Magic:tG :: Kithkin? Kithkin!? :: 100307

Prinny Dood!
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Kith.dec

18x plains
2x forbidding watchtower
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20x lands

4x sidewinder sliver
4x sinew sliver
4x knight of the holy nimbus
1x crovax, ascendant hero
4x steadfast guard
4x wizned cenn
4x knight of meadowgrain
1x thoughtweft trio
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26x critters

4x surge of thoughtweft
3x oblivion ring
3x temporal isolation
2x griffin guide
2x fortify
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14x other spells

That's my deck. A mono color aggro rush deck more known as "White Weenie". Wtf's wrong with me? Man, the deck's nowhere near competitive... I'm really thinking about quitting right now, since the whole block is a bit lacking. Kinda like Kamigawa, but w/o the flavor.

Kith.dec plays just like every other Aggro Deck. Just attack. If something big gets in the way, evade with Griffin Guide or remove it through oblivion ring or temporal isolation. Win using Surge of Thoughtweft or Fortify. *sigh* I hate Lorwyn.

I'm not saying the whole block sucks. Gaddock Teeg, Cryptic Command, Thorn of Amethyst, Jace Beleren, Chandra Nalaar, Oona Prowler and Eyes of the Wizned are powerful cards, but the rest? There are very few cards that's even near ravnica's power level. That said, i think goblins will be the dominant aggro deck this season, and UB teachings will still be top control deck.

I'm gonna playtest my crappy deck now... *sigh*

Magic:tG :: Four the win :: 061507

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So, 10th Edition's in black borders, have legendary permanents (Legacy Weapon?) and includes the Beacon Cycle. Is it really a core set or just reprints of old staples? I mean, Windborn Muse, Beacon of Unrest, Goblin Piledriver, Overrun and... hmm... I guess Blue's getting nothing eh? Oh well - The other cards are powerful though. Here's a set of four decks that I might play next standard season (Right Click-> View Image to see it more clearly):

So, a quick deck description one at a time. The first is a classic Goblin Sligh which is again viable because of 10th Edition's Incinerate + Goblin Piledriver inclusions. The gameplan is simple, early game pop out some goblins, midgame burn to the dome, and late game Blood Moon + Goblin King for the last few bits of life. Its weaknesses are its inconsistency (Goldfish kills at turn 5 normally, one to two turns slower than the current top tier decks).

Next in the line is a Flourishing Aeons deck, a combo deck which is reminiscent of the classic Stasis decks. Early game it disrupts the enemy's game through Gigadrowse and Exhaustion, before recurring either Walk the Aeons or Exhaustion using Reclaim and Recollect while Patagia Viper attacks overhead.

After that is the powerful Swarm Deck, a midrange tempo deck. Early game, set up a few walls on the ground and win midgame through Sprout Swarm + Overrun Combo. The deck needs to stop the opposition through its walls before it can attack for massive damage, which is why there's 12x Defender cards maindeck. The other cards are either to help Sprout Swarm (Wall of Roots, Centaur Omenreader) or to help the massive Overrun (Baru, Nacatl War-pride and Wildebeests). This is one of the more powerful decks I designed over the week.

Next up is my personal favorite, AggroCon Slivers (yes, I've got a thing for slivers). The build packs hell of a lot of removal, from damage (Lightning Helix, Seal of Fire, Cautery Sliver) to destroy effects (Mortify, Necrotic Sliver). It gains life (Lightning Helix, Essence Sliver) and has virtual pump spells (Marshalling Cry, Sidewinder Sliver, Sinew Sliver and Sedge Sliver). What? Did I just say the whole deck? Well, that's because the whole deck is very streamlined, with very little room left for tech. Which is both a good and a bad thing.

Anyhow, those are my four deck for the win post, see you again next time!
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Ps> I wish my blogs have deck/card tags like MTGSal
Ps2> I know, I haven't posted an Episode post this week. I'm working on it.

