Author Archives: MTGColorPie

December 18, 2009

It’s Hard Out There for a Pimp EDH Deck

By MTGColorPie

From cardkitty.com

Editor’s Note: this is an image heavy post. If you have a slow connection or trying to see this page on the 3G network, wait to see it. Sorry.

If you’ve been playing EDH for a while, you’ve seen people’s prize EDH decks. Type 1 players have the same need as EDHers: to “Pimp” their deck.

No, that doesn’t mean to sell your deck to someone for a tournament so they can play it. “Pimping” your deck comes from the same vein as “Pimp My Ride” the much loved MTV show that spawned a meme. To pimp something is to make it flashy, showy, the “I’m better than you” attitude. Alot of people pimp things out: computers, cars, themselves. In the Magic world, people do it to their decks. Some players love to show off their awesome cards they’ve collected.

The foils, and the foreign, and the signed, and the altered, and the rare hardly ever printed version of the card. These are the pimps of EDH.

Because most EDH decks don’t change very often, there’s incentive to pimp out your deck. Over time, you’re less likely to change out a card for something else. While you see this in other formats as well, it’s more prevalent in older formats because of the same philosophy as well. In Standard, you could change your deck once a week, hardly worth the time and effort to make it all foil or foreign (unless you really want to or have access to cards like that).

Now, if you like a deck you’re playing and you want to star to “pimp” it out, where do you start? Easy, wherever you want to. If you see a foil in a trade binder, trade for it. Is an artist coming to a pre-release in your area? Take some cards to get them signed. Know someone who likes to doodle on cards? Pay ’em to draw/paint on your card. There is no right or wrong way to pimp your EDH deck. I’ve seen cards that have funny art on them, art that continued out of the frame, foils, foreign, you name it. It’s your deck, make it how you want.

Of course, there’s no pressure as well either. This is just a mentality thing and if you don’t have the funds or interest to do anything to your EDH deck, there is nothing wrong with that. Sometimes it’s nice to look at someone else’s pretty cards.

Which is what exactly what we’ll do now. Continue reading

3 Comments | posted in EDH, Magic: the Gathering, Pimp EDH

December 8, 2009

99EDH Video – The Command Zone

By MTGColorPie

One of the hardest concepts to get in EDH is the Command Zone as it’s not really played in “normal” Magic. So, what I’ve done, is made a video about the Command Zone. Yes, that’s right, we’re doing videos now.

No, this does not mean we’ll do videos all the time, but for certain things we will. After this video, I’m working on the Partial Paris Mulligan as well. If we get a big game going or want to show something that would be better on video then to write it, we’ll go that route.

So, without further ado, here’s the first of a series of videos: The Command Zone.

Continue reading

1 Comment | posted in 99EDH Video, EDH, Magic: the Gathering

December 6, 2009

This Week in EDH – 11/29-12/5

By MTGColorPie

Let's do the Time Warp again!

The week back after Thanksgiving was a little slow for EDH given States was this past weekend (even I was busy with that). That is, expect for the bannings. You do know about the bannings, right? Remember that this doesn’t take place until the 20th of this month, so abuse it while you still can. Anyone want a foil Painter’s Servant that’s no longer usable?

Week #2

Official EDH Site

  • December Bannings – Painter’s Servant is banned, while Grindstone comes back. Their reasoning is sound, but it’s not a favorite among the players.

I Got 99 Problems But a General Ain’t One

  • EDHing Your PDS: Slivers Deck – MtGColorPie – Did you buy your Premium Deck Series: Slivers? Did you want to turn it into an EDH deck? Great idea. While, I’m not a fan of Slivers, but hopefully I was able to do my take on if I did build this deck. If I would change anything, I would add Dormant Sliver into the deck. Continue reading

Leave a comment | posted in EDH, Magic: the Gathering, This Week in EDH

December 3, 2009

December 2009 EDH Bannings

By MTGColorPie

My boyfriend's back and you're gonna be in trouble...

There was two changes made to the EDH banned list on December 4th:

Painter’s Servant – BANNED

Grindstone – UNBANNED

From the official EDH Website:

Painter’s Servant has been the fuel for unpleasant combos, most notably with Grindstone and Iona, Shield of Emeria. The latter two cards occupy some interesting design/deckbuilding space, so we’d like to see them in the format. Swapping Grindstone/Painter’s Servant seemed like a natural fit to bring back a decent card and get rid of the true offender.

