MTG Brewer: Fun Budget Aether Revolt Standard Deck – R/W Artificers

Looking for a fun budget deck for Aether Revolt Standard? Aggro decks have been in the backburner in this format and the ones that do have some success like G/B Aggro, G/W Tokens and Mardu Vehicles all cost a pretty penny. With that in mind, here is R/W Artificers.

4 Inventor’s Apprentice
4 Toolcraft Exemplar
4 Stoneforge Acolyte
4 Weapons Trainer
4 Stone Haven Outfitter
2 Aether Chaser
2 Reckless Bushwacker
2 Pia Nalaar

4 Inventor’s Goggles
2 Captain’s Claws
2 Stoneforge Masterwork

4 Shock
2 Declaration in Stone

4 Inspiring Vantage
2 Needle Spires
8 Plains
6 Mountains

This deck plays powerful one drops like Inventor’s Apprentice and Toolcraft Exemplar and equipment to enable it instead of vehicles like Heart of Kiran. It also plays 8 powerful 2 drops lords in Weapons Trainer and Stone Haven Outfitter. Inventor’s Goggles and Stoneforge Masterwork tie in the Artificers synergies. Inspiring Vantage is the most expensive card in the deck but it is a necessity to make the mana work. Every other card are commons, uncommons or bulk rares so the deck should cost no more than $30 to make.

All in all, this could be a good deck for someone looking to try something a little different. One thing is for sure none of these cards are in danger of being banned in the next wave of bannings!

MTG Brewer: Dragon Stompy for Modern

Modern season is fast approaching. Looking to attack the Modern meta at a different angle? Try this deck I have been playing around with.

Dragon Stompy:

4 Blood Moon
2 Magus of the Moon
3 Chalice of the Void
2 Fulminator Mage
2 Avalanche Riders

4 Anger of the Gods
4 Draconic Roar
2 Dismember

4 Thunderbreak Regent
3 Stormbreath Dragon
2 Chandra, Pyromaster

4 Simian Spirit Guide
3 Desperate Ritual
2 Gemstone Caverns
19 Mountains

Sideboard:
3 Relic of Progenitus
2 Ingot Chewer
1 Boil
2 Combust
2 Spellskite
1 Fulminator Mage
2 Pyroclasm
1 Chalice of the Void
2 Dragon’s Claw

Dragon Stompy is a old school Legacy deck that didn’t really translate to Modern because the lack of Sol Ring lands. You can still get a turn 1 or 2 Chalice of the Void and/ or Blood Moon with Simian Spirit Guide, Desperate Ritual and Gemstone Caverns though (but probably not as reliably). After you get the soft lock in, it really doesn’t matter how you win the game. I like the dragons package because because the dragons can sort of protect themselves. Also since you don’t want to play Lightning Bolt in deck (since it can be lock out with a Chalice on 1), it makes Dragonic Roar a bit more attractive to play.

I was getting board with Zoo, Burn, Living End and Tron so this deck was a breath of fresh air to play.

MTG Brewer: Brewing with Goblins in Standard

Everyone is probably excited about the dragons from the upcoming set, Dragons of Tarkir but I am more excited about the goblins! More specifically I think Dragon Fodder is the missing piece to make a Goblin deck work in Standard.

4 Foundry Street Denizen
4 Frenzied Goblin
4 Dragon Fodder
4 Mardu Scout
4 Goblin Rabblmaster
4 Hordeling Outburst
1 Goblin Heelcutter

4 Lightning Strike
4 Stoke the Flames

3 Obelisk of Urd
2 Hall of Triumph

22 Mountains

This is a mono red aggro deck that goes wide. There are three solid Goblin token generators in Standard, Dragon Fodder, Hordeling Outburst and Goblin Rabblemaster. I filled out the curve with Foundry Street Denizens (a no brainer), Frenzied Goblin and 5 dash goblins. I wasn’t too crazy about Mardu Scout and Goblin Heelcutter at first. They were only in the deck because they were goblins but in testing they are exactly what the deck needs. It gives you some insurance against sweepers and gives you a mana sink late game. Finally the anthem effects are so important in this deck so I went from 4 to 5. Cards like Dragon Fodder isn’t too threatening by itself but with an anthem effect or two every card is a must answer.

