I was thinking of running Master of Etherium and Karn in the same deck, and wanted to know the synergy, or antisynergy between them. If I have both on the table, and I use Karn to turn my mox into a 0/0, would it become a 1/1 based on Master's effect, or would it die immediately to its built in state based effect? 

With Regionals coming around, I figure now would be a good time to figure if I am playing things correctly. I have been told with the Lorwyn commands, that if both parts target, and one is countered, the second still resolves. For example, if I cast Profane Command targeting return a Creature from my yard to play, and give a dude -X/-X, if they RFG the guy I target for whatever reason, would I still get to use the -/- effect? Logically, I would assume not, but I have been told that it still goes through.

Take this example. If I cast Primal Command, and I choose to put target noncreature permanent on top of its owner's library and then search for a dude, and they fizzle the first part, I do not get the second part. That makes sense, as order of operations steps in, and disallows the spell to continue resolving if the other part does not.

Thus I ask why, or how. If I am even correct, is "Target" the reason that it works on Profane, but not on Primal. This is how it was explained to me, but I would like to know for sure.

Thanks in advance.

Thank you very much. That is how I assumed it worked, but what never sure.

Sorry. I guess I was not clear enough. The active player was attempting to untap his colossus during his declare attackers step, and then attack with it. Is this a valid move?

We are in the middle of a 10th edition draft and a strange situation has popped up. The active player has a tapped colossus of sardia(without summoning sickness) and an active puppeteer. His opponent has an active Loxodon Mystic. The game proceded as follows.

The active player declared entry into the combat phase. His opponent allowed him to enter the phase. The active player then tried to use his puppeteer to untap his colossus and with priority, declare an attack with the colossus.

What I would like to know is what the required to declare a creature as an attacker. Would the active player be able to untap his colossus and attack with priority, or would his opponent be able to tap it in resposnse?

You are talking about the fish list, I presume? Simply, I did not own any cabal therapies at the time in order to use them. This was a kick around deck, and I was playing in a mostly stax and fish environment, where I did not see any misdirections. Good call though.

The exalted angel was just a fun idea i had, and because the deck was really slow to begin with, I thought, why not add her in. She actually worked out quite well (not seeing any repeals helped out though). In the future, she will not be included, as I do not have much protection for her in the deck, making her quite vulnerable, as you previously stated.





I like the idea of sensei top, but I run null rod at the moment. Since this deck is very slow to combo, the null rods seem better to pack than tops. They do their job very well against stax, and slow down other combo decks to the point where I can win either by beats, or by the tendrils.



I would like to thank you for your ideas. I will consider them in the future. Anyone else?

Here is something I have toying around with for a little while for fun on the side. I have not really thought of this deck in any seriousness, but if I can make this into a tourney worthy deck, that would be very cool. If I have missed something blatantly obvious, like necropotence, please do not belittle me as I have not put much thought into this deck.

4   dark confidant
3   Phyrexian Negator
3   Isamaru, Hound of Konda

4   Dark Ritual
4   Cabal ritual
4   Duress
3   Orim's Chant
3   Null Rod
3   Night's Whisper
2   Tendrils of Agony
2   Seal of Cleansing
1   Swords to Plowshares
1   Demonic Tutor
1   Vampiric Tutor
1   grim tutor
1       Imperial Seal
1   Death Wish
1   Yawgmoth's Will

5   Fetches(Proably 3 black, 2 white)
4   Scrubland
2   Plains
3   Swamp
1   Black Lotus
2   Moxen (jet and pearl)
1   Lotus Petal

Sideboard(I never though about it so it is incomplete/sub optimal)
2x massacre
2x stp
1x tendrils
1x seal of cleansing
3x pithing needle
kataki???
dust to dust?
.....



I played B/W fish in a tourney once and thought it was really fun, but it lacked power to be much of anything in the format. So i took out a few creatures, and the hymn to tourachs, and added in more rituals, a couple more tutors, and another tendrils. I like the aggro combo feel, as I can beat you either with creatures, or pull the game out of thin air with tendrils. I'll comment now about what and why I put things in the deck

Creatures:
Dark Confidant:
He is the engine of the deck. Without necropotence, which will probably be the first thing I add into the deck, he is the only way you draw cards. Unfortunately, he does not provide you much card advantage, as he is most likely drawing you mana sources that are basically useless without a tutor effect. So for all intensive purposes, he finds you negators and hounds to provide beats, until you can eventually find the will or tutor effect to finish the game with a tendrils.