My thoughts:

Truthfully, this was only a matter of time. Painter’s Servant is a broken card when it’s mixed with a few certain cards (Grindstone, Iona, Chaotic Backlash, Jaya), and there are still plenty of ways to effect the color of cards that are on the battlefield. That’s the reason Painter’s Servant was so good, it hit everything else that wasn’t in play. I had dabbled in a Iona/Servant deck and had seen people run it in combination with Tooth and Nail, which ended multiplayer games right there.

Grindstone can come back to help hose mono-color decks, though less effectively.

These bannings take effect December 20th. Changes to the Banned List have been made.

4 Comments | posted in EDH, Magic: the Gathering

December 1, 2009

EDHing Your PDS: Slivers Deck

By MTGColorPie

Shiny. Magic players like shiny objects.

Released last weekend was Premium Deck Series: Slivers. While it’s a 60 card deck, it’s a great place to start if you love Slivers and have wanted to stat out in EDH (Rules here). Due to the request of my twitter audience (@mtgcolorpie), I’ve been asked to finish off the deck and make it into a Full EDH deck. But there’s a problem.

I hate Slivers.

It’s an unhealthy hate that I’m sure the next time I’m play Legacy, someone will beat me with a Slivers deck and it will be poetic justice. I am biting the bullet to make you, my audience, happy. Don’t say I never did anything for you (you know, besides writing). This will also be the first deck that I haven’t played so there might need to be some tweaking.

For the time being, this will also be the only Sliver EDH article on this site. If you build one, you’ve built them all (thanks to the wonderful linear design concept). I do, however, like the idea of the PDS and love the packaging; if there was another one, I might purchase it. (For those of you wondering where my journalistic “keep emotions and feelings out of your articles” integrity is, I don’t report the news). Let’s get started.

Sliver Queen vs. Sliver Overlord

Since the Overload comes with this deck, we’re going to be using that one. Actually, it’s a better General than the Queen because it has two neat functions:

3: Search your library for a Sliver card, reveal that card, and put it in your hand. Then shuffle your library.
3: Gain control of target Sliver.

With these two powers combined, it is a very interesting General and you can still play the Queen and Legion in your deck, and to tutor them out. If you’re playing a Sliver EDH deck, at least use the Overloard as a General; it’s the most logical choice. Continue reading

6 Comments   |  tags: | posted in EDH, Magic: the Gathering

November 28, 2009

This Week in EDH – 11/22-28

By MTGColorPie

He also sees the winning lotto numbers

In order to get more EDH out to the public, I’ve decided that here on 99EDH, we’re going to link to the articles and points of interest that this week had for our favorite format. While searching for the usual suspects, I’ll need some help from my readers.

If any of you like any other EDH articles or posts from this week (Sunday to Saturday) that didn’t make it, mention it in the comments below.

While you read the internets during the week and you notice something awesome about EDH about the past week, e-mail (99ehdproblems AT gmail.com) or twitter (@mtgcolorpie) me the link. If you submit it and it makes it, guess what, you get a mention and a hearty thumbs up for spreading the word.

Week #1

I Got 99 Problems But a General Ain’t One

Leave a comment | posted in EDH, Magic: the Gathering, This Week in EDH

November 17, 2009

EDH Rules and You

By MTGColorPie

Insert opponent here. (Via @Metaknightmare)

Editor’s Note: This post is going to teach you how to play EDH. It will not teach you how to play Magic: the Gathering. Basic knowledge of Magic is required to understand how EDH works. If you want to learn how to play Magic, please visit playmagic.com.

I know you’re interested.

You’ve heard your friends say you should build a deck. You’ve seen games of players laughing as they do something you’ve never done in your FNM matches. You’ve read articles about EDH and now, you’ve decided to take the plunge.

Welcome to the best format in Magic.

Welcome to Elder Dragon Highlander.

This post will show you all you need to do when putting together an EDH deck and playing in this format. I’ll try and make it exciting but it’s rules people; sometimes it helps to be a little dry. Continue reading

25 Comments | posted in EDH, Magic: the Gathering

November 11, 2009

Celebrity EDH Decks – Aaron Forsythe’s Radha

By MTGColorPie
Radha, Heir to Keld

Do you Like Huey Lewis and the News?

