Thunderbluff Makes the Invitational

[CynicalSquirrel]

They just announced the MTG Invitational decks, and I'm proud to say that my alphabetized version of Thunderbluff has made it to the auction, after someone in the thread for it dared someone to do it. I'd like to thank MyNameIsScott for the idea (and I hope you don't mind me basically stealing the deck), and let's hope that someone (maybe Menendian) has the balls to win the invitational on the back of minotaur advantage.



Minotaur, Maxotaur

This deck not only contains a herd of Minotaurs, but it also features our second instance of Yuan Shao, the Indecisive (which would probably be my name if I was a creature from Portal: Three Kingdoms). Anaba Spirit Crafter, the Minotaur lord, leads the assault alongside the sneaky Minotaur Illusionist and the eternal warrior himself, Tahngarth, Talruum Hero. Didgeridoo, meanwhile, acts as the poor Minotaur's Aether Vial. Earthquake and Fault Line, powered up with Gauntlet of Might, help to finish what your horned minions have started.

Thunderbluff
(designed by Josh Epstein)

Main Deck

11 Mountain
5 Island
4 Barbarian Ring
4 Volcanic Island

4 Anaba Spirit Crafter
1 Hurloon Shaman
1 Jiwari, the Earth Aflame
1 Karplusan Minotaur
1 Labyrinth Minotaur
4 Minotaur Illusionist
1 Ordruun Commando
1 Raging Minotaur
3 Tahngarth, Talruum Hero
1 Yuan Shao, the Indecisive
1 Zerapa Minotaur

2 Chrome Mox
4 Didgeridoo
1 Earthquake
1 Fault Line
1 Gauntlet of Might
1 Incinerate
1 Nova Pentacle
1 Pandemonium
1 Quicksilver Dagger
1 Sneak Attack
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Wand of the Elements
1 Xanthic Statue

[Mijorre]

I think we can safely agree that whoever plays this will have lasting respect all over the world, regardless of the result.

[Machinus]

The joke was old after five seconds but I think this deck will be funny to watch.

My brushhopper deck didn't make it : (

[frogboy]

The joke was old after five seconds

you lie.

[Nihil Credo]

But, but, but.... no Anaba Grunt???

[Mijorre]

Psh, he wants to give the opponent a chance, you know?

[Eldariel]

Bah, I made a great Kavu Predator-build and apparently it wasn't good enough for them. I even had better use for X in Xantid Swarm.

But yea, go minotaurs, go! Let's see if Smennen smashes face with this and 8/25.

[Nihil Credo]

As a Spike, I'm impressed by the 42 lands port; that deck should smash face. Pity no-one tried a Threshold port, I thought it could turn out good.

[Nightmare]

I missed out with Turboland, too.

Here is my list, now that it's ok to post them:

Land (25)
2 Forest
4 Island
4 Flooded Strand
1 Jungle Basin
2 Mishra's Factory
1 Oboro, Palace in the Clouds
3 Polluted Delta
1 Quicksand
1 Reflecting Pool
1 Simic Growth Chamber
4 Tropical Island
1 Yavimaya Coast

Creatures (9)
2 Azusa, Lost but Seeking
2 Drift of Phantasms
2 Vinelasher Kudzu
3 Xantid Swarm

Spells (26)
4 Brainstorm
3 Crucible of Worlds
4 Exploration
2 Gaea's Blessing
2 Horn of Greed
4 Impulse
1 Krosan Grip
1 Life From the Loam
1 Naturalize
1 Upheaval
2 Walk the Aeons
1 Zuran Orb

[Mijorre]

Won't land.dec get raped by I-run-4-blood-moons.dec?

[WiLdFiRe]

land.dec looks really strong, but yeah will have to hope to avoid bloodmoon.dec

[Machinus]

I had an insane entry that was overlooked because it didn't have enough of that newbie Timmy flavor. I will post it when I get home.

[CynicalSquirrel]

Haha yeah. Part of why I submitted it was that I knew it was so crappy and noobish that they would pick it. I notice that they rarely pick the ultra spike decks, so instead I just tried to make the crappiest/funniest deck that I could and hope it would have enough comedy value for them to pick it.

[Cait_Sith]

I had an insane entry that was overlooked because it didn't have enough of that newbie Timmy flavor. I will post it when I get home.

I think that is why Nightmare's sucked so badly. It looks like an actual deck.

Bad Nightmare! Bad! Fake decks only!

[Mijorre]

My awesome deck was rejected because it was too awesome. Or something with great whale. I dunno.

~Moby Penis~
1 arctic merfolk
1 braingeyser
4 Cloud of faeries
4 Denizen of the deep
2 Echo Tracer
4 Force of will
4 Great Whale
4 High Tide
13 Island
2 Jushi Apprentice
1 Kami of the Crescent Moon
1 Lady Sun
1 Man-o'-War
1 Ninja of the Deep Hours
2 Opposition
1 Power sink
1 Quash
1 Riftwing Cloudskate
1 Sage Owl
4 Turnabout
1 Unsummon
1 Venser, shaper savant
2 Waterspout elemental
1 Xanthic statue
1 Yotian soldier
1 Zephid

How could they not like it?

[TheGhostofChristmasPast]

They just announced the MTG Invitational decks, and I'm proud to say that my alphabetized version of Thunderbluff has made it to the auction, after someone in the thread for it dared someone to do it. I'd like to thank MyNameIsScott for the idea (and I hope you don't mind me basically stealing the deck), and let's hope that someone (maybe Menendian) has the balls to win the invitational on the back of minotaur advantage.


