Dark Ascension

Dark Ascension is coming. The pre-release was this weekend and the full release is later this week. I wrote an article looking forward to Innistrad, so I think I'll do the same here and start a little tradition.

One caveat, though. This article will be short and I'll miss a lot of good cards, but I have a good excuse. I've been working on a top secret project and it's been draining most of my free time and energy. That secret project is also very relevant to Birds of Paradise and you'll learn about soon. Stay tuned!

Now on to Dark Ascension. I'll pick the top few cards in each color that I'm most looking forward to playing with. These aren't necessarily the best cards in the set. For example, Sorin is a good card to give the set a face, but he doesn't make my list because at $50 a copy he won't be making any of my decks. Also, there are a lot cards that look cool and powerful, but just have too much dependency. My card evaluation shortcut is "dependency is bad". This shortcut can sometimes make you miss a good card, but I think it's a pretty good way to do it.

I'll start with black. It seems to catch most of my attention in this set. I think that is appropriate because I believe the tag line of this set or more or less "the monsters win". Zombies are getting some help. First up is the very cool Gravecrawler. Great name, great art, great card. This guy doesn't die. Or at least he doesn't stay dead. This is resilience embodied. As the game goes on he will become less useful: a 3/3 can mostly shut him down, but just remember one important thing with evaluating Gravecrawler. He costs one.

Also add Geralf's Messenger to your (monoblack) zombie deck. If Gravecrawler is resilience embodied then Undying is resilience made into a mechanic. And making your opponent lose two life is a big deal. Especially in these new aggro zombie decks.

One of my favorites cards in the set is Tragic Slip (I think I have a thing for one drops). This card is really good. Creatures die a lot, and when they do, and you have one mana black up (you will when you're holding this), then any targetable creature of your choice is dead. You can even run one of your Gravecrawlers into his Titan to try to set this up. Does he block or no? One black mana up changes how this format will be played. The other thing that makes this card so good is it's far from a dead card when you can't setup the morbid trigger. There are many one toughness creatures that I would gladly spend one mana and a card to get rid of. I think we'll be talking about Tragic Slip for a long time to come.

Combine black with white and play Lingering Souls. Wow! I thought Midnight Haunting was good. Doubling the effectiveness of the spell more than makes up for the downgrade to sorcery speed in most decks. I think this card compares favorably with the mighty Squadron Hawk. Sign me up for white/black.

I like Stormbound Geist for blue. This is a solid attacker at a good price with built in resilience. Tower Geist also looks pretty solid, reminiscent of Sea Gate Oracle, though four mana is a lot more than three.

Faithless Looting is most interesting for red. They officially made the looting mechanic red, and what a good place for it to be. If all you see is card advantage than after casting this twice you end up down one card, but this is not a card advantage card. This is about card quality. Imagine you've beat your opponent down to 5 life but he's starting to stabilize and all you have in your hand is a pair of mountains. You have four in play and don't need any more. You play Faithless Looting and you know you'll throw away those two useless mountains, so it basically becomes Divination for one. It can help you find lands if you need to as well. Don't forget the flashback.

Hellrider reminds me of Hero of Oxid Ridge. Both are excellent four drops to sit atop your aggro curve.

For green, Dawntreader Elk seems pretty good. Kind of like Viridian Emissary which saw a good bit of play, but I think the newcomer might be better because you have more control. Watch out for the Predator Ooze... Kind of ridiculous though a little slow. Hit that thing with a Tragic Slip ASAP. Strangleroot Geist is a strong two drop. I think I'll be dusting off and updating Elder Zenith. Also, if I can can afford it, Vorapede looks like a great five drop. Oh! Don't forget Young Wolf.

There are a bunch of interesting multicolor cards in this set. I generally dislike werewolves, but can't ignore Huntmaster of the Fells. That's just a bomb for four mana. Also note he isn't legendary. The uncommon lords are powerful and also should have an interesting impact on limited play. Check out the captains: Diregraf Captain, Drogskol Captain, Stromkirk Captain, and Immerwolf (a.k.a Wolf Captian). I dare say some of those guys are worth splashing a second color into your tribal deck.

That's it! Thanks for reading.

