The "Concerted Effort" intro pack from Oath of the Gatewatch is another take on Allies, this time in White & Green. Is it better than the Red & White approach of the "Desperate Stand" deck?

Gladehart Cavalry is the cover card of this intro pack. They cost a whopping 5GG - a total of seven mana. But when the Cavalry arrive, they offer quite a bit of Support. With Support 6, the Cavalry distributes a +1/+1 counter on each of up to six other target creatures. While this is pretty useful, it's important to recognize that you actually need the six other creatures to take full advantage of this ability.

The other cool thing about the Cavalry is that you get a second benefit, as well. Whenever you have a creature with a +1/+1 counter on it die, you gain 2 life. While this is purely incidental lifegain, you never know when you'll need those extra 2 points of life to keep you in the game.

Onto the rest of the deck!

Deck List

Creature (26)

2 Cliffside Lookout
2 Expedition Envoy
2 Kitesail Scout
1 Oran-Rief Invoker
2 Kor Castigator
2 Makindi Aeronaut
2 Kor Sky Climber
2 Shadow Glider
2 Joraga Auxiliary
1 Veteran Warleader
1 Saddleback Lagac
2 Relief Captain
1 Steppe Glider
2 Expedition Raptor
1 Angel of Renewal
1 Gladehart Cavalry

Sorcery (10)

2 Shoulder to Shoulder
1 Allied Reinforcements
2 Lead by Example
1 Immolating Glare
1 Mighty Leap
1 Iona's Blessing
2 Isolation Zone

Land (24)

1 Evolving Wilds
1 Tranquil Expanse
7 Forest
15 Plains

The other rare creature in the deck is Veteran Warleader. The Warleader has been decent enough in his time in Standard so far. The more Allies you play, the stronger and tougher the Warleader gets. With this deck leading up to the Cavalry charging the way, the Warleader's abilities are pretty congruent with this deck's strategy. In the late game, gaining trample is a big deal, whereas first strike and vigilance are useful abilities at any point in the game.

Whereas the Red/White "Desperate Stand" deck focuses on the Cohort mechanic, this deck focuses on the Support mechanic introduced by Gladehart Cavalry.

Joraga Auxillary is one of the Support creatures in the deck. She's 2/3 for 1GW, with an ability that costs 4GW for Support 2. While it's a useful ability, that's a lot of mana for giving out two +1/+1 counters. Saddleback Lagac is a 3/1 for 3G, but his Support 2 ability comes as an enter the battlefield trigger. Relief Captain at 2WW has a 3/2 body, and an enter the battlefield ability of Support 3. It's perhaps the most efficient of the Support creatures. There's also Expedition Raptor with Support 2, but he's a 2/2 flyer for 3WW - not exactly the most efficient creature.

In addition to the support creatures, there's two copies of Shoulder to Shoulder, a 2W sorcery with Support 2 that also draws you a card. The instant Lead by Example is 1G and also has Support 2 but doesn't draw you a card. Having Instant speed is really good to have as it can be a combat trick.

Support is on the slower side as a Mechanic and really requires you to consistently have two or three other creatures on the board to take full advantage of regularly. But whereas Cohort requires you to consistently tap two creatures for a generally underwhelming effect, Support adds power and toughness fairly quickly, even if it doing so often takes up entire turns at times.

The rest of the deck is made up of generally uninteresting other Ally creatures: Expedition Envoy being the best of them. Isolation Zone is the other interesting Oath of the Gatewatch card in the deck. It costs 2WW to cast, and it can exile a target creature or enchantment an opponent controls until the Enchantment leaves the battlefield. It's Stasis Snare without Flash and for one more mana that can also hits enchantments. It's not the most efficient card in the world, but it gets the job done.

Improving the Deck

Support is an interesting mechanic, and in a Limited environment (draft and sealed deck) could be pretty good to build around. But from a Constructed standpoint, it's a bit underwhelming. The best direction to go with this Green/White Allies archetype is to run something similar to this Green/White Allies deck that actually placed second at a Wyoming States tournament. It's fueled by Collected Company to accelerate getting more Allies into play. That list, which includes Kor Bladewhirl and Lantern Scout, is probably the direction you would want to go when upgrading the creature line-up.

Green/White Allies is definitely a playable deck, but the creatures with Support are generally not good enough to be played competitively. Also, while Gladehart Cavalry is a solid card in a vacuum - and is pretty good for Elf decks in Commander - it's a bit too high on the curve and offers too inconsistent a benefit to be a "boss" monster. Ally decks should focus on creatures lower on the mana curve. If you want to splash Red, you can even include Reckless Bushwhacker, who gives all your creatures haste and +1/+0 if you've cast at least one other spell already that turn. There's also Firemantle Mage who has the Rally trigger to give all of your creatures Haste whenever another Ally enters the battlefield.

If you want to play Allies, this isn't necessarily the strongest deck to start with. In comparison with the other Intro Pack, it probably holds up fine. But besides Expedition Envoy, Kor Castigator, and Veteran Warleader, there isn't much to build off of out of the box if you're looking to beef this deck up.

The "Surge of Resistance" intro pack is a Red/Blue deck featuring the evergreen Prowess mechanic and introduces the Surge mechanic from Oath of the Gatewatch. Surge is an alternate casting cost for a number of cards in the set which becomes usable once you've cast at least one spell in the turn. Spells with Surge also often have secondary abilities which add additional value to the reduced cost.

