CasualNation #11 - An Adventure in Ten Games

Posted on December 7, 2010

Hey folks and welcome to an unusual article in today's column. I am going to be talking to you about a free little application you can download and use to get your Magic on. It's called MTGForge, and it has almost 5000 [Ed. Note - They just released a new version of Forge which has 5,441 cards in it -- Trick] Magic cards in it. You can use this program in several ways, including draft, random decks, and more. You can rock against the computer or play it in various modes.

By far, my favorite mode is Quest. In Quest, you get a selection of random cards, and then have to build a deck to use as you face various foes. Over time, you get more cards, and more things to purchase. It's a bunch of fun, and I thought I'd load up the program and start a new Quest and then walk you through it and the decisions I make. They've added a ton of new features, so if the last time you've seen this was a year ago or longer, get ready for a lot of new stuff.

MTGForge is always a work in progress. There are corner cases of cards that are bugged and don't work right. There are thousands of cards in the game, and once in a while you'll notice that things don't work the way they are supposed to. It's not that common, but it does happen here and there. I want to be up front about it, though.

Alright, are you interested? Ready to see the Quest take shape? Let's begin!

I'm choosing to play on 40 games – normal. I'm playing fantasy.

I start with 250 credits, 15 starting life, and some cards. I choose to build a 60 card deck from the chaff I begin with. Let me see what I've got to work with.

I have adequate creatures in Black, but no removal other than Pestilence and Hex

I have two large flyers in Blue, and a couple of smaller flyers that are solid

I actually have Green removal (Hornet Sting, Windstorm) but few creatures

My Red includes Koth of the Hammer and a few creatures, no burn other than Acceptable Losses – ick

Can I hit a White homerun? Serra Avatar. Second Thoughts, Ekundu Griffin, Serra's Embrace…and that's all. Not that inspiring.

Each round, there is a randomly generated small selection of cards. You can purchase cards from them, let me see what we have…

There are a few creatures of adequateness I could purchase to round out a color or two if I decide to play them. Let's hack out a deck.

I purchased these cards for my deck:

1 Mountain Yeti – 48

1 Goblin Mutant – 24

1 Spitting Earth – 26

Not a great deck, but we'll see what we can do with it. I still have 152 credits.

I head to the Bazaar. Here are some things I can buy:

For 250, I can start with a 1/1 wolf token in play. Later I can level up my wolf

For 100, I can start with an 0/1 plant wall in play. Later, I can level up the wall

For 250, I can up my starting life total

I can spend 500 to increase 10% my match winnings and my sell percentage by 1%.

For 2000 credits, I can make my first mulligan free, to seven cards instead of six

Also, for 2k, I can purchase an Adventurer's map, which will increase quest assignments

All cards have price, and I can head to the card shop and sell my cards, but they only sell for 20% of their starting value, and a 500 max sale. My highest value card is Ali from Cairo, which is worth 3760. If I sold that, I could make 500 gold right now.

I choose to sell Ali from Cairo.

I purchase two starting life with my 500 gold. Now I have a starting life of 17, which is great at the very beginning.

I head out and can choose my first enemy from three random options.

Abe vs King Arthur I

Game 1

He wins the toss and goes first. I keep a three mana hand.

He leads with some duels and a Crusade. He pumps a few weenies. I trade Goblin Roughrider for one and Temporal Eddy another. I'm trying to Delay him to get the second Red mana for my Protection from White Mountain Yeti. Instead of the Yeti, I drop Ephemeron when I have 11 life and draw my 4^th Island. The next turn I play Deadly Grub and swing for four in the air. He attacks back and I trade my Grub for a Veteran Cavalier and take 3. I draw the second Red, but use it for a Viashino Sandstalker, play it, and kill him.

I keep a four land hand. He Path to Exile my Thalakos Sentry, which gives me a Red Mana. I start trading with his creatures. Then I drop a Berserker and slap him. He kills my Berserker and I have to trade a Qumulox for a Serra Angel. He has a Neurok Hoversail and is sailing over my ground based defense. I can't stop him and he kills me.

