Unless your opponent is holding open three mana with 1-2 of said mana being blue.. or if you're staring down Goblin Glory Hole with Call of the Full Moon on it.. then you might wanna think twice before slamming down that turn 4 Gideon.

Also.. Ulamog > Gideon.

Eldrazi Timmy FTW!!

well of course you play around cards that's a no brainer, I was talking about deck construction

although turn 4 gideon is so good I'd slam him regardless of counters.

I've played Gideon plenty of times and have still never used his ultimate
It's not even expensive. There's just always a better need for the other two.

Same with Kiora but that's more expected

For the most part that's about right barney. I rarely actually use his ultimate in my above deck but the times that I do it is generally a perfect scenario to do so and works amazingly well. Again, he's very versatile.

I also think people tend to sometimes play planeswalkers a little too carefully. Do I want them to stay on the board? Absolutely but a lot of times they can be great for stalling a turn our two while taking hits to save hp while I'm about to throw down a sweeper followed by a couple hexproof fatties. And they usually do at least something else useful as well and can sometimes just win a game outright.

I assumed emblems were permanent lol, all this new magic stuff is still crazy to me half the time lol. Maybe I need to get my head out of the 90s ;P

You can start by stop listening to the Spin Doctors

Yeah, Planeswalkers are a great distraction. Yesterday I had four life as did my planeswalker and my opponent chose to Firecraft my planeswalker. I still lost but still. I screwed up against Beast yesterday, I played Ob N thinking he would simply Disperse him and decided to draw a card. I should have killed a creature knowing he would get to do it again. Also if I kill s creature, he'll be tempted to kill him instead of dispersing, a scenario I would have strongly preferred. But Beast is a good player and I'm sure he would have bounced him regardless

here you go all the rules on emblems

113. Emblems

113.1. Some effects put emblems into the command zone. An emblem is a marker used to represent an object that has one or more abilities, but no other characteristics.
113.2. An effect that creates an emblem is written “[Player] gets an emblem with [ability].” This means that [player] puts an emblem with [ability] into the command zone. The emblem is both owned and controlled by that player.
113.3. An emblem has no characteristics other than the abilities defined by the effect that created it. In particular, an emblem has no name, no types, no mana cost, and no color.
113.4. Abilities of emblems function in the command zone.
113.5. An emblem is neither a card nor a permanent. Emblem isn’t a card type.

Damn, emblems are crazy lol. There but not there. That's like a known unknown or something lol.

the emblem card itself is just a reminder, what happened is Elspeth, Knight-Errant ultid and created an effect that hung over the game even if she died.... but then players would forget about that effect because they had no representation of it if she got killed, so wizard created the emblems to fix that

Huh, that's interesting. Makes sense I suppose. It's funny, I was opposed to PWs being in Duels at first. I guess I was just stuck in my old ways and didn't like this whole new mechanic idea with points and what not but they've grown on me. Thanks for the details!

Figured I'd share a fun deck home brew.

It's what I have nicknamed the "Sac-Drazi"

Taking the elements of recursion, card filtering, Sac n Dredge, removal, and ramp in a fairly resilient and consistent shell. (well, as much as duels allows).

Most of the curve sits between CMC 1 - 4 with a heavy lean towards the early, yet very efficient play while most off the effects are done at instant speed via abilities (harder to counter)

4x Blisterpod
3x Bone Splinters
3x Gatecreeper Vine
2x Evolutionary Leap
1x Liliana, Heretical Healer
3x Fleshbag Marauder
4x Nantuko Husk
1x Nissa, Vastwood Seer
2x Smothering Abomination
2x From Beyond
2x Languish
3x Mwonvuli Acid Moss
1x Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
1x Ob Nixilus Reignited
1x Greenwarden of Murasa
1x Oblivion Sower
2x Nissa's Renewal
1x Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
2x Plains
4x Swamp
6x Forest
2x Shambling Vent
2x Canopy Vista
2x Woodland Cemetery
2x Isolated Chapel
2x Blighted Steppe
2x Mortuary Mire

Abzan Enchantments

3x Jaddi Offshoot
3x Gatecreeper Vine
2x Herald of the Pantheon
1x Nissa
3x Blood-Cursed Knight
1x Greenwarden of Murasa

