What if: Magic Had A Sixth Color?

I can't make any non-standard mana symbols on Magic Set Editor, so I've done the best I could with the tools available. Just imagine it as purple.

Welcome back to Magic Academy 2.0! I am your host, Salivanth, and today we're going to be concluding the series on color by talking about the last color, Purple. You can find the link to the white portion of the series here, the blue portion here, the black portion here, the red portion here, and the green portion here. 


From the Magic 2010 excerpt:

Purple is the color of exile. Many of it's mechanics relate to exile, and it is the only color than can bring cards back from exile that weren't sent there for a particular purpose, such as Oblivion Ring. Purple can deal with any type of permanent, but it's usually only temporary, or it's quite expensive.Purple goes well with white, because white exiles cards. Purple is also the master of time, able to skip phases and even turns. Since Time Spiral, it has exclusively had the Suspend mechanic, which exiles a card for a certain number of turns before it can come into play. Purple is a clever and powerful color. It's allies are white and blue. It's enemies are black, green and red.

Purple's race in M10 is the Tempalken, offshoots of the Vedalken who were sent out for their experiments with time, which the vedalken believed was not to be tampered with, for fear of the consequences.


Purple has a lot of ways to use exile for their own gains. The most simple one is exiling cards, but other colors can do that. Purple also has the ability to give up time later in order to play a cheaper spell. Example:



Okay: but we want ways to USE exile. What's UNIQUE to Purple? This.




Then there's the pumped up version:



Purple is also a control color. Here's a card that makes waves in Standard as a piece in the popular MirrorStag combo deck:



The combo focuses on exiling a Mirror of Fate (which it does by self-milling along with graveyard exiling) and playing a Stagnation. Next turn, it plays Mirror of Fate, sacrifices it, and you get all the cards in your library except for seven lands exiled. Then you can play any card in your deck, and it's basically impossible to lose.

Purple's second main power is the power to manipulate time. Whether through sacrificing it:



such as with Temporal Bandit, a Johnny creature, or through gaining it, with the more tournament-worthy Time Warp.




Lastly, Purple has the Suspend mechanic in it's M10 arsenal. Time Spiral gave it to all the colors, but Purple got it back after that set. Here's a suspend card that can ONLY be suspended:



And that's all we have time for today. Join us next week as we delve into Strategic Attacking and Blocking.

Until next time, may time be on YOUR side.

How To Do Better At Your Next PTQ - Part 3

Hello, and welcome back to my series of How To Do Better At Your Next PTQ - Part 3. Last week we covered analysing the metagame, and this week, we'll be covering the nuts and bolts of bringing two decks to a tournament. The list which inspired this series can be found here. 


Why Two Decks?


Why would you bring two decks to a metagame? Simple: The local metagame at the PTQ you're attending is likely to be a bit different to the world's metagame. So by bringing two decks each designed to oppose certain metagames, e.g, W/U Reveillark for Anathemancer-heavy metagames and Five-Color Control for Elf Combo / Time Sieve Combo heavy metagames, you can be sure of attacking the metagame from the right angle. 


Make sure you bring decks with different weaknesses. Elf Combo and Jund seem quite different, but they're both vulnerable to the same thing: sweepers.Whereas Elf Combo and Five-Color Control on the other hand operate on totally different realms, and both require totally different sideboard plans. So you could pick one of these decks based on which one the event was less hostile towards in sideboard choices.


Testing Two Decks


Most people would advise testing two decks equally, but I think that you should become equally competent at both. Becoming competent at Elf Combo requires less matches than Five-Color Control, so if you were to run 100 matches, I'd suggest 30-40 Elf Combo matches and 60-70 Five-Color Control matches in your testing. That way you're confident with both of them, and ready no matter what deck you pick.


More complex decks require more matches to master, so take the time to learn them well.


This has been a very short post, but the concept doesn't require too many words to explain. Join me next week as I talk about doing the same anti-metagame move for your sideboard before the event.


Until next time, may you say only what needs to be said (yes I know this is a short post!)

