Reviewing 2013 Part 1: The Hits

Happy Winter holiday fest Zoners! Now that the festivities are in full swing it is time to take a look back at the year that has passed us by. Yes, the time has come for us to reflect, quietly or otherwise, on the things that we have done...and we here at the General Zone have done some serious growing. When I signed up, we were looking at a couple of hundred views. Now, I ain't typically in the blogging business, but if you start there and work your way up into the tens of thousands after a year and a half then you just might be on to something. I am proud to be here as a part of it! So in honor of that I am going to be looking at some of my proud moments from the set reviews in 2013. If you haven't had a chance to check them out, use all of the sweeet holiday free time to take a look back through the archive; look out for the Set Review tag. If you were hoping for the part where I eat twelve helpings of humble pie, skip ahead to next week where I will be taking a look at my biggest misses!

So let's take a look at what I did right, starting with the recent and rolling it all the way back to 2012.

So I am going to start off a bit easy here. This wasn't a walk off home run, but it was sure close. I was quite sure Unexpectedly Absent was going to be the secret Legacy plant from Commander 2013, and it did manage to see some one-off sideboard play, but it seems White isn't the color you want your new Legacy tech to be; this year we want Blue presents and we aren't accepting substitutes. True-Name jumped straight into Legacy Delver decks and put up results immediately. In Commander it has done a ton of work as well. I guess I'll have to settle for saying it was the second best card in the set.

I have been right occasionally, and about this one I definitely was. This card is sick like cancer and it is seeing plenty of play so I guess I have that going for me (is that joke inappropriate, even among the tristing sewer pipes of internet commentary?). I gushed plenty about this card here on the blog and do so to just about everyone that I see playing it, so let's get on to the gettin' on.



I sort of hit the nail on this one. I believe my exact words were, 'the creatures you control could have a ham sandwich and it would still be good' or something like that. In my mind, this is really only a little bit of an under estimation considering I would take either of these abilities on a card. Again though, I did make a bold claim that Bow of Nylea was better than this by a substantial margin. I was probably wrong about that being true, but this is a heck of a card.



I made some tentative comparisons here to some pretty good cards. Gaea's Cradle? Cabal Coffers? In Commander this isn't quite as much of a show stopper, but if Standard is any indicator devotion is going to be a big thing in multiple formats. So far, we have only seen one set out of this block and it has already shaken up a lot. I excited to see how much more this card can achieve with some more support.




So in my initial review I said that this card was just down right hogwash. And it turns out that that is actually true! One thing I did manage to leave out in my original discussion was that horrible, horrible flavor text. This is one card that may actually be worse than basic Mountain, even in multiples.



Possibly my favorite hit of the year. I have been waving the red flag on this little number since day one. It is an absolute house. It is such a monstrous beating to counter a Reanimate and gain 15+ life in the process. That is being rather conservative as well...This card can gain silly amounts of life. This is the only card that I am considering cutting from my Pauper Cube because it is just too strong. It can't be beat. Every time someone else casts this card against me, in any format, I just instantly want to throw up. Here on TGZ we have been playing up Crypt Incursion for a while. If you aren't on the bandwagon yet...well it is about gosh darn time you dug your head out of the sand and sat it squarely back on your shoulders.




Ugh...I just...don't even want to. I like being right, but not when it means something like this. Have you played against this card? It is so vicious, so conniving that I just can't bring myself to main deck it. This is it. We found it. This is where I draw the line. Debt to the Deathless is just too darn mean. In the DGM set review I relayed a humorous anecdote about a gigantic Exsanguinate for seventeen. Well, just the other day a table of four players just scooped up their cards and left when this card resolved...FOR FIVE! That was it. Pour one out on the curb for your deathless homies. I felt like one of the statues in this art...just projectile vomiting blood onto my board. This ranks up there in my top ten for feel bad cards. Keeping company with Daze and Plow Under is only good in certain neighborhoods. No one should have to feel this bad playing a game of Magic.




This little guy went underrated for a good sixth months before I started seeing him around the tables. Even I was starting to second guess myself, but I held firm. Things first came to a head when I battled against UL's fabled Animar, Soul of the Elements deck. As it turns out, when your whole deck is creatures, you draw an extra card with Domri pretty often. At some point, this just turns into a chain gun, you load it up with a sufficiently sized Animar bullet and it just mows down everything but the front lawn.

It's funny, because in the GC set review I made a joke that getting to Domri's ultimate turned all your creatures into the Predator...and then a few months later all the Slivers became Predators. No? Nobody else finds that funny, I guess. I like to think that the creative team reads the blog.



In the Gatecrash Set Review I made the not-so-bold claim that this would either be completely snapped or completely useless. That isn't much of a prediction. What I got right about this card was that they shouldn't have printed it. When I said that things like this are bad for the game I meant it. Instant dominance in Legacy is an indicator to me that a card is just too dang strong...or free. And that is the problem here! This is way out of the park in power level and, as it turns out, is completely free. I agree that a certain amout of 'puzzle' cards should exist for people to try and break. People like combos. People like deckbuilding. I say let my people brew! You just have to be very careful because it takes a lot of foresight to understand what the effects will be if someone actually does solve the puzzle...

Well, so much for that. Those were the favorite true things I said about a Magic card in 2013. As I said, next week we will be taking another stroll down memory lane to check out my big whiffs! So I hope to see you all then. Make sure to leave a comment about your favorite cards from this year. Or maybe your favorite silly pun that I made. Who knows, we might just have some fun by accident.

-GG

The Stack #38- Planeswalker, Texas Ranger

Hey Zoners! GG here, today we have a stack about everyone's favorite card type: Planeswalkers.

Most of the discussion about pdubs centers around how powerful they are or what their place is in format X, blah blah blah. There are only a few Chuck Norris-level walkers, and we all know who they are, what they look like, and their undeniable loyalty.

Today, we're gonna talk about the Planeswalkers that don't get too much love on the regular. Maybe their PR guys are lazy, maybe they're super niche hipsters (cough Nissa Revane cough), but the gang's all here, and ready to sing for the common walkers of the multiverse. So let's get to it.

THIS IS THE STACK!!!

