Re-Thinking MTG

Examining Liliana of the Veil

2012-01-05T06:07:00.000-08:00

I have mostly been presenting decks and discussing how they have played, albeit a bit superficial in terms of mechanics. This article will be a bit more on the philosophical side. Some cards just annoy me when I play. The titans have been like that for me. It seems as if no thought goes into a card to fill the six drop slot-which ever colors you are playing, choose the titans for your colors and your done. Primeval Titan, in particular, I hate to see come into play. I could go on about how to tweak them so that they did not suffocate every other option, but this is not that article. This is about a planeswalker that is beginning to make me feel like I did when I saw someone cast Jace the Mind Sculptor. Liliana of the Veil is not a JTMS, but she has the same stare on her face and they both have something going on in both hands. She might just have an impact like he did.

Lets start by looking at her measurements, I mean stats.

First, she has a CMC of 3, best you can get for a planeswalker.

The two black requirement means that you have to have a commitment to black, but since the CMC is only 3 you could have some form of mana conversion (something that changes one color of mana to another) and still get her into play relatively early.

Some people have talked about her as being similar to Jace Beleren. Lets see how they stack up.

Both have a CMC of 3 with a requirement of two of the same color. The casting cost is equivalent.

Both have three abilities.

The first ability for both has to do with cards and options. Jace gives each player one more card while Liliana takes a card away from each player.

The second ability for each card gives advantage to one player. Jace gives one player another card while Liliana takes a creature away from a player.

The third ability, the ultimate, for each is something quite different. Lilianna makes a player choose losing up to half of their permanents. Jace mills for twenty.

On the surface it may seem that the two walkers are very similar. The plus ability gives options or takes them away. The second ability gives advantage to one player. The ultimate can hurt, but not obliterate an opponent. You could argue that they cards are quite similar in power level. Some ways of looking at the match-up might suggest that they are similar in power level. Context, however, is king, and Liliana is more rocking than she seems prima facie.

The First Ability: Give and Take
Jace Beleren's first ability is +2 and each player draws a card. Nice! You get an extra card on your turn and since you are playing blue, counter magic is probably in the deck somewhere. Your opponent gets an extra card, but you have priority and its your turn, its at worst a minor drawback.

Liliana of the Veil's first ability is a +1 and each player discards a card. Oh, that stinks. Your opponent has to discard a card, that is nice. But you have to discard a card as well. Major drawback right. Unless you unload your hand first. So you could unload burn or creatures before you start using Liliana's +1 to keep your opponent out of options.

But wait, this is where context is king. Flashback is a major theme in Innistrad. Discarding can be a benefit. Some cards have a flashback cost that is less than the original CMC. Unburial Rights is the first card that comes to mind. CMC of 5 but a flashback cost of 4. So a turn three Liliana of the Veil can hurt your opponent by making him ditch a card and can allow you to drop the Grave Titan into your graveyard. The next turn you can +1 again and drop an Unburial Rights while further limiting your opponent and then flashback a creature into play. Usually a creature that you could not have put into play otherwise.

What seems like a very similar ability actually is a huge advantage engine given the context of flashback and cards like Unburial Rights. Jace's +2 gives you marginal advantage, not in cards but in play options, since you get the card on your turn and at your discretion. But still you are drawing a card and most of the time you won't know what that card is. Your opponent also gets another card which gives them more options also.

Liliana's is much different. Instead of giving both players more options by drawing a card, both players discard a card. Options are reduced. Except that the graveyard mechanics of Innistrad allow for discarding cards to be a form of card advantage. So forcing an opponent to discard can be a huge advantage for you and discarding a card that you need in your graveyard can be a huge advantage for you also. Stand alone Liliana of the Veil can help to suffocate an opponent, given Innistrad she can also strengthen you at the same time.

Liliana of the Veil is superior to Jace Beleren, and given Innistrad, clearly superior.

