Finally we move onto the most interesting color combinations. We are now in tri-colored territory! Tri-colored cards are my favorite, because they originate all the way back in Invasion and Apocalypse, and more recently in the Shards of Alara block, which is my favorite block. For the first Tri-colored combination, we have the mechanical plane of Esper, which is Black, White, and Blue. As for our general, we have the most used General in EDH himself, Sharuum the Hegemon!
For six mana, Sharuum the Hegemon is a 5/5 flying that is an artifact creature. Sharuum's ability is what makes him so popular. When Sharuum comes into play, you may put an artifact card from your graveyard to play. This is so good because you have a constant source of recursion, but not only that, a big creature to back you up if you get into trouble. Plus since Sharuum is pretty big, he can deal a good amount of commander damage. Now that is where the extent of Sharuum's abilities end, and where the deck that backs him up comes into play. The best way to take advantage to Sharuum's ability without playing him over and over again would be to keep blinking him on and off the battlefield. Blinking is exiling a creature but then it returns at your next end step. The bets way to do this is to to use Venser, the Sojourner's +2 ability to blink Sharuum, and when Sharuum comes back into play, you can bring another artifact to play. Another way to do this constantly would be a Mystifying Maze, where you attack with Sharuum and exile him. Sure you will be missing out on commander damage, but at least you get another artifact back! One more way to do this is to use Ghostaway, but since that is an instat, I would recommend using it only when Sharuum is in jeopardy.
Sharuum's deck is very not dependant on Sharuum himself, so make sure you have a deck that absolutely works without Sharuum in play.
You can buy Sharuum the Hegemon and all of the other cards you wish to buy for his deck for a low price at http://www.mtgfanatic.com/!
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Commander: Golgari General (Green/Black)
Golgari is now the lest of the bi-colored combinations. The generals for black and green were much more common then the Izzet, Simic, or Boros generals. I finally had a large list to choose from, and of course, I go ahead and choose the first general on the list, but it isn't my fault that Glissa, the Traitor happens to be the best of the Golgari generals. My friend runs a Glissa deck, so I know quite a few combos that he uses that works very well with Glissa, but I hate playing against his deck because of all the unfair combos.
First off, Glissa is a 3/3 for 3 mana which is great to start, but that is not all. She is one of the only creatures that starts off with First strike and Deathtouch. That is right, unless she is being blocked by something indestructible, she can't be killed by blocking. In fact, my friend runs a combo where he puts Lure on Glissa and attacks with her, forcing every single creature to block her, leading to a lot of dead creatures and a lot of artifacts coming back to his hand. That is right, Glissa's other ability is whenever an opponent's creature dies, you get to return an artifact card from your graveyard to your hand. So going along with more combos, let's say that one of the artifacts that my friend brings back is Mindslaver. Yeah, with Glissa, you can have an infinite Mindslaver combo. My friends and I have given up more games against his Glissa deck than any other deck before, just because it is incredibly boring when you don't have any turns that are actually your own. In my opinion, Glissa is probably one of the best bi-colored generals you can possibly have. In this deck, make sure you can have artifacts that you can continuously use, and make sure they can put many dents into your opponent as well. A big thing to watch out for with this deck is you will constantly be targeted by your opponents, so don't give up on it if you find yourself in a game where everybody is against you. If you don't like being the public enemy, then Glissa is not a commander for you.
You can buy Glissa, the Traitor and all of the rest of the cards for her deck fr a low, low price at http://www.mtgfanatic.com/!
First off, Glissa is a 3/3 for 3 mana which is great to start, but that is not all. She is one of the only creatures that starts off with First strike and Deathtouch. That is right, unless she is being blocked by something indestructible, she can't be killed by blocking. In fact, my friend runs a combo where he puts Lure on Glissa and attacks with her, forcing every single creature to block her, leading to a lot of dead creatures and a lot of artifacts coming back to his hand. That is right, Glissa's other ability is whenever an opponent's creature dies, you get to return an artifact card from your graveyard to your hand. So going along with more combos, let's say that one of the artifacts that my friend brings back is Mindslaver. Yeah, with Glissa, you can have an infinite Mindslaver combo. My friends and I have given up more games against his Glissa deck than any other deck before, just because it is incredibly boring when you don't have any turns that are actually your own. In my opinion, Glissa is probably one of the best bi-colored generals you can possibly have. In this deck, make sure you can have artifacts that you can continuously use, and make sure they can put many dents into your opponent as well. A big thing to watch out for with this deck is you will constantly be targeted by your opponents, so don't give up on it if you find yourself in a game where everybody is against you. If you don't like being the public enemy, then Glissa is not a commander for you.
You can buy Glissa, the Traitor and all of the rest of the cards for her deck fr a low, low price at http://www.mtgfanatic.com/!
Commander: Simic General (Blue/Green)
As I go through the legendary creatures for the remaining bi-colored combinations, there seems to be less and less creatures to pick from. As for Simic, which is green and blue, I was only given three options, two of which were just awful cards. So I took the one that was actually good for something and that card turns out to be Momir Vig, Simic Visionary.
Now Mormir Vig is a very weak creature, for he is a 2/2 for 5 mana. There is not a chance that you will be able to deal enough commander damage to win with him. The way you are going to win with him is by a lot of tutoring. Mormir's ability allows him to tutor creatures. If you play a green creature spell, then you get to look in your library for another creature and put that on top of your library. Now if you play a blue creature spell, you get to reveal the top card of your library and if it is a creature, you put it in your hand. I know that there are better ways to tutor, but what makes Mormir Vig worthwhile is if you play a blue and green creature. If you do that, both abilities activate and you can stack them, meaning you can choose what happens first. Obviously the way to do this is to look for a creature card, put it on top of your library, then reveal it and put it your hand. This is all a fancy way of saying "Look for a creature card and put it into your hand." Now that can be useful, because you can constantly tutor out some nice creatures by playing more creatures. The way to win with this deck is to just bring out the nastiest blue and green creatures and beat the pulp out of your opponents with them. Now that is fun!
You can buy Mormir Vig, Simic Visionary and all of the other cards that work well with him for a low price at http://www.mtgfanatic.com/!
Now Mormir Vig is a very weak creature, for he is a 2/2 for 5 mana. There is not a chance that you will be able to deal enough commander damage to win with him. The way you are going to win with him is by a lot of tutoring. Mormir's ability allows him to tutor creatures. If you play a green creature spell, then you get to look in your library for another creature and put that on top of your library. Now if you play a blue creature spell, you get to reveal the top card of your library and if it is a creature, you put it in your hand. I know that there are better ways to tutor, but what makes Mormir Vig worthwhile is if you play a blue and green creature. If you do that, both abilities activate and you can stack them, meaning you can choose what happens first. Obviously the way to do this is to look for a creature card, put it on top of your library, then reveal it and put it your hand. This is all a fancy way of saying "Look for a creature card and put it into your hand." Now that can be useful, because you can constantly tutor out some nice creatures by playing more creatures. The way to win with this deck is to just bring out the nastiest blue and green creatures and beat the pulp out of your opponents with them. Now that is fun!
You can buy Mormir Vig, Simic Visionary and all of the other cards that work well with him for a low price at http://www.mtgfanatic.com/!
Commander: Izzet General (Red/Blue)
Continuing on with the conflicting bi-colored combinations, we now have Red and Blue, also known as Izzet. Now a very common mechanic in red and blue colored cards is the draw burning, meaning that you deal damage to a player every time you draw a card. The legendary creature that works perfectly with this is none other than Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind.
Niv-Mizzet is one of the best creatures out there. He was ranked the best dragon card, and that is saying a lot seeing all of the amazing dragons there are out there. Now Niv-Mizzet is just a 4/4 flying for 6 mana, which is about your normal dragon power and toughness and casting cost. What makes Niv so good is that his first ability states "Whenever you draw a card, Niv-Mizzet deals 1 damage to target creature or player." Notice how it says that Niv-Mizzet deals damage, not you deal damage. That's right, you can deal commander damage with Niv-Mizzet without having to attack. But that is not all, Niv-Mizzet's second ability is the kicker. If you tap him, you draw a card. First off, anything that allows you to just draw a card is awesome. Secondly, that is another 1 damage right there. So with Niv-Mizzet, you have yourself a draw engine and a constant source of commander damage. I think he suits a commander's needs pretty well.
The best thing to carry in this deck would be drawing and draw hating. Something like Psychosis Crawler would work well. And as for draw, definitely put Minds Aglow into the deck. It is a great way to draw a lot of cards and dish out copious amounts of damage.
You can buy Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind and any other card that works with his deck for a low price at http://www.mtgfanatic.com/!
Niv-Mizzet is one of the best creatures out there. He was ranked the best dragon card, and that is saying a lot seeing all of the amazing dragons there are out there. Now Niv-Mizzet is just a 4/4 flying for 6 mana, which is about your normal dragon power and toughness and casting cost. What makes Niv so good is that his first ability states "Whenever you draw a card, Niv-Mizzet deals 1 damage to target creature or player." Notice how it says that Niv-Mizzet deals damage, not you deal damage. That's right, you can deal commander damage with Niv-Mizzet without having to attack. But that is not all, Niv-Mizzet's second ability is the kicker. If you tap him, you draw a card. First off, anything that allows you to just draw a card is awesome. Secondly, that is another 1 damage right there. So with Niv-Mizzet, you have yourself a draw engine and a constant source of commander damage. I think he suits a commander's needs pretty well.
The best thing to carry in this deck would be drawing and draw hating. Something like Psychosis Crawler would work well. And as for draw, definitely put Minds Aglow into the deck. It is a great way to draw a lot of cards and dish out copious amounts of damage.
You can buy Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind and any other card that works with his deck for a low price at http://www.mtgfanatic.com/!
Friday, August 5, 2011
Commander: Boros General (Red/White)
Finally we move on to Boros, probably my favorite bi-colored combination. Red and White, unfortunately, is probably the most underwhelming color combination in EDH as well. Our goal today is to find a creature that will be able to compete with all of the other color combinations and be able to bring Boros to the top. Once again, Boros is a color combination with a lack of legends, so out of the five creatures, I found that Jor Kadeen, the Prevailer is probably the most useful out of them all, so let's see just what Jor Kadeen can do.
Now for Jor Kadeen, the biggest priority is to get metalcraft going for him. The best way to do this is by having artifact lands and plenty of mana producing artifacts. Another great way to go through with this is to have low costing equipment that offer protection, buffs up Jor Kadeen, and is able to take large bites out of your opponent's life total. Once you have metalcraft active, then you are set. Your commander is now an 8/4 with first strike that also gives all of your other creatures +3/+0. This will provide a lot of damage when you're either attacking with Jor Kadeen or with Jor's massive army that you should be building up. Either way, you should undoubtedly be able to deal enough commander damage with Jor Kadeen to win the game.
Once again, the only negative to an aggro deck like this is the surplus to mass removal that thrives in EDH. The best way to run an aggro deck is to accept the fact that you will lose your army more than once, and that you need to have a fail safe that allows you to rebuild quick and strike back even harder.
You can buy Jor Kadeen, the Prevailer and other cards that fit into his deck for a low price at http://www.mtgfanatic.com/!
Now for Jor Kadeen, the biggest priority is to get metalcraft going for him. The best way to do this is by having artifact lands and plenty of mana producing artifacts. Another great way to go through with this is to have low costing equipment that offer protection, buffs up Jor Kadeen, and is able to take large bites out of your opponent's life total. Once you have metalcraft active, then you are set. Your commander is now an 8/4 with first strike that also gives all of your other creatures +3/+0. This will provide a lot of damage when you're either attacking with Jor Kadeen or with Jor's massive army that you should be building up. Either way, you should undoubtedly be able to deal enough commander damage with Jor Kadeen to win the game.
Once again, the only negative to an aggro deck like this is the surplus to mass removal that thrives in EDH. The best way to run an aggro deck is to accept the fact that you will lose your army more than once, and that you need to have a fail safe that allows you to rebuild quick and strike back even harder.
You can buy Jor Kadeen, the Prevailer and other cards that fit into his deck for a low price at http://www.mtgfanatic.com/!
Commander: Orzhov General (Black/White)
Now if I though that looking for a Green and White general was hard, looking for a Black and White general was even harder. Why? Because there are only four Orzhov colored legends! In the end, I decided to chose Vish Kal, Blood Arbiter as my commander.
The reason that Vish Kal would be the best black and white aligned general is because well, he is just much more well rounded that the other generals. He comes in as a 5/5 flying and lifelink, which is pretty damn good. If you go ahead and sacrifice a creature, then he gets +X/+X, where X was the sacrificed creature's power. So if you sacrifice a Demon of Death's Gate, he is a 14/14. Pretty much, if you can give him haste somehow, sacrifice a bunch a creatures to get him up to at least a 21/21, then you can win first turn you play him, whihc is pretty insane. But of course, that is not all. If you remove all of the +1/+1 counters from Vish Kal, then you can put that many -1/-1 counters on another creature, so Vish Kal is alos a good source of removal too! What else can this vampire do? Well that is where his abilities end, and after that, it is up to you on how you can synergize other cards with him to make him a force to be reckoned with.
The only bad part about Vish Kal is that he has no evasion and is a whopping 7 mana, so if he dies, then its going to be very costly.
You can buy Vish Kal, Blood Arbiter and any other card you wish to buy for his deck for alow price at http://www.mtgfanatic.com/!
The reason that Vish Kal would be the best black and white aligned general is because well, he is just much more well rounded that the other generals. He comes in as a 5/5 flying and lifelink, which is pretty damn good. If you go ahead and sacrifice a creature, then he gets +X/+X, where X was the sacrificed creature's power. So if you sacrifice a Demon of Death's Gate, he is a 14/14. Pretty much, if you can give him haste somehow, sacrifice a bunch a creatures to get him up to at least a 21/21, then you can win first turn you play him, whihc is pretty insane. But of course, that is not all. If you remove all of the +1/+1 counters from Vish Kal, then you can put that many -1/-1 counters on another creature, so Vish Kal is alos a good source of removal too! What else can this vampire do? Well that is where his abilities end, and after that, it is up to you on how you can synergize other cards with him to make him a force to be reckoned with.
