MTG Salvation

i am not complaining... well a bit... but i am astonished how expensive cards have jumped in the last 3 years.
3 years ago, the best card in a set would go for $20. the absolute winner best card. this is in standard!
now it appears that the 'best' cards in standard go for around $60... if those prices are real, then modern and legacy are completely boned.
i bought most my legacy cards (and sold a heap of them) for cheap prices. krakas were $4 3 years ago!
things are nuts, and i dont know why... because they are nuts even in standard.

is it that less people are buying packs and more people just looking to the secondary market?

I just attempted to purchase a wad of cards from Strikezone.

took me ages to get them al as it was a bunch of old commons and uncommons and only a few good rares.

Then after the purchase I received an email form some guy called Dustin asking my to scan a copy of my credit card and ID to him to verify.

I have never been asked to do this anywhere, and it is totally confusing to me.

I don't just send my personal details (and scans mind you) over the internet to people i don't know.

Further i was not informed that I would have to do all this extra stuff when I purchased, simply put, I would have gone elsewhere as I don't just send my details anywhere over the internet.

So i am now informed that my order is cancelled because I would send copies of all my ID etc.

I am in Australia, so I don't know if this is an international thing or what... but I am pretty pissed off because it took me ages to enter all these commons etc, just to be told no.

They really need to tell you that you need to send copies of all your details prior to the purchase, otherwise I wouldn't have purchased form them.

here is the list i attempted to purchase:

there are the updates. still needs to lose some cards, but it is working better. still a bit slow. i think the ancient tomb path is smoother than the post path

removed a lot of spikes
breeder - great for 1/1s then push counters, then proliferate.
feeder - great for free life when needed
tiller - didnt like at first but seeing the goodness of being about to change lands to 3/3s then proliferate then 4/4s and swing
weaver - really just a fogger
triskelion - spike like effect move the counters and prod away when needed
vigor - i dont know if this is overkill. i think it might be, but kind of fun really.

tezz and geth have been great. geth to sac excess moxen and heart stone. makes each excess artifact a 2: all creatures you control get +1/+1

sphere is going okay... not sure what else to use really to slow opponents. it works better with the tomb than hte posts.

please any thoughts would be great... any other +1/+1 effects will be great (but i want it to be a spike deck in essence)

edit: another updated list

hi all, i am toying around with spikes. I played since about 1995-6 then until about 2004, then maybe 2006-2010ish. on off. but older player

as a wee boy i always liked the spikes the best, which was unfortunate, because they were never really that good. i have always played around withe the idea of making a solid Spike deck. but gosh darn they arent that great. so, anyone, any help... here are my lists of cards

at the moment, card choices

llanowar, chrome, bloom, spirit guide are there for speed as everything is a bit clunky

trinisphere, tangle... i think this might be dropped. but i thought the thing needed something more. some boost to give it some heart. i thought the old trinisphere/ tanglewire combo might give it a knack to slow opponent

thran, heartstone - reducing activated ability cost of spikes. need something more here... if anyone can think of some good enabling cards, please suggest.

spikes and accompanying creatures - really i haven't thought through properly on what creatures would be best. i want some maneuverability with the spikes, so life gain, soldiers pump, thopters or 1 famage through trisk. to be able to swing through and kill.

tezzerett and geth - great double ups for spikes. especially the geth. thinking instead of 2/3 i might go 4 geth... simply because i can get rid of excess geths by saccing, which is really 2- double all spikes.

of course this is about 80 or something cardss... needs to go down a fair whack. i just want to get some +1/+1 counters, and maneuverability with them... just want fun semi-competitive spikes

i think it could be a fun deck to zip though. just needs some jigging. way too many cards at hte moment...

really this thread is to gather any thoughts of other cards that could be helpful.

so if anyone can think of some suggestions... please suggest


spikes to prob go are the drones... they dont do anything, and i think the idea is to not really do anything turn 1 other than llanowar. in its place maybe a land search or some other boost

fungal- 1 of is fine as a fun card, but will prob get cut as there is no point to it, just block it if it is huge

breeder is good, so might just drop the thopter squad for curve issues

colony does nothing really

feeder is brilliant really...

hatcher sucks

rogue is fine, but with all spikes, not really the most needed

soldier is 'good' as you should block it before counters get swung to it and it isnt blocked

tiller again, not that great. but could be fine maybe. more of a last minute swing or block

trisk is brilliant to swing around counters for 1 and kill

vigor... i guess it is cool. but probably too much late game

decree, mainly to cycle, but also late game...

it needs a really solid mana base to deliver mana mana to cast and switch counters around... the other way is to drop the ancient dens and go for the 12 post route... i will be testing around

yikes. i remember 2 years ago these prices were 1/4... i have been out for a while. this has gone crazy. people limiting their thinking to what they see in t8 decklists.
some cards are only used in 1 type of deck (see city of traitors) but have gone up hugely.
kinda funny...

seems like a clunky card.

choosing a random card from graveyard, when you know its order.

i guess the only way is to get a random number generator to figure what card as you cant shuffle

but look at eh premise of getting a 7/7 into play for 2 using 2 cards... verses getting a 6/7 into play for 1 card.
it is just weaker.
im not a 'killer of new ideas' but for an idea to be good, it must be actually good. not just average.
fact is that the basis of teh deck, being getting big creatures into play for cheap, now can be done better.

in the essence of 'free speech' i have been warned by AoK for my point on this redundant deck.
I am not saying 'i hate this deck', noone should read my words this way. personally, i do not see how one could read my words this way.
I simply stated that the premise of the deck, being 'cheating' big creatures into play with nifty tricks, is not the same with naught/stife and goyf in general.
but it is weaker (at present).
my point is, that the deck is not strong at the moment. it is better to replace horror/ sceptre tricks, with stifle/naught as the stifle can actually be used, but sceptre is limited.

AoK and ors, please explain your point without your simple critical assessment on anything negative that is said about hte deck.

EDIT: i have played with SJ online, and with this deck in real life. no disrestect to SJ. just a critic of the deck. as i would with any deck

bye bye grizzly bears.

can you stifle champion?

by the way, this thread should be moved, it is not a proven competitive deck anymore (if it ever was)

it cant beat gobs
it cant beat TES
"" belcher
"" enchantress
"" thresh

what can it beat?

ok then mogullord, i want you to make a good chimmney imp deck.

i can list as many as i can if you want.

you are quite narrowminded, saying that others dont think innovately, like you do. like you are something special, or judd.

you can make your own rouge deck, and sometimes they can eb very good, but wont really compete in a tourney environment.

and i stand by my words, having played this deck and against, i think it has come a long way, but i dont think it can progress much further.

also, good cards get their name for a reason, crap cards get a name for a reason.

also, side note, would you play goyf or grizzly bear? point on 'good cards'

you could you a 20c cards, or , to be better, you could use a $30 card.

example, vintage being more expensive and better than say standard, or legacy or extended...

Doubleposting's uncool, too. Merged, etc. You're getting familiar with that tightrope between warnings and worse, y'know?

maybe you are too self confident.

illustrated by the fact you put your picture on that site, and that you made this thread.

he just doesnt want to be out of poket for something that wasnt his fault. thats understandable.

how about some unearth...

that could be cool

linessa,
discard another
play witness
discard another
unearth witness
discard another

thats a lot of bounce