Magic the Gathering

If you can fit both, do it.
Otherwise, I kinda like Sphinx better.
Unless you make it Praetor reanimator, that'd make me happy to see that be successful.

You shouldn't see it as "I'm losing two life" so much as "I'm trading a non-mana resource to get ahead". Here's another example:
http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=233056
Gitaxian Probe costs you two life but no mana to look at an opponent's hand and cantrip (draw 1 card). Yes, it's blue phyrexian mana, so you could pay blue and be on your merry way, but the fact that you have the option to cast it for no mana is huge. This card is run in most Delver decks, and is 99% of the time cast without mana. That one mana you save was SO valuable in that kind deck, since it runs a very small land count, and need to conserve your mana for your threats or answers.

Thoughtseize is the same. There's a card that does the exact same thing, except it cost two black mana, and has no drawback. Thoughtseize frees up the precious mana to do other things. 2 life is pretty much nothing. As the saying goes "Having 1 life is okay, as long as your opponent has 0 life!" And also, being a reanimator deck, you may be at 8, but your opponent should now staring down one or two huge threats that need to be answered almost immediately or the game is already pretty much over.

If you're still worried about that life, since Reanimate is a good-enough argument (I haven't seen thoughtseize run in tandem very much with other spells that drain your own life total), run less reanimate, and put more lifegain in the form of creatures. big lifelinkers like the Sphinx will earn you that life back within a turn or two, or maybe something like Pellaka Wurm (a 7/7 trampler that gains you 7 life when it enters the battlefield).

Opened a box of Return to Ravnica. It was pretty decent, got Vraska, Abrupt Decay, and a couple of shcoklands.

Working on a Standard Red Deck Wins deck of my own. Think it comes together well enough... but suggestions are always nice. Also, I'll need help with the sideboard, I'm really not sure what to put in there...

4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Rakdos Shred Freak
4 Ash Zealot
4 Lightning Mauler
4 Vexing Devil (I kinda just count this as a sorcery-speed burn spell)
2 Nivmagus Elemental
2 Hellrider
___________________________
24 Creatures

4 Pillar of Flame
4 Brimstone Volley
4 Searing Spear (I don't like this card, but couldn't find another cheap burn spell I liked after Volley and Pillar.)
2 Dangerous Wager
1 Burn at the Stake
___________________________
15 Other Spells

21 Mountain
___________________________
21 Land

Sideboard:

4 Thunderbolt
4 Smelt
2 Flames of the Firebrand
2 Pyreheart Wolf (Was really back and forth about whether I wanted this, or the Elemental in the mainboard)
2 Thunderous Wrath
1 Pithing Needle
___________________________
15 Cards

EDIT: Sideboard changes- Cut two Faithless Looting for two Thunderbolt. Cut the the extra copy of Hellrider in the sideboard for another Smelt. Cut the two Torch Fiend's for two Flames of the Firebrand.

EDIT2: I just realized that because the set just came out, new decks are being imporvised. I'll just need to wait to see what the good decks end up being so I can more easily find ways to board.

geez, i haven't played magic in a while....(work).

i went by the flea market today and bought myself alot of singles i need today the return to ravinca set: angel of serenity, hallowed fountain, blood crypt, cromatic lantern x2, jarad, cyclonic rift, grave betrayal, isperia, jarad's orders, nercopolis regent, sphinx's revelation, divine verdict, and vraska (all stuff for different edh decks, the only format i play). now all i need is some guildgates, temple garden, overgrown tomb, and some guilgmages and i'm done with this set.

i also got a mystical, vampiric, and demonic tutor, a sword of light and shadow, a sword of feast and famine, and a divining top.

yeah, alot of stuff, lol.

Lol sounds like a nice haul. Any specific Legendaries catch your eye in this new set? I see Isperia in that list of singles you got.

My gosh, I got a lot of good looking (art wise) cards from this new set. They look really lovely! Though I haven't read what they do yet, they just look so beautiful.

mainly just and jarad esperia legendary wise.

I feel you kicki, i like to look at the art too. Jason Chan is my favorite mtg artist (wilt leaf liege is my favorite card artwise)

Gonzalo Ordonez (aka genzoman) is my favorite card artist of all time. he's the artist of my avatar [Loki] and yours kicki [Gemini].

Lotso text..sooo


Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go drool at Judge Promo Mana Crypts

Haha, points (A) and (E) kinda contradict to me. You tell him to spend less money on thoughtseizes, then suggest Force of Will at the end. Though, to be fair, he said he was borrowing the cards from his cousin.

I agree with all of them though.

And *drool*, oh my god, that Mana Crypt is lovely...

Never said pick up 4 :p

Course when he says he has 4 and said cousin has lots of old cards (Underground Sea O.O, I wish I had those...), not a stretch that said cousin has a uncommon from a small set. Have met people who claim to have 14+plus, and have played that long (used to be considered a meh card until Urza's Block/Mike Long..along with a bunch of other cards.)

