Flavorwise, Jitte made no sense to me. How is a dagger like weapon made to block blades doing all those effects? How does wounding someone give it charges?
It's not just any jitte, it's Umezawa's Jitte.
In the story, Toshi performed magic by drawing symbols using blood on his jitte (sometimes his own).
Went with the Skyknight. Archon is powerful, but a little pricey. Early in a format when I'm not too sure about the speed, I prefer to play faster aggro decks over slower controllish decks.
Protection from [something] does four specific things: D - Protected permanents can't be dealt damage by [something]. E - Protected permanents can't be enchanted/equipped by [something]. B - Protected permanents can't be blocked by [something]. T - Protected permanents can't be targeted by [something] spells or abilities.
Riders of Gavony does none of the above, so the protection it gives doesn't nullify itself.
Is the Riders' ability not an enchantment on the humans afterwords? So humans can gain a protection from humans ability from a human?
Riders of Gavony isn't an enchantment, his ability is simply a static ability that applies to Human creatures. Even if it were, though, protection doesn't stop global enchantments from applying, just Auras. So, for example, giving a white creature protection from white wouldn't cause it to lose the bonus from Honor of the Pure.
BR splashing U for Hypersonic Dragon and Cyclonic Rift. I'm hesitant about splashing a third color due to the ridiculously bad mana fixing, but it looks necessary given how shallow this pool is.
Stab Wound. It's removal, continual loss of life, and/or diminishment all in one clean mono-colored package.
The Spree is a good choice. So is the Guildmage... My question is which two people chose the Zanikev Locust? I want to know your reasoning behind taking inefficient creature first over strong removal...
I was one of the people who picked Zanikev Locust, although in retrospect I probably undervalued Stab Wound. My reasoning was that I didn't want to lock myself into Rakdos this early over Auger Spree, so I was looking at the monocolored cards. Locust is comparable to Skyline Predator in terms of cost v.s. size, and I think Skyline Predator is a reasonable card for your starting 40, even if it isn't exactly first-pick material. The scavenge on Locust is a decent deal as well (4 mana for permanent +3/+3).
The problem with Stab Wound is that I'm not exactly sure how to value "loses 2 life each turn". Ideally when I use Stab Wound I want to be killing something, and -2/-2 costs only B (Disfigure, Dead Weight). Even if I want to use the "lose 2 life" effect, the opponent can easily throw the creature away as a chump blocker if I attack. Basically, at first pass I didn't really like Stab Wound's cost.
Looking back at the whole set, there seems to be a reasonable number of playable X/1s and X/2s (e.g. all the guildmages - yeah I didn't think that one through), so Stab Wound was probably the better pick. Still, I contend that Zanikev Locust is in the better half of this pack.
Desecration Demon does not cause a trigger, therefor nothing goes on the stack, and therefor it is a special action:
Creature - Demon
Flying
At the beginning of each combat, any opponent may sacrifice a creature. If a player does, tap Desecration Demon and put a +1/+1 counter on it.
The choice is made on the opponents 'begin of combat step', and not on the one of the owner of the demon.
Therefor you can sacrifice a creature.
"At the beginning of each combat." Sounds like a trigger to me.
Quote from "Magic CR" »
603.1. Triggered abilities have a trigger condition and an effect. They are written as "[Trigger condition], [effect]," and begin with the word "when," "whenever," or "at." They can also be expressed as "[When/Whenever/At] [trigger event], [effect]."
603.2b When a phase or step begins, all abilities that trigger "at the beginning of" that phase or step trigger.
506.1. The combat phase has five steps, which proceed in order: beginning of combat, declare attackers, declare blockers, combat damage, and end of combat.
A triggered ability is still a triggered ability even if it triggers on an opponent's turn. In the same vein, players can respond to Desecration Demon asking someone to sac a creature by casting Stifle, Voidslime, Midnight Haunting, Doom Blade, and so on.
