February 23, 2014

The Rediculous Combo Deck!

     Here is the deck list of the insane combo deck we made from the stream tonight. All of these cards plus a few Legendary Creatures were made into quite the interesting deck. Watch us play this on our stream!

Infinite Mill/Lifeloss:

Mindcrank x2
Duskmantle Guildmage x2

The No Card Left Victory:

Enter the Infinite
Omniscience
Laboratory Maniac
Plus Any From of Card Draw

The True Infinite Blocker:

Fated Return
Palisade Giant

Biovisionary Win:

Biovisionary x4
Tempt With Reflection
Clone x3
Fated Infatuation

Door to Win:

Door to Nothingness x2
Kiora's Follower

Infinite Life Gain/Loss Loop:

Exquisite Blood
Sanguine Bond

Maze's End:

Maze's End
One of Every Guild Gate

Support Cards:

Diabolic Tutor
Ring of Three Wishes
Traumatize
Arbiter of the Ideal
Mindslaver
Alchemist's Refuge
Staff of Nin
Bonfire of the Dammed

Support Creatures and Planeswalkers:

Wall of Denial
Tajic, Blade of the Legion
Mirko Vosk, Mind Drinker
Nekusar, the Mindrazer
Aurelia, the Warleader
Tromokratis
Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts
Pestilence Deamon
Artisan of Kozilek
Ral Zarek
Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver
Tamiyo, the Moon Sage

February 18, 2014

III. Tournaments and Ways to Play

     After you have spent some time learning the game, crafting some decks and feeling out your talents as a Planeswalker you may want to give a tournament a try. The best way to find a tournament near you is to pop on over to your local comic shop and check their schedule, or if you are interested in a more large scale event check out StarCityGames and put your zip-code into their event locator.
     Once you have found a tournament that you are interested in, check out the format of the event because you may need to alter your deck to be allowed to play within the format rules.

Formats:


Limited Play:

     If you don't feel like your decks are up to snuff then you should look into a Limited Tournament, these events require the players to build a deck on the spot using a predetermined pool of cards that either come from a selection of boosters or from cards you get in a Draft.

Sealed Play:

     Players open up six boosters and build a deck. The only rule is that a deck must contain a minimum of 40 cards. Plain and simple this is one of the best ways to increase the size of your collection while having a good time with other players.

Booster Draft:

     Grab three to seven of your friends, you get three booster packs each and sit down at a table. At the start of the draft each player picks up a pack, opens it up and pulls out a card that they want then passes the rest of the cards to their left. This continues until all of the cards are drafted then the second pack is opened and the process starts again until all of the cards in all three packs have been drafted. Once all the cards have been drafted each player takes the cards they picked and then builds a deck out of them. Each deck must contain at least 40 cards.

Constructed Play:

     When you have built a quality deck then you should look into some constructed play. There are many different variants in constructed each one only allowing certain cards to be played. Decks must contain at least 60 cards and no more than four copies of any card, not including basic lands.

Standard:

     This format only uses the newest sets. The current block, the block that was released the previous October, and the most recent core set are all that are allowed to be played in a Standard deck. This is the most common format and Standard events can be found year round.

Block Constructed:

     This format uses only cards from a single block. These tournaments usually take their name from the first set in the block, i.e. Innistrad, Dark Ascension and the Avacyn Restored sets make up the Innistrad block.

Extended:

     This format includes all the sets legal in the Standard format and all expansions/core sets from the past four years.

Modern:

     This format allows all cards printed since the modern card frame was introduced in Eighth Edition and the Mirrodin Block.

Vintage:

     If you have a collection of cards that dates back from the first release in 1993, this is the format for you. Every single card ever printed is allowed in this format.

Legacy:

     This format is very similar to Vintage but some cards are not allowed.

Two-Headed Giant:

     If you have ever wanted to play with an ally then you may want to look into this format. A team of two players play against another team of two and you can choose whether you can to play in either Constructed or Limited. Both teams start with 30 life and each team shares a turn.


Another thing to note about these formats is that some specific cards are either banned or restricted to one card per deck. Here is a list (provided by Wizards of the Coast) of these cards, make sure you adhere to these rules or you may be disqualified from a tournament for having them in a deck.

