Murdoch Monthly - Waking Days
17 Feb 2010 | Fox Murdoch
Undulating upkeeps to you all, eager readers! Welcome to a sped-out issue 2 of Murdoch Monthly. My name is Fox Murdoch and I will be your columnist for this evening. Last time we brushed over what Elder Dragon Highlander (EDH) was. This time I’m talking about your stinkin’ untrustworthy Allies and then something really fun, combo-rific Worldwake!
A lie? No I’m real, I swear!
Not just a short version of Allison, Allies have been around long enough for you to know them. They’re like “enters the battlefield” Slivers. They also fit the Zendikar world-theme. Zendikar is a lot like Ikea, don’t ya think? You put your hard earned money into a powerful Enchantment or creature, and still have to assemble the rest of the damn thing. And decks need to be assembled before you can start playing your Ikea-chantments, so let’s get started with an Allies deck.
The army of Allies aren’t all bad. Oran-Reif Survivalist is everyone’s favourite replacement “bear”, who quickly turns into Watchwolf and then just gets fat. With Hada Freeblade we’ve got a super Konda’s Pooch turn 2 (2/3, take that!) and then 3/4 (Leatherback what-sit-called, go home!) and Umara Raptor does a fancy Ebon Drake-sans-drawback impression, then goes head to head with Broodmate Dragon and it’s token partner at 4/4.
This plants the deck’s colours in blue, green and white, or Bant if you’re into Shards. I’m not, I’m still missing Ravnica and her Guilds! Seeing we’re in green, and our small creatures grow bigger via counters, I’m thinking it’s safe to play Doubling Season. Not only does this make our Allies grow by 2/2 at a time, but it also gives Harabaz Druid something to accelerate into. Stampeding Serrow also gets a nod for its “drawback”. Just bounce an Ally and play then again every turn. Sacrificing one Ally’s growth for the rest of your team sounds fine to me; imagine he’s the middle link in the human bridge over the dangerous chasm leading to the chamber of … Ula, or whoever.
Your mini army will want some protection though from those wizards who refuse to get down in the dirt and continue to fling spells. Hindering Light and Mana Tithe are your low-cost effective counterspells. The Wolfbriar Elemental and his kicker-licious Wolf token making can be used as an army-in-one card. He also helps you spend your extra mana during long games and can generally just help you save the day.
A decklist? Why didn’t you say so.
Ally McBeat-stick (casual, some bling required)
7 Plains
5 Forest
4 Island
4 Temple Garden
4 Hallowed Fountain
-
24 lands
4 Hada Freeblade
4 Oran-Rief Survivalist
4 Umara Raptors
4 Harabaz Druid
2 Stampeding Serrow
2 Wolfbriar Elemental
-
20 creatures
4 Doubling Season
4 Join the Ranks
4 Mana Tithe
2 Hindering Light
2 Overrun
-
16 others
This here is a fun deck to play around the kitchen table. Cute interactions, an unfair curve (Freeblade, Survivalist, Ummy Raptor, Join the Ranks is 15 power by turn 4, Overrun is win) and not simply “play Allies for the win.”
World + Morning = Worldwake
The name “Worldwake” has leant itself to so many puns already that I couldn’t bring myself to do another. Now for more fun, Worldwake combos! The set is full of interesting cards, some which scream “combo me with Fumiko!” and others that just sit, sad and unnoticed, until one intrepid player combines them with their favourite pet card and realises, “Hey, that’s perfectly unfair!” In no particular order:
Kitesail Apprentice + Bonesplitter
4/2 flyer attacking on turn 2? Delicious!
Jwari Shapeshifter + Chameleon Colossus (any Changeling)
4 mana for a 4/4 pro black self-pumper wasn’t good enough, so Wizards gave us a 1U costed option.
Selective Memory + Everything
The obvious combo with Selective Memory is Treasure Hunt. My personal favourite is Countryside Crusher though. Exile all nonlands and you’ve got a massive basher. Just make sure it kills on its next swing or your empty library will kill you.
Anowan, the Ruin Sage + Paradox Haze
Why not sacrifice two Non-Vampire creatures a turn?
