• Musings: A Look at Conflux Limited Black - Black   16 years 12 weeks ago

    no pics and i dont play paper magic so i have no idea what the cards are =/

  • Stronghold Precon Project - Build and Name a Pauper Theme Deck!   16 years 12 weeks ago

    MTGO Name: Milkshake75
    Name of deck: Head Games

    13x Island
    11x Swamp
    3x Mana Leak
    3x Tide Warrior
    3x Rootwater Hunter
    2x Wall of Tears
    2x Walking Dream
    2x Mind Games
    2x Sift
    2x Mind Peel
    1x Lab Rats
    1x Brush with Death
    2x Dark Banishing
    1x Wall of Soul
    2x Coercion
    2x Manakin
    2x Counterspell
    1x Capsize
    2x Coiled Twinviper
    1x Evincer's Justice
    2x Gaseous Form

  • Stronghold Precon Project - Build and Name a Pauper Theme Deck!   16 years 12 weeks ago

    MTGO name sneakattackkid
    Deck Color b/u
    Deck name Tricky decisions

    Basically I wanted to build a deck that would make players better as they have to not only make good decisions but force their opponents to as well.

    Spells
    Blue
    3x Mana Leak
    2x Counterspell*
    2x Sift
    7 Spells
    Black
    2x Brush with Death
    2x Cannibalize
    2x Coercion*
    2x Diabolic Edict*
    1x Lab Rats
    2x Torment
    2x Tortured Existence
    13 Spells
    Creatures
    Blue
    1x Cloud Spirit
    2x Dream Prowler
    2x Rootwater Hunter*
    2x Spindrift Drake
    7 Creatures
    Black
    3x Foul Imp
    1x Gravedigger*
    2x Rabid Rats
    1x Rats of Rath*
    2x Serpent Warrior
    9 Creatures

    13 Swamps
    11 Islands

    10 cards from tempest

    Basically this deck forces you to think about your optimal decisions and will reward you with overpowered creatures with the life loss creatures as well as the Tortured Existence allowing you to bring back your better creatures over and over again. It forces your opponents t make the hard decisions as well with cards like mana leak, diabolic edict and combat decisions with rootwater hunters and rabid rats. But beware as you make the wrong decisions and it could very easily cost you the game.

  • Win My Packs! A Conflux Gunslinging Event.   16 years 12 weeks ago

    Thanks to everyone who participated! Next time will be much smoother!

  • Pauper Standard Conflux Review   16 years 12 weeks ago

    @Rerepete

    Thanks for catching the Grixis Illusionist error. Regarding Dark Temper, there are no viable creatures in Pauper Standard that can survive a Puncture Blast at the moment. So Puncture Blast is effectively the same as a Terror that can target Black creatures and go to the dome. I should have been more clear about that.

    @Anonymous

    Yes, there are not a spectacular amount of playables. The problem being that this is a Domain set, which is pretty much multicolored. If you play one of the cards without the other color, such as Parasitic Strix without Black, then the cards become very subpar. Because most of the cards are then dual-colored, it makes them more limited.

    However, the cards that are playable are mostly unique in their function. The protection bears are very good as are undercosted beaters like Wild Leotau. While the quantity is not high, the quality of these cards are important enough that they will probably change the metagame unlike a set like Morningtide or Shadowmoor which had fewer playables and were larger sets.

    It also gives a lot of reward for building Domain, which may even become playable now. Also realize that this is a tiny set with only 60 cards total. Even if 6 cards are playable, that is 10%, which is a pretty high percentage.

  • One Double O #8 - Conflux   16 years 12 weeks ago

    Liked your article.

    World-Heart Phoenix can only recur from the graveyard by WUBRG casting cost.

    Master Transmuter: Any zero cmc cost artifact works here including artifact lands. You can tap Seat of the Synod for U for activation of Master Transmuter then bounce it back to your hand, and play it back untapped after bringing another artifact into play. Need to recharge Skyship Weatherlight? Bounce it back and redeploy it. (Is 5 mana bad for a re-usable creature/artifact tutor? Hint: Only pick one item and there is no randomness...LOL...My usual first target is Darksteel Forge or Mycosynth Golem.)

