Tag Archives: MTGMKM

On the Tabletop

MTGMKM Miscellany

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Introduction

I dedicated this week to the new Magic the Gathering set. In spite of the fact that I told Chris that I no longer wanted to collect cards and went so far as to not order any bundles in Arena, I still like the game and found some cards to enjoy in this set. Yesterday was busy, though, with play practice and swim, so MTGMKM miscellany comes a day late.

Usually in this article, I cover multi colored, colorless, and any lands that capture my imagination. Often, I don’t care much about things like fetches and the sort, so the lands section doesn’t exist. This set, however, brings us an old standard in lands with a new twist.

Surveil Lands

We have tap lands that grant life. We have ones that allow you to scry. They even created lands that come in tapped depending on how many lands you already have on the battle field. Well, this iteration of tap lands allows you to surveil. You can read the card above for an explanation of surveil. While I don’t know how much it will affect competitive decks, graveyard strategies absolutely get a boost from these and I’d probably run them over the scry lands. Plus, they’re basics, so you can fetch.

MTGMKM Mult Colored Honorable Mention (Another Wrath and Two Funny Names)

Private Eye

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I saw an article recently where someone wrote about the sheer number of wrath spells in standard Magic. One of the prominent and well known players put together a deck with only wrath spells and ended up performing pretty well overall in the meta. I just like the flexibility of this one. How can you not love an “X” cost spell that both targets “X” and creates “X”? Finally, people got big mad when WotC announced the change to typal, but it allows for broader definitions like “detective”. Maybe, even though resources are limited, I will try to build a “detective” typal deck.

MTGMKM Card I Love (A New Leyline)

Leylines came out in Guildpact and then fleshed out more over the years. I rarely play any of them, but my latest elf deck has abundance in for the extra mana provided. Initially, I thought nothing of this card, but then I read an article that talked about how much fun it made mono green devotion. That gave me a reason to either craft or try to pull it in Arena. Besides, the dual mana cost provides such amazing utility, too. Just a super fun card overall.

MTGMKM Artifact Honorable Mention (A Puzzle, A Land, and Policing Fun, of course)

Cryptex

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I think I wrote up above about colorless being part of MTGMKM miscellany. However, there aren’t many colorless cards in the deck, so I called and audible and went with artifact instead. I just like the idea of the Cryptex. It provides mana and potential card draw. The Wall lets me frustrate big giant creatures, one of my favorite past times in game. And, the land just gives you another potential card draw source along with flexible mana.

MTGMKM Artifact Card I Love

I actually got to play this card during their introductory event on Arena. It is a super annoying card that with the right build can just annihilate people fairly quickly. Now that I’ve said that, the universe will see fit to pair me with every other person who had the same idea in Arena. They will draw the nuts and show me just how right I am.

The Verdict

MTGMKM miscellany is hella fun. I can see myself playing every card that I picked and several others look interesting as well. I especially want to build the mono green deck in Arena and see how that performs. See you all in Pioneer!

Images taken from Mythic Spoiler.

On the Tabletop

MTGMKM Gruul Edition

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Introduction

I wrote in my previous article that I think I may have stopped collecting Magic the Gathering. I still like to play, but I’m at the point where I can’t justify paying the prices they want for boxes and bundles, especially when they keep reducing the value. Ah, capitalism. Well, this is the first set in a few years that I only bought the Mastery Pass on MTG Arena, too. No packs. Well, everything comes to an end. Not my review articles, though. Join me for MTGMKM Gruul edition.

Those who visit often know that I identify heavily as a blue mage. But, I branched out recently into black mana and a few decks add white for Esper colors. Red and Green often baffle me. Not recently, though. Over the last few sets, I found it easier and more enjoyable to pick the cards for this article.

MTGMKM Red Honorable Mention (Professor Plum in the Study, a fish, and a Dargon!)

Knife

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Not so this time! Not for red anyway. I looked at these cards and looked at these cards and looked again. Then, I picked some old trash for this section simply to have something to write about. They leaned heavily into the “Clue” theme with artifacts that have the same name as the weapons in the game. Also, they went pretty hard with the pun cards in red at least. There’s “Red Herring”, but there’s also “Frantic Scapegoat” and the art is a literal goat. I picked the dragon in honor of Chris.

MTGMKM Red Card I Love (Doing Red Things)

I genuinely love this card, though. Empty your hand of spells, cast this in disguise, turn it, and refill your hand. While only a common, this card does what red does and it does it amazingly well. Granted, it ends up being a little bit expensive, even at the lowest disguise cost. Still, I see this thing getting quite a bit of play.