Magic:tG :: Something Dredged :: 050207

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I was searching around in the MTGSalvation forums for a competent Jhoira Control deck that won’t cost me a fortune when I accidentally clicked this curious little thread named ‘Something Blue, Something Dredged’ at the Decks for Critique subforum. The list at the first post contatined the barebones of a very powerful Combo deck, and the second post completed the list with Aggro-Control elements as a backup plan if anything goes awry. Believe me, I was impressed by the poster’s boasts of turn 4-6 kills, and (at a God hand) the deck even managed a turn 3 kill. It was running under an inginous engine that looked like a pile of crap(cards) at first, but they’re really damn synergistic once you playtest the deck. Here’s my take on NarcoBridge.dec –

// NAME: Dredge.mwDeck
// Land
6 Island
4 River of Tears
4 Gemstone Mine
4 Terramorphic Expanse
2 Swamp
1 Forest
1 Svogthos, the Restless Tomb
// Critters
4 Drowned Rusalka
4 Narcomoeba
4 Magus of the Bazaar
4 Thought Courier
4 Stinkweed Imp
4 Golgari Grave-Troll
2 Flame-Kin Zealot
1 Blazing Archon
1 Mindslicer
// Other Spells
4 Bridge from Below
4 Dread Return
2 Nightmare Void
// Sideboard
SB: 4 Leyline of the Void
SB: 4 Darkblast
SB: 4 Krosan Grip
SB: 3 Damnation

The Combo: During early game, play draw enablers (Drowned Rusalka, Thought Courier and Magus of the Bazaar) and dredge (Golgari Grave-troll, Stinkweed Imp and Nightmare Void) like crazy. The goal is to hit Bridge from Below, Dread Return and Flame-Kin Zealot at the graveyard. When there’s one or two bridges at the graveyard, flashback Dread Return (Sacrificing three creatures as a cost) targeting Flame-Kin Zealot. This will trigger a chain reaction that would end on the destruction of the entire universe, depending on the number of Bridge from Below in the ‘yard. A single bridge would net you three 3/3 zombies with haste and a 3/3 elemental with haste (12 Damage Total), two bridges will produce six 3/3 zombies with haste and the elemental (21 Damage Total), three bridges: nine 3/3s plus 1 elemental (30 Damage Total) and if you somehow got all four bridges at the 'yard after the combo, then its 12 3/3s plus 1 elemental (39 Damage Total). Don't forget that these zombies are fast - they've got haste because of the elemental.

The Aggro/Control: If the combo goes awry, such as when a stray critter hits your opponents graveyard and the bridges remove themselves from the game, the deck suddenly becomes an aggro-control hybrid. The dredging would continue, but the Imp and the Narcomoebas would act as control elements (plus the Nightmare Void) in order to stall the game. Control would have a pretty hefty problem of countering the dredgeable and huge Golgari Grave-troll, but when that monster takes the bat and swings for damage, it will score some huge damage.

The Problem: It lacks removal - this is done deliberately in order to make sure that accidents won;t happen. A critter dying in the other side of the playmat means that the bridges on your 'yard disintegrate. Vs. an aggro matchup however, well, that's why theres three damnations on the sideboard. The Leyline on the board also prevent the critters on the other side of the table from going to their graves.

Anyway, this is the deck I'm going to build this TimeSpiral Season, and probably the deck I'm going to bring to the Regionals. ^^ So, good luck to all of us, and Comments and Critiques are very much appreciated. Ciao, for now - I'm off to playtest!

