5 reasons why you should play casual EDH / Commander

The rules for EDH can be found here

1. You can use fun cards that are not usually good enough

With much slower games some cards are just better. Some examples from my current sacrifice/graveyard deck:

2. You can use cards from any set

That means you can still use your favourite cards when they rotate out of standard if that’s the only format you play. You also get to use any old cards you really like. Some of my old favourites:


3. Its cheap

Chances are you already have a lot of cards you can use, as long as you’re enjoying it it doesn’t matter if you don’t win a lot at first. You can always pick up cards for your EDH decks later anyway. There are a few cards which are good in EDH decks generally but these tend to be cheap to get hold of and you only need one copy for the deck.

4. No two games are alike

With only one copy of each card in your deck the games are a lot more random and slow paced. Chances are you’ll see combos you never knew existed by chance.

5. Its fun

So give it a go! All you need is 60ish different cards including one legendary creature to be your general, 40ish lands and a friend to play with.

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Myr Welder Combo deck

5 MountainMTGBlogger MTG blogger blog mtgMTGBlogger mtg blog soliton
15 Island
4 Halimar Depths

Creatures
2 Consecrated Sphinx
2 Spikeshot Elder
4 Soliton
4 Myr Welder
4 Enclave Cryptologist
2 Psychosis Crawler
2 Reckless Scholar

Spells
2 Temple Bell
3 Jace Beleren
4 Khalni Gem
3 Blue Sun’s Zenith
4 Turn Aside

The combo here is Myr Welder + Soliton + Khalni Gem
You need to get Soliton and Khalni Gem into the graveyard; there are a few ways to do this:

  1. Discard during clean up because you have more than 7 cards with all the card draw
  2. Discard with Enclave Cryptologist
  3. Discard with Reckless Scholar

Once you’ve got the combo going, draw all your cards with Blue Sun’s Zenith with your infinite mana combo and cast Spikeshot Elder. Then use his ability enough times to kill your opponent.
Turn Aside is here to protect your Myr Welder. Psychosis Crawler is an alternate win condition and Consecrated Sphinx helps you draw into

MTGBlogger mtg blog khalni gem

whatever you need, also it combos with Temple Bell and Jace Beleren’s +2.

In my testing I found that it works fairly well most of the time, and can win before many other decks.

However it is not consistent enough for my liking and struggles against aggro decks. I would recommend playing it casually though as it is a very fun deck to play.


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Venser Blink vs Caw-Go part 2

I managed to get round to writing up game 2, here it is, starting with sideboard changes:

+2 Divine Offering (for swords)
+3 Spell Pierce

-3 Wall of Omens
-1 Into the Roil
-1 Stoic Rebuttal

Game 2:I play second and keep a hand with Seachrome Coast, Plains, Divine Offering, Venser, Sea gate Oracle, mana leak and spell pierce.  My opponent plays a Colonnade then I draw an Island, play the Coast and pass the turn back. He plays a squadron hawk, searching up 2 more. I play another land and end my turn. His stoneforge Mystic is met by my mana leak and his hawk attacks for one. I play a sea gate oracle, moving a day of judgement into my hand. My opponent attacks for 1, then plays 2 more hawks, finding the last hawk and putting it in his hand. I attack with the oracle for 1 then play day of judgement and end my turn. My opponent plays a Gideon Jura and puts him up to 8 counters. I play Sea Gate Oracle and put a Jace B into hand then end my turn with one island untapped for a spell pierce if needed. My opponent attacks with Gideon, Oracle blocks. Then he cats his last squadron hawk and ends. I play Jace B and draw an additional card, Sun Titan. I end my turn. My opponent hits me for 1 with the hawk and takes out Jace with Gideon so he can play his own, Jace (the mind sculptor) but I have a spell pierce ready. I untap and cast Sun Titan, returning Sea Gate Oracle then end. Gideon uses his +2 and squadron hawk attacks me for 1 again. Then my opponent preordains and ends his turn. My creatures knock Gideon down to 3 and then I play Venser and blink the Oracle. Getting a Glacial Fortress at end of turn. My opponent plays Day of Judgement, and then attacks venser, killing him with Gideon.
I take out Gideon with a colonnade on my turn then end. My opponent colonnades me for 4 and ends his turn. I play a Venser and blink a Glacial fortress leaving enough mana open for a stoic rebuttal. I counter a preordain then colonnade hits me for 4, I go down to 7, with him on 20 still. I play a Glimmerpoint stag, blinking, a plains, then blink stage with venser and target colonnade. My opponent plays a land and ends, his colonnade returns. I attack with the stag and a colonnade, my opponent’s life drops to 13 and Venser and Stage remove the Colonnade again. My opponent plays a tectonic edge and takes out my colonnade then ends. I attack with the stag and then play Sun Titan, bringing back and Oracle, giving me another stag to hand. Venser and Stag blink my opponents Colonnade again. My opponent preordains and ends his turn. Sun Titan, Stag and Oracle do the last 10 damage.

