TABLETOP TALES: MTG ORIGINS DRAFT: "BW AURA IMPS"

TABLETOP TALES PRESENTS

MAGIC THE GATHERING: ORIGINS DRAFT #1 

BW AURA: IMP PIMPS

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 experience with Magic the Gathering: Origins.

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

This year marks the last core set with Magic the Gathering: Origins, a set covering the origins of 5 of the most prolific Planeswalkers, the planes that transformed them when they got their spark, and the other characters/events of their past. I'm excited for this to be the set where I'm rejoining the fold and can't wait to see what sort of deck I can build by the time Return to Zendikar hits. I have feeling it is going to involve elves!

...but anyway, let's talk about what you get and do in a draft.

In the draft, we had a pod of eight players. In order to draft, each player received three packs. You take a card from the pack and pass it to the right/left with each players taking turns taking a card from each pack until there are no more cards. Rinse and repeat twice. Everybody ends up with 45 cards and uses those materials to create a 40 card or greater deck with available lands. The draft is best of three against three opponents. Based on your outcome, you are placed higher in the standing and the winner gets a prize.

And I wanted to win! So, using my knowledge of the set and lessons from the pre-release, I set out to play a fun and competent deck. This often means turning down cards that seem like obvious picks in order to pick out cards that fit your theme. My theme?

"WHITE AND BLACK AURAS: IMP PIMPS!"

I didn't pull any planeswalkers or money cards. I didn't force an archetype that I knew would be popular-- looking at you elves and artifacts! I chose to pick an unpopular archetype, an underdog, and draft heavily into strong commons and uncommons with decent removal and even more decent combos. The core of my strategy creature base with a full set of Fetid Imps, a couple bombs and auras that overwhelm and control the battlefield. Let's check it out!

WORD OF THE DAY! 8/11/15!

MAGIC DUELS: ORIGINS TRAILER!

origins [ohr-ih-jins]
noun
1. A primary source from which things are derived.
2. The beginning of something.
3. Ancestry or parentage; birth; extraction.

EX. On Steam, PS4, XboxOne, and iDevices, Magic Duels: Origins is Wizards of the Coast's attempt to throw their hat into the free-to-play format of trading card games, in the vein of Hearthstone, and I gotta say that I like it.

The greatest strength of this game is that it is completely free to play and fairly intuitive. You can purchase packs with real money, but, by grinding against bots or real players and completing quests, you will get a collection pretty quick.

The biggest weakness is that the deckbuilder is a little clumsy and I think the packs should give you more cards. But that's my thoughts.

Oh... AND SCREW THE LILIANA CAMPAIGN!

WORD OF THE DAY! 1/30/15!

flumph [flumf]
noun
1. Dungeons and Dragons. First published in the 1st Edition Dungeons and Dragons book, The Fiend Folio, it is a Lawful Good aberration, from space/outer planes, resembling a glowing jellyfish with eye stalks that floats using air jets that make the noise that gives them their name. Surprisingly intelligent and wise, they live in well-organized and harmonious communities and communicate telepathically with other life forms. They, harmlessly, feed off the emotional energy of other beings and react to their emotions/behavior accordingly; they are attracted to good creatures and repelled by evil. Flumphs are quick to make friends with those that can look past their appearance and, generally, serve heroes in the fight against heroes by warning them of alien threats and assisting them in their own way.

EX. Out of all of the extremely silly monsters in Dungeons and Dragons history, the humble flumphs are my favorite.

The angle of appeal with these alien creatures is they look like some sort of random alien creatures that would swarm heroes and take part in something out of a bad Japanese hentai but, instead, are some of the nicest and most helpful creatures you will ever meet! These mini Flying Spaghetti monsters are like the pugs of D & D-- ugly, adorable and a little bit tragic. After all, most heroes would just assume they're horrible monsters and cut them down without giving them the opportunity to explain themselves. And that's a shame because, unlike many outer beings, Flumphs are not complete and utter tosspots.

