Well look at that nice ex-crappy card Dark Dept’s!

http://magiccards.info/autocard.php?card=DARK%20DEPTHS

Now any experienced player usually just goes “Oh…Well I love having 20/20 to look at but how am I going to get that much mana?

The thing is…you don’t?

Yes exactly Dark Depts went from $.50 to $30+ in a week!

Before Hexmage came out the only way to play with dark depts effectively was to go green and have alot of mana excel or just have alot of ferropedes.

I made a deck using this way and it was…decent. I threw in alot of big creatures with trample and when I had open mana (usually 12 at a time) I’d take off a few counters. Now with Hexmage out I put in black and looked to see what happens. It…was…terrible. I would have a bunch of green spells and excel and alot of removal (black). I would never get a hexmage and it was annoying. So what do I do? I remove green and added blue with alot of drawing/changing my deck to what I want (card setting). Now it was good, I needed to work out the kinks. Now the deck is this:

Turn 1

Play swamp/island and ponder/portrait and set the deck.

Turn 2

Play Dark Depts and then tap swamp for black mana and play Dark ritual, using the three black mana play Hexmage sac Hex and play Marit Lage my 20/20 indestructible, flying, autowin machine.

Turn 3

Attack with Dark Depts ftw.

Now if you want to make a dark depts deck you will need:

4 Dark Depts/$100

4Hexmages

4Dark Rituals will be a nice thing to have

I hope this helps alot of people are playing this in vintage so its just another deck idea from Zendikar.

I haven’t gotten around to posting at all in the last week, but today I have another pack to post. Today’s pack is the fifth duplicate rare pack in a row. I have 12 more packs left to open. Also, the website draw3cards.com. This is a website where you can ask and answer questions about Magic: The Gathering. You will usually get a response quickly, so I do recommend it. (Direct Link)

While Zendikar is still hard to find, it is now sold reasonably online. If you are looking for booster boxes, starcitygames.com and trollandtoad.com both lowered their prices back to $100. That is higher than normal, but not like the $120 peak. If your local retailer has Zendikar, and is selling it for normal amounts, lucky for you. For individual booster packs, local stores are the way to go because you avoid shipping costs. If you’re looking for fat packs, those are hard to find at MSRP. In fact, when I was researching it, I found only one single online store selling fat packs for $35. In fact, they even charge very low shipping, so that won’t be much of an issue. That store is www.candysgames.com, which doesn’t even specialize in Magic: the Gathering. If you didn’t know anything about the game, you’d have to find the website, look for the categories for Collectible Card Games, find Magic: the Gathering, then click Zendikar. They do have a search, but M:tG is not featured unless you look. That is probably why they have anything left in stock. (I guess this post ruins that) They also sell individual boosters for $3, and boxes for $100.

Now, for the booster. Nothing much good here, although I did open a Goblin Guide yesterday.

And foil:

It is past midnight, so it this will be shown as 10/18. If I post day sixteen, it will have the same date as this. This was the best pack I’ve opened so far from this set. (Actually, I can only think of one pack with as much value inside as this pack. And not even a treasure card!)

And FOIL:

I didn’t have time to post the packs yesterday or the day before, but I will post today’s pack. Nothing good were in any of the three. (I’ve had bad luck so far with this challenge) Before I post the pack, though, I’m going to post the top ten Zendikar cards. The fetchlands are not on the list because there are five and they are utility cards.

10. Day of Judgement

This is apparently the replacement of Wrath of God. It will probably be used just as often as Wrath because regenerators are not used often. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen one, even in casual games.

9.Harrow

I’ve seen Harrow in use, and it defiantly deserves a place on the top ten list. It triggers landfall twice, plus gives you one free land, for a net loss of only one mana. (The two lands come into play untapped) Sure, it can be countered, and then you’re in trouble, but anything can be countered, and the benefits of successfully resolving this usually outweigh the cost and the risk.

8. Ob Nixilis, the Fallen

If this creature is able to survive one turn, it will be out of range any single burn spell. You can play a land right after you play it also. (And because of the priority system, you can play the land before your opponent has a chance to respond) This creature will immediately deal 3 damage and get 3 +1/+1 counters. If you play harrow, that’s 6 damage. It will also be the instant target of any removal, allowing your other big creatures to survive longer.

7. Scute Mob

Scute Mob, while it isn’t as good at surviving, can do more damage if it does. Growing by +5/+5 per turn is huge, even if it doesn’t have trample. The problem is that Scute Mob will be either killed or chump blocked every time.

6. Summoning Trap

This card is definitely worth it. If you play a big creature and it gets countered, you still have a chance of getting out a big creature. If not, it is playable for 6 mana.

5. Rampaging Baloths

This creature is a creature that I think is better than Broodmate Dragon. Because, again, of the priority system, you can play a land before your opponent has a chance to destroy this. That means that for 6 mana, you can have a 6/6 and a 4/4. It can be played using mana of only one color, It has +2/+2 more than broodmate, and if you’re lucky, it can make more than one 4/4. The only downside is the lack of flying, but in my opinion, it’s still better.

4. Vampire Nighthawk

Nighthwak has the potential to keep a whole army at bay for a few turns. It’s a 3 mana creature that will kill you if it doesn’t die soon.

3. Warren Instigator

Notice the double strike. That means that you get to put 2 goblins from your hand into play each time it hits your opponent. It’s another kill or be killed creature, although it is very vulnerable to removal and being blocked by anything with over 2 toughness.

2. Goblin Guide

This is a 2/2 for one. With haste. There isn’t much else to say about it.

1. Lotus Cobra

This might only be a 2/1, meaning it dies to removal, but it is still the best card in Zendikar. If it manages to survive, you get more mana accel than you’ll know what to do with.

Booster Pack

Zach opened a Sorin Markov, Lotus Cobra, and U/G fetchland today, in 11 packs. Hopefully going on, I’ll have luck like that. (Or better. I’d love to pull a Black Lotus in a pack with a lotus cobra and a foil lotus cobra, but I know that’s just a dream. Realistically, I do want a Lotus Cobra and a few fetchlands)

Hello. I didn’t have time to post my pack yesterday, so I’ll post it today.

Day Seven

Day Eight

Foil:

And (finally) a foil:

Hello. Still no foils, mythics, fetchlands, or treasures.

Day 4, pack 4, 32 to go. So far no mythics, no foils, no fetchlands, and no treasures…