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| Felipe Musco |
![]() Posted: Mon Jul 10, 2006 4:32 pm |
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Joined: 18 May 2006
Posts: 2434
Location: Florianópolis, SC, Brasil
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--- description ---
Now that there’s a new Edition released, check out what you can do with it!
--- end description ---
I decided to write a different type of Strategy Article, solely for discussing strategy. Now that Coldsnap is released, I decided to go through the spoiler and check out some new combos that might be coming out anytime soon. Now, this Article will, as I said, discuss some Strategy in the form of combos, and it’s going to be a bit long (I suggest reading it color-by-color, taking a break after reading one), but it will NOT have a decklist in it, I’ll leave that to another time. Also, keep in mind that these are just SOME choices I made for discussing, which does not mean the other cards are bad, or that no other nice combo can be made.
Well, so let’s get to taking a look at what’s nice in Coldsnap, color by color:
WHITE CARDS:
Adarkar Valkyrie - A powerhouse of its own, this creature simply clears the path WHILE refilling your army. It will most likely combo nicely in BW decks, since Angel of Despair, Mortify and Last Gasp all add up GREAT to the Valkyrie’s reanimate ability, although Adarkar Valkyrie works nice in almost any type of deck. Just imagine "stealing" a Burning-Tree Shaman, maybe even a Nantuko Husk! It can GREATLY disrupt a deck’s strategy. Also, although its ability seem fit to be used in response to a creature being put in a Graveyard, here’s a thought: assuming you decide to target a creature BEFORE it’s killed (there seems to be no reason why you couldn’t do this, aside from the fact that it can be prejudicial for you, since the creature might not die), and then you play a Wrath of God. Not only you’re totally disrupting your opponent’s deck by clearing the board, but you’re ALSO gaining control of his most powerful creature in the process!
Darien, King of Kjeldor - Another powerhouse, specially when you combine it with Leyline of the Meek, Glorious Anthem and the also newly released card Field Marshal (note that this last one is not Legendary...). Cards like White Shield Crusader will also add nicely for a whole new type of Weenie! Now talk about a powerful deck! Add in some Eight-and-a-Half-Tails for protecting him, and you’ve got a pretty powerful strategy for stalling attackers, since taking a single point of damage could automatically give you a 13/13 first strike creature (assuming perfect conditions, or course, but it’s still very possible to set up so that every point of damage sustained turns out as a 4/4 creature, at least).
Glacial Plating - Assuming a deck fully loaded with Snow Lands, this upkeep wouldn’t be hard to pay, which would make this card a BOMB when combined with evasion creatures, something to throw Moldervine Cloak into forgetfulness! Just imagine this baby combined with, let’s say, Silhana Ledgewalker, Dryad Sophisticate, Skarrgan Pit-Skulk, Hunted Phantasm, Dimir Infiltrator, well, you get the idea...
Jotun Grunt - Well, let’s face it: a 4/4 creature for 2 mana IS good. The problem is it’s upkeep cost... However, check this out, this single, uncommon guy TOTALLY wrecks decks like Vore! So yes, he COULD be a SB option against Vore. But why not make him MD material? How? A simple task! Using the best ability offered by the Golgari Guild: DREDGE! Yes, dredge! And you don’t even have to go through the trouble of playing a three-colored deck, you could as easily make a Selesnya Beats deck, using just two single cards: Moldervine Cloak and Golgari Grave-Troll. These alone would allow you to ALWAYS have fuel to keep your 2-drop 4/4 beaters running, specially if you have some way of discarding cards from your hand, so you’ll ALWAYS have a Dredge card to load your Graveyard!
Jotun Owl Keeper - A great asset for Ghost Husk, a 3/3 for 3 mana is not at all that bad. When this ALSO means having a time-bomb for pumping a Nantuko Husk or a Fallen Angel, that’s just EVIL!
