Don’t Call it a Comeback…
By Prince Dayhaw
Well a lot has happened since last time an article was posted on JAPAMagic. M10 has been released. Multiple National events have taken place, include the US. New decks have shown up, some have left. But the most exciting thing to happen is that R/B is back in Top 8. Don’t call it a comeback…. With the loss of Seismic Swans and B/W tokens, and even G/W tokens to a degree, the face of the Meta has changed. Fae and Kithkin are back, 5CC is seeing more play than before, and Elves Combo has become very big now along with a nice showing from Jund. With these decks being played now it seems that some people have decided that R/B is a great deck to play against all of them, and I couldn’t agree more. Between the Spain Nationals and the Russian Nationals, R/B has Top 8 in 6 nationals, 2nd in France and 4th in Finland. This is impressive when you consider the fact that before M10 R/B had not seen the top 8 in a very long time. So what changed? The loss of Seismic Swans and token builds has helped. Games become easier to win when you don’t have to worry about being swarmed by a bazillion dudes. The inclusion of lightning bolt has helped a lot. 3 damage for 1 R is great right now. But I can think of two reasons why. First, Demigod is seeing play in almost every R/B list now. I always championed the idea that it should have never left in the first place. With tokens gone, kithkin is the only deck playing spectral procession and fae is the only deck playing bitterblossom. This means less chump blockers for Demigod to deal with and more damage to the face. The second is the return of blightning. I personally have always been afraid to play blightning since I always imagine turning it into 2 Wilt-Leaf Liege for my opponent. But with G/W gone from the scene, I don’t know why, that fear is gone and most people are willing to give it a gamble. I think 3 damage and 2 cards for 3 is looking better and better. I think with the new meta, R/B has the potential to take it to the top and I won’t be surprised it we see it at worlds.Well that wraps up everything I wanted to say about R/B so I will end this before I ramble on. Join me next week when I take a look at kithkin and see how it is doing these days. Until next time, don’t lose to Progenitus.
Monday, August 10, 2009
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Possibilities
Possibilities By:
Brandon “The Unicorn” Gibbs
With the soon to be released M10 there are a lot of deck ideas that I have been toying around with since I have had to wait on my T2 cards to come, and have been unable to play due to work. In some of my previous articles I mentioned the strong possibility of Jund Ramp at states even though we know nothing about the Zendikar rares. One card that has made me an even stronger in believer in Jund Ramp being the nuts at states this year is Bogardan Hellkite. This guy will take Cloudthresher’s place as a fatty but there is a huge different in the two. Cloudthresher does have a casting cost that is lower and is a bigger creature. Bogardan Hellkite on the other hand costs two more mana but only requires double red. Both of these creatures have flash but the Hellkite can make the game end quickly. Most of the time what will happen is that you drop him in play to three for one your opponent or maybe even worse. The best play that could possibly happen would be drop him at the end of turn and send your opponent five to the face. On your turn you untap and swing with Hellkite and then Banefire FTW. It is now confirmed that Rampant Growth will be back in M10 but so far it looks like Fertile Ground will not be back. This is a big hit because there has been nothing showing that Civic Wayfinder will be back either. This deck needs more than one two drop mana accelerant but honestly it will still be good because green makes mana.
Next on my list of things to talk about would be what is happening with M10 and how it will change the game. Although the new rules will take some getting used to and some cards are now crappy, I think wizards is making it possible for mono colored decks to be played. Looking at the spoiler you can see that Lightning Bolt is back as well as Ball Lightning. Don’t get me wrong I hate red cards but at the same time these are the cards that I first started playing with. Hopefully there will be some other decent cards printed that will allow Ball Lightning to be good again but Lightning Bolt will go in everything red and possibly including Jund Ramp. I mean seriously who doesn’t want three damage for one mana at instant speed. These cards being reprinted has already made R/G beats sick for states because you can flip them both over with Bloodbraid Elf. I can’t remember some of the names of the new cards in M10 but it is also obvios they are making mono black control and possibility. We are getting Tendrils of Corruption back as well as Night’s Whisper. The best card so far in black that got me excited the most was the new Terror. It is now a two mana Dark Banishing.
