MTG Salvation

Moved to rulings.

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You would gain 4 life only, as Avatar of Hope will only do 4 damage between the two creatures.

No matter how many creatures Avatar of Hope block, the 4 damage it deals will be split amongst the attacking creatures based on the order you choose to deal damage to them. As damage is dealt, you will gain life equal to the damage dealt.

If anyone is attending CommandFestDC - hit me up a PM. I'd love to meet some of you there!

Quote from seilaoque »

then it puts 1 "regeneration shield" on a creature every turn.

You can put the counters on opponents' creatures to steal them. Plus, you get to re-use ETBs.

He'll be more in tune for Commander, it seems.

Some of them have started to trickle in, and man - people are in for a treat this year!

Quote from Carthage »

"You sound like you just don't want to lose"
"I can't spend money on cards right now"
"I only have the one deck"

These ones can be a good basis for a starting conversation - for the one who can't spend money on cards - perhaps a discussion with the group about budget - in order to keep the game on a more even level would help be more inclusive for that person. Likewise for the person who only has one deck. Having one deck doesn't need to be a barrier either - There's bound to be a middle ground each of you can reach with simple modifications to the deck.

"I want to win"
"I prefer games with stronger cards"
"Combo is just part of the game"

These ones aren't necessarily a failure - these people are discussing and making their own preferences clear. Some groups simply will run at a higher powerlevel because they want to.

While I usually don't do Land D recomendations - with Rakdos, it seems pretty straight forward - Can't sac lands if no one has any.

Nice! Welcome back Stooge!

Getting some PMs from some new folks! Welcome new folks!

Xathrid Necromancer is another effect of that style. Pawn of ulamog and Sifter of Skulls are probably better, since they'll give mana back. Open the Graves is another token creator.

Shirei, Shizo's catetaker will get your dudes back, and I recently discovered No Rest for the Wicked which seems fun.

Midnight Reaper, Grim haruspex, and Dark Prophecy can keep the cards coming.

Welcome aboard!

Glad to have you on board!

Hey everyone! Welcome to the 13th installment of the Holiday card exchange, except that this time is also a first. We'll be doing a joint card exchange crossing over with the MTGNexus forums as well this year!

The deadline: December 11, 2019.


Here is an introduction for those of you new to this - or - a refresher for the old timers:

How the exchange works

The premise is simple. First, MTGSalvation and MTGNexus members from all over the world send me personally altered cards. Then, as Christmas approaches, I randomly send their cards to someone else who participated. It's a fun gift exchange that's always a blast.

What do I mean by personally altered? Does that you mean you have to be as good as the people over in the official altered art thread? Not at all! What's important is that you personalize your cards. For example, here are just a handful of cards done over the past few years:


As you can see, there is a lot of variation in what people choose to do. Featured is wide range of artistic talent, from doodles to full-blown alters. Just make it fun. In general, if you wouldn't be happy with receiving it from somebody else, you should alter it until you would be.

How to Participate

Participating is easy! Just send me a PM with your address, and I'll send you mine back. All you have to do after that is send me your cards along with appropriate packaging and postage to mail your cards along to the next person. After that, just relax and wait for your return package to make its merry way to you. It's that simple!

All participants must have their cards to me by December 11th, 2019. This means I MUST have the cards in hand by this date, NOT that you should mail it by this date.. They will be redistributed and sent off over the weekend, and hopefully everybody will have theirs by December 25th. Please remember to budget enough time for your cards to arrive. For reference, I live in Virginia, USA.

Brand new accounts are excluded to avoid gaming the system. Please don't do it. It will just result in a sad face for both of us.

This event is not sponsored or endorsed by MTGSalvation, MTGNexus, or Wizards of the Coast in any way. It is purely something done for fun by people who love Magic, and is not for for any financial gain or otherwise.

Tips and Checklist

Over the past three years, previous exchange runners saw a lot of cards come through. Here are some recommendations to help make the holiday exchange fun for everybody!

• Try and modify cool cards. They don't necessarily have to be rares, but it's great when somebody can play the cards they receive in a deck and then tell the story of how they received them! If you are on a budget, think an altered playset of playable commons, an EDH staple, or basic lands are great... as long as it's playable it's cool!
• Stumped for cards to alter? Try sending cards related to your name, avatar, or signature! That way there's a connection between MTGSalvation and the card's you're altering.
• What you receive is random and a gift from someone else to you. Regardless of how you feel about the quality of cards you received, please be grateful. After all, it's a gift!
• Part of the fun is ripping open the package when it finally arrives to see what you received. Do not post the alters you did ahead of time - though vague hints can be fun. We don't want to ruin the surprise!
• Sending items such as letters, notes, or pictures along with your cards to the other person is not only allowed, but encouraged!
• You might want to take a picture of your cards before you send them so that you can still show them off if the recipient has no way to upload an image.
• You may submit as few or as many cards as you would like. Take your time and make some great alters!

IMPORTANT RULES --> READ THIS!!!

1. PM me your address, and you'll receive mine back.

2. You absolutely must include a self addressed stamped envelope with enough postage for up to a 6 oz package. If you do not include one, I cannot promise you that you will receive any cards back.

3. In the past, a couple of people have sent extra large/heavy items. This is great, and often these items are very cool! However, if you're going to do this, please include an extra envelope that is the appropriate size and/or has the right amount of postage on it. Please do include some real cards as well, that way your recipient can still have something to include in a deck!

4. No proxies/fakes, no matter how cool. Sentiments on these vary across the entire range, but MTGSalvation does not support this practice. While the gift exchange isn't directly affiliated with the site, let's keep this above the belt for the Holidays. Thanks!

5. If you are an international participant, please tell me in your PM so we can discuss how international shipping will work out best in your case. The US Postal prices have done some crazy things in the last few years, and shipping times may be a concern.

6. Along with your cards and Stamped envelope, please include a slip of paper with your MTGSalvation username. There will be a lot of cards coming in and if I don't know who sent me something, I can't let the recipient know - and it also makes it harder not to accidentally send yours back to you.

Checklist

1. Send me a PM with your address
2. Check you inbox daily, I'm on all the time and will generally be quick to reply.
3. Alter cards!
4. Write your MTGSalvation username on a slip of paper.
5. Send me your cards, that slip of paper with your MTGSalvation username, and a stamped envelope with enough postage to mail your cards, inside another envelope. Don't forget any of those steps!
6. Time travel to later in December and check your mail. Enjoy your gift!

Questions?
Please post below.

I sometimes like to build things counter to regular expectations. Also, any Commander can be a Voltron Commander.

I mean, if you get down to it, you could make essentially a venn diagram of all the colors, and see how their overlaps would show what the strengths of the colors would be.

Building the deck first is not always a bad idea. my Trostani deck only picked Trostani as the commander after about 2/3 of the deck was built. It was built as a lands-matter deck to be centered around Glacial Chasm. As I started building the deck, there was a lot of ramp and playing extra lands, so I wanted landfall triggers - most landfall makes creature tokens - And then entered Trostani - Worked well with tokens, and would give me the life needed to get the time to find the chasm, and to pay for the upkeep.

If you wanted pure expectations on colors, here we go: