MTG Salvation

My primary concern would be Courser of Kruphix. I assume that you'd prefer to save Downfall for Planeswalkers. In that case, an uncountered Courser can reasonably draw 2 or more lands and deal 4+ damage.

Comment Hidden

The attached images explain my feedback (I'm a graphic design student).

To be honest, I prefer the old forum a lot more, aesthetically speaking. It's much more readable.

Comment Hidden

Comment Hidden

Stencyl or Gamemaker will let you make a 2d platformer very easily.

6 mana and two specific cards is not what I would call an effective counter.

Generally speaking, people who care about having a dialogue (as opposed to simply expressing an opinion) care at least a little about the people they are talking to.

For this reason, they try to avoid being offensive (in other words, they try to be politically correct).

There really isn't a good reason to risk offending people if you don't have to, besides the "I want to express myself" line. And the more you use that as a justification, the less I suspect you're actually interested in having a discussion.

nice one, arbitraryarmor; I couldn't think of even a half-decent Jor Kadeen. My only gripe is that with 4 starting loyalty and a +1, using his -3 realllly hurts. I'd bump his starting loyalty up to 5 (you can bump his ult too but I think it's unnecessary).

Sir Karn: Your entry is awesome.

did anyone try their hand at Jin-Gitaxis? I'd be interesting in seeing what yall came up with.

Team Lover


Viax, Secretmonger :1mana::symu::symu:
Legendary Creature - Cephalid Advisor [M]
:1mana:: Look at target player’s hand, sideboard and face-down cards.
:1mana:: Players and permanents lose hexproof and shroud until end of turn.
:1mana:: Creatures lose landwalk and unblockable until end of turn.
0/5
”I know the answers. You don’t even know the questions.”

Well, my go-to view of a card that works this way is Think Twice. Get an effect now (in this case, actually, draw a card), and spend mana to get a card later.

Naturally, Think Twice shows that the following card would be very good.

Investigate
U
Investigate.

Draw a card.

Basically, Divination split into two parts.

Another thing that the Clue tokens let you do--and BTW, I am hoping that the Clue tokens in boosters are actually clues--is work well with Surge. The above card lets you pay it for 1, and then play a Surge card (Crush is anti-synergy, but hey, Bushwhacker?) on the cheap.

Still, though, this looks like a very good mechanic.

I feel like designing today.

1WWW
Flying, Vigilance
Tap: Target creature gains lifelink and indestructible until end of turn.
2/4

1UUU
Hexproof
Tap: Draw 2 cards. This creature loses hexproof and cannot gain hexproof until end of turn.
1/3

1BBB
Haste
Pay 5 Life: Return this card from your graveyard to play.
Sacrifice Cardname: Draw a card, then discard a card.
3/1

1RRR
Haste, First Strike
2, Tap: This creature deals damage to target creature or player equal to its power, then put x +1/+1 counters on this creature where x is the damage dealt this way.
2/3

1GGG
Trample
When Cardname enters the battlefield, Tap all other creatures.
Untap 3 other creatures you control: Cardname gains +3/+3 and haste until end of turn.
3/3


How could we make these work?

Quote from AntiPox »

Umaro - GU
Creature - Elemental

Umaro’s power and toughness are each equal to the number of untapped lands you control.

*/*

Looks cool, could be played in a land ramp deck to get this really big.

If only it were true..

***CAUTION MASSIVE POST AHEAD!***

Well I didn't play in fnm but I did get 3rd in an scg iq today playing my version of abzan midrange.
Here's my list so you don't have to go digging:



Overall the deck was totally solid I felt miles ahead of most of the competition in the room. Here's how the matches went:

R1 mono green devotion 2-0
Game 1 I was bashing in with lions while he was still setting up his mana, the entire time I was the aggressor. He had a nissa out but was forced to chump rhinos and monstroused lions every turn. I didn't realize that he was close to ultimating her (was concentrating on trying to kill him lol) I could have stopped the ultimate but whatever. He got 8 forests off her ult, and had a courser in play so he gained 8 life. I played a sorin and swung with wingmate rocs (which are INSANE in this matchup btw). I had a TON of blockers on d. He swung with the lands for exactied, but forgot that sorin's +1 carries into his turn, so yea. I won game 1. Game 2 I just ripped his hand apart and it was over before it started.
I did board in drown in sorrow against him for fear of hornet queen but he said he wasn't running any.

