Kelvin, thanks very much! Your list was very helpful. Bloodghast seems to be the missing piece to fill that last creature slot.
One question though, in your list you had 2 Smother and 2 Dismember. Why didn't you just have 4 Smother or 4 Dismember for the sake of uniformity? I'd love to hear an explanation for this.
MBA has always been intriguing to me. I'm trying to build a budget version of the deck, I already have 1 Tombstalker and 1 Sword of Fire and Ice, so that's good. Anyway, here's what I have so far:
Card choices (A lot of these are self explanatory so I will only explain the ones that aren't usually part of competitive 'The Gate' decks): Hypnotic Specter - Used to love playing with this guy and I felt I needed more than just 13 creatures (the number I would have without 2 of these guys).
Dark Ritual - Allows fast starts but is card disadvantage. I don't know if I should replace it or not. Allows first turn Nighthawks and Specters.
Loxodon Warhammer - Best budget equipment I can think of. Would you suggest something else instead?
Any other suggestions would be much, much appreciated. I'm going to try and get 1-2 more Tombstalkers but Dark Confidant,Bitterblossom and Umezawa's Jitte are out of my price range for now.
I was also thinking of running Phyrexian Arena in place of Confidant, but is it good enough to justify cutting any of the creatures or spells I already have?
This may seem like a dumb question, but are you allowed to play with cards in different languages in tournaments in the US? Assuming of course they are legal copies in whatever country they may be from?
Are there any instant or sorcery cards (besides Ancestral Recall of course) that simply say "Draw (a certain number) cards" without any other effects that have been good enough to see tournament play? I feel like almost every "vanilla" card draw spell lately has been under powered. Harmonize seems like the cheapest spell to draw 3 cards, at 4 mana.
What do you think is the right mana cost that would make Harmonize good enough to be played competitively? 3 mana still seems like maybe too much but 2 mana would be broken.
I don't foresee duals dropping in price until the game goes belly up, honestly. Legacy is the second most popular Constructed format, and if duals weren't such a barrier to entrance...it would probably be the most popular Constructed format.
This got me thinking a little bit...do you think that maybe, to make the format more accessible in future years, there is a possibility the dual lands could get banned? I know they wouldn't want it to end up like Vintage is now. I would hate to spend upwards of $3000 on sets of them if they just end up getting banned.
This is my first post, so please don't rip me apart if this isn't the right forum. Anyway, I'm thinking about starting to purchase ABUR dual lands and eventually (probably within the next couple of years) own 4 of each land. My question is how much do you think their value will increase (assuming nothing ridiculous happens like reprints), say, in the next 5 years? Considering the current cost, it is obviously quite a plunge to start purchasing these...
By the way I am an extremely inexperienced player who only plays casually at the moment, and do not plan on using these duals for tournament play anytime soon.
One question though, in your list you had 2 Smother and 2 Dismember. Why didn't you just have 4 Smother or 4 Dismember for the sake of uniformity? I'd love to hear an explanation for this.
Thanks again!
4 Abyssal Persecutor
4 Vampire Nighthawk
4 Gatekeeper of Malakir
2 Hypnotic Specter
1 Tombstalker
4 Dark Ritual
4 Hymn to Tourach
4 Duress
4 Geth's Verdict
4 Smother
2 Dismember
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Loxodon Warhammer
21 Swamp
Card choices (A lot of these are self explanatory so I will only explain the ones that aren't usually part of competitive 'The Gate' decks):
Hypnotic Specter - Used to love playing with this guy and I felt I needed more than just 13 creatures (the number I would have without 2 of these guys).
Dark Ritual - Allows fast starts but is card disadvantage. I don't know if I should replace it or not. Allows first turn Nighthawks and Specters.
Geth's Verdict - I was going to run Innocent Blood, but without Bitterblossom I thought it would be underpowered.
Loxodon Warhammer - Best budget equipment I can think of. Would you suggest something else instead?
Any other suggestions would be much, much appreciated. I'm going to try and get 1-2 more Tombstalkers but Dark Confidant,Bitterblossom and Umezawa's Jitte are out of my price range for now.
I was also thinking of running Phyrexian Arena in place of Confidant, but is it good enough to justify cutting any of the creatures or spells I already have?
Thank you very much!
What do you think is the right mana cost that would make Harmonize good enough to be played competitively? 3 mana still seems like maybe too much but 2 mana would be broken.
What about "Draw 2 cards"? 2 mana?
This got me thinking a little bit...do you think that maybe, to make the format more accessible in future years, there is a possibility the dual lands could get banned? I know they wouldn't want it to end up like Vintage is now. I would hate to spend upwards of $3000 on sets of them if they just end up getting banned.
This is my first post, so please don't rip me apart if this isn't the right forum. Anyway, I'm thinking about starting to purchase ABUR dual lands and eventually (probably within the next couple of years) own 4 of each land. My question is how much do you think their value will increase (assuming nothing ridiculous happens like reprints), say, in the next 5 years? Considering the current cost, it is obviously quite a plunge to start purchasing these...
By the way I am an extremely inexperienced player who only plays casually at the moment, and do not plan on using these duals for tournament play anytime soon.