I think Council of the Absolute has some room to grow. The card is more flexible than it looks, and is a small set mythic preordering at $5 each. Definitely really good in Sphinx's mirrors, and good against Jund for shutting off Rakdos's Return/Slaughter Games. Also notable that it can't be killed by Abrupt Decay. Should be good in block, at the very least.
Or humans vs monsters, but that has been done over and over already in Innistrad block. Angels vs demons? Werewolves and spirits are both a little unlikely for a duel deck.
Yeah, there was a bunch of other cool stuff at that gunslinging booth that I hadn't seen before as well. All of the decks that they were using were sleeved with incredible looking white sleeves that had the full card art for black lotus printed on the back (the effect was that from far away, it looked like they had stacks of sleeved black lotuses on the table). Sadly, when I inquired, I was told that they were not available for sale anywhere.
I was mostly just curious if anything like this has hit the market before. I know that completely blank mtg cards are pretty rare/hard to find, as fillers generally have borders. I also know that they can be faked, but seeing as Rosewater was using these, I'm guessing that chances are he just grabbed a stack of magic cards with nothing printed on the front to use as tokens.
Mark Rosewater was gunslinging at Worlds this year, and I was lucky enough to receive a nice little gift from him - a completely blank front Magic card (no black borders) with a stick figure sharpied on the front and his signature. He was using them as golem tokens and I saw that he gave a few out to other people, but I was curious what it's worth, if anything. In all likelihood, I'm not going to trade or sell it because I think it's hilarious and I'm a big MaRo fan, but I've received a few inquiries about it and just have no idea what it's worth. Thanks!
Merfolk is definitely not a control deck. It focuses on putting a short clock on opponent - this is not a control strategy, right? Also, you don't have to play (read: you definitely should not play) both Wasteland and Mutavault; if you're running Standstill (which is awesomeness), play Mutavault, if not, play Wasteland.
Deckcheck says differently. The majority of the lists on there run both Muta and Wasteland. Sorry though, I should've been more clear. Merfolk isn't really control, but it IS disruptive aggro. Essentially, the point I was trying to get across is that decks running Daze and FoW along with some kind of disruption suite are going to be a bit more thought intensive to play and require better knowledge of the format. If you keep Forcing or Dazing the wrong cards, you're probably not going to do very well.
I was going to say - no love for Merfolk? The deck is honestly dirt-cheap to buy the cards for compared to other Legacy decks, and it puts up solid finishes. In fact, if you played during Lorwyn Standard, you might have most of the cards already. It doesn't fit everyone's playstyle (I myself prefer ANT better, as I'm a sucker for combo) but if you're new to the format, it's a cheap way to enter it. The big downside is that, as with any control deck, knowledge of the format and what's important to counter is extremely important - so unless you're willing to spend time playtesting and learning how to play the deck, it may not be the right one for you.
Each of the lords in the deck costs $1 or less, and Wake Thrasher is a strong beater for only $2 a piece. With no fetchlands or duals, the only money cards in the deck are Mutavault at $10 a piece, Wasteland, which are a Legacy staple, Aether vials at $5, and of course Force of Will, which are a staple card as well. Umezawa's Jitte is also and option, and can cost a bit, but as of right now, Merfolk is a great way to enter Legacy for substantially less than the cost of even a Standard deck.
is this right place to put decklists? I don't think I'm allowed to.
I don't have Eos in the deck and have 8 1 drops, Birds and Nacatl so I dont think Hierarch fits.
I can't support WW, atleast not turn 2, the deck is primarily green.
So I guess the question is, out of Pridemage and Valeron Outlander what do you think is better in this metagame?
If you have 8 one drops in the deck, I would definitely make room for Ranger of Eos, as it's just a killer card advantage engine and a good way to reload after a Blightning. I would also replace Birds with Hierarch and run as many Scute Mobs as the deck can fit along with the Rangers. Much better than any potential two-drop you could use.
Not bad for a first budget deck! I would make a few changes at the moment:
Right now, with fetchlands, Anathemancer is significantly worse and probably doesn't deserve a deck slot. I would suggest something that gives your deck a bit of range and is harder to deal with. I'm personally quite a fan of Quenchable Fire, but that's actually a bit debatable - some people don't like it. I wouldn't suggest playing it as more than a 3-of though. If you don't like it, you can try other B/R aggro cards such as Hell's Thunder. Also, outlander is a bit weaker as a card than it was before with white being a little less strong and Jund being a much more popular deck. Unless a lot of people play white in your meta, I would leave it out of the main, and possibly play Goblin Ruinblasters maindeck instead (or at least play them in the sideboard). At worst, they're a 2/1 haste, but they can seriously cripple opponents like Jund and give you the edge you need to deal your final points of damage. Since you're online, I would suggest playing up a playset of Verdant Catacombs, which are relatively cheap on MTGO. If you do this, you can eventually splash green for Bloodbraid Elf, or simply play a more budget version of Jund, which has a bit more resiliency and a stronger midgame and endgame than this current deck by adding a few basic forests and Savage Lands in place of the Necropolis/Akoum Refuge. One more thing that I would note from looking over your decklist is that I'm not entirely sure it's playing enough black sources to support 4 Duress in the sideboard. Duress is really at its best as a turn one play, and this deck only has 2 black mana sources that can get it out turn one. You can also play it turn 3 along with a 2-drop, but I'd rather leave up Bolt or Burst Lightning mana. Anyways, just some of my thoughts.
Not sure why I picked this deck but I like the art on black cards (stupid i know but i dont really know the strengths/ weaknesses of the colors yet). This will be my very first deck is it a good choice? Its yakusoku's BR aggro deck in this thread http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=192631
How do I play this deck? Should I pick another? Any tips for someone completely new to magic and MTGO? I play strictly online
Do you mind posting up your decklist? It really depends on what you're playing and your manabase. If you can support WW, White Knight would be a better choice than Outlander, but it really depends. If you have the Ranger of Eos package, maybe play more 1 drops such as Scute Mob and Nacatl and include Oran Rief?
I think if you want something that's a removal target, Scute Mob does a fairly good job - it has to be answered, or the opponent is basically dead once it starts growing, but it's in the one drop slot.
If you want cheaper cards that you can throw in to make it significantly better, just basically try and make it more like Jund - Putrid Leech is a definite strong addition as a cheap card that will make the deck more potent. Also 4 x Lightning Bolt should be an auto-include. If you can afford the uncommons, Bloodbraid Elf and Bituminous Blast will give you some powerful card advantage, and Broodmate Dragons make for excellent finishers as a 2 or 3 of. Other strong budget cards to consider would be Burst Lightning and Disfigure. If you really want the deck to be as fast as possible, I would suggest playing a Mono-red deck instead. Three color RGB is difficult enough already with the correct manabase, and without the fetchlands and M10 duals, your mana will often screw you over in games, not to mention slow you down. If you're hellbent on playing it though, get a playset of Savage Lands and some more duals as well, or at least a playset of Terramorphic Expanse.
For mono-red, check out some of the decklists that have been put up already in the Standard forums.
As for a good replacement for Lightning Elemental, I would highly highly suggest Hellspark Elementals. They're cheap and pretty powerful.
it is tournment legal for standard. from what we play there.. i was just wondering of you could thing of any fast cards i should throw in... i really want to stay cheaper with this deck in card prices. but a couple rares wouldn't be bad...
possible ideas
overrun? is that a cards thats in standard? someone said the made one a uncommon now?
I think the combo probably needs more protection to be at all viable. Despite the lack of countermagic in the format, since you're basically expending all of your resources in a single shot at winning, you need to be able to protect your glaze fiend/glassdust hulk with a lot more than 4 vines of vastwood. Maybe find some room for Silence? They can remove your creature in response, but it stops plenty of stuff. Maybe you need some countermagic? What happens if you play against TurboFog?
http://www.wizards.com/magic/tcg/productarticle.aspx?x=mtg/tcg/divinevsdemonic/productinfo
Already done.
