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How to Build a Competitive Yu-Gi-Oh Toon Deck List with Toon Kingdom

4/22/2020

19 Comments

 
by Phoenix Desertsong, Old School Duelist

Toon Kingdom makes a competitive Yu-Gi-Oh Toon deck build possible.

Yu-Gi-Oh. I used to play this trading card game with about the same frequency as breathing. Then, the game became all about one or two top archetypes at a time. Each would have a shelf life of about a month. After that, everything got reprinted... except some random common from like 2005 that was never reprinted and became like 10 bucks a pop. The rest of the decks could be had for a week worth of lunch money. 

OK, perhaps that's a slight exaggeration. But, due to the extremely erratic nature of Yu-Gi-Oh’s metagame, investing in Yu-Gi-Oh cards long-term has often not been a smart play. That is, unless you wheel and deal like a Dark Magician… (That was lame, I'm sorry.)

So, why in the holy name of Dark Magician Girl would I be returning to write about the duel monsters?

Toon Kingdom.
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Nostalgia does strange things to our recollections of intrinsically worthless things. Toons were my introduction to Yu-Gi-Oh with the Pegasus starter deck. As much as I loved the concept of them, they cost you most of your life points just to play them.

In the early days of the game their sheer power level was enough to win your local tournament by accident on occasion. But as the game grew and the power level of many other cards went berserk, Toons became a fond memory, a deck you built "Just For Fun."

But, Toon Kingdom...is certainly a game changer in making Toons competitive!

First introduced in the Yu-Gi-Oh GX anime, Toon Kingdom teased duel monsters fans with a potentially dangerous new way to play Toons. But they never printed it into the actual card game, until Dragons of Legends 2. They would reprint it as a rare in 2018, too, in the Legendary Duelists: Ancient Millenium set. The reprint gets you a crappier-looking version of the card for about half the price of a secret rare Dragons of Legends version when going by 2020 prices.


What's particularly nuts about this version of Toon Kingdom is that it's actually better than the anime version.

Compare:

When you activate this card, remove from play the top 5 cards of your Deck. This face-up card's name is treated as "Toon World". If a "Toon" monster you control would be destroyed by battle, you can banish the top card of your Deck instead.

With this:

When this card is activated: Banish 3 cards from the top of your Deck, face-down. This card's name becomes "Toon World" while in the Field Zone. Your opponent cannot target Toon monsters you control with card effects. If a Toon monster(s) you control would be destroyed by battle or card effect, you can banish 1 card from the top of your Deck, face-down, for each of those monster(s) instead.

Oh my.

The original Toon World?

Activate this card by paying 1000 LP.

How exciting. But, to play the lovely Toon Dark Magician Girl or Toon Blue-Eyes White Dragon, you had to have this Toon World continuous spell card on the board. But now, Toon Kingdom makes them almost indestructible.

There is an important distinction between the anime and “real world” versions of Toon Kingdom. The original Kingdom banishes the top 5 cards of your deck, BUT they are face-up. The new version only banishes 3, but they are face-down. Because they are face-down, you can’t do anything with them. No Different Dimension shenanigans. Once they’re banished face-down, they’re gone forever.

I think the trade-off is worth it, though, just because you have Toons that basically can’t be destroyed by battle or by card effects. They can’t even be targeted by card effects. Even the classic Raigeki doesn’t kill them, as long as you banish one card for each one that would otherwise be destroyed.

Another major distinction is that Toon Kingdom is a Field Spell in “real life” whereas the original was a Continuous Spell Card. This means you can use Terraforming to search it out, not just Toon Table of Contents. Since you’ll be banishing cards from your deck left and right, redundancy is important.

So now the question is, are Toons now suddenly tournament-playable after so many years? Let’s see what other Toon support Dragons of Legends 2 has unleashed.

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Toon Ancient Gear Golem? This is a cute card. Ancient Gear Golem was a really powerful monster back in the day. Is it going to see play? Probably not.

Toon Rollback lets you attack a second time! Sounds good enough, but no one’s taking anything out to make room for it in their 40.

Shadow Toon sounds pretty awesome. You can inflict damage equal to the ATK points of an opponent’s creature right to your opponent’s face. But it's a bit too situational.

Toon Mask? It's a free Special Summon, even out of the deck! But like Shadow Toon, it's totally dependent is what your opponent is playing.

Toon Briefcase?  The Briefcase is pretty sweet, though, as it’s sort of a Trap Hole that returns the monster to the deck. Comic Hand is a Snatch Steal if you have Toon World/Toon Kingdom.


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Mimicat, though? We have a winner!

If you control "Toon World" and a Toon monster: Target 1 card in your opponent's Graveyard; if it is a monster, Special Summon it to your side of the field, or if it is a Spell/Trap Card, Set it to your side of the field. You can only activate 1 "Mimicat" per turn.

A Monster Reborn that can bring back spell or trap cards!? WHAT!? Give me a playset right now!



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Dragons of Legend 2 isn't the only newer set to provide good Toon cards, though. With the Shining Victories set, in came a powerful new Toon monster:  Red-Eyes Toon Dragon. Yu-Gi-Oh players know how busted Red-Eyes Black Metal Dragon became. This is a pretty strong Red-Eyes Dragon, too, letting you Special Summon any Toon monster other than another "Red-Eyes Toon Dragon" from your hand once per turn.



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With the Dark Illusion set, Toons keep getting better. Toon Dark Magician may be the best of the Toon monsters printed so far! The best part about this Dark Magician is that he can summon a Toon monster directly from your deck!  He also has the ability to search out a Toon Spell or Trap card from your deck, including Toon Kingdom! It also doesn't hurt that he can attack your opponent directly for 2500 !

In particular, you're going to want to get a Red-Eyes Toon Dragon. You can then use the Toon Dragon's ability to summon yet another Toon Dark Magician from your hand and repeat the process! In effect, you can combo off a bunch of summons in one turn just like the classic Six Samurai decks and many other competitive decks today.

We’ve established that Toon Kingdom and Mimicat are the main draws here. Red-Eyes Toon Dragon and Toon Dark Magician make for a great top-end boss monsters to build around. Most of the other cards are cute and sound good on paper, but don’t quite make the cut if we're going for consistency and overall power.

So, what’s a cool new competitive Toon deck going to look like? Tons of people brew Toon decks constantly. But there are so many permutations, and there doesn’t seem to be an optimized, competitive Toon build out there quite yet.

You’d want to start with a deck list  like this:

Monsters (16)

3x Toon Cannon Soldier
3x Toon Gemini Elf
3x Toon Masked Sorcerer
2x Toon Mermaid
2x Toon Cyber Dragon
3x Toon Dark Magician
3x Red-Eyes Toon Dragon

Spells (17)

2x Comic Hand
3x Mimicat
3x Pot of Duality
3x Toon Kingdom
3x Toon Table of Contents

Traps (7)

1x Bottomless Trap Hole
2x Call of the Haunted
2x Dimensional Prison
2x Toon Briefcase

Toon Summoned Skull is a classic Toon monster that usually sees play in Toons, but Toon Cyber Dragon is a newer option you can play instead. The Cyber Dragon is probably better, though, since you can Special Summon it in the same way you could a regular Cyber Dragon.

The monster line-up doesn’t look overwhelming, but since they can all attack directly if your opponent doesn’t control a Toon, they don’t have to be overwhelming on power. Also, remember that you can just banish a card face-down if they would be destroyed. There’s enough defensive cards in the deck to deal with any major offensive threats from your opponent.

Answering Great Reader Feedback About Building a Toon Kingdom Deck


Over time, I’ve received some great reader comments about building their own Toon Kingdom decks. One reader suggestion is to use the continuous Spell card Field Barrier to protect your Toon Kingdoms. I feel this would be a good card to consider for the sideboard, especially against decks with enough firepower to continuously blow away cards in your Spell & Trap Zones.

Another reader suggestion is to use a different draw card in place of Pot of Duality. This is because you can’t Special Summon monsters in the same turn as playing Pot of Duality. However, this wouldn’t be the first Special Summon happy deck to play Duality. This is because Duality lets you choose one card from among the next three.

You could use Upstart Goblin instead of Pot of Duality, which gifts your opponent 1000 LP to draw you a card. This isn’t my favorite option, but Upstart Goblin has been used for years with much success. There are other options, such as Jar of Greed. But since you can unleash some powerful direct attacks with Toon monsters, the life gain for your opponent may be a moot point.


Will a Toon Kingdom Deck Be Able to Win at Local Tournaments?

Frankly, I don't see Toons winning anything serious anytime soon. But, they have a chance in being a lot of fun and winning on the pure strength of Toon Kingdom on occasion. I just can't see them being consistent enough to be worth sleeving up for an actual Advanced-level tournament.

While this isn’t a competitively optimized list, it is a place to start your Toon Kingdom deck. You can substitute whatever Toon monsters you find most useful. Also, keep in mind you have your XYZ monsters and Link Monsters at your disposal, something that Toons never had before. As an archetype, Toons are continuing to look a lot scarier with each new set release that includes them.

