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[Mofobolous]

I played my friend today testing out my equipment deck, and I regret not buying the equipment event deck while it was cheap as I only have 1 stoneforge mystic. The ability to put out a batterskull on turn three is just devastating.

 

[alternade]

I pulled both pieces of the Phyrexian Unlife - Melira combo yesterday, I'm trying to work out how to exploit that.

I just made this deck today to play with my friends

4x Melira
4x Eteched Monstrosity
4x Llano war elves
2x Joraga Treespeaker
4x Overgrown battlement
4x Myr superion
2x gold myr
1x kozilek (just added for fun)
2x phyrexian hydra

3x triumph of the hordes
4x apostles blessing
2x asceticism
3x natures spiral
2x beast within
2x vines of vastwood
2x phyrexian unlife
2x naturlize

12x forest
6x plains

64 cards *gasps* I know but until I pull 2 more Phyrexian unlife and 1 more asceticism
I dont know what else to replace them with. Triumph is just a secondary wincon if I get my creatures out.

 

[WanderingWind]

Christ. I now have a full playset of Karn, The Useless, thanks to pulling 2 of them from a fat pack. Also pulled 2 foil Mental Missteps.

Mindcrank has been a great card to play with, and one I absolutely loath playing against.

 

[The Technomancer]

Christ. I now have a full playset of Karn, The Useless, thanks to pulling 2 of them from a fat pack. Also pulled 2 foil Mental Missteps.

Mindcrank has been a great card to play with, and one I absolutely loath playing against.

One site I know has foil Missteps going for $40

 

[hadar]

You guys make me want to play this once more, but the last time I played (and casually as hell) was back in 5th edition and oh boy it's like a whole new different game.
Should probably search if there's any store near me that does the FNM deal in hopes that someone will help me

 

[WanderingWind]

One site I know has foil Missteps going for $40

Yeah, I saw that too. I'm kicking myself for not selling Karn immediately, especially since he's apparently both useless and more common than Forests, but I kinda need MM. Plus, I see them staying fairly expensive for a while.

 

[The Technomancer]

Yeah, I saw that too. I'm kicking myself for not selling Karn immediately, especially since he's apparently both useless and more common than Forests, but I kinda need MM. Plus, I see them staying fairly expensive for a while.

Eh, I dunno, if I needed the MM I'd sell the foils and buy two regulars for 5 bucks each.
I'm holding onto my Karn because I think I can have some fun with him in casual play.

 

[WanderingWind]

Eh, I dunno, if I needed the MM I'd sell the foils and buy two regulars for 5 bucks each.
I'm holding onto my Karn because I think I can have some fun with him in casual play.

Yeah, you're probably right. The only issue is that right now, until those event decks with the Mystics come out, there really isn't anything I want from Magic any longer. I got all the cards I wanted (well, except Lord of Leaves).

 

[LegendOfGood]

So I'm working on what I think is an interesting and casual (?) deck idea. It involves using this guy:

PLUS a whole lot of zero-cost/low-cost equipment such as:

I also have in the deck:

Here is what I think will make it win:

Now if you haven't already gathered, the idea is to play a Puresteel Paladin as soon as possible and play as many zero-cost equipment early on, drawing as you play them. You'll activate Metalcraft very early, thus having a 3/3 on-drop with the Ardent Recruit, but more importantly having a zero-cost Equip.

I play-tested it a bit, and it worked well. Got the Puresteel out on turn to and then let 'er rip. By turn four I had two Puresteel's out thanks to all the drawing I did from equipment, plus I had two Ardent Recruits. Thus I was able to freely attach a few Bone Saws, and deal damage with the Surestrike Trident from all of my creatures to win the game.

I'm pretty happy with it, but I think I understand its limitations. If I don`t get the Puresteel in my hand early, I`m in trouble. Plus, I don't know how reliable this deck will be against other types of decks, but I am open to suggestions on how I can make it better.

 

[Pandaman]

looking at some of the newer cards ive missed and i sorta want to make a terra eternal deck. >_>

 

[Zaraki_Kenpachi]

I wish I had some swords of feast and famine. There's nothing else I want in beseiged now though and I don't know if I want to spend $25 a pop. :/

I should say I wish I had ANY swords of feast and famine.

