Category Archives: Ideas

Magical Monday 10.14.14

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One of the decks that both my kid and I had a lot of fun and/or success with was that tasty little Black/Red Young Pyro Control deck that I wrote about a while back. It was so good in the last standard that I often thought that I would port some variation of it to modern. But tonight I want to look at updating this masterpiece.

The old list more or less:
4 Young Pyo
4 Pain Seer
4 Nivmagus Elemental
2 Tymaret, the Murder King

4 Duress
4 Thoughtseize
3 Spite of Mogis
2 Bile Blight
3 Doom Blade
2 hero’s downfall
4 Lightning Strike
4 Mizzium Mortars

Khan Standard, like always here is the list of cards that make my maybe list.

Thoughtseize
Despise
Magma Spray
Ulcerate
Bile Blight
Lightning Strike
Magma Jet
Bloodsoaked Champ
Monastery Swiftspear
Mardu Skullhunter
Pain Seer
Goblin Rabblemaster
Goblinslide
Hero’s Downfall
Howl of the Horde

Lets look at some of the standout cards.
Thoughtseize and Despise are great right now. I think that Despise is ever better then Duress was in last year’s standard.
Goblinslide is not unlike a harder to kill if harder to get guys from Young Pyo.
Monastery Swiftspear and Bloodsoaked C is not unlike Nivmagus Elemental.
And if there is ever a deck that would make Howl of the Horde good this might be it.

So lets crunch some numbers.
4Thoughtseize
4 Despise
2 Magma Spray
2 Ulcerate
4 Lightning Strike
4 Magma Jet
2 Bloodsoaked Champ
4 Mardu Skullhunter
4 Pain Seer
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
2 Goblinslide
2 Howl of the Horde
22 lands
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Temple of Malice
2 Urborg
3 Mana Confluence
5 Swamp
4 Mountain
I do think I want the Bloodfell Caves but I really need as many lands as possible to come into play untapped but the life might just be needed.
So much potential.

<3s

Villainous Wealth is Dating your Mom

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There has been some interest in what my Villainous Wealth might look like so here was go.

List one:

G/B Constellation

I start like every other green shell right now.

Mystic
Caryatid
Courser

And the normal removal

Bile Blight
Hero’s Downfall
Murderous Cut
Which makes
Pharika a must.

And lets not for get the actual Villainous Wealths, which leaves us a few slots to make things happen.

So it is hard to be a Constellation deck with out some key cards.

Eidolon of Blossoms
Doomwake Giant

I think that Genesis Hydra might be at home in this style of deck. There might even be room for a tight Chord of Calling tool box with Nylea and her Disciple. Or some kind of hand disruption like Thoughtseize, Brain Maggot and Despise. Think I like that even more then the Hydra’s and the Cord package.

So laid out build one looks like so:

4 Mystic
4 Caryatid
4 Brain Maggot
4 Courser
2 Pharika
4 Eidolon of Blossoms
2 Doomwake Giant

4 Thoughtseize
2 Bile Blight
3 Hero’s Downfall
3 Villainous Wealth

24 lands like:

4 Temple of Malady
2 Urborg
3 Mana Confluence
2 Llanowar Wastes
4 Polluted Delta
4 Forest
3 Swamps
2 Islands

Build Two: Less Detailed

Classic U/B control. But here is the main issue there are double blue spells and double black spells. But in an ideal world we can make it work….

We start with the insane power of the hand disruption that is available in standard.

Thoughtseize
Despise
Brain Maggot

Removal in standard is fairly strong right now here are my top 3 black removal.
Ulcerate
Bile Blight
Hero’s Downfall

Call me crazy but I even love even tempo based removal like Void Snare, Icy Blast and Whelming Wave.

And I think Akroan Horse and Villainous Wealth for finishers with Cranial Archive, Treasure Cruise and Dig Though Time. Man i really want some kind of Delve mana acceleration artifact.

With Dissipate and Dissolve for counter loves.

But I just can’t form this in to a full fledged list by the numbers the mana is just too bad for my sleepy brain to allow me to put a list full of 1uu and bb cards

I am getting tired, not enough to sleep yet but not enough to keep going and make any helpful thoughts.

I will say this though, i think there is a sick infinite turn bant deck right now. Could fit in a nice Bant walker shell and all that bad mana would be planed.