The Second Ability: Pure Advantage
Jace Beleren's second ability is -1 target paler draws a card. Simply card advantage, love it. Liliana of the Veil's second ability is -2 target player sacrifices a creature. She can protect herself. A planeswalker that can help keep creatures at bay. Since you are playing black you also have access to plenty of spot removal. Since Liliana does not target a creature protection from black, hexproof, shroud, and anything else that would protect a creature from being targeted does not apply. Of course she can't be specific about which creature gets sacrificed, but with spot removal available, the choices can be narrowed.

Liliana's ability is better early in the game and Jace's ability is great any time. Being able to remove creatures from the board is nice. This is what helped propel JTMS to stardom. JTMS only bounced them and Liliana sends them to the graveyard, but then JTMS was only -1 and Liliana's is a -2.

This ability can be awesome for Liliana, but against non-creature decks it is useless. Jace Beleren's ability is always useful so while Liliana's ability is much more powerful, it is also much more contextualized. Jace's is good regardless.

Liliana gets the nod on the second ability also, but sometimes it may just be useless.

The Ultimate: Game Changer not Game Ender
Jace Beleren's ultimate is -10 mill target player for 20. Liliana of the Veil's ultimate is separate target players permanents into two piles they get to keep one and sacrifice the other. Lets be honest, you can win the game by milling an opponent. Jace Beleren's ultimate given the right circumstances can win the game. If a game grinds to a halt and Jace is on the board ready to pop the ultimate the clock is shortened and unless you are a mill deck, you have an alternate win condition. If you are playing a mill deck, then his ultimate is the same win condition you already have built in. In most games, however, milling for 20 on turn 6 is not all that exciting. Liliana's ultimate will give you board advantage, but it might not simply hand the game to you. Still losing half of your permanents can be devastating, it just might not be all that bad.

Liliana's ability is better in most cases but it is nothing to write home about.

Going on from here
Liliana of the Veil is clearly better than Jace Beleren. Her best attribute is her +1, but the -2 is awesome given the right situations. Her ultimate is ok, but if you are going to use her plan on utilizing the first two abilities to get massive advantage so that you can put the game away.

What are the ways you can use Liliana of the Veil. Given the current context I think a Black & White for Unburial Rights is the best option. Ditching fatties to unbury is the best use at the moment. The Black, White, and Blue "Solar Flare" types have best options that I can see. You could go heavy black with white splash for the flashback but you will need to have early white mana so the mana base will have to include enough white to make it work. Or you could play white and splash black with some mana conversion to get the two black needed for Liliana.

If you want to ignore the flashback of Unburial Rights, you could go Black & Red for quick burn so the dumping of cards doesn't hurt as much. Or Black & Blue with think twice and other card draw to help you out overcome the discard letting Liliana take care of the creatures for you.

There are lots of options but I think what will be the most telling is what Dark Ascension has in store for us. A lot more graveyard abilities will make Lilana even more attractive. Will there be a complement for Liliana like Stoneforge Mystic was for Jace the Mind Sculptor? I don't know, but I think Lilana is on the rise.

Myr Reservoir

2011-12-22T08:30:00.000-08:00

This picture is of a bell mouth spillway in Ladybower Reservoir, Derbyshire, England. Here is the page I found it on if you would like to see some more pictures and read about it.

Dictionary.com defines reservoir as follows.

The 5th definition is the one in mind for the card I am going to examine tody, Myr Reservoir.

Lets look at this card. CMC of 3, so it is not particularly difficult to cast. Tap to add 2 mana that is restricted to Myr. 3 and Tap to return a Myr card from graveyard to hand.

The Myr restriction allows this card's abilities to be used only if the card has a sub-type of Myr, so Myr Reservoir is not a Myr card. Myr Turbine also is not a Mry card so this card can't be used to cast Myr Turbine. I only mention Myr Turbine because it might work for this deck, but I don't have it in this iteration. I have seen it with one of my other favorites: Parallel Lives.

