So the next FNM promo offering has been revealed for November and while it may not be as flash as the ones from this summer it still sees some Modern play. Certainly Twin players will be happy to have a new card to pimp their decks, and while that’s where it seems to show up most Tasigur be damned by any deck running red. The Zoltan Boros art is also pretty amazing. Enjoy !!!
EJSeltzer
@ejseltzer on Twitter
ejseltzer@hotmail.com
Introducing the Holiday Gift Box 2015 with Battle for Zendikar Artwork and Booster packs. These fancy boxes are great to store an entire Cube or just put all your decks in it. It makes a great gift for new players and old ones cause everyone needs a place to store their favorite cards!
MSRP of $24.99
It’s been a long time since I was even remotely interested in sleeving up a deck for Standard, but with the spoiling of Shaman of the Pack that all started to change. Seeing that card made me instantly pull on my brewers hat because honestly, Collected Company right? It seemed like this pair was too powerful to dismiss at first glance but the real test seemed like it would be finding enough of the pointy eared guys to build around them to make the deck run right. This is how the idea for Abzan Elf Company started for me.
Searching up all the Elves in Standard brought up a suite of eighteen soldiers to recruit, but how many of them would truly be worthy? I knew that one main factor is the added value of Collected Company so another key was converted mana cost of those at three or less. Also, another strength of the Elf tribe is one mana accelerants or mana dorks which would be a key to powering out our gas as quickly as possible.
So let’s take a moment to look at the two main cards we are using to gel this idea together with Shaman of the Pack and Collected Company. The true power behind the Shaman lies in its ability to end games quickly and without even requiring much charge to entering the Red Zone. As for Collected Company it is a card advantage machine for green decks which is something they are often lacking, but it requires a build around commitment to execute properly. What these two ideas revolve around is a high density of creatures to pull it off and because of that synchronicity they can be meshed into each other.
We can safely say then that we are looking at that density to fall somewhere between twenty-eight and thirty-two to be consistently reliable on both fronts. Let’s take a look then at all the creature possibilities that are afforded to us in those eighteen dismissing whatever is sub par to the plan and see if we can shake out a cohesive decklist from that.
ONE DROPS
Elvish Mystic – this is our quintessential turn one play which enables us to accelerate to early action.
Gnarlroot Trapper – the other one drop mana dork, but that he can’t pay for Collected Company is a real downside.
Sunblade Elf – with an Abzan splash this little dude can be a beast in fudging up combat math with his ability.
Thornbow Archer – while I don’t expect many mirror matches there is a non-zero amount of Nissa floating about.
TWO DROPS
Dwynen’s Elite – three power and two bodies for the Shaman for just two mana is pure value in this deck.
Elvish Visionary – replaces itself very efficiently and is just total gas for the deck, so amazing to Company him in then draw another to keep the pedal to the metal.
Leaf Gilder – the other mana dork available to us but droping it turn two is way less valuable then having it active turn two.
THREE DROPS
Nissa, Vastwood Seer – while she isn’t a bad card the low land count in the deck works against her transforming reliably but if you can then ticking her up will just keeps the gas flowing.
Reclamation Sage – Another handy three drop it seems with the amount of thopter decks and incidental enchantments or other artifacts floating about he is not just another Elf body but also key utility.
Shaman of the Pack – this is the whole reason to pull this deck together. With it’s ability to just kill out of nowhere, if you are able to apply any pressure to the opponent this is without a doubt going to be an incredible finishing move. And the feel goods when you are able to drop two from a Collected Company is just indescribable.
FOUR DROPS
Dwynen, Gilt-Leaf Daen – giving that boost to the team is crucial when you need to adjust the combat math in your favour and gaining some life in the process ensures you can survive to your critical turn.
Sylvan Messenger – with such a high concentration of Elves in the deck the chance to whiff is so slight and when you get to refuel your hand with another three or four creatures that is nothing to shake a stick at.