That makes two of us on the Source whose decks were picked. I submitted "Chia Pet" for the contest. Mostly I was trying to get Kavu Titan played again. I am pretty excited to see who picks my deck and what they have to say about it.

[Machinus]

Here's a masterpiece for you:

4 Anurid Brushhopper
4 Brainstorm
3 Call of the Herd
3 Deep Analysis
2 Engineered Explosives
1 Flooded Strand
2 Forest
1 Genesis
1 Horizon Canopy
3 Island
1 Impulse
1 Jolrael's Centaur
1 Karakas
1 Land Cap
4 Meddling Mage
1 Nimbus Maze
1 Oboro, Palace in the Clouds
1 Polluted Delta
2 Plains
1 Quirion Dryad
1 Riftstone Portal
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Tarmogoyf
3 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Vec Townships
3 Windswept Heath
1 Xanthic Statue
4 Yavimaya Coast
1 Zoetic Cavern

[Cait_Sith]

I will not lie, I don't even see how that deck makes sense.

[CynicalSquirrel]

That makes two of us on the Source whose decks were picked. I submitted "Chia Pet" for the contest. Mostly I was trying to get Kavu Titan played again. I am pretty excited to see who picks my deck and what they have to say about it.
Wow, both Minnesota Source members too. What are the odds of that?

[Cait_Sith]

Apparently fairly good.

[Machinus]

I will not lie, I don't even see how that deck makes sense.

Sense in what way?

[Cait_Sith]

Sense in what way?

I don't see the theme that binds them all together. It looks like Thresh, Landstill, and WG crashed into each other and threw out that list.

[Machinus]

I don't see the theme that binds them all together. It looks like Thresh, Landstill, and WG crashed into each other and threw out that list.

The only challenge I read was "design the best deck with this restriction." Any sentences about flavor or theme or other such nonsense never registered. I couldn't bring myself to try to make the deck bad.

My attempt to make up a fake story about how the deck was about the Anurid Brushopper and the graveyard was promptly ignored. Anyway, that was my entry.

[Arctic_Slicer]

The only challenge I read was "design the best deck with this restriction." Any sentences about flavor or theme or other such nonsense never registered. I couldn't bring myself to try to make the deck bad.

My attempt to make up a fake story about how the deck was about the Anurid Brushopper and the graveyard was promptly ignored. Anyway, that was my entry.

Yeah but you were submitting it to the guy who runs the casual Johnny column. Of course he is going to throw out any of the lists that smell too much like spike.

I wonder how many people tried to submit a goblins list.

[Nihil Credo]

90% of the cards you want to run start with "G", I think Goblins is the single worst archetype for this format.

I tried a Threshold port that turned out decent. The only problem was having to cut good cards to make room for the crap, but hey, Scepter-Jilt is still good, right?

1 Island
4 AK
4 Brainstorm
1 Counterspell
3 Daze
1 EE
4 FoW
1 Great Furnace
1 Hull Breach
1 Isochron Scepter
1 Jilt
1 Karplusan Forest
4 Bolt
2 Magma Jet
4 Mongoose
1 Opt
4 Polluted Delta
2 Quirion Dryad
1 Repeal
2 Serum Visions
4 Tarmogoyf (alt. Werebear)
1 Umezawa's Jitte
4 Volcanic Island
3 Wooded Foothills (alt. Tropical Island)
1 Xantid Swarm
4 Yavimaya Coast
1 Zo-Zu the Punisher

[Cait_Sith]

but hey, Scepter-Jilt is still good, right?

Rule of Thumb: If I have to look up Jilt, your combo sucks.

[moxpearl]

Quote:
They just announced the MTG Invitational decks, and I'm proud to say that my alphabetized version of Thunderbluff has made it to the auction, after someone in the thread for it dared someone to do it. I'd like to thank MyNameIsScott for the idea (and I hope you don't mind me basically stealing the deck), and let's hope that someone (maybe Menendian) has the balls to win the invitational on the back of minotaur advantage.

That makes two of us on the Source whose decks were picked. I submitted "Chia Pet" for the contest. Mostly I was trying to get Kavu Titan played again. I am pretty excited to see who picks my deck and what they have to say about it.


Congratulations Jon. Was wondering if Magic was still on your current plate (seeing your nice Dreamblade champ semi-finalist finish), so it was great to see your alphabet creation make the cut. Love the deck name and the Forgotten Ancient / Doubling Season combo, but you should have named it "Tschia Pet".

Tom

[TheGhostofChristmasPast]

Congratulations Jon. Was wondering if Magic was still on your current plate (seeing your nice Dreamblade champ semi-finalist finish), so it was great to see your alphabet creation make the cut. Love the deck name and the Forgotten Ancient / Doubling Season combo, but you should have named it "Tschia Pet".

Tom

Thanks Tom, we missed you down at GenCon this year.

I think the name Chia Pet is what pushed the deck over that edge from submission to participant. Almost all the cards keep growing; just like a damned Chia Pet! I know, I got one for Christmas. Seriously! Who gives those damn things? :smile:

[Smmenen]

So, I've been testing your deck and I have some questions for you, but apparently you've exceeded your max pm storage capacity. Send me an email if you get a chance. steve dot menendian at gmail dot com

Stephen

[Silverdragon]

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=mtgevent/mi07/auction

Looks like Minotaurs are too broken to be played by anybody.

[Nightmare]

BTW, Steve Menendian is in first after round 4, at a 3-1 record after starting off 3-0. Keep it up, Steve!

[Barook]

I'm still waiting for the Invitational cards - fuck the rest.

[Nightmare]

Steve ends day one at 3-2, after losing the first two auction rounds. Tomorrow starts at 10am local, 6am EST.