The only bad part about Vish Kal is that he has no evasion and is a whopping 7 mana, so if he dies, then its going to be very costly.
You can buy Vish Kal, Blood Arbiter and any other card you wish to buy for his deck for alow price at http://www.mtgfanatic.com/!
Commander: Selesnya General (Green/White)
For green and white, the search for a useable general was very hard, for there are NO good generals that are Selesnya colors. Finally I came across this one creature that is just decent enough to build a deck around. In fact, he could severely mess your opponent up once he is on the battlefield. His name is Gaddock Teeg, he might be th eonly Advisor creature ever, and man does he have a big forehead.
Anyway, what Gaddock is good for is halting your opponent's progress. He doesn't allow non-creature spells with a mana cost of 4 or greater to be played. In Commander, that is almost every type of mass removal and a lot of other spells, which will mess up your opponent's progress. He also doesn't allow non creature spells with X in their mana cost to be played either, which isn't as great, but it does eliminate a group of cards. Now since Gaddock is only a 2/2 with no evasion, he can be killed with just a simple Doom Blade. So your best bet is to put alot of protection on him so you can continue to halt your opponents. Gaddock also costs only 2 mana, so you can play him early and many times.
Now a large recoil from using Gaddock is that you are also affected by Gaddock's ability. The way to work around this is to just not put high casting cards into your deck and win with the little guys.
You can buy Gaddock Teeg and the rest of the cards that fit into his deck for a low price at http://www.mtgfanatic.com/!
Anyway, what Gaddock is good for is halting your opponent's progress. He doesn't allow non-creature spells with a mana cost of 4 or greater to be played. In Commander, that is almost every type of mass removal and a lot of other spells, which will mess up your opponent's progress. He also doesn't allow non creature spells with X in their mana cost to be played either, which isn't as great, but it does eliminate a group of cards. Now since Gaddock is only a 2/2 with no evasion, he can be killed with just a simple Doom Blade. So your best bet is to put alot of protection on him so you can continue to halt your opponents. Gaddock also costs only 2 mana, so you can play him early and many times.
Now a large recoil from using Gaddock is that you are also affected by Gaddock's ability. The way to work around this is to just not put high casting cards into your deck and win with the little guys.
You can buy Gaddock Teeg and the rest of the cards that fit into his deck for a low price at http://www.mtgfanatic.com/!
Commander: Gruul General (Red/Green)
Now we have a Red and Green general, more commonly known as Gruul. As for the general, I had a choice between creatures like Borborygmos and Rhada, Heir to Keld. Instead, I took a creative approach to it and chose Ulasht, the Hate Seed as a commander.
Now Ulasht is 4 mana hydra that is a 0/0, but gets a +1/+1 counter on it for each red and for each green creature you control, so this deck is going to be massively aggro. But Ulasht has a high chance of finishing off your opponents as well. If you have a good way to generate creatures by the numbers, then Ulasht will come in as a really big creature. Chances are that within an attack or two, if Ulasht goes through, then your opponent will be dead from commander damage. But that is not all Ulasht can do, for one colorless mana, he can also pop off a +1/+1 counter to deal 1 damage to target creature or player, or he can put a 1/1 saproling into play. If he comes in as a big enough creature, then if you continuously spend mana on dealing damage, then you can wipe out your opponent quite easily. Or you can bolster your forces by putting saprolings into play so when Ulasht comes back out onto the battlefield, he can become stronger.
One big problem with Ulasht is a problem with all aggro decks. Commander thrives off of mass removal, so don't get too attatched to any of your creatures onto the battlefield, and you better have a backup plan for the high chance that Ulasht and his army get Damnation'd.
You can buy Ulasht, the Hate Seed and any other cards for his deck for a low price at http://www.mtgfanatic.com/!
Now Ulasht is 4 mana hydra that is a 0/0, but gets a +1/+1 counter on it for each red and for each green creature you control, so this deck is going to be massively aggro. But Ulasht has a high chance of finishing off your opponents as well. If you have a good way to generate creatures by the numbers, then Ulasht will come in as a really big creature. Chances are that within an attack or two, if Ulasht goes through, then your opponent will be dead from commander damage. But that is not all Ulasht can do, for one colorless mana, he can also pop off a +1/+1 counter to deal 1 damage to target creature or player, or he can put a 1/1 saproling into play. If he comes in as a big enough creature, then if you continuously spend mana on dealing damage, then you can wipe out your opponent quite easily. Or you can bolster your forces by putting saprolings into play so when Ulasht comes back out onto the battlefield, he can become stronger.
One big problem with Ulasht is a problem with all aggro decks. Commander thrives off of mass removal, so don't get too attatched to any of your creatures onto the battlefield, and you better have a backup plan for the high chance that Ulasht and his army get Damnation'd.
You can buy Ulasht, the Hate Seed and any other cards for his deck for a low price at http://www.mtgfanatic.com/!
Commander: Rakdos General (Black/Red)
We now go onto the third bi-colored general, and the next set of colors are Black and Red, also known as Rakdos. For Red and Black, there aren't too many good Generals to use. Rakdos the Defiler is pretty good, but also can be very destructive to yourself. While the rest of the Rakdos colored generals are just garbage, there is one that can be used for good. That general is Bladewing the Risen.
What is good about Bladewing is that he is the colors of your normal dragon deck. So you should have no problem being able to find cards to suit his abilities. A first reason why Bladewing is pretty good for a commander is he is a constant source of recursion. Every time you play him, you will be able to bring back a dragon that was previously killed. Whatever you bring back will be just as big and bad as Bladewing, unless you brought back a Dragon Whelp. Secondly, you can pump up your dragons to some pretty high power and toughness for just 2 mana. With a bunch of dragons going on the attack, this could help to be the game ender. Bladewing is also a 4/4 Flying, so he can deal a good amount of combat damage.
Some reasons to not use Bladewing would be things like his high mana cost, his lack of being able to end the game himself, and you are very restricted to using dragon cards with his deck, for anything else won't have synergy with Bladewing.
You can buy Bladewing the Risen and the rest of the cards for his deck for a low price at www.mtgfanatic.com!
What is good about Bladewing is that he is the colors of your normal dragon deck. So you should have no problem being able to find cards to suit his abilities. A first reason why Bladewing is pretty good for a commander is he is a constant source of recursion. Every time you play him, you will be able to bring back a dragon that was previously killed. Whatever you bring back will be just as big and bad as Bladewing, unless you brought back a Dragon Whelp. Secondly, you can pump up your dragons to some pretty high power and toughness for just 2 mana. With a bunch of dragons going on the attack, this could help to be the game ender. Bladewing is also a 4/4 Flying, so he can deal a good amount of combat damage.
Some reasons to not use Bladewing would be things like his high mana cost, his lack of being able to end the game himself, and you are very restricted to using dragon cards with his deck, for anything else won't have synergy with Bladewing.
You can buy Bladewing the Risen and the rest of the cards for his deck for a low price at www.mtgfanatic.com!
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Commander: Dimir General (Blue/Black)
So far, finding a Blue/Black Colored General was the hardest out of all the colors I have done. When I thought about it, the no brainer out of all the Dimir colored card would be Dralnu, Lich Lord. But at first, I didn't want to write about Dralnu because he is too mainstream, and I am a hipster. So I looked through more Blue and Black generals, and found one that tickled my fancy. Say hello to Skeleton Ship everyone!
Now, Skeleton Ship's purpose as a general is one thing and one thing only. To serve as a contagion. Seriously guys, did you expect the stupid ship to do anything else? It is a 0/3 for 5 mana! It is actually terrible! But you can tap it to put a -1/-1 counter on target creature, which led me to remember that Scars of Mirrodin is out. Now people may be asking, "If you wanted to make an infect or proliferate deck, why not just use Skithiryx?" Well because Skithiryx is too damn cheap to play in commander. Seriously, a 4/4 Flying, Haste, Regenerate with Infect is a little dirty. So I took the fun path and decided to use a pirate ship that is made out of bones. Plus I get the blue advantage that Skithiryx could never have.
Now, obviously you will have your normal proliferate and infect creatures and spells in the deck. The idea of the deck is to control your opponent's creatures by infecting them to death, and win with poison counters. Creatures that I suggest to go into the deck would be:
Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon- alright I know this is completely hypocritical, but Skithiryx is fine as long as he isn't the commander for me. Why wouldn't you want to put a 4/4 Flying, Haste, Regenerate, Infect into your deck?
Hand of the Praetors- He buffs up your infect guys and he also gives out poison counters!
Blightsteel Colossus- 11/11 trample, Indestructible, Infect? Sounds good to me!
Thrummingbird- A great source of Proliferation.
Carnifex Demon- A good way to give out -1/-1 counters to all creatures, and then proliferating them to death!
And here are some more awesome Proliferation Spells:
Inexorable Tide- A auto inclusion in this deck, every spell you cast has proliferate. That is just awesome.
Contagion Engine- Another awesome source of proliferation and mass removal.
Tezzeret's Gambit- Proliferate and draw cards! What more can you ask for?
There are plenty more cards where these infect and proliferate guys came from, but theses are just a few examples that go well with Skeleton Ship.
You can buy Skeleton Ship and all the other cards to go with it's deck for a low price at http://www.mtgfanatic.com/!
Now, Skeleton Ship's purpose as a general is one thing and one thing only. To serve as a contagion. Seriously guys, did you expect the stupid ship to do anything else? It is a 0/3 for 5 mana! It is actually terrible! But you can tap it to put a -1/-1 counter on target creature, which led me to remember that Scars of Mirrodin is out. Now people may be asking, "If you wanted to make an infect or proliferate deck, why not just use Skithiryx?" Well because Skithiryx is too damn cheap to play in commander. Seriously, a 4/4 Flying, Haste, Regenerate with Infect is a little dirty. So I took the fun path and decided to use a pirate ship that is made out of bones. Plus I get the blue advantage that Skithiryx could never have.
Now, obviously you will have your normal proliferate and infect creatures and spells in the deck. The idea of the deck is to control your opponent's creatures by infecting them to death, and win with poison counters. Creatures that I suggest to go into the deck would be:
Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon- alright I know this is completely hypocritical, but Skithiryx is fine as long as he isn't the commander for me. Why wouldn't you want to put a 4/4 Flying, Haste, Regenerate, Infect into your deck?
Hand of the Praetors- He buffs up your infect guys and he also gives out poison counters!
Blightsteel Colossus- 11/11 trample, Indestructible, Infect? Sounds good to me!
Thrummingbird- A great source of Proliferation.
Carnifex Demon- A good way to give out -1/-1 counters to all creatures, and then proliferating them to death!
And here are some more awesome Proliferation Spells:
Inexorable Tide- A auto inclusion in this deck, every spell you cast has proliferate. That is just awesome.
Contagion Engine- Another awesome source of proliferation and mass removal.
Tezzeret's Gambit- Proliferate and draw cards! What more can you ask for?
There are plenty more cards where these infect and proliferate guys came from, but theses are just a few examples that go well with Skeleton Ship.
You can buy Skeleton Ship and all the other cards to go with it's deck for a low price at http://www.mtgfanatic.com/!
Commander: Azorius General (Blue/White)
Finally, I get to talk about much more interesting generals! Time to start talking baout Bi-colored generals! Obviously, Bi-colored generals are legendary creatures with two colors compared to one, allowing you to to have two colors in your whole deck. The first bi-colored creature is both Blue and White, which is more commonly known as Azorious, thanks to the Ravnica block. And the general is going to be Gwafa Hazid, Profiteer!
This deck is purely a stall deck, since Gwafa can't do anything more than slow your opponents down. The plan for battle in this deck is to slow your opponents to a halt between Gwafa and hwatever else you put in your deck. Once you have basically stopped your opponents, then you take them out with your game winners. Another key element to this deck is politics, where you pretty much convince your opponents to fight eachother beacuse either:
A) You'll render their decks useless if they try to attack you or
B) They simply cannot attack or damage you.
Why can't they attack or damage you? Well here are a few cards that explain why that is so:
Stop the attack:
Ghostly Prison- Each opponent attacking you will have to pay 2 mana for each attacking creature to do so. That is a pain in the butt.
Propaganda- Blue version of Ghostly Prison.
Windborn Muse- Creature version of Ghostly Prison, so far that is 6 mana for each attacking creature.
Blazing Archon- Stops the attacking completely.
Kor Haven- Prevents Combat damage of an attacking creature.
Mystifying Maze- Exiles an attacking creature until the end of the turn.
Maze of Ith- Untaps an attacking creature and prevents it's combat damage.
Norn's Annex- Another Ghostly Prison, but they have the option of paying one mana or 2 life.
Stormtide Leviathan- A big monster that makes all of your opponent's lands Islands (when if they don't have a blue commander, they can't use their lands for colored mana) and stops attacking for all creatures except ones with Islandwalk and flying. He is one of your game winners.
Preventing Damage:
Personal Sanctuary- Prevents all damage that would be dealt to you during your turn.
Solitary Confinement- For a little while, you can' tbe the target of spells or abilities and you prevent all damage to you.
Vengeful Archon- You get a big 7/7 flying that prevents damage to you and redirects it back at your opponents.
Glarecaster- Same thing as the archon, but it is a bird and when damage is dealt to it, then you prevent that and deal that much damage back to your opponent.
This is how you stall. Obviously, you are still putting bribery counters on your opponent's creatures and you are also putting enchantments such as Arrest on them, but with this line-up of cards, it is almost impossible for you to lose. What other cards you wish to put in there to help you in the game is purely up to you, but these are major suggestions that I reccommend go into a Gwafa Hazid Deck.