Game three. I drop a Sea Scryer on turn two, while he drops a Knight of the White Orchid. On his third turn, he Rancor it and drops a Veteran Cavalier, and attacks me for 4. Within a turn, I am really behind the 8 ball. Luckily, after another attack he Paths my Sea Scryer and I get a Mountain, and then draw a another and drop Mountain Yeti, but I'm at 7 and I have just an Unworthy Dead in play. He attacks with the Knight, I block, he tramples me for one, and then his creature dies. He plays another 2/2. Giving him three, and drops the Neurok Hoversail, which is a problem. He Rancor the Cavalier and drops a Leonin Skyhunter instead of equipping and swing. I've got an aerial problem, and draw and play my Umara Raptor. He attacks with his Skyhunter and I trade, then he drops Serra Angel. I fail to draw a second Blue for Temporal Eddy and Ephemeron is in my hand if I could roll two more mana. I Raise Dead Umara Raptor and replay it. I need time to get mana. I chump block, and then draw and play a Mountain. I play Barbarian Riftcutter and he swings for four and then drops a Convalescence and equips the Veteran Cavalier. At 2 life, I am facing two 4/4 flyers. I draw my second blue mana, and I could play either Temporal Eddy or Ephemeron, either of which would work on just the Serra Angel or just the Cavalier. I try to confuse him by playing the Ephemeron, and it works and he swings with just the flying Cavalier. I block and can't use the Ephemeron ability to bounce it back, since damage can't go on the stack anymore. It trades. He Rancor the Serra, and I Temporal Eddy it on my turn. I swing for three with my Riftcutter. Why not, after all? He activates his Knight of the Skyward Eye, equips it, hits me for 5 and I die.

Now, there is a new feature in this game. I can, if I choose, restart the duel. I don't have too. If I win, I gain credits, and if I lose, I lose them as well. I take the loss. I am out ten credits, and get a new selection of cards.

Here are the playable cards I got:

I take a look to see what's in the card shop this round. I have 137 credits after all. I buy Mystic Enforcer for 48, stocking it for a later deck. It's really good for now or later. They actually have burn, but Shard Volley is not what I need right now, so I skip it.

I edit my deck and make the following changes:

+1 Ebon Dragon

+1 Viashino Warrior

-1 Subversion

-1 Chrome Steed

I'm ready for the next game.

Abe vs Joe Kidd I

Match 2

I keep a two land hand with an Inkfathom Infiltrator. He drops Nightsky Mimc, and then serves for four after dropping a Stillmoon Cavalier. I'm getting in hits. I trade creatures for a bit, and then manage to race him with an Inkfathom Infiltrator and leveled Nirkana Cutthroat dealing 6 a turn. He stabilizes creature wise at 5 life, but three hits with the Infiltrator and I win game one.

I keep a 5 land hand. His first play is Haunted Angel on turn 3. He then drops Edge of Divinity on it, swings for 4, and plays Bottle Gnomes. My fourth turn is Bladewing's Thrall. I play Ogre Berserker and attack with both and trade with a Voracious Hatchling after he double blocks the Thrall. I have a trick for next turn, but I'm at four. I play Turtleshell Changeling, which recurs the Thrall and gives it flying. He drops another Hatchling. While I manage to drop him to six, I still lose.

I keep a three land hand. He beats with two early 1/1s, and I drop Viashino Warrior on turn 4. Evolving Wilds gives me a second Red. He plays another Haunted Angel. I play the Berserker and swing with both and we trade for all of his non-Angel creatures and my two 4/2s. I find a third Mountain and Spitting Earth the Angel, and I get the 3/3 flying token. After a few turns, I've traded a few creatures, and the token is enough to get me the victory along with a Viashino Sandstalker adding 8 damage of its own.

I won a random rare(Consume the Meek), 20 credits, and a random group of cards. What cards did I get of value?

I also got cards like Goblin Offensive, Clout of the Dominus and Firefly.

Take my 109 credits shopping and look to see what cards are available for purchase this round. I spend 18 credits on Afterlife and 24 on Cloudheath Drake. I'm skipping cards like Muscle Sliver, Ankh of Mishra, Enlistment Officer and Centaur Archer.

