FNM Vampires

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Happy Tuesday MTG peeps,

As we indicated in our Friday post here on MTG Realm, we took our Township Tokens deck for a spin at our local store. It provided some decent results and surprised us by doing not too shabby against an explosive red deck. As for the other games, let's just say we need to tweak our sideboard against the local metagame.

Anywhoos - back on track and the subject of this post's title, FNM Vampires. This loose tribe in the new Innistrad set provides some very decent cards and has some support in the M12 core set. Almost all new Innistrad vampire builds we've seen are constructed in black and red, which is for the best as one could now really take advantage certain new red Innistrad cards with the 'bloodthirst' mechanic from M12 (Bloodthirst 'N' means "If an opponent was dealt damage this turn, this creature enters the battlefield with N +1/+1 counters on it).


Most new vampire builds attempt to build up vampires which grow larger upon dealing combat damage to opponent. Some examples - Bloodcrazed Neonate, Stromkirk Noble, Bloodcrazed Neonate, and Falkenrath Marauders all collect additional +1/+1 counters upon dealing combat damage to a player. Rakish Heir goes a step beyond and provides a +1/+1 counter to any and all vampires who deal this damage. The aura, Curse of Stalked Prey, which enchants your opponent provides this similar effect more braodly. M12 vampires such as Vampire Outcasts and Bloodlord of Vaasgoth provide big bonuses bia +1/+1 counters with their bloodthirst tech.

Given the huge potential with all these counters, we suggest players consider the New Phyrexia common burn 'n' proliferate spell, Volt Charge not only for spot removal but also assisting Bloodthirst and piling additional counters on critters. Other spells to consider are Dismember and Incinerate, which are some very economical emoval spells in Standard.


We were able to get one of the fellas from the game store to give us a show 'n' tell tour of a similar build. To protect his privacy, we'll simply call him 'That Guy with the black and red vampire deck'. Anywhoos, Guy was in the process of constructing and take it for a spin against other players at Friday Night Magic. Guy was on the right track and had most the cards he needed . . .


Stromkirk Noble, Furor of the Bitten, Gruesome Deformity, Bloodcrazed Neonate, Curse of Stalked Prey, Go for the Throat, Doom Blade, Rakish Heir, Traitorous Blood, Vampire Outcasts, Bloodlord of Vaasgoth, Falkenrath Mauraders, Fireball. Mana base included the requisite Dragonskull Summit, along with the appropriate swamps, and mountains.

Looks good - all we can suggest is that players consider the amazing Bloodline Keeper / Lord of Lineage to generate 2/2 vampire tokens. We've seen some players drop Curse of Stalked Prey, calling it just a bit too slow with the tempo of their particular build. We also have not seen much love for Bump in the Night which is surprising as it provides a decent inexpensive enabler for the bloodthirst tech. (Edit - Korwinga caught my typo - use M12 Shock or another). Anywhoos - pipe in below with your comments - where is your vampire build at or what have you seen which impresses you.

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Lastly,
speaking of looking good - here's a random assortment of images taken at last Friday's game night at OMG! Games. Clockwise from top left - an English bloke making a bad trade, Batman, J-Osh, and M-Atty.

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Grand Abolisher

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Happy Monday MTG peeps,

Nothing new or exciting to share at the moment which is kinda good as we will be off-lined for a few days - we'll be heading down to Manhattan to hang with family for a while. Please expect us back in the control tower in time for Innistrad spoilers and previews.

In the mean time, we wanted to take another look at this new Cleric from the last Magic the Gathering core set, Magic 2012. First off - Eric Deschamps is an amazing artist. Secondly - the art does not really look the part of a cleric but the card effect certainly is. Let's see how this may (or may not) rock your game . . .

Grand Abolisher,

Creature - Human Cleric, Rare

During your turn, your opponents can't cast spells or activate abilities of artifacts, creatures, or enchantments.

Flavor Text: "Your superstitions and mumblings are useless chaff before my righteousness."

2 / 2

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There are two notes from the Magic 2012 Frequently Asked Questions documtent you should check out before sliding this Abeyance on a bear into your build . . .

• Grand Abolisher doesn't stop your opponents from activating abilities of artifact, creature, or enchantment cards in zones other than the battlefield (like cycling abilities, for example).
• Grand Abolisher doesn't affect triggered abilities or static abilities.

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There was also a mention in a Cranial Insertion question on this particular card -

Q: Will Grand Abolisher shut down Reassembling Skeleton?