VENSER'S JOURNALIST'S PICK

Venser's Journalist- THUMBS DOWN
In Shards of Alara, Sarkhan Vol was a pretty cool dude. He beefed up and hastened your creatures, provided an Act of Treason engine, and could net you five dragons. In Zendikar block, he truly became mad, which to me is maddening.

Many humans tend to dislike what they cannot understand. And sadly, I am no exception to this generality, at least in this scenario. I am giving Sarkhan part deux a thumbs down because I don't understand this card at all. He has no way to increase his counters (unless you're doing some proliferating), his trade-creature-with-dragon move is quite baffling (unless you have a deck that runs on sacrifice), and his final dragon power move requires that you have a good number of dragons to begin with (once again, very deck specific).

In other words, when Wizards designed this card, they created something so niche that I have no way of seeing a deck that can utilize all three of his moves in a sensible fashion. And to me, a planeswalker should not have throw away moves; they are meant to be awesome and their abilities should reflect sensible design. I am accusing Wizards of committing the imitative fallacy on this one: just because Sarkhan went to the dark side doesn't mean his abilities should also take a turn for the worse.

Grandpa Growth- THUMBS UP
Shocker: I actually play this card in my Nicol Bolas no creature gimmick deck. With a moderate level of library manipulation you can continually {0} him for several turns, which is better than expected value for many planeswalkers. The lack of a true ultimate is somewhat annoying, but I have stolen games using this to essentially get in an extra hit with Nicol Bolas. Not a great card by any stretch of the imagination, but not everything is Jace TMS.

To address VJ's points: This card's design was heavily driven by flavor, rather than a delusion of constructed playability. The idea behind having no loyalty gaining ability and no ultimate help convey the theme that he is descending further into madness as he approaches his inevitable defeat, which comes at the hands of Jace and Chandra in the story. If I recall correctly, Nicol Bolas had mentally dominated Sarkhan and placed him at the Eye of Ugin to prevent anyone from releasing the Eldrazi, but in a seemingly random twist of fate Chandra defeats Sarkhan and accidently unleashed the Eldrazi only by using a Ghostfire spell, which shares the peculiar colorless nature of the world-eating spaghetti monsters. Now, cards like this don't always become fan favorites in terms of game play or nostalgia, but a certain amount of them are required to create some semblance of a coherent storyline within the magic world. It can be a bummer when you open up a mythic rare that is somewhat junky like this, but I opened more than one in Swiss drafts during the Rise of the Eldrazi limited season and was not at all displeased.

Johnny Confidant- THUMBS UP
R/B is not a color combination I've really played around with so I have not had the chance to play with this Sarkhan variant. I have however been on the wrong end of his {-4} and in a 5-color Scion deck that pumped out dragons like nobody's business let's just say that it really hurts.

I understand that he gets a lot of grief being the only planeswalker that does not add counters, but in EDH decks people tend to play recursion so going to the graveyard quickly isn't a big problem. Also his high starting loyalty works well with Doubling Season.

Uncle Landdrops-  THUMBS UP
GG addresses most of VJ's issues with this card. I too have played this card in a couple different decks, and I liked it a lot. I was skeptical the first time I played him, but discovered his abilities are a lot more useful than advertised. Hitting lands is basically a free card in a tight spot and transforming Eldrazi Spawn into 5/5's was one of the best values I ever got out of ability 2. Is it challenging to build around? Sort of. But Dragons are a bigger part of the EDH architecture, so it's really not much more of a stretch if you're already making a commitment to tribal or, as GG does, to the Supreme Overlord of Evil in his creatureless brew.

GRANDPA GROWTH'S PICK

Grandpa Growth- THUMBS DOWN
I see a lot of this in Sharuum decks and cannot recommend that people play it, but my story about this card isn't about Commander. I was on a leave of absence during the Scars of Mirrodin/Mirrodin Besieged limited environment and I used up most of my free time playing drafts on MTGO. I racked up a ton of ELO points playing this format. I started off very modestly too; I promised myself I wouldn't go bankrupt playing Modo, but luckily I went for more than a month of free drafting through a combination of opening up a half dozen or so copies of this card, which at the time of its release was trading for about 40 tickets, and crushing cues (a related phenomenon). I am 100% sure I have won more Scars drafts than I have drafts of my own Pauper cube....and yes Dinosaurs was my favorite archetype, thanks for asking.

I translated that immense pile of packs and tickets into online Pauper decks and that was a genius decision because Pauper is awesome and if I hadn't been the master of lucking out opening packs I never would have found that out. I even opened a paper copy of this which I traded for a Karakas, you can check the current prices of these two cards to determine whether or not that was a sound financial decision.

Johnny Confidant- THUMBS DOWN
Worse in comparison with his first version. Honestly I don't see how mixing in Exsanguinate, lead the stampede, and Animate Artifact works with artifact flavor, but whatever makes evil Tezzi happy I guess.

Venser's Journalist- THUMBS UP
I enjoy seeing this card in action, though I admit I prefer Tezzeret the Seeker. I think with Tezz 2, the abilities are a bit more offensive, and he can lend a great deal of help to people with artifact heavy decks that are low in the creature department.

The card has its limitations. Any time you're forced to put cards on the bottom of your library, there is always the chance you'll tuck away some instant or sorcery that could have been a huge advantage. However, that doesn't make him any less useful in a Sharuum deck. Maybe not the best option, but still a good option.

Uncle Landdrops- THUMBS DOWN
I'm not a big fan of the abilities here. I agree with GG, in that it's a card people play for fashion not function in Commander. I don't entirely dislike this card, but when there isn't even the tiniest glimmer of value, or even synergy/redundancy with other cards, I have no incentive to even try it out. And I'm game for a lot of different sketchy cards.

JOHNNY CONFIDANT'S PICK

Johnny Confidant-  THUMBS UP
Call me a fanboy, a follower, or a conformist, but I'm a fan of Party Jace.

Of his variants I think this has to be the least threatening of them all and most fun. I mean, whats not to like? Everyone gets card draw for +2 and it costs 1 to be selfish. Don't look at his -10, it's no mind sculpt. Every time I see him I get happy for card draw!

I've collected all of the Jace's cept for this one. For some reason I cannot get my hands on one via trade. The reason I must trade for him is to complete the four basic ways of acquiring cards: trade, buy, open, and gift. I bought Architect of Thought, opened Memory Adept, and was gifted Mind Sculptor (FTV:20), so all I got left is trade!