[Ewokslayer]

Steve ends day one at 3-2, after losing the first two auction rounds. Tomorrow starts at 10am local, 6am EST.

What did you expect he is playing Elves!

[Happy Gilmore]

All Changelings are Minotaurs, God save us all.

[Lego]

I don't know that Stephen can beat any of those Auction decks. Why'd he bid on that deck at 5 cards?

[Ewokslayer]

I don't know that Stephen can beat any of those Auction decks. Why'd he bid on that deck at 5 cards?

Elves! is a crappy deck in most formats. I am surprised that the deck doesn't have any of the forest cyclers, those are pretty much the only big creatures that the elf tribe has.

[Nightmare]

Elves! is a crappy deck in most formats. I am surprised that the deck doesn't have any of the forest cyclers, those are pretty much the only big creatures that the elf tribe has.
Unfortunately, Elvish Abbhoration starts with an E.

[Ewokslayer]

Wirewood Guardian > Woodripper.

[APriestOfGix]

I don't know that Stephen can beat any of those Auction decks. Why'd he bid on that deck at 5 cards?

because (and everyone failed to see this) if you have life > 20 you auto win against Illusion's Donate.dec

[Lego]

because (and everyone failed to see this) if you have life > 20 you auto win against Illusion's Donate.dec

Fair enough, so he's got one auto-win if he's paired against it. He's still playing a terrible deck...

[kirdape3]

Actually, Illusions/Donate just then hits you once with a Keiga, and you still die.

Five cards was a little steep for that deck - his one loss was simply 'my hand sucks and nothing's going to happen before I die.'

[Ewokslayer]

his one loss was simply 'my hand sucks and nothing's going to happen before I die.'

he has a second loss with the deck also.

It was unfortunate the he got paired against 42 lands and a werid ass creature control deck that got to start with 7 cards.

[mikekelley]

Eck- I can't imagine starting every game w/ five hands. I think i'd mull too much for it to do any damage. A lot of praying must have gone down at this event.

[matelml]

Did anybody look at the invitational cards? Of course Stephens one screams BROKEN! but there are a lot of fun cards there. http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=mtgevent/mi07/cardsubmissions

[DeathwingZERO]

Sadly Steven's is the only one I want. Maybe the Avatar of Fire and Ice, since it turns cards in hand into FoW's and has built in Fireblast, and possibly the Visionary, but I don't think I would really be happy cracking any of those others in packs.

[mikekelley]

Menendian's is sick. Of course I don't think it would be printed as is, the cost would probably be 2B which would nerf it. I LOVE the Inebriated enchantment, what a fun card.

I like the Land/counterspell, but the counterspell ability costs too much. Meh.

I also like the Gambling Mage. fun stuff.

[Nightmare]

Steve is 3-4 right now. He basically has to go 7-1 to make the finals.

His card was developed by the Card Creation forum on TMD. I think it's probably the one that needs the least work from R&D before it would see print. Obviously it's powerful, but hardly unfair. Still, it would see restriction in Type 1, and probably be banned in Legacy.

[Van Phanel]

Sadly Steven's is the only one I want.
Qft.
Stephen's card just made me go "wow" and lately that's really rare. The last card that managed to do so was Enduring Ideal (*gasp* Epic :wink: ) when I first saw it in the previews for SOK.


I can see the Avatar of Fire and Ice playing the role of Meloku or Niv-Mizzet in T2-decks but I don't think it will find a home in Legacy.

Most of the other cards make me feel like they are missing something that truly makes them shine. Chan's counterland is a good idea, daRosa's Visionary is interesting, one or two of the others ar ok, but the rest are either outright boring or plain and simple suck.

[SpatulaOfTheAges]

A lot of those cards are broken. The Faerie one is sick, the Frog is sick, the Prof is sick, Gambling Mage is sick, the Visionary is sick, the counter-land is sick, and Inebriation has solid potential. And of course the Tutor is good, but I don't think it's unbalanced in Legacy. In Vintage, maybe.

The Faerie guy in particular could be insane if printed as is.

[Peter_Rotten]

Could someone post the cards here. The school filter won't let me play along.

[Van Phanel]

Could someone post the cards here. The school filter won't let me play along.

Have fun:


Tiago Chan
Denying Channel
Land
T: Add :1: to your mana pool.
2UU, Discard Denying Channel: Counter target spell.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa
Prolific Visionary
1G
Creature -- Human Wizard
2/2
Play with the top card of your library revealed.
If the top card of your library is a land, you may play that card.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Willy Edel
Gambling Mage
B/R B/R
Creature -- Human Wizard
2/2
Protection from white
As an additional cost to play Gambling Mage, discard a card at random.
When Gambling Mage comes into play, search your library for a card, then shuffle your library and put that card on top of it. Flip a coin. If you win the flip, draw a card.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Evan Erwin
Cap’n Tickles
1G R/G R/G
Creature -- Human Pirate
2/1
Haste
When Cap’n Tickles comes into play, put two 1/1 red and green Citizen creature tokens into play.
Citizen creatures get +1/+0 and have haste.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rich Hoaen
Inebriation
UU
Enchantment
Whenever you play a spell, return that card to your hand and put a random card from your hand onto the stack.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Craig Jones
Psychotic Professor
RR
Creature -- Human Wizard
2/1
Whenever an instant or sorcery spell you control deals damage to an opponent, search your library for a red instant card and reveal it. Shuffle your library, then put the revealed card on top of it.
Sacrifice Psychotic Professor: Shuffle your library, then reveal the top card of your library. Psychotic Professor deals damage to target opponent equal to the converted mana cost of the revealed card. You lose the game at end of turn.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Frank Karsten
Eye of the Beholder
1U
Creature -- Human Wizard
2/1
Each player plays with the top card of his or her library revealed and with his or her hand revealed.
At the beginning of your upkeep, target player puts the top card of his or her library on the bottom of his or her library.
Sacrifice Eye of the Beholder: Target player shuffles his or her library.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Raphael Levy
Mindsear Battlemage
1B
Creature -- Human Wizard
2/1
When Mindsear Battlemage comes into play, you may pay BR and name a card. If you do, that player reveals his or her hand and discards all cards with that name, then Mindsear Battlemage deals 2 damage to that player for each card he or she discarded this way. Otherwise, that player reveals his or her hand.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Steve Menendian
Twilight Tutor
1B
Sorcery
If W was spent to play Twilight Tutor, search your library for an enchantment card and reveal it. If U was spent, search your library for an instant card and reveal it. If R was spent, search your library for a sorcery card and reveal it. If G was spent, search your library for a creature card and reveal it. Put a card revealed this way into your hand, then shuffle your library.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Gabriel Nassif
Bob the Dog
2U
Creature -- Hound Wizard
1/3
Flash
Flying
When Bob the Dog comes into play, draw a card, then discard a card. If B was spent to play Bob the Dog, target player discards a card. If W was spent to play Bob the Dog, target creature gains protection from the color of your choice until end of turn.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Shuhei Nakamura
Kou-Bash
UU
Creature - Human Jester
0/0
As Kou-Bash comes into play, you may reveal a creature card from your hand with converted mana cost 3 or less or choose a creature card in a graveyard with a converted mana cost 3 or less.
Kou-Bash comes into play as a copy of the revealed or chosen card



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Antoine Ruel
Reivilo
G
Creature -- Frog
1/1
When Reivilo comes into play, draw two cards for each other permanent named Reivilo. If you draw six or more cards this way, you win the game.
Reivilo gets +1/+1 for each other permanent named Reivilo.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kenji Tsumura
I Hate Pacts
1U
Enchantment
Players skip their upkeep steps.
At the beginning of your draw step, put a kogamo counter on I Hate Pacts.
Remove three kogamo counters from I Hate Pacts: Draw a card.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Guillaume Wafo-Tapa
Tropical Faerie
GU
Creature -- Faerie Wizard
1/1
Flash
Flying
Whenever a Forest comes into play under your control, you may put a 1/1 blue and green Faerie creature token into play.
Whenever an Island comes into play under your control, you may untap up to X target permanents, where X is the number of Faeries you control.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jelger Wiegersma
Greatest Gargadon
3U
Creature -- Human Wizard
2/4
When Greatest Gargadon comes into play, choose instant or sorcery. Your opponents can’t play cards of the chosen type. You can’t play cards of the type that wasn’t chosen.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Shota Yasooka
Avatar of Fire and Ice
1UURR
Creature -- Avatar
4/4
Discard a blue card, Discard a card, Pay 1 life: Counter target spell.
Sacrifice two mountains: Avatar of Fire and Ice deals 4 damage to target creature or player.

[Machinus]

This year's cards are unusually boring for some reason.

Steve isn't going to make it and the tutor wouldn't get printed anyway.

Kenji and Tiago's cards are interesting.

[Belgareth]

Tiago Chan
Denying Channel
Land
T: Add :1: to your mana pool.
2UU, Discard Denying Channel: Counter target spell.

Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa
Prolific Visionary
:1: green mana
Creature -- Human Wizard
2/2
Play with the top card of your library revealed.
If the top card of your library is a land, you may play that card.

Willy Edel
Gambling Mage
:br: :br:
Creature -- Human Wizard
2/2
Protection from white
As an additional cost to play Gambling Mage, discard a card at random.
When Gambling Mage comes into play, search your library for a card, then shuffle your library and put that card on top of it. Flip a coin. If you win the flip, draw a card.



Evan Erwin
Cap’n Tickles
:1: green mana
Creature -- Human Pirate
2/1
Haste
When Cap’n Tickles comes into play, put two 1/1 red and green Citizen creature tokens into play.
Citizen creatures get +1/+0 and have haste.


Rich Hoaen
Inebriation
blue mana blue mana
Enchantment
Whenever you play a spell, return that card to your hand and put a random card from your hand onto the stack.



Craig Jones
Psychotic Professor
red mana red mana
Creature -- Human Wizard
2/1
Whenever an instant or sorcery spell you control deals damage to an opponent, search your library for a red instant card and reveal it. Shuffle your library, then put the revealed card on top of it.
Sacrifice Psychotic Professor: Shuffle your library, then reveal the top card of your library. Psychotic Professor deals damage to target opponent equal to the converted mana cost of the revealed card. You lose the game at end of turn.


Frank Karsten
Eye of the Beholder
:1: blue mana
Creature -- Human Wizard
2/1
Each player plays with the top card of his or her library revealed and with his or her hand revealed.
At the beginning of your upkeep, target player puts the top card of his or her library on the bottom of his or her library.
Sacrifice Eye of the Beholder: Target player shuffles his or her library.



Raphael Levy
Mindsear Battlemage
:1: Black mana
Creature -- Human Wizard
2/1
When Mindsear Battlemage comes into play, you may pay Black ManaRed Manaand name a card. If you do, that player reveals his or her hand and discards all cards with that name, then Mindsear Battlemage deals 2 damage to that player for each card he or she discarded this way. Otherwise, that player reveals his or her hand.


