The Card of the Month, almost obvious at which one it would be is Emrakul, the Aeons Torn!

This is One Huge Eldrazi! It is better than the Shards of Allara Block’s big creature Progenitus and easier to play some may say.

It Cannot be countered which makes it great against Blue decks.

Take an Extra turn?! Hello thats a 15/15 attacking with Annihilator 6 that cannot be blocked!

Flying so your Eldrazi cannot block it.

Protection from colored spells…So you need a flying artifact to kill it. Or you need a Wrath Variant, so its still killable but…

When it is put into the graveyard from anywhere shuffle it back into its owners Library…

This card is planly unkillable! Once your opponent has it out you either Final Judgment:

Or your probably going to lose as you have usually 1 turn maybe if your lucky 2 turns to win the game.

It is safe to say that Emrakul is the Biggest and Baddest Eldrazi Around, sure it costs 15 mana but the Eldrazi Decks are all Mana Exel so 15 mana is not too hard to get. Especially with Eldrazi Spawn the little 0/1′s that can sack for mana.

But even with all this Emrakul is not a card you just throw into any deck and hope you get it out. Even though it is Colorless and cooly not an artifact, it shouldn’t be throw into your Goblins deck just so you hope you get it out. You either need to build a deck around it or throw it into a deck you have that can get 15 mana easy.

And yes Emrakul was the Promo Card for the Prerelease of Rise of the Eldrazi.

Well thats all for now, remember to Comment and Vote!

Thats it NEW YEAR! I hope you all have a happy new year and I left this poll open because of last months messup. I though it deserves 3 weeks insted of 2.

Now for the card we had a verry close game. So close actually:

By one vote!

This card wasn’t celebrated for being good until just recently when poeple started figuring out how to use it in some decks.

Eldrazi Monument was about $5

Now it is $7.75

It is obviously great in a token deck but some poeple don’t look to deep into it. If your playing standard you could use Bloodghast in a landfall deck with this.

Eldrazi won over Emeris because the monument  won a couple of tornements increasing its popularity just enough to have in win over shields.

And in my opinion Eldrazi Monument is better than Akroma’s memorial:

Mainly for the fact that Eldrazi makes all your creatures indestructable and costs 2 less. Even though Eldrazi has its obviously bad effect if the deck is built around it or thrown into a good token deck its effect can be negated.

Also if you dont already know Eldrazi is in the name of the Zendikar block’s 3rd set. Rise of Eldrazi and the possible return of merit lage. Look here to read more.

Thanks for ready and remember to vote for this months CoM

Are you having trouble making your deck work? Keep getting mana screwed, or mana flooded? Well I have come up with a calculation that gives you the perfect % of lands for each color you need in a nonmonocolored deck. I have also made a calculation that tells you the perfect % of lands you need for your deck based on the mana costs of the cards.

First Calculation # of lands:

1) Count the # of cards in your deck then times that by .4

X= # of cards

Y= 40% of cards in your deck

X*.4=Y

For a 60 card deck Y is 24.

Fora 40 card deck Y is 16.

If you have a premade deck Skip this part and make Y= to the # of lands already in your deck.

2) Now minus X(# of cards in deck) by Y(# of lands in deck/calculation above) then times that by 4.

Z= Avrage overall mana in your deck.

(X-Y)4=Z

Z is 144 in a 60 card deck (with Y as 24)

Z is 96 in a 40 card deck (with Y as 16)

3) Now add up all your cards in your deck’s converted mana cost and let the # be A. Now minus Z by A

Z-A=#

Now if your number is a posative and less than ten (Ex. 8). Than you are fine but if it is over posative 10 than you need to minus a land from your deck and add a new card per 10. (Like if you got 25 then you will need to minus two land and add 2 new cards, if its 11 then you will need to minus 1 land ect). Now if you get a negative number less than ten (-8) than your fine. Now if you get like with posotive, if you have -10 then you need to insted take out a card and add a land. And like above per 10 like if you have a -22 then you need to minus two cards and add 2 lands. After this redo this problem and adjust accordingly until you do not have anything <-10 or >10.

