Return to Ravnica Spoilers and Review: Tech

Ok this is the second and final part of my review, covering the rest of potential bombs and tech RTR has to offer. Wizards did a pretty good job overall in my opinion, enough to ensure that RTR is definitely an EDH worthy set. So here we go:

Tech:

Most of the time this is just going to target three cards in my graveyard so its not a complete waste when it dies, it can also be used to help abuse ETB effects. Although this should rarely be used as removal, its nice to have that option for desperate times.

Could be broken if you find something to repeatedly blink this card in and out of play. Deadeye Nav... Nevermind nothing to see here! xD

Good card all in all, should definitely see some play

8/10

They knocked the ball outta the park with this one. 10/10. I'm impressed. This is probably the best permanent card that hoses graveyards to date, much better than Leyline of the Void or Grafdigger's Cage though the Cage is useful in other ways.

Needless to say, this should be part of a package rather than standalone GY hate as there is such a thing as removal. =)

Already a staple, and should see tons of play.

Not as widely playable as the former two cards but definitely useful in the decks that can make use of it the most.

I'm going to try to find a slot for this in my Bruna list. It should be right at home there.

Not taking into account its playability, this card is a 7/10. Since even in the decks that can use it, it would be a tad difficult to really make it worthwhile and this makes you want to play all of your enchantments, possibly overextending into a Fracturing Gust or Austere Command. If your general is Bruna and/or you have a Replenish/Faith's Reward handy, it should be ok though.

One-sided board wipe at instant speed? I'd happily pay 7CMC for that. Shut up and take my money wizards!

Doesn't permanently get rid of pesky permanents, but its good enough. 9/10















Interesting tech, I can see that Ghave has been getting a lot of love since Innistrad's release. Playing this will instantly make you the target of the table though since no sensible opponent is going to sit there while you gradually suck up all the creatures on the board.

Nice card, 8/10 for Ghave. 7/10 for everything else.

Fleshbag Marauder had a brother?

This is a must run for Ghave decks. 9/10.


















Basically a Time Stop reprint, though it gets the job done in a different way and is slightly more efficient. 10/10



















Nice tech for any deck using the new Rakdos, however I can see that it can potentially backfire. I can't rate this one until I've played a few games with it but if all goes well it should be really broken.

Staple. Nothing to see here.

Another card I plan on using in Rakdos. Probably should have a nice home in Rafiq as well.

















Thats it for my RTR spoilers and review, next up should be either a Momir Vig or Rakdos, Lord of Riots deck. Whichever I feel more inspired to do. Hope you enjoyed reading as much as I enjoyed writing and if you have any input or differing points of view then please leave a comment!

Thanks for reading, 'till next time.

Return to Ravnica Spoilers and Review: Legends

Alright, so here I am after a brief sabbatical to deliver some more MtG goodness. Today we're looking at RTR and what it has to offer, and all in all I think a lot of decks got some interesting new tech as well as some decent new generals entering the fray. So lets get started.

Legends:

Isperia is the name, political control is her game. She probably isn't as good as Edric at politics but she can get the job done while filling the role of a decent beater. I'd definitely play a deck with her at the helm. She could have done with a bit more toughness though since with her current PT total she is a target for Flametongue Kavu and the like.

6/10.

Hello! I'm lovin' Niv-Mizzle's new look. Same CMC for basically the same effect (arguably better since now he doesn't have to tap and its repeatable) and a slightly larger PT total. Would you like more awesomesauce with your winburger sir?

Sadly, this Niv doesn't combo with Ophidian Eye or Curiosity but I'm going to go ahead and count that as a plus as well.

10/10.

Just in case Animar thought he had the monopoly on creature cost reduction, Rakdos is here to prove him wrong. One could say that Animar is more reliable but Rakdos definitely has the potential to be more... well... explosive than his RUG cousin.

Cards that come to mind with Rakdos at the helm are: Pyrohemia,  Mana Barbs, Shivan Gorge and even Bloodgift Demon can play his part! Curse of Bloodletting would also be a great addition and would ensure that cards like Ulamog or Blightsteel Colossus get to come out and play as well. If thats your cup of tea, that is. =)

Considering the kind of deck Rakdos would pilot, his drawback isn't that bad at all.  