You can buy Gwafa and the rest of the cards for his deck for a low price at http://www.mtgfanatic.com/!
This deck is purely a stall deck, since Gwafa can't do anything more than slow your opponents down. The plan for battle in this deck is to slow your opponents to a halt between Gwafa and hwatever else you put in your deck. Once you have basically stopped your opponents, then you take them out with your game winners. Another key element to this deck is politics, where you pretty much convince your opponents to fight eachother beacuse either:
A) You'll render their decks useless if they try to attack you or
B) They simply cannot attack or damage you.
Why can't they attack or damage you? Well here are a few cards that explain why that is so:
Stop the attack:
Ghostly Prison- Each opponent attacking you will have to pay 2 mana for each attacking creature to do so. That is a pain in the butt.
Propaganda- Blue version of Ghostly Prison.
Windborn Muse- Creature version of Ghostly Prison, so far that is 6 mana for each attacking creature.
Blazing Archon- Stops the attacking completely.
Kor Haven- Prevents Combat damage of an attacking creature.
Mystifying Maze- Exiles an attacking creature until the end of the turn.
Maze of Ith- Untaps an attacking creature and prevents it's combat damage.
Norn's Annex- Another Ghostly Prison, but they have the option of paying one mana or 2 life.
Stormtide Leviathan- A big monster that makes all of your opponent's lands Islands (when if they don't have a blue commander, they can't use their lands for colored mana) and stops attacking for all creatures except ones with Islandwalk and flying. He is one of your game winners.
Preventing Damage:
Personal Sanctuary- Prevents all damage that would be dealt to you during your turn.
Solitary Confinement- For a little while, you can' tbe the target of spells or abilities and you prevent all damage to you.
Vengeful Archon- You get a big 7/7 flying that prevents damage to you and redirects it back at your opponents.
Glarecaster- Same thing as the archon, but it is a bird and when damage is dealt to it, then you prevent that and deal that much damage back to your opponent.
This is how you stall. Obviously, you are still putting bribery counters on your opponent's creatures and you are also putting enchantments such as Arrest on them, but with this line-up of cards, it is almost impossible for you to lose. What other cards you wish to put in there to help you in the game is purely up to you, but these are major suggestions that I reccommend go into a Gwafa Hazid Deck.
You can buy Gwafa and the rest of the cards for his deck for a low price at http://www.mtgfanatic.com/!
EDH, a.k.a, Commander
A commander deck is comprised of 1 legendary creature as your commander and a 99-card deck. There may be no duplicates of any card in the deck except for basic lands and you may only use a color that is on your commander. For example: Doran, the Siege Tower were you could use black, green and white or Memnarch were you could use only blue because of his blue ability. So now you’ve got your commander (preferably multicolored) and your 99-card singleton deck. On to the game play.
What’s different between this and a normal game? First of all, the legendary creature you picked as your commander resides in a special removed from the game zone known as the command zone where you can summon it at any time for its mana cost. When ever it is destroyed you may place it in the graveyard or back in the command zone. When you put it back in the command zone from play, the next time you cast your commander, it will cost 2 more mana for each time it was destroyed. When commanders deal damage to an opponent they deal normal damage as well as commander damage, if a player is dealt 21 damage by a single commander that player loses the game. Other than that, commanders act like normal creatures, they CAN be shuffled in your library, countered, and brought back to your hand so watch out for spells like hinder. This is a reason why it is good to have a lot of tutoring considering your commander may be placed at the bottom of your library and you may only have 1 copy of a card. Another difference in commander game play is that every player starts of with 40 life so don’t think agro is the way to go. The games seem to last a very long time so a steady paced deck will work the best. Now that you now how to play and have a deck, the fun begins.
Those are the basic rules, so go have fun. Start a commander league with your friends and keep a record on everyone’s commanders. Make sure you don’t play someone with the same commander because the legend rule DOES apply to commanders. Commander games play way different than normal games so don’t be surprised if your first deck doesn’t play the way you want it too. Play test a bunch with your friends and you’ll get the hang of it and edit your deck till its just right.
You can buy a bunch of the pre-constructed decks for COmmander and any other card you wish to buy for a low price at http://www.mtgfanatic.com/!
What’s different between this and a normal game? First of all, the legendary creature you picked as your commander resides in a special removed from the game zone known as the command zone where you can summon it at any time for its mana cost. When ever it is destroyed you may place it in the graveyard or back in the command zone. When you put it back in the command zone from play, the next time you cast your commander, it will cost 2 more mana for each time it was destroyed. When commanders deal damage to an opponent they deal normal damage as well as commander damage, if a player is dealt 21 damage by a single commander that player loses the game. Other than that, commanders act like normal creatures, they CAN be shuffled in your library, countered, and brought back to your hand so watch out for spells like hinder. This is a reason why it is good to have a lot of tutoring considering your commander may be placed at the bottom of your library and you may only have 1 copy of a card. Another difference in commander game play is that every player starts of with 40 life so don’t think agro is the way to go. The games seem to last a very long time so a steady paced deck will work the best. Now that you now how to play and have a deck, the fun begins.
Those are the basic rules, so go have fun. Start a commander league with your friends and keep a record on everyone’s commanders. Make sure you don’t play someone with the same commander because the legend rule DOES apply to commanders. Commander games play way different than normal games so don’t be surprised if your first deck doesn’t play the way you want it too. Play test a bunch with your friends and you’ll get the hang of it and edit your deck till its just right.
You can buy a bunch of the pre-constructed decks for COmmander and any other card you wish to buy for a low price at http://www.mtgfanatic.com/!
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Random Card Top 3: #17
Here we go with another random card ranking! For now, we have a few more cards that are ready to be pitted against eachother to see who is number one! We have Ma Chao, Western Warrior, Screeching Silcaw, and Skeletal Kathari. Let's begin!
#3 Skeletal Kathari- A pretty awful card. It is 5 mana for a 3/2 flying which is pretty God awful, but then you can regenrate it at the cost of one mana and sacrificing a creature, which just throws this stupid bird over the edge. If you want a flying blocker that is actually useful, get Kathari Remnant, especially for its cascade ability.
#2 Screeching Silcaw- 2 mana for a 1/2 flyer is pretty good come to think about it. It is a pretty good 2 drop, but when you have metalcraft activated, you can have an opponent mill the top 4 cards of their library whenever it deals combat damage to your opponent, which is a decent amount of cards. I would only suggest using this guy in milling decks though.
#1 Ma Chao, Western Warrior- 5 mana for a 3/3 Horsemanship is pretty good. It's ability is redundant though, because there are almost no creatures that have horsemanship anymore. None the less, a 3/3 unblockable is nothing to laugh at, especially when he has such a cool name.
You can buy Ma Chao, Western Warrior and any other card you wish to buy for alow price at http://www.mtgfanatic.com/!
#3 Skeletal Kathari- A pretty awful card. It is 5 mana for a 3/2 flying which is pretty God awful, but then you can regenrate it at the cost of one mana and sacrificing a creature, which just throws this stupid bird over the edge. If you want a flying blocker that is actually useful, get Kathari Remnant, especially for its cascade ability.
#2 Screeching Silcaw- 2 mana for a 1/2 flyer is pretty good come to think about it. It is a pretty good 2 drop, but when you have metalcraft activated, you can have an opponent mill the top 4 cards of their library whenever it deals combat damage to your opponent, which is a decent amount of cards. I would only suggest using this guy in milling decks though.
#1 Ma Chao, Western Warrior- 5 mana for a 3/3 Horsemanship is pretty good. It's ability is redundant though, because there are almost no creatures that have horsemanship anymore. None the less, a 3/3 unblockable is nothing to laugh at, especially when he has such a cool name.
You can buy Ma Chao, Western Warrior and any other card you wish to buy for alow price at http://www.mtgfanatic.com/!
Random Card Top 3: #16
Here we go with another random card ranking! We have another set of three awesome cards today, and they are none other than Lodestone Golem, Electryte, and Volcanic Island. Let's begin!
#3 Electryte- This beast is not that terrible honestly. It is a 3/3 for 5 mana, and whenever it deals combat damage to a player, it deals that much damage to each blocking creature as well. Now 3 damage is a decent amount of damage, so it can wipe out a lot of creature, and possibly weaken a bunch more, allowing those creatures to be killed by whatever they are blocking. The only problem about it is that it can be chumped blocked very easily and also killed very easily.
#2 Lodestone Golem- Lodestone is a very good card where it will slow down any actions that your opponents have to do. Assuming you are using this guy in an artifact deck, he can help you out greatly. Stalling your opponents is very nice, giving you a chance to win, and Lodestone Golem gives you that chance right in the clear.
#1 Volcanic Island- Part of the set that includes some of the best and most expensive rares of all time, Volcanic Island is a very rare Mountain Island hybrid that is a very nice addition to any Red blude deck in need of dual lands. This card can only be good for you.
You can buy Volcanic Island and any other card you want for a cheap price at http://www.mtgfanatic.com/!
#3 Electryte- This beast is not that terrible honestly. It is a 3/3 for 5 mana, and whenever it deals combat damage to a player, it deals that much damage to each blocking creature as well. Now 3 damage is a decent amount of damage, so it can wipe out a lot of creature, and possibly weaken a bunch more, allowing those creatures to be killed by whatever they are blocking. The only problem about it is that it can be chumped blocked very easily and also killed very easily.
#2 Lodestone Golem- Lodestone is a very good card where it will slow down any actions that your opponents have to do. Assuming you are using this guy in an artifact deck, he can help you out greatly. Stalling your opponents is very nice, giving you a chance to win, and Lodestone Golem gives you that chance right in the clear.
#1 Volcanic Island- Part of the set that includes some of the best and most expensive rares of all time, Volcanic Island is a very rare Mountain Island hybrid that is a very nice addition to any Red blude deck in need of dual lands. This card can only be good for you.
You can buy Volcanic Island and any other card you want for a cheap price at http://www.mtgfanatic.com/!
Random Card Top 3: #15
Here is another random card ranking! Today we have 3 more awesome cards for everyone to see, and they are Yawning Fissure, Hammer of Bogardan, and Elvish Archers. Let' begin the rating!
#3 Yawning Fissure- A simple card. Each opponent has to sacrifice a land, which is not that devastating at all. The worst part is that it is 5 mana. Armageddon is only 4 mana to destroy ALL lands, not just one or two! There are such better cards than this garbage.
#2 Elvish Archers- The thing that upsets me is that this card is a rare. Why should a 2/1 with first strike for 2 mana be a rare? I mean it isn't awful and it is a pretty good 2 drop, but I would never want to open this in a pack as my rare card. This card can also be easily destroyed by anything with toughness 3 or greater, or just any kind of red removal spell.
#1 Hammer of Bogardan- The winner for today is definitely the hammer. 3 mana for 3 damage is nothing compared to lightning bolt, but when you can keep bringing it back for 5 mana, it can get pretty annoying. Yeah it is a little costly, but being bale to deal 3 damage each turn is pretty awesome as well.
You can buy Hammer of Bogardan and any other card you want for alow price at http://www.mtgfanatic.com/!
#3 Yawning Fissure- A simple card. Each opponent has to sacrifice a land, which is not that devastating at all. The worst part is that it is 5 mana. Armageddon is only 4 mana to destroy ALL lands, not just one or two! There are such better cards than this garbage.
#2 Elvish Archers- The thing that upsets me is that this card is a rare. Why should a 2/1 with first strike for 2 mana be a rare? I mean it isn't awful and it is a pretty good 2 drop, but I would never want to open this in a pack as my rare card. This card can also be easily destroyed by anything with toughness 3 or greater, or just any kind of red removal spell.
#1 Hammer of Bogardan- The winner for today is definitely the hammer. 3 mana for 3 damage is nothing compared to lightning bolt, but when you can keep bringing it back for 5 mana, it can get pretty annoying. Yeah it is a little costly, but being bale to deal 3 damage each turn is pretty awesome as well.
You can buy Hammer of Bogardan and any other card you want for alow price at http://www.mtgfanatic.com/!
Innistrad, A little Tidbit of Information
So, the next upcoming set is going to be Innistrad. There are a few things that I wanted to talk about before more information about the set comes out. First off, the Planeswalkers. Right now, there are two Planeswalkers confirmed for Innistrad. One is going to be the new Liliana, and the other is unknown. I really hope that the new Liliana is going to be good, because the original wasn't that great and she has gotten very old now. As for the second planeswalker, I would guess it to be either that Izzet colored guy, Ral Zarek, or it could be a new Ajani, for there have been rumors going around about a White/Green colore Ajani. Secondly, they announced the returning mechanic to be Flashback, which is going to be awesome being bale to play a bunch of awesome flashback spells again. A few more things. They announced that Innistrad will be heavy on Tribes and on a Graveyard theme. That means that there will be a lot of reccursion effects in the set, which I absolutely love! As for the tribes, here are what we have so far:
Selesnya W/G: Ghosts
Gruul R/G: Werewolves
Rakdos R/B: Vampires
Dimir U/B: Zombies
I cannot freaking wait to see what the werewolves have to offer in this set. I'm hoping to see a rare or a mythic rare lord for each tribe! Innistrad comes out on September 30th, and when it does, the best place to buy Innistrad cards will be http://www.mtgfanatic.com/!
Selesnya W/G: Ghosts
Gruul R/G: Werewolves
Rakdos R/B: Vampires
Dimir U/B: Zombies
I cannot freaking wait to see what the werewolves have to offer in this set. I'm hoping to see a rare or a mythic rare lord for each tribe! Innistrad comes out on September 30th, and when it does, the best place to buy Innistrad cards will be http://www.mtgfanatic.com/!