Butcher of Malakir + upkeep “eat a creature” cards
This is a classic combo, with a new set facelift in Butcher of Malakir. Plenty of creatures, in particular Demons, want to eat creatures during your upkeep or they’ll get sulky and not attack this turn. Why should you have all the fun? Now your opponents can lose creatures because of your hungry demons. Aren’t you nice for sharing?
Caustic Crawler + Azura, Lost but Seeking + Ravnica bounce lands
-1/-1 whenever you play a Land. Azura says play 3 a turn. The Ravnica bounce lands return themselves to your hand. Splitting -3/-3 however you like for free is a bargain in anyones game.
Dead Reckoning + Death’s Shadow + Stuffy Doll
or
Chain Reaction + Stuffy Doll
Sure a B costed 13/13 is cool, but what if they’ve got chump blockers? Death’s Shadow doesn’t need casting, just Dead Reckoning it onto your deck’s top and hit poor Stuffy Doll for 13. And your opponent’s optic nerve endings.
Alternately play Chain Reaction with a full board and giggle as your opponent feels the heat.
Nemesis Trap + Sundering Titan
Sundering Titan hurts on its lonesome! But when it’ll cost the board 20 lands? Ouchee!
Quest for Nihil Stone + Myojin of Night’s Reach
For extra evil “+ Uba Mask”
Two discards and Nihil Stone is online, Myojin of Night’s Reach is happy to help there. Add Uba Mask to make sure no one ever climbs above 0 cards ever again.
Comet Storm + Braids of Fire
Without mana burn around you can just sit back and laugh your arse off… eventually.
Kazuul, Tyrant of the Cliffs + Fumiko, the Lowblood
Everyone has to attack or be called little girls by Fumiko. Then free 3/3 tokens show up to block. Awesome flavour match here.
Kalastria Highborn + Shields of Velis Vel
or
Urge to Feed + Shields of Velis Vel
or
Harabaz Druid + Shields of Velis Vel
Opponents not playing nice, Wrathing the board? Make ’em pay by Vampirising your entire army! WARNING: needs Black mana. Urge to Feed lets you pay BBW and upgrade your whole team by 1/1 while punching a -3/-3 sized hole into your opponents. And Harabaz Druid is really an Ally Druid Merchant: “X mana for the low, low price of W! Today only!”
Quest for the Goblin Lord + Mogg War Marshall
One card fer thwee quest countaz? Even a Gob’in knows dat dat’s a good de’al!
Rumbling Aftershocks + Wolfbriar Elemental
As if the 4/4 Wolf maker wasn’t bad enough, now take 5 as well.
Tuktuk Scrapper + Auriok Transmuter
How many Allies can you get in to play by turn 4? Who cares, with Auriok Transmuter the hurt (and destruction) just keeps coming!
Avenger of Zendikar + Ravnica’s Plant creatures
Wohoo, Plant lord, how very… totally… gay?
Avenger of Zendikar + Coat of Arms
OK, less gay. More bashy.
Beastial Manace + Doubling Season
A “12/12” for 5 mana? Sign me up!
Omnath, Locus of Mana + 2x Doubling Season + Gemstone Array
This combo is a lot of effort, but it lets you do obscene things with mana. Omnath smiles at that. 128/128. 256/256. 512/512. Here’s how it works: With two Doubling Seasons you can pay 2 mana to put 4 counters on Gemstone Array. With that 4 mana you can put 8 counters on Gemstone Array. Repeat ad nauseam. Infinite mana is fine, too, but you really want to stomp massive face with that, so plomp Omnath into play. Swinging in with an Infy/Infy sure feels … unique.
Quest for Renewal + Lightning Crafter
Three free damage each upkeep step? Tre bien!
Strength of Tajuru + Necroplasm
Help ol’ Necro get past that 3 counter I-wanna-kill-myself phase. Being Instant speed and X also means you can tailor it to kill off select individuals (that Angel costs 5? BAH!) then leaves you with a massive Ooze.
Summit Apes + Mountain + Vorrac Battlehorns
Unblockable Monkeys. Stop geeking out!
Terastodon + 3 of your own lands
Highlighted because you may not have noticed that interaction (or spotted it immediately). 8 lands down to 5, big whoop. You just paid 8 mana for an “18/18” in 4 pieces.
Novablast Wurm + Fireshrieker
Win in 2 swings! Fresh blockers need not apply.
