Friend of mine recently got in touch with me and told me someone had bought him a shoebox full of magic cards for $800. I told him I very highly doubted it was worth even 1/4 of that. Just finished looking through it and this was what I came up with (all number close, but approximate)
860 lands
1090 commons
340 uncommons
21 Rares (all worth no more than $1)
All from the previous block, as well as M13 and M14.
It works like doubling season does, except minus counters, of course. Copypasta'd from doubling Season on magiccards.info, edited for Parallel Lives:
"If there are two Parallel Lives on the battlefield, then the number of tokens is four times the original number. If there are three on the battlefield, then the number of tokens is eight times the original number."
So yes, you're correct, you'd get 8 tokens from Hero of Bladehold.
In my opinion, Infinite combos are just another part of the game. Yeah, it sucks when you lose to Geth and the deck's massive / infinite mana, or an instant win Exsanguinate, but if that happens, there's nothing stopping you from shuffling up and playing again.
I personally have an infinite combo in my Ghave deck, but the pieces of the combo are almost integral to the deck, even when not used as combo pieces: Ghave, Guru of Spore (For obvious reasons), Juniper Order Ranger (It's like a botomless well of gas for your vehicle, who wouldn't want one?), Ashnod's Altar (All decks benefit from sac outlets.) I like my combo cause it's flexible. One game I can flood the battlefield with tokens, the next I can get instant lethality on my general, even infinite mana for big spells, or I can bash fash with my big Ranger, though, majority of the time I ask if the people I play with are fine with infinite combos.
I don't think limiting the mana to X per turn will help. Heck, I have a BUG deck that needs a massive amount of mana when it's got ~36 cards in hand and I know my Reliquary Tower is about to get blown up. I think if you really want to get rid of infinite combos, you can always limit the number of iterations someone can do something per turn cycle.
I've been playing only this deck lately, and I've noticed that Necrogenesis and Glare of Subdual have been my all-stars. There's nothing like Board advantage and graveyard hate all bundled in the same package. And in my opinion, the first activation is a 2-for-1, after that, it turns into a 2-for-0.
The last game I play with this, though, turned into a 2v1 against Grimgrin and Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre. The only thing that killed me was a misplay where I should've casted exsanguinate to keep my alive after a SoWaP hit on a 12/12 flying Ulamog with an 11 card hand >.<.
----
I've made a few edits that need to be reflected on here, so I'll update tonight when I get to my decks.
I can't believe I forgot about this, but Pattern of Rebirth really needs to be in here, mainly cause my general is a sac engine himself. I would also love to be able to put the new Garruk in here. It would be nice to be able to sacrifice one of my Saprolings to him while enchanted with Pattern, get a new creature to the field and to my hand. Can't get much better than that. He also makes me tokens ^^.
I also really need to find room in here for Genesis.
Anowon - I hadn't built a mono-colored deck before, and I felt black was a very strong color to build with (I also had just gotten a Cabal Coffers ^^")
Kresh - My first EDH deck. It wasn't too bad playing with my friends around the kitchen table, but was nowhere near good enough for anywhere else.
Momir Vig - My third EDH deck, but first legendary creature I had. Was way powerful and could generate insane Card Advantage. I also love the Simic guild
The Mimeoplasm -This is what my Momir deck turned into. Still good at Card Advantage, but now featuring black.
Doran - My second EDH deck. First voltron deck and super fun to play. Who knew it would be nice to be to have a 0/11 and your opponent on a 2 turn clock. Or G-Wave for 35 and swing with a hasted Reya Dawnbringer for 38 and blowing up 2 permanents while attacking << >>
Scion on the Ur-Dragon - This is my more competetive deck. The land base needs tweaked to be more consistant, but other than that, turn 7 kills are not out of the question for this deck. More artifact mana could mean even faster than that.
^ Those are the decks I actually have paper for. I plan on eventually getting my Omnath list built, but my Ghave list takes priority on being built.
