Deck tech Wednesdays- Con's Return!

Is this thing working? XD

Finally back up, after the month of settling into the new place (and waiting for my internet provider to come over and set up the network)

Missed me? XD

Anyways, this week, i'll be looking at a fun Rogue deck i've been thinking of recently. Doubt it'll ever be a viable deck in the metagame, seeing how competitive it's getting recently.

Here's my list for this week:

Lolwhut?

First one to guess what this deck does gets a cookie!

No seriously. I've been thinking about Death's Shadow and how to maximize it's huge P/T. Then i read an article from years back about such a deck. So after some testing, i've devised this little number out.

This deck was actually played by me back in Zendikar block (of course, in standard at the time so it was pretty different)

So let's take a look at the cards:

Creatures:

Death's Shadow- 

This guy gets bigger and bigger as the game goes on. You'll find that taking some damage in the earlier portion of the game is no big deal, because the opponent is just contributing to the cause.

For obvious reasons, he'll only be 12/12. but for 1 mana, thats freaking amazing.

Kiln fiend-

This deck plays loads of cheap burn spells, making Kiln Fiend an offensive powerhouse. He helps make it worth your mana burning creatures rather than face.

Goblin Bushwhacker-

Enables haste on your shadows, makes swinging for lethal that much easier

Other spells:

Ad Nauseam-

The main combo piece of this deck.

So let's imagine (with aid from Cockatrice XD)

So it's your opponent's End step. and you throw out the Nauseam.

And you draw loads of stuff

Then you draw yourself down to about. 4-ish life. (I KNOW. ITS A RISK)

At one point the field may look like this:

No, Goblins don't speak Hokkien

No seriously, on an empty Field, thats game.

Burn spells:

pretty much any burn package of about 20-22 burn spells work here. I personally prefer not to use too many board wipes such as pyroclasm, preferring to leave them in the side board. Instead, Electrickery does a pretty good job nailing the small fry. (and Thalia ^^||)

The lands:

Nothing special here. Loads more Red sources for obvious reasons, the list does get it's double black quite consistently.



And that's it for this week!
Instead of posting another sorry monkey, i would like to apologize for being inactive these last few weeks. Until next week!

-Constantine!

Grand Prix Trial Modern -3/11/2012 (Elmo's POV)

Not sure where i can post this, since i m pretty sure no one on the forums wanna read a 2-0-2 report so I will just post it here.

Anw it was drizzling as I was walking towards CMG beauty world. I guess that was the sign, the sign that THE EPIC STORM IS COMING.

The epic storm

3 Goblin Electromancer

2 Pyromancer Ascension

4 Gitaxian Probe

4 Grapeshot

4 Pyretic Ritual

4 Desperate Ritual

4 Seething Song

4 Serum Visions

4 Manamorphose

4 Sleight of Hand

3 Past in Flames

4 Scalding Tarn

3 Misty Rainforest

3 Steam Vents

2 Island

1 Mountain

3 Sulfur Falls

2 Epic Experiment

1 Increasing Vengeance

1 Empty the Warrens

SB: 3 Empty the WarrensSB: 4 Lightning BoltSB: 1 Pyromancer AscensionSB: 3 Pyromancer's SwathSB: Increasing vengeance SB:2 hurkyl's recall 1 slagstorm.

Round 1 vs Jund (Jason)

Dammit, just gotta bump into the only 2 person in the whole room that knows I m running storm.

Game 1: Nothing much really, couldnt get a decent draw and Jason quickly put me on clock b4 i tried to tried to storm off.. couldn't draw a past in flames nor 2nd grapeshot.

Board in 3 Empty, 4 bolts took out 2 Epic, 1 increasing vengeance, 2 ascension, 1 grapes shot ( Cos i know jason runs surgical extraction) 1 electromancer.

Game 2: Mull to 6, and kept a hand that storm off with empty the warren for 5 on turn 2. Jund couldnt keep up with that =)

Game 3 was a bit tricky, i choose to keep a 1 land hand since i m on draw and it has a serum vision and a electormancer, past in flames , a couple of rituals and a grape shot.

