Magic the Gathering Duels of the Planeswalkers Guide
for the XBox 360
(or MtG DotP for you folks out there who love abbreviations.)
By ThermalStone
Version 1.0 submitted 6/24/09
Version 1.1 submitted 6/26/09
Finished the Blue and Red/Green/White Decks
Added a list of Tezzeret's cards
Version 1.2 submitted 6/30/09
Fixed some typos
Added text to Achievements
Added Cho-Manno/Pariah combo
Version 1.3 submitted 9/10/09
Fixed yet more typos (Note to self: never write a guide with a broken wrist
and no spellcheck!)
Added the Hold Priority Tip
Added EXPOLOITABLE GLITCHES AND TRICKS section
Version 1.4 submitted 10/22/09
Added Duel the Dragon (DtD) DLC Content, including all unlockable cards and
Challenge solutions.
Added two new tips, UNLOCK CARDS QUICKLY and STREAMLINE YOUR DECKS FOR
DUELING.
Version 1.5 submitted 5/21/10
Finished DtD deck summaries
Added Expansion 2 DLC content, including all decks, unlockable cards and
Challenge solutions.
Finally spell checked the whole guide.
Standardized EASIEST OPPONENT TO UNLOCK CARDS AGAINST for all decks.
Changed EXPOLOITABLE GLITCHES AND TRICKS section
TABLE OF CONTENTS
I. INTRODUCTION
II. GENERAL TIPS
III. THE DECKS
IV. CLAWS OF VENGEANCE (White, Red, Green)
A. Unlockable Cards
B. Strengths
C. Weaknesses
D. Important Cards and Combos
V. HANDS OF FLAME (Red)
A. Unlockable Cards
B. Strengths
C. Weaknesses
D. Important Cards and Combos
VI. WINGS OF LIGHT (White):
A. Unlockable Cards
B. Strengths
C. Weaknesses
D. Important Cards and Combos
VII. TEETH OF THE PREDATOR (Green):
A. Unlockable Cards
B. Strengths
C. Weaknesses
D. Important Cards and Combos
VII. THOUGHTS OF WIND (Blue)
A. Unlockable Cards
B. Strengths
C. Weaknesses
D. Important Cards and Combos
IX. EYES OF SHADOW (Black)
A. Unlockable Cards
B. Strengths
C. Weaknesses
D. Important Cards and Combos
X. EARS OF THE ELVES (Black and Green)
A. Unlockable Cards
B. Strengths
C. Weaknesses
D. Important Cards and Combos
XI. SCALES OF FURY (Red, Black, Green)
A. Unlockable Cards
B. Strengths
C. Weaknesses
D. Important Cards and Combos
XII. MIND OF VOID (Blue/ White)
A. Unlockable Cards
B. Strengths
C. Weaknesses
D. Important Cards and Combos
XIII. CRIES OF RAGE (Green/ Red)
A. Unlockable Cards
B. Strengths
C. Weaknesses
D. Important Cards and Combos
XIV. RELICS OF DOOM (Blue/ Black/ Artifact)
A. Unlockable Cards
B. Strengths
C. Weaknesses
D. Important Cards and Combos
XV. HEART OF WORLDS (Green/White)
A. Unlockable Cards
B. Strengths
C. Weaknesses
D. Important Cards and Combos
XVI. HEAT OF BATTLE (Red)
A. Unlockable Cards
B. Heat vs. Hands
C. Strengths
D. Weaknesses
E. Important Cards and Combos
XVII. EONS OF EVIL (Red/Blue/Black)
A. Unlockable Cards
B. Strengths
C. Weaknesses
D. Important Cards and Combos
XVIII. Tezzeret's Boss Deck
IXX. Nicol Bolas' Boss Deck
XX. Sorin Markov's Boss Deck
XX. CHALLENGES
A. Tips
B. Spoilers
C. Duel the Dragon Spoilers
D. Expansion 2 Spoilers
XXI. ACHIEVEMENTS
A. Original Achievements
B. Duel the Dragon
C. Expansion 2
XXII: EXPOLOITABLE GLITCHES AND TRICKS
I. INTRODUCTION
Hopefully you have already read my guides for Band of Bugs and Halo Wars and
found them helpful. Magic for the XBox 360 arcade is a great buy for a mere
800 MS points (10 bucks) and I highly recommend picking it up as it will keep
you entertained much longer than most 360 arcade games. I was also able to
sell my Garruk promotional foil card (submit the code that comes with your
game) for $17.50 on eBay, so the game more than paid for itself and the first
DLC. MtG veterans and newbies alike will appreciate this fast, simple, and
cheap way to play the game. I last played the card game over thirteen years
ago. I quit because I had no one to play with and I haven't gotten back in
because of the expense. This game solves both those problems.
If you have any questions, suggestions, or comments, send a text (not voice)
message to my XBox Live account, ThermalStone. Voice messages may be easy to
send but most of them are nearly impossible to understand.
II. GENERAL TIPS:
1. PLAY THE TUTORIAL: If you have never played MtG the card game, it is a
good introduction for how it works. The tutorial will explain the basic
concepts to you and you can be off and spell slinging without having to read
the rules. Even if you have played the card game before, you will still
need to get used to the mechanics of this version of the game.
2. READ THE RULES: If you still have questions, the answer is probably in the
rules. Go to "Help and Options" on the main menu, and select "How to Play".
There are 31 pages of rules to read there, which means I'm not going to write
up my own "How to Play" section where I tell you things you can figure out for
yourself, like what each button does or what a block phase is. If you see a
card played that you have never seen before, enlarge it with the right trigger
and press the right bumper to bring up a thorough explanation of all the
features and powers of the card.
3. BE CAREFUL WHEN YOU PRESS THE Y BUTTON: The Y button ends the current
phase you are in and moves you on to the next one. If there are no possible
actions for you to take during a particular phase, the game automatically
moves you to the next phase. This can create a problem if you have creatures
you want to attack with and no cards you can play during the main phase. The
game will move you from the main phase to the attack phase, but you may not
realize that you are in the attack phase. Eager to get to the attack, you
press Y, but since you are already in the attack phase, it ends without you
getting to make an attack. I have made this mistake may times.
The solution I found to this problem is to change the game's settings. Start
from the main menu, select Help & Options -> Settings -> Game Settings and
switch Hold Priority from off to on. Now you will have to press Y to end each
main phase, even if you have no action you could take. This slows the game
down a little but makes it much less likely you will skip your attack phase.
4. UNLOCK CARDS QUICKLY: An easy way to unlock cards is simply to play against
your friend and take turns conceding. The player who didn't quit will get a
win and a card. Unfortunately, the addition in DLC 2 of host migration has
made it impossible for more than one player to unlock a card in a single game.
5. EASIEST OPPONENT TO UNLOCK CARDS AGAINST: If you are offline or have no
friends playing Magic, just play against an easy campaign opponent. The
easiest opponent for everyone to beat up on is #2 Elspeth. In her first
incarnation, she has no creature removal, direct damage ability or
counterspells, no instant speed combat tricks apart from Holy Day, and most
importantly, her biggest creature is a 3/3 Angel of Mercy. Slower decks or
decks with no unlocked cards may take a beating in the early game, but
survive long enough and Elspeth will run out of options and you will regain
control of the game. The only exception is if you are unlocking cards for
the elf deck. You should play against #3 Garruk because your forestwalking
ability will absolutely murder him.
6. STREAMLINE YOUR DECKS FOR DUELING: Most of these decks are bloated with
mediocre cards. You can't take out the basic cards in the deck, but you can
choose not to include unlocked cards. Removing cards from your deck will make
it more likely that you will pull something useful with each draw. It also
makes it less likely that you will draw more mana when you want to draw
spells, since the game adds land to your deck based on the number of cards.
Nearly all the decks play better without their life giving artifacts (Wurm's
Tooth, etc.), unless you are playing a mirror match. Some cards, like Reya
Dawnbringer, are so expensive that you will never see them played in 1v1
games. Others, like Sangarite Surge or Denizen of the Deep, are nearly
worthless. (Both can be easily blocked by any 1/1 creature.) For games of 3
or 4 players, consider putting your life gain artifacts and expensive cards
back in, because these games tend to last longer and allow for a full buildup
and more life gain. Experiment on your own to see which cards are useful and
which ones slow your deck down.
III. THE DECKS
I have listed how each deck is unlocked, plus the unlockable cards. You
unlock a card each time you win with a deck in any mode, although the screen
displaying the card you've unlocked will only show up after a Campaign win.
The cards are unlocked in the order listed below. I haven't listed
the basic cards included in each deck. To view those cards, go to your deck
editor once you've unlocked a deck.
I've also included a short paragraph on each deck's strengths and weaknesses
and important combos and cards whose uses are not completely obvious. If you
have any other suggestions, send me a message.
IV. CLAWS OF VENGEANCE (White, Red, Green):
Unlocked: Defeat #14 Tezzeret
A. Unlockable Cards
1. A third Woolly Thoctar: Creature - Beast, cost 1 white/1 red/1 green
5/4
2. Angel's Feather: Artifact, cost 2 mana
"Whenever a player plays a white spell, you gain 1 life."
3. Sigil Blessing: Instant, cost 1 green/1 white
"Until end of turn, target creature you control gains +3/+3 and other
creatures you control gain +1/+1."
4. Pariah: Enchantment - Aura, Cost 1 white/2 mana
"Enchant creature. All damage that would be dealt to you is dealt to
enchanted creature instead."
5. Wurm's Tooth: Artifact, cost 2 mana,
"Whenever a player plays a green spell, you gain 1 life."
6. A second Bull Cerodon, Creature - Beast, cost 1 white/1 red/4 mana
"Vigilance, Haste." 5/5
7. Dragon's Claw: Artifact, cost 2 mana,
"Whenever a player plays a red spell, you gain 1 life."
8. A second Sangrite Surge: Sorcery, cost 1 red/1 green/4 mana
"Target creature gets +3/+3 and gains double strike until end of turn."
9. Brion Stoutarm: Legendary Creature-Giant Warrior, cost 1 white/1 red/2 mana
"Lifelink. [Red mama], Tap: Sacrifice a creature other than Brion Stoutarm:
Brion Stoutarm deals damage equal to the sacrificed creature's power to target
player." 4/4
10. A second Angel's Feather
11. A second Knight of the Skyward Eye: Creature - Human Knight, cost 1 white/
1 mana
"[1 green/ 3 mana]: Knight of the Skyward Eye gets +3/+3 until end of turn.
Play this ability only once each turn."
12. A second Sigil Blessing
13. Wrath of God: Sorcery, cost 2 white/3 mana
"Destroy all creatures. They can't be regenerated."
14. Godsire: Creature - Beast, cost 1 white/1 red/2 green/4 mana
"Vigilance. Tap: Put an 8/8 Beast creature token into play that's red, green,
and white." 8/8
15. Cho-Manno, Revolutionary: Legendary Creature - Human Rebel, Cost 2 white/
2 mana
"Prevent all damage that would be dealt to Cho-Manno, Revolutionary." 2/2
*16. Leonin Scimitar: Artifact - Equipment, cost 1 mana
"Equipped creature gets +1/+1. Equip [1 mana]."
*17. A fourth Wooly Thoctar
*18. A second Wrath of God
**19. Lightning Helix: Instant, cost 1 red/1 white
"Lightning Helix deals 3 damage to target creature or player and you gain 3
life."
**20. Kor Sanctifiers: Creature: Kor Cleric, cost 1 white/2 mana
"Kicker [1 white]. When Kor Sanctifiers enters the battlefield, if it was
kicked, destroy target artifact or enchantment." 2/2
**21. Titanic Ultimatum: Sorcery, cost 2 red/3 green/2 white
"Until end of turn, creatures you control get +5/+5 and gain first strike,
lifelink, and trample.
*Unlockable with the Duel the Dragon DLC
**Unlockable with Expansion 2 DLC
B. Strengths: This deck is built so you can play powerful
creatures out early. You can get a Woolly Thoctar on turn three or a Bull
Cerodon on turn four if you get the right cards in your hand. This deck also
has direct damage and Pacifism enchantments to allow you to gain the upper
hand in early to mid game creature combat. This deck isn't complete until
the last two cards are unlocked. Godsire is a very powerful late game
creature, but is also the most expensive card in the game. Cho-Manno (who
makes up these names anyways?) is the ultimate blocker.
This deck is strong against Red. If everything goes right for Claws, by turn
3 it will start to put out creatures too big for Red to blast with one spell.
This deck is also a good sleeper deck in four player games. Build up slowly,
and don't play all your creatures at once. No one will see this deck as a
threat and you will probably be ignored. Late in the game, when your
opponents are weak, cast Wrath of God and follow it up with Godsire or the
creatures you've been holding onto.
C. Weaknesses: This deck has some glaring weaknesses. It's really a jack of
all trades and a master of none. It's got some strong mid game creatures but
they quickly get outclassed because there are no permanent creature buffs.
This deck can cast both red direct damage and white enchant creature spells
to stop attacks, and it has some buffs for your own creatures, but there
isn't enough of anything to make a reliable strategy. There isn't anything
this deck is really good at. This problem is compounded by the tricolor
nature of the deck. If you don't get the right lands early on, you won't be
able to play many of your spells. You will be crippled early to midgame when
this deck should be at its best. This deck is also vulnerable to both forest
and mountainwalk. Finally, this deck has absolutely no way to stop flying
creatures, other than using a spell to blast them. This deck was the hardest
deck for me to unlock cards with, losing about half the time to Elspeth, the
easiest opponent, even when I had most of the rare cards unlocked.
This deck is weak against nearly everything. This deck will get beat down by
any deck with flying creatures (Black, Blue, White, and Scales.) It is also
vulnerable to Elves forestwalk and Green will have more numerous and powerful
creatures late in the game, unless you have breathing space so Godsire can
asexually reproduce for a few turns.
D. Important Cards and Combos:
1. Woolly Thoctar: The Woolly Thoctar can be a game changer because he has the
best base stats (5/4) of any creature in the game that only costs 3 mana. For
comparison, a 5/4 Spined Wurm costs 6 total mana. Barring enchantments or
other buffing abilities and spells, the other creatures in play are likely to
be 2/2 at best. The downside is that you need to have all three kinds of land
to cast the thoctar. The thoctar will lose his effectiveness as the game goes
on, because he doesn't have any special abilities and more powerful creatures
will emerge. Plan ahead and play different land types for your first two
turns in anticipation of drawing the thoctar or the right lands in time for
turn three. It's also worth drawing a new hand at the beginning of the game
to try to get the thoctar and the right mana or a Rampant Growth.
