June 19, 2015 by carteblanchehobbies

Naya Landfall Zoo

naya landafall

If you play with a deck of Magic : the Gathering, chances are you are playing lands. This is why i think landfall is good. You get value just from playing lands, which you want to do in most decks. This is a modern Zoo deck that is not really budget, but kind of is because you don’t need any Tarmogoyf.

Pretty straightforward here: you play creatures, you play lands that grow your creatures, you attack with pumped creatures that are probably bigger than your opponent’s. This means we are playing more lands than the usual zoo builds. 23 is fairly high for any aggro deck but think of those as ‘free pump spells’.

arid mesa windswept heat wooded foothills

The Beaters

The landfall creatures include: Steppe Lynx, Plated Geopede and Vinelasher Kudzu. Those are the most efficient ‘landfallers’ available. Kudzu trades explosiveness for more permanent pump. Usually you want to play the plant on turn 3 (before your land drop obviously), because the other creatures provide a higher immediate damage output. It is this deck’s Tarmogoyf. It is more vulnerable to early Bolts and bounce and isn’t as good when top decked, but from experience it can become huge and sometimes outgrow the Goyf.

One thing you have to do when playing this deck is whenever you start flooding, if you don’t have landfallers to pump, keep your lands in your hand so that you may later top deck some of those creatures and have the lands to pump them.

Always a welcome addition!

Knight of the Reliquary is the last pseudo landfall creatures. She works with lands from the graveyard but with all the fetchlands she should get big pretty fast, possibly reaching the 4 toughness threshold to become bolt proof. In this deck you also can solve the dilemma between growing her by activating her ability vs. attacking now, because if you have other landfall critters you can turn her ability into big damage enabler.

Knight can also find key lands. Ghost Quarter can be used on ourself for growing our creatures of destroy important opposing lands. Kessig Wolf Run is very important since we play with less but bigger creatures so Trample is super good. Horizon Canopy compensates for flooding because of the high land count and is a recurring card draw engine with Crucible of Worlds. The Crucible one-of is just better than a 24 th land I think. Aside from Ghost Quarter lock, it guarantees a land drop every turn and allows us to keep lands we draw for future Atarka’s Command land drop.

The rest of the creatures are just typical Zoo stuff. Not much to say about Wild Nacatl and Goblin Guide, they are just efficient beaters (and less importantly, they fit with the flavour of a lands deck). If you want to avoid Goblin Guide because of its price tag, then a case could be made for Hooting Mandrills as a decent alternative.

The non-creature spells

The spells are also mostly typical, Lightning Bolt and Path to Exile are the best at what they do. Atarka’s Command is very spicy in this list. They have quickly become a staple in Zoo and Burn because of their versatility and high potential damage output. This output can be even higher in this deck, making a turn 3 kill more likely than ever before. There are draws were the land drop mode will be very powerful. With the high amount of lands it is quite possible that you have the 4th land to go with the Command on turn 3. If you manage to drop 2 Landfall creatures on the first 2 turns, Command’s land drop option will make the damage output from those creatures explode ! This option is still one of the least used modes, about ex-aequo with the lifegain nullifying mode. When it’s relevent, it can really hurt the opponent a lot and can steal a win or two.

The Sideboard

The sideboard is something that I’m very happy about. It features high impact cards and versatile hate. I love having creatures in my aggro decks sideboard, since we still want to win with critter beats every game. Temur Battle Rage is my favorite card to side in. I play it vs. decks with few removal spells, usually combo decks or decks with lots of creatures. Our creatures can grow big from the pumps so the Rage will likely do some heavy damage, making any blocks pretty bad. The point of playing it is winning a turn earlier and allowing me to race combo decks better thus killing them before they ‘go off’. When playing Rage is worth it, the ferocious ability will be turned on and at that point you can just not worry about lightning bolt, so i often bring it vs. Bolt decks too.

Conclusion

I’ve been on a winning streak with this deck lately, so maybe that makes me think it is better than it truly is. Still, it’s worth a try if you want to play Zoo but don’t own Tarmogoyfs. Compared to small Zoo we have a lower threat density but our threats are bigger and more likely to match the opponent’s board for attacking purposes. The deck is kind of dependent on drawing lands. The weakness would be the variance of that, but not all our threats depend on that. Guide, Nacatl and Knight are fine on their own. And if we don’t draw lands then we should be drawing more spells, right? If you tend to tilt because of mana flooding, this deck could be a good therapy.

Always be happy to draw those lands!

