Saturday, December 31, 2011

RCotD #50

Random Card of the Day #50:

Quilled Sliver - 1W
Creature - Sliver
All Slivers have "{T}: This creature does 1 damage to target attacking or blocking creature."
1/1

Initial thoughts:

A very interesting sliver. I may be slightly biased because Prodigal Pyromancer and other cards like it (Prodigal Sorcerer, Gelectrode, Razorfin Hunter) are among my favorite cards. I like watching my opponents squirm and slowly die off one point at a time. It also allows very responsive play since everything is at instant speed. If they drop any 1/1 creature it will just die. And if there's two on the field then it can prove to be a problem.

This card on the other hand is not exactly the same. It has a targeting restriction. Because of that, they can still cast creatures and not swing. So if they played their own pinging creature, you couldn't really kill them. Your opponent can see your play coming so they can play around that. I mean, it's the same for Prodigal Pyromancer, but one stops from swinging and the other from casting.

If you some how gave all your sliver Vigilance (Synchronous Sliver) this could prove to be an exceptionally aggressive card. Swing with all your slivers, before combat damage ping all the blockers off. This card has a lot of uses but it's only one piece of a combo. It's not exactly a game winning combo either, it's just nifty and provides a good advantage. 3/5

Friday, December 30, 2011

IPotW #6

Interesting Play of the Week #6:

Welcome to Snow-Covered Swamp's IPotW. This week's game took a while to play. I actually had thoroughly enjoyed it despite it being aggravating at times*. I probably would have lost if I hadn't played a thousand blue decks by now. Chock full of counterspells with no clear win condition. His deck actually had a theme to it. Regardless, take a note on how to play blue decks if you don't know already.

Opening hand: Swamp, Spikeshot Elder, Punishing Fire, Go for the Throat, Flametongue Kavu, Serrated Arrows, Kamahl, Pit Fighter

One land hand. I might have kept it if I had a few 1 cost spells like Disfigure or Lightning Bolt, but with literally nothing to play and turn 2 relying on a land draw, I mulligan. Actually, both of us mulligan to 6.

Second opening hand: Swamp, Mountain, Disfigure, Incinerate, Rockslide Elemental, Fault Line.

A decent hand. I have 2 removal spells so that should get me through the early game into more lands. I keep at 6. He mulligans to 5 cards. This game, as with most games, had no explosive starts:

T1: Swamp
T2: Evolving Wilds, search for Island.
T3: Mountain
T4: Island
T5: Dragonmaster Outcast

Let me level with you for a second. Dragonmaster Outcast is a huge priority target. He has two blue open so I'm wondering why he didn't cast Counterspell or maybe Remove Soul. Maybe I'm lucky and he has no counterspells in his opening hand. But that wasn't the point. What's worse is I still haven't drawn into a third land.

He puts down a Mountain, so now I'm curious about what kind of deck he's playing. He just passes the turn. So far I've drawn into a Punishing Fire and a Royal Assassin. It would be nice to get a third land at this point, but he just keeps Land-Go'ing so I'm not exactly going to cast a spell anyways. I swing and pass.

He taps out and casts Cinder Pyromancer. No big deal--I just Disfigure it end of turn. I draw a Go for the Throat. Not a land. Now would be a PERFECT time to play while he is tapped out. Oh well. Swing and pass. He plays a Gelectrode. Okay, now I think I'm beginning to understand the deck a little, but he tapped out again so its an end of turn Punishing Fire. I draw Serrated Arrows. Not a land. Swing and pass. He plays a Kiln Fiend. I Incinerate end of turn. I draw an Ascendant Evincar. Not a land. Swing and pass. He plays an Island and passes. I draw a Flame Slash.

At this point I'm fairly angry at my deck. 13 cards, 2 lands. Well that's Magic for you. Maybe my little 1/1 Dragonmaster will go all the way with all the removal I'm drawing. He draws and passes. I draw a Mountain. FINALLY! I swing with my Outcast but he bolts him. Sad day. I pass since he has 4 untapped Islands. The next few turns were pretty much a stalemate.

T10: Swamp, Rockslide Elemental, resp. Counterspell.
T11: Draw, Go.
T12: Terramorphic Expanse, Royal Assassin, end of turn kicked Into the Roil
T13: Kiln Fiend
T14: Flame Slash, resp. Deprive.
T15: Island, swing for 1. Gelectrode. End of turn Fault Line for a board wipe.

I noticed he didn't counter the board wipe, so I know he doesn't have any counterspells in hand. I resolve a Serrated Arrows--soon to be his worst nightmare. He resolves a Grim Lavamancer. Maybe he didn't read the Arrows, but I just tapped it to kill him. I play Royal Assassin again since I suspect he has counterspells. I want to bait it out so I can resolve Ascendant Evincar.

He taps out for Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind. Good God, I wish I had that card. I think about Go for the Throat'ing end of turn but since he's tapped out so I might as well 2-for-1 him with Gatekeeper of Malakir. He sacrifices the dragon wizard and Royal Assassin gets in there for 1 damage. He's at 12! He draws and passes again so I'm expecting some instants here. Especially with 4 cards in hand.

I draw a Swamp but hold onto it. I've already hit the mana curve of my deck so I keep it in case I draw my Seismic Assault. I swing with both my creatures but before combat damage he casts Incinerate on the Gatekeeper. Another point for Royal Assassin! He draw-go's. I draw into a Kamahl, Pit Fighter. So now he's my number one spell. I cast my Ascendant and he lets it resolve. Sweet! He's out of counterspells! End of turn Lightning Bolt. Grr.

Mountain, go. Alright so I have 6 cards in hand and he has 2. I think I got this. He didn't counter Ascendant so I try to cast Kamahl. Response: Deprive again. I actually tell him: "Wow. You just have an answer to everything I play." Not exactly true, though. Royal Assassin (my favorite card) is on the field and is beating his face in--one point at a time.

He casts Gelectrode again. I guess he didn't learn from it last time. I end of turn Serrated Arrows it. I draw a Swamp and swing with Royal Assassin again. He's at 8 life, so he might go all the way. My hand is currently: Go for the Throat, Nekrataal, Pyroclasm, Disfigure, Swamp. I just pass since he's completely untapped, not to mention there's nothing to really play.

He plays another Kiln Fiend. He has one card in hand. I Disfigure Kiln Fiend and he doesn't counter it. I draw a Mind Shatter. It's not exactly the best card right now, but whatever. I swing with Royal Assassin but he bolts him. Good news: he's out of cards. Bad news: I don't really have a card to win the game right now. I could play Nekrataal but I don't know if he has an Inferno Titan or something so I want to 2-for-1 him again.

