"Pauper Kings: Landfall Gruul"

"Bagsakan na...Ng Lupa!"

"Pauper Kings: Landfall Gruul"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr. 

Landfall is officially back and it is now time to build a standard pauper deck around it for maximum fun and aggression.

Red/Green decks or Gruul decks have always been around and one of its hallmarks are large beasts that could easily be cast and always on the look out to attack. With Landfall some of the creatures in this deck start out small but deal damage with a bang thanks to a lot of lands dropping on the battlefield in more ways than one. 

And so I present to you Landfall Gruul:

4 x Evolving Wilds

4 x Looming Spires

4 x Fertile Thicket

5 x Mountains

5 x Forests

___________________________

22 lands

4 x Snapping Gnarlid

2 x Territorial Baloth

4 x Makindi Sliderunner

4 x Valakut Predator

4 x Ainok Guide

4 X Subterranean Scout

___________________________

22 Creatures

4 x Map the Wastes

4 x Swell of Growth

4 x Unnatural Aggression

4 x Nissa's Pilgrimage 

________________________

16 Spells

Battle Trick Time!

Makindi Sliderunner and Snapping Gnarlid are the superstars of this particular deck since they are the earliest aggressors. They both have land fall and fairly costed at 2 mana each. However this deck woould not be as spectacular without the Instant Speed pumping ability of Swell of Growth. This 2 to cast Instant allows you to give an additional +2/+2 on your target creature and it also allows you to drop 1 land into the battlefield. In standard this could mean another fetchland that could be cracked open to drop another land into play.

"Pumping Critters since the BFZ PR"

Now Imagine this scenario where on turn three you have a Makindi Sliderunner or Snapping Gnarlid into play. You play an Evolving Wild and trigger landfall giving a +1/+1 boost , you crack the Evolving wilds and put another land into play. Another +1/+1. You declare attackers and you cast Swell of Growth to give another +2/+2. And since this spell allows you to cast another land , you can either put one basic land or another Evolving wilds for another +1/+1. If you become really greedy and fetch another basic land with the fresh evolving wild that is another +1/+1. So how big did your Makindi    Sliderunner or Snapping Gnarlid get? Pretty huge. Snapping Gnarlid becomes an 8/8! And Makindi Sliderunner  is at 8/7! Pretty good numbers to mow down an Eldrazi or to slice an opponents life total. 

Oh and Swell of Growth also works well with the new ETB lands like Looming Spires and Fertile Thicket. Looming Spires could actually save your creature in an instant since it makes them bigger with the triggered landfall as well as give them first strike which spells doom for blockers. Fertile thicket on the other hand makes sure that you have one land that you would be able to draw on your next turn since it allows you to look at the top 5 cards of your library , reveal one land card among them , shuffle your library and then put that land on top.Set up. Check!

Ainok Guide is here for pretty much the same reason as Fertile Thicket. It would allow you to draw a land since you would be able to pit one of top of the deck yourself. 

"Right this way Sir..."

Subterranean Scout.Hmmm what the hell is a goblin doing hanging around with these creatures? Well he makes them Unblockable but there was to be a timing to it. When you cast Subterranean Scout and you have a Makindi Sliderunner in play you are able to target it because it is a 2/1 creature. Once this is done you could drop a land to trigger its landfall to make it bigger. Eventhough it is not 3/2 the effect of the Scout would still be applicable and you could attack with this bigger creature unimpeded. A sudden Swell of Growth does the trick too if you are able to pump your creature after blockers have been declared and it has been checked that there are no creatures who could block it. So yeah Sub Scout will hang with these guys.

Territorial Baloth and Valakut Predator are bigger , badder versions of our 2 to cast creatures and will makes waves in the latter part of the game.They occupy the 3rd and 5th slot of our mana curve here. 

"May Lupa ka na...May Bolster ka pa!"

More land Fetches!

Map the Wastes and Nissa's Pilgrimage are awesome sorceries that put more land to either ramp up your mana or trigger land fall. Map the Wastes nets you one extra land on the battlefield and you also get to Bolster 1! Not bad since this makes an untriggered creature more sturdy with a +1/+1 counter on it. With Nissa's Pilgrimage you get to have a 2 lands dropping or if you already meet the requirements for Spell Mastery , you get 3 Forest lands entering the battlefield. 

