The ability of red and black to handle enchantments has been discussed numerous times since Mark Rosewater started his Tumblr. It tends to go like this: Askers question “Why can’t red and black have nice things?” to which MaRo replies “They can, but they can’t just get Naturalize variants that cost 1R and 1B,” to which askers either state “But red and black should get Naturalize!” or say “Challenge accepted!” and start thinking of how they could answer enchantments using their color’s strengths - a few people chime in with “Red and black are fine as-is, stop whining.”

Personally, I think red and black deserve to be able to answer enchantments more than they currently have. This is because I mostly play white, and often times I am playing against people who are running mostly red, black, or red/black decks that do not like that they cannot answer Oblivion Ring, and I feel bad that an otherwise fair and risky card for me is considered so unfair and nonrisky by my opponents. Part of the issue is that they aren’t aware of their options in their color(s) - and thereareanswers, however few - and the colorless options available to them. But the other part of the issue is that there are options available in the colors that fall within the color pie, and these could be expanded upon so that there were more answer cards available to the colors so that more players were aware of them. This is not crazy to ask for: Similar expansions of abilities within colors have happened recently as green’s gotten more creature removal and both green and red have gotten more card draw; when those expansions happened players took it as a breaking of color pie rather than an expansion of what colors could do, just how players and some R&D members view the suggestion of expanding red and black’s answers for enchantments.

I’d like to briefly look at green’s creature removal, green’s card draw, and red’s card draw to explain how changes that some have found dramatic are not nearly as different as they are perceiving. Then I would like to look at the answers red and black currently have for enchantments, which serves two purposes:

1. It provides insight for players who claim those colors cannot work with or around enchantments, which is quite untrue; and
2. It suggests that red and black enchantment removal might not be all that different from green creature removal, green card draw, and red card draw, and that asking for and expecting expansions in red and black enchantment removal might not be all that crazy.

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Merry Christmas everyone! And happy other holidays you may observe.

I had thought about writing of my Magic: The Gathering wish list all in one place, and after reading Sheldon Mennery’s similar article recently, I decided now was as good a time as any.

First, though, I’d like to express my thanks for what I have seen since I started playing three years ago with Zendikar. I guess this would have been better to write around Thanksgiving, but I was much busier then than I am now that my school is in Winter Break. Besides, before I give a list of things I think Magic needs that it might not already have, I feel compelled to give a list of the things it already has that are fantastic; after all, it is because of these great things that have happened in the past three years that I can be hopeful for Magic’s future. In no particular order…

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mtgmemes:

Magic Logic

I don’t fault Magic for having some flavor misses, especially when the miss requires interaction with other cards given that there are just too many Magic cards for it to be realistic to expect a card to be flavorfully perfect.

Nonetheless, these are all hilarious. Don’t forget that 4 Little Girls can kill a Bear too.

(via themirrormatch)

mtgthings:

Hoping your relatives give MTG products for Christmas

Already got a Cardkingdom giftcard so far! It’s up there with The Dark Knight Rises and my Dr. Horrible’s Singalong Blog soundtrack as contenders for best gift I received this year.

(via mtgfan)

I can’t wait to see what this thing does!

pixeldraft:

Ravnica Pendants Round II —

Made a pendant for each guild now. I want to fix some of them like Orzhov and Gruul. Thanks for all the support so far! For now I need an idea of what people want to use these as such as pendants, keychains, ornaments, tokens etc. 

Love them!

I have a Highlander pendant I use to differentiate my Command Zone from the Exile Zone. Players could also use these for that, with bonus points going to anyone using one with a Commander of that guild.

(via mtgfan)

I’ve found myself with about 12 minutes before I have to wake my fiance up so we can head to church (I don’t usually go, but since it’s the church she used to go to all the time and the church she wants to have our wedding ceremony at, we think it’d be weird to just show up and ask, so we’re trying to go more often than we have been). So I’m going to try and churn out a quick post since I’m super excited about the card I picked up at a card shop recently. The card? Pestilence.

At heart I’m a Timmy. But I have a lot of Johnny tendencies as well. I just tend to like janky combos rather than the more powerful ones Spike leans towards. Here I would like to share some combos you may or may not be aware of. Feel free to suggest more fun and powerful combinations these cards work well in. Johnnies unite! This time around, let’s combine…

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mtgfan:

For me, it was releasing my opponent’s creature when I had Vapor Snare on it. I played a land and by doing so, I passed on my upkeep and he got to take his creature back.

Recently at the Pro Tour, someone forgot their Mistbind Clique trigger!