Amulet of Vigor + Door to Nothingness
Surprise, you’re dead!
Basilisk Collar + Ronin Cliffrider
No critters for you, a million life for me! Yay!!
Flagstones of Trokair + Zendikons
This works with all the Zendikons. Activate them, swing in (or block) and when they die get a free Plains out of your deck and keep the Flagstones. Profit.
Pilgrim’s Eye + Krark-Clan Ironworks + Shirei, Shizo’s Caretaker
Land every turn, mana every turn, and a guy in a hoody? Word. This just in, Walking Atlas also plays real nice with this combo.
So there’s a few combos I’ve come up with, for you to enjoy, adopt, use and abuse. There’s a few cards not mentioned here which are combolicious (such as Abyssal Prosecutor) but I know the combos you dream up for such cards are going to be more to your liking then my suggestions, or exactly the same. (Abyssal Prosecutor + sacrifice outlet?) There is one rare Red Goblin from the set who’s got plenty of combo-makers brains apumpin’, but more on him later. Before that, a return to Elder Dragon Highlander!
Keeps Dragon on
Before I start no PMs about that pun, I know it’s bad. For EDH this month I caught up with Petr (mentioned previously in MM01, click here if you missed it) who brought a Dragon deck for us to check out. Before that of course I had to give him the run through:
Fox Murdoch: So first off, your name?
Petr: Petr Joura, Sanity_Cleaver on the forums.
FM: Where do you play?
Petr: Just with friends round the kitchen table, but every once in a while I will hit up Good Games, Sydney.
FM: Favourite general?
Petr: Vaevictis Asmadi. Being a true Dragon fetishist, I believe EDH should be played with real Elder Dragons. But lately I’ve been having a lot of fun with Zirilan of the Claw.
FM: Favourite colours?
Petr: Jund, or any combination thereof. If it doesn’t have red, black or green in it, it ain’t worth playing.
FM: Casual or competitive player?
Petr: Casual. I do like Legacy, but other than that I couldn’t really give a stuff. I just like whacking people with large creatures, preferably Dragons.
FM: When did you get into Magic?
Petr: I discovered Magic in ‘95 (aged 10) when some other kids staying at the holiday resort showed me their cards and asked me to join them. I was sucked right in.
FM: How did you hear about EDH?
Petr: I actually read about EDH years ago in a Duelist magazine – like ’96 or ’97 when it was still a fledgling format, and you had Captains and Lieutenants as well as Generals. I never played it, but stumbled across it again in about 2007, with the rules somewhat more streamlined. This was before EDH was cool, and I just figured it would be a fun and flavourful format to play so I introduced it to my group. I thought it was just us who played, but then it just went mainstream overnight.
FM: What’s your favourite thing about EDH?
Petr: You get to play with ridiculous crazy fun cards that you could normally never get away with in regular Magic. Blood Tyrant anyone?
FM: Best play you ever made?
Petr: An insane Grinning Ignus-fueled Dragonstorm, dumping an army of Dragons on the table. Next turn I swing with the lot to completely crush this one player, then sacrifice all them to power out a huge Soulblast and Reiterate it to kill off the other two. Epic win!
(One EDH Planechase game also comes to mind, where the table was stuck on Naar Isle, letting it grow to an absurd 15 counters or so and no-one could roll away (that’s 15 entire turns for non-Planechasers!). I had an Urborg Syphon-Mage in play and no-one could draw a single removal spell, and its repeated syphons kept me alive long enough for everyone else to be burnt to a cinder. That wasn’t an awesome play as much as it was divine luck!)
FM: Best play you ever saw?
Petr: My best mate Neil was playing a Wort, the Raidmother deck in a 6 or 7 player game. He targets HIMSELF with a Searing Wind, and then Radiates it – conspiring the Radiate. Every other creature and player suddenly gets hit for 20. The board gets wiped and half the players go with it.
FM: Worst General?
Petr: Any general with an absurdly abusive ability – that either kills so fast no-one else gets to have any fun actually playing (Uril, Zur), or just does something incredibly abusive. Also degenerate lockdowns or combos that ensure everyone else actually playing has zero fun (Braids, Chainer, Arcum Dagsson).
FM: Best General?
