Ante Up

Ante cards were an interesting but generally disliked part of the Magic universe. In the game's beginnings, playing for ante was the expected thing to do - cards were on the line, and if you won it was considered good form to offer to trade your opponent's ex-ante card back for something else. Of course, with remarks of advocating satanism already on the game's head, Wizards didn't want the idea of supporting gambling in there as well. Also, rumour has it people don't like losing their cards. So, ante cards are all banned and no one really plays for ante anymore.

That doesn't mean it never happens. And if it does, there are some pretty rude tricks one can pull.

An evil deck can be built with just 56 swamps and four copies of Darkpact, a black sorcery that lets you switch the top card of your library with either ante card. You'll probably flip up a swamp as your ante card. You can later cast Darkpact to switch your top library card - another Swamp - with your opponent's ante card. Then concede and laugh maniacally.

Another nasty trick involves one of the few ante creatures, Tempest Efreet. Once your opponent has played something particularly nice, cast the Efreet, which lets you switch ownership of it and any card in your opponent's hand. Use discard to knock out his hand, then a bounce spell like Boomerang to pop a cool card back to his hand to be nailed by the Efreet. Not bad, but the clincher? Make a token of the Efreet and use it instead! Yes, you legally take one of your opponent's cards (or just win) and he gets squat. Pulling it off with Dance of Many is pretty mean, but see what happens when you enchant him with Splinter Twin.

Lastly, Contract from Below. What's the mean trick involving this card? Oh, just playing it. People said Ancestral Recall is okay for netting you three card for one mana; this gets you seven for the same amount. Plus, if you're playing 5-colour Magic, it has errata saying you don't ante anything if you're not playing for ante... meaning it has no real drawback. Whee....