MTG Salvation

I'm wondering if anyone here has ever tried to use Duplicolor Effex or Spazstix Holographic spray paint to "foil" older cards. Any other way to add foil to a card?

I'm trying to foil out an EDH deck and some older cards just don't have foil prints. I'll state explicitly so there's no room for doubt, I have no interest in blanking a foil and printing over it.

Thanks for any feedback

If you want bulk commons/uncommons I know some online retailers sell playsets of all common/uncommon in a set and it's usually 30-40 per expansion. This will give you a solid budget base to build upon in Standard, and you can buy specific rares from there.

As others have said, the cheapest option is to choose a deck and just buy singles, but you don't really build a collection that way. So if you're wanting to have multiple cards on hand to make different decks if recommend looking into bulk playsets.

That's pretty much where Legacy is with red. It's either got Bolts or red is just a combo color. The difference is that Legacy can support Bolt and Treasure Cruise together.

With Swiftspear, Goblin Guide, and other below-the-curve creatures a red Sligh deck may even find a place in Modern if Bolt isn't around to clear out the creatures or deal damage to the face so the creatures don't matter.

Would there be any significant drawbacks if (please don't kill or ban me for this) Lightning Bolt were banned?

It's the definition of a format defining card. Almost every red deck wants to play Lightning Bolt and many decks will splash red to have access to burn with the primary include being Lightning Bolt. It's that efficient. "Dies to Bolt" is a common argument against running many, many otherwise solid creatures. Without Bolt, Modern Burn becomes much more like Legacy Burn has historically been - a foil against greedy decks, but not necessarily a major contender on its own.

If Bolt is banned the format diversifies for 2 reasons: tier 1 decks no longer have the linear "splash red for Bolt" while still remaining playable (doesn't outright destroy any decks) and dozens of creatures become viable considerations around which to base new decks because the 1-mana 3-damage bogeyman no longer exists.

I would posit the biggest problem with Treasure Cruise in Modern is that it exaggerates the reach of Lightning Bolt to a level that makes it no longer just 'acceptably strong'. JA remains, Delver remains, Burn remains and nobody loses a ton of money on a banning. Bolts aren't an investment like Goyf.

What decks have you played against?

I feel like Burn would tear right through this. No matter what they cast, they're likely going to find a 3 damage spell or a very efficient creature off the topdeck. I also feel like it has the possibility to backfire pretty hard. Your opponent can cast the spell with the lowest CC from their hand and end up with a huge ROI. For instance, Tron casts Wurmcoil Engine and lands either the Wurmcoil they expected or Emrakul.

I like this Curse and similar effects, but I don't think Possibility Storm is the best way to lock up the board.

Quote from Planechaser »

Guys, a Colorless Commander deck can't not have a Plains because it's a Basic Land - Plains or because it can tap for it can't have a Plains in it because the rules consider the GiANT as a normal which is illegal in any deck with a non-white commander.

Tapping for W is precisely why it can't be added to a colorless deck. The Oracle text of a Plains states: {T}: Add {W} to your mana pool.

That's the same reason Rattleclaw Mystic can't go into a Simic or Gruul deck.

Could it not be:

--------------------
Colorless Land
Land
{T}: Add 1 to your mana pool.

A deck can have any number of cards named Colorless Land.
--------------------

Super easy design and doesn't screw with things like Dream Thrush.

EDIT: Nath'd. Oh well.

Seems the most intuitive way to play it. And perhaps an addendum: Colorless Land is neither basic nor non-basic. So it doesn't get pulled up by Evolving Wilds but also doesn't hit you with Ruination, etc.

I found a few cards to tinker with to try and make something work.

World Queller was one of my favorite Zendikar cards but I forgot about it until I did a Gatherer search today.

Strionic Resonator allows you to double the Stax effect of either Queller or Descent. This can help control the speed of permanents being removed. Either 2 the turn after Descent sticks or 4 on Descent's second upkeep in play.

