The Cards that Ramp Players Fear

I've been trying to decide the best way to write an article on the cards I hate to see but I don't play as they are outside of my archetype. I'll discuss 1 card from each color and say why it is a bad sign if you see it in ramp. All the discussion is based on pre-sideboard.

So here they are by color in no particular order.

Blue

Mana Leak

Spell Pierce

Mindbreak Trap

Clone

Rite of Replication

Frost Titan

Jace, The Mind Sculptor

Mind Control

Frost Titan

I've discussed this card at length and played against it even more. This card shuts ramp down if they get it out before you cast a Primeval Titan. And it is almost impossible to be taken care of while playing ramp.

Red

Lightning Bolt

Goblin Guide

Mark of Mutiny

Goblin Ruinblaster

Kargan Dragonlord

Koth of the Hammer

Kuldotha Rebirth

Mark of Mutiny

The deck that normally plays this is scary enough as it is. But as the ramp player losing your Primeval Titan so that your opponent can bash you and get land (which they probably will use to make it harder to block and stronger by using Smoldering Spires and Teetering Peaks). This normally ends the game for you. As a game ender this card is amazing at stealing an Eldrazi Titan and blowing up your side of the board.

White

Journey to Nowhere

Admonition Angel

Baneslayer Angel

Condemn

Day of Judgement

Gideon Jura

Leonin Arbiter

Luminarch Ascension

Sunblast Angel

Gideon Jura

The reason seeing this card is rough is simple. Anytime your opponent can buy themselves another turn by "Fogging" you it is hard to deal with. And if you can't kill the Gideon then they are taking out your biggest threat.

Green

Avenger of Zendikar

Fauna Shaman

Vengevine

Lotus Cobra

Lotus Cobra

This card is scary because of the deck it represents and how hard it is to get rid of while ramping. Lotus Cobra (as Trevor has written) leads to the most explosive plays in the game. This will let your opponent get the cards onto the battlefield to shut you down faster than you can play your threats.

Black

Memoricide

Abyssal Persecutor

Deathmark

Doom Blade

Duress

Grave Titan

Abyssal Persecutor

A strong flyer is almost impossible to deal with early game for Ramp. It's even hard to deal with late game and by that point you've probably been beaten to a pulp.

Artifact

Sword of Body and Mind

Mimic Vat

Eldrazi Monument

Lux Cannon

Molten-Tail Masticore

Wurmcoil Engine

Sword of Body and Mind

This card says "Protection from your deck" when you are in ramp. It puts you on a clock that ends with you being milled out. If it equipped to a decently powerful creature you will die from combat damage too.

So if you don't play ramp check out these cards that you should think about playing in your deck or sideboard, because I know I would hate to see these on the other side of the table.

Breaking (Down) Primeval Titan

In the current standard with overpowered lands Primeval Titan has become king.  The question remains what are the most common ways of utilizing this card and which one of those methods is most successful.  I would like to focus on the different packages of cards that combo with Primeval Titan and attempt to determine which packages you should include in your next Titan Ramp deck.

The first packages to consider are the accompanying ramp cards.  There are essentially three different directions to take in ramping to your Primeval and beyond.  First is the sac land package that is found most often in Valakut decks.  This package includes Khalni heart Expeditions, Harrows, Explore, and Cultivates.  The Harrows and Heart Expeditions are unique to this deck because landfall of mountains in particular is important to get the full value out of your Valakuts and Avengers.  The pros to this package are massive landfall and the ability to choose which lands you are pulling from you deck.  The biggest drawback to this package is that it doesn't ramp as hard as some of the others we will be looking at.  The second ramp package is the one utilized mostly by Mono Green Eldrazi; it includes 4 Joraga Treespeaker, 4 Growth Spasm, 4 Explore, 4 Overgrown Battlement, and some number of Cultivate. This package can be incredibly explosive if Joraga is able to stick or you can get a growth spasm resolved as this often means you get your Titan a turn before your opponent, but it does not have the landfall strength of the Valakut.  The third ramp package is both the oldest and the newest.  Lotus Cobra combined with fetchlands, Oracle of Mul Daya, and Explore can lead to the most explosive plays of the game, but the entire package is dependent on keeping a Cobra in play...many times easier said than done.

 

The biggest question in determining what ramp package is right for the deck you are trying to build is answering these two questions, "How am I going to win the game and what can my opponent do to stop that from happening?"  Clearly, the Valakut package is just for the Valakut deck and has limited application elsewhere and therefore if you are trying to win with Valakut those answers are easy.  I want to win by burning my opponent out with Valakut, with the backup being Avenger and my opponent can only stop me if he can get rid of all my Valakuts and still deal with a resolved Avenger.  This is fairly straightforward and therefore it is the other two ramp packages that I want to focus on.  

