Walking the Planes

It Has Been A Long While

2010-04-12T12:44:00.000-07:00

Hello there! Its been a while since I have placed new content on this site. I hope that within the next coming weeks that I will be able to bring your more.

First off lets get Evan Erwin's recent video cast.

Haven't had enough? Here is a bonus podcast that Mr. Erwin is doing.

I apologize to all that actually follow this blog, but for the past few months I have been the webmaster for a few clubs on my college campus. This required most of my attention. Along with learning a second language so that I can graduate from college.

So, what's new now then? Well, one of the clubs had elections and as a senior I am unable to run for a position for next year. Yes, free time! Well.... At least some. But know since I do have some free time, I will be able to bring your more content here at Walking the Planes. There will also be some changes as well, including layout changes and design.

Until my next posting, try to not get counterspelled.

The Magic Show With Evan Erwin

2009-09-27T18:25:00.000-07:00

The Magic Show With Evan Erwin

2009-09-19T15:04:00.000-07:00

The Magic Show With Evan Erwin

2009-09-03T21:03:00.001-07:00

Getting Custom

2009-08-24T22:28:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone and welcome to the first installment of Getting Custom. Getting Custom is about players creating homebrew Magic cards. I hope that I may be able to write an article each week on certain card designs. I even hope to be able to find some other custom card creators to help us through the design process.

So as I have told before, I surf the forums at MTGSalvation quite a bit. I am know to that community as 'jfdep'. I have had quite a few comments over the past few years on my games that I create for the forum games. In fact, it was because of those first comments that I went on and developed my own Magic Block called 'Falling Star', but more on that later in upcoming Getting Custom.

Recently, I came across a forum game called "The Fantasmigorical Cube Creation Contest!". The user is putting together a Cube of custom designed magic cards, so I thought that maybe I should give it a try.

The stipulations was the following:

Had to be an artifact or land card
Had to accelerate mana generation at the cost of another resource

Sounded easy enough. I sat and looked through all the art I have collected over the past few years trying to find something that make for a good land or artifact. At the time this article was being made, I have 3,194 image files in my Magic art folder and I continue to obtain more. As I was scrolling, I came across this piece of art and knew that I had to create a land around this piece. Take a look.

Just beautiful isn't it? I was very well done. The artist is know on DeviantART as Angela-T. Many of her works are beautiful and very well done. I would like to thank her for the art that inspired me to create this card.

Very elegant and simple. One user on the forums described it like this.

I like this card so much. Terrific name. Terrific concept. Terrific playstyle. Terrific flavor text, and terrific render. I would love to see a cycle of these, each with color related drawbacks. -- Alabran

I was happy to see that others liked my land card, and Alabran's comment made me feel like I wanted to continue the cycle. Now, this is where the work starts. How do I make a cycle of these lands that has appropriate backdraw from each with still being balanced?

Again, I turn to my Folder-O-Art and looked for some art for the next color pairing which was going to be green, white, and blue. About three quarters of the way down I find this little piece of art. Looks fantastic and I thought captured white rather well.

So, I had the art now what? Well, that was simple, add all the needed text. The hard part was the drawback. So the point of this cycle of lands is to help the opponent out when you help yourself. The more opponents you have that worse it is for you to use it. The Grove's primary color was green and that gave the opponent life. I didn't want to give this one life gain, since I wanted them all to have different effects. Then it dawned on me. White does like to exile cards, but how many cards is enough to exile. Again, I turned to the first card. The more players the more unfair it gets. The final result of the card looked like this.

It took awhile, but I was able to create a whole cycle. Each has their own unique drawback that is indeed color appropriate. Take a look for yourselves.

Color Shard: White/Blue/Black

Color Shard: Blue/Black/Red

Color Shard: Black/Red/Green

So, I think that is enough of my talk for now. I would like to know what you think about these lands. But until next time, this is Deppe passing the turn.

The Magic Show with Evan Erwin

2009-08-21T00:05:00.000-07:00

Heres this week's weekly dose of Evan Erwin and the Magic Show.

And here is a bonus dose with a classic

Rumors, Speculation, and Discussion

2009-08-19T13:22:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone, I want to spend a little bit of time today on new set rumors, speculation, and discussion. Before the release of a new set, we have a time period where these three words have a whole lot of meaning.

I spend a lot of time each day on the MTGSalvation Forums. I mean like a lot of time, like I always have a few threads open in my browser when I'm online. So lately, there have been a few cards being spoiled by Wizards of the Coast for the upcoming set Zendikar. This set is said to house a crate full of magic flavor and brings back a mechanic that players love to play.

One Wizards announces the new set, speculation starts to happen. People start new threads in the Speculation forum at MTGSalvation. This speculation season started off with hardly anything to work with except for two sentences, "Priceless Teasures. Deadly Perils". This is all that people had to work with for a few months. many started to browse through all the futureshifted cards from Futuresight to see what cards may fit the tiny spoiler we were given.

Not much time later, Mark Rosewater wrote an article about card design and gave another tiny spoiler. He wrote "you wouldn't believe us if we said we were doing ______ without ______." He did not give anything away, but what he wrote started even more speculation. There is so many things that can fit into the spoiler he gave us. Threshold without 7 came to my mind. Other things that can fit are "Affinity without Artifacts" and "Splice without Arcane".

Another hint came from yet another article on the Magic website. we were told that heavy multicolor would not happen again for a while. After this tidbit, players started talking about how Zendikar would be a monocolor themed block. This is something that I could agree with, more so after the new dual lands were released with Magic 2010. The dual lands from M10 deal with basic land types. So the only way they could be used most efficiently would be in a two color deck with many basic lands. Another thought came to mind not too long later. Maybe there will be nonbasic lands in Zendikar that have basic land types. They make the M10 duals great and they help support a mono color theme.

So last week, we had Gencon. The Convention for games. At Gencon, Wizards released a few products before they hit the streets a week or two from now. Planechase and From the Vault: Exile was released to a very limited amount of people. Each Planechase deck has a card from Zendikar in them. All of these cards were common, but four commons were better than not having anything. Each card displayed good flavor and revealed a possible sub-theme for the set.

Currently Wizards is slowly spoiling Sorin the new planeswalker from Zendikar. Not much is know about Sorin, but we do have the art, name, type, and loyalty. And as one can imagine, the forums went nuts. Speculating abilities, colors, and playability. Today, Wizards spoiled another planeswalker that will be in Zendikar. The new Chandra has been revealed, and just like Sorin, we only know the color, type, and art. And during my browsing of the "New Chandra" thread on MTGSalvation, I came across this picture:

Could this be the new Chandra? Could it have been leaked? The answer to those questions is no. Why you ask? Because a few days before I was browsing and saw this picture:

At first glance, the card looks real with the counters and things on it, but once you take a closer look, its clearly fake. As you can see, both cards are the same except for a few things. For one, Chandra's hair is coming out of the border just like the planeswalker art should. Secondly, one picture has two +1 abilities and the other only has one +1 ability. Thirdly, the picture of the cards on the table, the cards have no depth and just looks like they were copied and pasted on the background.

So, why do people do this? Why do they try and create fake cards to put on display? Well that's an interesting question to answer. Because these people think that they can fool others. A lot of times these attempts don't work, but sometimes they do. If you can create a card that looks perfect in every way and I believe it, I say more power to you and good job. But these attempts keep people thinking and gives them more to talk and speculate about.

This card here is one that mocked up for my own custom set.

I think I did a relatively good job with this card, but I do admit that this is far from perfect.

In the end, people just want their handy work recognized and they want something more to talk about. So I how you link back next week when I talk a bit more on Rumors, Speculation, and Discussion. This is Deppe passing the turn.

And here is another little goody that I think you all will enjoy.

The Magic Show with Evan Erwin

2009-08-13T21:13:00.000-07:00

And here's your weekly taste of the old school Magic Show

The Magic Show with Evan Erwin

2009-08-06T21:40:00.000-07:00

Playing Out Of Your Mind

2009-08-02T21:05:00.000-07:00

Soccer is a game that I’ve been playing since I was 5 years old. I became a competitive player for a traveling club in 6th grade, and played up through my first year of college. In that time, I learned a lot about controlling my body, my mind, and the ball both on and off the pitch. Pre-game warm-ups, quarter and semi-final games, and penalty kicks were easily managed by the beginning of high school as I’d spent a lot of time practicing and preparing for these difficult situations. I played “out of my mind” because I as able to take my doubts and fears and remove them from the way I play.

In all honesty, Magic is not something that I should get worked up about. It’s printed cardboard cards with pretty pictures used in imaginary duels with other players with delusions of grandeur. For some reason though, when I play against someone I know to be good or is running a deck I’m ill suited to be playing against (normally control), my hands shake and I become flushed. I make bad plays, I don’t see the damage on the board as well as I should, and I lose to players that I should easily beat.

My challenge has become, “How do I play Magic like I played soccer? How do I get out of my own head?”

Settling into a rhythm is something that I think a lot of players in Magic are unable to do well. This includes getting into a rhythm of play with your deck and your play over all. I frequently am building and dismantling decks to try and find something new and exciting. This prevents me from getting to know the decks I play and have a hard time getting into a rhythm of play.

The easy answer to this problem is to play more Magic. The more I play, the better I become at playing different strategies of the game. When I started, playing Control was never an option for me. I didn’t want to play the game like that. So, until recently, I’ve shut myself off from playing Control type decks, favoring Aggro or Combo. As I learn to play new ways, more cards are open to me and my familiarity with the game increases.

This summer, with my job scheduling me the hours that they have, I often times must race over from work to try and make the first round so that I don’t start the first round with a game loss. This puts me out of my element and I don’t really stabilize mentally until the 3rd or 4th round, and by then I’m out of contention for the Top 8.

What this means for me is that I have to find new ways to make the routine I have of getting focused a much shorter process on days where I can’t take my time to be sufficiently prepared. If you find yourself rushing over to your local game shop on Friday nights, here are a few tips to making sure that you aren’t rushed anymore than you have to:

Get your deck up to FNM quality on Tuesday night
This may feel like over preparation, but believe me: the nights where I go in with a deck I’ve prepared a few days in advance almost always does better than the deck I slap together the night before. Locking in your 75 cards early in the week allows you clear your mind and not have it overwhelmed with questions about your deck at the last minute.
Play test your weak matchups and your strong matches equally.
When you play decks you know you aren’t well suited for, it can be hard coming from a disadvantaged position. By playing the decks you are going to have trouble with, you learn the tricks and strategies that your opponents using that deck or deck type will be using against you. No longer will you be surprised by cards your opponents play because you will have seen the play multiple times before. Learning to play around the pit falls will carry you a win against decks you are expected to lose.
Nothing gives you the confidence you need like beating decks like you know should. Testing against your best matchups is a good way to boost your confidence in-between or after testing against your weaknesses. Losing is never fun, so mix up your “shouldn’t win’s” with “gimmie games” to keep a level head.

My last suggestion is that you try and roll yourself into play gradually. When I arrive at my local game shop, there’s nothing I want to do more than to shuffle up and play some Magic as quickly as possible. Spend sometime away from other players if you can and get yourself there gradually. My Tuesday night schedule goes something like this:

Show up 40-45 minutes early
Few players are there so early and this will give you plenty of time to get comfortable with your surroundings and prepare for the games you will be playing.
Once players arrive, play casual games with non-tournament decks
You might be there for some solid Type 2 Magic competition, but playing outside the format or with something that is for fun only helps to put you in the mood for Magic. Try to play something different than what you are playing that evening. My favorite is to play EDH. It is immensely fun to play in single and multiplayer and it allows you to play in a completely for-fun environment.
Pre-game your deck
3. This means that you shuffle, sleeve, double check the sideboard, and make any simple tweeks to the deck that you need to. This is not for major changes. If a couple people show up and are talking about their great new mill decks they are running that night, you are more than welcome to adjust the sideboard to meet the change in your meta-game. However, changing your main deck cards or the deck you are running will throw off your game plan and put you at a disadvantage over players with stable deck strategies.

Above all, remember that you should be playing Magic for the love of the game. When the game feels more like a job than something you do for fun, you might need to take a break from the game. Soccer became a job to me, so I quit playing competitively. On occasions when I lace up my boots to play again, I have so much fun at getting to play once more. No matter what the activity, sometimes you just have to know when to take a break.