Will Toons ever again become consistent enough to actually win tournaments as they could in the early days of Yu-Gi-Oh? That’s quite hard to say, considering you could end up banishing all of your Toon Kingdoms by accident. That is unlikely, though, with how many ways you have to tutor them out. Also, there's enough copies of your monsters and support cards to keep from burning through all of them.


While I don’t plan on just building Toons myself and playing Yu-Gi-Oh again, it’s been a lot of fun to watch Konami continue to give one of the original Yu-Gi-Oh deck archetypes new life. You never know what they’ll reprint or support next.

Of course, you can always play a Toon deck on Duel Links. But, that's a whole different article!

Updated 4/22/2020

Here are some other Yu-Gi-Oh trading card game articles you may enjoy:

- Yu-Gi-Oh Blackwings Deck Profile
- Can a Gladiator Beast Deck Still Be Competitive?
- GOAT FORMAT! - Intro to the Format
- Fire Princess Burn - Old School Yu-Gi-Oh! Deck Profile!
- The Legendary Fisherman - Old School Yu-Gi-Oh Deck Profile
19 Comments

Why the Destiny Hero Disk Commander Errata? - A Yu-Gi-Oh Card Review

11/12/2018

0 Comments

 
by Phoenix Desertsong, Old School Duelist
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Once one of the most popular decks in Yu-Gi-Oh, Destiny Heroes returned to modern Yu-Gi-Oh in 2018 with the Legendary Hero Decks. Because it was included in the decks, it was decided to return Destiny Hero - Disk Commander from the Banned and Restricted List to Unlimited status. This means you can now play three copies of one of the most powerful Destiny Hero cards of all time in your deck… But, wait, there’s an errata?

That’s right. There was no way that a monster that could draw you two cards every time it returns from the graveyard to the battlefield could be brought back into play without some serious limitation on its effect. So, Konami continues their rather frustrating trend of nerfing old cards just to make them legitimate cards that can be played in tournament decks without severely warping the competitive game.

The “new” Destiny Hero - Disk Commander after errata is extremely different than the original version. This little Level 1 Warrior monster originally read like this:

“When this card is Special Summoned from the Graveyard, draw 2 cards.”

Wow, that sounds pretty busted… It was. There’s a reason why Destiny Hero decks dominated Yu-GI-Oh for a long time. That is some nuts card advantage. So, how can they make it fair enough for it to return from the banned list?

Here is the Disk Commander Errata:

“Cannot be Special Summoned from the GY the turn this card was sent to the GY. If this card is Special Summoned from the GY: You can draw 2 cards. You can only use this effect of "Destiny HERO - Disk Commander" once per Duel.”

Wow, that’s a lot of deck. Let’s break this down.

Cannot be Special Summoned from the GY the turn this card was sent to the GY.

OK, this bit is understandable. This makes the effect a bit more fair, right? You can draw 2 cards if you Monster Reborn this guy, but you can’t do it until next turn, OK?

If this card is Special Summoned from the GY: You can draw 2 cards.

That sounds awfully familiar. So, if that’s all, that’s not too bad of an errata. Let’s all run three copies of Disk Commander!

Oh, wait, there’s more…

You can only use this effect of “Destiny HERO - DIsk Commander” once per Duel.

Ick. You mean we can only draw two cards ONCE? Hmm… well, that makes playing three copies rather pointless, doesn’t it?

You can see why this errata was made. It’s a double-whammy, but there are many reasons why this is necessary. First of all, it’s easier to Special Summon monsters from the GY more often than ever. Drawing two cards is still obviously quite good, and being a Level 1, there are plenty of reasons to want to play this card just as material to summon a Synchro, XYZ, or Link monster. But if its effect is only good once per turn, is it still worth playing?

I say yes. If you are playing a dedicated Destiny Hero deck, it’s totally worth playing one copy of Disk Commander, pitching it to Destiny Draw to draw two cards. Then, there are a myriad of ways to take advantage of him being there and Special Summoning him. Also, Elemental Hero Stratos was returned to one copy per deck in September of 2018, so he’s an obvious monster to choose with Stratos’ ability.

Destiny Hero - Disk Commander is still worth playing even with this double-edged errata craziness. There is pretty much zero reason to play more than one copy in my opinion. I hate the errata, but I understand the reasoning for adding both of those restrictions on his effect.

What do you think of the Destiny Hero - Disk Commander errata?


Here are some other Yu-Gi-Oh trading card game articles you may enjoy:

- Yu-Gi-Oh Blackwings Deck 2018 Profile
- Can a Gladiator Beast Deck Still Be Competitive in 2019?
- GOAT FORMAT! - Intro to the Format and Original Aggro Control Deck
- Fire Princess Burn - Old School Yu-Gi-Oh! Deck Profile!
- The Legendary Fisherman - Old School Yu-Gi-Oh Deck Profile

0 Comments

Flash Knight – A Yu-Gi-Oh ARC-V Card Review

8/17/2018

0 Comments

 
by  Phoenix Desertsong, Old School Duelist
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While Flash Knight may simply be a rare card from Yu-Gi-Oh’s Duelist Alliance expansion set, this Pendulum Monster would prove himself to be rather useful. He’s a Level 4 Light-Attribute Normal Monster with 1800 ATK and 600 DEF, easily search-able with Reinforcement of the Army. The most important part about the Flash Knight is the fact that he has a Pendulum Scale of 7. Combined with a creature like Dragon Horn Hunter in your opposite Pendulum Zone, you then have the ability to summon Level 4 to Level 6 monsters with ease at the beginning of each of your turns.

Was Flash Knight going to be a good option for a deck based around Pendulum Summoning high-level Normal Monsters? While the range is a bit limited, topping out at Level 6 as previously mentioned, there are plenty of strong Normal Monsters that fall in between those levels. In fact, the Knight did see some competitive play, including some Regional Top 8 Draco Performapals decks like this one.

For only a mere rare, the Flash Knight actually proved himself to be a fairly useful monster. He was useful enough just as a scale, and having 1800 ATK isn't too shabby, either! As one of the first ever Pendulum monsters, the Knight held his own for awhile before being outclassed by flashier, badder Pendulum monsters. But let us never forget the exploits of this brave Level 4 Knight!

0 Comments

Battle Fader - YuGiOh Old School Duelist Card Review

7/17/2018

0 Comments

 
by Phoenix Desertsong, Old School Duelist
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Battle Fader is a monster that’s been around since the days of Absolute Powerforce. It was a monster that was still being played a great deal when I was still playing competitive Yu-Gi-Oh. Since then, Battle Fader has been reprinted a great many times, including in ultra rare and secret rare! Even with so many reprints, the foil versions of Battle Fader are still sought after enough to keep their price from falling too low.

While Battle Fader hasn’t seen consistent competitive play since 2016, it does see the occasional play in Domain Monarch and even Cubic decks. Of course, it still sees play in local tournaments, as well, as a card that can play many different roles.
               

How does Battle Fader work?          

Here’s what Battle Fader does, using the latest errata:

When an opponent's monster declares a direct attack: You can Special Summon this card from your hand, then end the Battle Phase. If Summoned this way, banish it when it leaves the field.

Not only does Battle Fader negate the attack, but it ends the battle phase altogether. It also doesn’t target, so it gets around monsters that can’t be targeted with abilities or effects of cards. Unfortunately, if it leaves the battlefield in any way after being summoned this way, such as effects that would return to hand, it gets banished. This is to prevent players from simply recycling Battle Fader to continuously negate attack after attack.

However, one of the coolest things you can do with Battle Fader is to play a deck that plays Imperial Iron Wall. This continuous trap card prevents cards from being removed from play. This means that it will instead go to your graveyard or your hand, meaning you can reuse it. Iron Wall was pretty popular when this card was first released, and actually still sees play in True Draco decks in 2018.


Can Battle Fader be negated?      

Let’s cover some common spells and traps that could interact with Battle Fader. One common question is how Book of Moon works against Battle Fader. Really, it doesn’t, because Battle Fader’s ability to negate the attack and end the battle phase resolves before it’s actually face-up on the field. So, Book of Moon doesn’t negate Battle Fader, only puts it face down. The same is true for Forbidden Chalice.

It’s also important to note that Skill Drain, which is an extremely popular way to shut down effect monsters, can’t stop Battle Fader’s ability. Other trap cards that miss the timing to stop Battle Fader include Breakthrough Skill and Solemn Judgment. However, Solemn Warning, which negates the Summon entirely, can prevent Battle Fader’s ability to end the Battle Phase.

Besides Solemn Warning, the best ways to stop Battle Fader are Majesty Fiend and Vanity’s Emptiness. Majesty’s Fiend stops effects no matter where they are, so Battle Fader can’t be Special Summoned from the hand at all. Vanity’s Emptiness negates any Special Summons, but as of this writing, it’s forbidden in tournament play. So, in official tournaments, Solemn Warning and Majesty’s Fiend are really the best ways to stop Battle Fader.



Which is Better? Battle Fader VS Swift Scarecrow

Swift Scarecrow is a nice little hand trap monster that gives you the same effect as Battle Fader. However, since Battle Fader is a level 1 monster that you can Special Summon and use as material or tribute fodder to Summon a better monster, Battle Fader is going to typically be the superior card.


