Doubling Planeswalkers!

Note: The Miniseries 2 will not be airing for a while, due to Worldwake about to consume every post in this blog for about a month. In the meantime, enjoy this random-ass Extended deck.

Have you ever felt like Planeswalkers would be more awesome if you could use their ultimate as soon as you played it? I have. And now, there is a way.

Before anyone asks, this does, in fact, work within the rules. Behold the comprehensive rules excerpt that proves it:

306.5b A planeswalker is treated as if its text box included, "This permanent enters the battlefield with a number of loyalty counters on it equal to its printed loyalty number." This ability creates a replacement effect (see rule 613.1c).

Thus, as it's a replacement effect that adds the counters, Doubling Season works as another replacement effect to instead put more counters on. I scoured the planeswalkers to find the ones that could end the game basically by themselves with an Ultimate activation and found these:

Chandra Nalaar

Sarkhan Vol

Ajani Goldmane

Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker

Nicol Bolas was out, way too expensive, but the other three work well. Chandra Wraths the board and takes 10 life from them, Sarkhan makes 10 4/4 fliers and Ajani makes two gigantic dudes (remember, Doubling Season!) Together, they provide enough consistency that I am near certain to draw one.

Doubling Season doesn't have that, so I added it's good friend Idyllic Tutor.

Here's the decklist I ended up with:

Lands (22)

4 Arid Mesa

3 Forest

2 Ghost Quarter

2 Mountain

2 Plains

3 Sacred Foundry

3 Stomping Ground

3 Temple Garden

Creatures (8)

4 Birds of Paradise

4 Noble Hierarch

Spells (30)

4 Ajani Goldmane

4 Chandra Nalaar

4 Chrome Mox

4 Idyllic Tutor

4 Naya Charm

2 Path to Exile

4 Sarkhan Vol

Sideboard (15)

4 Chalice of the Void

4 Engineered Explosives

2 Guttural Response

3 Krosan Grip

2 Path to Exile

Basically the idea is simple.

Step 1: Ramp into a Doubling Season.
Step 2: Drop a planeswalker.
Step 3: Win the game.

I don't think it's Tier 1, but it's a nice little strategy. If you already play Extended, you'll have all the expensive cards, and people will often think you're playing Zoo until it's too late.

I'll have some basic testing of the deck up tomorrow, as well as the rudiments of a sideboard plan. Enjoy!

Miniseries Series 2!

You may remember my first miniseries which was devoted to W/U Control. Now I've decided to do a new one. To reiterate the rules:

The miniseries will have three articles: a theory article, a deckbuilding article, and a deck testing article. The topic must be able to support all three articles. For example, a miniseries on tiebreakers wouldn't work, since deckbuilding and testing for that is basically ridiculous.

I will pick the one I like best from the ones given.

The topic will be chosen in 24 hours, or 48 if no satisfactory topics are received in 24.

Good luck, and pick a good idea! 

What If: Cascade Was Never Invented?

Hi guys! Zendikar's been out for a while, so now we're going to do a metagame breakdown of Standard. Aggro is still powerful but Control certainly has a good presence as well. Let's see what we have...


Boros Bushwhacker


Maindeck:

Creatures
3 Elite Vanguard
2 Goblin Bushwhacker
4 Goblin Guide
3 Kor Skyfisher
4 Plated Geopede
4 Ranger Of Eos
4 Steppe Lynx

Instants
2 Burst Lightning
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Path To Exile

Planeswalkers
2 Elspeth, Knight-errant

Basic Lands
4 Mountain
6 Plains

Lands
4 Arid Mesa
4 Marsh Flats
4 Scalding Tarn
2 Teetering Peaks

Sideboard:
2 Baneslayer Angel
4 Manabarbs
3 Oblivion Ring
2 Burst Lightning
4 Celestial Purge


Boros Bushwhacker is still one of the top decks in Standard. It kills most Control decks before they get online, but has a bad matchup against Eldrazi Green, which sweeped a few States tournaments.


 Eldrazi Green


Maindeck:

Artifacts
3 Eldrazi Monument

Creatures
3 Ant Queen
4 Elvish Archdruid
4 Elvish Visionary
3 Great Sable Stag
4 Llanowar Elves
2 Master Of The Wild Hunt
4 Nissa's Chosen
2 Noble Hierarch

Planeswalkers
3 Garruk Wildspeaker
4 Nissa Revane

Basic Lands
20 Forest

Lands
4 Oran-rief, The Vastwood

Sideboard:
1 Eldrazi Monument
3 Pithing Needle
3 Great Sable Stag
3 Mold Shambler
3 Mycoloth
2 Windstorm



Eldrazi Green plays out a lot of "must-deal-with" threats, and it's a pretty good deck. Against these decks are the control decks:


RWU Planeswalker Control


Artifacts
4 Courier's Capsule
1 Obelisk Of Alara

Creatures
3 Sphinx Of Jwar Isle

Instants
1 Essence Scatter
2 Flashfreeze
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Path To Exile
1 Swerve

Planeswalkers
4 Ajani Vengeant
1 Chandra Nalaar
2 Elspeth, Knight-errant

Sorceries
4 Day Of Judgment
3 Mind Spring

Basic Lands
3 Island
2 Mountain
3 Plains

Lands
3 Arid Mesa
2 Crumbling Necropolis
4 Glacial Fortress
2 Jungle Shrine
3 Scalding Tarn
4 Sejiri Refuge

Sideboard:
1 Pithing Needle
3 Celestial Purge
2 Essence Scatter
3 Flashfreeze
3 Oblivion Ring
3 Earthquake



This is one of the 'decks to beat' at the moment, since there are few ways to gain card advantage in Standard at the moment, and planeswalkers are a big one.


