Tag: umezawas-jitte

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Norman Fried - July 11, 2016

One Tribe to Rule Them All

Outside the Norm – One Tribe to Rule Them All

One Tribe to Rule Them All

Hey guys, I’m back! So after a long hiatus from Magic and an even longer one from the competitive scene my creative juices have started flowing and I just had to start up again. By the way I’m not just jumping into one format but I’ve been actively back in Standard, Modern and now stepping back again into my personal favourite which is Legacy. Now what could these three all possibly have in common? Well, I’m playing Eldrazi in every format currently and doing quite well with the massive titans and their spawn.

First off let’s take a look at Standard…

One Tribe to Rule Them All

U/R Eldrazi

This deck is a lot of fun for the one piloting it but less so for the one who has to try and stop it. Basically you just have to stay alive long enough and you have the tools to do it with your cheap counter magic and efficient removal, including the very powerful Kozilek’s Return, all of which plays at Instant speed. As long as you’re making your land drops the removal keeps you going long enough to drop down a walker to really get ahead or a Drowner of Hope to put some pressure as well as use the tokens to ramp. Once you have the mana, which can be as early as turn 6, you drop Ulamog and it’s pretty hard to lose from there especially as you get to exile your opponents bests two permanents and clock them with his ability as well as damage. This deck matches up well against the GW/x decks like Tokens or Company and is generally well positioned in the current meta due to the fact that you really don’t care what your opponent is doing, and really you just need to make it to turn 5-6 to snowball advantage.

 

Moving on to Modern…

One Tribe to Rule Them All

Bant Eldrazi

This Eldrazi deck isn’t strictly a ramp deck, yes you play a bit of ramp to power out your Eldrazi a bit faster BUT you are mostly an aggro deck which better creatures then other aggro decks and for cheaper too! It’s not uncommon to go turn two Thought-Knot Seer followed by a turn three Reality Smasher. That is an insane opening and an absurd clock that few decks can actually race against, not even taking into account the built-in disruption these monsters have! Looking at your opponents hand to exile one of their cards is already a solid ability then put that on a 4/4 body that can come out so quickly and it’s so amazing. The best part is if they kill it they don’t get that card back, yes they get to draw one at random but the card you stole is gone for good. Reality Smasher is a pain to deal with but you must because a 5/5 with haste and trample…well let’s just say it does a very good job of living up to it’s name while dealing with it is difficult at best. One of the cards that doesn’t get enough credit is Matter Reshaper because on defense or offense it’s just good and if the opposition isn’t playing Path then even if they get rid of it you get value. Easily the best card in the deck is Eldrazi Displacer giving your guys evaision, clearing your way for attack, actual removal for tokens, and abusing the hell out of Thought-Knot. He does it all and generally your opponent is going to try everything to get rid of him right away. Other key elements are Ancient Stirrings which hits almost every card in this deck and is arguably as good, if not better, here than it was in Tron and as a former Tron player that is saying something. Cavern of Souls makes control match-ups much easier and leaves them with a bunch of dead cards in hand while Eldrazi Temple itself is a straight-up ramp card. This deck is insane and provides a fast clock while causing some minor disruption all at the same time.

 

Finally looking to Legacy…

One Tribe to Rule Them All

Colorless Eldrazi!

So as you can see this list is very similar to the Modern list in terms of the creatures used but is much more explosive and you get to play with one of the most disruptive cards in the format. Whenever you are able to drop a turn one Chalice of the Void for one it can just absolutely ruin many decks. Like they are out, it is game over, moving on…that’s just how devastating the card can be. Decks like Storm which rely on one mana cantrips and Dark Ritual effects or decks that try to deal with your monstrous creatures without the help of Swords to Plowshares will be miserable. You also pretty much just get a win against decks like Burn and if you are on the play against Elves it just completely shatters their game plan. We also still get to play with Eye of Ugin and the sol lands making turn two Thought-Knot Seer scarily common. The other thing this deck can do because of Eye of Ugin is toss down a bunch of Mimics on one turn and next just play Reality Smasher for a quick end to the game. Another big advantage that this deck has over it’s Modern counterpart is the use of Jitte because when you have it combat for your opponent becomes just awful with no profitable way for them to do anything. This deck offers amazingly crippling disruption paired with a combo finish as one avenue to win or just big fast efficient creatures that can end games quickly and prevent your opponents from ending games as another.