The biggest vulnerabilities of these other two ramp strategies are the creatures that give them their explosiveness; namely Lotus Cobra and Joraga Treespeaker.  I believe this vulnerability is too large for your opponents and the metagame in general to not recognize and exploit which is why I am a large advocate of the following ramp package.

4 Joraga Treespeaker

4 Overgrown Battlement

4 Growth Spasm

4 Explore

2 Cultivate  

This ramp package is very similar to the Mono Green Eldrazi package with a particular emphasis on beefing up its hardiness with Overgrown Battlements and its speed with Growth Spasm. I believe this particular package performs very well against a vast majority of the meta and when we take into account the finishers I am going to recommend it becomes even clearer why this package is superior to some of our other options. 

The ramp in a Primeval Titan deck is the kickstarter it gets the engine (Primeval Titan) going as fast as possible.  Once the engine gets going it needs a direction and that is where the finisher package comes into play.  The most popular finishers today are in no particular order; Eldrazi Big 3, Avenger of Zendikar, Rampaging Baloths,Valakut, Frost Titan, Inferno Titan, and recently Genesis Wave.  Clearly all of these are big spells that do some pretty broken stuff when played correctly and with enough speed.  I would like to suggest a new package of finishers that takes pieces of each group and meshes them together to form a much more flexible package.  

3 Frost Titan

3 Rite of Replication

1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn

1 Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre

1 Kozilek, Butcher of Truth

I will share with you the process I went through to arrive at this particular finishing group.  I  began by evaluating all of the finishers relative level of power in the current meta.  (I only did this based on hard casting them...) 1. Emrakul 2. Ulamog 3. Kozilek 4. Frost Titan 5. Genesis Wave 6. Avenger/Valakut 7. Rampaging Baloths  The reason Frost Titan is ranked so high is that it has the ability shut down many of the cards in its same category.  I next evaluated what each finishers strong and weak match-ups were.  I won't bore you with the details, but essentially (and for good reason) each of these cards should win you the game, provided that your opponent isn't able to cast something as good on their turn.  Meaning that controlling the mirror is incredibly important.  Enter Rite of Replication!  This card gives you the flexibility in the mirror to lock your opponent down and respond to a lot of their threats in a relatively cheap manner (achieving 9 mana in a ramp deck is not a significant barrier). It can double up a legendary to clear an Eldrazi for just 4 mana, it can target a Primeval and empty your library of land on that turn, it can target a Frost Titan and effectively lock down your opponenets mana, it can simply match their best creature in a game where you got outramped...the flexibility this card gives to the deck is amazing and truly is the bet finisher I have been able to find.

I want to address a few sideboard holes that Primeval Titan decks often find themselves in before wrapping up with the list I currently use to break Primeval Titan and its crazy ramp abilities. The toughest match-up is often counters and control against your early game ramp or the Primeval Titan itself.  Summoning Trap remains your best friend here but this list includes counter magic of its own to bring in off the board for a game 2 surprise. The other choice that might seem odd is that I always board in my Obstinate Baloth against control.  Why?  One more creature I can cast that gets countered and thus is one more opportunity to insta win off a trap into Emrakul.  Without further ado here is what I believe is the ultimate Primeval Titan list available today.

4 Primeval Titan
3 Frost Titan
3 Overgrown Battlement
4 Joraga Treespeaker
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
1 Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
1 Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

2 Rite of Replication
4 Explore
4 Growth Spasm
2 Mana Leak
4 Summoning Trap

4 Misty Rainforest
4 Tectonic Edge
3 Eldrazi Temple
2 Eye of Ugin
4 Khalni Garden
2 Halimar Depths
2 Island
4 Forest

SB:
4 Obstinate Baloth
3 Spell Pierce
2 Nature's Claim
4 Flashfreeze
2 Mindbreak Trap

My Colors

I do believe that everybody who plays this game has certain colors they were meant to play.  WOTC has designed, marketed, and built the game to reflect this fact.  The sooner you figure out which colors you were meant to play the less time you will waste playing deck strategies that aren't optimized to your mindset.  I learned very early that UW were the colors for me.  I enjoy interacting with opponents cards as often as possible, I love playing large flying creatures (ie. Angels), and lastly I get a little satisfaction of controlling every part of the game. Nothing is more satisfying than knowing you have won six turns before your opponent realizes it...

