Magic: the Gathering

[The_Amaster]

(Hey, forum description doesn't specify video games ;) )

So, who else here plays Magic? I know Alphadawg and I do, Gleeok at least used to and might still, and suspect that Archibaldo might. Anyone else?

[Masamune]

I do. I actually played a round with Alpha Dawg friday night. It was pretty cool.

[DarkFlameWolf]

I have a crapload of cards, but play very little. Even have a rare black rose somewhere in my collection.

[The_Amaster]

Oh, a black lotus, yeah, those aren't worth that much *cough*. Tell you what, why not send it to me. Like. RIGHT NOW! PLEASE! I...mean......crap!

[Pineconn]

I don't. Pokémon is where it's at! :goofy:

[Skulkraken]

I have a small box full of Magic cards. I also switch between three main types of decks: a Sliver deck, a Morph deck, and a "creature-cycle" deck (this last one is still not really ready for play).

I stopped playing the Pokemon TCG after the Fossil expansion, so I don't really know too much about all the new gameplay elements Nintendo added to the series afterwards.

I have a few YuGiOh cards, but not enough for a full deck. The only rare card I have is a foil Black Magician, which I got in Japan several years ago, before it became a fad in America.

[Shazza Dani]

I don't. Pokémon is where it's at! :goofy:

I used to collect Pokemon cards, but I didn't play. I DID play Yugioh, though. I had an awesome deck, wasted a lot of money... I never played or collected Magic cards.

[AlphaDawg]

I do. I actually played a round with Alpha Dawg friday night. It was pretty cool.You were my only loss Friday night! I went undefeated in FNM to claim a snazzy foil Tendrils of Agony. Cloudthreshers and Siege-Gang Commanders FTW!

Then on Saturday I came oh so close to claiming my first piece of power, a Mox Jet (worth between $300 - $400 depending on condition), but I got upended in the semifinals by that stupidly broken Flash combo deck.

[Feasul]

I don't have any Magic Cards, but I've played with friends' decks before. (Minds out of gutters, please.) I was into Pokemon cards when I was in 4th grade, about 9 years ago. Then I got into Yugioh in middle school, and stuck with that for a few years. I remember one time I was at a local tournament where you got 5 packs and made a 20 card deck out of the cards you got, and I got an Ultimate Rare Sacred Phoenix, which was pretty sweet. I traded to my best friend for a bunch of Ultra Rare and one Ultimate Rare card.
I figure I'll save all my Pokemon and Yugioh cards, as well as my Beanie Babies, until they go up in value, probably in about 50 years or so. Heck, even if they never do, at least I had fun with them for a while. It's not like I bought them with the intent of turning a profit.

[Joe123]

I have the Lorwyn Elf deck, got it for christmas.
I did a booster draft tournament with my friends the week before last with 2 Lorwyn and 1 of the new one which I can't remember the name of, and I got the Blue Planeswalker =D
Not much use to me in my Elf deck though.
Managed to come joint second out of 8 on the tournament still =D

[Shyvus]

I used to do tournaments and all of that. Then the new edition came out and I couldn't afford any cards. Someone bought me a pre-made grudge deck and I played with that for a while, but without a deck that's up-to-par with almost any handmade deck, I stopped playing. There's no fun in playing when your deck is so bad that playing it to its max won't even help you.

Someday when I have the money, I want to get back into it and the various games I played back in the good 'ol days.

Mmm, gamerdom.

[DarkDragon]

I have in the past; my favorite format is Type I, and I'll occasionally draft the new stuff, but have no interest in buying enough of the new sets for a viable Type II deck.

[Gleeok]

It's been at least 6 years now since I've played a game. I actually still have all my old cards in a box on the top shelf of my closet, I just don't really have the time or the money right now to get back into it. Problem with the formats is every time a new set comes out you need to update your cards so you can keep up with with the current.

