Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Announcement: From the Vault: Realms

Yes it is true, from the vault has been revealed name wise, it is known as From the Vault: Realms, meaning there will be 15 different lands, all in foil of course now, we also got a piece of preview art with this, let's see it before we continue.


Oh wow, this is a very nice piece of art spoiled along with this set, i must admit. Flavor wise it feels like Dark Depths, you know the one that generates that 20/20 Marit Lage token and combos quite well with a certain vampire from Zendikar block. According to the announcement as well, some of these cards have never been printed in the current black border frame and for them it is the first time being done, well remember From the Vault: Legends did that as well, with a certain few cards from Portal Three Kingdoms and such.

So here is what we know for this at the moment.

MSRP: 34.99 US
Product, Concept and Development Team: Mark Gottileb
Release Date: August 31st, 2012.

Yes you can expect to see this being much higher then MSRP along with being released at the end of August, officially ending 2012's summer of magic as i like to call it, for the full link to the announcement please see the link below.

Link to Announcement ---> From the Vault Realms Announcement

With that this ends another edition of the emporium, on a very strange leap day in February, so without further ado this is vergil signing off.

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Magic the Gathering News Vol 15: PT Dark Ascension, Changes to Prerelease, Release Parties and much much more.

Hello everyone and welcome back to yet another monthly edition of the magic news, let's recap what happened in the month of february with some of the big changes to Magic as we may know it.

So as all may end up remembering, Launch Parties are going to change starting with Avacyn Restored in the fact that the term "Launch Party" is going to be phased out and that stores will be given more chances to run more prereleases and such depending on what store you go to to play magic on a weekly basis, it also means the promotional cards for said Launch Party are allowed to be distributed early on the release date of the new set, which is kind of nice i suppose in all honesty, plus since the upcoming set Avacyn Restored is a large set, it will be drafted on it's own for prereleases and booster drafts everywhere meaning no Innistrad for you, sorry, informational link will of course be below as always.

Article with Changes --> Changes to Launch Parties

Pro Tour Dark Ascension also happened earlier this month, with Wolf Run Ramp taking the entire event both PVDDR and Brian Kibler had a epic clash of 5 games to end the event with a mirror match wolf run ramp deck, that was a blast but the big shocker is the Jon Finkel vs Brian Kibler matchup where there was some serious classic moments there, congrats to Brian for his win and the next Pro tour as we know is Barcelona.

Grand Prix's a plenty this month, Kobe, Madrid were both booster draft/sealed deck while Lincoln saw Modern action, Baltimore saw a lot of standard decks once again but congrats go out to Bronson Magnan for winning Grand Prix Lincoln with his CAL deck, Grand Prix Kobe saw Masahiro Hiraga take the title in the booster draft, Grand Prix Baltimore saw standard and the winner of that event after a successful top 8 run was Matthew Costa while in Grand Prix Madrid, Ivo Grossholtz took the crown in a Sealed Deck/Booster Draft field which was over 1000 players, congrats to all four of you for winning your respective events and see you at Pro Tour Barcelona.

For those wondering if Tarmogoyf was going to be in Avacyn Restored, well kiss those dreams good bye as Mark Rosewater stated the following "While he makes sense mechanically, in makes no sense in a top down persepective in a horror block, so no we've never even considered reprinting it in Innistrad Block" the source will be below as always.

Source ---> Tarmogoyf Rumor Crushed

As we all know, this friday is the first night of Friday Night Magic in march, meaning a brand new promotion card, what could it be i wonder, well it's Tectonic Edge, the picture will of course be below


Yes friends you too can own your very own foil editions of the cheap version of Wasteland by winning your first FNM if it is your first of course, most stores like to have Standard though for their FNM's so keep that in mind before heading to your first new FNM for the month.

Well with that, that is the second month of the year done, we move towards a new month with a new product coming out Duel Decks: Venser vs Koth, so until next time you fine folks out there in magic land, this is vergil signing off.

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Standard Deck Examination: Mono Green Dungrove Elder

And so we come to the last of the deck examinations, this one is a bit post Dark Ascension but it's core was built in Innistrad thanks to a few cards from it, though i didn't get a chance to examine it till now, that is Mono Green Dungrove Elder which is one of the decks we saw at Pro Tour: Dark Ascension which focuses on the M12 rare Dungrove Elder while having a lot of ramp elements to it to get lands on the battlefield quicker, let's take a look at the first list now though.

