Sprout

Sprout

Energy Cost: 2

Choose an opposing Magi. Add one energy to your Magi for each of the chosen Magi’s Creatures in play.

The Card by Itself:

This may be a good time to talk about the concept of adding energy to your Magi. It might seem self-evident, but until you’ve really felt it, many players simply aren’t aware of just how good getting free energy on their Magi every turn is. Let me tell you a story.

Back in 2002 at GenCon, Magi-Nation Duel World Championships took place (yeah, I know, back when the game was popular…ish). This story is about the second-place deck at that tournament, called Pure Energy and piloted by one Stephen Strand. Here’s an article about the deck written by its designer, Jamie Kelly, if you’d like to read it. Here’s the deck:

Pure Energy

Magi:

Aula

Obgren

Shaper’s Apprentice

Creatures (10):

1 J’lith

3 Quido Swarm

1 Sea Barl

3 Bubble Xyx

1 Greater Gargagnor

1 Ormagon

Relics (12):

3 Warrior’s Boots

3 Climbing Staff

1 Abraxin’s Crown

1 Rayje’s Belt

1 Bog Stone

1 Cloud Sceptre

1 Abwyn’s Quill

1 Mantle of Shadows

Spells (18):

3 Kybar’s Echo

3 Sorreah’s Dream

3 Cleansing

1 Beam of Light

1 Spell Pulse

1 Resonate

1 Sandswirl

1 Thunderquake

1 Stone Storm

1 Maelstrom

1 Orwin’s Gaze

1 Bloom

Total: 40

What looks like a pile of junk actually ends up being able to generate an infinite amount of energy on Shaper’s Apprentice when he flips, and from there, it almost doesn’t matter what you do. It’s pretty hard to lose at that point. Now, this combo has been errata’ed out of existence, but this combo and others like it dominated the game at serious tournaments while they were still legal, all because they were able to add an obscenely large amount of energy to your Magi.

I’m not suggesting that Sprout adds anywhere close to an unfair amount of energy. In most cases, casting Sprout should net you between two and three energy (I find that on average, players in decent board positions will have roughly four Creatures in play). That’s good enough, and that simple boost can mean the difference between being able to make the big play and losing because you can’t. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve counted up the energy a winning play would require, only to fall short by one or two, but it’s always dispiriting. Sprout can prevent that from happening, and that makes it a pretty decent, if not terribly exciting, card.

The Card in Context:

Two things to note. First, this card is the pits against many Kybar’s Teeth decks. They often don’t have more than two giant Creatures in play, and in situations like that, Sprout isn’t worth the card stock it’s printed on (and of course it gets even worse against Creatureless Cald).

Second, this card is the stone nuts against Bograth. Slam it forcefully from your hand as often as possible.

Other Stuff:

Players to read about on DeckTech:

Matt Loomis

Mike Welling

Jamie Kelly

The Hunt

The Hunt

Energy Cost: 1

All of your Weave Creatures that can attack may attack twice this turn.

The Card Itself:

As with Weave Seed, this card is very, very good. It’s actually better than Weave Seed simply because it only costs one energy for a very big effect.

As with Weave Seed, the list of attackers you want to capitalize on are:

Junjertrug

Vuryip

Seaweed Lascinth

Blade Hyren has a “may” trigger on Great Weave, and while it might not be the best to drain two energy from all your other Creatures with The Hunt, that sure is a big Blade Hyren, even after chomping two opposing Creatures.

The point with this card is that again, you’re controlling the tempo of the game. You can find ways to get an energy advantage through your combat step by making the right attacks, but the point is that your opponent will almost assuredly not be ready to face that many attacks that quickly.  

The Card in Context:

Kolte will maximize the damage you can get from casting The Hunt. Your Creature’s first attack will probably leave it a lot smaller, and then it can just run into something bigger, die, and trigger Kolte’s Parting Shot to deal two extra damage out of nowhere.

Alternatively, Ushi (who I mentioned in conjunction with Weave Seed) is even better with this Spell. Casting The Hunt and using Motivate only costs three energy, for approximately 97,000 damage and free energy in returns.

Other Stuff:

This just in: Aggro Weave is really quite good. Play The Hunt. Play Weave Seed. Play Warrior’s Boots. “Play like you’ve got a pair.”

Weave Mind

Weave Mind

Energy Cost: 1

Defeat your current Magi. You may keep your current Relics and Creatures in play. Reveal your next Magi with his or her starting energy. You may get the new Magi’s starting cards as normal.

Non-Weave Magi may not play this Spell.

