Abwayax
Wake me up before you Gogoat
- Pronoun
- he
-
Welcome to The Cave of Dragonflies forums, where the smallest bugs live alongside the strongest dragons.
Guests are not able to post messages or even read certain areas of the forums. Now, that's boring, don't you think? Registration, on the other hand, is simple, completely free of charge, and does not require you to give out any personal information at all. As soon as you register, you can take part in some of the happy fun things at the forums such as posting messages, voting in polls, sending private messages to people and being told that this is where we drink tea and eat cod.
Of course I'm not forcing you to do anything if you don't want to, but seriously, what have you got to lose? Five seconds of your life?
Magic: the Gathering Club
- Thread starter Aisling
- Start date
Aisling
Super Moderator
She was my first, too!
The first ones I ever owned though was a couple Chandra Nalaar from Zendikar. They were for the first deck I ever built on my own, the red/black casual one. I think by now they've both been traded away... I know I gave one of them to a good friend for his cube, so I know she's in good hands now.
Aisling
Super Moderator
So double posting oops sorry but INTERESTING DEVELOPMENT TODAY
That friend I gave the Chandra to has a problem, I think. Every couple days or so he goes to our local shop and just buys a shitton of things (understandable because everything is like 20% off the StarCity price like wow what-- except he kinda buys stuff on impulse), and earlier today he bought a Zendikar booster pack hoping to get a fetch land and instead he pulled
His of the opinion the thing is that it's pretty useless, because losing a turn isn't worth an extra turn (and even if you just skip a turn in which you wouldn't have been able to do something anyway, you should've been doing something instead and are probably losing). But I immediately saw some potential for this thing, especially for casual play.
At first I thought maybe you could just proliferate the eon counters and have a ton of extra turns, but then I realized since it bounces itself back into your hand, it would lose all those counters after the first time you trigger it.
So I did some thinking... returning Magosi to your hand is part of the cost for taking an extra turn, right? So if you had a way to copy the result of that ability, you could get two extra turns. What could do that?
These things. Now, if you had a couple of these things, four mana, plus a way to play Magosi as your land for turn and it come into play untapped, you could theoretically gain infinite turns. Which brings me to a card I spied in a bargain bin while I was searching for stuff to put in my EDH deck...
Bam!
So I've been trying to think of ways to get this combo out most effectively. I know I could use Trinket Mages to look for the Amulets, but are there any nice budget tutors to look for slightly more expensive artifacts (the rings) or lands (Magosi)? Also I've been pondering a win con. Merfolk maybe? Stuff that spawns lots of tokens? Or just take those turns to beef up an Invisible Stalker? Maybe blue things with Landfall, if those are things. I'll have to look.
Any thoughts? Magosi is kinda tricky in the way it counts the turns you skip and the turns you actually gain, but there might be other ways to make it work besides an Amulet of Vigor and two Rings of Brighthearth.
That friend I gave the Chandra to has a problem, I think. Every couple days or so he goes to our local shop and just buys a shitton of things (understandable because everything is like 20% off the StarCity price like wow what-- except he kinda buys stuff on impulse), and earlier today he bought a Zendikar booster pack hoping to get a fetch land and instead he pulled
His of the opinion the thing is that it's pretty useless, because losing a turn isn't worth an extra turn (and even if you just skip a turn in which you wouldn't have been able to do something anyway, you should've been doing something instead and are probably losing). But I immediately saw some potential for this thing, especially for casual play.
At first I thought maybe you could just proliferate the eon counters and have a ton of extra turns, but then I realized since it bounces itself back into your hand, it would lose all those counters after the first time you trigger it.
So I did some thinking... returning Magosi to your hand is part of the cost for taking an extra turn, right? So if you had a way to copy the result of that ability, you could get two extra turns. What could do that?
These things. Now, if you had a couple of these things, four mana, plus a way to play Magosi as your land for turn and it come into play untapped, you could theoretically gain infinite turns. Which brings me to a card I spied in a bargain bin while I was searching for stuff to put in my EDH deck...
Bam!
So I've been trying to think of ways to get this combo out most effectively. I know I could use Trinket Mages to look for the Amulets, but are there any nice budget tutors to look for slightly more expensive artifacts (the rings) or lands (Magosi)? Also I've been pondering a win con. Merfolk maybe? Stuff that spawns lots of tokens? Or just take those turns to beef up an Invisible Stalker? Maybe blue things with Landfall, if those are things. I'll have to look.
Any thoughts? Magosi is kinda tricky in the way it counts the turns you skip and the turns you actually gain, but there might be other ways to make it work besides an Amulet of Vigor and two Rings of Brighthearth.
