Orzhov Extort

     This week the featured mechanic is From the Orzhov Guild, Extort. A card with extort reads, "Whenever you cast a spell, you may pay White/Black. If you do, each opponent loses 1 life and you gain that much life."

      I find extort to be very useful throughout the entire game, early game you get a life advantage, mid game you can keep your life off, and late game you can finish off your opponent.

 

      The legendary creature for Orzhov is Obzedat, Ghost Council with the sub-type of Spirit Advisor. It's text reads, "When Obsedat, Ghost Council enters the battlefield, target opponent loses 2 life and you gain 2 life." The next rule is, "At the beginning of your end step, you may exile Obzedat. If you do, return it to the battlefield under it's owner's control at the beginning of your next upkeep. It gains haste." Wow, I'm trying to think of cards to kill it but the only ones that come to mind are instants like murder and ones that kill all creatures. I like this card because it's pretty much a free 2 damage to opponent and +2 health for you. By the time you get this out you could just keep pulling it into exile and playing until your opponent casts an instant to kill it. Also seeing that the only Orzhov creature with greater power or toughness than Obzedat gives your opponents creatures who block it lifelink, this Spirit Adviser is the best physical attacker Orzhov has.




     The Orzhov charm's abilities look terrible, destroy target creature and you lose life, return a card to your hand, ok, if it had an activate ability it would be fine, and regen a one mana cost to the battle field? If you're not building a deck with every Orzhov card or collecting it, I see little reason to put this into your deck. Likely will see very limited usage.

     Time for the keyrune of the Orzhov; the keyrune is mainly a defender with it's four toughness and lifelink but won't end up  being a game changer. At three mana Basilica Guards would be a better three drop because the Guards have extort but the keyrune also can act as a land. Personally I'd pick the Basilica Guards over the keyrune in any Orzhov deck.

      Finally we have the Guildmage, Vizkopa Guildmage. Like all guildmages, it's golden and has two abilities.  The first ability is colerless, white, and black, "Target creature gains lifelink until end of turn." For the same mana, "Whenever you gain life this turn, each opponent loses that much life." So at a cost of six mana each turn you have a more powerful extort mechanic, however unless the creature is gaining you over six life, mana wise it is better just to extort six times. However you might not always be able to extort six times and that reasoning would be invalid. As far as guildmages go this one isn't bad and goes with the extort mechanic nicely. If you are debating putting this card in your Orzhov deck, think to yourself, 'Why not?'



     Of course there is the rare Orzhov land but that is the same as the guildgate except the option to pay two life. Hope this helps explain the unique guild cards to better your understanding of the Orzhov. See you next post!



As always, credit to Wizards of the Coast LLC for the images. Images can be found at  this address http://www.wizards.com/Magic/TCG/article.aspx?x=mtg/tcg/gatecrash/cig#.

Simic Card Reviews

     This week I will be reviewing most of the Simic cards.

     First card on the list is the Adaptive Snapjaw, four colorless and one forest and is 6/2 with evolve and with that low toughness you could easily play your two Cracken Hatchling and have a 8/4 Lizard Beast on the battle field. You have to be careful when playing him because your opponent will know he can get powerful quickly and cast instants on him. But it's nice to see big creatures in the Simic Deck


 

 Cloudfin Raptor is one of my favorite cards because he is extremely easy to evolve and he's flying first turn, I'd think this card would be popular in blue agro decks because most flying creatures take three turns to cast.


Corcanura is a decent evolving card, easy to level up again and will make a nice 3/6 defender in a few turns, and with reach you control the air more as well.




Drakewing Krasis is 3/1 flying and trample costing a colorless  an island and a forest. Not a very good card on it's own but with 3 power it hopefully can trigger evolve on your other creatures.

Elusive Krasis is a good card for defending and once evolved can start slipping in some damage. Overall an okay card.


Fathom Mage's main ability is simple drawing a single extra card when she is evolved. Alone is not bad but if you have the Zameck Guildmage on the battle field, every time you play a creature you could pump six mana into the guildmage and draw four extra cards one turn.


Frilled Oculus can be 3/3 by turn three which is good in an aggro deck or he could sit at 1/3 and defend early attacks.



Merfolk of the Depths and first thing I notice is the mana cost, 4 colorless and two blue/green mana required to cast and he is 4/2 and flash. Based on the mana cost I personally wouldn't play it and would expect most people to pass, yea you can flash four damage in but at two health, it can die pretty easily.



Zameck Guildmage is arguably one of the best guildmages simply because it's abilities are reasonably priced mana wise. Also he is good because he can doubble the evolve effect and take advantage or the ability by being able to draw more cards to evolve more. Can be a great support for a Simic deck.





Hope this helps you pick which Simic cards are worth keeping and which are worth trading. See you next post!



Credit to Wizards of the Coast LLC for the images. Images were found at http://www.wizards.com/magic/tcg/productarticle.aspx?x=mtg/tcg/gatecrash/intropacks#deck5

Gatecrash Strategies, Simic Synthesis, Evolving

     This week we will be looking at one of the new rules that came with the new Gatecrash guilds, specifically, Simic Synthesis. Their rule is evolve, and card with the evolve rule is activated when a power of greater toughness or power enters the battlefield under your control, that existing creature will get a +1/+1 counter.

     In Simic Synthesis you should first play your weaker cards with evolve then keep playing slightly more powerful cards to maximize this ability. However knowing you should wait a few turns to play your powerful creatures means your opponent can get his strong creatures out before you. As for deck building purposes your creatures in your deck should be a pyramid structure, more weaker creatures with evolve and fewer more powerful creatures will increase the odds of having two or three creatures with evolve, like Cloudfin Raptor so when you play Drakewing Krasis he will be 5/3 early game. If you have Zameck Guildmage out your Drakewing could even be 6/4 as early as the fifth turn. The instants and sorceries like Hindervine and Sleep both reduce the effectiveness of your opponents defenses enabling you to slip in some nasty damage. Not only is this deck good at attacking, you will find three low mana 0/4 creatures and a Tower Defence card which not only gives all your creatures +0/+5 but reach as well for a turn.

     Simic Synthesis looks like a good intro deck to have because the weaker creatures and spells buff the stronger creatures to dominate the field; and with a little tweaking should be a deck to reckon with.

     Thank you for reading, if you have any questions or concerns please e-mail me at Dayvuni@yahoo.com.
See you next post!

Welcome

     Welcome to my blog, "Magic the Gathering Games" where you can read about the newest cards and strategy's and receive advice on deck building. Magic the Gathering is a great hobby for everyone and regardless of skill, everyone can have fun.

     Each weekend you can expect a review of either one of the newest intro packs or a review of individual cards. I will mention the strengths and weaknesses of each card and make a recommendation whether to use the card or not. During the week I will make a post about strategies and tips for deck building. Feel free to e-mail me if you would like a specific card reviewed or with any questions you might have.

     Magic skill is partially in deck building and some might say luck, but each attack you make and card you play requires thinking. The cards your opponent has play and what is in your hand require contributes to what card you play when, knowing when to attack or play a card is as valuable as having all the best cards. Because if you go haphazardly attacking and playing cards, a good strategy will counter you.

   So whether you are just starting out or wish to better your playing, this is the blog for you.