Assassin Magic

In the average Free-For-All, people won't play threats early, because they could get ganged up on. This leads to a slow game indeed, where very little happens in the first few turns. But what if you could play threats without fear, because only one person was gunning for you? Everyone else is gunning for someone else. But you don't know who's after you...

Welcome to Assassin Magic.

I don't know if this format has already been created (probably) but I do know I came up with it myself. Here's how it works. Get a 4-6 player multiplayer game ready. Then, everyone writes down their name and puts it in a hat, or have someone shuffle them randomly. Each player draws a name, and looks at it. If anyone draws their own name, redeal. Once everyone has a hidden name, play begins.

Your objective is to beat the player whose name you drew. If they are eliminated by any means, whoever had them as a target gets 1 point, and receives the eliminated player's current target. The game ends when one player is left standing, and whoever has the most points wins.

Note: If Player A eliminates Player B, and Player B's target is Player A, ALL names are redealt randomly. If your target's on 2 life? That's part of the randomness of the game.

The idea of this format is to make aggro viable in multiplayer and to provide a fast and fun game: with a bit of bluffing. You could attack someone to make them think you're targeting them, or to make your target think that, then blindside them. Of course: you have two players to tackle: the player you're supposed to be eliminating, and the player who's supposed to be eliminated.

This also provides an element of strategy: if Player A has one point already, the rest of the table doesn't want Player A's next target to die, so they may cripple (but not kill) Player A. Of course, Player B's target is Player A, so if Player A's target is already weak and so is Player A, Player B can strike...

Potential House Rules

Last Man Standing: Award +1 to the person who is the last to survive.

Foiled: Award +1 or +0.5 to anyone who kills someone who targeted them.

Variants

Double Trouble: Each player fills in their name twice, then picks one name from a hat. This may lead to one player being targeted by two, and others by none. If a player with two targets is eliminated, add their target to the undrawn pile and each targeting player gets one point and a new target from the undrawn ones.

Two Contracts: Each player fills in their name twice, then picks two names from a hat. The two names must be different. Defeat both of your targets to win the game. If one of your targets is eliminated, you must reveal the name.

Team Assassin: Play 2v2 or 3v3 (3v3 better). Each player fills in their name, and each team picks an opposing team member. If that team member dies, your team wins the game.

Transparency: Play like normal Assassin, but all targets are revealed.

Hopefully on Saturday I get the chance to test it out, playing my R/G deck and seeing how that goes.

Until next time, may you secretly hold all the cards.

Why You Guys Were Right: Situational Cards vs. Topdeck Cards

Yesterday, I held a comments poll over what card was better: Mind Control or Sleep? The situation was Pack One, Pick One of a draft.

When the results were in, Mind Control won 3-0. All three commentors gave good reasons. Here are their comments:

AndreStompy: Mind Control. I find it's just better. That's not to discount Sleep, which is quite a good card. But I feel much more comfortable picking Mind Control knowing I'll play it, than if I were to pick Sleep and have to only be so-so in this deck.

Basically, Mind Control is only a dead draw if they don't have creatures, in which case, who cares about a dead draw?

Mtgcolorpie: Mind Control. Your bomb has now become my bomb. Sleep is more situational if you could finish them off or need to hold them off. Everyone plays creatures in limited.

Thomas David Baker: Mind Control.

I think of Mind Control in terms of card advantage. Mind Control is simultaneously a very strong removal spell and a bomb/strong creature in one card. A really good 2-for-1. The only situation where it isn't brilliant is at less than five mana, or where you are winning anyway. In which case you now have insurance against that changing.

Sleep can win you the game, no doubt, even steal it. But it is much more situational. Mind Control is the better top deck.

The one mana difference in casting cost is not significant as you won't be casting Sleep immediately after making your fourth land drop anyway.