I used to play alot of Vintage and Extended back in the day, and first got started before fourth edition even came out. Heh, I remember when nobody played force of will, (Apparently people were idiots or something back then.) and I bought a crap load one day for like a buck each. The good old days of magic; Where juzam djinn and dark ritual was a combo deck, and swords was about the best card ever. I stopped playing around the time I went back to school and that was that.


I got upended in the semifinals by that stupidly broken Flash combo deck.

Not sure what the combo is, but I can imagine...wotc has fucked up the wording on some cards on more than one occasion. Flash in of itself is pretty useless, but combine that with another newer crap useless card I guess, and you've got a turn 2 kill. Wonderful.

[Master Ghaleon]

I played this a long time ago from beta i think it was til 5th edition. Very fn but very expensive if you kept on buying packs of cards :P

[Archibaldo]

I still have my cards. I haven't played in a long time since one of my friends lost all his decks and his rares. We believe he put them on top of his car and drove away with them still there. We actually found a swamp in a plastic in the parking lot of my apartment building. So I believe that is what happened. Since then I haven't bought any cars. Which is good because I used to spend about 100$ a month on cards. It was really bad. I'm actually thinking about ebaying all my cards for cheap. Send me a PM if you're interested.

I actually had a few fun decks. I had a blue-black control deck which my friends hated. I had a w/b/g treefolk deck. I had a pretty kick ass goblin deck too. Goblin Charbelchers FTW. I have like 9 other decks too. I'm just too lazy to list them.

[ctrl-alt-delete]

I played a little Magic back in the day...

Other than that, I collected Pokemon cards but never played the game.

That shit is worth money. :-p

I gave them all to my little sister, though. :(

[AlphaDawg]

Not sure what the combo is, but I can imagine...wotc has fucked up the wording on some cards on more than one occasion. Flash in of itself is pretty useless, but combine that with another newer crap useless card I guess, and you've got a turn 2 kill. Wonderful.Yeah, that's pretty much it. Here's a brief history of the combo:

May 1st, 2007: Wizards, in their ongoing quest to rid the game of so-called "power level" errata (i.e. they "fixed" obscenely powerful cards, only to decide later that was a bad idea), finally gets around to Flash (http://resources.wizards.com/Magic/Cards/MI/en-us/Card3337.jpg). Previously, the creature only made it into play if you actually paid the reduced mana cost. This prevented abuse such as Academy Rector (http://resources.wizards.com/Magic/Cards/CG/en-us/Card15138.jpg) into Yawgmoth's Bargain (http://resources.wizards.com/Magic/Cards/CG/en-us/Card15193.jpg), and usually victory shortly thereafter. News of this was slow to reach the masses, but once it did, a massive warping of the metagame just 3 weeks prior to Grand Prix: Columbus (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=mtgevent/gpcol07/welcome) (which, BTW, I finished 45th at playing Countersliver, a great anti-Flash deck, screw the establishment!) was in order.

Mid-May '07: As Yawgmoth's Bargain is banned in Legacy (the format of GP: Columbus) Academy Rector was ruled out as the creature to abuse. Research showed the best creature to abuse would be Protean Hulk (http://resources.wizards.com/Magic/Cards/DIS/en-us/Card107598.jpg). Initially the creatures Protean Hulk would find upon biting the dust were as many copies of Disciple of the Vault (http://resources.wizards.com/Magic/Cards/MRD/en-us/Card49090.jpg), Phyrexian Marauder (http://resources.wizards.com/Magic/Cards/VI/en-us/Card3599.jpg), and Shifting Wall (http://resources.wizards.com/Magic/Cards/ST/en-us/Card5222.jpg) as possible. This pretty much guaranteed instant victory. The only problem with this kill is that it required WAY too many cards. What if you draw too many of your combo pieces? Also this reduces the amount of slots you can devote to protecting your combo.

