I'd actually thought Prossh would be able to do some sort of counterattack this time But it turned out that Marath is just too damn fast. 

Both players mulligan down to 6. Marath keeps a Mosswort Bridge (which can Hideaway) and a Rakeclaw Gargantuan. Prossh keeps Fell Shepherd and a Scarland Thrinax. Prossh goes first. The first few turns are just land drops. Marath's first draw was Voyaging Satyr, and first land drop was the Mosswort Brige, which hideaways a Behemoth Sledge ( remember this for later).

By, turn 3, Marath is summoned, just on-curve. Prossh summons a Scarland Thrinax, even though that would just be easily burned by Marath. Figured it'd be better than taking 3 commander damage and still have Marath on the field. By turn 4, instead of sacrificing Marath to the Thrinax, a Spellbreaker Behemoth is summoned instead.

Prossh's next few turns were unpleasant. He was stuck at five lands, so he could not summon Prossh. The Fell Shepherd and Spine of Ish Nah both cost 7, so they weren't useful either. Passing the turn to an ever-growing Marath was dangerous. Dangerous indeed: for if only Prossh was on curve, he could've had a fighting chance. 

By turn 7, Curse of the Forsaken has been cast, and Marath gained 4 life by attacking Prossh last turn with the Spellbreaker Behemoth. Life totals are now 44-28, in favor of Marath. This turn Marath is returned, deals 2 damage to Prossh's Huan Tuo, attacks for 6 and gains 3 life. Marath is gaining life as Prossh is helpless against the onslaught. Curse of the Forsaken's life gain would also become significant, later on.

Before that, on Prossh's turn,  he didn't draw the land he needed, but he did draw something that could tilt the scales to his favor. He drew a Vile Requiem, the only thing within reach that can deal with Marath. Prossh also summons Huan Tuo, but that was destroyed come Marath's next turn. So after that, and after casting Curse of the Forsaken, Prossh sacrifices the Vile and destroys the Spellbreaker Behemoth and Marath. That clears the board a bit, however Marath has enough mana to revive himself beyond Prossh's capacity to kill him.

Now, I should tell that a few turns back a 0/1 Plant Token was summoned from a land (forgot the name), and after Marath is played, the remaining 1 mana is used to make the 0/1 become a 1/2. That token and the elemental spawned by Marath attack for 2, gaining 2 life from the Curse. The next turn brought the Opal Palace to Prossh, making him able to summon his commander, along with the 6 tokens. Unfortunately, all mana was spent, and so a turn was passed almost easily. 

Marath draws an unbelievable card at this point in the game. The Darksteel Mutation that locked Prossh down during the first match. He casts it along with Savage Twister, where x = 1, clearing Prossh's board ( and turning Marath's Plant Token 1/2 to a 1/1), and unfortunately, since the Mutation makes Prossh invulnerable, he is still on the field. With enough mana left, the Hideaway card is cast for free: the Behemoth Sledge is now on the field. 

Prossh casts Goblin Bombardment and Fecundity, sacrificing Prossh and draws a Llanowar Reborn. To answer, the Sledge is equipped to Marath, boosting the token, Marath and the 3/4 plant attacks for 10. A fireball is cast for 5 damage, dealing 15 in total.

Prossh concedes with a 54-2, as summoning on the 11th turn is not an option, and the Spine of Ish Nah will deal with Marath, but the Plant Token is still a 3/4 and can still directly attack.

So I've recently played with my Marath Commander Deck against the Prossh Commander deck ( only a bit  of tweaks and alterations made, not really much that changed the deck), and the latest match was certainly an eyeopener. Not only was I surprised at the result, but the path taken to that result was really, really, amazing. 

Here's what went down.

I should mention first though, that both players muliganed their hands down to six. Marath's hand showed a Krosan Warchief and a Sol Ring, the ring alone enough to keep the hand. Prossh meanwhile drew a Shattergang Brothers and enough lands to get to Prossh one-land each turn, until the sixth. Both were looking good so far. Marath goes first, drops a forest then taps for a sol ring. 