Steve Menendian
Twilight Tutor
1 ManaBlack Mana
Sorcery
If :w: was spent to play Twilight Tutor, search your library for an enchantment card and reveal it. If :u: was spent, search your library for an instant card and reveal it. If :r: was spent, search your library for a sorcery card and reveal it. If :g: was spent, search your library for a creature card and reveal it. Put a card revealed this way into your hand, then shuffle your library.


Gabriel Nassif
Bob the Dog
2 ManaBlue Mana
Creature -- Hound Wizard
1/3
Flash
Flying
When Bob the Dog comes into play, draw a card, then discard a card. If Black Mana was spent to play Bob the Dog, target player discards a card. If White Mana was spent to play Bob the Dog, target creature gains protection from the color of your choice until end of turn.


Shuhei Nakamura
Kou-Bash
Blue ManaBlue Mana
Creature - Human Jester
0/0
As Kou-Bash comes into play, you may reveal a creature card from your hand with converted mana cost 3 or less or choose a creature card in a graveyard with a converted mana cost 3 or less.
Kou-Bash comes into play as a copy of the revealed or chosen card



Antoine Ruel
Reivilo
Green Mana
Creature -- Frog
1/1
When Reivilo comes into play, draw two cards for each other permanent named Reivilo. If you draw six or more cards this way, you win the game.
Reivilo gets +1/+1 for each other permanent named Reivilo.


Kenji Tsumura
I Hate Pacts
1 ManaBlue Mana
Enchantment
Players skip their upkeep steps.
At the beginning of your draw step, put a kogamo counter on I Hate Pacts.
Remove three kogamo counters from I Hate Pacts: Draw a card.



Guillaume Wafo-Tapa
Tropical Faerie
Green ManaBlue Mana
Creature -- Faerie Wizard
1/1
Flash
Flying
Whenever a Forest comes into play under your control, you may put a 1/1 blue and green Faerie creature token into play.
Whenever an Island comes into play under your control, you may untap up to X target permanents, where X is the number of Faeries you control.


Jelger Wiegersma
Greatest Gargadon
3 ManaBlue Mana
Creature -- Human Wizard
2/4
When Greatest Gargadon comes into play, choose instant or sorcery. Your opponents can’t play cards of the chosen type. You can’t play cards of the type that wasn’t chosen.



Shota Yasooka
Avatar of Fire and Ice
1 ManaBlue ManaBlue ManaRed ManaRed Mana
Creature -- Avatar
4/4
Discard a blue card, Discard a card, Pay 1 life: Counter target spell.
Sacrifice two mountains: Avatar of Fire and Ice deals 4 damage to target creature or player.



Need fixing , but that's a copy paste job also can't use more than 11 iages :/

[T is for TOOL]

Kenji's card would be NUTZ in U/G Stasis!

[Nightmare]

Steve now has to X-0 to make the finals (maybe). He went 3-0, 0-3, 0-2, with one round of Winston Draft to go.

[FakeSpam]

Kenji's card would be NUTZ in U/G Stasis!

Until they turn it into a creature. And change all the words on it. And up the mana cost.

[Barook]

Of course I don't think it would be printed as is, the cost would probably be 2B which would nerf it.
You realize that this would make it potentially better in 3-colored decks, right? I like Steve Menendian's card - it's very clever design, although rainbow lands/mana filters makes it kinda retarded. Demonic Tutor, anyone?

My favourites are probably Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa's and Craig Jones' cards. HM to Avatar of Fire and Ice.
The rest is crap, broken or just plain boring.

[Ewokslayer]

Steve now has to X-0 to make the finals (maybe). He went 3-0, 0-3, 0-2, with one round of Winston Draft to go.

So apparently Steve is a monster of Cube draft, overbids on auctions and sucks at winston draft.

It is a bit surprising how bad he did in the auction considering he said he did all sorts of testing and that is one of the few formats that you can actually test extensively and figure what decks are worth what.

Edit:

With there being only 8 matches each round is there a reason that every match doesn't have coverage?

[Nightmare]

So apparently Steve is a monster of Cube draft, overbids on auctions and sucks at winston draft.

It is a bit surprising how bad he did in the auction considering he said he did all sorts of testing and that is one of the few formats that you can actually test extensively and figure what decks are worth what.He wanted to play an aggro deck, and got outbid on the Fattie-Geddon deck, so he chose Elves - he went too low though. I think it's obviously telling that the decks that kept 8 cards did the best.

[FakeSpam]

He wanted to play an aggro deck, and got outbid on the Fattie-Geddon deck, so he chose Elves - he went too low though. I think it's obviously telling that the decks that kept 8 cards did the best.

I would have played Thunder Bluff at 8 cards/25 life.

[Puzzle]

Shuhei Nakamura
Kou-Bash
UU
Creature - Human Jester
0/0
As Kou-Bash comes into play, you may reveal a creature card from your hand with converted mana cost 3 or less or choose a creature card in a graveyard with a converted mana cost 3 or less.
Kou-Bash comes into play as a copy of the revealed or chosen card This one looks cute with the older text version of Phyrexian Dreadnought. Almost made me regret it.

My favourite is Karsten's Eye of the Beholder though : it encourages good play and seems relatively printable.
Most boringly broken award to Edel.

[Nightmare]

Most boringly broken award to Edel.
Even more than Ruel's? For god's sake, it says "Play 3, win the game."

[Nihil Credo]

This one looks cute with the older text version of Phyrexian Dreadnought. Almost made me regret it.
The combo would not have worked. It "comes into play" as a copy of that card, so power-errata PD's "As (this) comes into play..." text would apply to Kou-Bash as well.