May 19-20, 2007: So by the time GP: Columbus rolled around this weekend a far more efficient kill, albeit not at instant speed and actually requiring an attack, was discovered. This time the cards involved were Body Snatcher (http://resources.wizards.com/Magic/Cards/CG/en-us/Card15189.jpg), Carrion Feeder (http://resources.wizards.com/Magic/Cards/SCG/en-us/Card43512.jpg), Karmic Guide (http://resources.wizards.com/Magic/Cards/GU/en-us/Card12955.jpg), and Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker (http://resources.wizards.com/Magic/Cards/CHK/en-us/Card50321.jpg). Basically you ended up with an arbitrarily-large Carrion Feeder and an arbitrarily-large number of hasty, attacking Karmic Guides. Needless to say, a Flash deck won the GP...

May 20, 2007: It was on this date that Future Sight became legal for sanctioned Constructed play. Since GP: Columbus started the day before, and all Day 2 competitors (including me!) were required to use the same deck, cards from the new set couldn't be used. Thank the Lord for that, as Future Sight introduced Summoner's Pact (http://resources.wizards.com/Magic/Cards/FUT/en-us/Card130706.jpg) to help find the Protean Hulk and Pact of Negation (http://resources.wizards.com/Magic/Cards/FUT/en-us/Card130701.jpg) to protect your combo. It also introduced a new kill condition using Virulent Sliver (http://resources.wizards.com/Magic/Cards/FUT/en-us/Card130644.jpg) and Heart Sliver (http://resources.wizards.com/Magic/Cards/TE/en-us/Card4824.jpg). (Whodathunkit? Hasty poisonous Slivers attacking for the instant win!)

June 1, 2007: To nobody's surprise, Flash is banned in Legacy as part of the routine quarterly Banned / Restricted updates. There were campaigns for either an emergency ban of Flash or a re-application of the power-level errata but they fell on deaf ears. Despite Flash running rampant over only the second-ever North American Legacy Grand Prix, I feel that was the right decision. It would have set a dangerous precedent. The emergency ban was used only once, for Memory Jar (http://resources.wizards.com/Magic/Cards/GU/en-us/Card8841.jpg). (Mind's Desire (http://resources.wizards.com/Magic/Cards/SCG/en-us/Card46424.jpg) was restricted in Vintage before Scourge was legal for tournament play.)

August 2007: So with Flash banned in Legacy the focus shifted to making the most broken Vintage Flash deck in time for the Vintage Championships at GenCon. As expected, it was scary good, but there was plenty more available (including even faster combos!) to hold it in check. In fact not one Flash deck made the Top 8 (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=mtgcom/daily/bd295)!

February 2008: Morningtide brings with it a creature called Reveillark (http://resources.wizards.com/Magic/Cards/MOR/EN/Card152716.jpg). It shakes up every format, Vintage included. A new kill for the Flash deck is developed, consisting of Reveillark, Body Double (http://resources.wizards.com/Magic/Cards/PLC/en-us/Card124443.jpg), Carrion Feeder, and Mogg Fanatic (http://resources.wizards.com/Magic/Cards/TE/en-us/Card4832.jpg). Body Snatcher is also there in case you draw one of your combo pieces. This kill is frighteningly good, as it can be done at instant speed and requires only four cards (other than Flash and Hulk of course)! In fact it can be done in response to the "you lose" triggers of Summoner's Pact and Pact of Negation. (i.e. "in response to me losing, I win!")

March 2008: No changes to the Vintage Banned / Restricted list, despite cries for Flash's restriction. Failing that, Merchant Scroll (http://resources.wizards.com/Magic/Cards/HM/en-us/Card2951.jpg) would have been a good candidate for restriction as well.

June 2008: We shall see...

[The_Amaster]

Cool. This thread got responses.

I started playing during Kamigawa, and actually Lorwyn marks the first time I haven't had green in my deck. Instead now I'm piloting a crazy-fun Merfolk chain-combo check that revolves around Sygg and Merrow Commerce to just wreak havoc.

Ganing 8 life while milling my opponent and drawing cards is just fun, especially when you have them all untap so you can block and do it all again on your opponents turn.