2. Pariah/Cho-Manno: If you manage to get both of these cards at the same time
(there's only one of each), you can become practically invincible. Cho Manno
takes all damage that you would have taken, and it gets prevented. Green and
Red have no answer for this and other decks without removal will have a very
hard time beating you. This combo can make an otherwise weak deck worth
playing.
V. HANDS OF FLAME (Red)
Unlocked: Available from the beginning
A. Unlockable Cards:
1. Shivan Dragon: Creature - Dragon, cost 2 red/ 4 mana
"Flying. [Red Mana]: Shivan Dragon gets +1/+0 until end of turn." 5/5
2. Dragon's Claw: Artifact, cost 2 mana
"Whenever a player plays a red spell, you may gain 1 life."
3. Cinder Pyromancer: Creature - Elemental Shaman, cost 1 red/2 mana
"Tap: Cinder Pyromancer deals one damage to target player. Whenever you play
a red spell, you may untap Cinder Pyromancer." 0/1
4. A fourth Incinerate: Instant, cost 1 red/1 mana
"Incinerate deals 3 damage to target creature or player. A creature dealt
damage this way can't be regenerated this turn."
5. A second Dragon's Claw
6. Cryoclasm: Sorcery, cost 1 red, 2 mana
"Destroy target Plains or Island. Cryoclasm deals 3 damage to that land's
controller."
7. Blaze: Sorcery, cost 1 red/X mana
"Blaze deals X damage to target creature or player."
8. A third Dragon's Claw
9. Bloodmark Mentor: Creature - Goblin Warrior, cost 1 red/1 mana
"Red creatures you control have first strike."
10. A second Cryoclasm
11. Seismic Assault: Enchantment, cost 3 red
"Discard a land card: Seismic Assault does 2 damage to target creature or
player."
12. A fourth Dragon's Claw
13. Kamahl, Pit Fighter: Legendary Creature - Human Barbarian, 2 red/4 mana
"Haste. Tap: Kamahl, Pit Fighter deals 3 damage to target creature or
player." 6/1
14. Rage Reflection: Enchantment, cost 2 red/4 mana
"Creatures you control have double strike."
15. Shivan Hellkite: Creature, Dragon, cost 2 red/5 mana
"Flying. [1 mana/1 red]: Shivan Hellkite deals 1 damage to target creature or
player." 5/5
16. Furnace of Rath: Enchantment, cost 3 red/1 mana
"If a source would deal damage to a creature or player, it deals double damage
to that creature or player instead."
17. Hostility: Creature - Elemental Incarnation, cost 3 red/3 mana
"Haste. If a spell you control would deal damage to an opponent, prevent that
damage. Put a 3/1 red Elemental Shaman creature token with haste into play
for each 1 damage prevented this way. When Hostility is put into a graveyard
from anywhere, shuffle it into its owner's library instead." 6/6
*18. Earthquake: Sorcery, cost 1 red/ X mana
"Earthquake deals X damage to each creature without flying and each player."
*19. Threaten: Sorcery, cost 1 red/2 mana
"Untap target creature and gain control of it until the end of turn."
*20. Razormane Masticore: Artifact Creature - Masticore, cost 5 mana
"First Strike. At the beginning of your upkeep, sacrifice Razormane Masticore
unless you discard a card. At the beginning of your draw step, you may have
Razormane Masticore deal 3 damage to target creature." 5/5
**21. Goblin Artillery: Creature - Goblin Warrior, cost 2 red/1 mana
"Tap: Goblin Artillery deals 2 damage to target creature or player and 3
damage to you." 1/3
**22. Claws of Valakut: Enchantment - Aura, cost 2 red/1 mana
"Enchant Creature. Enchanted Creature gets +1/+0 for each mountain you
control and first strike."
**23. Goblin Chieftain:: Creature - Goblin, cost 2 red/1 mana
"Haste. Other Goblins you control get +1/+1 and have haste." 2/2
*Unlockable with the Duel the Dragon DLC
** Unlockable with the Expansion 2 DLC
B. Strengths: This deck has the best early game offense because of its
numerous cheap creatures and direct damage cards. It is the only deck that
can deal damage on the first turn, with Raging Goblin or Shock. As explained
further below, Red's direct damage cards can clear the table of enemy
creatures or knock your opponent's life points down. Because of this, red
players don't end up in stalemates that last very long. This deck also does
fairly well against the Blue deck's counterspells simply because your damage
spells are cheap and there are a lot more of them than there are cards that
counter them. Don't be afraid to trade creatures in combat with your opponent
because you have lots of other ways to hurt him. With its cheap and plentiful
direct damage, Red is also the only deck that has a clear advantage over
Elves, the strongest deck in the game. Trade cheap goblins for elves and save
your direct damage for the elves that buff other elves or make more elves.
Red also does better against black than most other decks. In my opinion, Red
is the most underrated deck in the game.
C. Weaknesses: This deck is weak against flying creatures. While the Goblin
King may be the red equivalent of the Elvish Champion, this deck isn't goblin
focused to the extent that Ears of the Elves is elf focused and so the goblins
are less numerous and weaker by comparison. Likewise with the dragons as
compared to the Scales of Fury deck. Users of this deck will also find it
hard to gain life and prevent damage. This deck's big creatures are not as
powerful as the big creatures found in some other decks. A Red player who
lets the game go on too long will find himself in trouble because this deck is
weak late in the game as your opponent plays creatures that are too big to
blast. Play aggressively early in the game so you can get your opponent's
life total low enough that a single late game direct damage spell will finish
him. Red is also terrible in 3 or 4 player games, where you won't have enough
direct damage cards for everyone and your opponents are more likely to be able
to play their big expensive creatures and spells.
See Heat of Battle for a comparison of the two mono colored Red decks.
D. Important Cards and Combos:
1. Direct Damage Usage: This deck contains many cards and effects that can
directly damage your opponent or his creatures, like Shock, Lava Axe, or the
pyromancers. Use the proper tactics with these cards. Blast a potential
blocker before he can damage one of your attacking creatures, or wait until
after the damage is dealt and pick off powerful but wounded creatures before
they heal at the end of the round. Blast a creature that is about to receive
a buffing spell while it is still weak, and both your opponent's creature and
his spell will go to the graveyard. When casting spells to directly damage
another player, save the spells until your opponent doesn't have enough cards
in his hand or mana available to use counterspells or prevent the damage.
2. Lightning Elemental: He is a 4/1 creature with haste. This means he can
attack the turn he is summoned and do lots of damage, but is easily blocked
and destroyed by wimpy creatures. Try to clear out your opponent's creatures
with direct damage spells before you bring him out on turn 4, or hold him and
cast him the turn after your opponent has tapped all his creatures. If you can
get Bloodmark Mentor or Rage Reflection out before you play the Lightning
Elemental, he will gain first strike capability and become a much more nasty
surprise for your opponent.
VI. WINGS OF LIGHT (WHITE):
Unlocked: Defeat #2 Elspeth
A. Unlockable Cards:
1. Serra Angel: Creature - Angel, cost 2 white/3 mana
"Flying, Vigilance." 4/4
2. Angel's Feather: Artifact, cost 2 mana
"Whenever a player plays a white spell, you gain 1 life."
3. Serra's Embrace: Enchantment - Aura, cost 2 white/2 mana
"Enchant Creature. Enchanted creature gets +2/+2 and has flying and
vigilance."
4. Voice of All: Creature - Angel, cost 2 white/2 mana
"Flying. As Voice of All comes into play, choose a color. Voice of All has
protection from that color." 2/2
5. A second Angel's Feather
6. Luminesce: Instant, cost 1 white
"Prevent all damage that black sources and red sources would deal this turn."
7. Skyhunter Skirmisher: Creature - Cat Knight, cost 2 white/1 mana
"Flying, Double Strike." 1/1
8. A third Angel's Feather
9. Wrath of God: Sorcery, cost 2 white/2 mana
"Destroy all creatures. They can't be regenerated."
10. Paladin en-Vec: Creature - Human Knight, cost 2 white/1 mana
"First Strike, Protection from Black, Protection from Red." 2/2
11. Soul Warden: Creature - Human Cleric, cost 1 white
"Whenever another creature comes into play, you gain 1 life." 1/1
12. A fourth Angel's Feather
13. A second Serra's Embrace
14. Spirit of the Hearth: Creature - Cat Spirit, cost 2 white/4 mana
"Flying. You can't be the target of spells or abilities your opponent
controls." 4/5
15. Mass Calcify: Sorcery, cost 2 white/5 mana
"Destroy all nonwhite creatures."
16. Reya Dawnbringer: Legendary Creature - Angel, cost 3 white/6 mana
"Flying. At the beginning of your upkeep, you may return a target creature
card from your graveyard to play." 4/6
17. Purity: Creature - Elemental Incarnation, cost 3 white/3 mana
"Flying. If noncombat damage would be dealt to you, prevent the damage. You
gain life equal to the damage prevented this way." 6/6
*18. A second Mass Calcify
*19. Dispeller's Capsule: Artifact, cost 1 white "2 mana/ 1 white,
Tap: Sacrifice Dispeller's Capsule: Destroy target artifact or enchantment."
*20. A second Voice of All
**21. Excommunicate: Sorcery, cost 1 white/ 2 mana
"Put target creature on top of its owner's library."
**22. Kor Sanctifiers: Creature: Kor Cleric, cost 1 white/2 mana
"Kicker [1 white]. When Kor Sanctifiers enters the battlefield, if it was
kicked, destroy target artifact or enchantment." 2/2
**23. Baneslayer Angel: Creature - Angel, cost 2 white/3 mana
"Flying, First Strike, lifelink, protection from Demons and from Dragons." 5/5
*Unlockable with the Duel the Dragon DLC
** Unlockable with the Expansion 2 DLC
B. Strengths: Defense. This deck has strong defense to counter just about
everything your opponent throws at you, especially creature attacks. This
deck will also give you lots of life points, and is the best deck to play if
you want the LIFE PRESERVER (10) achievement. White also has a surprisingly
strong early and mid game offense with lots of flying and first strike
creatures. There are also ways to permanently buff these creatures so they
aren't overpowered by big creatures later in the game.
C. Weaknesses: This deck suffers from a lack of ways to stop enchantments or
deal direct damage to creatures or opponents. Your angels and spirits are
ultimately not as powerful as the big creatures in other decks, although their
other abilities can make up for it. Before you start unlocking cards, your
creatures will be weak compared to other decks. I should also warn you to
never get into a White v. White battle unless you've got a couple of hours to
spare.
D. Important Cards and Combos:
1. Holy Day/Goldenglow Moth: The AI likes to use this one. When you are
going to cast Holy Day, don't forget to block with any Goldenglow Moths you
have out. You will still gain life when the moths block, even though no
damage will be dealt.
2. Wrath of God/Reya Dawnbringer: Play Wrath of God to clear the battle field
and then Reya Dawnbringer to build up your own army again quicker than your
opponent. This is a great way to break the late game stalemates that white
can get into.
3. Pacifism: This enchantment is white's solution to dealing with enemy
creatures. You can't damage them directly but you can make them irrelevant.
Save Pacifism for powerful or unblockable creatures.
4. Excommunicate: This DLC card is like a white unsummon. You can use it to
bounce a powerful enemy creature and buy yourself a turn, get rid of
enchantments on creatures, or just bounce your own Angel of Mercy and gain 3
more life the next turn.
VII. TEETH OF THE PREDATOR (Green):
Unlocked: Available from the beginning
A. Unlockable Cards
1. A third Blanchwood Armor: Enchantment - Aura, cost 1 green/2 mana
"Enchant creature. Enchanted creature gets +1/+1 or each Forest you control."
2. Wurm's Tooth: Artifact, cost 2 mana
"Whenever a player plays a green spell, you gain 1 life."
3. Molimo, Maro-Sorcerer: Legendary Creature - Elemental, cost 3 green/4 mana
"Trample. Molimo, Maro-Sorcerer's power and toughness are each equal to the
number of lands you control." */*
4. Howl of the Night Pack: Sorcery, cost 1 green/6 mana
"Put a 2/2 green Wolf creature token into play for each Forest you control."
5. A second Wurm's Tooth
6. Karplusan Strider: Creature - Yeti, cost 1 green/3 mana
"Karplusan Strider can't be the target of blue or black spells." 3/4
7. Roughshod Mentor: Creature - Giant Warrior, cost 1 green/5 mana
"Green creatures you control have trample." 5/4
8. A third Wurm's Tooth
9. A third Troll Ascetic: Creature - Troll Shaman, cost 2 green/1 mana
"Troll Ascetic can't be the target of spells or abilities your opponents
control. [1 mana/1 green]: Regenerate Troll Ascetic." 3/2
10. A second Karplusan Strider
11. A fourth Blanchwood Armor
12. A fourth Wurm's Tooth
13. Verdant Force: Creature - Elemental, cost 3 green/5 mana
"At the beginning of each upkeep, put a 1/1 Saproling creature token into play
under your control." 7/7
14. Elvish Piper: Creature - Elf Shaman, cost 1 green/3 mana
"[Green mana], Tap: You may put a creature card from your hand into play." 1/1
15. A fourth Troll Ascetic
16. Loxodon Warhammer: Artifact - Equipment, cost 3 mana,
"Equipped creature gets +3/+0 and has lifelink and trample. Equip [3 mana]."
17. Vigor: Creature - Elemental Incarnation, cost 3 green/3 mana
"Trample. If damage would be dealt to a creature you control other than
Vigor, prevent that damage. Put a +1/+1 counter on that creature for each
1 damage prevented this way. If Vigor is put into the graveyard from
anywhere, shuffle it into its owner's library." 6/6
*18. A second Loxodon Warhammer
*19. Mirri, Cat Warrior: Legendary Creature - Cat Warrior, cost 2 green/
1 mana "First Strike, Forestwalk, Vigilance." 2/3
*20. Hurricane: Sorcery, cost 1 green/ X mana
"Hurricane deals X damage to each creature with flying and each player."
**21. Primeval Light: Sorcery, cost 1 green/3 mana
"Destroy all enchantments target player controls."
**22. Bestial Menace: Sorcery, cost 2 green/3 mana
"Put a 1/1 green Snake creature token, a 2/2 green Wolf creature token, and a
3/3 green Elephant creature token onto the battlefield."
