Casual Magic Musings

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2011-10-25T11:41:00.001+02:00

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Getting on my Commander (EDH) Soapbox

2011-04-29T11:02:00.000+02:00

Today's blog posting is going to be something completely different. It is going to be my chance to go on about what is currently annoying me whilst playing Commander. Let me first state that the majority of my Commander games are played online using Cockatrice as it is free and I do not have the resources to make playing Commander on MODO a reality. If you would like reasons for this please feel free to contact me and we will discuss is off-post.

Commander is currently, in my most humble opinion, the most fun format for playing Magic: the Gathering. The standard environment is stale and clinical, where Squadron Hawks and Jace the Mind Sculptor rule the roost. Extended is fun, but also still has too many dominant decks. Legacy and Vintage are just way too expensive to get into ... and most games are over before they have really had a chance to get going. Commander is a format with 99 cards of pure randomness and fun.

Well almost ...

Commander is meant to be all about the fun and social interaction aspect of Magic. To quote Sheldon Menery from one of his articles on the Star City Games website:

"The other mindset you’re going to have to get around is the idea of “breaking the format,” which is completely valid in competitive formats. In fact, you have considerable incentive to do so. Not so in EDH. The format is already broken. Especially if you’re playing Black, with all the Tutors, you can probably combo out reliably on turn 3 or 4 every game. If you want to experience the depth of EDH, resist that urge. At best, you’ll get bored quickly with the deck. At worst, you’ll find yourself ostracized from your local group since you’re not so much playing EDH as goldfishing. The deck you want to build is the one that is both playable and social.

The real thing some people fail to understand is that you don’t need to kill everyone every game in order to win. Winning in EDH is simply having a great time. It’s participating in games that are something interesting and special. That’s why “Group Hug” decks have gotten popular in EDH circles."

... and these ...

I think what is and isn't in the spirit of EDH can be summed up like this:
EDH: Hive Mind/Warp World.
Not EDH: Hive Mind/Pact of the Titan.
-- Sheldon “EDH Godfather” Menery, DCI Level 5 Judge

Some more wise words on Commander:

"Find stuff that makes you giggle. Put it in deck."
Toby Elliott, DCI Level 5 Judge

This brings me back to my soapbox. All too often these days I am running into decks running infinite combos (Earthcraft/Squirrel Nest), griefer cards (Armageddon) or really anti-social combos (Crucible of Worlds/Strip Mine). Hannah decks recursing the Filigree Angel and running Darksteel Forge are in my opinion bordering on being anti-Commander too. It appears as though the social aspect of the game is being sidelined and the win-at-all-costs mentality has started to pervade the realms of Commander. And this saddens me greatly.

For those people who find it necessary to exhibit this kind of anti-social (borderline sociopathic) behaviour, please don't join online games flagged as being casual but rather join games marked as competitive. Stop ruining the fun for the rest of us.

I am an avid Magic the Gathering player, and have been since Revised, and have now become a Commander addict due to the complete randomness and insanity that often ensue over the course of a game. I do not want this to change so am appealing to all of you players out there to please put the fun back into Commander. Keep your turn 4 kill decks, infinite combo decks and griefer cards for those environments in which their play is encouraged.

Multi-coloured Mayhem with General Kresh

2011-04-19T13:27:00.000+02:00

One of the biggest advantages of playing Commander (the format formerly known as Elder Dragon Highlander) on the free community-based software Cockatrice is that you get to play with every single Magic card ever created ... well almost all of them. Magic has been around for a long time and it would be virtually impossible to collect all of the cards. That is not even considering the vast amount of cash you would have to invest for this to happen. While I do actually own some of the cards used to make the new deck I will post below, I doubt very much that in my lifetime, or possibly even the three previous ones and the rest of the lifetimes to come, that I will ever own even half of the cards in this deck. I really love this game and anything which makes it possible to play with all these cards, and incredibly easy to find an opponent at any time of day or night, is awesome in my book.

The deck I am going to present is a new BRG Commander deck brewed by yours truly! I spent ages with Gatherer and Notepad++ sifting through all BRG, BR, BG and RG cards available. While looking through these lists and lists of cards a flash of brilliance crossed the neural highways and it was there and then that I decided to make a completely multi-coloured deck with no basic lands at all!

And now [drum roll please] here it is ...

GENERAL:
Kresh the Bloodbraided

CREATURES (32):
1 Sek'Kuar, Deathkeeper
1 Anathemancer
1 Ashenmoor Liege
1 Deathbringer Thoctar
1 Defiler of Souls
1 Igneous Pouncer
1 Kaervek the Merciless
1 Lightning Reaver
1 Tsabo Tavoc
1 Creakwood Liege
1 Doomgape
1 Gleancrawler
1 Glissa, the Traitor
1 Lord of Extinction
1 Sapling of Colfenor
1 Sisters of Stone Death
1 Spiritmonger
1 Vhati il-Dal
1 Vulturous Zombie
1 Boartusk Liege
1 Nath of the Gilt-Leaf
1 Borborygmos
1 Godtracker of Jund
1 Hunting Kavu
1 Livonya Silone
1 Rock Basilisk
1 Shivan Wurm
1 Spellbreaker Behemoth
1 Stonebrow, Krosan Hero
1 Valley Rannet
1 Vithian Renegades
1 Voracious Cobra

PLANESWALKERS (2):
1 Sarkhan the Mad
1 Sarkhan Vol

ARTIFACTS (5):
1 Golgari Signet
1 Mage Slayer
1 Ogre's Cleaver
1 Rakdos Signet
1 Sword of Vengeance

ENCHANTMENTS (5):
1 Fists of the Demigod
1 Gift of the Deity
1 Natural Emergence
1 Predatory Advantage
1 Runes of the Deus

INSTANTS (8):
1 Backlash
1 Delirium
1 Gaze of the Gorgon
1 Hit // Run
1 Jund Charm
1 Putrefy
1 Terminate
1 Wrecking Ball

SORCERIES (8):
1 Decimate
1 Hull Breach
1 Maelstrom Pulse
1 Poison the Well
1 Sangrite Surge
1 Savage Twister
1 Torrent of Souls
1 Wreak Havoc

LAND (39):
1 Rakdos Carnarium
1 Golgari Rot Farm
1 Akoum Refuge
1 Badlands
1 Barren Moor
1 Bayou
1 Blackcleave Cliffs
1 Copperline Gorge
1 Darigaaz's Caldera
1 Dragonskull Summit
1 Forgotten Cave
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Grove of the Burnwillows
1 Gruul Turf
1 Highland Weald
1 Howltooth Hollow
1 Kazandu Refuge
1 Maze of Ith
1 Meteor Crater
1 Mikokoro, Center of the Sea
1 Mosswort Bridge
1 Pillar of the Paruns
1 Reflecting Pool
1 Reliquary Tower
1 Rootbound Crag
1 Savage Lands
1 Shinka, the Bloodsoaked Keep
1 Shivan Oasis
1 Shizo, Death's Storehouse
1 Spinerock Knoll
1 Tectonic Edge
1 Temple of the False God
1 Tranquil Thicket
1 Tresserhorn Sinks
1 Vesuva
1 Vivid Crag
1 Vivid Grove
1 Vivid Marsh
1 Taiga

Any comments and/or suggestions are encouraged and welcomed.

The Turquoise Mage Returns!

2011-04-18T11:29:00.001+02:00

Greetings fellow Casual Magic: the Gathering enthusiasts,

I may have been away for a while, and have most definitely been seriously lacking in adding content to this blog, but now I am back full of vim and vigour and will be posting again on my favourite hobby as often as possible. The postings will not be as regular as before but they will most certainly be more consistent in appearing. I intend broadening the scope of this blog to talk about Commander (format formerly known as EDH), software in general and of course casual Magic decks. I will also be using this format as a place for me to mount that soapbox and let slip the moans of war! Everyone needs an outlet and this shall be mine, so bear with me and I am sure that you will find something here that will interest you. As always any and all comments are most welcome.

Right now on the real blogging ...

Software for playing Magic

Being of sound mind and limited finances MTGO is not really an option. As such I have had to find alternative ways to fulfill the need for electronic Magic playing. Here are some of the pieces of software I use to this end:

Cockatrice - an awesome way of playing Magic against online opponents, no rules enforcement, but a really good user interface. There is also a thriving Commander (EDH) player base here. Freeware with source code available.

Forge - a really nice program, has rules enforcement, for playing Magic against a relatively competent AI. Forge currently supports over 7,500 cards. Forge also has drafting capabilities and an awesome Quest mode which is very reminiscent of the old Microprose Shandalar. While not graphically-based it is still loads of fun and has taken much of my free time over recent months. Freeware, community developed and source code is also available.

Magarena - probably has the strongest AI of any free Magic playing software. A very limited card base, but the cards that it does have the AI makes very good use of. Highly recommended.

In fact all three pieces of software are highly recommended for those of you who, like me, do not have the where with all to play MTGO (a.k.a MODO).

One more for luck, Mage, which stands for "Magic, Another Game Engine". I have not tried this tool yet but have downloaded it and will be giving it some PC-time this evening. Expect some feedback soon.

That should be enough for now.

Keep slinging cardboard and until later may all your mulligans be to 6!

Apologies for poor blogging

2010-11-29T10:51:00.000+02:00

This blog has not been kept up to date in any way, shape or form over the past few months. Well now I am going to do my darndest to resurrect this blog and restore it to its rightful place as the home of the casual gamer.

Keep your eyes peeled ...

Red Giants

2009-11-11T13:09:00.002+02:00

After an extended leave of absence from this blog, the Turquoise Mage (a.k.a. me) returns to bring you yet another example of a casual tribal-themed deck full of gigantic red warriors and shaman ably suppported by a cast of elementals (well, one elemental), goblins (well, one goblin), direct damage and equipment.

All of the major protagonists in this deck are of the Giant persuasion. Larger than average creatures who deal large than the average amounts of combat damage. While they may be expensive to cast, once they get rolling onto the battlefield, there are very few creatures who can stand toe to toe with them. From the massive Hamletback Goliath and Boldwyr Heavyweights, to the sneakier Cragganwick Cremator, Thundercloud Shaman and Furystoke Giant, this deck packs enough punch to smash all opposing forces put in their way.

Direct damage spells and Chandra Nalaar provide the additional firepower, while the Loxodon Warhammer and Deathrender enhance your creatures, and in the case of the Loxodon Warhammer, gain you some life as well.

This deck is as unsubtle and in-your-face as they come, but hey this is a red deck isn't it? And that is what red decks do ... smash face and burn stuff!

Any and all comments and suggestions are, as always, extremely welcome.