R2 U/W heroic yes, you read that right. 0-2
Holy crap this deck is ridiculous. He plays 16 creatures, 4 gods' willing, 4 Ajani's presence, 4 feat of resistance, and 4 stubborn denial. Everytime I tried to kill his creatures it resulted in another +1/+1 counter. This deck is terrifying. He actually made top 8 but lost his first match against mono green devotion, I remember looking over and seeing him cast triton tactics on a nyx-fleece ram.

R3 Mardu control 2-0
This guy didn't really understand how to build his deck well. It's all kill spells and tries to win through Elspeth and sarkhan. Not enough 2-1's, ca, or lifegain. This was essentially a bye.

R4 R/G midrange 2-1
This deck was EVERYWHERE, seriously did I miss something? I haven't seen anyone really talk about this deck, but the field was like 60% r/g midrange. Insane.
Anyhoo...
Just like against mono green, they take awhile to set up, so lions get the beats going early. They have almost no way to really deal with wingmate roc aside from keeping a dragon on d. I don't quite remember the sequence of plays that led him to win one game, but I'm pretty sure he got one. The strategy against this deck is early beats and fly over for the last points of damage, or drain with rhinos.

R5 intentional draw

TOP 8 (this is what I remember)
1 mono black agro
1 mono green devotion (the guy I played against)
1 temur monsters
1 abzan midrange (hey that's me!)
1 u/w heroic
1 r/b warriors (yes warriors ladies and gentleman, his only payoff card was raiders spoils, didn't even splash white for chief of the edge, he made it to the finals)

I can't remember the rest, but I think it was 2 r/g midrange decks.

Round 6 temur monsters 2-1
He took game 1, he just seemed like he was a step ahead the whole time. Game 2 and 3 I got openers with thoughtseize and brain maggot, and I don't know if you guys have heard but those cards are really good against ramp strategies. So yea... he didn't stand a chance, it's like he wasn't even playing the game.

Round 7 mono green devotion (same guy from round 1) 1-2
These games are super grindy, when I play against r/g midrange, the game ends quickly, but against mono green the board clogs up, like a lot. It get ridiculous after a while. I won game 1 easily take his payoff card, and fly over for the win. Game 2 was grindy as hell, I don't remember what broke the game in his favor, but he got it. Game 3 had to be one of the most grindy games I have ever played. It came down to him casting a big ole genesis hydra and getting a nylea, which is fine, he's still in range of my rocs. Then he cast nylea's disciple and gains (I kid you not) 22 life (i'm not lying when I said the board was clogged). Nylea just wrecked me, it was stupid. Of course I drew one removal spell, no discard spell, and none of my board. Still this was an awesome match.

Anyway, main deck mvp's (that aren't thoughtseize):

Fleecemane Lion:
I didn't realize how good this guy actually was, spoiler alert, he's possibly the (2nd) best card in the deck. The early beats this guy delivers are ridiculous, and can end the game on their own, It's enough to push slower decks on the backfoot. Then you monstrous him. I had a boardstate with 3 monstroused lions crashing into a 9/9 polukranos and stormbreath dragon which eventually killed the guy. He couldn't go on the defensive because of the beating that was dealt to him by the early lions. These cards are awesome and they are an auto-include 4-of.

Siege rhino: Obviously he's a beast (see what I did there???). Seriously though he's awesome as a ramp card for caryatid, he changes the way an opponent has to block our guys. I saw multiple games where people confidently block him with a x/3 or less and die due to the trample. Plus the drains do add up and I killed at least one guy with just the drain.

Wingmate roc: easily the best card in the deck. So many decks can't deal with fliers, and fliers that gain you life make racing almost impossible. On their own they gain you just 2 a turn, but when you factor in the rhinos and lions you are also bashing in with it's like 5 life a turn. Then you get sorin going, and it's like 500000 a turn. Hell with just the rocs and sorin you gain 10 life a turn, I'm pretty sure you've won at that point. What's also great is that the rocs work well together, attacking with them to trigger raid on another one and just chain them. I'm strongly considering playing 4, yes they are that good.

Sorin: already pretty much discussed it in the above paragraph. This deck is trying to be aggressive while being hard to race, he's perfect here. It also helps that he makes 2/2 fliers which are hard to block in this meta.

Sideboard MVP's (that aren't thoughtsieze):
Brain maggot: this guy way overperformed. I was actually worried that I might be wasting a slot including him in here, but I would not mind playing 3, possibly 4. The tempo gain is significant. Just take their threat, and they have to kill it to get it back. It's devastating for ramp decks.

End hostilities: It doesn't look like it belongs in here right? Well it does. I won 1 game against that r/g player by ending the hostilities he was playing, and while that was the only time I cast it, there are games (like the mono green matchup) where it would have won me the game. The lions do life through it. I would like to play at least 2 maybe 3 is right, but 2 feels comfortable.

Cards that underperformed in the main:

sylvan caryatid: I'm kind of convinced that this isn't the deck for caryatid, I'm trying to capitalize on people essentially taking the early turns off to set up their mana, and that doesn't work if you have to set up your own. The only time this guy was good is if I could ramp into a rhino, every other time I wanted something else. This was also the card I boarded out the most. I want to cut them all. The only thing that makes me not want to cut them is that it's a reliable turn 2 play, but we can also play rakshasa deathdealer.

Brimaz: He's just outclassed in a lot of matchups, he doesn't do work against 5/5 polukranos's or 4/4 knuckle blades. The interaction with sorin is why I really wanted him, and it just never really came up. I also found out that sorin's +1 doesn't work on the token that brimaz would make in combat if the +1 is used before combat, which kinda sucks.

Courser: Again, he's outclassed as the game goes on. But he does offer card advantage. I'm not sure if he belongs in here or not, I want to be aggressive, but the ca and interaction with fetches is soooo good.

Aside from the maggots and end hostilities, the only other board card I drew was Elspeth.
It was in a really bad spot but I think it's indicative of what she will be like as the format progresses. I got to play her in game 3 against mono green devotion. I was going to play her turn 6, but he played nissa turn 5, so I had to kill her, then he played nissa again, and I killed her again, then he played genesis hydra and got nylea, then I just stared at a dead card. I could -3 her and kill a large polukranos and genesis hydra, but then she dies to the darksteel citadel that's a 4/4 and his ragtag team of mana dorks and coursers, all of which have trample because of nylea.
You could say that it was just a bad time to draw her, but it's going to be like this a lot I'm afraid, there's a lot of sarkhans, stormbreaths, nissa's, and there's decks where she doesn't do a whole lot, like against us. I just don't like her. 6 mana is also hard to hit without caryatid, so i'm dropping her, and since i'm dropping her i'm also dropping garruk. I think instead of playing walkers to break a game I'm going to try to play either bow of nylea, pharika, or athreos.

Cards that seem great in here:
Rakshasa deathdealer: there were multiple times where this card would have been the nuts. It's super close to a fleecemane lion, I doubt it gets blocked, and it's an awesome blocker too. I love how it scales with the game. I want to try out 3.

Boon satyr: This could be a good way to break any stall

Murderous cut: I wanted a cheap kill spell to gain some tempo in the midrange matchups, being able to kill something and play something is pretty big.

Suspension field: same as above.

Bow of nylea: this card was made to break board stalls, all of our beaters getting deathtouch is huge. You can gain life to get out of any burn range, pump up your guys, I just like this a lot.

Pharika, god of affliction: If we add in deathdealer, it provides 2 devotion, courser and rhino add 2 devotion, it could be easy to turn this gal on, and if you happen to be behind, she can help us out too. She might not be aggressive enough though.