With that being said I would suggest you find the colors you love to play and always keep a "pet deck" if you will  in your building realm.  Getting into a rut is an easy thing for even the best players to fall into and your "go-to" deck is the one that will get you out of that rut and give you comfort in your game play again.  I intend to show you all of the iterations of my pet deck as the meta progresses and changes to give you an example of how the core of your deck can remain much the same but still adapt to the changing meta.  Let's start with the list I am running as of right now.  I like to explain my choices right next to the card and then talk more broadly afterward:

Main:
2 Frost Titan (A fantastic finisher that is tough to remove and shuts down many decks best cards)
2 Baneslayer Angel (2nd best finisher behind Frost Titan, but still tilts the RDW match-up in your favor)
4 Wall of Omens (Replaces itself and stalls any aggro strategy long enough to establish your bigger threats)
2 Gideon Jura (A high value player that is as good on offense as he is on defense)
4 Jace, The Mind Sculptor (The most versatile card in the history of Magic)
2 Jace Beleren (Owns the control match-up by taking down his big brother for only 3 mana)
2 Day of Judgment (Raw card advantage almost every time)
4 Mana Leak (As close to early game Counterspell as we have)
2 Journey to Nowhere (The most versatile removal in standard today)
2 Luminarch Ascension (This card is almost as much a mental play as it is a physical one, read below)
3 Preordain (If you are playing blue you should be playing this card...)
2 Spell Pierce (Nothing better than watching your opponent get thrown on tilt when you lay this down)
2 Oust (Oust slows down almost any deck regardless of what they are trying to do)
2 Everflowing Chalice (Ramps while still leaving mana leak open on turn three)
4 Island
2 Scalding Tarn (Thins deck, combos with Jace)
3 Plains
2 Marsh Flats (Thins deck, combos with Jace)
4 Celestial Colonnade
4 Glacial Fortress
3 Seachrome Coast
3 Tectonic Edge (Holds down the Manland problem)

Sideboard:
2 Mindbreak Trap (Say goodbye Summoning Trap)
3 Flashfreeze (Say goodbye ramp cards)
4 Leonin Arbiter (Say goodbye ramp cards)
3 Ratchet Bomb (Puts crappy decks in their place)
2 Wurmcoil Engine (Owns both the control and RDW matchup)
1 Frost Titan (For when BSA just isn't cutting it)

Ramp Decks: Clearly the current meta is dominated by Ramp decks that puke as many lands as they can on the table in order to simply cast bigger spells than we can respond to.  Our main deck presents several decent options in the form of Spell Pierce, Mana Leak, and Frost Titan; however, it is clearly post-board that this deck takes over the match-up.  Leonin Arbiter shuts down most ramp decks to a standstill, Mindbreak Trap eliminates the chance for any Summoning Trap shenanigans, Flashfreeze does double duty against both ramp and Titans, while the extra Frost Titan gives you a greater chance to lock down any threats your opponent does land. Pre-board this is a tough match-up against all the forms of ramp (especially Valakut), but post-board the amount of ramp targeted disruption you have is often just too overwhelming for your opponent and more often than not your Grizzly Lion just beats their face.

Control Mirrors: Most of these match-ups are decided by intelligent use of counters, successfully sticking a Jace for multiple turns, and who can cast Frost Titan first.  I believe this particular list has a slight advantage in game 1 due to our 6 copies of Jace, 2 Luminarch Ascension, and our always surprisingly effective Spell Pierce's.  We don't have a lot of board in for Game 2 except an extra Frost Titan, and our 2 Wurmcoil Engine that will hopefully generate enough card advantage for us to win out in the long game.  I will note that the UB control list is a tougher match-up than the straight UW mirror as Mimic Vat, more counters, and Grave Titan are tough threats to answer.

Aggro-Based Strategies:  These match-ups are generally not tough as Wall of Omens can hold the fort or at least saves you enough life until you are able to get a BSA or a Frost Titan on board.  The match-up tilts even farther in our favor post-board as Flashfreeze stalls them early and Wurmcoil Engine generally puts them away once it touches down.

Combo Decks: It is so hard to game plan around combo decks because their is a new flavor every week and I generally don't waste valuable slots in my main deck or SB when I am playing up to 11 counterspells.  I will say not having an instant speed answer to the Quest deck is hard and nothing is scarier to me than an active Pyromancer Ascension, but with that being said I generally lean on my counters and my ability to dig for the answers with Jace to get me through these stranger match-ups.  Game 1 is mostly about understanding what turns are the most critical to leave Counterspell mana open, while Games 2 and 3 are about adjusting to their boarding decisions and establishing early board dominance through the use of Jace TMS.

This is one of the most versatile UW lists I have created to date. While I am always refining, this is a list I am quite proud of as it seems to answer many of the threats in the current meta while also maintaining its own identity.  The deck is able to churn out advantage through low costed spells, unleashes manipulation with Spell Pierce, Oust, and Journey, keeps its hand full using Wall of Omens, Preordain, and Jace and lastly finishes strong with Frost Titan, Gideon, and BSA.  I even love the subtle mental games this deck can play on your opponent.  More than once a player has completely changed their strategy based on a turn two Luminarch Ascension, went on complete tilt after a Spell Piercing of their Jace, or just couldn't understand why they were losing to somebody who was still playing with Wall of Omens.  (Yes, it is still very good!)

