Glowing Ranks: Red Legends

Happy Weekend Again Zoners!

Continuing with our on-going Glowing Ranks segment, today's topic is Red Legends.

Because the card advantage is basically non-existent when we compare it to the other "slices" in Magic's color pie, Red has been historically the "least competitive" mono-color.

Although I don't disagree with the popular opinion, I can tell you that Red decks still have a lot to offer the general metagame, forcing tempo and pressure even without the taboo. When up against the amalgam of 20 years of Magic's most overpowered, it's a daunting task to risk managers and control players who feel the need to play the format with better support.

What draws me to the red decks I've played is both the inherent challenge of overcoming better designs and flipping the script on the players who are more Wrath-inclined. By going all-in, dedicating a majority of your deck to aggressive combos, most of the best decks have success in creating an early pressure, which forms chaos, which opens up the game to players making mistakes. And if you play them with tempo, it can both render control-heavy decks completely useless and set you up on a path to victory.

Coupled with the latest in R&D, there's really never been a better time to invest in the Red sector, and I'll show you why.

Honorable Mentions

Starke of Rath

Starke is my latest red deck as a result of my Old Border/New Border "Double Rainbow" Mono-colored project. While not good by himself (hence why he didn't crack the Top 5, and probably not even a top 10), he's worth mentioning in relation to the upward trend.

The first Commander product is what gave Starke an actual chance at the table, as he inherited a very lonely road named Homeward Path. Add an Expedition Map, and now you have two copies, giving us a "free" slot in our mana base and a real slot which could also provide design for a nice set of nonbasics, which does come in handy.

As mentioned in the Better Deckbuilding article, the trick with Starke is to assemble a removal engine with an indestructible artifact, and a way to copy his ability, whether it be the beat-me-over-the-head Rings of Brighthearth, or an untap effect like Umbral Mantle. Using the Stack, your first target is the indestructible item, and then whatever thing your opponent has, making sure Starke never leaves.

The amount of half-decent cards that can enable Starke and aid in building an offensive engine give this deck a very nice little control package that gives you enough time to find other heinous combos you'd want to play with Rings, or perhaps you just take the route I did and load it up with Dragons for the later stages. Overall, it's a neat deck with cool tricks that gives you a chance, which, if you're any good, is really all you'll need.

Squee, Goblin Nabob

This is a deck I've heard about for a long time, and a new design in my playgroup.

Often, most of the red card draw spells aren't going to give you an advantage, because they take cards away. With Squee as your Commander, these problems can be lessened, and a Red engine deck can begin to emerge.

Unlike Starke, Squee is probably the most travelled commander you'll see. The card will go to the graveyard, the player's hand, and the battlefield more than several times throughout the course of the game, and it is both very difficult to stop, and inefficient to waste single removal spells on. He'll basically do whatever you want, whenever, from the too-easy Skullclamp, to the



5. Ashling, the Pilgrim

When I first started this blog a couple years ago, one of the big gimmicky decks was the self-explanatory Ashling + 99 Mountains design.

The idea behind this deck, and most "Aggro" red decks in the format is that they're going to try and find a nice combination of combat damage and burn to finish an opponent off. Ashling is pretty successful in this way, considering that she has the ability to do two things at once: Control the board and deal damage to everyone and everything.

What limits her from beating out the other decks in the list is how many times you're going to have to cast her in a given game. Hence the Mountains moniker and joke for this deck. You have to commit to a serious amount of lands, but it's worth it. There are very few other cards you'll want to play that are as good as just laying down Mountain, and at a certain point, all you'll need to have is one big combat dealing 6-10 damage to make sure you're ahead. Of course, getting a Loxodon Warhammer or Basilisk Collar will help too.

4. Heartless Hidetsugu

In terms of using Warhammer and Collar to combo with damage, HH is just superior. The ratio of damage-to-CMC is not only a signficantly better return on investment compared to Ashling, but it's also a lot easier to set up. While Ashling comes out earlier, it will still take turns to set up the bomb, whereas HH sets up proactively and is the last part of your combo to come to the party.