Draw. grapeshot. Damnit

Land, serum vision. Draw. !@#%@#$@#. 2 lands on top. hmmm.

decided to scry away 1 land since i have a electromancer in hand..

Draw, land, cast electromancer end.

by then opp has a goyf and a treetop villager waiting to pound on me.

Draw another land, play it and play some draw spell.

He cast a lotv and +1, i discard a past in flame (cos i need the rituals)

Turn 5 i tried to do a 'blind storm', drew nothing but lands and since i m on clock , i have to storm off for 7 damage to kill off his goyf.

He swung with his bbe and dark confidant. to put me to 1 life.

Turn 6. It's now or never. With electromancer in play, I just need 1 seething song and i can flashback my past in flames and storm for lethal.

1 seething...

1 seething song...

and it was a bolt......=(

Round 1 lost 1-2

Round 2 was against a Infect deck. At this point, I was thinking about my lunch cos it's most prob the worst match up for a storm deck.

Game 1 i mull to 5 due to land screwed, nothing much to talk about since he end my miserable life by turn 4.

Board in 4 bolt, 3 pyromancer swath and a slagstorm, out goes 1x empty 2 epic, 1 increasing, 3 past in flames and 1 electormancer.

Game 2, I drew 1 bolts 1ritual 1 seething 1 gape shot 1 pyromancer swath 2 sulfur falls (yes gerald this is y i should play shivan reef.)

me: falls tapped.go

opp: inkmoth. Go

I draw into 1 into a probe.

Me: falls tapped. go

Opp cracked a breeding pool and activate his inkmoth and attack for 1 poision.

Draw another bolt, hell yeah!

Me: probe u

Opp reveal nothing but pump spell.

draw into another probe.

At this point, i was pretty certain i can win since i have 2 bolts in hand and my grapshot+swath is pretty much lethal to him.

End.

Opp drop another misty rainforest and swing for another posion.

EOT: i threw 2 bolt in his face.17 -> 11

I drew a land and play it.

Me: probe.

Opp reveal his hand and i proceed on to stor....

WAIT!

He has something blue in his hand... BLUE instant TT_TT

HE TOP DECKED A MOFUKING SPELL PIERCE!

and things went downhill from there. Tried to play past the pierce, but opp was pro enough not to get tricked. and so GG

Round 2 lost 0-2

At this point life was meaningless until i saw a sadder face, Zane! He had a bad round 1 lost due to some error which was spotted and reported by another player, the other tron player no less.. and round 2 he lost to sowing salt.

So when i was paired against him i decided to joke around abit, cheer him up or something.

Round 3 Vs GR TRON (winner of 2nd monthly modern tourney at gh, ZANE)

Okay game 1, so as to cheer him up, I let him have the win ;). Besides that, he had a mb relic of progenitus, which stopped my past in flames combo. And besides the fact that i empty the warren for 6 storm counts, and he has a pyroclasm in hand. Yup, I let him have that win. ;)

Sbed in 4 bolts, 3 pyromancer swath. out 2 epic (notice the trend?), 1 empty the warren, 1 increasing vegeance 1 past in flames and 2 pyromancer ascension.

G2, Can't rmbed what happened but i storm off with a couple of bolts and finished off 2 grape shots.

G3, drew a 2 land hand, a bolt 1 swath, 1 grape shot and 1 ritual and 1 seeething song.

Keepable i guess.

Zane drop a tron tower and cast a expedition map like a boss.

I drew another swath, played the land and go

He played his tron mine and end.

I drew another bolt and at this point i was thinking hard. mr karn will pretty much disrupt my game, but nothing much can be done at this point. so i just end my turn.

He crack his map eot and cast a wurmcoil during his turn.

Should i bolt his wurmcoil? hmmm.. i should have lethal damage as long as i top deck another ritual if i bolt him now.. The gambler inside me took over and shot him with 2 bolts (20->14)

But life's a bitch and gave me another bolt, causing me to be 2 damage short from lethal.

End.

Next turn, Zane cast a couple of cromatics and attacked with his hungry wurmcoil. (14->20)

It's now or never!Just need another land or ritual..

land or ritual..