Commander: Colorless General
There are barely any Colorless generals in the Commander format. For me, the obvious choice is Emrakul, the Aeons Torn, since he would win the game for you the first turn you play him. But alas, Emrakul is banned. So the next best general would be Emrakul's little brother, Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre. But why Ulamog? Well, he is the second cheapest of the Eldrazi titans, being at 11 mana. He also can get rid of a permanent once he is casted. Not only that, but he is Indestructible, giving him plenty of evasion. Plus, his Annihilator 4 is devastating. Reasons to not play Ulamog though would be because you are restricted from using any color, including any basic lands. That is right, all of your lands must be non-basic. This has its ups and downs. Sure, all of your lands can do something awesome, but it severely puts you behind your opponents. Also, Ulamog costs a lot, although he is relativly cheap for an Eldrazi. Otherwise, there are not big reasons to not play Ulamog as a general. Now let's talk about some of the cards that can go well with Ulamog.
There are some creatures that can work very well with Ulamog, and some that are just awesome for colorless decks.
Kozilek, Butcher of Truth - Kozilek is great for a deck like this. A 12/12 that kills permanents and draws you four cards is definitely worth a slot.
Blightsteel Colossus - Blightsteel can easily kill anything the turn it comes out, given there is a haste effect on the field. Poison counters are still at 10 I believe for commander, so With one swing, Blightsteel wins you the game.
It That Betrays - Another game winner. What is better than taking the stuff you just killed from your opponent?
Artisan of Kozilek - A huge monster that has a great Resurrection effect is definitely worth a slot.
Copper Gnomes - Turn 2 Blightsteel is very nice. It makes your expensive artifacts cost only 4 mana.
Darksteel Colossus - Big and indestructible, what more could you ask for from this guy? I guess maybe infect...
Karn, Silver Golem - Karn is great. My friend had this one card that turned everything into artifacts, and he used Karn to turn everybody's lands into 0/0 creatures and they all died. That is a sick combo.
Some more really awesome cards include things like All is Dust, which wipes your opponent's boards and leaves you with everything, and Darksteel Forge, which makes your artifacts even more unstoppable.
You can buy all of these cards, including Ulamog, for a low price at http://www.mtgfanatic.com/!
There are some creatures that can work very well with Ulamog, and some that are just awesome for colorless decks.
Kozilek, Butcher of Truth - Kozilek is great for a deck like this. A 12/12 that kills permanents and draws you four cards is definitely worth a slot.
Blightsteel Colossus - Blightsteel can easily kill anything the turn it comes out, given there is a haste effect on the field. Poison counters are still at 10 I believe for commander, so With one swing, Blightsteel wins you the game.
It That Betrays - Another game winner. What is better than taking the stuff you just killed from your opponent?
Artisan of Kozilek - A huge monster that has a great Resurrection effect is definitely worth a slot.
Copper Gnomes - Turn 2 Blightsteel is very nice. It makes your expensive artifacts cost only 4 mana.
Darksteel Colossus - Big and indestructible, what more could you ask for from this guy? I guess maybe infect...
Karn, Silver Golem - Karn is great. My friend had this one card that turned everything into artifacts, and he used Karn to turn everybody's lands into 0/0 creatures and they all died. That is a sick combo.
Some more really awesome cards include things like All is Dust, which wipes your opponent's boards and leaves you with everything, and Darksteel Forge, which makes your artifacts even more unstoppable.
You can buy all of these cards, including Ulamog, for a low price at http://www.mtgfanatic.com/!
Commander: Green General
Today, we will talk a little bit about the last mono colored General that I find very enticing to use. For green, you need a Commander that can survive bombardments, but can also deal large amounts of Commander damage as well. Obviously, there are not many Commanders like that in green to come by, but there is one card that comes in mind that can. Everybody, welcome in Thrun, the Last Troll!
So what makes Thrun such a good green commander? Well first off, he has Blue covered, for he can't be countered and can't be targeted by Unsummoning spells. He then has Black covered because he can't be targeted. The only things in black that can really affect him are Black Sun's Zenith and Damnation. He also has Red covered because he can just regenerate himself. That is plenty evasion already. But with Thrun on the board, your opponents will easily try to get rid of him by wasting mass removal spells early. A simple fix to that is giving him more evasion while buffing him up a lot. A first option would be using some of the totem armor enchantments from the Rise of the Eldrazi set. With totem armor, Thrun can survive a Damnation. An easier fix would be Darksteel Plate, where he is Indestructible, and since Darksteel Plate is Indestructible as well, it won't be destroyed easily at all. The best way to kill with Thrun is to buff him up and make him unkillable. Put a bunch of green enchantments (or the only colorless one, Eldrazi Conscription) and equipment into the deck to make dealing 21 Commander damage as easy as possible.
Otherwise, a Thrun deck should have the rest of the basic principals of green. There should be a good amount of mana ramping and some other creatures that are big and are hard to kill. There should also be some crazy spells, like Genesis Wave.
You can buy Thrun and any other cards that work well with him at http://www.mtgfanatic.com/!
So what makes Thrun such a good green commander? Well first off, he has Blue covered, for he can't be countered and can't be targeted by Unsummoning spells. He then has Black covered because he can't be targeted. The only things in black that can really affect him are Black Sun's Zenith and Damnation. He also has Red covered because he can just regenerate himself. That is plenty evasion already. But with Thrun on the board, your opponents will easily try to get rid of him by wasting mass removal spells early. A simple fix to that is giving him more evasion while buffing him up a lot. A first option would be using some of the totem armor enchantments from the Rise of the Eldrazi set. With totem armor, Thrun can survive a Damnation. An easier fix would be Darksteel Plate, where he is Indestructible, and since Darksteel Plate is Indestructible as well, it won't be destroyed easily at all. The best way to kill with Thrun is to buff him up and make him unkillable. Put a bunch of green enchantments (or the only colorless one, Eldrazi Conscription) and equipment into the deck to make dealing 21 Commander damage as easy as possible.
Otherwise, a Thrun deck should have the rest of the basic principals of green. There should be a good amount of mana ramping and some other creatures that are big and are hard to kill. There should also be some crazy spells, like Genesis Wave.
You can buy Thrun and any other cards that work well with him at http://www.mtgfanatic.com/!
Monday, August 1, 2011
Random Card Top 3: #14
Let's get started with the Random Card Rankings once again! I have to say, being able to just click a random button to see a bunch of new cards I have never heard of before is sweet. I feel like I'm learning more and more about the game and it's past with every click. Anyway, here are the next three cards in our vault. We have Blessing, Attrition, and Azorius Aethermage. Let's rate!
#3 Blessing- An enchantment that gives no perks off the bat is horrible. In Blessing's case, it is only semi-bad, because you can tap any amount of white mana you want to put that many +1/+1 counters on the enchanted creatur euntil the end of the turn. So really, this card isn't horrible, where are just so many better options.
#2 Azorious Aethermage- It is a pretty bad draw engine card, when you have to pay 1 mana to draw a card only when something is returned to your hand. I mean, if you have a Reliquary Tower out and a lot of mana when somebody plays Evacuation, then you have yourself a huge card advantage. Otherwise, this card is bad and situational.
#1 Attrition- Probably the best removal card in decks based around sacrificing. It gives you a sacrificial engine and a great way to kill your opponent's creatures. This card really shines in EDH though when you have a commander like Kresh the Bloodbraided or Thraximundar.
You can buy any of these cards for a very, very low price at http://www.mtgfanatic.com/!
#3 Blessing- An enchantment that gives no perks off the bat is horrible. In Blessing's case, it is only semi-bad, because you can tap any amount of white mana you want to put that many +1/+1 counters on the enchanted creatur euntil the end of the turn. So really, this card isn't horrible, where are just so many better options.
#2 Azorious Aethermage- It is a pretty bad draw engine card, when you have to pay 1 mana to draw a card only when something is returned to your hand. I mean, if you have a Reliquary Tower out and a lot of mana when somebody plays Evacuation, then you have yourself a huge card advantage. Otherwise, this card is bad and situational.
#1 Attrition- Probably the best removal card in decks based around sacrificing. It gives you a sacrificial engine and a great way to kill your opponent's creatures. This card really shines in EDH though when you have a commander like Kresh the Bloodbraided or Thraximundar.
You can buy any of these cards for a very, very low price at http://www.mtgfanatic.com/!
Random Card Top 3: #13
Time for another segment of the Random Card Rankings! Today we have a pretty diverse bunch of cards beneath our ranks. We have Icatian Priest, Morinfen, and Summer Bloom. Let's get rating!
#3 Icatian Priest- You know, this guy isn't that bad, but by no means is he good either. This 1/1 can buff up another creature till the end of the turn for 3 mana, whihc is kind of a rip off, considering it is only +1/+1 and to a single creature. A pretty weak card.
#2 Morinfen- A very silly and self destructive legendary creature, Morinfen has a Cumulative Upkeep cost of 1 life, which is pretty bad considering that you only start off with 20 life and the Upkeep cost will continue to rise. The question is, is a 5/4 flying really worth all of that life loss? I do not think so.
#1 Summer Bloom- A better version of Explore, minus the card draw, you can play up to four lands on turn two, which is amazing in a ramp deck. That means that you already have 2 mana out, then you can play Summer Bloom to play 3 mor elands, and this those three lands, you can play a cultivate where you then have 5 lands and one more in your hand. By turn 3, you have 6 lands out and can play a Primeval Titan. That is awesome.
You can buy any of these cards and any other card you like for a low price at http://www.mtgfanatic.com/!
#3 Icatian Priest- You know, this guy isn't that bad, but by no means is he good either. This 1/1 can buff up another creature till the end of the turn for 3 mana, whihc is kind of a rip off, considering it is only +1/+1 and to a single creature. A pretty weak card.
#2 Morinfen- A very silly and self destructive legendary creature, Morinfen has a Cumulative Upkeep cost of 1 life, which is pretty bad considering that you only start off with 20 life and the Upkeep cost will continue to rise. The question is, is a 5/4 flying really worth all of that life loss? I do not think so.
#1 Summer Bloom- A better version of Explore, minus the card draw, you can play up to four lands on turn two, which is amazing in a ramp deck. That means that you already have 2 mana out, then you can play Summer Bloom to play 3 mor elands, and this those three lands, you can play a cultivate where you then have 5 lands and one more in your hand. By turn 3, you have 6 lands out and can play a Primeval Titan. That is awesome.
You can buy any of these cards and any other card you like for a low price at http://www.mtgfanatic.com/!
Random Card Top 3: #12
Let's start again with a new segment for Random Card Rankings Top Three cards! Today is the first time we have had multiple land cards in the rankings, so this should be interesting! Our cards are Terminal Moraine, Strip Mine, and Glyph of Destruction. Let's go!
#3 Glyph of Destruction- This card is amazing if you only read the first sentance of things and like to exclude words that start with 'W'. If that is the case, then for 1 mana, you can give one of your creatures +10/+0! Well for us who know how to read, it actually says that only a Wall can get this perk. Yes, a wall that can't attack. Oh, and it has to get destroyed by the end of next turn too.
#2 Terminal Moraine- A solid fetch land. Of course things like Evolving Wilds and Terramorphic expanse would be much better options, but the fact that this can also produce mana is nice as well. The only thing that brought this card down is the fact that you need to pay for looking for a land.
#1 Strip Mine- One of the best lands in the game, Strip Mine is banned in every format except for Commander and Freeform. This card gets rid of any land you want at the cost of itself, and with a little thing called Curcible of Worlds, you have an infinite loop of land removal. Pretty unfair right? No wonder why it is banned.
You can buy all these awesome cards for a low price at http://www.mtgfanatic.com/!
#3 Glyph of Destruction- This card is amazing if you only read the first sentance of things and like to exclude words that start with 'W'. If that is the case, then for 1 mana, you can give one of your creatures +10/+0! Well for us who know how to read, it actually says that only a Wall can get this perk. Yes, a wall that can't attack. Oh, and it has to get destroyed by the end of next turn too.
#2 Terminal Moraine- A solid fetch land. Of course things like Evolving Wilds and Terramorphic expanse would be much better options, but the fact that this can also produce mana is nice as well. The only thing that brought this card down is the fact that you need to pay for looking for a land.
#1 Strip Mine- One of the best lands in the game, Strip Mine is banned in every format except for Commander and Freeform. This card gets rid of any land you want at the cost of itself, and with a little thing called Curcible of Worlds, you have an infinite loop of land removal. Pretty unfair right? No wonder why it is banned.
You can buy all these awesome cards for a low price at http://www.mtgfanatic.com/!
Random Card Top 3: #11
Hey there and here are more random cards to be rated today! For this segment, we have three more awesome cards. They are Silent Assassin, Naturalize, and Vertigo. Let's rate!
#3 Vertigo- Not a very solid card. I mean, you can use it on an attacking creature, where it's toughness will have been brought down and it could now be blocked by other non-flyers, but there are much better options for attacking creature removal, such as Condemn.
#2 Silent Assassin- Not aterrible card, for 2 mana you get a 2/1, which yeah it is less than average, but for an extra 4 mana, you can destroy any blocking creature, which will make your opponents tentative to block any other creature you have. And you can destroy multiple blockers each turn, which is a plus.
#1 Naturalize- Obviously the most well rounded card here, Naturalize has been reprinted probably a dozen times. Two mana to get rid of nay artifact or enchantment is really nice, and this card deserves multiples of it in many green decks, or at least their sideboards for when they are playing artifact or enchantment heavy decks.
You can buy all these awesome cards for a low price at http://www.mtgfanatic.com/!
#3 Vertigo- Not a very solid card. I mean, you can use it on an attacking creature, where it's toughness will have been brought down and it could now be blocked by other non-flyers, but there are much better options for attacking creature removal, such as Condemn.