#	Card name	Comments
3	Brighthearth Banneret	This nifty little 1/1 elemental warrior lowers the casting costs of elementals and warriors by 1, very handy in a Giant warrior deck don't you think?
3	Stinkdrinker Daredevil	This 2R casting cost Goblin rogue, who brings a 1/3 body to the party, also lowers the casting cost of Giants by 2! A defender with benefits.
4	Blind-Spot Giant	A 4/3 Giant warrior who enters the battlefield for only 2R. His only drawback being that he cannot attack or block unless you control another Giant. In a Giant deck, no problemo.
2	Thundercloud Shaman	For 3RR you get a 4/4 Giant shaman who when he enters the battlefield deals damage equal to the number of giants you control to each non-Giant creature. More power.
3	Cragganwick Cremator	My favorite Giant in the deck. This 5/4 Giant shaman enters the battlefield for only 2RR, when he does so you discard a card at random, and if the discarded card is a creature card he deals damage equal to the discarded creatures power to target player. Badda-bing-badda-boom.
3	Boldwyr Heavyweights	The decks heavy hitter comes in the form of this 8/8 trampling giant for 2RR. He has a rather inconsequential drawback of allowing each opponent to search their libraries and put a creature onto the battlefield when he he enters said battlefield. Barring them fetching a Shriekmaw, there are few creatures larger so no problems there.
2	Furystoke Giant	A 3/3 Giant warrior for 3RR who when he enters the battlefield grants all your creatures the ability to tap and deal 2 damage to target creature or player until end of turn. Nice ... but wait ... there's more ... he has persist, so under the right circumstances he gets to do it twice!!!
2	Hamletback Goliath	Another monstrous red Giant warrior, the Hamletback Goliath is a 6/6 for 6R. Whenever another creature enters the battlefield, the Hamletback gets X +1/+1 counters where X is that creatures power. To quote Duke Nukem "Groovy!"
1	Deathrender	This tasty little 4 casting cost piece of equipment, costs 2 to equip and the equipped creature gets +2/+2. Not only that, when the equipped creature is put into your graveyeard you get to put a creature card from your hand onto the battlefield equipped with the Deathrender. Bring on the pain!
1	Loxodon Warhammer	Equipped creature gets +3/+0, trample and lifelink. Costs only 3 to cast and 3 to equip. All round value for the mana I say.
3	Giant's Ire	A Giant tribal sorcery which costs 3R to cast and deals 4 damage to target player. If you control a Giant, you get to draw a card. Very handy in a Giant-themed deck.
4	Needle Drop	A R casting cost instant that deals 1 damage to target creature or player that was dealt damage this turn. And you get to draw a card. Card advantage anyone?
2	Chandra Nalaar	The all singing, all dancing, planeswalking dealer of much damage. Her powers of destruction and awesomeness cannot be put into few enough words to appear here. She is the bomb ... literally.
3	Incendiary Command	For 3RR you get to chose two of the following: 4 damage to target player, 2 damage to each creature, destroy target non-basic land or all players discard their hands and then draw that many cards ... spoiled for choice. This deck deserves this spell.
2	Spinerock Knoll	This R hideaway land enters the battlefield tapped, you then look at the top 4 cards of your library and put one of them under the land. When untapped the Knoll can either be tapped for R, or if 7 or more damage was dealt this turn it can be tapped, with an additional R, and the card it is hiding gets played for no mana cost. How cool is that?
22	Mountain

Lascivious Lupines

2009-10-22T16:20:00.003+02:00

Wolves. Large canine carnivores. Sharp teeth and lots of hair. Methinks I smell a deck idea brewing.

While not always the most popular of animals due to their enjoyment of much of the farmed livestock, these creatures are amongst the most hardy and adaptable survivors out there. They have adapted to just about every single kind of habitat from the polar regions to the deserts. They have also wormed their way into the planes of Magic.

As mentioned in one (or more) of my earlier posts, one of our local distributors of card singles used to bring a box along to the weekly tournaments. This box was a veritable treasure trove for the casual gamer, like me, especially so because all of the cards in the box were up for grabs. It was on one of my many forays into this box that I found my Watchwolf quartet. This was the starting point for the creation of this deck.

Feedback would be greatly appreciated

#	Card name	Comments
4	Tundra Wolves	A white weenie 1/1 wolf with first strike, and all for this for only W. Bargain.
4	Llanowar Elves	A 1/1 elf for G with you can tap to add G to your mana pool.
2	Changeling Titan	A 7/7 changeling for 4G who also just so happens to be a wolf, and an elf, and ...
2	Wren's Run Packmaster	This 3G casting cost 5/5 elf warrior from the forests of Lorwyn, champions an elf when it comes into play, and makes 2/2 wolf tokens for only 2G with no tap. But wait ... there's more ... all wolves you control have deathtouch. Nice!
2	Tolsimir Wolfblood	This 3/4 Ravnican Legend costs 4WG to bring onto the battlefield. He grants all other W creatures you control +1/+1, and does the same for all other G creatures you control too. By tapping him you get to put a 2/2 G and W legendary wolf token onto the battlefield.
4	Watchwolf	A 3/3 wolf for WG. Does nothing else, has no special abilities, but then again has a converted mana cost of only 2.
3	Scion of the Wild	An avatar from Ravnica with a casting cost of 1GG whose power and toughness are equal to the number of creatures you control. And with all the lupine token goodness in this deck, he can get to be quite the green meanie.
1	Enshrined Memories	This Kamigawan sorcery has a casting cost of XG. It allows you to reveal the top X cards of your library, and then put all creature cards revealed this way into your hand. The rest of the cards then go to the bottom of your library in any order.
2	Congregation at Dawn	For only GGw you get to search your library at instant speed for any three creature cards, shuffle your library, and then put those creature cards on top of your library in any order. Legally stacking your deck.
4	Sound the Call	Coldsnap gave us this beauty which puts a 1/1 G wolf token onto the battlefield. The toekn gets +1/+1 for each card named Sound the Call in all graveyards.
3	Howl of the Night Pack	Put a 2/2 G wolf toekn onto the battlefield for each forest you control. All of these for only 6G. A bargain at the price.
4	Shield of the Oversoul	A creature enhancement of some note. If the enchanted creature is G it gets +1/+1 and is indestructible, and if it is W it gets +1/+1 and flying. Both if it is GW. Can you say Watchwolf?
3	Oblivion Ring	A really handy little utility. When it enters the battlefield you get to exile another target permanent.
3	Elfhame Palace	Enters the battlefield tapped, then can be tapped for either G or W.
1	Wooded Bastion	Can be tapped for 1, or G/W and a tap nets you either GG, WW or WG. Wish I had more of these.
4	Selesnya Sanctuary	Enters the battlefield tapped, and you have to bounce a land to your hand. Once it is online you get to tap it for GW.
8	Forest	Comments
7	Plains	Comments

Big Slivers

2009-10-14T08:54:00.002+02:00

Tribal decks are the bread and butter decks of the casual players arsenal. Tribal decks are very flavorful, easy to build and most of all lots pf fun to play! The deck I am debuting today is no exception.

The deck below, so aptly named "Big Slivers", is another in the long line of casual sliver decks. Slivers are the wuintessential bad boys of the Magic realms. They gang up on every one and get stronger the more of them are in play. Not only do they get stronger, they also grant one another their abilities.

Once the well oiled sliver machine gets rolling it is very hard to stop. Slivers do everything well, and they everything even better as their nunbers swell. While this deck may not be the of the same lightning fast speed of sliver decks of old, it is quite resilient and when all of the pieces are in play, it is insanely hard to prevent being run over. All of this without an overrun!

These insectoid-esque beasts, reminiscent of the "prawns" in District Nine, first entered the world of magic in Stronghold, Tempest and then made a brief comeback in Onslaught Block (Legions and Scourge). When the Time Spiral block rolled around they once again reared their collective ugly heads. While not as insanely fast or overpowered like their predecessors, these new slivers brought a whole bunch of new abilities to the table.

This decks was built to experiment with these new slivers while stomping on my opponent's collective faces. After all this is what Slivers do best!.

This is in essence a five color green deck, with green being used to produce the different colors of mana, as well as providing some much needed card draw.

#	Card name	Comments
1	Reflex Sliver	A 2/2 sliver for 3G which grants all slivers haste.
4	Homing Sliver	A 2/2 sliver for 2R which gives all other slivers Sliversycling 3. He himself has the very same Sliversycling 3.
2	Fungus Sliver	A 2/2 sliver for 3G which says all slivers gain that whenever it is dealt damage you may put a +1/+1 counter on it.
2	Two-Headed Sliver	A 1/1 sliver for 1R which says that all slivers gain the ability that they each cannot be blocked except by two or more creatures.
1	Firewake Sliver	A 1/1 for 1RG that has haste, and says that each sliver gains: 1, sacrifice this creature: target sliver gets +2/+2 until end of turn.
2	Virulent Sliver	A 1/1 sliver for 1 which grants all other slivers Poisonous 1. Whenever an opponent has 10 or more poison counters they lose the game. Just another way for the sliver army to defeat their enemies.
2	Harmonic Sliver	A 1/1 for 1GW that says all sliver have that when this creature enters the battlefield, destroy target artifact or enchantment.
4	Bonesplitter Sliver	A 2/2 sliver for 3R. All slivers get +2/+0. Simple. Effective. Sweet!
2	Spined Sliver	A 2/2 sliver for RG that says whenever a sliver gets blocked it gets +1/+1 for each creature blocking it. Thanks for the help Two-Headed Sliver!
1	Psionic Sliver	A 2/2 sliver for 4U. All slivers have tap: this creature deals 2 damage to target creature or player and 3 damage to itself. Psionic Blast on a stick!!!
1	Fury Sliver	A 3/3 sliver for 5R. All slivers have double strike. Bring on the pain!!!
3	Gemhide Sliver	A 1/1 sliver for 1G that says all slivers have tap: add 1 mana of any color to your mana pool. Birds of Paradise for the sliver generation.
2	Opaline Sliver	A 2/2 sliver for 1WU that says all slivers have that whenever a sliver becomes the target of a spell or abaility an opponent controls you may draw a card. More cards equals more slivers.
1	Frenzy Sliver	A 1/1 sliver for 1B that says all sliver have Frenzy 1. In other words, whenever a sliver is not blocked it gets +1/+0 until end of turn.
4	Vampiric Sliver	a.k.a. Sengir Sliver, a 3/3 sliver for 3B that says all slivers have whenevr a creature dealt damage by this creature is put into a graveyard this turn, you may put a +1/+1 counter on this creature. Kills 'em and gets bigger in the process ... as if the world needed bigger slivers.
4	Rites of Flourishing	Mana acceleration and card draw all in one neat package. Each player draws an extra card and may play an additonal land during each of their turns. I feel the need for speed ... er ... slivers.
2	Prismatic Omen	1G is all you require to, with the help of this Shadowmoor gem, turn all of your lands into every basic land type in addition to their other types. Five color ooh-rah.
9	Forest
5	Swamp
5	Mountain
2	Island
1	Plains

NB: On principal, and everything that is good and sacred in this world, I REFUSE to play with Crystaline Sliver. I also refuse to put in a link for that card. I despise it nearly as much as Daring Leap ... but that is another story!

Poppet Fly (apologies to Boba Fett)

2009-10-06T10:50:00.000+02:00

One of the tasks often undertaken by the more casually minded players is the building of the ignominious and infamous "net deck". For those not in the know a net deck is deck built from a listing you download from the internet. While this is usually something I personally frown upon, as deck building is for me one of things I most enjoy about Magic, in the case of the following deck I made an exception.

On the mothership (a.k.a. Wizards of the Coast) I stumbled across an article which had me intrigued ... or a rather a deck which had me intrigued. There was nothing wrong with the article at all, but the deck looked so interesting I just had to build it. Build it being an undertaking in wishfull thinking as I did not have many of the cards.

Blowfly, Don't Bother Me by The Mimic (Scott Johns - www.magicthegathering.com editor in chief)

The only down side to the article, for me any way, was the mention that Dusk Urchins were easy to acquire. Well using MODO maybe ... but for cardboard versions, not at all! That and the fact that they are very expensive. So that is the one major casualty in my build. Dusk Urchins is very cool, but not cool (cheap) enough to end up in my deck.

Shadowmoor gave us the whole "-1/-1 matters" theme ... and this deck has so many ways to use use and abuse these counters. From locking creatures down, to turning an acid wielding artifact into a veritable machine gun and even making bucketloads of elf tokens. Just as the author and creator mentions often during his article, this deck is just plain good old fun to play. The deck would be much better if I was lucky enough to have a few Dusk Urchins to add, but even without them, even being on a hiding to nothing, this deck is fun!

This deck always sat in my subconscious and every so often I would read the print out of the article and smile. Then two lots of people came to my aid.

Firstly, one of our local suppliers of Magic singles, and our local tournament organizers, brought a box of freebies to a weekly standard event. This was mana from heaven for me. While scratching through this box I found two Grim Poppets and two Witherscale Wurms (which had been defaced somewhat by their previous owner who had stencilled a large "X" on the card face) and a number of the other required commons.

Secondly, the producers of the Monday Night Magic podcast, who after hearing of my Magic plight, put together a card drive on my behalf and then mailled me a box of 700+ uncommons. These filled out the rest of the requirements quite nicely. Especially with the Flourishing Defense's and the Kulrath Knights. The Monday Night Magic crew are the most amazing bunch of guys.

