Necro Disk by Brian David

Lands (22)

18 Swamp
4 Wasteland

Creatures (2)

2 Skittering Skirge

Other spells (36)

4 Necropotence
3 Demonic Consultation
4 Duress
4 Unmask
4 Drain Life
4 Corrupt
4 Contagion
3 Spinning Darkness
2 Nevinyrral's Disk
4 Dark Ritual

Magic the Gathering in Hollywood

Magic the Gathering characters range from humans to elves to vampires to myrs. There are some creatures however that were chosen to be given a story and a character. These creatures came to be known as legends. These legends however look a lot like characters from Hollywood. Lets take a peek.

Orlando Bloom would make a perfect Gerrard.



Bond girl Halle Berry would be great as Sisay.



Don't mess with the Ertai!


One of the hottest cards portayed by one of the hottest stars.

Vampire Deck by Kala'e Murray

Lands (24)

16 Lands
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Marsh Flats

Creatures (22)

4 Bloodghast
4 Gatekeeper of Malkir
3 Malakir Bloodwitch
3 Vampire Hexmage
4 Vampire Nighthawk
4 Vampire Nocturnus

Other Spells (14)

3 Disfigure
4 Tendrils of Corruption
1 Sorin Markov
2 Mind Sludge
4 Sign in Blood

Sideboard (15)

1 Malakir Bloodwitch
1 Vampire Hexmage
1 Disfigure
3 Deathmark
4 Duress
3 Marsh Casualties
2 Mind Sludge

Watering Down

Magic the Gathering ushered in the era of Collectible Card Games. It had the collectibility of sports trading cards and the gaming aspects of games such as chess and Dungeons and Dragons. It was a pretty original idea in its time. However, there is a trend of Wizards producing some not so original cards. all they do is water down powerful cards. They either just add more mana to its casting cost, add a penalty to the card or just weaken its power and toughness.

Here are cards which came about as a result of this effort to water down good cards.

Black Lotus and Lotus Petal - Same cost but Lotus Petal only made one third the mana.

Juzam Djinn and Nettletooth Djinn - Same cost but Nettletooth had one less point of power and one less point of toughness. Not to mention that green is supposed to contain much beefier creatures.

Lightning Bolt and Shock - Same cost but Shock did one less damage.

Strip Mine and Wasteland - Same mechanic except that Wasteland could only destroy non basic lands.

Ancestral Recall and Reach Through Mists - Same cost except that Reach Through Mists only draws one card while Ancestral Recall draws three.

Regrowth and Elven Cache - Same effect except that Elven Cache is two mana costlier.

Time Walk and Time Warp - The exact same card except that time Warp costs three mana more.

Time Twister and Diminishing Returns - Same mechanic but Diminishing Returns costs one mana more and makes you mill ten of your cards.

Mox Sapphire and Sky Diamond - Both mana producing stones except Sky Diamond came into play tapped and costed two mana more.

Hymn to Tourach and Stupor - Hymn to Tourach discarded two cards at random while Stupor costed one more mana and discarded one card at randoom and one card of the opponent's choice.

Spotlight: Elspeth, Knight Errant

Elspeth, Knight Errant is the top card in the Shards of Alara. Not only is it a money card in terms of its hefty price tag, it has the ability to create a soldier army and make them bigger too. Let us analyze the card closely.

The first ability is similar to the Kjeldoran Outpost ability except that it does not cost anything. What better creatures than free creatures? Furthermore, soldiers are a good creature type since there are a lot of cards that make them stronger such as Honor of the Pure and Captain of the Watch.

The second ability is a free Angelic Blessing. This ability helps a creature such as the soldier token you generate slip past your opponent's defenses and whack himfor 4 damage. The good part about this is that it is a plus loyalty counter ability as well.

The ultimate is uber. Every permanent you own is now indestructible. Not only does this render your opponents removal spells useless but you could start abusing mass destruction cards such as Day of Judgment where you could level your opponent's critters without harming your own.

Overall, Elspeth is a card that could win a match on its own. Combined with the right support cards, it could overwhelm the opposition.

Fallen Empires Review

The Fallen Empires expansion was released in November 1994 and it had a story of empire versus empire. It featured ten kingdoms which pitted The Order of the Ebon Hand versus the Thrulls, Vodalian Merfolk versus the Homarid, Elves versus the Thallids, Dwarves versus the Goblins and Orcs and the Order of Leitbur versus the Farrelites. It had 187 cards which had 102 functionally different cards.

