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Tag: basilisk
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Wallpaper of the Week: Shrunken Planet
by Fake Monty Ashley
Thursday, May 12th, 2011
This week’s wallpaper features an incredibly sneaky green creature: Rob Alexander’s Shrunken Planet artwork from Innistrad. Enjoy.
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Innistrad Preview Week, Day 3
by Fake Mark Rosewater
Wednesday, May 11th, 2011
Welcome back once more to Innistrad preview week! As promised, today we have the full versions of both of the cards that were previewed on Monday. I would like to first introduce you all to Tombstone Curse.
What would you like on your Tombstone Curse?
One of the most common card variants we see here at R&D have what are known as “Pepperoni or Sausage” mechanics. These are, quite plainly, mechanics where you get to choose between one of two bonuses when you cast a spell. Some people simply enjoy one of the bonuses more than the other, so they don’t get much out of making the decision, but many people are easily swayed into picking Sausage over Pepperoni if the situation calls for it.
The part of Tombstone Curse that we are most proud of is how the Slowtrip mechanic plays into the “Pepperoni or Sausage” decision. Before we had come up with the mechanic, this card was a normal cantrip – but like its namesake, people were tripping over the second option in the ability! During playtesting it was fairly common for someone to raise dead, and then be forced to discard a card at the end of their turn due to the unexpected “bonus” of increasing the number of cards in your hand.
Slowtrip elegantly works around this by giving you extra the card at the start of your next turn, after your mana is refreshed and you can actually do something with what you have in your hand.
Weathering the Spellstorm
It’s a longstanding fact that people hate playing against control decks, but it’s much lesser known that people also hate playing as the control deck. The primary reason for this is because to play it well, you have to bide your time, keeping your mana and spells open to deal with anything your opponent might try. This is made doubly hard by cheap, aggressive creatures that red and white mages like to cast to put pressure on – any stumbling over your draws or mana, and you’ll find yourself locked down outside of the house during the proverbial storm of cats and goblins.
What better way is there to prepare for the bad weather than to put up an umbrella? Spellstorm does just this, and it does it right when you want it: At the end of your opponent’s turn. This opens up your strategy to allow 6-drops again. That’s right, this card is actually an enabler for Sea Serpents, the premier fair-weather friends of blue wizards everywhere.
The Perfect Grave Storm
That wraps it up for today, and I hope you enjoyed this glimpse into the thought process of R&D here at Wizards of the Coast.
Join us again tomorrow to see what else is lurking inside this amazing new plane!
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Innistrad Preview Week, Day 2
by Fake Mark Rosewater
Tuesday, May 10th, 2011Welcome back to Innistrad preview week! I hope you’ve all remained vigilant, because sinister dealings have been going on here at Wizards of the Coast. Since I am in charge of literally everything that happens around here, I’ve chosen these three cards to give you a small taste of what is coming later on this week.
We’ll start off with a most horrifying red spell. This card is special because it was actually on the file for Urza’s Saga, but was ultimately cut for power reasons after it was determined that it would take years of playtesting to balance it properly. Those years have passed! Here is that card!
Next is the return of a beloved cycle of lands, ones that defined their original block through their flavor and artistic vision. In truth, their “original” printing was found on an old sheet of paper that a custodian found one day at Wizards headquarters, years ago. A sheet of paper that was labeled … Innistrad.
Finally, we bring you the most terrifying preview yet: A creature type so evil and sinister that it’s been left out of sets that contained demons, devils, and horrors. What could it be?
Join me later this week when I reveal the full previews of the cards you already saw on Monday.
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Dominion Comix #17
Ambassador knows what’s up.
Mouse over the image or click here to view the comic in full size.
Good, I didn’t want that copper anyhow. They only accept Rupees at the corner store.
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Exclusive Preview of Dual Land from Innistrad
Over the years at GoodGamery we’ve had our fair share of exciting preview cards. As part of the Rise of the Eldrazi alliance we spoiled the Timmy-est card in a Timmy set, Spawnsire of Ulamog. For Magic 2011 we eschewed such whimsy for a card the average player on the street could really connect with: limited workhorse Quag Sickness. Those were heady days indeed, but two sets have gone by since then without so much as a whiff of exclusive news. Has GoodGamery been forgotten? That’s a rhetorical question. The answer is no.
Today we are privileged not just to kick off the Innistrad spoiler season, but to give a tantalising glimpse into the fabric of the block itself. We have been entrusted with one of the fundamental components of the Innistrad universe: its dual lands. From Tundra in Alpha to Flooded Strand in Onslaught, from Hallowed Fountain in Ravnica to Seachrome Coast in Scars of Mirrodin, dual lands have always been a cornerstone of both fantasy worlds and tournament environments.
But what exactly is a dual land? The Oxford English dictionary defines a dual land as “a land card that provides two colours of mana, or an indirect means of acquiring two colours of mana.” While technically accurate, this definition fails to account for the soul of the dual land, an intangible phenomenon that has touched the hearts of countless magic players. An exciting new dual is the perfect way to kick off exploration of an exciting new block, and we’re pleased to say our dual is quite a doozy. Are you ready to discover the horror lurking within? Don’t worry, we’ll be right there with you. Let’s go!
(This land has, of course, been generated randomly for your convenience by the magical dual land generator. To share this specific card with other people, click here and use the share code at the bottom of the page.)
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Momir Basic: A Metagame to Remember
With the newfound popularity of the Momir Basic format, it’s worth taking a closer look at the metagame on MTGO. There are a couple of popular decklists out there, and we’ll be taking a closer look at some of them that we saw played in recent Momir DE’s.
Where did Momir and his species come from? It’s a little known fact that his species isn’t called “The Momirs”, though that is the name of a popular sitcom made by his people.
What we do know is that they are related to the elves, and as such they are generally tall and like to wear dresses. Like most elves, they have large, misshapen ears, but they also have large, misshapen heads, which leads some to believe that they are part of a crossbreeding experiment involving goblins, ogres, or beebles.
Other researches believe the Momir species to be descendants of a race of super-scientists that sneezed, really hard, all over each other.
The Decklists
These decks are from the Momir Basic Daily #1807358 which was fought on 11/24/2010.
The Man In Black. (4-0)
This is the basic “Mountains and Swamps” deck that is really tearing up the Momir tournaments. Note the light splash for Forest, Island, and Plains to ensure that you can eventually pay the upkeep for any Elder Dragon Legends that show up.
The key strategy for this deck is to slow-roll an island until the second-to-very-last moment, when it will be almost too late to play another land, but it isn’t actually too late.
masterofhandpuppets (4-0)
This deck by masterofhandpuppets is actually quite unusual in this format, since Islands are considered to be a major liability. However, there are ways to deal with that downside – such as the infamous Gosta Dirk.
DaKriket (4-0)
This aggro build plays off of the ability of certain creatures to count the number of forests you have in the battlefield. If you play this deck, watch out for all of the bombs you’re going to be dropping on your opponent!
Other decks you are likely to see in the queues are the even 12, 12, 12, 12, 12 split, and OopsAllForests.dec.
More Important Considerations
Other than the composition of basic land types, a major component in most Momir decks is the particular sub-configurations within each land type. For example, a professional Momir grinder might agonize for days about which mountains they want to put in their 15th -18th slots. You may find this article about the top 40 mountains to be invaluable while making your land-brew.
If you’re going for a more cohesive look, I suggest picking up a Momir-Playset of Guru lands, seen above. Other fine sets include these beautiful APC lands.
Of equal importance is to choose the correct version of the Momir Vig avatar. Early on, people only had access to the version of Momir that I know only as “Flatface Nomouthofsignificance“:
If you are still paying X with this guy, I feel sorry for you. Next up is the famous Momir Head Beauty Shot:
He’s a good choice in most metagames, though the mirror can be tough to play unless you have been practicing daily. Finally, there is this alternate art version that I think we can agree isn’t very good:
Players have been clamoring for additional Momirs, and we at Good Gamery fully expect there to be more available in the future.
Which Creatures Should I Make? Help Me… or Else!
by llarack
There are several schools of thought on how to play Momir optimally. There is the aggressive line (first popularized by samdsherman back on MiseTings) of making creatures at 123456 and hoping to aggro people out. This was much better in the format’s infancy, when you would have a chance to out-pace your opponent in the early game.
The other line is to go 345678 on the play, and 2345678 on the draw, trying to maximize your chances of hitting bombs, since 1 and 2 drops are mostly terrible. I personally still like making a 2 on the play, and as a result usually choose to skip my 4 or 5.
I also lay Mountains and Swamps first, and usually an Island by turn 6. Other people like playing a land of each type to pay for Elder Dragon Legends (the ED in EDH!), but I think it’s usually not worth it.
Remember, Momir is a serious format that is not to be taken lightly. We are personally proud of Wizards of the Coast for stepping up and giving it the professional attention it is so deserving of.
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A Sword of Ice and Fire
This article is a Summer of Emilevin’ contest entry. This 6 week contest gives out both weekly prizes and final prizes of booster packs! You are invited to participate and compete by making some awesome and/or hilarious content of your own! Click on the Summer of Emilevin’ banner above for more information.
A Sword of Ice And Fire is a series of fantasy novels by George R. R. Martin.
