A place where I can, and will, nerd out about Magic: the Gathering. The theme will change with what deck(s) I am currently playing in standard. Previously, the theme was mono-green (RTR-Theros). Currently, the theme is colorless (Tarkir-Zendikar 2.0).
I haven’t been playing much Magic, but after looking through the Aether Revolt spoilers (and looking at this post), I was inspired to build a standard deck around the idea. I would greatly appreciate advice on the deck, particularly removal and numbers. Here’s the list so far:
Servo Exhibition x4
Metallic Mimic x4
Cogworker’s Puzzleknot x4
Declaration in Stone x4
Thopter Arrest x3
Master Trinketeer x4
Chief of the Foundry x4
Odric, Lunarch Marshal x2
Sram’s Expertise x4
Angel of Invention x4
Westvale Abbey x4
Plains x19
The idea is to make a bunch of Servos and beef them up. Topping off with Odric and Angel of Invention gives Servos flying and lifeline and us the game. Alternatively we could use the Servos to summon Ormendahl and win that way.
Like I mentioned, this is far from the final draft. Angel could get switched for Thalia to keep the curve at four or less. The deck could also add black and become an updated version of BW Fabricate.
Wouldn’t want anyone to be worried that GW humans might take a power hit when we lose Collected Company in the Fall or Gideon next summer. What’s that? This and Gideon get to play in the same standard, giving GW humans a possible 4 cards that’ll buff the team, in a tribe that is almost ubiquitous to the game and will likely continue to get support in Kaladesh? Good God.
Don’t get me wrong, I really, really, really, like this set; and while this is a fantastic card, it’s just not something standard players want to see.
In the time it took to publish my last post and check spoilers again, a bunch of new werewolves have been spoiled. The best, by far, is this creature:
Personally, I think werewolves were good enough as is to play at FNM but lacked decent 1-mana creatures. This absolutely puts werewolf tribal into playable territory!
The GB sacrifice deck now has a new finisher and I’m excited! I’d play it for sure.
Quite a few blue, black, and colorless cards spoiled today. As far as standard is concerned, there’s a few goodies but time will tell if it’ll be enough to introduce some variety into the format. More detail opinions after the cut:
Elder Deep-Fiend
Let’s start with the card that has my interest piqued the most. I like emerge since reading about it and hope it can make a splash in standard. With Elder Deep-Fiend, I think it’s likely. It’s colorless, it has a neat effect, it’s an Eldrazi, and it’s a clock. Honestly, if I see another good emerge creature, I’d be willing to try a UG Eldrazi deck in standard. Heck, I’m always willing to try a UG deck anywhere.
Bloodhall Priest
This definitely gives RB vampires some reach in standard, but I don’t think that’s what the deck needs to be viable. As long as humans is a force in standard, decks are going to need solid 2-drops. Vampires don’t have the kind of 2-drops that compete with those in the human decks and this doesn’t help.
Gissa and Geralf
This is a really great card for EDH and going to lead any zombie deck of mine. That said, this isn’t what standard zombie decks want. Again, decks are only going to be as powerful as their 2-drops and zombie decks only really have Relentless Dead. Until more good 2-drop zombies are released, this just isn’t going to make a splash in standard.
Curious Homunculus//Voracious Reader
It’s a 2-drop, uncommon, mana dork whose mana can only go to something specific, and it’s blue; which given Qarsi Deceiver and Renowned Weaponsmith seems to be a trend. I’m all for it! This little fellow is definitely going into EDH decks that care about spells and probably going to see standard play if only in blue prison decks. Still, the art is ridiculous and charming all at the same time.
Tree of Perdition
This is a fantastic callback to Tree of Redemption and definitely worth a mythic-rare slot. I may just build a Doran or a Sapling of Colfenor EDH deck to play with little crazy plant.
Other than these, today’s spoilers have been lukewarm at best. Some neat uncommons and flavorful rares but nothing that I’m interested in playing and I doubt they’ll make a splash in standard. I want to see more tribal support for zombies and vampires, especially in the 2-mana slot, some love for spirit-tribal at either 2 or cmc, and a round of enemy lands that have a chance to enter the battlefield untapped. This set is neat and has some fun stuff but without some of new goodies, GW and human decks will continue to run amok.
SI like the intro pack rares for this set. They’re not all Pia and Kiran Nalaar, none of them are really that close, but none of them are Nephalia Moondrakes. All of them are pretty good, or at least acceptable, for EDH. They’ll all probably be bombs in limited. My favorite has to be the blue one though. More details after the cut:
Sanctifier of Souls
This is pretty sweet. In EDH, you have a creature that can make itself bigger or build an army of spirits. Having to exile a creature from your graveyard is a little problematic if you’re going full tokens but it’s a fine balance to an otherwise solid card. Is it standard playable? I’d like to think so, but it probably only is at an FNM level (which is fine!) There are better 4-drop options, especially in white, for standard though.