Dark Ascension

The Standard Deck of the Moment

I ran the deck averages script over the last 15 Standard Daily Events. This deck is currently dominating with a whopping 35% of the field.

U/W Delver/Traft
-- main -- 4.0 Glacial Fortress 8.8 Island 3.0 Moorland Haunt 1.0 Plains 4.0 Seachrome Coast 4.0 Delver of Secrets 3.0 Geist of Saint Traft 2.0 Invisible Stalker 4.0 Snapcaster Mage 3.3 Gitaxian Probe 2.8 Gut Shot 4.0 Mana Leak 2.0 Midnight Haunting 4.0 Ponder 1.4 Runechanter's Pike 3.6 Vapor Snag	1.3 Divine Offering 1.4 Mental Misstep 1.5 Sword of War and Peace 0.6 Merfolk Looter 0.6 Phantasmal Bear 0.3 Sword of Feast and Famine 0.3 Lord of the Unreal 0.3 Porcelain Legionnaire	-- sideboard -- 1.9 Dissipate 1.2 Negate 1.6 Oblivion Ring 1.9 Phantasmal Image 0.5 Revoke Existence 2.3 Timely Reinforcements 0.6 Celestial Purge 0.8 Dismember 0.4 Marrow Shards 0.5 Ratchet Bomb 0.3 Flashfreeze

Trading Chandra

There is more to Magic than playing Magic. Part of the challenge is building decks to play with, but there are other games within the magic metagame as well. One of those games is acquiring cards.

If money is no issue then you just buy whatever cards you want, whenever you want, at whatever price. But what fun is that? Better to hone your trading skills. I do most of my trading online, which is a very different beast than trading in person. Trading online is less about making killer trades with unfortunate individuals and more about recognizing good cards, buying low, and selling high.





When trading, my ultimate goal is to acquire cards to play with, not to turn a profit. This is an important distinction. Trading for profit revolves around speculation while trading for cards is more about buying good cards when they aren't popular and selling cards when they're all the rage. For example, when Day of Judgment was at fifty cents I bought a set because it was a good card at a good price. I had no intention of reselling. If, however, Day of Judgment skyrocketed to five dollars (for some reason) I'd sell them off. It's not worth that much.

I'll use my red aggro deck as an example. A few months ago I bought the following:

Card	Qty	Price	Total
Chandra, the Firebrand	2	6.63	13.26
Grim Lavamancer	4	1.50	6.00
Chandra's Phoenix	4	1.03	4.12

Last night I sold Chandra and the Lavamancer for a decent profit:

Card	Qty	Price	Total	Net
Chandra, the Firebrand	2	7.50	15.00	+1.74
Grim Lavamancer	4	2.50	10.00	+4.00

With the current price of the Phoenix over four tickets, I could have pulled a pretty big profit there, but I wanted to keep them. They're really good. Four dollars is a lot, but I don't think it requires a sell. Yet.

So do I retire my red deck? Not yet! I bought replacements:

Card	Qty	Price	Total
Hero of Oxid Ridge	2	5.00	10.00
Stromkirk Noble	4	1.67	6.70

It's up for debate, but I think my deck got better. Lavamancer is good, but I like Stromkirk better in this deck. I wanted him for the original list but at the time he was selling for six tickets each (glad I waited). Chandra is nice, provides the cute combo with her Phoenix, but I think Hero has less dependency and will cause a lot of pain for the opponent.

Reasons it was a good "trade":
1) I think the deck got better.
2) I've already played with the old cards, and now I can try out new ones.
3) At the end of the day I was up over eight tix.

It's fun to view trading as a game. It got me thinking... If you're good you could invest X dollars into Standard, buy low, sell high, build tons of decks, and never have to buy tickets again. Even if you can't "go infinite" you can still get more with less through good trading.

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Update 1/23: Chandra's Phoenix price went up today. I sold 4 for 19.75. If it goes back down I'll buy them back, if it doesn't I'll look to sell the rest of my red deck. Meanwhile I'll be playing my other decks.

