Magic Monday - Zombie Tribal EDH

Yeah, it's Tuesday morning.  I know.  I just didn't get this done in time to make Monday, and I didn't want to wait nearly a full week to post it.  Hopefully future Magic posts will fall on Mondays so that the title doesn't lose all meaning...

Until recently, I hobbled all of my commander decks together with cards already in my collection.  Doing so is a fun, challenging exercise, and it keeps me from getting overwhelmed by the entire catalog of Magic's history, but it also limits my decks' overall power level.  For my first "built from scratch" EDH deck, I decided to expand a casual constructed deck I'd played off and on for years - zombie tribal.

The basic idea is simple: stuff the deck full of as many quality zombies and zombie-related cards as possible.  There are lots of zombie lords in Magic's history, so it is pretty easy (and fun!) to assemble a massive zombie horde to overwhelm your opponents.

Choosing a Leader for the Horde
Before getting to all those juicy zombie lords, we need to decide on a commander.  With the amount of zombie support in Magic, it's a little surprising that there are only 17 eligible zombie commanders.  Most of those creatures don't support a tribal theme very well (though many are obviously strong commanders), so I think we're really down to 6:

Balthor the Defiled - awesome if you can consistently fill your graveyard with zombies.
Geth, Lord of the Vault - fits nicely into a reanimation-themed zombie deck.
Grimgrin, Corpse-Born - a scary dude with nice synergy with both dying and reanimating zombies.
Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord - another dude with good synergy with dying zombies and filling your yard.
Mikaeus, the Unhallowed - makes the rest of your team really frightening.
Sedris, the Traitor King - yet more synergy with graveyard shenanigans and reanimation.

 A zombie tribal deck is undoubtedly going to be heavily black, so what can blue, red, and green get me?

Green is a pretty weak addition to the tribal theme.  Jarad gives us 13 more zombies, though only a couple of those are exciting (Ghoultree and Lotleth Troll are the only ones that really impress me).  It also gives access to enchantment and artifact hate that you can't get in black.  Is it really worth watering down the zombie theme to play Back to Nature?  Pssh, of course not.  Jarad's out.

Sedris brings a few more friends to the game (18, in fact), but I'm even less impressed with these, and his unearthing ability probably doesn't play terribly well with all the zombie lords.  He does fill one of the holes in black's gameplan with artifact destruction, but I'm not convinced that widening the mana base is really worth all that.

Blue comes with the normal suite of counterspells and bounce effects (Cyclonic Rift is an excellent board wipe), which is nice.  Plus there are 29 more zombies to accompany Grimgrin, and many of those fit the tribal theme well - Diregraf Captain is almost enough to make me want to run blue by itself.

However, there are two big features that push blue over the top - Rooftop Storm is just stupid in a zombie deck, and clones to copy your lords (or your opponents' scariest creatures) seem like excellent value in this sort of deck.

There are obviously good arguments for each of the other commander candidates, but Grimgrin is going to allow me to accomplish my goals (armies of huge zombies) more effectively than the others.

Looks like I've settled on Grimgrin, Corpse-Born.  Now to fill out the deck.


Flesh to Fuel the Apocalypse - Creature Selection
I keep ranting about zombie lords, so let's start with those.

Anything that buffs zombie power and toughness is an easy pick:

• Cemetery Reaper
• Death Baron
• Diregraf Captain
• Lord of the Undead
• Undead Warchief

While not specifically zombie lords, Adaptive Automaton, Coat of Arms, and Mikaeus, the Unhallowed slot quite nicely into this deck as well.

(As a side note, Risen Executioner fills this role very well, too, I just don't have a copy of it yet).

There are some other cards that synergize with an army of the undead.  Things like:

• Endless Ranks of the Dead - makes for an ever-growing zombie menace
• Gempalm Polluter - cycling it can deal a ton of damage to a pesky opponent
• Grave Defiler - card draw in a deck packed with zombies
• Noxious Ghoul - its Doomwake Giant for zombies! He will routinely clean the board
• Rooftop Storm - all zombie creatures are now free to cast!
• Shepherd of Rot - whittling everyone's life totals down
• Soulless One - is often a huge creature for just 4 mana
• Unbreathing Horde - similar to Soulless One, though usually not quite as crazy
• Vengeful Dead - pinging players whenever your zombies die
• Zombie Apocalypse - a good way to recover from a board wipe, and the "Human" clause is sometimes a nice bonus
• Zombie Master - regenerating zombies can be huge, and the swampwalk is occasionally relevant

We're already committed to blue, so why not add some clone effects to double some of those lords' effects?  There's always the potential upside of copying one of your opponents' problem creatures, so a handful of clones can give us some extra reach:

• Clever Impersonator - copying a planeswalker or Coat of Arms gives this one even greater upside
• Clone - the classic
• Evil Twin - copy a lord or use it as removal against an opponent's problematic creature
• Phantasmal Image - a cheap, albeit not very resilient, clone effect
• Phyrexian Metamorph - like Clever Impersonator, cloning an artifact could be a serious gain
• Rite of Replication - the big daddy of clone effects, target Undead Warchief to give your team 10 extra power, or hit a Vengeful Dead and start saccing zombies to your commander

Filling out the rest of the creature suite comes down to getting strong effects on decent bodies.  This goal is doubly important because we may have some trouble dealing with certain types of opposition if we stick to the theme, so getting removal along with our creatures is important.  Also remember that effects that hit all opponents are amplified in multiplayer commander games, so those may be worth a bit more than they otherwise would.

Here are the "filler" zombies I've chosen to include in my deck:

• Coffin Queen - reanimation on a stick; it's slow, but it can be a big deal once it gets going
• Eastern Paladin - the textbox is blank against some decks, but a 3/3 for 4 isn't the worst thing in the world (especially with some lords in play); repeatable removal is worth the downside, I think
• Empty the Pits - not a creature exactly, but it makes them, and it can make a ton of them late in the game; great for sealing the deal or recovering from a wrath
• Entrails Feaster - also a bit slow, but this little kitty can help purge troublesome creatures from your opponents' graveyards
• Fleshbag Marauder - an edict effect that is occasionally a powerful creature and is a zombie for all your cards that care; yep, this goes right in the deck
• Forlorn Pseudamma - one of the weaker choices, this one can (slowly) let you build up an army from nothing, so I think it's worth a card slot just as extra wrath insurance
• Ghoulraiser - recur a zombie card from your graveyard; the fact that you don't choose it kind of stinks, but the upside is still there
• Gloomdrifter - if you have Threshold, this guy could clear some nonsense off the board; it won't kill anything truly terrifying (unless you hit it with Rite of Replication), but it's a great answer to token decks
• Gravecrawler - pure, aggressive value; the added bonus of an infinite combo with Grimgrin and Rooftop Storm can sometimes end games you had no business winning
• Gravedigger - digging a lord out of the yard is easily worth the slot
• Gray Merchant of Asphodel - did you know this guy's a zombie? An amazing win condition on his own, clone effects make him truly miserable for your opponents
• Gurmag Angler - a 5/5 is worth almost any cost in this deck, and casting him on the cheap with Delve seems downright rude
• Lifebane Zombie - a 3/1 ain't bad, but his ETB effect can strip a vital card from an opponent's hand
• Liliana's Reaver - if you can connect, that effect can ravage your opponents' hands and build an army at the same time; pure value
• Moan of the Unhallowed - making a couple zombies is already nice, but flashback makes it that much sweeter
• Plaguebearer - it gets prohibitively expensive fast, but repeatable removal is always valuable in Commander
• Possessed Skaab - it's Eternal Witness for zombies! a solid addition all around
• Servant of Tymaret - this little guy's Inspired ability drains all opponents, and natural regeneration can hold the fort if needed; he's probably one of the weakest cards in the deck, but he certainly plays a role
• Siren of the Silent Song - this Inspired ability also hits all opponents, and it's a lot easier to trigger this one; landing this siren on turn 3 can quickly leave everyone else at the table Hellbent
• Skaab Ruinator - you can't always cast this monstrosity, but when you can, it's immediately a serious threat
• Skinrender - another source of removal, and sometimes weakening a problematic creature can mean the difference between winning and losing
• Vengeful Pharaoh - conditional removal, but when he's in your yard, other players are dissuaded from attacking you
• Western Paladin - like his Eastern counterpart, a vanilla 3/3 in some matchups, but a serious threat in others