Niblis of Frost
Yay, spirit tribal! This is the other 4-drop of the bunch, and it’s pretty good. Sure, playing it on turn four is risky but that’s the game. Once you untap, your opponent will have difficulty keeping up: it’s a flier that gets bigger and tempos to your advantage. It’s not the best 4-drop in the set, or standard, but it could pack a punch at FNM.
Noosegraf Mob
Honestly, I would’ve loved to see this be 5 mana rather than 6 but then it would be insane. As is, it’s a great addition to a zombie EDH deck if you need another zombie or token maker. This isn’t quite what you want to be doing in standard, but fingers crossed for similar zombie support.
Assembled Alphas
A 6-mana 5/5 that might as well be an 8/5 for combat purposes is pretty sweet. Not standard sweet, but EDH sweet definitely. If anyone is making an Ulrich or a budget RG EDH deck, I’d recommend this card. I’m not playing this in standard though; I want my werewolves to top at 5. I’d much rather see flash and instant spells in Temur colors than more wolves when considering werewolves for standard.
Ulvenwald Observer
This guy is kinda similar to Spirit of the Harvest, so there’s precedent for the mana cost. Toughness is an interesting theme for EDH deck which typically only gets explored in Doran. This card’s also a treefolk, which is another point towards Doran. While I don’t necessarily think Doran is a budget EDH deck, or in serious need of this effect, I do think this card can easily be slotted into a number of EDH decks with good outcomes. Like the Alphas, I wouldn’t really consider this for standard.
Today we got some new spoilers, and they’re not too bad! We now have some new transformers, and some neat commons. I’ll worry about the intro pack rares in another post. Big takeaway is that Mono-W and W/X decks are still gonna be top tier but Lone Rider will help WU get off the ground. Thoughts after the cut:
Transformers:
I like it! Definitely strong in limited. It’s really good in EDH, where I will be playing it. It might be constructed playable, but probably only at an FNM level.
This seems fine in limited but only in limited. It plays really well with delirium and a colorless theme (which hopefully is UG) to get a good threat.
This card is nuts. It plays well with the white/human cards in SOI and easily slots into those strategies. I do think that WU benefits from this card because Ojutai’s Command meets the requirement. So while W/X will likely continue to dominate standard, I’ll more than happy to see X be more than just green.
Commons:
Both of these are gonna be pretty good in limited, but better in draft than sealed since you can draft more. Take Inventory is nice but I don’t know if it’s standard playable.
Galvanic Bombardment is definitely standard playable. While I’m sure we’d all prefer to see 3 damage spells to take care of the format’s pesky x/3′s, a one-mana, instant-speed, damage spell that does more than 1 damage is always welcome (and needed for future consideration).
Meld has me intrigued as a new mechanic (assuming it’s legitimacy). It’s a nice parallel to soulbond from our previous Innistrad visit. The discussion about the Link mechanic on Blogatog has some bonus context too :) Very interested to see how the mechanic works fully!
Wizards revealed today the source of the shadows being cast over Innistrad, and the special guest is: Emrakul! Which isn’t all that surprising. Is it disappointing? Not necessarily, no. I think Wizards did a really good job in hiding their clues in Shadows Over Innistrad’s flavor text, art, and Tamiyo’s Puzzle. That said, I think Wizards really underestimated the amount of time it would their playerbase to figure out the clues pointing to Emrakul - something that is forgivable given that the mystery aspect was Wizards’ way of expanding how players interact with the story. Even if a few details were off this time, future endeavors will be better adjusted, and there will be future endeavors.
So what makes this “big” reveal not so big, possibly unexciting, in a lot of minds? Well first and foremost, there is the enfranchised playerbase that really knows the lore, to a point that they can make connections to a character like Marit Lage. For these players, having Emrakul be the big-bad is a shallow choice. Then there is the fact the majority of the internet pieced together that the big-bad is Emrakul weeks if not months ago. The reveal isn’t helped that Emrakul’s presence on Innistrad marks another block with Eldrazi in it (even if the block itself isn’t Eldrazi themed). For a lot of players this is unexciting because it feels like an over saturation of Eldrazi. This is mostly due to the fact that we just spent the last few months hearing about Eldrazi being the top deck in Modern - every Magic-related site and tournament was Eldrazi this and Eldrazi that. It’s like we gorged ourselves on chocolate, to the point that we’re sick of it, only to find out Wizards had been planning to surprise us with the biggest chocolate cake they could manage.