This equasion is experimental so please try it out for me and tell me what I need to adjust accouringly. (Use Comments)

Now the Second equasion: How to choose how mana lands of each color.

1) “Catagorize” how mana points of each color gets.

Rules:

A monocolored card gives 1 point to its color (including artifacts)

A gold card counts as 1 for each of its colors unless it is 1 of each color in the deck then put it off to the side well deal with it later.(including artifacts)

A hybrid card counts as 1 to each of its colors or if it has 1 of evry color in deck then count it as 0

A colorless artifact counts as 0 if it is colored look above.

2) Now add up all of the color points and divid 100 by it (round to nerest whole #).

Ex. 2 W +14 U= 16   then 100/16 =6.25 rounded =6.

Now times the number you just got (my ex is 6) by the origional number then at a % sign to the back.

Ex. 2 (W) *6=12 add a % to make it 12%

       14 (U) *6=84 add a % to make it 84%

(It might not come out to 100% so add the extra evenly to all %s

Ex. 12+84= 96. 100-96=4 so add 2 to all % making 14% and 86%

3) Almost done now you need to make all percents a decimal (move decimal point two spaces over to the left).  Then times the amount of lands in your deck by that amount. Round to the nerest whole number.

W 14% and U 86%

20 lands in the deck so 20*.14=2.8 -> 3

20*.86=17.2 -> 17

4)Now for the last step remember the gold cards before well I had 15 that were evry color so divid that number by 3 and round to the nearest whole number.

15/3=5

Lastly take that number and subtract it from the most amount of lands and add it to the least.

17-5=12 islands

3+5=8 plains

Note: If your most becomes tied take from the one you havnt taken lands from yet. If the least amount becomes tied with the second least amount add to the one you havnt added to yet.

Thank you for reading this long  LONG equasion of mine the Color one worked for me perfectly but the top one is untried please comment on how this works or how i can make it similer. You may also e-mail me and calvin at czmtgblog@gmail.com

It’s Zach in the new set alot of creatures gain haste!

#5 is

Igneous Pouncer. It is great to throw one or two into the deck so when the opponent is tapped out or has no creatures just pop this guy into play and swing for 5 OR the more likly just cycle him to get yourself a despratly needed land. This guy is great for limited even though he costs a bit much…

Next for #4 is

Alot of poeple are going to be annoyed that I put this in as #4 because its a screwed up akroma angel of wrath! The this is its a 6/6 for a messed up 8 and doent have protection from the main removal color black. Dont get me wronge this is great for playing limited but if your not I’d seggest you go get an angel of wrath.

#3 in the countdown is:

Just plainly who doesnt like a 3/4 that gives evrything haste? Its a 3/4 for 4 mana=good its not monocolored=not so good But it gives your apoclyps hydra haste and all your other goody good jund cards like your dragons haste. It makes for a fun combonation!

#2 is

No matter what this card will do a great deal of damage to your opponent and lets say it gets into a decking battle this card really holds itself up to high expectations….

Now for #1————-

Most people are probobly saying wait? WHAT? but heres the thing, who doesnt like attacking with a 3/2 on turn four and getting a free extra spell. lets say this could be a collosal might? 7 damage turn 4?  is someone else smelling victory or is it just me? (yes this is a great combo for limited yes I used it and Yes I won the games I used it in)

Collossal might:

This is the first post in the Alara Reborn combos series. This was originally called strategy and combos, but it’s mostly combos. Normally, I would organize the sections into 7 sections – one for each color and one for multicolored and one for artifacts. If I did it that way this time, there would be 6 very boring posts and one post that included everything. So, for Alara Reborn, I’m organizing them by shard, with one extra post for cross shard combos. (For example a combo using one card from Jund and one from Bant.) I’d usually go in WUBRG order, so this time I’ll go in Bant – Esper – Grixis – Jund – Naya order. The shards do have enough uniqueness that I can still organize it this way. Each post will have 1-3 different combos, starting today with Bant.