Last edited:
Abwayax
Wake me up before you Gogoat
- Pronoun
- he
Fabricate? Same CMC but it's a sorcery and not a creature, which may or may not be relevant. Sylvan Scrying for lands, but that's green (I don't think there are any land tutor effects in blue).
Storm Earth and Fire
Would you like to make a contract?
Magosi is great because Wizards tried their hardest to make it not work, and it really doesn't except through convoluted processes.
Along with all that, you need some way to play extra lands, otherwise you won't really go anywhere. Exploration is way out of your budget. Walking Atlas, perhaps? It's an artifact so if you find a way to search artifacts then you can look it up too.
The really painful part is that you still have to skip your turn to put a counter on in the first place, but that's not an easy thing to get around.
Along with all that, you need some way to play extra lands, otherwise you won't really go anywhere. Exploration is way out of your budget. Walking Atlas, perhaps? It's an artifact so if you find a way to search artifacts then you can look it up too.
The really painful part is that you still have to skip your turn to put a counter on in the first place, but that's not an easy thing to get around.
Abwayax
Wake me up before you Gogoat
- Pronoun
- he
Yeah, they figured people would see the phrase "extra turn" and then freak out before realizing this is not very usable at all.
Are you sure?
Here's how I see it. Assuming you've got both rings and the amulet on the field already, play Magosi and give it a eon counter. During your next turn (the one after the one you skipped) activate Magosi and bounce it to your hand, copying its ability twice with the rings, and then replay Magosi and tap it for the eon counter again, skipping your first extra turn. During your second extra turn, you can repeat this process for 2 more extra turns.
Maybe you meant we need to play lands to keep the game going because Magosi takes up our land drop each turn, but we don't need any more mana because as long as we have the 5 mana necessary to keep the engine going we will be able to win with landfall. I suggest Hedron Crabs as a wincon. Equip Trepanation Blades to the crabs for extra hilarity. Alternatively, run Laboratory Maniac and crab yourself.
Last edited:
Storm Earth and Fire
Would you like to make a contract?
Abwayax
Wake me up before you Gogoat
- Pronoun
- he
You just inspired me, sir.
Play Magosi and tap for the eon counter, attack with this (again, I suggest Hedron Crabs with Trepanation Blades) and then in the second main phase tap Magosi again for the extra turn. Now we've got more possibilities because this frees up our mana for our first main phase.
I'm sure there are more effective things to slap this umbra on, but just imagine four hedron crabs each wearing one of these.
Play Magosi and tap for the eon counter, attack with this (again, I suggest Hedron Crabs with Trepanation Blades) and then in the second main phase tap Magosi again for the extra turn. Now we've got more possibilities because this frees up our mana for our first main phase.
I'm sure there are more effective things to slap this umbra on, but just imagine four hedron crabs each wearing one of these.
Aisling
Super Moderator
My favorite use of Bear Umbra is with Hellkite Charger. B]
but...! I hadn't thought of using it with Magosi. You'd still also need the Rings of Brighthearth, but with Bear Umbra you never have to actually skip a turn (by that I mean, your opponent never gets their free turn before the combo starts). At least if I'm understanding it correctly.
So has anybody been keeping up with the Return to Ravnica spoilers? The new Planeswalker looks SO GOOD! (no, I don't mean Jace...) I don't know if I want to pick Selesnya or Golgari at the prerelease now... though I'm pretty sure for standard I'm gonna play either black/white/green or Jund (I've been mulling over the idea of making a commitment to Jund in Standard until Sarkhan is printed again)...
I wonder what will come of blue as we currently know it. So many of the good new spells are also uncounterable. Like, enough of them are uncounterable that I'd say it'll make blue counterspells practically unviable for limited. It may warp the meta in older formats, too...
also dual lands at common
but...! I hadn't thought of using it with Magosi. You'd still also need the Rings of Brighthearth, but with Bear Umbra you never have to actually skip a turn (by that I mean, your opponent never gets their free turn before the combo starts). At least if I'm understanding it correctly.
So has anybody been keeping up with the Return to Ravnica spoilers? The new Planeswalker looks SO GOOD! (no, I don't mean Jace...) I don't know if I want to pick Selesnya or Golgari at the prerelease now... though I'm pretty sure for standard I'm gonna play either black/white/green or Jund (I've been mulling over the idea of making a commitment to Jund in Standard until Sarkhan is printed again)...
