Favorites from my collection 1.............

One of my all time favorites and the powerhouse of my green white aura deck is the Aura Gnarlid!

Coupled with cards such as rancor, Aura Gnarlid can dominate very early in the game. It cant be blocked by creatures with less power. By turn 3 with rancor's help, this creature can be a 5/3.....few creatures can block it this early in the game.

The more auras you drop on it and other creatures in your army, the more powerful it becomes! Now to enhance this virtually unblockable, powerful creature.........trample does the job nicely! Cards such as Armadillo Cloak, Epic Proportions and Mythic Proportions can do just that!

Add another 3 Aura Gnarlids to your aura deck and your opponents will have a game on their hands! The Aura Gnarlids work great with Kor Spiritdancer and Yavimaya Enchantress, which also ramp up with enchantments and auras!!

The Aura Gnarlid, a must have card for any legacy/casual deck...........

ZOMBIES........

We cast our magic decks to the side last week at my gaming club, as we were being attacked by zombies.....

My friend from http://20thcenturywargames.blogspot.com/ brought in his zombie tabletop game for us all to try........

The zombie action was great! Our heroes put up a great fight, but in the end we were over run!

They had us pinned down in the local corner store.......

Looking forward to taking on the zombies again soon!!!!

local supplier

We finally have a good local magic supplier in my home town...... Just picked up a magic comic which comes with a cool rare!! Happy days!!!

Azorius rules!!

The Azorius Guild and their Return to Ravnica ability of detain is also an excellent style of game play. Once again, it focuses on controlling the game rather then aggressive attacking strategies. 

Unlike other blue decks, my azorius deck has plenty of creatures in it to make use of the detain ability. 

 Azorius Arrester can begin detaining early on in the game, I run with 4 Lyev Skynights as my main detain soldiers, Azorius Justicar are also a worthy option as they can detain 2 creatures when they enter the Battlefield. Soulsworn spirit can detain and is unblockable. New Prahv Guildmage is a cheap hitter early in the game, but his detain ability is rather expensive. Later in the game Archon of the Triumvirate does a great job of detaining 2 permanents an opponent controls!!

To aid my creatures, I also run with Inaction Injunction and Martial Law which is a key enchantment in my deck.

To allow me to get the best out of my creatures with the detain ability, I have used cards such as Restoration Angel, Deadeye Navigator, Nephalia Smuggler and ghostly flicker. These creatures and spells allow my detain creatures to be exiled and then returned to the battlefield. Therefore they can detain again.

I use dramatic rescue and Faerie Imposter to return cards like Restoration Angel back to my hand, to allow the detain ability to be carried out yet again.

Arrest and detention sphere remove/neutralize threats from the battlefield.

I use cards such as Syncopate, Judges Familiar, Isperia, Supreme Judge to help control. If all goes wrong and I am being overwhelmed, Supreme Verdict is there to even out the playing field. Azor Elocutors provide a great distraction, whilst Palisade Giant can take some serious heat!

Again Syncopate artwork is awesome......

If all goes well......Azorius law and order will prevail!

Winning on a budget......

If you are new to the game or would like to build a cheaper deck that is extremely competitive, then goblins are your answer. You can build a casual/legacy goblin deck for 20 bucks and still win games! I think this is a far better start then an intro pack!

My budget goblin deck has a twist to it.......

like all goblin decks the core to its success is the cheap mana cards, these cards can build up and hit early in the game. They also provide cheap blockers through the game. I have used cards like, goblin fireslinger, boros recruit, goblin mountaineer, goblin arsonist, krenkos command and mogg war marshal. Really just use any cheap goblins you can get your hands on, there is a wide selection here.

Mogg Flunkies are a must have in any goblin deck (or aggro deck) as they are a 3/3 for only 2 mana.

Goblins are also very good at producing more goblins, you can create a overwhelming army quite fast. This deck is centred around 'empy the warrens' and its storm ability. I have added 8 or 9, 0 mana artifacts to take advantage of the storm ability. If you are able to save up enough 0 cost spells, you can unleash a goblin horde of upto 18 goblins in a single turn.

I have also included 'grapeshot' to use the storm ability to inflict damage the same way.

Now you have all these goblins, what to do with them? Sacrifice them of course!! Cards such as Tar Pitcher, Kuldotha rebirth and Arms dealer can inflict damage and/or generate even more goblins. Goblin Grenade would be even better but I dont have any yet.

To increase the sacrifice ability of the goblins, I have thrown in some hissing iguanars to deal even more damage.

For more bang for your buck I have included mana makers such as Brightstone Ritual to use in conjunction with fireball........

To remain budget conscious, I have only added to rares to the deck, Vedalken Orrery which allows me to play all nonland cards like an instant and Coat of arms to level up your goblin horde.

I have found burst of speed works well with this line up as well......

This should have you winning games on a budget!

Playing the blues......

I have created a legacy blue deck which is fun to play and has had a great track record. I am enjoying the strategic and tricky game play of blue. I def enjoy watching powerful aggro decks squirm as they are unable to gather their army!

The purpose of this deck, like most blue decks is to control the game. It gains the upper hand by disrupting an opponents usual rhythm and play style.

Fog bank provides me with early defenses, one of my fav blue cards. Provides perfect cover for only 2 mana. Makes it very difficult for ur opponent at any stage of the game!

I am running a full compliment of rune snag, a counter spell for 2 mana.........by the forth spell your opponent has to pay 6 to stop it. This makes it viable late in the game as well!

Griptide with dream twist provide a great way to cycle problem cards from the battlefield to the graveyard.

devastation tide, cyclonic rift, spelltwine and stolen goods are some of the decks hard hitters!

There are not many creatures in my line up....... I have included shapeshifters marrow to use their creatures against them!

These artifacts add an interesting twist to the game!!

I round the deck out with cheap mana commons such as unsummon, curiosity, silent departure, early frost and ponder..... ice cage and curse of chains do well to.

I finish it all off with 'reminisce' so I can do it all again!!

Final Dimir draft......

I finally have a dimir draft I am happy with........I replaced 2 spell ruptures with 2 x fog banks for early defense.  Had some great games with my final dimir draft deck last night......

Dimir cipher deck - redraft

My Dimir deck was very ineffective against aggro decks such as Boros and Rakdos based cards. I had little or no defenses early in the game, when aggro decks are at their strongest.

I based to much focus on unblockable cards to cipher spells to.

Therefore, I have removed tormented souls and a couple of other creatures from my deck. I also removed other superfluous cards from my deck and replaced them with removal and control cards, such as, essence scatter, gridlock, aetherize, spell rupture and psychic strike. I have introduced incursion specialist as it would suit cipher cards well. I have also added Bane Alley Broker, I love the art work of this card and I think it will help cycle through expensive cards early game, to use later.

Aetherize artwork is awesome, one of my fav card pics!
looking forward to trialing my alterations.......will keep you posted.

Elf party time!!

My elf warrior deck has the ability to dominate most decks and games. It is one of my favorite decks to play! The deck is designed for versatility, covering many strategic aspects of the game.

Teamwork and overwhelming numbers is this decks strength! Trusty and reliable Llanowar elves will always help you early game as you swiftly set up your board position. Running the Elf Warrior creature type, Bramblewood Paragon is a sneaky way of bumping up all your elves as they come into play! Mix it with a huge core of elf warrior creature production with Elvish Promenade and Rhys the Redeemed in tandem with Parallel Lives and even more powering up of your warriors with Imperious Perfect, Elvish Champion, Immaculate Magistrate and Elvish Archdruid! Short of mana and in a squeeze?...Elvish Archdruid is your man for the job, creating more than enough mana to cast what you please! And with crafty evasion for your army through Taunting Elf, Ezuri, Renegade Leader and Eladamri, Lord of Leaves then some serious lifegain with the ever opponent moral crushing Wellwisher, your Elf Warrior clan is built for versatility and sheer power through teamwork! Can't get them out fast enough?...Nissa Revane is there to level up and if your opponent hasn't dealt with her in time...then its Elf Party time!!! And your opponent seems to be shouting the beer. Pity the game is over by that time.

recycled card dividers....

nothing is wasted from my fat pack packaging, the off cuts from my deck boxes are used as card dividers for card storage.