One of the other things about HH is that he matches up significantly better with decks using life gain strategies, effectively halving the big boppers like Beacon of Immortality, and stopping the slow-rolling Oloro deck from staying ahead in the game, and therefore keeping the deck from its big Lim-Dul's Vault or Ad Nauseam.

HH also makes burn spells better, as he magnifies them exponentially throughout the course of the game. Two activations of HH can effectively put you in a position where one 4 power dude and a decent Fireball can finish an opponent, potentially more than one.

3. Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker

HH and Kiki-Jiki are really "even," I think, but for the purposes of this list, Kiki wins. Though significantly less consistent than Heartless Hidetsugu, the better combos in this deck are better than the things that HH can do in a 1v1 situation. In the HH/Kiki matchup, I also think Kiki wins due to the innate creature-based design and the fact that HH's best plays can be dealt with effectively in mono-red.

Against most other decks, I think HH is going to hold up better on the whole, as Kiki-Jiki, even if you don't go infinite, brings a stigma to the table that people might not like. He's going to be a lot harder of a commander to stick at the table than HH, even if HH brings more devastation.

2. Purphoros, God of the Forge

The new God on the block has really come out and made quite an impression on the greater metagame. Being a no-nonsense, tough-to-remove ETB and Combat Damage machine, the God of the Forge is a formidable Aggro deck.

One of the reasons for Purfy's vastly superior success when compared to the other gods is the fact that the card is generally not going to be a creature if you're playing it right. Unlike his fellow com-Pantheons, Purph's strength lies in a combination of him, haste outlets, and spells/permanents that spit out copious amounts of tokens. The deck's success is attributed mostly to the noncombat damage each opponent takes when he comes into play, which avoids people playing their own chump blockers while you create your own.

It is very similar HH and Ashling in this respect, the big differences being resilience and like Kiki-Jiki, it's dedication to token copies for ETB value. This blend is really a potent recipe for face-smashers everywhere.

1. Norin the Wary

Despite the God's magnanimous presence, he still pales in comparison to the effect of the Norin deck. Together, the two are also a pretty unbeatable 2 damage every turn.

What makes Norin so good is his ability to get everyone's best creatures via Confusion in the Ranks or Pandemonium, while basically dodging every relevant removal spell.

The deck is surely one of the more inconsistent decks without reliable tutelage for the key combo pieces, but it's nothing a Crystal Ball and Scroll Rack and Memory Jar and a few Wheel Effects can't find. In the meantime, this deck can also bide time with Genesis Chamber and Kiki-Jiki, as most of the better cards in Red fit right into this deck without too much tinkering.

The result is a map of various routes to chaos, which becomes a powerful ally for the Norin deck and a hard thing for an opponent to have to play against when they're already playing against another person.

That's all we have for today. Do you like these ranks? Do you disagree? Did I miss something? Lemme know in the comments below.
-UL

Conspiracy: The Legends

Heya Zoners!

There's a new non-Standard set ready to release this Friday. While it may be more for the Cubers, there's a few new Legendary Creatures on the landscape, which means Wizards didn't totally forget us, which means we have tech to talk about.

THE OLD

We'll begin by recapping unheard opinions on nonsense that already exists.

I have to say, I'm glad they went with the invasion artwork. This card is kind of a running joke in my metagame, because most of the players who play this have the promo with the world's most horrible foiling.

Perhaps there's now a good way to find a cheap copy of her so we don't have to avert our eyes.

While Phage has seen significant printing in both borders, this is something I'm not crazy about, but in more of an understanding mood.

Phage seems fun in a cube format, and I enjoy the artwork and things that go along with her.

This artwork feels a little like a "digitally remastered" version, for some reason. Maybe it is. Everything looks smoother and sleeker. Phage in Blu-Ray. In Stores June 6th.

