Ravnica Prerelease is tonight, and if you've been following my thoughts on the spoils, you know I'm pretty excited.
Since I've had a pretty long week to think about the set as a whole, I'd like to take the opportunity to show you the cards I hope to pull tonight.
Before I start, I do want to say for the sake of obvious exclusions, I want copies of all the reprinted shocklands, guild gates, keyrunes, and guildmages.
Okay. Let's count it down.
10. Necropolis Regent
This card seems pretty good. A 6/5 flyer for 6 that's kinda like green's Vigor. I think this card is probably just better than Vigor because of the cards you can put around it and the things you can tutor for.
9. Armada Wurm
Yeah, I'm a tool, I know- but this card is gonna be good. It's the Titan everyone was temporarily missing, and with Populate, this could get bonkers.
8. Trostani, Selesnya's Voice
Always been a sucker for GW, and I really, really like this card because I think it could be better than Rhys the Redeemed, which I'm inherently sick of. There's a little more strategy and technical play you can do with it, and I'm fond of that.
7. Isperia, Supreme Judge
I'm playing Golgari, but I've been really craving a UW build with this deck, so if I pull it, I'll be pretty stoked.
6. Rogue's Passage
I probably won't be happy if I pull this for Sealed necessarily, but this card will make all the Voltron and General-damage centric strategies a whole hell of a lot more relevant.
5. Underworld Connections
Sheer Goofyness, but I like having another copy of Phyrexian Arena I can get to on an opponent's turn. Again, probably won't be so fun for playing tonight, but my EDH decks will be happier later.
4. Vraska the Unseen
If you've been following my spoilers, you know I was super-excited about this card when it came out. And I still am, though Vraska's rank really isn't a congruent indication.
This card will be good. I'm convinced. I'm honestly just trying to downplay me wanting to pull a planeswalker that everyone else wants to pull.
3. Loxodon Smiter
Yeah, this card seems less important than Vraska- but Loxodon looks like a pretty good card to pull for both my deck tonight and for a GW deck I'm working on right now.
2. Angel of Serenity
If you don't see what's absurd and broke about this card, then stare at it a little longer.
1. Deathrite Shaman
I know, it's a bit of a weird pick. Deathrite Shaman looks like it'll be really good utility, and it's the only card of its kind in terms of value.
I'm not gonna try and talk you into being excited about this card, but if you are, that's pretty cool.
Good Luck and Happy Pulls!
-UL
Friday, September 28, 2012
Sunday, September 23, 2012
Card(s) Corner: Solemn's Cousins
It's no mystery to people that I love Solemn Simulacrum over most other cards.
The original "Sad Robot" is one of my absolute favorite things to play in EDH. In fact, I think I have one in almost every deck I play now.
And because I love it so much, I've been looking for ways to replicate its effects, and though completely unsuccessful, I've started playing two cards I'm really liking.
The first is a card from Worldwake.
Pilgrim's Eye.
Yeah. It's not very good, and I know. Just a 1/1 flyer for 3 that gets you a land.
I've been playing this card in my Linessa Blueberry Bounce House deck, and so far, it's been pretty great.
When you play 39-40 land, like I do in almost all my decks, it's great to have ways to get a little bit of card advantage. Essentially, Pilgrim's Eye acts as a cheaper Solemn that has bounce implications with Linessa, so I could potentially replay it by turn 6 if I continue to hit Land Drops, which I usually do.
Also, he's a great little chump blocker, and I don't get angry when I have to pitch him to discard either.
Pilgrim's Eye isn't for everyone, and I understand that- Still, I think he can find great homes in Blue, Black, and Red decks because of the absence of ramp and the need to have something out early in case your opponent gets a big dude to bash with.
The other card, which is quickly becoming my new favorite, is Mindless Automaton.
Mostly, my love for this Construct is in its aesthetics. Very Dr. Who inspired art. He's also from Timeshifted, and to quote a very famous anonymous symbol named codename V, "I, like God, do not believe in coincidence."
The Automaton's ability is pretty good too. Gets to Chump and draw you a card.
Not as good as Solemn, but like Pilgrim's Eye, you can put it in the right circumstances and make it good.
Right now, I'm testing my copy in a mono-B Korlash deck because of its synergy with Mikaeus, which should essentially lead to a lot of cards being drawn.
He could be abused in other decks though, like a Chorus of the Conclave deck or any mono-G deck with Doubling Season or a way to put counters on him like Forgotten Ancient. Probably bonkers in an Experiment Kraj deck or a Shirei deck, if you can keep him on the field.
Putting it on a Mimic Vat is also sweet.
Overall, these cards aren't going to get you anywhere in a single play of them, but if you can recur them, you might just be able to get Solemn-level value out.
They're really cheap cards to get too, so try 'em and test 'em.
Pass Turn.
-UL
The original "Sad Robot" is one of my absolute favorite things to play in EDH. In fact, I think I have one in almost every deck I play now.
And because I love it so much, I've been looking for ways to replicate its effects, and though completely unsuccessful, I've started playing two cards I'm really liking.
The first is a card from Worldwake.
Pilgrim's Eye.
Yeah. It's not very good, and I know. Just a 1/1 flyer for 3 that gets you a land.
I've been playing this card in my Linessa Blueberry Bounce House deck, and so far, it's been pretty great.
When you play 39-40 land, like I do in almost all my decks, it's great to have ways to get a little bit of card advantage. Essentially, Pilgrim's Eye acts as a cheaper Solemn that has bounce implications with Linessa, so I could potentially replay it by turn 6 if I continue to hit Land Drops, which I usually do.
Also, he's a great little chump blocker, and I don't get angry when I have to pitch him to discard either.
Pilgrim's Eye isn't for everyone, and I understand that- Still, I think he can find great homes in Blue, Black, and Red decks because of the absence of ramp and the need to have something out early in case your opponent gets a big dude to bash with.
The other card, which is quickly becoming my new favorite, is Mindless Automaton.
| EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE! |
Mostly, my love for this Construct is in its aesthetics. Very Dr. Who inspired art. He's also from Timeshifted, and to quote a very famous anonymous symbol named codename V, "I, like God, do not believe in coincidence."
The Automaton's ability is pretty good too. Gets to Chump and draw you a card.
Not as good as Solemn, but like Pilgrim's Eye, you can put it in the right circumstances and make it good.
Right now, I'm testing my copy in a mono-B Korlash deck because of its synergy with Mikaeus, which should essentially lead to a lot of cards being drawn.
He could be abused in other decks though, like a Chorus of the Conclave deck or any mono-G deck with Doubling Season or a way to put counters on him like Forgotten Ancient. Probably bonkers in an Experiment Kraj deck or a Shirei deck, if you can keep him on the field.
Putting it on a Mimic Vat is also sweet.
Overall, these cards aren't going to get you anywhere in a single play of them, but if you can recur them, you might just be able to get Solemn-level value out.
They're really cheap cards to get too, so try 'em and test 'em.
Pass Turn.
-UL
Thursday, September 20, 2012
Kokusho's Free AT LAST!
Oh Lordy, Lordy- Kokusho's free at last.
As of Sept. 20th, the Commander banlist has been updated.
For me, the biggest move here was getting Kokusho back in decks. You can't play him as a General, but hey- he was never good out in the open anyway.
The other big notable move was banning Primeval Titan. Yeah. If you didn't see this coming, well, you must really like the spiderhole you've been hiding out in. Probably for the best. I've been abusing this card for months, and I have to say this will be better.
The last ban was for Worldfire. Now, I know what you're thinking. This card was meant to be cast with our huge piles of mana. So why'd it get the axe in Commander?
According to Sheldon Mennery, father of EDH and part of the Official Rules Committee, the banning of Worldfire is mostly due to the unfortunate mechanics that it inhibits.
It was felt by the rules committee that because a General could be cast with mana floating after cleansing a board, this card was really no better than Sway of the Stars or Biorhythm, both of which are already on the banlist.
So yeah. Prime Time's not Prime anymore. The World won't set on fire, and the Evening Star is on the rise.
Super excited for legit Kokusho. Start playing yours.
Peace. Love. Land drops.
-UL.
As of Sept. 20th, the Commander banlist has been updated.
For me, the biggest move here was getting Kokusho back in decks. You can't play him as a General, but hey- he was never good out in the open anyway.
The other big notable move was banning Primeval Titan. Yeah. If you didn't see this coming, well, you must really like the spiderhole you've been hiding out in. Probably for the best. I've been abusing this card for months, and I have to say this will be better.
The last ban was for Worldfire. Now, I know what you're thinking. This card was meant to be cast with our huge piles of mana. So why'd it get the axe in Commander?
According to Sheldon Mennery, father of EDH and part of the Official Rules Committee, the banning of Worldfire is mostly due to the unfortunate mechanics that it inhibits.
It was felt by the rules committee that because a General could be cast with mana floating after cleansing a board, this card was really no better than Sway of the Stars or Biorhythm, both of which are already on the banlist.
So yeah. Prime Time's not Prime anymore. The World won't set on fire, and the Evening Star is on the rise.
Super excited for legit Kokusho. Start playing yours.
Peace. Love. Land drops.
-UL.
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
UL's Better Deckbuilding: UncleLanddrops' Linessa, Zephyr Mage EDH
For a few weeks now, I've been traveling through the archives of Commander Cast, this pretty sweet site that broadcasts weekly EDH podcasts.
This Linessa build I'm going to talk about is a byproduct of listening to the show, reshaping some of my previous attitudes toward my process and views on EDH.
So, if you read the manifesto I wrote last week about my deckbuilding process called, "Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Monocolor," then you know a little bit about my revamped paradigms.
As a deck, Linessa is very much my first project in this new paradigm. For my hardcore, counter-friendly readers, this deck spares no expense in terms of how blue controls the board.
At the same time though, this deck should offer a much more creative and fun way to play blue than the normally powerful decks.
So here's the deck. Take a look.
