A Planeswalker's Guide to SPPf (Magic: the Gathering)

[palingensia]

avr is indeed looking pretty good. the r/w angel is easily the most exciting of the bunch, and the new demon that draws cards when dudes die seems like a pretty good grave titan replacement to me.

[Apple_iman]

I love white decks and my current deck is built around gideon jura, gideons avenger and gideons lawkeeper ( i think that is his name ) and i also play on steam my steam name is apple-iman if you wanna add me and play sometime

[Kamotz]

Excuse me while I got on a bit of a rant here. But I'm SICK of Delver/St. Traft/Runepike decks. I played in my local store's little standard tournament that they run every week, nothing huge or very competitive, but a bit more structured than just a quick game. But all three of the rounds I played in had some variant of the above mentioned cards. Some were heavier on tokens or Snapcasters, but it was essentially all the same deck. All with mana leaks, vapor snags, and dissipates too. The same deck, over and over. Really? I mean, I get that it's a fantastic combination, I really do, and when it gets down to brass tax, I don't fault the, for using it. But at least 5 of the 8 people involved ran that combination of cards. It's just...Really?

I managed a few comeback wins, at one point coming back from a 16-3 disadvantage with just Olivia Voldaren pinging this guy's spirits and delvers and pumping Olivia up. But that was one round.

Let me just say again that I don't really want to fault them for using these decks. They found something that works and went with it. I get that...but at this point they aren't really discovering anything for themselves, just looking up the deck on the Internet.

I dunno. Just a rant, and wondering if anyone else has come across or felt this bit of frustration at some point. I think it's because I just came back to the game after a while, and it's more than just my close group of friends I had when I played when I was younger. And I'm just noticing that Everyone is running the same 1 or 2 decks. It's just...

Okay. Rant over.

Avacyn restored looks cool. I really liked the monster horror feel, and not sure how thrilled I am for the big angel demon switcher but I'm a big fan of innistrad flavor and I'm definitely willing to feel this out. And Return to Ravnica seems promising.

[Mariya Shidou]

Excuse me while I got on a bit of a rant here. But I'm SICK of Delver/St. Traft/Runepike decks. I played in my local store's little standard tournament that they run every week, nothing huge or very competitive, but a bit more structured than just a quick game. But all three of the rounds I played in had some variant of the above mentioned cards. Some were heavier on tokens or Snapcasters, but it was essentially all the same deck. All with mana leaks, vapor snags, and dissipates too. The same deck, over and over. Really? I mean, I get that it's a fantastic combination, I really do, and when it gets down to brass tax, I don't fault the, for using it. But at least 5 of the 8 people involved ran that combination of cards. It's just...Really?

I managed a few comeback wins, at one point coming back from a 16-3 disadvantage with just Olivia Voldaren pinging this guy's spirits and delvers and pumping Olivia up. But that was one round.

Let me just say again that I don't really want to fault them for using these decks. They found something that works and went with it. I get that...but at this point they aren't really discovering anything for themselves, just looking up the deck on the Internet.

I dunno. Just a rant, and wondering if anyone else has come across or felt this bit of frustration at some point. I think it's because I just came back to the game after a while, and it's more than just my close group of friends I had when I played when I was younger. And I'm just noticing that Everyone is running the same 1 or 2 decks. It's just...

Okay. Rant over.

Avacyn restored looks cool. I really liked the monster horror feel, and not sure how thrilled I am for the big angel demon switcher but I'm a big fan of innistrad flavor and I'm definitely willing to feel this out. And Return to Ravnica seems promising.

I feel pretty much the same way re: netdecking. You didn't actually build that deck, mate. You're doing nothing except playing it. Which a machine could do, and probably with only 1% of the smell and 10% of the crassness.

I went 2-3 with Spirit Tokens. If it gets going and there's no Ratchet Bombs, I pretty much steamroll opponents. There are 14 cards that buff the tokens in this build (4 Captain, 4 Virtue, 4 Signal Pest, 2 Contested War Zone), so you can guess how quickly this stuff grows. Of course, Ratchet Bomb. I didn't have a sideboard on me because I couldn't find any Go for the Throats on time, and uh

let's just say my local game store's prices are awful and leave it at that

As for AVR... I'm... kind of liking it so far? It's not the best, it's not the worst, it reminds me of ROE in a way, which isn't necessarily a good thing. Also the new planeswalkers seem... uh, Tamiyo is good for EDH, and Tibalt... Tibalt doesn't seem that good in general. He comes down early, but his +1 sucks, his -4 probably won't set the world on fire, and his -6, if you can actually pull it off, DOES look promising! Tamiyo is a little costly for Standard, but the possibility of two Theft of Dreams if you don't use the abilities? Not horrid, but it's way more an EDH card, to me.

Which means I'll probably rebuild a Dream Halls EDH and run her in it.

[Kamotz]

the most original of the three decks I played was one that focused more on spirit Tokens. But again, it still had the same sort of Traft/Runechanter's Pike combo. But I appreciated what it was doing more, since it was a little different. Lingering Souls, Honor of the Pure, and Drogskol Captain. Okay. The same sort of stuff, but it wasn't Snapcaster/Delver/Runchanter's Pike/Traft/Invisible Stalker/Drogskol Captain. But I swear, I'd say at least 60% of the players at my local place run some variant of the "Mage-Blade" combo. And it isn't a very big store. It's either Mageblade, (B)W Tokens, or...That's probably about it.