But it had to happen this way. Wizards knew in the middle of designing Battle for Zendikar block that they would be switching to a two-set paradigm for blocks. That knowledge creates a natural conflict with the continuation of Zendikar’s story: there are three titans, and each set was probably intended to focus on each titan but now there are only going to be two sets. Wizards simply couldn’t keep all three titans in Battle for Zendikar block without doing them some disservice. The solution is to not focus on one of the titans in the block, and so we only see Ulamog and Kozilek. Emrakul is off of Zendikar and her presence in the multiverse is now an ever-looming threat. Here is where some will say that Wizards should wait and keep Emrakul as an ace in their sleeve for a later story. However, Emrakul’s absence would leave a much more noticeable hole, a broken cycle, and players love complete cycles. Additionally, having speculation about Emrakul’s involvement in every future block would get tiresome and actually weaken the final reveal.
It’s just so unfortunate that it had to be Innistrad. The first time we went to Innistrad, we all loved it - the mechanics played well, interest in the genre that inspired the block was at a high point, the flavor was on point, the lore was interesting. In our return to Innistrad, we still have good mechanics and the plane is still well within the horror genre (albeit, a much more atmospheric part of the genre which can be harder to convey). There are key difference from the first visit, but it’s still the Innistrad we love without stepping on the previous iteration’s toes. Then the story started moving and we have Avacyn dead and the whole of Innistrad being transformed by Emrakul. Right now, Bruna and Gisela have been remade into a single monstrous entity, and we all know the destruction that the Eldrazi are capable of. It doesn’t look like this story is going to end with everything returning to the status quo (anymore than was already apparent). This is heartbreaking for those who fell in love with the original Innistrad because they have to watch everything and everyone die. It’s great for the story because those players that want everything to go back to some semblance of the status quo are that much more invested in the story. Still, it’ll be painful to watch until then. (Ironically enough, that’s part of what makes good horror so, pat on the back Wizards!)
Let’s talk about game play now. Let’s get a good look at the card here:
I admit, I read some of the initial reactions and yes, it’s not nearly as powerful as the original, but I think Emrakul is going to be a force in Standard. For one thing, the cost reduction on Emrakul can, at best, bring her down from 13 to 6! In a delirium deck (and I know there isn’t really a delirium deck right now) you’ll probably get her to be about 9 or 8 while most typical decks could bring her down to about 10. Combined with the colorless reducers from Battle for Zendikar block, you could bring her down even more. To me, this means that while you can play Emrakul in a ramp deck, she is by no means regulated to those decks only. The pseudo mindslaver is interesting. I would think that while it is powerful, it would be better as just a mindslaver but maybe that’s too powerful, especially with the possibility of Emrakul coming down pretty early. Fly plus trample is always a devastating combination. The protection from instants is also interesting, but far from efficient. There are currently plenty of ways to kill Emrakul using sorceries or enchantments. It could be an indication of more instant removal in future sets though.
Overall, Emrakul’s presence in Eldritch Moon is unsurprising but good. With a card number of 006, there are likely other colorless cards in the set that will play well with Battle for Zendikar block. There has been mention that Kaladesh will play really well with Shadows Over Innistrad block. The likely inclusion of artifact creatures will help delirium, which plays well here and with other colorless lovers. I think Eldritch Moon is going to have a lot of synergy with the previous block and the next block, and a lot of new decks are going to get the boost they want from this set. I hope I’m right about that!
Finally, from the Magic Story released today, if nothing else at least Eldritch Moon is going to have some sick art!
In Battle For Zendikar, we were introduced to the processor mechanic. There were some solid processors: Wasteland Strangler, Blight Herder, and Ulamog’s Nullifier. Unfortunately, aside from Oblivion Sower, there were few ways to exile a critical mass of cards for your processors to efficiently process.
I believe that has changed with Oath of the Gatewatch thanks to Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet, Thought-Knot Seer, and Flaying Tendrils. All three of these cards are Standard playable in their own right, but they also have the lovely word “exile” in their text boxes. Playing these cards in addition to Transgress the Mind, Infinite Obliteration, and the aforementioned Oblivion Sower goes above and beyond critical mass to almost always have the processing ability turned on.
This gives a foundation for a deck. The black attrition cards, Flaying Tendrils and Transgress the Mind, plus the exiling creatures Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet and Though-Knot Seer turns on even more attrition in Wasteland Strangler and Blight Herder. We can then fill out the deck with cards that help fight the attrition battle we are hoping to have or with cards that are just obviously powerful: Reality Smasher, Liliana, Heretical Healer, and Sidisi, Undead Vizier.
