May 8, 2013 by carteblanchehobbies

Dragon’s Maze Event Decklist

dragon's maze event deck

The decklist for the single event deck for Dragon’s Maze has been spoiled and it looks to be a decent value without being over the top. The deck actually seems somewhat fun as well. It is a ‘Junk Tokens’ kind of build.

Here’s the list:

4 Evolving Wilds
6 Forest
1 Godless Shrine
1 Grove of the Guardian
7 Plains
4 Selesnya Guildgate
1 Swamp

24 lands

1 Champion of Lambholt
2 Doomed Traveler
1 Geist-Honored Monk
1 Odric, Master Tactician
2 Vitu-Ghazi Guildmage
1 Wayfaring Temple

8 creatures

1 Advent of the Wurm
4 Call of the Conclave
1 Growing Ranks
1 Increasing Devotion
4 Intangible Virtue
3 Lingering Souls
1 Parallel Lives
2 Rancor
3 Rootborn Defenses
4 Selesnya Charm
4 Wake the Reflections

28 other spells

Sideboard
4 Centaur Healer
3 Druid’s Deliverance
4 Pacifism
1 Rogue’s Passage
3 Sundering Growth

Let us analyse the Rares here:

Godless Shrine

Yes, this is where the bulk of the rare value went. At an MSRP of 19.99$ (one that store are very likely to stick to, for a change) this is a great inclusion indeed. Wizards of the Coast is really pushing Modern by practically giving these to us. In the deck, the only purpose of this card is to allow us to flashback Lingering Souls.

Grove of the Guardian

We all would have prefered an M13 dual or something else here, but this is a Populate deck. It really didn’t help its value that it was a Pre-release card as well. Still, I’m all for fun when it comes to these decks – so Populate away!

Champion of Lambholt

This card is rather good in terms of value and playability. It’s not insane value, but it trades really well. In a token strategy it acts as a kind of lord, but not the generic kind that just gives +1/+1 to your team. I have seen it played in certain Naya Aggro lists or Human decks and it’s actually quite decent.

Geist-Honored Monk

Ah! Another card that is great for the deck in terms of playability but bad in terms of value. The art on this card is my favorite part.

Odric, Master Tactician

He works well with the fact that the deck will want to spam a ton of creatures. He basically gets to attack and probably make your opponent not block anything allowing you to inflict mass amounts of damage, if not the lethal blow. Not really good in terms of value, but I approve of his inclusion.

Wayfaring Temple

This is probably the first card out of the deck and into people’s trade binders. It’s bad, like really bad. I guess it’s in there to educate the newer players that some cards are not as good as they seem. While I understand this, I do not like the fact that it’s in there. They could have put Scion of the Vitu-Gazi in there instead.

Advent of the Wurm

Oh yes! take me to Value Town! this is one of the hotter cards from Dragon’s Maze and it’s quite cool to see it included in this Event deck. This and Godless Shrine pretty much justify the 19.99$ face value of the deck by themselves. It fits in nicely in the deck theme as well, they didn’t just toss in a random big rare. Post rotation, this thing will probably go higher in value despite being in the Event deck.

Growing Ranks

Great casual card to put in here. While it’s not really super competitive, it’s not half bad really. In terms of value, we can probably look elsewhere though.

Increasing Devotion

Probably not great in terms of value here, but it’s a great token genrator. It allows you to overcommit and still have some gas left for the late game, if there is one. This plus Champion of Lambholt can be a blowout mid to late game.

Parallel Lives

Much like Growing Ranks, it does not do much on its own. It’s probably never going to make it in any serious token decklist, but it’s got a great casual appeal (which would explain its 4$ price tag). You can probably shove this in your trade binder and use it to get other cards you want.

That about wraps it up for the ‘Rare Value’ analysis. At this point we’re at about just under 30$ value off of rares. The thing is, the greater part of the value lies in the Uncommons of the deck. Let us see:

4 x Intangible Virtue

2 x Rancor

2 x Selesnya Charm

3 x Lingering Souls

That’s 18$ right there! this is something that a lot of the previous Event decks lacked (all the deck value was Rares or there just wasn’t much to begin with).

Final Verdict

While we are far from getting an insane value out of it, it exemlifies what Wizards sought out to do:

1) purchase deck

2) open it and sleeve it (optional)

3) play it at a local FNM

4) have fun!

The decision to only make one Event deck this time was probably due to the fact that there was always one Event deck that would easily outsell the other. This would cause the retailers to have to ‘overpice’ the popular deck and ‘underprice’ the other so as to not be left with all of the less popular decks. Also, Ready/Willing would have been a perfect addition to this deck.

I think they could have done a slightly better job here, but as someone once quoted:

” Even if Wizards of the Coast put 100$ bills in the boosters, people would still find a way to complain”.

May 8, 2013 by carteblanchehobbies

Certain Things in Life

two certain things

by Steve DDT Giannopoulos

In one’s life a few events occur that define it. However, only two things are certain:

Death and Taxes

Yes, it’s cheesy for those of you who know where I’m going with this. I didn’t want to outright call the article by its deck name. Contrary to what it sounds like, this is not a black deck. It is not a blue deck (ie: Mana Leak tax). It is 100% white (aside from lands and artifacts of course). The origins of the deck can be found here .

It was in fact created about 6-7 years ago. This was back when the Legacy format was in a constant state of evolution and players were experimenting various combinations and brewing was fun. I remember always trying to build the weirdo decks that I found all over the internet back then, before it became cool. I sound soooo old, no?

