Early Look at Zendikar

Below is some information on the upcoming Zendikar set that I found at www.zendikar.net.

1. Zendikar does not have a multicolor theme. This is confirmed from Mark Rosewater’s latest article, “Tweet Talk” This means that Zendikar is monocolored.
Additionally: “Lights”, the 2010 large set, also does not have a multicolor theme.

2. Zendikar is NOT themed with pirates, dinosaurs, robots, ninjas, or monkeys. There goes the hope of anything like that. Note this does not 100% discourage Imperiosaur’s “basic lands only” ability.

3. Zendikar’s theme is hinted with this following passage:
Here’s my hint. There is a space in Magic design that we’ve explored on individual cards but have never explored thematically as a block theme. We started with that theme and then crafted a world that made it make sense. Once we had the world, we then made a bunch of other mechanics that made sense in that world. The design and creative did a lot of back and forth work to integrate the mechanical themes into the world. I do feel the world we’ve create is a resonant one, but not one with pirates or dinosaurs. Or robots. Or ninjas. Or monkeys. Let me wrap this answer up by saying that I’m quite excited with how Zendikar turned out, and once I’m allowed to freely talk about it, I anticipate I’ll start getting letters to ask me to stop talking about it.

4. There are a total of three Planeswalkers in Zendikar. One is confirmed to be Nissa Revane, and the other two are a mystery. The second Planeswalker, however, is a character who has previously appeared. Note that this might be interpreted to be Nissa Revane, who is “appearing” in Duels of the Planeswalker (the Xbox Live Arcade game). The exact quote is:
Q: how many planeswalkers are there in Zendikar?
A: Three, one of which is a planewalker that’s appeared previously.
Also: Note that Elspeth left the plane of Alara (or at least Bant) at the end of her webcomic arc. She could very well be the Planeswalker who appears in Zendikar.
Also: Note how Rosewater says “appeared”, not “printed”. It doesn’t discourage the possibility of Dominaria-centric Planeswalkers seeing print.

All four of these bits of info can be found on “Tweet Talk“, Mark Rosewater’s latest column.

Fun with Merfolk

Merfolk are not your typical cute little fish unless you think a potential turn 4 or 5 kill is cute. For some reason this tribe has always been my favorite. Maybe it's because I've always had a thing for my two favorite colors Blue and White joining forces and taking over the world. Today I rebuilt my Merfolk deck to be more up to date with the new release of M10.



First thing I did was swap my old Merfolk staple, Lord of Atlantis, with the new boss, Merfolk Sovereign. It hurts to see the old guy retire but sometimes you just gotta move on with the new kid. Now that I'm not using the Islandwalk theme anymore its time to restructure the rest of the tribal deck.







The cards that were able to make the transition easily were Silvergill Adept, Wake Thrasher, Sygg, River Guide, Merrow Reejerey, and Cursecatcher. All of these cards from the Lorwyn block are still legal in Standard, at least until October, and they fit what I'm wanting to do with the new build. Cursecatcher is a nice play on turn 1 because it could potentially make a key instant or sorcery spell your opponent controls one mana more expensive which could mean the difference between a win and a loss. Silvergill Adept is a great 2 drop in this deck because it allows you to draw a card and put a 2/1 creature on the board for such a cheap price. The other 2 drop is Sygg, River Guide and he can give any of your Merfolk protection from the color of your choice until end of turn. The main combo engine of this deck though is Merrow Reejerey and Wake Thrasher. The synergy between the two is fantastic. Merrow Reejerey taps or untaps a permanent every time you play a Merfolk spell. Wake Thrasher gets +1/+1 until end of turn every time a permanent you control is untapped. Combine that with Merfolk Sovereign which could make Wake Thrasher unblockable and you've got a potential monster on turns 4, 5, and 6 if your opponent can last that long.





