Category Archives: Magic Monday
Magic Monday
Today were going Green!
For the Outdoorsmen in us all.
Green decks are defined by their creatures. Their little creatures work in conjunction in the early game to help your board presence get massive and out of hand in the late game. Green lets you summon unfair creatures to just absolutely demolish your opponents!
Here is a mono-green landfall deck I threw together
Lands 24
20x Forest
4x Evolving Wilds
Creatures 22
4x Jaddi Offshoot
4x Scythe Leopard
4x Snapping Gnarlid
3x Nissa Vastwood
4x Undergrowth Champion
2x Territorial Baloth
1x Oran-Reef Hyrda
Spells 14
4x Nissa’s Pilgrimage
4x Explosive Vegetation
2x Plummet
1x Reclaiming Vine
3x Swell To Growth
Landfall is mechanic in which creatures get some buff by having a land enter the field. Every creature in this deck has landfall except Nissa. When Nissa enters, however, she can search for a land. We have 8 spells plus 3 Nissas that go search for basic lands, which 20 of the land cards are basics. The Evolving Wilds are there so we can have two land triggers on the same turn! You have some money, ditch the evolving wilds and go buy some legit fetchlands. Plummets kill things with flying, which Green wizards hate. Reclaiming vines kills Silkwrap and other enchantment based removal. Swell to Growth beefs up our creatures as well as lets us play another land(which will in return beef them up more). This can just result in killing your opponents sometimes.
Green is for players who- want to be the biggest, baddest dude out there. If you survive the early game, you will dominate the late game. Green loves to commit to the board and swarm the opponent.
Cons- Remember swarming the board leaves you open to be hit by board wipe. You will be slower than red, and have no say so in permission like blue, but you be bigger them!
Next week we go to the dark side with black!
Until than check out more Magic Monday
Remember you can find this and other decks on my tappedout account.
Magic Monday: A Beginner’s Guide to Magic- Blue
Todays topic- Blue!
Deemed the most unfair color in all of magic’s history.
Blue decks play very controlling magic. Cards that have defined the color include: Ancestral Recall, Counterspell, and Snapcaster Mage. Seeing the picture yet? It’s permission based. Counter what you do not want to deal with and draw cards other times.
I could not find a standard mono blue deck to share, so I throw one together. Its Mono Blue Awaken and you can find it at my Tappedout.net page Here
Mono Blue Awaken(BFZ Standard)
Lands: 21
21 Island
Creatures: 15
4x Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy
4x Harbinger of the Tides
4x Stratus Dancer
3x Halimar Tidecaller
Spells: 24
4x Anticipate
4x Rush of Ice
4x Clutch of Currents
4x Scatter to the Wind
4x Clash of Wills
2x Dig Through TIme
1x Negate
1x Dispel
There ya have it.
The aim is to control the early game with counters such as Clash of Wills and tap down their threats with Rush of Ice. From there, Harbinger can be used to bounce back any tapped down creature. Once you make it to the late game, cast your spells at their awaken cost to turn your lands into threats. Remember, you use a flipped Jace or Tidecaller to gain back your awaken spells once you have your mana up.
Pros- This deck gives you a bunch of ways of controlling the game and handling your opponents threats. You can counter them, bounce them, or tap them down, rendering them harmless. Your opponent needs your permission to do anything.
Cons- While you can tap down your opponents creatures, you can still run out of gas and just get mangled. Thats why we pack 6 draw spells to try to keep up the ammo. However, you do not have early game threats, so we really need to flip the Stratus Dancer to have a big flyer or land those awaken spells to have a threat for ourselves.
*Tip*- Jace is the money of the deck. Don’t feel like buying him? Just add 4 more spells like draw spells or awaken spells.
Blue is for players who- Want to have a say in what enters the field and what does not. You have access to the best counters, the best draw spells, and alternative removal. You sacrifice speed and ruthlessness for the ability to just deny your opponents every move. Oh, and also for wizards who do not care about losing friends
Next week we go Green!
