The General Magic: The Gathering Thread

[Alex Steacy]

Thats a very good beginner deck you have there. Its full of 1-ofs, but you've got plenty of good low drops, ramp and then fatties for your late game. Good jorb!

[Ottoman]

Considering going to a New Phyrexia pre-release event on the 8th or 9th. Looks pretty fun, but £25 is pretty steep...

You should. For one, you'll get to see some of the regulars and get an idea of how good your local Magic community is. If the people are nice, then you'll have a fun time and probably make some new friends, which is all kinds of good. If instead you find that the community there is. . . lacklustre (as happened with me), then at least you'll know that for future reference. And either way, it's a good experience to play in a tournament at least once.

The price may seem steep at first, but of that USD$30, more than two-thirds is just paying for the booster packs you get to build your deck; plus, you get the promo card, which might net you a few bucks down the line. So, in the end, you're not paying all that much just to participate in the tournament.

The one piece of advice I can offer you if you decide to go is to bring a friend. You'll probably have much more fun that way.

[Cybren]

AND NOW CYBREN MUSES WHAT HE WANTS TO PLAY IN STANDARD WHEN ZENDIKAR ROTATES

So with Innistrad, Zendikar block is rotating out. that's a 110% chance of no more Jace in standard. Losing stoneforge too means caw blade is probably gone.

Seeing as my current standard deck (that i wish I could have played in actual events but i have literally zero time to do so, as my game store only does constructed on monday, the fuckers) is RDW, i can probably come up with something to do with Koth even if I lose guide and geopede. But...

I have three ideas i'd rather try out.

Grand Architect. I happen to have four of them anyway, on a whim i said wait i can totally get all mana curvy with blue dudes and play a huge artifact. Google search later shows that's a real deck. I like the idea and there's plenty of ways to build it, so that's fun.

Tempered Steel: what's more fun than killing someone with an ornithopter? Plus, they're printing a Swords to Plowshare that requires metal craft in NPH. Who doesn't want swords?

White quest: What's more fun tahn killing someone with an ornithopter? Killing someone with a 6/6 ornithopter that vindicates when it attacks.

Mono Green: Leatherback Baloth is too absurdly costed not to play. Thrun is my favorite legendary creature of all time. (HE'S THE LAST TROLL! THERE'S NO MORE!!!!). Green can get the mana to use the new karn fastest. Between the new green pongify, and his exiling a creature, i'll be laughing all the way to the bank on their titans.

[Ollie, don'tcha know!]

Yeah I'm gonna go with at least one other person in my Magic group.

Also, is there any kind of intrinsic disadvantage to Artifact Creatures? I was thinking about swapping out a Tangle Spider or Yavimaya Wurm for a Wurmcoil Engine (or two, depending on how many there are in out spares pile), but the Wurmcouil Engine seems almost too good to be true. Especially for the same mana cost as the other 6 mana creatures

[Ottoman]

They're affected by a lot more spells and abilities (both those that target creatures and those that target artefacts); of course, depending on the circumstances, that can be good or bad. For straight-up advantages, they can block anything with intimidate, and. . . are colourless, I guess. For disadvantages, in general, an artefact creature will tend to be a bit less good than its non-artefact counterpart at whatever it does.

If an artefact seems too good to be true, keep in mind that artefacts from both Mirrodin blocks were puposefully made a bit better than they should be (either cheaper or bumped down a rarity level) because of the artefact-heavy nature of the sets. And, some cards are just unbalanced.

[Robert Merlow]

Tempered Steel: what's more fun than killing someone with an ornithopter? Plus, they're printing a Swords to Plowshare that requires metal craft in NPH. Who doesn't want swords?

Tempered Steel is pretty wonderful in standard, especially with the Etched Champion leading the charge.

I'm pretty excited for Melira, Sylvok Outcast. I likes the infect, but I like shutting it down even more. I just love the idea of no infect on the field when playing against infect decks.

@Ollie: With a card like Wurmcoil Engine, it is a mythic for a reason. a 6/6 Lifelink and Deathtouch that splits into 2 3/3s (one with each of the respective abilities) means that it is an expensive card in terms of purchasing it. I only have 1 in my possession, and it is quite the face-destroyer. I think I may run it in my artifact deck...

[Yaxley]

White quest: What's more fun tahn killing someone with an ornithopter? Killing someone with a 6/6 ornithopter that vindicates when it attacks.

I agree, but wouldn't Quest for the Holy Relic be rotating out?

[theDreamer]

Things to do to an opponent's wurmcoil:

Mind Control it.

Exile it.

Return it to hand repeatedly.

I think I've done all three.

Nothing pisses off someone more than shutting down their "lol!" card.