  • Pauper Standard Conflux Review   16 years 12 weeks ago

    Grixis Illusionist: Targets only lands you control, so no mana denial.

    Dark Temper: Destroys creature with black permanent, whereas Puncture Blast does 3 wither damage. Kinda like a red Terror that can target black creatures too....

  • Stronghold Precon Project - Build and Name a Pauper Theme Deck!   16 years 12 weeks ago

    MTGO name: jmliang
    Deck Color: WHite/Green
    Deck Name: Sneaky SPikey

    The point of this deck is more about fun than winning. First of we have 8 creature with evasion. The goal is to make them big with your spike. The en-kor also interact with spike really well since you can redirect damage first than remove the counter. In this deck there are also several ways to defend yourself such as pacifism, change of heart, and master decoy while you attacking with your lancer who's wearing spike on their head.

    *= cards from Tempest
    Creatures:

    3x Soltari Lancer *
    2x Master Decoy *
    1x Mounted Archer *
    2x Spiked Drones *
    2x Soltari Trooper
    2x Spike Colony
    2x Spirit en-Kor
    2x Nomads en-Kor
    1x Skyshroud Falcon
    3x Spike Worker
    2x Endangered Armodo

    Spells
    3x Pacifism *
    2x Change of Heart
    2x Conviction
    1x Elvish Fury*
    2x Mulch
    2x Anoint*
    2x Smite

    Land
    12x Plain
    12x Forest

  • Stronghold Precon Project - Build and Name a Pauper Theme Deck!   16 years 12 weeks ago

    Deck Name: Tortured to Death

    This Deck is based on my favorite common ever, tortured existence. Never before has a cards name been so accurate in describing it's effects on my opponents. This deck is truely a rarity, a pauper control deck that doesn't resort to the trickery of counter spells. Instead it revolves around using a number of strong recursion cards in combination with creatures with comes into play abilities which you want to recur or defensive abilities which allow you to stall for long enough to win with things that grind at your opponent's life total relentlessly like Brush With Death and Skyshroud Falcons. Besides, with all these creatures flying into and out of graveyards it isn't going to be long before that Lab Rat with Sadistic Glee becomes too much for your opponents to handle.

    2x Clergy en-Vec (Tempest)
    3x Gravedigger (Tempest)
    2x Honor Guard
    2x Master Decoy (Tempest)
    2x Morgue Thrull
    2x Nomads En-Kor
    2x Skyshroud Falcon
    2x Spirit En-Kor
    2x Venerable Monk

    2x Brush With Death
    1x Change of Heart
    2x Death Stroke
    3x Disturbed Burial (Tempest)
    1x Evincar's Justice (Tempest)
    2x Lab Rats
    2x Pacifism (Tempest)
    1x Sadistic Glee (Tempest)
    3x Tortured Existence

    10x Plains
    14x Swamp

    MTGO name: Ianonymous
    email: Jkovalcik(at)gmail(dot)com

  • Stronghold Precon Project - Build and Name a Pauper Theme Deck!   16 years 12 weeks ago

    MTGO Name: Rasparthe

    I have set up my deck to take advantage of the available non-creature acceleration in order to pay for some of the more useful buyback spells and heavy-hitting green creatures. All the creatures were specifically chosen to ensure they don't interfere with Endangered Armodon or die to Evincar's Justice.

    Decklist:

    Tempest:
    (2) Canopy Spider
    (1) Rootbreaker Wurm
    (2) Skyshroud Troll
    (2) Trained Armodon
    (2) Dark Banishing
    (2) Evincar's Justice
    (3) Rampant Growth
    (1) Disturbed Burial

    15 Tempest Cards

    Stronghold:
    (2) Lowland Basilisk
    (2) Skyshroud Troopers
    (2) Spike Colony
    (3) Spined Wurm
    (2) Serpent Warrior
    (2) Endangered Armodon
    (2) Death Stroke
    (3) Overgrowth
    (1) Brush With Death
    (1) Tortured Existence

    20 Stronghold Cards

    Lands:

    15 Forests
    10 Swamp

    25 Lands

  • Stronghold Precon Project - Build and Name a Pauper Theme Deck!   16 years 12 weeks ago

    MTGO Name Under_the_hammer or Eternal_hammer
    Colors Green / Blue
    Background: The deck runs a tight counterspell suite and good early blockers in Horned Turtle, Canopy Spider and Lowland Basilisk,to survive the early game. It is capable of playing large threats such as the Endangered Armodons quickly thanks to the mana acceleration and aggressive costing of the bigger creatures. The mana ramping also allows consistent access to pay the buyback cost of the blue-board controling spells of Capsize and Mind Games

    These stratergies allow the deck to survive the early game and control and win the late game.