**23. Beastmaster Ascension: Enchantment, cost 1 green/2 mana
"Whenever a creature you control attacks, you may put a quest counter on
Beastmaster Ascension. As long as Beastmaster Ascension has seven or more
quest counters on it, creatures you control gain +5/+5."
*Unlockable with the Duel the Dragon DLC
** Unlockable with the Expansion 2 DLC
B. Strengths: Offense. This deck is about one thing only: creature combat.
There are basically two ways to win with Teeth of the Predator: attack with
so many creatures that they can't all be blocked, or attack with powerful
trampling creatures so your opponent can't prevent enough damage. Of course,
a combination of the two is even better. Early to mid game, this deck has a
very strong offense with cheap Grizzly Bears and Giant Growths. This deck
will often let you buff your bears to 5/5 bears on turn three. Strategic use
of your Giant Growths can put your opponent at a big life point or creature
disadvantage early in the game. This deck also has a bunch of cards that help
you keep a steady supply of forests coming. Late in the game, the turn in
which you attempt to play Overrun and attack with everything you've got will
be a make or break moment for you. This is also a great way to earn the
DEVASTATOR (10) achievement for dealing 20 damage in a single turn. This deck
is also very simple to use and is good for beginning players.
C. Weaknesses: This deck is very unbalanced toward creature assault with no way
to deal direct damage, counter spells or stop enchantments. (EDIT: DLC 2 now
gives you one card that can get rid of enchantments.) The creatures you
have, while powerful, are all easily blocked. There are also too many Wurms
in this deck. It's easy to get stuck early on when your hand is choked with
expensive Wurm cards and you haven't drawn enough forests to cast them. Ears
of the Elves will murder this deck if your opponent gets out an Elvish
Champion and gives his elves forestwalk. Wings of Light also does pretty well
against this deck because it is weak against flying creatures. Holy Day will
ruin your day when realize you've wasted your Overrun.
D. Important Cards and Combos:
1. Giant Growth: Giant Growth use is the key to early game strategy with this
deck. Attack with a weak creature when your opponent has a stronger creature
out and use Giant Growth to save your creature and kill the enemy when it is
blocked. You can give a couple of Giant Growths to a powerful creature with
trample to do lots of damage to your opponent. Surprise a powerful attacking
creature by buffing one of your weak ones. Be sneaky when you use Giant
Growth. The single most common mistake I see people make in the entire game
is to play their Giant Growth during the main phase or attack phase before
their opponent has declared blockers. When you do this, you make your
opponent's decisions about blocking much easier and he may be able to avoid
damage or save the creature you were trying to kill. Spring it on him at the
end of the block phase when all blockers have been assigned for greatest
effect.
2. Overrun: As noted above, the turn in which you play Overrun and go for
massive damage in a single attack will usually decide the game. Don't play
Overrun when you don't have enough creatures to make it worthwhile. If your
opponent is able to counter the spell, you'll have to wait until you get
another one. If your opponent survives the attack, you will be vulnerable
the next turn with most of your creatures tapped.
3. Troll Ascetic/Blanchwood Armor/Loxodon Warhammer: The Troll is the most
important card in your deck. There are very few ways to kill him, and even
fewer deaths that his regeneration can't save him from. Give the Troll the
Warhammer and he can attack every turn and give you 6 life while inflicting
6 trample damage. If the enemy blocks, regenerate him. Toss a Blanchwood
Armor on the Troll instead of or in addition to the Hammer to make him an
unstoppable juggernaut.
VII. THOUGHTS OF WIND (Blue)
Unlocked: Defeat #5 Jace
A. Unlockable Cards:
1. Mahamoti Djinn: Creature - Djinn, cost 2 blue/4 mana
"Flying." 5/6
2. Kraken's Eye: Artifact, cost 2 mana
"Whenever a player plays a blue spell, you gain 1 life."
3. Thieving Magpie: Creature - Bird, cost 2 blue/2 mana
"Flying. Whenever Thieving Magpie deals damage to an opponent, you draw a
card." 1/3
4. Counterbore: Instant, cost 2 blue/3 mana
"Counter target spell. Search its controller's graveyard, hand, and library
for all cards with the same name as that spell and remove them from the game.
Then that player shuffles his or her library."
5. A second Kraken's Eye
6. Flashfreeze: Instant, cost 1 blue, 1 mana
"Counter target red or green spell."
7. Put Away: Instant, cost 2 blue/2 mana
"Counter target spell. You may shuffle up to one target card from your
graveyard into your library."
8. A third Kraken's Eye
9. A second Thieving Magpie
10. A second Flashfreeze
11. Mind Spring: Sorcery, cost 2 blue/X mana
"Draw X cards."
12. A fourth Kraken's Eye
13. A third Thieving Magpie
14. Flow of Ideas: Sorcery, cost 1 blue/5 mana
"Draw a card for each Island you control."
15. A fourth Thieving Magpie
16. Denizen of the Deep: Creature - Serpent, cost 2 blue/6 mana
"When Denizen of the Deep comes into play, return each other
creature you control to its owner's hand."
17. A second Mind Spring
*18. Bottle Gnomes: Artifact Creature - Gnome, cost 3 mana
"Sacrifice Bottle Gnomes: You gain 3 life." 1/3
*19. A second Evacuation
*20. A second Counterbore
**21. Into the Roil: Instant, cost 1 blue/1 mana
Kicker 1 blue/1 mana. Return target nonland permanent to its owner's hand.
If Into the Roil was kicked, draw a card." `
**22. Divination: Sorcery, cost 1 blue/2 mana
"Draw two cards."
**23. Sphinx of Lost Truths: Creature - Sphinx, cost 2 blue/3 mana
"Kicker 1 blue/1 mana. Flying. When Sphinx of Lost Truths enters the
battlefield, draw three cards. Then if it wasn't kicked, discard three
cards." 3/5
*Unlockable with the Duel the Dragon DLC
** Unlockable with the Expansion 2 DLC
B. Strengths: Blue has lots of flying and unblockable creatures, and ways to
avoid creature attacks, but its biggest strength is its counterspells. A well
timed counterspell can eliminate your opponent's expensive and game changing
cards before they even hit the table. A blue player can be untouchable late
in the game when he has enough islands to cast several counterspells a turn.
Blue also has lots of cards that allow the player to draw from his library,
so he can easily refill his hand with counterspells. This deck will struggle
in the early game but will eventually dominate the board and control the game.
C. Weaknesses: This deck has a lot of creatures that are weak and flawed (like
the creatures that can't block anything except flying creatures.) There is
also no way to buff your creatures or deal direct damage, and no way, other
than the Kraken's Eye or the other wise useless Bottle Gnomes, to gain life.
The counterspells can ruin an opponent's entire strategy, but you have to plan
ahead and leave yourself enough mana so you can cast during his turn. This
leaves you with an early game choice between thwarting your opponent or
building your own forces because you probably won't have enough mana to do
both. This can also make the blue deck very slow to get going in a game.
The unsummon cards can be useful, but sometimes you are just putting off the
inevitable rather than solving the problem if your opponent can just recast
the spell next turn. Blue takes a lot of strategy and is not for beginning
players.
D. Important Cards and Combos:
1. The Yo-Yo Effect: Blue spells that return cards to their owner's hand
(like Boomerang, Unsummon and Evacuate) are not just useful for temporarily
avoiding a powerful attacking creature. Casting a spell that returns a
creature to its owner's hand will permanently get rid of any enchantments or
counters on that creature. Unsummoning a creature that is about to receive an
aura enchantment will send the enchantment to the graveyard. These spells
will also destroy creatures that are not cards but tokens (like Saprolings).
You can also use these spells on your own creatures to save them from the
graveyard after they have been assigned as blockers or directly targeted by
damaging spells and effects. You can also unsummon an annoying permanent and
then counter the spell with another card when it is played again. Be sure to
save enough mana. Yet another trick is to use Boomerang on turn 2 on of your
opponent's lands, setting him back a turn in his buildup. (EDIT: DLC 2 gives
you Into the Roil, another bounce card.)
2. Trade-In Value: An variation of the above combo is to use Boomerang on
your own Persuasion. Persuasion is one of the most important Blue spells
because you can use it to fix Blue's biggest deficiency: the lack of powerful
creatures. If you have already stolen a creature and your opponent plays
something you want more, Boomerang your own persuasion spell and recast it on
the new creature. Just make sure you have enough mana. You can also use
Boomerang to rescue this valuable card if your borrowed minion is headed for
the graveyard, or if Pacifism has been cast, you can take back Persuasion and
return the useless creature to your opponent.
IX. EYES OF SHADOW (Black)
Unlocked: Defeat #10 Liliana
A. Unlockable Cards:
1. Soot Imp: Creature - Imp, cost 2 black/1 mana
"Flying. Whenever a player plays a nonblack spell, that player loses 1 life."
1/2
2. Demon's Horn: Artifact, cost 2 mana
"Whenever a player plays a black spell, you gain 1 life."
3. Plague Wind: Sorcery, cost 2 black/7 mana
"Destroy all creatures you don't control. They can't be regenerated."
4. Crowd of Cinders: Creature - Elemental, cost 1 black/3 mana
"Fear. Crowd of Cinders's power and toughness are equal to the number of black
permanents you control." */*
5. A second Demon's Horn
6. Deathmark: Sorcery, cost 1 black
"Destroy target green or white creature."
7. Mind Shatter: Sorcery, cost 2 black/X mana
"Target player discards X cards at random."
8. A third Demon's Horn
9. Mortivore: Creature - Lhurgoyf, cost 2 black/2 mana
"Mortivore's power and toughness are equal to the number of creature cards in
all graveyards. [Black mana]: Regenerate Mortivore." */*
10. A second Deathmark
11. Royal Assassin: Creature - Human Assassin, cost 2 black/1 mana
"Tap: Destroy target tapped creature." 1/1
12. A fourth Demon's Horn
13. Ascendant Evincar: Legendary Creature - Vampire, cost 2 black/4 mana
"Flying. Other black creatures gain +1/+1. Nonblack creatures get -1/-1."
3/3
14. Nekrataal: Creature - Human Assassin, cost 2 black/2 mana,
"First Strike. When Nekrataal comes into play, destroy target nonartifact,
nonblack creature. That creature can't be regenerated."
15. Corrupt: Sorcery, cost 1 black/5 mana
"Corrupt deals damage equal to the number of Swamps you control to target
creature or player. You gain life equal to the damage dealt this way."
16. Dread: Creature - Elemental Incarnation, cost 3 black/3 mana
"Fear. Whenever a creature deals damage to you, destroy it. When Dread is
put into a graveyard from anywhere, shuffle it into its owner's library."
17. Hollowborn Barghest: Creature - Demon Hound, cost 2 black/5 mana
"At the beginning of your upkeep, if you have no cards in hand, each opponent
loses 2 life. At the beginning of each opponent's upkeep, if that player has
no cards in hand, he or she loses 2 life." 7/6
*18. A second Nekrataal
*19. Onyx Goblet: Artifact, 1 black/2 mana
"Tap: Target player loses 1 life."
*20. A third Megrim
**21. Hideous End: Instant, cost 2 black/1 mana
"Destroy target non black creature. Its controller loses 2 life."
**22. Cunning Lethemancer: Creature - Human Wizard, cost 2 black/1 mana
"At the beginning of your upkeep, each player discards a card." 2/2
**23. Xathrid Demon: Creature - Demon, cost 3 black/3 mana
"Flying, trample. At the beginning of your upkeep, sacrifice a creature
other then Xathrid Demon, then each opponent loses life equal to that
sacrificed creature's power. If you can't sacrifice a creature, tap Xathrid
Demon and you lose 7 life." 7/7
*Unlockable with the Duel the Dragon DLC
** Unlockable with the Expansion 2 DLC
B. Strengths: Strong mid and late game. Black has almost everything: powerful
flying creatures, unblockable creatures, direct damage spells, effects that
damage an opponent, ways to gain life, regenerating blockers, forced discards,
etc. It also has Terror, possibly the cheapest spell in the game, both in
terms of mana cost and fairness. A good black player can set up a creature
stalemate early on with only four swamps while his enchantments and spells
grind away his opponent's life points. Forcing your opponent to discard early
in the game can also cripple him later.
C. Weaknesses: Many of your spells and almost all of your creatures are very
expensive to cast. This makes the deck weak on offense for the first few
turns, and slow to get going. If I could add any cards to this deck, it would
be a bunch of Dark Rituals. Black is also weak against the Wings of Light
white deck, which contains some anti black cards that can counter many of the
effects of this deck's spells, as well as flying creatures your Drudge
Skeletons can't block.
D. Combos and important cards:
1. Drudge Skeletons and Mortivore: These creatures can block your opponent's
large creatures turn in and turn out because they regenerate. Make sure you
save enough mana at the end of each turn to regenerate your blockers during
the blocking phase of your opponent's turn.
2. Royal Assassin: Many players don't understand how the assassin is properly
used. As soon as your opponent declares attackers, they become tapped. You
can then use the Royal Assassin's ability to kill his most powerful attacking
creature before blockers are even declared. A Royal Assassin by himself can
stop a conservative opponent from attacking if he is worried about losing his
creatures. Many inexperienced players will attack, not realizing that that
the assassin can eliminate their creature before it does any damage.
3. Discarding: Many of the cards in this deck force your opponent to discard.
When combined with Megrims and Racks, this can also add up to a lot of damage
but the best use for discarding is to empty your opponent's hand early in the
game so he can't compete with land and spells later on.
X. EARS OF THE ELVES (Black and Green)
Unlocked: Defeat #12 Nissa
A. Unlockable Cards :
1. A third Elvish Champion: Creature - Elf, cost 2 green/ 1 mana
"Other Elf creatures get +1/+1 and have forestwalk." 2/2
2. Wurm's Tooth: Artifact, cost 2 mana
"Whenever a player plays a green spell, you gain 1 life."
3. Immaculate Magistrate: Creature - Elf Shaman, cost 1 green/3 mana
"Tap: Put a +1/+1 counter on target creature for each elf you control." 2/2
4. Rhys the Exiled: Legendary Creature - Elf Warrior, cost 1 green/2 mana
"Whenever Rhys the Exiled attacks, you gain 1 life for each elf you control.
