http://www.gatheringmagic.com/wp-content/u...s-Uncharted.jpg

Anybody notice the art reference? :X

I started playing M:TG back in 1993 (at age 11), thanks to summer camp, in the game's early days.

Unfortunately, I was raised in a rural Virginian town with a (spread-out) population of approximately 4,000 people. I'm fairly certain I was the only kid around who even knew what Magic was. I continued to collect the cards and construct decks, but I only got to actually play when I went off to summer camp. Eventually, I just drifted away from it. My childhood was not conducive to nerdy activities.

I've never really gotten back into the game, but I still remember the rules clearly (although those have probably changed dramatically in the past twelve years). The cards are still stored in my parents' attic, among them a Black Lotus in a hard plastic protective case. I don't know if it would be considered in mint or near-mint condition, but it's never been used.

I checked the going rate for Black Lotus cards on the Internet a couple of years ago, and was blown away! In good condition, they're worth a thousand dollars or more to collectors. Maybe I should go find that thing and sell it... that is, if a squirrel hasn't chewed into the case by now and used it for nesting material.

I got my DCI number and went 2-2 at a recent booster draft FNM. I am getting back in with the help of some friends but I haven't played since coldsnap was the new cool thing. The game seems to run a lot faster now with aggro and jace being the new cool thing to do. As far as getting into standard on the cheap (trying to run more Zendikar Block than Alara since Alara will cycle out soon, looking toward future standard play) any tips on nice deck ideas that can be had for less than $50? maybe a bit more? I am torn if I should just buy singles online for a deck to roll to tourney with, or if I should spend the equivalent amount in boosters/fat-pack and see what I pull... and trade/sell for what I want. My experience is that no one buys when you are selling, and everyone wants more than they want to give. I did pull a new Jace from a fat pack though, and was offered a few decks for it. I don't plan on acquiring 3 more Jaces to run a Jace deck, but 3 people at the local shop are running full 4x Jace, a few running Boss Naya Zoo from PT and... well, most everyone went online and are just running whatever deck they like from the Pro Tour.

I would like to try this one http://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/Arti...g/daily/boab/80 the death's shadow + ad nauseam (since I have 1 ds and 3 ad nauseam already...) but I am not sure how well it would fare with the current mix of AGGRO AGGRO AGGRO and JACE JACE JACE or the new WoG decks.

Where is Shiri when I need him? Any ideas oh sages?

I once tipped a bartender with a Beta Chaos Orb I used in a plastic sleeve as a bookmark.

Hey, that's actually pretty cool. I wish he would have run it against White Weenie for comparison, but I don't see why you couldn't run it reasonably at a local tournament.

If you want to cheapen and de-Alara the deck, you can swap the Hellspark Elementals with Goblin Shortcutters and Goblin Deathraiders with Zektar Shrine Expedition. There's no replacement for Blightning.

I was hoping to run something like that with megrim and something like mind sludge to force discards/damage while I get things set up. It would be nice if they had to deal with the creature(s) as well as discard, but it still feels too late game. The game seems to move much faster than it did when I played, and I doubt a turn 3/4/5/6 combo like megrim with mindsludge is going to be really feasable. Locally sure, but I still have to deal with Jace/Jund/Zoo everywhere...

For discard to really get off, you need to not only hit the important stuff, but present a threat or good blockers at the same time (re poxgoyf). HOWEVER! With the cheap walls (notably that new vine trellis..) maybe it'd be possible? I would still be suspicious, but from what I understand Jund's going to be taking a hit with this set coming out. Besides...what's the point if you can't have fun? Rogue decks tend to come out well especially in early meta, or FNMs, so go for it~

You never now, maybe you'll hit something, alotta things come out of the woodwork like that.

Megrim is no longer viable in constructed formats. Best you could make of it is an Ultimatum hoser, and I'd personally run blue-black instead of red-black with that, since there's no Stone Rain in Standard right now.

How is Megrim not viable in standard? He is in M10 and M10 doesn't cycle out of standard until Alara block cycles out in Octoberish...
M10 Megrim, Legal in Standard

I have considered using Cruel Ultimatum as well. I think I will try and keep most stuff in Zendikar+, while only grabbing the singles I want from Alara and M10 since they will be cycling out soonish.

Legal, yes, viable as a competitive deck, no.

Ah, wasn't aware of that verbiage distinction. =(

Maybe you could answer me this? Why is a fetch land like marsh flats so "awesome" when a land like pirahna marsh never gets played? There comes a point in every deck where you generally have enough land out there where you could drop a pirahna marsh for an extra ding or two, and it still triggers landfall. Am I dumb or something? I get tha sacrifice happens as an instant so you could pay one life and bring in a new land at some point but... like..

Turn one you drop a plains, turn two you drop a marsh flats, turn three a swamp + sac flats for a plains. Aside from maybe -not- having 2 plains in your opening hand... why? You would still have had 3 lands on the table and not be at 19 anyway. I'm missing something.

Fetch lands can grab the color you need when you need it. They can also trigger landfall twice in one turn. Also, and most importantly, they do not come into play tapped. If you need black mana and draw a Piranha Marsh, you're a turn behind.

Funny fact about Death's Shadow: going in to negative life and continuing to play the game successively pumps his P/T higher.

Platinum Angel or something?

REALLY? Wow Platinum Angel and DS and that white card that rolls with Platinum, Angel..., let me find it in my box, transcendence. I bet I could use some Alara stuff or something and make that hot for non standard play with friends... Hrm. So the fetch land for one damage is worth it... Never thought about triggering landfall twice...

Same reason Harrow can be a real beating in draft.

Another advantage Sylphas missed is that every time you tap a fetchland, 2 less lands are in your deck, so you have less chance of drawing them when you don't need them later. You will actually see aggro decks in extended with like 12 fetchlands and only 6 basics for this reason. The extra lands would be dead later anyway so you may as well make sure there aren't as many of them in your deck.

Also, since you get the mana turn 1, you only pay the lifecost once, unlike something like Adarkar wastes where you're paying every time you want a colour. So it's great relative to those.

Yes, I missed that. Being able to thin your deck down is wonderful. Even monoblack Vampires runs 8 fetchlands just to drop the virtual card count down. The more fetchlands you have, the better your chance of drawing the cards you need.