Good Gamery

Category: mtg

  • Ad Nauseam

  • Jumping Through ‘Hoops’




    (Due to the new MagicTheGathering.com being unnavigable, Wizards of the Coast has teamed up with Good Gamery to provide Magic fans with the latest research and development news and features straight from the source. The following was handwritten, mailed, and arrived at our desks this morning. – Paz)

    Multicolor-themed blocks have always been well received, from the recent Shards of Alara all the way back to Legends. So we’re proud to say we’ve taken the next big step in multicolor with Hoops of Alpaca.

    First some notes on changes to the pre-release structure. Instead of 6 days before the standard release date, pre-releases will occur on the second Tuesday after the standard release date. Events will be sealed deck format run in a modified Swiss style, followed by a top 8 single-elimination hopscotch showdown. Each player will need to register a deck allied with a single hoop, or two if you affix a 20-dollar bill to your registration sheet and surreptitiously wink while handing it to the tournament organizer.

    Now what you’ve been waiting for, a preview of each hoop:

    The Ghatoss Alliance, the RGWUB hoop, are a catlike culture of barbarians that hail from the Djorgia Savannah. They demonstrate red’s love of chaos and confusion by mixing all the colors together. You’ll see the theme of colored artifacts expanded with treats like our first preview:


    Mr. Whiskers’ Deathgolem

    RGWUB

    Artifact Creature Enchantment – Cat Golem Warrior

    8/8

    Instead of paying Mr. Whiskers’ Deathgolem’s cost you may pay WUBRG.


    The T’bbie Brotherhood, the GWUBR hoop, is a leonine race (not to be confused with the Leonine race or The Amazing Leonine Race) of gladiators that prowl the Latte Steppe. Green has always been about natural balance, and now in the T’bbie it finds itself perfectly balanced with every other color. Its preview card gives a new twist on the always-popular lord mechanic:


    T’bbie Liege

    GWUBR

    Creature – Cat Warrior

    6/6

    Green creatures you control get +1/+1. White creatures you control get -1/+1. Blue creatures you control get +0/+0. Black creatures you control get +1/-1. Red creatures you control get -1/-1.


    The Mowsur Legion, the WUBRG hoop, is a stealthy, graceful, curious group of professional fighters from a level, woodless area who always land on their feet. They champion white’s need for rule and order by uniting all colors in solidarity under their banner. The Mowsur preview card has strong implications in the hoop block but could also be put to any number of unexpected uses:


    Chromatic Ball of Prismatic Twine

    WUBRG

    Artifact

    WUBRG, T: Target permanent’s colors appear in the order of your choice until end of turn.


    The Qat Symposium, the UBRGW hoop, is an ancient species steeped in mystery. So thoroughly steeped that even the members of R&D were unable to learn anything about their cards in time for this spoiler. The closest we could get was their part of the new filter land cycle:


    [UNKNOWN CARDNAME]

    Land?

    T: Add 1 to your mana pool

    (U/B/R/G/W) (U/B/R/G/W) (U/B/R/G/W) (U/B/R/G/W), T: Add (please refer to the Hoops of Alpaca rules primer appendix b for a full list of what you may add to your mana pool) to your mana pool.


    The Pan-Tharr Cabal, the BRGWU hoop, is a race of feline warriors that rule the Mnolpf Veldt with an iron paw. They exemplify the fact that black will do anything, up to and including joining forces with all of their competitors, to win. Nowhere is this clearer than in its preview card:


    Snugglepuss the Conqueror

    BRGWU

    Creature – Cat Warrior

    5/5

    Do anything, 2: Win


    We hope you’ve enjoyed this preview. We think Hoops of Alpaca will present you with a lot of complex dilemmas when deciding which hoop to ally yourself with. But no matter which way you go you’re sure to have a fun experience. As one tester excitedly proclaimed, “With Hoops of Alpaca, every choice is 5!/5!”

    (Discuss this item in the forum!)

  • Chandra Nalaar for Planeswalker

    For the past 8 turns, the Goldmane administration has been content to sit in office, gaining life for the special interests, while threat after threat came into play.

    When he sent our troops into battle, Goldmane, who never served in the military, gave them only one +1/+1 counter. Every independent study showed that, for the safety of our troops, they needed at least three +1/+1 counters, and sure enough, many were double blocked and killed. They deserved better.

    Ajani Vengeant represents a third term for the failed policies of the Goldmane administration. Vengeant claims that only he can keep the threat against us tapped down, but in fact, thanks to Goldmane, we’re now facing more problems than he can handle.




    Chandra Nalaar has a proven record of taking on our opponents directly. When there’s a threat against us, she isn’t content to tap it down and wait for more problems to arrive before solving them. When Dread came into play, Nalaar dealt 6 damage to it, at great personal cost.

    Nalaar promises to deal 10 damage to our opponent and its minions. Vengeant says that it’s too costly–that we can’t afford it. Nalaar asks, can we afford an Ajani Vengeant administration?

    My name is Chandra Nalaar, and I approve this message.

    (Discuss this item in the forum!)

  • Mad Libs: Choosing a New Magic Set!

    The newest set in the Magic the Gathering Universe is called the

    of

    . It will debut in October 2008. This set will be the first in a series of three that makes up a new block. It will be aimed at

    as all Magic the Gathering sets generally are — we need the money. Inevitably, the theme of this new set will leave many players with the urge to voice their displeasure on


    . We have decided based on previous research that the most
    set theme is


    . Regardless, we hope to circle back to the

    theme in the near future, so don’t worry! Another exciting development in this new set is the introduction of

    rares that we hope will increase everyone’s

    in the game.

