I'm back everyone!

- Crowd is still silent -

I need to get a better opening. Well, I've had a world of trouble on the message board of late, and it may have made this the last compare and contrast article I'll do for a while.

Why? Because sometimes dealing with some of the snot-nosed players can be annoying. I'll just leave it at that. I'm mad at one person because he spams a little too much for my liking, but is still a somewhat help on the M:TG board.

Well, that ends that, I have to learn not to dwell on stupid things like that. ..

Now, I also need to give out some congratulations - Congratulations to Scott Gerhardt, John Balla, and Tim Soltzfus. All of which have done something for Pojo at one point or another, be it as an editor or a featured writer, and all of which placed in the top 60 in at Grand Prix: Las Vegas, which had over 300 people.

John finished third, which is something I doubt I could EVER do in an extended tournament, Scott finished eighth, and Tim finished 59th.

Congratulations to all three of you, because I looked at that list, and beating people the likes of Chris Benafel, Bob Maher Jr, and Zvi Mowshowitz is quite an achievement!

Now, on with the debate:

The current Type II format has fielded many decks with Blue in them: Finkula, Counter-Monger, Green-Blue Tempo... Yet, a mono blue deck is out of the question?

Why? I don't know, I have yet to ask that of anyone, but it probably has something to do with the loss of the alternate casting cost counters from Masques block. Still, if one should arise, it will usually consist of a card drawing engine, most likely in Thieving Magpie, and a large creature, 
formerly of Mahamoti Djinn.

Of late, though, a new card has arisen, and given Moti some heat for the position of "Large" creature - Amugaba. Amugaba, which is from Odyssey, and is a 6/6 for 5UU, and has the ability to bounce back to your hand for 2U and the discarding of a card.

Again, the debate, while considerably more pointless than the one between Magpie and Finkel, is still relevant for the future. That is because we don't know what will comw out of the remaining 286 cards left in Odyssey block over the two sets.

Well, again, a turned to the Message board for their responses. Here's what they said (Now, a short note - I left all the content inconsistencies in the posts because I feel it needs to be seen, and it proves the point to the people on the M:TG board that you need to read all of a post to get what they're talking about.)

-Which is better: Amugaba or Mahamoti Djinn?


Shogun

I think that they are both pretty good. Moti is a 5/6 for 6 mana with flying, which is good deal. Its a powerful creature too, but marks off for being out of standard. I personaly like amugaba more because:
a) its odyssey
b) it can regenerate
since all card abilities are interrupts if your opponent has a wrath on the stack, u can
return him to your hand to avoid him going to the graveyard, or you can do it during
your turn to get him out of the graveyard. (call me a n00b), but i also like how he has
1 more power, so he can take out about any standard card there is. The only bad
thing is its high mana cost so it could be force spiked fairly easily. The winner: Amugaba


Doctor Mackerel

There's a very slim difference between these 2. The only change is that Amugaba pays 1 for another point of power and 2U, discard: return Amugaba to your hand. I can't see myself using the ability much. If the opponent has death spells they'll kill it as soon as it hits the board, and you won't have any mana left to save him. As for the extra +1/+0, if you're attacking with just 1 Amugaba or 1 Mahamoti Djinn, they both take 4 turns to take the 20 life.

Overall it has to be Mahamoti Djinn, as it comes out 1 turn earlier, and the extras Amugaba has aren't worth it. 


Kangasage88

Personaly,I like amugaba for a few obvious reasons,and a few strategic 
reasons. Amugaba: Well,It's T2 for starters.Since it's in Odyssey,it's 
also a lot cheaper to buy than an older set card.But then again,from the 7th 
edition,Moti is legal.I try to repel away from 7th packs, cause I rarely get 
what I need.Singles are OK,but my store doesn't sell u'm.For strategy, 
Amugaba cost an extra mana,but you get an extra 1 power,and you can bounce 
him.This puts him in my favor,as the factor making him better being his 
bouncing ability.

Moti: Moti is one of the best Flyers out there.It's a 5/6 flyer for 6 
mana,with no drawbacks.A rare find indeed.It's one turn quicker than 
Amugaba,but it has no special ability. Amugaba's special ability can even 
be useful to fill your graveyard with cheap flashback cards,and prepare for 
Threshold.Moti is very close to Amugaba,but I still prefer Amugaba.


firebird365

Amugaba for three reasons:

1) It has a good ability.
2) It has a cool picture.
3) I play too much with Moti. Bored of him now.


The Great MTJ

Mahamoti Djinn.

1.) Mahamoti Djinn IS in type 2.
2.) Mahamoti Djinn comes out one turn quicker.
3.) Are you really going to wait until you have 9 mana to play a creature, 
and then have it bounced to your hand, when you could play Mahamoti Djinn 
and counterspell for 8 mana? I don't think so.
4.) It doesn't matter either way. It's a 4 turn clock


The Whammy

I like FatMoti a lot more because he has a cool nickname. What cool comes 
out of Amugaba besides AMAGUBA GETCHA! Anyways, you're going to end up 
attacking the same amount of turns to deal lethal damage with both 
creatures, and when you're playing blue you're going to coutner the cards 
that threaten your fat creatures.



