Tag: prolepsis

  • Magical Cards Facebook Feed 2

    Bog Wraith suck it Scathe Zombies!

    July 10, 2009
    Aaron Forsythe is extremely happy with the “flavor reboot” in M10. For the first time we are presenting a compelling, cohesive, and completely intuitive fantasy world to new players.

    July 8, 2009
    Howling Mine
    I totally agree. Now that you’ve gotten rid of all the cards whose flavor made no sense, you won’t have to look for such cards ever again. Well done!
    Amnesia posted his Top 5 New M10 Cards

    June 30, 2009

    Kelinore Bats, Runeclaw Bears, Essence Scatter, Act of Treason, and Divination.

    Kaboom! Billy Mays: REST IN PEACE

    June 28, 2009
    Lifelink joined the group Cards named after abilities.

    June 27, 2009
    Fear
    Why can’t I join this group?
    Vigilance
    you’re looking for “abilities named after cards”, grandma

    Kjeldoran Knight is looking for another knight to band with. Let me know if you know anyone.

    June 26, 2009
    White Knight
    Sorry man, I’m kind of busy. I just got reprinted you know.
    Black Knight
    Will any knight do?
    Kjeldoran Knight
    Yeah any knight at all.
    Black Knight
    So you’re saying… it don’t matter if I’m black or white?
    Squire
    too soon :(
    Overrun can somebody make some damn tokens over here?

    June 26, 2009
    Elvish Archdruid
    Sorry, I only make mana!
    Llanowar Elves
    It’s ok, nobody’s perfect.

    Savannah Lions is friends with Captain of the Watch.

    June 25, 2009
    Serra Angel
    honestly man, you’re embarassing yourself
    Savannah Lions changed his profile picture.

    June 25, 2009

    Savannah Lions
    sup guys :)
    Serra Angel
    this is just sad
    Air Elemental
    you didn’t make it, give it up
    Magma Spray is looking for Kitchen Finks. Anyone know where I could find them?

    June 25, 2009
    Harm’s Way
    Sorry man, no idea. But you know what? I think it would be way more interesting to go find Figure of Destiny.
    Magma Spray
    Sweet, thanks for your help!
    Lightning Bolt thinks he nailed that job interview :)

    June 16, 2009
    Nantuko Husk While it used to require a trained professional to deal combat damage, that’s no longer the case: Modern combat damage is as easy as 1, 2, 3, literally.

    June 12, 2009
    Nantuko Husk
    Grab the book nearest you. Right now.
    *Turn to page 56 and find the FIFTH sentence.
    *Post that sentence AS YOUR STATUS.
    *Post these instructions in a comment to this status.
    *Use the CLOSEST book. Don’t dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST book.
    Mogg Fanatic
    What a weird coincidence, I’m reading Combat Damage for Dummies too.
    Pulse of the Forge left the group Cards you can pretend are in your deck when you accidentally take mana burn

    June 11, 2009
    Braid of Fire
    Oh cheer up! Maybe we can work together ;)
    Wizards of the Coast posted a note: M10 Rules Changes.

    June 10, 2009
    We have instituted some exciting new changes to the way Magic works! Read all about them here:
    http://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/feature/46a
    Wall of Denial
    I’m pretty sure this is just a late April Fool’s joke
    Anger
    What the FUCK. I’m quitting Magic forever.
    Yawgmoth’s Bargain
    I’ve got a better idea for how you can fix Deathtouch.
    Despondency
    im going to kill myself
    Acceptable Losses
    In six months we probably won’t even remember playing with the old rules.
    Wizards of the Coast tagged Ball Lightning in a photo.

    June 10, 2009

    Ball Lightning
    what the hell
    Ball Lightning
    man, i look awful there. i don’t remember this picture at all.
    Glacial Fortress joined the group Chase Rare Lands that could have easily been Uncommon.

    June 9, 2009
    Secluded Glen
    Hi and welcome to the steadiest-growing group on Facebook!
    Yann Massicard changed his profile picture.

    May 30 2009

    Yann Massicard is feeling lucky :)

    May 30 2009
  • Hypergenesis Combo in Classic

    When Alara Reborn spoilers were starting to hit the internet, the first Cascade spells appeared to show both restraint and caution from R&D, as most of the spells besides the obviously awesome Bloodbraid Elf had marginal effects. Free Spell mechanics, however, have a legacy not only of being broken, but of being unexpectedly broken, so there was still a lot of hope that Cascade would live up to its forbearers.

    One of the early contenders was a deck concept I first saw on the Starcity Games forums as an idea for Extended. The deck played as many of the 3cc Cascade spells as it feasibly could and had no cheaper spells than the chaff rare Hypergenesis, which you could conveniently play for free after the Time Spiral rules update. Being able to cast Hypergenesis on turn 3, or even turn 2 off of a Simian Spirit Guide could let you drop any number of broken things into play. The downside, of course, is that you are necessarily limited in the disruption cards combo decks usually need to be viable. Against a field of Spellstutter Sprites, Toils of Night and Day won’t get you there.

    With that in mind, I wondered if the combo would be viable in MODO Classic (a format similar to Legacy). You would have to deal with Force of Will and Counterbalance, but you gain your own forces as well as Elvish Spirit Guide for the potentially t1 kill.

    I am currently testing with the following list.

    A walkthrough of the elements of the deck, starting with the combo:


    4 Ardent Plea

    4 Violent Outburst

    3 Hypergenesis

    Ardent Plea and Violent Outburst are the only two Cascade spells that don’t require a target. Demonic Dread is unplayable, as cards like Forbidden Orchard don’t make it work with consistency and also interfere with your gushing.

    The Fat:


    4 Hellkite Overlord

    4 Progenitus

    4 Inkwell Leviathan

    2 Bogardan Hellkite

    I am using a much smaller creature base, as I found that comboing out in the first place is more important than guaranteeing you the kill once you do. Without effective disruption, you don’t have inevitability and card afford to sculpt a perfect hand, and that means often only being able to cheat out one creature. Also, with the pitch spells, you often are throwing away extra dudes either to stay alive or to push through the combo. Progenitus and Inkwell are the hardest to kill creatures available. The Hellkites are quick sources of damage to the face, which can be important against combo.

    The Support:


    4 Serum Powder

    4 Force of Will

    4 Gush

    Serum Powder sucks, but makes do. The Gushes are here because I wanted other spells that an opposing control deck would care about. Also, with the low land count, you often can Gush to ensure you hit your third mana.

    The Mana:


    4 Flooded Strand

    4 Wooded Foothills

    2 Breeding Pool

    2 Steam Vents

    1 Savannah

    1 Tundra

    1 Gemstone Caverns

    4 Elvish Spirit Guide

    4 Simian Spirit Guide

    I’m not sold on Gemstone Caverns, but the speed can help. Savannah is in the awkward spot of being a non-island, but you need to be able to fetch a white source out of Wooded Foothills, so it gets the call.

    The Sideboard:


    4 Commandeer

    4 Krosan Grip

    4 Pyrokinesis

    3 Eureka

    Krosan Grip is for Counterbalance and Chalice of the Void that can easily lock you out. Pyrokinesis is an early drop that takes care of Ethersworn Canonist and Meddling Mage, as well as aggro and elves combo. Eureka is also for blue decks, which often have trouble with top-of-the-curve answers. Usually Force is their only hard counter, and they rely on Daze, Counterbalance, Swords to Plowshares and Spell Snare to mop up the rest. Being able to suspend hypergenesis can set up a turn where you can potentially overrun them with three must-counter spells between a consecutive end-of-turn, upkeep and main phase.

    I was actually surprised how viable the deck is. Blue decks aren’t the autoloss they appeared to be, partially because you have card draw and as mentioned, their hard counters are limited. Meddling Mage and Counterbalance were the hardest to beat, so it’s definitely not a favorable matchup, but I’d be ok if you can bring it up to 40/60. The real draw of the deck is you also have several near-bye matchups against mono-red, zoo and other creature decks.

    The downside is that the deck is pretty inconsistent. You have no control over your draws and you need the right mix of land/spells/creatures to go off, including which lands you are lucky enough to draw. This makes mulliganing both absolutely necessary and especially costly, though, and also means you will often keep hands that are missing one component and die to decks that would ordinarily have no right beating you. The deck has a huge problem with Necropotence that goes away, but I’m not sure it fares any better versus Ad Nauseam Tendrils. It’s also not a cheap deck, considering the forces, so it’s definitely not as good as any other deck you could build for about the same money, but it’s insanely fun to play.

    Next steps regarding the deck are figuring out if I can fix the lands, if the creature mix is ok, and if the sideboard could be better. Other considerations are Magus of the Moon, Natural Order over Commandeer and maybe grip.