Chandra Control

Chandra Control is a powerful control deck I created that centers around the powerful planeswalker Chandra Ablaze and the amazing sorcery Cruel Ultimatum.



Chandra Ablaze's 1st ability allows you to add a loyalty counter by discarding a red card to Flame Javelin, deal 4 direct damage to target creature or player. Her second ability is amazing against another control deck. Both players discard their hands and draw 3 cards which limits the options they have stored up till now. Chandra's final ability will win you the game...remove 7 counters to play any number of red instants or sorceries from your graveyard without paying their mana costs. This final ability leads me to the next card that wins the game and plays nicely with Chandra...Cruel Ultimatum.



Cruel Ultimatum is probably the most powerful sorcery Magic the Gathering has ever created. It changes the game dramatically. Your opponent has to sacrifice a creature, discard 3 cards, and lose 5 life while you return a creature from your graveyard to your hand, draw 3 cards, and gain 5 life (basically they lose 4 cards and 5 life and you gain 4 cards and 5 life...all this from playing 1 card is just crazy and overwhelming.) The goal of the deck is to play Cruel Ultimatum on turn 7 by casting it at full cost and recasting it and others through Chandra's final ability hopefully on turn 8.



This version of Chandra Control only runs 4 creatures maindeck. Sedraxis Specter is a 3/2 flyer with unearth that causes your opponent to discard a card whenever it deals combat damage to that opponent. It is a great early game threat, and, with its unearth ability, it is a great target to discard for Chandra's 1st ability. The deck also runs 3 Magma Phoenix in its sideboard. Magma Phoenix is a great creature to side in versus aggro decks. Magma Phoenix deals 3 damage to each creature and player when it is put in the graveyard and returns to your hand for 5 mana to do it all over again. The Phoenix is also a great target for Chandra since it can return to your hand after being discarded.

In addition to these threats, the deck is compiled of some the most powerful red spells in the current Standard.



These two burn spells are amazing and may be the most powerful red burn commons that Magic has ever made. When playing the deck, you should save these cards to kill your opponent's creatures early on and then begin punishing your opponent directly in later turns while waiting for Chandra final ability to trip them once more. (Key note about Burst Lightning: when playing it, you can kick the spell...so when Chandra's final ability trips, you can add the kicker cost when casting it through her ability for additional damage.)



These 2 spells are used to help control your opponent's hand size and threats while still dealing direct damage to him or her. Thought Hemorrage is a great sideboard card that can be sided in to further limit your opponent's options in control and combo deck matchups.



Bitumous Blast is an awesome instant creature burn that cascades into some of your other powerful burn or card draw spells. Grixis Charm is a sideboard card that helps bounce an annoying artifacts (such as Pithing Needle), planeswalkers, lands, or enchantments (especially if the Zendikar quest enchantments take off). It is also another excellent kill spell and can be pitched easily to Chandra.

Here is my final build:

Maindeck
4 Chandra Ablaze
4 Sedraxis Specter
3 Cruel Ultimatum
3 Divination
4 Terminate
4 Blightning
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Burst Lightning
3 Bitumous Blast
3 Volcanic Fallout

Sideboard
3 Magma Phoenix
3 Thought Hemorrhage
3 Grixis Charm
4 Countersquall
2 Swerve

The maindeck is designed to stall creature heavy, aggro decks. In more control or combo deck matchups, side out the unneeded kill spells for Countersquall to counter non-creature spells while still depleting his or her life total, Swerve to redirect spells (awesome against Time Warp decks...redirect the extra turn to yourself), Thought Hemorrhage to limit their hand size, and Grixis Charm to bounce their combo pieces.

Tonight will be my first run with it at our local FNM. I will post any changes I think will need to be made afterwards in the comments section...If any of you have any ideas or suggestions, please let me know. Enjoy.

Combo and Synergy - September

Like many of you...I am wondering what the next best builds will be with our beloved (and often hated) Lorwyn and Shadowmoor blocks leaving Standard. So this month's Combo and Synergy installment include four card pairings that have inspired Lad and I to some new Magic builds for Standard and Extended play.




