Art by Kaja Foglio
Remember how I mentioned that I’m playing Magic: the Gathering again? I’m not the only one. My niece has taken up the hobby, both of her parents play and my friends in Chesterbrook are trying to nail down a date in December for a Magic night.
I’ve blown the dust off of my decks and started a couple others. Here’s the state of things in this planeswalker’s arsenal.
Reanimator: After some trial and error, I’ve narrowed this deck down to two primary colors, green and black. There are a couple cards that let me add the white necessary if I need to hardcast Teneb, the Harvester. However, a few of the defenders, such as Twisted Abomination or Penumbra Spider get some help in the form of Lure and Gaze of the Gorgon. The core of the deck remains the same: by destruction in combat or discarding, my creatures sent to the graveyard don’t stay there long thanks to Dread Return.
Sliver Legion: People hate this deck. It’s pretty much remained unchanged since I put it together.
Chronomancy: Slightly less hated than the Sliver Legion, Jhoria and I still make a good team. I pared down the “big guns” to a single Akroma, Angel of Fury and a pair of Lightning Angels to ensure I had enough counters and ‘answers’ to enemy threats. It may still need a tweak or two, but it’s performed well.
Grinder (working title): At the core of this deck are four Millstones. Around this are built a variety of counters, including Induce Paranoia and anti-creature answers such as Assassinate and Doom Blade. It’s creatureless, nasty and a HUGE target.
Creature Feature: Still in the concept stages. The more I consider the best way to make use of Magus of the Future, Momir Vig, Simic Visionary and Vorosh, the Hunter, the more I consider Vedalken Aethermages and Plaxcaster Frogling essential parts of it. The Aethermages are pretty self-explanatory, letting me tutor my deck for two of the three essential trio. The Frogling can protect the other creatures in play, provided I have enough mana, but I’d also need more +1/+1 counters to spread around. I think most of them will come from the same block as Momir, such as the Simic Initiate and the Sporeback Troll. More on this deck as it develops.
This is of course without diving into the latest edition of Magic, including its preconstructed decks and Planeswalkers. We’ll have to see what the holiday holds…