Magic:tG :: Future Sight :: 041607

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Future Sight, the set with 40 Keywords. That’s damn too many in my opinion, and I’m gonna have to agree with wizards with this one: How did MaRo sneak past a third Un-set through development? -___- I mean 40? That’s overkill! Not to mention another wish! The last wish cycle broke the metagame by giving every player access to their sideboard on Game 1, this time they restricted it a bit. How about this cycle of broken-cycle allied color lands? Or the DuelMasters style border of the Futureshifted Cards? This set just pushed the chaos of the last two sets to the limit. Here’s a rundown of the known keywords & Mechanics in the set:

1. Flash (Normal)
2. Flying (Normal)
3. Shadow (Normal – On TS block)
4. Suspend (Normal – On TS block)
5. Scry (From Mirrodin Block)
6. Flanking (Normal – On TS Block)
7. Vanishing (Normal – On TS Block)
8. Cycling (Urza’s Saga Block, Reused in Onslaught Block)
9. Flashback (Normal – On TS Block)
10. Forecast (From Ravnica Block)
11. First Strike (Normal)
12. Vigilance (Normal)
13. Lifelink (NEW! Whenever it deals damage, its controller gains that much life.)
14. Morph (Normal – On TS Block)
15. Absorb (NEW! If a source would deal damage to a Sliver, prevent 1 of that damage.)
16. Grandeur (NEW! Discard another card named CARDNAME: Effect.)
17. Protection from a chosen color (NEW! Well, in a way, since this time it gave protection to players.)
18. Buyback (Normal – On TS Block)
19. Split Second (Normal – On TS Block)
20. Aura Swap (NEW! Cost: Exchange this Aura with an Aura card in your hand)
21. Defender (Normal)
22. Haste (Normal)
23. Delve (NEW! You may remove any number of cards in your graveyard from the game as you play this spell. It costs 1 less to play for each card removed this way.)
24. Fateseal (NEW! Look at the top card of an opponent's library. You may put that card on the bottom of that library.)
25. Wizardcycling (NEW! Also, in a way.)
26. Regenerate (Normal)
27. Helbent (From Ravnica Block)
28. Madness (Normal – On TS Block)
29. Gravestorm (NEW! When you play this spell, copy it for each permanent put into a graveyard this turn. You may choose new targets for the copies.)
30. Echo (Normal – On TS Block)
31. Transfigure (NEW! Cost, Sacrifice this creature: Search your library for a creature with the same converted mana cost as this creature and put that card into play. Then shuffle your library. Play only as a sorcery)
32. Frenzy (NEW! Whenever this creature attacks and isn't blocked it gets +1/+0 until end of turn)
33. Poisonous (NEW! In a way, since this is just the Poison win-con given a mechanic)
34. Swampwalk
35. Bloodthirst (From Ravnica Block)
36. Doublestrike (Normal)
37. Storm (Normal – On TS Block)
38. Kicker (Normal – On TS Block)
39. Trample (Normal)
40. Slivercycling (NEW! In a way.)
41. Convoke (From Ravnica Block)
42. Reach (NEW! In a way, since it reads: This creature can block creatures with flying. Just like Spiders, though I’m not sure how they differ.)
43. Deathtouch (NEW! In a way, since it reads: Whenever this creature deals damage to a creature, destroy that creature, just like when there’s a Death Pits of Rath in play)
44. Dredge (From Ravnica Block)
45. Graft (From Ravnica Block)
46. Transmute (From Ravnica Block)

Ok. Make that 46 Keywords in one set. And the spoiler is still missing a few cards. Let’s compare that to the Base Set hm? 9th Edition has 14 Keywords, with King Cheetah’s new oracle wordings (Flash) included. Future Sight has three times that number. As well as interesting new twists to old mechanics, such as giving a player Protection from a chosen color, a morph Enchantment and a morph Land, and two new card types – Planeswalker and Tribal. I’d hate to discover what kind of card Planeswalker is – it’s should be like I’m summoning another player to do battle for me since players are traditionally thought to be planeswalkers.

Oh, this just in – Confirmed, there are no Contraptions and other Riggers as well Planeswalker cards in Future Sight! Yey! Anyway, I don’t think I’ll be attending the Prerelease, but I’ll be buying a few packs though. There’s quite a lot of chase cards in there. ^^