Tyrant of Valakut is a perfect example of this mechanic. He usually costs 5RR to cast for nothing more than a 5/4 flyer. But if you are able to cast him for his Surge cost of 3RR, he also deals 3 damage to a target creature or player. He becomes fairly playable.

But the deck has some other goodies, as well.

Deck List

Creature (20)

3 Lavastep Raider
3 Umara Entangler
2 Stormchaser Mage
2 Reckless Bushwhacker
3 Goblin Freerunner
2 Cloud Manta
1 Cyclone Sire
2 Jwar Isle Avenger
1 Windrider Patrol
1 Tyrant of Valakut

Non-Creature Spells (15)

1 Boulder Salvo
1 Ugin's Insight
1 Roiling Waters
1 Rolling Thunder
2 Expedite
2 Anticipate
1 Grip of the Roil
2 Comparative Analysis
2 Containment Membrane
2 Pyromancer's Assault

Land (25)

1 Blighted Gorge
1 Evolving Wilds
12 Mountain
11 Island

Before getting on to the Surge cards, we should take a look at the other rare in the deck, Ugin's Insight. At first, this looks like an odd inclusion. But with the Surge costs available on many of the creatures in this deck, you'll get to scry for much more earlier on in the game than you ordinarily would.

For example, the Tyrant has a converted mana cost of 7, but you can cast him for 5. This means Ugin's Insight Scrys for 7. Being able to have more of a choose over the 3 cards you draw is pretty useful. It's an interaction that's not clear on the surface, but it's a pretty decent one.

Goblin Freerunner doesn't look all too exciting as a 3/2 for 3R, even with Menace (can't be blocked except by two or more creatures). But with a Surge cost of 1R, this becomes an above-average creature. You can't ask much more from a common rarity creature.

Reckless Bushwhacker is reminiscent of Goblin Bushwhacker from the original Zendikar set. In fact, he's almost the same card. On his own, he's just a 2/1 with Haste for 2R. But if you play him for his Surge cost of 1R, he also gives all other creatures you control haste and +1/+0. The original Bushwhacker was probably better, but this is still a pretty good card. Also, being an Ally makes him very useful for that archetype, as well. (Note: Goblin Freerunner is also an Ally, but that's not relevant in this particular deck).

The other creature with Surge in the deck is Jwar Isle Avenger, a 3/3 flyer for 4U. However, his Surge cost is 2U, making him an efficient, if not exciting, evasive creature.

Boulder Salvo looks pretty inefficient as a 4R burn spell that deals 4 damage to only creatures. But with its surge cost of 1R, it becomes quite useful. and in fact, even above average.

Grip of the Roil is an okay card as a 2U instant that taps down a creature until the end of your opponent's next turn and draws you a card. It's significantly better, though, for its surge cost of 1U. Comparative Analysis is likewise somewhat mediocre as a 3U instant to draw target player two cards, but at 2U for its Surge cost, it becomes an Instant speed Divination. It's not exciting, but it's a lot more playable.

Containment Membrane is an Enchantment that for 2U is fairly meh. This aura keeps a creature from being unable to untap during its controller's untap step. What makes this one playable is that it has a Surge cost of only a single Blue mana. It suddenly looks fairly good.

While none of these non-creature Surge spells are super exciting, they become slightly more efficient versions of effects that have existed on previous cards. In the Two-Headed Giant format they were originally created for (a format where 4 players play in teams of 2), these are actually really good spells. In an ordinary two-player game of Magic, they still serve as fairly useful cards in a deck that wants to cast multiple spells in a turn.

There's another benefit to playing Surge spells. This deck features two copies of the Enchantment, Pyromancer's Assault. Each time you cast your second spell each turn, it deals 2 damage to target creature or player. It's not limited to Surge spells, either. While it's not the most efficient enchantment in the world, if both copies in the deck are on the field at the same time, a 4 damage clock is very quick.

Probably the best card in the deck, and certainly most valuable, is Stormchaser Mage. Even in a set full of good uncommons such as Oath of the Gatewatch, this Mage is perhaps the best creature with Prowess printed to this point that isn't a Rare (Abbot of Keral Keep) or a Mythic Rare (Monastery Mentor). Flying and haste on a 1/3 two mana creature is good enough, but for each noncreature spell you cast in a turn, he gains +1/+1. Most times, he's going to be at least a 2/4, if not a 3/5.

When you combine him with one-mana creatures with Dash such as Zurgo Bellstriker and Lightning Berserker, you can deal a lot of damage in a hurry, His best partner is currently his Prowess buddy, Monastery Swiftspear, who will leave Standard in April 2016. It's likely, however, that the Mage will follow her into the Modern format, as well.

The other notable card is Expedite, a one-mana Red common that gives a target creature haste and draws you a card. It's very similar to a card from years back in Shadowmoor called Crimson Wisps. The only difference is that this instant doesn't make the creature red, which is usually not that relevant. It's a card you'll want to have a full four copies of in the deck when you look to upgrade it.

Upgrading the Deck

As Intro Packs go, "Surge of Resistance" is pretty easy to upgrade. There are a lot of unexciting creatures in the deck that can be easily replace. Jori En, Ruin Diver should be at the top of your list and replace the rather inefficient Pyromancer's Assault enchantments.

