Magic on a Budget Blogs

April

Avacyn Restored : Green Review

Posted by admin

Today it is time for Green! This is the color where soulbond really shines!

Constructed
5.0: Multi-format All-Star.
4.0: Format staple.
3.5: Good in multiple archetypes, but not a format staple.
3.0: Archetype staple.
2.5: Role-player in some decks, but not quite a staple.
2.0: Niche card. Sideboard or currently unknown archetype.
1.0 It has seen play once.

Limited
5.0: I will always play this card. Period.
4.5: I will almost always play this card, regardless of what else I get.
4.0: I will strongly consider playing this as the only card of its color.
3.5: I feel a strong pull into this card’s color.
3.0: This card makes me want to play this color. (Given that I’m playing that color, I will play this card 100% of the time.)
2.5: Several cards of this power level start to pull me into this color. If playing that color, I essentially always play these. (Given that I’m playing that color, I will play this card 90% of the time.)
2.0: If I’m playing this color, I usually play these. (70%)
1.5: This card will make the cut into the main deck about half the times I play this color. (50%)
1.0: I feel bad when this card is in my main deck. (30%)
0.5: There are situations where I might sideboard this into my deck, but I’ll never start it. (10%)
0.0: I will never put this card into my deck (main deck or after sideboarding). (0%).

Abundant Growth

Constructed: 1.0
If the mana is bad and you have no turn 1 plays, this could see play. Unfortunately, Evolving Wilds is probably just better. Still, in some kind of five color control deck this is better than caravan vigil.

Limited: 2.0
This will be played in almost all decks with eight or more forests, except the most aggressive ones. It cycles, makes splashing easier and really comes at no cost. You can even make your Seraph Sanctuary tap for colored mana!

Blessings of Nature

Constructed: 1.5
If you can set this up on someone like invisible stalker, that can end the game very fast. Unfortunately, not only does it take too much work to set up the miracle, but you need a creature in play when you miracle this. Even at its best, it comes down about a turn faster than increasing savagery and does not have flashback. I just can’t give this my blessing.

Limited: 2.5
This seems like quite a nice card in limited. Unless you are a slow GW deck, the ability to distribute the counters however you like among your creatures is quite the game ender. And that is not even factoring in its miracle. The games where you play turn 2 creature and miracle this off the top on turn three will just end if your opponent has no answer.

Borderland Ranger

Constructed: 2.0
I am sure someone will try this card out somewhere. It gives incremental advantage and is a decent sized body. He may see some play in block or a birthing pod deck, but thats about it.

Limited: 2.5
I can’t see turning down this guy very often. A 2/2 body for three will trade with most creatures out of an aggressive deck and the ability is quite the bonus. The only time I would not play this would be if my curve topped out at four.

Bower Passage

Constructed: 1.0
I can get behind any card that makes lingering souls worse. Unfortunately, playing this means you are not advancing your board. And in that case the lingering souls are probably winning the race.

Limited: 0.5
There will be times where this card makes your entire team unblockable and other times where it does nothing. The effect is powerful enough that given the right deck I would board this in, but I would need to see eight or more flyers to consider that. Only a U/W deck could obtain that amount of flyers.

Champion of Lambholt

Constructed: 2.5
This champion definitely has the ability to take over the game. With just one counter, spirits may no longer block your creatures. With two or three counters, your entire team is almost unblockable. The only problem I see with this card is that he invites you to overextend.

Limited: 3.5
If I have six or more green sources, I will always play this card. The ability to make your army unblockable is amazing in limited. Just be careful to not get blown out in combat!

Craterhoof Behemoth

Constructed: 1.0
This card is quite confusing. In order for him to be good, you need to be both aggressive and a ramp deck. That basically means you need to be elves. The problem is that even if you were elves and could generate eight mana, your army is tapped from playing this rendering the ability a lot worse. And if you don’t win the game outright, you got yourself an 8 mana 5/5 vanilla. He doesn’t even have trample!

Limited: 3.0
This will end games the turn it is played. Even when it doesn’t, your opponent will lose their entire board, leaving themselves in a crater too big to dig out of. The only downside of this card is that it costs 5GGG and that is quite a steep mana cost. Even still, a few borderland rangers will get you there.

Descendant’s Path

Constructed: 2.0
This card is both better and worse than how it looks. In a deck with twenty humans, this will net you an extra guy a third of the time. That means on average, it takes about three activations just to draw even. This also requires you to actually have a guy in play, so some of those activations won’t even get you a guy. On the other hand, this filters all those lands you don’t want to draw. When you cast this, the last thing you want to draw are lands (you already have three) and this puts those on the bottom, making your draw steps that much better.

Limited: 1.0
This is very difficult to evaluate in limited. With nine humans in my deck, this will net me a guy about 20% of the time. What you really want to name here is angel (and possibly demon). If you have enough cheap angels, cheating a big one out can end the game in rapid fashion. This still filters away those lands you don’t want to draw, but this will also filter some of those spells and non-type creatures you actually want to draw. I think a 1.0 is pretty generous here as I just can’t see myself playing this.

Diregraf Escort

Constructed: 1.0
The sad thing is this is not even great against zombies. You need two creatures to stay on table, while zombies has a handful of removal. This is very flavorful on kitchen table battles, but it will not be seeing any constructed play.

Limited: 0.5
My opponent would have to play a six or more (non flying) zombies for me to bring this in. When that happens, this will make it quite dire for them.

Druid’s Familiar

Constructed: 1.0
Even this isn’t good enough for constructed these days. It really is quite fascinating how far power creep has gone.

Limited: 3.0
This guy is quite the powerhouse when you do soulbond. Six power for four mana is no joke. It may sound crazy, but I would consider splashing these guys in my sealed pool. This paired with Wingcrafter will just end the game. Remember not to get blown out in combat! That is the only downside of this.

Druid’s Repository

Constructed: 1.0
Again this is one of those cards that needs a deck full of creatures and a deck that ramps. Elves again. The biggest problem here is that frequently you don’t want to attack with your elves. And in that case, this card does absolutely nothing.

Limited: 1.0
I suppose if I had enough high cost game enders in my bomb heavy sealed deck I might play this. If I could ensure that ramping up to one of them fast would win me the game, I may decide to suicide my team to accomplish just that. 95% of the time, please just leave this on the side.

Eaten by Spiders

Constructed: 1.0
If flyers came equipped with swords, this may see the light of day. Unfortunately, most lingering soul decks are not playing equipment and even Delver of secrets is rarely equipped with a pike or a sword. I would leave this one on the side, until the metagame cries for it.

Limited: 1.5
With only two common equipments in the set and virtually no flyers in red and green, it is quite risky starting this. On the other hand, if your opponent has Angelic Armaments in his sealed pool, this can really get them.

Flowering Lumberknot

Constructed: 1.0
A four mana for a 5/5 isn’t even good enough for constructed play. On top of that, the drawback here is very real. You will lumber yourself into a loss if you try this out.

Limited: 1.5-2.5
This card will vary widely depending on your deck. Green happens to be the ultimate soulbond color, so you likely won’t have to work too hard to get this to work. Still, I can see games lost where this is stranded on the board with nothing to pair to.

Geist Trappers

Constructed: 1.0
Giant Spider does not see any constructed play and this should not either. Stingerfling Spider will remain the fringe spider for pod decks.

Limited: 2.0
At first I thought this was better than a 3/5 reach. After thinking about it for quite a bit, this is one of the few times where I wish it did not have soulbond and just had reach. Having another guy have reach is a miniscule upside compared to the times where this guy can’t soulbond. The biggest sell on this guy is that a 3/5 matches up very well with all the random flyers in the set.

Gloomwidow

Constructed: 1.0
As cool as it is to eat spirit tokens with this, three mana is too much to pay for this type of effect in this day and age.

Limited: 3.0
If I am green, I am always playing this spider. Even if it gets gloomy against an aggressive non-flying deck, I can always swing back for three damage.

Grounded

Constructed: 0.0
You deserve to be grounded for playing this card.

Limited: 0.0
I will never sideboard this card in even against a deck with all flyers. Paying two mana to take away flying from one creature is just not worth it.

Howlgeist

Constructed: 1.0
As much as I would like to put this in a Birthing Pod deck, I don’t see how he is better than a titan. If he was one mana less, he could easily compete with Vorapede for the spot. At six, this is too expensive.

Limited: 3.0
This is a finisher if you need one and it’s easily splashable. If he isn’t unblockable when he first enters the battlefield, he probably will be when he comes back. Grab this early. Howl. Don’t look back.

Joint Assault

Constructed: 1.0
Giant growth is not good enough for constructed and this seems worse more often than it is better. That being said, if a good soulbond deck ever sees constructed play, this is quite a nifty trick card.

Limited: 2.5
Out of all of green’s combat tricks in this set, this is the highest variance. When it is good, it can completely blow your opponent out of the water. Just try to not get yourself 3 for 1d by a removal spell in combat.

Lair Delve

Constructed: 1.5
In the right deck this is a green Divination that reveals the cards you have drawn. There could be a lair for this.

Limited: 2.0-2.5
Card advantage is card advantage and this does just that. Drawing two at the cost of showing my opponent both cards is a very good card. This type of card is best when the format is slow
and its true rating will depend on how fast this format actually is.

Natural End

Constructed: 1.0
Naturalize does the same for one mana less. That means the life gain has to be relevant for this to see play. Even solely against aggressive decks, I would rather pay one less than gain the three life.

Limited: 0.5
Definitely sideboard material, although I could see running a copy maindeck in my sealed pool. There will be times this will be your only out to a card like Moonsilver Spear.

Nettle Swine

Constructed: 1.0
A 4/3 for four really does not do it today.