I have explained much of why these spells are currently included above.  I will continue to update this list as the meta evolves and explain my choices.  This will allow you to follow along with me as I evolve my pet list to meet the demands of the meta.  I am confident it will remain competitive going forward and look forward to sharing each iteration of the list with all of you.
As Always, Happy Gathering!

10 Best Underplayed Cards in Standars

We recently worked on using the 10 Best Cards in Standard and how to use them. We are still collecting the data on these decks but keep an eye out for that.


Today I would like to talk about 10 cards you probably aren't playing with with maybe you should be.


Here's the list:

10. Calcite Snapper
9. Nature's Claim
8. Leonin Arbiter
7. Terra Stomper
6. Sunblast Angel
5. Spell Pierce
4. Clone
3. Grave Titan
2. Elspeth Tirel
1. Rite of Replication


So we will start at the top:


#10- Calcite Snapper
Ok. I know what you are thinking. But lets examine what blue is missing. Walls and non Jace Beleren 3 drops. This card is essentially both of these things.

I didn't think this card was very good until I started using it against RDW and Elves. This card is in my Pyromancer Ascension sideboard. The landfall abilities "may" trigger allows you to keep your wall or create a beater. Even if you switch the power and toughness this card still can't be bolted. Its power and toughness switch back at the end of turn so it doesn't die to pyroclasm or damage dealing board sweepers.

#9- Nature's Clain
This blog loves Quest for the Holy Relic and Pyromancer Ascension. This card deals with this and while gearing up for what we can only assume will be an artifact heavy metagame in the near future this card deals with it at instant speed.

This card wouldn't have been as good a few sets ago when green decks were playing 3/3s and 4/4s as their beaters. But in todays green decks where playing a 6/6 is your small creature and 15/15 isn't out of the question. But giving your opponent 4 life just isn't that big of a deal.

#8- Leonin Arbiter
I hate this card. As someone who has been playing a lot of ramp recently this card is very hard to deal with. Not only does this card shut down all deck searching until your opponent has at least 2 extra lands, it is a 2/2 for 2 that fits well into U/W Control decks that are lacking early game beaters.

I'm not saying this should be a main deck card. But if you are in white and playing ramp this card should come in. Not only come in but you should have 4 to bring in. I lost a game recently (video to come) to a pair of these that shut down the ramp and beat me in the face.

#7- Terra Stomper
This card is for those people that want to play Gaea's Revenge but don't have it. In a green ramp against control having something that you know will hit the board can be a game changer. Ramp loves trample. I don't like the fact that this card doesn't do anything the same turn as it hits the board but beggers can't be choosers.

Again, probably not a main deck card. But against the control matchup this card runs over Wall of Omens and still hits Jace, Gideon or you opponent.

#6- Sunblast Angel
Apparently I like this card much more than I thought I did. But it just keeps coming up on lists that I write. A great card in control because it wipes boards. But your Wall of Omens live through it. If you are in green and can trap your way into this or playing u/w and can flash it in it it is fantastic. This card may also be on of the best cards to blink with Venser.

#5- Spell Pierce
It seems like most of the Blue or White cards on this list make me mad. This is one of them. Tap out for a Primeval Titan, it gets mana leaked, you are pumped because they have 1 blue left and you have a summoning trap and bam. You are done. This card just wrecks days and until people become more aware of this cards playability it will continue to do so.

#4- Clone
A 4 mana answer. I just reread this card and it doesn't say the all important "Target" so, you can clone cards with protection from Blue. You can clone Frost Titan without paying those dreaded 2 mana. It kills legendary creature through the legened rule. It takes your opponents biggest threat and uses it against them. It also takes your threats and doubles them. 2 Frost Titans sure. More mana from another Primeval Titan. Thank you very much. All of the enter the battlefield triggers happen with this card.

#3- Grave Titan
I really thought this card would be used way more than it is. But I do think it is on the rise. Thanks to the success of UB Mimic Vat control I think this card is going to to reach its potential right along side of Frost Titan. Although the deathtouch abililty seems almost pointless, get and extra 4 power out of each attack is awesome. As far as being attached to Mimic Vat, who wouldn't pay 3 mana to get 2 2/2s?

#2- Elspeth Tirel
I want great things for this card. It is hard for white decks to play it because of the other 3WW drops available. It just doesn't seem as good as Gideon Jura or Baneslayer Angel. I think the deck is coming where this will be a star. GW Tokens is becoming more and more viable. I think the lists need some more work but this card will always be in the lists that are winning.