Uncle Landdrops- THUMBS UP
I've played this card, and love it. I actually pulled one of these in an m10 half-booster pack when I first started playing. I'm not really attached to the obsession that has happened ever since he became more than Buddy Jace here, but I do see the appeal of Mind Sculpting. Even Sub Sculpting.

Grandpa Growth - THUMBS DOWN
I have played this, but don't recommend playing it. I have been on a crusade for a couple years now to try and convince the world that this card is just straight up worse than Divination. I will explain:

In competitive games, close games, Divination doesn't do anything to stabilize the board so you get to draw your two cards, but you usually end up taking another hit that turn. Jace comes down and draws you a card and then gets attacked. So in actuality here are our two options: Draw two cards and lose some life OR draw one card and not lose life. In the physical universe that I occupy drawing more cards is better than drawing less cards basically anyway you slice it and Jace B just doesn't draw you enough cards. Which, when you consider the fact that it literally doesn't do anything else means you don't really want to play this. Compulsive Research will draw you more cards. Thirst For Knowledge is an instant. Brainstorm exists. Please stop; if not for me then do it for yourself. To address the inevitable counterpoint: "Having the planeswalker is better on an empty board." A ham sandwich looks good on an empty table too. That doesn't make ham sandwich better than steak tartare.


Venser's Journalist- THUMBS UP
I'll agree he is the least threatening Jace, but for my uses, he's also the shortest lived. Despite people loving to draw cards, not everyone in my playgroup is so convinced that Jace should stick around long, so his -1 ability is what I use more of. Either way, I'd have only gotten three turns of Jace B on the field.

Still, much better than Architect of Thought in my books!


UNCLE LANDDROPS' PICK 

El-speth. Oh-Ah-Ah!
Fighter of the Hydra, Oh-Ah-Ah!
Champion of the Sun...

Uncle Landdrops- THUMBS UP
I haven't activated her ultimate yet, but this Champion of the Sun is truly a master of karate and friendship for everyone. My Lin Sivvi deck is home to a host of Rebel weenies that reap huge amounts of value off her abilities, which scale well in multiplayer. In fact, it almost ensures Elspeth has at least one turn to survive, which is crazy when you consider most P-Dubs get hated off the table almost immediately, regardless of how many players are in the game.

Johnny Confidant- THUMBS UP
(Always Sunny reference received) I've been impressed with this version of Elsepth. Most planeswalkers have a survival ability like burn, power reduction, or deathtouch. Elspeth, "the third time around" creates 3 defenders that (for commander especially) can survive every turn while you work your way to that delicious emblem.

I love Planeswalkers that have synergy within themselves. Creating creatures that want to be given flying and +2/+2. And I love her Intrepid Hero inspired {-3}. She's the complete package in my eyes, protection, powerful ultimate, and threat removal.

Grandpa Growth- THUMBS UP
I haven't maindecked this anywhere yet. It is hot tech, and I am on board, but I haven't been blown away. It occupies a very similar spot as Martial Coup. It is usually cheaper too, which is nice, but the tokens come in increments. It isn't strange for this to make more tokens than a big Coup, but they don't all get to immediately the next turn so the follow-up beatdowns are less likely to get a kill. I am sure White decks want this, but it is a replaceable piece of the metagame puzzle.

Venser's Journalist- THUMBS UP
The thing about Elspeth is that there isn't really a bad version of her. Granted the Scars of Mirrodin Elspeth is nowhere near the awesomeness of Knight-Errant, gaining life and sweeping the board is pretty awesome.

With Elspeth Sun's Champion, I feel like Wizards only amped up her playability, because now she provides a great token generator and slays the monstrous. The emblem is really more of a bonus feature anyhow, because her first two abilities are rock solid as is.

Interestingly enough, each version has progressively tacked on 1 to the CMC... MTG Inflation?

That's all we got for today.

Until next time, remember that there's no situation a good roundhouse kick can't fix.

-UL/GG/VJ/JC

UL's Six Stat Corrections of 2013

Some people don't like to admit it, but opinions change. Mistakes get made. Though most days I'm only man enough to demonstrate the ones that Wizards makes or something the Commander culture does, today it's my turn to show you some of mine.

Throughout the year I make some bold predictions here and in the real when sets come out. Sometimes the cards turn out better than I expect. Sometimes it's worse.

Most of the cards I talk about today will be me formally admitting which cards I got wrong, how much I got it wrong, and the new opinion I've formed since.

So prepare yourselves. I might be saying I'm sorry a lot, but it's important to know I'm human, not just a disembodied voice on a blog at the bowels of the Interwebz.

So let's get started.

6. Hammer of Purphoros

We'll start with one of the more favorable mistakes I made. Hammer is a lot better than I gave it credit for. Mono-Red Commander decks have a serious reliance on card draw and top deck mode in the late game. This card puts Fervor to shame and gives you marginal rewards for drawing land. Recycling, card value- this is what this card does. Instant speed chump blockers are awesome too.

If you're thinking about Fervor, look for this first. It's just better.

5. Medomai the Ageless

Yeah, I talked a lot of crap about this. The sheer power of extra turns is intimidating, and I let it get the best of me. My bad.

The truth is that this card can be a serious threat. HOWEVER, what I forgot to take into account is just how much SLOW-zorius NEEDS this card. I got to see it in action a couple times already, and the best thing it really does is create a nice swell of opportunities for extra "Draw, Go" situations, where the turns aren't really "turns." An opportunity will probably be missed, like say, a combat step, which means that if Medomai is your Commander, it'll just take longer to get to 21 damage.

I'm a lot less freaked out by this card now, and I'm sorry about the previous hate statements about it. This is not a broken card by a longshot.

4. Curse of the Swine

I really let the "XUU" and the words "Exile target creature" and "2/2 Boar tokens" get to my head here. I only realized it was a Sorcery and therefore bad just seconds before I wanted to put this in a deck. Thank goodness I did. I haven't been impressed with the results as played by other people in my group. I still have to try it out for real, so maybe this will end back up on my Stat Corrections in 2014. But for now, I think it's pretty bad. Shoulda been an Instant. That's how quick it should take to turn other creatures into Boars.

3. Luminate Primordial

I wasn't too vocal about this one, but being wrong is being wrong. I still have yet to see people play this. And I thought it would be EVERYWHERE.