I always kept the Death and Taxes deck sleeved up though. It was my go to deck to punish greedy players with. I was not going to hide behind my Force of Wills and Brainstorms and pretend I was awesome. I was going to try and outplay and utilize all the tricks this ‘white weenie’ variant had at its disposal. I did not hate blue cards, I just wanted to do something different.

The deck has gone through quite a few revisions as is to be expected since Magic: the Gathering is an evolving game. Certain cards become outclassed due to the power creep while others retain their playability. Attacking with creatures is cool and all, but I was more interested in their abilities. In this day and age of ‘enters the battlefield’ creatures, it’s refreshing to see that the oldies are still good with their TAP abilities (requiring you to conquer the summoning sickness before you an activate.

It recently did really well (it won) at GP Strasburg. Here’s the list the winner ran:

Death and Taxes

1 Cavern of Souls
1 Eiganjo Castle
1 Horizon Canopy
3 Karakas
9 Plains
4 Rishadan Port
4 Wasteland

23 Lands

2 Aven Mindcensor
1 Fiend Hunter
3 Flickerwisp
2 Mangara of Corondor
3 Mirran Crusader
4 Mother of Runes
4 Phyrexian Revoker
4 Stoneforge Mystic
4 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben

27 Creatures

4 Aether Vial
1 Batterskull
4 Swords to Plowshares
1 Umezawa’s Jitte

10 Spells

Sideboard

2 Cataclysm
2 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Gut Shot
1 Leonin Relic-Warder
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Pithing Needle
1 Relic of Progenitus
2 Rest in Peace
1 Sunlance
1 Umezawa’s Jitte
2 Wilt-Leaf Liege

This used to be 12$

The other Death and Taxes that made the Top 8 was very similar (only minor differences in the sideboard)

Of course, after a quick glimpse you quickly see that Aether Vial is a key factor to vanquishing this ‘summoning sickness’. It allows you to essentially ‘Flash in’ creatures at the end of your opponent’s turn. That way you can dodge some sorcery speed removal (Pyroclasm,etc). It is also not entirely wasted if you happen to draw a second copy as you can always keep one on 2 counters to flash in something like a Phyrexian Revoker in response to something they would activate after casting (ie: Pernicious Deed, Sensei’s Divining Top).

It was banned in Extended and now is banned in Modern. Surprised?

Its main interaction is with Mangara of Corondor and Karakas. You flash Mangara in at the end of their turn, activate his ability whenever ‘needed’ then bounce him to your hand with Karakas in response to his activated ability. You basically exile a permanent per turn. Maybe even ‘chump’ block something in the process. Of course you can simply recast Mangara each time, but he can be countered when you do this.

Also, if we are short one Karakas, we can vial in a Flickerwisp in reponse to Mangara‘s activation to accomplish the same thing. This is a one time use though. It is still very effective as Flickerwisp essentially does the opposite of what Mangara does sometimes: it saves one of our permanents or ‘resets’ it.

One example of this is pretty straightforward. It is our turn 3 and we cast a Flickerwisp. We were hesitating if we wanted to use our Wasteland to set our opponent back a turn, only to realize we can now do both. We target our own Wasteland we used to cast Flickerwisp with its ability. At the end of our turn, Wasteland will re-enter the battlefield untapped and ready to be used on an opposing non-basic land before our opponent can get to untap. This is pretty nifty ! We are up a 3/1 flier and they are down 1 land and potentially color-screwed.

The above play may seem trivial if you are mostly a Standard player, but Legacy is a very ‘land-tight’ format. If our following play is landing a Thalia, the opponent will have a hard time recovering if he absolutely needs to cast non-creature spells. It gets even worse if we get to tap his mana at his upkeep with Rishadan Port. We’re basically Stone Raining the opponent at every opportunity, without actually casting a land destruction spell. Effectively we are ‘taxing’ them. Sometimes this can even be effective on decks that run creatures like Noble Hierarch for mana. This is thanks to the gem that is Phyrexian Revoker. I loved playing it in Dragon Stompy builds but even more in something like this. In this situation Revoker is better than Pithing Needle. It can’t negate abilities on lands but it can negate other mana abilities (such as those on mana dorks). It also does good work against opposing Knight of Reliquary.

If you are getting beaten down by a Umezawa’s Jitte -equipped creature, you will have a hard time recovering. Even if you Swords to Plowshares the equipped creature, your opponent probably has more creatures than you have Swords. Phyrexian Revoker to the rescue! Is there anything this guy can’t do?

Block…. never ever block with it. At one toughness it does not survive anything. Blocking is probably bad unless you are getting in the way of a pesky Goblin Lackey that’s just itching to summon its friends. You might also want to consider it if your life total is very very low or if you probably named the wrong card with its ability.

Our favorite Phyrexian

Our manabase is pretty sweet for a mono-colored deck. We only really ever need 2 white mana at any time. This number drops to 1 if we manage to get an Aether Vial going. We can afford to 8 colorless lands plus Cavern of Souls (usually set to Humans). We also don’t have to sink a lot of money into our land base, well at least not as much as most decks. Lands are the spice of Magic.

Karakas has gotten rather expensive due to the number of things it can accomplish in Legacy (ie: return opposing Emrakul to owner’s hand). I suspect a more steady supply of Judge promos will continue to drive the price down. Also, I always found 2 is also an acceptable number as you never ever want 2 of these in a game (especially not in an otherwise good opening hand).