I make these changes:

+1 Zephid Embrace

-1 Young Wei Recruits

-1 Pestilence

-1 Temporal Eddy

In a tri-color deck, there are just too many double color cards, and I'm adding some, so I need to pull some. Pestilence and Temporal Eddy are fine cards, but not for what I'm doing – ditto a firebreather like the Ravager.

I sell Nether Spirit and purchase a 0/1 plant wall starting in play for 100 tokens, leaving me at 22.

Abe vs King King I

I keep a slow four land hand. He misses a land drop and I get a Goblin Mutant on the 4^th turn. He makes his land drop and plays Avian Changeling. I beat for five. He plays another Changeling, equips the first with Adventuring Gear, and hits me for 2. I serve for 5 more and drop Bladewing's Thrall. He plays a land and serves for 6 in the air and plays Ghostly Changeling on the ground. I play Ebon Dragon. My Thrall jumps into the air. I attack. He chumps the Mutant and is down to four life. I win two turns later.

I keep a five land hand with Koth and a Raise Dead. My opponent plays a Ghostly Changeling. I play Koth and make a Mountain swing for 4. I chump with my wall when he tries to attack Koth. I drop Inkfathom Infiltrator and hit for 4 with a Mountain. He plays Adventuring Gear, and drops a land and pumps the changeling and attacks Koth. I cannot block with the Infiltrator, so Koth bites it. He drops Deranged Hermit. I die soon thereafter.

I keep a three land hand. After some trades, I play Bladewing's Thrall on turn four. He drops Deranged Hermit. I follow with Turtleshell Changeling and Cloudheath Drake, but no attacks yet. He plays another Hermit – ouch. I find Chandra and play her, and shoot the first Hermit. I then do the same the next turn, and then play Ebon Dragon. My opponent plays and flashes back an Acorn Harvest. At 13 life, I can deal 12 damage this turn (Chandra, Dragon, Thrall, Drake) – but it's not enough to kill him. I swing with my flyers, drop the Unworthy Dead and kill a squirrel. He doesn't have enough to kill me, and he plays a third Hermit, but it doesn't matter, I fly over him for game.

2-1 record.

I get 10 credits, a random rare which is Chain Reaction, and here are the cards I got of interest:

Those are some very solid cards. What is in the card store?

I can't afford Poison Arrow. I don't think I'd ever use Molimo, so I'm not blowing money on it. If I drop my deck to two colors, and one is Black, then Order of the Ebon Hand looks tempting. I think I'm going in a different direction though.

Here are the Black cards in my deck:

Consume the Meek, Ebon Dragon, Bladewing's Thrall, Raise Dead, Nirkana Cutthroat, Deadly Grub, Unworthy Dead, and Chilling Shde

That's a list of 8 cards. I'm playing Black for 8 cards. There certainly are some good cards in Black, but's its time to Excise Black from my deck.

I Remove these eight cards. I add Chain Reaction, Firefly, Clout of the Dominus, Stormcloud Djinn, Rootwater Hunter, Spire Owl, Obsessive Serach and Temporal Eddy.

I pull the Swamp for half Island and half Mountain. I also pull Evolving Wilds for Molten Ravager. In this, it's putting the land in my hand instead of in play. As I mentioned before, there is the occasional bug, and this is one. The game works well almost all of the time, but there is the occasional glitch like that, and I don't want to lie to you and say there isn't. The value of the card drops in a two color deck to below playable in my mind.

Abe vs Homer Simpson I

I keep a three land hand and drop Tattermunge Maniac on the 1^st turn. My opponent drops a 3/3 Sedge Troll and there is nothing I can do about that. He plays another and I drop Molten Ravager. He attacks with both and I block one with my 0/1 plant wall token and another with the Ravager. He follows with Sootfeather Flock. I add a the Wu Warship to my side. I needed a 5^th land for Hunting Drake, but ah well. He eschews attacking me on the ground in order to hit me for three in the air and play both a Drowned and Battering Craghorn. I play Rootwater Hunter and take another 3 in the air. Another Drowned and a Flying Man follows. I still can't find another land. I Tim the Flying Men and take 3. He plays Wheel of Fortune, and gives me a lousy 5 land hand. Argh. He drops Sootfeather Flock and passes. I die.