This an awesome combo that will likely see lots of play by players this year. Play Dauntless Escort on turn 3 (or 2 with Birds of Paradise's or Noble Heirarch's help) and play Day of Judgement on the next 1 or 2 turns. While Day of Judgement is on the stack, sacrifice Dauntless Escort to wipe out your opponent's board while your other indestructible creatures remain and attack unthreatened.




This is an amazing 2 card combo that Lad is using in one of his new decks. Play Goblin Assualt on turn 3 and Elspeth on 4. Every turn, starting with 4 your new Goblin token will attack and Elspeth will give it +3/+3 and flying. So you will basically have a 4/4 flying Goblin token with haste each turn. A devastating combo that can easily get out of hand.




I love Chandra Ablaze. Ever since I first saw her, I thought about adding her to my new Cruel Control deck. Chandra first ability is awesome and her 2nd is okay, but her final is amazing. On turn 6, she can discard a copy of Cruel Ultimatum and deal 4 damage to target creature or player. On turn 7, you can play another Cruel or discard it. Then on turn 8, you can play all sorceries and instants in your graveyard...Hello Cruel Ultimatums and Twincasts :)




The final card pairing is an amazing Extended combo. Play Rampaging Baloths (or any other Landfall creature) and on the next turn play Scapeshift. When Scapeshift comes into play, sacrifice each land you control to replace them with other lands and put that many Beast tokens into play.

I hope these ideas give you some new thoughts on your next builds. Let me know what you think and if you have any other ideas for future combos and synergies.

Playing against Blue Control

Hello everybody,

It's been a while since I've posted but I hope I have some useful information for you with this one. Before I get into the subject matter I want you guys to know that my partner and I will be heading down to Austin for, believe it or not, Pro Tour - Austin on the weekend of Oct. 16 - Oct. 18. We'll be blogging about our adventures and, um, misadventures I'm sure.

Now, back to the task at hand. I know quite a few people that hate playing against counter decks. Every time you play a spell it seems to get countered and the frustration mounts. With this post I'll try to go in depth at how I feel are the best ways to play a counter deck.

I've found that one of the best ways to counter a control deck is speed. If someone is playing heavy counter spells you're going to want to play as many creatures at once as you can. Don't play one per turn, play three on the same turn. Granted, you won't be able to use them as fast, but at least one of them should sneak through. The other thing you're going to want is cards that disrupt their counters. Guttural Response is a Blue players worst nightmare!

You may also want to try token producing cards. If you can get a card like Bitterblossom to stick on the board then you'll keep producing a creature each turn without having to play a spell. I recently ran a Green/Black token deck at a tournament and beat a very tough Faerie deck because I was able to gain card advantage through numbers. Of course, my Green/Black Token deck didn't fare so well against Volcanic Fallout in the next match but that's besides the point.

Here are a few last tips when playing against a control deck.

1) Force him to react to you not the other way around. You should have him wondering what you're going to play next and whether or not he wants to counter it.

2) Don't be afraid to play dummy spells. For instance, don't make the first creature you play in a turn your 5/5 monster because he will counter it. Instead, play a smaller creature or two. Who knows, maybe he'll run out of mana or maybe he'll run out of counterspells. Maybe he won't counter your small ones because he's expecting you to play a big one. Either way you end up on the winning side because he'll either be wasting his spells on your weenies or you have a couple creatures in play.

3) Try to keep his hand empty. If he doesn't have any cards in his hand he can't counter your creatures. Cards like Thoughtseize, Duress, and Tidehollow Sculler are great for this.

4) If you're losing don't keep using the same deck setup over and over. The definition of insanity is repeating your actions over and over and expecting a different result.

I hope this helps all of you that love playing Aggro and hate playing against Blue Control. Maybe next time we'll try to figure out a way to beat those pesky Wrath of God/Damnation type Control decks. There is nothing worse than building up an army of Soldiers only to have them wiped of the board. Those damn control freaks!

