First, let me start off to say that this article is ALL about CELIXIA, from the creator of it.

If you don’t want to read up on Celixia, the fictional set of Magic cards, please stop now. However, even if you don’t want to be in the tournament being hosted during Winter Break 2005, you will find some of this stuff interesting. If anything, reading up on a fictional set of magic cards is always amusing (to say the least.)

OK.

Some of you have signed up for the Celixia Winter Break tournament and that is very exciting to me. To know people are playing with Celixia cards just for fun makes me happier than someone receiving an Xbox 36million and one for Christmas this year. In this article I wanted to take a quick moment to talk about some of the decks in Celixia and some cards to look out for. I also will touch on some recommended sideboard cards. Let’s not forget about my boring commentary during the entire bit.

Note: If you have submitted your deck already, you can revise it. I revised the deck due date to 12/18 (this upcoming Sunday) to help out those who have finals this week. Your deck is recommended to be 60 cards or more with a 15 card sideboard. Remember to send me your deck security code with the deck list.

Recapping the concepts of Celixia

Before I get into the juicy part of this article (especially juicy for those of you who ARE in the tournament) I would like to present all of the mechanics and concepts in Celixia. I feel this is a necessary recap given all of the things I plan to talk about. I won’t elaborate on each as that is Lionden_56’s realm (see Celixia 101 & Celixia 101.2).

Ambush X.
Whenever one or more creatures attack you, if this card is in your hand, you may play it as an instant for it's Ambush cost. If you do, return it to your hand at end of combat.

Chaos concept.
Chaos is the general term for shuffling your library. There are cards that can help you shuffle your library and other cards that have an effect upon shuffling. Take for instance New Perspective, originally designed by Zammm and later modified by myself and Hankroyd. Whenever you shuffle your library you can pay either a blue mana or a white mana. If you pay a white mana you gain 3 life. If you pay a blue mana you look at the top three cards of your library and put them back in any order. Plus you can shuffle your library for 6. This isn't a bomb card or anything, but it is useful when you have other cards that trigger when your library is shuffled. Some people find this mechanic annoying.. but when you look at Mind's Desires decks... it's not really.

To compliment the shuffling theme throughout the set, there is a cycle of Legendary Lands which involve shuffling a card from your hand as part of the cost of the ability. There are also a cycle of shuffling enchantments and untapping creatures when a library is shuffled. Lots of fun shuffling stuff in the set.

Reclaim.
To help fulfill the 'chaos' concept running throughout the set, Reclaim was added. Reclaim lets you shuffle a card in your graveyard into your library for a cost. It's that simple. Black and Blue get the most 'reclaim' cards since they lack the 'ambush' mechanic. It is on cards from Common to Rare.

Orbs.
Orbs are simply a type of artifact that hold quite a bit of influence in some races and legends. Orbs generally are a powerful artifact although there are some that are quite simple. Some creature get bonuses from the Orbs while others have quite the opposite.

Predictions to the Top Tier Celixia Decks.

With that out of the way, let me discuss some of the popular decks I anticipate to see in the tournament.  Mind you, my predictions are just that - predicitions.  Since this is the first tournament to be had using Celixia Cards I really don't know how things will turn out.  I do know I will be keeping a close eye on the tournament to determine what needs to be printed in Powershift - the set to follow Celixia (currently in MDV development).

Here are some of the top contenders (in no particular order) that I foresee:

G/B Combo-Recursion
U/B Control
White Weenie (Control)
Mono Blue Control/Combo
R/G Burn (LD)
W/G Beatdown
Orbs

That’s quite a list, eh? (A nod to all of the Canadian Players) [Meant not to offend, of course]

Celixia has quite of a bit of control in the set including powerful cards like Stasis Orb and efficient counter cards like Deny and Mind Trap and thus this is why you see a lot of ‘control’ decks in the above list. What’s nice about Stasis Orb is that it is like Icy Manipulator on steroids. It fits well into any deck and can severely shut down most decks. (Psst…. Naturalize!)

The G/B Combo-Recursion deck is a deck originally designed by Einsteinmonkey that works on [censored].  The combo in itself is ingenius.. and I can see why Einsteinmonkey worked so hard during playtesting to get [censored] working the way he needed it.  In combination with the other control cards in black and the beatdown cards and acceleration cards in Green, this deck just may make it to the finals.  Unfortunately, as of writing this article, his deck won't be in the competition. 