The Magic Show with Evan Erwin

2009-07-31T05:41:00.001-07:00

Classic: The Magic Show with Evan Erwin

2009-07-30T22:06:00.000-07:00

The Magic Show #3

Deck Tech: M10 Shenanigans

2009-07-30T21:04:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone. Sorry for the lack of post in recent days, but work and a need for studying my German was needed.

Today, we take a look at a creatureless monoblack deck. From what I can tell this deck can cause some serious pain. This deck utilizes cards from the newly released M10, and WOW. Minor testing of the deck showed that it can rip your opponent a new one before they even feel it. Let's take a look.

Deck Tech: The Ripper

Lands

24x Swamp

Instants

4x Doomblade
4x Unmake

Sorcery

4x Sign in Blood
4x Infest
4x Tendrils of Corruption
4x Corrupt
2x Consume Spirit
2x Profane Command
2x Mind Shatter
2x Incremental Blight

Enchantments

4x Sanguine Bond

Sideboard

4x Duress
2x Incremental Blight
1x Mind Shatter
3x Haunting Echos
3x Deathmark
2x Trip Noose

I have not Personally taken this deck on a spin around the FNM, but a few others have. Lets look at a round by round summary of this deck's time at FNM.

FNM - Round 1

Matchup: Honor of the Pure Kithkin

Not a whole lot to say about this one, honestly. Duress into Sign In blood into Infest pretty much sealed the deal. A few spot removal spells, Sanguine Bond and a Corrupt later it was lights out, and the next game proceeded to play out exactly the same way.

FNM - Round 2

Matchup: RDW (Red Deck Wins)

Cakes and pies. Tendrils of Corruption is definately MVP in this match. Use spot removal on Ball Lightning and Tendrils of Corruption a couple of things and you're golden. Wish I could say a bit more about this matchup but that pretty much sums it up.

FNM - Round 3

Matchup: Honor of the Pure Kithkin

Game one he got an insanely agressive start with two Goldmeadow Stalwarts and Burrenton Forge-Tenders. Its just too bad that they die to infest, and over comitting is bad. After wiping his board, I Mind Shattered away what remained of his hand. It was good game after a couple of Sanguine Bond powered Corrupts.

Game two was horrible for me. White Knight came in from the sideboard and he saw two of them, which promptly started caving my head in. Finally, after him not drawing an Honor of the Pure and me Sign in Blooding myself nearly to death I managed to infest away his team and stabilise at 4 life. Lucky, indeed.

FNM - Round 4

Matchup: Five Color Bloodbraid

I wish this match were as easy as kithkin. It isn't. Far from it, in fact.

Game One: Stalled on two lands until my fifth turn. Scooped 'em up.

Game Two: A long and drawn out game which would see me Duress him three times and Mind Shatter him twice, yet he still bounced back with only 8 cards left in his library. I think Haunting Echoes would make this matchup a lot more winnable. Don't know what I was thinking not running it in the board, to be honest.

Notably the decklist was slightly different from what is currently posted. The changes feel like the deck should perform better and curve out much nicer. I recommend that you give this deck a test drive. I certainly feel like this deck is work its time.

Until next time, this is Deppe passing the turn

Classic: The Magic Show with Evan Erwin

2009-07-24T00:15:00.000-07:00

The Magic Show #2

Weren't the days of the Ravnica/Time Spiral Standard great?

When Giving A Nate Jordan Lemons...

2009-07-19T22:24:00.000-07:00

Author - Nathan Jordan

When the good Lord gives you lemons, you make lemonade. And when you open your 3rd pack of M10 and get two Goblin Chieftains in the same one, you start thinking about playing some Goblins. After scrounging around in the Black and Red cards I had, this is what I came up with to take to my local FNM.

Deck Tech: Goblin Renegade

Creatures
2x Wort, Boggart Auntie
3x Siege-Gang Commander
4x Boggart Ram-Gang
4x Goblin Chieftain
4x Mad Auntie
4x Murderous Redcap

Instants
2x Tarfire
2x Magma Spray
4x Flame Javelin
4x Lightning Bolt

Sorceries
1x Banefire
4x Dragon Fodder

Land
1x Auntie's Hovel
1x Dragonskill Summit
3x Veinfire Borderpost
4x Graven Cairns
14x Mountain

Sideboard
1x Magma Spary
2x Goblin Assault
4x Deathmark
4x Doom Blade
4x Goblin Outlander

*Idealy, I want Dragonskull Summit instead of Veinfire Borderpost but the shop I play at was out and I only had the 1 I opened from my box. Also, because of my work schedule, I had no time to run home, which means my sideboard has two Goblin Assaults that I never intended on playing.*

Tonight was a good night for my Goblins. I was 3-1 in Swiss and had a close match in the 1 Top 8 round I played. Here's the quick and dirty of it:

Round 1 - Loss to my job who requires that I work until 7 and the tourney starts @6:30.

Round 2 - Win against RDW.

First game was close. Flame Javelin carried me and the extra draw per turn from Spiteful Visions allowed me to drop more mana and empty my hand to burn him out.

Round 3 - Win against G/W Overrun.

This is when I realized I needed Volcanic Fallout, and bad. Spot removal for Spectral Procession tokens? Lame. I won game 1 narrowly, but sided in Deathmark, Doom Blade, and Goblin Outlanderto lock up game 2.

Round 4 - Win against Boat Brew.

This game was over pretty quick. Killing the mana ramp meant that it took too long for him to get his bigger creatures out and by then there were too many Goblins on the field to deal with. Deathmark and Doomblade to deal with the incoming Burrenton Forge-Tender made this an easy wrap.

Top 8: Round 1

Game 1 - Loss to Honor of the Pure. I ran out of steam in Game 1 and lost to this spirit tokens. This deck was hot and I had a hard time dealing with it. Reinforced Knight of Meadowgrain eats up my Goblins pretty quick.

Game 2 - I came in with the majority of my sideboard again and lulled him into swinging with everything and putting me at two. He made some spirits and passed back. I put down the Outlander, made two Goblins, and doom bladed a spirit and swung in with lots of hasty Goblins for over 20 damage.

