Crowdsourcing is a Thing

A friend of mine with a sadly limited amount of funding is trying to spend a year studying abroad, but to do so needs to raise plenty of cash that sadly, she doesn't have. She's elected to try using a digital method to raise large amounts of money, and I want to help her out as much as I can by circulating the link around. I know I'm abusing some gift horses here, but if you want to pitch in any amount will help her out a ton.

http://halleegoestogermany.blogspot.com/

Boweh out.

Shadow Era: Zhannax 3.0

As many reading this know, I happen to be the originator of a Ghostmaker control deck, ZhannaX, dubbed after the pill of the same phonetic. The deck had a fairly large following, praise varying from both from a unique play experience to a powerful, versatile list, but the game has changed in such a way since then that the original ZhannaX is rather obsolete. I've changed the list to change with the times not once but twice, and today I give you ZhannaX 3.0

Shadow Era: Worlds Round One

My opponent in the first round, xColdSteelx, was a pretty solid Banebow player, which is an obnoxious opponent for most any matchup. I got in a game just prior to the event with a fellow BP guildmate, learning the hard way the power the deck provides. He advised I play Lance, and given Achilles is my main list right now, I gave it a shot. As I feared/guessed, my opponent elected to use Banebow first and foremost.

Magic: Angel's Tomb

It's been ages since i've covered a Magic spoiler season, and I'm not starting again now. However, I feel like I have to take the time to showcase a card that hasn't been getting a whole lot of love.

Enter Angel's Tomb

Shadow Era: Power of the 187

187 is a little-known slang term for murder, originating from California's penal code. it's also a game term in Magic: the Gathering that only the oldest gaming veterans will pick up.

What does that have to do with Shadow Era? Is it when an Ogloth eats seven opposing allies? No, stupid hypothetical person that asks obvious questions. I'm getting to it.

Shadow Era: Quantity in the Sac

Rarely in Shadow Era is there ever a clear right and wrong on what to sacrifice. The factors to consider can be put into a simple list, tempo, likelihood of drawing duplicates, relative worth to other cards of the same cost, relative worth of the rest of your hand, etc. etc.

However, there's another factor that I'll be covering today.

Pure quantity.

Shadow Era: Livestream is coming

45 minutes after this post, Shadow Era will have its first ever livestream, courtesy of moi. To get in on the action, check out http://www.shadowera.com/showthread.php?14250-ATTENTION-SHADOW-ERANS-Livestream-time!&p=200096#post200096

Shadow Era: Achilles' Lance

Lance Shadowstalker, the Human Rogue. Lately, he's been a popular choice in quick matches, and I'll admit readily to hopping on that bandwagon from day one. Of course, that's not without reason.

Suck it, Altair. Black is back.

The power of this deck lies entirely within Lance's tempo plays. Between Jasmine, Raven, and Anklebreaker, the deck has ten cards, a full quarter of the deck, that come down, disable an ally, and then stay in play after establishing board control.

Now, why is T5 so significant?

Ignore that all the best cards in the game, Plasma Behemoth, Soul Seeker, Dagger of Unmaking, Mind Control, Earthen Protector, Tidal Wave, all of them are T5 plays.

Ill-Gotten Gains costs 4.

Achilles' Lance is optimized to take advantage of the only unilateral draw engine in the game that doesn't have ANY penalty, tempo, life, or otherwise. The game revolves around pivotal T5 plays, not T4. Lance is one of the few decks with a strong play for the fourth turn, AND has a wide variety of five-drop solutions to take back that board after your opponent gets a turn or two of free reign, making it quite possibly the most consistently powerful deck in the game.

Mind you, other than IGG the deck doesn't have much in the way of draw... but you don't really need it. Your cards are just so much more valuable than your opponent's. Anklebreaker, Raven, Jasmine, Aeon, all of these cards are designed to keep multiple enemy allies in check at once. Very few decks can trade cards with you on a one for one basis.

Without further ado, I give you Achilles' Lance.

Super Secret Shriekhorn Tech

It's been a while since I've written for Magic, and in that time I've certainly gone off the radar with my decks. So much so that I've actually played Shriekhorn.

The sound it makes is a bit like "NOOOOOB"