My adventuring party in the Fifth Edition game I am currently playing in, as my human cleric of Lathander, Geth Dawnbraker, we met a Flumph! The pitiful creature seemed a little young, a little lost, and very distraught. It couldn't fly or, rather, it was afraid to fly! Immediately taking the little creature under his wing, Geth Dawnbreaker gave him an encouraging speech and, with a little divine intervention, sent the creature on it's way. And, with Geth making all sorts of deals and alignments with outsiders that might not have his best interests at heart, he'll need friends without ulterior motives that owe him a favor.

And a flumph is a good friend to have.

TABLETOP TALES: MY THEROS PRE-RELEASE "WHITE/BLUE BAG OF WINDS!"

TABLETOP TALES PRESENTS

MY THEROS PRE-RELEASE 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 share my experiences with the Theros 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 was worried I might not make it to the Theros Pre-Release but, scrounging what I could muster, I made it to the midnight pre-release on Sep 21st, at midnight, in the Comic Cellar. It cost me $30bucks to signs up and, for that fee, each player recieved 6 boosters packs, including a special booster pack for their chosen hero's path-- Honor (White), Wisdom (Blue),  Ambition (Black), Battle (Red), & Might (Green)-- and a promo card for your path (which you could use in the event) and with the materials each player was expected to build, with all the lands they needed, a 40 card deck. There were five one-on-one matches, each a best of three rounds, and the ranking in these matches would land you more packs (with the top player getting a box) and everyone getting, at the very least, a "pity pack". All together, the event was a lot of fun and well worth the admission fee ($25 if I had pre-registered earlier), and the event went from 12 AM to 6 AM.

I should also mention we got life dice, Hero Cards (to be used in a connected event), and these weird, but kinda interesting quiz cards.

Theros is the first set in the Theros block. This is a top-down design set with a previously unexplored plane based on the themes of Greek mythology; they've laid down the foundation with heroism, monsters, powers bestowed by the gods, devotion to the gods, and beautiful imagery coming together, set against a starry sky that tells the fate of men, so that we ended up with Theros, a set with some of the most potent flavor I've seen since I began playing the game.

The white planeswalker, Elspeth (pictured above), has been running from being a hero for a long, long time. What happens when she comes to a plane she likes and the God of the Sun, Heliod, calls upon her to undertake a great trial that, if she fails, could doom the plane she has made her home? What happens when a planeswalking satyr from this realm, Xanagos, trys to usurp the gods through dark machinations? Is there more going on? Could there be another more powerful force (perhaps a certain horned dragon) working to manipulate the plane? Only you can find out by becoming the hero that Theros needs. Now, let's take a look at the mechanics of the set, both old and new:

SCRY X- (Look at the top X cards of your library, then put any number of them on the bottom of your library and the rest on top in any order.)

BESTOW- This mechanic allows you to cast enchantment creatures either as creatures or as enchantments for their bestow cost. (If you cast this card for its bestow cost, it's an Aura spell with enchant creature. It becomes a creature again if it's not attached to a creature.)

DEVOTION- A mechanic that rewards you for having a specific symbol, ex. , with either an entrance or activated effect. (Each X in the mana costs of permanents you control counts toward your devotion to Y.)

HEROIC- Activates an effect every time the card's controller casts a spell that targets the card.

MONSTROSITY- In exchange for an additional cost, this mechanic allows you to put +1/+1 counters on the creature and activate some effects that range from adding abilities to destroying other creatures. EX. Monstrosity X. (If this creature isn't monstrous, put X+1/+1 counters on it and it becomes monstrous.)

The gods were not on my side this time. Rather than dig myself out of the rut I found myself in during my TWO Dragon's Maze events, I did worse than ever. I went 0-4-1. My deck was so slow and lethargic that I wound up forcing my first match to a tie. The sick part? I could blame my pool of cards, but I can't blame my deckbuilding or playing. In fact, after looking at my deck, several other players could find little to no "quick fixes". This was probably the best deck I could build and it really came down to fate not being in my favor. And yet, I'm okay with the results of this pre-release-- all of my opponents were friendly and fair, I got some cool cards, and my friend Katherine, whom I dragged out to her first pre-release, did far better than me and got some amazing cards both in her sealed and in her "pity pack"-- because in the end it was still fun. I plan to keep going and hope I can learn from this experience. Let's see if we can find out what went wrong this time (if anything was wrong) and what I can do in the future to improve my luck.