A: It won't, oddly enough! Remember, a "creature" only exists on the battlefield. In your graveyard, Reassembling Skeleton is a creature card, not a creature, and so the Grand Abolisher doesn't care about it one bit.

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If your meta game is seeing way too much Deceiver Exarch / Splinter Twin, we suggest that this may be a decent sideboard card as it will prevent them from flashing Exarch into play at your end step.

We're seriously thinking of giving this card a try out on an enchantment / aura deck or perhaps an equipment deck (with Puresteel Paladin) but have some serious concerns about the viability in standard constructed with this. Perhaps if we could only get out Swiftfoot Boots on this guy, we would be a bit happier.

Anywhoos - does anyone out there play or have seen play with this guy ? What are your opinions ? Drop a line in the comment thingy below.

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Finally -
You may want to think about pre-ordering the next set of awesome - Innistrad! Check out the very excellent deals to be had with assorted card lots over at MTG Mint Card.
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Deck Ideas

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Happy Tuesday MTG peeps,

This weekend happens to be Magic 2012 Game Day. If you regularly sling Magic the Gathering cards in the standard format environment at Friday Night Magic, then chances are that you already have a decent build you will want to play this weekend. If you may not have had a lot of exposure to standard and want to jump into the game, we salute you and suggest you make tracks over to Wizards to check out the standard Magic Online decks (linky here) which have been making a splash. Not only will you be playing just for the game, the glory but also these very cool full alternate art promos - Bloodstorm Beserker (participation) and Dungrove Elder (top 8).














As we here at MTG Realm are typically against the grain, we enjoy leaving the popular 'net decks' behind and taking our chances with non-competetive / rogue decks or whatever tickles our fancy as long as it delivers big on the 'fun factor'. Here are a few decks which you may take an interest in. If you have a lone-wolf deck, drop over to MTG Url and submit your linky in the comment thingy below.
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Naya Allies
Maindeck:
Artifact Creatures : 4 Adaptive Automaton, 1 Phyrexian Metamorph

Creatures : 4 Akoum Battlesinger, 4 Hada Freeblade, 3 Harabaz Druid, 3 Kabira Evangel, 4 Kazandu Blademaster, 4 Ondu Cleric, 4 Oran-Rief Survivalist, 4 Talus Paladin

Instants : 2 Volt Charge

Basic Lands : 1 Mountain, 3 Plains

Lands : 4 Arid Mesa, 4 Copperline Gorge, 2 Raging Ravine, 4 Razorverge Thicket, 4 Stirring Wildwood, 1 Sunpetal Grove

Sideboard: 2 Tuktuk Scrapper, 4 Act of Aggression, 3 Celestial Purge, 2 Arc Trail, 4 Lead the Stampede
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Tempered Steel
Maindeck:
Artifacts : 4 Glint Hawk Idol, 3 Origin Spellbomb

Artifact Creatures : 4 Memnite, 4 Signal Pest, 4 Spellskite, 4 Steel Overseer, 4 Vault Skirge

Enchantments : 4 Tempered Steel

Instants : 4 Dispatch

Legendary Artifacts : 3 Mox Opal

Sorceries : 3 Preordain

Basic Lands : 11 Plains

Lands : 4 Inkmoth Nexus, 4 Seachrome Coast

Sideboard: 2 Shrine of Loyal Legions, 2 Hex Parasite, 2 Kor Firewalker, 2 Celestial Purge, 3 Dismember, 1 Revoke Existence, 1 Timely Reinforcements, 2 Contested War Zone
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Hero Blade
Maindeck:
Artifacts : 2 Sword of Feast and Famine

Creatures : 4 Blade Splicer, 4 Hero of Bladehold, 4 Squadron Hawk, 1 Sun Titan

Enchantments : 2 Oblivion Ring

Instants : 2 Dismember, 2 Into the Roil, 3 Mana Leak, 2 Spell Pierce

Planeswalkers : 1 Elspeth Tirel, 2 Gideon Jura

Sorceries : 4 Preordain

Basic Lands : 3 Island, 5 Plains

Lands : 4 Celestial Colonnade, 4 Glacial Fortress, 3 Inkmoth Nexus, 4 Seachrome Coast, 4 Tectonic Edge

Sideboard : 1 Sword of Feast and Famine, 3 Kor Firewalker, 1 Kor Sanctifiers, 2 Oblivion Ring, 2 Celestial Purge, 3 Flashfreeze, 3 Day of Judgment
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Lastly,
Did you know that MTG Mint Card has a lovely variety of user submitted Magic the Gathering decks at a very handy tool called 'DECK CENTRAL'. This page will allow you to construct your build and then provide you with a lithmus test of sample opening hands before you start gaming with it. You can also share your build and price your missing cards out as well.
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Finally -
Anyone care to speculate on the possible upcoming mechanics we may see with Innistrad Werewolves ? Drop your comments below.

