Avacyn Restored

Well They finally did it...They Broke Magic...There's been a few goes in the past but this lot takes all the biscuits and then smashes them into a weird paste which your evil auntie will then make into the base for a big shit pie...

Wot The Feck?  I hear you ask...Well it's a Miracle this lot made it out of the the workshop...

Consider the Mechanic - MIRACLE - If this is the first spell you draw this turn you may play it for Ir's miracle cost... Ok so... spells that cost less if there's a trigger we've seen that before... The Problem here is the missing word... REVEAL... its not there... So what you have to take your opponents word for it? and the other problem is the strength of the miracles... Increasing Savagery for one mana? hallowed Burial for one and of course they have reprinted time walk in Temporal Mastery...

Basically if they don't ban one of then (and they Might) then every blue deck in the meta is going to try for a turn one ponder turn two extra turn,,,

Sure there's the anti counter land, but fat lot of good that's gonna do anyone if they they're a turn behind...

It's a shame because there as some great cards in the set and loads of goodies for yer EDH/Commander deck...

Modern Burn gets the kick it needs in Vexing Devil

and I like this little sneaky card... which, although quite specific, could be great n the right deck..

 Jank rare of the Millennium goes to this pathetic excuse for a re-assembling skeleton....

I mean who in their right mind would play this?

Anyway whether they ban  Temporal Mastery or ponder is important but it doesn't change the fact that until the next rotation it looks like INFECT is finally going to be the meta breaker...

Why?

Two reasons...

One

Two

Am I right? Of course I am... I'm always right!

Well its that time of year again... Dark Ascension is upon us....

Appart from sounding like a dodgy goth night... We ask the obvious question is it any good and will it be fun or broken?

Well we'll have more ideas after the pre release, but here's what I'll be looking for...  for long term projects at any rate....

This card makes me sad... but despite this I shall be doing all I can to get as many as possible on Saturday... It will be an  absolute must for commander / edh and is frankly more wrong than snogging yer granny...

For those of you who don't speak foreign, it basically reads as... I spent £20 on this card so I can break the game of magic and labour under the impression that I'll look really cool in the process...or counter target spell
and play one that shares a type with it from your hand without paying its mana cost.. or in other words... sit smugly back with nothing but open lands and do nothing until you eventually get to 6 mana then win the game with what ever over powered uncastable bollox is currently doing the net deck rounds...It's not like drawing cards or digging is hard in blue... Well done... Wizards of the coast you have reached a new low....

Here's the actual text...

Counter target spell. You may cast a card from your hand that shares a card type with that spell without paying its mana cost.

and if that wasn't bad enough...

They've dropped this monster on us as well...

Curse of Echoes
Enchant Player
Whenever enchanted player casts an instant or sorcery spell, each other player may copy that spell and may choose new targets for the copy he or she controls.

No 1 pick for every EDH Commander deck from now on (at least in EDH it might be funny...)

Ok so we've gotten past the fun killers how about the rest of the field?



Well one might think that Wizards may have learned what happens when you make cards with flash back cards that cost less mana to cast from t he graveyard? Well like I asid you might think...

The whte mana here is almost not worth having.. I  mean don't; get me wrong...in a black and white deck it would be even stroinger, but as a card that reads pitch me and get two 1/1 white fliers for my mono black deck it doesn't seem bad at all.. hell 2 flliers for 3 in mono white isn't horrendous...



Staying with white.

With old spethy still in the top decks this guy is a must have... and for any token deck... tap to add a 1/1 is nuts... this could get broken...

I haven't had a real chance to go through the cards in great detail, but in black there are a couple that jump out...

Ignore the basic reprint of master's call on the left.... I'm talking about the Tragic Slip.. there aren't many situations where -13 -13 won't save your neck and it's not hard to have something to kill in  black... I can see this card getting some play....

and whether this bad boy sees play is a moot point.... I'm just glad it exists..
.

Increasing ambition is good too and double tutors in EDH are always good...

In red I love...

Card draw in red is tricky and add flash back and this is great...

For the Jonny Combo in all of us this could be a very quick clock...

Especially if you add it to

Increasing savagery 3 double green

Put five +1/+1 counters on target creature. If Increasing Savagery was cast from a graveyard, put ten +1/+1 counters on that creature instead.
Flashback
Ii mean sure its double green, but then we remember this...

See I'm at it already...



OK so I'll mention a couple more....

Ok so my favourite over powered monster is this... I mean how many abilities does a card need?
I can see this in the counterlash deck...I'm just glad folks don't like playing blue white control decks... Oh wait...

And for sideboard card of the set... I reccomend...(it's also good if you want to make enemies in EDH) or want to take up Legacy... These last two cards are going to go up in value

But the meta figher in me will always try and find some sneaky cheap way to win games and still have money for beer and my tip to this end is this curious little number...

I reckon this this jank rare is more playbale that in looks...  I can see it in a red aggro deck with elements of control... It could save spent blockers and zapped attackers early game and late game there ain't much it won't stop... and that ulitmate could be a game winner... 


update 26th... thanks to Brighton's James Tann for reminding me of this little bit of insanity....

http://magic.tcgplayer.com/db/magic_single_card.asp?cn=Havengul%20Lich&ref=hover

another top pick for saturday... How he'll do in sealed I don't know but in constructed he could be  a gem...

And what about the Palneswalkers?

And I have to mention this geezer... I sincerely doubt he's going to keep the silly price tag because his abilities are just a little bit tame compared witth others....

 

LORDY LORDY

Today we are going to talk about the Lord... Now before you try to bolt the door and hide behind the sofa, I should say I’m not talking about God.  If you’ve been following things here at Adventures in the Meta, you’ll know that today is the day we talk about the many multi-purpose creature pumping dudes in the world of magic.

I doubt anyone could trace back to where we started calling them lords, but for whatever reason, someone did and the name stuck. I like to think it was because of this guy and in fact he remains the only actual creature type ‘lord’ in the game...

You may think our friend above has some baffling powers and as such deserves his unglued/hinged status, but there are even more bizarre examples of aristocracy out there and we’ll get to them later...

Now to make it clear what I’m talking about, I’m not going to be discussing creatures that are simply called lord or have lord in their name. I am only going to be looking at lords that give creatures of a type or a colour a bonus. It needn’t be  +1 +! and it needn’t be much, but if they have an effect, your other critters can benefit from then they count..

Here’s a photo of what I am not talking about... 

Yep that’s my ALPHA Lord of the Pit and it’s for trade if you’ve got anything good...

There are so many lords it’s hard to k now where to start, but as that has to be somewhere, we’ll have a look at the global lords first... 

 http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=122487

A global lord will affect ALL creatures of a certain type or colour, not just your own and are therefore a little bit riskier than the others to play.

Some obvious examples Goblin King, Elvish Champion, Lord of Atlantis, but here are a few others too.

Ascendant Evincar, Aven Brigadier, Balthor the Stout,  Celestial Crusader ,Chainer, Dementia Master , Crovax, Ascendant Hero, Field Marshal, Kangee, Aerie Keeper (I use Kangee as a general in EDH just for fun), Zuberi, Golden Feather and Verdeloth the Ancient and this guy is a double lord…

Some of them need a little kick to get them started, but in essence they are still lords like… Orc General

  

And if you thought I was joking about weirder lords than the donkey lord at the start of this article just check these guys out..

So why global and then why did things change? Well for a start it makes more sense giving only your critters a boost, and there was nothing worse than a mirror match where your opponent had better goblins than you, but the real reason I suspect, was the introduction of the changeling...Changelings popped up in Lorwyn and were special becaus they every creature type.

It’s a bit disconcerting to be clearly winning until an opponent drops a Chameleon Colossus which suddenly has haste trample and forest walk...

and that my friend is where we are going with this little adventure...

At the end of of lord’s research I’m going to help you put together the meanest, nastiest, five colour multifunctional-do anything-Swiss Army Knife of an EHD/Commander deck using the best of the lords and the best of the changelings

So after having a look at some of the Global lords are there any that look good for our EDH / Commander deck? Well, as it says at the start they can be a bit risky, but I think there are two that jump out... So get digging for....Balthor the stout. (all barbarians get +1 +1 and target barbarian get firebreathing) and Chainer Dementia Master - All Nightmares get +1 +1 (and who plays nightmares?) and she has an awesome raise dead ability too!

After a wee bit research I’ve decided to make this a weekly feature as frankly anything else would be a dissertation. 

So now we’ve had a look at some of the global lords and next week we’ll have a look at the leiges..

I’m putting a disclaimer in here by the way... There are over 11,000 different card to chose from... So if I miss a lord or two sue me..

.

Whiite Weenie Christmas?