My love for HH is well-documented here, and it remains one of my favorite decks.

Still, I don't see the cube value of this card. After spending serious time drafting and picking out cards, HH is put into this Cube pool to make the game go faster?

In my experience with Cube and FNM Draft formats, I understand how it relates to the latter. In cube though, there are a lot of players with 20 life. In Commander, HH's first ability trigger is a big chunk, but it keeps people in the game. The second hit is brutal.

I'm not saying it's wrong to put this card in cube, or that it's unwelcome- I just don't get why you would versus other choices. Especially when the set's mechanics seem to be giving off a more political vibe. From my experience playing HH, he is the equivalent of the Honey Badger (The Meme, not Tyrann Mathieu). He just doesn't give a shit. Everyone takes pain equally, and through all the hurting, you've got to figure out how to stay alive.

On a Stack episode some time ago, I tore this card apart. I like Terese Nielsen, but I don't like this art. It looks like the kind of artwork people have on rugs that they hang on their walls. Not that there is anything wrong with this, if it looks good. Beauty is never in the eyes of this beholder. I have a completely different perspective on this altogether.

However, my assessment of what Basandra does hasn't changed. She's a legend that came out before we started blogging here, so I'll give you a couple pennies worth of knowledge you probably already know.

This card is poorly designed. I continue to die a little inside every time I have to attempt to understand why Wizards prints a card in these colors that with the most counter-intuitive rules text of all time. Were this Time Spiral, I might get it. That was the point in time which Wizards could wear the proverbial "Do-Whatever-I-Want-And-Get-Away-With-It" Badge, and that time has long expired. Were they to have announced another Spiral-esque block in the Fall, I might've even given them a pass too.

But I really can't stand this card. It's just so bad, it's hard for me to look at. I encourage you all to do the same. Just look away, kids.

Last of the old business, we have Edric.

Case you don't know, this deck is good. This card is good. The deck is aggressive. It's enough to confuse most players, even good ones, into thinking that they shouldn't attack someone with an army of Elves or 1-drops on the board by Turn 5.

What you have to understand about Edric is that when you play against this deck, everything you know is wrong. Welcome to Crazy World, the place where you don't want to draw cards, and there's someone attacking you with a bunch of little guys for lethal before turn 10 with counterspell backup.

There's a reason it's banned in 1v1. Edric's pure value there, and that's apparently too unfair for most people.

THE NEW

 Let's start with Brago, the King of Blink.

While he may be one color short of Roon of the Hidden Realm, the dedication to blink colors and no-nonsense artwork courtesy of Karla Ortiz means those seeking ETB value not have to have a goofy kid's show character at the helm.

Not that there's anything wrong with this- I play silly decks all the time. Still, sometimes being a better player means respecting yourself, so that others respect you. If you're a believer in stuff like this, then the King Eternal is the Blink Deck Commander for you.

Next up is Selvala, sporting some goofy conquistador garb and and equally strange mechanic. A little too "Pirates of the Caribbean" and Group Hug for me.

What interests me about this card is the way the rules work here. What happens if Omen Machine is in play? What about activating this on an opponent's turn with Spirit of the Labyrinth in play? Where does the card go?

Though I'm not into this card, being a 2/4 for three is pretty appealing. We're seeing this a lot more, and it's clearly a home run in Standard right now. I guess if you love Courser of Kruphix, this is the Commander for you.

If this card was a little more selfish, and by selfish, I mean, wasn't part of the silly Parley mechanic where everyone draws a card, I could really get behind it. The life gain and mana in multiplayer matchups seems like a huge boost. I wouldn't recommend bringing this strangely gender-ambiguous character to the table in 1v1 though.

It's as clear to me as it is to everyone else that Marchesa is the gem of the Legends in this set.

Dethrone as a mechanic is slightly more political than I'd like it to be, but is totally manageable with access to Black. The key will be to get liberal with Ad Nauseam and Necropotence.