Pauper Top Decks: Blue and Red

Time for another Pauper Top Decks update! Results from the last two weeks show that White Aggro has lost its throne. What takes its place? None other than Delver Blue. If somehow it wasn't clear by now, understand this: Delver of Secrets is for real.

Here are current most common decks:

1) Delver Blue - 14.2% (103)
2) Goblins - 13.5% (98)
3) UR Post - 12.8% (93)
4) Infect - 8.7% (63)
5) White Aggro - 8.4% (61)
6) Affinity - 5.7% (41)
7) Familiar Storm - 4.4% (32)
8) MBC - 4.0% (29)
9) Storm - 2.6% (19)
10) Stompy - 2.2% (16)

First is blue, second is red, third is blue and red. Maybe White Aggro's demotion had something to do with the lack of pyro/hydro blasts? I'm sure it's more complicated than that, but it's interesting how the #1 and #2 decks have strong sideboard options against each other.

It's also interesting to see the return of MBC and even old school monogreen Stompy.

#1 Delver Blue	count: 103
-- main -- 17.0 Island 3.8 Cloud of Faeries 4.0 Delver of Secrets 3.9 Ninja of the Deep Hours 2.3 Phantasmal Bear 4.0 Spellstutter Sprite 3.3 Brainstorm 4.0 Counterspell 2.2 Daze 3.4 Gitaxian Probe 0.9 Gush 3.4 Snap 0.3 Quicksand 1.7 Force Spike 2.0 Preordain 0.7 Deprive 0.5 Think Twice 1.0 Spire Golem	-- sideboard -- 1.0 Dispel 3.3 Echoing Truth 2.9 Hydroblast 1.3 Piracy Charm 2.2 Weatherseed Faeries 1.3 Steel Sabotage 0.7 Sea Sprite 1.0 Serrated Arrows 0.9 Stitched Drake 0.6 Curfew

I'll start with the #1 deck, Delver Blue. The decklist has settled a bit since last month. I call it Delver Blue instead of Delver Control or Blue Control because it doesn't really seem all that much like a control deck. Yes, there are four Counterspells, but what else? Two Daze... maybe a single Deprive and Force Spike. That's not a whole lot of of countermagic. There is no removal to speak of, only a set of Snaps. What it does have is a lot of cheap and efficient creatures, and quality cantrips. In fact, it seems like it plays more like an aggro deck - it just has countermagic. Some people call this type of deck "Tempo" or "Aggro Control". Whatever you call it, it's good. You start dropping threats on turn one, and by turn two you're ready to disrupt you opponent. Gitaxian Probe gives you a major advantage as you maximize your counters whether it's the sneaky Spellstutter Sprite or the simple no-you-may-not Counterspell. Ninja of the Deep Hours combines with your cheap and evasive creatures to give you extra fuel to last into the later turns.

You can find the rest of the top decks at the end of the article, but first I want to show two rouge decks I thought were cool.

Black Aggro - dErPoKaL	count: 1
-- main -- 1.0 Bojuka Bog 17.0 Swamp 4.0 Carnophage 2.0 Dauthi Slayer 4.0 Fledgling Djinn 2.0 Guul Draz Vampire 2.0 Liliana's Specter 4.0 Ravenous Rats 4.0 Vampire Lacerator 4.0 Vault Skirge 4.0 Bonesplitter 4.0 Dark Ritual 4.0 Disfigure 2.0 Sign in Blood 2.0 Victim of Night	-- sideboard -- 3.0 Diabolic Edict 4.0 Duress 3.0 Echoing Decay 2.0 Mesmeric Fiend 3.0 Order of the Ebon Hand

This deck is fast.

WB Tortured Existence - E. Hustle/Matt192837	count: 2
-- main -- 3.0 Orzhov Basilica 6.0 Plains 11.0 Swamp 3.0 Terramorphic Expanse 3.0 Auramancer 4.0 Fume Spitter 2.0 Golgari Brownscale 2.0 Grave Scrabbler 4.0 Lone Missionary 2.0 Perilous Myr 4.0 Squadron Hawk 4.0 Stinkweed Imp 1.0 Undertaker 2.0 Vampire Hounds 4.0 Dead Weight 1.0 Journey to Nowhere 1.0 Last Rites 4.0 Tortured Existence 2.0 Unearth	-- sideboard -- 2.0 Augur of Skulls 4.0 Echoing Decay 1.0 Raven's Crime 2.0 Seal of Cleansing 1.0 Sicken 2.0 Snuff Out

And here's a build I've never seen before. White/Black Tortured Existence.