 This one's from regular contributor MAXFAN... What I like most about it is the number of 'sideboard' cards in the main deck... Some folks will tell you that the likes of White Knight and Kor Firewalker don't belong in the main deck because they are colour specific, but those same people seem to forsget that they are both still decent 2 drops and if you happen to be playing Red or Black, you've just given yourself a massive advantage... So I for one applaud MAXFAN'S  innovation and leftfield thinking. Anyways enough from me here's the deck...Gordon Vader....

This is what I currently have going on in Standard.

I love to play white weenie, but I hate the Quest for Argentum Armor deck. It might have something to do with the fact that I once lost six consecutive coin flips attempting to break a Sorcerer's Strongbox. This is the deck I've built to have better consistency. You could play it without the dual lands, but Stirring Wildwood is insanely good and you'd lose a couple sideboard cards. Just be sure to activate the man-land before you cast Brave the Elements or use Ajani.

The goal is to continuously draw two mana creatures that threaten to end the game by themselves or with one other creature in play by making them large with Honor of the Pure and/or Ajani Goldmane. If large is not enough, give the team protection with Brave the Elements for the win.

The Kor Firewalker might look a bit odd mainboard, but it wins free Game 1's. White Knight is good enough as a 2/2 First Striker even if the protection from black never becomes relevant.

Tajuru Preserver and Oust in the sideboard are for the green ramp decks, Leyline for red and black as you'd expect, Revoke for decks packing good artifacts, and more Journey to Nowhere for other random creatures.  Depending how many colorless creatures are running around in your meta, you might change out the Brave the Elements for more Journeys in the maindeck.  Also, if you have Day of Judgments, there are matchups where it should be coming in.

Creatures (26)

4 x Student of Warfare (this card is certifiably nuts, get them!)

4 x White Knight

3 x Kor Aeronaut

3 x Kor Skyfisher

4 x Kor Hookmaster

4 x Kazandu Blademaster

4 x Kor Firewalker

Other spells (11)

4 x Honor of the Pure

2 x Ajani Goldmane

3 x Brave the Elements

2 x Journey to Nowhere

Lands (23)

8 x Plains

4 x Razorverge Thicket

4 x Stirring Wildwood

3 x Sunpetal Grove

4 x Tectonic Edge

Sideboard (15)

3 x Leyline of Sanctity

4 x Tajuru Preserver

3 x Revoke Existence

2 x Journey to Nowhere

3 x Oust

"Max Fan"

Proliferhate...

As it’s nearly Christmas you may have noticed we haven’t been as prolific as usual. So apologies if we’ve been a bit slack, but we’re going to make it up to you now with a brand new deck. It’s quick, it’s brutal and the entire thing will cost less than a single ‘Jace The Pocket Melter.’

I have to give a nod to my good friend Jim for the foundations of this deck. He’s still promising to submit his original list and when he does I’ll stick it up, but Adventures in the Meta can’t wait forever so I’ve decided to make my own version with a few twists....

I call it Proliferhate... but I’m open to better names...

You will need

4 Triskelion

4 Grafted Exoskeleton

4 Throne of Geth

4 Steel Overseer

4 Everflowing Chalice

3 Ortnithopter

3 Darksteel Myr

3 Etched Champion

4 Voltaic key

3 Contagion Clasp

1 Elixir of Immortality

8 Mountains

8 Islands 

4 Mystifying Maze

4 Dread Sanctuary 

As the deck is entirely colourless why not have some fun and play some Jedi Mind Tricks on your opponent. I've gone for blue and red so they'll be more likely to play with caution. 

The Mazes will take out dragon lords and superpumped unblockable posoinous monkeys. whilst you can actually pump the sanctuaries with the overseers and then proliferate the counters.  

So what does it do? 

Well this deck is really three decks in one.  It’s one part ramp, one part aggro and one part control and the key to the deck is proliferation.  

So what’s the plan ?

Start as you mean to go on with an early Ornithopter and either the Elixir or preferably a Voltaic Key. Turn two either drop a Chalice for 1 or the Overseer. The Thopter will get in the way of any early beats with its 2 toughness and because it flies, if it needs to get in the way of a Plague Stinger it can. By the third turn you have many options.  

What you are ultimately trying to do is to swing in with artifact creatures and to use proliferation and Voltaic Keys to mega charge all your attackers. There’s also a couple of sneaky tricks hidden in the deck and  with any luck your opponent will be too busy dealing with 6/7 flying thopters to notice them. 

