M13 Launch Party (Release) Card - Staff of Nin with Picture

Launch Party cards are now given to each participant who join the first FNM when a new set becomes legal. Thus, everybody can get a chance to get this Launch party promo foil card when M13 is released. Honestly, I really like M13's launch party's abilities - I repeat ABILITIES.

First, you can tap it to deal 1 damage to target creature or player. This Rod of Ruins-like ability is pretty much decent in the current metagame. It can kill spirit tokens, vampire tokens of Sorin Lord of Innistrad, it can also kill a Phantasmal Image.  For control players, you can use the ability to ping your opponent at the end of his or her turn. Of course, anything that can deal damage to a player can be redirected to Planeswalkers - It can kill a Sorin Lord of Innistrad who put an emblem immediately in play, or kill a Liliana who used her -2 ability to kill a a creature.. etc and the list can go on.

What I really liked in this card is that it can let you draw a card each turn. A draw engine like this can be very helpful in control decks. If I base my card choices in card abilities alone, this card is an automatic-in in my deck lists.

But sad to say, card choices are not based on card abilities alone, I really don't like the casting cost of this card. For 6 mana, I think I wanted more from a card to integrate in a deck. 6 is too much for me for a rod of ruin and a card drawer - at best I can include one of this - that is at best. With the titans, arguably the best 6 drop creatures cycle printed, Wurmcoil Engine and other better 6 drops in standard right now, I doubt if I can find room for this in constructed play.

But then again, coming to an FNM will not hurt so bad if this card is only free right? So here it is, M13's Release Party (Launch Party) promo foil card is Staff of Nin.

M13 Pre-Release Card - Xathrid Gorgon with Picture

A month to go and M13 will be released. So far? How do you find the cards that are spoiled so far? I find some cards good and I think they will be welcomed in the standard metagame. But in the Pre-release party of M13, I will definitely be there.

The pre-release promo foil card for  M13 is Xathrid Gorgon. Xathrid Gorgon is a Black rare card for the upcoming M13 expansion. Honestly, I don't think that the card is veery good and I also don't think that it is very bad. But I only think that this card, at its best, is just a 1 of for splash Black control decks.

The good thing about this card is that it requires 1 black mana and 5 colorless mana - making it splashable to any deck with black mana sources. Another thing, although I am disappointed that it does not destroy the target creature, it transforms the creature into a defender and makes it to a colorless artifact in addition to its types, thus making your artifact removal spells better or it gives you some time so draw your answers and not take combat damage. But then again, the best part maybe is the fact that it prevents the petrified creature from using its activated abilities. Then, the Deathtouch ability is a bonus.

Although, I am not sold on this card, I think having a foil copy of this during the pre-release party is not that bad. Here it is, M13's Pre-release promo card - Xathrid Gorgon with picture!

Incorporating Avacyn Restored Mechanic : Miracle in Solar Flare

It's been quite some time now since Avacyn Restored was released but the decklist of Solar Flare had the least changes. For a few weeks now, I have playtested adding some miracle cards from Avacyn Restored into Solar Flare and I think these two cards are the most viable miracle cards to be added into Solar Flare.

Grand Prix Manila will be next week and I think this is the deck that I will be bringing in the event.

For starters, Miracle is a new mechanic introduced in Avacyn Restored that enables you to cast a card with its miracle cost as you draw them if it is the first card you drew that turn. As you draw an instant or sorcery with miracle, if it's the first card you've drawn this turn, you can immediately reveal it. When you do so, you may cast it for its miracle cost. It doesn't matter whether it's an instant or sorcery; if you choose to cast it, you do so right away, even if it's at a time (such as your draw step) when you couldn't normally cast it. You're not required to reveal a miracle card, even if you could pay for it. You can always choose to just draw it as normal.

You're allowed to cast the first card you draw each turn if it has miracle, so if you find ways to draw cards during your opponent's turn, for example Think Twice, you get another chance for a game-breaking, miraculous moment.

Personally, if you are not used to playing with miracle cards, you can have many errors in drawing a card and putting it directly to your hand, just to find out that the card you just drew is a miracle card. I did this error a lot of times and so I had to change my style and play during the upkeep and draw step to carefully look at each card I draw first before doing the act of putting the card in my hand. That way, if I drew a card with miracle I can cast it with its miracle cost.

The first miracle card that I really really want is Entreat the Angels. It is a really insane card when you can cast it with its miracle cost and can definitely turn the game around to your advantage. With a Vault of the Archangel in your deck, these angel tokens can swing for large amounts of damage and can gain you a lot of life.

The next card is Terminus. Although I saw a lot of Esper builds adding this card to the decklist as a 1 of. I think an extra Day of Judgement in the sideboard is better than adding this card as a fourth Wrath effect in the main deck. I mean I love this card. And this card is very good for control. But I think it is not that good in Solar Flare with the Sun Titan +Phantasmal Image combo. You want a sweeper that can put your creatures in your graveyard, not exile them or put into the bottom of your library. But then again, maybe it will not hurt you a lot if you add this as a 1-of in your deck. But for me, I think for the GP Manila, I will this card out from the main list.

I am still doing some final check in my deck list so I think I will post the decklist in another post. I wish I will reach day 2 of the GP and if that would be the case, it would make my first Grand Prix experience very memorable.

June 2012 FNM Card - Acidic Slime with Picture

June 2012's Friday Night Magic Promo foil card is Acidic Slime. 

A card that stayed in Standard for some quite some time now and has seen decent opportunities to be included in Birthing Pod decks.

One month has passed and I haven't updated my blog. This only shows that I have been very busy with work.I have been assigned to a project in Makati and lately we have been very busy.

I hope that we can finish what we need to finish and hopefully go back to Cebu at the end of the month. 

I will be participating in Grand Prix Manila next week so hopefully I can report my first GP experience here.

Bye for now.

May 2012 FNM Card - Ancient Grudge with Picture

Coming off from an awesome April Friday night magic foil card, May 2012's Friday Night Magic Premium foil card is not of the same level but a pretty good card that is played in almost all formats.

Ancient Grudge was first printed in time spiral. But ever since its time in Time Spiral, Ancient Grudge has seen decent amounts of play time, mostly appearing in almost all Red deck sideboards.

In standard, Ancient Grudge is the only reason why , sometimes, Mono Red decks tend to run Rootbound Crags. The green mana isn't used in the main board but is only used in the Sideboard for Ancient Grudge copies. Ancient Grudge is an Instant. Allowing you to play it along your burn spells at the end of your opponent's turn. With a flashback cost of only 1 green mana, it is a very efficient spell. Making it very worthwhile to splash some green mana sources - of course your green mana sources should also produce red mana since red tends you to commit to cards with two red mana in their cost - such as Tibalt, Chandra's Phoenix, Koth etc. For life gaining artifacts that prove to be a problem for Red decks, like Sword of War and Peace, Chalices, Batterskull and Wurmcoil Engine, Ancient Grudge is the perfect answer for them. Especially Wurmcoil Engine, the strongest in the group in my opinion. Ancient Grudge deals with the Wurmcoil Engine and you can flashback it to deal with the lifelink Wurm token.

So here it is, although I'm a fan of the Innistrad artwork, May 2012 FNM Card is Ancient Grudge.