Martyr of Sands - A must for Weenie! Just imagine revealing, like 4 miserable cards, and that’s 12 life, right there! For a 1-drop, and a 1-mana activated ability, it’s a more than fair card!
Ronom Unicorn - What’s to say? The new Kami of Anciet Law, simple as that...
Sun’s Bounty - Another KILLER card for Weenie! Let’s face it, 2 mana for 4 life as an Instant is already nice, but combining that with a 2-mana Recover cost is simply ABUSIVE! Weenie will ALWAYS have AT LEAST 2 open mana, so talk about life gaining! Just picture this rather small sample of a combo: gain 4 life; reveal X cards and sacrifice Martyr of Sands, gaind 3 times X life; pay the Recover cost, gain 4 MORE life. Assuming TWO white cards in your hand, that’s a 14 life gain in 1-2 turns, using only two COMMON cards!
BLUE CARDS:
Balduvian Frostwaker - A power house on it’s own, it can add up to a new type of deck: monoblue beats! Just picture a deck fully consisting of Snow Islands, it’s 1 mana for a 2/2 flying! Notice that this effect DOESN’T end at the end of the turn. Pack in some counters to prevent a Wrath of God of completely reseting your game, and you’re good to go!
Drelnoch - Another nice creature card! Combine it with Glacial Plating and spellbook and, eventually, you’ll be able to sacrifice a single Martyr of Sands for, let’s say, 24-30 life? Sounds like fun!
Heidar, Rimewind Master - Has a nice body for a legendary creature, out of Pyroclasm’s threat (and since he’s Blue, you’ll almost always be packing at least SOME counterspells to keep him alive). Combine him with a deck fully loaded with Snow Lands, and talk about bouncing! Add in Minamo, School at Water’s Edge, and Vore’s found a great ally! Manage to fit in some Voyager Staff to get him out of Wildfire’s way, and you’ve got a new way of stalling decks, even late game! Add in Rimewind Taskmage, which is NOT legendary and is rather cheap to play, and you’ve got a SICK bouncing capability!
Jokulmorder - Ok, now, this one seems a bit steep, since it may seem tricky to untap him, and he’s rather slow to play with. So, what to do? Use him in Grail’s U/G Powerbeats deck! Yes, he’ll be out in no time, due to all the acceleration, and Meloku the Clouded Mirror will make SURE you will ALWAYS have an Island at hand to untap him, PLUS giving you some tokens! Nice engine, huh? Just make sure you’re packing some counters and/or Shielding Plax to protect him. Since he costs triple blue, you could also try and combine him with Life from the Loam, automatically gaining 3 turns of activation, which SHOULD be more than enough...
Krovikan Mist - Did I read this card right? I think it’s simply the best Common creature card ever printed, if I did! Just imagine a U/G deck with, let’s say, Krovikan Mist, Vinelasher Kudzu, Meloku the Clouded Mirror, Summer Bloom and things like Recollect and/or Reclaim, to get Summer Bloom back: put 3 tokens into play, Krovikan Mist becomes 4/4, play 3 lands next turn, Vinelasher becomes 4/4 ALSO. Considering using U would allow you to pack counters, and this is not exactly a deck that needs LOTS of acceleration, mostly some card-drawing; and considering neither Vinelasher nor Krovikan Mist are Legendary (meaning that, if you pump one of them, you’re pumping all of them), this could mean a REALLY powerfull aggro deck!
Perilous Research - Now, this card is nice! Simply read it as: 2 mana for 2 cards, at Instant speed, and sacrifice a Token provided by Meloku. You can even do this in response of blocking, sacrificing an already dead creature! Could also add up nicely with things like Threads of Disloyalty, Annex, Confiscate, anything that let’s you sacrifice an opponent’s permanent, rather than one of your own.
