Forcing Xantid Swarm when you’re playing a deck with 0 removal is probably correct 99.999999% of the time (unless he uses it as bait becuase he can go off the same turn and decides to do so instead of safely waiting a turn. But you can’t really count on that). The only reason why FoW was relevant in that game was because he was forced to block with Swarm, but if it didn’t exist in the first place he would have died one turn earlier anyway. If you forced it, you could have entombed for Jin-Gitaxias and Exhumed it your turn, refilling your hand with new counterspells (and new creatures) and pretty much lock up the game. Instead you put yourself in a situation where you sat behind an Iona on red and prayed.

@ zac and ryn ball: Thanks for the kind words I’ll do my best in future articles.

@ bluedragon123: I’ll try not to read the cards so much in the Deck Tech videos. Sometimes it’s just a bad habit of mine

@ Josh: Yes I am a college student, and I make it a priority not to spend real money on MTGO. I have been collecting cards for over 5 years, and started off with all regular cards. I slowly upgraded the important cards to foil versions, and have been foiling out the others as I can. I also look for good deals and try to get cards when they’re first released so that I don’t end up paying a ton for them. Mitch is correct I was able to pick up many of the foil versions of cards for less than what the regular versions are going for now, and it helped that I was collecting Legacy cards way before Legacy was even announced online. I also own some bots that help pay for some of the more expensive cards, and I have been power trading for years on my personal account. I also put my credits that I earn for writing towards foils as well as my winnings from events. So to sum it up it’s basically a combination of a lot of different things.

@ Water_Wizard: hofzge is correct. It wouldn’t seem ideal until you actually lose a game vs an opponent’s Platinum Angel. After something like that happens Angel becomes a lot more appealing than Testadon just for the simple fact they you can hit creatures, but lose the ability to destroy 2 other non creature permanents. It also comes down to preference. Some people prefer one over the other, but in this deck I think Angel fits better but that’s just my personally opinion. Always do what is most comfortable to you.

Thanks everyone for the comments and voting! I will be back again soon with another article for you all.

Angel of Despair is better as it gives you an out to things like opposing Blazing Archons, Peacekeepers (these will probably see more play post MM if Fish is a Deck to beat), as well as being able to kill annoying creatures as Stoneforge Mystic and Dark Confidant and all the problematic permanants that Terastodon also kill (Batterskull, Leyline of the Void if you Show and Tell it in, …). I Think the versatility makes up for the raw power of Terastodon.

I can’t speak for Owen but I get annoyed by getting this question a lot when I play in the TP room. Just because the cards cost 2K right now doesn’t mean they always did. There are a lot of players out there who are smart enough to pick on the cards at the right prices. When ME1 came out, you could find FOWs for $10. When Tempest was released, I bought ever wasteland I could find for between $1.50 and $4.00 because I knew at some point they would be worth more. That’s how you play big cards on a limited budget. Make the right invests and later sell them for the cards you need. And repeat the process.

Not everyone buys gold when it its $1800 an ounce. Some people bought it long before.