Game Results 2-0

Spell pierce from the sideboard is great against control mirrors, divine offering wasn’t needed but would have been great against a sword. I got quite lucky as my opponent drew a lot of land late game.

Match Results: 2-0-0

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Budget Kuldotha deck

So Juza did pretty well in Paris with his take on the forgemaster deck, but using 3 Jace the Mind Sculptors and 3 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas alone puts the price way over £200 (>$320). I’ve come up with a budget version of the deck:Read more…

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Venser Blink vs Caw-Go

Control mirrors are always long games so I’ll do this one in parts!

Game1: I won the die roll and decided to draw. My opponent put a celestial colonnade into play tapped, as did I. he played an island and ended his turn. Without a mana leak in hand I played a second colonnade. He played a plains then a stoneforge mystic, finding a sword of feast and famine. I played a land and Sea Gate Oracle, putting a mana leak to hand and ending. My opponent uses the mystic to put the sword down for 2 mana and ends leaving 2 blue mana open for a possible counter spell. I attack for 1 and pass the turn back, notStoneforge Mystic MTG Blog MTGBlogger deck Venser wanting to risk my Jace B this early, with plenty of instants in hand. He equips the mystic with the sword and attacks, I play Into the roil on the Mystic, he mana leaks, I respond with my own mana leak and mystic goes back to his hand and he ends his turn. I attack for 1 again and pass the turn back with an assortment of delicious counterspells and instants in hand waiting for the mystic. The Mystic comes down after an island, Mana leak, he pays 3, tapping out and searches for a lifestaff. I return the Mystic to his hand with a second into the roil in his end step. I attack for 1 then bounce my oracle with a stag and put a tectonic edge to hand at end of turn. Seeing me tap out my opponent plays a land and then a Gideon Jura putting it up to 8 and ending his turn, forcing my creatures to attack Gideon next turn. I draw and play an island, followed by Venser, my creatures attack Gideon then I bounce out my stag with Venser, denying my opponent of his planeswalker when my stag returns. My opponent plays stoneforge mystic but has no equipment to search for so equips it with a sword and end his turn with 2 mana untapped. His Gideon returns back on 6 counters. I play a tectonic edge and play Jace B now I have an extra 3 lands, my opponent does not counter. I draw a sea gate oracle and play it, mana leak counters it. Venser goes up to 7, exiling stag who targets Gideon at end of turn again. My opponent plays and equips a lifestaff to his lone sword bearing mystic and attacks Venser for 4, sea gate oracle blocks. and he ends his turn. I play Sunblast Angel but my opponent has a stoic rebuttal. Stag attacks for 3 and Venser exiles it again. My opponent attacks Venser with a colonnade and his mystic. Stag gets in the way and Venser goes back down to 5. He ends his turn. Jace draws me my last additional card and then I play Sun Titan, returning sea gate oracle then blink sun titan with venser giving me another oracle at end of turn. My opponent attacks Venser again with colonnade and Gideon, I block Gideon with an oracle and into the roil his colonnade. He replays colonnade and ends his turn. I attack with Sun titan returning oracle who brings an island with him, my opponent goes to 14. I blink an oracle with Venser putting him back up to 9 and end my turn with all my mana open to block his colonnade with my own and play a stoic rebuttal if need be. My opponent plays day of judgement, I use stoic rebuttal. he puts Gideon up to 8 and ends his turn. I activate Venser’s ultimate and begin playing spells from my hand and exiling his important permanents when my opponent sees he’s beat and concedes.

Game results 1-0

Posted in Standard Decks | 2 Comments

Valentine’s heart

It’s Valentines day so here’s something a little different. A deck consisting of only nonland cards with the word “heart” in their name:

Valentine’s heart

Creatures(26)Valentines deck mtg blog
4x Heart Warden
3x Heartmender
4x Heartwood Dryad
4x Heartwood Storyteller
3x Heartwood Treefolk
4x Kithkin Greatheart
4x Heartwood Giant

Spells(10)
4x Defense of the heart
2x Heartseeker
4x Khalni Heart Expedition

Lands(24)
13x Forest
11x Plains

There you have it, a deck for the day! Great flavour text on the heartwood giant.

