Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Death & Taxes in Theros Block Constructed with Wizard Den!

Hey everybody! Now that the dust from pre-release weekend has settled, everyone is excited to brew and find the next best deck in Standard(myself included). I think we can all agree that Journey into Nyx has been infinitely better than Born of the Gods was and the ideas people are coming up with are looking good. I didn't get a chance to play with too many of the new cards but I've already started brewing and I'm looking forward to trying out a new idea. I've been a little disinterested with Standard lately so today I'm going to discuss the Theros Block format and what kinds of archetypes to look out for.

I've just started looking into the format and from what I've heard, Naya good stuff seems to be the deck to beat. I found a list for all y'alls viewing pleasure:

Naya:
Lands: 25
8 Mountain
6 Forest
4 Temple of Plenty
4 Temple of Abandon
3 Temple of Triumph

Creatures: 18
2 Courser of Kruphix
3 Polis Crusher
2 Polukranos, World Eater
4 Stormbreath Dragon
4 Sylvan Caryatid
3 Voyaging Satyr

Spells: 17
3 Chained to the Rocks
4 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
2 Lightning Strike
4 Magma Jet
1 Nylea's Presence
3 Xenagos, the Reveler

This list isn't much different than the standard format version that has access to Domri Rade, Mizzium Mortars and Shock lands. This deck definitely looks tough to beat with huge power in the top end with Elspeth, Polukranos and Stormbreath Dragons so beating this will be no easy feat. I feel like the best way to combat a foe like this would be some good early game hand disruption, cheap spot removal and ways to answer their bigger threats that hit the board. A wrath effect couldn't hurt either. There's not much to work with in block but we do have Thoughtseize, Hero's Downfall and, with Journey into Nyx, we have access to Extinguish All Hope. Extinguish hits everything in the Naya deck except for Courser of Kruphix so it's going to be very important to see every game so I'm thinking about running 2 copies. It costs 6 mana, so any more copies than that will just fill your hand with expensive cards that could be something else that you could actually cast and use in the early game. Thoughtseize is a perfect 4-of and Hero's Downfall could be a 4-of too but I want to see how the rest of the list plays out.

Like I mentioned before I had a fun idea for block so before I get too far into the list I'll just spill the beans here. I came up with what I like to call Death and Taxes... the H&R Block version!

Unlike Legacy or Modern, you don't have access to some really good hate bears, but I think there's enough to work with and I'm excited to see how it plays out. I'm looking at cards like Spirit of the Labyrinth and Fate Unraveler to put a tax on their draws, Oppressive Rays to put a tax on their creatures and Mogis, God of Slaughter to put a tax on their upkeep. To top it off, I'm utilizing the new Constellation mechanic with Grim Guardian and Underworld Coinsmith to keep your life total in a reasonable spot and to put extra pressure on your opponent's life total whether you're attacking them or not. Here's the latest list I've come up with:

Death and Taxes:
Land: 24
4 Mana Confluence
4 Plains
8 Swamp
2 Temple of Malice
4 Temple of Silence
2 Temple of Triumph

Creatures: 24
4 Underworld Coinsmith
4 Spirit of the Labyrinth
4 Brain Maggot
4 Grim Guardian
2 Athreos, God of Passage
2 Herald of Torment
2 Fate Unraveler
2 Mogis, God of Slaughter

Spells: 12
4 Oppressive Rays
4 Thoughtseize
2 Banishing Light
2 Extinguish All Hope

