The Casul Gamer

ONE MAN WOLFPACK

I'm old.

When I first started playing Magic in 1993, my mom still gave me lunch money. I would like to tell you that my $20 a week always went towards lunch and not Magic. I'd also like to tell you that playing Magic in school made me the prom king.

Neither of those things are true. But it did teach me how to budget my money and date a person who is into me for me. Both valuable life lessons. So thanks Magic.

Now this weekend is Shadows Over Innistrad Game Day at 1PM with a $5 entry. It's a Standard Constructed tournament with Full Art promos for all players and Full Art Foil promos for those that make the top 8 cut. The winner will walk away with the champions play mat.

What deck are you going to play? Eldrazi? Mono-White Humans? Tokens? What if you only had my old school Magic budget? What if you only had $20 to build a deck with?

I took this challenge yesterday after stumbling onto a combo I absolutely love (and hate myself for not seeing sooner).

I've written about how awesome Zada, Hedron Grinder is. Then yesterday a customer had a question about Silverfur Partisan and how it's ability works. That's when my brain clicked that the two could work really well together. Best part is a play set of both is about $7. That's amazing.

Even better is since I'm going wolves (werewolves are too undependable to always be wolfy), I can spike in a ton of creatures at bare minimum costs. Match that with cheap targeting spells and we're talking super budget.

Here's the deck list before I break down the deck:

One Man WolfPack

Creatures: 21

4x Ember-Eye Wolf
2x Quilled Wolf
4x Scourge Wolf
4x Timberpack Wolf
4x Silverfur Partisan
3x Zada, Hedron Grinder

Spells: 19

4x Might of the Masses
4x Slip Through Space
4x Titan's Strength
4x Vines of the Recluse
3x Howlpack Resurgence

Lands: 20
2x Evolving Wilds
6x Forest
1x Highland Lake
2x Island
6x Mountain
2x Timber Gorge
1x Woodland Stream

All of that for roughly $17. There's money left to build a sideboard with. I'd suggest cards like Moonlight Hunt, Fiery Impulse, Glint, Expedite, and other situational cheap stuff to fill out the sideboard.

First you'll notice there isn't any direct removal. When building I couldn't find any I truly liked that didn't take away from the deck or cost a bunch. I figured it was better for sideboard material and to focus on the strategy of the deck: Pump out wolves, pump up wolves.

This is an aggro deck. It just takes the first turn off. Like a wolf you stalk your prey. It also leaves turn one for tap lands to set your board for the game. Then on turn 2 you start jamming out wolves.

Since most of your spells are instant speed (even the enchantment) it opens up a bunch of combat tricks for your pack. Opponent has flyers then give a wolf reach. Opponent has a big beast then hit Titan strength to take em down. Opponent has a wall of creatures you can't bust through then make a pumper unblockable.

Add Zada to the mix and all your wolves can do those tricks. Add in Silverfur Partisan and you'll make puppies for each creature a spell copied by Zada targets. It gets crazy quick.

Even better is that it abuses the Magic rules for priority & stack. I'll go through a scenario that I worked with a MTG judge on. I believe this is how it plays out but if I am wrong PLEASE let me know. The judge I talked to seems to believe this is how it plays out.

You know your opponent has an Ultimate Price. They know you're holding Zada. Both of you are in a stand off. On the board is two wolves and a Silverfur Partisan on your side. Your opponent has three zombies. Your opponent doesn't wish to use the price on the Partisan because Zada is the game ender. You draw into your sixth land and play Zada.

Your opponent will scramble to tap their lands to blow up Zada but can't until you pass priority from the resolution of the casting. That's when you can cast one of your two spells, which will trigger Zada & thus lead to triggers on Partisan. You don't want to spam cast because you need the Zada ability to resolve first to trigger the Partisan.

You cast Zada then hold priority to cast Slip Through Space. The Slip targets Zada and triggers him. Before he can begin to create copies to trigger Partisan you need to pass priority. You pass priority so opponent can cast UP on Zada.

You respond to the UP casting by casting Might of the Masses. Then your Might of the Masses will target Zada and triggers him. That trigger resolves and creates 3 Partisan triggers for 6 total wolves. The first three wolves from MM come into play and then MM resolves on your original 4 creatures for +7/+7.

Next Ultimate Price resolves to kill your Zada.

Finally your Zada SS trigger resolves for 6 copies of SS to make your 6 wolves unblockable and you draw 6 cards. Those 6 copies create six wolf token triggers from the Partisan. You end it by swinging out with your three original wolves that are all unblockable 9/9.

So that's the deck. Pretty cut and dry. Play smart and be willing to toss your wolves around. It's ok to sit back and let the game come to you. As shown above the deck can pounce on your opponent in one turn.

Now let's rock out to some Duran Duran and start sleeving all those wolf tokens.

Casual Gamer

I'm probably the worst blogger on the internet. If content is king then I have been a pauper lately. To be honest I've been spending a bunch of my "Magic" time on one thing: My Modern Deck.

If you hang at the shop, or have swung by for a FNM, then you've probably heard me talk about my deck. It's kinda all I talk about recently. Those that have read my blog will know Magic Solitaire, an attempt at a consistent first turn kill deck. It was fun but never anywhere near consistent.