I don’t have a good story of forgetting an optional trigger, but I once forgot I had Privileged Position out and kept getting my commander tapped down by Azorius Guildmage until I lost the game. Only when driving home from the card shop did I realize my mistake and that I should have one that game. Oops. And that’s why I know enough to write You Might Be a Magic Scrub If… posts.

Anyone interested? I’d love to get it out of my Commander deck before I decide to foil the whole thing. I’d rate it between Slightly Played and Near Mint, as it’s a foil so it’s slightly bent more so than most Near Mint rares I’ve sold in the past. I’ve had it for about two years, when I got it in a trade from someone dismantling his Mythic Conscription deck when Standard rotated. Since then it’s been sleeved up constantly, and mostly sat in a plastic case with the other 99 cards, so it’s been cared for well. They’re going for $12-15, and I have the bid listed at $10 with $1 shipping so I can buy tracking info. I’m also trying to get rid of my foil Glissa, the Traitor (not the prerelease one), but I don’t know how easy it’d be to sell her since she’s more common having a prerelease foil out in the market, so I’m just going to give that card away with Rafiq. I hope someone is interested, as the money will go to fund me getting some new Return to Ravnica cards for my decks.

So I got a Mayael deck referral from nayamtg:

findmeaviolin: i really really want to make a naya colored edh and am looking at using mayael as my general.any suggestions? people tell me shes too slow but i dont think so with green running ramp. *smiles*

I love this commander and these kind of decks. *Cracks knuckles* Let’s get to it.

The first thing I would do is look up Alara block cards. Naya’s whole theme was “power 5 or greater,” which I love, but can understand why players don’t find it as cool as getting a keyword, a la exalted, devour, and unnearth. Doing this search gives you creatures with power 5 or greater and also permanents that have that theme: stuff like the near-Mayael-auto-includes Spearbreaker and Spellbreaker Behemoths, Mayael’s Aria, and Drumhunter.

In any deck you want good card draw, so look to Garruk’s Packleader, Soul of the Harvest, the aforementioned Drumhunter, and Garruck, Primal Hunter. Momentous Fall is a good option too, as is Greater Good. Triumph of Ferocity might even be a good idea.

Look for removal that are also big creatures so Mayael can grab them. I’m talking Terrastodon and, if you can afford it, Woodfall Primus. If you don’t mind random effects, there are Tyrant of Discord and Capricious Street, the latter of which really needs Darksteel Plate, Darksteel Ingot, and Stuffy Doll to be worth it, but those are decent cards anyway, and Stuffy Doll works with some Red removal I will be suggesting later. Other removal possibilities are dragons like Bogarden Hellkite, Flameblast Dragon, and Steel Hellkite. Novablast Wurm is fantastic. You might consider Guild Feud for its risky removal and pseudo-Mayael effect (and it works with another card I will suggest shortly).

Protection for your pricey creatures is good. The best choices are Spearbreaker Behemoth and Avacyn if you can afford her. Also consider Rune-Tail, Loxodon Hierarch, Dauntless Escort, Asceticism, Privileged Position, Ghostway, and Aegis Angel. If you don’t mind losing creatures and run enough recursion, Eldrazi Monument protects and grants evasion. A great one to run, and the card that works great with Guild Feud, is Vigor. You get a bigger creature and remove an opponent’s almost guaranteed. If you do add Vigor, and depending on the amount of other protections for your guys, you might lean more of your removal to the fight keyword, such as with Ulvenwald Tracker and Prey Upon.

Don’t shy from the smaller guys though, as they will still trigger Soul of the Harvest and any other creatures-matters cards too, so look to small land searchers such as Farhaven Elf and removal (e.g., Acidic Slime) too. I would say you want 20 creatures of power 5 or greater and another 20 with less, as Mayael decks are creature hungry.

You can run Mayael’s affect as a gamble, which is exciting, or you can set it up with the likes of Sensei’s Diving Top, Crystal Ball, and my favorite, Cream of the Crop.

Once you have 5-10 cards for card draw, ramp, and removal, you can fill out the rest with recursion a la Genesis or Emeria, pump a la Titanic Ultimatum, more power-5-or-greater cards like Warstorm Surge and its cousin Where Ancients Tread (which I highly recommend), or pet cards such as Hamletback Goliath, Tooth and Nail, and Genesis Wave. If you do run Vigor, I suggest the red mass removal spells Blasphemous Act and Disaster Radius, and perhaps Pyrohemia, Starstorm, Savage Twister, and Chain Reaction (you probably don’t need all of those, so just pick the ones you like the most). All work great with Stuffy Doll too. If you don’t run Vigor then you’re better off running White’s removal, such as Planar Cleansing, Austere Command, and Akroma’s Vengeance.