The first list of choice is Todd Anderson's take on Mono Green Dungrove Elder, which seems to be one of the more difficult builds to beat these days due to the sheer ramp the deck has to offer, let's see it.

Todd Anderson's Dungrove Elder - Pro Tour Dark Ascension


Creatures
1 Acidic Slime
1 Bellowing Tanglewurm
4 Birds of Paradise
2 Daybreak Ranger
4 Dungrove Elder
4 Llanowar Elves
2 Phyrexian Metamorph
2 Strangleroot Geist
1 Thrun, the Last Troll

Spells
3 Garruk Relentless
2 Garruk, Primal Hunter
4 Green Sun's Zenith
2 Gut Shot
4 Sword of War and Peace

Lands
24 Forest

Sideboard
2 Corrosive Gale
1 Daybreak Ranger
1 Glissa, the Traitor
3 Naturalize
2 Precursor Golem
3 Ratchet Bomb
2 Sword of Feast and Famine

Already we are seeing the basics of the deck come together here, sure it's name sake and the basic lands are a start, but what are some more common themes with this deck archetype as a whole, well let's find out with our second list courtesy of Pro Tour Dark Ascension once again, this time however run by Iain Bartolomei

Iain Bartolomei's Dungrove Elder - Pro Tour Dark Ascension


Creatures
1 Acidic Slime
1 Bellowing Tanglewurm
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Dungrove Elder
3 Phyrexian Metamorph
4 Strangleroot Geist
1 Thrun, the Last Troll

Spells
2 Garruk Relentless
2 Garruk, Primal Hunter
4 Green Sun's Zenith
2 Gut Shot
4 Sword of War and Peace

Lands
24 Forest

Sideboard
1 Batterskull
2 Creeping Corrosion
1 Glissa, the Traitor
2 Naturalize
3 Ratchet Bomb
2 Sword of Feast and Famine
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
3 Tumble Magnet

So the creature base is consistent with these two decks, a singleton Acidic Slime and Bellowing Tanglewurm which can be copied via a Phyrexian Metamorph, the standard ramp package of Birds of Paradise and Llanowar Elves are pretty basic for green these days, leading into a turn 2 to fetch a early attacker in Strangleroot Geist, or even a turn 3 green sun's zenith to fetch one of the deck's 4 copies of Dungrove Elder as a good way to start off the deck, of course spells may vary the creature base is starting to come together though as a whole, so with these two lists we pretty much understand the core cards of the deck already, so without further ado let's take at the core cards of Dungrove Elder

Creatures


Dungrove Elder - This deck's name sake for green justice of course, always consider this 4 slots in your 60 regardless if your playing this archetype.

Llanowar Elves/Birds of Paradise - Standard ramp package, sure we could be playing Rampant Growth, but it's not preferred here, standard creature ramp is much better honestly and these two are always 4x no matter what.

Acidic Slime/Bellowing Tanglewurm - You only need 1 of these each, considering the fact you can fetch them via your Green Sun's Zenith a lot easier then waiting for them.

Phyrexian Metamorph - Sure let's pay 2 life to get a copy card onto the battlefield, copying a sword, copying a creature like Slime or Tanglewurm, or how about a second Dungrove Elder or even a second Strangleroot Geist for that matter

Strangleroot Geist - Kinda required since he's the only 2 drop in the deck, undying, haste does help quite a bit and allows you to churn the extra bits of damage needed, i'd consider him a 4x but minimum of 3 in the deck at any given time.

Thrun, the Last Troll - Honestly the last time we saw this troll was a while back and well he's nice to have, 4/4 for 4, great bait for sweepers and all that neat stuff, you only need 1 of him honestly.

Spells

Green Sun's Zenith - A requirement honestly for this deck, fetching anything in it, period except for Metamorph, makes any green deck worth twice as much, 4x requirement here.

Garruk Relentless/Garruk, Primal Hunter - Just a back up plan in case stuff goes haywire, primal hunter's secondary ability is more useful then anything since it reloads your hand on occasion, Relentless is more useful as a token generator as well, but walker rule can't have two of the same subtype on the field, consider this 2x each easily

Sword of War and Peace - White and red decks a problem for you, no problem this is your answer right here, pro red, pro white, lifegain, direct damage need i say more, 4x easily and this will be the most expensive card in the deck since it sits at 30 bucks right now.

Gut Shot - Another 2x spell of the deck, it's pretty consistent, being one of the two phyrexian mana cards in our deck, dealing those last 2 points of damage is always crucial here.