"Right on the Kisser!"

Fighting Back!

Since the deck plans to just go head to head with other creatures there is not much removal in the deck except for Unnatural Aggression which causes creatures to fight each other. It certainly doesn't hurt when your creatures are bigger than your opponents.

So there you go Landfall Gruul promises to be simple enough to teach new players while giving more seasoned planeswalker enough battle tricks or two. So lets do this. Let's smash through for the win! 

"Battle for Zendikar PR:How the Chance Passenger Became a Pilot"

"Wala nang isip isip! Attack!"

"Battle for Zendikar PR:How the Chance Passenger Became a Pilot"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.

My Battle for Zendikar Pre Release started with disappointment as I was not able to secure a PR kit for myself. The first time since the Khans of Tarkir expansion rolled out that I was not able to buy one for myself. The blame fell solely on me though because despite the hype of this latest block I assumed that there would still be some PR kits leftover. There was none and all were eager to crack open their packs the moment they got their hands on the new Deckbox container that contained them.I opted to be a chance passenger rather than secure a spot for myself earlier on. 

My Uncle, Gabay Forlales (A long time Magic player) had been eagerly waiting for a chance to open packs as well. He did so as I watched close by , I mean at least I could enjoy it when someone else gets a Zendikar Expedition land right? So after the 6th pack was opened and there was none of those sought after lands in sight my uncle said."Gusto ko lang magbukas ng packs. Laruin mo na lang yung card pool?"

I may not get to keep all of the cards but at least I could blow off some steam by playing. So I checked out the pool and there was a wonderful assortment of big creatures that I wanted to play with. Plated Crusher would be my main creature since I had two of them. Add 2 Brood Hunter Worms and 2 Territorial Baloths and I was set with my big critters. Oh and Woodland Wanderer! That guy could either come out as 3/3 or 5/5 , usually with the help of my singleton Lifespring Druid.I decided to go mono green but since I had some Black/Green pieces I decided to go Golgari(Not surprising).

"Sugod! Grrraaaah!"

As in other PR's the outcome of battles are quickly determined with how a player or deck would be able to respond with threats on the board. My 2 wins were decided pretty quickly since my opponents stalled in their mana production. One got stuck at 4 mana as all my beasts came out for the win and another simply had no answer to the Plated Crusher who patiently took down his creatures one by one with each attack.It was hard headed creatures attacking without control.

My memorable defeat came at the hands of a fellow doctor , Dr. Fiesta who I have managed to play against in Spiral Valenzuela before. The first round went to me as I was able to roll out my beast army pretty quickly and was even able to manage to have 5/5 Woodland Wandered thanks to Converge. The 2nd and 3rd games however were a different affair as I got stuck with a Defiant Bloodlord and 2 Plated Crusher in my hand after the numerous removal spells have decimated my mana producers. One of the spells that was painful was Grip of Desolation that always brought me down to 5 mana since it exiled a land and my always present Lifespring druid. Removing my mana base was really bad since I was not able to cast my big creatures. My deck was Black/Green but I only had a couple of removals like Bone Splinter and Scour from Existence(which never showed up in any of my games). Since the plan of the deck was to smash heads with other creatures until all of them died and there was no one to block I was stopped frozen in my tracks. Hats off to you Dr. Fiesta. 

"One Word: Aray"

2 wins and 2 nears wins later. I opened a single pack and still didn't get any of the major cards. Then again the laughter and the memories of glorious slaughter will remain with me. Oh and the cool Ulamog Divider too. I needed one of those. Maybe I would have better luck opening packs next week. And with each pack having a full art land(or at least every one that we opened so far) , each pack will be worth opening. I might even get any of the 3 planeswalkers that I had no chance acquiring this week. Most of the cards in my list are still unchecked so it is going to be a great week when BFZ finally rolls out into stores October 2. 

"Ob Nixilis Reignited:Card Draw Killer"

"Ob Nixilis Reignited:Card Draw Killer"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.

