DAILY RANDOM MTG CARD: Blasphemous Act

The old Innistrad block is one of my favorite blocks that Magic: the Gathering has put out. I can’t really say the same for the Shadows Over Innistrad block. One of the things that really throws me off is the 8 and a red mana cost; it really gets your mind running with the thought of “how can a sorcery cost this much to cast?”

Then you read the text: it cost one less for every creature on the battlefield. Not just your creatures; your opponent's creatures as well. This card could very well be costing only one red to cast! Great board clean up, stinky part is that the 13 damage goes to your creatures too, killing them unless they are indestructible.

Which crazy sorcery do you like?

As always, thanks for reading my blog!

DAILY RANDOM MTG CARD: Dragonrage

This uncommon card from Fate Reforged is one of my favorite ways to pump instant spells in Magic: The Gathering. Just declare your attackers and use your 3 mana to cast this bad boy out and then boom, everyone attacking gets a red mana and get to use that red mana to give them a +1/+0. It may seem like it’s not that much being given to them, but any little bit can go a long way in a game of Magic. Not to mention the artwork is really cool.

Which instant is your favorite?

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DAILY RANDOM MTG CARD: Maelstrom Nexus

This nice ol’ mythic rare five color enchantment, from Alara Reborn, has never been reprinted since it’s release.  It seems like a real smooth way to get your big beastly creatures on the field quickly without paying anything for the mana cost. Even with it’s five color mana cost, there are ways to get this thing out quicker than 5 turns.


When you have 4 copies of this card in your deck, you can't play them all at once; you have to let one cascade spell resolve at a time. It would be easier to do it all at once, but rules are rules, whether you are at an event, local game store, or even at the kitchen table.


How well would cascade would work for you?


As always, thanks for reading my blog!

DAILY RANDOM MTG CARD: Baneslayer Angel

Go back to the days of the Core Sets (which are now discontinued), where you would often see a bunch of one creature type dominating the set. The mythic rare Baneslayer Angel thrives in this era of MtG. Its’ mana cost seems reasonable for its power and toughness, as well as for what the card can do while it’s on the field.


You get flying, first strike, lifelink, and protection from demons and dragons. I don’t know about your feelings towards this particular card, but it’s this kind of crazy cards that makes me love Magic: the Gathering. I also forgot to mention that it’s a 5/5 for a five drop; most angels mana cost are crazy high for something that brings a lot less to the table.


Which one of these heavenly beings is your favorite?


As always, thanks for reading my blog!

DAILY RANDOM MTG CARD: Anti-Magic Aura

This uncommon 5th Edition enchantment basically gives you a form of hexproof for your creature. I don’t think it requires any further explanation! This is probably one of my shortest blog i’ve ever made.


How would you use this card? Would you use it protect your own creatures, or to prevent your opponent from enchanting theirs...


As always, thanks for reading my blog!

DAILY RANDOM MTG CARD: Gristleback

Most people who have a Bloodthirst filled deck probably have at least a few of this card in it. Today ‘s chosen card is Gristleback, a three drop 2/2 creature with Bloodthirst 1. It is a good way to gain a little bit of life, by sacrificing this beast and giving yourself a nice little 3 life gain, as long as you dealt combat damage to an opponent.

This seems like a good card from Guildpact. I imagine it would fit in a white/green deck, perhaps called “Bloodthirsty for Life”, complementing the endless possibilities of life gain that comes with white.

What are your thoughts on this card?

As always thanks for reading my Blog!

DAILY RANDOM MTG CARD: Death Pits of Rath

Kill deck anyone? Destroying creatures is your favorite thing to do? Are your friends really your friends? Not if they keep your board clear with this bad boy out on the field. Originating from the old school 8th Edition set, Death Pits of Rath has been reprinted three times.

How skillful is your kill deck?

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DAILY RANDOM MTG CARD: Arcades Sabboth

This card comes from the Legends set and lives up to the name. This beast of a dragon can do some nasty stuff with your creatures, nasty stuff to your opponent, and make you sad if you keep up with the upkeep. But none of that will bother you, because by the time you get to use him on the field, mana is not an issue considering the cost to even bring him out.


Arcades makes a very good commander card. This one is my editor’s favorite elder Dragon Legend and I feel like I should have a Blog on it. I am very appreciative that a total stranger is willing to take on my Blogs and make them, well... make sense. Thank you Marc [Editor: no problems, it’s a pleasure!].


What are your favorite Legendary creatures?


As always, thanks for reading my blog!

DAILY RANDOM MTG CARD: Reckless Spite

In the life of playing Magic, there are funny cards,  nice cards and even awesome cards. But some cards are not nice; they are downright mean. Today’s chosen card appeared first in Tempest. For a loss of five life you get to destroy two target nonblack creatures; I never liked the idea of losing life to get rid of other kinds of cards. But I guess in order to survive you sometimes don’t have a choice.


What’s the meanest card you have?


As always thanks for reading my blog!

DAILY RANDOM MTG CARD: CROOKED SCALES

Today’s daily pick is an artifact from the set of Mercadian Masques, which is the only time this card has been printed with the old school painting. A real coin flipping card to take a huge chance on destroying a creature. The mana cost seems a bit high for my liking, particularly for this kind of chance; I don't usually win at flipping coins.  

Would you tap out your lands for the chance to lose out on the coin flip?

As always thanks for reading my blog!

DAILY RANDOM MTG CARD: RAGING GOBLIN

Daily random Magic: the Gathering card pick is Raging Goblin. There really shouldn't be any Goblin deck without at least four of these Raging Goblins. This Goblin has been around the block a few times; it can be traced way back to the classic 6th Edition set. I chose this card because the artwork is just so amusing to look at. We have a tiny goblin whose holding an axe over his head, that seems to be bigger than his body, with its tongue sticking out. Can't go wrong with having a card with a one drop mana cost that comes out swinging straight away with its haste ability


What goblins do you like to have in your deck to play with?


As always, thanks for reading my blog!

DAILY RANDOM MTG CARD: Vaevictis Asmadi

Daily random Magic: the Gathering card pick of today is Vaevictis Asmadi that was first printed in Legends, has been reprinted in Chronicles and Masters Edition 3.


I’ve seen this card being used as a commander in the EDH format a few times. It’s a pretty powerful card to have in any kind of deck. The hard part is getting three colors in the deck to work well with each other to make it an effective deck to play with.


Not only are the three colors hard to deal with, but  you also have to keep a swamp, mountain, and a forest open to pay its upkeep. The abilities are not too bad to use potentially; easily  giving Vaevictis +3/+0 until end of turn, making it a 10/7 creature... that’s just crazy!


How do you feeling about using such a high mana cost creature as a Commander?


As always, thanks for reading my blog!

DAILY RANDOM MTG CARD: BEACON OF TOMORROW

Daily random Magic: the Gathering card today is “Beacon of Tomorrow”. I mean, why not take an extra turn after you just finished a turn? Who wouldn't want to do that and get the other player mad and possibly flip the table over and storm out… I guess it depends on the player’s mood; anything is possible.

Beacon of Tomorrow has not been reprinted since it’s released in Fifth Dawn. This card is a great end-game card, allowing you to take another turn while the other player may be tapped out across the board: swing for the win. The high mana cost is pretty scary, since there may be a good chance of the card being countered, particularly if you are playing against an aggressive blue deck. But if the other player is not playing with blue, then you should be able to take the win. Good luck to the player who has this in their deck, it seems like a good way to lose friends...

As always, thanks for reading my blog!

DAILY RANDOM MTG CARD: DARU STINGER

Daily random Magic: the Gathering card pick of the day is... DARU STINGER from Legions. To date, it has never been reprinted. It’s a 1/1 creature with a 3 and a plains mana cost; pretty high for a soldier card.  It has a good reason for it though, the amplify ability. When you cast this card, in addition to its casting cost, you reveal however many soldier creatures in your hand. It gets that many +1/+1 counters on the card. So if you have 4 soldiers in your hand, it gets +4/+4, making it a 5/5 creature. Nice!

Daru Stinger also has another ability that uses the +1/+1 counters on the card. You tap Daru Stinger and it deals damage equal to the number of +1/+1 counters on it to target attacking or blocking creature. There’s a good chance of this card actually killing the other card attacking or blocking, or it could lower the defense of the attacking or blocking creature, making it more vulnerable to your own creatures.

As always, thanks for reading my blog!

DAILY RANDOM MTG CARD: PRIMAL PLASMA

Starting today I want to do a daily Magic: the Gathering random card blog. I just want to see if it becomes a thing.


Primal Plasma is a card that originates in the set of Planar Chaos. As for this card’s abilities, it seems like the 3 and one blue is a bit of a high cost for what you get to choose from. I personally find it an interesting card, but would I play it? Possibly. I don't usually choose blue as my color to play with. But if I were to have this card in my deck, I would also have this card in the deck with it:

Wormfang Drake would actually allow me to take Primal Plasma out and return it as a different creature each time. Seems like a good combo to use.


What are your thoughts on the card?


As always, thanks for reading my blog.