While she doesn't deal damage when you cast your second spell each turn, you get to draw a card instead. In a surge deck, not running out of spells to cast is extremely important. As she's a Legendary, you don't really want to run more than 2 or 3 copies since you can only control one at a time.

Monastery Swiftspear is probably the next best card to add to the deck. She is no longer legal in Standard along with the rest of Khans of Tarkir as of April 2016, however. If you plan to play the deck in Modern, though, or don't care about the Standard rotations, she's played in Modern and even Legacy. Her value will not diminish as many Standard staple cards do after not being playable in the format since she is played competitively in non-rotating formats.

Having Haste herself, she's the perfect complement to Stormchaser Mage and any cards with Surge. She also has Prowess, benefiting from the same spells you cast to boost the Mage.

Speaking of Prowess, Abbot of Keral Keep is a creature from Magic Origins with a bit more shelf-life in Standard (August 2016 rotation of Magic Origins). The Abbot is actually perfect for a Surge strategy, too.

While he lacks Haste, he makes up for it by exiling the top card of your library when he enters the battlefield. You have the choice to cast this cast that turn - or risk losing it forever. But with a deck with alternate Surge casting costs, you'll more often than not be able to cast what you reveal with the Abbot. Be sure to wait to drop your land if you can before casting the Abbot, so you don't just permanently exile a land. This is essentially like drawing a card and fuels the Surge strategy immensely. The Prowess is relevant, too.

You'll also want to replace the inconsistent Boulder Salvo, expensive to cast Rolling Waters and Anticipates with Fiery Impulse from Magic Origins, or a comparable Burn spell. While there's nothing wrong with Anticipate, you don't really need a card selection spell with Jori En and Abbot lurking about. Also, adding two more copies of Expedite to the existing two will make the presence of Comparative Analysis unnecessary, too.

We are cutting a lot of Blue spells, but this is okay since we're adding Jori En and a couple more copies of the Stormchaser Mage. In the long run, it evens out.

If you don't want to invest in the Monastery Swiftspears and Abbot of Keral Keeps, you can alternative choose to play Lightning Berserker and Zurgo Bellstriker instead (also in Standard until August 2016 being from Dragons of Tarkir.) These creatures have Dash, which allows you to cast a creature, usually for a lower mana cost, give it haste but return it to your hand at the end of the turn. Dash actually works quite well with Surge, as having to recast them can greatly benefit you.

Which line of play is better in the long-run? What Abbot can reveal can be more inconsistent. Also, the Prowess of the other two can make them more consistently powerful. But both ways can work. Also, having to recast creatures turn after turn can preclude you from playing other spells in addition. But some combination of all these can work if you can't get play-sets of Swiftspear or Abbot altogether at once.

Being a Red/Blue deck, you can't go wrong with Wandering Fumarole. While an investment of 4 mana (2UR) sounds like a lot for a 1/4 man land, you can instantly change this guy into a 4/1 if your opponent is wide open. Best of all, if your opponent then casts a burn spell or other spell that would kill it, you can instantly switch it back to a 1/4, which may not be enough to do away with it then. The ability to fix for your Red and Blue mana alone makes it worth playing, in addition to the "pain land" Shivan Reef.

As a starting place for an aggressive Red/Blue deck that highlights the benefits of the Surge mechanic, "Surge of Resistance" does a fairly good job. It's a good place to start if you're looking for a shell to build from.

The "Vicious Cycle" Intro Pack for Oath of the Gatewatch is a Black/Green deck featuring the Eldrazi Dread Defiler. The Defiler is a 7 mana creature (6B) with above average stats (6 power, 8 toughness) and a powerful ability. For 3C (3 generic, 1 colorless), you exile a creature card from your graveyard and target opponent loses life equal to the exiled card's power. With the high power of creatures available in this deck, it's a powerful ability that can finish a game in a hurry.

As you may suspect from this deck's "boss" creature, this deck interacts a lot of the time with the graveyard. And with such a powerful ability, you'll want some big creatures in the graveyard to fuel the Defiler.

Deck List

Creature (23)

2 Blisterpod
2 Carrier Thrall
2 Loam Larva
2 Rot Shambler
2 Stalking Drone
1 Essence Depleter
1 Voracious Null
2 Netcaster Spider
1 Null Caller
1 Broodhunter Wurm
1 Smothering Abomination
2 Seed Guardian
1 Kozilek's Pathfinder
1 Brood Monitor
1 Baloth Null
1 Dread Defiler

Non-Creature Spells (12)

2 Bone Splinters
2 Oblivion Strike
1 Vines of the Recluse
1 Altar's Reap
2 Corpse Churn
1 Grasp of Darkness
2 Natural Connection
1 Pulse of Murasa

Land (25)

1 Blighted Woodland
1 Evolving Wilds
2 Fertile Thicket
4 Wastes
8 Swamp
9 Forest

For those already familiar with Battle for Zendikar, you'll be familiar with Smothering Abomination. This 4/3 flyer for 2BB has appeared in a number of competitive decks early on in its life already. While you have to sacrifice a creature at the beginning of each of your upkeeps, you get to draw a card whenever you sacrifice a creature.