The lands for the deck should always be basic lands, regardless, meaning you won't need to worry about mana fixers, no real reason to be running duals here, since you want the elder as strong as possible, so with this basic core of the deck, let's build our example list.

Vergil's Example List


Creatures
1 Acidic Slime
1 Bellowing Tanglewurm
4 Strangleroot Geist
4 Dungrove Elder
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Llanowar Elves
3 Phyrexian Metamorph

Spells
2 Garruk Relentless
2 Garruk, Primal Hunter
4 Sword of War and Peace
4 Green Sun's Zenith
2 Gut Shot

Lands
24 Forest

The sideboards for both decks though vary and deal with different archetypes the same way here, though if you can't get swords, then i would suggest either Batterskull or perhaps another good living weapon card, or even get your hands on a set of Trepanation Blade for the final 4 slots of the deck, sideboards though of course as i state may vary but the consistency of the sideboard remain and i leave that to you the reader to decide, but without further ado it's time to end another article, this is the last standard deck examination i will do for post Dark Ascension, until next article this is vergil signing off.

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Standard Deck Examination: U/W Spirit Delver

So Pro Tour: Dark Ascension is over and well we know that this particular deck is superb, piloted by the hands of guys like Jon Finkel and the like, it's time to take a look at the deck which basically made it's way to the top 8 of the latest pro tour without much difficulty.

Jon Finkel's U/W Delver Spirits - 3rd Place - PT Dark Ascension


Creatures
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Drogskol Captain
2 Dungeon Geists
3 Phantasmal Image
4 Snapcaster Mage

Spells
1 Divine Offering
4 Gitaxian Probe
1 Gut Shot
4 Lingering Souls
2 Mana Leak
4 Ponder
1 Revoke Existence
4 Vapor Snag

Lands
4 Darkslick Shores
2 Evolving Wilds
3 Glacial Fortress
5 Island
2 Moorland Haunt
1 Plains
4 Seachrome Coast
1 Swamp

Sideboard
1 Celestial Purge
1 Dismember
1 Demystify
1 Dissipate
1 Divine Offering
2 Dungeon Geists
2 Gut Shot
1 Mana Leak
1 Negate
1 Phantasmal Image
1 Revoke Existence
2 Surgical Extraction

Now this is what i feel is going to define this archetype after the recent end to Pro Tour: Dark Ascension which was spectacular if i might add, with this deck there are 3 creatures that stand out besides Delver of Secrets here, Phantasmal Image, Drogskol Captain and Dungeon Geists which all have their purposes for spirits in this deck, but that's not the only pro tour list i wish to look at, let's look at Jelger Wiegersma's version of this deck which featured a completely different spell base and sideboard.

Jelger Wiegersma's U/W Delver Spirits - 8th Place - PT Dark Ascension


Creatures

4 Delver of Secrets
4 Drogskol Captain
2 Dungeon Geists
3 Phantasmal Image
4 Snapcaster Mage

Spells


1 Divine Offering
4 Gitaxian Probe
1 Mutagenic Growth
4 Lingering Souls
2 Mana Leak
4 Ponder
1 Revoke Existence
4 Vapor Snag

Lands

4 Darkslick Shores
2 Evolving Wilds
3 Glacial Fortress
5 Island
2 Moorland Haunt
1 Plains
4 Seachrome Coast
1 Swamp

Sideboard

1 Celestial Purge
1 Dismember
1 Dissipate
1 Divine Offering
1 Dungeon Geists
2 Gut Shot
2 Mana Leak
1 Negate
1 Timely Reinforcements
2 Ratchet Bomb
1 Revoke Existence
1 Surgical Extraction

Now his sideboard is a bit different since he has Ratchet Bomb, Timely Reinforcements and only a singleton Surgical Extraction in there to deal with things, but you'll notice the spell list it has a singleton copy of Mutagenic Growth which means his list was a bit different but didn't seem to do as well, thanks to his 8th place finish in the event though, both lists did quite well at the pro tour at that, now in comparison with the two lists in question it's not really difficult to tell the core cards of this deck just based off these two particular lists.

Creatures


Delver of Secrets - Pretty much required since the deck is named after this somewhat, plus the fact it's a 1 drop even makes it a lot better honestly.

Phantasmal Image - Sure copying a Delver is fun and all but how about when you copy a Drogskol Captain with this and your entire team is now hexproof

Drogskol Captain - Another very required card in this deck, prevents targeted removal on your entire team and when a second one or a imaged captain is out, well targeted removal doesn't do very much here.