The plays were pretty much normal until the fourth turn. By then Marath has already spent his first three counters for three 1/1's, and a Krosan Warchief was on the field. Prossh on the other hand had Han Tuo on his side and a Sakura Tribe Elder ( quite slow, I know!). Due to some forgotten circumstances, the three 1/1's were wiped from the board.. By the fifth turn, Marath drew Omnath, Locus of Rage, and that's where all hell broke loose.

Thanks to the Sol Ring, Marath summoned Omnath at turn 5, and by Prossh's turn, he summons his commander, along with the six tokens. By the sixth, I was supposed to summon Marath, if I hadn't drawn such a great card: the Conquering Manticore. With Omnath at the field, another land in my hand, and the Conquering Manticore, the path was set. First, play the Mountain, triggering Omnath's landfall, generating a 5/5 Elemental. Next, summon the Manticore, then take control of Prossh. Using Prossh's ability, sacrifice the new 5/5 Elemental, triggering Omnath's Bolt ability and pumping Prossh at the same time! Since all that was on Prossh's field were tokens, Han Tuo and the Tribe Elder, Omnath bolts the opponent to the face, dealing 3 damage. Prossh attacks for 6 damage, dealing 9 damage for the first combat of the match. 9 damage! 

What was more brutal was that Marath had enough mana left to cast Darksteel Mutation on Prossh, turning him into a 0/1 indestructible, rendering him unable to utilize his sacrifice-pump ability. To counter this, he summons the Shattergang Brothers on his turn, and uses that to sac Prossh. Marath sacrifices the Krosan Warchief, raising his mana cost back to 5. 

By turn seven, Marath began the onslaught. I couldn't exactly remember the details but the Omnath-Marath combo was unstoppable. Stand-alone, Marath distributed counters and just kept sending damage to Prossh's face. Omnath generated 5/5's like wildfire. The fun part was, Marath will often generate small tokens, 2/2's or 1/1's, then will either use those to block or burn them with Marath himself, triggering Omnath's Bolt ability, as the tokens created are elementals too. Before he knew it, Prossh was at a dangerous 21 life, while Marath stood firm at 40. Prossh was unable to attack because he was the only one on the field capable of defending his territory. 

As the game went on, Marath kept returning from the Command Zone, but with each return his cost rose up, so he was not able to do the burns and tokens on the same turn. Desperate for defense, Prossh casts a Vile Requiem (hoping to target Marath and or Omnath, or both), then alter a Blood Rites, to be able to use the excess 0/1 tokens. To do that successfully he needed two more turns. First for the mana to be available to sac the tokens to Blood Rites, the second to gather enough counters to take out Marath and Omnath with the Requiem. But alas, this was not to be. 

In those two turns Marath lowered Prossh's life to a very low 12 life, with the threat of 4 5/5 elementals and Omnath itself. By the second turn, Prossh had a very huge problem. Taking out Marath and Omnath would still deal 3 damage due to Omnath's self-triggered Bolt, and that would also make Marath stronger with the next return, and fighting at 6 life would be useless, as Marath could easily burn him to the face. So instead, the Vile Requiem skips Omnath and targets one elemental and Marath instead ( sadly this brings him down to 6) , so now Marath's cost was at 11. 

The Blood Rites could have been triggered twice, but there were no good targets at all, as all creatures on Marath's field had 5 toughness and higher. By my ninth turn, Prossh was basically good as dead. I could cast Marath and wait an additional turn to kill Prossh, or I could cast Xenagos, God of Revels. And that's what I did. Remember the Manticore? Well, that's still alive, and was given a +1/+1 counter by Marath early in the game. By Xenagos, it got boosted to a 12/12. With Prossh in the Command Zone, the tokens couldn't block, and so couldn't the poor Sakura Tribe Elder. 

Marath won 40-0 (Life totals, not number of games).

 Reckless Bushwhacker (2R)
 Creature - Goblin Warrior Ally
 Surge {1R} (You may cast this spell for its surge cost if you or a teammate has cast another spell this turn.)
Haste
When Reckelss Bushwhacker enters the battlefield, if its surge cost was paid, other creatures you control get +1/+0 and gain haste until end of turn.

Deepfoam Skulker (5U)
Creature - Eldrazi
Devoid (This card has no color.)
Whenever a creature you control deals combat damage to a player, you may draw a card.
{3C}: Target creature can't be blocked this turn.

Dread Defiler (6B)
Creature - Eldrazi
Devoid (This card has no color.)
{3C}, Exile a creature card from your graveyard: Target opponent loses life equal to the exiled card's power.
It left behind an echoing emptiness more horrible than the grave.

So far, this has got to be my most favorite card in the set. Imagine putting the Dread Defiler in a heavy-beatdown deck, for example with a green-black demons deck? Imagine pairing this with something like Doomgape.

Stone Haven Outfitter (1W)
Creature - Kor Artificer Ally
Equipped creatures you control get +1/+1.
Whenever an equipped creature you control dies, draw a card.
The makers and menders are the first called to battle and the last to leave.

This only hints at an equipment-ally intro deck. I guarantee it. 

For Oath of the Gatewatch, Wizards have made quite the interesting mechanics, including of course, the potentially-controversial, colorless mana.  Here are the following mechanics, starting with the big gun ( in my opinion): the new basic land, and its new mana color ( or, no color? )

Colorless Mana

This symbol means it is colorless mana, a sixth kind of mana ( seventh if you count snow). It is different from generic mana since colorless is a sub-type of generic mana; basically, generic mana, now, can be paid with either red, green, blue, black, white, or colorless mana. This of course goes very well with the 'colorless' theme of the Eldrazi, and the Devoid mechanic introduced in Battle for Zendikar.

The cost {C} can only be paid with colorless mana, so if you build a deck around colorless spells, with a fusion of colored ones, then for example, there would be such a term as " I have a red-colorless deck, or blue-colorless control deck". This addition ripples throughout new and existing cards. For example:

... in this print of Uknown Shores, the first ability adds {C} to the mana pool. You can in turn, use this to pay generic mana costs. The second ability has an additional cost, which is 1 generic mana, which can be payed with any colorless mana or with colorless mana. Another example would be the Sol Ring, which instead of producing 2 generic mana ( which by now sounds awfully ridiculous), which was actually a misinterpretation of the ability, actually produces 2 colorless mana. Which can still be payed for generic mana costs or colorless costs themselves.

Oh and by the way, here is the new land:

Important note: see how it doesn't have a basic land type? Unlike with a forest, which says Basic Land - Forest, Wastes can't be selected when a card instructs you to choose a basic land type. This normally means some number of fetch-effects on both creatures and non-creatures.

So technically, two things happen: first, it will be indicated in the mana cost if it requires generic or colorless mana ( as there is now a new mana symbol), and two, whenever you see the generic mana symbol on an old card's ability ( old meaning pre-oath), e.g. Sol Ring, it means it produces colorless mana, and not generic mana, as it cannot produce all 5 colors at once with just one symbol. If that makes sense.

This makes things somewhat complicated at first, especially for me, as I am a young and intermediate-level planeswalker, only beginning to master the basics. 

Cohort

 Cohort is an ability that needs two allies to work. The cost is always the same: {T}, Tap an untapped Ally you control. The effects vary with each card. Remember, unless the main ally ( the one whose Cohort ability you wish to activate) has ally or has a way to remove summoning sickness, its ability cannot be activated on the same turn you cast it. 

Munda's Vanguard reminds me of the Phalanx Leader from the Theros Block. Imagine if you can trigger this twice or thrice in a turn! Most optimally in some sort of allies-tokens deck.

The next mechanic reminds me of Bolster.

