A MTG blog that writes about whatever the writer wants, and whatever the fans want! It will branch along articles of themes, decks, and so forth! I hope you all enjoy.
and beaten by the beckoning ocean-side forest.....
Oh, sorry folks, I went off in my thoughts. Tis the season for poetic soliloquies amongst the everflowing frozen particles of water that drifts down from the hea-
Ok I'm done with the poetic nonsense. Let's get to Magic!
Welcome back, older followers and welcome to the new ones. MtgRamblings (Cole if you would prefer) here, in the season of winter, and I find myself shifting back into the Magic mood. It hasn't taken its hold of me in a long time.....basically, a few weeks, WHICH IS A REALLY LONG TIME FOR PEOPLE LIKE ME.
So, once again, I find myself brewing decks for the commoners of Magic to get their hands on, to try new things and see the results of other people's research, or creativity. And I don't mean netdecks, where you suddenly find yourself 300 dollars poorer, or just....poor in general.
We all admit that Magic the Gathering is an expensive hobby. It is. There is no denying it. I don't care how much money you make, it's still pretty dang expensive.
(Gotta stop rambling, get to the POINT)
So today, I bring a deck, a SIMIC deck (with the newest installment to the Return to Ravnica expansion coming soon) that is pretty cheap in terms of money, but not in terms of mana cost. Without further ado, I bring you
Elves by the Sea (G/U)
Creatures:
4x Arbor Elf
4x Elvish Archdruid
4x Elvish Visionary
4x Invisible Stalker
4x Sphinx of Uthuun
4x Stormtide Leviathan
Lands:
9x Forest
8x Island
4x Transguild Promenade
Instants/Sorceries:
3x Think Twice
4x Amass the Components
4x Increasing Savagery
Enchantments:
4x Abundant Growth
Estimated average price? $29.21
So let's get into the specifics and the general ideas:
I'm sure most of you are thinking: "Cole, can you please stop trying to use these ridiculous cards that are in Standard but shouldn't make standard? JUST STAHP".
Just hear me out please? At least it isn't
Stormtide Leviathan is a pretty big fish. I mean, it basically floods the field, makes any creature without flying incapable of attacking, and just fucks up your shit with Islandwalk. But it costs 8 mana, triple blue, and in Standard, that takes a while to get to. However, mixed with this deck's possiblities, that isn't an issue.
Mr. Sphinx of Uthuun comes in the same boat (at least his boat doesn't get flooded by Stormtide). He's double blue, and is at 7 mana. Now, while it has symmetry with Stormtide Leviathan, being blue and a flier, the issue remains the same. Just not as hard.... How do you ramp into such a big creature, reaping the benefits?
(The M13 cards just keep on coming)
Elvish Archdruid had it easy when it first came into Standard. Elves that could produce mana existed. Having an Archdruid tap for 5G by turn 4 or even 3 was not impossible. Now, with M12 and Scars of Mirrodin out of Standard, the old Druid has a hard time existing. However, some elves are left over (and fit well with the deck's theme) and can help the old elf back into a fighting mood. Arbor Elf and Elvish Visionary are contributors to the deck, but are not the main force. The +1/+1 from the Archdruid isn't enough. But he helps in ramping into the bigger creatures above (while lands, such as the simple Island and even Transguild Promenade, help with the blue). Abundant Growth converts the colours of your lands, and once Stormtide Leviathan comes in, that becomes irrelevant.
Because of the card draw (in terms of Elvish Visionary, Think Twice, and Amass the Components) you're likely to set up a very consistant amount of elves, lands, and fishes. And with that, comes Increasing Savagery, which can be played and flashbacked without any concern for mana. It makes your Stormtide or Sphinx into literal monsters, just begging to be destroyed. Which makes the next card much more of a better addition:
Not an elf, not a fish, not a sphinx. So why Invisible Stalker?
If all else fails, finding and playing an Invisible Stalker early within a 5-6 turn game will get you started on gaining an early lead, or a win condition. If you can peg a normal or flashbacked Savagery onto its Hexproof 1/1 body, your opponent is on a clock OR you win the game. This will probably be this deck's big middle finger to your opponent, saying "what, you think it's just Stormtide? FUCK YOU."
In conclusion, it's a very interesting deck, and it has worked out for simplicity's sake. Because of its bareboned nature, it's easy to add things to this deck, or outright replace them. You'd be better off playing something with Craterhoof Behemoth, making all your elves have Trample and +x/+x, but it didn't seem to work in this deck's favor, considering Stormtide's presence and making anything else (just about everything else) not able to attack at ALL.
That's all this time from MtgRamblings, thanks for watching, and Happy Holidays!
-Cole
whoa...the only RtR card was Transguild Promenade....nice one Cole, nice one.....
Azor's elocutors with a sphere of safety or two and enough enchantments are a fun time.
Issue with that is, if there is a spell that targets enchantments, that's it. The most glaring issue about Sphere of Safety is Paraselene, from Innistrad.
Take that, enchantments!
But, obviously no one would carry these in sideboard, so this would work in Azor's favor.
Not to mention the likes of Safe Passage and Fog go well into the colour range of blue and white (aka Bant). Super turbo fog. I guess.