Desecration Demon's ability is not a special action. Special actions are well defined in the rules (http://wiki.mtgsalvation.com/article/Special_Action). Desecration Demon's ability is a triggered ability that gives the opponent the option to sacrifice a creature. Look at this other ruling on Sigarda:
"5/1/2012 As a spell or ability an opponent controls resolves, if it would force you to sacrifice a permanent, you just don't. That part of the effect does nothing. If that spell or ability gives you the option to sacrifice a permanent (as Brain Gorger's ability does), you can't take that option."
Just an FYI, Sigarda does not prevent a player from sacrificing creatures to tap Desecration Demon, per rulings:
"5/1/2012 You may sacrifice a permanent as a special action, even if the effect that allows you to do so comes from an opponent's permanent (such as Damping Engine or Volrath's Curse). No one controls special actions."
Cheers
Desecration Demon's ability is not a special action. The relevant ruling you're looking for is this:
"5/1/2012 As a spell or ability an opponent controls resolves, if it would force you to sacrifice a permanent, you just don't. That part of the effect does nothing. If that spell or ability gives you the option to sacrifice a permanent (as Brain Gorger's ability does), you can't take that option."
Au contraire my friend, Thragtusk/Sigarda/Huntmaster/Abrupt decay/Garruk are all more than fine cards in a tap out control style deck
Fair enough, I was thinking more of the removal+finishers style of control. Other than Sigarda and Abrupt Decay, the other cards look more like midrange threats/stall cards than legitimate finishers a control deck would play.
Last time I checked, Far seek is a pretty darn good fixer to me.
Also we are still expecting some type of other artifact mana fixing, probably not signets, but still hopefully something constructed playable.
With the cards that have been spoiled already, plus existing cards, I can already make a very good looking Bant shell deck, that splashes red + black.
Same goes for a Junk deck, splashing blue/red, but this will be slightly trickier to pull off.
While green gives you good mana fixing, it doesn't give you much else in the way of control spells.
I think I'm gonna just play a bunch of Terminus and Azorius Charms. That should help me out until I drop something better than a Sigarda. I mean, that's if she becomes super popular.
Except that you can't Azorius Charm a Sigarda.
The best Sigarda killer right now is probably Vampire Nighthawk.
I don't know why anybody thinks a 5CC mana base is possible in the current standard. You're way too reliant on sticking a Chromatic Lantern to make anything work. It looks like you're trying to play UB primary, RG secondary and W tertiary, which sounds like a disaster (too heavy on too many colors).
Here's some advice:
- I think the best mana base for 5CC right now is Liliana with the Swamp shocklands, with Chromatic Lantern as secondary support.
- Wait for Gatecrash and the other shocklands. You might even be able to ditch Chromatic Lantern.
- Stick with Esper colors. It's tempting to want to play Abrupt Decay and Dreadbore, but you're sacrificing a lot of mana consistency for little marginal gain. Most of what they achieve can be done just as well with Detention Sphere + Oblivion Ring. The quality of counterspells in Standard right now is so bad that the uncounterability on Counterflux (and Abrupt Decay) doesn't mean much; rather I think Dissipate is the way to go here, especially with Zombies looking to be an important deck post rotation. You also get better board wipes like Supreme Verdict, Terminus, and shockland-fuelled Mutilates. You get to replace Huntmaster with Lingering Souls for early blocking. Your finisher of choice would probably be Drogskol Reaver.
The biggest hit with playing Esper is that you lose snapcasted Abrupt Decay/Dreadbore, but there is a lot of Snapcasterhate being printed in RTR. Also, Detention Sphere and Oblivion Ring dodge Judge's Familiar.
It's not just any jitte, it's Umezawa's Jitte.
Protection from [something] does four specific things:
D - Protected permanents can't be dealt damage by [something].
E - Protected permanents can't be enchanted/equipped by [something].
B - Protected permanents can't be blocked by [something].
T - Protected permanents can't be targeted by [something] spells or abilities.
Riders of Gavony does none of the above, so the protection it gives doesn't nullify itself.
Riders of Gavony isn't an enchantment, his ability is simply a static ability that applies to Human creatures. Even if it were, though, protection doesn't stop global enchantments from applying, just Auras. So, for example, giving a white creature protection from white wouldn't cause it to lose the bonus from Honor of the Pure.