I'm also looking at cards such as Ghostly Prison and Rule of Law to help slow opposing decks from overrunning me before a Descent or Queller can see play. And perhaps Chalice of the Void to hold off 1 mana spells after a reset.

I also stumbled across Hide // Seek. Not a good choice mainboard, but if I were to build a BW deck to use Descent and Queller I'd probably throw it in the sideboard to pluck an Emrakul from a Tron player or perhaps a Treasure Cruise from deck playing blue.

Thanks for the input!

As for the turn 2 Descent, I'd have to say that'd do more harm than good. With Infernal Plunge you essentially 2-for-1 yourself if you drop Descent. You've lost a permanent on the board and a card in hand, so you're doing your opponent a favor. It just undermines the Descent.

The deck needs cards that at least generate another card in hand or a permanent.

Wall of Omens is a good option since it replaces itself in your hand, but it doesn't do much to get you ahead while your opponent is under pressure. Ant Queen and Thragtusk are good because they not only give you things to exile but they also heighten pressure on the opponent. Ant Queen can is a repeatable token producer for cheap and Thragtusk provides value even when exiled. They're also fetchable with Brainspoil just like Descent. Other cards that do this are Verdant Embrace, Sacred Mesa, Cascade cards, etc.

It's just a matter of being able to consistently find them and drop them to pair with Descent. And, again, needing to know if a turn 3-4 Descent can put enough pressure on an opponent to be worth trying. It requires dedicating space for ramp (the manadorks) and being able to find Descent + a threat that is abusive even through Descent. There really isn't room for a plan B.

Edit: Thanks for the input izzetmage! I'll scour the cardpool and see what else may be available for locking the opponent out.

Descent Into Madness. I know it's a really terrible Mythic, but I have been brainstorming to find a way to make it work at least at an FNM/small event level.

I haven't played any Modern, so I don't know the speed of the format entirely well, but thought I'd offer up for critique this possibility:



Goldfishing, you can get a Descent to hit pretty consistently by the 4th turn at the latest, but the density of mana dorks (slivers could be replaced with Caryatids or other 2-cost dorks) and the inclusion of Brainspoils to fetch a Descent if needed seem to make this a very cumbersome package.

The idea after you land Descent would be to try to get an Ant Queen in play and start making enough tokens to weather the storm while your opponent is left to topdeck - having the 16 mana dorks also means you'd likely reset quicker from a topdeck/empty battlefield scenario if that occurred.

How would you fill it in optimally? Can a Descent on turn 3-4 slow an average deck enough to be worth playing or is it too late at that point?

It's not Voltron, but if you're going to add any amount of beats you might as well consider Spellheart Chimera.

Quote from 256k

Spellskite works, sort of. If you have an instant that could target Spellskite during an opponents end-step, you can change the target of it to Spellskite an arbitrary number of times just before your turn. Of course, this only works for NDE if your life total is odd.

Phyrexian processor is no good because it happens at sorcery speed and both NDE and Second Chance check life totals at the beginning of your upkeep. I'm not keen on letting the rest of the table have a turn after setting myself to 1 life. I guess sorcery speed life altering could be paired with extra turn sorceries, but that's getting pretty complicated.

For either to work really well, we need to be able to pay life at instant speed.

If someone were to go the NDE route there are a few Cleric-type cards that say "Pay 1 Life: Prevent the next 1 damage to this creature" and Crovax, Ascendant Hero

If someone in your playgroup brought a Pauper deck to play against everyone else's regular decks how would the group handle it? Let them use their chosen Uncommon/Common general or make them choose a corresponding legend?

I feel like Mayor of Avabruck really should be legendary. How many Mayors does the town have?

It should just be something like Councilman of Avabruck.

So game one...Trading Post got Oblivion Ringed? If it was Detention Sphered as the article says then that's a problem since they weren't supposed to be mainboarded.

I like the idea behind the article, though. Nice to see some brewing.