The people at Wizards of the Coast love Magic. They really love the game the make, which shouldn’t come as a surprise. Building decks and trying out new cards before we do can get tiring (Sure, whatever). What do they do when they want to play something else?

That’s right, they EDH it up; just like you and me.

If you are planning to go to a large pre-release where WotC employees will be gunslinging (usually playing sealded decks against yours), I would highly suggest that you bring along an EDH deck. Most of them are carrying them around when they go and would like to see what you’ve done with yours.

Today’s Celebrity EDH deck comes from Aaron Forsythe (@mtgaaron) who was kind enough to share one of his decks with us. After the deck list, we’ll give a little analysis about how to play the deck and what you should be watching for while playing this (For those of you wondering why we didn’t do that with Bennie Smith’s Baron Segnir deck, it’s because he wrote about it himself).

As you can see, Aaron’s General for this deck is Radha, Heir to Keld. Let’s take a look at what she does:

Whenever Radha, Heir to Keld attacks, you may add RR to your mana pool.
T: Add G to your mana pool.

What I liked about her is that she does mana acceleration in a different way, an aggressive way. Plus, with new M10 rules having no mana burn, there is no reason why you shouldn’t be attacking with her if you can. Let’s listen to the deck’s pilot and creator about this deck. Take it away Aaron:

It’s like all your favorite ElfBall decks rolled into one!

Thanks Aaron! On to the deck. Continue reading

Leave a comment   |  tags: | posted in Aaron Forsythe, Celebrity EDH Decks, EDH, Magic: the Gathering

November 9, 2009

Deck Skeleton – Verdeloth the Ancient

By MTGColorPie
Verdeloth the Ancient

Get off my lawn!

Green card draw. That’s a funny concept, right? I mean, if there was going to be a color that was good at drawing, wouldn’t it be Blue?

Well, you’ll find out today that Green isn’t all that bad at drawing either. And when people see you pull this off, they’ll laugh and cheer you on (hopefully). I’ve got friends who see when they have a choice of EDH decks to choose from for me to play, this is the most commonly picked. It doesn’t always have the best defenses, nor does lock an opponent out of the game. As long as you don’t abuse it, nor take five minute turns (yes, that’s possible in a Mono-Green EDH deck), people will want to you play this as well.

This deck has one of the most powerful cards ever that isn’t banned in EDH; infact, this is the only deck I’ve seen it in (it’s not an artifact nor a land, discuss), and it can only really go in this deck. Thanks to the way this format is set up it’s ripe for doing whatever we want. Really, it’s absurd.

Without furter ago, let’s get cracking. The Oracle updated Verdeloth’s text box with fancy new text, including the awesome line “if it was kicked.” Let’s see the “official” text:

Kicker X (You may pay an additional X as you cast this spell.)
Other Treefolk creatures and Saproling creatures get +1/+1.
When Verdeloth the Ancient enters the battlefield, if it was kicked, put X 1/1 Saproling creature tokens onto the battlefield.

Does that mean we get to build a Treefolk/Saproling EDH deck? Of course it does. Today, we’re going to build a fun semi-casual EDH deck that people can appreciate. It isn’t as finely tuned as it could be to become really good (hint: you drop the Treefolk theme), but I decided that it wouldn’t be as fun. EDH is a fun format and I wanted to play Treefolk. Why shouldn’t I?

And if you haven’t figured out the awesome totally “hyped-up yes it’s really that good I’m not exaggerating” card by now, you’re in for a huge shock. No, it’s not a Legend that tons of people want banned as a general again (though he is in the deck, but without his weapon of choice). To the tech! Continue reading

5 Comments   |  tags: | posted in Deck Skeleton, EDH, Magic: the Gathering

November 6, 2009

Friday Night Fights – Lens vs Gauntlet

By MTGColorPie

In a new section (around here it’s always new) we’ll take a look at two cards with mostly similar function, and see which one is better for your EDH deck. This was inspired by a player at my store who told me to play one over the other in my EDH deck. While we didn’t get in a fight, I thought that it should be discussed here and let you, the reader, decide (and by decide, it will be one person who will respond in comments and they will have the only vote, or so it seems).

On to tonight’s match! (Bell)

Extraplanar Lens Vs. Gauntlet of Power

Extraplanar Lens vs. Gauntlet of Power

Both give mono-color EDH decks mana acceleration. Each have strengths, each have weaknesses.

Who ya got? Continue reading

7 Comments | posted in EDH, FNF