Magic the Gathering, There has to be others who play :D

So I just noticed the effects of popular decks and cards played in Magic World Cup. Cards like Mutavault, Chandra Pyromaster, Snapcaster Mage, Sphynx' Revelation, Domri Rade and many other have shot up in prices just because of how much they were played in the World Cup and how effective they were.

Got some questions.  Can you cipher more than one ability to one creature?  If that creature is killed and brought back, does it still have the cipher?  If a creature has undying and it came back onto the field with a +1/+1 counter and I used something to give it -1/-1, would that reset its undying?

Also building an infect deck.  I'll get the exact details out later but it's a tri color Blue/Black/Green.  The main idea is just blue one mana " target creature is unblockable " with one mana flashbacks.

Just some card combos I was planning


      

^I'm fairly certain you can cipher more than one, as they for all intents and purposes become enchantments, don't they?



I'm being told that I have to make an Angel deck, apparently. Recently got this baby in a booster:



Then my mom owed me four dollars, do I had her pick me up an Avacyn Restored pack, landed me this beauty:



Just opened a two new booster packs and got two of these:

Damn you

GenericUsername wrote:If a creature has undying and it came back onto the field with a +1/+1 counter and I used something to give it -1/-1, would that reset its undying?

Unless you gave it a -1/-1 counter, no it doesn't. Only -1/-1 counters or abilities that state "remove x -1/-1 counter from) cancel/remove +1/+1 counters. If you happen to get hit by something that does 3 damage to your creature with 3 toughness, or get hit by something that gives that creature -3/-2(but not in counters), then your creature dies with the +1/+1 counter on it. Furthermore, if your creature dies by getting multiple -1/-1 counters on it(say your creature has 2/1 and a +1/+1 counter, and gets 2 -1/-1 counters) then it dies before the -1/-1 counters can cancel out the +1/+1 counters, thus it dies with the +1/+1 counters intact.

 

Did I mention my Punish deck was already using all the Red/Color Gates?

Sorry for double post, but can I get some feedback on this deck?

http://mtgdeckbuilder.net/Decks/ViewDeck/798964

So what are some sorceries that would fit well with a golgari themed deck?  Or maybe not golgari, but black/green.  Most of the sorceries I have in the deck are just return creature cards from graveyard.  About 13 or 14 of all the creatures in the deck all have deathtouch too, so I feel like putting extra counters on them is somewhat redundant.  Can't really think of many other sorceries besides kill spells that would really fit.

Slarg232 wrote:Sorry for double post, but can I get some feedback on this deck?

http://mtgdeckbuilder.net/Decks/ViewDeck/798964

Your probability of drawing Gilded Lotus or Azorius Keyrune on the first few turns isn't that high, that means that you could potentially be a good 5 turns without blue or white mana. Furthermore, it takes at least till turn 3 to get Azorius Keyrune onto the board. I think you're going to be a bit mana starved and your opponent might not be patient enough to let you get something onto the board. On the other hand, Azorius Keyrune isn't the best card in this deck as it requires one blue and one white mana to turn into a 2/2 flier, and that ability doesn't serve much purpose to accelerate your deck into greatness. I'd say remove 2 of every Urza land and add at least 4 dual land. You could also add Mutavault instead as that's a very great land too, but it still only produces colourless. Transguild Promenade produces every colour though and might be a better fit.

Lashwrithe is quite useless in your deck as you have no swamps, so it does not get more power. It'll effectively be a 0/0 creature and an equipment that gives +0/+0. Personally, I wouldn't play Accorder's Shield, it may seem great as it's costless to lay on the board but you can't use it until turn 3, and at that point I don't see you equipping it on any creatures at that point either.

Blazing Archon is high cost, especially in your deck, so it might not matter at that point that your opponent can't attack you, you're either already dead or you tapped everything to play that creature and one removal makes that useless. Archon of Justice could in my opinion be replaced by a cheaper exile spell, but it's okay if you wanna keep it.

GenericUsername wrote:So what are some sorceries that would fit well with a golgari themed deck?  Or maybe not golgari, but black/green.  Most of the sorceries I have in the deck are just return creature cards from graveyard.  About 13 or 14 of all the creatures in the deck all have deathtouch too, so I feel like putting extra counters on them is somewhat redundant.  Can't really think of many other sorceries besides kill spells that would really fit.