I wonder what will come of blue as we currently know it. So many of the good new spells are also uncounterable. Like, enough of them are uncounterable that I'd say it'll make blue counterspells practically unviable for limited. It may warp the meta in older formats, too...
also dual lands at common
Last edited:
Abwayax
Wake me up before you Gogoat
- Pronoun
- he
You still need the rings, but since Bear Umbra untaps your lands in the middle of your turn, you can use that 4 mana for something else during your first main phase before using it to power the rings during your second. Opens up a few more possibilities IMHO.
If I can find time to attend the prerelease I'd probably go selesnya, azorious, or izzet. I'm still waiting for more cards to be spoiled before I decide for certain. I do like that Judge's Familiar and Dryad Militant, though. Dreadbore kind of bothers me from a flavor standpoint and also because I feel planeswalkers should be harder to get rid of than creatures, but maybe that's just me.
I'm more excited by the izzet deck. I might pick up a copy or two. I do kind of wish these decks had more 3-ofs and 4-ofs, though, but I understand they have to cram as many different cards into them as possible.
Storm Earth and Fire
Would you like to make a contract?
Probably going with Selesnya at the prerelease. Haven't really been brewing new deck ideas, so I'll just see what I can add to G/W humans. Fencing Ace might be worth a shot now that we have Rancor again.
Vraska looks amazing. Got the gears turning in my head over a new Junkwalkers deck (W/B/G planeswalker control). Unfortunately, that would be a really expensive deck to put together, so it's been shelved indefinitely.
Aisling
Super Moderator
I played Selesnya at my prerelease. A Detention Sphere and a Pithing Needle were all that I really pulled. My boyfriend pulled way better Selesnya stuff, but he signed up for Azorius >:( (but I got the Detention Sphere lol so I guess it evens out) I had a blast though, I really hope they do the "choose your guild" thing in Gatecrash with the boxes and stuff!
Once everybody got to top 8 they just split the prizes, one guy pulled two Vraskas (one of which is foil)
Once everybody got to top 8 they just split the prizes, one guy pulled two Vraskas (one of which is foil)
Storm Earth and Fire
Would you like to make a contract?
I went 4-1 at the prerelease I went to, playing Selesnya. My pool had 2 Selesnya Guildgates, 1 Azorius Guildgate, 1 Hallowed Fountain, and 2 Transguild Promenade, along with a Selesnya and Azorius Keyrune, so I had my colors super fixed. I opened an Isperia to act as bomb #2. The meat of my deck was Centaur Healer, Herald, and Call of the Conclave, with populate being provided by 2-3 copies of Druid's Deliverance, 1 Rootborn Defenses, 1 Eyes in the Skies, a Wayfaring Temple, and the ever so crazy Vitu-Ghazi Guildmage. I also have a Fencing Ace 'package' with 2 Giant Growth, 1 Common Bond, and 1 Slitherhead. Unrelated to the playable part of my pool, I got a foil Ash Zealot.
Detain is crazy, but I managed to brute force my way past the Azorius. My Swiss round loss was to a Selesnya deck that was really similar to mine, but he edged me out. Top 8 played out and I lost in a slugfest against a no block Rakdos deck.
My prize packs gave me another Hallowed Fountain, a Supreme Verdict, a Loxodon Smiter, and a regular Ash Zealot.
And it shouldn't surprise anyone if a prerelease was full. This is the most anticipated set ever, Wizards prepared more product for prerelease than ever before, and they still ran short.
Detain is crazy, but I managed to brute force my way past the Azorius. My Swiss round loss was to a Selesnya deck that was really similar to mine, but he edged me out. Top 8 played out and I lost in a slugfest against a no block Rakdos deck.
My prize packs gave me another Hallowed Fountain, a Supreme Verdict, a Loxodon Smiter, and a regular Ash Zealot.
And it shouldn't surprise anyone if a prerelease was full. This is the most anticipated set ever, Wizards prepared more product for prerelease than ever before, and they still ran short.
Abwayax
Wake me up before you Gogoat
- Pronoun
- he
Happy holidays, fellow Planeswalkers!
I'm currently tweaking my casual (non-standard) green/white proliferate deck. Current strategy is to use token generators (Selesnya Charm, Call of the Conclave, etc) and then put down a Wayfaring Temple, equipped with Fists of Ironwood and keep hitting at em. I also threw in Armadillo Cloaks because they're awesome, although I'm currently thinking Behemoth Sledge might be a better option...
Abwayax
Wake me up before you Gogoat
- Pronoun
- he
I attended the Gatecrash prerelease tonight... it was my first ever prerelease (first ever sanctioned Magic event actually). I was utterly destroyed, but I enjoyed all of it.