The nine Plains are probably one of the highest number of basics I have seen in a Legacy deck ( a good one at least). Go ahead and pimp those (your choice of FOIL, textless, textless foil, white border, Portal,etc).

Creatures

These are the bread and butter of the deck. You are going to need to attack to win. No planeswalker ultimates, no 2-card combo wins, no burn spells. In order to do this, the creatures need some kind of evasion as more and more Legacy decks contain creatures these days than ever before.

Mother of Runes

This card is probably the best 1-drop creature in White. It protects your dudes, it allows them to get through or at the very least – it endlessly blocks an opposing creature. I like it a lot in every deck that runs it (flashback Maverick). I think I covered most of what needs to be said about it in the GW Maverick article.

“My family protects all families.”

Aven Mindcensor

It’s a bird, it’s a pla….. No, it’s definitely a bird! What a bird it is!

This card has more or less replaced Serra Avenger / Stonecloaker from previous Death and Taxes decks. It’s just a great card. While not every single deck searches in this format, the mere presence of fetchlands make it very potent. It effectively kills a land if you flash it in when your opponent activates his fetchland. He really needs to be lucky to find his land in the top 4. It gets even better versus cards like Natural Order and Stoneforge Mystic.

No flavor text, pure ability text!

Mangara of Corondor

Here’s one legend that’s way better in Legacy than he is in Commander. With Karakas banned in Commander there are fewer ways to utilize/abuse his ability. If he remains in play for a full turn he is guaranteed to whipe something off the table. Previous iterations of the deck had more neat tricks that abused his ability such as Thousand-year Elixir. Not only did he gain hast, be he got to untap in response and remove something else as well. The number of Mangaras in the more recent versions has also decreased for the better as drawing multiples is not always that great (even if you are going to 1 for 1 things without Karakas).

In the ideal circumstances he can keep your opponent down a threat each turn, but he is probably a horrible card to draw when you are behind. Also, he used to be worth 50 cents.

To Oblivion and Beyond!

Mirran Crusader

Some would argue that he is the card that has really replaced Serra Avenger in the deck and I would be inclined to agreee due to how the current metagame is. Always blocking Tarmogoyfs and attacking pas them is great, even more so when you equip him with a Jitte. The ability on Jitte will trigger twice which is sweet. It can also mean that you kill them the following turn if he goes unanswered ( 4 damage the first time with 4 counters – remove 4 counters next turn, strike for 10 and 14 if you remove the 2 fresh counters). Scary stuff!

His protection from black is not too bad either, but is not that great at a time where most removal is white and red. He’s also another human, which is great as Cavern of Souls is usually set to Human.

The Beatdown

Stoneforge Mystic

Equipment tutor with a body. Check!

Uncounterable equipment? Check!

Uncounterable Mystic with Aether Vial? Check please!

Probably the best 2-drop in white ever! She got banned in Standard, towards the end of the Caw Blade dominance. Later on, she got axed in Modern as well. We run 4 copies, but only 2 equipment as targets. However, we almost always want an equipment every game. She may get Spell Snared early on, so the more copies the better. Sometimes you will go get an equipment only to have it put at the bottom of your deck by an opponent’s Vendilion Clique. That’s also where the extra copies shine (or Flickerwisps)

I don’t think it will ever really go out of style and at the very least you can always shove one in any Commander deck that runs White and a few equipments.

stoneforge

The Aether Vial of equipments (the Steelshaper’s Gift too!)

Thalia

A reduced cost Glowrider with the legendary clause. A nice little taxing card plus she’s better than the original in combat. She may or may not get benefits from Karakas but that’s not important really. She sometimes gets a hand from Eiganjo Castle. Of course Lightning Bolt will still zap her away. The main thing she does is basically act as a Stone Rain versus slower decks. She’s also another great Jitte carrier.

When she was first released I honestly did not think she would be as popular as she ended up being. I’m glad I was wrong!

A ”Thorn‘ in the side of opposing decks

Fiend Hunter

Here we have an interesting addition to the deck but a very relevant one. When your opponent goes Show and Tell slamming down Emrakul, you will be glad to have this in your hand (yes, I know you reveal simultaneously, but you get the point!) Of course he’s even better when Vialed in and you can permanently remove something if you Vial In a Flickerwisp in response (a maneuver that pretty much everyone should know by now). He can also work pretty decently if you are planning on casting a Cataclysm post-board (you will sac him keep another creature and get back the creature you removed with him) This sounds bad, I know, but the situation has arisen and the creature usually ends up being Thalia (since now you and your opponent are both down to 1 mana.) Alternatively, it can be a Mangara so that you can get them down to Zero mana the following turn. It’s also useful if you need to keep a Phyrexian Revoker in play as your creature post Cataclysm because he is locking down something good.

Also, if you fell back on the Jitte wars, he can help you take down the Jitte carrier provided there are 2 or less counters on it.

Human O-Ring at your service!

The Rest of the Team

Swords to Plowshares

Wether you have played Legacy or not, I’m sure you can figure out what this card is good for. Just hit THEM with the pointy end.

Comes in 4 different flavors!

Batterskull

This rather large equipment is usually our second choice to fetch with Stoneforge Mystic. It’s great because it can always provide you with a creature and with 5 mana up (which is a lot in this deck), you can always bounce it to your hand then put it on the battlefield with the Mystic. Alternatively, you can Vial In a Flickerwisp for a huge surprise blocker! (the germ token, not the Flickerwisp).