That's all we have time for today! Tomorrow we'll talk about W/U Control, Red Deck Wins, and Emeria decks. See you tomorrow!

White Weenie in Standard

As I mentioned in my last post, I've recently got into MODO. Because I didn't have much money to start, I decided the most competitive budget deck I could have was a mono-colored one. I didn't want Red, since I want some interaction, so I went with White Weenie (sans Baneslayers).


Here's the list I've been using:


Lands (24)


3 Emeria, the Sky Ruin
21 Plains

Creatures (20)


4 Elite Vanguard
4 Emeria Angel
4 Kazandu Blademaster
4 Veteran Armorsmith
4 Veteran Swordsmith


Spells (16)


4 Brave the Elements
4 Conqueror's Pledge
4 Honor of the Pure
4 Path to Exile


Sideboard (15)


4 Celestial Purge
3 Devout Lightcaster
2 Luminarch Ascension
4 Oblivion Ring
2 White Knight


The deck has turned out to be quite good, and so I decided to make a brief primer for this budget deck (the entire deck can be built for less than 50 tickets: quite good compared to Jund or Boros, which are much more expensive).


Vs Jund:


Sideboarding:


+4 Celestial Purge
+3 Devout Lightcaster
+2 White Knight

-4 Elite Vanguard
-4 Veteran Swordsmith
-1 Conqueror's Pledge


Pre-board, your best friend is Honor of the Pure. I mentioned a few months back that Pulsing Honor of the Pure was your best bet as Jund, yet people rarely do this. It allows for your Blademasters, Emeria Angels, and Armorsmiths to all be 3/3 resistant, and the latter two to be X/4's, and unable to be Bolted. Conqueror's Pledge is generally weak against them as they have Pulse, but if you play it, and they don't have it, they lose.


Post-board, they almost certainly have Jund Charm. To combat this, you have 5 Pro-black cards, and one less Pledge. You've also taken out some easily killed cards. Now your objective is to win with hard-to-kill cards and protect the ones you do with Brave the Elements. Often I can Lightcaster a Thrinax, drop Emeria Angel, and hold a Brave the Elements in hand with a winning position.


Vs Boros


+2 White Knight


-2 Veteran Swordsmith


Here, you are the defender. In both games, your aim is to play 2/3's and first strikers. Save your removal for his Skyfishers, which you can't block. You aim to make a nearly unassailable position with 2-3 creatures. Sandbag some, as Boros runs Earthquake now.


Vs Vampires


+4 Celestial Purge
+3 Devout Lightcaster
+2 White Knight


-4 Elite Vanguard
-4 Brave the Elements
-1 Veteran Swordsmith


This match is nearly an auto-win for you unless they draw multiple Bloodwitches. Game 1, save your removal for Nocturnus, try to get Honor of the Pure (they can't kill it) and play 3/3 first strikers and 3/4's to gum up the ground.


Games 2 and 3, you aim to kill all their relevant threats and win with pro-black guys. It's quite easy to win if you have 5 cards they can't stop in any way. Make sure you race their Bloodwitches.



That's all the major testing I've done so far.


Various tips:


Emeria Angel is a 5-drop. Drop her and then drop a land afterwards. She's also amazing with Honor of the Pure. a 4/4 and a 2/2 is hard to kill with one card.


Conqueror's Pledge is a last-ditch resort unless you have Honor, in which case it can swing the game if you KNOW the opponent doesn't have Wraths.


Armorsmiths are your best friend against red decks.


If you have a good board presence, always keep a mana open for Brave, even if you don't have it, unless you NEED all that mana.




That's all I've got for today! I'll do some more testing soon, and perhaps compete in a Standard event, and we'll see how I go!


(Also, draft is going great! I started with 3 packs. 3 drafts later, I still have 3 packs.)


See ya!

Adventures In Pauper

So I found myself on MTGO, which I've just recently got into, with 20 bucks to spare and a promise that I'd draft Nix Tix M10 tonight (I won 2 packs and got a Master of the Wild Hunt, so happy me). So I had about 8 bucks. What can you do on MODO for 8 bucks?

The answer is Pauper. Pauper is a format that only permits commons (or to be specific, cards that were printed as common at one point). There's a wide variety of Tier 1 and 2 strategies, as can be seen at this webpage.

I decided to go for Classic Pauper, and I decided to go for G/W Slivers. Unfortunately the Muscle Slivers would have taken up my 8 bucks right there, so my second choice was the old-school Orzhov Blink, which has fallen out of favor since M10.

The deck cost a grand total of 6 tix of clever bot-buying, and here's what I ran:

4 Blind Hunter
4 Chittering Rats
3 Phyrexian Rager
4 Ravenous Rats
3 Aven Riftwatcher
3 Mulldrifter
3 Shrieking Grotesque

Spells
4 Duress
4 Echoing Decay
4 Momentary Blink

Lands
9 Swamp
4 Orzhov Basilica
4 Plains
4 Terramorphic Expanse
3 Island

SIDEBOARD
4 Circle of Protection: Black
4 Circle of Protection: Red
3 Oblivion Ring
2 Relic of Progenitus
1 Aven Riftwatcher
1 Mulldrifter 

The only change I made from the list I started with was -1 Phyrexian Rager and +1 Shrieking Grotesque, and I'm fairly happy with the choice. Pauper can descend into creature stalls, and when 2/X's are the norm, races take a while. So a critical mass of fliers was pretty good.