Unlike the tear I have been on lately, this is not a token deck, but you can make a few tokens. Ok, enough of the stalling, here is the first iteration of the Myr Reservior deck.

I played against someone the other day who had Shimmer Myr, Myr Reservior, Palladium Myr, Myr Battlesphere, and Myrsmith. That's all I saw from their deck and I was inspired. So I put this together to see how it would work out. I am surprised at the amount non-Myr creatures I put in, but it seems to help.

Ardent Recruit was in some of the Tempered Steel decks before New Phyrexia. A 3/3 for 1 is great and metalcraft should be easy enough. The single Auriok Sunchaser is along the same lines, a 3/3 flyer for 2 is not bad. I cut 3 of her to put in more land, however, now she is a single. Shimmer Myr is there to give you some surprise and let you flash out the Palladium, Galvanizer, or Battlesphere at the end of the turn or as a combat trick. The Spellbombs are nothing new. I have seen Myrsmith and spellbombs make a lot of tokens in the past year, this is no exception.

The concept is simple, it is an aggressive deck with Myr. The Battlesphere is the finisher, but you can win with a few tokens and a the Galvanizer.

Myr Superion is also pretty good if you can use the Palladium Myr to get him out. You can punch through with the big guy and bring him back from the graveyard with the Reservoir again and again. Each time you re-cast him make sure to put the token from the Myrsmith into play also. Apparently there are many tokens to choose from....

That is all for now, let me know what you think and how it plays.

Back after a Vacation, bring on more tokens

2011-12-19T10:29:00.000-08:00

I have been on a token trip for some time now. I just like the idea of tokens. On MTGO you never run out, that is nice. So again we have Parallel Lives to make our token just more..This time tokens come not from Mimic Vat, but from some of the more overlooked artifacts from SOM.

Here is the deck.
This is an artifact deck that has some cool fatties. It has some ramp with some casting cost reduction. I like both Semblance Anvil and Prototype Portal, but it costs card advantage. If you are able to play the Prototype Portal and get one activation you get the play advantage back, and each activation after that is play advantage, but people maindeck a lot of artifact hate, so sometimes you just lose out.

What's the Point?
Parallel Lives is the real finisher. Doubling tokens is what makes this cool. Check out the post HERE with Mimic Vat to see the potential havoc you can bring. The simple point is that decks that rely on spot removal have a problem, mass removal does a little bit better, but you recover very quickly if you have the token generation out.

Here is a game that was nice. Wurmcoil Engine under the Prototype Portal with two parallel lives.

This time I had Precursor Golem under the Portal with the doubling enchantment.

This one has the Pentavus, this makes for a lot of fun bringing the tokens on and off to block. Cool.....

Quicksilver Amulet helps get the fatties out early if you don't have the portal, but I think it should go for something else. Ok, I am up for some ideas to make this work better. Any thoughts?

wade_the_blade on MTGO

Paralell Vat

2011-12-01T20:00:00.001-08:00

Here is something I put together after getting inspired by combining Mimic Vat with Parallel Lives.

The idea is to get multiple tokens and Mimic Vat takes any dying creature and makes it a token. Use creatures that bring tokens into play with them and the friends stay after the Mimic Vat token is exiled. With the vat on the table I want my Precursor Golem to get Doom Bladed, because then I get a hasty token each turn for 3 and he brings two friends along that stay after he leaves the party. If you are able to drop a Parallel Lives then you get two hasty golems and 8 friend tokens when you crank the Mimic Vat. Not bad at all. Not to mention Acidic Slime. One Game I had two Parallel Lives in play and a Mimic Vat. My Acidic Slime died and I put 4 slime tokens into play and sent 4 Islands to the graveyard. When it works, it works well.

Here is a game where I did not get the vat out but still had synergy between permanents.

One Parallel Lives made 4 golems

and 4 soldiers. Not bad.

Ramp and Card Advantage
So here is my thinking. Avacyn's Pilgrim and Rampant Growth for ramp. Solemn Simulacrum for more ramp and cards.

