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I’ve been playing Magic: The Gathering ever since my brother and neighbors got me (grudgingly) hooked about two and a half years ago. My friends, brother, and I get together Thursday nights at my apartment for a couple of hours and just play very casual Magic. Most games tend to be pretty average fun-wise, but I continue to play, even if I lose consistently, just so I can have that one super-special-awesome game that I’ll always remember.
Last Thursday night, I had one such match. 
I’m running my RU Pyromancer Ascension burn against his (friend’s) generic mono-black. In my opening hand, I only have one mana, but I’ve also got a Rite of Flame with which to lay down a turn 1 Kiln Fiend, and a couple other burn spells for removal and pumping the Fiend, so I keep. He gets to play first, and he casts Despise, which means my only creature gets discarded. Darn. :-\ So turns pass a couple times and he plays Distress. Great. Now one of my Lava Axes is gone. -.-‘ Sure enough, he plays another Distress and my other Lava Axe is gone as well. By now I’m thinking, “Well fuh.”
Finally, I draw something decent: one of my Pyromancer Ascension. I toss that out and kill something with a Burst Lightning, putting a counter on the enchantment. I also get an Island, Preordain, and Ponder; the Preordain scryed me two lands (when I had plenty), so I merely stuffed them under my library and drew the first Burst Lightning I believe, and the Ponder left me with two lands and a Lightning Bolt, so I shuffled (this is important to note here) and drew that second Burst.
Turns pass, and I trudge on with mana after mana after mana, while my opponent continually pings me with his Vampire Nighthawk. Lord, do I hate the Nighthawk.... He eventually gets me down to 5 life, and threatens to take the rest of that out with two additional creatures he added to the field. I knew I needed something other than mana on this next draw if I wanted to win. I felt almost fully defeated, and I knew this was likely to be my last turn. Subconsciously, I thought to myself, “Hmm, I really need board-wipe of some sort. Better pray for my Comet Storm....”
Lo and behold. I top-deck my single Comet Storm. 
Also in my hand are two Rites of Flame and two Seething Songs. On the field for me are two Ascensions, one of which has a counter on it. You can probably see where this is headed.
First I played both Rites of Flame; this gave me 5 mana to play with, and a counter on each of my Ascensions, initiating one. Second, I played both of my Seething Songs; each are copied, so I get 10 mana apiece with them. Now both of them are initiated. And finally, I drop my Comet Storm for two mana, waiting to calculate all my mana before assigning kicking and damage. In the end, I have a whopping 22 mana at my disposal. My opponent coincidentally has 22 health, but I would rather also take out his creatures with him. I add three targets and deal 19 damage to him and each of his creatures, and I almost pass turn to him.
But I stop, realizing (thanks to my Ascensions) that Comet Storm is copied. Twice.
GG. Unfor-flippin’-gettable. 
Question of the Blog: Magic players, what's your favorite deck you've ever run, and why did you like it so much? Consistent wins, crazy board antics, first deck ever, or another reason entirely?
 
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Play poker, yo.
I got this cheap kithkin deck. Everyone hates playing against it...
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topdeck combo piece to win the game, that happens very frequently with a combo deck? what's so special about it?
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I hate magic's competitive cost. I played during the era of JTMS/Stoneforge Mystic/Opposite Swords/opposites fetch lands
I got destroyed at every PTQ and FNM by people who had shelled out hundred of dollars just because I was unwilling to do the same.
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On October 23 2012 01:07 Markwerf wrote:
topdeck combo piece to win the game, that happens very frequently with a combo deck? what's so special about it?
I used to have as many as three Comet Storms in the deck, but took two of them out when I realized that I was getting them too often without enough mana to wreck face with it. With only one still remaining, it's a very slim chance I'll get it. Plus, my decks aren't that great. I play for fun rather than wins, and I haven't bought many cards recently. So I lose a lot, and I expected to lose against this very-well-created mono-black deck, but I quite fortunately didn't. It was down to the wire, and I barely made it out on top. The circumstances happened to align far too perfectly this time around. That's what's so special about this.
On October 23 2012 01:12 Praetorial wrote:
I hate magic's competitive cost. I played during the era of JTMS/Stoneforge Mystic/Opposite Swords/opposites fetch lands
I got destroyed at every PTQ and FNM by people who had shelled out hundred of dollars just because I was unwilling to do the same.
Oh Lord, that's when I got into it too, lol! See, this is why I generally stick to Commander. You only ever need one of any card (besides obviously very cheap basic lands), which really drops the cost of creating your deck. Plus, I find the games much more entertaining.
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I still have my Kami of the Crescent Moon Commander deck, it's the only format that I play now.
It's painfully easy to find cheap Sol Rings and Tops where I live.
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Playing MTG in Standard formats (i.e. buy all the mythics from the current block or you lose) is dumb.