As you can see, everything in this deck is an enchantment other than the land and a few non-creature spells. This allows you to hit Constellation triggers consistently throughout the game and put a lot of pressure on with Grim Guardian. Thoughtseize and Brain Maggot are perfect for getting in some great hand disruption while providing synergy with Constellation. Oppressive Rays puts a tax on your opponent's creatures and Banishing Light provides an all-around versatile removal spell, again, that provide Constellation triggers. For the creatures, Spirit of the Labyrinth and Herald of Torment are aggressively costed so you can maintain a quick clock on your opponent while disrupting their hand in the early game and putting the oppression down later on. Athreos, God of Passage is in here because it puts a tax on your opponent trying to remove your creatures. If they have exile effects, then he's not so hot here, but either they pay 3 life, or you get your Brain Maggots back to take another look at their hand or you get Heralds back to bestow for bigger flying beats. Not to mention the added Constellation triggers you'll be getting! Also, like I mentioned before, all the creatures are enchantments so when you drop the hope extinguisher, it'll only be fuel for your enchanted flames.

All in all this deck looks like a lot of fun and probably pretty annoying to deal with so I'm hoping it does well. I haven't had a chance to play it yet since we don't have all of the new cards yet, but I feel like it might need to cut some creatures for some more removal elements. The Coinsmith is only there for a life-gain element. Since it's the only way to do that in this deck, it'll be hard to cut, but it's probably my first target to cut for some more removal. Hero's Downfall, extra Banishing Lights, or Feast of Dreams are good removal spells I'd look at including.

Well, thanks for taking a look at my new idea. I hope you think it's cool, if not, let me know what you would change or what ideas you're planning on for Block!

Until next time,

DannyO
WizardDen.com

Friday, April 18, 2014

Constructed, Limited and financial speculations for Journey into Nyx with Wizard Den!

Hey guys! I hope everyone is as excited about Journey into Nyx as I am! So many cards in this set look to have cross-format playability and set to shake things up in standard too! For today, I'll go over the cards I feel might have the most impact on Standard and discuss the limited power of my favorite picks from the set for the upcoming pre-release weekend. Also, I'll speculate on some cards that might fluctuate in price with the full set now spoiled.


Let's get started with some cards that might make the Standard format a bit different:

1. Athreos, God of Passage.


For awhile now, Esper humans has been a thing and the only aggressive deck that could feasibly main-deck Supreme Verdict. With their creatures dying left and right and spawning zombies on their way to the underworld, Athreos promises that it won't be an easy death. Not only are the Humans annoying to deal with as is, but now you have to choose to give those creatures back or pay 3 life. That life can add up quickly and you'll have Lyev Skyknights chasing you down faster than the Running of the Minotaurs(It's an annual tradition on Theros). Athreos looks to have some really fun interactions with cards like Xathrid Necromancer, Vexing Devil, Solemn Simulacrum, or anything already playable with a nice enters or dies trigger, and at a measly 3 mana to cast, certainly find a home somewhere.

2. Bassara Tower Archer.


This guy could make an easy addition to Naya Hexproof or a Green-based Devotion deck. Naya Hexproof basically only had Voice of Resurgence for it's 2-drop slot, which is a great card, but not hexproof. The other 2-drop was Hero of Iroas, which wasn't found in every list. Now, we have hexproof creatures all up the curve for this deck and it might be enough to make the deck a much more formidable foe. Making matters worse, Naya Hexproof could be rocketed into the best seat of the house with:

3. Aegis of the Gods.


Another 2-drop that fits on curve very well for Naya, this guy gives YOU hexproof. While not Hexproof himself, he provides a great effect: the ability to dodge edict effects, which is what can destroy the hexproof builds. My only issue with this guy, is that while all your creatures are so impossible to deal with, your opponent will probably end up with a full grip of removal just sitting in his hand waiting to be used on anything it can target. As soon as you play a guy that can be targeted, it will be. However, he does force your opponent to answer him if they are to target you with anything at all, so he can bait out Hero's Downfalls and Supreme Verdicts fairly nicely.

4. Reprisal


White-based aggressive decks will most likely find a slot or two in their sideboard for this guy. The ability to handle G/R/x monsters at instant speed will be a nice addition, not to mention eating those Desecration Demons up too! A generic 2-mana situational removal that's easy to cast/splash will easily show up here and there.

