Undying!

So with Dark Ascension comes the new Undying mechanic. Creatures with Undying can be brought back onto the battlefield after they die with a +1/+1 counter on them if they did not have any +1/+1 counters before death. Several uses of this mechanic have been discussed on DailyMTG.com, but today I want to talk about the card Undying Evil.

To me, this seems to be a very potent one mana Black instant. You can trade creatures with your opponent without worry of losing board presence, and you can also return these creatures to the battlefield even more powerful than before. If you traded your Goblin Piker with your opponent's Runeclaw Bear on turn three and cast undying on Goblin Piker, you would have essentially placed yourself one card above your opponent in terms of card advantage and also gained a 3/2 blocker on your opponent's third turn.

In addition, Undying also works great on creatures that have abilities that trigger when they enter the battlefield. Examples could include cards like Sylvan Ranger, which fetches lands, and Phyrexian Ranger, which helps you gain card advantage by drawing cards. Trading these creatures with your opponent early in the game and then bringing them back allows you to use their abilities twice, all the while placing your opponent further and further behind you on the board.


Similarly, abilities that trigger on death are also paired well with Undying Evil. Cards like Elder Cathar and Mausoleum Guard are examples of such cards and they can traded, have their abilities activated, then brought back even stronger, ready to be traded once again.  I believe that the 1 mana Doomed Traveler is one of the best cards that can synergise with Undying Evil. As long as you have one untapped swamp, you can trade the Doomed Traveler (even on turn two), cast Undying Evil on it, gain one Spirit token, then bring it back to play even stronger. If this took place, you would have gained a 2/2 creature plus a 1/1 Spirit token while your opponent probably lost whatever 1/1 creature he chose to attack or block with. This leaves the Doomed Traveler to die again, producing another Spirit token in the process.





In conclusion, Undying Evil is probably a powerful and versatile card. This black Dark Ascension common is probably one to look out for, and might just take the game by storm!

If you can think of any other uses of the card, feel free to leave them as a comment below.

 And As always, thank you so much for reading my article!

The Power of a Game

Boom. Shizzle. Zap.
Is this what you imagine power to be?

Well, in today's post, I will not, in fact, be talking about power in this sense.

By "Power of a Game", I refer to the subtle pull of a game on any player who plays it. This 'pull' is not an unhealthy one, such as an addiction, but a gradual force that draws players to the game. Present in Magic: the Gathering, this power is what calls out to the players, and gets them around the table.

This, is the power to unite.

Just yesterday, I met eight people at a Magic event.

Under any normal circumstance the eight of us would have probably never met each other, each unaware of the others existence.

Ten minutes into the event however, we were each having a good time, slapping high fives and playing the game.

Talk and strategy was exchanged, with each player growing stronger after each game.

Laughter and Joy, Tension and Stress during each game.

To any outsider, we would have probably looked like a group of good friends, displaying a level of comfort hardly befitting of a bunch of strangers.


Through a simple card game, I was able to meet and really get to know a bunch of like minded individuals. The common interest we shared pulled us together yet under any other circumstance, we would have probably never met. The fact that so many people can be drawn together by just a simple card game is a testament to what I believe is the Power of a Game.

That's it for today!

Dark Ascension Prerelease!

So the day came that I went to the Dark Ascension prerelease. I've been playing Magic for maybe two months, but these games that I played were all against my siblings and maybe test games of no real meaning. As such, this was the first time that I would be playing against real new opponents and, excited as I was, I made my way down to the Asia Cards Shop near Bishan Junction 8, with equal amounts of trepidation and anticipation.

Getting there 15 minutes early, I signed up and waited around for the event to begin. I had absolutely no idea what to expect, unsure if it would be as wonderful as the article on DailyMTG described it to be. I kept telling myself not to expect too much, and not to be too dissappointed if the event turned out to be less of a blast than it was promised to be. Sitting around the stone benches, I saw a handful of other people also waiting for the event to begin. As I hoped, there was a trio of teenagers who looked roughly my age and seeing them assured me that there would at least be some people of my age I could play against. Also there were some adult players, looking cooly intimidating as they waited. There was also a pair of blonde haired foreginers, who were clearly not local, and seeing them playing such a card game really surprised me.