Build some decks based on these! Learn the power of Aggro Control or the subtleties of Tortured Existence. Or maybe brew up something unique and I'll be talking about your custom creation next month.

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#1 Delver Blue	count: 103
-- main -- 17.0 Island 3.8 Cloud of Faeries 4.0 Delver of Secrets 3.9 Ninja of the Deep Hours 2.3 Phantasmal Bear 4.0 Spellstutter Sprite 3.3 Brainstorm 4.0 Counterspell 2.2 Daze 3.4 Gitaxian Probe 0.9 Gush 3.4 Snap 0.3 Quicksand 1.7 Force Spike 2.0 Preordain 0.7 Deprive 0.5 Think Twice 1.0 Spire Golem	-- sideboard -- 1.0 Dispel 3.3 Echoing Truth 2.9 Hydroblast 1.3 Piracy Charm 2.2 Weatherseed Faeries 1.3 Steel Sabotage 0.7 Sea Sprite 1.0 Serrated Arrows 0.9 Stitched Drake 0.6 Curfew

#2 Goblins	count: 98
-- main -- 16.9 Mountain 1.2 Goblin Arsonist 4.0 Goblin Bushwhacker 4.0 Goblin Cohort 4.0 Goblin Sledder 3.9 Mogg Conscripts 2.3 Mogg Flunkies 3.9 Mogg Raider 4.0 Mogg War Marshal 3.1 Chain Lightning 2.5 Death Spark 0.6 Fireblast 4.0 Lightning Bolt 0.5 Jackal Familiar 0.5 Teetering Peaks 0.3 Bloodfire Dwarf 1.2 Goblin Matron	-- sideboard -- 1.4 Flaring Pain 3.2 Pyroblast 1.7 Smash to Smithereens 3.6 Sparksmith 1.8 Sylvok Lifestaff 1.7 Seismic Shudder 1.8 Gorilla Shaman 0.3 Flame Jab 1.3 Martyr of Ashes 0.3 Flame Slash

#3 UR Post

count: 93

-- main -- 4.0 Cloudpost 4.0 Glimmerpost 7.5 Island 5.5 Mountain 1.5 Terramorphic Expanse 3.4 Mulldrifter 1.3 Ulamog's Crusher 1.2 Capsize 2.6 Compulsive Research 0.6 Counterspell 0.8 Deep Analysis 0.4 Echoing Truth 0.8 Expedition Map 1.4 Firebolt 3.6 Flame Slash 1.1 Lightning Bolt 1.4 Mana Leak 3.3 Preordain 1.0 Prohibit 3.6 Prophetic Prism 1.1 Rolling Thunder 0.4 Izzet Boilerworks 0.4 Mnemonic Wall 2.1 Condescend 0.5 Evolving Wilds 0.4 Electrostatic Bolt 0.4 Mysteries of the Deep 1.1 Mystical Teachings 1.3 Serrated Arrows 0.4 Steamcore Weird 0.4 Staggershock 0.8 Sea Gate Oracle 0.4 Burst Lightning 0.4 Forbidden Alchemy

-- sideboard -- 1.1 Ancient Grudge 2.3 Hydroblast 3.3 Pyroblast 2.1 Stone Rain 0.6 Wall of Tanglecord 0.6 Negate 1.4 Seismic Shudder 0.3 Dispel 1.4 Earth Rift 0.5 Gorilla Shaman 0.5 Shattering Pulse