Growing a Healthy Horde - Support Cards and Manabase
Given our creatures, we're playing a pretty aggressive game, and we have a few ways to deal with roadblocks as they arise.  However, we could use some more ways of dealing with the most problematic threats our opponents could present.  Let's start with some removal:

• Call to the Grave - a repeated edict for everyone not playing mono-zombies; definitely one of the most powerful cards in this deck
• Cruel Revival - I'm not usually a fan of targeted once-off removal in EDH, but getting a key creature back to your hand seems worth the more limited effect
• Cyclonic Rift - aside from clones, this is the only card that isn't death or zombie themed, but it's important to have another safety valve to keep other decks in check
• Dictate of Erebos - Grimgin lets you sacrifice creatures at will, so paired with your commander, you can usually clean up a lot of the problems on the table
• Life's Finale - the added upside of pulling scary creatures from someone's deck (and lower relative real-world cost) make this my preferred black wrath for EDH over Damnation
• Necromantic Selection - kill everything but choose one creature to come back as a zombie on your side of the battlefield; stellar in this deck
• Syphon Flesh - another edict effect, but this one grows the horde, so I like it here

At this point, one thing we're missing is card advantage.  We have a couple of useful effects between Gravedigger and Grave Defiler, but it could be easy to run out of gas in the face of repeated board wipes or otherwise powerful removal.  There aren't a whole lot of options on-theme, by trying my best to stick to the flavor of death and decay, here are my card advantage choices:

• Grave Betrayal - come out way ahead in the face of traditional board wipes, and make any creature's death terrifying for your opponents
• Necromancer's Stockpile - ditch a zombie that's not too useful for current circumstances (like one of the Paladins, for example), get a creature, and draw a card? Sign me up!
• Reprocess - turn late-game lands or useless creatures into more cards, or use it as a sac outlet to ping opponents with Diregraf Captain or Vengeful Dead

Finally, we need to be able to cast all our spells.  This is a particularly rough task, as we are primarily black, but we want to be able to cast our commander consistently, and we have a few double-blue costing spells.  As such, I've gone pretty hard on the fixing (maybe too hard, so it's definitely worth tweaking).  Here's the manabase of my current iteration of this deck.

First, lands (and an artifact) that generate both colors:

• Dimir Guildgate
• Dimir Signet
• Dismal Backwater
• Drowned Catacomb
• Jwar Isle Refuge
• Tainted Isle
• Temple of Deceit
• Watery Grave

Next, I added some lands that can fetch basics:

• Evolving Wilds
• Grixis Panorama
• Polluted Delta
• Esper Panorama
• Terramorphic Expanse

Then, I looked into utility lands, but I only found three that were really compelling:

• Bojuka Bog - emptying someone's graveyard can be important in many Commander games
• Unholy Grotto - while this one doesn't tap for colored mana, the ability to recur creatures is a massive boon
• Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth - making all lands tap for black isn't all that important, as we're black-heavy anyway; the real benefit of Urborg is the occasional upside of making your opponents' lands swamps, so Zombie Master makes all your dudes unblockable

Finally, we need to fill in the rest with basics:

• 5 Islands
• 20 Swamps

And there you have it, the most entertaining Commander deck I've ever built and/or played.  It often ends up playing like an aggro deck, looking to land early creatures and attack often.

Thoughts on Optimization

There were three important decision points in the process of building this deck that are worth briefly discussing.

First, I tried to keep the deck relatively cheap - that's why things like Damnation aren't included.  The manabase is easily the most costly part, but I built it mostly out of lands I already owned, so it didn't cost me anything extra.  If you're looking to build the deck, though, you can certainly skimp on some of the more expensive lands in favor of more basics; I've never had serious color issues with this deck, so I was probably too careful with it anyway.

Second, I opted to stay away from the Innistrad zombie theme of self-mill because there is a good deal of graveyard hate in my playgroup.  It scares me to go too heavily in the direction of using my yard as a resource because things like Rest in Peace completely shut that gameplan down.  If you're not worried about that sort of thing in your playgroup, you may be able to get a more powerful deck by throwing in a Skaab Goliath and an Armored Skaab or other things to stock your graveyard.

Third, I avoided tutor effects entirely.  Demonic Tutor and Sidisi, Undead Vizier would both be terrifying additions to this deck.  This decision is a result of my philosophy on EDH - one of the reasons I like the format is that each game feels totally different (as opposed to competitive formats, where decks are designed to be consistent).  Tutor effects make Commander games feel the same, as players often search for the same two or three cards each game.  As a result, I like to stay away from those kinds of things unless absolutely necessary, and I think this deck has enough punch to not need any tutor effects.  If you're looking to build the most powerful, consistent deck you can, you should definitely add some, though.

Take this list, customize it, and crush your friends under the rotting flesh of a zombie apocalypse.  I hope my thoughts can inspire someone out there to think about building a crazy tribal EDH deck!

Monday Magic - Minotaurs!

I wasn't able to attend FNM last week, so I haven't been able to test any new changes to my standard deck.  Instead, I want to run through the skeleton of a new deck I've been toying with.

With the Born of the Gods spoilers that have been trickling in, it's starting to look like minotaur tribal might be a serious competitor.  With the two minotaur spoilers that we've seen (Felhide Spiritbinder and Ragemonger), the minotaur archetype is already getting some serious support.

With that in mind, I've thrown together a minotaur tribal deck with standard legal cards that I already own.  After the decklist, which I think is pretty straightforward, I'll comment on big changes that I think would make the deck more competitive.

