Green - White Tokens

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Happy Monday MTG peeps,

We hope you had a great weekend and had time to get some Magic the Gathering games fitted in. As for ourselves, we had an opportunity to make tracks over to the local gaming store, OMG Games in Barrie, Ontario where they had a good turn out of 48 players competing for a Worldwake Fat Pack. Unfortunately we had to drop early but were sure we will find out if the winner met with success with the Jace 2.0 lottery. On Saturday we went back to the binders and looked over some of our older (still standard legal) cards and reminisced a bit. To this end, we brewed up an nostaligic casual deck, which although might not be able to take on some of the premier net decks, still would deliver very well on FUN. This had won only half the games we played with so far (against an Elf deck and a Tempered Steel deck) but they were certainly very close.

Let's have a look at this odd brew of Green / White tokens . . .


SPELLS - 38
4 x Birds of Paradise
4 x Wall of Omens
4 x Explore
4 x Harrow
4 x Emeria Angel
3 x Garruk Wildspeaker
2 x Day of Judgement
3 x Eldrazi Monument
2 x Elspeth Tirel
3 x Rampaging Baloth
3 x Avenger of Zendikar
2 x Novablast Wurm

LANDS - 22
9 x Forest
9 x Plains
2 x Sunpetal Grove
2 x Stirring Wildwood
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The deck will generate -

0/1 Plant tokens (Avenger of Zendikar),
1/1 Bird tokens (Emeria Angel),
1/1 Soldier tokens (Elspeth Tirel),
3/3 Beast tokens (Garruk Wildspeaker), as well as
4/4 Beast tokens (via Rampaging Baloths).


Altough we are not aiming for an overun effect (a pump / trample spell), there still is that capability with Garruk's last ability. Primarily, we are focusing on putting our opponent on a fast clock by puking a variety of tokens (most of which are provided with landfall triggers) and getting to a point where we can set up a variety of win conditions. Resetting the board with Day of Judgement, Elspeth Tirel or even Novablast Wurm and a fast recovery and a swing in for lethal damage.


Extra critical card draws are provided with Wall of Omens and Explore while additional land drops to trigger landfall abilities are provided with Harrow as again with Explore.

Should we be able to get Eldrazi Monument out followed by Day of Judgement, Elspeth or Novablast, then things are certainly going quite well and promises of a game win is almost assured.

Anywhoos - as always, please pipe in with suggestions for the maindeck or sideboard (as we have not yet developed one) in the comment thingy below or by eMail. If this build gets some decent games in, we may even consider taking it from the kitchen table for a spin at FNM.

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Finally, as you know from some previous posts, MTG Mint Card is donating an incredible 30% of its sales to Doctors Without Borders who provide much needed front line medical aid to areas adversely affected by disasters around the world. This campaign which has run almost all month long will come to an end on March the 31st.

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GW Landfall

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Good Day folks,

We are trapped in Toronto this week on business but thankfully they have coffee down here and a connection to the interwebs. We don't think we will go into Magic the Gathering withdrawal either as 401 Games & Collectibles is within walking distance from our lair away from home. Not sure if we will be able to get daily MTG posts to the blog but we will do our best.

Anywhoos - We finally got around to putting together a real cardboard Magic the Gathering deck for the new post-Worldwake Landfall. The deck we had finally scrapped together for playtesting is Green / White featuring Emeria Angel, Rampaging Baloths and Avenger of Zendikar.


Right off the get-go, let's have a look at the video and then we'll get to some notes . . .

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To date, we have had only two playtest dates with this build - one against a mon-red (Red-Deck-Wins build) as well as an interesting mono-green Elf / Ally deck. Both matches show some promise and we will be taking notes for improvement.

We were initially taken by surprise just how many plant, bird, and beast tokens this particular build vomited out on the board. We guess we should not really be that surprised as Knight of the Reliquary (to search for any land - basic or otherwise) and Ruin Ghost (which temporarily bounces lands back to your hand) does a fairly decent job in dropping extra lands into play triggering all those awesome landfall abilities.











We had taken out Oran-Rief, the Vastwood and it appears the wheels did not in fact fall off. The land that really did impress us was Sejiri Steepe - especially when coupled with Ruin Ghost which when used in tandem is kind of like a 'protection on tap' and worked quite efficiently for us. Another land which did not yet really shine for us in this build was Stirring Vastwood - this man-land may eventually get pushed off into the sideboard.

Well, we're certain it has quite a bit to go to get this FNM ready but one important goal has already been reached - this is one heck of a FUN casual deck to play.

Stay tuned, not sure exactly when the next post will be but we are off to 401 Games right now - if you happen to be in the hood, we will be hanging out there for several evenings this week.

:-)

Zendikar Advice

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Good Day my peeps, wherever you may be. Today here on MTG Realm, we hope to provide you with some timely advice in advance of the Magic the Gathering release of the next expansion, Zendikar.

You may recall our recent post regarding the anticipated Zendikar mechanic, 'Lanfall'. This is the new hotness that provides a bonus 'whenever a land enters the battlefield under your control'. The only Zendikar spoiler to date that has this is Rampaging Baloths which generates 4/4 green beast tokens whenever you drop a land.

Right - now that was prefaced for you, our timely advice . . . Do Not Trade away your Knight of the Reliquarys just yet - in fact, you may even want to pick up a deckset now while the price is right. While you are at it, you may want to consider holding onto that Terramorphic Expanse and those Alara panoramas which will accelerate the tech in your new Zendikar Landfall deck.


Speaking of Knight of the Reliquary prices, do you remember when this card was going for around $9.00 (U.S.) back in February ? Dang ! Man did that price fall like a prom skirt. Knight is now going for just over $1.60 and we anticipate that it will only go up from here.

