Trinket Mage is good again ;D

Last season trinket mage lost a very close friend, I’m talking of course of sensei’s, and the poor mage couldn’t make it to competitive play.

This Season however brings trinket mage not new friends but enemies, enemies that can bring the Mage back to competitive. Don’t believe me? The top 8 of Pro tour Austin, congratulations to Brian Kibler, is made of 4 zoo, 2 dredges, 1 Hypergenesis and 1 dark depths combo. Trinket mage can pick the right answer to all of these decks!

Against zoo you have:
1- Good old explosives.
2- Chalice of the void ( maybe it’s to slow but chalice for 1 or 2 can really make zoo suffer)
3- Relic or crypt for the punishing fire tech

Against dredge you get:
1- Crypt or Relic( I prefer crypt , it costs 0 and doesn’t make goyf a 0/1)
Against Hypergenesis:
1- Chalice for 0, no more Hypergenesis
2- Aether Spellbomb may be handy…..
Against dark depths you have the following tools:
1- Pithing Needle ( naming Vampire Hexmage)
2- Aether Spellbomb , bye bye 20/20 indestructible with fly

So the perfect toolbox would be something like:
- Xx Engineered Explosives (normally 2 or 3)

- 1 Crypt, dredge is going to see play and so it’s the punishing fire tech

- 1 Chalice, to give an edge game 1 against Hyper, keeping in mind that the list that made top 8 had Susher on Sideboard.

- 1 Aether Spellbomb to stop the 20/20 legendary and a part of Genesis.

- 1 Executioner’s Capsule, if you are playing black

- 1 Academy Ruins

Now I sure hope to see some control decks with Trinket Mage making top 8s, hopefully some NTT Trinkets: D
Until Next Time,
Theptkid
P.s:
Aether Spellbomb to stop dark depths or Genesis is a Noob Thought Tech (NTT) and it Rocks!!!!

Extended Post-Rotation: Major Changes

The new extended season is coming, and what will change?

So, I'll leave you all a nice list with the most significant changes, enjoy ;)

Leaving:

• -No more cycling lands and without them I can’t see Life from the Loam be playable, maybe one of a kind in some gifts control or Tron…
  
• -Riptide Laboratory was a smashing card for faeries, but faeries will survive without it.
  
• -No more Mind’s Desire, so goodbye TEPS.
  
• - Ensnaring Bridge, that was an essential part of booth Tezzerator and burn… The Tezzerator will still see play although Tezzerator also loses stifle, so no more sinkholes for one mana. Burn also loses sulfuric vortex and thereby loses most of its strength…
  
• - Goblin Piledriver and friends say goodbye, still this doesn’t mean goblins won’t see play, we will now have Warren Instigator so only time could tell us.
  - Chain of plasma, swans wasn't very powerfull before, now he is almost dead.

Entering:

• - New Fetches, move along nothing to see here.
  
• -Valakut, which combine with Scapeshift may give a new combo to extended but I personally think there’s no way this combo will be playable it takes to many lands to work (7, most of the time, and you need 6 mountains left in your deck, so there are a lot of restrictions…) and extended is so fast right now that I don’t think this kind of deck will be competitive.
  
• - Hypergenesis , the successor of TEPS, this deck has the potential to win quite early but it’s a bit fragile; It fails against a deck with some counters (Spellstutter Sprite can even counter Hypergenesis!!), a deck with some discard, Canonist and even Chalice, but still...
  
• - Vampire Hexmage , this little girl plus Dark Depths can make a beautiful 20/20 with fly and indestructible, but to make a deck around this idea it’s at least a bit suicide, because this 20/20 dies to path, bounce spells ( Repeal) , Pithing Needle (naming Vampire Hexmage, don’t get me wrong -.-) and this little combo needs 2 cards , and Dark Depths doesn’t even produce mana. Some decks could have this like a second win situation or even on side but to spend slots on that, I don’t think so…
  
• -Lightning Bolt and Goblin Guide, How could naya zoo become ever stronger? The answer is of course lightning bolt, so zoo doesn’t lose anything and still gains bolt and goblin guide, yes the 2/2 with haste gives even more speed to the already mega hyper fast zoo…
  
• -Duress and Maelstorm Pulse, this guys and Knight of the Reliquary could probably bring The Rock back to the top.
  
• -Baneslayer Angel could see game on some trons or U/W control or mono W (life) but that’s all.
  
• -Scute Mob, this guy could do amazing damage in a next level control alongside tarmogoyf, shackles, jitte, counters, ancestral vision…
  
• -Lotus Cobra, this guy is just too slow for extended...

• -Bloodghast alongside Tombstalker and friends could bring mono black back to life, and also Bloodghast could make dredge a tier 1 again!!
  

Thanks for Reading
See you Later,
Theptkid

Why Lotus Cobra isn't just that good...

So Zendikar is officially playable and so is Lotus Cobra, which I think is way overrated... most of you are now calling me a noob and leaving but give me a chance.

Lotus Cobra kinda sucks in either mid game( about 5th turn) and late game or in topdeck mode.

Just think with me, the average t2 deck has about 24 lands, now with zendikar about 6 or more lands will be fetchs which means that by turn 5 it'll be difficult to activate the landfall ability( 24 land 6-9 fetchs, if you drop a land every turn and if 1-2 of those lands are fecths you will end up with 17-18 lands). Besides by turn 5 his ability will not have the same impact that has on turn 2 or 3.

Some of you are saying " Ok, but I CAN CAST VIOLENT ULIMATUM ON TURN 4 WITH LOTUS COBRA".Ok fair enough, but I think there will be no deck that uses violent ultimatum just for being able to play it with Lotus Cobra. Are you going to make a deck around Lotus Cobra just to play Ultimatum? What about if you don't get the Lotus Cobra or if this one gets pathed? You loose your wining strategy and game, besides I think no player will waste their slots with Violent Ultimatum.

Now, aggro players will probably enjoy birds and dislike Lotus Cobra although the Cobra has 2 power of attack, because the birds or hiearch fits the mana curve some decks want. Aggro players on turn 2 just want to play a leech or an hellspark or a more aggressive creature. Besides Lotus Cobra won't help to speed the deck just to slow it down, by the time Cobra hits the field the number of lands are very very very low.

Control... Now I' m seeing it, Baneslayer Angel on turn 3, Bloodbraid on turn 3 or even Enlisted Wurm on turn 4. I can see Cobra seeing play here, but remember your objective can't be to put big fat ass creatures early game because: What happens if you don't get Cobra... GG next!! How about if you do successfully put a big fat creature just to see it get doom bladed and you loose your gas?

Still Lotus Cobra plays big in a green white with some big fat creatures( Baneslayer Angel, I'm looking at you) or even an jund or bant control but that's all.

Just My Two Cents

P.S: Comments calling me noob are welcome if you explain your opinion

Until Next Time

Theptkid