I thought since its been a while since I last put up a little deck creation I made myself that today should be the time to get those rusty deck building skills in gear. Now I’m sure many of you would say that the previous statement is untrue as I have recently made the VS series and I’m the one who writes the deck lists. Well that is true but it has been a while since I limited myself to a standard deck build and not expend into modern/extended territory.

Well today’s build isn’t the only standard deck I’ve built over the weekend as I attended two prereleases and came 3rd in both events however I stupidly didn’t write down my deck lists, I know I’m lazy, so they don’t count. Well enough of me not so obviously boasting of mtg prowess lets get down to business and talk a little bit more about today’s deck before I reveal it. Let’s start with the colour scheme it uses, unlike most of my deck builds this one focuses on a three colour theme which is Black White Green taking full advantage of each of these colours. Well most of you lingo savvy people would call this deck a Junk build which is a bit labely for me so I prefer to call it my corrupted garden deck, so lets get to the bit you’ve all been waiting for the deck list.

Dannys Corrupted Garden:

60x

Land 24:

3 Overgrown Tomb
3 Isolated Chapel
3 Godless Shrine
3 Woodland Cemetery
3 Temple Garden
3 Sunpetal Grove
2 Plains
2 Swamp
2 Forest

2 Planeswalkers:

2 Sorin, Lord of Innistrad

15 Spells:

3 Putrefy
2 Obzedat’s Aid
2 Debt to the Deathless
4 Abrupt Decay
2 Gaze of Granite
2 Immortal Servitude

19 Creatures:

3 Deathrite Shaman
4 Loxodon Smiter
4 Blood Baron of Vizkopa
3 Avacyn’s Pilgrim
2 Voice of Resurgence
3 Gyre Sage

Well as you can see I went for Deathrite Shamans as one of my main 1 drops as they are game changing, they limit your opponent playing instants and can save your bacon in a pinch a perfect 1 drop. Another interesting add was the Voice of Resurgence, this card is ridiculous as it puts pressure on your opponent to play spells in only his turn other wise your have token based armada in no time at all a definitely awesome card. Well I have been upset that the current incarnation of doom blade was a bit pants so I’m ecstatic that putrefy is now back in circulation and is one of my main removal sources in this deck.

Well that’s enough about my deck choices; I thought id end today’s post with a question: What deck should this play against if I used this as one of my VS decks in my new video series? Feel free to comment your answer below or email me at stefan_d_durie@hotmail.com

Well that’s all folks so stay frosty.

Magic, as a card game, obviously requires a deck to play, and we’ve already touched on some of the premade decks available to players back in my first post. But by now, if you bought one of these decks, you may be wanting to really personalise it, or maybe you think you’ve gotten enough cards to start toying around with your very own scratch-built deck. A great place to start here is what’s called the “Deck Builder’s Toolkit”. This box usually retails for around £15 and contains 100 basic land cards (20 of each land) as well as some semi-randomised cards plus 4 booster packs that, at the time of the Kit’s release (It updates with every core set) they were standard legal. The main reason I recommend this box is for the land. When you’ve been playing as long as I have, you tend to take basic land for granted, especially when you have just a box of basic lands sitting underneath your desk, but for a new player, with just the lands from their starter decks and the odd few from booster packs, it can be a bit of a struggle to find all the land you need.

Now, you may have seen/heard terms thrown around like card ratios or mana base. This literally just means the split of your card types, and how much land you have in your deck. There’s obviously more than just basic lands out there, especially with the infamous “Shock Lands” being back in the Standard format, but there’s also a lot more than just creatures out there, so maybe it’s a good idea to take a minute and think about what sort of deck you actually want to build, and also what colours you want to use. I say colours, you are more than welcome to make a single colour deck, but in most formats, they tend to struggle against decks better tailored to utilise different colours and card strengths, and also multicoloured cards, such as the current Guild Leaders in the Ravnica block.

Now, I thought long and hard about the best way to explain decks, but I thought instead, I’d suggest to have a look online, and at the cards that you’ve got. Examine some fun decklists that are out there, and have a look at some of the “top tier” decklists too, because even with a small card collection, you can emulate successful decks, but switch out different cards. I’m going to give and example of this now by letting you have a look at a Standard deck that I built a while back for a Friday Night Magic event, and give you a rundown of how I built it. It’s based on a popular deck type called Naya Midrange, but because I’ve put my own spin on it, it’s referred to as a “Homebrew” and I’ve also put in a lot of low cost, annoying cards, referred to as “Aggro”.