Grafted Exoskeleton may seem an odd choice for the deck, but not only does it give your critters a +2 +2 bonus, it’s also fuel for the throne and more importantly it can be a single turn win. If you can get it on Triskellion not only does it turn him into a virtual Contagion Engine, but you can simply give your opponent poison counters with his ability  add some proliferation and you could easily take game in a single turn... 

EG. Let’s say he comes in with 3 counters, you have the throne, 2 keys, an overseer and the exoskeleton play.  First equip it with the Skeleton and give your opponent a poison counter, next tap the overseer and reset Triskellion  to 3 counters , next sac the overseer to the throne  and proliferate Triskellion up to 4 and give your opponent another counter.  Next untap the throne with a key and tap it again this time saccing the key. Your opponent will now be on 3 counters and Triskelion will have 5 counters use the last key on the throne and boom!  Your opponent will have 4 poison counters and Triskelion will have the last 6 he needs to finish the game. Ok it’s unlikely, but this is the one turn version, if you do it over a few turns and you’ll find it’s easy, and don’t forget you can swing with him too and use the counters to take out any defenders.

Grafted ExoSkeleton really? None of my other creatures have infect? 

Why not and it doesn’t matter that your other creatures don’t have infect.  By the time you can equip and play the ExoSkeleton, you’ll either be pinging with the toxic Triskelion or swinging in with a massive flying thopter. Either way it’s bad news for the other side, and don’t forget with the ExoSkeleton on Triskelion, the counters will stick and with the amount of proliferating you’ll be doing, walls and titans will fall by the wayside while you ramp into the Stratosphere and push your opponent to the limit. 

We all have to make sacrifices and this deck is no different and you may have to chuck everything in the bin to get what you want, but don’t worry too much about it, because your deck is running a natural safety net. With the Elixir of Immortality, your deck is a never ending loop of little martyrs, all ready to bounce back out of the graveyard and pick up the banner once again.

Match ups? 

V’s elves – With double tapping Overseers and Indesctructible mega charged Myrs and Pro green Champions, yYou should be able to hold own until Triskelion’s big guns come out. In stalemate the Exo Skeleton could easily give you the win.

  

V’s Eldrazi Ramp. – Go in fighting and don’t be afraid to throw away triskelion in an attempt to stop your opponent from ramping.  If you’re iucky you can pull off the ultimate nose rubs and kill Emrakul with a 15/16 Ornithopter ( I haven’t quite pulled this off but I did manage to kill one with two 9/10 thopters.)  

V’s Valakut -  Agaiin it will be down to pace. Keep your creatures massive and swing swing swing...

V’s Blue Whte Control – Your Myrs will beat Day of Judgment and the Champions will beat Jace and Gideon.  And don’t forget Infect works on Walkers too.  

V’s Infect – Block everything and you’ll win... Save Triskellion for anything that gets a distortion strikeor use your Mazes

Breaking our Extended Combo

There are many ways to skin a cat or so my Grandma used to say, not that I think she ever skinned a cat,. In magic if cat skinning was a game winning bomb or sorcery, you can bet someone, somewhere  will figure out a way to sneak it through on turn three. Well we at Adventures In The Meta like nothing more than a good tinker with the rules and we’ve been busy this week...

Ramp, is an essential part of the game it’s the ladder rather than the snake., the hare over the tortoise and while slow and steady may often win the race, ramp will win it a lot quicker so long as there’s something other than tunnel at the end of the well... tunnel.   

Back in the day when colour meant something, each colour had its strength and whilst red and black had pops at it, ramp was really the secret squirrel of Green. From the heady days of Channel to  Rampant Growths and fertile grounds and an army of elves  tap dancing back and forth to super pump some enormous great green fattie, green has always been the king of Ramp...  Now there are a million ways to ramp and with the advent of non basic lands, everflowing chalices, infinite Myr loops, Lotus Cobras and Prototypeportallingvoltaickeythroneofgethproliferation basically any one can have a go...But hey this is magic and there’s always another way to do something...

So ladies and Gentelmen We give you Titan ramp Vader style and this is an exclusive combo break... Just remember you heard it here first...

Before we give the game away we’d like to make the following statements...

1.       We are presenting the fastest version (which may not be the smartest play)

2.       If you play it this way you invite answers and despite it being brand new your opponent will spot it in seconds

3.       This combo is unstable and you can make it safer and indeed possibly quicker with money, but this is a budget blog so this is how we do it (and how anyone can )

Titan Ramp...

Ther three main combo pieces are...