    Tempest cards are marked with an *

    Decklist:

    The cards chosen to be three-offs are Capsize and Endangered Armodon: Both a key parts of the deck.
    14 Tempest cards have been included.

    Creatures:Total 15 - All creatures big enough not to naturally trigger Endangered Armodon Sacrifice.

    2 Horned Turtle(*) Early Ground Defense
    2 Canopy Spider(*) Early Defense
    3 Endangered Armodon Efficient Beater
    2 Skyshroud Troopers Efficient Beater, Mana Ramper
    2 Lowland Basilisk Early Defense
    2 Spined Wurm Efficient Beater
    2 Spike Colony Efficient Beater

    Spells:Total 22

    2 Counterspell(*) Control Suite
    3 Capsize(*) Board Control Hope to Ramp to Buyback ASAP
    2 Powersink(*) Control Suite
    1 Shimmering Wings(*) Out to a Stalled Board.
    2 Rampant Growth(*) Mana Acceleration
    2 Mind Games Board Control Hope to Ramp to Buyback ASAP
    2 Mana Leak Control Suite
    2 Contempt Creature Control
    2 Sift Card Filtering / Card Advantage
    2 Mulch Mana Acceleration
    2 Overgrowth Mana Acceleration

    Land: Total 23 - Need to See Double-Blue early hence weighting in favour of Islands

    10 Forest
    13 Islands

  • Stronghold Precon Project - Build and Name a Pauper Theme Deck!   16 years 12 weeks ago

    This deck is based around Endangered Armodon from stronghold. A 4/5 for
    4 that wants all of your other creatures to have a toughness 3 of more.

    Imagine my surprise after utilizing Gatherer - besides green, blue has the
    most creatures that fulfill this requirement!

    I have sorted this list based on set/creature-casting cost/spell-casting
    cost then land for ease of reading.

    Stronghold cards (22)

    1 Hammerhead Shark (1U)
    3 Lowland Basilisk (2G)
    2 Skyshroud Troopers (3G)
    3 Endangered Armodon (2GG)
    1 Dream Prowler (2UU)
    2 Spined Wurm (4G)

    1 Mind Games (U w/2U buyback)
    1 Leap (U)
    1 Contempt (1U)
    1 Mana Leak (1U)
    1 Tidal Surge (1U)
    1 Provoke (1G)
    1 Mulch (1G)
    1 Overgrowth (2G)
    2 Sift (3U)

    Tempest cards (14)

    2 Canopy Spider (1G)
    1 Horned Turtle (2U)
    1 Trained Armodon (1GG)
    1 Skyshroud Troll (2GG)
    1 Giant Crab (4U)
    1 Rootbreaker Wurm (5GG)

    1 Elvish Fury (G w/4 buyback)
    1 Shadow Rift (U)
    1 Rampant Growth (1G)
    1 Counterspell (UU)
    1 Time Ebb (2U)
    1 Capsize (1UU w/ 3 buyback)
    1 Power Sink (XU)

    14 Forest
    10 Island

    The name of this deck is 'Endangered Life' for the effect it will have
    on your opponents.

    A nice selection of fat creatures (based around the Endangered Armodon's
    "ability") with a smattering of permission and mana acceleration. Additionally,
    it possesses some of U/G's brand of "removal" in tapping, bouncing or provoking
    your oppenent's blockers and has some late game reach with the buyback spells
    and leap/shadow rift for the final points in a creature stall.

    My name is Sara Craw. Online, I am ElwoodPDowd, my email is anakinsshadow@yahoo.com.

  • Pauper to the People- Teacher Teacher   16 years 12 weeks ago

    Yeah, I must've missed deleting the cards fro mthe previous list. My mistake.