What is standard showdown?

Every Saturday, starting November 26, 2016 until December 17, 2016, there will be a Standard Showdown at local game shops all over the world. You can win special prize promotional booster packs through undefeated play and other prizes determined by the game shop. To showcase the Standard format, the tournaments will be Swiss events and you bring your current Standard legal decks.


Each store will receive 40 booster prizes, each containing a premium card from a currently legal Standard set, including Zendikar Expeditions and Kaladesh Inventions, not including double-faced cards. They will also contain two non-premium cards, that are either a rare or a mythic rare, from Battle for Zendikar on up to Kaladesh.


Talk to your local game shops about hosting a Standard Showdown if they are not doing so themselves. Good luck to all you players attending.


Play on players, play on like it’s your last day on Earth.


As always, thanks for reading my blog!

THE RED STATE WINS WITH RED

   

Fort Worth/Dallas Texas held the largest Grand Prix in the history of Magic: The Gathering events; 2,019 players have shown up with their Modern format decks to play their way into one of  the top 8 spots.

    

Corey Burkhart has made a name for himself in the past using his Grixis control deck, which helped him to go undefeated with a 14 win and 0 loss standing: pretty impressive! Corey even took down Michael Mei's Infect deck in the semifinals. One more win and he would have beaten every single deck with no loss in one weekend. He made it to the finals and faced one more player in his attempt to take home the trophy and prizes.

Kevin Mackie, a native Texan, made a surprising appearance in the top 8. He brought with him his mono-red “Skred red” deck, an aggressive powerhouse featuring Infect and Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle.

As the final game drew to a close, Corey Burkhart was left facing a pretty powerful planeswalker: Koth of the Hammer. Corey tried to find a counter spell for Koth but it failed. Next, Corey looked to his “Ancestral Vision”, which also failed and just gave him three lands instead of something useful to keep alive. The only thing left to do was put out Tasigur, the Golden Fang, which was quickly taken out by Skred. Then Kevin made Koth go ultimate. His ultimate ability, if you’re not familiar is:

• −5: You get an emblem with "Mountains you control have ‘: This land deals 1 damage to target creature or player.'"

While the judges and players looked around the feature table for an emblem to represent Koths ultimate, Corey Burkhart had a better idea. He grabbed the trophy with a smile on his face and handed it to Kevin saying “Congratulations”.

Here are their decks, in case you are interested in what cards they used.

Kevin Mackie’s deck:

Planeswalker (5)

4 Koth of the Hammer

1 Chandra, Torch of Defiance

Creature (8)

3 Pia and Kiran Nalaar

3 Stormbreath Dragon

2 Eternal Scourge

Witchcraft (3)

3 Anger of the Gods

Instant (9)

4 Lightning Bolt

4 Skred

1 Magma Jet

Artifact (10)

1 Pyrite Spellbomb

4 Relic of Progenitus

4 Mind Stone

1 Batterskull

Enchantment (3)

3 Blood Moon

Terra (22)

20 Snow-Covered Mountain

2 Scrying Sheets

Corey Burkhart’s deck:

Creature (7)

4 Snapcaster Mage

3 Tasigur, the Golden Fang

Sorcery (8)

4 Ancestral Vision

4 Serum Visions

Instant (22)

2 Countersquall

4 Cryptic Command

3 Kolaghan's Command

4 Lightning Bolt

2 Spell Snare

3 Terminate

4 Thought Scour

Artifact (1)

1 Engineered Explosives

Terra (22)

1 Blood Crypt

2 Creeping Tar Pit

3 Island1 Mountain

4 Polluted Delta

4 Scalding Tarn

1 Spirebluff Canal

2 Steam Vents

1 Sulfur Falls

1 Swamp

2 Watery Grave

As always, thanks for reading my blog!

COMMANDER 2016, LEGENDARY SHARING?

On november 11, 2016, WOTC released a set of five different 100 cards, 4 color, commander decks with 52 new magic cards that can be used in vintage and legacy, but not allowed in the standard, block constructed, or modern formats.

Like the last set of commander decks they allowed the use of planeswalker as a commander, which in my opinion should’ve been allowed from the start. They did something a little bit different with the commanders this time, the key word is “Partner”

What exactly is “Partner”?  I’ll let the card (picture below) explain itself.

Will it be useful in a game like commander?

The answer is very simple, YES. the use of using two commanders in a deck can make it an very interesting game among the other players you play with. In commander if you get hit with 21 total points of combat damage the game is over, and in the new sets of commander with Partner on the card can hit you up to 21 points much quicker than just having one commander out where it can only do a little bit at a time.

