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Welcome back to Budgeted Resources there has been a number of articles since I last had a look at budget decks but I'm now back on track. This article is the first in a new series based around the Zodiac.

Now if you don't know what the Zodiac is it literally means animals and refers to the patterns or configurations of creatures as seen in the twinkling stars at night. The exception to this is Libra the fairly new sign of the scales, which use to be part of Scorpio as the Scorpions claws. The Zodiac belt is the great circle around which our luminescent Sun apparently moves month by month throughout the year, transceiving the energy of those different constellation signs and thereby transmitting the celestial radiations to our Earth.

The Western Zodiac chart looks like this.

Astrological signs represent twelve equal segments or divisions of the zodiac. According to astrology, celestial phenomena reflect or govern human activity on the principle of "as above, so below", so that the twelve signs are held to represent twelve basic personality types or characteristic modes of expression. There are sun signs and moon signs, which both depend on your date of birth.

The first sign of the zodiac cycle is Aries. Aries begins on the first day of spring. The other eleven zodiac signs are Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius and Pisces.

Now most of the above was taken from other websites, each week I will look at a zodiac sign and give you some background information on it so you may even learn something from these articles, I know I will from writing them.

Now depending on your country you may have a different version like the Chinese who use a different set of animals. But for this series we will be looking at the Western Zodiac as above.

Now the first sign that we will be looking at in this article is Aries The Ram. The origin of the symbol...or glyph...for Aries is unknown. The symbol of the ram appeared for the first time in Ancient Egypt. It was depicted as the head of Amun, considered to be the leading deity whom all other gods followed.

Now Aries is ruled by none other than Ares the God of War who will be familiar to those of you with playstations. Ares is a major deity and a member of the Twelve Olympians, a son of Zeus and Hera, in Greek mythology.

This gave me the idea for the first deck in the series, we will build around the theme of War.

Warfare

Nobilis_of_War "Tell me, seer:
Why must there be war?"

"I see a great chariot,
Hear the snap of the whip
As its flame
Arcs against the sky
Like a bloody smile,
The snorting of the rams,
Their heated breath
Scorching the ground.
Its driver,
Its master,
Sees the world
From behind the pommel
Of an upraised sword.
His enemies are legion,
For they ever shift
With the content of his troops.
He knows no loyalty
Except to himself
And those he claims
To know –
The better to find
A willing army.

Many peoples
Know him
By many names.
Yet the myths are the same:
His great coming,
Ablaze,
Shining in his godhood;
The speeches,
The rallies,
His sugared tongue
Setting torch to the kindling
Of prejudice and fear;
The great war
Led under his crimson standard,
That scythes down
All that once
Stood tall
And proud;
The aftermath
Of wailing and pain
In which he
Never figures
At all.

He is a smith of war.
He stokes fervor
From glowing ember
To white flame,
Hammers hot
And pliable minds,
Forges soldiers
Out of the rough dross
Of peaceful life.
His conqueror's voice
Never meets silence.
It is answered
With shouts of rage,
Roars of approval,
A deadly din
That lifts his spirit.

You see, blood is his wine,
The clash of swords his song.
He does more than revel in it:
He feeds off it.
A great siege
Is a banquet to him,
A long and terrible battle
The most exquisite delicacy.
Each life crushed
Under the heel of war
Is a grape,
Its sweet juice
Trickling down
His throat.
He cares not
For the lands he conquers,
Nor the ones
Left burning and fallow.
He always knows
There is another land,
Another army,
Over the bloodstained horizon.

Without warfare,
Without all its aspects –
The fervor,
The pride,
The sacrifice,
The bloodshed –
He would cease to exist.
And that, my dear,
Is why we cannot even imagine
A world without war.
He won't let us."

Taken from the The Seer's Parables

If you type in "War" in the deck editor it brings back every Warrior and his Dwarven friends including their pet Giant Warthog. The first card that caught my attention was Goblin War Drums, you can't lead an army without a good tune in the background. Goblin War Drums was first released back in Fallen Empires things were very different in magic back then and this set was available for so long that it gave its self a bad name. There are a number of cards that you will know of that came from the set that are still used today. The first being a common Hymn to Tourach and the second a casual card that came back in Time Shifted the ever popular Thallid, which I used to run in a mono green deck with Force of Nature. Yes the set was really that bad I had to look it up in the gatherer to find the rares as I couldn't remember them and realized why. The best rare was Hand of Justice hmmm.