That's it for now and good luck on your next coin flip!

Zendikar Rumors

Just wanted to post some reported rumors of the upcoming Zendikar set. Here are a few rumors I have found on the web from various sites with previews.


Rampaging Baloths - 4GG
Creature - Beast (M)
Trample
Landfall - Whenever a land enters the battlefield under your control, you may put a 4/4 Beast creature token onto the battlefield.
6/6



From what we can tell he is a Black Planeswalker and probably a Vampire.



Chandra is back and she looks to be all Red again.


Here are a few reported common rumor previews.






Stay tuned for more previews as they come up.

My So-Called Cruel Grixis Fae Life

Ever since I saw the prerelease for Lorwyn I knew that I wanted to build a Faerie deck (there is just something sexy about the Fae)...However, once the cards came out, everyone and their mother began building Faerie decks. So my goal was to build a cool, powerful Faerie deck that was different from all others out there. Here is my latest build. It is a very controlling deck (especially against creature heavy opponents).

The deck is designed to lock down your opponent until you can overrun him/her with creatures or the awesome sorcery Cruel Ultimatum. A fun card that causes your opponent to sacrifice a creature, discard 3 cards, and lose 5 life while you return a creature card from your graveyard to your hand, draw 3 cards, and gain 5 life. This awesome card tilts the game in your favor everytime it is played and typically will win the game for you.



The deck runs 12 creature cards (Sower of Temptation to steal your opponent's favorite creature, Scion of Oona to boost your Faerie creatures and give them shroud, and Spellstutter Sprite to counter spells) and the awesome token generating Bitterblossom.





The rest of the deck is designed to lockdown your opponents every move. The deck runs 8 counter spells (the versatile Cryptic Command and Broken Ambitions).



And 8 powerful burn spells to slow down your opponent's creatures (Firespout and Lightning Bolt). Typically each time I play the deck, Firespout is the card that pushes the game in my favor. It deals 3 damage to each creature without flying (totally demolishing most token and aggro decks) and gives me time to setup my lockdown. Both of these burn spells are Faerie's answers to Green's new Hero Great Sable Stag.



Also included in the deck are 2 awesome Shards of Alara cards (Grixis Charm and the sideboarded Swerve). Grixis Charm is a powerful game changing card (bounce a permament to its owners hand, kill a creature by giving it -4/-4, and overun your opponent by giving your creatures +2/+0). Swerve is a fun card that can totally surprises your opponent. Redirect one of their spells in your favor (ex. I once redirected my opponent's Oblivion Ring from targeting my Bitterblossom toward his powerful Planeswalker...he couldn't overcome this surprise).



Here is my final build:

Maindeck:
creatures:
4 Sower of Temptation
4 Scion of Oona
4 Spellsutter Sprite

spells:
3 Cruel Utlimatum
4 Bitterblossom
4 Cryptic Command
4 Broken Ambitions
3 Grixis Charm
3 Fire Spout
3 Lightning Bolt

Sideboard:
creatures:
3 Glen Elendra Archmage

spells:
3 Swerve
1 Firespout
2 Peppersmoke
3 Doomblade
3 Sleep

Hopefully this new build will inspire you to think outside of the box with your builds. Feel free to leave comments with your thoughts and ideas.

Dramatic Angels

There is a combo from the Shadowmoor block that I have always been in love with... Dramatic Entrance + Woodfall Primus. In my opinion Woodfall Primus is the biggest and baddest guy on the block from the Shadowmoor set but he's just so damn expensive. What if you could cheat him in on turn 4 or 5? Well, now that's a whole different story. All of the sudden you have a 6/6 creature with Trample and the ability to destroy any non-creature permanent when he comes into play. Think that's scary? It gets even worse because he has Persist which means if your opponent Terrors him than he comes back into play and destroys another non-creature permanent. Dramatic Entrance + Woodfall Primus is a match made in heaven.



