Mirrodin Block Novels

 

I just finished reading the final novel in the three-part Mirrodin block series: The Fifth Dawn by Cory J. Herndon.

If you aren't a big fan of Magic: the Gathering, most of the novels in the series are not going to hold your attention. In general, they aren't that compelling. A notable exception was Agents of Artifice. I'd recommend that book to anyone who likes fantasy.

As a player, I really liked the Mirrodin block. I would have liked for there to be more of the characters and cards from the set in the book series. I wonder if the author has access to the card list before writing the novel. If I was the editor directing the writing project, my primary focus would be on crafting a compelling story while giving page time to as many of the cards as I could.

The newer novels are not split over three books to correspond to the three sets in each block. This change was a huge improvement. But at the time the Mirrodin novels were written, they were split up. It felt like they were dragging the story out over the 1,000 pages they needed to fill. Sadly, (spoiler alert) Geth spends most of his time as comic relief. And the ending was rushed.

I'll leave you with this: "Before you came into my life, I missed you Slobad. I missed you Slobad. I missed you Slo- Slo- bad." You can thank me later.

Making Big Mana

I've been looking for a good price on an Extraplanar Lens and finally got it. The tip I mentioned about setting up an email from eBay for saved searches came through for me again. Now I need a bunch of "snow" lands.

With several non-green decks in the planning stages, having ways to make big mana really opens up options mid-to-late game. I do like to play big spells and creatures. Besides, Omniscience is 10cc mana. :)

All of my decks (since they are usually of the Timmy variety) include these cards. I may cut some depending on the final deck, but I start here:

Non-green ramp:

• Gilded Lotus
• Thran Dynamo
• Sol Ring
• Solemn Simulacrum
• Thawing Glaciers

Non-green search:

• Pilgrim's Eye
• Armillary Sphere
• Expedition Map
• Evolving Wilds
• Terramorphic Expanse

Big Mana:

• Caged Sun
• Gauntlet of Power
• Extraplanar Lens

This is not a complete list of non-green ramp and search options, but if I put in too much the deck gets clogged up. I want just enough ramp to get to the big spells, but not so much that it's all I'm drawing.

Griselbrand in Action

I played a few games with Griselbrand last night. Don't worry: the guys I played with "okayed" it before we started even though the big, flying, demon is banned.

Ben was playing G/W with Captain Sisay. Chris was paying B/R with Kaervek the Merciless.

Game 1:
I get my teeth kicked in. It went down like this. Ben has four creatures out including Vigor. I have a couple of demons out. Chris has a couple of creatures too, but at this point we were both trying to draw an out against Vigor.

Neither of us are drawing removal, so Chris plays the odds and casts Blasphemous Act. Vigor dies, but so did my demons and his creatures. Ben is left with three creatures with 13 +1/+1 counters on each. Beatings ensue.

Game 2:
I win this one. I did cast Griselbrand. And I did attack a few times and draw cards with him. But I actually won with Ob Nixilis. That guy is crazy.

Near the end, Ben was in a good defensive position. He had out Gaddok Teeg and Blazing Archon. Teeg was booted up. The Archon was wearing plate. Chris had out Kaervek, so I kept casting big creatures and he would direct the damage off the trigger directly to Ben.



My life was getting low, so I attacked Chris to secure second place and to get Kaervek out of the way. I had Ob Nixilis out, dropped a land, activated Thawing Glaciers to get another land, and then played Pestilence Demon and activated him for the last point of damage to take Ben out too, securing the win!



Somewhere during the game, I played Ob Nixilis, dropped a land, activated the Glaciers, then booted him up and attacked for 9. Between the Landfall and the attack, that's 15 damage. This kind of thing seems to happen pretty often with him.

Griselbrand: Serious

 

 

Griselbrand has arrived. That's me with a serious face... for serious beats.

Here is a link to the updated deck at TappedOut.net. I copied and pasted the deck below.