Playing "kitchen table Magic" (i.e. you and your friends build decks with whatever cards you own) is awesome, and is the way Richard Garfield originally intended the game to be played. No metagame outside of the one your play group has, and whatever cards you have access to are all the cards that exist. Did this for many years, would happily start playing again if I met more players. For reference, I played roughly between the Tempest block and the Onslaught block, so anything between now and 2004 in the world of Magic is news to me.
The decks I liked playing most were slivers, oath, reanimator, gro-a-tog, UB storm, and GB rock. And smokestack/welder/metalworker/karn, but I never had the Workshops to make real full-on Stax work.
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Katowice25012 Posts
On October 23 2012 00:37 cLAN.Anax wrote:
Question of the Blog: Magic players, what's your favorite deck you've ever run, and why did you like it so much? Consistent wins, crazy board antics, first deck ever, or another reason entirely?
The best deck I saw in my years of playing was from a guy I only ever knew as Crazy Craig, at an extended PTQ. It was some super crazy homebrew combo that involved fecundity and something to sacrifice creatures for 1 damage a piece, and I seem to remember it involving a component where you would mill yourself to make 2/2s. It required a million cards to even get going and because the deck was largely green it had no way to search out any of the pieces, you had to just hope to draw them (which you kind of could because it had some draw).
It got better though. For every 1 point of damage this deck dealt it would take 3 cards from your library, 2 from the mill and 1 because of fecundity. But because it also had no graveyard recursion, it could only deal something like 10 or 15 points of damage before milling itself to death. Literally the only way to win was to start going off and make the motions like you had won, and hope they concede.
Anyway Craig went 2-3 at that PTQ. With a deck that has absolutely no way to win.
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My favourite deck was also probably my stupidest whim of a deck.
Mirrodin -> 4 of each of the following:
- Artifact lands
- Each mana producing myr (copper, gold, iron leaden, silver)
- Coat of arms
- Myr Matrix
- Door to Nothingness
- Cranial Plating
- Loxodon Warhammer.
Nothing like a pack of 30/30 myr tokens to swing for the win.
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My favorite deck ever led directly into a balance change. Pun intended.
Titania's Balance relied on playing lots and lots of artifacts. Preferably ones that drew cards or added mana. You patiently played Wrath of God, Armageddon, and Balance to keep the board empty. Eventually you have 20 casting cost worth of artifacts and your opponent has no creatures. Then you play Titania's Song and swing for the win.
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I once won an unglued/unhinged draft largely due to the other guy in the finals forgetting that he had used the 3 1/2 mana counterspell earlier in the game before he threw another one and killed himself
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On October 23 2012 01:12 Praetorial wrote:
I hate magic's competitive cost. I played during the era of JTMS/Stoneforge Mystic/Opposite Swords/opposites fetch lands
I got destroyed at every PTQ and FNM by people who had shelled out hundred of dollars just because I was unwilling to do the same.
I have the exact same, it's a shame because the game can be quite fun but is just so damn expensive. If i want to play it I also want to play it optimally which means reading the metagame and often switching decks and/or playing the expensive mythics.. Constructed is just far too expensive for what you get in return to play it, if they reduced costs a lot playerbase of the game would increase so damn much.
I only do some limited from time to time (which is arguably more fun and skillintensive anyway) and then quickly sell any eventual winnings I have which makes it reasonably affordable.
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I used to play Magic and had loads of fun playing it, but I have quit and I'm happy I put this hobby down. I was a competitive player and it just sucked waaaaaaaaaaaay to much money out of me.
My favorite deck every was a blue Faerie Ninja deck. It was blue, so I packed it full of counterspells, and some of my faeries were also counters. It must have been so unfun to play against
Eventually i turned it into a Merfolk deck, because I wanted to win, and lil Faeries just couldn't cut the snuff. I also played a red / black/ green "Jund" deck in standard for a bit. Ah, the memories.
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On October 23 2012 04:07 Markwerf wrote:Show nested quote +On October 23 2012 01:12 Praetorial wrote:
I hate magic's competitive cost. I played during the era of JTMS/Stoneforge Mystic/Opposite Swords/opposites fetch lands
I got destroyed at every PTQ and FNM by people who had shelled out hundred of dollars just because I was unwilling to do the same. I have the exact same, it's a shame because the game can be quite fun but is just so damn expensive. If i want to play it I also want to play it optimally which means reading the metagame and often switching decks and/or playing the expensive mythics.. Constructed is just far too expensive for what you get in return to play it, if they reduced costs a lot playerbase of the game would increase so damn much. I only do some limited from time to time (which is arguably more fun and skillintensive anyway) and then quickly sell any eventual winnings I have which makes it reasonably affordable.
