M15 Standard G/B Midrange

We've looked at a lot of the new cards from M15, and now that the entire set has been spoiled it's time to look at a sample decklist that I came up with. The list is a RB Midrange deck that curves out into Garruk, Apex Predator.


Creatures - 15
4 Sylvan Caryatid
4 Courser of Kruphix
4 Desecration Demon
3 Nightveil Specter

Spells - 19
4 Hero's Downfall
4 Sign in Blood
2 Ultimate Price
4 Thoughtseize
2 Whip of Erebos
3 Abrupt Decay

Planeswalkers - 3
2 Garruk, Apex Predator
1 Vraska the Unseen

Lands - 23
4 Temple of Malady
4 Overgrown Tomb
1 Golgari Guildgate
3 Mutavault
11 Swamp


Now obviously this is a very basic first draft, but I think the idea deserves some consideration. The deck already has a lot of great tools in cards like Courser of Kruphix and Nightveil Specter, and with the reprinting of Sign in Blood and the addition of cards like Garruk, Apex Predator, I think a GB Midrange deck could find a place in the new standard format.

It has the versatility of the current GB lists with cards like Abrupt Decay, Hero's Downfall, etc, and while it does not pack Underworld Connections, Sign in Blood definitely makes up for it. Some people would argue that Connections is better because it draws you more cards over the course of the game, but the advent of the other GB decks has made them fodder for opposing Abrupt Decays to a point where it's almost not worth playing it unless you are playing Gray Merchant of Asphodel as well.

What do you think? Let me know in the comments below!

M15 Spoilers (Non-Planeswalkers)

Hey all! If you haven't already seen them, you can click the following links to see my posts about the new planeswalkers that are being printed in M15:

M15 Planeswalkers - Part 1

M15 Planeswalkers - Part 2

There are a couple non-walker cards I'd like to talk about though, since planeswalkers aren't the only cool cards!

Waste Not

Waste Not was the "You Make the Card 4" winner that the community voted to create on the Wizards home site last year. The card is really quite good, and while I'm not sure it will have much impact in standard, it could be cool in Modern or Legacy. Combined with Thoughtseize, Hymn to Tourach, or Liliana of the Veil, Waste Not will gain you lots of advantage pretty quickly. Even in Legacy though, it might be too slow since it doesn't make an immediate impact on the game. I could see decks like Pox playing it just to create more incremental advantage with each spell they play, but that has yet to be seen.

Genesis Hydra

Genesis Hydra is pretty sweet. It's cheaper than Genesis Wave, but you get a body. The only downside is that instead of getting ALL non-land permanents with CMC X or less, you only get one card. The card is still really cool for EDH, and might even be good in Standard with all the Nykthos and mono-green lists already running around. Imagine getting a 5/5 for 7 mana but also getting a free Nissa, Worldwaker or Polukranos. Seems good.

Those are the cards I think are really sweet from M15, and while there are others that are cool too, many other people online have already talked about them. 

Let me know what you think about the new cards in the comments below!

M15 Planewalkers - Part 2

Oh hey! Welcome back. Yesterday we talked about Ajani Steadfast and Jace, the Living Guildpact. Today, we will be talking about a few other new planeswalkers and my thoughts on them!

Nissa, Worldwaker

Now THIS Nissa I like. If you're familiar at all with the original Nissa, you can clearly see that this variant is on a whole new level of power. While not bad, the original Nissa was very tribe-driven, and this new one allows really any green deck to benefit from running her. This is particularly evident for Mono-green lists, since her other second +1 ability allows you to have paid effectively 1 mana for a 4 loyalty walker. 

It is also important to note that her first +1 ability does not say "until end of turn", meaning that you can make an army of 4/4s without investing any spells into it. Similar to most other Green walkers, her ultimate is pretty insane in the right deck, particularly the mono-green strategy.

Garruk, Apex Predator

This might be the only planeswalker with 4 abilities that isn't totally broken. The 7 CMC kind of makes that happen, but even at 7 mana this card is insanely powerful. It's Bolas-like +1 that will wreck other walker decks seems crazy, and if your opponent doesn't have a planeswalker of their own, you can just make a 3/3 deathtouch beast. SEEMS. GOOD.

Like all good black cards, it also has built-in removal. At -3, it's nice that you also gain life when you kill an opponent's creature. As mentioned with Nissa, like most walkers, the ultimate just wins you the game, or lets you gang up on one opponent in multiplayer game types like Commander.

Those are my thoughts and views on the new walkers! Let me know what you think in the comments below!

M15 Planeswalkers - Part 1

Let's talk M15 Spoilers. Particularly, new planeswalkers. There are plenty of sweet new cards and reprints to talk about, but I want to talk about planeswalkers specifically. Let's dive right in:

Ajani Steadfast

HO-LY CRAAAAAP. I really love this card. Seriously. It's great. Splashable in many types of decks, great that it helps other walkers you control, and it's +1 ability is devastating against most decks. Unlike previous variants of Ajani that put a +1/+1 counter on a creature you control or on each, this version does both, but just better. It's ultimate ability is also a good-game button. I don't know how well it will help against aggro strategies, but with the abundance of midrange decks in the current meta it will help against the big dumb animals they generally run.