 

[Akim]

Sweet article about over-extended by Gavin Verhey.

http://www.starcitygames.com/magic/..._Show_Up_Or_Shut_Up_Overextended_Or_Bust.html

 

[V_Arnold]

Huge M12 reveal article by Wizards

-New Keyword: Hexproof (shroud to your opp, nothing to you
-"Is put into the graveyard from battlefield" -> "dies" with creatures from now on.

A few card is shown also. Sounds great, I like both dies (as I say it now also, without the wording) and hexproof (lol at some dumb guys saying it is not good grammatically. Well, the issues are present with Flying, that is because it is not supposed to sound perfectly in a sentence.)

 

[WanderingWind]

Sweet article about over-extended by Gavin Verhey.

http://www.starcitygames.com/magic/..._Show_Up_Or_Shut_Up_Overextended_Or_Bust.html

Cool article, but it sort of glosses over the simply solution to making Legacy valid. Sure, they have "integrity" and want to stand behind not reprinting their reserve list. But they certainly can make similar cards that do the same thing. Fuck it. Then they get to keep their integrity, collectors get to keep their originals, and new players get access to fun new cards they couldn't previous afford.

 

[The Technomancer]

"Dies" seems interesting, but its kind of clunky in its specificity. I'm not sure how I feel about it.

 

[Zaraki_Kenpachi]

"Dies" seems interesting, but its kind of clunky in its specificity. I'm not sure how I feel about it.

Ya, seems too arbitrary sounding where as "put in the graveyard" could not lead to any confusion.

 

[V_Arnold]

Ya, seems too arbitrary sounding where as "put in the graveyard" could not lead to any confusion.

Dies is not "put in the graveyard". It is "put in the graveyard from the battlefield".
Meaning it is a creature (because it will not be used on non-creature cards!), that has been succesfully resolved/casted, and it has not been dropped to the graveyard from your hand or from your library. It is quite straight-forward imho.

 

[Orayn]

Hexproof is a good evergreen keyword for "trollshroud."
"Dies" looks a little funny on the cards, but it's very intuitive, and that's how it's used 99% of the time by players.
Bloodthirst is a neat inclusion in the core set. Maybe Red won't be as woefully underpowered as it was in M11.

 

[Zaraki_Kenpachi]

Dies is not "put in the graveyard". It is "put in the graveyard from the battlefield".
Meaning it is a creature (because it will not be used on non-creature cards!), that has been succesfully resolved/casted, and it has not been dropped to the graveyard from your hand or from your library. It is quite straight-forward imho.

Ya, that's what I meant to type. I don't know, I know what it means but I can just see it as the same handful of people I know who will argue semantics because it says "dies" and not "put into the graveyard from the battlefield".

 

[An-Det]

I like all the additions besides 'dies'. Bringing back Bloodthirst is cool, and Hexproof is long overdue as a keyword for trollshroud. I expect to use 'dies' as much as I use exile or enters the battlefield; these are meaningless changes that wont affect how I play or what I say, so I'm apathetic to them.

 

[Orayn]

I think one of the real strengths of "dies" is that it really decreases the number of words on a card face. Its meaning is pretty specific, but it's so concise that I wouldn't really want it to change back.

 

[WanderingWind]

I think one of the real strengths of "dies" is that it really decreases the number of words on a card face. Its meaning is pretty specific, but it's so concise that I wouldn't really want it to change back.

I agree. Flavor text is becoming more rare as new mechanics become more and more complex, thus requiring more explanation.

 

[The Technomancer]

I agree. Flavor text is becoming more rare as new mechanics become more and more complex, thus requiring more explanation.

Its a shame that Suspend was almost always printed with its word vomit of reminder text. That mechanic is still one of my absolute favorites.

 

[Orayn]

I agree. Flavor text is becoming more rare as new mechanics become more and more complex, thus requiring more explanation.

Exactly. Yu-Gi-Oh comparisons aside, I think that replacing "in play" with "on the battlefield" achieves a similar end, in that it decreases ambiguity while adding to flavor. The same goes for casting spells, rather than just playing them.

 

[WanderingWind]

This kind of came up the other day in discussion. If you had to cull all the mechanics beside 5, which ones would you keep? Here is what I came up with...we were trying to tie them to the colors.

Flying - Blue
Reach - Red
Infect - Black
Lifelink -White
Trample - Green

Yeah, red doesn't really fit with Reach, but I kinda got stumped on that one. It's all what if anyway...