There are still a couple of cards that have not been officially confirmed but the color that makes me want to go back to beatdown is white. I know all of the good Kithkin are going to be gone but this will be a new standard. The one card that made me do a double take was Honor the Pure. This card is splashable and now only affects your creatures as opposed to all white creatures. Elite Vanguard has been labeled as the new Savannah Lion but I don’t think it has been confirmed and is also labeled as uncommon. Next you have the old favorite White Knight in the two drop slot as well as Stormfront Pegasus. I know it’s only a 2/1 but its only 2cc and it has flying. I am not sure what direction would be the most beneficial but soldiers seem decent. Veteran Armorsmith is a 2/3 2cc and it makes your soldiers toughness a little better. There is also the new guy that is six mana and makes three soldier tokens but I think that takes awy from the beatdown aspect of the deck and to be honest if you have six mana and your opponent isn’t dead by then, you are going to lose. Paladin en-Vec isn’t on the spoiler yet but I can hope. Its early to say if mono white will be just as strong as G/W but it would be easy to build a deck from what we have now like this:
4 Elite Vanguard
4 Soul Warden
4 White Knight
4 Stormfront Pegasus
4 Knight of the White Orchid
4 Paladin en-Vec or maybe Sigiled Paladin
4 Path to Exile
4 Honor the Pure
3 Elspeth/or Ajani I guess depending on meta
3 Oblivion Ring
Or
2 or 3 Bogardan Hellkite
3 Broodmate Dragon
4 Maelstrom Pulse
4 Volcanic Fallout
3 Banefire
4 Rampant Growth
4 Trace of Abundance
3 Garruk Wildspeaker
4 Lightning Bolt
4 ??? so far maybe a lone reanimation spell or really anything
4 Savage Lands
4 R/G dual
17 basics
So far I think Anathemancer should stay in the board because we don’t know how many other non basics are going to come out in the next sets. There definitely needs to be four other creatures in this deck to help slow down agro threats but I am pretty sure Civic Wayfinder isn’t coming back. Hopefully a nice two drop wall of some sort will come out or a decent mana making creature. Makeshift Mannequin will be sorely missed but it will work fine because there are other builds right now that don’t even run it. Duress could honestly be run in the main but probably better in the board with Thought Hemorrhage against control. Well that’s it for me.
Brandon “The Unicorn” Gibbs
With the soon to be released M10 there are a lot of deck ideas that I have been toying around with since I have had to wait on my T2 cards to come, and have been unable to play due to work. In some of my previous articles I mentioned the strong possibility of Jund Ramp at states even though we know nothing about the Zendikar rares. One card that has made me an even stronger in believer in Jund Ramp being the nuts at states this year is Bogardan Hellkite. This guy will take Cloudthresher’s place as a fatty but there is a huge different in the two. Cloudthresher does have a casting cost that is lower and is a bigger creature. Bogardan Hellkite on the other hand costs two more mana but only requires double red. Both of these creatures have flash but the Hellkite can make the game end quickly. Most of the time what will happen is that you drop him in play to three for one your opponent or maybe even worse. The best play that could possibly happen would be drop him at the end of turn and send your opponent five to the face. On your turn you untap and swing with Hellkite and then Banefire FTW. It is now confirmed that Rampant Growth will be back in M10 but so far it looks like Fertile Ground will not be back. This is a big hit because there has been nothing showing that Civic Wayfinder will be back either. This deck needs more than one two drop mana accelerant but honestly it will still be good because green makes mana.
Next on my list of things to talk about would be what is happening with M10 and how it will change the game. Although the new rules will take some getting used to and some cards are now crappy, I think wizards is making it possible for mono colored decks to be played. Looking at the spoiler you can see that Lightning Bolt is back as well as Ball Lightning. Don’t get me wrong I hate red cards but at the same time these are the cards that I first started playing with. Hopefully there will be some other decent cards printed that will allow Ball Lightning to be good again but Lightning Bolt will go in everything red and possibly including Jund Ramp. I mean seriously who doesn’t want three damage for one mana at instant speed. These cards being reprinted has already made R/G beats sick for states because you can flip them both over with Bloodbraid Elf. I can’t remember some of the names of the new cards in M10 but it is also obvios they are making mono black control and possibility. We are getting Tendrils of Corruption back as well as Night’s Whisper. The best card so far in black that got me excited the most was the new Terror. It is now a two mana Dark Banishing.