Commander: Linessa, Zephyr Mage
Yeah, I know Linessa doesn't seem so powerful- especially because Grandeur is a non-existent mechanic in EDH.
However, Linessa actually has multiple purposes for various board states. She can bounce your opponent's dudes. She can bounce your dudes, to recur "Comes Into Play" effects, or to protect them. She can even bounce herself!
The best part is that people see her ability and really think it's non-threatening- the truth is though, this deck can abuse her if you don't do anything.
Creatures:
AEther Adept
Archaeomancer
Brine Elemental
Chromeshell Crab
Clone
Dreamscape Artist
Drift of Phantasms
Kederekt Leviathan
Looter il-Kor
Master Thief
Meloku the Clouded Mirror
Merfolk Looter
Mulldrifter
Myr Battlesphere
Ninja of the Deep Hours
Palinchron
Phyrexian Metamorph
Pilgrim's Eye
Sakashima the Impostor
Solemn Simulacrum
Sphinx of Uthuun
Steel Hellkite
Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
Thalakos Deceiver
Trinket Mage
The creature base here boasts many common cards, like Clone and Metamorph and Sakashima and Myr Battleball. Even Kederekt Leviathan.
The cards that I'm excited about though are my utility dudes. Trinket Mage, though obviously a second copy of Sol Ring or Sensei's Divining Top in most decks, serves actually a secondary purpose in mine. With the additions of Darksteel Citadel and Seat of the Synod in the mana base, Trinket Mage can also become the blue version of Borderland Ranger.
Which brings me to another "cute" addition. Pilgrim's Eye. This card is clearly not for the feint of heart, or the magic players that aspire to make good decks. It has a home here because, as you all know, I love land, and I want to make sure my blue deck will get better card advantage than green ramp decks in the late game.
Teferi and Palinchron have always been cards that I've tended to shy away from, and cut out of decks because they weren't good enough. Here though, they add a little spice, creating opportunity for me to bounce and play dudes on other people's turns.
Master Thief is one of the cards that I'm most excited about. I actually didn't know a thing about this card until someone played it against me in Orlando. It was super-sweet.
AEther Adept might seem redundant here, but I assure you this creature becomes a great value play when you only have to pay 5 to bounce it back with Linessa at EOT so you can bounce someone else's creature on your turn for 3.
Spells:
Blue Sun's Zenith
Brainstorm
Capsize
Counterspell
Cryptic Command
Evacuation
Fact or Fiction
Legerdemain
Memory Lapse
Merchant Scroll
Mind Spring
Mystical Tutor
Oona's Grace
Pongify
Pulse of the Grid
Rite of Replication
Sapphire Charm
Spelltwine
Spin into Myth
Sunder
Whispers of the Muse
One of the best things about this deck is that it's pretty easy to play. You're really only playing creatures on your turn, so your mana stays open. And you always have options on other people's turns. You can draw cards or disrupt the board if no one wants to play into a counterspell.
Evacuation and Capsize, though fairly redundant as creature bounce with Linessa, can be very good, and will often prevent you from having to play and re-play Linessa.
Overall, the cards I'm most excited about playing are Pulse of the Grid and Oona's Grace, which should turn dead draws into value.
Also, notice how I'm only really playing three counterspells!
Artifact:
Armillary Sphere
Caged Sun
Extraplanar Lens
Expedition Map
Mimic Vat
Oblivion Stone
Sol Ring
Tormod's Crypt
Pretty run of the mill artifact selection. Nothing out of the ordinary. We do have another target for Trinket Mage in Tormod's Crypt, which can be a pretty big game in my current meta.
Enchantment:
Decree of Silence
Parallel Thoughts
Parallel Thoughts is a card I haven't had a chance to play yet, but I'm pretty excited about it. With blue, I've packed the deck with a lot of card draw so I can avoid obviously bad situations where I don't get all the cards out from under it before the enchantment gets hated off the table. It's also a sweet blue tutor so you can go get anything, from lands to Palinchron or whatever.
Planeswalker:
Jace Beleren
Tezzeret the Seeker
Tamiyo, the Moon Sage
Yeah, I'm playing Planeswalkers. Jace for draw. Tezz for artifact utility, and another great source of land ramp, using his second ability for 0. Tamiyo, because, well, I have one, she's awesome, and I got to ultimate her. Wanted to play Karn but I was trying to be a little bit more fun.
Land:
Darksteel Citadel
Evolving Wilds
Flooded Strand
Island (30)
Mystifying Maze
Reliquary Tower
Scalding Tarn
Seat of the Synod
Soldevi Excavations
Strip Mine
Terramorphic Expanse
I'm playing a magic 40 land here, with 30 basics. Mostly, the other land is utility, some fetches, cause I had them laying around.
So playtesting.
I've brought Linessa into about 3 or 4 matches now (9-12 games), and I've really loved playing it. I've even won most of the games.
One of the reasons is that I've found so much synergy in unexpected places. Some of these plays are worth mentioning.
Obviously, Palinchron is absurd. Everyone knows about the infinite mana combo with cards like Mana Flare and Caged Sun and Extraplanar Lens.
However, I made an infinite mana combo of my own after I went ultimate with Tamiyo, using Rite of Replication over and over on Palinchron because it would go to the graveyard and come back to my hand.
I've also used the Caged Sun + Palinchron combo to pump my Steel Hellkite for infinite damage, which was cool.
But my pal Palinchron isn't the only one doing combo duty.
Just last night I used Sakashima, Brine Elemental, and AEther Adept to lock my opponent out of his mana after he tapped out to draw a bunch of cards. I played Sakashima to copy AEther Adept to bounce Brine Elemental. This is what happens when you don't miss land drops. I also used Capsize to do some similar things.
Archaeomancer is also a complete star in my deck because I can bounce him and recur cards that I might have to discard or spells I've already played, building my own Snapcaster Mage that keeps the spells coming and coming.
In fact, because he's so good, I'm considering bringing Mnemonic Wall to the party.
On the topic of changes and difficulties through the first plays of the deck.
One of the biggest decisions you have to make in the deck is discarding, whether it be from Merfolk Looter or Pulse of the Grid or Dreamscape Artist or even a land to retrace Oona's Grace. I've found that making this decision is not a snap choice. You're going to have to make some difficult choices sometimes.
As a result, I'm considering playing a few more "not so good" cards. While Myr Battlesphere is a sweet Rite of Replication target, or a good creature to have on my Mimic Vat, the Battleball might come out for a card like Patron of the Moon.
If I do that, then Sunder and Meloku won't be as brutal for me as it for the rest of the board.
Another card I'm going to add to the mana base is Terrain Generator. Every monocolored deck really needs one of these, especially the non-green decks. I just need to get more copies of it.
I actually find that I play this deck better than I've played some of the other, better mono-U decks though. Cause I like it.
Since I plan on keeping it, I'll probably be looking to put Snow-Covered Land and Scrying Sheets in it, or potentially full-art Zendikar Islands.
Anyway, super fun deck with a sweet competitive edge. That's my Linessa Blueberry Deck.
If you have any thoughts/comments/ideas, as always, feel free to comment!
Turn's to you.
-UL
This Linessa build I'm going to talk about is a byproduct of listening to the show, reshaping some of my previous attitudes toward my process and views on EDH.
So, if you read the manifesto I wrote last week about my deckbuilding process called, "Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Monocolor," then you know a little bit about my revamped paradigms.
As a deck, Linessa is very much my first project in this new paradigm. For my hardcore, counter-friendly readers, this deck spares no expense in terms of how blue controls the board.
At the same time though, this deck should offer a much more creative and fun way to play blue than the normally powerful decks.
So here's the deck. Take a look.
Commander: Linessa, Zephyr Mage
Yeah, I know Linessa doesn't seem so powerful- especially because Grandeur is a non-existent mechanic in EDH.
However, Linessa actually has multiple purposes for various board states. She can bounce your opponent's dudes. She can bounce your dudes, to recur "Comes Into Play" effects, or to protect them. She can even bounce herself!
The best part is that people see her ability and really think it's non-threatening- the truth is though, this deck can abuse her if you don't do anything.
Creatures:
AEther Adept
Archaeomancer
Brine Elemental
Chromeshell Crab
Clone
Dreamscape Artist
Drift of Phantasms
Kederekt Leviathan
Looter il-Kor
Master Thief
Meloku the Clouded Mirror
Merfolk Looter
Mulldrifter
Myr Battlesphere
Ninja of the Deep Hours
Palinchron
Phyrexian Metamorph
Pilgrim's Eye
Sakashima the Impostor
Solemn Simulacrum
Sphinx of Uthuun
Steel Hellkite
Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
Thalakos Deceiver
Trinket Mage
The creature base here boasts many common cards, like Clone and Metamorph and Sakashima and Myr Battleball. Even Kederekt Leviathan.
The cards that I'm excited about though are my utility dudes. Trinket Mage, though obviously a second copy of Sol Ring or Sensei's Divining Top in most decks, serves actually a secondary purpose in mine. With the additions of Darksteel Citadel and Seat of the Synod in the mana base, Trinket Mage can also become the blue version of Borderland Ranger.
Which brings me to another "cute" addition. Pilgrim's Eye. This card is clearly not for the feint of heart, or the magic players that aspire to make good decks. It has a home here because, as you all know, I love land, and I want to make sure my blue deck will get better card advantage than green ramp decks in the late game.
Teferi and Palinchron have always been cards that I've tended to shy away from, and cut out of decks because they weren't good enough. Here though, they add a little spice, creating opportunity for me to bounce and play dudes on other people's turns.
Master Thief is one of the cards that I'm most excited about. I actually didn't know a thing about this card until someone played it against me in Orlando. It was super-sweet.
AEther Adept might seem redundant here, but I assure you this creature becomes a great value play when you only have to pay 5 to bounce it back with Linessa at EOT so you can bounce someone else's creature on your turn for 3.
