So, I picked up a M14 Core Set and an Event Deck on Monday to get back into the thing after I last played the Saviors of Kamigawa block which was released back in 2005. The Kamigawa block was one of the many blocks in the M8 series, which was where I began playing back in 2003. As with anything else, the game of MTG has changed significantly in 8 years and I now find myself in the bewildering darkness that is the world of trading card games. Those of you who were serious players back in 2003/5 would recall that at that stage of the game's development the market for the buying / trading of single cards was very limited and you would struggle for months to get that one card you so sorely wanted. Nowadays however, your game master (the person running your Friday Night Magic tournies) has everything and anything your heart desires right at your fingertips and the tip of wallet which they source directly from Wizard's at their request. The market for trading / selling cards has grown IMMENSELY and a fortune can be made with the selling of the right card at the right time (I was shocked to hear that there are cards which sell for prices in excess of $100 U.S - that's insane!!!!). Off the economic development and mechanisms of the game though and onto the fun part. Who of you still play this, either casually or seriously, as I need some tips on the new releases with my deck building and devising some properly executable winning conditions from my decks. Cheers.
Yo. Don't really play much with my own stuff any more (Play EDH/Commander mostly with my own stuff, at times Modern.) Never played it that seriously but I know how to if I wanted to, had the time and the money for decks (Ironically Standard is more expensive than many other formats despite being the most common if you factor in having to change your deck all the time depending on the meta/rotation/new cards) Feel free to ask me anything, I know what I'm doing. Main reason I don't play regularly is my friends stopped. I still know loads of people and have friends that do, but not the guys I regularly hang out with.
Haven't played since Shards of Alara. None of my friends really play it anymore and I can't be bothered spending money on MTGO.
@ Arheener: I play a mono White, life-gaining deck atm, but lack that killer blow. I do well early game, getting opponents down to about 5 life and getting myself up to about 30/35 after about 7/8 turns. But, from there, my smaller creatures all die off very quickly once my opponents start smacking out dem 5/5's and stronger, especially those Green kents. It would be difficult for you to give an input since I cbf posting all my cards on here, it would take ages and a whole page, but if you have any ideas on building strong White decks, feel free.
tl;dr-Lifegain is a terrible strategy. You generally lack any way to build a resource advantage since all your cards try to do is gain you life, but then proceed to have little in the way of actual damage/killing power, which is the main problem with lifegain decks and has been for eternity. They're basically the classic "Noobs think this is good and viable but it really isn't" strategy. Lifegain cards can be amazing, but the ones that are that good are few and far between (Things like Batterskull, Thragtusk, Serra Ascendent in EDH and so on.) It's just cards for the purpose of gaining life that are otherwise crap should be avoided at all costs, and that could be where you're going wrong. Since I don't know what you're running in your deck I can't really come to a conclusion on what you actually need for it though.
Nah, you're wrong. Here's my strategy: First, have a look at the cards, here: http://www.magicspoiler.com/m14-magic-2014-card-list/ Now, with the Planeswalker, when I use it's ultimate ability, my life gaining strat is boosted significantly. I was able to put 36 such tokens into play last night when I destroyed a Green / Black aggro deck 2 games out of 2 after being lucky and drawing my Ajani early game and playing it in round 3. I got to 36 life within 5 turns and slapping down a Congregate. Path of Bravery is an immense card of which I play 2 in my deck together with Angelic Accord, which two cards is the make or break of this deck - Spamming life gain like a motherfucker and them spamming out 4/4 flying creatures to boot. With Ajani's Chosen I keep spamming more 2/2 creatures every time I play an enchantment, of which I have 12 in the deck! Add the Planeswalker's ability to keep adding +1/+1 counters every turn from as early as turn 3 and you have a formidable army in as quick as 6 rounds with all creatures a minimum of 3/3 with Path of Bravery. And early game you are nearly guaranteed to have more life than 20 with Soulmender's activated ability which can be used from turn 1! I really think you underestimate the possible power of this deck.
All I know is Restoration Angel+Thragtusk= Good lifegain in standard. Is the 2/2 that gets a +1/+! counter every time you gain life for 2 mana still in standard? And also, I'd say that your deck definitely classifies under tokens more than you suggested it. Seems absolutely fine at a hobby league level, depending on what your local area is like but not really above that though.
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Played two events, one with a White starter kit and the other with a Black kit. In the first I combined White & Blue with a shit load of flying creatures and Daxos and Battlewise Hoplite, finished 6th of 14 players. In the second I went Black / Green with heavy creature cycling from the graveyard, again did ok finishing 8th of 16.
Hundred-Handed One is mad shit. There is also a 10/10 defender Artifact creature that becomes a 20/20 with trample when made monstrous and then loses "defender", crazy! I love the "bestow" mechanic as well since your enchantments become creatures again once the target creature is destroyed and they give the best abilities. I reckon that the monstrous ability will be played hard in Standard. The Multicolored cards are also great and they are very strong, they ought to see plenty of play in Standard as well.
Playing a booster torment this friday for Theros. Just got back into it and good to see the ninja's getting back into it.
This Black / Green combo of cards worked well for me in the second pre-release event: http://www.magicspoiler.com/mtg-spoiler/agent-of-the-fates/ - Sac creatures and fill up graveyards. http://www.magicspoiler.com/mtg-spoiler/ereboss-emissary/ - Sac more creatures + pump up your creature. http://www.magicspoiler.com/mtg-spoiler/march-of-the-returned/ - Bring back creatures from graveyard. http://www.magicspoiler.com/mtg-spoiler/nighthowler/ - BEST card; Gains power and toughness based on number of creatures in ALL graveyards. http://www.magicspoiler.com/mtg-spoiler/rescue-from-the-underworld/ - Sac and return. http://www.magicspoiler.com/mtg-spoiler/returned-centaur/ - Mill cards, fill up the graveyard. http://www.magicspoiler.com/mtg-spoiler/disciple-of-phenax/ - Opponent discards to fill up graveyard. http://www.magicspoiler.com/mtg-spoiler/thoughtseize/ -More discarding. http://www.magicspoiler.com/mtg-spoiler/pharikas-mender/ - More return. These cards work really well in tandem, although your kicker remains Nighthowler.
