn't want to attack because he will lose too many creatures. That's fine, we will just burn him 5 or 6 life for completely free. Geez, I hope I never have the burdon of staring that scenario down, I may just resign. Koth is very sligh, but he is actually very powerful.

But not to get too overwhelmed by the power of 0 mana burn, we have what can stop all that shenanagans, control! Check out this bad boy:

Yeah, aint that cool! Anyways, onto combo.

So combo picked up a cool card that reminices one of the most broken cards ever made: Tinker. Here's the new safe verision. This is nowhere near as broken as Tinker, but first I will explain why Tinker is crazy. The first pro magic match video I watched was of Jon Finkel playing a Tinker deck. Turn 1 he played Ornithopter and a land. Turn 2, land and pass. Turn 3, played a land, cast Tinker sacrificing Ornithopter, and dropped Phyrexian Colossus into play from the middle of his deck. Turn 4, he attacked, and then played Voltaic Key. 2 turns later his opponent was flattened, and Jon didn't even break a sweat, or pay a life. As the article demonstrates well, this is still a combolicious card. Getting that new Platinum Emperion from randomly in your deck for the cost of a couple weak artifats should be worth every penny. Also, unlike Tinker, this card is also a 3/5 creature that can bring the heat when necessary (ok, bad joke, I know it's a forge and forges are hot). But seriously, this card has some potential, but we need to see more cards before I say how much of a player this will be in Standard.

So that covers the new cards, before I sign off, I just want to mention a card I showed a couple days ago and some new tech with it. Goblin Graveleer + Adventuring Gear = way too insane! Turn 1, play the Goblin. Turn 2, play and Equip Adventuring Gear, attack for 3. Turn 3, play and pop fetchland, attack for 7 trample. Use 3 mana well. Turn 4, land, some really cool spell like Koth of the Hammer, +1, attack for 9. Yeah, that's way too awesome.

So, with that cool combo potentially laying the foundation for a mon-red pauper aggro deck. I am going to catch some Zs. Until next time, don't tap out when your opponent has counterspell mana up.
























What you want me to translate the french on that control card? Fine... I guess I will. It reads a little something like this:

Dissipation Field
2UU
Enchantment
Whenever a permanent deals damage to you, return it to its owner's hand.

Now that is really cool! I have been meaning to write an article on how powerful haste is, but I have been caught up in this whole new-set-is-really-cool thing. But if your creatures don't have haste, this card is your worst nightmare. Nice Baneslayer Angel, do you want to have to pay 5 mana every time it attacks and lose alot of tempo while I gain insane mana advantage? Ok, if you insist... With the loss of Path to Exile, UW control doesn't have many ways to get rid of creatures. However, with this card, you can bounce anything that gives you a scratch back to it's owner's hand (even the mountains you made go beserk with Koth). Then if you decide that Baneslayer Angel just isn't cool enough to be in play for your opponent you can just counterspell it. Don't have the counterspell? They're casting the Angel every turn, so you have lots of chances to get it. This card can make the game go really slow of your opponent donks on mana, and it stops you from getting hit by armies. Ultimately, this card is bonkers!

So this time I am serious about signing off. And I am even more serious about getting your stuff countered. Seriously, don't do it, it sucks. Even if they only have one island up, you can get spell pierced. If they have no mana up, you can get hit with Pact of Negation, Force of Will, or Daze. Geez, counterspells are insane...