Game 3 - I saw my worst enemy, Spectral Procession two times. He swung with one set of 3, tapped two of his Windbrisk Heights to produce another 3 tokens and an Honor of the Pure. Two turns of that kind of abuse and I scooped.

I am relatively happy with my performance but there are some (now) obvious deck tweaks that need to be made:

-3 Veinfire Borderposts
-2 Tarfire
-2 Wort, Boggart Auntie
-2 Mountain

+3 Dragonskull Summit
+2 Magma Spray
+2 Voracious Dragon
+2 Swamp

Lands that come into play tapped are ok for some decks, but with agro like this, a turn without one mana ready for use means you are done for. I found myself wishing I could cast just one more spell but was limited by a borderpost.

Tarfire was meant to be recurring with the help of Wort, Boggart Aunite. This was a good plan, until I realized that I didn’t play her the entire night. Not even once. Not even on my last turn with the game on the board. The reason is that there are too many more relevant things in my hand to play instead. Flame Javelin, Ram-Gang, and Siege-Gang Commander are all more valuable than a 3/3 Fear for 4. Most of what ended up in my graveyard was tokens that got blocked. Mad Auntie does pretty close to the same thing by regenerating the Goblin instead. This allowed me to attack with tokens and regenerate at least one for more mischief next turn. The point is, if I was alive long enough to need to bring things back with Wort, then I was probably already dead.

With a creature slot open, it makes it a no brainer to add in Voracious Dragon. Say I have a Goblin Commander, Mad Auntie, Siege-Gang Commander, and 5 Goblin tokens in play (this is a pretty regular look for my board). When Voracious gobbles them all up with Devour, your opponent takes 16 damage! If you haven’t dealt at least 4 damage, or if they have been gaining enough life to stay alive, a 12/12 Flying Dragon should do the trick.

Such a low number of Swamps in for Mountains seems trivial, until I ended up with no way to make the black mana that I desperately needed. 2 Swamps ensures that you will still be able to cast red heavy spells like Flame Javelin and Goblin Commander turn 3 while still allowing you to go and find Swamps off of a Path to Exile.

The change to the sideboard is:
-2 Goblin Assault
-1 Magma Spray to the Main Deck
+3 Volcanic Fallout

An extra Goblin every turn that has haste is great, but not so much if they cause all your other creatures to run into a superior enemy. Fallout will only wipe your board if you don’t have some sort of lord support. I would recommend only using it when absolutely necessary because the consequences of clearing your own board are just as bad as if you had devoured them all with Voracious Dragon.

M10 gave us some quality Goblins to work with, and I’m putting them to good use. I’ll have another match report for you next week where B/R Goblins 2.0 will face my local meta-game once again.

Until next time Magic players, this is Nate signing off.

Classic: The Magic Show #1

2009-07-17T22:57:00.000-07:00

So after watching the Magic Show, I was shown links to earlier shows. I started watching and found myself watching the previous 15 shows. Its interesting watching past shows and seeing what the meta game has become since the "first reactions" shown in the show. So, each week I will give you another classic episode of The Magic Show. And what's a better way to start this off, then by watching the very first episode.

The Magic Show with Evan Erwin

2009-07-16T22:59:00.000-07:00

Deck Tech - Jund and its Power House

2009-07-15T21:14:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone and welcome to another deck tech.

This issue week explore the power house that is Jund. Jund has an array of powerful cards in the current standard. So, let's take a look at the cards and see what Jund can really do.

For any of you that have been in a box the last few months, Jund is the shard of Alara that lacks Life and Order. Jund's primary color is red and is helped by green and black. This combination of colors has quite a few awesome cards. Not only in the Shards of Alara block but in the Lorwyn/Shadowmoor block as well.

Lor/Sha block cards in Jund colors

Now all these cards listed above are great. They each have there own little part to play. Many of the cards above are used in the deck type RDW(Red Deck Wins). This deck type went top tables for a while and some variations still do. When Shards of Alara entered the scene, new new batch of awesome cards entered the meta.

Blightning changed the format of standard. Giving Red/Black decks away to rid the fae decks of crucial parts. RDW shifted into Red/Black. Being able to tear apart your opponent's hand on turn 3 is fantastic. I have even played against a RDW deck that targeted himself with the blightning to discard 2 Demigods of Revenge. I didn't see that coming. Blightning Aggro became a new deck type quickly.

Broodmate Dragon was another card in Shards of Alara that would shake the walls. Giving you 8 power with evasion for 6 mana is amazing. This card smelled instantly of card advantage. This card is hard to deal with.

These two cards alone defined a new deck type. A deck type that would keep evolving.

With the release of Conflux, came a bunch of cards to change the deck. Unearth is an interesting mechanic. Kind of like a flashback for creatures.

Hellspark Elemental, a slightly better version of Spark Elemental, showed up in RDW decklist quickly. Made for a great 2 drop that could come back for another 2. You can look at this as having the equivelent of have say eight Spark Elementals or even eight Incenerates.

A friend of mine believes that Hellspark is a crappy card and can be replaced easily by a handful of others. The big thing you have to keep in mind here is the card advantage taht Hellspark gives you. If you have no relevant cards in your hand you can unearth him and swing again. No "Draw, Go" here.

Shambling Remains is another card that would help out the Red/Black version of RDW. Another creature with unearth, but with a longer lifespan and a better power and toughness. Shambling Remains was said to replace Ashenmoor Gouger when the Lorwyn/Shadowmoor block rotates out of standard.

Volcanic Fallout was probably one of the best cards from Conflux. This card was pretty much the one responsible for the decline of Fae dominance in standard. Many on RDW's creature base can withstand a fallout's wrath. Making it a great card for the deck to include.

With a meta now filled with Path to Exile, Goblin Outlander would see its days of glory. A small 2/2 would be crashing into the red zone against kithkin and white aggro decks for wins. Who doesn't like a Red/Black pro white bear? White players do.

With the release of Alara Reborn, we would see a shift in power. Alara Reborn brought a new mechanic that would up set the balance of power greatly. Cascade was introduced and proved to be a great mechanic for players to feed off of.