There are still a couple of cards that have not been officially confirmed but the color that makes me want to go back to beatdown is white. I know all of the good Kithkin are going to be gone but this will be a new standard. The one card that made me do a double take was Honor the Pure. This card is splashable and now only affects your creatures as opposed to all white creatures. Elite Vanguard has been labeled as the new Savannah Lion but I don’t think it has been confirmed and is also labeled as uncommon. Next you have the old favorite White Knight in the two drop slot as well as Stormfront Pegasus. I know it’s only a 2/1 but its only 2cc and it has flying. I am not sure what direction would be the most beneficial but soldiers seem decent. Veteran Armorsmith is a 2/3 2cc and it makes your soldiers toughness a little better. There is also the new guy that is six mana and makes three soldier tokens but I think that takes awy from the beatdown aspect of the deck and to be honest if you have six mana and your opponent isn’t dead by then, you are going to lose. Paladin en-Vec isn’t on the spoiler yet but I can hope. Its early to say if mono white will be just as strong as G/W but it would be easy to build a deck from what we have now like this:
4 Elite Vanguard
4 Soul Warden
4 White Knight
4 Stormfront Pegasus
4 Knight of the White Orchid
4 Paladin en-Vec or maybe Sigiled Paladin
4 Path to Exile
4 Honor the Pure
3 Elspeth/or Ajani I guess depending on meta
3 Oblivion Ring
Or
2 or 3 Bogardan Hellkite
3 Broodmate Dragon
4 Maelstrom Pulse
4 Volcanic Fallout
3 Banefire
4 Rampant Growth
4 Trace of Abundance
3 Garruk Wildspeaker
4 Lightning Bolt
4 ??? so far maybe a lone reanimation spell or really anything
4 Savage Lands
4 R/G dual
17 basics
So far I think Anathemancer should stay in the board because we don’t know how many other non basics are going to come out in the next sets. There definitely needs to be four other creatures in this deck to help slow down agro threats but I am pretty sure Civic Wayfinder isn’t coming back. Hopefully a nice two drop wall of some sort will come out or a decent mana making creature. Makeshift Mannequin will be sorely missed but it will work fine because there are other builds right now that don’t even run it. Duress could honestly be run in the main but probably better in the board with Thought Hemorrhage against control. Well that’s it for me.
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Early Predictions
Early Predictions
By: Brandon “The Unicorn” Gibbs
In one of my previous articles I was talking a little about early predictions for states and giving people an idea of what to look for with what sets we have now. I know that Zendikar won’t be out for a while and we are still spoiling cards for M2010. One deck that you will easily see getting played by great players and little kids that say “I have never had this happen in a game before” will be Cascade. So far if the spoilers are correct the best Cascade cards are getting a R/G and R/B dual land. Recently there was a Block PT and almost half of the decks were built on the Cascade mechanic. Maelstrom Pulse with Terminate is still going to be the nuts and you can still throw in a couple Savage Lands to smooth out the manabase. You must also not forget about Blightning and the fact that it’s going to get better with no Wilt-Leaf Liege or Reveillark around.
The next deck that I feel will benefit greatly from the rotation is Jund Ramp. The manabase is the same as the Cascade decks and even though some don’t play it, Garruk is coming back and hopefully with Fertile Ground. Another card that has not been spoiled yet is Rampant Growth. There is no reason why it would not be reprinted and that goes for Fertile Ground as well. Jund Ramp is still going to have access to Volcanic Fallout, Banefire, Broodmate Dragon, Maelstrom Pulse, and even Bitumus Blast if you want to go that route. With this deck you can run Duress in the sideboard for control mirrors and also Liliana in the main or sideboard. As far as the big creatures go this deck can also run Lord of Extinction to end the game quickly. This deck will be running all of the goodies that Cascade can like Terminate and I’m sure Anathemancer will still be decent. I know it won’t be the Jund Ramp that Flores built but I am sure it will all be ok Vickers.
Not losing any steam after rotation is going to be G/W variants. Here is a list of cards that you will be able to work with:
• Noble Hierarch
• Quasali Pathmage
• Dauntless Escort
• Knotvine Paladin
• Behemoth Sledge
• White Knight
• Knight of the White Orchid
• Sigil Blessing
• Path to Exile
• Reborn Hope
• Oblivion Ring
• Elspeth, Knight Errant
• Ajani Goldmane
• Garruk Wildspeaker
Honestly there are others that I am missing like Ranger of Eos, but we don’t know about any new decent 1 drops yet. Honestly if you look at the list that could basically be a decent deck. This would definitely be one of the more consistent decks after the rotation and would be extremely fast. You could go turn 1 Noble Hierarch. Turn 2 Knotvine Paladin. Turn 3 Quasali Pathmage. Then swing with the paladin and throw a Giant Growth in the mix for nine damage with one creature. With this being said I don’t know what is going to happen to blue. We will have to get something really good in Zendikar to make it competitive again. So far I am only seeing Jace Beleren, Cancel, and maybe some Esper stuff and that’s it.
With all of that being said I think it is pretty easy to say that WoTC has ruined a lot of combat tricks. I can see that they are trying to make the game simpler to bring in more players but this makes at least the good or even great players lose to little kids even more. It is now at the point where any little kid can pick up a deck and top eight a big tournament. Mogg Fanatic is now horrible, and when you block a 1/1 with your Sakura-Tribe Elder you have to choose to fetch a land or kill the creature. Although I can agree sometimes that I have fell prey to some pretty shady combat tricks in my day, this is not a good move for Magic as a whole. The new Deathtouch ruling is better as well as Lifelink.. Now not getting mana burn I think is good for play because nothing sucked more than losing to mana burn. I mean if this ruling was happening during the time when Tempest was T2 legal I would be mad because I loved blowing up my opponents lands and watching them die to Eladamri’s Vineyard. So now that Magic is going to be simplified I will have less tricks to pull on people at FNM and they have to work less to beat me so good times for all. Well I’m out.
Peace
By: Brandon “The Unicorn” Gibbs
In one of my previous articles I was talking a little about early predictions for states and giving people an idea of what to look for with what sets we have now. I know that Zendikar won’t be out for a while and we are still spoiling cards for M2010. One deck that you will easily see getting played by great players and little kids that say “I have never had this happen in a game before” will be Cascade. So far if the spoilers are correct the best Cascade cards are getting a R/G and R/B dual land. Recently there was a Block PT and almost half of the decks were built on the Cascade mechanic. Maelstrom Pulse with Terminate is still going to be the nuts and you can still throw in a couple Savage Lands to smooth out the manabase. You must also not forget about Blightning and the fact that it’s going to get better with no Wilt-Leaf Liege or Reveillark around.
The next deck that I feel will benefit greatly from the rotation is Jund Ramp. The manabase is the same as the Cascade decks and even though some don’t play it, Garruk is coming back and hopefully with Fertile Ground. Another card that has not been spoiled yet is Rampant Growth. There is no reason why it would not be reprinted and that goes for Fertile Ground as well. Jund Ramp is still going to have access to Volcanic Fallout, Banefire, Broodmate Dragon, Maelstrom Pulse, and even Bitumus Blast if you want to go that route. With this deck you can run Duress in the sideboard for control mirrors and also Liliana in the main or sideboard. As far as the big creatures go this deck can also run Lord of Extinction to end the game quickly. This deck will be running all of the goodies that Cascade can like Terminate and I’m sure Anathemancer will still be decent. I know it won’t be the Jund Ramp that Flores built but I am sure it will all be ok Vickers.
Not losing any steam after rotation is going to be G/W variants. Here is a list of cards that you will be able to work with:
• Noble Hierarch
• Quasali Pathmage
• Dauntless Escort
• Knotvine Paladin
• Behemoth Sledge
• White Knight
• Knight of the White Orchid
• Sigil Blessing
• Path to Exile
• Reborn Hope
• Oblivion Ring
• Elspeth, Knight Errant
• Ajani Goldmane
• Garruk Wildspeaker
Honestly there are others that I am missing like Ranger of Eos, but we don’t know about any new decent 1 drops yet. Honestly if you look at the list that could basically be a decent deck. This would definitely be one of the more consistent decks after the rotation and would be extremely fast. You could go turn 1 Noble Hierarch. Turn 2 Knotvine Paladin. Turn 3 Quasali Pathmage. Then swing with the paladin and throw a Giant Growth in the mix for nine damage with one creature. With this being said I don’t know what is going to happen to blue. We will have to get something really good in Zendikar to make it competitive again. So far I am only seeing Jace Beleren, Cancel, and maybe some Esper stuff and that’s it.