What's silly about this card being printed is that she already has a great dance partner in Black Mike (AKA Mikaeus, the Unhallowed), which gives this deck great value and design space.

My only real criticism of the card is that I think it does "too much." Other than that, I really love it. Matt Stewart's vision of Marchesa is stunning in every sense- colors, form, details. I'm not sure how any of her abilities make her a Wizard (The ability and artwork SCREAM Human Advisor), but this is going to be a hit, and going to be at tables.

With Grenzo, we have another hit. If Wizards places their pegs right, they might actually be sinking my Battleship today.

I'm surprised the bottom-of-library-to-graveyard mechanic hasn't taken off. In Innistrad, we got the ever flavorful Cellar Door, which was sweet, but something the world seems to have forgotten.

What I'm hoping for with Grenzo is that there will be more of these kinds of cards, and they will be good. Grenzo has a very interesting set of abilities that have been put together, and I'm excited to see what comes of it.

With an X cost in his identity, and a non 0/0 P/T, Grenzo's flexibility makes him aggressive like a Goblin while also giving him the potential to be big, like his Rakdos counterparts.

Combined with other seldomly used tricks like Reito Lantern, Grenzo really feels like a fun deck for the table. Definitely the one I'm most likely to play out of the set.

Last but not least, we have the world's most Italian Magic Card of all-time. Muzzio!

I hope more people will be saying his name than Arcum's soon. Although he's definitely underpowered in comparison, the lone mono-colored legend is basically giving us a look that says "Break Me."

Now, I don't think it's supposed to, but this artwork makes me laugh. It's so clear that Muzzio's da Vinci inspired by the eccentricities and inventions in the background it hurts. I'm not sure what he's wearing though. Looks like he bought clothes off the Aladdin mannequin at Disney. I guess he really wants to show us a whole new world.

What are your thoughts on Conspiracy? What cards are you interested in? Let us know in the comments down below.
Pass.
-UL

The Stack #24- C-C-C-C-Combo!

Well hello there Zoners!

It's another Saturday here at TGZ as we wrap up the first week of our second year with some of our favorite combos and synergies.

Let's Get To It! THIS IS THE STACK!


UNCLE LANDDROPS' PICK 

Uncle Landdrops-  THUMBS UP
I've been having fun and wrecking face with HH for the better part of this year, which I now refer to as the "Year of the Ogre."

There are a bunch of synergies I've talked about here on the blog, but once haste is on the table, here are a quick run-down of his greatest hits:

-Glacial Chasm
-Basilisk Collar/Loxodon Warhammer
-Thousand-Year Elixir

Overall, comboing with HH is sweet. The deck itself has inspired not only heavy changes in decision-making within my playgroup, but also card-choices. Folks are packing more Tec Edge and playing at a faster tempo than ever these days, and it's all because of one silly little Glacial Chasm and a couple of Shiva-Blasts (What I call tapping him). At the same time, he's welcomed because he also speeds up games. Overall, I have a lot of fun with this deck, which is something I never thought I'd say this time last year about rocking mono-Red.


Johnny Confidant- THUMBS UP
I have him listed in my Mono Red for massive life loss and gain (with equipments). I was thinking about also putting him into my Nicol Bolas deck for a solid Nuke. I wish there were more Legendary Red creatures like this that could make playing mono red more possible.

Grandpa Growth- THUMBS UP
I like the card. I like the deck. It fits some peoples definition of fun. It fits some people definition of douchebaggery. That sounds like a good card to me. Powerful, polarizing, and it happens to be in one of my favorite sets of all time. Competitve in Commander? Perhaps not, but as previously noted, it speeds up games.

Venser's Journalist- THUMBS UP (YOU HEARTLESS @*&#$!%)
The Hidetsugu is truly a combo to reckon with, especially if you can put haste on this guy. My combo with him would probably involve Swiftfoot boots and an Icy Manipulator, just so that the Red Sun's Zenith can win the game for only a few mana. He's a tough card to deal with and even if he isn't hasted in some way or the combo isn't pulled off completely, he's a huge threat that will obliterate you in no time.