Out of the 3 planeswalkers that have come out in the Battle for Zendikar spoilers  , the one that I could really relate to is Ob Nixilis. I mean the guy lost his spark and along with it his powers , his ability to move through planes , he gets stuck in a plane that he wants to get out of but cannot , he recovers some of his powers , becomes a planeswalker but is still stuck to where he is. Now that is frustration of the highest level. Almost like the kind of frustration one experiences when one is trapped in an unmoving lane in Edsa. You have all this power and speed at your disposal(your car) and yet you are unable to move or go anywhere. I feel you Ob Nixilis. I feel you.

Still it must be great to have a little bit of his power back so I would be dissecting his new card form for today.

So what we have is a 5 mana costing black planeswalker that starts off with 5 loyalty counters. Once you are able to get him into play you are faced with two choices and what you do depends solely on what you determine is your highest priority at the moment.

If you feel the need to replenish you hand or are looking for a specific card and you need to dig into your library then use Ob Nixilis's first ability which allows you to put one loyalty counter on him while you draw 1 card and lose 1 life.

If you have a particularly annoying creature that keeps on attacking you or just maybe threatening to ruin your future combo plans then by all means use the 2nd ability. You destroy one target creature for the cost of 3 loyalty counters. Ob Nixilis might be killed by a redirected Lightning Strike at this point but heck at least you were able to destroy that huge creature that had no Shroud , Hexproof or Indestructible printed on it.

Ob's Ultimate ability is probably the main reason why some players would play him. It is a -8 Loyalty ability that gives a target opponent Emblem that states: "Whenever a player draws a card you lose 2 life.Now if we look closely at this it means that in the Standard setting an opponent with this emblem would lose at least 2 life for each draw step. 2 during his draw step and another 2 when the guy opposite him draws a card.

This somehow limits the number of decks where Ob Nixilis Reignited could be included.One is the existing Nekusar decks that also care about when opponents draws cards and punishes them dearly for it. Another shell would be in Dimir Blue/Black decks that have access to a lot of draw spells like Prosperity and Blue Sun's Zenith to do all the killing for them as they draw cards.

I expect Consecrated Sphinx to be such a key card in this kind of deck since a draw step means 6 damage for a player with this kind of Emblem. It gets even worse in a four player match where an additional 12 damage can be expected from the next two players who would draw cards. 1 turn around the table will already represent 20 damage! 

As currently there is no way of removing Emblems another turn is all it would take for a player with this particular emblem to die.(if Consecrated Sphinx was able to stick around)

It would also not be surprising for a player to just draw and go pass the turn, in the build up to all this killing. Winning over an opponent like this could be tedious and might be harder to pull off than creature kills but there is a certain sense of satisfaction when you are able to win over an opponent by merely drawing cards.

The greatest irony is when a player would be down to 2 life points and he or she would be forced to draw in their own draw step ensuring death by their own draw.

Killed by Card Draw. Seems like a very unfunny way to die.

"Ulamog The Ceaseless Hunger:Aba si Ben10!"

"Ulamog The Ceaseless Hunger:Aba si Ben10!"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr. 

When one of my team mates Mark Abude excitedly sent me a PM on facebook. I knew that I just had to check what it was about and the PM read.

"Doc! Nakita mo na ba yung bagong Ulamog? Bagay sa reanimator mo."

A picture of the Old Ulamog suddenly came to my mind and how frustrating it was not to be able to utilize it any of the Reanimator decks that I so loved. The original Eldrazi titan would be shuffled back to its owners library as soon as it falls into the graveyard. There was a new one though and this one seemed like it would be joining my ranks of Reanimation targets.

So I checked online , found the card and checked for that annoying line of text that said that I had to shuffle this titan back to my library. No sign of it whatsoever. My excitement grew.

So now on to the Titan itself that just begs to be called Ben10. He costs 10 colorless mana with a 10/10 frame. So this Ulamog is really a Ben10. His stats were impressive since I began thinking how cool he would be if he had Infect via cards like Tainted Strike , Glistening Oil or Phyresis.Instant death.Then again one of my personal goals is to make the Eldrazi into Infecting Phyrexians. Probably won't happen in awhile but I am making it happen with the cards already in print.