And it is a landl!!!

hell yeah, I played the land, cast ritual seething song swath bolt for 5 damage and grapeshot for the lethal 20 damage =)

Me and Zane was about to drop g4 since there's no point in playing, but suddenly we heard a voice.

"round 4 pairing!'

and Johnson, another regular at GH's modern tourney came over to me and ask You are Jia leong right?

Darn, not another jund player~~and the worst part is he refused to let me drop. =( and since Zane was paired against his new arch enemey, the other tron guy, i thought what the heck.

It was a damn funny game 1 cos, he cast bbe 2 twice, both cascading into abrupt decay, while i cast my 1st epic expt of the day for 3 and hit 1 land 1 ascension 1 serum vision. lol. g1 lost for me

Pretty much the same sb as when i play against Jason, Board in 3 Empty, 4 bolts took out 2 Epic, 1 increasing vengeance, 2 ascension, 2 electromancer.

G2 ended quickly when i cast a turn 2 empty the warren for 5 counts.

G3 ended on turn 3-4 where he cast his bbe into a dc or something and i storm off with 2 grapeshot.

and that marks the end of my first gpt. The storm may be weak and disappointing this turn, but just you wait. THE EPIC STORM WILL BE BACK

Modern Grand Prix Trial Nagoya Report - 3/11/2012

It's been awhile since I've done a tournament report since I haven't been to any tournaments. As usual, I'm piloting my RG Tron deck since I don't have the funds to make new decks (If anybody wants to donate to the "Build Zane a deck" fund, please do so.

So anyway, the venue for the Grand Prix Trial(GPT) was at Card Master Games(CMG) at Beauty World, Bukit Timah. Registration was at 10, but I met up with Con at 9 to chill for a bit and while I had breakfast at MacDonalds. We went up to the level the card shop was on and ran into Ben(one of the co-owners of Games Haven) and we headed back down to MacDonalds where it was Ben's turn to have his breakfast while we waited for Dan and his cousin Amir to show up.

We headed back up to CMG at 10 and waited for one of the owners; Wind to open up the shop. Once in, we registered, paid our registration fee and started filling up our deck lists. While waiting for people to show up, Con helped Amir fix up his deck and playtested against him.

The tournament started some time around 11, with 15 people playing. And without further ado, let's jump right into the report!

Round 1: Jake(Merfolk)

Game 1: A turn 4 Karn allowed me to control him while he was land stuck on 2 lands and he scooped once I exiled his land.

Game 2: I dropped a Wurmcoil while he had a Merrow Reejerey and a Silvergill Adept. A top deck-ed Lord allowed him to win the game with his Islandwalk and constant beating.

Game 3: I got a game loss here because I missed out my graveyard from the previous game and didn't shuffle it back into the deck. Jake pointed it out, and when we were deciding what to do, one of the spectators called for the judge and pointed out the situation. Wind, who was the judge gave a game loss as I was playing with a deck that had less than 60 cards in it.

Jake didn't want to win like this though, but there's no way that he could possibly surrender so he took the match. It sucks to lose like this, but rules are rules.

Results: OXX

Right after that first round, Wind got me to go over and talked to me. Then he went through my decklist with me and it turns out that I missed out a card from my side board when I submitted my deck list. So I was awarded with yet another game loss.

Round 2: Johnson(Jund)

Since I had a game loss, all he had to do was take 1 game off me. But, since I have a game loss, that meant that I decided whether to be on the play or the draw.

Game 1: I chose to play first, and dropped a Karn on Turn 3 while he was stuck on 1 land without being able to do anything. He scooped when I exiled his land.

Game 2: Only 2 Sowing Salts in his deck, and he draws one. He exiles my Mine, which means I won't be able to get Tron online. Meanwhile I got land stuck on 4 lands, and he kept beating my face in with a Dark Confidant and some 3/2 creature. A Sylvan Scrying allowed me to get to 5 lands but it was futile as he killed me since I wasn't able to defend myself. By the way, I ended the game with Ulamog, 3 Karns, All is Dust and Wurmcoil Engine in my hand.