Another option for this deck is to go bigger. You can cut cards like Frenzied Goblin and the dash goblins and add lands, Purphoros, God of the Forge and Outpost Seige. I am currently using these cards in my sideboard to sort of transform the deck Game 2.

Krenko is my commander in my EDH deck this deck is right in my wheelhouse and so far it has been a ton of fun.

MTG Repack Break: 2 T-shirts and 2 Packs & Brewing with Jeskai Ascendancy

This repack in K-Mart caught my eye the other day and of course, as usual, I just couldn’t resist.

It has two Magic themed t-shirts and two Magic packs (1 pack of Return to Ravnica & 1 pack of Khans of Tarkir). The two t-shirt are of the Boros guild and of Chandra. I think they are pretty neat and definitely worth it with the repack priced just over $20.

There wasn’t anything of note in my Return to Ravnica pack. I did get a foil Guild Feud (and the rare in the pack was Palisade Giant which is meh). I did pull another Jeskai Ascendancy in my Khans of Tarkir pack. This is one of my favorite cards printed in the last few years. It has so much combo potential and there are just so many ways to build around this card. In fact, it has seen play in Standard, Modern and Legacy. The new set Fate Reforged is going to add a number of sweet cards to the deck but I wanted to share you my Jeskai Ascendancy list that I have been working with.

Creatures:
4 Monastery Swiftspear
4 Seeker of the Way
4 Raise the Alarm
4 Hordeling Outburst

Burn Spells:
4 Lightning Strike
3 Magma Jet
4 Stoke the Flames (the FNM version of course)
4 Jeskai Charm

Draw and Filtering:
4 Jeskai Ascendancy
3 Treasure Cruise

Lands:
4 Mystic Monastery
4 Temple of Triumph
1 Temple of Enlightenment
2 Mana Confluence
1 Shivan Reef
1 Battlefield Forge
2 Flooded Strand
4 Mountain
2 Plains
1 Island

This is a more aggro version of the Jeskai Ascendancy tokens list with more burn and a lower curve (compared to the stock list). If you get value out of the anthem effect of the Ascendancy that is great but you would be more than happy if you only just get the looting effect so you can draw gas. With Fate Reforged out next week, I am thinking of cutting 4 Monastery Swiftspear and 4 Seeker of the Way for 4 Monastery Mentor and 4 Soulfire Grand Master. The curve would be a bit higher so maybe I would have cut something like a Magma Jet or Jeskai Charm for another land.

Lost CCGs: World of Warcraft TCG

I don’t have any packs this week since I spent my weekly “budget” on virtual cards, Hearthstone’s newest set Goblins vs Gnomes so I thought it would be a good time to take a look back at the World of Warcraft CCG/ TCG.

Unlike other lost CCGs I have highlighted on this blog, World of Warcraft only went out of print last year. It was first published by Upper Deck Entertainment. As we know, Upper Deck made a number of questionable business decisions (like making bootleg Yu-Gi-Oh cards) and lost the license in 2010. Cryptozoic Entertainment then took the mantle only to lose the license when Blizzard decided to make Hearthstone.

World of Warcraft TCG took a lot of inspiration from Magic and improved a lot of the more unpopular aspects of MTG, namely the quest/ mana crystals, be able to attack allies or heroes and the damage not removed at the end of the turn mechanics. Loot cards were a blessing and a curse. They were a huge draw for collectors opening boxes because they were highly desirable in the World of Warcraft game. But unfortunately they drew attention away from the card game and many people were only opening boxes for the loot cards and flooding the market with non loot cards.

I say World of Warcraft TCG is a lost CCG because it is completely overshadowed by the super popular Hearthstone game. Hearthstone repackaged a lot of the art and mechanics from the WoW TCG. It simplifies some of the mechanics like the mana system and redesigned some other mechanics to take advantage of the computer card game format like putting a random card in your hand. I love Hearthstone but wouldn’t mind playing a game of WoW TCG too (but not right now since I brewing with all the new Goblins vs Gnomes cards).