Bloodbraid Elf is said by many to be the best card in the entire set. Mind you that Bloodbraid Elf is uncommon. A 3/2 with haste and cascade for 2RG shook the meta game. Most of the cards above cost 3 or less mana to play. Can you say, "Instant card advantage"? This card in nothing but that. Bloodbraid Elf into Boggart Ramgang. Thats 6 power with haste for 4 mana. kind of a pseudo Broodmate Dragon really.

Currently on Starcity Games, Bloodbraid Elf is selling for $2.50 and remember that this is an uncommon. A normal uncommon from Alara Reborn is selling for about 15-20 cents. So, Bloodbraid is selling for roughly 16 times the normal uncommon rate. If we use this logic, a normal rare sells for about $1. Do that math and if Bloodbraid was a rare it would be selling for around $16. Bet your happy it is an uncommon.

Anathemancer is another player happy card. In a nonbasic land filled meta, Anathemancer is there to teach your opponents a lesson. And it is recursive. Pretty sweet! Been seeing him in a lot of sideboards.

Bituminous Blast help fuel the Jund Control decks out there. Who doesn't want to get a free spell and take out about any creature for 5 mana? Cascade into Bloodbraid into Ramgang spells great times.

Jund Hackblade was another great creature for the two drop slot in the Jund deck. Getting a 3/2 with haste for two mana is no laughing matter. In an all multicolored enviroment, its kinda hard to see this little dude in his 2/1 nonhasty form.

Terminate came back. This card gave the deck an even better fighting chance. Awesome card overall.

There were so many great cards to come out in Alara Reborn. The set showed what the power of multiple colors could do. Trying to pick and choose which cards to use is a difficult task. So many combinations.

There is Jund Aggro, Jund Elves, Jund Control, Jund Midrange, etc.... As said, so many combinations and which one to choose. Each of the deck subtypes have made it to top tables. As for me, I prefer my own deck unique decklist.

Deck Tech - Jund Cascade

Lands
2 [SHM] Graven Cairns
3 [10E] Treetop Village
4 [SHM] Fire-Lit Thicket
5 [10E] Forest
2 [SHM] Swamp
5 [SHM] Mountain
3 [LRW] Vivid Crag

Creatures
4 [ARB] Bloodbraid Elf
4 [SHM] Boggart Ram-Gang
3 [ARB] Jund Hackblade
3 [ALA] Rip-Clan Crasher
3 [LRW] Garruk Wildspeaker
2 [ALA] Broodmate Dragon

Spells
1 [CFX] Banefire
4 [ARB] Violent Outburst
4 [SHM] Flame Javelin
4 [ARB] Terminate
4 [ARB] Bituminous Blast

Sideboard
4 [ALA] Blightning
4 [SHM] Firespout
3 [CFX] Goblin Outlander
4 [ALA] Magma Spray

This deck is fast and effective. Many of the Jund decks I have played don't run Violent Outburst. I think that is a big mistake. If you want to aggro out, you want to drop as mana threats as you can and deals as much damage as you can. Turn one, you drop say Vivid or Treetop. Turn two, drop a clasher and swing in. Turn three, drop a Ram-gang and swing with team or play the out burst. You cascade into a Terminate to remove their creature and swing or you hit another Clasher or the Hackblade. Turns keep growing from there. Its hard to deal with this deck. A Fallout and take it down quickly, but since you can cascade and recover very well. Wrath again kills it, but Wrath is leaving standard so playing a white deck on turn four isn't really scary anymore.

The Future

The Lorwn/Shadowmoor block brought very powerful cards. Alot of these cards shadowed many of the cards from the Shards of Alara block. I forsee many cards im Shards block gaining a lot of use once Lor/Sha rotate in October.

One card I believe will see more usage is Goblin Assault. Goblin Assault is an under rated card in my opinion. Goblin Assault has been in the shadow of Bitterblossom and the draw back is kinda interesting. Yes, I know that having all your goblins attack each turn is a drag, but I don't see this card in a Goblin tribal deck. I see it in a Jund control deck. It may even find a place in my Jund Cascade deck. I think cascading into Goblin Assault would be a great instance. Throwing down little buggers each turn and then casting threats sounds like a good plan to me.

Well that's all I have for today. So until next time, this is Deppe passing the turn.

Rules Changes - What Does This Mean???

2009-07-13T10:48:00.000-07:00

With the announcement of M10 came some rule changes. Today, I would like to discuss some of these changes so that players can understand them a bit better.

Simultaneous Mulligans

Was this rule ever really enforced? Yeah, at big time tournaments yes, but other than that? At the last FNM I went to I don't remember them actually enforcing it. So there is not really any big change there.

Term Changes

This change has no affect on game play at all. Only renaming areas to be more flavorful. And what is more flavorful than naming it what actually happens in that zone? Battling happens on the battlefield. So Awesome.

Also, it does make it a bit less confusing when you say "Creature enters the battlefield" instead of "Creature comes into play".

The other zone name change was "Removed from Game Zone" to "Exiled Zone". Not only did it receive a cool name, it shortens up lengthy lines of text. You can think of it as a pseudo keyword. "Exile target creature" I love this name change. The only problem is that a handful of cards became weaker. The Wish cycle can no longer grab cards from the Exiled Zone because they are still in play. Not really a big deal. We will see what the reaction is to this change in the upcoming months.

Another term change is "Playing a spell". We are casting spells and playing lands once again. This is a change that should not have changed back in 6th Edition. Makes more logical sense to cast a spell if your the planeswalker in this fantasy world. More flavor is a good flavor. Yum!

Along with this we are activating activated abilities. I think that makes more sense, but that's just me.

Lastly, we have the End of Turn Step turning into the End Step. This step is suppose to rid us of confusion. When does this actually end? Cards like Ball Lightning will now read, "At the beginning of the end step, sacrifice Ball Lightning." This change makes the step feel more like the upkeep. You know when to react to abilities and when things happen.

Mana Burn

Oh no, they got rid of mana burn. Yes, they got rid of mana burn. In my opinion, they made the game lose a bit of flavor here. You can picture it. A planeswalker tapping all the land for thier mana, but he taps a bit too much. He cast his spell and then what? Well, in fantasy reality, there would be so much energy still around that it would have to go somewhere, and that would be damaging the planeswalker for his foolishness. Now, that leftover mana just goes poof and is gone.