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M12 Event Decklists

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Happy Monday MTG Peeps,

Remember last post where we indicated that we were heading out camping way up north for the week and not to expect MTG Realm updates ? Yeah - we kinda lied - just as we were loading up the truck we did one last check of the interwebs and had to share this rather important update before we really did finally head out to the wilds of northern Ontario.

Anywhoos - We have from the Mothership courtesy of WoTC Monty the Magic 2012 core set Event Deck lists - and they look rather decent, just like previous 'grab and go' pre-constructed event decks from Wizards of the Coast.

The Magic 2012 Event Decks will be available for sale on August 12, 2011 (just before M12 Game Day) for a suggested manufacturer's retail price of only $24.99. Unlike Intro Packs, these 60-card builds are designed to let the player jump straight into a standard-format event with a very decent deck that should be competitive.

Let's have a look -


Illusionary Might Magic 2012 Event Deck
Main Deck : 60 cards
















24 lands : 1 Glacial Fortress, 4 Glimmerpost, 19 Island

25 creatures : 4 Æther Adept, 2 Grand Architect, 1 Lord of the Unreal, 4 Phantasmal Bear, 3 Phantasmal Dragon, 1 Phantasmal Image, 4 Porcelain Legionnaire, 1 Precursor Golem, 4 Spined Thopter, 1 Steel Hellkite

11 other spells : 4 Mana Leak, 3 Mind Control, 4 Preordain

Sideboard 15 : 2 Flashfreeze, 2 Frost Breath, 3 Master Thief, 1 Mind Control, 2 Negate, 4 Neurok Commando, 1 Stoic Rebuttal

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Vampire Onslaught Magic 2012 Event Deck
Main Deck - 60 cards


















24 lands : 23 Swamp, 1 Verdant Catacombs

29 creatures : 2 Bloodghast, 4 Bloodthrone Vampire, 4 Gatekeeper of Malakir, 1 Kalastria Highborn, 4 Pawn of Ulamog, 1 Vampire Hexmage, 4 Vampire Lacerator, 2 Vampire Nighthawk, 3 Vampire Outcasts, 4 Viscera Seer

7 other spells : 2 Blade of the Bloodchief, 4 Dismember, 1 Mimic Vat

Sideboard 15 : 4 Distress, 2 Go for the Throat, 4 Skinrender, 3 Vampire Hexmage, 2 Vampire Nighthawk

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Please pipe in with your comments - how do you like these lists ? Our first impression - the Vamp deck does pack more 'money' cards (almost three times more) should you break down the price of singles. Otherwise, there are a few spots for improvement in both decks but this boils down to a personal choice. Also of note - a few cards in these decks are to rotate out in the fall, so ensure you work out your lists for replacement.

We really are leaving now for the week - so don't expect updates until next weekend - Happy and Safe gaming folks !

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Thinking of getting some more cards - check out MTG Mint Card and take advantage of their Facebook coupoun - Just enter "FBSAVE" on the checkout page, and you will get 5% off.

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Get Unreal

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Happy Thursday MTG peeps,

We here are MTG Realm have an opportunity today to take a look back at all those Magic the Gathering M12 spoilers and yatter about them. Specifically, we wanted some further discussion with the new blue lord from Magic 2012, Lord of the Unreal, which according to this post will be soon getting it's own event deck ..


Last week at Friday Night Magic, we saw another player with this card in their build. Unfortunately, we did not play against that deck or have an opportunity to check out their mix of cards altough we fairly certain what most players would brew up to game with. This human wizard provides a +1/+1 pump as well as hexproof to illusion creatures you control - so let's have a look at what illusion creatures there are currently in standard :


Summoner's Bane, Phantasmal Abomination, Aether Figment (a pumped-up / hexproof unblockable is pretty sweet), Phantasmal Image, Phantasmal Dragon, and Phantasmal Bear.


Additional support may be had through Phrexian Metamorph, Cryptosplasm, and even the fill-in-the-blank lord, Adaptive Automaton.


Now - onto the nitty-gritty.