VENSER'S JOURNALIST'S PICK

Venser's Journalist- THUMBS UP
My 3rd favorite artifact, the Closet really goes well with any creature with an ETB effect. Up to now, I've enjoyed using this with:

-Sunblast Angel
-Stonehorn Dignitary
-Vendilion Clique
-Wall of Omens
-Solemn Simulacrum

I know I am not alone in my love for this card, and the Closet has proven, at times, to be a better ally than even Sojourner Truth himself (I'm not talking about the famous abolitionist) since artifacts cannot be attacked (except by the occasional Naturalize). Who doesn't like free Cloudshifts in Magic, since it leaves my mana open and more often than not takes care of things I would have had to spend mana on t'were not for this fanciful little artifact.

Johnny Confidant- THUMBS DOWN
When I first started playing EDH I tried to get this card in every deck I could. It worked great in my Merieke Esper and my first deck with Riku, but for Vela, Animar and Sigarda not so much. This was a good learning experience for me as I honed in on the right cards for the right deck.

While I enjoyed the Closet (?) at first it turned out to be slower than other similar effects so it slowly got weeded out of my decks. This card was useful to me in the past, but I rarely use it now.

Uncle Landdrops- THUMBS UP
This is a great engine style card. I did a Card Corner on this a while ago, so I won't talk it up a lot more, but it's good. Ideally, the Closet really wants most of your deck to be fortified with ETB dudes to create a solid engine.

One of the cool tricks I like with the closet is resetting creatures with +1/+1 counters. Among these, Spike Weaver is the most annoying. Worst case, it provides you with some pseudo-Vigilance. 


Grandpa Growth- THUMBS DOWN
I just cast this card for the first time a few days ago. In my friend's "cube", I had put together quite a brew including GrizzlyBizzly, Yosei, Quicksilver Amulet, Solemn, Keiga, and several other random synergies. It is very close to being the jankiest deck I have ever put together in any format. I was embarrassed. The designer of the cube should be embarrassed, the designer of this card should be embarrased; more importantly: don't play this.

GRANDPA GROWTH'S PICK

Grandpa Growth-THUMBS UP
It may end in Mindslaver or a Disk/Lattice/Forge Lock, but it really starts with Glissa and Executioner's Capsule. Controlling the board with capsule and their hand with Necrogen Spellbomb. Punishing Fire taught us an important lesson about mana sinks. They can be very bad and still be ridiculously good. Thankfully, this rinse and repeat combo is not bad.

Of all of my decks, Glissa is my favorite and the one that has lasted the longest. I hardly change the list at all because is just so tight and so challenging to play. The mental struggle of getting max value and keeping track of all the little interactions every turn keeps me in top mental shape. If you aren't into hyper-competitive tier one combat like I am, complicated decks like this are a cool way to step up your technical game without amping up the power level.

Johnny Confidant- THUMBS UP
My Fiance has a glissa deck that turned into a Jarad deck, but during the Glissa days she ran this little combo. Its especially funny when your watching a semi-new magic player realize that the kill spell is reusable the entire time her general was out.

My favorite part of this combo is that if you can cast Glissa, you can repeat this little combo (assuming one of your three lands is a two,three, or five color land). Between Glissa herself and this capsule you've got an uphill battle if your facing her,.

Venser's Journalist- THUMBS UP
Glissa is one bad Zombie Elf (the only one that matters, if you ask me) and the number of tricks you can pull with her is out the roof. I think she makes little eggs like Horizon Spellbomb and the aforementioned Executioner's Capsule that much more insane. From personal experience, she's hard to deal with once the baubles start popping off, but she's not OP to the point of unfairness; Arrest will do her in, as will any type of graveyard purge (which slows her down more than anything, but is better than your opponent getting back his/her artifacts). This is one combo that gets the VJ stamp of Classy...



