Hey kids! I know I have been writing a lot but heck I got the itch, so expect blog posts daily from now until the day you die. Alright maybe until you get exiled. There is a lot going right now in my real life as planeswalker and my pretend one as a mild mannered man working in a news agency ( I hope that reference wasn’t Louis Lame). Any way I got some quick things I felt I should write about(this time about the present in the present).
1. Stoneforge should get the axe come the June 20th B&R announcement.
There I said it. The best two drop of all time has seen her time and should get the axe. Right now I agree with the assessment of many in that there really is only one deck. 3rd thankfully does not seem victim to this cawful problem, but elsewhere is just seems stagnant. Caw blade vs Caw blade, caw blade vs. dark blade, caw blade vs. twin blade is everywhere. Now I know a lot of people are in denial, about how busted the card is but think about it.
Here are the following things that made a great magic card:
A. Card Advantage
B. Cheating at mana
C. Low cost/tempo
Stonforeg mystic does all of three, once its down, you never have to have use your mana at sorcery speed. It cheats incredibly on mana, have you guys read batter skull? It’s also a great boost to card advantage either with being two cards for one or discard thanks to feast and famine. Still not convinced, take example from wizards words on skull clamp in 2004. This was in reference to tooth’s transition into elf & nail, solely for skullclamp.
“Note that the ideal Tooth and Nail plan makes no use of one-toughness creatures, yet the way to make the deck a winner was to add sixteen one-toughness creatures and four Skullclamps."
(http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtgcom/daily/af17)
Now how about I do a little tweaking here.
Note that the ideal Splinter/twin plan makes no use of equipment and creatures, yet the way to make the deck a winner was to add Stoneforge, and busted equipment.
Michael Jacob twin blade
4 Preordain
3 Island
2 Plains
3 Mountain
2 Spellskite
4 Deceiver Exarch
1 Batterskull
2 Gitaxian Probe
2 Dismember
1 Sword of War and Peace
1 Jace Beleren
2 Glacial Fortress
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
1 Evolving Wilds
3 Splinter Twin
4 Seachrome Coast
2 Mana Leak
1 Lightning Bolt
4 Stoneforge Mystic
3 Celestial Colonnade
4 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
4 Scalding Tarn
1 Spell Pierce
4 Arid Mesa
1 Into the Roil
Sideboard
1 Inferno Titan
1 Combust
3 Pyroclasm
2 Mental Misstep
1 Celestial Purge
1 Divine Offering
1 Consecrated Sphinx
1 Crush
1 Mortarpod
3 Twisted Image
Just think about that, the best thing to add to a turn 4 combo deck is a two drop creature that fetches equipment. It’s that freaking good. Anyway, it’s ultimately it’s wizards decision not mine. But I hope this is the last I have seen of her. (Well until Bobby’s a cyborg and humanity is colonizing the Gailiean moons).
2. I am really Excited about the commander release!
Anyway I scanned through the list I am going to give pluses and minuses to each one and how good it is in fun and how good I think the deck is.
Goodness is how good i think the deck will play against the others, lolfuness is the likelyhood of it bringing lols.
Here is the decks.
Mirror mastery
• 1 Riku of Two Reflections
• 1 Æthersnipe
• 1 Animar, Soul of Elements
• 1 Artisan of Kozilek
• 1 Avatar of Fury
• 1 Baloth Woodcrasher
• 1 Chartooth Cougar
• 1 Conundrum Sphinx
• 1 Deadwood Treefolk
• 1 Edric, Spymaster of Trest
• 1 Elvish Aberration
• 1 Faultgrinder
• 1 Fierce Empath
• 1 Hydra Omnivore
• 1 Intet, the Dreamer
• 1 Krosan Tusker
• 1 Magmatic Force
• 1 Magus of the Vineyard
• 1 Nucklavee
• 1 Rapacious One
• 1 Simic Sky Swallower
• 1 Spitebellows
• 1 Trench Gorger
• 1 Valley Rannet
• 1 Veteran Explorer
• 1 Armillary Sphere
• 1 Brainstorm
• 1 Call the Skybreaker
• 1 Chain Reaction
• 1 Collective Voyage
• 1 Colossal Might
• 1 Cultivate
• 1 Death by Dragons
• 1 Disaster Radius
• 1 Electrolyze
• 1 Explosive Vegetation
• 1 Fire/Ice
• 1 Firespout
• 1 Gruul Signet
• 1 Hull Breach
• 1 Hunting Pack
• 1 Invigorate
• 1 Izzet Signet
• 1 Kodama's Reach
• 1 Lightning Greaves
• 1 Prophetic Bolt
• 1 Prophetic Prism
• 1 Ray of Command
• 1 Ruination
• 1 Savage Twister
• 1 Simic Signet
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Spell Crumple
• 1 Tribute to the Wild
• 1 Vengeful Rebirth
• 1 Vow of Flight
• 1 Vow of Lightning
• 1 Vow of Wildness
• 1 Garruk Wildspeaker
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Evolving Wilds
• 13 Forest
• 1 Fungal Reaches
• 1 Gruul Turf
• 1 Homeward Path
• 7 Island
• 1 Izzet Boilerworks
• 1 Kazandu Refuge
• 8 Mountain
• 1 Rupture Spire
• 1 Simic Growth Chamber
• 1 Temple of the False God
• 1 Vivid Crag
• 1 Vivid Creek
• 1 Vivid Grove
Pluses: Really strong ramp, arguably the best amount of card advantage. LD spells up the wazzoo. This deck does a couple really well. You will have one the two things you need to win an EDH pod, land and good card draw. You should never get mana screwed with this deck. Ruination also seems pretty tight in legacy. Best general imo.
