The General Magic: The Gathering Thread

[dackwards d]

Oooh. That makes a lot of sense actually. Cool.

[theDreamer]

I think I should replace Elvish Visionary for Gitixian Probe...

Also: I don't own most of these cards, and none of the really expensive ones, I just like theory crafting, and think this is a hilarious deck for both Modern and Legacy.

[tamaness]

maybe add one of these?

[theDreamer]

Not really useful.

By 6 mana, I should have already blown up their land and all future land, Glissa can only destroy artifacts once a turn so the liquimetal coating is fine for that, and I don't benefit from my stuff being an artifact (which hopefully my stuff will be all that is left).

[Lyinginbedmon]

Lattice is a bit pricey at 6 mana, probably best to incorporate Geosurge and Druid of the Anima to get some high-level mana ramp for it.

[dackwards d]

oops, wrong thread. anyhoo, i think i'd prefer the elves over the probe - nice to have a blocker out on the field just in case it takes a little long to get the combo out. then again, forewarning of any counterspells/ artifact destruction... I'd probably keep the elves though.

[theDreamer]

Yes and Yes.

DEBT: Damage, Enchant/Equip, Block, Target

These things cannot be done by something you have protection from.

Destroy and "force you to block" do not appear there.

In regards to Lying: I so don't see that helping the deck I've designed, at all.

You could build it red/green and throw in lots of destroy artifact/destroy land to follow/lead to splinter, but RUG is too risky.

[Volafortis]

Just picked up an Alliances and Innistrad pack at a random Collectables store. Got a Force of Will and Snapcaster Mage.

The funny thing? I actually don't need either, it's my 5th Force, and my 7th Snapcaster, lol.

[Lyinginbedmon]

My Darksteel Plates and Karn finally arrived, so now my goblin deck can start fending against Predator Ooze shenanigans

[Geoff_B]

Karn as in "I'll just restart the game if things aren't going my way"?

[the_lone_bard]

Geoff, you'd hate my commander deck. It's lead by Child of alara.

[Geoff_B]

So it wipes the board? Doesn't sound as bad as battling through a few hours only to have Karn say "Nope, we're starting again" and give you a load of cards just to add insult to injury. We're talking about Karn Liberated right?

[whyarecarrots]

The guys at LRR have revitalized a long dormant interest in Magic for me (long story short, I played it for like two months way back during the Invasion cycle). I've got Duels of the Planeswalker 2012 on my PS3 and I was wondering if anyone's tried out the DLC for it. If so, was it worth it?

I have also recently got into Magic properly* (again, thank you LRR). Duels of the Planeswalkers DLC is pretty good. The Knight deck seems to be a bit overpowered in the context of the other decks. The white-red soldier deck is fun to play, as is Trinity of Elements, but that one is a bit terrible. Can't speak for the others as I haven't really played them.

I've just bought and started playing with the deck I bought: as I'm not at all bothered by playing Standard really I bought Way of the Warrior from Champions of Kamigawa. Pretty standard White Weenie but I'm enjoying it. Am now thinking about adding to the deck, and would be really grateful for any advice anybody can give:
http://www.mtgvault.com/ViewDeck.aspx?DeckID=312316

*and as a result I've logged back into the forums for the first time in several years

[Lyinginbedmon]

So it wipes the board? Doesn't sound as bad as battling through a few hours only to have Karn say "Nope, we're starting again" and give you a load of cards just to add insult to injury. We're talking about Karn Liberated right?

We are indeed, this being a Standard deck. Karn can appear from my Steacy Special goblins as early as turn 3, allowing him to deal with the Predator Ooze popularity that Red has a lot of trouble dealing with at the moment.

[Geoff_B]

So you bring him out, start exiling the oozes, then if things go wrong, trigger his ultimate, restart the game and bring the oozes back under your control?

How much did that set you back?

[Lyinginbedmon]

A little over £10, but it gives the deck some much needed removal and longevity.

[Geoff_B]

And the opponent some much needed headaches no doubt.

[Lyinginbedmon]

Oh yeah, once Karn is out they have to decide whether to invest their creatures in tackling him while letting my beefy-but-fragile goblins through, or bash off my goblins while Karn erases their field advantage.

And if worst comes to worst, I can exile three mountains from my hand and restart the game able to play pretty much every card in my deck.

[Avistew]

I love Karn. I have two versions of him (including Karn Liberated). Good luck getting him out though, I've only managed that once I think, and I'm not even sure, I might have been about to but then the game ended.

[Lyinginbedmon]

Even if I don't manage to get Karn himself out on the field, the mana ramp included to help me get him out allows me to drop almost any other card in my deck on turn one. Memnite + Infernal Plunge -> Goblin Chieftain, for example, or Memnite + Infernal Plunge + Memnite + Kuldotha Rebirth + Increasing Savagery (a much less probable move, but possible turn 1).

Additionally, if I don't expect Karn to last very long (maybe I'm facing a targeted burn deck), I can use the Darksteel Plate to keep my goblins alive, swinging and blocking the Predator Oozes I'm mostly concerned with. Not a perfect alternative, but an effective one at least.

