MTG Salvation

Quote from Life Weaver

G/R: Not bad actually, decent burn, decent creatures, plus with overrun makes it viable strategy to swarm.
As for the other decks I am not commenting, they aren't my colors.

Saturday morning at the prerelease I registered for the Open Play Event, which is essentially $15 for the prerelease Rampaging Baloths, the Celestine Reef PC card, an Intro Pack picked at random, plus another booster pack upon submitting the open play ticket with names/DCI #s of five opponents.

The intro deck I received was the Adventurers. I was down on Allies going in thinking them cheap Sliver knock-offs. I have to admit having played this deck now that it is as playable out of the box as a person could probably hope for. If Kazuul Warlord hits the table and sticks, the deck gets pretty nuts. Even the turn 2 Oran-Rief Survivalist needs to be dealt with, or it can get out of hand quickly.

Meh. I was hoping for a 'walker or something that would otherwise get expensive. Looks like we're not getting an Honor of the Pure effect :/

We are fools to expect to see a fetch land in these, or even anything tournament worthy, but I'm a little shocked theres nothing super powerful for EDH in these... eh. oh well.

Quote from DanoLefourbe

Wouldn't it be better to buy these cards as singles yet? Really intro packs are only good if you really like the theme and want to play most of the cards.

Good point there. But I like the deck anyways. I wouldn't mind playing it just for kicks.

i typed that list

Pre-made decks used to be quite different from their neo versions. I for instance could buy two Transference pre-made decks from the set DARKSTEEL and have a very decent deck that ran 4x Skullclamps since each Transference deck came with 2x Skullclamps.

Here is the vampire deck:

Rise of the Vampires

Creatures 15

Malakir Bloodwitch (R)
Acolyte of Xathrid x2
Guul Draz Vampire x2
Child of Night x2
Gatekeeper of Malakir
Mindless Null
Vampire Aristocrat x2
Vampire Nighthawk x2
Heartstabber Mosquito
Zombie Goliath

Other Spells 8

Vampire's Bite x2
Feast of Blood x2
Hideous End
Diabolic Tutor
Rise from the Grave
Blood Tribute (R)

Lands 18

Swamp x18
Piranha Marsh x2

-2 Acolyte of Xanthrid
-2 Child of the Night
-1 Heartstabber Mosquito
-1 Zombie Goliath
-1 Mindless Null
-2 Vampire Aristocrat
-1 Diabolic Tutor
-1 Rise from the Grave

All I removed was jank from the deck, if I then were to replace it with some other spells it would look much more appealing to the people who like the vampire aggro deck.

When I first started playing, I would buy two pre-cons and smash them together for a decent 60-card deck that fit my liking. I'd buy a few boosters and hope to get something to put in the deck or something trade-worthy to get cards for my deck. I think this is what a lot of people did.

I actually think the direction they went with the intro-packs is decent. If a new player wants to make a constructed deck, he or she would still buy & smash together 2 intro-packs. The boosters to "boost" your deck already come with it, and it encourages new players to trade if they get a card that doesn't fit into the deck.

What I don't like is how the intro packs play in limited for dueling. I thought the pre-cons were much better for limited play.

I use to play Magic, but I'm just coming back. Interested in getting either the Vampire or the Ally deck. Really frustrates me though that now instead of replacing a couple cards, you have to do that still and get another 20. I feel like there is enough Vampire's to make a pretty solid deck, I only play against my friends for fun, so I don't want anything to expensive. I'm not sure about allies, I like the idea a lot and I like a few of the cards a lot, but it seems really limited right now. I would assume their will be more allies in the next set right? So that I could add on, if I bought the allies now. Want to build something around Kazandu Blademaster.

Since most of the good Vampires are common and uncommon as it is, I don't think cost is too big of an issue unless you wanted Sorin in there. Anything else (not counting the M10 Lord) in the rare range is still only $5.

These are really cool and if my this weekend i dont have my couple or bloodwitches or the gatekeeper or nighthawks ill buy the vampire deck. The deck is fine just cut the acolyte and add two or three lacerators and you have a solid deck

? I thought it was common knowledge that Malakir Bloodwitch is amazing....And here you all are crying about none of these having good rares...

These things also come with a booster pack folks. The Vampire one is definitely worth 11 dollars.

I'll say that all of the foil rares are at least "pretty good" this time, with the Kor being the weakest, but making up for it by having a pretty strong nonfoil rare.

I never buy into packs and for me it is never taken in consideration.
The thing is, if one or two into packs are worth its price, the local stores here jack up the price 2-3 dollars, which kinda makes it not worth buying.

Personally I find it cheaper to build an entire deck from singles than buy these expensive intro packs.

I've always considered intro packs an easy (if not cost effective) way to get my hands on some fun rares, handy commons and uncommons, and loads of filler from the set. In a specific color or two.
But alas, this fall I am strapped for cash, so no.

Zendikar Intro Pack contents FINALLY up on Arcana (http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/arcana/288)



We did a dissection of the mono-white 'Kor Armory' intro pack and have produced this video for you -

tinyurl.com/ydh9pq5

Anywhoos - Does anyone have results as to how well each of the Zendikar Intro Packs worked out for you during 'open dueling' during the pre-release - wanting to do a rough comparison. Looking at the decklists, I'm thinking that Wizards did a good job as usual in keeping the intro packs equal in power.

Whats do you guys think of the Unstable Terrain deck? I think it has a few nice cards in it, might be able to build something with it.

You shouldn't build your deck around "a few nice cards" from an intro pack. Of course, you can build your deck around a similar idea (Landfall, in this case), but it won't have much in common with the deck in question. Even if you buy it as a base for it, you won't play more like 10 cards from it. Just buy singles.

These intro packs are pretty weak compared ones of recent. I started playing after Shards release and have bought at least one intro pack every set since then (yay Master of Etherium and Honor of the Pure). But this is the first time I've looked at the decklists and haven't seen anything I was interested in. Buying boosters is definitely better. And especially with such a limited supply now, I'd buy them before they're gone (until the next printing of course). Save some for drafting.

why do almost all of the decks come with terramorphic expanse? it's a one or 2-color deck with 41 cards, you don't really need manafixers

Quote from FidgetyWidget

why do almost all of the decks come with terramorphic expanse? it's a one or 2-color deck with 41 cards, you don't really need manafixers

They are intro-decks and 2 color decks usually introduce the idea of mana fixing. And they have landfall cards that like it. It makes perfect sense to me.