The Casual Planeswalker

Author: DJ

Gather Your Allies and D12

Last week saw the release of the latest Duels of the Planeswalkers video game. Just like last year’s game, Duels of the Planeswalkers 2012, or D12, challenges your Magic skills against the planeswalkers of the multiverse. D12 gives you both regular 1-on-1 games against opponents as well as challenges that force you to try to win the game in one turn given a specific situation just like the last game. The newest addition to this game is a great one for us casual Magic players. D12 adds Archenemy to the mix, allowing you to play 3-on-1 games against the AI or with two human allies. This latest game also comes with a number of new decks to use as well as new improvements to make for a pretty cool game.

The most important part of any game of Magic is the deck, and this time around they are a lot more exciting. I played through most of the game with Gideon’s white deck, which focuses on equipment. Many of the decks include cards from Commander, or even M12, giving you the first chance to use cards such as Gideon’s Avenger
Gideon’s Avenger and Lord of the Unreal
Lord of the Unreal. Through the playing of these decks, it is also possible to unlock new cards for the deck and many of them are now very useful. These all feel like more competitive decks now with good synergy, rare cards, and mythic rare cards such as the Sword of War and Peace
Sword of War and Peace. If these decks are ever printed as pre-cons like the last Duels of the Planeswalkers they are sure to be very fun decks to play.

The new D12 is improved greatly in allowing greater customization of the decks you build, even though they are still limited to preconstructed decks. Each deck comes with 16 new cards that you unlock by using those decks in the D12 campaign. Unlike the first game, however, you are able to take cards out of the deck rather than just add in the bonus cards. Most Magic players would agree that it is best to have a deck only have around 60 cards in order to allow it to consistently play at its best and now this is possible in D12. Like any pre-con there are a couple cards that aren’t quite the best fit and now you don’t have to suffer through playing them against your opponents.

Opponents in D12 include all the newest planeswalkers such as Gideon and Jace all the way up to the baddest dudes including Karn and Nicol Bolas. They have also introduced a new planeswalker, Kiora Atua. She has a U/G deck that puts a focus on creatures which is new for a blue planeswalker. If she makes it to a card then I would expect some awesome merfolk or leviathan decks. All the planeswalkers, except for Nicol Bolas, are a part of the normal campaign made up of 1-on-1 games. You also face these planeswalkers in the Archenemy campaign with Nicol Bolas as the final opponent. The first few games of both campaigns shouldn’t be too difficult because they basically have preconstructed decks, but there are extra challenges for those that find them a little too easy.

A third campaign, called revenge, has you facing off against the planeswalkers again in rematches with their stronger cards unlocked. This campaign is the real test of your Magic skills and can be a bit tougher even if you are able to utilize your bonus cards. For those looking to further test their skills there are also the one-turn-win challenges. These challenges also serve as tutorials for newer Magic players testing your knowledge of trickier abilities such as trample, flying and reach, and first strike with deathtouch. For Magic veterans the more difficult challenges should still put your skills to the test. One even starts on your opponents turn with one of your creatures about to kill you once your turn starts!

D12 has a lot to offer and whether you like a casual game with friends in 1-on-1, Two-headed Giant, or Archenemy you’re sure to enjoy this game. If you prefer to test your Magic skills there are games against increasingly more powerful AI opponents as well as challenges against decks that use new cards that have only recently been revealed and some that haven’t even been released yet!

For those that also play the physical card game regularly there are special promo cards for purchasing the game as well! For $10 you can buy D12 online and receive a coupon for a Frost Titan if you bought it on Steam, an Inferno Titan if you buy it on Playstation 3, and a Grave Titan if you bought it on Xbox Live! All these promo cards are foil and look awesome so if you’re looking to get one of these titans you might as well get a cool promo card and a new game to try out other new cards and decks!

June 20, 2011
Casual Friday–Prevail at FNM

It’s the last day of the week and work is over! It’s also a great day for Friday Night Magic with tournaments at local stores across the globe. The last thing I want to do at these tournaments is wrack my brain on how to beat Caw Blade or whatever deck is dominating standard. I’d rather make a new deck that’s fun and try it out against whatever decks everyone else has come up with and share ideas. Each set has some really cool cards that may be underrated or are just really cool to play. Jor Kadeen, the Prevailer is one such card from New Phyrexia that is also a legendary creature ready for some Commander action to boot.