#4 Infect	count: 63
-- main -- 16.6 Forest 1.1 Tranquil Thicket 4.0 Blight Mamba 1.6 Cystbearer 4.0 Glistener Elf 4.0 Ichorclaw Myr 2.4 Apostle's Blessing 2.7 Gitaxian Probe 3.2 Groundswell 4.0 Invigorate 1.3 Lotus Petal 3.1 Mutagenic Growth 4.0 Rancor 3.9 Vines of Vastwood 0.7 Ranger's Guile 1.6 Rot Wolf 1.1 Seal of Strength 0.5 Llanowar Augur 0.3 Teetering Peaks 0.3 Land Grant	-- sideboard -- 1.1 Corpse Cur 1.4 Fog 2.9 Hornet Sting 2.8 Nature's Claim 2.3 Predator's Strike 0.5 Viridian Longbow 0.6 Shinen of Life's Roar 1.2 Sandstorm

#5 White Aggro	count: 61
-- main -- 20.7 Plains 3.0 Benevolent Bodyguard 2.8 Guardian of the Guildpact 3.8 Icatian Javelineers 2.4 Kor Sanctifiers 4.0 Kor Skyfisher 3.9 Razor Golem 4.0 Squadron Hawk 2.5 Standard Bearer 3.6 Suture Priest 3.8 Bonesplitter 2.7 Journey to Nowhere 2.2 Prismatic Strands 2.6 Unmake 0.7 Leonin Skyhunter 0.8 Lone Missionary 0.2 Aven Riftwatcher 0.4 Shade of Trokair	-- sideboard -- 1.2 Benevolent Unicorn 2.4 Crimson Acolyte 1.5 Dust to Dust 2.7 Holy Light 1.2 Obsidian Acolyte 0.2 Order of Leitbur

#6 Affinity

count: 47

-- main -- 1.4 Darksteel Citadel 4.0 Great Furnace 4.0 Seat of the Synod 4.0 Tree of Tales 3.3 Vault of Whispers 3.8 Atog 3.9 Carapace Forger 3.2 Disciple of the Vault 4.0 Frogmite 4.0 Myr Enforcer 1.1 Somber Hoverguard 4.0 Chromatic Star 1.2 Fling 4.0 Galvanic Blast 1.8 Prophetic Prism 0.5 Rush of Knowledge 3.6 Springleaf Drum 4.0 Thoughtcast 1.2 Chromatic Sphere 0.8 Scale of Chiss-Goria 0.2 Flight Spellbomb 0.3 Terrarion 1.1 Ancient Den 0.5 Auriok Sunchaser

-- sideboard -- 1.3 Duress 1.1 Gorilla Shaman 2.0 Hydroblast 3.2 Krark-Clan Shaman 0.8 Scar 0.8 Diabolic Edict 1.6 Pyroblast 1.3 Ancient Grudge 0.3 Perilous Myr 0.3 Circle of Protection: Red 0.7 Standard Bearer

#7 Familiar Storm

count: 32

-- main -- 2.9 Azorius Chancery 2.9 Dimir Aqueduct 1.9 Evolving Wilds 6.6 Island 2.0 Plains 1.9 Swamp 3.1 Terramorphic Expanse 4.0 Cloud of Faeries 1.0 Mnemonic Wall 3.2 Mulldrifter 4.0 Nightscape Familiar 2.6 Sea Gate Oracle 4.0 Sunscape Familiar 4.0 Compulsive Research 3.1 Deep Analysis 1.5 Foresee 0.5 Scarscale Ritual 4.0 Snap 2.8 Springleaf Drum 3.1 Temporal Fissure 0.2 Accumulated Knowledge 0.4 Preordain

-- sideboard -- 0.3 Benevolent Unicorn 2.8 Echoing Decay 1.2 Hydroblast 2.8 Lone Missionary 1.9 Prismatic Strands 2.8 Snuff Out 1.9 Duress 0.3 Aven Riftwatcher 0.2 Standard Bearer 0.2 Galina's Knight 0.2 Steel of the Godhead

