Zendikar: Rise of the Vampires Review (Part 1 of 2)
As previously discussed on our feature on Vampires in Magic, the eclipse of the Zombie tribe by the Vampires entered full swing with the Zendikar set. Although a last-minute addition in design, they went on to stake a claim to a very flavourful part of Zendikar lore. Rise of the Vampires, as a mono-Black deck, seeks to showcase this aspect of the set, and does a respectable job of giving them their proper showing. The model was successful enough that Wizards would go on to recur it in Worldwake, which featured an updated version of the concept.
In previous incarnations, Vampires tended to be bigger and at the higher rarities. Magic’s “Vampire 2.0” slotted nicely in the design space once occupied by their less comely Undead bretheren- namely, the Zombies- which was comprised of Weenie creatures with frequent ‘twist’ abilities or gimmicks. In our analysis of the deck, there is no better place to begin.
Zendikar: The Adventurers Review (Part 2 of 2)
Excited to tear into the Zendikar precons after such a show of support for them in our ‘Thoughtsieze’ poll, Sam and I sat down to give it a run through its paces and see how the deck held up. Sam grabbed Unstable Terrain, and we were off! Here are our notes from the matchup.
Zendikar: The Adventurers Review (Part 1 of 2)
In October 2009 and to much critical and commercial acclaim, Wizards released the Zendikar expansion, and many credit the set with revitalising interest in the game. With the component mechanics of “Maps, Traps, and Chaps” Zendikar’s setting was designed to be an “Adventure World” theme that stylistically approximates a role-playing game (indeed, head designer Mark Rosewater even likened the Allies to ‘Fighters, Wizards, and Clerics’). Of the five 41-card Intro Pack decks for the set, none quite capture this flavour so much as The Adventurers.
Focusing on one of the three main themes (Allies, or “Chaps”), in this regard The Adventurers is the most successful of the five in capturing Zendikar’s look and feel. One of the things I most enjoy about preconstructed decks for each set is seeing how they showcase the themes and mechanics for that set. It’s a lot of fun knowing I can pick up a Kamagawa-era deck and play with Splice, or a Bant deck from Alara with Exalted. While not necessarily bad products themselves, there was a real opportunity missed by the designers of the Zendikar decks: in total, only two Quests (“Maps”) and not a single Trap were included.
But on the upside as we’ll see, the Allies got the royal treatment with The Adventurers.
Duel Decks: Elspeth vs Tezzeret Spoiled
For those who don’t want to wait until 03 September to pore over the contents of the latest Duel Deck, they have been spoiled today! You can read about Elspeth’s deck and Tezzeret’s deck to get your fix.
Ertai’s Lament will have full reviews once they’re released!
Ertai’s Meddling: Stampede of Beasts (m11)
Welcome to another installment of Ertai’s Meddling, the occasional series where we take a preconstructed deck and use it to create a new, stronger casual/playable deck. For many, the “intro pack” is their introduction to deckbuilding, taking out cards they don’t like or that don’t seem to work, and replacing them with others from their collection. As always, there are two fundamental rules we’ll observe:
Today’s patient is Stampede of Beasts. A Green/Red deck from Magic 2011, it scored a 3.75/5.0 on account of some glaring weaknesses to the overall deck structure. Here’s the card list as you’d find it tight out of the box:
And before we begin here’s what we learned about the deck from our playtesting and analysis:
Today we’ll be making two versions of Stampede. The first will keep it’s colour scheme intact- unlike Reign of Vampirism, the off-colour here is an asset, not a liability. The second iteration of the deck will be full-on mono-Green, trading burn for rulership of the red zone. Let’s get started!
Planechase: Zombie Empire Review (Part 2 of 2)
Much like this year’s Archenemy, last year’s Planechase had a deck devoted to Zombies and the Undead. As previously reviewed, Bring About the Undead Apocalypse was a delightfully intricate concoction, particarly when weighed against its predecessor, Zombie Empire. It had fatties, recursion, and loads of ways to cheat the beats into your graveyard for reanimation.
Zombie Empire, by contrast, distinguishes itself with a more Tribally-based theme. There is recursion, but it’s less for cheating the deck’s bruisers into play and more for asset recovery. The deck is single-minded in purpose, and has more or less one win condition:
The trick, then, is to do this well, and to give you all the tools you need to accomplish it. How does Zombie Empire fare? Let’s begin by looking at the fundamental building block of the deck: its Zombies.
Wizards Announces New Preconstructed Product
Wizards today announced the forthcoming “Event Decks,” which will be “strong, capable Standard-legal decks” designed for the more competitive player who wants to make the transition from the kitchen table to their local Friday Night Magic. Here’s the official announcement, and a link to some of the forum discussions here. Although nothing but speculation at this point, there’s some interesting concern and debate over the possible contents of the decks.