May 12, 2015 by carteblanchehobbies

Ascendancies

ascedancies

A short while back Gerry Thompson mentioned this deck as a unique Standard concoction. One of the local players here pointed out to me that it looked like a blast to play and sent me a link to the list. A short while later, I fell in love with the coolest 4-color suicide aggro deck I had ever seen. I even nicknamed it 16 City of Brass.dec , The mana base is soooo painful but you can almost always cast anything in your hand short of being short. Your regard for your own life total should be non-existent and your focus should be on tapping your lil’ warriors sideways. It’s funny how it’s better than most warrior tribal decks without really focusing on any ‘warriors count’ cards such as Chief of the Edge.

Ascendancies

Standard Format

Creatures: 28
4 Aven Skirmisher
4 Bloodsoaked Champion
1 Brain Maggot
4 Brutal Hordechief
2 Gurmag Swiftwing
4 Loyal Pegasus
4 Mardu Shadowspear
4 Ornithopter
1 Selfless Cathar

Enchantments:10
4 Abzan Ascendancy
4 Mardu Ascendancy
2 Oppressive Rays

Artifacts: 4
4 Springleaf Drum

Lands: 18
4 Mana Confluence
4 Caves of Koilos
4 Llanowar Wastes
4 Battlefield Forge
1 Temple of Silence
1 Temple of Malice

Sideboard:
3 Brain Maggot
3 Nyx-Fleece Ram
1 Oppressive Rays
4 Siege Rhyno
4 Thoughtseize

Let me just start by saying that this decks plays extremely well despite looking like a giant pile of very questionable cards. Dropping 2-3 creatures with evasion or that are ‘ahead of the curve/ Savannah Lion-like’ into Abzan Ascendancy Followed by Mardu Ascendancy or vice-versa is very fulfilling. There’s a certain potential turn 4 follow-up that just takes it home versus almost any deck:

He really makes the deck much more… brutal!

While our friend Brutal Hordechief here is mostly reserved for the often more casual Warrior-themed decks he is quite the closer in our line-up. We take so much damage just casting everything on every turn that the little life he grants us back allows us to race even the most aggressive of decks. (Yes, even the monored ones).

Another thing that makes this deck so great is its affordability. If you somewhat have played a 2-3 color deck in Standard then you should have some of the Painlands or Mana Confluences. Remarkably, this deck runs 0 fetchlands.The creature roster is dirt cheap save the mythic Hordechiefs, but you should have no problem trading for those as no one really uses them except to decorate their trade binders. I remember when Bloodsoaked Champion was a big deal upon Khans of Tarkir release, to the point that it was on a Top 8 PTQ playmat.

Not exactly a Gravecrawler, eh?

The enchantments and artifacts can be found in your local store’s bulk bins or in your draft leftovers. I mean, the sideboard is almost more expensive than the actual main deck. If you’re budget conscious, you can always go with the Duress/Despise combo over Thoughtseizes. I wouldn’t skimp on everyone’s favorite Rhinoceros though.

One thing to be careful of is Dromoka’s Command. The card can very easily two-for-one you early on since our creatures are smaller and we do rely on enchantments quite a bit. It’s also quite funny how the deck will sometimes come out of the gate looking like a white weenie deck and other times looking like a black weenie deck. Your opponents will definitely be confused early one.

Take it for a spin. It’s guaranteed fun!

April 28, 2015 by carteblanchehobbies

Mardu Dragons

mardu dragons

Eversince my brother-in-law Mike started playing Magic around the time Khans of Tarkir was released, I kept trying to dissuade him from running Mardu decks (even in limited). I would jokingly say: “Mardu? more like Mardon’t!” It’s also funny that in French (one of the other languages we speak up here in Montreal, Mardu closely resembles a not so flattering word.

Needless to say, I try to avoid playing this combination of those colors myself (outside of drafts). I just really can’t stand those random Crackling Dooms that people cast just because they can’t stand keeping them in their hands to cast them at a more opportune time. You play a bigger creature (aka. an actual threath) later on and well, you know…hindsight is 20/20.

Oh, how I sometimes hate thee!

When Dragons of Tarkir was released, I actually kind of liked Dragonlord Kolaghan and was pondering on playing him in a Grixis Dragons build. I quickly relinquished the idea when I realized that the colors would really be all over the place and you probably don’t want to play a Mana Confluence in what would be a more control-oriented deck. I was also saddened to realize that you couldn’t zap their in play creature in response to them casting another copy in order to make your opponent take 10 damage. Still, the flying Hammer of Purphoros amused me. One thing I found sad is that you probably wouldn’t want to pack more than one copy of this particular Dragonlord in your deck.