[Black mana]: Sacrifice an Elf: Regenerate Rhys the Exiled." 3/2
5. A second Wurm's Tooth
6. A fourth Elvish Champion
7. A third Wurm's Tooth
8. Jagged-Scar Archers: Creature - Elf Archer, cost 2 green/1 mana
"Jagged-Scar Archers's power and toughness are each equal to the number of
Elves you control. Tap: Jagged-Scar Archers deals damage equal to its power
to target creature with flying." */*
9. Imperious Perfect: Creature - Elf Warrior, cost 1 green/2 mana,
"Other Elf creatures you control gain +1/+1. [Green mana], Tap: Put a 1/1
green Elf Warrior creature token into play." 2/2
10. A fourth Wurm's Tooth
11. Lys Alana Scarblade: Creature - Elf Assassin, cost 1 black/2 mana
"Tap: Discard Elf Card. Target creature gets -X/-X until the end of the turn,
where X is the number of Elves you control." 1/1
12. A second Coat of Arms: Artifact, cost 5 mana
"Each creature gets +1/+1 for each other creature in play that shares a
creature type with it."
13. A fourth Eyeblight's Ending: Tribal Instant - Elf, 1 black/2 mana
"Destroy target non-Elf Creature."
14. Nath of the Gilt Leaf: Legendary Creature - Elf Warrior, cost 1 black/1
green/3 mana
"At the beginning of your upkeep, you may have target opponent discard a card
at random. Whenever an opponent discards a card, you may put a 1/1 green Elf
Warrior creature token into play." 4/4
15. Talara's Battalion: Creature - Elf Warrior, cost 1 green/1 mana, "Trample.
Play Talara's Battalion only if you played another green spell this turn." 4/3
*16. Elvish Piper: Creature - Elf Shaman, cost 1 green/3 mana
"[Green mana], Tap: You may put a creature card from your hand into play." 1/1
*17. Eyes of the Wisent: Tribal Enchantment - Elemental, cost 1 green/ 1 mana
"Whenever an opponent plays a blue spell during your turn, you may put a 4/4
green Elemental creature Token into play."
*18. A second Talara's Battalion
**19. Nissa's Chosen: Creature - Elf Warrior, cost 2 green
"If Nissa's Chosen would be put into the graveyard from the battlefield, put
it on the bottom of its owner's library instead." 2/3
**20. A fourth Elvish Eulogist
**21. A second Immaculate Magistrate
*Unlockable with the Duel the Dragon DLC
** Unlockable with the Expansion 2 DLC
B. Strengths: Many people believe this is the strongest deck in the game.
They'll get little argument from me. This deck has the tightest construction
of any deck in the game, as it is built around an elf theme and every creature
and many of the spells are elf related. You'll get lots of powerful elves with
useful abilities, and there's even an Overrun card in this deck so you can use
the Teeth of the Predator one turn big damage attack strategy. This deck has
ways to directly damage opponents and deal with annoying creatures. It is
also one of the few decks that can directly target artifacts in play. As
noted below, this deck will absolutely destroy any other deck that uses
forests.
C. Weaknesses: Poor defense against flying creatures. This deck is also much
less effective against opponents without forests, although your giant elves
will still be very powerful. If you don't draw your elf buffing cards or
they get destroyed or countered, your elves will be very weak compared to the
big creatures in other decks. For this reason, the elf deck is vulnerable to
direct damage that can pick off key elves.
D. Important Combos and Cards:
1. Holy S**t, That's A Lot of Elves!: This deck is pretty straightforward in
its strategy: get as many elves out as possible and buff them up. Many
cards, spells, and abilities become more powerful the more elves you have in
play, and there are plenty of ways to get extra elves. Coat of Arms is a
great card to play because it buffs creatures that share a type, and all your
creatures are elves. Keep in mind that other creature groups that your
opponent might control (wurms, assassins, goblins, dragons, birds, clerics,
etc.) will also benefit from Coat of Arms.
2. Elvish Champion: If you are playing against an opponent that has forests,
this is the most important card in your deck. It gives forestwalk to the
other elves, making them unblockable and allowing them to damage your opponent
every turn. Most unblockable creatures in this game are pretty wimpy, but
with the other elf buffs in the deck, it's not uncommon to get a bunch of 7/7
or stronger forest walking elves. Note that the Elvish Champion does not give
forestwalk to herself, so don't send her to attack unless you've got two of
them out. Also note that a few other decks also contain elves (Civic
Wayfinder is an elf, for instance), and Elvish Champion will give them
forestwalk too, so be careful.
XI. SCALES OF FURY (Red, Black, Green)
Unlocked: Defeat # 16 Tezzeret
A. Unlockable Cards:
1. Flameblast Dragon: Creature - Dragon, cost 2 red/ 4 mana
"Flying. Whenever Flameblast dragon attacks, you may pay X mana/1 red. If you
do, Flameblast Dragon deals X damage to target creature or player." 5/5
2. Wurm's Tooth: Artifact, cost 2 mana
"Whenever a player plays a green spell, you gain 1 life."
3. A fourth Blightning: Sorcery, cost 1 black/1 red/1 mana
"Blightning deals 3 damage to target player. That player discards two cards."
4. Crucible of Fire: Enchantment, cost 1 red/3 mana
"Dragon creatures you control gain +3/+3."
5. Demon's Horn: Artifact, cost 2 mana
"Whenever a player plays a black spell, you gain 1 life."
6. Dragon Roost: Enchantment, cost 2 red/4 mana
"Put a +5/+5 red Dragon creature token with flying into play."
7. Dragon's Claw: Artifact, cost 2 mana
"Whenever a player plays a red spell, you gain 1 life."
8. Threaten: Sorcery, cost 1 red/2 mana
"Untap target creature and gain control of it until the end of turn."
9. Shivan Dragon: Creature - Dragon, cost 2 red/ 4 mana
"Flying. [Red Mana]: Shivan Dragon gets +1/+0 until end of turn." 5/5
10. A second Wurm's Tooth
11. Broodmate Dragon: Creature - Dragon, cost 1 black/1/red/1 green/3 mana
"Flying. When Broodmate Dragon comes into play, put a 4/4 red Dragon creature
token with flying into play."
12. A second Violent Ultimatum: Sorcery, cost 2 black/3 red/2 green
"Destroy three target permanents."
13. Fervor: Enchantment, cost 1 red/2 mana
"Creatures you control gain haste."
14. A second Flameblast Dragon
15. Hellkite Overlord: Creature - Dragon, cost 1 black/2 red/1 green/4 mana
"Flying, Trample, Haste. [Red mana] Hellkite Overlord gains +1/+0 until end of
turn. [Black Mana/Green Mana] Regenerate Hellkite Overlord."
*16. Wanderer's Twig: Artifact, cost 1 mana
"[1 mana]: Sacrifice Wanderer's Twig. Search your library for a basic land
card, reveal it, and put it into your hand. Then shuffle your library."
*17. Terminate: Instant cost 1 black/ 1 red
"Destroy target creature. It can't be regenerated."
*18. A second Shivan Dragon
**19. Beast Hunt: Sorcery, cost 1 green/3 mana
"Reveal the top three card in your library. Put all creature cards revealed
this way into your hand and the rest into your graveyard."
**20. Scarland Thrinax: Creature - Lizard, cost 1 red/1 green/1 black
"Sacrifice a creature: Put a +1/+1 counter on Scarland Thrinax." 3/3
**21. Vampiric Dragon: Creature - Vampire Dragon, cost 1 red/1 black/6 mana
"Flying. Whenever a creature dealt damage by Vampiric Dragon this turn is put
into a graveyard, put a +1/+1 counter on Vampiric Dragon. [1 red/1 mana]:
Vampiric dragon deals 1 damage to target creature." 5/5
*Unlockable with the Duel the Dragon DLC
** Unlockable with the Expansion 2 DLC
B. Strengths: This deck has some direct damage and Terror cards. It also has
ways to get cheap and small creatures for early game defense and cards to get
more land quickly, and is one of the few decks that can directly target
artifacts. Its main strength is its dragons, which are incredibly powerful
but very expensive to cast. The dragons will rule late game creature combat.
The Hellkite Overlord is probably the most powerful (and expensive!) attacker
in the game.
C. Weaknesses: This is probably the weakest deck when none of the rare cards
are unlocked. There won't be any powerful creatures in a deck that is built
for powerful creatures. This deck also suffers from its three color nature.
Early in the game it is possible to have useful spells in your hand but not
have the right mana to cast them. This deck also uses the three land types
that correspond to the three types of landwalk found in this game, meaning
that many of your opponents will have unblockable creatures. This deck is
weak in the early stages of the game and you will have to resort to using
little creatures as blockers and your direct damage spells to stop creature
attacks until you get enough mana to bring out your dragons.
D. Important Cards and Combos:
1. Sprouting Thrinax: The Sprouting Thrinax is important to this deck because
he is your most powerful creature until you can afford dragons. He is a very
useful blocker early in the game when this deck is weak and if destroyed, he
creates three more blockers for you. Try to play one land of each color so
you can get the thrinax out on turn 3. You can also blast your own thrinax if
you want more creatures for blocking.
2. Give Me Land, Lots of Land: Use Rampant Growth and Civic Wayfinder early
in the game so you can get to your dragons faster. You will only need a few
swamps and forests, but as many mountains as you can get because most dragons
can be pumped with red mana to deal massive damage.
XII. MIND OF VOID (Blue/ White)
Unlocked: Defeat DtD 4. Jace Beleren
*Note that DLC 2 has changed the basic deck makeup of Mind. Two of its
Persuasions have been replaced with Counterbores.
A. Unlockable Cards
1. Jayemdae Tome: Artifact, cost 4 mana
"Tap: Draw a card."
2. A third Dispeller's Capsule: Artifact, cost 1 white "2 mana/ 1 white,
Tap: Sacrifice Dispeller's Capsule: Destroy target artifact or enchantment."
3. Wall of Air: Creature - Wall, cost 2 blue/ 1 mana
"Defender/ Flying." 1/5
4. Wall of Swords: Creature - Wall, cost 1 white/ 3 mana
"Defender/ Flying." 3/5
5. Deft Duelist: Creature - Human Rogue, cost 1 blue/ 1 white
"First Strike/ Shroud." 2/1
6. A fourth Wall of Air
7. A second Wall of Swords
8. A third Traumatize: Sorcery, cost 2 blue/ 3 mana
"Target player puts the top half of his or her library, rounded down, into his
or her graveyard."
9. Counterbore: Instant, cost 2 blue/ 3 mana
"Counter target spell. Search its controller's graveyard, hand, and library
for all cards with the same name as that spell and remove them from the game.
Then that player shuffles his or her library."
10. Isleback Spawn: Creature - Kraken cost 2 blue/ 5 mana
"Shroud. Isleback Spawn gets +4/+8 as long as a library has twenty or fewer
cards in it." 4/8
11. Angel's Feather: Artifact, cost 2 mana
"Whenever a player plays a white spell, you gain 1 life."
12. Kraken's Eye: Artifact, cost 2 mana
"Whenever a player plays a blue spell, you gain 1 life."
13. A second Angel's Feather
14. A second Kraken's Eye
**15. Tome Scour: Sorcery, cost 1 blue
"Target player puts the top five cards of his or her library into his or her
graveyard."
**16. Dispel: Instant, cost 1 blue
"Counter target spell."
**17. Planar Cleansing: Sorcery, cost 3 white/3 mana
"Destroy all nonland permanents."
** Unlockable with the Expansion 2 DLC
B. Strengths: Mind of Void presents the chance to go for an alternate win
condition: making your opponent run out of cards (also called "milling" or
"decking".) Many of the cards in this deck take cards directly from an
opponent's library and put them in his graveyard. If your opponent is
forced to draw a card and is unable too, he loses the game. You can win
without ever inflicting a point of damage on your opponent. This strategy
takes a long time, and Mind protects itself with walls and counterspells
while grinding away an opponent's library. Mind has some powerful creatures,
however, and can still win by inflicting damage.
C. Weaknesses: Mind of Void has the worst choices for the first four
turns of any deck in the game. It is by far the slowest deck. There is only
one copy of the only creature you can play before the third turn, and aside
from that creature, nothing you play can attack until turn six at the earliest.
Mind's non creature spells are expensive too, and the deck doesn't really get
going until turn five, by which time your opponent may have everything he
needs to win. Decking can also backfire against Black or Eons which can pull
powerful creatures from their graveyards.
D: Important cards and Combos:
1. How to deck your opponent: Your opponent will draw a card a turn. Mind
will force him to deplete his library much faster. Get out a couple of Memory
Erosions and he will lose four cards for every spell he plays. This can
severely limit a players options as the game winds down. Traumatize is your
key to victory. Play it early for best effect, but make sure it isn't
countered.
2. Stalling for victory: Decking an opponent takes a long time. Mind
specializes in slowing the game down and thwarting your opponent's strategies.
Like mono colored Blue, it has an assortment of counterspells, although Mind's
tend to be more expensive. It pays to know your opponent's deck and to know
when to save your counterspells and when you need to use them. You can,
however, let a big dangerous creature hit the table if you are ready to
Persuade it next turn. Also, since you aren't trying to damage your
opponent, don't be afraid to Condemn his creatures, even if it will give him
a huge life advantage. You should also save your own creatures for blocking
if there is a chance of attack, rather than pushing a few points of damage
through.
XIII CRIES OF RAGE (Red/ Green)
Unlocked: Defeat DtD 2. Jace Beleren
A. Unlockable Cards
1. Obsidian Battle-Axe: Tribal Artifact - Warrior Equipment, cost 3 mana
"Equipped creature gets +2/+1 and has haste. Whenever a Warrior creature
comes into play, you may attach Obsidian Battle-Axe to it. Equip [3 mana]"
2. Shock: Instant, cost 1 red
"Shock deals 2 damage to target creature or player."
3. A third Bramblewood Paragon: Creature - Elf Warrior, cost 1 green/ 1 mana
"Each other Warrior creature you control comes into play with an additional
+1/+1 counter on it. Each creature you control with a +1/+1 counter on it
has trample." 2/2
4. Vengeful Firebrand: Creature - Elemental Warrior, cost 1 red/ 3 mana
"Vengeful Firebrand has haste as long as a Warrior card is in your
graveyard. [1 red]: Vengeful Firebrand gets +1/+0 until end of turn." 5/2
5. Mirri, Cat Warrior: Legendary Creature - Cat Warrior, cost 2 green/
1 mana "First Strike, Forestwalk, Vigilance." 2/3
6. Hurricane: Sorcery, cost 1 green/ X mana
"Hurricane deals X damage to each creature with flying and each player."
7. Borderland Behemoth: Creature - Giant Warrior, cost 2 red/ 5 mana
"Trample. Borderland Behemoth gets +4/+4 for each other Giant you control."
4/4
8. A second Vengeful Firebrand
9. A second Shock
10. A fourth Bramblewood Paragon
11. A second Obsidian Battle-Axe
12. Dragon's Claw: Artifact, cost 2 mana
"Whenever a player plays a red spell, you gain 1 life."
13. Wurm's Tooth: Artifact, cost 2 mana
"Whenever a player plays a green spell, you gain 1 life."
14. A second Dragon's Claw
15. A second Wurm's Tooth
16. Eyes of the Wisent: Tribal Enchantment - Elemental, cost 1 green/ 1 mana
"Whenever an opponent plays a blue spell during your turn, you may put a 4/4
green Elemental creature Token into play."
17. A second Eyes of the Wisent
**18. Goblin Balloon Brigade: Creature - Goblin Warrior, cost 1 red
"[1 red]: Goblin Balloon Brigade gains flying until end of turn." 1/1
**19. Colossal Might: Instant, cost 1 red/1 green
"Target creature gains +4/+2 and gains trample until end of turn."
**20. Stonebrow, Krosan Hero: Legendary Creature - Centaur Warrior,
cost 1 red/1 green/3 mana
"Whenever a creature you control with trample attacks, it gets +2/+2 until end
of turn." 4/4
** Unlockable with the Expansion 2 DLC
B. Strengths: Cries is built to a theme. Every creature is a Warrior and
this deck can dish out a quick beating with a relentless Warrior assault.
With the Bramblewood Paragon giving every warrior +/+1 and trample, and the
Obsidian Battle-Axe giving haste to each new warrior that drops, this deck can
be impossible to defend against. If all goes right, this deck is one of the
fastest in the game. It also has some direct damage cards and creature buffs
to help out in combat.
C. Weaknesses: This deck is basically a two trick pony. It relies on the
Bramblewood Paragon and the Obsidian Battle-Axe to allow its otherwise
unremarkable Warrior creatures to push damage through. If the Paragon or the
Axe are destroyed or countered, or you just don't draw them, this deck can run
out of steam quickly. Without one of those cards in play early, this is just
a mediocre creature combat deck with mostly small creatures and a few burn
spells and other combat tricks.
Important Cards and Combos:
1. Bramblewood Paragon: I know I've already written twice about her in the
two previous paragraphs, but I cannot stress how important she is to the
success of this deck. The Paragon is a great card, giving you a 2/2 creature
for only 2 mana, but also giving your other creatures +1/+1 as soon as they
hit play and trample for as long as she stays alive. You will want to play
her one your second turn every game, and if you don't draw a hand with a
paragon and a forest, get a new one.
Your opponent knows how good this card is and will be doing everything he can
to kill her. You want to keep the Paragon alive so she can keep boosting your
forces. Be careful casting the Paragon if you only have one and you think she
might be countered. Keep in mind that she doesn't get a boost herself (unless
you play more than one) so use caution sending her out to block or attack.
Don't attack a Mind of Void player who's got untapped plains and cards in hand
or the Paragon will get Condemned. When playing against a deck with direct
damage cards, save one of your Giant Growths to buff the Paragon out of burn
range if she gets hit by a Shock or Incinerate. Against a deck with Terrors
or Terminates, just keep your fingers crossed and be glad that you have four
copies of this card.
2. Mudbutton Torchrunner: This card is expensive for a 1/1, but very useful
once he's on the field. He is a great chump blocker, able to kill 4 toughness
creatures once they put him in the graveyard and he does 3 extra damage. This
may deter your opponent from attacking at all. Feel free to attack with the
Torchrunner in the face of an unbreakable defense. Your opponent may let him
through rather than kill him and trigger his ability. The Torchrunner is also
a great card to have on the field when you need to kill one of your opponent's
creatures but you only have Jagged Lightning. Make the Torchrunner the second
target and you can throw three damage directly at your opponent. (This is
required to beat DtD Challenge #2.)
XIV. RELICS OF DOOM (Blue/ Black/ Artifact)
Unlocked: Defeat DtD 1. Sarkhan Vol
** Note that DLC 2 has changed the basic makeup of this deck, replacing one
Fountain of Youth and one Onyx Goblet with two Leonin Scimitars.
A. Unlockable Cards
1. A fourth Tidehollow Strix: Artifact Creature - Bird, cost 1 black/1 blue
"Flying, Deathtouch." 2/1
2. A third Leonin Scimitar: Artifact - Equipment, cost 1 mana
"Equipped creature gets +1/+1. Equip [1 mana]."
3. Etherium Sculptor: Artifact Creature - Vedalken Artificer, cost 1 blue/
1 mana
"Artifact spells you play cost [1 mana] less to play." 1/2
4. A fourth Leonin Scimitar
5. A second Master of Etherium: Artifact Creature - Vedalken Wizard,
cost 1 blue/2 mana
"Master of Etherium's power and toughness are each equal to the number of
artifacts you control. Other artifact creatures you control get +1/+1." */*
6. A second Etherium Sculptor
7. Razormane Masticore: Artifact Creature - Masticore, cost 5 mana
"First Strike. At the beginning of your upkeep, sacrifice Razormane Masticore
unless you discard a card. At the beginning of your draw step, you may have
Razormane Masticore deal 3 damage to target creature." 5/5
8. A third Etherium Sculptor
9. A second Sharding Sphinx: Artifact Creature - Sphinx, cost 2 blue/3 mana
"Flying. Whenever an artifact creature you control deals combat damage to a
player, you may put a 1/1 blue artifact creature token with flying into play."
4/4
10. Platinum Angel: Artifact Creature - Angel, cost 7 mana
"Flying. You can't lose the game and your opponents can't win the game." 4/4
11. Loxodon Warhammer: Artifact - Equipment, cost 3 mana,
"Equipped creature gets +3/+0 and has lifelink and trample. Equip [3 mana]."
12. Kraken's Eye: Artifact, cost 2 mana
"Whenever a player plays a blue spell, you gain 1 life."
13. Demon's Horn: Artifact, cost 2 mana
"Whenever a player plays a black spell, you gain 1 life."
14. A second Kraken's Eye
15. A second Demon's Horn
**16. Executioner's Capsule: Artifact, cost 1 black
"[1 black/1 mana], [Tap], Sacrifice Executioner's Capsule: Destroy target
nonblack creature."
***17. Font of Mythos: Artifact, cost 4 mana
"At the beginning of each player's draw step, that player draws two additional
cards."
**18. A third Master of Etherium
** Unlockable with the Expansion 2 DLC
B. Strengths:
At last you get your hands on Tezzeret's deck. This deck has a very
fast-moving offense backed up with a few terrors and counterspells. Relics is
able to get a lot of cards on the table very quickly and doesn't need much
mana to put up a good fight. It has many useful cards for very low cost and
all of its creatures and permanents are artifacts, which feed off each other
to become more powerful, much like the Elf deck.
Relics is also the long awaited counter deck to black. Your artifact creatures
will negate Black's Fear ability and most of its creature removal, and your
Howling Mines and Etherium Artificers mean that Black's discards will quickly
become irrelevant. Black is still a very strong deck though and can gain an
advantage over Relics with a Royal Assassin or Underworld Dreams, so save your
counterspells for those cards.
C. Weaknesses:
This deck isn't identical to Tezzeret's deck that you know and hate from the
campaign. In this incarnation, Relics has been watered down to make it more
balanced with the other decks. You have lots of weak low cost creatures
bloating the deck and slowing it down, and fewer Etherium Masters and
Artificers to take advantage of them. Despite being full of artifacts, this
deck can only win through creature combat, and only then if it establishes an
early advantage. If Relics doesn't finish an opponent off early, you may have
trouble delivering the killing blow at the end once your opponent has built up
his defenses. Relics is vulnerable to Red with its ability to pick off your
key creatures, and is not much faster than Elves but ultimately less powerful.
This deck's biggest weakness is that it has no defense against artifacts or
enchantments, so carefully consider when to use your meager supply of
counterspells, because if a nasty enchantment hits the table you are in
trouble.
D. Important cards and combos:
1. Platinum Angel - This card is just as awesome as you thought it would be
when Tezzeret's deck and the challenges teased you with it. Against certain
decks, this card assures victory. However, one of those decks is your own
Relics of Doom. If your opponent is able to use Persuasion on your Angel and
you don't have a counterspell ready, you have lost the game because nothing
you have will get rid of the Angel or the enchantment. Play this card
carefully if at all when your opponent is using a deck with Persuasion in it.
2. Glaze Fiend - This little guy will form a big part of your early game
offense, although he is worthless on defense. You will probably play at least
one artifact every turn, turning him into a formidable attacker. Consider
saving up your zero cost artifacts like Ornithopter and Fountain of Youth and
dropping them all on a turn where you know your Fiends will get through or be
blocked by a big flyer you need to take out.
XV. HEART OF WORLDS (Green/White)
Unlocked: Beat DLC 2 #5 Rhys the Redeemed
A. Unlockable Cards:
1. Cliff Threader: Creature - Kor Scout, cost 1 white/1 mana
"Mountainwalk" 2/1
2. Marsh Threader: Creature - Kor Scout, cost 1 white/1 mana
"Swampwalk" 2/1
3. Nimbus Wings: Enchantment - Aura, cost 1 white/1 mana
"Enchant Creature. Enchanted creature gets +1/+2 and has flying."
4. Frontier Guide: Creature - Elf Scout, cost 1 green/1 mana
"[1 green/3 mana], [Tap]: Search your library for a basic land card and put it
onto the battlefield tapped. Then shuffle your library." 1/1
5. A third Harrow: Instant, cost 1 green/2 mana
"As an additional cost to Harrow, sacrifice a land. Search your library for 2
basic land cards and them onto the battlefield tapped. Then shuffle your
library."
6. Oran-Rief Recluse: Creature - Spider, cost 1 green/2 mana
"Kicker [1 green/1 mana]. Reach. When Oran Rief Recluse enters the
battlefield, if it was kicked, destroy target creature with flying." 1/3
7. A third Grazing Gladeheart: Creature - Antelope, cost 1 green/2 mana
"Landfall - Whenever a land enters the battlefield under your control, you may
gain 2 life." 2/2
8. Baloth Woodcrasher: Creature - Beast, cost 2 green/4 mana
"Landfall - Whenever a land enters the battlefield under your control, Baloth
Woodcrasher gains trample and +4/+4 until end of turn." +4/+4
9. Windborne Charge: Sorcery, cost 2 white/2 mana
"Two target creatures you control each get +2/+2 and gain flying until end of
turn."
10. Great Sable Stag: Creature - Elk, cost 2 green/1 mana
"Great Sable Stag can't be countered. Protection from blue and black."
11. A fourth Divine Verdict: Instant, cost 1 white/3 mana
"Destroy target attacking or blocking creature."
12. A second Oran-Rief Recluse
13. Recumbent Bliss: Enchantment - Aura, cost 1 white/ 2 mana
"Enchant creature. Enchanted creature can't attack or block. At the
beginning of your upkeep, you may gain 1 life."
14. A second Baloth Woodcrasher
15. A third Emeria Angel: Creature - Angel, cost 2 white/2 mana
"Flying. Landfall - Whenever a land enters the battlefield under your
control, you may put a 1/1 white Bird creature token with flying onto the
battlefield under your control." 3/3
B. Strengths: Heart has the potential to be a very fast, consistent, and
powerful deck. Indeed, it is the only deck that can finish an opponent in
three turns. You will never have mana shortage problems, and unlike other
decks, landfall means that you will welcome being mana flooded too. The best
strategy for this deck is to play aggressively and rely on landfall and the
consistent flow of lands and life gain to carry you through.
C. Weaknesses: Aside from Baloth Woodcrasher, this deck lacks a strong
finisher, or indeed, any other cards that make a big difference late in the
game. You can easily fetch up 15 or more lands and have nothing worth
casting. Although there is plenty of land fetch in the deck, if for some
reason you are stuck without a land to play, you are in big trouble, as your
creatures are small and weak, with few abilities apart from landfall. Your
creatures will also be weak and vulnerable with a base toughness no greater
than 4 on your opponent's turn unless you are able to play lands on his turn
(see below.) Landfall also struggles in multiplayer because it lacks board
sweeping spells and has a weak late game.
There is also a lot of crap included in this deck that has nothing to do with
landfall or fetching extra lands. (The landwalking Kor, for instance.)
Luckily, most of these cards are in the unlockables, which means you can take
them out of your deck.
D. Important Cards and Combos:
1. Cat Scratch Fever: Steppe Lynx: This little guy is like Glaze Fiend but is
even more vital to this deck. Since Heart is heavily dependent on using
landfall to turn its pitiful creatures into huge bruisers, and requires a
solid early game to be effective, this is probably the most important card in
the entire deck because it is the backbone of your early game offense.
Unfortunately, you only get three. He is a mandatory first turn play. If you
don't start with a plains and a steppe lynx, consider drawing a new hand.
2. Evolving Wilds, Frontier Guide, Harrow: Of all the cards in this deck that
allow you to fetch and play extra lands, these three are the most important
because they allow you to activate landfall abilities at instant speed, even
on your opponent's turn. It's almost like having a giant growth or instant
flight for some of your creatures, except that a smart opponent can see it
coming (unless it's a Harrow!). Still, you can make some nasty plays and turn
your offensive landfall creatures into fearsome blockers in an instant.
XVI. HEAT OF BATTLE (Red)
Unlocked: Beat DLC 2 #6 Chandra Ablaze
A. Unlockable Cards
1. A second Act of Treason: Sorcery, cost 1 red/ 2 mana
"Gain control of target creature until end of turn. Untap that creature. It
gains haste until end of turn."
2. A fourth Heat Ray: Instant, cost 1 red/X mana
"Heat Ray deals X damage to target creature."
3. Wall of Fire: Creature - Wall, cost 2 red/1 mana
"Defender. [1 red]: Wall of Fire gets +1/+0 until end of turn." 0/5
4. A second Inferno Elemental: Creature - Elemental, cost 2 red/4 mana
"Whenever Inferno Elemental block or becomes blocked by a creature, Inferno
Elemental deals 3 damage to that creature." 4/4
5. A third Pyroclasm: Sorcery, cost 1 red/1 mana
"Pyroclasm deals 2 damage to each creature."