He topdecks a Seismic Assault. Wish I had drawn that. I draw a Grim Lavamancer. Since he has no cards in hand I just play it. Hopefully he doesn't draw a land. He draw-go's again. I try to resolve another Serrated Arrows but he Dream Fractures it. I've never actually seen that card before. I try to cast a Loxodon Warhammer but he Deprives it. He bounces the land into his hand and discards it to kill the Lavamancer so in response I tap and hit him for 2. He's at 5 life. In hindsight, I should not have even cast a spell, Grim Lavamancer would probably have pinged him to death--a small misplay. He draw-go's again. I still have Mind Shatter so hopefully I can get him to hit my life points instead of my creatures with it. I draw-go.

Okay so he draw-go's again. He's at 5 life so If I somehow manage to draw my Banefire I can win the game. I draw a Burst Lightning instead. I Mind Shatter for 2. In response he hits me for 2 and discards another Seismic Assault. I hit him for 4 with Burst Lightning. He's at one life. He draw-go's again.

Alright, I draw Spikeshot Elder. Moment of truth here. Dream Fracture'd again! Tired of waiting, I recklessly cast Nekrataal. He kills it by discarding a Mountain. We both draw-go a couple of times until I draw an Incinerate. I pass and tell it to stop at his upkeep. It doesn't get there as end of turn he Prophetic Bolt's me (another card I've never seen before). My response: Incinerate for game.



Thanks for tuning into the Interesting Play of the Week! Be sure to come back for RCotDs and our new segment: MUCMondays!



* - I've had a lot of annoying games this week. One of them being a huge misplay at the end of one of my draft games. I pumped Darkthicket Wolf instead of holding onto the mana for Gnaw to the Bone. What was worse is I easily could have seen the game winning play coming because it was on the field. It cost me some packs. It aggravated me, I almost ragedrafted after that.

** - Lolzor on the other hand has had some spectacular games this week. One of which included an EDH match where he was running train with a Hex-proof Glissa, the Traitor and a recurring Mindslaver. It was gross.

RCotD #49

Random Card of the Day #49:

Wheel of Fortune - 2R
Sorcery
Each player discards his or her hand and draws seven cards.

Initial thoughts:

If you haven't seen this card before it's 5/5. Hands down. Everyone should know of this card--it's basically infamous.

It is the cheapest most convenient way for red to refill their hand. You know what red does? Burn out. And usually very fast. So if your opponent is playing mono-red and their last card in their hand is a Wheel of Fortune, you better Cancel it or something because that is probably the last topdeck you want to see from a red deck.

This card is illegal to play in all formats except Vintage (excluding EDH). But you know the saying vintage lives by: "Type 1 decks can handle anything." What's worse about this card is in vintage you often just splash red to get a free hand again.

T1: Scalding Tarn, search for Volcanic Island. Mox Jet. Lotus Petal/Sol Ring. Wheel of Fortune.

Not too hard to pull off. You thinned your deck out a little, got 2 more cards than your opponent, and then reset your hand. You're three cards ahead of your opponent, and they didn't get to do anything. Of course, assuming they didn't Force of Will something.

Just an absolutely absurd card. It should probably never see print for a long time. And if it does, it will be From the Vault. 5/5

Thursday, December 29, 2011

RCotD #48

Random Card of the Day #48:

Charging Paladin - 2W
Creature - Human Knight
Whenever Charging Paladin attacks it gains +0/+3 until end of turn.
2/2

Initial thoughts:

A 2/2 for 3. I don't really like his effect. I feel some how it's not out of flavor, but like, against the mechanics of Magic. Normally when you attack you get something, you know, offensive. He adds 3 to his toughness. I suppose that's useful but I feel (especially in white) that he should get Battle Cry or something when attacking and +0/+3 when blocking. At least to me that would make more sense than the way it is now.

It's not like you'd Condemn your own creature to gain 5 life with this guy. He's also overcosted. He really would only see play in Limited or maybe if you are using the preconstructed deck he came in. (Divine vs. Demonic) If I bought that deck I would replace him pretty fast--probably with Kazmandu Blademaster or Elite Inquisitor. Still a good card in draft but there's still a lot of better options.

Limited: 3/5
Constructed: 2/5
Preconstructed: 5/5 (I mean he is auto-include, right?)

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

RCotD #47

Random Card of the Day #47:

Nostalgic Dreams - GG
Sorcery
As an additional cost to cast Nostalgic Dreams, discard X cards.
Return X cards from your graveyard to your hand. Exile Nostalgic Dreams.

Initial thoughts:

Okay, so Regrowth effects are powerful. Multiple regrowth effects are even more so. This card on the other hand, I don't really see you discarding your entire hand to get what you want in your graveyard.

The other thing to note is regrowth effects power level scales with format. In standard, oh sure you discard 2 cards (probably lands late game) so you can get a Splinterfright and a Spider Spawning back*. Or a Mana Leak and Snapcaster Mage. However if you take this into vintage, it is virtually priceless to discard two cards to get an Ancestral Recall and Time Walk back. R&D probably knows that and that's why they included the additional cost to discard, not part of its effect so that it is more punishing if countered.

This card is only as good as your deck. And in that sense, I guess that it means that this card is spectacular and virtually limitless. It does cost 3 cards to get 2 cards, or 4 for 3, etc. compared to Regrowth which is 1 for 1, but it allows multiple cards. And to prevent abuse of it, it is exiled after casting. Still an excellent card. And it's Regrowth on a budget. This card is about 59 cents, compared to Regrowth which is about $5-7. Still a great card. 4/5



* - it is important to note that Lolzor had an orgasm over this article and card.

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

RCotD #46

Random Card of the Day #46:

Final Judgement - 4WW
Sorcery
Exile all creatures.

Initial thoughts:

The spell reserved when you absolutely have to kill every single creature on the field, no questions asked. This spell gets around everything you could possibly think of. Almost. One creature can still live through this spell.

The only way this spell won't kill something is if you manage to "hide" it before it's effect goes off. A couple of ways are Safe Haven and Parallax Wave. As well as any creatures with innate bounce effects such as Lantern Spirit or Arcanis the Omnipotent. That doesn't really say the creature doesn't die so much as avoid the spell. Not to mention if you are tapped out your creature will still die anyways.

