New MTG products on the way.

While I’m still staring at the standard format to try and see what, if any, new decks are going to pop out before Worlds, I thought I’d do a quick run-down of the new Magic products currently available and in the pipes.

Duel Decks: Garruk V.S. Liliana
MSRP: $19.99
available now

The latest duel deck to be released and the second to feature two opposing planeswalkers. The savage Garruk pits lifeforce at it’s most savage against the necrotic magics of Liliana. Each deck has 60 cards, which are playable in any format in which they are legal. Six of the cards have brand-spanking new art, including foil versions of the two namesake planeswalkers.
Instructions for playing each deck are also included.

A few cards of note: Liliana Vess, Garruk Wildspeaker, Ravenous Baloth, Skeletal Vampire, Mutilate, Bad Moon, Rancor, Basking Rootwalla, Wild Mongrel, Blastoderm.

For a complete spoiler, check it here.  

Premium Deck Series: Slivers
MSRP: $34.99
available Nov 20th.

The first of a series, the first premium deck is an all-foil deck featuring everybody’s favorite symbiotic race: Slivers. Some of the most powerful hive-minded critters are contained in this set, which includes 5 rare cards and 1 mythically rare card. Also includes a spin-down life counter (I hate that name, it’s a d20 for Christ’s sakes), foil deck box and instructions for playing. A must have for people who like Slivers.

A few cards of note: Sliver Overlord,  Crystalline Sliver, Rootbound Crag

For a complete spoiler, check it here.

*Originally I said Sliver Queen and Sliver Legion were in this deck. They are not. I could have sworn I saw them on the spoiler.

Deck Builder’s Tool Kit
MSRP: $19.99
available May 21, 2010

A starter-kit for the new player who wants to start building his own deck, the tool kit is essentially a “collection in a box”. Each kit contains 100 basic land cards, 125 “semi-randomly” sorted cards, and 4 booster packs from the most recent expansions, as well as instructions on building a deck and a box to put it all in.
Each toolkit will contain different cards, so each box will present, as they say, “unique deckbuilding challenges”.

Duel Deck: Phyrexia V.S. the Coalition
MSRP: $19.99
available March 19, 2010

Another yet-to-be-released duel deck featuring the horrors of Phryexia and the armies of the coalition. According to the WotC site, the Phryexian deck will be mono-black and the coalition deck will feature every color. Of course, the decks will feature new card art on select cards. It might be fun to relive some of the cards from some of the coolest blocks around: Invasion and Urza’s Saga.

Notable Cards: No idea, but I do see a picture of what looks to be a Phyrexian Negator and another of Urza.  

Kali Anderson wins 5K Nashville with helps of Eldrazi artifact

Surprise surprise, a girl won Starcitygames Nashville 5K. Well, maybe it is a surprise. It is  the first time I have seen a girl win, or even mentioned, at a major Magic tournament.

We did have a grandma play in the Zendikar pre-release at my “local” shop. That was strange.

Anyway, congratulations to Kali and her interesting brew, Eldrazi Green. Check it out here.

I like what I see. The deck works by throwing out lots of creatures quickly, then sealing the deal with Eldrazi Monument. The drawback of the artifact is obviously skirted by the mob of creatures you can power out, what with all of the Elves, thier mana and Ant Queen. If the monument doesn’t show, the creatures can eventually get out of control well enough on their own, using Garruk to power them to a victory.

Several little packages work together in this deck.  The elves don’t do anything crazy like the combo in last block, but they do work well together as basic creatures, drawing a few cards, making a little G and getting a little boost from thier “lord”. The Nissa Revane package is pretty annoying too. I played against her plenty at the pre-release and various sealed games, and I can only imagine what it is like with a full compliment of Nissa’s Chosen and the life-gaining power of a few other kinds of elves as well. Ant Queen is a beast, especially with Garruk, the monument and all of the mana floating around in this deck. Master of the Wild Hunt is interesting too. I he isn’t dealt with relatively soon, his dogs can take care of all sorts of threats. I think Great Sable Stag is a nod to Jund.

The other decks break down like so:

2 Five Color Cascade
3 Eldrazi
1 Jund Aggro
1 Lotus Jund
1 Emeria Aggro

Check the decks out here, along with the rest of the pack.

The Emeria Aggro deck is worth a look, though it seems to have a few too many 2/2’s in the mix. The Five Color Cascade decks are interesting too; I find it hard to believe decks cramed with so much cascade could lose. Perhaps there is too much of a good thing.

What I also find interesting is the lack of Vampires at all, and how few Jund and Boros Bushwhacker decks are in the top 8 slots.