  • Freed From the Real #4 - The Conflux is Coming!   16 years 12 weeks ago

    I wrote that comment, guess I wasn't logged in!

  • Freed From the Real #4 - The Conflux is Coming!   16 years 12 weeks ago

    Thanks guys, good job at covering the state of MTGO. Its a good catchup for those of us that aren't in tune with various forums / announcements / etc.

    I appreciate the nod to my Pauper write-up. To be honest though, I've personally been more interested in other formats lately. I'm sure I'll stil do some Pauper, but I put together a Classic deck (one 2-man under the belt so far) and have been looking to start drafting with the addition of Conflux. When I wrote the Pauper article I was looking to focus on that format in a recurring write-up, but now I'm thinking to branch my writing over to those other formats.

    Anyway, good work with the podcast. You should think about featuring a guest each week or every other. Pull someone in from whatever format is the most interesting that week or something?

  • Pauper to the People- Teacher Teacher   16 years 12 weeks ago

    He just messed up the decklist. If you count, he has 66 cards. Minus the remove soul, negate and TT, it's 60.

  • Pauper to the People- Teacher Teacher   16 years 12 weeks ago

    yeah definitey something wrong. The "other spells" section contains 26 cards, not 15. The whole deck is 66 cards (without SB). I guess adding those 6 last cards was a mistake :]. Oh and the homonculi are creatures :p

  • Pauper to the People- Teacher Teacher   16 years 12 weeks ago

    Ok... you got me. How does Tithe Weenie cast the Remove Soul, Negate and Think Twice?

  • Stronghold Precon Project - Build and Name a Pauper Theme Deck!   16 years 12 weeks ago

    MTGO Handle: karakusk
    Colors: GB
    Idea: GB deck with mana acceleration. It uses the mana for black buyback spells that do good things, and big green creatures. Gravedigger + Disturbed Burial recursion built in. (15 Tempest Cards + 21 Stronghold cards + 24 Lands)

    Decklist:

    Many Mana:
    2 Overgrowth (SH)
    2 Skyshroud Elf (TE)
    3 Rampant Growth (TE)
    2 Manakin (TE)
    3 Skyshroud Troopers (SH)

    Dudes and Big Dudes:
    1 Dungeon Shade (SH)
    1 Rabid Rats (SH)
    1 Endangered Armodon (SH)
    1 Skyshroud Archer (SH)
    2 Spike Colony (SH)
    2 Spike Worker (SH)
    2 Spined Wurm (SH)
    2 Gravedigger (TE)

    Buyback Spells:
    2 Brush With Death (SH)
    1 Lab Rats (SH)
    1 Disturbed Burial (TE)
    1 Evincar's Justice (TE)

    Removal:
    2 Death Stroke (SH)
    1 Provoke (SH)
    1 Dark Banishing (TE)
    1 Diabolic Edict (TE)

    Defense:
    1 Broken Fall (TE)
    1 Coercion (TE)

    Land:
    12 Forest
    12 Swamp

  • Stronghold Precon Project - Build and Name a Pauper Theme Deck!   16 years 12 weeks ago

    MTGO: Richelieu
    Deck: Green/White
    Tempest: 10
    Stronghold: 27
    Idea: Lay a few creatures, use your spells and tappers to interfer with the opponent's creatures. A few heals will disrupt combat math. A few spikes will allow your team to rush in for the win.

    Deck list:

    Lands (23)
    12 x Forest
    11 x Plains

    Creatures
    2x Lowland Basilisk (SH)
    1x Manakin (TE)
    2x Master Decoy (TE)
    2x Skyshroud Archer (SH)
    2x Skyshroud Falcon (SH)
    2x Spike Colony (SH)
    3x Spike Worker (SH)
    2x Spined Wurm (SH)
    2x Venerable Monk (SH)
    2x Youthful Knight (SH)

    Spells
    2x Anoint (TE)
    2x Bandage (SH)
    2x Conviction (SH)
    1x Elvish Fury (TE)
    1x Crossbow Ambush (SH)
    1x Natural Spring (TE)
    2x Pacifism (TE)
    2x Provoke (SH)
    1x Rampant Growth (TE)
    3x Smite (SH)

  • Pauper Standard Conflux Review   16 years 12 weeks ago

    I'm not a Pauper Standard player so I'm not going to comment on any individual scores that you have given a card. I'd prefer to look at conflux as a whole. Lets assume that you are spot on with your card analysis. This gives us the following breakdown;

    White 2@1, 3@2, 4@3

    So the white mage has 4 playables but no real bomb.

    Blue 6@1, 1@2, 0@3, 1@4

    The blue mage gets moslty trash apart from 1 good card.

    Black 6@1, 1@2, 0@3, 1@4

    The black mage is getting the same deal as the Blue one.

    Red 7@1, 2@2

    If the red mage wasn't angry already he will loose it when he sees that conflux didn't give him a single playable.

    Green 4@1, 3@2, 1@3, 1@4

    The green mage is slightly better off than Blue and Black but not by much.

    To complete the figures

    Multicolour 4@1, 3@2, 1@3, 1@4
    Artifact 3@1, 1@2
    Land 1@2

    From a Pauper point of view this set seems to give an awful lot of unplayable cards.

  • Stronghold Precon Project - Build and Name a Pauper Theme Deck!   16 years 12 weeks ago

    MTGO Handle: Lord Erman
    Deck Colors: Red/Black
    Deck Name: Flinging Menace
    Theme: Just like many posters before me, it is "Fling" from Stronghold
    Cards From Tempest: 15
    Cards From Stronghold: 22
    How To Play: Use the removal cards to clear your path, attack with your creatures, pump them and then Fling them!

    Deck List

    Lands (23 Cards)
    13x Mountain
    10x Swamp

    Creatures (19 Cards)
    1x Coiled Tinviper (TE)
    2x Craven Giant (ST)
    2x Duct Crawler (ST)
    3x Dungeon Shade (ST)
    2x Flowstone Giant (TE)
    3x Flowstone Shambler (ST)
    2x Furnace Spirit (ST)
    2x Gravedigger (TE)
    1x Lightning Elemental (TE)
    1x Pit Imp (TE)

    Removal (11 Cards)
    1x Aftershock (TE)
    1x Cannibalize (ST)
    2x Dark Banishing (TE)
    2x Death Stroke (ST)
    1x Rolling Thunder (TE)
    1x Lightning Blast (TE)
    3x Shock (ST)

    Pumping & Reviving (7 Cards)
    2x Blood Frenzy (TE)
    1x Disturbed Burial (TE)
    3x Fling (ST)
    1x Seething Anger (ST)

    Thanks
    LE

  • Stronghold Precon Project - Build and Name a Pauper Theme Deck!   16 years 12 weeks ago

    I am posting here a pauper variant of the 'real' (w/ rare(s)) variant.

    MTGO handle: Mattalic

    Deck Name: Suicide Kisses

    A straight forward deck idea for heavy competitors and new players alike

    (1) Drop all your critters as fast as possible (2) Beat to the face whenever possible - included are a bunch of cheap fatties (3) Combine attacks with Flings, Shocks, Combat Effects, Rolling Thunders, or a Mob Justice for the win. Dark Ritual added for speed or the beefed up Rolling Thunder (or turn 1 Serpent etc.). Speed and constant pressure are the key here. Welcome to Suicide Kisses, the pauper version.

    (Black/Red Aggro/Burn-Suicide)

    3 Craven Giant
    3 Mogg Fanatic
    3 Mogg Flunkies
    3 Fling
    2 Mob Justice
    2 Furnace Spirit
    3 Duct Crawler
    2 Shock
    2 Dark Ritual
    2 Death Stroke
    1 Mogg Bombers
    1 Blood Frenzy
    2 Dauthi Horror
    2 Rolling Thunder
    2 Serpent Warrior
    2 Foul Imp
    1 Gravedigger
    2 Lab Rats
    12 Swamp
    10 Mountain

    Total = 60

  • Drafting AAA #1   16 years 12 weeks ago

    Very nice draft report. IMO, the videos should preferably illustrate some decisive plays, fatal opponent's errors that you should explore, or particularly hard choices, but they do the job of providing insight on the matchups.

  • Whiffy's Lunch Box- The Depth of Classic   16 years 12 weeks ago

    Hey, just here to balance things out. :)