I'm going to name a bad card as my favourite card. Desolation Angel-- the art is cool, the effect is sweet, and you're left with a 5/4 flyer. Playing big multiplayer games with this guy is awesome, but in the end, you have to work so hard to make it marginally playable.
Why do they always put the best art on the worst cards?
4x It That Betrays
4x World Queller
Enchantments: 1
1x Debtor's Knell
Artifacts: 11
4x Orzhov Signet
2x Marble Diamond
2x Charcoal Diamond
2x Smokestack
1x Crucible of Worlds
Sorceries: 13
4x Balance
3x Unburial Rites
3x Strongarm Tactics
1x Beacon of Unrest
1x Cataclysm
1x Merciless Eviction
3x Flagstones of Trokair
1x Dakmor Salvage
4x Scrubland
16x Suggestions
4x Rotting Rats
So the idea is to force some early discard, hopefully binning It That Betrays. Revive it and steal everyone's everything.
Strongarm Tactics or Rotting Rats? Rats can be used twice, is a chump blocker, probably will never deal 4 damage. Tactics has the offchance to deal 4 damage to a player, hopefully I'm discarding my Eldrazi to it.
Also would like some suggestions on a mana base, do you know of any utility lands that would be good here?
All the manarocks offset Balance and Crucible helps with that a bit more.
3x Orzhov Cluestone
2x Charcoal Diamond
2x Marble Diamond
2x Smokestack
1x Crucible of Worlds
Creatures: 13
4x Rotting Rats
4x It That Betrays
3x World Queller
2x Braids, Cabal Minion
Enchantments: 2
1x Bitterblossom
1x Debtor's Knell
Sorceries: 10
3x Unburial Rights
2x Innocent Blood
1x Balance
1x Beacon of Unrest
1x Cataclysm
1x Merciless Eviction
1x Demonic Tutor
4x Scrubland
4x Flagstones of Trokair
2x Dakmor Salvage
1x Leechridden Swamp
7x Plains
6x Swamp
4x Wing Shards
4x Killing Wave
3x Curse of the Cabal
2x Limited Resources
Secondly, while we're all self-proclaimed Magic experts, sometimes it's really useful just to read what a card does. So here on the forums we use card tags and deck tags. There are three little buttons that actually do this for you on the top right corner of where you submit a post.
For convenience's sake I will write it out: [ card ]Lightning Bolt[ /card ] sans the spaces will net you: Lightning Bolt.
And [ deck ]4x Lightning Bolt[ /deck ] will net you:
So here is your deck:
2 Gideon's Avenger
2 Grand Abolisher
1 Skirsdag High Priest
1 Skirsdag Flayer
1 Aegis Angel
1 Reaper from the Abyss
1 Nefarox, Overlord of Grixis
1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence
1 Avacyn, Angel of Hope
1 Thraben Doomsayer
1 Angelic Overseer
1 High Priest of Penance
1 Vish Kal, Blood Arbiter
1 Deathbringer Liege
1 Angel of Serenity
1 Souls of the Faultless
1 Champion of the Parish
2 Oblivion Ring
1 Sigil of the Empty Throne
1 Commander's Authority
4 Sadistic Glee
1 Debtors' Knell
4 Gather the Townsfolk
1 Increasing Devotion
1 Vindicate
1 Surgical Extraction
1 Mortify
Artifacts
1 Darksteel Plate
1 Whispersilk Cloak
1 Akroma's Memorial
1 Sorin, Lord of Innistrad
Lands
10 Plains
11 Swamp
3 Tainted Field
1 Vault of the Archangel
2. No Power 9
3. Have Lots of Fun (Beer counts as Fun).
That's it.
Making rules against infinite combos, overpowered decks, etc just stifles peoples' deck construction and imagination. We're all at a level of play that we can recognize combos being formed, or know who is "in the lead," and beat them back into place.
So I understand his question and know that the defending player who controls Avatar of Hope would not take any damage. What I am confused about are two things.
First, can the defending player split damage between all three blocked attackers? In the current case I understand that the Avatar would be able to kill either the 2/2 or the 3/3, but what if it had Deathtouch? Would the defending player be able to kill all three attacking creatures? How about if the Avatar had a power of 5, would it be able to kill both the 3/3 and the 2/2?
Secondly, what if one or more of those creatures had trample? Say the 2/2 has Trample in this situation. Would it be able to "see" that the 7/7 and 3/3 have assigned "lethal damage" to the Avatar and be able to trample for it's full amount of power? Or would it only be able to register what itself can do and have to assign all 2 damage to the creature?
Thanks!
Just watch out for Back to Nature type cards. Maybe Avacyn, Angel of Hope could help?
There are some pretty huge mana costs in Avacyn and Transcendence, so maybe run Serra's Sanctum and some ramp enchantments. Otherwise mana rocks can get you pretty far.
You've always been able to Wrath of God both Sigarda, Host of Herons and Thrun, the Last Troll....
As far as how the rules change is going to affect FFA, it's hard to tell. I tend to agree with Carom in that the variety of decks played in most metas will naturally avoid situations like two Sheoldred, the Whispering One, or more than one person abusing Griselbrand.
However, clone effects are almost better than they were. Now they're not really removal, but moreso "now I get to share in the fun of having a rediculous creature too."
I don't know, we'll see how it plays out.
3x Fellwar Stone
2x Darksteel Plate
1x Basilisk Collar
1x Scythe of the Wretched
1x Sol Ring
Creatures: 13
4x Ulvenwald Tracker
3x Predator Ooze
3x Soul Collector
3x Harvester of Souls
3x Evolution Charm
3x Jund Charm
3x Pit Fight
2x Golgari Charm
1x Rakdos Charm
Planeswalkers: 3
2x Domri Rade
1x Garruk Relentless
Land: 24
4x Bloodstained Mire
4x Badlands
4x Bayou
4x Taiga
2x Kessig Wolf Run
2x Forest
2x Mountain
2x Swamp
Manabase and card numbers probably need work, but it's a rough draft at the moment and totally untested.
3x Sphere of the Suns
1x Sol Ring
Enchantments: 17
4x Wild Research
2x Detention Sphere
2x Sphere of Safety
2x Wheel of Sun and Moon
1x Aegis of Honor
1x Blind Obedience
1x Energy Field
1x Luminarch Ascension
1x Mystic Remora
1x Privileged Position
1x Rhystic Study
4x Brainstorm
1x Counterspell
1x Enlightened Tutor
Planeswalkers: 8
3x Ajani Vengeant
2x Gideon Jura
2x Jace, Architect of Thought
1x Tamiyo, the Moon Sage
Sorceries: 2
2x Tezzeret's Gambit
Land: 24
4x Arid Mesa
4x Plateau
4x Tundra
4x Volcanic Island
2x Celestial Colonnade
2x Flooded Strand
1x Desolate Lighthouse
1x Serra's Sanctum
1x Shivan Gorge
1x Tectonic Edge
I'd love a replacement for Sphere of the Suns, as I've dropped my proliferate spells down to 2. Preferably a mana rock that has CMC2 and taps for all three of my colours.