So far, the story has been that I've seen literally every other Primordial, including the Red one, active and beating down in games. Sylvan and Sepulchral have obviously become serious threats, and Diluvian has its uses, but I just haven't seen it. Maybe I will soon, but I guess it just isn't that good.

2. Bow of Nylea

This was probably one of the most overhyped cards I talked about this year, aside from Ruric Thar.

Unlike my favorite Gruul-a-tron though, Bow made the list because mastering its utility is super difficult. Both it and Ruric Thar were overhyped, but Ruric Thar still has the same function. The timing and use of Bow's effects make it a really hard card to manage in EDH. The investment in Green, both for its casting cost and its activated ability, also make it hard for anything over a two color deck, which I'm not even sure how good it is in any two-colored deck. It was hard for me to play in Glissa T's, and remains a tough card to want to play in Yeva. Deathtouch is awesome on the upswing, but really one-dimensional, despite the fact that its second ability is trying to compensate. Hence the reason I lean towards Bow sinking below even my worst expectations.

1. Prime Speaker Zegana

The most polarizing change is number one on this list. I talked a lot of crap about Prime Speaker Zegana when I reviewed her in Gatecrash.

Then a few months following its release I swallowed my distaste and gave her a real shot in Animar. Now, I'm a believer.

GG was right. This card is a hellacious beatdown, and to prove it, I beat him down with it. I think I must've drawn 7-8 cards off of it in two of the games I had playing Animar, and there was nothing he could do. Top decking her after a Mind Twist is usually pretty rough.

PSZ is a stupid good card, and I'm stupid for not believing in her majesty in the first place. Please play her more. It's really, really good for you.

That's all I got for today. Until next time, be sure to make more mistakes. And learn from them. Don't get them pregnant.

-UL

In General: Dinner for Two

A few months back I made a post talking about the things you can do with your turn one. The good, the bad, the best cards, and some other things that aren't that great. As always, I am overflowing with ideas on things to write about and am in the middle of several concurrent series, but it has been a while since I actually talked about cards. Today, I will be doing just that. It is time to talk about turn two and the best things that you can do with yours.

I will start with the stipulation that most of what I am going to say is for a more average/fair game. If you do something broken like open up Sol Ring into Braids Cabal Minion or Jace TMS that is awesome and you are highly favored to win, but I am going to try and restrict this discussion to two drops that you want on turn two...but by all means, use that Mana Vault to power out a T2 Bribery, I won't stop you. This means that things like Diabolic Tutor, Regrowth, or Balance, while extremely powerful two CMC cards, won't be mentioned in this post.

Speaking of ramp, I favor the kind of accelerators that actually put lands into play. They are a much safer investment in a format where the passage of time is tracked in board sweeps. Creatures and even mana rocks can be vulnerable and savvy players will have ways to interact with these cards early. It is important to get ahead on resources and out of the available options, Rampant Growth and his band of merry mana rampers are the top of the line. I am currently very impressed with how Restore, the new Commander 2013 card has impacted the format.

Ramp is certainly the most common turn two play that I see in Commander, but after that is has to be Greaves or Stoneforge for Greaves. These cards are just so powerful and so unique that they have become ubiquitous. There are substitutes for both, but they pale in comparison to these gems. The biggest difference is cost. Swiftfoot Boots has its advantages, but the price increase is just a little too much for inclusion in serious decks.

If I don't have a ramp spell of my own, of my own I want to be holding up countermagic. Early plays are very significant, even in this format where 8 and 9 cost cards are commonplace. The simple fact is that the best cards aren't the 'swingiest' or flashiest, but instead they are the cards that are most undercosted. Because of this the cards you see cast early on in Commander are often some of the scariest and the most important to answer. Counterspell is just a powerful flexible answer that allows you to get up on tempo and doesn't require you to leave up a ton of mana every turn. I am not always happy about the fact that I need to use good answers so early in the game, but I feel much better with a Counterspell in hand to start the game.



It has been noted here on TGZ that I am a huge fan of disruption. I like to see my opponents Hellbent and mana screwed. It just flat out wins games. Often the key to victory isn't achieving some grand end game, but just putting a stop to your opponents scheming. The right wrench in the wrong gear goes a long way toward victory. Hymn has been around forever and it is here to stay. It is pretty much the best at what it does. Targeted discard is great, but pinpoint cards like Duress, while very strong in their own right, rarely provide card advantage. Getting up a card for just two mana with no drawback is pretty absurd and the random discard effect can end games on its own. Opponent kept a land heavy hand? If Hymn hits their only action they are in for a few turns of frown-go Magic.

The last thing that I see, and by far the least common play on two, is a threat. It seems strange to many players. Two-drops are the defining threats in many archetypes and the strength of a format's two mana creatures often dictates who has the upper hand in the battle between aggro and control. Fact is, with a 99 card deck, it is tough to achieve a critical mass of quality two's. If you want to draw them on time, you need a bunch of them, but they are often outclassed later in the game. The threat cards that make the cut in EDH are truly fearsome indeed though. There are dozens if not hundreds; far too many to mention them all, but here are a few of my favorites. Till next week my faithful Zoners!

-GG

The Stack #37- Our Native Tribes

Hey there Zoners.

Of all the various themes, tribal decks are the most difficult to build because they require a delicate trade-off between strict theme and function.

Today, we're saluting our favorite types, and our favorite creatures in these tribes. So let's get to it!

This is how we Stacked.

VENSER'S JOURNALIST'S PICK

Venser's Journalist- NOT SURE
I'm a big fan of tribal decks that have the potential to be unstoppable. I have a pretty sweet modern deck with four of these bad boys in them. Once you get two DS Captains out, all your spirits are Hexproof! And a 2/2 flyer for 1WU ain't bad either.

The reason I'm on the fence about this card for commander is that in most tribal situations, I'd want at least the potential to have multiple DS Captains on the field at any given time. Sure, you could fill a deck with clone-variants and a Cackling Counterpart, but those cards could have much better applications. The fact of the matter is that a lone one of these guys is only pretty good; you'd have to find some way to protect him if you're banking on beefing up all your spirits for an extended period of time.

I'd be more willing to give him a thumbs up as a Pauper General, but the same situation above would apply. Of course, in Pauper the playing fields are usually a bit more equalized.