I haven't got any matchups at the moment, but I have been enjoying it. One addition I'd like to make to the deck is Soul Stair Expedition, since it seems very powerful in this deck. They finally kill your blinkers, and you simply bring them back again. The ultimate recursion package.

Last Gasp and Okiba-Gang Shinobi were two cards I also purchased, since I figured they might be useful. I'm considering Duress in the side over Relic, and putting Last Gasp in main, since Kor Skyfisher shuts down a lot of my offence.

What I like about Pauper is that it's both very cheap, and it's competitive. It also seems to speak to the 'core' of Magic, since the commons are very in tune with the color pie.

Orzhov Blink is a deck of advantages. Gaining life, draining life, and gaining card advantage with Ravenous Rats and Mulldrifter, it's a strange kind of control deck, but a fun one to play. I think my next move will be to take out the Chittering Rats (which put a strain on the manabase) and the Duresses in order to add Last Gasp and Soul Stair Expedition, and see how it goes.

I think you'll be seeing a few more posts about Pauper in the upcoming weeks, since it's certainly piqued my interest. I'd also like to play a U/B Control list I saw floating around the tournament practice room, and if I want to, I can purchase it for the price of a lunch (as long as I don't add Daze to the deck).

So if you're on MTGO, give Pauper a try. It's great fun, and very cheap to get started. And you never know what fun you could have!

Playing To Win At Magic: The Gathering

A good part of this article is inspired by David Sirlin's excellent book Playing To Win, which can be viewed for free online at www.sirlin.net/ptw. This article will have many of the same concepts, but also has my own ideas and examples specific to Magic: The Gathering. Reading Playing To Win is not required to understand this text.

Playing To Win At Magic: The Gathering

An article by Jay Bailey (mtgsalivanth)

Introduction

Many of the concepts found in these texts will be ones that you do not agree with. If you wish to argue them, I'll make it easier on you by providing my e-mail address (www.salivanth@live.com) and my Twitter account. (mtgsalivanth). I routinely check both of these.

With that out of the way, let's move on to the meat of the article: Playing to win at this game. Some of you do not want to play to win. Some of you play casually, and don't want to progress past the level you are at right now. That's fine: these concepts do not apply to you. I speak to the ones who aim to improve their game.

Magic: The Gathering is a game, and the first thing you must accept is the following:

Magic: The Gathering must be treated like Magic: The Gathering.

This means that no tournament-legal card, deck, or strategy is cheap, wrong, or should not be used for reasons other than 'It will not help me win'. If you are playing casually, play casually, but in tournaments, PLAY TO WIN.

This means accepting truths about the game. A combo deck is not cheap because it does not interact with the opponent. It's not a deck that 'does not 'play' Magic'. It does not interact with the opponent because it's not designed to. If you think that's wrong, you're not playing Magic: The Gathering. You're playing a different version of the game, and you must play the version that the tournament is playing.

If a deck is going to cost several hundred dollars to build and you can't afford it, fine. But don't whinge about the fact that you can't afford it. If you cannot remain competitive with your budget, then you should set your sights to other places other than improving at the game and playing at higher levels.

Counterspells are a valid strategy. Discard is a valid strategy. Land destruction is a valid strategy. (Note that I'm not saying these are valid as in 'They are competitive' for they may not be at the time of your reading. However, it is valid as in if it is a competitive strategy, you should not refrain from using it because it's 'cheap' 'dishonorable' or 'no fun'.)

I believe David Sirlin himself said it best.

"The game knows no rules of "honor" or of "cheapness." The game only knows winning and losing". 

- David Sirlin, author of Playing To Win.

I could give many other examples. Netdecking, metagaming, rules lawyering...but the principle is the same. If you want to win, you must accept that every tournament-legal strategy is fair game if it increases your chance of winning.

You do not decide what is fair and what is not. Wizards of the Coast does. If they say it can be done (by not banning or restricting it) then it can (and if it is good, will) be done. End of story.

Sir Scrub

Let's introduce a player I call Sir Scrub. Sir Scrub has many names and many guises. He may appear at your table or your FNM. If you haven't met him, or have met him in a large tournament where you do not have to put up with him again, be grateful.

You can never outplay Sir Scrub. Ever. You can beat him, of course, but it's always due to luck. You drew better or he drew worse. He was mana screwed or mana flooded. You got a lucky cascade, he never did. Sir Scrub is cursed with terrible luck, but at least he plays with honor.

Sir Scrub is the guy who draws cards off the top when he loses and then says 'In 3 turns, I would have had you.' The fact that you made sure the game DIDN'T last longer than it had to doesn't seem to resonate with Sir Scrub. He still had all these in his deck, he just never drew them.

Do you recognise him? You probably do, and if not, it's a good thing, too.

You

The previous section seemed to make no sense. It offers no advice on winning, and just bashes people. I wrote that section to show you the opposite of what you should be.

You should not chalk matches up to luck. Sometimes you WERE mana-screwed or mana-flooded. But could you have prevented it? By saying that mana-screw cost you the game, you're saying that:

A) You fully randomised your deck.

B) You made the correct mulliganing decisions.

C) You played perfectly.

D) There was no way you could have psyched your opponent into thinking you had something to stop him doing what he did to win.

Only if all of these are true can you blame mana-screw or mana-flood, or any other luck-based occurence.

When you lose, be humble. How could you have performed better, played more tightly, anticipated your opponent's moves better? Was his lucky topdeck lucky or was he holding you off until he could draw it? Did you push him as hard as you could, or in control, did you defend and prioritise threats to the best of your ability?