Those who have read even further back knew about my love for Narset. There are just certain cards that certain players fall in love with. The enlightened master is one of mine. I've been obsessed with making a deck for her. She spawned Magic Solitaire.

Now it will be a year since I posted about that deck. A year to tinker.

It was fun hunting first turn kills but it just didn't win. I decided to take it back to the lab and build a more fluid deck that might give up the dream of turn 1 kills for more reliable turn 2 or 3 kills.

I got super serious about it when I found out last year that the 2016 Detroit Grand Prix would be Modern Constructed. I don't play high end magic often. Not enough time. But now my goal was to bring this rogue deck to the biggest tournament around and hopefully shock a few. I knew I wanted to keep the core of the deck the same. It was going to be a Narset-Goryo deck that aimed to abuse her ability.

At the same time the world met Grishoalbrand. It's a great combo deck. I borrow some from it. Mostly the Griselbrands. I just don't like the other parts of the deck. Adds too much clunk for what I'm trying to do. Plus I believe if any part of that deck gets banned it will be the Shoal and not Goryo. The Vengeance is too much fun for deck builders and isn't the card that makes the deck unbalanced.

As I added Grisel, I shaved down the Mana base while finding a good stable of cantrips and value cards. The deck is a combo deck that tries to cut it as close to the edge as possible. The true goal is to put all the right pieces in all the right places. That's when I knew the part I was missing.

I needed to learn to count cards.

Remember counting cards isn't illegal. It's high speed high pressure mathematics. It's a skill like shooting a basketball. You get kicked out of Casinos not for cheating but for pushing the odds in your favor. They like betting against those who can't predict the outcomes. Counting cards helps you peep a fuzzy future.

That's exactly what this deck became. It was about looking at the knowledge you have (your hand) and figuring out how quick you can dig through your deck & the odds of getting the right cards. It's not 100% guaranteed but it does tip the odds in your favor.

Here's the deck list to help

Name: Suicide Squad (Aka League Of Legends)

Creatures (13)
1x Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
3x Simian Spirit Guide
2x Tasigur, The Golden Fang
3x Griselbrand
4x Narset, Enlightened Master

Spells (37)
4x Faithless Looting
4x Gitaxian Probe
4x Noxious Revival
4x Serum Visions
3x Thought Scour
4x Goryo's Vengeance
2x Manamorphose
2x Tormenting Voice
1x Jeskai Ascedancy
3x Relentless Assault
2x Waves Of Aggression
4x Fury of the Horde

Lands (10)
1x Swamp
3x City Of Brass
2x Gemstone Mine
4x Mana Confluence

Sideboard (15)
1x Boseiju, Who Shelters All
1x Dead Drop
2x Pact Of Negation
2x Pull From Eternity
4x Wear//Tear
2x Izzet Charm
1x Melira, Sylvok Outcast
2x Pyroclasm

That's the deck

The most important part of playing the deck is understanding what opening hand to keep. If you start with too many junk cards (Jeskai & xtra attack cards) then you're ice skating uphill. You want combo pieces (Narset, Grisel, Goryo), Cantrips, or cards that put pieces in their places (loots). Thanks to the new mulligan rule you are given almost two starting hands.

On first draw you get to see seven cards. If you mulligan, with the scry on keep, you still get to see seven cards. When looking at your cards try to see how far your hand will let you look.

Serum Visions has a look value of 3. When cast it shows you three cards deep into your deck. Same with Thought Scour but Visions is a little less chaotic. I originally had Tomb Scours that have a look value of 5 but with no draw and all dump they tended to be too unreliable.

As you look over the deck you'll notice it doesn't have a shuffle mechanism. One of the biggest parts of Modern is search and shuffle. Unless forced to do so, this deck won't. It's simple. You don't want to. It's hard to card count a shuffling deck.

Now those that are still foggy on the card counting I will go through a sample starting hand to hopefully show. I draw Goryo, Brass, Serum Vision, 2 Faithless, Spirit Guide, & Relentless Assault. I have a card count number of 14. I see seven cards and have the ability with what I have to see seven cards deeper. That is nearly 25% of my deck. I have a combo piece and two ways to place my other pieces. I have 7 chances to hit the other combo piece which make up ~14% of your remaining deck.

That's good odds.

In this situation you would Serum to draw and set your next draw. If it's a sweet scry you can use the spirit guide to loot and speed up the process. The Assault gives you a bonus dump card you don't have to worry about in your hand.

That's the deck in a very small nutshell. I could get really detailed and go over each card in the deck plus their purpose. Yet I want the four of you reading this to come back. I won't bore you.

In the end I don't know what will happen. Which is ironic since I based the deck on seeing the fuzzy future. What I do know is that I will catch somebody with the deck. I'll drop a jaw or two. And that will make this year long journey complete.

Good luck to those who play this weekend and I'm coming for a HoF pin!

Grand Prix Detroit

Grand Prix Detroit has come and gone. The largest team event in Magic The Gathering history with 680 total teams and more than 2000 players. If I told you Team Nerdageddon went 6-2-1 and finished in 65th place then you'd think we had an epic weekend. 

You'd be right and wrong at the same time. 