Now I had a baseline from which to build my incarnation of the deck. While not the most "winningest" of decks I have ever built, it is most certainly one of the most fun to play when it gets rolling. Throwing counters around and then bashing in with the huge Witherscale Wurm is buckets of fun.

And now, without further ado, is the deck in question:

#	Card name	Comments
4	Devoted Druid	This druid of elvish persuasion is a 0/2 for 1G.Like a lot of his elvish brethren he taps to add G to your mana pool. By putting a -1/-1 on him you get to untap this most devoted elvish servant.
2	Wickerbough Elder	This 4/4 treefolk shaman comes into play pre-loaded with a -1/-1 counter for only 3G. As an added bonus for just G and removing said counter you get to destroy an artifact or an enchantment.
2	Witherscale Wurm	This monstrous 9/9 wurm for only 4GG gives all creatures it encounters in combat whither. Oh yes, if it ever damages an opponent you get to remove all of the counters on the wurm. There are other uses for these counters in this deck ...
3	Wall of Roots	For 1G you get a 0/5 defensive plant wall. Once a turn you get to put a -0/-1 counter on the wall to add G to your mana pool.
4	Essence Warden	A very hand little elf who gives you a hearty 1 life whenever a creature enters the battlefield. With Flourishing Defenses in the mix, this could be quite a bit.
1	Herd Gnarr	A 2/2 beast for 3G which gets +2/+2 whenever a creature enters the battlefield. The influx of elf warriors turns the gnarr into quite a gnarly beatstick. A one-of surprise ... nice!
2	Kulrath Knight	A 3/3 flyer with whither for 3 B/R B/R that locks down all creatures with counters on them. As this deck distributes -1/-1 counters that would mean just about any and all creatures not on your side of the battlefield.
2	Chainbreaker	This little 3/3 artifact creature for only 2 mana enters the battlefield already equipped with two -1/-1 counters. You also get to remove a counter from a creature for 3 and a tap. His entering the battlefield aldo fires off the flourishing defenses.
3	Grim Poppet	The acid wielding MVP in this deck. He has a 4/4 body and enters the battlefield with the three -1/-1 counters. At instant speed, and no tap, you get to move a -1/-1 counter from him onto any other creature. Under the right circumstances he turns into a veritable machine gun.
3	Serrated Arrows	These serrated projectiles come onto the battlefield loaded up with three carriers of -1/-1 counters. Fits the deck theme rather well.
4	Fate Transfer	This nifty little common instant from Shadowmoor allows you to move all counters from one target creature onto another target creature. Can anyone say Witherscale Wurm?
3	Flourishing Defenses	One of the pillars of this deck, this enchantment for 4G puts a 1/1 elf warrior onto the battlefield whenever a -1/-1 counter is placed on a creature. This also fires whenever a creature comes into play with counters on 'em ... like the Chainbreaker or the Grim Poppet.
4	Blowfly Infestation	Whenever a creature burdened with a -1/-1 counter is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, you get to put another of the offending counters onto target creature. Reloading the Poppet is always a good option.
4	Terramorphic Expanse	Mana fetch and deck thinner extraordinaire.
9	Swamp
10	Forest

Magic thieves

2009-10-02T12:20:00.000+02:00

Once the euphoria of having been able to attend the Zendikar pre-release had died down, I decided to go and have a look at the Planechase card we received for playing the event. I opened my card folder only to find that my Planechase card and a number of other cards were missing from my folder. The only place this could have happened was at the pre-release and just during a short time window while I was on a bio-break. My bag was left with the TO.

This was the only Planechase card I had, or will probably ever have, so I am rather annoyed.

To all you card thieves out there, I hope you get yours one day soon!!!

Zendikar Pre-Release

2009-09-28T09:31:00.000+02:00

On Sunday, the 27th of September, I was privileged enough to be able to attend the Pre-Release tournament for the latest Magic: the Gathering expansion ... Zendikar! And it was a privilege.

This has to have been the most enjoyable of pre-releases I have attended in quite few years. While the set does indeed have it's bombs, as do all sets, Zendikar provided some really balanced and fun games. There were only 5 rounds as our number of players was smaller than expected. I ended up 3-2. It could have been 4-1 if it was not for having to mulligan to 4 in one of the rounds.

The only color I never actually faced in anger was black. The only opponent I faced who was playing black, had two crummy-ish draws while the Landfall powered Eel flew to victory in rapid time.

Landfall us one fun mechanic and I can see it becoming a firm personal favorite.

My sealed pool war varied to say the least. Green had some decidedly average creatures, but none of the usual green fatties of the overly powered variety. White and black had nice removal and utility goodies. My big problem with black and white is that they did not have any real finishers. I did manage to get a Sorin Markov, but the BBB requires a heavy black commitment.

The only option available to me was to play a very aggro red and blue concoction, with an ally and flying subthemes. The major ideas behind the deck were to get the fliers operating as soon as possible and basically try and outrun the guys on the ground. When the deck fired as was intended it nigh on unstoppable.

I lost my first round on the back of a Celestial Mantle on the 3/3 white flyer with vigilance, while my opponent had an Eldrazi Monument in play. That was just plain mean! That and the fact that I forgot to sideboard in my artiface removal spell.

The other loss was against a mean and nasty green deck splashing black, white and blue. In the second game of the match I ended up having to mulligan to 4, and after putting up a brief bit of resistance I succumbed to 4/4 of various types.

All in all it was great day. After this limited exposure to Zendikar I can only imagine what fun it is going to be to draft this set!!!

Maybe one day when I win the lottery will I be able to replace my dial-up connection (yes dial-up with a 56k modem and everything) with some broadband and then delve into the world of MODO. One can always dream ...

I apologize for the lack of card links in this posting. I wanted to get it online as soon as possible.

White	Green	Black
Journey to Nowhere (x2)	Quest for the Gemblades	Sorin Markov
Kor Skyfisher (x2)	Tanglesap	Ravenous Trap
Kor Aeronaut	Vines of the Vastwood	Mindless Null
Shieldmate's Blessing (x2)	Nissa's Chosen (x2)	Mire Blight (x2)
Quest for the Holy Relic	Baloth Cage Trap	Hideous End
Makindi Shieldmate	Vastwood Gorger	Vampire Lacerator (x2)
Pillarfield Ox	Cobra Trap	Malakir Bloodwitch
Brave the Elements	Oracle of Mul Daya	Crypt Ripper
Nimbus Wings	Savage Silhouette	Needlebite Trap
Cliff Threader	Joraga Bard (x2)
Kor Hookmaster	Turntimber Basilisk
Kazandu Blademaster	Scythe Tiger
Steppe Lynx	Harrow
Red	Blue	Artifact
Unstable Footing	Caller of Gales	Spidersilk Net
Elemental Appeal	Trapfinder's Trick	Hedron Scrabbler
Demolish	Tempest Owl	Expedition Map
Ruinous Minotaur (x2)	Ior Ruin Expedition	Carnage Altar
Goblin Bushwhacker	Spell Pierce	Explorer's Scope
Zektar Shrine Expedition	Paralyzing Grasp	Adventuring Gear
Kazuul Warlord	Windrider Eel
Highland Berserker (x2)	Sea Gate Loremaster	Land
Plated Geopede	Archive Trap	Akoum Refuge
Murasa Pyromancer	Cancel	Piranha Marsh
Goblin Shortcutter	Merfolk Seastalkers	Soaring Seacliff (x2)
Goblin War Paint	Welkin Tern	Teetering Peaks
Quest for Pure Flame	Aether Figment
Geyser Glider	Umara Raptor
	Shoal Serpent

...and without further ado, here is the deck I ended up playing. Any comments are most welcome!

Zektar Shrine Expedition Paralyzing Grasp Adventuring Gear
Kazuul Warlord Windrider Eel Explorer's Scope
Highland Berserker (x2) Sea Gate Loremaster
Plated Geopede Archive Trap Teetering Peaks
Ruinous Minotaur Cancel Soaring Seacliff (x2)
Murasa Pyromancer Merfolk Seastalkers
Goblin Shortcutter Welkin Tern Mountain (x7)
Goblin War Paint Aether Figment Island (x6)
Quest for Pure Flame Umara Raptor
Geyser Glider Shoal Serpent

Zendikar

2009-09-25T11:07:00.000+02:00

This weekend sees the arrival of the start of the next block ... Zendikar ... and I, for one, am pretty amped about it! I will be (hopefully) lucky enough to be playing in the pre-release event in Cape Town. The event will be split over two days between the Neelsie in Stellenbosch (Saturday) and the Claremont Chess Club (Sunday).

If I do manage to get to the pre-release on Sunday, I will be posting my sealed pool and the deck I played on Monday.

Hope that my usual pre-release hex goes on hiatus this weekend and that I get a real bomb-laden sealed pool.

Good to everyone around the world who will be playing and I cannot wait to start reading the forums and the full spoiler on Monday.

Keep slinging cardboard ... and until next time ... The Turquoise Mage ... out!!!

Scary Scarecrows

2009-09-23T14:03:00.000+02:00

Being more of a casual Magic player, there have always been two deck archetypes which have fascinated me since I started playing. Those are Tribal and Five Color decks. Where possible I have always tried two combine these two, much like the first deck posting I made, the five color Kamigawa Dragons deck.

The skill, and I use that term in the most respectful sense, of getting together the right mix of creatures and spells and most importantly the mana base was always a challenge I undertook with relish. Even before I had ever heard of things like multilands, fetchlands, painlands or even mana bases. Various sets along the way have made this easier and more attainable, even for the casual magii amongst us.

The tribes have always been a theme prominent amongst casual decks. I doubt very much whether there is a Magic player out there who has not built a Goblin deck! Elves, Giants, Merfolk, Beasts, Zombies and Soldiers have been popular tribally themed decks amongst not only my (now defunct) playgroup, but amongst the Magic playing community at large. Tribal decks have even been known to win serious Magic tournaments.

While attending the Shadowmoor pre-release one of my good friends could not wait to show me the awesome card he had obtained in his sealed pool ... the Reaper King! A five color Scarecrow creature with one of the most interesting casting costs ever seen ... and he is an artifact. The possibilities of a themed deck started to crystalize once I actually saw the whole spoiler and the wealth of these nasty bird-scaring beasties waiting for a home.

The flavor text for the Reaper King is also some of the most flavorful ever printed. "It's harvest time." That just says it all.

I was in the lucky, and I believe enviable, position of being probably the only local player who had the dream of building a Scarecrow deck, and as such found it incredibly easy to trade for what I needed. The assembling of the contents of the deck below was remarkably easy. I even lucked out and got the third of the Reaper King's in a booster I recieved for a birthday present. I still to this day cannot remember what any of the other cards in the booster were.

Without further ado, let me present to you the insanity which is my Scarecrow deck a.k.a. "Scary Scarecrows"!