Johnny Confidant- *PAUPER* THUMBS UP
In Pauper Commander, These Captains along with the Guild Mages (or Gold Mages) are very great starting points to get into the format. Not like it's extremely hard or competitive to get into this format, but for anyone who wants to get a similar feel to regular EDH its a good middle ground. they give a solid boost, good color pairing, and usually some good effects off of the Mages.

I can see myself playing off a Captain but I'd choose the Zombie Cap'n. Deathtouch and retaliation in your general's effects are solid.

Uncle Landdrops-  THUMBS DOWN
Not something I'd play, but it's a good card, as JC and VJ have mentioned, in Pauper and the 60-card formats it's been in. I really like the artwork a lot. It's gritty, elegant, and there's a nice historical connectivity created by the art style and the Captain's clothing style that makes it feel real.

Grandpa Growth- THUMBS DOWN
Yea, not much to say. Not a playable card in Commander, but was a sweet card in on of the sweetest limited formats in recent memory. As for its time in the 60 Standard spotlight, it shouldn't have come as a big surprise that Hexproof proved dominant and abusive in a format with no true Wrath effect, but then the archetype disappeared off the map entirely when Supreme Verdict was printed. This highlights the power of the namesake mechanic, but also shows the absurdity of the 'spiral' power creep within the game.

GRANDPA GROWTH'S PICK

Grandpa Growth- THUMBS DOWN
Thumbs down because I would never start this in Commander. I love Specters though and I am eagerly awating the day that a B/R/U Specter lord gets printed so I can finally have a tribal Commander deck that I care about building.

The reason I like this card so much is that it fits into a larger category of value creatures that I just can't get enough of. Getting an efficient body for three mana is nice, but nothing too special in constructed. The thing that sets these creatures apart is that they net you a card when they come into play. We are talking about Eternal Witness, Lifebane Zombie, Sin Collector, etc. These should have their own tribe.

Johnny Confidant- THUMBS UP
I've played with Lily's Specter once upon a time in my Vela deck and i loved it, U/B Blink with copy effects and had fun while my opponents tried to recover and survive off of top decks. This card is no Mindslicer but at least he doesn't force you to dump your hand as well. Perhaps you'd have to play Black Myojin for that.

Venser's Journalist- THUMBS UP
This card is a cog in my Nath of the Gilt Leaf discard deck and I love it. This and Conjurer's Closet are a great duo. Come to think of it, many things with Conjurer's closet are a great duo. But the specter is still awesome because a flying creature that makes everyone else lose some hand advantage is doing double duty. I want my cards to do things and then do more things, you know.

Uncle Landdrops- THUMBS UP
Unlike GG, I am playing this card. Combined with Geth's Grimoire and various reanimate spells, I've been able to assemble decent value in multiplayer, which probably explains why he's not playing it. This card scales a little better, and when you can build your own Syphon Mind, it's a little more worth your while.

JOHNNY CONFIDANT'S PICK

Johnny Confidant-  THUMBS UP
I love me some Shamans, they always have my favorite abilities and I plan to make a tribal shaman deck sometime soon. Among my favorite shamans I have Kiki-jiki, Deathrite Shaman, and Oracle of Mul Daya but hands down favorite is E-Wit.

To me Shamans are a cornerstone of EDH deckbuilding that often goes unnoticed. Sure we may see the Goblin, Human or the Elf primary type but not often do we appreciate the Second type.

Uncle Landdrops- THUMBS UP
I've talked a lot about my thoughts on this card, but she really does speak for herself. Sweet card. Perhaps the only true staple in Magic, in my opinion.

Grandpa Growth - THUMBS UP
True candidate for one of the best value cards ever. It is among a handful of cards that, as I say, make it wrong not to play Green. Tribal shamans may not be a deck, but if there 30 more shamans with this power level I'd be singing a different tune.


Venser's Journalist- THUMBS UP
I like the Eternal Witness. It's a classic retrieval card good for just about anything with Green in it. I must admit, JC makes a good point about most not noticing the "second type" of subtype. I do, however, prefer the Witness just as a stand alone card, not necessarily a tribal-specific card.


UNCLE LANDDROPS' PICK 

Uncle Landdrops-  THUMBS UP
Spirit has been my favorite tribe since I first started playing Magic. What can I say? I'm a sucker for the Kamigawa surrealism.

As far as Spirits go, White Myojin is pretty okay. I don't have a clear cut favorite Spirit, but most of them are white, and there are a lot of things to like about it and its Cleansing Fire. Divinity Counters are relevant, and having an attacker when the rest of the field is gone generates some nice tempo late in the game, which is really the only time he's gonna get cast.

I've made a real effort to play less 7+ CMC cards in the last year or so, but the Myojin cycle is a serious exception, and this one is worth it.

Johnny Confidant- THUMBS UP
A lot of spirits here so i guess i'm lucky to pick my favorite of the bunch and i've chosen the Myojin's. Truely some strong abilities once you pull away their Immortality (aka Divinity) counter. While the White one is good for a wrath effect i don't know if i'd play it, although there are some, specifically the Black and Green ones because sometimes i'm a jerk like that or i'm a timmy like that haha.

I just liked the flavor of Kamigawa with the Spirit war and the idea that black was more of the "hero" in the color pie. Probably the same reason why i liked the flavor of Ravnica and how Grand Arbitor of the Azorius was more or less the villian.

Grandpa Growth- THUMBS UP
I have played a bunch of this card. Maybe not so much as I started to really get into the format, but it is solid value and it does the things you want it to do. It is not a runnaway game-stealer like some other expensive cards, but I hear 'fairness' appeals to some people. Spirits are pretty sweet though. Kamigawa was one of my favorite sets, no two ways about it. It was also home to my favorite gimmick draft format Triple Betrayers! Go ninja go ninja GO!

Venser's Journalist- THUMBS UP
Like UL, I too put spirits at the top of my tribal list (with merfolk a close second), and I think that the Myojin certainly have earned their place in the spirit realm. Cleansing Fire is a great wrath effect that gives an incredible bonus to the controller.

We mustn't forget how this can also become quite broken if your spirit deck has any type of proliferate (because I want seven divinity counters) in it. Or you can abuse the divinity by bouncing it back to your hand, but that's less economical and proliferate tends to be more rewarding in a clockwork sense.