I played in the finals of the Dragons of Tarkir Game Day against someone running Mardu Dragons. Eventhough I emerged the victor while the Patrick Dickmann version of Jeskai Dragons, I was intrigued with the Mardu build. It did after all run one of the most criminally underplayed cards in Standard….

Yep! Still Crackling Doom …

Despite my utter dislike of the card, I quickly realized how much better it had become in this dragon-dominated world. Having your opponent hesitate on casting a Dragonlord Ojutai early on is great. Wether he is playing Esper Dragons of Bant Aggro. Same goes for the ever-annoying Silumgar, the Drifting Death. Non-targeted removal is so good right now. The funny thing is that it’s just as good early versus a Atarka Red deck’s Goblin Rabblemaster as well. Just like that, Crackling Doom quickly became one of my favorite Standard cards.

In case you ever run into a UW/Jeskai or Bant Heroic archetype, you will be very thankful to have all these Crackling Dooms and Foul-Tongue Invocations.

Another card that I hadn’t played for a while is also in this deck: Anger of the Gods. Most of the decks with Red are not playing it because they are more aggressive and/or can’t afford to kill their mana dorks early before they have ramped into their Dragonlord Atarka,etc. It can also prevent the recursion of a certain Raptor that’s been on the rise as of late …

Standard’s rising star

I saw my friend play in a very rogue Temur build back a few weeks ago when we went to the Starcitygames Standard Open at Syracuse. He made day 2 and almost Top 16. The fact that Courser of Kruphix was staying in play while everything else gets wiped away by Anger of the Gods caused me to instantly approve of his deck choice. He didn’t run mana dorks and instead opted for 4 x Savage Knuckleblades as well as 4x Satyr Wayfinders instead. I know that the original decklist of Mardu Dragons didn’t have this kind of cool 3 drop that survives Anger of the Gods,so I forcefully found some place for a certain 3/4 Mythic: Brimaz, King of Oreskos in the 60 cards.The deck is mainly Red/White with Black being very much a splash color.Without even modifying the manabase, I removed an Orator of Ojutai as well as a Stormbreath Dragon to fit in the two copies Brimaz. Another card I wasn’t too crazy about as a 4-of was : Draconic Roar. It’s just so dead versus Esper Dragons (a deck that is overplayed at the moment). Instead, I opted to try a card I have been wanted to play since tryingto assemble a Modern Jund list (something I put on hold for now) : Kolaghan’s Command. The card is just seems too good to me to want to give it a shot. It’s the most obvious 2 for 1 card, but just how good is it really? Well, so far against Esper Dragons its best value has been to make them discard on upkeep and bring back one of my dragons from the graveyard. Oftentimes, against more aggressive deck, you can zap one of their dudes and make them discard a card. I am not sure how often the Shatter part will be relevant but Whip of Erebos is still a card, so..

anger of the gods You angry bro?

The dragons aren’t really surprising here, only that I opted to play 1 of each Kolaghan instead of 2 Dragonlord Kolaghan. Kolghan, the Storm’s Fury costs 1 less than his Dragonlord counterpart.This is especially relevant since we are running taplands and Scry lands. He is extremely good versus Esper Dragons due to being able to Dash and then not die to Crux of Fate on their turn. There’s also the little attack bonus he grants to whatever other creatures you may have lying around, such as Cat Soldier tokens generated by Brimaz. The other great thing about diversifying your Kolaghan threats is that things don’t get awkward if you draw them both in the same game. It also has 5 toughness for when you might want to block Siege Rhinos or opposing Stormbreath Dragons.

On another note: since I lowered the number of dragons from 10 to 9, I figured that 1 less Orator of Ojutai was probably more reasonable. He’s always been great and even against the Epser decks, he gives you an early play that can ‘protect’ one of your later threats from Foul-Tongue Invocation. Needles to say, he’s one of the best
value blockers in the format. Flying sometimes-Wall of Omens is good. Block everything early, survive to Anger of the Gods….seems like a great team player. I also find that late game, he can be great after your have Scryed something you immediately want to draw right away (sound familiar?), such as a spot removal,Crackling Doom or hasty dragon for the win.