    Probably the most fun part of

    Magic set is picking the codename for that set and block. For the next set, we have decided that the codename will be

    . I bet you can’t guess why! Okay we’ll tell you: we love watching funny shows!!!

    As with any new Magic set comes the job of integrating it into Magic the Gathering online. We know that players will be excited to see and play with the newest cards. We assure them that server overload

    be a problem during that week. We ask them to be patient (but not to give up

    cards) and remember that it’s just a game. If you experience any problems, please don’t hesitate to call us (note that offer of help is merely a kind gesture of appeasement on our part, no help is actually available; for rules and limitations contact our lawyers).

  • Dog Eats Magic: The Gathering Deck, Dies

    In a stunning development yesterday, Antoine Ruel’s dog “Mountain” ate almost an entire 75 card Quick N’Toast deck and promptly died. The coroner determined that the dog had swallowed the deck, and died as a result of the deck not being food. “It’s something that we see all of the time. A dog, or a person for that matter, eats a large amount of non-food and dies because you’re not supposed to eat things that aren’t food,” he said before rolling up his window and doing a sweet-ass burnout.

    Ruel was naturally quite upset. “I guess that’s what happens when you don’t feed your dog for a week,” he mused. “It’s going to eat your magic cards.”

    Among the casualties were three Chameleon Colossi, four Kitchen Finks and two Cloudthreshers, all foil. Only one card, a single Shriekmaw, managed to avoid being devoured, but when asked to comment, it simply sat on the table motionless, because it is a card.

    This isn’t the first time that an animal under Ruel’s care has died. In 2006, Ruel’s parrot Giant Turtle was euthanized by vets because it had learned and continually repeated the words “Lightning Helix.” His cat Kird Ape was recently humanely slain because it peed on his collection of Tarmogoyfs.

    “These animals think they’re so smart, but they’re not as smart as me,” Ruel said with a chuckle as he wistfully stared at the newly minted portait of himself.

    “See if that dog with the armor faceplate, or that bird on my arm ever crossed me, they would find out pretty quickly that I have the vet on speed dial.”

    (Discuss this item in the forum!)

  • Wizards Cuts Numerous Magic: The Gathering Tournaments



    In what Wizards has deemed “nothing short of the best for the future of Magic,” a plethora of tournaments have been cut. Popular events such as Regionals, Nationals, Grand Prix, and Pro Tours have been discontinued. This announcement continues the trend set by Wizards last year when they ended the long-running Invitational, Junior Super Series, and States/Regionals/Provinces/Islands/Archipelagos/Space Stations tournaments.

    Says Mark Rosewater, a highly acclaimed Magic flavor author who does some other stuff too, “We cut back on these tournaments because we f*cked up some miniatures game and lost a shitload of money.” When asked why Wizards continues to press forward on a complete and utter debacle, he told reporters that, while it may have seemed impossible ten years ago, the possibility of Shock appearing in a non-red color is very real in the modern age of Magic flavor.

    This would, at first sight, leave Magic players with only Friday Night Magic and City Championships, but Wizards says Magic players have nothing to fear. They are introducing what Randy Buehler deems a “super ultimate tournament” called Super Ultimate Tournament. The tournament will be the Two-Headed Giant format, and to qualify, one must win “lots of FNMs and stuff.” Buehler says, “I chose Two-Headed Giant because I knew the format was in extremely high demand amongst the Magic community.”

    But this is not all, says Scott Johns. “We have exciting news: we will now be releasing twelve sets a year, instead of four. This will give us the opportunity to make more money to satisfy the Magic community. In the end, the true winners are the Magic players.”

    The announcement ending these popular tournaments was considered by Wizards to be important information, but clearly not important enough to warrant it a place outside of one paragraph in Brian David-Marshall’s column, The Week that Was.

    (Discuss this item in the forum!)

  • GP Denver Report – Kithkin Yu

    After doing virtually no playtesting the week before, and playing in 2 GPTS with Faeries going 0-1 and 1-1, I decided it was time to switch decks. Looking at the Kobe coverage, the kithkin deck seemed to be a very solid beatdown deck with its only fault being a lack of reach.

    The Japanese kithkin deck’s maindeck seemed fine, but the sideboard seemed to be suspect (with my 0 playtesting, of course).

    So I decided to change the deck to the following list:

    Rounds 1-2: Byes (or rather, me walking around watching Imnion, Falco, and various other people battal)



    Round 3: Clifton H. Hinton, Kithkin, (2-1)



    Game 1: We both clog up the board pretty well, but I eventually bite it to a Mirrorweave on my Cenn when he gets ahead by 2 creatures.



    Sideboarding: -3 Goldmeadow Stalwart, -2 Unmake, +1 Mirrorweave, +3 Moonglove Extract, +1 Ajani Goldmane



    During game 2, I call a judge to watch him for slow play, because game 1 ate a lot of time, and he seemed to be taking 1-2 minutes for turns 1-4, and the judge gives him a slowplay warning. Eventually he gets to a point where he makes an attack that is not lethal even with Mirrorweave, but my crackback is.



    Game 3, he mulligans to 6, but accidentally draws 7. The judge is still sitting nearby watching him for slowplay and so forces him to mulligan to 5. Then he mulligans to 4. He goes Plains, Plains, Plains, Stillmoon, Stillmoon. I go, Plains, Heights, Plains, Spectral, activate Heights for Cloudgoat, Cenn, Cenn. He really doesn’t have a shot after that.


    Round 4: Nathan J. Bertelsen, Kithkin, (2-1)



    Also of note, this guy top 8ed the PTQ the very next day, which Falco top 4ed. He had maindeck Barkshell Blessing, and a much lower curve.