The new kids on the block are Meddling Mage, Wall of Denial, Harm's Way, and Sleep. Meddling Mage is an absolute must have for any W/U deck much less this Merfolk Deck. To not include her would be rather silly. Wall of Denial is great because it allows me to shut down my opponent's biggest threat on the board. Not much can get past an 0/8 defending flyer with Shroud. Harm's Way is in this deck as an answer to global damage spells such as Volcanic Fallout. If you've got Merfolk Sovereign on the board with two other 2/2 Merfolk creatures Volcanic Fallout would be enough to wipe them all out. But if you cast Harm's Way and redirect the 2 damage from Merfolk Sovereign to your opponent then your Sovereign lives and in turn saves your other two Merfolk creatures as well with the +1/+1 pump. The great thing about Harm's Way is that it is versatile and can be used in many different types of scenarios. Sleep is one of those cards that you play as a final lethal blow. It's a very powerful card that gives you two turns to try and make the kill without worrying about your opponent's creatures retaliating. Now that we've gone through the strategy behind the deck I'll lay out the deck list for you as constructed...

Creature Spells
Merfolk Sovereign x4
Silvergill Adept x4
Meddling Mage x4
Wake Thrasher x4
Merrow Reejerey x4
Sygg, River Guide x3
Wall of Denial x3
Cursecatcher x4

Instant Spells
Harm's Way x4

Sorcery Spells
Sleep x3

Lands
Wanderwine Hub x4
Glacial Fortress x2
Island x9
Plains x8

I hope this deck has given you guys some new ideas. Drop me a line if you have any questions and don't be afraid to leave your thoughts in the comments section. Take care and good luck on your next coin flip!

P.S. I've got quite a few decks for sale at my ebay store. All of them are custom made for casual yet competitve play. Take a peek at...
http://stores.shop.ebay.com/RIGHT-PLACE-MTG

Lorescale Coatl deck

Ever since the latest block came out, I have been interested with the card Lorescale Coatl.



It is such a cool uncommon that I decided to build a new deck around it. The deck went through 4 different rebuilds until I settled on this final version. I built the deck as a blue / green beat down deck with lots of cool manipulation cards from various sets. The first card I knew that had to be in the deck is Brainstorm.



Play Lorescale on turn 4 and wait for your opponent to decide what to do with the creature. When your opponent decides to Tarfire Lorescale or attack you, play Brainstorm. Brainstorm allows you to draw 3 cards and then put 2 on top of your library. Your Lorescale is now a 5/5 and will wait to attack for 6 on your next turn.

I also added a few other key rares to help assist Lorescale in the beatdown. The first addition was the amazing mythic rare Jenara Asura of War and the second is cool rare Murkfiend Liege.



On turn 5 you can play Jenara and activate her ability to make her a 4/4 flyer. Or you can play the Murkfiend and watch your huge Lorescale Coatl (potentially a 9/9 creature) attack and then untap to block on the next turn.

I also added 2 other key rares to this deck to help power through the game. Cold-Eyed Selkie adds to the potential card draw boosting Lorescale even further. Cytoshape is a really cool card that has lots of options for this deck. You can use it to pester your opponent by Cytoshaping their biggest creature into a 1/1 when they decide to attack or block. Or, my favorite, Cytoshaping your Lorescale Coatl into a Cold-Eyed Selkie after your opponent decides to take a big hit. Your Cytoshape Lorescale Coatl will draw you a lot of cards thus boosting your other Coatls on the board.



For the final blow to your opponent, I added a playset of the cool Morningtide uncommon Bramblewood Paragon. When playing the deck I keep Bramblewood in my hand until I am ready to lay down a killer blow, which is usually by turn 5 or 6.



This is a very fun yet casual deck that never plays out the same each time I play it. I win with so many different options, primarily with the help of Cytoshape and a huge Lorescale Coatl. Below is my final decklist...

Creatures:
Lorescale Coatl x 4
Jenara Asura of War x 4
Murkfiend Liege x 4
Cold-Eyed Selkie x 4
Bramblewood Paragon x 4
Vigean Hydropon x 3
Elvish Visionary x 3
Coiling Oracle x 2

Instants:
Brainstorm x 4
Cytoshape x 4

Lands:
Seaside Citadel x 4
Forest x 8
Island x 8
Plains x 4


Let me know what you think... If you have any other ideas for the deck or if you like the deck idea. Check here for a variant and other deck ideas for sell: http://shop.ebay.com/merchant/nickyrucker

Dovescape Deck

Dovescape is a card that I've always been fascinated with. About two months ago I built a deck around the card which is very token driven. There are only 2 creatures spells in the deck in order to take advantage of Dovescape's unique ability. With that said let's move on to the strategy behind the deck...