These three powerful eldrazi decks have all been very fun to play and have been giving me amazing results. I will continue to pilot them for the foreseeable future, especially now that I have gotten my two byes from a Grand Prix Trial for a trip to Grand Prix Indianapolis for some Modern where I will hopefully be laying waste to the opposition (see what I did there? wastes?!? ahhh screw you it’s funny!)

Until next time…

Norman Fried
@NormanFried1
normanfried@live.ca

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Dan Erickson - February 29, 2016

From the Vault: Lore


From the Vault: Lore

From the Vault: Lore

The latest From the Vault set has been announced, and it’s a flavourful one! Announcing From the Vault: Lore! Let’s see what Wizards has to say about it:

“Delve deeper into the events that shaped the Multiverse—and show your opponents that those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it! This limited-edition set includes cards from throughout Magic‘s history that are renowned for both their power and the stories behind them. Surprise your foes with blasts from the past they’ll have to see to believe.”
-Wizards of the Coast

From the Vault: Lore Set Symbol

Contents and Details:

  • Fifteen premium foil cards and one token, including three with new art.
  • An exclusive Spindown life counter.
  • A collector’s guide.
  • Each card has been printed using a foil process unique to the From the Vault series.
  • From the Vault: Lore will be available worldwide in English only, and will have an extremely limited print run.
  • All cards are black-bordered and tournament-legal. This means that these cards are legal for use in any tournaments where the original printings are still legal.

Twitter Hashtag: #FTVLORE

Product Concept and Development: Sam Stoddard and Jeremy Jarvis, with contributions from Mark Purvis.

Release Date: August 19, 2016

Magic Online Release Date: October 10, 2016

MSRP: $34.99

Speculation

Magic has always had a strong following of players interested in the story behind the cards. Even characters mentioned one time who happen to have no vowels in their name make their way into our collective imagination. That being said, we can probably expect some sweet reprints from old story-rich sets, perhaps from Dominaria? Alternate art Gerrard Capashen or Captain Sisay anyone?

They obviously have lots to work with when it comes to lore, so it’s anyone’s guess about what could be included. That is, however, half the fun, so let the baseless speculation commence!

Card Galley

From the Vault: Lore Beseech the Queen From the Vault: Lore Cabal Ritual From the Vault: Lore Conflux From the Vault: Lore Dark Depths From the Vault: Lore Marit Lage TokenFrom the Vault: Lore Glissa, the Traitor From the Vault: Lore Helvault From the Vault: Lore Memnarch From the Vault: Lore Mind's Desire From the Vault: Lore Momir Vig, Simic Visionary From the Vault: Lore Near-Death Experience From the Vault: Lore Obliterate From the Vault: Lore Phyrexian Processer From the Vault: Lore Tolaria West From the Vault: Lore Umezawa's Jitte From the Vault: Lore Unmask

 

Artwork

From the Vault: Lore Momir Vig Artwork

From the Vault: Lore Cabal Ritual Artwork

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Eric Jeffrey Seltzer - November 25, 2014

Jeskai Stoneblade by Brian Braun-Dunn (1st at Grand Prix New Jersey Le...

Champion’s Deck 

Treasure Cruise - Jeskai Stoneblade

Jeskai Stoneblade by Brian Braun-Dunn

1st at Grand Prix New Jersey Legacy on Nov. 16th 2014

It was a daily double last weekend with Treasure Cruise decks winning both this and the Modern GP in Madrid. Despite that though there was not an abundance of Treasure Cruise swarming the top 8 with a total of 10 copies between 4 decks, and they were each a distinct archetype. It wasn’t even the bogeyman UR Delver which won which was the other deck running the full 4 copies and there was an amazing diversity between all 8 decks.