On the game side, mana burn does not account for alot of damage in any game. Experienced players know how to tap and get the right amount of mana of the desired kinds. Beginners will learn how to manage their resources rather fast. It wasn't until a year after I started playing Magic, that I learned of mana burn, but at that time I still didn't tap and create mana I didn't need. This shouldn't really have any affect on game play at all.

Along with this, mana pools empty after each step. Not a big deal.

Token Ownership

Not much to say here, only that the Hunted creature cycle from Ravnica become weaker in the Warp Worlds deck. Whoopi! Currently there are no cards in standard that gives your opponent a token when you cast the spell.

Combat Damage

Combat damage does not use the stack. Now this change is a little hard to see at first, but what does it really affect? Mogg Fanatic, Dauntless Escort, ... Indeed these cards do get weaker because you can't kill something with them on there way out. Or cards like Boomerang, that can bounce your creatures to safety. Hard to swallow, but one can get over it. I have read many forums on how this is the single change that will kill Magic. Why? "Because that is part of the game that is the most complex, now we have YuGiOh-Magic." First, Magic has far more complexity than its competitors will ever have. Second, Magic has been around for 15+ years. If the game has been going this long, Wizards is doing something right. Third, this makes games more interesting. You have to think of a different strategy to get the job done. If that is too complex for you, you shouldn't be playing this game.

Blocking Rules

To be blantantly honest, this made combat a lot more confusing. Now when your creature is blcoked you have to 'trample' over to put damage on them. This made a lot of mass wipe cards weaker. But as I said before, allows you to think up different strategies to win.

Keyword Updates

So, with the new blocking rules, deathtouch become very weak. Deathtouch was changed in a way that would allow it to multiple creatures if it could by splitting damage. This change really hasn't affected anything. And I don't recall having to ever having to double regenerate after blocking a creature with deathtouch.

Lifelink on the other hand kinda got the shaft. Longer will your Knight of Meadowgrain get a second instance of lifelink when you attack in with a Rafiq on the board. Kinda sucks, but I can deal with that. Also, lifelink is a static ability. So, you will gain the life right as you deal it. No stack needed here.

Those are just the biggest changes that have happened. For further information, visit the Magic website. These rules were put into affect last Saturday, July 11th. Remember this week, that the new rules are in affect.

Until next time, this is Deppe passing the turn.

The Magic Show with Evan Erwin

2009-07-10T08:40:00.000-07:00

The Magic Show is brought to you by Star City Games. Star City Games is your total Magic resource from daily articles on the meta game to purchasing cards to get you to the top tables.

Runescape Taste

2009-07-08T15:35:00.000-07:00

Runescape has a unique design and storyline. There are a couple of cycles of cards. There is one rare cycle that I know for sure that will get players hopping.

Take a look at Devastation.

What do you think about that? Six black mana to restart the game almost. Is that affect worth six black? I would say yes, because Damnation can destroy all creatures for 2BB. So, six black should be able to destroy all permanents without a problem. This card is kinda a last ditch effort to get back in the game. Maybe it could be part of a combo.

If you likes that little gem take a look at this card.

Oh my god! Its like Flame Javelin but better, well sort of. A better Flame Javelin could be cast for less than three red mana, but think about it for a moment. You can deal 4 damage as soon as you have three red available and then when you have five red available you can hit for 7 damage. Mono-red decks would be eating this card up if Wizards ever printed this card.

Until next time, this is Deppe passing the turn.

Finding the Elder Dragons #2 - Switching from Paper to Digital

2009-07-06T00:00:00.000-07:00

As the school year ended, I had to move back home for the summer. What does this mean? It means that I won't be able to play Paper Magic on a regular basis. I had to resort to finding other methods to play the game I love.

I have used the Magic Workstation for the past year to design and test numerous decks. Now this summer I am using the Workstation to play digital magic with my friends. I have been able to play more casual magic than I have in a while.

Playing EDH on the Workstation is a bit trick at first since the program was not designed to play those types of formats. Though after a few games, you tend to figure out how you should do things. Once I figured out how to do things, a way I went. I created my current EDH deck, Uril Smash.

Deck Tech: Uril Smash!

General
1 [ARB] Uril, the Miststalker

Lands
1 [JU] Krosan Verge
1 [EVE] Springjack Pasture
1 [DIS] Pillar of the Paruns
1 [10E] Ghitu Encampment
1 [RAV] Temple Garden
7 [10E] Forest
7 [10E] Plains
6 [SHM] Mountain
1 [RAV] Sacred Foundry
1 [CFX] Rupture Spire
1 [EVE] Rugged Prairie
1 [FUT] Keldon Megaliths
1 [GP] Stomping Grounds
1 [LRW] Vivid Meadow
1 [LRW] Vivid Grove
1 [CFX] Ancient Ziggurat
1 [TSP] Kher Keep
1 [5E] City of Brass
1 [JU] Riftstone Portal
1 [ALA] Jungle Shrine
1 [SHM] Fire-Lit Thicket
1 [LRW] Ancient Amphitheater
1 [FNM] Treetop Village

Creatures
1 [JU] Anger
1 [EVE] Balefire Liege
1 [LRW] Brion Stoutarm
1 [ARB] Dragon Broodmother
1 [10E] Nomad Mythmaker
1 [FD] Eternal Witness
1 [SHM] Vexing Shusher
1 [MI] Wall or Roots
1 [CHK] Sakura-Tribe Elder
1 [ALA] Wild Nacatl
1 [FNM] Kird Ape
1 [EVE] Stigma Lasher
1 [10E] Birds of Paradise

