Mono Artifacts in Gatecrash Standard

I dare you to win a single game with this deck! Even though I have taken great pains (and money to the bots) to have all useful artifact creatures in the current standard, we just are not in a pair of blocks that have enough artifact creatures for an artifact-only deck. Still, it was worth a try. If I make it to turn 8 before I lose, I consider that game a success for this deck!

Mono Green in Gatecrash Standard

This deck is very efficient. The time I took to work with mono-green back in Innistrad Block Constructed is beginning to pay off.

Mono Red in Gatecrash Standard

I have not yet gone goblin-crazy, still in my rat-crazy phase, but I can see myself having lots of fun with goblins. Foundry Street Denizen can be pumped.

Mono Black in Gatecrash Standard

This deck uses the combination of Bloodthrone Vampire and Black Cat. It also has fliers, life gain, and some removal as well card discard.

Mono Blue in Gatecrash Standard

This deck is surprisingly effective. I have finally learned to use the various types of blue control cards. The blue cards that move a card on the battlefield to your opponent's hand, or even better, to the top of their library, can be very useful.

Mono White in Gatecrash Standard

I like Boros Elite, except that it is a beacon for removal so often that it is mostly a way to let your other creatures attack.

Gruul Deck in Gatecrash Standard

Once you have a play set of Rancor, believe me, you will play all four cards in every single deck you can play it!!!

Dimir Milling Deck in Standard Gatecrash

Milling is a poor man's strategy, and so be it, I am not planning to money-up any decks in Magic. Milling is very budget-friendly.

Selesnya Armored Transport in Standard to Gatecrash

With Armored Transport I can set up a tunnel to attack. You can play it in any deck. I chose Selesnya for the enchantments and the access to mana ramp.

Rats Deck Gatecrash Update

It will take me some time to update all of my decks with Gatecrash cards. I am always balancing my limited budget with the demands of each deck. Here is the rat deck with a new rat from Gatecrash and the new rat lord (Ogre Slumlord).

My Deck Lists for ISD+RTR+GTC Set Standard

[follow this link to the previous phase of standard-to RTR]

By now I am done with Gatecrash decks.

Mono decks are great to get started with deck design. To start with, you save money on having to run all those expensive dual lands. Sure, you can run some special lands that have useful abilities, but you are not going to be having mana problems that are encountered when you run more than one color.

gate decks

 ISD Block, M13, RTR + GTC Set

These decks revolve around Maze's End, a mythic land in DGM. The set has not come out yet. Decks now are just shells in preparation for when Maze's End is issued.

1. This is a fourth or fifth iteration. The deck is very, very slow without Temporal Mastery. At first, I got just one from the bots, but this deck can only be sped up with a playset (I am sure the bots are happy about that). I also added Index because I want to get Temporal Mastery coming my way as soon as possible. I tried everything that is a creature with a gate advantage, but these cards proved ridiculously slow and ineffective. Crackling Perimeter, though, is a keeper.

mono White

ISD Block, M13, RTR + GTC Set

1. Mono White in Gatecrash Standard. I like Boros Elite, except that it is a beacon for removal so often that it is mostly a way to let your other creatures attack.

mono Blue

ISD Block, M13, RTR + GTC Set

1. Mono Blue in Gatecrash Standard. This deck is surprisingly effective. I have finally learned to use the various types of blue control cards. The blue cards that move a card on the battlefield to your opponent's hand, or even better, to the top of their library, can be very useful.

mono Black

ISD Block, M13, RTR + GTC Set

1.Rats Deck Gatecrash Update. It will take me some time to update all of my decks with Gatecrash cards. I am always balancing my limited budget with the demands of each deck. Here is the rat deck with a new rat from Gatecrash and the new rat lord (Ogre Slumlord).

2.Mono Black in Gatecrash Standard (no rats!!!). This deck uses the combination of Bloodthrone Vampire and Black Cat. It also has fliers, life gain, and some removal as well card discard.

mono Red

ISD Block, M13, RTR + GTC Set

1. Mono Red in Gatecrash Standard. I have not yet gone goblin-crazy, still in my rat-crazy phase, but I can see myself having lots of fun with goblins. Foundry Street Denizen can be pumped.

mono Green

ISD Block, M13, RTR + GTC Set

1.Mono Green in Gatecrash Standard. This deck is very efficient. The time I took to work with mono-green back in Innistrad Block Constructed is beginning to pay off.

mono Artifact

ISD Block, M13, RTR + GTC Set

1. Mono Artifacts in Gatecrash Standard. I dare you to win a single game with this deck! Even though I have taken great pains (and money to the bots) to have all useful artifact creatures in the current standard, we just are not in a pair of blocks that have enough artifact creatures for an artifact-only deck. Still, it was worth a try. If I make it to turn 8 before I lose, I consider that game a success for this deck!

Thanks to the Return to Ravnica naming conventions it is easy for players these days to refer to each of the ten two-color decks that are possible by their Ravnica guild name. With Gatecrash, it looks like Gruul, Simic, and Boros are showing some dominance.

Selesnya (green/white)

ISD Block, M13, RTR + GTC Set

1.Selesnya Armored Transport in Standard to Gatecrash With Armored Transport I can set up a tunnel to attack. You can play it in any deck. I chose Selesnya for the enchantments and the access to mana ramp.