9/10.

Great synergy with cards like Mitotic Slime, Wurmcoil Engine and the new Worldspine Wurm. Not sure what else to say about him except I feel like there is something really great about this card that I'm missing. I'm not enjoying the fact that I have to sac lands so if I ever do play with Jarad I'll have to use Life from the Loam to try to compensate.

He has the potential to get really big but with no evasion he won't be getting very far. Also, he encourages you to fill up the yard but doesn't assist with reanimation. I'm not sure what to make of him.

5/10.

I feel tempted to run a similar list to my Treva deck with Trostani except with more tokens, obviously. Though there isn't much more to say, he/she/it/them makes for a very good general for a gain life themed deck. Perhaps even better than Treva but that is debatable.

7/10.

He's a Riot at Parties

RTR is almost completely spoiled folks, its looking like its living up to the hype. Spoiler and review post is on its way probably followed by a Rakdos, Lord of Riots deck and a Momir Vig deck as I said I would like to do.

Lets start a Riot!

Thanks for reading, 'till next time.

Stay cool! (Cuz damn its hot!)

My Apologies

Just wanted to apologize for the lack of content lately as I can't seem to tear myself away from World of Warcraft (which I've recently started playing).

At this point I have to say that, sadly, I'm lacking the interest to continue my YotD series of decklists and it will have to be either postponed or cancelled until further notice.

On a positive note though, I still have full intentions of doing a spoiler and review post for RTR when it is completely spoiled though the review probably won't be too in depth. I'll most likely just cover the legends and any other potential EDH bombs that I see.

On another positive note, Rogues in WoW are completely broken and I'm having a blast sneaking up behind people unseen then stunlocking and doing massive damage before they can even respond. I hear Death Knights are also pretty OP and will have to get around to making one perhaps when I'm bored of my rouge.

Some of you out there may see this as adultery but I will remind you that the holy trinity of geekdom is MtG, WoW and D&D (Dungeons and Dragons) which I would like to play but have been unable to get enough people who are interested. It is also worth mentioning that my friends and I who were interested are all complete newbies to D&D and it would probably help if we had someone more experienced to guide us. Anyway I'm babbling at this point.

Bottom line: RTR Spoilers & Review - Coming soon to an academy near you! ;-)

Stay tuned and stay cool!

Thanks for reading, 'till next time.

Brief Intermission: Return to Ravnica

Taking a little pause between my YotD theme decks to talk a little about the upcoming Return to Ravnica set. In my excitement I decided to take one of those zany personality tests to see which guild suited me best.
I wasn't surprised to see that my answers to the test led me to:

Seriously, how cool is the Simic Guild? Designing your own creatures to adapt to any environment. For me personally I'd probably just stick to designing my own ideal pet or something but the idea of the Simic guild is one that intrigues me.

Okay, maybe I answered some of the questions knowing that the test result would be Simic but that doesn't mean that the answers weren't true! ;-)

Anyway, RTR is shaping up so far to be a pretty cool set. It has been confirmed that each guild will again have its own mechanic, however, none of the old keywords are making an appearance.

Populate is looking like the Selesnya keyword and it involves creating copies of creature tokens you control.

Now, as some of you may know the Simic Guild had disbanded and its leader, Momir Vig, was killed in dissension but I'm hoping they make a reappearance, though it won't be in RTR as the five guilds they are focusing on are: Azorius, Izzet, Rakdos, Golgari, and Selesnya.

I'm actually feeling a little inspired to make a Momir Vig deck but if I do it will be after our look at the Invasion and Planar Chaos dragons. Which I will try to wrap up as soon as possible but I make no promises. ;-)


Stay tuned for Dromar!

Thank you for reading, 'till next time.

YotD Theme Decks: Treva, the Renewer

Today's deck is going to be a life gain theme deck revolving around Treva, the Renewer. It should be noted that this deck is far from competitive as life gain strategies in EDH are stifled by the general damage rule, though there are a few notable cards that make decks like these formidable if things go your way.
*cough*Felidar Sovereign*cough*

I should probably also say that I kinda felt like a fish out of water building this deck since this is the first time I've attempted any sort of life gain theme in an EDH setting so I was initially at a loss as to what cards would make good inclusions. Either way, I think it turned out well enough, though you, my readers, can be the judge of that.

