TABLETOP TALES: "AVACYN, MAKE IT SO!" MTG DECK

TABLETOP TALES PRESENTS

He kind of looks like Cptn. Picard with the bald head.

"AVACYN, MAKE IT SO!" DECK

To check out my other decks, hit the link below:

ALL OF MY MTG ARTICLES!

This article serves two purposes: To share the nerd entertainment around with anyone who might find it interesting and, in this case, to prove how taking the theme of an intro pack, especially a more recent intro pack, can not only make a passable deck, but also a powerful and fun deck n a reasonable budget for a college student like myself.

Today's deck is my standardized version of my Avacyn Restored deck that has been combined with cards legal in the upcoming standard format (as in October Mirrodin and M12 will be kicked out standard). Green and white is my favorite color combination, being the combo of the first deck I ever built, and this deck is built around angels, the subject of the first intro pack I ever bought for M12. And its worth mentioning that I actually bought my first themed deckbox and playmat to go with this deck.

I spent about $13 on the Angelic Might intro pack (click this LINK to check out the deck list) and on other cards, ones specifically bought or traded for to build this deck, I've spent less but lets round it up to $10.

A fantastic intro pack. I can't recommend these enough to new players and newcomers to recent sets.

APPROX. EXPENSE: $23


You can find Magic Cards in super stores (Ex. Walmart, Target) but the best place you can buy your cards, meet other players, and play in events is at your local comic book store or hobby shop. I buy most of my cards at The Comic Cellar. Here is a link to its Google Maps location at 3620 Austin Peay Highway #2 Memphis, TN 38128.

And here is a link to Comic Cellar's Website

Before I get into breaking down this version of the Avacyn deck (check the link at the top to see the index of other decks) I want to address something minor but serious. I haven't done a deck article in a couple months and my last MTG article in about a month because I've been busy working on my own custom card set, playing lots of retro games, and generally haven't had that many chances to play since my parent's bar opened and my circle of friends imploded. Expect a couple of Naya decks, possibly even a commander deck, to pop in the near future. And, as Return to Ravnica is just around the corner, you can expect a ton of articles in the fall, my Planeswalker pals, so chins up and let's dig into...

MY STANDARD WG ANGEL DECK

"AVACYN, MAKE ITS SO!" DECK

Not much has changed and I can still quote the last article...mostly:

"The deck was constructed in Standard, mostly with cards from Innistrad block & M12 (that were reprinted for M13). The decks themes include but are not limited to: angels, humans, mana-get, and flickering. It is a white-green affair, with white angels from M12 and Innistrad and humans from Innistrad. The white cards make up the muscle and removal and the green cards set up mana ramp and do a few other nifty tricks 

For those of you who don't know, flicker-effects are card effects that involve exiling one of your own cards and returning it to the field either immediately or at the end of the turn. The reason you would do this is to take advantage of cards with entrance effects or to remove negative counters, enemy enchantments, and other annoyances."

This version of the deck sets up a more uniform strategy, doesn't waste as many turns with getting me so much mana and nothing to do with it. This involved replacing several slow or inefficient cards with old standards and more of the beast that make this deck a real nuisance to deal with. Learn some mana math to help with building your decks, HERE.

As I always mention, I am just a casual player and I play with what I have available to me. Thanks for reading and please comment.

Please leave comments & suggestions.

To check out the contents of the deck, click "READ MORE" below.

TABLETOP TALES: MY M13 PRE-RELEASE

TABLETOP TALES PRESENTS

MY M13 PRE-RELEASE

To check out my other decks, hit the link below:

ALL OF MY MTG ARTICLES!

This article serves two purposes: To share the nerd entertainment around with anyone who might find it interesting and, in this case, to share my experiences with my second pre-release.

You can find Magic Cards in super stores (Ex. Walmart, Target) but the best place you can buy your cards, meet other players, and play in events is at your local comic book store or hobby shop. I buy most of my cards at The Comic Cellar. Here is a link to its Google Maps location at 3620 Austin Peay Highway #2 Memphis, TN 38128.

And here is a link to Comic Cellar's Website

I took part in the pre-release on July 8th, 2012, at The Comic Cellar. It was my second pre-release and, because I signed up late for this one, it cost me $30. For the entry fee, each player received 6 booster packs, from the M13 Core Set, and all the lands they need to make a 40 card deck. Then the player took part in 4 one-on-one matches, each a best of three rounds. There was a time-limit but, because of the small turn-out, we didn't need to worry about it. All result were put on record and the players with the best scors of the day got to split the prize, a box of packs.

I got this cool fairy deck box.

As per usual, we each got one promo card,  Xathrid Gorgon. We also each received 3 "pity" packs, rather than the usual 1, for showing up and a random deck box( example image above)  courtesy of the store. All in all getting 9 packs, a promo, a deck box, and the chance to player with a bunch of cool people on a Sunday was well worth the admission fee.

Magic the Gathering 2013 Core Set is, of course, the yearly core set release from Wizards of the Coast and this set serves as glue that binds the format together, between one block and the next. M13 will replace M12 in Standard in the fall, but all M12 cards that are reprinted in Innistrad, M13, or the upcoming Return to Ravnica set will still be legal until those respective sets go out of standard next year.

Some of the cool mechanics and themes to look forward to returning with M13 are Exalted (Whenever a creature you control attacks alone, that creature gets +1/+1 until end of turn.) and the overarching villain for us all to focus on, the three color re-print of the Nico Bolas Planeswalker card, opening up all kinds of multi-color madness even before Return to Ravnica's release.

My ending record is still even, with another two wins and two losses, and I didn't place near the top, but I had a great time. I definitely played against type and to discuss that let's look at...

MY M13 PRE-RELEASE DECK:

BLACK-RED AGGRO!

As with my last pre-release, I didn't have any easy themes, but I focused on building bruisers to knock away my foes health, a splash of exalted, black/red removal to deal with flying and other annoying threats, and a splash of mill that worked in my favor.

Just letting you guys know, I just didn't have my a-game and had never ever played black-red before last Sunday. I know I made some serious mistakes in management (not enough creatures and too many spells) and next time I won't be making the same mistakes. I probably should've combo'd black with green like I originally set out to do.

The good news? I've already decided to redeem myself by building a black and either white/red exalted deck as my next project. Already for that fairy deck box and some orange card protectors.

MY MAGIC THE GATHERING ARTICLES!

Linked below are all of my Magic: The Gathering Articles. Every time that I make a new one I will link it in this article and I will link this article in all new magic articles. This will cut down on unnecessary clutter in my future mtg article. Thank you.