News: Mirrodin Besieged Intro Packs Displayed
Images have surfaced on MTG Salvation and Mana Nation of the upcoming Mirrodin Besieged Intro Packs. Some quick factoids:
> There will only be four decks rather than five. Two will be Mirran, the other two Phyrexian
> One of the Phyrexian decks will be Green/White
> From the images of the display, we can see we’ll be getting another foil Angel (SOM gave us Sunblast Angel) as well as a Hydra
Check them out here at Mana Nation!
Ertai’s Meddling: Relic Breaker (Scars of Mirrodin)
It’s time for another installment of Lament’s most popular series, Ertai’s Meddling! This is the series where we take a preconstructed deck and have our way with it, gutting the cards that aren’t carrying their weight and packing in ones that will. Of course, it wouldn’t be sporting just to toss in a heaping cup full of Rares and Mythics, so we look to build within the resources of what a new or returning player might have. As such, we’ve developed the following two Rules:
Today we return to the Scars of Mirrodin precons, and it’s anti-artifact poison pill, Relic Breaker. Scars is an artifact block, absolutely crammed with them, so it was only natural to expect that one of the five decks might be dedicated to smashing things up! When we last visited Relic Breaker, we found it to be a bit of a one-trick pony. Here are the qualities we identified:
Ertai’s Meddling: Myr of Mirrodin (Scars of Mirrodin)
Welcome back once more to the second installment of Ertai’s Meddling for the Scars of Mirrodin! In today’s column we’ll be taking apart the mono-White Myr tribal deck, and reconstructing it in an improved form. Like the previous Meddling, there will also be a twist thrown in to boot, based on the feedback from the Phyrexian Poison article. We’ll get to that later, but for now let’s review the rules of Ertai’s Meddling.
There are two fundamental rules this series has adopted, and they are as follows:
The goal of Ertai’s Meddling isn’t to make the best possible deck regardless your collection or wallet. Rather, by leaving out Rares and Mythic Rares, we look to improve upon the deck with cards most players may already have, or at least have easy access to. It’s often bemoaned- and correctly so- that to compete in Standard today you need to have fairly deep pockets to be able to build most decks. For many players who don’t have Pro Tour aspirations, however, a preconstructed deck and a little bit of tuning will yield up a deck that’s perfectly competitive for casual, table-top play. That’s our goal- take what’s been give to us in the deck, strip out its weaknesses and then build up its strengths.
Ertai’s Meddling: Phyrexian Poison (Scars of Mirrodin)
Welcome back to another edition of Ertai’s Meddling, the ongoing series where we take a deck we’ve reviewed, strip out its weakest elements and look to rebuild it faster, better, stronger. It’s been awhile since we last Meddled (when M11 was new), so let’s take a moment to review the ground rules we’ve set down for the Meddling series:
Whoops! What our clumsily-rendered Goblin friends are trying to tell us there is that unlike past Meddlings, we’re throwing Rule #2 right out the window for Phyrexian Poison. Our first deck concept will be Scars and M11 only, as before. But the second- which is normally a mono-coloured version- will be something completely different: a Standard variant! There are two reasons for the change here. First, Infect is a new mechanic without a great deal of cards supporting it yet, and a mono-Black Infect deck would be a rather poor construct. And second, there are just so many great cards in the format right now that synergise well with Infect!
Scars of Mirrodin: Relic Breaker Review (Part 2 of 2)
If there’s one unwritten rule for our reviews that’s developed over time at Ertai’s Lament, it’s that just as each deck is reviewed just once, so it will be in opposition just once. This left poor Sam in the unenviable position of having to square off against Relic Breaker (the most stridently anti-artifact deck in Scars) while piloting Metalcraft (the most artifact-dependant deck in Scars). I console her by fibbing slightly, telling her that each deck is designed to ‘hold its own’ against the others in the same set. This is something that one tends to believe in principle until one is using the mono-White Kor Armory against Rise of the Vampires and a Malakir Bloodwitch hits the table, but it’s good enough for now. Sam gamely starts to shuffle, and we’re off to the races.
Scars of Mirrodin: Relic Breaker Review (Part 1 of 2)
Welcome to the final review of the Scars of Mirrodin intro packs! So far we’re explored the tribal-based Myr deck, a Proliferate-based strategy, a healthy dose of Infect, and the Metalcraft mechanic. The predominant theme here is obvious- Artifacts- and wouldn’t you know it but Wizards has included a solution to all these problems. And that solution comes in the form of the Relic Breaker deck, tapping the bash-n-burn strategy so well suited to a Green/Red combination.