You can play very competitive decks for not all that much money. Type II (it'll never be "Standard" to me. Get off my lawn) Sligh decks have between 2 and 4 expensive-ish rares in Thundermaw Hellkite. They run around $10-$15 each. The other rares are generally cheap and/or unimportant.
Of the top of my head, the decklist would be something like
22 Lands (ideally 20 mountains and 2 Hellion Crucible)
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Goblin Arsonist
4 Gorehouse Chainwalker
4 Pillar of Flame
4 Searing Spear
3 Ash Zealot
2 Thundermaw Hellkite
3 Fervent Cathar
4 Frostburn Wyrd
3 Annihilating Fire
3 Spatterthug
Maybe not the prettiest, but this is just me thinking more or less out loud. The Hellkites can be any fatty, preferably with fly. The Ash Zealot can be pretty much any other 2 drop. With the rares I listed here, it's maybe a $50 deck. If you take out the rares, it's maybe it'll be under $30.
Now, if you want to play control, it's going to be expensive. That's just the nature of control. For whatever reason in every CCG I've played, control cards are more expensive.
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I was watching the pro tour and it made me really want to build an eggs deck. Fucking hilarious for casual and modern play.
Great way to piss off your friends too.
EDIT:
For those of you that don't know the deck:
Main Deck
4 Ghost Quarter
1 Hallowed Fountain
7 Island
2 Misty Rainforest
1 Plains
2 Scalding Tarn
4 Chromatic Sphere
4 Chromatic Star
4 Conjurer's Bauble
4 Elsewhere Flask
4 Faith's Reward
1 Gitaxian Probe
4 Lotus Bloom
1 Pyrite Spellbomb
4 Reshape
4 Second Sunrise
4 Serum Visions
2 Silence
3 Sleight of Hand
Sideboard
4 Echoing Truth
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Grapeshot
4 Leyline of Sanctity
1 Nihil Spellbomb
2 Pithing Needle
2 Silence
Basically you draw your whole deck on turn 2, 3, or 4 depending on how lucky you are with your draw, then proceed to either loop pyrite spellbomb by returning it to your deck, drawing it, then playing it again, or increasing the storm count to 20 and playing grapeshot.
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United States2822 Posts
On October 23 2012 05:08 MahE wrote:
I was watching the pro tour and it made me really want to build an eggs deck. Fucking hilarious for casual and modern play.
Great way to piss off your friends too.
EDIT:
For those of you that don't know the deck:
Main Deck
4 Ghost Quarter
1 Hallowed Fountain
7 Island
2 Misty Rainforest
1 Plains
2 Scalding Tarn
4 Chromatic Sphere
4 Chromatic Star
4 Conjurer's Bauble
4 Elsewhere Flask
4 Faith's Reward
1 Gitaxian Probe
4 Lotus Bloom
1 Pyrite Spellbomb
4 Reshape
4 Second Sunrise
4 Serum Visions
2 Silence
3 Sleight of Hand
Sideboard
4 Echoing Truth
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Grapeshot
4 Leyline of Sanctity
1 Nihil Spellbomb
2 Pithing Needle
2 Silence
Basically you draw your whole deck on turn 2, 3, or 4 depending on how lucky you are with your draw, then proceed to either loop pyrite spellbomb by returning it to your deck, drawing it, then playing it again, or increasing the storm count to 20 and playing grapeshot.
The deck is very easily hated out, though. It was an excellent choice for the given tournament because of how the format shaped up to be. Two main factors contributed to its success:
1) Everyone was so focused on beating the Jund matchup, which obviously has very little graveyard interaction so the hate for the decks are completely different.
2) There is no very strong established control deck in Modern yet.
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On October 23 2012 05:16 scintilliaSD wrote:Show nested quote +On October 23 2012 05:08 MahE wrote:
I was watching the pro tour and it made me really want to build an eggs deck. Fucking hilarious for casual and modern play.
Great way to piss off your friends too.
EDIT:
For those of you that don't know the deck:
Main Deck
4 Ghost Quarter
1 Hallowed Fountain
7 Island
2 Misty Rainforest
1 Plains
2 Scalding Tarn
4 Chromatic Sphere
4 Chromatic Star
4 Conjurer's Bauble
4 Elsewhere Flask
4 Faith's Reward
1 Gitaxian Probe
4 Lotus Bloom
1 Pyrite Spellbomb
4 Reshape
4 Second Sunrise
4 Serum Visions
2 Silence
3 Sleight of Hand
Sideboard
4 Echoing Truth
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Grapeshot
4 Leyline of Sanctity
1 Nihil Spellbomb
2 Pithing Needle
2 Silence
Basically you draw your whole deck on turn 2, 3, or 4 depending on how lucky you are with your draw, then proceed to either loop pyrite spellbomb by returning it to your deck, drawing it, then playing it again, or increasing the storm count to 20 and playing grapeshot. The deck is very easily hated out, though. It was an excellent choice for the given tournament because of how the format shaped up to be. Two main factors contributed to its success: 1) Everyone was so focused on beating the Jund matchup, which obviously has very little graveyard interaction so the hate for the decks are completely different. 2) There is no very strong established control deck in Modern yet.