Who’s Who of Post Zendikar Creatures

Few decks ever suceed without creatures. Only the stoutest of control decks can surivive without them, and even then, most control strategies unleash a few monsters to finish the job. However, not any creature will do. Many are printed, few are chosen. Gone are the days of Grizzly Bears and Shivan Dragon; in today’s removal heavy world, every creature must be worth more than it’s mana cost, or at least the cost of the spell used to take it out.

So who are these superstars of today’s standard metagame? It’s hard to tell. A few stand out, either being great on their own or finding a home in a currently sucessful deck.

Like any good superstar; just as many people hate the Baneslayer as love her.

Here are the critters I consider A-listers. Most of them don’t need any explaination; you should already know what they do.

Baneslayer Angel
Bloodbraid Elf
Putrid Leech
Sprouting Thrinax
Ranger of Eos
Broodmate Dragon
Iona “I-own-you“, Shield of Emeria
Wall of Denial
Lotus Cobra
Sphinx of Jwar Isle

However, with Zendikar on the table for little over a month, decks are still being tuned in card shops, apartments and basements, and new creatures are being used and abused,  just waiting to be unleased on an unsuspecting meta.

Here are some of the guys I think might be up-and-coming stars.

Knight of the Reliquary
I mentioned this before, but I think KotR is going to only become more powerful as the Zendikar block continues. She works great with the fetches and with the introduction of the landfall mechanic, can do all sorts of little tricks by sacking lands and putting another in play. She can grow quite large too, sacking lands to find fetches to sack for another land.

Steppe Lynx
Steppe Lynx has two things going for him, his mana cost and the ease of triggering the landfall mechanic. In the right deck he could dish out some serious early damage, as well as be a nice surprise blocker. The lynx can also be found with Ranger of Eos, allowing for players to consistantly put him on the board. The one W cost also makes him a very efficient; no matter how they get rid of him, you only paid one.  If the right landfall deck is built, this guy will be a superstar.

Scute Mob
A lot of people are on the fence about this guy, but I think the bug is one of the most efficient creatures around. The mob is a 1/1 for G, but eventually he’s going to be a 5/5 for G, and then a 9/9 for G. However, the “eventually” part is what scares most people off. What also scares people is wasting removal, any removal, on a 1/1 you paid G for, and they’ll let him nibble away until they absolutly have to do something about him. If he gets his grow on, he becomes a beast. I think the mob has a place in a lot of deck, from aggro to control, and making him grow isn’t hard, especially with a little mana acceleration.

Ob Nixilis
Like the Lynx, with a deck centered on landfall, Ob could become a serious threat. Yes, there is a chance you are going to pay 3BB for a 3/3 who is going to get smoked by Lightning Bolt, but if you are smart about it, there is also a chance you are going to get a 6/6 or a 9/9 and make the opponent lose 6 life for 5BB. People are tyring to make this happen as we speak.

ThornlingWhen people first saw Thornling, they went nuts; until they saw Path to Exile, that is. However, last time I looked, the most popular deck in the format doesn’t run white, or anything that could deal with him at all, for that matter. Thornling is a solid creature that would have been better in a format without so many “removed from game” effects, but that shouldn’t mean he never sees play. Perhaps he could be a good sideboard card against Jund, or as a nice ramp monster. Remember, they can’t path him unless they have the card in their hand. Don’t be a fraidy-cat!

Dumb looking and a bit redundant, but he could be a solid beater.

 

Great Sable Stag
The stag saw a lot of play when Faeries was still in standard, but since then, players have put him down for different monsters. I wonder, why? He still has protection from black, and black is all the rage right now. Yes, the Jund player can bolt him, but that is four cards in 60, and Vampires can’t do shit. The proud stag should at least be boarded if players don’t want to run him in the maindeck.  

Bloodghast
Bloodghast has a few things keeping him from greatness right now, Vampires, Creatures, and spells that have the word “exile” on them. All are very popular, and all pose a major threat to the ghast. He doesn’t have a home outside vampires at the moment, and that deck is pretty bad, at least when it runs up against competent players with a good deck. The Bloodghast is also terrible when it comes to fighting the other super-powered creatures in today’s metagame, though he can do a fair job of trading with a few of them. Finally, he gets pathed a whole lot, which wouldn’t be so much of a problem if most decks running path didn’t also run creatures he can’t get through. However, if he finds his way into a non-vampire deck or if the metagame sees a shift from it’s current state, he could become a nusiance. He is nearly impossible to deal with using conventional removal, and countering him is just as useless. All it takes is a few in the graveyard and a land drop to cause a serious problem.