Now, on to the deck!






The first thing we'll need is cards that focus on what this deck is supposed to do: gain life. Anything along these lines will do, from creatures with lifelink like Baneslayer Angel to more subtle cards like Lifegift. The inclusion of cards like Lifegift also leads us to include a healthy ramp package for double utility and luckily for us we just got some shiny new toys in M13 so this should be no problem.

Anyway, here's the life gain cards we'll be using:

Batterskull
Behemoth Sledge
Loxodon Warhammer
Sword of Light and Shadow
Sword of War and Peace
Venser's Journal  (Great with Well of Lost Dreams)
Well of Lost Dreams

Baneslayer Angel
Drogskol Reaver
Felidar Sovereign
Rhox Faithmender
Serra Ascendant
Shattered Angel
Wurmcoil Engine (Great beater, and leaves behind little dudes to equip stuff to)

Boon Reflection
Cradle of Vitality
Lifegift
Recumbent Bliss
Words of Worship (Absolutely disgusting with Drogskol Reaver)

Fracturing Gust (We probably won't want to use this most of the time but its a backup plan)
Swords to Plowshares (Technically not a life gain spell for us but it can be in a pinch)

Primal Command (The first ability was the only excuse I needed. ;-) )

I wanted to include Ajani's Mantra at first as I figured it was subtle enough to fly under the radar of removal and if played early it can gain you quite a bit of life over the course of the game, I decided not to include it though due to the fact that its a horrible late game topdeck. I suppose that we all have horrible topdecks sometimes no matter what, but in this case I figured that Recumbent Bliss deserved a spot just a little bit more than the mantra. I also wanted to include cards like Dawnglow Infusion and Heroes Remembered but I figured that cards with repeatable life gain effects would have more value than one shot effects. Not to mention that if you suspend Heroes Remembered on turn 1 (which is the best time to suspend it anyway) you attract too much attention and thats something you try to avoid in multiplayer.

Now, since we have Lifegift, we'll deal with our ramp package next. It looks something like this:

Primeval Titan
Sakura-Tribe Elder
Burgeoning
Boundless Realms
Ranger's Path
Skyshroud Claim

I couldn't resist playing with the shiny new Boundless Realms card, as its probably the best mana-doubling card to see print ever, at least in my opinion. Mirari's Wake and Mana Reflection are cool too, but with Boundless Realms, should it resolve, you have double mana for the rest of the game; whereas Wake and Reflection can be targeted by removal to end the effect. The only drawback is that you need to play with a higher number of basics to get the most out of it but that's no problem for me.

So life gain is the theme, but we need more than a theme. We need a strategy. This is deck isn't aggressive, short of a turn 1 Serra Ascendant, and we don't have too many game ending bombs so we need a way to slow things down to our pace. So I included:

Norn's Annex
Windborn Muse
Dissipation Field  Aurification
Ghostly Prison
Propaganda

Commander Eesha
Silklash Spider

If your sitting behind a Dissipation Field Aurification and a Propaganda your opponents will be heavily encouraged to swing elsewhere while you put together a game plan and Commander Eesha and Silklash Spider are stellar blockers, not to mention that the spider doubles as removal. So the above cards pretty much cover our theme and strategy and now its time for the standard things that every EDH deck should have: removal, tutoring... etc

Removal:
Acidic Slime
Beast Within
Fracturing Gust
Sword to Plowshares
Treva's Charm (Wouldn't be a theme deck without it! xD)
Austere Command
Rout

Recursion:
Sword of Light and Shadow
Eternal Witness
Genesis (I swear, this must be my favorite green card)
Reveillark
Faith's Reward
Creeping Renaissance

Card Draw/Tutoring:
Well of Lost Dreams
Consecrated Sphinx
Drogskol Reaver
Mulldrifter
Treva's Charm (Card draw when we have no better options, but good for discarding Genesis)