By the way if you are interested, here is a fun brew I have been tinkering with since the release.

2 Clockwork Gnome
2 Undertaker
2 Frostbolt
2 Unstable Portal
2 Explosive Sheep
2 Snowchugger
1 Unstable Ghoul
2 Harvest Golem
2 Tinkertown Technician
2 Fireball
1 Polymorph
1 Goblin Blastmage
2 Mechanical Yeti
2 Piloted Shredder
2 Sludge Belcher
1 Caine Bloodhoof
1 Sylvanas Windrunner
1 Flamestrike

It is a gimmicky value midrange mech mage deck.

MTG Brewer: Legacy MUD and the 2014 Red Commander Deck

I have two red commander decks so it was a no brainer to pick up the 2014 red commander deck the day it was released. I picked out all the good commander cards for my Zirilan of the Claw dragon deck and Krenko goblin deck. Some of the remaining cards were Wurmcoil Engine, Myr Battlesphere and Steel Hellkite and it actually inspired to update my old MUD deck.

The red commander deck came with a Goblin Welder so I own 3 welders now so I first tried a red based MUD deck but you have to play Great Furnace and Mountains and I think that playing a sub par mana base it not worth the splash so I went with a mono brown build.

4 Chalice of the Void
4 Lodestone Golem
3 Trinisphere

2 Mox Opal
1 Grim Monolith
4 Metalworker
4 Kuldotha Forgemaster

2 Lightning Greaves
2 Spellskite
1 Phyrexian Metamorph
2 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Steel Hellkite
1 Duplicant
1 Staff of Nin
1 Myr Battlesphere
1 Karn Liberated
1 Platinum Angel
1 Spine of Ish Sah
1 Sundering Titan
1 Blightsteel Colossus

4 Ancient Tomb
1 City of Traitors
4 Cloudpost
4 Glimmerpost
1 Vesuva
4 Darksteel Citadel
2 Cavern of Souls
2 Wasteland

Sideboard:
4 Tormod’s Crypt
4 Phyrexian Revoker
3 Defense Grid
2 Bottled Cloister
2 Ratchet Bomb

Sure this deck isn’t the most competitive Legacy deck but this deck is a blast to play. It can generate ridiculous amounts of mana and it can have some explosive draws. I have killed with a Blightsteel Colossus in the third turn. It can also lock out some decks in the first or second turn with cards like Chalice of the Void, Lodestone Golem and Trinisphere.

The mana base is a little weird as I could only fit nine posts. I like 5 sol ring lands so you can do first turn Chalices regularly, I wanted Darksteel Citadels since I am playing a full playset of Kuthdu Forgemasters and finally I shaved down Wastelands and Cavern of Souls but they are both kind of important. Is it right? Probably not but it works for me at the moment and I am still tinkering with the deck.

Is this deck inconsistent? Yes. Is this deck going too many directions? Probably. Is it better without Cloudposts? Likely. But a third turn Blightsteel Colossus kill! (I also have hard casted Blightsteel Colossus a number of times).

Post RTR Standard Brewing: Rabble Red

Mono red aggro decks are sure to be strong right out of the gate in Standard, post rotation. Here is my Sligh/ Rabble Red build.

4 Foundry Street Denizen
4 Firedrinker Satyr
4 Satyr Hoplite
4 Akroan Crusader
3 Mogis Warhound
3 Arena Athlete
4 Goblin Rabblemaster

4 Titan’s Strength
4 Dragon’s Mantle
1 Coordinated Assault
1 Hall of Triumph
4 Stoke the Flames

20 Mountains

The core of this deck is mono red heroic. There are 16 one drops, 6 sort of two drops (Mogis Warhound is not really a two drop) and 4 Goblin Rabblemasters. In testing, you really want to go one drop then next turn go combat, heroic enabler followed by another one drop. Lightning Strike won’t cut it anymore with cards like Courser of Kruphix, Butcher of the Horde, etc. Finally there is a minor token theme and I think Hall of Triumph would be insane. In fact, I have 1 more in the sideboard for mirror matches.