Like any proper card from Mirrodin, Jor Kadeen reaches his full potential when surrounded by artifacts.New Phyrexia in particular gives you some awesome cards that work well with him. Oddly enough, the coolest cards that could go in a deck with Jor Kadeen are on the Phyrexian side. Slash Panther can be used to surprise opponents with 7 damage and Porcelain Legionnaire becomes even more deadly as a 6/1 with first strike. Even Vault Skirge
Vault Skirge and Phyrexian Metamorph
Phyrexian Metamorph would be great additions even if the deck is just R/W. These are all artifact creatures too, making it even easier to reach metalcraft. Living weapons are even better, boosting metalcraft, providing creatures, and becoming a source of further power boosts for other creatures. Skinwing in particular would be great for adding some evasion to the deck.

Equipment can be a great focus for Jor Kadeen. With some Puresteel Paladins
Puresteel Paladin, you can negate the high equip costs from the living weapons and attach them at your leisure. An interesting infect deck could be made with Razor Swine providing at least 5 points of infect damage or more with equipment! The abilities of equipment and Jor Kadeen can also turn Ogre Menial
Ogre Menial or Priests of Norn
Priests of Norn into more fearsome offensive infect cards. Red is also home to great cards for offense such as Act of Aggression
Act of Aggression to turn your opponent’s creatures against them with improved damage capabilities and Volt Charge
Volt Charge to take care of pesky creatures while proliferating an extra poison counter.

Jor Kadeen is obviously a leader with that power-boosting ability, but can he make a good commander? He comes from a long line of R/W creatures that provide boosts to creatures such as Nobilis of War
Nobilis of War and fellow legend Agrus Kos
Agrus Kos, Wojet Veteran. A great token deck can be made with someone like Jor Kadeen as a commander. There are some awesome token generators of all types such as Rapacious One
Rapacious One, Kher Keep
Kher Keep, or even Nuisance Engine
Nuisance Engine which can generate artifacts to ensure metalcraft is always active. With Jor Kadeen and his predecessors, some battle cry creatures such as Heroes of Oxid Ridge
Hero of Oxid Ridge and Bladehold
Hero of Bladehold, and a good deal of token generation, you can be sure to have a powerful army ready to finish off your opponents in no time.

Red and white are some of my favorite colors in Magic and Jor Kadeen illustrates one of the coolest results of combining the two. Jor Kadeen leads armies into battle against his enemies and with him in command very few can stand against them. Try out Jor Kadeen if you haven’t in either a 60 card deck at the latest FNM or as a commander in the coolest multiplayer format around!

June 17, 2011
Casual Commander Cards

Elder Dragon Highlander, or EDH, has always been popular among casual players. EDH decks always have the biggest spells that would usually be too expensive to be useful in constructed formats. Now that Wizards is supporting the format, officially calling it Commander, they are adding 51 new cards that are not a part of standard Magic. These cards are made with casual play in mind and a lot of them support multiplayer games or plain old fun. Here are a few examples cool cards that will add a lot of fun to casual Magic.

Join Forces Cards – Join Forces is a new mechanic that is unique to the Commander set and is highly geared toward multiplayer Magic. These cards allow every player to come together to spend their extra mana for some powerful effects. I’ve noticed that a lot of these cards speed up the game, letting everyone get big effects if they can put in the mana for it. The coolest card of these is undoubtedly Collective Voyage. Most EDH games don’t have a whole lot happening on the first few turns because if anyone wanted to play cheap cards they could play a 60-card deck. This card lets everyone ramp up their mana to play the coolest cards in their deck.

The Vows – This cycle of cards is really something that can only be done in the casual format. These power up creatures but the enchanted creature can’t attack you. The Vows could be put on your creatures, but they would reach their full potential on other creatures in a multiplayer game. You can beef up another creature, which makes them want to attack with it, but they can’t attack you! With the vows on your opponent’s creatures you get a little bit of control over them and they will probably be attacking some other opponents.

Archangel of Strife – I like Archangel of Strife because it offers some simple choices: war or peace. Both choices give great bonuses that can wreck your opponent or make your creatures able to take a big beating. I’m not sure how useful the ability will be, but it players can make interesting choices to mix up the game a bit. In a game with 2 players, a card like this wouldn’t be nearly as fun. Even with 3 players there is probably someone that made the other choice and they can start playing differently once the Archangel hits the field.