FIVE DROPS
Gilt-Leaf Winnower – that he is tutorable with Chord of Calling is his prime selling point but the condition that his target can’t have equal power and toughness does leave quite a few good targets off his list. But he is big and menace helps to push through extra damage.
So there we have our options to put together our cohesive mixture. If we start at the top with the one drops it is obvious that our first eight slots are taken with both Elvish Mystic and Gnarlroot Trapper to boost our games with a turn one accelerant. But just eight turn one plays doesn’t seem enough, since often turn two we have three mana at our disposal, which left the choice between Sunblade Elf and Thornbow Archer. Looking at the Archer I wasn’t fully convinced that it was any good and thinking about the white splash for Sunblade seemed very doable with little downside due to Windswept Heath, while providing additional sideboard options as well.
Next the two drops were fairly straightforward for me as both Elvish Visionary and Dwynen’s Elite are just pure value for the cost and definitely auto-includes. Now while I did find some deck lists running Leaf Gilder I wasn’t convinced this deck wanted a turn two dork and I was happy with eight creatures for this spot on the curve.
That brings us to lucky number three. Obviously we are running with the full compliment of Shamans, but it’s the other options where numbers are the key. I really like Nissa very much and she helps not only to ensure we have mana coming to us but also keeps the gas going when she flips, IF she flips. It’s not going to be easy to get to seven lands with this deck so for that I don’t want too many in there, as well as reducing the whiffs on Collected Company. Our other option is Reclamation Sage which I like very much with some of the decks already floating around. With a 1/3 split between Nissa and Sage that gives us another eight elves added in total.
Now we start to get beyond where Collected Company is useful and we already have twenty-eight Elves in the deck so anything now beyond has to be just value for the deck. Both four drops Dwynen and Messenger are really good but we don’t want too load up, so I opted for a 2/2 split. As far as continuing to climb up the mana ladder as much as I liked the idea of a tutorable removal spell the amount of creatures that Gilt-Leaf Winnower could not destroy made me want to shy away from it.
With the creature suite pretty well locked up that left only the decision on what were the complimenting spells to the deck would shake out to. The card advantage engine consists of Collected Company and Chord of Calling which I settled on a 4/2 split. I wish there was a way to squeeze in another Chord of Calling, but I really wanted a one-of Obelisk of Urd with so many Elves in the deck. Convoke really helps keep the actual costs down so we don’t have to worry about stumbling on the more expensive spells.
As for the manabase I feel like I’ve come to a good balance considering the splash for some white cards and abilities. For the green and black side of the deck I’ve got five Forest, two Swamp, and one Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth, along with four Llanowar Wastes and two Temple of Malady. Then for the white side I added one Plains to be fetched up by four Windswept Heath, and some tri-coloured choices with Mana Confluence and Sandsteppe Citadel. I really wanted to minimize the amount of lands which come into play tapped to ensure a first turn play which is why I didn’t go for a third Temple or additional Citadels.
Putting everything together the decklist looks like this:
by EJ Seltzer
One flex spot I’m considering is moving a Dwynen to the sideboard to add an additional Chord of Calling and possibly one of the Reclamation Sage as well perhaps to get a Hero’s Downfall into the maindeck, but I’m still debating those choices. There might also be some value to a second Obelisk of Urd instead of the Downfall to ensure tons of pressure from my creature rush.
For now the sideboard is still in flux but the main cards I have been considering include Bow of Nylea, Obelisk of Urd, Nylea’s Disciple, Dragonlord Dromoka, Hornet Queen, Duress, Eyeblight Massacre, Dromoka’s Command and Hero’s Downfall. Other options could be Nylea, God of the Hunt, Mistcutter Hydra, Whip of Erebos, Palace Siege or Abzan Charm. Of course it’s always dependent on what you’re expecting to face in your meta.