With the number of Eldrazi Scions you'll be sacrificing in this deck, this should net you more than a few extra cards. He can always sacrifice himself to draw a card if you have nothing else you want to sacrifice. Plus, he's 4 power so he's a good target for Dread Defiler's ability.

One of the more interesting Oath of the Gatewatch cards in the deck is Essence Depleter. Being a 2/3 for 2B isn't bad for an uncommon creature. But it's the ability for 1C is what makes this particularly could. For a minimal investment of only 2 mana, you can drain your opponent for 1 life (gain 1, opponent loses 1).

It's a great way to sink in mana you otherwise might not be using, but needing to have those pure colorless sources can prove to be tricky with the deck as currently constructed.

Another notable uncommon from Oath of the Gatewatch is Seed Guardian. When he dies, he replaces himself with an X/X Green elemental creature token, where X is the number of creature cards in your graveyard. This obviously gets better as the game goes along.

The primary issue with this deck is that outside of the deck's numerous sacrifice outlets, the only other way to directly put cards into your graveyard to fuel the Defiler and Seed Guardian is Corpse Churn. This 1B instant puts the top three cards of your deck into the graveyard and even gives you the option to return a creature card from your graveyard. The cool part about this is that you get to return a creature that was put there by this card's effect, too. So there's no worry about accidentally throwing away your Dread Defiler, since you can get him back with this.

One of the quickest ways to upgrade this deck is to introduce the very useful enchantment From Beyond. Not only does this get you a free 1/1 Scion token every turn that you can sacrifice for more mana, but you can sacrifice From Beyond to search out one of your Eldrazi, such as Dread Defiler.

To fuel the graveyard, it's probably good to have another copy of Smothering Abomination. You'll also want some top end threats such as Oblivion Sower or World Breaker to make the Defiler's ability more threatening.

These two Eldrazi are pretty menacing The Sower is a big presence and can steal opponent's lands, too. World Breaker helps to exile one of your opponent's more important cards while being a 5/7 with reach.

There are 4 copies of Wastes, the colorless Basic land, already in the deck. But you'll probably want at least a few more. Also, a couple more copies of Blighted Woodland provide a stable source of pure colorless mana that can give you additional mana ramp in the late game. Also, Grasp of Darkness is solid removal that you can easily add a few more copies of to the deck.

"Vicious Cycle" does provide a useful base from which to launch a Green/Black Eldrazi deck, but it may not be the most consistent at winning with the Defiler. The deck depends on you being able to cast your bigger creatures before your opponent has any way of dealing with them. Eldrazi Ramp has already proven to be a playable deck, especially when you add creatures such as Wasteland Strangler and Blight Herder to the mix.

Adding White allows you to exile creatures with Silkwrap and Stasis Snare and fuel the Stranglers and Blight Herders. Also, White gives you access to Eldrazi Displacer which has an infinite combo with Brood Monitor and Zulaport Cutthroat to drain your opponents to death.

There are plenty of different directions you can go with this deck, but honestly the best top end finisher you can choose is Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger. As a starting place for a Green/Black Eldrazi deck, it's solid enough, offering a good balance of useful creatures, mana ramp, creature recursion and removal. But there's plenty of room for improvement.

The "Desperate Stand" Intro Pack for Oath of the Gatewatch is a White & Black Ally-themed deck. Led by Munda's Vanguard, the deck focuses on the synergies between the various Allies. It's also an introduction to the Cohort mechanic, as seen on the Vanguard, fellow rare creature, Drana's Chosen, and a few others. It involves tapping both itself and another untapped Ally you control to gain an ability.

In the case of Munda's Vanguard, by tapping itself and another untapped Ally you control, you get to put a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control. That's quite a power boost if you happen to have a lot of creatures on the board when you use it. While a 3/3 for 4W isn't too exciting as a "boss" monster that doesn't immediately affect the board, he does give a counter to himself when his ability is used. He's functional, if not exciting.

This deck does lack the overall "bang for your buck" that the Twisted Reality deck has, due to having 10 copies of the new Colorless Basic Land Wastes contained within it. But as an introduction to some of the new Ally cards in Oath of the Gatewatch, it seems to do the job.

Here's the Deck list..

Creature (26)

1 Cliffside Lookout
2 Expedition Envoy
2 Kor Castigator
2 Ondu War Cleric
2 Serene Steward
2 Kalastria Healer
2 Kor Scythemaster
2 Vampire Envoy
1 Drana's Emissary
2 Spawnbinder Mage
1 Drana's Chosen
2 Zulaport Chainmage
1 Cliffhaven Vampire
2 Kor Entanglers
1 Munda's Vanguard
1 Malakir Soothsayer

Non Creature Spells (9)

2 Allied Reinforcements
1 Dutiful Return
1 Dazzling Reflection
2 Gideon's Reproach
2 Tar Snare
1 Smite the Monstrous

Land (25)

1 Blighted Fen
1 Evolving Wilds
14 Plains
9 Swamp

Drana's Chosen is the other rare card in the deck. The ability to put a 2/2 Zombie token into play is pretty good. While it seems a lot to tap both the Chosen and another creature, you can always choose to tap a creature that still has summoning sickness to fulfill that requirement. It's not a bad ability, as an extra creature every turn is fine.