It can also help out a lot if your opponent is playing creatures that have protection from white or burn, since the now 4/4 token is tougher to burn and they won’t cut through with their sword of War and Peace. If you’re low on life you might also want to tutor it up over a Jitte as it can have a quicker impact on the field. Your opponent may just aim a timely Lightning Bolt at the creature you are trying to equip with Umezawa’s Jitte.

Speaking of which….

Umezawa’s Jitte

It scrubs, it cleans, it makes dinner… Well, maybe not but it does a hell of a lot. For those of you not familiar with the card:

All that for 2 mana, a creature and some combat damage!

If it looks too good, it’s because it is. Often times you may just end up casting to destroy your opponent’s Umezawa’s Jitte (due to the Legend rule). You can keep swinging with your guys while keeping your opponent’s off the table (-1/-1 counters) or just buffing your guy to kill theirs (+2/+2 until end of turn). It does dominate creature battles almost all the time.

In desperate times or when you are within burn range, don’t hesitate to simply remove counters to gain life.

Sideboard

Usually you want to tweak your sideboard to the expected metagame. This will require a careful examination of what decks are popular in your area. The ‘default configuration’ here is fine as it contains various graveyard, discard and planeswalker hate. It also features a couple of cards against quicker decks (Gut shot and Sunlance).

You can also try to play cards like Ghost Quarters if you do not possess Wastelands, but be sure to also play Leonin Arbiters in order to maximize their efficiency (people do play basics in Legacy after all).

April 22, 2013 by carteblanchehobbies

Dragon’s Maze Preview: Plasm Capture and more

wave 11

Plasm Capture

plasmcapture

Mana Drain is back!

Boros Battleshaper

borosbattleshaper

Warcraft Master?

Sky Lasher

skylasher

Awesome set of abilities!

Feral Animist

feralanimist

Another Reprint!

Blaze Commando

blazecommando

Minotaurs leading the charge!

Bronzebeak Moa

bronzebeakmoa

Even Moas are back

Krasis Incubation

krasisincubation

Removal or combo? You decide!

Scab-Clan Giant

scabclangiant

Nice flavor – Random … FIGHT!

Species Gorger

speciesgorger

Nice ‘drawback’

Gruul War Chant

gruulwarchant

Two Enchantments in one

Gleam of Battle

gleamofbattle

A pity it costs a tad much

Drown in Filth

drowninfilth

Life from the Loam.dec removal?

Zhur-Taa Druid

zhurtaadruid

Angry Llanowar Elves

Armored Wolf-Rider

armoredwolfrider

Yummy vanilla!

Beetleform Mage

beetleformmage

Three creature types! and not much else…

Thrashing Mossdog

thrashingmossdog

Draft this puppy in multiples

Boros Mastiff

borosmastiff

Still , better than Grizzly Bears

Scion of Vitu-Ghazi

scionofvitughazi

Populate gets a neat boost!

Wake the Reflections

wakethereflections

We now know the official mana cost of Populate

Rubblebelt Maaka

rubblebeltmaaka

Hill Giant + OK ability = limited card

Battering Krasis

batteringkrasis

Not particularly interesting, aside from the art

Riot Control

riotcontrol

Warning: Will NOT work if your local NHL franchise wins the Stanley Cup

Crypt Incursion

cryptincursion

To deal with decks ending in ‘animator’

Riot Piker

Goblin Piker Evolved!

Phytoburst

phytoburst

For when you need to be Big instead of Tricky

steepleroc

Yes! the limited white flyer common role is now filled!

Runner’s Bane

runnersbane

A cute little card you’ll be seeing a lot of at your local Pre-release

Sinister Possession

sinisterpossession

We have the ‘You Make the Card‘ winner!

Just kidding!

Punish the Enemy

punishtheenemy

Lash Out has seen better days

Mutant’s Prey

mutantsprey

Not a fan

Haazda Snare Squad

haazdasnaresquad

They’ll make you tap!

Mindstatic

mindstatic

Sometimes they print cards just to make Others look good

Hired Torturer

hiredtorturer

Play these in limited supply, in a limited envionment

Clear a Path

clearapath

I like it! Well, except the ability of course…

Kraul Warrior

kraulwarrior

Now to find an infinite mana engine … I kid, I kid!

Murmuring Phantasm

murmuringphantasm

A wall is a wall is a wall is a wall …

Bane Alley Blackguard

banealleyblackguard

I thought only Blue got these creatures

Awe for the Guild

awefortheguilds

I can go on and on about how awesome this card is, but I won’t.

Mending Touch

mendingtouch

Good for One Supreme Verdict survival

Wind Drake

winddrake

Now time for the obligatory Blue common flyer

Fatal Fumes

fatalfumes

Removal is removal I guess

Split card images

I had written about various split cards one or two articles ago but did not have the card pictures up. Without further ado, here are those cards:

profitlosswide

protectservewide

readywilling

And that’s a wrap!

Hope you all have fun at your local Dragons Maze Pre-releases and open good stuff. Don’t forget the Pre-Orders!

April 19, 2013 by carteblanchehobbies

Dragon’s Maze Preview: AEtherling and more

wave 10

AEtherling

Blast from the past?

After printing Torchling and Thornling as Morphling variants, most would have thought that Wizards of the Coast would attempt to complete the cycle. Instead we are treated to an update on the blue original. It is pretty safe to say that if you manage to untap the turn after casting this guy, you are probably in a good position do win the game. Unless of course you were in dire trouble to begin with.

