Magic: The Gathering

[Jon Miller]

Originally posted by Urban Ranger


Okay, so instants now resolve like interrupts (LIFO) instead of first-in-first-out.

So that means if you want to lightning bolt a creature of mine, I can put giant growth on it so it doesn't get smeared?

yep

Jon Miller

[Jon Miller]

Originally posted by Urban Ranger
What, they banned swords? Sheesh!

I don't think so

but they stopped making them

Jon Miller

[Jaakko]

The reasons for taking out the power cards from Type 2 are simple: quick kills are bad for the game, as is a single colour having it all, like white used to (unfortunately blue has been getting a tad too powerful lately).

[Urban Ranger]

The game always had balancing problems. Blue was initially the most powerful. What they did were to create a banned list, and make other colours more powerful in subsequent expansions. For a while black became the most powerful. In my experience white had never been the most powerful colour even though it had never been the weakest, either.

[FrustratedPoet]

hehehehe ... black was the best for a long while, wasn't it?

as one of the columnists at magicthegathering.com said: "There is only one good reason to give up card advantage. That reason begins with 'N' and ends with 'ecropotence'."

[Chowlett]

Dark Ritual indeed non longer exists - but Cabal Ritual does much the same:

1B - Inst - Add BBB. Threshold: instead add BBBBB

[Jon Miller]

but cabal ritual is slower

it is not good until you have threshold

Jon Miller

[Jaakko]

I think the problem with white was that it could have a 'hard' solution to everything. Enchantments, artifacts, creatures, counters (to an extent), burn, bounce, you name it. IMO it's much better now, although many people think white is weak. But once you play against a lifegain control deck with something that hasn't prepared for it, you'll change your mind.

In fact my favourite deck right now is G/W turbo-life/fog (with Millstones and Howlers), and it can beat any T2 deck played right now, just like all good decks.
Too bad the judges around here practically never penalise people for slow play, so consistent tournament victories are hard to get, since you can't afford to lose the first game. I always play my turn in seconds, but for some reason many opponents (of questionable intelligence) have to think for minutes every turn which creatures exactly they want to have fogged, resulting in much wasted time.
I even had someone stalling when I had 170 life and he had a single creature out and 5 or so turns before his deck runs out...

[Velociryx]

Dregs Decks

When I played, I spent a LOT of time teaching other people to play, and, since I had a humungous stock of cards at the time, I wound up with...well, a humungous stock of marginal cards and generic stuff that doesn't really get much play. So...I'd craft decks out of them, balance them against each other, and use them to demonstrate basic game concepts. Believe it or not, they're quite fun to play....yeah, they all play out somewhat similarly, cos they're mostly common cards, but....it's kinna cool to watch a raging war between some wily Icathian Soldiers squaring off against marauding hill giants now and again....and some of my former students liked their "training decks" so much that they wound up keeping them!

Anyway, was going thru some of my stuff here in the computer room and stumbled across one....just to illustrate how ...."mundane" these decks are, I figured I'd post it here....(actually, it's a pair that have squared off a number of times)

***

Olven Home - The Good Guys
Green/White
10 Plains
10 Forest

Green Enchantments/Fast Effects
4 Fog
4 Elven Fortress (1G) Target blocking creature gets +0/+1 till end of turn

Green Critters
4 Elvish Scouts
4 Elvish Rangers
4 Elvish Hunters

White Enchantments/Fast Effects
4 Heal
4 Holy Armor
4 Holy Strength

White Critters
4 Pearled Unicorns
4 Elvish Healers


The Black Claw Horde - The Bad Guys
Black/Red
10 Mountains
10 Swamps

Red Sorceries and Fast Effects
1 Lightning Bolt
1 Incinerate
1 Lava Burst
1 Fireball

Red Critters
4 Orc Spies
4 Brassclaw Orcs
4 Orcish Veterans
4 Grey Ogres

Black Sorceries, Enchantments, Fast Effects
4 Paralyze
4 Krovikan Fetish
2 Soul Burn
2 Drain Life
4 Terror

Black Critters
4 Erg Raiders

***

Yes....cheesy cards, all. No artifacts, very linear deck construction, and IIRC, 100% constructed with common cards. But as a teaching tool, they were invaluable, and actually watching a grudge match play out was....as I said, quite entertaining.....

-=Vel=-

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Jaakko
I even had someone stalling when I had 170 life and he had a single creature out and 5 or so turns before his deck runs out...

Hey, maybe he had a Feldon's Cane?

What deck did you use that time?

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Jaakko
I think the problem with white was that it could have a 'hard' solution to everything. Enchantments, artifacts, creatures, counters (to an extent), burn, bounce, you name it.

White is not supposed to be subtle (neither is red). Wrath of God, Armageddon, etc. Blue is subtle. That's why I like blue. Power Leaks, Feedbacks, the whole works. Licensed to annoy. I am glad to see Blue has been getting some good cards lately.

[Urban Ranger]

Quick question: are all tapped permanents inactive, i.e., they don't affect the game until they become untapped?

For example, if I manage to tap a Spirit Link on an attacking creature, it will not gain life for the owner of the enchantment, right?

[Chowlett]

wrong AFAIK. For example, Confessor has "When a player discards, you may gain one life", and that works even if it has attacked and hence tapped.

[Jon Miller]

depends

Jon Miller

[Urban Ranger]

Chowlett,

You sure? My understanding is powers and abilities don't work when cards are tapped.