    Game 1: I’m pretty sure I get Spectral/Heights into Cloudgoat, so he’s behind the whole game.



    Sideboarding: -3 Goldmeadow Stalwart, -2 Unmake, +1 Mirrorweave, +3 Moonglove Extract, +1 Ajani Goldmane



    Game 2: He gets Thistledown Liege when I wasn’t expecting it, so I lose most of my team while he’s way ahead on board and eventually succumb.



    Game 3: I have an insane draw with Stalwart into Cenn into Procession into Ajani.



    Round 5: Jeremy W. Manthei, Unknown, (2-0)
    I don’t remember what this guy was playing, I just remember mauling him with insane draws. Sorry.




    Round 6: Josh C. Wludyka, Red Deck, (2-1)



    Game 1: I mulligan to 5 on the play, but lead with Figure, Procession, then Cloudgoat. He still loses because of all of the tokens just swarming him.



    Sideboard: -3 Stillmoon Cavalier, -1 Goldmeadow Stalwart, +2 Oversoul of Dusk, +1 Ajani Goldmane, +1 Reveillark



    Game 2: I throw this game by attacking Forge-tender into Soul Snuffers, and so his 8/8 Figure kills me when I’m at 8, and my top card is Unmake.



    Game 3: I drop turn 1 Stalwart, turn 2 Cenn, then turn 5 and 6 Oversoul of Dusk, which barely manage to outrace Demigod + burn.



    Round 7: Michael Jacob, Red Deck, (2-0)


    Game 1: He’s making snide comments about my topdecks during this whole game, but eventually he dies to my massive amount of token makers when I am at 5 life, and I suspect he was holding a Flame Javelin, but did not have enough time to deploy his burn.



    Sideboard: -3 Stillmoon Cavalier, -1 Goldmeadow Stalwart, +2 Oversoul of Dusk, +1 Ajani Goldmane, +1 Reveillark



    Game 2: We get into a board state where he can’t kill my Reveillark because it will regrow 2 Forge-Tenders, so I just start swinging with Reveillark into his face, and I Unmake his Demigods that he plays as blockers.



    Oh and yeah, this guy won US Nationals the weekend before. So beating him felt good.



    Round 8: Conley L. Woods, Kelpie, (2-0)



    Game 1: He leads with Secluded Glen and a bunch of lands, so I think he is playing Faeries, but by turn 6, he hasn’t done anything except play a Soul Snuffers, I suspect he is playing River Kelpie which I had tested with a lot on MWS. He eventually dies to more token makers, because apparently all he has drawn were a bunch of maindeck Snakeforms.



    Sideboard: -3 Stillmoon Cavalier (seems very poor vs Soul Snuffers), +2 Oversoul of Dusk, +1 Reveillark



    Game 2: I get stuck on 2 lands, but keep playing guys so I can attack. Eventually we get to a point where if I topdeck a 3rd land for my Unmake, he loses, because he is playing extremely aggressively, and I do finally topdeck the plains.




    Round 9: Mark S. Hendrickson, Kithkin, (2-1)



    Game 1: Don’t recall what happens here, I think I just get ahead with a bunch of token makers and Ajani Goldmane.



    Sideboarding: -3 Goldmeadow Stalwart, -2 Unmake, +1 Mirrorweave, +3 Moonglove Extract, +1 Ajani Goldmane



    Game 2: He gets ahead with token makers and Ajani Goldmane.



    Game 3: We both clog the board up, but eventually I just attack him with Stillmoon Cavalier for 5 damage 4 times in a row.



    Round 10: Walter Shatford, Kithkin, (2-1)


    Honestly, Bill Stark does a pretty good job of writing about it here.



    Round 11: Scott D. Barrentine, Merfolk, (1-2)



    Game 1: He plays a turn 3 Plumeveil after I attack with a stalwart into it, so I play a Stillmoon Cavalier, which eventually gains flying and attacks him a bunch of times.



    Sideboarding: -1 Mirrorweave, -4 Knight of Meadowgrain, +3 Moonglove Extract, +2 Oversoul of Dusk



    Game 2: It’s a very close race, but his Sygg + Mutavault hold off my Oversoul of Dusk with a +1/+1 counter long enough so that I die to his other guys.



    Game 3: He has Stonybrook Banneret into Sower of Temptation into Sower of Temptation into Merrow Rejereey.



    This match left a bad taste in my mouth, because I’m pretty sure my deck is a heavy favorite vs him.




    Round 12: Paulo Vitor D. da Rosa, Faeries, (2-0)



    This match was in the Feature Match area, but the games were very uneventful.



    Game 1: He gets stuck on Swamp + Mutavault + Bitterblossom while I curve out with Stalwart, Cenn, Procession and just beat him down.



    Sideboarding: -4 Knight of Meadowgrain, -1 Unmake, +3 Moonglove Extract, +2 Oversoul of Dusk



    Game 2: He only has 1 blue source for most of the game, so I run my unimportant spells into Spellstutter Sprites and resolve my Cenns and Figures and crush him.



    Round 13: AJ Sacher, Faeries, (0-2)


    Game 1: I remember getting crushed by Bitterblossom, Scion of Oona into Mistbind Clique in game 1. Nothing I can really say about this, except I did attack a 4/4 Knight of Meadowgrain into his 5/5 Mistbind Clique.



    Sideboarding: -4 Knight of Meadowgrain, -1 Unmake, +3 Moonglove Extract, +2 Oversoul of Dusk



    Game 2: I think he has Scion into Sower this game which is very difficult for me to beat :(



    Round 14: Antonino De Rosa, 5 Color Control, (0-2)



    I’ll go out on an limb and say that this matchup is basically the worst possible for Kithkin, and your oppt needs to mulligan a lot for you to have a shot. The games were uninteresting, since he would just play a sweeper and reload with Mulldrifter :(



    Round 15: Gerry Thompson, 5 Color Control, (0-2)
    http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=mtgevent/gpden08/welcome#16




    I guess it was a decent tournament for me, but it just feels so disappointing to miss Top 8 when all I had to do was go 3-3 on Day 2.



    I am pretty sure that my sideboard was incorrect.



    In the future, if you want to run Kithkin, Falco’s list from the PTQ the next day seems more correct to me.



    However, I would modify the decklist slightly to be:

  • Social Empathy and the Magic Condition

    As Magic players, there’s a certain stigma attached to us. Sad but true, the standard mental picture of a “Magic player” to those unfamiliar with the community (at least, in America – talk to Richie Hagon about the fabulous life of European GP competitors), is somewhat of a “basement dweller”. Because I have no interest in being more negative than that term already is, I won’t expound more than that, but you get the idea.

    The problem with this so-called Plutonic ideal of a Magic player is that it’s completely inaccurate. Though this disparaging image of Magic players proves somewhat true at the PTQ level — at large-scale tournaments (like, for example, Nationals) nary a smelly dude can be found. But why is that? Why the stark dichotomy between the top-level players and those below that? How can it be that the better players are consistently better kept? This is the exact issue some of us were discussing last weekend. A very smart person attributed it to a theory of “social empathy”. I’m going to talk a little about my thoughts on that theory and how it might even help you to become a better Magic player in the process.

    *I’m leaving the name of the theory’s owner out of this article, not because I’m an egomaniacal jerk, but because some could view this theory as negative towards certain people and I don’t want to incriminate anyone other than myself. Though this idea is not meant negatively at all, I do see how it could be taken that way.*

    Our group discussed the idea that all decent-to-good Magic players share at least one common characteristic; they are smart. Just like any decent basketball player is going to be athletic, Magic players have to be able to exercise their brain muscle more often than they’d like to admit. But brains doesn’t really mean much else. So although your average PTQ-er is going to be alright with the brain mechanics, they might not be the physical pillar of respectability (look at me, I’m slipping into the negative already). So it’s not just an IQ difference. There must be some other reason to why these players don’t they have what it takes to compete at the Pro Tour level?

    Someone suggested Social Empathy. The ability to relate and commiserate with the people around you. The people who tend not to take good care of their bodies, or who can’t carry on a conversation without being judgmental, arrogant or just plain old rude, as a general rule, have a lower level of social empathy than those who can carry conversations better. And having this empathy isn’t just for your dueling partner, but also the people at your drafting table (to better define the correct picks), or the people who you playtest with (the better your social interactions the more you can play against the people it’s beneficial to play against–because they’ll want to play against you in the first place). Now, social empathy is far from a strictly positive attribute. Too much social empathy and you can become paranoid or an inactive over-thinker. But for the purposes of this article assume when I say “social empathy” I mean “a healthy and positive level of social empathy.”

    How empathy can divide the decent players from the good players is very simple; if you are able to get into the minds of your opponents, it will be easier to deduce why they made the decisions they did, and thus making it much easier to play against them. Mike Flores talks all the time about this issue. When you’re getting ready to make a play, he says, ask yourself what your opponent would want you to do. Though this play doesn’t always differ from the play you eventually make, it will always help to figure out what your opponent is thinking. And if you’re in their head, you’ll be able to pull out that grinding, off-the-top game more often than not.

    Sadly, For the most part, the people who decide it’s not in their best interest to appear kind, or presentable, either don’t have a great grasp on social empathy or choose to not care about it. And mastering this trait is a great way to master Magic. Because there are always three games going on at any given time in Magic: the game your deck is playing, the game your opponent’s deck is playing, and the game in which those two games overlap. Decent players can see two of those games, but good players always see the third: the game their opponents’ decks are playing. This idea extends further than, “He left three mana up; does he have Broken Ambitions?” But instead leads somewhere else: “If he’s got the Broken Ambitions, what is he expecting to counter? What would he let through? Why?” These are the type of questions that aim to get into that elusive third game, that, although they won’t always translate to wins, they will put you in a much better position to figure what your opponent is holding, what they are afraid of, and how you can take advantage of that information.

    This is not to say, “If your opponent smells, you’re better than him.” This theory is merely a sociological idea attempting to get to the heart of why there is consistently a physical and social difference between people playing the Pro Tour and those that aren’t. This of course doesn’t mean that if you have social empathy you are a good player. As a PTQ scrub and someone who thinks about everybody else before me, I can tell you, all those strategy and skill articles are pretty damn important too as is practicing like hell.

    But what the social empathy theory does mean, is if you constantly scour those strategy articles, always practice the right match-ups in a good way, and play the best decks for the given tournament, and you still don’t perform the level you want to, perhaps your level of social empathy is what’s keeping you down. Next time, when you’re testing all night, try to “put the read” on your opponent deeper than, “Is that a Flame Javelin, or an Incinerate?” Think about what he’d be saving such burn for in the first place. Think about what he’s hoping to top-deck, and how cool could he play it if he did draw the spell he’s hoping for. Oh, also this theory means take a shower before you get in the car.

    (Discuss this item in the forum!)

  • Alaran Villain ‘Chops Sworn Enemy


    Grebredos Cire, archvillain of Alara, modified a digital image of his sworn enemy, the hero Laenaellis, a ranger of Eos. Mr. Cire practiced using Adobe Photoshop for several hours before finally making the modification.

    According to witnesses, he removed Laenaellis’s head and replaced it with a geek’s head.

    “Not so beautiful now, are you Laenaellis!” Mr. Cire cried triumphantly to the final image on his MacBook monitor as if it could respond. “Where once was a magnificent golden beard, there now remains only adolescent stubble. Hair that was once full and flowing now appears oily and unkempt. And for good measure, I scaled the entire head downward… tenfold!”

    Laenaellis is renowned across Alara for his ability to utilize a dog and falcon. It is unlikely that this digitally modified version of Laenaellis could do anything of the sort.

    (Discuss this item in the forum!)

  • NJ’s Eventide Constructed Review

    Same deal as usual. If I don’t talk about a card, I don’t think it’s going to see play in any constructed format.

    I mostly care about block, standard, and extended.

    I’ll make an effort to respond to comments/criticisms/arguments; I usually make a couple of big mistakes per review and then a bunch of little ones, and often the comment thread illuminates those mistakes in a timely fashion.

    Again, it’s been quite some time since I have actually played MTG, so take this all with a generous pinch of salt.

    Archon of Justice

    3WW

    Creature – Archon

    4/4

    Flying

    When Archon of Justice is put into a graveyard from play, remove target permanent from the game.

    It used to be that you were getting a pretty good deal when you paid 5 mana for your 4/4 flier, but that is increasingly no longer the case—5 mana is when creatures start to get really, really powerful. Obviously the effect is nice, but I can’t ultimately see this being a great card since it is actively difficult to trigger the rfg effect when you want it triggered.

    If you were fighting a straight up attrition war, or otherwise were in a situation where you cared about getting a 2-for-1 and didn’t care how long it took you to do it, then Archon would be attractive.

    Endless Horizons

    3W

    Enchantment

    When Endless Horizons comes into play, search your library for any number of Plains cards and remove them from the game. Then shuffle your library.

    At the beginning of your upkeep, you may put a card you own removed from the game with Endless Horizons into your hand.

    I see Endless Horizons as a potential sleeper hit. The effect is powerful and many decks in the past would have wanted it on their side, but it may suffer from its block— unless there’s something Charbelchy out there (and I guess there might be) this isn’t powerful enough for extended and the incentive to have a manabase that is largely composed of non-plains cards is very strong as long as Lorwyn block is legal.

    Flickerwisp

    1WW

    Creature – Elemental

    3/1

    Flying

    When Flickerwisp comes into play, remove another target permanent from the game. Return that card to play under its owner’s control at end of turn.

    The body is actually all right for 3 mana if you can find something useful to do with the effect. Options include resetting perms that run themselves down somehow, reusing CiP effects, and killing auras. There’s not too many CiP effects at less than 3 mana, so that puts the kibosh on that a little bit.

    At 2/2 this probably would have been interesting in some respect with Reveillark, which is probably why it’s 3/1.

    Hallowed Burial

    3WW

    Sorcery

    Put all creatures on the bottom of their owners’ libraries.

    Important in block, largely irrelevant elsewhere.

    Glamerdye

    1U

    Instant

    Change the text of target spell or permanent by replacing all instances of one color word with another.

    Retrace (You may play this card from your graveyard by discarding a land card in addition to paying its other costs.)

    Sometimes cards like this find a narrow usually-sideboard application, and this is a pretty potent version of the archetype.

    Inundate

    3UUU

    Sorcery

    Return all nonblue creatures to their owners’ hands.

    It’s possible that this could see some use as a SB card if there’s a blue-based creature deck that has a matchup that tends to bog down.

    Wake Thrasher

    2U

    Creature – Merfolk Soldier

    1/1

    Whenever a permanent you control becomes untapped, Wake Thrasher gets +1/+1 until end of turn.

    It’s pretty burly on offense, but I think the fragility and total lack of evasion or utility kill it. Merfolk is a phenomenal creature type to have, though.

    Ashling, the Extinguisher
    2BB
    Legendary Creature – Elemental Shaman
    4/4
    Whenever Ashling, the Extinguisher deals combat damage to a player, choose target creature that player controls. He or she sacrifices that creature.

    The problem with this guy is that he’s only good at beating up small things and he isn’t that large—he’s going to get chumped a lot. The good news is that he’s got 4 toughness and is black, which sometimes is enough since that lets you dodge a lot of removal. Would have been nice if he’d been able to nail pro-black creatures, but alas. Might make it in block but frankly I doubt it.

    Necroskitter

    1BB

    Creature – Elemental

    1/4

    Wither (This deals damage to creatures in the form of -1/-1 counters.)

    Whenever a creature an opponent controls with a -1/-1 counter on it is put into a graveyard, you may return that card to play under your control.

    This is another pretty resilient guy who could be very annoying against decks that want to attack you on the ground. It is however mildly annoying that if you steal the other fellow’s persist guy, they get it back the next time it dies.

    Nightmare Incursion

    5B

    Sorcery

    Search target player’s library for up to X cards, where X is the number of Swamps you control, and remove them from the game. Then that player shuffles his or her library.

    I wanted to point out the specific circumstances under which this would be a viable SB card but frankly they’re not going to happen so don’t worry about it too much. (You need a deck that plays 15ish swamps going up against a deck that has a very limited number of win conditions.)

    Raven’s Crime

    B

    Sorcery

    Target player discards a card.

    Retrace (You may play this card from your graveyard by discarding a land card in addition to paying its other costs.)

    While Crime isn’t godly, it’s a very inexpensive way to consistently control the other fellow’s ability to hold cards in hand. If you’re a mana-flooded aggro deck with this as one of your action cards, you’re probably still going to lose anyway but at least you can try to make your opponent pull some of their answers off the top of the deck. This is also one of the best ways to rapidly turn the game into a low-resource slugfest— an opening like Swamp, Crime, Swamp, Crime, Crime is really going to hamper the other guy’s ability to play his normal manacurve to its conclusion, although obviously you’re light on resources yourself in that scenario. In that respect it reminds me a little bit of Pox and related cards.

    I think this may wind up seeing extended play at some point.

    Soul Snuffers

    2BB

    Creature – Elemental Shaman

    3/3

    When Soul Snuffers comes into play, put a -1/-1 counter on each creature.

    If this is 187ing things, then it’s pretty solid. Otherwise, not so much.

    Chaotic Backlash

    4R

    Instant

    Chaotic Backlash deals damage to target player equal to twice the number of white and/or blue permanents he or she controls.

    Backlash could wind up being pretty important at the block-ish level. There are a lot of white token-generators, and sending one of these to the face isn’t a bad response to Cloudgoat Ranger.

    Flame Jab

    R

    Sorcery
    Flame Jab deals 1 damage to target creature or player.

    Retrace (You may play this card from your graveyard by discarding a land card in addition to paying its other costs.)

    This is kind of like super-ghetto Lava Dart and probably fits in a lot of the same places. If there are many 1-toughness dorks to kill, the stock goes up.



    Puncture Blast

    2R

    Instant

    Wither (This deals damage to creatures in the form of -1/-1 counters.)

    Puncture Blast deals 3 damage to target creature or player.

    Standard-issue 3 damage for 3 mana. This stuff normally floats around the periphery of playability.

    Rekindled Flame

    2RR

    Sorcery

    Rekindled Flame deals 4 damage to target creature or player.

    At the beginning of your upkeep, if an opponent has no cards in hand, you may return Rekindled Flame from your graveyard to your hand.

    4 for 4 at sorcery speed isn’t good but it isn’t awful, and if you get to do it twice that’s pretty cool. Unfortunately I think it’s too easy for the other guy to keep you from recovering Flame for it to do its trick.

    Stigma Lasher

    RR

    Creature – Elemental Shaman

    2/2

    Wither (This deals damage to creatures in the form of -1/-1 counters.)

    Whenever Stigma Lasher deals damage to a player, that player can’t gain life for the rest of the game.

    This is not rocket science here—the more lifegain there is in the environment the better Stigma Lasher looks. 2 mana for a wither bear doesn’t have you pumping the fist but it’s acceptable if the other trick is going to be useful for you.

    Also, Fiery Justice you.

    Thunderblust

    2RRR

    Creature – Elemental

    7/2

    Haste

    Thunderblust has trample as long as it has a -1/-1 counter on it.

    Persist (When this creature is put into a graveyard from play, if it had no -1/-1 counters on it, return it to play under its owner’s control with a -1/-1 counter on it.)

    Now we’re talking. This is a huge hasty beatstick that needs to be killed twice. It hates clogged boards and requires a heavy red commitment, and both of those things are a problem, but if you are a deck that can cast this and keep the table clean it’s going to be very, very annoying for your opponent. Also, comes out t3 off of a Smokebraider and off of a Soulstoke you get to keep it with a counter on it.

    Unwilling Recruit

    XRRR

    Sorcery

    Gain control of target creature until end of turn. Untap that creature. It gets +X/+0 and gains haste until end of turn.

    Threaten has been good enough in monored or near-monored decks in the past and this is better than Threaten in those decks.

    Bloom Tender

    1G

    Creature – Elf Druid

    1/1

    T For each color among permanents you control, add one mana of that color to your mana pool.

    Potentially explosive, especially if your manabase is larded with hybrid spells in other colors. There are a couple of attractive 1CC hybrid creatures that you would potentially want to play; Figure of Destiny is probably top among these and that sets you up for some very big t3s. That said, I don’t think you can count on getting more than 1 mana out of Bloom Tender regularly. It’s still better than something like Leaf Gilder, though.

    Helix Pinnacle

    G

    Enchantment

    Shroud

    X: Put X tower counters on Helix Pinnacle.

    At the beginning of your upkeep, if there are 100 or more tower counters on Helix Pinnacle, you win the game.

    This is a win condition you might like if you’re the kind of person who likes this sort of win condition.

    Nettle Sentinel

    G

    Creature – Elf Warrior

    2/2

    Nettle Sentinel doesn’t untap during your untap step.

    Whenever you play a green spell, you may untap Nettle Sentinel.

    My feeling is that the drawback is annoying too often for this to see play, but it’s got a chance. Better in environments where you can reasonably expect to trade off a 2/2 early.

    Primalcrux

    GGGGGG

    Creature – Elemental

    */*

    Trample

    Chroma – Primalcrux’s power and toughness are each equal to the number of green mana symbols in the mana costs of permanents you control.

    I’m a sucker for big beaters with trample, and Primalcrux is almost always going to be the biggest guy on the board. 6 mana and having to play monogreen is a big price tag, though.

    Twinblade Slasher

    G

    Creature – Elf Warrior

    1/1

    Wither (This deals damage to creatures in the form of -1/-1 counters.)

    1G: Twinblade Slasher gets +2/+2 until end of turn. Play this ability only once each turn.

    Solid, but there are a lot of things that want you to spend mana on them right now. Still, this is a legitimate one-drop that stays combat-relevant after bigger things hit the table. I think this sees standard-level play.

    Scarecrone

    3

    Artifact Creature – Scarecrow

    1/2

    1, Sacrifice a Scarecrow: Draw a card.

    4, T Return target artifact creature card from your graveyard to play.

    edit: I thought about saying something about Scarecrone and wasn’t going to, but apparently I left it in the list, so here goes. The second ability is quite strong. You can do a number of abusive things by recurring artifact creatures, and the price is not excessive. However, the body is pretty weak and I think that the available suite of artifact creatures just aren’t good enough to make this sing right now.

    Balefire Liege

    2(R / W)(R / W)(R / W)

    Creature – Spirit Horror

    2/4

    Other red creatures you control get +1/+1.

    Other white creatures you control get +1/+1.

    Whenever you play a red spell, Balefire Liege deals 3 damage to target player.

    Whenever you play a white spell, you gain 3 life.

    Tacking a lava spike on to all of your red spells is very exciting, but 5 mana is still a lot to pay for that privilege and an underwhelming body.

    Batwing Brume

    1(W / B)

    Instant

    Prevent all combat damage that would be dealt this turn if W was spent to play Batwing Brume. Each player loses 1 life for each attacking creature he or she controls if B was spent to play Batwing Brume. (Do both if WB was spent.)

    If there’s a WB deck that wants to race another deck, the Brume may find a fit in the SB.

    Crag Puca

    (U / R)(U / R)(U / R)

    Creature – Shapeshifter

    2/4

    o(u/r): Switch Crag Puca’s power and toughness until end of turn.

    3-mana 2/4s occasionally wind up being useful just because they have a huge ass and are generally good at fighting other things that cost 3 mana or less.

    Deity of Scars

    (B / G)(B / G)(B / G)(B / G)(B / G)

    Creature – Spirit Avatar

    7/7

    Trample

    Deity of Scars comes into play with two -1/-1 counters on it.

    o(b/g), Remove a -1/-1 counter from Deity of Scars: Regenerate Deity of Scars.

    This is one hard, hard beastie to take down, and it has evasion, and it hits hard, and it’s in an attractive color combination. I think this sees quite a bit of play in standard and block.

    Duergar Hedge-Mage

    2(R / W)

    Creature – Dwarf Shaman

    2/2

    When Duergar Hedge-Mage comes into play, if you control two or more Mountains, you may destroy target artifact.

    When Duergar Hedge-Mage comes into play, if you control two or more Plains, you may destroy target enchantment.

    Acceptable as an Uktabi Orangutan or as a walking disenchant in the appropriate color, if your mana justifies it.

    Evershrike

    3(W / B)(W / B)

    Creature – Elemental Spirit

    2/2

    Flying

    Evershrike gets +2/+2 for each Aura attached to it.

    Xo(w/b)o(w/b): Return Evershrike from your graveyard to play. You may put an Aura card with converted mana cost X or less from your hand into play attached to it. If you don’t, remove Evershrike from the game.

    I really, really wanted this to be awesome, and I don’t think it is, quite. It does do a pretty good job recycling Prison Terms, though.

    Figure of Destiny

    (R / W)

    Creature – Kithkin

    1/1

    o(r/w): Figure of Destiny becomes a 2/2 Kithkin Spirit.

    o(r/w)o(r/w)o(r/w): If Figure of Destiny is a Spirit, it becomes a 4/4 Kithkin Spirit Warrior.

    o(r/w)o(r/w)o(r/w)o(r/w)o(r/w)o(r/w): If Figure of Destiny is a Warrior, it becomes an 8/8 Kithkin Spirit Warrior Avatar with flying and first strike.

    Plan on getting Figure to 2/2 most games, but it’s not pushy about when you pay the mana. Sometimes you’ll get it to 4/4 rapidly, and although it won’t happen particularly often there will probably be times you make it a 4/4 the turn it comes down and swing for the fences with an 8/8 the turn after. It might not be quite good enough for extended, but it’ll see standard play.

    Gwyllion Hedge-Mage

    2(W / B)

    Creature – Hag Wizard

    2/2

    When Gwyllion Hedge-Mage comes into play, if you control two or more Plains, you may put a 1/1 white Kithkin Soldier creature token into play.

    When Gwyllion Hedge-Mage comes into play, if you control two or more Swamps, you may put a -1/-1 counter on target creature.

    Probably is good enough to see play in mono-white decks.

    Hag Hedge-Mage

    2(B / G)

    Creature – Hag Shaman

    2/2

    When Hag Hedge-Mage comes into play, if you control two or more Swamps, you may have target player discard a card.

    When Hag Hedge-Mage comes into play, if you control two or more Forests, you may put target card in your graveyard on top of your library.

    Not terrible as a plus-size Ravenous Rats.

    Inside Out

    1(U / R)

    Instant

    Switch target creature’s power and toughness until end of turn.

    Draw a card.

    Well, it does kill Wall of Roots and Doran, and cantrips while doing so; those are useful qualities so in the right metagame maybe somebody wants to play this guy.

    Mirror Sheen

    1(U / R)(U / R)

    Enchantment

    1o(u/r)o(u/r): Copy target instant or sorcery spell that targets you. You may choose new targets for the copy.

    Insert commentary about obvious Early Harvest stuff here. I can’t say that I see another use for it right off the bat. It’s probably somewhat better than Reiterate for that function, but it’s not a blowout.

    Nobilis of War

    (R / W)(R / W)(R / W)(R / W)(R / W)

    Creature – Spirit Avatar

    3/4

    Flying

    Attacking creatures you control get +2/+0.

    This guy was so much better as originally spoiled, with haste instead of flying. As is, I don’t think it sees much play.

    Overbeing of Myth

    (G / U)(G / U)(G / U)(G / U)(G / U)

    Creature – Spirit Avatar

    */*

    Overbeing of Myth’s power and toughness are each equal to the number of cards in your hand.

    At the beginning of your draw step, draw a card.

    I want to like this guy, and I think stapling a Howling Mine to the forehead of what is likely to be a reasonably-sized creature is a great idea in principle. I worry that the mana will be difficult and I worry that there will be too many times that Overbeing isn’t big enough.

    Pyrrhic Revival

    3(W / B)(W / B)(W / B)

    Sorcery

    Each player returns each creature card in his or her graveyard to play with an additional -1/-1 counter on it.

    Peebles thought that this had a chance of being a player in something like Reveillark, where you could return a full yard and just push people’s faces in with the renewed CiP effects. I think there’s something to that plan. It could also be good enough in some kind of more conventional draw/discard Reanimator strategy.

    Quillspike

    2(B / G)

    Creature – Beast

    1/1

    o(b/g), Remove a -1/-1 counter from a creature you control: Quillspike gets +3/+3 until end of turn.

    Obviously the combo with Devoted Druid is potent but brittle, and in a deck with Profane Command you may wind up getting a significant number of oops-I-win kills even through some resistance. I think that the combo is too fragile to be the centerpiece of a deck, but if it turns out that you’re not punting too many games otherwise because you keep drawing these goddamn Quillspikes then game on. Devoted Druid is a playable card on its own merits, so the cost of having access to the combo is low.

    Rendclaw Trow

    2(B / G)

    Creature – Troll

    2/2

    Wither (This deals damage to creatures in the form of -1/-1 counters.)

    Persist (When this creature is put into a graveyard from play, if it had no -1/-1 counters on it, return it to play under its owner’s control with a -1/-1 counter on it.)

    Persist dudes that beat up other persist dudes are cool. Maybe not good enough, but cool.

    Restless Apparition

    (W / B)(W / B)(W / B)

    Creature – Spirit

    2/2

    o(w/b)o(w/b)o(w/b): Restless Apparition gets +3/+3 until end of turn.

    Persist (When this creature is put into a graveyard from play, if it had no -1/-1 counters on it, return it to play under its owner’s control with a -1/-1 counter on it.)

    I can see this being a pretty good card in a controlling strategy, where your plan is to just kind of run it out there and block something random with it on t3 and then to use the threat of pumping it to hold off the other fellow afterwards while you do something instant-speed with your mana.

    Rise of the Hobgoblins

    (R / W)(R / W)

    Enchantment

    When Rise of the Hobgoblins comes into play, you may pay X. If you do, put X 1/1 red and white Goblin Soldier creature tokens into play.

    o(r/w): Red creatures and white creatures you control gain first strike until end of turn.

    Obviously this is no Decree of Justice, but we don’t have Decree of Justice right now. I think that the ability to generate a large number of creature tokens is essentially pretty good and this does so at a very reasonable price, plus gives you some first-striking mojo if that turns out to be worth anything.

    Sapling of Colfenor

    3(B / G)(B / G)

    Legendary Creature – Treefolk Shaman

    2/5

    Sapling of Colfenor is indestructible.

    Whenever Sapling of Colfenor attacks, reveal the top card of your library. If it’s a creature card, you gain life equal to that card’s toughness, lose life equal to its power, then put it into your hand.

    This is only as good or as bad as an expensive indestructible creature is in the environment. 2/5s are mostly good at blocking things, so it would have been nice if the other ability triggered on upkeep instead of on attack, but whatever.

    Spitting Image

    4(G / U)(G / U)

    Sorcery

    Put a token into play that’s a copy of target creature.

    Retrace (You may play this card from your graveyard by discarding a land card in addition to paying its other costs.)

    Getting to 6 mana with this guy will make it quite difficult for the other fellow to kill you with big creatures, since you always have the option to mirror his drops and will usually have the option to continue to do so. I think this is a pretty strong card for a deck that hits 6 mana fast and doesn’t mind tapping out. That said, if you’re copying your own fatties then this is probably win-more; so it wants to be played in a situation where both players have fat.

    Stillmoon Cavalier

    1(W / B)(W / B)

    Creature – Zombie Knight

    2/1

    Protection from white and from black

    o(w/b): Stillmoon Cavalier gains flying until end of turn.

    o(w/b): Stillmoon Cavalier gains first strike until end of turn.

    o(w/b)o(w/b): Stillmoon Cavalier gets +1/+0 until end of turn.

    Double protection is always nice, although it’s hard for me to get excited about the pumpknight suite of abilities anymore. Mana is more precious than it once was and creature quality is higher.

    Unmake

    (W / B)(W / B)(W / B)

    Instant

    Remove target creature from the game.

    If you can swing the mana, this is clean, simple removal. It needs to fit into something that’s already a deck, though. Kithkin can probably play this quite handily.

    Cascade Bluffs

    Land

    T Add 1 to your mana pool.

    o(u/r), T Add UU, UR, or RR to your mana pool.

    Fetid Heath

    Land

    T Add 1 to your mana pool.

    o(w/b), T Add WW, WB, or BB to your mana pool.

    Flooded Grove

    Land

    T Add 1 to your mana pool.

    o(g/u), T Add GG, GU, or UU to your mana pool.

    Rugged Prairie

    Land

    T Add 1 to your mana pool.

    o(r/w), T Add RR, RW, or WW to your mana pool.

    Twilight Mire

    Land

    T Add 1 to your mana pool.

    o(b/g), T Add BB, BG, or GG to your mana pool.

    All very nice lands to have in the mix. You do need to be a little careful—playing 3 colors with 12 hybrid lands is going to get you manascrewed regularly. That said, I think you’re fine with between 6 and 8 lands that make colorless by default in a typical deck.