Shards of Alara: Grixis Undead Review (Part 1 of 2)
Our next stop in our tour of the shards of Alara is the world of Grixis, a bleak and dystopian world where the dead both outnumber and hunt the living. Vast bonescapes cover the terrain, fields littered with the remnants of those too far deteriorated or scattered to be reanimated or repurposed. Small pockets of humans and other races band together in pockets, hiding from the horrors about them. If it helps, think of the humans in the Terminator series in the future where machines hold sway. In a word? Grim.
In more concrete terms, Grixis describes the shard ruled by the colour Black, alongside its two allied-colours Red and Blue. In keeping with the set’s theme, Grixis has its own unique mechanic in unearth. A creature with unearth has a limited second live, a recursive “two-and-out” that lets you recast them from the graveyard once they’ve ended their initial lifespan on the battlefield. This second go-round is, to repurpose a phrase, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short. Put another way, once you trigger their unearth, they rocket from the crypt with haste and are removed from the game if they die again or at the end of turn. With this in mind, we now turn our attention to the inhabitants of Grixis.
Shards of Alara: Primordial Jund Review (Part 2 of 2)
With Jimi having acted as foil for much of Mirrodin Besieged, it’s Sam’s turn to get back in the hotseat and do battle with the preconstructed decks. Everyone has a favourite world, and Sam’s is Alara. From the book to the mechanics to the cards, she’s a huge fan of the block and a natural choice to take lead against me.
For the match, Sam opts to go with Naya Behemoths, hoping to win the attrition war in the red zone through that deck’s massive beaters. Here are our notes from the match.
Shards of Alara: Primordial Jund Review (Part 1 of 2)
Ahh, Jund. Certainly no other shard conveys the same resonance by the mere utterance of its name. Filled with incremental-advantage cards like Bloodbraid Elf, Sprouting Thrinax, and Broodmate Dragon, and Blightning, “Jund decks” had a solid run at Standard dominance until Shards block rotated out and Scars block rotated in, and now content for their rightful place at the Extended table. Of course, this isn’t constructed, but no doubt the Jund deck here secretly longs for the soul-withering success its older brother achieved.
2005’s Ravnica, with its ten dual-coloured guilds, showed how just a little branding could turn groupings of the five colours of Magic into easily-graspable concepts for the playerbase. Although most of the guilds have faded into shrouded obscurity, we still here talk of Boros decks even now, indicating a deck that has both White and Red. Three years later, Wizards would repeat the trick, this time with tri-colour “shards.” A shard consists of a single colour and it’s two allied or “friendly” colours. (For those keeping score at home, a grouping of a colour and its two ‘enemy’ colours is called a wedge). For Jund, that primary colour was Red, supported by both Black and Green. In the setting, this revealed Jund to be a place of elemental fury, with a landscape littered with volcanoes, skies filled with dragons, and inhabitants engaged in a neverending struggle for survival.
Welcome to primordial Jund.
Mirrodin Besieged: Infect & Defile Review (Part 2 of 2)
Yikes! A long, long day at the office (on my day off) trying to hit a deadline means that we’re racing to the table when I get home, looking to sort out the customary three-of and see how Infect & Defile ranks next to its fellow Mirrodin Besieged Event Deck, the blitzkrieging Into the Breach. Without further preamble, here are our match notes.
New ‘Magic Beyond the Box’ Contest is Here!
Like giveaways? Who doesn’t! We’re at it again, and this week’s contest is so big that I’ve dedicated my entire column to it. Why not head on over, check it out and see about winning that Grand Prize!
Magic Beyond the Box will be back with a new feature next week with about the Event Decks, and my experiences on Game Day. Until then, enjoy a Second Chance!
Mirrodin Besieged: Into the Breach Review (Part 2 of 2)
Eager to tear into the brand-shiny-new Event Decks released for Mirrodin Besieged, Jimi and I broke them open, sleeved them up, and laid out the playmats- time for battle! We had one guideline we established straightaway, and that was that we would not be sideboarding between matches. As preconstructed decks don’t ordinarily include them, and they’re more a fixture of Constructed strategy, we wanted to battle the two decks against one another as we would with any precon- stock right out of the box.
Here are the notes from the confrontation. Warning: it ain’t pretty.