5. Skybind.


Bant Enchantment fog decks are looking better and better aren't they? With this one, you can exile blockers, get additional effects out of ETB creatures(Armada Wurm, Sylvan Primordial) or even reset your attackers to be able to block next turn. Not exceptionally great at 5 mana, but in a control shell, it's perfectly plausible to play around and get some great effects out of it.

6. Harness by Force.


Red devotion decks have been around since the start of Theros and now there's a great way to add extra win conditions to your playset of Fanatic of Mogis. With Harness, you don't care how many big attackers they throw in front of your guys. Simply get to turn 4 or 5, use Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx, get loads of mana and steal the show! You probably only need to take 1 or 2 guys anyway with Red Devotion, so this makes a fantastic way to finish games quickly.

7. Battlefield Thamaturge.


A lot of talk has been had over this guy, and it seems like the possibilities just keep coming in. Let's just say, that this guy makes spells with 'X' in it's cost amazing if they can target 'X' creatures. Cards like, Curse of the Swine, Gridlock, Aurelia's Fury, all become way powerful. Granted, he's a measly 2/1 that'll probably eat up some removal as fast as Aegis of the Gods, but then again, that's not always bad either.

8. Bearer of the Heavens.


This guy has such a unique effect that the Standard format hasn't had for so long, that it just begs to be abused... somehow... My first thought was to see if there were any good ways to exile your own creatures while his effect happened so that you could get them back into an empty board and proceed to win from there. The best situation I thought of was to exile an Obzedat at the end of your turn and get rid of the Bearer on your opponent's turn. Such a high mana cost though, if only there was a nice way to reanimate these days...

9. Deicide.


Pronounced Day-ih-Side, this is sure to be a fantastic sideboard, if not mainboard, removal. Mono Blue decks get hosed a bit with their 4 Thassa's always in the main, and since it's such a popular archetype, this could be in any white-based deck and probably will be. Mono-Blue players, be on the lookout here, you might not get to scry as much as you thought :)

10.  Banishing Light.


O-RING!!! Always a great removal spell(now with the correct wording).

So many good cards in this set, I can't wait to try them out in Standard, however, let's move on to some discussion of the limited format. Pre-release weekend is coming up soon and as my favorite format, I'm super excited to look at the new cards from that perspective. With limited in mind, here are some cards that I believe will be your first targets in drafts/sealed:

1. Dawnbringer Charioteer.


Not much more powerful than Wingsteed Rider already is in limited, but the addition of Lifelink can dash any hopes of keeping up with the Heroic  "Ben Hur". At 4 mana, it's an easy first pick.

2. Heroes' Bane.


A bad Kalonian Hydra, some say, but the upside is you don't have to risk it in combat to double the counters on this one. Because of that, and if you're lucky to dodge some removal for a turn or two, this guy, even though lacks trample, will bludgeon any who oppose you until the way is clear. Another easy first pick.

3. Armament of Nyx.


I always wanted something like this for some aggressive decks I've built in the past. The ability to make your guys better or make their's worse is great versatility. Board clear? Strap up your enchantment creatures and make haste with the beats. Too many blockers over there? Put one out of commission. A card that will make a fine addition to any W/x deck you choose to go in limited.

4. Blinding Flare.


This card will simply end games on the spot. With such an easy cost to pay for each target, this card will put any defense on the ritz and frustrate many a player. Not to mention getting off super easy Heroic triggers. If you're even remotely looking into red for your limited battles, this card is a windmill slam pick!

5.  Feast of Dreams.


Enchantment Set. Enchantment Removal. Too easy. Easy to cast, easy for a splash card. Not first pick, but a great addition for any Black decks.

6. Lagonna-Band Trailblazer.


1 mana cost, big toughness, heroic for +1/+1 counters. All great stats. Even though this guy is nothing for your offense without heroic triggers, he's still much better than Yoked Ox, and trust me, you'll love playing with this guy.