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Venser Blink Test Results

Match 1: Boros

I’ve been playing this deck for a couple of months at Friday Night Magic, I’ve beaten vampires, moxblins, eldrazi, valakut, blue-black control elves and mono white with it. Drawn against Blue-white control (ran out of time) and lost to elves (the same ones It’s beaten since) and Caw-Go(although that was with an older version of the deck). With Boros and Caw-Go being the biggest decks at Paris this weekend its time for some more testing! This is one of the toughest match ups but thankfully isn’t too bad after sideboarding.Squadron Hawk

Game1:I win the die roll and play first, put down an island and pass the turn. My opponent plays Plains, followed by steppe Lynx. I play a Tectonic edge and pass the turn with 2 mana leaks in hand. My opponent plays adventuring gear, I counter, he then plays a mountain and a second steppe lynx then attacks for 2. I play a marsh flats, sac it and play journey to nowhere on a lynx. My opponent plays Adventuring gear and equips, plays arid mesa, sacs the mesa and attacks for 8, ouch! I play Glacial Fortress and play the day of judgement in my hand, passing the turn back. My opponent plays a marsh flats, searches for a plains and plays bonehoard then passes the turn back to me. I draw and play a plains, with 5 lands on the field, 1 in my hand along with a mana leak and a sun titan I end my turn. My opponent equips the germ with the adventuring gear then attempts goblin guide, which is countered. He drops an Arid Mesa, searches for a mountain, followed by lightning bolt and swings for the win. Time to sideboard.
Out:
3x into the roil
2x Stoic rebuttal
1x Tectonic Edge

In:
3x Ratchet BombRatchet Bomb MTGBlogger MTG blog
2x Divine Offering
1x DOJ
1x Flashfreeze

Game2: I choose to play first and open with a Halimar Depths and move a Jace Beleren a bit closer. My opponent plays plains and steppe lynx. I play tectonic edge and wait with 2 mana leaks in hand. Marsh Flats, plains a second lynx which is countered, he swings for 4. I draw, play little Jace and draw again. My opponent plays mountain, goblin guide and attacks jace for 2 and me for 2, revealing a sun titan. I draw it and play a colonnade, waiting again with a mana leak in hand. He plays a marsh flats, searches for plains, plays a steppe lynx followed by a goblin guide which is countered. He swings for 6 putting a plains into my hand. I draw a tec edge, play plains followed by day of judgement. My opponent plays bonehoard and passes the turn back, That thing is powerful following a DOJ. I play Sun Titan, returning Jace and draw a card. My opponent plays and equips Adventuring gear then marsh flats and attacks with his 7/7 germ, I block with titan, with a second and a sunblast angel in hand. I draw 2 thanks to Jace, play a land and a Sunblast angel killing the germ. My opponent plays journey to nowhere on my angel and ends his turn. I draw ratchet bomb and sea gate oracle, using Jace’s last counter. I play the bomb and the oracle, putting a flashfreeze into my hand and end my turn. My opponent draws and passes the turn back, bomb to one. I play Sun titan, return Jace and draw. I then attack for 1 with the oracle and end my turn. My opponent draws, plays plains and ends his turn, bomb to 2. I untap, draw 2 thanks to Jace and sac the bomb destroying his journey and returning my angel. Sun Titan, oracle and Celestial Colonnade knock him down to 6 and return the bomb. I end, he draws and concedes seeing the Angel, titan, oracle and Colonnade ready to attack.

Game 3: My opponent chooses to play first and I mulligan a 1 land hand. I keep a 2 landSword of Body and Mind MTGBlogger MTG blog hand with a ratchet bomb and a wall of omens and he begins. Plains and ends his turn. Island, back to him. Scalding tarn finds a mountain, followed by Stoneforge Mystic which finds a Sword of body and mind. I play marsh flats for a plains, followed by wall of omens which draws me a second wall. My opponent plays plated geopede, arid mesa for a plains and then adventuring gear, looking at the wall he passes the turn back. I play celestial colonnade and second wall. My opponent plays squadron hawk, searches for another 3 and passes the turn. I play a land, then a ratchet bomb, that should deal with his 2 mana cards. I pass the turn back. He equips adventuring gear to his hawk, puts the sword into play with his mystic, and plays and sacs an arid mesa pumping the hawk and geopede. He attacks and I lose 5 and a wall. Ratchet to 1. I play a land then not worried too much with the ratchet bomb at 1 and 2 DOJ in hand, I play a sea gate oracle, putting another land to hand. My opponent equips the sword to the hawk and attacks me for 3, mills me for 10 and creates a wolf token, my turn. Bomb to 2 and blow it up. I play a land and Venser, bouncing the oracle which brings me a sun titan to hand at end of turn. My opponent plays a hawk, equips the wolf with the sword and I block, losing the oracle. I play Day of Judgement and blink a land with Venser. My opponent plays his other 2 hawks, one is countered with mana leak and passes the turn back. I play stag targeting a tapped land and bounce it with venser putting him up to 9, at end of turn stag returns and exiles my opponents hawk. He plays a teetering peaks, a mirran crusader and equips it with the adventuring gear, he ends his turn returning his hawk. I play a land and -8 with venser, then Jace Beleren, exiling the sword with my emblem and drawing a card. I then hit for 3 with the stag and follow with a day of judgement and exile the adventuring gear, I end my turn with my opponents field looking empty. My opponent kills both of my planeswalkers with an arc trail then puts a mirran crusader down. I play sun titan, exiling his mountain and returning a sea gate oracle. My opponent plays a land, a stoneforge mystic then searches for bone hoard and ends his turn. I attack with titan, returning Jace and he takes the damage. I draw again. I play glimmerpoint stag targeting sun titan and exiling the crusader. I then play another sea gate oracle and exile the mystic. I end my turn, sun titan comes back and brings a ratchet bomb with him. My opponent draws and concedes.