If I had to decide right now on my sideboard it would look like this:
Some of the decks I would expect to see would be:
Mono-Red Aggro – the key to this match is gaining life back to keep from dying to topdecked burn so Dwynen and Nylea’s Disciple are going to play a huge roll.
U/R Thopters – with artifact hate already in the deck it isn’t too hard to hold them off by destroying key pieces, but an Ensoul Artifact on a Darksteel Citadel is very scary to be staring down.
G/R Devotion – this matchup is the most troublesome when they are able to drop their big bombs and we aren’t able to deal with them before we get run over, but since we don’t necessarily need to attack to kill them and we have incidental deathtouch to eat through their blockers or vanquish their attackers it isn’t so bad.
Abzan Control / Megamorph – the real scary card here is Languish which can put the kibosh on our whole plan in one fell swoop so making certain to not overextend and build towards a focal turn to try and sneak in the kill under their nose.
U/W / Bant Heroic – on a similar line to the thopter deck we already have maindeck hate for their auras so this looks like something of a favourable matchup for the deck.
Jeskai Tokens – with the possibility to just gum up the board with so many creatures until they can go nuts with Jeskai Ascendancy out to pump their army and cheat out Stoke the Flames at the same time Reclamation Sage never looked so good, especially with Chord of Calling as an instant.
So there you have Abzan Elf Company, the deck I plan to give a good shake out this weekend with the Game Day tournaments going on. I plan to continue to push this deck going forward so expect to hear more about it in the near future. If you plan on going to you own Game Day then I wish you luck. Let me know anything you see in my list that could be tweaked, I appreciate any feedback. Thanks for reading.
Eric J Seltzer
@ejseltzer on Twitter
Email: ejseltzer@hotmail.com
We finally have some information trickling in about the upcoming Commander 2015 product set to release in November. This one is going to explore the 5 enemy-colored pairs of Orzhov, Izzet, Boros, Golgari & Simic. As usual we will have a slew of new cards specifically designed for this product, many of which have been viable for eternal play where they are legal. While we don’t know many details yet there is a hint at ‘Experience Counters’ that will make your commander grow in power.
We hope to get more information soon as well as some of the new cards previewed. Stay tuned.
Release Date: November 13, 2015
Three-Letter Abbreviation: C15
Twitter Hashtag: #MTGC15
MSRP: $34.99 (per deck)
Languages: English, Japanese, French, Italian, German, Spanish, and Chinese Simplified
Casual players will enjoy playing with these decks right out of the box as well as crafting new Commander decks or adding to their own deck creations using the 15 new Magiccards found in each deck!
With a total of 55 new cards in the set, Commander (2015) is sure to be exciting for any experienced player looking to change-up their favorite decks!
Each Deck Contains:
Wizards of the Coast announced its latest in the Duel Decks series Zendikar vs Eldrazi just before the launch of Battle for Zendikar. This seems like a good deck to pick up for new players who want to get some Eldrazi’s with the annihilator ability. These are some of the favorite creatures for casual players along with the usual tribes Elf, Goblins, Merfolks and Vampires. Seeing as this is Zendikar as well, we might see some Elves since the first spoiler is the green Avenger of Zendikar. I do feel that Vampire is another very popular tribe that should be in this Zendikar vs Eldrazi.
Trick or treat? It looks like Wizards has a rather spooky and spicy offering coming up for the FNMs during the month of Halloween. Fitting that they should select a black card to promo and what a hot one to boot. Ultimate Price has been a card that been making the rounds during its time in Standard, helping TEN players to Grand Prix titles including Canadians Alex Hayne & Pascal Maynard, Japanese Yuuya Watanabe & Yuuki Ichikawa, Brazilians Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa & Philippe Monlevade, Mexican Marlon Gutierrez, and Americans Brian Braun-Duin, Owen Turtenwald & Kyle Boggemes. Now that’s truly a world class line-up and if they were able to use Ultimate Price to its fullest then certainly it has proven to be a worthy card. Finding it’s way into some top flight decks such as Mono-Black Devotion, Esper Dragons, B/W Control or Abzan Megamorph Control in the past you can be sure to see it continuing to find it’s way into more winning lists before it leaves Standard again. The best part of this card is the creepy art by Scott Murphy who is sure to have many more awesome offerings for us in the future. So good luck on grabbing up one of these, they’re sure to disappear as fast as Shaggy and Scooby after seeing a g-g-g-ghost !!!