Tiaining Grounds

Soulbright Flamekin
 

Inferno Titan  ( although this combo also works with any big red/colourless fattie... i.e. Wurmcoil Engine, Kargan Dragonlord (whom you can pump to madness with this trick)... Platinum Emperion... the list goes on... )

So turn by turn

Turn one lay an island – play the Training grounds

Turn Two – Drop a mountain and play the Flamekin

Turn three – Drop another mountain... because of training grounds you only need one mana to trigger the flamkins ability so  tap all lands to give the flamekin trample 3 times (it doesn’t say different targets) boom you get 8 red mana... use 6 to cast the inferno titan and the game is probably yours... You have so may options here it’s not funny...

If they have no blockers then as he comes in, direct the titan’s 3 excess damage to your opponent’s face, you can then give him haste with Burst of Speed for one extra red mana and double strike with Assault Strobe with the other red...  as he attacks deal the additional 3 damage to his face for 6 total then a 6/6 double striker and the 2/1 flamekin is game...

If he has blockers then do the same thing, but take out the defence as the titan comes in and use the additional 3 when he attacks to pick up the strays... They are still going to take 14 and they won’t have any creatures left...

Of course you could also give the titan trample instead of double strike or play any number of  1 or 2 point red instants.. . or any of the other fatties we mentioned above...

We haven’t printed a start hand or a deck list because this combo is really easy to play...it’s only two cards... build a deck with 3 or 4 sets of playable fatties and your chances of having the land , the training grounds, the flamekin and one of them is pretty good... So go wild...

This is a decent little trick and we know there are better ways to play it, but it’s fun and cheap and there is defiantly a strong extended deck in here somewhere so send us your lists and we’ll put them up...

Tomorrow we’re going to have a crack at standard and we’d love to hear your crazy ideas... Remember this is the week of madness and we want the barmiest suggestions ever We don’t want to know the deck’s deep analysis ...We want to know what madness was behind it... 

Does your deck win by losing... 

Do you have win a 4000/4000 ornithopteras a win condition?  

Can you win by forcing your opponent to scoop the first game and try to sideboard a solution for the second? 

Tell us how and why you’ve built your insane decks and we’ll share your ideas...

And one final word about our Krark’s Thumb deck... 

Thankyou for all the feedback... and we are glad you enjoyed the spirit of the build.... and thanks to Sarah form Ipswich for pointing out I misspelt Franc (a fact that will shortly be remedied. ) but it’s nice to have some girls following the blog.  We’ve actually got a special article coming up for girls who play magic, by a girl that plays magic, so keep your eyes out for that... Back to the comments though... Most of you seemed to notice our disclaimer at the bottom of the article, but a couple of you didn’t...

So for those that didn’t...

YES we know it’s still down to luck...

But having said that...

Although the deck is really cheap (which it is) and the one turn combo is unlikely (which it also is) it does do ok even in longer games because while the turn one kill may be unlikely...

Turn one... Thumb... Turn two... Game of Chaos is easy...

Also if you don’t get that... then turn one Planar Chaos will throw off most other legacy decks. 

Enttry for out first contest is now closed....

There will now be a short period of judging and a week today we'll announce the winner and ask them to generate a new key card for the next competion



Many thanks to everyone who took part.. Our judge this mointh I'm sure you'll be pleased to know is not I Gordon Vader, but Instead DCI Judge Micheal Chamberlain...  He will be appraisng all the ideas and will be offering feeback on all the decks.entered.  His decison willl be  impartial, but final...

On Adventures In the Meta this week we'll be looking at crazy combos, one turn wins and anything that falls into the realm of insanity... Do if you have a combo or an mad deck idea? Does you r deck win by dropping you;r life to -1000 or cby turning everthying into chickens?  If you do have any suggestions send them in...  I'll gve you a little taste and a teaser for now...

Can you think of a Krark's Thuimb first turn kill? there is a potential one... (maybe more ) we'll offer a special prize to anyone who can guess it before we post the article tomorrow....


Our email is Gordonvader@hotmail.co.uk

Tangle Mangle

OK we’re coming out of The Twilight Zone for a moment. This one is fast, nasty and cheap. It’s mean blue/green aggro and this is a contender

Tangle Mangle

You will need.