The core of this deck comes from the supreme artificer Stoneforge Mystic and the two singleton targets she has with Batterskull and Umezawa’s Jitte. The main line of attack, if your coast is clear, would be to search for the Batterskull and then beat your opponent to death with it and because the Mystic will cheat it in the actual cost is irrelevant. Now there is a caveat to the end of the last statement where you may be concerned with Mystic eating a removal spell which is where you can easily search instead for Jitte which can be easily cast if necessary. A natural contender to carry said Jitte is found in the pair of True-Name Nemesis that can easily connect to start the counters accumulating on the Jitte. There is also a full set of Young Pyromancer who’s natural synergy with the 30 instants and sorceries will have little trouble finding a suitable suitor to suit up these pieces of equipment. Speaking of the spells this deck is rife with card draw sporting full sets of Brainstorm, Ponder, Gitaxian Probe and especially newcomer Treasure Cruise all there to help you burn through your deck to find all the gas. Then there is a modest counter suite with a full set of Force of Will, a pair of Spell Pierce and even a couple of maindecked Pyroblast as a concession to the abundance of Treasure Cruise expected in the meta. Then we round it off with removal finding trios of both Lightning Bolt and Swords to Plowshares as the most efficient while providing a little extra reach.
Now while this deck is certainly no new concept the appearance of Treasure Cruise has done a lot to ripple the otherwise fairly stagnant waters of Legacy. Don’t expect a huge upheaval of the format but it’s always interesting when thing change for better or for worse. If you like tempo style decks this is definitely a well rounded deck which has a ton of game and is fun to play. But don’t be surprised if the meta continues to warp hate in your direction as it continues to suppress Treasure Cruise weilding selections.
Eric J Seltzer
@ejseltzer on Twitter
Email: ejseltzer@hotmail.com
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Eric Jeffrey Seltzer - June 4, 2014

UWR Delver Legacy by Craig Krempels (1st at SCG Somerset on May 25th 2...

Champion’s Deck

Batterskull Grand Prix Promo artwork - UWR Delver Legacy

UWR Delver legacy by Craig Krempels

1st Place at StarCityGames Legacy Open on 5/25/2014

The Legacy format is filled with cheap and efficient cards as it has access to the best ever printed over the entire history of the game. This deck is one of those that takes full advantage of that fact to pull together a cast of the top choices creating a highly disruptive killing machine. It pulls together permission, removal and draw to quickly dispatch all enemies that stand in its way. It’s no surprise whenever a deck of this style takes down a tournament.

Quite possibly the best Blue one drop ever printed, and quite aggressively out of Blue flavor, we have Delver of Secrets supported by an almost 50/50 split on spells which will be able to blind flip it turn two so you’re able to commence with the beatdown plan. Follow that up with True-Name Nemesis which demands the opponent to find an answer to it or they will definitely die to that unchecked clock. Both of them are supported by Stoneforge Mystic who is able to either search up an Umezawa’s Jitte to equip one of your attackers or find you a Batterskull to commit further to your beatdown plan. Next we speed up the deck with an abundance of card draw starting with the perennial Brainstorm, coupled with Ponder and Phyrexian freebie Gitaxian Probe which also provides you a sneak peek at the opponents plans. The deck also packs a very robust permission package centering around another format staple and free spell Force of Will, backed up by also free Daze and cheap but disruptive Spell Pierce. Then we round out the deck with top quality removal with the main reason this deck dips into Red with Lightning Bolt and also the classic Swords to Plowshares which will convienently exile most any creatures which are presenting you with certain doom.

The Delver deck is no surprise in the Legacy format and it’s one of the quintessential packages of the most cost effective but extremely powerful cards available. If you want to give yourself a fighting chance in any Legacy tournament you enter then definitely this is a fantastic choice. A great investment into a deck that is very likely to remain competitive continuing into the future of Legacy with only minor tweaks from time to time.
Eric J Seltzer
@ejseltzer on Twitter
Email: ejseltzer@hotmail.com
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Eric Jeffrey Seltzer - May 7, 2014

Death and Taxes Legacy by Per Nystrom (1st at SCG Cincinnati on May 4t...

Champion’s Deck

Mother of Runes - Death and Taxes Legacy

Death and Taxes Legacy by Per Nystrom

1st Place at StarCityGames Legacy Open on 5/4/2014

Here is another great victory for a deck which has been coming and going with success over the past year. It is a very strong package of disruption which comes in the form of aggro beatdown allowing the deck to operate on a very powerful axis.  For those of you unfamiliar with Death and Taxes it is at its core The White Weenie deck. It has evolved from a deck which worked to exile the opponents permanents for value into a mash up of hate bears and resource oppression. It has a pile of the best white creatures ever printed.