Once again I get stuck at four lands with a bunch of 5 stuff in my hand. I played a Pygmy Pyrosaur and lost my wall in a chump block. I am looking down Hypnotic Specter, Spined Basher and Flying Men. I attack and he blocks the Pyrosaur with his Specter and I pump and trade. I play an Ogre Berserker to block, but he drops an FTK and kills it and swings for enough to drop me to 3. I die.

2-2.

I lost 15 credits and got some new cards. Here are the ones I find interesting:

Sootfeather Flock (of my own)

Mulldrifter

Izzet Signet

I go shopping and find that there are two cards that interest me – Cephalid Retainer and Vigilant Drake. I have 17 credits and can purchase neither. I sell Debtor's Knell, and for 20% of its price, I get enough to buy both cards. I have 9 credits left after purchases.

I add the four major cards (Signet, Drifter, Retainer and Drake). I pull:

I want a more permanent creature than the Sandstalker. I don't like the 0/4 nature of the Molten Ravager, and the Maniac doesn't fit my deck. I do like the Dominus, but I don't have enough power to play with it right now. Ironically, I have very little burn in my deck, so I have to emphasize quality creatures and control elements like the Retainer.

Abe vs Darrin Stephens I

I have to mulligan to 5 cards. Spire Owl helps to smooth my draw. He drops Frogmite. I play an on curve Rootwater Hunter. He attacks and plays Etherium Sculptor, I kill the Sculptor after it attacks and I block with the Owl and deal another damage with the Hunter. I drop Umara Raptor and my opponent plays a Hoverguard and plays Thoughtcast. I tim for one and chump block the Frogmite with my 0/1 plant. I can trade the Raptor for the Hoverguard. Then he drops an Arcbound Stinger, which is no good. I can tim it, but then that Frogmite gets to be too big to handle. I do it anyway, and drop Stormcloud Djinn. My opponent attacks, I trade, then he drops a Scepter of Insight. I play Chandra Nalaar and burn the Frogmite. I start swinging. I drop a Goblin Mutant to help and my opponent dies quickly.

I keep a 3 Island hand. I slam Inkfathom Infiltrator on turn 2, hoping to ride it to victory. My opponent lays Frogmite and attacks, then Hoverguard. I have no four drop so I play Zephid's Embrace in order to speed up my Infiltrator beats. I take five and my foe drops an Enforcer and Frogmite. I play my 5^th land and play Mulldrifter. My foe attacks with everything. My wall chumps the Enforcer, and my Mulldrifter trades with the Hoverguard. Darrin plays an Arcbound Worker, Sculptor, and Thirst For Knowledge and passes. I am at six. I drop Spire Owl but have nothing coming up soon. Spitting Earth kills a Frogmite and Sea Scryer will chump for me. I chump and take 2. I attack with the Infiltrator and my foe is at 2. I play my last two creatures – Turtleshell Changeling and Goblin Roughrider. I pass, and then my foe does not attack, wanting to keep back blockers, since he would not win. I attack and win.

3-2

New cards, 20 credits, and my random rare is Infernal Contract.

Any good cards?

Moaning Spirit

Cloudheath Drake

Tidehollow Strix

Just one card for my deck here.

The card shop has one card I want, and I sell Infernal Contract for very little, but it's enough to pay for Inspired Sprite. I pull Thalakos Sentry and Wu Warship for the Drake and Sprite.

Abe vs Kojak I

I keep a 3 land hand. My opponent counters my 3^rd turn Viashino Warrior after I dropped a Signet. Then he follows with Spire Golem. I race with Inkfathom Infiltrator and Pygmy Pyrosaur. He plays Invisibilty and another creature, I drop Ephemeron. He plays Dandan and I play Goblin Mutant. He's getting low on life and chooses not to attack. I play Koth and swing with a 4/4 Mountain ,Ephemeron, and the Infilitarator. He trades a Dandan for the Mountain, chumps my Ephemeron and drops to 6. I kill him next turn.