It's also important that it exiles creatures meaning: it gets around regeneration, it gets around indestructibility, and it doesn't trigger graveyard effects. One of the few ways to kill Emrakul, the Aeon's Torn (actually, Royal Assassin will kill him just fine) or Progenitus and it prevents the shuffling effects.

Aside from bounce effects the only creature this spell won't kill is Norin the Wary. I find it funny that I got this card as random because just the other day I was talking about this card to Lolzor. I was thinking of making an EDH deck with him as the general and a bunch of the red enchantment cards such as Warstorm Surge and Confusion Among the Ranks.

Anyways, basically the number one kill spell in the game. Kills 99% of creatures. If you don't mind it's mana cost, play it. In a format that is allowed this card, you might want to consider putting at least one of these in your deck. At least then you will have an answer to any Eldrazi, hex-proof, or swarm. Day of Judgement almost serves the same purpose, but this cards just raises the bar slightly. Still iffy about 2 more mana for the exile effect, but it's still a 5/5 card.



If I wanted an absolute kill everything...

Absolute White Removal - 4WWW
Sorcery
Split second
Exile all nonland permanents. Then search each player's hand and exile all creature cards in them. Any creatures sent to the graveyard this turn are instead exiled. Exile all graveyards. Each player reveals the top three cards of his or her library. Exile all creature cards revealed this way.

Damn. Norin the Wary still lives through this. I kind of forgot he dodges split second cards.

Monday, December 26, 2011

Making Up Cards Monday #2

Making Up Card Monday #2:

Welcome back to MUC Mondays on Snow-Covered Swamp. Today I will discuss some of the cards that me and Lolzor have thought up.















Kathaar, the Necromancer - BG
{T}: Destroy target creature with toughness equal to Kathaar, the Necromancer's toughness.
{1}{G}: Kathaar, the Necromancer gains +1/+1 until end of turn.

Lolzor told me of this card when he wanted to make a card. His idea was to make B/G viable. This card on the other hand, I think puts it over the edge.

It's definitely mythic quality, but perhaps the major problem I have is the tap: destroy effect. Most cards with tap: destroy are conditional unless its cmc is greater than 6. Royal Assassin does this at 3 most reliably. Eastern Paladin only target's green creatures, and the most recent one is Evil Twin. Reducing this cost to 2 seemed a little bit too much. Additionally, it has a self-pump. I feel this card would be much better balanced at 1BG or perhaps making it a 0/1 might keep my mind at ease. It's pump effect is pretty expensive so if you though about killing a Hill Giant, well it's going to cost 4 mana. Leatherback Baloth? 8 mana. So it's not really going to kill any big creatures anytime soon, not to mention it paints a really big target on its head. But having a threat that large on turn 2, I think shuts down too many aggro decks and would probably be unhealthy for the meta, making it more into Wurmcoil or token decks. Neither of which I really like. Meh, that's just me complaining. If it was nerfed any more it would probably have to drop in rarity.


Beast Hunter - 2G
Creature - Human
{T}: Deal 1 damage to target creature with toughness 2 or greater. A creature dealt damage this way can't regenerate this turn.
2/2

This was the card I made up. Mainly I thought of it when I was playing a match and I ended up Incinerate'ing a 17/17 Mortivore after blocking it with a Mind Control'd Wurmcoil Engine. I felt like there were too few "anti-regenerate" cards that weren't already tagged onto destruction spells like Terror or Annihilate. I was also afraid of giving green a Prodigal Pyromancer so I made the targeting situational. It originally costed 1G but the targeting was only "target Beast" so to make it less situational I increased the cost and made it toughness 2 or higher. It felt right, but perhaps it's now just an iffy sideboard card.

Well, thanks for tuning into MUCMondays. Come back Fridays for IPotWs or everyday for RCotDs!

RCotD #45

Random Card of the Day #45:

Orcish Veteran - 2R
Creature - Orc
Orcish Veteran can't block white creature with power 2 or greater.
{R}: Orcish Veteran gains first strike until end of turn.
2/2

Initial thoughts:

I'm not sure what with old red cards and having really, really sub-par P/T compared to converted mana costs. This is noticable with the Hill Giant in every set and also Gray Ogre. But this isn't the only instance. Throughout the history of Magic, only Green and White can get good creatures--and white can't splash to get the 2/2 first striking vigilances; not to mention these cards are only of recent printings (post-M10).

But you used to get 2/2 hasters for 3; 3/2 hasters for 4; 5/4 hasters must-swings for 6; and the occasional 4/5 for 5. With the introduction of rares you can get Chandra's Phoenix, Spikeshot Elder, or even Bloodshot Trainee (although he uncommon). Red can't have the best creatures because red has the best direct-damage spells and abilities. Even if you just splash red you can still Fireball for 8 or 9 late game--a major portion of your opponent's life total. It would upset some of the color wheel if they could have both.

If you're playing red, you just deal with it, but a 3-cost 2/2 and able to be a first striker, (odds are you won't ever use it unless your opponent misplays) so it's still a decent card but it's draw back is still important: it can't be a chump blocker. Normally, you don't even have chump blockers in red, you typically just swing-swing-burn-game, a very simple, yet effective strategy and only a few cards are designed to be against it. Day of Judgement works nicely but Timely Reinforcements is the real killer, really any card designed to 2-for-1 like Forked Bolt, Jilt, or Arc Trail. All you have to do is stabilize against these kind of decks and you should be able to win. A really good card in Limited but in Constructed, even on kitchen games, it loses its usefulness. 2/5

Sunday, December 25, 2011

RCotD #44 - The Lolzor Holiday Special!

Then one Florida Christmas Eve, Sefah called to say:
Lolzor with your laptop bright, can u post tommorow night?

Random Card of the Day #44:

Mountain
Basic Land - Mountain
T: Add R to your mana pool

Initial thoughts:
Wow...this is gonna be a short article. This card is easily one of the top turn 1 drops for any red deck or any deck with red in it. It is the perfect enabler for any burn or aggro spell. It has been reprinted in every set since alpha and you can see why...Wizards got it right with this card, perfect balance. As an interesting note, in every set there is new art for this card, the one featured is from Zendikar and is one of my personal favorites. 

Ok lets wrap this up, no need to drag out a done case. 5/5 hands down, auto include 4 in every deck, perfect in all formats.

I hope everyone is enjoying their holiday season, be safe out their tonight, and thanks for reading!

RCotD #44 1/2 - The Lolzor Holiday Special! (Double Bundle)

Random Card of the Day # 44 1/2:

Day of Judgement - 2WW
Sorcery
Destroy all creatures

Initial thoughts: 


Surprise! 2 cards today! (Awwww Lolzor you trickster). My gift to all of you is that I randomed into a card that has screwed me over more times than I can imagine.