Creatures:
4 Deathbellow Raider
3 Fanatic of Mogis
4 Felhide Minotaur
4 Kragma Warcaller
4 Minotaur Skullcleaver
3 Rageblood Shaman

Instants:
4 Chandra's Outrage
2 Doom Blade
4 Lightning Strike
2 Magma Jet

Sorceries:
2 Act of Treason

Land:
2 Blood Crypt
14 Mountain
2 Rakdos Guildgate
6 Swamp

Perhaps the most obvious improvement is replacing those Guildgates with additional Blood Crypts, but as of now I only have the two.  Act of Treason is also probably pretty weak, but I'm not sure what I have to replace it.  Similarly, Chandra's Outrage may be a little costly; by the time I have 4 mana, I'm probably going to want to devote it to developing my board state, not removing a random creature.  Again, though, I'm not sure what to stick in there instead.

Maybe the biggest addition to this deck would be Door of Destinies.  Buffing all your minotaurs, which likely have trample and haste due to the Warcaller and the Shaman, seems to enable huge burst damage.  If I owned any copies, I'd definitely make some room for them.

The most serious threat against this setup is clearly wrath effects, as a swift win requires having a couple creatures already on the board the turn you drop a Warcaller.  I'm not totally sure how to avoid that problem other than to try to brute force your way through it.  It certainly deserves some consideration, though.

To make this kind of deck competitive, there are some significant obstacles to overcome and a lot of tweaking to do.  At this point, this decklist is simply meant as a basic shell for revisions once Born of the Gods is officially released and we know what new goodies this kind of deck may get.  As such, I'll leave it there for now; something to think about rather than something to bust out at FNM anytime soon.

Monday Magic - Building a Standard Deck Part III

After last week's standard experiences, I didn't feel like the deck list itself needed a whole lot of tweaking.  Instead, it seemed like I needed to work on aggressive mulligans, smarter play, and better sideboarding.

Minor Sideboard Change
That said, I did change my deck list a little bit, removing Electrickery from the board entirely.  The issue is that Electrickery serves a very specific purpose, wiping tokens and possibly clearing the board in a mirror match.  I already have a set of Legion Loyalists to ignore tokens, and killing creatures in the mirror match is a defensive move, which seems like a terrible idea with this super aggressive deck.  If I'm really worried about tokens, it's worth running something that has wider applicability.  I decided to go with Weapon Surge - at the cost of an attack, Weapon Surge can accomplish the same goal as Electrickery, but it can also help deal with bigger blockers or be used for another 2-4 damage in a successful combat phase.  It has greater utility, so I think it's a stronger choice.

Aside from that change, the list that I took to last week's Friday Night Magic was the same as before:

Main Deck
Creatures:
3 Ash Zealot
4 Burning-Tree Emissary
4 Firedrinker Satyr
4 Foundry Street Denizen
3 Goblin Shortcutter
4 Legion Loyalist
4 Rakdos Cackler
2 Rubblebelt Maaka

Instants:
4 Lightning Strike
2 Magma Jet
4 Titan's Strength

Enchantments:
4 Madcap Skills

Lands:
18 Mountain

Sideboard

2 Act of Treason
2 Peak Eruption
2 Seismic Stomp
4 Shock
3 Skullcrack
2 Weapon Surge

Holy crap, life gain
Last week's FNM was an even smaller affair than the previous one, with only 8 people in attendance.  As such, we only played three rounds.  I finished with a disappointing 1-2 record, falling pretty spectacularly to a couple decks with significant life gain abilities.  Some details:

Round one pitted me against a red white deck that dominated me 0-2.  It was actually the same midrange red player I had beaten the week before, but he had made a number of important modifications.  Most notably, Spark Trooper and Warleader's Helix.  As soon as either of those spells resolved, the game was effectively over, as the six point life gain from the Trooper and the 4 life plus removal of the Helix each put him solidly beyond my reach.

In round two, I defeated a mono blue devotion deck 2-1.  Weapon Surge really shines in this matchup (and really any matchup without much spot removal), as I was able to use it to blow him out in game three.  I think his deck list was a little stronger than the mono blue deck I played a few weeks ago, but it still didn't give me a whole lot of trouble - my one loss was the result of really weak draws during the game.

The final round brought an unexpected green monster deck featuring a number of planeswalkers, which knocked me down 1-2.  Post-board, Seismic Stomp and Act of Treason do a good job dealing with Sylvan Caryatid and Polukranos, but Scavenging Ooze's life gain proved too much to handle.  In each of the games I lost, I was able to get my opponent down under 3 life, but the Ooze allowed him to stabilize and counter any burn I might throw at him.

Despite the frustrating loss in round three, I took the close games as a great sign: my $25 deck was still pretty competitive against a deck that cost well over $100.  I think that's a good indication that you don't need to drop a ton of money to succeed in a given standard environment (at least at the FNM level), you just need to have a pretty finely-tuned deck.

Lessons
The two big concerns I had noticed in the past - mid-game life gain and Boros Reckoner - are still significant problems for this deck.  I unfortunately didn't get to test any recent changes against Reckoner, so I still have some hope that more aggressive play can help mitigate the minotaur's damage.  On the other hand, the deck undeniably needs better tech against life gain.

I think there are two major options for dealing with that problem.  The first is to run more answers to those specific threats.  Stick Skullcrack and Shock in the main deck and plan to leave mana up for the relevant spells once my opponent is able to cast their unfortunate life gain spells.  A secondary benefit of such changes is that I may be more likely to win game one against Esper or Azorius control decks, but it comes with a pretty damning downside - playing like this seems like it would slow me down quite a bit, making it harder to compete with most decks.  I don't think it's a great option in its entirety, but it might be worth running a couple Shocks in place of a couple Lightning Strikes in the main deck.

The second option is much more appealing but certainly not without its disadvantages as well.  Running Akroan Crusader could help build a strong board state relatively quickly and cheaply; Dynacharge could push through a few extra points of damage or end the game in a hurry, if it reaches that point.  Really the idea here would be to lower the average converted mana cost of the deck (which is already 1.5) to try to force more damage through earlier.

While this kind of modification might be able to deal more damage more quickly, I doubt that it would work out to be as consistent as the list I've been using (I'm too lazy to work through the math on that right now).  I'm a fan of the Dynacharge bit, though, so it might be worth investigating as an alternative to something like Madcap Skills.

Basically, it seems like I need to come up with some clever way of dealing with life gain.  I'll probably only get one more shot with this deck before the next expansion, Born of the Gods, hits shelves, so here's hoping I can solve this life gain problem soon!

Monday Magic - Building a Standard Deck Part II

After last week's analysis of the first iteration of a cheap red deck wins setup, I made a couple small changes and took it to another Friday Night Magic event.  Here's what happened:

Deck Tweaks
The biggest problems that appeared in the first FNM experience were Boros Reckoner, Chained to the Rocks, and Fleecemane Lion, so the modifications should try to handle those types of threats a bit better.  That was the main focus of my first deck revisions.

On my end, one weakness I noticed was Gore-House Chainwalker- a 3-power creature for 2 mana is pretty sweet, but he's my only 2-drop permanent that doesn't do something on turn 2.  Ash Zealot swings on turn 2, Goblin Shortcutter nullifies a blocker, Burning-Tree Emissary enhances overall mana efficiency, and Madcap Skills allows for some pretty serious burst damage.  Chainwalker is a scary dude to be sure, but if I'm not securely in control by the end of turn 2, I have a hard road ahead, and I don't think Chainwalker makes that ordeal any easier.