That's all we got today. Until next time, have an A1 Day.

-UL and the TGZ Gang

Twenty Instants Under 25 Cents

Heya Zoners, it's your pal Landdrops here with a pretty exciting list of budget goodies.

This is gonna be a big one, so let's just skip the pleasantries and get right into this super-saving budget wonderland.

20. Swell of Courage

I'm aware of just how many budget blue cards are better than this, and didn't make the cut. Negate, Dispel, Boomerang, Inspiration.

Let's just say this is a card that's been on my radar during my on-again-off-again struggle in building Daxos.

This was going to be Stir the Pride, but I like this a little better. Like the ever-popular theme amongst secret tech that I own, some cards are really bad until you read the penultimate line.

Every other card I've seen with Reinforce is terrible. This card is still pretty "meh" too, but it does provide flexibility. And really, Daxos only needs a couple counters to make sure he doesn't die.

19. Overrule

Overrule is a new card I've reluctantly accepted into my decks. I don't consciously try to overexaggerate, so I won't. This card is pretty adequate, and I wish some other pure blue X counterspells would give adequate incentive to tap more mana like this.

Can you imagine Condescend with Scry X instead? Jeez Louise we'd have a big game.

Overall, this is actually a surprising skill test if you're locked in a counter-war, and a nice preventative measure that can add a little extra value late in the game if you get behind, like control decks often do.

I think I might've had some previous slander for this card, so I'll just go ahead apologize to VJ and the rest of his Azorius Lawmakers. I'm ready to assimilate.

18. Sprout Swarm

The Big Bopper for Pauper. One of the cards that singlehandedly saved me from extra Ulamog's Crusher death and effectively stalled the game.

Convoke and Buyback should not be on the same card, but it's awesome that they are.

In other EDH variants, I'm not sure exactly how good Sprout Swarm is. However, if you have Aura Shards, Cathar's Crusade, or other relevant "I don't care what creature enters the battlefield, just as long as it does" kinda cards, then here's a nice gift.

Here's a Saproling generator. You can either receive this gift as Christmas come early, or Arbor Day come super late. Up to you.

17. Voyage's End

When they add an already good mechanic onto something that's already appropriately costed and good to play, I sometimes have to resist the urge to question it.

That was the case with Voyage's End. I've already put it on an Isochron Scepter, in case you were asking, and it is as tasty as the moment you realized it was only 1U, and you could put this on an Isochron Scepter.

Braids' Blueberry Bounce House hasn't been same since. The Theros stuff that she got with scry, including this and Prognostic Sphinx, have generated astronomical card advantage. I'm very happy with the results.

16. Signal the Clans

I was as shocked as you were to see a Green and Red card make the list.

Unfortunately, this card didn't do the horrendous kinds of beatdowns I thought it might in Standard as early as this year, but it still has a few more miles to go. Getting Gods seems pretty good.

Quick tangent. I love the artwork on this. Battlehorns are always appropriate signals, and the color palette is pretty nice. Dave Kendall should be proud. This is a pretty sweet little card all around.

15. Grisly Salvage

This wasn't exactly the droid I was looking for, but it's still a nice card. If you have dead draw issues, this can surely eliminate those things.

I had it in Glissa for awhile, but got sick of seeing all my Instants pile up in the graveyard. So it's gone now, but it's got a good seat on the bench.

Looking past myself, this card is still a house. The return of Golgari cards was something I thought Wizards had an excellent grasp on in our second trip to Ravnica, and this is a good example.

14. Psychic Spiral

Psychic Spiral is a card I like, but it's still trying to find its place in my decks too.

This is one of those cards that blue spell decks crave, but only after they've drawn the game out a while. Much like Elixir of Immortality, it has been a card I just don't want to see until at least 30 cards or so in my deck.

I've been playing it and cutting it for a while now, mostly because I don't want to draw it in my opener, or at a point where it's a dead draw and it won't interact well with my plans.

I'm still hopeful though. There'll be a day when the shoe fits.

13. Rakdos Charm
This card is a really nice addition to the Rakdos family. It's one of the first unofficial "black" cards that can destroy artifacts, and one of the first "red" cards to exile a graveyard.

With just these mechanics alone, that's quite a punch. This is a card I've seen do some serious hurting to the graveyard decks which are unnecessarily common in my metagame, and having a little color pie skew on this didn't really compromise the integrity of the colors who normally couldn't have either.

Plus, the more Zoltan Boros art I can have in my life, the better.

12. Rescue from the Underworld

Speaking of graveyard hate. Meet Rakdos Charm's new nemesis.

It's disgusting how much value comes in this package. Black reanimate already has access to some of the games primo spells and creatures. Now, you get to have them again.

I really can't say enough good things about this card. The flavor theme is super sweet. It's an Instant-speed answer to protecting a potential Commander from getting tucked, and then it nets you another dude.

Between this and Tempt with Immortality, which both have completely splashable CMCs, Wizards is ushering in a new generation of Reanimate spells that seems too good to pass up. This is a Gravy Train everyone should probably be hopping on.


11. Reach of Branches

Reach of Branches is one of my favorite cards from a few years ago. It is a house in Mono-Green decks that play almost pure ramp and Landfall triggers.

The best part about this card was that Reach was sent to me as a free card along side some other things that I'd ordered. Still, I threw it in this Baru deck I was playing and went to work.

I was playing GG the first time I got to play it and hard-casted somewhere upwards of 13 Treefolk tokens.

I liked to play this in conjunction with Treefolk Harbinger, not only because it's badass, but also for the sheer fun-ness of synergy and Happy Treefolk Nonsense.

The Trees are home to some of my most guarded secret tech. This card is among several of my favorite cards to cast.

Once again, this is yet another early Christmas or late Arbor Day gift. Use wisely, friends.

10. Dead // Gone

Mixed results with Dead and Gone.

Let's start with Gone. This is clearly the card's better half, and probably the only reason it's made the list. Having a red card with blue abilities has been proven to be pretty good, and it has saved me in a few situations where Heartless Hidetsugu has blasted the pants off of each one of us at the table, and the damage is coming at me. Obviously a completely overcosted card, but worth it in color.

Dead is slightly less justifiable, but not as much as you might think. My defense? Gaddock Teeg is a 2/2. If you've never played against this smug little Kithkin, you might not realize how inherently valuable little removal spells are, even if they are Red.