Day of Judgement is at heart a nerfed Wrath of God, now when i say nerfed I'm using that term lightly because this card is still extraordinarily strong. It is a perfect example of why white removal is so strong because this card kills everything. It will get around everything except indestructible, this includes hexproof, shroud, and protections because it targets neither the player nor the creatures. Yes, you can regenerate to save your creature but  that seems like a small draw back for total destruction. You do lose your creatures as well but a well timed Day will win you the game.

I can attest to this cards power for I am an aggro player. To me this card spells death, a turn four field clear to an aggro deck is really rough esp. when facing something like a control deck or a U/W aggro deck...its hard to recover from.

Bottom line this card is a 5/5. If you are playing white in standard this should AT THE VERY LEAST be in your side board if not two of them main decked, it not only deal with anything it will also shut down most aggro decks if played right. This card does start to lose power as you go back through the sets but is still an amazing card.

I hope you enjoyed your short time with me doing the RCotD!
And if you'd like to give us a nice gift for the holiday season, how about you spread the word about our blog, so we can continue to provide you guys with new and interesting information and articles. Look forward to the new year guys...I've got big plans in store!

Saturday, December 24, 2011

RCotD #43


Random Card of the Day #42:

Relentless Assault - 2RR
Sorcery
Untap all creatures who attacked this turn. After this main phase, there is an additional combat phase followed by an additional main phase.

Initial thoughts:

Oh! I love these kind of cards. They are so whacky. In fact, almost every card that messes with the steps is a really fun card. Unless it's something designed to be unfun and comboable, like Stasis. Well I suppose if fun for the player but not on the receiving end of it. Struggling while losing is a lot more fun than facing a lockdown deck.

This is actually a really tricky card too. At least compared to the Archenemy Scheme Drench the Soil in Their Blood. The scheme requires you to use it in your first main phase, this allows your opponent to see the play coming and adjust his strategy accordingly. However, Relentless Assault is supposed to be played in your second main phase, hence "Untap all creatures who attacked this turn." This allows more misplays from your opponent because they probably were not expecting a second assault. Maybe their only good blocker was a regenerater, which taps when they would be destroyed so a second attack phase could be the end for them.

The other thing to note is mechanics such as Rampage, Bushido, Exalted, Flanking, etc. all carry over into the second combat phase as well because all of those are "Until end of turn." So for rampage if he was unblocked it becomes stronger yet again, Bushido if it was blocked it becomes stronger yet again, Exalted gets additional bonuses for attacking alone, Flanking could potentially kill more creature by giving them a second -1/-1 again if they decide to block (or have to block). It also allows more Nijitsu tricks. It just enables so much. And if was that imperative to get a third combat phase, consider the rebound of World at War.

It's not strictly worse than World at War though because sometimes you do need that extra mana, or if you are a turn ahead on your opponent you can definitely get a turn 4 Relentless Assault on a red aggro deck before you get turn 4 Day of Judgement. It could work wonders with Kiln Fiend. A great card. 4/5

Friday, December 23, 2011

IPotW #5

Interesting Play of the Week #5:

Hello and welcome to the Snow-Covered Swamp IPotW #5! These week I will be telling the match on a MTGO match I had; it was very close and worth sharing.

This game, like most games, started out slow.

I look at my starting hand which is: Mountain, Mountain, Mountain, Swamp, Swamp, Prodigal Pyromancer, Mortivore. With 53 cards left in my library there was only 17 lands left. I liked my chances and these are two pretty good cards so I kept it. Probably wasn't the best hand to keep though. Better than an average 6-hander... maybe.

Normally it doesn't matter, but sometimes you want your opponent to keep guard of what you "might" have in your hand. A turn one Swamp into nothing won't scare very many people, however, if you play a turn one Mountain and pass, people are expecting a Lightning Bolt/Burst Lightning, especially if they have turn 1 drop.

T1: Mountain
T2: Forest
T3: Swamp
T4: Mountain, Rampant Growth for Mountain.
T5: Mountain

My first couple of draws I got Blightning and Royal Assassin. Blightning is normally a turn 3 drop for me. But since my opponent's first spell of the game was Rampant Growth, I am expecting a Ramp deck. So the lower his hand size, the more likely he is to have to toss out better cards. So I decided to cast Prodigal Pyromancer instead.

My opponent lays down a swamp and Blightnings me instead. That was frustrating. I toss out Royal Assassin and a mountain. I draw a swamp, lay it down and play Blightning, fighting fire with fire. I worry because if he has a second Blightning I'm pretty much topdecking for the rest of the game. He tosses out a Swamp and a Rampant Growth, which was exactly what I didn't want: him tossing out lands and ramp cards when he has more cards in hand than me.

My opponent plays a Forest and plays Sprouting Thrinax, which is a very difficult card to deal with. He taps out and plays another Rampant Growth. (Must be his favorite card.) I draw a Mountain, play a swamp and cast Mortivore, who is a 1/1 thanks to me tossing out Royal Assassin. I'm not exactly going to swing into a 3/3 so I just end my turn.

He draws a Blightning and makes me discard my only card in hand, a Mountain. Then, resolves a Civic Wayfinder. He ends up passings his attack step and ends the turn. Without trample he won't get past a regenerating Mortivore. End of turn I ping him with my Pyromancer.

I take my turn and draw into a Shock. I pass because everything I have is on instant speed, and my opponent draws and swings with both his Thrinax and Wayfinder. I block the Wayfinder with Mortivore and tap my Pyromancer to finish him. Main phase two he plays another Wayfinder. I play a Mountain and pass. He swings with Thrinax and Wayfinder again. This time I block the Thrinax and Shock the Wayfinder, regenerating Mortivore. He gets his three 1/1 tokens which should be no problem since I have my Pyromancer. He resolves a Troll Ascetic, which is a annoying, but not exactly a problem with a 4/4 Mortivore on the field.

I blow up one of his Saprolings but I'm still in topdeck mode. I draw a Swamp again, and pass. I probably could have swung, but wasn't going to get any damage in with Troll Ascetic sitting there, not to mention I want to draw as many cards as possible at this moment, hopefully into an Inferno Titan. My opponent is also in topdeck mode, so it's not that bad as in 16 turns my Pyromancer can win the game, but he draws Nath of the Gilt-Leaf, so now I'm really, really in topdeck mode. He passes the turn and I destroy another Saproling.