Snapcaster Mage - Since when is snappy never required to do the job, flashback on your non flashback spells, is a decent attacker and when there is a chance it usually means something happens that is good for you and bad for your opponent when he drops.

Dungeon Geists - The entire reason spirits are good now, 3/3 that permanently locks down a opponent's creature as long as it exists on the battlefield, flies and is the biggest creature in the deck.

Spells


Ponder - This sets up your delver activation and pretty much sets you up for the next 2 turns officially, perhaps the single best way to flip delver of secrets on 3rd turn easily.

Vapor Snag - Another 1 drop spell that is very effective in the long run, sure swing with your entire team and play this as a response to attacking, negating a blocker and getting those few extra points of damage through, or good to deal with a big threat like a titan, send it back to their hand and make a opponent lose 1 life.

Lingering Souls - 1 of your 2 token generators of the deck, which for it's mana cost is pretty damn decent, puts 2 1/1 spirits onto the field with flying and with a captain or two that can turn into a lethal team.

Mana Leak/Gitaxian Probe - This combination of cards is required since we are going blue, card draw and the ability to tell what is in your opponent's hand with the probe, then to follow that up with a counter spell in leak, basically the 1, 2 punch for the deck.

Lands


Seachrome Coast/Darkslick Shores - Required if your going to be needing mana fixers, since there are only 7 basic lands in the deck usually, 4 of each is required

Moorland Haunt - The second token generator of 2 this deck has, need a extra blocker for a quick chump block, sure, or perhaps you want a attacker next turn, activate this on your opponent's end step, untap and swing, this is a 2 of easily in this deck since it's not as required as Lingering Souls

Glacial Fortress - The only core set dual required for this deck since the black fixers are in Darkslick Shores and the basic swamp, since white/blue is more required this is a necessity as a 3 of in this particular deck of choice.

So without further ado let's throw together this particular deck in our way with additions not included here.

Example List


Creatures
4 Drogskol Captain
4 Snapcaster Mage
4 Delver of Secrets
3 Phantasmal Image
2 Dungeon Geists

Spells
4 Lingering Souls
3 Midnight Haunting
2 Mana Leak
4 Ponder
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Vapor Snag

Lands
4 Darkslick Shores
2 Evolving Wilds
3 Glacial Fortress
5 Island
2 Moorland Haunt
1 Plains
4 Seachrome Coast
1 Swamp

Believe it or not there isn't much we can do if we want to change it to a more aggressive token style build, just add 3 midnight haunting to the deck, that's it, that is all we can do if we want it to be more aggressive honestly, anyways i'm afraid that's it for this particular examination, so i'm vergil and hope you enjoyed this little "Delve" into the U/W Spirit Delver i'll see you next time

Sunday, February 12, 2012

Standard Deck Examination: Zombies [Better known as Braaaaaains]

With Dark Ascension, we got ourselves a few decent brains creatures these days and well, what better time to take a look at one of the new possibilites of standard in the form of a Braaaaains deck, you may know this as zombies, one of the classic horror trope themes, let's begin with a few example decks from various Salvation users first off.

Our first list is from the user Rage-Kage whom put together this rather impressive zombie deck featuring elements of New Phyrexia's biggest threats, Phyrexian Obliterator and Phyrexian Metamorph


Rage-Kage's Braaains Deck


Creatures
4 Gravecrawler
4 Phyrexian Obliterator
4 Diregraf Ghoul
4 Geralf's Messenger
4 Highborn Ghoul
4 Cemetery Reaper
2 Phyrexian Metamorph

Spells
3 Lillana of the Veil
2 Lashwrithe
4 Tragic Slip
2 Ghoulcaller's Chant

Lands
24 Swamp

Now this isn't bad to start with, but it has to be improved somehow, what if we went Black/Blue for the deck instead, Sheermadness10 decided to use a Black/Blue deck with elements of both the good zombies, plus Snapcaster Mage to recur all the really good spells of the deck, here's his list

Sheermadness10's Black/Blue Brains


Creatures
4 Gravecrawler
3 Highborn Ghoul
4 Geralf's Messenger
4 Diregraf Ghoul
3 Diregraf Captain
3 Snapcaster Mage
2 Phyrexian Metamorph

Spells
3 Vapor Snag
3 Geth's Verdict
1 Doom Blade
1 Go for the Throat
4 Ponder
1 Gravepurge
2 Dismember

Lands
4 Darkslick Shores
4 Drowned Catacomb
11 Swamp
3 Island

Now out of this deck i like the land base for it, it's actually perfect for what we need and is very similar i feel to the black/white tokens balance of the land base, what if we were to use this land base to construct a black/blue style zombies deck focused on the aggro portion, with some seriously good cards to clear the way like sheermadness did in a sense, let's just make a example list for this variant.

