Plus One Plus One Counters

So the Bloodthirst mechanic is definitely coming to the new Core Set.

Time to talk critically about it, yet?

One direction bloodthirst development was well explored in Ravnica block was making your vanilla creatures bigger. The "Gruul" clan, represented by the red/green color combination, were all beserkers anyway so bigger beatsticks usually suited them well.

A few of them were more tricksy. Burning-Tree Bloodscale was surprisingly powerful, getting bigger while using a powerful reverse-imp ability to get rid of weaker utility creatures.

Few of the original Gruul cards would be what you would call "clever" cards. Now that the Core Set will be presenting Bloodthirst from a non-Gruul perspective, I'm hoping to see two exciting innovations.

1) Bloodthirst in colors other than red and green. Can all colors be made to fit the battle-hungry "bloodthirst" mechanic?  I personally think so. Definitely in white, black or green. Blue? Typically not hungry for battle…unless they make a cycle!

2) Bloodthirst abilities that do things other than make a creature better in combat.

The heart of Bloodthirst is putting +1/+1 counters on your creatures. You do that by causing damage, usually by attacking. If you are attacking, you must already be doing ok in the creature department, being either faster, bigger or smarter than your non-blocking opponent. Particularly if they know you are running Bloodthirst in your deck.

Getting a bigger creature after you already successfully attacked is somewhat like giving the mouse a cookie because he doesn't have anything to go with his milk. He gets his cookie, but only through a weird and unnatural progression of events.

What I want to see more of are cards similar to the often neglected Skarrgan Skybreaker.

I've been trying to build decks out of him for a long, long time.

Not only do you get a big creature, you also get a powerful board-wiping ability. Smash in with the Skybreaker, and if things get crazy you can always blow up the board and start over with some more creatures (hopefully with bloodthirst enabled!).

I even had a combo worked up using Deathrender where I could kill my current creature, play a Skybreaker for free, and then blow him up to clear the board.

My problem, eventually, was the cost and the inconvenience. Compare Skybreaker with the more commonly found Bloodfire Colossus.

With the Skybreaker you are paying one less mana stretched across two different colors. And you have to enable Bloodthirst to get maximum value out of the Skybreaker!

Or, for 7 mana in Red you can just cast a helpful instant called Inferno which we've had since The Dark.

One of my favorite red cards from recent sets was Ashling the Pilgrim. Gets bigger and bigger, can eventually be exploded into a sweeper. 2 to cast, ability is a further 2. That's how we should be doing Bloodthirst, Wizards.

And while we are on it, let's do something like Bloodhusk Ritualist. Only instead of multikicker, he would have Bloodthirst. Now that's card advantage! I already have the deck to put it in.

Jesper Myfors Spotlight: Basalt Monolith

Well, I've been drawing pretty heavy from the well o' New Phyrexia lately.

So you know what time it is…

Exhibit A, Basalt Monolith!

Basalt Monolith is a card that went from being a very boring never-run to having a much more useful second life in the EDH scene.

Back in the high school cafeteria days, Basalt Monolith looked BAD. There's no getting around it. Revised had a lot of "strickly worse" cards just to develop the new magic-playing community's then-infantile card appraisal powers. In the case of the Monolith, this guy had to square off against Mana Vault, Sol Ring and even the occasional Mana Crypt. We knew the difference. 

True, Basalt Monolith provided a big 3-mana bump…next turn! The others gave you instant mana acceleration which was far more powerful. And in a world where originally a deck with 4 Sol Rings was not uncommon, there was just no room.

Now, lets look at EDH. The other mana sources I mention are still pretty good, and they are all perfectly legal in EDH. But the power curve in most 100-card decks definitely leans further upward toward the "6-and-above" range, which make Basalt Monolith MUCH more attractive. You will love it the first time you are able to slide your General right back into play after he gets slapped by some miscreant's poorly-aimed removal.

And they can easily be found! Unlike Sol Rings which you have to fight bears over, if you know anyone who played in the revised era they likely have 6 of these and don't even know it. Just take a look through the shoeboxes in the back of their closet.

And also unlike Sol Ring, Basalt Monolith's art was the responsibility of one Jesper Myfors. It showcases his ability to paint jungle trees (they are happy trees!), two different shades of sky, and even a large grey object. It may not look like much, but as far as Magic: the Gathering is concerned this was the first attempt to depict a large mana-producing object in a clearing.

Once Myfors broke the ground, the fresh, rich soil he churned quickly sprouted other more amazing Artifacts. Who still, by the way, don't hold a candle to simply tapping for a massive 3 colorless mana.

And it generates infinite colorless mana with Rings of Brighthearth.

You're welcome.



P.S. Like this post? Visit one of my sponsors. If I had sponsors. Actually this reminds me to go check to see if I have adsense enabled. You never know what advertising those crazy google guys might try to sneak in next.

Another Welder

Hot on the heels of the Conversion Chamber, I just now stumbled across Myr Welder. Apparently someone in R&D really hates artifacts in people's graveyards. Because here is another nice little critter that sucks them out!