Other Similar Cards to Battle Fader                                  
       
If you’re looking for a Battle Fader alternative    besides Swift Scarecrow, there are a couple of other monsters that do something similar.

There’s Speedroid Menko, which lets you Special Summon it in Attack Position when an opponent declares an attack. While it doesn’t negate the attack or end the battle phase, it does put all of your opponent’s monsters in Defense Position… except for Link Monsters, of course… So, against Links it’s pretty bad, because it’s only 100 ATK. Still it’s a cool card and it’s Level 4 and 2000 DEF.

Construction Train Signal Red can be Special Summoned by his effect when an opponent’s monster attacks. But, if you do, you change the attack target to this card and proceed to damage calculation. While he can’t be destroyed by that battle, you can still take damage. However, he can be Special Summoned in Defense Position, and he has 1000 ATK and 1400 DEF. Also, he’s a Level 3 Earth monster. So, there are some cool things you can do with him.

If you want to just stop attacks, there are the Kuriboh monsters! There’s Kuriphoton that lets you take no damage if you send it from the hand to the Graveyard, if you pay 2000 LP to do so. Of course, there’s also the old school Kuriboh cards that can negate attacks or prevent battle damage… Kuriboh only lets you not take battle damage. Winged Kuriboh lets you take no battle damage the turn that he’s sent from the field to the graveyard. But none of these guys get you a Special Summon, although there is The Flute of Summoning Kuriboh! Also, there’s the Link Monster Linkuriboh (which can actually use Battle Fader as material.)


What Decks Play Battle Fader?

Because it’s essentially a free Summon, Battle Fader makes awesome Tribute fodder in Monarch decks and is also great material for Ritual Monsters, Synchro Summons, Rank 1 Xyz Monsters, and even Link Summoning! (Linkuriboh, anyone?)

Battle Fader has seen competitive play since 2010, way back to Shonen Jump Championship Edison in Gravekeeper Burn and Quickdraw Dandywarrior. In both those decks it helped set up Synchro plays. It saw play in Frog Monarchs as Tribute fodder. Over the years, it’s seen play in Chain Burn, Chaos Dragons, Dragon Rulers, Hieratic Dragons, Mythic Rulers, and a wide variety of other Monarch decks, plus others. It’s just a really versatile card.

How would you play Battle Fader?


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Can a Gladiator Beast Deck Still Be Competitive in 2019? - Yu-Gi-Oh Old School Duelist Stories

11/29/2017

0 Comments

 
by Phoenix Desertsong

Can Gladiator Beast Bestiari & Friends Still Impact Competitive Yu-Gi-Oh?

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For a good part of my Yu-Gi-Oh duelist career, Gladiator Beast decks were the bane of my existence. In particular, Gladiator Beast Bestiari made me miserable. In fact, the absolute domination of Gladiator Beast decks at my locals is why I started playing Magic the Gathering! So it wasn’t all bad.

Fortunately, Konami eventually limited Bestiari to one copy per deck and Gladiator Beasts became a fairer deck. In fact, as much as I hated the deck for being too overpowered initially, I actually went on to build my own Gladiator Beast deck later!



But nowadays, Bestiari is unlimited. So why has no one seemed to notice that there’s a chance for Gladiator Beast decks to be competitive again in 2019 and beyond?

What made Bestiari so good? Gladiator Beasts have this crazy ability that allows them to swap out with other Gladiator Beasts from the deck at the end of the damage step of a combat that monster has been involved in. While there are bigger Beasts and other very useful Beasts, Bestiari was the primary engine of the deck. Not only can he destroy a Spell or Trap card on the field (face-down or face-up) when he’s tagged in from the deck, but he’s the necessary piece for a Contact Fusion into Gladiator Beast Gyzarus. Not only does he have 2400 ATK, but he destroys 2 cards on the field when he enters! Then, he can tag back out after combat and get you two other Gladiator Beasts!


Gladiator Beasts really were a cool archetype because there is actually a lot of important decision-making and strategy to playing the deck properly. But as new and quicker decks hit the scene (Blackwings FTK for example), Gladiator Beast decks sort of took a back seat. So, in the world of Xyz overlays and Pendulum monster insanity, could they still be competitive?

The last time a Gladiator Beast deck won a major tournament was 2014. Check out this list that won the Bulgaria National Championship in June 2014.


Main Deck (40 Cards)

Monsters

2x Brotherhood of the Fire Fist - Bear
1x Coach Soldier Wolfbark
1x Gladiator Beast Bestiari
2x Gladiator Beast Darius
2x Gladiator Beast Equeste
2x Gladiator Beast Laquari
1x Thunder King Rai-Oh


Spells

1x Book of Moon
1x Dark Hole
3x Fire Formation - Tenki
3x Forbidden Lance
3x Mystical Space Typhoon
1x Shrink


Traps

2x Black Horn of Heaven
1x Bottomless Trap Hole
1x Compulsory Evacuation Device
2x Dimensional Prison
3x Gladiator Beast War Chariot
2x Mirror Force
1x Needle Ceiling
1x Solemn Warning
1x Torrential Tribute
2x Vanity's Emptiness
1x Wiretap


Extra Deck (15 Cards)

Fusion

1x Chimeratech Fortress Dragon
1x Gladiator Beast Essedarii
2x Gladiator Beast Gyzarus
1x Gladiator Beast Heraklinos


Xyz

1x Abyss Dweller
2x Brotherhood of the Fire Fist - Tiger King
1x Daigusto Emeral
1x Diamond Dire Wolf
1x Evilswarm Exciton Knight
1x Gagaga Cowboy
1x Gem-Knight Pearl
1x Maestroke the Symphony Djinn
1x Number 101: Silent Honor ARK


This deck isn’t even playable as constructed anymore, as the banned & restricted list has changed a bunch, I didn’t recall Brotherhood of  the Fire Fist - Bear joining the deck along with Fire Formation - Tenki. But I was pretty much gone from Duel Monsters at that point.

Using input from another top 8 list from a Lisbon, Portugal Regional tournament earlier that year, I’ve come up with this revised list


Main Deck (40 Cards)

Monsters

1x Brotherhood of the Fire Fist - Bear
3x Gladiator Beast Bestiari
2x Gladiator Beast Darius
2x Gladiator Beast Equeste
3x Gladiator Beast Laquari
1x Gladiator Beast Retiari
2x Thunder King Rai-Oh


Spells

1x Book of Moon
2x Fire Formation - Tenki
3x Forbidden Lance
3x Gladiator Proving Ground
1x Mystical Space Typhoon
2x Pot of Duality
1x Raigeki / Dark Hole


Traps

1x Black Horn of Heaven
1x Bottomless Trap Hole
1x Compulsory Evacuation Device
2x Dimensional Prison
2x Fiendish Chain
3x Gladiator Beast War Chariot
1x Mirror Force
1x Solemn Warning
1x Torrential Tribute


Extra Deck (15 Cards)

Fusion Monsters

2x Gladiator Beast Essedarii
3x Gladiator Beast Gyzarus
1x Gladiator Beast Heraklinos


XYZ Monsters

1x Abyss Dweller
1x Brotherhood of the Fire Fist - Tiger King
1x Bujintei Kagutsuchi
1x Diamond Dire Wolf
1x Gagaga Cowboy
1x Gem-Knight Pearl
1x Lightning Chidori
1x Maestroke the Symphony Djinn
1x Steelswarm Roach

Or really whatever XYZ Monsters you want really.

This revised deck-list is just a starting point, but right away, you can see it is considerably different than the last world-beating list that Gladiator Beasts enjoyed.

Let’s go through what makes this deck tick.

The Fire Fist package is cute but is actually a nice little addition to the deck. Gladiator Beast Darius and Gladiator Beast Laquari are Beast-Warriors, so Fire Formation - Tenki is a really nice card to have. The extra 100 ATK is something, but adding one of your Darius or Laquari to your hand is even better. The Tiger King is a useful Xyz monster to have around, too.


Having 3 copies of Bestiari means that we can run the three copies of Gyzarus in the Extra Deck. Really, what made this deck so blasted good is something you can do again.

Darius is really cool because he can Special Summon a Gladiator Beast from your graveyard when he enters the field from the deck! While the effect is negated, you can easily grab a dead Bestiari for a quick Gyzarus summon. Really it’s just a great way to recycle Gladiator Beasts that were destroyed back into the deck. With 3 Bestiari, Darius becomes more important than he has been in years.

Equeste is similar to Darius, except that the Beast goes to your hand, not the field. In some cases, this is even better.

Laquari is the big beater of the deck, as he becomes a 2100 ATK beater when he’s summoned from the deck. He’s also the primary piece of contact fusion summoning Heraklinos.

One Retiari has been a staple in Gladiator Beasts decks for a long time. His ability when summoned from the Deck is to remove 1 card from your opponent’s Graveyard. While this isn’t always relevant, it can mess up a lot of strategies. It’s the most expendable of the Gladiator Beasts, but having one is necessary so that you can have enough different Gladiator Beasts with different names in the deck.