Support

Support boosts creatures while supplying additional effects ( as far as the cards that have been spoiled go). Support N means putting a +1/+1 counter on up to N target creatures. Keyword 'up to', meaning you can choose less than the indicated number, but regardless of the number of targets, each target would still get only one +1/+1 counter on it. Support may also have no targets. On a sorcery (or instant) this can target any creature. But on a creature itself ( or another permanent), support must target other creatures. 

Like this guy:

Looks like we might see a number of cards that benefit from +1/+1 counters. Proliferate might be a thing again. Heck Proliferate might be really good in this format. Bolster-Support-Proliferate decks. Now that I think about it, another good card that has great synergy with Support is the Enduring Scalelord, which gets a +1/+1  counter whenever a   +1/+1 counter is put on a creature: so Support 2 gives the Scalelord 2 counters, and Support 6 gives the Scalelord 6 counters!

The last mechanic for the Oath is:

Surge

Surge is a nice way to get a discount on mana costs, kind of like the opposite of the Kick mechanic introduced long, long ago. Some cards might even have additional effects for being Surged, just like being Kicked.

The reduced mana cost can only be payed if you( or a teammate!) cast another spell this turn, regardless if that spell was countered, resolved, or still in the stack. For example, if you surge the Tyrant, not only do you get a 5/4 flyer for 5, but you also get the ability to bolt a creature or player!

Just a quick thought I got from seeing this card: play Dragonlord Kolaghan first, then the Tyrant. Damage overload if your opponent can't defend against flyers.

Well, that's it. Those are the mechanics for the Oath of the Gatewatch. These might get even more powerful, depending on which cards will be in the set, so stay tuned for that!

Sphinx of the Final Word (5UU)
Creature - Sphinx
Sphinx of the Final Word can't be countered.
Flying, hexproof
Instant and sorcery spells you control can't be countered by spells or abilities.

He answeres questions as readily as he asks them, but his answer is always "no".

Crush of Tentacles (4UU)
Sorcery
Surge {3UU} (You may cast this spell for its surge cost if you or a teammate has cast another spell this turn.)
Return all nonland permanents to their owner's hands. If Crush of Tentacles's surge cost was paid, put an 8/8 blue Octopus creature token onto the battlefield.

ENDBRINGER (5C)
Creature - Eldrazi
Untap Endbringer during each other player's untap step.
{T}: Endbringer deals 1 damage to target creature or player.
{C, T}: Target creature can't attack or block this turn.
{CC, T}: Draw a card.

Kozilek, the Great Distortion (8CC)
Legendary Creature - Eldrazi
When you cast Kozilek, the Great Distortion, if you have fewer than seven cards in hand, draw cards equal to the difference.
Menace
Discard a card with converted mana cost X: Counter target spell with converted mana cost X.

A void as cryptic as reality itself.

Mina and Denn, Wildborn (2RG)
Legendary Creature - Elf Ally
You may play and additional land on each of your turns.
RG, Return a land you control to its owner's hand: Target creature gains trample until end of turn.

Greenweaver Mina and her twin brother Denn lead the last of the Mul Daya tribe into their uncertain future.

 Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim (WB)
Legendary Creature - Kor Cleric
Deathtouch
{1}, Sacrifice another creature: You gain life equal to the sacrificed creature's toughness.

{1WB}, Sacrifice another creature: Exile target nonland permanent. Activate this ability only if you have at least 10 or more life than your starting life total.

Nissa, Voice of Zendikar (1GG)
Planeswalker - Nissa
{+1}: Put a 0/1green Plant creature token onto the battlefield.
{-2}: Put a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control.
{-7}: You gain X life and draw X cards, where X is the number of lands you control.
{3}

Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet (2BB)
Legendary Creature - Vampire Warrior
Lifelink
If a nontoken creature an opponent controls would die, instead exile that card and put a 2/2 black Zombie creature token onto the battlefield.
{2B}, Sacrifice another Vampire or Zomvi: Put two +1/+1 counters on Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet.

Chandra, Flamecaller (4RR)
Planeswalker - Chandra
{+1}: Put two 3/1 red Elemetal creature tokens with haste onto the attlefield. Exile them at the beginning of the next end step.
{0}: Discard all the cards in your hand, then draw that many cards plus one.
{-X}: Chandra, Flamecaller deals X damage to each creature.