Here’s a reprint of my comments on the forum regarding the use and positioning of these forthcoming Event Decks:
As a passionate collector and reviewer of preconstructed decks, I’d be very surprised if these supplanted the “intro decks,” because both have a different place in the market. A common assumption about precons is that they’re in some way meant to be “good,” assuming that the definition of “good” means “competitive against non-precons.” Some are, some aren’t, but obviously you’re not going to have consistent success against a T1 deck with one.
Personally, I see precons as drawing upon the best elements of both Constructed and Limited, and work best when seen as a “fly in amber” representation of what the designers and developers were trying to do with a particular set. Taken in that vein, they’re quite a bit of fun to play when you can “revisit” sets from years ago and try out new cards and mechanics you might not have been around for.
Much like Wizards makes cards that are deliberately poor as “skill testers,” precons have existed in the same design space with some of their choices. This may make them unpalatable to some, who are looking for a competitive experience right out of the box, but it certainly helps those newer to the game. There’s a certain, necessary realisation that has to occur to progress in skill, such as when you look at, say, a Runeclaw Bear and realise- aha!- a Garruk’s Companion might be a better choice in the slot. It’s easy to forget after long years of play how incremental learning the game often was for many of us. The alternative is to simply netdeck a list and run with it rather than develop your own fundamentals.
Most precons will step up their power quite noticeably if given some careful pruning- weeding out the suboptimal, and adopting a four-of mentality to increase consistency. Again, this is a teaching tool- my first decks forever ago were sprawling, 120-card singleton affairs, and it took awhile to learn such lessons.
From the sound of it, these Event Decks won’t be world-beaters, but probably second-shelf consistent performers that are sort of “Precons 2.0”- the learning-curve cards and goofy elements that showcase a set’s mechanics will be gone, repalced by consistency with an eye towards perfoemance: 4-of Lightning Bolts, Spreading Seas, or what have you, wrapped around a theme that’s a little tighter than most.
So long as they don’t replace the existing precon structure I’ll be excited as heck for em! They may not cause me to leave my beloved Grixis Control or RDW decks at home each week, but they’ll be a fun alternative.
More preconstructed decks to dig through and review? Ertai’s Lament says, “yes please!”
Planechase: Zombie Empire Review (Part 1 of 2)
It’s been awhile since we reviewed a deck in the format of playtest-then-analyse, but if ever there was a good candidate for a revisit of that model, it’s Zombie Empire on a nice, tranquil Friday night (this was written on 8/20). Having played the deck before, it holds few surprises but still can be a lot of fun to play, and to give it a foil Sam picked up Elemental Thunder in her comfortable colours of Green and Red.
Game One
On the play, Sam kicks things off with a Shivan Oasis before passing, and I as expected drop a Swamp. The first play of the game goes to Sam’s Fertile Ground, which she casts upon her Oasis for a nice little shot of ramping. I repeat my turn 1 play.
Things kick off in the third, as Sam gets out a Rockslide Elemental, a 1/1 for now but with the promise of getting bigger. I make an investment in my future, passing up playing a creature for Phyrexian Arena. Although I’ll take damage for it every round (and I’ve died to it before), getting the card advantage out this early massively skews the game in my favour.
Ertai’s Meddling: Reign of Vampirism (m11)
For our first Ertai’s Meddling deconstruction, we’ve selected the popular M11 deck Reign of Vampirism. As discussed in the deck review, Reign is an intriguing but flawed Black-Green concoction that relies on a particular gimmick (the Captivating Vampire) as its most dangerous win condition. Here are the raw materials we are working with:
Now, let’s next examine the strengths and weaknesses we discovered through analysis and playtesting, so we know where to focus our attentions:
Today we’ll be building two versions of Reign of Vampirism– one keeping it a two-colour construction, and the other bringing its darker elements to the fore and stripping it down to be mono-Black. Remember the rules of Ertai’s Meddling: no Rares or Mythics will be added! In addition, we’ll be keeping the core content of the decks intact- we may have some recommendations for cards from other sets, but for the task at hand we’ll only be using M11 cards.
Planechase: Metallic Dreams Review (Part 2 of 2)
To give Metallic Dreams a good run for its money and to see how the deck functions under pressure, Sam and I decided to put it through its paces against Zombie Empire, a nasty mono-Black Planechase deck. Much like Phyrexia vs The Coalition, it would be interesting to see how an essentially five-colour deck handled itself against a single-coloured one. Here are our game notes…
Ertai's Lament 