Planeswalkers
1 [LRW] Garruk Wildspeaker

Spells
1 [CFX] Martial Coup
1 [CFX] Armillary Sphere
1 [REW] Wrath of God
1 [CFX] Asha's Favor
1 [PLC] Pyrohemia
1 [REW] Disenchant
1 [RAV] Moldervine Cloak
1 [SHM] Runes of the Deus
1 [TSP] Pull from Eternity
1 [8E] Sacred Ground
1 [ARB] Trace of Abundance
1 [RAV] Fists of Ironwood
1 [LRW] Fertile Ground
1 [ARB] Mayael's Aria
1 [10E] Dragon Roost
1 [FUT] Emblem of the Warmind
1 [RAV] Congregation at Dawn
1 [10E] Spirit Link
1 [LRW] Oblivion Ring
1 [10E] Pacifism
1 [RAV] Devouring Light
1 [CFX] Path to Exile
1 [SHM] Shield of the Oversoul
1 [PLC] Hunting Wilds
1 [PLC] Retether
1 [CHK] Sensei's Divining Top
1 [RAV] Selesnya Signet
1 [10E] Mind Stone
1 [TSP] Krosan Grip
1 [PLC] Rough/Tumble
1 [EVG] Harmonize
1 [4E] Swords to Plowshares
1 [RAV] Warp World
1 [EVE] Scourge of the Nobilis
1 [LRW] Crib Swap
1 [SHM] Runed Halo
1 [ALA] Relic of Progenitus
1 [EVE] Recumbent Bliss
1 [FUT] Daybreak Coronet
1 [PLC] Dust Corona
1 [ALA] Naya Charm
1 [ALA] Naturalize
1 [RAV] Boros Signet
1 [LRW] Battle Mastery
1 [FNM] Armadillo Cloak

This deck utilizes Uril's seceond ability. I don't how many times I have been able to end the game in one swing. The super shourd on Uril is just a beast, forcing your opponent to use mass removal in order to destroy it. The deck does need a few tweaks, but right now the decklist looks quite nice.

I hope to be rocking EDH tournements when I get back to school in the fall. Until next time, this is Deppe passing the turn.

Runescape

2009-07-05T00:24:00.000-07:00

In 2007, I decided to create a custom Magic set. About 700 cards later, I had created an entire block. An entire Magic: The Gathering block! Was a large endeavor for one person to do.

Using the nifty Magic Set Editor, I was able to mock up the cards rather well and print out proxies for drafting and such. My sets became hits across campus. I held "release" tournaments for my sets that included promo cards as well.

In 2009, I have decided to go down this same path once again. I would like to announce the newest Magic: The Gathering custom set block from Deppe Gaming. The 2009-2010 block will be the Runescape Block.

And here's just a little preview of what's to come.

By the Start of the next academic year, the set should be completed and the design phase for the next set will be starting.

Until next time, this is Deppe passing the turn.

Wow, What's Going On?

2009-07-04T13:29:00.001-07:00

Hello again, its been quite a while since I last posted and a lot of new things have happened. The school year has ended and the summer months are here.

Playing casual magic has stopped for the most part. Getting to FNM is a bit harder these days because I don't have friends around that play magic that can give me rides.

Since I have been home I have gotten to 2 of 5 FNM's. Each time My record for the night was 3-1-0. So what have I been playing? I have been playing a dual color deck that for the most part is Alara Block Constructed. The deck right now is called Green/White Exalted until I find a better name for it.

Deck Tech: G/W Exalted

Lands
9 [10E] Plains
10 [10E] Forest
4 [ALA] Seaside Citadel

Creatures
2 [ALA] Elspeth, Knight-Errant
4 [ARB] Qasali Pridemage
4 [CFX] Noble Hierarch
2 [ARB] Knotvine Paladin
2 [ALA] Rafiq of the Many
4 [ARB] Dauntless Escort
4 [CFX] Valeron Outlander
4 [SHM] Kitchen Finks

Spells
4 [CFX] Path to Exile
2 [ARB] Behemoth Sledge
3 [10E] Wrath of God
2 [10E] Story Circle

Sideboard
2 [ARB] Mycoid Shepherd
3 [CFX] Celestial Purge
4 [ALA] Ethersworn Canonist
2 [10E] Story Circle
4 [LRW] Burrenton Forge-Tender

The deck has been tweaked a bit since I last used it at FNM. I switched the two main board Mycoid Shepherds to main board two Story Circles. I kept finding that I would side in my story circles. I don't see to many people playing this awesome card. Why would you side in a card that is only really effective against mono and maybe dual color decks? Well, for a few different reasons. With Shards of Alara block, came a giant group of tri-color and dual color cards. With these being the highly played cards, you have a high chance of shutting down plenty of your opponents cards with a single Story Circle.

On June 27th, when I went to FNM, I played against a Jund Aggro deck. Game one was close, but I was able to pull out a win. Game two, I sided in the Tenders and Story Circles. I didn't see any Tenders that game but I was able to slam down a turn 2 Story Circle naming red. That there effectively shut down half of his cards. On turn 5, I threw down my second circle and named black. From there, I just had to keep enough mana open to deny my opponent access until I could throw down a Wrath.

Second round that night was against Boat Brew. Brutal is all I have to say. He wiped me out twice. I learned an important thing that round. And that was that I have no answer to numerous flying creatures. Considered putting firespout in the sideboard so that I can have a one sided wrath against flyers.

Third round was against a Naya deck. This was about the same as my first round, but Captured Sunlight can be annoying. Though I was able to pull a 2-0 win.

Round 4 was a waste of time though a learning experience for my opponent. My opponent started playing two weeks prior to the tournement. I had built a mono white Kithkin deck. Very fast and pretty powerful, but was nothing when I casted Story Circle. That game, he learned the importance of having a sideboard. Second game, after I played my Story Circle, my oppoent just stopped attacking because he saw no reason to anymore. He has no enchantment destruction in his deck at all, making it hard for him to continue on. He had high spirits though, he was hoping to overrun me with more creatures than I had white mana. That strategy would have worked, but a Wrath of God quickly shut down that option foloowed by an Elspeth. From there on it was 4/4 flyers coming his way. After this round I sat down with this player and discussed what he should put in his sideboard for the following week.

Well, that's all I have time for this post. Until next time, this is Deppe passing the turn.

Finding the Elder Dragons

2009-04-02T20:42:00.000-07:00

So, two weeks ago, I had the opportunity to play in my first EDH (Elder Dragon Highlander) Tournament. Before this tournament, I had not played a lot of EDH. And going to this tournament was not even planned. A few friends came over the night before and helped me put together a deck. It took a while to find a good general to use, but in the end Brion Stoutarm was our winner.