So right now I'm thinking about this:
-4 caryatid, -3 brimaz, +3 rakshasa deathdealer, +2 boon satyr, +2 murderous cut. I could also see cutting a courser to add in a 3rd satyr, but the satyr is infinitely worse against agro, so idk about that.
For the board I want to go:
-1 Elspeth, -1 garruk, -1 Liliana, -1 empty the pits, +1 end hostilities, +1 brain maggot, +1 wingmate roc, +1 silence the believers.

Sorry for the long post, hopefully you guys got some good information out of it.
What do you think of my changes, does this seem solid?

Standard has been missing combo decks for a while now and I feel as though they are a crucial part of the format's identity. I hope the fellow combo lovers will join me in developing this deck so that we can once again hear "Did you just win?" and "Hey! That's not fair!" and rejoice.

The basic idea of the deck is to have a Jeskai Ascendancy on the board and a Retraction Helix in hand. Now we need a valid Retraction Helix target and one of our many 0 cost non-creature spells (Astral Cornucopia, Tormod's Crypt and/or Briber's Purse).

Any non creature spell triggers Jeskai Ascendancy causing each creature to untap. This means that the Retraction Helix target can keep bouncing "relics" back to our hand, making every single one of our creatures arbitrarily large. Don't forget about the second line of text on Jeskai Ascendancy either, you have the option to dig through your deck if need be. Creatures with flash or instant speed token makers such as Raise the Alarm are preferred for Retraction Helix targets since we don't have to worry about summoning sickness, just like in the modern deck Exarch Twin.

Standard is lacking in card selection and permission, meaning an all-in combo version is likely to crash and burn. When the best counterspell in standard is a Cancel + Scry 1 we need to make sure we build our deck accordingly with some alternative win conditions. Here's an example list just to give you an idea of what this deck could look like:



Remember: it is possible to "combo off" with any creature that doesn't have summoning sickness so Rabblemaster tokens work just fine.

So far, we've only gotten a small taste of what the mechanical identity of the wedges are compared to the full world presented by Shards of Alara. How would you flesh out each of the worlds? Here's mine:


WUR- A utopia in the clouds focused on achievement above all. Society is based around great academies of philosophy. Everyone is daring to the point of foolhardiness; many die from falling off the backs of griffins, or merely to prove a point in debate. Life is generally fleeting and memory short, but full of glory. Main tribe: Fliers of all sorts.

BUG- A dark, nihilistic world of dense marshes and jungles. Only a smattering of villages count as society; the wilds are full of witches and necromancers who practice their dark arts with complete wanton. Those who live here claim to value the solitude, but mostly live in squalor, distrust, and fear of whatever abominations lurk in the woods. Main tribe: Zombies

RWB- A war-torn ruin of perpetual social turmoil. Revolution is constant; kings and revolutionaries last only for weeks at a time, while warlords and ideologues roam the land. Everyone wants revenge of some sort, and pacts with Angels, Demons, and Dragons are constantly being made in order to carry out personal vendettas. Main tribe: Vampires

RUG- A mystical wild full of untapped mana. Mankind is almost entirely absent; the few shamans who do live here speak only in animalistic mutterings and are dangerously unpredictable. The wildlife is alien and ever-changing; they can even change form in the middle of combat. Nature is extremely volatile, as floods and volcanoes reshape the world on a daily basis. Main tribe: Elementals

WBG- An utterly vast, perpetually overcast rural kingdom. The same human bloodline has ruled the great seat of power unchallenged for thousands of years; little thought is directed towards them, or anything much beyond basic subsistence. Impossibly vast swarms of insectile life, fungal infestations, and great behemoths decimate entire towns and harvests at a time, with little notice taken by anybody but the survivors. Main tribe: Fungus

The only explanation is that Vastwood Hydra will be in D14.

Wizards knows that there will be 50 m14 cards spoiled within days (since copies of duels are going out to reviewers), so I assume the logic is, its free value to get some publicity on those cards.

Also, Wizards wants to sell as much m14 as possible. They have an interest in increasing the sales as much as possible.

Whereas, Modern Masters is a limited run and for all intents and purposes, already sold out. No more money in it for wizards, so might as well devote resources for publicity elsewhere.