You must trust your decisions and your deck. A classic example is mulliganing. Do you, after mulliganing, look at the top card to see if you would have drawn the card you need? Okay, so there WAS that third land off the top. Who cares? You still made the right decision. This is something I consciously stopped doing, since by doing so, I basically say 'I don't trust that I made the mathematically correct move.' You must trust your decisions after you make them.

You must do everything you can to win. If you need a certain card, did you aggressively mulligan to find it? Did you defend as best you could to attempt to draw the card? Did you overextend into your opponent's sweeper? These are things that could cost you the game, but can be hard to notice. A 5-land hand against your opponent's Black-Red deck in Zendikar draft can very well be suicide, even if it looks good against a slower deck. If you don't know what your opponent is playing, that's one thing, but Game 2 you should not make that mistake.

Did you do your research? You didn't know what to do in that situation. Perhaps you should have tested more.

Essentially, there are a thousand things that you probably could have done, but did not, that can contribute to your loss, a lot more than mere luck. If you're not trying your best in a situation, luck merely helped your opponent win, not sealed it for them.

Conclusion

A great deal of my blog and many other hands have written about how to improve your play skill at Magic, so I shall leave that to other articles and other hands. This is the mindset you MUST take into any serious tournament, and if you do not, you may as well not go. If you still disagree with me, as some of you probably will, my e-mail is once again www.salivanth@live.com. My Twitter account is mtgsalivanth. Feel free to argue as much as you like, but in the end, as I have come to realise: this is the mindset that counts when you want to win.

Bad Deck Baz Presents It's A Wonderful Life!

Hello and welcome to the final installment of the Bad Deck Baz series. We've raced a 5/5 flying shrouded sphinx and out-milled a mill deck. Now let's see what we can do with It's A Wonderful Life!

It's a Wonderful Life!

A “Bad Deck Baz” Deck

10 Plains

2 Forest

4 Sunpetal Grove

4 Kabira Crossroads

4 Graypelt Refuge

4 Battlegrace Angel

4 Mycoid Shepherd

4 Grazing Gladehart

2 Sunseed Nurturer

2 Mesa Enchantress

2 Lifelink

1 Landbind Ritual

3 Sylvan Bounty

3 Cradle of Vitality

4 Soul's Grace

2 Celestial Mantle

2 Sunspring Expedition

3 Angel's Mercy

Sideboard 

3 Felidar Sovereign

3 Wall of Reverence

2 Captured Sunlight

4 Solemn Offering

3 Ajani Goldmane 

As you can see here, Baz has definitely taken this lifegain theme to heart, with 73/75 cards gaining life, or having the potential to do so. Let's see how it goes.

Round 1: It's A Wonderful Life for Bant!

He gets Hierarch, Borderland Ranger, Ranger of Eos, Hierarch before I manage my first spell: a Sunseed Nurturer. I drop a Mesa Enchantress and Landbind Ritual, but I've already noticed a problem with this deck: without Wrath effects, the opponent can and will keep scaling up their threats until your lifegain can't keep up. He drops a Scute Mob and a Sphinx, and mows me down.

Game 2 is a near instant replay. Hierarch, Borderland Ranger, Dauntless Escort. I do put up some resistance this game.  My Wall of Reverence meets a Path, my Gladehart has to chump, and my Ajani has no defenders. I get slammed again.

0-1

Round 2: It's A Wonderful Life for Grixis Control!

I drop Gladehart, and Mycoid Shepherd. The latter gets hit by Double Negative. I land a second, and he Quakes for 4. He Cruels me, and I Soul's Grace my last Shepherd in response. My hand and board are decimated, but I'm at 35 life. A Sphinx of Jwar Isle and a Siege-Gang Commander decimate that pretty fast though. I drop a Battlegrace Angel which meets a Terminate. He then kills me.

Game 2 I get stuck on 3 lands. Against a Siege-Gang Commander. I never find land 4. It isn't pretty.

0-2

Round 3: It's A Wondeful Life for Mono-White Lifegain! (no really!)

He gets Knight of the White Orchid, which my Gladehart is able to stem the wounds of. I drop Battlegrace and attack with my 3/3 lifelink Deer of Death. We keep going back and forth with two Knights vs. Battlegrace, and then I drop Cradle of Vitality. It meets Oblivion Ring. I drop another one, to make a 4/4 Gladehart thanks to Landfall. His Knight Trio slams me. (3 Knights of the White Orchid). He then drops an Elspeth and an Ajani. His Knights slay me, despite my 6/6 and growing Gladehart. I actually manage to drop an 11/11 Sunseed Nurturer and crack 60 life, but Elspeth's ultimate ensures my eventual defeat.

Game 2 I come out strong with Sunspring Expeditions. Ajani clashes with the Knight, and he drops Wall of Reverence. I drop Mycoid Shepherd, he drops Oblivion Ring on Ajani. He drops Emeria, the Sky Ruin. I drop Cradle, he names it with Pithing Needle. I Solemn Offering his O-Ring, but Baneslayer re-kills Ajani. I attack with the Shepherd, crack an Expedition, and make a 13/12. He says I can't do that, but I point out that Cradle's ability is triggered, not activated. 

He plays another Wall and starts gaining 10 life a turn. He soon gets Emeria the Sky Ruin active. He gains a lot of life and casts Day of Judgement to kill my creatures which I can't bring back. However, I drop a Cradle of Vitality, Mycoid Shepherd, and Wall of Reverence. This combo allows me to make a very very large Wall, but his guys keep coming back so I can't attack without trample, which the deck does not have. I get 2 500+ P/T creatures and 850 life, but he finds his Felidar Sovereign before I find mine and the game is over.