Just a warning: you may not have friends anymore after you kill everyone with your two powerful commanders. Just saying.

Play on players, play on like it’s your last day on earth.

As always thanks for reading my blog!

PAUPER EMERGENCY BAN?

In recent Magic: The Gathering news, in the lesser known format, pauper had added a emergency ban on Peregrine Drake (pictured above).  Erik Lauer from Magic R&D had this to say about the ban:


“Before Kaladesh, R&D looked into whether to ban Peregrine Drake. At the time we were discussing changes, Izzet Drake had been about eleven percent of the competitive metagame over the previous month, though it varied from week to week. It was the strongest performer, but not by a large margin. The metagame over that month was still diverse, so we decided to not take any action. Since then, the deck has increased in performance. Its presence in the competitive metagame has doubled, and its win rate has also increased. It is now significantly harming the diversity of the competitive metagame. For those reasons, we are banning Peregrine Drake from Pauper.”


The ban list for pauper is not really that big compared to the Standard, Modern, Legacy, and Vintage format. Here’s the list:

• Cloud of Faeries
• Cloudpost
• Cranial Plating
• Empty the Warrens
• Frantic Search
• Grapeshot
• Invigorate
• Temporal Fissure
• Treasure Cruise

Pauper is a Magic: The Gathering online format, but some local game shops are adding a paper version of the online format to their regular schedule. It seems like the popularity of the format being on paper is growing, not fast or too slow, but it is gaining momentum. Give it time, I'm sure lot of players would love to have a use for those commons, which would otherwise be laying around collecting dust in a binder,  in a deck that can be competitive against other players. 


As always, thanks for reading my blog!

PLANECHASE ANTHOLOGY, will it be worth the high price?

On November 25, 2016, Wizards of the Coast will be releasing PLANECHASE ANTHOLOGY for a msrp price range of $149.00. Is it worth spending that much of your hard earned money? Let see if the contents of the product match the price tag.


Planechase Anthology will have the planar and normal cards from Planechase and Planechase 2012, including the following:

• 4 ready to play decks from Planechase 2012 edition
• Each deck has 8 rare cards
• 35 double sided tokens
• Special edition planar die
• 4 spin down counters
• 4 slide deck boxes

Brian Tinsman is the lead designer and concept on this set. He is also known for being the lead designer for the sets of Judgement, Scourge, Champions and Saviors of Kamigawa, Time Spiral, Planechase 2009, Rise of the Eldrazi, and Avacyn Restored.


We don't know exactly what cards are going to be included in the set as of yet. Perhaps if there are spoilers we will get a better idea of whether it is worth $149.00 or not; it's kind of hard to say at this point. For some, it may be a bit much to spend all at once, especially so close to Christmas time. Perhaps if you share the cost with someone else it will make a good gift, or you could split the contents with a friend. The decision is really up to you.


As always, thanks for reading my blog!

STANDARD ROATATION CHANGE, again?

Effective immediately, standard rotation will go back to once a year rotation, instead of twice a year. This is due to players that have voiced a difficulty in keeping up with the twice yearly rotation. It is a barrier to collection that WotC has decided it needs to eliminate.


Instead of 18 months, Kaladesh will be in standard rotation for 2 years with the large set that is to be released in 2018. After that time, Aether Revolt will rotate out with Kaladesh. Meanwhile, in 2017,  the Amonkhet set won't be rotating out.


When Amonkhet is released the standard line with look like this:

• Battle for Zendikar
• Shadows over Innistrad
• Kaladesh
• Amonkhet

When the time comes for the next rotation, the Battle for Zendikar and Shadows Over Innistrad blocks will rotate out together, making the standard set fluctuate between 5 and 8 legal sets.


As always thanks for reading my blog!

PROTOUR KALADESH HALL OF FAMER WINNER

Recently, on the beautiful island of Honolulu, Hawaii held the largest pro-tour in Magic: The Gathering history. It showcased the newest set: Kaladesh. Shota Yasooka, in his fourth career pro-tour, made it into the top 8. Another top 8 player, Carlos Romao, has made it to the finals with Shota. Both players’ decks are full of controls.