With all of that being said I think it is pretty easy to say that WoTC has ruined a lot of combat tricks. I can see that they are trying to make the game simpler to bring in more players but this makes at least the good or even great players lose to little kids even more. It is now at the point where any little kid can pick up a deck and top eight a big tournament. Mogg Fanatic is now horrible, and when you block a 1/1 with your Sakura-Tribe Elder you have to choose to fetch a land or kill the creature. Although I can agree sometimes that I have fell prey to some pretty shady combat tricks in my day, this is not a good move for Magic as a whole. The new Deathtouch ruling is better as well as Lifelink.. Now not getting mana burn I think is good for play because nothing sucked more than losing to mana burn. I mean if this ruling was happening during the time when Tempest was T2 legal I would be mad because I loved blowing up my opponents lands and watching them die to Eladamri’s Vineyard. So now that Magic is going to be simplified I will have less tricks to pull on people at FNM and they have to work less to beat me so good times for all. Well I’m out.
Peace
Monday, June 15, 2009
A Format Worth Playing
A Format Worth Playing
By: Brandon “The Unicorn” Gibbs
Well kids its time for another article since I never leave my desk at work. Today I am going to be talking about a format that I have been recently working on. This format is called EDH. Basically your deck consists of 100 cards, and you can only play 1 of each card excluding basic lands. Also with each deck you have to have a general Whatever colors your general consists of those are the only colors that your deck can consist of. You begin the game with 40 life and this game can be played one on one or with several people. At the beginning of the game you must announce your general which is separate from your deck. Your general can be played as long as you have the mana to play it. If your general dies it gets removed from the game at which point it can be played again. This is basically the format in a nutshell.
EDH in my opinion is a format that allows people with older cards to benefit the most. People forget that you only have to have one of each card so you can honestly invest in some older goodies without spending a lot. EDH is also a format that you can set on the back burner because you can just make your deck better through trading over time if you really don’t want to invest in it directly. Also I feel that this format is great if you are getting burned out on current formats. This is a fun filled format where you can just relax while playing and at the same time have more fun. With this said EDH can sometimes be skill intensive if you are playing a competitive deck with a lot of possible routes to go. EDH is definitely a format you can use to keep your skills sharp and to just have fun for a change.
Next would be deck construction for this format. A lot of players tend to play 5 colors and there is a good reason for this. The first thing you want to incorporate into your deck is as many tutors as possible. The build that I am working on is 5 colors because I want to run at least 1 tutor from every color. Black easily has the best tutors in Demonic and Vampiric Tutor. Black is usually the main color in most builds due to removal and just broken cards. Now as far as my build right now it is built more towards one on one play because not all of my teammates have an EDH deck built. You also want to have as many draw card spells as possible to insure that you can draw goodness and reach the tutor cards. Some of the best draw card spells for these decks are Brainstorm, Ponder, Impulse, Fact or Fiction, Peer Through Depths and so on. While I was looking at some older stuff I noticed Lim-Duls Vault. At two mana this card allows you to organize the top five cards of your deck in any order but if you don’t like them you can pay 1 life and remove them from the game and do the next five. This process can be repeated as many times as you want so it is pretty sick.
Some of best cards for this format have to do with life totals. Necropotence by itself is a power house but it is even more nuts when you have 40 life to work with. One card that I found while looking through old cards was Phyrexian Processor. This card allows you to pay any amount of life and then pump out tokens with power and toughness equal to the life you paid. A nice little combo for one on one games would be Goblin Charbelcher/Mana Severance. Mana Severance is a 2cc sorcery that allows you to search through your deck and remove from the game any number of lands. So you remove all lands from your deck then activate the charbelcher for usually 60 to 70 plus damage. This combo can be ran as an alternate win condition that is easily thrown together with all the tutors you have.