One thing you will want to focus on as soon as you are ablt to is to copy your Lord of the Unreal with Phantasmal Image. This will now provide you with copy Lord of the Unreal with Phantasmal Image. The copy is still an illusion in addition to it's other types along with with it's drawback. What you have done also is give the Image the lord ability which is worded 'All Illusions you control', instead of 'All other Illusions you control', thus giving itself +1/+1 and Hexproof, including all your other Illusions. This would be pretty much the same as playing a Xenograft, naming 'illusions' as a creature type and giving your Lord of the Unreal the same hexproof. The weakness lies with any mass / blanket spells such as Day of Judgement or Black Sun's Zenith.


OK - let's next imagine a brilliant opening hand before we get into suggested servings -

Turn 1: Island / Phantasmal Bear
Turn 2: Island / Lord of the Unreal
Turn 3: Island / Phantasmal Image (of Lord of the Unreal)
Voilà ! - you should now have three 4/4 hexproof creatures on turn 3 in addition to one blue mana available for a Spell Pierce or a Turn Aside.
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As there are quite a few very lovely cards in blue, we leave it to you to how best decide what should go mainboard or sideboard depending upon your local metagame. Some suggestions we've received from local players include but are not limited to the following - Volition Reins, Distant Memories, Gitaxian Probe, Turn to Frog, Into the Roil, Spellskite, Distortion Strike, Grand Architect, Spreading Seas, Flashfreeze, etc.

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Finally, Magic 2012 M12 Chinese Foil Singles are now available at MTG Mint Card . . .

Feel bored with English singles? We have the Chinese Magic 2012 M12 singles available in our store. Full set of Chinese Foil and Regular singles are in stock now. Foils singles are with very limited stock only including, Jace, Memory Adept, Gideon Jura and Solemn Simulacrum.
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M12 Fat Pack

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Happy Thursday MTG peeps,

As per our custom here at MTG Realm, shortly after each Magic the Gathering set release, we swing by our local gaming lair and unbox a Fat Pack. We rather like the Fat Packs - namely for the lovely box we now get to keep our new set acquisitions in but you also get nine chances to pull that chase rare that everyone is raving about. Here's what you get - 9 boosters, 2 card boxes, 1 player's guide, 1 x 80-card land pack, 1 learn-to-play insert, and 1 Spindown™ life counter.


Anywhoos, enough yattering, grab yer Pop-Korn, sit down and watch the video of a Magic 2012 core set Fat Pack breakdown at OMG! Games in Barrie, Ontario.


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Here's a breakdown of what we pulled -

Foils
Armored Warhorse
Mana Leak
Mind Unbound

Rares
Day of Judgement
Call to the Grave
Sutured Ghoul
Warstorm Surge
Flameblast Dragon
Primordial Hydra
Throne of Empires
Sundial of the Infinite
Rootbound Crag

Unfortunately, we will have to call the pulls from this box lack-lustre with the exception of the foil Mind Unbound and the Primordial Hydra. This of course does not detract from general excitement of a new set and the ability to take your fresh cardboard loot to your the local gaming store, play with the new cards and get some trades done.

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Lastly,
With all the hub-bub with the M12 release, don't forget to ensure you have the lastest Commander singles - MTG Mint Card has these available in stock now.
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M12 Event Decks

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Happy Wednesday MTG peeps,

We have for you today images of the soon to be released M12 Event Decks. As with previous Magic the Gathering sets, Magic 2012 core set will also have event decks in time for M12 Game Day, scheduled for August 13th and 14th, 2011. These ready to play preconstructed decks are a great way to introduce standard format (and Friday Night Magic events) to newer players or just plain fun to play against a friend armed with the opposite deck.

Each Event Deck comes with a powerful, 60-card deck along with a 15-card sideboard, a “learn-to-play guide, a Spindown™ life counter, a strategy insert, and a deck box. Typically, Event Decks have had 7 rares but no Mythic Rares which means that they are competitive right out of the box for your casual play group. Wizards of the Coast has set the suggested retail price for these decks at $25.
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Righto, Let's yatter about the M12 Event Deck images . . .

















Rather obvious that the mono-blue Event Deck has the M12 'illlusion Lord' rare, Lord of the Unreal featured on the front. Having this card indicates a lean towards an illusion tribe. Extrapolating, we may perhaps expect another Lord of the Unreal in addition to his best buddies in Magic 2012, namely, Phantasmal Bear, Phantasmal Dragon, and Phantasmal Image.
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Onto the mono-black Event Deck.

















This again is rather clear that we can expect one or more Vampire Outcasts in this preconstructed deck. Speculating along this line, we should not be surprised to see additional vampires and creatures with the Bloodthirst mechanic. The sticky point however is that there are limited options - namely Sengir Vampire, Bloodrage Vampire, and Duskhunter Bat. There are of course some excellent vampire creatures in Zendikar block but Wizards are likely not to include them as that block will be rotating in the fall. Available support may be had in Scars of Mirrodin block with the likes of Sangromancer and Chancellor of the Dross.

