Scryfall tagger can let you search by artwork. The data used by tagger is input manually by users, so there will be some lag behind new things being spoiled and isn't 100% perfect, but it's and extremely useful resource for a project like this.
Yes, casting costs or activated ability costs or triggered ability costs (such as Steamflogger Service Rep, although I think that's the only silver-border card with a triggered ability that has a mana cost, and it's generic so Underdome's colorless mana ability would work too)
Are there any rules on what cards you can and can't use within a deck that you build from scratch?
There are a number of different game formats, each with slightly (or highly) different rules on what cards are allowed. Some formats are:
Standard: Only permits some of the most recently-released sets, and excludes some sets that are not meant to be part of Standard. Old cards rotate out of Standard each fall, with sets being released throughout the year. https://whatsinstandard.com/ keeps you updated on what's legal, what's coming up, and when things will rotate out.
Extended: Not really played much any more. Basically the same as standard, but kept cards for longer.
Modern: Does not rotate like Standard or Extended, but excludes sets released before 8th Edition (July 2003). For the most part, this means the cards in the format are those with the "Modern" card frames, although the Time Spiral set and some promos with "Old" card frames makes it not a hard-and-fast rule.
Legacy: All sets are legal, but a ban list prevents the use of some of the most busted stuff.
Vintage: Not really played much any more, in large part because some of the staple cards cost thousands of dollars to obtain real copies of. All sets are legal, but a ban list prohibits cards which fall afoul of gambling laws (the very old "ante" mechanic), require manual dexterity (Falling Star and Chaos Orb), or cause serious problems with tournaments (Shahrazad). A restricted list limits the use of some of the most busted stuff.
Commander: All sets are legal, but a ban list prevents the use of some of the most busted stuff. Commander also has special deckbuilding rules not present in the above formats, and is targeted at multiplayer free-for-all gameplay rather than 1v1.
Is there a difference between the paper version of the game and the Arena version, could you learn the game on Arena and then be able to go and play the paper version?
As far as the rules of the game go, yes you could learn with Arena and then go play paper. Strategy and deckbuilding are a little bit different, though.
You could also simply pull out a phone and use https://www.random.org/, which produces true random numbers without the bias you'd get from rolling dice or flipping coins. Random.org uses atmospheric noise as a basis for its random numbers, and is often used to produce random numbers that have millions of dollars riding on their outcome, such as a lottery selecting its winning numbers. They are very heavily invested in having good randomness.
The whole family fits thematically in my Christmas deck, but Unglued didn't have foils and I've made the deck strictly 100% foil. I've got a foil Infernal Spawn of Infernal Spawn of Evil in the deck right now, but he misses his dad.
And then there are effects where exile doesn't mean anything, it's just used as a temporary holding place (see, for example, the cascade mechanic or the madness mechanic)
Note that this is due to the "destroy" keyword action immediately removing the permanent from the battlefield. (Same for "exile", "sacrifice", or returning the permanent to its owner's hand.) The answer is different in the case of a damage+life gain effect (such as Lightning Helix) killing a creature preventing life gain (such as Rampaging Ferocidon). A creature marked with lethal damage isn't removed from the battlefield until state-based actions are checked, which is after the spell attempts to gain you life.
The same would be true for an effect which reduces a creature's toughness to 0 and gains life, like Moment of Craving on a Rampaging Ferocidon that had already gotten -1/-1 from another source.
Odds of exactly one Heads on three coin flips: 3/8, or 37.5%
Odds of exactly two Heads on three coin flips: 3/8, or 37.5%
Odds of three Heads on three coin flips: 1/8, or 12.5%
Odds you don't get one of the three outcomes you need for determining Haktos's protection: 1/8, or 12.5%
Odds this is cheating, because all outcomes do not have equal odds: 8/8, or 100%
Just roll a die, with a number of sides that is a multiple of three. For example, a d6. Assign one third of the die's faces to each of 2, 3, and 4. For example, 1-2 = 2, 3-4 = 3, 5-6 = 4. Roll the die. Done.
Does remove target artifact or destroy all artifacts effect this card?
No. Outside of some effect like Mycosynth Lattice or Liquimetal Coating, Kozilek is not an artifact, and so would not be destroyed by something that destroys all artifacts. While he is colorless, he does not have "artifact" on his type line.
To cast Kozilek, the Great Distortion I need to spend 2 colorless and 8 generic and/or colorless?
You need 8 mana of any type and 2 colorless mana, yes. Also, since he is your commander, if you cast him from the command zone, it costs 2 additional mana of any type for each time you have previously cast him from the command zone. So the first time, it costs a total of 10 mana. Then he dies/gets exiled/whatever and you send him back to the CZ, then cast him a second time, and it will cost 12. Then 14, then 16, and so on. If he gets returned to your hand, it would only cost 10 mana to re-cast him from your hand.
I can do infinite Kroxa in the decklist I've currently got using Nim Deathmantle (and even without infinite, Deathmantle lets me double or triple up on Kroxa's ETB), although my only means of getting enough colorless mana to do it infinitely is Ashnod's Altar with a persist or undying creature, and the only creatures currently in the list that naturally have persist or undying are Geralf's Messenger and Murderous Redcap, so at that point I wouldn't need Kroxa. But I do have Mikaeus, the Unhallowed to give any non-human undying, so could go infinite with Kroxa that way. (And Mikaeus doubles my Kroxa ETB without having the combo available, too.)