I draw and get Cinder Pyromancer. That should shorten the clock significantly. If I don't play anything in my hand by my turn it will be discarded, thanks to Nath. So I resolve it. He draws a card but doesn't play it and passes his turn. I'm curious as to what he can't play when he has 8 mana on the field, but I just ping his last Saproling away.

I draw into Terror. Well, that's not very useful; I'm not going to cast it on my own creature and both of his are illegal targets. I guess I'm giving him a 1/1 elf token then. He plays a Forest and then a Farhaven Elf. That must have been the card he was holding, if he cast it I would just kill it with my Pyromancer. Well I'm still going to do that since nothing has changed. He passes his turn again so I kill Farhaven Elf with my Pyromancer and ping him with my other one.

I draw for my turn and huzzah, it's not a land but another Prodigal Pyromancer. It still won't kill the 4/4 Nath but he's definitely on a clock here. I tap Cinder Pyromancer for a point, cast it so it untaps and then resolve it to pass my turn.

He topdecks a Flameblast Dragon. Well that's pretty much game if he gets to swing with it. Five in the air and with 10 mana I'm looking at 14 damage to my 11 life. That discarded Terror is suddenly looking really good. He ends his turn and I kill his Elf token and ping him down to 13. Now there's no more tokens now so I can deal with his life total.

By sheer dumb luck I actually topdeck an answer to the dragon. I resolve a Nekrataal and kill it when it enters the battlefield. I thought I misplayed here and didn't swing with my now 6/6 Mortivore, turns out it wasn't a misplay, later. He topdecks a Shivan Hellkite and kills Nekrataal and Cinder Pyromancer. Had I swung with Mortivore I would have been open unless I blocked with my Pyromancers which would make me lose my only way to win.

Another topdeck for me. Banefire. I swing with Mortivore this time, he's at 10 life, so a 7/7 is going to do a bit of damage. He tapped out his green so he won't block with with Ascetic Troll, his Nath is keeping me in topdeck mode, and Shivan Hellkite is how he's going to win. He calculates my 2 damage from the Pyromancers and sees that he's going to survive the attack with 1 life as next turn the Hellkite will dispatch the Pyromancers with ease. He goes down to 3 life after the attack and I cast an uncounterable Banefire for 5, winning the game.



Although, if he had blocked, I would've had to use it on the Hellkite, keeping my Pyromancer's alive and he would be on a 5-turn clock, or more like four turns turn since they were untapped. And being on a clock in topdeck mode is not very fun.



Thanks for tuning into the Play of the Week (read as: topdeck of the week) from Snow-Covered Swamp! Make sure to tell your friends about us and come back on Mondays where we make up cards or just everyday for random cards.

RCotD #42


Random Card of the Day #42:

Steam Spitter - 4G
Creature - Spider
Reach
{R}: Steam Spitter gains +1/+0 until end of turn.
1/5

Initial thoughts:

Alright. I know Lolzor has a thing for spiders. However, the most balanced spider, at least in my opinion, is Giant Spider. Canopy Spider is also really good but Deadly Recluse is the least situational--probably enough to maindeck. It depends on the spider for it's power level. Typically the higher cost the spider the less worth it is playing. This one is a five-cost and is only applicable if your are also playing Red.

Canopy Spider is about where it should be. a 2-cost 1/3 is average but you put reach on to it and it's an above-average card. It stops a lot of swarm and can kill smaller things. It's a little like the green Storm Crow. Giant Spider is a 4-cost 2/4 with reach. Not as powerful but it kills larger fliers and has a pretty big body. It's numbers may be below average but it can stall a game pretty efficiently.

However, by the time you hit 5-cost, even in a green deck, this is not exactly the spider you would want to be playing. I think that creatures with a high toughness are early game creatures that stop swarm decks, or to get you into mid/late game. At 5 mana you are already in mid game so you should be playing something better. On the other hand, it's easily splashable and relies a lot of red so if you're deck was mainly red this could be a decent card for when red starts to burn out. Somewhat highly situational, but it could work.

At a 5 converted mana cost there are just too many better cards than a 1/5 firebreather. Not a very wanted card but it certainly won't set you back. 2/5

Thursday, December 22, 2011

RCotD #41


Random Card of the Day #41:

Jushi Apprentice - 1U
Creature - Human Wizard
{2}{U},{T}: Draw a card. If you have nine or more cards in hand, flip Jushi Apprentice.
1/2
//
Tomoya the Revealer
Legendary Creature - Human Wizard
{3}{U}{U},{T}: Target player draws X cards, where X is the number of cards in your hand.
2/3





Initial thoughts:

It's alright. It might just be a pet peeve of mine but I don't normally like mill decks. The way I see it, milling is setting your opponents life total to 60, but it diminishes a lot faster. Additionally, creatures you play don't hurt their "life total" but instead mill them. They can play things from their graveyard, get threshhold, or maybe are playing Boneyard Wurm. There's just too many factors (Other than Eldrazi and Elixir of Immortality) that could completely shut down your deck.

The other thing I don't like about mill decks is the over-drawing ones. Jace 3.0's ultimate is exactly what I don't want on a mill card. Yes, they draw for 20 cards and have to discard at least 13 of them but you completely refilled their hand. and it was only 1/3 of their life total.

Though to be fair, your life "life total" isn't actually 60. Any competent player will be playing 60 cards but milling almost acts like you have a constant Underworld Dreams in play. If they don't mulligan they have 53 life at the beginning, an average game lasts 5-9 turns (at least until the victor is noticed) but sometimes games last 12-15 for really long ones. Okay, a really long game. 15 turns, 7 card hands, is 22 "damage" to them, meaning they have 38 life left. Now consider the difference in power between Lightning Bolt and Tome Scour. Lightning bolt will take 15% of their life. Tome Scour is about 13% of their "life total" not that big of a difference but we assumed a 15 turn game. In a 7 turn game, that's more like 10.8%. Tome Scour has decreased utility as it can't hit creatures. It doesn't stop your opponent from trying to win the game, and you will lose the race in percentage's of life totals.

Hm... I seem to have gone off-track. Anyways, the Card of the Day seems to be a mill card that refill's your opponent's hand. You could also use it on yourself, but if you wanted a card drawing machine, you can get one that's better that won't have a "If you have nine or more cards in hand." clause attached to it. I don't like this card, and would never play it, but that's more of personal distaste for cards like these; other players could still use it. 3/5

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

RCotD #40

Random Card of the Day #40:


Nirkana Revenant - 4BB
Creature - Vampire Shade
Whenever you tap a Swamp for mana, add {B} to your mana pool.
{B}: Nirkana Revenant gets +1/+1 until end of turn.
4/4


Initial thoughts:

It's about time I got a good card! Actually good doesn't really sum this card up. It's absolutely fantastic. She works well in Vampire tribal, and is basically a Caged Sun on legs. Well, not really, but at least it "doubles" your mana pool.



