Tag: ogre menial

  • Casual Friday–Prevail at FNM

    Casual Friday–Prevail at FNM

    Jor KadeenIt’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.

    Slash PantherPorcelain Legionnaire

    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.Skinwing

    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!

  • Pre-Pre-Release Inklings – Phyrexian Firebreathing

    Pre-Pre-Release Inklings – Phyrexian Firebreathing

    Immolating SouleaterEveryone here at the Casual Planeswalker is eagerly anticipating our trip to Denver’s Pre-Release for New Phyrexia, hosted by Front Range Magic. While there’s a lot to look forward to in the new set, including the Praetors
    March of the Praetors Post
    , a whole menagerie of new Living Weapons, and more Infect than you can shake a Staff of the AgesStaff of the Ages
    Staff of the Ages
    at, there are few things about the set that have occurred to us as being a little less obvious, but nonetheless significant.

    One factor that we think might play a game-changing role on Saturday is the phenomenon we’ve affectionately dubbed “Phyrexian Firebreathing”.

    There certainly isn’t an abundance of creatures with this ability, but there is the potential to use Immolating Souleater to deal 10+ damage on the third turn and that’s nothing to sneeze at. While Ogre Menial might not exactly look appealing,Ogre Menial he’s got Infect built in and will only need half as much pumping for the kill-shot.

    Of course, the most obvious member of this elite club is Moltensteel Dragon. Under most circumstances you’ll be able to use Phyrexian mana to power Moltensteel Dragon onto the battlefield on the third or fourth turn. Because this format will be light on fliers (with the exception of some over-priced Blue drakes) Molty will be that much more likely to go unblocked. Then, pump ad nauseum (your own) and enjoy the satisfaction of knowing that you are using the luxuries provided by Phyrexian domination to the fullest.

    But wait, folks, that’s not all. There are few ways to take Phyrexian Firebreathing from good to great. In addition to the obvious compliment provided by Green in pumping and life gain, there is the possibility of lending your Firebreathers Infect via Triumph of the Hordes.

    Moltensteel Dragon

    Similar to employing life gain to bring yourself back from the brink is the use of Phyrexian Unlife which would allow you to utilize ALL of your life total for pumping, leaving you open to death by poison, but probably within range of the win.

    Of course mana acceleration in the form of GeosurgeGeosurgeGeosurge would allow you to deal the damage your need without borrowing so hard against your life total. Priest of Urabrask, the red-headed stepchild of Priest of Gix
    Priest of Gix
    , similarly pays for himself but with the additional benefit of mana-fixing.

    Finally, the presence of both Moltensteel and Souleater in the Life for Death Intro Pack makes it one of our favorites as far as the New Phyrexia pre-cons go. These aggressive creatures combined with life gain and great defenders like Cathedral Membrane
    Cathedral Membrane
    , make us super-excited to play with this new deck. More than likely we’ll make “dibs” on Life for Death the consolation prize for being the first guy to drop out off his respective event.

    As with any great new ability, there are a myriad of ways to get your jollies using Phyrexian Firebreathing. We think it’s going to be a significant, or at least enjoyable, aspect of our gameplay this coming Saturday, but we’d love to hear what you think.

    Triumph of the HordesPhyrexian UnlifePriest of Urabrask