Archive for March, 2010

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The Best Magic Deck Ever Made

Huzzah! An article about Magic: The Gathering posted on March 24th, 2010 by

Since the beginning of Magic the holy grail of the game has been building the unbeatable deck. Perhaps this is because of the type of people the game attracts, or maybe it is simply the competitive nature of all humanity. Whatever the reason, this quest has led to some amazing decks being built, however, one deck still stands above all. With a win rate of over 85% this deck caused so many problems during its heyday that the game designers were forced to add an unprecedented amount of cards to the restricted list in order to restore balance to the Vintage (known as Type 1 back then) format. The name of that deck is Long.Dec.

The Decklist:
3 Chromatic Sphere
4 Lion’s Eye Diamond
5 Moxen
1 Lotus Petal
1 Black Lotus
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
1 Sol Ring
1 Mox Diamond
4 Dark Ritual
4 Gemstone Mine
4 City of Brass
1 Tolarian Academy

2 Underground Sea

4 Duress

4 Brainstorm

4 Burning Wish
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Demonic Consultation
1 Timetwister
1 Wheel of Fortune
1 Windfall
1 Tinker
1 Mind’s Desire
1 Necropotence
1 Yawgmoth’s Bargain
1 Memory Jar
1 Tendrils of Agony

Sideboard:
1 Tendrils of Agony
1 Yawgmoth’s Will
1 Diminishing Returns
4 Xantid Swarm
1 Balance
1 Primitive Justice
1 Simplify
1 Hull Breach
1 Regrowth
1 Vindicate
2 Seal of Cleansing

Just looking at this deck list and sideboard should send a shiver up your spine, what is even more remarkable is how it worked. First, Long.dec had an extremely solid and very flexible manna base. By using cards like Black Lotus and Lions Eye Diamond, it rarely had manna color issues. Second, this deck was almost always able to do its thing without ever giving the other player a chance. Which as anyone can imagine was quite annoying. Finally, it had answers for almost any deck in the format which made it almost pointless to try and stop anyone playing Long.dec.

The basic idea behind this deck was to drop as much zero cost manna producers as you could, then to fire off a series of spells powered by Yawgmoths’s Bargain and Time Twister until Burning Wish came up. Generally you would use Burning Wish to get Tendrils of Agony (or Yawgmoth’s Will if the spell count wasn’t high enough) and play Tendrils for the win. While the above may have been the basic idea, there were countless ways to set up a kill so it wasn’t weak in the same way many other combo decks were. Overall, it was an incredible build.

Since the time of its demise, there have been several other great builds that have come along, but none of them have quite matched the ferocity of Long.dec, and we may never see it happen.

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What determines the value of a card?

Huzzah! An article about Trading Tips posted on March 24th, 2010 by

Hey,

In commemoration of the new trading forums out (which you can check out here: CLICK ME), I am taking a step out of the YuGiOh realm and making a general statement about trading.

When trading, I encourage you to take extra precaution so you don’t get ripped off.  The best way to do so is educate yourself about value.

There are two major influences on how much a trading card costs:

  • Supply – How many copies of the trading card are available?
  • Demand – How many copies of the trading card are desired?

Take a lesson from economics.  When demand goes up, the supply of a product goes down.  Unless that supply gets replaced, the price of the product will increase.

Consider the real-world example of Magic the Gathering cards.  With the recent change to the reserved list reprint policy, cards on the reserved list will no longer be reprinted.  The effect this has over the prices of staple cards can be seen already.   While some of the basic landtype duals (Volcanic Island, Savannah, etc) were only $25.00, they are currently going for $40.00 and up.  With no worry about the supply going up to devalue the cards, the prices for the cards can safely be increased.

What are some ways to prevent getting ripped off when trading?  Using the concepts of supply and demand, consider the following:

  • The value of the cards traded: Are you trading a Black Lotus for a Morphling?  Or giving a player Umezawa’s Jitte for some Hammers of Ruin?  Before you trade, consider the market value of both parties.  Is one card worth more monetarily than the other card?
  • The availability of the cards traded: How available are the cards to the players?  Are there a plethora of card shops being sold out with the product?  Are the cards out of print?  If the supply is low and the demand is high, then the price will rise.
  • The rarity of the card:  Rarity dictates how much of the card is printed.  A common card is more available than a rare card.  While rares are generally more expensive, don’t forget demand ties in to the value.  There are some rare cards (Mudhole, One with Nothing) that are not worth a lot of money despite their rarity.