...Oh, I also just got memoricide.

:>

[Trymantha]

AND NOW CYBREN MUSES WHAT HE WANTS TO PLAY IN STANDARD WHEN ZENDIKAR ROTATES

So with Innistrad, Zendikar block is rotating out. that's a 110% chance of no more Jace in standard. Losing stoneforge too means caw blade is probably gone.

you do realize they have changed up the planeswalker line up for the core set so jace 2.0 may be in m12 (other changes made are Sorin and Gideon in place of Liliana and Ajanmi)

[Alex Steacy]

Despite going down to all sorts of removal (just like any other creature), Wurmcoil is REALLY REALLY GOOD. Most opponents will not be happy to see it on the table.

[theDreamer]

Despite going down to all sorts of removal (just like any other creature), Wurmcoil is REALLY REALLY GOOD. Most opponents will not be happy to see it on the table.

Well, wurmcoil is one of those cards that it's great if you get to use it as is, but it also pulls shit tons of aggro, leaving them defenseless for something else later.

[Cybren]

1) That's irght, forgot about quest
2) there's no way JMS is getting reprinted in 2012. They had to write an entire article justifying not banning him. It's not happening. (i hope)
3) Wurmcoil can come out turn 3 in Grand Architect. ALSO: I totally have three of them

[RobertMc123]

I was wondering if the xbox arcade version is a worthwhile version of the game, I would like to get into the game but there is nowhere to play it in Glasgow so the next best thing is the video game I suppose.

[SilentBobCDN]

Wizards says theres one place in Glasgow

[Lyinginbedmon]

Okay, so:

• Clearwater Goblet
• Fabricate
• Golem Foundry
• Mystic Speculation
• Titan Forge

All cards to investigate for improving my Myr deck, but I'm also curious about Magma Jet (1R, instant, 2 damage to creature or player, Scry 2) and Eyes of the Watcher (2U, enchantment, pay 1 when playing an instant or sorcery to Scry 2) as additional searching material. Thoughts?

[theDreamer]

Scry 2 is fantastic.

Either works well.

Also titan forge sucks. You only get 1 9/9 a turn. Golem Foundry gives you infinite a turn.

[Ollie, don'tcha know!]

I was wondering if the xbox arcade version is a worthwhile version of the game, I would like to get into the game but there is nowhere to play it in Glasgow so the next best thing is the video game I suppose.

When me and my friend's got into Magic, we downloaded the demo to learn some basic rules and see if we liked it before buying any cards, but it really doesn't compare to playing with actual cards.

[Lyinginbedmon]

Either one can be fired off with a live Coretapper in a turn, but Golem Foundry can be used multiple times, yes, for a number of 3/3s. But it's true utility comes when I can get an infinite loop running with Coretapper around, whereas Titan Forge, whilst only 1/turn at best, gives me a very useful 9/9 each time, rather than a 3/3 or a couple of 3/3s on average outside the loop, so it remains useful if, say, someone plays Counterbore on my Galvanizers.

An analysis, then. Outside of our Myr Galvanizer loop (which quickly shows Golem Foundry as very good, because infinite 1/1s is useful, let alone infinite 3/3s, it's a general rule infinite anything is good), the best extant way of getting 3 counters on something turn by turn is Coretapper and Myr Reservoir, tapping and sacrificing the Coretapper for 3 counters total then fetching it back with Myr Reservoir and replaying it.

Now, in that situation, which is better? Well, turn by turn I get either a 3/3 Golem or a 9/9 Golem.

[Kag]

it remains useful if, say, someone plays Counterbore on my Galvanizers

On the other hand, if they counterbore your coretappers, it's as good as doing it to Titan Forge as well, since at that point it's pretty much useless.

[aeric90]

NPH Spolier is UP!

http://www.wizards.com/magic/tcg/article.aspx?x=mtg/tcg/newphyrexia/spoiler#

[theDreamer]

BEST.

BLIGHTSTEEL COUNTER.

EVER.

Darksteel Relic is hilarious. The perfect card for metalcrafters who are adamant about not having phyrexian cards in their deck (it costs zero and does nothing but be indestructible).

[aeric90]

I love this one.


These are going to be in Myr decks for certain.

[theDreamer]

Yeah.

God I just love this set.

So many sweet cards.

[Yaxley]

I love this one.


These are going to be in Myr decks for certain.

Shoot, that might be going in my Elves deck.

[Ottoman]

All the Mirran cards are so cool. This guy?

Cutest metallic little bastard ever, amirite? And I can't wait to see the art for Hover Myr.

Even though I probably won't be using them, the Praetors (p'tooie) are really great, too. Jin-Gitaxias and Vorinclex especially are just stupidly fun.