Ghave: Parallel Lives - Second Doubling season in the deck, never hurts to have 2 Inquisitor's Flail - This, on Ghave, against non-black is win thanks to Shizo Mentor of the Meek - Let's make a token and draw a card for 2 ^^ Reaper From the Abyss - Seems good, seeing as how my general is a sac outlet. Sever the Bloodline - general creature exile, could see use Skirsdag High Priest - Why not be able to make big tokens too? Bramblecrush - Helps take care of pesky Planeswalkers.. Or lands... Or artifacts/enchantments Garruk Relentless - More tokens! And a lightning Bolt in green, and creature tutor Lumberknot - Let's sacrifice one of my tokens to put 2 +1/+1 counters on him. With Hexproof Moldgraf Monstrosity - The deck doesn't have many non-token creatures in it to begin with, so if I have a couple in the graveyard, I'm betting I'll be looking forward to them. Gavony Township - +1/+1 counters are another form of currency in this deck, This lets me make more every turn. Woodland Cemetery / Isolated Chapel - Enemy duals, always come in handy
Most of those probably aren't going in, but this deck is still in its baby stages, so there might be a lot that could help it out.
But anyways, I've been thinking, and yeah, the times I've been pulled over were mostly my fault. I am contesting the window tint ticket though, because I honestly feel as though it is legal.
I live in Iowa, rife with small towns everywhere. Iowa law states that your tint can block no more than 25% of the light going through your front two windows. The main reason I feel that my tint isn't too dark is: 1) if my tint's not legal, then dodge is/was selling cars not legal for the state of Iowa thanks to my mother's Durango and its factory tint about as dark as mine. And 2) My dad's been driving my car out of town, and he got pulled over himself (going slightly over the speed limit ^^") and the cop that stopped him felt that the windows weren't tinted too dark.
As of now, all my windows work, my plate light's been fixed and my windshield wipers are no longer in my field of view. The only thing that doesn't work is that the windshield wipers don't do anything anymore.
I do have a question though. Where can one go to actually get the window tint gauged? The only place I know for sure has a tint gauge is the local police in the town I got stopped at. The police station in Newton (Where my dad got pulled over) said they don't have the proper equipment and my dad's checked the many dealers he drives by on his way to work. I'm thinking about stopping by the highway patrol station just outside of town to see if they have one. If not there, where should I check?
I like me some mana doublers, though most of the time my doublers stick on the field for enough time for them to really make a difference. I've had my Caged Sun in mono-black stick from turn 6 till I won about 6 turns later. I've had Mana Flare stick from turn 3 to turn 8, when I won. Mana reflection has stayed for 2 turns, until I won. Sometimes they just stick and won't go, and when that happens, most of the time you win.
When I first make a deck, or after playing so many times, I spend a good 30 minutes just shuffling. I'll first take the top half and shuffle them a few times and put them into their own pile. I'll then take the top halfs of each pile and shuffle them a few times and make a new pile. And I just repeat for as long as I feel makes it thoroughly random. It takes a while, but shuffling decks helps me think about the interactions of cards I just put in.
I let people know I play, but like most people, if they don't play, don't care, I leace it at that.
Of course, if someone was to walk into my room, they'd see my Magic Collection sitting next to my (newly acquired) Munckin cards on a shelf behind my Airsoft equipment with my old pair of subwoofers on the floor
I may try and find some room for a few Innistrad cards as well:
Mentor of the Meek - Lets me draw cards when I make saprolings for 1 (Let's me sac a Saproling to Ashnod's Altar to remove a counter from something to make a saproling and draw a card)
Parallel Lives - Might as well be a second Doubling Season in here
Gavony Township - Gives fuel to Ghave to make Saprolings. Also makes creatures big.
Edit: What about the other Hondens (Cleansing Fire and Night's Reach) for synergy with the green Honden and my deck?
Side note, I've realised a lot of the cards that are in my decks that I could need at any given time cost 5 mana, which is the exact cost needed to trasmute a Brainspoil. I may just find a spot for that in here too.