#1- Rite of Replication
This card is really amazing. Trevor will attest to this. What is scarier than cloning your Frost Titan, how about adding 5 of them. Need mana for your eldrazi, copy Primeval Titan 5 times. The tokens also have the same converted mana cost as the creature they target which is great against Consume the Meek and pretty dang good agains Ratchet Bomb.

Well there you have it. I hope that you all take a look at your deck list and see if these cards could help. Or maybe these cards don't fit your list. But it should get you looking at other cards and hopefully your deck will improve.

Card of The Day 11/13/10 Sunblast Angel

I chose this card today for 2 reasons. I asked a girl at work to pick one of the 5 colors and she chose white, and I won a game off the back of this the other day at Saturday Night Standard.

A lot like the last COTD Sunblast Angel does some serious damage. If you opponent lets this hit the board something is going to be destroyed.

What is the best use of this card?

Playing it during your opponents attack step. It wipes boards. How are you going to play this during your opponents turn??

Option 1: UW- Leyline of Anticipation. This card give all non-land cards in your hand Flash.

Option 2: GW- Summoning Trap. This isn't a guarantee but it is the trickiest way to do it.

Now at 6 mana this is an expensive Day of Judgement. But if you have creature on the board worth keeping i.e. Frost Titan in UW or Primeval Titan in GW it becomes an effective way to clear their board without touching your own.

Deck List of the Day: G/W Ramp

Here is the list I have been running in tournaments:

Creatures
4 Primeval Titan
1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
3 Joraga Treespeaker
1 Sunblast Angel
1 Oracle of Mul Daya
1 Wurmcoil Engine
2 Baneslayer Angel
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
1 Kozilek, Buther of Truth
2 Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
(16)

Spells
4 Summoning Trap
4 Explore
4 Growth Spasm
3 All is Dust
2 Journey to Nowhere
(17)

Land
6 Forest
2 Plains
4 Khalni Garden
1 Sejiri Steppe
2 Sunpetal Grove
1 Stirring Wildwood
4 Eldrazi Temple
2 Eye of Ugin
3 Tectonic Edge
1 Mystifying Maze
(26)

Sideboard
2 Baneslayer Angel
1 Pelakka Wurm
1 Platinum Angel
2 Journey to Nowhere
2 Day of Judgement
2 Leyline of Sanctity
4 Nature's Claim
1 Demystify
(15)


This deck follows the normal Eldrazi Ramp base except it doesn't run Overgrown Battlement. Growth Spasm allows you to ramp into your 6 drops a turn faster than Cultivate.

The Magical Christmas Land play here is

Turn 1 Treespeaker
Turn 2 Level up and play explore. Drop 3rd land
Turn 3 Growth Spasm and a 2 Drop. This could be Explore, Journey to Nowhere or another Treespeaker.
Turn 4 Drop the Fatty Boom-Booms.

In the sideboard there is artifact and enchantment removal for Pyromancer Ascension and Quest for the Holy Relic (that's right Flores, I've got you in my sights.) Leyline of Sanctity for Red. Day of Judgement for the mirror. Platinum Angel for Poison.

Pro Conspiracy

Wally hinted that we have been brewing up a conspiracy theory of the ages that is based around deck design and deck play.  In its simplified form here goes...

Our theory is based on the fact that all the pros secretly want to play Pyromancer's Ascension type decks, because it is the most powerful card in current standard and when it is online is nigh unbeatable. Unfortunately for all these pros, some crazy deck designer came up with the Quest deck.  Because of this deck's popularity, low costs, and high win percentage people have been playing it like crazy and yet pros continue to hate on it.  Why?
Because if the Quest deck gains in popularity eventually people's sideboards will start reflecting this popularity and will move artifact/enchantment hate into relevance. The unintended side effect of all this artifact/enchantment hate directed at Quest and Equipment means that Pyromancer's Ascension would also suffer greatly.  Therefore many pros have committed themselves to claiming the Quest deck is not a real deck in order to hide their true pet deck of choice...Pyromancer's Ascension!

In order to combat this and to force the meta to adapt let me share some stats with you...the quest deck costs less than $150 to build, it has an MTGO win percentage of over 60% (courtesy of TCGplayer.com), and has a good amount of draws that simply can not be beat...period.

If you want a cheap deck that smashes the competition I would look no further than the Quest Deck.  Check out a list here--> http://magic.tcgplayer.com/db/deck.asp?deck_id=721890

As always Happy Gathering!

Card of the Day 11/11/10

This card is very obviously amazing. Once argued to be the best card ever. Although not on the top 10 list, any deck that plays white should be running these.