Game Result 2-1

Match results 1-0-0

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Venser Blink

Venser, the Sojourner

Venser, the Sojourner

Today I’m going to share my first competitive T2 decklist with you; Venser Blink. Although this deck does use Venser’s +2 ability to great effect it does not rely on him for wins and I have won a few games with it without even drawing him (not that that’s a problem with all the card draw). The build is primarily Blue White Control but does not use or benefit from the money sink known as Jace The Mind Sculptor. In fact it has an edge against JTMS decks by playing Jace Beleren. Without further ado here it is:

Venser Blink:

Planeswalkers(7)
3x Venser, the Sojourner
3x Jace Beleren
1x Gideon Jura

Creatures(14)
3x Sun Titan
3x Glimmerpoint Stag
4x Sea Gate Oracle
3x Wall of Omens
1x Sunblast Angel

Spells(14)
4x Mana Leak
2x Stoic Rebuttal
3x Into the Roil
2x Journey to Nowhere
3x Day of Judgement

Land(25)
4x Plains
3x Island
4x Glacial Fortress
4x Seachrome Coast
3x Celestial Colonnade
2x Halimar Depths
3x Tectonic Edge
1x Scalding Tarn
1x Marsh Flats

Sideboard(15)
3x Ratchet Bomb
2x Divine Offering
1x Day of Judgement
1x Flashfreeze
1x Devout Lightcaster
2x Spreading Seas
3x Spell Pierce
2x Leyline of Sanctity

Okay, now you’ve seen the cards I’ll explain my choices and move on to some results. 3 Vensers is the best number I’ve found, 4 would definitely be too many, I had 2 before but the deck is so much better once Venser hits the field, there’s no real rush to get him down, so having multiples in hand would be a waste. Jace Beleren helps with card draw, can be returned with Sun Titan and bounced with Venser/stag to bring him back up to 3 counters. Gideon is great, either tap all their creatures and pick them off or set them up to be sunblasted or even used as a finisher.

Sun Titan can return all permanents except Gideon, Sunblast Angel and Venser, works great with tectonic edge and ratchet bomb post sideboard. Glimmerpoint Stag is amazing, I can’t stress how good this card is in this deck enough. Resets high enemy planeswalkers, luminarch ascensions and quest cards, bounces any of your ETB creatures and once stag and Venser is down you can have one of your opponents permanents exiled during their own turn! Take that mind sculptor. Sea gate oracle gives you more card draw and a bit of filtering while working with Venser/titan/stag and is a great blocker against a lot of aggro decks so 4 of him are needed. Wall of Omens x3 increases card draw and slows aggro opponents, can be sided out vs control. Sunblast Angel is a great unexpected Day Of Judgement effect and with venser really shuts down an opponent. The rest is fairly standard, Journey to Nowhere can be put down on an early threat and then bounced to a bigger threat late game. Halimar Depths works well with sea gate oracle. I never have mana problems with this land base.

Sideboard is pretty self explanatory, the Leyline is great for preventing burn spells (the creatures are out of range of most burn spells anyway) and things like Duress and Memoricide.

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Hello world!

I was first introduced to Magic at the age of 9 when I bought a TCG magazine which cameTalas Air Ship with a free pack from the Portal Second Age set and a mini rulebook. Intrigued but without anyone to play with it wasn’t until 2003 when I actually played the game with a cousin of mine using preconstucted decks we had bought and modified. Him using his goblin build and me using my zombie and slither decks. Fast forward 7 years and I decided to play again, just in time for the Rise of the Eldrazi set to be released, since then I have started playing competitively and have created a number of casual and competitive decks.

The purpose of this blog is to share ideas and deck lists with you and to comment on the world of MTG in an interesting and amusing way.

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