The flavor of the Dragons of Tarkir version is epic

The sideboard is something I didn’t really like at first, but quickly realize that the 2 x Duress and 4 x Thoughtseizes are staying right where they are. I’m not a fan of the 4 x Rabblemaster builds or 4 x Flamewake Phoenix lists right now and replaced them with 1 x Stormbreath Dragon, 2 x Flamewake Phoenix and Ashcloud Phoenix. The later, a card that I found reallly effective versus opposing dragons and especially Bant Aggro decks that can
only really deal with it via Dromoka’s Command. The control decks also have to kill it twice. The main con, is that it doesn’t interact well with our own Anger of the Gods.

Another card that can’t really be ignored is Soulfire Grandmaster. He’s sometimes going to gain you just soooo much life, especially with a decent-sized board and an Anger of the Gods. Other times he will lock out the opponent with recurring Crackling Dooms, but one of the best ones is recurring a Kolaghan’s Command on your opponent’s draw step when he’s in top deck mode. Hit them for 2 and make them discard a card, over and over. Unless they drew an instant, that card is gone.That’s not really the aim of the deck,but it’s very sweet if you ever get in that situation. Don’t forget that if you get the dragon bonus on Draconic Roar, he gains you 6 life instead of 3!

I adapted the rest of the side with a few one of’s like Elspeth, Sun’s Champion in case some games got really grindy. Althought, I have yet to actually cast it, I’m pretty sure it’s fairly safe, just that as a few people have pointed out before: it’s not that great versus Esper Dragons since either version of Silumgar just overshadows it. I do think it’s excellent against Bant Aggro and Abzan though.

Mardu Charm is something I mulled over trying to sideboard but didn’t make the cut. Same goes for a singleton Utter End. Outpost Siege was also very close to making the cut and might end up in future iterations of the deck should I continue running it.

Lastly, let’s not forget the glue that keeps this dragon deck together:

Game Day shiny goodness!

Mardu Dragons

Standard Format

Creatures: 16
4 Thunderbreak Regent
3 Stormbreath Dragon
3 Orator of Ojutai
2 Brimaz, King of Oreskos
2 Soulfire Grand Master
1 Kolaghan, the Storm’s Fury
1 Dragonlord Kolaghan

Instants: 14
1 Kolaghan’s Command
1 Ultimate Price
2 Foul-Tongue Invocation
3 Draconic Roar
3 Wild Slash
4 Crackling Doom

Sorceries: 5
3 Anger of the Gods
2 Read the Bones

Lands: 25
1 Plains
1 Swamp
2 Mountain
4 Battlefield Forge
4 Nomad Outpost
4 Bloodstained Mire
3 Temple of Silence
4 Temple of Triumph
1 Temple of Malice
1 Caves of Koilos

Sideboard:
2 Duress
4 Thoughtseize
1 Roast
1 Read the Bones
1 Anger of the Gods
2 Flamewake Phoenix
1 Ashcloud Phoenix
1 Stormbreath Dragon
1 Murderous Cut
1 Elspeth, Sun’s Champion

March 13, 2015 by carteblanchehobbies

Jeskai 1.5

jeskai 15

Here’s a very nice Jeskai Ascendancy decklist from a man that many people believe comes from the future or at the very least has very good ‘Future Sight’ Yuuya Watanabe.

Jeskai 1.5

Standard Format

Creatures: 8
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
4 Soulfire Grandmaster

Instants: 13
1 Valorous Stance
4 Wild Slash
4 Raise the Alarm
4 Stoke the Flames

Enchantments: 7
4 Jeskai Ascendancy
3 Citadel Siege

Sorceries: 8
4 Hordeling Outburst
4 Treasure Cruise

Lands: 24
2 Plains
1 Island
2 Mountain
3 Battlefield Forge
3 Shivan Reef
3 Flooded Strand
2 Temple of Epiphany
4 Temple of Triumph
4 Mystic Monastery

Sideboard:

2 Valorous Stance
1 Glare of Heresy
2 Negate
3 Disdainful Stroke
3 Anger of the Gods
2 Outpost Siege
2 Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker

It’s indeed a very cool deck with some spice. He’s running the full playset of Soulfire Grandmaster as well as some Citadel Siege (about time we see this card in Standard decks). Another note of interest is that he is forgoing Lightning Strikes in favor of Wild Slash. I’ve seen quite a few Jeskai builds without all 4 Goblin Rabblemasters, but I’m guessing since you always want something attacking your opponent on turn 4 with the help of Citadel Siege, you need to increase the odds of it happening.