Token Generation

Mimic Vat is the main idea, but Blade Splicer, Master Splicer, Hero of Bladehold, Jade Mage, and Kessig Cagebreakers all bring friends or make friends. Precursor Golem is the real performer since he brings two upon arrival. Parallel Lives puts the game away fast when you have it out. At least it makes more threats for you. Remember anything you get on a vat will give you two tokens for 3 when you crank the vat. So the Precursor Golem under the vat gives you two Precursor Golem Tokens which each give you four Golem Tokens. Only the two from the vat will have haste, but that drops 30 power on the board for three (6 with haste and and you lose six at end of turn, but that still leaves 24 power over 8 bodies). If you get the sweet setup with two enchantments in play...4 vat tokens, each bring 8 friends, --36 bodies, 108 power--96 stays on the board over 32 bodies.... oh the joy of it all..

How do you want to play it?

Mimic Vat is good in and of itself. Get the vat out as soon as you can then put out a Precursor Golem or a Hero of Bladehold. Removing your threat only guarantees that it comes back again and again. Parallel Lives can come down right before an attack or before you crank the vat. If you get behind, a Solemn Simulacrum on the vat will get you a land each time and if he chump blocks a card as well. Jade Mage is a cheap creature that can pop out saprolings if you need to buy time. She can take out an opposing Solemn Simulacrum or Acidic Slime that you can then put under your vat. Mortar Pod lets you sacrifice your creatures so you get something on the vat.

The great thing is the combo of Parallel Lives and Mimic Vat with token generating creature is a great setup, but the deck can win with either part of the combo and without either piece.

Why Master Splicer over Blade Splicer?

Isn't Blade Splicer better than Master Splicer??? Yep. So, why are you playing one Blade and two Master??? Very good question. I only have one Blade Splicer. I picked it up in a draft and have held onto it. Master Splicers are much cheaper and make little difference in this deck. I would like to get some Blade Splicers, however, so if you would not mind clicking a few of the adds, that could help me get on my way.....

A Change of Pace

2011-11-30T06:43:00.001-08:00

I am going to take a break from the werewolves for a while. We need some support and I hope the next set will provide the help needed for the werewolf menace. Today I want to explore Essence of the Wild.

Talk about a cool card. CMC of 6, which is not bad for green, the three green requirement means that the deck will have to be heavy on the green side, however. The main drawback for this card is that it competes with Primeval Titan. The titans suck all of the oxygen out of the room, so I long for the day the titans withdraw from standard.

Even with the oppression of the Titans (where is Zeus when you need him?), we can find a few cool tricks with non-titan 6cc mythic creatures.

The Goods on Essence

Essence of the Wild has cool art and is a 6/6 for 6. This is not all that exciting for a six drop, but the cool part is what happens to every other creature that put into play after that. LSV (Louis Scott-Vargas) did not like the card in his set review. See his article here. But I am not sure that we can't find a way to make this fun and a real threat. Hexproof would have been a nice addition especially since it is a mythic, but R&D did not go there. What we have is a reverse shapeshifter, where all your creatures copy the essence. What is essence anyway? Glad you asked.

The flavor text gets at the idea. Green is big dudes. The wild overtaking someone makes them a 6/6 creature. So, how do we overcome the LSV complaint? I can think of a few ways to make this card more of a threat. First, the card needs to get onto the battlefield quickly. Green can ramp to 6 in short order. Second, Spot removal is a problem so when he hits the table more creatures need to start hitting the table also. The idea I have is not one Essence of the Wild, but many. If you can stick an essence and then Genesis Wave, it starts to get cool. Here is what I have been working with.

The idea is ramp up with one drops bust out the Essence and then my additional one drops become a vanilla 6/6. Genesis Wave works only after you have an Essence of the Wild on the battlefield, but when you do, three or four 6/6 is not unreasonable.

