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Posted by
gatch
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Labels:
Magic: the Gathering
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Posted On Saturday, October 24, 2009 at 1:46 PM
After the Philly 5k decklists were published everyone craved for dragonskull summits and verdant catacombs. Unfortunately unlike the current reality of things, real estate is hard to come by in the Magic world. I had searched through every binder I could get my hands on, posted on every local website..but I could not find the lands. I was one click away from paying nearly double the regular price online and wait two weeks for cards that may never reach my mailbox. It was then that I realized...everyone will be playing Jund. I started digging for cards in my collection. The objective - build a deck that crushes Jund. The idea was to build a deck that Jund had a bad matchup against. I had been running Jund before the rotation so I'm pretty familiar with what makes it tick. Jund works because it puts a lot of pressure on the board without over commiting and gains card advantage through cascade. I wanted to beat it at it's own game, so i drafted up this list. For your consideration...Naya Ascension v1.0:
I've seen a number of Pyromancer Ascension decks online, but I haven't found one that runs only Naya colors and Naya Charm. Most use blue for Time Warp but I find them a bit slow. Dare I say that this is the first? Well, I'm sure some Pro somewhere in the world has thought about it, but at least in my local shop it's the first one of it's kind... and I cooked it up myself. Naya charm combos with itself in this deck to activate Pyromancer ascension at instant speed. Once you've ascended, naya charm now can effectively let you return two cards from your graveyard to your hand. The trick is, to always return the second naya charm. What you'll have is an infinite source of card advantage. With the ascension online you can bolt your opponent to the head and grab the bolt back with naya charm- Repeat until opponent's head is crispy on the outside, but moist and tender on the inside. Good thing we're running 8 cascade spells that help you play copies of spells already in your graveyard. Another trick is when you cascade into a 2nd naya charm, return the 1st one to your hand and you have the combo ready. The deck is white red heavy, which means you have the tools to deal with jund's permanents, but blightning hurts it bad just like any other control deck. Captured sunlight is also intended to regain that lost card and life from Blightning. Ajani vengeant does a pretty good job of stalling, and left unchecked can win you the game...playing him main deck is bad news for opposing control builds. I've yet to test baneslayers in this deck, but so far the pair of Enlisted Wurms have been doing well and have even helped get the ascension in play and online. The deck has enough removal to handle an initial Boros rush, and then recover to take the game later. It feels lacking in bomb spells though so Baneslayer might still be decent here. Right now the sideboard is loaded with Jund hate, Devout lightcaster is a house vs Jund, either exiling the thrinax or blocking it all day without triggering it's effect. At one point an opponent had to Bituminous blast his own thrinax to get his tokens, only to meet a Day of Judgement from my side the next turn. Blightning still hurts like hell, but without it the Jund player will be in trouble. Maelstrom pulse kills pyromancer ascension, but you have 4 copies plus recursion from naya charm to help it get back in play. I need to playtest the jund matchup some more to see how well it does, but on paper it seems legit. Vampires and soldiers have a hard time keeping pyromancer ascension in check, so those are generally good matchups. I'll playtest it a bit more, but for now this is what I'm piloting to local events.
After a four hour tournament a bunch of us decided to test our decks a bit more at the local coffee shop. Playing with brand new decks is so exciting that none of us felt tired at all and everyone wanted to run their homebrews through the gauntlet of meta decks that was Jund, Boros and Vampires. After placing our orders we dragged a couple of tables together and went on to playtest.
It's always interesting to play somewhere other than the hobby shop. The reactions from bystanders and spectators never get old. "Ano yan sugal?" (is that gambling?) and "parang mga bata naglalaro pa.." (they're like kids, still playing games.) are the most frequent comments you would overhear, and some people would go so far as to condemn the game saying it's the devil's work. Ignorance is bliss, and a lot of these bystanders looked pretty happy to me as they made these comments. Not many people understand the game and why we play it. For those who think its child's play, well, its not. Sure a 9 year old can learn the basic rules and play and have fun with the game, but can the kid be competitive? Competitive magic is an entirely different animal. It requires a level of IQ, comprehension and reasoning, similar to chess, except that in chess the smart player that makes no play errors will always win. Magic still incorporates luck, and thus your decision making is not fool proof. You cannot read through your opponent's next moves completely because you only see a portion of his cards at any given time. In chess, you play with the same pieces every game whereas in Magic, its up to the player what 75 cards he will run out of the thousands of unique cards to choose from. Just building an efficient deck is an intellectual feat in itself. I have nothing against chess, its a great game and I play chess every once in a while... but nothing trumps taking your home brew and beating the bejesus out of a well established Magic deck. One thing chess does lack is flavor...I mean a king, a queen and their medieval army just don't stack up against planeswalkers, wizards, dragons, artifacts and fungi of all shapes and sizes. So you, yes I'm talking to you, you innocent bystander dissing my game..the next time you want to act all cool in front of your friends, don't pretend you know what I'm doing while i tap my lands for mana, otherwise I might be tempted to use that mana and Banefire your ass. You can't counter it punk, and the damage cant be prevented.
