Avacyn was created by PreMending Sorin. We can assume he was immensely more powerful than any Demon at the time, especially since it is said that Sorin made Avacyn with the idea of balancing the perils of Innistrad.
If that's true, that could puncture an irreparable hole in my half-assed theory. Do you have definitive proof that Sorin's pre-Mending?
Either way, I don't mind. After reading the article where Sorin, Lord of Innistrad was announced, I felt like I'd just finished watching an M. Night Shyamalan movie and really wished I could un-read it. I figured that just about anything could go after that point, haha.
1) There are several powerful demons that are associated with the plane of Innistrad (i.e., Griselbrand, Shilgengar)
2) Power-wise, these demons are at least about as powerful as planeswalkers (since Liliana Vess didn't turn on the demons she'd made a pact with until she acquired the Veil and its powers)
3) Sorin Markov, a planeswalker, created Avacyn
Therefore, it stands to reason that the demons are powerful enough to possibly defeat Avacyn. Which begs the question of, "So what did they do with her?"
Rather than locking her up or simply killing her, they may have corrupted her:
Thoughts? I know that being used for booster pack art is no guarantee of rarity, but it would explain what Avacyn is being "restored" from (rather than, say, simply returned).
Leeched image replaced, warning issued. For what it's worth, I'm leaving this thread open for now because the underlying idea has some merit to it, although any connection to this image is (in my opinion) tenuous in the extreme. -viper
I'm surprised no one's mentioned Fusion Elemental yet. There's a lot of good color fixing at common, and ramping up into an 8/8 with all of the best cards in the format available to you seems rather good.
The mana base needs fine-tuning, but goldfishing on deckbox.org, I've gotten five colors pretty consistently by turn five or six.
Werewolves, vampires, ghosts/spirits, and zombies all have something in common: they all can be humanoid, either in origin or appearance (and they often are). That's why I don't think spiders, horrors, or any other non-humanoid race will be chosen. Based on what little there's been so far to go on, I think humans are the most likely candidates. After all, there's not much to a horror story if there isn't a human populace to terrorize after nightfall.
Although there isn't much, if any, of a precedent in Gothic literature, I'd like to see treefolk appear in Innistrad. They're a primarily green/white tribe, but they've been known to be black, too (which is fitting, given the setting). What Zendikar did for merfolk, Innistrad could do for treefolk: make them more mobile and humanoid. Perhaps modeled after the Green Man (a very gargoyle-esque motif) and/or dryads (The Witcher, anyone?). Based on the appearance of the notable treefolk introduced in M12, though, I don't think it's terribly likely. Would be kind of cool, though, since dark, gloomy forests are fairly common locales in Gothic horror.
As far as I can tell, people in my area are fairly honest. No one has objected when I asked to cut their deck, and I've always allowed other players to cut mine if they wish. It helps that there's nothing at stake: no prizes, no DCI rating, and barely any bragging rights (since most of the players only see each other on the one night of the week we play EDH/Commander).
OP, I think you're doing yourself a disservice to keep silent. You can point out that offering your deck to your opponents to be cut is not optional, as per the rules:
103.1. At the start of a game, each player shuffles his or her deck so that the cards are in a random order. Each player may then shuffle or cut his or her opponents' decks. The players' decks become their libraries.
I think of griefer decks as ones that do not seek to win the game, rather bog down and annoy people.
Mass LD isn't inherently griefer. A deck that is light on wincons in order to repeatedly destroy lands is.
Not being able to cast anything isn't fun.
Incidentally, I was recently in a 2HG game where an opponent, who had used Copy Enchantment on my Mirari's Wake, cast Dimensional Breach. He cast Chancellor of the Spires with floating mana while his team mate cast Chancellor of the Annex (also with floating mana). He cast Regrowth on Aura of Silence and cast it. All while he had Oblivion Ring in exile from Dimensional Breach.
My team mate and I just packed it up. They effectively obliterated our entire board AND taxed us off coming back into the game. That was a very solid win on their part, but it was an unsatisfying game for my team because we had no way to interact with the post-Dimensional Breach board state because we had no mana.
To me, griefer cards are the ones that keep people from being able to cast spells. Mass land destruction is the biggest offender here, which is why I don't run it (targeted land destruction, however, is fair game).
Kaervek the Merciless isn't as much of a griefer card to me, as, say, Gaddock Teeg. Kaervek costs 7 to bring out, can be removed with cards like Swords to Plowshares or Wrath of God with very little repercussion, and doesn't protect himself. Gaddock Teeg, on the other hand, protects himself and keeps you from casting certain spells altogether, without even the option of losing life or creatures to get rid of him.