Emeria Angel
Again, if landfall becomes a serious deck, this critter could become quite popular.  A 3/3 flier who makes little birds every time a land drops. It wouldn’t be hard to power out 2-4 birds in a turn, and this could be deadly with Garruk and Overrun.
Please notice, landfall looks to work the best with W/B and G at the moment, which also happen to be the colors with some of the best spells avaliable at the moment.

World Queller
The queller is a nice combination of body and utility. He is a 4/4 for 5, which isn’t bad when you couple it with the ability to cause each player to sacrifice a permanant of the type you choose each upkeep. You get to choose  the type, each upkeep. It might seem awkward at first, but with the right set-up, the savvy player can find ways around his drawback of having to sacrifice something of your own.

There are the guys I would be watching. To see some new standard decks and perhaps a glimps of how these creatures might be put into a deck, visit the official WotC website to see the recent Magic Game Day decks.

Naya Zoo: Card Advantage without Blue Two

Big and dumb can be pretty dangerous.

 One of my favorite decks is Naya Zoo. Yeah, it is a tier 2, at the moment,  but I think the deck has the potential to break into the top tier.

I’ve been playing Naya Zoo for quite some time now, and it seems pretty solid. That being said, I cannot say much about how it matches up in today’s metagame. I haven’t played consistently enough against the same sort of decks you would see at a major tournament.

What I can tell you is what the deck does well. It plays cheap and powerful or cheap and potentially powerful creatures and turns them sideways. Yes, it is a beatdown deck. However, it has a few tricks. Naya Zoo generates card advantage with cascade and Ranger of Eos, a pretty nice trick with all of the removal out there. It also has a bit of removal too, for things like those pesky Baneslayer Angels.

As much as a dumb monster deck as Naya Zoo is, you cannot just throw things out there without thinking and expect to win. I know this from experience. Naya Zoo still requires brains. I would have to say 50% of my losses with this deck were due to user error.

Here is a build I went 5-2 with last Friday.

Naya Zoo

Creatures 3 Scute Mob 4 Wild Nacatl 3 Woolly Thoctar 4 Knight of the Reliquary 4 Bloodbraid Elf 4 Ranger of Eos 3 Enlisted Wurm Planeswalkers 2 Ajani Vengeant    Instants 4 Path to Exile 3 Lightning Bolt 2 Naya Charm	Lands 2 Mountain 4 Plains 4 Forest 4 Jungle Shrine 4 Arid Mesa 4 Rootbound Crag 3 Oran-Rief, the Vastwood	Sideboard 3 Qasali Pridemage 3 Dauntless Escort 3 Volcanic Fallout 3 Great Sable Stag 3 Journey to Nowhere

Again, I can’t say a whole lot about the matchups. I only played a few decks what I would consider “mainstream”. However, I can briefly discuss some of the cards  and how they perform.  

Scute Mob: Some say he’s great, others say he sucks, but his board presence is undeniable. He has to be answered eventually, or he will quickly get out of hand. Yes, all removal kills him, but you only paid one G. Maybe he’s a 1/1, maybe he’s a 9/9.  

Knight of the Reliquary: The best trick with her is to blow up a plains and then look for an Arid Mesa. You can figure out what to do next. Not only does this help her grow by 2 each turn, but it helps to thin your deck out too. Block and do it before damage is dealt.  She can be a lot of work, and I would suggest boarding her out in control matchups where the chances of your hard work paying off are minimal. Against other creature decks with little removal, she’s a superstar.

Enlisted Wurm: Cascade is insane, and to keep up with something like Jund, you need to be able to “cheat” in as many free monsters and spells as possible. Not only can the wurm do that, but he has a solid body as well.

Naya Charm: I only saw this a few times, but it was a monster each time I did. All of the charm’s abilities are pretty relevant. The least useful ability is the 3 damage. The charm’s other two abilities are what really makes it shine. In a standoff situation, it will win you the game. It also counts as “extra copies” of spells or creatures already in the graveyard.

Oran-Rief, the Vastwood: Sometimes, 4/4 Nacatls are really useful. The extra point of power and toughness can sometimes make a huge difference.

Sideboard: Was terrible, except for the Journey to Nowhere. Sometimes a little extra removal is necessary against those big finishers.

After Friday, I made a few slight changes to the mainboard, and quite a few changes to the sideboard. Here’s the new makeup.