Runed Halo is the only 2 drop you have in this deck and it is very important that you have a full play set of 4. It allows you to neutralize the biggest threat your opponent might have very quickly in the game. This should buy you some time to gain control of the game using the "meat" of the deck which comes on turns 3 and 4...





Ideally you'll want to have Spectral Procession available to play on turn 3 and either Glorious Anthem or Ajani Goldmane as your play on turn 4. This will set you up very well to control the board. Other good cards for turns 3 and 4 are Opal Guardian and Cenn's Enlistment. While they are not ideal plays in these spots they are good substitutes in case you didn't draw your Spectral Procession. Path to Exile is a very versatile card that can either take out a powerful creature your opponent has or allow you to accelerate your mana by exchanging one of your tokens for a land. This will allow you to play Dovescape a turn early which could be very important.



Mirrorweave and Hallowed Burial are great bailout cards that can also be used to generate Dove tokens after Dovescape is played if you don't need to clear the board. Once again, every spell in this deck are non-creature spells except for 2 Godhead of Awe which brings us to the "finishers" of this deck...



Once Dovescape is played you should be able control the game decisively from that point on. If your opponent has a big creature on the board with some sort of evasion or Trample then you have Godhead of Awe to even the playing field. Most of the time you'll have more non-creature spells than your opponent so you'll just out-Dove him to death. This is an exciting deck that is very fun in casual play. Here is the final decklist...

Creature Spells
Godhead of Awe x2

Enchantment Spells
Dovescape x3
Runed Halo x4
Glorious Anthem x2
Opal Guardian x4

Instant Spells
Mirrorweave x4
Path to Exile x3

Planeswalker Spells
Ajani Goldmane x2

Sorcery Spells
Hallowed Burial x4
Spectral Procession x4
Cenn's Enlistment x4

Lands
Plains x24

I hope this deck idea has given you guys some new ideas. Drop me a line if you have any questions and don't be afraid to leave your thoughts in the comment section. Take care and good luck on your next coin flip!

P.S. If you like what you see I have a similar Dovescape Deck for sale at my ebay store. Check it out at...
http://stores.shop.ebay.com/RIGHT-PLACE-MTG

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Combo and Synergy - July

These two cards are awesome together in a 4 or 5 color control deck. Play the Flurry of Wings when your opponent is attacking with all his or her creatures. Let each of the tokens block a creature, and before damage is dealt play Fight to the Death to kill each attacking and blocking creature. An instant WOG ability is awesome to play with and devastating to play against.




These two cards are okay on their own; however, they are crazy powerful together. Tap the druid to float a forest mana. Put a -1/-1 counter on the druid to untap her and use the floated mana for Quillspike's ability to eat the counter and become bigger. You can infinitely reapeat this combo to make an infintely large quillspike to attack or block with.




Progenitus is such a cool card; however, he is just so bloody expensive. So why not play him for 1/2 his cost. On your opponent's turn, while he or she is attacking, play Dramatic Entrance putting Progenitus into play surprising your opponent's strongest creature, killing it and setting yourself up to attack for 10 on your next turn.




This is a cool way to wipe your opponents off the board. On turn 3 play Feral Hydra putting 2 counters on him when he comes into play. Then on turn 4 play Mirrorweave making all creatures in play a copy of Feral Hydra. All creatures will become a 0/0 and those without counters will immediately die.




This is an awesome combo that can wipe out your opponent in no time. Choose white or blue when you play Painter's Servant. Then on turn 5 kill your opponent with Chaotic Backlash. Chaotic Backlash will do damage equal to twice the number of white or blue permanents he/she controls (which should be atleast 10 damage if they have 5 lands in play.)