150 Words on Amulet of Vigor

Amulet of Vigor

WOW! Isn't this card just insane? Yes, yes it is! With this Amulet on the battlefield, your Shards of Alara Tri-lands aren't slow. You don't have to pay two life to play your Ravnica Shock Land. Imagine, Turn one, Amulet of Vigor, turn 2, Misty Rainforest. Sacrifice it then search for a Breeding pool and cast a Farseek and search for a Temple Garden then play a Noble Hierarch and pass the turn. You know effectively have 5 mana on turn 3. Say your opponent Path to Exile's your Baneslayer Angel. You search for a basic land and it comes into play... UNTAPPED! This card also makes 5 colour decks work faster in type 2 now. Imagine the power of valakut! Where does this card really shine? In any deck! I highly recommend picking up 4 of this artefact as it won't stay at $3.99 very long.

 

 

TRUST ME! THIS IS REDONK!




That's all for now, stay tuned for more 150 word articles on Worldwake Cards.

Phazr.

Building A Better Treshold

Threshold is a control deck in Legacy that only plays under three casting cost spells and wins with Tarmogoyf or Nimble Mongoose. It runs Very effective burn spells and draw spells like Brainstorm and Lightning Bolt. The deck wants to sink as many cards as it can to the graveyard then beat down with a latterly untouchable Nimble Mongoose. Force of Will and other counter spells are here to keep your opponent's spells off the bored. Let's take a look at the shell of the deck by looking at various builds from different 5K Tournaments.




First we have a deck from the Star City Games Dallas 5K that happened just a few weeks ago.



Threshold
Simon Sung
2010 Star City $5k Legacy Open - Dallas
Legacy

Main Deck:
2 Grim Lavamancer
4 Nimble Mongoose
4 Tarmogoyf

4 Brainstorm
4 Daze
4 Fire // Ice
4 Force of Will
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Ponder
4 Spell Snare
4 Stifle

1 Forest
1 Island
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Tropical Island
4 Volcanic Island
4 Wasteland

Sideboard:
2 Krosan Grip
2 Pithing Needle
2 Price of Progress
1 Pyroblast
2 Red Elemental Blast
3 Submerge
3 Tormod's Crypt


As you can see Simon included Grim Lavamancer which is a neat card for taking down zoo decks as it clips away at most of their creatures. Plus, it isn't hard to keep creatures in your graveyard either. Next we have a different 75 from the Los Angeles 5k.



Threshold
Sam Blau
2010 Star City $5k Legacy Open - Los Angeles
Legacy

Main Deck:
4 Nimble Mongoose
4 Tarmogoyf
2 Vendilion Clique

4 Brainstorm
4 Daze
4 Fire // Ice
4 Force of Will
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Ponder
4 Spell Snare
4 Stifle

3 Flooded Strand
3 Polluted Delta
4 Tropical Island
4 Volcanic Island
4 Wasteland

Sideboard:
4 ?
2 Krosan Grip
2 Mind Harness
4 Submerge
3 Tormod's Crypt

Sam played Vendilion Clique in place of Grim Lavamancer. Although Clique is good I still like Lavamancer better. The decks are both almost exact except for the two card difference in each list.



Now my problem is that I do not own any duals, or Wasteland. So I am resorted to the Ravnica Shock lands.

4c

Without further ado here is my list.




Threshold
phazr
Legacy

Main Deck:
4 Grim Lavamancer
4 Nimble Mongoose
4 Tarmogoyf

4 Brainstorm
4 Daze
4 Fire // Ice
4 Force of Will
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Ponder
3 Spell Snare
4 Stifle

4 Breeding Pool
1 Cascade Bluffs
1 Flooded Grove
1 Forest
1 Island
4 Misty Rainforest
1 Mountain
2 Scalding Tarn
2 Steam Vents

Sideboard:
3 Firespout
2 Krosan Grip
1 Pithing Needle
4 Pyroblast
2 Submerge
3 Tormod's Crypt


I decided to play a full set of Lavamancers because they just seem so good. I hope I can Manage to find at least a few duals before the tournament though.



This is what I am going to play in the tournament, Be ready for a report after it!


Check out www.mtgfanatic.com !