Dimir (blue/black)

ISD Block, M13, RTR + GTC Set

1.Dimir Milling Deck in Standard Gatecrash Milling is a poor man's strategy, and so be it, I am not planning to money-up any decks in Magic. Milling is very budget-friendly.

Gruul (red/green)

ISD Block, M13, RTR + GTC Set

1. Gruul Deck in Gatecrash Standard. Once you have a play set of Rancor, believe me, you will play all four cards in every single deck you can play it!!!

The Forecast for Modern Masters

I do not get this "limited run" decision. If MM is only sold in the LGSs, and for a higher price, pretty much any MM card will be more expensive and have a lower print run than the original card, and with Magic already being expensive enough, MM can only steal from a player's Standard money pool.

I elaborate: if MM reprints Bob (Ravnica's Dark Confidant), that reprint Bob will have a smaller print number than the original. And this difference will be even larger for commons and uncommons, which in their original printings, like Bob, were available at Walmart and Target. (I wasn't around for that but I assume that Magic cards have been available at Walmart and Target for many years).

If MM is not available at Walmart and Target, and is not priced like the regular packs-and both of the former are true; it has a high probability of being a lesser failure than Commander's Arsenal, but not the thing that will bring out the modern-playing zombies out of their graves.

Magic Card Collecting

From my brief exposure to Magic I see a very large percentage of players and a small percentage of collectors. Its a TCG, of course, and its at a very popular point in its lifecycle (and nothing seems to indicate that it will decline, which is great). Magic has only been around for 20 years. If other collectibles are a guide, collecting will likely increase, but it could take decades. The only other collectible I know about is stamps, and it took quite a while for a collecting community to develop. Today USPS sells something like $1 billion in stamps a year to collectors, and these are stamps that will never see postal use. Imagine someone buying a bunch of magic cards never to play them, maybe not even knowing how to play the game. In stamp collecting, from 1840 when the first stamp came out, it took until the 1880s and 1890s for there to be a small number of collectors. That's half a century.

Collecting is mostly about rarity, and mythic rares are printed in smaller runs. It only makes sense that there should be collectors who focus on mythic rares. This is nothing new in stamp collecting.

The quantity of magic cards is very small when compared to stamps, which are printed in the billions. Someone saying today that a Liliana of the Veil is common is only stating a relative rarity. It is not that rare because the community of players is small (say, 20 million worldwide) and the number of collectors is even smaller.

Fast forward to 50 years from now, and assume that Magic is still played, but now by 40 million players. Factor in cards lost or decayed in quality and now a pack fresh Liliana of the Veil IS a rarity. Factor in 10 times as many people collecting Magic, and you have rarity combined with demand.

Redemptions Status for ISD Block, Magic 2013 and RTR set continued

[follow this link to the previous installment of the paying saga]

February 7 and 8, 2013: bought three packs and paid $10 to the bots for many RTR cards (the cheaper ones). Nice Pulls!!!

These are the cards I am missing.
Innistrad

Dark Ascension

Avacyn Restored

 

Magic 2013

Return to Ravnica

and Limited Edition Alpha (just kidding, I will never own these cards!!!)

As of February 18, 2013, these are the cards I can buy while they are in Standard from Innistrad and Dark Ascension:

innistrad

kessig wolf run
past in flames
angelic overseer
kessig cagebreakers
grimgrin, corpse-born
mikaeus, the lunarch
essence of the wild
woodland cemetery

dark ascension

grim backwoods
beguiler of wills
havengul lich
flayer of the hatebound
moonveil dragon
drogskol reaver
archangel's light

March 31, 2013 update: paid $22 to the bots to buy all of the cards in the above list, and added three packs of Avacyn Restored. Latter were a great addition: two more cards added (Zealous Conscripts and Angel of Glory's Rise). Here is one of the packs.

 Missing: 3 for Innistrad, 4 for Dark Ascension, and 14 for Avacyn Restored.

May 1, 2013 update: 2 packs of RTR, and 2 packs of GTC. I recently bought a few miracles to feed my Crackling Perimeter deck. Here is what I am missing for AVR.

The packs for RTR. Pulled an Abrupt Decay!

What I am missing for RTR.

And the GTC packs. I am missing many of GTC because I plan to buy many more packs before I buy singles from the bots of the cards that I am missing.

Pulled a Mythic Rare!

May 5, 2013: added 2 packs of RTR and 2 of GTC. Pulled a Supreme Verdict and an Aurelia!

...and I am loving the difference between ISD block completion and RTR block completion. For all of $5 I got almost every rare, uncommon, and common in Gatecrash! I am missing all of 21 cards.

These are the AVR cards I can buy before they rotate out of Standard.

Tibalt
Somerwald Sage
Malignus
Tyrant of Discord
Primal Surge

And these are the ones for RTR.

Loleth Troll
Detention Sphere
Desecration Demon

Slaughter Games
Jarad, Golgari
Armada Wurm
Epic Experiment

And now that I am only missing a few of GTC, these are the ones I can get while in Standard.

Realmwright
Enter the Infinite
Lord of the Void
Hellkite Tyrant
Gyre Sage
Giant Adephage
Deathpact Angel
Borborygmos Enraged
Thespian's Stage