Phyrexian Negator and Isamaru:
They provide undercosted beats with marginal downsides. You most never see more than 1 isamaru so his legendary status does not come into play very often. Negators downside almost never comes into effect, as with many permanents on the table, he is well out of lava dart range, and is only stalled by a sundering titan, darksteel colossus, pentavus, and on occasion triskelion and jotun grunt.

Spells:
Night's Whisper:
It's on the same boat as Confidant. It allows you to see more than the one card per turn, and finds you the creatures to lay on the beats.

Orim's chant:
This is a very versatile card in the deck. The kicker effect allows you to stall aggro decks, buying you another turn to find an answer. It stops people from going broken off a will or a tutor effect for a will. You can also cast it on the cleanup step if you want a crucial spell to resolve, or you want to see if you can go off with a tendrils.

Death Wish:
This was a funny addition that I actually think is quite solid. I never really formulated a sideboard for the deck since this was a screw around deck, but the cards in the tentative sideboard would probably be there. It allows me to find an answer for colossus, an army of little guys, random activations, or an attempted lock by stax. It can also relocate negators that have been sent farming, to throw down a second time.

Artifacts/Enchantments:

Null Rod:
This allows me to keep a relatively fish-like status, allowing me to slow down other combo decks, and keep decks like stax at bay. As this deck does not really rely on its artifacts in order to combo, it seems like a good fit.

Seal of Cleansing:
It can be used to knock out moxen or a null rod before a will, to either build storm or regain usage of the moxen in the yard or hand or on the board. It also slows stax down when they try to set up a lock, keeps slaver players from dropping a slaver and passing the turn, and hits genju's or pyrostatic pillars that may hit the board.

Items left out:

Wasteland, Strip Mine:
This deck would probably be better off as more of a straight out fish deck, but these were left out as the deck needs color too much to make use of these.

Jotun Grunt:
I sometimes use my yard with a will, and it kills cabal rituals. I would put this card back in if I turned it back into fish. This should probably put this back in anyway, as it provides a legit clock like negator does, and recycles rituals, creatures, and fetches.

Necropotence:
I just forgot to put it in. I will make space for it.

Savannah Lions:
I like Isamaru better. He dies to lava dart which should come in as soon as people see confidant anyway, so another target for it does not seem very smart IMO.

Kataki, War's Wage:
He should probably sneak his way into the deck. Since this is a half-hearted combo deck at the moment, he would seem to be a good fit here. He also has very nice synergy with null rod, and to a stax player, it is a deadly combo.

Cabal Therapy:
It seems to be very hit or miss. I could probably find a place in the sideboard for it, if I can make a good enough case of it to myself.

Hymn to Tourach:
Probably a good idea, even at least as a 1-2 of. I ran this in my B/W fish build, which I should post after, to see what you guys think of that.

That's about all I can think of for things missing. Since I like rambling, I will move onto things I can change in the mainboard.

Null Rod ==> Pithing Needle/Kataki:
Though Null Rod is most times never really a dead card, in many match ups, it is hindered greatly. Pithing needle can most times name at least something. Kataki can lay down beats, allowing me to tendrils people out more easily. He screws over stax pretty efficiently, but works best with wastelands and null rods.

Seal of Cleansing ==> Serenity/ Aura of Silence:
Seal of Cleansing is cool to slow down stax, and sometimes to shut off gifts from mana, and killing random jittes or aether vials that may be floating around, serenity kills them very dead. Aura of Silence is also a very cool idea that completely screws over stax. In addition to their effects making things cost more, I can do the same.

The downsides of Serenity and Aura is that they do not have much use outside of the stax matchup. Aura can delay gifts for a while, but they can just tinker colossus, so you are screwed anyway. Serenity does not hit colossus, and has to sit on the table for a turn in order to actually work, making it relatively easy to deal with.



All right, now that I have assuredly bored you out of your mind, I am almost finished. I am going to post my B/W fish list to show you where I was coming from when I made this deck:
4   dark confidant
3   isamaru, hound of konda
4   phyrexian negator
3   jotun grunt
2   kataki
1   exalted angel
   
4   duress
3   swords to plowshares
1   seal of cleansing
3   null rod
4   dark ritual
1   yawgmoth's will
1   demonic tutor
1   vampiric tutor
1   pithing needle
3   hymn to tourach
1   tendrils of agony

1   black lotus
1   mox jet
1   mox pearl
   
5   fetch
4   duals
3   wasteland
1   strip
2   plains
2   swamp

Sideboard:
2   exalted angel
3   orim's chant
3   withered wretch
2   kataki, war's wage
1   swords to plowshares
2   seal of cleansing
1   pithing needle
1   darkblast


I thought I had a more recent list, but I guess not. I really liked Exalted Angel in the deck, as it provided a solid late game in the deck.