Limited: 2.0
While this is a fine creature, the fact that it does not have soulbond hurts it quite a bit. You probably cannot play this card in the same deck as Flowering Lumberknot. I am also not sure how much a 4/3 will impact the board. It is worth noting that this absolutely destroys white’s best common (Seraph of Dawn).

Nightshade Peddler

Constructed: 1.0
Creature combat rarely happens in constructed. Factor in that he is only a 1/1 and you will quickly realize he is just not good enough.

Limited: 2.0
Here it is a very different story. Making all your guys trade with all their guys is quite an ability. Unfortunately, green’s creatures tend to be bigger anyways so deathtouch is not all that relevant. He also only beats for one and is not a great clock. Still, he gives a deck like G/R some inevitability. When it comes raining Angels and Demons, your guys still trade.

Pathbreaker Wurm

Constructed: 1.0
I love the art on this guy, but remember, we have a cycle of titans.

Limited: 2.5
Jeez this guy seems like a beating. The upside of this kind of soulbond ability is that you really can’t get blown out in combat. Sure they might not take the trample damage, but your guy doesn’t suddenly become weaker and die in combat. I imagine this guy ending quite a few games.

Primal Surge

Constructed: 1.0
His best friend seems to be Shrine of Boundless Growth. You want no non-permanents (besides him) in your deck and you also want to ramp. Unfortunately, I can’t give this card the thumbs up for constructed play. Ten mana is so much! Good News: You will have a blast resolving this card!

Limited: 1.0
Resolving this will end the game. Unless of course they Terminus your board. Then you will see me with the biggest sad panda face. On a serious note, it is probably smarter not to play this. Just remember ten mana is miles above nine, which is miles above eight. And eight is lot.

Rain of Thorns

Constructed: 1.0
This is card advantage! You get 3 for 1!

Limited: 1.5??
Wow this is a card that is hard to evaluate. You will always get the land, although at six mana that is not as relevant. I would need to see quite a few artifacts and/or enchantments to play this card. Please let me know if you ever get all three!

Revenge of the Hunted

Constructed: 1.0
If you are the luckiest person in the world and can consistently miracle this in an infect deck, it would be quite insane. For the rest of us mortals, this should stay on the sidelines.

Limited: 3.5
This is going to truly end games. It’s miracle cost is not very relevant. When you do happen to miracle this (and want to play it) you probably have at least four lands in play. When you have three or more creatures out, this will often wrath their board and make most of your team unblockable.

Sheltering Word

Constructed: 1.0
Tree of Redemption’s best friend! As much life as that combo just gained you, paying two cards just to gain life doesn’t really cut it in constructed. (Although that really is a lot of life)

Limited: 0.5
I think of this as a really bad Ranger’s Guile. Casting this on your Seraph of Dawn in response to Thunderbolt is living the dream, but outside of that this won’t cut it.

Snare the Skies

Constructed: 1.0
Even in a format full of flyers, this just won’t cut it.

Limited: 1.5
It is going to bit awkward when you leave a green open and a non-flyer back against a deck full of flyers. This will probably blow your opponent out of the water during your local pre-release, but become close to miserable when your opponent knows this is a card.

Somberwald Sage
Constructed: 2.5
This effect is so powerful, it will see play somewhere. It needs to be answered immediately, or Titans and Praetors will rain down next turn. Unfortunately, it’s body is as weak as it comes. Play this and cross your fingers!

Limited: 2.5
In an aggressive deck, this guy doesn’t do all that much. In a deck with angels and six power tramplers, this guy is a beating. Context is everything here.

Soul of the Harvest

Constructed: 1.0
I must sound like a broken record mentioning Titan over and over.

Limited: 3.5
A 6/6 trampler is good. One that draws you cards is insane. After you win the game with this card, please be gentle and leave your opponent’s poor soul alone.

Terrifying Presence

Constructed: 1.0
Fog sees no play. Clinging mists sees no play. Test this at your own peril.

Limited: 1.5
Although this is pretty good, the best case scenario is that you get a 1 for 1. Still, this is a pretty big step up from fog. Just remember that this targets, so you can get blown out.

Timberland Guide

Constructed: 1.0
He’s better than a grizzly bear and sadly still won’t see play. Green just has too many better options today.

Limited: 1.5-2.0
Depending on how fast the format is, this will range from ok to great. My guess is that it will be fairly good. Putting the counter on a flyer is not the worst and a 1/1 still trades with a few creatures in this set.

Triumph of Ferocity

Constructed: 2.0
This seems like a nightmare against control decks. Any creature that lives an entire cycle becomes a very serious threat. Even having inkmoth nexus activate itself is a nightmare. I expect this to just make control players’ lives miserable.

Limited: 2.0
You need to get one card out of this just to break even, and by playing this you have missed your three drop. Still, when this is good it will just roll your opponent over in card advantage. This is one of those cards which will either do nothing, or win you the game by itself. I believe that is enough upside to warrant an inclusion.

Trusted Forcemage

Constructed: 1.0
Blade Splicer is that you? Sorry, but this really isn’t Blade Splicer. If you want enough consistent power, just play that instead.

Limited: 2.5
All these soulbond creatures are really good. Four power and toughness for three mana is a huge deal. Even playing this with Wingcrafter will just end the game shortly. That’s four mana over two turns for five power worth of flyers!

Ulvenwald Tracker
Constructed: 2.0

Now this is an effect that green desperately needed. If you are ahead on the board, he can make your board position that much more daunting for your opponent. If we move to a creature filled constructed format, he might just have a home.

Limited: 3.0
Can you imagine your mighty soulbond creatures fighting everything on your opponent’s side? Unanswered, this is going to just win games.

Vorstclaw

Constructed: 1.0
See Primeval Titan. There we go again…

Limited: 2.5
This guy is huge. If you can give him trample somehow, he would rate much higher. As he is, your opponent is going to be on chump block duty for quite a while. Just hope his flyers don’t get you first.

Wandering Wolf

Constructed: 1.0
Strangleroot Geist is the same thing with haste and undying. Sure it can get blocked by lingering souls, but it is also more resilient.

Limited: 2.5-3.0
In a good RG deck, this guy is completely insane. You will have creatures and spells that boost it’s power making it virtually unblockable. I see a pack of these wolves ending the game in rapid fashion.

Wild Defiance

Constructed: 1.0
You may want to try this in some kind of infect deck, but three mana is just too expensive for this ability. It is worthy of note that against a red deck, this makes your creatures immune to Shocks.

Limited: 1.0-3.5
How good this is, largely depends on the spells in your deck and your opponent’s deck. This will make Righteous Blow and Pillar of Flame into complete jokes and Rush of Blood dangerously wild. If your opponent has a lot of those cards, jam this into your deck!

Wildwood Geist
Constructed: 1.0
A five mana 5/5 would not be good enough and this one has a drawback.

Limited: 1.5
I really would not be happy to play this in my deck given the other green cards. I suppose if my opponent’s army is full of flyers and this can’t block, he becomes a five mana 5/5 which is much more playable.

Wolfir Avenger

Constructed: 2.5
This guy is dangerous if they ever find a deck for him. Flashing in a three power creature with regeneration mana up on your turn is very strong. Even the sequence of flashing this in during your opponent’s turn, playing Hell Rider, and attacking for eight out of nowhere seems quite insane.

Limited: 3.0
Aggressively costed 3/3 flash regenerator in limited. This guy is seriously pushing it. And it’s only an uncommon.

Wolfir SIlverheart

Constructed: 2.5
Ah the rare version of the cycle. Twelve power for five mana is unheard of. This guy with Dungrove Elder seems good. His power level is definitely high enough for constructed play. He just needs a home.

Limited: 4.0
You are just going to win games with this guy. If they can’t remove him, they are dead. Even without soulbond he is a 4/4 which is fine.

Yew Spirit

Constructed: 1.0
A five mana creature with an eight mana additional investment to make it into a 12/12. And it doesn’t even have trample! Not cutting it!

Limited: 3.0
Oh this guy is good. When you have four mana open, he is pretty good. When you get to 8? He will take over the game.

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Magic The Gathering

April

Avacyn Restored : Red Review

Posted by admin

Hey guys! Welcome to my Avacyn Restored Set Review starting with the best limited color in the set! I hope you guys enjoy this set review and win some packs at your local pre-release!

Aggravate

Constructed: 0.0
Any deck that wants to attack, will attack. Any deck that doesn’t want to attack doesn’t have many creatures.

Limited: 2.0
When this is good, this is insane. Otherwise it is mediocre. The best deck to play this against is a good aggro red deck. This straight up kills five commons and four uncommons from red and that’s not counting Thatcher Revolt.

Archwing Dragon

Constructed: 2.5
White-based control may be king, and this gets around Oblivion Ring, Day of Judgment, and Terminus. This is going to be in the sideboards of most red-based aggro decks.

Limited: 3.5
This is good in a bad red deck and a beatwing in a good one. Imagine when your opponent finally thinks he has stabilized and you plop this down.

Banners Raised

Constructed: 0
Yeah…. Keep those banners down.

Limited: 1.0
You know red has an unbelievable amount of synergy when a card as bad as this can see play. That being said, I probably want at least three Thatcher Revolts before I play this.

Battle Hymn

Constructed: 0.5
Maybe somewhere somehow.

Limited: 0.0
Hymn…

Bonfire of the Damned

Constructed: 2.0
This will probably see more block play than standard play and more sideboard play than maindeck play, but miracling this off the top of your deck is going to end a lot of creature mirrors.

Limited: 5.0
If I could give this a 6.0, I would. You won’t lose many games when this is in your hand, and you damned well won’t lose any games if you miracle this mid / late game.

Burn at the Stake

Constructed: 0.0
I know this is meant to be a red Overrun, but it really is much worse. First off, if it gets countered, you’ve still paid the cost so all your creatures are tapped. Second, when it is good Bonfire / Devil’s Play are just as good and not triple red.