Goblin War Drums is quite a simple enchantment, when it's in play each creature you control can't be blocked except by two or more creatures. When we attack with this deck we need to hit heavy and hard so the opponent doesn't forget it in a hurry.

Next I had a look at creatures and there are quite a few that love the smell of war the first being Nobilis of War this card is a spirit avatar from Eventide and is split coloured red and white. We won't be playing white in this deck so will be paying the five red mana casting cost. Nobilis is a 3/4 flying creature and has an ability that gives all of your attacking creatures +2/+0 which is going to be perfect in this deck. The next creature is purely dedicated to the theme of war so much that if you are lacking he will die when he comes into play. The card in question is the mighty War Elemental, I've not seen him around much in the casual room but he can be very powerful let's have a look at his ability.

When War Elemental comes into play, sacrifice it unless an opponent was dealt damage this turn.
Whenever damage is dealt to an opponent, put that many +1/+1 counters on War Elemental.

The first ability is his weakness but his second ability sure makes up for that, he can very quickly get out of control and with the Goblin war Drums in play he will be beating his own tune on the skulls of our enemy.

The backup for our two war faring creatures will be from the warrior pool I encountered when I typed war into the deck editor. The first one I'm going to look at is from the Worldwake set Kazuul, Tyrant of the Cliffs, you can't say no to a tyrant in a war deck he fits in perfectly and his ability to produce ogre tokens when you are being attacked is a very powerful ability but sadly overlooked as I've not seen him around much in the games I've played since the set was released.

The next two warriors are your basic mid range creatures. The first is Viscera Dragger which has the ability to act as a cycle card the second is a morph creature Gathan Raiders if we can empty our hand his hellbent ability makes him a 5/5 which is nothing to shake a stick about. The next warrior depending on when you play him can make your other creatures in play turn into fire wielding loonies, the card being Furystoke Giant. Last but not least is a wee goblin with a big attitude the famous Goblin Bushwhacker, you'll need to hide your shrubberies when this little goblin comes charging towards you with his mates.

Now that's all our creatures let's see what we will be using to back them up on the battlefield. The first card fitting in with the war theme is a brand spanking new card from Rise of the Eldrazi World at War, now you can't get better than that with this deck. The card is amazing you get the standard after your attack phase untap your creatures and have another attack phase, I know we already have cards like this such as Relentless Assault and Fury of the Horde but this card has an additional bonus as it has the new Rebound ability that lets you play the card in the beginning of your next upkeep without paying it's mana cost, giving you two attack phases that turn as well. To help the deck hit faster and harder I included Grafted Wargear and a haste enabler Reckless Charge.

Out of the last two spells the first is our wrath effect which is very mana intensive Plague Wind, I'm hoping to ramp up to that with Rakdos Carnarium. The second is our re-animation spell Torrent of Souls this also gives our animated creature a nice +2/+0 haste bonus. I did go with a few duals in the form of Graven Cairns to help us hit those black spells when we need them.

 

Here's the final deck list current cost from MTGOTraders is $10.63 as of 22nd of June 2010.

 

If you're looking to upgrade the deck I would recommend swapping the Plague Wind's with Damnation's, these will drop in price in October with the next extended rotation. 

War Assemble

Game 1 vs Maed

My starting hand is Mountain, Rakdos Carnarium, Goblin War Drums, Nobilis of war, Furystoke Giant, War Elemental and World at War.

I start off with mountain and then Rakdos Carnarium returning the mountain to my hand. Maed plays a mountain Spellbook and then a swamp.

Turn three I replay my mountain and cast Goblin War Drums. Maed passes the turn.

This turn I play Graven Cairns and Viscera Dragger. Maed plays a plains and Simian Spirit Guide.

My Viscera Dragger can’t be blocked this turn due to Goblin War Drums so I send him in for three damage and the play War Elemental. In Maed’s turn he plays Diabolic Tutor and passes.

Maed is on seventeen life at the beginning of my turn and is tapped out some I’m going to sent my war party in to do some serious damage this turn. I cast World at War and attack I hit for four damage and the War Elemental gets four +1/+1 counters. I then gain my second attack phase due to World at War and send them in again this time for nine damage dropping Maed down to four life. The War Elemental jumps up to a 13/13 at the end of my turn. Maed concedes in his turn with World at War ready to rebound back on my turn.

Win 1

Lost 0

Game 2 vs pjohannsen

I start off with 2 mountains, Goblin War Drums, Nobilis of War and 2 War Elemental’s.

 Pjohannsen starts first with Blood Crypt and Badlands into Highland Berserker while I play two mountains.