I once won off of a Chaos Warp and Radiate while piloting Ruhan of the Fomori. It put two swords and a Lightning Greaves into play for me, which I equipped to my general and started swinging for the fences against a largely creatureless board. It was very risky for me since I knew at least one of my opponents played Eldrazi, but I did it for the entertainment factor, not to grief. That deck plays lots of random cards that can hose me just as much as they hose my opponents, like Proteus Staff.
He can be searched up with Fierce Empath, unlike Acidic Slime. I'd say the slime is a better card overall; however, Brutalizer Exarch is more flexible, and as someone already pointed out, it can deal with indestructible noncreature permanents.
Not an auto-include, but not a card that should be dismissed out of hand either.
I think Vengeful Pharaoh could be pretty sweet with Molten-Tail Masticore.
Turn 3 or 4, cast Molten-Tail Masticore. Next turn, discard Vengeful Pharaoh. Now your opponent has uncounterable removal to play around. If you don't want it back on top of your library, exile it and deal 4 to the face or something relevant.
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-37 Island
+37 Snow-Covered Island
1 Memnarch
Creatures (11)
1 Consecrated Sphinx
1 Master Transmuter
1 Grand Architect
1 Palinchron
1 Pili-Pala
1 Trinket Mage
1 Master of Etherium
1 Phyrexian Metamorph
1 Blightsteel Colossus
1 Karn, Silver Golem
1 Voltaic Construct
1 Clone
1 Wurmcoil Engine
Instants (3)
1 Blue Sun's Zenith
1 Capsize
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Fabricate
1 Bribery
1 Trade Secrets
1 Transmute Artifact
1 Rite of Replication
Enchantments (4)
1 Future Sight
1 Power Artifact
1 Training Grounds
1 March of the Machines
Artifacts (14)
1 Basalt Monolith
1 Caged Sun
1 Darksteel Forge
1 Doubling Cube
1 Extraplanar Lens
1 Gauntlet of Power
1 Grim Monolith
1 Liquimetal Coating
1 Mana Vault
1 Mycosynth Lattice
1 Vedalken Shackles
1 Sol Ring
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Voltaic Key
1 Whetwheel (-4)
1 Lightning Greaves
1 Tezzeret the Seeker
Lands (40)
37 Snow-Covered Island
1 Academy Ruins
1 Strip Mine
1 Reliquary Tower
If that's true, that could puncture an irreparable hole in my half-assed theory. Do you have definitive proof that Sorin's pre-Mending?
Either way, I don't mind. After reading the article where Sorin, Lord of Innistrad was announced, I felt like I'd just finished watching an M. Night Shyamalan movie and really wished I could un-read it. I figured that just about anything could go after that point, haha.
You mean improper semantics?
... boo, Havengul Lich was just spoiled. I could've sworn that its hat had a broken Collar of Avacyn (the left- and right-most pieces).
1) There are several powerful demons that are associated with the plane of Innistrad (i.e., Griselbrand, Shilgengar)
2) Power-wise, these demons are at least about as powerful as planeswalkers (since Liliana Vess didn't turn on the demons she'd made a pact with until she acquired the Veil and its powers)
3) Sorin Markov, a planeswalker, created Avacyn
Therefore, it stands to reason that the demons are powerful enough to possibly defeat Avacyn. Which begs the question of, "So what did they do with her?"
Rather than locking her up or simply killing her, they may have corrupted her:
Thoughts? I know that being used for booster pack art is no guarantee of rarity, but it would explain what Avacyn is being "restored" from (rather than, say, simply returned).
Leeched image replaced, warning issued. For what it's worth, I'm leaving this thread open for now because the underlying idea has some merit to it, although any connection to this image is (in my opinion) tenuous in the extreme. -viper
1 Ib Halfheart, Goblin Tactician
Goblins
1 Goblin Recruiter
1 Goblin Ringleader
1 Goblin Matron
1 Squee, Goblin Nabob
1 Goblin Chieftain
1 Goblin King
1 Goblin Warchief
1 Skirk Fire Marshal
1 Skirk Prospector
1 Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
1 Lightning Crafter
1 Goblin Marshal
1 Siege-Gang Commander
1 Skullclamp
1 Nemesis Mask
1 Sol Ring
Enchantments
1 Mana Echoes
1 Raid Bombardment
1 Repercussion
1 Goblin Warrens
1 Gratuitous Violence
1 Furnace of Rath
1 Grand Melee
1 In the Web of War
1 Mogg Infestation
Land
38 Snow-Covered Mountain
The mana base needs fine-tuning, but goldfishing on deckbox.org, I've gotten five colors pretty consistently by turn five or six.