I was mostly just curious if anything like this has hit the market before. I know that completely blank mtg cards are pretty rare/hard to find, as fillers generally have borders. I also know that they can be faked, but seeing as Rosewater was using these, I'm guessing that chances are he just grabbed a stack of magic cards with nothing printed on the front to use as tokens.
http://www.deckcheck.net/list.php?type=Merfolk&format=Legacy
Deckcheck says differently. The majority of the lists on there run both Muta and Wasteland. Sorry though, I should've been more clear. Merfolk isn't really control, but it IS disruptive aggro. Essentially, the point I was trying to get across is that decks running Daze and FoW along with some kind of disruption suite are going to be a bit more thought intensive to play and require better knowledge of the format. If you keep Forcing or Dazing the wrong cards, you're probably not going to do very well.
Each of the lords in the deck costs $1 or less, and Wake Thrasher is a strong beater for only $2 a piece. With no fetchlands or duals, the only money cards in the deck are Mutavault at $10 a piece, Wasteland, which are a Legacy staple, Aether vials at $5, and of course Force of Will, which are a staple card as well. Umezawa's Jitte is also and option, and can cost a bit, but as of right now, Merfolk is a great way to enter Legacy for substantially less than the cost of even a Standard deck.
If you have 8 one drops in the deck, I would definitely make room for Ranger of Eos, as it's just a killer card advantage engine and a good way to reload after a Blightning. I would also replace Birds with Hierarch and run as many Scute Mobs as the deck can fit along with the Rangers. Much better than any potential two-drop you could use.
Right now, with fetchlands, Anathemancer is significantly worse and probably doesn't deserve a deck slot. I would suggest something that gives your deck a bit of range and is harder to deal with. I'm personally quite a fan of Quenchable Fire, but that's actually a bit debatable - some people don't like it. I wouldn't suggest playing it as more than a 3-of though. If you don't like it, you can try other B/R aggro cards such as Hell's Thunder. Also, outlander is a bit weaker as a card than it was before with white being a little less strong and Jund being a much more popular deck. Unless a lot of people play white in your meta, I would leave it out of the main, and possibly play Goblin Ruinblasters maindeck instead (or at least play them in the sideboard). At worst, they're a 2/1 haste, but they can seriously cripple opponents like Jund and give you the edge you need to deal your final points of damage. Since you're online, I would suggest playing up a playset of Verdant Catacombs, which are relatively cheap on MTGO. If you do this, you can eventually splash green for Bloodbraid Elf, or simply play a more budget version of Jund, which has a bit more resiliency and a stronger midgame and endgame than this current deck by adding a few basic forests and Savage Lands in place of the Necropolis/Akoum Refuge. One more thing that I would note from looking over your decklist is that I'm not entirely sure it's playing enough black sources to support 4 Duress in the sideboard. Duress is really at its best as a turn one play, and this deck only has 2 black mana sources that can get it out turn one. You can also play it turn 3 along with a 2-drop, but I'd rather leave up Bolt or Burst Lightning mana. Anyways, just some of my thoughts.
I think if you want something that's a removal target, Scute Mob does a fairly good job - it has to be answered, or the opponent is basically dead once it starts growing, but it's in the one drop slot.
For mono-red, check out some of the decklists that have been put up already in the Standard forums.
As for a good replacement for Lightning Elemental, I would highly highly suggest Hellspark Elementals. They're cheap and pretty powerful.
For future reference, you can find the FNM and Budget deck construction forums here: http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/forumdisplay.php?f=480 and http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/forumdisplay.php?f=150 here.
http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=201016
http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=186499
http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=194177
Or even try out the Naya Lightsaber deck that just won Worlds?