Not only is she a vampire but for some reason she's not legendary. Having four of these out would just be absurd. (would probably never happen though.) This is definitely a card to run with Consume Spirit. But really any black card works. If your group allows joke cards maybe you can even play a turn 7 BFM.


She's paints a big target on herself but at least she's out of bolt range. But if she goes uncontested on the battlefield, on turn 5 you could swing with her for 18 points of damage, maybe lethal if you Vampiric Touch them (or other similar effects). But it is important to note that she doesn't affect things like Woodland Cemetery or spells like Corrupt/Tendrils of Corruption. But most of that could be solved with things like Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth. Just pray that your opponent isn't playing Karma.


An absolutely amazing card. Kind like a "destroy this or lose the game." You really can't get much better than that--almost everything in the game can be dealt with, even on turn 0 with some crazy stuff. The closest answer you have to an end-all-be-all is Time Stop, which can still be countered. And even Last Word can be exiled with Mindbreak Trap which can even exile uncounterable things like Thrun, the Last Troll.


Just a brilliant card. She's not exactly going to be burned away with red spells or Dismember'd as long as they have mana open. Good design and it's power level seems about right for Mythic Rare. 4/5

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

RCotD #39

Random Card of the Day #39:

The Hive - 5
Artifact
{5}, {T}: Put a 1/1 colorless Insect artifact creature token with flying named Wasp onto the battlefield.

Initial thoughts:

What a terrible card. For 10 mana you get a 1/1 flier, 15 mana you can get two 1/1 fliers. It just isn't a good thing to do with left over mana. Any of the storage lands (See: Dreadship Reef) is probably better than this. The casting cost is too high, the activation cost is too high. The effect is too weak to be competitive. It's not even like you can break this card with Rings of Brighthearth. It beats the regular mana curve at two fliers for 7 mana, or three for 9 mana, but that still doesn't make it any good.

This card doesn't "stop" you from winning. In fact it actually helps you win but it changes the pace of a game from good to a grueling slow. If you're winning you want to keep winning, not change the pace of the game so your opponent can catch up. The card stops you from winning a different way. If you have a bunch of cards in your deck that are better than this, then because you drew this card it is stopping you from getting the real winning card.

How to fix this card:


Either decrease the casting/activation costs or increase the effect. To keep "The Hive" flavor alive it would probably still crank out 1/1 fliers. So here we go:

The Hive - 2
Artifact
{3}, {T}: Put a 1/1 colorless Insect artifact creature token with flying named Wasp onto the battlefield.

Simple. That's all the card needed really. A low mana cost to get it out, and a slightly lower activation cost. Now it does what it was supposed to do: swarm fliers at your opponent. Unless they have something like Storm Crow on their battlfield.

However, as it was printed, not only do they say a bunch of useless things "represent wasps with tokens," "make sure indicate each one is tapped," "must be killed individually" among other things, but it also is one of the most useless cards in Magic. A shining example of what bad rare cards also existed in Alpha. 1/5

Monday, December 19, 2011

Dark Ascension Spoilers




















Dark Ascension Spoilers:

It is important to note that Nebelgeist is actually unconfirmed. It's just a rumor. It might not even be a rare. Faithless Looting doesn't seem to be rare status, despite it showing that.

However, there will be Double-Faced Cards in Dark Ascension, but in the 3rd set, Avacyn Restored, there will not be any Double-Faced Cards.

The other two cards "spoiled" are: (names only, sorry)
Gravecrawler
Ravenous Demon

Gravecrawler is most certainly going to be a zombie. Judging completely based off of it's name and nothing else, you will probably be able to cast it from your graveyard. Kind of like Skaab Ruinator. Maybe it'll be blue, too. They are trying to make Zombie Blue/Black and somewhat milly, as evident with Zombie Alchemist, Armored Skaab, and Stitched Drake. That's about all there is to speculate.

Ravenous Demon will probably be black, and not likely splashable based off Reaper from the Abyss. So far, every Magic card that has started with Ravenous either has an enter the battlefield effect, or has something happen during upkeep/end step. (Excluding Ravenous Baloth) I'm hoping for a Demon synergy. Black/Red is Vampires, Black/Blue is Zombies, so why not have Black/Black Demons? It would kind of fit the theme of Innistrad block. I'll take a shot in the dark and say there's a Demon Lord in this set, maybe not Ravenous Demon, I'll try to make up a card for it.

Lord of Demons - 4BBB
Flying
During your upkeep, if you control a Demon other than Lord of Demons, you may destroy target non-Demon creature.

If I wanted it to be over-the-top (maybe it should be) you could add "Morbid--2BB: Reveal the top card of your library, if it is a Demon card, you may play it without paying it's mana cost."

It probably won't happen, but one can wish.

Making Up Cards Monday #1

Making Up Cards Monday #1:

Hello readers (or lurkers) and welcome to the newest thing I thought of: Making up a card. It's not exactly a ground breaking idea but it is always nice to see what other peoples cards and thoughts are.

The card to the left is not actually the card I was thinking of. That's more of a joke. I always think of a card idea and send it Lolzor. Sometimes I don't exactly think the card through and it ends up being insanely overpowered. (You have to be careful of this.) But other times I want the card to fill a specific niche, or just throw a cantrip on it.











Analyze - 2U
Instant
Scry 2. Draw a card.
Rebound

At first when I thought of this card, I was like "Yeah!" It's basically a Preordain with a little more draw to it. It's pretty expensive but that is sort of circumvented by it's rebound. A card that gets the answer to your opponent. It's not exactly an early game card but is much more useful when the game is being dragged out. But now I'm comparing it to Foresee. I'm realizing that this card would be replacing it. It costs less, it almost scries for the same amount. (Scry 2 + Scry 2 =/= Scry 4) That's not exactly the kind of card I would want to make. If I was R&D I wouldn't allow this card to be printed for a long time. The power creep is just not right at the moment for this card. Maybe if you changed Rebound to Flashback 2U it could be better, that way you don't get the drawing a card for free, but still a good card. But, then it would make Think Twice obsolete--almost. Oh well enough about this card.