Team Nerdageddon consisted of Josh Kretz (right), Hunter Mayes (left), and myself (guess). Josh was our team captain because he does GPs a lot more often than the rest of us. It was my first BIG tournament in 10 years and Hunter's first ever. We did VIP because if you're only doing one GP a year then do it up. The extra $50 per person is worth it.

Our sealed pull was not the best. I'd say our two best cards would have been an Erebos's Titan & an Abbot of Keral Keep. In my deck the best card was my Evolutionary Leap. By no means was it the worst sealed pull in history but during deck construction we knew we only had enough for two good decks.

Josh played a Black/White tricks build using Kytheon's Tactics, mighty leap, etc & a ton of renown guys. Hunter built a green/red aggro deck with some good removal and speed. I went with blue/green tempo. It was more like a Ford Tempo. None of us felt extremely confident in our decks.

The highlight of round one came when we got seated adjacent from my favorite pro team, The Pantheon: Reid Duke (first), William "Huey" Jensen (second), & Owen Turtenwald (last). They went 9-0 for the day. It was awesome to watch their match.

Our match wasn't that great. We lost and not in memorable fashion.

Second round was the worst match up of the day because in the last five minutes the teams were tied at 1-1 with Josh going into his third game. The other team asked us to draw. We of course declined and wanted to play it out with 5 min left because a draw is as bad as a tie. That's when it got horrible.

The kid across from Josh began to slow play. He would watch the clock at the end of the hall and take 30-40 seconds to decide on land play during turns 1-3. He played no spells yet took nearly 3 minutes off the clock. By turn three Josh had put a 4 turn kill clock on the kid. That was the last regulation turn we played as the team advised the player to wait until overtime.

That's when we learned from the judges that they need to witness slow play and that nothing can be done unless they see it. So we went to Overtime. 

We ended the fifth turn by leaving the kid at 2 life. Had we played at actual speed then it woukd probably never have gotten to overtime. A draw and a bad taste in our mouth is what we went into round 3 with. 

We were so steamed about those kids we didn't focus on round 3 and dropped it 1-2 to decks we should have beat. Focus it a must in Magic. Tons of misplays by us.

Round 4 our opponents never showed up. So we got the free win and a big wide window to go grab lunch. 

Round 5 we grabbed the win in a really tight match up. Probably our most fun of the day because next the true shenanigans begin.

Round 6-9 we never played a real opponent. Each round we sat and nobody showed. We ended up 6-2-1 because five of our opponents never cared to played. So we drew opponents on scrap paper. They followed us to each match up. Unofficially we are the greatest imaginary Magic players of all time. 

We became kind of a mascot to some of the Judges. They would swing by and chat. Near the later rounds they'd sit and we'd share stories. Even in the last round they began to calculate if we had a shot at day 2. It turns out we were a tie short. Had we gone 7-2 then we would have made day 2. 

Then again had we never gotten that tie then would we have even been 6-2-1? Nobody knows but the facts & numbers say slow play cost us a shot at the title. That's our story & we're sticking to it. 

At the end of the day it will say on paper that we scored 19 points with a 6-2-1 record to become the 65th best team out of 680 teams at Team Sealed. While that might not be reality, it is a great story to bring home. We had our names up on the board ahead, next to, or just behind some of the greatest hall of fame names in Magic. 

Plus it was kind of cool to walk out of the Hard Rock Cafe and have guys at a table point us out and say, "Those were the guys I told you about". 

The Casual Gamer

Modern Solitaire

For the most part I am a Standard player and a drafter. They actually go hand in hand. I enjoy deck building the most about Magic and both formats utilize that aspect in my opinion the best. Yet, there is always more I want to do with the game. That is why I have recently looked into building a Modern deck.

There are some pretty fun looking Modern decks like Delver or Storm. Again I'm a sucker for anything that is friends with blue or red. Give me both and we may start to get serious. Yet I'm not exactly looking to break the bank. The mana base alone for those decks is going to send my wallet running for cover.

I could always go with Modern Burn. I've seen some cool lists from Grand Prix decks that are only like 120-150. Yet I don't want to be stingy. This is a Modern deck after all. I won't be switching it up in a month. I'll fine tune it but it'll stay by my side for awhile. That kind of commitment deserves a higher ceiling. 

Not like 500 but something I could feel comfy with. 

Maybe half that. 

A good Modern deck with blue and red that has some flare to it for under $250. That is my goal. 

After looking around the internets I got a suggestion from a player to check out this Travis Woo Narset First Turn Kill Deck. I've written before how much I love Narset. Even better is she is pretty much at bargain basement levels right now. A play set for $6 is not too shabby. Yet there was a lot I still didn't like about the deck.

The same stuff I didn't like about the other Narset First Turn Kill Deck I had seen from Gabriel Pancerzewski at Mana-Fyx Games. For one I don't want to drop my budget on Emrakul. I love the big lug. I just don't like his price. 

I also never like the heavy exile and mulligan play the deck forced on you when I played it proxy. I toyed with the Omniscience & Enter the Infinite combo but never liked that it opened me up to being milled too easily by an opponent. Plus Omniscience at $16 a pop is more than I want to assign a fringe card. That kind of price tag goes for the card that makes the entire deck run. 