Goblin Dark-Dwelllers (3RR)
Creature - Goblin
Menace

When Goblin Dark-Dwellers enters the battlefield, you may cast target instant or sorcery card with converted mana cost 3 or less from your graveyard without paying its mana cost. If that card would be put into your graveyard this turn, exile it instead.

Kozilek's Return (2R)
Instant 
Devoid (This card has no color.)
Kozilek's Return deals 2 damage to each creature.

Whenever you cat an Eldrazi creature spell with converted mana cost7 or greater, you may exile Kozilek's Return from your Graveyard. If you do, Kozilek's Return deals 5 damage to each creature. 

This is my guild, my most favorite place in the Multiverse. It was said that: "The Izzet are obsessive experimenters, the epitome of keen creative intellect combined with an unfortunately short attention span. The original mandate of the Izzet guild was to provide solutions for public works projects (sewers, boilers, roadways), but their experiments often produce mana geysers, spatial rifts, or arcane portals instead.". When I discovered this, I was immediately hooked. Not to mention that I consistently ended up in the League after taking the guild quiz.

Blue and Red are the colors of this guild. Calm thinking with obsessive curiosity. Explosive actions with anticipated results. That is my style of Magic: control with blue, burn with red. Fire and lightning, ice and wind: for me, the most delicious combo. 

Here is one of my most favorite examples of Izzet aggression, with three of some of my favorite cards:

Djinn Illuminatus:

Which reads: 

Flying

Each instant and sorcery spell you cast has replicate. The replicate cost is equal to its mana cost. (When you cast it, copy it for each time you paid its replicate cost. You may choose new targets for the copies.)

Which means it gives all instants and sorceries you control the power to duplicate itself. Imagine doing this to a lightning bolt, for example.

Wee Dragonauts

Which reads:

   Flying

Whenever you cast an instant or sorcery spell, Wee Dragonauts gets +2/+0 until end of turn.

Which means its get powered-up every time you cast an instant or sorcery. But remember: replicated spells do not count as an instance on the stack, so replicating a bolt three times would still only give the Dragonauts +2/+0.

Screaming Fury

Which reads:

 Target creature gets +5/+0 and gains haste until end of turn.

The basic pump spell.

                                 

 

I'm pretty sure by now you see the combo, right? By the turn you cast the Illuminatus, you will have had seven or so mana available on the board, that's for a minimum of three replicates for the Screaming Fury. You cast the Fury on the Dragonauts, replicating it three times. By the order on the stack, the +15/+0 comes in first, making the Dragonauts a devastating 16/3 flyer. Then its ability resolves, and it becomes an 18/3 flyer. If you're opponent is unprepared, he's in for a real whopper.

NIV-MIZZET, THE FIREMIND

DRAGON, GENIUS, GUILDMASTER

Niv-Mizzet is the bomb. He is easily one of the if not the most favorite dragon, for me, in the entire game of Magic. When I encountered the Firemind, I knew that I've found my guild. But what excites me the most every time I see Niv has something to do when I first saw the card in the first place. 

When I started out with Magic seven years ago, I think that was two years after the first Ravnica block came out, I was heavily intrigued by the game's art. From Magic's artwork alone I was able to discern it from the other TCGs. This interest in artwork made me search the web for Magic wallpapers and full card art, which luckily for me, was readily available. Out of the first pictures I was able to acquire, one particular piece caught my attention: it was (if I am right) the first version of the Firemind, as seen in here. By that point, I wasn't really aware of the vast multiverse of cards that existed beyond my collection: for all I know they were just art for the story-line. Boy was I glad when I discovered the card. But more so when I found out his name. Up to this day the words still ring with a peculiar nostalgia: fire-mind.