Limited: 3.5
This is quite the finisher in a good red aggressive deck. When your opponent has just about stabilized, you can do 9+ damage easily with this and end the game.

Dangerous Wager

Constructed: 0.5
This has a unique effect of putting very many cards into your graveyard at the cost of losing your hand. I can’t imagine this being good enough to see play.

Limited: 0.0
I don’t see it.

Demolish

Constructed: 0.0
4 mana stone rain just doesn’t cut it.

Limited: 0.5
If my opponent has a white-based Angel deck with a lot of 7 and 8 drops and a bunch of artifacts I can see bringing this in. This is also one of the few outs to a card like Slayer’s Stronghold.

Dual Casting

Constructed: 0.0
Most of the time you will get zero or one activations off of this. And even if you got two, it really was not worth all that effort.

Limited: 1.0
You can side this in if your opponent’s deck has no removal spells and you have a ton. It also helps to have some hexproof guys.

Falkenrath Exterminator

Constructed: 0.5
Spikeshot Elder is really just better and even that doesn’t see very much play.

Limited: 3.0
I would never cut this barring some beyond insane red deck. If it connects once or twice, it will just exterminate your opponent.

Fervent Cathar

Constructed: 0.0
This is really bad against control, and mediocre against creature based decks. Don’t play this.

Limited: 1.5
This card is not unplayable, but for 3 mana I would prefer a bigger body.

Gang of Devils

Constructed: 0.0
My Cavern surely isn’t naming “Devil”. Let us stick to the “Giants”.

Limited: 2.0
While this card has a very powerful effect, 6 mana is a ton compared to the other red spells. I would always play the first, but be hesitant to mainboard the second. It shines in heavy creature mirrors.

Guise of Fire

Constructed: 0.0
I don’t think I need to explain this.

Limited: 1.0
This is a lot worse than I first thought it was. Besides red and green, there really aren’t many 1 toughness creatures to remove. Factor in that you are playing red and this gets that much worse. (You have five common creatures and four uncommons with 1 toughness.) I can only see sideboarding this in against the most aggressive of red decks.

Hanweir Lancer

Constructed: 0.0
If you are playing R/W humans, please stick to Silverblade Paladin or Mirran Crusader.

Limited: 2.5
This is quite a card. Pairing your X/1 red guys with first strike makes combat a nightmare for your opponent.

Havengul Vampire

Constructed: 0.0
Is this the red Lumberknot? O wait, it doesn’t have hexproof.

Limited: 2.5
When you are beating every turn, this is bound to grow. And when it grows, the real beats begin. The real downside of this card is that it’s not a Human.

Heirs of Stromkirk

Constructed: 0.0
This is just worse than the card above.

Limited: 2.5
Against non-red decks this card is even better than Havengul Vampire. Against aggressive red decks, this card is horrible.

Hound of Griselbrand

Constructed: 1.0
This is quite a durable 4 drop. Unfortunately, it dies to Pillar of Flame.

Limited: 3.5
Talk about a giant beating. Not only is a 2/2 double strike a huge deal, when this comes back it is just a nightmare.

Kessig Malcontents

Constructed: 2.5
Yes, you are reading this correctly. With RW humans in a good draw, this guy is insane. This also kills Liliana by itself when he enters if they forced you to sacrifice your 2 drop.

Limited: 3.0
This is what red is all about in this set. Get lots of humans. Do lots of damage. This will generally do 3 damage and trade with one of their guys.

Kruin Striker

Constructed: 0.5
As tempted as I am to try this out in constructed, the 2 drop slot for RW humans is quite packed. It really isn’t going to happen.

Limited: 2.5
I am never cutting any of these in a red deck. Unfortunately, if they have Haunted Guardians, it is probably best to board them out. With enough of these Thatcher Revolt becomes playable.

Lightning Mauler

Constructed: 1.0
There are others championing this card, but it really doesn’t make the cut. If you follow a turn 1 Stormkirk Noble with this, do you even soulbond them? If you decline to, you have just telegraphed to your opponent that you have a 2/2 double strike haster coming in next turn. As powerful as that is, your opponent will play accordingly.

Limited: 2.0
This card is tricky since soulbond with haste really isn’t two creatures with haste. One of the sides will almost always become wasted. That being said, a 1R 2/1, “someone will get haste” is not a bad card.

Lightning Prowess

Constructed: 0.0
Cunning Sparkmage on an enchantment…?

Limited: 1.0
I can’t fault anyone for trying this out. The ability is very powerful. I just don’t see myself playing this card. This is not exactly “reach” and getting 2 for 1ed is a very real concern. It is very good against an aggressive red deck and that is probably it.

Mad Prophet

Constructed: 1.0
4 mana to loot is really too much for constructed. This is the spot on the curve where you play hero of bladehold and huntmaster.

Limited: 3.0
So it loots, it beats, and it’s a human? Have they gone mad…? The only downside here is you do have to discard before drawing, meaning there are times where choosing not to loot is correct.

Malicious Intent

Constructed: 0.0
What?

Limited: 0.0
It’s a trap.

Malignus

Constructed: 0.0
Well the art is beautiful. That is all I have to say.

Limited: 3.0
When your deck is great, this card is ok. When your deck is bad, this card is insane. I want to see someone combo this with Rush of Blood.

Pillar of Flame

Constructed: 4.0
So this takes care of Loyal Cathar, Doomed Traveler, Geralf’s Messenger, Gravecrawler and Strangleroot Geist for 1 mana. And you are telling me I can still shoot my opponent for 2 with it? Sign me up!

Limited: 3.0
I am never cutting this from a red deck, but this is one of the few times a card is better in constructed than in limited.

Raging Poltergeist

Constructed: 0.0
See Inferno Titan.

Limited: 0.5
I suppose this is good with Hanweir Lancer and Ghostform, but it’s really not worth the effort.

Reforge the Soul

Constructed: 1.0
I never played with Wheel of Fortune, so I have no context for this kind of effect. My guess is this won’t be seeing any play. I would rather just play Past in Flames.

Limited: 1.0
I can’t see myself playing this, but red does have a very low curve. If you happen to curve out, this may be actual card advantage.

Riot Ringleader

Constructed: 0.0
Sorry, the 3 slot is really packed and this isn’t even close to cutting it.

Limited: 2.5
Thatcher Revolt? Oh yeah!

Rite of Ruin

Constructed: 0.5
This is Destructive Force, but worse. And even that only saw play in ramp.

Limited: 3.0
This is very frequently a 7 mana Wrath. You should probably evaluate it as such.

Rush of Blood

Constructed: 0.0
If you are playing infect, Assault Strobe is cheaper.

Limited: 1.0
See Malignus.

Scalding Devil

Constructed: 0.0
Spikeshot Elder?

Limited: 0.5
This little guy is quite deceiving. He really isn’t a 2 drop, and he isn’t a human. Sure he makes your hand a lot better when you flood out, but you still won’t win that game unless your opponent floods out as well.

Somberwald Vigilante

Constructed: 0.0
He kills all 1 toughness creatures, unfortunately hitting for 1 a turn isn’t exactly a clock.

Limited: 1.0
A 1 mana 1/1 is just not a card. He is a human though! And that is quite relevant for red.

Stonewright

Constructed: 0.5
He is at his best in a dedicated burn deck. And in those decks there aren’t many creatures.

Limited: 2.5
This is one of the few soulbond effects that cannot get blown out mid-combat. On a trampler or a first striker, this is quite insane.

Thatcher Revolt

Constructed: 0.0
Can you imagine playing this on turn 3 and having your opponent play timely reinforcements? His guys stay and he gained twice the life.

Limited: 1.0-3.0
That is one huuuge range. This card in a vacuum is really bad, but with all the human synergy this can be quite good. If I get a couple Riot Ringleaders and a few Kruin Strikers this becomes really good. Don’t forget the synergy with Havengul Vampire!

Thunderbolt

Constructed: 0.5
This card is good, but just play Incinerate. I don’t foresee Restoration Angel getting out of hand.

Limited: 2.0
I will always maindeck this, but often side it out against decks that have no white or blue. It really is bad against green, black and red decks.

Thunderous Wrath

Constructed: 2.0
PV wrote a great article on this. It looks insane on the surface until you realize you get miracle about 40% of the time. Still, it is good. Just not insane.

Limited: 3.5
I will play every single one of these I get if I am red. Hard-casting this is no problem in limited.

Tibalt, the Fiend-Blooded

Constructed: 2.0
This card will be very hard to judge until months into the format. Even if he is good, he may not get the credit he deserves. It is hard to spot how much value he is giving you exactly.

Limited: 2.0
Unfortunately in a land full of creatures, this could become a liability. Still, against a slow white-based deck this could be very good.

Tyrant of Discord

Constructed: 0.0
You could get real lucky….

Limited: 1.0
A 7 mana 7/7 that stone rains most of the time is really not what I want to be doing with red. That being said, it can be quite devastating with enough flicker effects.

Uncanny Speed

Constructed: 0.0
Ha ha ha ha….

Limited: 1.0
Casting this will almost always 2 for 1 yourself. Almost all the red creatures only have 1 toughness. Still, 3 damage is not the worst.

Vexing Devil

Constructed: 2.0
There have been tons of articles on this guy. I believe that giving your opponent a free dismember to cast (for free) on your 1 drop is not something you want to do. Still, four damage is a ton and I will be trying this out.

Limited: 1.5
Would you play Lava Spike in this format? This is pretty much that. I would need an insane red deck to play this.

Vigilante Justice

Constructed: 0.0
Does this do anything?

Limited: 2.0
I love any card that makes Thatcher Revolt better. Unfortunately, being a 4 drop, the only Humans I will be casting after I cast this are the ones off the top of my deck.

Zealous Conscripts

Constructed: 2.5
This card merely existing will affect the way players handle their planeswalkers. Threatening to ultimate is a very real liability. Can you also imagine taking a Titan, Elesh Norn, Angel of Jubilation, Liliana, Tamiyo or Hero with this?