Result: XOX

As Elmo and I were both 0-2 at this point, we both considered dropping to play Pack Wars, but we ended up being paired against each other so we played it out.

Round 3: Elmo(Storm)

Round 1: I use Relic of Progenitus on him to stop his Storm combo, and wiped his board with a Pyroclasm and he scooped when I dropped the Karn on him.

Round 2: He drops Pryomancer's Swath and bolts me for 5 damage and then he finishes me off with two Grapeshots; one for 7 damage, and one for 8 from the Storm count.

Round 3: I can't remember what happened here, but he won because he managed to Storm off.

Results OXX

Round 4: Andrew(RG Tron)

He was playing a Tooth and Nail variant of Tron, which was...interesting.

Game 1: I think an early Karn won me the game while he was busy trying to assemble his things.

Game 2: He wins by using Tooth and Nail, searching Iona and some Conscript creature, entwining for the Conscript and Emrakul giving Emrakul haste, which meant it was game for me.

Game 3: We were both destroying each others' lands, making small plays until he Oblivion Stones' my Karn, while I had my own Oblivion Stone up with 4 mana open. However, I did not realise that I could actually place a Fate counter on Karn to prevent it's destruction(I only realised this after Wind told me about it after the round ended)., so Karn died. Finally, he used Mind Slaver on me, drawing a Karn and revealing the All is Dust in my hand. He actually made several misplays here, but seeing as I didn't realise anything, Wind kept quiet about it. He exiles my Urza Mine using my own Karn, and tapped me out intending to use the All is Dust in my hand. But seeing as he didn't declare it, Wind judged that it wasn't valid. According to JY, he didn't actually untap his lands during his untap step, and only untapped it after he ended his turn. Once again, as I didn't realise this, everyone kept quiet about it until the round ended. He pulled off the same combo as he did in Round 2 to end the game.

Results: OXX

After the matches, we all dropped and played pack wars where I pulled a Mythic Rare vampire from the pack I got for participating. I bought a pack and managed to pull a Blood Crypt. After that, we all went to lunch where we also decided to do a draft. Unfortunately, Con and Dan had to go back down to school so they were unable to join us.

I can't exactly remember how the matches went, but I went 2-2, pulling a Steam Vent from one of my packs. It was my first ever Draft, so I wasn't sure how well I would do, but it turns out I did pretty well. I made a Selesnya Populate deck, which turned out pretty decent. Elmo made an Izzet deck, Jake an UWR deck, Jason a Rakdos deck and for JY, a Golgari deck seeing as he pulled a Vraska. Both Elmo and JY went 3-1, Jake and myself went 2-2, and JY went 1-3, managing to only beat me.

While I may have failed at the GPT today, it was certainly a learning experience, and I'm glad I went for it. I may also start to go to CMG at Beauty World more often, as the people there were pretty friendly. On that note, I bid you adieu.

Peace out,
Zane

Better late than never.. No Deck tech this week

Like the title says, there ain't gonna be a deck tech this week. Its because Con is in the process of moving house so this week he is rather busy... Sorry y'all!

Deck Tech Wednesdays - Dragonstorm- Con

Phew, finally getting a break between activities to blog.
So anyways, as Zane has mentioned in his tourney report for last sunday's event, i was playing Dragonstorm. I actually had this deck for quite awhile and decided to dust off the rituals and go to town  XD.

Storm is a pretty big combo archetype around that focuses on the namesake mechanic first appearing in scourge (If i remember correctly) and using rituals to build up loads of mana and storm count.

Dragonstorm was the variation of the storm deck i decided to sleeve up for the competition. Why? Because i love dragons, storms and any deck easy to play. Okay fine it wasn't THAT easy to play for me.

Anyhow, lets check out my list!

Dragonstorm

The Lands:

Mountain:

 Duh.

Spinerock Knoll: 

Useful in cheating Dragonstorms on. Can also be used to bridge the gap between the burn strategy and the storm strategy. In fact, i think i've actually heard people call this deck knollstorm. Probably due to the usefulness of this card as a finisher.

Molten Slagheap/Fungal reaches:

Storage lands to create large explosions of mana when ready for the storm. useful as mana sinks throughout the gam.