 

[Leunam]

I'd let red keep Haste.

 

[Gatekeeper]

This kind of came up the other day in discussion. If you had to cull all the mechanics beside 5, which ones would you keep? Here is what I came up with...we were trying to tie them to the colors.

Flying - Blue
Reach - Red
Infect - Black
Lifelink -White
Trample - Green

Yeah, red doesn't really fit with Reach, but I kinda got stumped on that one. It's all what if anyway...

Uh....haste?

Edit: DAMN YOU, Leunam!

 

[WanderingWind]

Damn. That's a good one. How the hell did I miss that?

 

[Keru_Shiri]

Its a shame that Suspend was almost always printed with its word vomit of reminder text. That mechanic is still one of my absolute favorites.

I feel the same way about Cascade. Would've loved some cool flavor text on the FNM Bloodbraid Elf.

 

[V_Arnold]

Haste - Red
Vigilance - White
Trample - Green
Deathtouch - Black
Flying - Blue

(Although from some 10+ years ago, my young self shouts me FLYING IS WHITE right now!)

 

[Pandaman]

haste - red
first strike - white
flying - blue
trample - green
deathtouch - black

 

[siddx]

Yeah, I saw that too. I'm kicking myself for not selling Karn immediately, especially since he's apparently both useless and more common than Forests, but I kinda need MM. Plus, I see them staying fairly expensive for a while.

Keep your foils, keep your non foils too. I have 10 non foils and 1 foil and will continue collecting them like mad. The card has a good chance of either staying at it's current price or dropping a tiny bit until the block rotates out, at which point it will likely rise in price and continue doing so over the years. If you sell them, years from now you'll be saying stuff like "man I used to have a playset of those, wish I had kept them." I don't think it will ever hit Force of Will prices, but I could see a foil misstepp going for a 80 bucks 4 years from now, and a non foil going for 20 or 30 once the print runs out and they get scarce.

As for Karn, a group of us bought 9 boxes and between us all, I am the only one that pulled a karn. I'm happy with having my one. I like to have at least one of every rare and Karn is pretty damn powerful in EDH.

 

[WanderingWind]

Keep your foils, keep your non foils too. I have 10 non foils and 1 foil and will continue collecting them like mad. The card has a good chance of either staying at it's current price or dropping a tiny bit until the block rotates out, at which point it will likely rise in price and continue doing so over the years. If you sell them, years from now you'll be saying stuff like "man I used to have a playset of those, wish I had kept them." I don't think it will ever hit Force of Will prices, but I could see a foil misstepp going for a 80 bucks 4 years from now, and a non foil going for 20 or 30 once the print runs out and they get scarce.

As for Karn, a group of us bought 9 boxes and between us all, I am the only one that pulled a karn. I'm happy with having my one. I like to have at least one of every rare and Karn is pretty damn powerful in EDH.

Well, if you want a playset of them, I know a guy...

 

[NovemberMike]

you'd probably have a chance if you faced down something heaily creature focused like a sliver deck.

alot of 'good' standard decks are good because they rely on the assumption that certain things are impossible. I mean, caw-blade would be murdered by any deck with force of will.

[legacy = tier one, right?]

Not quite. A lot of the legacy stuff is built around weird design constraints. You have to assume that there's really, really powerful combo in the format, so you have to have the most reliable answers (not the best ones), and you have to assume that anything important is going to be countered so you stack your deck with cards that are good for the price but not necessarily good in absolute terms. Counterbalance is a really powerful deck in legacy but it doesn't actually beat most standard decks, for example.

You'll get absolutely demolished by combo, though. Even a tier two legacy combo will wipe the floor with any standard deck.

 

[Akim]

Finally got all my swords!

 

[siddx]

Nice, my dumbass traded the darksteel swords years ago, and traded away my body and mind sword when the set first released. Stupid.

 

[outunderthestars]

I decided to take up Magic. Bought the deck builders toolkit today, and it still overwhelms me a bit. Really excited though! Any tips for making my first deck?

 

[Ronabo]

What's a deckbuilder's toolkit?


edit: google show me.

weird I didn't see any of those when I was at Target the other day

 

[Orayn]

In my experience, the Deckbuilder's Toolkit is fantastic for new people or anything who needs to build a collection. A friend of mine picked one up and got a playset of Bolts and Llanowar Elves, and some solid rares out of his boosters.