Combo: Attack for 48 with one creature on turn 5

All you need for this combo are 3 cards: Finest Hour, Rafiq of the Many, and Rhox Charger:

First turn, play a mana accel creature with exalted. (Noble Hierarch – Google it if you don’t know what it is, I’m not including an image because it’s not essential, it just makes the combo one turn faster.)  On turn 2, another creature with exalted. (Any 2 or 3 drop will work, but I suggest Ardent Plea – it gives you a chance to get another exalted card and even more bonuses. Turn 3, play Rafiq of the Many, which will give your big creature double strike . Turn 4, play Rhox Charger. Turn 5, play Finest Hour and attack with Rhox Charger. Now, you’re attacking for 48 and trample, if you got out a creature with exalted through Ardent Plea. Rhox Charger is a 3/3. This is because Rhox Charger will get 6 exalted bonuses (Noble Hierarch, Ardent Plea, creature Ardent Plea gave you, Rafiq of the Many, Finest Hour, Rhox Charger) making it a 9/9.  It also gains Double Strike, meaning you are attacking for 18. Finest Hour untaps it and gives you another cobat step. Fortunately, exalted bonuses don’t wear off until the end of the turn, so it’s still a 9/9. Now, it’s attacking alone again, so the 6 exalted bonuses are applied again, making it a 15/15. Now, you’re attacking for 30. (It would be fun to have double double strike, but that’s not how it works – although a card can have double lifelink, double cascade, or double exalted (or more than double, if you can)) This damage is all dealt with trample, so unless your opponent has 29 toughness worth of creatures, you win. (Actually, it takes at least a 9/10 because of the timing of the attacks. If you’re ever facing this combo, if you have a 9/X with first strike, you’ll live through it because the first half of the double strike damage is dealt at the same time as first strike damage, with the second half being dealt with normal combat damage. You’ll have an extra combat step either way, though, because Finest Hour’s ability triggers as soon as you declare your attack.)

Not surprisingly exploding into #1 on the poll is BANEFIRE!

If you dont know what banefire is well… Just look at the picture:

Banefire is one of thoes $10 rares that you just have so much fun playing. It is in a combonation with Appocolypse Hydra and  Martial Coup. All three cards have X abilities and if they pay 5 or more they get a great effect! Here are the other two:

Ok back to banefire. Banefire is a great card and works well in any red deck. You can play it for 3 to kill a creature (not recommended) or you can pay it for 6 and smash that big naya creature or the oppoenent with it. Counter deck have absolutly no effect on it which is verry nice. Also it is just deadly in a stale mate game when you have 10 mana out adleast and send it shooting at your oppoent for 9 and the win…

Vertually Banefire is an upgrade from Blaze:

Dont get me wronge Blaze in nice but it might get dropped out of standard if not reprinted in 11th. Sure Blaze is only worth about $1 but it can still be used to annoy your oppoenent. Just if your agenst a counter deck which has strengthend in Alara reborn you really cant do much.

Also Banefire goes great with double the damage cards like Wound Reflection.

That makes the banefire become a nice 10 damage that cannot be prevented or counterd.

Banefire doesnt have the dividing ability like Fire ball but then agian Fireball can easily be counterd… (like in Jace Vs Chandra)

If you open a Banefire in a pack you are crazy not to put it into a deck that has red that you own… Unless of corse you trading it for an Appocolypse Hydra. Ok DONT BE LIKE CALVIN DO NOT TRADE IT FOR AN APPOCOLYPSE HYDRA_BAD BAD TRADE!

-And I will post about the release tommorow I have a feeling I will get somewhat lucky!

I’ve decided to take a break from talking about futrure sets for today, becasue that’s all I’ve been doing lately. (Although possibly a big announcement sometime this week.) So today, I’m going to posr a few combos that I’ve found.