7.  Sigiled Skink.


There have been some great 2/1 creatures for 2 mana that I'll pick up real quick if passed around. This guy is amazing for any red deck. As long as you found a handful of removal/burn spells, this guy can keep putting on the pressure and clean up your draws to keep the game going in the direction you want it to go.

8. Swarmborn Giant.


A 6/6 for 4 mana, that's... new... This guy actually has a downside though. I don't know, I guess being able to sacrifice my entire board to keep one of your creatures from attacking totally sucks for you huh?! Either way, this giant is a huge pain to deal with. If you're lucky and have a flyer that can get through before this guy starts swinging, you'll be ok. If not, better find some removal quick. A 6/6 is big enough to end games on it's own if left unchecked so I'll pick these up in the first few picks if I'm thinking about green.

9. Hypnotic Siren.


A great early game pest that's not big enough for your opponent to want to waste removal on, but without a bigger flyer, it just keeps getting more and more annoying while bringing you closer to victory. Draw it later in the game? Slap it on your opponent's best guy and beat down(with flying). A great pick. Cool art too!

10. Nyx-Fleece Ram.


A 2-cost blocker that it's tough to deal with and the few points of life it'll net you throughout the course of a game can make a huge difference. If it's left to its own devices, you'll probably net around 8-12 life points per game that he comes down on turn 2. If that's not enough to sway the game your way, I'm not sure what is. The art is pretty nice too. If there's not much in the pack, I'd first pick this guy but he's probably around a 2nd-4th pick.

Well thanks for hanging in with me for this long. If you're still as excited about this set, let's talk about some cards that are already out that might see some price changes.

As I discussed in my last article on the spoilers, Mana Confluence is a guaranteed slam dunk. Many decks run City of Brass up to a 4-of and this land pushes the City to the bench. No more losing to Rishadan Ports! Mana Confluence is sure to plummet the price of City of Brass so if you haven't already, sell sell sell!


With the addition of the New G/W Ajani walker, G/W aggro decks are sure to see a slight spike, notably Voice of Resurgence, Fleecemane Lion or creatures that interact well with counters like Kalonian Hydra. Most people realize that the Mentor of Heroes isn't amazing, but I'm sure there will be some people who look into it. After all, he IS a planeswalker.





I've noticed that there a lot of cards that mill yourself. Notably, Nyx Weaver, Kruphix's Insight, Returned Reveler, among others already in standard. This makes me wonder if we'll get a decent reanimator spell in M15 or possibly the next block. If we get anything that rivals Unburial Rites, it might be worth picking up some cheap bombs like Ashen Rider, Bearer of the Heavens, Angel of Serenity, Sylvan Primordial.




Dictate of Kruphix is another effect we haven't had in Standard for a while now and it begs the thought of returning the dreaded "Turbo-Fog". If it were to return in standard, and it will even if it's not very competitive, the cards I'd look at picking up would be; Sphere of Safety(great with many enchantments), Heliod(Makes many enchantments), Mana Bloom(A recurring enchantment entering the battlefield trigger). While likely not to see much of a spike, if any, they could at least be used as some throw-ins for trades.


Other than that, there hasn't been much that has spiked my thoughts on speculations for this set, however, like I mentioned before, there are a few cards that could have some cross-format playability. The cards I'm thinking of specifically are; Aegis of the Gods, Eidolon of the Great Revel, Eidolon of Rhetoric, and of course, Mana Confluence. Other than the land, I don't believe these cards will be too expensive upon release, so go ahead and pick up your playset and hang onto them for awhile until we figure out where those cards will end up.



Thanks for reading everybody! Hope you have a great pre-release weekend. I look forward to seeing some great new things from this set!

DannyO

Friday, April 11, 2014

Journey into Nyx spoilers with Wizard Den!