[Pteryx]

I used to play this as a casual Johnny back in the day. Mostly I had "virtual" decks via programs (still constructed without the sort of stuff restricted or banned under Vintage or Legacy), but I had (and still have!) a couple of physical decks, too, and it'd be neat to build some of the others for real too. I was never tourney-calibur nor interested in that -- heck, my deck designs tended to run large -- but heck, it was fun...

Some decks of mine of note:

* "Tim and the Thornies", one of my physical decks and a signature of mine. A green/blue Tim deck (remember when Tims were blue?) filled with most of the Tim cards to see print on the blue side (plus Thorn Thallid -- yes, really) and tap/untap effects. Vitalize was the usual kill card, but there were other surprises as well, such as the big Thorn Thalid-centric combo that let it build up spore counters like crazy.

* My "one white mana" deck, probably the most mainstream-esque of my decks. The theme was simple: except for the Howling Mines -- and those only because I couldn't find a substitute that did fit the theme -- every single spell in the deck cost one white mana to cast. Holy Day in particular irritated the hell out of people, but there were other nasty things in it like Righteousness, Swords to Plowshares, Erase, Soul Warden, Soltari Foot Soldier pumped up with Infantry Veteran and Armor of Faith...

* Red In Denial, constructed entirely of red cards that were the "wrong" color. Included that centaur with vigilance, that 2/2 lady you could tap for red mana, and so on.

* My cantrip deck. This one was so overwhelmingly large that it could never have existed physically. It consisted primarily of what I felt to be the cream of the crop of red, green, and white "cantrips" -- spells with "Draw a card" (which may or may not be at the beginning of the next upkeep) as a secondary effect. While the effects were largely weak, I could almost always do many things on any given turn. The deck's lands were mostly nonbasic, and there were a lot of mana-producing artifacts as well to help speed things up. While I rarely won with it, it scared the crap out of people; I wonder why... -- Pteryx

[Mak-X]

I played about 8 years ago, starting with Ice Age and ending right around Weatherlight? I think. I've thought about getting back into it, and considered Magic Online, but dunno if I want to pay for virtual cards. I liked using Red and Green color cards.

I found Pokemon to be like Magic but simpler, and wouldn't mind playing that again.

[Master Maniac]

i used to play. i have 2 decks... not very well balanced but i was good with them because i was familliar with them.

[Gleeok]

Yeah, that's pretty much it. Here's a brief history of the combo:

May 1st, 2007: Wizards, in their ongoing quest to rid the game of so-called "power level" errata (i.e. they "fixed" obscenely powerful cards, only to decide later that was a bad idea), finally gets around to Flash (http://resources.wizards.com/Magic/Cards/MI/en-us/Card3337.jpg). Previously, the creature only made it into play if you actually paid the reduced mana cost. This prevented abuse such as Academy Rector (http://resources.wizards.com/Magic/Cards/CG/en-us/Card15138.jpg) into Yawgmoth's Bargain (http://resources.wizards.com/Magic/Cards/CG/en-us/Card15193.jpg), and usually victory shortly thereafter. News of this was slow to reach the masses, but once it did, a massive warping of the metagame just 3 weeks prior to Grand Prix: Columbus (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=mtgevent/gpcol07/welcome) (which, BTW, I finished 45th at playing Countersliver, a great anti-Flash deck, screw the establishment!) was in order.

Mid-May '07: As Yawgmoth's Bargain is banned in Legacy (the format of GP: Columbus) Academy Rector was ruled out as the creature to abuse. Research showed the best creature to abuse would be Protean Hulk (http://resources.wizards.com/Magic/Cards/DIS/en-us/Card107598.jpg). Initially the creatures Protean Hulk would find upon biting the dust were as many copies of Disciple of the Vault (http://resources.wizards.com/Magic/Cards/MRD/en-us/Card49090.jpg), Phyrexian Marauder (http://resources.wizards.com/Magic/Cards/VI/en-us/Card3599.jpg), and Shifting Wall (http://resources.wizards.com/Magic/Cards/ST/en-us/Card5222.jpg) as possible. This pretty much guaranteed instant victory. The only problem with this kill is that it required WAY too many cards. What if you draw too many of your combo pieces? Also this reduces the amount of slots you can devote to protecting your combo.