Peace out,

<3s

Magical Monday 10.6.14

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I didn’t get to make it to last weeks FNM do to massive amount of real life bull shit. But i did make it in time to watch 2 or 3 matches of my deck for states the next day. I learned a lot but then got less then 2 hours of sleep due to that real life bullshit and ended up bailing on going because i just knew that i couldn’t play to the level i know that i can play at with that low amount of sleep and i didn’t want to burn the cash to play/eat/drive to just loose and wish that i didn’t go.

But this weekend is StarCityGames’ states and i hope to make that one.

Okay so back to watching those games on Friday, Dan (he borrowed my standard deck for FNM) was playing Brandon. Brandon was playing a Mardu deck that got my brain turning. And i have a rough list.

First thing i do is lower the curve a ton and cut a color. Now i am just Red/White and top the curve out at 3. And i want to focus on going wide and pure speed.

2 Herald of Anafenza
4 Monastery Swiftspear
4 Soldier of the Pantheon

4 Akroan Hoplite
4 War-Name Aspirant

4 Goblin Rabblemaster
2 Brimaz, King of Oreskos

4 Crowd’s Favor
4 Dragon Mantle
4 Titan’s Strength
4 Lightning Strike
2 Trumpet Blast

18 lands

4 Battlefield Forge
4 Mana Confluence
6 Mountain
4 Plains

I don’t know if it is good or not. Going to say maybe… I could see having 3-4 lands in the sideboard and Purphoros, God of the Forge to get some extra reach. Stroke the Flames might also need to be included in the main but i am not sure what to cut to work them in.

Thoughts?

<3s

Random is as Random Does

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I have never stolen a dog. It seems like something that i should have done back when i was younger and drunker. Well that is not totally true i could be equally as drunk today as i was back when i was younger.

Speaking of younger, remember when the it seemed like the future was a long time away and full of promise? Right this minute besides writing this my life is a flux of terror, pain and the sinking feeling that i am letting everyone down. Does that make me normal?

Think it is this whole situation, with my job, part time *cough* so i can work on this other freelance programming project which could make me a ton of money and change my family in a super meaningful way. But if history has shown me a repeatable pattern it is that someone else profits of my hard work and i get the shaft.

Oh the other hand, Tobril keeps pushing me in to going out on my own and starting my own business. I have always had ideas that would make great products and or businesses. Not that i think that Tobril is secretly selling my ideas but a strangely large number of them seem to be crawling out of the wood work.

Think i have been talking about an online grocery/delivery service tied in with a reminder email based on things like average days between reorders of the same products and best use dates. Guess what Walmart is testing out? If you said that very logic then you can order yourself a cookie. About 3 years ago, when i first started looking at this whole aquaponics, i woke up and drew something very close to this:


Which is a fairly good deal by the way, just to learn the basics anyway grow yourself a few things and have a small fish or two. Link to PETCO

This is all about how i have ideas but i am often bad at the follow through. It always felt crazy and often like a massive waist of time, but the wife watches this show Shark Tank. And i catch it from time to time. It is full of people following through with their crazy ideas and making a go of them.

I should find the time to be more crazy.

How and the hell did i go from dog stealing to i have shitty follow through? See how my mind is working today…

<3s

Honest Magic Update

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I am about to be super honest with you all. I am not the most comfortable with this so be gentle.

The core of my standard deck is the following:

4 Mystic
4 Kiora’s Follower
1 Caryatid/rattlesnake (think i like Caryatid more)
2 Courser
4 Yisan
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Hornet Nest
1 Nylea
1 Nylea’s Disciple
2 Polukranos
4 Prophet of Kruphix
1 Arbor Colossus
(currently in 1 Keranos)
1 Hornet Queen
1 Soul of New Phyrexia

1 Bow of Nylea
2 Cords

Various lands

Cards that our out are:
1 Burring Tree
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Izzet Staticaster
1 Prime Speaker

So my issues post rotation are with the lost of Shock lands and losing those 4 key cards can i fix my tool box for the new standard?

So here are my thoughts for you to destroy or offer your advice.

1, The mana will be the key to new standard.
2, There are 3 or 4 stupid fast decks in the format that we can expect to crush the field, we can’t loose to fast agro…
3, Sagu Mauler is the finisher we want.

Okay so lets look at the options.

Stay Red splash.

I think that red is the strongest against fighting against the agro decks. Circle of Flame is a beating but that is a sideboard card at best right? And who is going to argue with Savage Knuckleblade? Guy is a house.

But are there enough depth for us?