The other Cohort abilities are not overwhelmingly powerful, but do offer incremental advantages over time. Ondu War Cleric's Cohort ability grants you 2 life - which on its own is rather mediocre, but it does interact well with the life-gain & drain subtheme in this deck that we'll get to in a little bit. Spawnbinder Mage's Cohort ability lets you tap down a target creature, useful in making sure your opponent doesn't stone-wall your attacks. She is a bit under-powered, though, as a 2/4 for 3W (4 mana).

Zulaport Chainmage is a 4/2 for 3B, which is relatively aggressive, plus he has a Cohort ability to make an opponent lose 2 life. The best of the non-rare Cohort cards, though, is probably Malakir Soothsayer. Her Cohort ability makes you lose 1 life but also draws you a card. Card advantage is always welcome and her 4/4 body on a 5-mana (4B) creature is solid.

Cliffhaven Vampire is a key part of the life-gain & drain sub-theme in the deck. Along with several creatures from Battle for Zendikar, including Kalastria Healer and Drana's Emissary, you're looking to keep your life total high while whittling away at your opponent's total. Being a 2/4 flyer isn't irrelevant, either.

There are a number of other ways to gain life in the deck, such as Vampire Envoy, which gains you 1 life whenever he is tapped. Serene Steward also benefits you whenever you gain life, by allowing you to place a +1/+1 counter on a target creature for a single White mana. Unfortunately, the most obvious way to consistently gain life, creatures with lifelink, isn't included in the deck.

The first obvious improvement that this deck could use is a few copies of Lantern Scout, who has the Rally ability to give all of your creatures lifelink until end of turn. Understandably, this would be a third rare in the deck, which is why it wasn't included in the first place. But this makes the deck a lot more consistent, for sure.

The "man land" Shambling Vent is a white/black dual land that can become a 2/3 creature with Lifelink until end of turn for 1WB. It's already a very popular land that's proven in competitive play, so having a playset will both fix your mana and give you another source of lifelink. Also, when they become creatures, they benefit from any abilities that affect creatures. You'll want to activate the Vent before using Munda's Vanguard's ability, since the +1/+1 counter put on a land remains there even after it reverts back to just being a land.

If you're looking for another inexpensive way to fix your mana, Scoured Barrens is a common land that comes into play tapped, but gains you a life in the process. Ordinarily this incidental life-gain isn't worth playing these lands competitively, but in a deck that wants to consistently gain life, these are fine to draw in the late game. Ally Encampment is good to fix mana for casting your Allies, and in the late game you can even sacrifice it to get back an important Ally back to your hand from the graveyard.

Cohort seems like a decent ability for Limited play, but in Constructed, it seems a bit underwhelming. Allied Reinforcements is a nice way to get two 2/2 Ally tokens in a hurry, but it may be a bit slow, and you're not really playing many Rally abilities in here at present.

The best direction to go if you want to mold this into a competitive deck is to go more in the direction of Mardu Allies, by adding Red. But if you want to keep the spirit of this deck, you could focus on making the deck more aggressive by adding Drana, Liberator of Malakir and Hero of Goma Fada - whose Rally trigger makes your creatures indestructible. Obviously the very best card you can add to this deck is Gideon, Ally of Zendikar, a planeswalker so useful he sees play even outside of Ally decks.

If you're looking to try out Allies, this isn't a bad place to start. Cohort is an interesting ability, but it doesn't measure up to the usefulness of the Rally triggers from Battle for Zendikar. Adding Planar Outburst as a board-wipe and Ruinous Path & Stasis Snare as targeted removal could make this a solid enough deck. Black/White allies may be a fair deck in the future.

For those who began playing Yu-Gi-Oh around the same time I did, Buster Blader is a pretty familiar name. He existed as the perfect answer to Blue-Eyes White Dragon, the most powerful monster in the game at that time (besides the practically impossible to summon Gate Guardian.) Even though he had only 2600 ATK points to start with, with a single Dragon on your opponent's side of the field or in the Graveyard, he got a 500 point boost. 3100 ATK would beat anything without help. Against a dedicated Dragon deck, Buster Blader would just run them over.

To be fair, Buster Blader wasn't really ever a competitive card to my knowledge. Perhaps in the very old days of Yu-Gi-Oh, he was. But to me and many other players at the time, he was just a cool card to have. I'd jam him into Warrior decks or any other deck where I knew I'd be up against a Blue-Eyes or three. The Dark Beginnings printing was in fact the very Buster Blader I had for years. I eventually sold him to a vendor at some local big tournament. I don't recall for how much, but it was an oddly high sum even at the time.. It was the right decision, financially, but I miss that guy.

I did later pick up a copy of the Buster Blader from the Yu-Gi-Oh Anniversary Pack. There were a lot of cool cards in there, and I wish I hadn't sold any of them, really. I can't recall what became of the Buster Blader. I think I traded him to my brother. But he probably ended up on eBay and I probably got much less than I should have for such a rare printing of such an iconic Yu-Gi-Oh monster. But c'est la vie.

There were some other printings of Buster Blader, even at common, that passed through my possession at one point or another. But none of them was as special as that super rare holographic one from Dark Beginnings.

I had almost forgotten all about Buster Blader after all this time. But then I saw this.

Breakers of Shadows brings to us Buster Blader, the Destruction Swordmaster. Is he better than the original? Well, he actually counts as "Buster Blader" when on the field or the Graveyard.