0-3

Round 4: It's A Wonderful Life for Time Sieve!

Turn 4 I get a Mycoid Shepherd while he gets Kaleidostone and Howling Mine. He's wary of my one trick: gaining life to foil his attack. Therefore when he comboes off he makes sure he hits me for about 20 above my life total, and I fold.

Game 2 I get a Cradle and a Battlegrace. I also Solemn Offering his Howling Mine. In a long, boring game, he attacks for 13 with a Hulk, and I triple Soul's Grace, hoping he'll deck himself trying to deal 60 damage. Unfortunately, he does not.

0-4

And that ends the Bad Deck Baz series! With my stellar 2-10 record I now depart for greener pastures where I can go 3-1 once again. Join me next time as I explore a concept that is incredibly important to playing Magic competitively: even if you hate me for believing it.

Bad Deck Baz Presents Blisters On Your Fingers!

Hello and welcome to the second of the Bad Deck Baz posts. Last time, we looked at IT'S A TRAP!, which I piloted to a 1-3 record: not too bad given the deck. Let's see if I can repeat myself with this deck: Blisters on Your Fingers.

A “Bad Deck Baz” Deck

14 Island

2 Swamp

4 Jwar Isle Refuge

4 Drowned Catacomb

4 Alluring Siren

4 Wall of Frost

4 Sphinx Ambassador

4 Cosi's Trickster

4 Gomazoa

2 Quest for Ancient Secrets

3 Sadistic Sacrament

4 Telemin Performance

4 Polymorph

3 Haunting Echoes

Sideboard 

1 Platinum Angel

3 Marsh Casualties

4 Kathari Remnant

3 Deny Reality

4 Flashfreeze

Blisters On Your Fingers is a shuffling-based deck, with cards like Polymorph, Haunting Echoes, Gomozoa, and Cosi's Trickster. The alternate aim is to win with a Sphinx Ambassador.

The deck also has a library exiling theme, where you get rid of the opponent's bad creatures to Telemin them, or their good creatures to Polymorph them.

Let's get to testing!

Round 1: Blisters on Creatureless Control's fingers!

I don't really know how to classify this control deck, but as a creatureless deck I was hoping for a random Telemin win. 

Game 1 I play Alluring Siren and Gomozoa. I take a few points off him before he casts a Day of Judgment. I drop Sphinx Ambassador and he retaliates with Martial Coup. I drop another one. Next turn I swing. I reveal no creatures, but plenty of planeswalkers and controllish cards. He's on 8 life.

He uses Vengeant to keep my Sphinx tapped. I try to resist, but he gets me to 10, then a combination Ajani Helix and Earthquake for 7 clinches it for him.

0-1

Round 2: Blisters on WBR Midrange's Fingers!

Game 1 I play two Tricksters. He cracks an Armillary Sphere, and I start swinging. He drops Day of Judgment. He then drops Blightning, Sorin, and Siege-Gang, and slaughters me. At 1 life I drop a Polymorph to see a bit more of his deck.

Game 2 is rather anti-climactic. I get mana-screwed, he gets a Turn 5 Siege-Gang Commander. I never offer any real resistance.

0-2

Round 3: Blisters on White Weenie's Fingers!

I drop Trickster, he drops Knight of the White Orchid. I drop Gomozoa, he Paths it. He plays Conqueror's Pledge and Elspeth. He gets a quick win.

Game 2 he plays: Kazandu Blademaster, Knight of the White Orchid, Veteran Swordsmith. He then gets Behemoth Sledge and Elspeth. I Polymorph the Blademaster into an Armorsmith, and Telemin into a Captain of the Watch. I'm on 8 life, but he equips the Sledge to his Swordsmith, pumps it with Elspeth, and swings for 8 in the air :(

0-3

Round 4: Blisters on Jacerator's Fingers!

I drop two Cosi's Tricksters, he drops Howling Mine and Jace. I correctly figure he's playing Jacerator. I wait for him to tap most of his mana for a Font of Mythos, then I untap, cast Telemin Performance, and kill him in a single blow. Booyah.

Game 2 he drops an early Wall of Denial (Better than Baneslayer against Telemin). He drops Jace as well, and ramps it up. I play Telemin Performance, which gets Negated. He drops a Font, and I drop a Telemin Performance. He mills me for 20, but unfortunately he has less cards than me now and no answer in his deck. He loses the game to mill.

1-3 (Random win! Woot!)

And that ends Blisters On Your Fingers. Join me next time I get a post up (which might not be until Sunday, but hopefully is before that) for the results of It's A Wonderful Life!

See ya!

The Ten Commandments of Magic: The Gathering

And then yay, Maro descended from the heavens, his hands bound by the tomes of prophecy, and he spake: These commandments are handed down to me by Richard Garfield, and they are to be obeyed, now and forever.

1. Magic is the first TCG, and the harbinger of all TCG's. Thou shalt claim no other trading card game came before me.
2. While thou shalt play other card games, thou shalt not claim any TCG be greater than Magic, whether it be Huntik or Yu-gi-oh, whether it be old or new, whether it be simple or complex, for I, the designer, am a jealous one, visiting the inquiry of thy peers upon the people who seek to betray me and not keep my commandments.
3. Thou shalt not blame the designer for any problem with which the designer is not at fault, for many hands make up Magic, and blame shalt be apportioned to the proper areas.
4. Remember the casual day to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou test, and do all thy optimisation, but the seventh day IS the day of the casuals, in it thou shalt not attempt to theorycraft, nor grief thy table with combo decks, for in six days all thy testing may be concluded, and casual multiplayer shalt be joined on the seventh day, and should be hallowed.
5. Honour all of thy formats, that thy days be long exploring the infinite variety that is all of Magic.
6. Thou shalt not cheat.
7. Thou shalt not deck-hop every week.
8. Thou shalt not steal.
9. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy opponent.
10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's deck, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's topdecking, nor his playskill, nor his drafting, nor his building, nor his collection, nor any thing that IS thy neighbour's.