I like Jade Mage as a mana sink, chump blocker production, and when the EOTW is in play unlimited 6/6 creatures for 3 at instant speed is not bad at all. Another option for recurring token generation is Throne of Empires or Druidic Satchel. The advantage of the mage is unlimited 3 for a token while you have to tap the throne and you have tap the satchel and hope you hit a creature. The advantages are that after you have an essence in play the artifacts don't come into play as a copy (this kind of goes against getting more and more 6/6 creatures, however). The artifacts are more resilient than a 2/1, however. The satchel is more versatile but less reliable for tokens. I will have to experiment and see how things work out.

All of the creatures are 3 or less except EOTW. That not only maximizes the ability to hit creatures with a Genesis Wave, fetching new 6/6 creatures with Green Sun's Zenith can be done for as little as 2 when EOTW is in play.

Probably need to cut one Caravan Vigil, but I put them in to see how they help the game play (they would be really good with flashback).

Try things out and see what you think.

Werewolf Green

2011-11-28T10:55:00.001-08:00

Here is my Werewolf Green deck:

This deck is really just a big green dude deck that doesn't always have big green dudes. I put a single mountain in for Daybreak Ranger, the fight ability is just to cool when she is transformed. Getting the red mana is not an issue with the four Rampant Growth.

Creeping Renaissance is a sleeper, I think. Against control, it is nice to let them kill off your creatures and then you bring them right back into you hand. If they sweep again, you can flashback and get them back another time. This is exactly the kind of play that creature aggro decks need. The mana cost is not really prohibitive, because this is a mid-game to late-game card.

Green Sun's Zenith (GSZ) is cool and works well in the deck. Since most of your creatures are 3 or less, getting what you need is easy. I used GSZ to pull my Grizzled Outcasts against burn and Gatstaf Shepherd against a artifact goblin deck. The outcasts at 4/4 are safe from most burn and I needed a blocker early against the goblins. Full Moon's Rise and Moonmist are the key cards, as they were in the Red/Green version.

Overall I don't really like the play of this deck. Too little interaction and too little ability to punch through. Trample is nice when you have a Full Moon's Rise out, but aside from that chump blocking is easy and although we have some beefy creatures (when transformed), much of the time they are only marginal.It's not really fast and it doesn't have the punch of the first werewolf deck. So this one, along with the Mono-Red version have to sit it out for now.

Next I am going to look at a Red/Black or Green/Black version and see if I can come up with something a little more competitive.

2011-11-18T06:27:00.001-08:00

Werewolf Red

Still working with the werewolves theme, I put together a red version to allow for more interaction with the opponent. Here it is:

I have to admit, I have liked this card
from way back in the day. I like
how it changes every thing
about playing the game.

I have played a few games with it, but I don't like it as much as the Green and Red version. I wanted to have a sweeper so Slagstorm helps out. I thought Manabarbs would be a good way to end the game or slow down the opponent so my creatures could transform, but I did not draw it in any of the games I played.

Curse of the Stalked Prey was a way to make the human side of the threat a little bigger, but I think I should replace it with something else. I like this better with vampires, but I am also thinking it would be great in a token deck. Green Red tokens with Instigator Gang might be my next project.

Right now there are a lot of speed blue Delver of Secrets, and return creatures to your hand, which stinks after you spend the time and effort to transform a werewolf. Without Moonmist to transform your creatures, the deck is less reliable and just weaker than the previous version.

I am going to work on a Green version and then I am thinking about Red and Black or Green and White. What I think this deck needs is something that hampers your opponent. Isolation Cell or Norn's Annex might do the trick. If we can slow them down then something like Quicksilver Amulet might allow us to play our creatures and still let them transform. Just some thoughts, not sure how it would work out right now.

As always, let me know what you think and I hope to get some suggestions to make the deck work better and be a fun deck to play.

Working with Werewolves 2

2011-11-16T05:31:00.001-08:00

We have a basic deck to start with. Here it is:

I know it needs work but we have to start somewhere.

