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Note: I wrote this weeks ago but it never posted. . . . ? ? ? ? ? ? ?

 The Mind of X.  

Have you ever had a hard time deciding which deck you wanted to play?

 

Have you ever wanted a deck that doesn’t care about the Meta?

 

Have you ever wanted to play with a full play set of Tarmogoyf for only $2?

 

I believe that I have composed a deck that will do all of this and more. It all started a few days ago when I read Mark Gottlieb’s article on the Mothership about Oracle changes. Deep into his piece he mentions a card that I hadn’t thought of for quite awhile. It started me thinking and that’s when the fun started.

 

What’s that card?

    

New Shared Fate Oracle wording:
If a player would draw a card, that player removes the top card of an opponent's library from the game face down with a fate counter on it instead.
Each player may look at and play each card with a fate counter on it he or she removed from the game.

The new text doesn’t really abuse a mechanic of take advantage of any loopholes. The only other mention of “fate counter” is on Oblivion Stone and it does nothing to cards that exist outside of the game. What reading this did was fix my mental picture of the card. My memory had blurred Shared Fate into its function not its actual text. I thought of it as saying “Play each others decks”.

 

Upon reading the new text I had an epiphany. The cards from the other deck are not in your hand. Discarding is not an option.  So if I have a discard spell in my deck I can let my opponent use it via Shared Fate and have no real concern. You see the real secret of playing Shared Fate successfully is have a deck that cannot win on it’s own. Once Shared is in play I get to win with your deck. That’s right my $0.52 Shared Fate card lets me play all of your $50.00 Goyfs.

 

When Shared Fate debuted it had some issues.

 

First came getting to it consistently. Diabolic Tutor is an option but not a good one. What’s wrong it? Well after Shared Fate is in play your opponent could the Tutor to get one of his own cards. The “search your library” phrase bypasses the draw blockage of Shared Fate. They actually can search the good deck and get what ever they may need. Including any enchantment answer they may possess. All of the Tutors where to versatile and gave our opponent an advantage post Fate.  Now we have two more narrow options. Idyllic Tutor only gets Enchantments but a Bitterblossom in play is enough to beat us even after we Share Fates. The Transmute mechanic plays out pretty well since it only grabs a 5cc spell in an age where a 5cc card better say I win on it. Idyllic Tutor will probably make the Sideboard as extra redundancy when we face a deck that has none of its own enchantments.

 

Second and probably more important is how we handle the cards that our opponent draws before we get to play Shared Fate. The options are many and diverse. This is where the text of the card really plays an important part. Because of the safety from discard we enjoy after Shared Fate is played I choose to include some discard effects. In that vein Thoughtseize is an auto play. But even Thoughtseize falls short to a turn one Kird Ape.

 

So I wanted to include some removal but here I have to be careful. If I put in to good of a removal package I can end up giving them the power to stop their own deck. I ended up slipping in both Funeral Charm and Piracy Charm. They fit in with both discard and removal of most early drops. I know Kird Ape is still an issue but maybe I’ll draw their Incinerate or something. Insist and Damnation are pretty useful here as well.

 

I am playing with Blue of course so I did think about pulling a little bounce into the deck but then realized that all bounce cards say “to their owners hand”. That would mean I could draw and cast their Chameleon Colossus but they could use my bounce card to put it in their own hand and then play it for themselves. I did want to include some counter spells and some card draw. The counters are Mana Leak and Rune Snag as they can be played around with a little patience post Shared Fate. I am currently slipping Perplex in the Sideboard as well. I think it’s a pretty powerful counter when my opponent is facing a limited number of cards but I don’t want it main because of the plethora of 3cc’s that can destroy my plans.

 

In the card draw I wanted Instant speed so I can leave mana up for the counters. Once again the fact that discarding could not be done with the cards earned by Shared Fate help. Both Catalog and Thirst for knowledge fill this role well. I really wish that they said target player like Compulsive Research. The discard part basically means that my opponent won’t play them after the switch and if one is still in my hand after the discard is a non-penalty.

 

In the mana area I did toy around with some acceleration so that I could play Shared Fate sooner but I really felt that it was lacking. On the back burner right now is the idea to change the card draw for accelerants but that is for another day. About the only accelerant I have used is Chrome Mox. It fits well in any Single Card Strategy. The lands of course are full of money cards like Watery Grave, Hallowed Fountain, Godless Shrine, Flooded Strand, and Polluted Delta.

 

Well, if you have laughed yourself into a coma yet here is the list. 

 

It’s Polite to Share

 

4 Shared Fate

4 Brainspoil

 

4 Thoughtseize

4 Blackmail

 

3 Piracy Charm

3 Funeral Charm

 

4 Rune Snag

4 Mana Leak

 

4 Thirst For Knowledge

4 Catalog

 

4 Chrome Mox

 

4 Watery Grave

2 Hallowed Fountain

1 Godless Shrine

3 Flooded Strand

4 Polluted Delta

2 Swamp

2 Island

 

There it is. That’s how my mind worked through this one. Hope you’ve enjoyed it

 

Tags: Classroom X Shared Fate Combo

Random Thoughts of X – Mirrorweave

 

I know many of you have plans for Mirrorweave. It hasn’t really lived up to the hype though as it’s price and trade value are slipping. While not exactly a crap Rare it is becoming economical. So I got to thinking of a cheap deck for the Kitchen table game.

 

Not Tough Enough

 

10 Island

6 Forest

4 Llanowar Reborn

2 Terramophic Expanse

 

4 Simic Initiate

4 Aquastrand Spider

4 Plaxcaster Frogling

3 Phantom Nantuko

4 Cytoplast Root-kin

3 Phantom Centaur

 

4 Mana Leak

4 Rune Snag

4 Cytoshape

4 Mirrorweave

 

This deck can graft into some rather big dudes early. The counter magic is to protect established fatties. And Mirrorweave and Cytoshape are the removal. How do they remove? Just make every creature a copy of any of yours. They all have zero toughness and only live by virtue of the +1 / +1 counters. Other creatures lack the counter so therefore die once they become a copy.