#	Card name	Comments
2	Watchwing Scarecrow	This 2/4 scarecrow enters the battlefield for 4, it has vigilance as long as you control a white creature and flying as long as you control a blue creature.
1	Blazethorn Scarecrow	This 3/3 scarecrow enters the battlefield for 5, it has haste as long as you control a red creature and wither as long as you control a green creature.
1	Thornwatch Scarecrow	This 4/4 scarecrow enters the battlefield for 6, it has wither as long as you control a green creature and vigilance as long as you control a white creature.
3	Tatterkite	Here we have a 2/1 flying scarecrow, as if the birds weren't scared enough, which enters the battlefield for only 3. As an added bonus it cannot have counters placed on it. Great for blocking creatures with wither. And it flies!
3	Lockjaw Snapper	This rabid scarecrow is a 2/2 meanie with wither. When he is put into your graveyard from the battlefield you get to put a -1/-1 counter on each creature with a -1/-1 counter on it. Double whammy delights.
4	Scuttlemutt	And now for the epitome of a ulititarian scarecrow, a 2/2 scarecrow which enters the battlefield for the measly cost of 3. Measly because he can either be tapped to add 1 to your mana pool, or he can be tapped to turn target creature into the color or colors of your choice until end of turn. Some of his brethren will, and do, benefit greatly from the second of his abilities.
4	Scrapbasket	A 3/2 common scarecrow which enters the battlefield for only 3. By spending 1 he becomes all colors until end of turn. We should just call him WUBuRG!
3	Reaper King	The king of the scarecrows, a humungous 6/6 5-colored artifact nemesis, who destroys a target permanent whenever another scarecrow enters the battlefield. I am too scared to even attempt to type out his casting cost ... but believe me ... it is worth it!!!
3	Fabricate	for U2 you get to search your library for an artifact and put it into your hand. You'll never guess who the primary target for this spell is?
3	Harrow	Mana fetch excellence comes in the form of Harrow. For a cost of 2G, and an additional cost of sac'ing a land, you get to search your library for two basic land cards and put them onto the battlefield. *Untapped!* You also get to shuffle your library.
3		For R/B you get to put a -1/-1 counter on target creature. Wither in a jar!!!
2	Puncture Bolt	Puncture Bolt deals 1 damage to target creature AND then puts a -1/-1 counter on that creature. Fiery deflation indeed for only 1R.
2	Blight Sickle	Another piece of armement for the scarecrow troops to wield. This beauty gives them +1/+0 and wither ... goes nicely with scarecrow theme I think.
2	Wanderer's Twig	A nifty little common mana fixer, costs 1 to cast, and then 1 to tap and sac it to search your library for a basic land and put it into your hand, and then shuffle your library.
1	Deathrender	This Lorwynian piece of heavy armament comes onto the battlefield for only 4, to equip a creature with the sword costs just 2 and gives that creature +2/+2. As a bonus when the equipped creature buys the farm you get to a put a creature from your hand onto the battlefield equipped with the Deathrender! Nice.
1	Vivid Crag	Comes into play with 2 charge counters, can either tap for R, or tap and remove a charge counter to add one mana of any color to your mana pool.
1	Vivid Grove	Comes into play with 2 charge counters, can either tap for G, or tap and remove a charge counter to add one mana of any color to your mana pool.
1	Vivid Marsh	Comes into play with 2 charge counters, can either tap for B, or tap and remove a charge counter to add one mana of any color to your mana pool.
4	Tranquil Thicket	Early game, comes into play tapped and then can be tapped to add G to yout mana pool, late game it cycles for G to draw you a card.
2	Mountain
2	Plains
3	Island
2	Swamp
7	Forest

Insects FTW!

2009-09-18T14:47:00.001+02:00

When Onslaught was the set du jour one the cards which really caught my eye was the Broodhatch Nantuko. Being a serious casual player in a seriously fun casual player group (which is now unfortunately defunct), I had visions of the mayhem which would be caused by building a deck around insect. When looking though my cards I found more and more members of the insect family and the first iteration of this deck was built. The Broodhatch is only a 1/1 but, and it is a big BUT, every time he is dealt damage you get to put that many 1/1 insect creature tokens onto the battlefield. Combined with Lure this leads to masses of insect trooplets.

The idea behind this deck is in itself is very simple ... make as many tokens as possible and use them in a variety of ways to kill all your opponents as quickly as possible. This is achieved in a number of ways. The first, and most obvious of these is to use the awesome Overrun. A whole swarm of 4/4 trampling insect creature tokens is way more scary than a swarm of 1/1 non tramplers. Secondly was using the zombie insect Nantuko Husk, which allows you to sacrifice insects giving him +2/+2 until end of turn for each insect sacrificed.

My personal favorite, and the most difficult and costly mana-wise, to pull off was using Biorythm. This sorcery from Onslaught sets all players life totals equal to the number of creatures they control. With this deck being built around generating masses of insect creature tokens, resolving this particular spell always left you within a whisker of obliterating all opponents in one mass attack.

This deck was always one of those in our playgroup, that once the other players cottoned onto the deck you were playing, resulted in you becoming public enemy #1 and being beaten senseless by everyone. While being the first person kicked out of a game is not always fun, being kicked out because you are playing a deck that induces this level of player paranoia, is insanely satisfying.

Listed below is the deck in it's current manifestation.

#	Card name	Comments
4	Wirewood Elf	The only non-Insect in this deck, we need a little bit of mana acceleration, so he joins the team from his treetop perch.
4	Broodhatch Nantuko	This little uncommon gem from Onslaught is what started this whole Insect deck idea. He is a 1/1 for 1G but can enter the battlefield as a morphling. His morph cost is 2G. Whenever he is dealt damage you may put that many 1/1 insect creature tokens onto the battlefield. Combiue him with Lure, especially in a multiplayer chaos game, and the infestation will commence.
2	Nantuko Mentor	A 1/1 insect druid who enters the battlefield for 2G. A bit pricy but once he is on the battlefield for 2G and a tap he grants target creature +X/+X until end of turn where X is that creatures power. In this deck he has some mean green fighting machines as targets.
3	Nantuko Elder	This insect druid has a 1/2 body and enters the battlefield for 2G. Tap him and he adds 1G to your mana pool. Mana accleration is always handy.
4	Nantuko Husk	Onslaught also gave us this bad boy. A 2/2 insect zombie with a casting cost of 2B. Sarifice a creatre, invariably an insect, and he gets +2/+2 until end of turn. With the hordes of insect tokens this deck can generate, this insect can grow to gargantuan proportions. Zombies are always cool.
2	Gleancrawler	This horrid 6/6 trampling insect from the City of Ravnica enters the battlefield for only 3 B/G B/G B/G. At the beginning of your end step you may return to your hand all creatures put into your graveyard this turn. Get back the meanies for a second run at our opponent.
2	Living Hive	Mirrodin gave us this 6/6 elemental insect with trample. He costs 6GG to put onto the battlefield. Every time he deals combat damage to an opponent you may put that many 1/1 insect tokens onto the battlefield. More insects ... groovy!
1	Thriss, Nantuko Primus	This judicial insect druid of legend, enters the battlefield for 5GG. For G and a tap he grants targte creature +5/+5 until end of turn. Let's not forget that he brings a 5/5 body to the party too.
2	Ant Queen	The Ant Queen joins the team after a weekend of heavy trading a while ago. She is a 5/5 for only 3GG. For 1G you get to put a 1/1 insect token onto the battlefield ... no tap. This means all your extra mana can be used to generate a veritable army of insectivites.
2	Stag Beetle	The Stag Beetle comes into play with X +1/+1 counters on him where X is the number of other creatures on the battlefield. All creatures, not just yours. Great for multiplayer games.
4	Moment's Peace	The most awesome preventer of combat damage dealt in a turn for only 1G. As bonus it has flashback so you can do it again. Flashing back costs only 2G. Provides much needed protection until the insect swarm has grown to an acceptable number. My favourite green combat trick.
2	Lure	This aura forces all creatures to block the enchanted creature this turn, if able. Put this on your Broodhatch Nantuko for token generation nirvana. Also clears the way for the other finishers like the Husk or the Stag Beetle.
2	Overrun	Do I actually need to give a reason for the presence of this card in the deck?
2	Beacon of Creation	The Fifth Dawn gave us this magnanimous generator of insect tokens. For just 3G you get to put an insect token onto the battlefield for each forest you control. Once done you shuffle it back into your library for use again at some later stage. Need more insects!
2	Biorhythm	For 6GG all players life totals become the number of creatures they control. With the number of insects this deck creatures you shoudl always be at a major advantage after casting this. Let the onslaught continue ...
2	Temple of the False God	Tap to add 2 to your mana pool, but only if you control 5 lands. This Scourge land is a multiplayer players Sol Ring.
4	Tranquil Thicket	Comes into play tapped, adds G to your mana pool and cycles for G if you do not need the additional G mana source.
4	Golgari Rot Farm	This rotten farm from the surrounds of Ravnica enters the battlefield tapped and requires you to return a land you control to your hand. Once online it adds BG to mana pool when tapped.
8	Forest
4	Swamp

Magic Word Cloud

2009-09-18T12:38:00.000+02:00

For some Friday fun I created a Magic-related word cloud using Wordle.
This website is such fun. Create your own and use them on web pages, school book covers for the children, t-shirts ... whatever!

Nicol Bolas EDH deck

2009-09-16T16:34:00.001+02:00

Here is my first attempt at an EDH deck. It plays out rather well in my limited testing.
I would really appreciate any and all feedback.

