Blog Elemental – The First Gray Shade of Dawn
June 16, 2004
There are sixty-five artifacts in Fifth Dawn and only twenty cards of each color, so it’s hardly fair to do all of the artifacts in one menu installment. Here are my faves through roughly the first half, letters A through I.
Class IV (Cards I like that others are talking about or using)
Blasting Station
Truth be told, I like all of the Stations. My wee deckbuilding voice tells me to make a deck using all the Stations together in a combo deck in addition to decks around each of them individually. Yes, I love card cycles that much. Even still, I am more attracted to Blasting Station than Grinding Station (the other Station included in today’s arbitrary division of artifacts), because of an innate love of pingers like Goblin Sharpshooter. Blasting Station gives some creature control and direct damage to mono-Green and mono-White weenie decks, and has obvious synergy with Patriarch’s Bidding. The combination with Myr Incubator is just silly.
Crucible of Worlds
Enough has already been said about this card. It does something relatively unique in Magic, which is attractive. I don’t feel the need to try every conceivable use exhaustively, and I’m not as attracted to making a Seismic Assault deck as everyone else seems to be. No, I want a Green thirty-land Land Deck using Stalking Stones and Blinkmoth Nexus as the only unstoppable”creatures.”
Energy Chamber
My reaction to this card is remarkably similar to Power Conduit; there are just too many options here to pursue, so instead of getting inspired I get de-motivated. I wish there was more to say, but mostly – just like with Power Conduit – my mind shuts down. One day I’ll make a deck focused on charge counters, and both cards will sit front and center along with the faithful Coretapper.
Class III (Cards I like that no one else seems to like)
Fist of Suns
I’m not sure if the Timmy side of my personality has gotten stronger in my old age, or if I’ve always been this focused on doing Big Things(tm) with Big Spells(tm). Either way, Fist of Suns certainly appeals to me. I want to cast Winds of the Plague and Searing variety. I want to summon Darksteel Colossi and Phage. I want to do a database search for cards that cost seven mana or more and cram them all into one deck with Fist of Suns smiling happily at the center. Of course, a straight-on Phage deck would be fun too.
Class II (Cards I really like that others are talking about or using)
Helm of Kaldra
I admit it, I’m a total sucker for cards like these. The Nightstalkers that summon Spirit of the Night, the Dark Supplicant who prostrates himself for Scion of Darkness. Heck, even Kyuscu and Spitting Drake’s quest to become a Viashivan Dragon. I love ’em all! If I fail to see one in the Casual Constructed room of Magic Online, I am jumping all over a deck whose sole purpose is to get a Kaldra legend token into play.
Class I (Cards I really like that no one else seems to like)
Ensouled Scimitar
Sort of like the Helm above, my interest here is primarily a flavorful one. Bottom line: I think Ensouled Scimitar is a cool idea. The only problem with it – a problem that was less true when Dancing Scimitar showed up in decks a few years ago – is that five-toughness just doesn’t go as far as it used to. Maybe this fits into the Unstoppable Wall deck, or it’s part of a mono-Blue aggro-control deck, or a Pestilence-type deck, or maybe it’s in some wacky deck that switches its creatures’ power and toughness (Myr Quadropod anyone?). I don’t know. What I do know is that I want to find a deck for Ensouled Scimitar.
Note that probably my favorite card included in this artifact bunch is Guardian Idol. I just love how easily the Idol slips into so many of my decks. So why not include it on the menu? For me, these menus are a list of cards I may want to build a deck around. Guardian Idol is super spiffy, but not of the build-a-deck-around-me ilk.
Blog Elemental – Up All Night
June 15, 2004
I think I like theme decks more than the average fellow. In fact, here’s a quick recap of my first year of Magic:
My wife and I bought a single Ice Age starter and divided it into two thirty-card piles. After playing those”decks” for about three months, I was finally convinced to start buying additional packs. Then, one fateful day, I discovered singles at the local card shop and life as I knew it ended. For the next six months, I made a series of hundred-card theme decks along the lines of”The End of the World,””Four Seasons,””Gremlins,””Elephants,” and”Day and Night.” Those thematic games, with Sarah and I huddled around our dining room table, are some of my happiest Magic memories.
It’s amazing to me that even in that primitive first year of Magic what most attracted me about the game was its flavorful goodness. I had thought today I would make some Beacon of Unrest decks, but instead I’m turning to times of yore for a good ‘ole fashioned theme deck.
My theme decks have become sixty-card creations, but are still the one place where I dip into every card Wizards has printed. I remember that first year paying through the nose for Pale Bears simply because they fit into my”Arctic” deck. In fact, over the years here are the theme deck”rules” I’ve developed for… well, myself:
- Normal constructed guidelines apply (maximum four of each card, sixty-card minimum, etc.).
- You can use any card printed for Magic, including Unglued, Starter, and Portal cards, although certain cards can be banned or restricted for a particular theme.
- The deck must be playable (it needs to have at least an outside chance of winning games).
- Every card except basic, dual-, and pain-lands must fit the theme.
Trivia fact: Beacon of Unrest is the only card in Magic to have the word”unrest” in its name. Since I’m up late tonight, here is a stab at a Beacon of Unrest theme deck…
Insomnia
Theme deck
4 Restless Dead
4 Wake of Vultures
4 Nightmare
2 Duskwalker
1 Spirit of the Night
4 Helm of Awakening
4 Beacon of Unrest
3 Cruel Revival
2 Recurring Nightmare
2 Head Games
1 Darkness
1 Restless Dreams
1 Tortured Existence
1 Chime of Night
1 No Rest for the Wicked
1 Malevolent Awakening
24 Swamp
Blog Elemental – A Creepy Shade of Dawn
June 14, 2004
Today, for no reason whatsoever, I’m continuing my Fifth Dawn menu with a look at the Black cards.
Class IV (Cards I like that others are talking about or using)
Mephidross Vampire
Big and flavorful. The deck that a few folks have mentioned that appeals to me uses Red and/or Blue pingers to ensure a steady flow of +1/+1 tokens. It also occurs to me that Mephidross Vampire, Forgotten Ancient, and Energy Chamber start to form one serious headache of a deck.
Relentless Rats
I almost didn’t include the Rats on this list because they are currently so popular. Then I realized how much this card really does make me smile. Like a lot of folks, I want to toss twenty or thirty of these into a deck and see what happens. To me, though, it’s the support cards that make Relentless Rats decks interesting. If you can only use a small handful of nonland, non-Rats cards, how do you make those cards count? Speaking of which, here is another fun use for Brass Herald.
Class III (Cards I like that no one else seems to like)
Currently nothing to see here.
Class II (Cards I really like that others are talking about or using)
Bringer of the Black Dawn
It’s big, it’s cool, and I named it. Already I’ve brainstormed a number of decks using Bringer of the Black Dawn.”Toolbox” decks, those decks with a single copy of spells with ways to go grab them, have always appealed to me because of the ability to never feel completely lost in any game. It’s also hard to grow bored with a toolbox deck since they do so many different things. The problem, just like with this fella, is that cards which enable toolbox decks tend to be really popular so my interest wanes quickly.
Class I (Cards I really like that no one else seems to like)
Beacon of Unrest
A glance at my Mirrodin menu demonstrates how much I like reanimation cards. If I can dedicate a month of deckbuilding to Betrayal of Flesh, I can certainly get enthused about Beacon of Unrest. What is particularly interesting about the Beacon, though, is the ability to animate a) non-creature artifacts, and b) opposing creatures and artifacts. Pack a deck full of discard and you’re bound to find something tasty to use from your opponent.
So four White cards and four Black make the menu. I am nothing if not consistent.