The New World Man

I don't know why I didn't see the funny until now. The Magic Lampoon's been publishing for quite a while, providing the "Onion"-style journalistic source to the Magic: The Gathering world.

Here's my current favorite: Rush is now the Official Music of MTG

Magic the Gathering: 99.7% angry loner male, and still going strong! Are they mostly Timmies, Johnnies or Spikes?

Dry, ridiculous, clever comedy gold.

My prerelease experience did not go as planned, but I will save that for another post. Sufice to say, people got sick. And I stayed home to take care of them. I coulda met Mike Turian.

So my Worldwake aquisitions will probably be of a much less random varity as they would have otherwise been. Unless I get one of those tempting fat packs...full of oh so delcious full-art land. It's hard to say no!

More to come later.

Drink it down, clown!

Worldwake is fast becoming a very interesting set indeed. Spoiled about 3 months ago is Everflowing Chalice.

Already, some are comparing this fine artifact to a "poor man's Mind Stone". I would say Everflowing Chalice whatever you need it to be…either a poor man's Sol Ring, or a poor man's Tolarian Academy.

1. If you get it early, it kicks out acceleration

2. If you get it late, it can increase your mana production by FIFTY PERCENT, if you want to devote an entire turn to putting it out.

Practically speaking, everyone has their own metagames they play in. Some folks will want a more focused ability tailored to their exact decks.

 But Everflowing Chalice I see working to make every other card in my deck either faster, more powerful or both. It gets my EDH general out faster. It helps reduce the casting cost of abilities and spells. With Fatestitcher, I can untap and use it again. With Read the Runes I can get more cards, then potentially sacrifice the Chalice to keep one more of them.

Just think how this monster interacts with the other preview card I was looking at…Comet Storm. More targets, more damage, I LOVE it. Mutation Man would be proud.

Looking forward to prerelease, hoping to have 2 Everflowing Chalices (c'mon foil!) in my deck. If you face off against me, you will probably WIN. Good luck to all!

Fire in the Sky

Unless you've been living in a cave (all the hermits in the house say yeah!), you're probably already familiar with the Worldwake prerelease card, Comet Storm.  The better Meteor Shower, the better Fireball, basically the best way to get rid of lots of dorks on the opponent's side of the fence. Wizards has experimented with a lot of these X+Y=Z type spells, and I think so far Comet Storm is definitely the winner.

For EDH, Comet Storm gets even better.  Right now, I like to hit up my fellow participants with a little late game trick called Wildfire. For 6 mana, you get 4 damage to each creature and 4 sacrificed lands per opponent. With Comet Storm, for 6 mana you can get 4 damage directed at a single creature, with each 2 mana you spend afterwards dealing yet another 4 damage to a different creature (or player). In a world where we might have 10 mana (which happens quite often), you can do 4 damage to 3 creatures. With 12, you can do 4 damage to 4 creatures. In a pinch, it can really just be a bad Fireball, doing 8 damage to a single creature for 10 mana.

Did I say BAD Fireball? Despite the increased mana cost, there's one thing that knocks Comet Storm out of the park regardless of how you use it. Instant Speed! That means you can send out the pain during the declare blockers phase, the declare attackers phase, or the always-popular end-of-your turn phase.

People are already starting to predict that Worldwake is going to be the MOST BROKEN SET EVAR. Of course, they do this for every set. But I can kind of see it this time, after all even I can appreciate a card that's good no matter when you draw it. Beginning of the game……awesome. End of the game…awesome. Multikicker is always just what you need. And the man lands look good, too.

Rest assured, I will be at prerelease with bells on. And it's not just because I like bells (bells are awesome). It will be to get my cheeto-stained hands on a delicious Comet Storm. See you there!

Tapping and Untapping

For Christmas, one of the very thoughful gifts I received was a Zendikar Intro Pack, specifically "Pumped Up". To everyone out there(me, mostly), Intro Packs are pretty fun to open up. I didn't get a Black Lotus in the included booster pack, which I had sort of envisioned, but one of the cards definitely gave me ideas...specifically the foil Hellkite Charger featured on the front of the box.

Hellkite Charger has some interesting text: "untap all attacking creatures" which got me thinking again about pit-fighting wizards and my Niv-Mizzet EDH deck. There's nothing better than wizards coming in for the beat down…then untapping and coming in again! Magus of the Arena's got your number, pal(hopefully Loxodon Brokenhammer in hand)!