R/G Orbs is a strong deck mainly because of the Orb Devourer and Orbling Generator. These two cards combo incredibly well.  As long as you can keep the board clear of creatures on your opponent's side, your Devourer will lay down some serious beats until your opponent is dead.

W/G Beatdown is a powerhouse because of Fal Than.   Fal than is like a creature + Mobilization.  In combination with the white, green and gold cards in Celixia - this deck could be a strong contender.

White Weenie has a good chance in the competition because of cards like Ptah’s Resolution, Tira’s Chant and other efficient white weenie cards.  Note: Ambush cards on white seem to be among the best especially considering Direknight.  It's like a Maze of Ith every turn for one white mana.

Some of the other decks that you won’t see in this article, which were included in the approximated top tier decks in Celixia, have ‘super secret tech’ and thus I can’t post a deck about them. You can see I tried with the G/B deck, but all of my info was censored.  I tried.

And the deck lists are...

While I won't be posting any deck lists submitted by contestants in the Winter Break Contest, here are some decks I came up with using only Celixia cards.  If anything, you will find some of the decks a good reference for making your own deck.

Note: I didn't have time to post a card link for each card, so please refer to the visual-text spoiler for the card readings - linked here.  On this visual-text spoiler you will see the card images and their card text.  This should be an extremely useful version of the spoiler to use while creating your own deck.

While I am posting these decks for reference in an effort to help you make a deck for the tournament, I would not encourage you to copy them. Look through the cards in Celixia and make the deck your own. Magic is the most fun for you when you use a deck you have crafted. If you want to playtest your deck, let me know. Or let any of the other players know in the forum –we will all be happy to help you make your deck good. If you can’t reach any of us, playtest it in solo mode on MWS.

Also, for the record, I know there is a competitive ‘shuffling’ chaos deck lurking in the mists. Can you make it work? Perhaps.

What’s up with Stasis Orb?

You notice in many of the above decks I’ve post that Stasis Orb seems a common theme. It’s almost like Type 2’s Umezawa’s Jitte. It’s powerful and thus many decks play it. If I could have redone Celixia I would have either upped the casting cost to 4 and/or upped the activation cost to 4. To tap a permanent and keep it tapped an extra turn is insane! But, it is a card you can put in your deck and thus all of the other decks need a way to combat it.

Here’s where I talk about some of the powerful cards in Celixia and some sideboard suggestions. The first card: Stasis Orb.

Stasis Orb is hard to work around if you opponent has it and great for you if you control it. Either way, the Stasis Orb is slightly broken so you will need some sideboard action against it. Here are my suggestions.

Naturalize. Good old Naturalize works against more than just the Orb. It can kill creeping death, Tidal Vortex and the Stasis Orb for just two mana. It’s a staple card and thus is why I reprinted it in Celixia – to counter act some of the powerful artifacts and enchantments in the set. If you haven’t noticed, Celixia has many enchantments and many artifacts. In fact, there are just as many artifacts as there are blue, white, green, black and red cards in the set.

Mountaintop Allegus. While this card doesn’t have as much versatility as the green instant above, it doesn’t have it’s advantages. It’s a creature which comes into play to destroy an artifact. But, if you opponent has multiple artifacts on the board and you don’t want to hard cast him… just wait until your opponent attacks you. Then, play his with his Ambush. His Ambush cost is high, but since he comes back to your hand at the end of combat, he will become a great asset against decks using strong artifacts like Stasis Orb.

Shard Zvelt is out next option. This guy can single-handedly shut down any artifact heavy deck (or even enchantment heavy deck). Whenever you play a creature spell, while the Zvelt is in play, you can pay WG to destroy target artifact OR enchantment card in play. Not bad for a 1/5 creature for only 1WG!

Creeping Death is another painful card (especially when combo’d with Stasis Orb). It can seem impossible to rid the board of the black enchantment.. but not so much.  You see, when the creature it enchants is tapped, it is destroyed.  And, if the creature it enchanted was placed into a graveyard.. the owner of that card returns it to his or her hand (that card as in Creeping Death).  How do you keep this card from causing your army much pain?