Learn about what the individual colours are all about. Black is about personal advancement at all costs, green is about independence and instinct. A good place to look at these colours and their nature are the core sets, particularly M14. Also check this article: http://wiki.mtgsalvation.com/article/Color_Pie

When I think green, I think big creatures, regen, tokens and anti fliers. When I think about black, I think about removal, board and library control, and destroying things(like deathtouch). It depends on what your playstyle is, but I would make B/G a deck where black is mainly on the low end of the mana curve and green on the higher curve. This wouldn't always be the case as I'd play creatures like Arbor Elf/Elvish Mystic and Scavenging Ooze as well, they're that good.

On the other hand, you could decide to do something more Golgari oriented and go with board and graveyard control and creatures like Tarmorgoyf.

densetsushun wrote:

Slarg232 wrote:Sorry for double post, but can I get some feedback on this deck?

http://mtgdeckbuilder.net/Decks/ViewDeck/798964

Your probability of drawing Gilded Lotus or Azorius Keyrune on the first few turns isn't that high, that means that you could potentially be a good 5 turns without blue or white mana. Furthermore, it takes at least till turn 3 to get Azorius Keyrune onto the board. I think you're going to be a bit mana starved and your opponent might not be patient enough to let you get something onto the board. On the other hand, Azorius Keyrune isn't the best card in this deck as it requires one blue and one white mana to turn into a 2/2 flier, and that ability doesn't serve much purpose to accelerate your deck into greatness. I'd say remove 2 of every Urza land and add at least 4 dual land. You could also add Mutavault instead as that's a very great land too, but it still only produces colourless. Transguild Promenade produces every colour though and might be a better fit.

Lashwrithe is quite useless in your deck as you have no swamps, so it does not get more power. It'll effectively be a 0/0 creature and an equipment that gives +0/+0. Personally, I wouldn't play Accorder's Shield, it may seem great as it's costless to lay on the board but you can't use it until turn 3, and at that point I don't see you equipping it on any creatures at that point either.

Blazing Archon is high cost, especially in your deck, so it might not matter at that point that your opponent can't attack you, you're either already dead or you tapped everything to play that creature and one removal makes that useless. Archon of Justice could in my opinion be replaced by a cheaper exile spell, but it's okay if you wanna keep it.

The Azorius Keyrune goes good with the Archon of Redemption, allowing me to tap two Gilded for six life and three 2/2s. At least, that's how I hope it works

The Lashwrithe was a thought of mine for allowing me to use Vengeful Archon's ability whenever I wanted, causing the damage and sending it to an enemy. Not the best way of doing that, it it's either kill a Gilded or eat 4 damage every turn.

I fully agree with taking out some Urza lands and swapping in some Guild Gates or similar, thanks for the idea.

Archon of Justice (And Triumvirate for that matter) are in to keep with the theme of Archons

Slarg232 wrote:
The Azorius Keyrune goes good with the Archon of Redemption, allowing me to tap two Gilded for six life and three 2/2s. At least, that's how I hope it works

The Lashwrithe was a thought of mine for allowing me to use Vengeful Archon's ability whenever I wanted, causing the damage and sending it to an enemy. Not the best way of doing that, it it's either kill a Gilded or eat 4 damage every turn.

I fully agree with taking out some Urza lands and swapping in some Guild Gates or similar, thanks for the idea.

Archon of Justice (And Triumvirate for that matter) are in to keep with the theme of Archons

I understand trying to build a themed deck and thinking up a lot of strategies for it. Unfortunately, it might not work the way you want it to, and sometimes you just have to pull your deck apart and think about what kind of deck you want to make. After you know what your deck is about, take every card one by one and consider what their actual benefits are to your deck. Sadly, not all cards are made equal, some cards will always be good and some cards will almost always be bad. I can't give you anymore tips than what I've given already, but take your deck apart and analyse it card by card to see if they add an actual benefit to it.

A friend of mine(probably through his own research from other sources) describes any game in 4 different states: losing, winning, advancing and one I can't quite remember. Point is, he describes the value of every card, both in general and in specific synergies in decks, by analysing their contributions to these four(three in this case as I can't remember the last) states. Does this card help you win harder? Does it help you when you're losing? Does it help you advance the game into you winning? If it doesn't contribute in that sense, then it probably isn't a good fit.

Themed decks are very hard to produce, mainly because you're restricting yourself to a specific amount type of card while trying to work a good synergy and mana curve. From an outside perspective, your deck doesn't seem to have good synergy or a good mana curve, but in practice it might be better. Try using the option in the deck builder to see how the deck plays like, it lets you play the game as if you're playing someone but without a computer or someone else to fight, but it's handy to see how the deck plays and just how often you get to play what you want to.

I dissagree that themed decks are tough, themed decks are pretty much all i do, and all my firends do, and a couple of us have been invited to the pro tours for winning with such decks.

The thing is, some themes just don't work. Golgari is easy. Lots of thing fit golgari.

gorgon doesn't work. they're aren't enough and most suck. they're also fairly unique in the petrification type legends, its really just them and basalisks. you could almost do snake/gorgon, but snakes are largely tribal and the gorgon would just be in the way at that point.

Angels don't work, they're too high cost to compete. (EDIT: the vast majority of the time. With the stuff in the more recent sets it can be done, but I'd still say its inferior to an angle themed deck running a different type as its base)

angels+ clerics/knights/soliders (/ meaning "and or") works fanfreakingtastic. and often work together by design, so a "holy" type theme is perfectly doable, even where angels are not (not really anyways)

Archons, in this instance, are similar to the angels. You cannot do them alone as a theme, you have to have them acting as the "captains" of your armies. Soldiers, knights, and clerics could all work well (easily) to support a blazing archon lockdown.

archon of redemption could easily be a fantastic trump card in a white or blue white flying deck, especially with cards like


and



maybe a parallel lives for good measure if you can manage 3 colors


 

run some artifacts to mana spam up to that archon. flood the board woth fliers and gain a million life, within your archon theme (spirits can easily have a holy type vibe to go with the archon) and you're in buisness. no sweat.

I am in no way a great player or deck builder, so go with what Forum Pirate has to say

I'm not great either, just in my friend group there are 3 players (unambigiously) better than me.

My process is

1) find theme. can be card type (creature) and be subtype (archon) can be concept (church) can be card (phage)

2) determine which of the current mechanics/creature types would best fit the theme. (even if the mechanic/creature doesn't exsist.)

3) (longest step)  fnd cards that have the desired mechainic/type or find cards to simulate it (eg in my pokemon themed deck, my "pokeballs" are the white/red captures. pacifism, arrest, tratiotos blood, ect and I focus heavily on control of the battlefield with cards like master warcraft)

4) put together a deck around that concept with the cards you;ve found,

5)if there aren't enough of a secific type, or the mana curve is horrid (archons) then go back to 1 either with a revised theme (eg from angles to the clergy so angels and clerics) or come up with a new theme.

6) determine key weaknesses of deck, and add cards to cover them (eg a counter to light minefield in a goblin deck.

7) playtest and repeat 2-6 as necessary.

My process goes something like:

1)  Decide color(s) I want

2) Sort decided color(s) into a pile and search to see what the most common ability or the likes is.  ( in the case of my Gruul deck, Bloodrush )

3) Now that I know I have the most bloodrush cards, prioritize those into a " keeper pile " filled with nothing but bloodrush.

4)  Then I look for any cards that might help or fit into a red/green theme.  Perhaps cards not made specifically for Gruul, but that could be helpful anyway.  Maybe enchantments that give haste or trample.  Put those into a separate pile.

5) I follow a usual format of 18 creatures, 18 spells, and 24 land.  ( However for Gruul, since bloodrush is so common I chose to put more creatures than spells )  So I then look back at the two piles and pull the cards I know I'm keeping by looking at mana cost and cost to bloodrush.

And then any final checks on the deck.

Alternately it can go something like:

Dividing into colors

Starting with only mythic rares/ rares and seeing their abilities

Moving to uncommons and looking at their abilities

And then finally commons.

BLACK 4 LIFE

Whoa whoa wait is this right?



  The -1/-1 counters remain on the creature indefinitely. They're not removed if the creature regenerates or the turn ends.

About infect damage.  It says last updated in 2011, that had to have changed right?  I had assumed that it was just like normal combat damage where it resets after the turn is over

Forum Pirate wrote:I'm not great either, just in my friend group there are 3 players (unambigiously) better than me.

My process is

1) find theme. can be card type (creature) and be subtype (archon) can be concept (church) can be card (phage)

2) determine which of the current mechanics/creature types would best fit the theme. (even if the mechanic/creature doesn't exsist.)

3) (longest step)  fnd cards that have the desired mechainic/type or find cards to simulate it (eg in my pokemon themed deck, my "pokeballs" are the white/red captures. pacifism, arrest, tratiotos blood, ect and I focus heavily on control of the battlefield with cards like master warcraft)

4) put together a deck around that concept with the cards you;ve found,

5)if there aren't enough of a secific type, or the mana curve is horrid (archons) then go back to 1 either with a revised theme (eg from angles to the clergy so angels and clerics) or come up with a new theme.

6) determine key weaknesses of deck, and add cards to cover them (eg a counter to light minefield in a goblin deck.

7) playtest and repeat 2-6 as necessary.

That's much the same as how I build my decks. And to comment on a previous statement of mine, I find themed decks difficult to build in certain situations but most of my decks are just themed(and not just by colour).

GenericUsername wrote:Whoa whoa wait is this right?



  The -1/-1 counters remain on the creature indefinitely. They're not removed if the creature regenerates or the turn ends.

About infect damage.  It says last updated in 2011, that had to have changed right?  I had assumed that it was just like normal combat damage where it resets after the turn is over

If a creature leaves the board and goes into the graveyard successfully, then the -1/-1 counters go, but since you regenerated that creature what you're doing is preventing its destruction at a certain cost. Typically you declare and pay for regeneration before the damage resolves, after that it's too late and the creature leaves the board. Because the creature never leaves the board, the -1/-1 counters never disappear.

You shouldn't confuse this with Undying though, where the creature leaves the board, then comes back.

It's been 10 years I didn't play Magic.
I'm tempted to try Magic Online.
But since it's a money investment, I'd like to have some advices.
Are there some formats and some builds that are more noob friendly and fairly effective?
I know my question is very vague, I asked it on a specialised forum and got linked to a beginner's threat... That didn't help me at all because it was too dense and technical.
I came to dislike the community, though I didn't stay here long (I might simply have addressed to the wrong persons) and just gave up.
My main concern realy is I don't won't to invest money the bad way.

infect/whither/poision does not reset at end of turn. the counters stay untill the creature dies, or you remove them (eg with +1+1 counters)

VaDoom wrote:It's been 10 years I didn't play Magic.
I'm tempted to try Magic Online.
But since it's a money investment, I'd like to have some advices.
Are there some formats and some builds that are more noob friendly and fairly effective?
I know my question is very vague, I asked it on a specialised forum and got linked to a beginner's threat... That didn't help me at all because it was too dense and technical.
I came to dislike the community, though I didn't stay here long (I might simply have addressed to the wrong persons) and just gave up.
My main concern realy is I don't won't to invest money the bad way.

I've been thinking of starting with MTGO, and the way I understand it you start with at least one ticket to a draft and you can buy tickets for other such events. Since I've recently went to an IRL draft, I can definitely say for myself that it might be a good place to start on MTGO. With booster drafts, you get to play cards you didn't think you'd ever play, build decks in a different way, and still play Magic. It's also a very good way to get to know a set and find out what the gems in that set is.

densetsushun wrote:I've been thinking of starting with MTGO, and the way I understand it you start with at least one ticket to a draft and you can buy tickets for other such events. Since I've recently went to an IRL draft, I can definitely say for myself that it might be a good place to start on MTGO. With booster drafts, you get to play cards you didn't think you'd ever play, build decks in a different way, and still play Magic. It's also a very good way to get to know a set and find out what the gems in that set is.

Seems an interesting idea.
It's like playing against people who know their business while being in the same situation.
I'll start soon, maybe we could play together someday?

The entire idea for mtgo is horrid. if you're going to spend money on magic, get actual cards, otherwise just use octgn.

modern/legacy is a good format to learn in. the reason is simple really. you can make most deck ideas work in modern or legacy and its not the same like 3 top tier standard decks killing everybody. The players also tend to be less competitive (because standard holds tournaments and tracks standings every friday, all year long, where modern tournaments are far less common so far as i can tell) so you have a lot more wiggle room to make mistakes.

Forum Pirate wrote:The entire idea for mtgo is horrid. if you're going to spend money on magic, get actual cards, otherwise just use octgn.

modern/legacy is a good format to learn in. the reason is simple really. you can make most deck ideas work in modern or legacy and its not the same like 3 top tier standard decks killing everybody. The players also tend to be less competitive (because standard holds tournaments and tracks standings every friday, all year long, where modern tournaments are far less common so far as i can tell) so you have a lot more wiggle room to make mistakes.

While I agree with your point on Modern and Legacy being easier formats to construct in, that's still for constructed. I personally feel limited is the best format to hone your skills in, limited is severely non competitive, most people there are there to play a set and hopefully draft some good cards, and a lot of the vets there will help you and tell you where you've gone wrong in your play, oftentimes people offer to help you build your deck too. Deckbuilding is also relatively easier as you're only required to make 40 card decks as opposed to 60.

but its draft. that would be like playing dks with random stats.

it forces you to rely on your skill sure, but a bad pull on your part or a lucky pull on thiers and you lose, there is just nothing to be done about it. way to much luck involved for me to honestly recommend to anyone