I keep another three land hand. He drops Briarberry Cohort and swings, then I play Umara Raptor. He holds back, and I play Turtleshell Changeling and swing with my now 3/3 Raptor. My opponent plays a Faerie Swarm and Merrow Levitator over the next two turns. After flashing out a Sprite, I hit him for 5 and take him to 5. He begins to stabilize after playing a Tidings, and I can't have that, so I attack all out. I flip the power and toughness of the Changeling and kill him with it.

I get a fast kill bonus and win 26 credits. Random rare is Steely Resolve, and I got new cards.

Ethereal Whispergill

Repulse

Barl's Cage

Master Decoy

The cards I want to target include Mishra's Factory, Intuition, and Air Servant. I grab the Air Servant with my winnings. It has a surprisingly low cost. I sold Steely Resolve. I don't have enough for the Factory (79). I have 71 though, I am very close. I sell a Portal jank card I have, Bargain, and purchase the Factory.

I have 1 credit left. Nicely done. The Intuition is in the 800s, so that won't be happening. I add the Air Servant, Repulse, and the Factory and pull Barbarian Riftcutter, Viashino Warrior and Obsessive Search.

I find that I keep pulling my Red. I'm not getting burn. The cards just don't happen to be coming my way. All I'm getting from Red is some creatures and the two heavy hitters – Koth and Chandra. I'm running 11 Red cards, and those could easily be replaced by another color that has a deeper 11. I decide to commit and I pull the Izzet Signet, Mountain, and all Red cards completely. I then add:

+1 Shepherd of the Lost

+1 Afterlife

+1 Holy Light

+1 Barl's Cage

This has more removal. I think it's a more consistent deck.

Let's see what we can do with it.

I sell Dwarven Trader and Young Wei Recruits for some spending cash, and then I choose to fight.

Abe vs Buffy I

I keep my three land hand. My second turn play is a Master Decoy. My opponent rocks a Boggart Ram-Gang and nails me for 3 because I attacked with the Decoy. I Serra's Embrace the Decoy and Smite for 3. I get it Threatened and take 6 back. I Smite back, and then keep my five mana open. I get my Decoy Threatened again (which I feared) and I Second Thoughts the Ram Gang and get dropped to 5. I drop Air Servant, Smite for three and pass the turn. I tap his Smoldering Butcher at the end of his turn. Embrace on a Decoy is harsh. I drop Barl's Cage, tap the Butcher, and then swing for game. That was easy.

I keep a 2 land hand. I swing with a Factory on turns 2-5. My opponent is swinging with a Bog Imp. I finally grab another land, and it's Blue. I have four mana. I play Sea Scryer. I animate my Factory to block and kill Stone-Throwing Devils. I draw an Island. Now I'm in business. My foe has a Smoldering Butcher out. I play Mulldrifter. I trade it with the Butcher. Then I hit for 2 with the Factory and play Shepherd of the Lost. I hit for 5 and drop Cloudheath Drake. I win again.

5-2 now, and my prizes are 21 credits, Mogg Sentry and new cards. The new ones of interest are Devour in Shadow, Cephalid Broker, Ophidian Eye, Firebolt and Yellow Scarves General. There's also a Thermal Blast in the Card Shop, and we begin to see burn in Red, once I had pulled it out. Funny. I choose not to purchase some cheap equipment (Darksteel Axe and Leonin Scimitar). I sell Borrowing the East Wind and I go shopping to the Bazaar.

I have 260 credits to go shopping with. Options include:

Spend 150 to upgrade my 0/1 plant wall token to a 0/2

250 for that 1/1 wolf

250 for a life

All of these have value to me. I want more starting life for my control deck, so I visit the Apothecary and purchase it.

Abe vs Sherlock Holmes I

I have to mulligan once. I take 2 from a Nettle Sentinel and he plays Elvish Warrior. Aggro deck alert! I play Terashi's Verdict on the Warrior and chump block the Sentinel. He plays People of the Woods. He attacks me for 3 and untaps the Sentinel with a Three Visits. Stuck at three lands, I draw and play Umara Raptor. I trade with an attacking Sentinel, and my foe drops Baru, Fist of Krosa. I Afterlife Baru. He drops Rushwood Elemental and Juvenile Gloomwidow. I play Raise the Alarm to make some blockers. I take 8 and I am at 2. I draw my 4^th land, but it's way too late. I have Second Thoughts for the Elemental. I can play Holy Light or Inspired Sprite, but neither will help me.