Naya Zoo Two

Creatures 3 Scute Mob 4 Wild Nacatl 3 Woolly Thoctar 4 Knight of the Reliquary 4 Bloodbraid Elf 4 Ranger of Eos 3 Enlisted Wurm   Instants 4 Path to Exile 4 Lightning Bolt 3 Naya Charm

Lands 2 Mountain 4 Plains 4 Forest 4 Jungle Shrine 4 Arid Mesa 4 Rootbound Crag 3 Oran-Rief, the Vastwood

Sideboard 3 Captured Sunlight 2 Luminarch Ascension 2 Uril the Miststalker 2 Volcanic Fallout 3 Dauntless Escort 3 Journey to Nowhere

Ajani sucked in all of my games. If I saw him, that was. Even in control matchups, there was always a sphinx or sodding Baneslayer Angel flying over my head to kill him if I didn’t have a path. However, an extra bolt or Naya Charm would have won me a few games, so I added them in.

Sideboard 2

Naya does horribly against the stupid mono-red decks out there. They burn your creatures, hit you with earthquake a few times and then Spire Barrage you to death. I wished for some Captured Sunlight, which I had in the original sideboard but took out. It will also help you get back some of your burned monsters. Uril the Miststalker should be great in removal-heavy matchups, and as an added bonus, bigger than anything Jund has. The Luminarch Ascensions should help with control matchups.

Here are a few tips on how to play Naya Zoo.

Your deck is best at 5 + lands. Never keep a hand with less than 3 lands in it. I am willing to bet I’ve lost most of the games I’ve tried it with fewer.

Unless you really need guys on the field, use Bloodbraid Elf and Enlisted Wurm as if they were removal; cast them when there’s something you need to get rid of. Cascading into a path when you don’t need it sucks, and being able to get a free one and a monster is great.

Scute Mob should be dropped on turn one, if you have it in your opening hand. They’ll have to get rid of it eventually, and even if you only get in for a couple points before you have to hold it back or it gets removed.

In a control match-up, play Ranger of Eos whenever they don’t have the mana to counter, even if you don’t think you need the guys. You will. Playing a Bloodbraid Elf or Enlisted Wurm into a counterspell is okay. They’ll have to choose.

Inquiring Minds

I see that I’m averaging around 50 hits per day and I’m interested to find out how people are finding my website. I’ve made this little poll to find out. Feel free to leave a comment if you wish. In fact, if you vote “other”, I would love to know what “other” is.

 

Also, www.wizardscupboard.com sells Baneslayer Angel for $35, if they’ve ever got them in stock.

Into the Post Zen Metagame 2: The other decks.

When a block rotates out and a new one steps in, there is a rare moment when the metagame is a relatively clean slate. Here there is a chance for real innovation. New cards come in, old cards previously not “good enough” are suddenly look a lot better and strategies that just didn’t make it in the old metagame might get the chance to shine in the new one.

Lets take a look at some of the post-Zendikar decks that didn’t have a strong showing at the Starcitygames Phillidelphia 5k, or are still in the “development” phase.

Cruel Control
Bant
Naya
Soldiers
Cascade
Other Control

*Each highlighted deck link is a different version of the discussed deck.

Traditional Cruel Control (and varients)

Cruel Control has been a popular deck for quite some time now, starting as Quick n’ Toast first and slowly evolving to what we know now as Cruel Control (as almost every variant runs at least two copies of the namesake sorcery). This deck usually ends up on top sometime due to its ability to play all of the best cards in the format, no matter what the color, and can thus have an answer to most everything in the metagame. However, the deck usually has lull periods when the best cards in the format and the “enemy” are yet to be defined, such as right now, when the meta is in flux.  
At it’s core, Cruel Control is just as it says; a control deck. It keeps the board squeaky clean with the best removal, sweepers and countermagic; drawing cards in the meantime and waiting until the right moment to drop an efficient threat like Broodmate Dragon or Baneslayer Angel or cast its flagship card, Cruel Ultimatum.
Right now, the biggest changes to the deck are the loss of countermagic (not Cryptic Command = teh suck for many) and the addition of fetches (no more Reflecting Pool or vivid lands). What the deck gained is Wrath of God (Day of Judgment) and a nice finisher in Sphinx of Jwar Isle.
The deck still plays the same, just different spells. Kill, counter, cast a finisher or Cruel Ultimatum. What remains to be seen is what the deck will have to include to counter todays threats and if the old card choices are as effective as they were pre-Zendikar.

Other variants exist, such as Cascade Control. Here, the idea is pretty much the same; control the board, but with less countermagic and more creature removal, as cascade doesn’t play well with counters. Cascade control is a little more pro-active, if you ask me, if only on the back of the free cards generated by the  nine or so Cascade cards.