Well thats all for me. I hope those of you that actually got to this point enjoyed this article, I thank you, and I look forwards to your comments.

I have two questions that arose today just playtesting with friends at our local store, getting ready for a tournament this weekend. There were two things that arose that we weren't totally sure about, so I am asking here for clarification, so that I know what happens if they come up in the future. My questions are:
1. How does sphere of resistance affect X spells like repeal and skeletal scrying?
2. How does trinisphere affect spells remove from game by Mind's Desire?

Any help is appreciated. We had tenative ruling, but definite rulings would be great. Thank you for looking.

I've seen people use repeal. It adds 2 to the storm count if you use it on your own mox, and cantrips.

That was what I thought, but asked just to make sure. Thank you for your help

I have a question with Nihilistic Glee and its hellbent ability. The text reads:

Casting cost: 2BB

Card text: 2B, Discard a card: Target opponent loses 1 life and you gain 1 life.
Hellbent - 1, Pay 2 life: Draw a card. Play this ability only if you have no cards in hand.

Oracle text: 2B, Discard a card: Target opponent loses 1 life and you gain 1 life.
Hellbent - 1, Pay 2 life: Draw a card. Play this ability only if you have no cards in hand.

Flavor text: "All ends in obliteration-love in hatred, life in death, and light in empty darkness."

Or you can check it out at: http://sales.starcitygames.com/carddisplay.php?product=41165

My question is: would I be able to stack its hellbent ability while I have no cards in hand to fill my hand. My main concern would be if it checked to see if I actually had no cards in hand before the draw ability. I think I could stack the ability and then fill my hand, as it seems to only check when I play the ability. Please help.

Guys. I play 5c stax, and when I play people, they fetch for basics in order to avoid the wastelands that I inevitably get in the first couple of turns. It will probably depend on your meta to determine the value, but in mine, this seems really good, and could warrent possibly at least 1-2 slots. It ill take some testing, some careful building, and a little bit of love, and this card could be a bomb. Also, this card would depend on your playstyle. If you would like the extra strip effects, hey why not? With your opponents fearing wastelands, thus fetching for basics, your chances of this becoming a strip mine becomes a lot better. This card has potential, don't count it out yet

Heres my Idea of a card that I thought they should have made for ravnica block with the hybrid cards. So here goes:

[ Uber Cool Hybrid 1 mana spell ]
hybrid u/r
instant
choose 1: draw a card, or deal one damage to target creature or player.


Decks that would play it IMO. These won't necessarily be tourney worthy decks:
mono red: draw power if needed or another removal spell/ direct damage
combo(maybe): nets another card, kills stuff that worries it, and possibly the extra damage that makes the kill
CS: welder, shaman, and lackey hate, pitches to force, and replaces itself with something that could help
Gifts: Pretty much the same as CS. It would probably be better in slaver as it seems a little more resilient.

pros:
-It Gives blue a good creature kill spell if need-be, and yet another card to pitch to force
-It gives red a decent draw spell.
-It kills most playable type 1 creatures(welder, shaman, etc.)

cons:
-In some decks, darkblast is just flat out better
-It seems a little to powerful for the cost. ==> sorcery?


This logic makes sense to me. Don't make fun of me if you don't agree. I just want to hear what you guys think of this, and possible analysis of how you think how and where it would be played, if it were to be played.

OK I just played in a casual game with my buddy. I had a gemstone mine with 1 counter left on it. I tapped it for mana, and in response to the sacrificing of it I sacced it to crop rotation. My buddy prostested, but I referenced a time where I played at regionals, and a similar play was allowed by a judge. He was playing RDW and activated a sensei's divining top to draw, but in response he casted shrapnel blast. I protested and called a judge, who allowed it, saying that there was a period in the ability, and thus there was a break in the activation that he could respond to. Drawing upon this reference I used it against my friend who still protested, but allowed it as it didn't really affect the game that much.

So my question is, can I respond to the carrying out of an ability if there is a period separating different parts of the ability?