Death by Dragons – This is a really fun card that allows you to pick on someone that is getting a pretty big lead. They won’t be feeling so hot when everyone else gets a 5/5 flying dragon to even the odds. The card works great in multiplayer games and should encourage players to attack the person without a 5/5 dragon available to block. Of course sometimes in games with spells this powerful, the lonely opponent without a dragon is probably capable of wiping the board clean. Either way, Death by Dragons is a great wake to shake up the game state.

Edric, Spymaster of Trest – Edric is a great new creature that adds some diplomacy to your games. As long as you have him on the field other players have a pretty big incentive to attack one of your opponents. While it does give other players cards, you do get some peace as they point they’re creatures at someone else. Of course Edric can also give you cards too for doing what you normally do and in a team game he is even better!

June 10, 2011
Try New Phyrexia at Game Day

There’s nothing like a tournament to put your Magic skills to the test and Wizards gives us plenty of opportunities to compete at a variety of levels. Friday Night Magic gives us weekly tournaments with the chance to win packs and promo cards that change monthly. At pre-release and release events we get the first look at a new set and are challenged to play a deck with those new cards. Just for showing up we get a cool rare card to ensure we get something good. Then there are the Pro Tours and Grand Prix that allow those with the very best skills to travel and earn huge prizes.

Recently a new type of tournament has been hosted by our local stores that give us another opportunity to try to use the new set to the fullest: Game Days. This is often a few weeks after the release of the newest set so everyone can get a feel for how the new cards fit into the new standard. If you’re looking for some good ideas for standard or got some of your own after checking out the new set Game Day is a good place to try them. The Game Day for New Phyrexia is coming up on June 11 & 12, a great time to check out this new type of tournament.

The coolest part about these Game Days is the prizes. They are always full-art cards that can’t be found anywhere else. Just for showing up you get a nice Priest of Urabrask. If you are able to take a place in the top 8 you will be able to get an awesome Myr Superion, one of our favorite cards of the new set. You can also earn a Myr Superion by taking the top spot out of those that participate in the building of an affiliated deck.

The building of an affiliated deck is a cool way to add a bit of a challenge to creating a deck for Game Day. To do this you have to pick a side in the war between Mirrans and Phyrexians. Your deck needs to have at least 10 cards from the side you chose and it cannot have any cards that belong to the other side. These are some heavy restrictions, cutting out around half of the cards from the Scars of Mirrodin block, but it can have you thinking outside the box in order to make up for lost cards.

It can be tough to work around the restrictions but I would recommend that everyone try to build an affiliated deck if you go to Game Day. It’s a good chance to try a new type of deck that you may not have made before and it can challenge you on how best to use the Mirran or Phyrexian cards you have with the rest that are in standard. Game Day is a lot of fun because it’s not a typical standard tournament like Friday Night Magic and it has some cool prizes too. Check out Game Day at your local store June 11 & 12 to get a Priest of Urabrask and maybe even a Myr Superion.

June 3, 2011
Mass Removal by Colors

Wrath of God
is a very intimidating card. Its text box contains few words but it is one of the strongest effects in Magic: “destroy all creatures”. They can’t even be regenerated! The effect is quite appropriate for white, clearing the battlefield and starting fresh. But there is more than one way to end the world and the concept of clearing the board has been altered by many cards in white as well as all other colors.

White

White usually wants to balance the odds with its mass removal. Cards like Day of Judgment
Day of Judgment, or even Final Judgment
Final Judgment, are similar to Wrath of God in that they destroy all creatures indiscriminately. There are no special rules in place that protect your creatures, they all suffer equally. The newest white piece of mass removal, Phyrexian Rebirth, seems a little unfair for your opponents. It may look odd, but I think it fits the Phyrexian ideology in white perfectly. The idea behind this bit of flavor is that it has not only a “Wrath” effect, but it takes the corpses of your opponents creatures for your own monstrosity, re-purposing them into a more perfect being. In this case it is equally destroying all creatures yours being, in the Phyrexian orthodoxy, also unfit to live. White allows you to totally clear the board and sometimes, if you’ve got the extra mana for it, get yourself a pretty big creature as well.