Thunder King Rai-Oh was limited to a single copy for a time, but now he’s back to two copies allowed per deck. What makes him so good in Gladiator Beasts is that he shuts down players being able to add cards from their deck to their hand. While this seems really bad with Gladiator Proving Ground in the deck, Gladiator Beasts decks have been playing Rai-Oh for years due to his other ability: you can sacrifice him to negate a Special Summoning. So while you may have a dead Gladiator Proving Ground or Fire Formation - Tenki in hand sometimes with Rai-Oh on board, that ability to stop a special summon is too big not to play!

Onto the spells, Book of Moon is a staple. In Gladiator Beasts though, it’s even better as it can allow you to flip a monster into face-down defense position so you can survive a combat with a bigger guy. Gladiator Beasts are one of those unusual decks with which it’s sometimes advantageous to deal damage to yourself during combat. Being able to tag out is how this deck functions, after all.

We’ve already gone into Tenki, so let’s discuss another staple in Forbidden Lance. Having had the chance to play with Lance years ago, I’ll say it’s probably the most important combat trick in the deck. Having a monster lose 800 ATK is huge. But it can also save your creature from a Spell or Trap card, too. It’s one of the most versatile quick-play spells in Yu-Gi-Oh. Awesome card!

Gladiator Proving Ground is really bad with a face-up Rai-Oh on board, but the rest of the time, it gets any of your Gladiator Beasts to your hand.

Usually, Gladiator Beasts decks play 3 copies of Mystical Space Typhoon. But since we have 3 Bestiari and so many other important spells and traps, we had to cut down to 1. Two more copies could be put in the side deck for certain match-ups.

While Pot of Duality is no longer limited, two copies in Gladiator Beasts are enough. It’s such a Special Summon happy deck that Duality can cost you a turn. But the card selection Duality provides is worth running it. After all, you don’t have to tag out every turn. However, in today’s game, I could see replacing these with the two MST we cut. I’d have to playtest this build a ton in order to answer that question.

The trap cards are pretty much all classic Yu-Gi-Oh staples. Gladiator Beast War Chariot is the only one that needs special explanation. This card has always been powerful, but negating the activation of an Effect Monster’s effect is activated AND destroying that monster is very powerful. The only drawback? You have to have a face-up Gladiator Beast on the field. Seems fine and better than ever.


What About the Other Gladiator Beasts?

There are other Gladiator Beasts that used to see a lot of play, but aren’t in this deck. Let’s see if they still might belong, at least out of the Side Deck.

Gladiator Beast Hoplomus. A base DEF of 2100 is nothing to sneeze at, and when he’s summoned from the deck, it’s 2400 DEF. He’s basically just a wall, but there are still plenty of monsters that can’t beat 2400 DEF. Still, he’s not as good now as he was in the Gladiator Assault days.

Gladiator Beast Murmillo. This little fish has a powerful effect: destroy 1 face-up monster. With only 800 DEF and 400 ATK, and being Level 3, he’s just not the best main deck option anymore. Still, he blows a guy up, and that’s nothing to sneeze at.

Gladiator Beast Samnite. Being Level 3 is what hurts Samnite these days. He also brings a Gladiator Beast from your Deck to your hand, which while good, is just another bad combination with Rai-Oh. He requires the deck to be built differently than what we have right now.

Gladiator Beast Secutor. This little guy can actually summon TWO Gladiator Beast monsters. It’s a shame that he hasn’t seen play in years. But, with only 400 ATK and 300 DEF, he's really weak. The payoff can be worth it, though. Still, he may be worth a shot in place of Retiari in some match-ups.

The primary issue with these 4 guys is that none of them are Beast-Warriors. If we were to eliminate the Fire Formation Package and a Proving Ground, they may all fit. But would the deck be as good without the added card advantage? Maybe, maybe not. Only playtesting can tell us.


Can Gladiator Beasts Compete in 2018 and Beyond?

Since 2014, I have seen Gladiator Beasts decks occasionally win an odd tournament here and there. Nothing major, though. I really feel as bigger and more explosive archetypes have been released, Gladiator Beasts just sort of got left behind. But there’s still a lot of power in this deck.

Also, it’s possible that the Fire Formation package isn’t even necessary. Perhaps our old Gladiator Beast friends that we haven’t included - Hoplomus, Murmillo, Samnite, and Secutor, in particular - actually belong instead. My feeling is to include them in the side deck, along with other meta-busting cards and see what the best build shapes up to be.

While I won’t be building this deck anytime soon for myself, I feel like there are plenty of duelists out there who’d love to give the old Gladiator Beast toolbox a spin again. The deck is extremely inexpensive to build nowadays. Why not?

Did you ever play Gladiator Beasts at any point? Is this a deck you would ever build again, just to play it for fun? Let us know in the comments!


Here are some other Yu-Gi-Oh trading card game articles you may enjoy:

- Yu-Gi-Oh Blackwings Deck 2018 Profile
-  Is a Toon Deck Now Competitive with Toon Kingdom?
- GOAT FORMAT! - Intro to the Format and Original Aggro Control Deck
- Fire Princess Burn - Old School Yu-Gi-Oh! Deck Profile!
- The Legendary Fisherman - Old School Yu-Gi-Oh Deck Profile

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Neheb, the Eternal - A Magic the Gathering (MTG) Card Review

7/23/2017

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by ElspethFTW, Old School Duelist
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Early returns on Hour of Devastation indicated that it wasn't one of the most “valuable” Magic the Gathering sets of recent years. Of course, there are some good, playable cards in the set that trended positively when it came to singles sales. One of these is the Red mythic rare Legendary Minotaur, Neheb, the Eternal.

Neheb, the Eternal was an important card from Hour to Devastation to watch. The raw power of this creature was explored right away in Commander / EDH. It showed promise as both a Commander and as one of the “other 99” cards in a variety of EDH decks. 

Not every Magic the Gathering set has them, but Hour of Devastation has a number of cards that could be termed as “Kitchen Table Magic all-stars.”  Neheb, the Eternal is definitely one of these. As a mythic rare in a small set, he was poised to be valuable in both the near future and the long-term.


How Does Neheb, the Eternal Work?

A five-mana Mono Red Minotaur with 4 power and 6 toughness is a good start. Having “afflict 3” puts him into contention for Standard playability. Essentially, Afflict means that whenever an opponent blocks a creature which Afflict, the defending player loses a certain amount of life. In this case, that’s 3 life, or 15 percent of a player’s starting life total. That’s a lot.

But for 5 mana, this isn’t quite enough to find a home in competitive play. It’s what his final ability reads. At the beginning of your post-combat main phase, you get 1 Red mana for each one life your opponents have lost this turn. This means that if you play Neheb, the Eternal before combat and deal damage after his summoning, you can gain Red mana in the same turn.

Typically, unless you have a creature with haste, or need it to satisfy some other condition, you play creatures after combat. But, because Neheb, the Eternal can offer you a benefit in the same turn that he’s cast, he can help pay for himself.


How to Use Neheb the Eternal in Standard, Modern, and other 60-card Competitive Formats

Typically, for cards with a converted mana cost of 5 or more to see consistent Standard play, they must have an immediate effect on the game as soon as they enter play. The same is true for Modern, as well. But, the bar is set much higher for the potency of the card’s effect. While  Neheb, the Eternal can start paying for himself in the same turn, he would have to be able to attack immediately (i.e. have Haste) to plug into that higher echelon of the mana curve.

While Neheb is probably too slow a card for Modern, in the right deck, he could fit into certain strategies in Standard. You would need to build a midrange sort of deck that has a strong life-loss engine. If you play a lot of creatures with Afflict, for example, Neheb would fit at the top of that curve.

A deck with Neheb, the Eternal would also have to lean towards predominantly Red mana, which is probably not a problem. There is the ability to build a Standard deck that could play a copy or two of Neheb, the Eternal to be an endgame finisher. But, his true strength would be in a Mono-Red deck, where his mana production will be most effective.

Neheb, the Eternal did enjoy some competitive Standard play. The decks were typically Gruul Ramp, red/green decks that focused on bringing out big efficient creatures like World Breaker quickly. Neheb definitely fit the bill. Another deck that had some success with Neheb was a rather creative Gruul Historic deck featured at a PPTQ in Northglen, Colorado. In both cases, only one copy of Neheb, the Eternal was played. He never really saw real success in any mono-Red decks.


Neheb, the Eternal in EDH / Commander & Kitchen Table Magic

As soon as you enter the multiplayer world of EDH, Neheb, the Eternal’s power level expands incredibly. Red mana acceleration stapled on a 4/6 creature with Afflict 4 becomes pretty relevant. There are so many ways to “ping” players in EDH that Neheb can generate a large amount of mana in a hurry.

Turning that mana into direct damage can end games quite quickly. Think of the mana that he could generate as part of a Heartless Hidetsugu strategy. That Commander has an ability to halve players' life totals on a regular basis!

Even in one-on-one EDH, you can set up Neheb, the Eternal in such a way to be a powerful mana generator, as well as a strong attacker. He’s a better multiplayer Commander than a 1-vs-1 Commander, but he’s still a solid creature. There are so many decent 5-mana Red creatures in Commander, however. Neheb, the Eternal needs to be part of a greater life loss/direct damage strategy (such as Purphoros, God of the Forge) to be effective.

