B/R Agro 2.0

    I've slowly been making improvements to the B/R standard deck I posted several weeks ago. There is still some improvements I can make to it, but it is much more consistent than it's first iteration. So without further ado here is the deck.

Creatures: 24
4 x Firedrinker Satyr
3 x Rakdos Cackler
4 x Rakdos Shred-Freak
3 x Burning-Tree Emissary
2 x Mogis's Marauder
2 x Boros Reckoner
2 x Mogis, God of Slaughter
4 x Gray Merchant of Asphodel

Spells: 14
4 x Duress
4 x Dreadbore
4 x Lightning Strike
2 x Whip of Erebos 

Land: 23
1 x Blood Crypt
4 x Rakdos Guildgate
9 x Mountain
9 x Swamp

A Few of My Favorite Things

     What Magic blog can be complete without a top 10 favorite cards. This is not a top 10 most powerful cards, or a top 10 best cards ever. This is a top 10 of my favorite cards to play with.




10.  Lightning Bolt - The quintessential burn spell. 3 damage for one mana is pretty much the most efficient burn Wizards has ever printed. It was a staple of red decks for many years. Too bad it has been replaced with Shock.

Born of The Gods Pre-Release

     I attended the midnight Born of The Gods pre-release last night. It was a pretty fun time, but no where near as fun as the old pre-releases they used to hold at convention centers. Those things were huge, and always had lots of vendors there. But at least with the pre-releases at stores you don't have to drive very far to get to them.

     I got the black seeded box since I run B/R in FNM. I got some nice cards and thought I made a pretty decent B/R deck. But my first opponent got probably the best freakin box of the night. It was like playing against a standard deck instead of a limited one. My second opponent had dropped after the first round so got a free win. I actually dropped out at this point since it was getting close to 2:30 a.m. and I didn't feel like waiting another hour for the round to end.

    Now to the cards. I pulled the one card I wanted most, Mogis, God of Slaughter.  I expect most opponents to take the 2 damage over saccing a creature, but a 7/5 for 4 is awesome, and the extra 2 damage a turn will help b/r agro.  I also got a *foil* Oracle of Bones.  I'm putting him in my deck for now, but I'm not sure if I really have enough instants or sorceries to use him.  I also got a second of the promo for the black box, Eater of Hope. This card, suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuucks. Using its abilities will give you serious card disadvantage and it is way overcosted.

What where They Thinking? Artifact Lands

     I am going to try and start a regular column here dissecting some of the most infamously broken cards wizards has ever printed. Now there are many cards more broken than the Artifact Lands, but I am starting off with them to illustrate how you can miss powerful cards because they are deceptively simple looking.

     The Artifact Lands are a very simple cycle of cards. They are lands and they are also artifacts, nothing more nothing less. By themselves they do not do anything other than tap for mana, and they are more susceptible to destruction than basic lands. At first glance they just appear to be flavorful replacements for basic lands in an artifact theme set. This is no doubt what was going through Wizards' minds when they printed these cards.

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

    Magic is a constantly changing beast. New cards are constantly being made, sets rotate in and out of standard, and new strategies are being though up. However, the time I was away from Magic brought some major changes; Some of them I like, and others not so much.

     Let's talk about the big one first. Planeswalkers. I do not like them. Several of them are much too powerful in my opinion, but it's not the power that makes me dislike them. It's the fact that they don't really fit into the game. The card frame looks different than any other cards and really makes planeswalkers feel like they were shoe horned in. The rules about what can target them, and the fact they are a new type of permanent after over a decade can make for some clumsy interaction. And having planeswalkers as a castable cards spits in the face of all the previous lore. They were god like being traveling through the different planes of the multiverse, not some one to do the bidding of whoever summoned them. Yes, I know in time spiral, planeswalkers were powered down, but they still should never have been made a card.

Sets I'd like Wizards to revisit

Fairly recently Wizards of the Coast revisited the Ravnica block with Return to Ravnica, and before that they went back to Mirodin, and even did another Ice Age set with Coldsnap. That got me thinking about what other sets would be interesting to see again.

Arabian Nights
I would love to see this set with a proper story line. It has a lot of flavor but doesn't really have anything tying it all together with the rest of the multiverse. I think it would be cool to see some of these classic cards from Magic's first expansion updated for the modern era.

Tempest
There were a lot of great cards in this block, and it kept me playing Magic in High School. I stopped playing for a bit after this block ended, so I don't really know the fate of the plane of Rath. But still it would be awesome fun to see shadow and buyback back in standard.

Homelands
Yeah I would like to see another crack at this set. Long considered one of the worst sets in magic, I think it could be salvaged. The set was very flavorful, and had a very strong connection with planeswalkers, at a time when they were barely even mentioned. I think a new set, with some good cards in this setting would work out very well. At worst it would at least give an excuse to print out some new Serra cards.

Friday Night Magic

Tonight, was the first Friday Night Magic I've played in about 6 or 7 years. I ended up going 2-3 which was way better than I thought I would do, seeing how limited my standard card pool was. I did purchase some singles before the event started, and those helped out tremendously.


The Deck
I call this hastily put together rakdos. Basically the idea is to get a lot of fast creatures on the board and hope I kill my opponent before they can get their stuff out.

Creatures:
4 x Firedrinker Satyr
3x Burning-Tree Emisary
2 x Child of Night
2 x Tymaret, the Murder King
3 x Nighthowler
2 x Mogis's Marauder
1 x Regathan Firecat
1 x Returned Centaur
1 x Purphoros, God of the Forge
3 x Gray Merchant of Asphodel
1 x abhorrent Overlord

Spells:
4 x Shock
4 x Duress
2 x Dreadbore
2 x Pharika's Cure
2 x Whip of Erebos

Lands:
1 x Rakdos Guildgate
2 x Transguild Promenade
11 x Swamp
9 x Mountain

Overall there is a ton of room for improvement, but I was pleased with how it performed.

The Matches

Match 1:
My first match was against a mono black deck. First game was going well until he got Desecration Demon out. Second game, he got mana screwed and I managed to pull two Firedrinekr Saytrs in my opening hand. Won that game pretty easily. Game 3 was my turn to be mana screwed and I lost quickly.

Match 2:
My opponent was playing a U/R deck, that was kind of slow. Game one I got a F.D. Satyr and Burning-Tree Emissary in my opening hand. He started catching up, but a late Gray Merchant killed him. Second game I didn't pull anything good and he managed to win. Third game I got the satyr and emissary in my opening hand again and proceeded to win the game and the match.

Match 3:
Played against a nasty B/W deck. First game he got out Desecration Demon and killed me with that. Second game he got out Elspeth and totally wrecked me. I didn't stand a chance.

Match 4:
Played against an incredibly slow U/B mill deck. Both games she would put down a high casting cost creature with defender and cast mill spells. Both games i managed to get  the satyr, emissary, and several other creatures and just burn through her before she even got close to decking me.

Match 5:
Played against a G/U mana accel deck. I already couldn't keep up with the mana growth, but to make matters worse I was mana screwed both games. I lost pretty handily.

Three Stars
1. Firedrinker Satyr
2. Burning-Tree Emissary
3. Whip of Erebos

Pretty much every game I won, I had a Firedrinker Satyr and a Burning-Tree Emissary in my hand. They have great synergy together. The whip helped me get out of a few tight spots.

A Hello

Hello. I'm an old school Magic: The Gathering player, who has decided to return to Magic, after a 7 year absence. Expect to see posts about decks I build, FNM, and just my general feelings on MTG.