Blue

Blue is very different from many of the other colors with regard to mass removal. It isn’t a color that will destroy much of anything but instead uses trickery and deceit to outwit and outmaneuver threats. Frequently Blue uses spells which clear the way by returing creatures to their owners’ hands, the simplest example being Evacuation. Sure, opponents can try to recast those spells, but that’s no problem for blue. With Evacuation at instant speed, it can be played at the end of their turn when your opponent is tapped out and has turned play over to you, leaving them no chance to play anything new. Then you have the chance to recharge your mana for some handy counterspells against the most dangerous creatures you know are hiding in your opponents newly full hand – unless he has discarded them. You could have some of your own creatures reappear with handy abilities that trigger upon entering the battlefield like Mnemonic Wall
Mnemonic Wall which, incidentally, can bring back Evacuation to your hand, if you’d like. While blue doesn’t outright kill everything on the board, it makes your opponent re-cast spells, giving blue mages a chance to do what they do best – employ counter-magic.

Black

Black was the lucky recipient of a planeshifted Wrath of God, Damnation
Damnation. Black is the other color (along with white) that has a plethora of removal hardware, sporting a wide array of cards able to destroy, or at least permanently cripple, everything on the board. The thing is, however, black doesn’t like making the board equal again. It’s best when the mass removal ends up in the black mage’s favor. They are willing to pay a lot for this effect whether it is extra mana to destroy everybody else’s creatures with a Plague Wind
Plague Wind or extra life to destroy all the creatures one opponent controls through a Rain of Daggers
Rain of Daggers. The latest in these kinds of cards is Life’s Finale, which unfortunately destroys all creatures. However, this card isn’t content with leveling the playing field as white spells often do, it takes things a step further by ripping out the best cards your opponent was hoping to play from their library, perhaps the next victim of some of black’s many cards that tamper with the graveyard.

Red

Red is probably the first place many would look if they want a quick, cheap way to clear the board. It seems the perfect color to go on a rampage, destroying everything in it’s path – and, at times, it certainly can do that. The best way to destroy creatures with red is through damage. There are cards starting from Pyroclasm
Pyroclasm that can deal damage to each creature on the board. If you were looking to destroy more than creatures, red is definitely the best color for targeting lands, and one of the best for dealing with artifacts. If a red card says it destroys creatures outright, it probably also does the same for artifacts and creatures, like in Jokulhaups. Red, being unpredictable and impulsive in flavor, also has a number of mass removal spells that just ruin everyone’s plans without any clear advantage for the caster. Warp World
Warp World is a favorite of mine because after the mass removal it completely randomizes the board. It usually doesn’t end in my favor, but the shortsighted and random nature of cards like this make red’s mass removal a whole lot of fun.

Green

Green is the color that can produce the biggest, baddest creatures in the game with huge mana ramp. It is appropriate that green doesn’t have very many mass removal spells for creatures. What it does very well though is destroy artifacts and enchantments. Green has these in their most basic forms in Tranquility
Tranquilityand Creeping Corrosion, which simply destroys all enchantments or artifacts. While green excels in its ability to fill the board with hulking creatures, subtlety isn’t its strong suit, so artifacts and enchantments draw a lot of hate from this color. Green also has some trouble with flying creatures. While green is usually rich in creatures with reach, there are times when they can’t possibly block an attack by an entire swarm of birds or angels. To handle situations such as these there are cards like Whirlwind
Whirlwindor Corrosive GaleCorrosive Gale to destroy or deal damage to all flying creatures.

Colorless

Colorless cards have come to fill a unique role in Magic, as they are able to be used in any deck. There are a few mass removal artifacts like Nevinyrral’s Disk
Nevinyrral’s Disk that can be used in any deck, but recently colorless cards have emerged as a distinct category with a unique flavor and often the ability to do things no other color can. All is Dust
All is Dust was given to us in the last block and forces players to sacrifice their colored permanents. This is a strong card that can be put in any deck but it really only shines in a deck that is mostly colorless. It also can shut down the battlefield of an opponent without having to worry about regeneration or indestructability. In the latest set we received Karn as a planeswalker who is more friendly to decks that use colors. His is a very different form of mass removal that even removes the game you’re playing! These are some especially cool effects given to cards that have transcended the 5 colors of mana.

May 27, 2011
The Changing Plane

Over the course of the set a lot of things have changed in Mirrodin. The Phyrexians, hidden within the core of the plane, have invaded and transformed it into New Phyrexia. The plane of Mirrodin has been corrupted and many of its inhabitants can be seen in these forms in the new sets. New Phyrexia in particular is pretty cool with the number of cards that go back to classic Mirrodin and Phyrexian cards. Here are a few of the cards that have their roots in previous Magic sets.