Until than check out more Magic Mondays!
Magic Monday: A Beginner’s Guide to Magic- Red
The first color we will be tackling is red. What does it mean to be a red wizard? and what does a deck look like for a red Wizard? We will be going over all that in todays post(All link lead to Amazon where you can view the cards and purchase them if you like them)
Red decks are super aggressive and would love to win before their opponents even establish a board presence. How to do they accomplish this? Red decks normally have two approaches. Play super fast creatures like Goblin Guide or Monastery Swiftspear. These cards have huge upside such as Haste, lets your creatures avoid summoning sickness, and prowess, lets you beef up your cards by playing spells(Which red loves to do). You can swing on turn one and the cards are so low on the curve you flood the field early and overwhelm your opponents.
The other approach is through burn. Burn is when you play a spell that does direct damage to your opponent such as Lightning Bolt or Wild Slash. This puts the opponent on a clock and makes them play around your spells. They have to constantly worry about how much burn is actually in your hands.
This is the standard Red Deck. It is also know as Atarka Red.
Standard Red Aggro(Atarka Red)- Antonio Castellani pulled from MTGTop8
Lands 21:
4 Bloodstained Mire
2 Cinder Glade
1 Forest
8 Mountain
2 Windswept Heath
4 Wooded Foothills
Creatures 14:
4 Abbot Of Keral Keep
2 Lightning Berserker
4 Monastery Swiftspear
4 Zurgo Bellstriker
Spells 25:
4x Atarka’s Command
3x Become Immense
4x Dragon Fodder
2x Fiery Impulse
2x Hordeling Outburst
3x Temur Battle Rage
4x Titan’s Strength
3x Wild Slash
Pros- This deck uses small creatures to storm the field and then uses pump spells to beef up their creatures. The deck uses combat tricks to win the game out of nowhere. If your opponent does not declare blockers, Temur Battle Rage can win the game instantly.
Cons- Much like the problems with most red decks, you can run out of gas with your burn spells or your opponent can just play larger creatures than you.
Red is for player who- If you want to play super aggressive and never let your opponent have a chance in the fight, Red is the way to go. Burn, aggressive creatures, and just all-around destruction make red super fun to play but a nightmare to play against.
Next Week we look at the color Blue!
Until than Check out more Magic Monday!
Magic Monday: A Beginner’s Guide- Colors
Today were launching a new series within Magic Monday. A nice little beginners guide to the five colors: Red, Blue, Green, Black, White.
We will discuss what each colors goal is, signature cards, why to play them/not to play them, and what a standard deck would look like.
Note: This is not an overly in-depth look at each five colors. If you already have a grasp on the five colors. This guide will not be of much use to you. This guide will serve to help new comers be able to jump into the game by learning the colors. If you know something and want to contribute to each color more, feel free to add suggestions and such in the comments of the respective colors!
Today we will start with Red. Check back at 8pm Eastern for that post!
Top Five Favorite Cards In BFZ
Hey guys, this was suppose to be last weekends top five in honor of BFZ, but I was internetless this weekend so I am bringing it to you guys today.
This is a list of five cards I am eager to use and see if they make any kind of impact in any of the formats. Note: these are not the five best cards or even five sleepers. Just five simple cards I enjoy the idea of.
#5 Ugin’s Insight– So far I have not seen too much love for this card. Maybe it’s two slow, maybe they hate that is sorcery speed. I don’t know. All I know is Scry X, then draw cards sounds super sweet to me. I know this doesn’t replace Dig Through Time time since you’re casting DTT for 1 blue at instant speed, but this is pretty sweet too. It kind of gives itself a safety valve with the scry to help you try and hit your three best cards. I thinks it solid on a turn youre not doing much on. Even better if it’s late game and you cast this after you already ultimated with Ob Nix. It can then act as 6 burn damage as well as drawing 3 cards. For me the only thing holding this back from a top two spot is the fact it is sorcery.
