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Lol, might be. I'll admit, I don't look at standard too often, but only every now and then. And yeah, I noticed they only use 1 or 2 basic lands, and maybe a few things like Mutavault or Gavony Township, so it very well may be then end of "take the best stuff of three colors" decks. I find it funny they seem to still be pushing multicolor(multicolor block followed by a second block with a minor multicolor theme), but also monocolored decks as well(devotion). I think this will be a very interesting standard format to say the least.

 Sinful Hero wrote:
Lol, might be. I'll admit, I don't look at standard too often, but only every now and then. And yeah, I noticed they only use 1 or 2 basic lands, and maybe a few things like Mutavault or Gavony Township, so it very well may be then end of "take the best stuff of three colors" decks. I find it funny they seem to still be pushing multicolor(multicolor block followed by a second block with a minor multicolor theme), but also monocolored decks as well(devotion). I think this will be a very interesting standard format to say the least.

To be honest though, I rarely find myself having mana issues in my deck. Replacing those basics with shock and check lands would remove almost any issue, but that's too expensive.

Oh Sasori, managed to pick up 1 Rancor last night


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Anyone that is interested in picking up some of the new Theros stuff, Duel Deck: Heroes vs Monsters is now on sale.

 Alfndrate wrote:

 Sinful Hero wrote:
Lol, might be. I'll admit, I don't look at standard too often, but only every now and then. And yeah, I noticed they only use 1 or 2 basic lands, and maybe a few things like Mutavault or Gavony Township, so it very well may be then end of "take the best stuff of three colors" decks. I find it funny they seem to still be pushing multicolor(multicolor block followed by a second block with a minor multicolor theme), but also monocolored decks as well(devotion). I think this will be a very interesting standard format to say the least.

To be honest though, I rarely find myself having mana issues in my deck. Replacing those basics with shock and check lands would remove almost any issue, but that's too expensive.

Oh Sasori, managed to pick up 1 Rancor last night


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Anyone that is interested in picking up some of the new Theros stuff, Duel Deck: Heroes vs Monsters is now on sale.

The Dual Decks are a cool concept, but I think I'd rather just buy a few boxes, lol.

Xenagos is selling for 40$ preorder right now. Kind of insane. Of course, Preorder prices are always wacky.

I can't wait to have Chained to the Rocks + Awaken the Ancient.

The image of a mountain titan with a hundred chained foes swinging on it as it barrels down on a player just gives me goosebumps lol.

 DemetriDominov wrote:
I can't wait to have Chained to the Rocks + Awaken the Ancient.

The image of a mountain titan with a hundred chained foes swinging on it as it barrels down on a player just gives me goosebumps lol.

That sounds epic! Anthousa can also do it in-block.

Finally over the hump- over 126 cards spoiled out of 249 as of this writing.

Hey guys, quick question:

If I use Trait Doctoring ciphered on an attacking creature, may I target a creature that DOESN'T have any sort of text on it?

Namely, the two cards in question:



Hoplite has no color text to change, but can he still be the target of Trait Doctoring?

No, the target would be invalid, countering the spell.

You sure, because reading it, it sounds like you target a permanent and then change the text; ergo, you can target Hoplite to trigger Heroic, but the spell proceeds to fizzle out after the targeting.

but what color or basic land are you changing?

 Alfndrate wrote:
but what color or basic land are you changing?

None, but it says "Change text of Target Permanent" not "Change Target Text of a Permanent you Control".

Might be totally wrong, but I think I just made Trait Doctoring at least a decent card (Hidden Strings will remain Cipher #1)

You need to keep reading, it says, "Change the text of target permanent by replacing all instances of one color word with another or one basic land type with another until end of turn."

Perhaps I'm missing something, but the Hoplite doesn't have a single word of color.

Where is this ruling text?

 Slarg232 wrote:
Where is this ruling text?

I removed what I was talking about on the ruling, because I wasn't 100% sure on it, but all rulings can be found on the gatherer entry for each card. In this case:
http://gatherer.wizards.com/pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=369034

So the way I read it is that it might get proc the Hoplite's ability whenever you Cipher it, but not when you cast it (not sure, thus why I removed it).


But the point still stands that you can't complete the spell because you can't change all instances of color on the card.