As such, I replaced my Chainwalkers with Magma Jets.  The extra burn is a much more immediate benefit for my spent mana, but the Scry 2 effect is a big deal for smoothing out my play.  It lets me ship extra lands to the bottom of my deck if I can't use them, and it might allow me to plan the next couple draws.  I think this change makes the deck a bit more consistent, and it increases the potential damage on earlier turns.

This increased consistency may be able to avoid Reckoner altogether, as it increases the odds that I'd just be able to end the game before he can wipe my side of the board.  I think it will also help against the Lion, though he could hit the table a turn earlier.  To deal with the Chains, I think Peak Eruption is a solid choice as it frees the bound creature, deals some damage, and screws with my opponent's mana base (and it may be able to slow Reckoner by a turn sometimes, too).  Eruption fits pretty nicely in the sideboard, then.

For the rest of the sideboard, I still see some benefit to Electrickery (wipes Elspeth and Master tokens), Shock (burn is burn), Act of Treason (which might be my best answer to Reckoner), and Seismic Stomp (helps me end the game against a stalled boardstate), and Skullcrack is absolutely necessary, so I decided to include just two copies of Eruption in place of one Electrickery and one Shock.

With those small changes, here's the complete deck I took to last week's FNM:

Main Deck
Creatures:
3 Ash Zealot
4 Burning-Tree Emissary
4 Firedrinker Satyr
4 Foundry Street Denizen
3 Goblin Shortcutter
4 Legion Loyalist
4 Rakdos Cackler
2 Rubblebelt Maaka

Instants:
4 Lightning Strike
2 Magma Jet
4 Titan's Strength

Enchantments:
4 Madcap Skills

Lands:
18 Mountain

Sideboard

2 Act of Treason
3 Electrickery
2 Peak Eruption
2 Seismic Stomp
3 Shock
3 Skullcrack

Trial by Fire... Again
Last week's FNM was much smaller affair than my first, with only about 10 people playing standard.  I placed fifth overall with a record of only 2-2, but let's go through the individual matchups.

Round one put me against a black red minotaur deck, which I knocked down 2-0.  He was running a lot of cheap removal (Shocks and Pharika's Cure), which proved to be a problem, but he ended up falling to me in two games due to troublesome mana draws.  We played a couple games after the round result was officially reported, and when he wasn't starved for mana, his deck was actually pretty nasty.  The removal is obviously bad for me, but he could also play his creatures and hold them back as blockers until he was able to deal lethal damage in one blow.  I think my biggest problem in this matchup was deciding when to mulligan (which will be a common theme), because I need the power to rush through 12+ damage in the first few turns to be able to survive against that kind of deck.  It wasn't an issue in this tournament, but it's certainly something to think about.

The second round put me up against a more midranged red deck, which fell to me 2-0.  This deck seemed to revolve around burn spells and Chandra's Phoenix, though it didn't survive long enough to teach me anything important about our deck's matchups.

My deck really started having troubles in round three, where we lost to Esper control 1-2.  This matchup is one of the few that I tested with friends (though my friend was running a somewhat different version of this deck), and it seemed like the two decks are reasonably balanced.

The first two games were pretty lopsided - before sideboarding, one Sphinx's Revelation is the end for me, but after sideboard Skullcrack shuts the relevant part of Revelation down pretty hard.  Seeing that the Esper control win conditions are typically late-game players (Aetherling, Elspeth, Sun's Champion, and Blood Baron of Vizkopa in this particular deck), my strategy seems to get a little bit of leeway early on.  I think that's a dangerous assessment, though, because Supreme Verdict can rob me of all momentum.  Game one probably wouldn't have been such a devastating loss if I'd been more aggressive with mulligans, so super aggressive play from turn one is still essential in this matchup.

Game three, on the other hand, was incredibly close.  I ended up losing after sitting on a bunch of burn and Skullcrack for several turns - enough to end the game and prevent Revelation from saving him - I unfortunately didn't have the mana to burn and hold up Skullcrack support, so he was able to build up a ton of Elspeth tokens and overwhelm me.  I don't think there were any significant misplays or deck issues in that game; bad luck kept me from securing the win.

The fourth and final round stuck me up against what seemed to be a generic "good stuff" deck, which finished me off 1-2.  Desecration Demon made an appearance in this deck, as did the Blood Baron, but he didn't have quite the same early game control to make those creatures too troubling.  Boros Reckoner, on the other hand, ruined everything once again, and I lost each game where that minotaur wizard resolved.  I still think Act of Treason is a solid response, though I never drew it at a relevant time during the post-board games.  Peak Eruption definitely has some potential to slow the Reckoner down, though this opponent was casting the Reckoner off Plains; in this particular match, Eruption just delayed Anger of the Gods- relevant, but not nearly as important in the long run. In retrospect, I also think I probably should have mulliganed in game one (which I lost), though I'm not sure if it would have changed the outcome.

This Week's Lessons
The moral of the whole story sounds very similar to the last one: I need a better answer to Boros Reckoner, and I need to work on mulligans and sideboarding.  For the former, I'm running our of ideas; I actually haven't played Seismic Stomp, so that might be another solution, or maybe I should replace Stomp with a couple more Acts to make the stealing effect more likely.  For the latter, I may need to exchange Stomp, but I also think I should drop another Electrickery in favor of a fourth Shock.  Electrickery has a much more niche use, but extra Shocks might help seal the deal when I'm running out of steam.  And, of course, I need to figure out a way to practice mulligans specifically, as I figure I'll only get better at that by doing it.

Regardless, I have some more ideas for tweaks, and I hope to take it to another FNM this week.  Maybe I can come up with something rather consistent before the next set, Born of the Gods, is released at the beginning of February...

Monday Magic - Building a Standard Deck (Budget Red Deck Wins)

While traveling for the holidays, I decided to check out a Friday Night Magic event at a game shop near where I grew up.  Unfortunately, when I looked into FNM venues, it seemed that none of them featured any drafts, and I had never played standard in a sanctioned event.  Determined to attend an FNM at a new place, I opted to put together a cheap deck just to give it a shot.

I had wanted to build a hyper aggro deck for a while, so this setup seemed to be the perfect opportunity to make it work.  As this is the first competitive deck I've really tried to put together, I thought I'd describe the design process in some detail.  I'm not much of a deckbuilder, but it might be a nice jumping off point for further discussions, and it might be fun to see the evolution of a novice deck designer.

Design
The basic premise is simple: Overwhelm your opponent early in the game, forcing damage through with quick, efficient creatures, sprinkling burn spells as necessary.  In line with that strategy, the deck needs to focus on mana-efficient damage.  We want each mana that we spend to deal damage almost immediately, and we need to avoid drawing lands as much as possible - we want to be able to dump our hand in the first few turns and draw only spells beyond that.  If we even reach the midgame, a win may already be beyond reach.

To blast through the first couple turns, we need all of our spells to be cheap - two converted mana cost or less - otherwise we run the risk of being unable to do much of anything early on.  Combine that with the need for fast bursts of damage, and we have a narrow gameplan.

