I've had a promo cube for ~5 years now. The guidelines I follow are:
1. No duplicates
2. A "promo" has to be a card that cannot be opened in a regular pack of cards
3. Every promo makes the cut weather it's good/bad etc doesn't matter
4. All of the pre made decks vs decks etc would be too many cards, so I only allow foiled cards from the special pre made releases
It's hard to try and keep up with the rate that Wizards prints promos. I try and get as many as I can as soon as I can. Usually when I trade, I ask to see any promo cards someone might have. I prioritize quantity of unique promos over quality. The more rare promos get expensive and it is rare that I am able to add $100 + promos. I usually add 2-3 of the expenve ones a year.
Obviously this cube continues to grow larger and larger. Currently I have it in a "1000" count white box sleeved and it needs to find a larger box.
I'm noticing that people are running a rather low amount of swamps, I understand it in this list as it only has 1 mutilate, however it is still running a playset of crypt ghasts, but I would at least like to have 18 swamps with 3-4 mutilates. Anyone who has done some math on the subject?
That was my initial thought as well when I started tinkering around with a black control deck splashing white for Blood Baron of Vizkopa. I started with a very high swamp count and lots of mutilates. The deck wasn't working out very well and I switched to a Rock variant. I decided to give the lower swamp count a try. What I found is that I would still usually have enough swamps to wipe my opponents board while not having too many as to allow my larger creatures to survive.
I was playing FNM and finished my match early. I went over to watch a friend's match. My friend had just tapped out to cast Aetherling. I didn't notice the gamestate so I'm not sure why he would do this. He passes the turn and the kid he was playing taps 3 mana and casts Arrest on the Aetherling. It was hilarious seeing the Aetherling sitting there unable to attack/block/activate abilities.
I also considered a green splash for thragtusk instead of white. Testing will determine which if any is better. I put far/away in place of devour flesh and tribute to hunger. I'm not sure it's the right play but it seems like a huge bonus to be able to occassionaly fuse the spells using darksteel ingot for blue mana. Tragic slip might be better as a 4 of. It's cheap removal that plays well with a turn 3 darksteel ingot as well as desecration demon.
I didn't get a chance to play last week. I'll be playing vampires tonight for fnm using the changes in my previous post.
I'm quite fond of the Noble. Sometimes he just wins games by himself. Frequently he gets a swing in and then he lands his 2nd swing because while they heald back a blocker, they didn't expect him to have +1+1 and first strike. The Noble also acts as a chump blocker late game when you don't really want to sac any of your better vamps. He helps buy me time if I stumble on land and acts as a distraction to draw out their removal early allowing my more critical vamps a better shot at life. The Nobles also play great with Orzhov Charm turning it into a threat.
Sam's article is what inspired me to start tinkering with Vampires. I then came here and found this thread. I combined some of the various aspects and made some more adjustments based on card availability and personal preferences. I played several matches against Jund Midrange, Esper Control, and Reanimator while playtesting with friends. I felt like sometimes I would just run out of gas against decks that were good a building card advantage. I was trying to find a solution to the problem when I thought Slayers' Stronghold might be just the card I needed. I tossed 1 into my decklist right before FNM started. It worked much better than I could have ever imagined. I added a second Slayer's Stronghold for the 5K by cutting my only basic land. I'd like to add a 3rd one but I'm not sure the mana-base could support it.
I played BRW Vampires at the TCG diamond 5K in Michigan this weekend and got 31st going 6-2-1. I lost in the first 2 rounds and drew in the 7th round. I don't recall what I lost to in the first 2 rounds but I played against a wide variety of decks. The draw was against UWR control.
I really wish I had ran a couple Boros Charms in my 75. I think they would have allowed me to be a little more aggressive against the control decks. I liked Vampire Nocturnus but wanted to fit some Sorin, Lord of Innistrads in the main and I feel they play better with Bloodline Keeper. I'm not real happy with Blood Artist but I haven't found/tested a decent replacement yet. I love using Orzhov Charm to bring back a Stromkirk Noble at EOT. I've thought about Sign in Blood but I think I'd really only want to cast it on turn 2 on the play and only if I didn't have a Tithe Drinker or Stromkirk Noble to play. I certainly wouldn't want to pay 2 life for a shock land in order in order to cast it.
I was playing in a vintage tournament. My opponent and I both had Platinum Angels out. He was near death and my life was in the negatives. I bounced his angel so that I could swing in for the win. The only problem is, I bounced it with an Echoing Truth. I forgot that It would also bounce my angel. Both angels were bounced and I immidiately lost since I had negative life.
I've got a cube that is all promo as well. I don't quite have as many as you've got yet. I've been keeping it sleeved and in a regular cardboard sports card box. I move up to longer boxes as the deck grows. I think It's in an 800 count box right now and is well on its way to moving to a 1000 count box.
My worst magic experience was going to the Legacy Prerelease in Chicago. Nobody else from my area wanted to go and I was determined to attend. I was just 18 at the time and didn't have much $$. I decided to take the electric train in from Michigan City which was ~40minutes from my house. My mom dropped me off and was supposed to pick me up.
I got to the prerelease without any problems. I opened my packs/decks and didn't do very well went 0/2 and did not get any foils :-(. The play area was the most packed I'd ever played in and still is to this day. The tables were only the width of 1 playmat and everyone was back to back such that nobody could get out without the other 15 people in your row getting up and moving. I found out later that there were also side events being held in another room. The TO's never bothered to advertise this so I never found the side events. Because of the crowding I will never go to another prerelease event in Chicago. Or at least not while the current TO is holding them.
I just barely caught the last train back to Michigan City for that night. My mom was supposed to be waiting for me when I got back there. She was nowhere to be seen and it was ~40f out. There wasn't a payphone at this depot and all it had was a small enclosed bus stop type enclosure by the tracks. Luckily, there was a heat light in there that you could turn on. The downside of the heat light is that it lit the place up nice and bright and I was in a completely unknown area that didn't even have any street lights at all. My mom finally arrived around 2AM. She apparently thought she was picking me up at the next station over.
I learned my lesson and purchased a cell phone as soon as I could and keep it with me always now. My mom still hasn't really jumped on the technology bus yet. She had a pager for a few years so that my siblings and I could contact her. She doesn't have a habit of turning it on or checking it though. One day the police stopped at my door telling me that my brother had been hit by a car and that they needed a parent or guardian to give permission for the hospital to treat him. His injuries were bad but deffinitaly not life threating. I paged my mom and never got a response. Several hours later when she came home I asked her about her pager and then told her her son was inthe hospital because he'd been hit by a car. You would think that she would learn to keep a charged phone or something on her so she can be contacted after that but no, she's never learned.
I was playing 5 color Cruel control against Swans. My opponent had 2 swans out and I had 13 land and 2 curel ultimatums in my hand. I had been waiting for several turns to get a 14th land so that I could double cruel him to off both of his swans and his hand. It seemed like it would be a waste to just cast 1 cruel leaving him a swans and a card in his hand. I finally drew the 14th land, played it and cast cruel ultimatum. He incinerated his swan and drew 3 cards in response, bringing his hand up to 6 cards. Then Cruel resolved, he sac'd a swan and pitched 3 cards. Then I cast the 2nd cruel making him sac his last creature and discard his hand and putting his life total very low. He wasn't happy to say the least.
I was playing Mythic Bant in FNM the other day and I got paired up against my friend. I warned him that I was going to hit him for 18 with a birds of paradise. We started out and I played a land and a Hierarch. He bolted it and past the turn. I played another land and another hierarch and a birds. He played a land and said go. I played a land and a finest hour. He missed his land drop and passed the turn. I then played another land, Rafiq and swung on the 4th turn for 18 (6+12) with the birds.
The greatest comeback I've ever seen was against me. Time Spiral sealed on release weekend. I get a timeshifted Akroma in play and start attacking my opponent. On what would have been the lethal swing my opponent morphs up a Fortune Thief. I look through my graveyard and realize that I've already used up all of my removal. My opponent eventually wins after he is able to remove my Akroma.
I was not very happy at all. It tore me up that my Akroma with protection from red could be stopped by a little 0/1 Red creature.
I went 4-0 playing against jund, b/g zombies, spread'em, u/r deck w/ runeflare trap.
I really liked baneslayer in here as she won many of the games by herself. I would probably make a few changes to the list I ran. I didn't really feel like I needed elspeth at all and the 3rd rafiq seemed unnecessary. I would have liked to fit the 4th duelist into the mainboard.
The wakes were in play on my side and not destroyed by Obliterate because they are enchantments. The coffin was only holding the Elder which was let out after Obliterate.
The play below happened in a recent multiplayer free-for-all game I was in. I am just looking for some confirmation or correction on the plays below as I would like to make sure I play the cards correctly should a simular situation arise again.
I made 2 assumptions that I am unsure about and that is why I am asking if I did this correctly.
1. I assumed that since the deathrender was attached to my creature when they both died to obliterate that deathrender would trigger and allow me to put a creature in play. However, since deathrender was destroyed as well it would have to stay in my graveyard instead of attaching to the new creature.
2. I assume that the deadwood treefolk token would still trigger and allow me to target any other creature in my graveyard (including the Sharuum the Hegemon that was put in my graveyard the same time that the token was)
Does this work correctly or is there something that was incorrect above?
1. No duplicates
2. A "promo" has to be a card that cannot be opened in a regular pack of cards
3. Every promo makes the cut weather it's good/bad etc doesn't matter
4. All of the pre made decks vs decks etc would be too many cards, so I only allow foiled cards from the special pre made releases
It's hard to try and keep up with the rate that Wizards prints promos. I try and get as many as I can as soon as I can. Usually when I trade, I ask to see any promo cards someone might have. I prioritize quantity of unique promos over quality. The more rare promos get expensive and it is rare that I am able to add $100 + promos. I usually add 2-3 of the expenve ones a year.
Obviously this cube continues to grow larger and larger. Currently I have it in a "1000" count white box sleeved and it needs to find a larger box.
That was my initial thought as well when I started tinkering around with a black control deck splashing white for Blood Baron of Vizkopa. I started with a very high swamp count and lots of mutilates. The deck wasn't working out very well and I switched to a Rock variant. I decided to give the lower swamp count a try. What I found is that I would still usually have enough swamps to wipe my opponents board while not having too many as to allow my larger creatures to survive.
4 vampire nighthawk
4 desecration demon
3 Blood Baron of Vizkopa
4 sign in blood
3 corrupt
3 doom blade
3 far/away
3 tragic slip
4 mutilate
2 liliana of the dark realms
14 swamp
4 godless shrine
1 plains
4 terramorphic expanse
I also considered a green splash for thragtusk instead of white. Testing will determine which if any is better. I put far/away in place of devour flesh and tribute to hunger. I'm not sure it's the right play but it seems like a huge bonus to be able to occassionaly fuse the spells using darksteel ingot for blue mana. Tragic slip might be better as a 4 of. It's cheap removal that plays well with a turn 3 darksteel ingot as well as desecration demon.
I'm quite fond of the Noble. Sometimes he just wins games by himself. Frequently he gets a swing in and then he lands his 2nd swing because while they heald back a blocker, they didn't expect him to have +1+1 and first strike. The Noble also acts as a chump blocker late game when you don't really want to sac any of your better vamps. He helps buy me time if I stumble on land and acts as a distraction to draw out their removal early allowing my more critical vamps a better shot at life. The Nobles also play great with Orzhov Charm turning it into a threat.
This is the list I played.
4 Stromkirk Noble
4 Tithe Drinker
3 Blood Artist
4 Stromkirk Captain
4 Vampire Nighthawk
3 Falkenrath Aristocrat
3 Vampire Nocturnus
2 Bloodline Keeper
3 Blood Baron of Vizkopa
4 Orzhov Charm
1 Dreadbore
Land
4 Godless Shrine
4 Blood Crypt
4 Sacred Foundry
4 Cavern of Souls
4 Isolated Chapel
3 Dragonskull Summit
2 Slayers' Stronghold
2 Pillar of Flame
3 Rest in Peace
4 Sin Collector
2 Sorin, Lord of Innistrad
2 Olivia Voldaren
2 Assemble the Legion
The Slayers' Strongholds were easily the MVP's of the deck. Changes I would make based on my experience in the tournament are:
-1 Isolated Chapel +1 Clifftop Retreat
-2 Vampire Nocturnus +2 Sorin, Lord of Innistrad
-1 Vampire Nocturnus +1 Bloodline Keeper
-1 Blood Artist +1 Boros Charm
-1 Orzhov Charm +1 Boros Charm
In the Sideboard I would cut 1 Sorin, Lord of Innistrad and add 1 Boros Charm.
I really wish I had ran a couple Boros Charms in my 75. I think they would have allowed me to be a little more aggressive against the control decks. I liked Vampire Nocturnus but wanted to fit some Sorin, Lord of Innistrads in the main and I feel they play better with Bloodline Keeper. I'm not real happy with Blood Artist but I haven't found/tested a decent replacement yet. I love using Orzhov Charm to bring back a Stromkirk Noble at EOT. I've thought about Sign in Blood but I think I'd really only want to cast it on turn 2 on the play and only if I didn't have a Tithe Drinker or Stromkirk Noble to play. I certainly wouldn't want to pay 2 life for a shock land in order in order to cast it.
I got to the prerelease without any problems. I opened my packs/decks and didn't do very well went 0/2 and did not get any foils :-(. The play area was the most packed I'd ever played in and still is to this day. The tables were only the width of 1 playmat and everyone was back to back such that nobody could get out without the other 15 people in your row getting up and moving. I found out later that there were also side events being held in another room. The TO's never bothered to advertise this so I never found the side events. Because of the crowding I will never go to another prerelease event in Chicago. Or at least not while the current TO is holding them.
