I know why you are all here. To see my fantastic preview card for the day. Before we get to that. Let me show you another preview card that Dragon collectors everywhere will love to get their hands on.
We go all the way back to Portal for ....
Blamo! Zodiac Dragon. As you can see this mammoth Dragon has quite a hefty casting cost, and with it's errata rules text will be restricted to the casual games. So with that, I would love to share with you some great cards to pair with it and a preview card wouldn't be complete without a fun deck to take out to the Multiplayer tables.
When I saw this card (as I didn't play much during Portal), I instantly thought of a few other cards. The first card is the equipment Deathrender. Once you get Two Zodiac Dragons in your hand, all it takes is another creature equipped with the Sword to die, ie a Mogg Fanatic, and you will always be able to have a Dragon in play. You could throw in a Pandemonium for some hefty damage, Altar of Dementia for a milling effect, Greater Good to draw your library, Miren, the Moaning Well for 8 life a turn, or Ashnod's Altar** for a rather large fireball.
**Not available online yet.
Let's put together a decklist.
This is a pretty typical ramp deck which truly showcases the Zodiac Deathrender interaction. Dragon Broodmother is another fun finisher in color and is perfectly helped out by a solo Dragonspeaker Shaman (of course for Zodiac Dragon, the more the merrier). Harmonize, Browbeat and Greater Good allow you to chew through your deck, and Lightning Bolt acts as light removal. Pandemonium adds more depth to the deck, and if you want to include an easy sacrifice outlet other than Greater Good, you could be looking at enough damage to finish off the table. I'm sure you can come up with lots of ways to abuse our casual preview card, Zodiac Dragon. Now let's get on with the card we've all been waiting for.
Insert Trumpet Fanfare with a light drumroll in the background.
That's right, everyone's favorite restricted White Enchantment is coming to a virtual deckbuilding tool near you. This card even appeared at number 2 of the top 50 white cards of all time (might be slightly outdated from 2003, I'm sure Figure of Destiny, Path to Exile, and Honor of the Pure, would have to roam somewhere on the list) behind only balance, which was recently spoiled for inclusion in From the Vault: Exiled. This card really needs no introduction, it has been around since Legends, it has helped decks during "Black Summer" when Necropotence ran rampant, thinned even the thinnest White Weenie decks, ensured UW control hit their land drops well after the game was over. Land Tax helps peekaboo cards like Sensei's Divining Top, Counterbalance, Sylvan Library, Ornate Kanzashi (another casual card), and Scroll Rack each in different ways. You would be amazed the cards that just ache for a way to randomize your deck every turn. In fact, there aren't that many things that the enchantment can't do. So, with that, I will leave you with another Casual deck, which is one I used to play on paper. I believe we finally have all the elements online. Once, I even took out three other players in one turn in a five player game. However, without a way to replenish my Library, I ran out of gas, and cards. Maybe Feldon's Cane deserves a spot in here somewhere. I know you all have your own Land Tax deck's and can't wait to break them out. See you in the casual room when MED 3, hits the virtual shelves.
Also Check out ClassicQuarter.com and MyMTGO.com's preview card here!
http://www.classicquarter.com/articles/040_090808.asp
http://www.mymtgo.com/Tarmotog/blog/483/
26 Comments
Holy Crap! The Land Tax Pimp is showing up to the party! Now all we need is Zuran Orb and we're all set...
I've got a Zorb! I'll sell it to you for 10 tickets. It'll be the only one you see until they print it in MED4! I got mine from... uh... they gave it to... uh... beta testers of... PLANECHASE. Yes. Planechase in MTGO! It's coming. But Zuran Orb isn't, so you should buy mine for a lot of money.
:)
zuran orb is also here. i forgot it was in MED also. http://www.mtgotraders.com/store/MED_Zuran_Orb.html
The land assualt deck is cool but doesnt actually have land tax....and should probably include some way of drawing cards in addition to land tax. Reliquary tower would also be very good in there.
As for not containing land tax, the PTE were simply a placeholder, as the land tax wouldn't have linked up in the decklist converter. I will see if I can get this fixed.
With this comment I remembered another card I had in my paper deck, and that was 4x Howling Mine. Reliquary Tower sounds good in theory but with 1 W and 3 R needed to cast, I always found myself with 3-4 lands in play and not wanting to play another one.
Just wanted to point out that your Zodiac Sack deck has 7 Taiga's in it.
The preview cards look like fun though. I'd stopped playing paper before Zodiac Dragon came out, I'm looking forward to building round it.
Thank you for pointing that out, I will try and get that fixed as well. Stomping Ground anyone?
Stomping Ground sounds good
Just wanted to point out that Zodiac Dragon is from P3K, which I guess is a Portal set, but not what folks usually think of when you say Portal.
jvs
I wasn't aware of that, thanks for the note. Like I said, I didn't play much Portal, what with it's horsemanship and all.
It was actually not bad. I think it had more "flavor" then regular magic at least P2 did.
The set is looking pretty good so far. Hopefully there are more surprises to come.
it would have been a lot more fun to preview Zuran Orb for the past MED sets if we had had Land Tax.
The Seismic Assault deck actually needs Scroll Rack. Scroll Rack and Land Tax are nuts - it is close to draw four a turn.
Also might have been nice to run Armageddon.
Scroll Rack and Land Tax are nuts together. However, when I built this deck, I think Stronghold had just come out, and I either didn't own any Scroll Racks or they weren't printed yet. This was also in my early Magic years when I hadn't progressed very far as a deck designer. Come to think of it, I think I also ran a singleton Ivory Tower, and Black Vise. Now Armageddon, I have no excuse for, I should have tested that as well.
Your Land Tax deck has no Land Tax.
It's been fixed
Land Tax has always been one of my all time favorite cards.
Mono-White deck with Kitties, Serras, Z-orb, Balance, Armageddon, Wrath, Crusade and Jub-Jub(Juggernaut).
(Now if they will only reprint Sol Ring LOL)
Balance for the mono-white deck, along with Z-orb. Good thing Balance is coming out int he FTV: Exiled box...
Ah, to be in the 1990's again.... good times, good times.
You only need one Zodiac Dragon to go infinite with Deathrender and a sac outlet.
Sacrifice the equipped Zodiac Dragon, and two abilities trigger - its own death trigger, and Deathrender's. If you stack Deathrender's trigger on bottom, then by the time it resolves, the dead Dragon is back in your hand, able to be put into play. No second dragon needed.
As for the article, I felt it was a bit sparse for a preview article - the content in it was good, but it just wasn't long enough. Like this paragraph.
Edit: Didn't realize this was a last-minute effort when I commented earlier. For last-minute, I think it deserves an extra fireball.
Thanks for the clarification on the triggers. Yes, the article was a bit sparse for a preview article, and it was a last-minute effort. I felt it was more important to even get up and article with "Here are the preview cards for MED 3 enjoy", than wait to have a meatier article and publish as everyone begins with Beta for the set.
I really hope you can get that dude as an avatar from release event.
these sound like fun to play with, as long as you dont have comcast that issss
hrmmm how come zodiac dragon doesn't fly?
Because P3K was based on Chinese mythology, and Chinese dragons don't fly. P3K had no flying at all, actually. There was a mechanic called Horsemanship that worked the same as flying, instead.
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