Academy Rector (Will mostly be used to fetch Dissipation Field Aurification or SotF)
Fauna Shaman
Survival of the Fittest
Eladamri's Call
Enlightened Tutor
Mystical Tutor
Worldly Tutor
Idyllic Tutor

These cards are pretty much my concessions to good stuff inclusions in order to maintain a balance between theme and power. We still want to be able to win a few games, after all. ;-)

Now we just put it all together, and throw in a few more useful cards and you get something like this:

Commander: 1
Treva, the Renewer


Artifacts: 14
Azorius Signet
Batterskull
Behemoth Sledge
Loxodon Warhammer
Norn's Annex
Selesnya Signet
Sensei's Divining Top
Simic Signet
Sol Ring
Swiftfoot Boots
Sword of Light and Shadow
Sword of War and Peace
Venser's Journal
Well of Lost Dreams


Creatures: 20
Academy Rector
Acidic Slime
Baneslayer Angel
Commander Eesha
Consecrated Sphinx
Drogskol Reaver
Eternal Witness
Fauna Shaman
Felidar Sovereign
Genesis
Mulldrifter
Primeval Titan
Reveillark
Rhox Faithmender
Sakura-Tribe Elder
Serra Ascendent
Shattered Angel
Silklash Spider
Windborn Muse
Wurmcoil Engine

Enchantments: 10
Boon Reflection
Burgeoning
Cradle of Vitality
Aurification
Ghostly Prison
Lifegift
Propaganda
Recumbent Bliss
Survival of the Fittest
Words of Worship

Instants: 8
Beast Within
Eladamri's Call
Enlightened Tutor
Faith's Reward
Fracturing Gust
Mystical Tutor
Swords to Plowshares
Treva's Charm
Worldly Tutor


Sorceries: 8
Austere Command
Boundless Realms
Creeping Renaissance
Idyllic Tutor
Primal Command
Ranger's Path
Rout
Skyshroud Claim

+ 38 Land


In addition to Treva's Charm I also added Treva's Ruins for the sake of theme, but aside from that, the mana base is pretty standard including High Market, Kor Haven, Reliquary Tower...etc

So move along there's nothing to see here!

Oh, and we have the Karoo lands to help trigger Lifegift. ^.^

Off topic: You guys must be wondering why I post a ton of decklists but no game reports or decklist changes and I'll take the time to explain now that, sadly, I am currently without an EDH playgroup so I haven't had a chance to test any of the decks I've built. My friends and I really only play Type 4 and Modern at the moment but plan to start some EDH sometime soon (hopefully).

I could play on cockatrice but it comes without the social interaction that makes EDH so much fun in the first place so I only really use cockatrice now for deckbuilding purposes.

Anyway, thats it for our look at Treva, the Renewer. Dromar is up next. Stay Tuned!

Thanks for reading, 'till next time! ;-)

Year of the Dragon Theme Decks: Intro

Seeing as how this year is the year of the dragon according to the Chinese Zodiac, I decided to do a series of posts based on the Invasion and Planar Chaos dragons where I will attempt to make a theme deck based on their abilities.

Starting with the Invasion dragons and with White as the first color then Treva, the Renewer is first up.

Looks like its going to be a gain life deck. Stay tuned!

Thanks for reading, 'till next time. ;-)

New Toys

Fungal Sprouting meet Thromok; Thromok, Fungal Sprouting. Nuff' Said. xD

Thanks for reading, 'till next time. ;-)

M13 Spoilers and Review

I know I haven't posted in a while, and in my defense the interwebs was holding out on the proper pictures for some of the cards for me to do this review. So anyway, here's some of what's in store in

the upcoming M13 core set.

Legends:

Odric is definitely a worthwhile legend in my book, and while he may not be the most stellar commander ever his ability is extremely useful in the right decks. I can see him commanding a deck of his own or as a one-of in Ghave or Rith for example and he pairs really well with Vault of the Archangel.

Talrand is a very "build around me" kind of card. He has great synergy with flashback spells and spells with rebound and the tokens coming with built in evasion is a plus, though I have to say that he doesn't interest me that much. I'm interested to see if he sees any play either in standard or in EDH. As it stands I'm not sure that he packs enough of a punch for either format unless he turns out to be a combo piece or something and even that seems unlikely to me.