Yes, I did base these off the real 10 commandments. One of them (3) was forced to change a lot, whereas one (8) was able to not change at all.

Yes, this is a very strange idea.

No, I don't believe these commandments are actually what anyone from Magic thinks, and I don't believe all of them should be followed, and as in the real bible, there is room for interpretation in it.

Also, this was a complete joke, so don't take any of it as actual gospel. Unless someone breaks 6, 8, or 9. Then Richard Garfield compels you to stone them to death.

Happy gaming, fellow initiates!

Bad Deck Baz Presents IT'S A TRAP!

Hello and welcome to the first of three Bad Deck Baz posts. Baz, also known as ThatDamnAussie from Twitter, has happily made three decks for me to play that are all, in their own way, terrible, but are also very interesting to play. I'm happy that he's been very creative in the theme rather than 40 5-7 drops and 20 lands and calling it a 'bad' deck.

The first deck, as featured in the previous post, is U/R Trap Control, or as Baz calls it:

IT'S A TRAP!

A “Bad Deck Baz” Deck

9 Island

11 Mountain

4 Scalding Tarn

3 Goblin Artillery

3 Reckless Scholar

3 Runeflare Trap

2 Lethargy Trap

2 Mindbreak Trap

4 Lavaball Trap

2 Whiplash Trap

4 Inferno Trap

4 Trapmaker's Snare

2 Trapfinder's Trick

3 Burning Inquiry

2 Chandra Ablaze

2 Quest for Ancient Secrets

Sideboard 

4 Lightning Bolt

2 Jace Beleren

3 Font of Mythos

2 Pyromancer Ascension

1 Runeflare Trap

1 Burning Inquiry

1 Chandra Ablaze

1 Mindbreak Trap

This deck has a lot of cool interactions, and yet still manages to be outmatched. As I was quick to find out, Chandra or Runeflare Trap was my only hope of ever winning.

EVER.

Round 1: IT'S A TRAP for Boros Bushwhacker!

He curves out fast, Goblin Guide, 2 Geopedes and a Skyfisher. To match this armada, I have a Goblin Artillery, which is a bit like shooting yourself in the foot so someone else doesn't do it for you. I quickly fall to 7 life, then to 1. His creatures overwhelm me, though it's worth saying if I had another mana I could have played Lethargy Trap to live another turn.

Game 2 I Bolt his Steppe Lynx and drop an Artillery to match his Skyfisher. I kill 3 guys of his in one turn, blocking a Vanguard, shooting another, and Inferno Trapping the third (which he Paths to find a land). He drops some more guys, and I shoot them. He Paths my Artillery and starts pinging me with a Geopede. I hold on a bit longer, but he burns me out.

0-1

Round 2: IT'S A TRAP for Sigil of the Empty Throne.dec!

He drops Sunspring Expedition and Ardent Plea into Trace of Abundance. He gets a Sigil of the Empty Throne, I get Reckless Scholar. Numerous 4/4 angels beat a lone 2/1 looter. Who knew?

Game 2 he drops a Luminarch Ascension. I am literally unable to apply pressure, and am slaughtered in 4 minutes according to the time logs.

0-2

Round 3: IT'S A TRAP for Conley's Land Destruction!

Game 1 he plays a Turn 2 Lotus Cobra. I know this will not end well. He gains approximately seventeen thousand lands next turn, and kicks a Mold Shambler. Fortunately it's his third spell of the turn, so I tutor up a Mindbreak Trap to stop it. I get stuck on 3 land. He drops an Acidic Slime. I ask if he has any more LD, he reveals a second Mold Shambler, and I scoop it up.

Game 2 is a lot better.  He drops double Khalni Heart to my nothing. His Ruinblasters do very little against my all-basic-and-fetch deck. He drops Lotus Cobra. I try to bolt it, and he sacrifices his Khalni Hearts. Four hours later, my Bolt resolves to kill his Cobra after he gets about five lands. He drops an Acidic Slime, and I Mindbreak Trap an Ob Nixilis. I use Inferno Traps and trades to take out his guys, and Snare into a Mindbreak Trap to take a Rampaging Baloths.

We have a back and forth until I run out of counters and removal. He then Violent Ultimatums me to 4 lands, then again next turn to 1 land. Yeah, that'll do it.

0-3

Round 4: IT'S A TRAP for Grixis Control!

The first game went by fast. He dropped a Turn 3 Blightning, Turn 4 Blightning, and Turn 6 Sphinx of Jwar Isle, a creature to which I literally have no answer except for double Lavaball Trap. (Yeah.) I do a pathetic attempt at racing, but the Sphinx crushes me.

Game 2 he gets Sedraxis Specter and Blightning. I scoop my brains back in and start to fight back. I drop the key to this whole match: Chandra. Unlike Jund or other Pulse-endowed decks, Grixis Control has no way to kill a planeswalker outside of combat damage.  I make us both draw two, and he Bolts Chandra.

What was that I said earlier? I meant to say "Except for Lightning Bolt."