I'm just getting into the really competitive scene of MTG and would like some ideas of how I can go with the deck, as there may have been things that I missed. I play with MoxMonkey all the time so I should have a semi-competitive decklist, but any suggestions are helpful. Heres my list:

[edit] changed the deck a little. tell me what you think

3x goblin welder
2x mox monkey
1x karn
1x sundering titan
1x triskelion

1x balance
1x darkblast
1x ancestral recall
1x demonic tutor
1x vamp tutor
1x crop rotation
1x imperial seal

5x power moxen
1x black lotus
1x mana crypt
1x sol ring
1x mana vault
4x smokestack
4x tangle wire
3x sphere of resistance
3x crucible of worlds
1x mindslaver
1x jester's cap
1x trinisphere

4x wasteland
4x mishra's workshop
1x strip mine
1x tolarian academy
1x bazaar of Baghdad
2x tendo ice bridge
3x gemstone mine
3x city of brass

Sideboard:
3x tormod's crypt
3x STP
3x duress
1x jester's cap
1x sphere of resistance
2x ray of revelation
1x duplicant
1x triskelion

From Playing a little while, not competitively unfortunately, I have come to these conclusions about the deck:

1. Barbarian Ring Sucks! I played with it in my original list and didn't like it at all. Upon hitting threshold it is useless anyway, as my lands don't stay on the board. It's only useful with mox ruby on the board. I have trike and darkblast anyway, so it wasn't needed.

2. Bazaar > LOA. I tested with LOA for a while, but unless mind's eye was on the table or I got it opening hand, I would never be able to use it for card advantage. Also bazaar plus Mind's eye is just plain mean

3. Jester's Cap is awesome. It's another spell that many people have to counter if they don't want to lose. I took duplicant out of the main for it, so I could test cap, and I loved it.

4. Mindslaver is Great. I have won many games from going CS on my opponent. Nuff said!

5. I love Darkblast!! I think it could go to the sb, but I'm not sure what I would put in instead. It works in many situations, and it combos with bazaar very well.

6. I don't know how to sideboard in this deck. I'm just gettin used to running the mainboard, so I guess its OK for now. Any help in using it and even construction helps. Situations to bring stuff in(decks to use against) will help tremendously, as from logical reasoning, I could bring many of my sb in for many matches, so any clarifications would help.

7. Tangle wire is GOD! This is my favorite card in the deck! After first turn 3sphere, this is my favorite 1st turn move.

8. Tendo Ice Bridge is ALOT better than i used to think it was. When it first came out, I thought it was horrible. I thought, "It only makes 1 colored mana!" But after using it, I see the usefullness of the card. It gives me the color I need when I need it, and stays on the board for eternity, unlike gemstone mine.

9. Gemstone mine and City of Brass are the most frustrating cards EVER!! They are so difficult to work with. Mine goes away after a little while, and city kills you, thus making you more susceptible to random aggro decks.

10. Big Artifact Dudes = Super Good!! Titan kills lands and says "I'm HUGE!!" Trike eats little dudes and swings. Karn accelerates the win, by killing my opponent's board of moxen and such, as well as turning my artifacts into beaters. He also beats people in face.

That's what I can think of for now. Any and all suggestions are appreciated and I hope you enjoy my post.

matt shea at bryant university

foils, then my best rares, then tradable cards by color in 1 binder

Hi Im Matt. I started playing about 2 years ago and fell in love. Took a little while before i started to play competitive but i did and have have streeks of good and bad luck as most people do. stopped palaying for 6 monthes but came back recently because i missed the game way too much. im a full time accounting student at bryant university. currently a freshman. i play basketball and ultimate frisbee. i do work at the evil empire, thats walmart for those of you that dont know them as such. ive heard alot of good about this site so im hoping that it lives up to the hype. 

favortie song of all time


"Ms. Jackson" by Outkast

i usually just walk around and watch people play. i like being around the game so i dont think its really unethical to just watch people playing.

bosh SUCKS!! karn wins in two or three turns while bosh takes multiple turns to do so. bosh has practically no use as a control piece while karn kills stuff and makes your artifacts into beatsticks.

i played u/g/b oath before, and found it was very inconsistent. i was on a similar boat as you. there were games that somehow i couldnt hit an oath for the life of me no matter how many brainstorms ak's or impulses i played. playing duress mainboard worked wonders for me. i LOVED it!!!! i also loved the 2nd blessing in the deck in case i drew the first. i  personally played deed in the side cuz it hurts u almost as much if not more than your opponet. replace them with bounce spells. also drop 2 trops for basic islands. this gives u more waste protection as well as blue to protect yourself.  hope this helps

I like it. It will take some planning and strategizing, but in the right hands, could be quite effective

I agree with what seems to be the consensus. Win now, say gg and proceed. No need wasting time going through mindslaver turns and wasting all that time doing things that will end up with you winning anyway.

i like the idea of shuffling the whole sideboard into your deck and taking out 15 cards. where i play, people know everyone's sb cuz everyone is a regular, and knows what people sb in and out against most decks. it would be good to kind of throw people off with a sb that may or may not be to what they expect.