Though yes, even though I usually assume anyone outside of a competitive forum is on a budget, they do contradict

Moar bad ass judge promos

Lol, I see. That makes sense.

And haha another nice one.

On another note,
Today's Draft Simulator on DailyMTG seemed really good for green.
Here's the link if anyone wants to try: http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/activity/1076

My picks:


EDIT: Also got some help for my RDW deck at the shop I go to.
I was suggested 3 Cryptborn Horror, 2 Hellrider (it's in my list, but I don't have any copies, so I was proxying it), and 2 Bonfire of the Damned, replacing the 2 Pyreheart Wolf (What I was proxying for Hellrider), 2 Dangerous Wager, 1 Burn at the Stake, and 2 Nivmagus Elemental.

Playtesting seemed to prove that these were good changes. Was skeptical about Bonfire, but even in this fast deck with little mana, that Bonfire usually burns away everything on my opponents board.

EDIT2: Wait, Force of Will was considered to be a "meh" card at one point? O_O Kinda can't imagine.

Don't know if I like cryptborn horror, by the time it's big, you probably pretty close to winning anyways. Trample can be relevant though.

Way I understood is this, even though Channel Fireball existed (which was banned as I understood it), combo really didn't exist aside from that, so when it came out, it was merely okay, plus no one really thought of life as a resource then (this is back when Carrion Ant was a pricey card mind..true story: guy at my lgs one a tourney choosing it over a mox ruby). Once Prosp-Bloom came out, and combo decks started to actually make a impact (look up PT Rome, I think, which was largely Tolarian Academy based combo decks), that's when force of will started to pick up steam.

Here's a fun one, explain Lion's Eye Diamond (tap, sac, discard entire hand: add 3 of any mana)...took me a while to get why it's $60.

That's what I thought, too... But it's never smaller than 4/4 when I cast it (typically is this size if I cast it turn three, it's usually at least 6 most times later), so I'd think it'd be hard to deal with. I may not have quite won yet on turn three or four when it comes out, but it pretty much needs to be answered right away or I've officially won.

Ohhh, okay, I think I see.

And, haha, I just looked that card up, and it's pretty odd. Couldn't think of much to do with it until I looked at the comments where people listed what they'd combo it with.

I love going Land>Lotus Petal>Led>Brainstorm>Crack Petal for B>Dark Ritual>Dark Ritual>Cabal Ritual>Infernal tutor>maintaining priority crack led for 3B, floating 9B>Infernal Tutor floating 7B> Infernal Tutor floating 5B>Infernal Contract floating 2B>Chrome Mox imprinting Infernal Contract>Tendrils for lethal

@____@ And this is a one turn win? I imagine you'd have to have a perfect opener to have that work...

It would be turn 2 at the earliest actually, if I counted right (been a bit since I played storm)

Hmm, Force of Will? I have 4 here, but isn't it a waste to exile a card? Not to mention, what if the only blue card I have in my hand is a really good card? Shouldn't counter spell be enough?

Also, isn't Griselbrand ability, which costs 7 life, a bit expensive?

Force of Will is one of the best counterspells ever printed because you pay no mana for it. You can afford to "tap-out",then still blow out your opponent by countering their spell. If you think it's a waste, then it might be, but you have to remember that sometimes you have to throw away resources to make sure you won't lose to their big threat. Also, I think he mentioned not to put four...

Griselbrand has lifelink, so his ability is basically free if you activate it after the attack. And, again, this is black's thing of trading non-mana resources for advantage. Card advantage is more important than life, so long as you're over 0. It's why he was banned (in Commander albeit, but still), and I've seen it in action... It was cheated out with Kaalia of the Vast, then my opponent (friend's uncle I play with) spent most of his life to draw cards, and won that turn because he had all the answers he needed. It's one life per card, which is an excellent deal. Besides, we wouldn't suggest it if it were bad. This is brokenly good.

Paying life to draw cards has proven to be broken before, as two other ones similar to him that I can think of: Necropotenece and Yawgmoth's Bargain, were banned in certain formats, too.

@gurall: Oh, lol. Wow, still pretty crazy.

Ahh, so I can still use the ability after attacking? Now that makes much more sense to me.

All activated abilities can be used at instant speed, unless it specifically says "Activate this ability only as a sorcery."

Force of Will is best when protecting your reanimate spell, most renanimator decks run a mixture of discard and counters to protect their combo, yes FoW is card disadvantage, but being able to go t1>Land>Entomb/Careful study pitching phatties>t2>animate dead/exhume and have a way to protect is really good for a combo deck.

Generally speaking you run something like 14-17 cards (not including force) to support it, usually looking something like

4 Force of Will
4 Brainstorm
4 Careful Study
3-4 Daze
4 Ponder

as their blue spells.

You can also use brainstorm as a way to dig for a force/pitch material to force