Hey everybody! As I'm sure you're all aware of, spoilers are in full bloom right now and now that we have a week's worth of them, I'd like to talk a bit about what we have so far. As with every new set, I get excited about pre-release weekend and I usually only focus on how good cards will be in the limited environment, but I want to take a look at these cards as they are in constructed formats.

I won't talk about every single card spoiled so far, rather, I'll just stick to the ones I feel will have some relevance in the various formats to keep it short and sweet. Here are some of the cards I feel could have an impact on standard or even other formats:

1. Extinguish All Hope




















Ever since last rotation, Black has been missing it's wrath effect and suffers against decks that can swarm quickly with more creatures than they can cast spot removal at. While at a steep cost of 6, Extinguish All Hope allows black the chance to come back from an early game rush. Decks like G/R/x monsters normally have a strong match-up against Mono-Black right now and this card could help our Pack Rat-loving spell-slingers hang in there. Because it is at 6 mana instead of a usual 4 for wrath effects(Supreme Verdict, Mutilate, Damnation, Day of Judgment), it'll most likely be ran at a 2-of, if at all. After all, Mono-Black has been doing so well that they probably don't need the help that this card can offer, but for those of you flooding out creatures as fast as you possibly can against Black decks, do be wary that this card exists.

2.Ajani's Presence




















Until now, the only way to make a creature indestructible cost 2 or more mana and lacked versatility enough to not be playable. I got very excited when I saw this card because it'll allow more aggro variants the ability to stave off not only spot removal, but now Supreme Verdict! Whenever I sought to build an aggro deck, I was usually able to keep the creatures protected from either spot removal or wrath, not both. The Naya Hexproof deck I talked about last week was the best deck I've seen for protecting against both spot removal and wrath thought it can have a lot of consistency issues. Ajani's Presence allows aggro decks to protect against wrath effects while having the versatility of protecting from spot removal and also, being a small pump spell if needed. This won't be a $2 uncommon, but I would expect to see this every now and then from White based aggro decks.

3. Eidolon of the Great Revel




















Pyrostatic Pillar has been used by many Legacy decks to combat Storm archetypes and now Modern and Standard have the effect too. Some argue that it's better as a creature, some says it's worse. Whatever your opinion on it, it's an amazing effect that red decks will be sure to use to shake up the format. If your opponent takes 2 damage to kill it before it even has a chance to attack, it did its job. It absorbed a removal spell and still hit for the two it would have anyway were it allowed to attack. Good card.

4. Dictate of Kruphix




















Turbo Fog. This card might not be revolutionary for the format, but I'm sure people will definitely be tempted into bringing turbo fog back. I'm not sure if there's any other deck that would benefit from this card though so we shouldn't see it pop up in many other places.

5. Ajani, Mentor of Heroes




















Personally, I don't think that this Ajani has the power level that Green/White decks need for an upgrade. At 5 CMC it's just too slow and the abilities are underwhelming. Distributing 3 +1/+1 counters is something we can do for 3 mana right now and gaining 100 life isn't a big deal. If you're losing to board position, 100 life is doable over 5-6 turns. If you're winning on board position, it's just a "win-more" effect that isn't necessary. The best ability is the option to dig for more creatures, or even other Planeswalkers to help build your board presence. In a Bant Planeswalkers deck that runs Kiora, Jace(AoT) and Elspeth, there would definitely be a good demand for this new Ajani since he can fetch out all your walker buddies and just dominate the board with so many planeswalkers, your opponent won't know what to do.

6. Mana Confluence




















I'm so excited to have this land in standard. The ability for multi-colored decks to have access to lands that come into play untapped and provide any color mana is huge right now. With the addition of the last two temples, every two-color combination now has their respective temple and shock land, but that was it unless you wanted to run guildgates, which just further slowed you down. Mana Confluence is a great addition to those decks that want another land that comes into play untapped to keep them on curve and able to keep up with the format. Mono Colored decks can even use this land to splash a second color very easily. Mono Blue can splash for Detention Sphere and Ephara, Black can splash for Blood Barons, etc.