BIG red

This is a pretty hard decision.

Amuguba is virtually impossible to kill, 6/6 flying, blue, and an evasion 
ability. He also casts on one more, which isn't as big of a drawback, since 
speed isn't something blue is amazing with right now.

Moti is 5/6 flying, and no other abilities. He casts on one less too. 
However he is a classic!

Smugaba gets my vote though, just becase he seems to have more advantages, 
for a more efficient price.


Kale

I think its Amugaba for a couple reasons. Its only one more mana for an 
extra point of power and an ability that makes it virtually impossible to 
kill, while filling up your graveyard for threshold and some of blacks 
abilities. That one extra power makes a big difference to me, because i 
would play with other smaller creatures in the deck ...mainly becuase i cant 
stand waiting around and countering spells. The ability can be very useful 
against terminates and vindicates when your stuck without a counterspell, 
which often happens to me, and I like the picture better than moti, altho 
that doesnt matter much.


FireMystic4

I'm gonna say Mahamoti Djinn. It costs one less, while Amugaba costs one 
more mana just for an extra point of power and an evasion ability that's not 
worth using. Why would you want to play something for 7 mana, discard a 
card and pay three more to return it to your hand, just to pay 7 more mana 
to get it back into play. If you are going to say "at least it has some 
evasion ability." Well, if you pay less mana, you have counterspells to back 
you up. And since you don't have to repeatedly pay 7 mana to bring the 
creature into play, you will constantly have mana open to use counterspells.

TranceKuja183

Why play either? There really is no more mono blue deck out there, and decks 
with blue in it usually go U/B/W, U/B/G, or U/B/R. So neither of these cards 
really are useful in the new environment. I really cant say that I'd know 
what to play, because Neither has seen much play lately.


Now, I left the last argument in because it helps to prove my point about a 
viable mono blue deck. Still, it will help to show the Magic Player on the 
budget which one is better, because I'm not saying that there is no mono 
blue deck, but I'm saying that there is no viable mono blue deck on the Type 
II tournament circuit.

Heck, I even got an argument for Cognivore! I find that amusing, because he 
has the potential to be even better than both, but being an 8cc creature 
makes him not worth the mana, simply because he can be defensless. What I 
mean by that is that by the time he hits the board, he either is too little 
too late, or will be destroyed by some spell because you won't have the mana 
to defend against spells that would kill or harm him.

Okay, back to Moti and Amugaba...

Now, aside from the great nickname debate (Thanks for adding that little 
tidbit in, Whammy! :) ), these two have many differences. One of which is 
the casting cost. Mahamoti weighs in at a fair 4UU for a 5/6. A good deal, 
especially considering that he flies.

Amugaba is 5UU for a 6/6.

Mahamotit wins this battle, because when you do your math, and your 
homework, you see that it doesn't matter which one you use, they don't die 
any faster. No matter what, your opponent is on a four-turn clock, as shown 
here:

Mahamot Djinn - 5 damage each turn
5+5+5+5 = 20 = Opponent's death

Amugaba - 6 points of damage each turn
6+6+6+6 = 24 = Opponent still dies

All Amugaba does is make an opponent's death more violent. All that extra 4 
damage does is make the death more perminant.

Score one for Moti. Mahamoti - 1, Amugaba - 0.

Now, Amugaba does have a small advantage on Mahamoti. He has the abiltiy to 
bounce back to your hand, so if he does come under trouble, he simply 
escapes if you don't have a counter.

Mahamoti doesn't have that option. Despite this, it is only a small 
advantage, because discarding a card for part of the ability makes it a big 
disavantage for this style of deck, because discarding cards for blue is 
bad, because you often wind up discarding something good.

So, he gets a point, all be it a small one. Moti - 1, Amugaba - 1.

Price is a null factor because while Moti will trade better, and is valued 
higher,he still doesn't trade for much more. It's just to get a Moti as to 
get an Amugaba.

Both fly, so you can't put that against either.

In the end, Mahamoti gets a small advantage because he drops one turn 
earlier. This, though, doesn't necessarily make him better.

Truthfully, in this day and age, and given the current Type II format, I 
would play Amugaba because there is still a lot of removal in type II. He 
handles it a lot better than Moti, and that decided it in the end.

In reality, it's what ever is easier to get, or what ever you feel like 
playing.

The End.

Signed,
John "The Happy Heretic" Hornberg

Got any comments, critisms, suggestions for any other articles, etc? I can 
be reached at promiseland85@hotmail.com  if you wish. I'm not sure if I'm 
going to do another compare and contrast article because it is taxing to 
gather those opinions, and I have to put up with waaaaay too much crap from 
my computer in getting it.