Start Up: Start with Ghave, the Ranger, and 2 other creatures on the field. 2 +1/+1 counters on any creature(s) (The Ranger is fine, he'll get them back, and not Ghave's last 2).
Step 1: Sacrifice one of the 2 creatures to the altar, netting you 2.
Step 2: Use both mana to remove 2 +1/+1 counters off of your creatures. You get 2 Saprolings with a +1/+1 counter and 2 +1/+1 counters on the ranger.
Step 3: Sacrifice the other random creature to get 2 mana.
Step 4: Remove the +1/+1 counters from the Saprolings and make 2 more. Repeat at step 1 using Saprolings. Congratulations, you have an Arbitrarily large number of saprolings. (Massively huge Juniper Order Ranger as a bonus). Assuming you did this at the end step of your opponent, you have just won barring shenanigans.
There's another way to do it with 1 random creature for the startup cost (and 0, I mean it is Ghave we're talking about, but you can't do it this way while being tapped out, the aove you can.), but I'm tired of thinking about this and will save it for another day.
Arbitrarily Large Ghave:
Start Up: Above Combo
Step 1: Sac a Saproling to Ashnod's Altar to make 2
Step 2: Use both mana to sac two saprolings to Ghave.
I love token decks. Specifically their ability to completely flood the field to the point my opponents can't do anything. I've wanted to make a token deck for the longest time, but I don't really enjoy the deckbuilding process for mono-colored generals. So, to me, Ghave looks like the prime specimen for a token EDH deck. So here's my attempt:
Kor Haven
Shizo, Death's Storehouse
Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
Yavimaya Hollow
Maze of Ith
Garruk Relentless
Sterling Grove
Privileged Position
Doubling Season
Mana Reflection
Chord of Calling
Worldly Tutor
Demonic Tutor
Damnation
Mirari's Wake
Elesh Norn
Creakwood Liege
Beastmaster Ascension
Me and a friend of mine always joked about making a Karona deck that made sure that we weren't the one getting hurt by our own general who's able to swing for 8 for everyone. Well, here's my attempt:
860 lands
1090 commons
340 uncommons
21 Rares (all worth no more than $1)
All from the previous block, as well as M13 and M14.
How much would you have paid for such a box?
Hero of Bladehold
It works like doubling season does, except minus counters, of course. Copypasta'd from doubling Season on magiccards.info, edited for Parallel Lives:
"If there are two Parallel Lives on the battlefield, then the number of tokens is four times the original number. If there are three on the battlefield, then the number of tokens is eight times the original number."
So yes, you're correct, you'd get 8 tokens from Hero of Bladehold.
I personally have an infinite combo in my Ghave deck, but the pieces of the combo are almost integral to the deck, even when not used as combo pieces: Ghave, Guru of Spore (For obvious reasons), Juniper Order Ranger (It's like a botomless well of gas for your vehicle, who wouldn't want one?), Ashnod's Altar (All decks benefit from sac outlets.) I like my combo cause it's flexible. One game I can flood the battlefield with tokens, the next I can get instant lethality on my general, even infinite mana for big spells, or I can bash fash with my big Ranger, though, majority of the time I ask if the people I play with are fine with infinite combos.
I don't think limiting the mana to X per turn will help. Heck, I have a BUG deck that needs a massive amount of mana when it's got ~36 cards in hand and I know my Reliquary Tower is about to get blown up. I think if you really want to get rid of infinite combos, you can always limit the number of iterations someone can do something per turn cycle.
The last game I play with this, though, turned into a 2v1 against Grimgrin and Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre. The only thing that killed me was a misplay where I should've casted exsanguinate to keep my alive after a SoWaP hit on a 12/12 flying Ulamog with an 11 card hand >.<.
----
I've made a few edits that need to be reflected on here, so I'll update tonight when I get to my decks.
