Curse of the Bloody Tome

Hey guys. Time for another review, and this one is about the blue enchantment aura-curse from the Innistrad set known as Curse of the Bloody Tome. I know, I know two Innistrad cards in a row, but I'll review cards from the other standard blocks as soon as my terrible infatuation with Innistrad ends (wait 'till Dark Ascension comes out...).

Just one look at Curse of the Bloody Tome and it's clear that its motives are mill, self or otherwise, and ever since Millstone was phased out of standard, mill was never the same. If Millstone and Curse of the Bloody Tome were brothers, the curse would be the devilishly handsomer and wittier sibling.

Yes Millstone may be cheaper, but the tap/mana cost to activate it will leave your early mana pool empty. Being an artifact also makes it easier to send to the graveyard. Curse of the Bloody Tome only asks one more mana to put into play and doesn't have any activation costs. This makes it possible to play multiple curses without the worry on how your going to use that mana leak later. Curse of the Bloody Tome is also very consistent when compared against other mill cards from the Scars block and the M12 core set, such as Jace's Erasure.

With the release of the Innistrad set, self-mill became a huge thing. With flashback and an emphasis on graveyard play, it became obvious that it's not a bad thing to have cards in your graveyard. A blue/black deck with motives on graveyard play and maybe mill as a second win option would benefit from having this in their decks. This would work well with Ghoulcaller's bell which if used on yourself could bolster your graveyard resources, or be two additional cards in your opponents bin. On the topic of self-mill, Laboratory Maniac now makes it possible to win if you mill yourself out of cards.

Curse of the Bloody Tome also complements other mill cards such as Jace's Erasure or Merfolk Mesmerist, sharing their love of mill. In two turns, the  ability of the curse, Jace's Erasure and the activation of the mesmerist's abilty has your opponent down five cards. I've also messed around with Grasp of Phantoms and Curse of the Bloody Tome. Nothing hoses down your opponent's confidence when they have to put their beloved 9/9 creature with trample on top of their library, with the sudden realization that its going to be milled next turn. Grasp of Phantoms is a great way of getting rid of tough creatures that pose a threat to the mono-blue miller.

I love the flavor this card brings to table. The flavor text is the most interesting, and hilarious part, because it's exactly whats running through the opponent's mind at the time. They carefully constructed and built their deck and now they have to mill it away (man I'm evil). The artwork is also very well done. It really feels like some wizard or scholar was studying and experimenting then they dun goofed and went nuts.

Magic: The Gathering - Deckbuilding

Hey guys. So today I really wanted to discuss deck-building because it is a HUGE part of MTG. Sure you have those avid collectors waiting to get that last card to finish their precious Zendikar collection, or the card trader in it for the money, but I'm talking about actual deck construction for those who actually want to play Magic: the Gathering, either for the tournaments or around the table family gatherings.

Anyways, so to the new players out there the question seems to be, "How does I build deck?", and the answer is really simple, "Anyway you want to." There are some simple guidelines to follow, otherwise whenever you play you might find that your deck has no focus, it isn't consistent, or it has mana problems. You could always go and look up actual championship decks that have been play-tested, but you may not enjoy that play style, or be able to afford some of the pricey cards tournament champions tend to have. So the solution? Create your own masterpiece.

Deck construction starts by first picking either a color, a theme, or a card, and every deck has to have a minimum of 60 cards (With the maximum being as many cards as you can humanly shuffle without help from another person). You could start by picking a color, which usually picks your theme as well. For example, green magic has many creatures and creature improvement spells so you might make a deck with lots of strong creatures and pack spells that make 'em even stronger.

You could also pick a theme, or a mechanic that your deck works with. A life gain deck could use white spells that gain life, or black spells that steal life, or both. Sometimes if you find a card that you just fell in love with you can easily build around it, such as the card Artillerize, which can work great in a deck that uses its graveyard as a resource or is based on sacrifice.

After you have assembled your crew of cards the next issue to discuss is the land issue. Now the usual rule is to have at least a 2/5 proportion of land to other cards in your deck, which comes out to around 24 lands for a 60 card deck. This ratio is good, but it really comes down to how much mana your deck really needs. If the general mana cost for everything in your deck is 3 then you could exclude some lands and go with an 18-20 land deck. But know the more mana you exclude, the lower your chances are of drawing mana when you play.

Another thing to consider is using multiple colors in your deck. It is easy get mana-screwed as you add more colors to your deck, so when thinking about splashing some of that red in your blue deck, consider using some non-basic lands that can provide two colors, or other land replacement cards such as Llanowar Elves or Manaliths that can provide mana but aren't lands themselves.

Anyways, hopefully you all found this guide helpful in any way, shape or form and I wish you all happy deck-building!

Ghoulcaller's Bell

StarsOfLorin here talking about the first card for review here on MTG Analyzer. Woo! Party hats aside, the card up for review today is from the Innistrad block is aptly named "Ghoulcaller's Bell".

So I just have recently got into some Innistrad cards and noticed a lot of cards with the flashback ability, which basically allows you to cast the spell twice, once from your hand and once again from your graveyard with the extra cost of exiling it afterward. Also the Innistrad block seems to have introduced a lot of fun "graveyard play" spells.

Anyways this card looks like it could do a lot of fun things especially if you use your graveyard as a resource, and all for a mana cost of 1? Play in a flashback deck along with Burning Vengeance and let the fun begin, or stack tough critters and use with Grimoire of the Dead. Milling potential is also here. Definitely looks like it was made for a mono-black or a black/other, but could definitely see some action in other decks too.

The artwork, like most of the Innistrad set (I would say all, but Olivia Voldaren's gender has to be confirmed first...) is amazing. The flavor text really keeps up with the mood of horror in the series and shows just how easy it is for the dead to come back to life on the plane of Innistrad.

Everyones a Critic.

Hey everyone. So I've been interested in MTG for a while, loving the detail and the imagination put into these little cardboard collectibles that has become a sensation for people all over the globe. I was first introduced when my friend showed me these cards that he would play at his family gatherings. I was hooked and have been collecting, deck-building and playing MTG ever since! With this blog I hope to share my love for MTG and help others who are just getting into Magic: the Gathering with some of the experiences I've been through.

Stars