6. Quest for Pure Flame: Enchantment, cost 1 red mana
"Whenever a source you control deals damage to an opponent, you may put a
quest counter on Quest for Pure Flame. Remove four quest counters from Quest
for Pure Flame and sacrifice it: If any source you control would deal damage
to a creature or player this turn, it deals double that damage to that
creature or player instead."
7. Dragon's Claw: Artifact, cost 2 mana
"Whenever a player plays a red spell, you may gain 1 life."
8. A second Blaze: Sorcery, cost 1 red/X mana
"Blaze deals X damage to target creature or player."
9. Vicious Shadows: Enchantment, cost 1 red/6 mana
"Whenever a creature is put into the graveyard from the battlefield, you may
have Vicious Shadows deal damage to target player equal to the number of cards
in that player's hand."
10. Insurrection: Sorcery, cost 3 red/5 mana
"Untap all creatures and gain control of them until end of turn. They gain
haste until end of turn."
11. A third Magma Rift: Sorcery, cost 1 red/2 mana
"As an additional cost to Magma Rift, sacrifice a land. Magma Rift deals 5
damage to target creature."
12. A second Dragon's Claw
13. A fourth Torch Slinger: Creature - Goblin Shaman, cost 1 red/2 mana
"Kicker [1 red/1 mana]. When Torch Slinger enters the battlefield, if it was
kicked, it deals 2 damage to target creature." 2/2
14. A third Blaze
15. Flame Wave: Sorcery, cost 4 red/3 mana
"Flame Wave deals 4 damage to target player and each creature he or she
controls."
B. Heat vs. Hands - This deck will inevitably draw comparisons to Hands of
Flame, the other mono Red direct damage deck. They are two very different
decks with different strategies for winning. Take a look at this comparison
of the number of direct damage spells and creatures in each deck:
Hands: 34 creatures (25 in basic deck)
Direct Damage cards (that aren't creatures): 14 total, all of which can
damage players and only two of which can't damage creatures. There are also a
handful of creature buffing cards that raise creatures' power or give them
extra offensive abilities.
Heat: 17 creatures (13 in basic deck)
Direct Damage Cards (that aren't creatures): 28 total, 4 of which can't
damage creatures and 10 of which can't damage players. Four of Heat's
creatures are Torch Slingers which, when kicked, can burn creatures but not
players. There are no creature buffing cards.
Although Hands has more cards thanks to 8 extra unlockables, the difference in
the strategy of these decks is clear when you note that Heat has twice as
many burn spells and Hands has twice as many creatures. Consider the
following as well: Heat has 5 cards with a base mana cost of 7 or higher;
Hands has none. Hands can inflict a theoretical maximum of 28 damage on Turn
4, among the highest of all the decks, Heat can only inflict 14 damage, one
of the lowest.
Hands relies on aggressive creature assault, backed up by direct damage, while
Heat uses its direct damage to keep the board clear of enemy creatures until
it can gain an advantage and start inflicting damage. Hands is the faster
deck and will do more damage to an opponent over the first 6 turns or so, and
Heat has a better long game, able to remove threats and inflict damage more
reliably than Hands later in the game. Hands doesn't care what an opponent
puts down, as long as it can keep pushing damage through, while Heat is more
concerned with regulating what creatures are on the battlefield.
Hands continues to be an underrated deck and with a good draw is the best
choice to quickly defeat the slower decks in the game, like the counterspell
decks. Heat with its larger amount of direct damage cards and the board
sweeping spell Pyroclasm (see below for more on this card), is able to
neutralize the early game threats of fast decks and decks that rely on small
creatures, like Elf, White, Relics or Heart of Worlds. Heat is also a better
choice for 3 and 4 person games, which tend to run longer and slower, and have
more threats that need to be dealt with at once.
C. Strengths - As noted above, Heat has plenty of direct damage cards. These
cards come in all shapes and sizes, with mana cost and damage potential to
suit nearly any situation. A Heat player should aggressively control the
board, destroying most creatures as soon as his opponent plays them, because
he can be sure of drawing more direct damage. By turn six or seven, Heat
should have a couple of creatures out while his opponent has none. Then Heat
can start using the few creatures in his deck combined with direct damage
spells to take down his opponent.
D. Weaknesses - Despite the red nature of the deck and the abundance of direct
damage spells, Heat is one of the slower decks in the game. If your opponent
is able to play more creatures than you can blast, you will quickly get into
trouble, because you don't have many creatures of your own, and what few you
possess have low toughness and no flying. Heat will have to use its creatures
carefully because it still needs them to damage the enemy. Without creatures,
Heat may have trouble dealing damage to players because many of its most
powerful burn cards can only damage creatures. Heat also has Ember Shot, a
terrible card that is the most overcosted card in the game
E. Important Cards and Combos
1. "Nice Doggie": The Fiery Hellhound": Heat is deficient in creatures, but
like all the DotP decks, still relies on them to deal damage. The Hellhound
comes out relatively early and can deal progressively more damage later in the
game as you get more red mana to pump him up. Use direct damage to clear a
path for him, wait until he attacks and is unblocked, and then put all your
mana into him to deal some massive damage. Because he is so important to your
offense, don't throw him away on chump blocking, unless you are close to death
or you are able to pump him up enough to kill a much bigger attacker.
2. Pyroclasm, or "I'm sorry, did you need those Elves?": This is a very
useful card and luckily, you get four of them. It's most obvious use is to
wipe the board clean of small creatures. This can be devastating against
Elves, but nearly all the DotP decks pack enough small creatures that it comes
in handy. If there is only one small creature that you need to get rid of,
use another, less versatile spell, but if Pyroclasm is your only option, don't
be afraid to use it. It's cheap to cast and you get three more. It will kill
your creatures too, so if you have a Hellhound out, you need to decide if it's
worth losing to take out whatever you want to kill with Pyroclasm. If you
decide the Hellhound is expendable, send it to attack first, then cast
Pyroclasm. You might get in some extra damage.
Also note that Pyroclasm damages all creatures without choosing a target.
This means creatures with shroud or shroud-like abilities (like the always
annoying Troll Ascetic) that can't be targeted by your spells can be damaged
by Pyroclasm because this spell doesn't choose targets. You should launch an
immediate Pyroclasm to kill a troll on the turn after he is cast while your
opponent is tapped out and can't pay the regeneration cost.
Keep in mind that if Pyroclasm destroys a "Lord" card that gives +1/+1 to
other creatures, like Goblin King, Elvish Champion, Master of Etherium, etc.,
Pyroclasm can wipe out any creatures that the Lord boosted to 3 toughness.
First they take the two damage from Pyroclasm, then they lose the toughness
bonus from the Lord, putting them at 0.
XVII. EONS OF EVIL (Red/ Blue/ Black)
Unlocked: Beat DLC 2 #8 Sorin Markov
A. Unlockable Cards:
1. Vein Drinker: Creature - Vampire, cost 2 black/4 mana
"Flying. [1 red], [Tap]: Vein Drinker deals damage equal to its power to
target creature. That creature deals damage equal to its power to Vein
Drinker. Whenever a dealt damage by Vein Drinker this turn is put into a
graveyard, put a +1/+1 counter on Vein Drinker." 4/4
2. A fourth Zombify: Sorcery, cost 1 black/3 mana
"Return target creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield."
3. Countersquall: Instant, cost 1 black/1 blue
"Counter target noncreature spell. Its controller loses 2 life."
4. Goblin Outlander: Creature - Goblin Scout, cost 1 red/1 black
"Protection from white." 2/2
5. A second Deathbringer Thoctar: Creature - Zombie Beast, cost 1 red/
1 black/4 mana
"Whenever another creature is put into a graveyard from play, you may put a
+1/+1 counter on Deathbringer Thoctar. Remove a +1/+1 counter from
Deathbringer Thoctar: Deathbringer Thoctar deals 1 damage to target creature
or player." 3/3
6. Undermine: Instant, cost 1 black/2 blue
"Counter target spell. Its controller loses 3 life."
7. A third Terminate: Instant, cost 1 red/1 black
"Destroy target creature. It can't be regenerated."
8. Merfolk Looter: Creature - Merfolk Rogue, cost 1 blue/1 mana
"[Tap]: Draw a card, then discard a card." 1/1
9. Traumatize: Sorcery, cost 2 blue/ 3 mana
"Target player puts the top half of his or her library, rounded down, into his
or her graveyard."
10. Rorix Bladewing: Legendary Creature - Dragon, cost 3 red/3 mana
"Flying, Haste" 6/5
11. Act of Treason: Sorcery, cost 1 red/ 2 mana
"Gain control of target creature until end of turn. Untap that creature. It
gains haste until end of turn."
12. Zombie Outlander: Creature - Zombie Scout, cost 1 blue/1 black
"Protection from green." 2/2
13. Shadowmage Infiltrator: Creature - Human Wizard, cost: 1 black/1 blue/1
mana
"Fear. Whenever Shadowmage Infiltrator deals combat damage to a player, you
may draw a card." 1/3
14. A fourth Hidden Horror: Creature - Horror, cost 2 black/1 mana
"When Hidden Horror comes into play, sacrifice it unless you discard a
creature card." 4/4
15. Nicol Bolas: Legendary Creature - Elder Dragon, cost 2 red/2 blue/2
black/2 mana
"Flying. At the beginning of your upkeep, sacrifice Nicol Bolas unless you
pay [1 red/1 blue/1 black]. Whenever Nicol Bolas deals damage to an
opponent, that player discards his or her hand." 7/7
B. Strengths: Our version of Eons of Evil is very different from the boss
deck. It contains far less removal and has more smaller creatures to play
earlier in the game, and more fat creatures for later on. This collection of
expensive creatures is probably the best in the game. Eons has a way to
"cheat" them into play early in the game rather than paying the full casting
cost. See below for details on this combo. Eons also has a little card
drawing and lots of land fetch, so unlike the other three color decks in this
game, it rarely gets mana screwed or lacks the right colors.
C. Weaknesses: Eons has a little creature removal and two counterspells, but
these rarely make a difference in the game. Eons has no way to deal with
artifacts or enchantments. Although Eons has ways to get the right color
lands, it has no land acceleration (dropping more than one mana producing land
in a single turn), which would have been handy in a deck with so many
expensive creatures. Finally, unless it has its combo ready, Eons is slow and
vulnerable for the first six turns or so.
D. Important Cards and Combos:
1. Say Hello to My Little Friend!: The Combo - Without this combo, Eons is one
of the slower decks in the game. With it, Eons can drop some of the biggest,
most useful, and most expensive creatures on the board as early as turn 4.
Most combos in DotP take only two cards to work, although sometimes a third or
fourth card will make it even better. This combo takes three cards to work
and you have to have them all. You need a big fat creature worth Zombifying,
a way to put it into your graveyard, and a Zombify.
Creatures:
2 Archdemons of Unx - be careful bringing Archy out too early as he will have
to sacrifice himself if you run out of creatures.
Xathrid Demon - Again, be careful bringing him out early because you can
easily lose the game if you run out of sacrifices.
Flameblast Dragon
Hamletback Goliath
2 Deathbringer Thoctars
Goliath Sphinx
Vein Drinker
Rorix Bladewing
Nicol Bolas - if you are going to Zombify him early in the game, make sure you
have one land in each color to pay his upkeep cost.
Discard Engines:
4 Grixis Battlemages
Merfolk Looter
4 Hidden Horrors
1 Traumatize - For casting on yourself. If you have a Zombify in hand, this
card provides you with both the discard engine and your choice of big
creatures. If you don't have a Zombify, don't use Traumatize or you will
probably lose a couple of Zombifys.
Opponent's actions - If Black makes you discard or Mind tries to mill you,
they are doing this deck a favor as long as you can hang on to a Zombify.
Zombify: You only get 4 of these so don't waste them!
You can see from the above list that you are likely to draw a fat creature and
a way to discard it early in the game, and that Zombify is often the card you
will lack. Consider getting a new starting hand if you don't have Zombify.
Also, don't forget that if the game goes long enough, you can start
hardcasting those fat creatures from your hand because Eons gets a very steady
stream of mana.
2. Snipers: Deathbringer Thoctar and Vein Drinker: You may not find yourself
attacking every turn with these creatures, but they can still be used to pick
off your opponent's creatures with their special abilities. Start targeting
smaller creatures with Vein Drinker (even your own 1/1s if your opponent has
nothing small in play) and in a few turns she will be big enough to take down
larger creatures. The Deathbringer Thoctars get a +1/+1 counter every time a
creature (doesn't matter whose) goes to the graveyard. This counter can be
detached to deal 1 damage to a creature or player. This means that a single
thoctar with a counter can eliminate any number of 1/1 creatures in a row and
still end up with a counter. If you have both thoctars out with counters,
they can eliminate any number of 2 toughness creatures. The only tricky part
is putting a counter on your thoctar in the first place, which isn't hard to
do in Eons. If you have a demon out, the sacrifice you make every turn will
count. Vein Drinker's ability will help too, as will your own creature
removal cards. If you don't have any other options, attack with your
worthless 1/1s. Either your opponent will let them through and take damage or
he will kill them, giving your Thoctar tokens.
XVIII. TEZZERET'S DECK (Blue/ Black/ Artifact)
Tezzeret plays with blue and black spells like Terror and the blue
counterspells, but his permanents are artifacts. This means that spells and
effects like Terror or Fear are not very effective against him, but spells
like Naturalize that target artifacts are vital. His best creature in his
first incarnation is the Razormane Masticore, a 5/5 artifact creature with
first strike that can snipe at your small creatures for three points of
damage. He can get this creature out on turn five. Try to eliminate it as
soon as you can. Tezzeret must discard every turn to keep the Masticore in
play, so he uses Howling Mine, an artifact that lets him draw an extra card a
turn. This often backfires on him because you get to draw an extra card too,
so it is likely you will have a land and a spell to play each turn. By now
you should also have unlocked most of the rare cards for the deck you are
using. Keep up the pressure on him and eliminate him before he can get some
of his artifact combos working.
Tezzeret is much harder the second time you face him. He has added some blue
wizard cards that interact with his artifacts. Particularly annoying is the
Master of Etherium which has power and toughness equal to the number of
Tezzeret's artifacts, as well as giving his artifact creatures +1/+1. He can
get this card out very early. This means Tezzeret's deck now works like Ears
of the Elves, with his artifacts buffing each other, but is much faster. His
Platinum Angel is also annoying, as it lets him go into negative life points
and keeps you from winning. Play through Challenge 8 to learn how the Platinum
Angel works. Tezzeret's deck has an extremely strong early game offense this
time around, but the basic strategy remains the same. Keep playing him and
eventually he will draw a bad starting hand and you can beat him.