For a play set of Goryo's Vengeance your going to drop about $50. That is an Emrakul. I'd rather have that playset than any number of Emrakuls. This card is one half of the coin that makes this deck. Having one in your starting hand makes it a favorable keep. I'm not saying you won't mulligan but it will jump the value of the hand. You have the entire coin in Narset & Goryo's Vegeance for roughly $53. That is budget.

This my version of the Narset first turn kill deck. It has the ability for first turn kill but I added some substance to the deck to help it go off on any turn. It also is designed to be played like a game of Solitaire. I have a lot of time alone in the shop. This kind of deck fits my play schedule. 

Solitaire

Creatures: 8

Simian Spirit Guide x4

Narset, Enlightened Master x4

Spells: 40

Faithless Looting x4

Gitaxian Probe x4

Noxious Revival x4

Pull from Eternity x4

Spoils of the Vault x1

Thought Scour x3

Tome Scour x4

Goryo's Vengeance x4

Relentless Assault x4

Waves of Aggression x4

Fury of the Horde x4

Lands: 12

City Of Brass x2

Gemstone Caverns x4

Gemstone Mine x2

Mana Confluence x4

Sideboard: 15

Feldon's Cane x1

Guttural Response x4

Nature's Claim x2

Smelt x4

Research // Development x2

Murderous Cut x2

It's pretty straight forward. Your perfect hand is a Gemstone Cavern, Narset, Goryo's Vengeance, Pull From Eternity, and a second mana source. You want your opponent to go first because then you can play the Caverns to exile the Narset to put her in the graveyard with Pull from Eternity.

Then on your turn one you Goryo's Vengeance and send Narset off to the races. If she gets 7 attack phases then you win the game. Noxious Revival helps put extra attack turn cards on top of your deck to get free cast by Narset. Pretty much once you get two attack cards exiled by Narset the game is yours. 

Tome Scour and Thought Scour help push your deck into your graveyard in hopes of hitting Narset there or grabbing a combo piece for next turn with Noxious Revival. The Faithless looting works the same way. Also lets you discard Narset from a starting hand or turn draw. 

I don't know the exact percent that it goes off on turn 1. It feels as if it goes off very consistently on turn 2. Once the deck gets flowing it tends to have the ability to go off every turn.

This is my kind of Modern Deck.

It's budget friendly. It's flashy and quirky. It's red and blue (and everything else). It's the Modern deck I want to keep handy for the next couple years. 

I'm not delusional in thinking this build is going to be on par with Delver or Storm but I know it has a chance against any deck in the format. 

Some purists would say it really isn't playing Magic. There is no real interaction with the other player. You are basically going to a tournament to sit in front of another person for 7+ rounds and play by yourself. I say that isn't true. 

Just having an opponent forces interaction. My sideboard exists for that reason. The Grafdigger's Cage is REALLY scary for this deck to see. 

I believe nobody would want to see this deck because of the chance it goes off twice. No worse feeling than being a round from the money and you get double first turn killed. That kind of stuff gets tables flipped. 

To me this balances the scales. I can't afford the big net decks but I can afford to give myself a chance against anyone sitting across from me no matter what deck they bring to the table. 

Until next time I'll keep playing by myself.

The Casual Gamer

The Spread Offense

It's been awhile. Nearly 4 months since we began our journey into the land of Tarkir. This weekend the time stream shifts and the events of the past will be changed to alter the present.

After such a strong set like Khans of Tarkir, it is hard to be the follow up set. Khans is one of the best sets in Magic history. The fact that two cards have already found their way to the banned list, including Treasure Cruise pulling the hat trick, is a testimony to the strength of the set.

Fate Reforged isn't Khans of Tarkir. It is however one of strongest support sets I've seen. The amount of commons and uncommons that are going to see regular play across formats is a pretty impressive list. Also cards like Monastery Mentor & Soulfire Grand Master will have huge impacts on the tournament scene. All in all Fate Reforged might not start off with the kind of hype that Khans did, but after people play more with the set it will turn out to be one of the more popular sets because of all the utility and diversity that it brings to the game.

As always I have found my favorite card from the set. In fact I have two favorites. I love the card Dragonrage. It will be a card that Magic players keep playsets of for decades. At face value it is a great card for game ending finishes. Load the board, swing with all, funnel all your red mana into an unblocked creature. Good Game.

Then there are the combos that this card lets you pull off. This card can generate a lot of mana fast. The drawback is you need to use that mana during the combat phase. I have three other options for that mana besides funneling into a dragon's breath mechanic.

Option one is Purphoros. His ability for giving +1/+0 for all creatures becomes really good when you have all that extra red mana. Why pump seven creatures with seven +1/+0 pumps when you do double Purphoros for +2/+0 to all creatures and use the left over mana for an extra +1/+0 pump to whomever.

Option two is Dictate of the Twin Gods. It's five mana to double all your damage. Seven 1/1 tokens are attacking. Drop the dictate and turn a potential 14 damage into 18 damage. Gets even better with more creatures.

Option three involves my other new favorite card, Arcbond. This one is a bit tricky, and brings tons of risk. With Arcbond you can turn anyone into an insta-bomb. Add in Dragonrage and you turn that bomb nuclear.