Rimefeather Owl - Another mean card, when combined with some acceleration and a deck fully loaded of Snow Lands. A powerhouse of its own, notheless, no matter what deck, since it could, in the worst scenario, virtually mean 7 mana for a 7/7 creature. In a thematic deck, however, it COULD mean 7 mana for, say, a 12/12 creature or something like this easily...
Vexing Sphinx - A nice, but dangerous card. Works greatly, though, when combined with Jotun Grunt, just get the picture: a 4/4 2-drop, followed by a 4/4 3-drop, followed by 2 4/4 2-drops, which all combo together. Ok, Godhand, yes, but you can make similar things with a bit of strategy-thinking.
BLACK CARDS:
Chilling Shade - The dream of every Shade player! A Shade which can be ALWAYS fully pumped even in a multi-colored deck! All you need is a pool consisting of only Snow Lands, and you’re good to go. No need to say more, a lone powerhouse, and a flying one!
Gristle Grinner - Ok, he costs a lot. But just picture this: you sacrifice a creature to pump Nantuko Husk / Fallen Angel, you get to pump him for free! Isn’t this nice?
Gutless Ghoul - Now, THIS will be a lot of help to Savra, Queen of the Golgari. Not only you’ll have a cheap sacrificing engine, but you’ll also gain life from it! Now, picture this: if Savra is on the board, this guy essentially means you get to block with a golden creature, sacrifice it in response and, for 1 mana, you’ll gain 2 life PLUS make your opponent sacrifice a creature. If nothing else, when combined with Golgari Germination, this guy means no token will die in vain! Just block and still gain 2 life from it!
Haakon, Stromgald Scourge - Yes, he does have a nice ability, but even if you’re not intending to play Knights, he’s a great asset in ANY Rakdos deck! Tired of feeling sorry for having to discard a nice card to be able to play Avatar of Discord? Just get over it! Discard this guy, and play him again next turn! If you can assemble a deck of knights, though, Avatar of Discord would be GREAT in it, combined with Haakon and things like Stromgald Crusader! All hail to the return of mono-black!
Herald of Leshrac - Did I read correctly? This guy’s ABSURDLY strong, even considering his abusive cost! Combine him with a self-discard deck and Vigor Mortis, and he’ll be out in no time to start stalling the game, PLUS getting bigger and bigger! Pack in some removal, and you’ve got not only a finisher, but a starter and a maintainer, too! Opponents wil simply not be able to play at all!
Void Maw - Ok, so you didn’t like the idea of combo’ing Nantuko Husk with Gristle Grinner... That’s ok, neither did I, but THIS guy’s just MEAN! Not only you can remove creatures your opponent control from the game, kissing reanimate goodbye, but you also get to pump Nantuko Husk AND him AT ONCE when you sacrifice a creature! AND, check this out, HE TRAMPLES! And for one more mana than Gristle Grinner, he ALSO have one more power, and TWO more toughness! No Last Gasping this guy, even if you have no other creatures! Pack in some removals, and you have a true finisher, more dangerous than Nantuko Husk, since whenever the Husk gets bigger, so does Void Maw, and clearing a path with removal will ALSO make him EVEN BIGGER. Since he tramples, you can picture the heavy damage he can cause! Now THAT’S a creature worth it’s cost.