Tezzeret's known cards (*: second battle only)
1. *Bottle Gnomes: Artifact Creature - Gnome, cost 3 mana
"Sacrifice Bottle Gnomes: You gain 3 life." 1/3
2. Cancel: Instant, cost 2 blue/1 mana
"Counter target spell.
3. *Etherium Sculptor: Artifact Creature - Vedalken Artificer, cost 1 blue/
1 mana
"Artifact spells you play cost [1 mana] less to play." 1/2
4. Fountain of Youth: Artifact, cost 0 mana
"[2 mana], Tap: You gain 1 life."
5. Glaze Fiend: Artifact Creature - Illusion, cost 1 black/1 mana
"Flying. Whenever another artifact comes into play under your control, Glaze
Fiend gets +2/+2 until end of turn." 0/1
6. Howling Mine: Artifact, cost 2 mana
"At the beginning of each player's draw step, if Howling Mine is untapped,
that player draws a card."
7. *Master of Etherium: Artifact Creature-Vedalken Wizard, cost 1 blue/2 mana
"Master of Etherium's power and toughness are each equal to the number of
artifacts you control. Other artifact creatures you control get +1/+1." */*
8. Onyx Goblet: Artifact, cost 1 black/ 2 mana
"Tap: Target player loses 1 life."
9. *Platinum Angel: Artifact Creature - Angel, cost 7 mana
"Flying. You can't lose the game and your opponents can't win the game." 4/4
10. Razormane Masticore: Artifact Creature - Masticore, cost 5 mana
"First Strike. At the beginning of your upkeep, sacrifice Razormane Masticore
unless you discard a card. At the beginning of your draw step, you may have
Razormane Masticore deal 3 damage to target creature." 5/5
11. Sharding Sphinx: Artifact Creature - Sphinx, cost 2 blue/3 mana
"Flying. Whenever an artifact creature you control deals combat damage to a
player, you may put a 1/1 blue artifact creature token with flying into play."
4/4
12. Terror: Instant, cost 1 black/1 mana
"Destroy target nonartifact, nonblack creature. It can't be regenerated."
13. Tidehollow Strix: Artifact Creature - Bird, cost 1 black/1 blue
"Flying, Deathtouch." 2/1
14. Wall of Spears: Artifact Creature - Wall, cost 3 mana
"First Strike" 2/3
IXX. Nicol Bolas' Deck
Bolas is not nearly as challenging a boss as Tezzeret was because his deck is
very slow and is not built to a particular theme that creates card synergy.
He has few cheap creatures to play early in the game. He instead relies on
using his copious amounts of creature removal to shut you down until he can
begin bludgeoning you to death with his giant expensive monsters. Perhaps his
most annoying card is Blazing Specter, which can attack the turn it's played
and force you to discard. Save a flying blocker, some removal or a
counterspell and open mana for the turn when Bolas gets four mana in case he
has a Specter. Consider leaving his Archdemon of Unx alive if you can survive
its attacks. It will eventually turn all of Bolas' big and useful creatures
(including itself!) into 2/2 Zombies.
Decks that can generate a strong early offense will do well against him
(Cries, Elves, Red, Relics, etc.) Blue and Mind will also do well because
those decks don't rely heavily on creatures and by the time Bolas begins
casting his nasty stuff, you will be ready with land and counterspells. Bolas
is also vulnerable to being decked (running out of cards) because his deck is
small, he has lots of cards that make him draw, and the AI isn't very good at
dealing with being decked. Black also does well because you can make Bolas
discard the expensive creatures he will be holding in his hand as he waits to
draw enough mana to play them. Keep in mind that Bolas can use Zombify to
bring back any creature from his graveyard.
Slower decks that rely heavily on creatures (Scales, Claws, Green, etc.) will
struggle because Bolas will often have a way to remove every creature you play
before you get to attack with it.
Card List:
1 Archdemon of Unx: Creature -Demon, cost 2 black/5 mana
"Flying, Trample. At the beginning of your upkeep, sacrifice a non-Zombie
creature, then put a 2/2 black Zombie creature token into play." 6/6
2 Blazing Specter: Creature - Specter, cost 1 black, 1 red/2 mana
"Flying, Haste. Whenever Blazing Specter deals combat damage to a player,
that player discards a card." 2/2
2 Grixis Battlemage: Creature - Human Wizard, cost: 1 black/2 mana
"[1 blue], Tap: Draw a card, then discard a card. [1 red], Tap: Target
creature can't block this turn." 2/2
2 Earthquake: Sorcery, cost 1 red/ X mana
"Earthquake deals X damage to each creature without flying and each player."
2 Flameblast Dragon: Creature - Dragon, cost 2 red/4 mana
"Flying. Whenever Flameblast dragon attacks, you may pay X mana/1 red. If you
do, Flameblast Dragon deals X damage to target creature or player." 5/5
1 Hamletback Goliath: Creature - Giant Warrior, cost 1 red/6 mana
"Whenever another creature comes into play, you may put X +1/+1 counters on
Hamletback Goliath where X is that creature's power." 6/6
2 Hidden Horror: Creature - Horror, cost 2 black/1 mana
"When Hidden Horror comes into play, sacrifice it unless you discard a
creature card." 4/4
1 Mind Shatter: Sorcery, cost 2 black/X mana
"Target player discards X cards at random."
1 Platinum Angel: Artifact Creature - Angel, cost 7 mana
"Flying. You can't lose the game and your opponents can't win the game." 4/4
1 Prince of Thralls: Creature - Demon, cost 1 blue/2 black/ 1 red/ 4 mana
"Whenever a permanent an opponent controls is put into a graveyard, put that
card into play under your control unless that opponent pays 3 life." 7/7
2 Sever Soul: Sorcery, cost 2 black/3 mana
"Destroy target nonblack creature. It can't be regenerated. You gain life
equal to its toughness."
2 Shadowmage Infiltrator: Creature - Human Wizard, cost: 1 black/1 blue/1
mana
"Fear. Whenever Shadowmage Infiltrator deals combat damage to a player, you
may draw a card." 1/3
2 Sift: Sorcery, cost 1 blue/3 mana
"Draw three cards, then discard a card."
4 Skeletonize" Instant, cost 1 red/4 mana
"Skeletonize deals 3 damage to target creature. When a creature dealt damage
this way is put into a graveyard this turn, put a 1/1 black Skeleton creature
token onto the battlefield with "[B]: Regenerate this creature."
2 Terminate: Instant, cost 1 black/1 red
"Destroy target creature. It can't be regenerated."
4 Terror: Instant, cost 1 black/1 mana
"Destroy target nonartifact, nonblack creature. It can't be regenerated."
4 Wanderer's Twig: Artifact, cost 1 mana
"[1 mana], Sacrifice Wanderer's Twig: Search your library for a basic land
card, reveal it, and put it into your hand. Then shuffle your library."
4 Zombify - Sorcery, cost 1 black/3 mana
"Return target creature card from your graveyard to play."
Lands: 6 islands, 6 mountains, 10 swamps
Credit to Stevolution for decking Bolas and posting a list of his cards.
XX. SORIN MARKOV'S DECK
Coming soon!
If someone wants to deck him and post the contents online that would really
help. Otherwise you'll just have to wait until I get a chance.
XXI. CHALLENGES
The challenges are put in the game to teach you about strategy and combos.
You should do the tutorial and a couple of campaign duels to get used to the
mechanics of the game and the concepts behind Magic in general. If you are
new to Magic or even if you have played the card game before, you can learn a
few things from figuring out the challenges for yourself. However, if you
just want the achievements, MAGIC: THE PUZZLING (10) for completing one
challenge and PUZZLING MASTER (20) for completing all eight, just skip to the
spoilers.
A. Tips:
1. The easier challenges involve figuring out the right creatures to buff
when attacking. You need to determine what creatures you will be able to get
through your opponent's defenses and how to make those creatures deal enough
damage.
2. If you are stuck on a hard challenge, try targeting your own spells,
creatures, or even yourself with various spells or effects.
3. Beating the seventh challenge will unlock the DEVASTATOR (10) achievement
for dealing over 20 damage to an opponent in one turn.
4. The fifth challenge for the second expansion has the setup you need to get
the OVERFLOWING HARVEST (15) achievement for dropping eight lands in one turn.
B. !!!SPOILERS!!!
1. Garruk - Cast both Angelic Blessings on your Skyhunter Skirmisher, making
it a 7/7 creature. Attack with the skirmisher. Because it's flying, Garruk
can't block it and because its double strike ability lets it inflict damage
twice, the Skirmisher will do 14 points of damage.
2. Elspeth - Use Threaten to take control of Elspeth's Soul Warden. Then play
Raging Goblin. Since you control Soul Warden, Elspeth won't gain a life point
when you cast the goblin. Since you now control three creatures and she only
has two to block with, one of your attackers will get through, taking her last
life point.
3. Garruk - Use your Elvish Piper's ability to put your Roughshod Mentor into
play. This will give all your Grizzly Bears the trample ability. Attack
with the three bears. After blockers are assigned, press X to stop the timer.
Cast all three Giant Growths on the bear blocked by the Civic Wayfinder. That
bear will become an 11/11 creature with trample, dealing two damage to finish
off the elf and nine to finish off Garruk.
4. Chandra - Cast Megrim. With two Megrims out, Chandra will lose four life
points every time she discards. Then cast Ravenous Rats, causing her to
discard and take four damage. This will also give you eight black permanents,
making Crowd of Cinders an 8/8 creature. Attack with all of your creatures.
Chandra can't block Crowd of Cinders and Abyssal Specter thanks to their fear
and flying abilities, and one of your Drudge Skeletons will also get through,
costing Chandra a total of eleven life points. Since Abyssal Specter makes
Chandra discard, she will take four more damage from the Megrims, finishing
her off.
5. Liliana - Cast Eyeblight's Ending on the Nightmare. Since that was
Liliana's only flying creature, she won't be able to block your Elvish Riders.
Cast Elvish Warrior and Elvish Shaman. With the Elf Warrior tokens you get
from Lys Alana Huntmaster, you now have ten elves in play. Attack with the
Elvish Riders. Pause the timer and use Immaculate Magistrate's special ability
to put ten +1/+1 counters on Elvish Riders. They will now do the thirteen
points of damage you need to defeat Liliana.
6. Chandra - Use the persuaded Prodigal Pyromancer's special ability to deal
one point of damage to Chandra. Then use Boomerang on your own Persuasion
enchantment. When Persuasion is returned to your hand, recast it on Chandra's
Raging Goblin. Attack with the unblockable Phantom Warrior and the Raging
Goblin, who is also unblockable thanks to the mountainwalk ability provided by
Chandra's Goblin King. Game over.
7. Nissa - Cast Terror on the Elvish Champion, then send all your creatures to
attack. Pause the timer after the attack phase and use the Flameblast
Dragon's special ability. Target your own Sprouting Thrinax with the special
ability. This will kill it and put three Saprolings in play, making your
attacking Saprolings 6/6 thanks to your opponent's Coat of Arms. The dragon,
saprolings, and one Goblin Deathraider should get through to finish off Nissa.
Beating this challenge will also unlock the DEVASTATOR (10) achievement for
dealing over 20 damage to a player in one turn.
8. Liliana - You need to eliminate the Platinum Angel if you want to win this
turn. Cast Pariah on it. Play the Wooly Thoctar, then use Brion Stoutarm's
special ability to throw the thoctar at yourself. Because of Pariah, the
angel will take the damage for you, sending it to the graveyard. Liliana
should then tap her Royal Assassin and use his special ability to kill Brion.
Use an Incinerate on the Ravenous Rats. Use the second Incinerate on Liliana.
Cast Sangrite Surge on the Knight of the Skyward Eye and send him and the
Meadowmist Skulk to attack Liliana, doing exactly six damage to finish her
off. You can also buff the knight with his own special ability, cast
Rip-Clan Crasher, and attack with all three creatures to do eight damage.
C. Duel the Dragon Challenges
1. Jace - This challenge is fairly straightforward. Like the simpler original
challenges, you have to figure out which creature to buff and how to get it
through. You will want to buff the Glaze Fiend here by playing as many
artifacts as you can. Start by clearing the way for it by using Terror on the
Wall of Air. Then cast one of your Etherium Sculptors. When combined with
the other Sculptor on the field, all your artifacts will now cost 2 mana less.
Then cast in any order Master of Etherium, Howling Mine, Onyx Goblet, and
Loxodon Warhammer. Your Fiend will now have 11 power and all your other
creatures will have one more power thanks to the Master. Attack with all your
creatures that don't have summoning sickness. Jace should block your
Masticore with his knight and take 16 damage from everything else, leaving him
at 1. Remember that non creature artifacts don't suffer summoning sickness,
so activate Onyx Goblet to take his last life point.
2. Elspeth - This challenge will force you to target your own creatures.
Cast Jagged Lightning and target the untapped Angel and your own Mudbutton
Torchrunner. When the Torchrunner dies, have it deal 3 damage to Elspeth.
Now cast Vengeful Firebrand. Because of Bramblewood Paragon it will be a
6/3 trampling creature and because the Torchrunner is in your graveyard, it
will have haste. Attack with both creatures and you will push through
enough damage to kill Elspeth no matter how she blocks.
3. Liliana - This is the first challenge that doesn't require you to kill
your opponent in one turn. It is also very tricky. Although Liliana has only
two life points, you can't push through enough damage to kill her the
conventional way. You will have to beat her by decking her, that is, making
her lose by emptying her library and forcing her to draw. You will also have
to find ways to put cards back into your own library to avoid decking
yourself. Start by playing a plains. Then attack with Ambassador Laquatus.
After blocking has been declared, cast Condemn on Ambassador Laquatus to put
him back into your library. Then cast Kiss of Amesha to draw your last two
cards: Wrath of God and the good Ambassador. Play Wrath of God, which will
kill all Liliana's creatures and put your Purity back into your library. Now
you can draw another card next turn and not deck yourself. End your turn.
Liliana will play a creature or two from her hand and pass back to you. Play
the Ambassador and the plains. Activate the Ambassador's special ability three
times to put the last nine cards from Liliana's library into her graveyard.
End your turn. When Liliana is forced to draw on her turn, she will have no
cards left and automatically lose the game.