Spells:
Blue Sun's Zenith
Brainstorm
Capsize
Counterspell
Cryptic Command
Evacuation
Fact or Fiction
Legerdemain
Memory Lapse
Merchant Scroll
Mind Spring
Mystical Tutor
Oona's Grace
Pongify
Pulse of the Grid
Rite of Replication
Sapphire Charm
Spelltwine
Spin into Myth
Sunder
Whispers of the Muse
One of the best things about this deck is that it's pretty easy to play. You're really only playing creatures on your turn, so your mana stays open. And you always have options on other people's turns. You can draw cards or disrupt the board if no one wants to play into a counterspell.
Evacuation and Capsize, though fairly redundant as creature bounce with Linessa, can be very good, and will often prevent you from having to play and re-play Linessa.
Overall, the cards I'm most excited about playing are Pulse of the Grid and Oona's Grace, which should turn dead draws into value.
Also, notice how I'm only really playing three counterspells!
Artifact:
Armillary Sphere
Caged Sun
Extraplanar Lens
Expedition Map
Mimic Vat
Oblivion Stone
Sol Ring
Tormod's Crypt
Pretty run of the mill artifact selection. Nothing out of the ordinary. We do have another target for Trinket Mage in Tormod's Crypt, which can be a pretty big game in my current meta.
Enchantment:
Decree of Silence
Parallel Thoughts
Parallel Thoughts is a card I haven't had a chance to play yet, but I'm pretty excited about it. With blue, I've packed the deck with a lot of card draw so I can avoid obviously bad situations where I don't get all the cards out from under it before the enchantment gets hated off the table. It's also a sweet blue tutor so you can go get anything, from lands to Palinchron or whatever.
Planeswalker:
Jace Beleren
Tezzeret the Seeker
Tamiyo, the Moon Sage
Yeah, I'm playing Planeswalkers. Jace for draw. Tezz for artifact utility, and another great source of land ramp, using his second ability for 0. Tamiyo, because, well, I have one, she's awesome, and I got to ultimate her. Wanted to play Karn but I was trying to be a little bit more fun.
Land:
Darksteel Citadel
Evolving Wilds
Flooded Strand
Island (30)
Mystifying Maze
Reliquary Tower
Scalding Tarn
Seat of the Synod
Soldevi Excavations
Strip Mine
Terramorphic Expanse
I'm playing a magic 40 land here, with 30 basics. Mostly, the other land is utility, some fetches, cause I had them laying around.
So playtesting.
I've brought Linessa into about 3 or 4 matches now (9-12 games), and I've really loved playing it. I've even won most of the games.
One of the reasons is that I've found so much synergy in unexpected places. Some of these plays are worth mentioning.
Obviously, Palinchron is absurd. Everyone knows about the infinite mana combo with cards like Mana Flare and Caged Sun and Extraplanar Lens.
However, I made an infinite mana combo of my own after I went ultimate with Tamiyo, using Rite of Replication over and over on Palinchron because it would go to the graveyard and come back to my hand.
I've also used the Caged Sun + Palinchron combo to pump my Steel Hellkite for infinite damage, which was cool.
But my pal Palinchron isn't the only one doing combo duty.
Just last night I used Sakashima, Brine Elemental, and AEther Adept to lock my opponent out of his mana after he tapped out to draw a bunch of cards. I played Sakashima to copy AEther Adept to bounce Brine Elemental. This is what happens when you don't miss land drops. I also used Capsize to do some similar things.
Archaeomancer is also a complete star in my deck because I can bounce him and recur cards that I might have to discard or spells I've already played, building my own Snapcaster Mage that keeps the spells coming and coming.
In fact, because he's so good, I'm considering bringing Mnemonic Wall to the party.
On the topic of changes and difficulties through the first plays of the deck.
One of the biggest decisions you have to make in the deck is discarding, whether it be from Merfolk Looter or Pulse of the Grid or Dreamscape Artist or even a land to retrace Oona's Grace. I've found that making this decision is not a snap choice. You're going to have to make some difficult choices sometimes.
As a result, I'm considering playing a few more "not so good" cards. While Myr Battlesphere is a sweet Rite of Replication target, or a good creature to have on my Mimic Vat, the Battleball might come out for a card like Patron of the Moon.
If I do that, then Sunder and Meloku won't be as brutal for me as it for the rest of the board.
Another card I'm going to add to the mana base is Terrain Generator. Every monocolored deck really needs one of these, especially the non-green decks. I just need to get more copies of it.
I actually find that I play this deck better than I've played some of the other, better mono-U decks though. Cause I like it.
Since I plan on keeping it, I'll probably be looking to put Snow-Covered Land and Scrying Sheets in it, or potentially full-art Zendikar Islands.
Anyway, super fun deck with a sweet competitive edge. That's my Linessa Blueberry Deck.
If you have any thoughts/comments/ideas, as always, feel free to comment!
Turn's to you.
-UL
Monday, September 17, 2012
Rakdos has Returned, Officially.
So after flavor-tease with the spoil of Rakdos' Return, we finally got a glimpse of the Legendary Demon as a card- and boy, does he seem pretty good.
The picture isn't so clean. Even so, Rakdos' power-level is pretty immense. This is the art though.
My first impression is that this card, though with this goofy converted mana cost, feels pretty competitive, as it is a dude that's 4 for a 6/6. Hopefully, his utility as a creature-inhibitor will help get him into more games, especially in EDH.
However, with a majority of the other spoils getting released over the past week, we have to look at cards like Ultimate Price, which will wreck the draft/sealed meta even with Rakdos in its midst. The new Detain mechanic might also be good against this guy.
This card seems like it'll be pretty good in Commander too. So get a couple copies of it.
Make sure you check the RtR spoiler. Only 30 cards to go.
Peace. Love. Landdrops.
-UL
The picture isn't so clean. Even so, Rakdos' power-level is pretty immense. This is the art though.
My first impression is that this card, though with this goofy converted mana cost, feels pretty competitive, as it is a dude that's 4 for a 6/6. Hopefully, his utility as a creature-inhibitor will help get him into more games, especially in EDH.
However, with a majority of the other spoils getting released over the past week, we have to look at cards like Ultimate Price, which will wreck the draft/sealed meta even with Rakdos in its midst. The new Detain mechanic might also be good against this guy.
This card seems like it'll be pretty good in Commander too. So get a couple copies of it.
Make sure you check the RtR spoiler. Only 30 cards to go.
Peace. Love. Landdrops.
-UL
Saturday, September 15, 2012
Those Nath-ty Elves
VJ's Critical Deckbuilding: Nath of the Gilt-Leaf
Discard + Elves = Annoying
Hello Planeswalkers, and welcome to my first deck critique on TGZ.This post is dedicated to my roommate Joe, who after several years of playing MTG (he started getting serious during Lorwyn), has finally decided to start playing Commander. I've taken up the task of helping him build a winning deck, or at least a fun one to play.
Seeing as Joe has mostly cards from Lorwyn in his possesion, it would make sense that he should use a general from that set to start out with. Nath is a great elf and his discard/token generating ability makes him both a hassle and an intimidating force, very much like the other Lorwyn decks my roommate has built. Fearsome kithkin, crazy boggarts, and tricky merfolk have led me to my defeat many a duel.
But enough about how awesome my roommate's cards are.
Seeing how Nath is exactly $1 in price ($0.99, if you want to be technical about it), this immediately qualifies it for the Dollar General format. Now, to find the rest of the deck for under $40...
After some research, I found a complete decklist on tappedout.net, built by a fellow named PresidentLiberty. The list is as follows:
General:
Nath of the Gilt-Leaf
Creatures:
Augur of Skulls
Avatar of Woe
Creakwood Liege
Deity of Scars
Dread
Elvish Archdruid
Elvish Champion
Eternal Witness
Guul Draz Specter
Imperious Perfect
Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni
Joraga Warcaller
Liliana's Specter
Lord of Extinction
Myojin of Night's Reach
Nezumi Bone-Reader
Priest of Titania
Primeval Titan
Sadistic Hypnotist
Silent Specter
Vigor
Vulturous Zombie
Yavimaya Elder
Planeswalkers:
Garruk Wildspeaker
Liliana Vess
Artifacts:
Anvil of Bogardan
Darksteel Ingot
Eldrazi Monument
Grim Monolith
Lightning Greaves
Mana Vault
Sensei's Divining Top
Skullclamp
Sol Ring
Sword of Light and Shadow
Enchantments:
Contamination
Defense of the Heart
Earthcraft
Grave Pact
Necrogen Mists
Oppression
Pattern of Rebirth
Phyrexian Arena
Quest for the Nihil Stone
Words of Waste
Sorceries:
Cruel Edict
Damnation
Demonic Tutor
Diabolic Tutor
Elvish Promenade
Hymn to Tourach
Mind Twist
Pox
Reprocess
Syphon Mind
Temporal Extortion
Tooth and Nail
Instants:
Doom Blade
Krosan Grip
Worldly Tutor
Land:
Forest (x7)
Swamp (x16)
Bottomless Vault
Cabal Coffers
Evolving Wilds
Gaea's Cradle
Gilt-Leaf Palace
Golgari Rot Farm
Oran-Rief, the Vastwood
Polluted Mire
Slippery Karst
Strip Mine
Tainted Wood
Temple of the False God
Treetop Village
Twilight Mire
Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
Vivid Grove
Right away, I saw some very expensive cards that I considered unnecessary in the concept of an elf/discard deck. Things like Gaea's Cradle, Cabal Coffers, and other really fancy lands, although very cool, are just too expensive. Hell, the price of Gaea's cradle alone is more than most of my decks. Honestly, you can't go wrong with a simpler land selection.
Forest
Swamp
Evolving Wilds
Gilt-Leaf Palace
Ghost Quarter
Golgari Rot Farm
Jund Panorama
Llanowar Wastes
Terramorphic Expanse
Tainted Wood
I was also questioning the logic behind using some of the artifacts such as Mana Vault and Sword of Light and Shadow. Although, Sword of Feast and Famine would be a good replacement for the aforementioned sword, it is a bit costly, average price being $15.