The card composition of a control mirror deck is pretty interesting; here’s Shota Yasooka’s deck:


Planeswalker (1)
1 Jace, Unraveler of Secrets


Creature (6)
2 Torrential Gearhulk
4 Thing in the Ice


Sorcery (6)
2 Radiant Flames
3 Painful Truths
1 Transgress the Mind


Instant (21)
2 Unlicensed Disintegration
3 Harnessed Lightning
3 Void Shatter
2 Glimmer of Genius
1 Ceremonious Rejection
2 Negate
4 Galvanic Bombardment
1 Essence Extraction
3 Anticipate


Land (26)
4 Spirebluff Canal
2 Wandering Fumarole
4 Evolving Wilds
4 Sunken Hollow
3 Smoldering Marsh
2 Mountain
2 Swamp
5 Island


Here’s Carlos Romao’s control deck:


Planeswalker (2)
2 Dovin Baan


Creature (5)
2 Archangel Avacyn
3 Torrential Gearhulk


Sorcery (5)
2 Fumigate
3 Radiant Flames


Instant (20)
2 Summary Dismissal
4 Harnessed Lightning
4 Glimmer of Genius
3 Immolating Glare
3 Void Shatter
1 Blessed Alliance
3 Anticipate


Enchantment (2)
1 Quarantine Field
1 Stasis Snare


Land (26)
4 Port Town
4 Aether Hub
3 Inspiring Vantage
1 Spirebluff Canal
4 Island
6 Plains
4 Wandering Fumarole


Notice how both players have Torrential Gearhulk in their control decks? The decks were basically built around that card. These decks even took out the two aggro vehicle decks that appeared in the top 8. Now that the pro-tour is over, these cards are sure to go up in price. Everyone is going to want these key cards for their own decks, if not all of the cards required to reconstruct the decks used by the final two players. Play on!


As always, thanks for reading my blog!

THE STACK, what is it used for?

The Stack is a game zone area where spells and abilities are played and wait to be resolved. Spells and abilities go to this area as the first step in play and are removed from it as the last step of playing. It’s also an area where other players can ‘respond to’ with their spells and/or abilities while it's still on the stack. The stack is played from the top to the bottom, where the ‘respond to’ spells are played first since it's on the top of the stack. The picture below depicts the stack and is the best representation I have found.

Actions that do not use the stack are as follows:

• Paying cost.
• Playing mana abilities.
• Turning a face down creature face up (Morph).
• Playing a land card

I’m sure most experienced players have a good idea of how the stack operates. To a new player, when we mention the stack, they probably think it means this:

Be sure to use the stack as often as you can, as correctly as you can, if you are in a Pro Tour or Grand Prix-like event, where they will have judge’s all over the place. Also, be sure to explain to the new players what the stack is and how to use it. Sure it will be confusing at first, but if they like the game enough they will learn about it quickly.

As always, thanks for reading my blog!

PUCATRADE SWEEPSTAKES HUB!

The new updated Magic: The Gathering trading website “Pucatrade” has recently announced a new addition to their website: The Sweepstakes Hub. What you can do is use the Pucatrade points that you’ve accumulated to unlock entries to the sweepstakes.

Each 100 puca points you use in the sweepstakes will enter you in the giveaway. You can use as many puca points as you want, to earn entries to get the prize. So far a few winners has been chosen already. One winner won a tropical island card, and the recent winner has won a japanese booster box of kaladesh, and now they are giving away a 

Lifetime Member Bundle

You get more entries for spreading the word around on social media, so if you really want this to fancy one of your decks, using your points and spreading the word helps. The cards/products are coming from the Pucatrade staff’s personal collection. You won't be getting any bad cards that are ripped up or damaged in any kind of way. They will make it worth the points you spent in the sweepstakes. To check out the sweepstakes, you can use the website link provided and enter if you want to. Just click on this sweepstakes word and it will take you to the site.

As always, thanks for reading my blog!

NEW MTG PRODUCTS

As it comes close to the time for Kaladesh to be released, there will be a few changes to the products that are usually associated with release time, i.e. the Fat Pack and the Intro decks.

The first change will be that the Fat Pack won't be called the Fat Pack anymore, it will be called the Bundle. The only difference will be that it will have 10 booster packs instead of the usual 9. It will have the deck boxes, life counters, encyclopedia booklet of every card in the set, and a deck box to store the cards in. It will also have an 80 land card pack as well. The MSRP price will be $42.99 for the Bundle.

The second change will be that the Intro decks will not be made anymore. Instead they will be coming out as a Planeswalkers deck that will be Standard legal, but the cards and Planeswalkers won't the same as the cards in the set. The example above features Chandra. The whole idea behind the Planeswalker deck is that Wizards of the Coast want to come out with something to appeal to new players and help them learn how to play, synergize, etc. The Planeswalkers decks will also have two of the current set booster packs as well. The MSRP pricing for the Planeswalker decks will be $14.99.

How are your feeling about this change in their products? Let me know in the comments.

As always, thanks for reading my blog.