Haha! Yeah that sounds about right: "Hey, flash is completely broken now! Should we ban it?" "No, I've got a better idea. Lets ban Academy Rector and all the other cards that can be used with Flash." I remember way back when wotc went on a blue card banning spree, the result; Combo decks ruled the formats.

Thanks for linking that stuff though, man, there are some wicked new fuel for combo decks nowadays. I used to run alot of counter-combo combo when I played in tourneys, with solid results too. But I see the combo field has some serious weapons and become about a turn faster than what it used to be.

Just out of curiosity; ever heard or seen a Type 1 hermit druid combo or stasis-turbooath combo deck. Those would have to be my all time winning-est decks. I would've thought at least one would make it to the pros...but I guess they could've banned the key cards from them also. Damn them!

[The_Amaster]

Yeah, I'm probably Timmy-Johny, and if theres one card that seems to lead to the most fun combos, it has to be Doubling Season. That thing combos with so much, and it's all ridiculously entertaining.

Thallids + Sporesower Thallid + Doubling Season (or 2 ;)) = PWNAGE

[AlphaDawg]

Just out of curiosity; ever heard or seen a Type 1 hermit druid combo or stasis-turbooath combo deck. Those would have to be my all time winning-est decks. I would've thought at least one would make it to the pros...but I guess they could've banned the key cards from them also. Damn them!Wizards doesn't run professional Type 1 tournaments other than the annual Vintage Championships at GenCon. Presumably it's due to the high cost of entry. I dispute this... in my opinion Type 2 costs WAY more over time because you have to buy a ton of new cards every three or so months. However, since it's money going in Wizards'/Hasbro's pockets instead of the secondary market that's OK by them...

Anyway, I haven't seen Hermit Druid or (thank God) Stasis that much lately. Various Dredge decks that abuse Bazaar of Baghdad are much better than Hermit Druid decks ever were. Stasis is just too slow. (Again, thank God, I hate that card!) Oath decks are still very popular. They use Forbidden Orchard to give you a creature so they can Oath, usually finding Tidespout Tyrant and generating infinite mana and storm count with some Moxen.

Probably the best forum dedicated to Eternal formats (Vintage and Legacy) is The Mana Drain (http://www.themanadrain.com), named of course after the hideously broken counterspell.

That reminds me, does anybody here play on Magic Workstation (http://www.magicworkstation.com)? I refuse to play Magic Online because I spend enough money maintaining my extensive paper Magic collection and don't feel like doing the same for virtual cards. If anyone's ever up for a game, just let me know.

[DarkDragoonX]

I've never been able to get into any CCGs... mainly because all the money I don't already spend on video games is shoveled into the twin fires of tabletop gaming (mainly D&D rules supplements of which I use maybe a quarter of the content) and MMOs. It's probably evidence of some kind of mental defect.

Regardless, the result is that I have no spare coin with which to purchase the immense quantities of booster packs necessary to play those card games. Though with the kind of money serious players spend on CCGs, I think I may be saving money.

[AlexMax]

Do any of you play on Magic Online (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=magic/magiconline)? I don't play myself, but I do have the program so I can watch the odd game when I'm bored and have a nostalgia rush for middle school. Please note that they are currently undergoing a client/server migration, and it might be a full week before things get back on track.

Anyway, some people on Something Awful actually do play the online version quite a bit, and have a bit of sage advice for those of you who are interested in giving it a try once it comes back up.


Q: How much does it cost? READ THIS BECAUSE IT WILL SAVE YOU A LOT OF MONEY!
A: $9.99 to start up an account and that gives you 15 of each land, more then enough to make upto a 100 card deck. From there you'll see a lot of decks and booster packs on the Magic Online store. Don't buy these!

!!!BUY EVENT TICKETS!!!