So firstly, let’s have a look at that Manabase, shall we?

6 Mountain

6 Forest

6 Plains

1 Gruul Guildgate

1 Selesnya Guildgate

1 Boros Guildgate

1 Sacred Foundry

Because Naya operates on three colours, I had to seriously think about my balance here, which is why I’ve got the Guildgates and the Foundry (One of those Shock Lands I mentioned). These few lands, plus the Keyrunes I’ve got in later on are just for giving me flexibility with my mana and making sure that I have the right colours when I need them. Now, a lot of players debate about the ideal number of land to put into a deck, and it does vary from deck to deck, but I find 22 to be a good number, especially with stuff to add to the pool like my Keyrunes. All this aside, I’ve gone for a very even colour split, as my deck doesn’t favor any of the colours too heavily, so an even balance is very helpful.

But first, you’ll want to figure out just how much mana you’ll need. So let’s have a look at my creatures.

3 Spire Tracer

1 Boros Elite

1 Skaarg Guildmage

2 Sunhome Guildmage

2 Bomber Corps

2 Strangleroot Geist

1 Court Street Denizen

2 Skyknight Legionaire

1 Hellrider

1 Trostani, Selesnya’s Voice

2 Rubblebelt Raiders

2 Thragtusk

1 Armada Wurm

Now, those of you who know or are looking up these creatures will see that I’ve got quite a diverse mix, with a lot around the 2 and 4 mana slots. You will also notice that I’m using a lot of creatures that otherwise might not see a lot of competitive play, such as Spire Tracer and Rubblebelt Raiders. I find these two creatures to be very useful. Spire Tracer because it can sneak some early damage in because of its ability, and Rubblebelt Raiders because of how large it gets, just by attacking. Now, in a usual Naya deck, the slot where Rubblebelt is would usually be taken up by Huntmaster of the Fells, but Hellrider is seeing a fair amount of play at the moment too, so keep an out for that pesky little blighter. I’ve also snuck Trostani in there because I realise that I’ve not got many of a single creature in there, because I like diversity, so along he comes to copy stuff that is giving my opponent trouble, such as the Hellrider or the Thragtusks. Armada Wurm? Well, what’s not to like about a 5/5 Trample creature that brings a friend, that then brings another friend when Trostani copies it?

Now let’s have a look at what I have backing up my critters, eh?

2 Forced Adaptation

1 Rancor

3 Cloudshift

2 Furious Resistance

1 Madcap Skills

1 Gruul Charm

2 Massive Raid

2 Boros Keyrunes

1 Gruul Keyrune

1 Assemble the Legions

1 Aurelia’s Fury

Now again, we have a mixed bag of tricks here. As previously mentioned, my Keyrunes help my manabase, but also become critters in a pinch. Rancor and Madcap Skills are lovely and cheap enchantments which become very annoying when slapped onto that Spire Tracer, as does Forced Adaptation. Cloudshift I’ve brought in for blocking tricks (Much like Furious Resistance) but also for those Thragtusks. Assemble the Legions gets crazy very quickly, and really helps Rubblebelt Raiders get bigger, and Court Street Denizen tap down your opponent’s creatures a lot more effectively for that big end game swing. Aurelia’s Fury is, again, a widely used Standard card at the moment, and is also very good for getting a big swing in by tapping down creatures.

So that’s a quick deck, and aside from a few cards, it’s actually not too expensive budget-wise, but it’s just an example of the sorts of things that you can build with not many resources at your disposal, which is a great way to start playing because it encourages you to explore cards that otherwise wouldn’t get used in higher level play. Remember, there is no such thing as a worthless card!

This weekend is the big prerelease event for Dragon’s Maze, the third and final set in the Return to Ravnica block, and it looks like a LOT of fun, so next week, we’ll take a look at some of the stuff that crops up in the set, and take a look at what I like to call my Underdog cards.

But until then, I’ve been Mr. Craiggy, and this was just another Magic Monday!