Limited: 3.5
This card is most insane in an aggressive red deck. 4R is easily splashable, and outside of a slow white deck this card is very good.

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Magic The Gathering

March

Playing in a Daze: SCG Sacramento Tournament Recap

Posted by admin

Editors note: I asked, a friend to write a few articles for the website since he has been playing for standard and limited for quite some time. He is a very good player, and was excited that he accepted. Here is his recap from SCG Sacramento.

Hello everyone. I would like to thank the staff at Magic on a Budget for giving me the opportunity to write for them. Let me introduce myself a little. I live in the SJ area and have been playing magic for the last couple of years. I have a heavy background in poker, and have played for stakes way above those in any magic tournament (including pro tours). SCG open Sacramento was my first major magic tournament (anything above a 1k) and I was not disappointed.

Let’s first start off with the deck I played: http://magic.tcgplayer.com/db/deck.asp?deck_id=992440
Yep that is channel fireball’s 75 at PT Honolulu.

I did not plan on playing this deck until 2 minutes before the event started. I had been testing this 75 with pretty good success for the past couple of weeks and was really set on playing this:
http://magic.tcgplayer.com/db/deck.asp?deck_id=992443

First I must give credit to Yunhao_Wu_CHN for this deck. This is the 75 he has been playing with for the past couple of weeks with many 4-0s. I don’t agree with all of his sideboard choices (and a couple of his main deck ones), but when you play with a new deck I always like trying out the exact 75 first.

Now let me explain the reasons I wanted to play this deck. In my local metagame, U/B control and frites is abnormally prevalent, so if I wanted to play wolf run I needed a build with what I believe to have the best control matchup. This wolf run build also does not just straight up lose to an Elesh Norn (although it is still quite devastating). Dungroves with Wolf Runs can actually go over the top of an Elesh Norn.

So why did I switch decks? At SCG Sacramento, I switched decks last minute because I had major insomnia. I slept for a grand total of 0 minutes the previous night and wanted to pilot the “easiest” deck. The Channel Fireball version has very little decisions as everything fits into a specific spot in the curve nicely. With the mono green version, 4 Green Sun’s Zenith, swords, and access to more birds (plus the Dawntreader Elk) seemed like too much for my sleepy head to think about. Turns out, I actually switched into the best deck for the metagame.

I started off the grueling 9 rounds by playing against B/W tokens deck sporting some Mirran Crusaders that just got crushed by the 5 main deck sweepers.

1-0

Round 2 I got paired up against Esper Control. Game 3 of this match was actually quite hilarious. At some point of the game, we both ran out of cards going into top deck mode and both proceeded to draw 10 straight lands in a row. I ended up winning after my 11th top deck was an Huntmaster of the Fells =). He had played a Curse of Death’s Hold on me earlier, so after many (too many) grueling turns the Huntmaster finally got there.

2-0

Round 3 I got paired with Zombies. I had no idea what my opponent was playing game one and I kept a hand with tons of ramp but no threats or sweepers and got demolished game one. Game 2, I had Slagstorm, Whipflare, and Galvanic Blast in my starting hand and the game was just not close. Game 3, my opponent was stuck on 3 lands (thank god no messengers!) and when my Acidic Slime came down and hit his Darkslick Shores, I stranded his 2 Phyrexian Obliterator and Phantasmal Image in hand. Needless to say, the match was over quite fast from there.

3-0

Round 4 I got paired against Delver and lost in a very grueling 3 games. Game 3 I felt like I had the nut draw, and I must have misplayed somewhere. If I had a little sleep before hand maybe I could identify where exactly that error was. All I remember was I ran a Primeval Titan at 9 mana (getting double mana leaked and eating the last counter on my Sphere of the Suns) My opponent had no more cards in hand and drew a Snapcaster Mage for my last titan in my hand. I did not draw a land and got my last titan leaked.

3-1

Round 5 the mirror. This match has actually very little interaction. Games 1 and 2 whoever was on the play came out faster. Game 3, I was on the draw on a mull to 5 and still almost won the game. I had a beast token, Garruk, Primal Hunter on 5 counters, and 9 lands in play (including a Kessig Wolf Run, but no Inkmoth Nexus). My opponent had 9 lands (1 Inkmoth, 1 Kessig) and an empty board. I was at 5 poison and facing lethal next turn. I pumped my beast token with Kessig for 4 and drew 7 cards, hoping to find a beast within, an Ancient Grudge, or an Inkmoth Nexus (i had not played my land for the turn). Instead I found a Green Sun Zenith, which I used for a bird to stay alive for one more turn, and missed again the following turn.

3-2

Round 6 I got paired against humans. This was a very close match. I lost game 1 due to a very bad punt. My opponent had Thalia and Mirran Crusader on the board. Instead of Slagstorming, I decided to double galvanic blast the 2 creatures. I figured I needed Slagstorm to deal with Geist of Saint Traft. Instead he dropped a Hero of Bladehold, and I played my Acidic Slime hoping to block. My opponent used Fiend Hunter on my Slime, and swung with hero. I Slagstormed, getting my Acidic Slime back allowing me destroy another and, but my opponent had another fiend hunter and swung for lethal. Game 2 I landed Inferno Titan and my opponent quickly scooped. Game 3 had a very interesting scenario. My opponent had 3 cards, 4 lands(a Moorland Haunt, 2 Seachrome Coast, a Plains), 2 Spirits and a Doomed Traveler in play. He also had a bin full of creatures in the yard. I was at 5 life with 6 mana with an empty board. My opponent showed me mana leak game 2 and game 3 he was playing like he had leak the entire game. I had Slagstorm, Primeval Titan, Beast Within in my hand. After much deliberating, I decided if my opponent did indeed have a Mana Leak, my chances of winning this match were very slim. I would have to Slagstorm then not land a threat and draw lands while drawing sweepers to play my titan. I decided to go for it and Beast Within my opponents Moorland Haunt and Slagstorm away. My opponent did not have leak and I won that game shortly after against his lonely spirit in play.

4-2

Round 7 I got matched against Delver. This match was not as fun, as my opponent played his hand incredibly straight forward(tapping out when had no countermagic) and it was easy getting the 2-0 victory.

5-2

Round 8 I got matched against U/B Heartless Summoning. I have to say game 1, I really thought he was playing U/B control after his plays of land go for the first 5 turns. I refused to land any threats without being able to pay for leak in my threat light draw. That cost me the game as he just combo’d off turn 6. I won game 2, but game 3 I mulliganed to 5 and got stuck on lands. The match was not very eventful.

5-3

Round 9 I got matched against Zombies. This was a really close 3 games, although game 3 takes the cake. My opponent had the nut start with turn 1 Gravecrawler, turn 2 Despise and Diregraf Ghoul only to see 3x Huntmaster from my hand. He went turn 3 Geralf’s Messenger into turn 4 Phyrexian Obliterator, but my team of Huntmasters outraced him handily by flipping back and forth.

6-3

Not bad for not sleeping. Still a disappointing day, as I felt like 2 of my losses were easily winnable. With the amount of UB control I ended up facing (none) I think the version I switched into was actually a lot better. Sure, if I had played Wolf Run Green I would have had a better match against the mirror, but for everything else I really like access to main deck Slagstorms. Even against Esper Control, you have the option of hitting Planeswalkers or their tokens.

I am going to be fine tuning the mono green build over the next week or so. I really like that list!
Before I sign off my first article, I would like to congratulate fellow Magic on a Budget teammate for top8ing in the legacy portion of SCG Sacramento with his goblin brew. Let me know what you think of my article in the comments below! Signing off.

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Magic The Gathering

February

Standard on a Budget : Burning Vengeance

Posted by admin

When Innistrad was released, a lot of new decks were being tested. None were more interesting and varying than the Burning Vengeance builds. Ranging from 2 to all 5 colors deck builders tried, and ultimately failed in making Burning Vengeance a tier 1 deck. However with Dark Ascension releasing in this week it is time to once again look into the potential this deck once showed. There is very good cards that could push this deck to the forefront. The basic strategy of Burning Vengeance is to use counter magic and dig spells to buy time in order for you to land a Burning Vengeance. While not all that threatening on its own, it will steadily shock your opponent to death. While obviously it doesn’t sound as thrilling as slamming a new Sorin, or flipping a Delver, the basic strategy of the deck is very solid and been working in various builds for years.

The backbone of the deck:

4x Burning Vengeance

Counter Magic:

4x Mana Leak – The best counter spell in the format.

4x Dissipate – A great supplement to Mana Leak. While clearly not as good, you will need some back up in order to disrupt your opponent and buy time.

The enablers:

4x Faithless Looting- What can you say about this card, other than it is amazing in this deck.

4x Forbidden Alchemy- While much slower than looting, it is still solid in filling up the graveyard. Plus it is an instant that replaces itself, unlike looting.

The removal:

4x Geistflame – While Gut shot is better overall, Geistflame is better in this particular deck. Flashing back Geistflame with an active Burning Vengeance is devastating. And Geisftlame is $0.10, while Gut Shot is a few bucks.

4x Whipflare- I remember writing an article not to long about that said Whipflare is good. Well now Whipflare is everywhere. You need to pack a few to deal with tokens and pesky hex proof menaces. Four might not be the ideal number, but you need to have at least two until you see exactly the type of decks you will be playing.

That is 28 core cards, and with roughly 24 lands, that is 52 total cards. So we need to find 8 more. We could just jam 4x Dream Twist, 4x Desperate Ravings, 4x Think Twice, or 4x Thought Scour in the deck and call it a day. However I would like to examine other options if you want to go three colors. With Shimmering Grotto and Evolving Wilds being very cheap, you can comfortably go three colors if you choose.