 

[The Technomancer]

I decided to take up Magic. Bought the deck builders toolkit today, and it still overwhelms me a bit. Really excited though! Any tips for making my first deck?

Well make sure to ask us with any questions you have! We love to help

For your first deck? Pick one or two colors that interest you, and put in cards that look good. Then play it, see where you were right, and see where you were wrong.

 

[Pandaman]

I decided to take up Magic. Bought the deck builders toolkit today, and it still overwhelms me a bit. Really excited though! Any tips for making my first deck?

keep the average mana cost low and build the deck around getting to a goal, rather than what you could do once you're in a comfort zone.

 

[siddx]

I decided to take up Magic. Bought the deck builders toolkit today, and it still overwhelms me a bit. Really excited though! Any tips for making my first deck?

I always recommend for a persons first ever deck to be a all green deck with nothing but creatures.
Once you get the hang of how mana and summoning creatures works, I recommend building a deck of each color. Build a red deck based around burn/direct damage, a blue deck with counterspells and other control cards like "bounce", a black deck based around creature kill, and a white one based around creature abilities (flying, vigilance, lifelink, first strike). That will let you play with 5 distinct decks that each have difference mechanic to learn. Once you feel comfortable with all the difference mechanics, pick your two favorite colors and make a deck with those two colors.

 

[outunderthestars]

Thanks! I just moved to a new town, returning to college after a long break. I suddenly find myself 33 years old surrounded by people almost half my age. We have a nice game store, so i thought learning Magic might be a good way to make some new friends and socialize.

My fear is that I won't be able to play and have fun if I don't spend alot of money getting rare/powerful cards. Is it possible to build a deck without spending alot of money that I simply do not have?

 

[The Technomancer]

Thanks! I just moved to a new town, returning to college after a long break. I suddenly find myself 33 years old surrounded by people almost half my age. We have a nice game store, so i thought learning Magic might be a good way to make some new friends and socialize.

My fear is that I won't be able to play and have fun if I don't spend alot of money getting rare/powerful cards. Is it possible to build a deck without spending alot of money that I simply do not have?

Depends on the guys at your store.
Magic, by and large, does not require a huge investment. Its one of the best trading card games that way. Just packing your deck full of expensive rares is a fast way to lose, because they game is extremely balanced.

With that being said, if the guys at your store are tourney/competitive Standard players, they can run decks that cost them close to or over a hundred bucks. (Or more if they're running Jace, who currently warps the format pretty badly)
Ask specifically if they're more casual players. Try to find a group who will do something wacky like five player Planechase, or just sit around shooting shit with fun decks on a Friday night.

 

[siddx]

Thanks! I just moved to a new town, returning to college after a long break. I suddenly find myself 33 years old surrounded by people almost half my age. We have a nice game store, so i thought learning Magic might be a good way to make some new friends and socialize.

My fear is that I won't be able to play and have fun if I don't spend alot of money getting rare/powerful cards. Is it possible to build a deck without spending alot of money that I simply do not have?

If you plan to play competitive magic, you will need to spend money. More money than you are likely expecting to. But there are always players who are happy to just play simple inexpensive decks.

Ask around about Pauper. Thats the name for a style of magic that uses only commons and there are some people who are very very into it, and while it's scattered (it's non existent here) there are some communities where it's extremely popular and competitive.

 

[siddx]

Also, I always recommend doing drafts to new players. A booster draft can be a little intimidating at first since you have a time limit on choosing a card but you get the hang of it quick. I'd keep an eye out for "sealed drafts" which give you 6 packs (usually) which you build a deck out of to compete with in a tournament. It's very newbie friendly.

 

[Pandaman]

...

i want 4 of them for every deck i have.

 

[WanderingWind]

Oh, wow. DotP 2012 comes out in a couple of weeks!

 

[The Technomancer]

http://i.imgur.com/JiCoR.jpg[IMG]

...

i want 4 of them for every deck i have.[/QUOTE]
I have to wonder if they'll get play against Uber-Jace. It seems like Wizards was trying to print important answers for various formats in this set.

I mean, run regular Jace and this and you've gotten rid of all of your opponents Uber-Jaces for three mana.

 

[WanderingWind]

...

i want 4 of them for every deck i have.

I got one of those, but the art is all different. That one is much cooler, IMO.