#2 Silent Assassin- Not aterrible card, for 2 mana you get a 2/1, which yeah it is less than average, but for an extra 4 mana, you can destroy any blocking creature, which will make your opponents tentative to block any other creature you have. And you can destroy multiple blockers each turn, which is a plus.
#1 Naturalize- Obviously the most well rounded card here, Naturalize has been reprinted probably a dozen times. Two mana to get rid of nay artifact or enchantment is really nice, and this card deserves multiples of it in many green decks, or at least their sideboards for when they are playing artifact or enchantment heavy decks.
You can buy all these awesome cards for a low price at http://www.mtgfanatic.com/!
Random Card Top 3: #10
Here we go once again with three more random cards to be ranked! For the tenth edition of these rankings, we have these new cards. Seismic Mage, Seismic Assault, and Golgothian Sylex. Let's begin!
#3 Golgothian Sylex- Do I even need to explain why this card is bad? The only thing that this card is hurting is itself, because nine out of ten times, it will be the only Antiquities card on the field! If you really want to, sideboard this card for the off-chance that you will face someone with a mono-Antiquities deck.
#2 Seismic Assault- What is good about this card? Well let's see. It is an enchantment, which is the hardest type of cards to kill, and it is only three mana. Well the bad part is that to activate its mediocre ability, you must discard a land card, which you won't find in your hand too often. And it's ability is to deal 2 damage to target creature or player, which is mediocre at best.
#1 Seismic Mage- The reason why this guy is good is because his ability is a very general ability. The requirements for the ability aren't too complicated, where you have to pay 3 mana and discard a card. That isn't too much to ask for in order to destroy one of your opponent's lands. This guy will definitely find his way into EDH decks as an easy way to take out the surplus of non-basic lands that exist in that format.
You can get all these cards for a low price at http://www.mtgfanatic.com/!
#3 Golgothian Sylex- Do I even need to explain why this card is bad? The only thing that this card is hurting is itself, because nine out of ten times, it will be the only Antiquities card on the field! If you really want to, sideboard this card for the off-chance that you will face someone with a mono-Antiquities deck.
#2 Seismic Assault- What is good about this card? Well let's see. It is an enchantment, which is the hardest type of cards to kill, and it is only three mana. Well the bad part is that to activate its mediocre ability, you must discard a land card, which you won't find in your hand too often. And it's ability is to deal 2 damage to target creature or player, which is mediocre at best.
#1 Seismic Mage- The reason why this guy is good is because his ability is a very general ability. The requirements for the ability aren't too complicated, where you have to pay 3 mana and discard a card. That isn't too much to ask for in order to destroy one of your opponent's lands. This guy will definitely find his way into EDH decks as an easy way to take out the surplus of non-basic lands that exist in that format.
You can get all these cards for a low price at http://www.mtgfanatic.com/!
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Random Card Top 3: #9
Here we go with another Random card ranking top three! Today we have some more awesome cards to be ranked, such as Matsu-Tribe Birdstalker, Treva's Attendant, and Quillmane Baku. Let us begin!
#3 Quillmane Baku- First off, why are there such things as ki counters? And what is ki anyway? Apparently it isn't good, because Quillmane Baku over here sucks! First off you need to play spirit or arcane spells, which aren't very common to begin with, to get ki counters on it. Then you have to pay one colorless mana and tap him to return a creature with X or less casting cost, where X is the number of counters on Quillmane Baku. Okay first off, you are paying 5 mana to cast Quillmane, probably a good few turns worth of mana to get a bunch of counters on him, and one more mana to use his ability. By the end of all that ordeal, you must have wasted at least 20 mana, probably more! With all of that mana wasted on just one creature (mind you, that CAN be played again next turn), don't you wish you just used 20 Unsummons instead?
#2 Treva's Attendant- I'm goning to have to say, this card is pretty bad. I mean it's already bad enough since it is a 3/3 creature that is also a whopping 5 mana to cost, but then you must pay a sixth mana to sacrifice it to add 3 mana to your mana pool. So after all that, you have a net gain of negative three mana. This card is actually quite laughable at.
#1 Matsu-Tribe Birdstalker- So, a 2/2 for 4 mana is pretty bad. To be able to give him reach whenever you want for one green mana isn't very good either, but at least you can give him reach. What makes this awful card rise above the rest is it's first ability. Whenever he deals combat damage to a creature, that creature stays tapped for it's controller's next untap step, which is actually pretty useful!
So Matsu-Tribe Birdstalker wins over two easily beatable opponents today. You can buy him and all the other cards seen here today at http://www.mtgfanatic.com/!
#3 Quillmane Baku- First off, why are there such things as ki counters? And what is ki anyway? Apparently it isn't good, because Quillmane Baku over here sucks! First off you need to play spirit or arcane spells, which aren't very common to begin with, to get ki counters on it. Then you have to pay one colorless mana and tap him to return a creature with X or less casting cost, where X is the number of counters on Quillmane Baku. Okay first off, you are paying 5 mana to cast Quillmane, probably a good few turns worth of mana to get a bunch of counters on him, and one more mana to use his ability. By the end of all that ordeal, you must have wasted at least 20 mana, probably more! With all of that mana wasted on just one creature (mind you, that CAN be played again next turn), don't you wish you just used 20 Unsummons instead?
#2 Treva's Attendant- I'm goning to have to say, this card is pretty bad. I mean it's already bad enough since it is a 3/3 creature that is also a whopping 5 mana to cost, but then you must pay a sixth mana to sacrifice it to add 3 mana to your mana pool. So after all that, you have a net gain of negative three mana. This card is actually quite laughable at.
#1 Matsu-Tribe Birdstalker- So, a 2/2 for 4 mana is pretty bad. To be able to give him reach whenever you want for one green mana isn't very good either, but at least you can give him reach. What makes this awful card rise above the rest is it's first ability. Whenever he deals combat damage to a creature, that creature stays tapped for it's controller's next untap step, which is actually pretty useful!
So Matsu-Tribe Birdstalker wins over two easily beatable opponents today. You can buy him and all the other cards seen here today at http://www.mtgfanatic.com/!
Friday, July 29, 2011
Commander: Red General
Now sticking along with the mono-colored generals, we have the next color coming up, Red! The best red commander to have in my opinion would be Urabrask the Hidden.
My reasoning for using Urabrask would be because he is the best praetor. He gives all of your creatures haste, which is freaking awesome, and he makes all of your opponent's creatures come into play tapped, which will slow down your opponent greatly. And he is the cheapest of all the praetors, being at 5 mana. The idea with a deck with Urabrask as a commander is pretty much to deal damage quickly. Having a lot of burn and destroy spells will help you keep your opponents at bay which you are trying to get out a bunch of your bigger creatures that can do damage right away through that haste that Urabrask gives them. What is more scary than seening an Ulamog or a Kozilek attack you on the first turn they are played? Maybe a Blightsteel Colossus would be more scary, but who knows? Regardless, whatever you play will be able to deal damage right away. A good way fo rthe deck to work without Urabrask too is to but in Anger as a fail-safe, just in case Urabrask is killed too many times.
Some nice control in Commander goes to cards like Blood Moon and Price of Glory. With Blood Moon you can make your opponent's non basic lands usless if they aren't runnign red decks, and you can start eliminating opponents slowly through Price of Glory. Another awesome mechanic fro red is extra combat phases, so cards like Aggravated Assault, Relentless Assault, and World at War are amazing.
A key part for this deck too is a lot of mana. Everflowing Chalice, Geosurge, and especially Mana Geyser are really awesome for getting a lot of mana early on in the game.
Finally, another mechanic to have is mass card discarding. Wheel of Fortune, Wheel of Fate, Dragon Mage, and Winds of Change will get rid of your opponent's hands quickly and easily.
You can buy Urabrask and the rest of the cards for his deck at at low price at http://www.mtgfanatic.com/!
My reasoning for using Urabrask would be because he is the best praetor. He gives all of your creatures haste, which is freaking awesome, and he makes all of your opponent's creatures come into play tapped, which will slow down your opponent greatly. And he is the cheapest of all the praetors, being at 5 mana. The idea with a deck with Urabrask as a commander is pretty much to deal damage quickly. Having a lot of burn and destroy spells will help you keep your opponents at bay which you are trying to get out a bunch of your bigger creatures that can do damage right away through that haste that Urabrask gives them. What is more scary than seening an Ulamog or a Kozilek attack you on the first turn they are played? Maybe a Blightsteel Colossus would be more scary, but who knows? Regardless, whatever you play will be able to deal damage right away. A good way fo rthe deck to work without Urabrask too is to but in Anger as a fail-safe, just in case Urabrask is killed too many times.
Some nice control in Commander goes to cards like Blood Moon and Price of Glory. With Blood Moon you can make your opponent's non basic lands usless if they aren't runnign red decks, and you can start eliminating opponents slowly through Price of Glory. Another awesome mechanic fro red is extra combat phases, so cards like Aggravated Assault, Relentless Assault, and World at War are amazing.
A key part for this deck too is a lot of mana. Everflowing Chalice, Geosurge, and especially Mana Geyser are really awesome for getting a lot of mana early on in the game.
Finally, another mechanic to have is mass card discarding. Wheel of Fortune, Wheel of Fate, Dragon Mage, and Winds of Change will get rid of your opponent's hands quickly and easily.
You can buy Urabrask and the rest of the cards for his deck at at low price at http://www.mtgfanatic.com/!
Random Card Top 3, #8
Here we go again for another Random Card ranking! Today we have a less competative match, but still a good one! We have three more great cards for rating, and they are Rainbow Vale, Force of Nature, and Stone Rain. Let's go!
#3 Rainbow Vale- What a God awful card. Yeah one mana of any color producing lands are nice, but when you lose control of with whenever you use it just makes it counter-productive. I mean, I guess you'll get it back after your opponent uses it, but there are such better options than this piece of garbage.
#2 Force of Nature- Another pretty bad card. What is nice is that he is an 8/8 with trample for 6 mana. Excpet he deals 8 damage to you at your upkeep unless you pay 4 green mana. Eight damage is a lot of freaking damage, and it cripples you because you lose 4 mana right off the bat. If you want an 8/8 with trample for 6 mana, go get a Terrastomper, since he can't be countered either.
#1 Stone Rain- The ovbious choice for this edition's winner is Stone Rain, for being simply, well, simple. Three mana to destry a target land is very good and very simple. Four of these will find slots into any land-hate deck for sure.
You can buy Stone Rain and the other cards on this list at http://www.mtgfanatic.com/ for a low price!
#3 Rainbow Vale- What a God awful card. Yeah one mana of any color producing lands are nice, but when you lose control of with whenever you use it just makes it counter-productive. I mean, I guess you'll get it back after your opponent uses it, but there are such better options than this piece of garbage.
#2 Force of Nature- Another pretty bad card. What is nice is that he is an 8/8 with trample for 6 mana. Excpet he deals 8 damage to you at your upkeep unless you pay 4 green mana. Eight damage is a lot of freaking damage, and it cripples you because you lose 4 mana right off the bat. If you want an 8/8 with trample for 6 mana, go get a Terrastomper, since he can't be countered either.
#1 Stone Rain- The ovbious choice for this edition's winner is Stone Rain, for being simply, well, simple. Three mana to destry a target land is very good and very simple. Four of these will find slots into any land-hate deck for sure.
You can buy Stone Rain and the other cards on this list at http://www.mtgfanatic.com/ for a low price!
Random Card Top 3, #7
Welcom back to another card ranking edition! For today, we have another close competition between three cards, and let me say that this edition seems to be a little bit green. The newest cards are Ley Line, Nature's Resurgence, and Elvish Visionary.
#3 Ley Line- Possibly the worst of all the leylines, Ley Line just stinks. It's the normal 4 mana for a leyline, and that is about all it is. First off, you always have to hard cast it since it doesn't have the "Reveal it from your starting hand and start with it in play" ability that all leylines should have. Secondly, it's ability sucks. You get to put a +1/+1 counter on one of your creatures, and any player can do this so you wind up having a net gain of 0.
#2 Nature's Resurgence- Any green card that can allow you to draw cards is really nice. If you wish to draw a lot of cards though, use Harmonize instead. This card is too unreliable since you have to hope that you have a good amount of creatures in your graveyard. If you don't, then that was a waste of 4 mana. This card is also worth no slot in a green deck.
#1 Elvish Visionary- A much better and cheaper draw engine for green would be this card. It is 2 mana for a 1/1 creature and you get to draw a card when it enters the battlefield. It is a much more solid card than the other two green pieces of garbage, allowing Elvish Visionary to clench victory today.
You can buy Elvish Visionary and all of the other cards here at a low price at http://www.mtgfanatic.com/!
#3 Ley Line- Possibly the worst of all the leylines, Ley Line just stinks. It's the normal 4 mana for a leyline, and that is about all it is. First off, you always have to hard cast it since it doesn't have the "Reveal it from your starting hand and start with it in play" ability that all leylines should have. Secondly, it's ability sucks. You get to put a +1/+1 counter on one of your creatures, and any player can do this so you wind up having a net gain of 0.
#2 Nature's Resurgence- Any green card that can allow you to draw cards is really nice. If you wish to draw a lot of cards though, use Harmonize instead. This card is too unreliable since you have to hope that you have a good amount of creatures in your graveyard. If you don't, then that was a waste of 4 mana. This card is also worth no slot in a green deck.
#1 Elvish Visionary- A much better and cheaper draw engine for green would be this card. It is 2 mana for a 1/1 creature and you get to draw a card when it enters the battlefield. It is a much more solid card than the other two green pieces of garbage, allowing Elvish Visionary to clench victory today.
You can buy Elvish Visionary and all of the other cards here at a low price at http://www.mtgfanatic.com/!
Random Card Top 3, #6
Hello and here we go once again with random card rathings! Today, we have three more excellent cards to rate! We have Paladin of Prahv, Man-o'-War, and Swarm of Rats! Let's get started.