  

The Card by Itself:

I’m not going to lie, Weave Mind is an awkward Spell. Any time your own card has the text, “Defeat your current Magi,” things get weird. It seems extraordinarily counterproductive to kill one of your own, but there are some situations where you’d actually want to do this.

If you are in a losing position and the enemy is a savvy player, sometimes he will delay defeating your Magi until he has a truly commanding lead so you can’t kill him with all the resources you’ll have at your disposal when your Magi flips. In a situation like this, Weave Mind allows you to keep precious Relics in play (and maybe a Creature or two) and quickly end the bleeding, denying your opponent time to consolidate his lead. This is the defensive version of Weave Mind.

The other time casting Weave Mind would be good is when you use all your Magi’s energy but one to dump guys onto the board or cast big Spells that wreck your opponent and then immediately flip, get your starting cards and either play more big Spells or sit pretty with a huge pile of energy and a highly defendable board position. This is probably the best way I can think of to transition from a set-up (read: card draw) Magi in slot 1 to a Magi in slot 2 who has a big impact on the game. I consider this play the offensive version of Weave Mind. In both situations, you’re seeking to control the tempo of the game. Any time you do that, you’re winning the psychological game, and in most cases that your opponent feels like he’s losing … he ends up losing.

The Card in Context:

Having Ritual Spear in your Weave deck will allow you to re-buy the Magi you intentionally defeat casting Weave Mind. You know, in case you need your set-up Magi again to draw more cards, or for whatever reason need a specific Magi ability to pull out of a situation. Even though the main reason I can see to use a Magi twice like this is to draw more cards, there’s something to be said for putting a powerhouse Magi first and using them again. Weave can act a little bit like Agram if you play that way.

The other Magi I’d really want to use more than once is Ninx, especially since you have a large amount of control over the energy on your Magi by playing this Communist shell-game. Using Stare Down at unexpected moments can lead to some Magi kills out of nowhere, which is always good.

Other Stuff:

Since you only have three Magi, and if your third is defeated you lose, clearly we don’t want to play three copies of this Spell, just like the Spirit Spells which only activate when your Magi is defeated.

Speaking of the Spirit Spells, unfortunately, Weave Mind cannot unlock Spirit of the Weave, since for the Spirit Spells to activate, your Magi must be defeated on your opponent’s turn (and for those nit-pickers out there, using Bloom to accomplish this feat via a Weave/Paradwyn Magi is just bad. It wants to be cool, but it’s just really bad. You’d be spending four cards and defeating your Magi on an opponent’s turn to activate a relatively small effect.)

Weave Seed

Weave Seed

Energy Cost: 5

Play Weave Seed only before your Attack step. Choose a Weave Creature. Add seven energy to the chosen Creature. That Creature can attack an additional time this turn and must attack if able.

The Card by Itself:

This time, there’s really not too much to say. Yes, this effect is good. Yes, if you plan on attacking at any point (you know, to win the game) you should probably at least strongly consider playing one or two or three of this card. It’s pretty dominating. The only issue with it is that it’s a bit on the expensive side, but the effect is worth spending for. 

Side note, this Spell doesn't really work Creatures that can't attack normally, like Uwamar. You can still add the energy to them, but they don't suddenly get to smash face. Unfortunately. =(

The Card in Context:

A few Creatures and Magi make Weave Seed even spicier. Blade Hyren has an attack trigger, but it’s Blade Hyren. He’s probably big enough already since he’s gobbling up all your other Creatures’ energy. We’ll come back to him when I do The Hunt.

The typical Weave smash-face plan of attacking with Junjertrugs gets better when you use Weave Seed. Junjertrug attacks twice and gains 11 energy all for the cost of five (plus the Junjertrug). That’s six free energy and probably two opposing cards.

Attacking twice with a Vuryip is pretty good too. Random Change will net you two extra cards on your turn, which you then have a Play Creatures and a Powers/Spells/Relics step to play and use. The Vuryip will probably survive, might be at low energy, and then will net you another card if they attack him back.

I think the coolest interaction with Weave Seed is to cast it on a Seaweed Lascinth. You get to keep a whole bunch of energy in play and kill two enemy guys dead.

As far as Magi go, Kesia plays Weave Seed for a measly three energy, giving you four free energy when you cast the Spell instead of just two. The recurring theme there is that Kesia is you know, pretty good. More interesting is Ushi, who can use Motivate to turn all her Creatures with Weave into Junjertrugs, which we already know to be good with Weave Seed. Sure, that combo costs seven energy which is more than her energize, but it’s pretty fun nonetheless.   