The other card I'm going to discuss is actually my dog. Yes. I made my dog a card. I think it captures the flavor of her quite well:


Damsel - 2G
Creature - Hound
Intimidate
When Damsel enters the battlefield, put target card from your graveyard on top of your library.
2/2

It's got a powerful Regrowth-esque kind of effect going on. But it doesn't go into your hand so it's not over-the-top good. Besides that, you are paying 2G for a 2/2 Intimidate. Which is about average for splashing--I mean you can get Spectral Rider for WW, so the extra mana makes the second effect almost worth it. Actually it makes it almost completely worth it. It could be especially good mid-game when you need to recur specific spells. I probably should have bumped it up to uncommon at least.

Anyways thanks for reading! Come back next Monday for another card, Friday for great plays, or just every day to see a random card where we talk about how good (or how bad) a card is!

Making Up Cards Mondays



Archive

MUCMonday #7
MUCMonday #8
MUCMonday #9
MUCMonday #10
MUCMonday #11
MUCMonday #12
MUCMonday #13
MUCMonday #14
MUCMonday #15
MUCMonday #16
                                                               MUCMonday #17

RCotD #38

Random Card of the Day #38:

Ramses Overdark - 2UUBB

Legendary Creature - Human Assassin
{T}: Destroy target enchanted creature.
4/3

Initial thoughts:


Lots of errata on this card. But as for its P/T to mana cost ratio, it's pretty lacking. What's more important to note than the 6 cost is its color commitment. It's not just blue and black, it requires two of each. This hardly makes the card splashable, you almost only have to be playing blue and black to ensure you can get this card out. (Maybe you can add green for mana fixing.)


There's not a lot of cards to compare this to overall, but let's compare things with related converted mana cost. Szadek, Lord of Secrets and Ur-Drago are the only other creatures with UUBB in their converted mana cost, but both of them cost 7. (Besides multicolor cards like Progenitus) Even other cards like Wrexial, the Risen Deep (also called Cthulhu from my friends.) have completely different effects and serve completely different purposes in different decks.

A 6-cost 4/3 that has a situational targeted kill is not exactly the best card, but it could be a budgeted Avatar of Woe if you played it with Rancor. Play Rancor, tap to destroy, return Rancor to your hand. Replay it next turn. It's not exactly the same as Avatar because it's sorcery speed, but if you're running blue you can make it instant speed with Leyline of Anticipation. (Which in my opinion, every blue deck should have at least one.) Rancor is probably not even the best card. Any returnable aura is good, but the best is probably Fool's Demise.

It's a pretty average card, but it's got a nifty effect that could completely change the game; and maybe you can make some combos out of it with Auras that go back to your hand when they go to the graveyard--there a few of those. I would give it a 2/5 because of how high-cost and P/T, (Would be terrible to see this Lightning Bolt'd) but its tap effect can actually be pretty spectacular if you build your deck right. 3/5

Sunday, December 18, 2011

RCotD #37

Random Card of the Day #37:

Skirk Prospector - R

Creature - Goblin
Sacrifice a Goblin: Add {R} to your mana pool.
1/1

Initial thoughts:

Interesting card. It's not an auto-include in a red deck though. It's kind of like a Blood Pet for red, except it's more tribal related. Additionally, you can sacrifice it the turn it comes out. I can see this being particularly amazing in a Vengevine or Dragonstorm deck. Though you will find a way to put Vengevine in your graveyard with something like Buried Alive, and Dragonstorm has other problems.

With the Vengevine idea I came up with, you will have a difficult time managing Jund* shards. That is of course you are willing to splash for this card, playing Blood Pet alone since your in black should work. And probably mana accelerants/fetch cards. If you did play red, It would probably be with Imperial Recruiter so you can always have a second creature card to get Vengevine out.

Alright, so maybe Dredgevine wouldn't really work maybe Dragonstorm would work. However I'm a little iffy about this going into a Dragonstorm deck. One of the ways that Dragonstorm works is ramp cards. Here is the one I tried to make:

4xBogardian Hellkite
4xDragonstorm
4xRite of Flame
4xManamorphse
4xSeething Song
4xLotus Bloom
4xSee Beyond
4xPonder
4xPreordain
4xPyromancer Ascension
Notable lands: 2xBoseiju, Who Shelters All, 1xMikokoro, Center of the Sea

Each of these has a specific purpos. Bogardian Hellkite is my win condition, but it needs to be in the library to worl. If it's in your hand then Dragonstorm doesn't work for an instant win. To reduce this, See Beyond can shuffle Bogardian Hellkite back into my library. Rite of Flame is one of the best Red Ramp spells. Albeit temporary mana, you only need to cast a spell once. Seething Song also helps with this. Lotus Bloom is different though. When you cast it from suspend it will add to your storm count, which is pretty amazing considering it can be part of your opening hand. Pyromancer Ascension is basically the best turn 2 drop. It might be countered, but if it resolves, you could potentially win on turn 3. Doubling Seething Songs for 10 floating red, double Preordain for scry 4, double Manamorphse for drawing two cards. Once you get the quest counters on this enchantment this can be pretty crazy.

The rest of the deck just goes through the library to get the cards you want, typically by being selective in never putting Bogardian Hellkite in your hand. Ponder and Preordain do this pretty well. Manamorphse is essentially letting me play a 56-card deck, with the exception that it's better because it increases the storm count. But the reason I think Skirk Prospecter is not a 4-of in this deck is Dragonstorm has 2 problems: the first is achieving its mana cost. It is already pretty high at 9, but all you need is a storm count of 3 to win, so a card for 0 mana gain is not exactly what it would want to play. I can "save" the mana if I put it turn 1-2, and then the next turn I have an additional mana. You would be surprised how often you are short one or two mana from casting all of your spells to win.

It's a very interesting card, and I only thought of two decks that /might/ be able to work. There's a huge enabling on this card I guess I just haven't found a way to break it. 4/5 just because it seems like an enabler in some decks. But a 1/1 for 1 mana that can "store" the mana for later is pretty good.



* - Jund is one of the Shards of Alara, red, black, and green.
** - In one of my previous games with Lolzor, he cracked Memory Jar in the middle of casting of spells, exiling my hand. I had tried to recover for the rest of the turn, but I ended up discarding two of the Bogardian Hellkites, I dealt 10 damage to him, but he just Geth's Verdict'd and Doom Bladed them. I had no other way to win, I may have to need some sort of recursion spell in the deck like Put Away or Elixir of Immortality.