Speaking of heaven, I think I've finally found a fun and casual way to bring that combo into the plane of Alara. I've always wanted to make an Angel deck that is different and the world of Bant definitely gives us options. Imagine Dramatic Entrance + Empyrial Archangel. She's not someone you would want to meet on a battlefield. Her Shroud ability is what really sets her apart as an almost lock to win the game for you. What's crazy is that with a little luck and a little mana acceleration you could potentially get her out on turn 4. I wouldn't want to be the other guy in that matchup. Now, let's discuss the other pieces to the puzzle.



Our early game spells are Rampant Growth and/or Courier's Capsule. Each one is very useful in setting us up to succeed in the later game.



Bant Charm is absolutely necessary in this deck. It's an extremely versatile spell that can bail you out of a lot of tough situations. Fog should buy you another turn to drop your combo. It's also great when used with Stoic Angel. Let's say your opponent attacks you with three creatures on turn 3. Drop Fog to prevent all combat damage and play Stoic Angel on turn 4 which will allow your opponent to only untap one creature. Nice!




These pretty ladies are the only other creatures in the deck but they'll definitely help hold down the fort until the big guns come out to play. Guardian Seraph can be a beast if you're playing a Weenie or Token deck with a lot of small creatures. If your opponent attacks with 5 1/1 Faeries none of them deal damage to you!

All in all I think this is a fun deck that will win some games for you in a casual setting. Here is the final Decklist...

Creature Spells
Stoic Angel x3
Empyrial Archangel x3
Jenara, Asura of War x4
Guardian Seraph x3
Woodfall Primus x3

Instant Spells
Bant Charm x4
Dramatic Entrance x4
Fog x4

Sorcery Spells
Rampant Growth x4

Artifact Spells
Courier's Capsule x4

Lands
Seaside Citadel x4
Terramorphic Expanse x2
Vivid Meadow x4
Plains x2
Forest x6
Island x6

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

Combo and Synergy - August

Probably like most of you, I love to see how cards from the newer sets interact with some of my favorite cards from the past. This month's combo and synergy highlights some of my favorite interactions.




Ever since I saw the preview of Demigod of Revenge I wanted to build a deck around him. The first card that came to mind was Buried Alive. With one copy of each card in your hand you can search for the 3 other Demigods and put them into the graveyard to await their return. Another perfect card for this deck is Dark Ritual. With 2 Dark Rituals in hand you can play Buried Alive on turn 1 and play all of your Demigods on turn 3 and attack for 20 in the air.




I have always loved Isochron Scepter. I am currently building a deck with it comboed with Twincast. Now you can copy any instant or sorcery for 2 mana. This works great in combo decks and against counter decks (You can counter their counters by Twincasting it).




Another Isochron Scepter combo but more mean. :) Imprint Silence and keep your opponent from ever playing another spell again.




Another powerful two card combo. Play Dauntless Escort on turn 3. On turn 4 sacrifice him and play Wrath of God. This will destroy all of your opponent's creatures and all of your creatures will be indestructible for the turn. A fun way to wipe out your competition.




This is one of my favorite combos that I use in an Evoke deck. Reveillark states, "When Reveillark leaves play, return up to two target creature cards with power 2 or less from your graveyard to play." Body Double states, "As Body Double comes into play, you may choose a creature card in a graveyard. If you do, Body Double comes into play as a copy of that card." Body Double is a 0/0 creature when it is not in play. When Reveillark goes to the graveyard choose Body Double as one of the creatures to return to play. When Body Double comes into play choose the Reveillark in the graveyard. Now for the rest of the game the Body Double will be an annoyance that your opponent will be forced to deal with. When the Body Double dies it goes to the graveyard and its triggered ability goes on the stack. When the ability resolves it can choose Body Double again since it is a 0/0 in the graveyard. Return to play as Reveillark and repeat indefinitely. These 2 cards are blast to play together and a pain to play against.