[EDH] Nicol Bolas Deck
#	Card name	Comments
The General
1	Nicol Bolas	A Legendary Dragon in his Chronicles guise. A big 7/7 flying meanie who when he damages an opponent causes them to discard their entire hand. He has the small upkeep cost of UBR. Being an elder dragon, and being a legend, makes hit quite literally the epitome of an ELDER DRAGON Highlander general!
Legendary Lieutenants
1	Adamaro, First to Desire	For a casting cost of only 1RR, his power and tougness are both equal to the number of cards in the hand of the opponent with the most cards in hand, and this in an evironment full of 100 card decks!
1	Ashling the Pilgrim	This flaming elemntal lass enters the battlefield as a 1/1, for each 1R you spend she gets +1/+1, if you resolve the activation three times in a turn she spontaneously combusts and deals damage equal to her power to each creature and player, what a team player.
1	Garza Zol, Plague Queen	This flying, hasted vampire gets +1/+1 each time a creature she damages is put into a graveyard, she also nets you a card whenever she damages an opponent, even without the counters a 5/5 flyer is nothing to be sneezed at.
1	Jeska, Warrior Adept	3/1 hasty, first striker who also pings for 1, she is the sister of Kamahl, Pit Fighter.
1	Kamahl, Pit Fighter	This hasted barbarian of a human enters the battlefield with a 6/1 body ... oh yes, he pings for 3 too. Jeska's big brother.
1	Kiku, Night's Flower	Kamigawa brings us this assassin of legend, a 1/1 for BB may not seem like a bargain, but when opponent see her forcing opposing creatures to commit hari-kiri for only a tap and 2BB, they will cringe. Stunning artwork too!
1	Lyzolda, the Blood Witch	Yet another human, she enters the battlefield as a 3/1 for 1BR. For 2 and a creature sacrifice she deals 2 damage to a creature or player if the sacrificed was red, draws you a card if the sacrificed was black. Nice.
1	Maga, Traitor to Mortals	Another Kamigawan, Maga costs XBBB to cast and enters the battlefield with X +1/+1 counters on it, when he enters the battlefield target player loses life equal to the number of +1/+1 counters on him. A human wizard joins the team.
1	Magus of the Abyss	This human wizard, sighted in the abyss sometime in the future, is a 4/3 body for only 3B, that and the fact that each player has to destroy a nonartifact creature during their upkeep, the offering can also not be regenerated. Spreading the joy.
1	Rayne, Academy Chancellor	A human wizard from the days when Urza's Destiny was the hot topic, allows you to draw a card if you or a permanent tou control is targeted by an opponent, you draw two cards if she is enchanted. Oh yes, her casting cost is only 2U.
1	Tibor and Lumia	The dastardly duo enter the battlefield as a 3/3 for 2UR. Their wizardry grants a creature flying when you play a U spell, it also deals 1 damage to each earthbound critter when you play a R spell ... or both if the spell is both. The odd couple in cardbaord form.
1	Tomorrow, Azami's Familiar	Whenever you would draw a card, for any reason, Tomorrow allows you to look at the top 3 cards of your library instead, you choose one of those cards and put the rest on the bottom of your library. The 5U casting cost looks expensive, but once you have seen Tomorrow in action, you'll marvel at your deck's new found efficiency.
1	Toshiro Umezawa	This samurai allows you to play an instant card from your graveyard and then exile it, every time a creature an opponent controls is put into a graveyard. All of this and a 2/2 body for only 1BB ... and Bushido 1. Lots of opponents, lots of creatures and a fair number of instants in this deck make him a worthwhile additon to the team.
1	Uyo, Silent Prophet	This 4/4 flying moonfolk wizard (with the funky hair-do) from the land of Kamigawa, gives you the opportunity to spend 2 and return two lands you control to their owner's hands. If you take her up on this offer you get to copy target instant of sorcery spell ... and you get to choose new targets for these copies. Bonus!
Footsoldiers
1	Blood Cultist	The first Alaran member of the team allows you to ping target creature for 1. If a creature pinged by Blood Cultist ends up in the 'yard, the cultist gets a +1/+1 counter. A bargain at the 1BR casting cost.
1	Cemetery Puca	This UB-hybrid shapeshifter, all the way from Lorwyn, becomes a copy of a creature entering the battlefield if you spend 2. Let's not forget that the new copy gains this ability too!
1	Clone	You may have Clone enter the battlefield as a copy any creature on the battlefield. The M10 rules text says it best.
1	Fire-Field Ogre	This 4/2 first striking ogre with the dodgy DNA harkens from Alara. As an optional extra he rises from the graveyard for UBR to fight again for one more turn, after which ... exile.
1	Flametongue Kavu	A 4/2 Kavu which deals 4 damage to target creature when it enters the battlefield. 'Nuff said! A dominant force in the decks of olde.
1	Goblin Deathraiders	A 3/1 trampler for only BR ... the stuff bargain bins are made of :)
1	Kathari Screecher	A really ugly 2/2 flying bird soldier from the skies of Alara. He also has the Unearth party trick in his arsenal. 2U is nothing really to pay for a 2/2 flyer.
1	Kederekt Creeper	This horrid 2/3 for UBR has deathtouch and can't be blocked by fewer than 2 creatures, a guaranteed 2-for-1.
1	Nucklavee	A 4/4 beast costing 4UR to cast, allows you to return a red sorcery and a blue instant from your graveyard to your hand when he enters the battlefield, and he has one of the coolest names in Magic.
1	Prodigal Pyromancer	A red Tim. 'Nuff said!
1	Rattleblaze Scarecrow	A 5/3 scarecrow who has haste if you control a red creature and persist if you control a black creature, in a UGR deck that shouldn't be too difficult.
1	Sootwalkers	A vanilla 3/3 who cannot be blocked by white creatures, remarkably unexciting ... even for a footsoldier.
1	Tidehollow Strix	The 2/1 flying artifact bird costs onlu UB to cast ... and it has deathtouch. Bring on the Dragons.
1	Viscera Dragger	This undead ogre warrior is a 3/3 footsoldier who can be riased from the grave for one last hurrah for 1B ... or you could just cycle him for 2.
1	Vithian Stinger	Another red Tim. Same casting cost, 1 less power but can be unearthed for a quick ping when needed.
1	Wingrattle Scarecrow	A 2/2 scarecrow who has flying if you control a blue creature and persist if you control a black creature, in a UGR deck this too shouldn't be too difficult.
1	Wonder	One of my favorite cards of all time, this 2/2 flying beauty from Judgment gives all creatures you control flying if she is in your graveyard and you control an island.
Armaments
1	Agony Warp	One target creature gets -3/-0 and another -0/-3 until end of turn ... these could also be the same creature, and this for only UB.
1	Aphotic Wisps	For B you get to turn a creature black and grant it fear until end of turn. Oh yes, you get to draw a card too.
1	Beseech the Queen	The sorcery with a funky hybrid casting cost of 2/B 2/B 2B lets you search your library for a card with a converted mana cost less than or equal to the number of lands you control. You also get to shuffle your library afterwards.
1	Blaze	Burn baby burn! For XR you get to do X damage to target creature or player.
1	Blightning	A nasty little common sorcery that does 3 damage to target player and that player discards 2 cards. A real bargain for only 1BR. Multi-purpose madness.
1	Cerulean Wisps	Turn a creature blue until end of turn and untap it. Costs U and lets you draw a card too. Sweet.
1	Clout of the Dominus	Aura which gives enchanted creature +1/+1 and flying if it is blue and/or +1/+1 and haste if it is red. Fits quite nicely into the deck. Costs U/R.
1	Control Magic	For 2UU, you control enchanted creature. In a typical EDH game you should have lots to choose from. Might loose you some friends or allies though!
1	Counsel of the Soratami	2U and you get to draw 2 cards. IMHO the best card co come out of Kamigawa, maybe even shades Gifts Ungiven.
1	Crimson Wisps	The third of the cantrip cycle included in this deck. Turns a creature red and gives it hast until end of turn. Don't forget the card draw too,
1	Diabolic Tutor	Do you fancy searching your library for any card and putting it into your hand and then shuffling your library? Well, for 2BB this card will let you do just that.
1	Fists of the Demigod	Aura which gives enchanted creature +1/+1 and wither if it is black and/or +1/+1 and first strike if it is red. Another perfect fit in this UBR deck.
1	Helm of the Ghastlord	Aura which gives enchanted creature +1/+1 if it is blue and/or +1/+1 if it is black. Te blue half lets you draw a card if the enchanted creature deals damage, while the black half forces the damaged opponent to discard.
1	Leap of Flame	Target creature gets +1/+0, flying and first strike until the end of turn for UR, you can replicate this spell for as much UR you have available, you may choose new targets for each copy.
1	Perplex	Counter target spell unless its controller discards his or her hand. Nasty, nasty spell in the EDH environment and it only costs 1UB.
1	Pulse of the Dross	Target player reveals three cards, you choose one, they discard it, then if they have more cards than you, you get the Pulse back.
1	Pulse of the Forge	Deals 4 damage to target player, then if they have more life than you, you get the Pulse back
1	Pulse of the Grid	Draw two cards and then discard one, then if any opponent has more cards in hand than you you get the Pulse back.
1	Rend Flesh	Destroy target non-Spirit creature. Spot removal is always a good thing, the whole Spirit thing is inconsequential.
1	Swerve	Change the target of target spell with a single target. Lots of targets in that sentence, still a really cool spell.
1	Terminate	For only BR you get to destroy tager creature and it can't be regenerated. More removal, also a good thing.
1	Threaten	Untap target creature, give it haste, and gain control of it until end of turn for only 2R. Take your opponents General and beat them about the head with it, always good for a laugh.
1	Torrent of Souls	For only 4 B/R you get to return up to one (strange requirement) creature from your graveyard to play if you spent B when casting the spell, and if R was spent all creatures target player controls get +2/+0 and haste until end of turn. You get both effects if you spend both B and R. This card can end games in a hurry if times just right. I like it!
1	Wrecking Ball	For the low, low price of 2BR you get to destroy target creature or target land at instant speed ... nice.
1	Zombify	Returning a creature card from your 'yard to the battlefield, with absolutely no side-effects, is a steal when it's casting cost is 3B.
Machinery
1	Armillary Sphere	Conflux brought us this gem of a 2 casting cost artifact, which when you spend 2 and sac it, allows oyu to search your library for two basic land cards and put them into your hand. If this wasn't cool enough you also get to shuffle your library. Multi-colored EDH decks should all be powered by the Sphere.
1	Darksteel Ingot	An indestructible source of any colored mana from the Mirrodin era.
1	Executioner's Capsule	The capsule, or rather mini-claymore, allows you to destroy a non-black creature. Not stealthy, but very effective removal.
1	Obelisk of Grixis	The obelisk can generate U, B or R mana, which is incidentally what this deck needs. Coincidence? I think not.
Non-Basic Lands
1	Bad River	Mirage fetchland that let's you search for an island or swamp and put it onto the battlefield. Comes into play tapped, not so much of an issue in an EDH deck.
1	Barren Moor	Comes onto the battlefield tapped, can be tapped for B, or can be cycled from your hand for B.
1	Cinder Marsh	Tempestuous land, which can be tapped for 1, or can be tapped for B or R and then doesn't untap next turn.
1	City of Brass	The mother of all pain lands, can be tapped for one of any color mana ... and does 1 damage to you. Starting at 40 life means you can take a bit of pain for the greater good.
1	Crumbling Necropolis	This Shards of Alara tri-land comes onto the battlefield tapped, and there after can be tapped for U, B or R.
1	Dark Depths	This Coldsnap land always elicits the Johnny Bravo response when it hits the battlefield "Whoa Mama!". It comes into play with 10 ice counters on it, these counters can be removed by paying 3 per counter, when there are no more counters the now defrosted Avatar Marit Lage joins the fray. He is a black 20/20 legendary flying creature token ... oh yes, he is *indestructible* too!
1	Dimir Aqueduct	Ravnica gave us this very handy cycle of common lands which enter the battlefield tapped, require you to return a land to your hand and then, in the case of the Aqueduct, tap for UB.
1	Forgotten Cave	Comes onto the battlefield tapped, can be tapped for R, or can be cycled from your hand for R.
1	Grixis Panorama	Another land from the Shards of Alara, this time a common fetch land, a fetch land with a difference. It can either be tapped for 1, or for 1 and a sac allows you to search your library for either an island, a swamp or a mountain and put it onto the battlefield tapped. Shuffling your deck is then also required.
1	Izzet Boilerworks	The Guildpact continued the Ravnica trend by giving us this very handy cycle of common lands which enter the battlefield tapped, require you to return a land to your hand and then, in the case of the Boilerworks, tap for UR.
1	Lonely Sandbar	Comes onto the battlefield tapped, can be tapped for U, or can be cycled from your hand for U.
1	Minamo, School at Water's Edge	This land of legend from Kamigawa either taps for U, or by spenind U and tapping it allows you to untap target legendary permanent.
1	Rakdos Carnarium	Dissension also continued the Ravnica trend by giving us this very handy cycle of common lands which enter the battlefield tapped, require you to return a land to your hand and can tap for BR.
1	Rocky Tar Pit	Another Mirage fetchland that let's you search for a mountain or swamp and put it onto the battlefield. Comes into play tapped, a downside we can live with.
1	Rootwater Depths	Another land from Tempest, which can be tapped for 1, or can be tapped for U or B and then doesn't untap next turn.
1	Rupture Spire	Probably the best common from COnflux, this land enters the battlefield tapped, if you do not pay 1 when it enters the battlefield you have to sacrifice it. Once the dust has settled this land can then be tapped for 1 mana of any color.
1	School of the Unseen	One of the few playables from Alliances, this land can either be tapped for 1, or by spending 2 and tapping it you get to add 1 mana of any color to your mana pool.
1	Shinka, the Bloodsoaked Keep	Kamigawa is also home of this legendary land. The Keep can either be tapped for R, or by spending R and tapping you can give target legendary creature first strike until end of turn. Legends abound in this deck, and some of them could use any advantage they could get. A first striking Nicol Bolas is also rather fearsome.
1	Tainted Isle	This tormented land can either be tapped for 1, or if you control a swamp it can be tapped for either U or B. Very handy indeed!
1	Terramorphic Expanse	One of the premier fetchlands. Tap it and sacrifice it to search your libray for a basic land and put it onto the battlefield tapped. All of this, and it is a common to boot!
1	Urborg Volcano	This land from the planes of Invasion, comes into play tapped. From then on it can be tapped to add either B or R to your mana pool.
Basic Lands
6	Swamp
6	Mountain
6	Island

Watch this space for some EDH goodness ...

2009-09-15T10:56:00.000+02:00

The lack of posts will be rectified tomorrow when I regale you all with the goodness that is my Nicol Bolas Elder Dragon Highlander (a.k.a. EDH) deck. As the deck is much larger than a 60 card deck the creation of the post is taking longer. This one post you will not want to miss, and hopefully provide me with some feedback.

Monday Night Magic

2009-09-10T12:35:00.001+02:00

A while ago while trying to get into, for me, the relatively unknown world of the podcast, as I had received an iPod Touch as a birthday gift, I stumbled on to the best Magic related podcast around ... Monday Night Magic! The podcast is available from the MTGCast website and has a variety of hosts. The team is led by Tom Gustafson (a.k.a. Papa Bear) who is the resident Ooze, Imp, Pauper Magic and Battle Cattle proponent. Also present are two regular Pro Tour players, Gavin Verhey and Conley Woods, who provide much valuable insight into the game from seriously competitive players. Both of these guys write regular columns on other Magic related websites like StarCityGames, TCGPlayer and ChannelFireball (which is the home of the infamous LSV). There are other co-hosts like Jack from North Carolina (I think we should call him "The Magic Whisperer"), Eric and Steve. The additional co-hosts represent the casually minded players amongst us and are very into playing EDH (Elder Dragon Highlander) and social, kitchen table Magic. The shows are always entertaining and are one of the highlight's of my week. So much so, that the first thing I do on a Tuesday morning, apart from waking up and having a shower, is to download the show from the previous night. Being in South Africa makes it difficult to listen to it live :( ... I prefer the downloads anyway as I can keep copies of the show backed up for prosperity.