Aggro Zombies Variant


Creatures
4 Geralf's Messenger
4 Highborn Ghoul
4 Diregraf Ghoul
4 Diregraf Captain
4 Gravecrawler
4 Cemetery Reaper

Spells
2 Doom Blade
2 Go for the Throat
3 Dismember
2 Gravepurge
3 Lillana of the Veil

Lands
4 Darkslick Shores
4 Drowned Catacomb
11 Swamp
3 Island

With this aggro variant basically our gas never stops until our opponents are dead, the notable 1 drops of the deck Gravecrawler and Diregraf Ghoul have always performed well in a pinch and a 2/2 on your first turn is usually nothing to laugh at honestly, considering you drop a Highborn Ghoul on your second turn to follow it up, meaning even if your opponent has a blocker, you always get through for maximum damage, dropping Lillana however basically ends their game since the board is constantly clear for your zombies to stumble their way through direct damage, what if though we were to use a more controlled/slower variant instead of the aggressive deck we are used to, Ben Delat of Salvation went that route at a recent FNM and 4-0'ed the event with his control zombies, here's his list.

Ben Delat's Blue/Black Brains Control


Creatures
4 Gravecrawler
4 Diregraf Ghoul
4 Phantasmal Image
3 Snapcaster Mage
4 Geralf's Messenger
4 Diregraf Captain

Spells
4 Mana Leak
2 Negate
2 Dismember
2 Tragic Slip
2 Vapor Snag
3 Gitaxian Probe

Lands
4 Darkslick Shores
4 Drowned Catacomb
2 Evolving Wilds
11 Swamp
1 Island

Sideboard
3 Ratchet Bomb
3 Geth's Verdict
2 Flashfreeze
1 Bloodline Keeper
2 Ghoulcaller's Chant
2 Sever the Bloodline
2 Tragic Slip

You will note this is the only deck that has a sideboard so far, as the previous two are variants that really didn't have much, but with Phantasmal Image you are constantly going to be copying someone's titan's, big dudes and even Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite whom seems to be making a rise in a lot of decks these days, including Wolf Run Ramp, but if we are seeing a answer to most of the main threats decks have to offer which is good, meaning one of these days it's gonna be all about the control deck once again, or so i would hope, anyways now that we have a few lists, it's time to take a look at the core cards of zombies.

Creatures


Diregraf Ghoul - 2/2 that enters tapped, sure but it costs a single black mana, probably the best common zombie out there and should be a auto 4 of in any brains build in standard these days.

Gravecrawler - You know when you constantly return to the battlefield you are one of the best creatures in the format, even for 1 black mana, sure chump, play a zombie like Diregraf, recast this, continue till they are worn down, another auto 4 of in brains.

Geralf's Messenger - I think if undying worked well enough, this would be the go to guy for the deck, sure triple black for a 2/2 undying dude, it's enter the battlefield trigger is what brains decks love though.

Diregraf Captain - If you splash blue at all in brains, this is the card to splash for, honestly what's not to like about the lord of choice, or even if your going half blue, half black, still you have 8 duals in your deck which fix it for this dude.

Cemetery Reaper - If you go mono black, this is your man, or zombie i should say, lord for mono black and is a damn good dude of choice for the late game, churns out tokens off dead creatures to boot

Highborn Ghoul - Our 2 drop for the deck, probably the only 2 drop besides Black Cat, whom can be opted in for this guy due to the cat's effect, plus it being a zombie and all.

Spells


Tragic Slip - Stuff is going to die all the time, with this being bar none the best removal in the form of a single black mana, your going to have lots of fun with this particular removal spell, consider this a 4 of in any brains build.

The rest of the deck however is completely optional, with so many good black cards to consider to use, Dismember, Lillana, even blue cards like Phantasmal Image and Mana Leak for a more control sense there are quite a few directions zombies players can take their decks out there, you just gotta know where to look, anyways that's it for me for this edition, until next time this is vergil signing off.

Saturday, February 11, 2012

Standard Deck Examination: Burning Vengeance

Well it has happened and Burning Vengeance has arrived onto the scene, everyone may remember my article on the deck prior to the release of Dark Ascension, but now it's time to take a look at the MTGSalvation primer of Burning Vengeance done by the user Jubokko on Salvation, here's an example list for starters since there is no primer list for the deck.