1 Fusion Elemental (uncommon)
Artifact:
1 Darksteel Ingot
1 Expedition Map
1 Lightning Greaves (uncommon)
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Sensei's Divining Top (uncommon)
1 Sol Ring (uncommon)
Creature:
1 Dimir House Guard
1 Dimir Infiltrator
1 Drift of Phantasms
1 Farhaven Elf
1 Hand of Emrakul
1 Krosan Tusker
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Sakura-Tribe Elder
1 Stone-Seeder Hierophant
1 Trygon Predator (uncommon)
1 Ulamog's Crusher
1 Wickerbough Elder
1 Yavimaya Elder
Instant:
1 Allay
1 Capsize
1 Condescend
1 Diabolic Edict
1 Disenchant
1 Dizzy Spell
1 Eyeblight's Ending
1 Forbidden Alchemy
1 Frantic Search
1 Hinder (uncommon)
1 Muddle the Mixture
1 Mystical Teachings
1 Perplex
1 Rend Flesh
1 Shattering Pulse
1 Shred Memory
1 Soul Manipulation
1 Terminate
1 Unmake
1 Wrecking Ball
1 Aftershock
1 Ashes to Ashes
1 Brainspoil
1 Consult the Necrosages
1 Cultivate
1 Deep Analysis
1 Demonic Tutor (uncommon)
1 Disturbed Burial
1 Farseek
1 Foresee
1 Hull Breach
1 Into the North
1 Kodama's Reach
1 Reap and Sow
1 Rolling Thunder
1 Savage Twister (uncommon)
1 Shard Convergence (uncommon)
1 Temporal Spring
Enchantment:
1 Phyrexian Reclamation (uncommon)
1 Rhystic Study
Land:
1 Azorius Chancery
1 Bant Panorama
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Boros Garrison
1 Command Tower
1 Dimir Aqueduct
1 Esper Panorama
1 Evolving Wilds
1 Grixis Panorama
1 Izzet Boilerworks
1 Jund Panorama
1 Naya Panorama
1 Orzhov Basilica
1 Rakdos Carnarium
1 Rupture Spire
10 Snow-Covered Forest
4 Snow-Covered Island
3 Snow-Covered Mountain
3 Snow-Covered Plains
4 Snow-Covered Swamp
1 Terramorphic Expanse
Although there isn't much, if any, of a precedent in Gothic literature, I'd like to see treefolk appear in Innistrad. They're a primarily green/white tribe, but they've been known to be black, too (which is fitting, given the setting). What Zendikar did for merfolk, Innistrad could do for treefolk: make them more mobile and humanoid. Perhaps modeled after the Green Man (a very gargoyle-esque motif) and/or dryads (The Witcher, anyone?). Based on the appearance of the notable treefolk introduced in M12, though, I don't think it's terribly likely. Would be kind of cool, though, since dark, gloomy forests are fairly common locales in Gothic horror.
OP, I think you're doing yourself a disservice to keep silent. You can point out that offering your deck to your opponents to be cut is not optional, as per the rules:
103.1. At the start of a game, each player shuffles his or her deck so that the cards are in a random order. Each player may then shuffle or cut his or her opponents' decks. The players' decks become their libraries.
Momir's got my vote for the better multiplayer general, though.
Not being able to cast anything isn't fun.
Incidentally, I was recently in a 2HG game where an opponent, who had used Copy Enchantment on my Mirari's Wake, cast Dimensional Breach. He cast Chancellor of the Spires with floating mana while his team mate cast Chancellor of the Annex (also with floating mana). He cast Regrowth on Aura of Silence and cast it. All while he had Oblivion Ring in exile from Dimensional Breach.
My team mate and I just packed it up. They effectively obliterated our entire board AND taxed us off coming back into the game. That was a very solid win on their part, but it was an unsatisfying game for my team because we had no way to interact with the post-Dimensional Breach board state because we had no mana.
Kaervek the Merciless isn't as much of a griefer card to me, as, say, Gaddock Teeg. Kaervek costs 7 to bring out, can be removed with cards like Swords to Plowshares or Wrath of God with very little repercussion, and doesn't protect himself. Gaddock Teeg, on the other hand, protects himself and keeps you from casting certain spells altogether, without even the option of losing life or creatures to get rid of him.
I once won off of a Chaos Warp and Radiate while piloting Ruhan of the Fomori. It put two swords and a Lightning Greaves into play for me, which I equipped to my general and started swinging for the fences against a largely creatureless board. It was very risky for me since I knew at least one of my opponents played Eldrazi, but I did it for the entertainment factor, not to grief. That deck plays lots of random cards that can hose me just as much as they hose my opponents, like Proteus Staff.
Not an auto-include, but not a card that should be dismissed out of hand either.
Turn 3 or 4, cast Molten-Tail Masticore. Next turn, discard Vengeful Pharaoh. Now your opponent has uncounterable removal to play around. If you don't want it back on top of your library, exile it and deal 4 to the face or something relevant.