For now that's all the cards I wanted to discuss. Let me know if there's something else you think would have a good impact on standard. Next week, we should have half or a little more of the spoilers and I'll start discussing my thoughts on the limited format for Sealed/Draft with Nyx.

Thanks for reading!
DannyO
WizardDen.com

Saturday, April 5, 2014

Naya Auras Deck T3ch with Wizard Den!

Hey guys! Last week I talked about a deck that was seeing some success at a few events and I did fairly well with it myself, but this week I got a new deck that I believe is way more versatile and can protect itself from all the things that the Mono-Green aggro just couldn't do. Today I'm going to talk a bit about the Naya Auras deck.

I decided to give this deck a test run myself at our FNM last night at Wizard Den and I really like it. Despite a few consistency flaws it may have(as any deck could), it's super difficult to deal with whether your answers for creatures are spot removal a la Doom Blade, or board sweepers a la Supreme Verdict. A majority of the creatures are hexproof, can't be targeted by Black/Red spells or they just make another creature when they die. If you haven't seen it yet, here's a basic list of the deck that most people seem to be leaning towards in the lists online.

Naya Hexproof/Auras:

Creatures: 16
4 Gladecover Scout
4 Voice of Resurgence
2 Hero of Iroas
4 Witchstalker
2 Fiendslayer Paladin

Enchantments: 16
4 Ethereal Armor
4 Madcap Skills
4 Unflinching Courage
4 Chained to the Rocks

Spells: 6
4 Boros Charm
2 Selesnya Charm

Lands: 22
4 Sacred Foundry
4 Stomping Ground
4 Temple Garden
4 Temple of Triumph
3 Temple of Plenty
2 Forest
1 Plains

16 Creatures is a little on the low side, but you generally only need one out to get this going so it's not too bad. In a pinch, Selesnya Charm can make a creature for you too. After you have a guy out and suited up with some enchantments, all you have to do is protect it. The creatures themselves are already difficult to deal with and highly resistant to spot removal, so wrath effeccts are what's going to be your downfall. Luckily, one of Boros Charm's modes gives your creatures Indestructible for the turn! If you don't need to use your Boros Charm for the wrath protection, you can always give your big guy double strike, or just finish off your opponent with the 4 damage.

Not only are these creatures tough to deal with, but Voice of Resurgence and Witchstalker both make control players cringe. Acting out on your turn proves to make things worse for them and on top of that, you're still left with a guy ready to swing after they drop the wrath. Control players aren't the only ones that have a hard time though. Black/x mid-range/control shells struggle a bit without a set of Devour Flesh to get around those hexproof guys. Even then though, there's generally a Voice or another creature out that can be used as Devour fodder. Blood Baron can be a little bit of a problem as it blocks Voice, Hero and Fiendslayer Paladin favorably, but any other creature you have swings without fear(probably with first strike).

Domri fighting is a good way to beat this deck since it can sometimes be hard to get your creature's toughness big enough to spar with a Polukranos. The hexproof helps, but for the ones without hexproof(or Fiendslayer Paladin), you have to be especially careful with when playing against the R/G/x monsters decks out there.

If you're looking for an aggro deck that can dodge spot removal and have some defense against wrath spells, this might be your deck! I know I've been frustrated with aggro variations because you could usually only protect against one or the other, but Naya Auras seems to handle both masterfully. This deck has also been performing quite well in the competitive circuit and I'm interested to see if it keeps going on this route. If so, you just might see me at the next PTQ with this deck! Regardless of how this deck will perform in the future for the pro scene, I've really enjoyed the deck and if you like to beat face with huge First Strike-Trample-Lifelinkers that your opponent can't do anything about, than maybe this deck is for you too!

Give it a try and let me know what you think of the archetype or if should be shelved!

Until next time,
DannyO
WizardDen.com