Stay Tuned,
Phazr.

Choosing A Legacy Deck

Oh Legacy, What a great format to turn to when standard is stale and you missed your extended PTQ. There is a big legacy tournament being held at my local hobby in the up coming weeks. So today I am going to discuss the decks I am choosing from.

Basically I have narrowed my choices to Threshold or CounterTop Progenitus. Here is the situation, I don't own any duals. so the zoo and burn match ups get that much harder. I am forced to use shocks instead.


Let's take a look at the Threshold and the CounterTop deck.


This is the Threshold deck that finished top eight in Dallas at the Star City Games 5k.


Threshold
Simon Sung
2010 Star City $5k Legacy Open - Dallas
Legacy

Main Deck:
2 Grim Lavamancer
4 Nimble Mongoose
4 Tarmogoyf

4 Brainstorm
4 Daze
4 Fire // Ice
4 Force of Will
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Ponder
4 Spell Snare
4 Stifle

1 Forest
1 Island
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Tropical Island
4 Volcanic Island
4 Wasteland

Sideboard:
2 Krosan Grip
2 Pithing Needle
2 Price of Progress
1 Pyroblast
2 Red Elemental Blast
3 Submerge
3 Tormod's Crypt

compared to...


Counter Top
Matt Nass
2010 Star City $5k Legacy Open - Los Angeles
Legacy

Main Deck:
4 Noble Hierarch
1 Progenitus
2 Rhox War Monk
4 Tarmogoyf
2 Wall of Blossoms

4 Brainstorm
4 Counterbalance
4 Daze
4 Force of Will
3 Natural Order
4 Sensei's Divining Top
4 Swords to Plowshares

1 Dryad Arbor
2 Flooded Strand
1 Forest
1 Island
4 Misty Rainforest
1 Savannah
4 Tropical Island
2 Tundra
4 Windswept Heath

Sideboard:
3 Engineered Explosives
1 Predict
4 Relic of Progenitus
2 Spell Pierce
1 Threads of Disloyalty
2 Tormod's Crypt
2 Vendilion Clique



Threshold is more a traditional control deck that finishes games off with goyf whereas CounterTop just searches up Progenitus with natural order and wins. They are both very good and I like the Grim Lavamancers in the treshold deck. I guess only time will tell will tell... Be ready for a tournament report after the tournament.



I think I am going to be sleeving up Countertop but it is much harder to play.


Check out www.mtgfanatic.com!

Thanks for reading,
Phazr

Making The Best Deck... BETTER!

Hello!

Today, I am talking about Jund. So if you are a Jund hater, be prepared to be hated back! The reason Jund has stayed on top for so long is because no one really knew how to beat it. But all that has changed recently, when Spreading Seas was put into every deck that plays blue Jund has suddenly not been so good. Lets think of some ways that we can tune Jund to beat Seas.

Most decks simply use seas to slow down Jund, this makes Jund decks that play Rampart Growth may be better. Although growth is good... Harrow is just way better. They "Spread" your Savage Land? Just sac it to harrow and grab two more lands. They play a kicked Goblin Ruinblaster? Just sac the land they targeted and go search for two more basics! Say you have savage Lands, Mountain, Swamp out with Harrow in hand, your opponent has Crumbling Necropolis, Mountain, Island, Swamp out and is casting a Goblin Ruinblaster with kicker in response to the Ruinblaster you cast harrow and sac your Savage Lands, now you have no non basics and your opponent has to destroy one of his own lands! Congratulations! Jund has yet another 2 for 1!


Now, What would the correct jund list be? Probably Siege Gang Commanders and Broodmate Dragons backed up by Blightning, Bloddbraid Elf, and Thrinax. With a removal sweet of Bit-Blast, Terminate, Lightning Bolt and Maelstrom Pulse.

A Jund list could look something like this:

3 Broodmate Dragon
4 Seige-Gang Commander
4 Bloodbraid Elf
4 Sprouting Thrinax

3 Harrow
2 Rampart Growth
4 Blightning
3 Bit-Blast
2 Terminate
3 Maelstrom Pulse
4 Lightning bolt

4 Savage Lands
4 Rootbound Craig
3 Dragonskull Summit
4 verdant catacombs
3 swamp
3 mountain
3 forest

Side Board

2 Terminate
3 Malakir Bloodwitch
4 Mind Rot
2 jund charm
4 Goblin Ruinblaster


This deck is by no means tuned to perfection. But it is something to mess around with. Make it on Magic Workstation or MODO and at least try it.

