Last Turn At Lorwyn: U/W Reveillark

With Lorwyn nearly out of the picture, I want to give a few matches to each deck that will be dead come rotation: that is: Lark, Elf Combo, Five-Color Control, Mannequin and Merfolk. Kithkin I've already played.

First off is W/U Reveillark. This is the list I used:

Lands (21)

4 Glacial Fortress
7 Island
4 Mystic Gate
6 Plains

Creatures (24)

1 Baneslayer Angel
4 Glen Elendra Archmage
4 Knight of the White Orchid
4 Meddling Mage
4 Mulldrifter
4 Reveillark
3 Sower of Temptation

Spells (15)

3 Broken Ambitions
4 Cryptic Command
4 Fieldmist Borderpost
4 Path to Exile

Sideboard (15)

2 Austere Command
2 Baneslayer Angel
3 Burrenton Forge-Tender
2 Celestial Purge
3 Ethersworn Canonist
2 Hallowed Burial
1 Sower of Temptation

I hopped on MWS to do battle.

Match 1 vs. B/G Elves

He wins the die roll. He plays a land, then I follow suit. Second turn he plays another land, and I play Meddling Mage naming Maelstrom Pulse, having only seen black and green.

He plays Farhaven Elf. I swing for 2 (20, 18), then play a Borderpost. I pass. He swings (19, 18) and plays another Farhaven Elf. I evoke a Mulldrifter and swing. (19, 16). I pass. He plays Elvish Archdruid and swings for 4. (15, 16). On my turn I play Sower of Temptation to steal the Archdruid, then swing with Meddling Mage. (15, 14) I end the turn.

He plays another Elvish Archdruid and swings. I play Path to Exile to kill the Archdruid, and then block his 1/1's with my 2/2's. Ouch. I swing for 6, (15, 8) then play Glen Elendra Archmage and pass. He draws and concedes.

Game 2 He makes the first play, a Turn 2 Wren's Run Vanquisher. I pass. He swings (17, 20) and passes. I pass, stuck on 2 land. He swings, I Path his Vanquisher. I untap, topdeck Knight of the White Orchid and play it to get my third land. I then play a Fieldmist Borderpost now that I have a basic in play, and then play the Plains again. I end my turn, and he Nameless Inversions my Knight, but the damage is done.

He plays Profane Command for 4, and then remembers Vanquisher was exiled, not put in the graveyard. Thus, his 6 mana only makes me lose 4 life. (13, 20). He passes. I topdeck a fifth land, play it, and lay Baneslayer Angel.

He passes. I swing. (18, 15) and pass. He passes, and I swing again. (23, 10). I pass again. He evokes a Shriekmaw, and I use Cryptic Command. He taps out for a Profane Command for 5! (18, 10) My Baneslayer Angel dies.

I play Knight of the White Orchid, then Mulldrifter. I pass. He plays Primal Command (18, 17) searching for Masked Admirers. I play an Archmage, and swing with my guys (18, 13). I pass. He plays Farhaven Elf and swings. (15, 13). He then plays Wren's Run Packmaster, championing Farhaven Elf. Luckily he only has 2 mana open.

I swing with everything, he blocks the Knight. That was a blunder on my part. (15, 9) After combat, I play Sower of Temptation to steal the Packmaster. He plays Scepter of Fugue, and uses it. I discard one of the three Reveillarks in my hand. He attacks with Masked Admirers, I block with the 5/5. He plays Llanowar Elves, recurring the Admirers. I untap, play Cryptic Command to tap his guys, and go all in to win.

1-0

Match 2 vs. Blightning

I win the die roll and mulligan to 6. I lay a land and go. He plays Figure of Destiny. I play a land, as does he. He attacks for 1. (19, 20). He plays Goblin Outlander and passes. I play a Plains, and then pay a full-price Borderpost. I pass.

He makes Figure a 2/2 and swings. (15, 20) I play Sower of Temptation, stealing Figure of Destiny. He plays Blightning, and I discard a Borderpost and Path to Exile, leaving a Path as the last card in my hand. (12, 20) He swings. (10, 20) I untap, pump Figure, and swing. (10, 16). I play Sower of Temptation and steal Goblin Outlander. At EOT he plays Flame Javelin on my Sower that stole Figure. I Path my Figure in response.

He untaps, draws, and plays Demigod of Revenge. He swings. (5, 16) I draw and Path his Demigod, then swing for 4. (5, 12)

He plays double Anathemancer (1, 12) and passes. I concede, since as soon as one dies, he can bring it back to win.