It's been a few months, hasn't it followers? It's Cole, and I've been away for quite some time...
(from this account, anyway)
I've had some time to adjust at my new job, and I've spent time with friends and family, so I had to drop my cards in a box and shelve them for some time. Sure, I went to FNM a couple weeks ago, but it wasn't the same because I somehow.....lost the drive, I suppose.
But then I spent sometime with my friends who play Magic last night, and with trades, awesome pulls and more, I was suddenly reinspired!
But I am at a crossroad....I'm about to make 2 decks that are very different, off the beaten path.
A Johnny path, that is.
I'll skip one deck, because it's a little more straightforward in what it does, but the other deck I will elaborate on.
You see, I see many rares and mythics come out of recent blocks and note how....interesting they are. How the words describe how the card works, why it works that way, and gives me a sort of test on how I could use it.
I'm sure that many Magic players, in any format, feel the need to use a certain card, even if it seems difficult. But they rise to the challenge, and rise to the occasion....
....maybe.
So I have a few example of cards that I've seen, and considered using to have win conditions or contribute to win conditions.
Here are the three cards in particular.
I would have a few more example, but these three in particular I find interesting, and I wanna make a standard deck for each of them. Due to how cheap the cards are, they can fall under "budget" decks.
But this is where you followers come in! A Magic blog is never as strong alone as it is with it's followers. Everyone collectively can contribute a small timbit of info, suggestions, ideas. And then collectively, we can all make a deck!
So if you like, drop an ask or submission, targeting one of these specific cards. Once there are enough synergy cards, I will complete the decks and present them in a Deck Tech article.
Sorry I've been away, I'll be around more often folks!
Hello watchers, and I'm back with a new topic: how many colours should you/I play?
Magic the Gathering, from 1993 (the year of its creation) and to now, in 2012 (where Return to Ravnica is coming out in less than a month), cards have had various colour combinations, symbols, and mono colour cards.
But there will always be cards with various costs: from a single mandatory colour, to two or three different colours, to any colour of your choice (aka colourless).
But there is always a question in any players head, in any format: what colour(s) should I play? More specifically, how many?
Wizards had a suggestion in their decklist that came with my first pack of cards, the 9th Edition Custom Creatures: add other colours to strengthen the power of your deck.
I found this to be both good and bad advice. It's good in the sense for new players to learn the game in a more balanced way, learning how to make synergy between two different colours and making a more effective deck. I also found this bad because some players might prefer a more simplistic approach: if they play one colour, they have all the benefits of the colour, but also all of its weaknesses.Thus, it makes the game easier to teach and learn.
It conditions the person to the learning experience: if they play two colours first, they might be overwhelmed and not truly learn the effectiveness of each individual colour, but learn how to see the synergy between colours and certain cards. Meanwhile, if they start with one colour, their deck is wide open to being exploited for its glaring weaknesses, but play with the colour's strength to its full potential.
Ultimately, it's up to the individual player. Wizards have made it easier for colours to fit in certain decks, by finding the land necessary, or having low costing creatures, etc etc. The company has also made it easier for decks to belong in their own colour:
RDW (Red Deck Wins) was a decktype that was effective at one point in time....but recently has not done so well, it consisted of direct damage spells mixed with some aggressive creatures.
Green seems like a colour that stays to its roots, having mana ramp and aggressive offenses, with small creatures to pave the way for the big ones (this deck seems to have taken off lately as a solid solo-colour)
Black plays dirty, having a multitude of effects to play with you before finishing you off. Doesn't mean they don't take damage in the effort.
Blue plays a control game, stopping all your efforts before taking your creatures to finish you off. They don't exactly always have answers for your creatures, but you most likely have no counters to them either.
Finally, White plays small creatures with big effects backing them up, and swarm your board with an army. Throw in some Angels and you got a force to be reckoned with.
Wizards makes cards that work in various types of decks: a recent spoiler in the past week has revealed a double red card (Ash Zealot), and I read an article that said they wanted to appeal to people who wanted to do mono-red decks. It goes to show that team developers of our beloved card game really try to appeal to our various tastes.
But what about the other colour alternatives? What about three colour decks?
This is where the most experienced to go test their deck making, finding the best of three colours, and combining them in a deck that is the most effective. There are the traditional colour builds based on the plane of Alara, and the five micro-planes within: Bant (Green/White/Blue) Jund (Green/Red/Black) Esper (White/Blue Black) Grixis (Red/Black/Blue) and Naya (White/Red/Green). Then there are the other colour combinations that have no set names. These decks have their good and bad points, just like any other deck. Their main issue is how their lands work: if they don't draw the right lands, they might have trouble for the rest of the game.
The end result is whatever you want it to be. With all the various formats, and the hundreds of thousands of cards printed, it's up to you: the player. You figure out what you want to play (big creatures, spells, enchantments?), what colours to use (one, two, three, five?), what format you play (Standard, Legacy, Commander?).
That's why Magic the Gathering is such an amazing game.
Thanks for reading folks, I hope you enjoy this small insight I've had about Magic and its inner workings. I was kinda rambling, so it ties into my blog title! Till next time.