 

Doubt it? Check these sample goldfish hands.

 

Turn 1 –Forest, Simic Initiate

Turn 2 – Island, Aquastrand Spider

Turn 3 – Island, Plaxcaster Frogling (5/5)

Turn 4 – Forest, Mirrorweave

 

Turn 1 –Llanowar Reborn

Turn 2 – Terramorph an Island, Simic Initiate

Turn 3 – Missed Drop, Mana Leak in hand

Turn 4 – Forest, Frogling

Turn 5 – Forest, Cytoplast Root-Kin (7/7)

 

Turn 1 –Forest, Initiate

Turn 2 – Reborn, Initiate

Turn 3 – Island, Phantom Nantuko (5/5) nearly indestructible.

Turn 4 – Missed Drop, Plaxcaster Frogling

Turn 5 – Island, Mirrorweave

Turn 6 – No Land, Phantom Centaur

 

Turn 1 –mulligan, Reborn

Turn 2 – Island, Aquastrand Spider

Turn 3 – Island, Simic Initiate, Rune Snag in hand

Turn 4 – Reborn, Plaxcaster Frogling

Turn 5 – Phantom Centaur (10 / 8 pro black, almost indestructible)

 

Turn 1 –Terra into forest

Turn 2 – Reborn, Simic Initiate

Turn 3 – Island, Aquastrand Spider

Turn 4 – Reborn, Frogling

Turn 5 – Island, Root-kin (9 / 9)

Turn 6 – Mirrorweave

 

Of course this deck sucks in the face of Wrath of God and any removal heavy deck. But it is Timmy style fun. Just wanted to tell you about it.

 

You can of course and some money to the deck with some more efficient counters. Breeding Pool and some fetch lands would be nice as well. Maybe a Birds of Paradise?

  

Tags: Classroom X Mirrorweave

Classroom X – Persistent Zoo

Sorry it’s been a couple of weeks but springtime is very busy in Mr. Eckstein’s classroom. The student’s have still been testing and playing but our fearless leader hasn’t been able to write very much of it down.

 

In our last class (http://my.tcgplayer.com/blog/view/id_1696/title_classroom-x-persisting-fae/ ) we began our block constructed testing for the PTQ’s this summer. The big dilemma for us is the timing of our closest site. It will be the day after Eventide is legal. That means that we need to be prepared for a possible huge shift in the expected Meta-game. We’ll be on our toes but who knows what the future holds?

 

In our last blog we put out a call for block decks that we can use as a test market. We still leave that invite open. Just send your list to daneckstein@hotmail.com . We will keep you name anonymous or give you full credit if you would like. We are finally starting to see some people posting lists and we got a few lists from our last blog so we are set if you do not feel like mailing any thing in.

 

Of course we fully expect people to bash on our list and the list we use. It’s the nature of writing articles. People that don’t post will always say how bad your ideas are and constantly critique your work. You need thick skin if you think you can write. That is probably why the author of our test deck this week asked to stay a mystery. We’ll call him “the Beast” since his deck is similar to a Zoo type deck.

 

L M S Jungle by “The Beast”

 

1 Mountain

1 Plains

4 Reflecting Pool

4 Murmuring Bosk

4 Ancient Amphitheater 

4 Gilt Leaf Palace

4 Auntie’s Hovel

 

4 Nameless Inversion

4 Oblivion Ring

4 Crib Swap

4 Tarfire

 

2 Mirror Entity

4 Wren’s Run Vanquisher

4 Goldmeadow Stewart

3 Tattermunge Maniac

4 Flamekin Bladewhirl

2 Chameleon Colossus

3 Treefolk Harbinger

 

This deck has some very quick draws out of the gate. It is lacking in the later turns however. The goal of this deck is rather simple build up some early beats and use minor removal to make sure they keep hitting. If we were to look at just the actual spells in this deck I would severely question the Mana base. Truth be told it is actually rather playable since the high number of Changeling cards that allow us to reveal and play a multi color land untapped.

 

The revealing nature of the Changelings also allow the deck to run the under costed creatures that have the draw back of revealing a card with the same critter type. In fact this deck should be name “The Flash”. Think about it, it comes out fast, it flashes its private parts, and runs out as fast as it started (win or lose). While we don’t feel this deck is a contender it does have some solid game against fairies and elves. The name really doesn’t matter so we’ll call it “The Flash” in our testing.

 

For those who need a reminder here is our deck. (We are still playing it for now but there is another contender on the horizon.)    

 

Persistent Fire

 

6 Forest

8 Mountain

4 Reflecting Pool

4 Fire-lit Thicket

 

4 Boggart Ram-Gang

4 Heartmender

4 Murderous Redcap

4 Safehold Elite

4 Kitchen Finks

 

2 Incendiary Command

4 Firespout

4 Flame Javelin

4 Lash Out

4 Tarfire

  

What we are going for here is to abuse the Persist mechanic as much as possible. Board sweepers like Firespout and Incendiary Command really pay dividends when most of our gang comes right back into play. Put a Heartmender into the mix and Walla you have a never ending Army. Even without the ‘mender every Persist creature is a two for one which generates a relative card advantage. We will even put our neck on the line and say that Persist is the best mechanic since Dredge. (Bash away).

 

If you are new reader of The Classroom we finish off our blogs with a few test games. We lay it out turn by turn so you know that we are being honest. (Believe it or not many writers lie about their win %). Remember that the players of these decks are not necessarily the designers of the deck so there may be some misplays here and there. We used to not worry about any sideboarding but a few people commented that this wasn’t a legit test if you don’t sideboard anything. So now we allow each deck to board after each hand up to 8 cards. To make it real testing we allow any 8 cards since our opponent could pack any card in their board. On our side we do the same and as we play test we keep track of any cards we board. Just before we carry it into a tourney we look at the cards we choose the most and pack the most useful 15.