Supposedly the replacement for Grave Titan in standard, though as a friend of mine would say, my reaction to this card initially was angry confusion since I was pretty sure that Exalted was a mechanic for Bant yet here we see Nefarox with it. He will probably see some play in standard but I don't expect him to make any big splashes in the EDH scene. He might have a place in a Thaximundar deck though.
















Very reminiscent of Chancellor of the Forge except with a more narrow application in that it requires Goblins rather than just creatures like the chancellor. It should see some play in goblin tribal I suppose but I'm not terribly excited; though I guess I should say that I've not been much of a fan of the goblin tribe anyway.

Fun tidbit: Krenko is apparently from Ravnica.













Another inhabitant of Ravnica, Yeva is pretty useful in my book though you might have to build around her if you use her in a multicolored deck. She's no powerhouse like Zur but she interests me enough to build a deck at least. Flash >>> No Flash. ;-)

I suppose some people might prefer to just use Alchemists Refuge should they be in the right colors to do so. Though what Yeva has over Alchemist's Refuge and Winding Canyons is that her ability is static and free once she's on the board.

Other Stuff:

Pretty much a staple for my Rafiq deck and I think this should see tons of play in any deck that looks to abuse the Exalted mechanic.

Another great card that is definitely finding a slot in Rafiq. Sakura-Tribe Elder now has Exalted too? Yes please! xD

Featured here because I felt like I had to say that this is most likely going to be banned in EDH. Its reminiscent of Sway of the Stars which is also banned so...

Interesting card which could be best friends with Swiftfoot Boots and Darksteel Plate for example. I think its a great addition to any of the fortress decks out there.

That's it for today, and I think that M13 is turning out to be one of the best core sets in the history of core sets though time will tell I guess. Hope you guys and gals out there are enjoying this spoiler season.

Thank you for reading, 'till next time.

New Pet Card

My little brother recently got a box of some old magic cards that a friend of mine had to help start him and his friends at school off on their journey into the world of MtG. My brother is currently doing internal exams at his school now though, so needless to say, they were confiscated until his exams are finished. At which point he and his friends can then start going through the cards and building their decks.

Anyway on to the point. Today I figured I would rummage through the cards so that I could perhaps give my little bro some advice on what would be a good direction to go in based on the cards available. (After his exams of course.) There were some decent cards in each color here and there so each color is likely an equal candidate for whatever deck he chooses to build. Though I have to say that after stumbling across a couple of Phyrexian Reclamations I would strongly advise him to go black! xD

There were quite a few cards in the box so I would occasionally stumble across some old nostalgic cards from Onslaught as well as some other old favorites but nothing amused me more than Goblin War Buggy. I mean, look at it! How can you not love this card?

I decided that I would include one of these in any EDH deck I build that splashes red. Though I won't dip in to the box, those are strictly for the kids. I figure I'll pick one up on the interwebs or proxy one up if I have to.

Now for those of you who know me, you would know that Thalakos Deceiver is another pet card of mine so I'll let you know that this instantly trumps the Deceiver out of sheer hilarity. Though as funny as this card is, it doesn't trump Darksteel Colossus. Nothing does. Ever. ;-)

One last note is that I will now be looking for more artwork by DiTerlizzi because this one is a gem.


Anyways, thats all for today and I hope I was successful in educating you as to why you should be playing with Goblin War Buggy. =)

Thank you for reading, 'till next time.

The Big Deck

As promised before I went on staycation, I present to you my Type 4 stack, or, as we call it, The Big Deck. It has sort of slimmed down over the years due to some damaged sleeves marking some of the cards and other reasons but still maintains most of its size. This deck contains almost 250 cards so forgive me for not posting links to the card images as it would have been overwhelmingly tedious.