Bubye!

Sorry its been a wee while since my last post however I have not been sitting about doing nothing, there are plans in motion to give the old website a revamp but more on that in due time. So now your wondering how the reboot of the VS series went well it was brutal and I can tell you the outcome was close at the beginning but the stronger deck won. The video below shows the result, I apologise for such a long video but the match seemed a lot shorter while playing it.

The next VS decks to step into the ring are a Jund mix I like to call Junddrazi and an Esper artifact deck lets hope the sparks fly and its not as much one-sided slaughter fest as the last VS game was. My next guest opponent is the young Ross Whyte, to make things a bit more sportsman like we’ll flip a coin to choose which deck we’ll each play.

Well that’s all for today folks, the next post will include both deck lists so you can see how each deck measures up.

Stay frosty everyone.

So you’ve got a taste for Magic, and you want to meet more people who play. You’re going to need somewhere to play, right? Correct. These play venues are located all across the world, and are usually pretty easy to find if you can pick up on the usual indicators. The best ones I’ve come across are usually the nature of the shop, as play venues are usually attached to shops. For example, comic shops are usually likely candidates, because they often branch out into the realms of roleplaying and card games. If they sell Magic, chances are they’ll either host or know of a play venue. Or, failing that, if you can get enough people behind you and enough local interest, a lot of shops are happy to set one up for you. Sometimes, it’s the smaller venues that are the better places to play, as they usually have a smaller, more integrated play community, which means more opportunity to mingle with other players. (Being in Worcester, I’m lucky to have access to two excellent play venues )

Now, I’ll admit, it is a lot easier to find play venues in larger towns and cities, as they usually have dedicated gaming shops (Such as Fanboy3 in Manchester, my old gaming haunt) and they will host regular events for all levels of player. However, if you can’t find a play venue in your town then don’t worry. The good people over at Manaleak (Another bunch who I claim allegiance with) have a national calendar on their website. You can check that out over at http://www.manaleak.com (It’s quite near the bottom, but they have a lot of cool articles to read too, and an online store to boot!) Their calendar has events all across the country, and if you can’t find one near to you, have a word with them via email or Facebook, and they’ll put the word out and try and find a venue for you.

So, you’ve now found a place to play. Where do you start? The number of events available can be a bit daunting, and the thought of playing against people who you don’t know can be equally as intimidating; I know I was extremely nervous when I went to my first competitive event (For the record, I lost horribly) but for the most part, Magic players are a friendly bunch and will usually help out newer players. However, a lot of venues will usually have more casual themed evenings for testing out new deck ideas or for just having friendly matches, these are probably the best place to start as other players tend to be more inclined to help out in a casual setting and then, when you feel that you and your deck are ready, you can take on the weekly arena that is Friday Night Magic.

Friday Night Magic (Or FNM) is a competitive weekly event that usually focuses on the ‘Standard’ format of Magic, but can often run side events in other formats or even run ‘Sealed’ or ‘Draft’ events (More on those later). It’s an excellent place to start dipping your toe into the competitive Magic pool as it brings a large number of local players in to the venue so you’ll get to play against all manner of different decks and play styles (Unless there’s a particular deck that does pretty well and so gets copied a lot *cough*Delver*cough*) so it can really help to develop yourself as a player as it encourages you to find new ways to use your own deck, or find new decks that you want to try playing with.

As mentioned above, Sealed and Draft events are also popular, especially when a new set comes out (See Dragon’s Maze in a few weeks). These are a great way to get deeper into the game, as you literally build your deck on the day out of the cards that you get. A Draft event usually operates on three boosters and then you ‘pick and pass’ to the next player, so you can tailor your deck around particular colours and/or cards, whereas a Sealed event you get more boosters (Usually six) and instead of picking and passing, you simply build a deck out of those six boosters. Now, these two formats differ from regular ‘Constructed’ formats, in that the minimum card requirement for a deck is 40, not 60, and usually the play venue will provide communal basic lands for you to use. These two formats are a lot of fun, and really help newer players think about deck construction and take a more in-depth look at their cards to find synergy and decent combinations.