Petr: The original Elder Dragons of course! It’s not called Vendillion Clique Highlander for a reason…I own an EDH deck for each one (using an original Legends printings just to be pimp) and have always wanted to play EDH Star with the five of them.
FM: If you could change one of the rules of EDH which would it be?
Petr: Ban mass land destruction. EDH is a primarily casual format, where players get to play giant fun things they would normally never be able to pull off. Mass LD rips away the ability to cast virtually any spells and thus ruins everyone’s fun.
Thanks for your time, Petr. The following is a list of EDH decks Petr has (if you’re interested in any, send a PM my way and we’ll see if we can’t get it in full) as well as the contents of his Zirilian of the Claw deck. A Dragon themed EDH deck with a Dragon-lord for a General, this deck makes impeccable use of its General but can still wreak havoc on another deck if left to itself.
List of EDH decks owned:
- Vaevictis Asmadi
- Nicol Bolas
- Palladia-Mors
- Chromium
- Arcades Sabboth
- Bladewing the Risen
- Molimo, Maro-Sorcerer
- Zirilan of the Claw
- Endrek Sahr, Master Breeder
General – ZIRILAN OF THE CLAW
Exuberant Firestoker
Grinning Ignus
Jaya Ballard, Task Mage
Shivan Dragon
Lightning Dragon
Two-Headed Dragon
Rorix Bladewing
Hellkite Charger
Mordant Dragon
Ryusei, the Falling Star
Flameblast Dragon
Rimescale Dragon
Fire Dragon
Thunder Dragon
Bogardan Hellkite
Imperial Hellkite
Knollspine Dragon
Furnace Dragon
Crimson Hellkite
Scourge of the Kher Ridges
Dragon Tyrant
—-
22 creatures
Chandra Ablaze
—-
1 Planeswalker
Journeyer’s Kite
Expedition Map
Wayfarer’s Bauble
Armillary Sphere
Sol Ring
Mind Stone
Foriysian Totem
Paradise Plume
Gemstone Array
Gauntlet of Power
Nevinyrral’s Disk
Mirari
—-
12 Artifacts
Mana Flare
Furnace of Rath
Lightning Cloud
Crucible of Fire
—-
4 Enchantments
Fiery Fall
Seismic Strike
Cinder Cloud
Riddle of Lightning
Smash
Starstorm
Inferno
Searing Wind
Soulblast
Fork
Reiterate
Wild Ricochet
—-
12 Instants
Spitting Earth
Spire Barrage
Lava Flow
Fireball
Disintegrate
Kaervek’s Torch
Titan’s Revenge
Fire Tempest
Earthquake
Seize the Day
Dragonstorm
—-
11 Sorceries
24 Mountain
7 Snow-Covered Mountain
Dwarven Hold
Mercadian Bazaar
Thawing Glaciers
Shivan Gorge
Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
Boseiju, Who Shelters All
—-
37 Lands
Bazaar Trader, even more Bazaar combos!
So what’s the deal? Who’s the rare Red Goblin combo-makers are going nuts over? Well if the mini-header of this section didn’t give it away I suggest you give up English. We’re having a competition to find the best, craziest and most fun combo with Bazaar Trader! You, the readers, have to come up with it. While your combo can certainly win you the game it’s not a requirement.
Readers can enter as many times as they feel necessary but only the LATEST combo you send in will be used. Absolutely every Magic card is available to you (though we’ll only award one prize position total for Silver-bordered combos).
Prizes are as follow: 1st place receives 3 boosters of Zendikar/Worldwake, 2nd receives 2 boosters of the same while 3rd to 5th receive 1 booster each. Now to get your juices a flowin’ here’s a few combos with the little Goblin that could:
Bazaar Trader + Mindslaver
Take over your opponents next turn, but make sure you give your Bazaar Trader itself to your opponent first. Then during their (your) next turn have him send over their best and brightest! The worst they can do then is send him back.
Bazaar Trader + Bronze Bombshell
Here, have 7 damage.
Bazaar Trader + Wall of Blood + Mindslaver
Here, have a weeping wound that goes from 20 to 0 in one turn.
So, have at it! One last rule on the competition though – no Bazaar Trader + Illusions of Granduer combos. Failure to comply by this rule will result in your being disqualified from the human race for pointing out the Blatantly Obvious.
Thanks for reading, Fox Murdoch!
For discussion.