The Casual Planeswalker

Tag: Lord of the Unreal

  • Casual Friday–The Grand Illusion

    Casual Friday–The Grand Illusion

    EN MTGM12 Cards FINAL.inddM12 is set for release next week with the usual pre-release tournaments coming up this Saturday and Sunday. I am already thinking of how to use the latest new cards in the set and many of them are very exciting from classic cards being reprinted to new twists on old cards to some brand new cards with totally new abilities. This week I would like to look at one of my new favorite blue cards that give us a new form of the classic card Clone.

    Clone has come in a variety of shapes and sizes over its many years in Magic. Even in the latest block, Scars of Mirrodin, there are a wide variety of creatures with the clone ability. From Scars of Mirrodin we have Quicksilver Gargantuan
    Quicksilver Gargantuan     making huge 7/7 forms of creatures that can turn little utility creatures like a Royal Assassin
    Royal Assassin     into a killing machine. Mirrodin Besieged gave us Cryptoplasm
    Cool Card     which can copy a new creature each turn, adapting to the changing flow of battle. With New Phyrexia, the Phyrexian Metamorph
    Phyrexian Metamorph     was a very exciting card, able to copy a creature or an artifact. With a cost of Phyrexian mana it was also usable by decks of any color for the payment of a little life.

    With M12 we will have yet another Clone card to work with and this one is yet again different from those that came before it. This Clone fits in with the Illusion tribal theme that is featured in blue along with Phantasmal Bear and Phantasmal Dragon. With this card you get a Clone at half-off, only 2 mana instead of 4, but the creature is also an Illusion and has the typical Illusion ability of being sacrificed once it is a target of something. This tribe looks to be really cool and Phantasmal Image is definitely a favorite.

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    The best part about this guy is certainly his cost. At a cost of only 2 mana you have a lot left over for counters or other control spells popular in blue. The drawback of sacrificing it when it is merely targeted is a huge drawback that you need to work around but it is not always so bad. Against black, red, and white decks many of their cards that opponents want to use on Phantasmal Image are most likely kill spells anyway so either way it is probably gone. Against blue and green the Phantasmal Image may run into a little bit of trouble but hopefully they are forced to waste a Titanic Growth
    Titanic Growth     or Turn to Frog
    Cool Card     on it. The greatest threats to this guy will most likely be creatures with cheap, repeatable effects. Luckily none of the mage cycle will be able to target your creatures, but something like Gideon’s Lawkeeper
    Cool Card     can really ruin the day of any illusion deck.

    EN MTGM12 Cards FINAL.inddM12 does include a great Illusion lord that will turn all your illusions into formidable creatures that are untouchable by your opponents. Lord of the Unreal will give all your illusions +1/+1 as well as hexproof. With Phantasmal Image, Lord of the Unreal becomes even better. If you copy him than he also becomes an Illusion, pumping himself and gaining hexproof! A deck can easily be run with 4 of all the illusion-based creatures of this set and it would probably be pretty fun to play.

    There are a few tricky rules things that can be used if you play an Illusion or are going up against one. The first thing to know is that like Clone, Phantasmal Image does not target anything. As long as the creature is out there you can copy it. You can copy a nasty Thrun
    Thrun, the Last Troll     that is giving you trouble on the other side of the board to destroy him with the Legend rule. If you wanted more Phantasmal Dragons you could copy them and you wouldn’t have to sacrifice anything!

    What if you’re going up against Phantasmal Image and Lord of the Unreal? Hexproof is pretty tough to get around, but there is one new card that may help you: Redirect
    Redirect    . If your opponent is running any spells that target creatures, perhaps by trying to Unsummon
    Unsummon     your creatures, you can redirect that spell and target their creatures because they are still the controller of the spell even though you are changing the targets! This is a great tip for anyone playing an Illusion deck as well. A deck like this can be a lot of fun but you don’t want your cards to be used against you!

    What do you think of the new Illusion tribe? I think they’re going to be really cool and their challenge with becoming targets are really great to work around. Are there any other cool tricks you can do with Illusions?

  • Gather Your Allies and D12

    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.D12

    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. Kiora Atua

    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!

    Frost TitanInferno TitanGrave Titan

    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!