During the next few years, after sharpening my skills in-game and enhancing my knowledge lore-wise, I've decided to "join" one of the ten guilds in Ravnica. I actually didn't know all ten by the time I got my first Guildpact deck, as all that was available was the Izzet and Orzhov decks. If it hadn't been for Niv, I would have taken a very, very different path. So I got the Guildpact Izzet deck, which introduced me to heavy-flavor cards like the Izzet Guildmage and Tibor and Lumia. Just visiting that deck's page on Wizard's unleashes a flood of nostalgia upon me.

But enough about that. Let's look at the card:

This aspect of Niv ( the other being the 5/5 Dracogenius) is my favorite. There's synergy with the main focus of both colors, card advantage for blue and burning for red, not to mention the ability to draw a card at instant speed. I mean, just imagine, cards like Divination and Counsel of the Soratami, or heck even Skyscribing can produce a very huge damage output, just with two cards! Not to mention the card-advantage. Also imagine this guy with the Djinn Illuminatus. Niv plus the Djinn plus a cheap draw spell would be utterly devastating for the opponent!

TWO WORDS: 

GHOST. TOKENS.

Err... Spirit Tokens, if you suppose. So I've recently got in touch with the duel decks Sorin vs. Tibalt that were released sometime in 2013. To refresh your memory, here is the concept art for the duel decks. 

Art by Chase Stone. 

I am completely captivated by the art, by the way. Especially by how Tibalt poses in the light of the flames, and how Sorin basks solemnly in the moonlight. Magic Art is the best art. But anyways.

DECKLIST:

Creatures: (19)

2x Doomed Traveller

2x Banisher Priest

2x Vampire Nighthawk

1x Wall of Omens

1x Twilight Drover

1x Fiend Hunter

1x Voracious Null

1x Gatekeeper of Malakir

1x Athreos, God of Passage

1x Butcher of Malakir

1x Sengir Vampire

1x Cliffside Lookout

1x Mesmeric Fiend

1x Phantom General

1x Mausoleum Guard

1x Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts

Enchantments: (2)

1x Retreat to Hagra

1x Field of Souls

Planeswalkers: (2)

1x Sorin, Lord of Innistrad

1x Elspeth, Sun's Champion

Instants: (6)

1x Sorin's Thirst

1x Mortify

1x Altar's Reap

1x Vampire's Bite

1x Zealous Persecution

1x Unmake

Sorceries: (6)

2x Spectral Procession

1x Lingering Souls

1x Ancient Craving

1x Absorb Vis

1x Death Grasp

Lands:

12x Swamp

9x Plains

2x Evolving Wilds

2x Tainted Field

I edited the deck a bit, to focus more on the support and generation of tokens. Not much was changed, except for the addition of some key players (Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts and Elspeth, Sun's Champion). 

Basically, with all the resources I had, I focused on making the deck do two things. One, generate tokens (Spectral Processions, Lingering Souls, Sorin, Elspeth, Teysa, Mausoleum Guard, Doomed Traveler, Twilight Drover, and Field of Souls) and two, make the other cards either enhance those creatures (Cliffside Lookout, Sorin, Elspeth, Retreat to Hagra, Phantom General, and Zealous Persecution) or benefit from having tokens, i.e. sacrifice effects or dying (Butcher of Malakir, Voracious Null, Altar's Reap). 

The other cards are for early game control and defense (Wall of Omens, Vampire Nighthawk (very efficient in combat), Banisher Priest and Fiend Hunter ( getting rid of the pesky creatures), Mesmeric Fiend ( kind of like the Priest and the Hunter, but takes a more futuristic approach). Athreos is there just in case the token-plan fails and the deck is forced to stick with the rest of the creature base. 

Absorb Vis, Sorin's Thirst, Mortify, Unmake, and Vampire's Bite all help with control and removal. Bit if it comes to it, hopefully during the late game, if you need to deal that last bit of 7 or so damage, there is Death's Grasp. A very good finisher for a very good cost.

This blog will soon be revived. Will be filled with new content, and updates on the Magic World. (Plus, of course, my thoughts and opinions). But for now, here's a twin-headed dragon.

It's not much, but hey, it is just the basics.