Wizard Manipulation

One of the coolest themes in MTG is the Blue Wizard theme. Throughout the history of Magic there have been many powerful control based Wizard decks that have done very well in tournament play. Today I want to share with you my own Wizard deck that I have developed over the last year or so. Most of the cards are from the Lorwyn block but there are some older cards that take it over the top. There are 3 major themes in my Wizard deck that make it a formidable force to be reckoned with. I focus on counters, stealing the opponent's creatures, and bouncing permanents. All three of these are tried and true Blue themes within Magic. First we'll discuss the combos that are in the deck...



This combo can be deadly if it is executed properly. First, play Sage of Fables on turn 3 and then Glen Elendra Archmage on turn 4. You are now set up to counter all of your opponent's noncreature spells indefinitely because your Archmage will keep coming back into play with a +1/+1 counter from Sage of Fables which washes out the -1/-1 counter from the Persist ability.






The first card, Familiar's Ruse is the main combo card for the other three cards. You can counter an opponent's spell and return either Vendilion Clique, Venser, Shaper Savant, or Sower of Temptation back to your hand. All three of these creatures have unique abilities when they come into play so you are at an advantage if you can play them over and over.




Cryptic Command is a devastating card that is even more lethal when Twincasted. Ouch! Other notable cards in this deck include Vedalken Shackles, Evacuation, Stonybrook Banneret, Sage's Dousing, and Telepathy...





Here is the deck list laid out for you...

Creatures
Venser, Shaper Savant x3
Sage of Fables x3
Sower of Temptation x4
Glen Elendra Archmage x2
Stonybrook Banneret x4
Vendilion Clique x3

Artifacts
Vedalken Shackles x3

Enchantments
Telepathy x2

Instants
Twincast x1
Familiar's Ruse x3
Sage's Dousing x3
Cryptic Command x3
Evacuation x3

Lands
Island x23

Ideally you would like to get Telepathy out on turn 1, Stonybrook Banneret out on turn 2, and Vedalken Shackles out on turn 3. This run of cards should give you some pretty powerful leverage to control the game the rest of the way. This is a fun deck that should do pretty well in a casual setting. Let me know your thoughts and good luck on your next coin flip!

Duels of the Planeswalkers

Like many of you, I jumped for glee when I heard that Magic was releasing this for the Xbox Arcade. So I downloaded it last week and got a few hours of game play in. So here are a few thoughts so far:

Well. Overall I like the game. The best part is that it only costs 800 microsoft points and you get a free foil Garruk card with purchase... Sweet ...It is also super fun to play through the campaign mode and I especially enjoy spending a few minutes throughout the day going through the challenges sections (several are super easy, but there a few that will stretch your mind...I am talking to you Lilliana Vess).

I do have a few frustrations though.
1. The game clock presses you to make a choice before you are ready. Too many times I have missed an activated ability or playing a spell because my time ran out.
2. Some of the controls seem clunky.
3. I don't believe there is any way to make your own deck. You use each planeswalker's deck and you are able to switch out cards that get for each deck, but you lack the ability to mix decks.

But all in all, I think it is definitely the best game Magic has put out and again the price is worth it. I have yet to play any multiplayer online, but I am sure I will begin soon enough.

Hit me up if you want to give it a go online and leave us your thoughts.

Xbox Live Gamertag: JADE BLUE 1979

Lucky Charms!

Ever since Shards of Alara was released I have been fascinated with the five charms that came within the set. Each of the planes of Alara has its own charm and I've always wanted to make a five color deck built around these charms. I think I've finally built a deck that just might be fun in casual play. First let's look at these charms one by one...

The Bant Charm has an answer for any troublesome artifact in play, a creature that is too tough to kill, or any instant that your opponent might be saving to hurt you or one of your creatures. It's a very versatile charm and one of my favorites.

Esper Charm is absolutely a necessity in this deck as it provides an answer for pesky enchantments like Bitterblossom or Oblivion Ring while also giving you a two card draw option which is huge. The discard option is cool in certain scenarios where you think your opponent might be holding something lethal in his hand that you wish to get rid of.

The first two options with Grixis Charm are probably the most useful. The only time I would use the last one is if I had two or three creatures on the board and could deliver the knockout blow.

The main use for Jund Charm in this deck is the global removal option which deal 2 damage to each creature. This is very nice if you're up against a speedy token deck that has 4 or 5 creatures on the board by turn 3 or 4. The first option is great if you're playing against an Unearth or Reanimate deck of some sort.

All three of Naya Charm's options are incredibly useful to me. Doing 3 damage to target creature speaks for itself but where this card really shines is the second and third options. To be able to return a card from your graveyard to your hand is very strong in this deck as it allows you even more options. Maybe you have a Jund Charm in your graveyard and you need to bring it back to clear the board again. Or, maybe you need to bring Bant Charm back to put that giant creature your opponent just played at the bottom of his library. The third option could be a game winner as you can tap all of your opponent's creatures freeing your guys to attack at will.

This deck is unique because we'll be putting 4 of each charm in it to start. That means more than half the deck is made up of charms. So, where do we go from here? Well, I start with 4 Worldheart Phoenix as the best possible creature for this deck...