Fortunately, there are plenty of other, reasonably-priced discard engines:
Cunning Advisor
Corpse Traders
Scythe Specter
Hypnotic Specter
Painful Quandary
Also, I wanted this deck to be a little more focused on discard, so adding a few more benefits to opponents discarding cards can't hurt.
Sangromancer
Liliana's Caress
Megrim
And of course, what would a discard deck be without:
Unnerve
Tendrils of Despair
Despise
Also, Savra is a good way to gain life
Savra, Queen of the Golgari
When playing green/black, I'm a traditionalist, so a couple removal spells/mana ramp spells help to boost the deck:
Doom Blade
Murder
Rampant Growth
Harrow
Cultivate
After a few tweaks and some price calculating, the revised decklist looks more like this:
Creatures:
Acidic Slime
Augur of Skulls
Bloodgift Demon
Corpse Traders
Cunning Advisor
Elvish Archdruid
Elvish Champion
Elvish Visionary
Essence Warden
Ezuri, Renegade Leader
Guul Draz Specter
Hollowborn Barghest
Hypnotic Specter
Imperious Perfect
Joraga Warcaller
Liliana's Specter
Myojin of Night's Reach
Nezumi Bone-Reader
Rhys the Exiled
Rune-Scarred Demon
Sangromancer
Savra, Queen of the Golgari
Scythe Specter
Silent Specter
Voice of the Woods
Vulturous Zombie
Yavimaya Elder
Instants:
Doom Blade
Harrow
Murder
Naturalize
Sorceries:
Cultivate
Despise
Diabolic Tutor
Distress
Elvish Promenade
Mind Rot
Rampant Growth
Reprocess
Smallpox
Syphon Mind
Tendrils of Despair
Unnerve
Enchantments:
Exquisite Blood
Liliana's Caress
Megrim
Necrogen Mists
Oppression
Painful Quandary
Quest for the Nihil Stone
Words of Waste
Artifacts:
Disrupting Scepter
Geth's Grimoire
Library of Leng
Otherworld Atlas
Possessed Portal
Scepter of Fugue
Scroll of Griselbrand
Shrine of Limitless Power
Specter's Shroud
Whispersilk Cloak
Land:
Evolving Wilds
Forest
Gilt-Leaf Palace
Ghost Quarter
Golgari Rot Farm
Jund Panorama
Llanowar Wastes
Swamp
Terramorphic Expanse
Tainted Wood
Since this is a black deck, I included a few demons: Rune-Scarred for its tutoring, Bloodgift for extra cards, and the Hollowborn Barghest to piss opponents off. Exquisite Blood, Rhys the Exiled, Savra, and Essence Warden offer some life-gain to counteract the very likely possibility of losing life from the deck's own creatures and artifacts. Geth's Grimoire makes your opponents' discarding more fruitful for you and Otherworld Atlas is an excellent way to force players to draw (all the more cards for them to discard).
I also put more emphasis on the elf aspect of the deck by adding Voice of the Woods, which gives all those untapped elf tokens something to do besides look menacing. The 7/7 elementals that Voice of the Woods produces are great blockers, attackers, or chumps to sacrifice. Keeping the Elvish champion, Imperious Prefect, and Elvish Promenade definitely made the deck more expensive, but the boosts they give to elves/the elves they produce are essential to the deck's mechanism.
There are no board wipes in this deck, and conversely, after a few test runs, board wipes crippled the deck. However, if I added any reanimate spells, that would take away from the deck mechanic as well, seeing how I'd have to take out either discard spells or elves to make room for things like Disentomb or Reanimate.
The deck certainly has some cards that don't seem to follow the deck theme entirely, though. Elvish Visionary is just a nice elf that lets you draw a card and Whispersilk Cloak is both a defense for any creature of importance and makes for an awesome offensive advantage (unblockable creatures are difficult to block).
So that's the deck! I posted the list on tappedout.net, which has a handy estimated cost tool. According to the price tool, the deck's total cost was $66.81, but that's based on the mid-ranged prices of all the cards. So it's only twenty six dollars too expensive to qualify as a dollar general deck, but I'm sure that if one bought all the cards at the low-end, the deck would be under $40.
I have yet to play this deck at length, and Joe still has yet to play around with it, but I'm fine with publishing first drafts.
Stay classy!
-Venser's Journalist
Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Monocolor (or Double-colored), or How I Build EDH Decks
I haven't made or played a wedge deck since I took apart my sexy Thraximundar EDH, and I think I know why.
Making a GOOD three-color wedge is so much more time consuming than mono or guild-colored decks.
Surely, Wizards will come out with some tri-color I'm gonna be inspired to play. I'm not saying I'm done with three-color Commanders for forever. Just, you know, for now.
There's a lot more to it than just time and effort. I put a lot of time into building a deck. I'd rather prepare than just throw cards together.
I've experimented with many different ways of building decks, and I'd like to share a little bit of the process that has produced for me, some of my better successes.
Part I- Pick Your Commander
I'm probably no different from you here. This is the first natural step.
Looking for a General, however, is a completely different story.
When I first started playing, I had a good talk with one of my friends about how to find good Generals.
His ideas were that the General had to have a competitive P and T and a mana curve that would give you incentive to cast and recast it.
When we talked a couple years ago, we discussed playing a Green-Black Commander. I was getting ready to make my first deck, and I was debating between Vhati il-Dal and Sisters of Stone Death.
While I respect the ideas of making sure your General can get you 21 damage, I've always been a bit of an "EDH Hipster," if you will.
So, although I took my friends advice and Sisters of Stone Death was my first EDH deck, things are a little different for me now.
I guess I'm saying Vhati might actually be the GB General for me. I don't know.
One of the reasons that I would consider Vhati is because playing my General has never been something I want to be dependent on. I know this because I've played Voltrons like Kemba, Kha Regent, and the token master, Rhys the Redeemed. I don't have fun with those though now.
Back then, those decks excited me, but they weren't very good. By good, I mean I don't necessarily mean I lost a bunch of games, even though that's probably true.
What I mean is that the quality of the wins, the senses associated with winning in those decks didn't feel nearly as good as it is now with my Momir Vig deck, or my sweet mono Green Isao, Enlightened Bushi Dollar General deck.
Picking the card that's going to lead my deck happens when I find a creature that seems really fun to play as well as something that could be potentially competitive in the right circumstances.
I feel placing value on your general, relying heavily on Niv-Mizzet for a combo piece or a Skithiryx to Voltron Infect damage just seems boring, regardless of its effectiveness.
My advice is not to use so much analytical skill when you pick your general. Don't know what cards you're going to use, or what sleeves you're going to put them in. Listen to your impulse, whether it's a goofy general like Boris Devilboon, or the Elder Dragon Nicol Bolas.
Part II- Deck Construction
The first piece of advice I can give you is that if you don't have any inspiration for the deck, don't build it.
What I mean by inspiration mostly, is that you shouldn't try to build a deck without having some cards that really, truly excite you.
The more work you do on this end, the easier it'll be.
This means researching cards and ideas for what other people are doing in decks- Then, with all that knowledge, choosing 99 cards and a general that you're stoked about.
On an individual card level, inspiration can really come from anywhere.
For a while, I was on a kick where I wanted to play some of the strongest cards I could get my hands on, so I went out and spent some money on a Bitterblossom and Umezawa's Jitte.
Honestly though, they aren't even the most exciting cards for me. They pale in comparison to the first time I realized I could tutor for Krosan Tusker with my Fierce Empath so I could cycle Tusker to draw a card and get a land. Collectively, those two cards cost less than $1.00.
I'm not saying I made a deck around that combo, it's just one of the many nice things about playing green, cause as you know, I can't stand missing land drops.
The deckbuilding process, as an act, mostly consists of me doing any of the following:
1. Going through binders or on The Gatherer, researching cards or pulling them out of the protectors and putting them in a pile.
2. Looking at my General for a while. I sleeve it up, put it in a card protector (cause I'm snobby like that), admiring the art and letting its abilities soak into my brain.
3. Looking up other EDH decks with your Commander of choice.
4. Sitting in a chair, staring at the floor, occasionally raising a glass of beverage to my face.
Sounds weird, but that's how the ideas come to me.
Inspiration, when it's apparent in a deck, shows through in the majority of the cards.
There are layers and structure and themes, and the deck functions fairly consistent, even though you may be drawing completely different cards.
There's a certain synergy in successful decks that extends beyond just deck mechanics and being an engine. There might be protocol, textbook cards like Kodama's Reach or Cultivate- but what those cards do works toward the end goal of the deck, which should be to ultimately win the game. In short, a sort of Snowballing effect that creates victory.
I was actually pretty fortunate with the deck I mentioned earlier, my Momir Vig EDH.
I think maybe less than 20% of the original spells are left from my first draft several months ago.
My friends and I were looking to create fun decks that were a little more chaos and group hug themed. Our playgroup, which had pretty much dwindled down to me and another guy, had gotten pretty competitive, and we were looking for something new.
So I made Vig, complete with a bunch of goofy card draw spells and a Stormtide Leviathan. That was basically the deck.
As we started to revert back to our old, "play-to-win-the-game" habits though, our small little metagame began to get competitive.
Vig soon became a way to test resolve in a deck. It was a slow-paced blue deck, but with the power of Snapcaster Mage and Venser, Shaper Savant bouncing up and down with Riptide Laboratory, I was able to make an extremely resilient deck.
Then I added my Crucible of Worlds and a Land Destruction package, upping the land count to 42 because of utlity.
Then I got a real strange inspiration, one that's pretty atypical of the Vig builds I'd seen.
I threw in an artifact creature package. It really isn't that big, but it's enough. Solemn Simulacrum, Myr Battlesphere, Wurmcoil Engine, and Phyrexian Metamorph. They deviate because they're colorless, which means that they don't create value when Vig's on the table.