Since we want to burst out of the gate, we definitely need several one-costing creatures.  Rakdos Cackler seems like a good choice, as it gives us two power for one mana; Firedrinker Satyr fits the bill, too. We're planning to drop a bunch of creatures in the first few turns, so Foundry Street Denizen may even deal more damage than a Cackler on turns two and three, depending on the plays we have available.  Legion Loyalist is great because it can smash through on turn one, plus its Batallion effect makes for more efficient attackers later on (with the added bonus of nullifying creature tokens from Pack Rat, Master of Waves, and Elspeth, if the game goes that far).

We want to follow that up with powerful two-drops.  Ash Zealot is a fantastic choice for two hasty damage.  Burning-Tree Emissary can make the Denizens huge for only two mana, as you can chain them on turn two (and then have even more power on turn three).  Another two-power-for-two creature, Goblin Shortcutter, can force some extra damage through an opponent's blocker, so it seems like a nice addition.  A two-drop that can bring more than two power to the field is pretty important, and Gore-House Chainwalker seems like a nice fit.

With a little army of efficient one- and two-costing creatures, we need some more ways to boost their damage.  Titan's Strength is a great choice, as it not only pumps but the extra Scry can help avoid unwanted land draws.  As a red, offensive-only Giant Growth, Rubblebelt Maaka's Bloodrush ability is an excellent combat trick.  Madcap Skills is a bit of a risk, as most Auras are, but it not only gives three extra power, but it can take a blocker out of the fight, too, so it has a pretty big payoff.  And, of course, Lightning Strike is just a solid burn spell, and it can eliminate most early-game blockers in the format.

Putting all those spells together makes for a pretty solid main deck, and none of those cards are too expensive, so it's a lot cheaper to throw together than a deck with Sphinx's Revelations or Nightveil Specters.

Main Deck
Creatures:
3 Ash Zealot
4 Burning-Tree Emissary
4 Firedrinker Satyr
4 Foundry Street Denizen
3 Goblin Shortcutter
2 Gore-House Chainwalker
4 Legion Loyalist
4 Rakdos Cackler
2 Rubblebelt Maaka

Instants:
4 Lightning Strike
4 Titan's Strength

Enchantments:
4 Madcap Skills

Lands:
18 Mountain

Sideboard
Sideboarding is another benefit of my first real excursion into standard.  I had never really thought much about designing a sideboard for any constructed decks I've put together (mostly because I primarily play casual, and it's impossible to have sideboard options for every random matchup I could have), so this gave me a nice chance to think about how to prepare for specific matchups.

This deck's single biggest worry, I think, is lifegain; if our opponent is able to gain life, even if just enough to stay alive for one more turn, we may be dead in the water.  Skullcrack is therefore an important part of the sideboard, as it can inhibit Revelation's ability to buy more time (while also giving a way to sneak past Master of Waves' protection in some circumstances).

The next biggest problem is blockers.  Seismic Stomp seems useful, too, particularly when dealing with weenie decks, as it gets blockers out of the way of our relentless assault.  Some additional burn spells give us a little less longevity, but they can clear out some of the peskier early-game creatures.  Shock and Electrickery are thus useful additions, too.  To round out the anti-blocker suite, Act of Treason can both open the path for our side of the board to wreak havoc and increase our damage output by stealing a powerful creature - a nice option against a deck with some really problematic creatures.

Sideboard
2 Act of Treason
4 Electrickery
2 Seismic Stomp
4 Shock
3 Skullcrack

Trial by Fire
Last Friday, I took this deck to an FNM, where a total of 28 people registered.  While it wasn't the biggest event, I know that some of the participants are pretty competitive, so I figure it was probably a decent example of your average FNM environment (which, of course, is almost purely speculation).

My overall record for the five rounds was 3-2.  Here's how it performed:

In round 1, I played a blue-green flash deck, which fell to our deck 2-1.  Even with Prophet of Kruphix, the only real threat in my opponent's deck was Polukranos, World Eater because a 5/5 blocker by turn four plus its Sylvan Caryatid backup stop our aggressive creatures without much trouble.  Act of Treason can turn the hydra against its master, nullifying that threat, and nothing else posed much of a problem, so I think our deck was pretty well suited against this one.

Round 2 brought a red devotion deck that slaughtered ours 0-2.  Boros Reckoner really ruins our day, especially when a couple hit the field on turn three thanks to Burning-Tree Emissaries and Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx.  Again I think Act of Treason is our best option, but I ended up mana flooded in game two, bringing the match to a close.  He also splashed white to play Chained to the Rocks, which effectively slowed our early game to allow the Reckoner blowout.  It's probably worth thinking about the mono-red matchup in some more detail and adjusting the sideboard accordingly.

I thoroughly trounced a black green deck 2-0 in round 3.  Both games were incredibly quick, and I only saw a total of three nonland cards in his list.  Abrupt Decay kills all our creatures, but losing a dude doesn't slow our gameplan too much, and his defensive creatures were too slow to stop once we get going.  His deck may have been terrible, but whether it was or not, it didn't give enough resistance to influence deck design.

In round 4, I faced the mono-blue devotion deck and ultimately won 2-1.  Lightning Strike clears Nightveil Specter and Skullcrack can handle Master of Waves, so I think we're in a good position against mono-blue post-board.  We lost game two because we couldn't answer Master without losing our entire board presence, allowing our opponent to whittle us down.  I probably misplayed somewhere along the line, but I still think that matchup is pretty solid.

It all came tumbling down in round 5, though, with a quick 0-2 loss.  Fleecemane Lion turn two, Unflinching Courage on the Lion turn three, and Boros Charm to give him double strike on turn four is pretty much the worst possible scenario for our deck - gaining 10 life puts our opponent pretty solidly out of our range.  The biggest problem here, I think, is that I just wasn't prepared to deal with this kind of deck.

Outlook
The overall future of this deck is good, though.  A 3-2 record isn't bad (particularly for my first ever standard event), and I think the main deck is pretty solid.  The sideboard needs some work, as Electrickery doesn't seem to be too useful (it's probably best for the mirror-match or for wiping Master tokens, so a couple copies are likely worth having), and I never even considered using Seismic Stomp except against the Reckoners, where I think Act would've been a better choice.

Basically, while the sideboard definitely needs to be tweaked, I think this performance serves as a proof-of-concept for this particular deck. It's nice to see a deck that costs less than $20 compete with some of the dominant archetypes in the current metagame, and I'm excited to see how this particular deck evolves in the future.

For now, I have some deck tweaking to do.

Monday Magic - Black Devotion Template

At major Magic events over the last couple weekends, Master of Waves focused blue devotion decks have been blowing people away in Standard.  The success of these decks combined with my assumption that devotion will continue to be relevant throughout the remainder of the Theros block has inspired me to start testing devotion in some other (cheaper) colors.

On the table right now is a black devotion template.  Using only cards from Theros, I'm hoping this list can serve as the template for a block-constructed deck once the full block has been released.