I have to mulligan a one land hand again. Blast. I keep a two land hand at six cards with a Spire Owl. I play it on turn two to give myself some land but…I have none in my next four cards. Sheesh. I play Master Decoy and then try to survive for a while. He drops bigger and bigger cards and hits Force of Nature on the curve and kills me.

I do win some new cards, but I lost 15 credits. 5-3 is my record.

New cards of interest:

Earthquake

Expendable Troops

Beast Attack, Zodiac Tiger

In the card shop, I wish I had some money, because look at the goods I could get – Lightning Greaves; Rebuff the Wicked; Radiant, Archangel. I purchase Sejiri Steppe.

I add the Steppe to my deck and keep it at 61 cards.

Abe vs Tarzan I

I keep a three land hand with both of my colors. I drop Spire Owl and set my next four draws. I drop a Rootwater Hunter and start killing his creatures while I swing for three a turn with a Mishra's Factory and an Owl. I add a Mulldrifter, and kill him with several attacks.

I keep a two land hand that has a Spire Owl. My opponent leads with Jungle Lion – ick. I put Thornwind Faeries on top of my deck after I play the Owl. I trade my Owl for his Lion and take damage from Barbary Apes, and he follows with Gorilla Warrior. Next turn I jump my wall in front of the Gorilla Warrior and take two, and play the Faeries. I then Serra's Embrace the Faeries, and hit him for three in the air. I take three from the Gorilla Warrior, then tap and shoot him for one. I untap and Repulse the Gorilla Warrior back. He plays Wild Elephant. I drop a Cloudheath Drake to trade with the Elephant while I continue to Dominate the air with my Faeries. He does, and I follow with another Drake. I trade it with a Gorilla Warrior replayed, and then win the next turn.

6-3

I got 26 credits, new cards, no random rare though

Here are the new cards that matter:

Deep Analysis

Bonesplitter

That's really it, actually. I head to the card shop to see what's up.

I purchase a Sunblast Angel.

I want a Boreal Shelf as well, but I don't have enough so I sell Artifact Ward, Inner-Chamber Guard and Kamahl's Desire for it. I am back down to 1 credit left.

I passed on purchasing Spire Golem, Sarcomite Myr, or the many good Green creatures (like Plated Spider or Kozilek's Predator)

After consideration, I don't want to add Bonesplitter. I'm adding Deep Analysis, Sunblast Angel and Boreal Shelf. I pull Inkfathom Infiltrator, Plains, and Temporal Eddy.

I absolutely adore Sunblast Angel, so I am very happy to see it here.

We are 6-3 overall, which means I have one match left for this article. Time for our final battle, against…

Abe vs Jack Sparrow I

I keep a two mana hand with a Sea Scryer. I then draw a land and drop the Spire Owl I drew. I attack for 2 with a Factory while my opponent led with a Talas Scout. I'm much faster out of the gate due to Factory and Scryer. I have Shepherd of the Lost for a 4^th turn beater of significance, but I can't drop it – no White mana, and none in sight. Instead of dropping Rootwater Hunter and swinging for two, I play Deep Analysis, because I know I need to find White mana soon, because I have some White cards coming up. Unfortunately, it sees a Counterspell, so I follow by attacking for two. I attack for four and then try to Flash it back. It pulls a Dissipate. My opponent keeps attacking with the Scout, and then plays an Ancestral Recall. I drop the Hunter and swing for three, and my opponent stops me after dropping Armored Galleon. I have the answer in my hand, but I need White mana. Come on Plains!

Here is my hand – Master Decoy, Afterlife, Terashi's Verdict, Shepherd of the Lost, Serra's Embrace. Argh! I chump block the Galleon with my Plant Wall, and then I tap the Hunter to kill a Rishadan Airship he tried to sneak past me. I draw a Cloudheath Drake. Whew! I play it and will chump block and then tap the Hunter to off the Galleon, and then I run into a False Summoning. I chump block with a Spire Owl, tim him for one, and he drops Ramirez DePietro. Needing that White badly, I top deck – Inspired Sprite. I pass the turn. I chump the Galleon with my Tim, and then tap it to deal him one. I take 5 and I am at 4. I Flash out the Inspired Spirite, and run into another False Summoning. I untap, draw Cephalid Retainer, try to play it, it gets Counterspelled, and that's the game.

