Modern Necromancer's Stockpile

M15 has been one of the coolest core sets in recent history. Seriously, they have printed so many just COOL cards that are going to be played across many formats. However, today I want to talk about one card in particular:

Necromancer's Stockpile

Some people have been discussing what implications this card will have in Modern in tandem with cards like Gravecrawler, Vengevine, or Bloodghast. That said, let's look at a sample decklist I came up with:

Creatures - 22
4 Gravecrawler
4 Bloodghast
4 Vengevine
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Demigod of Revenge
2 Squee, Goblin Nabob

Spells - 18
4 Necromancer's Stockpile
3 Darkblast
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Faithless Looting
3 Grisly Salvage

Lands - 20
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Marsh Flats
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Stomping Ground
1 Blood Crypt
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Blackcleave Cliffs
2 Copperline Gorge
2 Swamp


Now the main point of this deck is to take advantage of cards like Necromancer's Stockpile and Faithless Looting to put Vengevine and Demigod of Revenge into the graveyard, and then bring them back with land drops (Bloodghast), by having another zombie (Gravecrawler), or simply by casting another copy (Demigod). I think this list could potentially be a little too "cute" as the format is a little too fast for this kind of deck, but it's still a cool idea that could be developed and further explored. Necromancer's Stockpile is just too cool of a card to let go to waste.


Let me know your thoughts on this list below!

The Legacy Archive

After writing my full-length article titled Breaking Into Legacy: A How-To, it dawned on me that it would be nice for my readers to see all the Legacy content that I have posted since this blog started. There have been Top 5 posts, deck construction posts, and much more, and as always there is more to come.

Today, I just wanted to give you links and brief descriptions of each of the most relevant Legacy-related posts I have put up since the inception of this blog.

To Ban or Not To Ban? Brainstorm

This post relates to the recent SCG Top-8 in Columbus where 6 of the top 8 decks featured Delver, and 7 out of the 8 decks featured 4 copies of Brainstorm. The internet was in a kind of uproar that week, and thoughts about banning Brainstorm in Legacy ran rampant. This article goes over my opinions on whether or not it should happen, and why.

Top 5 Cards in Legacy

Not sure which cards to be playing in Legacy right now? This post goes over what I believe to be the 5 most powerful spells in the format right now, and rationale behind each of them. Brainstorm was not included in this list however, for obvious reasons.

Shardless Order vs other BUG Variants

Gerry Thompson, the innovator of the Shardless BUG archetype, goes into detail in his article for StarCityGames about a new BUG-colored deck he wants to try in Legacy. This post goes over my thoughts on the deck, and whether or not it would be a good call in the meta right now.


So there you have it, as time goes on I will add more posts to the Legacy archive, but hopefully this list will keep your cravings for content at bay for now!


[Class Purpose: Sneeze post]

[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!

[Legacy] Shardless Order vs other BUG Variants

As a BUG Delver player myself, I have often looked at other BUG variants to see what the optimal choice would be if I were to bring my Underground Seas and Brainstorms to an SCG Open.

Here is my current BUG Delver list, for reference: http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/bug-delver-04-03-14-1/

Gerry Thompson, who is often known for innovating the "Shardless BUG" archetype, has recently introduced a new decklist that takes the existing shells of both Shardless BUG and Combo Elves and combines them into one crazy deck.

The deck functions by using mana accelerants like Deathrite Shaman and Noble Hierarch to cast an early Shardless Agent, allowing for a more impressive board presence early on. It then ops to cast Natural Order and retrieve Craterhoof Behemoth as soon as it has enough dudes to make a lethal attack against your opponent. In addition to this interaction, the deck packs a hand destruction suite of Thoughtseize, Hymn to Tourach, and Inquisition of Kozilek to ensure your opponent can't deal with your threats after getting that Craterhoof online.

Here is a link to Gerry Thompson's full article on SCG's website: http://www.starcitygames.com/article/28649_Daily-Digest-Shardless-Naturally.html


The deck seems solid. I really like to see cards like Scavenging Ooze and Edric, Spymaster of Trest getting Legacy play, as they are both incredibly powerful cards. Edric allows for so much card advantage that if you get 2-3 attacks in your opponents will just fold to the card advantage alone.

Would this deck do well at a large event? I think right now it would probably not be the greatest meta call, particularly because combo elves has been doing some Top-8 work over the past few weeks and most people probably have some hate planned for these types of decks (think Grafdigger's Cage).

Let me know what you think about Gerry's list in the comments below!


(Class purposes: Link Article)

[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)