1x Reprisal
2x Languish
2x Planar Outburst
1x Angelic Edict

1x Ob-Nixilis
1x Gideon

1x Vampiric Rites
2x Retreat to Hagra
3x Retreat to Kazandu
2x Retreat to Emeria
3x Suppression Bonds
1x Sigil of the Empthy Throne
2x Zendikar´s Roil

3x Plains
3x Swamp
5x Forest
2x Shambling Vent
2x Canopy Vista
2x Woodland Cemetery
2x Isolated Chapel
2x Sunpetal Grove
4x Evolving Wilds

Hey,

wanted to show you my Enchantment Deck and get some help with it.
Main Stratetgy of this Deck is to keep the board clear and win with some Enchantment tokens or Nissa´s Ultimate.
Cards like Jaddi Offshoot, Gatecreeper Vine and Blood-Cursed Knight help to get over the first few turns.
Starting with some Retreats, Zendikars Roil and Sigil can get a bunch of Tokens and we don´t mind losing them to one of our Sweepers.
Problem is the Enchantment Core here. Retreats need a lot of Landfall to be usefull, also does Zendikars Roil. One Sigil is enough, can´t support 2 of them with the Manacost of 5.
Vampiric Rites could be a cut for another Retreat to Emeria. Helps to get Cards when you know your sweeper is going to kill everything, but most of the time it is a dead card. Alternate cut one Kazandu for Emeria.

Possible Changes
+ Woodland Bellower + Reclamation Sage for Greenwarden - ? Bellower has some Targets in this Deck, Greenwarden is ok, but not that Beast in this Deck.
+ Natural Connection
+ Nissa´s Renewal (Not in my collection, but get´s a try if i get it)
+ Oblivion Sower (Not in my collection, but get´s a try if i get it)

- Vampiric Rites
- Shambling Vent (lot of lands in this deck, cut it to gain mor space for tools or basic lands like 1 Swamp 1 Plains

Retreat to Hagra isn't good in this deck. How about some Ramp?

The list I've been having the most consistent success with since I gave up the W/U control dream. Really starting to feel Blue as a colour isn't worth much outside of tempo for other colours or Mill (oh hey, it's just like current Modern tournaments!)

Abzan Control:

Creatures (7) -

3 x Jaddi Offshoot
1 x Nissa, Vastwood Seer
1 x Greenwarden of Murasa
1 x Oblivion Sower
1 x Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger

Spells (28) -

2 x Celestial Flare
2 x Reave Soul
3 x Retreat to Kazandu
1 x Complete Disregard
3 x Natural Connection
4 x Read the Bones
1 x Suppression Bonds
1 x Languish
3 x Rising Miasma
2 x Mwonvuli Acid-Moss
1 x Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
2 x Planar Outburst
1 x Ob Nixilis Reignited
2 x Nissa's Renewal

Lands (25) -

3 x Plains
3 x Swamp
4 x Forest
2 x Shambling Vent
2 x Canopy Vista
2 x Woodland Cemetery
2 x Isolated Chapel
2 x Sunpetal Grove
1 x Foundry of the Consuls
4 x Evolving Wilds

One card choice some may find weird is the maxing of Rising Miasma and only 1 Languish. First off, more sweepers for dam Thopters and RDW, secondly I find -2/-2 is enough and it doesn't end up killing 5 of my 7 creatures where Languish would which means more blocking value from my Offshoots in those aggro matchups. 1 Languish is there primarly so I can keep 6 board wipes for consistency and just in case of some lingering Simic or Gruul midrange matchups.

EDIT: 2nd card choice (or amount) I'd mention is only 2 Moss. This is primarily for control reasons over Ramp which we have other means of. This is for blasting out those Awakened Lands/ Vents/ Lumbering Falls and just generally setting the enemy back if they have a greedy mana base.

That deck list looks interesting. I wanted to ask what did u try to run in ur W/U control? I have one build that i call Angel Control that has worked for me pretty nicely but it only has 5 blue cards (jace and 4x brilliant spectrum). It does not run counter spells but instead lots of white removal and Emerald Shepherd and Angel of Renewal for kill.