(Ignore)No, not even choosing the creature for the cypher would trigger it, because you choose a creature, not target it. The "change the text of target permanent" would fizzle, because there is no text to change, thus no legal target.(Ignore)


Edit: Actually I was wrong, " You can target any permanent with Trait Doctoring, including one with no color words or basic land types on it. " But the original cypher- "The cipher ability doesn't target that creature, although the spell with cipher may target that creature (or a different creature) because of its other abilities." So yeah, I think it would trigger heroic.

I have just gotten back into magic from a very long hiatus.

Trying to put together a decent damage dealing red deck but im having serious trouble! I am struggling with the 1 v 1's against people with half decent decks.. I just cant seem to be able to do enough damage quickly enough..

Any pointers?

The below cards I have work very well for me and I would like to keep but honestly.. I cant find / see any other combinations that will work

1. Vexing devil
2. Guttersnipe
3. Thunderous wrath
4. Dual casting

Can anyone help me out?

bodazoka wrote:
I have just gotten back into magic from a very long hiatus.

Trying to put together a decent damage dealing red deck but im having serious trouble! I am struggling with the 1 v 1's against people with half decent decks.. I just cant seem to be able to do enough damage quickly enough..

Any pointers?

The below cards I have work very well for me and I would like to keep but honestly.. I cant find / see any other combinations that will work

1. Vexing devil
2. Guttersnipe
3. Thunderous wrath
4. Dual casting

Can anyone help me out?

Well, what other cards do you have/are available to you? Are you just playing against friends, or trying to play in a more competitive environment(like tournaments)? You seem to have a really good base, especially the Vexing Devil.

 Sinful Hero wrote:
Well, what other cards do you have/are available to you? Are you just playing against friends, or trying to play in a more competitive environment(like tournaments)? You seem to have a really good base, especially the Vexing Devil.

Against mates generally, we hardly play tournament games. All though there decks are amazing most of them so dont hold back! haha

ahh below is a list of cards I have around the place and/or have ordered

1. Legion Loyalist
2. Vandablast
3. Balefire dragon
4. Diaochan
5. Furyborn Hellkite
6. Circle of flame
7. Charmbreaker devils
8. Alpha brawl
9. Pyromancer Ascension
10. Banefire
11. Awaken the Ancient
12. Rite of flame
13. Furnace of wrath
14. Blood moon
15. Wild richochet
16. Young pyromancer

I have bought these cards over the past few weeks, I also have a bunch of common cards from Ravnica (cant remember off the top of my head what). I do have disposable income though (who plays warhammer doesnt!) so am open to having to get some more cards..

I also have the standard 4 x shock, 1 x lava axe, 4 x lightning bolt, 4 x searing flame etc..

@ Slarg. You can target the Hopilte with trait doctoring. You can change it to to a WW, UU, WR, WB, WG, or any combination of colors. You can cast it immediately and cipher it on another creature and then give it another +1/+1 counter. You can also make it a combat trick by adding a quicken to the equation, ciphering it onto an unblocked first / double strike creature.

For example, my Izzet deck wrecks face because I have guttersnipes, Niv-Mizzet Elementals, and Cyclopes. By turn 5 I have dished out over 35 damage in a single turn because giving "Armed" to an unblocked cipher creature means I can pump up both my Cyclops and Elemental to absolutely ridiculous proportions all the while dealing about 16 damage from just my Guttersnipe.

bodazoka wrote:

 Sinful Hero wrote:
Well, what other cards do you have/are available to you? Are you just playing against friends, or trying to play in a more competitive environment(like tournaments)? You seem to have a really good base, especially the Vexing Devil.

Against mates generally, we hardly play tournament games. All though there decks are amazing most of them so dont hold back! haha

Spoiler:

ahh below is a list of cards I have around the place and/or have ordered

1. Legion Loyalist
2. Vandablast
3. Balefire dragon
4. Diaochan
5. Furyborn Hellkite
6. Circle of flame
7. Charmbreaker devils
8. Alpha brawl
9. Pyromancer Ascension
10. Banefire
11. Awaken the Ancient
12. Rite of flame
13. Furnace of wrath
14. Blood moon
15. Wild richochet
16. Young pyromancer

I have bought these cards over the past few weeks, I also have a bunch of common cards from Ravnica (cant remember off the top of my head what). I do have disposable income though (who plays warhammer doesnt!) so am open to having to get some more cards..