Burning Vengeance Grixis - MTGSalvation Primer


Creatures
3 Snapcaster Mage

Spells
4 Burning Vengeance
4 Mana Leak
2 Dissipate
4 Think Twice
3 Desperate Ravings
3 Forbidden Alchemy
4 Geistflame
3 Slagstorm
2 Whipflare
2 Doom Blade
2 Bump in the Night

Lands
4 Island
3 Swamp
1 Mountain
4 Evolving Wilds
4 Sulfur Falls
4 Drowned Catacomb
2 Dragonskull Summit
2 Shimmering Grotto

Sideboard
4 Delver of Secrets
3 Mental Misstep
3 Flashfreeze
2 Tribute to Hunger
2 Ancient Grudge
1 Nihil Spellbomb

For a 3 color deck it sure is loaded with all 3 colors worth of spells that are currently used in today's meta, Slagstorm, Whipflare for sweeping, Doom Blade, Geistflame and of course Burning Vengeance to deal with threats and deal the necessary damage the deck has to offer along with the standard control package of Mana Leak/Dissipate to counter a lot of the big threats early on. With lots of potential changes this deck can make, it's a wonder this isn't just a Blue/Red list instead of it being a grixis list with all this mana fixing in it, seriously strange to see here, but this leaves us open for black on such a huge scale here, now let's take a look at another style of deck which is another triple colored deck featuring Burning Vengeance.

Blue/White/Red Vengeance - Salvation Primer


Creatures
4 Snapcaster Mage

Spells
4 Burning Vengeance
3 Day of Judgment
3 Desperate Ravings
2 Dissipate
3 Forbidden Alchemy
4 Geistflame
4 Mana Leak
4 Think Twice
2 Slagstorm
1 Whipflare

Lands
4 Sulfur Falls
2 Clifftop Retreat
3 Glacial Fortress
2 Seachrome Coast
2 Copperline Gorge
1 Shimmering Grotto
5 Island
4 Mountain

For another triple colored list you are going to see a lot of sweeper spells like Day of Judgment, Whipflare, Slagstorm, etc, with Snapcaster Mage each spell becomes double it's potential value always and is a considered one of the core cards of this deck period, everything else is secondary but most of the time spells with flashback are preferred over spells without flashback, Think Twice, Desperate Ravings, Faithless Looting, etc meaning it's easier to cast these without having to blow a snapcaster on a flashback card then it is to blow it on a Mana Leak or a Day of Judgment for that matter, now what are the core cards of the deck for that matter, let's take a look.

Creatures


Snapcaster Mage - Considering what he does on a enter the battlefield trigger, this guy is a must for a 2/1 flash, even if he goes for 30 bucks now, drop a 120 on a set of these and your laughing, that's the most expensive card in the deck period.

Spells


Burning Vengeance - The deck is named after this card, but remember playing this style of deck means you've gotta exchange creatures for spells, so consider your choices carefully

Faithless Looting/Desperate Ravings - Either one of these two cards can be in this deck, most of the time, Faithless Looting will be put aside and Desperate Ravings is thrown in, but there are odd occasions where Faithless Looting is chosen over the ravings and i think Looting gets the higher edge here for the deck.

Think Twice - Blue card draw, yes please, and it's very consistent too, this is a must have 4 copies of

Forbidden Alchemy - Personally if you want to put a ton of flashback material in the yard and not worry, this is your guy, even if it does have a black flashback cost, it's remedied via the mana fixers in the deck at all times.

Mana Leak - Come on, your playing blue, you must have this as a 4 copies in your deck, it's a must have here, you know what this does i should hope.

Slagstorm - One of the many sweepers we have available here to use for this deck, it's probably the best one considering we can target a opponent directly with the damage from this and vengeance.

Dissipate - Another counter spell that can save your butt late game in this deck, probably give this 2 slots in the deck for a fact.

Lands


Sulfur Falls - Fixes our mana issues since we are going Blue/Red here, is probably the only dual you'll want to consistently play in this deck, with the rest being either Islands or Mountains for a fact.

Evolving Wilds - Since it's return in Dark Ascension, this is probably going to be the land fixer of choice for you, fetches whatever you need whenever you need it, does basically everything that you need it to do.

Shimmering Grotto - Probably the only off color fixer this deck will have, if we want to splash black since we have Forbidden Alchemy in the deck, we can play this and boom our colors are fixed.

So with this we have the basis for our deck, preferences aside here's how i would put this deck together.