A few things I found out while testing.

First, when it hits a stride, it rocks. An Instigator Gang and with Full Moon's Rise and a few other packmates can take a single attack into 30 to 50 trample damage.

Second, Moonmist can turn the tide in a heartbeat. I attacked with one Reckless Waif, and two Instigator Gang, cast Moonmist and BLAM, a 3/2 and two 2/3 become a 9/2 and two 11/5 trample. Also, all the blockers will not deal damage if they are not wolves or werewolves themselves. It was really nice to run over a Wurmcoil Engine, split it in two and not have my guy die. Sweet!!

Third, Kruin Outlaw and Daybreak Ranger are better than I thought. You can get a lot of utility out of fighting with a Nightfall Predator. I used it to clear the board for an all out attack.

The evasion granted by Terror of Kruin Pass really good. He cast Timely Reinforcements on his last turn going from 3 to 9 and getting the three blockers. He chose not to block after trying and seeing that he could not block all three attackers since he needed two to block the werewolf. I was on the draw for this one. A turn two Mayor of Avabruck and turn three Kruin Outlaw put the game away in short order.

The werewolves are just clunky, however. When you get them out and flip them, they are great. When you can't flip them or they don't stay flipped, not so great. Even if you have one flipped and some others waiting in the wings it seems like you just waste your time by not casting anything on your turn so they can flip. So I added Crown of Empires to give me something to do with mana and to tap potential defenders or potential attackers.

Why not the crown instead of Tumble Magnet? Crown costs less and can keep tapping time and again. On more than one occasion I had my turn one Reckless Waif flip on my opponent's first turn only to be copied by a Phantasmal Image on my opponent's second turn. That slowed me down. Also, all the Titans and Wurmcoil Engines, need to be tapped so they can't attack. In a longer game I like the idea of being able to tap a creature every turn until I can build my forces, Tumble Magnet is good, but I don't have any way to replenish the counters. The crown costs mana to activate, but after I flip a few werewolves I don't they extra mana can't be used without flipping them back over, so having a sink for it is going to be helpful.

I am a bit skeptical of Kessig Wolf Run, but in longer games it gives another outlet for dumping mana and can target those pesky illusions if need be.

This version is all werewolves, I will make some minor adjustments and publish a newer version next. I need some way to interact with my opponent more than what I have so far. So what do you think? What does it need interact more? I haven't even thought of a sideboard yet. Thoughts?

Working with Werewolves

2011-11-15T07:40:00.001-08:00

Some of you may not remember Teen Wolf with Micheal J. Fox.

Everything Werewolf is Innistrad (right now). Sure other werewolves exist in the Magic multiverse Greater Werewolf from Homelands and Lesser Werewolf from Legends. They didn't transform, and really, they were not exciting at all. Now, however, the moon is rising and the infected humans are one the rise. Given that domesticated dogs are descendants of wolves, the werewolf is both his own “best friend” and his own “master.” I am sure it is confusing to be a werewolf. Nonetheless, what can Werewolves do in standard? I have seen a few Werewolf decks (and even put one together) on MTGO. I think the tribe will need some help from the other expansions to be a contender, but it can be fun to play and can get out of hand if the moon rises at the right time.

So what should you look for in the Werewolf build? Well, for now werewolves are red or green. It seems to me that aggressive or slightly more controlling aggressive are the current options.

Creatures

Let's start with Red

Reckless Waif (R) 1/1 [3/2]

Village Ironsmith (1R) 1/1 First Strike [3/1] First Strike

Hanwier Watchkeep (2R) 1/5 Defender [5/5] Attacks each turn

Kruin Outlaw (1RR) 2/2 First Strike [3/3] Double Strike Your werewolves require at least two blockers

Instigator Gang (3R) 2/3 Your attackers get +1/+0 [5/5] Trample Your attackers get +3/+0

Tormented Pariah (3R) 3/2 [6/4]

Six werewolves with only two plain vanilla creatures, Reckless Waif and Tormented Pariah, but a 3/2 one drop is not typical vanilla. On to green.