Saturday, December 17, 2011

RCotD #36

Random Card of the Day #36:

Zodiac Monkey - 1G
Creature - Monkey
Forestwalk
2/1

Initial thoughts:

Meh. I've seen worse worse cards. It's not actually that bad. It excels at what it does, it's splashable (I don't think this a card to splash for though. I would rather splash white for Rebuke, maybe green for Spidery Grasp.)

A 2 power 2/1 is okay. I would rather play Grizzly Bears in most cases. Green is a fairly uncommon color in draft (I guess that makes it a good color then.) so it shouldn't be that hard to get some better green cards. But if you are playing constructed, this would probably never see a deck and I wouldn't be surprised. Glissa's Courier has more uses, a landwalk ability and can take a hit--but it's one more mana.

It would need help to make it an unblockable creature, something like Yavimaya Dryad. I don't see this monkey being useful over other average cards. Not exactly a 4th pick if you know what I mean, but not completely useless. 2/5

Friday, December 16, 2011

RCotD #35

Random Card of the Day #35:

Iron Star - 1
Artifact
Whenever a player casts a red spell, you may pay {1}. If you do, you gain 1 life.

Initial thoughts:


This is what I call a "trap" card. This along with the cycle of uncommons of M11/M12 such as Dragon's Claw/Kraken's Eye. Experienced players know that this is a bad card, at best this card might give you 6-7 life, and it's a mana sink of 8-9 mana.

This was the cycle before Dragon's Claw though. I remember when I was teaching my friends how to play they were actually in love with this card. The idea was they could last longer in a duel than usual. "Winning the sprint but losing the marathon." A true quote from one of my friends.

Now actually of the entire cycle, I don't like any of them except one--Dragon's Claw. The idea is that it is a terrific sideboard against monored. A popular deck type is Red Deck Wins, because basically all red cards are designed with the same deck theory in mind: swing with everything at their life points and blow up anything that gets in the way. It has been around since the start of magic and will probably always be--as will Green Ramp Beatstick. Simple yet surprisingly effective decks.

How to fix this card:

This card on the other hand is part of the not-so-great cycle of cards. If it had a cantrip on it, whether it enters the battlefield or an addition {3} to draw a card if that color spell is cast, it might be amazing.

Fixed Cycle Artifacts - {2}
Artifact
Whenever a player casts a {color} spell, you may pay {2}. If you do, draw a card.

There's your cycle. Would probably have to be bumped to rare, though. But without that, it's just a card that doesn't advance the game, stops you from winning, doesn't stop your opponent, doesn't get the card beneath it, etc.

1/5, even the red one is terrible. Would rather play Dragon's Claw. Even sideboarding against the colors isn't effective. I have played a monored mirror match but my friend maindecked Dragon's Claw. That wasn't very fun. If it was in his starting hand he won the game because of how many red spells were being cast. All the bolts hit for 2, Lightning Elementals would swing for 3 and then die the next turn. But that's the nature of red cards--a quick win and it will burn out, so stabalize ASAP or lose. Paying a mana to gain a life is not very effective mana use either.





On another note, something has changed about blogger and now I have to type everything out in html. I'm not sure what happened, but it is very, very annoying to a href every time I try to reference a card. Hopefully you guys know what Lightning Bolt/Doom Blade/Dismember/Cancel is by now. God knows how many times I have tagged that card. They are just so main stream, and are basically universal responses to every card out there.

Back To The Basics: Color Wheel


Lolzor-
So since we don't have an interesting play this week I decided to take the place and review some of my opinions on the roles of the colors, so here we go!


White: Heal, Protection, Exile, Weenie, AoE Removal

I preface this with the statement of I both love and hate white. White frustrates me to no end I hate playing against it and I rarely play it myself...that being said I like  of white mechanics. My favorites are first strike vigilance and lifelink, I would say these are most found in white weeine decks. Now I like these mechanics but its not where I would say the true strength of white is, the true strength of white is its unique removal. When I think white removal the first card that comes to mind is oblivion ring, that card has caused me more problem then I care to think about. The power of exile as removal is mainly found in white and unlike most forms it gives you no chance of retrieval or any of the benefits of send to graveyard effects. Another removal unique to white is AoE...though its found in other colors its usually high cost or has some other draw back unlike a card like Day of Judgement. There is also somethings to say about healing but I don't really care for it because its usually just a stall and not even a good one (outside of lifelink).

Blue: Draw, Counter Spell, Avoidance
So there isnt much to say about blue that we dont already know. It is, in my opinion, the strongest in the game...but only when paired with other colors. The reason is it deals with everything both before it hits the field and has the ability to deal with it after it has entered. Blue is universal control and thats what it does best. Blue also has the nifty ability of avoidance with its unblockable or flying creatures and such spells as Distortion Strike. The final thing it does well is hand control...yours or your opponents, you will always have a draw or a peak at ur enemy's hand.

Black:  Destruction, Discard, Graveyard

Black is probably my favorite color to play with, im not really sure why. Black draws its power from sheer destruction, be it hand or creatures it gets rid of them. Basically you trade cost for how situation it is, higher cost = less situational. Its destruction comes in all forms on creatures, enter graveyard, spells ect. Another specialty is discard, as with others its found in other colors but the best ones for this will be in black. Discard is a great splash in decks but its rarely a main win condition. Hand control in games is important, if u can get ur opponent to top deck early on u can breathe easy for most of the game. A great example of this is Liliana of the Veil, you will pretty much force them to play their card or lose it. In fact she pretty much sums up black. Finally black has alot of graveyard control, the main two would be dredge and retrieval. Both are insanely strong when done right

Red: Burn, Land Destruction, DRAGONS AND GOBLINS!

Red is direct damage...they hurt. Also dragons which are giant....and usually do some kinda of direct damage or pump....and goblins are like the high synergy 1 for 1 trade creatures. Alot of people say its the best color...arguably true...



Green: Beat Face, Land Ramp, Elves, Hexproof


Green, green, green. My first color ever was green and to this day I still love it...but I might say its the least powerful color...at least at the moment. Green is basically creatures...big hard to deal with creatures. The point of green is to get in your face and swing again and again. Trample is big in green and shows the flavor even more. To get these big creatures out u need mana (or a trick) so green also has land ramp, Rampant Growth and Viridain Emissary are good examples. Now I put Hexproof in here...its hardly exclusive to green but I feel like it fits the flavor of green the most and is most powerful in the color.

Ok so there you have it...a bit of a rushed article but I hope u like it!

EDIT: Sorry it took so long to post, it was written before I was called away and I was no where near my comp for a few days