Thanks for all your comments, guys. All of you are correct. Let's look at the points raised here:

• Mind Control is better than Sleep
• Mind Control goes into a wider variety of decks
• Mind Control performs at full power in every blue deck
• Mind Control can take their bomb
• Mind Control is card advantage: A Terminate and a bomb in one card (Great way of looking at it!)
• Sleep is more situational. Mind Control is a better topdeck.
• The one mana doesn't matter since you don't want to play Sleep Turn 4.

These are excellent points, including some that I didn't consider in my own assessment. For the record: here's my assessment:

Mind Control. Mind Control can perform a wider variety of roles than Sleep can. Sleep breaks a creature stall, and that's all it does. Stealing your opponent's best guy will 90% of the time break a creature stall. So for one more mana, you get something that does everything Sleep does, and far, far more.

The main argument I want to showcase is:

• Sleep is more situational. Mind Control is a better topdeck card.

Thank you Thomas David Baker. You have made the exact point this article was to open with: if you could topdeck a bomb it would almost always be Mind Control, because in 99% of situations, it's more useful. However, Mind Control is a better card than Sleep in general, so let's look at some more closely matched cards.

If these cards were in the same set, available in a draft for an R/G deck, which would you pick? Personally, I would pick the Rannet, because it's more useful in some situations: like when you have 2-4 mana, for example. Ridge Rannet is almost never a totally dead draw.

The main reason Mind Control is better than Sleep is because it is almost always the better topdeck. As previously indicated, Sleep is only good in one situation, Mind Control is good in a multitude.

Until next time, may your first-pick be a bomb whenever you draw it.

P.S: Damn you guys are awesome. Seriously, I love my readership. You are all smart, totally brilliant people and I hope you keep making insightful comments for years to come. This is why I blog (that and I have too much Magic enthusiasm to keep it bottled up!) Great job, guys!

Draft Question

You're playing in an M10 draft. You open your first pack and see Mind Control and Sleep. They're far and away the best cards in the pack. What do you pick?

Leave your answer in the comments!

Catching Up On Magic - Part 6

This will be the final article in the series. The entire article will be republished into one for linking purposes, and then this series will end.

It's time for the last post of this series: the metagame. I could write a large amount about the metagame, but I'm just going to give you the bare bones. I'll actually be writing a bigger post about the metagame in the next few days that caters to the PTQ players.

The main decks in the metagame are:

Major:

Five-Color Control

Jund

Faeries

Minor:

Jund Mannequin

Elf Combo

Time Sieve Combo

Kithkin

Doran Rock

Merfolk

Man that's a lot of decks. Let's do this:

Five-Color Control

Decklist from USA Nationals, 1st place, by Charles Gindy

Creatures
3 Broodmate Dragon
3 Mulldrifter
3 Plumeveil

Instants
3 Broken Ambitions
4 Cryptic Command
4 Esper Charm
1 Essence Scatter
2 Negate
4 Volcanic Fallout

Planeswalkers
2 Ajani Vengeant

Sorceries
3 Cruel Ultimatum
2 Hallowed Burial

Basic Lands
3 Island

Lands
2 Cascade Bluffs
1 Exotic Orchard
2 Mystic Gate
4 Reflecting Pool
3 Sunken Ruins
2 Vivid Crag
4 Vivid Creek
3 Vivid Marsh
2 Vivid Meadow

Sideboard:
4 Great Sable Stag
2 Runed Halo
1 Essence Scatter
1 Negate
2 Jace Beleren
2 Firespout
1 Hallowed Burial
2 Identity Crisis

Five-Color Control's strength lies in it's ability to play all the best control cards in Standard in one deck. It starts off slow, then uses overwhelming card advantage and card quality to beat you down until it plays Broodmate Dragon, Baneslayer Angel, or Cruel Ultimatum, and then proceeds to win.

How to beat it: Anathemancer is always an excellent choice. If you're not in the colors or need another weapon, Glen Elendra Archmage is a good choice too. Great Sable Stag helps, but won't really win on his own with Lightning Bolt, Firespout and Hallowed Burial providing an answer.