You can see it in my videos and the decklist is in the Azorius section. Basically all counterspells and removal with Shepherd, Gideon, and a Guardian of Tazeem as wincons. The problem with getting hit with Moss and then just never drawing enough land to do what I needed.

Yeah i tried something similar many times but just felt that counters were too weak and winning so so slow, just had all kind of problems. and decided to forget that deck. That my build runs strange lands to make Brilliant Spectrum work as 4 mana draw 4 discard 2 and i must say it's just fantastic for digging out planar burst and stuff when u need them.

Here is what I have been running for fun. I really love token strategies and flooding boards to overwhelming proportions. It does have a problem some time with blue red thopters, but I believe I have more wins than losses vs that match up.

1 Mana Cost
x2 Jaddi Offshoot

2 Mana Cost
x2 Herald of the Pantheon
x3 Gatecreeper Vine
x2 Gideon's Reproach
x2 Celestial Flare
x2 Altar's Reap

3 Mana Cost
x1 Nissa, Vastwood Seer
x1 Reclamation Sage
x2 Retreat to Hagra
x2 Natural Connection
x2 Nissa's Pilgrimage

4 Mana Cost
x1 Smoothering Abomination
x1 Valor in Akros
x2 Retreat to Emeria
x2 From Beyond
x1 Languish
x1 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar

5 Mana Cost
x3 Zendikar's Roil
x1 Planar Outburst

6 Mana Cost
x1 Oblivion Sower
x2 Nissa's Renewal

10 Mana Cost
x1 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger

x4 Plains
x4 Swamp
x7 Forest
x1 Canopy Vista
x2 Woodland Cemetery
x2 Isolated Chapel
x2 Sunpetal Grove
x1 Evolving Wilds

I know I could cut black if i had another Planar Outburst but I don't and to be honest I like the little bit of life drain i get from the Hagra. Any suggestions or tweaks would be awesome! Always looking for new interactions that I haven't thought of yet.

Game Examples

http://plays.tv/s/KfhocZs41HQH vs Elves

http://plays.tv/s/Kfhoj0hDAl9v vs MonoBlack

What do you want us to do with this deck? Play test it? Try to improve it? Or are you just sharing?

Also.. welcome to NGA!

If you guys have any improvements i would be glad to hear them! Love watching everyone's youtube channel that is a member here!

The deck I'm running in InfamousGemini's upcoming tourney.

http://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/390653#online


1x Vampiric Rites
2x Divine Favor
3x Shadows of the Past
1x Evolutionary Leap
2x Elemental Bond
4x Suppression Bonds
2x From Beyond
2x Sigil of the Empty Throne

1x Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
1x Ob Nixilis Reignited

2x Languish
2x Planar Outburst


3x Gatecreeper Vine
2x Auramancer
1x Liliana, Heretical Healer
1x Nissa, Vastwood Seer
3x Reclamation Sage
3x Blood-Cursed Knight
1x Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger


2x Plains
1x Swamp
2x Forest
2x Shambling Vent
2x Woodland Cemetery
2x Isolated Chapel
2x Sunpetal Grove
2x Canopy Vista
1x Mortuary Mire
1x Golgari Guildgate
2x Orzhov Guildgate
1x Selesnya Guildgate
3x Evolving Wilds

It may not be as strong as Ramp, but it's fun as hell to play, and the set is about to rotate, so why not have some fun?

It's a pretty slow control deck that relies on a combination of Sigil of the Empty Throne and planeswalkers to finish games. It plays very well against aggro. It only runs 2 enchantments (Divine Favor for the life gain and the ability to stick it on the Blood-Cursed Knight for a 5/6 lifelink early or to pull an angel out of Languish range).

When Divine Favor rotates out, if I weren't adding new cards, I'd probably add a Retreat to Kazandu for lifegain and Elvish Visionary to add a bit of stall early. Mana base is definitely wonky and full of tap lands (only 5 total basics), but it's worked for me so far. I'll reduce the duels when Gatecreeper Vine rotates out, maybe adding Knight of the White Orchid as a fetch for Canopy Vista.