#8 MBC	count: 29
-- main -- 2.7 Barren Moor 18.9 Swamp 1.0 Augur of Skulls 3.9 Chittering Rats 1.3 Okiba-Gang Shinobi 4.0 Phyrexian Rager 4.0 Ravenous Rats 2.6 Corrupt 1.1 Dead Weight 3.7 Geth's Verdict 4.0 Sign in Blood 2.7 Tendrils of Corruption 2.0 Unearth 1.1 Victim of Night 0.9 Polluted Mire 0.9 Funeral Charm 1.4 Grasp of Darkness 0.6 Spinning Darkness 1.5 Crypt Rats 1.2 Liliana's Specter 0.3 Fume Spitter	-- sideboard -- 1.7 Choking Sands 3.7 Duress 2.4 Echoing Decay 0.9 Rancid Earth 1.3 Serrated Arrows 0.4 Shrivel 0.5 Diabolic Edict 1.4 Wrench Mind 0.2 Dross Golem 0.3 Icequake 0.4 Relic of Progenitus 0.7 Disfigure 0.2 Snuff Out 0.3 Vendetta 0.2 Grim Harvest

#9 Storm	count: 19
-- main -- 2.7 Ancient Spring 3.2 Geothermal Crevice 2.3 Irrigation Ditch 4.0 Sulfur Vent 2.1 Goblin Bushwhacker 3.2 Cabal Ritual 2.6 Chromatic Sphere 2.5 Chromatic Star 1.0 Compulsive Research 4.0 Dark Ritual 3.1 Duress 3.9 Empty the Warrens 3.1 Gitaxian Probe 4.0 Grapeshot 3.2 Ideas Unbound 4.0 Lotus Petal 4.0 Manamorphose 3.2 Ponder 4.0 Rite of Flame 2.4 Sign in Blood 0.3 Seething Song	-- sideboard -- 2.1 Deep Analysis 2.2 Echoing Truth 2.5 Flaring Pain 1.5 Izzet Boilerworks 1.9 Pyroblast 0.9 Spark Spray 0.4 Echoing Decay 0.3 Shred Memory 0.3 Preordain

#10 Stompy	count: 16
-- main -- 17.0 Forest 3.9 Basking Rootwalla 4.0 Nettle Sentinel 3.9 Quirion Ranger 3.0 Shinen of Life's Roar 4.0 Silhana Ledgewalker 4.0 Skarrgan Pit-Skulk 2.9 Wild Mongrel 2.0 Bonesplitter 4.0 Gather Courage 4.0 Groundswell 4.0 Rancor 3.7 Vines of Vastwood 0.4 Rogue Elephant	-- sideboard -- 1.9 Hidden Spider 3.6 Hornet Sting 0.4 Matsu-Tribe Sniper 0.6 Naturalize 2.2 Fog 0.4 Relic of Progenitus 2.4 Sandstorm 1.5 Shield of the Oversoul 0.9 Thermokarst 0.2 Spore Frog

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Most used cards overall (excludes basic land):
1) Hydroblast (914)
2) Pyroblast (882)
3) Preordain (785)
4) Gitaxian Probe (712)
5) Counterspell (702)
6) Mulldrifter (689)
7) Glimmerpost (632)
8) Cloudpost (632)
9) Prophetic Prism (584)
10) Lightning Bolt (542)
11) Echoing Truth (540)
12) Goblin Bushwhacker (534)
13) Cloud of Faeries (528)
14) Delver of Secrets (486)
15) Snap (475)
16) Serrated Arrows (467)
17) Flame Slash (455)
18) Compulsive Research (435)
19) Ninja of the Deep Hours (421)
20) Spellstutter Sprite (420)
21) Duress (412)
22) Mogg Raider (411)
23) Brainstorm (408)
24) Goblin Sledder (398)
25) Goblin Cohort (392)
26) Mogg War Marshal (391)
27) Mogg Conscripts (386)
28) Dispel (353)
29) Sparksmith (349)
30) Terramorphic Expanse (348)
31) Seismic Shudder (336)
32) Rancor (333)
33) Condescend (332)
34) Chain Lightning (326)
35) Vines of Vastwood (323)
36) Deep Analysis (323)
37) Gorilla Shaman (318)
38) Chromatic Star (307)
39) Sea Gate Oracle (304)
40) Groundswell (284)
41) Bonesplitter (283)
42) Lotus Petal (283)
43) Springleaf Drum (280)
44) Echoing Decay (271)
45) Glistener Elf (264)
46) Invigorate (264)
47) Ichorclaw Myr (260)
48) Blight Mamba (260)
49) Weatherseed Faeries (257)
50) Squadron Hawk (252)