Because of the never-ending release of new cards from the game Magic:The Gathering, I want to pass on my knowledge and opinions on certain cards that are valuable or destructive to each deck construction.
1) Thawing Glaciers
Thawing Glaciers is one of the best cards available for the Type
II environment. If you are using a single-colored deck or a dual-colored
one, it is necessary to use this card to get rid of your land in your
library. Not only does it thin-out your deck and increase your chances of
getting a spell in the middle of the game and not a useless piece of land,
it also makes you reshuffle your library whenever you notice that certain
cards have become stuck after you reshuffled your library at the start of
the match (for example, you notice that for three consecutive turns, you
drew a land). In the case of decks consisting of more than three colors,
Thawing Glaciers is very much needed for it gets the right color of
mana on crucial moments in the game. This card is also good for certain
times, like after you casted Haups or an Armaggedon. Just keep in mind that
you need one more land to activate Thawing Glaciers.
There is a debate on: "When should I use the Thawing Glaciers?..at the
other player's discard phase or during my upkeep?" This is on a case-to-
case basis. When you know that the other player has land-destruction
capability (Stone Rain), you better use it during
your upkeep, to avoid it getting destroyed during the other player's turn.
When you know that the other player doesn't have any land-destructive cards,
do it at the end of his/her turn, just in case you need to use a
bolt or an arcaine denial.
This is a very good card and I recommend that, whatever your deck is, you
should put at least one in your deck.
2) Hammer of Bogardan
Hammer of Bogardan is a good card, certainly because of its
ability:during your upkeep, for 3 red mana and 2 other mana, bring back
Hammer of Bogardan to your hand from the graveyard. So, as long as your
mana holds, you certainly have a never-ending bolt. If your deck is aimed
on winning in the mid-game or the end-game, you should use this. Do not use
this card if your deck has a card that would make-"boom" your land
(like Haups or Armaggedon). Your mana will certainly not hold up.
Also, if your deck is supposed to be a fast deck, like a weenie deck, it's
better if you would put Fireblasts and/or
Incinerates to finish the guy as soon as possible.
Both the cards that I mentioned can be casted using only two lands, not like
the Hammer that needs 3 mana to cast and 5 mana to get back.
3) Jalum Tome
The game is getting intense, perspiration can be seen from both you and your
opponent. Every card you draw is essential for you to win. He is down to
two, you, on the other hand, are down to one. Your opponent puts down a
Wildfire Emmisary,...done. He's tapped out. Your only hope is to draw a
direct damage card, maybe an "Incinerate" or a "Drain Life". You untap.
What do you draw? @#$%!, you drew land, for Christ's sake!
Don't you hate this when it happens to you? One sollution to this
problem is putting a "Thawing Glaciers" into your deck. But sometimes, it
just ain't enough. Jalum Tome is a good answer for this. When it's in the
middle of the game, you really don't have any use for your land, if it's in
your hand or if it is still in your library. "Jayemdae Tome" might help,
but four mana is just too much, because if you activate it during your turn,
you might not have enough mana to cast something else. The "Jalum Tome
is one good solution for this dillema. The draw back, discarding a card
after you drew one, wouldn't hurt that much if it is already at the middle
of the game. Most of the time, you will have an extra land in your hand.
That is one thing that you can certainly throw. Even your Dark Rituals,..
when you have enough mana on the board, you really don't have a need for
them. Also, Jalum Tome is cheap vs. Jayemdae Tome. Sometimes, that
two extra mana is all you need to cast an "Incinerate" or a "Thunder Bolt".
4) Kjeldoran Outpost
This is certainly one of the best cards that is available for the Type II
environment. For only a minimal amount of mana, you get to create 1/1
soldier tokens which can either attack or block. They are what you call:
sacrificial pawns. Kjeldoran outposts are very good when you are
playing blue/white. The thing with this deck is to counter everything the
opponent casts and protecting yourself from what the opponent has put down.
Thus the name: "Counter-Post".
When using this kind of deck, the secret is not to be scared when your life
drops to around 10 or 5. This is a set-up deck, and it takes time and
patience to get things going your way. This deck needs brains and the
right cards at the right moment to win. Put a lot of counterspells and a
lot of anti-creatures (or a Circle of Protection)
and keep in mind that you don't have to do anything aggresive before the
Kjeldoran Outpost comes out.
The only thing that I want to say to the beginners is to create your tokens
at the end of your opponent's turn (or during his/her discard phase). When
playing a counter-post deck, you need the extra mana during your
opponents turn to cast a "Swords to Plowshares"
or a "CounterSpell". If you see that he didn't
do anything significant, create the token.
5) City of Solitude
City of Solitude is a good card, when you know when to use it. Some
people think that the City is only good for a
sideboard against blue. Think of it, once you put down this card, what
would the counterspells be worth. Zit. Anything you put down, blue may
not interfere for he cannot cast counterspells during your turn (City).
Also, it is good against Counter-Post decks. The
opponent may not be able to make soldier tokens during the end of your
turn, thus wasting valuable mana on his/her turn just to make a 1/1 token.
The same goes for Sacred Mesa decks. If you get
to kill all his flying thingies during your turn, it's KAPOOF for it. The
best part is it hinders the abilities of some creatures to phase out when
needed (Rainbow Efreet, Frenetic Efreet, Mist Dragon), thus making them
a whole lot easier to kill.
But what if you make a deck that would certainly be using the most of the
City that would all in all hurt all decks. Makes you wonder, doesn't it.
Just imagine, a Ball Lightning or a
Yavimaya Ants would not be Incinerated, possibly
blocked, but still damaging your opponent and killing a creature. Your
Suq'Ata Lancers will certainly be as effective as
a bolt, and your Viashino SandStalker will not be
killed, but if so, taking one of your opponents creatures to the graveyard.
To make things short, the best way in playing this card would be having
"No Summoning Sickness" creatures, assuring them to have at least one
successfull attack.
6) Rainbow Efreet
Okay, so all of us saw that the Mist Dragon was
a cool, if not the best dragon ever made. "Earthquake
!", it flies! "Hurricane!", it does not
fly! "Dark Banish?", oops, it's phased out!
The best way to kill it is to wait until the player makes a wrong step,
then kill it! The only thing wrong with this card is when phasing it, it
costs a bundle. So you ask for something cheaper? Rainbow Efreet.
Okay,so it is not as cool as the dragon, but it only costs 2 Blue mana to
phase it out! A much harder to kill creature. Players don't have to spend
a counterspell protecting the Efreet. A better plus is that it is 3/1 and
it flies. This is a very cool creature and it is a must when playing a
deck with blue in it.
7) Frenetic Efreet
The Rainbow Efreet was cool, but if you want a cheaper to cast
creature and a lot of risk, try using the Frenetic Efreet. With a
casting cost of only 1 blue, 1 red, and one colorless, you get to bring it
down. That was the cheap part. Imagine, a 2/2 creature that flies on the
third turn! What's the risky part? I can say that this is the better part.
With no activation cost, you may flip a coin and if the toss ends up in
your favor, it phases out. If it ends up in your opponent's favor, it is
buried. With a 50/50 chance of killing it, players will have to use twice
as much just to kill one creature. Also, you don't have to save the extra
extra mana just to phase this creature out. The thing I like playing with
this card is to look at the opponents face when the toss ends up in the
Frenetic's favor. What do you think? Your opponent loses just because he
got fed up with the Frenetic's ability to piss him off. Cool.
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