Zen Block Allies

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Happy Monday MTG peeps,

We all knew just within a few hours after the Rise of the Eldrazi mini-site and Orb of Insight went live that some significant changes were coming down the tube which would certainly change the standard game. Obviously, one of the bigger changes was the introduction of the massive Eldrazi cards hitting the gaming table but also on almost the same footing was the lack of any new 'Ally' cards - we saw them in Zendikar, and then Worldwake. Many thought some decent Ally creatures and (quasi) tribal cards were on the way in Rise of the Eldrazi but unfortunately not . . . welcome to Frown Town - population - Ally fans.


To add insult to injury to this slight, Wizards today in their Daily Deck List, had provided a list for Green-White Allies with this deck list :

With Rise of the Eldrazi now available in stores, Daily Decks will spend this week examining popular archetypes from Zendikar Block Constructed events held on Magic Online. That's a format that will really be shaken up by the coming of the monstrous Eldrazi, and we're here to give you a jump start on the competition. Today we start with Green-White Allies. Are there cards from Rise you think can make this deck better? Take a look through the searchable spoiler to decide for yourself.

Really, the only creature spell of use in the new Rise of the Eldrazi block to allow you to trigger all those great Ally effects may be that new shapeshifter, Renegade Doppelganger.

Perhaps, Wizards thought that Allies would not be as popular as it was with casual Magic players like us. Perhaps it was dictated by the story-line - alliances and expedition houses broke up with the new Eldrazi threat - whatever it may be, We're sending scorn and defiance; slight regard, contempt, and any thing that may not misbecome the mighty senders to Brian Tinsman, Matt Place and Doug Beyer.

Anywhoos - thanks everyone for letting use rant on a bit like that - lets get back to that deck list we were yattering about before the design rage took us . . .

Green-White Allies
Main Deck : 61 cards
24 lands

7 Forest, 2 Graypelt Refuge, 8 Plains, 4 Stirring Wildwood, 3 Tectonic Edge

33 creatures

3 Graypelt Hunter, 4 Hada Freeblade, 4 Harabaz Druid, 3 Kabira Evangel, 4 Kazandu Blademaster, 4 Oran-Rief Survivalist, 4 Tajuru Archer, 4 Talus Paladin, 3 Turntimber Ranger

4 other spells

2 Grappling Hook, 2 Join the Ranks

15 sideboard cards

3 Journey to Nowhere, 4 Ondu Cleric, 3 Quicksand, 4 Refraction Trap, 1 Turntimber Ranger

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Well that's a wrap for today's post - we hope everyone had played some great games during this weekend's release event - stay tuned for more rants, casual deck ideas, and news.

If you need to pick up Zendikar block Allies, they should be at a fairly reasonable price - check out MTG Mint Card - all the Rise of the Edlrazi singles are now up and ready for pre-order. BONUS - just enter "MTG-REALM" on check out page and you will get $5 off on your order of $50 or over. This code is good until the end of April, so plan your purchases now.~

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Deck Ideas - UW Allies

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Good Day MTG peeps,

With the newest Magic the Gathering set now out, Worldwake, there appears to be a lot of players out there looking to either build a new deck or tweak an existing one.

To this end, we decided to run a series of articles providing some very general deck ideas. NOTE - these decks are meant for FUN casual kitchen table play or for standard constructed play at Friday Night Magic. You will note that the cards we choose may not be quite budget but will certainly not include expensive bombs the like of Wallet-Slayer Angel. We would like you to have a look and tweak these to your style as you see fit. Please drop us a comment

The next deck idea up is the Blue / White Allies . . . (with a chance of mill) -

Now the main purpose is not to present a milling deck but an Ally Deck that also happens to mill - let's have a peak of what's in . . .

MAIN DECK

Hada Freeblade - grow with each now ally hitting the table.

Hedron Crab - Our fav landfalling mill crab - don't expect to deck your opponent, just mill for hopefully a few frustrating turns till this crab gets eaten.

Kazandu Blademaster - First Strike vigilence 2/2 drop is not a bad start - protect your milling dudes or go aggro as the situation demands.

Halimar Excavator - Every time an Ally hits the table while this guy is out, your opponent will be losing weight in their library.

Wall of Denial - This is definitely needed to protect your tech from board threats. Love 'em those flying shroud defenders.

Kabira Evangel - There should be three of this guy in the mix. Providing protection against any chosen colour is good in our books.

Umara Raptor - Hopefully, this bird will grow to be a huge threat with all the allies coming on board.

Sea Gate Loremaster - Having the ability to draw cards is directly related to card advantage - card advantage most often equals board advantage and being able to provide timely responses as the game develops.

Path to Exile - Critter removal is never bad - especially when you pair this with archive trap.

Narrow Escape - We love this card - being able to bounce allies back to your hand to repeat juicy effects is great.