They are a great bunch of guys who produce an awesome show. I cannot recommend it more highly.

PS: You can also download it through iTunes.

T-Mare Wumpii

2009-09-09T13:38:00.002+02:00

Red and green creature feature decks have always been one of my favorites, going all the way back to revised when I played a deck with Fire Elementals and Craw Wurms. This deck also featured combat tricks like Giant Growth. Mana acceleration came in the form of Llanowar Elves and Wild Growth. Lightning Bolt, Disintegrate and Fireball added the direct damage component and, after being ripped off as noob in a trade, a lone Shivan Dragon was added to be the big finish. What the deck lacked in subtlety it more than made up for in sheer brute strength. The size and number of creatures you threw in front of your opponent, and the amount of direct damage you could aim directly at the face, usually ended up being too much for even the hardiest of opponents to handle.

Which bring us to this beaut! Not the most subtle of decks, it does not even have a win/loss ratio worthy of mentioning ... but what it does have, and it has it in spades, is the fun factor! When all is said and done this is, was, and always should be the primary reason to play this most wonderous of games ... having fun! Social magic is the foundation from which the Pro Tour was built, and social magic is what keeps the game growing. Magic is the ultimate Survivor in the world of TCG's, it has outwitted, outlasted and outplayed every single other pretender to it's throne.

Ok, enough of the "philosophizing" and onto the deck ...

The idea to build this deck came during one of my many attempts to get my collection organized. This for me is an ongoing and ever present conundrum, how to sort my collection and how to store it. I currently use a combination of shoe boxes, freezer storage containers and flip files. Seems like this blog posting is going to be littered with my being sidetracked, I promise to try and keep this to a minimum. In my neck of the woods we have no suppliers of nifty, strengthened cardboard containers capable of holding 5,000 cards, so we have to make a plan.

When I stumbled across the Timbermare and the Thundermare I knew that I had to build this deck. If you find them, you will build a deck (apologies to Kevin Costner). They idea became more of a reality when, during the same collection rationaliztion exercise, I stumbled across the Wumpii. 6/6 beasts with a converted mana cost of 4 are bargains at the price in my opinion. Their drawbacks lead to the fun in playing the deck. I drop Leatherface and ... my opponent drops a Raging Goblin VERSUS I drop Leatherface and ... my opponent drops Hypnox. You never know what is coming! You obviously hope that it is the Raging Goblin entering the battlefield and not the horror of a nightmare. The Wumpii are very underrated and deserve to be played more by us casual players.

The other creatures in the deck are there for the sole purpose of adding muscle ... with the exception of the Jungle Weaver and his cycling potential. Loamdragger Giant and Phantom Wurm round out the heavies. There are no one drop or two drop critters as they do not fit the theme of the deck. What I wanted for this deck was huge creatures ... and ways to make them humungous!

The supporting spells for this deck fall into three categories: mana acceleration and production, direct or damage to creatures and creature boosting effects. The ability to give the already huge creatures trample, while it may seem like overkill to some, allowed certain spells (and lands for that matter) to force their way into this deck. There is nothing quite like feeling you get after announcing that Leatherface and his Shivan cousin are going into the red zone and then boosting one of them after blockers have been declared with Epic Proportions. The feeling you sometimes get after seeing the expression on your opponent's face after pulling it off comes a very close second.

Here it is, in all it's RG goodness, my friend T-Mare Wumpii!

#	Card name	Comments
2	Timbermare	A 5/5 elemental elemental nasty that only costs 3G to bring onto the battlefield, taps all other critters on entry into the fray and has haste, has echo too ... whoo hoo!
2	Thundermare	A 5/5 thundermare nasty with haste and taps all other critters when he enters the battlefield, he costs 5R to cast, more than his green buddy but no echo cost.
4	Hunted Wumpus	Big, green 6/6 beast wearing a Texas Chainsaw Massacre mask for only 3G, let's each opponent put a creature onto he battlefield when he blunders in
4	Shivan Wumpus	Big, red, 6/6 trampling beast for 3R, if an opponents sac's a land when he rolls onto the battlefield, he goes back to the top of your library
4	Jungle Weaver	An awfully big and ugly 5/6 spider with reach, that and the fact he cycles for 2 makes him really useful
2	Loamdragger Giant	More muscle for the deck comes in the form of this 7/6 giant warrior who has no other redeeming qualities whatsoever
1	Phantom Wurm	A rather average sized wurm of the phantom variety, which makes him rather difficult to kill, other than that I only have 1 and always wanted to play him
4	Savage Twister	A good old friend from Mirage, XRG and all creatures are savagely twisted for X, works for me
4	Search for Tomorrow	This deck needs lots of mana and this suspend card fills the role of land fetcher with aplomb
1	Petrified Plating	The creatures in this deck may already be big, but making them even bigger is lots of fun
4	Branching Bolt	Shards of Alara gave us this beauty which for only 1RG does either 3 points of damage to either a walking or a flying creature ... oh yes, or both
2	Epic Proportions	In a flash target creatures gets bigger to the tune of +5/+5 and earns the right to trample over any potential blockers ... squish!
1	Talisman of Impulse	Mirrodin gave us these very useful artifact mana sources, either tap for 1 or take a point of pain and tap for either R or G
2	Chromatic Sphere	A 1 drop artifact which can, when preceded by tapping one mana and offering it up as a sacrifice, provide you with 1 mana of any color ... and a card draw
2	Gruul Turf	Comes into play tapped, return a land you control to your hand ... thereafter it can be tapped to add RG to your mana pool
2	Skarrg, the Rage Pits	Taps for 1 colorless, or RG and tap gives target creature +1/+1 and trample, Guildpact's version of a mosh pit
8	Mountain	The ultimate source of red mana
11	Forest	The de facto standard when it comes to the production of green mana

NOTE: As an addendum to this post I would like to say a huge thank you to some people out there (you know who you all are) who have been very supportive and have donated cards to myself and traded with me to enable the building of decks like the one above. Magic monies are scarce and I am not going to go into details as to why. If anyone would like discuss these issues with me, please feel free to drop me an email, or post a comment. Thank you again to the Magic playing community at large, we are an awesome bunch of people!

... and this is what they look like!!!

2009-09-08T17:34:00.001+02:00

ZENDIKAR's Planeswalkers

2009-09-08T08:18:00.003+02:00

In the immortal words of Darren "Whackhead" Simpson (a South African phone prankster) "Oh my Greatness!". It has only been the first day of the official Zendikar spoilers, excluding those already spoiled at other websites, and boy am I impressed. Even more so after reading Mark Rosewater's article explaining the evolution the "land set" (a.k.a Landsapalooza - hopefully no-one reads this as lands up a loser :) ). This has always been an under utilized area of the design space. I also always wondered why there was never more focus placed on making lands a central theme in a set. I was more impressed with myself when Mark Rosewater mentioned that this was an idea he had had quite a while ago too. Ok I will stop beating my chest for now and get on to the discussion at hand ... the Zendikar cards!!!

Let's start with the Planeswalkers. I will be discussing Zendikar further in future blog postings.

According to the Zendikar Orb of Insight, there are only 3 planeswalkers in the set ... and all of them have been officially spoiled already. If they are signs of things to come in this set, then I am incredibly excited about what the next two weeks of previews is going to reveal.

First and foremost we have Sorin Markov. The fantastic art leads us to believe that he is a vampiric planeswalker. At a casting cost of 3BBB it appears quite expensive for a planeswalker with an initial loyalty count of 4. His abilities more than make up for it. The first +2 ability deals 2 damage to target creature or player and you gain 2 life ... nothing wrong with that ... and fits in with in the vampire flavor. The second -3 ability allows you to set target opponent's life total to 10. Handy in EDH and handy when facing pesky critters like Soul Warden, Essence Warden and the ever popular elf, Wellwisher. Nice! Are you ready to hear about his big ability? I hope so because it is magnanimous in the extreme. By removing 7 loyalty counters (-7) you get to take control of target player's next turn. That's right ... their next turn to do with as you please. A re-usable Mindslaver.

Speaking of elves, the next of the planeswalkers is Nissa Revane. In plain and simple Adam Sandler-esque english this card is wicked-sick!!! And I mean wicked-sick in the best, most awesome of ways. She is a 2GG casting cost elvish-looking planeswalker who comes into play with 2 loyalty counters, would have preferred 3. Much like Elspeth, Knight-Errant, her first two abilities are plus (+) abilities. The first (+1) allows you to search your library for a card named Nissa's Chosen and put it onto the battlefield and then shuffle your library. Nissa's Chosen is a an elvish warrior who gets put at the bottom of it's owners library instead of into the graveyard. The second (+1) gains you 2 life for each elf you control ... as if elf players needed more ways to gain life! Her big ability is the one which fills my veins with fear and excitement at the same time. For the low, low price of -7 you get to search your library for any number of elf cards and put them onto the battlefield, and then shuffle your library. This is just scary!!! I am not yet sure whether this will have any serious constructed play due to the number of turns needed to fire this one off. One card I am wondering when, or if, we will ever see is card which allows you to add (or remove) loyalty counters from a planeswalker. The artwork on this card is STUNNING!

And last but not least, we have the latest incarnation of Chandra Nalaar, named Chandra Ablaze. Chandra was regarded as the worst, least playable member of the first crop of planeswalkers. She may not have seen much constructed play, but boy oh boy have I seen her influence the outcome of more than one casual chaos game ... and even the odd EDH game too! Chandra Ablaze looks set to follow in her earlier incarnations footsteps. She costs 4RR to cast and comes into play with 5 loyalty counters. Her first ability (+1) allows you to discard a card, and if that discarded card was R, Chandra Ablaze deals 4 damage to target creature or player. Her second ability (-2) mandates each player discard their hands and then draw 3 cards. A mini Wheel of Fortune. In the case of Chandra Ablaze, her big ability is certainly a case of the best being kept for last. By removing a measly 7 (-7) loyalty counters, you get to replay any number of R instant and/or sorcery cards from your graveyard WITHOUT paying their mana costs. Even better than that is the fact that they go back into your graveyard so that you can do it all again. Pity about the artwork though ... not the best IMHO.

Keep watching the previews, this set looks like a good one!

Bring me to life (apologies to Evanesence)

2009-09-03T08:29:00.000+02:00

Not only am I a huge Magic the Gathering fan, I am also a huge fan of the rock genre (including just about all of it's numerous and wonderously named sub-genres). While listening to Evanesence this morning I revelled in the amazing voice of Amy Lee belting out their classic "Bring me to life", and thought that this would be a more than appropriate time to introduce you all to the wonders of my reanimation deck. The deck was inspired by numerous other decks of the ilk I have seen on the "interweb". Throw big creatures into your graveyard, on purpose, and then bring them back to life to throw in your opponents general direction when they are least able to deal with them. Sounds like a winning plan ... well at least I think so!

Part 1: Firstly we need to choose a selection of really big, ugly and nasty critters to use and abuse in a deck where we will never actually hard-cast them, rather we will be interring them and then bringing them back to life (just like the song says).

The beauties we have chosen to fill this role are headed up by a quartet of dragons. Heading the bunch is the Worldgorger Dragon, a 7/7 flying, trampling nightmare wonder who has the tiny downside of removing all other permanents from play on your side when he enters the battlefield. As this is a reanimation deck, this will usually not be as disastrous as it may sound, not forgetting that they all come back when he buys the farm. Next we have Teneb, the Harvester from Planar Chaos. While he flies ... and is a 6/6 ... he has another string to his bow too. Once he deals damage to an opponent you may spend 2B and bring a creature from any graveyard onto the battlefield under your control. The much maligned Kamigawa block brings us our next two dragonesque meanies. Firstly Kokusho, the Evening Star and secondly his good friend Ryusei, the Falling Star. They are both 5/5 flying dragons who each have a nasty bonus when they die. Each opponent loses 5 life and you gain life equal to amount lost by opponents in this way (Kokusho), while the other deals 5 damage to each creature without flying (Ryusei).