MTGMKM Green Honorable Mention (Surprise Tree Attack, Flashy Enchantment, and Fantastic Mr. Ferox)

Hide in Plain Sight

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The green cards came a little easier to me. I immediately picked my favorite card and then focused on some other cards that changed the narrative on some of the mechanics in the set. The trees come out “cloaked” instead of disguised. The Ferox requires your opponent to collect evidence (a mechanic I haven’t discussed yet, but the card explains the card) to target it and the enchantment is just a fun little surprise to pull on your opponent.

MTGMKM Green Card I Love

Hey, look, another card that lets you play lands recursively from the graveyard. This one will find a home in my Landfall commander deck. I feel like I’m saying that a lot lately. But, what do I cut in order to fit all these new cards in? Come back later and maybe I’ll write an article about it in the next month or so.

The Verdict

Some things are back to normal with MTGMKM Gruul edition. I found no synergy with the red cards this time other than the goblin. Then, I picked a card for my Landfall deck and it gave me an idea to take a look at that deck again. Come back in a couple of days for the rest of the cards.

Images taken from Mythic Spoiler.

On the Tabletop

MTGMKM Esper Edition

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Introduction

I texted Chris the other day and said, “As much as it pains me, I think I’m done buying cards for collection alone. The boxes are just becoming too expensive and there’s other things I would rather spend my money on.” I still enjoy the game. I included the caveat that some of the money would go to singles for my decks. And, also, in service to all of you, I continue my set reviews. Welcome, then to MTGMKM Esper edition.

With all of that said, I paid no attention to the spoilers for this set. Chris and Jason both agreed. Jason said that the names are getting more and more ridiculous. Maybe, he just mentioned the setting. Chris said something about not liking the mechanics. I think he called them “goofy”. But, I looked at the cards and made my choices. Tell me what you think.

White Cards Honorable Mention (Removal, removal, recursion)

Call a Surprise Witness

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You all know how much I love a wrath. And this one comes with upside if you control the most creatures in the game. Not tough to do if you’re playing mono white tokens. You may not know, but I’ve become enamored with instant speed targeted removal, too. Something about it just makes me giggle. The last card, while sorcery speed, allows you to cheat the system some if playing Tiny Leaders or White Weenies in EDH. You can bring your commander back once without paying the penalty.

MTGMKM White Card I Love (Speaking of White Weenies)

This card takes a traditionally green mechanic and slaps it onto a white card. It further warps that mechanic by allowing you to pull a small creature from the top of your deck instead of a land. This card is just waiting to be abused in commander with the right deck.

MTGMKM Blue Honorable Mention (A New Mechanic, Stun, and What Library?)

Bubble Smuggler

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Disguise looks like morph or manifest. But, it gives the token ward, which is a nice touch. That makes it slightly more persistent and able to be flipped on a later turn. The stun card both bypasses any counter ability, including the aforementioned ward. It also gives you two turns to find an answer instead of one. Lastly, the Living Condundrum is just a silly card.

MTGMKM Blue Card I Love (Your Card is My Card Now)

That triple blue is steep and this probably won’t see play outside of commander, but I’ve been surprised before. I just like the idea of combining this with some targeted removal on their huge threat and using it against them. Sure, there are more efficient ways of accomplishing that, but certainly not as fun.

MTGMKM Black Honorable Mention (Another New Mechanic, Flash Enchantment, and “Oops, Pow, Surprise!”)

Case of the Stashed Skeleton

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The case cards looks similar to the Saga cards and I mistakenly thought they were the same, but the trigger is different. Not sure how I feel about them. The other enchantment brings some interesting possibilities in my wildest dreams. The last card just brings instant speed removal in a different form. Plus, the added lifelink and investigate feels like overkill on a one mana card.

MTGMKM Black Card I Love (It’s a Killer)

Massacre Girl came out after a similar card hit Hearthstone. I remember when I saw it and immediately thought of that card. It takes on a slightly different flavor in this one and brings back wither. Plus, that flavor text is simply amazing.

The Verdict

The cards in the MTGMKM Esper edition, overall, are underwhelming. Some cards are fun and I can see myself playing them. But, I think my decision to stop purchasing for collection came at the right time. Come back in a couple of days to see how red and green compare.

Note: pictures taken from Mythic Spoiler.