How to play it: Try not to tap out on your opponent's turn unless what you play is far more devastating than anything they can come up with (Broodmate, Baneslayer, Cruel). Use your counterspells only on things you will find hard to deal with if they hit.

Jund

Decklist from Uruguay Nationals, 3rd place, by Rafael Peralta

Maindeck:

Creatures
4 Bloodbraid Elf
4 Boggart Ram-gang
2 Chameleon Colossus
2 Kitchen Finks
4 Putrid Leech
4 Wren's Run Vanquisher

Instants
2 Bituminous Blast
3 Jund Charm
4 Lightning Bolt
1 Volcanic Fallout

Sorceries
3 Maelstrom Pulse

Tribal Instants
3 Nameless Inversion

Basic Lands
5 Forest
2 Mountain

Lands
3 Auntie's Hovel
2 Fire-lit Thicket
4 Gilt-leaf Palace
1 Graven Cairns
1 Rootbound Crag
4 Savage Lands
1 Vivid Grove
1 Vivid Marsh

Sideboard:
3 Anathemancer
2 Kitchen Finks
2 Chaotic Backlash
2 Volcanic Fallout
4 Deathmark
2 Thought Hemorrhage

While I personally disagree with some of his card choices, he's got the invite to Worlds and I don't, so there ya go. The deck focuses on Cascade and powerful aggro creatures to create a rare deck: an aggressive deck with card advantage.

How to beat it: Anathemancer is effective, as is Burrenton Forge-Tender to stop most of their removal. Ethersworn Canonist or Double Negative is good if you're getting beat up by Cascade, and you can outlast them if you're a deck like Five-Color.

How to play it: Play aggressively, but sandbag a Bloodbraid Elf against a control deck. Against Elf Combo or Kithkin, use your sweepers well. Cascade is your friend, and use Lightning Bolt and Maelstrom Pulse aggressively.

Faeries

Decklist from Brazil Nationals, 1st place, by Paulo Vitor Damo de Rosa

Creatures
4 Mistbind Clique
4 Scion Of Oona
2 Sower Of Temptation
4 Spellstutter Sprite

Instants
4 Agony Warp
3 Broken Ambitions
4 Cryptic Command
1 Essence Scatter

Legendary Creatures
2 Vendilion Clique

Sorceries
2 Thoughtseize

Tribal Enchantments
4 Bitterblossom

Basic Lands
6 Island
2 Swamp

Lands
4 Drowned Catacomb
2 Gargoyle Castle
4 Mutavault
4 Secluded Glen
4 Sunken Ruins

Sideboard:
3 Puppeteer Clique
2 Sower Of Temptation
1 Vendilion Clique
2 Deathmark
3 Infest
2 Thoughtseize
2 Warren Weirding

Faeries is an aggro-control deck that uses it's creatures to control the board, by countering spells with Spellstutter Sprite, stealing your turn with Mistbind Clique, and disrupting you with Vendilion Clique. Bitterblossom provides incremental card advantage.

How to beat it: Great Sable Stag is the KING against Faeries here. It totally stops them cold, and all they can do is race or play a sideboarded Warren Weirding (very clunky). Against U/B/R Faeries, Anathemancer is good, and Great Sable Stag is still almost as powerful.

How to play it: Save your cards til the right moments: Sprites to counter spells, Scions to counter removal or as combat tricks, Mistbind Clique on their upkeep, etc. Bitterblossom is good to play as early as possible. Don't be afraid to turn aggressive and race.

Elf Combo

Decklist from Russian Nationals, 1st place, by Andrey Kochurov.

Creatures
1 Burrenton Forge-tender
1 Cloudthresher
4 Devoted Druid
4 Elvish Archdruid
4 Elvish Visionary
4 Heritage Druid
4 Llanowar Elves
1 Mirror Entity
4 Nettle Sentinel
1 Noble Hierarch
1 Oversoul Of Dusk
4 Ranger Of Eos
3 Regal Force

Sorceries
1 Overrun
4 Primal Command

Basic Lands
8 Forest

Lands
3 Mosswort Bridge
4 Sunpetal Grove
4 Wooded Bastion

Sideboard:
3 Burrenton Forge-tender
3 Great Sable Stag
2 Oversoul Of Dusk
1 Qasali Pridemage
3 Guttural Response
3 Path To Exile

Elf Combo uses Heritage Druid, Nettle Sentinel and Elvish Archdruid to get lots of mana, Elvish Visionary and Ranger of Eos to assemble a critical number of Elves, and Regal Force / Mirror Entity as finishers to win the game with.