D. Expansion 2 Challenges
1. Garruk: This challenge is an interesting take on a "Find the right
creature to attack with and get it through" combined with a "Hurt your own
creatures" challenge. The key to this challenge is Sanguine Bond, which
means that Garruk will lose life whenever you gain life. This effectively
makes your Vampire Nighthawk deal double damage with its lifelink ability.
You just have to clear the way for him and make sure he can do enough damage.
First, play your swamp and then equip the Nighthawk with the Blade of the
Bloodchief so he becomes more powerful whenever a creature dies. Cast your
two Disfigures on two of your other vampires. This will power up the
Nighthawk. Now clear the way for him by casting Feast of Blood on the Giant
Spider, the only creature that can block the Nighthawk. Sanguine Bond will
do four damage to Garruk and the Nighthawk will now have 8 power. Attack
with Nighthawk to put Garruk at 8 life points, then when the lifelink ability
gives you 8 life, Sanguine Bond will deal the last 8 damage to Garruk.
2. Garruk: Your Maro has power equal to the number of cards in your hand, so
you need to put lots of cards there to buff him up, then figure out a way to
get his damage through. First cast Selective Memory, then remove all the non
land cards from your deck. Next, cast Treasure Hunt to bring your entire
library into your hand. This will give you 31 cards, making the Maro 31/31.
Play a forest, then cast Primal Frenzy on the Maro, making him a 29/29 with
trample. Now, even if Garruk blocks with the Wurm, the Maro will still do
enough damage to finish him.
3. Nicol Bolas: This challenge took me forever to figure out because there
are so many tempting options, like Polymorphing a card into Akroma or getting
Rorix back, that don't quite work. I had to read the cards carefully, and I
noticed that Bolas will lose the game if Phage comes into play without being
cast from his hand. There is a way to put Phage back into play so that Bolas
loses.
You can't beat Nicol Bolas with what you have in hand, so you'll have to go to
your library. You have four cards left in there: an Island, Akroma, Angel of
Wrath, a Threaten, and Polymorph, in order of top to bottom. (You can play
Tidings to check if you want, but you'll have to start over afterwards.) You
need to get to the Polymorph. Tidings is too expensive and Brainstorm won't
dig deep enough to get it. Play your Evolving Wilds, then sacrifice it and
get the Island. Now you have only three cards left in your deck and you can
get to Polymorph with Brainstorm. Cast it to draw your last three cards, then
place Akroma and Dispeller's Capsule back in your library.
Excommunicate Phage to put her on top of Bolas' library, then Polymorph the
Colossus. If you Polymorph any other creature, Nicol Bolas will use the
Executioner's Capsule to destroy it and Polymorph won't go off, but since
Darksteel Colossus is indestructible, Bolas can't get rid of it. The
Colossus will be replaced by Phage, and Bolas will lose.
4. Tezzeret: You need to get Lorthos onto the battlefield and keep him
there long enough that he can get an attack in, and you have to Unsummon the
Platinum Angel long enough that Tezzeret can be killed. In next two turns,
Tezzeret will draw a Cancel and an Excommunicate, either one of which can
prevent your winning.
Pass your first two turns, and when the Quest for Ula's Temple gives you the
chance to play Lorthos on the second turn, press B to decline. If Lorthos is
sitting on the table during your opponent's turn, he will get Excommunicated
and you won't be able to replay him in time to avoid losing. During
Tezzeret's turn, the Angel will attack, leaving you at 1 life point. At the
end of his turn, you'll be given another chance to play Lorthos. Play him
now. Lorthos can't be Canceled because he is being "cheated" onto the board
by an effect rather than cast by a spell and he can't be Excommunicated
because Excommunicate is a Sorcery that Tezzeret can only cast on his own
turn. Lorthos will also lose his summoning sickness at the beginning of your
turn and be able to attack.
Attack with Lorthos and then use his ability to tap 8 of Tezzeret's 9 islands.
Now Tezzeret will be unable to cast his Cancel. Lorthos' attack will knock
Tezzeret down to 0 life. Now play your island and Unsummon the Angel.
Tezzeret won't be able to counter this spell and will lose the Angel's
protection and the game.
5. Sarkhan: You have lots of cards that can fetch creatures from your
graveyard or library, an Elvish Piper that can "cheat" one creature into play
for a single mana, and a lot of cards for putting land into play. This should
be a hint that you need to find the right creature to play this turn, and
that it benefits from landfall. Also, since none of your creatures have Haste
and Trample, you will need to use Fling to deal the damage to Sarkhan.
Start by casting an Eladamri's Call, then fetching a Plated Geopede. Use your
Elvish Piper's ability to put the Geopede into play. Next play your two
Harrows, sacrificing a tapped land and fetching up a mountain and a forest
with each one. The Geopede is getting bigger and Khalani Heart Expedition now
has enough counters to go off. Sacrifice it for two more lands, which brings
the Goepede up to a 13/13. Cast Fling, sacrifice the Geopede and target
Sarkhan to complete the challenge.
OVERFLOWING HARVEST (15) achievement: In this challenge, you have everything
you need to drop eight lands this turn. Start by casting your two Harrows,
fetching up forests and sacrificing tapped lands. Then, use your 0 cost
Summoner's Pact to fetch Eternal Witness. Use the Elvish Piper's ability to
put the Witness into play. Select a Harrow you just cast from your Graveyard,
then cast it again, sacrificing a tapped land. To get the last two lands,
sacrifice Khalani Heart Expedition for a total of eight lands dropped in a
single turn and the achievement.
!!!SPOILERS END!!!
XXII. ACHIEVEMENTS
A. Original Achievements
THE SPARK (20): Win a game. This can be done in any mode, except Challenge.
Pretty easy. If you played the demo and won a game, this achievement and all
the decks and cards you unlocked will be yours if you buy the game before
quitting.
EPIC CONCLUSION (40): Beat the Campaign. I highly recommend that you play
the easier campaign levels over and over again to unlock cards before you face
Tezzeret or go online. Note that after you beat the campaign the first time,
your opponents will have more rare cards in their decks, but this doesn't seem
to apply when you duel against their easier versions. (Campaign duels 1-6.)
LIFE PRESERVER (10): Raise your life total to 30, or 60 in a Two-Headed
Giant game. The easiest way to do this achievement is to play the Wings of
Light (White) deck against Elspeth in the campaign. Focus on defense and
blocking and giving yourself life points. It helps if you have unlocked
Angel's Feather, the artifact that gives you life for white spells. Once you
hit 30 life points, the achievement will unlock, even if you don't finish the
game.
DEVASTATOR (10): Deal 20 points of damage to your opponent in a single turn.
As noted above, you get this achievement when you beat the seventh challenge.
You can also use Ears of the Elves (Green/Black) against a green using
opponent and attack with a bunch of buffed, forestwalking elves or you can use
a late game Overrun with the Teeth of the Predator (Green) deck. If your
opponent has less than 20 life, you can still earn this achievement by
damaging them into negative life points.
MAGIC: THE PUZZLING (10)/ PUZZLING MASTER (20): Beat one challenge/ Beat all
eight. See the spoilers above if you're stuck and can't figure any of these
out.
DEFENDER OF FORIYS (20): Win a Two-Headed Giant Game. This can be done online
or on your own console. Plug in a second controller and create a new profile.
Play the Co-Op Campaign and beat the first set of opponents and this
achievement will unlock. This achievement and the game mode are named for the
Two-Headed Giant of Foriys, a rare, long out of print card that could block
two attackers at once.
MASTER OF ARTIFICE (10): Beat the cooperative campaign. This is a lot harder
than it sounds. If you use the two controller method described above, keep in
mind that the second "partner" profile will not have any decks or cards
unlocked, unless you want to play more games to unlock cards with that
profile. Your "partner" does save the cards it unlocks playing through the
coop campaign, but this can be inconsistent. As your opponents get harder
your "partner's" weak deck will become a huge liability.
One tip is to use the Ears of the Elves deck whenever you will be paired
opposite a green mana user, and to avoid the monochromatic green deck when
Nissa will be across from your "partner." I beat this mode using a variety
of decks while my "partner" used monochromatic Green. The Troll Ascetic
is a great recipient for powerful enchantments like Serra's Embrace or
Pariah, and I used the rest of his big creatures to block for me. Red (Hands)
and Relics also make a great combo because they are both fast, and Blue combos
well with anything because it can save all its mana for counterspells while
the other deck provides blockers.
There is currently no way to play the cooperative campaign over XBox Live with
a real person. I really hope this is fixed in the near future, changing the
coop campaign from a boring grind into a fun, truly cooperative experience.
DUELIST (10)/DUELS MASTER (10): Win 5 ranked games/ Win 10 XBox Live games
total. These achievements can be earned in any list, although I recommend 1v1
(2 player) simply because you start with a 50% chance of winning each game.
When playing ranked matches, any deck has a decent chance to win. It's down
to the luck of the draw. I have only two pieces of advice to give. First,
unlock all the rare cards before going online. You will lose much more often
if you don't have the rare cards but your opponent does. Second, force your
opponent to act and he may make a mistake. This often happens when players
screw up or just run out of time when assigning blockers.
PLAINSWALKER (30): Unlock 100%. To get this achievement, you have to finish
the regular and cooperative campaigns, beat every challenge, and unlock all
the cards. If you didn't get 100% before you downloaded the expansions, you
will have to beat their campaigns and co-op and unlock all those cards too.
SPELLSLINGER (0): Beat a player with SPELLSLINGER. This is a viral
achievement. The first weekend the game was out a few developers with this
achievement went online and played a few games, passing on the achievement
whenever they lost. Keep playing long enough and eventually you will beat
someone who has this. In the alternative, you could post to a board and ask
if someone who has this achievement will join you in a player match.
B. Duel the Dragon Achievements - (Note that there was a glitch where
these achievements would unlock but not add to your gamerscore. If you
earned these achievements during the first few days of the DLC, you will have
to recover your gamertag if you want the gamerscore. Do this by pressing the
guide button, logging out of your profile, and then selecting the option to
recover your gamertag. You will then have to earn the achievements all over
again. Just beat Bolas again, beat any one of the three DtD challenges, and
redo the overkill achievement.)
DRAGON SLAYER (20): Defeat Nicol Bolas in the single player campaign for
Duel the Dragon. Bolas' deck is powerful but slow, so quick moving decks like
Red or Elf work well against him, as do Blue and Blue/White for the
counterspells and Black for the discards.
PUZZLING GRANDMASTER (15): Earn PUZZLING MASTER and beat the three DtD DLC
challenges. See above for spoilers and solutions.
OVERKILL (15): Control creatures with 75 or more total power. The easiest
way to do this is to get into a player match against a friend. Both of you
should play the Elf deck. Keep playing elves but don't attack each other.
When the first or second Coat of Arms hits the table, you should both get
this easily. To earn the achievement by yourself, play with Elf or Relics
against one of the first five campaign opponents and work on putting out as
many elves or artifacts as possible.
C. Expansion 2 Achievements:
EVERYTHING AT STAKE (20): Beat Sorin Markov. He is a tough boss, even
tougher than Tezzeret was. Your best bet is to try to outrace him with a fast
deck and make sure you have some creature removal that works against black.
White will also destroy him if you can draw your Protection from Black
creatures and buff them with enchantments.
OVERFLOWING HARVEST (15): Drop eight lands in a single turn. Realistically,
you're only going to get this done by boosting with the Heart of Worlds deck
or using the setup in Challenge 5. See the Challenge Spoilers above for
details.
LAST ONE STANDING (15): Win a 3 or 4 player XBox Live match. You can set up
a player match and boost with friends or go into a ranked match. I recommend
a 3 player ranked match because your odds of winning are better.
XVIII: EXPOLOITABLE GLITCHES AND TRICKS:
Some of these may be strictly against the rules of Magic the Gathering, and
some of them are glitches in the programming, but they still work in the game
so feel free to exploit them if you can. Let me know if you readers can find
any more exploitable glitches (not useless or game crashing ones.)
Expansion 2 Exploits:
1. When playing Eons, note that Xathrid Demon and the Archdemon of Unx can
share a sacrifice. Choose the same creature when prompted and Xathrid will
deal damage to your opponents without tapping, and Archy will give you a
Zombie, for the loss of only one creature.
Note: The updates to the game that came with the Expansion 2 DLC may have
fixed some of the exploits on my original list. I have heard a rumor that the
Voice of All glitch has been fixed, for instance. Please send me confirmation
of whether any of these have been fixed or if they stayed the same.
1. When your opponent casts Voice of All, there will be a small window of
opportunity after it hits the table but before a color is chosen where you can
blast, Unsummon, or Terror this dangerous creature.
2. Use Threaten on your opponent's Royal Assassin, then use his special
ability to have the Assassin commit suicide. There must be a tapped creature
in play for this to work.
3. If your opponent has an Underworld Dreams that is damaging you and you cast
Dread, the next time Underworld Dreams damages you, Dread will destroy it even
though it is not a creature. This should work against Megrim, Seismic
Assault, and the Rack as well.
4. Creatures brought out of the graveyard and played on the same turn will
sometimes not suffer from summoning sickness, effectively giving them haste.
5. Raise Dead and Gravedigger seem not to be able to target for resurrection
creatures that had Persuasion on them when they went to the graveyard.
6. Counterbore will still work to counter creatures even if Gaea's Herald is
in play.
7. While not strictly a glitch, Onyx Goblet and Soot Imp's ability can still
damage a player who has Purity out. This is because the game's rules treat
"loss of life" differently from "damage."
8. In addition to spells, Karplusan Strider also cannot be targeted by
abilities from blue and black cards already in play.
9. Furnace of Rath will cause a Thieving Magpie to do double damage but not
allow its controller to draw a card.
10. If you have Purity out and there is a Furnace of Rath in play, creature
attacks will give you double life instead of double damage.
11. This one's not really a glitch but is fun anyway. When you are playing
Claws against a Green Opponent and he casts Vigor, try casting Pariah on one
of his other creatures. When that creature attacks, Pariah will cause it to
damage itself instead of you and Vigor will convert that damage into +1/+1
tokens. If that creature attacks every round, it will double its power every
time. After a few rounds, the creature will have power in the thousands. In
theory, its power could reach into the billions or trillions over a long game,
but it will probably crash the game well before that. Credit goes to
Stevolution for figuring this one out. You can exploit this trick for a win
by Pacifying the Pariahed monster before he gets big enough to freeze the game
and using Brion Stoutarm and your direct damage cards to take out your
opponent.
Copyright 2009-2010 ThermalStone
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