I do a killer Inquiry, discarding two lands and Whiplash Trap to his tri-land, Terminate, and Sphinx (yes!). He gets double unearth on Specters, I tutor up a Lethargy Trap and use it. I drop another Chandra to draw 3. I bolt his counterattacking Specter, and Inferno Trap when he unearths the Specter. He drops Vampire Nighthawk and I tutor for a trap to kill it with. I then drop Jace, empty my hand, draw three with Chandra, and draw with Jace.

I love planeswalkers.

He uses Blightning to take down Chandra. I start powering Jace up, noticing he only has about 25 cards in his deck by now. If I can mill him that's gg. I want to steal one game with this deck. He uses Magma Phoenix to drop Jace to 5. I'm forced to kill it, and Jace goes to 4. Sedraxis Specter drops him to 2, but all the card-draw has worked in a different way. I drop him from 16 to 9 with Runeflare Trap at EOT, then Reckless Scholar attacks, then Runeflare Trap him again for the win. Random!

Game 3 he gets Blightning, I get Reckless Scholar. The Scholar, like the Looter, actually just wins games if left unchecked: which people always do. Turn 6 he plays Sphinx of Jwar Isle. Remember him? That card I have no answer to? I changed my mind. I have one answer. RACE HIM. I declare in the chat that I will race that 5/5 flier and win.

I then drop Chandra Ablaze. Game on. 

I get her to 6 counters to drop my opponent to 16. He hits me to 11 and drops a Nighthawk. I draw a card with the Scholar and EOT Bolt it. He uses Double Negative. I Snare for an Inferno Trap and use that to kill it in my turn. And by 'use it to kill it' I mean that I pitch it to Chandra for an identical effect. (7 counters). He drops Chandra to 2 counters with the Sphinx. I drop a Jace, drawing a card which I then pitch to take him down to 12 life.

He slaughters Jace with a single blow. I then pitch another card to Chandra. I'm looting all this time, which is the only reason I keep drawing red cards. He's on 8 life. He then makes a big misplay, by knocking me down to 6 and not killing Chandra. I guess he fears a lot of burn.

I then think for a moment. The card in my hand is Lightning Bolt. There's no point looting since it's the best card in my deck to hold at that moment. So instead, I throw it at his face and then go down to 2 with Chandra to draw three. I draw a Lightning Bolt and Inferno Trap. Oh yeah.

He then swings me to 1, and then plays Nighthawk and Magma Phoenix. Ladies and gentlemen, if you're ever in the position of having lethal damage next turn regardless of whether or not you kill a planeswalker this turn, kill it. Else you might just lose to a Baz deck :p

I drop him to 2 with bolt, untap, and pitch the Inferno Trap. GOOD. GAME.

1-3.

And that's IT'S A TRAP! in all it's glory. Join me next time as we preview Blisters on Your Fingers and try to get a certain Merfolk up to godly sizes.

See you!

Bad Deck Baz Presents...

Hi everyone. Jay here. Due to my very limited Internet time this weekend, I have asked ThatDamnAussie, a.k.a Baz to write a guest post about the three "bad decks" that he designed for my upcoming article series. I'll be playing each of these in a seperate post.


Now, without further ado, here's Baz to introduce the decks. Enjoy.


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G'day everyone, I am Baz, I'm also ThatDamnAussie on Twitter, BazD on MTGO and I guess now I'm also known as Bad Deck Baz. Jay put out a challenge on Twitter and as always I usually take his challenges and turn it up to eleven. I created a large number of Achievements that Jay used in a post around the time Zendikar came out.

Ironically, I'm a “limited” sort of player and I rarely delve into the realm of Constructed, unless I have an idea that makes me laugh. Thankfully, Jay provided me with all the inspiration I needed.

The Challenge:

Build a “bad deck” for Standard, and win games/matches with it.

Now, I took the phrase “bad deck” a little more literally than I believe Jay wanted me to, I actually built decks, that feature bad cards. As you'll see in these 3 decklists, sometimes a combo of bad cards can lead into something good. Although, I mostly just wanted Jay to suffer a whole lot.

First up, I'll introduce each deck Jay will be playing in his upcoming mini-series and I'll talk about some of the interactions I built into the deck and how I went about coming up with each of the deck ideas. Some are more interesting than others. I should inform you all that each deck was designed in a vacuum. None of these decks have been constructed purely for metagame reasons. Each one was built because they made me laugh.

IT'S A TRAP!

A “Bad Deck Baz” Deck

9 Island

11 Mountain

4 Scalding Tarn

3 Goblin Artillery

3 Reckless Scholar

3 Runeflare Trap

2 Lethargy Trap

2 Mindbreak Trap

4 Lavaball Trap

2 Whiplash Trap

4 Inferno Trap

4 Trapmaker's Snare

2 Trapfinder's Trick

3 Burning Inquiry

2 Chandra Ablaze

2 Quest for Ancient Secrets

Sideboard

4 Lightning Bolt

2 Jace Beleren

3 Font of Mythos

2 Pyromancer Ascension

1 Runeflare Trap

1 Burning Inquiry

1 Chandra Ablaze

1 Mindbreak Trap

IT'S A TRAP! is a very simple concept, a Blue/Red trap based

control deck. I was posting on Twitter about decking someone with Archive Trap and that made the AdmiralAckbar_ bot post “IT'S A TRAP!” This gave me the funny concept of a Trap based deck, especially in Standard. Jay's request for bad decks gave me the actual drive to build it.

Funny Interactions:

Inferno Trap doesn't care who owns the creatures that deal you damage. So you can Goblin Artillery yourself to complete half the requirements for a cheap Inferno Trap, it won't be a very efficient way to burn them out, but it's still worth a giggle for me. (Aside: most of the things I do are all about getting giggles).