In a real no-rules street fight, I imagine a Wizard discarding his useless wand for something akin to a broken-off table leg. Perhaps a slightly enchanted table leg, hexxed with whatever the inebriated mind can most come up with in short notice before the beats start coming. Rune of Bashing, or Mark of Haymaker.

But sometimes a Wizard will be just shrewd enough to use his god-given magical powers to indeed smite from afar. Even better than wizards drop-kicking some punks I enjoy the idea of them blasting the crap out of things...which (you know, the usual crowd of "pingers") they have to tap for.

BUT!

Hellkite Charger unfortunately only untaps attackers, and this really seems like a poor limitation. From beating to blasting and back to beating again, I want my wizards untapping fresh for more damage-doing, so I decided to do a search over at magiccards.info (the best lil' ol' magic card search engine EVER) to see what I could come up with.

One of the best I found was Aggravated Assault. A typical red "berserker" card with hidden deeper implications if ever I saw one. You've probably already fully explored this card, but I was blown away by it all anew.

1. You untap all creatures you control (not your opponents!) regardless of attacking status.
2. You get another attacking phase, as well as a main phase to do more damage in
3. You can use Aggravated Assault as many times as you want just by paying the activation cost: 5 mana each which in EDH will eventually provide at least 2 activations, guaranteed!

Breaking Wave seems like a good card to cast right after you declare attackers, but before your opponent declares blockers. So you get to attack and blast all at the same time. This is basically the Hellkite Charger's ability, but Breaking Wave also allows you to untap non-attackers, which is slightly better. What makes it WORSE is that it's not a repeatable ability. I like repeatable abilities.

Faces of the Past seems particularly good because

1. All of the creatures are wizards, fufilling the tribe-centric part of the ability.
2. There is no mana cost so you can do it again and again at the cost of 1 dead wizard. Hey, wizards know all about the circle of life, particularly chaff "comes into play" guys...talk about expendable.
3. My EDH deck has plenty of sac outlets, and is always looking for more. I love sacrificing creatures.
4. It's a pretty low casting cost, I imagine being able to cast this and go off with it in the same turn.

Insurrection has the same untapping function bolted onto a mass steally power everyone is probably already familiar with. Sheldon Menery LOVES this card, and there is little reason to see why not in a game where you are guaranteed to eventually reach it's massive mana cost.

Riptide Chronologist offers the same power of Faces of the Past in a creature. But non-repeatable...and costing a massive 5 mana for a 1/3! Thanks and no-thanks, this is not a dude I am interested in.

Intruder Alarm is a well-known combo enabler when used with creatures coming into play. It works best in a deck built around it, where you can put creatures into play (I'm looking at you, Elves!) and tap them for mana to then cast/draw more creatures. Doesn't tickle my wizard-bone in quite the same way as some of the ther cards.

The last card I wanted to mention is a bit of a doozy, just because it contains so many ways to win. The card is, of course, Savage Beating. "Creatures you control gain double strike until end of turn; or untap all creatures you control and after this phase, there is an additional combat phase." And it has Entwine.

I see this as either a weak 1-use untapping ability like Breaking Wave, or else a card that basically just wins the game with attacking wizards. Versatile enough I have determined I must get it and use it in all its ways. Plus it's called SAVAGE BEATING.

If there's nothing pit-fighting wizards love more, it's a Savage Beating.

Food for thought!

A Budget Zoo

Using the cards you have at hand always leads to unusual deckbuilding experiences. At this stage in the game, I refuse to go running to the singles store every time I have an idea, since I already have plenty of deck material that never actually went into the decks I envisioned.

What do you call a mishmash of ingredients from across the space-time of magic? When the deck is mostly creatures, you call it a Zoo. I call my new deck the Zeke Zoo.

None of the cards are particularly good, but I'm planning on seeing just how far I can weave the synergies. The deck started with 4 Wooly Thoctars, which I thought were the cat's pajamas when Shards of Alara came out.

Cats love pajamas.

I also had 4 Balefire Lieges in my shoe box from when I was going to make a red/white deck in Eventide.

Remember when everybody was oohing and aaahing over Balefire Liege? "This thing is just going to break magic wide open," they said. "A reusable Lightning Helix on a stick," they said. "What was R&D thinking?"

Finally, I had a FULL playset of a little junk rare called Ashling's Perogative. I read a strategy article somewhere once upon a time that used this card…the secret being you had to construct your deck's mana curve a little funky to make sure you have either entirely odd or even casting-cost creatures.

Regarding Ashling's Perogative, I have a theory that the most disruptive choice to set the enchantment to is "odd" since today's decks seem to be full of 2 drops.