I also have the standard 4 x shock, 1 x lava axe, 4 x lightning bolt, 4 x searing flame etc..

By the way, do you do multiplayer, or mostly 1v1? That can make a big difference in how you build your deck. Say if you're building a commander deck, things like Shock hit the backburner. But if you're going 1v1...

4x Hellspark Elemental
4x Keldon Marauders
4x Grim Lavamancer
4x Goblin Guide
4x Vexing Devil
4x Searing Flame
4x Lightning Bolt
4x Rift Bolt
4x Lava Spike
4x Incinerate
20x Mountain

is not a bad start.

@ Slarg. You can target the Hopilte with trait doctoring. You can change it to to a WW, UU, WR, WB, WG, or any combination of colors.

Spoiler:

You can cast it immediately and cipher it on another creature and then give it another +1/+1 counter. You can also make it a combat trick by adding a quicken to the equation, ciphering it onto an unblocked first / double strike creature.

For example, my Izzet deck wrecks face because I have guttersnipes, Niv-Mizzet Elementals, and Cyclopes. By turn 5 I have dished out over 35 damage in a single turn because giving "Armed" to an unblocked cipher creature means I can pump up both my Cyclops and Elemental to absolutely ridiculous proportions all the while dealing about 16 damage from just my Guttersnipe.

It's probably a mix of 1 v 1 and 3/4 v 4's.

I have learnt that the best way to win a 4 v 4 is not to be powerful at the start! haha so I usually am the last person to die as my deck is crap..

I really like those Rift bolts and Lava spikes! one mana for 3 damage is awesome! I can see Grim lavamancer working well also.

i have played M:TG off and on since beta... took several year break then got back into it around M12. from then till now played standard and modern pretty heavily (mostly at FNMs) with the occasional game of commander tossed in ...

http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/artifact-aggro-08-02-13-1/ is my modern affinity deck
http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/red-burn-20-11-12-1/ is my modern burn deck
http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/cheeri0s-17-06-13-1/ is my modern combo deck

for standard i mostly stuck to mono colored decks

http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/mono-red-aggro-06-02-13-1/ standard red deck wins
http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/make-friends-and-influence-people/ multi colored deck when i really want to annoy people

then my commander decks

http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/krenko-aggro-1/ love them goblins
http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/rats-22-11-12-1/ rats are fun too

my two casual decks

http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/dang-rats/
http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/rabid-squirrels/

and my one full time legacy deck

http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/starting-goblin-deck/
(i also have the cards to convert my affinity modern to legacy and my burn to legacy)

growing bored again of playing it so often (6+ times a month) so going down to once or twice a month and starting to try to play 40k once a month as well...

just recently sent off a bunch of my excess cards for store credit which i turned into some 40k minis and stuff... still have about 30k cards to sort through hah!

I've only recently discovered this game due to getting a Kindle Fire HD. I'm not very good, mind; rubbish would be a better word. I'm still struggling through the single player mode. The one after Zanzibar. Managing a deck with multiple colours in it utterly baffles me. Any advise would be greatly received.

Cabals is my game of choice when I need a break from the stress. I'm beginning to wonder whether I'm...'special' because of this. Everyone gets the gist of it except me. It's depressing...

@SilenzZzz
In your affinity deck- do you ever feel Dispatch is wasted in your hand? I want to like it, but Galvanic blast just seems to do the same job, by it can go to the dome. I also like running blink moths, but I guess with the colored spells it might more sense to cut them.

And no Blood Moon in the sideboard? Not criticizing, just wondering if it's your meta. For me, after laying one down on the second(or first) turn against some decks is basically game over. The look on their face as they go from shock to horror(to tears) is priceless.

@Muhr
The trick to multicolor is making sure you have the right balance of lands to your colors, and making sure you have the right lands to cast your spells in your opening hand. For example, if you're playing red/green, and your opening hand is mostly green spells and mountains toss it back and get a new hand.