I might do another article about my other options for what to play, but I'm gonna have to think on whether it is a worthwhile endeavor.

MY THEROS PRE-RELEASE DECK

"WHITE/BLUE BAG OF WINDS"

I had a really strong white pool of creatures/monsters to give me a good base of cheap creatures (Cavalry Pegasus, Setessan Battlepriest, Hundred-Handed One, etc) to build into my bombs. Then, I chose blue over red or green (had nothing good in black) because I had three blue flyers, a cheap blue creature that clone big creatures, and one big kraken to make it worthwhile. To get my creatures out and overwhelm my enemies, I relied on a suite of blue removal and other spells to boost my evasive creatures to go for damage over time leading into an alpha strike.

The problems? The deck is slow, the removal isn't always enough, and, worst of all, other people were able to put down fat enough creatures that, since my deck wound up being slow, a bad hand would wind up getting stomped into the dirt by red/green or white/red that had better monstrosity or a combo of cheap enchantments & combat tricks than I had. In the future, I'll consider make a second deck from my pool.

TABLETOP TALES: TEMPERED GLASS DECK!

TABLETOP TALES PRESENTS:

A DECK OF BLOOD & PORCELAIN: TEMPERED GLASS EDITION

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

ALL OF MY DECK 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.

Its been a few months since I last shared this deck with you guys and I like showing small changes, occasionally, to show you how a few small cards can change the tempo of an already efficient and effective deck. Today's deck is the bloody result of fiddling around artifact creatures, phyrexian mana, and lots of cruelty. This is the main component:

Intro Pack: New Phyrexia, Life for Death, Cost: $13

Note: You can see the original deck list HERE.

I have probably spent about $10 dollars on singles for this deck (some of which don't even appear in the deck). MISCELLANEOUS COST: $10

TOTAL COST: $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.

Without further ado, with these purchases, I built...

THE PHREXIAN MANA DECK:

BLOOD & PORCELAIN: TEMPERED GLASS

 To quote the decks initial premise:

"This deck follows theme including, but not limited to: artifact creatures, artifacts, and phyrexian mana. This deck is ultimately a Red/White artifact creature deck and I've taken the challenge of doing what I can with the cards limited to the mechanic and, more importantly, the cards limited to me.

[Excluded]

Also, I only try to build and present decks that I can afford, this deck is still in a prototype phase, and I hope you will be able to enjoy it. [Excluded] This version of my RW Artifact deck has gone through a lot of changes. It has been an Equipment Deck and a Myr Deck."

The changes to this deck are few, but I can proudly say there are effective or at least pretty damn interesting.

Please leave comments and suggestions.

Please leave comments.

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

TABLETOP TALES: THE HAUNTED WURMWOOD DECK: MIRROR EDITION!

TABLETOP TALES PRESENTS:

THE HAUNTED WURMWOOD DECK: 
MIRROR MIRROR ON THE WALL!

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

ALL OF MY MTG ARTICLES!

This article serves to update my Grave Power build deck into Block-Constructed limitations; all of the cards in this iteration of the deck are strictly from the Innistrad Block  The real point of this article is to show how this deck is evolving for my goal to build a Innistrad Block deck and, eventually, a competitive standard deck.

 I had been hoping that Avacyn Restored would do something to help build this decks mechanics but, alas, that wasn't my luck. I've instead resorted to simplifying the deck and changing it up just a bit in a way that, mostly, simplifies it into a consistent machine.

Intro Pack: Dark Ascension, Grave Power, Cost: $13

Note: You can see the full decklist of the original to compare by clicking HERE.