Tell them, Bruce...

Uncle Landdrops- THUMBS UP
I've talked about my Dollar General version of this deck a lot, and I love it too. It's a strong archetype focused heavily on what wins EDH games- card advantage.

GG and I have both called this an "Engine" style deck, but that's because basically everything is a combo in here. Whether it's a silly version of Glissa with all the cheap Eggs I can cram, or GG's Disk Fest, there's a lot that can be done, and it makes for a real tough matchup most of the time.


JOHNNY CONFIDANT'S PICK

Johnny Confidant-  THUMBS DOWN
I'm sure at one point you have encountered this guy with some infinite Persist creature or Triskellion. Needless to say this guy is just nuts 90% of the time.

I rarely see this guy included in a deck for use for anything other than Persist abuse or the infinite combo because the temptation is too powerful to resist. Look at him. Intimidate, human protection and a field of Undying creatures?

I am not personally fond of infinite combos due to the feeling that they cheat a win and this guy was my first experience.

Uncle Landdrops- THUMBS UP
In my mind, Black Mike is merely an unfortunate victim of people and their inability to play him without Triskelion.

When you get past that, there's a lot to like about this card. For starters, I'm a huge fan of the art. The fact that he's got a before and after makes it feel like a Time Spiral card, except we get the raw beauty of the Zombie Apocalypse. I like his design too. The contrasting flavor of his two iterations is appealing to me.

As far as playability is concerned, I'd rather save my energy on more pressing cards like Avacyn, which is just too dumb with the Legend rule not being the Legend rule anymore. Black Mike's broken-ness and busted-ness is only going to happen when we aren't vigilant with graveyard hate or removal. To pull his combos off takes multiple turns usually. I'm just not ready to let his infinite combo define him. He creates a lot of other great interactions, and he can go on the damage plan. It's just a cool card.

Grandpa Growth - THUMBS UP
Strangely enough, this is the only real combo card on the stack. I like how no matter how many times you read this card, it always seems like there is a new line of text you forgot about. It just does so much stuff. It is powerful, versatile, cost effective, and can play as a game-ender threat, an anthem, or a combo piece. It wasn't a big surprise to see this card skyrocket to popularity in the format. I am pretty confident in saying that this is the premier Mono Black general in circles where Braids isn't accepted. It has even made brief appearances in my Glissa deck along side Tooth and Nail and Defense of the Heart.


Venser's Journalist- THUMBS DOWN
I personally find this card appalling out of the sheer fact that I prefer Mikaeus, the Lunarch. Infinite tap, creature buff combos. The Unhallowed is the zombie excuse for a combo card. Plus, undying is unnecessary if you're playing your cards right.

-UL and TGZ Gang.

UL's Better Deckbuilding: Heartless Hidetsugu

Hey Zoners-

Sorry about the long-delayed postings. Hopefully, today's lengthy deck primer will remedy your EDH fix.

The past couple weeks I've been toying around with Hidetsugu, who's a pimp, because this art I found suggests as much.

In reality, the deck hasn't been so good to me. Perhaps because I'm not a traditional red player. It takes a completely different side of the brain to find the road map through the chaos- to take bigger risks with the top of the library.

This isn't because the deck is inconsistent- just hard to play because you're in topdeck mode from the beginning of the game, which is a result of trying to make it fast.
This deck is pretty similar to the Ashling and 99 Mountains deck in that regard, because both are trying to go downhill with life totals.

The big difference though is that Ashling, as the gimmicky name of the deck both disguises and suggests, doesn't really need as many resources to do its damage.
 