Ideally you want to play Aetherling with at least one blue mana up. If things go bad, blink him out until the begin of the end of turn. This makes him safe from pretty much all removal, mass-removal and even sacrifice effects. In that respect he is much harder to kill than the original, he kind of feels like this Unglued card:

That’s a lot of text!

Maybe in hundreds of years when piles of old Magic cards are uncovered by future civilizations Greater Morphling will become a tournament legal card. Until that time, we get AEherling. You can obviously do ridiculous things like swing for 8 unblockable damage a turn (of course at the cost of 5 mana). It obviously just gets better when you can boost its toughness otherwise and attack for more. However, if you are already attacking with it, things are already looking good for you. Expect to see it as a one or two-of in a controllish Esper colored deck. Of course everyone will be busy hunting down foil version for their Commander decks (Bling!).

Surprisingly, it’s not a mythic card. This is indeed great news for those looking to nab a playset of it. Sitting at around 5$ in preorders, it’s a great value from my point of view. It’s going to be on almost everyone’s Want list.

Korozda Gorgon

Got any turtles down there?

I really like the card overall and it’s kind of like a secondary Scavenge lord. It’s far from being Standard playable, but again that has not stopped most people from playing cards. The art is a cute little depiction of a Gorgon’s dwelling/storage space. She’s probably a Level 15 – Hoarder, unless there are collection pieces that are visible only under the sewer water. As with most Gorgon/medusa-like creatures, this one possesses Deathtouch. This probably limits a lot of her relationship possibilities, but I somehow doubt she cares.

In limited formats you will probably be looking to play it with Evolve creatures or as mentionned before, Scavenge. Mess up combat for your opponents and have fun doing it!

Unflinching Courage

unflinching courage

Welcome back, Old Friend!

It seems that Wizards of the Coast R&D also missed the original. This time we have it set to uncommon, mostly for limited purposes. You don’t want to be facing a deck that has a near-playset of this card. It also is less potent than the original since it can’t act as a pseudo-pacifism due to the Lifelink keyword versus the old text.

If you are not able to fully construct the modern Auras deck featuring Daybreak Coronet or are simply anticipating a reprint of it in Modern Masters, then by all means try this in your deck. It’s probably not as good but it’s a great way to still play the deck without pumping more money into it.

Blast of Genius

Ral Zarek looking epic

A nice little removal and card filtering spell rolled up in one! Something that’s very playable in Commander as it gets you great value.

The art is simply superb! Terese Nielsen is probably in everyone’s list of top Magic art talent and this cards illustrates why. You even get a little Niv-Mizzet looking on in the background as Ral Zarek performs his Sailor Moon-esque pose. The lightning effect is just so cool and the whole piece just reminds me of one of the main reasons I got into this game.

The big downside to Blast of Genius,aside from mana cost, is that you need to choose the target prior to getting to know what you will draw. Your big blast might end up being a simple poke, unless you already had a big converted mana cost in hand already.

Dragonshift

Death from above

Rather ordinary without the Overload, but can be a situational ‘finisher/removal’ when need be. Works great in a tokens/creature swarm deck, but of course the colors and the cost are not ideal. It is almost 100% a casual card, but boy what a casual card it is! I will for sure be inserting it in my UR Pingers deck for when I actually have to do something the deck never has to do: Attack!

Wrap up…

There are definitely a lot of loose ends to cover (especially cards spoiled with no actual art). I hate to post cards without finalized artwork personally as it’s usually something I like to comment on and it just overall looks less official, so I apologize if there are some cards I have not yet covered. Rest assured that they will be viewed and reviewed here!

April 18, 2013 by carteblanchehobbies

Dragon’s Maze Preview: Emmara Tandris and more

Emmara Tandris

A very majestic looking creature

We start things off with Emmara Tandris, who graces us with her lovely presence today. She screams Commander and I can already imagine all the people that will be clamoring for a foil copy. She’s not in any starter, so it will legitimately be in demand.

The card itself is obviously a bomb in limited, providing a sizeable body and an ability that anyone can appreciate. There might be the possibility of decks featuring Yeva, Nature’s Herald running her, but that is rather unlikely. She costs way too much to see play and her ability really only affects tokens, so you more or less have to be running a GW tokens deck, in which case I would opt for something more akin to Collective Blessing.

Pyrewild Shaman

Half ‘Squee’, half ‘Giant Growth’

This is one goblin shaman I can really get behind! He obviously comes from Squee’s lineage. His versatility in pumping your creatures or chumping/trading with your opponent’s creatures almost endlessly is just awesome. The condition of being of course, that you need to deal combat damage with something (probably some trample creature or maybe just a flyer).

His great great great great x infinity grandfather would be proud!

Of course the deck is typically belongs in would be some kind of RG aggressive deck featuring a few creatures with the Bloodrush mechanic. I see him being played more in some kind of RU deck featuring hard to block creatures or unblockable creatures (Invisble Stalker) so as to constantly be swinging for 4 every turn. Attack, Bloodrush with Pyrewild Shaman, pay 3 mana and get Pyrewild Shaman back in your hand to repeat next turn.

This is just a random brainstormed example of course but don’t forget he can easily just be played as a somewhat efficient creature and attack when need be. This card will not be homeless when the time comes for Dragon’s Maze Standard, I can assure you.

Warleader’s Helix

A nice tribute to the original

I guess Lightning Helix got trademarked by Ajani Vengeant, so they had to go ahead and give Aurelia her own version. A version that takes down Restoration Angels no less. I suppose we now know why a lot of 4-toughness or 2/4 creatures are in this set. They are out of the range of regular burn, but not Boros burn!