I can't believe I forgot about this, but Pattern of Rebirth really needs to be in here, mainly cause my general is a sac engine himself. I would also love to be able to put the new Garruk in here. It would be nice to be able to sacrifice one of my Saprolings to him while enchanted with Pattern, get a new creature to the field and to my hand. Can't get much better than that. He also makes me tokens ^^.
I also really need to find room in here for Genesis.
And I really like Lumberknot, it's like a backwards Juniper Order Ranger ^^
Kresh - My first EDH deck. It wasn't too bad playing with my friends around the kitchen table, but was nowhere near good enough for anywhere else.
Momir Vig - My third EDH deck, but first legendary creature I had. Was way powerful and could generate insane Card Advantage. I also love the Simic guild
The Mimeoplasm -This is what my Momir deck turned into. Still good at Card Advantage, but now featuring black.
Doran - My second EDH deck. First voltron deck and super fun to play. Who knew it would be nice to be to have a 0/11 and your opponent on a 2 turn clock. Or G-Wave for 35 and swing with a hasted Reya Dawnbringer for 38 and blowing up 2 permanents while attacking << >>
Scion on the Ur-Dragon - This is my more competetive deck. The land base needs tweaked to be more consistant, but other than that, turn 7 kills are not out of the question for this deck. More artifact mana could mean even faster than that.
^ Those are the decks I actually have paper for. I plan on eventually getting my Omnath list built, but my Ghave list takes priority on being built.
Parallel Lives - Second Doubling season in the deck, never hurts to have 2
Inquisitor's Flail - This, on Ghave, against non-black is win thanks to Shizo
Mentor of the Meek - Let's make a token and draw a card for 2 ^^
Reaper From the Abyss - Seems good, seeing as how my general is a sac outlet.
Sever the Bloodline - general creature exile, could see use
Skirsdag High Priest - Why not be able to make big tokens too?
Bramblecrush - Helps take care of pesky Planeswalkers.. Or lands... Or artifacts/enchantments
Garruk Relentless - More tokens! And a lightning Bolt in green, and creature tutor
Lumberknot - Let's sacrifice one of my tokens to put 2 +1/+1 counters on him. With Hexproof
Moldgraf Monstrosity - The deck doesn't have many non-token creatures in it to begin with, so if I have a couple in the graveyard, I'm betting I'll be looking forward to them.
Gavony Township - +1/+1 counters are another form of currency in this deck, This lets me make more every turn.
Woodland Cemetery / Isolated Chapel - Enemy duals, always come in handy
Most of those probably aren't going in, but this deck is still in its baby stages, so there might be a lot that could help it out.
But anyways, I've been thinking, and yeah, the times I've been pulled over were mostly my fault. I am contesting the window tint ticket though, because I honestly feel as though it is legal.
I live in Iowa, rife with small towns everywhere. Iowa law states that your tint can block no more than 25% of the light going through your front two windows. The main reason I feel that my tint isn't too dark is: 1) if my tint's not legal, then dodge is/was selling cars not legal for the state of Iowa thanks to my mother's Durango and its factory tint about as dark as mine. And 2) My dad's been driving my car out of town, and he got pulled over himself (going slightly over the speed limit ^^") and the cop that stopped him felt that the windows weren't tinted too dark.
As of now, all my windows work, my plate light's been fixed and my windshield wipers are no longer in my field of view. The only thing that doesn't work is that the windshield wipers don't do anything anymore.
I do have a question though. Where can one go to actually get the window tint gauged? The only place I know for sure has a tint gauge is the local police in the town I got stopped at. The police station in Newton (Where my dad got pulled over) said they don't have the proper equipment and my dad's checked the many dealers he drives by on his way to work. I'm thinking about stopping by the highway patrol station just outside of town to see if they have one. If not there, where should I check?
In me Ghave deck, I run Cabal Coffers / Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth and Mana Reflection
In my Mimeoplasm deck, I run Mana Reflection.
In my Scion of the Ur Dragon deck, I run Mana Reflection and Mana Flare. If I had Heartbeat of Spring, I would put it in.