The spells:

Lotus Bloom: 

Can usually put the opponent on a 3 turn clock. T1 lotus bloom suspend is pretty sick if you're kicking off the storm or not. It's awesome because when it's 3 time counters are gone, it will also be cast, meaning it would contribute to the storm count.

Lightning Bolt:

This deck also relies on a burn-esque strategy in order to activate the Spinerock Knoll

Shock:

More cheap burn spells

Grapeshot:

Grapeshot is an amazing win condition due to it's super synergy with Pyromancer's swath. when stormed and when the swath is in play, each copy will deal 3 points of damage, making this a very powerful spell to blow up an opponent's face.

Increasing vengeance:

Used as a way to copy your own rituals for larger explosions of mana. Interacts awesomely with Past in flame due to it's 'cast from graveyard' bonus. 

The past in flames also let u pay {R}{R} for the vengeance and still cast from the graveyard. I almost feel like i'm cheating someone whenever i pull this off XD

Seething song-->flash back vengeance = 15 mana!

Desperate Ritual:

The very first of the rituals. They help increase your mana and your storm count, making this one of the most important spells in the game. The ability to splice into each other is also a nice bonus

Seething song:

The bigger ritual. Usually pulling off most kills with storm involves seething song.

Pyromancer's swath:

awesome interaction with grapeshot. Also facilitates the switch to the burn 'mode'. Can also be used to get rid of spells in order to use them in conjunction with Past in Flames

Past in Flames:

Modern legal Yawgmoth's Will?! Yes please! Haha, this spell is the one that lets us use the graveyard as fuel for the storm later on in the game. It can also be used to pull off shenanigans all over the field. Past in Flames also helps the storm count jump by allowing the same spells to be played on the same turn. Especially if they are ritual spells.

Bogardan Hellkite:

The main attraction to Dragonstorm. When all 4 are out, the dragons deal lethal. JUST BY ENTERING THE BATTLEFIELD.

Dragonstorm:

And this is how you pull out 4 freaking 8 mana dragons. Really.

Most storm chains end in Dragonstorm or Grapeshot. 

Well that's about it for this week everyone, next week i'll be piloting this deck again in order to get a feel for the deck. Heck i might even play it abit more often. haha! Storm is definitely more fun that i had originally thought. Plus it helped me win second prize last sunday :P

Until next time, Con out! 

Tournament Report 14/10/2012

It's finally time for another tournament report! After our playgroup took a break from Magic for the past two weeks, we're finally ready to roll! I went into this tournament with only two hours of sleep due to some sleeping issues, so I didn't do that well. We were playing with a new payout, with a $10 entry fee.
12 points gets 10 RtR booster packs,
9-11 points gets 4 RtR booster packs
6-8 points gets 2 RtR booster packs
0-5 points gets 1 RtR pack

Now, less talk and more reporting.

Deck used: GR Tron

Round 1: Dragonstorm  (Con)
He was playing Storm today as he wasn't done with his new deck yet.

Game 1: He gets his Storm combo off and killed me with a 24 damage Grapeshot while I struggled to get my Tron pieces.

Game 2: He couldn't get his combo working, while I got Karn and Ulamog out.

Game 3: He mulls down to 5 cards on the play and still got a pretty crappy hand, so he scooped after a few turns.

Results: XOO

Round 2: American Delver? (Jason)
I'm not actually sure what deck he was playing, but I assumed that it was American Delver judging by the colours used.

Game 1: He managed to drop a Turn 3 Geist, but I managed to get rid of it using Pyroclasm as he was all tapped out. It was useless though, as he was able to stop me from searching out my Tron lands using counter spells while slowly beating me down using Mutavault and Snapcaster Mage.

Game 2: I had to take a lot of damage while assembling my Tron lands, and was one turn away from dropping Emrakul for game as I was at 13 mana. Unfortunately, I messed up on my turn, using the Chromatic Sphere that I had on field to draw instead of waiting to use it on his turn to blow up one of his creatures using Combust, which would have ensured that I would survive his turn and drop Emrakul on mine.