I guess he ate something spicy, hence the firebreathing

I’m used to playing the Jeskai deck with 4 Seeker of the Way so that it can confidently attack past would-be roadblocks like Sylvan Caryatids. While you do gain life by attacking into them with Soulfire Grandmasters, we’re not really advancing our game plan versus decks like GW Mastery of the Unseen or most midrange Green decks. You’re mostly glad to have them against speedier decks, where those little chunks of life being gained matter more. Also, having guaranteed lifelink is much better when you’re boosting your creature each turn via Citadel Siege.

Out of the board!

I really adore the Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker out of the sideboard. He too, works well with Citadel Siege and can do wonders with a couple of +1/+1 counters (like taking out an Elspeth, Sun’s Champion). He’s also that extra piece of removal for those pesky Whisperwood Elementals. Another cool card out of the sideboard is Outpost Siege. While the Khans option will be used more often than not, it is worth nothing that it effectively functions like a burn spell when you cast it in Dragons mode quite often (since your little tokens tend to die).

I tested the deck a few days ago and it under-performed, however there was this really long game where all I drew were about 12 lands (Scryed 3 at the bottom and fetched twice) as well as 3 x Soulfire Grandmasters.That’s it! no other spells … You kinda have to shrug that one off at that point. I went back to a more conventional build for today’s local Standard tournament and it fared only slightly better. It’s almost as though I could have swapped versions and done much, much better.

March 11, 2015 by carteblanchehobbies

Artifice

artifice

Grand Architect is an awesome magic card. A real swiss army knife, the best part is being able to use the mana ability the turn you cast it. The printing of Chief Engineer added another hasty blue artifact mana producer, and allows this deck to exist:

Artifice

Modern Format

Lands: 20
4 Blinkmoth Nexus
1 Academy Ruins
2 Cavern of Souls
1 Oboro, Palace in the Clouds
1 Minamo, School at Water’s Edge
11 Island

Artifacts: 5
4 Aether Spellbomb
1 Bident of Thassa

Creatures: 35
4 Signal Pest
4 Judge’s Familiar
4 Vault Skirge
4 Myr Superion
4 Chief Engineer
4 Etherium Sculptor

4 Grand Architect
3 Master of Etherium
4 Lodestone Golem

Sideboard:
4 Thorn of Amethyst
2 Quicksilver Fountain
2 Relic of Progenitus
1 Torpor Orb
2 Mindlock Orb
2 Echoing Truth
2 Monastery Siege

All 3 vedalken artificers give this deck explosive mana, allowing multiple artifact spells to be cast right away. They are all blue so they get the buff from Grand Architect and can produce artifact mana as well. This allows us to accelerate into a 4+ mana cost artifact turn 3.

Looks like he’s giving a pretty epic speech

All of the artificers also allows us to play the deck’s Tarmogoyf: Myr Superion. Landing that guy on turn 2 or 3 is serious aggro. We can use Grand Architect mana, Convoke from Chief Engineer, double Etherium Sculptor, single Etherium Sculptor + animated Blinkmoth Nexus or double animated Blinkmoths if we need to. Myr Superion is bigger than Siege Rhino and can grow even bigger with Master Of Etherium and Grand Architect making it blue. A 5/6 for 2 mana is pretty crazy provided you have enough ways to play it, which i think this deck does.

Chief Engineer and Etherium Sculptor makes us want to play one drops, because we want to have cheap artifact creatures that we can chain convoke or cast for free off of Etherium Sculptor turn 2. Vault Skirge and Signal Pest are our best cheap artifact creature option. Judge’s Familiar is also a worthy one mana creature. It is blue, has evasion, it can delay many of our opponent’s early plays, keeping early counter magic and removal in check. Interestingly it saves us from Hive Mind by countering our own copy of any Pact. The taxing ability also adds up well with Lodestone Golem.

Lodestone Golem is an awesome creature. Some decks have a hard time beating it. Burn is forced to spend a Lightning Bolt on it. All of our artificers enable turn a 3 Lodestone Golem. You can even cast it on turn 2 with the ‘nut draw’. Lodestone is also a great threat, 5 power is no joke. Getting multiple golems on the field is ridiculously painful for the opponent’s mana and it usually doesn’t hinder our strategy since most of the deck is artifact-based. In the post ban meta there is a chance that not every deck you will face will have Lightning Bolts. Paying a single Blue mana with Grand Architect or having Master of Etherium out keeps it out of Bolt range.

Master Of Etherium boosts most creatures in the deck. In this deck, you get a lot of synergy from a creature that is both blue and an artifact. He might not be as big as in Affinity decks but he’s great nonetheless.