Lifeline or Liliana, Defiant Necromancer's emblem can do a ton of work reanimating Kroxa every single end step, and I have a mountain of reanimation effects, some of which are repeatable.
But mostly, I'm building it as a 8- 12-Rack list, with:
It's one of 10 exclusive theme booster rares. Exclusive, except one of the card slots in the collector boosters can have a theme booster card (or the BAB promo, or plansewalker deck "exclusives").
Each of the theme boosters has 1 rare or mythic, which can be any rare or mythic from the normal set in that booster's color, or one of the two exclusives for that booster's color. (Each booster only has one color of cards). So if you buy the red theme booster, you most likely have a 1/10 chance of getting a Terror of Mount Velus (assuming the rares are twice as likely as the mythics).
Or you could just buy it as a single, be guaranteed to get a copy, and most likely spend less money. (Preorder price on Terror of Mount Velus is about the cost of 2 theme boosters.)
- Standard: Only permits some of the most recently-released sets, and excludes some sets that are not meant to be part of Standard. Old cards rotate out of Standard each fall, with sets being released throughout the year. https://whatsinstandard.com/ keeps you updated on what's legal, what's coming up, and when things will rotate out.
- Extended: Not really played much any more. Basically the same as standard, but kept cards for longer.
- Modern: Does not rotate like Standard or Extended, but excludes sets released before 8th Edition (July 2003). For the most part, this means the cards in the format are those with the "Modern" card frames, although the Time Spiral set and some promos with "Old" card frames makes it not a hard-and-fast rule.
- Legacy: All sets are legal, but a ban list prevents the use of some of the most busted stuff.
- Vintage: Not really played much any more, in large part because some of the staple cards cost thousands of dollars to obtain real copies of. All sets are legal, but a ban list prohibits cards which fall afoul of gambling laws (the very old "ante" mechanic), require manual dexterity (Falling Star and Chaos Orb), or cause serious problems with tournaments (Shahrazad). A restricted list limits the use of some of the most busted stuff.
- Commander: All sets are legal, but a ban list prevents the use of some of the most busted stuff. Commander also has special deckbuilding rules not present in the above formats, and is targeted at multiplayer free-for-all gameplay rather than 1v1.
As far as the rules of the game go, yes you could learn with Arena and then go play paper. Strategy and deckbuilding are a little bit different, though.The whole family fits thematically in my Christmas deck, but Unglued didn't have foils and I've made the deck strictly 100% foil. I've got a foil Infernal Spawn of Infernal Spawn of Evil in the deck right now, but he misses his dad.
The same would be true for an effect which reduces a creature's toughness to 0 and gains life, like Moment of Craving on a Rampaging Ferocidon that had already gotten -1/-1 from another source.
Odds of exactly two Heads on three coin flips: 3/8, or 37.5%
Odds of three Heads on three coin flips: 1/8, or 12.5%
Odds you don't get one of the three outcomes you need for determining Haktos's protection: 1/8, or 12.5%
Odds this is cheating, because all outcomes do not have equal odds: 8/8, or 100%
Just roll a die, with a number of sides that is a multiple of three. For example, a d6. Assign one third of the die's faces to each of 2, 3, and 4. For example, 1-2 = 2, 3-4 = 3, 5-6 = 4. Roll the die. Done.
No. Outside of some effect like Mycosynth Lattice or Liquimetal Coating, Kozilek is not an artifact, and so would not be destroyed by something that destroys all artifacts. While he is colorless, he does not have "artifact" on his type line.
You need 8 mana of any type and 2 colorless mana, yes. Also, since he is your commander, if you cast him from the command zone, it costs 2 additional mana of any type for each time you have previously cast him from the command zone. So the first time, it costs a total of 10 mana. Then he dies/gets exiled/whatever and you send him back to the CZ, then cast him a second time, and it will cost 12. Then 14, then 16, and so on. If he gets returned to your hand, it would only cost 10 mana to re-cast him from your hand.
The list also has Syr Konrad, the Grim (each time I reanimate Kroxa, 2 damage to each opponent on top of Kroxa's trigger) along with Mesmeric Orb and Basalt Monolith for infinite damage (and with both Kozilek, Butcher of Truth and Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre in the list, I can in fact do an arbitrarily large amount of damage).
Lifeline or Liliana, Defiant Necromancer's emblem can do a ton of work reanimating Kroxa every single end step, and I have a mountain of reanimation effects, some of which are repeatable.
But mostly, I'm building it as a
8-12-Rack list, with:Each of the theme boosters has 1 rare or mythic, which can be any rare or mythic from the normal set in that booster's color, or one of the two exclusives for that booster's color. (Each booster only has one color of cards). So if you buy the red theme booster, you most likely have a 1/10 chance of getting a Terror of Mount Velus (assuming the rares are twice as likely as the mythics).
Or you could just buy it as a single, be guaranteed to get a copy, and most likely spend less money. (Preorder price on Terror of Mount Velus is about the cost of 2 theme boosters.)