Results: XX

Round 3: Jund (Johnson)
It's time to battle Jund again! I heard from Elmo he was running Sowing Salts this time round, which worried me a little.

Game 1: I managed to drop an early Karn to get rid of his Tarmogoyf before it wreck my face in. Karn also
controlled his board pretty well, depriving him of his lands. When he finally managed to get rid of my Karn, I drew into another one, dropping an Ulamog the turn after that. He scooped after that.

Game 2: He played a Thoughtseize on Turn 1, ripping Karn right out of my hand. I struggled to get my Tron pieces up while he destroyed them with a Tectonic Edge and controlled my hand with Liliana. I was unable to recover from that, so I lost.

Game 3: I managed to get Tron online, but he completely screws me over with Sowing Salts, exiling all my Urza Towers. Needless to say, I wasn't able to recover from that and lost to him.

Results: OXX

Round 4: UG Tron (JY)
A Tron matchup! We were both playing to see who would get the second pack as we were both 1-2 at this point.

Game 1: He pulls off his Mindslaver combo, which meant I lost.

Game 2: He mulls down to 4 and scoops shortly after being unable to recover from the 3 card deficit.

Game 3:  I finally understand how it feels like to be on the receiving end of a Turn 3 Karn, which ensured that I wouldn't get Tron online, which means I lose.

Results: XOX

So, I ended up going 1-3 this tournament. Oh well. We played two rounds of Pack Wars with the boosters we got from the tournament, though I had to buy a pack for the second round. I ended up pulling some pretty meh cards, while Con, Elmo and JY got Shock lands for their packs.

We went for dinner afterwards and dropped by World of JJ afterwards to get a pack. I managed to pull an Abrupt Decay from the pack I got, which was pretty cool. I might consider playing a different deck next week, seeing as everyone seems to be running a lot of land hate for any potential Valakaut decks, which means that I'm basically collateral damage in the war against Valakaut decks. Q.Q.

Until the next tournament then. Peace out!

Zane

Pack to Deck update~ A change of plans

Hey yo guys! As you are aware that I, Dan Astryte, Overlord of Space and all things sweet, am working on the Pack to Deck currently. And if you checked my last post, it was about building a B/W tokens deck. Well. Things changed.

No, I'm still doing it, if that's what you're asking. Ohh nononono... What changed is actually my target deck. So what changed? I'm going to go build a U/G Infect deck now.

Wait Dan! Infect? What? Why? When? How? Calm your horses and pull up your pants, whichever you have yo! Lemme explain.

So I've been playing with tokens on Cockatrice see? Well, I found out that it actually has rather bad match ups against... well... The team. And if I can't even win more than 1/3 of the time, I find the deck rather unfitting of my playstyle.

Thing with B/W Tokens is that you need to swarm and power up your army or else, they ain't much. And also consider that you can only do about what... 1 summoning/per turn until you hit turn 4/6? Yeah. Not only limited mana prevents me from countering the enemy, but also slows down the rate I can build up my army.

Basically, it ain't my style. I prefer to rush in and knock the enemy out ASAP. Kinda of like Ry and his aggro, but more on the thinking side as well. Coz nothing like a lil mind game to mess with your opponents~

Which is what I like about U/G Infect~ MIND GAMES YO! And the fear of being wiped out at turn 2 earliest, is certainly not exactly a good way to start your game, yeah?

So here's the new card list that I'm aiming for!

Maindeck

Creature
Blighted Agent
Glistener Elf
Ichorclaw Myr
Plague Myr

Instant
Giant Growth
Groundswell
Might of Old Krosa
Mutagenic Growth
Vapor Snag
Vines of Vastwood

Land
Forest
Hinterland Harbor
Inkmoth Nexus
Yavimaya Coast

Sorcery
Artful Dodge

Sideboard

Artifact
Grafdigger's Cage

Creature
Viridian Corrupter

Instant
Mana leak
Ranger's Guile
Spell Snare
___________________________________________________

Well that's what my new aim is for folks! I hope that you can help me with my journey! Until next time! Ciaos!

Astryte, trading out!