The first gut feeling go Black.

Black gives us sudo card advantage with Hythonia the Cruel and Pharika. Creature wraths are super powerful. And turning dead cards in to sudo removal spells is just good. Black also gives us a great 1 drop in Cruel Sadist and another amazing card advantage in Soul of Innistrad.

But then there is the White option.

Herald of Anafenza in the other killer 1 drop in the format. And it just compounds with what my deck wants to do. How many times can i use it a turn? How is Dauntless River Marshal or Fleecemane Lion as our 2 drop. And Soul of Theros is another house when it comes to a surprise Alpha.

So thoughts? Help? For the first time in a while i am not sure what to do.

Magical Monday 9.29.14

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A few weeks back i talked about how my wife wanted a standard deck “of her own” so to do battle. Back then she wanted a “Chandra” deck which i took as a big spell build. Then this last week Khans went out and she won her first draft at the release FNM winning out with a big monster Temur deck. I said it once and i will say it again but if you get to the mid/end game and force the opponent to answer 5/5 after 6/7 sooner or later they will just not have an answer and you will be able to win out.

I drafted a mean agro mardu deck where i was able to beat down faster then the fatty deck most of the time; but the games where my deck gave me one or two to many lands and not a spell were not good times. Welcome to the on back foot train, your direct ride out of the prize pool.

Anyway, drafts aside her fire as been rekindled for “us” to build her own standard deck. But she is now in love with the idea of building around the Temur clan. We went to our local shop and bought some singles. Well she mostly bought singles and i mostly bought up sets of the new dual/life lands just to have them around. We got to work putting something together with all the cards she liked and bought and it was not few good. We have been making tweaks and it is getting better and better. It has a workable shell and she might get her cake. Mean while i have kept tweaking the list i put out the other week mainly do to my desire to make Oracle of Bones seem good enough to win. 😉

So here is my updated list.

4 Elvish Mystic
4 Rattleclaw Mystic
4 Boon Satyr
4 Oracle of Bones
1-2 Nylea, God of the Hunt
0-1 Nylea’s Disciple
2 Dragon-Style Twins

4 Lightning Strike
4 Stoke the Flames
1 See the Unwritten
4 Become Immense

4 Xenagos, the Reveler

4 Wooded Foothills
4 Temple of Abandon
2 Rugged Highlands
3 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
4 Mountain
6 Forest

I really like how a we can do 20 damage from left field, Dragon-Style Twins is stupid good and Become Immense is just well immense. There is some Oracle lovns’ in See the Unwritten as well as Become Immense. A turn 4 9/7 haste for a turn is real good also.

I am not sure how many Nylea vs her Disciple we need. One way or another there are 3-4 Disciples in the sideboard. Speaking of the sideboard i think that 4 Anger of the Gods are a must as well as some number of Arbor Colossus and maybe Crater’s Claws even. That card feels real good also.

Other then i am thinking about going and seeing about trying my hand at this year’s tcgplayer states i am out of here if i am going to get this out on Monday.

<3s

Magical Monday 9.22.14

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Wow, Khans prerelease was nuts right? Not going to lie, i was not super pumped for Khans before Saturday. But now, i am ready to get my agro on. I went Mardu and was super pleased with my pool. Ended up in second “i think”, i ended up taking one round loss. Games 1 and 2 were not even close, i curved out into a flooded opponent, game 2 i had 4 solid removal spells and mana to cast them when my opponent was able to cast a big trample hexprof guy and was able to protect it the only turn i had enough power to block and take it down. Game 3 was one of those games where karma got me and i got stuck on 2 mana until turn 9 and that was a come into play tapped land even and was just too far behind at that point. Had i gotten that 3rd land anywhere near time think i would have won handily but that is Magic.

Then i got to dust off my old EMT skills in round 4, i had just finished winning the match when a the match next to me says “think he is having a seizure, what do i do?” And i was able to jump to action. Thankfully, Gabe is doing fine.

Okay lets jump to some deck thoughts and see what is rattling around in my noggin now that i have gotten to play with some of the cards.

In Modern:


Yeah think there is a deck here. Work in blue for some counters and card draw/selection and some other burn and just wow.

The other thoughts rolling around focuses around:

Here is the deal, Friday’s FNM was a M14 draft where i picked this guy up early in pack 2 after drafting 2 Juggernauts, 2 Ajani’s Pridemates, and a Staff or two. Have to say i really liked how this deck played and the engineer was always good. And do you know what beats a turn 3 Juggernaut in limited? Not a lot.

I also had a lot of games won on t1, soul mender, t2 Engineer, t3, Pridemate Staff+land drop gain 2 life, t4 attack with a 5/5 followed up with some sick equipment like Brawler’s Plate or  Hot Soup. Made for a some sweet blow outs and i will be exploring busted things to do with the Engineer in the future.

Okay, lunch time see you all next week.

<3s

Magical Monday 9.15.14

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First off sorry for no write up last week, i have taken on a project and i was caught up in it last week. That might happen from time to time but i will try and keep posting a Magical Monday write up at the first of the week in my short list.

Now on to Magic.

One of my favorite decks over the years was a deck build around the enchantment Wild Pair.

This deck was standard legal for me and gave me some of my most fun games ever. It was build mostly around 2/2s like Mystic Snake, Venser, Shaper Savant and Whitemane Lion. It is a beating. As it is still 98% together i could whip it out and give someone some good beats like it was 2008…

I bring it up because what i am playing now feels a lot like that Wild Pair deck, I don’t really have a cool name for the deck but i am kinda calling it the Power of Music…

It is a G/u/r Yisan, the Wanderer Bard/Kiora’s Follower/Prophet of Kruphix deck. But really it is a Prophet of Kruphix deck. That girl is just hot stuff. So like everyone and their dog that is into Magic, i am looking at Khans hoping for some power and dreading the cuts to the mana base…

That being said the deck looses like 7 cards, 4 lands and some men. Aka nothing that can’t be replaced with simi-random Khans, cards.

So lets look at what 3-5 cards that Khans’ might bring to replace the following.

  • Burning-Tree Emissary
  • Skylasher
  • Izzet Staticaster
  • Prime Speaker Zegana

To be fair there is not a lot of solid replacements to me… Which is strange as the deck has a slight Temur tilt already. Well every slight as the only red card is the one Staticaster but you would think that there would be some kind of Tim in the set. I mean isn’t there always a Tim? Well guess not. But there is a whole clan around this wedge…
There is an argument that one  mana dork for 2 could be replaced with another Theros more mana dork but that seems worse in the long run but a Rattleclaw Mystic could work as a burst mana guy just not in the same manner. At least it could attack vs another 0/3 mana wall.

But the rest? There is just not a lot of love in those colors.

But there might be some help in Sultai… Hear me out, Rakshasa Deathdealer is a bundle of options in a handy 2/2 for 2 shell. He can’t stop flyers but a possible 4/4 regenerating attacker might make the cut. Grim Haruspex might be the replacement card engine we need if we add in a little Bloodsoaked Champion as a recurring sacrifice.  Speaking of sacrifice that could be sweet as a one of Embodiment of Spring. Trust me sometimes you want another 1 cc guy other then E. Mystic.

There is one card i am looking forward to working in, Clever Impersonator. “A copy of any nonland permanent” that i can cord/Bard up is a super sweet tool box option.

Thing is i am not one of those people that can just read the spoiler and “Know” what card will better my deck and what wont. I will say i feel that Bug aka  Sultai will be my Khan of choice for a while in standard. Although i am playing with another Affinity like deck that i will see if i can get a hard list together soon.

See you next week,

<3s

Standard Affinity? Bonus MtG…

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2 Astral Cornucopia

4 Springleaf Drum
2 Rogue’s Gloves

4 Ensoul Artifact
2 Military Intelligence
2 Fated Infatuation

4 Ornithopter
4 Triton Shorestalker
4 Chief Engineer
4 Illusory Angel
4 Chasm Skulker and/or/mix and match Crystalline Nautilus
4 Master of Waves

4 Darksteel Citadel
16 Island

This is another deck my son and i have been working on. It this is an updated list compared to what he is playing but it is not that far off. Think the main difference for him is he is still using Daring Thiefs and some tap/untap effects. I have to say keeping them in has been working out for him fairly well. There has been a lot of “trade you my 1/0 elemental for him” being had at my kitchen table.

Well the thiefs have been doing work until he traded me one of them for something and i flashed in a Kiora’s Follower. Lets just say a blow out happened after that. But hey they were still doing work, just not for him.

Take a look and try it out. Think 99.9% of the decks cost is in master of waves. Other then him the whole deck is like 50 cents. Okay Chasm Skulker are like 3$s….

Okay i am peaceing out.

<3s