Unlike most imprint cards like Mimic Vat, Myr Welder can imprint and "use" as many artifact cards as he can get ahold of. Hopefully one of the first ones he imprints is Jhoira's Toolbox.

Even if he kicks the bucket, hopefully you've removed a few graveyard options in the meantime. Similar to Spellskite, Myr Welder benefits from a defense of 4, making casual sweepers ineffective. Opponents will have to switch to the big guns.

And it will really only take one juicy removal of a combo piece (Crucible of Worlds, Thopter Foundry) for Myr Welder to pay for the investment. There are worse things to have in your deck!

Gideon: The Animated Series

Wizards forks over a lot more money for card art than they once did.

What do you do after you've assigned all that great art to cards? Animate it and make a promo for the new Planeswalker 2012 game!

Probably won't see any of the trailer stuff in the game, but I for one am still impressed. And very excited for the new core set. Again.

There is very little I wouldn't convert to a Golem, given the chance

Graveyard removal is one of the more essential weapons in a slow-moving EDH game. A stalemate allows your opponents to start recurring their shenanigans into infinite loops of spite and malice. Slowly sapping your strength and purity of essence. Surprise and fear are never enough.

Phyrexian Furnace, Tormod's Crypt, and Relic of Progenitus are the staples I have seen used to combat graveyard-born threats.

Conversion Chamber is ready to help fill the graveyard-hate hole. It doesn't go after everything. But it does go after artifacts, a full 50% of the payload of annoying recurring permanents you're liable to run into in a typical game.

What I didn't realize until just now is Conversion Chamber requires only a single charge counter to operate. Removing 1 artifact card plus 4 mana paid over 2 turns gives you a 3/3 Golem…which feels like an incredibly efficient way to crank out Golems. Every other turn!

Only a couple sets back, didn't they give us Golem Foundry? Which costs 3 mana +3 artifact spells successfully cast? THREE artifact spells…and none of them better be countered!

Heck, my Malfegor EDH deck dumps cards into the graveyard just for fun. Imagine how many Golems I can crank out using my own refuse! Then each opponent you add to the game racks up the power that much more.

Conversion Chamber makes 1 Golem per card removed from the graveyard. 1 for 1. Normally, the cost on a card like this would be to sacrifice an artifact. In play. But instead we are screwing around with used-up artifacts already in the grumper. Imagine what happens when you combine this card with a casual Modular deck. The last time I saw something like this it was on the receiving end of a Rift Elemental pulling counters off a Deep-Sea Kraken.

Time to make the Golems.

Spotlight on Spellskite

So…one thing the New Phyrexia set has given us is Spellskite.

For 2 mana you get an 0/4 artifact creature, with the ability to change the target of a spell or ability to itself.

I really started thinking based on the latest Cranial Insertion column, from which we can gather a very important obstacle to our Spellskite-based mayhem.

"Spellskite can only redirect a target of a spell or ability if it could be legally targeted by that spell or ability."

So there are some pretty serious limits. For instance, as the article points out, you can't redirect the equip ability of an opponent's equipment artifact because your Spellskite is not a valid target. Unlike Willbender or Goblin Flectormancer, Spellskite only draws the pain to itself, not to any other unfortunate permanent. In this case, its a little more like Muck Drubb.

Let's go over a few other interesting bits about Spellskite.

1) Spellskite is a creature. He can be targeted by spells and abilities that target creatures.

2) Spellskite is a artifact. He can be targeted by spells and abilities that target artifacts.

3) Spellskite is a permanent. He can be targeted by spells and abilities that target permanents.

All three of these points matter a great deal to the casual EDH metagame. A dangerous place, where people are constantly going after your creatures, artifacts or permanents mostly in spectacular ways.

"But what about enchantments?" you might ask.

If a spell says "target enchantment" you are completely out of luck to redirect it to Spellskite. UNLESS the spell also happens to sneak "creature," "artifact" or "permanent" in there. What are the chances?

In EDH, the school of thought for removal is indeed "the more far-reaching, the better." Optimal deck builds typically go for higher-cost removal that affects a broader variety of things.

So what cards does Spellskite work on?

Qasali Pridemage would really like to blow up your back-breaking enchantment. But instead, it always seems to target your Spellskite…why does it hate Spellskite so much?

Acidic Slime would really like to blow up your Jace when it enters the battlefield. But for some reason it really hates your Spellskite instead.

Pillage. Vindicate. Oblivion Ring. Ethersworn Adjudicator. Mortify. Beast Within.

If someone is playing with Pyroblast (but not Red Elemental Blast) you can redirect it onto your Spellskite with impunity.

Ajani Vengeant's tapping ability is suddenly drawn to Spellskite. And if the Skite is already tapped, Ajani Vengent can go ahead and try to tap him again. Tap Tap Tap. If he uses his "3 damage" ability…it goes right to the Spellskite. If he "destroys all lands"…

You're screwed. 

But the first 2 are pretty good!

Amber Prison. Angel of Despair. Archon of Justice. Argentum Armor. Avarice Totem (just keep redirecting the ability!) and of course Ulamog.