So that’s it for this week. It was a bit more of a ramble this week, but hopefully it’ll still be helpful. I’ll catch you next week when I take a more in depth look at one of my favourite topics of discussion : deck building. But, until then, I’ve been Mr. Craiggy, and this is just another Magic Monday.

Bubye!

Magic: the Gathering has been around for a long time; 1993 in fact, so the old girl’s celebrating her 20th anniversary this year, and I’ve been playing it myself on and off for about twelve of those. I wouldn’t say I was an expert, or a veteran, but I’m definitely experienced. I’ve played my fair share of casual and competitive games and come across so many different deck types, and I think in a way, that is a part of the charm that Magic has, it is an ever growing game that is constantly changing as the ‘must have’ cards and top tier decks shift around every couple of months as the sets change.

So with a constantly changing, 20 year old card game, played by thousands of people worldwide, it’s no surprise that some people find the game a bit daunting to begin with.

So how do you start playing Magic?

I still remember my first couple of games. I was still in high school and my friend’s older brother told us about this card game that he and his friend had started playing and they wanted more people to play with (Meaning because we were younger, they wanted to beat us). It was an old two player starter set that we used, and it even had a tutorial VHS, which was the height of cool back then, but neither of us had any idea about higher level play or tournaments or anything like that, we just wanted to play cards.

I think, for a lot of people, that is the main pull of Magic; it’s a lot of fun. Why play a game that you don’t enjoy, right?

Personally, I think the best way to get started is to firstly find your nearest play centre. This will be a place that will host regular events such as new set ‘Game Days’ and sometimes even weekly events such as ‘Friday Night Magic’, and for the most part, these venues are usually very welcoming of new players and will give you advice on how to get started. One thing to be careful of here though is that these venues are usually also stores, and that does mean that first and foremost they will try and sell you something that you might not want. Now, obviously you can’t play without cards, so you will need to buy some, but don’t immediately go for the most expensive sets available such as Event Decks.

I think the best way to start is similar to how I did, with a friend. Wizards of the Coast have recently started this new product called Duel Decks. Duel Decks are interesting because they contain two decks specifically built around themes and/or characters, particularly since the introduction of Planeswalker cards; Duel Decks have been an excellent way of telling more of a Planeswalker’s story. Now, the reason I say these are a good place to start is because as I mentioned, they come with two already pre-constructed decks designed to work around the key character or theme of that pack – For example, the latest of these is Sorin VS. Tibalt, a slightly slower, trickier white/black deck themed around Tokens and other nasty tricks, while the Tibalt deck is a quicker red/black deck which likes to punish opponents.

Another good point to starting with a Duel Deck is that it’s cost effective. On average, these Duel Decks retail for around £20-£25, so split between two of you, it’s not that much at all.

Now, there are other starting decks available, including the previously mentioned Event Decks. These Event Decks are designed to be a bit more competitive in that, as Wizards claim, you can take one out of the box, shuffle up and you’re ready to play in an FNM event. Now, whilst this is true as Event Decks are Standard legal upon release, chances are you’ll be horribly pummelled – especially if you’ve not got much play experience. Avoid these decks for a while.

Now, another deck option available at the start are the ever humble Intro Packs. These give players a full 60 card deck to toy around with, with basic cards from the Standard sets, a couple of rarer cards and then two booster packs to add a bit of variety also. I still love getting my friends together, buying a new intro pack each and just having a play session, and as they usually retail for around £10, it’s a similar expense to sharing a Duel Deck.

So there you have it, a brief look at how to start and what to buy first. Next week, I’m going to be looking more at play venues and of course, events.

But until next time, I’ve been Mr. Craiggy, and this is just another Magic Monday. (Whoa-oh-oh)

Bubye!

I’m pleased to announce that I will be rebooting our Vs Deck series. The format for this will change slightly and instead of two different writers writing their opposing views, there will just be me writing and making two decks to face off and a guest player will take one side of the mantle. With that being said the first two decks that are going to battle it out and will have the games recorded and hosted here, youtube and on blip, will be as the title suggests – vampires vs humans.

This particular bout of decks will be focusing on mono colours only and you can guess what colour our fanged fiends will be representing, if you cant let me spell it out for you, they are going to be mono black. As with all classic match ups I thought I’d go with true enemy colours by making vampires against their sworn enemies the humans, which will be mono white. So we have a truly classic match up to start up our vs deck series again.  Well without any further waiting or padding by me, here are the deck lists.