I'm with ya. I think it was an amazing meta-game choice, but I see it's strength more in the 'surprise' factor than in pure deck strength
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It's one of the funnest ways to win I've seen in quite some time, though; especially because none of the cards do pretty much of anything for themselves. It's only their combination that makes the deck capable of "going off" and winning within one turn.
That, and seeing Cifka win after not mulliganing a no-land hand
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Yay Magic. ^^
It is so good for these kind of stories. I can't think of anything else like it, except Halo has done that for me sometimes. (I don't expect to hear anyone else feels that way -- you have to play some mean halo and be a big fan besides, but if you are good at halo and get into against-the-odds situations, there are a lot of funny/epic things that can happen.)
One of my favourite decks was a deck my friend used to play when Mirrodin was new. He is a huge johnny that likes to troll. Win conditions are an afterthought for him. The whole deck was: find and get out a Worldslayer, then when anyone attacked, Magnetic Theft it onto their creature. Hilarious in FFA games with people who had never played with us before.
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+ Show Spoiler +Goodness gracious. So many replies! This'll be a long post with a ton of replies. Apologies in advance.
On October 23 2012 02:18 Hopeless1der wrote:
My favourite deck was also probably my stupidest whim of a deck.
Those are my faves too, the ones I concoct purely on whimsical, silly ideas that sound really cool at the time. Initial viability be darned, lol.
@heyoka: Huh! That's actually really cool! I don't normally think of decks along those lines (I usually still like SOME chance of winning, haha), but that's a very intriguing deck theme.
On October 23 2012 04:07 Markwerf wrote:Show nested quote +On October 23 2012 01:12 Praetorial wrote:
I hate magic's competitive cost. I played during the era of JTMS/Stoneforge Mystic/Opposite Swords/opposites fetch lands
I got destroyed at every PTQ and FNM by people who had shelled out hundred of dollars just because I was unwilling to do the same. I have the exact same, it's a shame because the game can be quite fun but is just so damn expensive. If i want to play it I also want to play it optimally which means reading the metagame and often switching decks and/or playing the expensive mythics.. Constructed is just far too expensive for what you get in return to play it, if they reduced costs a lot playerbase of the game would increase so damn much. I only do some limited from time to time (which is arguably more fun and skillintensive anyway) and then quickly sell any eventual winnings I have which makes it reasonably affordable.
I use a free online program to play Magic, and I highly recommend using one if you want a quick Magic fix. It's definitely not the same as the paper game, but it suffices when you need it.
@MahE: I like unique decks like that. I'll look into it later. Thanks.
On October 23 2012 06:21 EatThePath wrote:Yay Magic. ^^ It is so good for these kind of stories. I can't think of anything else like it, except Halo has done that for me sometimes. (I don't expect to hear anyone else feels that way -- you have to play some mean halo and be a big fan besides, but if you are good at halo and get into against-the-odds situations, there are a lot of funny/epic things that can happen.) One of my favourite decks was a deck my friend used to play when Mirrodin was new. He is a huge johnny that likes to troll. Win conditions are an afterthought for him. The whole deck was: find and get out a Worldslayer, then when anyone attacked, Magnetic Theft it onto their creature. Hilarious in FFA games with people who had never played with us before.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Wow, that's so awesome! X-D Doesn't take the multiplayer game too seriously; I really respect that. It sounds like he played regular 60-card constructed, but was that in Commander/EDH instead?
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If you guys enjoy casual magic, never get into the competitive side. it will completely destroy all forms of casual magic for you. Reading these decklists and descriptions had me cringing, and i haven't touched cards seriously in over a year and a half xD. evil/addictive/crack-like goodness.
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On October 23 2012 21:00 kefkalives wrote:
If you guys enjoy casual magic, never get into the competitive side. it will completely destroy all forms of casual magic for you. Reading these decklists and descriptions had me cringing, and i haven't touched cards seriously in over a year and a half xD. evil/addictive/crack-like goodness.
I know the feeling. I have a hard enough time at drafts and prereleases, like I emotionally invest myself into them, lol. My brother really wants to make my RU Pyromancer Modern legal, and he's trying to make his own Modern RU deck. I just shake my head and say, "Bro, I'm still stickin' with Commander, thank you."
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How coincidential, yesterday I got out my magic cards i had and thought of playing again and maybe buying a few boosters. Although ive been a yugioh player since all my childhood and teenage time.
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counterspells...
storm, urza's legacy/destiny/saga, MoM, and other i dont rememeber
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EPT
