MTG Salvation

Quick FYI, I saw someone mention Horn of Greed. It does NOT work with this commander. Horn of Greed specifies lands being PLAYED, which is not the same as being put onto the battlefield with K&T. Something to keep in mind

I am posting this for my nephew, who is 14 and understands how to play the game, but hasn't played standard events. He recently was given a fairly decent collection of cards from BFZ through EMN, including some good rares. He has sorted it all but is feeling overwhelmed with building a deck. We have come up with a few different ones that he could build (budget oriented) and wanted some opinions on which one should be built. Please keep in mind we have no way to playtest these beyond ourselves and our LGS standard fnm.

U/R thermo-thing (I think the guy played this because there are 4 TITI and 4 fevered visions)
U/B Eldrazi
R/B eldrazi
G/B sacrifice (we think he was building this, there are 3 westvale in the collection)
W/G humans (super budget, just can't afford some of the expensive key pieces)
W/B life gain/drain AND/OR Treeskadeckaphobia (there are 2 trisk and 4 trees)
U/G emerge (I am not sure if we are missing any key components)
lastly, some sort of G/x eldrazi ramp might actually work.

Some notable rares that are in the collection that aren't mentioned above: a void winnower, 3x sin prodder, an emrakul, 2x kiora (!), a kalitas, an ob nix (PW)

He really doesn't have enough to build R/G werewolves or any sort of zombies or vampires decks. He would have to buy too much for any of those decks and doesn't have the money. And before you start saying to trade, people in my town hate trading stuff. Everyone wants your good stuff for their junk and basically refuses to trade value for value. And the LGS is a small store and doesn't really have too much for trading and buying. So what is everyone's opinions what he should try to put together.

So my LGS is doing a "mtg noobie night" and the only real rule/stipulation is that if you are NOT a noobie, your deck cannot contain any rares or mythics. So basically pauper and/or unlimited peasant with no banned list (yet.)

I dont have access to a lot of cool cards older than the original innistrad block, and I don't want to build a completely unfair deck with combo wins or overpowered and broken stuff. I did have fun piloting a standard delver deck in the past, as well as a heroic deck so I was thinking of putting together those as well as some sort of outlast/counters type of deck.

So what would you guys do in my situation, what cards are basically auto-includes in decks I mentioned, and what types of decks would you use in this format?

**Keep in mind it's for playing against mainly new players, and we all know new players don't enjoy losing really badly all the time.

I am trying to find a website for keeping track of your collection. It isn't an app. You could just click and add cards from their list of sets and it would give you a complete breakdown of price, how many and in which rarities and give you a % complete for your collection based by set or entire history of MTG. Can someone point me in the right direction?

So this came up in a game and the person i was playing argued about how it should have happened. So i will explain the situation and let you guys tell us whats right.

I have a lagonna-band elder on the field with a oracle's insight attached to it. Its untapped.

On my opponents turn they play revoke existence targetting my enchantment. I say i am using the ability in response.

This is where they argued that i couldnt do that because their card kills it.

Please explain how this works so it doesnt happen in the future, thank you

I have a few rules inquiries that always seem to trip me up and they kinda relate to timing.

1 do all attacking creatures have to be declared at the same time. Like if I have a couple creatures out and one of them has a triggered ability when it attacks, is it too late to declare my other creature an attacker after the triggered ability resolves. I ask because you haven't changed phases to the declare blockers phase yet

2 along the same line, if you decline to block a creature, and they play some instant speed trick, is it too late to change your mind about blocking. I guess along with this is before I declare blockers is it ok to ask if he has anything to cast before I do so

3 when do I decide to redirect damage to a planeswalker. Is it after declaring attackers but before blockers, or is it in the deal damage step after blockers. Same thing with spells, do I declare the target when I cast or when it resolves.

Thanks

Quote from Greenlexluther

Oh look, Wizards cannot make a UB card without making it bloody mill.

Oh well, all that hype and he's a lump of garbage, both these cards are guaranteed to be cards I open in boosters whenever I buy this set.


Glad I decided not to go to the prerelease now, this set is pretty average so far.

I will gladly take any phenaxes off your hands man...

I did not see a thread for this card so here goes.

Thassa's Rebuff
1U
Instant
Counter target spell unless it's controller pays X where X is your devotion to Blue
To resist Thassa is to deny the rising tide

This completely pushes mono-U over the top. I can't play it in a U/W control deck, or an Esper control deck, this is solely for mono-U devotion decks. It also is a very strong push towards creature-centric control instead of the normal types.

This makes me a bit angry at WotC. Maybe someone can change my mind... But I doubt it. I dont think I will be playing any standard constructed for this rotation.

So i had a crazy thought tonight.

zephyr charge

That is all

Well there goes my U/W control deck... Sigh...

Quote from necromantic

Mizzium skin is fantastic vs heavy removal. Rootborn defenses is pretty much anti supreme verdict. Not a huge fan of brave the elements in the heroic line up

I run mizzium skin mb. Rootborn is sb vs uwx control

So, what should I take out/change to add in mizzium skin and how do you suggest I change the sideboard to fit in some rootborn defenses? I am kinda new to the whole sideboard thing (I've usually just played casual until a couple months ago)

Has anyone considered that it could be a reprint of viscera seer?

This is the deck that I am running.




I am looking for some advice with tweaks. A couple of things I notice:
1. The ordeals dont work very well with the ethereal armors. Since an ordeal will usually come off after 1 or 2 attacks, the armor doesn't count it very much.
2. Since the only removal I have is soft removal in the sideboard, I can sometimes have trouble with some decks. Any advice?
3. I found Phalanx Leader to be underwhelming since I usually only have 2 or sometimes 3 creatures out on the board at a time. Should I cut him completely?

I have access to lots of cards that have been used in other people's decks like I have another Detention Sphere, another imposing sovereign, some negates, some dissolves, some glare of heresys, some celestial flares, some blessings

So should I make any tweaks to the main deck or to the sideboard? Some cards I was thinking of seriously including were Brave the Elements, mizzium skin and rootborn defenses Any thoughts on them?

Thanks

Had a guy try to tell me that an aura doesnt target a creature until it resolves, so him countering it wouldn't trigger heroic. I had to find him after the game and point him to some webpages explaining it all. And he still wouldn't admit he was wrong

Why run Arbor Collossus over Collossus of Akros? I'm just curious as to why, I use him in my budget mono G deck online and it seems to be doing ok. As well as Centaur Battlemaster. I run with some Ordeal of Nyleas and some other auras and it seems to be doing alright.