 

Let’s get to the games.

 

Hand 1 – Persist on the play

 

Persist – Forest (2), Heartmender, Boggart Ram Gang, Safehold Elite, Murderous Redcap

Flash – Wren’s Run Vanquisher, Crib Swap, Flamekin Bladewhirl, Auntie’s Hovel, Treefolk Harbinger, Nameless Inversion, Gilt Leaf Palace,  

Turn 1 – Persist – Play Forest

            Flash – Draw Treefolk Harbinger, Reveal Crib Swap to play Auntie’s Hovel, Reveal Crib Swap to play Flamekin Bladewhirl.

 

Turn 2 – Persist – Draw Boggart Ram Gang, play Forest, play Safehold Elite

            Flash – Draw Chameleon Colossus, Reveal Crib to play Gilt Leaf Palace, Reveal Crib to play Wren’s Run Vanquisher.

 

Turn 3 – Persist – Draw Reflecting Pool, Play Pool, Play Boggart Ram Gang, Attack with Gang (no blockers – 17) ,

            Flash – Draw Murmuring Bosk, Reveal Crib to play Bosk, Play Harbinger putting Crib Swap on top of library, attack with Wren’s Run (Block with Safehold – Persist 1/1), Play Nameless on Boggart Ram Gang.

 

Turn 4 – Persist – Draw Fire Lit Thicket, Play Fire Lit Thicket, Play Murderous Redcap dealing 2 to Bladewhirl.

            Flash – Draw Crib Swap, Play Crib on Redcap (16), attack with Wren’s (token blocks).

 

Turn 5 – Persist – Draw Heartmender, play Pool, Play ‘mender.

            Flash – Draw Goldmeadow Stalwart, Play Crib on ‘mender (15), attack (token block)

 

Turn 6 – Persist- Draw Tarfire, play ‘mender

            Flash – Draw Tattermunge Maniac, Reveal Chameleon to play Stalwart (14), Play Maniac, play Harbinger put a Crib Swap on top. Attack with Wren’s Run (Mender blocks and Persist plays Tarfire on Wren)

 

Turn 7 – Persist – Heartmender heals self and Safehold, Draw Safehold, Play Safehold, Play Ram Gang – Attack (Harbingers block Safehold and Heartmender, 11)

            Flash – Draw Crib Swap, attack with Stalwart and Maniac (Safehold blocks Stalwart – Persist as a 1/1 – 18), Play Crib Swap on Heartmender (10).

 

Turn 8 – Persist – Draw Mountain, attack with all but the token (Harbingers block Ram Gang and 2/2 Safehold – 9)

            Flash – Draw Murmuring Bosk, Reveal Chameleon to play Bosk, play Chameleon, attack with Maniac (token blocks)

 

Turn 9 – Persist – Draw Boggart Ram Gang, Play Ram Gang, Attack with one Ram Gang (Harbinger blocks)

            Flash – Draw Nameless Inversion, “I don’t think I’ll attack with a Boggart to block, a Wither Colossus would really suck”

 

Turn 10 – Persist – Draw Heartmender, play ‘mender, Attack with both Boggart Ram Gangs ( Nameless one Gang – 6)

            Flash – Draw Oblivion Ring, play Ring on Ram Gang (5)

 

Turn 11 – Persist – Safehold goes back to 2/2, Draw Mountain, Attack with all (Block Heartmender – 1)

            Flash – Draw Murmuring Bosk, Resigns

 

Hand 2 – Flash on the play

 

Sideboard – Persist - + 4 Spitebellows, - 2 Incendiary Command, - 2 Tarfire

            Flash – Here we are presented quite a few options but seeing as how “the Beast” didn’t reveal a sideboard in his / her email we are going to sideboard the deck to how we would have built it. – 4 Oblivion Ring, - 4 Tarfire, + 1 Treefolk Harbinger, + 1 Chameleon Colossus, + 1 Tattermunge Maniac, + 3 Changeling Berserker,  + 2 Changeling Titan. Now we take early beef and follow it with some midgame muscle. Sure we may be risking some instant removal tricks but we feel the deck plays better in the red zone.

 

Starting hands

Flash -  Wren’s Run Vanquisher, Tattermunge Maniac, Chameleon Colossus, Reflecting Pool (2), Nameless Inversion, Gilt Leaf Palace.

Persist – Mountain, Fire Lit Thicket, Tarfire, Boggart Ram Gang, Flame Javelin, Spitebellows, Heartmender

 

Turn 1 – Flash – Reveal Nameless Inversion to play Gilt Leaf Palace, Play Tattermunge Maniac

            Persist – Draw Reflecting Pool, Play Mountain, Play Tarfire on Maniac

 

Turn 2 – Flash – Draw Ancient Amphitheater, Reveal Nameless to play Ancient Amphitheater, Reveal Nameless to play Wren’s Run Vanquisher

            Persist – Draw Forest, Play Forest

 

Turn 3 – Flash – Draw Flamekin Bladewhirl, Play Pool, Play Flamekin, Attack (17)

            Persist – Draw Boggart Ram Gang, Play Thicket, Play Boggart Ram Gang, Attack (Flash play Nameless on Gang)

 

Turn 4 – Flash – Draw Mirror Entity, Play Pool, Play Colossus, Attack (12)

            Persist – Draw Firespout, Play Pool, Play Firespout

 

Turn 5 – Flash – Draw Plains, play Plains, Attack and pump up Colossus to 8/8 (4)

            Persist – Draw Mountain, Play Mountain, Play Flame Javelin on Colossus

 

Turn 6 – Flash – Draw Wren’s Run Vanquisher, Reveal Mirror to play Wren, Play Mirror

            Persist – Draw Kitchen Finks, Play Finks (6)

 

Turn 7 - Flash – Draw Treefolk Harbinger, Attack (Finks blocks Wren) Flash uses Mirror ability to make both critters a 5/5 (1 – Finks Persist 3)

            Persist – Draw Forest, Play Forest, play Boggart

 

Turn 8 – Flash – Draw Crib Swap, Play Swap on Ram Gang, Attack (Both blocked) use Mirror to make 2/2’s

            Persist – Draw Mountain, Play Mountain, Evoke Spitebellows hitting Wren for 6, Play Heartmender

 

Turn 9 – Flash - Draw Reflecting Pool, Play Pool, Play Harbinger to put Crib swap on top.

            Persist – Draw Boggart Ram Gang, play Gang,

 

Turn 10 – Flash – Draw Crib Swap, Play Swap on Heartmender, Attack (Ram Gang blocks) –Mirror turns to 3/3.

            Persist – Draw Safehold Elite, Play Safehold

 

Turn 11 – Flash – Draw Auntie’s Hovel

            Persist – Draw Forest

 

Turn 12 – Flash – Draw Gilt Leaf Palace

            Persist – Draw Boggart Ram Gang, Play Gang, Attack with all (Harbinger blocks Safehold - 16)

 

Turn 13 – Flash – Draw Hovel

            Persist – Draw Spitebellows, Play bellows, Attack (Same block – 12) “now the tide has turned”

 

Turn 14 – Flash – Draw Goldmeadow Stalwart, Play Stalwart for 4

            Persist – Draw Lash Out, Play Lash Out on Stalwart (Clash – Spitebellows to top VS. Mountain to bottom – 11) – Attack (bellows blocked – 5)

 

Turn 15 – Flash – Draw Reflecting Pool – “I just flooded out at the end” – Resign

 

I’m going to end the blog here since we’re getting a bit long winded. The players have slammed out a few more games since and though the R G Persist deck has a slight advantage it is marginal after the sideboard changes. The game illustrated should have been the Zoo’s but for hitting 5 lands in a row when top decked. It turns out that Oblivion Ring is better in this match up than Nameless Inversion but the Inversion is probably better over all. Travis, one of my students, is actually making the Flash Zoo his pet deck. This is his list

 

Naked Zoo – Travis’s name. He doesn’t like calling it Flash because of the Vintage deck.

 

2 Primal Beyond

4 Reflecting Pool

4 Murmuring Bosk

4 Ancient Amphitheater 

4 Gilt Leaf Palace

4 Auntie’s Hovel

 

4 Nameless Inversion

4 Crib Swap

 

2 Mirror Entity

4 Wren’s Run Vanquisher

4 Goldmeadow Stewart

4 Tattermunge Maniac

4 Flamekin Bladewhirl

3 Chameleon Colossus

4 Treefolk Harbinger

3 Changeling Berserker

2 Changeling Titan

 

Sideboard

4 Oblivion Ring

4 Raking Canopy

4 Firespout

3 Spring Cleaning

 

Once again. If you have a deck you would like to test then zip it to us at daneckstein@hotmail.com.

 

           

Tags: Classroom X Zoo Fun Block

Classroom X – First Look at Block

 

In Class today we begin looking at Block constructed. None of us players here in the middle of the United States are packing our bags for Hollywood so the next relevant format is Block for Pro Tour Qualifiers. We all realize that we probably will not attend any actual P T Q but we like to talk a good game. Wizards has now made Springfield MO a regular stop and that’s a pretty easy drive for us.

 

Shadowmoor has done a lot to create multiple possible decks with all that Hybrid running around we could easily have as wide open of a format as the current Extended. The crazy thing for us is when our local qualifiers happen. Wichita (4 hours) and Kansas City (2 and a half hours) are on back-to-back days, which really hurt our chances of attending both. Then the real kicker is Springfield (1hr) is the next weekend. That sounds cool until you look at the date. It’s the first day Eventide will be legal. That’s right no sound metagame. Trade like crazy at the pre-release. Pre-order via Fed-Ex any game changing card that comes out and pray you are right. Add to that our practice sessions are about to get limited with Summer Vacation.

 

The main deck we’re testing right now is mostly designed to abuse the Persist mechanic. We’ve been playing around with it since Andrew came in one Tuesday morning hollering about a 2 for 1 mechanic. It started pretty basic with an agro build that had every Persist creature in it. When another got spoiled we tried to fit it in. On the revealing of Twilight Shepard we started to narrow or choices and went with a Green White build. While we didn’t stay with build it was pretty cool to play an Austere Command when you have both Kitchen Finks and Heartmender in play.

 

The speed and limited targeted removal steered us away from White as we realized that a Firespout destroys about 75% of the creatures in this block. So if we convert to Red and Green as our base we add cheaper and more effective creature removal as well as the ability to slip Murderous Redcap into our scheme. This sidestep has been a breakthrough for our deck and has us all really focusing on it. Now all we need is a Gauntlet to test. That’s where we need you.

 

Apparently right now nobody wants to put a deck list out in the open. Many claim to be hiding their “tech” but really it’s because they don’t want to be bashed by the readers. So we’re asking you to submit a list to us for testing. Either post it in the comments section for this blog or email it to daneckstein@hotmail.com .

 

Here is our current list.

 

Persistent Fire

 

6 Forest

8 Mountain

4 Reflecting Pool

4 Fire-lit Thicket

 

4 Boggart Ram-Gang

4 Heartmender

4 Murderous Redcap

4 Safehold Elite

4 Kitchen Finks

 

2 Incendiary Command

4 Firespout

4 Flame Javelin

4 Lash Out

4 Tarfire

 

This list is unrefined right now. We realize that some of these 4 of’s only need 3. We are not really sold on Safehold Elite either. Some of the students really want to throw the Tattermunge Maniac in there instead. We also haven’t listed a Sideboard. In our previous classes we had readers ask for us to show side boarding in our game test part of the blog. We are going to accommodate them. Well sort of. Both decks will be able to side in any card they chose with a maximum of 8 cards.

 

Right now a sideboard would have a few pretty stock cards. Hurly-Burly is great against the Fae as it’s basically plays like a 1 sided Wrath of God. Raking Canopy is one of the best Anti Bitterblossom cards out there. Puncture Bolt is very cool against Persist if we need to fear the Mirror. We also might try to fit Chandra in their somewhere.

 

This week we are going to test against a Fae deck. The build actually came from a Standard list that top 8’ed at a recent tourney hosted by another site. We moved a couple of lands and had to drop Rune Snag from the list but here is what we are testing against today. (If you have a better list we would happily use it. Just send it to daneckstein@hotmail.com )

 

Fae Test Deck

 

2 Swamp

5 Island

4 Secluded Glen

2 Vivid Marsh

2 Vivid Creek

4 Reflecting Pool

4 Sunken Ruins

 

3 Vendilion Clique

2 Shriekmaw

3 Mistbind Clique

2 Pestermite

4 Scion of Oona

3 Sower of Temptation

4 Spellstutter Sprite

 

4 Nameless Inversion

4 Cryptic Command

4 Thoughtseize

 

4 Bitterblossom

 

Once again the sideboard is any card the Fae may want with a Max of 8 cards per game.

 

Hand 1 – Persist on play

Persist – Boggart Ram-Gang (2), Tarfire, Mountain, Firespout, Forest, Safehold Elite

Fae – Sower of Temptation, Vendilion Clique, Island, Cryptic Command, Vivid Creek, Spellstutter Sprite, Sunken Ruins

 

Turn 1 – Persist – Play Mountain

            Fae – Draw Secluded Glen, play Vivid Creek

 

Turn 2 – Persist – Draw Flame Javelin, play Forest, play Safehold Elite “Grrr I’m a bear”

            Fae – Draw Thoughtseize, Play Secluded Glen (revealing Sower), Play Thoughtseize (18) to remove Boggart Ram Gang. 

 

Turn 3 – Persist – Draw Forest, Play Forest, Play Ram Gang, attack (13)

            Fae – Draw Vendilion Clique, play Sunken Ruins.

 

Turn 4 – Persist – Draw Flame Javelin, (Fae flashes Vendilion Clique – puts Firespout on bottom and persist draws Kitchen Finks), play Tarfire on Clique, attack (8)

            Fae – Draw Thoughtseize, play Sower of Temptation taking control of Boggart Ram Gang, attack (no Blockers available – 17).

 

Turn 5 – Persist – Draw Fire Lit Thicket, Play Thicket, Play Flame Javelin targeting Sower, get Ram gang back, attack (3)

            Fae – Draw Vivid Creek, Play Vivid Creek

 

Turn 6- Persist – Draw Lash Out, attack (Fae flashes Spellstutter to block Boggart Ram Gang), Play Lash Out targeting Sprite (Clash reveals – Heartmender vs. Vivid Marsh) (0)

 

Hand 2 – Fae on the play

 

Side boarding:

 

Fae - -4 Spellstuter Sprites, -2 Pestermite, +4 Faerie Trickery, +1 Sower of Temptation, +1 Vendillion Clique.

 

Persist - -4 Lash Out, -4 Safehold Elite, +4 Raking Canopy, +4 Hurly-Burly

 Fae – Sower of Temptation, Vivid Creek, Island (2), Bitterblossom, Faerie Trickery, Vendillion CliquePersist – Raking Canopy, Flame Javelin, Incendiary Command (2), Kitchen Finks, Fire Lit Thicket, Reflecting Pool 

Turn 1 – Fae – Play Vivid Creek

            Persist – Draw Firespout, Play Fire Lit Thicket

 

Turn 2 – Fae – Draw Faerie Trickery, Play Island, Play Bitterblossom (used counter off of Vivid Creek)

            Persist – Draw Forest, play Forest

 

Turn 3 – Fae – Create token (19), Draw Sunken Ruins, Play Ruins

            Persist – Draw Kitchen Finks, Play Raking Canopy (Fae counters with Trickery)

 

Turn 4 – Fae – Create Token (2- 18), Draw Sower of Temptation, Play Island, Attack (19)

            Persist – Draw Firespout, play Kitchen Finks (21)

 

Turn 5 – Fae – Create Token (3- 17), Draw Thoughtseize, play Thoughtseize (15) discarding Firespout, attack (19)

            Persist – Draw Mountain, play Mountain, attack (blocked by token – 2), Play Kitchen Finks (21)

 

Turn 6 – Fae – Create Token (3- 16), Draw Secluded Glen, Play Glen revealing Sower, Play Sower taking Kitchen Finks.

            Persist – Draw Fire Lit Thicket, play Thicket, Play Incendiary Command choosing 2 damage to each creature and 4 damage to Fae, (0 tokens, Finks Pesist as 2/1’s, 25 life for Persist, 12 life for Fae).

 

Turn 7 – Fae – Create Token (1- 11), Draw Vivid Marsh, Play Vivid Marsh

            Persist – Draw Hurly Burly (Fae Flashes Vendillion Clique – puts Incendiary command on bottom – Persist draws Mountain), Play Mountain, Play Hurly Burly hitting fliers for 1, attack (7)

 

Turn 8 – Fae – Create Token (1 – 6), Draw Cryptic Command

            Persist – Draw Fire Lit Thicket, play Thicket, Attack (1 blocked – 4), Play Flame Javelin to Dome (Fae play Cryptic to counter and draw – Secluded Glen)

 

Turn 9 – Fae – Create Token (1- 3), Draw Vendilion Clique, Play Secluded Glen revealing Sower, play Sower taking Finks,

            Persist – Draw Murderous Redcap, Play Redcap (Fae Counters with Trickery), Play Firespout,

 

Turn 10 – Fae – Create Token (1- 2), Draw Cryptic Command

            Persist – Draw Tarfire, (Fae Flashes Vendillion Clique), play Tarfire in response, (Fae Counters with Cryptic Command and returns Bitterblossom to hand). “That was a cool exchange.

 

Turn 11 – Fae – Draw Nameless Inversion, attack with Clique and token (21).