As you may have notice there are actually no actual Khans of Tarkir cards in the deck and that is not by design. The two strongest cards from the set for this deck is Monastery Swiftspear and War-name Aspirant. I am not sure if Montasty Swiftspear is in fact better than Satyr Hoplite. I am leaning towards the Satyr Hoplite for now because it can survive a Drown in Sorrows and maybe even an Anger of the Gods better. As I said, this deck doesn’t really want two drops. Arena Athlete is probably the weakest card of the deck though but the “can not block” ability is so powerful that if you cut Arena Athlete for War-name Aspirant you also need to cut some one drops for Frenzied Goblin or heroic enablers for Hammerhand. War-name Aspirant is also a nombo with Foundry Street Denizen.

It is hard to build a sideboard right now but I am going with something like this for the first week.

3 Magma Spray
2 Circle of Flame
1 Hall of Triumph
4 Eidolon of the Great Revel
2 Purphoros, God of the Forge
1 Mountain
1 Blinding Flare
1 Harness by Force

Magma Spray, Circle of Flame and Hall of Triumph is for mono red and mono black aggro decks. The eidolon is for mid range decks that have to lower their curve to keep up with this deck. Blinding Flare and Harness by Force is help against those big green decks. Finally I wanted a robust threat against control decks. Stormbreath Dragon and the new Sarkan is bit high of the curve so I want to try Purphoros, God of the Forge.

MTG Brewer: Young Pyromancer Tempo in Standard

If you are anything like me, you are looking for fun new decks in Standard to mix things up a bit. There is only so much black devotion and U/W control decks you can play week after week. I went deep in the tank to brew something new for FNM and I came up with an interesting Young Pyromancer tempo deck. It could use some fine tuning but it is a blast to play and it uses a bunch of weird cards that I haven’t gotten to try out before.

The Threats:
4x Judge’s Familiar
2x Dakra Mystic
4x Vaporkin
4x Young Pyromancer
3x Hour of Need

One ideal draw is Judge’s Familiar into Young Pyromancer. Hour of Need helps you speed up your clock and it can win the game for you out of nowhere. There is no good cantrips in Standard so Dakra Mystic is there to help you make sure you don’t gas out too soon. I am playing with Vaporkin and I avoided playing with the one mana/ two power red creatures like Radkos Cackler because Sylvan Caryatid is a problem. But Firedrinker Satyr is interesting because it can beat a Sylvan Caryatid but I can’t see myself ever tapping to pump it.

The Tempo Cards:
4x Dissolve
4x Izzet Charm
4x Syncopate
4x Lightning Strike
1x Magma Jet
4x Voyage’s End

The two best counterspells in Standard are Dissolve and Syncopate. There are five burn spells in the form of Lightning Strikes and a single Magma Jet. Izzet Charm can be both. You really don’t want to use the draw 2 and discard 2 mode in Izzet Charm unless you really have to since it is card disadvantage. Voyage’s End is there to help you win races. Speaking of which, as I was saying there isn’t a good cheap card draw spell in Standard but there is Scrying and there is a bunch of them to help you dig for the cards you need.

The Lands:
9x Island
7x Mountain
4x Steam Vents
2x Temple of Epiphany

I am not sure I want to play with 4 temples since I really can’t afford to have a land to come in play tapped.

So basically this deck has to play a threat on turn 1 and/ or turn 2 and then you almost never tap out on your turn to leave your mana open to protect your threats and to disrupt your opponent. It is the basic formula for a tempo deck. If they don’t do anything, you can always upgrade your threats with Hour of Need at the end of their turn.

Some of the cards in the deck are a bit underpowered but one of the best thing about playing this deck is your opponent has no idea what to expect and I love that!

Betrayal of the Guardian WoW TCG Pack Break and A Budget Hearthstone Deck

I have to admit I have been playing Hearthstone a lot the last two months or so. It is a wildly addictive card game and the interface is quite polished, compared to say MTGO. Hearthstone of course is the World of Warcraft TCG repackaged/ recycled/ rebooted or however you want to phrase it. In fact I got a WoW TCG pack from the Betrayal of the Guardian set. So I guess you can say this is a blast of the past even if these cards only came out a year ago.