February 3, 2014

> How to Play

How to Play

     To play a game of Magic you and a friend each need a deck, some way of keeping track of life-totals and a nice open table. To win the game a player must have their life total be reduced to zero or when a player goes to draw a card from their library and there are none left to draw. There are some spells that grant victory upon casting or reaching a specific condition, but they do not happen as often. Once you have found a nice place to play, have your decks and life set, the game can begin.

     When deciding who goes first, it is either the winner of a dice roll or coin toss. Unless you have just played the same opponent, then the loser gets to decide the order. Each player shuffles their deck and draws seven cards. If your opening hand is not to your liking you may shuffle the hand back into your deck and then draw six cards. This is called a mulligan and can be repeated, drawing one less card each time, until you are satisfied. Although it is not an official rule some players allow for a Gentleman's Mulligan, meaning that a player can mulligan at least once without reducing their opening hand size.

     Now that the hands have been draw and the player order chosen, it is time to take the first turn. And here is how it goes:

- Beginning Phase

     I. Untap Step:
     Untap all of your tapped permanents. No spells or abilities may be cast during this step.
     II. Upkeep Step:
     This step activates a number of cards, if something is supposed to happen just once per turn this is when it happens. Instants and abilities are now allowed to be cast.
     III. Draw Step:
     Time to draw a card. (The player who goes first skips this step to even out the advantage of going first.)

- Main Phase

     Any number of cards can be played during this phase, though only if the player has enough land to cast them. This is also the phase where a land can be played. Only one land is allowed to be played per turn, unless said otherwise by a card that was cast or that is currently on the field. Opponents may cast instants or activate abilities on this turn.

- Combat Phase

     I. Beginning of Combat Step:
     Players can cast instants and activate abilities and this is the last chance for your opponent to stop your creatures from attacking.
     II. Declare Attackers Step:
     Now is when you decide which untapped creatures of yours will attack which opposing player or Planeswalker. This taps the attacking creature. Instants can be cast and abilities can be activated.
     III. Declare Blockers Step:
     Your opponent now decides which untapped creatures of their control will block your attacking creatures. If multiple creatures block a single attacker you chose which is the first to receive the damage, which is second and so on. Instants can be cast and abilities can be activated.
     IV. Combat Damage Step:
     All attacking and blocking creatures that are still on the field deals its damage to its target. Whether that be another creature, player or Planeswalker. If an attacking creature is being blocked by multiple creatures then the attacking player divides the damage among the blockers, though enough damage must me assigned to the first blocker to kill it before damage can be assigned to the others. The attacking player chooses the order of the blockers. Once damage has been assigned it is all dealt at once. Players can then cast instants and activate abilities.
     V. End of Combat Step:
     Players can cast instants and activate abilities.

- Main Phase II

     Same as the first main phase, if a land wasn't played in the first main phase you can play it now.

- Ending Phase

     I. End Step:
     Abilities that trigger at the beginning of your end step now activate.
     II. Cleanup Step:
     If you have eight or more cards in your hand, now is when you choose which to discard until you are back down to seven. Next, all damage on creatures that did not kill is removed and all until end of turn and this turn effects end. No spells can be cast and only abilities that trigger during this step can be activated.

- Side Notes:

     Tapping means to literally turn a card sideways, and once a card is tapped it remains tapped until the Untap Step or another card allows you to untap it. In the case of land tapping adds the resource to your pool and any leftover resources in your pool are removed at the end of the turn.

     Another thing to always keep in mind is the Golden Rule of Magic which states that if a rule on a card contradicts the rulebook itself, the card overrules it.

     Resolving: When a spell is cast it goes into a sort of limbo where the opponent is able cast a counter to stop it from resolving. When a spell resolves, if it is an instant or sorcery, its effect activates, then the card goes to the graveyard. If the spell is a creature, artifact, enchantment or Planeswalker, you put the card on the table in front of you. The card is now on the battlefield.

     When a card is Exiled it is removed from the game and remains there forever unless whatever put it there is able to bring it back.