Tag: Slash Panther

  • 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!

  • 5 Reasons to be Excited for New Phyrexia

    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?