            Persist – Draw Kitchen Finks, Play Finks (23)

 

Turn 12 – Fae – Draw Island, attack with Clique and token (19).

            Persist – Draw Hurly Burly, Play Hurly Burly targeting fliers, (Fae play Nameless on Finks – Persist trigger Finks to a 2/1 – life 21).

 

Turn 13 – Fae – Draw Scion of Oona, Play Scion

            Persist – Draw Murderous Redcap, Play Redcap damage to player –GG

 

Eckstein Notes – We discussed after the game that the bounce of Bitterblossom on turn 8 instead of the draw was probably the better play. To be fair the player did agonize on that decision for a while choosing to draw hoping for more answers. In retrospect the 2 life saved would have been lost to an attacking Redcap anyway. Fae’s next draw was another Bitterblossom and then a Sower of Temptation that would have been too late.

 

We are expecting many people to say that this list for the Fae isn’t the best. We would love to see your list. Just post it in the comments or send us an email. Daneckstein@hotmail.com . With this list the only real factor card has been the Mistbind Clique. The 4 toughness can become a real issue for red. That is one of the reasons we’ve thought of including Chandra.

 

Normally we would show you a third game here but since we are nearing our max word count we will just leave it until we have received a better Fae deck list. This one is a dominant match up for us.

 

Tags: Classroom X Fun Fae Persist

Classroom X – The Flavor of The Defiler

 

This one I’m writing for the flavor. I am an avid reader of the Magic story books. While I am not so fanatical as to read every flavor text and try to extrapolate the various background stories I do enjoy reading the books. Occasionally Wizards does a great job syncing the story characters with their respective cards. Phage the Untouchable is one of the best examples I can think of. In the story she was a vile creature that was brought back from the dead and because of that she had the ultimate Deathtouch. No Moonglove extract required. Her touch would even kill your opponent. Her draw back of having to be played from your hand even fit the storyline. At first I did not think this fit here flavor even though it was a necessity in the game. Otherwise she would have been a perfect reanimation target. But if you think about it the returning of Phage ended up being the undoing of the Cabal’s plans and so it made since. If you reanimate her you will lose.

 While it is perhaps trivial I’ve have always been bothered by this card.

Rakdos the Defiler.

Legendary Creature – Demon

7/6

Flying, Trample

Whenever Rakdos the Defiler attacks, sacrifice half the non-Demon permanents you control, rounded up.
Whenever Rakdos deals combat damage to a player, that player sacrifices half the non-Demon permanents he or she controls, rounded up.

 

The unique part of his flavor makes total sense. If you want to play with a big Demon you have to pay a price. If you pay that price and your opponent does not have a solution you get to wreak havoc on their permanents. And chances are they won’t find a solution very soon. In fact if left alone for to long the Mighty Demon would be alone on the field. That made sense to me. It is the basic abilities that went against the grain. Trample works of course. As I read the book I vision Rakdos about 7 stories tall with plenty of mass to Trample over anything. It’s the Flying that doesn’t work. As with many Demons his wings are only vestigial. In fact he never even flies in the book. Considering the ways of the Rakdos cult he really should have Haste instead. That would have made The Defiler a perfect reanimation target. It didn’t stop me from building one then and now things are even better.

 

Now that Wizards of the Coast and made this card:

Torrent of Souls

4 {R/B}

Sorcery

Return up to one target creature card from your graveyard to play if B was spent to play Torrent of Souls. Creatures target player controls get +2/+0 and gain haste until end of turn if R was spent to play Torrent of Souls. (Do both if RB was spent.)

 

Now when we reanimate our little pet Demon he finally has the Haste he deserves. Sure it costs 1 more mana than our normal spells but for the flavor it is definitely worth it. Meanwhile we also get a nice little +2/+0 bonus. That also makes sense, shouldn’t a Demon come into play with more power right after his rebirth.

 When building a reanimation deck we need a couple of good ways to discard our reanimation targets. There are many to discard in this game of ours but one truly fits the flavor of this deck.

Avatar of Discord

{R/B}{R/B}{R/B}

Creature – Avatar

5/3

Flying
When Avatar of Discord comes into play, sacrifice it unless you discard two cards.

 

Looking up the word Avatar we can see the following definition.

 

The descent of a deity to the earth in an incarnate form or some manifest shape; the incarnation of a god.

 

The Avatar of Rakdos is perfect in his Reanimation Deck. Sometimes the mere shadow of Rakdos is enough to win games.

 

But even four Rakdos the Defilers are not enough reanimation targets to consistently have something in hand to discard. So I went in pursuit of a bride for my powerful pet. I finally settled on not one but three beautiful brides.

These three Sisters are powerful enough and attractive enough to be in the same deck as Rakdos. Plus their ability gives us extra fodder to pay his price (if they are ever both in play together). The rest of the deck is composed of extra reanimation, mana acceleration and tutors.

 

Defiler Flavor

 

4 Rakdos the Defiler

4 Sisters of Stone Death

4 Avatar of Discord

4 Llanowar Mentor

4 Sakura Tribe Elder

 

4 Torrent of Souls

4 Vigor Mortis

4 Rampant Growth

4 Beseech the Queen

4 Demonic Collusion

 

1 Overgrown Tomb

1 Stomping Ground

1 Blood Crypt

4 Bloodstained Mire

4 Wooded Foothills

4 Forest

3 Swamp

2 Mountain

 

Don’t be ashamed to look some of these up. Many of these cards are not highly played. Which makes them easy to pick up in trades and/or cheap to buy. The only real costly part of the deck is the Mana base which can be all basic if you can deal with it.

 

Normally at this point in a Classroom X article we would be throwing ourselves to some part of our gauntlet and show you the play by play results. We will not be doing that today since this deck isn’t meant for real competition. It is only for the flavor of Rakdos.

 

Next Classroom will probably begin our Block testing. Since most of us don’t have a California or Bust bumper sticker on our car.

Tags: Classroom X Fun Combo Casual

I know there typically spoiled last but I was wondering where the Wrath effect in Shadowmoor is?

Traditionally every block has had a Wrath type of effect. I speculate there isn't one. If there isn't it shows that Wizards isn't making two miniblocks at all. Rather, they're making a 4 expansion block with extra basic lands. Think about it, all the formats are recognize Lorwyn/Shadowmoor as just one block.

If there is a Wrath effect standard will have it's most ever wrath effects available.

Wrath, Damnation, Magus of the Disk, Sunscour, Austere Command, plus the new one??

I am personally hopeing it will be an enchantment that you can sac for it's effect. I'll post why if they make it that way. EVER.

Why not use an enchantment?

We've had it at Sorcery. Wrath

We've had it as a Artifact. Oblivion Stone

We've had it as a creature. Magus of the Disk.

We've had it as an instant. Rout

All that is left is Planewalker and Enchantment.

What do you think will there be a Wrath in Shadowmoor?

Tags: Wrath Of God Rout Oblivion Stone

Classroom X – Enduring Animosity

 

Here we are with another installment of Classroom X. The general idea is to show you the products of Mr. Eckstein’s classroom. The students and I play after school and test out many unusual or “rogue” decks. Which by the way “rogue” now can be an actual deck type so we prefer “weirdo”.

 

When we find a deck we like we’ll test it against a deck that has been on the net. We provide you with the deck list and some example hands so you can see how it plays. Most of us really despise articles that talk about how good a match up is and don’t show any evidence to back it up. It is possible for many match ups to be misplayed and lead to confusion. Player A says his deck beats Deck B 80% of the time. Meanwhile Player B claims the same against Deck A. Turns out they are both playing the opposite deck wrong. We actually show you the hands play by play exactly how they happened. If we play it wrong just let us know.

 

We feel this format is pretty good and helps people play with the decks we highlight. In the past few weeks many of you have stated the same. Unfortunately the may be the last Classroom. Those who have been reading our blogs know of our desire to be a Featured Blog like The Main Phase by Reuben Bresler – aka reubs 11 is.  We don’t desire to write anymore until we have achieved that status.

 

Enough of the non-magic stuff here is the deck we posted last week. The main idea was to abuse Enduring Renewal as much as possible.

 

Enduring B/W

4 Caves of Koilos

4 Vivid Meadow

4 Gemstone Mine

8 Plains

4 Vivid Marsh

 

4 Enduring Renewal

4 Oblivion Ring

 

2 Deathrender

 

4 Martyr of Sands

4 Children of Korlis

4 Shriekmaw

2 Dawnfluke

2 Purity

 

4 Wrath of God

2 Sunscour

2 Makeshift Mannequin

2 Diabolic Tutor

 

We have made 2 changes since this posting. First we switched a Purity to a Dread just to see which we like better. Most of the time they are both just to prevent decking but when we use one for a beat stick the question is which is better. Second we dropped the Infinite Loop with Deathrender and put Ajani Goldmane in its place. The infinite wasn’t that handy and Ajani gives us the ability to win games with some muscle. Dropping a 100/100 on the table is pretty cool to. It satisfies our inner Timmy.

 

Now for the deck to test against. Ruebs posted a deck a few days ago that used some goblins, goblin token producers, and Shared Animosity for some really big beats. At first we were going to use his list exactly but we worried that would imply us Vs. the rest of the writers ‘vibe’. So we researched and found this list that top 8’d at the $2000 Amateur Challenge at Kuala Lumpur. The pilot of the deck was Lim Teng Chek.

 Shared Goblin (our title)

4 Auntie’s Hovel

7 Mountain

2 Mutavault

4 Sulfurous Springs

5 Swamp

1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth

 

4 Frogtosser Banneret

3 Knucklebone Witch

4 Mad Auntie

4 Marsh Flitter

4 Mogg Fanatic

4 Mogg War Marshall

4 Siege-Gang Commander

 

2 Dead // Gone

4 Incinerate

4 Shared Animosity

 

This deck is beat down with some big explosive turns. While faster than Ruebs deck we’re not sure it’s better. Many of us think the control package that Ruebs carries will give him better chances against the field but this deck scares us more when carrying Enduring.

 

Here are the hands we played

 Hand 1 – Enduring on the play 

Enduring  - Martyr of Sands, Vivid Marsh, Plains, Gemstone Mine, Ajani Goldmane, Caves of Koilos, Wrath of God

 Shared – Incinerate, Auntie’s Hovel, Mountain, Mogg Fanatic, Marsh Flitter, Mad Auntie, Mogg War Marshall 

Turn 1 – Enduring- play Vivid Marsh

            Shared – Draw Auntie’s Hovel, Show Mogg fanatic to play Hovel, play Fanatic

 

Turn 2 – Enduring – Draw Sunscour, play plains

            Shared – Draw Mogg War Marshall, Show Marshall to play Hovel, play Marshall, attack (19)

 

Turn 3 – Enduring – Draw Ajani Goldmane, play Caves

            Shared – (No Echo – 2 tokens) Draw Mogg Fanatic, play mountain, play Mad Auntie, Attack (15)

 

Turn 4 – Enduring – Draw Gemstone Mine, play Mine, play Ajani, activate Ajani (17, AG at 5)

            Shared – Draw Auntie’s Hovel, Show Fanatic to play Hovel, play Fanatic, Attack (9)

 

Turn 5 – Enduring – draw Vivid Meadow, play Meadow, play Wrath (Shared sacs fanatics – 7), activate Ajani (9-AG 6)

            Shared – Draw Sulfurous Springs, play Springs, play Marsh Flitter

 

Turn 6 – Enduring – Draw Enduring Renewal, Play Mine, play Renewal, Play Martyr, sac Martyr (15), Activate Ajani (17- AG 7)

            Shared – Draw Shared Animosity, play Shared, attack (12)

 