As usual, I'm building this deck only from cards I actually own.  I'd like, for example, to run several copies of Hero's Downfall in place of Lash of the Whip for much cheaper, much more effective removal, but I only have one of the former.  I'd also like to run a couple copies of Insatiable Harpy to help deal with evasion and Whip of Erebos to recur my enters-the-battlefield devotion effects.  I'd also love to have a couple copies of Rescue from the Underworld for further ETB shenanigans; alas, I have none.

Here's the current list.  It's a little heavy on the upper end of the mana curve, but hopefully I can fill some of the gaps mentioned above and the next couple sets will provide a bit more for surviving the early game.

Creatures:
2 Abhorrent Overlord
3 Baleful Eidolon
4 Disciple of Phenax
4 Gray Merchant of Asphodel
1 Insatiable Harpy
2 Keepsake Gorgon
4 Mogis's Marauder
1 Nighthowler

Instants:
1 Hero's Downfall
3 Lash of the Whip
4 Pharika's Cure

Sorceries:
4 Read the Bones
3 Sip of Hemlock

Artifacts:
1 Whip of Erebos

Lands:
23 Swamp

At this point, the basic strategy is pretty straightforward: Build up my devotion by dropping permanents until I can hit Gray Merchant or Mogis's Marauder to deal tons of damage.  The Overlord is an alternate win condition, plus a sac outlet so I can recur the ETB effects if I can't win with some burst damage a bit earlier in the game.  Read the Bones helps control my draws and look for what I need, with Pharika's Cure offsetting the life cost.

To form a more effective baseline for future modifications, the changes I'm hoping to make within Theros are:

• Add more Hero's Downfall, removing Lash of the Whip
• Add another Whip of Erebos, probably removing a copy of Read the Bones
• Add another early-game creature or two, removing either Pharika's Cure or Nighthowler

I intend to play a few matches with this setup to see how it goes, with particular care going towards tweaking the overall speed (this may end up being too damn slow) and seeing whether Nighthowler and Insatiable Harpy are even useful.  Either way, I think this deck will be pretty fun to play, so here's hoping it's somewhat effective, too!

Monday Magic - Let's Talk About Theros

Holy crap, I'm excited about Theros.

I was able to attend my local Friday Night Magic last week after missing both the Theros prerelease and release events, so it was my first opportunity to play with Magic's new Greek-themed set.  And I have to say - Theros made one hell of a first impression.

The Set
Sure, a lot of my excitement comes from the fact that I ended up winning the FNM draft (my first such win), but the set brings pretty sweet mechanics and feels incredibly well-balanced.  Although the Theros metagame certainly hasn't stablized, no single deck archetype appeared dominant.  Aggressive decks were a bit stronger than slower controlling decks, but I think that's just because the set is new and people don't quite know what they're doing.  In the coming weeks, I expect several dramatically different styles to emerge victorious as players get more comfortable with the set's powerful keywords.

In addition to being a surprisingly flavorful set (see Underworld Cerberus and Rescue from the Underworld) with some fabulous art, Theros is incredibly fun to play.  Each color has powerful common or uncommon removal capabilities (directly, like black's Sip of Hemlock, by fighting, like the green Time to Feed, or through combat tricks, like the uncharacteristically blue Triton Tactics), and there are a few big nasty creatures in each color, too.  As a result, it seems possible to build strong control decks and strong aggro decks in virtually any color combination; I think the metagame for Theros will be pretty exciting.

The real high points, however, are the awesome set mechanics.  Each is strong, and they all affect gameplay in significantly different ways, giving the Theros a very robust feel.

Scry is a returning mechanic that allows the player to look at the top N cards of his or her library.  After considering the options, the player is then able to put any number of those cards back on top of his or her library and the rest on the bottom.  Scry is a powerful tool for controlling the flow of the game, as it allows you to filter lands when you're looking for answers or a game-winning blow, or you can use it to guarantee land draws if you need to hit your next land drop.  It serves as pseudo card advantage, and it's a great weapon in any sort of deck.

The Mechanics
My favorite of Theros' mechanics is probably Bestow, which gives a number of creatures an interesting alternate ability.  Similar to Gatecrash's Bloodrush, Bestow lets you cast a creature as an Aura enchanting another creature.  It then grants that creature's abilities to the enchanted one, buffing the existing creature.  The biggest threat, however, is the fact that a creature cast using its Bestow cost will revert to a normal creature if its target disappears - destroying the enchanted creature leaves the Bestowed creature on the battlefield.

Following with the Greek theme of heroes, monsters, and gods, Monstrosity lets your big baddies get even bigger.  Paying the Monstrosity cost on a creature (which can be done at instant speed) will add some number of +1/+1 counters to that creature, providing some fearsome combat tricks or just a way to dump unused mana in the late game.  When many of these creatures become Monstrous, they also trigger further effects, like destroying a creature or preventing creatures from blocking for a turn.  Monstrosity turns some of your beefiest creatures into long-term investment plans, paying dividends well into the game.

To combat the set's monsters, the Heroic mechanic allows smaller creatures to engage in David and Goliath style combat.  Heroic triggers any time you cast a spell that targets one of these fearless creatures you control, and the ability provides some additional benefit, like +1/+1 counters or drawing a card.  These effects occur after any type of spell you cast, including a Bestowed creature, allowing you to draw ridiculous value from auras and battle tricks.

Finally, the gods of Theros are empowered by your Devotion to their color.  As a measure of your fidelity to a color, your Devotion is simply the number of times a mana symbol of that color appears in permanents you control.  Devotion has a number of powerful uses, from turning your otherwise passive but omnipresent gods  (like Nylea) into imposing creatures to gaining life (like Nylea's Disciple) or draining your opponent's life (as the Gray Merchant does).

Those five elements give Theros incredible depth and make it a fantastic set to play.

The Draft Deck
To give an idea of how Theros plays out, here's the deck that I ended up using at FNM:

Creatures:
1 Akroan Crusader
1 Blood-Toll Harpy
1 Cavern Lampad
1 Ember Swallower
1 Flamespeaker Adept
1 Fleshmad Steed
1 Gray Merchant of Asphodel
1 Minotaur Skullcleaver
2 Returned Centaur
1 Tymaret, the Murder King

Instants:
1 Hero's Downfall
2 Pharika's Cure
2 Spark Jolt
1 Titan's Strength

Sorceries:
2 Portent of Betrayal
1 Rage of Purphoros
1 Read the Bones

Enchantments:
1 Ordeal of Purphoros
1 Scourgemark

Lands:
7 Mountain
10 Swamp

It was a moderately aggressive deck, with many cheap creatures doing most of the work, but the bigger things like Ember Swallower give something to look forward to in the late game.  I used a little bit of everything in this deck, mostly allowing the various Scry spells to help me find the particular pieces I needed at any point in a game.  Read the Bones is unbelievably powerful, particularly while Flamespeaker Adept is on the board to take full advantage of the Scry.  Cavern Lampad did a lot of work, both while an aura and while a dude, and the Gray Merchant got me out of a couple tight spots.

All-in-all, I was able to dabble with all of the set's mechanics a bit and, with the exception of Monstrosity, I put them to good use.  I found that Scry is just an awesomely powerful mechanic, especially when attached to some basic removal spells.  I expect to see much more coherent decks as people get used to the set, though.  I'm looking forward to building decks that feature each of the other mechanics a bit more prominently in the coming weeks; it should be a great time.