Here is the combo:

Attack with all your creatures. When they declare blocks cast Dragonrage then use three of that mana to cast Arcbond targeting one of the blockers. Then funnel all the left over mana into the creature being blocked. The arcbonded creature will then deal all that damage to every creature and player. Add in a deflecting palm to prevent all that damage and double the damage on your opponent.

I'll give you a scenario:

I'm attacking again with my seven 1/1 tokens. My opponent has a 2/2 Runeclaw Bear that he uses to block a token. He's at 16 life so he's not afraid of the six damage my other tokens represent. 

As he declares the block of his bear I then cast Dragonrage to produce seven mana. I then use three of that mana to cast Arcbond targeting Mr. Bear and then use two untapped lands to cast my deflecting palm on the bear. I finally funnel the four remaining mana from Dragonrage into the creature being blocked to give him +4/+0 for a total of five assigned damage.

As damage resolves it would play out like this: 

He would take 6 from my tokens, then his blocker would take 5 from my attacker. That blocker would then deal 5 damage to all other creatures and players. My Deflecting Palm would prevent that 5 from me and deal it to my opponent. He would take a total of 16 damage, our boards would be clear, and I would take no damage. That would give me the game. 

(Big Thank You to MtG Judge Randy Tice for helping me cross all my T's and dot all my I's)

Using this combo, and my love for Dragonrage, I have built a new budget deck for under $50. Take a look.

"Block This"

Creatures: 8

Humble Defector x2
Mardu Scout x3
Iroas, God of Victory x1
Purphoros, God of the Forge x2

Spells: 29

Defiant Strike x3
Launch the Fleet x3
Titan's Strength x3
Raise the Alarm x4
Deflecting Palm x1
Arcbond x1
Dragonrage x4
Hordling Outburst x4
Howl of the Horde x2
Dictate of the Twin Gods x1
Triplicate Spirits x3

Lands: 23

Temple of Triumph x3
Mountain x10
Plains x10

Again with budget building there are some restrictions to card selection. Red/White Spread works really well with Goblin Rabblemaster, Monastery Mentor, and Brimaz. Yet those three will run you about 200-225 to fit into your deck. Not very budget friendly.

The idea behind the deck at your core is to spread your opponent super thin. He may have 3 HUGE creatures but you've go 13 small ones. Over three turns, if nothing changes besides attackers dying to blockers, that is enough to deal 21 damage. (13-3=10, 10-3=7, 7-3=4, sum=21). Then add in combat tricks.

Attack with your 13 and go to the bread n' butter of Dragonrage. Now you've got enough to do 23 damage in one turn with your opponent's 3 blockers on the board. Defiant Strike & Titan's Strength will help add damage to your final total while filtering your deck out. Humble Defector is good for card draw and gives your opponent a blocker when you need one for the nuclear option.

The "one off" spells are for situational flavor such as Arcbond, Dictate, Palm, and Iroas.

The Howl is great when you attack with one 1/1 then cast that for a triple cast of either Outburst or Spirits (9 tokens). Even better when you convoke down for the spirits to do it all for three mana. Also it can double Dragonrage if cast pre-combat.

Purphoros is a doomsday engine. You drop tokens, he does damage. You produce a ton of mana then he buffs your tokens. You dash out your scout, it becomes a 5 damage Goblin bomb. If I had him in my opening hand, I'd hold back token spells until I got him out. Purphoros paired with token spells is dirty.

I didn't include a sideboard yet, because this deck will require heavy play testing to see all the holes. Without direct removal there will be some who urge putting that in the sideboard. I feel that keeping removal out of the deck helps streamline the true theme of the deck which is full speed ahead with little concern for what will happen next.

Should be an interesting play and worth the $50 to put together.

What decks are you brewing on a budget? Let's brew together this Friday during our Fate Reforged endless drafts. $13 entry into an 8 person pod. They'll be single elimination pods. We'll keep drafting all night until there is nobody left to play.

The Casual Gamer

The Booster Box Challenge

It's finally here, rotation. 

Goodbye Ravnica block. 

Goodbye Core 2014. 

Hello Khans of Tarkir. You sexy beast you!

The biggest challenge to rotation is finding a deck you enjoy in Standard. Most people just lost half, if not more, of their current Standard deck. That either means trying to fill the holes with a new set or scrapping the old for something brand spanking new. 

You spent two years playing Esper control, why not try Temur Aggro?

That is why most people budget bigger for the post rotation set. It's got the cards that will be the foundation for Standard for the next 18 months. You'll need more than a couple of cards to begin rebuilding or starting a new. Hardcore Magic players will buy a case of boxes (6), while the casual gamer will grab a booster box. 

So I'll ask, is it better to spend that budget on the box or on the deck? 

Me, I personally think buying a box is smarter. It gives you a good base of commons and uncommons to build from over the next 18 months, plus it gives you great trade bait to pick up the cards you want, and maybe a few extras for down the road. Sure buying an entire deck in singles gives you the deck you want but then there is no flexibility and no trade bait, outside of your money cards, to pick up some versatility. 

Yet it made me wonder, "What kind of current Standard deck could I put together for 109.99?". That's a larger budget than I usually use for a deck, but if I'm willing to drop 109.99 on a box of Khans then 109.99 isn't out of the ballpark for a deck I'll play with for over a year. 