My favorite color combination in magic is Red and White. This EDH deck featured some of my favorite red and white cards. The deck featured Warp World, Lightning Helix, Balefire Liege, Dragon Mage, Mobilization, and Dragon Roost.

This tournament was multiplayer with grand melee rules. The Deck tested nicely, but I was the first player out. I was killed by Door to Nothingness. I admit that I did make a few play mistakes, but I also when building the deck, did not put in alot of artifact removal.

I'm taking this as a learning experience. Now, I know that I shuld include more artifact/enchantment removal.

If you have not played this format yet, I highly encourage you to do so.

Until next time, this is Deppe passing the turn.

Red Deck Wins

2009-03-18T23:20:00.000-07:00

Red Deck Wins. You have all heard it. Figure on turn one, Hellspark on turn two, and Ram-Gang on turn three. Fast and deadly is what flashes to mind. And that there is the appeal of the deck on others. This deck type is truly powerful, but are all RDW's the same? Is there only one real build for this deck? No there isn't RDW gives you many options when you build. Some choose more burn over creatures, while others prefer the hordes of creatures.

Deck Tech: Red Deck Wins

Lands
17x Mountain
4x Firelit Thicket
1x Karplusan Forest

Creatures
4x Figures of Destiny
2x Mogg Fanatic
4x Hellspark Elemental
2x Stigma Lasher
4x Boggart Ram-Gang
4x Hell's Thunder
3x Balefire Liege

Instants
4x Lash Out
4x Incinerate
4x Flame Javelin

Sorcery
3x Firespout

Sideboard
3x Volcanic Fallout
3x Fulminator Mage
2x Stigma Lasher
4x Magma Spray
3x Naturalize

These decks have a generic build. Many that I have seen run Ashenmoor Gouger. The Gouger's 4 toughness use to be nice because the threat of Firespout. But in today's games, Firespout is no longer a big danger. Since the release of Conflux, many players have switched over to playing volcanic fallout over the Firespout. Why you ask? Simply put because it is instant speed. Oh yeah, and its uncounterable. So, why am I still playing Firespout then? I have been asked that many times. I feel that since the rotation to using Volcanic Fallout, people have started using more 3 thoughness creatures again thinking "they won't die anymore". So, I am taking advantage of this thinking. And thus far it has worked.

One of the key features in this deck is Balefire Liege. Do you see why? Not only does it pump me creatures, they also allow me to Lightning Bolt my opponent in the face for every spell I play!! Now this is something that I can be happy about.

Wait a minute! Your not running Guttural Responce in the sideboard, why? As far as I'm concerned Faeries is now a dead deck type. Volcanic Fallout hits them hard and they don't get back up.

Why not Spark Elemental? Spark Elemental is good, but why only get one use out of it. I don't mind paying the additional mana to play the Hellspark and have the ability to play him again later. The Hellspark kind of acts like two creatures in a sense.

Until next time Planeswalkers, this is Deppe, passing the turn.

FNM

2009-03-12T22:53:00.000-07:00

It is Friday once again and that means its time for FNM (Friday Night Magic).

For the past few weeks, I have been playing the "Walking the Planes" deck. This deck demonstrated that it could control about any match. "Any" match which is about everything but RDW (Red Deck Wins). RDW showed me that even though I can control their creature based, I am still very weak again Flame Javelin and the other instant speed burn. I learned that I need more counter in my sideboard to deal with these threats. Since I have made the changes to the sideboard, I have not played against RDW. Great way to test these changes out right?

Last week, I played a white aggro deck that I just threw together when I was bored one night. This deck has major card advantage because most of the spells you play give you more creatures.

Deck Tech: White Aggro

Lands
20x Plains
3x Rustic Clachan

Creatures
4x Kitchen Finks
4x Cloadgoat Ranger
4x Goldmeadow Stalwart
4x Wizened Cenn
4x Knight of Meadowgrain
2x Reveilark

Spells
4x Path to Exile
4x Spectral Procession
3x Oblivion Ring
4x Lapse of Certainty

Planeswalkers
1x Ajani Goldmane

Sideboard
4x Story Circle
4x BurrentonForge-Tender
4x Celestial Purge
3x Cauldron Haze

As you can see the sideboard is heavily anti-red. It might be a be mcuh some would say, but most of the side board has other uses as well. Story Circle is very versitile card in the sideboard. I have used this to stop RDW in there tracks and to horde of a legion of elves. Celestial Purge takes care of the little pests called Bitterblossom and Demigod of Revenge. Cauldron Haze is my anti-Wrath of God fix.

Is this deck finished? Nope. I would however like to throw in a few Glorious Anthems to replace Ajani Goldmane. Yes, giving my creatures +1/+1 counters and vigilance until end of turn is nice, but Glorious Anthem is a turn sooner. Turn one Goldmeadow Stalwart, turn two Wizened Cenn, turn three Glorious Anthem, and swing for 7 damage is nice.

This week, I am again using this White Aggro build.

Until next post planeswalkers, this is Deppe, passing the turn.

Planeswalking with the Planeswalkers

2009-03-12T14:30:00.000-07:00

Hello and welcome to Walking the Planes.

Today's Deck Tech: Walking the Planes

Lands
4x Reflecting Pool
3x Vivid Grave
2x Vivid Meadow
3x Vivid Creek
1x Brushland
2x Adarkar Waste
2x Yavimaya Coast
1x Shivan Reef
2x Mystic Gate
1x Sunken Ruins
1x Twilight Mire
2x Flooded Grove
1x Cascade Bluffs

Planeswalkers
3x Garruk Wildspeaker
3x Chandra Nalaar
2x Ajani Vengeant
2x Jace Beleren
1x Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker

Artifacts
2x Icy Manipulator
1x Rings of Brighthearth

Creatures
1x Realm Razor

Spells
1x Mind Spring
2x Cryptic Command
1x Oona's Grace
3x Wrath of God
2x Hallowed Burial
1x Primal Command
4x Bant Charm
2x Esper Charm

Enchantments
4x Fertile Ground

Side Board
4x Dream Fracture
3x Hindering Light
3x Cumber Stone
3x Memory Plunder
2x Esper Charm