Mono Black Vampires: 60x

22x land:
20x Swamp
2x Crypt of Agadeem

Creatures: x25
4x vampire Nocturnus
3x Shadow Alley Denizen
2x Vampire Hexmage
2x Nirkana Cutthroat
2x Kalastria Highborn
3x Vampire Nighthawk
2x Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief
2x Bloodline Keeper
2x Captivating Vampire
3x Blood artist

Spells: 13x
4x Doomblade
2x Feast of Blood
4x Urge to Feed
3x Dark Ritual

Sideboard:x15
4x Go for the throat
3x Killing wave
2x Mutilate
2x Dark Impostor
1x Vampire Nighthawk
2x Malakir Bloodwitch
1x Blood artist

Mono White Humans 60x

22xland:
20x Plains
2x Emeria, the Sky Ruin

Creatures: 28x
4x Champion of the parish
3x Daring Skyjek
3x Fiend Hunter
2x Hero of Bladehold
2x Mikaeus, the Lunarch
3x Mirran Crusader
2x Nearheath Pilgrim
2x Silverblade Paladin
3x Soul’s Attendant
2x Student of Warfare
2x Thraben Doomsayer

Spells: 10
4x Path to exile
3x Oblivion ring
3x Gather the towns folk

Sideboard:x15
1x Gather the towns folk
3x Day of Judgement
4x Celestial Purge
2x Harmless Assault
4x Angelic Edict
1x Oblivion Ring

Well some deck training will need to be done from both players with their respective decks so the next post will be the conclusion of Vampires VS Humans so stay tuned for the exciting match ups and pre-game interviews. In the meantime give us your feedback below, any cards you would change? Or any strategies or tips to impart? Stay frosty.

Today Id like to talk about one of my favourite things in magic – Planeswalkers, especially Gideon. What I’m trying to work out is everyone’s opinion on whether the old 5 cast card is better than the new 4 cast and obviously give my opinion on which I personally think is better.

The first thing we need to do is show these cards to make a comparison, and who doesn’t love a visual aid – unless of course a visual aid killed your family in a horrible accident then of course you wouldn’t like them however unlikely that would be to happen – to help prove your point.

Straight off the bat Jura costs 1 extra mana so it’s technically slower than the most recent incarnation. Gideon Juras first ability forces your opponent to go on the offensive which is beneficial if you want to kill a lot of smaller creatures and force your opponent to be open on your turn. The second ability feeds into the first – destroy target tapped creature. The final ability is to make him a non-damage taking, swinging creature but still a doomblade-able target. The champions 0 cost ability, much like Juras, makes a non-damaging creature but with the added bonus of indestructibility and also of course its power and toughness aren’t limited to a set number like Juras is. The plus ability of Champion is nuts, it adds counters equal to your opponents creatures plus the actual counter triggered plus 1, it’s just broken. This in combination with the 0 ability are awesome, but there’s a final -15 ability that isn’t as good as it sounds: Exile all other permanents. This in itself is good, but not really practical unless the game’s not going your way and you want to go back to square 1.

My overall assessment is that I prefer the new Gideon for its cheapness and aggression, if used properly. Sure it doesn’t force your opponent to attack as the other Gideon did but the counters do rack up to make a seriously badass creature/planeswalker.

What’s your opinion on either Gideon? Feel free to comment below if you disagree or agree with me or would just like to talk about planeswalkers.

That’s all for today guys, stay frosty.

It’s been a long time, maybe too long since I produced any content on this site or web series I started with a colleague. I could come up with excuses to why I didn’t write for so long but they would be hollow. The reason why I stopped writing/producing was because I was depressed with writing, friends and my life in general. This is an interesting because I have no real reason to feel depressed as I have a great job, a loving partner, a beautiful little boy and a family that has and will always support me. So since I finally kicked to the curb what was really the source of my depression I can now be happy again in being creative and yes that means boring you all to tears with my opinions regarding cards wither them maybe wrong in the eyes of some of you.