White:

Ray of Revelation ( with green)

Lingering Souls (with black)

Green:

Black:

White doesn’t add much on its own. Increasing Devotion is too gimmicky, and will get blown out by Ratchet Bomb, and Slagstorm effects.

With Green you get Grudge and Gnaw to the bone. Not great, but both are playable, and good in a very particular type of field. I wouldn’t recommend adding Green just for these though.

Black has some very good spells, which include the best kill spells. I don’t think this deck wants to run Tragic Slip, that card is for a very particular type of build and this is not one of them. However Doom Blade is still solid, and Server will gain in value when battling tokens. You can also main board Nihil Spellbomb. Nihil spellbomb with black for the cantrip, is very good mainboard. Without black now it’s just mediocre, maybe a kinda bad. Nihil Spellbomb is what makes black very good right now, and I expect standard players to adopt this card more often than Grafdigger’s Cage since you can run it in the mainboard.

This is now where I usually discuss sideboard, but with a ton of new decks about to be released, I expect my list to be obsolete quickly. I will simply list a handful of cards that I would strongly consider with what I perceive to be decks to beat.

Nihil Spellbomb- you are only mainboarding 2, and this card is great against control and esper tokens if you can draw off of it.

Mental Misstep – Solid against Delver and Humans. Stopping a turn one drop will really slow things down.

Memoricide- Good for the mirror ( very good!), Wolf Ramp, and Birthing Pod.

Combust- Always great sideboard removal

Ratchet Bomb- Expensive for a budget deck but would recommend one if you can get your hands on one.

Circle of Flame – While most people will dismiss this as bad. I kind of feel it can be solid as a sideboard card. Give it a whirl.

Curse of Death’s Hold – As I am writing this, it still is cheap. I don’t think that will be soon, since it is a great answer against so many decks.

Ancient Grudge – With 4 shimmer grottos, I think this can still be worth a sideboard slot.

Anyways, here is what the final product looks like:

4x Burning Vengeance

4x Mana Leak

4x Dissipate

4x Faithless Looting

4x Forbidden Alchemy

4x Geistflame

4x Whipflare

4x Dom Blade

2x Nihil Spellbomb

2x Sever the Bloodline

Lands:

4 Shimmering Grotto

3 Evolving Wilds

4 Swamps

7 Mountains

6 Islands

Let me know what you think, and feel free to comment below. Also make sure to check out Eye of the Vortex Online, where other Magic the Gathering and gaming articles can be found.

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Magic The Gathering

February

An Introduction to Altered Art

Posted by admin

We would like to start featuring Magic the Gathering card alters, but before we get into that we need a basic introduction of what card altering is all about. To get us started with that, we have received a great altered card from Alan Rozen, aka WarPigmtg. The video will show in fast time how a basic card can be entirely transformed.

Altered Art Steel Hellkite

For more information on alters, we asked Alan to answer a few questions on how he got into altering and how you can as well.

Magic on a Budget: Alan, how did you get started altering magic cards?

Alan: I got started by always loving the altered and promotional arts on various magic cards. They seemed to make a player’s deck more unique from every other player out there. Since these cards were often expensive and hard to get a hold of, I decided to do some research into creating them myself and thus this hobby of mine was born.

M: How long have you been doing this for?

A: I have been altering and extending cards for roughly five months.
M: Well do you have any other advice for the readers looking to get into card altering?

A: Start off small and slowly work your way up to more advanced styles and more sought-after cards. Grabbing one of your lands to paint on is a great place to start. I recommend using basic acrylic paints and small, stiff brushes to produce your creation.

M: Alan, any other important pointers or tips you would like to share?

A: Yea a few quick pointers,

1) Always have confidence in your art and try not to turn down altering a card for the fear of “messing it up”.

2) No matter how it turns out, someone will always like the card just for the fact that it is different from all the other copies out there.

3) Planning what changes you will make to the card before you even touch the paintbrush can easily determine the outcome of how the card turns out.

4) Acrylic paints are by far the best medium to use on magic cards if you want to try this yourself.

5) When painting over the original art of the card, make sure to use as little water as possible to prevent the colors from running, smearing, or becoming too see-through.

6) You can use a small, sharp object such as a small knife or box cutter to gently scrape the original layer of ink off of the card to obtain a more acrylic-friendly surface. This will also make it so that the original card art cannot be seen under your paint.

M: Anything else you would like to say

A: Anyone can do it and I highly recommend that magic-fans try this. It’s cheap, easy, and the satisfaction that you get from playing cards that you worked on is great.

M: Thank you Alan, and thanks for taking the time to answer some questions with us.

In the upcoming weeks, we will be looking to feature more artists, and have the chance to purchase some of their works. Until next time, feel free to check out some of Alan’s other very talented works at his channel:

http://www.youtube.com/user/WarPigmtg

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Magic The Gathering

January

Dark Ascenion’s Ten Best Cards

Posted by admin

This list will look at the ten best cards coming out of Dark Ascension. We all know Sorrin will be great, so I decided to just leave out all Mythics and focus on the cards not getting all the hype. That being said, here is the list :

10) Stormbound Geist - A 2/2 with flying for 3 mana is pretty average. Adding undying and the spirit creature type really adds value, and makes it not just playable, but a good card. As for not being able to block flying creatures, I don’t see that as being a big downside. It will likely find a home in agro deck, such as delver or a new life gaining spirit deck. If boardwipes and spot removal become more popular, this card will for sure find a home.

9) Strangleroot Geist- A 2/1 with hast and undying. This card defiantly has potential, and will likely see play in Modern. However with the current meta, there is no agro Green builds, and might not see play right away. Review this card once Primeval rotates, since it has a lot of potential to be a solid two drop in any green creature build.

8 ) Thought Scour – A very solid card for solar flare, burning vengeance, counter burn, and possibly zombies. It is much better than think twice and people are already playing that. It also works relatively well with Ponder. Expect people to throw 2-4 copies into a build to smooth out draws and thin a deck.

7) Thalia, Guardian of Thraben – I have a feeling this will not see serious play in standard. Maybe a white, green agro deck, but Dungrove Elder will have to rotate first. I do see this seeing alot of playing Modern and Legacy. This is a agro card that fights storm and combo, which a lot of decks won’t have answers for.

6) Vault of the Archangel – I keep hearing how Black/White tokens are going to be good. With Sorrin, and now this land, I tend to agree. I see Vault as similar to Gavony Township as a great late game land that can take over a game. This land will see some serious play in standard, but only standard.

5) Undying Evil- This card if used correctly can be great. For one black mana you can survive a kill spell and retrigger a come into play trigger. I don’t think this card can be thrown into everything, but once the Vapor Snag craze fades, undying evil will be a great card to fade kill spells. I can see this finding a home in G/B Wolf Run decks, as they have some of the best come into play triggers in the format.

4) Secrets of the Dead- This surely will go in a Burning Vengeance deck. But what other deck will it go into is the real question. This card has so much potential, being printed in the same block as Snapcaster and Faithless looting, but might find other decks as a combo enabler. I rate this card high based on the massive potential this card has and since it is an enchantment, it is hard to remove once it resolves.

3) Lingering Souls- This card is going to see a lot of play. It will be the pinnacle of the Black/White agro decks, and is on color with Sorrin. It is just a great card for token builds, four Flying 1/1s for five mana. Dust off those ratchet bombs and Spirit tokens, because this card is for real.

2) Gravecrawler – One of the most unique creature cards printed in a long time. The reason I say unique, is because you actually cast Gravecrawler from the graveyard. Vengevine, Bloodghast, Kuldotha Phoenix, Reassembling Skeleton, those all return to the battlefield, while you actually cast Gravecrawler. A big difference when you look at cards like Secrets of the Dead, or trying to build up a storm count. This card will be played in a number of decks, including tons of black agro decks with one drop options of Gravecrawler and Diregraf Ghoul.

1) Faithless Looting – I think this is one of the best red cards ever printed. It isn’t necessarily burn or aggro, but an enabler. It enables combo, agro, storm, and to a lesser extent pure burn in a color that doesn’t ever get this kind of help. It will most certainly see play in standard, extended, modern, and legacy. This card is just fantastic, and if you have any graveyard shenanigans, you can gain cards by discarding them. I would rate this card higher than Sorin, as it is just so versatile and powerful. Quite simply a great card.

Also make sure to check out Eye of the Vortex Online, where other Magic the Gathering and gaming articles can be found.

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Magic The Gathering

December

Standard on a Budget: A look into Liquimetal Coating

Posted by admin

Since Innistrad came out a few months ago, lots of new decks have come and gone. This is great for standard as it is not being dominated by any one particular deck. Many archetypes can do well and helps open the door for more unique and rogue decks. This article addresses just one of those builds called Liquimetal Coating. While it was largely ignored during and since states, it did manage a very respectable finish in Colorado where it barely missed the top 8. The lack of results is not a reflection of how good or bad it is, but simply the amount of play it sees. Here is Tommy Luke’s variant from the tournament that top 16thed at States in Colorado.

Creatures [13]

Spells [22]

3 Mycosynth Wellspring

Lands [25]

12 Mountain

SIDEBOARD

2 Phyrexian Metamorph

In case you are not familiar with the deck, it is centered on finding Liquimetal Coating and abusing it with artifact destruction spells. An ideal hand would be something like this:

Turn 1: Land. Galvanic Blast

Turn 2: Land, Liquimetal Coating

Turn 3: Land, Manic Vandal, having Liquimetal coating targeting a land.

