Top 8 Hyren

Top 8 Hyren

This one's for all the fan-boys out there. We all know you love the hyren, especially if you watch the tv-show (I refuse out of principle, but I don't begrudge others their awkward animation). Here, without any more preamble, are the Top 8 Hyren of the Moonlands. 

8. Magma Hyren

My controversial pick of this Top 8 is Magma Hyren, and for a couple very important reasons. First of all, he costs 3 energy to play, making him accessible even in Cald, a region known for its low energize rates and in which energy is at a premium. Second, in Scroll of Fire/Last Words direct damage decks, Magma Hyren just glues things together, with a Fireball of his own to complement your Ergars, and Healing Flame to put energy where you need it. Sure, Creatureless Cald doesn’t like him, but if your deck uses Creatures for direct damage or for attacking, I feel you should pretty-much always play 3 of this guy. Sure, Volcano Hyren is much more devastating (especially with Valkan <3), but how often can Cald Magi really cast fat Creatures? I realize Magma Hyren’s power level is far below every other card on this list, but he’s reliable enough to be an auto-include every time I try out a Cald deck, and most other hyren never get to that status. 

7. Frost Hyren

Without freezing cards, Nar decks just don’t do anything, and Frost Hyren delivers on that score. Sure, ol’ frosty is the worst of the Arctic creatures because he’s so costly, but he’s still so good because the freezing ability just turns on the whole rest of the Nar deck. Also, he can randomly hose decks for playing too many Relics, but smart play will generally make Frostbite a non-issue.

6. Fog Hyren

Card drawing = good. Dreamwarp (2!) = good. The only reason this card doesn’t rank higher is that it’s not as splashy a card as some other hyren out there. The fact that it’s really not a Paradwyn card hurts it a little, but even out of Bograth, this card is better than ok. The flexibility (energy cost 4-8) and momentum this card brings to the table are huge assets to any deck running him.

5. Grass Hyren

What a tank. This hyren is so annoying to attack into because you have absolutely no idea how effective your attack will be, you just know it’ll be bad. This creature does everything its region wants to do: makes attacking hell for the opponent, but more than that, it goes best with the best Weave Magi. Bo’Ahsa + this = can’t attack anything. Kesia has this as a starting card. The price is right for Ninx to play it off an energize, etc.

4. Reef Hyren

Swarm decks beware! A Reef Hyren and a reasonable store of energy on your Magi ensures that decks like Bograth just, well, die. Any deck trying to lay out a ton of Creatures (i.e. probably over 50% of decks in MND) has to have a removal Spell for this guy first, or some other way to shut it down (Rayje’s Belt, etc.) or be in a lot of pain. Granted, Reef Hyren does almost nothing on the turn after they play all their guys, but still. Here’s a hint: Starting: Voda.

3. Forest Hyren

As boring as Naroom’s go-to fatty-boom-boom sometimes is to play with, there’s no denying his power level. Traitor’s Reach even gave FH more toys to synergize with in the form of T’Dek’s Weebo power and Remember Ring. It really doesn’t matter what kind of Naroom deck you’re building, this card is a strong choice. Furthermore, if your deck can’t stand up to this hyren (and many decks people make can’t), your deck needs serious help (or you need to change to another deck).

2. Mist Hyren

Super-broken ability, the crux of an extremely strong deck type (Emlob + Undream). This hyren does everything. It can slug it out with the best of them because it’s so huge, it costs nothing, and is probably the best post-errata way of gaining an obscene amount of energy on your Magi very quickly. Funnily enough, the Cerulean City gym leader here is one of the few Creatures in the game who is better off the board than on.

1. Tempest Hyren

If you haven’t played with this card, you need to. Tempest is my pick for the most busted hyren effect in the game, and flat-out one of the best Creatures 2i ever made. If you give this thing the right support, it will tear through 2-4 enemy Creatures no sweat, which is a LOT of value. Either he casts removal spells cheaply or he draws cards as he attacks, and both things are great. If you’re skeptical at all, just Warrior’s Boots this thing into play with a Storm Ring on the board and a good Spell in hand. You won’t be disappointed.

