Isass Riotr’s Temple of the Clockworks
Article Two: Nature’s Purity
January 22, 2007

Welcome back to the Temple of the Clockworks! I’m your humble host, Isass Riotr. To start things off, I’d like to say thanks to the person who spiced up my article with some neato pictures of the cards I was talking about. Sooo… thanks!

Today I’m gonna be talking about some cool cards I saw, that made me want to build a deck using them. So I did. Like last time, the title of the article might be able to give you an idea of what I’m gonna be talking about.

Anyone? Spike, raise your hand before talking! Johnny, stop whispering to Vorthos! Anyone else? Yes Timmy?

You’re right! Green and White cards!

‘Cause nature is to green as purity is to white. This’ll be on the final exams kiddies, so pay attention.

First off we have Guardian of Vitu-Ghazi. Let’s take a look shall we?

Guardian of Vitu-Ghazi

6GW

Creature – Elemental

Ravnica Common

Convoke (Each creature you tap while playing this spell reduces its cost by 1 or by one mana of that creature’s color.)

Vigilance

It stands sentinel to the great City-Tree, home of the Selesnya Conclave.

4/7

Ah Elementals. You’re so much fun! Here we have the great Guardian. First off, I’d like to point out that the artwork of this card is effing amazing. This guy is just effing cool. But moving on, let’s check him out eh?

First off, we have the Convoke ability. Convoke is a great ability. Say you only have three lands or whatnot, but tons of little weenies. Just tap the weenies and bust out this guy, while saying to your opponent “Booyah!” or something similarly annoying. If there’s a way to get him out of your opponent’s turn (Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir anyone?) then it’s even better, because with his Toughness of seven, he’s a great surprise blocker. Convoke also counters the major downside to this guy, his high casting cost. Having a 6GW hurts sometimes. At most, it’ll take eight turns to get him out. Not a very nice wait before you can start getting some good blocking. But since he has Convoke, the time can be dramatically reduced. Let’s take a look.

Turn 1: Play a Forest. Play a green weenie creature for one green mana.

Turn 2: Play a Forest. Play two green weenie creatures using two green mana.

Turn 3: Play a Plains. Play a white weenie creature and a green creature using three mana.

Turn 4: Play a Plains. Play Guardian of Vitu-Ghazi using all four weenie creatures and four mana. Keep the last green creature for some kind of blocking.

As earlier as turn four. And with cards with Sprout, which puts a 1/1 Saproling into play, this can be speeded up even more.

Which brings us to his second ability, Vigilance. This makes this guy a powerhouse at blocking. Need a good four damage to kill something, or go through to your opponent? Go ahead and lay the smackdown. Then laugh as you block their random new 6/6 on their turn.

Yes, Guardian of Vitu-Ghazi can be slow, but he can also be a great powerhouse too.

Would any other student like to guess at the next card? Yes Richie?

Juniper Order Ranger you say? We’ll you’re right!

Juniper Order Ranger

3GW

Creature – Human Knight

Coldsnap Uncommon

Whenever anther creature comes into play under you control, put a +1/+1 counter on that creature and a +1/+1 counter on Juniper Order Ranger.

To protect the alliance between Kjeldor and Yavimaya, they trained in the ways of both.

2/4

Ah Juni. You and your silly +1/+1 counters. I should’ve known you’d ride in here on your “dog-with-tusks” thingy after last week’s article.

But moving on, here we have a great pump creature. Whenever another guy comes into play, that creature and Juni here both get a +1/+1 counter on them. And what do you know, he’d prolly work quite well in a weenie as our previous guest would. Playing a lot of 1/1’s would be great when they instantly become 2/2’s for one mana when they hit the field. And with all the creatures that would be coming in, Juni would be pumped up a lot himself.

He could also work well in Knight decks. With the other Knights out there that can pump up creatures, there could be a growth spurt in a short time’s notice. Throw in Coat of Arms, a card that gives +1/+1 to all creatures that share a creature type, and you could be killing with 3/3’s or even 4/4’s that came out with only one mana spent. You could then save the rest of your mana for some good Instants and Sorceries. Or annoy your opponent by playing Rule of Law, a card that make it so each player can only play one spell per turn, and he’ll soon be ticked as your army of weenies brings the hurt while you play a select great spell each turn.

Try out Juni in some Knight decks, or just in a normal Green/White deck, and you’ll certainly be pleased.

Well class, that all for today. I hope today’s lecture was enjoyable. Make sure to study for the final next week, as it counts for a third of your overall grade.

Check ya later!

,Isass Riotr

P.S. Remember, you can send e-mail to SZhawn@msn.com and tell me what you thought of my articles. Just don’t let me open something that says, “omg y0u 4r3 t3h st00p1d”.