In true red deck fashion, HH has a pretty obvious strategy:

1. Find Haste Outlet
2. Keep Life Totals Close
3. Drop Hidetsugu
4. Shiva-Blast!

Artifacts
1    Armillary Sphere
1    Basilisk Collar
1    Basalt Monolith
1    Darksteel Ingot
1    Duplicant
1    Elixir of Immortality
1    Expedition Map
1    Extraplanar Lens
1    Grim Monolith
1    Lightning Greaves
1    Loxodon Warhammer
1    Mind Stone
1    Oblivion Stone
1    Ring of Valkas
1    Sculpting Steel
1    Sensei's Divining Top
1    Sol Ring
1    Swiftfoot Boots
1    Temple Bell
1    Thousand-Year Elixir
1    Trading Post
1    Venser's Journal



Creatures
1    Godo, Bandit Warlord
1    Hellrider
1    Inferno Titan
1    Jaya Ballard, Task Mage
1    Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
1    Lightning Mauler
1    Siege-Gang Commander
1    Solemn Simulacrum
1    Stigma Lasher
1    Stingscourger
1    Thundermaw Hellkite
1    Vexing Devil
1    Zealous Conscripts

Enchantment
1    Fervor
1    Mark of Fury 

Instant
1    Chaos Warp
1    Comet Storm
1    Dead/Gone
1    Mages' Contest
1    Molten Influence
1    Parallectric Feedback
1    Price of Progress
1    Reiterate
1    Reverberate
1    Seething Song
1    Shattering Pulse
1    Skullcrack
1    Soul's Fire

Land
1    Bloodstained Mire
1    Evolving Wilds
1    Glacial Chasm
1    Kher Keep
1    Mikokoro, Center of the Sea
31  Mountain
1    Shivan Gorge
1    Temple of the False God
1    Terrain Generator
1    Terramorphic Expanse 

Planeswalker
1    Chandra Ablaze
1    Chandra, the Firebrand
1    Koth of the Hammer  

Sorcery
1    Acidic Soil
1    Browbeat
1    Faithless Looting
1    Heat Shimmer
1    Red Sun's Zenith
1    Wheel of Fortune 

I've mentioned a few of the All-Stars, but there are a few here that have been pretty crucial to deck success.

 Thousand-Year Elixir has been one of my favorite cards in this deck. With the elixir in play, I can double blast people with Hidetsugu on Turn 6.

The Elixir also has pretty great synergy with Kiki-Jiki and Jaya, in terms of untapping.  At worst it's a way to have vigilance.






 


Venser's Journal has actually been a bit of a surprise. I was looking through my binder for something to help me stay alive, and I decided to give it a whirl.


It doesn't seem like much, but getting 4 life a turn nets me 2 extra life after a Shiva-Blast, which is still pretty good. I'm probably never gonna have more than 7 cards in hand, but if I do what a bonus.

This card might come out for something a little more useful like Druidic Satchel, but it's saved my life a couple times already.

Stigma Lasher was in this deck's past life as Fumiko, and I saw no reason to take it out. It's the only way I can keep opponents from gaining life, but it's pretty good to have in the early game. One of the few cheap red guys I've found useful- particularly in this deck.












This deck has come a long way in two weeks, and therefore I've made a whole lot of cuts.

And I'm still not done.

Here's a list of a bunch of stuff that I cut so far.

Magus of the Moon
Blasphemous Act
Rings of Brighthearth
Mad Prophet
Grim Lavamancer
Lich's Mirror
Hoarding Dragon
Leyline of Punishment
Ashling the Extinguisher
Aether Membrane
Lightning Bolt
Pulse of the Forge
Volcanic Fallout
Cinder Cloud
Fissure
Aftershock
Chandra Nalaar
Chain Reaction
Skullclamp
General's Regalia

A majority of the cuts have resulted as part of an effort to make the deck a turn or two faster.
I realized as a result of the narrow mana curve that I need to maximize certain turns as part of a more tempo, opportunistic approach.

Anyway, it's still a work in progress- but it's fun, quick, makes games interesting, and super-sad when you lose the close ones. That's how you know it's good. 60% of the time, it doesn't work every time. 

What keeps me going though is the idea of Shiva-Blasting on the rare occasion that I do win.

Alright. Enough goofy humor.

Peace, Love, Land Drops.

-UL