Hoaen's card is awesome fun sauce, but it needs retemplating:

"Whenever you play a [nonland] card, return that card to your hand, then reveal a random card from your hand. If it is a nonland card, put it on the stack. [If it is a land card, put it into play.]"

with the bracketed parts being optional, depending on how you'd want the enchantment to interact with lands.

[Van Phanel]

I fear both of you have gotten somethin wrong: (meaning Puzzle and Nightmare)

a) Even with the old dreadnought, "Kou-Bash" would have forced you to sac creatures or sac it, as first its coming into play would be replaced with coming into play as a copy of the Dreadnaught and then the replaced event would be replaced again by Dreadnought's ability.

b)Ruel's card actually says "play 4 win the game" as it doesn't count itself.

[TeenieBopper]

Even more than Ruel's? For god's sake, it says "Play 3, win the game."

For real, that has "busted combo deck" written all over it.


b)Ruel's card actually says "play 4 win the game" as it doesn't count itself.

No, it's only three.

First is played: no cards
Second is played: draw two cards
Third is played: Draw four cards.
2+4=6=I win the game, yay!

Some of those cards do look really interesting. Gambling Mage doesn't seem overly broken to me. Maybe make it 1 r/b r/b instead.

[Nightmare]

Ok, fine. Play 4. It also draws cards for all the ones you already played.

Steve is now completely out of contention, at 3-6 after day 2.

[Van Phanel]

No, it's only three.

First is played: no cards
Second is played: draw two cards
Third is played: Draw four cards.
2+4=6=I win the game, yay!

"This way" is part of the triggered ability of that little frog, so it only counts the ability by that one and doesn't take into account any other of those frogs he might have drawn from earlier.

Of course that makes the card neither balanced nor fun.

Oh and even if he's 3-6 and out of contention for winning it might still be interesting to see what he has prepared for vintage.

[TeenieBopper]

"This way" is part of the triggered ability of that little frog, so it only counts the ability by that one and doesn't take into account any other of those frogs he might have drawn from earlier.

I stand corrected.

Still, it's pretty busted. Like Survival decks need a combo finish. really.

[Bryant Cook]

I stand corrected.

Still, it's pretty busted. Like Survival decks need a combo finish. really.

It'd make them worth playing.

[Illissius]

The card drawing on the Frog is broken (and far too swingy even if it's not); I'm not so sure about the game winning, though it's certainly dangerous. It likely becomes the best kill for Protean Hulk, but all the other ways I can think of -- Survival, Weird Harvest, Pack Hunt -- cost a ton, play awful cards, are vulnerable, and all around suck.

Survival already does have a combo finish, by the way: Survival for Saffi, that for Caller of the Claw, that for Crypt Champion, play Champion and make infinite Bears. Prepend Anger if you like. This is a whole ton better than those Frogs (again, not taking the card drawing ability into account, which is pretty sick).

[Lego]

You realize that this would make it potentially better in 3-colored decks, right? I like Steve Menendian's card - it's very clever design, although rainbow lands/mana filters makes it kinda retarded. Demonic Tutor, anyone?

No it doesn't. It only puts one of them into your hand (although it's insufficiently templated... right now it can search for up to 4 cards, but it only tells you what to do with one of them.)

[b4r0n]

I think he's saying that using rainbow lands would allow you to freely choose the "kicker" color, which would basically make the card a Demonic Tutor that can't get lands or planeswalkers.

[CynicalSquirrel]

Tiago Chan's card is just silly. The last thing blue control decks need is to be able to play counters without using up actual card slots. It would probably not be amazing in Legacy, but it would be downright annoying in T2 and possibly Extended. Not to mention how silly it is with Loam.

[Zach Tartell]

I Hate Pacts
1U
Enchantment
Players skip their upkeep steps.
At the beginning of your draw step, put a kogamo counter on I Hate Pacts.
Remove three kogamo counters from I Hate Pacts: Draw a card.

I hope this guy wins. (if only for all the other Enchantress players out there)

[Anusien]

Until they turn it into a creature.
Not every Invitational card has to be a creature. In fact they've stated they definitely want to print a noncreature one. They wanted to do it with Kai's, but he submitted it during Tribal block, so they couldn't (it was originally an enchantment). Twice or three times during Onslaught Block Week they stressed non-creature Invitational card = ok.

[Wallace]

I Hate Pacts
1U
Enchantment
Players skip their upkeep steps.
At the beginning of your draw step, put a kogamo counter on I Hate Pacts.
Remove three kogamo counters from I Hate Pacts: Draw a card.

I hope this guy wins. (if only for all the other Enchantress players out there)

Yeah this wouldn't be good with Solitary Confinement at all right?

[Zach Tartell]

Yeah this wouldn't be good with Solitary Confinement at all right?

Nah; its dissenergy with skipping the draw phase completely negates how well it works with E-Grass upkeep, confinement, and Sacred Mesa. Totally not worth running.

Also, it doesn't work that hot with The Abyss...

[APriestOfGix]

Nah; its dissenergy with skipping the draw phase completely negates how well it works with E-Grass upkeep, confinement, and Sacred Mesa. Totally not worth running.

Also, it doesn't work that hot with The Abyss...

yeah, it also totally blows that it costs 2 mana, and by chance stops Smokestax, tangle wire, and all that jazz.

and to top it off, it lets your draw an extra card every three turns.

Legacy Playable!

[troopatroop]

I Hate Pacts
1U
Enchantment
Players skip their upkeep steps.
At the beginning of your draw step, put a kogamo counter on I Hate Pacts.
Remove three kogamo counters from I Hate Pacts: Draw a card.