Myth Rifter is one option given that she can tap with a white mana to destroy target Aura… and she has the ‘chaos’ untapping ability to boot.

Naturalize.. I already talked about this.  Creeping Death is an enchantment and thus it isn't immune to a naturalize.

Empod Sanctifier – the better version of Suntail Hawk, can sacrifice itself and 3 mana to destroy target enchantment… note that it is without having to tap it too. Very potent against dangerous enchantments like Creeping Death.

Cranium Takh is another one of those cards I wish I could have changed before I finalized Celixia. It is a 2/2 flying creatures for 1BB that has an ability similar to the no longer in print Sorceress Queen. Ah… the memories. The Takh is annoying and can really shut down weenie decks and prevent you from ever attacking. Want to get rid of it? Try some of the following cards.

Death Trap, the shuffling enchantment which can give a creature –2/-2 until end of turn, is one way. It’s in the same color as the Takh and thus is great in mirror match ups.

Any burn spell. Onslaught of Boomers, Falling Flames, Contained Firebolt and so on. These all are great ways to rid the board of the annoying Cranium Takh. Any perhaps other annoying threats.

Appropriate. While there are many blue cards that can deal with the Takh (like Flowing Return, jar, Vaspan Winds and Waterweb Estos) this one seems like the best. Instead of killing it, removing it from the game or tapping it.. why not just control it! Now your opponent has to worry about the creature he originally cast. That’s sweet revenge.

Arikahn Axefighter is the last ‘semi-broken’ card I have to talk about. He gets really huge, really quick! Plus he has haste and protection from blue! Ouch. How do you deal with this guy?

Sisken, Vaspan Dome is blue's way of keeping it from being a threat. Since the Legendary Land is not a blue card, the Axefighter’s Pro: Blue means nothing. Mind you that you have to invest a card in your hand to use Sisken’s ability.. it might just buy you enough time to draw a counter to counter it or find you your win condition to win before it can really damage you.

Toch’Nar Knight. This guy is useful against red and black decks but really helps against the Axefighter. Since the Knight has Pro: red (and Pro: black), as long as the Axefighter doesn’t gain trample, you can keep blocking with the Knight. All damage reduced to him by the Axefighter is reduced to zero. (For the record, he is great against Cranium Takh, Creeping Death and other offending red and/or black card).

Magneskelion. Why not use all of those +1/+1 counters on the Axefighter to YOUR advantage. He is what I’d like to think as the modern day Triskelion. When the Magneskelion comes into play it has a Spike Cannibal type of ability. There are actually quite a bit of +1/+1 counters floating around the Celixia set and thus… when he comes into play he steals all of the Axefighter’s +1/+1 counters. Watch the Skelion turn all of your opponent’s hard-earned +1/+1 counters into damage against themselves! That’s also sweet revenge.

And finally there is the uber combo-rific and semi-broken Verdiestos. This is one of those cards I designed a long time ago. I never really realized the potential danger this card presented with it’s unique ability.. until I saw in play in a G/B deck. If you get this card to combo correctly with other cards in Celixia, you have a engine for disaster (for your opponent). If you are on the opposing side of this combo you don’t have much to stop it.

If you could find a card that prevented it from going to the graveyard, or that shuffled it into its owner’s library.. then you could prevent it from becoming a serious threat.  Removing it from the game is an option, but there aren't any cards in Celixia that remove a creature from the game like you need it to.

I guess Vaspan Winds words well against it.. but there aren’t too many other cards (at least that I can think of) that prevent this card from becoming degenerate.

 (Of course, perhaps I am saying this because my time is running out).

Well, unfortunately, my time is up. I have touched a little upon the things I wanted to talk about and hopefully this helps you out a bit in determining your sideboard, figuring out the deck list you are going to play, and more. Watch for the second, finalizing part of this article later this week (before Sunday). Until then, join the forum, enter the Winter Break Contest and enjoy this custom set I’ve made called Celixia.

Please discuss this article in the forum as I would like to see everyone’s comments about my perspective of Celixia. Expect a lot more in the follow-up to this article, which I had to end because it’s really late for me.

Take care!

~Streetz~

If you want more information about the Celixia Tournament, please check out this thread.

You can discuss this article in the MDV forums here.

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