In constructed this will most assuredly see play. A lot of the planeswalkers in Standard start at 3, so even if they tick up to 4 loyalty this helix will take them out. Of course, smaller ones like Tibalt can be shot down even 1 turn later. Or of course, he can simply be ignored (at your own risk).

That last bit about Tibalt being a threat was a joke, for those of you who didn’t catch it.

Sorry buddy!

Warped Physique

The side effects of one too many protein shakes?

Apparently Wizards of the Coast decided it would fun to educate all of us on the dangers of only working out your upper body. Huge chest and arms coupled with tiny chicken legs.

Good little limited card, although doubtful it will be seen across the table even at a local FNM constructed event. Just remember the lesson here folks and you’ll be just fine.

More Split cards

Splits

A nice little shot of more split cards

While we’re on the topic of split cards, I am reminded of local pro player Xavier Biron’s story on his hate for split cards. He would actively seek out foil copies of cards like Fire/Ice and co. to purposely cut them in half and make a collection out of them. Apparently the hate was not widespread and Wizards of the Coast continued printing these.

I for one am very happy to get extra ‘value’ out of my cardboard and flexibilty as well. Not all of them are good and it will be interesting to see which ones get tried out in existing decks.

Down/Dirty

Sorcery//Sorcery
3B/ 2G

Target player discards two cards.

//
Return target card from your graveyard to your hand.
Fuse

Each half of this card costs 1 more mana than its original printing. In Dirty’s case, it is on par with Recollect (or overcosted Regrowth). It’s probably a good 22nd-23d card in your draft deck if nothing else.

Profit/Loss

Instant//Instant

2W/2B

Creatures you control get +1/+1 until end of turn.

//
Creatures your opponents control get -1/-1 until end of turn.

Fuse

This is oviously a very overcosted Zealous Persecution. Each half even costs more than the card that provides you with the full effect. A combat trick nonetheless for limited purpose, but don’t you dare even think about sleeving this baby up in a 60-card deck.

Protect/Serve

Instant

2W/2U

Target creature gets +2/+4 until end of turn.
//
Target creature gets -4/-0 until end of turn.
Fuse

Kind of like a less deadly Agony Warp. Avoid playing this when you can as there is better if random +/- action is your thing.

Ready/Willing

Instant//Instant

1GW/1BW

Creatures you control are indestructible this turn.
//
Creatures you control gain deathtouch and lifelink until end of turn.
Fuse

Oh yes! If there is one neat trick I would at least try in constructed, this would be it. ready shrugs of Supreme Verdict for your side.

The other half can either force undesirable trades in combat or when fused, provide a rather deadly one-sided effect. Of course, in this case you are running three colors. Commander format says hi!

Speaking of Split…

It’s time for us to split until another upcoming day of previews/spoilers tomorrow. Toodles!

April 17, 2013 by carteblanchehobbies

Dragon’s Maze Preview: Uncovered Clues and more

wave 8

Today’s Spoiler Wave is rather small and not too epic, so I apologize in advance.

Uncovered Clues

A cheaper Foresee

A nice little card advantage card here for spell-based combo decks in Standard. It’s not really that great in anything else as you only dig 4 and are not guaranteed of hitting anything. If you are playing control you probably just want to run Forbidden Alchemy. I would play this in the Epic Experiment deck I am eventually planning on building, but not much else. It’s still a very good common and can even see play in some kind of token deck where all the spells are instant/soceries that simply produce tokens and populate ( Call of the Conclave, Eyes in the Sky, etc.)

Notion Thief

Take that Sphinx’s Revelation!

I’m not really sure how often this is going to mess up an opposing Sphinx’s Revelation, but it will be priceless when it does. Most veteran players will not simply cast a Revelation while you have 4 mana untapped. The thing is, it’s not an ‘enters the battlefield’ effect. Much like Aven Mindcensor, this will frustrate many opponents.

In Commander, Notion Thief will generate a LOT of hate as a lot of the draw spells are usually things that draw you 2+ cards and of course this simply demolishes a Brainstorm. Your opponent does NOT draw three, but he does have to put 2 cards back on top of his deck. If this thing was a 2/1 and cost 3 it would be insane in Legacy.

Viashino Firstblade

Yummy common

Another haster after we Skyknight Legionnaire. With Boros aggro becoming a ‘thing’, battalion is becoming slightly more threatening and this hits harder than the Legionnaire (of course the tradeoff being that later on it’s simply a 2/2 vanilla creature). If anything nab some and make a budget-friendly Battalion haste deck to teach new players in your area how to play.

Catch/Release

Half Zealous Conscripts/ half something awesome!

Very interesting card we have here. The first half is something we have gotten more and more used to thanks to Zealous Conscripts having seen some Standard play here and there. It now becomes even more dangerous to hold back a planeswalker for its ‘ultimate ability’. Tamiyo can become even more of a liability now.

Remember this guy?

The other half is one I wish I could shove into my Commander deck, but it’s a Gisela deck. This effect is really interesting as it’s probably a semi-vindicate if you don’t run planeswalker, enchantments or artifacts. I don’t see any direct application of it in Standard. If you are running an experimental Red/White/Blue deck in Standard, you might run it for the first half and then end up using the second half to get out of a bind.

At ten whole mana you get to choose which of your opponent’s permanents you destroy/sacrifice, but that’s something a little far-fetched and probably reserve for those epic Commander multi-player games.