I don’t have a decklist to share with readers as this is merely a concept. I lean towards a mono-black and colorless build, but there are a lot of directions one could go. Maybe you add blue to the deck and play with Ulamog’s Nullifier. Maybe you want to capitalize more on the tokens the deck would generate and play with Smothering Abomination; maybe even add green to capitalize on the advantage even further. Maybe you focus more on a colorless aspect of the deck. Only testing will tell and until then: there’s room to explore!
I despise how Modern is almost always the reason a card price spikes exponentially as much as the next person, and the spike in Heartless Summoning is just the most recent example. But, I do like that because nearly all of the new Eldrazi deck is, and will be, from BFZ and OGW. It means that people playing this Standard will actually be able to significantly translate their deck, assuming it’s Eldrazi based, to Modern. I personally feel extremely fortunate that I picked up a playset of Heartless Summoning way back when it was bulk rare from Innistrad. That kind of good fortune doesn’t happen often for myself. I hope others benefit like this from the evolution in the game as well.
Wow, it has been a while since I updated this blog! But now I am back, I am excited for the format that OGW seems to be indicating, and I am ready to play!I have a full explanation of the abscence after the jump if you’re interested.
The reason being is that I just wasn’t playing Magic all that much, which stems from three large factors.
First, during the semester (I’m a college student and so I’ll measure time in semesters) that Khans of Tarkir was released, I began working part time in fast food. That prevented me from playing at FNMs since I worked Fridays. Humorously enough, the money would’ve allowed me to build a fairly potent deck had I the chance to play. Since it was matter of choosing between “have the time but no money” and “have the money but no time”, I chose to not worry about the game at all.
Then, when Return to Ravnica block rotated so too did a bunch of the cards in my Mono-Green Devotion deck. Obviously then, I was in the market for a new deck. Budget limitations, since I chose not to spend a ton of money on the game, in combination with a standard that would be primarily composed of three-color decks, I was at a bit of a loss. I built a fairly run-of-the-mill BG Constellation deck but I wasn’t particularly fond the deck’s inherent weaknesses in the face of Siege Rhino and friends.
Eventually, I did manage to build an Abzan Aggro deck that strayed from the conventional list in favor of what I had in my collection. I liked the deck, it had a decent sideboard, and I was willing to improve it in a similar fashion as I did with Green Devotion. Dragons of Tarkir just released and I was interested in getting back into the FNM scene. Unfortunately, the third nail in the coffin came with the fact that this all happened in early summer - when a small town whose claim to fame is their university is completely dead. The store I attend had not been able to hold an FNM since they could never get 8 people to play. This would be the case for the majority of the summer and so I never got to play. Sure, I could have gone to another store but the time and energy did not seem like it would pay off.
I continued watching the game from the sidelines for a while and wanted to play again. Prices held me back. Tarkir block pushed the format to be four color good-stuff decks, of which I am not fond. Even with pain lands, price to obtain an efficient mana base is in no way budget friendly due to the heavy reliance on fetchlands. Origins has had some of the most expensive and format defining cards: Hangarback Walker and flip Jace. I was, and still am, not interested in a format where money was a huge factor in determining the power of a deck so I held back.
I should probably mention that if I had chosen to get back in the game I would have played BW Warriors but Ugin alone is enough to cause the deck to fold. I could have built a sideboard and worked at it, but I was being pessimistic and much too anxious about money. I considered RB Dragons, but there was much more work to build the deck and again I was pessimistic about and worried about money.
Flash forward to Battle for Zendikar. The set was not enticing. Going through the spoilers, the only thing that ever really grabbed my attention was the full art basic lands. I decided that meant I should continue to hold off - I wasn’t interested or excited about the format, why should I play.
That all changed when Oath of the Gatewatch spoilers began; the set hasn’t even been fully spoiled and I want to play with so many of the cards in the set! I am particularly excited about Wastes and the colorless/devoid Eldrazi decks that will rise from the depth that OGW is going into the concept. Because of that, I have changed the theme of the blog to colorless.
I currently have purchased Ghostfire Blade and the two RB Eldrazi from BFZ with the intent to jump off the diving board with an aggressive RB<> Eldrazi deck. As the format progresses, I hope to explore the cards and various decks that will come from this completely new area that <> opens. I have my fingers crossed that this will be as enjoyable as Mono-Green Devotion was and that this year I will be able to get back into the game responsibly.