Compleated Elves

The Elves were the first to fall to the invasion and green has become one of the main colors of the Phyrexians. Many of the elves that have been compleated are reminiscent of the elves as seen in the previous set of Mirrodin. These elves were particularly good against artifacts and they retain that trait in their new forms. For some of these creatures the addition of Infect is the only major change.

Classic Phyrexian Designs

The Phyrexians that took over Mirrodin are not the same that served under Yawgmoth, but there are some designs still within their memory. The Phyrexian Hulk
Phyrexian Hulk is the most obvious example in this set, being a reprint. Mortis Dogs and Hollow Dogs are different cards but it is easy to see the inspiration. Cards like these show that there is some identity to Phyrexia even though it corrupts every other creature with its oil.

Perfected Phyrexians

There are some Phyrexian creatures that have returned to the new plane with some changes. The Priest of Urabrask
Priest of Urabrask is a red Priest of Gix
Priest of Gix. The priest in red will certainly be a welcome addition as a “free” creature that can keep a red deck burning. However the coolest creature that has been improved is sure to be the Phyrexian Obliterator. This new Phyrexian Negator has definitely reached perfection. No longer do you have to weigh risks when playing the Phyrexian Negator, for only 1 extra black mana you can have your opponents sacrificing permanents instead!

Corrupted Mirran Artifacts

The Phyrexian have lent their touch of perfection both to their own designs as well as classic Mirran artifacts. Golems have received a huge boost in power thanks to the splicers that are in white, green, and blue. These creatures come into play with some 3/3 golems and also power up all golems you control. These Phyrexians can further improve even one of their grandest artifacts: Blightsteel Colossus
Blightsteel Colossus. For specific cards that have been compleated in New Phyrexia, you can look toward the Etched Monstrosity. This guy has been beefed up from the uncommon Etched Oracle from Mirrodin into a card at the mythic rare level. What was once a little 4/4 at max that would probably die to draw 3 cards is now a 5/5 that can become a 10/10 if you use it to draw those 3 cards. The Phyrexians have added some awesome new twists to these antiquated Mirran artifacts.

Iconic Lands now Tainted

Remember the artifact lands from Mirrodin? Well now they’re back, but maybe not as you would have hoped. Now they’re back as basic lands corrupted by the Phyrexians. We have received new basic lands from each set in this block, showing us just how much the terrain has changed and the return to these unique lands show that even the great centers of power for the Mirrans have been lost to the Phyrexians. This corruption leads all the way to the very core of the plane. Mirrodin’s Core
Mirrodin’s Core was once a land that allowed you to charge up colored mana but the new Phyrexia’s Core instead eats artifacts for a bit of life. While it is a bit of an odd twist in its mechanics, the name Phyrexia’s Core
Phyrexia’s Core establishes that the plane has been forever changed.

These are some of the cards I found that go back into Magic’s past and bring back what we associated with the planes of both Mirrodin and Phyrexia. There are reimagined forms of these classic cards as well as some cool combinations of what both planes do best resulting from the invasion of Mirrodin. Try to look through your old collection of Mirran or Phyrexian cards and see if you can spot any links between then and now.

May 20, 2011
5 Reasons to be Excited for New Phyrexia

Editor’s Note: Before you crazy kids head out to NPH Release parties and events this weekend, be sure to read this piece from TCP writer, Dj , on the flavor and content you should expect when you crack your first packs.

Hello everyone and welcome back to Mirrodin… well, I guess it’s Phyrexia now. As everyone has seen by now the Phyrexians have won the war for the plane and it has been greatly changed for this new set. While I’m a little disappointed that the Mirrans lost because I really liked their artifacts and abilities, I am definitely excited for the newest cards that will totally change the game. Here are a few of what I think are the coolest new things to find in New Phyrexia.

1. The Phyrexians have regained their status as the most terrifying force in the Magic multiverse. With a Phyrexia victory we once again have access to some devastating spells, some with awesome improvements. Infect is naturally a huge theme in this set and the Phyrexian penchant for distributing -1/-1 and demanding blood sacrifices are also in tons of cards, particularly black, for this set. I particularly like Grim Affliction
Grim Affliction, allowing you to pass out counters and also proliferate any that happen to be on the battlefield already. However one of the coolest new cards in this set is a huge improvement over a classic Magic card: the Phyrexian Negator. The Phyrexian Obliterator
Phyrexian Obliterator is something I want in every mono-black deck, forcing any opponent without removal in hand to sacrifice a few permanents to take out this guy.