Take note of how to determine the value of Magic cards from you own viewpoint.  Also, use sources such as other people and the Internet to help determine if your trade is fair.

Again, don’t forget to check out the forums here!
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Strategy Update: Might of Steel

Huzzah! An article about Pokémon posted on March 24th, 2010 by

It’s Wednesday and I’m going to give you a strategy update. Today we’re gonna learn about the Might of Steel which used to be a fairly popular tournament deck idea. The deck concept or strategy isn’t outdated, it simply lost it’s popularity for over usage and obvious weak points.

First, the overview  the Might of Steel deck is virtually a steel type based deck centered around quick strong hits. Most Might of Steel decks feature Dialga G Lv.X as it’s powerhouse.  The secondary deck type is usually dark or normal if any because they seemingly fit hand in hand. It’s made for strong attacks reinforced by a lot of HP.

The body of this deck is usually composed of Dialga/Dialga G, Metagross, it’s pre-evolutions, and either many standalone steel creatures or those of a secondary type. The support for this deck includes special metal energies most of the time. As the deck is revolved around a “keystone” card or card the deck is made to bring to the field there are a lot of searcher supporters. The searchers may include, Bebe’s Search,Premier Ball,Dusk Ball, etc. to receive both energy and Pokemon.  Other than those you don’t see many trainers in a Might of Steel deck. Occasionally you may find someone running(using in their deck) a few warp points or even moonlight stadium for those reinforced by dark or psychic type.

The positive sides of this deck are a very strong offense and enough defense to take a couple of hits.  Dialga G Lv.X can stop the effects of annoying enemy pokebodies of course this is at the cost of your own. Another upside is the fact Dialga G. Lv.X is an energy thief forcing your opponent to resupply every turn if the coin flip goes your way. Downsides of the might of steel are also plentiful. Many metal type Pokemon are large energy consumers making it possible to find yourself stuck with no way to attack if you suddenly have to switch Pokemon in the middle of battle. In reality if you can’t control the flow from the beginning of the match with the Might of Steel, you’ll probably lose.

Considering all of these elements I personally give this deck strategy a 3/5. It can be highly effect for people who are masters of hiding or strengthening shortcomings. If you’ve ever used this deck strategy let me know how it went for you. That’s about all for now pokefans and I’ll see you Friday.

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MtG Deck Strategies – Specific Ability

Huzzah! An article about Magic: The Gathering posted on March 23rd, 2010 by

In every new block of Magic the Gathering, new abilities emerge. Utilising these abilities is a common way of constructing a deck.

Include the ability exclusively

When you create your deck, make sure that all the cards in the deck either have that ability,support it, or utilise it. Eg. If you want to create a Landfall deck, put in creatures and spells that have the ability and include things like Dream Stalker to return your lands. Keep the other cards that does not support your strategy at a minimum. If you have more cards in your deck than you want, take out the cards in your deck that don’t support the ability, even if it is your only counter spell.

Make sure you include support

It is important to include not only cards that have the ability you chose, but also cards that support that ability. The non-land part of your deck should be around one third support cards. If your deck includes only cards with Landfall for example, it will be mostly ineffective, since you will have to rely on drawing a land to activate the Landfall abilities. It can work in that fashion, but your deck would be much more efficient if you included things like Oracle of Mul Daya.

Fully utilise your ability

Add cards that takes advantage of a situation the ability you chose will create. You will have to check your deck to see exactly what these situations are, perhaps you can play a goldfish to check. Eg. If, in our hypothetical Landfall deck, you included a lot of cards to return your lands to your hand, you might want to include cards that utilise hand size such as Presence of the Wise. To go even further, you can include cards that support the cards that utilise your ability, such as Spellbook.

If you followed all these steps you should have a pretty complicated and perhaps powerful deck. All you need to do now is test it out!

Hm. I’ll be back later with more deck strategies.

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Giveaway: Pokémon HeartGold / SoulSilver Booster Packs

Huzzah! An article about Giveaways, Pokémon posted on March 22nd, 2010 by

It’s the giveaway pokéfans have been waiting for: Free HeartGold / SoulSilver Booster Packs!

HGSS Packs

We have a whole box of factory-sealed booster packs and are giving them away to you, our adoring public.