Game 2: The first play comes on Turn 2, as he plays a Figure of Destiny. I play my third land and pass. He plays Goblin Outlander and swings. (19, 20). He passes. I play a land, and play Meddling Mage naming Blightning. He swings with the Outlander (17, 20) then plays another Outlander and passes.

I pass. During his beginning of combat step, I use tap-draw with Cryptic Command. He plays Anathemancer (15, 20). I play Baneslayer Angel. He Terminates it, and swings. (11, 20). I trade Anathemancer with Meddling Mage.

I play Forge-Tender and pass. He swings with the Outlanders. (7, 20) and plays Blightning. I Broken it, revealing Meddling Mage. He reveals Ram-Gang. On my turn, I play Knight of the White Orchid, and Meddling Mage (naming Boggart Ram-Gang). He swings with the Outlanders (3, 20) and plays Anathemancer. (1, 20) I draw, and concede.

1-1

Match 3 vs. White Weenie

I win the die roll. He plays Honor of the Pure Turn 2. I untap, play Knight of the White Orchid, and pass. He plays Spectral Procession. Luckily, I draw into my fourth mana, which I play. I Sower one of them and swing with the Knight. (20, 18). I pass. He plays Spectral Procession and swings. I block one with the Sower and one with the Spirit, leaving him with no damage. I swing with the Knight. He blocks, and Harm's Ways me. (18, 18). I play Mulldrifter and pass. He plays Honor of the Pure and Figure of Destiny, and swings. I block a token with Mulldrifter and take 9. (9, 18). I evoke Lark, bringing back Sower and Mulldrifter. I steal a token.

He attacks. I go to 3, and he plays Spectral Procession. I concede.

Game 2 he mulligans to 5, and I'm on the play. Ouch. The first play is again his, with a Turn 2 Elite Vanguard. I play my third land and evoke Mulldrifter.

He plays Figure, and swings. (18, 20). He passes. I play Glen Elendra Archmage and pass. He swings with the Vanguard. (16, 20) then plays another Figure. I play Baneslayer Angel. He Paths it, and swings with the Vanguard. (14, 20). I Sower his Figure of Destiny. He pumps his Figure at EOT. He swings, I block, and he uses Harm's Way. I add a counter to Archmage, and it's binned. Both Figures die.

I play a Mulldrifter and swing with Sower and Archmage. (14, 17). I pass. He swings with Vanguard, I block with Mulldrifter. He goes for Harm's Way, and I sacrifice my Archmage. He passes. I evoke Reveillark and bring back Archmage and Mulldrifter. I swing with the Sower. (14, 15). He untaps, and passes.

I swing, he goes for Harm's Way. I put a counter on the Archmage (deja vu, anyone?) and he takes 4. (14, 11). I then play a fresh Archmage. He plays Ranger of Eos, searching for double Figure, and plays one. I untap, and play Meddling Mage, stranding the second one in his hand. I swing for 5 in the air (14, 4) and pass. He draws and concedes.

Game 3 he plays an Elite Vanguard. I pass. He plays a Figure, and swings. (18, 20). I play a second land and play Meddling Mage, naming Spectral Procession. I pass.

He makes his Figure a 2/2, and swings. (14, 20). I evoke a Mulldrifter. He swings. (10, 20). I play Sower of Temptation to steal Figure of Destiny, and pass. He plays Elite Vanguard and swings with the first one. I let it through. (8, 20). I untap, and play Glen Elendra Archmage. I swing with the Sower. (8, 18) I pass.

He swings with his Vanguards. I block with my guys. He uses Harm's Way. I counter it. He uses another Harm's Way, and I'm out of mana for Archmage. All my guys die, one of his Vanguards live.

I simply play a Baneslayer Angel. He plays a Vanguard and passes. I evoke Reveillark for Sower and Mulldrifter. I swing with Baneslayer, it gets Pollen Lullabied. I have control of the game, so I decide to let it through and simply wait. He plays Spectral Procession, and I sacrifice the Archmage. I untap and play a fresh one. I swing with Sower, Mulldrifter, and Vanguard. He takes 6. (8, 12). I play Meddling Mage, naming Figure of Destiny.

He plays Spectral Procession, and I put a counter on Archmage. I swing with everything. (13, 1). He draws, and concedes.

2-1

I lost the records to this match, but I beat Elementals 2-0. I remember thinking at one point how unfair it is that my 3WW creature trumped the WUBRG creature he played next turn. Horde of Notions has vigilance, trample and haste, but no first strike. The next turn, I Sowered it, and murdered him.

3-1

W/U Reveillark is powerful. I noticed that against non-red decks, there was no need to hurry. Against White Weenie, I was happy to go down to 8, because I knew I'd soon control the game.