I just barely caught the last train back to Michigan City for that night. My mom was supposed to be waiting for me when I got back there. She was nowhere to be seen and it was ~40f out. There wasn't a payphone at this depot and all it had was a small enclosed bus stop type enclosure by the tracks. Luckily, there was a heat light in there that you could turn on. The downside of the heat light is that it lit the place up nice and bright and I was in a completely unknown area that didn't even have any street lights at all. My mom finally arrived around 2AM. She apparently thought she was picking me up at the next station over.
I learned my lesson and purchased a cell phone as soon as I could and keep it with me always now. My mom still hasn't really jumped on the technology bus yet. She had a pager for a few years so that my siblings and I could contact her. She doesn't have a habit of turning it on or checking it though. One day the police stopped at my door telling me that my brother had been hit by a car and that they needed a parent or guardian to give permission for the hospital to treat him. His injuries were bad but deffinitaly not life threating. I paged my mom and never got a response. Several hours later when she came home I asked her about her pager and then told her her son was inthe hospital because he'd been hit by a car. You would think that she would learn to keep a charged phone or something on her so she can be contacted after that but no, she's never learned.
I was playing Mythic Bant in FNM the other day and I got paired up against my friend. I warned him that I was going to hit him for 18 with a birds of paradise. We started out and I played a land and a Hierarch. He bolted it and past the turn. I played another land and another hierarch and a birds. He played a land and said go. I played a land and a finest hour. He missed his land drop and passed the turn. I then played another land, Rafiq and swung on the 4th turn for 18 (6+12) with the birds.
I was not very happy at all. It tore me up that my Akroma with protection from red could be stopped by a little 0/1 Red creature.
4 soverigns of lost alara
4 rhox war monk
4 noble hierarch
3 vines of vastwood
3 brave the elements
3 rafiq of the many
3 giganiform
3 deft duelist
2 elspeth, knight-errant
2 birds of paradise
1 celestial mantle
6 forest
2 seaside citadel
4 misty rainforest
3 plains
2 island
3 glacial fortress
4 sunpetal grove
4 great sable stag
2 thornling
3 negate
3 path to exile
1 deft duelist
2 bant charm
I went 4-0 playing against jund, b/g zombies, spread'em, u/r deck w/ runeflare trap.
I really liked baneslayer in here as she won many of the games by herself. I would probably make a few changes to the list I ran. I didn't really feel like I needed elspeth at all and the 3rd rafiq seemed unnecessary. I would have liked to fit the 4th duelist into the mainboard.
4 soverigns of lost alara
4 rhox war monk
4 noble hierarch
3 vines of vastwood
3 brave the elements
2 rafiq of the many
3 giganiform
4 deft duelist
2 negate
2 birds of paradise
1 celestial mantle
6 forest
2 seaside citadel
4 misty rainforest
3 plains
2 island
3 glacial fortress
4 sunpetal grove
2 thornling
2 sphynx of jwar isle
2 river boa
3 qasali pridemage
2 negate
The wakes were in play on my side and not destroyed by Obliterate because they are enchantments. The coffin was only holding the Elder which was let out after Obliterate.
I have a Deathrender in play attached to a Sharuum the Hegemon and a Deadwood Treefolk token that was created by Spitting image. My opponent casts Obliterate. I put the triggers on the stack so that the Deadwood Treefolk token's leave play ability will resolve before the Deathrender's. Using the Deadwood Treefolk ability to return Sharuum the Hegemon to my hand and then using Deathrender's ability to put Sharuum the Hegemon into play from my hand.
I made 2 assumptions that I am unsure about and that is why I am asking if I did this correctly.
1. I assumed that since the deathrender was attached to my creature when they both died to obliterate that deathrender would trigger and allow me to put a creature in play. However, since deathrender was destroyed as well it would have to stay in my graveyard instead of attaching to the new creature.
2. I assume that the deadwood treefolk token would still trigger and allow me to target any other creature in my graveyard (including the Sharuum the Hegemon that was put in my graveyard the same time that the token was)
Does this work correctly or is there something that was incorrect above?
(Other information which probably isn't needed)
I had a Tawnos's Coffin in play which was holding my opponent's Leaf-Crowned Elder and 2 Mirrari's Wake's. When the deathrender brought back the Sharuum the Hegemon I used Sharuum the Hegemon's ability to bring back my Tawnos's Coffin so that on my turn I could play a land and add 3 mana to activate the Tawnos's Coffin and put my opponent's Leaf-Crowned Elder back in the coffin.