Seismic Ultimatum

Ok, so for my next deck I tried to do something different from the usual creature centric, smack you in the face deck.

	Seismic Ultimatum Main Deck 60 cards 4x Cascade Bluffs 4x Crumbling Necropolis 2x Island 4x Reflecting Pool 2x Reliquary Tower 4x Sunken Ruins 4x Vivid Creek 24 lands 4x Demigod of Revenge 4x Overbeing of Myth 3x Ashling the Pilgrim 11 creatures 3x Beseech the Queen 3x Cruel Ultimatum 2x Font of Mythos 2x Howling Mine 4x Obelisk of Grixis 3x Reminisce 3x Seismic Assault 3x Soul's Fire 2x Obelisk of Jund 25 other spells

This deck has a fair amount of draw power. With the fonts, mines, and overbeing, it is meant to keep my hand bursting with cards, which the Reliquary Tower makes sure they stay there. All this draw is needed to make sure I have a decent storage of land ready to use with Seismic Assault.

The overbeing is great for drawing cards and in most cases can be flung at opponents without too much worry. Demigod of Revenge is a great blitz card especially at end-game instances where a Cruel Ultimatum can bring one back to my hand and the rest of his friends come back for free.

The goal is to use Cruel Ultimatum's as much as possible with Seismic Assault as backup and Soul's Fire for emergencies. The creatures are mostly meant to stave off attackers.

Drop it like its hot! Mortal Kombat!

Silly deck time.  Win with Mortal Combat.

	Mortal Kombat Main Deck 60 cards 10x Plains 2x Fetid Heath 2x Wooded Bastion 4x Llanowar Wastes 18 lands 1x Honor Guard 1x Aven Squire 2x Oona's Gatewarden 1x Goldmeadow Dodger 1x Kinsbaile Skirmisher 2x Valiant Guard 2x Mosquito Guard 2x Goldmeadow Harrier 2x Akrasan Squire 4x Skullmulcher 4x Ranger of Eos 4x Knight-Captain of Eos 2x Loyal Sentry 1x Goldmeadow Stalwart 1x Cenn's Tactician 30 creatures 4x Mortal Combat 4x Howling Mine 4x Font of Mythos 12 other spells

Basically create such a massive weenie threat on the table that will require a boardsweep.  So you'll have 20 creatures in the graveyard for victory.  

My Throne's Not Empty I got tons of Angels!

me: I know what your thinking?
you: What do you mean you know what i'm thinking?
me: Trust me i know.
you: Ok, einstein, what am i thinking?
me: your thinking 1 of two things:
1) Where am i going to find a pencil that taste like bacon?
or
2) Isn't sigil of the empty throne not enough of a challenge?

So truth be told it is easy. A deck around this card isn't the hardest to figure out. However, that doesn't mean it isn't fun. Also, It has several factors that make it great in the multiplayer environment. The first awesomeness it has is Card Advantage! Since it is a token producing deck all that is requires is 2 cards, afterwards you can hoard the rest of the cards in your hand until they are needed. Two it's unique because it doesn't have a single creature, YAY! Third, for the low-low price of 2 mana:you can gain 4 life, and get a 4/4 angel. So, now you're probably thinking this is too good to be true, and you are right. Since there is a weakness and it's called "Telemin Performance". Now here is the deck and find out why:

	Empty Throne Main Deck 63 cards 1x Vivid Crag 2x Jungle Shrine 2x Vivid Creek 8x Plains 10x Island 23 lands 2x Angelic Chorus 3x Wrath of God 2x Biting Tether 3x Idyllic Tutor 4x Sigil of the Empty Throne 4x Shimmering Wings 2x Shared Animosity 4x Persuasion 3x Font of Mythos 3x Greater Auramancy 3x Oblivion Ring 3x Aura of Silence 4x Runed Halo 40 other spells

There it is, and there you have it. It is brilliant in its simplicity. It has tremendous ability to respond to enemy threats, and with the addition of runed halo can even potentially escape the grips of telemin performance, and anything you do gets you a 4/4 angel what a deal!

Reliquary Assault

Lets cut to the chase.  