2. Phyrexian leadership has been split along the 5 colors of mana. While black is a dominant force in New Phyrexia, the other colors get cool Phyrexian cards as well. With exposure to the five suns of Mirrodin, factions have emerged among the Phyrexians each with their own ideas of perfection. This leads us to some really cool cycles of cards to play with. Our article from last week goes over how cool the Praetors are but there is another neat cycle of chancellors to play with. These guys are all expensive but they make up for it with some cool abilities, one of which they do before the game even begins. Like the leylines, the chancellors can give you an advantage from the start of the game doing things like milling your opponent, countering spells, or draining life.

3. Colored artifacts return with a Phyrexian twist. Colored artifacts were a major mechanic of Esper in the Shards of Alara block. With the return to Mirrodin since then, it would seem strange if the artifact plane didn’t have some way to add color to their artifacts. It took a Phyrexian invasion but now they have a way to add colors to artifacts. These Phyrexian artifacts are unique by letting you pay for their colors with a payment of life. This mechanic give artifacts colors, but it doesn’t limit them to those colors in building a deck.

4. Phyrexian mana gives decks access to effects normally outside their colors. This new mechanic is probably going to cause the greatest changes in the game. Many spells in New Phyrexia can be paid with colorless mana and some life, allowing them to be put in any deck. Some of the most useful abilities of other colors can now be added to a deck if you are willing to pay life for it. We’ve talked about some awesome Phyrexian cards before but I don’t think we can talk enough about them. I find that the coolest of these cards are the answers such as Dismember and Act of Aggression that can surprise your opponent. Mutagenic Growth is going to cause all sorts of trouble, especially against burn decks. For 2 life you can pump your creatures in an emergency. Tapped out from playing Jin-Gitaxias
Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur and about to lose him to a timely Dismember
Dismember? Not anymore! Just pay 2 life and he will be around to wreck your opponent’s hand. These kinds of surprises from Phyrexian spells are going to cause a lot of hesitation in your opponent.

5. Karn has been freed from Phyrexian control and regained his planeswalker spark. Ever since it was announced we were returning to Mirrodin

I was just waiting for Karn
Karn Liberated to return as a planeswalker card. It looks like he is definitely worth the wait. The first thing anyone will notice is that he’s colorless. While 7 is a little expensive for a planeswalker he will find a way to get out quick, especially with mana ramp. His abilities also look pretty expensive but they will certainly be worth it. They have some control aspects, exiling cards from a hand or the battlefield, so hopefully you can take out some threats while he is out. Like any proper planeswalker, his ultimate is one that can end the game (and make a new one). If you can force an opponent to discard something really cool or risk exiling one of your cards to start a new game with a guy that will make the new game end very fast.

A new set is always exciting and these are just quick overview of the coolest new things. As usual there is a good mix of cool new mechanics and awesome cards. The set is released today and I know I will be excited to see what new decks I can make with these cards. I’m certainly most excited for Karn, but what are you hoping to pull from your new packs?

May 13, 2011
5 Reasons to be Excited for Mirrodin Besieged

So this weekend saw the release of the newest Magic set: Mirrodin Besieged. Full scale war has broken out between Mirrodin and the invading Phyrexians. A new set always brings new cards and a small set like Mirrodin Besieged is able to create new decks and expand upon any decks that already exist, especially for those that use a lot of themes and abilities from Scars of Mirrodin. Here are a few of the coolest things that you will see in the new set.

1. More awesome artifacts to play. I think it is really cool to have another set that is in Mirrodin because a visit to this plane always comes with some brand new artifacts. Artifacts are my favorite types of cards because they are permanent; they stay on the battlefield and have all sorts of really cool abilities that will stick around, sometimes changing the way the game is played. My favorite artifact in this set has to be Knowledge Pool which totally changes the game by exiling each spell a player casts and forcing them to choose from one of at least 6 other spells instead. Shimmer Myr can allow you to play artifacts whenever you want, leaving your opponents guessing when you can leave a lot of mana open on your turn. For those that simply prefer crushing their opponent, Blightsteel Colossus is happy to oblige by being an 11/11 that is indestructible with Trample and Infect. This guy can completely poison an opponent in one turn, even if you aren’t playing an Infect deck!