Burning Inquiry makes your opponent draw 3 cards. Runeflare Trap gets cheaper if they've drawn 3 or more cards in a turn. I don't think I really need to spend lots of time explaining that interaction. I just think it's funny that it's in Standard.

Trapfinder's Trick with Chandra. Hey if you can't get those Traps out of your hand any other way, there's always forcing yourself to discard with Chandra. If you've got no traps, you can always use it as a 2 mana peek. Which I think is plenty bad enough.

Chandra on her own is still pretty hilarious in this deck. I mean seriously, you're firing out Runeflare Traps, Lavaball Traps, Inferno Traps (which targets things that get killed by the Lavaball Traps anyway). Not to mention you're casting an absolute truckload of Burning Inquiries, so not only are they drawing a load of cards, they probably won't have any lands left to cast them all with.

Other card choices:

Mindbreak Trap, Whiplash Trap, Lethargy Trap are all part of your Trapfinder's Snare tutor package.
Reckless Scholar in multiples is another way to force Runeflare Trap's trap cost. It's also a blocker.

With the sheer amount of graveyard action going on in this deck, being able to reload your deck while your opponent's graveyard is still filling up, adds a second “mill” win condition to the deck.

(Aside: I just realised the guts of this deck would make for a great Cerebral Vortex deck in Extended. Would probably improve it a whole lot.)

Sideboard Choices:

(Now, the sideboard doesn't have to constrain to the “bad deck” principle, which allows me to run some good cards.)

Lightning Bolt, Jace Beleren – I have to allow Jay some good cards don't I?

Font of Mythos – Hey, it turns on Runeflare Trap every one of your opponent's turn doesn't it?

Pyromancer Ascension – What the hell, it will randomly turn on some matches, not to mention its funny as hell to be Forking cards like Burning Inquiry.

The remaining cards are singletons just to fill up the numbers for certain matches while taking out useless cards.

Blisters on your Fingers

A “Bad Deck Baz” Deck

14 Island

2 Swamp

4 Jwar Isle Refuge

4 Drowned Catacomb

4 Alluring Siren

4 Wall of Frost

4 Sphinx Ambassador

4 Cosi's Trickster

4 Gomazoa

2 Quest for Ancient Secrets

3 Sadistic Sacrament

4 Telemin Performance

4 Polymorph

3 Haunting Echoes

Sideboard

1 Platinum Angel

3 Marsh Casualties

4 Kathari Remnant

3 Deny Reality

4 Flashfreeze

I don't think I really need to explain the key concept of the deck, beyond it's not as fun on Magic Online as it is in person. Forcing your opponent to just keep on shuffling their deck while your Cosi's Trickster just keeps getting bigger.

Key interactions:

Alluring Siren gets an absolute workout in this deck. Forcing them to attack into Wall of Frost or Gomazoa. Gomazoa is the preferred choice since that makes them shuffle up for the Trickster.

Sadistic Sacrament with Polymorph and Telemin Performance. Remove either the good stuff for when you Polymorph them, or remove the bad stuff for when you Telemin Performance them. Of course you can do the extreme route and kick Sadistic and remove every creature then you have a Blue “Doom Blade” or “Deck them” spell.

Quest for Ancient Secrets: Hey, can't complain with a jump through hoops card just to put a counter on Cosi's Trickster. Not to mention I'm a sucker for freaking out people who play a turn 1 Hedron Crab.

Sphinx Ambassador is a hilarious finisher. Sadistic lets you rummage through their deck to take notes on every creature in their deck so you always can think of the perfect card to name with the Ambassador ability.

The Sideboard isn't really worth mentioning.

It's a Wonderful Life!

A “Bad Deck Baz” Deck

10 Plains

2 Forest

4 Sunpetal Grove

4 Kabira Crossroads

4 Graypelt Refuge

4 Battlegrace Angel

4 Mycoid Shepherd

4 Grazing Gladehart

2 Sunseed Nurturer

2 Mesa Enchantress

2 Lifelink

1 Landbind Ritual

3 Sylvan Bounty

3 Cradle of Vitality

4 Soul's Grace

2 Celestial Mantle

2 Sunspring Expedition

3 Angel's Mercy

Sideboard

3 Felidar Sovereign

3 Wall of Reverence

2 Captured Sunlight

4 Solemn Offering

3 Ajani Goldmane

So some people complain I don't commit to an idea strongly enough. I'll have an idea that eventually I'll spin off in another direction and the original concept gets diluted. I took an original idea that made me laugh, and then made it. Not to mention I actually strained the concept. Besides the lands, only 2 cards in the deck and sideboard don't actually gain life.

The original concept: “Cradle of Vitality deck, with Felidar Sovereign in the sideboard” I had a chuckle when I thought of it. Probably doesn't seem as funny now that I've explained but people tell me I have a strange sense of humour.

As far as my Bad Deck Baz decks go, this one is probably the most linear and doesn't actually have any sort of strange, deep interactions like my other decks. It mostly just sits there and gains life while Cradle of Vitality is in play. I try and get the most bang for my buck so cards like Sunspring Expedition get featured (although now that Worlds is on, Sunspring Expedition isn't actually a bad card anymore) as a way to put 8 +1/+1 counters on a useless dude for 2 mana.

So there you have it, 3 bad decks to torture Jay with. I'm providing you, the audience, with your revenge on Jay for not keeping up to date with posts.

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I guess I sort of deserved that last quip.

See you next time!