Creature (20)

• 1x Stronghold Overseer
• 1x Avatar of Woe
• 1x Reiver Demon
• 1x Solemn Simulacrum
• 1x Havoc Demon
• 1x Bone Shredder
• 1x Ob Nixilis, the Fallen
• 1x Pilgrim's Eye
• 1x Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
• 1x Nirkana Revenant
• 1x Pestilence Demon
• 1x Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief
• 1x Steel Hellkite
• 1x Geth, Lord of the Vault
• 1x Carnifex Demon
• 1x Sheoldred, Whispering One
• 1x Rune-Scarred Demon
• 1x Reaper from the Abyss
• 1x Bloodgift Demon
• 1x Griselbrand

Land (42)

• 34x Swamp
• 1x Thawing Glaciers
• 1x Terramorphic Expanse
• 1x Volrath's Stronghold
• 1x Wasteland
• 1x Maze of Ith
• 1x Urborg
• 1x Strip Mine
• 1x Evolving Wilds

Instant (5)

• 1x Skeletal Scrying
• 1x Diabolic Edict
• 1x Vampiric Tutor
• 1x Grasp of Darkness
• 1x Victim of Night

Artifact (17)

• 1x Forcefield
• 1x Sensei's Divining Top
• 1x Whispersilk Cloak
• 1x Gilded Lotus
• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Thran Dynamo
• 1x Quicksilver Amulet
• 1x Scroll Rack
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Armillary Sphere
• 1x Expedition Map
• 1x Blade of the Bloodchief
• 1x Eternity Vessel
• 1x Mimic Vat
• 1x Caged Sun
• 1x Swiftfoot Boots
• 1x Elbrus, the Binding Blade  ^Flip

Sorcery (14)

• 1x Profane Command
• 1x Damnation
• 1x Dread Return
• 1x Beacon of Unrest
• 1x Promise of Power
• 1x Decree of Pain
• 1x Diabolic Tutor
• 1x Corrupt
• 1x Cannibalize
• 1x Hellfire
• 1x Demonic Tutor
• 1x All Is Dust
• 1x Exsanguinate
• 1x Black Sun's Zenith

Enchantment (2)

• 1x Diabolic Servitude
• 1x Painful Quandary

Braids, Conjurer Adept

I started piling up blue cards and artifacts for an Arcanis deck a few days ago, but I keep thinking that it would be awesome to make Braids, Conjurer Adept the Commander instead.

Here's a great article about Braids as Commander by Mike at Conqueror & Commander. I like this guy's style. I particularly like the use of Paradox Haze. How cool is that? Double the fun. I might not take the flash or bounce route, but theft and steal? Absolutely.

More M13 Spoiler: Big Cards

All of these cards are taken directly from the M13 Spoiler at MTGSalvation.com. Subscribe to the RSS feed if you want the cards send to you as they get added. Or, you can wait for game day. :)

Omniscience
Enchantment
You may cast nonland cards from your hand without paying their mana costs.

This card is awesome. Sure, it's 10cc mana. But wow. Plus, the name fits perfectly.

We get another shot at Sphinx of Uthuun. It's a reprint, but a great card to pair with Braids, Conjurer Adept as your Commander. Speaking of Braids, I've really got to put a wizards deck together with her as Commander.

Disciple of Bolas looks like it has some potential, too. Very flavorful. Plus, you gain the life instead of losing it. Seems like card drawing in black often means losing a similar amount of life.

Disciple of Bolas
Creature - Human Wizard
When Disciple of Bolas enters the battlefield, sacrifice another creature. You gain X life and draw X cards, where X is that creature's power.
"Lord Bolas has shown me how each miserable little life holds untold resources."
Illus. Slawomir Maniak	2/1

The new Lillianna has a great selection of powers.

Liliana of the Dark Realms
Planeswalker - Liliana
+1: Search your library for a Swamp card, reveal it, and put it into your hand. Then shuffle your library. -3: Target creature gets +X/+X or -X/-X until end of turn, where X is the number of Swamps you control. -6: You get an emblem with "Swamps you control have ': Add to your mana pools.'"
Illus. D. Alexander Gregory #47/249	3

5cc mana for a 5/5 flyer with haste that clears the way for the first attack. Nice. Take that, pesky flying tokens.

Thundermaw Hellkite
Creature - Dragon
Flying Haste When Thundermaw Hellkite enters the battlefield, it deals 1 damage to each creature with flying your opponents control. Tap those creatures.
	5/5

 Worldfire is probably going to be a problem. If they didn't like Griselbrand because of it's game-warping effect, what about this bad boy?

Worldfire
Sorcery
Exile all permanents. Exile all cards from all hands and graveyards. Each player's life total becomes 1.
Even the smallest spark may set a world ablaze.
Illus. Izzy #158/249