2. The Phyrexians are advancing, and evolving. With the release of Mirrodin Besieged, it’s all out war between the Mirrans and Phyrexia. In Scars of Mirrodin the balance of these two forces was heavily in favor of the Mirrans, a majority of the cards having their watermark. The Phyrexians have spread across the plane, even into other colors bringing the abilities of Infect into white and Proliferate into green and black. This is great for any player that enjoys Infect and Proliferate as it makes them a lot more versatile. You can also find plenty of new cards to provide a nice power boost to any of your decks made from Scars of Mirrodin.

3. Equipment can now act on its own with Living Weapon. While the old Phyrexian abilities of Infect and Proliferate have spread to new colors, they also have a brand new ability unique to equipment artifacts. Phyrexian equipment comes into play with a 0/0 germ token and attaches itself to that token. These weapons are real great because you no longer have to choose between playing a creature to defend yourself and playing some equipment that will just be sitting around until your next turn. Living weapons make good blockers because they are just 0/0 creatures that came free with your equipment.

4. The Races of Mirrodin have united to combat the Phyrexian horde. With Mirrodin Besieged, the Phyrexian threat to the plane has been realized by its denizens. The Mirrans are no longer fighting against each other and have become a unified force. The new Battle Cry ability demonstrates this very well. When creatures with Battle Cry attack, each other attacking creature gets +1 power until the end of the turn. This ability really encourages decks that can make huge armies and will surely be very useful for anyone’s token deck. Battle Cry appears mostly in red and white, colors that can really appreciate having tons of creatures out at once, but there are also colorless creatures with Battle Cry that allow you to create any color deck you please while still making use of this cool new ability.

5. Fight for the fate of the plane of Mirrodin. Many of you have probably taken a look at the cards in this set and Scars of Mirrodin and noticed the watermark in the text box of nearly every card. Now that the conflict between Mirrodin and Phyrexia has escalated, it is time to make use of those watermarks and pick a side to fight for the fate of the plane. At the prerelease each player had to choose a side and received special Mirrodin Besieged booster packs that only had cards from their chosen side. Friday Night Magic events will encourage players to take part in the war with a poster that keeps a tally of each victory for Mirrodin or Phyrexia themed decks against an opponent’s themed deck. The war will be decided in the next set, but two different sets have been announced. The next set will be Mirrodin Pure if Mirrodin wins or it will be New Phyrexia if Phyrexia is the victor. Who will decide the outcome of the war? I’m hoping that the players will have some influence on the future of Mirrodin.

These are just a few of the reasons to check out the latest Magic set. There is also a brand new planeswalker but I’m not sure what to think of him yet. I am certainly looking forward to using all the awesome new cards. This set brings a lot of new stuff to the game, did I miss your favorite card of the set? There are awesome new artifacts and the war between the armies of Mirrodin and the Infect decks of Phyrexia makes for two totally different ways to play Magic. I hope that you are also excited to pick a side and fight the war for Mirrodin!

February 9, 2011
The Power of Proliferate

Counters are pretty nifty little things in Magic: The Gathering. There are counters that have special effects, like those from Liege of the Tangle that turn lands into huge 8/8 creatures. There are simple +1/+1 counters that can give a useful boost to any creature. With Phyrexia invading Mirrodin once again, -1/-1 counters and poison counters are sure to be in abundance. As a Phyrexian ability Proliferate is a really cool ability that can add counters to any permanent or player, which also allows for a lot of neat tricks, going quite well with Infect as well as other artifacts in the set and beyond.

When Proliferate is activated that player chooses any number of permanents/players, adding one counter for one type of counter already on it. If a permanent has multiples types of counters on it, like some charge counters as well as +1/+1 counters, you don’t add a counter of both those types. Only one counter can be placed on each permanent when you use Proliferate. This is an important rule to keep in mind if you start getting all sorts of crazy counters on your cards.

It’s also important to know how +1/+1 counters and -1/-1 counters work. A permanent will never have both of those counters on them at the same time. If both of these counters are on a permanent at the same time, you remove one of each until one type of counter is gone. Since these types of counters cancel each other out, don’t be targeting the wrong kind of creatures or you might end up helping your opponent get some huge creatures!