I have probably spent about $10 dollars on singles for this deck (some of which don't even appear in the deck). MISCELLANEOUS COST: $10

TOTAL COST: $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.

Without further ado, with these purchases, I built...

THE HAUNTED WURMWOOD DECK:
MIRROR MIRROR ON THE WALL EDITION!

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

"The deck follows several themes including, but not limited to, : Treefolk, Wurms, Unblockable, and stealing power from beyond the grave. This deck is ultimately a G/Bl Self-Mill construction and, as this is not a popular mechanic, it has been a challenge to pull off.

Also, I only try to build and present decks that I can afford, this deck is still in a prototype phase, and I hope you will be able to enjoy it. This version of the deck only includes cards from the Innistrad Block and only includes cards I own physical copies of.."

The big changes, as aforementioned, were changing the creature pool and, in general, simplif

NOTE: This is the THIRD iteration of this deck. Please leave comments and suggestions on how to improve my deck. To compare it to different versions, check out the link at the top and you will find a summary of all my deck articles.

To read the rest of the article, hit "Read More" below.

MIXED BAG. TABLE TOP TALES: BLOOD & PORCELAIN

TABLE TOP TALES PRESENTS:

A DECK OF BLOOD & PORCELAIN

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

MY FIRST DECK

 AURAMONGER DECK

HAKUNA MATATA DECK

WURMWOOD DECK V. 1 

 WURMWOOD DECK V. 2 

WURMWOOD DECK V. 3

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.

Today's deck is one bloody result  of my attempts to build an artifact creature deck. It consists of an intro pack and about twenty cards, or so, I've picked up from my local shop, from trading, and from older purchases. As an early draft of a concept, you can expect to see a better achieved form of my themes in the future. Here is the main component:

Intro Pack: New Phyrexia, Life for Death, Cost: $13

Note: You can see the original deck list HERE.

I have probably spent about $10 dollars on singles for this deck (some of which don't even appear in the deck) and I've probably spent about $24 bucks on boosters since the block arrived so we'll tack on an additional cost. MISCELLANEOUS COST: $24

TOTAL COST: $37

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.

Without further ado, with these purchases, I built...

THE PHREXIAN MANA DECK:

BLOOD & PORCELAIN

This deck follows theme including, but not limited to, : artifact creatures, artifacts, and phyrexian mana. This deck is ultimately a Red/White artifact creature deck and I've taken the challenge of doing what I can with the cards limited to the mechanic and, more importantly, the cards limited to me.

For those of you who don't know, Phyrexian Mana allows certain cards to be played or effects to be activated by either playing one colored mana or two life. For example, picture above, Porcelain Legionnaire can be played for 1 White and 2 other mana OR 2 other mana and 2 life.

Also, I only try to build and present decks that I can afford, this deck is still in a prototype phase, and I hope you will be able to enjoy it. EX. I would love to get a Platinum Emperion for this deck. This version of my RW Artifact deck has gone through a lot of changes. It has been an Equipment Deck and a Myr Deck. One of those may show up in the future, so make sure to join this site.

Please leave comments and suggestions.

Please leave comments.

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

MIXED BAG. TABLETOP TALES: THE HAUNTED WURMWOOD DECK: GRAVEYARD SHIFT EDITION

TABLETOP TALES PRESENTS:

THE HAUNTED WURMWOOD DECK: 
GRAVEYARD SHIFT EDITION

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

MY FIRST DECK

 AURAMONGER DECK

HAKUNA MATATA DECK

WURMWOOD DECK V. 1 

 WURMWOOD DECK V. 2 

This article serves to update my Grave Power build deck into Block-Constructed limitations. All of the cards in this iteration of the deck, as well as its sideboard coming in the final update, are strictly from the Innistrad Block (Pre-Avacyn Resored). The real point of this article is to show how this deck is evolving for my goal to build a Innistrad Block deck.

Expect to see an update version of this deck after Avacyn Restored drops May 4th. Hopefully, the new expansion will support the mechanics I've built into my deck and allows me to build a strong Green-Blue Self-Mill deck. We'll have to wait and see.