RED CARDS
Braid of Fire - One of the best cards EVER! It’s cumulative upkeep may seem a bit harsh, but it’s a win-win card! All you have to do is build a deck that uses all this spare mana, or that has some way of thinning it out, so even if you DO have to take a mana burn to keep the Enchantment on the board (remember, you don’t HAVE to pay a cumulative upkeep, only if you WANT to keep the card, you can always sacrifice it if you’re going to take a lot of burn from it). Some good cards to team this up with are cards like Savage Twister and even the newly released Balduvian Rage, but it’s when combined with cards like Blaze and Demonfire that Braid of Fire REALLY shines. If you want some ways of getting rid of the unused mana, there’s a lot of ways to do this easily. The first way that occurs to me is using a Circle of Protection (or any card with that sort of cost for an activated ability), however, this would mean having a two-colored deck INCLUDING white. If you don’t want to, or you want to use other colors, another good way of spending all that mana are Genjus, since although you only have to activate it once to swing, there’s actually no limit to the number of times you can activate its ability. However, you’d eventually take 1 point of damage, since Genjus require an even number of colorless mana to activate. If you want, however, to team this card up with new cards, you can always try Balduvian Fallen, for a R/B build, since this would mean NEVER having to worry with its cumulative upkeep WHILE pumping him. Another good card with this effect is Earthen Goo, which may be considered even better, since it IS red (so you can make a mono-red deck, if you want to) AND has trample! However, the true finisher for this combo would have to be Lightning Serpent (Ball Lightning, anyone?)! Add in things like Fear and Panic Attack, and/or Frenzied Goblin, or the new Goblin Rimerunner, and you’re swinging for the win guaranteed. If you want to run a different theme, though, you can pair up with another new KILLER (literally) card: Magmatic Core! This would means clearing the board EVERY turn (when the mana really start to pile up), ’till you drew something more useful to spend all that mana, say, a Blaze or a Demonfire. So, this card is just crammed full of possibilities! Just remember, if you have to, you CAN simply choose not to pay a cumulative upkeep cost, sacrificing the permanent instead. Now, for a last flavor, imagine pairing this baby up with Dark Depths! Now that’s just EVIL! You’ll have Marit Lage out in no time! Pack Blue for counters and Meloku the Clouded Mirror and you’re all set. After Lage is out, simply play another Dark Depths. Although you can’t put another Marit Lage into play, you CAN remove 9 ice counters from it, bounce it back to your hand, and play it again. Just keep doing these so you don’t get mana-burned, although, once Lage is out, a single Wildfire (or maybe followed by a Pyroclasm) will most likely mean Game Over for you opponent...
Lightning Storm - A very nice, but dangerous card, since opponents can ALSO activate its ability. However, not that many players will have a lot of Lands lying around on their hands, and even if they do, you COULD simply counter their copy of the spell. "Are you pondering what I’m pondering, Pinky?" YES! R/U deck with Meloku the Clouded Mirror! Just get every single land back to your hand (building an army of tokens and setting up for some HUGE Krovikan Mist), except for the ones you’ll need to cast the spell, and shoot for the win. The spell itself deals 3 damage. Discard a Land, and that’s 5 MORE damage. Discard one more, and that’s 7 MORE damage! One more Land, and you’ve dealt a total of 24 damage, only having to discard 3 lands this way... Sounds pretty sweet for me!
GREEN CARDS:
Allosaurus Rider - The first related green card is already a bomb this size! Aside from being a pitch card (which means you can play him on turn one WHILE playing an accelerator), he gets bigger and bigger REALLY fast! Just make a deck with thing like Farseek (for multi-color), Kodama’s Reach, the newly released Into the North and everything in between, and you’ll see this guy get HUGE!
Boreal Centaur - He’s not Basking Rootwalla (from Torment, if you want to check him out), big he’s on the right track! Plus, since it’s cost is Snow, you can use him to his full extent in decks of any combination of colors!
Ohran Viper - Already discussed by La_Sin_Grail in his "Selesny-Snap Beats" Article. Just pair him up with Regeneration and you’re set for one annoying creature! Combine him with white cards that suddenly untap creatures your opponent couldn’t possibly imagine, and you’ll have a killing machine!
Panglacial Wurm - Fantastic. Absolutely FANTASTIC! HUGE on it’s own for VERY little mana, but not only that, you can tutor for ANYTHING in your deck, even a single Land, and ALSO tutor for him at the same time! Just picture a Green deck with LOTS of one-drop accelerators, even the new Boreal Druid, and some cards like Kodama’s Reach or Into the North. You’d be playing this guy turn four, TOPS! Just imagine following this guy with Wurmweaver Coil or another nice new card: Shape of the Wiitigo! Oh, and did I mention Panglacial Wurm is NOT Legendary PLUS it Tramples? What’s not to love?