4 Tangle Angler

4 Blight Mamba

4 Overgrown Battlement

4 Prized Unicorn

4 Gargoyle Sentinel

4 Twisted Image

4 Garruk Wildspeaker

4 Overwhelming Stampede

4 Turn Aside

4 Khalini Gardens 
use 4 teermorphics to find one of the 4 islands and the rest can be forests...

Simplicity itself this one... Regenerating toxic defenders and throwaway chump blockers to start and then quickly into mid game with tricksy lures and then for a finisher either use Garruk or the stampede to trample up that poison damage, of course don’t forget to switch the anglers power an toughness before you use the stampede... or if you’ve managed to get it past the blockers..  Ramp with the Battlements and Garruk, use the plants to get in the way and remember there’s more than one way to use Twisted Image. If you’re desperate it will draw you a card, if you’re smart it will draw you a card and take out a blocker or a ramper and if you’re lucky and smart it can draw you a card and win you the game. Yoiu can also use the Gargolyes as targets for the stampede, just remember to pump them frrst....

Remember that 8 of your creatures can force your oponents to block and theefore you can choose what a you want to get through... :

Use tangle angler or prized unicorn to tie up the blockers while you pile through with a combination of trample damage and poison counters. So why split the damage? Well what you are trying to do with the deck is to attack on two fronts. It has a few tricks which you’re opponent will have to watch unless he wants to concede and early defeat.  It’s nasty on a lot of levels, but there are some sneaky moves hidden in its midst.  Got a prize unicorn and a tangle angler in play with a twisted image in hand?  Left unchecked that’s 5 poison counters in one turn and you get to draw a card, add an Overwhelming Stampede and that’s game.

Twisted Image is not only a cantrip its also a doomblade for walls

  

Or it might just win you the game

    

Red/black/white madness

Well we’ve been here for 3 weeks and the feedbacks been great. So I did a bit of listening and it turns out a lot of folks want the same thing; something competitive and something cheaper than the tier. Well i 'm not sure how competitve this one is but its a lot of fun..

This deck is unusual in that it uses s few higher price cards, but as the game has changed these cards have dropped in value and the very idea that you could create a budget deck featuring them would have  been a joke three weeks ago.. Ladies and gentlemen this deck uses Baneslayer Angels and in a previously unheard of fashion. Before you say I’ve gone corporate, remember that a month ago these cards were £30/$45 and now you can pick them up on ebay ‘buy it now’ for £13/20 (just to prove my point look here). This deck also uses the planeswalker that proliferate was so clearly aimed at.... Sarkhan The Mad. You can currently pick one up for just £6.99 and by now you might be thinking ... ‘Oh yeah... I get it...’  Well good but we’ve got more to add, but these two cards have a natural synergy which this deck will exploit to the nines.   I call it.

Scars Tech 2- The Wrath of Sarkhan

You will need

4 Dragonmaster Outcast

4 Baneslayer Angel

4 Sarkhan the Mad

4 Act of Treason

3 Liquimetal Coating

3 Throne of Geth

2 Everflowing Chalice

1 Elixir of Immortality

3 Mimic Vats

4 Ratchet Bomb

4 Condemn

Lands, well I am open to suggestions ... right now I’m running 4 terra morphics and 4 evolving wilds and a mix of basics 

Ok basically this is red black control with a double splash of white for the Angels and condemns. The condemns will keep out early threats and defend well against dragons.  In fact most things in the deck will do well against dragons, which is also lucky because you are going to be facing lots of dragons. Why? Because you’re going to be giving them away like they are going out of fashion.

Ok so in what universe is it a good idea to give away dragons? Well it all depends on planning, let’s say you knew there would be dragons and maybe you had planned ahead and ordered the industrial size tins of wieners and a great big dragon cake for the party... and basically set your deck up around that fact... Well surely that would be better than having just anything turn up and try and eat you... and besides... you might be giving your opponent dragons, but that doesn’t mean you’re going to let them keep them.

So what’s the plan, well first things first, you’re not going to be giving away anything unless you a) need to and b) can handle it.

So here’s the general plan...

Early game you’ll be looking for the outcasts and condemns  to get in the way of early attacks. Then the game can run two ways, firstly use Sarkhan to make your opponent sac their biggest threat and give them a dragon, which will just bounce off your angels until you’re ready to steal them back and swing. Then either sac them to Sarkhan, to get a dragon all of your own or you can get Sarkhan to make it deal damage equal to its power to your opponent or their biggest threat before turning in to an artifact and sacking it to the throne to proliferate Sarkhan back up...

...Or you can steal their creatures, or even just sac an outcast, to make a dragon and swing through the air for massive damage... Obviously their dragons will just bounce of your Angels which have the all important ‘protection from Dragons’. Andif one does get through, don’t worry, that turn two ratchet bomb can take them out at instant speed.