Gatstaf Shepherd (1G) 2/2 [3/3] Intimidate

Mayor of Avabruck (1G) 1/1 Human Lord [3/3] Werewolf and wolf lord, Put a 2/2 wolf token at the beginning of your end step

Daybreak Ranger (2G) 2/2 Tap-2 damage to flier [4/4] R+Tap- fight target creature

Villagers of Estwlad (2G) 2/3 [4/6]

Ulvenwlad Mystics (2GG) 3/3 [5/5] G: Regenerate

Grizzled Outcasts (4G) 4/4 [7/7]

Like red, green also gets six werewolves with half of them plain vanilla creatures, but that is not really any surprise. Green gets the lord with Mayor of Avabruck and some utility with Daybreak Ranger. The Ulvenwald Mystics are the werewolf troll, when transformed. Nothing with reach yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if that doesn't follow in the other sets to snag one of the vampires out of the air.

Enablers

Moonmist [instant] (1G) Transform all humans. Prevent all combat damage except from werewolves and wolves.

Full Moon's Rise [enchantment] (1G) Werewolves get +1/+0 and Trample. Sacrifice it: Regenerate all your werewolves

There is definitely a start for a werewolves deck, but there are not many specific enablers to take control or punch through. Thankfully, however, with Mayor of Avabruck and Instigator Gang, some of the werewolves themselves offer enabling abilities.

How do these creatures stack up on the mana curve?

1 Reckless Waif (R)

2 Village Ironsmith (1R)

2 Gatstaf Shepherd (1G)

2 Mayor of Avabruck (1G)

3 Hanwier Watchkeep (2R)

Just a sample picture, don't freak out

3 Daybreak Ranger (2G)

3 Villagers of Estwlad (2G)

3 Kruin Outlaw (1RR)

4 Instigator Gang (3R)

4 Tormented Pariah (3R)

4 Ulvenwlad Mystics (2GG)

5 Grizzled Outcasts (4G)

Nothing over five and a normal looking distribution. Given the benefits of the higher CMC creatures, the build for werewolves is the lower end of the curve. Grizzled Outcasts just doesn't seem worth it given the additional mana, but if you want a big vanilla creature, it is definitely undercosted after transformation, and with Full Moon's Rise, a 8/7 trample will have to be dealt with quickly or else it soon will be a GG. Kruin Outlaw and Ulvenwlad Mystics both have more difficult mana requirements so they are a bit more difficult in a multicolor, but not unreasonable either way. Kruin Outlaw is preferred in most situations because the CMC is one less and a 2/2 First Strike and 3/3 Double Strike is usually better to regeneration, but not always.

About Transformation

In my experience online, transforming and keeping the werewolves transformed is not as easy as one might think. With Think Twice and Forbidden Alchemy floating around, spells are being cast more often and many times at the end of your turn. So we need an alternate way to transform. If you sit out each of your turns only to have your opponent cast an instant to prevent transformation on your end step, you will quickly lose tempo and you won't benefit from your build. So I have played aggressive and waited for a Moonmist to flip me into fatties, rather than sitting back and trying to let the transformation process take place on its own. (Sometimes nature requires a little prodding.)

Let's kick this around a little and see what direction we want to man and his own best friend. Make some suggestions, tell me about your ideas. Next time I will look at a two color aggressive deck and how each mono-color works out. Think about how we can put together a more controlling deck with the werewolf theme. Se you next time.

Wade

2011-11-14T05:55:00.001-08:00

My Thoughts from earlier in the year. Hope this gives you some insight into who I am.

No manna burn?....Tapped blockers deal damage? Dark Ritual is not in type two? Type two is standard?