In casual “Kitchen Table” Magic, Neheb, the Eternal is definitely worthy of attention. He’s a force in casual multiplayer games. But, even in traditional one-on-one Magic, he’s just a really fun card to play with and build around. This is a good creature that definitely has a future in the EDH and Kitchen Table Magic world that enjoyed his day in the sun in Standard.


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Necroskitter - A Magic the Gathering Card Review

5/24/2017

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by Phoenix Desertsong, Old School Duelist
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With the release of the Amonkhet set, many Magic: the Gathering players were excited about the number of “-1/-1 counters matters” cards in the set. This excitement caused a chain reaction of cards centered around the -1/-1 counter mechanic being bought out all over the internet. Most notably, this includes cards from the Shadowmoor and Eventide sets, such as Dusk Urchins and Crumbling Ashes.

But, one card that didn’t show significant growth is perhaps one of the best cards in the Shadowmoor/Eventide block -1/-1 counter strategy. That’s a creature known as Necroskitter. This 3-mana 1 / 4 creature may look unassuming at first. Even while he deals damage to creatures as -1/-1 counters, this doesn’t seem too exciting. The key to Necroskitter’s power is his second ability:

Whenever a creature an opponent controls with a -1/-1 counter on it is put into a graveyard, you may return that card to play under your control.

This is a particularly powerful effect. Wither was a pretty powerful mechanic back in the day. Nowadays, creatures with the Infect mechanic also offer the ability to deal combat damage in the form of -1/-1 counters. So it’s actually a bit of a surprise that Necroskitter doesn’t see much play now… or does he?

Before being reprinted in Modern Masters 2015, Necroskitter was a $5 card, mainly due to casual interest and Commander play. After the reprint, the price dove, hitting an all-time low of under $2 in March of 2017. The Modern Masters reprint version was less than a dollar for a long time, before seeing an uptick towards $1 after the release of Amonkhet. It took time and had to get a lot of love from buylists before eventually rising back to around $4 in 2018. That’s most likely not a coincidence.

There are creatures in Amonkhet such as Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons, who throw a lot of -1/-1 counters around. Plus whenever you put a -1/-1 counter on any creature, you get a -1/-1 Snake token. Along with several other creatures that throw around a lot of -1/-1 counters, it looks like you have the basis of a pretty solid Modern deck. Necroskitter would seem to be a natural fit for being included in that sort of deck. There seems to be a powerful Modern strategy that could be brewed here, but it just hasn’t emerged just yet.

In Commander, Necroskitter still sees plenty of attention, especially with -1/-1 counter happy Commanders like The Scorpion God, Yawgmoth, Thran Physician, and the aforementioned Hapatra. Infect-themed Commander decks like Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon are happy to have a copy of Necroskitter, too.

What do you think of Necroskitter? Is it being overlooked because of its unexciting stats? Will it take other -1/-1 counter synergy cards to finally find a home in one of the more competitive formats in Magic the Gathering?


Updated 12/16/2020

DISCLAIMER: Portions of The Phoenix Desertsong Magic the Gathering related content are unofficial Fan Content permitted under the Wizards of the Coast Fan Content Policy. The literal and graphical information presented on this site about Magic: The Gathering, including card images, the mana symbols, and Oracle text, is copyright Wizards of the Coast, LLC, a subsidiary of Hasbro, Inc. The content on this website is not produced by, endorsed by, supported by, or affiliated with Wizards of the Coast. 


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Is Deflecting Palm a Modern Burn Sideboard Staple? - Magic the Gathering Q and A

5/10/2017

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 by  R.A. Rowell; Co-Owner of Intent-sive Nature & the Brand Shamans network 
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Deflecting Palm is an instant from Khans of Tarkir with an effect in the vein of Reverse Damage and Divine Deflection. But Reverse Damage gained you life instead of dealing damage, and Divine Deflection required a mana investment of X - making it very inconsistent and usually rather inefficient as a sideboard card.

With all of the damage that some decks can dole out, Deflecting Palm can serve as a valuable secret weapon. As good as this card can be, though, it never took off in Standard as a regular sideboard card. While it seems like it would be good against the monster that Atarka Red became in Standard, it was considered too narrow to keep in the board.

Despite missing its chance to make an impact in Standard, Deflecting Palm is definitely useful enough to hold onto. In fact, Deflecting Palm is a one or two-of in most Modern Naya Burn and Boros Burn sideboards. It’s good in a lot of match-ups, and even in those that it ordinarily isn’t, two or three points of damage swung the other way can mean the difference between a loss and a out-of-nowhere victory.

Why is Deflecting Palm Good in Modern?

One of the main reasons Deflecting Palm is a one-of in many Modern sideboards is that it helps Burn decks find the last few points of damage that can sometimes be elusive. What matchups is it best against?

The coolest thing about Deflecting Palm is that it does not actually target a source of damage. This means it can get around hexproof, such as creatures targeted by Vines of Vastwood. It also means that a deck like Bogles which lives on hexproof creatures such as Gladecover Scout and Slippery Bogle isn’t protected from Deflecting Palm. So this is a perfect counter to a pumped up Bogle, too. It also can’t be stopped by the popular Spellskite, since Deflecting Palm never targets.

Is Deflecting Palm Good Against Infect?

Another matchup that comes to mind is Infect. Even though the damage is no longer infect damage once Deflecting Palm redirects it, all you have to do is wait until your opponent uses a great many pump spells on one creature in a bid for the win. It’s usually going to be in the neighborhood of 10 damage you’re throwing back at your opponent’s face. If you’re playing a Burn deck, that’s usually going to be enough to win the game outright. Infect likes to win quick. Even if Deflecting Palm doesn’t win the game right there and then, it’s made the Infect player expend enough resources that they may not be able to reload before the rest of your burn spells finish them off.

Deflecting Palm and Emrakul & Other Eldrazi Titans

Another great use for Deflecting Palm is against the massive Eldrazi. Even Emrakul, the Aeons Torn can’t stop 15 damage from being redirected to its controller’s face, even with protection from colored spells. You’re only choosing a source of damage - not actually targeting the creature. If you play Deflecting Palm in response to Emrakul’s annihilator trigger, it’s usually good game for you - as 15 damage is a lot for any opponent to take. Against a Kozilek or Ulamog, it’s pretty much a win for you, too.

Because it doesn’t target, any protection that a creature might have from colored spells doesn’t matter. This includes popular creatures like Etched Champion in Affinity. It’s also to good to have in the deck in case you’re going up against a huge Arcbound Ravager, so playing against Affinity is a good time to bring it in.

Is Deflecting Palm Good Against Lifelink?

Yes, Deflecting Palm nerfs opposing creatures with lifelink. Because the damage becomes prevented first, the lifelink no longer applies when the damage is then re-dealt by the effect of the Palm. It’s really good in the corner cases where you may be staring down a Serra Ascendant or massive Bogle with Daybreak Coronet attached. Also, if you have a Soulfire Grand Master in play, you benefit from getting the lifelink from any damage it causes.

What’s Deflecting Palm NOT So Good Against?

People will ask if Deflecting Palm is good against cards like Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle or Grapeshot on a regular basis. The way that Deflecting Palm is worded, it only affects the next time a source of your choice would deal damage. Because Valakut has so many triggers and Grapeshot has Storm (meaning you actually copy the spell) you only get to stop one instance of damage.

Can Deflecting Palm Be Good Against Scapeshift Decks?

Deflecting Palm can be good against Scapeshift if your opponent doesn’t have enough triggers to win the game if you can prevent 3 of the damage. Similarly against Grapeshot and Storm decks, you can stop 1 of the damage. Sometimes your opponent will have just enough for exact damage, and you can delay their win by a turn. It's probably not a great card to sideboard in against Scapeshift, though.

Is Deflecting Palm Good Against Ad Nauseum Decks?


Another common question is if Deflecting Palm is good against Lightning Storm, a win condition of the Ad Nauseam Combo deck. In a vacuum, yes, Deflecting Palm would throw the Lightning Storm right back at your opponent. But Angel’s Grace can put that down in a hurry. Still, the alternate way to go below 0 life, Phyrexian Unlife, would likely turn a lot of that damage into infect. So it’s not the worst card to have in reserve against that deck, especially if you’re sure Lightning Storm is their win condition.

Deflecting Palm and Double Strike

Another thing that Deflecting Palm isn’t so good against is double strike - something that Boros Charm gives creatures all the time in Modern. It only stops one half of the damage, whether it’s the first strike or regular damage. Speaking of Boros Charm, Deflecting Palm is pretty good against that card’s 4 damage to the face mode - but you need to watch for Skullcrack, which is an extremely popular card in Modern, especially in Burn mirror matches.

Future Value of Deflecting Palm

With the bannings of Splinter Twin and Summer Bloom in Modern, two of the decks that Deflecting Palm wasn’t too good against are no longer in play. Deflecting Palm was useless against the essentially infinite number of Deceiver Exarch tokens with haste that Splinter Twin could make. Amulet Bloom decks had Sunhome, Fortress of the Legion to give Primeval Titan double strike, and Pact of Negation usually stopped it in its tracks. The decks that have replaced Bloom are either Scapeshift or Red/Green decks that use Kessig Wolf Run’s pump ability to win the game with the Titan. Deflecting Palm has no problem throwing Wolf Run’s damage back.