Now with that out of the way maybe I should write about some magic cards… Well I should speak about the elephant in the room that is gatecrash. Now I liked Return to Ravnica but I have to say I’ve been seriously let down by gatecrash. Frankly and more than likely creating some controversy Ill state, it sucked. Why you ask? Well ill tell you why I think it sucked, it sucked because it was dull and none of the cards had any depth to them. I’m sure many of you would argue blind this isn’t the case but In my humble opinion, bearing mind I only write my own opinion not anyone else’s, there was no feeling from wizards and most of the cards felt shelled out to create the last of the guilds. I could spend hours telling you why I thought boros was lame but I’m sure there’s more than a few of you who would beat me to submission with their boros decks in the space of turn 4 but playing like that isn’t fun for me, no one really wants to be the lonely kid no one will play with but if you build decks that play like that It wont be long till you become that guy mark my words. I cant say it was all bad though, extort was nice but in standard it felt a bit lacking but building extended decks with the mechanic is fun, sadly every deck I have build recently has been extended.

Well every that’s me signing off and my next post Ill drop in a few decks I’ve built with a brief why I like these cards in there and such.

Stay frosty everyone.

First up we have an upgrade to ever loved Oblivion ring – the Detention Sphere.

Now I’m sure there’s a few of you out there that would say this card’s a bomb and that’ll be the end of it, “Insert a shitty Taken Impression”. From looking online I haven’t seen this card in that many deck lists and it should be. It’s a three drop that has a slightly more colour dependence than Oblivion Ring did but rather than just one target, it could potentially remove an opponent’s side of play. Having personally tested the card in friendly match ups with my friends, I removed an annoying cloned blood artist army and set my opponent back several turns. Now this card works especially well when backed up with a counterspell like Syncopate or Dissipate to make sure it goes through, as there’s nothing worse than having your board advantage cancelled – that’s my job during my opponents turn.

Let’s move on to another Pomb – Inaction Injunction.

Now this card is a great use of the detain card ability and can be used effectively to buy a turn of not taking damage, swing through for lethal or just draw a card and effectively tap down a creature all for only two mana. This two drop sorcery increases your draw and facilitates board advantage and is game changing when backed up by a snapcaster mage.

Let’s move on to our final Pomb card for today – Righteous Authority

Now I’m sure most of you would say this cards rubbish mainly because of its mana cost, or its ineffectiveness in such an aggressive delver turn four winning format. Now I do concede the point that it is expensive but on the right creature its game winning, picture this, you have a Giest of Saint Traft in play five mana and six cards in hand, one of which is the Authority. You attach the Authority to the Giest and swing doing 11 damage and only four of it can be targeted.

Now I’m aware that hexproof aura creatures are game winning but this card really makes anything its attached to awesome by making you draw an additional card each turn. When this card is teamed up with Jace Architect of Thoughts second ability, you’re putting serious pressure on your opponent to kill said creature and the more kill spells your opponents uses trying to kill one creature all the better.

Well that’s all for today but don’t be alarmed, I haven’t forgotten about my previous post. I will be writing up my current standard deck build and go into some detail about my choices and number of cards at a later date.

Well bye for now everyone and stay frosty.

The fatal error in question, for those of you who haven’t seen the
article, was talking about all the different ways to win a game of Magic
the Gathering. I’ll quote, “Moving on to Life gain winning, which is
the goal of the player to reach 100 life and win the game.” Whoops !!!
This rule, I somehow, managed to pull out of my ass. Well, it wasn’t
actually my ass. Several years ago whilst playing some games against my
American Spell Slinging deadly foe, Cormac Vizzard, he explained to me
this rule about reaching 100 life and winning the game. Ever since then
I’ve never questioned it as I thought he was a clever guy. Oh how
gullible I was back then!!! American’s and their Gospel truth….

Now that I’ve been shown the error of my ways, by you on Facebook, and
to avoid any future “glaring errors,” I promise to research my articles
a little more, spending some more time and care working on them, and
perhaps listening less to my good friend Cormac (only joking, hehee).

My next little article will be spot-lighting a new decklist, as it’s
been a while since we worked on one of those. It’s the perfect time
what with the awesome new set Return to Ravnica recently released,
bringing back Shocklands.

Lastly, I will hopefully be posting the 2nd of my Web series on Blip
very soon too.

Bye for now everyone and stay frosty.