Maze Creatures

A-Maze-ing!

Here’s a cute little commons cycle that is quite odd. They are all like mini ‘lords’ for multi-colored creatures, yet there mana costs are way to high. They all posses the ability they grant and are for the most part great finishers in Limited formats (especially the Maze Glider). They all have the Elemental creature type, so you can maybe experiment with some of the Lorwyn block cards too!

Back tomorrow for Wave 9!

Give our Blog a read tomorrow for some brand new Spoilers/Previews!

April 16, 2013 by carteblanchehobbies

Dragon’s Maze Preview: Deadbridge Chant and more

Deadbridge Chant

deadbridge chant

Awesome design in every respect

A nice way to debut Wave 7! This is great design through and through. Part casual/Commander and part asking desperately to see play in a more competitive format. I for one, believe many will try with mixed result. At worst, it’s a Golgari Phyrexian Arena. A card that continues to see play in tons of formats and is in my shortlist of cards to always trade for personally.

This beautiful enchantment has the ‘advantage’ of actually accomplishing something even if it gets Oblivion Ring‘ed. Ideally you want to fit it into a deck that gains value by milling itself. Obviously, I would try to fit it into that bad deck I listed a few months back. Don’t look, it’s hideous! The card feels mythic too, kind of like the ultimate Golgari spell (sorry Putrefy! and to that extent Pernicious Deed).

It also scream reanimator to some extent and it already is in the colors of most Standard reanimator lists. You would either reanimate on of your big dudes, draw another card that allows you to dreadge, another reanimator card or just ….

It could be worse.

I feel this can have a home in more of a junk Enchantress-style deck. It would be the ‘sort of’ Argothian Enchantress. The deck would not necessarily need to gain an advantage from the self-mill, but it would be nice. Once the rest of the set is spoiled, I will get to work on such a deck. I’m not promising it’ll work or anything, but there seems to be decent support for it and who knows? Maybe the create-a-card winner will become part of it.

Speaking of which, here is what I would have submitted:

Need for Greed

Enchantment

Sacrifice a land: Draw a card

I think it’s feasible and it’s probably not something you’d do early on anyhow. Unless of course in Legacy/Modern or such where you might benefit from cards like Life from the Loam. I would have Photoshopped an image with the default black mtg card template or something, but that will have to be for another time. I would picture a Lich-like or Dark Paladin creature sifting some kind of precious substance from say a swamp. And he/she would have the usual bad guy-ish maniacal laugh going on. It would be a top down shot with his face as the focal point.

The ‘Need’ cycle would begin, we already have:

Thought it was just a videogame, did you?

Of course, one of the main problems Deadbridge Chant possesses is mana cost. I’m not sure you want to pack ramp cards just to get to play this and draw more cards. You kind of need to do something in between. This can’t be your end goal, it’s more of an enabler or ‘engine’. As such, it’s hard to justify the 6 mana you pour into it.

It’s preselling at about 7$ at the moment. For a mythic, that’s not too bad. If it finds a home in Standard, you can be sure this price will rise. However, I have a hard time seeing it fit in a current deck (even reanimator). Look for it to slowly drop as the Commander crowd nabs their singleton copies and the demand lowers.

Blood Baron of Vizkopa

blood baron

Vampire ‘cleric-type’ dude

I really hate it when in a day and age of making sure most creatures have more than one creature type, Vampires seem to get the short end of the stick. Clearly this thing is a Vampire ‘Cleric’ , but is Wizards of the Coast afraid to print it as such? Is is sacriligious? I’m not entirely sure.

A lot of you will simply look at this and think : “Bah! Commander card!”. I beg you to reconsider. It has probably the 2 best color protections this side of Standard and i usually out of burn range. 5 mana for a 4/4 body with all bonuses. Of course the ‘ultimate’ one being that it will one-shot your opponent if he is at 10 life or less. The conditions are not impossible to meet as you are probably always attacking with it and gaining life in the process. If your opponent is playing stricly Orzhov colors, he is somewhat limited in his solutions (Merciless Eviction, Liliana of the Veil, Terminus) to name a few.

He’s hot right now and will continue to be for a long long time. At around 10-12$, he is a good deal. I cannot see this going under 10$, it’s just that playable.

Legion’s Initiative

Wait, What???

Legion’s Initiative is probably one of the most insane Honor of the Pure variants ever to see print. It was something that Boros decks probably needed to be able to properly compete as a speedy aggro deck. Now the Boros swarm has an answer to Supreme Verdict and Terminus! You get to blink out your creatures for the whole turn, that’s

nuts

Pretty much.

It’s probably tied with 1-2 other cards as hottest card of the set so far. I mean, the second ability doesn’t have to be an anti-mass removal response. If your deck has a lot of ‘enters the battlefield’ creatures, you just gained even more value. While a lot of the Boros cards are more Battalion- driven, we may yet see a need breed of Boros deck. You get to cast this on turn 4 and have the mana available to protect your little Boros dudes if your opponent goes Turn 4 Supreme Verdict. It’s miles ahead of something like Rootborn Defenses, but then again we are comparing a two color mythic to a white common.

Still better in the token aggro approach

There’s some ‘fine’ print to this ability. Did you catch it? No?