Even before the bannings and major metagame shifts, Deflecting Palm had a 5x foil multiplier when it comes to price - with non-foils at about 50 cents vs $2.50 for foils. Modern sideboard cards have a funny way of driving up foil prices. Naya Burn and similar decks are so popular that even one or two foil copies coming off the market still goes a long way in price growth. By late 2017, non-foil Deflecting Palm  would pass $1.50 and foils pushed $5.

While I wouldn't recommend hoarding every Deflecting Palm you can find, keeping a few in your collection is a good move. While it’s not good against every deck, if you’re already throwing a lot of burn spells around, you never know when you might need those last few points of damage to win the game.


Read more Magic the Gathering Modern articles here.
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Abundance -  A Magic the Gathering Modern Card Review

3/9/2017

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by Phoenix Desertsong, Old School Duelist
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Originally printed in Urza's Saga, Abundance is a very good Enchantment that was reprinted in Magic the Gathering's Tenth Edition Core Set. While legal in Modern, 4-mana enchantments don't really see play in the format. Still, Abundance is a great card that many Commander and Cube players were happy to see reprinted in  Duel Decks: Nissa vs Ob Nixilis.

What's great about Abundance is that it allows you to be able to not draw a land if you want to. It also allows you to draw a land if you do want. In a format like Commander, Abundance can be invaluable. Getting mana-screwed (not enough land to play your spells) or mana-flooded (too many lands and not enough spells)  are common issues in the format. This Enchantment offers very useful card selection, although, it is a bit mana-intensive for a highly competitive format like Modern.

Despite not seeing play in top tournament play, Abundance is a highly sought after card due to having such a useful effect. Green decks often have access to more than 4 mana on turn 4, so this can come down as early as turn 2 in some decks. Abundance was a nearly $4 card before the Duel Deck reprint and it's still creeping back up. While you can't expect to see this card in a top 8 Modern deck, Abundance is a great card that you shouldn't overlook in a trade binder.


Read more Magic the Gathering Modern articles here.

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Elder Dragons from Legends in EDH / Commander

10/6/2016

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by Phoenix Desertsong
When the Commander format first began in Magic the Gathering, it was known as Elder Dragon Highlander. It was called Highlander since you could only play one of each unique card - outside of basic lands - in your deck. Highlander has been a MTG format for years, with 100 card decks. In Elder Dragon Highlander, the main difference is that one of those cards sits outside of your deck in what is called the Command Zone.

Originally called generals, the first ever Commanders were the five Elder Dragons from Legends: Arcades Sabboth, Chromium, Nicol Bolas, Palladia-Mors, and Vaevictis Asmadi. These five Elder Dragons were later reprinted in Chronicles, the white-bordered reprint set that has plenty of copies of these guys still available on the cheap.

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The five Elder Dragons have three different colors in their mana costs. Each of them cost 8 mana in total, 2 colorless, and 2 of each of “allied” color wedges - Blue-Black-Red, Black-Red-Green, White-Blue-Black, White-Blue-Green, and White-Red-Green.  They each have 7 power and 7 toughness, flying, and an upkeep cost of one of each color in their mana costs.

When choosing one of these five, you could only play cards in your deck that were either colorless, or were in the colors of the Dragon you chose as your general. This is the same rule used today, except that the more complex rule of “color identity” is now used, and you can use any Legendary Creature you want instead. The official MTG Commander rules page explains these concepts the best.

The 7 power of each Dragon is the reason that a win by Commander damage is 21 points. Essentially, hitting the same player with the same Elder Dragon three times was the primary way of winning. Let’s take a quick look at each of Magic's Elder Dragon Legends and how good they actually are, especially in Elder Dragon Highlander (aka EDH).
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Arcades Sabboth

The White-Green-Blue Elder Dragon is not one of the more popular Dragon Commanders today. Arcades is very defensive, able to pump his own toughness by 1 for one White mana at a time. He also grants your untapped creatures +0/+2 as long as they are not attacking - for example, if they have vigilance they will not gain this bonus.

Still, you can build a pretty fun Arcades Sabboth EDH deck that can outlast your opponents, pairing Arcades with big finishers like Rafiq of the Many and Dragonlord Dromoka. Overall, though, Rafiq and the other White-Green-Blue Legends tend to just be better commanders.


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Chromium

Being in the White-Blue-Black color combo, Chromium tends to play into control strategies. Essentially, the deck is built to prevent your opponents from pulling off anything big, giving you time to get Chromium and some of the deck's bigger flyers into play.

Rampage isn’t an ability you see anymore, and the +2/+2 bonus only applies when Chromium is blocked by two or more creatures. It does make him rather tricky to block, though. He’s a classic control finisher, and more people really should play with him, especially in the spirit of true Elder Dragon Highlander.


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Nicol Bolas

By far, Nicol Bolas is considered the best of the Elder Dragon Legends. His ability is very strong, forcing your opponent to discard their entire hand when Bolas deals combat damage to him or her. Nicol Bolas has also become an iconic character in the Magic the Gathering story line. He later became a planeswalker himself!

Nicol Bolas EDH decks play the best cards that his three colors have to offer, grinding down opponents and gaining card advantage. He’s the Original Gangster of Commanders.


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Palladia-Mors

Unfortunately, Palladia-Mors isn’t incredibly exciting, especially for an Elder Dragon. All he has is trample. Still, he’s not the worst leader in a color combination that allows you to play some of the biggest beasts in Magic the Gathering.

While there are better Commanders you could build around, just to say you build a beastly beat-down deck with an original Elder Dragon Legend just feels good. Still, Palladia-Mors falls behind the other five as a Commander overall.


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Vaevictis Asmadi

The Black-Red-Green Elder Dragon Vaevictis is actually quite powerful. For either Red, Green, or Black mana, you can pump his power as much as you have the mana available. This means that at a certain point of the game, he can take out a player in one shot.

Vaevictis Asmadi EDH decks are built around keeping the board clear so that you can do just that. His game plan is extremely simple, but very powerful.


Of course, today, you can use almost any Legendary Creature as your Commander. But, it’s pretty cool to look back at the original five Legends that inspired Elder Dragon Highlander. Along with the five other Legendary Dragons introduced in Invasion, which offered the other five 3-color combinations, these  Elder Dragons were the inspiration for one of the most beloved ways to play Magic the Gathering.

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Magic the Gathering  Card Review  - Phalanx Formation

6/12/2015

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by ElspethFTW, Old School Duelist
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Phalanx Formation is an excellent example of the Strive mechanic featured in Journey into Nyx, the third set of the Theros set block. It costs 2W to cast for the first target, and 1W for each additional target beyond the first. This sounds pricey, but it gives the creatures that it targets double strike. It has the potential to be a finisher, especially if the creatures that it targets have Heroic abilities which activate when creatures with Heroic are targeted.

While it's not as Constructed-playable as the common Ajani's Presence or the rare Launch the Fleet, it's a cool card to consider if you're playing a casual Heroic-themed deck. Especially in Commander, where mana is plentiful, Phalanx Formation can serve as a finisher.

The best example of this being played in Constructed is in a Blue/White Heroic deck, which would include the blue creature Battlefield Thaumaturge. The Thaumaturge reduces the casting cost of a spell that targets by one colorless mana for each creature that spell targets. Therefore, the Formation costs only 1W to target one creature, 1WW for two creatures, and so on. It's considered "jank" by most players, but if you're dealing with a Heroic deck, it's one to watch for.

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Sapling of Colfenor from Eventide - A Magic the Gathering Card Review

3/31/2015

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by    R.A. Rowell; Co-Owner of   Intent-sive Nature & theBrand Shamans network
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Sapling of Colfenor is a fascinating Legendary Creature from Eventide. For the most part, she's seen play in Commander alongside Doran, the Siege Tower. As that Commander lets creatures assign their combat damage by their toughness instead of their power, pretty much every creature in that deck has very high toughness..

This makes the Sapling a great way to get creatures into your hand easily while gaining more life than you'll likely ever lose by doing so. Also, because the Sapling is indestructible, you can swing away with her without many worries. (only effects that can exile it when it's attacking are a problem). Therefore, the Sapling's effect should activate fairly often.

With the introduction of Assault Formation in Dragons of Tarkir, copies of Doran the Siege Tower more than doubled in price. That Enchantment essentially doubles as a second copy of Doran. Forgotten Ancient, another popular creature in that deck, also saw a great uptivk in interest. The Sapling would soon follow, due to her utility in that sort of deck.

Also, Sidisi, Undead Vizier, also  introduced in Dragons of Tarkir, is a 4/6 with deathtouch that both works well with Doran and Assault Formation's effect and also serves as a sort of Demonic Tutor. This Sidisi works well with both Doran and Sapling of Colfenor.

But, there's more to this card than simply her strong interaction with Doran & Friends. Being a Legendary Creature of her own, the Sapling can support a similar kind of deck of its own with the addition of Assault Formation. The Sapling has long been used as a Treefolk Tribal Commander. Now, she's better than ever.

Also, the Sapling of Colfenor has quite a backstory that you can read about here.