[Volafortis]

The guys at LRR have revitalized a long dormant interest in Magic for me (long story short, I played it for like two months way back during the Invasion cycle). I've got Duels of the Planeswalker 2012 on my PS3 and I was wondering if anyone's tried out the DLC for it. If so, was it worth it?

I have also recently got into Magic properly* (again, thank you LRR). Duels of the Planeswalkers DLC is pretty good. The Knight deck seems to be a bit overpowered in the context of the other decks. The white-red soldier deck is fun to play, as is Trinity of Elements, but that one is a bit terrible. Can't speak for the others as I haven't really played them.

I've just bought and started playing with the deck I bought: as I'm not at all bothered by playing Standard really I bought Way of the Warrior from Champions of Kamigawa. Pretty standard White Weenie but I'm enjoying it. Am now thinking about adding to the deck, and would be really grateful for any advice anybody can give:
http://www.mtgvault.com/ViewDeck.aspx?DeckID=312316

*and as a result I've logged back into the forums for the first time in several years

Going back to earlier in the thread, it really depends on what you want to do with the deck. However, one thing you could do is add a Stoneforge Mystic package, Stoneforge Mystic runs about 8 USD each, so they may seem expensive, but they're pretty abundant (re-released in a preconstructed deck, if they weren't, they'd probably cost 20-30 bucks), you can probably find some for trade.

If you want to do the Stoneforge thing, Batterskull is the real core equipment you'll want, which is about 15 USD, but it's currently in Standard, so, again, you can probably find one for trade, and you only need one.

You'll want two or three more equipment along with it as well. Most Stoneforge packages also run Umezawa's Jitte, which is about 20 USD, and any protection swords, which run the gamut from 10 for Sword of Body and Mind, to around 50 for the good ones (War and Peace, Feast and Famine, and Fire and Ice are the good 3, I like Fire and Ice best. War and Peace and Feast and Famine are also super expensive right now, because Standard is fighting Legacy for them.)

However, if you want to go for a budget equipment package, any Equipment that can put pressure on your opponent is good.

For instance, Elbrus, the Binding Blade from Dark Ascension is incredibly inexpensive, but seems like it would make a fine budget equipment for SFM (once you cheat it onto the battlefield turn 3 with SFM, I can see it getting out of hand, particularly if you have a flyer. Use SFM to play it turn 3, use your third land to equip to the flyer, swing, *BOOM*)

It's a bit of an expensive addition, but it's INCREDIBLY powerful. (it broke Zendikar/Scars of Mirrodin standard to the point of banning Stoneforge and Jace, the Mind Sculptor, and it's also the engine behind a new wave of decks that are dominating the Legacy scene.)

Also, cards like Honor of the Pure are really good for obvious reasons in White Weenie decks.

Also, I've always liked Gideon Jura, as he's incredibly powerful and versatile, and really cheap, now that he's been reprinted in M12.

[whyarecarrots]

@Volafortis: Thanks for the very detailed advice. They all sound like very cool additions to the deck, and I would be very keen to add a planeswalker at some point, although I'm not sure which actually fit properly.
However, I probably wasn't clear enough in my post as to what I'm looking to do with it. I'd like to keep the deck Kamigawa themed rather than just making a standard white weenie, and the MTGvault page I linked was the idea I had for developing the deck.

Sorry that my original post wasn't clear enough about what I was planning to do, and thank you very much for the very detailed post with advice.

[Volafortis]

@Volafortis: Thanks for the very detailed advice. They all sound like very cool additions to the deck, and I would be very keen to add a planeswalker at some point, although I'm not sure which actually fit properly.
However, I probably wasn't clear enough in my post as to what I'm looking to do with it. I'd like to keep the deck Kamigawa themed rather than just making a standard white weenie, and the MTGvault page I linked was the idea I had for developing the deck.

Sorry that my original post wasn't clear enough about what I was planning to do, and thank you very much for the very detailed post with advice.

Oh, I see, well, there's still quite a few changes you can make to help with the deck and maintain your theme.

Gideon Jura is still in my opinion a great fit for this deck. He can force your opponent to attack into a wall of Bushido, allowing you to maximize on beneficial combat trades.

Elspeth, Knight Errant also works, but Gideon is both less expensive, and more on flavor.

Umezawa's Jitte, a card I mentioned in my earlier post, also is incredibly on flavor for this deck, as well as being very powerful (but, it is expensive)

Also, equipment like Viridian Longbow (or, more on flavor, Hankyu), can really help you flip your Bushi Tenderfoots.

Also, some good instant speed removal would be great. Path to Exile or Swords to Plowshares are both great candidates.

[General Meh]

A friend posed an interesting scenario today. What if in a commander or big free for all, it was down to the last two players and one of them activated Karn Liberated's final ability reseting the game. Even people that had gone home would need to come back! :p

[tamaness]

A friend posed an interesting scenario today. What if in a commander or big free for all, it was down to the last two players and one of them activated Karn Liberated's final ability reseting the game. Even people that had gone home would need to come back! :p

Nope.avi

6/1/2011 In a multiplayer games (a game that started with three or more players in it), any player that left the game before it was restarted with Karn's ability won't be involved in the new game.