The first combo is a swing for infinity combo. There might be better choices for infinate damage, because if your opponent doesn’t lose that turn (ex. by playing fog), you lose, but it would be fun to pull off.

Play Mass Hysteria and Dijinn Illuminatus. Play Pact of the Titan. Replicate a few trillion times. Make sure you have enough mana to counter fog or whatever your opponent tries to play to pervent combat damage. The only thing that could save you if fog or holy day resolves is Angel’s Grace or a few trillion mana. (It also doesn’t hurt to leave a few billion giants untapped so you’re not open to your opponent’s attack. It would be very funny to have a few trillion 4/4 giants out and then lose to your opponent’s attack.)

The second combo is more of a strategy. The combo is Worldpurge and Oblivion Ring.

This combo will allow you to have a huge creature out that would normally be destroyed very quickly. You can cast (I have to get into the habit of saying cast, not play, because play is turning into cast, if you don’t already know) any permanent (preferably a big creature with flying and/or trample) and oblivion ring it, where it will remain safely reoved from the game while you worldpurge everything (including Obivion Ring) back to the owner’s hand. When Oblivion Ring leaves play to return to your hand, you’ll get back your big creature, and because your opponent will have only one mana, not enough to cast a destroy spell. If you remove 2 big creatures from the game with oblivion ring, you will be ale to mount a large attack on the next turn, and your opponent will have nothing to do about it! Not only that, but you will also have your oblivion rings either in your deck or in your hand, so you can use it on your opponent’s permanents whenever you want. (Just don’t O-Ring your opponent’s permanents before the worldpurge.)

Calvin and I were playing a game and I was going to win, I was using my plainswalker deck that has evry plainswalker exept for elspeth. So I said can we play and let me get all my plainswalkers out and use thier best – effects. So after a few turns I get the other 4 plainswalkers I didnt need out and this is what I did:  -Note- I say 8 plainswalkers because If you have two plainswalkers with the same name in the typebox they are both destroyed. Hence Agani vengent and goldmane. During this I used goldmane:

Now if you had these 8 plainswalkers:

Jace-

Chandra-

Ajani goldmane-

Guruk-

Liliana-

Tezzeret-

Nicol Bolas plainswalker DUN DUN DUN…..-

 Sharken Vol (fav its just so much fun!)-

Lastly lovly Elspeth I did not use her but this is the card and what I would have done anyway:-

 and you could use all thier best – effects you should do them in this order.

1: Ajani goldmane -(or Vengent If being used) you put a insanly big create/Insanly big creature into play (or with vengent you destroy all lands they control and make them helpless)

2:Chandra- Just burn them and thier creatures for 10 so they cannot block or if they have some insanly big guy like Apoclips hydra or Krosan cloud Scrapper out they will be alot easier to kill. Also you get creatures in the graveyard.

3:Nicol bolas plainswalker- Use this after chandra to destroy more creatures/permanents and get more crap into the graveyard and If your opponent is lucky they will be at 3 If not you won so you dont need to keep reading.

4:Jace- Another nice plainswalker deck them for 20 and if thier lucky (again) they will still have cards left. Yes this is another thing to set up for Vess

5:Liliana- It is time redeem all your lost creatures for a last shot at survival It will be nice to see the look on your opponents face when you do this!

6: Tezzeret-  Turn all thoes noncreature artifact creatures and wimpy artifact creatures into 5/5 killing mecs!

7:Guruk- Needless to explain make all those lovly creatures into 3/3 tramplers of death!

8:Elspeth- Use her nice all those huge things become unstoppable effect!

9:Sharken Vol- Lastly for all those who are screaming: ARE YOU AN IDIOT?! WHAT ABOUT THE DRAGONS? I gotcha! Use Sharken’s +1 effect so all those monstrosities can attack this turn and become alittle stronger and If you dont win the game after this… I pitty you!