Easily one of the most important styles of cards in EDH decks would be creature control. These cards consist of Bribery, Control Magic, Treachery, Persuasion, Legacy’s Allure and so on. Most of these cards can be searched for with Enlightened Tutor and can be a nice card to fetch out if you have Academy Rector in play. If you want to also throw in a extra little win condition or to at least make your deck do dumb stuff throw in an Isochron Scepter to imprint all of those instant tutor and removal spells.Creatures are also an important part of your deck because you want each of them to have a huge effect on the game. One of my favorite creatures so far in testing is Trinket Mage. With this creature you have all of the things to fetch and that’s artifact lands, Tormod’s Crypt, EE, and Divining Top. Some of the cards that are extremely beneficial to fetch are Ivory Tower, and Zuran Orb. Both of these artifacts on their own are great but even better with Necropotence. Other amazing creatures for your deck would be Eternal Witness, and Morphling because who doesn’t love recursion and untargetable creatures.
Easily one of my most favorite spell to play is Gifts Ungiven. This card is made for this format since you fetch out 4 different cards. Imagine the possibilities when your opponent has to choose between these combinations:
Bribery, Treachery, Persuasion, Control Magic
Life from the Loam, Strip Mine, Wasteland, Crucible of Worlds
Academy Ruins, Life from the Loam, Strip Mine, Wasteland
Necropotence, Yawgmoth’s Will, Regrowth, Pernicious Deed
Necropotence, Mind Twist, Regrowth, Phyrexian Processor
With this card you are always going to get a sick set up of retardedness.
Last would be the lands in the deck. Now if you are running multiple colors like you should then you are going to need multiple non basics to support your deck. Some of the less expensive routes to go if you are on a budget would be City of Brass, Gemstone Mine, Karoo lands from Ravnica, and Undiscover Paradise. You must also note that if you get both, Karoo’s and Gemstone Mine are sweet together because you can bounce the mine with the Karoo when it is at 1 counter which allows you to reset. Now if you want your deck to come out of the gates quick then you should probably invest in Sol Ring, Grim Monolith, Mana Vault, Mana Crypt and so on. Now on the budget end of that you can always run Ancient Tomb, Crystal Vein, and honestly Mana Vault because it really isn’t that bad. Now it is also important to look into running as many lands as you can that have utility such as Strip Mine, Wasteland, and Ghost Quarter. With these 3 lands you can go nuts with Crucible of Worlds and just piss your opponent off dumb when you combo it with Fastbond(which will only run you around 6 to 7 bucks for a copy). A land that I don’t have yet but would seem nice with really any creature would be Volrath’s Stronghold. This land allows you to keep bringing back your creatures and especially the ones with come into play goodness like Eternal Witness and Sower of Temptation. Following with the same interaction except with artifacts is Academy Ruins. We all know how good this card can be and especially with artifacts. Unlimited use of EE, and Tormod’s Crypt is always nice. Well that’s it for me I guess its back to work.
By: Brandon “The Unicorn” Gibbs
Well kids its time for another article since I never leave my desk at work. Today I am going to be talking about a format that I have been recently working on. This format is called EDH. Basically your deck consists of 100 cards, and you can only play 1 of each card excluding basic lands. Also with each deck you have to have a general Whatever colors your general consists of those are the only colors that your deck can consist of. You begin the game with 40 life and this game can be played one on one or with several people. At the beginning of the game you must announce your general which is separate from your deck. Your general can be played as long as you have the mana to play it. If your general dies it gets removed from the game at which point it can be played again. This is basically the format in a nutshell.
EDH in my opinion is a format that allows people with older cards to benefit the most. People forget that you only have to have one of each card so you can honestly invest in some older goodies without spending a lot. EDH is also a format that you can set on the back burner because you can just make your deck better through trading over time if you really don’t want to invest in it directly. Also I feel that this format is great if you are getting burned out on current formats. This is a fun filled format where you can just relax while playing and at the same time have more fun. With this said EDH can sometimes be skill intensive if you are playing a competitive deck with a lot of possible routes to go. EDH is definitely a format you can use to keep your skills sharp and to just have fun for a change.
