Nick’s back with his series on the tiny decisions in Magic, and this one’s a doozy: You have a base-black deck. What should your splash be? A very in-depth analysis of how you should look at Limited decks, and how a bad choice can lead to cards that have no synergy with the base color’s plan of attack…
When Torment came out, Hypnox was the card that caught my eye as something to try to make usable. Then the ruling came that Clone, when cast copying a Hypnox, would indeed take away an opponent’s hand. That was just begging for someone to put it all together. Now, Reanimator decks in multiplayer have to be as speedy as possible to contend with the greater number of threats. Unlike a duel, decks in multiplayer need to last longer and have a long-term plan. This deck has both raw power and a late game.
You know, the other day I found out Mirrodin was The Artifact Set and I thought only one thought…
That maybe now was the time…
The day would finally come…
Manakin would be reborn!
Still looking to qualify for Pro Tour New Orleans? This Saturday… look no further than Richmond, Virginia and an exciting day of OnBC action head judged by Sheldon Menery!
In Part I, we recapped card advantage and summed up that drawing extra cards is like taking extra turns. However, this is put in context when you consider that an extra turn has other components aside from an extra card draw. In Part II, we went further and showed that you also maximize your mana in a particular turn by paying the lowest mana cost for a given effect. In 2003, however, I feel that even the concept”mana” as broadly discussed doesn’t cover everything about tempo; today, we’ll track tempo in the way that Rob Hahn did – attack phases.
Recently, several writers have been debating the best cards for multiplayer. Any best card list like that is going to be difficult, and will be missing a bunch of cards due to brain farts, but those lists do stimulate discussion. Now me, I’ve written mine already, but I want to weigh in on the debate, so I’ll take a different approach. I want to talk about the best mechanics and effects for multiplayer – with a few cards thrown in for good measure.
Zombie Bidding, it has been noted by pundits who are better-known than I, one of those pseudo-combo decks masquerading as a creature-oriented aggro-control deck – say that three times fast. The idea is to basically hold the fort until you can get the graveyard chock full o’ Zombies, Patriarch’s Bidding them back, clear the board – yes, that means you too, Akroma, Angel of Wrath – and then sweep over the next turn for the kill. Lather, rinse, repeat until opponent is dead.
You may notice that it’s basically the same as Gabriel Nassif’s deck from the Standard portion of Worlds, except I took out the Phyrexian Plaguelord and the two Shambling Swarms for three Nekrataals. This is a classic amateur mistake: Net-deck one of the pro’s decks, then”improve” it. This almost always turns out badly, and my case is no exception. Of course the Swarm is the best anti-creature card in Nassif’s deck; the only time Nekrataal is strictly better is if your opponent has a Roar of the Wurm token out, and Wonder in the graveyard, and he’s not holding Circular Logic. The Swarm makes Wild Mongrel cry, turns Gempalm Incinerator into a badly-costed 2/1, refutes an active Sparksmith, and is a major pain in Siege-Gang Commander’s ass. And that’s before I even get started on the nuttiness of Swarm + Cabal Therapy….
Curious to see what the latest Magic novels are like? Daniel provides a Cliffs Notes summary for you, telling you the official backstory behind the Ice Age expansion!
“I hear you attended the recent Grand Prix in London, Mr Stevenson.” I know the next question before it’s asked.”How did you finish?”
My shoulders slump.”Badly.”
“We know you finished badly, Mr Stevenson. We want you to tell everyone about it.” I swallow hard. The voice becomes sharp, vindictive.”So write.”
“If I do this,” I ask,”will you let me go?”
There is laughter. Then a click. Then silence.
What can you do when everything in a particular set has been released already? 8th Edition, just like every base set before it, is a way to mess with Standard and release old cards for newer players to”catch up,” as it were. But that’s probably the best way to approach this set – to get acquainted old cards and obtain the ones you wanted to get so badly. Along with this reason, most of the commons and uncommons are pretty standard… So this article’s only going to go over the rares, and show you what sorts of cool casual decks you can build around ’em.
“Man,” said players who knew no better. “Paying $75 to attend Dragon*Con is a rip-off!” But let me tell you, my friends; the cheesecake visible there on all sides during the evening costume shows was enough to strike a man (or woman) pleasantly blind. Thus, we squeezed one eye shut and took pictures.
Warning: If you don’t like pictures of scantily-clad women and men, then stay away. The rest of you will no doubt see that as a strong incentive to click.
At Grand Prix: New Orleans, I thought it would be fun to run a bet with Jim, so on the plane I figured out the whole Over/Under on”Women in the room as of round three” thing. Originally, the bet was just between the two of us. Gamers tend to be gambling men, though, so I mentioned it to a few more friends and they hopped in on the bet as well. Next thing you know, I’m mentioning it to Ferrett and he’s suggesting that I start polling all the Pros to see what their answers are. What started as a simple wager between friends blossomed into a goofy little contest article (and four extra bucks for me). Well, now it’s tradition.
Estimates from the wise say that we could break the one thousand person attendance mark on Saturday, which would result in a packed room and nearly infinite rounds of Swiss – nine or ten on Day One alone. If you have no byes, you are essentially attending Ohio Valley Regionals with an additional three hundred players in the mix and a lot more Pros in the room. What does it mean? It means that in order to make Day 2, you will need to have a bullet-proof deck and luck. I can’t help you with the luck, but I can help you with the deck…
Lots of matches are decided by a single turn – or even a single play! Most of the time, we are too lazy to look back and see where we could have played differently to achieve a better result. Things that seem so irrelevant in the progression of a duel could actually be the most important aspect in determining its eventual winner. Casting the wrong creature on a given turn can lead to a loss in a game that was otherwise impossible to lose. So what happens if we start analyzing the plays as closely as possible?