If I was to play it over again, I'd probably take out one Reveillark for Baneslayer Angel, and a Meddling Mage for Sower of Temptation. Baneslayer Angel is just awesome, but Reveillark + Archmage, Sower and Mulldrifter is insane as well. I think 3/2 is the right ratio here.

Until next time, may you enjoy what's there before it's gone.

5 Ways To Get Ahead Before A Rotation

Greetings readers. The Zendikar rotation is happening in a month, and is certain to shake up Standard. Almost all of the current archetypes will be thrown out the window, and those that aren't will still change. Thus, it's a perfect time to write an article I've been holding onto for a while: how to get ahead of the competition before a rotation.

1. Practice with a resilient deck.

A lot of people, after a rotation, will suddenly have to audible into a brand new, unproved, untested deck. If you can pick a deck, for example Jund, or Time Sieve Combo, that will remain relatively untouched by the rotation, and become familiar with it, you'll be like a shark among the minnows as they try to master their new decks while you use the one you've been familiar with for a month.

This is the precise reason I'm using Jund: only six non-land cards in it will actually be affected by the rotation, so I should easily be able to adjust it to the new metagame and the new card pool.

2. Keep up on the spoilers.

If you want to get an edge, you want to know what gets spoiled basically immediately. To that end, I advise subscribing to @mtgsalvation on Twitter, and checking the spoiler sites regularly. Twitter is a great place to find breaking news: I've only recently started using it, but it's quite useful already.

If you know the cards before the rotation actually happens, you'll be able to formulate a deck for when it does happen, continuing in the spirit of point 1.

3. See what people are saying about it.

Just by reading this you're on the right track to achieving point 3: finding out information. What are people thinking about the rotation? To that end, I suggest visiting Starcitygames.com, mtgsalvation.com, this blog, and any other Magic sites that have strategy articles several times a week. With the rotation looming large, that's what everyone will talk about, so plug into the flow of information.

4. Be aware of what will be lost.

Be aware of what decks will become unworkable. For example, Faeries, Elf Combo and Five-Color Control become impossible, since the core of each deck has been nuked with Lorwyn's departure. Blightning may survive, Jund and Time Sieve Combo will survive.

You also need to be aware of the metagame shift. For example, if Jund and Time Sieve are likely to appear in large numbers, how should you adjust your deck / sideboard for it?

5. Be prepared to adapt on the fly.

Lastly, the time after a rotation is a time of great flux. New decks will appear and become invalid by the day, so be prepared to change decks after the format settles down after a few weeks. You never know: new decks may pop up to make Jund utterly impossible in the new metagame, and White Soldiers may pop up and seize power. Be prepared to adapt to anything.

Until next time, may you be calm in a sea of confusion.

Catching Up On Magic - Part 1

I've heard a lot of stories over the Internet about this issue, and most of them tend to pan out the same. If I mention Magic: The Gathering, a large number of people will say they used to play, and some will say they'd like to get back in the game, but there's too much to learn.

I say there isn't too much to learn: it just hasn't been written down in one comprehensive primer focused on the exclusive task of getting Magic veterans back on track. That's where I come in. This series isn't short, and it isn't simple, but it should give you all the foundation you need to build a netdeck and show up at FNM and start learning in earnest. I will cover the new Magic rules (don't worry, the core is still the same!) the sets and mechanics in Standard, the types of cards that are powerful now, the state of the metagame, staple cards that you should get a playset of, and how to draft both the current set and the core set. (Why draft the core set? You'll find out later in the series)

So grab a drink, settle in for a nice read over the next week or two, and prepare to get back up to speed on the greatest game on earth.

New rules

Firstly, a lot of old mechanics have been keyworded. Oldies like Flying, First Strike and Trample are now matched with:

Lifelink. Whenever this creature deals damage, you gain that much life.

Reach. This creature can block creatures without flying as though they had flying.

Deathtouch. Whenever this creature deals combat damage to a creature, destroy it.

Flash. You may play this creature at any time you could play an instant.

These are all existing mechanics: they've just received easy-to-use keywords.

Changes made with M10:

Mana burn is no longer existent. Mana empties after each step (so for the savvy among you, you can no longer float mana during your upkeep to your draw step) and does not cause you any damage when it does so. This almost never actually becomes relevant, but it's worth knowing anyhow.

Blockers are now ordered. If you attack with a 5/5, and your opponent blocked with a 3/3, a 1/1 and a 1/1, you stacked 3 damage on the 3/3, and 1 on each 1/1. If your opponent had a Giant Growth he saved his 3/3 and your 5/5 still died. Now things have changed slightly.