Next would be deck construction for this format. A lot of players tend to play 5 colors and there is a good reason for this. The first thing you want to incorporate into your deck is as many tutors as possible. The build that I am working on is 5 colors because I want to run at least 1 tutor from every color. Black easily has the best tutors in Demonic and Vampiric Tutor. Black is usually the main color in most builds due to removal and just broken cards. Now as far as my build right now it is built more towards one on one play because not all of my teammates have an EDH deck built. You also want to have as many draw card spells as possible to insure that you can draw goodness and reach the tutor cards. Some of the best draw card spells for these decks are Brainstorm, Ponder, Impulse, Fact or Fiction, Peer Through Depths and so on. While I was looking at some older stuff I noticed Lim-Duls Vault. At two mana this card allows you to organize the top five cards of your deck in any order but if you don’t like them you can pay 1 life and remove them from the game and do the next five. This process can be repeated as many times as you want so it is pretty sick.
Some of best cards for this format have to do with life totals. Necropotence by itself is a power house but it is even more nuts when you have 40 life to work with. One card that I found while looking through old cards was Phyrexian Processor. This card allows you to pay any amount of life and then pump out tokens with power and toughness equal to the life you paid. A nice little combo for one on one games would be Goblin Charbelcher/Mana Severance. Mana Severance is a 2cc sorcery that allows you to search through your deck and remove from the game any number of lands. So you remove all lands from your deck then activate the charbelcher for usually 60 to 70 plus damage. This combo can be ran as an alternate win condition that is easily thrown together with all the tutors you have.
Easily one of the most important styles of cards in EDH decks would be creature control. These cards consist of Bribery, Control Magic, Treachery, Persuasion, Legacy’s Allure and so on. Most of these cards can be searched for with Enlightened Tutor and can be a nice card to fetch out if you have Academy Rector in play. If you want to also throw in a extra little win condition or to at least make your deck do dumb stuff throw in an Isochron Scepter to imprint all of those instant tutor and removal spells.Creatures are also an important part of your deck because you want each of them to have a huge effect on the game. One of my favorite creatures so far in testing is Trinket Mage. With this creature you have all of the things to fetch and that’s artifact lands, Tormod’s Crypt, EE, and Divining Top. Some of the cards that are extremely beneficial to fetch are Ivory Tower, and Zuran Orb. Both of these artifacts on their own are great but even better with Necropotence. Other amazing creatures for your deck would be Eternal Witness, and Morphling because who doesn’t love recursion and untargetable creatures.
Easily one of my most favorite spell to play is Gifts Ungiven. This card is made for this format since you fetch out 4 different cards. Imagine the possibilities when your opponent has to choose between these combinations:
Bribery, Treachery, Persuasion, Control Magic
Life from the Loam, Strip Mine, Wasteland, Crucible of Worlds
Academy Ruins, Life from the Loam, Strip Mine, Wasteland
Necropotence, Yawgmoth’s Will, Regrowth, Pernicious Deed
Necropotence, Mind Twist, Regrowth, Phyrexian Processor
With this card you are always going to get a sick set up of retardedness.
Last would be the lands in the deck. Now if you are running multiple colors like you should then you are going to need multiple non basics to support your deck. Some of the less expensive routes to go if you are on a budget would be City of Brass, Gemstone Mine, Karoo lands from Ravnica, and Undiscover Paradise. You must also note that if you get both, Karoo’s and Gemstone Mine are sweet together because you can bounce the mine with the Karoo when it is at 1 counter which allows you to reset. Now if you want your deck to come out of the gates quick then you should probably invest in Sol Ring, Grim Monolith, Mana Vault, Mana Crypt and so on. Now on the budget end of that you can always run Ancient Tomb, Crystal Vein, and honestly Mana Vault because it really isn’t that bad. Now it is also important to look into running as many lands as you can that have utility such as Strip Mine, Wasteland, and Ghost Quarter. With these 3 lands you can go nuts with Crucible of Worlds and just piss your opponent off dumb when you combo it with Fastbond(which will only run you around 6 to 7 bucks for a copy). A land that I don’t have yet but would seem nice with really any creature would be Volrath’s Stronghold. This land allows you to keep bringing back your creatures and especially the ones with come into play goodness like Eternal Witness and Sower of Temptation. Following with the same interaction except with artifacts is Academy Ruins. We all know how good this card can be and especially with artifacts. Unlimited use of EE, and Tormod’s Crypt is always nice. Well that’s it for me I guess its back to work.