Sheltering Ancient - 2 mana for a 5/5 TRAMPLE?!? Is Wizards insane? Ok, you DO have to buff up one of their creatures, but only ONCE a turn! And you can ALWAYS play a G/B deck and buff up one lousy 1/1, just to use Last Gasp or Putrefy, when he starts getting annoyingly big, WHILE you keep pounding for 5... This card is simply ABSURD!
MULTICOLOR CARDS:
Blizzard Specter - This card may seem good at first sight, but it’s even better! Just check out the colors: Black and Blue. Killing and bouncing. Seeing as he’s not Legendary, having 2 of these out basically means: attack, and that player puts a permanent he controls into his Graveyard. Packing counters to keep them alive, this card has A LOT of potential! Bring in Followed Footsteps, for after stablishing control, and his board will be COMPLETELY cleared in no time, and that’s game over!
Juniper Order Ranger - Another powerhouse, when paired up with a good Token Engine!
Jester’s Scepter - Another REALLY powerful card on its own, but looks GREAT in Milling Decks! Yes, Milling! You don’t HAVE to use it’s secondary ability, but do it if you can! Otherwise, a player set of these means 20 cards out of a players library alone! Pack in Glimpse the Unthinkable, and you’re ready to party!
Phyrexian Soulgorger - Pair him up with weenie/token engines, and you should be good to go. Too bad he doesn’t trample...
I hope you all enjoyed this Article (those of you who’ve gotten the time to read it, at least! I’ve put a lot of effort into it, and I’m sure it’ll help to break out MANY really nice combos! Expect deck-related Articles soon...  |
| Last edited by Felipe Musco on Tue Jul 11, 2006 12:51 pm; edited 4 times in totalI don't like YOU. |
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| Felipe Musco |
![]() Posted: Mon Jul 10, 2006 4:34 pm |
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Joined: 18 May 2006
Posts: 2434
Location: Florianópolis, SC, Brasil
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Hey, Cobra, good thing you altered the gp-handling system, otherwise, I’d be the "richest" guy ’round here, no doubt!   |
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| BrianBoitano |
![]() Posted: Mon Jul 10, 2006 5:41 pm |
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Joined: 16 Jun 2006
Posts: 124
Location: Houston, TX
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Here’s my reply to the White section:
Wow. Great card reviews! Certainly looks like White Weenie could come back in a big way! I love the interaction between Martyr of Sands and Sun’s Bounty. Very relevant article, +1 coin and 4/5!
Edit: White Weenie also just got Kjeldoran War Cry, which is amazing. It’s a bit more tricky than White Weenie usually gets, which helps versus burn.
The Owlkeeper is amazing in limited, but you have to know when to "pop" him. My last game of the tournament, I got power hungry and waited too long, eventually getting 6 1/1 birds but I only got to swing with them once before my opponent dropped an Adarkar Valkyrie  . Had I popped it at 4, I could’ve swung 3 times and won. Had I known that was in his deck, I might’ve played it that way, but that was the only game he got it out. Damn damn! |
| Last edited by BrianBoitano on Mon Jul 10, 2006 6:10 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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| BrianBoitano |
![]() Posted: Mon Jul 10, 2006 5:56 pm |
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Joined: 16 Jun 2006
Posts: 124
Location: Houston, TX
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Blue section:
Balduvian Frostwalker is more than that, friend! I’m thinking right now of a U/R Ripple deck, and assuming at least 1 Snow deck rears its face in tournaments, Frostwalker + Shock/Surging Flame/Electrolize etc... means repeatable Land Destruction! That’s just in addition to the usefulness you already have noticed.
Drelnoch won me a couple games at the prere . So good in limited.
Heidar is exciting too . Voyager Staff is good in any deck, I say.