I chose Simic as my guild and just basically threw in a bunch of evolve guys and some spells. I think my big problem is that I didn't get any good one drops or any real bombs in my colors (best I had was Merfolk of the Depths, and he seemed pretty overcosted), so it might have been a better decision to throw in a third color... I noticed most of my opponents were running three-color decks. My favorite move was probably ciphering Hands of Binding to Drakewing Krasis... I'd get to keep a guy locked down for a turn or two before it ate removal.
Overall I enjoyed it, and I'll probably be attending the prerelease for Dragon's Maze as well
I chose Simic as my guild and just basically threw in a bunch of evolve guys and some spells. I think my big problem is that I didn't get any good one drops or any real bombs in my colors (best I had was Merfolk of the Depths, and he seemed pretty overcosted), so it might have been a better decision to throw in a third color... I noticed most of my opponents were running three-color decks. My favorite move was probably ciphering Hands of Binding to Drakewing Krasis... I'd get to keep a guy locked down for a turn or two before it ate removal.
Overall I enjoyed it, and I'll probably be attending the prerelease for Dragon's Maze as well
I went to a Gatecrash prerelease, and it was my first-ever sanctioned event as well! I had loads of fun. I was playing Dimir, because I'm a Dimir and of course Dimir is the best guild, and was blessed with an absolutely insane card pool: Whispering Madness, Undercity Plague, and Stolen Identity to complement my Consuming Aberration; Dimir Charm and Psychic Strike both x2; and a fantastic run of removal spells from Rapid Hybridization up through Grisly Spectacle, often in multiples. I ended up leaving a ton of cards on the table that would have been instant-picks under ordinary circumstances because I had too many good spells, and what I needed was creatures, which turned out to be... rather more dodgy. I had no problem getting evasive creatures, and there was no point that I was holding a Cipher card and being frustrated because I wouldn't be able to get through for more than one use of it, but in general my creatures were noticeable wimps, especially at the higher end of the curve, and if I couldn't lock things down with removal or cipher-advantage out of the gate, I tended to be pretty screwed.
I did pretty well for not having played sealed before ever by going 2-2 and at least never getting blown out, but it's a pity I had to have such a ridiculous pull be wasted on me being rusty and extremely sleep deprived... I just left games on the table through stupid mistakes most of the time, rather than eviscerating people . But it was still loads of fun to play, and I'll definitely be building a cipher-y deck for casual play out of the core I picked up here.
Funnily enough, Whispering Madness was actually one card I was really hoping to pull just on account of the artwork; when I first saw it I really wasn't a fan of the weird perspective and bulbous head thing, but since then his ridiculous "heh heh heh" expression has really grown on me--it's so Dimir!--and I decided it was hilarious and awesome. I'm also definitely going to be on the lookout for a Syndic of Tithes because I adore the beautifully evil half-smirk the guy's got on, even though you won't be able to see it as well on the actual card.
I went to this event with a friend, and he says he's definitely down for the Dragon's Maze prerelease in a couple of months... maybe this time I'll be able to convince the two other people who said they might want to come but eventually declined to actually follow through this time! Also, turns out there's a group on campus that does EDH and the odd draft... so it looks like I'll finally be able to get back into Magic after something like six years or so away. My precious, precious cardboard crack!
tl;dr Gatecrash prerelease was great, Dimir is best guild, I <3 Magic.
I did pretty well for not having played sealed before ever by going 2-2 and at least never getting blown out, but it's a pity I had to have such a ridiculous pull be wasted on me being rusty and extremely sleep deprived... I just left games on the table through stupid mistakes most of the time, rather than eviscerating people . But it was still loads of fun to play, and I'll definitely be building a cipher-y deck for casual play out of the core I picked up here.
Funnily enough, Whispering Madness was actually one card I was really hoping to pull just on account of the artwork; when I first saw it I really wasn't a fan of the weird perspective and bulbous head thing, but since then his ridiculous "heh heh heh" expression has really grown on me--it's so Dimir!--and I decided it was hilarious and awesome. I'm also definitely going to be on the lookout for a Syndic of Tithes because I adore the beautifully evil half-smirk the guy's got on, even though you won't be able to see it as well on the actual card.
I went to this event with a friend, and he says he's definitely down for the Dragon's Maze prerelease in a couple of months... maybe this time I'll be able to convince the two other people who said they might want to come but eventually declined to actually follow through this time! Also, turns out there's a group on campus that does EDH and the odd draft... so it looks like I'll finally be able to get back into Magic after something like six years or so away. My precious, precious cardboard crack!
tl;dr Gatecrash prerelease was great, Dimir is best guild, I <3 Magic.