After your opponent declares blockers, you now order these blockers in whichever way you like. Essentially, it's like you're putting them in a line. Once you've done so, your opponent can play combat tricks. How is this relevant? This actually provides more depth to the game. Imagine the following scenario:

Old rules. You attack with a 5/5. He blocks with a 3/3 and two 1/1's. You assign damage, he uses Giant Growth to save his guy.

Old rules. You attack with a 5/5. You know he has a Giant Growth in his hand. He blocks with a 3/3 and two 1/1's. You assign damage, he uses Giant Growth to save his guy. It's exactly the same.

New rules. You attack with a 5/5. He blocks with a 3/3 and two 1/1's. You order them: 3/3, 1/1, 1/1. He uses Giant Growth on his 3/3. You now have a 6/6 blocking you first. You must assign lethal damage (similar to Trample, but the extra damage spills over to the next blocking creature). You assign 5. None of his creatures die, but yours does.

New rules. You attack with a 5/5. You know he has a Giant Growth in his hand. He blocks with a 3/3 and two 1/1's. You order them: 1/1, 1/1, 3/3. He uses Giant Growth, but however he uses it, his 2 1/1's will die.

On the other hand, if he has a card to give a creature +1/+1 or +2/+2, you've made the wrong choice, since his 3/3 is still alive. So it's up to you to determine what tricks he may have, and to order blockers accordingly.

Feel free to read over that section a couple more times until it sinks in. It's fairly complex.

Deathtouch does not follow this rule. A creature with Deathtouch can split it's damage however it wants. This rarely comes into play though, because how many people are stupid enough to double-block a creature with Deathtouch?

Lifelink is now a static ability, not a triggered one. What that means is, under the old rules, if your opponent attacked you with 3 2/2's, and you blocked with a 3/3 with Lifelink when on 3 life, you would take 4 damage, and die. Under the new rules, you gain 3 life and lose 4 at the same time, and you go to 2 life. You don't lose the game.

Some cosmetic changes:

In play zone = Battlefield

Removed-from-game zone = Exile

Spells are CAST, not played.

Activated abilities are ACTIVATED, not played.

Lastly, the biggest one: Damage no longer uses the stack. Once damage is dealt, there's no responding. Thus, all sacrificial effects must be completed BEFORE damage is dealt. All bounce effects: same deal. There's no more automatic 'block your 1/1, damage on the stack, sacrifice Sakura-Tribe Elder to get a land' play. Now you need to decide what's more important: his 1/1, or your land? You can only take care of one.

New sets

The current sets in Standard are: Lorwyn, Morningtide, Shadowmoor, Eventide, Shards of Alara, Conflux, Alara Reborn and Magic 2010. Lorwyn, Morningtide, Shadowmoor and Eventide will all rotate out at the end of September.

Lorwyn is a tribal set, featuring the following tribes:

Faeries. Blue-black controllish creatures with Flash.

Giants. Red-white big creatures that start their costs at 4.

Goblins. Red-black sacrificial creatures. Aggressive and self-sacrificing to gain a benefit.

Kithkin. White with a tiny amount of green. The white weenie tribe. Small, efficient creatures that use tribal synergies to become more powerful.

Treefolk. Green with some white and some black. Mainly defensive, low-power high-toughness creatures.

Elementals. Red, with some cards in all the colors. Many have spell-like effects when they come into play.

Merfolk. White and blue controllish creatures with evasion and some milling capacity.

Elves. Black and green creatures: elves with actual removal! Also some discard.

Lorwyn has the following mechanics:

Tribal. Evoke. Clash. Champion. Hideaway. Changeling.

Tribal: Some non-land cards now have creature types. Confused? I would think so. Here's how it works:

Take Eyeblight's Ending.

------------------------------------------

Eyeblight's Ending

2B

Tribal Instant - Elf

Destroy target non-Elf creature.

---------------------------------------------

Now let's take the card Lys Alana Huntmaster.

------------------------------------------------

Lys Alana Huntmaster.

2GG

Creature - Elf Warrior

3/3

Whenever you play an Elf spell, you may put a 1/1 Elf creature token into play.

---------------------------------------------------

Lys Alana Huntmaster will trigger off every Elf spell you play: including enchantments, sorceries or instants with the Elf subtype. An Elf enchantment will count towards any card that counts the number of Elves in play, and can be championed.

Champion: Some cards in Lorwyn have the Champion mechanic, where you remove a card of the chosen creature type from the game in order to play a particularly powerful card. When the card leaves play, the creature that was Championed returns. A couple of fiddly rules about Champion:

Champion does not target. By the time you select which card to remove from the game, it's too late for it to be killed or bounced or anything: the ability is already resolving. The only way to stop Champion is to kill every eligible target before the ability resolves. This also means you can Champion a card with shroud.