Turn 4: Land, Oxidda Scrapmelter, having Liquimetal coating targeting a land

Hands like these are very difficult to beat for any deck. If your opponent kept a hand with 2 or 3 lands, it could even blow out your opponent out before the game begins. However even without a powerful opening hand this deck is well versed, and is capable of beating any deck in the field. It does amazingly well against tempered steel, and is well positioned to beat illusions with direct removal, and Liquimetal Coating can kill any illusion on its own. It also is a pretty decent size favorite against tokens, as it can simply grind away on them and remove all necessary threats. The harder match ups are going to be control and burn. Control can be beaten with a good opening hand, but Kudoltha Phoenix really shrines in this matchup. The creature’s ability to come back will make it a game winner. The burn matchup really comes down to who can put up more damage faster. You are going to be a small dog most matchups, but if you can attack a mana base, they usually run few lands and could cripple them out of the game.

What I want to do next is just look at each card choice, and provide budget alternatives that are also effective. Let’s start this process by looking at the creature base first.

Inferno Titan – $3.95

Kuldotha Phoenix – $0.50

Manic Vandal – $0.10

Oxidda Scrapmelter – $0.20

Wurmcoil Engine – $19.95

The Phoenix, Vandal, and Scrapmelter budget wise should be fine. It is the Wurmcoil and Inferno Titan that are real issues. Dropping them would leave us with four open spots that need to be filled. I think an easy way to fill some of the spots is to bump up the amount of Scrapmelters. They are very good in this deck and hit the curve well, so moving up to around 3 sounds reasonable. However that still leaves two spots open. The natural fit is the Hoard-Smelter Dragon. It is a 6 drop that flies and blows up artifacts. It is much more dependent on the combo aspect of the deck, which is bad, but is still a good finisher and has a powerful ability.

As for the spells it a little more straight forward. Most spells are against already budget ready, so don’t need much changing.

4 Ancient Grudge – $0.30

4 Galvanic Blast – $0.20

2 Ichor Wellspring – $0.20

1 Incinerate – $0.20

4 Liquimetal Coating – $0.20

3 Mycosynth Wellspring – $0.20

4 Slagstorm – $3.50

The only card that really stands out is Slagstorm but as it turns out, it is surprisingly easy to replace. Slagstorm is mainboard in most decks, because it deals with tokens and aggro based creature decks like tempered steel very well. But there is another replacement that does it better in this deck, can you find it?

After looking into the card, and analyzing it I like Whipflare even better than Slagstorm for this deck. That’s pretty bold, since slagstorm is so dominant, but let me explain. Whipflare won’t affect artifacts, so it is useless against Tempered Steel. Here is the thing though, you already are a monster favorite against tempered steel, and game 2 and 3 you can simply side it out. It kills everything that slagstorm kills:

Acidic Slime

Solemn Simulacrum

Emissary

Blade Splicer

Snap Caster

Phyrexian Crusader

Mirran Crusader

Plague Stinger

Whispering Specter

Doomed Traveler

Gideon’s Lawkeeper

Grand Abolisher

Leonin Relic-Warder

Gesist of Saint Traft

Geist-Honored Monk

Avacyn’s Pilgrim

Birds of Paradise

The only target it misses is the Blade Splicer token, Fiend Hunter, and Bloodstorm Berserker. Of which, fiend hunter will almost certainly be sided out. This leads me back to my previous statement that Whipflare is strictly better than Slagstorm in this deck.

Moving onto the lands we come up with:

3 Copperline Gorge – $7.95

4 Inkmoth Nexus – $16.95

12 Mountain – $0.10

2 Phyrexia’s Core – $0.30

4 Rootbound Crag – $2.50

I believe Rootbound Crags are pretty essential here. One of the best spells, Ancient Grudge needs the green source to be available. That being said, budget wise Copperline Gorge and Inkmoth Nexus are what needs to go. Loosing the Inkmoth Nexus might be rough, since they can activate metal craft on the Phoenix and with Galvanic Blast, but with those four open slots from Inkmoth means you can slide in Buried Ruin. This land will help return artifacts into your hand. While not as useful as Inkmoth, you will find that this deck grinds out matches, and this ability will be relevant more often than one would imagine. Now the 3 copperline gorges can simply be replaced by one forest, incase of Ghost Quarter and two mountains. I have tried Shimmering Grotto in this spot, and found the mountains to simply be better.

Onto the sideboard:

1x Contagion Clasp – $0.50

1x Dismember – $3.95

4x Perilous Myr – $0.20

2x Phyrexian Metamorph – $5.95

2x Ratchet Bomb – $3.50

3x Traitorous Blood – $0.10

1x Vulshok Refugee – $0.20

1x Whipflare – $0.20

My first thoughts are that this sideboard is outdated. Even though this wasn’t played too long ago, many of the choices don’t make sense anymore. Contagion Clasp helps trigger metalcraft, but Gut Shot has proven that it deserves the spot more. Ratchet bomb just isn’t seeing that much play anymore and the token decks that were rampart are using less token generators. As for budget concerns, I would just throw out Phyrexian Metamorph, and Dismember. There will be other good cards we can choose. Out of the original sideboard list the only cards that I still like are:

4x Perilous Myr

3x Traitorous Blood

1x Vulshok Refugee

That leaves us with seven choices to make. Like the last burn deck we discussed two weeks ago, I feel Combust needs to be added. Running two seems about right. Adding a Gutshot or two would also help against the very aggressive decks, and helps replace the Clasp. Those leave us with only a few card choices left and feel we should visit Mimic Vat. I have tried this card out a few times, and will be equally effective against Ramp and some of our bad match ups. Overall I think running a few of these, will really help win some games.

With all of that Said, here is my purposed list:

Creatures [13]

4 Kuldotha Phoenix

4 Manic Vandal

3 Oxidda Scrapmelter

2 Hoard-Smelter Dragon

Spells [22]

3 Mycosynth Wellspring

4 Whipflare

Lands [25]

1 Forest

14 Mountain

SIDEBOARD

2 Combust

I tried it out locally at a FNM, and was very surprised how effective the deck can be against competitive decks. With a good draw, this deck can win lots of games, so enjoy.

Also make sure to check out Eye of the Vortex Online, where other Magic the Gathering and gaming articles can be found.

Comments (1)

Standard on a Budget

December

Maximizing Value During Drafts

Posted by admin

Drafting is one of the most enjoyable ways to play Magic, but with many formats of magic it can become expensive. This article is going to examine the impact money can have on drafting.

Let’s say through the first two packs of a draft you decided to go mono green, and when you open your third pack you open a foil Snapcaster. Barring you are playing a PTQ or a large tournament, where lots of money is on the line, you are going to happily draft the Snapcaster. It’s fair to say you would draft this card even if you 100% certain you wouldn’t play it. The reason being, is this one card will net you more money than winning the entire draft. Even in the most top heavy draft payout structure 8-4 payout (with 8 packs going to 1st and 4 packs going to 2nd) the foil Snapcaster will net you significantly more money (Foil Snapcaster retails for about $65 and 1st place payout 8 packs x $3 a pack is only $24). But what do we do if the card we open isn’t a foil Snapcaster, but a $20 rare? How about $10, $5, or even a $2 card? This article is going to look at drafting from a straight finical aspect, and try evaluate when drafting a card strictly for it’s retail value is correct over a card that has the potential to help you win the draft.

The question this article looks to answer is: If you are passed a pack with a card, we will call it Card(A), worth $X. How much money does Card(A) have to be worth for you to draft it over a different card, we’ll call this card Card(X), that will help you win games? To start we need to set some parameters for how we are going to look at this problem.

Value:

The term value gets thrown around quite a bit in magic. I’m going to refer to value in terms of money, but even this can get confusing. For example if you draft that Foil Snapcaster do you have $65 in retail value or do you have $35 since this all your local magic store will give you for it? To simplify things I am going to talk in terms of retail dollars.

Format:

I’m going to be using 8 man Swiss format for my analysis. In this format each player plays 3 games and for each win he/she gets a pack. I’ll discuss some of the implications in playing different formats at the end of the article.

Impact of Win % increase:

The first important step to analyzing this problem is understanding the impact your win% has on your money won.

Single Game Win %	Best of 3 Win %	Packs won per match	Money Won	Money Increase
50.00%	50.00%	0.50	$4.50	$0.00
51.00%	51.50%	0.51	$4.63	$0.13
52.00%	53.00%	0.53	$4.77	$0.27
53.00%	54.49%	0.54	$4.90	$0.40
54.00%	55.99%	0.56	$5.04	$0.54
55.00%	57.48%	0.57	$5.17	$0.67
56.00%	58.96%	0.59	$5.31	$0.81
57.00%	60.43%	0.60	$5.44	$0.94
58.00%	61.90%	0.62	$5.57	$1.07
59.00%	63.35%	0.63	$5.70	$1.20
60.00%	64.80%	0.65	$5.83	$1.33
61.00%	66.23%	0.66	$5.96	$1.46
62.00%	67.65%	0.68	$6.09	$1.59
63.00%	69.06%	0.69	$6.22	$1.72
64.00%	70.45%	0.70	$6.34	$1.84
65.00%	71.83%	0.72	$6.46	$1.96
66.00%	73.18%	0.73	$6.59	$2.09
67.00%	74.52%	0.75	$6.71	$2.21
68.00%	75.83%	0.76	$6.83	$2.33
69.00%	77.13%	0.77	$6.94	$2.44
70.00%	78.40%	0.78	$7.06	$2.56
71.00%	79.65%	0.80	$7.17	$2.67
72.00%	80.87%	0.81	$7.28	$2.78
73.00%	82.07%	0.82	$7.39	$2.89
74.00%	83.24%	0.83	$7.49	$2.99
75.00%	84.38%	0.84	$7.59	$3.09
76.00%	85.48%	0.85	$7.69	$3.19
77.00%	86.56%	0.87	$7.79	$3.29
78.00%	87.61%	0.88	$7.88	$3.38
79.00%	88.62%	0.89	$7.98	$3.48
80.00%	89.60%	0.90	$8.06	$3.56

The first column is your single match win %. The second column is your Best of 3 win percentage based off your single match win %. As you can see playing a best of 3 increases the likely hood of you winning. I have included the math below for those that are interested:

There are 6 possible outcomes of you winning a Best of 3 Match:

Winning Conditions:

WLW

LWW

Losing Conditions:

LWL

WLL

Now to find out your best of 3 win% plug in your in single match win % for W and (1-Single match win %) for L. If we won .60 here would be the results:

(.60)*(.60) = .36

(.60)*(.40)*(.60) = .144

(.40)*(.60)*(.60) = .144

When you add these up you get 64.8% win percentage for a best of match.