Minuses: where are the threats? Ok you have simic sky swallower? Come on wizards, you can’t add an eldrazi or two? I feel like towards the end of the battle you will have 20 mana, but only 7 mana spells. Now I know you get some vanilla 6/5’s, but there is scarier stuff out of there.
Goodness: 8
Lolfulness: 5
Cards I wish were in there: Primeval titan, Kikki Jikki(I mean c’mon mirror mastery???), some big dudes, and tooth & nail.
Heavenly Inferno
• 1 Kaalia of the Vast
• 1 Akroma, Angel of Fury
• 1 Angel of Despair
• 1 Angelic Arbiter
• 1 Anger
• 1 Archangel of Strife
• 1 Avatar of Slaughter
• 1 Basandra, Battle Seraph
• 1 Bladewing the Risen
• 1 Boros Guildmage
• 1 Dragon Whelp
• 1 Dread Cacodemon
• 1 Duergar Hedge-Mage
• 1 Fallen Angel
• 1 Furnace Whelp
• 1 Gwyllion Hedge-Mage
• 1 Lightkeeper of Emeria
• 1 Malfegor
• 1 Mana-Charged Dragon
• 1 Mother of Runes
• 1 Oni of Wild Places
• 1 Oros, the Avenger
• 1 Orzhov Guildmage
• 1 Razorjaw Oni
• 1 Reiver Demon
• 1 Serra Angel
• 1 Shattered Angel
• 1 Tariel, Reckoner of Souls
• 1
• 1 Akroma's Vengeance
• 1 Armillary Sphere
• 1 Bathe in Light
• 1 Boros Signet
• 1 Cleansing Beam
• 1 Comet Storm
• 1 Congregate
• 1 Darksteel Ingot
• 1 Death by Dragons
• 1 Diabolic Tutor
• 1 Earthquake
• 1 Evincar's Justice
• 1 Lightning Greaves
• 1 Master Warcraft
• 1 Mortify
• 1 Orim's Thunder
• 1 Orzhov Signet
• 1 Path to Exile
• 1 Pyrohemia
• 1 Rakdos Signet
• 1 Return to Dust
• 1 Righteous Cause
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Soul Snare
• 1 Stranglehold
• 1 Sulfurous Blast
• 1 Syphon Flesh
• 1 Syphon Mind
• 1 Terminate
• 1 Vow of Duty
• 1 Vow of Lightning
• 1 Vow of Malice
• 1 Wrecking Ball
• 1 Akoum Refuge
• 1 Barren Moor
• 1 Bojuka Bog
• 1 Boros Garrison
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Evolving Wilds
• 1 Forgotten Cave
• 1 Molten Slagheap
• 8 Mountain
• 1 Orzhov Basilica
• 8 Plains
• 1 Rakdos Carnarium
• 1 Rupture Spire
• 1 Secluded Steppe
• 8 Swamp
• 1 Vivid Meadow
• 1 Zoetic Cavern
Plus: Removal, threats, and your general will cheat them in play. Generally, it will be you answering the board with removal, and hoping your guys don’t get answers. Also stranglehold, is ridiculous in the format. Tutors define EDH a lot, you get that down at the right time, no is doing anything except looking at the demons, dragon, and angels.
Minus: This deck has the least amount of card draw. You will likely run out of gas. It’s probably best with this deck to hang low and answer some stuff rather than the make a presence. Eventually you might get Kaalia to swing in, hopefully with anger in the yard or lightning greaves handy. Wrath and then play your massive fliers.
Goodness: 4
LOLfulness :9 (I lol’ed about this deck all week)
Cards I wish were in there: Some way to return creatures after a wrath, Animate dead, some indestruble angel, baneslayer.
COUNTER PUNCH!!!!