Late game the outcasts will conjure up all sorts of chaos and give Sarkhan more fuel for the fire...  

Use the Chalices and the throne to ramp and you should be able to keep pace with most decks. 

Sarkhan can take out most threats and as long as you can deal with the dragons you are going to give your opponents you can mix up their strategies and confuse their game. Use the mimic vat to steal their sacked creatures and keep swinging.

Dependent on which of the tier you’re up against your play will vary, against Eldrazi Ramp don’t be afraid to blow up overgrown battlements with Sarkhan and obviously any actual Eldrazi, against Red Deck blow up your own outcasts and against elves blow up the mythic regenerator and the archdruids.

In testing it’s proving pretty capable, but as always I’d love to hear some suggestions...

News just  in fromn Karchev.... Bloodghast is a good additon to the gang maybe over the thrones ???  anyway keep em coming...

Polymorph Redux..

We’re going to have a look at an old friend this week... There once was a time when polymorph was the fringe deck to watch. It made a show at a few tournaments and it also made an appearance as the sideboard for Pyromancer’s Ascension. You might think that with the advent of Mass polymorph we might see a resurgence, but we’re hitting the border of Mirridon Besieged soon and we haven’t even had a postcard. 

So no one’s playing it and it’s in the card shop bargain bucket, sounds like the perfect time for a rethink.  Ladies and Gentlemen I give you a twist on a classic...

I call it 

Critical Mass

 The problem with polymorph was always the reliability, left unchecked and if you were lucky a turn 3 Iona or Emrakul was probably game however if it went wrong, and it so often did, you could spend the entire game with an Emrakul in your hand and no way in hell of getting it out... or worse yet, lay token after token and not catch a sniff of an actual polymorph and trust me numerous as they are eldrzi spawn do not an army make.

Yes, there were pros, without lots of creatures taking up your slots it had loads of room for answers. (if you’ve just started playing or just don’t know what I am on about... Polymorph was a deck build around the premise that you only had one or two creatures in the entire deck and the rest of it was token generation and ways to search for the elusive polymorph which itself was there to cheat one of your two horrendous fatties into play ) So with all those extra spaces you could add in all sorts of madness.. There was a blue/green version with Into the Roils and negates and ponders, there was a red/blue/green version with staggershocks and bolts and Sarkhan Vol and I as I mentioned above there was a blue/red limited edition hidden in the sideboard of Pyromancers Ascension...  The problem is sometimes it just didn’t work.   So I got thinking is there anything I could do to make it more stable, well... this is what I came up with....

You will need.

4 Mass Polymorph

2 Chimeric Mass

4 Squadron Hawk

3 Rusted Relic

3 Glint Hawk Idol

4 Liquimetal Coating

1 Indomitable Angel

1 Emrakul

1 Iona Shield of Emeria

1 Ulamog

4 Everflowing Chalice

4 Preordain

4 Revoke Existence

3 Contagion Clasp

1 Elixir of Immortality

Go the whole hog with Glacial Fortresses, Seachrome Coasts and Celestial Colonnades, which will give you another threat. You don’t need fetch lands, so save yourself the cash and besides the more decks that use fetch lands the sooner we’ll see main deck Leonin Arbiters, with this deck at least you’ll waste 4 spaces in their sideboard.

Ok what makes this deck different from polymorph is that is has actual threats rather than tokens. The Squadron Hawk is a test play, but it does give you decent targets and of course once you find the first one you can strip your deck of all creatures except for your fatties.  As neither Chimeric Mass, Rusted Relic or Glint hawk Idol actually count as creatures until they hit the open air and even then, two of them will need a nudge.

It might not seem like much but a 2/2 flyer is lightyears ahead of an Eldrazi Spawn and it won’t take long before your rusted relics are swinging in for 5 and you can lay the Chimeric Mass for as much as you can spare.  Meanwhile, preordain for the Mass Polymorph and use the liquimetal coating and revoke existence for the serious game threats. Use the clasps for light removal and to pump the chalices and the Chimeric Mass.

If you can resolve a Mass Polymorph for 4 and get the fatties, or as many as you can in, the end of the game can’t be far off...

So let’s look at the creatures one by one...

The four are a team and they’ll work like one too.. 