However, if people are expecting you to play Vig so you can toolbox and get value, you have an advantage in being able to rely on him only in select situations.
Then the deck had incredible targets for Rite of Replication and Spitting Image, not to mention plenty of land to copy my new creature base.
I know I've mentioned a bunch of great, expensive cards that really are great in a lot of decks- but I made them great with Momir Vig at the helm. That's my point.
Your deck is a constant process, one that you have complete knowledge and control of at the conscious and unconscious level. You've just got to figure out what pieces fit right and sit well for you.
Part III- Uploading Your Deck To The Interweb
I used to wait a couple weeks before I did this, and it's something I regret. After you finish your rough draft, you should immediately go to TappedOut.Net and put the list up.
Mostly, this will help give you a quick statistical analysis of your deck. It might not sound vital, but knowing things like your average converted mana cost and the color distribution in the deck will really help you appropriate your lands and spells more effectively.
Additionally, you'll get to see your cards in a list, in a more big-picture way, which will help you see as you go along.
Sometimes, when pulling out cards for decks, it's easy to forget what you sleeved up and what didn't make the cut, because you've separated the cardpool into a dichotomy of what isn't going in and what might go in, not what's in and and what isn't.
For me, it acts as a checklist, and playing Dollar General has really helped me with this habit, because I have to put the deck into tcgplayer.com to check the prices anyway.
Part IV- The Test(s)
So if you haven't done any sample drawing of the deck by now, you should be.
What I like to do is draw my seven cards and play out maybe five turns or so of Magic Solitaire, making sure I'm playing lands and drawing into useful cards, playing my Rampant Growths and my tutors or whatever. You know, "shuffle practice."
If you do this kind of stuff beforehand, I've found that I have better recollection in-game when I'm trying to pick out a line of play.
So after I've done this probably 10 or 12 times consistently, or enough to make me happy, it's actual battle time.
During the first match or so (best of 3), I'm usually very tough on the deck. I try to pay super-attentive to how it reacts and what are the problems it's going to face in the boardstate.
When I first started out I had trouble remembering the situations I was getting myself in, so I took a few notes. Don't be afraid to do the same. It'll only help make you a better player, and your recall will get super good once your brain figures out how to organize moves and turns.
Mostly, I focused on the bad plays, whether it was user error or a problem in the deckbuilding process. Either way, you'll have to either pull it up on the computer or spread the deck out on a table and give it a look.
This is because playing in your own style will create nuances, so you either fix the deck to do what's natural or you adapt to the way the deck needs to be played.
The best example is the fact that I'm very much a "hold mana up" kinda guy. I don't feel comfortable tapping out on my own turn unless I've got a little momentum and I don't think people are going to respond. That said, I play a lot of spells on other people's turns because it's easier to be a little more unpredictable.
Anyway, after the first match you'll probably get a good feel for a good portion of the deck. Hopefully, it's the cards you need.
If it isn't, this is where you might have to go back and switch out cards. If your strategy is falling flat for some reason, you might have to put it back on the drawing board and find something different.
When I was in school, I was writing short stories every two weeks for a writing professor. We would go to the class, he'd critique our papers, and at the end of every class, he'd tell us to take the critiqued story, "put it away, and never look at it again."
I'm not going to tell you something like this, but I think the lesson here is good. Don't be afraid to take a deck apart if you're not having fun with it, or you don't like it. And don't be opposed to putting it in the back of your mind, even if it's good. Make sure you catalog it though, in case you ever feel like you want to come back to it.
I've had to do this several times, and I'd wished on some of them that I'd put them on the Internet.
The ones I have though are great reference points to see where you've come from and how you're moving forward.
Well jeez. I've talked a lot.
Let me know your thoughts!
Pass Turn.
-Uncle Landdrops
Making a GOOD three-color wedge is so much more time consuming than mono or guild-colored decks.
Surely, Wizards will come out with some tri-color I'm gonna be inspired to play. I'm not saying I'm done with three-color Commanders for forever. Just, you know, for now.
There's a lot more to it than just time and effort. I put a lot of time into building a deck. I'd rather prepare than just throw cards together.
I've experimented with many different ways of building decks, and I'd like to share a little bit of the process that has produced for me, some of my better successes.
Part I- Pick Your Commander
I'm probably no different from you here. This is the first natural step.
Looking for a General, however, is a completely different story.
When I first started playing, I had a good talk with one of my friends about how to find good Generals.
His ideas were that the General had to have a competitive P and T and a mana curve that would give you incentive to cast and recast it.
When we talked a couple years ago, we discussed playing a Green-Black Commander. I was getting ready to make my first deck, and I was debating between Vhati il-Dal and Sisters of Stone Death.
While I respect the ideas of making sure your General can get you 21 damage, I've always been a bit of an "EDH Hipster," if you will.
So, although I took my friends advice and Sisters of Stone Death was my first EDH deck, things are a little different for me now.
I guess I'm saying Vhati might actually be the GB General for me. I don't know.
One of the reasons that I would consider Vhati is because playing my General has never been something I want to be dependent on. I know this because I've played Voltrons like Kemba, Kha Regent, and the token master, Rhys the Redeemed. I don't have fun with those though now.
Back then, those decks excited me, but they weren't very good. By good, I mean I don't necessarily mean I lost a bunch of games, even though that's probably true.
What I mean is that the quality of the wins, the senses associated with winning in those decks didn't feel nearly as good as it is now with my Momir Vig deck, or my sweet mono Green Isao, Enlightened Bushi Dollar General deck.
Picking the card that's going to lead my deck happens when I find a creature that seems really fun to play as well as something that could be potentially competitive in the right circumstances.
I feel placing value on your general, relying heavily on Niv-Mizzet for a combo piece or a Skithiryx to Voltron Infect damage just seems boring, regardless of its effectiveness.
My advice is not to use so much analytical skill when you pick your general. Don't know what cards you're going to use, or what sleeves you're going to put them in. Listen to your impulse, whether it's a goofy general like Boris Devilboon, or the Elder Dragon Nicol Bolas.
Part II- Deck Construction
The first piece of advice I can give you is that if you don't have any inspiration for the deck, don't build it.
What I mean by inspiration mostly, is that you shouldn't try to build a deck without having some cards that really, truly excite you.
The more work you do on this end, the easier it'll be.
This means researching cards and ideas for what other people are doing in decks- Then, with all that knowledge, choosing 99 cards and a general that you're stoked about.
On an individual card level, inspiration can really come from anywhere.
For a while, I was on a kick where I wanted to play some of the strongest cards I could get my hands on, so I went out and spent some money on a Bitterblossom and Umezawa's Jitte.
Honestly though, they aren't even the most exciting cards for me. They pale in comparison to the first time I realized I could tutor for Krosan Tusker with my Fierce Empath so I could cycle Tusker to draw a card and get a land. Collectively, those two cards cost less than $1.00.
I'm not saying I made a deck around that combo, it's just one of the many nice things about playing green, cause as you know, I can't stand missing land drops.
The deckbuilding process, as an act, mostly consists of me doing any of the following:
1. Going through binders or on The Gatherer, researching cards or pulling them out of the protectors and putting them in a pile.
2. Looking at my General for a while. I sleeve it up, put it in a card protector (cause I'm snobby like that), admiring the art and letting its abilities soak into my brain.
3. Looking up other EDH decks with your Commander of choice.
4. Sitting in a chair, staring at the floor, occasionally raising a glass of beverage to my face.
Sounds weird, but that's how the ideas come to me.
Inspiration, when it's apparent in a deck, shows through in the majority of the cards.
There are layers and structure and themes, and the deck functions fairly consistent, even though you may be drawing completely different cards.
There's a certain synergy in successful decks that extends beyond just deck mechanics and being an engine. There might be protocol, textbook cards like Kodama's Reach or Cultivate- but what those cards do works toward the end goal of the deck, which should be to ultimately win the game. In short, a sort of Snowballing effect that creates victory.
I was actually pretty fortunate with the deck I mentioned earlier, my Momir Vig EDH.
I think maybe less than 20% of the original spells are left from my first draft several months ago.
My friends and I were looking to create fun decks that were a little more chaos and group hug themed. Our playgroup, which had pretty much dwindled down to me and another guy, had gotten pretty competitive, and we were looking for something new.
So I made Vig, complete with a bunch of goofy card draw spells and a Stormtide Leviathan. That was basically the deck.
As we started to revert back to our old, "play-to-win-the-game" habits though, our small little metagame began to get competitive.
Vig soon became a way to test resolve in a deck. It was a slow-paced blue deck, but with the power of Snapcaster Mage and Venser, Shaper Savant bouncing up and down with Riptide Laboratory, I was able to make an extremely resilient deck.
Then I added my Crucible of Worlds and a Land Destruction package, upping the land count to 42 because of utlity.
Then I got a real strange inspiration, one that's pretty atypical of the Vig builds I'd seen.
I threw in an artifact creature package. It really isn't that big, but it's enough. Solemn Simulacrum, Myr Battlesphere, Wurmcoil Engine, and Phyrexian Metamorph. They deviate because they're colorless, which means that they don't create value when Vig's on the table.
However, if people are expecting you to play Vig so you can toolbox and get value, you have an advantage in being able to rely on him only in select situations.
Then the deck had incredible targets for Rite of Replication and Spitting Image, not to mention plenty of land to copy my new creature base.
I know I've mentioned a bunch of great, expensive cards that really are great in a lot of decks- but I made them great with Momir Vig at the helm. That's my point.
Your deck is a constant process, one that you have complete knowledge and control of at the conscious and unconscious level. You've just got to figure out what pieces fit right and sit well for you.
Part III- Uploading Your Deck To The Interweb
I used to wait a couple weeks before I did this, and it's something I regret. After you finish your rough draft, you should immediately go to TappedOut.Net and put the list up.
Mostly, this will help give you a quick statistical analysis of your deck. It might not sound vital, but knowing things like your average converted mana cost and the color distribution in the deck will really help you appropriate your lands and spells more effectively.