Onto the rest of the crew. Up next we have the Excruciator. What a cool name, what an awesome avatar all the way from the heart of Ravnica. He is a 7/7 walking damage machine, oh that and the fact that his damage cannot be prevented. Any avatar with a huge piercing stinger for an arm deserves to be reanimated. Last but least the big creature awesomeness is rounded off by the Plated Slagwurm. A huge 8/8 wurm from the Tangle of Mirrodin, who cannot be targeted by spells or abilites controlled by your opponents. Big critters FTW!!!

Part 2: The second part of the plan would be the task of getting the hideously large and difficult to to deal with critters into the 'yard. To aid us in this endeavor we use Buried Alive, Sickening Dreams and Smallpox. Our other, and probably most fiendish, means of dumping goodies into the graveyard would be the Stinkweed Imp. The Stinkweed Imp is a rather innocuous little 1/2 flyer with deathtouch. While this may seem a bit weak, his second ability rises to the fore. DREDGE 5! If he is in your graveyard and you would draw a card, you may instead put exactly 5 cards from the top of you library into your graveyeard and then put him into your hand. Do you see know how amazingly well he fits into this deck? His impish friend the Putrid Imp brings other skills to the party. You may pitch a card from your hand to give him flying ... also aids in filling the graveyard. Nice! That and the fact that he gets +1/+1 and can't block when you have threshold. All this for the low, low casting cost of B.

Part 3: Now on to the last piece of the puzzle, how do we get all these heavy hitters onto the battlefield? Strange you should ask, I have the answers right here! Let's start off with the one and only Doomed Necromancer. A 2/2 cleric willing to give his life for the team. By spending B, tapping him and sending him off the the graveyard in a blaze of selfless sacrfice, you earn the privilege of returning a creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield. Now we get to spell-based reanimation spells. Heading the list we have the best (IMHO) of the bunch ... Zombify. A 3B casting cost sorcery which allows you to return a creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield ... no hidden costs ... no downside ... awesome. He is ably assisted by Dread Return a 2BB sorcery which in essence does the same as Zombify, the only real difference is in that the casting costs required one more B mana. In a straight B deck that should not be a problem. Oh yes, before I forget, he has flashback so you can use the spell again ... not that you should ever need to. And lastly we have the cheapest of any of the reanimation spells, whether they are in this deck or not, Reanimate. This incredulous beauty from Tempest, allows you to put a creature from any graveyard onto the battlefield under your control for only one single, measly, miniscule, tiny B mana. That and the fact that you lose life equal to the converted mana cost of the creature do not detract from the fact that this spell is amazingly efficient.

And now on to the deck itself...

#	Card Name	Comments
4	Putrid Imp	A one drop critter, who you grant flying by discarding, a good way to get the big dudes into the graveyard
2	Stinkweed Imp	A flying deathtouch imp, with Dredge 5 which fills the graveyeard quickly, wish I had 4 of 'em for this deck
4	Doomed Necromancer	Always willing to take one for the team, bringing back a bomb from the graveyard, a veritable MVP in this deck
1	Kokusho, the Evening Star	Big, nasty flying dragon, steals 5 life from opponents when he dies, 'nuff said
1	Ryusei, the Falling Star	Big, nasty flying dragon, does 5 damage to all walking ceatures when he dies, more'n 'nuff said
1	Worldgorger Dragon	An even bigger, nasty flying dragon, with a really immaterial downside
2	Teneb, the Harvester	Another big, nasty dragon who after dealing damage to an opponent allows you to put a creature from *any* graveyard onto the battlefield under your control
1	Excruciator	A huge dude with a really pointy stinger for an arm whose damage cannot be prevented, excruciatingly fun
2	Plated Slagwurm	A humungous wurm who can't be targeted by your opponents, scary
4	Buried Alive	Gets any 3 volunteers from your library and puts them in your graveyeard
4	Smallpox	In a deck like this a little bit of nastiness just spices things up, and dumps another volunteer into your graveyard
4	Zombify	Gets one of your dead and buried dudes and unburies and undeads them straight back onto the battlefield
3	Dread Return	Another way to return your dead dudes to the battlefield ... and it has flashback, so you can do it again!
2	Reanimate	The cheapest reanimation spell in the deck, just costs you a little bit life, very worthwhile
1	Sickening Dreams	Discard X cards as an additonal cost, to do X damage to all creatures and players, boardsweeper deluxe, need 3 more ... sigh
4	Dark Ritual	Mana acceleration is always a good thing
1	Miren, the Moaning Well	A source of colorless mana as well as a way to sacrifice critteres to gain life equal to their toughness
19	Swamp	While also the name of a song by Talking Heads, these are your primary mana source, may be a bit light here, haven't had any problems yet

The new Wizards Communty website ...

2009-09-01T17:50:00.000+02:00

Just took a turn past the new Wizards Community website and attempted to create a blog there with an eye to moving this blog to the Mothership. What a disappointment!

The blog posting looks terrible once published, while it looks awesome in the preview mode.

I am therefor going to be keeping this blog going as Blogger does everything I need with consummate ease ... and then some! Once they have the community site sorted I may look at it again.

Until then please keep coming back and reading my postings. I really do appreciate any and all comments.

The Crux of Things

2009-09-01T08:42:00.000+02:00

A while ago while playing a pre-release, and while busy enjoying a round 1 bye, I was searching through the freebies box. A box of cards one of our local card suppliers would bring along to events containing all their excess cards. These cards were for general consumption for the magnanimous price of FREE. This was always a treasure trove for those of us with limited, or non-existent budgets. On this particular day I stumbled across four, that's right FOUR, copies of Primalcrux. One had been damaged by it's previous owner having stamped the front of the card, but hey it is for social play so no harm done. At first glance the card seemed strange and rather narrow in application. But when locating copies 2, 3 and 4 ideas begun to form. This large green colored mana-intensice elemental beastie was begging and pleading for a deck to call home. He is after all a GGGGGG casting cost elemental who tramples and has his power and toughness equal to the number of G mana symbols in the casting costs of permanents you control. That means he enters the battlefield as a 6/6 ... and did I forget to mention earlier that he tramples.

The heavy green mana cost meant a straight green deck ... a firm favorite of mine any way so no problems there. We then needed a supporting cast, and none more ably fills that roll than the Nacatl War-Pride. Another green critter with numerous G's in it's casting cost. Oh yes, he brings with him the added bonus of making copies of himself whenever he attacks. COPIES! That means they may be tokens BUT they have a casting cast equivalent to that of the War-Pride. Each copy of the War-Pride tokens boosts the Primalcrux to often monumental proportions.

Right, now on to the supporting cast. Root Elemental another large green beast that when he morphs allows you to put a creature card from your hand into play. A nifty combat trick, or a nice piece of tech to be used at the end of your opponent's turn when he least expects it. Morph Root Elemental putting Primalcrux onto the battlefield ... NICE! That and the fact that I have had two of them becoming restless in the "never been used in a deck" pile. Ancient Ooze, and I love Ooze's, has his power and toughness equal to the total converted mana cost of other creatures you control. The tokens from the War-Pride make him insanely huge too. Next comes the Swiss Army Knife of any green deck ... Krosan Tusker. Cycling and land fetching green based decks into card advantage heaven since Onslaught block. He is a must-have and automatic 4-of for this deck. Late game he becomes a 6/5 beatstick to boot.

Next up we have the glue which holds the deck together. Starting with the point eared elvish contingent. What an astounding tribe, they bring more tricks to the party than Ronald McDonald. The Krosan Drover drops the casting cost of creature spells with a converted mana cost of 6 or more by 2 (colorless). When the Fierce Empath enters the battlefield he allows you to search your library for a creature with a converted mana cost of 6 or more and put it in your hand ... and get a bonus shuffle thrown into the bargain. The third of the elves is the Wirewood Herald. Why he gives his life for the greater good he allows you to search your library for one of his compadres and put it in your hand. These three together add a huge amount to the deck. The last of the elvish family calling this deck home is the Elvish Warrior a 2/3 for GG. The GG casting cast helps with the Primalcrux and the 2/3 body makes for a really good early game blocker and beatdown delivery mechanism.

And last but not least, the icing on the cake, the last chocolate in the box, the cherry on top, the coup de grace, the utility cards. The spells that give the deck a little bit more bite. Firstly we have Overgrowth, an Enchant Land card that gives the controller of the land an extra GG in their mana pool whenever the enchanted land is tapped. This deck is very heavy on the casting costs, especially on it's G mana requiremnets so every little bit helps. Next we have the most fun oriented card in the deck ... Mercy Killing ... a Shadowmoor instant that turns a big creature into a while bunch of little 1/1 elves. Much fun when preceding our last utility card. Overrun. Overrrun deservant of a home in all green creature-based decks since ... well ... forever. All creatures you control get +3/+3 and trample until end of turn. We have loads of willing combatants in this deck who could benefit from the boost and the trample.

This deck may not be the fastest out of the starting gates, but give it a chance and you'll see that every once in a while you draw the nuts and then the deck flies. I have had a blast every time I have played this deck in both multi-player and single-player games.

#	Card Name	Comments
3	Wirewood Herald	Great early game blocker who when he dies and lets you search up one of his family members.
4	Elvish Warrior	A very decent 2/3 beatstick whose GG casting cost greatly aids the Primalcrux.
4	Fierce Empath	When he comes into play he allows you to fetch one of the deck's heavy hitters.
4	Krosan Drover	Drops the casting cost of all the deck's heavy hitters by 2 colorless, very very handy indeed!
2	Nacatl War-Pride	A 3/3 cat with GGG in it's casting cost, AND he makes copies of himself when he attacks, copies who boost the Primalcrux.
2	Root Elemental	A big 6/5 elemental beater, who allows you to drop another of your heavy hitters into play when he morphs.
4	Krosan Tusker	Cycles, searches for lands .. what more could you ask for? Well, how about a nice 6/5 body to back it up!
3	Ancient Ooze	Grows bigger with all of the high casting cast goodies, fits nicely in this deck.
4	Primalcrux	The superhero in this deck, the lightbulb card, even his artwork gives you an idea of his awesomeness.
4	Overgrowth	Add GG to your mana pool whenever enchanted land is tapped, oh yes, and it's casting cost boosts the Primalcrux.
2	Overrun	As if the creatures in this deck needed any help, this boosts all your creatures by +3/+3 ... and gives them trample.
2	Mercy Killing	Kills something and makes lots of loveely little elf tokens, tokens who love being covered in Overrun goodness.
22	Forest	You can't see the Forest for the trees...

I would really appreciate any and all feedback. Thanks for reading this posting.

Booster Draft Simulator 24 August 2009

2009-08-25T09:40:00.002+02:00

As a bonus for this week I am posting a draft I completed on the Wizard's Booster Draft Simulator. This is a 3 x M10 booster draft. What do you guys think of the selections I made? Sorry for the lack of card links, it takes a long time to add them and time is something that is in rather short supply at the moment.

Pack #1	Pack #2	Pack #3
Silence	Serra Angel	Elite Vanguard
Snapping Drake	Mind Control	Armored Ascension
Essence Scatter	Harm's Way	Veteran Swordsmith
Razorfoot Griffin	Divination	Stormfront Pegasus
Blinding Mage	Prodigal Pyromancer	Tome Scour
Ponder	Griffin Sentinel	Horned Turtle
Stormfront Pegasus	Stormfront Pegasus	Negate
Duress	Righteousness	Tome Scour
Negate	Duress	Wall of Faith
Lifelink	Tome Scour	Raging Goblin
Flashfreeze	Negate	Alluring Siren
Solemn Offering	Raging Goblin	Holy Strength
Convincing Mirage	Tome Scour	Kraken's Eye
Swamp	Shatter	Forest
Mountain	Plains	Forest

Kites of Glass

2009-08-24T13:42:00.001+02:00

The Kamigawa block has over the years received more hate than what I, in my most humble of opinions, feel that it deserves. The block may not have had an insane number of awesomely powerful cards, except for maybe Gifts Ungiven and Sensei's Divining Top, but what it lacked in that area it more than made up for in the themes, subthemes and tribal goodness that casual players, like myself, thrive on.