Join the Ranks - This could certainly be fodder for chump blockers but we like to have the previous ally effects be repeated twice-fold as this card is played. Being an instant, one could play this while Kabira Evangel is out to provide cover during your oppoents red burn turn.

Archive Trap - This is a decent mill card, even better when paired with Path to Exile.

Celestial Colonnade - Please substitute any blue / white dual land if you don't have some of these.

Halimar Depths - provides some control to your play by setting up what you will be drawing next.

Plains - some of those.

Island - and those too.

Sorry - we have not had a moment to think about a sideboard just yet.

Anywhoos - This does look fun - tweak this, take this out for a spin at the kitchen table or to your FNM and get back to us with your comments, feedback or constructive criticism.

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Worldwake Allies

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Good Day folks,
We are now sitting at around 143 of 145 cards spoiled or previewed. Most likely within a few hours of this post, we will have the entire Worldwake set in our hands.

We will be doing what we always do when we have a new Magic the Gathering set on the table - build a casual deck. We will of course be revisiting our Vampire build but today we will explore the new Allies we have . . . Just remember that some of these cards are not yet officially spoiled so accordingly not yet set in stone.

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We have about a 11 new Ally creatures and also an Ally Spell. Let's go quickly through them and get some thoughts out after.

Hada Freeblade,
Creature - Human Soldier Ally, Uncommon
Whenever Hada Freeblade or another Ally enters the battlefield under your control, you may put a +1/+1 counter on Hada Freeblade.
0/1

Join the Ranks, 3
Instant, Common
Put two 1/1 white Soldier Ally creature tokens onto the battlefield.

Talus Paladin, 3
Creature - Human Knight Ally, Rare
Whenever Talus Paladin or another Ally enters the battlefield under your control, you may have Allies you control gain lifelink until end of turn and you may put a +1/+1 counter on Talus Paladin.
2/3

Halimar Excavator, 1
Creature - Human Wizard Ally, Common
Whenever Halimar Excavator or another Ally enters the battlefield under your control, target player puts the top X cards of his or her library into his or her graveyard, where X is the number of Allies you control.
1/3


Jwari Shapeshifter, 1
Creature - Shapeshifter Ally Rare
You may have Jwari Shapeshifter enter the battlefield as a copy of any Ally creature on the battlefield.
0/0

Agadeem Occultist, 2
Creature - Human Shaman Ally, Rare
{T}: Put target creature card from an opponent's graveyard onto the battlefield under your control if its converted mana cost is less than or equal to the number of Allies you control.
0/2

Bojuka Brigand, 1
Creature - Human Warrior Ally, Common
Bojuka Brigand can't block.
Whenever Bojuka Brigand or another Ally creature enters the battlefield under your control, you may put a +1/+1 counter on Bojuka Brigand.
1/1

Akoum Battlesinger, 1
Creature - Human Berserker Ally, Common
Haste
Whenever Akoum Battlesinger or another Ally enters the battlefield under your control, you may have Ally creatures you control get +1/+0 until end of turn.
1/1

Tuktuk Scrapper, 3
Creature - Goblin Artificer Ally, Uncommon
Whenever Tuktuk Scrapper or another Ally enters the battlefield under your control, you may destroy target artifact. If that artifact is put into a graveyard this way, Tuktuk Scrapper deals damage equal to the number of Allies you control to that artifact's controller.
2/2

Graypelt Hunter, 3
Creature - Human Warrior Ally, Common
Trample
Whenever Graypelt Hunter or another Ally enters the battlefield under your control, you may put a +1/+1 counter on Graypelt Hunter.
2/2

Harabaz Druid, 1
Creature - Human Druid Ally Rare
{T}: Add X mana of any one color to your mana pool, where X is the number of Allies you control.
0/1

Vastwood Animist, 2
Creature - Elf Shaman Ally, Uncommon
: Target land becomes a X/X Elemental creature until end of turn, where X is the number of Allies you control. It's still a land.
1/1

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After reviewing our new Allies, it appears that the cards that stand out are Join the Ranks, Agadeem Occultist, Harabaz Druid, and Vastwood Animist.

With the instant spell, Join the Ranks one is able to strategically play this when the most benefits are available - example - when you need to gain life (Talus Paladin), gain protection (Kabira Evangel), beff up your Allies (Kazuul Warlord), or timmy at fatty (Murasa Pyromancer). Agadeem Occultist appears to also provide some very decent recursion from your opponent's graveyard and Vastwood Animist looks very versatile in animating a temporary man-land for fun shenanigans.

One basic issue with Allies in Zendikar was being able to produce the correct mana as this quasi tribe is all over the colour pie. Harabaz Druid now appears to provide some relief with that.

The challenge is now being able to take the best Ally cards from Zendikar and Worldwake to construct that fun casual deck we have all be thinking about for the last few months. Following is a visual summary of the previous Allies now in our tool belt.

Whereever your Ally deck takes your casual game, we are fairly certain you will have fun. Drop a comment and tell us how you would build the next new Ally deck.

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