I keep a 5 land hand. I drop a 2^nd turn Master Decoy, third turn Umara Raptor. He plays Rishadan Airship. I choose to attack with my Decoy for one, and then try and Terashi's Verdict the Airship when it attacks, drawing a Counterspell. I attack back for three and drop Hunting Drake. I trade with the Airship and my opponent drops the Armored Galleon again. While tapped out, I play Raise the Alarm and swing for two in the air. I begin to lock down the Galleon with my Master Decoy. I hit for four twice, and my opponent is doing nothing. Finally, my opponent tries a Talas Scout as a blocker. I attack with just my Raptor and force the chump block. I lock down the Galleon again, and my foe adds a Pirate Ship to his side. I tap it on my turn and swing my opponent to 1. My foe kills a soldier and keeps back the Galleon. My attack for two in the air wins.

Game Three!!! It's awesome that my final match takes me to three games. I have a four land hand with both colors and a Factory. I keep. I lead with the Factory and swing for two on turn two. My foe leads with a Talas Scout. I play Wild Aesthir. My opponent attacks me for one and drops Cloud Pirates and Talas Merchant. I run through him with both an activated Factory and my Aesthir. My foe blocks the factory and I pump the Aesthir to deal 3 damage. My foe attacks me back for three with his creatures, and then plays Leonin Scimitar and Cloud Pirates take two.

I draw and play my 5^th land. I have a few options. 1). Zephid's Embrace the Aesthir and have a 3/3 first strike shroud flyer than can be pumped in the front. It will rule the skies. 2). I could also play a Vigilante Drake or Ekundu Griffin. 3). Finally, I have Afterlife and Repulse I could use. Considering the board, I feel that the Embrace is the best play right now. My opponent fails to attack me. I play my 6^th land. I swing for 5 and then try to drop Ekundu Griffin for defense, but I run into Dissipate. My foe equips and swings back for 5. I can hit for 7 if I wanted too. Animate the Factory, pump the Aesthir, and knock my foe to 5. I could keep back removal, and even if countered, I would take 5 and be at 4. I do it. I Terashi's Verdict the Scout and I'm down to 6. My foe plays a Talas Air Ship. I Animate my Factory, give it Pro Blue with a Sejiri Steppe, and then swing for two. My foe drops Rishadan Airship and tries to pass the turn. I Repulse the Talas Air Ship back. I swing with the Aesthir and force a chump block. Then I drop a Vigilant Drake. The Talas Air Ship is replayed and again I press with my Aesthir. Another chump block. My foe drops another Talas Air Ship. I attack again, and another chump block. I drop a Decoy. Next turn, I attack again, this time with everything, after I tap down an Air Ship, and I win.

Whew – close!

I finished 7-3 overall. Here is my booty from the final match.

12 credits. New cards. The only two good new cards are Bituminous Blast and Fiery Fall.

The card shop has Qasali Pridemage and Man-o'-War that interest me for future games. If I was still Blue/Black, there is also a great card for it – Balshan Collaborator. I'm Blue/White very strongly for now. Even without any countermagic, I think it's very strong for now.

Thus ends the quest!

That was a lot of typing. This article is clocking in at almost 6000 words. I hope you had fun following it! There are a lot of strong cards in Magic we often forget about, and stuff like this helps me to remember. It triggers my memories when I am looking for cards for EDH decks or articles and such.

Are you interested in getting MTG Forge? Great! You can find it here:

http://mtgrares.blogspot.com/

My friends absolutely adore it. Enjoy!

See you next week,

Abe Sargent

PS – Are you interested in following this quest as it continues? Then you can check out my forum post over here, where I continue to keep this up past 10 games:

http://www.operationsports.com/fofc/showthread.php?p=2387046#post2387046

TAGS articles, casual

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