Despite the 10/10 frame Ulamog the Ceaseless Hunger seems a bit weaker than his predecessor. Probably because Annihilate seems more like an intimidating mechanic than Ingest. His Ingest ability makes a defending player exile the 20 cards of his or her library whenever he attacks. Most players care about the permanents they have on the board and not about the future permanents that they will put on the board. Annihilate Hurt players in the now as opposed to Ingest hurting players in the future because of the exiled 20 cards. EDH players might be able to cope with this much better because there are a 100 cards in their decks. Standard Players would need to have creature removal that Bounces , Exiles or Forces opponents to sacrifice Ulamog in order to survive. Those are very few. It pays to be Indestructible.

If a player is able to block Ulamog for 2 turns then most likely they would die on his 3rd attack due to the fact that he won't be able to draw a single card on his next turn. If an opponent has no blockers at all then they after 2 attacks. So I expect Ulamog , The Ceaseless Hunger to be high on every ones wish list because make no mistake about it , if Atarka can kill you , Ulamog can kill you in more ways than one. 

There is also something special about this Ulamog. If you are able to cast him , meaning if you could ramp up to 10 mana and just cast him you could in essence Annihilate 2 permanents by exiling them. It doesn't matter if Ulamog is countered and is unable to resolve you still get to exile 2 permanents! 

A potential removal spell when you cast it. A potential killer when it resolves. Ulamog with annihilate will surely be missed but this Ben10 version deserves a spot worthy of fan boy adulation.

"My...My...Endless One!"

"My...My...Endless One!"

by:

Virglio F. De leon Jr.

I thought of that song once I got to see this latest Eldrazi monstrosity that has just come out of the woodwork.  With a mana cost of X. Meaning if you put in an X amount of mana then you would possibly end up with the biggest creature in all of magic. There are a lot of infinite mana combos out there and I am sure as hell going to try to make this guy the biggest it can be.

I do have existing decks that will welcome this into the fold like what it did to Hangarback Walker. Vorel of the Hull Clade just loves doubling counters on things and Endless One has gotten him feeling a little more frisky than usual. I mean you could be putting on a lot of +1/+1 counters on this guy attacking with him and then doubling those counters before damage dealing could be done because of Vorel's ability. 

Endless One is something that you would call a Hydra in Magic. Unfortunately unlike the other Hydras he just seems like a Vanilla one , with no cool ability to back up his Eldrazi status. However since he is colorless this equates to having a Vanilla Hydra in all the possible color combinations. I mean at least for those colors that could give him the mana he needs to grow and be the best Endless One he could be.

He could just be a Zero creature.Come into the Battlefield and Die. Flip Over Liliana and you could have a good old necromantic time with her. Or you could choose to let him have those +1/+1 counters.

There are a lot of uses for those +1/+1 counters on him. It could be transferred to other creatures , it could be converted to other counters like those needed by Dark Steel Reactor. However what I would really have to do is attack with him.  And burst out into song...

Eldrazi Whip...Allies go Nay Nay...

Be on the look out for Endless One in the mid to latter parts of the game as a turn 1 , 1/1 Eldrazi doesn't really look that impressive but in EDH games where Infinite Mana Combos are more easily available expect this guy to come out way bigger than any of the Original Eldrazi Brood.

Have fun Eldrazi whipping someone!

"The Forsaken Gems"

"The Forsaken Gems"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.

"Are we alone?" - Steven

"I don't think so." - Garnet

Farm City.15kms North of Beach City.

People from Farm City consider Beach City as their friendly neighbors and have always had a good relationship with them when it comes to trade. Their city was a quiet one except for the sound of motorized farming vehicles which sowed seed and in turn harvested them when it was time. Life was slow and life was pleasant. People would wake at dawn and sleep relatively early. All was silent.

All that silence was shattered when a Winged Dark Shadow descended upon the city and attacked the nearest farming vehicle. In what seemed like a horrible lifetime the people of Farm City pointed at the menace that was now destroying their machines and their crops. 

Then just as suddenly the winged creature flew off and disappeared into the sky.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Beach City.

Garnet bolted upright in her bed."There's trouble we need to go to Farm City."

"Like Right now?"Amethyst asked her sleepy voice.