To get some, all you have to do is:
1. Tell others about this giveaway, via Facebook^, Twitter, your blog, another forum/message board, or in person*, AND
2. Post your haves/wants list in our trading forum

^If you use Facebook, you can become a fan of our Facebook page, and that will make us very happy.
*We’ll trust you on this one.

When you post your H/W list, we’ll PM (send you a private message) you through the forum to get your mailing address and confirm how you’ve shared this giveaway with others.

This giveaway IS open to people who’ve already received free toploaders from us in the past. More free stuff is always a good thing, right?

If you don’t know what a haves/wants list is, it’s a list of the cards you’re interested in trading – cards you have and are willing to trade, and cards you’d like to receive in a trade. If you already have a H/W list posted somewhere else, just copy and paste. If you don’t have one written up yet, this is a great time to do it.

This first-come, first-served giveaway ends April 30, 2010 or whenever we run out of booster packs. We ship to US addresses only. See more rules and conditions on our giveaway rules page.

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Trading For Beginners

Huzzah! An article about Pokémon posted on March 22nd, 2010 by

Well, on Monday I usually update you guys with general news relating to the Pokemon TCG, however, besides the future release of HS – Unleashed not much is happening. So, I suppose I’ll have to speak to you about something else. So today I will tell you about how to spot a good trade. It’s fairly simple in relation to many other card games.

When beginning any kind of trade that isn’t in person, you want to be sure the person you’re trading with is a respectable, trustworthy person. Try and find people on trade forums that seem to have a fairly good reputation. Once you find trustworthy people browse their have and want lists until you find something you need or want. Most people don’t advertise they’re commons/uncommons on trading sites, so if you’re trying to complete a set, you’re barking up the wrong tree.

Before initiating any trade make sure the know the condition of the card you’re opting to trade for. Pictures are always nice, front and back. Don’t fall for cards that seem good because the picture quality is horrible, if the picture itself looks shady move on. It’s very rare someone will trade out fake cards, but, occasionally it does happen pay close attention to all the details of the card. I’ll have to inform you how to spot a fake on a different slow news day, but most fake cards are obvious fakes.

Now then, the trading process once all particulars are decided. I like to use a trading service, the must trusted for me is www.tradingcardescrow.com oh wait…that’s here! Well enough kidding around for me, these sites are a very trustworthy way to trade safely, and securely. You won’t have to worry about giving strangers your address. Now, something I like to do that make most of my trade partners happy is look through my doubles and triples I’m not particularly attached to and throw them in as a free gift. I’m not saying it’s a must, but, building friends in the community is always a good thing. Don’t be a jerk and throw in some random commons though that would just annoy people, at least make them reverse holographics.

I have entrusted you with my super trading knowledge, put it to good use and make some great trades. Be sure to check out the forum here as well, it’s small at the moment so help make it big! My list is there as well, I’d be happy to trade with you all. Now then pokefans you know what to do and, i’ll see you on Wednesday.

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Sleeper rares

Huzzah! An article about Magic: The Gathering posted on March 21st, 2010 by

Some people may not be familiar with the term “sleeper rares” as my friends call them, however with the Rise of Eldrazi set coming out relatively soon I believe now is the time to explain the concept and point out a possible sleeper rare.

A sleeper rare is a card that is initially unsought, thought to be useless and is not needed or beneficial in any good decks. However, after a new advancement releasing new cards, a “sleeper rare” becomes far more valuable, sometimes as much as tripling or more in price and finds much greater play in tournaments.

My example here that I will use is the Eye of Ugin. This makes all colorless eldrazi cards cost 2 less mana to cost. You know, all none of them. So in essence this card is currently useless, at the most you could tap it to search your deck for a darksteel collosus, assuming you have enough awesome ramp to get it out by turn 5 and make it useful that is. However in the next set many high mana costing good cards will come out that will allow this card to be useful. Perhaps Eldrazi creatures will become the next tier one deck.. Meaning that this card could go from the value of 10$ to the same price region as a baneslayer. It is after all a mythic rare. Besides, next set it will become a two for one land, that gives you two mana and lets you hunt for the creatures you wish to play. Being able to pull cards out of your deck while dropping 8+ mana monsters for much less will be ridiculous.

So in the end, seemingly useless cards like this may make a good trade. But always remember, cards can raise in value and have amazing future use. “Sleeper rares” are everywhere, cards that are waiting for just one other half to make them unbeatable.