Artifact: 9
Akroma's Memorial
Howling Mine
Legacy Weapon
Mimic Vat
Mind's Eye
Mindslaver
Mirari
Nevinyrral's Disk
Nim Deathmantle

Creature: 89
Aegis Angel
Akroma, Angel of Wrath
Angel of Despair
Angel of Salvation
Anowon, the Ruin Sage
Archangel of Strife
Avacyn, Angel of Hope
Avatar of Slaughter
Avatar of Woe
Blazing Archon
Blightsteel Colossus
Blood Tyrant
Boldwyr Intimidator
Butcher of Malakir
Cadaver Imp
Child of Alara
Consecrated Sphinx
Damia, Sage of Stone
Darksteel Colossus (Best Creature in the Deck!)
Dawnglare Invoker
Djinn of Wishes
Draining Whelk
Dread
Dread Cacodemon
Drogskol Reaver
Eight-and-a-Half-Tails
Elgaud Shieldmate
Empyrial Archangel
Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
Eternal Witness
Fiend of the Shadows
Frost Titan
Furyborn Hellkite
Geth, Lord of the Vault
Gilded Drake
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
Godsire
Grave Titan
Griselbrand
Hamletback Goliath
Havengul Lich
Hornet Queen
Hydra Omnivore
Intet, the Dreamer
Iona, Shield of Emeria (Always Call Blue!)
It That Betrays
Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund
Keiga, the Tide Star
Kokusho, the Evening Star
Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
Linvala, Keeper of Silence
Lorthos, the Tidemaker
Memnarch
Mikaeus, the Unhallowed
Myojin of Night's Reach
Nicol Bolas
Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind
Pathrazer of Ulamog
Petrified Wood-Kin
Phyrexian Metamorph
Platinum Angel
Platinum Emperion
Prince of Thralls
Quicksilver Gargantuan
Rafiq of the Many
Reya Dawnbringer
Riku of Two Reflections
Scourge of Kher Ridges
Sen Triplets
Sheoldred, Whispering One
Silverblade Paladin
Simic Sky Swallower
Sower of Temptation
Sphinx of Jwar Isle
Sphinx of the Steel Wind
Stormtide Leviathan
Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
Teneb, the Harvester
The Mimeoplasm
Thraximundar
Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
Vengeful Archon
Verdant Force
Vorapede
Vorosh, the Hunter
Wolfir Silverheart
Wrexial, the Risen Deep
Wurmcoil Engine
Yosei, the Morning Star

Enchantment: 15
Chant of the Skifsang
Confiscate
Curse of Bloodletting
Curse of Echoes
Curse of Exhaustion
Decree of Silence
Eldrazi Conscription
Faith's Fetters
Leyline of Anticipation
Leyline of Lifeforce
Leyline of Sanctity
Pillar Tombs of Aku (Fan Favorite)
Take Possession
Treachery
Warstorm Surge

Instant: 58
Absorb
Angel's Grace
Arcane Denial
Assert Authority
Beacon of Immortality
Cancel
Chaos Warp
Counterlash
Counterspell
Deprive

Desertion

Discombobulate
Dismal Failure
Dismiss
Dissipate
Dream Fracture
Dromar's Charm
Evacuation
Fervent Denial
Fog
Forbid
Force of Will
Gather Specimens
Go for the Throat
Grab the Reins
Humble
Increasing Vengeance
Krosan Grip
Last Word
Lay Bare
Mana Drain
Mystic Melting
Naturalize
Orim's Chant
Punish Ignorance
Put Away
Redirect
Reins of Power
Relic Crush
Resounding Silence
Resounding Thunder
Reverberate
Rewind
Searing Wind
Snakeform
Spell Crumple
Stoic Rebuttal
Sudden Spoiling
Swords to Plowshares
Terminate
Time Stop
Trickbind
Turn to Frog
Undermine
Urza's Rage
Wild Ricochet
Wipe Away
Word of Seizing

Planeswalker: 2
Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker
Sorin Markov