I hope this guy wins. (if only for all the other Enchantress players out there)

Not like that wouldn't be REDICULOUS is Stasis or anything...

[freakish777]

Rich Hoaen's has the most potential for abuse in my opinion. Get down to 2 cards or so, play that brainstorm, oh hey I have a 50/50 shot at putting Dark Steel Colossus on the stack, and if not, I guess resolving Brainstorm isn't bad, right?

Obviously not the best thing you can do with it, but it seems like there's a way to make this rediculous.

Paulo's seems pretty good, but I don't think it'll be legacy playable (Future Sight's card advantage gets insane, this is a toned down version).

Craig Jone's would easily be extended playable (every burn spell you play tutors another burn spell to keep you from drawing dead mountains), and the Sacrifice option is really interesting in my opinion.

Tiago's is basically too good for Standard (uncounterable counterspell that taps for mana in the early game?) and unplayable everywhere else with the exception of maybe a blue 43 lands variant in Legacy (Loam ftw?! srsly?!)

[SpatulaOfTheAges]

Guillame's is insane people. Get with the picture.

Turn 2, EoT Broken Faerie guy.
Turn 3, Cloud of Faeries, play Tropical Island, put island trigger on the stack first, then forest trigger. Tap all three lands in response. Put faerie into play. Untap three lands. Play Harrow, put 2 faeries into play, untap twice. Go crazy-go-nuts. In blue. With FoW back up. And a back-up aggro-control plan.

[Barook]

While Jones' card isn't broken, chaining up some Price of Progress sounds sexy.

Btw, is it just me or was Menendian's secret tech for "Make your own Standard" (which is actually a cool idea) "59-card deck"? :confused:

And I'm still hoping somebody else wins than Chan and Hoaen because I want to see neither card.

[Lukas Preuss]

I guess there's just one card missing from his decklist. I love that "Make your own Standard" format, by the way... pure nostalgia. :)

Although I'm surprised by the decks they play. I thought there was more broken stuff they could come up with (ProsBloom with FoW, Brainstorm and Dark Ritual for example, or Illusions/Donate)... but I can't find the banned list of that format anywhere.

[kirdape3]

It's all the Legacy banned list plus all the Block banned lists.

[MattH]

Here was my entry, it was basically just a challenge to see if Wizards would try and assemble it:

1 All Hallow's Eve
1 Burning of Xinye
1 Capture of Jingzhou
1 Diamond Valley
1 Evincar's Justice
2 Forcefield
2 Grim Tutor
3 Heart of Ramos
1 Imperial Recruiter
3 Juzam Djinn
2 Khabal Ghoul
1 Lich
2 Mirror Universe
1 Night of Souls' Betrayal
1 Overwhelming Forces
4 Polluted Delta
2 Quicksand
4 Rolling Earthquake
1 Sea Drake
1 The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
4 Underground Sea
4 Volcanic Island
1 Word of Command
1 Xiahou Dun, the One-Eyed
3 Yotian Soldier
1 Zodiac Dragon

3 Mountain
8 Swamp

[kabal]

Sad times ... Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa wins 2 – 1 Over Menendian in the GAT mirror (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=mtgevent/mi07/welcome#7)

[kabal]

Vintage decklists (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=mtgevent/mi07/vintagedecklists) are up.

[Nightmare]

Standings make it quite clear. Pros > Joes.

[etrigan]

Willy Edel played Goblin Fish. Awesome.

Edit: Was anyone else unimpressed with the Choose your Own Standard decks? The number of Block decks with Ice Age for Force of Will and Brainstorm just screamed lazy deck building.

[Silverdragon]

So they got the Auction of the People decks sponsored by SCG but had to borrow cards for their other constructed decks from friends or in the case of Willy Edel even from other invitationalists?
I mean ok 16 sets of the P9 is a bit much to ask for but come on why did Edel have to play without Black Lotus?

[andrew77]

I hope Hoaen wins since his card wants to be broken. Tiago's card doesn't even compare to it. It's basically unplayable, but Hoaen's card has so much potential. I see it being absolutely nuts in vintage and legacy.

[Zuriya]

By the way, has there been an Invitational card in Time Spiral block (or Lorwyn) ?
There has to be one, or did I miss something ?

[Pinder]

By the way, has there been an Invitational card in Time Spiral block (or Lorwyn) ?
There has to be one, or did I miss something ?

There were two invitiational cards in Time Spiral. Shadowmage Infiltrator and Voidmage Prodigy :tongue:

Seriously though, I don't think there's been any new invitational cards since Rakdos Augermage (Terry Soh). Of course, Rav block had 2 invitational cards in it (Dark Confidant and Rakdos Augermage), so maybe they're taking a break. I don't know. But as far as I know, there aren't any new ones in TS or Lorwyn.

[andrew77]

Ruels idea was bibi/sleur I think, but no such card has been made. I'm guessing they will reveal it tomorrow since thats what they have done previously.

[MattH]

Gemstone Caverns was an invitational submission (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=mtgevent/mi05/cards) although not by the actual invitational winner.

[Bardo]

Hearing Rosewater say "Thunderbluff" made me chuckle.

[Di]

1984'd that shit. - Bardo

Btw, I hate you for what you sent me earlier. Asshole.

[IndyTerminator]

There were two invitiational cards in Time Spiral. Shadowmage Infiltrator and Voidmage Prodigy :tongue:

Seriously though, I don't think there's been any new invitational cards since Rakdos Augermage (Terry Soh). Of course, Rav block had 2 invitational cards in it (Dark Confidant and Rakdos Augermage), so maybe they're taking a break. I don't know. But as far as I know, there aren't any new ones in TS or Lorwyn.