	Reliquary Main Deck 60 cards 5x Forest 2x Island 4x Jungle Shrine 5x Mountain 4x Naya Panorama 4x Plains 2x Reliquary Tower 2x Swamp 28 lands 4x Knight of the Reliquary 4x Swans of Bryn Argoll 8 creatures 4x Armillary Sphere 4x Howling Mine 3x Invert the Skies 3x Primal Command 4x Seismic Assault 3x Shard Convergence 3x Worm Harvest 24 other spells

This is the first deck I've made with 28 land and still under 60 cards.  It is very hard to have so many lands and stay under 60.  I feel your options become very limited.  You can't fit all the things you want.  I would probably include a board sweeper and enchantment/artifact removal if I had more space.

Seismic Assault and Knight of the Reliquary work very well together.  One lets me throw lands in graveyard, the other gets bigger.  It is a win win situation.  The lack of removal can't be helped when you only have space for 32 cards.  The only real issue I have are the lack of creatures.  Hopefully Worm Harvest will give me a steady supply of chump blockers.  I find Swans of Bryn Argoll is one of the best flying blockers in standard.  I know giving cards to a player might not be the best choice but there are not many flying blockers that'll stick around after getting smashed with an dragon or angel.  An alternate choice might be Wall of Reverence but hopefully I can take advantage of my Swan's drawing power.  Although the gain life is very tempting as well considering that I might have a 10/10 Knight on the table.

UPDATE:

Traded the Invert the Skies with Shield of the Oversoul.  Two Howling Mine for two Font of Mythos.

Might exchange the Shields for something else.  Indestructibility is great but still prone to removal.

Introducing M10!

It looks like "11th Edition" will be released this summer.  But with a twist!  They are doing new editions every year and changing the name.  It will be called Magic: The Gathering 2010 Core Set!  M10 for short!  Read http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/feature/27a for more info!  Oh yes, new cards in core set too.

Death of a Gobrin - NOMS!!

In the spirit of Role-Reversal week, I will be attempting to create a tokenesque deck to match those of Kevin's. The premise is very simple, create gobrin tokens, then have big dragons munch on their brains for extra power.

	Noms Main Deck 60 cards 7x Mountain 7x Swamp 3x Graven Cairns 3x Auntie's Hovel 20 lands 4x Voracious Dragon 4x Predator Dragon 3x Knucklebone Witch 3x Frogtosser Banneret 3x Siege-Gang Commander 4x Boggart Harbinger 3x Chandra Nalaar 24 creatures 4x Armillary Sphere 4x Rise of the Hobgoblins 4x Dragon Fodder 4x Boggart Shenanigans 16 other spells

Will post update on it's effectiveness after some test runs.

Update: Tossed out all the champion goblins and all green from the deck. This new list is much more focused on getting goblin tokens which my Voracious and Predator dragons happily enjoy. It's damage potential is very high and can occur quicker than most people might expect, but often leaves me top-decking to win against a whole table.

Role-Reversal - Master Transmuter

I will be taking Nus' slot this week by making an all artifact deck.  Channelling Arificier Nus:

	Master Transmuter Main Deck 60 cards 4x Arcane Sanctum 5x Island 4x Swamp 4x Plains 3x Rupture Spire 20 lands 4x Etherium Sculptor 4x Parasitic Strix 4x Sludge Strider 4x Master Transmuter 4x Sphinx Summoner 4x Tezzeret the Seeker 3x Ethersworn Adjudicator 2x Sharuum the Hegemon 2x Magister Sphinx 31 creatures 3x Dispeller's Capsule 3x Wrath of God 3x Thousand-Year Elixir 9 other spells

I will follow up with post-game analysis after this weekend.

Only played one game with the deck and was mana screwed.  Although the combo seems to work.  Before Nusret smashed my face in; I got him down to 4 life when he was at 24. :)

UPDATE:  A bit more playing.  Deck is very good in a 3-way environment.  With haste Master Transmuter becomes quite hard to get rid of since it has a self bounce.  Group was having trouble attacking effectively due to the "Phantom Blocker" technique.