Top 8 of the Week: Top 8 Arderial Magi

8. Lady of the Sky

This was a tough choice and I wouldn’t fault anyone for arguing for any of a long list (see bottom). The reason I picked her is something my brother once said to me. It went something like, “the more games of MND I play, the more I just want to use the biggest [energy index] Magi I can, no matter what they do.” The Lady is the highest energy index Magi in Arderial at 21 (energy index is Starting Energy + Energize rate), and her Effect adds 2 to your combined energy index. While that number isn’t a completely accurate representation of a deck’s power, and some Magi (like Ullig) fool you, it does help evaluate it. If you are using better Jaela in combination with any of the other Magi on this list, that goes a really long way. In fact, the only reason she ranks so low, imo, is that she is pretty inconsistent. Her starting cards don’t do much, and if she doesn’t go first, she’s only half as good. I think that she is honestly the ultimate deck-building challenge in Arderial because if you can make her consistently powerful just with your deck construction, then she becomes way awesome.

7. Aula, Mindseeker

Okay, the first nine thousand times I read this card I didn’t get it. Then I played against the one deck that alternate Aula fits in to and lost. It wasn’t close. When you discard Cataclysm and Typhoon each turn to her Windsight Power, you don’t care about not drawing any other cards after that. By the way, you can still draw cards before you use Windsight every turn. Also, Arderial/Orothe is made of win. 4 Energize you say? The deck she fits in has 3 Hurricane Orish and 3/3 Spray Narth/Pharan. Also, if you get a good 2-4 turns out of her drawing a million cards, you don’t care because Voice of the Storm can’t really lose after that.

6. Niffer

This might be controversial at first glance, but hear me out. Niffer can go into any deck. Period. Of course there are a few exceptions, but you get the point. The first thing to point out is that Niffer is also an Arderial/Orothe Magi, which is insane, because the combination of those regions is so very, very strong. She can play any Crushing Spell you want, and she can actually never pay a regional penalty. Oh, also Overwrite does stuff, but that’s not even the point.

5. Aula

I’m a huge fan of Aula as a set-up Magi, and between Cloud Sceptre and Windsight, she can tear through your deck looking for just the right options for any opponent you might be facing. If you need to dig more just cast Tradewinds. You can recycle your deck roughly every 4-5 turns if you get serious, so you can keep re-using the best cards in your deck against varied opponents. She does this faster than most card drawers out there, though it does come with a hefty energy cost. Also, compared to Delia, Aula is faster at finding Relics and Spells that you might need.

4. Sorreah

Sorreah is one of the few Magi who is so good because not because of what he does, but because of what your opponent can’t do when he shows his girly face. Every other Magi on this list has some kind trouble against Sorreah (who you can really only beat if you out-energize him or he has no cards), and he shuts off many of the best Magi in the game from every other region. Amanax? Terrible. Agram? Hilariously bad. I haven’t even mentioned that his starting cards have more options than a Swiss-army knife, but they do.

3. Delia

A serious Magi for serious business. Delia is the premiere Arderial set-up Magi because she’s so consistent. Aula versions are great but, Delia does the same. good. thing. every. game. It helps that that thing is to generate tons of extra resources in hand while thinning your deck, pressuring your opponent and tutoring situational Creatures with Elder Vellup to hand-craft ways to win. Many Magi that draw cards have trouble also finishing off an opposing Magi or two. Not Delia. Delia will just grind them out with relentless, flying … what are those exactly? Also, Delia is hard to mis-play. Play Vellups. Play more Vellups. Profit. 

2. Voice of the Storm

Post errata and everything, VotS still has one of the most busted Effects in the game. The only reason she’s not number one is that she can really only go into one specific deck type: Arderial/Orothe, usually control. Oh no. So sad. She only goes into the dual-region deck sporting some of the best tools in the game for … anything. Her two cards to pay attention to are Hurricane Orish (starting) and Spray Narth (+Pharan). Free energy good. Lots of free energy better, and in that department, VotS cleans up, leaving her free to use all those Arderial/Orothe control tools to wreck you.

