KnightoftheHokeyPokey

I just can't comprehend how people don't get it. If you and your opponent disagree, flip a freaking coin! Only reserved for unreasonable, stubborn opponents that refuse to compromise (it's casual play, not a standard tournament for pete's sake) ... and if you are forced to play with someone like that, to quote the great revised edition pocket players guide:

Richard Garfield: "This is silly - only incredibly stupid and terminally anal people could POSSIBLY misinterpret this card."

Jim Lin: "Yes, maybe we HAVE been thinking about this too long. If you're playing with that kind of person, you should find some new friends."

That's the voice of reason, straight from the game developers themselves. Their commentary is the only reason I keep this book around. Revised rules are so ludicrously out of date that you could count the number of named creature abilities on one hand.

Not to csll anyone stupid and anal - remember these poor guys had to WRITE the comprehensive rules. Yikes.

@Panik8 I agree that an X denoting pay life is completely conter-intuitive. The strive mechanic makes more sense - maybe wizards could come up with a name/better explanation for variable overload spells. Oh well - however, Phyrexian mana, affinity, or miracle are awesome - brilliant, simple, and easy to understand.

Great exchanging with you!

Alright, Fire Drinker won't work here, but pariah is in the sideboard.

o7 right after I finish selling my warhammer 40k figures. Anyone want a tricked out Vendetta? Or perhaps a Marbo?

The comprehensive rulebook and multiple rulings on questionable cards (like Eye of the Storm and Isocron Scepter) tend to make me believe that Wizards is fine with being real specific.

Secondly, we know that damage causes loss of life. Where is it written that paying life does not cause loss of life. It's perfectly logical to assume it does. However, since paying life is part of the cost of a spell, it can't be prevented.

For a parallel example, take sacrifice and destroy. Both send a creature to the graveyard, and therefore trigger all related effects. However, sacrifice can't be prevented by indestructible or regenerate.

In conclusion, paying life is only different from damage in that it can't be prevented by damage prevention spells/abilities, simply because you are not taking damage.

On s different tack, it seems obvious to me that if your life total decreases for any reason, you have lost that much life. You have X less life than before. If paying life did not cause you to lose life, would you not lose any life when using Souleater's ability? That's just silly.

In conclusion, if one's life total decreases, one has lost life, just like saying that when a creature dies it is in the graveyard. It's that simple. I think we are thinking about this too deeply.

Honestly, the complicated parts of magic have to be resolving spells on the stack, combat, targeting, and situations invoking the can/can't rule (when in doubt, can't wins).

Hmm ... playtesting time!

Hmmm .... looks like I have some decks to visit.

Thanks to your excellent advice, this deck is more mean AND budget. Thank you so much!

Thanks for your advice. For some reason I "broke the internet" (that's what Gatherer said) while I made this deck, so this is completely from memory.

Lol, that's great.

I just have to point this out ... Pariah + Knight of the Hokey Pokey or Fiendslayer Paladin! You sir have made my two favorite creatures that much better.

Saytr Fire drinker in place of Perilous Myr. Think about it.

This needs s zombie deck to duel with ...

Lol, just noticed that this is legal in modern ... but illegal in vintage.

Only if you take a peek at mine. ;)

Alright, I will take a look.

I think that this deck wants to team up with my Dimir Deck here:

http://www.mtgvault.com/knightofthehokeypokey/decks/dimir-discard/

Hey Kazz, how have you been?

I like it! Nice, inventive use of legion's initiative.

Oh God ... assemble the legion and Purphoros.

I love your inventive use of legion's initiative. I really like that card.

You are quite right. In fact, sleight of mind can't target lands, since colorless is not a color to be changed.

Secondly, the target phrase is enchant land. Enchant is the key word here. Any land is valid. Then, the second phrase refers to the conditions for destroying the land. Since this effect occurs after the spell had resolved, it cannot affect the validity of targeting the spell.

Now you have a problem. Your opponent can choose to not tap his land. I have a solution: hidden strings. Bring along an invisible stalker and a dimir infiltrator and you are home free. In fact, you can bring other nasty cards like psychic venom and chronic flooding along.

I apologize, the true combo is:

Master Biomancer + Mycoloth + Doubling Season

Let's have an example:

Mycoloth comes into play. It gains 5 counters from master biomancer and 10 from devouring all your creature tokens. Doubling season gives it 30 counters. During your next upkeep, Mycoloth puts 60 saprolings onto the field, all 11/11 thanks to master biomancer and doubling season. But what if your opponent kills Mycoloth? Never fear, bioshift the 30 counters onto renrgade krasis, so he gets 60 counters and therefore all your creatures, inluding master biomancer, gain 120 +1/+1 counters. Yikes!

Yeah ... that combo wrecks. In fact, Master Biomancer is a epic beast in saproling decks. I tentatively say that this is a true combo with doubling season, since it takes advantage of both parts of its ability.

I prefer Fall of the Hammer to Fling.

Really nice work!