Column 3 is packs won per Best of 3. This is your Best of 3 win % multiplied by the 1 pack awarded to the winner. Using our 60% win rate that means we win .648 packs per match. Column 4 takes our pack won per match and multiplies it by 3 (Since you play 3 matches in the Swiss format) and then multiplies by $3 since that is what we are saying a retail pack is worth. Do these calculations and we get $5.83. This means that if we have a 60% single game win percentage we should expect to win $5.83 worth of packs (this doesn’t include the value of the cards you open).

With this table we can now assign a retail value to improving your win %. Lets say we are an average player and win 50% of our games, but in our last pack we open a card, Card (X), that increases our win % to 60% per game. Using the above table this translates to Card (X) being worth $1.33 (plus it’s retail value).

Let’s take a closer look at a cards affect on your single match win rate. There are two things to consider when evaluating this effect.

1. What is the impact of the card on our win %?

2. How often will get this card?

I like to approach this problem by looking at an extreme example. Let’s say there was a card that said you win the game when you draw this card. You may think you would win the game every time you play, but that wouldn’t be the case since you aren’t guaranteed to get this card every game. To estimate how often you will draw this card you need an estimate of how long games go. A quick survey of games on MTGO provided me game length of 9 turns. Barring mulligans, you get to see 16 of your 40 cards each game. I decided to round this up to 20 cards a game for simplicity sake and for card drawing effects So here is the math on your new win percentage when you play a deck with a card that reads “You get this card you win the game”

(20/40) times you win the game 100% of the time

(20/40) times you win 50% of the time (average win rate)

Your new win percent is 75%. Using the above table you see that the card “You win every time” card gives you an extra $3.09 in value, or $7.59- $4.50

Let’s try and really put a more realistic win percentage increase on this mysterious Card(X). Cards like Murder of Crows, Brimstone Volley, or Bonds of Faith are very good in limited, but these cards don’t guarantee you a win when you draw them. Removal, board position, lack of mana, counters, and discard spells are just a few of the problems you run into. When you take all these factors in to account it is tough for me to give any these cards higher than 5-7% bump in win %. I know there are other cards stronger in constructed such as Olivia Voldaren or Bloodline Keeper. But how often will any these cards be in a pack with another high retail card? Unless it is a double rare pack or a foil pack this very unlikely to happen. So I’m going to look at the common and uncommon “bomb’s” for our estimates. I’m going to error on the side of extreme caution and use 15% as our percentage win increase.

+15%. Using this value we get the new win percentage:

20/40 Draw Card (X) and win .65

20/40 Don’t’ draw Card(X) and win .50

This gives us a new win percentage of .575. Using the table above this gives us a value of Card (X) of only $1.07. From here is a simple math problem. If the Value of Card(A) > Value of Card(X) + Retail Value of Card(X) we should draft Card (A).

Conclusion:

Estimating the value of every single draft pick is near impossible, but hopefully you will see that drafting cards that have significant retail value can dramatically increase the money you win during a draft. The fact of the matter is, not many cards dramatically increase your single match win %. This means when drafting, we should look at every single card as potential value and be much more willing to ‘rare draft.’ I estimate that picks around $1.00 or more should be considered draftable, in a Swiss format, where around a $2.00 card should be considered draftable in a 8-4 format. Just $1 or $2 dollars! Now I wouldn’t recommend running around drafting every single card for value, but any valuable or playable rare should be considered. Just keep this article in mind next turn someone passes you an Innistrad dual land, or when Heartless Summoning cycles the table. There is value everywhere in Magic, and understanding how to pick up a few bucks adds up quickly.

Draft Format:

Below is the payout charts for the 8-4 and 4-3-2-2. As you can see from both charts drafts that have a more top heavy pay structure require that place a little more value on drafting to win rather than drafting for value. Especially when playing in a 8-4 format. It should be noted that all the charts operate under the assumption that a player’s win rate will stay constant throughout the draft. In reality I don’t think this is the case. Both from the perspective that better decks tend to advance as well as better opponents. How much your win rate decreases as you advance in a draft is for another article, but I do believe your win rate will decease as you advance in the draft. It also should be noted this drop in win % would affect the 8-4 pay structure the most since the final match is where all the prizes are awarded. The Swiss chart would be affected the least.

8-4 Format

Single Game Win %	Best of 3 Win %	Packs won per match	Money Won	Money Increase
50.00%	50.00%	0.50	$4.50	$0.00
51.00%	51.50%	0.54	$4.82	$0.32
52.00%	53.00%	0.57	$5.16	$0.66
53.00%	54.49%	0.61	$5.51	$1.01
54.00%	55.99%	0.65	$5.87	$1.37
55.00%	57.48%	0.69	$6.24	$1.74
56.00%	58.96%	0.74	$6.63	$2.13
57.00%	60.43%	0.78	$7.03	$2.53
58.00%	61.90%	0.83	$7.44	$2.94
59.00%	63.35%	0.87	$7.87	$3.37
60.00%	64.80%	0.92	$8.30	$3.80
61.00%	66.23%	0.97	$8.75	$4.25
62.00%	67.65%	1.02	$9.21	$4.71
63.00%	69.06%	1.08	$9.68	$5.18
64.00%	70.45%	1.13	$10.15	$5.65
65.00%	71.83%	1.18	$10.64	$6.14
66.00%	73.18%	1.24	$11.13	$6.63
67.00%	74.52%	1.29	$11.63	$7.13
68.00%	75.83%	1.35	$12.13	$7.63
69.00%	77.13%	1.40	$12.64	$8.14
70.00%	78.40%	1.46	$13.16	$8.66
71.00%	79.65%	1.52	$13.68	$9.18
72.00%	80.87%	1.58	$14.19	$9.69
73.00%	82.07%	1.63	$14.71	$10.21
74.00%	83.24%	1.69	$15.23	$10.73
75.00%	84.38%	1.75	$15.75	$11.25
76.00%	85.48%	1.81	$16.27	$11.77
77.00%	86.56%	1.86	$16.78	$12.28
78.00%	87.61%	1.92	$17.28	$12.78
79.00%	88.62%	1.98	$17.78	$13.28
80.00%	89.60%	2.03	$18.27	$13.77

4-3-2-2

Single Game Win %	Best of 3 Win %	Packs won per match	Money Won	Money Increase
50.00%	50.00%	0.46	$4.13	$0.00
51.00%	51.50%	0.48	$4.30	$0.17
52.00%	53.00%	0.50	$4.47	$0.34
53.00%	54.49%	0.52	$4.65	$0.52
54.00%	55.99%	0.54	$4.83	$0.70
55.00%	57.48%	0.56	$5.01	$0.88
56.00%	58.96%	0.58	$5.19	$1.07
57.00%	60.43%	0.60	$5.38	$1.26
58.00%	61.90%	0.62	$5.57	$1.45
59.00%	63.35%	0.64	$5.77	$1.64
60.00%	64.80%	0.66	$5.96	$1.84
61.00%	66.23%	0.68	$6.16	$2.04
62.00%	67.65%	0.71	$6.36	$2.24
63.00%	69.06%	0.73	$6.56	$2.44
64.00%	70.45%	0.75	$6.77	$2.64
65.00%	71.83%	0.77	$6.97	$2.84
66.00%	73.18%	0.80	$7.17	$3.05
67.00%	74.52%	0.82	$7.38	$3.25
68.00%	75.83%	0.84	$7.58	$3.46
69.00%	77.13%	0.87	$7.79	$3.66
70.00%	78.40%	0.89	$7.99	$3.87
71.00%	79.65%	0.91	$8.20	$4.07
72.00%	80.87%	0.93	$8.40	$4.28
73.00%	82.07%	0.96	$8.60	$4.48
74.00%	83.24%	0.98	$8.80	$4.68
75.00%	84.38%	1.00	$9.00	$4.88
76.00%	85.48%	1.02	$9.20	$5.07
77.00%	86.56%	1.04	$9.39	$5.26
78.00%	87.61%	1.06	$9.58	$5.45
79.00%	88.62%	1.08	$9.76	$5.64
80.00%	89.60%	1.10	$9.94	$5.82

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Financial

December

Standard on a Budget : Post Worlds

Posted by admin

If you’re a fan of magic and standard I am sure you were following Worlds this month. There were a ton of excellent players and new exciting decks that were being piloted. Tempered steel prevailed as the big surprise, being played by many of the games best. However for me there is one deck that stands out as the most surprising and that deck is the undefeated mono red deck built and played by David Caplan. Not only did it do fantastic, it continues to do well online and is much cheaper then other competitive decks in the format. By cutting the four drops from the mainboard Caplan has inadvertently also cut most of the expensive cards. Here is the exact deck list from Worlds.

Creatures (20)
* 1 Spikeshot Elder
* 3 Grim Lavamancer
* 4 Chandra’s Phoenix
* 4 Goblin Fireslinger
* 4 Stormblood Berserker
* 4 Stromkirk Noble
Spells (19)
* 2 Incinerate
* 3 Galvanic Blast
* 4 Gut Shot
* 4 Volt Charge
* 2 Arc Trail
* 4 Shrine of Burning Rage
Lands (21)
* 21 Mountain
Sideboard (15)
* 1 Manic Vandal
* 4 Vulshok Refugee
* 2 Koth of the Hammer
* 4 Dismember
* 2 Arc Trail
* 2 Traitorous Instinct

Budget wise the entire mainboard comes in right under $70, with every single card under $5 except Stromkirk Noble. As for the sideboard, it is proportionally more expensive at around $55, but most of that is coming from Koth. What I would like to do is just examine the more expensive card choices, and decipher what is necessary in order to make the deck even cheaper.