2PM came and the event officially began! There were a total of 10 people playing , and we were each seated facing each other with 5 people on each side of the table. The sound of ripping booster packs filled the air as each player eagerly tore into the three packs of Innistrad and Dark Ascension booster packs they were provided. "Ravenous Demon!" I nearly whooped as I pulled the rare foil in my first Dark Ascension pack.



Endless possibilities filled my head as I pulled the 5 mana bomb, and my thoughts immediately jumped to a Black-Blue control deck. To my dissappointment however, the blue cards in my pool were definitely not enough for such a strategy. With only two creature, a Stormbound Geist and a Delver of Secrets, coupled with a small pool of removal spells and enchantments, I found Blue too insufficient for use as a secondary main colour. I might place a complete list of the cards in my pool if I have the time, and maybe the you can give me an alternative to the deck I built.

Finally, I decided on a Black-Red splash White, with Black providing the early creatures and Red bringing the late game power. White was splashed for the humans, and Gather the Townsfolk was the choice when looking to produce food to feed my Archdemon of Greed. The main strategy was to drag out the game with cards like Manor Skeleton and Bar the Door, building up mana for Helvault and Elbrus the Binding Blade. Werewolves such as Hinterland Hermit and Tormented Pariah also served double purposes, tough enough to block in the early game and delicious enough for the consumption Archdemon of Greed in the late game. "Awesome!", I thought to myself after the deck's construction. Here's the full decklist:

                                                                                                                                                                  

RED-BLACK SPLASH WHITE ARCHDEMON OF GREED DECK

Lands
5 x Plains
5 x Mountains
9 x Swamps

( All non-land cards were played as singles)

Black
Ravenous Demon/Archdemon of Greed
Village Cannibals
Manor Skeleton
Death's Caress
Curse of Death's Hold

Red
Hinterland Hermit
Tormented Pariah
Markov Warlord
Mondronen Shaman
Crossway Vampire
Russet Wolves
Torch Fiend

White
Spare from Evil
Gather the Townsfolk
Avacynian Priest
Bar the Door
Midnight Hauntings
Archangel's Light
Urgent Exorcism

Others
Helvault
Elbrus, the Binding Blade

What do you think of this deck, leave some comments or send me a mail? Haha.
                                                                                                                                                                  

With my deck and strategy, I procceeded to play my first game against the more muscular of the two foreigners. Unfortuantely, I am unable to provide a turn-by-turn playback of the game, as it took place a long while ago this afternoon. However, the main highlight was when I dropped him down to 8 from 17 with my transformed Ravenous Demon and he calmly Enchanted my Archdemon of Greed with a Chant of Skifsang on his next turn. My jaw dropped with that play, and the second I realised I had a worse-than-dead Archdemon of Greed on the battlefield, I knew it was almost over for me. With no removal in my deck at all, I soon lost the game, being unable to sustain Archdemon of Greed and take damage from my opponent at the same time. After the game, I immediately swapped out a card for the Urgent Exorcism you see in the decklist, humbled by the devastation a single Enchantment brough upon me.

Another exciting game was round four where I played against the other foreigner. He was using a White-Blue aggro deck, playing cards such as the ever awesome Loyal Cathar. Using the card Undying on his own creatures many times, he quite often caught me unawares, returning an important creature to the battlefield at a crucial point of the game. The amount of removal present in his deck also added to his control over the games we played. A powerful example, would be his play of the card Nevermore in the third round, which targeted my Gather the Townsfolk which effectively shut down the best human producing spell in my deck. Consequentially, I lost the game, eventually emerging 2-1 against him.

As for the final results of the whole event, I emerged only winning one out of the four rounds played. After the last round, my winnings were reported, and I won myself a consolation prize of two Dark Ascension booster packs. This prize however, was only a small part of what I took away from the event. The experience and knowledge gained from playing against so many other more experienced players than myself only served to teach and motivate me to play the game more. I am entirely pleased with the way I played, not in the least bit disappointed, and the desire to improve my game has only been made stronger. I look forward to the next official Magic event I can participate in, and the Dark Ascension prerelease was definitely a great one I shall never forget!

Leave me a comment, and thank you so much for reading my article!