 

The journey up the mana curve is very important for this deck as it relies heavily upon Æther Vial to ‘cheat out’ it’s creatures around counter magic and as disruption. The ideal turn one play involves either Æther Vial or Mother of Runes to let the games begin. Once ‘mom’ is out it becomes increasingly more difficult for your opponent to use spot removal on your creatures. A great turn two play would be a follow up of either Thalia, Guardian of Thraben to actively disrupt the opponents plans or even Stoneforge Mystic to start  building offensive to bring the beats. And while Thalia will affect your spells as well it is a minor cost as the spells we cast are one cost and the equipment is going to be cheated in with the Mystic. Speaking of equipment the Stoneforge package in the deck is rather robust including not only a Batterskull and an Umezawa’s Jitte but also a Sword of Fire and Ice, all of which are efficient tools to boost any of your creatures into lean and mean fighting machines. As for some straight-up beatsticks the deck packs a Brimaz, King of Oreskos for value and a trio of Serra Avenger which are able to skirt the turn it can be played restriction with an Æther Vial activation. Then for disruption we find a variety of answers with Phyrexian Revoker to shut down a pesky permanent especially in response to casting a planeswalker, Spirit of the Labyrinth which absolutely ruins players hands in response to a Brainstorm, and Aven Mindcensor that can come in response to a fetchland or Stoneforge trigger to try and force the opponent to whiff. The final creature in the deck is a trio of Flickerwisp which can be vialed into play in response to removal to save a permanent or used to reset a Revoker, rebuy a Mystic and even regerm a Batterskull, not to mention suit up with a Sword or Jitte to bring the beats. There is a heavy resource denial package within the manabase with not only a full set of Wasteland but also a full set of Rishadan Port to lockdown any hope of the opponent to have a fighting chance. Also, for spot removal we find Swords to Plowshares to rid the board of any nuisance creatures trying to stand in the way.

 

And there we have it the first Legacy winner is a deck that is rapidly becoming a staple deck at the top tables. Of course as Legacy is a huge wide open field there is always a brick wall that every deck will run into eventually, but this deck look not only to be resilient but also a great deal of fun. I would be not only happy but confident as well to sleeve up this deck for the next Legacy tournament.

Eric J Seltzer
@ejseltzer
ejseltzer@hotmail.com
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Eric Jeffrey Seltzer - December 21, 2013

Decks of the Day – Spotlight on Shaheen Soorani at the SCG Invit...

Shaheen Soorani

Esper mastermind and longtime magic aficionado Shaheen Soorani battled last weekend at the SCG Invitational in Las Vegas to a third place finish. Fighting through a field of 299 qualified participants he was able to slaughter most every mage who stood in his way. The Invitational, much like the Pro Tour, is a multiformat tournament requiring proficiency in both Standard and Legacy to find success. In true Soorani fashion his weapon of choice for both formats was blue, white and black control style concoctions. With the two byes he had been awarded he drudged to a final swiss record of 12-3-1, the last round an intentional bye with Thea Steele to clinch the top 8 berth. The competition was fierce with hard wins against Tom Ross, Tim Landale, Erik Smith and Jeff Hoogland. Some tough losses came at the hands of Matt Nass the last round of day 1 playing for the perfect 8-0 and against eventual winner Max Brown entering the second leg of Legacy putting Shaheen on the ropes fighting to maintain a top positioning. In the top 8 he was immediately put to the test against Brian Brawn-Duin but dispatched him easily in three games but was knocked out by Greg Hatch after a hard fought five game battle.