Additionally, you'll get to see your cards in a list, in a more big-picture way, which will help you see as you go along.
Sometimes, when pulling out cards for decks, it's easy to forget what you sleeved up and what didn't make the cut, because you've separated the cardpool into a dichotomy of what isn't going in and what might go in, not what's in and and what isn't.
For me, it acts as a checklist, and playing Dollar General has really helped me with this habit, because I have to put the deck into tcgplayer.com to check the prices anyway.
Part IV- The Test(s)
So if you haven't done any sample drawing of the deck by now, you should be.
What I like to do is draw my seven cards and play out maybe five turns or so of Magic Solitaire, making sure I'm playing lands and drawing into useful cards, playing my Rampant Growths and my tutors or whatever. You know, "shuffle practice."
If you do this kind of stuff beforehand, I've found that I have better recollection in-game when I'm trying to pick out a line of play.
So after I've done this probably 10 or 12 times consistently, or enough to make me happy, it's actual battle time.
During the first match or so (best of 3), I'm usually very tough on the deck. I try to pay super-attentive to how it reacts and what are the problems it's going to face in the boardstate.
When I first started out I had trouble remembering the situations I was getting myself in, so I took a few notes. Don't be afraid to do the same. It'll only help make you a better player, and your recall will get super good once your brain figures out how to organize moves and turns.
Mostly, I focused on the bad plays, whether it was user error or a problem in the deckbuilding process. Either way, you'll have to either pull it up on the computer or spread the deck out on a table and give it a look.
This is because playing in your own style will create nuances, so you either fix the deck to do what's natural or you adapt to the way the deck needs to be played.
The best example is the fact that I'm very much a "hold mana up" kinda guy. I don't feel comfortable tapping out on my own turn unless I've got a little momentum and I don't think people are going to respond. That said, I play a lot of spells on other people's turns because it's easier to be a little more unpredictable.
Anyway, after the first match you'll probably get a good feel for a good portion of the deck. Hopefully, it's the cards you need.
If it isn't, this is where you might have to go back and switch out cards. If your strategy is falling flat for some reason, you might have to put it back on the drawing board and find something different.
When I was in school, I was writing short stories every two weeks for a writing professor. We would go to the class, he'd critique our papers, and at the end of every class, he'd tell us to take the critiqued story, "put it away, and never look at it again."
I'm not going to tell you something like this, but I think the lesson here is good. Don't be afraid to take a deck apart if you're not having fun with it, or you don't like it. And don't be opposed to putting it in the back of your mind, even if it's good. Make sure you catalog it though, in case you ever feel like you want to come back to it.
I've had to do this several times, and I'd wished on some of them that I'd put them on the Internet.
The ones I have though are great reference points to see where you've come from and how you're moving forward.
Well jeez. I've talked a lot.
Let me know your thoughts!
Pass Turn.
-Uncle Landdrops
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
My Beef With Red
For me, there's one piece of Magical Piece of the Color Pie I can't really stomach in EDH.
That Color is Red.
It's my opinion, and I don't mean to offend any Red players out there.
Honestly, I have beefs with other colors too. Like, why didn't they print Black artifact/enchantment removal in the Time Spiral block?
Getting a Black Naturalize is small potatoes when compared to the downright tragedy that is "Mountain" Magic.
I started following this EDH podcast called Commander Cast recently, and they had a good point to share here on the topic of Rojo.
In their debate, the guys at Commander Cast said that what makes Red good in EDH is Land Destruction. However, since Mass Land Destruction has always been sort of an EDH taboo in most playgroups, Red is put into a system in which it has no opportunity to really shine.
But does this really help? I'm not inclined to think so. To me, this makes the average mono-Red deck a very opportunistic deck, which, though entirely flavor-consistent, hardly seems like a challenge if you have to compete against luck and the solid tutelage in other decks.
Long story short, in EDH, RDW doesn't mean Red Deck Wins. It means Red Deck Won't.
Cause Red Deck "Won't" do anything very well. It can't get card advantage or board control. The mono-Red deck can't play a whole lot of disruption, and its burn spells are all but relevant at 40 life.
Even the red creatures leave a lot to be desired. Inferno Titan, Kiki-Jiki, and Godo seem to be about the only real red creatures that have any power- but they'll still fall victim to Doom Blade and Control Magic.
My point is that even green got Beast Within and Harmonize. Blue has the super-cheap Pongify and it's unlimited pool of card draw. So where's the Red love?
Red is a tough color made tougher because the cards that have to get played are all expensive, and yet still not half as effective as the cards in other colors. Off the top of my head, I think about Chaos Warp, Wheel of Fortune, and Gamble, which still don't offer card advantage.
Yet Red pretty much HAS to play them, because they don't have a whole lot to make the deck consistent enough to do something. Even then, you're probably still not going to disrupt your opponent enough to win.
It's obvious that Wizards is trying to find ways to make Red more relevant in EDH, with Tibalt and the anti-Looters like Mad Prophet and Rummaging Goblin. Yet it still isn't close.
Red needs value cards. In order for Red to find them now, it reaches into "Artifact-Land" to pull out Crucible of Worlds and Duplicant and other colorless things that can interact well with Goblin Welder, ultimately contributing to this sort of incestuous mono-Red deck that People can pretty much sniff out because of its lackluster card pool.
I know We are all creatures of habit, and sometimes we play a lot of the same card, so this could sound like I'm unjustly beating the Ginger of the Magic color pie.
The good thing about the staple cards we play in other colors is that they have the capacity to create different lines of play. Even if you are tutoring for similar things, like land in green, you are creating the opportunity to draw something better from your deck, and are therefore still creating card advantage.
Two cards that I like to play as an avid Green player are Eternal Witness and Fierce Empath, and I create many different targets for them within my decks.
Red can't doesn't really have any lateral movement. The cards are rigid and straightforward, even in a successfully assembled combo. Even then the deck has to be able to draw those cards without any regular card drawing engines that allow you to outdraw your opponent.
Perhaps the Goblin archetype might solve the consistency/card advantage problem, but it leads to two more issues. The first is that you're playing Goblins, so basically a bunch of 2-power dudes that no one is really going to care about after they drop their titan on turn 6.
The second is that you're one Wrath effect away from getting your board state destroyed, and you don't have a way to get them out of the bin short of shuffling your graveyard back into your library and starting all over.
So What Must Be Done To Fix This Problem?
#1 Fill in the Gaps
When I say "Fill In The Gaps" I mean that the Red card type manipulates resources in a very unique way. In fact, it's so unique that the actual themes (Land Destruction, Burn, Haste Dudes, Discard-to-Draw) don't really interact with each other, and they feel spread very thin versus some of the other colors.
So why not mix the strategies together?
I'd play an Instant in red that made me sacrifice a land to draw 3 cards.
I'd play a card that made me deal damage to each one of my creatures equal to the number of cards I drew.
I'd also play a spell that let me ramp into a bunch of Mountains I had to sacrifice at the end of my turn. Would also have to have Flashback- but I'd play it.
#2 There's No Such Thing As Red Power Creep
At least, not yet. Wizards got pretty close with Inferno Titan, which is the first legitimate Red card made since Kiki-Jiki.
Comparatively though, Red doesn't get any love from the design team as a strong mono color. Look at Terminate and Blightning and the new Dreadbore. Even Rakdos' Return. Mizzium Mortars is about the only spoiled card worth getting in Return to Ravnica thus far.
If they don't make the cards, Red can't be competitive.
#3 Red Tutelage.And Utilty
Specifically, the color doesn't need much. It just needs some creative Tutelage and Utility to make it a little more stable of a color. It's not too much to ask for cards that allow the player to destroy other people's stuff without wrecking your own board state, isn't it?
Alright. I'm good.
Let me know what your thoughts are.
Peace, Love, Landdrops.
-UL
That Color is Red.
It's my opinion, and I don't mean to offend any Red players out there.
Honestly, I have beefs with other colors too. Like, why didn't they print Black artifact/enchantment removal in the Time Spiral block?
Getting a Black Naturalize is small potatoes when compared to the downright tragedy that is "Mountain" Magic.
I started following this EDH podcast called Commander Cast recently, and they had a good point to share here on the topic of Rojo.
In their debate, the guys at Commander Cast said that what makes Red good in EDH is Land Destruction. However, since Mass Land Destruction has always been sort of an EDH taboo in most playgroups, Red is put into a system in which it has no opportunity to really shine.
But does this really help? I'm not inclined to think so. To me, this makes the average mono-Red deck a very opportunistic deck, which, though entirely flavor-consistent, hardly seems like a challenge if you have to compete against luck and the solid tutelage in other decks.
Long story short, in EDH, RDW doesn't mean Red Deck Wins. It means Red Deck Won't.
Cause Red Deck "Won't" do anything very well. It can't get card advantage or board control. The mono-Red deck can't play a whole lot of disruption, and its burn spells are all but relevant at 40 life.
Even the red creatures leave a lot to be desired. Inferno Titan, Kiki-Jiki, and Godo seem to be about the only real red creatures that have any power- but they'll still fall victim to Doom Blade and Control Magic.
My point is that even green got Beast Within and Harmonize. Blue has the super-cheap Pongify and it's unlimited pool of card draw. So where's the Red love?
Red is a tough color made tougher because the cards that have to get played are all expensive, and yet still not half as effective as the cards in other colors. Off the top of my head, I think about Chaos Warp, Wheel of Fortune, and Gamble, which still don't offer card advantage.
Yet Red pretty much HAS to play them, because they don't have a whole lot to make the deck consistent enough to do something. Even then, you're probably still not going to disrupt your opponent enough to win.
It's obvious that Wizards is trying to find ways to make Red more relevant in EDH, with Tibalt and the anti-Looters like Mad Prophet and Rummaging Goblin. Yet it still isn't close.