The set is still affordable to this day because it was produced so heavily. It also is collectible in the sense that several cards in the set have four versions which feature different art. The set is also reflective of Magic the Gathering's roots when it was still a medieval based fantasy game.

The set had a pretty decent story of the classic kingdom versus kingdom war in Sarpadia. However, there is much debate about the set since its power level is nowhere near earlier sets. The set did have its gems. Here are some of the notable cards in the set.

Goblin Grenade - For the mere price of one mana and one goblin, you could deal 5 damage to a creature or player. Classic goblin decks abused its power on its way to four and five turn wins. Yes folks red was truly a powerhouse back in the day.

Hymn to Tourach - This card was a tournament staple back when it was legal in standard. For the mere price of two back mana, you could randomly discard two cards from the opponent's hand. A couple of these would decimate the opponent quickly.

Order of Ebon Hand - A 2/1 creature with protection from white is not bad. However, add this to the ability to have first strike and additional power points, then this is a highly efficient creatures. This card was a part of most black decks in its heyday.

Order of Leitbur - This is the white version of the Order of Ebon Hand. It was just different in terms that it was protection from black and replaced black mana symbols with white mana symbols. This was also a popular card just like its counterpart.

Icatian Javelineer - This was the Mogg Fanatic before the Mogg Fanatic. This creature could deal a damage to any target without even dying. It is a cost efficient creature for only one white mana and could kill anything from a Savannah Lion to a Ball Lightning.

Duplicate Cards

Magic the Gathering is littered with cards which are exact duplicates of each other. Only the names have changed. Sometimes it seems that the R&D team is a bit tapped out in terms of new and fresh ideas. The benefit however, is the ability to be able to play more than four of essentially the same card since the name is different.

Here is a short list of cards which are just duplicates of each other.

Threaten - Act of Treason
Persuasion - Mind Control
Grizzly Bears - Runeclaw Bears
Llanowar Elves - Fyndhorn Elves
Counsel of the Soratami - Divination
Nantuko Husk - Vampire Aristocrat
Flying Men - Zephyr Sprite
Hill Giant - Canyon Minotaur
Mind Rot - Waking Nightmare
Suntail Hawk - Lantern Kami

Mono White Tokens by William Cavaglieri

Lands (24)

4 Arid Mesa
2 Gargoyle Castle
4 Marsh Flats
14 Plains

Creatures (18)

2 Emeria Angel
4 Knight of the White Orchid
4 Ranger of Eos
2 Soul Warden
4 Steppe Lynx
2 White Knight

Other Spells (18)

2 Brave the Elements
4 Conqueror's Pledge
4 Honor of the Pure
1 Martial Coup
3 Oblivion Ring
4 Path to Exile

Sideboard

1 Brave the Elements
2 Celestial Purge
4 Devout Lightcaster
2 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
1 Journey to Nowhere
3 Luminarch Ascension
2 Soul Warden

Naya Lightsaber Deck by Andre Coimbra

Lands (24)

4 Arid Mesa
1 Oran-rief, The Vastwood
4 Rootbound Crag
4 Sunpetal Grove

4 Forest
3 Mountain
4 Plains

Creatures (25)

4 Baneslayer Angel
4 Bloodbraid Elf
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Ranger Of Eos
1 Scute Mob
4 Wild Nacatl
4 Woolly Thoctar

Other Spells (11)

4 Lightning Bolt
4 Path To Exile
3 Ajani Vengeant

Sideboard (15)

1 Ajani Vengeant

2 Burst Lightning

4 Celestial Purge

4 Goblin Ruinblaster

4 Great Sable Stag

Jund Deck by Marijn Lybaert

Lands (25)

4 Swamp
3 Mountain
3 Forest
4 Rootbound Crag
3 Dragonskull Summit
4 Savage Lands
4 Verdant Catacombs

Creatures (16)

1 Borderland Ranger
4 Putrid Leech
3 Broodmate Dragon
4 Bloodbraid Elf
4 Sprouting Thrinax

Other Spells (19)

2 Terminate
3 Maelstrom Pulse
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Blightning
3 Bituminous Blast
3 Garruk Wildspeaker

Sideboard (15)

2 Terminate
3 Mind Rot
3 Goblin Ruinblaster
2 Thought Hemorrhage
2 Caldera Hellion
3 Jund Charm