#4 Ruinous Path– Yet another card that isn’t getting much love because it’s a sorcery speed. Well, If there is one thing I do not want to happen to me, it’s get wrecked by a planeswalker. This is one of the only cards to hit planeswalkers(This and Quarantine Field and a few others come to mind). Yes, Instant speed makes this a top one or two, but since its not, it gets number 4.
#3 Greenwardern of Murasa– The only bad thing this has going for it? 6 drop. Other than that, it’s a bulkier Den Protector who can bring back two cards! Yeah, it’s is pretty sick for anyone who wants to do graveyard tricks. Just look at the card, it should speak for itself at this point.
#2- Stasis Snare– My vote for best removal in BFZ and maybe in the format right now. 3 drop flash, exile any creature until this card goes away and unless your’e running Sultai Charm you probably are not packing much to deal with an enchantment game 1. Plus, I infinitely love exile over killing.
#1 Ob Nixilis- I know, no love for Gideon? Not quite. Ob has already cooled down and headed towards the single digit(Not that he will hit there. I don’t know). But Gideon just doesnt do much in decks I want to build. As for Ob, he draws cards, kills stuff, and puts a clock on the game with his ultimate. I just see much more going for Ob. think people know how good Ob is so there is not much to add. He is good.
Honorable mentions: Gideon, Kiora, Lifespring Druid, Transgress The Mind.
So what cards got you guys wanting to go play or build decks? Leave them in the comments!
Magic Monday: Black Control In Standard
One of the first places to start when building a deck is to choose which colors you want. Heading into this standard, I wanted to play some from of Esper(White/Black/Blue). Blue has counter magic, black has removal, white has Ojutai. Well I was looking over what Black lost, and well, it’s a lot. For starters, and probably what has everyone the saddest, whether you run Esper or Abzan(Green/Black/White), is no more Hero’s Downfall. Black is also losing Bile Blight and Silence The Believer and Drown In Sorrow, and maybe almost as heavy as a hit as losing Hero’s Downfall is losing Thoughtseize and Ashiok, Dream Weaver.
So what does black magic still have? For Esper, still a good bit of stuff. For Abzan, not as much. Abzan only has two cards left over: Languish and Ultimate Price. Oh and Sorin if you want to count him. Esper has a few more toys to work with. They still have Foul-Tongue Invocation, Crux of Fate, as well as having Ultimate Price and Languish too.
What is Black gaining? They get Ob Nixilis Reignited who looks GREAT. They get Ruinous Path which will probably be as relevant as people are thinking it will be. They get Rising Miasma the poor man’s Languish/worse Drown In Sorrow. And Bone Splinters whose sac clause might be too demanding for control players but fits well in a more creature heavy deck.
The Devoid Black cards are where the set shines in my eyes. Devoid Black gives us access to Grip of Desolation, which gives the chance to disrupt their tempo while exiling their creature, Transgress The Mind which is new hand disruption that stops Siege Rhino before it ever hits the field, and Complete Disregard that exiles Hangarback Walker and allies.
Other black cards still in the format include: Utter End, Self-Inflicted Wound, and Reave Soul.
Here’s a quick recap:
Lost:
Thoughtseize
Hero’s Downfall
Silence The Believers
Bile Blight
Drown In Sorrow
Still In Play:
Languish
Utter End
Crux of Fate
Foul Tongue Invocation
Self-Inflicted Wound
Reave Soul
Ultimate Price
Gaining:
Ob Nixilis Reignited
Ruinous Path
Rising Miasma
Bone Splinter
Complete Disregard
Transgress The Mind
Complete Disregard
So how do you guys feel about black as far as Standard Control goes? Did what it gain make up for what it lost? Are Esper Control and Abzan Control/Midrange still reliable decks?
Magic Monday
Hey guys, I’ve hinted at it before, but its finally time to start it. Im bringing Magic: The Gathering discussions to the blog! What better timing since BFZ just hit the scene. I will put up the first post tomorrow, so you guys be on the look out for that.
Da_Hubbz 