"Yes , of course" Pearl chimed in. I will begin activating the Warp Pads now. 

"No need for the warp pads Pearl." Garnet said as she began flexing her gauntlets." I fear that whatever caused the trouble in Farm City is heading towards us."

"Oh My." Pearl said.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

It remembered an army. It remembered friends. It remembered a smiling face. It tried to remember its own name. Tried to shout it but it only came out as a roar.

It must remember.It must remember before it was too late.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Here it comes!" Pearl said pointing to a dark shape that was fast becoming clear in each of their sights.

"Another Gem Beast" Amethyst said as she blew out some air out of her lips. "Isn't there something better for us to do?"

Garnet ignored her sulking companion. "Judging by it's size and speed we would be having a real fight on our hands."

"Is that supposed to be scary Garnet? You say that all the time."

"I mean it this time."

"Heads up everyone!" Pearl shouted as a solid blue beam of light came out of the beasts mouth and vaporized everything in its path.

"A Gem Dragon!" Amethyst said as she began shaping herself into a ball and bounded toward the beast. "Now this is getting exciting!"

Amethyst bounced off the dragon and landed some distance away in the ocean. Pearl slapped her palm on her forehead while shaking it from side to side. "Always so reckless"

"The last time I saw a Gem Dragon was when General Topaz was cracked on the home world!"

"There is only one way to find out. We have to subdue it and check her crystal composition."

Garnet nodded at Pearl and they performed a maneuver that they have not done in awhile. 

Pearl with her spear thrust forward lunged straight at the beast  , the monster instinctively tried to fire a Blue Flame right at her. At the right moment Pearl evaded the beam and the beast was hit with one of Garnets Gauntlets. The diversion worked and they landed a strong blow but it merely glanced on the blue gems exterior. 

"It's really tough!" Pearl said.

"I know a place where it isn't as hard." Garnet gestured toward the part where both wings connected to the beast. 

"I got it."

This was it Garnet who was running diversion for Pearl. She fired her gauntlets at the Gem Dragon and hoped that they would return to her in time so that she could deflect any counter attack but the Blue beast was upon her. She braced herself for the impact that never came. Amethyst had jumped with Steven on her back with his Gem Powers enveloped them in a pink shell.

"Thank you Steven"Garnet said stiffly. Still not getting used to Steven saving her at times.

"You are welcome. What is that thing?" Steven said with a mix of enthusiasm and awe.

"A Gem Dragon." Garnet Replied

"Wow! A Gem Dragon!" 

"Thats what I said when I saw it too!" Amethyst said.

The beast was so busy trying to get through Stevens shell that it was all but oblivious to the diving attack that pearl was doing from above.

"Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

And then Pearls Spear pierced the left joint of its left wing which caused it to separate. The Beast fell below amidst a low tide and some tall rocks.

"Way to go Pearl!" Steven said "Now let's see if its ok."

All four landed on the beach a few meters away from the Gem Dragon. They were curious as to why this particular monster would attack without any obvious motive. They tried to move toward it but before they did a young girl landed in front of the dragon and with one motion swirled her long blond hair to the left , it seemed to extend further and further and Steven was almost hit by her golden locks before Garnet yanked him back in time.

"It's just hair" Amethyst said. "I can do that too see" Amethyst was also swinging her hair while she laughed.She stopped when she saw that the rocks surrounding the dragon were all sliding to one side. 

"What? She cut them?" Pearl said.

"I think we all know what she is." Garnet said.

"You are like me aren't you?" Steven said moving forward unafraid.

The young girl looked at them one by one and lingered her angry gaze on Steven.

"I am Venice. And I am nothing like you..."

To be continued....

"Noyan Dar , Roil Shaper: Waking up the Real Estate"

"Noyan Dar , Roil Shaper: Waking up the Real Estate"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.

It is no secret that Zendikar hates the Eldrazi and its not just the inhabitants of the Plane but the thing that makes up the plane itself. Its land. By the sound of all that rumbling in the plane they are none to happy that these abominations are still around and like the white blood cells of the immune system they want to expel these invaders out. All they need is a little help from this guy.