Sorcery: 51
Akroma's Vengeance
All Is Dust
Archangel's Light
Austere Command
Barter in Blood
Beacon of Tomorrows
Beacon of Unrest
Black Sun's Zenith
Blatant Thievery
Blightning
Brilliant Ultimatum
Concentrate
Consuming Vapors
Counsel of the Soratami
Cruel Ultimatum
Damnation
Day of Judgment
Death by Dragons
Death's Caress
Decree of Pain
Elven Cache
Exhume
Foresee
Heroes Remembered
Hymn to Tourach
Increasing Devotion
Increasing Savagery
Insurrection
Mark of Mutiny
Mystic Retrieval
Persecute
Phyrexian Rebirth
Plague Wind
Planar Cleansing
Primal Surge
Reforge the Soul
Regrowth
Relentless Assault
Resounding Scream
Searing Flesh
Slave of Bolas
Syphon Mind
Tidings
Time Stretch
Time Walk
Titanic Ultimatum
Unnerve
Violent Ultimatum
Wheel of Fortune
Windfall
Wrath of God








First, I will justify Pillar Tombs of Aku's place in the deck. This card has, on multiple occasions, presented a case of RTFC & UTFC (Read the fucking card & Understand the fucking card) where players play it, then play Time Stretch forcing them to either sacrifice two creatures or lose 5 life. I mean, over the years of playing Big Deck its so hilarious every time someone plays it so we never cut it.

You always call blue with Iona to shut down opposing counterspells which forces players to speak now or forever hold their counters and Darksteel Colossus is the best creature in the deck, I don't care what anyone else tells me.

As for some funny situations that have occurred over the years, well, there was this one time fairly recently where someone had Gisela on the field while another person had an Avatar of Slaughter. Needless to say, things got very hairy from then on.

Also, I'll never forget the time when Leb had Memnarch, sucked up all the creatures on the board (including Darksteel Colossus!) and then played Titanic Ultimatum, knocking most everyone out the game except myself and Rockman and putting himself at 97 life. Me, with my diehard attitude convinced Rock that we shouldn't give up and began collaborating. I wiped the board, Rock Confiscated his Colossus and began chipping down his life and the rest is history. Rock won that game by the way.

Rock is also the only person to achieve killing everyone at the table in the same turn. (It involved some shenanigans with Relentless Assault)

Having said all that, I highly recommend and promote Type 4 (or The Big Deck as we call it) as a fun format that can be just as or even more insane than EDH and if you have some spare cards lying around then thats all you need to make a Type 4 stack of your own.

Just in case anyone cares then here are our house rules that have sort of evolved over the years:

1- You can only play two spells per turn
2- You can't play two spells and attack (Even more hilarious than Pillar Tombs)
3- You CAN, however, play one spell, attack, and then play another spell (Debatable loophole)
4- You can only use any one ability once per turn
5- Starting hand size is usually zero but negotiable depending on what kind of game we want.
6- Starting life points is usually twenty but again negotiable
7- Always kill Jammin first (I never agreed to this but its apparently a rule)

Thats it for today, and if you aren't already playing Type 4, I hope you decide to pick it up and take it to your playgroup because it is awesome. You have my word on that. (Especially if you use my list ;-) )

Thank you for reading, 'till next time.

M13 Spoilers!....Kinda

I've been browsing through some of the latest cards spoiled and it seems that we are indeed getting some commanders in the upcoming M13 set in July. Sadly, there aren't any acceptable pictures of these cards at this point so I'm not going to do a review on them just yet. What I am going to do though is introduce you to a new artist as he makes his first foray into the world of MtG artwork.

Now, I'm no art critic but this guy has caught my attention and I'm talking about Noah Bradley.

This picture has a certain serenity to it and the glow coming from behind the tree (the sunrise perhaps?) adds just the right ambiance. Just might be my favorite forest yet.
















Not much I can say about this one except: Beautiful. Its not as impressive as the Forest in my opinion but its good.

This one is very unique in that it captures a bird's eye view of the plains, I could be wrong but I don't think that that has been done before. Nice use of color for the land below and the clouds obscuring some of the view is a nice touch. I'm still more impressed by the Forest but I like this one a lot.














This is not a Noah Bradley piece but I had to feature the legend here. John Avon is notorious for his landscapes and looking at this piece here, its no wonder why.

This piece is right up there with Adarkar Wastes as one of my favorite land pieces ever.














Sorry for the lack of actual spoilers but the cards that I actually want to review have some terrible pictures as I said, so I'll wait until we get some better pictures before I start reviewing them.

Thank you for reading, 'till next time.