What would fit into each deck nicely to round out the rare card count to seven may be the quasi-Lord, Adaptive Automation as there is no colour restrictions - here's hoping.

Anywhoos - pipe in with your speculation - what would you as the product designer have placed in each deck ? Drop yer comments in the form thingy below.

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M12 Cycles

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Happy Tuesday MTG peeps,

We are freshly returned from a gruelling trek through a vast analogue desert to the sweet embrace of WiFi signals and high-speed internet connections. To this end, we will pick up once again where we left off - a review of the freshly released Magic 2012 core set. Today we will take a look at the Mage and the Empire cycles of this latest Magic the Gathering batch of cards. Therefore, since brevity is the soul of wit, and tediousness the limbs and outward flourishes, I will be brief.

Mage Cycle

These are 2/1 human wizard creatures for 2 mana with an activated ability involving one mana of a color. Each of these creatures have a flavor text describing a creed of a clan of wizards, with names synonymous to the respective color.


"We hold sacred the powers of light and life. Truth and honor are our greatest weapons." —Alabaster creed.

"We draw our power from the infinite ocean of the mind, where all manner of things can be conceived." —Azure creed.

"We wield death and darkness, powers that make lesser mages tremble in fear." —Onyx creed.

"We wield the fires of rage. War is our blood and destruction our birthright."—Crimson creed.

"We are one with the wild things. Life blooms from our fingertips and nature responds to our summons." —Jade creed.

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On the whole, these cards are limited fodder - that is to say not that bad of a pick in draft or sealed but as ineffective as a flatus in a windstorm. As for limited, we will certainly want to pick the Jade or Onyx Mage over the other ones - being able to generate a 1/1 Saproling chump blocker or provide deathtouch is usually good tech in limited. Pipe in the comment form below and provide your opinon - what is your fav mage and why.

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The M12 core set has three artifacts with "of Empires" in their names. Each of these artifacts may be tapped for an upgraded effect if you control all three of them.


The chances of you being able to one of these in sealed is kinda slim but pulling all three - pretty much when pigs fly or as one of our friends say, when Justin Beiber hits puberty. Attempting to assemble Crown of Empires, Scepter of Empires, and Throne of Empires is a sixty-card constructed build is essentially a 3-card combo which won't win games and is very easily taken apart by your opponent. For this reason as well as not have a card (excepting Diabolic Tutor) to tutor up a missing piece nails the lid on this. Having said that, since we here at MTG Realm are casual Magic Players will still attempt a build as we can detect a whole truck load of potential fun.

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Lastly,

We wanted to yatter about those M12 Planeswalker 'signature spells' (cards that would tie to the planeswalker characters in flavor and mechanics). The first one we want to yatter about is the Gideon set. The cards are Gideon Jure (the Planeswalker of course), Gideon's Avenger (the rare spell) and Gideon's Lawkeeper (the common spell).


These really are not that bad and we feel may be underrated by the FNM crowd. Avenger promises to go hulk-steroid just as Ajani's Pridemate did in that last core set. Throw in Lawkeeper, Tumble Magnet, Repel the Darkkness, and you are starting to look at the nucleus of a decent deck. Please pass along your thoughts as to a standard-constructed build using Gideon and his two buddies.

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M12 Tokens

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Happy Wednesday MTG peeps,

If you happened to miss our Magic 2012 prerelease video, click on over HERE - and please add your own prerelease story.

Right - onto to the post.
It was a bit of an odd 'spoiler season' with the latest core set, Magic 2012. There are pieces of information, artwork, and cards that we expect to see at certain times leading up to the release but that just really did not happen this time around. One preview which we rely upon Wizards of the Coast (we're looking at WoTC Monty here) to provide rather early in the season is what creature tokens one could expect. This usually fires our imagination and creates a lot of interest in the community speculating what sort of spells would create said tokens.

Anywhoos, better late than never, and at least we may provide a more complete post with the token art with the accompanying spell(s). Let's have a look . . .

1/1 White Soldier

3/3 White Bird













2/2 Black Zombie

3/3 Green Beast












1/1 Green Saproling

6/6 Green Wurm













1/1 Colorless Artifact Pentavite

Anywhoos - is it just us or does that funky-looking Pentavite token kinda look like a game controller ?

Pipe in and tell us what you think. By-the-way - loving that new Zombie token art.
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