To be able to bring a creature back from the graveyard to play over and over is very useful indeed. Not only does she come back but she comes back as a 4/4 creature every time. I love this card for five color control. Another creature card I put in this deck is the very useful Stoic Angel...

She can lock down the board for you until you rev up your mana base so you can do some real damage with your charms. Another great card for this deck is Child of Alara...

This puts your opponent in a very tough spot as not only does he have to deal with a 6/6 creature with Trample but if he decides to remove him he'll destroy all other permanents in play accept lands as long as he goes to the graveyard. Your opponent does have options though. Spells like Oblivion Ring and Unmake can answer him very nicely but he's still a big threat as long as he's on the board. Last but not least we'll put 4 Quirion Dryad in the deck to add some creatures for the early game...

So here is the final deck list as constructed with the cards mentioned above...

Creatures

Worldheart Phoenix x4

Stoic Angel x4

Quirion Dryad x4

Child of Alara x3

Instants

Bant Charm x4

Esper Charm x4

Grixis Charm x4

Jund Charm x4

Naya Charm x4

Lands

Exotic Orchard x4

Rupture Spire x4

Arcane Sanctum x3

Crumbling Necropolis x3

Jungle Shrine x3

Savage Lands x3

Seaside Citadel x3

Unstable Frontier x2

The biggest weakness of this deck is that it takes a while to rev up. If you don't have any Quirion Dryads in your hand you might not be able to play anything until turn 4 because most of the lands come into play tapped. The best answer for this is take out some charms and add more global removal such as 4 Firespouts or something along those lines. Let me know where this deck takes you. That's it for today and good luck on your next coin flip!

Combo and Synergy

Probably like you, I first fell in love with magic when I found the synergy that certain cards have together. This is the first installment of my newfound love between cards.




Why should you be stuck with 1 / 1 creatures when you have Godhead of Awe in play? Play Sigil Captain so your 1 / 1 creatures will be 3 / 3 creatures (and bigger when Godhead leaves).




This is one of my favorite new combos I came accross. Sigil Captain places two +1 / +1 counters on a 1 / 1 when they enter play. Glen Elandra has persist...Sacrifice Glen Elandra to counter target noncreature spell. She heads to graveyard and her persists triggers, returning to play as a 1 / 1. When she comes into play she receives two + 1 / + 1 counters becoming a 3 /3 that keep countering your opponents non-creature spells.




This vicious combo has been wrecking tournament and casual play for the last month. A twincasted sanity grinding will demolish a deck on turn 5.





Evoke Shriekmaw to kill your opponent's creature. While his sacrifice is on the stack, turn him to mist and wait for him to return to play to kill another poor defenseless creature. All this for 4 lovely mana.




With Twilight Shepherd in play, destroy all creatures with mana cost 4 or greater and an artifact, enchantment, or another creature. Twilight Shepherd will go to the graveyard, persist will trigger and return to play bringing Austere Command back to your hand. I devastated an artifact deck with this two card combo.

Favorite New Mechanic???

Today I was asking myself which new mechanic is my favorite in the three Shards of Alara sets. Let's go through them one by one...

1. Devour - Devour is an ability that allows the most vicious creatures to grow in size by preying upon other creatures.

2. Exalted - Exalted is an ability that pumps up a single heroic attacker.

3. Unearth - Unearth is an ability that lets a dead creature come screaming back to life for one last turn. 

4. Domain - Domain is an ability word. It appears in italics at the beginning of an ability that counts the number of basic land types among lands you control. (An ability word has no rules meaning.) Domain abilities first appeared in the _Invasion_ block, although the word "domain" didn't appear on those older cards.

5. Cascade - Each time you play a spell with cascade, you'll get a free bonus spell from your deck . . . but you don't know what it'll be!

In all honesty I've only had the desire to play decks with the Devour and Cascade mechanics. I've played against a Bant Exalted deck but still have not come across anyone playing an Unearth or Domain deck yet. So, I can only speak on the three mechanics that I have experience with. Exalted is an interesting mechanic but unless you have a deck with 4 Noble Hierarch and 4 Rafiq of the Many than you're probably not going to win very many games. 

Devour has been pretty fun to play with but I wouldn't call it a dominating mechanic unless you're playing Predator Dragon. Being able to come in on turn 6 with a hasty dragon that has Devour 2 can be a brutal hit to your opponent. If he devours 3 goblins in play than he attacks as a 10/10 flyer... hard to stop that.

I'm still getting used to the Cascade mechanic but I think it's already my favorite. One of the best cards in the Alara Reborn set is Bloodbraid Elf. For 4 mana you bring in a 3/2 creature with haste and you get to play a 3 mana or less spell for free. Pretty nasty stuff. I recently built a Red and Green Haste deck that features Bloodbraid Elf. I'll post the deck as soon as I test it out some more.

That's all I got for you today. Check back often and good luck on your next coin flip!

Welcome!

Whether you're new to Magic the Gathering or a crusty old veteran like me this blog is here to help inform you about anything and everything that is happening in the MTG world we live in. You'll find ideas on new decks that are casual as well as competitive. We'll try to go outside the box as much as possible and give you ideas and strategies that aren't mainstream. So check back often and good luck on your next coin flip!