You can kill the creature in response to the Champion trigger. This will prevent the champion from occurring.

Evoke: Some elementals have a comes-into-play effect, and also have an Evoke cost. An evoked Elemental is sacrificed once it comes into play. So why would you evoke it? The evoke cost is cheaper than the regular creature. Example:

Mulldrifter

4U

Creature - Elemental

When Mulldrifter comes into play, draw two cards.

Evoke 2U.

So if you don't have or don't want to spend 5 mana but still need two cards, you can evoke it. It will come into play, it's ability will resolve, you draw two cards, then it dies. Nothing fancy. Note: Evoking is a cost replacement. Therefore an evoked card can be countered.

Hideaway: This mechanic only appears on five lands, one of each color. When the land comes into play, it comes into play tapped. You look at the top four cards of your library, pick one, and put it beneath the land. When the condition is met, you may pay 1 mana of the appropriate color and tap the hideaway land to play the spell for free. This is used a fair amount in competitive decks, too.

Changeling: A creature with changeling is all creature types at all times. That means it is affected by all Tribal abilities, and is every creature type in Magic. There are many ways to use this ability, but the ability itself is simple.

Morningtide is also a tribal set, but based on class rather than race. The main races are:

White = Soldiers

Blue = Wizards

Black = Rogues

Red = Shamans

Green = Warriors

Morningtide has the following mechanics:

Reinforce, Prowl, Kinship

Reinforce X is an ability that appears on several cards. You pay the cost (which varies) and discard the card from your hand, and can put X +1/+1 counters on a creature at instant speed, with X being the Reinforce number, e.g Reinforce 2.

Prowl only appears on Rogue cards. When you deal damage with a Rogue (which is easy, as they are cheap, aggressive, and evasive) you can pay a lesser cost to play the card, often with an extra effect as well. This makes playing Rogues very cheap if you can keep hitting the opponent.

Kinship appears on several uncommons and rares. During your upkeep, you look at the top card of your library. If it shares a type with the creature with Kinship, you can reveal it, and an effect will occur, the effect varying on the card, anything from milling the opponent to playing the card for free!

Shadowmoor is a hybrid set. Hybrid mana can be paid using one mana of either color: e.g R/G can be paid for with one R, or one G. The tribes also shift colors:

Goblins: Red-Black -> Red-Green

Giants: Red-White-> Red-Green

Kithkin: Green-White-> White-Blue

Merfolk: White-Blue-> Blue-Black

Elves: Green-Black-> Green-White

Treefolk: Green-Black-White-> Green-White

Elementals: Five-Color-> Red-Black

Faeries: Blue-Black-> Blue-Black

Faeries are the only color that don't change. Shadowmoor has no tribal effects, but it does possess the creature types, so your Lorwyn / Morningtide decks can have more Kithkin / Elves / Goblins etc. in them.

The Shadowmoor mechanics are: Wither, Persist, Hybrid, Conspire and Untap.

Wither is a simple ability: it deals damage to creatures in the form of -1/-1 counters. If the damage is prevented or redirected, so will the -1/-1 counters follow suit. However it does have interactions, such as stopping Persist.

Persist: If a creature with Persist dies without a -1/-1 counter on it, it comes back with a -1/-1 counter on it. So barring things like exiling it, or killing it with Wither, it's going to come back twice. This is a powerful Constructed mechanic, since it's automatic card advantage (usually).

Hybrid: Hybrid's already been explained. About half of all Shadowmoor cards are hybrid.

Conspire: When you tap two creatures that share a color with a spell with Conspire (fairly easy, considering the hybrid spells and creatures out there) you get to copy the spell. Note: this only works once. You can't copy the copy.

Untap: When you activate an Untap ability, you pay a certain amount of mana and untap your creature. The effect then happens. Note: the untap ability is a cost. If your creature is untapped, you cannot pay the cost, and therefore cannot activate the ability. So your creature has to be tapped in order to use the effect. Luckily there are lots of ways to tap things in Magic!

Eventide is the enemy-color hybrid set. It basically continues with many of the cycles in Shadowmoor.

The Eventide mechanics are:

Retrace: After this spell is put in the graveyard, usually by being played, you can essentially turn any land in your hand into that spell. Unlike some mechanics, this one can be done again and again as long as you have lands in hand and mana to pay the spell with.

Chroma: Chroma is a group of cards related only by the fact that they care about mana symbols. Other than that, they have nothing alike. They're a group, rather than a keyword.

To be continued...