Whispers of the Muse: Steven T’s ‘Reign of the Bloodchief’
After a trip back in time to Tempest last week, we’re back with something more familiar and contemporary for this week’s Whispers. Today we’re hearing from reader Steven T. Steven has a request with a slight twist, one that should be familiar with readers of our previous Ertai’s Trickery feature, where we blended several decks together:
I’ve recently started playing Magic: the Gathering. I built myself a Vampire-themed deck by mixing together Reign of Vampirism from M11 core set and Fangs of the Bloodchief from Worldwake. I’ve been trying to find the third vampire precon called Rise of the Vampires (or something like that) so then I can tweak this deck a bit more.
I’ve played with this deck a few times and found that Captivating Vampire doesn’t pull his weight around in comparison to Anowon. However, I attribute this to everyone making sure I didn’t have 5 vampires on the battlefield at one time. Also I was thinking about swapping out the 4x Assassinate for 4x Go For The Throat. I’d like this deck to remain a mono-black. However, I’m happy for people to suggest a secondary colour. I’d like to keep this deck an aggro deck as well, but again i’m happy for other suggestions. Also I only play casually so I’m not really looking for a tournament standard deck.
Here is the preliminary decklist.
Mirrodin Besieged: Infect & Defile Review (Part 1 of 2)
Again as we prepare to explore the second of the two Event Decks, the Phyrexians’ Infect & Defile, we must answer the question of how to build a successfully competitive deck within the confines of the card pool allowed. Most decks at the competitive level lean on mythics and a solid number of rares. How can decks permitted zero mythics and only seven rares hope to hold its own?
Into the Breach found one niche where a narrowly-focused deck could make a decent showing of itself: mono-Red aggro. Leaning on cards like Goblin Guide, Goblin Bushwhacker, and Lightning Bolt, it traded power for blistering speed, and will certainly steal a few wins on that account. That takes care of the Mirrans, but what about the Phyrexians? As it happens, the answer lies within the question.
It’s in niche specialisation, of course, and with infect being around for all of two sets, it doesn’t get much more niche than that. Infect & Defile takes a very intriguing and unconventional approach to the strategy, however, in that it doesn’t pack a swarm of infect creatures- in fact, it’s relatively creature-light. Instead, it plays more like an aggro-control deck, looking to resolve a few threats then back it up with denial and removal. It’s an approach well worth a look, and we’ll start with those sixteen beaters.
Mirrodin Besieged: Into the Breach Review (Part 1 of 2)
They’re here!
The waiting and anticipation is finally over. It isn’t often that Wizards releases a new line of products for Magic, but the much-anticipated Event Decks can now take their place alongside the Duel Decks, Premium Deck Series, Intro Packs, and other such preconstructed products. And the verdict? Well, taking a stab we’d say they’re not as good as what some folks hoped, but far better than what many feared.
When news of the Event Decks was loosed into the community some months ago, speculation was rampant as to what they might contain. The decks were positioned as “FNM-ready,” perhaps not a deck you could win a PTQ with but certainly one that would give you a shot at your local comic or hobby store. That deliberately-vague depiction left tremendous ground for guesswork. Would they have a slew of rares? Mythics? Planeswalkers? Jaces?
For those entertaining the end-spectrum of such fervent hope, prepare to be disappointed. The Event Decks- and there are two for Mirrodin Besieged (and two for the next set, ‘Action’)- contain exactly zero mythics. Nope, not a planeswalker between them. What you do get, though, is a finely-tuned deck that includes seven rares and a host of uncommons, so you certainly get some card value right off the top. In addition, each is packed in an attractive cardboard box, including a divider (for your deck versus your sideboard) and a Mirrodin Besieged “spindown” life counter. Nice attention to detail: the deck box holds the deck perfectly when they’re sleeved.
The real question, however, isn’t so much content as positioning. Do they live up to the hype? The card list is static- you know what you’re going to get when you crack one open- but the Friday Night Magic scene is anything but. Some are very casual, some very competitive, and the majority likely a proper mix. I’ve gone from battling against someone’s Orzhov-themed lifedrainer deck in one matchup right to the guy with playsets of Jaces and Baneslayers (back when she was a hotter commodity). You’ll find folks playing “netdecks of the stars” to those with a modified intro pack. It’s a meta that, from where Wizards is sitting, is virtually impossible to plan for. So how then do you construct these decks?
New ‘Magic Beyond the Box’ Up
Forget constructed, nevermind limited… close your eyes for a moment and try and imagine the glory that would be: Pro Tour- Preconstructed! With tongue planted only somewhat in cheek, I offer a few thoughts as to why this would actually be a great format to see (even if we’re unlikely to see it).
Head on over and check it out!
Ertai's Lament 
