Tag: unflinching-courage

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Bruce Gray - January 27, 2015

Brewing a budget modern deck

Eidolon of Blossoms

Casual Encounters: Brewing a Budget Modern deck

By Bruce Gray 

With the banning of Cruise and Dig Through Time I thought I might take a bit of a stab at Modern. The format seems SOOO intimidating because it is just so powerful and with so many truly ridiculous archetypes that even getting into the format seems very challenging.  Now, I don’t have the money to jump into the format with one of the Big Boy decks, so I end up having to brew my own budget deck just so I can play.  Today, I thought I would share with you guys what sort of budget Modern Brew I’ve been working on.

Budget means different things in different formats.  To most of us a budget deck at Standard means that the deck costs less than $100.  At Modern that threshold changes significantly and puts you well into the hundreds of dollars, but considering that some of the Modern decks floating around can cost THOUSANDS of dollars, this still seems like a bargain.  The deck I have for you today costs a couple of hundred dollars and thus falls into this realm and could be a lot of fun to play.

Sometimes there are decks that you brew for one format that you like so much that you keep them together as they roll over into the next format.  That is the case for this deck that I ostensibly built for Standard during Return to Ravnica and Theros Block.  It wasn’t a mainstream deck by any stretch of the imagination, but it was a deck that I liked to play and it could do some awfully powerful things and steal a win out of nowhere. Let’s take a look at the deck list.

 

Bant Enchantress Auras – Modern Budget deck

 

Breakdown

Ok, a number of people are going to look at this list and just scoff because I have things like Plasm Capture…and I agree…but part of the idea behind this build was to do something a little off beat…and I think I’ve got it.  This deck is trying to do a number of things, and that might be its downfall.  It wants to be 1 part control deck, 1 part Hexproof, 1 part Enchantress and looks and feels a bit clunky, but with some streamlining could be really fun. Let’s have a peak at some of the cards.

The Hexproof package is the Aqueous Forms, Ethereal Armor, and Unflinching Courage and the game plan is pretty easy.  Suit up a Witchstalker and go nuts. The Lone Revenant was something I found in a janky binder and tossed in just in case I needed another target because I wrathed away the board…and the additional card draw is kind of a sleeper addition to the deck. Ajani is in here for his 2nd ability, to give a Witchstalker flying and double strike and it can well and truly end a game in a hurry.

The control package is the trio if Plasm Capture and Render Silent along with the Supreme Verdicts.  This is pretty straight forward in terms of concept but the choices I made are pretty unusual.  Counterspell and Plasm Capture are both likely too slow for Modern, but if there is going to be a 3 mana counter spell to run, Render Silent feels like a good option because it is Counterspell  and a Silence stapled together.  Plasm Capture is just a greedy spell that gets passed over, but even nabbing one spell with one is a huge tempo swing.  This package could no doubt be streamlined, but they provide for some interesting options and are spells your opponents would NEVER expect to contend with. Sphinx’s Revelation is just a powerful card draw spell that can’t be overlooked and some number larger than 0 felt like the right call.

The Enchantress package is powered by the ever popular Eidolon of Blossoms. I took one look at the large number of enchantments, particularly Auras, and decided that nothing makes an Aura based deck run better, and ruin more opponents, than cantripping into your other spells.  So, in went the Eidolon to abuse all those enchantments and off I went.

A few other pieces that are useful in here don’t fit with any real theme, but are versatile utility creatures.  Qasali Pridemage is great example as he wrecks other enchantments and can provide a meaningful boost to a solo attacker.  The original interaction of this deck had Fleecemane Lions but with those still being played heavily in Standard I made a suitable substitution.  Courser of Kruphix is another useful card that jives well with the Enchantress theme, but would likely get run anyway because it just provides so much value.  Thassa, the Charioteers, and the Bow of Nylea all offer similar utility for differing reasons, but all could be replaced without much trouble.

 

Substitutions

At Modern the Shocklands paired with Fetchlands are indeed the way to go so the mana base is most of the way there.  The Scry lands aren’t ideal and the “buddy” lands would be preferable…particularly the Hinterland Harbour and Glacial Fortress.  However, those are fairly modest adjustments to the mana base.

Render Silent and Plasm Capture are both targets for an upgrade provided you have a suitable option.  Mana Leak, Spell Pierce, Remand all come to mind, but some of those are more expensive. The permission shell has room for improvement and there are a number of possible ways to go.

I could run Slippery Boggle and Gladecover Scout as Hexproof one drops instead of the bulkier Witchstalker, but I like how the stalker could be used to punish Black and Blue decks who want to play on your turn.  Those +1/+1 counters accelerate the clock in a suitable way for sure. It might mean that the deck is too slow, but I’ll need to test it out and see.

Obviously the Aura package could stand to be improved with Hyena and Spider Umbra’s to help my Hexproof dudes have a little resilience as I wash away my opponent’s threats with Supreme Verdict.

The Lone Revenant is likely FAR too expensive…but I think he’s a funny card and something that could be an interesting solo threat.

Well, that’s my deck…it may not be much good and could most certainly be streamlined with a bunch of other options, but it is a fun and interesting deck.

 

Thanks for reading and until next time, keep it fun, keep it safe…keep it Casual.

Regards.

By Bruce Gray – Casual Encounters
@bgray8791 on Twitter
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Bruce Gray - July 27, 2014

Deep Thoughts on…Inspiration

Aqueous Form - Bant Auras

Deep Thoughts on…Inspiration

by Bruce Gray – Casual Encounters

 

What motivates you to Brew?  Is it a card?  Is it a mechanic?  Is it a colour?  Brewing up a deck takes as much creativity as any other creative output, whether it is writing the next piece of great literature, or composing the next symphony, or even painting a masterpiece to be displayed.  No, regardless of what you do in your life, if you brew up decks at Magic, you need some sort of inspiration.  Let’s explore some of those sources of inspiration and where you go looking for creative ideas to make a deck.

 

There are lots of different types of decks out there and lots of different people out there brewing things up.  Not every one brews up first rate competitive decks…and that’s fine. Let’s be honest, the very creative and best are rare and hard to find.  If it was easy to be creative there would have been more Mozart’s, Rembrandt’s, or Shakespeare’s.  The same theory applies to creating a deck…the top deck builders are the top deck builders for a reason.  They “see” things that the average player misses, and that’s what makes them special.  However, we can learn a process, we can all improve, and the fact that we aren’t that special talent does not invalidate our own efforts to build decks.  In fact, there is a great deal of satisfaction in building your own deck even if it is never going to be used at more than a game at your kitchen table. Building decks is a creative activity that brings with it its own level of enjoyment and joy regardless of how talented you are.

 

So, when you sit down to brew, where do you start?  For me there are a couple of ways that often kick start the process. The first and most obvious jumping off point is you open up an automatic “build around me” card that it is just too tempting to turn up.  These are usually super powerful mythics or rares and come in a variety of colours and shapes, but these present an opportunity to exploit something very explosive and powerful.  However, sometimes these are commons or uncommons that can yield a more consistent result because you likely have a playset to fill out in your deck.  One such example would be the card Aqueous Form from Theros.  “Huh?” you ask, but let me run down how this could be such a card.  We have seen that unblockable creatures are super hard to contain and interact with…and the only thing harder is an unblockable creature that is also hexproof.  Basically, I took one look at Aqueous Form and said “ well…let’s make my own Hexproof/Unblockable creature and make the game totally degenerate”.  So, I next needed to find hexproof creatures…and I was off and running to build a deck all on the back of 4 common Aqueous Form cards.

 

 

Another approach for inspiration is looking at the decklists of others for ideas.  This does NOT mean straight out copying the deck list.  As much as that is a very popular form of building decks, it is not really inspiration because there is very little of your own creative thought that goes into the deck.  No, the idea spawned by the decklist is a decent place to start but you need to take that idea and then build around it by substituting and replacing pieces of your own.  This may be done on account of you not having the same pieces as the decklist that was posted, but sometimes it is to reflect your own interests.  Perhaps you want to push the linear mechanic in the deck further. Perhaps it is to reflect your playgroup and you make changes to deal with particular decks. Whatever your reason, you move away from the standard decklist that you found somewhere on the internet and take it in a different direction.  On occasion I have done this as well mostly to get a sense of some core pieces that can fit nicely together that interest me, but I then go around and fill out the shell with the cards that I want.

 

A third way to find some inspiration is looking at decks from previous formats and then modifying them with the use of cards that are currently in the Standard format.  The nice thing with Magic is that often similar cards get printed that have the same or similar effects.  This isn’t always the case, but you can find most effects you want printed in one form or another.  As a result, the same style of decks and archetypes can exists, but with slightly different cards and with some slight differences.  One such archetype that I have been enjoying is the Hexproof/Auras decks…particularly the Bant Auras deck that was played while Geist of Saint Traft and Invisible Stalker were in Standard.  Both of these cards are effectively broken and to arm them up with Auras makes for a potent deck.  My immediate thought when they rotated out was that Theros could NOT support such a strategy again because the deck was pretty degenerate.  Honestly, who wants to play a deck that allows for almost 0 interaction and races you with devastating effectiveness?  Not me…unless I’m the one running the deck! Then I saw a deck tech on the coverage for the Theros Pro-Tour that was a W/G Hexproof auras deck and my hopes were renewed as I took inspiration from source #2 (someone else’s deck).  This is where my interest in Aqueous Form, an idea for a current deck in the Meta, and a previous archetype coalesced to form one common deck idea.

 

Now, once you have a deck idea the actual brewing process can be very quick or it can take a long time to assemble the cards you want/need.  I’ve sat down and in 25 minutes put together a perfectly reasonable deck with a variety of synergistic pieces. That’s fine so long as you are prepared to play with a bunch of common and lower price tag cards.  However, I have also been building a deck for the better part of the last 8 months in an attempt to assemble all the cards I want.  Now, the prime reason it has taken me so long to build the deck is that I have been looking to pick up the premium rare cards and lands to make the deck go.  When you play Magic on a relatively tight budget it takes time to trade, acquire, scrimp and save enough to acquire the pieces you want for you deck.  That is exactly the situation in which I find myself and have had to piece together the cards for my latest deck.

 

Bant Auras “Aqueous Form” decklist

2015 Core set Standard

 

 

So, that’s the deck I’ve been building since September. It is a combination of all three forms of Inspiration that I usually use.  The common playset of Aqueous Form, the W/G Hexproof shell from Pro-our Theros, and some of the main tenets of Bant Auras as it existed while Geist and Stalker roamed the battlefield. I’m actually proud of this deck because I have yet to actually see a deck that looks like this in Standard anywhere.  Now, that likely means it is likely no good, but it is nice to think that is entirely my own brew and not copying or emulating any other deck running around Standard currently.  It is also a long way from being a budget deck.  That’s part of the reason it has taken me so long to build this deck and to take it out for a test drive.  Inspiration is great to give you direction…but sometimes the old bank account can hold you back from some of those goals. It has taken me 8 months to put together the pieces for this deck and will likely continue to evolve.

 

Further Deep Thoughts on Inspiration

 

Tribal

I haven’t included much in the way of discussion around tribal decks because they are almost self evident.  You open up a bunch of Goblins…you make a Goblin deck.  Horsemen (Centaurs), make a Horsemen deck.  That’s easy enough, but just because it is easy doesn’t mean that it can’t be fun. Sometimes the simplest source of inspiration is the best sort.

 

Kor Skyfisher

I built a rather wonky casual deck around this one common and the interaction with Spark Trooper.  What could be more fun than a recurring Ball Lightning with Lifelink! Sometimes finding cards that extend across sets separated by a number of years can yield some fun and unexpected interactions and fun inspiration for a deck.

 

Griefer

Sometimes I wake up and want to build a deck that will totally cause nothing but grief for my opponents.  It is not normally my style, but there is a sort of sick satisfaction from just hosing your opponent and locking him out and then crushing him.  Mill. Counter decks. Land Destruction. This can be immensely enjoyable…but only in small doses.

 

I have to say that a Monte Cristo sandwich is really quite delicious.  If you’ve never tried one, if you see it on the menu of a restaurant near you, give it a whirl.  Think Grilled cheese sandwich meets French Toast…and 100% delicious.  That’s some solid food to Brew on!!

Monte Cristo sandwich - Bant Auras

 

 

Thanks for reading…if you have any other ideas on what motivates you brew I’d love to hear about it.  Everyone is different and maybe you have a trick that you could share with the other readers. Shoot me a tweet and let me know.

 

Until next time keep it fun, keep it safe…keep it casual.

 

Bruce Gray
@bgray8791

 

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Eric Jeffrey Seltzer - July 3, 2014

Champion’s Deck – Naya Hexproof by Rob Hunsaker (1st at SC...

Naya Hexproof -Ethereal Armor

Naya Hexproof by Rob Hunsaker

1st Place at StarCityGames Standard Open on 6/28/2014

Hexproof strategies are no stranger to constructed formats with the Bogles deck in Modern a prime example of how the archetype can shine. It is based around having a creature on board with Hexproof to make him untargetable by your opponents removal while you load it up with cheap auras to grow it into a killing machine. It is a highly effective strategy especially when the meta is high in spot removal and low in sweepers.

 

Naya Hexproof runs up the curve with its three main threats coming in the Hexproof creatures found in Standard. The first comes as a one drop in Gladecover Scout which is simply a 1/1 Hexproof ready to get loaded with gear immediately. Next two drop Bassara Tower Archer not only provides an extra point of power with its Hexproof body but also comes with Reach enabling you to block pesky fliers which is extremely necessary for this deck. We then find at the three drop spot Witchstalker clocking in at 3/3 Hexproof and also the added bonus of growing even larger if your opponent casts a Blue or Black spell on your turn. We also have a pair of Voice of Resurgence for extra value that while are not Hexproof do ensure you have a beater on the table and if your opponent casts a spell on your turn will give you additional free creatures. Joining the party we have Naya Hexproof’s only planeswalker with Ajani, Caller of the Pride which will be used for its first two abilities to work on pumping up your Hexproof creatures to finish off the opponent before they can assemble a proper defense. Then we get to the array of auras in Naya Hexproof which while normally are rather clunky due to you opening yourself to an easy two for one against removal are instead rather powerful in combination with your creatures. Starting with one cost Ethereal Armor this one plays strong with the rest of the enchantments by scaling up with each additional aura you play as well as providing First Strike. Next, for just two mana Madcap Skills not only adds three power but also forces the opponent to double block if they want to block at all which can often lead you to blowing out a simple chump block with your additional pumps. Then falling into the three drop slot Unflinching Courage pushes the deck over the top by granting both Trample AND Lifelink along with a +2/+2 stat bonus as well. To add even more value to Ethereal Armor the deck runs a trio of Chained to the Rocks with 8 shocklands that count as Mountains to clear the way of any troublesome blockers or threatening offensive troops. The deck is rounded up by two trios of charms for their added versatility. Boros Charm provides a way to head shot the opponent for four in a pinch, save your army from an impending sweeper or even grant a creature Double Strike to send in a final blow. And from Selesnya Charm we find a pump with Trample which could also be the final nail in the coffin, a way to remove high powered creatures even if they are indestructible, and in a pinch provide another body be it necessary to block or useful on the beatdown.

With the new Magic 2015 release looming on the horizon we have once again slipped into a bit of a lame duck format, which is also magnified by the Modern PTQ season. There is still the World Magic Cup Qualifiers coming up soon so I don’t rule out Standard just yet. Naya Hexproof is a very powerful choice in a meta where removal relies on one for one spot removal instead of sweepers. I wouldn’t count it out just yet and if your spark is ignited by Aggro decks then definitely give this baby a whirl, you won’t be disappointed.
Eric J Seltzer
@ejseltzer on Twitter
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Gerald Knight - March 20, 2014

Knight’s Booty: A Modern Problem

Slippery Bogle

Panic sets in as you are told by the pretty lady at the airport terminal that your luggage has been lost.  It’s unthinkable.  How could your luggage be lost?  You need that for this weekend.  Your clothes were in there.  Your hygiene products were in there.  Your Magic cards were in there!

 How are you to compete at the Grand Prix without them?  You plead with the lady to find out if she can do anything to help you, but all she can do is shake her head and say that they should be able to recover it tomorrow.  But tomorrow will be too late.  You need to register your deck in a couple of hours.  How can you play without a deck?  You hang your head dejectedly and pace for a few minutes as you try and think of something.  Some sort of solution.  Hey!  Maybe someone at the venue will lend you a deck?  That’s feasible, right?  Might as well give it a shot.

So you call a cab as you take a look in your wallet.  Not much there, but enough for entry into the Grand Prix, the cab ride, maybe a meal or two.  Might even be able to pick up a chase rare that you had been intending to find.

The cab pulls up to the venue and you hand him the toll.  That’s some of your hope gone.  You start walking around among the masses of people, noticing a few Pro players signing autographs and a few MTG Personalities talking with other players.  Vendors have setup and are already hawking their wares.  Everything from cardboard crack, to sleeves and playmats, dice, and tokens.  You open your wallet again to see what measly amount you have.  But of all the things you see, your friends are not amongst them.  You pull out your cell phone and try calling them.  Long distance charges be damned.  One of them picks up, but it’s so loud where you are that you can’t hear anything.

An announcement comes over the speaker that Deck Registration for the Grand Prix will be ending in an hour.  Last chance to get in.  That panic starts creeping from your heart to your stomach.  You flew all this way to compete.  This was your vacation.  You spent months planning this, tuning your deck, and all for what?  To not be able to enter?  You couldn’t let that happen.

You make your way over to the vendors and start looking in their showcases.  Everything is through the roof!  You check your wallet again.  Definitely not enough for a single fetch land, let alone a playset of Past in Flames, or Birthing Pod, or even a Scapeshift.  How could you imagine to compete with anything in the field without the heavy hitters?  But you are desperate and keep looking, until your eye falls on something shiny.  A vendor has a FNM Promo of Armadillo Cloak in their showcase, four dollars.  Not that it would help you much, because the card isn’t Modern, which is what you came here to play.

But wait?  Wasn’t there a card that was recently printed that acted like Armadillo Cloak?  Sure was!  It’s Unflinching Courage!  Your mind starts racing as cards run through your head.  Rancor, Ethereal Armor, Daybreaker Coronet, Kor Spiritdancer.  Reid Duke’s deck from last year!  But we can’t afford Daybreaker’s, Kor Spiritdancer’s, nor the Leylines of Sanctity that have to be in the sideboard to even make the deck possible, let alone the fetch lands that make white available to play the important pieces.  So how could you even manage to make the deck?  Pauper.  That’s how.  You ask the vendor if he has bulk commons and begin rifling through long boxxes.

The announcement comes over the P.A. system again letting you know there’s only fourty-five minutes left to register.  Panic has begun to subside as you’ve figured out your plan.  Now to just get the pieces in place.  You got this!

So, I never intended to write a series about transitioning diffrerent format’s to and from Pauper, but it looks like that’s what I’ve done.  I started writing an article about Standard and how new players can get into the scene with a collection of commons, and then I wrote about Legacy.  Well, this time I am here to write about Modern showcasing one of My favourite decks.  Hexproof.  AKA Bogles.

The deck is pretty straight forward as far as decks go.  You play down one of your hexproof creatures, play a bunch of auras on it, and smash your opponents face in.  Sounds easy enough, right?

Well if you don’t have the money to run Reid Duke’s version, which includes the aforementioned Kor Spiritdancer (which will usually run you about $10 a piece) or the Daybreak Coronet’s (again another expensive card at a high of $25), not to mention the fetch lands, then you can turn to Pauper.

The first thing we need to do is establish our Mana Base.  Now we can’t afford fetch lands, obviously, so how do we make our lands tap for white?  Because we can’t run this without Ethereal Armor or Arma… sorry, Unflinching Courage.  Well, this deck is based off of enchantments, so why not start looking there?

The best aura’s that will fix mana for a deck like this, at the common level, are Abundant Growth which will let us tap for any colour and it also cantrips.  The other one is Utopia Sprawl, which will ramp you up a colour on top of the mana generated by the land itself.  And if you feel adventurous enough you could spring for the recently printed Selesnya Guildgate.  They are almost like Temple Gardens or Sunpetal Groves, but not nearly as expensive.  And since we aren’t running the Coronets, these auras can fill that slot.  Not to mention they both synergize well with the Ethereal Armor.

Now to replace the Kor Spiritdancer we have to do a little bit of looking.  I mean nothing can really compare to the card drawing that this creature is capable of, nor the Ancestral Mask like ability built into it.  But what if I told you there was another option?  One that in some cases might even be a little bit better?  What could be better than having a playset of Gladecover Scout and Slippery Bogle’s to annoy your opponent?  What could be better than eight hexproof creatures?  Why twelve of course!  That’s right, Silhana Ledgewalker can easily replace the Kor Spiritdancer.  And sure, it isn’t as pumpable and it doesn’t have the card draw bonus, but it’s another creature your opponent can’t touch.  Plus it has the upside of conditional unblockability.  If our opponents can’t stop it in the air then they are really in trouble. Even if they can they still have to deal with Trample and First Strike!

Sounds pretty simple eh?  Let’s go one step further.  If you have a little bit of cash, but not a lot, you can find a replacement for the Leyline of Sanctity (A $15 dollar rare!).  Ever heard of the True Believer?  And no, I’m not talking about the kid Henry from Once Upon a Time (Good series by the way!).  True Believer (a $1 rare if you are lucky, $2 if you are not) was a creature printed in Onslaught that gave you Shroud.  But it was printed again in Tenth Edition which makes it Modern legal.  Now, yes it will die to Doom Blade and Lightning Bolt.  But it’s a step in the right direction.  Especially if you want to modify your deck a bit and run Alpha Authority, but I’m getting off topic.

 Let’s see what this might look like, shall we?

Enchantments (28)

Creatures (12)

Lands (20)

And so there you have it.  Without getting into Sideboard cards you have a functional (if a little underpowered) Modern deck made out of mostly commons.  And if nothing else?  It’s a great place to start!

~ Gerald Knight

 Extra Booty: Now there are a few things I want to address in Extra Booty today.  The first is if you are going to upgrade the deck, do so with the lands first.  An easy way to modify the deck when you can acquire lands (such as Sunpetal Grove and Temple Garden) is to remove one mana fixing aura per land added.  From here you can add in other auras that you think might work well.  If you can get the Spiritdancers then you can let the Ledgewalkers go and replace them with this bomb of a creature.  And if you can find the Coronet’s then I tip my hat to you and you can replace them with whatever makes you feel most comfortable.

Now, the xtra special thing I want to talk about, which I don’t normally do, is a sideboard (or mainboard) “tech” card that is good against pretty much every deck out there.

Suppression Field.  It has been seen as a singleton, or in pairs, in a couple of sideboards.  But I think that it deserves some special attention from a sideboard standpoint, if not from a mainboard.  The card makes activated abilities cost more to play.  So this means that your opponents Birthing Pod is going to cost more.  Your opponents Arcbound Ravager won’t be the sacrifice engine it’s supposed to be.  And Ad Nauseum will generally fold as Lightning Storm counts as an activated ability, even while it is on the stack.  Now you’re going to argue back that there are plenty of decks that it doesn’t hit.  Such as Storm or Zoo.  And you are right on that, except that if you read everybody’s favourite fetch lands properly, they are not mana activated abilities.  I’ll let you think on that until next time.

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Gregoire Thibault - May 17, 2013

Top Cards from Dragon’s Maze for Standard pt. 1

Welcome everyone to this edition of “My top cards from Standard” pt.1 for Dragon’s Maze.
We see a diverse meta starting to form with the exciting new release of Dragon’s Maze and decks have evolved a lot since my last Top cards from Gatecrash.  It’s a small set, but it has a lot of powerful multicolored cards adding tools to decks like Jund, Bant, Junk, and Grixis.  Although we see a few two colored decks, three colored decks are preferred as we can see with the results put up so far.  We’ll take a closer look at some of the top cards I’ve found for Standard and I’ve pulled up some of this weekends top decks to see them in action.  There are more cards then just these that will get played in standard, but this is already quite a lot to look at.  I’ll be continuing in part 2.

Sire of Insanity

Sire of insanity:  This guy makes coming out the gates strong really pay off, and especially if you’re ahead you can really lock the win once your opponent discard their hand.  An especially good tool versus control decks.  We see him in almost all Jund builds right now.

Putrefy

Putrefy:  Great removal and easier to cast then Murder that can’t be regenerated with the added option of removing artifacts instead like Staff of Nin or Rakdos Keyrune for instance.  Another great tool for Jund that’s also in some Junk sideboards.

Jund
Tyler Phelps
2nd Place at StarCityGames.com Standard Open on 5/12/2013

Creatures (13)

Planeswalkers (3)

Lands (25)

Gaze of Granite

Gaze of Granite:  Finally a decent sweeper for Jund and BUG, kind of like a new Pernicious deed that you need to pay for all up front.  It’s starting to see some play in some Jund sideboards like this one:

Jund

Danny Li
6th Place at StarCityGames.com Standard Open on 5/12/2013

Deadbridge Chant

Deadbridge Chant:  I’ve heard a few people wanting to brew with this card.  For now we’ve seen copies in Jund sideboards like this next list.  They want to abuse it by exiling their graveyard to make sure that they always recur the same spell, like a Rakdos’s Return for instance, each turn.  This is a sick card and I’d love to see more decks abusing it.

Jund
Kyle Thomas
4th Place at StarCityGames.com Classic on 5/12/2013

Voice of Resurgence

Voice of resurgence:  This badboy 2-drop should see a lot of play in this standard meta coming up and those to follow.  Will it become on par or even better than others like Tarmogoyf, Dark confidant, Stoneforge mystic and Snapcaster Mage?  Only time will tell.

First off two versions of Junk Reanimator, one from Ali Aintrazi with an Angel of Serenity plan using 4 Voice of Resurgence in it’s sideboard in the list right below.  The other reanimator uses Immortal Servitude as tech using all 2 drops including Voice of Resurgence.

Next we have  two Bant versions: Bant Auras and Bant Flash.  Replacing an old favorite one-drop Delver of Secrets with Voice of Resurgence in Bant Auras in the third list.  Combining Geist of Saint Traft and Invisible Stalker with Voice of Resurgence in the auras deck makes opponents options awkward when trying to answer your auras.  Bant Flash however is also keeping it in its sideboard with the fourth list.  You will see further below that Bant Auras and Bant Flash are also using other Dragon’s Maze cards that had high expectations.

Reanimator
Ali Aintrazi
9th Place at StarCityGames.com Standard Open on 5/12/2013

Immortal Servitude
Elliot Smith
2nd Place at StarCityGames.com Classic on 5/12/2013

Unflinching Courage

Unflinching Courage: This new Loxodon Warhammer style aura is quite powerful.  When played at the right time you can take over a game even in limited.  We find it here in Bant Auras as an easier to cast replacement to Gift of Orzhova.  Scroll down a bit and you’ll see another version of Naya blitz using it in it’s side.

Bant Auras
Robert Rusch
4th Place at StarCityGames.com Standard Open on 5/12/2013

Advent of Wurm

Advent of the Wurm: This Awesome 5/5 4-drop is one of my favorite new cards from Dragon’s Maze, except you’re summoning this badboy at instant speed.  It allows you to abuse cards like Augur of Bolas and Snapcaster mage like in this Bant Flash list.  Who said Sphinx’s revelation was dead yet?  I also added a sweet G/W Token list with Advent of the Wurm and Voice of Resurgence.

Bant Flash
Zachery Byrd
7th Place at StarCityGames.com Standard Open on 5/12/2013

Renounce the Guilds

Renounce the Guilds: Interesting new removal tool we see in Bant control’s sideboard, the only permanent you might lose is your Wurm token.  This is good against Planeswalkers like Ral Zarek or used like Devour Flesh against Geist of Saint-Traft .

G/W Tokens
Ben Suddueth
17th Place at StarCityGames.com Standard Open on 5/12/2013

Viashino Firstblade

Viashino Firstblade:  It’s an aggressive 3-drop as a 4/4 when it comes out with haste.  This can get hard to manage when you’re facing a deck like this Naya Blitz version.

Naya Blitz
Daniel Battle
5th Place at StarCityGames.com Standard Open on 5/12/2013

Ruric Thar, the Unbowed

Ruric Thar, the Unbowed: I imagine this guy must be a beast against decks like Bant Auras and Bant Flash, making it awkward to remove anything once he’s on the board especially if you’re behind at all.  This next Naya list went on to win 1st place.

Naya
Justin Tracey
1st Place at StarCityGames.com Classic on 5/12/2013

We see another version of the Naya Blitz list here with 4 Frontline Medic in the main instead of Viashino Firstblade.  He also opted for 3 Unflinching Courage in the side, the new Loxodon Warhammer-style aura from Dragon’s Maze.

Naya Blitz
Ben Ragan
8th Place at StarCityGames.com Standard Open on 5/12/2013

Sin Collector

Sin Collector: This is a weaker Duress on a stick.  We see him in some of the new Junk Reanimator lists.  Also used in The Aristocrats deck where he makes a good sacrifice to Falkenrath Aristocrat since he’s human.

Reanimator
Wayne Polimine
12th Place at StarCityGames.com Standard Open on 5/12/2013

Profit // Loss

Profit // Loss: Can be used as a combat trick for all of your creatures or a sweeper against opponents opposing Falkenrath Aristocrat, their Invisible Stalker or if you prefer take out all there dorks like Arbor Elf and Avacyn’s Pilgrim.  You can always fuse it for best results with that all out swing.  We see The Aristocrats with one in the sideboard.

Wear // Tear

Wear // Tear: This versatile fuse card is an answer for artifacts like Staff of Nin or if you prefer to remove an enchantment like Unflinching Courage you can too. This is the second fuse card we’ve found in an Aristocrats deck like this one:


The Aristocrats
Dylan Farmer
13th Place at StarCityGames.com Standard Open on 5/12/2013

Ral Zarek

Ral Zarek: The newest Planeswalker in the roster which has neat abilities.  His first one can be used to tap an opponents blocker or a land to screw up his answers, then it gets interesting where you can untap a land to ramp up or a permanent to get his effect a second time, like Izzet Staticaster in this next Grixis Control list.  Ral Zarek’s second ability is probably one of the most played cards in Magic a Lightning Bolt with two bolts before he croaks.  His ultimate ability with an average of 2.5 Time Walk  each time will get you so far ahead it will be hard for opponents to recoup, but not impossible.

Far // Away

Far // Away: Another great split card.  In this current meta I believe you want to use Far against Bant Auras to bounce an enchanted creature and then Away against his  Geist of Saint Traft.  Here’s the Grixis Control deck using it in sideboard probably for exactly that.

Grixis Control
Andrew Schneider
83rd Place at StarCityGames.com Standard Open on 5/12/2013

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Eric Jeffrey Seltzer - May 16, 2013

My “Top Cards for EDH // Commander” from Dragon’s Maze PT.2

Welcome back to the second part of my EDH // Commander review of Dragon’s Maze.  The first installment can be found here.  I found such a plethora of interesting cards that it was necessary to split it into two offerings so you wouldn’t get information overload.  Like I mentioned before the amount of powerful multicolored cards has helped to make this set very friendly to EDH players and there is most definitely something to pique your interest.  So without further ado here is the rest of the best…

Ral Zarek

Ral Zarek – this guy is screaming at me to be paired up with Krark’s Thumb in a coin flip deck.  Since there is still some randomness with him your opponents should only be mildly annoyed with you for taking 5 more turns.

Master of Cruelties

Master of Cruelties – an obvious include in a Kaalia deck as an instawin if both are able to get through unblocked.  He is also able to combo with Ninjutsu creatures like Skullsnatcher or Walker of Secret Ways, you just use Ninjutsu after his ability is triggered.

Possibility Storm

Possibility Storm – I can see this offbeat enchantment as another annoying tool in a Norin deck.  If you embrace these types of random effects then you can definitely have fun with it.  Could be built around to some extent which would require some very creative deckbuilding.

Blood Baron of Vizkopa

Blood Baron of Vizkopa – not only is he from a great tribe but his protection can be very relevant as well.  Obviously he’s at his best when one of your opponents is 10 life or less, hello Sorin Markov, and remember that nothing is forcing you to attack that particular opponent.

Unflinching Courage

Unflinching Courage – this powerful aura will easily find its way into Uril decks.  Armadillo Cloak and Loxodon Warhammer/Behemoth Sledge have always been all-stars.

Notion Thief

Notion Thief – I’m dreaming about some sort of Donate deck that runs him and Consecrated Sphinx for instant death.  Just give away the Thief while you have a Sphinx in play and draw a card.  Since the ability is not a may your opponent will be forced to draw which will trigger Sphinx again forcing him to draw which will trigger Sphinx again forcing him to draw…you get the point.

Debt to the Deathless

Debt to the Deathless – this one is just blatantly obvious especially if you are already running Crypt Ghast and Nirkana Revenant to ensure an amount of X that’s sure to close games very quickly in your favor.

Renounce the Guilds

Renounce the Guilds – this excites me very much for mono-white aggro builds like in an Isamaru deck where you won’t take any splash damage.  I like that it hits permanents instead of specific types and should be able to get something from everyone that way.

Deputy of Acquittals

Deputy of Acquittals – seems like there’s definitely a way to abuse his ability with Riptide Labratory to gain infinite amounts of extra value out of from bouncing your non-wizards with into play or leaves play (but not to the grave) abilities.

Voice of Resurgence

Voice of Resurgence – this card when pushed into a Doubling Season deck with a ton of token creatures will single-handedly push a game from ridiculous to insane.  Also can have similar effect if you can stick him to a Mimic Vat popping his tokens each turn.

Korozda Gorgon

Korozda Gorgon – repeatable removal which definitely wants to be in a Doubling Season shell.  Should be able to slip into a Ghave deck which is almost certain to have all the counters you need to use him to the fullest.

Renegade Krasis

Renegade Krasis – this guy can provide some serious shenanigans when paired up with Doubling Season, but any deck that tries to monopolize on +1/+1 counters will find him a powerful tool.

Bred for the Hunt

Bred for the Hunt – this should have interesting uses in a Doubling Season deck that focuses on adding counters and could definitely work in Zegana.

Zhur-Taa Druid

Zhur-Taa Druid – WOW !!!  A mana dude with the added benefit of pinging all of your opponents.  Sure one little point isn’t all that much but if you add Grafted Exoskeleton or even Phyresis then this little guy can end games even quicker just on his own.

Maw of the Obzedat

Maw of the Obzedat – could probably find a spot in a junk tokens deck to use some of those small guys to pump up the team.  Easily eats blocked creatures to push extra damage through with the rest of the assault.  The kind of card that makes blocking miserable and leaves them asking if there’s any way to block where they won’t die.

Profit Loss

Profit // Loss – this one might be useful in junk tokens as an additional Zealous Persecution, with value on either end but fuse to max effect.

Ready Willing

Ready // Willing – this is just an absolute blowout.  Not only are you going to thwart an attack with surprise blockers, not only are you going to gain a bunch of life instead of possibly dying but indestructible deathtouchers to sweep the army of your opponent is priceless.  A must include in every junk deck.

Catch Release

Catch // Release – there is so much value gained with this card that I would find room for it in Ruhan.  Obviously you’re able to deal with the most problematic permanent, as long as it’s not protected, but you can also work around it with cards like Flagstones of Trokair, Hostility, Mycosynth Wellspring, Hatching Plans or Reveillark.  Just be sure you’re ready for a backlash since this will not make people very happy.

Breaking Entering

Breaking // Entering – I can see this in Sedris with value gained from both halves, fill your grave with unearthables and reanimate the biggest card in any graveyard.  You might find a slot in Thraximundar but mostly for the Entering half.

Pontiff of Blight

Pontiff of Blight – I can totally see this guy as a top end bomb with some zombie hordes.  Giving extort to all of your creatures will tend to end games rather quickly in your favor but also put the bulls eye squarely on you and him.

Blood Scriviner

Blood Scrivener – has two relevant types with zombie and wizard, although I’d imagine in a wizards shell you’d be in trouble if his ability was triggering.  Ends up very powerful in a low curve aggro deck that tries to empty its hand every turn.

Wear Tear

Wear // Tear – not the most powerful spell but very versatile and will always have bothersome targets to take care of.

So there you have it, another amazing release with tons of great possibilities.  Were there any cards that you think I missed?  What cards have you been adding into your decks or what new deck ideas have sparked from the Dragon’s Maze?  Don’t hesitate to tweet me about it, I love to talk magic and I’m sure there’s some new ideas that I can learn from.  Also, feel free to email me your decklists and I’m sure to enjoy reading about your new found synergies.  Thanks again and see you next time.

– Eric J Seltzer
@ejseltzer on twitter
ejseltzer@hotmail.com

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Three Kings Loot - April 19, 2013

Dragon’s Maze Spoiler – Aetherling, Blast of Genius, Drago...

Unflinching Courage

Korozda Gorgon

Aetherling

Blast of Genius

Dragonshift

Dragonshift

Instant

Until end of turn, target creature you control becomes a 4/4 blue and red Dragon, loses all abilities, and gains flying.

Overload 3UURR