How to beat it: Lots of sweepers and Wrath effects. Tapping all their creatures with Cryptic Command can also buy you time.

How to play it: Don't be afraid to overextend unless you have a combo + Ranger of Eos. If you don't win fast, you won't win at all. Use your big creatures to win the game.

Jund Mannequin

Decklist from USA Nationals, 4th place, by Brad Nelson.

Creatures
4 Bloodbraid Elf
3 Caldera Hellion
2 Cloudthresher
4 Kitchen Finks
4 Mulldrifter
4 Putrid Leech
4 Shriekmaw

Instants
4 Makeshift Mannequin
4 Volcanic Fallout

Sorceries
3 Maelstrom Pulse

Basic Lands
2 Forest
2 Mountain
1 Swamp

Lands
3 Fire-lit Thicket
4 Reflecting Pool
3 Twilight Mire
3 Vivid Crag
4 Vivid Grove
2 Vivid Marsh

Sideboard:
4 Anathemancer
1 Cloudthresher
4 Great Sable Stag
3 Deathmark
3 Thought Hemorrhage

Jund Mannequin uses a combination of aggressiveness and comes-into-play creatures (reanimated) to win the game. It's an aggro control deck that hinders the opponent while building it's own attacking force.

How to beat it: Removing their graveyard with Jund Charm helps, and it's also vulnerable to Burrenton Forge-Tender and Anathemancer like conventional Jund decks.

How to play it: Feel free to evoke Shriekmaw and Mulldrifter early to bring them back with Makeshift Mannequin. Caldera Hellion is a good controlling card, and your other cards are used for attacking the opponent. Your deck can switch roles between aggro and control repeatedly during a game: use it.

Time Sieve Combo

Decklist from Finland Nationals, 1st place, by Mikko Airaksinen.

Artifacts
4 Elsewhere Flask
4 Fieldmist Borderpost
1 Font Of Mythos
4 Howling Mine
3 Kaleidostone
4 Mistvein Borderpost
4 Time Sieve

Instants
4 Cryptic Command
4 Pollen Lullaby

Planeswalkers
2 Jace Beleren
2 Tezzeret The Seeker

Sorceries
4 Open The Vaults
4 Time Warp

Basic Lands
7 Island
3 Plains
3 Swamp

Lands
3 Mystic Gate

Sideboard:
4 Ethersworn Canonist
3 Angelsong
4 Flashfreeze
4 Path To Exile

This deck focuses on playing artifacts to draw cards and get mana, then use Time Sieve, Time Warp, and Open The Vaults to take infinite turns while drawing lots of cards with Howling Mine. It wins with Tezzeret's ultimate ability.

How to beat it: Counter their Open the Vaults, or be fast enough to kill them first. Maelstrom Pulse on Borderposts is a good idea.

How to play it: Don't be afraid to play Borderposts at full price. Top priority is Howling Mine, then 'draw a card' artifacts, then mana artifacts. Once you hit 5-6 mana, start Time Warping, Sieving, and vault opening until you win.

Kithkin

Decklist from Finland Nationals, 3rd place, by Antti Malin.