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Piracy from Portal Second Age - A Magic the Gathering Card Review

3/29/2015

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by    R.A. Rowell; Co-Owner of   Intent-sive Nature & the Brand Shamans network
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Years ago, Wizards of the Coast released "starter" sets to try and get more players into Magic: the Gathering. These sets include Starter 1999, Portal, Portal Second Age, and the extremely rare and valuable Portal Three Kingdoms. While most cards in these Starter sets are fairly basic, with rares such as Phantom Warrior, which has been since reprinted at uncommon in other sets, there are some unique cards.

Piracy is a card never reprinted outside of Portal Second Age and Starter 1999. It actually does something really cool. For only UU (2 blue mana) during that turn you may tap your opponents' lands to help pay for your spells.

As cool as Piracy's effect is, however, it's a card you rarely ever see played due to how strange its effect really is. It's hard to build a deck around a card like this due to the fact you don't know what lands your opponent may be playing. It's a fun little card in Commander, played at the correct time. If you're able to reuse it later in the game, it gets even better. Piracy is more of a cool curiosity at this point. Still, I would've loved to have pulled one of these had I been playing those starter sets.



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Damnable Pact from Dragons of Tarkir - A Magic the Gathering Card Review

3/12/2015

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by ElspethFTW, Old School Duelist
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Who doesn't like drawing cards? Damnable Pact is a decent way to draw cards in Black. It has the typically Black caveat of trading life for cards, and in some ways is a scale-able Sign in Blood or Skeletal Scrying. It has the Sorcery speed of Sign in Blood and the scale-ability of Skeletal Scrying without the additional cost of exiling cards from your graveyard as an additional cost.

Like Sign in Blood, Damnable Pact allows you to target a player, unlike Skeletal Scrying. There have been times where playing a Sign in Blood on an opponent has actually been a good thing to do. Given enough mana late game, you could actually draw an opponent to death with Damnable Pact.

The major issue with this particular Black draw spell is that it costs you 1BB and a life to draw just one card, and 2BB and 2 life to draw 2 cards. Sign in Blood allows you to draw 2 and lose 2 for only BB. Both of these cards are sorcery speed, as well. Skeletal Scrying is instant speed, but it hasn't seen Constructed play in ages because Sign in Blood is so much more consistent and efficient. That being said, any card that can actually kill an opponent late game is pretty good, so I find that Damnable Pact is a good blend of Sign and Scrying.

This isn't a card that you would depend on in any competitive Constructed format. Indeed, it saw little to no Standard play. It's just not a very good card in the early game. Even with Black's ability to produce a ton of mana quickly with cards like Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx,   this simply wasn't efficient enough to make it.

In Commander, however, life total really is the only limit to how good this card can be. Black decks in that format have ways to gain life back very quickly. Mono-Black decks also run Gray Merchant of Asphodel, which gains you life and makes your opponent lose life; that makes casting this seem a lot less deadly. But the deck that likes this card the most is Nekusar, the Mindrazer.  That is a deck already focused on making people draw lots of cards and lose lots of life. So, not only can this Pact draw you cards, but it can deal double damage to an opponent. Edgar Markov is also a fan of this card.

Overall, Damnable Pact is a decent Black draw card, and one that can actually win you a game by draining your opponent of their final few life points for the cost of some worthless cards.

Updated 3/25/2018


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Silumgar's Command from Dragons of Tarkir -  A Magic the Gathering Card Review

3/10/2015

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by    R.A. Rowell; Co-Owner of   Intent-sive Nature & the Brand Shamans network
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One of the five Command instants from Dragons of Tarkir, Silumgar's Command is often the most overlooked in the cycle. But, the four modes of  this card are really solid. The question is: are they good enough to choose two for five mana? The choices are:
 
  • Counter target noncreature spell.
  • Return target permanent to its owner's hand.
  •  Target creature gets -3/-3 until end of turn.
  •  Destroy target planeswalker.
     
Believe it or not, the ability to counter non-creature spells is almost always better than only being able to counter creature spells. This is because you're usually stopping removal, a planeswalker, or some other bomb spell that could make your life miserable. So, that's a good mode. Return target permanent is fun since you can hit lands with it. Boomerang was always fun, or not fun depending on what side of it you were on.

Giving a target creature -3/-3 is good, although it didn't deal with the more annoying creatures during Standard at the time like Courser of Kruphix and Siege Rhino. But, it hit a lot of things, and as only half of a whole, it's very strong.

The last option to destroy target planeswalker is plenty good. It was a good way to save your copy of Hero's Downfall for something else. As the years have gone on, too, planeswalkers have become much more plentiful. Especially with the glut of walkers War of the Spark brought into the game, this is a mode that's only going to become more important as the years go by.
 


During its entire time in Standard, Control decks did maindeck one copy of Silumgar's Command, from Esper Control to Grixis Control to Sultai Control. While 5 mana feels like a lot for an instant, this card often does the work of two cards at once. Two-for-ones are an awesome thing. However, five mana for this card isn't efficient enough for Modern. However, with the emergence of the Pioneer format, it's possible that we will see this card see competitive play once again.

However, Silumgar's Command does still see a modest amount of EDH play. The decks that utilize this instant the most include Inalla, Archmage Ritualist, Tasigur, the Golden Fang, Kess, Dissident Mage, and quite appropriately, Dragonlord Silumgar.

As far as price, Silumgar's Command was reprinted in Commander 2017 and is considered a "bulk" rare. In 2019. you can get copies of this Command for $0.25 or less, a far cry from the $1 this card once Commanded during its heyday in Standard. Still, this is a solid card for a control-centered Commander deck or Kitchen Table control decks.
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Deathpact Angel from Gatecrash - A Magic the Gathering Card Review

2/21/2015

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by ElspethFTW, Old School Duelist
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Deathpact Angel is an interesting Angel aligned with the Orzhov guild. She costs 3WBB (3 colorless, one white, 2 black) to cast. She’s a 5/5 flyer that when she dies you get a 1/1 white and black Cleric creature token onto the field. That token has its own ability to tap and sacrifice itself to return a card named Deathpact Angel from your graveyard to the battlefield; this ability has the same cost as Deathpact Angel originally costs to cast (3WBB).

Besides the fact that she's an awesome looking Angel for collection purposes, Deathpact Angel isn't the most impressive card. For 6 mana, only getting a 1/1 token when she dies with an ability to essentially to recast Deathpact Angel from the graveyard doesn’t feel like a mythic rare, honestly. While you’re not technically recasting her, it essentially costs you the same. She was honestly a very good Limited card during the Return to Ravnica block.

She's also not bad in Commander, especially if you pop her into play off with Kaalia of the Vast's effect to put an Angel, Demon, or Dragon into play when attacking. Some Commander players have played her alongside Teysa, Orzhov Scion for some synergy with her effect, since both the Angel and her token are both white and black.

Her artwork is pretty awesome, but I wouldn’t play her perhaps ever outside of a Kaalia or Teysa deck. She's a bulk mythic rare at this point, seemingly only printed at that rarity to not become overpowered in the Limited environment.



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Magic the Gathering Card Review - Sorin Markov from Zendikar & Magic 2012 Core Set

2/19/2015

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by  ElspethFTW, Gaming Successfully Staff
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The original Sorin Markov is a nice card. His +2 ability is certainly useful, as it deals 2 damage to a target creature or player and gain 2 life. You tend to lose a lot of life in black decks, especially with Vampires, so it’s a welcome gain of 2 life with perhaps a little removal added in there. If you happen to have an opponent at 1 or 2 life just barely hanging on, which can certainly happen, it’s also quite useful.

The one thing that makes Sorin really good for Vampires, and really why he was created in the first place I think, is the -3 ability: Target opponent’s life total becomes 10. This is important since key vampire cards have abilities that activate at 10 life, like Bloodghast’s Haste, or deactivate as with Vampire Lacerator  which makes you lose 1 life each upkeep unless your opponent is at 10 or less life. But Sorin rarely saw Constructed play back when he was in Standard. These two abilities always seemed enough of a reason to me to run a copy or two.

His -7 or so-called ultimate ability is sort of nice, too. You get to take over your opponent’s next turn, obviously to set him up for an easy picking on your next turn.

The one major issue with Sorin Markov is actually quite obvious. He’s a 6 drop. The 3 required black really isn’t a problem, but in a deck that was once extremely competitive like R/B Vampires, Sorin was just going to muck up your hand and took up slots better used for removal. He’s a nice card, but he ended up being relegated to Vampire deck builds that could occasionally win FNM’s and other local tourneys, not top 8 at Opens or a Grand Prix.

Today, though, he’s still a 15+ dollar card, even with his Magic 2012 reprint, a widely distributed Core Set. The main reason he remains so valuable is how nasty his -3 ability is in Commander. Taking a player from potentially 40 life (or even more) down to 10 can put said player in kill range. Since Sorin begins with 4 loyalty, it’s not impossible that Sorin can do this a couple of times in a Commander game while he’s on the board. With mono-black Devotion now a thing since the release of Theros, Sorin's 3 black mana symbols make him very useful for fueling Devotion effects. It took awhile for Sorin to find a home, but he’s going to be a valuable card for a very long time.