Rimewind Taskmage ALSO won me a couple games at the Prere. It’s not that hard to get 4 snow permanents, given 3-5 snow lands in packs, snow creatures, and some nice snow artifact creatures.
Jokulmorder, sadly, won me only one game at the Prere. I played him, and used Taskmages to untap, but I only got both out and working one game. His "drawback" actually helps if you have snow lands and your opponent is showing Zombie Mushers.
Wow. You’re right about Krovikan Mist. At the prere (funny that I picked up one of EVERY blue card you previewed!), he was a 1/1 flier for 2, but he was still useful then. He’ll be a bomb in constructed, if he’s used like you’re saying.
Perilous Research is as powerful as you say. Mist actually fell to Research for me a couple times  .
Rimefeather Owl was the one card I didn’t get in my packs, but that’s okay. As you say, great in constructed
Vexing Sphinx is one of blue’s best new creatures. With card draw it’s inevitable that you will have crap in hand (too much land, late-game Mana Leaks, etc), that you will be glad to trade today for a better tomorrow. And when you don’t pay the upkeep, the age counter counts toward your draw!
Oh, that’s right, a 4/4 flier is attached to the deal. Wow! |
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| Felipe Musco |
![]() Posted: Mon Jul 10, 2006 8:45 pm |
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Joined: 18 May 2006
Posts: 2434
Location: Florianópolis, SC, Brasil
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| Actually, you could simply add Frostwaker and maybe some Electrolyze/Shock to the SB of the U/R Vore we built (check the Deck Clinic for more on that), so you could make it a switchboard, and a VERY nice one! You see, you could either put an end to any deck who abuses Snow Lands, or you could board out things like Pyroclasm and Wildfire in favor of some aggro power! |
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| Felipe Musco |
![]() Posted: Tue Jul 11, 2006 12:16 pm |
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Joined: 18 May 2006
Posts: 2434
Location: Florianópolis, SC, Brasil
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| Comments? Anyone? |
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| La_Sin_Grail |
![]() Posted: Tue Jul 11, 2006 9:14 pm |
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Joined: 14 Aug 2005
Posts: 806
Location: Maryland
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Sorry I’ve been gone... whew. Okay.
1) Remember that a lot of these cards are good but really expensive. For example, when you have darien down, most decks will either kill you in one turn or wait until they can kill you in one turn.
2) I played with a lot of cum. upkeep/saw them played at the prerelease. They are very, very restrictive, and perhaps that’s overlooked sometimes.
3) Sun’s Bounty sucks
4) The rest of your white reviews were good if you just remember the mana thingies.
5) Frostwaker is slow.
6) Drelnoch isn’t that great because in a blue deck because they can just take damage... U/W means they can just take most of the damage you throw at them- they could just counterattack.
7) Thanks for the confidence in my Powerbeats deck... but I really don’t think anything is going to make jokulmorder playable.
 Krovikan Mist would be and should be good... but the lack of other illusions means he’s not that great.
9) Right on with sphinx! A lot of people were afraid to play him, but you’re right!
10) Haakon is WAY hotter in extended than in standard. There’s much more graveyard manipulation there- I’ve seen them trading for over 5$.
11) Black cards are sometimes not as good as they seem... I still see some mana problems with minion etc.
12) You missed the boat on braid of fire. It’s during your UPKEEP! Not the main phase. You can’t use it with blaze etc.
13) Missed a chance to mention life from the loam with lightniing storm, but great aside from that.
14) Great on wurm, viper, centaur, but sheltering ancient is just bad. Their answer is bounce, kill it after you fed them counters, or just let it sit there while their creatures grow. With great removal,, maube, but 5/5 trample means little when they get fed too much.
15) Mhmm on ranger, scepter, missed a big chance to mention fists of ironwood with soulgorger.