• 1 Ghave, Guru of Spores
• 1 Aquastrand Spider
• 1 Celestial Force
• 1 Chorus of the Conclave
• 1 Dark Hatchling
• 1 Deadly Recluse
• 1 Fertilid
• 1 Golgari Guildmage
• 1 Hornet Queen
• 1 Karador, Ghost Chieftain
• 1 Monk Realist
• 1 Nantuko Husk
• 1 Penumbra Spider
• 1 Sakura-Tribe Elder
• 1 Scavenging Ooze
• 1 Selesnya Evangel
• 1 Selesnya Guildmage
• 1 Shriekmaw
• 1 Sigil Captain
• 1 Spawnwrithe
• 1 Spike Feeder
• 1 Squallmonger
• 1 Symbiotic Wurm
• 1 Teneb, the Harvester
• 1 Vampire Nighthawk
• 1 Vish Kal, Blood Arbiter
• 1 Yavimaya Elder
• 1 Acorn Catapult
• 1 Afterlife
• 1 Alliance of Arms
• 1 Attrition
• 1 Aura Shards
• 1 Awakening Zone
• 1 Bestial Menace
• 1 Cobra Trap
• 1 Cultivate
• 1 Darksteel Ingot
• 1 Death Mutation
• 1 Doom Blade
• 1 Fists of Ironwood
• 1 Footbottom Feast
• 1 Golgari Signet
• 1 Harmonize
• 1 Hex
• 1 Hour of Reckoning
• 1 Lightning Greaves
• 1 Mortify
• 1 Necrogenesis
• 1 Nemesis Trap
• 1 Oblivion Ring
• 1 Orzhov Signet
• 1 Selesnya Signet
• 1 Skullclamp
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Soul Snare
• 1 Storm Herd
• 1 Syphon Flesh
• 1 Tribute to the Wild
• 1 Vow of Duty
• 1 Vow of Malice
• 1 Vow of Wildness
• 1 Barren Moor
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Evolving Wilds
• 10 Forest
• 1 Golgari Rot Farm
• 1 Orzhov Basilica
• 8 Plains
• 1 Rupture Spire
• 1 Secluded Steppe
• 1 Selesnya Sanctuary
• 8 Swamp
• 1 Temple of the False God
• 1 Tranquil Thicket
• 1 Vivid Grove
• 1 Vivid Marsh
• 1 Vivid Meadow
Strengths: you will annoy everyone with 1/1 dudes if you can make them last. If you get skullclamp expect to be enemy #1 on the table. Without a wrath on board you will dominate. Good removal and a decent amount ramp. Seems pretty good. Random note, soul snare= seal of condemn. The general is so-so but can have some good tricks.
Weakness: You will get wrathed a lot, all of those turns you waited to build your team could easily be foiled by a savage twister or some kind of wrath. Also, it plays acorn catapult?
Goodness: 6
Lolfulness: 8 (yeah this deck tickles me, I hope somewhere there is a pod of 4 of these. 10 hours of magic)
Cards I wish this had: Grave pact, Eldrazi monument, mobilization, Glare of subdual, and doubling season.
Political Puppets.
• 1 Zedruu the Greathearted
• 1 Arbiter of Knollridge
• 1 Azorius Guildmage
• 1 Brion Stoutarm
• 1 Chromeshell Crab
• 1 Court Hussar
• 1 Dominus of Fealty
• 1 False Prophet
• 1 Flametongue Kavu
• 1 Fog Bank
• 1 Goblin Cadets
• 1 Gomazoa
• 1 Guard Gomazoa
• 1 Izzet Chronarch
• 1 Jötun Grunt
• 1 Nin, the Pain Artist
• 1 Numot, the Devastator
• 1 Plumeveil
• 1 Rapacious One
• 1 Ruhan of the Fomori
• 1 Spurnmage Advocate
• 1 Vedalken Plotter
• 1 Wall of Denial
• 1 Wall of Omens
• 1 Windborn Muse
• 1 Armillary Sphere
• 1 Austere Command
• 1 Brainstorm
• 1 Breath of Darigaaz
• 1 Champion's Helm
• 1 Chaos Warp
• 1 Crescendo of War
• 1 Darksteel Ingot
• 1 Death by Dragons
• 1 Dreamstone Hedron
• 1 Fellwar Stone
• 1 Flusterstorm
• 1 Ghostly Prison
• 1 Howling Mine
• 1 Insurrection
• 1 Journey to Nowhere
• 1 Lash Out
• 1 Lightning Greaves
• 1 Martyr's Bond
• 1 Murmurs from Beyond
• 1 Oblation
• 1 Perilous Research
• 1 Pollen Lullaby
• 1 Prison Term
• 1 Propaganda
• 1 Prophetic Prism
• 1 Punishing Fire
• 1 Reins of Power
• 1 Repulse
• 1 Scattering Stroke
• 1 Skyscribing
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Soul Snare
• 1 Spell Crumple
• 1 Trade Secrets
• 1 Vision Skeins
• 1 Vow of Duty
• 1 Vow of Flight
• 1 Vow of Lightning
• 1 Whirlpool Whelm
• 1 Wild Ricochet
• 1 Azorius Chancery
• 1 Boros Garrison
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Evolving Wilds
• 12 Island
• 1 Izzet Boilerworks
• 8 Mountain
• 8 Plains
• 1 Terramorphic Expanse
Strengths: This deck seems good after reading through it. At first I thought it was weird idea but damn, it seems strong. You have to smart to manipulate this one. You have a lot of ways to stop an assault, and when they finally get through, I think the card advantage this deck have will be able to bounce, remove or exchange control with something. Has anyone read reigns of powers? Holy expletive that is not invented yet. Think about this in multiplayer, some guy is swinging his creatures into you walls. Not so fast, you switch your walls for a third player’s creatures; have them all kill each other and then bam! You get those walls back.