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In other news, just a few notes about the recent GenCon Indy 2009. Wizards of the Coast had a strong showing at the convention with lots of very decent Magic the Gathering and Dungeons & Dragons events / side events going on . . . including several 'learn to play Magic' games with oversized cards.

One suggestion to Wizards from MTG Realm . . . if you have a great space like this and oversized cards, arrange a special 'full contact' MTG . . . I'm thinking something along the line of a Jerry Springer show gone south of cheese.

The highlight - using n00bs from the crowd as Zombie creature tokens . . . just WIN !

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Also of note, while we are on WoTC events . . .

If you are anywhere near Seattle on September 4th to 6th, MTG Realm directs you to attend the PAX (Pennyn Arcade Expo) 2009 event. Wizards promises to be there showcasing the XBLA title Duels of the Planeswalkers and a Magic Online tournament.

The best part of the weekend will occur afterhours at Trinity Nightclub . . .

This year Magic will be hosting a party that is sure to be the highlight of the weekend. On Saturday, September 5 from 7-9 p.m., hundreds of lucky players will behold "The Sights of Zendikar" at Trinity Nightclub in downtown Seattle. We'll be showing a ton of exclusive spoiler cards and new art from the upcoming set, as well as previewing the new Duels of the Planeswalkers downloadable content. We'll also have an interactive puzzle to test your wits, with the savvy winner taking home a big prize (along with smaller door prizes for everyone). Free food and drinks will be served while guests mingle with artists Jeremy Jarvis, Richard Whitters, Mark Tedin and Todd Lockwood, along with R&D designers and developers who make the game what it is.

Unless I get a 'press pass' from the host Starfish Events or the Wizards PR folks at Porter Novelli, I will be unable to attend so please Email ME ! all the pics you get of this and we will post.

Zendikar Intro Packs

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Earlier today on Magic Arcana, we were treated to yet another Zendikar spoiler . . . Zendikar Intro Packs !

Each Magic the Gathering intro pack contains a (pre-constructed) 41-card deck (including a rare foil) and a Zendikar booster. Since these are 'intro packs', they thoughtfully included a handy strategy guide.

Let's see 'em already . . .

Kor Armory :
Foil Rare : Armament Master,
(Creature, Kor Soldier)


Unstable Terrain : /
Foil Rare : Sphinx of Jwar Isle, 4
(Creature, Sphinx)


Rise of the Vampires :
Foil Rare : Malakir Bloodwitch, 3
(Creature, Vampire)


Pumped Up : /
Foil Rare : Hellkite Charger 4
(Creature, Dragon)


The Adventurers : /
Turntimber Ranger, 3
(Creature, Elf Warrior)

Given the recent speculation on the Zendikar mechanic 'Landfall', it may be a safe bet that one or more of the foil rares included in these Intro Packs will have said mechanic . . .

exampli gratia - Extrapolating the art on Thorntimber Ranger, one can imagine a Landfall mechanic such as 'whenever a land enters the battlefield under your control, put a green 2/2 wolf token creature into play'.

So very kewl . . . stay tuned for more spoiler goodness.

Zendikar Landfall

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In an oddly phrophetic post yesterday on fakes, we follow up with another very exciting Magic the Gathering Zendikar spoiler including a block theme and mechanic.

Yesterday at around 1528 Hours, Rush_Clasic from MTG Salvation forums posted an MTG advertisement for Zendikar that features a card named Rampaging Baloths on MTG Sally. Apparently, this fuzzy image was captured from an animated gif file he had acquired from the spoiler gods. After some initial excitement on the forums and twitter, the spoiler was labeled 'fake' and the thread closed by urzassedatives only some two hours latter.

Upon receiving further intelligence, urzassedatives claimed Rampaging Baloths was real and subsequently re-opened the thread. To top it off, this card appears to be destined to become a release event promo card! The thread has now experienced over 24,000 views by spoiler-hungry MTG fans.

Soak it in my peeps . .

Rampaging Baloths, 4
Creature - Beast Mythic
Trample
Landfall - Whenever a land enters the battlefield under your control, you may put a 4/4 green Beast creature token (onto the battlefield)
6/6

The advertisement appears to be super-imposed on the front of that GenCon 2009 catalog Zendikar image which lent weight to many of those in the 'fake' camp in the very polarized forum members. As we could not clearly make out the text, we originally thought that this was totally overpowered, even in today's power creep trend. We thought that perhaps something along the line of "Whenever a land enters the battlefield under your control, you may put a 4/4 green Beast creature token with haste and Sacrifice this creature at the end of turn into play. With certainty, more is to be revealed.

The coolness - A new mechanic - 'Landfall'.

The card that can be partially seen in the ad shows a new mechanic called Landfall. "Whenever a land enters the battlefield under your control . . .", trigger something horrible.

Landfall appears to be a very interesting mechanic and may be ripe for abuse or to simply build a deck around. There are several cards in today's standard environment which allows one to search for mana. Some cards that come to mind are the Panoramas, land cycling, or Knight of the Reliquary.


A note about the Zendikar theme.

Straight from the recently released MTG Planeswalker novel, Purifying Fire.

"It's from Zendikar" he said. "A plane of some repute. It is said to be host to some of the most powerful mana sources in the multiverse, but it is also unpredictable, irratic. Voilent and pacific at the same moment."

"A mysterios plane- which may or may not exist- where mana works differently than any where else in the multiverse? And an artifact of such immense power that it will certainly be sought, coveted, and fought over by people far more ruthless then any keralian..."

Landfall seems to fit rather perfectly with the excerpts from the novel as well as some of the hints from MaRo.

In summary, we are anxiously awating this set's release - please send me an eMail if you get a hold of any other juicy tid-bits we can share.