Another Blood Crypt from pjohannsen and the Highland Berserker hits me for two damage. Pjohannsen then plays a Skullclamp and uses it on the berserker to draw a card. I have a slow start this game and play my third mountain and Goblin War Drums.

In pjohannsen’s turn he strikes me with Blightning for three and I discard a Goblin War Drums and a War Elemental He then plays Urborg, Tomb of Yawgamoth to finish the turn. I play my fourth mountain and pass.

Pjohannsen plays Crypt of Agadeem this turn and another Highland Berserker which is Skullclamped.  I use the black mana from my mountain due to Urborg, Tomb of Yawgamoth and cast Viscera Dragger.

A second Crypt of Agadeem and Pjohannsen plays Sneak Attack this turn leaving a red mana source open. Sneak Attack is such a good card I have no idea what to expect so I must fear the worst an Eldrazi. On my turn I send in the Dragger and Pjohannsen activates the Sneak Attack and plays Hagra Diabolist dealing a point of damage to me, Pjohannsen did forget the Goblin War Drums and failed to block the Dragger hitting him for there life, this gave me the opportunity to cast War Elemental. The Hagra Diabolist is sacrificed at the end of my turn.

Pjohannsen plays Kazuul Warlord and passes leaving a source of red mana available again. I draw my fifth land Graven Cairns and play Nobilis of War. I only send in the Dragger this turn as I expect Pjohannsen has a blocker ready for a Sneak Attack. Pjohannsen uses Sneak Attack to bring down Tuktuk Grunts and they double block my Dragger. I take out the Kazuul Warlord as the other creature will have to be sacrificed at the end of my turn.

In Pjohannsen’s turn he kills both of my creatures the War Elemental and Nobilis of war with two Terminate’s. In my turn I bring the Nobilis of war back from the graveyard with Torrent of Souls and send him in for seven damage, no Sneak Attack’s this turn.

Pjohannsen casts Kazuul Warlord in his turn and equip’s him with the Skullclamp.  In my turn I attack with Nobilis for five damage taking Pjohannsen down to five life. I then cast War Elemental and pass.

Kazuul attacks me in Pjohannsen’s turn dropping me down to nine life. In my turn I attack with both Nobilis and the War Elemental for the win.

Win 2

Lost 0

Game 3 vs Dartanyun

My starting hand is 3 mountains, Furystoke Giant, Gathan Raiders and War Elemental.

I’m off first with a mountain and then Rakdos Carnarium. Dartanyun plays two mountains and Goblin Archaeologist.

On turn three I play a morphed Gathan Raiders. Dartanyun plays Krark’s Thumb which is going to make this game interesting, I do love coin flip decks you can see one of mine here.

I play a mountain in my turn and attack with the 2/2 morph which is unblocked dealing Dartanyun two damage. I can now cast War Elemental as I’ve dealt damage this turn. Dartanyun plays Chaotic Goo which can grow really quickly with the Thumb in play. The goblin hits me for one damage this turn.

I play Graven Cairns this turn giving me five mana and play Furystoke Giant I use my other two creatures to deal two damage each to the Chaotic Goo killing it. Dartanyun goes for the Wild Wurm this turn but fails on the flip and its returned to his hand. 

This turn I play a mountain and then Grafted Wargear equipping it to the Giant. I then play a kickered Goblin Bushwhacker and send them all in apart from the War Elemental. The giant is blocked by Dartanyun’s goblin and I morph my Gathan Raiders, Dartanyun takes eight damage taking him to ten life. The War Elemental gains eight +1/+1 counters making it a 9/9. Dartanyun plays the Wild Wurm again this turn and he stays.

I draw Viscera Dragger this turn and cycle him to get Reckless Charge. I then Unearth the Viscera Dragger and play Reckless Charge on the Gathan Raiders and go full out attack for the win.

That’s not a bad strike force for turn seven.

Win 3

Lost 0

Thoughts

Now I'm not going to show you as many games as normal this week, the reason is because I have a second deck to show you this time round based on our theme for the week War. I'm not sure if you the readers are interested in a few deck lists each article or my normal one but this comes at a cost and results in less game reports as I only have a certain amount of spare time each week. Let me know which way you prefer it. 

Now I must say Goblin War Drums was a really fun card to play, those goblins banging away is enough to put any creature on edge. War Elemental was also a nice surprise, I'm going to be using him in more decks in the future. I think I may look at swapping out the Viscera Dragger's and replace them with Staggershock, when it comes back on the next turn with rebound we can cast our War Elemental after its damaged our opponent.