The End
It seems like this set is all about getting tons of value out of your cards, and it's incredibly fun to play.  I highly recommend that everybody with the slightest interest in Magic give it a shot.

Monday Magic - Dragonshift!

Since I opened my first copy of Dragonshift during the Dragon's Maze pre-release, I have wanted to build a nasty Izzet deck with Dragonshift as the main win condition.  During my various Dragon's Maze shenanigans, I managed to acquire a full playset, which makes the dragon deck even more appealing.

The final straw came from seeing my favorite Magic Online streamer, callmechalk, build a pretty cheap (and surprisingly effective) Dragonshift deck, so I've given in and ordered my first set of singles online (it's not a huge investment, though, as some friends had given me a monetary gift with the provision that I only spend it to order cards).

Anyway, here's the deck, with primary credit going to chalk for smashing face with a very similar deck online.

Creatures:
4 Goblin Electromancer
4 Young Pyromancer

Instants:
4 Battle Hymn
4 Dragonshift
4 Shock
4 Think Twice

Sorceries:
4 Faithless Looting
4 Krenko's Command
4 Molten Birth
1 Teleportal

Lands:
7 Island
12 Mountain
4 Sulfur Falls

The basic strategy is pretty straightforward: Generate a bunch of tokens using the Pyromancers, Krenko's Command, and Molten Birth; use the Electromancer to make those spells cheaper, then Overload Dragonshift to end the game in a hurry.

Cards like Think Twice and Faithless Looting not only help find pieces of the combo that you need, they do double duty with the Pyromancers, making tokens when flashed back.  Battle Hymn raises the funds necessary to blast Dragonshift, and Shock cheaply generates tokens through Pyromancers while serving as early-game protection from pesky creatures.

While this deck is generally aggressive, looking just to get 5 or 6 tokens in play to overwhelm your opponent in one attack, Teleportal serves as a slower late-game win condition, if you can get to the point of having ten creatures in play (and you're desperate).

Teleportal is probably weakest link, followed perhaps by the Electromancers or Shocks, as those don't contribute as directly to the game plan, but I think it works pretty well as is.  Plus I don't have anything that seems to fit better, so I'll run with this for now.

As for the dual lands - I included some copies of Sulfur Falls primarily because they're pretty cheap right now; the more recently printed Steam Vents is nearly three times more costly.  I think Steam Vents are really only preferable if your starting hand has only nonbasic lands, as in that case, the Falls are guaranteed to play slowly.  Otherwise, I think Vents would be unnecessary, so I can justify the cost.

For an added bonus, this deck is currently Standard-legal, at least for a couple more weeks.  Get in there and dominate Friday Night Magic while you can!

To close it out, I want to plug callmechalk again, both for his fun stream and for the deck inspiration (and most, if not all, of the list, I honestly can't remember exactly what his Dragonshift deck runs).  Check him out if you're into Magic Online streams.

Monday Magic - Bruna the Aura Collector (EDH)

As I have gotten more experience with the EDH format, I've wanted to start using a somewhat less standard deck.  The two decks I've used to the point (Varolz, the Scar-Striped and Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius) follow a relatively simple formula: play big nasty creatures and try to capitalize on the commander's gimmick.

Instead of building a deck that emphasizes beefy creatures, I decided that I wanted to use Bruna, Light of Alabaster as my commander.  The game plan is thus very different - buff Bruna enough to get one-hit kills on my opponents.  Running an aura-heavy deck should make Bruna a significant threat the moment she hits the field, and removal isn't a problem, as she's able to grab auras from my graveyard.

This strategy is significantly more technical than the other decks I've built, so it's going to require a lot of tweaking to get right.  (It doesn't help that I don't have too many excellent blue or white auras...)

When choosing cards for this deck, I tried to keep three basic things in mind:

First, and most obviously, I need to run a bunch of things that pump Bruna.  Along with auras, I've included some other enchantments (like True Conviction) and a few creatures that synergize with enchantments (like Mesa Enchantress).  Since I'm expecting Bruna to draw a lot of hate, I've also included a couple ways to give her haste or hexproof (Swiftfoot Boots does both) to help mitigate the damage.

Second, Bruna's converted mana cost of 6 makes her a rather late addition to the battlefield, so I need to make sure I survive long enough to get her into play.  To keep with the enchantment theme, I've tried to include passive deterrents to attack (Sphere of Safety fits well, but other effects like Dissipation Field and the much less enchanted Norn's Annex seem good, too) in lieu of powerful blockers.  I figure this is the biggest hole in my current gameplan, but we'll have to see how it works out.

Third, I need to cycle through my deck to grab as many auras as possible, and I need to make sure I hit land drops (because I expect to be spending a lot of mana to revive Bruna repeatedly).  Tossing auras into my graveyard isn't a problem, as Bruna can fetch them from there, so I've included a number of ways to cycle cards out of my hand to run through my deck (I think Merfolk Looter is the most efficient), plus some general deck stacking (like Petals of Insight).

I think the whole thing comes together reasonably well, leading to a deck that is pretty cohesive.  I have a couple ways to deal with some of my biggest threats (exiling my graveyard totally castrates me, so I'm running things like Stony Silence to block some common graveyard hate).

Here's the current build:

Commander:
Bruna, Light of Alabaster

Creatures:
Auramancer
Avacyn, Angel of Hope
Elgaud Shieldmate
Isperia, Supreme Judge
Kor Sanctifiers
Luminate Primordial
Merfolk Looter
Mesa Enchantress
Murder of Crows
Spectral Gateguards
Stoneforge Mystic
Urbis Protector

Instants:
Banishing Stroke
Sphinx's Revelation
Think Twice

Sorceries:
Divine Reckoning
Flux
Heed the Mists
Petals of Insight

Artifacts:
Azorius Cluestone
Azorius Keyrune
Fieldmist Borderpost
Mask of Avacyn
Necropouncer
Norn's Annex
Swiftfoot Boots

Enchantments:
Angelic Destiny
Cloak of Mists
Dissipation Field
Divine Favor
Drake Umbra
Eel Umbra
Eldrazi Conscription
Ethereal Armor
Ghostly Touch
Green Scarab
Holy Mantle
Honden of Seeing Winds
Indomitable Will
Insight
Knightly Valor
Lifelink
Mind Control
Murder Investigation
Oblivion Ring
Orim's Prayer
Psychic Surgery
Righteous Authority
Sigil of Sleep
Spectral Flight
Sphere of Safety
Spirit Mantle
Stony Silence
Traveler's Cloak
Tricks of the Trade
True Conviction
Volition Reins
Way of the Thief

Planeswalkers:
Venser, the Sojourner

Lands:
Azorius Guildgate
17 Island
22 Plains

Assuming I can survive the first several turns, this deck seems like it'll be a solid threat, and I think it'll be a lot of fun to play.  There's still some fat that could be trimmed, as I've included some cards that don't fit with the above considerations or deal with direct threats (or at least, they don't deal with threats very well), but I don't think I own any cards that would fit into the theme more comfortably.   I also need to get some more powerful auras (I'd definitely like to replace things like Divine Favor).  Maybe some other changes will become clear as I test the deck a bit.