They rejected the last winner's card and right now I don't know whether something else has been submitted. It could end up like Sylvan Safekeeper in which it is years before they actually print a card for that winner.

[Bardo]

At the end of the day, Thunderbluff was the only deck that wasn't bid:

Thunderbluff, not played
2007 Magic Invitational, designed by Josh Epstein

4 Anaba Spirit Crafter
1 Hurloon Shaman
1 Jiwari, the Earth Aflame
1 Karplusan Minotaur
1 Labyrinth Minotaur
4 Minotaur Illusionist
1 Ordruun Commando
1 Raging Minotaur
3 Tahngarth, Talruum Hero
1 Yuan Shao, the Indecisive
1 Zerapa Minotaur

2 Chrome Mox
4 Didgeridoo
1 Earthquake
1 Fault Line
1 Gauntlet of Might
1 Incinerate
1 Nova Pentacle
1 Pandemonium
1 Quicksilver Dagger
1 Sneak Attack
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Wand of the Elements
1 Xanthic Statue

11 Mountain
5 Island
4 Barbarian Ring
4 Volcanic Island

No Sword of Light and Shadow?! No wonder no one wanted it...

Seriously though, that deck is awful.

[frolll]

Regarding Thunderbluff, I'm just going to say that 8 cards and 25 life could give you a great life buffer and a nice virtual CA to overcome your opponent, especially if they have hand size 5 and like 17 life.

This little stats are very important to me :
3-0 Rich Hoaen: Cultural Exchange, 8 cards 25 life
3-0 Tiago Chan: Transformers, 8 cards 25 life
2-1 Paulo Vitor Damo Da Rosa: 5 Colour Sanctuary, 6 cards 14 life
2-1 Shuhei Nakamura: Reanimator, 5 cards 24 life
2-1 Kenji Tsumura: Time Vault Mizzium Transreliquat combo, 5 cards 19 life
2-1 Guillaume Wapo-Tafa: 42 Land deck, 7 card 18 life
2-1 Jelger Wiegersma: Suicide Black, 5 cards 18 life
2-1 Antoine Ruel: An Ode to Jamie, 6 cards 12 life
2-1 Raphael Levy: ChiaPet, 6 cards 14 life
1-2 Willy Edel: Legendary Puppets, 7 cards 17 life
1-2 Craig Jones: Choose Your Destiny, 7 cards 24 life
1-2 Shota Yasooka: Fattie/Geddon, 5 cards 13 life
1-2 Gabriel Nassif: Illusions/Donate, 6 cards 16 life
0-3 Evan Erwin: Test of Endurance, 5 cards 25 life
0-3 Frank Karsten: RG Hate, 6 cards 16 life
0-3 Stephen Menendian: Elves!, 5 cards 25 life

Seems like skills and life/cards are more important than the raw quality of decks...
But this Auction isn't the hotness it should have been, IMHO.
The Vintage was nice, with Manaless Ichorid going 3-0 ^o^

[Cait_Sith]

No virtual about it, starting with 1-3 cards over your opponent AND being able to mulligan more safely (a 6 card hand that needs a mulligan hurts... fast. Imagine a 5.)

Even worse is that fact that you and your 6 cards need to deal 25 to me while me and my 8 cards have to deal 16-18 to you.

The difference between deck strengths would have to be ASTRONOMICAL to balance out the advantage gained.

[Bardo]

So, Tiago won. 'Grats to him.

His card:

Denying Channel
Land
T: Add 1 to your mana pool.
2UU, Discard Denying Channel: Counter target spell.

Man, if R&D could shave a mana off the activated ability, it would be awesome in Loam Tog, or any other blue-based Loam Control deck. If printed as-is, it might have a chance, but I wouldn't put $$ on it.

[Cait_Sith]

Bland, but solid.

JUST DON'T MAKE IT CITP! PLEASE! PLEASE! PLEASE!

At least R&D doesn't have to work at this one. Actually, in terms of power it is a bit under.

[Illissius]

Seems very powerful to me in the smaller formats, and good even in Legacy. People always underestimate lands. What's the point of using two of your own lands to tap only one of the opponent's, anyways, right? Having spell-like effects as part of your manabase is enormously potent. This thing is a workable (and mostly uncounterable!) counterspell added onto an entirely usable land, which equals Quite Good in my book. Do note that they printed Last Word at :2::u::u:, and even Counterspell costs :1::u::u: these days. If R&D wants to print this mostly as-is at a "fair" power level, I suspect they will make it CIPT, and raise the cost to five (which would nuke it for Legacy, but them's the breaks); if they want to push it, they could settle for less. (What they will definitely do is test the hell out of it, which is worth a lot more than my back-of-the-imaginary-envelope conjecturing.)

[MattH]

As-is, I doubt it will see any serious legacy play.

[troopatroop]

It's my opinion, that burn would have been an important archetype in that format. Considering how important the number of cards you had and the willingness to sacrifice life totals, burn would have punished sooo many players.

[Machinus]

Actually, that's the card I wanted to win after Steve's.

It could get printed as-is, but knowing R&D they will probably add :2: to the cost and make it legendary.

[DeathwingZERO]

Am I the only one that sees it says "Discard" in it's activated ability?

Why bother making the card Legendary when it still only produces colorless mana, and it's activated ability is from hand?

And for that matter, why bother upping it's activation cost? It's an expensive counterspell in hand, and a land that only provides a colorless mana while in play.

I'd have to say in terms of power level, this is hardly amazing. A pretty big disappointment in my opinion, I would have put this thing about halfway down the list of things I wanted printing.