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Now let's have a look and see what the second deck of the article has in store.

As I couldn't include all the war cards I wanted in the first build I built a second deck this time based on Glory of Warfare. Glory of Warfare gives all your creatures +2/+0 in your turn and +0/+2 in your opponents turn.

Now this set's us in the colours of the Boros faction from Ravnica, which is the home of Boros Swiftblade. He's perfect for the deck as he could be hitting for six damage a turn by himself with this card in play. Now the next creature to be included is a Student of Warfare herself, yes we will be including the actual card Student of Warfare, she also has the ability to gain double strike via level up. The other creatures in the deck are also very strong by themselves, we have Firemane Angel to take the war to the sky's. Knight of Meadowgrain to join in on the early assault and lastly we are going to include a beast of war or in this case two Razormane Masticore's to out flank our opponent.

Now looking at other spells to include the first is a weapon made for war Loxodon Warhammer if our opponents let us equip this to one of our double strikers they had better watch out as there will be no mercy. Carrying on the war theme I also included a card that you may never have thought of playing Triangle of War. I must admit it's not the best artifact in the world but with all our power/defense bonus's we will be able to use it to take down any troublesome creatures that don't attack like Royal Assassin's. The last War card to be included in the deck is Incite War, I'm not sure how useful it will be yet but we shall find out.  

On the land side I also included some Battlefield Forge's as you can't have an army without weapons.

Here's the final deck list current cost from MTGOTraders as of 22nd of June 2010 $10.15 

 

War and Peace 

Game 1 vs TheAltoonaWiseman

My starting hand this game is 2 mountains, 1 plains, Battlefield Forge, Brave the Elements, Boros Swiftblade and Lightning Helix.

I start off with a plains and a mountain into Boros Swiftblade. Wiseman plays two swamps and Vampire Hexmage.

We can’t have the Vampire Hexmage getting in the way so she dies to a swift Lightning Helix. I play a mountain and then attack for two damage with Boros. Wiseman plays Vampire Nighthawk this turn and passes.

 I bit of déjà vu this turn as I Lightning Helix the Vampire Nighthawk and then play a plains. Boros then goes in for another two damage. In Wiseman’s turn he plays Quicksand and Quietus Spike and passes.

I attack with Boros who is swallowed by the Quicksand and then cast Razormane Masticore. Wiseman plays Kalastria Highborn and enchants her with Unholy Strength.

It wasn’t the best plan on Wiseman’s side to play the enchant on the vampire as her toughness is still low enough for the Masticore to take out with his deadly sting. After he strikes her with his tail he then attacks for five damage. Wiseman plays Pulse Tracker this turn and passes. There should be a sign “Don’t feed the Masticore”.

In my turn the Masticore strikes down the Pulse Tracker and charges into the fray yet again dropping Wiseman to eight life. This turn I also play a Student of Warfare and level her up to level two. A swamp from Wiseman and he passes.

In my turn the Masticore goes for the throat with the aid of the Student of Warfare for the win.

Win 1

Lost 0

Game 2 vs Saint_Jesus

My starting hand is 1 mountain, 1 plains, Brave the Elements, Student of Warfare, 2 Loxodon Warhammer’s and Boros Signet.

I win the dice roll and I’m off first with a plains into Student of Warfare. Saint_Jesus matches my play with a forest into Llanowar Elves.

On turn three I play a mountain and Boros Signet and pass. Saint_Jesus plays a forest and attacks with his Llanowar Elves.

I play a plains this turn and level up the Student of Warfare to level two and attack for three damage. Saint_Jesus plays Juggernaut and passes.

I bring down the mighty Loxodon Warhammer and keep the Student back as a blocker to kill the Juggernaut if it decides to attack. Saint_Jesus plays Privileged Position and does indeed send the Juggernaut into the arms of my first striking Student of Warfare. She blocks and delivers a swift death.

My Student of Warfare now has a taste for blood, I equip her with the Loxodon Warhammer and send her in for six damage taking Saint_Jesus down to eleven life.  I level her up to level three at the end of the turn. Saint_Jesus plays Duplicant on the Student of Warfare which is a sad way to go, but it’s not all bad as the Duplicant is a 1/1.

I call on the aid of the Knight of Meadowgrain to take my side in battle. Saint_Jesus doesn’t like her either and plays another Duplicant removing her from the game. The other Duplicant attacks for one damage.