WoW TCG is “dead” so you can find packs really cheap. It is actually a fun game but the problem is finding someone to play with which I guess is where Hearthstone comes in. It is kind of cool to see parallels between the two games. For example the art on the Durnholde Tracking Hound is also the art on the Unleash the Hounds card in Hearthstone.

Speaking of Hearthstone, with my foundation in Magic I picked up the game pretty quickly and my go to deck for grinding Hearthstone to get gold, to get packs, to get dust to finally get legendaries was a dirt cheap Mage Control deck. It basically answers all your opponent’s threats, draws more cards than your opponent and has strong end game to finish off games. If you are curious about my decklist you can find that here. It is a very good deck to start off with as the only rare is Azure Drake. I admit though as I go up the ranks I have switched to a more powerful Druid ramp deck.

If you want to challenge me in Hearthstone you can shoot me an email. I can’t say I am the best Hearthstone player in the world but I like to think I am competitive.

MTG Brewer: R/U/g Control aka Counterburn

Unlike the Innistrad/ Return to Ravnica standard format, the RTR/ Theros standard format is honestly not a ripe format for brewing. U/W/x Control, R/G/x Monsters, Mono Black Devotion and Mono Blue Devotion deck are all brutally efficient and there aren’t really many build around Johnny type cards. With that being said I have a new take on a blue based control deck that I have been working on.

As with all my brews, I like to start with a theory and test it out. I also usually like to write about it really before iron out the decklist so I have to start with a warning as usual, this is a very raw brew that needs fine tuning.

The theories are A) – Can a counterburn deck be viable? B) – Can Chandra’s Phoenix be used in a control shell and be used as a source of card advantage?

Here is a working decklist to test those theories out. First the burn spells.

4 Lightning Strike
4 Turn // Burn
3 Anger of the Gods
4 Izzet Charm

Lightning Strike is the best burn spell in Standard, Turn // Burn is the catch all and Izzet Charm is the most flexible card in the deck as it can be a counterspell, removal spell or card draw. Anger the Gods can be a dead card in many matchups and it is also a nombo with Chandra’s Phoneix but without it I think this deck will get overrun by RDW, white weenie and the like.

The Counterspells:
4 Counterflux
2 Dissolve

Counterflux is the best counterspell in Standard. It guarantees you countering your opponent’s Aethering, Elspeth etc. One thing to note is it is a lot better as an answer to your opponent’s threats rather than as a way to protect your spells because your opponent can just use another counterspell while it is on the stack.

The Card Draw:
3 Jace, Architect of Thought
2 Thoughtflare

Opportunity is a bit too slow and you really can’t tap out for Divination with this deck so I am trying out Thoughtflares. Plus Chandra’s Phoenixs work really well with both Thoughtflare and Izzet Charm as you can get back them later in the game. Jace is just too good not to include. It gives you some board presence while drawing a bunch of cards.

The Win Cons:
4 Chandra’s Phoenix
2 Aetherling

This deck is centered around Chandra’s Phoenix. They are great as chump blockers, pressuring Planewalkers and it can be a source of card advantage (at least in theory). Aetherling are there to make you can close out games.

Finally I decided to have a slight green splash.

2 Xenagos, the Reveler
1 Kiora, the Crashing Wave

After a little testing, I wanted up the power level just a bit and since the U/R temple hasn’t been printed yet I am going to have to play an off color temple anyways so I thought I can have a “free” splash and I chose green mainly because I want to try out Kiora and Xengos and I feel this deck needs a way to pop Detention Spheres. Green has a good answer in Unravel the Aether. If you want to go down a more traditional route, a Grixis control deck can be very strong.

The Mana Base:
3 Islands
2 Mountains
4 Steam Vents
4 Stomping Grounds
4 Breeding Pool
4 Temple of Mystery
3 Temple of Abandon
1 Izzet Guildgate

I have to admit the the mana base is a little greedy and it is possible the green splash is just not worth it.

You can see the full decklist and the sideboard which I honestly haven’t really work on at Tappedout.net. The deck seems to be a lot of fun and there seems to be a few options to attack the meta in different, unexpected ways.