Check out www.mtgfanatic.com It is a great Website!


Until next time...

Phazr

A TRIP TO THE BIG ZOO!

Hello! Today I will be talking about my extended deck of choice, Big Zoo. The deck is very good versus the main part of the metagame, it beats: Zoo, Rubin Zoo, Tezzeret, Mono Red and Scapeshift. It has a fair match against Dredge and the other decks. You can find the list in a very good format here. Other wise, here is the deck.

BIG ZOO

4 Baneslayer Angel
4 tarmogoyf
4 knight of the reliquary
4 wild nactl
4 noble hiearch

4 bant charm
4 path to exile
4 lightning bolt
3 lightning helix

2 umezawa's jitte

4 misty rainforest
4 arid mesa
4 scalding tarn
2 stomping ground
2 temple garden
1 sacred foundry
1 steam vents
1 hallowed fountain
1 treetop village
1 forest
1 plains
1 island

sideboard
4 meddling mage
3 gaddock teeg
3 negate
4 tormods crypt
1 ghost quarter


Again, check out the deck here for better format and card rulings. So, the first thing you may notice is the blue splash for Bant Charm, meddling mage and negate. Truth is, Bantcharm wrecks so many decks and has so many options. It can kill a guy, It can protect baneslayer, it can shut down Tezzeret. It fairs quite well against Affinity too! The deck packs so much removal that it is hard for zoo to keep creatures on the board. Besides your dudes are bigger most of the time. Against red you have Bant Charm for blood moon, removal for there guys Jitte and baneslayer for life gain. Tezzeret is a hard game one since you have so many dead cards but when you take out bolts and helixs for mages and teegs the table turns heavily in your favour! you also get negate post board too! Dark depths is actually quite a hard match up, I would try putting in some more ghost quarters, maybe one main deck? Against Scapeshift again game one is hard but teegs, mages and negates should get you there! For Rubin Zoo? Well you have way more removal, as for side boarding... I would maybe bring in negates for protection. Against zoo you want to have the last creature and Jitte is quite good versus them too! Here is a quick sideboard plan for each match up... I'm not going to go to in depth as of now but hopefully this will help you out.


TEZZERET

IN: 4 Meddling Mage, 3 Gaddock Teeg, 3 Negate
Out: 4 Lightning bolt, 3 lightning helix, 3 path to exile

This really turns the match up in your favour... remember... they will likely have baneslayer so hold a bant charm for it is quite good (also the reason one path stays in) Beat them down with treetop village if you have the chance.

Scapeshift
IN: 4 Meddling Mage, 3 Gaddock Teeg, 3 Negate
Out: same as Tezzeret.

this just destroys scapeshift, you should have more answers to there combo then they to to your answers.

RUBIN ZOO

IN: 2 negate
Out: I really don't know... this match up is almost preboarded but having some protection from removal is always nice.

ZOO

no board... you should win easily.

Dark Depths

same as Tezzeret and +1 ghost quarter -1 Jitte

DREDGE

-4 bant charm - 4 path to exile - 3 helix

+4 tormod`s crypt +3 TEEG +4 Mage

hate them out!

RED

Keep the same!





This deck is so good against everything and the sideboard is amazing! It just destroys most decks!

Check out http://www.mtgfanatic.com/!

Thanks for reading, stay tuned for the next post in which i will be talking about extended in general!

Phazr.

A NEW YEAR, A NEW GOAL!

Hello!

Today is just a short Entry on goal setting in magic. With 2010 comes worldwake and an Extended PTQ season. At the start of the year I tend to set a few goals for my up coming year of magic. This year my goal is to Go to as many tournaments as I can (FNM, not included). Since lately I haven't been participating in big tournaments such as PTQs and regionals and stuff like that I want to start this year. I also would like to Top 3 as many FNM's as I can and continue to build rouge decks. It is important not to make your goals unreachable though. If you set the bar to high you may be mad at your self for not completing your goals. This year no matter if you play casual or competitive I encourage you to set a few goals for your self. Anyways that is all I want to talk about goals today so I will give you some more tips to improve your game.