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Mindstab Thrull - A Magic the Gathering  Card Review

2/3/2015

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by  ElspethFTW, Old School Duelist
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 Mindstab Thrull was originally printed as a common in Fallen Empires. It was later printed in Fifth Edition, also as a common, with notable Mark Tedin art (pictured above). It is not a bad card, a 2/2 for 1BB that has an ability. If Mindstab Thrull attacks and is not blocked, you can sacrifice the Thrull to force your opponent to discard three cards. That's a pretty good trade in my opinion.

Alongside a creature like Hypnotic Specter and cards like Hymn to Tourach, this creature could serve as a useful compliment. It's nothing that would see much Constructed play any more, but it's a fun little card that back in the day was pretty solid.

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Godhead of Awe - A Magic the Gathering (MTG) Card Review

1/24/2015

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by ElspethFTW, Old School Duelist
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Godhead of Awe is an awe-some card (pun intended) from Shadowmoor. She was one of the first Magic cards I ever played with. I actually opened her in the same draft as my  Augury Adept.  

The Godhead's ability to make all other creatures into 1/1’s is extremely valuable, allowing her to simply take over a game by herself. Plus, with the enchantment 
Steel of the Godhead in the same set, this Godhead could deal some serious damage.



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Steel of the Godhead obviously has its flavor tied to the  Godhead of Awe. It costs 2 colorless and either a Blue or a White to cast. If the enchanted creature is white, that creature gains +1/+1 and lifelink. If it’s blue, it gets +1/+1 and can’t be blocked. Godhead of Awe is both white and blue simultaneously. This means that with the Steel of the godhead she became a 6/6 un-blockable flyer with lifelink. Gaining 6 life every turn while dealing 6 to your opponent is pretty good.

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Augury Adept is similarly both white and blue and could benefit from this card, as well. Going unblocked, the Adept could essentially draw me a free card every turn while potentially also gain me life.

With these three cards in my draft deck, I probably should have won more games than I lost. Alas, I drafted very poorly otherwise – as I had never drafted Magic before – and didn’t win too much.

I also didn’t have access to another Enchantment from Lorwyn called Battle Mastery.

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I mentioned previously in my Augury Adept review that having double strike on a creature with an ability that triggers upon dealing combat damage is extremely powerful. Being able to grab two cards, while also having a Steel of the Godhead making it a 4/4 with lifelink that couldn’t be blocked was pretty sweet.

Of course, with the
 Godhead of Awe on board the Adept would only be a 3/3, but you’re playing the Adept for the card draw (technically it’s not drawing cards as its revealing them and putting them into your hand, but it’s essentially the same thing), not the combat damage.

With Godhead of Awe, Battle Mastery helps the Godhead of Awe defeat pretty much anything that gets in its way, and if it were to also be unblocked, you would be dealing 8 damage a turn at the very least. With Steel of the Godhead, you’d be dealing 12 damage, plus gaining 12 life.

In Constructed at the time, you had plenty of counter-magic and  Ponder to help set up your draws. It’s hard to believe that a blue/white control deck didn’t ever pop up that took advantage of this combination, especially with all of the Merfolk that were around in Standard to complement the deck.
Yes, Godhead of Awe decks were relegated to the casual scene. The Godhead sees play in five-color Commander decks, and has also made appearances in 
Oloro, Ageless Ascetic  lists. But she’s never become part of any top-tier competitive control decks. Why is that?

Unfortunately she’s just outclassed. Augury Adept suffers from a similar issue. People would rather play 
Geist of Saint Traft for 3 mana, and there are 4 drop creatures in Modern that people would rather play over the Godhead. Yes, the Godhead’s effect is pretty awesome and it would probably play fairly well in the right control shell. The trick is covering those 5 mana symbols, and white/blue decks struggle consistently without having a third color to support them in Modern. White-blue decks work in Legacy, but the only 5 drops they want to play are  Force of Will.

Many of the cards that I loved from Shadowmoor never really saw competitive play. Two others that I really loved: Kitchen Finks  and  Bloodbraid Elf  from my first ever Red/Green deck turned out to be decent cards, though.

A control deck based around the Godhead is certainly possible, though. Godhead of Awe has an amazing combination with  Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite, who gives all of your opponent’s creatures -2/-2 and your creatures +2/+2. Even though she herself would become a 1/1 thanks to the Godhead’s effect, your opponent will never have any creatures again as long as the Elesh Norn remains on the board.

There is potential for a Godhead of Awe deck to work in Modern. You have Mana Leak  and  Remand  to hold people back for a turn, and Remand draws you a card, as well. You have the Geist of Saint Traft, as well, obviously, but the Geist doesn’t really work so well with the Godhead – however, the Steel of the Godhead still functions. The problem is figuring out the synergies to make it a well-tuned control shell. It is a challenge I will take on one day.


If you have any stories about the first cards you ever pulled or played with, I’d love to hear about them.


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Primal Clay - A  Magic the Gathering Card Review

12/9/2014

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by ElspethFTW,  Old School Duelist
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Primal Clay  is a fascinating artifact card that has been around since the days of Antiquities. It was reprinted in Revised, Fourth Edition, Fifth Edition, and Sixth Edition as a rare. It was also reprinted as an uncommon in the Magic 2013 Core Set.

What’s special about Primal Clay is that you have a choice as to what it hits the board as. For 4 mana, you get to choose if it enters the battlefield as a 1/6 Wall, a 3/3 vanilla creature, or a 2/2 flying creature. Once it’s on the board, it remains that for as long as it remains there.


Years ago, this was actually a pretty fascinating card, and it was a playable card in Limited for a long time, mostly because it could become a cheap 1/6 Wall or a 2/2 Flyer. Even in Magic 2013 limited this was a playable card, and no longer a rare. It’s a fun little card from Magic’s past that’s stuck around a long time. While it certainly has not been Constructed playable for a long time, it’s still a fun card to look at.


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Fated Return from Born of the Gods - A Magic the Gathering (MTG) Card Review

1/23/2014

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by Phoenix A. Desertsong, Staff Writer, Healer & Advocate
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The Fated cycle from Born of the Gods are all pretty interesting cards. All have seen at least some fringe Constructed play. The Black card in the Fated cycle, Fated Return, has similarly seen minimal Constructed play, mostly in some Blue/Black control builds. It costs 4BBB (4 colorless, 3 Black) to cast for an instant. That's a pretty absurd casting cost to begin with for an instant. So what does it do to deserve such an investment?

Fated Return's effect is interesting: Put target creature card from a graveyard onto the battlefield under your control. It gains indestructible. If it’s your turn, you get to scry 2 (look at the top 2 cards of your deck, then put any number of them on the bottom of your library and the rest of top in any order.) Scry helps you to set up your draws, and this particular effect appears on all five of the Fated cards.

This is definitely a card that worked well in Limited, as it can grab an opponent’s creature and make it indestructible. There are big enough creatures in the Theros block which made casting this card sometimes worth it. The scry 2 can be quite relevant, and although you ordinarily wouldn’t want to cast this during one of your own Main Phases, in Limited it’s certainly possible that you could. The main problem with this card is that massive mana cost. Gaining an indestructible bomb back from any graveyard is kind of nice, and could win you the game. But it’s a pricey trick.

This card does see some fringe Commander play, due to the fact that reanimation is so common and highly useful in that format. While it’s such a costly card to cast, Fated Return’s 7 mana cost is far easier to absorb in the very mana-hungry Commander meta-game. If Fated Return were 5 mana, perhaps 3BB, and didn’t add indestructibility, I think it would be more playable. Really no decks outside of the aforementioned Commander decks and Blue/Black Control Standard lists have included it. It’s one of those “bomb” cards that otherwise just has limited usability in Constructed.


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Akki Lavarunner / Tok-Tok, Volcano Born - A Magic the Gathering Card Review

2/27/2013

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by  R.A. Rowell; Co-Owner of Intent-sive Nature & the Brand Shamans network
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Today, we take a look at a Magic the Gathering card from everyone's favorite set block: Kamigawa! Here's a little rare from Champions of Kamigawa that is not only the first rare alphabetically in the set, but an interesting one as well!
 
While you won't be seeing this card in any top 8 decks, Akki Lavarunner is one of those crazy flip cards. The interesting thing about this one, besides costing 3R for a 1/1 Goblin with Haste, is that whenever he deals damage to an opponent, you get to flip it right away.
 
Tok-Tok, Volcano Born, his flipside, is an interesting Legendary Creature. He's a 2/2 with Protection from Red, and if a Red source would deal damage to a player, it deals that damage plus 1 to that player instead. It's a pretty decent effect, and in a Goblin deck, having a creature like him would certainly be welcome.
 
There's only one downside here. You have to have him deal damage to a player before you can get his effect. In a Goblin deck, he could be well more than a 1/1 though. And if you do get his flip side, your Goblin Grenades can become 6 to the face to a player, and suddenly a card like Hellrider makes those declare attack triggers hit twice as hard.
 
Yes, the damage +1 can hurt you, too, but in the right Goblin-centered deck, that sort of ability would be devastatingly good. Were this not a flip card and instead just Tok-Tok, this would actually be very playable. While Wizards was probably right to make this a flip card, it's interesting to think what might have been were Tok-Tok his own man...

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