Other varients of Cruel Control exist too, but they all pretty much play the same way, with the choice of finishers or the inclusion of a few extra counter/kill cards being the only difference.

Bant

Bant is a deck people have been trying to work on since Shards of Alara was printed. However, the archetype has only seen limited success, usually with aggressive decks riding on the back of Rafiq of the Many or Finest Hour.
Bant is an interesting combination of cards, featuring a little bit of muscle, combat trickery and countermagic.  The deck operates as an agressive or mid-range creature deck, getting in for some early damage and then keeping the board clean until it can get in with a power hit after dropping Rafiq, Finest Hour or both.  The deck can even deal with a few things larger than itself with some countermagic. However, the deck never seems to get there. Some of the coolest creatures and best removal are in Bant colors, yet the deck just never seems to get there constantly. I do not know why, but I can speculate; the cards in the other decks are just a bit better. With no cascade, card drawing, or direct damage, it seems Bant has no real way to come back once the game starts going south either.  
Still, Bant is one of my favorite color combinations. Perhaps with the additional white removal or with a few creature changes, Bant can make a stronger showing  in the new Metagame.

Naya

Naya is another second-string deck that, like Bant, just doesn’t seem to have gotten there yet, despite great cards. Also like Bant, there seem to be different versions post-Zen; aggressive versions and a mid-range mana-rampish version. The former version is one I have had experience with. The deck usually throws out some quality one drops like Wild Nacatl and now Goblin Guide or Scute Mob, then picks up the pace with the cascade triggering Bloodbraid Elf, the powerful Woolly Thoctar or the card drawing Ranger of Eos, keeping the board and hands full. Some versions run Ajani Vengeant. The deck also runs with some removal like Path to Exile and Lightning Bolt. The extent of the Naya strategy is to bash to victory and hopefully get good draws from the elf and enough guys from Ranger to survive sweepers, which the deck was originally pretty immune to (before they reprinted wrath).
The second version, Naya Lotus Angel, uses Lotus Cobra to ramp up to Baneslayer Angel, Rampaging Baloths or Enlisted Wurm quickly. It also plays many of the same creatures  Naya Aggro runs, such as the one drops.
Naya is now adding critters like Dauntless Escort and Knight of the Reliquary, dropping some of the bigger vanilla monsters. Good move, I say. Perhaps the deck just needs some fresh cards.

Soldiers

Soldiers, the token white weenie deck of the format. Play lots of dudes, power them up with other dudes and the white-only enchantment Honor the Pure. Play more dudes and overwhelm your opponent. Not a lot of innovation here. Captain of the Watch is great for six mana. Brave the elements is great for either protecting your guys from a damage-dealing sweeper or surprising the opponent by giving your guys protection from thier guys and swing in for lethal damage.  Removal is usually limited to path, and maybe a few combat tricks with Brave the Elements or Harm’s Way.
Question: why do soldier decks playing Ranger of Eos and Captain of the Watch not play Kor Skyfisher? A 2/3 flying soldier for 1W. Return the ranger or the captain to your hand to cast them again for their CIP ability.

Cascade

Everybody knows how powerful cascade is; you get cards for free doing something you would normally do; cast a spell. It is no wonder so many powerful decks have a bit of cascade built into them, such as Cruel Cascade and Jund. Some decks are trying to capitalize on this by adding the best of the cascade cards to a single package, though the effectiveness of this idea is yet unknown. Give it a shot.

Other Control

Control is a popular strategy, and no wonder; some kind of control deck usually ends up pwning the formate eventually. Right now, aside from Cruel Control, there are quite a few other control strategies out there. Time Sieve, for example, keeps your opponent from doing any real damage before you either a.) kill them with animated artifacts, or b.) take 20 turns before killing them with animated artifacts. It seems like a dumb idea, but it works pretty well. The version linked above is a little strange, as it doesn’t run much removal or counters, but it can still be deadly.
Other combo decks include this new innovation here. According its creator, the deck’s strange spell choices might just come out of left field. but are great in today’s meta. Personally, I like Swerve, especially with cards like Mind Sludge and Blightning running around. It can switch the target of a Malestrom Pulse nicely too, saving your planeswalker. Magosi the Waterwell ain’t too bad either. Drop a counter when the opponent doesn’t make a play, let him take the next turn and then do something stupid like draw 7 with Mindspring and take another turn. 
Mono White control is also trying to make a showing, likely due to the new ”wrath” and Lumiarch Ascension. It is not as hard as it seems to get that sucker online.  Iona, Shield of Emeria can shut down games fast, and Emeria, the Sky Ruin can bring back fallen Baneslayers and Knight of the White Orchid.