Posted by
gatch
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Labels:
Magic: the Gathering
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Posted On Monday, October 19, 2009 at 1:52 PM
A couple of weeks after the global release of Zendikar, Magic players all over the world are scrambling to get their hands on the hottest rares, full art lands, and the sleeper cards that lie dormant, waiting to be broken. Right after a rotation it is vital for a competitive player to know what cards to grab now and what to trade away while they still have some value, and with the shortage in printed product we can expect the prices to skyrocket once the metagame is established.
So without further ado, here's what I think will be solid gold.
My Top Five Money Cards:
#5 : Mindbreak Trap - This actually has more value outside of standard, but value it does have nonetheless. No more uncounterable nonsense says the blue mage.
#4 : Ob Nixilis the Fallen - Not often does a legend work as a four-of in the combo deck where it belongs. Best played turn 6 followed by a fetch land drop. BOOM.
#3 : Day of Judgment - Its not Wrath, but its what we have. Get four.
#2 : Lotus Cobra - The "Lotus" in the name is indicative of high value. Seriously, this will be awesome.
#1 : Fetch Lands - No surprise here. Used in every format. You want playsets of these..and you want them yesterday.
My Top Five Uncommons:
#5 : Quest for the Gravelord - I expect this to be in every black based aggro deck as an answer to board sweepers.
#4 : Unstable Footing - 5 mana for 5 damage to the face that can't be prevented. at instant speed. What banefire?
#3 : Gatekeeper of Malakir - Board advantage anyone? Who says black cant handle Great Sable Stag?
#2 : Vampire Nighthawk - 3 mana for a 2/3 flyer with lifelink & deathtouch? Any deck with a hint of black will want this.
#1 : Brave the Elements - This is Burrenton Forge-Tender 2.0. It also lets you get a free swing that can end the game.
My Top Five Sleeper Cards
(these are cards I think are undervalued at the moment, and getting them now will be a good investment)
#5 : Nissa Revane - I like Nissa, even though a lot of people think running her in a deck would be like marrying a single mom with four kids. Nissa and her chosen may be narrow, but so was ajani goldmane, and he saw play with the little white men. There are already a number of elves that work great with her ultimate: Bloodbraid elf and ElvishArchdruid to name a few. I'll get a playset of her now while she's dirt cheap, just in case the next expansion carriesanother bomb of the elven kind.
#4 : Chandra Ablaze - This planeswalker is just waiting for the right deck, but I think people are seeing it already.Both + and - abilities work great for a burn heavy deck. Big red should want at least one copy for her game endingultimate.
#3 : Bloodchief Ascension - I watched this card jump from a crap rare to a chase rare in a span of one week. I mean come on, like getting 2 damage in a turn would be difficult for an aggro/burn heavy deck? Once online, sit back and watch your opponent take it from his own spells. Or end his agony with a couple of blightnings, or an Archive trap for the win.
#2 : Luminarch Ascension - This will eat control decks for breakfast. Drop this on turn two and watch your opponent make bad plays and over commit to the board trying to stop the inevitable from happening. In a deck that limits your opponents creatures from getting in for damage, Luminarch Ascension will be as threatening as Bitterblossom was in the last standard. But since it's white and will only fit into a few decks, I have to award number one sleeper to...
#1 : Eldrazi Monument - It makes your guys bigger, gives them wings, and renders them indestructible the turn it comes into play. This will pull wins out of nowhere! Iv'e been running one in my soldier control deck and it has yet to disappoint. In fact I don't remember ever losing a test game after landing this on the board. Being colorless and costed below 6 mana means it should fit into almost any aggressive deck in the format. I wouldn't run 4 though, maybe somewhere around 2-3 is the right number. Simply put, in an aggro vs aggro matchup (which I predict will be 80% of the metagame), the player who runs Eldrazi Monument will have an edge. Trade away an ajani goldmane for a couple of these now and your soldier tokens will never be happier.
Next time i'll be featuring a Planeswalker control deck that I managed to pilot to 1st place at a local standard event.
Posted by
gatch
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Labels:
Magic: the Gathering
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Posted On Wednesday, October 7, 2009 at 1:22 PM
Here's my attempt at a White based control deck that uses a ton of board sweepers and a swarm of soldiers to end the game in 1-2 swings. Let's start with the decklist: 
Now why didn't I just do what everyone else is doing and build an aggressive White soldier/Kor deck instead? -because from what I can see in the standard cardpool, soldiers just aren't kithkin. They're way too slow to be explosive in the first five turns,unlike Vampires that can drop a Vampire Nocturnus, reveal a black card from the top of the deck and win the game just like that. Straight up Soldiers and Kor seem lacking in power right now unless somebody finds a way to break Armament master. Looks like white based aggro will have to wait for the next set to be really competitive. They did get a great card though, in Conqueror's Pledge. For 2WWW you get Six, count 'em, SIX kor soldier creatures. Awesome. Goodluck pulling of that kicker, but even without it, a 6-for-1 is very VERY effective. The deck will be running 3 copies, as I feel resolving one should be enough. A full set of Honor of the Pure and some Garruk should pump your end-game army to game ending proportions. You have your 4 Martial Coup that could be played early for some warm bodies or late to just break the board and win the next turn. If you get swarmed early on, no need to panic. Fire off a Day of Judgement to reset the battlefield. For really pesky creatures you can use Path to Exile. Now for the really fun part, the green splash. Green was splashed here so we can include Dauntless Escort. This guy doesn't pose much of a threat on his own, but his ability to make your guys immune to even your own board sweepers is priceless. Imagine playing a one sided Day of Judgement. It goes perfectly with the design of the deck. So does an Eldrazi Monument, for a bit of flying action and a little more indestructibility. To help make sure you have enough mana to cast those late game bombs you have a set of Kor Cartographers. They will also contribute to getting your Emeria, the Sky Ruin online...a Dauntless escort or Captain of the Watch coming back every turn is very much welcome in this deck. Emeria should also offset creature loss from Eldrazi monument, if the game goes long enough that you have both in play at the same time. The numbers for each card can still be adjusted as the meta is shaped, but for now I think this is a pretty good starting list. I'll be taking this to a few local tourneys to see how it does against Vampires and other up and coming killer decks. You can expect tournament reports soon with me behind the wheel of this monster. Next time i'll be featuring a Vampire deck that my brothers and I cooked up just in time for Halloween. Until then, remember to shuffle well and call your phases!
Posted by
gatch
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Labels:
Magic: the Gathering
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Posted On Friday, October 2, 2009 at 9:56 AM
With Lorwyn's rotation out of Standard just around the corner Iv'e been busy cooking up new decklists that I believe would be competitve in the new standard metagame. Lowryn block takes along with it many of the most powerful decks currently dominating the format, such as Faeries, Kithkin, Reveillark, Elfball and 5 Color Control. Left almost unscathed is the TimeSeive combo deck, and to some extent Jund and Naya were able to keep their key cards for another year. Esper Aggro lost nothing at all being a viable deck in Block, but gained little as well in the Zendikar cardpool. Mill decks got quite a boost on the other hand, and the strategy might actually be competitive in the fresh meta. As for brand new decks, Black Vampires are looking good with the wide array of utility creatures and spells in it's arsenal, followed closely by White based Soldier/Kor decks attempting to be this season's Kithkin counterpart. The Landfall, Trap, Kicker, and Ally mechanics look promising as well, though out of the lot I believe Landfall will be the most relevant, as it tends to generate card advantage. Ally decks are being dubbed as the new Slivers, but I doubt if the mass of 2/2 creatures with 4+ converted casting costs will be much of a threat, especially with the psuedo-Wrath Day of Judgement in the picture. Taking all of this into consideration, Iv'e decided that I would build 3 decks: Mono-Black Vampires, Mono-White or Green-White Soldiers, and Jund Ramp. For today I'll be discussing the Jund Ramp decklist I drafted up.
