All precons (intro, event, commander, etc) since i started playing during Zen/m11 have had that different, darker color (and a delicious chemical smell). I try to avoid those in my main collection. It bothers me so i keep the precon stuff seperate. When I play commander i'm only ever going to use precon cards for the decks.
At the theros prerelease, one of my opponents was a new kid (maybe 16). He acted as if he was bored to death and was literally staring past me to the side of my head the entire match. I had to raise my voice announcing steps etc. Then after each spell I cast, he's say "Ok, my turn?" and start untapping his stuff. He was with friends, and they were friendly and normal.. and the kid was normal towards them.
Definately made the match awkward with his death-stare eyes glazed over looking past me.
ours had the poster, but after FNM I looked through the token box as I do after a new set draft and found at least 3 of each hero card, so i bought each of the four I didn't use in prerelease.
There's only one way to do this. You must tap a land, then tap each land in response to the previous until all the burning earth triggers are on the stack.
Then with these still on the stack, cast revelation in response. Revelation resolves and gains you life then burning earth triggers X times and you lose life.
This situation led to one of the funniest wins I've seen. UWR player at 5 life with a bunch (10 I think, only 1 basic) of land and a revelation (and an empty board). A gruul player across from him down to 2 life, but with several creatures, domri on board along with a burning earth. The UWR player revelates for 6 into a pillar of flame to win the game.
Righto, i might have misunderstood MrBigD. I thought that he mistakenly thought that casting sphinx would cause burning earth's trigger's to go on the stack when he made mana payments (causing sphinx to resolve first which is impossible if it's cast 'normally'. By normally i mean announcing it, paying costs etc).
In regards to Burning Earth, the triggers go on the stack after adding mana; just cast Revelation for whatever and take some damage.
I think paying mana is part of the cost of casting sphinx, so sphinx would go on the stack first, then burning earth triggers. you can't respond/nothing triggers during payments required toward a spell. Unless the Sphinxer added mana to their pool before deciding to cast the spell.
The card I least like to see is Augur of bolas. Usually means i'm in for some aetherling action down the road.
Also hate geralf's since i have bad luck vs zombies
Built this for FNM for fun, it's pretty fun and powerful for a sub $20 deck. Everybody groaned at Invisible stalker though.
Judge's Familiar is a great turn one play, letting you keep any color in your opening hand. He almost always got in 3 or more damage before being removed or blocked.
Invisible stalker is.. Invisible stalker. He carries that butcher's cleaver like a champ as you might have guessed. I tried Runechanter's pike instead of fireshrieker at first, but I think I prefer the double strike on the evasive hexproof guys.
Ascended lawmage is a good flyer who really puts a clock on your opponent if they don't have reach or flyers of their own.
I try to play a controlled game, slow-rolling my hand and only dropping one or maybe two hexproof guys at once. It's good to leave mana up every turn to bluff/counter/EoT draw, hence all instants.
The ring on Stalker is crazy if you are controlling the game, but side it out if facing a faster deck, or replace it altogether (maybe 3 fireshrieker/3 cleaver) if you don't like it. It's a pet card of mine
Azorious charm and Feeling of dread are key tempo cards to keep you alive, or the skies clear. Charm digs a little if you don't need to bounce creatures.
the sideboard:
Redirect is for "target player sacs a creature" etc. Also use deputy for this problem.
2 more counters so you can swap a more appropriate one in as needed.
Aetherize obviously for aggro matchups, or vs hexproof I guess.
Rigtheous authority is theoretically for vs control, so you can gain card advantage or parity with them + build your guy. Though in some cases you want to swap in the Deputies and try to race (or use them as rescue tools). I didn't get to test deputy much, I just like the card.
At FNM I lost once to mulliganing down to 4 (though every other match was great, deck seems to draw/mull good), and once to a tough player with a great GW deck (midrange i guess) with smiter etc.
Any ideas on how to beat steamroll aggro decks?
Try this deck out on MTGO or at your FNM and annoy people with hexproof before Stalker rotates out!
I don't think anyone mentioned, but kiln fiend isn't legal in standard at the moment. If you want a nice cheap burn/aggro deck, you could try something similar to this for now. It's about $55.00 TCGplayer 'low' and can be made cheaper by subbing out the boros reckoners with pyreheart wolf. This deck has won me a couple FNM's and always top 8's when I play it (about 5 times total)
I've been using angelic overseer since pre-RTR , it's a life-saver vs sweepers and makes players groan. I run it in a Wg humans deck (just 5-0'd FNM), but will try out WW soon as it's my favorite archetype. Also, Riders of Gavony was a favorite of mine when zombies were a thing .
I just added the boros battalion decklist into my card at TCGplayer and optimized the order, it ended up at $9.46 shipped to me. So buying it in the store for $15.00 which includes 2 packs isn't bad. But I think for your $15 you could whip up a more consistent budget deck and it'd be a better starting point.
I do have to say however, it is fun getting an intro pack and slowly tweaking it into something useful.
my jaw dropped when i first saw the card too, i thought of it as a new squadron hawk or something, but then I reread it a couple times
Edit: I like the deck though, seems like fun synergy between cards. Ping them with either perimeter, lobber or borborygmos then cast lord of riots. I feel like you could use more gates and just enough basics for borderland to search for without coming up empty. Maybe think about one or two Creeping Renaissance since you'll have enough mana, then you can return your discarded lands to your hand, or even signal the clans for some end of turn tutoring.
I don't understand. If you reveal 3 creature cards with the same name, they all get shuffled back into your library. They have to be 3 different cards in order to get one.
and the Curse of the pierced heart Gives you an easy gateway to cast him, and pretty much adds an effect of "creatures you cast cost 1 less".
-Cursed of Pierced Heart + Rakdos, Lord of Riots = Creatures you cast cost 1 less to play
I don't think this works the way you think. Curse causes loss of life on the opponent's turn, not yours. So unless your creatures or rakdos lord have flash...
I'll probably be disqualified just for my choice, but it's invisible stalker. I had so much fun with a blue white aggro deck last year that included: delver of secrets, dungeon geists, midnight haunting, linger souls, blighted agent (+ 4 inkmoth nexus) and silver-inlaid dagger + butcher's cleaver. I don't have many Theros block cards yet due to lack of funds so here's hoping!
Definately made the match awkward with his death-stare eyes glazed over looking past me.
Righto, i might have misunderstood MrBigD. I thought that he mistakenly thought that casting sphinx would cause burning earth's trigger's to go on the stack when he made mana payments (causing sphinx to resolve first which is impossible if it's cast 'normally'. By normally i mean announcing it, paying costs etc).
I think paying mana is part of the cost of casting sphinx, so sphinx would go on the stack first, then burning earth triggers. you can't respond/nothing triggers during payments required toward a spell. Unless the Sphinxer added mana to their pool before deciding to cast the spell.
The card I least like to see is Augur of bolas. Usually means i'm in for some aetherling action down the road.
Also hate geralf's since i have bad luck vs zombies
Judge's Familiar is a great turn one play, letting you keep any color in your opening hand. He almost always got in 3 or more damage before being removed or blocked.
Invisible stalker is.. Invisible stalker. He carries that butcher's cleaver like a champ as you might have guessed. I tried Runechanter's pike instead of fireshrieker at first, but I think I prefer the double strike on the evasive hexproof guys.
Ascended lawmage is a good flyer who really puts a clock on your opponent if they don't have reach or flyers of their own.
I try to play a controlled game, slow-rolling my hand and only dropping one or maybe two hexproof guys at once. It's good to leave mana up every turn to bluff/counter/EoT draw, hence all instants.
The ring on Stalker is crazy if you are controlling the game, but side it out if facing a faster deck, or replace it altogether (maybe 3 fireshrieker/3 cleaver) if you don't like it. It's a pet card of mine
Azorious charm and Feeling of dread are key tempo cards to keep you alive, or the skies clear. Charm digs a little if you don't need to bounce creatures.
the sideboard:
Redirect is for "target player sacs a creature" etc. Also use deputy for this problem.
2 more counters so you can swap a more appropriate one in as needed.
Aetherize obviously for aggro matchups, or vs hexproof I guess.
Rigtheous authority is theoretically for vs control, so you can gain card advantage or parity with them + build your guy. Though in some cases you want to swap in the Deputies and try to race (or use them as rescue tools). I didn't get to test deputy much, I just like the card.
At FNM I lost once to mulliganing down to 4 (though every other match was great, deck seems to draw/mull good), and once to a tough player with a great GW deck (midrange i guess) with smiter etc.
Any ideas on how to beat steamroll aggro decks?
Try this deck out on MTGO or at your FNM and annoy people with hexproof before Stalker rotates out!
4 Glacial Fortress
14 Island
6 Plains
Creatures
4 Judge's Familiar
4 Invisible Stalker
4 Ascended Lawmage
4 Thought Scour
4 Azorius Charm
3 Essence Scatter
3 Feeling of Dread
3 Negate
1 Opportunity
2 Ring of Evos Isle
2 Butcher's Cleaver
2 Fireshrieker
4 Deputy of Acquittals
1 Essence Scatter
1 Negate
4 Redirect
3 Aetherize
2 Righteous Authority
-3 Flames of the Firebrand
+1 ogre battledriver
+1 mountain
+1 Molten birth
I think with the krenko's and molten birth, it warrants adding an extra battledriver. Then you'll have 4 total 4 drops in the deck.
2 Hellion Crucible
21 Mountain
Spells
3 Pillar of Flame
4 Rakdos Cackler
2 Stonewright
4 Stromkirk Noble
4 Ash Zealot
4 Lightning Mauler
4 Searing Spear
2 Boros Reckoner
2 Brimstone Volley
2 Pyreheart Wolf
4 Hellrider
2 Zealous Conscripts
2 Devil's Play
4 Skullcrack
4 Volcanic Strength
2 Brimstone Volley
3 Traitorous Blood
I do have to say however, it is fun getting an intro pack and slowly tweaking it into something useful.
Edit: I like the deck though, seems like fun synergy between cards. Ping them with either perimeter, lobber or borborygmos then cast lord of riots. I feel like you could use more gates and just enough basics for borderland to search for without coming up empty. Maybe think about one or two Creeping Renaissance since you'll have enough mana, then you can return your discarded lands to your hand, or even signal the clans for some end of turn tutoring.
I don't think this works the way you think. Curse causes loss of life on the opponent's turn, not yours. So unless your creatures or rakdos lord have flash...