This guy, though, can destroy an opponent's monster and equip it to himself. Once per turn, you can send a monster equipped to him to your Graveyard and destroy all monsters your opponent controls with the same type as that Monster. So not only can he hose Dragons, but any other deck that runs a bunch of creatures with the same type: Beast-Warriors, Spellcasters, Warriors, you name it.

Is this ability competitively viable? I'm honestly not sure. People are trying to build around him, though.

But that's not all. We get ANOTHER Buster Blader card in the same set. This one is a fusion monster, Buster Blader, the Dragon Destroyer Swordsman. Is he better than Buster Blader's famous fusion with Dark Magician, the Dark Paladin?

In this case, you fuse Buster Blader with any Dragon-type Monster. He's a level 8 monster with 2800 ATK and 2500 DEF, but can't attack directly. However, he's a sort of super Buster Blader, gaining 1000 ATK for each Dragon on your opponent's side of the field or in their graveyard.

It gets better. The Dragon Destroyer also moves all Dragon type monsters your opponent has into defense position. Also, when any Dragons are in Defense position, you inflict piercing battle damage. Basically, your opponent's Dragons have to lay down and take a serious beating. This is quite flavorful and makes for a great story to tell your grand-kids about. But it's actually quite a drawback if you're not up against a dedicated Dragon duelist.

However, while the competitive ramifications of these two new cards are limited, they are pretty darn cool. There is a combination with DNA Surgery, which can make all face-up monsters on the field into Dragons. That's a possibility., especially as people play that card already as a sideboard option. You could build a deck around these guys.  Sadly, Skilled White Magician - the easiest way to Special Summon Buster Blader from the hand or deck needs the original Buster Blader to function. But the new Destruction Swordmaster can be summoned from the Graveyard using his effect. A very old spell called Emblem of Dragon Destroyer can go get either "Buster Blader" card from the graveyard, too.

Then there's these cute little things, the Destruction Sword monsters. Two of them are even Tuners. So there's actually a lot of support for this "Buster Blader" deck to work. It's actually pretty awesome. This archetype is both nostalgic and pretty synergistic.

If I were to come back and play Yu-Gi-Oh, this is probably the deck I'd play. Just for fun. Glad to see my good friend Buster Blader back in action!

In case you really do  want to build a Buster Blader deck, here's a good deck list to start from.

The Twisted Reality Intro Pack for Oath of the Gatewatch features Deepfathom Skulker as the cover card, leading a mono-Blue Eldrazi deck. This deck is the perfect introduction to the new colorless casting cost requirements. As its "boss" creature, the Skulker can make one of your creatures unable to be blocked for only 3 generic mana and 1 colorless. What is that diamond symbol mean exactly? Read on to find out.

Also in the deck is the very useful creature, Endless One, who has an X casting cost. The more mana that you pump into him, the bigger he gets, meaning he only gets better as the game goes along.


Let's take a look at the deck list and see how effective this intro pack's game plan really is.

Deck List

Creatures (29)

1     Endless One     
1     Prophet of Distortion
2     Salvage Drone     
3     Blinding Drone
3     Mist Intruder
1     Tide Drifter
3     Cultivator Drone     
2     Eldrazi Skyspawner     
1     Ruination Guide     
2     Gravity Negator     
2     Murk Strider     
1     Thought Harvester     
2     Kozilek's Channeler     
2     Walker of the Wastes     
1     Deepfathom Skulker     
1     Kozilek's Pathfinder     
1     Bane of Bala Ged     

Spells (5)

2     Spatial Contortion     
1     Titan's Presence     
1     Adverse Conditions     
1     Scour from Existence     

Lands (26)

1     Blighted Cataract         
1     Evolving Wilds         
14     Island         
10     Wastes    

Having 10 copies of what is Magic's 6th basic land is really where most of the value is in the deck. Wastes is a colorless basic land that allows you to cast and use the abilities of creatures that require purely colorless mana. That is what the diamond symbol means: pure colorless mana.

This is the major rule change that has come with Oath of the Gatewatch: generic mana and colorless mana are no longer the same thing. You can still use any color mana to pay for generic costs (those without a diamond). But Wastes and other colorless mana producers are the only way to pay for these "diamond" costs.

This deck runs 29 creatures and none is better suited to this deck than Walker of the Wastes. Since you have 10 in the deck, this 5 mana trampling Eldrazi can become an extremely powerful threat in the late game. With other big threats like Bane of Bala Ged and the Deepfathom Skulker, not only can you hit for major damage, but draw cards in the process.

The creatures range from the one mana Prophet of Distortion (who can draw you a card for 3 and a colorless) up to Kozilek's Pathfinder (a 5/5 that has an ability to prevent a creature from blocking it that turn.) In between, the creatures have various useful abilities, most of which require the colorless mana from Wastes and other sources such as Eldrazi Scion tokens and Kozilek's Channeler

There are very few non-creature spells in the deck. Two copies of Spatial Contortion double as a pump spell for your larger creature and a removal spell for your opponent's smaller creatures. Titan's Presence is an excellent removal spell in this deck since every one of your creatures is either colorless or has Devoid (which makes it colorless.) Adverse Conditions stops two of your opponent's creatures for a turn, giving you a chance for a final strike. Scour from Existence is 7 mana, but it can exile any permanent, which is quite useful.

Potential Additions

This deck is a pretty good start for an Eldrazi ramp deck. There are a couple of directions you could go with it. You could focus on staying Mono-Blue, or add in Green and/or Black to diversify what you can play in the deck.

The most obvious potential additions to the deck would be Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger and Kozilek, the Great Distortion. Kozilek is particularly good in this deck, since the colorless mana abounds in this deck. The new Kozilek refills your hand, so timing is critical when you play him. Having menace (making it unable to be blocked by only one creature) is obviously good at making him a top-end threat. Additionally, being able to counter spells by discarding cards with converted mana cost X helps make the deck a lot more resilient.

You can also max out with four copies of Endless One to make the deck more aggressive. By adding black you can use Wasteland Strangler to deal with opponent's creatures, further improving your board presence.

Reality Smasher is an upgrade over Walker of the Wastes. While it doesn't gain power from Wastes, it has Trample and Haste. It's also very tricky to remove due to the fact your opponent must discard a card to resolve a spell that targets it.

But the best card of all for this deck is Matter Reshaper. It's only 3 mana (2C) and when it dies, you reveal the top card of your library. If it's a permanent with a converted mana cost of 3 or less (including lands) you put it directly onto the battlefield. It could even be another Matter Reshaper. If not, you still add that card to your hand. A creature that always replaces itself with another card is super strong!

Thought-Knot Seer is another creature you could consider. It allows you to steal the best nonland card from your opponent's hand and exiles it. Once the Seer leaves the battlefield, target opponent gets to draw a card. Notably, in multiplayer games, you can choose a different opponent from the one you originally targeted. In any case, it's a strong card if you want to go more of a control route with the deck.

Overall, this is one of the better Intro Packs released in recent memory. The 10 Wastes alone account for a good chunk of the deck's value, not to mention you get the two packs of Oath of the Gatewatch along with it. Of all the Oath of the Gatewatch Intro Packs, this would be my pick of the five.

By Shawn Leonardo, CommanDollar

As of recently,  and according to Wizards Play Network policy, *no* proxies are allowed at WPN-sanctioned venues, regardless of whether the event is sanctioned or not. That means:

• Magic events (sanctioned and unsanctioned) can only allow genuine Magic: The Gathering cards.

• Proxy cards are substitute cards created solely by judges in sanctioned tournaments pursuant to the official tournament rules. These substitutes are allowed when authorized game cards become unplayable during a sanctioned tournament because of damage or excessive wear.

• Counterfeit cards are copies or reproductions of actual Wizards trading cards, whether or not they are identified as non-genuine. The creation and distribution of counterfeits violate United States and international copyright laws and negatively affects the integrity of Wizards’ trading card games. Counterfeits are strictly prohibited, even for personal, non-commercial use. 


While this will affect mainly Vintage and Legacy players, EDH/Commander players may also feel the heat. As an eternal format, giving players access to all cards that have been printed (besides those cards on the ban list) is part of the joy and appeal. Is this update on policy good, bad, or somewhere in the middle?

Why it’s bad for Wizards of the Coast

Part of the appeal of playing Magic: the Gathering is the wide spread of players, formats, and cards you can utilize. As you go further back into MtG cardboard history, it becomes increasingly more difficult to obtain cards due to rarity, price, collections, and other means. That means new players will likely not have access to these rare and often powerful cards. Most stores have accepted this, especially for Legacy and Vintage, allowing a certain number of cards to be proxied to balance the scales. Without the ability to use proxies, Legacy and Vintage tournaments may disappear altogether, becoming a fossil of ancient times, and slashing the value of those cards due to lack of use.

Why it’s bad for the Players

As said before, having access to cards like  dual lands  can severely put you behind in certain formats; proxies are needed just to keep up with the pace. Now, in order to play, you need to truly commit-either own copies of the cards you need, borrow them from a friend, or even rent them, rather than quickly searching to find a decent image and print/sleeve them. 

Why it’s good for Wizards of the Coast

Perhaps WotC is trying to kill its older formats; it’s like that strange old man that comes around stroking his beard, saying “Hmm…” and then moving on to scrutinize someone else-rarely do we know what goes on and is discussed behind closed doors. While something tells me they aren’t too worried about the secondary/third markets on their product, the overall concern may be a longer-term problem-the Reserved List (as if there wasn’t enough controversy here already). For example, all the dual lands are on the list for a reason-they are extremely powerful to the point where the game can warp around them. Every card on the list was likely put there because it as viewed as a “mistake” of sorts, being too powerful for the set or Magic overall, in an attempt to dramatically slow  Power Creep, as making cards of that sort would bring ruin to the game at an unmanageable pace.

Why it’s good for the Players

A few months ago, we published an article on how using proxies is harmful to both the player and the game. It garnished a lot of negative responses, with the words “elitist” and “classist” being used as often as bullets in a minigun. The proxy debate walks quite a fine line there; however, the answer does come down to money. 

Magic: the Gathering is a pay-to-play game, and there is little substance to have any illusions about it. With WotC now pumping out more sets per year than before, and the constant rotation of Standard, their main pull where most new players begin at, it does require taking money out of your pocket and putting it in theirs. Some people do get lucky; having a friend who just gives/sells you their cards, finding a collection at a garage sale, or some other means. Others, mainly new players or those who wish to enter a different format, are often left in the dust. 
How is this good for the players? I often think back to my college days, where in my playgroup we had one friend who would have to borrow a deck from someone. Not because he didn’t have the means to build a deck-he had been collecting since elementary school-but because his one and only “deck” was entirely proxied  Riku of Two Reflections combo deck priced in the thousands.