Also, if you’re using Rayje in a Weave deck for some reason, his Effect – Charge will help the fatty-boom-boom stay chunky even after battling twice.

Other Stuff:

Flavor Text: “That’s-a one-a spicy weave-a seed!” – Poad, Innkeeper

Really, the biggest strategic decision you need to make when casting Weave Seed is which thing to reference; the 1994 Jim Carey flick “The Mask” or this Alka Seltzer commercial I found on youtube from some time ago.

Weave Winds

Weave Winds

Energy Cost: 6

Choose a Magi. On the chosen Magi’s next turn, if that Magi has any Creatures in play, they may not play non-Weave Creatures.

(Card text subject to errata. See above.)

The Card by Itself:

This card is can win you the game on the spot, so long as you fulfill a list of big “ifs.” The scenario is as follows: you have just defeated an opposing Magi. You still have six (preferably seven) energy on your Magi after doing so. Play Weave Winds. They can now only play one Creature on their Magi’s flip, leaving them totally exposed to beatings and free energy from you on your follow-up.

In most situations during a two-player game however, Weave Winds is essentially a trap, or a very irritating win-more card. If you have a dominant board position, i.e. your opponent has few Creatures in play, this hoses them to some extent. But you were already winning and you just spent six energy to have no permanent effect on the board. If you the board is even close to equal (or worse, your opponent is winning) though, the card just does nothing. It can never dig you out of a hole. For this reason, putting more than one copy in a two-player deck just seems terrible and I recommend against it.

This card was extremely hateful in multiplayer games, and due to it being a whole lot of no fun, 2i saw fit to errata this card so that it only affects one player. You can still use it in multiplayer games, and it may even be better, since it doesn’t draw quite so much aggro from the whole room. You can use the threat of this card as a highly effective bargaining chip to steer players away from attacking you, as not being able to play more Creatures will leave the unfortunate soul bleeding in shark-infested multiplayer waters where mercy can be pretty scarce.

The Card in Context:

If you are running Kesia as your finisher, this card is an absolute beating. Being able to play it for four energy (less than her energize rate) means that she can spam it and leave your opponent unable to play Creatures for several turns. You should then be able to crush your opponent with whatever guys you have in play, especially with all the energy your gaining. One more reason why she’s absolutely insane.

The other Magi who can make special use of Weave Winds are Marella and Ninx. Since Marella can only draw one card per turn due to Vapid, your opponent can quickly out-pace you unless your plays are pretty big and dangerous. With her eight energize, Weave Winds is not too expensive and is a pretty good follow-up to attacking multiple times with a Junjertrug or other Weave fatty.  

Ninx, on the other hand, is even better at using Weave Winds for its most powerful purpose and can also play it using just one energize. She defeats a Magi, plays the Spell, kills the one Creature the opponent can muster using as much of her energy as possible, and uses Stare Down to kill the opposing Magi from basically full health. Conveniently, Weave Winds uses up exactly all of Ninx’s energize so getting her to zero shouldn’t be too much of a problem when your plan is casting this Spell.

The final Weave Magi that bears mentioning in connection with this Spell is Wence the Wanderer. He’s a useful card draw Magi in general, can play Weave Winds using just his energize, and has a way to play it for even less. His Power, Wence Is Here, can manipulate the very top card of your deck. If you see Weave Winds, you can use a Maelstrom Flask to cast the Spell for three energy. A bargain. With the steady stream of Creatures you are hopefully drawing, you should be able to overwhelm or at least make the situation pretty dire for an opponent given even one turn that they can’t add to their defenses.  

Other Magi who can play this with one turn’s energize:

Marella, Savant

Scyalla

Taisa

Tuku has a pretty annoying turn if he combines Weave Winds with his Power, Restrain. This will leave the opponent unable to play non-Universal Relics or Spells, and non-Weave Creatures … so basically all the cards in his hand. This lock will cost though, coming in at nine energy to pull off, so he can’t do this very often.

Other Stuff:

As with all other Weave Spells, you can get Weave Winds back with Weave-woven Anklet, but you can’t control when or if they blow up that Relic, so you can’t really plan around that happening. And, as a Spell, Weave Winds interacts favorably with Universal cards such as Rayje’s Construct and Robes of the Ages.

It bears mentioning that along with Spells such as Drought, Harmony, and Spirit of the Weave, you can lock down opponents decently well. Further, your Spells such as Brushfire, Crushing Growth, and Sawgrass (and possibly Countless Blades) can help you get them to the magic number of one Creature in play.

If you use Binding on the one Creature they do have, that’s just … spiteful.

Sources:

• Bluefurok for the card image.