I Started in original ravnica city of the guilds block. Left the game around Alara block which i regret as I missed zendikar block. Came back in Return to Ravnica and also picked up lots of Innistrad Block. Got into modern when Theros came out and I picked up playset of thoughseize. Now have built a legacy deck too. I sadly do not have the time to attend tournaments much but still I follow trends of deck builders.
Some about me.
Brainstorm, my favorite spell, has always been a fav of mine since the moment I figured out just what it does. It is basically ancesteral recall when done right. In a vacuum it is actually worse than preordian. It originally drew three and put two back that you did not want at the moment but you were locked into them. Then came the fetchlands. Now it is one blue to draw three and in essence discard two cards you do not need or the two worst cards in your hand, except you can use them later if you need. As such it is now incredibly hard to determine when to cast your brainstorm. Turn one is pretty bad. Turn two cast and crack a fetch is great. But you may want to hold one to save your best cards from the likes of
Thoughtseize. There is no one right way to play it, although there are definitely wrong ways based on the situation. The sheer power level and the complicated decisions revolving around this one mana instant are what make this my favorite, as mastering
Brainstorm and how to cast it can determine a game's outcome, it's that skill intensive and tight.
Deathrite Shaman, my favorite creature, is practically a one mana planeswalker. Three abilities, relevance in all parts of the game, a great turn one, a good turn 5. What more do I need. The mana acceleration is great early in legacy to get far ahead and enable crazy starts. The black mana ability provides a value clock to your opponent's life while using your spent spells to the fullest. The green ability is great to offset Sylvan Library and Dark Confidant. As the icing on the cake it serves as main board graveyard hate to stop reanimation and what not.
Dark Confidant aka. Bob. honorable mention to Necropotence I know necro is stronger but bob is allowed in formats other than vintage. No I do not have the $12000 for a vintage deck. But life for cards in a one for one or two for one, which I find bob usually is, is a bit broken when done for no mana cost besides casting confidant.
Sylvan Library is great. I love that it is basically draw three every turn. when I have Dark Confidant out I can see at least 4 per turn. Sure you only get to keep one but oh well and sometimes it is better to pay 8 life for the three cards. It finds things faster and makes hilarious combos and a rules nightmare with Brainstorm.
Thoughtseize Such a fair card. Something about me just likes being able to surgically extract (oh the puns) cards from an opponent's hand. Really though thoughtseize is one of the best black cards for the ability to protect your stuff indirectly and also the ability to mess up the opponent's plan.
Stifle. Oh so many things you can hit. Any activated ability. Any triggered ability. So many. You can stop: living weapon triggers, "when this card enters the battlefield" effects, cascade triggers, etc. You can stop Sword artifacts like Sword of Feast and Famine. You can stop fetchlands so people pay one life and sack a land but get Stone Rained for one blue. You can stop planeswalker abilities. You can stop Griselbrand's draw 7 but your opponent still pays 7 life. It is so fun.
Death and Taxes is fun. The only things certain in life are death, taxes, and white weenie. Although mine is green white to play bigger creatures like
Loxodon Smiter and make better use of
Wilt-Leaf Liege. Make things cost more, beat with creatures, and attack the mana base with
Ghost Quarter and
Leonin Arbiter plus
Path to Exile to get more value = all the fun times for me.
Splinter Twin was the first major deck I built and I enjoyed it a lot. I loved the mind games with the ability to combo kill at any time. I also specifically made it so that I could also just aggro an opponent to death to force awkward decisions. I still have the components in my binder right now as most of my stuff is focused to Legacy and EDH. After bannings RIP TWIN. No longer legal in modern. Meh. Whatever. I'll still keep the parts because it has nostalgia.
EDH. I play many decks in edh. My first was an Azami, Lady of Scrolls deck that was combo oriented. Play Labratory Maniac and mill myself. Enough said. I currently run a group hug deck because it allows so many hilarious things to happen in my play group. Hypergenesis is so fun in commander. If I want to be serious I use Zur the Enchanter *f-etch*. Ok. He is banned in french but oh well. In multi player he works fine. Necropotence and Solitary Confinement make one of my best zur combos. Both skip my draw. Necro gives me cards. Confinement makes me immune to most things for a while. Add some counterspells and the Rest in Peace-Helm of Obedience combo to kill and you have a painful deck.
Legacy. Legacy is my favorite format. I can play anything I really want besides the ban list. RIP Dig Through Time. My main deck was esper stoneblade. Stoneforge Mystic, Batterskull, Umezawa's Jitte, countermagic, and disruption make a strong core. I use the Deathblade incarnation most. Add Deathrite Shaman and Abrupt Decay. I love the grind style of play and how versatile my game plan can be with it. I have designed my control shell to be versatile. I can play miracles too. (Sensei's Divining Top, Counterbalance, and cards with miracle mechanic) The shell can be kept while the core shifts. I love to see legacy ideas because there are so many that can be good. Legacy storm is a fun time to play with. Legacy has all the cards, the power, and the skill I like. If only it did not cost so much.
I now mainly play Team America. Go here for my list and primer.
http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/06-02-16-team-america/
Hedron Alignment is another fun card that I use for legacy and modern. It is a funny and somewhat hard combo to set up but is usually unexpected.
Pauper. Pauper is fun. It makes me play fair cards as opposed to my Force of Wills in legacy. I enjoy acid trip in pauper. Reality Acid and things that bounce it like Whitemane Lion to abuse the "when this card leaves play" effect. It creates a fun creature prison deck and a powerful combo.