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Rule Changes
I just read the rules changes Wizards announced would be coming with M10 and I am honestly a little baffled by some of this. No more mana burn, no more putting damage on the stack and doing tricks, and LIFELINK DOESNT STACK!!!!!! I just dont know guys......I have to think on this awhile I just thought Id let you all know your not alone in your grieving.
Maxx
Maxx
Monday, June 8, 2009
Taking a look at R/G beats for Classical Pauper
R/G Aggro is an archetype that shows up once in awhile in the format of pauper. It is normally found in the top 32 but hardly in the top 8. In one of the events pre-Alara Reborn a r/g beat style deck made top 9. In a field ruled by G/W Slivers as the premier aggro deck is there any room for r/g beats anymore? I think that there is still a place for it. When I first dove into pauper it was the first deck that I made. Playing with it for around 2-3 months I was unhappy with the results I was getting in the tournament practice room. These results kept me from going into a tournament with the deck. One of the main complaints about the deck is the mana base. Though when I saw the spoiler for Alara Reborn I knew that this problem was fixed. The border posts seemed like the answer this deck needed. The Ravinaca karoos never really got the job done since they came into play tapped but, the border posts are not lands but artifacts. This helps the deck still make land drops and smooth out the mana base. With the border post the deck also got a few more treats with the all gold set. Jund Hackblade, Violent Assault and Colossal Might.
Once I had my deck list it was time to hit the practice room. First match was against affinity. I was afraid he would be able to out race me but by Turn 5 I had the match one by a lightning bolt. Game 2 I won off of ancient grudge and swinging with my guys. The next game was against mono blue both games ended up being the same. I putter out and he gains control. Game 1 I had him down to 5 but could never finish the deal. Match 3 is against g/w slivers. I am able to kill him with mogg fanatic with colossal might targeting it for 3 straight turn and burn him out for the win. Game 2 basically martyr of ashes clears his board and I keep on swinging.
If you know that mono blue would not be played at the event then I would consider playing this deck. Though there might be some type of sideboard tech I am missing for this match up. I am going to continue working and this deck and possibly enter a tournament with it.
In case you are wondering here is the list:
4 Mogg Fanatic
4 Colossal Might
3 Violent Outburst
4 Wild Nacatl
4 Firewild Borderpost
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Jund Hackblade
4 Basking Rootwalla
4 Incinerate
4 Keldon Marauders
4 Wild Mongrel
6 Mountain
1 Plains
8 Forest
4 Terramorphic Expanse
Sideboard
3 Pyroblast
4 Ancient Grudge
4 Mire Boa
4 Martyr of Ashes
Once I had my deck list it was time to hit the practice room. First match was against affinity. I was afraid he would be able to out race me but by Turn 5 I had the match one by a lightning bolt. Game 2 I won off of ancient grudge and swinging with my guys. The next game was against mono blue both games ended up being the same. I putter out and he gains control. Game 1 I had him down to 5 but could never finish the deal. Match 3 is against g/w slivers. I am able to kill him with mogg fanatic with colossal might targeting it for 3 straight turn and burn him out for the win. Game 2 basically martyr of ashes clears his board and I keep on swinging.
If you know that mono blue would not be played at the event then I would consider playing this deck. Though there might be some type of sideboard tech I am missing for this match up. I am going to continue working and this deck and possibly enter a tournament with it.
In case you are wondering here is the list:
4 Mogg Fanatic
4 Colossal Might
3 Violent Outburst
4 Wild Nacatl
4 Firewild Borderpost
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Jund Hackblade
4 Basking Rootwalla
4 Incinerate
4 Keldon Marauders
4 Wild Mongrel
6 Mountain
1 Plains
8 Forest
4 Terramorphic Expanse
Sideboard
3 Pyroblast
4 Ancient Grudge
4 Mire Boa
4 Martyr of Ashes
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