Still, I think all your reviews are great except you need to mention mana more. |
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| Felipe Musco |
![]() Posted: Tue Jul 11, 2006 10:58 pm |
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Joined: 18 May 2006
Posts: 2434
Location: Florianópolis, SC, Brasil
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| Yeah, took me some time to write the card reviews, so I decided to discuss mana in deck-related Article. But thanks for the analysis (I’d have to disagree about Sun’s Bounty, since the only reason I think it’s good is because it’s common, great asset for budget decks), must’ve taken some time to read. And Krovikan Mist with Meloku is KILLER, all those tokens are Illusions! Too bad there’s only absurdly expensive Illusions other than these... |
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| BrianBoitano |
![]() Posted: Wed Jul 12, 2006 12:40 am |
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Joined: 16 Jun 2006
Posts: 124
Location: Houston, TX
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Sun’s Bounty does suck, but it IS strictly better than Sacred Nectar, so at least it’s an upgrade on a normally even-more-sucking card.
Cumulative Upkeep (please don’t abbreviate it cum upkeep, some may find that vulgar  ) can be restrictive as you say, but in limited you will always have plenty of mana to justify the sweet abilities and some cumulative upkeep cards are definitely constructed worthy (Jotun Owl-keeper, for one).
Frostwaker is slow, in the sense that attacking is slow, and Archivist is slow.
The beauty of Frostwaker is not in its speed (Natural Affinity does what it does all at once, and without the restriction), but in its utility. It is repeatable and permanent, two qualities that make this card better than Natural Affinity (except when paired with Pyroclasm as an Armageddon).
Drelnoch is very good, mostly in limited but somewhat in constructed, for exactly the reason you give: they can just take damage, in other words this guy at least 50% of the time reads "4U 3/3 unblockable", and the other 50% of the time it is pure card advantage. Sure it can be removed to nullify the card advantage, but in that case you’re still going 1 for 1, which is card nonadvantageforeitherofyou (there should be a word for that, card neutral-vantage?).
Right, Jokulmorder may have the third highest static power/toughness of all time (just behind Krosan Cloudscraper and completely trumped by Dark Depth’s 20/20 Marit Lage token), but it’s still unplayable, as you say, aside from maybe a blue/white control deck with enough untappers (like Tidewater Minion , Rimewind Taskmage, Call to Arms, etc). Maybe.
True, you can’t use Braid of Fire on Blaze, but you can use it on other Red/Colorless Cumulative Upkeep cards, such as Earthen Goo, Hibernation’s End, Kjeldoran Javenlineer, and my favorite, Magmatic Core! It also halves (or negates, with two Braid of Fires!) the C.U. on Freyalise’s Radiance (if you’re sideboarding) or Survivor of the Unseen (which has one of the best tap: abilities in the set, behind Adarkar Valkyrie and Balduvian Warlord, at least)
Sheltering Ancient is only bad if your opponent has more bounce/removal than you do. It’s neutral by itself, and good if you run more control than them, as the +1/+1 counters can go on a creature you were going to bounce anyway, or one with Faith’s Fetters on it already! |
Last edited by BrianBoitano on Fri Jul 21, 2006 11:35 pm; edited 1 time in total"Not again" -Hans
Hello kind Sir or Madam, I am a polite sig virus. Please put me into your fine and dandy signature so that I might continue to replicate. Thank you for your time. |
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| BrianBoitano |
![]() Posted: Wed Jul 12, 2006 2:06 pm |
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Joined: 16 Jun 2006
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Location: Houston, TX
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Okay I got some more free time, so I’ll comment on the other colors:
Black:
Chilling Shade is indeed one of the best shades there is; The ability is multi-colored friendly, as you noted, it is at that seemingly standard 2C for 1/1 shade, and it has flying added. I agree this will see play, if only in limited. Strictly better than Frozen Shade unless you can’t play Snow lands.