Non-creature Spells

Aether Spellbomb breaks every creature-based combo and can give us the tempo we need to beat the opponent. Once on the field, the ability can’t be countered and is unaffected by golems, as opposed to Vapor Snag, but there is no surprise factor. At worst it cycles or it saves a creature from removal.

Bident Of Thassa is a sweet one of. This deck tends to be able to play a lot of evasive creatures by turn 2 so landing this on turn 3 with Convoke or Etherium Sculptor can give us tons of card draw. Sweepers are bad for us so drawing a bunch of cards can compensate for the incentive to overextend. At worst, we can still draw cards from our manlands if we lose our creatures. The ‘taunting’ ability is just a bonus.

Land choices

At first i was playing Tectonic Edge to add up to the mana denial plan of Lodestone Golem. I changed to Blinkmoth Nexus because we are aggro and manlands are more synergistic. I choose Blinkmoth Nexus in particular because they are cheap to activate, they come untapped (as opposed to Faerie Conclave), they are evasive (as opposed to Mutavault), they block as well as Mutavault (using the pump ability on themselves) and can be pumped via Grand Architect. Mutavault‘s creature types do not matter here.

Academy Ruins can easily be used while casting the recurred artifact with Artificers. It is just a great way of recovering key artifacts,since it can keep up the pressure by insuring us relevant draws.

Oboro an Minamo are good against Choke and Boil. You can also bounce Oboro to discard it instead of a better card in response to an opposing Liliana Of The Veil +1 activation

Cavern of Souls is always on Vedalken, sometimes on Golem if you draw another copy. It also fights Choke and Boil.

I think 11 Islands is the correct number. We do want double blue for a turn 3 Grand Architect. Playing with 11 Islands makes us almost Blood Moon proof, a card i hate losing to. We never run out of basics for Path To Exile and Ghost Quarters and we can’t get mana-screwed with an opposing Tectonic Edge.

Sideboarding

Ohhhhh! Shiny!

Thorn Of Amethyst basically comes in when Aether Spellbombs are bad, vs. creature-light match-ups like Storm, Scapeshift combo, Burn, etc. We play 4 so we can replace our 4 Aether Spellbombs. They are also better than Batterskull vs. Infect strategies. The taxing effect adds up with Lodestone Golems and Judge’s Familiars and makes winning very hard for those decks unless they get rid of it. Even if the opponent sided in artifact hate,they will still have to pay the extra mana to get rid of it which makes for great tempo.

Quicksliver Fountain is our Blood Moon. It isn’t nearly as powerful as the red enchantment, but it is our best option synergy wise. I side it in for Tron decks mainly.

Blue mana for everyone!

Relic Of Progenitus is our mandatory graveyard hate. We don’t do much with our own graveyard (except for Academy Ruins) so this is why i choose it here.

Mindlock Orb is a very powerful option, it used to be even better when Birthing Pod was around but it is still backbreaking vs. Scapeshift and Amulet of Vigor decks, preventing both their mana from developing and the combo itself. Being a blue artifact means that we can cast it on turn 3 with our Artificers.

Torpor Orb is mainly for Splinter Twin, but with Siege Rhino everywhere is is an option vs. Abzan decks as well. It is not a bad inclusion against Amulet combo on the play to prevent the first Primeval Titan trigger.

Echoing Truth is a generic creature/combo/hate solution. We need stuff to side in when facing Splinter Twin. It’s also good against Lingering Souls from Abzan or Orzhov token decks.

Monastery Siege is here mainly for the ‘Dragons’ mode. It is for the removal-heavy deck such as Abzan or Burn decks. The taxing adds up with Golem/Familiar/Thorn and at worst the ‘Khans’ mode is never terrible.

Artifacts…transform and roll out!

This deck can be a great budget-friendly alternative to Affinity, with some added disruption. We can’t play Cranial Plating since we don’t have enough artifacts and Darksteel Citadel is just bad in this deck, so a turn 3 kill is not a possibility. It has potentially explosive turn 2 plays that may lead to a turn 4 win.

On the plus side, the deck is not as affected by hate as much as Affinity is. Stony Silence doesn’t do much and Judge’s Familiars, Grand Architects and Chief Engineers aren’t affected by artifact destruction. Creeping Corrosion/Shatterstorm/Fracturing Gust are still devastating but we have Judge’s Familiars and Lodestone Golems to delay them and hopefully win before they are able to be cast.