Turn 7 – Enduring – Draw Enduring Renewal, Play and sac Martyr 3 times (39- one Mine depleted), remove Ajani and Renewal in hand from the game to play Sunscour for free, Activate Ajani to put in a 39/39 token, (AG – 1)

            Shared – Draw Dead/ Gone, Play Gone on token, play Marshall

 

Turn 8 – Enduring – Draw Vivid Meadow, play Meadow, play Martyr, activate Ajani (41 – AG 2)

            Shared – (pay Echo) Draw Swamp, attack (token blocked – 39)

 

Turn 9 – Enduring – Draw Plains, play plains, play Martyr, activate Ajani (41 – AG 3)

            Shared – Draw Siege- Gang, play Siege-Gang

 

Turn 10 – Enduring – Draw Vivid Meadow, play Meadow, activate Ajani (43- AG 4)

            Shared – Draw Mad Auntie, Play Auntie, attack (Block Commander – 19)

 

Turn 11 – Enduring – Draw Oblivion Ring, Play and sac Martyr twice (25), play O-Ring targeting Shared Animosity, Play Martyr, activate Ajani (27 – AG 5)

            Shared – Draw Incinerate – play Incinerate on Martyr, attack (14)

 

Turn 12 – Enduring – Draw Enduring Renewal, Play and sac Martyr 3 times (23), Play Martyr, activate Ajani (25- AG 6)

            Shared – Draw Mad Auntie, play Auntie, attack (Commander blocked – 10)

 

Turn 13 – Enduring – Draw Wrath, play and sac Martyr (16), play Wrath, play Martyr, activate Ajani (18- AG 7)

            Shared – Draw Swamp

 

Turn 14 – Enduring- Draw Diabolic Tutor, Play Tutor getting Children (mine depleted), sac Martyr (24), play and sac Martyr (30), play Children, activate Ajani for a 30/30 token (AG –1)

            Shared – Draw Mountain – Scoops

 

Eckstein Notes – Both players made mistakes in this game. It’s obvious that the Shared Goblins player doesn’t understand Planeswalkers. Multiple times he should have attacked Ajani. In this game alone Enduring gained 18 life. 2 of the life would have gained no matter what and Shared would have had to not hit for at least 5 some time. This error leads to the Enduring error on Turn 7. Enduring should have just played and sac the Martyr over and over. Easily gaining 27 or more every turn. Eventually the Shared player will do this level of damage in a turn but then the Sunscour is more effective as the Shared player must over commit. I did explain the Planeswalker rules to both players at the end of this hand.

 Hand 2 – Shared on the play Shared – Mutavault, Mogg Fanatic (3), Mogg War Marshal, Marsh Flitter, Mountain Enduring – Children of Korlis, Shriekmaw, Caves of Koilos, Plains, Dawnfluke, Dread, Enduring Renewal.  

Turn 1 – Shared – Play mountain, play Fanatic

            Enduring – Draw Martyr of Sands, play Plains

 

Turn 2 – Shared – Draw Mountain, play Mountain, Play Marshal, attack (19)

            Enduring – Draw Plains, play plains

 

Turn 3 – Shared – (pay Echo) Draw Fanatic, play Mutavault, attack (16)

            Enduring – Draw Gemstone Mine, play Caves, Play Children

 

Turn 4 – Shared – Draw Incinerate, play Fanatic, activate Mutavault, attack (11)

            Enduring – Draw Diabolic Tutor, play Mine, Play Enduring Renewal

 

Turn 5 – Shared - Draw Frogtosser Banneret, play Fanatic, sac Fanatic targeting Children, activate Mutavault, attack (5)

            Enduring – Draw Plains, play Plains, Play and sac Martyr twice (17), play Children

 

Turn 6 – Shared – Draw Shared Animosity, Play Shared Animosity, sac Fanatic targeting Children, attack (8)

            Enduring – Draw Martyr of Sands to yard via Renewal, Play and sac Martyr twice (20), play Children (mine depleted)

 

Turn 7 – Shared – Draw Mogg War Marshall, play Marshall, attack (no block-children sac 20)

            Enduring – Draw Vivid Marsh, play Marsh, Evoke Shriekmaw (19) target token, Play Children

 

Turn 8 – Shared – (pay Echo) Draw Incinerate, play Fanatic, sac Fanatic targeting Children, (Enduring Evokes Dawnfluke), Attack (Children sac – 19)

            Enduring – Draw Makeshift Mannequin, Evoke Shriekmaw target Fanatic (sac –18), Evoke Shriekmaw target Marshall (17 – caves), play Children

 

Turn 9 – Shared – Draw Swamp, play Swamp, play Marsh Flitter. Attack (Children sac)

            Enduring – Draw Gemstone Mine, play Mine, Evoke Shriekmaw twice targeting token and Marshall, play Children

 

Turn 10 – Shared – Draw Marsh Flitter, Play Incinerate on Children, (Evoke Dawnfluke), play Frogtosser, attack (children sac)

            Enduring – Draw Enduring Renewal, Play and Sac Martyr twice (35), Play Children

 

Turn 11 – Shared – Draw Aunties Hovel, play Hovel tapped, activate Mutavault attack (children sac)

            Enduring – Draw Oblivion Ring, play and Sac Martyr (47), play O ring targeting Shared Animosity, Play children

 

Turn 12 – Shared – Draw Incinerate, attack (sac)

            Enduring – Draw Purity to yard to deck, Play Dread (mine depleted-46 caves)

 

Turn 13 – Shared – Draw Frogtosser Banneret, play incinerate twice on Dead, attack (42)

            Enduring – Draw Vivid Marsh, play Marsh, Play Tutor (45) to get Wrath, play Children.

 

Turn 14 – Shared – Draw Dead/Gone, attack (sac)

            Enduring – Draw Shriekmaw to yard via renewal, play Wrath, play children

 

Turn 15 – Shared – Draw Mutavault, play Mutavault, play Marsh Flitter, Play Frogtosser