Noyan Dar is good at one thing and that is to wake up the land while casting powerful magic spells that may or may not be targeting the land. As long as you cast an Instant or Sorcery you would be getting a 3/3 Elemental creature with Haste. It doesn't revert back to just being a land after it has been reanimated though. It becomes a creature that is still a land. 

There is a possibility that control will be able to come up with a control deck that features less creatures and has tons of Sorcery and Instant speed spells. Who needs creatures when you could go about casting magic and have the creatures that you need right? Just do your thing countering Left and Right and all your lands would be manlands in no time at all.

There is the new Roil Spout and Sheer Drop that are both defensive in nature as well as Coastal Discovery that replenishes your hand as well with 2 cards. All three could potentially be used for its Awaken Cost or simply be used as spells for Noyan Dar.

Cards like Planar Outburst also support the land animation theme. If you cast it for its awaken cost of 8 mana and Noyan Dar is in play. The following events will occur. All Non-land Creatures are destroyed. Since you triggered Noyan Dar , you end up with a 3/3 Elemental and another 4/4 Elemental from Planar Outburst. And with the board just swept you could attack for 7 unblocked damage because both these elementals have haste! 

The draw back that I see is that you are using your own lands as creatures. You could be vulnerable to Land destruction and its inherent mana shortage since what kills creatures could also kill your lands. Bear in mind that Day of Judgement , End Hostilities and Crux of Fate are all board sweepers that are still available in Standard.

Enter Darksteel Citadel , this Indestructible land will be one of the best Targets for Noyan Dar's Awakening ability. Opponents would have all kinds of trouble dealing with a 3/3 indestructible land. Unless they were already hoarding Celestial Flare.

In my opinion the best land to threaten an opponent with is an animated Inkmoth Nexus.A 4/4 Elemental/ Flying creature with Infect!Now that is my kind of land! Pardon me my Phyrexian is showing.

All of the Manlands could be targeted really if you have no other viable lands to target.I mean these lands become stronger with the counters that you add to them anyway. Win Win!

I really see one of my teammates enjoying this card in EDH. I mean casting Serum Visions and you have a creature. Cast Ponder and you have a creature. Cast Brainstorm and you have a creature. With the Correct timing you could animate all your lands and have at least 5 of them attacking. It gets even better if you choose Talrand , Sky Summoner as your "Lieutenant". He could make Drakes for you for all the Instant and Sorcery's that you cast. I see a lot of potential for these guys in the future. 

Let the new Merfolk alliance begin. Lets awaken some Real Estate. 

Editors Note:

Thanks Judge Ian Mervin Go and Raven Knives for Clarifying the Rules about the Inkmoth.

"Zada , Hedron Grinder : Pre Cursor Golem Style"

"Zada , Hedron Grinder : Pre Cursor Golem Style"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.

I love goblins and collect them whenever I can. There are tons of Red Goblin Decks in my Lab and all of them would be happy with the addition of this new card , Zada , Hedron Grinder.

Zada , Hedron Grinder is a finisher and all of my goblins are clamoring for him to be included in their decks. Several things instantly come to mind when I think about this card. First , Aggressive cards who love to instantly pump creatures  will get a kick out of him when he joins all the other goblins already out from the Khans of Tarkir Block and Magic Origins. The next thing in my mind are the different shells that Zada could fit in and here are a few.

Red Green Standard Shell:

Having Elvish Mystic around for a couple of weeks after Battle of Zendikar comes out was my main consideration for this R/G shell. I mean if you are able to power out Zada by turn three then you could set up a wonderfully wicked Turn 4 kill! 

Turn 1 Forest and then Elvish Mystic

Turn 2 Mountain and Rabble Master , He gives you 1 Goblin token.

Turn 3 Mountain or Forest  , Play Zada. Rabble Master Gives you another token.

Turn 4 Titans Strength Zada and you could target all the other creatures on the battlefield that you control. At this point you have 1 Elf , A Rabble Master and 2 Goblin tokens as well Zada Himself. All in all each creature gets a +3/+1 stat pump and You get to Scry 5 times as each copy of the Titan's Strenght resolves. 