Kataki, War’s Wage is pretty bad for us, especially when we have our explosive turn 2. Early Choke or Boil can be a pain. If we already have some Artificers on the field we can keep casting our artifacts which is the most important thing to do in this deck. Also our non-basics aren’t affected by it so with some luck we can overcome the hate.

Selesnya Aggro

selesnya ggro

monkey mealing

I love attacking, putting pressure on my opponents and forcing them to react. Mike Tyson once said: “Everyone has a plan until I punch them in the face.” In Magic it’s the same thing. Everyone wants to take time to set up their game plan, so by putting pressure on their life total it’s not as easy for them to take a lot of early turns to do so. Every experienced Magic player has a plan to deal with an aggressive strategy, so it’s my responsibility as an aggressive player to have a plan to counteract theirs. The issue with linear aggressive decks like “mono red “is that you can’t adjust your strategy very much post sideboard, so if your opponent has a solid sideboard plan for you then there’s not much you can do about it. The last couple of years I have adopted a deck building style that has explosive starts, but has enough sustainability that it can go longer and hang with mid-range decks with similar card quality. Let me show you what I mean with my new Standard Selesnya brew:

selesnya

Selesnya Aggro

Standard Format

Creatures: 25
4 Elvish Mystic
4 Warden of the First Tree
2 Sylvan Caryatid
4 Fleecemane Lion
3 Brimaz, King of Oreskos
4 Courser of Kruphix
4 Whisperwood Elemental

Instants: 3
3 Valorous Stance

Enchantments: 3
2 Mastery of the Unseen
1 Banishing Light

Planeswalkers: 5
2 Ajani, Mentor of Heroes
3 Elspeth, Sun’s Champion

Lands: 24
2 Blossoming Sands
6 Forest
1 Mana Confluence
6 Plains
4 Temple of Plenty
1 Temple of Malady
4 Windswept Heath

Sideboard:

1 Valorous Stance
1 Banishing Light
3 End Hostilities
2 Reclamation Sage
3 Glare of Heresy
2 Arbor Colossus
3 Mistcutter Hydra

As you can see we are playing the best three aggressive cards in our colours, Warden of the First Tree, Fleecemane Lion, and Brimaz, King of Oreskos. On the other end of the spectrum we have the four best mid to late games cards our colours have to offer in Mastery of the Unseen, Whisperwood Elemental, Ajani, Mentor of Heroes, and Elspeth, Sun’s Champion. Bridge those cards with some mana ramp and the best removal we have access to and you have the most durable and flexible aggressive deck in the format. The most common question I get asked is “why no four drops?” Although we don’t have any cards that cost four mana, we certainly have lots to do on turn four. You can activate Mystery of the Unseen, level up Warden of the First Tree or just ramp into a 5 or 6 drop. I feel all the cards at 3 and 5 are more important to our deck than anything we have access to at 4. We also have ten 1 or 2 mana cards that perform great in the late game, mana sinks if you will. Let’s get into the cards, and their roles in the deck.

mastery of the unseen The next Jeskai Ascendancy? perhaps…

The Mana Ramp

4 Elvish Mystic
2 Sylvan Caryatid
4 Courser of Kruphix

A concession to playing a large number of 5 and 6 mana spells is that you need mana ramp. I found six mana dorks to be the right number in the deck, as we function best with one by turn 2 but we want to avoid flooding on them too often. Although Courser of Kruphix isn’t necessarily mana ramp, he does help us hit our land drops to cast our expensive cards. It’s also nice to be able to see the top card when Mastery of the Unseen is in play so you can fix your draws a little bit if you want.

The Removal

3 Valorous Stance
1 Banishing Light

I started with 4 Valorous Stance as the versatility of protecting your guys and killing theirs is so good. I changed one to a single Banishing Light so we had an out to problematic permanents game 1. If you feel like you need one more removal spell main deck then I would cut an Elspeth, Sun’s Champion for the second Banishing Light, but be conscious that you will become more vulnerable to Stormbreath Dragon as a result.

The Bombs

4 Whisperwood Elemental
2 Ajani, Mentor of Heroes
3 Elspeth, Sun’s Champion
3 Brimaz, King of Oreskos

The best planeswalker for the longest part of the Standard format

These cards tend to pull you ahead in the mid-game, most midrange games coming down to who draws more Whisperwood Elementals. Ajani, Mentor of Heroes can pull you far ahead if you have established an early board presence by making all your creatures bigger than your opponent’s. Most importantly it will win those grindy games where you are trading card for card with your opponent. Lastly, we come to Elspeth, Sun’s Champion. When I first built the deck she over performed, but now with the all the Whisperwood Elementals being played she is not quite as good. She’s still a necessary evil due to our weakness to Stormbreath Dragon, but I wouldn’t fault you for moving one to the sideboard.