Most of the spells you see are chosen because of their versatility. And that versatility means a good chance to be able to target Spellskite. And then if you have a way to recur your artifact horror, you can keep doing it forever. Because the ability can be used whenever you want, however many times you want, and it can be paid for with blue mana or just 2 life.

All Auras (except for the ones placed with abilities like Zur and Academy Rector, boo!) target initially when they are cast. For the same reason you can't put an Aura on a shrouded creature, so too can your opponent be forced to put the Aura on Spellskite.

Finally, Spellskite does have a rather large "behind" of 4. Very important, because simple burn (which occasionally surfaces) can be safely redirected without too much harm.

So while Willbender might be able to save you from Door to Nothingness, Spellskite can save virtually any important permanent from many kinds of destructive or obstructive effects. For very little cost.

I might just have to hunt this one down.

P.S. I love Muck Drubb, you haters.

Phantasmal Sphere vs. more than one opponent

May 2011's Rules Update bulletin has given me the idea to talk about Phantasmal Sphere. Especially since no one will be talking about Master of Arms ever again, I imagine.

Ahem. I have all sorts of arguments I could bring up about Tabak's rule changes regarding the first, unnamed, Gerrard. First of all would be this…who in their right mind would ever use Master of Arms if they did not know the previous Oracle wording? He uses the theoretical situation of two fresh new players, completely removed from the Internet, playing with a sack full of penny commons and uncommons they just picked up from the bulk bin at Hot Comics. Well, I say those players are going to be pretty unnerved trying to figure out the point of tapping a blocking creature in the first place. "Wait…your creature is already defending…I don't understand how this helps." They will probably assume a tapped creature no longer blocks, much like how I and many others thought for the longest time that any creature who becomes untapped is no longer attacking…thanks Maze of Ith.

ANYWAY.

I was talking about Phantasmal Sphere.

This card is getting slightly nerfed, too, but I'm willing to accept that since the card does indeed say "target opponent" in a world where the word "target" was invoked far less then intended to begin with.

Phantasmal Sphere is, believe it or not, the evolution of the ooze. It still gets +1/+1 counters, but this one has the advantage of flying. It is also not technically an ooze. I would take this over, say, Primordial Ooze any day of the week.

So it's not technically a good card. The traditional thought is to combine the Sphere with cards like Ion Storm and Power Conduit as a cheap source of counters. Which you can do. People have done this.

But you're going to run into some problems. Especially from an EDH perspective, you might have trouble finding enough abilities to benefit off this creature before it goes "poof". And this is only one single flying 0/1 creature in your entire 99 card deck, after-all. How much effort do you want to put into making this guy fit?

We are also dealing with the nasty fact that Phantasmal Sphere gives an opponent a free flying "Orb" no matter how it dies. Any sort of removal will result in you losing your costly-to-maintain Sphere and someone else getting a free-as-sin floating Orb to play with the rest of the match.

Ugh.

So lets wash our minds out with soap for a second and look at this Sphere with a completely fresh perspective.

What if we just played with it as the card-designers intended? Let's look at Phantasmal Sphere in a vacuum.

Stage 1: You cast a 0/1 creature for 2 mana. It has flying. Every turn, it gets another +1/+1 counter and you have to pay an extra mana during your upkeep step.

If you manage to get the Sphere down on your first or second turn, this might be enough to hold your opponents at bay for a little while. It flies, it can block little bitty attackers, you can even throw equipment on it.

But after a while, you are going to get really sick of paying extra mana. Especially once you have the cards to execute your Master Plan, but the stupid Sphere upkeep is preventing you from developing your board.

So inevitably, we have to move on to:

Stage 2: The Phantasmal Sphere DIES. It happens. It's going to happen. There's no way to stop it. That puppy is going to get sacrificed, Doom Bladed, killed in combat, what have you. Your imagination and the imagination of your opponents is the only limit to the calamity that will eventually befall your Sphere.

You can't prevent it, but its important to accept this situation from the correct perspective. And the first and only rule of Stage 2 Phantasmal Sphere is this…Don't be a victim.

You knew and planned for this all along. It says it right on the card. You may even be welcoming this event if you have some good cards in your hand to spend mana on.

So don't be a victim and remember that in a multiplayer game you can CHOOSE which opponent you give the Orb to. Instead of an opportunity to lose an Orb, look at this as an opportunity to gain a friend. Preferably a friend who is in peril.

Remember that if you do the sacrificing, you can even make Phantasmal Sphere into a combat trick. Dump him into your Greater Gargadon, and give your most non-threatening opponent an instant flying blocker they can use to get rid of something nasty.

The Orb might be a 2/3, a 4/5 or even a 5/6 at this point. It might be enough to help, while not necessarily giving your opponent a "winning edge" that might come back to bite you.

Now there are probably better ways to do this. Forbidden Orchard comes to mind, as well as the Phelddagrifs. The Orb is bigger and better, and it fits into more decks. And you might just stumble across it as you sift through the slush bin at your local Hot Comics.

Budget, combined with Unconventional Thinking, quickly leads to an Awesome EDH deck. Take that, Matt Tabak. I guess.