Jace, the Living Guildpact

People be hating on new Jace like crazy, and honestly, I don't know why. The card is actually quite good. Here are 3 important things to note:

1.  4 CMC walkers will always get some level of play because their cost is aggressive enough to warrant it.
2. He effectively ETB with 6 loyalty counters, and a freebie pseudo Sleight of Hand. 
3. If you ultimate him, I don't know how you lose. Not only do you remove all utility your opponent may have in their graveyard, but you also get to play the game with 7 more card than them. Seriously, how do you lose at that point?

Join me again tomorrow for some more new planeswalker talk! 

Until then, let me know what you think about the new Ajani and Jace!

[Channel Review] Gathering Magic on YouTube

Ever wondered exactly how specific abilities work? Curious about learning the rules of the game? Thankfully, I plan to write quite a few posts about both of these topics and much more, but in the mean time I've found a great resource that is incredibly helpful for all players.


Cool Stuff Inc. is a LGS (local game store) located in Florida that has a wide variety of board games, cards games, and other great products. They have also started a YouTube Channel called "Gathering Magic", which hosts videos every week.

My personal favorite segment is titled "Judge's Corner", where David Greene (a level 2 judge) talks about the ins and outs of the various rules the game presents. While this may seem like a silly thing if you are unfamiliar with the game, it is actually a phenomenal resource as the intricacies and specifics to the rules leave even veteran players stumped on occasion.

In addition to Judge's Corner, the channel hosts many budget deck construction videos, how-to videos, and draft videos. They even have full playlists dedicated to specific decks across all the formats, which allow newer players to understand the different lines of play each deck has to offer.

It is also very cool to note that they often have guests on the show, typically pro players that they sit down with to discuss the game or a deck they might be working on. It is always interesting to hear professional players talk about their mindset when playing the game because it helps other players develop their own skills.

Here is an example video about The Stack, one of the most elementary concepts used while playing Magic:

If you want more content like this, I highly suggest you visit Gathering Magic's channel on YouTube. 

Click here to visit their channel!

What do you think about their channel? Do you like the content provided? Let me know in the comments!

The Scoops Phase - Check out our full-length articles!

If you haven't already checked out our section on full-length articles, you can find it above!

All of the articles linked there are hosted on our parent site, scoopsmagic.webs.com, home of The Scoops Phase. As of right now you can access our newest full-length article on GP Chicago, and in the next week or so you should be able to access our first selection of Vintage Masters draft videos with myself and Anthony Harrison. The segment is called "Drafts and Drafts", where we do a draft of a set MTGO (Magic the Gathering Online) or via CubeTutor.com while drinking a few beers and commentating over it.

In the near future, we also hope to have weekly content for each format. This would include weekly articles for Standard, Modern, and Legacy, with video content like drafts or deck-techs on occasion as well. These articles will be written primarily by myself, but Anthony Harrison and a few other individuals have agreed to write content as well. It seemed that the best way to deliver quality content was to diversify the opinions of those writing the articles, and while I think I have a pretty good grasp on Legacy, there are other people who are much better suited to write about Standard or Modern.

Anthony Harrison and myself have even discussed building Legacy and Vintage decks on MTGO so we can stream the “daily” events that are hosted each day, and optimally we would pick one day a week to stream.

There is a lot coming in the next few weeks, and we hope that you enjoy it all. For now, I recommend  you visit our site and check out the article about GP Chicago.

You can find it by clicking the following link: GP Chicago: A Mishap

If there are any specific kinds of content you are looking to see, please let me know!



(Class Purpose: Promote your own website)

[MTGBlogger.com] The Kiss of Death

While I do enjoy writing these articles myself, it is also important to look at other blogs to ensure that my content matches up or exceeds quality-wise.

MTGBlogger.com has always been a site that I visit myself to read about the current goings-on of Magic the Gathering, and while the content may seem a little lack-luster at times, overall the site is very well put together.

Here is a link to the article in question that I suggest you read if you are playing Standard right now, especially if you've been playing GB Dredge before Journey to Nyx was released:

The Kiss of Death - GB Dredge in Standard

While I'm certainly no expert on the Standard format, this deck does seem to pose a lot of versatile threats that make most decks in the format struggle for answers. U/W Control needs to find their Nth copy of Supreme Verdict to deal with most of our creatures (aside from Lotleth Troll), and the burn decks get stopped dead by cards like Sylvan Caryatid.

Shadowborn Demon stops all the big creatures in the format like Arbor Colossus, Stormbreath Dragon, and many more. I am a little surprised to see that this deck no longer runs any copies of Nemesis of Mortals, since it is such a big body for such a low investment.

However, above all else my favorite card in this deck is:

This deck already runs cards like Satyr Wayfinder and Grisly Salvage to fill your graveyard with dudes, so why not take advantage of that fact and bring them back to life every turn? On top of that your creatures all have Lifelink while it is on the battlefield, helping to stabilize your life total against decks like R/W Burn and Boss Sligh. In addition, it helps keep your deck wrath-proof against Supreme Verdict-style decks, and keeps you out of range of dying to cards like Aetherling.

Do you agree? This deck might just be bad, but if nothing else it sure looks fun!



(Class purposes: Promote another blog post)