Being an avid consumer of all that is a Kung Fu, Karate or martial arts movie in general (except for those "masterpieces" starring Messers Norris and Seagal), the ability to now build decks with Ninja and Samurai was and still is a real blast. Equipping a Samurai with No-Dachi, or a Ninja with Shuriken, really gave the kid in me a kick. Speaking of kicks, a creature with a roundhouse kick attack would have been sweet :)

The Akki, Orochi, Nezumi and other tribes all added to the flavor of the set, and I did really relish the opportunity to play decks not featuring cards with names containing the good old fashioned Elf, Goblin and Rat. These names while they still featured on the type and subtype were not present along side the casting cost and this was a change I really welcomed.

The tribes of the Kamigawa block gave rise to some of the most fun tribally themed decks I have ever built and played. Have no fear, these decks will feature in this blog at some stage. But for now I am going to present you a straight blue deck built arounds the Glasskite creatures. The three main heroes of this deck are the Shimmering Glasskite, the Jetting Glasskite and Kira, Great Glass-Spinner. These three creatures are all flying blue creatures of different sizes that share a rather unique ability: whenever they become the target of a spell or ability for the first time in a turn, counter that spell or ability. Sweet! But wait, there's more ... Kira, Great Glass-Spinner grants this ability to all of your creatures. These three creatures really screamed out to have a deck built around them.

What I came up with is presented to you below in it's latest incarnation featuring some new additions in the form of Fatespinner, Forced Fruition and Memory Erosion. While all of the latest additions may seem like strange additions to the deck, they all serve to aid in the protection of the Glasskites. That and the fact that they make the deck even more fun to play. Nothing makes a deck more fun to play that watching your opponent squirm.

#	Card Name	Comments
4	Shimmering Glasskite	The baby Glasskite, a 2/3 flyer with it's nifty evasion ability.
2	Jetting Glasskite	Th heavy hitter in the family, a 4/4 flyer with the same nifty evasion ability.
2	Kira, Great Glass-Spinner	The Mommy of the family, while she may only be a 2/2 flyer, she grants all your creatures the Glasskite ability ... nice!
3	Floating-Dream Zubera	Early game cannon fodder, nets you a card when he dies, more if he dies with his zubera compadres.
1	Rushing-Tide Zubera	Mid game cannon fodder, nets you 3 cards if he takes 4 or more for the team.
2	Callous Deceiver	A nice blocker, which allows you to keep an eye on your top card and on occasion leaps into the air for some flying protection.
3	Drift of Phantasms	A 0/5 flying defernder for only 1UU ... that and the fact he has Transmute!
3	Fatespinner	Which of your opponents phases does he really not need ... this lady forces him to choose.
2	Memory Erosion	Whenever an opponent plays a spell, they mill 2.
2	Forced Fruition	Whenever an opponent plays a spell, they draw 7.
2	Foresee	Scry 4, and draw 2, this all for the low, low cost of 3U ... that and a very literal name to boot.
4	Wash Out	Send all permanents of a chosen color to their controller's hand ... mega-bounce!
4	Oona's Grace	Draw a card, then retrace late game dumping the excess islands in your hand. I really like this card.
4	Counterspell	Counter anything ... 'nuff said!
23	Island	Islands in the stream ...

Ka-BOOM!

2009-08-21T09:06:00.003+02:00

And now for something completely different ... a deck built with cards that I would have less then a snowballs chance of ever owning. But the deck I have built I have played in numerous duels since construction. To put you all out of your collective misery, this deck was constructed and played in the Microprose Magic the Gathering computer simulation released a good number of years ago.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I have made many good friends from all over the world thanks to email, news lists and the internet in general. One of the people (initials WB Jnr.) from Washington sent me the original game and its expansions as birthday gifts. Apart from Football Manager, this is the computer game I have played more than any other. Abe Sergeant over at StarCityGames is also a big fan and has written an amazing suite of articles on Shandalar and the decks and opponents you will encounter while questing there.

As an interesting aside the AI for the Microprose Magic game was designed and coded in conjunction with Sid Meier, the man behind Civilization and many other fantastic strategy games. From what I rememer, I believe that this marvellous computer game has now enterd the realm of "abandonware" amd can downloaded for free ... at no cost ... por nada. Using Google to find a site with a download is not too difficult, if you have any problems please feel free to drop me an email and I'll help you out.

And now on to the deck...

This deck is a direct damage dealing supremo! I have played the deck in three gauntlets of 10 (best of 3) matches against AI opponents set to the highest difficulty level ... even playing for ante in the last gauntlet ... and have never lost a match. It is such fun being able to play with the power 9 and the other cards us mere mortals will never own, let alone even see in cardboard form.

#	Card Name	Comments
1	Wheel of Fortune	All players discard their hands and draws a new grip ... amazing with Fork!
4	Lightning Bolt	"Bolt for 3" ... now a standard Magic term again.
3	Mana Flare	Add 1 extra mana to your pool whenever you tap a land, this deck is very hungry for mana so this is a must.
3	Fireball	Do I really need to extol the virtues of this card to you all?
1	Fork	Copy an instant or sorcery for RR ... at interrupt speed.
3	Disintegrate	A nice R X-spell, also prevents a creature from regenerating.
1	Ali from Cairo	Whenever your life total drops below 1, Ali sets it back to 1. What a trooper!
2	Aladdin's Ring	Converts 8 mana into a tap and a ping for 4.
3	Gauntlet of Might	All mountains tap for RR and all red creatures get +1/+1.
4	Howling Mine	Accelerates the drawing of cards ... man do I wish I had four of these in cardboard.
2	Icy Manipulator	The super-tapper on a stick.
3	Meekstone	Any creature with power greater than 2 does not untap as normal.
1	Nevinyrral's Disk	Larry Niven FTW!.
4	Rocket Launcher	The deck's throw-away machine gun.
1	Sol Ring	Tap for 2, costs 1 to cast, no wonder they stopped printing this beauty.
1	Library of Alexandria	Tap for 1 or tap for a draw if you have seven cards in hand, an AMAZING card.
2	Mishra's Workshop	Tap for 3 only usable to cast artifacts ... funny but this deck has a fair number of those.
1	Black Lotus	This card is just so awesome, that my comments whatever they may be, will be unworthy.
1	Mox Emerald	0 casting cost artifact that taps for G. 'Nuff said!
1	Mox Jet	0 casting cost artifact that taps for B. Respect!
1	Mox Pearl	0 casting cost artifact that taps for W. Kudos!
1	Mox Ruby	0 casting cost artifact that taps for R. Props!
1	Mox Sapphire	0 casting cost artifact that taps for U. Word to your deck!
15	Mountains	Climb every mountain ...

Ka-BOOM.dck download link

Skirk Bomb

2009-08-18T10:50:00.003+02:00

Today's deck is going to be another of my old favorites, especially for multiplayer. It is a WR concoction revolving around the Skirk Fire Marshal! With lots of other little Furt's floating around in the deck, there is plenty of opportunity for mass destruction and general havoc. I have been playing this deck since Onslaught, in it's various incarnations, and have enjoyed playing it every single time. The look on players faces when you not only do 10 damage to all creatures on the battlefield ... but also to all players. And now on to the deck contents:

#	Card Name	Comments
3	Skirk Fire Marshal	The big kahuna, the head honcho, public enemy #1, he blows stuff up ... well that is everything except himself, equip him with a Spirit Link and in a multiplayer game your life total can become quite astronomical
4	Goblin Goon	Some good, cheap muscle and playing Goblins you should always be having more creatures than an opponent
4	Gempalm Incinerator	Provides some card draw and some direct damage
3	Goblin Warchief	Make goblins cheaper and gives them all haste, especially useful with the Sparksmith
4	Sparksmith	A red Tim on steroids, also a good candidate for a Spirit Link, draws all kinds of other hate from opponents ... which means less aimed at the Skirk Fire Marshal
4	Goblin Lookout	Some early protection and booster for when we need to switch to a beatdown strategy
4	Goblin Sledder	I think this may just be Furt as mentioned in the flavor text of the Goblin Lookout
4	Spirit Link	Gain life from your direct damage dealers, very necessary in this deck
3	Renewed Faith	Gain life late game, use this for cycling in the early game
4	Life Burst	Gain life, more each time you cast it
2	Kusari-Gama	This piece of equipment adds the nuisance factor to the deck, does not matter which of the strategies you decide to emplay
2	Secluded Steppe	Provides white mana and cycles late game when you should have enough Plains
5	Plains
14	Mountain

The following cards would also be handy additions to the deck if you have them.

Chandra Nalaar
Fireball
Goblin Artillery
Lightning Bolt
Siege-Gang Commander
Ib Halfheart, Goblin Tactician
Goblin Assault
Lightning Crafter
Spirit Loop
Austere Command
Incendiary Command
Fortune Thief
Sulfurous Blast

I hope that other players out there can get as much enjoyment out of this deck as I have and still do!

How it all started ...

2009-08-17T08:19:00.003+02:00

Shortly after Revised was released, just after Unlimited (damn ... missed this one), I was introduced to a new card game called Magic the Gathering. I was introduced to the game by a friend of mine, Ryan, who is now my brother in law. He, myself and another friend all went out and splurged on a starter deck. We played these 60 random cards as they appeared in the box and learned the rules as went along. I had a Fire Elemental, a Tundra and one other completely unspectacular rare amongst the 60. What a ride it has been since then. I have taken two hiatuses from the game, but have always come back. I have sold my collection twice, and have regretted it terribly each time, but have still kept coming back to this most brilliant of games.

Magic the Gathering is without a doubt the greatest TCG ever invented!

Along the way, thanks to the advent of the internet, I have made some awesome friends all over the world. The generosity, helpfulness and general friendliness shown by these people to a stranger who they have never met, is unparalleled amongst any other community-based game or hobby. I regret having lost contact with many of these people. You all know who you are. If any of you stumble across this blog please send me an email, I would really like to reconnect with you.

Here is a list of the websites I visit on a regular basis:

Wizards of the Coast Magic website a.k.a. the Mothership

StarCityGames - on-line card shop, has amazing articles, some free content

TCG Player - Magic section - amazing site, COOOOOOOOOOOOOL draft simulator

MTG Cast - Magic-related podcasts, home of Monday Night Magic - the best podcast of 'em all

South African Magic websites:

The Luckhack - on-line card shop, based on Cape Town

Gryphon Games - on-line card shop, based in Bloemfontein

Blowfish Entertainment - South African distributors of Magic

Testing a card link option

2009-08-14T15:03:00.003+02:00

Here's goes something ... let's see if we can get this to work ...

Serra Angel

A link to may favorite Magic card of all time.

I have to admit that I preferred the original Douglas Shuler art to the M10 version.

The new flavor text on the other hand is wicked.

"Her sword sings more beautifully than any choir."

5C Kamigawa Dragons

2009-08-14T12:10:00.004+02:00

For my first posting I would like to share with you all one of my favorite multi player decks. It is a 5 color deck featuring the dragons from Kamigawa. It works surprisingly well and is just all-round fun. These sorts of decks are a challenge to build, a challenge to play but are always well worth the effort. Here goes ...

Creatures

1 x Keiga, the Tide Star

1 x Kokusho, the Evening Star

1 x Yosei, the Morning Star

1 x Jugan, the Rising Star

1 x Ryusei, the Falling Star

2 x Dripping-Tongue Zubera

2 x Floating-Dream Zubera

2 x Ashen-Skin Zubera

2 x Silent-Chant Zubera

2 x Ember-Fist Zubera

2 x Kami of the Hunt