I did do it this way because I did’nt have Elspeth but I did evrything else so f you some how get out almost all the plainswalkers to date then do it this way you will win, also NOTE: you will have alot of plainswalkers that take up most of the field dont forget one!

This is a short post, because there are not many colorless cards in Conflux that can easily be used. But, there is one card that I will show you that is not worthless, and only costs two blue mana to pull off. (If you’re here from a Google search or came to this post’s page directly, instead of the main page, and you only see this post and not the other parts, here’s part 1: white, part 2: blue, the correction, part 3: black, part 4: red, part 5: Green, and part 6: Multicolored)

This card is considered to be a horrible card, but with Master Transmuter you can draw 3 cards at the beginning of your draw step for only 2 blue mana. The card is this:

On its own, it will give your oppopnent 2 extra cards before you get any. But, with our friend Master Transmuter, you can easily cheat it into play during your opponent’s turn and back out of play after your draw step.

A combo's best firend

Have a Master Transmuter in play and able to tap. Have in play any artifact you don’t need. During your opponent’s turn, after the draw step, return the artifact to your hand in exchange for Font of Mythos. During your untap step, Master Transmuter will untap as usual. During your draw step, draw 3 cards. After the draw step, pay one blue mana and tap Master Transmuter again to return Font of Mythos to your hand in exchange, hopefully, for some big artifact creature. (HINT: Inkwell Leviathan in standard, Darksteel Colossus in anything else)

Unfortunatly, unless you have a second transmuter or some way to untap the first one, you will have to wait a turn before you can repeat this. Fortunatly, you will only have one blue mana tapped, and you will have a big creature and 2 extra cards.

This is the final part of the Conflux Strategy and Combos post, part 6: Multicolored. There are a lot of multicolored cards in Conflux. (If you’re here from a Google search or came to this post’s page directly, instead of the main page, and you only see this post and not the other parts, here’s part 1: white, part 2: blue, the correction, part 3: black, part 4: red, and part 5: Green)

1: Blood Tyrrant

Blood Tyrrant is a card you would expect people to play in multiplayer. But there is a card that will make is good in one on one games, also. It will make it even better in multiplayer games, of course, also.

If you enchant yourself, you will give Blood Tyrrant 4 counters, and everyone will lose an extra life. There is another card, though, that will make it even better. The only problem is it is a small creature, and it will easily be destroyed.

2: Malfegor

This is a little complicated, and requires a red/black/green/white deck, or a 5-color deck. If you can pull it off, though, you can get out every creature in your hand while forcing your opponent to sacrifice some of their creatures. First, have out Aerie Ouphes and Twilight Shepherd.

Make sure neither have counters on them. Hold as many creatures in your hand as you want, but remember that only creatures will come back into play. Play Malfegor, discarding your hand. Attack with Twilight Shepherd and everything else you have other than Aerie Ouphes. (You won’t lose anything) Sacrifice Aerie Ouphes to deal 3 damage to Twilight Sheperd, then if it didn’t take 2 damage from attacking, sacrifice Aerie Ouphes again to deal 2 damage to it. If you are lucky, and it took 3 or 4 damage from attacking, you can sacrifice Aerie Ouphes to deal 3 damage to something else, then sacrifice it again to kill Twilight Sheperd. This will kill it, obviously, so it comes back into play with persist, bringing back every creature you discarded with Malfegor including Aerie Ouphes.

3: Meglanoth

There are plenty of ways to power this up, but there are 2 cards that I’m looking at more than any other.

This gives Megnaloth Flying, First Strike, and Vigilance. Megnaloth already has vigilance, but the other 2 will give you a big advantage in any game. Your opponent will need at least a 6/7 to get past, and flying won’t help. The other card is Righteousness:

If you have 2 of these, Megnaloth, and 2 white mana, your opponent can’t ever attack. (Although I’m not sure of the exact timing of this. It might not work if the timing is wrong.)