Deck Tech Wednesdays - Affinity - Con

I think it's been about 8 years since the first couple of Affinity decks started popping up, possibly becoming one of the most infamous standard decks ever.
Even now, Affinity has somewhat of a presence in both Legacy and Modern.

The idea behind affinity centered around pumping out fast, efficient creatures to pummel the opponent's face in ala aggro.

So without further ado, here's this week's Deck Tech!

So recently, Ryan and i have been testing around with Affinity on Cockatrice.

And this is the List

The Creatures:

As previously mentioned, most of these guys are quick and efficient beat sticks.

Arcbound Ravager:
This guy get really big really quick. Modular is kinda big here too. By sacrificing itself, it could drop a large power bonus on your more evasive dudes like Etched Champion or Vault Skirge.

Etched Champion: 
Almost always has metalcraft active, making this guy mostly unkillable and unblockable.

Master of etherium:
Pumps up the size of your strike force. Also used in the attack itself. Usually huge.

Memnite/ Ornithopter:
Turn 0 freebies, probably the reason why Affinity empties it's hands out fast. They're free creatures that get bigger and badder with the addition of other creatures. A cranial plating on an Ornithopter wins games.

Steel overseer:
more 'lord' cards for the weenies

Vault Skirge:
Flying, lifelink for 1 mana and 2 life, cheap, efficient, able to pull off huge swings in life total when lords are around or when cranial plating is attached to it

Other stuff:

Cranial Plating:
Makes your guys into serious threats. Needless to say, low casting cost and equip cost. Not to mention the ability to attach at instant speed using the {B}{B} effect.

Mox Opal:
On a good day, you'd get one in your opening next to an Ornithopter/ Memnite/ Citadel. makes puking your hand out that much easier.

Springleaf Drum:
Produces mana, helps you empty out your hand. With a/an Memnite/Ornithopter it can help to drop your etched Overseer/Ravager on turn 1

Welding Jar:
Contributes to Artifact count and helps protect your threats from artifact destroy

Thoughtcast:
Tends to be super cheap draw. Fuel for the fire XD

The Lands:

Blinkmoth Nexus:
Yay for more cheap beats! Also can animate itself to contribute to artifact count

Inkmoth Nexus:
Same for above. Except with infect. Gets pumped by the other Nexus and is deadly with a cranial plating attached. Poison tends to be an alt Win condition against all the Life gain around.

Darksteel Citadel:
I think one of the major reasons behind the popularity of the legacy version of this deck is the inclusion of the artifact land cycle. Unfortunately, they're all banned save for Darksteel Citadel.
Free artifact, indestructible and mana producing.

 Glimmervoid:
Almost never gets blown up due to the fact that there are so many artifacts just floating around. The ability to produce any color makes it an auto include in all affinity decks.

Island:
HOMGWTFLOLBBQ
seriously. played in so many decks, it should totally be banned.
-Gets Slapped-



The plan is simple. Vomit, pump up, attack.
I'd say more but Ry would accuse me of dissing Aggro XD

Till next time!
-Constantine

Pack to Deck - 1st Trade

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN OF ALL AGES AND WALKS OF LIFE!

I welcome you to the second episode to Pack to Deck! With your host, Dan Astryte!

Hey yo everybody come on let's get down! This is the D.A the Man~

So... As you all know, I'm in charge of Pack to Deck. And today... I decided to join Con for the training over at Paya Lebar.

What was to be my first time... Wait! Second time joining them for training, would also become the event that will start the ball rolling.

Deck Tech Wednesdays- Con

Sorry folks, i've been sick the whole week. So i won't be doing a deck tech this week.
i'll be back in full force next week! XD

and now i leave you with a monkey as an apology!

Just look at how sorry he is!

Pack to Deck : The journey of a startup trader - Dan

Up, up and away! Imagine the coins being MtG cards, aye? :P

So me and Con read about Jonhatan Medina who started off with a booster pack and then went on a trading spree until at last, he got a Mox Pearl. Impressive, I know. Which is why we decided to give it a shot!

So I'll be the one who will be embarking on this journey. I am not aiming to be like Johnathan though. I'm not trading for a piece of the power 9. No.