It is Wrath of God for Standard.

Very little is living through this. Only Indestructible creatures make it through. Its a 4 mana answer for all of the Titans, Emrakul and Kozilek.

Decklist of the Day: RUG Control

Decklist of The Day: RUG Control

Playing the Strongest Cards

The challenge has been presented to build decks using 6 if the 10 best cards in standard. The Top 10 list again

1. Jace, The Mind Sculptor
2. Jace Beleren
3. Primeval Titan
4. Preordain
5. Mana Leak
6. Joraga Treespeaker
7. Lotus Cobra
8. Lightning Bolt
9. Pyromancer Ascension
10. Frost Titan

When you look at this list one thing jumps at me. Black and White are terrible. (Not really but for the purpose of my list they are.) I decided to play only the 3 best colors as well. So knowing that I present to you R/U/G Control

Main Deck

Creatures

3 Frost Titan

4 Lotus Cobra

3 Oracle of Mul Daya

3 Goblin Ruinblaster

(13)

Spells

4 Jace, The Mind Sculptor

4 Explore

4 Mana Leak

4 Preordain

4 Lightning Bolt

(20)

Lands

4 Misty Rainforest

4 Scalding Tarn

2 Halimar Depths

4 Raging Ravine

2 Mountain

3 Forest

5 Island

3 Copperline Gorge

(27)

Sideboard

4 Obstinate Baloth

4 Flashfreeze

4 Pyroclasm

2 Ratchet Bomb

1 Goblin Ruinblaster

The idea behind this deck is pretty obvious set yourself up to cast a few Frost Titans right away on the back of Lotus Cobra, Fetches and Explore.

Playing Halimar Depths or Preordain on turn 1 is pretty spectacular in this list. Setting yourself up for a turn 2 Lotus Cobra and being able to play a second cobra on turn 3 is amazing. And Jace Brainstorming for fetch lands is one of the best thing this deck does.

Leaving out Avenger of Zendikar was a tough choice. But not playing Primeval Titan takes away the bulk of the late game landfall and late game for this deck is around turn 6.

The biggest weaknesses for this deck (other than keeping an iffy hand that plays slow) is Elves and Red Deck Wins. Which is why the sideboard is built the way it is.

I look forward to testing this deck against other “Top 10 List” Decks.

Honorable Mention Top 10 List

Pyromancer Ascension

Spells

4 Pyromancer Ascesions

4 Lightning Bolt

4 Preordain

4 Mana Leak

3 Jace Beleren

2 Call to Mind

4 Burst Lightning

3 Foresee

4 See Beyond

3 Into the Roil

(35)

Land

4 Scalding Tarn

3 Halimar Depths

11 Mountain

7 Island

(25)

Side Board

4 Kiln Fiend

4 Calcite Snapper

4 Pyroclasm

3 Staggershock

Stay tuned for why pros hate Quest White Weenie.

Decklist of the Day Kick a Frosty

It seems to me that you can do all the deck design you want, synergize every card, create amazing combos and still have to deal with the complexities of a metagame that might just shut your deck out for months at a time. I have lately begun to ascribe to the "Play the Strongest Cards" style of deck building.  As an example I present to you Kick a Frosty: 


Main Deck:
4 Primeval Titan
4 Frost Titan
3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
4 Joraga Treespeaker


4 Explore
4 Growth Spasm
4 Preordain
4 Mana Leak
2 Rite of Replication
1 Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn


4 Khalni Garden
2 Tectonic Edge
1 Eye of Ugin
3 Eldrazi Temple
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Island
1 Halimar Depths
6 Forest


SB:
4 Summoning Trap
4 Overgrown Battlement
4 Obstinate Baloth
3 Flashfreeze


Every few weeks some pro puts out a list of the best cards in standard and I generally agree with their approximate ratings.  Without further ado here is a list put out by prominent pros Mike Flores and Patrick Chapin:

1. Jace, the Mind Sculptor
2. Jace Beleren
3. Primeval Titan
4. Preordain
5. Mana Leak
6. Joraga Treespeaker
7. Lotus Cobra
8. Lightning Bolt
9. Pyromancer Ascension
10. (Frost Titan)

They also hotly debated Frost Titan as the tenth and I believe it is currently the most relevant creature in standard therefore it got the nod to this list.  Now while you may not love this particular list of ten cards I believe we can all develop our own list and as an aggregate they will look pretty similar as long as we all make them around the same time frame.  After looking at this list I basically decided that I wanted to cram as many of these cards into one deck as I possibly could.  Add a dash of synergy and slight amounts of combo all combined with some cards I had Jace TMS and some I didn't Lotus Cobra and the Kick a Frosty deck was born.  In testing this deck blows other aggro decks out of the water as those matchups are mostly determined by, "Do you have an answer to this Primeval Titan?"  This deck promptly responds yes, whether it is using Mana Leak or Frost Titan.  This list also is able to crush the late game through unleashing its Eldrazi monsters or of course by all time favorite method of putting my opponent on ice, a kicked rite of replication targeting my Frost Titan...