EJSeltzer
@ejseltzer on Twitter
ejseltzer@hotmail.com
Hello Readers,
since the long awaited release of modern masters 2015, we had the privilege to see a spoiler of new cards coming ahead for the new set Origins. After that we’ve enjoyed opening packs and figuring out the strategies for limited in the last prerelease weekend, here are the cards that have most impressed me for modern and standard;
Since the arrival of Dragons of Tarkir, a green spell changed the metagame by bringing back a similar combo used with a banned card. Figured it out? You don’t know yet???
……
Well, It’s obvious, I’m talking about Collected Company Side and the banned card Birthing pod.
by Samuel Carrier
The Podless collected deck, as they love to call it, is looking to do the Melira Sylvok outcast , Viscera seer and Kitchen Finks or (Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit, Viscera seer, Kitchen finks can do it as well) infinite life combo and then do the infinite damage Murderous Redcap to kill you if you didn’t scoop the game already…
BUT! as the darkness arised, a bright light glare came from the skies…
This card will block many staples combo cards used at the moment in the metagame. Forget Collected company , Goryo’s Vengeance, Chord of calling, Living end, Splinter twin, Summoner’s Pact, Through the breach, Lingering Souls and Unburial Rites. They can now be managed by Hallowed Moonlight.
Hallowed Moonlight can hose all those instantly and can be used again with Snapcaster Mage in u/w control or u/w/x control decks. I can easily see that as a one-of main deck card for those two archetypes. If not, a possible 2-of in sideboards at least.
The next card from the Origins set is an old favorite for our favorite freaky goblins.
I shall name it,
Its been quite a long time this card was due for a reprint, but here it is. Recently, we saw the card Blood Moon skyrocket to 60$ as the average on the market and this goblin won’t help lower it as Goblin could very well be a thing in Modern. I could definitely see a list including Goblin Chieftains, Frenzied Goblin, Foundry Street Denizen, Dragon Fodder, Goblin King, Goblin Guide, Goblin Warchief with this mischievous Goblin Piledriver.
You can even have 4 Blood Moon with 1 Magus of the Moon as a way to be unblockable and Goblin Grenades to finish off your opponent. With only 22 lands and you can kill quick while locking his mana since so many shock lands and fetchlands are played in almost all Modern decks. If this deck ever becomes popular and wins, it could very well change the metagame to 1 or 2 color decks to be less punished by Blood moon strategies. It reminds me of my old days playing goblins in legacy events and killing opponents in 4 turns easily.
Watch your face so it doesn’t get piledrived!
After the hordes comes the army of light flying towards us….
I totally think that Thalia, Guardian of Thraben is a good card. Although, it needed some kind of transportation.
Here she can ride on this pegasus and dominate once again! This guy can be entered on turn 2 with help from Birds of Paradise or Noble Hierarch and wreck your opponent’s possibilities to cast removal spells.
by Samuel Carrier
I’d be considering playing Aether Vial in the list but It’s not necessarily needed as we got 6 one-drops to accelerate to our 3 drops. I would suggest to remove 1 x Qasali Pridemage , 1 x Loxodon Smiter , 1 x Voice of Resurgence , 1 x Scavenging Ooze if you want to play a set of Aether Vial. This deck consist of screwing up your opponents mana with Ghost Quarter and Leonin Arbiter so they can’t search for a land, as Thalia and Vryn are making sure they can’t manage your creatures. It’s a prison aggro deck.
To wrap this up, I’d definitely think there is possibility of combo using Day’s Undoing for card draw. Harbinger of the tides as a new merfolk. since you don’t have to cast it really with vial at 2 or cast it for 4 to bounce your opponent’s attacker or at end of turn to force your opponent to recast it.
I will be attending a PPTQ modern this weekend and wish to hear your comments about the future of the Modern metagame. What do you expect in this new meta? Have a great weekend everyone and I will come back soon with an article on the effects of Origins on the standard format. Until then, enjoy some modern testings!
By Samuel Carrier
@infiwill on Twitter
By Bruce Gray – Casual Encounters
Well, the whole spoiler went up the other day and so now is the perfect time to make some predictions about what some of the top cards from Magic Origins will be. Today I will be looking at Casual Cards that will likely make an impact in Casual formats. Some of these cards might overlap with cards for Constructed formats, and that is ok. Just because a card is good doesn’t mean that Casual players won’t be excited to play with it too. Many of my selections will be cards that will be often overlooked or just not make a ton of waves but pack a potent ability or offer something kind of unique to help keep your Casual game night kind of fun and fresh. Let’s take a look at what I’ve found.
I’m picking two for this selection. Alhammarrett, High Arbiter and Hixus, Prison Warden are both super flavorful and really capture the story that is being told in the orgins of our planeswalkers. However, I can’t say that they are super good.
Alhammarrett, High Arbiter is too expensive for Tiny Leaders. His ability is rather muted in Singleton formats in general where you can’t prevent multiples of a key spell from being cast just due to the nature of the format. 5/5 for 7 mana is expensive and he gets outclassed by a number of other things floating around kitchen tables like any of the Titans, Sphinx of Uthuun and things of that nature. Sure, from a flavor perspective he’s super cool, but not the easiest card to play with and might find himself relegated to the Bulk pile.
Hixus, Prison Warden is slightly different. He is still too expensive for Tiny Leaders, but in other formats he could be very useful. His Flash ability can mean he can ambush attackers and kill one, and then exile another. That is a very real scenario and can’t be ignored because it is a very powerful 2 for 1 and a big tempo change. I don’t think he’s good enough to see Constructed play, but I really like how flavourful he is and I find this is a neat space to use that is similar, but not the same, as Banisher Priest.
This looks and feels a lot like a watered down Spellskite. When it enters the battlefield you can change the target of a spell to Mizzium Meddler which is very similar to Spellskite but the ability can’t be repeated as easily. As a 1/4 creature it can absorb a pretty healthy amount of Burn and live through it or just cause your opponent to totally miss with their combat spell or other targeted ability. The antics you can get up to with this guy are pretty amazing. You might see people try and brew all sorts of nonsense using cards that can blink this guy or return him to their hand and make for a very fun addition to all sorts of decks. Don’t overlook this guy, he might be a little clunky, but a fun addition to the repertoire for sure.
Well, hello my old friend Mist Raven/Man-o-War! Long time no see. It seems like they are always trying to find a way to reprint this sort of card and make it less broken than they did with Man-O’-War. So, here we have 2/2 for 4 mana and a bounce effect. The antics this guy will produce will be legendary. No doubt he is already one of my favorite Limited Cards, but will do pretty awesome work Casually as well. A very useful common and will see lots of play in all sorts of decks where he will be abused by blinking him in and out of play and bounce a whole pile of creatures and set your opponent back quite a bit. Too bad he doesn’t cost 3 to fit in a Tiny Leaders deck, but you can’t have everything.
This is a very playable 2/2 flier for 4 mana that allows you to filter your cards by letting you look at the top 2 cards. You then put one card in your hand and the other in your graveyard. While the body is a little unexciting, this card replaces itself and does even better because it gives you a measure of selection as to which card you get to draw. Who doesn’t like drawing more cards? Tower Geist is going to be a quiet hit and often overlooked but should not be dismissed.
This card is hilarious and people are going to brew up all sorts of enchantment decks featuring this and Eidolon of Blossoms. There might be some people who will take a stab at a Constructed deck featuring this for a while until Theros block rotates out, but Casual players are going to jam this and run it all day in those janky enchantment decks they’ve got hidden down in their box of cards. Who doesn’t like making endless 4/4 Angels by playing enchantments? I’m a big fan already.
This is going to be a hit with Red Mage’s in every shade and tint. This is a sweet way to allow red some extra card draw in a vein similar to Chandra Pyromaster and Act on Impulse. This a pretty exciting little card not because it is going to generate a pile of damage through combat, but any time a Red player can have an extra chance to jam you with a Burn spell they’ll take it! It’s a cheap 2 mana for 2/1 body with a super relevant ability so I can see this one being a bit of a hot ticket.
There’s nothing sneaky or goofy with this. This is for those players who love to play big green critters and smash stuff. 8/5 with Haste and can’t be countered AND a near complete form of Hexproof is music to the ears of most Green mages and this guy is awesome. Also, if you are packing some sort of Devotion strategy or some ramp then 7 mana really isn’t out of the question. Look for this guy to appear in Green decks everywhere.
This just feels like an awesome way to generate a pile of dudes for relatively cheap. In any sort of Multi-player game producing 2/2 creatures for free is a big advantage. If you can enable a few extra land drops with some spells like Farseek or Map the Wastes then you will not only be ramping out your mana into a big old Gaea’s Revenge, but producing lots of attackers to then Alpha strike for the win with an over run type effect. This can be readily abused and will be ignored by many players…until then get beat by it.
The ability on this is super hilarious. It feels super conditional, but then when I take a minute to think about the number of creatures in Magic that don’t have equal Power and Toughness and suddenly this could be very interesting. For one more mana than a Nekrataal you get a 4/3 and a very relevant kill spell. Also, the sub-type could see it fit in a tribal Elf deck or a tribal Warriors deck…which are both very prevalent tribes in Casual magic games.
Our runner up is a very interesting card because it does EXACTLY what I want to do…rip my opponent’s deck apart and cast their stuff against them. There are very few decks that will ONLY run creatures and so you’re hoping you can find some pretty good Instants and Sorceries. I’m thinking things like Treasure Cruise of Dig Through Time, or maybe an Ultimate Price. And that’s only in among cards that are Standard legal because once you start to expand the card pool things get a little crazy. Looking at the top 7 cards is a long way to look so presumably you’ll find something. The Spell mastery is just extra gravy on top because 2 is always better than 1. I can imagine lots of people are going to try and make this a back breaking spell to shut down their opponent and do some very funny things and so I can see it getting played at a kitchen table pretty extensively.
This just feels super broken. Yes, it’s a 5 mana ramping mana rock. But the thought of copying ANY Red instant or sorcery is too good to turn up. I bet some competitive players are going to try and break this. They might even succeed. But before that happens I can fully bet some kitchen table player is going to have a spot for it in their Casual Red deck and try to burn out all his friends in record order while sitting around the kitchen table. I can already imagine two guys in my play group that are going to do exactly that…and that’s just the tip of the iceberg I’m sure.
Well, there’s my top 10 picks. Some of them may not be exciting for some of you, but that’s the beauty about Magic. We all have our own preferences and opinions about what we like to play and use in our decks. However, on the whole Magic Origins has given us a pretty interesting set with lots of neat cards. It doesn’t feel like a Core Set. My experience is that the Core Sets are usually watered down, but this feels more like they opened up the card vault and found a bunch of cards that were intended for their original sets and shifted them around to fit together. I rather like this and it feels like this could be a very fun set and a nice way to bid farewell to the Core Set.
Thanks for stopping by and until next time have yourself a great MTG day.
By Bruce Gray – Casual Encounters
@bgray8791 on Twitter