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What Makes a Good Magic Card Part 2

Huzzah! An article about Magic: The Gathering posted on March 21st, 2010 by

In my last post I talked about what makes a particular card bad. It is only logical that in this post I take some time to talk about what makes a card good. The hard part about this particular subject is that Magic has a lot more good cards then bad cards. Sure, not every card is as good as some tier 1 cards such as Jace the Mindbender, but most cards have some value to them. So I gave some thought to the subject, and decided that just like my last post, I would pick a specific card and give my opinion about what makes it good.

Last time I went way back in the history of magic, this time I will go a bit more current and talk about Vampire Nighthawk. In my opinion Vampire Nighthawk is one of the best non tier 1 cards to come out in a while. Not only is it a flying critter, but the fact it comes along with lifelink and deathtouch only makes it better.

First thing to look at is the manna cost. While the three manna means you won’t be throwing out Nighthawk on the first turn, it is still a very affordable creature. The one drawback to Nighthawk’s manna cost is that it requires two black manna, meaning it doesn’t fit super well into multi-colored decks (yes, I know it can go in, but there are better choices). However, honestly this is a drawback that is pretty easy to live with.

Along with a very affordable manna cost, you get a lot of goodies with this card. To begin with, Nighthawk is a flier. Even if you are pretty new to Magic, you probably understand that flying is a good form of evasion, and evasion wins games. Along with flying, Nighthawk has death touch. This ability is great on a low cost creature. Even though it may mean sacrificing the Nighthawk, you have a creature that can pretty much nullify any big nasty your opponent might have in store. Then to top this all off you get lifelink which can totally save your butt, and it’s easy to see why Vampire Nighthawk works so well. Of course, this card does have a couple of weaknesses.

Vampire Nighthawk’s biggest weakness is probably the fact that it is a bit small. Being a 2/3 critter means that he is in the range of a few nasty creature nukes. Also, the moment someone puts down something you are forced to block, chances are you will lose the card in the exchange. Another constant problem I have experienced with this card is the perpetually annoying protection from black that so many white cards were given. Yet in the end, these disadvantages are rather minor when compared to what you gain.

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They Better Have Pokémon Silver

Huzzah! An article about Pokémon posted on March 21st, 2010 by

marriedtothesea.com
From our friends at marriedtothesea.com

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Countering special summons

Huzzah! An article about Yu-Gi-Oh! posted on March 21st, 2010 by

In my previous article, I discuss the importance of special summoning to the game.  The ability to bring out more than one creature per turn is an easy way to overwhelm the opponent by numbers. To prevent the stampede of special summon creatures, players can use cards to prohibit the special summoning of creatures.

The most popular answer to special summons is a trap card.  Since it’s a trap card, it can be run by nearly every deck.  However, it’s versatility comes at a price.  Check out the card here:

Royal Oppression

At the cost of 800 life points, either player can negate the special summoning of a creature.  Note that this is a symmetrical effect, meaning that if you attempt to special summon a creature, the opponent can pay 800 life points to negate that special summon.

What can you do to break the symmetry of this card? The main way is to not use special summons at all.  Use high-powered non-tribute and tribute monsters to hold off your opponent.  In addition, use cards such as Burden of the Mighty and Shrink to take down your opponent’s monsters.

After all, if your opponent can’t keep monsters on their side of the field, chances are they’re going to lose.  Besides Royal Oppression, I’d also recommend these two creatures:  Vanity’s Fiend and Vanity’s Ruler.

Since they are creatures, they are easier to remove than Oppression.  However, they are also able to attack the opponent.  Vanity’s Fiend also works with Allure of Darkness, and Vanity’s Ruler works with Trade-In.

With an attack power of 2400, Fiend is a decent beatstick for the one tribute.  Vanity’s Ruler, while costing two tributes, tops Fiend by a measly 100 attack points.  I recommend Vanity’s Fiend for decks such as Monarchs and STUN.  Monarchs can support the Fiend easily with Brain Control and Soul Exchange.  STUN can use this card in addition to Royal Oppression to hinder the opponent.  I recommend Ruler for Mausoleum of the Emperor and Fairy decks.  However, Archlord Kristya is generally a better choice.

Use the powers of restricting special summoning to give you the edge on your opponent!

Get in the duel,
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