I was one of the people who picked Zanikev Locust, although in retrospect I probably undervalued Stab Wound. My reasoning was that I didn't want to lock myself into Rakdos this early over Auger Spree, so I was looking at the monocolored cards. Locust is comparable to Skyline Predator in terms of cost v.s. size, and I think Skyline Predator is a reasonable card for your starting 40, even if it isn't exactly first-pick material. The scavenge on Locust is a decent deal as well (4 mana for permanent +3/+3).
The problem with Stab Wound is that I'm not exactly sure how to value "loses 2 life each turn". Ideally when I use Stab Wound I want to be killing something, and -2/-2 costs only B (Disfigure, Dead Weight). Even if I want to use the "lose 2 life" effect, the opponent can easily throw the creature away as a chump blocker if I attack. Basically, at first pass I didn't really like Stab Wound's cost.
Looking back at the whole set, there seems to be a reasonable number of playable X/1s and X/2s (e.g. all the guildmages - yeah I didn't think that one through), so Stab Wound was probably the better pick. Still, I contend that Zanikev Locust is in the better half of this pack.
You are correct.
"At the beginning of each combat." Sounds like a trigger to me.
A triggered ability is still a triggered ability even if it triggers on an opponent's turn. In the same vein, players can respond to Desecration Demon asking someone to sac a creature by casting Stifle, Voidslime, Midnight Haunting, Doom Blade, and so on.
Desecration Demon's ability is not a special action. Special actions are well defined in the rules (http://wiki.mtgsalvation.com/article/Special_Action). Desecration Demon's ability is a triggered ability that gives the opponent the option to sacrifice a creature. Look at this other ruling on Sigarda:
"5/1/2012 As a spell or ability an opponent controls resolves, if it would force you to sacrifice a permanent, you just don't. That part of the effect does nothing. If that spell or ability gives you the option to sacrifice a permanent (as Brain Gorger's ability does), you can't take that option."
For comparison, look at Damping Engine/Volrath's Curse (examples of special actions) versus Brain Gorgers.
Desecration Demon's ability is not a special action. The relevant ruling you're looking for is this:
"5/1/2012 As a spell or ability an opponent controls resolves, if it would force you to sacrifice a permanent, you just don't. That part of the effect does nothing. If that spell or ability gives you the option to sacrifice a permanent (as Brain Gorger's ability does), you can't take that option."
Compare the wording of Desecration Demon's ability to Brain Gorgers, which is A LOT more similar than Damping Engine or Volrath's Curse.
Fair enough, I was thinking more of the removal+finishers style of control. Other than Sigarda and Abrupt Decay, the other cards look more like midrange threats/stall cards than legitimate finishers a control deck would play.
While green gives you good mana fixing, it doesn't give you much else in the way of control spells.
Except that you can't Azorius Charm a Sigarda.
The best Sigarda killer right now is probably Vampire Nighthawk.
Here's some advice:
- I think the best mana base for 5CC right now is Liliana with the Swamp shocklands, with Chromatic Lantern as secondary support.
- Wait for Gatecrash and the other shocklands. You might even be able to ditch Chromatic Lantern.
- Stick with Esper colors. It's tempting to want to play Abrupt Decay and Dreadbore, but you're sacrificing a lot of mana consistency for little marginal gain. Most of what they achieve can be done just as well with Detention Sphere + Oblivion Ring. The quality of counterspells in Standard right now is so bad that the uncounterability on Counterflux (and Abrupt Decay) doesn't mean much; rather I think Dissipate is the way to go here, especially with Zombies looking to be an important deck post rotation. You also get better board wipes like Supreme Verdict, Terminus, and shockland-fuelled Mutilates. You get to replace Huntmaster with Lingering Souls for early blocking. Your finisher of choice would probably be Drogskol Reaver.
The biggest hit with playing Esper is that you lose snapcasted Abrupt Decay/Dreadbore, but there is a lot of Snapcaster hate being printed in RTR. Also, Detention Sphere and Oblivion Ring dodge Judge's Familiar.