Here is the deck I came up with:

Waiting 2 Exile

Creatures (7)

Generator Servant x4

Narset, Enlightened Master x3

Spells (30)

Deflecting Palm x2

Lightning Strike x4

Magma Jet x4

Anger of the Gods x1

Howl of the Horde x3

Arc Lightning x4

Chandra, Pyromaster x2

Jace, The Living Guildpact x2

Stoke the Flames x4

Cone of Flames x1

Elspeth, Sun's Champion x1

Dig Through Time x2

Land (23)

Temple of Epiphany x1

Temple of Triumph x1

Battlefield Forge x2

Evolving Wilds x2

Island x2

Plans x2

Shivan Reef x2

Mystic Monastary x4

Mountain x7

Sideboard (15)

Erase x2

Magma Spray x3

Reprisal x2

Negate x3

Banishing Light x2

Winterflame x2

End Hostilities x1

And that is what I'll be playing for the next few months until the new set in January.

The deck I guess would fall into the category of Tempo. It can be a burn deck or a control deck. To me it is a Narset deck. When she was spoiled about a month ago, I lost my mind. She was everything I wanted in a card and more. So I built this entire deck around her.

The mana base was most import to figure out. For budget purposes I avoided fetch lands. I feel evolving wilds are just as useful and I'll take the "tappped" disadvantage so that my fetch can grab me one of my three basic land types instead of two. 

The other big money land choice would have have been Mana Confluence but I took four Mystic Monastary instead. It gives all three mana and at end game I don't have to worry about choosing between one life and casting a spell. Confluence is great for speed decks that don't care about life totals. This deck works well with tapped lands because it is flexible in play style. 

Once the mana base was taken care of I began working on my main deck. Generator Servants are a no brainer. He pushes out Narset on turn four with haste. That puts a lot of pressure on a deck to answer. Plus he helps bring out Planeswalkers earlier or cast a Dig Through Time for 3 cheaper (2 mana, delve the servant).

The rest of the deck was just finding the optimal instants and sorceries. Howl of the Horde is a game ender. Narset triggers the raid ability plus usually provides an burn spell to copy. Nothing more fun than turn four Narset then getting double Howls plus a burn spell for the win. 

The sideboard is put together to adjust for situational match ups. Negates are more protection than control. There is only a handful of spells that can remove Narset from the field. Negate counters those. The rest of the sideboard is pretty straight forward.

Now the important part, the price:

That's a full deck and a sideboard for less than a box of Khans. I'm excited to keep tinkering with this deck but after play testing this weekend, and spending the past three weeks putting the deck together, I am confident this deck would be FNM ready for Standard this Friday.

What would you play if you had to take the booster box challenge? Aggro Mono-Black? Mardu Midrange? Delver?

No matter what you play, it's going to be a fun time. We're past rotation and that feels like a new day. 

A day full of free burn spells!!!

The Casual Gamer

It's almost time to Journey Into Nyx!

The spoilers have all been released and one of the most interesting cards to come out is Athreos, God of Passage. His ability and casting cost make him one of the most powerful cards to be released in the block. He doesn't do damage with his ability but takes life. That means his damage can't be prevented. In a black/white weenie deck he quickly forces your opponent into a lot of tough decisions.

I for one had one thought when I first saw Athreos and that thought was that he created a perfect match for Purphoros.

In my mind these two are the power couple of Magic the Gathering. When working together they make a weenie deck something to truly deal with. Damage when you enter and lost life when you die (or rebirth for 2 damage). That means to deal with a basic 1/1 from entry to attack to death you could hang 6 damage with a little engine that could. Finally we feel the true power of Mon's Goblin Raiders. (You've played this game too long if you get that joke)

Why even play anything but creatures. I haven't tossed a deck together yet but 24 lands, 6 gods, and 30 low casting cost creatures sounds like fun to me. The thirty creatures don't even matter. Just grab ones that die easily. That is why I call this deck idea, "The Suicide Squad".

The only problem is that Athreos is already sitting at roughly $30 and Purphoros is quickly climbing towards $10. To run 3 and 3 will end up costing you close to $120 just in gods. Even with thirty cheap creatures and land you're still dropping close to $125 for a deck. Not a price tag this casual gamer is comfortable with. Then again my birthday is coming soon and price tags get fuzzy around that time.

Until then I am still working on my land destruction deck. Last week I had talked about Junk Jund and gave a bare bones alpha deck list. As you'll see a lot usually changes between Alpha and Beta deck construction.

Earth Day Is Cancelled 
(Name Under Review)

Creatures: 15

4 Elvish Mystic
4 Satyr Hedonist
3 Voyaging Satyr
4 Ember Swallower

Spells: 22

3 Magma Jet
3 Mizzium Mortars
4 Bramblecrush
4 Demolish
4 Desecration Plague
2 Peregrination
2 Frenzied Tilling

Lands: 23

10 Forest
13 Mountain

Sideboard: 15

2 Fog
2 Pithing Needle
2 Ratchet Bomb
3 Scouring Sands
2 Mindsparker
4 Peak Eruption

As you can see I've dropped the black from this deck and decided to streamline it with just green and red. That causes less mana problems in the early game and the introduction of Desecration Plague made black very expendable. I've also started to fill in the gaps with the deck to help deal with any issues that might arise.