I actually didn't use a lot of Zendikar cards, except for the Black/Green fetch lands (getting a playset of these will be as easy as walking into Mordor with intentions of throwing the One Ring into the fires of mount doom...), the reprinted Harrow and the cool new legend Ob Nixilis the Fallen. Zendikar provided Lotus Cobra, but I don't think I should rely too much on creature-based ramp effects with Lightning bolt, Path to Exile, and Doomblade in the meta. I wouldn't mind opening one in a pack though. I decided to go with the traditional ramp effects and Garruk Wildspeaker. The thing about Garruk is he can protect himself and me with a beast token, then help with the mana ramping the next turn. With an open board he can even win the game on his own. I also kept the Cascade effects in the deck. Having no overly conditional spells in the lower curve of the deck, I should always get good cascades. That..and I love the look on my opponent's face when I turn up exactly what I need to win the game. Iv'e done this a couple of times in the past, and each time I topdecked that golden card it was met with a "Wow!", "Oh..", "Great play!", and more often "WTF!? LUCKY BASTARD!". I hit blanks too, but thats whats great about Cascade. You're in control of whats in your deck, so you can actually minimize if not eliminate blank cascades. In this deck the only blank I would hit would be a Garruk with one already in play, or Maelstrom pulse vs. a clean board..in which case it wouldn't have been that bad anyway as getting a 2 for 1 in that situation wasn't even necessary. Maelstrom pulses are a must, with all the crazy "quest" and "ascencion" enchantments being abused, not to mention hard to kill planeswalkers. I'm playing 4 maindeck just because they're the most versatile form of hard removal I've ever seen in the game. Ob Nixilis is plain good when you keep topdecking lands, and can end the game right there with a late Harrow. One copy is enough for an end-game legendary creature I think. The dragons are my lategame (or in a ramp deck's case, Midgame) bombs, all intended to turn the board around. Dropping one of them earlier than the turn they were intended for is the whole point of this deck. Violent ultimatum is there as a way out of a really bad board position (think Baneslayer and Broodmate + Buddy on the wrong side of the table), or if I get a good ramp progression it could lock the game in my favor. Iv'e actually never built a deck in this style before, so I might have gotten the design wrong, but only live playtesting in an actual tournament environment will prove anything. I just hope I get the pieces (especially the lands) by the first Zendikar-legal standard tourney. I'm still waiting on my set of textless bolts (wish ther were pulses though). They would look pimpin in the deck, but I'm afraid they might end up as trade fodder for the new lands. More deck ideas again soon!
I've seen a number of Pyromancer Ascension decks online, but I haven't found one that runs only Naya colors and Naya Charm. Most use blue for Time Warp but I find them a bit slow. Dare I say that this is the first? Well, I'm sure some Pro somewhere in the world has thought about it, but at least in my local shop it's the first one of it's kind... and I cooked it up myself. Naya charm combos with itself in this deck to activate Pyromancer ascension at instant speed. Once you've ascended, naya charm now can effectively let you return two cards from your graveyard to your hand. The trick is, to always return the second naya charm. What you'll have is an infinite source of card advantage. With the ascension online you can bolt your opponent to the head and grab the bolt back with naya charm- Repeat until opponent's head is crispy on the outside, but moist and tender on the inside. Good thing we're running 8 cascade spells that help you play copies of spells already in your graveyard. Another trick is when you cascade into a 2nd naya charm, return the 1st one to your hand and you have the combo ready. The deck is white red heavy, which means you have the tools to deal with jund's permanents, but blightning hurts it bad just like any other control deck. Captured sunlight is also intended to regain that lost card and life from Blightning. Ajani vengeant does a pretty good job of stalling, and left unchecked can win you the game...playing him main deck is bad news for opposing control builds. I've yet to test baneslayers in this deck, but so far the pair of Enlisted Wurms have been doing well and have even helped get the ascension in play and online. The deck has enough removal to handle an initial Boros rush, and then recover to take the game later. It feels lacking in bomb spells though so Baneslayer might still be decent here. Right now the sideboard is loaded with Jund hate, Devout lightcaster is a house vs Jund, either exiling the thrinax or blocking it all day without triggering it's effect. At one point an opponent had to Bituminous blast his own thrinax to get his tokens, only to meet a Day of Judgement from my side the next turn. Blightning still hurts like hell, but without it the Jund player will be in trouble. Maelstrom pulse kills pyromancer ascension, but you have 4 copies plus recursion from naya charm to help it get back in play. I need to playtest the jund matchup some more to see how well it does, but on paper it seems legit. Vampires and soldiers have a hard time keeping pyromancer ascension in check, so those are generally good matchups. I'll playtest it a bit more, but for now this is what I'm piloting to local events.