So with some of the finer aspects of the rules out of the way, what are the coolest ways to use Proliferate? Even looking at just Scars of Mirrodin there are tons of ways to use this ability. Infect, the other Phyrexian ability, is probably the most obvious way to use Proliferate. This ability adds a bunch of poison counters and -1/-1 counters, why not use Proliferate to multiply those effects while still keeping your creatures safe from harm? Proliferate can finish off your opponents’ creatures hit by Infect by piling on some more -1/-1 counters until they reach 0 toughness and are thrown into the graveyard.

Aside from manipulating the counters of creatures, there are a whole bunch of cards in this set and others that use charge counters. Maybe you want to give some of your Infect creatures a big power boost? Normally black doesn’t allow something like this but with a Trigon of Rage handy you can add +3 power to these guys at any time! Normally you would want some red mana so you could recharge the Trigon, but it is here that you really see the power of Proliferate. With something like a Contagion Clasp you can pay 4 mana to Proliferate every turn, adding poison counters to your opponent, -1/-1 counters on their creatures, and charge counters to the Trigon all at the same time!

Looking beyond the set there are all sorts of cool counters that are real nice when you can add them up at an accelerated rate. Planeswalkers are nice targets for Proliferate, being able to give them more loyalty counters, allowing them to perform their ultimate abilities much faster. There are also quest counters from Zendikar. The rare ascension enchantments like Archmage Ascension have really cool effects but they can take a long time before you can make use of them. Proliferate can help you, for example, draw any card you want in only a few turns.

My last tip comes from the Rise of the Eldrazi set with its level up creatures. Those guys can cost a whole lot of mana if you want them to reach the top levels, especially if you have a deck made up of mostly those creatures. Now with Proliferate you potentially only have to pay to level up each creature once. You can then use Proliferate to add level counters to these creatures, even using it to level up multiple creatures at the same time!

These are just a few of the many uses of Proliferate. Any counter at all can be multiplied through the power of Proliferate. Counters that change power and toughness are pretty common in a lot of sets and those can be manipulated with this ability. Charge counters and loyalty counters are usually a great opportunity to use Proliferate and those appear in multiple artifacts and all planeswalkers respectively. Even if you just play Scars of Mirrodin an Infect deck is a great place to add some Proliferate cards to quickly have your opponents succumb to a poisonous defeat!

January 14, 2011
Heavy Metal(craft)

Metalcraft is a new ability used by the Mirrans in order to unite against Phyrexia. It gives extra abilities or other bonuses if you control three or more artifacts which can include power and toughness increases, new abilities, or extra effects from spells. The nice thing about Metalcraft is that it always requires 3 artifacts so it is easy to take a quick look at the field and see if they are activated or not. The bonuses are also pretty nice, always being something that you would have to otherwise pay a bit more to use.

Probably the coolest use of Metalcraft is to surprise your opponents with powerful spells when you don’t have a lot of mana open. While counterspells usually cost 3 mana these days you can be ready for anything your opponent casts for 2 mana if you have three artifacts on the field and Stoic Rebuttal. I really like galvanic blast, which can deal an extra damage for the price of a lightning bolt. A lot of creatures are built around the 3 damage that lightning bolt can deal and an extra point can make a difference of life or death.

There are a few powerful spells with Metalcraft and their upgraded effects can really change the game but there are ways around it. Spells and triggered abilities with Metalcraft only occur if that player has three artifacts as they resolve. If you are facing someone that uses one of these abilities, try to melt away some of their artifacts. If you can get them down to two or less, you may have saved yourself and wasted some of your opponent’s cards!

If you are using an artifact deck with Metalcraft then you certainly don’t want this to happen to you. Once you’re at three artifacts it’s important to keep playing more, ensuring that Metalcraft triggers aren’t in jeopardy. This is important in decks with creatures like carapace forger that can become real threats around a lot of artifacts. Some good artifacts for this are those made of darksteel that are always indestructible. Other artifacts with Metalcraft are good additions to a deck, counting themselves when looking for artifacts. If you only have 2 artifacts on the field then a cool trick is to cast darksteel sentinel or another artifact with flash to activate Metalcraft and give a big boost to your creatures that will quickly give you the upper hand in many situations.

The Mirrans with Metalcraft, although it is their only ability in this set, are more than a match for any opponent. With the help of only 3 artifacts, many cheap creatures and spells become much more potent. But having just 3 artifacts will just leave your position vulnerable to the shatters and naturalizes of an opponent. Continue building a strong force of both artifacts and Metalcraft abilities to make a powerful united force that can stand up to anything!

December 21, 2010