 Sinful Hero wrote:
In your affinity deck- do you ever feel Dispatch is wasted in your hand? I want to like it, but Galvanic blast just seems to do the same job, by it can go to the dome. I also like running blink moths, but I guess with the colored spells it might more sense to cut them.
And no Blood Moon in the sideboard? Not criticizing, just wondering if it's your meta. For me, after laying one down on the second(or first) turn against some decks is basically game over. The look on their face as they go from shock to horror(to tears) is priceless.

in my local area most of the time i use dispatch... only rarely does it feel wasted ... i have on occasion switched the colored spells out for galvanic blast and shrapnel blast with similiar results ... the deck is nice .. but not always consistent. i have thought about changing it to full legacy and leaving it like that ... has more consistency to me with the artifact lands and disciple of the vault. And just building a Tempered Steel deck for modern in it's place.

as for blood moon, i have 3... but a lot of the decks in my area are running mostly basics with some fetches ... it does shut down the fetch part ... but not often enough, normally by the time i can cast it .. the game is almost over for me or them ...


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Muhr wrote:
I've only recently discovered this game due to getting a Kindle Fire HD. I'm not very good, mind; rubbish would be a better word. I'm still struggling through the single player mode. The one after Zanzibar. Managing a deck with multiple colours in it utterly baffles me. Any advise would be greatly received.

Cabals is my game of choice when I need a break from the stress. I'm beginning to wonder whether I'm...'special' because of this. Everyone gets the gist of it except me. It's depressing...

this is a good article on mana base ...

https://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtgcom/academy/27

it is never an exact science though ... depends on how many colors you are trying to run ... and if you are wanting to keep the deck limited to a certain format ... if it is just for casual play then mana can become easy .. esp if it is built around the color green (that color has the most abilities to go fetch other lands for you) ...

on the Magic game for tablets .. it is great! .. but on their multi colored decks they have kept them fairly simple on the mana base .. so it can seem clunky .. having access to dual lands or lands that can tap for any color can help a lot

Full spoiler for Theros is out... Digging through it now. I'm not sold on the heroic ability myself. For the most part it seems like a one-shot ability. Put an enchantment on it, and then never do anything with it again.

Still trying to decide what to run, but I'm leaning toward Esper at the moment.

Something like this

Creatures (4)
4 Omenspeaker

Enchantments (3)
3 Detention Sphere

Instants (12)
2 Azorius Charm
2 Dissolve
2 Doom Blade
1 Hero's Downfall
4 Sphinx's Revelation
1 Syncopate

Planeswalkers (7)
2 Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver
2 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
2 Jace, Architect of Thought
1 Jace, Memory Adept

Sorceries (8)
4 Supreme Verdict
4 Thoughtseize

Lands (26)
4 Godless Shrine
4 Hallowed Fountain
4 Watery Grave
4 Island
4 Plains
3 Temple of Deceit
3 Temple of Silence

Sideboard (15)
2 Dark Betrayal
1 Detention Sphere
1 Dispel
2 Glare of Heresy
1 Jace, Memory Adept
3 Lifebane Zombie
2 Negate
3 Pithing Needle


I think I'd probably trim a bit of the white stuff, with more of a focus on U/B. The white is mostly there for Verdict and Revelation, after all. I think I may throw in some Far // Away and Devour Flesh, to help deal with Aggro. If Aggro is really prevalent, then those Thoughtseizes go right into the Sideboard.

Seems pretty solid- but that mana base looks painful with 12 shocks.

I've tried doing theros draft simulators. I can't. Everything is so good. You want to play 2 color decks, but that shafts your devotion power. You want to play mono-colored decks, but then you are missing out on a whole world of combos.

I don't see many great cards in Theros... we are having a tournament around the release date and it's something along the lines of everyone gets X number of sealed boosters and you make a deck out of them.

I am struggling to see which is the better colour to start with... Black, Blue and White as a stand alone colour seem the best.

bodazoka wrote:
I don't see many great cards in Theros... we are having a tournament around the release date and it's something along the lines of everyone gets X number of sealed boosters and you make a deck out of them.

I am struggling to see which is the better colour to start with... Black, Blue and White as a stand alone colour seem the best.

You are doing a sealed tournament, they're fun most sets do these as a pre-release a week before the set hits retail.