Idk how to submit but here's mine. (or my gf's I should say, cuz it was really her idea) demons + trading post. Sac your goats to feed, cast, empower your demos? Hell yeah \m/
At least it prevents you from losing your life from such Demons! Nice.
Because someone said they thought I was a “scrub” (a scrub meaning, someone who goes into a competitive environment with their own set of rules and play for fun…which is basically me), I decided to make a proper competitive deck that I think would work. I’m keeping with tokens, and Talrand, Sky Summoner seems to be an amazing token generator.
Without further adieu, I bring my Talrand Esper deck:
So I’m going to my shop’s MtG draft that happens every Thursday, and I’ve been doing practice drafts online to try and get ready for the fight.
I’m thinking of nabbing any rares/mythics I can so I got trade binder material, and try and make back my $15 entry fee (but I will also play to win as well).
Then you have Lauren, a Blue player who likes Faeries.
Finally, you have Jeremy, a Black player who likes Specters.
You know those moments, where you’re in a game, and you have this determined face on. You’re not smiling, you’re focused. Considering the options. No room for smiles at that moment, no siree.
With the release of the new core set Magic 2013, lots of new abilities and goodies have appeared to change up the metagame. While Delver decks gained the likes of Talrand, Sky Summoner, Ramp decks got Arbor Elf, Flicker decks got Thragtusk. Many decks have begun to change in preparation for Return to Ravnica, but a lot of net decks have not properly changed for the loss of Scars of Mirrodin block. This is where the entire metagame will be shaken up and will have to build up anew.
This can give people time to make new decks with cards that will not be rolling out in October. They will not be the best decks with a more limited source pool, but they will create a base for any new cards that may come in during Return to Ravnica.
Today, I look at a budget deck that uses M13 white Exalted cards. Exalted was part of black and white cards released this year, so often people will tie the two colours together.
However, a lot of decks can benefit from the inclusion of Exalted. So today, I will talk about G/W Trample Exalted.
Creatures
4x Avacyn's Pilgrim
2x Festerhide Boar
4x Aven Squire
4x Knight of Glory
4x War Falcon
4x Arbor Elf
3x Bond Beetle
2x Duskdale Wurm
4x Spiked Baloth
Enchantments
4x Angelic Benediction
3x Rancor
Land
2x Cathedral of War
3x Sunpetal Grove
7x Plains
10x Forest
Many will notice that there are holes in certain CMC costs. I feel the deck will work better with fewer 3, 5 and 6 drops, alongside ramp and small creatures. Also, the only rares in this deck are lands. Budget to the max.
White offers a lot of Exalted sources and creatures that benefit from Exalted sources. Green offers the very appreciative ramp that this deck needs. With ramp on the side, this deck can put out lots of creatures and support cards quickly. In White, Aven Squire, Knight of Glory, and Angelic Benediction offer the Exalted source (backed up by Cathedral of War) necessary for the Tramplers to come in and sweep up.
Spiked Baloth is a cheap card, being a 4/2 Trampler for CMC 4. With Exalted, you can walk up and down with a single creature. Festerhide Boar is a bonus card, with Morbid making your 3/3 a 5/5. Trample is just the bonus. Rancor can make your early creatures into Tramplers too, while Bond Beetle helps out with that extra +1/+1. As an end all, late game answer, Duskdale Wurm can come in sooner than turn 7 and swing in next turn with a 7/7 boosted by a few sources.
Angelic Benediction is a good contributor to battle damage. Making an opponent tap a creature before combat means one less blocker, meaning more damage, and more chances for your creature to survive the fight.
Adding some removal would make this deck go a long way, and Travel Preparations works into your offenses and defenses.
Thanks for reading folks. Green was a favourite of mine ever since I started Magic, and going back to my colours is a bit of a relief to post on this blog. I hope you all enjoyed.
jonbigcountry reblogged your post: A sharing moment for my followers!
opinion on Serra Avatar?
Apologizes, Jon! I missed that response some time ago.
Though Serra Avatar is not a common or uncommon, as I asked for in my post, I feel the need to offer my opinion about the card. I am not too familiar with it, but I'll do what I can.
Part of the "Serra" name-themed cards, I look at Serra Avatar's potential labeled as a Mythic Rare. It's abilities make it dangerous, being tied to your lifetotal can make is as simple as a 2/2 or as big as a 40/40. Simple removal (such as kill spells) doesn't remove it as a threat, so expect it to be exiled at some point.
Being a big beat stick is the best it gets though. Throwing enchantments and equipment on it can change its tune, however, there lies another problem: its mana cost.
CMC 7 is big, but with a mandatory 3 white mana, this closes some windows. Considering the fast pace of the metagame, and no way to reanimate Serra Avatar, the only way to play it is to have some serious mana ramp. Avacyn's Pilgrim acts as a great outlet for white mana, while Somberwald Sage can create coloured 3 mana of your choice. Throw in sources for lifegain, and you can easily make a game-winning condition.
Serra Avatar isn't a very expensive card, and there are some ways to use it. It's up to a player to have a playset and use it.
Facing a 20/20 creature midgame is a scary thing.....