So I put these cards together, and what I got seems pretty good. To fill out my 1 drops, I packed the deck with Wild Nacatyls, Araksan Squires, Lightning Bolts and Kird Apes. The deck starts out very fast, and if the game draws out, the Balefire Liege comes down and all of a sudden just about every spell has card advantage built into it.

Did I mention with an Ashling's perogative set to "odd" every creature in my deck has haste? This seems pretty powerful as well.

It's no "Naya Lightsaber," but turns can be surprisingly explosive. With the Leige, Lightning Bolts turn into cheap Lightning Bursts. Woolly Thoctars give you the full Lightning Helix. And add a Lightning Helix to get TWO Lightning Helixes. 12 total life point swing. Yep.

I suppose the Balefire Leiges are in reality too slow. In a fight with the "big boys" I would get steam rolled before I could get the whole crazy system on-line.

But its still very fun. And awesome. And awesomely fun.




So, the next time you are itching to make a deck, see just what you have lying around before you start clicking on your favorite online card store.

Later!

Check out http://mtgurl.com/kEHH

The Ins and Outs of Ixidron

Oh, Ixidron. I could never stay mad at you.

"As Ixidron enters play" strange and terrible things happen. Never to be cast willie-nillie, Ixidron can do as much damage to your cause as he can swing things in your favor. At the end of a long game, when your brow is soaked in sweat and you hold victory in your grasp, Ixidron is most likely to find some way to ruin everything.

It is important to remember Ixidron behaves less like a creature and more like a sweeper. Instead of some freaky illusion dude, think of him as a three-way cross (pretty gross) between Wrath of God, Humility and Mogg Infestation. All creatures become 2/2 type-less "morph shells" without the ability to ever return to their empowered selves.

Despite the second ability, Ixidron will never get very big. And he gets even smaller. He will shrink every turn as your pissed-off fellow participants hammer your defenses with the flailing riff-raff you've left them with. You either block, or you let them through. I suggest you block.

This method of creature destruction has a couple of unusual benefits. First, creatures are not removed from the battlefield straight away. In EDH, this can wrap up an opponent's general for a couple of turns. It can also keep safe some of the more unusual "goes to graveyard" abilities like the Kamigawa Spirit Dragons. And it even clobbers those indestructible creepies you occasionally run into.

Another interesting aspect of Ixidron is the way the ability is worded. "As Ixidron enters play" rather than "when Ixidron enters play." Standard players have already discovered the difference between these two terms playing against Iona, Shield of Emeria. Creatures are forced to flip over before Ixidron touches the battlefield, and prevents ALL other "when a creature enters the battlefield" triggers.

To be honest, Ixidron MIGHT be a bad card. He has certainly screwed things up for me more often than he has saved things. But considering my play ability, he could just have a bad pilot. The kind of pilot who gets sort of forgetful towards  the landing portion of the flight.

Don't play him when he's going to be the only creature on the board. Don't play him when you have 1 creature and your opponent has 1 creature. Unless that creature is like Akroma or something. Did I mention Ixidron makes good creatures into really bad ones?

And when you lay it all out on paper like this, he really does sound good. Perhaps what I've encountered so far is bad luck. So I'll wait a while to see if I get lucky.

One fact is indisputable…when you do plop him down on the battlefield, absolute chaos always descends.

And by chaos I mean FUN. And by fun, of course, I mean chaos.

The Bad Cards in My Deck

Electrolyze. The card's is in my deck. The card is red. The card is blue. My EDH deck plays those colors. Seems a natural fit. But how useful is this multi-colored instant?

I've never drawn it. Not in any of the games I've played. I only noticed it the other day when I was tearing apart my deck and saw it in my 3 casting cost pile. Afterward, it kept springing up in my mind. Do I want this card? Would I even know what to do I drew it?

3 mana, for 2 points of damage and a cantripping "draw a card" at the end.

In a regular game of Magic, there's always a use for Electrolyze. If your opponent is playing little mana dorks, this gets rid of TWO of them. It zaps all sorts of little creatures and maintains your card count while doing it.

But in EDH, the creatures all seem a lot bigger. Unless one of the participants is playing Merieke Ri Berit, you probably have a lot less targets. In fact a lot of permanents are going to be able to shrug off a Lightning Bolt, let alone a lil' 'ol Electrolyze.

My snap judgement will be that this is a Bad Card for EDH.

But I'm not taking it out. It must be drawn. At least once. Like a puppy, I must have my face rubbed in my mistakes before the learning process can begin. And, no, I would never do that to a dog. Dogs don't even play magic.