9. White Sun's Zenith

Kittens inspired by Kittens. None of the Zenith cycles make any sense to me, but that doesn't mean we can't appreciate them.

There is not a single Zenith that I don't play, and I love them all for their own function in the deck.

Still, there's just something to be said about making a bunch of Kitty Katz at the end of your opponent's turn, or as chump blockers, and getting a free shuffle/chance to cast it again.

I can't believe this card is twenty-five cents. This is some of the cheapest fun I have in games, and it still hasn't gotten old for me yet.

8. Pit Fight

Imagine my double surprise when yet another RG card found its way on my list.

The real sad part about both of them is that I haven't been able to get them into a deck I want to play yet. I have a feeling that day might not be too far off though, if they keep making cheap things I really want to put on an Isochron Scepter.

I love this kinda stuff. Being able to create value out of other cards is what separates the men from the spellcasters.

Silly card, sure. Fun? Maybe. I'll let you know when I try it out. For now, we'll let the Myth spin it.

7. Naya Charm

This card has been wrecking face ever since it came out in Alara block, and I've been a huge fan of it for almost as long.

It's basically half of a non-blue Cryptic Command or a non-creature Eternal Witness. Either way you split it, that's still pretty okay. Both of those cards have a lot of serious power, especially when you consider that tapping creatures down almost always ensures a huge damage point swing because you play creatures.

There's not really much else to say about this one. Good card is good. If you've got a Naya deck and the charm isn't in there, I'd fail to see how this wouldn't make the cut.

6. Blustersquall

On sheer power alone, Blustersquall is probably outclassed by Naya Charm. Solid options are always better.

However, having a splashable card that does one of the things you'd want to do with Cryptic Command about 50% of time is still a huge bonus.

In Limited, this card was a beating. In Commander, it's almost as good as Aetherize.

I love it. It's the premier budget option from Return to Ravnica, so play all of the copies.

5. Realms Uncharted

Sometimes reading a card the second time is a lot better than the first time you read it.

That's how I feel about Realms. Grandpa and I have been playing this card for a few years now, and it's a total house.

Do you need fixing? Do you want your Strip Mine?

There's just too many different packages and combinations to be played with this card. You can have your opponents trying to figure it out for days.

I think that's the real reason Realms and Gifts and Fact or Fiction are so good. They create a sub-game that supposed to give whichever opponent you choose the option of trying to ruin your plans.

What no one realizes though, usually, is that whatever they get is usually good enough anyway.

Seriously- Take the Old Spice challenge on this card. If you don't like it, throw it away and get yourself a stick of deodorant. Either way, you can't lose.

4. Wing Shards

The fact that this card is less than 25 cents makes me all kinds of crazy.

Apparently people don't know a good card when they see it. Cause, BOOM! This is one. You are looking at it.

This owl shooting what appear to be feather bullets at you is basically one of the most secret beatdowns of the last half century. Do you like removal? Do you like getting more than one copy of a removal spell and not paying any more for it?

Apparently not. Because you're not playing it, and the secondary market is overflowing with a valuable playable removal spell.

So go get your head on straight and buy a playset. It's ridiculous that the price on Wing Shards is this low, when the rent is too damn high.

3. Sapphire Charm

The Jeopardy Category for this one is "Weird Targets for Isochron Scepter" today, and this is clearly no exception.

There really is no charm more relevant on a Scepter than Sapphire. This is another GG-inspired piece of tech, and I think it's pretty clear when the first ability is draw a card.

I actually prefer to use Sapphy Charm as a removal spell. Phasing is hilariously bad, and fun for people who understand the next silliest mechanic Magic has made next to Banding.

Again, 2 out of 3 abilities isn't bad. I'm definitely over ranking and overhyping this card, but still- I believe in it. So should you.

2. Crypt Incursion

We've talked this card up a lot here on TGZ, because it's just too good to be a Magic card.

I gained 27 life with it on Sunday. I've gained 40+ life with it on a couple of other occasions too. The longer the game goes, the better this card gets.

It is just too much value for one card. In black, where you can Ad Nauseam and Dark Confidant your way to death, this card is great at keeping you alive. And Crypt Incursion is really good at it.

1. Deglamer

Our number one card is Deglamer, which might be a little shocking.

But to tell you the truth, I'm shocked that this is still 10 cents.

Since the Gods came out, Return to Dust, the world's most obvious RFG Artifact/Enchantment spell, has gone up by about 50 cents.

Now I know that there are probably some other factors in the competitive environment I might not be aware of, but I think that's still crazy when you consider that Deglamer is basically twice the card that Return to Dust wants to be.

In every situation where a God will appear, this is the spell you want. Not Return to Dust. If someone is using RTD as their Commander, it's just plain overcosted. Especially if you have to cast it immediately on their turn.

Deglamer, no matter what time, no matter what situation, be it a main deck God, or a Commander God, will always be there for you. It is hands down the quickest answer to a God, and one of the many reasons why Green got better again. Like Didgeridoo, this old card has more to play with, and it is just too good to pass up.

Honestly, it's probably the next best Naturalize short of Krosan Grip too. Shuffling your opponent's Swords, Jitte, Greaves, and Batterskull are just as good, and it trumps the indestructible the Colossus Trio (Darksteel, Blightsteel, of Akros).

And once again- this card costs an actual dime. So buy one. or sixty.

That's all I got for today. Feel free to comment if you think I've missed something. There were a lot of good cards to talk about, so if you want, feel free to email me at UncleLanddrops@gmail.com if you want to see the ones that didn't make it.

Until next time, take the power back.

-UL

The Second of Two Cents

Welcome back! I am Grandpa Growth and this is the second in a two-part series about me, what else right? Last week, I went through some key points that define my personal philosophy as a player. Before you read on to this second segment I suggest you scroll back through the archive to check it out. Today on In General I am going to be giving out a few pieces of unsolicited advice to players who are new.