Esper Control
Shaheen Soorani
3rd Place at StarCityGames Invitational on 12/14/2013
Lands (26)
 Creatures (3)

Planeswalkers (6)

For the Standard rounds he piloted a sweet and well rounded Esper Control list built around the stock UW pieces. Full sets of Supreme Verdict, Detention Sphere, Jace, Architect of Thought and Azorius Charm are complimented by a trio of Sphinx’s Revelation and a pair of Elspeth, Sun’s Champion to for the core of the deck. Premier creature finishers come with an Ætherling and a pair of Blood Baron of Vizkopa both very resilient to removal in the meta. Speaking of removal the deck sports pairs of Devour Flesh and Hero’s Downfall for spot duty and an additional sweeper in Merciless Eviction which with its many modes is surely able to remove the permanent that is most troubling you. The deck is rounded out by a light disruption package that contains counters from two Dissolve and a Syncopate with discard from two Thoughtseizes.  Shaheen took this to a 6-2 record through the swiss and top 8 winning games 15-5, with three of those losses in the semifinal match.
Esper Stoneblade
Shaheen Soorani
3rd Place at StarCityGames Invitational on 12/15/2013
Lands (22)

Creatures (8)

Planeswalkers (3)

 Spells (27)
For his Legacy deck Shaheen kept in the same vein with Esper Stoneblade sticking to a more classic list by eschewing both Deathrite Shaman and Legacys newest golden boy True-Name Nemesis. In quintessential control style we start with a formidable draw package with Jace, the Mind Sculptor, Brainstorm, Ponder and a singleton Intuition. For the permission the is the requisite Force of Will with a Counterspell comboing with discard from Thoughtseize and Inquisition of Kozilek to stifle the opponents plans. The plan of attack starts with Stoneforge Mystic which is able to tutor up preeminent beatstick Batterskull. There is also an Umezawa’s Jitte which paired up with the Lingering Souls can make short work of your opponent. I especially like how Intuition can work together with Lingering Souls to quickly provide access to a small flying army. To complement those flyers there is also a one of Vendilion Clique which also carries equipment, and has an abusable interaction if you’re also able to get your Karakas out. For removal there is a diverse array with spot removal from Swords to Plowshares and Vindicate complimented by sweepers in Supreme Verdict and Engineered Explosives. Finally, to take full advantage of all the varied instants and sorceries we have a trio of Snapcaster Mage to flashback whichever answer you need access to the most. For the seven rounds that he played with the deck Shaheen was able to pull out a 5-2 record including his two last wins in the swiss which allowed him to intentionally draw the final round to secure his spot in the top 8.
So if you enjoy control style decks and need a list to try either in Standard or Legacy I definitely recommend giving one of these decks a go. It’s great to see Shaheen continue to excel at these high level tournaments and you can be sure that we will see him maintaining this caliber performance for years to come, and where he goes control mages everywhere will benefit from his tightly tuned lists.
Eric Jeffrey Seltzer
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Eric Jeffrey Seltzer - December 18, 2013

Champion’s Deck – U/W/R Delver Jacob Wilson (1st place SCG Las Ve...

Delver of Secrets full art
U/W/R Delver
Jacob Wilson
1st Place at StarCityGames Legacy Open on 12/15/2013
Lands (20)

Creatures (10)

Spells (30)

Sideboard

Another mainstay Legacy decklist was able to best the competition at the Legacy Open last weekend. While Delver lists have taken on many different forms from RUG to UR to BUG, the inclusion of white allows it to fully maximize on the use of the new Legacy golden boy from Commander 2013. The true power of the deck lies in its creatures starting with the decks namesake Delver of Secrets which with almost half spells to transform will often blind flip into flying Lightning Bolts. Next we have the one-two punch of Stoneforge Mystic into True-Name Nemesis which will often be lights out once suited up with an Umezawa’s Jitte. There is also the potent living weapon Batterskull as a main target when you don’t have the True-Name to follow up Stoneforge. All of that action is backed by serious permission, draw and removal packages. For counterspell back up we have full sets of Force of Will, Daze and Spell Pierce to ensure the game plan goes unhindered. To be sure to have all the tools in hand at all the right times there’s Brainstorm,  Ponder and a Gitaxian Probe digging through your deck. Then there is a removal suite with Swords to Plowshares and Lightning Bolt, with the Bolts doubling as extra reach to close out games. We also find a full set of Wasteland to disrupt opponents manabases or pesky manlands which is able to squeeze into the deck despite being tri-colored due to such a low mana curve. All combined we have a very tight list designed to reduce your adversaries life total to zero on no time flat.

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Gregoire Thibault - November 19, 2013