Creatures
4 Cloudgoat Ranger
4 Figure Of Destiny
4 Goldmeadow Stalwart
4 Knight Of Meadowgrain
4 Wizened Cenn

Enchantments
4 Honor Of The Pure

Instants
2 Harm's Way
2 Path To Exile

Planeswalkers
3 Ajani Goldmane

Sorceries
4 Spectral Procession

Basic Lands
18 Plains

Lands
1 Mutavault
2 Rustic Clachan
4 Windbrisk Heights

Sideboard:
4 Ethersworn Canonist
4 Burrenton Forge-tender
2 Stillmoon Cavalier
1 Harm's Way
1 Mirrorweave
1 Path To Exile
1 Elspeth, Knight-errant
1 Hallowed Burial

Kithkin focuses on playing lots of threats, then pumping them up to win quickly. It's surprisingly resilient, as a Cloudgoat Ranger or Spectral Procession can provide an immediate threat, especially with a pump spell on the battlefield.

How to beat it: Sweepers and Wrath effects, as well as anti-white cards like Stillmoon Cavalier and Deathmark work well. Chaotic Backlash can often deal a lot of damage to them if they don't have Burrenton Forge-Tender.

How to play it: It's an aggro deck: simple to play. Play cards, make them big with Ajani and Honor of the Pure, and bash them to death. Keeping back a Cloudgoat Ranger isn't a bad idea though.

Doran Rock

Decklist from Hungary Nationals, 2nd place, by Gabor Kocsis.

Artifacts
1 Behemoth Sledge

Creatures
3 Chameleon Colossus
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Putrid Leech
4 Treefolk Harbinger
4 Wilt-leaf Liege
4 Wren's Run Vanquisher

Instants
2 Path To Exile

Legendary Creatures
4 Doran, The Siege Tower

Sorceries
3 Maelstrom Pulse
3 Profane Command

Tribal Instants
2 Nameless Inversion

Basic Lands
3 Forest
1 Plains
1 Swamp

Lands
4 Gilt-leaf Palace
4 Murmuring Bosk
2 Reflecting Pool
3 Sunpetal Grove
4 Twilight Mire

Sideboard:
3 Ethersworn Canonist
4 Great Sable Stag
3 Infest
1 Maelstrom Pulse
4 Thoughtseize

Doran Rock uses powerful creatures and removal to make a very strong midrange deck. It's card quality is difficult to beat.

How to beat it: Anathemancer (do you see now why I play it maindeck?) is good, as is Deathmark and Hallowed Burial, though 2-3 damage sweepers won't cut it against this deck's main threats.

How to play it: Remember: you're a midrange deck. Control their early game, then play your guys turns 4-6 and win before the late game comes online.

Merfolk

Decklist from Switzerland Nationals, 1st place, by Tommi Lindgren.

Creatures
4 Merfolk Sovereign
4 Merrow Reejerey
4 Silvergill Adept
4 Stonybrook Banneret
4 Wake Thrasher

Instants
4 Cryptic Command
4 Path To Exile

Legendary Creatures
2 Sygg, River Guide

Sorceries
3 Sleep

Tribal Instants
3 Sage's Dousing

Basic Lands
10 Island
2 Plains

Lands
4 Glacial Fortress
4 Mutavault
4 Wanderwine Hub

Sideboard:
4 Ethersworn Canonist
4 Burrenton Forge-tender
2 Sower Of Temptation
2 Harm's Way
2 Negate
1 Sleep

Merfolk is an aggro-control deck which plays some creatures, and then protects them with counterspells to win. It also features removal and the game-ending Sleep to force through damage and kill opposing creatures.

How to beat it: Sweepers do well, especially the uncounterable Volcanic Fallout. Racing them is often an option, as well: generally you won't face Merfolk often.

How to play it. Treat your creatures as both offensive creatures and blockers. You are an aggro-control deck: you can do both. Go aggressive when you draw Sleep, and go for the kill when necessary. Use your lords well. It's not an easy deck to describe briefly.

And there you have it! You have the sets, the mechanics, what's powerful, what's not, how to draft, what's being played and all the new additions to the game. You're now ready to build a deck and head to FNM without making a complete fool of yourself. But the next step is up to you. Your foot is in the door, but now you have to step through, by playing in events and continuing to learn. When Zendikar comes out, everyone else will be as confused as you are, and you'll be ready to play with the regulars once again.