Unanimously, we told him he couldn’t play that deck with us; every single other player had decks without a single proxy in it, and it wasn’t fair in the slightest. This came when I was new to EDH/Commander as a format, where building a deck was hard, took time and investing in buying/trading/pulling good from packs. It would have been far simpler for me to proxy a $1000+ deck and beat every other player time after time-but I didn’t. I valued what little I had, and slowly worked my way towards the decks I have today(which still often get taken apart and rebuilt on some regular basis). The difference is in work, and fairness. It takes time and work in order to build a deck to the means you want it; it may take weeks, months or years and sometimes even money to “finish” a deck, while printing a deck out takes a few minutes and whatever pittance the printer asks. Yes, it takes time to earn something powerful and useful-which is the entire purpose of something powerful and useful. 

Why do we have a stake in this?

As a blog all about the community, and playing/having fun on a budget, why should we not wholeheartedly support players proxying cards, if not whole decks in order to save money? The short answer is that we in our own way support when Wizards is doing a good job; the long answer is that we support the players’ growth. 

If the clear-cut banning of proxy cards has you upset because of limitations it has placed on you, my response is clear: overcome those limitations, or don’t. It may take time, it may take money, it may be frustrating-but if it’s worth it to you, then it will be worth it to you. The true value of this game is in the interaction between people and cards, however it is all about what you want. For those who still wish to play with proxies, there is honestly nothing stopping you from doing so at the most important battleground-the kitchen table. Only glory and stories for future gatherings are at stake there, and the scales can be evenly stacked to everyone’s liking.

If not being able to use a proxy card because it’s worth $400 (and you would never pay/trade/come into luck with that) causes you to get upset, think of how someone who would sit across from you, having taken the time or money or trading to get that card would feel when you play a proxy version. All that effort that they had taken to obtain such a rare and valuable piece to their deck was printed out for 10 cents in under a minute. Now, that is something to get upset about, especially when anything is on the line (planeswalker points, qualifiers, prizes, etc.). 

As someone who has played Magic on and off(mostly on) for for thirteen years now, I am still nowhere close to making that kind of investment on a card. I likely never will-I’m a budget player at heart, and I’d rather play with a Mountain or an Island than a Volcanic Island, which is easier, more fun for me, and is the whole philosophy of this blog. I also encourage everyone to do the same reason: While WotC may be trying to squeeze every nickel and dime it can out of players, you save TONS of money while still having TONS of fun with what cards you may already have collecting dust in a box or bargain bin. You may think you limit is how much you can spend, or print; I say, your limit is in your creativity, imagination, and willingness to try. So, proxies be damned, and long live the budget options.

*This article was previously posted on Tumblr by CommanDollar.

Millstone Revised artwork by Kaja Foglio

The game of Magic is incredibly diverse-from the amount of zones cards can be placed in, to the types of cards, and the strategies that place cards from one zone to another. One of those strategies is “milling”-putting cards directly from your opponent’s deck into their graveyard. The name comes from that of the card Millstone, one of the first cards with the ability. With around 200 cards that could aid you in winning the game, this alternate win condition has the support needed to take the gold. 

This strategy is difficult to utilize in its entirety, however the results can alter the game tremendously. Through the denial of resources and the unique specific strategy, mill is a viable method. However, beware-its power is great, and not the most well received!

Shawn Leonardo is a casual Magic: the Gathering blogger, and mainly discusses the EDH/Commander format as well as budget solutions. He resides in northern New Jersey, where he plots world domination. ​

by Shawn Leonardo, CommanDollar

Blightsteel Colossus Artwork by Christ Rahn

​The big question is: why hasn’t this changed? After asking the community, it seems that it’s split. With cards like  Blightsteel Colossus, which can be placed in any deck and is a one-shot kill, it’s difficult to grasp why the total for poison counters hasn’t been raised to half the life total.

The answer may be in the game itself, however. The ways to lose in a game of EDH are as such: being at 0 life, being unable to draw a card from your deck, having 10 poison counters, and having 21 commander damage from a single commander in the game.  The varying ways to achieve victory are part of the diversity of the game, and the only reason Infect is played. If Infect was raised to 20 (half the starting life total, which may be the intent of the mechanic’s design), it would be only 1 damage away from being commander damage. That would turn some players away from using Infect, and taking away from the diversity of the format.

Glistening Oil Artwork by Steven Belledin

​Another aspect to consider is the multiplayer foundation of EDH/Commander. When a player starts using infect in a four-player game, the other three can clearly see the threat potential, and typically treat it much as we treat an infection: by cleaning it out. There may be one or even two players who get knocked out via Infect in the game, through a single-shot creature, Triumph of the Hordes or another means, but that’s perfectly alright-the game goes quicker and the other players now know better than to trust the deck when that mana is open.

TL;DR
It's clear that the Rules Committee might never up the amount of poison counters needed to lose in EDH/Commander. It diversifies the game, allows other cards to be played and strategies to be used, and gives players the chance to learn and experience a new strategy in a very large format. Long live the 10; may it compleat you and your game.

This was originally posted on Tumblr by CommanDollar.