Popular Mirage Uncommons

The community rating is a very useful number from Gatherer. Here are the 18 most popular uncommons of Mirage. I would like to build a few decks around some of these just as I have been doing with the Origins multicolored uncommon cycle.

 

And here is the disposition for each card. Some I do not have and are expensive. I would rather wait for something like a Tempest Remastered to get these cards. Others like Pacifism and Dissipate I play with now, and then there is Dwarven Miner, easily the best land destruction card out there. I have played him, and will not play him again on account of land destruction being so unfun.

 

I love to open packs, even online 0's and 1's, but sometimes a set just does not have enough value per pack, the Estimated Value, or EV. Today Visions is still a good pack to pull, but that is not the case for the other two sets in Mirage block.

Here is a link to the previous time I calculated EV for Legacy online packs.

[Standard] Origins Gruul - Zendikar Incarnate

I am planning to play this deck a lot more. I even added a sideboard.

The deck combines the use of morph creatures to not miss a land drop and filter lands from the deck. It also has a secondary enchantment theme. Here is a game I won against a fast white/red Dash deck.

Seven Packs of Odyssey Online

Here are more packs for my Legacy stash... maybe someday Legacy will be a vibrant format online.

Entomb, Patron Wizard, and Chance Encounter are the most valuable pulls.

Six Packs of Odyssey Online

Here are more packs for my Legacy stash... maybe someday Legacy will be a vibrant format online.

Saproling Symbiosis and Dueling Grounds are the most valuable cards pulled.

[Standard] Origins Azorius - Thundering Wyvern

This one is a lot more fun than the UB (Blue/Black or Dimir) build...a lot more fun! I could optimize it a little more but the current supply of flying creatures isn't that great. I should revisit this build with Battle for Zendikar cards.

In this game I was able to cast enchantments to boost Blessed Spirits. Green has to be very fast to beat this deck since all of my creatures have Flying.

Here is another example of how great it is when all of your creatures have Flying.

And even against red tokens, if I land enough flyers early, I win.

[Standard] Origins Dimir - Possessed Skaab

This has been the most painful build to date for this deck-building challenge. He is an early version of the deck that was interesting, but lost almost all of the time.

Here is the final, or 'I give up!' version of this deck. A five drop that does not really help much to end the game is very difficult to play as a 4-of. I guess I could play it with a bunch of money cards I do not have, but for that I would play some other creature! 

Of the 40 or so games I played, I won something like 4. Here are two of these very lucky wins. The first one is against milling, which is very strong in the current Standard. My opponent kept taking out my creatures and instead manifesting the top card of my library. In this one instance, Possessed Skaab is what got manifested, and that turned out to be one lucky strike early in the game.

Here my opponent casts a Treasure Cruise.

I eventually got to hit for the win with my creatures.

Most of the wins, like the one I show next, were come-from-behind wins. 

I went as low as 2 life.

And then I got lucky with my counterspells and casting my creatures.

[Standard] Origins Build for Blood-Cursed Knight

This one is definitely a support creature, and a very good one. I am able to gain some life from it that I can use to survive long enough to win. This deck was great 'out of the gate,' and the best one so far.

Here is a game I lost against a milling deck with a very effective alternate win condition: lots of mass removal in conjunction with Palace Siege selecting Dragons which lets my opponent gain 2 life and deal me 2 life damage every turn. There is no need for additional commentary since every turn after the first board wipe was the same: play creatures, get them removed, take damage.

Here is a game I won in which we can see how good Elspeth is in Standard, even after new cards have mostly voided the use of this planeswalker. Blood-Cursed Knight is very good support in a deck like this one full of enchantment creatures.

My opponent was able to cast solid creatures.

But it was too late since I could ping for 1 with pairs of plains and swamps using Underworld Coinsmith.

Here is another game I won. Blood-Cursed Knight and my other creatures helped be get a lot of life and also deal a lot of life. My opponent was able to stabilize at some point (turn 12). But that was too late.

Once my opponent attempted to attack, I exiled the two creatures each one with a Devouring Light. The rest is the same: Underworld Coinsmith, a definite finisher in this deck.

Here is a game I won using suspension Field early in the game. My opponent was not able to recover from this loss of momentum.

And you guessed it: Underworld Coinsmith for the win.

Here is a game I won against an aggressive Red/Green deck. My opponent did not have any flyers: Blessed Spirits for the win.

I usually have a hard time winning games against competitive builds that are being piloted in Just for Fun, yet once in a while I do beat one of these decks. Here is one of those lucky times. My opponent had a great board position, even turning their Chandra.

Blessed Spirits for the win.