Monday Magic - Game Review - Magic: Duels of the Planeswalkers 2014 (XBLA, 2013)

With the upcoming release of Magic’s annual Core set, we also get a relatively new treat from Wizards of the Coast: a new version of the Duels of the Planeswalkers game.  While Wizard’s premier Magic Online is generally the best place for computer-based Magic, but its minimalist interface and microtransaction model may prove hostile for newer players.  DotP bridges that gap, giving a sleek design and a much user-friendlier electronic Magic experience.  And each iteration of DotP has been better than the last; 2014 is no exception.

For those familiar with the series, you know what’s coming: new decks, new cards, and a new gameplay mode.  This year’s new mode is Sealed, which finally allows you to build your own decks from scratch, albeit with a limited card pool.  There are also unlockable titles and personas (in-game avatars of sorts) in addition to traditional achievements, so some fun new challenges await.

For those unfamiliar with the series, let me back up a bit.  Magic is a very deep and strategic customizable card game that pits your deck against your opponent’s in the quest to be the last player standing.  I unfortunately can’t comment on the efficacy of the in-game tutorials, as I am already familiar with Magic’s mechanics, but there are a series of tutorials (and pop-up messages the first time something interesting happens during a match) to help teach the basics.  It’s a fun game, and I’d certainly say it’s worth learning.

I can, of course, comment on everything else.  DotP is essentially an excellent Magic simulation.  The state of the game is clearly laid out in front of you, with your hand displayed at the bottom of the screen, and cards and abilities that you’re able to play are highlighted.  You can easily pause the normal turn progression to consider your next move or examine the cards on the battlefield (you can zoom in on every card in play or in your hand to read the text more easily).  It manages to streamline a lot of the gameplay while having options to allow experienced players to fiddle with some intricate details if they want, so it seems easy to adapt to your particular familiarity with the game.

But there are a few hiccups.  Selecting some cards on the field can be a little unintuitive, but some practice with the control scheme makes it second nature.  Awkwardness with choosing how to spend mana is perhaps a more vital flaw, but the game’s assumptions about the best way to spend mana tend to be pretty good; I rarely found myself needing to assign mana differently than the default option. 

Maybe the sexiest thing, though, is the fact that a few of the big bomb cards have animated illustrations.  When you zoom in on some cards, the pictures will wriggle or pan, giving really cool effects to some of the biggest creatures in the game.  While not game-changing, it’s a really cool touch.

To be fair, what happens during a match is basically the same as previous iterations of the DotP formula; the meat of the game comes in the form of preconstructed decks and the relevant game modes.

As with other DotP titles, 2014 brings along a campaign, complete with a relatively thin storyline and some moderately interesting cinematics.  This game has you teaming up with Chandra Nalaar, the preeminent red mage, in her quest to find Ramaz.  There’s not much there beyond a simple excuse to visit a variety of Magic’s well-known planes (Alara, Zendikar, Innistrad, and Ravnica are all there) to battle with cards drawn from the last several years of Magic.  The cinematics won’t blow you away (Chandra’s face is a bit on the uncomfortable side of the uncanny valley), but there are only a couple of them, and they aren’t really that important at the end of the day.

Progressing through the campaign will pit you against a variety of “encounters,” which are enemy decks that will play the exact same cards each time you face them, and several duels with other planeswalkers.  A few of the encounters are neat, employing strange tactics or starting you with some weird deficit, but most of them are just straightforward battles; once you get the hang of what’s going on, it’s easy to choose the best deck for the job.  By the end of the campaign, I was just blazing through most of the encounters anyway, so they felt more like speed bumps than exciting duels.

You’ll come across a major planeswalker representing one of the planes after completing three encounters.  These duels proceed as normal games, your deck against theirs, so battling planeswalkers is where you’ll really be playing Magic.  As in previous DotP games, each deck follows some specific theme, this time including a big Eldrazi deck, a sliver deck, and an annoying Dimir deck that insists on returning cards to the top of your library…  Defeating a planeswalker unlocks their deck for future use and also allows you to challenge one of the primary planeswalkers (Garruk, Chandra, Jace, Ajani, and Liliana) of Magic lore in a bid to earn their deck as well.

The basic campaign system is fine, although I would have liked to have seen more of the clever encounters (or just fewer encounters) and more planeswalker opponents.  There are a total of 10 decks to unlock, and they’re fun to play, even if they are a bit limited – there aren’t any decks with non-standard win conditions (so no mill), but they do a decent job of spanning the heavy aggro to heavy control spectrum.  Winning a match with a deck unlocks a new card that you can add to it (up to 30 new cards per deck), allowing some degree of customization even if you still can’t build a deck from scratch for the campaign.

Another disappointment is the overall difficulty – I approached the whole campaign on the hardest setting, and it seems like the only change is that your opponents manipulate luck.  Even then, nothing is terribly difficult for an experienced spellslinger, so easier settings for newer players probably won’t be too tough, either.

All-in-all, the campaign is pretty fun, so the complaints aren’t too serious.

Following in DotP tradition, there’s also a challenge mode, which sticks you in the middle of a game and tasks you with winning during that turn.  Very few of the challenges in this game require complex tricks, though, so they’re generally pretty easy.

The highlight of the game is the sealed mode.  Sealed gives you a set of booster packs (each containing 15 random cards) and then allows you to build a deck from those cards.  You can then progress through the sealed campaign, using your newly-constructed deck against six opponents.  It’s an incredible mode because it finally allows you to build a deck from the ground up, a feature previously unavailable in DotP.

And it’s fun.  The card pool mostly comes from the upcoming set, although there are some cards from earlier core sets shoved in there, too (probably – the new set hasn’t been completely spoiler yet).

It is, however, not unlimited.  At the outset you can only start two sealed decks, and opening additional sealed slots costs $2 each.  It’s sad that we still don’t have complete freedom in designing new decks as we please, but it’s a nice step in the right direction.

Of course, there are also multiplayer modes, allowing you to use the game’s preconstructed decks against other players, or you can test your sealed decks in online battlefields.  My only gripe on that front is the lack of obvious matchmaking ratings – it seems like you just match up with another player, not necessarily one who is on a similar skill level.  The result could be rather discouraging for newer players, particularly as time wears on and the servers are populated primarily by dedicated players.

Overall, my only other complaint is that special game modes from previous versions weren’t included in some fashion, even if only as offline custom games.  I would love to see some of these decks used in archenemy or planechase, but I certainly understand that they’d drop modes to keep from making earlier DotP titles totally obsolete.

Duels of the Planeswalkers 2014 is a great next step for casual electronic Magic games.  Although not as expansive as veteran Magic players may want, the sealed game mode brings much more freedom to the game, making it feel more like playing tabletop Magic.  While it has its disappointments, the biggest flaw is that it’s over too soon, as the slick presentation and effective execution make it almost as fun as shuffling a deck yourself and giving it a go.  At $10, I highly recommend it for anyone interested in trying Magic and seasoned players, and it’s at least worth a look for everyone else.

My Rating: 9/10 – awesome.