Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Sets in the 2011 Deckbuilder's Toolkit

Wizards uses a three letter character acronym for each set that I append here after a set is mentioned. There are eight sets represented in this kit, in order of appearance:

Zendikar (ZEN), Issued October 2009, 249 cards.


In the text for Kor Skyfisher the word permanent is used. A permanent is a card that remains in play (in the battlefield) until it is either sent to the graveyard or it is exiled. This is the case for creatures, enchantments, and artifacts in play. It is not the case for sorceries and instants ever, and for cards in your hand, your graveyard, or that are exiled that are permanents once played.

Worldwake (WWK), Issued February 2010, 145 cards.


Surrakar Banisher mentions tapping. I have not yet discussed the play cycle mainly because I don't understand it that well yet. Land cards are tapped, or tilted 90 degrees clockwise, during play to cast other cards. These cast cards in turn, when they are creatures, attack by being tapped. An important ability that a card can have is either to enter the battlefield tapped, which means you don't need to wait until you get the chance to tap it later in the turn cycle. Another important ability a card can have, such as Tamiyo, the blue planeswalkers in Avacyn Restored (AVR), is to tap an opponent's creature and therefore disable its ability to attack because your opponent did not get to tap it.

Rise of the Eldrazi (ROE), issued April 2010, 248 cards.


M11, issued July 2010, 249 cards.


Scars of Mirrodin (SOM), October 2010, 249 cards.


Skinrender is an example of a card that reduces one of your opponent's card's attack strength, and if the decrease matches the card to be 0/0 or negative, your opponent's card is removed to the graveyard when you play this type of sorcery. This is what would happen to a +3/+3 power/toughness creature card.

Mirrodin Besieged (MBS), issued February 2011, 155 cards.


Bonehard is an example of a magic card with a special ability, explained as a keyword (Living Weapon). There are all sorts of abilities, and how you incorporate them into your deck is a key  aspect of your play strategy. I like the undying ability of some Dark Ascension (DKA) cards. Undying cards come back to the battlefield immediately after being sent to the graveyard. I love undying creatures!

New Phyrexia (NPH), issued May 2011, 175 cards.


Maul Splicer can place tokens on the battlefield. Tokens are not in your deck but once in the battlefield attack block just like creature cards do. This ability is so useful that two cards in the Innistrad Block got banned because so many decks were using them that the game, or as it is referred to, the metagame, was getting stale. Trample is yet another ability. If a 3/3 Golem token did not have trample and you used it to attack, say, a 1/1 blocker, the additional 2 points or lives would not count against your opponent. But if the 3/3 Golem has trample, your opponent in this case will lose 2 life points.

The token that is placed in the battlefield by this creature is shown below.


M12, issued July 2011, 249 cards.