The main focus is of course on land destruction. The earlier the better. In a perfect world your first four turns go like this:

Turn 1 - Forest into Mystic
Turn 2 - Mountain into Hedonist
Turn 3 - Mountain into Swallower
Turn 4 - Forest, sac hedonist, and monster Swallower.

That's a 7/8 attacking on turn 4 as your opponent watches three lands go bye bye. You lose three lands too, but luckily you've got enough mana producers to keep you at 2 mana with the ability to roll out more quickly.

The sideboard is built to help against certain matches. If somebody plays any red then sideboarding Peak Eruption is a must before game two. Ratchet Bomb takes care of token decks for 2 mana and Needles stop heavy planeswalker decks. I like Mindsparker to spank on control decks.

Again this deck will have holes. It also has a price tag more comfortable than The Suicide Squad. The Mizzium Mortars are the highest priced card in the deck and those should only run about $4. Even with sideboard nobody should pay more than $25-30.

It's now time to actually put this deck together and begin play testing. Keep checking back for future blogs to follow the progress of this deck (and it's new name).

Until then remember we have our Prerelease tournament this weekend. Currently 20 of the 48 slots have been reserved. You can preregister by stopping into the store. The tournament sign up starts at noon and deck construction begins at 1:00 PM SHARP. First prize will get a booster box of Journey Into Nyx and each player is guaranteed to win a booster pack of Journey Into Nyx. Entry is $25.

Can't wait to see everyone this Saturday as we finally take a Journey Into Nyx!

The Casual Gamer

There is always one card during spoilers that just sparks my creative juices. That's a good and a bad thing. Especially when you discover that card just before you go to bed at night. Needless to say Eidolon of the Great Revel is now responsible for one sleepless night. 

This week has been a big spoiler week for Journey Into Nyx. The already revealed three gods and a green/white Ajani have made jaws drop around the shop. As I was relaxing in bed I decided to check the spoiler sites again just incase a new god had been revealed. The Eidolon happened to be the new reveal for the evening. 

At first most bashed this card because it has a bad synergy with red burn. I mean who is play 4+ mana burn? Nobody wants to drop a three point lightning strike only to get two back in the face from your very own private dancer. Yet to me this was the card I had been looking for to fit in with a deck mechanic that has been a favorite of mine since I started playing MTG: Land Destruction.

The thing about land destruction is that it is pricey. There really isn't a land destruction spell that costs less than 4. That kind of price tag just doesn't fit in most 1-2-3 burn decks. It also plays to what Lex Luthor from Superman the movie said about the importance of land. He was going to blow up half of California and kill Lois Lane because of land. Land is the most important card in Magic the Gathering.

People always ask when coming to the store what cards I am looking to buy or trade for. The easiest answer is land. Scry lands, Shock Lands, Fetch Lands, Dual Lands, and all the crazy lands in between. No matter how much this game changes it all comes back to one card that holds it all together, land.

So after sitting up, rocking a baby back to sleep, and sitting up some more I came up with what I call Junk Jund. This is the foundation I am using for my deck design to start the build for Eidolon. This deck is playable in standard and costs less than ten dollars to build. You should have most in your junk boxes at home.

Junk Jund

Creatures: 15

4 Elvish Mystic
4 Satyr Hedonist
4 Voyaging Satyr
3 Ember Swallower

Spells: 22

4 Lay of the Land
3 Bramblecrush
4 Demolish
3 Gild
4 Destroy the Evidence
4 Frenzied Tilling

Lands: 23

10 Forest
8 Mountain
5 Swamp

Yup, pretty basic. Yet this is how I like to deck build for future sets. I like to see how glue cards work. This deck will have it's teeth with Eidolon and a few more cards, but the true basis of the deck is here and that is fast land destruction.

For the Eidolon to truly work you want to keep your opponent below three mana production. For most that will be land. The first step is getting your land destruction out by turn three. Then begin ticking down your opponent's land count.

My MVP of this deck is Destroy the Evidence. In land destruction this card is pure money. It's five mana and it takes two lands out of your opponent's deck plus mills a few cards on the way. It also takes away your opponent's next land draw with the second land dump. That little ignored fact is huge in land destruction.

Ember Swallower is an interesting card. A 4/5 for four is nice. Make him a monster and he wipes three lands. That hurts you, but if you put your opponent at 0 lands on turn 5 with a 7/8 to deal with that is a game changer. Plus with mana rampers like Mystic, Voyager, and Hedonist dropping three of your own lands shouldn't hurt as much. 

I enjoy Gild for removal because exile works well to take care of gods. Bramblecrush is good for land removal and planeswalker removal. Demolish is the staple for land removal. You should be able to play it on turn 3 to begin land control. 

By no means will this deck go win a PTQ, but it is a good start to what I hope will end up being a strong tournament deck. Even better is the current price tag. It allows me to feel better about plugging in about 40-50 dollars in money cards down the line. 

Keep checking the blog for updates on play testing. There is going to be a ton of spoilers coming over the next few days. Fingers crossed for a big land destruction spell. Follow us on Facebook as we talk about the spoilers daily. 