I like me some mana doublers, though most of the time my doublers stick on the field for enough time for them to really make a difference. I've had my Caged Sun in mono-black stick from turn 6 till I won about 6 turns later. I've had Mana Flare stick from turn 3 to turn 8, when I won. Mana reflection has stayed for 2 turns, until I won. Sometimes they just stick and won't go, and when that happens, most of the time you win.
Of course, if someone was to walk into my room, they'd see my Magic Collection sitting next to my (newly acquired) Munckin cards on a shelf behind my Airsoft equipment with my old pair of subwoofers on the floor
I may try and find some room for a few Innistrad cards as well:
Mentor of the Meek - Lets me draw cards when I make saprolings for 1 (Let's me sac a Saproling to Ashnod's Altar to remove a counter from something to make a saproling and draw a card)
Essence of the Wild - Turns all my lowly 1/1 Saprolings into 6/6 beasts
Parallel Lives - Might as well be a second Doubling Season in here
Gavony Township - Gives fuel to Ghave to make Saprolings. Also makes creatures big.
Edit: What about the other Hondens (Cleansing Fire and Night's Reach) for synergy with the green Honden and my deck?
Side note, I've realised a lot of the cards that are in my decks that I could need at any given time cost 5 mana, which is the exact cost needed to trasmute a Brainspoil. I may just find a spot for that in here too.
Added in Tetravus and Ashnod's Altar.
Found a couple infinite loops:
With Ghave, Guru of Spores, Juniper Order Ranger, and Ashnod's Altar. I can make infinite tokens to boost Ghave to infinite proportions.
How they work:
Arbitrary Number of Tokens:
Start Up: Start with Ghave, the Ranger, and 2 other creatures on the field. 2 +1/+1 counters on any creature(s) (The Ranger is fine, he'll get them back, and not Ghave's last 2).
Step 1: Sacrifice one of the 2 creatures to the altar, netting you 2.
Step 2: Use both mana to remove 2 +1/+1 counters off of your creatures. You get 2 Saprolings with a +1/+1 counter and 2 +1/+1 counters on the ranger.
Step 3: Sacrifice the other random creature to get 2 mana.
Step 4: Remove the +1/+1 counters from the Saprolings and make 2 more. Repeat at step 1 using Saprolings. Congratulations, you have an Arbitrarily large number of saprolings. (Massively huge Juniper Order Ranger as a bonus). Assuming you did this at the end step of your opponent, you have just won barring shenanigans.
There's another way to do it with 1 random creature for the startup cost (and 0, I mean it is Ghave we're talking about, but you can't do it this way while being tapped out, the aove you can.), but I'm tired of thinking about this and will save it for another day.
Arbitrarily Large Ghave:
Start Up: Above Combo
Step 1: Sac a Saproling to Ashnod's Altar to make 2
Step 2: Use both mana to sac two saprolings to Ghave.
Step 3: Rinse and Repeat.
Do note:
Above combos work better with Doubling Season Out.
1 Ghave, Guru of Spores
Token Makers:
1 White Sun's Zenith
1 Awakening Zone
1 Necrogenesis
1 Promise of Bunrei
1 Seed the Land
1 Snake Pit
1 Words of Wilding
1 Pentavus
1 Triskelavus
1 Mycoloth
Token Boosters:
1 Beastmaster Ascension
1 Creakwood Liege
1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
1 Leyline of the Meek
1 Gaea's Anthem
1 Intangible Virtue
1 Leyline of Vitality
1 Mirari's Wake
1 Primal Rage
1 Eldrazi Monument
Removal:
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Path to Exile
1 Ashes to Ashes
1 Hour of Reckoning
1 Wrath of God
1 Damnation
1 Squall Line
1 Crypt Rats
Ramp:
1 Oracle of Mul Daya
1 Skyshroud Claim
1 Nature's Lore
1 Explosive Vegetation
1 Safewright Quest
1 Journey of Discovery
Utility:
1 Mentor of the Meek
1 Lumberknot
1 Phyrexian Arena
1 Howling Mine
1 Diabolic Intent
1 Diabolic Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Worldly Tutor
1 Quicksilver Amulet
1 Terastodon
1 Green Sun's Zenith
1 Chord of Calling
1 Aura Shards
1 Glare of Subdual
1 Juniper Order Ranger
1 Mana Reflection
1 Doubling Season
1 Parallel Lives
1 Knight of the Reliquary
1 Privileged Position
1 Sterling Grove
1 Exsanguinate
1 Protean Hydra
1 Garruk Relentless
1 Praetor's Counsel
1 Ashnod's Altar
1 Cabal Coffers
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Bayou
1 Murmuring Bosk
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Savannah
1 Temple Garden
1 Godless Shrine
1 Scrubland
1 Maze of Ith
1 Yavimaya Hollow
1 Shizo, Death's Storehouse
9 Plains
9 Forest
8 Swamp
1 Kor Haven
---
-1 Night Soil +1 Parallel Lives
-1 Overrun +1 Mentor of the meek
-1 Honden of Life's Web +1 Lumberknot
-1 Tetravus +1 Triskelavus (Wrong T-avus >.<)
Kor Haven
Shizo, Death's Storehouse
Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
Yavimaya Hollow
Maze of Ith
Garruk Relentless
Sterling Grove
Privileged Position
Doubling Season
Mana Reflection
Chord of Calling
Worldly Tutor
Demonic Tutor
Damnation
Mirari's Wake
Elesh Norn
Creakwood Liege
Beastmaster Ascension
1 Karona, False God
Lands(38):
1 Steam Vents
1 Blood Crypt
1 Temple Garden
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Breeding Pool
1 Stomping Ground
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Watery Grave
1 Godless Shrine
1 Darigaaz's Caldera
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Savage Lands
1 Shizo, Death's Storehouse
1 Fire-Lit Thicket
1 Flooded Grove
1 Graven Cairns
1 Exotic Orchard
1 Lavaclaw Reaches
1 Creeping Tar Pit
1 Stirring Wildwood
1 Raging Ravine
1 Drowned Catacomb
1 Blackcleave Cliffs
1 Razorverge Thicket
1 Command Tower
1 Temple of the False God
1 Rupture Spire
1 Forbidden Orchard
1 Reflecting Pool
3 Plains
3 Islands
1 Swamp
2 Mountain
1 Dominus of Fealty
1 Divinity of Pride
1 Ghastlord of Fugue
1 Herald of Leshrac
1 Nobilis of War
1 Overbeing of Myth
1 Oversoul of Dusk
1 Progenitus
1 Serra Avatar
1 Stalking Vengeance
1 Aeon Chronicler
1 Avatar of Woe
1 Avatar of Fury
1 Avatar of Might
1 Avatar of Slaughter
Utility Creatures (6):
1 Genesis
1 Anger
1 Defiler of Souls
1 Reassembling Skeleton
1 Big Game Hunter
1 Primeval Titan
Artifacts (9):
1 Door of Destinies
1 Fist of Suns
1 Howling Mine
1 Font of Mythos
1 Quicksilver Amulet
1 Expedition Map
1 Walking Atlas
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Druidic Satchel
1 Oblivion Stone
1 Lightning Greaves
1 Heartbeat of Spring
1 Mana Flare
1 Rites of Flourishing
1 Survival of the Fittest
1 Attrition
1 Prismatic Omen
Removal (7):
1 Ashes to Ashes
1 Exile
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Damnation
1 Plague Wind
1 Terminate
1 Putrefy
Tutors (7):
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Diabolic Intent
1 Demonic Collusion
1 Diabolic Tutor
1 Brainspoil
1 Entomb
1 Vampiric Tutor
Ensure Karona can't hurt us (9):
1 Maze of Ith
1 Vow of Duty
1 Vow of Flight
1 Vow of Lightning
1 Vow of Malice
1 Vow of Wildness
1 Otherworldly Journey
1 Flickerform
1 Kor Haven