Miss a day and you might not miss much. Miss a decade and the landscape is quite different. Perhaps my experience is not unlike the return to Mirrodin. When I left the magic scene, after Visions and Fifth Edition, I knew what was going on. To check prices of singles you had to get a Scrye or Inquest (I preferred Scrye) and Interrupts were still a card type. I heard about “The Stack” and the demise of Interrupts kind of like you overhear part of a discussion as you walk out of a room. “Interesting,” I thought, “that will change things.” My life moved on, I got married, had kids. Any news of MTG was like a rumor from a distant country.

I was in New Orleans when Katrina encouraged a massive relocation, but just before that I had the urge to play again. I found a local card shop and found out about Mirrodin, an artifact world. I had to learn new rules, and what is this equipment stuff? But it was cool. I had gotten rid of all my old cards years earlier and began to slowly pick up a few for casual play at the card store when I had time. I had little time, however, working on advanced degrees and children take up a lot of time. So only picked up on a few of the happenings. Katrina’s flooding of New Orleans and the surrounding areas was a Shahrazad, and I had no time or inclination to get back in the game. (No we were not in the city when the storm hit, but we did loose a house to 20 feet of water.)

Fast forward to the end of 2010 and my graduate work is all but completed. I have defended a dissertation and now I will have some time to check out Magic again. But the world has changed. Like the shiny spires and glistening artifacts of Mirrodin, things are not what they once were. First of all, MTGO allows me to play and interact from home or work. I was skeptical, but now I am sold. I used to spend countless hours putting paper decks together and testing them in fish bowl games, but now I can do that online. But where is Dark Ritual? How does anyone play black without a one? I remember getting 2nd at big convention in Atlanta with a “Necro Deck” back when it was a mono black monster, the deck would not have dominated without the ritual. Much of the game is still there on the surface, much like the glimmer of Dark Steel, but so much has been changed from within. Planeswalkers are now cards and not just you, the player. Rares are not the most rare of cards and land destruction is not a viable option. In fact, lands are now spells and creatures.

So what is an old planeswalker to do? I feel like Jessie James moving to Manhattan. I desperately want my old strategies to work, but I know that the game has changed so much that they likely will not. I will have to adapt to the new world. When I first started Magic was definitely the Wild West. Your local card shop was a unique world and big tournaments were few. Innovation happened with little collaboration. Every so often we would hear rumors of new ideas and decks and we would have to figure them out for ourselves. Wizards did not have a consistent release of sets so the environment was less predictable. Now the card pool changes like the seasons and the Metagame like the weather. Wizards has a steady flow of sets and predictable changes in standard so the players know when to reap and when to sew. The internet and MTGO provide for daily and weekly tweaking of decks. The splendor of the old Mirrodin has been replaced with the ruthless efficiency of New Phyrexia. In the same way the Magic has gone from a new world to an institution. The change is not necessarily bad, but it is a change.

So again, what is an old planeswalker to do? I can lament the old and curse the new. But what good is that? The game has to change if it is to survive. I don’t like the idea of the Phyrexian victory, but will I let that “poison” me from the game itself? No, I don’t think so. Do I have to embrace the Glistening Oil and let it change me until nothing remains of the past? I can’t do that. I will have to adapt. In some sentimental way I think my favorite card from New Phyrexia will be Greenhilt Trainee, simply for the flavor text. I will adapt, I will survive, but that doesn’t mean I’ll like it. Well, that is not completely true. In fact, there is much I do like about the game now. I look forward to seeing the seasons change. In a few years, who knows, the oil just might do its work. Until then I hope to shock the metagame with powerful rouge that nobody sees coming. I can have a few Illusions of Grandeur, can’t I?

Going out on a limb

2011-11-14T05:14:00.001-08:00

This blog will be about examining the formats, decks, and strategies for Magic the Gathering. I hope to build this blog with various contributing writers and community involvement. I know there are lots of blogs about the game, but I hope to make this one a little different. I would like this site to be a little more interesting, and with more involvement from the community. So here we go. If you would like to submit an article send it to: