Hello adventurers! November is nearly here, and it’s time to check out what new games and set releases are around the corner. TCGs will be getting a lot of good stuff, so if you love card games, make sure to keep an eye on your calendar!
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Unfinity is an upcoming Magic: The Gathering release for Eternal formats, including Commander, Legacy, and Vintage! In this wacky set of sci-fi fun, experience comedic monsters, overzealous spells, and incredible planeswalkers.
Inspired by sci-fi classics such as The Jetsons and The Rocketeer, jump into a carnival of magic and madness as this set introduces multiple rides and games for our amusement! There will be numerous new mechanics introduced into this wild set, including obtaining tickets, completing amusement park games, real-life requirements to gain bonuses, and even copying cards from different game formats.
But this set wouldn’t be complete without some brand new legendary creatures to make up your next deck. Meet a wide cast of silly characters from all across the galaxy, including an dog astronaut and a space mobster! On top of that, we are sure to see some familiar faces on this side of the galaxy. Who knows who we may find…
Unfinity comes out on October 7th, 2022!
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Hello and welcome to another edition of A Seat at the Table where I pick a commander and discuss some inclusions to their 99. This week, another sweet legend from Dominaria United – Meria, Scholar of Antiquity.
This legendary 3/3 Elf Artificer for 1GR should give you a hint for what she’s all about. Let’s see that textbox:
“Tap an untapped nontoken artifact you control: Add G.
Tap two untapped nontoken artifacts you control: Exile the top card of your library. You may play it this turn.”
What a party. A Gruul artifact commander who says to hell with destroying artifacts, let’s make them our friends. With ramp and card advantage stapled to a commander, there are already cEDH implications here. Let’s talk about some inclusions:
Let’s start by talking about value. Pop Mycosynth Lattice into this deck and even your enchantments and creatures can impulse draw you into answers or ramp you. They do have to be nontoken, but definitely amazing. One Vandalblast though and you’re done. So Darksteel Forge is a solid lock piece for yourself and turns a Vandalblast from you into a full board wipe. Armageddon WISHES, honey!
That said, be weary of Merciless Eviction or heaven forbid a Farewell. You can get blown out pretty hard, but with something as fragile as this, I would recommend having a Krark-Clan Ironworks or a Street Urchin ready, or even Bosh, Iron Golem to punish the person making you sacrifice the Mycosynth Lattice.
Be careful! But hell yeah, get that value!
This one gets its own slot. It’s not going to be a long explanation because here it is: this card rules in this deck. If you’ve got a Flash enabler like Shimmer Myr, your Unwinding Clock is your Seedborn Muse. Oh, yeah this is an artifact deck in Green, so we get to straight up use Seedborn Muse. These cards let you turn your opponents’ turns into your own turn, keeps your mana up for reactions if you can exile cards you can play. That’s gravy the whole way home!
We quite literally just got a Commander precon deck called Exit from Exile with Faldorn, Dread Wolf Herald at the helm. I recommend a ton of cards in that deck. Jeska’s Will is a big “OF COURSE” fit in this deck. With Meria out, it’s likely you’ll cast more artifacts, and while Will is a big ritual, having the ability to either tap artifacts for mana or make more exiles makes this even more potent.
Cards like Passionate Archaeologist can be a finisher in Meria decks that aren’t focused on playing “eggs” (artifacts with 0 for their mana cost). Nalfeshnee allows you to double dip on some spells and permanents for a turn. Important to note that you can’t tap the tokens with Meria. That’s why cards like Inspiring Statuary also fit in the deck. Giving your non-artifact spells improvise allow you to make mana dorks of even your token artifacts so long as you’re casting non-artifact spells just like most in this section.
Wild-Magic Sorcerer, similar to Nalfeshnee, triggers off of casting things from exile. Delayed Blast Fireball is one of the best one-sided board wipes in a while and deserves a slot in your 99 for sure. A lot of these are already Prosper, Tome-Bound staples and if there’s any commander whose homework to copy, it’s the most popular Rakdos commander of all time who has only been around for a year.
You want good artifacts in your nontoken artifact matters deck. Mirage Mirror can double up effects or borrow from your opponents and tap itself to pay for the cost if you’ve got Meria and don’t need to copy something with a tap ability. Shimmer Myr and Vedalken Orrery ensure that you’re getting the most out of your turns and your opponents’ turns like when you’ve got Unwinding Clock and Seedborn Muse out.
Low cost utility like Tormod’s Crypt and Soul-Guide Lantern can threaten the graveyard players but then also can draw you cards or make mana when Meria is out and there aren’t any good reasons to pop graveyards yet.
Artifact lands are perfect inclusions for Meria. While they don’t gain much from the ability to tap for green mana, being able to tap two of your nontoken artifact lands to impulse draw a card feels really good. Here, to save you a Scryfall search, are all the artifact lands that work in the deck: Darksteel Citadel, Great Furnace, Power Depot, Slagwoods Bridge, Treasure Vault, and Tree of Tales. Pack a Ghirapur Orrery to let you play the lands as you exile them from Meria’s ability.
Mystic Forge lets you see what’s coming up next so you know whether or not to impulse draw, even allowing you to forego the ability altogether by letting you cast artifacts from the top anyway. Trading Post is your one stop shop to let you bring back artifacts that you’ve used or had removed. Artifacts have so much synergy together and looping a bunch is powerful. Just ask Scrap Trawler.
You need to end the game. Here’s how you win. Reckless Fireweaver and Ingenious Artillerist both ping your opponents for artifacts entering the battlefield. Having a ton of artifacts and untapping every turn with Unwinding Clock means that sometimes, you’ll have a lock on the game and just need to end it so Ghirapur Aether Grid lets you ping for one per two artifacts tapped.
Got a lot of artifacts? Hellkite Tyrant’s alt-win condition can come at your upkeep. Hellkite Igniter can swing in for the kill with its activated ability. Or, better yet, Nettlecyst can do it on its own or Meria can wear the equipment for a commander damage finish.
Look. I know that not everybody likes Stax effects. I don’t like them, but in the right circumstances, they present an interesting puzzle to figure out. It’s also extremely viable in cEDH. Go nuts, have fun, and of course, ruin someone’s day/give them a real challenge.
Thanks for reading and come on back next time!
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Welcome to another edition of A Seat at the Table, the column where I pick a commander and discuss a few cards that I’d slot into the 99.
This week, with Dominaria United officially releasing, I have decided to pick one of the legends that got my heart racing. Is it a fancy new mythic? Is it a rare that rips?
Nope. This commander is a new uncommon legend and that means you’ll be able to find plenty of copies to go around for this new and interesting deck leader.
For 1BRR, Garna, Bloodfist of Keld is a 4/3 Legendary Human Berserker. Let’s check out the textbox:
“Whenever another creature you control dies, draw a card if it was attacking. Otherwise, Garna, Bloodfist of Keld deals 1 damage to each opponent.”
There’s lots to love about a commander who rewards you for your creatures dying. The added tension of when they die is what makes this so good. The combat step is wild and complicated. Swing with creatures that will die, your opponents face either taking damage or giving you card draw. If you have a big enough board, a wrath effect can significantly harm your opponents. It must be noted that Garna does not count herself. With that in mind, here we go!
Sacrifice outlets are ways to have your creatures die on your own terms. I mentioned that the combat step is wild – it is possible to attack, deal damage, and then before leaving the combat step, having your creatures that just swung die for sweet card draw if that’s what you need. Sack outlets allow you to that have agency and control over your board. Sacrifice outlets like Ashnod’s Altar and Phyrexian Altar are mainstays in a sacrifice player’s arsenal. Goblin Bombardment allows you to ping while your creatures hit your graveyard when you want them to. Viscera Seer provides a Scry 1 per sacrifice. Carrion Feeder gets beefed up when you feed the zombie. Altar of Dementia provides you with the option to mill yourself or your opponents. With self-mill, you can pack the deck with recursive effects. Yawgmoth, Thran Physician can weaken or outright kill your opponents’ creatures while drawing you a card on top of whatever you choose to do with Garna.
Of course, there are cards like Plumb the Forbidden that allow you to sacrifice any number of creatures you control to draw a card and lose a life for each one. Don’t forget to pack some payoffs like…
When creatures die or you sacrifice permanents, you want to have things that trigger for more advantage. Mayhem Devil and Juri, Master of the Revue trigger specifically on sacrificing, but stuff like Zulaport Cutthroat and Bastion of Remembrance will trigger when your creatures die, draining each opponent. Have your opponents get hurt on the way in with Impact Tremors and Purphoros, God of the Forge. The Meathook Massacre and Agent of the Iron Throne are enchantments that ping your opponents when your creatures die. Liliana, Dreadhorde General fills your hand up so you can either double up on your draws when attacking creatures die or so you can get the best of both worlds in Garna’s triggers. One of my favourite cards is Vicious Shadows. Any creature dies, you decide which player gets hit for their hand size. Games go pretty quick when you’re nugging players for seven damage a death.
You’re going to need creatures to sacrifice. I suggest token makers. Ophiomancer and a sacrifice outlet means a clock on your opponents when each snake hits them for damage. Jadar, Ghoulcaller of Nephalia only triggers once on your turn, but at two mana, that’s not bad. Besides, the decayed zombie tokens sacrifice themselves at the end of combat turning into cards in hand. Endrek Sahr, Master Breeder provides you with 1/1 Thrulls equal to the mana value of the creature you just cast. Because you can sacrifice creatures at instant speed in this deck (very likely), as long as you cast creatures with less than seven mana value and sacrificed all your Thrulls, you’re going to be churning out the tokens. Tevesh Szat, Doom of Fools can generate tokens or sacrifice creatures to draw two cards. Genuinely underrated planeswalker.
Death Tyrant will turn your attacking creatures dying for card draw into more tokens. If they kill blocking creatures too, hey! More tokens! Plus, you can return Death Tyrant to play from the graveyard, an ability that is super fun and useful in this deck. As a matter of fact…
Token generators are fantastic for this strategy, but good old fashioned reanimation and skeleton effects are great too. The new Squee, Dubious Monarch can be pseudo-Escaped from your graveyard and creates a token on attack. Nether Traitor costs just one black mana to return to play when a creature you control dies. Bloodsoaked Champion and Reassembling Skeleton come back pretty cheap, too. Phyrexian Reclamation returns creature cards back to your hand from the graveyard. Chainer, Nightmare Adept skips your hand and lets you cast your creatures from your graveyard directly.
Fiery Emancipation is a stand-in for all damage doubling cards like Torbran, Thane of Red Fell and Gratuitous Violence. While Gratuitous Violence won’t double your Impact Tremors, it will double Garna’s one damage pings.
Attach Basilisk Collar to Garna or pop Whip of Erebos into place and you’re looking at gaining three life for each of your creatures dying when they’re not attacking. Whip can also return some pretty important creatures for you to add to the beatdown.
Lyzolda, the Blood Witch has been one of my favourite commander decks for a few years. I love having a sacrifice outlet in the command zone, and I love that the colours of creatures I sacrifice matter. I love this deck. Garna, Bloodfist of Keld is the first time I’ve considered swapping commanders of that deck, but I know I’ll keep Lyzolda in the 99 if I make the swap. I might do something like roll dice and decide between Lyzolda, Tymaret, the Murder King, and Garna! Keep things fresh!
That does it for Garna. Who are you looking forward to building from Dominaria United? Let me know and I’ll write something up.
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Hello adventurers! Check out all the gaming magic coming to you in September of 2022 right here. We don’t have any RPG announcements this month, but TCGs are coming in swinging! Check it out!
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It is time to start a new age in the Dragon Ball Super TCG! The Zenkai Series begins with the newest upcoming booster set release, Dawn of the Z-Legends, introducing a new cast of characters and game mechanics!
With the release of Dawn of the Z-Legends, there will be a new sub-type of card to add to your decks! Zenkai cards come in two different forms: Zenkai Leader cards and Zenkai Battle cards. To utilize these card sub-types, you will need to create a small deck of Zenkai cards. This deck can have a minimum of 1 card to a maximum of 7 cards. Use these cards to trigger powerful attacks against your opponents and perform special Z-Awakenings of your Zenkai Leaders!
This set release will include 164 cards and 292 types, including the return of God Rare cards! The set breakdown is as follows:
There will also be four brand new starter decks for new players to choose from! Choose either Red Rage to channel the power of Pan; Blue Future to power up Trunks; Green Fusion to throw Gotenks into the field; and Yellow Transformation to channel the power of Son Goku!
Dawn of the Z-Legends comes out on September 16th, 2022!
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Hello and welcome back to another edition of A Seat at the Table. The time has come to talk about Judith, the Scourge Diva. For 25 cents, you can pick up your own copy of Judy or brew around the copy your drafted in your Double Masters 2022 events.
Let’s get a look at that text box. For 1BR, you get a 2/2 Human Shaman that says:
“Other creatures you control get +1/+0.
Whenever a nontoken creature you control dies, Judith, the Scourge Diva deals 1 damage to any target.”
Let’s talk about the cards that I think deserve to see play with Judith.
What you want is a bunch of creatures to cast or return from the graveyard to play. The more creatures you bring back, the more creatures die, and the more triggers you get from Judith. Nether Traitor loves a good death loop. A creature you control dies, pay B to return Nether Traitor to play, bring back another creature, sacrifice Nether Traitor, then sacrifice the other creature and pay B again. Lots of triggers.
Gravecrawler is great if you’ve got zombies in the deck. Use these deaths to pump Juri, Master of the Revue, sacrifice them to Lyzolda, the Blood Witch for value. Tymaret, the Murder King can dance between the graveyard and your hand, netting value along the way.
You need sacrifice outlets. Mayhem Devil belongs in this deck. Judith needs creatures to die and the best way to be in control of when those creatures die is to have sacrifice outlets. Thermopod can hit for 5 with Judith out and is a Phyrexian Altar for just red. Use this slug to your advantage. Obviously, Phyrexian Altar is worth an inclusion. I recommend it, but it’s a pricey card. Altar was just reprinted in Double Masters 2022, so it’s the lowest it’s going to be for a while. Goblin Bombardment is also a great pick for doubling down on pinging.
Mahadi, Emporium Master is one of my favourite cards from the new Commander Legends set. As long as your creatures keep hitting the yard, you’ll be able to fuel up on mana. It’s incredibly efficient and is what I always wanted out of Gadrak, the Crown-Scourge. Stock up on treasures so you can pay for Nether Traitor and Reassembling Skeleton’s resurrections.
Raphael, Fiendish Savior makes extra little guys for each time a nontoken creature is put in your graveyard from anywhere. With Judith on board, you get 3/2 Devils that ping when they die with lifelink! They might not be nontoken creatures so they won’t trigger Judith, but they definitely still sting!
Go all in on big damage with these speedy elementals. These creatures die the turn you play them and swing in hard for an extra +1/+0 and ping an extra one when they go when the Diva’s singing. Lightning Skelemental has added value in smacking two cards out of a players hand when it connects for combat damage, which with 6 base power and trample, is very likely to happen.
Pair with Phyrexian Reclamation or Thunderkin Awakener for swings every turn. Olivia, Crimson Bride is also a great choice to pair them with since they’re not likely to get exiled as they die every time.
I know he makes token copies of them instead, but Feldon of the Third Path can bring back the swinging lightning boys for more damage. They won’t trigger Judith, but they still get the +1/+0 buff.
Put this on Mayhem Devil or give it to Judy and watch your dying creatures take down your opponents creatures too. Giving Judith deathtouch and lifelink makes her a very powerful threat and keeps your life up with every nontoken kicking the bucket. It’s not the flashiest but will definitely make the table fear you.
Judith being a 3 mana commander and a bunch of good pieces mentioned in this article also being odd, we’re off to a good start to include Obosh as a companion. Each ping becomes two damage. The Lightning elementals end up doing 12 to 14 damage. Something to consider for anybody thinking about Judith as a commander.
Yawgmoth and Mikaeus and two non-token non-Human creatures plus Judith (and a way to offset the life loss – maybe even a wincon that gains life like Gray Merchant of Asphodel) = combo. Don’t deck yourself!
Step 1: Sacrifice creature 1 to Yawgmoth, targeting creature 2 with the -1/-1 counter.
Step 2: Creature 1 returns with a +1/+1 counter thanks to Mikaeus giving it Undying.
Step 3: Sacrifice creature 2 to Yawgmoth targeting creature 1 with the -1/-1 counter, negating the +1/+1 from undying.
Step 4: Repeat steps 1-3. Step one will now negate the +1/+1 counter on creature 2.
I could have made it easier by including Murderous Redcap instead of two creatures, but this shows that it can work with more than just one little guy.
That does it! I love Rakdos and this is right up my alley. I have a Lyzolda, the Blood Witch deck that I really love and sometimes toss Judith or Tymaret, the Murder King in the command zone instead. Lyzolda is more of a token build, but Judith still gets some pings out there and the +1/+0 helps the tokens become swarm rather than just an aristocrats strategy!
I hope you enjoyed this entry! Thank you so much for reading.
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There is a ghost in the machine, Tamers! In X Record, the newest Digimon TCG booster release, it is time to explore the X-Antibody Digimon type, including some fan favourites from the Digimon Ghost Game TV show!
For those unaware, X-Antibody is a specific antibody that can be introduced into any Digimon. When this has been done, they will become immune to a powerful computer trying to wipe out Digimon called the X Program!
What does this mean for the TCG? Well, you should expect a lot of Digimon and Option cards that will allow you to trash or De-Digivolve your opponent’s Digimon with ease as long as you have other X-Antibody Digimon on the board. Get into some of the most powerful X-Antibody Digimon, such as Gallantman (X-Antibody) or Ordinemon, and you will be able to trigger powerful abilities! This can be anything from healing when you trash an opponent’s Digimon, to dealing damage straight to your opponent’s security stack!
You won’t want to neglect these powerful creatures, or you may find yourself unprepared for your opponents destructive capability! The X-Antibody does not take prisoners!
X Record comes out on July 29th, 2022! Pre-order you box and join the pre-release with Three Kings Loot now! https://www.threekingsloot.com/catalog/digimon_events/5532
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