‘Those creatures gain haste until end of turn’

Not too shabby! So this means we can get a huge one-shot Fervor out of it later in the game. How awesome is that? This card is pretty much always relevant. Of course, it requires a key element: creatures. We’re playing Boros, our deck is predominantly creatures. No worries there. We obviously need 4 of this beast of a card since we almost always want to draw it and we always want to draw at least 1 copy each game.

I’m probably going to run this in my Gisela Commander deck as well, since it obviously contains a lot of ‘come into play’ cratures. It’s tutorable when I sacrifice my Academy Rector to something like Goblin Bombardment and then save my creatures for a Wrath of God effect. Of course there’s always Boros Charm, but in Commander most people probably have more mass removal than you have anti-mass removal. You can only abuse Sunforger and Mistveil Plains for so long.

Still enough time left to maybe see a Dragon’s Maze reprint

A small glimpse into the future will reveal that this card will maintain its sizeable price tag as it is :

A) a mythic

B) a four of in all non-Commander decks running it

C) hugely popular amongst casual and competitive players

D) ALL of the above

Of course, the answer is D!

Look for it to maintain if not increase in value in the very near future.

Nivix Cyclops

nivix cyclops

I just really love the art on this thing!

Let me just start by saying that I am a huge fan of Wayne Reynold’s art. He has drawn some pretty nice stuff. I first took notice when he did the original Ajani Vegeant.

That’s one p$%ed off Ajani!

I also like his Cunning Sparkmage art and had drawn a custom playmat of it a while back.

cunning sparkmage mat

Don’t get much free time to draw these anymore

Back to our friendly Cyclops! Most people will compare him with Kiln Fiend.

Blast from the not too distant past

Nivix Cyclops is basically safer to most removal and gets to attack less. He is not destroyed by cards like Ultimate Price, Searing Spear or Pillar of Flame. He will probably be one of the more played commons of this set in constructed formats. Of course in something like Pauper, he is your Kiln Fiend # 5-8 (as most of those kinds of deck already play Izzet colors). You can also save up your Instants/Sorceries and just have him attack for 4 each turn. He also gets to properly block something the turn he comes down, which is a big big plus when trying to win damage races.

Tajic, Blade of the Legion

One mana army? Not quite

Boros is seemingly getting some nice Indestructability bonuses, almost as though they were made out of Darksteel. It’s a nice way to incorporate the whole amor/weapon aspect without necessarily always printing equipment. Tajic will always be the one left standing, keeping the aggro going. He might otherwise also be your last bastion of defense versus other aggressive decks that pack more removal.

He is surely going to find a home in every Boros EDH/Commander deck ever. I know i’m going to include him in mine. He is the ideal equipment holder, always. Still wielding that Sunforger or Sword of Light and Shadow, while his fallen comrades look on from beyond the grave cheering him on so that he may possibly resurrect them.

I’m not entirely sure he will make the cut in standard since if you can realistically keep Batallion going, I would run Odric instead. Although I’m pretty sure that in a deck where you really want the little guys to keep piercing through defense, a 4 drop that ‘might’ help you is not ideal. I would much rather run Firemane Avenger, but even that suffers the ‘dies to flashed in Restoration Angel‘ death.

Tajic benefits from not being part of the Starter deck lineup, but will it be enough to keep his price slightly up? He’s currently 3-4$ and will probably settle a 3$ for the time being, until he ends up possibly being cut from Team Boros in Standard.

Give/Take

It’s a give and take relationship.

We get another split card, this time for the Simic Guild. So far I’ve enjoyed the split cards and this one is rather decent. Of course it works best with the evolve mechanic, but the Take half offers some fun interactions in many formats. I won’t enumerate them, as a quick search in Gatherer will reveal many many possibilities.

Each side costing 3 is fine, but probably not good enough to see competitve play. The card is obviously great in limited and should be a high enough pick if drafting those colors. The card as a whole can see play in a Bant Phantom-themed deck (circa. Judgment) if you’re looking for some random casual fun.

Same time tomorrow!

Well, it’s not really a specific time per se, but we’ll keep the updates going.

Final Verdict

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Creatures

The Rest of the Team

Sideboard

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Plasm Capture

Boros Battleshaper

Sky Lasher

Feral Animist

Blaze Commando

Bronzebeak Moa

Krasis Incubation

Scab-Clan Giant

Species Gorger

Gruul War Chant

Gleam of Battle

Drown in Filth

Zhur-Taa Druid

Armored Wolf-Rider

Beetleform Mage

Thrashing Mossdog

Boros Mastiff

Scion of Vitu-Ghazi

Wake the Reflections

Rubblebelt Maaka

Battering Krasis

Riot Control

Crypt Incursion

Riot Piker

Phytoburst

Runner’s Bane

Sinister Possession

Punish the Enemy

Mutant’s Prey

Haazda Snare Squad

Mindstatic

Hired Torturer

Clear a Path

Kraul Warrior

Murmuring Phantasm

Bane Alley Blackguard

Awe for the Guild

Mending Touch

Wind Drake

Fatal Fumes

Split card images

And that’s a wrap!

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AEtherling

Korozda Gorgon

Unflinching Courage

Blast of Genius

Dragonshift

Wrap up…

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Emmara Tandris

Pyrewild Shaman

Warleader’s Helix

Warped Physique

More Split cards

Down/Dirty

Profit/Loss

Protect/Serve

Ready/Willing

Speaking of Split…

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Uncovered Clues

Notion Thief

Viashino Firstblade

Catch/Release

Maze Creatures

Back tomorrow for Wave 9!

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Deadbridge Chant

Blood Baron of Vizkopa

Legion’s Initiative