Archive for July, 2010

The recent release of Magic 2011 has added quite a few awesome cards to Standard. Most notably though, is the additions of Titans to high ranking decks.

To most (that keep up with these things), it would be no surprise to learn that Jund has taken the first place in PTQ, Las Vegas.

However, a slightly changed one. Grave Titan is in the deck? That is correct.

Grave Titan, being able to create four 2/2 Zombies within the first turn it can attack, its power easily overshadows other choices for this deck.

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The first place in PTQ, Atlanta was Blue-Red-Green Destructive Force.

Using the combination of Destructive Force and Primeval Titan, it ramps up mana and then brings out the titan, after which Destructive Force is played. You attack with the titan and get two lands. With the combination, you’ll be up many lands before your opponent gets on his feet again.

But just to be sure, the deck includes two Frost Titans as well. With them, you lock up the opponent’s lands when he/she tries to get back into the game.

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Next up, the first place in the Australia National championships used a Red-Green Valakut deck.

With this deck, the strategy is easy. Get out your Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle, then toss down your Primeval Titan. For every mountain you fetch, that’ll be 3 more damage. Ouch.

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Lastly, Sun Titan has seen quite a few decks as well, but specifically, the winner of France National championships was a Blue-White Control deck, featuring Sun Titan and Jace Beleren.

Here’s how it works. You know when you use Jace, you’re always sad when giving your opponent a free card draw? Well, no more such problems. In perfect timing, you can play your Jace, keep using its -1 ability until he goes to the graveyard. After that, it’s turn six and you can (hopefully) summon your Sun Titan, returning Jace to the field with 3 loyalty counters.

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As you can see, the Titans proved to be quite a popular. It seems that of the Titans, only Inferno Titan didn’t see play in top decks. Better luck next time, I guess.

That’s all. Hm.

I’ve never exactly been an early adtoper when it comes to Apple gadgetry. Given the costs involved, I never got an iPhone of my own and never felt like I needed one. The way I see it, my iPod touch is a fully functional iPhone without 3G and the monthly fee, a small price to pay considering my wife’s phone serves a wireless hotspot. My tangent aside, though, I recently came across an App that claims to bring MTG to your iPhone, and seems to do a good job of it too.

The app is called The Sylvan Archives, and provides players with a number of different functions that could help smooth over your playing experience. It is suited well to playing with friends, as it provides a game timer, a log to keep track of life totals, and win counts for your more common opponents.

It also provides an upkeep reminder, and a log that can be saved for future reference. It also has a local magic event finder and an off-line deckbuilder. Not bad at all for a few bucks.

Certainly a mode of playing Magic outside of the duel mentality that’s been ingrained since the game started was an unusual step for Wizards of the coast, but the more I read about Archenemy the more fun I think I’ll have with it.

It really turns Magic into a more social game, allowing you to bring your friends together for a night and team up to take on one beefy opponent. It also makes for some great cheesy villain shtick, too, with cards like Look Skyward and Despair or Which of you Burns Brightest? Even the names of the sets themselves are a little silly, like Trample Civivilization underfoot.

Ultimately, it makes the game more fun by providing more diversity and I hope that Wizards continues to expand upon the sets and this mode of gameplay, assuming it is as well received by the playerbase as it is by me, anyway.

I have (unfortunately) never had the pleasure of going to comic-con, but I sorely want to go sooner or later. The mecca of all things geeky wouldn’t be complete without Magic: The Gathering and what’s better than free cards, right?

Well if you happen to be at the event this year, get over to the Duels of the Planeswalkers booth number 1128! All you have to do is give the game a test run and play at the booth, and you’ll get your very own USB bracelet and a deck of Magic: The Gathering cards.

With the leaking of the entire 2011 set, I’ve been poking around for some of my favorite cards. Being a long time fan of blue decks, I had always hoped that Counterspell would be reprinted at some point, but it appears that’s..well unlikely. That doesn’t mean Wizards of the Coast wasn’t kind enough to throw blue players out there a bone, and reprinting Mana Leak at least gives us some options.

Mana leak is particularly powerful early game, since most players will be using all of their mana every turn and won’t be able to cough up 3 colorless to prevent the counter. And while Counterspell always annoying needingly two islands available, here you will only need one.

It appears control decks will be on the rise once again thanks to cards like this along with Treasure Hunt and Deprive. Let’s not forget Jace, The Mind Sculptor, either.

In Magic 2011, the people from Wizards revealed 5 cards that I found very useful. Like the Ascension cards from Zendikar, these cards are also enchantments and each colour has one of its own. The cards I’m referring to is the Leyline cards.

The first that grabbed my attention was the blue card, Leyline of Anticipation.

This card gives all your nonland cards flash. It’s like a free Scout’s Warning, only it lasts forever.

You have a high cost creature and you don’t know if you should play it or keep the mana for a counterspell? No problem, just flash it in when needed, or at the end of your opponent’s turn. The opponent is attacking with creatures too strong for you to handle? Just flash a Night of Souls’ Betrayal or Glorious Anthem.

While this card is nowhere near a game winner, it does give the user a tremendous advantage. Mana can be used efficiently, and you never have to kick yourself for not leaving mana for a counterspell.

It makes me think of the Time Spiral block’s Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir. When used in combination with the Leyline, you can flash all your spells, but your opponents can only play their spells as sorceries. Pretty awesome.

When you take of its advantages plus its default Leyline ability (getting it in play at the beginning of the game), this card is something you should add whenever you have space in your deck.

That’s all.