The board primarily addresses the decks largest weaknesses; anything red and the Baloths, flashfreeze, and battlement comes in, while if there is the hint of counterspells the summoning traps find their way into the deck to trap an opponent on the wrong side of a big fatty...(on a side note I will featuring Gaea's Revenge in my next article as one massively underrated card and I have yet to play test it in this list, but I think it probably deserves a slot in the SB especially if control lists continue to gain in popularity.)  This list plays 6 of the 10 best cards in Standard today...seems good.

Sleeve it up let me know how it went and as always Happy Gathering!

Stay tuned tomorrow as Wally shares his "Best Cards" list that also features six of the top ten cards in standard today...Then after that we will battle them out and let you see which "Best Deck" triumphs.   

Expensive Walkers

Today's post will be on the expenses that all players should be aware of before they get too far down the rabbit hole.  Magic is not a cheap game and to play competitively outside of drafts it gets pretty darn expensive pretty fast. Take for example the decks that are winning FNM's, National Qualifiers, and Game Day competitions right now.  The four most competitive decks out there today (using the previous qualifiers) are Jund, UWR, UW, and Mythic.
Of those decks Jund is easily the least expensive coming in around $150 see this link here to go to my most current Jund build (note my lack of Malestrom pulses which easily brings this deck into the $200 dollar range).  And the most expensive is the new UWR Planeswalker control which can run from $700-900 (my UWR that I am most fond of can be found here.)  Note my lack of Elspeth and a full complement of Scalding Tarns which drops the price into the more "reasonable" $500 price range but is still incredibly playable.  UW control and Mythic fit somewhere in the middle.

Note that (with the exception of most Jund decks) all of these decks run planeswalkers and most run at least 3 copies of Jace, the Mind Sculptor which explains it's designation as the most expensive card in Standard. The introduction of planeswalkers that happened a few sets ago started slowly, but has since ramped up to alter the MTG gameplay dramatically.  As players have come to recognize the power of these "helpers" in the standard arena their value and subsequently price will continue to rise. (It could be argued that the format has devolved into who can stick and keep a Jace around for 2+ turns, but I think I will cover that in another article.)  Now that planeswalkers are getting the power recognition they deserve they are getting incredibly expensive because of their Mythic Rare status. This all leads to me ask the question; will Wizards ever print a non-Mythic Rare planeswalker and if yes what would it look like?

A couple thoughts I will leave you with on this note...
A non-mythic rare planeswalker would have a lower cost and could be used more widely, thus allowing many more casual+ players the opportunity to play competitive magic for less of a monetary investment. This would make the scene much more competitive, bring more people to the game, and balance the meta game slightly from those who have serious money to spend and those who do not.      
Obviously the storyline is important and preserving Planeswalkers rarity is important, but putting out a few planeswalkers that are either less versatile, less powerful, have less abilities, or who lack an "ultimate" would bring an interesting dynamic to Standard and allow more players to have the fun of playing with a walker.

I still remember my first experience playing with one of the walkers...it was amazing and made MTG a lot more interesting and fun than I remember. Now I will admit there is nothing better than sticking a turn four Jace, the Mind Sculptor behind a Wall of Omens when I know an Ajani or Gideon will be following soon. But I would also enjoy playing a slightly less powerful walker, while treasuring the fact that I didn't have to spend $700 to enjoy my deck.

As always comments are welcome and if you also think a non-mythic rare walker would be a good addition to liven up the game of MTG then perhaps hit Wizards up with an email or comment in the forums and let's get the ball rolling.

Decklist of the Day Grixis Control

Basically ever since I saw Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker I have the itch to play with him.  He is such a ridiculous card that when resolved demands an answer the next turn or its gg. Therefore, I have played around with Grixis decks for the last couple of weeks and after ROE came out I finally hit on a combo that I really think has the legs to do a decent job in standard.  


Had to start with 3 Nicol Bolas because the whole theme of the deck is to overwhelm-->win using this card. Sarkhan is a card draw machine and considering almost all of my spells costs 2 or less he will get a few draws easily.  Plus against UW or Polymorph he can dragonize their biggest threat, making it much easier to eliminate. (It is generally easier to kill a 5/5 dragon token than a Baneslayer angel or Emrakul...)