#3 Swarm of Rats- Now this isn't such a terrible card, given you are you're running a Relentless Rats deck. Actually no I take that back, it is still awful. You can make this thing as big as you want with the number of rats you control, and it will always have 1 toughness, meaning anything can kill it just by chump blocking. This deserves a spot in no deck. If you wish to run a deck with rats, get Ink-Eyes and a bunch of Relentless Rats.
#2 Paladin of Prahv- This guy is actually somewhat good. It's bad part is that it is only a 3/4 for 6 mana, which is pretty terrible. The part that I would use would be it's forecast ability. This allows you to give any creature of yours lifelink over and over again, and your opponent's can't stop you giving that creature lifelink. So overall, it isn't such a bad card!
#1 Man-o'-War- This guy is a legit card. 3 mana for a decent sized 2/2 that can bounce a creature back to your opponent's hand. That includes any really big guy that has been threatening you all game or just a simple creature that is hurting you somehow. But this card is far more effective than the other two card here.
So Man-o'-War clenched victory today. You can buy him and the other cards on this list for a low price at http://www.mtgfanatic.com/!
#3 Swarm of Rats- Now this isn't such a terrible card, given you are you're running a Relentless Rats deck. Actually no I take that back, it is still awful. You can make this thing as big as you want with the number of rats you control, and it will always have 1 toughness, meaning anything can kill it just by chump blocking. This deserves a spot in no deck. If you wish to run a deck with rats, get Ink-Eyes and a bunch of Relentless Rats.
#2 Paladin of Prahv- This guy is actually somewhat good. It's bad part is that it is only a 3/4 for 6 mana, which is pretty terrible. The part that I would use would be it's forecast ability. This allows you to give any creature of yours lifelink over and over again, and your opponent's can't stop you giving that creature lifelink. So overall, it isn't such a bad card!
#1 Man-o'-War- This guy is a legit card. 3 mana for a decent sized 2/2 that can bounce a creature back to your opponent's hand. That includes any really big guy that has been threatening you all game or just a simple creature that is hurting you somehow. But this card is far more effective than the other two card here.
So Man-o'-War clenched victory today. You can buy him and the other cards on this list for a low price at http://www.mtgfanatic.com/!
Commander: Black General
Today, the general that I will be talking about is an infamous black legend that will indeed make you try harder to not kill yourself than to kill your opponents. I'm talking about the minion legend, Phage the Untouchable! Personally, I would call this deck Rumors of My Demise Have Been Greatly Exaggerated.
Now I know what everyone is thinking. You're all thinking that I am crazy for trying to make a commander who will kill me if I don't play her from my hand. Well once she hits the battlefield, I will have many ideas on how to prevent my demise. Here are the cards that will help me do so.
Our first option, and the best one would be to have Platinum Angel on the battlefield. Pretty clean cut. When Phage's ability triggers, nothing will happen due to you not being bale to lose the game. This can work with Platinum Angel's counterpart, Abyssal Persecutor. To pull this option off, you need to somehow get Abyssal Persecutor onto your opponent's side of the field, meaning you can't lose the game. Another really good option is Torpor Orb, which just stops the ability from happening in the first place. Speaking of artifacts, another great way to stop Phage's ability is one of the new cards, Sundial of the Infinite! Just end your turn on the stack of Phage coming into play's ability and the ability will never happen. Finally, the other way is to counter Phage yourself somehow and put her in your graveyard, to try to put her back into your hand.
One thing about Phage, if she dies, always put her into your graveyard and try to bring her back to your hand, which is the easiest way to play her.
Now lets say that Phage comes in play and you prevent your demise, it automatically becomes a sinch to defeat your opponents, because you should have something like Whispersilk cloak out, turning her to Phage the Unblockable and boom, you just defeated an opponent.
You can buy Phage and anything that stops her from killing you at a low price at http://www.mtgfanatic.com/!
Now I know what everyone is thinking. You're all thinking that I am crazy for trying to make a commander who will kill me if I don't play her from my hand. Well once she hits the battlefield, I will have many ideas on how to prevent my demise. Here are the cards that will help me do so.
Our first option, and the best one would be to have Platinum Angel on the battlefield. Pretty clean cut. When Phage's ability triggers, nothing will happen due to you not being bale to lose the game. This can work with Platinum Angel's counterpart, Abyssal Persecutor. To pull this option off, you need to somehow get Abyssal Persecutor onto your opponent's side of the field, meaning you can't lose the game. Another really good option is Torpor Orb, which just stops the ability from happening in the first place. Speaking of artifacts, another great way to stop Phage's ability is one of the new cards, Sundial of the Infinite! Just end your turn on the stack of Phage coming into play's ability and the ability will never happen. Finally, the other way is to counter Phage yourself somehow and put her in your graveyard, to try to put her back into your hand.
One thing about Phage, if she dies, always put her into your graveyard and try to bring her back to your hand, which is the easiest way to play her.
Now lets say that Phage comes in play and you prevent your demise, it automatically becomes a sinch to defeat your opponents, because you should have something like Whispersilk cloak out, turning her to Phage the Unblockable and boom, you just defeated an opponent.
You can buy Phage and anything that stops her from killing you at a low price at http://www.mtgfanatic.com/!
Commander: Blue General
Like my last post about EDH, I will talk about a general that I would use if I were to create a mono-blue EDH deck. For the color blue, the mechanic I like the most is taking possession. The best card to do this is none other than Memnarch!
First off, a really good reason to choose Memnarch as your general would be he is an artifact that just has blue abilities. That already gives you some diversity! Secondly, his abilities allow you to take all of your opponent's artifacts (more than once per turn as well!) and whatever is not an artifact, he can change into one and take that as well! And the best part is that what you take is yours until it dies!
There are a few really good cards that should have slots in your deck. First off, there is Liquimetal Coating. This turns things into artifacts, so you can save mana with Memnarch and just take things right off the bat. If you wish to do this multiple times a turn as well, I would suggest an Unwinding Clock or a Voltaic Key as well. Secondly, there is Grand Architect that can buff your creatures and give you an insane mana base to play any bigger artifacts you have in your deck. There are also plenty blue enchantments that will take possesion of things. I think the best being Treachery, since youre practically paying 0 mana for it.
Another portion of blue I love is taking extra turns, and Time Stretch and Time Warp are the perfect cards for that!
Finally, every blue deck should have plenty of counterspells to be able to protect your commander. The best being Desertion, where you take what you counter, which works perfectly in this deck.
You can get Memnarch and any card you wish to have for his deck at an awesome price at http://www.mtgfanatic.com/!
First off, a really good reason to choose Memnarch as your general would be he is an artifact that just has blue abilities. That already gives you some diversity! Secondly, his abilities allow you to take all of your opponent's artifacts (more than once per turn as well!) and whatever is not an artifact, he can change into one and take that as well! And the best part is that what you take is yours until it dies!
There are a few really good cards that should have slots in your deck. First off, there is Liquimetal Coating. This turns things into artifacts, so you can save mana with Memnarch and just take things right off the bat. If you wish to do this multiple times a turn as well, I would suggest an Unwinding Clock or a Voltaic Key as well. Secondly, there is Grand Architect that can buff your creatures and give you an insane mana base to play any bigger artifacts you have in your deck. There are also plenty blue enchantments that will take possesion of things. I think the best being Treachery, since youre practically paying 0 mana for it.
Another portion of blue I love is taking extra turns, and Time Stretch and Time Warp are the perfect cards for that!
Finally, every blue deck should have plenty of counterspells to be able to protect your commander. The best being Desertion, where you take what you counter, which works perfectly in this deck.
You can get Memnarch and any card you wish to have for his deck at an awesome price at http://www.mtgfanatic.com/!
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Random Card Top 3, #5
Welcome to the next random card ranking round! I will say, compared to the latest rounds, this round has come to be very anti-climactic. For this round, we have Brightheart Banneret, Dewdrop Spy, and Woolly Spider. Let's begin!
#3 Dewdrop Spy- the worst of these cards definitely goes to this upsetting little faerie. Three mana for a 2/2 with flash and flying isn't very great, but it's ability is terrible. You get to look at the top of target player's library, which pretty much is useless because you can't do anything about that card until that player draws it. In my opinion, this is a pointless card.
#2 Woolly Spider- Now, this card is not necessarily bad, but is isn't necessarily good either. 3 mana for a 2/3 is pretty good, and it becomes a 2/5 when it blocks something with flying. Pretty much, unless you're blocking a dragon, he can be a good blocker. Otherwise, that is all of his limits.
#1 Brightheart Banneret- Well like I said, this was very anti-climactic, but Brightheart Banneret is our winner today. He is a 2 mana red creature that is very weak, being a 1/1, but will make your elemental and warrior spells cost 1 less to cast, which is always very good. He can also be used to reinforce one of your creatures if it needs a +1/+1 counter on it, but I'd much rather use his first ability.
Well after today, our five winners of Brightheart Banneret, Lotus Petal, Red Elemental Blast, Blackmail, Blinkmoth Urn. As always, you can get all of these cards for a low price at www.mtgfanatic.com!
#3 Dewdrop Spy- the worst of these cards definitely goes to this upsetting little faerie. Three mana for a 2/2 with flash and flying isn't very great, but it's ability is terrible. You get to look at the top of target player's library, which pretty much is useless because you can't do anything about that card until that player draws it. In my opinion, this is a pointless card.
#2 Woolly Spider- Now, this card is not necessarily bad, but is isn't necessarily good either. 3 mana for a 2/3 is pretty good, and it becomes a 2/5 when it blocks something with flying. Pretty much, unless you're blocking a dragon, he can be a good blocker. Otherwise, that is all of his limits.
#1 Brightheart Banneret- Well like I said, this was very anti-climactic, but Brightheart Banneret is our winner today. He is a 2 mana red creature that is very weak, being a 1/1, but will make your elemental and warrior spells cost 1 less to cast, which is always very good. He can also be used to reinforce one of your creatures if it needs a +1/+1 counter on it, but I'd much rather use his first ability.
Well after today, our five winners of Brightheart Banneret, Lotus Petal, Red Elemental Blast, Blackmail, Blinkmoth Urn. As always, you can get all of these cards for a low price at www.mtgfanatic.com!
Random Card Top 3, #4
Hi there and welcome back to another Random Card ranking! The random button on gatherer really gave me some awesome cards for this one. The cards today are Lotus Petal, Metathran Transport, and Demon of Death's Gate. Let's get started!
#3 Metathran Transport- Okay let me start off by say that this is not a bad card by any means. First off it is a vehicle, which is pretty cool! Secondly, it is a 1/3 for 3 mana, which isn't terrible but could certainly be better. Thirdly, it can't be blocked by blue creatures, and you can make a target creature blue until the end of the turn for one blue mana. What killed this card is it is so weak. If it was even a 3/3 it would be that much more awesome.
#2 Demon of Death's Gate- I love this card a lot. What is better than being able to play a 9/9 with flying and trample on turn 3? Not much. The only reasons why this is not number one right now is 1) hard casting it would be a pain and it has no evasion. A simple Go for the Throat would kill it. And 2) Lotus Bloom is one of the best cards in the game.
#1 Lotus Bloom- This was an absolute no-brainer. Like the Mox cards, Lotus Bloom doubles as a land since you can play it and sacrifice it all on the same turn. You could start the game off with such a mana advantage ovewr your opponent, where I wouldn't put it out of my mind that your opponent might just surrender right there. This is no doubt our winner for today.
Well you have it folks, Lotus Bloom has taken the crown for today. You can buy all of these cards for a very good price on http://www.mtgfanatic.com/!
#3 Metathran Transport- Okay let me start off by say that this is not a bad card by any means. First off it is a vehicle, which is pretty cool! Secondly, it is a 1/3 for 3 mana, which isn't terrible but could certainly be better. Thirdly, it can't be blocked by blue creatures, and you can make a target creature blue until the end of the turn for one blue mana. What killed this card is it is so weak. If it was even a 3/3 it would be that much more awesome.
#2 Demon of Death's Gate- I love this card a lot. What is better than being able to play a 9/9 with flying and trample on turn 3? Not much. The only reasons why this is not number one right now is 1) hard casting it would be a pain and it has no evasion. A simple Go for the Throat would kill it. And 2) Lotus Bloom is one of the best cards in the game.
#1 Lotus Bloom- This was an absolute no-brainer. Like the Mox cards, Lotus Bloom doubles as a land since you can play it and sacrifice it all on the same turn. You could start the game off with such a mana advantage ovewr your opponent, where I wouldn't put it out of my mind that your opponent might just surrender right there. This is no doubt our winner for today.
Well you have it folks, Lotus Bloom has taken the crown for today. You can buy all of these cards for a very good price on http://www.mtgfanatic.com/!
Random Card Top 3, #3
Alright, back with another random card rating! For the third edition, we have a much easier decision between three cards, compared to the last two editions. The newest cards are going to be Beast of Burden, Red Elemental Blast, and Kjeldoran Home Guard. Here we go.
#3 Kjeldoran Home Guard- The obvious choice for the non-winner today was this guy. He is 4 mana for a 1/6, which you know, isn't bad, but he can't attack or block without hurting himself. He gets a -0/-1 counter for each time he attacks or blocks, so within potentially three turns, he is dead! I mean, I guess the plus side is getting a bunch of 0/1 Deserter tokens to use as chump blockers is alright, but nothing special what so ever.
#2 Beast of Burden- This guy really isn't that great especially for 6 mana. At worst, he is a chump blockable 1/1, meaning he will die unless a Plant is blocking you. At best, he can go all the way up to Infinity/Infinity, and still be blocked by a Plant. Anyway, he can get pretty big, but he is one Doom Blade or Wrath of God away from being a waste of 6 mana. If you want a better version of him in your deck, get a Darksteel Juggernaut.