Weakness: WOTC what’s with the goblin cadets?? I mean love the card but in this deck, that’s a bit silly. Another possible weakness is twitter, after all political puppets have a hard time not exposing themselves sometimes.
Goodness: 9(good for goodness sake)
Lolfullness: 3(not my cup of tea)
Cards I wish it had: Jace,the mindscultor, treachery, bribery. Just going with the theme!
Fyi, love the political deck is red, white, and blue :).
Devour for power
• 1 The Mimeoplasm
• 1 Acidic Slime
• 1 Artisan of Kozilek
• 1 Avatar of Woe
• 1 Brawn
• 1 Butcher of Malakir
• 1 Damia, Sage of Stone
• 1 Dark Hatchling
• 1 Desecrator Hag
• 1 Dreamborn Muse
• 1 Eternal Witness
• 1 Extractor Demon
• 1 Fleshbag Marauder
• 1 Gravedigger
• 1 Lhurgoyf
• 1 Mortivore
• 1 Mulldrifter
• 1 Nezumi Graverobber
• 1 Patron of the Nezumi
• 1 Riddlekeeper
• 1 Scythe Specter
• 1 Sewer Nemesis
• 1 Skullbriar, the Walking Grave
• 1 Slipstream Eel
• 1 Solemn Simulacrum
• 1 Szadek, Lord of Secrets
• 1 Triskelavus
• 1 Troll Ascetic
• 1 Vorosh, the Hunter
• 1 Vulturous Zombie
• 1 Wonder
• 1 Wrexial, the Risen Deep
• 1 Yavimaya Elder
• 1 Buried Alive
• 1 Cultivate
• 1 Dimir Signet
• 1 Fact or Fiction
• 1 Golgari Signet
• 1 Grave Pact
• 1 Lightning Greaves
• 1 Living Death
• 1 Memory Erosion
• 1 Minds Aglow
• 1 Oblivion Stone
• 1 Relic Crush
• 1 Rise from the Grave
• 1 Shared Trauma
• 1 Sign in Blood
• 1 Simic Signet
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Spell Crumple
• 1 Stitch Together
• 1 Syphon Flesh
• 1 Syphon Mind
• 1 Tribute to the Wild
• 1 Unnerve
• 1 Vow of Flight
• 1 Vow of Malice
• 1 Vow of Wildness
• 1 Windfall
• 1 Barren Moor
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Dimir Aqueduct
• 1 Dreadship Reef
• 8 Forest
• 1 Golgari Rot Farm
• 8 Island
• 1 Jwar Isle Refuge
• 1 Lonely Sandbar
• 1 Rupture Spire
• 1 Simic Growth Chamber
• 1 Svogthos, the Restless Tomb
• 11 Swamp
• 1 Temple of the False God
• 1 Terramorphic Expanse
• 1 Tranquil Thicket
Strengths: got a lot good synergy, good card advantage. Best thing about reanimate strategy, you can recur your threats over and over again. Living death is some good, I heard. mimeoplasm seems good, but i think should be damia as the general for late game card advantage.
Weaknesses: not a lot removal for a black deck. Also look at counterpunch’s deck, lots of graveyard hate. So watch out for that deck. You might go for plan b, and mill your opponents out of the game. Overall I think this is a strong choice.
Goodness: 8(1 if everyone is playing counterpunch)
Lolness: 8
Fun to play and good overall. The 2 nice seal of approval!
A word on what deck to play. Play whatever seems fun to play, if winning is important to you play one of the blue decks, if not try the other ones out!!
Anyway good luck to anyone playing in the release, and may the best deck win!!!!!!!