Vergil's Burning Vengeance


Creatures
4 Snapcaster Mage

Spells
4 Burning Vengeance
4 Think Twice
4 Desperate Ravings
4 Faithless Looting
4 Mana Leak
2 Dissipate
2 Slagstorm
2 Whipflare
4 Geistflame
2 Devil's Play

Lands
4 Sulfur Falls
4 Evolving Wilds
6 Island
9 Mountain
1 Shimmering Grotto

Now that we've gotten a generic idea of what to play in Vengeance, let's take a look at the sideboard material we can use for this deck, it's probably going to be consistently to deal with most of the meta as per usual.

Now these are mere suggestions for the sideboard, as per usual, so with that in mind let's begin.

Flashfreeze - You know your a good counter spell when you can basically hard counter all of Wolf Run Ramp period, end of story if your playing Vengeance this is a must have 4x for it.

Ancient Grudge - Artifact removal, with flashback and all that neat stuff, really if your not going to be using this, well be prepared to be overrun via Inkmoth Nexus's, Solemn Simulacrum's and the baddest mythic of scars block, Wurmcoil Engine, as well as the entire tempered steel meta.

Blasphemous Act - Consider this a 2x of sweeper when slagstorm/whipflare doesn't get there, 13 damage is a total boss, what more do i need to say with this particular card, it's basically a Gaea's Might Get there as they like to say when it counts.

Phantasmal Image - Hexproof dudes, please, Geist of Saint Traft, meh, Thrun, just show him your untapped island and anything else and he cowers in the corner, next.

Gut Shot - A little pinger for massively cheap, gets the last few points of damage through in a pinch and is a nice way to respond to a certain delver.

Delver of Secrets - You know your the best blue common creature in the format when you can deal with almost anything these days, Legacy loves him, standard loves him, Modern loves him, only realm he doesn't get love in is Vintage these days, geez wizards.

Anyways, just keep this all in mind when of course you go to build a vengeance deck and you should be fine, one would hope, with that in mind this is vergil signing off.

Thursday, February 9, 2012

Standard Deck Examination: Black/White Tokens

So as per the normal procedure after the release of a brand new set, it's time to take a look at the decks which spawned courtesy of Dark Ascension's arrival onto the scene in standard, but first as per the normal procedure let's take a look at the primer for this deck, courtesy of MTGSalvation, special thanks for this primer goes to King Shane for his hard work in putting the primer together.

MTGSalvation Primer for Black/White Tokens


Creatures
3 Hero of Bladehold
4 Doomed Traveler

Spells
3 Sorin, Lord of Innistrad
4 Gather the Townsfolk
4 Midnight Haunting
4 Lingering Souls
4 Intangible Virtue
3 Shrine of Loyal Legions
3 Doom Blade
2 Go for the Throat
2 Oblivion Ring

Lands
4 Isolated Chapel
3 Vault of the Archangel
12 Plains
5 Swamp

So that is the basis of the primer right there in it's entirety, 24 lands, 7 creatures and of course 29 spells make the core of the deck, but let's put a bit more analysis into this particular list starting with the core of the deck

Creatures/Spells

Sorin, Lord of Innistrad - Every list with him should contain at least 3 copies of this guy, his 2nd ability alone gives you a overwhelming edge and his first is just nasty at all times, meaning even if don't get a chance to use his 3rd ability your still gonna have a very potent generator on your side.

Intangible Virtue - The only non color based pump spell this deck can use, Honor of the Pure focuses on White, this focuses on how many tokens we can churn out, which is what we want here.

Gather the Townsfolk/Midnight Haunting/Lingering Souls - Basically our main token producers in this deck, should usually be maxed out at 4 copies each regardless, unless your playing a different style of Black/White tokens which i'll get into later.

Hero of Bladehold - I feel this creature is a perfect fit for this deck, Battle cry is so relevant here it's not even funny and the the fact it generates a constant presence in the deck at 4 mana is just insane.

Oblivion Ring - Do you know how many situations this is good for, 10, deals with Swords, creatures, pretty much any threat on the board and being one of the three drop spells in the deck, 2 main deck at all times, regardless of what you play, with the spare 2 in the sideboard.

Lands


Vault of the Archangel - The relevance of lifelink here is nil, but deathtouch is the most relevant ability, activate the vault on your opponent's attack step, use your 2/2's to block say a titan and trade effectively then return fire.

Isolated Chapel - The only real enemy land we can use here, it's a consistent drop when we need fixing, even if we have just plains, this is our black source so we can cast Sorin, flashback a Lingering Souls or use our vault's ability.