Gristle Grinner is nice in that he has the Husk ability, but the actual sacrificing can be done by someone else, like Husk, Thoughtpicker Witch, Shambling Shell, or even Phyrexian Soulgorger!
I think the service that you’re saying that Gutless Ghoul serves already has a better creature for the job: Thoughtpicker Witch. If you don’t agree, you’ve never played against a Golgari deck using it correctly. Thoughtpicker Witch can buy you more time than 2 life will any day, by ensuring that your opponent doesn’t get that burn spell to kill Savra, or that creature to attack you, or that mana to play that bomb. Thoughtpicker is just plain better at this than Gutless Ghoul IMO, as the smaller body is justified by the smaller casting cost.
I agree about Haakon. Good call on the Rakdos deck, good synergy there.
Sadly, Herald of Leshrac is only decent as a finisher, slower than most finishers at 7cc. The place he shines is 3rd or 4th turn reanimation, via discard (Delirium Skeins comes to mind) and Vigor Mortis using green’s acceleration, but it’s still more effective in an aggro sense to get SSS or Verdant Force. I do agree that it is the right color, but reanimation doesn’t quite care about color anyhow.
I like Void Maw for its utility. As you said, hoses reanimation (although he comes out a little too late for that IMO), you can select which ones come back, he hoses Rakdos Archangel, which is useful, and he has synergy with Husk. My only gripe is he’s expensive at 6cc, but for all he has it’s worth it.
Red:
Braid of Fire: I went over it in post above. Me likey. Red already has lots of acceleration for Marit Lage, like all the mana rituals, so maybe you could make a burn deck with Dark Depths win condition? I know burn doesn’t usually need a win condition, but it’d sure as hell be fun!
Lightning Storm is a bomb in limited, where you draw lots of lands, and your opponent might not think to hold one of theirs into your hand, so... late game super damage! Sadly, the ability to discard doesn’t copy
the spell, just re-target, so countering their copy doesn’t make sense, and neither does your math. It would be 2n+3 damage, where n is the number of lands you discard, so it would take over 10 lands to do your calculated 24 damage. Sorry. Still great synergy with Meloku deck you have.
Green:
A deck built around Allosaurus Rider and some other way to utilize so much land (I’m seeing Vinelasher Kudzu for one!) would be for a good old-fashioned green beats that could give us some suprises!
Borela Centaur- Sigh, poor Grizzly Bears always get "Strictly better" cards printed. This is one of them. Nice 2-filler.
Ophran Viper- Lots have been said about this guy, and it’s all correct. Also makes for a great boost to the Snake Tribe decks out there, who can pump him to crazy levels.
Panglacial Wurm- Fits into that Allosaurus Rider deck, as each time you search for land, you could play him (given enough mana, of course). The only problem is this requires 2 lands for the tutor, and 7 untapped for the Wurm. Green can do it, but not in the first 5 turns at least, especially if you tossed 2 land tutors for the Riders anyhow. Still, decent. I don’t agree with your "Turn 4, TOPS" statement at all. The 7cc is what’s not to love, sorry!
Sheltering Ancient- I’ve already agreed with you on this one in the other post.
Blizzard Specter- You forgot to mention that he’s uncommon, and not quite high on the draft picks, so if you tried you could get 2 of him in a draft deck no problem. Really nice in Limited. Followed Footsteps does work well with him, but works better with some of the other creatures in Coldsnap out there (Allosaurus Rider, anyone?)
Juniper Order Ranger- Right; badass.
Jester’s Scepter- You forgot to mention nostalgia and flavor for the other Jester cards . Nice right after your opponent reorders their library somehow, or places something on top of library (heh. heh. Chimney Imp sees another use! Not really.)
Again I’d like to thank you for doing this, it was very fun to pick through and put in my 2 cents too! |
"Not again" -Hans
Hello kind Sir or Madam, I am a polite sig virus. Please put me into your fine and dandy signature so that I might continue to replicate. Thank you for your time. |
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