Emrakul, Ulamog and Iona need little explanation and unlike the original, this deck will actually let you to play them if you need them, but it could take a while, but why the others? well the angel is there to protect Emrakul or Iona, because with the liquimetal coating  you can turn them into artifacts at will and give them instant shroud, bouncing them with Jace was a favourite trick of Blue White Control and you don’t want to go to all that effort just to have the critters sent back to you hand. Keep Emrakul in play for just one turn and you’ll soon see why Eldrazi ramp is one of the top decks. The angel is also playable early gameand good for protecting your investments.

Competitive?  I think it’ll hold its own... It’s certainly a strong fringe/rogue deck, with careful play it could easily be a contender...it's definatelhy stronger than Polymorph, as it can win games without ever  pulling off the trick...And remember you don't have to animate the Mass or the idol, before you polymorph... unless you  need to...

Update

This is just the alpha list and I'm already thinking about dropping the clasps thanks to a suggestion I swap em for negates from a fella named 4 tens...  I reckon he could be right there.,..

New update...

Suggestions for a green blue version have been coming in and its not a bad play... green will give you ramp and more token generation and access to the possibly game swiinging Autumn's Veil and you can use nature's claim or naturalise inplace of revoke existence

Either way I'd strongly suggest swapping the clasps for See beyonds and not negates... as unlikely though it is to draw two or more of your fatties, fate would find it hillarious...

  

Blue White The Short Con

Ok I’m sticking with blue for the time being, but I‘m also making a welcome return to white. This one is tricksy little number that they won’t see coming first time round, but you’ll have to really sweat to win after they raid the sideboard....Guys this ones for fun...

 I call it...

The Short Con

You will need...

4 Totem-Guide Hertebeest

4 Merfolk Spy

4 student of warfare

3 spreading seas

4 Aura finesse

3 Celestial mantle

1 True conviction

4  Eel Umbra

4 Felidar Sovereign

4 Palladium myr

1 Elixir of Immortality (as always)

24 lands including , a few of the blue white non basics and maybe even some Celestial Colonnades

Ok so I said this deck is tricksy and it is exactly that. What you are trying to do is get Celestial Mantle on a creature with one blue mana spare.

The myrs are there to help you ramp and there is some card draw and disruption from the spreading seas.

Ideally you want the Celestial Mantle on a merfolk spy with the spreading sea in play. What you are trying to do is to keep getting combat damage through and therefore doubling your life, before eventually playing a Feldar Sovereign with an umbra on it if you can do this you’ll probably win.

The trick is aura finesse, there’s no way you’re opponent is going to let you double your life and will go hell for leather to prevent you getting the damage through. So you’ll want the Aura on the merfolk spy and our opponent will think you’re trying to use its island walk ability to get the damage through, the real trick is you want him to spend all his mana and removal on the spy, because what you’re really trying to do is get the aura on the student of warfare for double strike damage.Next turn you'll have the chance to flash in eel umbra to protect your Student.

In play testing, I found that opponents will let the student through rather than letting the merfolk in. Of course the trick here is aura finesse and that’s why you wanted the one blue spare, after blockers, once action has been taken and just before damage, flash in aura finesse and switch the Celestial Mantle from the spy to the student(if he wasn’t blocked obviously) , or as soon as they try to deal with the spy. Boom you’ve just caused combat damage with a double striker that means your life doubles twice.  Let’s say you’re on 14 instantly you’ll go to 28 and then 56 in one turn...

Early game you’ll want to play aggro, pace your opponent and to keep the student on the field with umbras and keep him levelled. You must have the aura finese in hand and have the spare mana before you play the mantle. Target anything other than the student, your opponent will think you’re an idiot, but they will be laughing on the other side of their face in a second.  

Next turn you’ll want to umbra up the student, if you haven’t already and then get the sovereign on the field as soon as you can. If you have another Aura Finese then you’re gonna win... because all you have o do is switch the umbra to the sovereign when they try and kill him and unless they can get 16 damage past your blockers, not forgetting the double striking student you will enter your upkeep with over 40 life and win.

Use the wildebeest ti find the auras you need,

You can experiment with some counter spells and white removal and the like, but this deck is quite tricky if your opponent makes the wrong play it will be very hard for them to come back, all you need to do to win late game is keep one card in play.

Against elves you’ll need day of Judgement and more umbra’s... Against - Valakut - you’ll want Leyline of Sanctity-  Against Eldrazi ramp you’ll want divine intervention (that’s a joke not a card) Against Blue/White control you’ll want to play cautiously and remember hitting a planeswalker counts as a player and therefore your life will still double.