3 Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker
2 Sarkhan, the Mad
5 Planeswalkers


The Specter makes an excellent harasser and a great discard to a Blightning.  His unearth ability makes him a natural in a deck like this because it is cheap and you get great return out of it.  (Would you play 4 of a card that does 3 damage and discards one card for 2 mana?  I would!)


4 Sedraxis Specter
4 Creatures

The spell section is the real heart of this deck.  The deck is revolved around disruption in every possible form. Blightnings and Duress (in the SB) for card disruption, Lightning Bolt for utility, Spreading Seas for Mana disruption and card draw, countersquall as the mainboard counter option, consume the meek as black's best sweeper, and terminate for creature removal.  Mind spring is included for crazy card draw and the Chalices get us to Bolas that much faster.

4 Blightning
2 Consume the Meek
4 Countersquall
4 Everflowing Chalice
3 Lightning Bolt
3 Mind Spring
4 Spreading Seas
3 Terminate
25 Spells

4 Creeping Tar Pit
4 Crumbling Necropolis
2 Dragonskull Summit
3 Island
3 Lavaclaw Reaches
3 Mountain
4 Scalding Tarn
3 Swamp
26 Lands

The sideboard is designed to be flexible against a variety of decks.  Adjust it to fit whatever the popular deck styles are in  your area. I decided to fill out Consume the Meek, thrown in some duress, a bunch of counters, or deathmark for any mythic deck. Let me know if you have any additional suggestions.

Sideboard
3 Negate
2 Flashfreeze
3 Deathmark
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
2 Consume the Meek
3 Duress

You have to stall out your opponents for the first 5-6 turns countering their big spells, terminating their creatures, and sweeping anything that needs to be swept.  (any starting hand that has spreading seas and the requisite mana is very good btw)  By this time you have enough to cast Bolas.  If you have two in hand or are very ahead in the board go ahead and cast it right away, if not then wait to have some counterspell back up because a resolved and protected Bolas spells game over for your opponent very quickly.  Once Bolas hits the board just make it your priority to protect him and the game should be yours quite quickly. I will be testing this out all weekend and I will let you know how it goes and what kind of SB'ing I did.  In the mean time have fun at FNM and other events this weekend. And look for my follow up post on Monday.

Trevor Isham

About Me

This blog should detail my attempts to get into the game of Magic the Gathering from a complete n00b's perspective. I played magic off and on in junior high and high school, but never more than buying a few packs, opening them with friends, building some decks and goofing around.  Every so often I would rifle through my mishmash collection from at least 8 different sets and put together some fun new decks, but never entered a tournament ever.  Fresh out of college and a couple years into staring at a computer screen all day have led me to pick up a hobby that can engage my brain, meet some new people, and play a fun game in the process. 


After making the decision to get into playing some Magic my first step was to hit up some local card/comic book stores to find out what the local scene was like. I quickly discovered a shop right near my house and it seemed they had a fairly decent FMN turnout.  I spent the next two weeks voraciously reading articles, news highlights, decklists, and blogs in order to get caught up on the current state of standard version Magic.  I learned about the awesomeness of Jund, the woes of UW control, and far more about Magic than I ever thought I would ever know. 


The funny thing about my experience in these first two weeks was that I still had not purchased a single Magic Card! I knew all of these cards, decks, and the magic scene but had not a single card to play with.  Then an article by Jacob van Luren (who is in my top 2 of all MTG writers I have read) about a Jund deck that would perform well in the mirror.  After reading about it, thinking it over for about a day I decided to just order that deck, along with some of his sideboard suggestions and see what happens.  That week I also took place in my first booster draft of all time, Zen-Zen-WW!  


I had never done an online draft, didn't actually know how a draft worked, and couldn't really tell you anything about the Zendikar and Worldwake sets at all.  Needless to say it went about as predicted.  I drafted a really terrible blue black deck and went 0-3...sounds miserable...right?  Actually I had the time of my life...drafting was exhilerating, playing a new deck that I had just about 7 minutes to put together was very fun, and I met some really cool people. 


Well now about 3 weeks, a pre-release, a release, and a few drafts under my belt I thought I would start this blog for a couple different reasons.  The first being that I don't fit the typical Magic Community writer mold.  I am not a top 8 player, I haven't been playing for years, and I still ask a lot of rules questions whenever I play.  Namely I am a n00b, that happens to be a decent writer, and loves the game of MTG.  This gives me a unique perspective and one that I think Magic needs, if it is going to continue to grow and attract new players. 


I plan on posting my MTG experiences, thoughts I have about other player's articles, card reviews, decklists, and occasionally/hopefully have some guest writers on the blog.  My goal is to aid newer players in picking up the game of Magic, remind experienced players that a lot of Magic should be about teaching new players, and hopefully inspire some new thoughts on playing MTG.  Thanks and I hope you enjoy!!!


Trevor Isham