While that is the deck’s greatest strength, in some ways it is also going to be its greatest weakness. The other four decks of the set are largely self-contained affairs in that they don’t much care what your opponent is playing. Sure, Deadspread would like you to have critters, and you probably will, but generally they will perform the same regardless of the opposition before them.
Not so with Relic Breaker. So much of its effectiveness hinges on a single question: is my opponent playing lots of artifacts? It’s not an unreasonable assumption in the midst of an “Artifact block,” but may well hinder its effectiveness in a broader setting (versus an M11 precon, for instance). That said, let’s see what’s on offer here and how reliant the deck is on facing down artifacts, and we’ll begin with the beaters.
Scars of Mirrodin: Metalcraft Review (Part 2 of 2)
As mentioned in the deck analysis, the Metalcraft deck is- not surprisingly- the flagship deck for the ‘fixed’ version of Affinity, Metalcraft. Not only did I want to see how it was going to perform in the field, but I also determined at the outset that I wanted to record one additional metric, which was the number of turns that Metalcraft was ‘turned on,’ and how long it took me to get there. The deck places a great deal of importance on having three or more artifacts in play, and indeed a scan of the cards shows that without the mechanic engaged, the deck itself is somewhat mediocre. I expected to struggle a little in the early game, then hit the ‘turbo boost’ once my third artifact manifested itself.
Volunteering to sit across the table was the ever-reliable Sam, who opted this time around to give Deadspread a try. I was pleased at the selection, as I’d wanted to see Deadspread in action a few more times. Today I would get my chance.
Scars of Mirrodin: Metalcraft Review (Part 1 of 2)
We return to the endangered plane of Mirrodin today with a look at the next deck in the Scars set: Metalcraft. Although somewhat unimaginitively named, it is nonetheless simple and straight to the point. Just as the previous decks have been crafted around a theme or mechanic of Scars of Mirrodin, so is this Blue/Red Artifact-heavy construction.
The question, then, becomes a matter of how well the theme is supported. As we’ve seen, it can well go either way. Phyrexian Poison was a very solidly-crafted deck that anchored around its mechanic and employed it well. On the opposite end of the spectrum is Deadspread, whose fault might have been more one of ambition than execution, in that Proliferate may not (yet?) be strong enough to build around.
Metalcraft gives its keyworded cards extra power or ability when you have three or more Artifacts in play, and the deck is heavily reliant upon the expectation that you’ll achieve this in short order- there are 17 cards with the mechanic in the deck. Indeed, better than one out of every three cards you draw will be Artifacts, so even the occasional bit of Artifact hate shouldn’t keep you off optimising your cards for long. Let’s take a closer look at the contents of the deck, beginning with the creatures, to see how effectively it meets its ambition.
Scars of Mirrodin: Deadspread Review (Part 2 of 2)
They say evil turns upon itself, and that was very much evident as Sam and I selected our decks to do battle. For my part, I’d be piloting the Blue/Black Proliferating Deadspread. Opposite me at the table was the Green/Black Phyrexian Poison. When last we left Deadspread, we were admiring the intricate beauty of Proliferate, but very concerned that the deck had few tools to defend itself early. Would they be enough, or would I end the evening choking on poison? Here are the notes to our field testing.
Scars of Mirrodin: Deadspread Review (Part 1 of 2)
Doing for Proliferate what Phyrexian Poison did for Infect is our next Scars of Mirrodin deck up for review: Deadspread. The most Creature-light deck of the five, it packs in -1/-1 counters and effects to take advantage of the new mechanic.
A keyword as conditional as this one is consigned to be somewhat feast-or-famine. A Thrummingbird with no counters to spread is a 1/1 Flyer for two mana, which isn’t all that frightening. Likewise, a Steady Progress is a dead draw until you have something on the board to work with. That presents a very noticeable tension- “use it now” for limited effect versus “use it later” for potentially greater. Any strategy based around a mid-to-late game occurrence (the appearance of counters worth Proliferating) demands two things: first, an answer to the early game (ramp, removal, stalling tactics, sweepers, what have you). Secondly, a patient pilot. Let’s see what Deadspread brings to the table.
Ertai's Lament 