Red needs value cards. In order for Red to find them now, it reaches into "Artifact-Land" to pull out Crucible of Worlds and Duplicant and other colorless things that can interact well with Goblin Welder, ultimately contributing to this sort of incestuous mono-Red deck that People can pretty much sniff out because of its lackluster card pool.
I know We are all creatures of habit, and sometimes we play a lot of the same card, so this could sound like I'm unjustly beating the Ginger of the Magic color pie.
The good thing about the staple cards we play in other colors is that they have the capacity to create different lines of play. Even if you are tutoring for similar things, like land in green, you are creating the opportunity to draw something better from your deck, and are therefore still creating card advantage.
Two cards that I like to play as an avid Green player are Eternal Witness and Fierce Empath, and I create many different targets for them within my decks.
Red can't doesn't really have any lateral movement. The cards are rigid and straightforward, even in a successfully assembled combo. Even then the deck has to be able to draw those cards without any regular card drawing engines that allow you to outdraw your opponent.
Perhaps the Goblin archetype might solve the consistency/card advantage problem, but it leads to two more issues. The first is that you're playing Goblins, so basically a bunch of 2-power dudes that no one is really going to care about after they drop their titan on turn 6.
The second is that you're one Wrath effect away from getting your board state destroyed, and you don't have a way to get them out of the bin short of shuffling your graveyard back into your library and starting all over.
So What Must Be Done To Fix This Problem?
#1 Fill in the Gaps
When I say "Fill In The Gaps" I mean that the Red card type manipulates resources in a very unique way. In fact, it's so unique that the actual themes (Land Destruction, Burn, Haste Dudes, Discard-to-Draw) don't really interact with each other, and they feel spread very thin versus some of the other colors.
So why not mix the strategies together?
I'd play an Instant in red that made me sacrifice a land to draw 3 cards.
I'd play a card that made me deal damage to each one of my creatures equal to the number of cards I drew.
I'd also play a spell that let me ramp into a bunch of Mountains I had to sacrifice at the end of my turn. Would also have to have Flashback- but I'd play it.
#2 There's No Such Thing As Red Power Creep
At least, not yet. Wizards got pretty close with Inferno Titan, which is the first legitimate Red card made since Kiki-Jiki.
Comparatively though, Red doesn't get any love from the design team as a strong mono color. Look at Terminate and Blightning and the new Dreadbore. Even Rakdos' Return. Mizzium Mortars is about the only spoiled card worth getting in Return to Ravnica thus far.
If they don't make the cards, Red can't be competitive.
#3 Red Tutelage.And Utilty
Specifically, the color doesn't need much. It just needs some creative Tutelage and Utility to make it a little more stable of a color. It's not too much to ask for cards that allow the player to destroy other people's stuff without wrecking your own board state, isn't it?
Alright. I'm good.
Let me know what your thoughts are.
Peace, Love, Landdrops.
-UL
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Who Will Receive Your Allegiance?
The Promo cards have been released for Return to Ravnica Prerelease day, so the time to choose your Guild is upon us.
Contrary to my own misinterpretation of the speculation, our promos will not be the Guild Leaders.
This is probably a good thing, considering that the spoiled ones so far seem to have goofy mana costs, and would promote a very lopsided metagame because Niv-Mizzet seems to be better than the others.
So here are the cards. Wizards also spoiled the ensuing promo cards for the future GameDay at the end of October and the preceding FNMs, which you can find here.
Return To Ravnica Promos Spoiled
The good news, in my opinion, is that they all look pretty equal in power. Kudos to Wizards.
If anything, I see a slight advantage to Izzet, because their charm is the most powerful, though pulling a GB rare in the Golgari guild would make that deck a contender.
Assuming you're gonna play some Limited to get these cards, you do have a couple combinations depending on which guild you choose.
I'm assuming you're gonna have to play three color, so you're deck will probably be one of these combos:
Green-Black-White (Selesnya/Golgari)
Green-Black-Red (Golgari/Rakdos)
Black-Red-Blue (Izzet/Rakdos)
Red-Blue-White (Izzet/Azorius)
Blue-White-Green (Azorius/Selesnya)
Kudos if you get a more consistent set of playables though.
Consider this though when you choose your guild in a couple weeks. Don't look at the cards, necessarily.
Good Luck Future Guildleaders!
Pass it up
-UL
Contrary to my own misinterpretation of the speculation, our promos will not be the Guild Leaders.
This is probably a good thing, considering that the spoiled ones so far seem to have goofy mana costs, and would promote a very lopsided metagame because Niv-Mizzet seems to be better than the others.
So here are the cards. Wizards also spoiled the ensuing promo cards for the future GameDay at the end of October and the preceding FNMs, which you can find here.
Return To Ravnica Promos Spoiled
If anything, I see a slight advantage to Izzet, because their charm is the most powerful, though pulling a GB rare in the Golgari guild would make that deck a contender.
Assuming you're gonna play some Limited to get these cards, you do have a couple combinations depending on which guild you choose.
I'm assuming you're gonna have to play three color, so you're deck will probably be one of these combos:
Green-Black-White (Selesnya/Golgari)
Green-Black-Red (Golgari/Rakdos)
Black-Red-Blue (Izzet/Rakdos)
Red-Blue-White (Izzet/Azorius)
Blue-White-Green (Azorius/Selesnya)
Kudos if you get a more consistent set of playables though.
Consider this though when you choose your guild in a couple weeks. Don't look at the cards, necessarily.
Good Luck Future Guildleaders!
Pass it up
-UL
Monday, September 10, 2012
A Pauper-ing I've Been, Lately
Over the weekend I made a few Pauper decks on Cockatrice to playtest.
A few months back I made a stab at Pauper EDH, but the format wasn't too appealing to me.
It's because I was just playing a 100-card standard deck with one-ofs.
My first go-round was a dumb cycle-draw Jund EDH trying to go off with a beater and Cranial Plating, which got trounced by the obvious powers of Grixis, which had access to Capsize and Counters.
Apparently though, we were playing Pauper EDH wrong, because we were supposed to give our decks the face of an uncommon.
So I got the itch to make a few different decks on Cockatrice.
I've posted them up on the Decklists page when you get a chance.
They're rough drafts, so critiques are welcome.
Fun story. There aren't a lot of Artifacts and Enchantments in there because I thought I was going to be playtesting against a Qasali Pridemage deck. Instead, I was playing Qasali Ambusher.
So obviously, things will be moving around.
If you don't want to post your assessments, feel free to email me at UncleLanddrops@gmail.com.
Peace, Love, and Landdrops.
-UL
A few months back I made a stab at Pauper EDH, but the format wasn't too appealing to me.
It's because I was just playing a 100-card standard deck with one-ofs.
My first go-round was a dumb cycle-draw Jund EDH trying to go off with a beater and Cranial Plating, which got trounced by the obvious powers of Grixis, which had access to Capsize and Counters.
Apparently though, we were playing Pauper EDH wrong, because we were supposed to give our decks the face of an uncommon.
So I got the itch to make a few different decks on Cockatrice.
I've posted them up on the Decklists page when you get a chance.
They're rough drafts, so critiques are welcome.
Fun story. There aren't a lot of Artifacts and Enchantments in there because I thought I was going to be playtesting against a Qasali Pridemage deck. Instead, I was playing Qasali Ambusher.
So obviously, things will be moving around.
If you don't want to post your assessments, feel free to email me at UncleLanddrops@gmail.com.
Peace, Love, and Landdrops.
-UL
...And We're Back.
Hey folks.
Took a few days off from the blog to focus on a few relevant life things.
But I'm back. And with tidings of a new Guild Leader Spoiled!
Meet Trostani, Selesnya's Voice
Seems pretty okay, right?
First impression seemed like this would be bad.
Then I realized Trostani is the bulkiest Rhys the Redeemed I ever did see.
And now, I feel better.
Some other cards have come out too. Hope you've been following. In case you haven't, the best card to come since my "baby hiatus" was Abrupt Decay.
And this, my friends, is abrupt decay.
Cause Vraska wasn't cool enough a day earlier, and long ago in the land of Alara, Maelstrom Pulse wasn't good enough for us in the land of Highlander.
But it's gonna cost you. ChannelFireball has it pre-selling for $14.99. Might as well just buy a box.
That's my plan.
Anyway, I've got some new stuff to talk about, so look for the posts as they come.
Pass Turn.
Ya boi Uncle Landdrops.
Took a few days off from the blog to focus on a few relevant life things.
But I'm back. And with tidings of a new Guild Leader Spoiled!
Meet Trostani, Selesnya's Voice
Seems pretty okay, right?
First impression seemed like this would be bad.
Then I realized Trostani is the bulkiest Rhys the Redeemed I ever did see.
And now, I feel better.
Some other cards have come out too. Hope you've been following. In case you haven't, the best card to come since my "baby hiatus" was Abrupt Decay.
Cause Vraska wasn't cool enough a day earlier, and long ago in the land of Alara, Maelstrom Pulse wasn't good enough for us in the land of Highlander.
But it's gonna cost you. ChannelFireball has it pre-selling for $14.99. Might as well just buy a box.
That's my plan.
Anyway, I've got some new stuff to talk about, so look for the posts as they come.
Pass Turn.
Ya boi Uncle Landdrops.
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
A Planeswalker that's GB? Yes Frickin' Please!
Patience has always done me well- but boy, was I happy I got to see this new beautiful face. Pun now intended.
Check out this new face to the Ravnica beat. Vraska the Unseen!
She made my night. Love her abilities. Love her art.
Vraska makes me wanna start a whole nother site.
ILOVEVRASKATHEUNSEEN.COM.
I'll wait till the morning for that though. Hopefully, the domain name won't be taken by then. Hell, it probably is now.
Go To Sleep.
-UL
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
Hello Old Friends! RTR Spoiled Cards Update
Today we got our first look at some of the familiar faces from Ravnica. Two Old/New Guild Leaders!
And the flavor and builds seem sweet!
Here's the new Niv-Mizzet. With a P and T boost and an inversion of his previous ability, the newly dubbed Dracogenius seems pretty awesome. I love the art too. Very regal.