It makes things very repetative. Though I guess it also makes things easier to predict. I threw in some Curse of Oblivions, which is usually a pretty terrible card, but it screwed with the Mageblade/Snapcaster strategy. Which was quite satisfying.

[the3rdH0kage]

i play a white-Black deck that runs Sorin Markov from Zendikar(legal witha re-release in m12) Elsepth Tirel and Lilliana Vess. I know this is a lot a planesawlker going around but with this deck I can have them out quick and win in about 5-10 turns. lol also I run Baneslayer Angel with Celestial Mantle. Look it up and look at how beastly of a combo this is. Also is it a rumor that they are briing Ravnica back. I play with a lot of Ravnica in my EDH deck. Fveorite set of all time.

[Kamotz]

Bane slayer and celestial mantle haven't been standard legal for a while. Also, by turn 5 or 6 your opponent is usually pretty well set up too. One go for the throat or doom blade and your angel is toast. It's a strong combo, but the mantle would be Better on a creature with trample.

[the3rdH0kage]

Bane slayer and celestial mantle haven't been standard legal for a while. Also, by turn 5 or 6 your opponent is usually pretty well set up too. One go for the throat or doom blade and your angel is toast. It's a strong combo, but the mantle would be Better on a creature with trample.

yes that is a god combo but I also combo mantle with Student of warfare. and that combo I use in Legacy (this deck is legacy and has some interchangable cards for standard). yo could also put mantle on strong flyers like Carnifex Demon and a few other i use.

[the3rdH0kage]

Also you can put mantle on somthing like Phyrexian Juggernaut a 5/5 w/infect with celestial would be good for ending a game.

[Kamotz]

It's a decent combo if you can manage to bring it out. But you're still relying on two 6 drops that can be dealt with pretty easily.

[the3rdH0kage]

true. 10 char

[the3rdH0kage]

Bane slayer and celestial mantle haven't been standard legal for a while. Also, by turn 5 or 6 your opponent is usually pretty well set up too. One go for the throat or doom blade and your angel is toast. It's a strong combo, but the mantle would be Better on a creature with trample.

I was goint hrough my deck last night before bed and I noticed I use no trample in the deck. So I need to change that soon.

[Mariya Shidou]

If I can just find a good use for Battle Hymn's mana, I kind of like the prospect of a red/white deck using it to fuel something big and ridiculous. Unfortunately, I don't think anything quite on the level I'm hoping for is really doable in Standard right now.

Maybe I can play it in EDH/casual to fuel an even faster BSC/Eldrazi or a huge amount of Cinder Pyromancer BS.

[the3rdH0kage]

If I can just find a good use for Battle Hymn's mana, I kind of like the prospect of a red/white deck using it to fuel something big and ridiculous. Unfortunately, I don't think anything quite on the level I'm hoping for is really doable in Standard right now.

Maybe I can play it in EDH/casual to fuel an even faster BSC/Eldrazi or a huge amount of Cinder Pyromancer BS.

lost (just sayin) lol

[Kamotz]

If I can just find a good use for Battle Hymn's mana, I kind of like the prospect of a red/white deck using it to fuel something big and ridiculous. Unfortunately, I don't think anything quite on the level I'm hoping for is really doable in Standard right now.

Maybe I can play it in EDH/casual to fuel an even faster BSC/Eldrazi or a huge amount of Cinder Pyromancer BS.

Well...hmm...splashed into a W Token deck, it could help bring out something big like Balefire Dragon that allows you to set up a sweep. Unfortunately there isn't really a lot of BIG Red stuff floating around in standard...Inferno Titan could work though. But all that Mana could help launch a barrage of instants/sorceries or help load up on mana for a big flashback spell you want to play. RB Army of the Damned or any of the Increasings could always use some extra mana...maybe a Red/Black Sun's Zenith.

[Phlogiston]

I like the possibility of pumping out a fast/cheap/extra Inferno Titan. I was trying to kick around some other big stuff in Naya, but I don't think I can really do it fast enough. Raise the Alarm would help.

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Not really a "when you see it..." moment, but. huh.

[Kamotz]

Played in the Helvault Pre-release last weekend, went 3-1 with a GW deck. That was a blast. Ended up with a jumbo-sized Avacyn card, 2 foil prerelease Moonsilver Spears, an AVR spindown dice, and a double-sided angel/demon token card.

Got a bunch of interesting cards from the sealed tournament too. Humans are set up to dominate AVR games. It's insane.

[palingensia]

avr has dropped like a bomb and i had a lot of fun cracking open my preorders. here is what i managed if anyone cares. time to build some sweet brews...

[Kamotz]

Those are some pretty nice pulls. My Token and Vampire decks will change the least with AVR, but havengul vampire is looking to be insane. But Ramp is starting to look interesting too. I'm still trying to figure out how I can get craterhoof behemoth into my token deck.

I'm waiting for my AVR box to come in the mail. $90 at preorder.

[SugarFreeJazz]

Gah! I wish I knew about this thread a year ago.

Anyway, I've kinda been out of the Magic loop for the past year, since no one in the Middle East seems to play. Hopefully when I come back to the US in about a month I'll get back into it.