#1 Red Elemental Blast- The obvious winner here today, Red Elemental Blast, or REB for short, is just terrific. It is one mana for a RED, yes, a RED counterspell. I bet the people using Caw Blade decks out there wouldn't expect this coming at them. At best you can counter any blue spell with a non-blue deck, and at worst you can still destroy any blue permanent, which is very nice.
Needless to say, Red Elemental Blast was the obvious winner, and gets to move on to the next level of ratings. You can buy any of these cards at http://www.mtgafanatic.com/!
#3 Kjeldoran Home Guard- The obvious choice for the non-winner today was this guy. He is 4 mana for a 1/6, which you know, isn't bad, but he can't attack or block without hurting himself. He gets a -0/-1 counter for each time he attacks or blocks, so within potentially three turns, he is dead! I mean, I guess the plus side is getting a bunch of 0/1 Deserter tokens to use as chump blockers is alright, but nothing special what so ever.
#2 Beast of Burden- This guy really isn't that great especially for 6 mana. At worst, he is a chump blockable 1/1, meaning he will die unless a Plant is blocking you. At best, he can go all the way up to Infinity/Infinity, and still be blocked by a Plant. Anyway, he can get pretty big, but he is one Doom Blade or Wrath of God away from being a waste of 6 mana. If you want a better version of him in your deck, get a Darksteel Juggernaut.
#1 Red Elemental Blast- The obvious winner here today, Red Elemental Blast, or REB for short, is just terrific. It is one mana for a RED, yes, a RED counterspell. I bet the people using Caw Blade decks out there wouldn't expect this coming at them. At best you can counter any blue spell with a non-blue deck, and at worst you can still destroy any blue permanent, which is very nice.
Needless to say, Red Elemental Blast was the obvious winner, and gets to move on to the next level of ratings. You can buy any of these cards at http://www.mtgafanatic.com/!
Random Card Top 3, #2
Hi there, and here is another random card rating! I have decided that after every 5 blogs of these, I will do a top 5 of the winners from each blog, to make things a little interesting. Today we have three new cards competing to become number one! The cards are Goblin Legionnaire, Ambassador Laquatus, and Blackmail. Let's go!
#3 Goblin Legionnaire- Now, by no means it this a bad card, it is just not as good as the other two. The good things about him are that he is 2 mana for a 2/2 which is always good, and he has 2 abilities that can become useful in situations. The reason he isn't good is because dealing 2 damage or preventing 2 damage at the cost of a creature isn't all that great.
#2 Ambassador Laquatus- Laquatus makes his way as the first Legendary creature into the rating, but unfortunately he is not a good one! Laquatus is a weak 1/3 for 3 mana, which isn't completely terrible, but there are better creatures. As a blue legend, his ability is none other than milling. 3 mana to mill 3 cards isn't all that great, since you will be out of mana shortly, but the good thing about him is you can use his ability multiple times each turn. If you somehow got an infinite mana combo out, then Laquatus will have won you a game.
#1 Blackmail- This is a very good card. The only bad thing about it is you can't look at your opponent's complete hand. But that is about it. The very good things about it is you get to choose what is discarded and you can discard anything, including land! Not many black discarding spells can get rid of land, which could be crucial to getting the upper hand on your opponent.
Well this one was even tougher than the last one, with 3 very nice cards out this time, Blackmail moves on to the winner's round. Like always, you can buy all of these cards for a low price at http://www.mtgfanatic.com/!
#3 Goblin Legionnaire- Now, by no means it this a bad card, it is just not as good as the other two. The good things about him are that he is 2 mana for a 2/2 which is always good, and he has 2 abilities that can become useful in situations. The reason he isn't good is because dealing 2 damage or preventing 2 damage at the cost of a creature isn't all that great.
#2 Ambassador Laquatus- Laquatus makes his way as the first Legendary creature into the rating, but unfortunately he is not a good one! Laquatus is a weak 1/3 for 3 mana, which isn't completely terrible, but there are better creatures. As a blue legend, his ability is none other than milling. 3 mana to mill 3 cards isn't all that great, since you will be out of mana shortly, but the good thing about him is you can use his ability multiple times each turn. If you somehow got an infinite mana combo out, then Laquatus will have won you a game.
#1 Blackmail- This is a very good card. The only bad thing about it is you can't look at your opponent's complete hand. But that is about it. The very good things about it is you get to choose what is discarded and you can discard anything, including land! Not many black discarding spells can get rid of land, which could be crucial to getting the upper hand on your opponent.
Well this one was even tougher than the last one, with 3 very nice cards out this time, Blackmail moves on to the winner's round. Like always, you can buy all of these cards for a low price at http://www.mtgfanatic.com/!
Random Card Top 3, #1
So I'm going to start rating random cards that pop up from MTG Gatherer's random button. Thank you to my friend for the idea! For now, the three cards that will be reviewed are Blinkmoth Urn, Cloud Elemental, and Quash.
#3: Cloud Elemental- It is pretty obvious why this guy is the lowest rated out of the three cards. Three mana for a 2/3 is not really a bargain, so that is already one negative with this guy. But even worse, he can't block creatures with flying, which defeats the purpose of most weak flyers, chump blocking.
#2: Quash- This was a tough race between Blinkmoth Urn and Quash, because they are both very solid cards. Quash is a normal blue counterspell, but can only counter instants and sorceries, which is the reason this is not our #1 card today. But, Quash does make up for it by doubling as a Surgical Extraction, which can mess up a lot of decks.
#1: Blinkmoth Urn- This is a really good mana accelerator in colorless decks. Obviously, if you are running this artifact, you have an artifact heavy deck, meaning you'll most likely have a lot of artifacts out. Well in a deck that relies on only colorless mana, you can start off each turn with an insane mana pool, which could indeed help you bring out some of the big artifact guys to help you win the game.
Although it was a tough choice, Blinkmoth is our number one card for now. You can buy all these cards at a low price at http://www.mtgfanatic.com/!
#3: Cloud Elemental- It is pretty obvious why this guy is the lowest rated out of the three cards. Three mana for a 2/3 is not really a bargain, so that is already one negative with this guy. But even worse, he can't block creatures with flying, which defeats the purpose of most weak flyers, chump blocking.
#2: Quash- This was a tough race between Blinkmoth Urn and Quash, because they are both very solid cards. Quash is a normal blue counterspell, but can only counter instants and sorceries, which is the reason this is not our #1 card today. But, Quash does make up for it by doubling as a Surgical Extraction, which can mess up a lot of decks.
#1: Blinkmoth Urn- This is a really good mana accelerator in colorless decks. Obviously, if you are running this artifact, you have an artifact heavy deck, meaning you'll most likely have a lot of artifacts out. Well in a deck that relies on only colorless mana, you can start off each turn with an insane mana pool, which could indeed help you bring out some of the big artifact guys to help you win the game.
Although it was a tough choice, Blinkmoth is our number one card for now. You can buy all these cards at a low price at http://www.mtgfanatic.com/!
Monday, July 18, 2011
From the Vault Legends
In a few weeks, the new From the Vault set will be released, and still there has been almost no spoilers for the fifteen cards to be appearing in the set. Right now only a few cards have been released, so I will talk abou tthem for now.
First off, the first one to be spoiled was Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir. Teferi can speed up your game pretty well, as well as horribly slow down your opponents. His first ability is not that great. Not many people will use creature spells as instants. His second ability is why he is a legend. Stopping instants is huge. Nothing can be countered and your opponent's can't kill anything when it is not your turn. That stops your opponents from reacting to anything you do too, which is really nice.
Next up is Kresh, the Bloodbraided. Kresh is one of my personal favorites of all time. His ability can get so out of control, especially in a shard that has to do with sacrificing a lot of things. He might not be the best legend, but he sure is awesome!
Finally, there is Progenitus, which in my opinion, is a no brainer in this set. I mean, Progenitus is the God of Alara. He has Protection from everything. That is crazy! There is barely anything that can affect Progenitus.
That is it for all the cards spoiled so far. There were a few more cards speculated to be in the set due to the release of some banner on the Wizards Website. Here it is:
First off, the first one to be spoiled was Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir. Teferi can speed up your game pretty well, as well as horribly slow down your opponents. His first ability is not that great. Not many people will use creature spells as instants. His second ability is why he is a legend. Stopping instants is huge. Nothing can be countered and your opponent's can't kill anything when it is not your turn. That stops your opponents from reacting to anything you do too, which is really nice.
Next up is Kresh, the Bloodbraided. Kresh is one of my personal favorites of all time. His ability can get so out of control, especially in a shard that has to do with sacrificing a lot of things. He might not be the best legend, but he sure is awesome!
Finally, there is Progenitus, which in my opinion, is a no brainer in this set. I mean, Progenitus is the God of Alara. He has Protection from everything. That is crazy! There is barely anything that can affect Progenitus.
That is it for all the cards spoiled so far. There were a few more cards speculated to be in the set due to the release of some banner on the Wizards Website. Here it is:
From left to right, it looks like Sharuum, the Hegemon, Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker, and Rafiq of the Many. Some more awesome cards I would love to see included in this set!
Links to cards were made possible by http://www.mtgfanatic.com/.
Commander: White General
Recently, I have taken a liking to EDH, which stands for Elder Dragon Highlander. It is an on-the-rise format for Magic: The Gathering where you have a legendary creature that is your general, and you form a deck around them of 100 cards. It is very fun. Today, I will talk about a white aligned commander. There are plenty of White commanders to chose from. A very common one is Akroma, Angel of Wrath. But see, I wanted to use a commander that isn't as obvious as Akroma. So I went ahead and took the Equipment route for white. And there is no other creature better to use equipment with than Kemba, Kha Regent.
Reasons to use Kemba as your commander could be many things. Here are mine. I like Kemba because she is very cheap and has a decent attack and pretty good toughness. I also like her because she can pump out insane amounts of cats, and can be a huge threat with the right equipment. I also just love equipment, and since control is not my kind of approach, and I already have an aggro type deck, Kemba's mid-range style will suit me perfectly.
On the other hand, reasons not to use Kemba would be you don't like equipment, you want more than a mono colored deck, or you're allergic to cats.
Anyway, lets take a look at some of the equipment. Some of the stuff that should have automatic inclusion in this deck would be Swords of Light & Shadow, Fire & Ice, Body & Mind, Feast & Famine, and War & Peace. They all offer protection, a little buffing, and awesome abilities that will devestate your opponents. More automatic inclusions would be the Kaldra set. The Shield is a better version of Darksteel Plate, the Sword offers a big boost and has exile-touch, and the helmet generates Kaldra himself, and gives trample, haste, and first strike. Other equipment include Batterskull, Grappling Hook, Argentum Armor, and Sword of Vengeance. While all those equipment offer awesome perks, there are a few pieces of equipment used to protect Kemba too. Lightning Greaves, Whispersilk Cloak, and Champion's Helm all offer great evasion.
There are a bunch of creatures that are good for a Kemba deck. One drops like Kitesail Apprentice and Kor Duelist are awesome when they become equipped. The best of them all would definitely be Sunspear Shikari. There there are great Metalcraft guys like Auriok Edgewright, Puresteel Paladin, and Auriok Sunchaser. When equipped with more stuff, these guys will become your main attacking force. Of course, you can't leave out Stoneforge Mystic and Stonehewer Giant either. Stoneforge is an awesome, awesome card and Stonehewer is like 5 times better than Stoneforge too. And Finally, you have Sun Titan, where in the event that some of your equipment or creatures die, this guys will bring them back!
In my Kemba deck, I plan on including some token generators, such as Conqueror's Pledge, White Sun's Zenith, and Nomad's Assembly, to have tons of tokens.
Well that's really it for Kemba. I completely reccomend the use of her as a White commander, for she can win you games, wheather its with tokens or with 21 damage.
Links for the cards were attributed by http://www.mtgfanatic.com/.
Reasons to use Kemba as your commander could be many things. Here are mine. I like Kemba because she is very cheap and has a decent attack and pretty good toughness. I also like her because she can pump out insane amounts of cats, and can be a huge threat with the right equipment. I also just love equipment, and since control is not my kind of approach, and I already have an aggro type deck, Kemba's mid-range style will suit me perfectly.
On the other hand, reasons not to use Kemba would be you don't like equipment, you want more than a mono colored deck, or you're allergic to cats.
Anyway, lets take a look at some of the equipment. Some of the stuff that should have automatic inclusion in this deck would be Swords of Light & Shadow, Fire & Ice, Body & Mind, Feast & Famine, and War & Peace. They all offer protection, a little buffing, and awesome abilities that will devestate your opponents. More automatic inclusions would be the Kaldra set. The Shield is a better version of Darksteel Plate, the Sword offers a big boost and has exile-touch, and the helmet generates Kaldra himself, and gives trample, haste, and first strike. Other equipment include Batterskull, Grappling Hook, Argentum Armor, and Sword of Vengeance. While all those equipment offer awesome perks, there are a few pieces of equipment used to protect Kemba too. Lightning Greaves, Whispersilk Cloak, and Champion's Helm all offer great evasion.
There are a bunch of creatures that are good for a Kemba deck. One drops like Kitesail Apprentice and Kor Duelist are awesome when they become equipped. The best of them all would definitely be Sunspear Shikari. There there are great Metalcraft guys like Auriok Edgewright, Puresteel Paladin, and Auriok Sunchaser. When equipped with more stuff, these guys will become your main attacking force. Of course, you can't leave out Stoneforge Mystic and Stonehewer Giant either. Stoneforge is an awesome, awesome card and Stonehewer is like 5 times better than Stoneforge too. And Finally, you have Sun Titan, where in the event that some of your equipment or creatures die, this guys will bring them back!
In my Kemba deck, I plan on including some token generators, such as Conqueror's Pledge, White Sun's Zenith, and Nomad's Assembly, to have tons of tokens.