If you are new to the game:

The most important thing that you can do when you are new player is to take the game seriously. It is very difficult to play when you are new, and even more difficult to become good at, but play the best that you can. Try to win. Try to understand what is happening. Ask questions. Ask for help. Nobody learned to be good at anything by themselves. Find a mentor, find some friends who know the game. Maybe they can lend you cards or give you advice on how to improve. Most importantly though, don't get tied down. Everyone has an attachment to their first deck, their first format, their first playgroup, or their first tournament, but realize that the game is much bigger than that. Don't be afraid to experience

If you are teaching a player who is new to the game: DO IT CORRECTLY. Don't cut corners. It is so important to be correct about the basics...which are actually the hardest part. If your game is weak on fundamentals, then this could be the opportunity you have been waiting for to brush up yourself! I am talking about the stack. I am talking about layers. I am talking about how the game progresses to the next step/phase of the turn by both players agreeing (APNP order) that they don't want to do anything...a fact which seems to be completely lost when we play the game these days. The strangest part is that the most skilled tournament players are often the biggest offenders about this type of thing. In the tournament rules shortcuts have been established. People do things that are ostensibly breaches of the rules all the time, but it is okay because, in that environment, everyone really does know what is up...and there is a judge who gets to answer all of the inquiries correctly and in a timely and impartial manner.

Short recap of important fundamentals that lead to confusion:

• Turns and phases pass when every player has yielded priority on an empty stack.
• Untap, UPKEEP, Draw, Main, Combat, Main, End. 
• Let's zoom in on that combat phase: Beginning, Declare attackers AND THEN cast instants and activate abilities, Declare blockers AND THEN cast instants and activate abilities, First Strike damage AND THEN cast instants and activate abilities, regular damage AND THEN cast instants and activate abilities, end of combat.
• When multiple things happen within the resolution of a single effect that triggers abilities, those triggers are put on the stack AFTER the effect has finished resolving, not in between. You MUST do EVERYTHING that the spell or effect requires before moving on. Those triggers are placed on the stack in APNP order.
• If multiple things change zones together they can still trigger each other's abilities. If a card changes zones while it is the target of a spell or ability, then it is not effected by that spell or ability. 
• Announcement is a thing, and it is a binding procedure that you can only begin while you have priority. You can tap and untap your lands as much as you want, but if you use the mana in your pool for something, then you can no longer untap those lands. When you cast a spell or activate an ability, you announce what you are doing, choose any applicable modes, choose ALL necessary targets. You don't make CHOICES until the effect resolves. Modal spells often look like they require choices on resolution, but they don't, that choice needs to be made on announcement. Once you have done that, then you must pay all of the applicable costs for the spell or ability. Then AND ONLY THEN it is placed on the stack. At that point, there is no taking anything back.
• Mana abilities are special activated abilities that can't be targeted by other effects BECAUSE they don't go on the stack. Nifty, but how do you know if something is a mana ability? It is an activated ability, meaning it will appear as [cost]: effect. The colon is the important part here. A mana ability CANNOT have targets, because then it would require going on the stack. Many things 'generate mana' that don't actually generate mana, like Arbor Elf's ability to untap Forests. These types of things are not mana abilities. The final component is that it must make mana. That is pretty simple, but I have seen people get that confused and had it cost them the game. Note: mana abilities can have costs, just like anything else, that doesn't mean its not a mana ability.

I am sure there are some FAQ type issues that I am missing, but this isn't supposed to be an explanation of the rulebook. This is a 'Map of the Problematique', for teaching new players. The game is greatly simplified by just using the core set to play games with. New cards and abilities slow the game down, but don't actually enhance the rate at which people learn the game. It is entirely possible to develop the kind of supernatural telepathy the pros have relatively easiliy, provided that you keep the card pool small enough. My advice is to start tiny. Identical decks, with only 3-5 different cards. Something like: Island, Divination, Unsummon, Coral Merfolk. It doesn't really matter if you obey restrictions like having 40 cards or only four of a particular spell, those are really more aspects of the format rather than the game. Even with this simplified environment you can learn about mulligan decisions, mana/card/tempo advantage, combat math, reading your opponent, calculating your outs, etc. Once you have these skills it will be much simpler to add 'difficult to play' cards Ponder or Mana Leak.

That's enough of that, jeez. Sometimes your old Grandpa just gets so riled up he doesn't know when you quit.

If you are new to a format:

Don't pretend to know anything. Watch and learn. See what is going on. See what is important and how it differs from what you are used to. The best ways to learn a new format are: 

1. Talk to an expert. Watch them and play with them, but have them explain their thought process as they go. This is a quick and easy way to learn the tricky bits. 

2. Play with someone who is better than you. It can be tempting to just play with your current playgroup or your close friends. You are going to make mistakes and you don't want to be embarrassed in front of strangers right.....? BUT THIS IS THE WORST IDEA! You won't know the true depth of the format or the importance of these new decisions you are making by playing against other new people. Also, you have no way to track your progress since you will both be bad and improve at similar rates. If you jam games against a Vintage expert, you will lose a ton of them in a row at the start, but if you keep track you will see your play improve MEASURABLY over time. Also, this person will be able to identify the important moments that led you to victory so you can fast rack your understanding.

But most importantly, don't get discouraged. things are going to suck at first, but after that...well they will still suck. BUT SOMEDAY, you will be the master.

If you are new to a play group:

Learn to share and learn to convince others to share. Be generous. With your information, with your time, with your resources, with your trades. There is no better way to foster relations and build good will than by investing in the community that you are trying to join. If they are important enough that you want to be one of them, then it is worth it to make the right first impression. In my experience, nothing else really matters. If I am overly competitive, or maybe don't fit the personality profile of my new group, things could go south quickly. That is true all over, but the key is that people see that you are involved in making their experience better. Don't make the mistake of turning things political. Imagine an example from real politics:

A candidate has a great plan to build a new park in your district. It will raise property value, quality of life, and provide a safe and healthy source of enjoyment for you and your family. But you don't vote for this person because his rebellious son got a DUI. Does that make any sense?

Personal lives are personal. You playgroup is about more than that. It is a community. Don't let something petty ruin it, and surely don't BE the petty person who ruins it for everyone else.

Part of me wants to continue this series just so that I can eventually get up to a sixth cents because I like puns and pop culture references. For today, though, I have done all that I can do. I hope you enjoyed this little field trip into my mind. Unlike the other contributors on the blog, I haven't really shared anything more than my opinions on cards or decks. If you want to hear more about my individual thoughts and philosophy then make sure to Subscribe for new videos every Sunday  let me know in the comments.

-GG