Deck Tech Wednesdays - Con -Doran Rock

Welcome back to another modern Deck Tech Wednesdays!

Today, i'll be talking about Doran! Everyone's favorite Siege Tower!

Doran Doran Doran, the explorer!
Editor's note: Really, Con? Really?

So, what makes Doran an awesome card?
He's 0/5. Under normal circumstance, he probably not the scariest thing around.
However, his effect makes it such that creatures deal damage according to their toughness.
Yes, this means that this dude is swinging for 5 on turn 3!

Tournament Report 23/9/2012

Let's see, how did the song go again? Something like "Let's get down to business, to defeat the Huns."

The fight to defeat the Huns and defend our honour was supposed to begin at 2:45PM today, though I ran a little late because I had to run back home for my armour(read wallet), which meant I barely made it to the battlefield on time. I rushed out my deck list, and paid for registration right before the tournament began.

Deck Tech Wednesdays - Con - Naya Pod

Welcome to the very first Deck tech Wednesday! In this weekly post, i'll be talking about different modern decks! Sometimes i'll discuss established decks in the meta game and other times i'll be talking about rogue ideas etc etc.

This week, i'm gonna talk about Naya Pod.
I actually intend to run this deck this coming sunday (23rd september) at GH's Dark Confidant modern tourney. I actually play Melira pod, an older variant of this deck, on a regular basis and have come to accept it as my 'default' deck for the format. But recently it's been feeling a tad weak. So, i've decided to run out with Naya pod this weekend (assuming i can complete it by then). Let's get right into it then!


Deck: Naya Pod

RedRy(19092012)-Aggro, Red and how Aggro is typically played.

Because John Avon Mountains rock.

SO, my first official column!
I'll be talking every week about Aggro, Red and Fast decks that aim to win. I'll also do SCA(Single Card Analysis) of new cards relevant to my colours or my playstyle!
Again, I'm Ryan Loh, and welcome to RedRy.

Introduction-Ryan Loh, Red Freak.

:D

Why hello there!

Nice to meet you. I'm Ryan Loh, and unlike my comrades, I don't embrace the anonymity.
:D

Playstyles Breakdown - Constantine

Because...Magic is a Contested Warzone!

Alright, just like in any other format in MTG there will be several well developed playstyles that players use. I'll go through all of these styles while relating them to modern.

One of the most reliable beaters Blue gets.

Tempo:
The concept of Tempo essentially is dropping a threat early game that will likely end the game several turns later. First, dropping the threat early on then protecting it while it whittles the opponent down in a matter of turns.

*Insert Derp Face here*

Why hello there, and welcome to my very first blog post for this blog. I'm Zane, the owner of this blog, and a member of Team Tableflip, a Singapore-based MTG playgroup that specialises in the Modern format. The other members of the team are helping me with this blog because I'm still relatively new to both MTG and its competitive scene. Today, I'm going to be talking about how and why I got into Magic: The Gathering.

Yoo~ Intro from me, for me~ :3 - Dan

Oha!

Dan's the name, and MtG...! Is totally not my game~ Haha! Why do I say that? Well~~ I just started dabbing into MtG like.. This year? A few months back? So I'mma be a total newbie! xD But then what am I doing in a competitive team, you ask? Well.... It all started on one fine day. When the sounds of the birds singing filled the air...........

Modern (Legality) - Constantine

As mentioned, Modern is the format that Team Tableflip specializes in. Most of us are Modern players with some other formats on the side.
This is an introduction into Modern as a format.

Firstly, What cards can be played in Modern?
As the name implies, cards with modern card frames can be played in modern. Which means every card since Wizards decided to change the card frames back in 8th edition is Modern playable minus a small ban list.

Modern, Not Modern

An introduction - Constantine

Hello everyone,

I'm Constantine. I'm a 19 year old (as of this post) medical student, and i love Magic.

I started playing when i was 6 years old, over at some shop at siglap center own by an 'Uncle Fabian'.

I only started competitive Standard back in Lor-Ala standard. Running the Doran Rock deck which, at the time was a pretty big deck.