1. Arderian Adept

Arderian Adept is the second-most broken Magi in Arderial, and one of the most powerful Magi in the whole game. Arderial is a region adept at supporting aggressive strategies where its Magi spend all their energy each turn to pressure their opponents, and when Adept does this, her combo with Sandstorm Orshaa and her starting card, Storm Shield, means she’s gaining 4+2X, where X is your number of Creatures in play (conservative average is about 13 free energy per turn with her energize). It feels like even more because your Creatures get huge for nothing and she’s left with 8 energy, making it hard to kill her. She doesn’t need that many specific cards to support her, either, and can work well in slower, bigger, more controlling decks as well – though the more guys she has out the better she gets. Basically, you don’t need much deck space to support her, which means she can go into most Arderial decks and be great.

Honorable Mentions

Amara, Ora/Defender of the Sky, Elios, Kalius, Shivara

Core-poral Punishment: My Take on the Bad Guys

So, here's this deck, see...:

Magi:

Evil Evu

Agram

Morag

Creatures:

1 Chaos Plith

3 Corathan

1 Dark Furok

1 Darkbreed’s Minion

2 Gorath

3 Gragling

3 Gumph

1 Rabid Wasperine

1 Shryque

3 Wudge

3 Zungg

(22)

Relics:

3 Agram’s Plaything

1 Chaos Sphere

2 Grim Goblet

1 Rayje’s Belt

1 Robes of the Ages

1 Shroud of the Master

(9)

Spells:

1 Beam of Light

2 Corrupt

1 Crushing Darkness

1 Dream Rift

1 Entomb

1 Morag’s ‘Gift’

1 Spirit of the Core

1 Vaporize

(9)

Total = 40

This deck is not my idea. The, ahem, core of the deck (Agram, 3 Plaything, 3 Wudge) comes from an old opponent of mine on the gEngine who used to crush me with it. After learning about lackey, I decided to dust off that shell and try to reverse engineer a sweet Core deck from it, and I think I succeeded. This deck is very in-your-face aggro, draws lots of cards quickly, and pretty much doesn’t mess around. Despite a serious slant towards aggro, however, the deck can play an attrition game by repeatedly possessing opposing Creatures with Corathan’s ability or using some dirty tricks (and busted cards) to gain lots of free energy, as well as a control game by utilizing some of its sub-themes to punish enemy players for doing what players normally want to do: playing Creatures (Wudge, Corrupt, Morag’s ‘Gift’, etc.); attacking you (Gumph, Rabid Wasperine); having good or costly Relics in play (Vaporize, Morag); leaning too heavily on one particular Spell or Power/Effect (Entomb, Rayje’s Belt); or drawing lots of cards (the singleton Darkbreed’s Minion).

Of course, the many of the specific card choices for a deck are peculiar to the individual who designed it. Deck builders have their own preferences, pet cards or cards they think are terrible. I’d like to mention a few of the more idiosyncratic options included here.

Darkbreed’s Minion. I haven’t ever seen anyone run this guy, and IRL I totally understand why. It practically doesn’t exist. Online though, imagine playing this thing early against a Bograth set-up Magi like Baa or Eryss. How good does casting Tradewinds look with one of these on the opposing team? Yeah, that’s what I thought. A lot of games you won’t see him early enough to be useful, but in those situations where you do, this card has the potential to generate free wins. And I love me some free wins.

·      Gragling. Again, IRL this little guy doesn’t actually exist. Fine. But seriously, look at this thing. Not only is this a weenie (see a future post for why I love 0-3 energy-cost Creatures so much) that gets bigger for no extra investment (just like Wudge, the most useful Core card ever), but it also makes your deck much more resilient against Cald, d’Resh, Thunderquake, and anyone with Crushing Spells (so everyone). At the very least they have to kill this guy before they kill the thing they actually want to kill, and if you have multiples out, it’s hard not to generate incidental value from the opponent casting Spells to kill your guys.