Well that's really it for Kemba. I completely reccomend the use of her as a White commander, for she can win you games, wheather its with tokens or with 21 damage.
Links for the cards were attributed by http://www.mtgfanatic.com/.
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Mirrodin Besieged: Phyrexia
Earlier on I posted my thoughts about the Mirran faction in the new Magic: The Gathering set, Mirrodin Besieged. Now, I will post my thoughts about the Phyrexian faction.
As stated in one of my previous blogs that I was against Phyrexian cards because of infect, which I think is a very unfair mechanic. But Phyrexia made a pretty big name for itself with the release of this set. Infect cards were pretty good to begin with, but now none the infect creatures (minus a few creatures) are too over powered. For example, Phyrexian Hydra is a 7/7 with infect for 5 mana. That would be completely broken, except for the fact that whenever it is dealt damage, you add a -1/-1 counter on it for every 1 damage. Or something like Phyrexian Vatmother, which gives it controler a poison counter every upkeep. Now, an example of an over powered infect card would be Blightsteel Colossus. I talked about him in one of my earlier blogs, and I'll repeat myself when I say that an 11/11 indestructable/infect is just amazing. Thankfully though it is a high casting card. But I'm sure some people will find out a way to get Blightsteel onto the battlefield quickly.
At the pre-release, black and green infect decks were very common (who would have thought?). Beating the infect decks are very difficult, because some of them are very quick, and since you only need ten poison counters to lose, if you can't have blockers or some burn spells, then you will lose very quickly.
Final outcome: As much as I dislike Phyrexia, I believe that the will prevail over Mirran, for Phyrexia is strong, especially now with Tezzeret on their side. The new set is supposed to either be called "Mirran Pure" or "New Phyrexia." They will be coming out in May, so only time will tell who wins.
We Will Endure.
Links were made possible by www.mtgfanatic.com.
As stated in one of my previous blogs that I was against Phyrexian cards because of infect, which I think is a very unfair mechanic. But Phyrexia made a pretty big name for itself with the release of this set. Infect cards were pretty good to begin with, but now none the infect creatures (minus a few creatures) are too over powered. For example, Phyrexian Hydra is a 7/7 with infect for 5 mana. That would be completely broken, except for the fact that whenever it is dealt damage, you add a -1/-1 counter on it for every 1 damage. Or something like Phyrexian Vatmother, which gives it controler a poison counter every upkeep. Now, an example of an over powered infect card would be Blightsteel Colossus. I talked about him in one of my earlier blogs, and I'll repeat myself when I say that an 11/11 indestructable/infect is just amazing. Thankfully though it is a high casting card. But I'm sure some people will find out a way to get Blightsteel onto the battlefield quickly.
At the pre-release, black and green infect decks were very common (who would have thought?). Beating the infect decks are very difficult, because some of them are very quick, and since you only need ten poison counters to lose, if you can't have blockers or some burn spells, then you will lose very quickly.
Final outcome: As much as I dislike Phyrexia, I believe that the will prevail over Mirran, for Phyrexia is strong, especially now with Tezzeret on their side. The new set is supposed to either be called "Mirran Pure" or "New Phyrexia." They will be coming out in May, so only time will tell who wins.
We Will Endure.
Links were made possible by www.mtgfanatic.com.
Shards of Alara: Esper
The Esper shard in the Magic: the Gathering expansion, Shards of Alara, has given new hope to artificers across the wide Multiverse. Whether or not these colored artifacts will reign supreme as did their affinity brethren before the is yet to be seen. We'll look at the incredibly diverse blue-black-white deck that promises to become an efficient fighting machine to contend with the top tier decks.
We have Treasure Hunter, Sanctum Gargoyle, and the all-powerful Sharuum the Hegemon. This means that our new deck can easily use artifacts that must be sacrificed, because we can bring them back to our hand (or in Sharuum's case, to play) with relative ease.
Some powerful cards that require sacrifices are the capsules from Shards of Alara. The black capsule allows us to destroy a nonblack creature, while the blue one will net use two extra cards in the process. The white one is the worst of the three, only allowing use to kill an artifact or enchantment. Because these capsules are so inexpensive mana-wise, we can most times return them to our hand and play them back down on the same turn.
Scourglass is another one-shot artifact that can be abused with our recursive tools. It has the potential to be a one-sided Wrath of God (assuming that we have no treasure hunters in play). Due to the slow speed of the scourglass, you should only provide one of them in an Esper deck.
The big beaters that can be put to use in this deck are Master of Etherium and Salvage Titan. These two can be brought out quickly and must be dealt with if your opponent wants to escape unscathed.
To finish off the main portion of this dekc we'll use some multipurpose cards, like esper charm, etherium sculptors, and Razormane Masticores. These are just to round out the deck and give it a bit more oomph when bringing the artificial smackdown to your opponent.
Links were made possible by www.mtgfanatic.com.
Shards of Alara: Bant
The Bant shard was one of the most interesting shards in the Magic: The Gathering expansion, Shards of Alara, and its unique exalted mechanic has a single creature bringing the pain down on your opponent.
The flagship card for the Bant shard is Stoic Angel. This heavenly creature has the potential to stave off an entire army of creatures, while whittling away at your opponent's life total each turn. The addition of the vigilance keyword is also an asset to this creature, because you can attack with two creatures each turn, as well as keeping a blocker back to guard your life total.
Once called the best card for Bant, Kitchen Finks is an advantage machine, coming back after it dies and netting you two extra life each time it hits play. This card is still an essential piece to the deck.
Rafiq of the Many is a powerhouse that can win games single handedly. The turn he comes down, he turns your strongest creature into a more powerful, double-striking menace, capable of tearing through creatures, players and planeswalkers alike.
Snakeform and Bant charm are two underused removal spells that also have extra effects. The extra card that snakeform draws you is a potential Rafiq of the many or a Stoic angel, and the sheer number of options that Bant charm gives you is simply too good to pass up. The key concept that must be stressed in this deck is utility: the ability to gain multiple effects off of fewer cards, and these two cards are prime candidates for that type of effect.
Since Bant plays many multicolored creatures, the hybrid auras from the Shadowmoor and Eventide expansions have the potential to make the player's threats even more deadly. Shield of the Oversoul can make creatures evasive and indestructible, while Favor of the Overbeing can give you that extra boost you need to finish off your opponent.
The final cards are just a couple creatures to ensure we have enough to take advantage of the exalted bonus granted by our creatures. The addition of Rhox War Monk and Akrasan Squire will do nicely for this job.
Links were made possible by www.mtgfanatic.com
Mirrodin Besieged: Mirran
In this blog, I will talk about the new set that was recently released on February 5th for Magic: The Gathering. Mirrodin Besieged was the second set in the Scars of Mirrodin block, and the climax of the battle between Mirran and Phyrexian forces. I will talk about the some of the cards from the new set from the Mirran faction.
Mirran is my personal choice of faction, but that is just because I'm not a fan of infect. In this set, Mirran has brought us a new principal. It is called Battle Cry. Battle Cry says, "Whenever a creature with battle cry attacks, all other attacking creatures you control gain +1/+0 until the end of the turn." This mechanic can help out aggro decks greatly. Also, a few other cards seem to revolve around and encourage mass-attacking. Victory's Herald for example, gives all attacking creatures flying and lifelink until the end of the turn. Mirran has also brought us a few cards to counter infect. The first card would be Sword of Feast and Famine. This doesn;t have any effects that target infect persay, but protection from green and black pretty much renders infect useless, since a good 90% of all infect cards are either black or green. Another card would be Mirran Crusader. Again, protection from black and green. Melira's Keepers has an ability which says that it cannot have counters on it, which includes infect's -1/-1 counters. And finally, Burn the Impure, which is truly anti-infect. Although these cards exist, I wish I could have seen more cards that would have downed infect a little bit more.
When I played at a pre-release event, it seemed that the common deck for a Mirran supporter was White/Red. I used this color combination and did very well against infect, because white and red bring a good control aspect to the game. I would suggest to make a White/Red deck orWhite/Green deck to counter infect (given that you are only using Mirrodin Besieged cards). Blue has been weaked a lot for Mirran, so I would not suggest making a blue deck.
Overall: Mirran made a strong attempt to go against Phyrexia, but their cards are a bit weaker compared to Scars of Mirrodin.
Links were made possible by www.mtgfanatic.com.
Mirran is my personal choice of faction, but that is just because I'm not a fan of infect. In this set, Mirran has brought us a new principal. It is called Battle Cry. Battle Cry says, "Whenever a creature with battle cry attacks, all other attacking creatures you control gain +1/+0 until the end of the turn." This mechanic can help out aggro decks greatly. Also, a few other cards seem to revolve around and encourage mass-attacking. Victory's Herald for example, gives all attacking creatures flying and lifelink until the end of the turn. Mirran has also brought us a few cards to counter infect. The first card would be Sword of Feast and Famine. This doesn;t have any effects that target infect persay, but protection from green and black pretty much renders infect useless, since a good 90% of all infect cards are either black or green. Another card would be Mirran Crusader. Again, protection from black and green. Melira's Keepers has an ability which says that it cannot have counters on it, which includes infect's -1/-1 counters. And finally, Burn the Impure, which is truly anti-infect. Although these cards exist, I wish I could have seen more cards that would have downed infect a little bit more.
When I played at a pre-release event, it seemed that the common deck for a Mirran supporter was White/Red. I used this color combination and did very well against infect, because white and red bring a good control aspect to the game. I would suggest to make a White/Red deck orWhite/Green deck to counter infect (given that you are only using Mirrodin Besieged cards). Blue has been weaked a lot for Mirran, so I would not suggest making a blue deck.
Overall: Mirran made a strong attempt to go against Phyrexia, but their cards are a bit weaker compared to Scars of Mirrodin.
Links were made possible by www.mtgfanatic.com.
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Infect: Too Good? or Too Dumb?
Recently, a new mechanic has been added to the Magic: The Gathering rulebook. It is a little thing called "Infect."
What is Infect?
Infect is a creature ability (like Deathtouch or First Strike.) What Infect does is it makes the creature with infect deal damage to creatures in the form of -1/-1 counters, and to players in poison counters.
Creatures
Lets say that your opponent is attacking with an Ichorclaw Myr. Ichoclaw Myr is only a 1/1, so if you defend with your 2/2, then you'll kill it right? Wrong. Ichorclaw's ability states, "Whenever Ichorclaw Mry gets blocked, it gains +2/+2 until end of the turn." Well now your 2/2 is dead. Well what if you blocked with a 4/4? That would be fine! Wrong again. Ichorclaw Myr would be killed, but your 4/4 would be degraded to a 1/1. -1/-1 counters are permanent.
Players
Now players get dealt damage in Poison Counters. This is even worse. It only takes 10 poison counters to lose a game. Yes, 10. And since Poison Counters are dealt out for every 1 damage (so 3 damage would result in 3 Poison Counters), you're basically cutting your life in half from the get go. Pretty dumb right? Well, if I mass an army quick enough, I could just block, and everything would be alright! Nope. Listen to this combo. Let's say that your opponent played a land this turn, he has 2 Green mana and 1 Blue mana. On his Ichorclaw Myr, he puts 2 Groundswells and a Distortion Strike. Now the Ichorclaw Myr is a 10/9 unblockable. That is game over on turn 3.
Two More Creatures That Explain Why Infect is Dumb
Skitheryx, the Blight Dragon- Skitheryx is a 4/4 with flying and infect. First off flying is hard enough to block, but that thing is dealing out 4 poison counters per turn! That's devastating!
Blightsteel Colossus- Blightsteel is a Mythic Rare in the new set of Mirrodin Besieged. 11/11 with Trample, Indestructable, and Infect. Possibly the dumbest card I have ever seen. That is an one attack win. And with trample, it can take out numerous creatures that multi-block it.
Links were attributed by www.mtgfanatic.com and www.mtgmintcard.com.
What is Infect?
Infect is a creature ability (like Deathtouch or First Strike.) What Infect does is it makes the creature with infect deal damage to creatures in the form of -1/-1 counters, and to players in poison counters.
Creatures
Lets say that your opponent is attacking with an Ichorclaw Myr. Ichoclaw Myr is only a 1/1, so if you defend with your 2/2, then you'll kill it right? Wrong. Ichorclaw's ability states, "Whenever Ichorclaw Mry gets blocked, it gains +2/+2 until end of the turn." Well now your 2/2 is dead. Well what if you blocked with a 4/4? That would be fine! Wrong again. Ichorclaw Myr would be killed, but your 4/4 would be degraded to a 1/1. -1/-1 counters are permanent.
Players
Now players get dealt damage in Poison Counters. This is even worse. It only takes 10 poison counters to lose a game. Yes, 10. And since Poison Counters are dealt out for every 1 damage (so 3 damage would result in 3 Poison Counters), you're basically cutting your life in half from the get go. Pretty dumb right? Well, if I mass an army quick enough, I could just block, and everything would be alright! Nope. Listen to this combo. Let's say that your opponent played a land this turn, he has 2 Green mana and 1 Blue mana. On his Ichorclaw Myr, he puts 2 Groundswells and a Distortion Strike. Now the Ichorclaw Myr is a 10/9 unblockable. That is game over on turn 3.
Two More Creatures That Explain Why Infect is Dumb
Skitheryx, the Blight Dragon- Skitheryx is a 4/4 with flying and infect. First off flying is hard enough to block, but that thing is dealing out 4 poison counters per turn! That's devastating!
Blightsteel Colossus- Blightsteel is a Mythic Rare in the new set of Mirrodin Besieged. 11/11 with Trample, Indestructable, and Infect. Possibly the dumbest card I have ever seen. That is an one attack win. And with trample, it can take out numerous creatures that multi-block it.
Links were attributed by www.mtgfanatic.com and www.mtgmintcard.com.
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