If you look at the damage calculation at this point Zada with one spell has give you enough power to kill your opponent in this 4th turn. Elvish Mystic becomes 4/2 , Each Goblin token becomes 4/2 as well and Rabble Master attacks , counts the goblins in play and receive a +4/0 instantly(because of the 3 tokens and Zada in play) making it  a 9/3 monstrosity. Oh and Zada himself becomes a 7/4 pumped up Goblin!

If you do the math you could generate 28 points of damage on turn 4! And that is just with one Titan's Strength! Imagine if you had another one in your hand.Not everyone may want to play Goblins but heck this would be amazing to pull off in standard. 

Mono Red Goblin Modern Mob:

In Modern Zada could also be the kind of Goblin that you could be proud of. A Mono Red Pumping Shell is possible due to spells like Brute Force or my personal favorite Mutagenic Growth. 

All you have to do is get to a critical mass of creatures. Keep those one drops coming and those goblin tokens pouring in and by the time Zada comes in you could surprise your opponent by having a Mutagenic growth or two resolving. Sometimes because of the overwhelming creature count opponents scoop their decks and just prepare for the next battle.

EDH Red Frontier:

Pre-Cursor Golem would be proud of this new card since they could do quite a heavy number in EDH. Imagine Zada , Hedron Grinder side by side with this Golem and opponents would be in battle damage calculation mode in no time since all the spells would find new targets as they resolve. It might produce quite a headache doing all that math but practice makes perfect right?

Time to get my calculator ready. Battle Damage counting time.

"The Chaos in Beach City"

"The Chaos in Beach City"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.

for:

Alessandria Venice R. De leon

"Dad , Someday I am afraid that I might lose interest in Steven Universe and that makes me sad."

-Aven

"You might. So let us celebrate that interest by enjoying it now and making stories about them so that we might never forget."

- Me

"It was a normal day in Beach city and as often than not Steven was walking with his favorite guardian , Garnet on the main road. Steven was all bubbly as always as he greeted almost everyone on the street. He waved at the postman delivering mail and the shopkeepers who were just opening their stores. Everyone knew Steven and his guardians after they have saved the city countless times from gem creatures who want nothing more than to eat them. 

An Ice cream Shop keeper said hi to Steven and gave him an ice cream cone with 2 dripping scoops of Vanilla flavored goodness. He started to eat away as he continued walking on the Main street.

At the end of the corner he saw a homeless man who wore a tattered shirt and a cloak made of plastic. The man shivered despite the warm air. Steven decided that he did not need his own jacket all that much and tried to hand the man his jacket. In doing so the homeless man let go of his plastic cloak and the wind blew it away."My favorite cloak!!" the man shouted as he tried to stand up but collapsed on wobbly knees.Trying to reach for the thing he found most dear.

"I'll get it!!!" Steven said as he bounded toward the street and forgot about the oncoming cars from both sides.

The streets were filled with the sound of skidding tires as cars from both sides simultaneously halted and turned to avoid hitting the boy that was in the middle of the street. The cars were hit from other cars from behind and some of those cars tumbled toward the shops on either side of the road setting some of them on fire.Screams could be heard as people from the shops flooded the streets in hopes of escaping the flaming buildings. Within seconds some of the cars exploded causing various car parts to rain down on people and buildings alike.

In the midst of all this Steven jumped and caught the plastic cloak. "I got it!" He said looking back to where the homeless man and Garnet were standing. Both were staring slack jawed at all the damage while Steven remained untouched by anything but his enthusiasm.

"What happened?" He asked.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

At the end of the corner he saw a homeless man who wore a tattered shirt and a cloak made of plastic. The man shivered despite the warm air. Steven decided that he did not need his own jacket all that much and tried to hand the man his jacket. In doing so the homeless man let go of his plastic cloak and the wind blew it away.... And Garnet Caught it with so much speed that surprised Steven. She gave it to the homeless man who grinned a toothless grin at her for saving his favorite cloak.

Garnet hurriedly carried Steven away from the homeless man and stared at the traffic as cars steadily sped by.

"What was that about?" Steven asked innocently.

"It's nothing Steven.Now lets go somewhere safe." Garnet said in her cool and even voice.

Steven shrugged his shoulder , held Garnets hand and with the other finished what was left of the melting vanilla ice cream.

The End