Intro Pack: Dark Ascension, Grave Power, Cost: $13

Note: You can see the full decklist of the original to compare by clicking HERE.

I have probably spent about $10 dollars on singles for this deck (some of which don't even appear in the deck) and I've probably spent about $24 bucks on boosters since the block arrived so we'll tack on an additional cost. MISCELLANEOUS COST: $24

TOTAL COST: $37

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.

Without further ado, with these purchases, I built...

THE HAUNTED WURMWOOD DECK:
GRAVEYARD SHIFT EDITION

The deck follows several themes including, but not limited to, : Treefolk, Wurms, Unblockable, and stealing power from beyond the grave. This deck is ultimately a G/Bl Self-Mill construction and, as this is not a popular mechanic, it has been a challenge to pull off.

Also, I only try to build and present decks that I can afford, this deck is still in a prototype phase, and I hope you will be able to enjoy it. This version of the deck only includes cards from the Innistrad Block and only includes cards I own physical copies of. The final version of this deck will be posted in May and will be titled, "The Haunted Wurmwood Deck: Loggernaut Edition".

UPDATE: The newest version of the deck and not necessarily final version is named "Mirror Mirror on the Wall!"

NOTE: This is the THIRD iteration of this deck. Please leave comments and suggestions on how to improve my deck. To compare it to different versions, check out the links near the top of the articles labeled as "Wurmwood Deck V. 1" and "Wurmwood Deck V. 2". Enjoy.

Please leave comments.

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

MIXED BAG. TABLETOP TALES: THE HAUNTED WURMWOOD DECK

TABLETOP TALES PRESENTS:

THE HAUNTED WURMWOOD DECK

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

MY FIRST DECK

 AURAMONGER DECK

HAKUNA MATATA DECK

WURMWOOD DECK V. 1 

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.

Today's deck is a brand-spanking-new construction made from an intro pack and about twenty cards either bought, traded, or pulled from older purchases. As an early draft of a concept, you can expect to see a better achieved form of my themes in the future. Here is the main component:

Intro Pack: Dark Ascension, Grave Power, Cost: $13

Note: You can see the full decklist of the original to compare by clicking HERE.

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.

Without further ado, with these purchases, I built...

THE HAUNTED WURMWOOD DECK

The deck follows several themes including, but not limited to, : Treefolk, Wurms, Flight, and stealing power from beyond the grave. As I only try to build and present decks that I can afford, this deck is still in a prototype phase, and I hope you will be able to enjoy it. This deck includes cards from others set but I think Avacyn Restored might have some nifty blue and greens that I can add in to make it a completely Innistrad limited deck.

NOTE: This is the second iteration of this deck. Please leave comments and suggestions on how to improve my deck. Enjoy.

Please leave comments.

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

MIXED BAG. TABLETOP TALES: WURMWOOD DECK

TABLETOP TALES PRESENTS:

THE WURMWOOD DECK

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

MY FIRST DECK

 AURAMONGER DECK

HAKUNA MATATA DECK

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.

Today's deck is a brand-spanking-new construction made from an intro pack and about twenty cards either bought, traded, or pulled from older purchases. As an early draft of a concept, you can expect to see a better achieved form of my themes in the future. Here is the main component:

Intro Pack: Dark Ascension, Grave Power, Cost: $13

Note: You can see the full decklist of the original to compare by clicking HERE.

17 Individual Cards, Cost: $10

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.

Without further ado, with these purchases, I built...

THE WURMWOOD DECK

The deck follows several themes including, but not limited to, : Treefolk, Wurms, Flight, and stealing power from beyond the grave. As I only try to build and present decks that I can afford, this deck is still in a prototype phase, and I hope you will be able to enjoy it. An example of changes I'd like to make would be to stick a Tree of Redemption in here, but, and its a decent but, he is currently serving time in my aura deck. Also, this deck includes cards from others set but I think Avacyn Restored might have some nifty blue and greens that I can add in to make it a completely Innistrad limited deck.

Please leave comments.

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