Event Tickets ($1 each) are the community accepted currency for buying all magic online cards. Trading with bots can generally net you 32 commons or uncommons for 1 ticket, and 1 ticket per rare, sometimes more. If you are willing to look around and spam the trade channels, you can find players willing to sell upto 100+ commons or 64 uncommons for 1 ticket.

[AlphaDawg]

Agreed, Magic Online doesn't cost all that much if you just want to play casual. But I'd rather just do that IRL or over Magic Workstation. When I (briefly) played Magic Online, it was for the sealed deck and booster draft events. I like to think of myself as an above-average Limited player (my rating hovers around 1800) but I just get pwned in those drafts by the pros who live on Magic Online.

[Gleeok]

Or it's free if you make your own cards. (http://wwwhome.cs.utwente.nl/~oosting/basic/magic/)

I'm always changing this damned avatar so here's a blown up readable version that should outlast it:

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee138/Tiamat_AD/Gleeok-MTG1.png


Land+Printer+Glue=Black Lotus. ;)

[Joe123]

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=mtgcom/daily/dl32
:eek:


The Day the Cards Tapped Backwards.
Scary.

[mrz84]

Do and I are very into this game. I sued to have a deck revolving around Force of Nature. Then I got distracted with other devices and now no longer have said creature. My deck has been mourning ever since. I will say this about DO. If you value your sanity, don't paly Magic against him. I've never won unless he got a bum hand at the start of the match. :kitty:

[AlphaDawg]

Or it's free if you make your own cards. (http://wwwhome.cs.utwente.nl/%7Eoosting/basic/magic/)

I'm always changing this damned avatar so here's a blown up readable version that should outlast it:

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee138/Tiamat_AD/Gleeok-MTG1.png


Land+Printer+Glue=Black Lotus. ;)Sorry to sound like Revfan here but that card is just plain fugly! Use Magic Set Editor (http://magicseteditor.sourceforge.net/index.html) instead.

[Archibaldo]

Or it's free if you make your own cards. (http://wwwhome.cs.utwente.nl/~oosting/basic/magic/)

I'm always changing this damned avatar so here's a blown up readable version that should outlast it:

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee138/Tiamat_AD/Gleeok-MTG1.png


Land+Printer+Glue=Black Lotus. ;)

There are so many things wrong with that card. It can't be part black when the CC has only blue in it. Also it can't have a colored border and be an artifact.

[Gleeok]

There are so many things wrong with that card. It can't be part black when the CC has only blue in it. Also it can't have a colored border and be an artifact.

Dude, I think you're completely oblivious to the point here. It's a joke card.

[Revfan9]

I'll occasionally play online, but I don't really keep up with the game, the sets, or the new strategic developments and concepts.

[AlphaDawg]

There are so many things wrong with that card. It can't be part black when the CC has only blue in it...Sure it can!

http://resources.wizards.com/Magic/Cards/UG/en-us/Card9757.jpg


... also it can't have a colored border and be an artifact.Sure it can!

http://resources.wizards.com/Magic/Cards/DIS/en-us/Card107362.jpg and http://resources.wizards.com/Magic/Cards/FUT/en-us/Card136212.jpg

Also... AMaster, have you seen the new Sygg yet?

http://www.wizards.com/magic/images/mtgcom/products/shadowmoor/images/7tsjouc0x9_EN.jpg

[Archibaldo]

The first card is a joke card therefore it doesn't count. The transguild courier has an ability that makes it all colors. And the Myr is from the future. So technically it doesn't exist.

[AlphaDawg]

Here is your new avatar using Magic Set Editor, Gleeok. I think it looks much better.

http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj7/KingSquee/Zelda%20Classic/Gleeok.jpg

[Masamune]

OOOOH!!! Make me one!!!

EDIT: I actually read up a bit, and I can make my own. Nevermind. :o

[Gleeok]

Here is your new avatar using Magic Set Editor, Gleeok. I think it looks much better.

http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj7/KingSquee/Zelda%20Classic/Gleeok.jpg

Aaaahh!!!! Nice. :) Your right, that looks way better. I'll have to check it out now. Thanks!