First up, the one drop creatures
Goblin Fireslinger – $0.10
Spikeshot Elder- $1.50
Grim Lavamancer – $3.50
Stromkirk Noble – $6.95

We can ignore the Fireslinger and the one Spikeshot Elder, as they are going to cheap enough for this deck. However there is a lot of the money going into the Stromkirk noble and Grim Lavamancer and that simply can’t be ignored. They are effective for early damage and bloodlust triggers, but they have the added bonus of being effective late game. However budget being a concern, we should look for alternatives. Flat out cutting these creatures and other choices later on for a budget version causes some problems. They will need to be replaced by equally casting creatures, or the mana curve will be altered. So we should begin by examine other one drops to not offset the mana base.

Furnace Scamp
Goblin Arsonist
Geistflame
Goblin Grenade
Reckless Waif
Shock

When trying to evaluate which cards to choose it is best to determine what other decks you are most likely facing. While this is very difficult to do, I always follow the rule that the most popular decks for a local FNM format are aggro decks. This makes Reckless Waif and Furnace Scamp much less attractive choices since they are much better when there are fewer creatures and early game. However Goblin Arsonists will remain a good substitution, and will almost always get in for at least some damage. Also by adding to the goblin count, Goblin Grenade becomes playable. This is a very powerful card which the original deck doesn’t have access to, and is a very good damage spells. Now lets look at the other creatures in the deck:

Stormblood Berserker – $0.30
Chandra’s Phoenix – $4.50

The Phoenix’s are the life blood of the deck. They are good against every single matchup, especially control. That being said, if you had to drop them, or run fewer then four here are some options.

Blood Ogre
Brimstone Volley
Goblin Chieftain
Goblin Wardriver
Immolating Souleater
Manic Vandal
Porcelain Legionnaire

My favorite picks of the bunch are Brimstone Volley and Immolating Souleater. Brimstone Volley for obvious reasons, as it is a powerful spell that can do five damage later in game. Souleater however is a much trickier creature and can get in for huge damage very early in the game. With enough burn you can clear a way for Souleater to hit for a lot of damage turn three. It is also solid against control, since it helps nullify the life gain that Timely Reinforcements can net. Souleater will never be as reliable as Chandra’s Phoenix, but can be a huge bomb if dropped turn two against a slower opponent, and can lead to much more explosive openings. Now on to the other spells:

Incinerate – $0.20
Galvanic Blast – $0.20
Gut Shot – $0.30
Volt Charge – $0.20
Arc Trail – $0.95
Shrine of Burning Rage – $1.25

No reason to really change anything out here. Shrine and Arc Trail are the clear allstars of the group, and fit very well into the deck. Unless you were on really tight budget or couldn’t find the cards, I wouldn’t substitute any of these cards. However as a note, cards that could be substituted would be Shock, and Brimstone volley. An interesting card also to consider would be a fling or two, as it combos well with Arsonist and Souleater.

For land I believe 21 Mountains works fine. The only other option you could consider is to drop to 17 mountains and run 4 Rootbound Crag for the Ancient Grudge package. This only seems necessary if you are expecting an abundance of Tempered Steel builds. Whatever the case 21 Mountains seems perfect and is plenty cheap and effective as is.

Now onto the sideboard. The only cards we really have any issues with budget wise are Koth of the Hammer and Dismember.

Koth of the Hammer – $17.95
Dismember – $3.95

Dismembers are very good since they are only one to cast, and can destroy pretty much every creature but the titans. The loss of life will often be irrelevant to casting them. If you were looking for replacement cards, I think only Brimstone Volley, additional Incinerates, or Combust could fit. Out of those choices I seem to prefer Combust here, as it is very good against Illusions and Gavony Townsihp decks which are some of the more popular decks in the format. Combust does the same 5 damage that dismember would do, without the threat of being countered for only one mana more. As for Koth, it is hard to replace it. It is very good against control one of the decks weaknesses, but the price means we have to look for cheaper alternatives. However there is another four drop that is also very good against control. That card is Manabarbs. In addition it also has the added benefit of being very good against ramp. It is overall a solid card and most importantly a cheap rare. With all these changes, here is the new purposed Mono red
budget version:

Creatures (18)

* 1 Spikeshot Elder
* 1 Goblin Chieftain
* 4 Immolating Souleater
* 4 Goblin Fireslinger
* 4 Stormblood Berserker
* 4 Goblin Arsonist
Spells (21)
* 1 Goblin Grenade
* 1 Brimstone Volley
* 2 Incinerate
* 3 Galvanic Blast
* 4 Gut Shot
* 4 Volt Charge
* 2 Arc Trail
* 4 Shrine of Burning Rage
Lands (21)
* 21 Mountain
Sideboard (15)
* 1 Manic Vandal
* 4 Vulshok Refugee
* 2 Manabarbs
* 3 Combust
* 1 Brimstone Volley
* 2 Arc Trail
* 2 Traitorous Instinct

The new version looks fast, friendly and explosive. I am excited to play this at my local FNM, and feel it will be plenty competitive. Please feel free to comment on the build or various card choices below. Thanks.

Also make sure to check out Eye of the Vortex Online, where other Magic the Gathering and gaming articles can be found.

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Standard on a Budget

October

Standards Ten Most Underrated Cards

Posted by admin

After playing in states, a few 1ks, and some local FNMS I feel that I have a strong grasp on the new standard. While the Meta is changing every week, the deck archetypes remain the same and the strength of some cards is undeniable. I have put together a list of ten cards that I think are currently overlooked, or undervalued.

10) Act of Aggression – A card that is great in lots of sideboards, and a good finisher to the wolf run decks. As Red decks fade late game, this can be a very solid finisher. Act of Aggression can steal creatures out of mid combat, or provide a chump blocker for another creature. The most versatile threaten spell ever printed, is a solid sideboard card to keep your eye on as ramp decks gain in popularity.

9) Precursor Golem- A card that outside of some fringe decks hasn’t seen any play in a while. This card is just begging to be broken. As a five drop that produces 9 power, it is shockingly absent from every build. Golem is a great card for aggro matchups, and could fit nicely into a token build. It’s just a great card that is often overlooked when building decks. Not a bad sideboard card, and can be stellar in certain matchups.

8 ) Twisted Image – A fringe card that is often overlooked. Twisted Image is perfect for counter burn builds, or a burning vengeance decks. It kills birds, tree of redemptions, spellskites, as well as any illusion. It is also solid against wolf run, buying you extra time by flipping the power. A solid card all around and is warranted in many blue decks, at worst used just to draw another card. The definition of a situational good card that can win games with the card advantage it can provide.

7) Distress – The current format is the slowest constructed format I have ever played in. Because of that, distress becomes playable. Not only that, but is actually pretty good. A lot of people have the notion that two drop discard spells are bad, but with the format slowing and Mana leak becoming run less and less, this card is very good. Combos very well with Snap caster, and can help rip apart an opening hand. Turn one Despise, turn two Distress is devastating.

6) Spellskite – Not really sure if it is under the radar, but it certainly fell out of competitive play almost entirely during rotation. It should now be re-examined. As a great answer to wolf run, it should be making a comeback. It even fades Slagstrom, and is probably good enough to be main board worthy. As we all know it is also very good against angelic destiny and various removal spells. Overall spellskite is a very versatile card that will almost always be relevant.

5) Phyrexian Metamorph – Another card that was played quite a bit pre-rotation but has fell out of every single deck build, mostly because of phantasmal image. But a three drop clone that is splashable in any deck can’t continue to be overlooked. This card is a bomb and is a great card to consider for a 3-4 drop looking for one.

4) Primordial Hydra – A limited bomb that never really translated into constructed play. However with the prevalence of wolf run, mono green, and township tokens this hydra can finally be played. Primordial is an absolute all stars against decks with no removal. They just win games. Test this card out, and I feel it at least warrants a spot or two in the side.

3) Gnaw to the Bone – Most people haven’t had a chance to see this in play. If RDW or aggro decks stay popular this an amazing sideboard option. Often overlooked because of tree of redemption, but when used in conjunction can simply shut down decks. Usually will gain any where between 6-8 life, and can flash it back for 6-8 more. An absolute back breaker for aggro, and is easy to splash in any deck.

2) Spirit Mantle – With Angelic Destiny being played everywhere, players are forgetting about its little brother Spirit Mantle. Mantle can be a bomb against decks with no removal, or decks that rely heavily on creatures. It is quicker to play then destiny, cant be splashed in other decks, and is often harder to deal with. In most decks this is a great sideboard card, but in certain Metas and decks can be a very solid main board enchantment.

1) Painful Quandary- Overlooked for almost an entire year, and viewed as a novelty, it is now around in a much slower format. This time around this card should be viewed much much differently. It is a perfect fit into solar flare or U/B builds, and is very hard to remove since it’s an enchantment. Painful Quandry is a type of card that can be build around, or thrown in current builds. It is a bomb that is just asking to be included in current control decks.

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Avacyn Restored : Green Review

Avacyn Restored : Red Review

Hey guys! Welcome to my Avacyn Restored Set Review starting with the best limited color in the set! I hope you guys enjoy this set review and win some packs at your local pre-release!

Playing in a Daze: SCG Sacramento Tournament Recap

Standard on a Budget : Burning Vengeance

An Introduction to Altered Art

Dark Ascenion’s Ten Best Cards

Standard on a Budget: A look into Liquimetal Coating

Maximizing Value During Drafts

Standard on a Budget : Post Worlds

Standards Ten Most Underrated Cards

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