This turn I play our main card of the deck Glory of Warfare and pass. Saint_Jesus plays Khalni Heart Expedition and a second Privileged Position and attacks with the 2/2 Duplicant taking me down to twenty two life.

Time to bring in the beast of war, I summon the Razormane Masticore. In Saint_Jesus’s turn he plays Eldrazi Conscription on the 2/2 Duplicant making it a 12/12 annihilator 2 beast of a creature. Saint_Jesus sends it in and I sacrifice two mountains and take twelve damage dropping me to ten life.

In my turn I equip the Razormane Masticore with the Loxodon Warhammer and send him in for ten damage, the 1/1 Duplicant blocks and I take Saint_Jesus down to two life. Saint_Jesus plays another Juggernaut and passes for fear of my Masticore.

In my turn I do the only honourable thing a general would do in this kind of a standoff and that’s a Lightning Helix to the dome for the win. It’s not just size that matters!

Win 2

Lost 0

Game 3 vs fota6

My starting hand contains a plains, Battlefield Forge, Boros Swiftblade, Firemane Angel, Student of Warfare and Brave the Elements.

fota6 starts off first with Terramorphic Expanse. I play a plains and Student of Warfare. At the end of my turn fota6 sacs the Expanse for a plains.

On turn two fota6 plays Azorius Chancery returning the plains to their hand. I play a second plains and level up the Student of Warfare to level three making her a 3/3 with first strike and send her off into battle taking fota6 down to seventeen life.

In fota6’s turn he re-plays his plains and casts Azorius First-Wing and a Resistance Fighter. My Student of Warfare is not troubled by fota6’s army and casually walks into the fray unblocked for another three damage. I then play Battlefield Forge and Boros Swiftblade.

Turn four and fota6 increases his army with Rhys the Redeemed and Zealot il-Vec. The Azorius First-Wing fly’s in for two damage taking me down to seventeen life. I send both the Student of Warfare and Boros Swiftblade in taking fota6 down to nine life in my turn. At the end of my turn I level up the Student to level five.

fota6 generates a token from Rhys this turn and attacks for four damage. I level up the Student of Warfare in my turn to level seven and can see the road to victory ahead.

Do you see what I see?

I play Brave the Elements giving my creatures protection from white so the elf token can’t block either of my creatures. I send them in and fota6 pulls a Dawn Charm from his hat rendering our attack useless and possibly putting us in to a bad situation considering how many creatures he has ready to attack back next turn. I finish the turn by Lightning Helixing Rhys to stop the green creature machine.

A full out attack from fota6 this turn taking me down to ten life. Fota6 then casts Sky Hussar untapping all his creatures. The tide may be changing at this point in the game towards fota6 coming away the victor. In my turn I draw and play a mountain. I send in the Student of Warfare and fota6 sacrifices Resistance Fighter stopping all damage from the Student. I finish off by casting Firemane Angel as I’m going to need a good blocker.

Fota6 plays Vigilant Martyr and Balduvian Frostwaker and passes. In my turn I send in the Student and Angel, fota6 blocks the Student with the Sky Hussar which was a bad move as the Student has double strike and cuts it down before it lays a finger on her. My Angel is blocked by the griffin which also dies. Fota6 sacrifices the Vigilant Martyr to regenerate the Sky Hussar. After combat I cast my second Firemane Angel.

In fota6’s next turn he plays Plumes of Peace on my Student of Warfare and uses his Balduvian Frostwaker to turn his Boreal Shelf into a 2/2 creature. Fota6 then attacks which looks like suicide against my Boros Swiftblade and Firemane Angel, I block and cut down his creatures without taking casualties.

Two more swings with the Firemane Angel’s and we take the victory home.

Win 3

Lost 0

Thoughts

The deck is very fast to play with and likes to get in to a fight as soon as possible. With all the first/double strike creatures it is a force to be reckoned with, it did feel like you were at war with the deck on the other side of the table. Out of all the games I have played with this deck I've never had the chance to play Incite War. I'll have to come back to it another day. Razormane Masticore was one of the star players in the deck, I would recommend you give him a try he's really cheap at the moment at $0.12 each. He is really nice in madness and animation decks due to his discard ability, hmm could be very interesting running him with Squee, Goblin Nabob as well. 

That's all from me for this week, don't forget if you are interested in joining The Coalition League the link is below and it starts on Monday the 5th of July. I'll also be doing the June version of the Rare Drafter this week or next, I'm waiting for the prices to settle from the Extended rotation news first.

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Links

My PureMTGO Archive / The Rare Drafter May / The Coalition League