[The_Amaster]

You use MSE too, AlphaDawg? You using the latest version?
Hmmm, maybe I need my own avatar card...

Heh, yeah, I saw the new Sygg. It's alright, decent body for the cost. The effect is a bit to slow for my tastes.
Eh, if I pull one I'll run it, but I'm not going to go out of the way...
Now:
http://www.wizards.com/magic/images/mtgcom/products/shadowmoor/images/k9s54d6ll0_EN.jpg
is intriguing. I'm thinking of mixing my old Simic Deck with my Merfolk, maybe get some counter-manipulating fun...
An army of Merfolk with Flying (http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?&id=107535) and Deathtouch (http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?&id=107347) that gain me life (http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?&id=139406) whenever they attack!

On a related note, anyone here know of an aura or something that generates mana whenever the creature is tapped by an external source?
I want to go infinite with Drowner of Secrets and one of the untap Merfolk.

[AlphaDawg]

I just got back from my pilgrimage to the Shadowmoor prerelease. I did OK, finishing with a 10-5 match record in four "flights" (mini 32-man tournaments) over two days. I usually do a little better. Oh well. Such is life...


On a related note, anyone here know of an aura or something that generates mana whenever the creature is tapped by an external source? I want to go infinite with Drowner of Secrets and one of the untap Merfolk.The only way I can think of to pull it off would be to use Earthcraft (http://resources.wizards.com/Magic/Cards/TE/en-us/Card4756.jpg) and High Tide (http://resources.wizards.com/Magic/Cards/FE/en-us/Card1874.jpg) with Leech Bonder (http://www.wizards.com/magic/images/mtgcom/products/shadowmoor/images/k9s54d6ll0_EN.jpg) and Drowner of Secrets (http://resources.wizards.com/Magic/Cards/LRW/EN/Card145979.jpg). Just keep in mind Earthcraft is banned in every format except Type 1, so you wouldn't be able to play this deck in any tournament. It'll make a helluva fun casual deck though! (For you that is, not your opponent.)

It works like this:

Play High Tide.
Tap an Island to add two blue mana to your mana pool thanks to High Tide.
Activate Earthcraft by tapping Leech Bonder to untap the Island.
Use one blue to untap Leech Bonder using its ability.
Repeat until you have as much blue mana as cards in your opponent's library.
Activate Drowner of Secrets by tapping Leech Bonder.
Use one blue to untap Leech Bonder using its ability. Lather, rinse, repeat until you deck your opponent. Pray your opponent doesn't play Gaea's Blessing (http://resources.wizards.com/Magic/Cards/TSB/en-us/Card108789.jpg).
Say "Go." GG!Keep in mind you don't actually have to have a counter to move in order to use Leech Bonder. Target itself and your Drowner if you like.

Shit, if you want, build the deck on Magic Workstation (http://www.magicworkstation.com) and I'll play one of my casual decks against it. (You'll have to wait until the Shadowmoor patch is released, of course. It shouldn't take long.)

[The_Amaster]

Eh, don't have the money for Workstation, unfortunatly. You have Apprentice?

Heh, the Gatherer Spoiler went up yesterday, and I've already checked a good deal of the set out. Looks like some pretty sweet stuff...

[AlphaDawg]

Apprentice is old and busted.

Magic Workstation, while it does have a "full-featured" version that costs money, is perfectly usable for testing/casual play for free. Only one person I know has actually registered it.

Give it a shot!

[mikeron]

I play around once every month or two, mostly black. Favorite cards (for the reactions):

Stone Rain (http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?name=Stone_Rain)

Diabolic Tutor (http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?name=Diabolic_Tutor)

[The_Amaster]

Magic Workstation, while it does have a "full-featured" version that costs money, is perfectly usable for testing/casual play for free. Only one person I know has actually registered it.

Give it a shot!
Really? Cool, I'll check it out. I'm used to unregistered programs being like, ultra-restricted "samples"