·      Gumph. This card does approximately one metric ton of damage. It’s pretty self-evident, and sometimes he bites you in the britches instead of doing anything useful, but still many opponents tend to be surprised by how much energy they lose to just one of these boogers. It helps that this deck has a lot of ways to trigger him on your own turn (Agram’s Possess, offensive Spells, you know … attacking). This card is one of the reasons I get to play super offensively without using up three full card slots on Warrior’s Boots.

·     Shryque. Not much to say here except these five words: Energy Cost: Two. Starting: Morag. Many people like Shryque in many Core decks. This is not one of those decks. This is a 2 Energy guy with no text, and that’s honestly enough sometimes.

·   Agram’s Plaything. The secret sauce. The whole enchilada. The thing that makes this deck’s world go ‘round. A full playset of this card is what allows Agram to pressure opponents even when his Energize rate is the pits for the first several turns he sees play (Note that I almost NEVER have Agram survive to come back again and still end up using him for the majority of my game time). This is a free 3 Energy guy, sometimes for multiple turns in a row. It can attack, it can possess, basically do everything you want other than trigger Wudge.

·   Grim Goblet. Unless they have Relic removal that turn, this is better than Tradewinds. If they have Relic removal that turn, this is gg. As Corey Matthews once stated, “Risk, Risk, Risk? Reward, Reward, Reward!” Seriously though, my local metagame is reasonably light on Relic destruction, and if you play in an environment where that kind of card runs rampant, it’s probably best to switch these out for something a little less dangerous. Secrets of the Book is decent. Doubling up on some of the other one-ofs, or just running all 3 Shryque, because without this thing, you might actually trigger him.

·     Shroud of the Master. Yeah, this card is broken. I know that’s why it costs 3 to play, which I grant you is a lot. But when this thing is in play, I’m gaining on average something like 8-12 total energy a turn before anything else. The card discard is essentially a cost of 0, since you draw more than you can possibly play in one turn anyway. This is another reason Agram can put such huge pressure on opponents with much higher numbers.

·       Morag’s ‘Gift’. I like this card. I like this card a lot when combined with Corrupt. I feel dirty when I cast this card by bouncing my Agram’s Plaything and then immediately re-play my Agram’s Plaything and do whatever I was going to do with it anyway.

·     Chaos Sphere. Listen, this card is probably not really worth it. It takes an average of five turns to do anything. An AVERAGE of five turns. Sometimes a lot more. It’s bad. But sometimes it takes three turns and you just auto-win. All it costs is the slot it takes up, and did I mention pet cards and free wins? Yus!

Anyway, I think this deck is just about the best thing a mono-Core deck can be doing in Magi-Nation, and I would challenge any of those loose Dark Twins deck that I’ve seen posted out there any day of the week (but not on Sunday, because the bad guys don’t get to gloat on Sunday). Haters, I encourage you to play with the deck first before you hate. Anyone else, whether the deck concept is new to you, or whether you’ve seen it all before, please comment with thoughts/suggestions/criticism/praise/debate. That’s what I’m doing this for.

A Fresh Start

As you may have noticed, there've been some changes to the blog recently. Aside from the color scheme and the MND card back-ground, there are two major ones:

The name - Since calling the blog, "Magi-Nation Duel Strategy" is well ... lame, I created a new moniker. Krood: "I, Magi-Nation" is a nod to my gEngine (and now BlueFurok) user name, Kroodhaxthekrood, which is in turn a nod to an obscure Hero from Heroes of Might and Magic 2 and 3 (fifty points for anyone who guessed the Barbarian named Craghack and 1,000,000 points for anyone who didn't need the hint). Of course, it goes without saying that I will now incorporate as many puns as possible into my articles.

The second change is more substantive. Since really no one (including myself) seemed to react well to the exhaustive card-by-card idea vomit that was previously this blog's structure, I will now just write about whatever Magi-Nation related topic I feel like writing about, when I feel like writing. I hope my thoughts are interesting, and that they spark some debate, since that's really my goal - to get people talking and thinking and playing this great CCG. Thanks.

Coming Soon: 

A Deck Tech featuring my take on the best (Play)thing the Core has to offer. And it doesn't even involve the Dark Twins!

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.)