The Soul

4 Warden of the First Tree
2 Mastery of the Unseen
4 Fleecemane Lion

These three cards are the reason the deck wins so much. And that is for one simple reason: they are good at any point of the game. The big thing I learned was if you have other things to play, then do that and don’t sink mana into these cards unless you are afraid of board sweepers. You will start to notice a trend, if you play this way, that your opponents will ignore these three cards to deal with your “bigger” threats. Once your opponent is hellbent, or when you feel there’s a safe opening, you can start investing mana into these three cards. You never want to invest 5 mana into the monstrous ability of Fleecemane Lion when your opponent is representing Lightning Strike and you could do other things with your mana. For Warden of the First Tree there are some scenarios where you spend mana early on leveling it up if you feel it’s safe. Getting it to level 2 then playing an Ajani, Mentor of Heroes and giving it three counters is pretty backbreaking. Also remember that you can activate the third ability of Warden of the First Tree more than once. I have won many games with a 13/13 trampling lifelinker.

Not to be underestimated

I am not one to have a set sideboarding plan, as not every build or player of an archetype is the same. I do follow four golden rules though:

1. Against control I want constant pressure on the board without overextending.
2. If they are faster than you, lower your curve.
3. If they go wider then you, control them.
4. If they have a problematic card for you, board in all available answers.

I will have a video ready next week to post. If you can’t wait until then check out the archives on my twitch channel.
Until next time,

Monkey Mealing

twitch.tv/monkeymealing
@monkeymealing
http://www.illusionsofgrandeur.ca/

March 9, 2015 by carteblanchehobbies

Tiny Squee

tiny squee

Here’s a quick little pictorial of the Squee, Goblin Nabob Tiny leader deck I saw recently. Squee gets cast about once and then dies to be used as discard fodder for all the other cards in the deck. Enjoy!

squee blog 1 squue blog 2 squue blog 3

March 4, 2015 by carteblanchehobbies

Dragons of Tarkir Promos

Game Day Promos

scaleguard thunderbreak

The winner of the Dragons of Tarkir Game Day also get this sweet looking playmat, which I can only assume depicts Sarkhan in the new altered world as WWE’s Seth Rollins.

dragons mat

Tarkir Dragonfury Game

dragon fod dragonlord serv evolving promo foe razer

You get these depending on how well you do in the mini-game shown here

Buy-a-Box

ojutai promo Wow! even a toned down Cryptic Command is great

It’s also hinted that these will be part of a cycle (Pretty obvious, since it’s name after one of the five new Elder Dragons, eh?) Let’s hope the other ones are just as good if not better.

March 3, 2015 by carteblanchehobbies

Waste Not

Standard Format

Creatures: 7
3 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
4 Gurmag Angler

Instants: 7
3 Bile Blight
1 Empty the Pits
3 Hero’s Downfall

Enchantments: 2
4 Waste Not

Sorceries: 19
4 Dark Deal
4 Rakshasa’s Secret
4 Sign in Blood
3 Thoughtseize
4 Treasure Cruise

Lands: 23
1 Island
5 Swamp
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Polluted Delta
4 Temple of Deceit
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Dismal Backwater

Here’s a little concoction featuring Dark Deal and the MTG community created card: Waste Not. It did really well in the side event of a Grand Prix and is so totally different from any other Standard deck at the moment that I thought it was worth posting. The fetches are great since the fill up your graveyard fast and get you an early beater (Tasigur or Gurmag Angler) which can allow you to win early even if you don’t go Turn 2: Waste Not into Turn 3: Dark Deal.

Couldn’t find a sideboard, but one thing you can do is try and make it into a transitional UB Control one and catch many people off guard.

Too much mana to be a Tiny Leader eh? I’ll show them!

Brother Of Runes

Collectible Card Game News and Articles

Magic: the Gathering Articles

Naya Landfall Zoo

Creatures : 24

Instants : 12

Artifacts : 1

Lands : 23

Sideboard : 15

The Beaters

The non-creature spells

The Sideboard

Conclusion

Ascendancies

Ascendancies

Mardu Dragons

Mardu Dragons

Jeskai 1.5

Jeskai 1.5

Artifice