And the other new/old face. Isperia!
The Sphinx Azorius Legend is now a 6/4 with a HUGE upgrade in abilities which I'm super excited about.
Yeah, it's CMC is now 5 instead of 6... But it seems a small price to pay.
The art was spoiled at Comic-Con a while ago, but it still looks awesome now that it's bordered by a card.
A few other cards were added too. A huge beater named Worldspine Wurm and some smaller dudes.
I'll let you check 'em out.
Return to Ravnica Spoiler
Pass Turn.
-UL
And the flavor and builds seem sweet!
Here's the new Niv-Mizzet. With a P and T boost and an inversion of his previous ability, the newly dubbed Dracogenius seems pretty awesome. I love the art too. Very regal.
And the other new/old face. Isperia!
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| Add caption |
Yeah, it's CMC is now 5 instead of 6... But it seems a small price to pay.
The art was spoiled at Comic-Con a while ago, but it still looks awesome now that it's bordered by a card.
A few other cards were added too. A huge beater named Worldspine Wurm and some smaller dudes.
I'll let you check 'em out.
Return to Ravnica Spoiler
Pass Turn.
-UL
Decklists...Now Open!
Over the years, I've been archiving my lists in case I want to revisit or rebuild them.
Here on this site, I've posted links to all the decks I've made over the past few years. Check 'em out!
These are decks that I've had some success with. Some complete flops (Here's looking at you, Intet).
But at the very least, maybe you'll get inspired.
The OTHER reason for this page is that I want YOUR decks to be here too!
Post your decklists on a site like TappedOut.Net and then shoot me an email at UncleLanddrops@gmail.com with the link and your username.
That's how it works. Like Pie.
Enjoy the new page!
Peace, Love, and Landdrops
-UL
Here on this site, I've posted links to all the decks I've made over the past few years. Check 'em out!
These are decks that I've had some success with. Some complete flops (Here's looking at you, Intet).
But at the very least, maybe you'll get inspired.
The OTHER reason for this page is that I want YOUR decks to be here too!
Post your decklists on a site like TappedOut.Net and then shoot me an email at UncleLanddrops@gmail.com with the link and your username.
That's how it works. Like Pie.
Enjoy the new page!
Peace, Love, and Landdrops
-UL
Sunday, September 2, 2012
Card Corner: Boundless Realms
Hello!
Now that we've got some of the site updates under way and going, it's time to get back to business.
So, let me be the first to tell you- Boundless Realms means bidness.
At first glance, this card might not seem so shiny and glamorous to EDH. It's a late-game ramp spell that at minimum could get 5-7 extra lands, depending on how much you use cards like Sol Ring or Darksteel Ingot.
From the moment it got printed, I've been pretty excited, because in EDH this card is not only going to be great to have so you can play your big spells, but it's also a card that can help you rake your deck for land so you aren't going into dead draws later.
Boundless Realms is great value. For seven mana, you can potentially get several land out of your deck and onto the battlefield, which is huge when you and your opponent might be in top deck mode trying to find answers to the problems on the battlefield.
Additionally, having the extra mana go straight into the game ensures that you can handle multiple spells.
Boundless Realms has a very competitive cost in EDH to me, and requiring only one green mana means that it can be splashed into any deck playing green, allowing your two, three, or five color deck to get the colors you need.
Boundless Realms is a super fun card to play. I've been testing it in my mono-G Isao Dollar General EDH, and I've been really happy with it.
I was playing against the Cho-Manno deck I created for my buddy retardo_08 a couple days ago, and I Boundless Realms-ed for 10. We were playing online, and so we had accurate tabs on how many cards we were drawing into and whatnot. Until I played BR, the library card count was pretty tight, around 73 or 74 for each of us.
Getting 10 extra land out of the deck was huge, allowing me to topdeck better into creatures and spells which could help me find some removal answers for Cho-Manno or Pariah's Shield, which was preventing me from doing any damage.
It also helped that I was able to start building a token army with Ant Queen, which was happy to have a Boundless Realms. I'd held an Overwhelming Stampede from my opening draw, waiting for the right moment to rip it.
Long story short, I was able to draw into a Mold Shambler to get rid of the Shield and attack with a token army given +7/+7 and trample.
So there were other cards I needed to win. But Boundless Realms cleared my path to victory. Without it, I would've been drawing land.
In order to play the card effectively, I recommend you play a serious amount of basic lands, upwards of 20+, which can be tough to do in triple colors.
Also, token generators with activated abilities like Nemata and Ant Queen are sweet, but the better setup in my head is to have Avenger of Zendikar or Rampaging Baloths, or landfall creatures in green multi-color builds like Ob Nixilis.
The Boundless Bomb gets a thumbs up from me. Fun to play and a sweet, fresh new card to go test out. They're cheap too.
Passing the Turn.
-Uncle Landdrops
Return to Ravnica Hath Gifted Us With Spoils
On this leisurely Sunday afternoon, the world was just turning.
And suddenly... Spoilers. Return to Ravnica Spoilers!
Today we get our first look at about 40 of the cards in Return to Ravnica that weren't spoiled via the Izzet vs. Golgari Duel Decks scheduled to come out next week.
There's plenty to be excited about here for us EDH players, so I'll tell you about a few of my new faves and then give you the link to gander at it yourself.
We got us some sweet land, with new art reprints of the original Ravnica shocks. This set will be home to Steam Vents, Overgrown Tomb, Temple Garden, and Hallowed Fountain.
In addition to these, RTR is running a cycle of land called Gates, which are pretty straightforward dual lands that come into play tapped. The best part is that they're all commons. So no mana-troubles this time around, and Pauper EDH is all the better too.
A few spells caught my attention, and are definitely worth the mention here.
Dreadbore. A R/B sorcery for RB that destroys a creature or planeswalker. I will be definitely playing this card. Somewhere.
Chromatic Lantern. My god, this is an EDH gem! a three cost artifact that allows lands you control to be tapped for whatever you want. Plus, it taps to add mana! Seems pretty sweet.
Selesnya and Azorious Charms. Both seem pretty strong.
The spoiled the new Jace. Color me unimpressed, with baby Hydrosurges and a baby FoF, that's what you should expect though. Let's just say is Mind-Sculpting days are hella-over.
Alright. I found all this stuff out on MTG Salvation, so here's the link.
Return to Ravnica Spoiler
See and enjoy.
Meanwhile, I'll continue to mark the days off until Ravnica finally Returns. Hopefully, I won't be salivating as much over all the sweet new EDH tech.
Passing the spoils onto you.
-Uncle Landdrops
And suddenly... Spoilers. Return to Ravnica Spoilers!
Today we get our first look at about 40 of the cards in Return to Ravnica that weren't spoiled via the Izzet vs. Golgari Duel Decks scheduled to come out next week.
There's plenty to be excited about here for us EDH players, so I'll tell you about a few of my new faves and then give you the link to gander at it yourself.
We got us some sweet land, with new art reprints of the original Ravnica shocks. This set will be home to Steam Vents, Overgrown Tomb, Temple Garden, and Hallowed Fountain.
In addition to these, RTR is running a cycle of land called Gates, which are pretty straightforward dual lands that come into play tapped. The best part is that they're all commons. So no mana-troubles this time around, and Pauper EDH is all the better too.
A few spells caught my attention, and are definitely worth the mention here.
Dreadbore. A R/B sorcery for RB that destroys a creature or planeswalker. I will be definitely playing this card. Somewhere.
Chromatic Lantern. My god, this is an EDH gem! a three cost artifact that allows lands you control to be tapped for whatever you want. Plus, it taps to add mana! Seems pretty sweet.
Selesnya and Azorious Charms. Both seem pretty strong.
The spoiled the new Jace. Color me unimpressed, with baby Hydrosurges and a baby FoF, that's what you should expect though. Let's just say is Mind-Sculpting days are hella-over.
Alright. I found all this stuff out on MTG Salvation, so here's the link.
Return to Ravnica Spoiler
See and enjoy.
Meanwhile, I'll continue to mark the days off until Ravnica finally Returns. Hopefully, I won't be salivating as much over all the sweet new EDH tech.
Passing the spoils onto you.
-Uncle Landdrops
New TGZ Team Members
Sorry I haven't been around.
If you've noticed, TGZ is going through some updates and I've had to play catch-up. Sooo yeah...
Anyway, I have some hot and exciting news.
We have a few new team members to TGZ, and I'm excited about it.
I'd like to introduce web design extraordinaire Dark Murban, who will be doing a lot of the behind-the-scenes stuff that I mostly find lost in HTML. But he's befriended the language of the computers, and is actually pretty good at talking in it too.
Dark will be responsible for all the fancy pants Internet magic that is to come to TGZ. So get excited. He's got some sweet ideas for the site.
Also, a wonderful writer and EDH enthusiast by the name of Venser's Journalist will be sharing his thoughts with us on deck builds and other Magic-related news as it pertains to our favorite kitchen table game.
You can look forward to VJ's first article on TGZ soon.
Alright. Back to the grind.
Peace, Love, and Land Drops
-UL
If you've noticed, TGZ is going through some updates and I've had to play catch-up. Sooo yeah...
Anyway, I have some hot and exciting news.
We have a few new team members to TGZ, and I'm excited about it.
I'd like to introduce web design extraordinaire Dark Murban, who will be doing a lot of the behind-the-scenes stuff that I mostly find lost in HTML. But he's befriended the language of the computers, and is actually pretty good at talking in it too.
Dark will be responsible for all the fancy pants Internet magic that is to come to TGZ. So get excited. He's got some sweet ideas for the site.
Also, a wonderful writer and EDH enthusiast by the name of Venser's Journalist will be sharing his thoughts with us on deck builds and other Magic-related news as it pertains to our favorite kitchen table game.
You can look forward to VJ's first article on TGZ soon.
Alright. Back to the grind.
Peace, Love, and Land Drops
-UL
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