1) Test as much as you can before going into events, it is hard to play in a tournament with a deck you haven't played at all. If playing a deck you find online or that won a tourney remember... their decks are tuned to beat that specific metagame and your meta could be different. For instance, Jund is not heavily played where I am so moved flash freeze to the sideboard and replaced them with cards like essence scatter and negate.

2) It is important to get feedback on your decks. So share them with your friends or post them on www.mtgfanatic.com , it really helps.



If you have some Christmas money that needs to be spent I have decided to give you a list of cards that you should pick up or trade for.

#1 Baneslayer Angel- This card is broken. It is a powerful creature that almost every T2 deck plays 4 of and the price will only get higher so get them well you can.

#2 Sphinx Of Jwar Isle This card is very good and will probably raise to about $8 by the end of the standard season. And when it becomes time for block, look out this will be insane.

Those two cards are going to play a huge part in the T2 meta.


Extended season is starting and I believe these are the viable decks.

Rubin Zoo, Bant, Tezzeret, Scapeshift, Burn, Dark Depths, DREDGE, ZOO, Hypergenisis, Rock. I am currently playing Dredge (the deck is just insane and you win so easily even with all the hate... you just play through it.) my backup decks are Bant and Rubin Zoo...

Anyways... I am done for now. I will be talking about Extended next time. If you haven't already posted decks on www.mtgfanatic.com I suggest you do it is very helpful!

Thank you for reading,
Phazr

Thoughts On Current Standard Metagame (includes decks)

Hello!

Up to this date there has been a number of standard and tournaments, as well, Extended PTQ season has begun! Today I am going to talk about standard! So let’s get started!

Before the recent Star City Games 10k the standard metagame has been stale and boring... I believe LSV changed my opinion on that this past weekend, finishing first with his power house, All American Control also known as UWR Control. LSV Battled through a sea of Jund and Control taking home the entire tournament! Check out LSV’s Article here! He knows more about the deck than I do so I suggest you take the time to read it!




As you can see, this deck is powerful! It runs no targetable creatures in the maindeck then brings in Baneslayers to punish your opponent in games 2 and 3. If you are in doubt about a standard deck then play this! You can also check out the rest of the top 16 here.

This is LSV’s deck.

3 Sphinx Of Jwar Isle
4 wall of Denial

4 flashfreeze
2 earthquake
2 mindspring
2 divination
2 Jace Beleren
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Path to exile
4 spreading seas
3 Ajani Vengent
2 double negative

4 scalding tarn
4 arid mesa
4 glacial fortress
4 senjiri refuge
4 plains
4 island
2 mountain

sideboard

4 baneslayer angel
3 luminarch Assension
1 cancel
1 oblivion ring
2 mind control
2 essence scatter
2 negate





After discovering how good sphinx of the jwar isle was I got brainstorming a deck and a few hours past...


YES! I got it! Bant Ramp! Why not just play the 8 best creatures in T2 and some ramp and removal? After I saw the Magical Christmas Land deck That Conely did so well with at worlds I wanted to play the same ramp engine but then just play the best creatures! So I got thinking, and this is what I came up With!


BANT RAMP!

Maindeck

Accelerators

4 Lotus Cobra
4 harrow
4 khali heart expedition

Threats

4 Sphinx of jwar isle
4 baneslayer angel
3 rampaging baloths

Removal

4 day of judgment
4 path to exile
2 oblivion rings

fillers
4 wall of denial

LAND
4 misty rainforest
2 marshflats
2 scalding tarn
1 arid mesa
4 seaside cidital
4 forest
3 plains
3 island

sideboard
4 wall of reverence
2 oblivion ring
1 planar cleasing
3 world queller
4 great sable stag
1 celestial purge


This deck could be extremely powerful, although I have not tested it very much it seems like it has positive matchups against the key decks, It seems to be lacking in the control matchup which may be a problem...

Remember, Check out http://www.mtgfanatic.com/ for great prices on magic cards and you can even organize your decks on this site! It is a must see website!


Phazr,