Finally circle April 26th, 2014 on your smartphone as Nerdageddon hosts our first prerelease. Entry will be $25 and first place will get a booster box of Journey Into Nyx. Other prizes will be determined by the amount of players. Sign up begins at noon and deck construction starts at 1:00 PM. We'll have door prizes through out the day.

Now I'm off to throw this junk together. Enjoy spoiler week!

The Casual Gamer

The good news this week is that Nerdageddon Comics, Cards, and Collectibles officially achieved “Core Store” status with Wizards of the Coast. This means we can hold Friday Night Magic, Pre-Release Tournaments, and Game Days starting April 1^st, 2014. We also will have buy-a-box promos and from the vault cards. We’re very excited.

With all this I have been thinking a lot about my deck. As a casual gamer I find myself torn between two decks. The one I actually play with and the one I wish I played with. Most people would think that owning your own comics and cards store would mean you get to play with any card. The thing is most of my “good” cards are sitting on display in the store.

I tend to build my decks on a budget. It adds a challenge and allows me to be more creative. If you’re running on a budget then you’re probably not net decking. That means funky theme decks with a twist.

The deck I’m actually building is a mono-black deck with a shared relationship between the heroic, devotion, and bestow mechanics. It is made to use heroics for early game with enchants and bestow to grow for huge devotion drops by turn 6+. Here’s a look:

Deck: Big Black Beats

Creatures: 22
4 Tormented Hero
4 Pack Rat
3 Spiteful Returned
4 Agent of the Fates
2 Herald of Torment
2 Erebos, God of the Dead
3 Gray Merchant of Asphodel

Spells: 15
3 Deviant Glee
4 Bile Blight
3 Dark Favor
2 Doom Blade
3 Scourgemark

Lands: 23
3 Rakdos Guildgate
20 Swamp

If you’re wondering, the total cost for this deck is roughly $37.83. That is magic on a budget. The heavy cost in the deck is Erebos and the rats. Those six cards make up 75% of the cost of the deck. It’s best when building a budget deck to have some higher priced cards. My rule is to try to get 10% of my deck worth about 75-80% its total value. To make a competitive deck, even one under 40 dollars, you still need a few big cards.

I am finishing this deck currently as I hunt down the pack rats. Once it is together I will develop a sideboard with testing.

The best starting hand has a Tormented Hero and a few enchants. He can be a big force on turn two with a dark favor. A 5/2 can put pressure on early. It also will make a target for removal by your opponent. That isn’t bad as I’d rather have removal wasted here than with Agent of Fates.

Agent of Fates helps keep the board clear while also using enchants to build a monster. The bestow in the deck triggers heroics while also adding more to the devotion count or providing early game creatures if needed.

I would be looking to drop merchant by turn 6. Hopefully a tormented hero has scored a hit early as in digital testing I was able to drop a merchant for 10 on turn 6. A 5/2 hero on turn two has the ability to bring an opponent under 10 before it is dealt with.

There are holes in the deck. Yet I see why mono-black devotion is a popular deck. If you have forty dollars, and want a puncher’s chance, then big black beats is a good deck.

That is the deck I am actually playing. If money wasn’t an issue then mono-blue devotion would be the deck I would be building. I’ll let you look before I explain:

Deck: Master Bomb

Creatures: 21
4 Vortex Elemental
4 Frostburn Weird
4 Nightveil Specter
3 Thassa, God of the Sea
4 Master of Waves
2 Purphoros, God of the Forge

Spells: 16
2 Curse of the Swine
4 Cyclonic Rift
2 Disperse
4 Fated Infatuation
2 Voidwalk
2 Stolen Identity

Lands: 23
15 Island
2 Izzet Guildgate
2 Mountain
4 Steam Vents

It has similar card break down to my black deck. Both run twenty three lands and run more creature spells. The real difference is the price, as Master Bomb will run about $196.27.

The basis for this deck is Master of Waves. I love this card. I want to just overload the board with elemental tokens.

This build is meant to get out defensive creatures like the weird and vortex. Both are great early game blockers and the vortex is a fun trick during any phase of the game. The specter is a staple of blue devotion. The same goes for Thassa to help fish out your master of waves.

You want to drop the master as early as possible. Even if it drops with only 2-3 blue devotion on the board you still want it out. Once the master is on the board it opens up a creature advantage and allows for the spells like Infatuation, Voidwalk, and Stolen Identity to reach full effect.

Infatuation puts a copy of Master on the board for more tokens and helps keep the tokens alive when you phase out the master with voidwalk to create even more tokens. I personally like to toss my ciphers on Thassa then use her ability to make her unblockable to trigger ciphers for either voidwalk, stolen identity, or both.

The deck has a low mana curve and the potential for a large force of huge elementals once the master of waves and it’s copies give out bonuses.

I’d like to put this deck together, and I may try to get a piece here or piece there, but if you swing by the shop you’ll probably see me flopping cards from my black devotion deck. Maybe someday I’ll get Master Bomb sleeved and out for a test.

This week at Nerdageddon we’ll be doing a booster draft on Thursday night. On Friday is Standard Constructed FNM. Both events have sign ups at 6 and start at 7. Please try to be to the store by 6:55 to ensure you can play in the events.