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.

recycled deck boxes, finished product.....

The finished product, ready to hold my favourite decks. 100% recycled from old fat pack packaging.

constructing recycled deck boxes

Almost completed recycled deck box. Made from a Return to Ravnica Fat Pack packaging.

deck box template

I have made my deck box prototype. I used this to create my recycled deck boxes.........

Home made deck boxes

I keep my fat pack packaging and recycle it to make deck boxes for my magic decks. They look just like the bought ones and a great way to store my decks.........

Mixed bag with House Dimir

Won some and lost some with my house dimir drafts, needs some more fine tuning, but on the right track. I was playing against legacy decks, so quite happy how it went. I enjoyed using the guild mechanics and am looking forward to some more games using them.

Talrand, Sky Summoner, did his job nicely! Works very well with cipher!!

Wargames intro

My mate from 20th century wargames introduced the club to some different wargames

Magic with mates!!

Thursday night magic at the warlords gaming club!!

House Dimir deck 2 - all stars

The all stars of the deck include:

• Lord of the Void: a heavy hitter and a grinder in one, nice mythic rare....very expensive though, costs 7 mana! 
• Consuming Aberration: this card has huge potential and looking forward to playing! very powerful and could very much win games for u!! Both hitting and grinding potential!
• Nightveil Specter: a cheap 2/3 flyer which grinds away with each combat damage, would like more of these in my arsenal! Ideal to cipher with!

House Dimir deck 2 - grinding

My second draft dimir deck will focus its attention on the milling/discard capabilities of dimir. Plenty of cards to trial and choose from here. I have chosen cards which should fit with dimir's theme of espionage and mind control.

I have chosen creature cards that cause your opponenst to lose cards, I have thrown a couple of unblockables in the mix to aid in the cipher ability.

The creatures I have in this deck include, crosstown courier, stern mentor, vedalken entrancer, Balustrade spy, duskmantle guildmage and keymaster rogue. Keymaster rogue is unblockable and should be handy to return creatures to their owners hand, allowing cards like balustrade spy's ability to be played again. Duskmantle guildmage should combine with milling cards such as mind sculpt allowing ur opponent to lose life as well as cards. I have thrown in 'tricks of the trade' and 'way of the thief' which add unblockable functionality.

Cipher cards include paranoid delusions, mental vapours and whispering madness which seems very interesting to play!

My defensive line include, deaths approach, grisly spectacle, psychic strike and assassins strike all allowing creatures to be destroyed and for the player to lose cards.

Grinding spells include, mind sculpt, mind rot and mind grind.

I have added Nephalia drownyard and dimir guildgates in the lands

House Dimir deck 1 - Secret Weapon

I have included Talrand, Sky Summoner as my secret weapon! Whenever I cast a sorcery or instant spell, Talrand pumps out a 2/2 Blue Drake with flying. If all goes well, my unblockables will do combat damage to player and cipher sorcery spells......each time this happens, I can add a 2/2 flying drake to the battlefield. Even better if I can equip Talrand with Illusionist Bracers, which will copy his ability, adding yet another flying drake.........

House Dimir deck 1 - cipher mechanic

This deck is all about encoding the cipher mechanic onto unblockable creatures. It seems to be a powerful mechanic, being able to cast a sorcery spell, deal combat damage to a player and then be able to cast the spell again....

My unblockable creatures include, tormented soul, Invisible stalker (I need more of these), Latch Seeker and Deathcult Rogue.

My cipher cards which will encode these creatures include: hands of binding and shadow slice, I have included midnight recovery and voidwalk for defense. Stolen Identity and Undercity Plague are my power spells here.

I have also thrown in a dimir charm, keyrune and soul ransom.

For land, I have added Rogues Passage, watery grave and dimir guildgate.

2 draft dimir decks ready to trial

I have drafted two dimir decks ready to trial at thursday night magic at my gaming club. The first deck focuses heavily on unblockable creatures encoded with cipher cards. The second deck takes advantage of the milling and discard abilities of house dimir. House dimir is ravnicas under belly, its a a guild of secrecy, manipulation and underhanded deals. I hope to have kept the very essence of the guild in my decks. I hope I chalk up a few wins for house dimir! 

Guild of choice

House Dimir is my guild of choice so far........

Gatecrash booster box

I celebrated the launch of gatecrash by purchasing a booster box on the release date. I thought there is no better way to start my blog, in conjunction with the gatecrash set.