Now that we are done analyzing the core stasis of the deck it's time to take a look at some of the many lists featured in the Primer on Salvation, starting with a more control based variant of the deck, which is somewhat the same in terms of what the core of the deck should be with a few minor changes to it.

Salvation Primer - Black/White Tokens Control


Creatures
3 Hero of Bladehold

Spells
3 Sorin, Lord of Innistrad
3 Gather the Townsfolk
4 Midnight Haunting
4 Lingering Souls
4 Intangible Virtue
2 Shrine of Loyal Legions
2 Day of Judgment
4 Despise
3 Doom Blade
2 Go for the Throat
2 Oblivion Ring

Lands
4 Isolated Chapel
3 Vault of the Archangel
11 Plains
6 Swamp

Now let's go over the changes to this style, with the addition of Despise and Day of Judgment we removed the following, 4 Doomed Traveler, 1 Shrine of Loyal Legions and 1 Gather the Townsfolk, so we can slot in the 4 copies of Despise and the 2 Day of Judgment for the deck to make it a control style, plus the land  base is just a tad different with the ratio of Plains and Swamp at 11/6 overall for the deck, making it a bit more black focused. With this next list is more the Aggro style of play with this deck, featuring a few additions that i thought would never make the list.

Salvation Primer - Black/White Tokens Aggro


Creatures
3 Hero of Bladehold
4 Doomed Traveler
3 Suture Priest/Accorder Paladin

Spells
3 Sorin, Lord of Innistrad
4 Midnight Haunting
4 Gather the Townsfolk
4 Lingering Souls
4 Intangible Virtue
2 Honor of the Pure
3 Doom Blade
2 Go for the Throat
2 Oblivion Ring

Lands
4 Isolated Chapel
3 Vault of the Archangel
12 Plains
5 Swamp

With this deck you'll notice it's not 60 but 62 cards, yes there is a reason why because of the fact Honor of the Pure is in this deck plain and simple, which you never have seen this particular enchantment in this type of deck ever honestly, but most of our token generators are white, besides Sorin, Lord of Innistrad. Now let's take a look at the changes made to this particular list, the lands are switched back to the proper numbers meaning it's more focused on white then anything with only 3 black cards and 1 black ability required for the deck, the addition of the extra creature can either be Priest or Paladin, it is your call on this but i'd pick the priest for the mirror match up honestly, since then they will lose life for each token hitting the board and you gain life off each token played. Honor of the Pure replaces our Shrine for this deck meaning we have to basically stay focused on white and we can't just use colorless mana much anymore, oh well. Other then those slight changes to the deck, the deck pretty much remains the same as the core deck presented at the beginning, including the creature base.

Now after that lengthy examination we are not done by a long shot, there are still a few more things i want to look at, the Matchups for this deck, in this heavy U/W Delver, Red Deck Wins and of course Wolf Run Ramp at that, with such things as Delver of Secrets and turn 1 Stromkirk Nobles out there floating around, how do we deal with this kind of stuff, well let's take a look at the sideboard material cards also provided by the primer.

Ratchet Bomb - Sweeper spell that kills tokens, etc, slow but very deadly when it goes off, this will be one or the only sweeper missed in the deck if not playing control.

Stony Silence - Artifacts, please this stops em all, tempered steel, Shrines, Opals you name it it stops them all, regardless at least a 1 or a 2 of in your sideboard for most of those based style decks.

Nevermore - It's the unquestionable card that stops all hexproof creatures, Dungrove Elder, Geist of Saint Traft, walkers you name it, it stops period, simple as that, considerably good sideboard material for the deck.

Timely Reinforcements - Personally i don't understand what the big deal of a 3 drop sorcery is in this case, sure it's a situational card like most sideboard material cards but hasn't proven itself to be the threat level necessary even for the sideboard

Hex Parasite - Anything that eats counters for breakfast is sickening, sure with stuff like Phantasmal Image and stuff in the current meta, i'd consider this one of the more versatile cards of the sideboard.

Most of the other spells in the deck are considerations including Black Sun's Zenith, Swords, Dismember, Spellbomb, Abolisher etc, but the ones listed here are probably the most productive sideboard material cards to run for the deck as a whole, but also remind yourself 2 of the sideboard slots always belong to the remaining Oblivion Ring's in the deck, so with 13 slots to work with, each card is a deep consideration when building White/Black tokens as a whole, but for now i will leave you to consider this and such, because that's all the time i have for this article, until next time this is vergil signing off.