A board game is a gift often given and received during the holidays, and Jumpstart is like a board game for Limited Magic. You can bring it, share it with your friends, and finish it in one sitting. Rather than investing extra time in building a deck, you simply shuffle two packs together. There's no Cube-specific learning curve. There's only your opening seven cards drawn.

One tradition I draw on is adding silver-bordered cards to my casual decks during the holidays. I even own one holiday promotional card, but I'm referring also to cards from Un-sets like Unstable. What better way to get into the holiday cheer than with Extremely Slow Zombie?

Today we'll be stuffing our stockings with four new Jumpstart packs, each including a holiday card. But if you don't own any of these rarities, don't worry. We'll discuss alternatives. The first one we're featuring is Some Disassembly Required. What can we do with this, you may ask? Well, give our opponent's creature last strike, for one.

Festive Dead | Jumpstart | AE Marling

• Creatures (9)
• 1 Abattoir Ghoul
• 1 Bone Picker
• 1 Gurmag Swiftwing
• 1 Hoisted Hireling
• 1 Moonglove Changeling
• 1 Rancid Rats
• 1 Temp of the Damned
• 2 Extremely Slow Zombie

• Instants (1)
• 1 Violet Pall

• Enchantments (2)
• 1 Over My Dead Bodies
• 1 Some Disassembly Required

• Land (8)
• 7 Swamp
• 1 Thriving Moor

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Among our cheerful minions of death, we have multiple creatures with first strike, such as Gurmag Swiftwing. It'll be a tasty creature to disassemble with our flagship enchantment, and the first strike keyword in particular is powerful with our deathtouchers and especially those with undeathtouch.

Over My Dead Bodies turns graveyards into another war zone. Triumph among the crypts with first strike, exiling opponent's creatures before they can damage yours. Be aware, though, that your Extremely Slow Zombies won't fare well in this contest. In case it wasn't obvious, your opponent's creatures will strike first.

Substitution: If you don't own a Some Disassembly Required, you can always bestow keywords with Chariot of Victory.

And now, for the next present: gift it to your opponent and try not to cackle too much as it's unwrapped. Just try.

Pernicious Presents | Jumpstart | AE Marling

• Creatures (9)
• 1 Bad Ass
• 1 Butcher Ghoul
• 1 Evil Eye of Urborg
• 1 Lord of the Pit
• 1 Morkrut Necropod
• 1 Poultrygeist
• 1 Venomous Changeling
• 1 Vile Bile
• 1 Yargle, Glutton of Urborg

• Instants (1)
• 1 capital offense

• Sorceries (2)
• 1 Bone Splinters
• 1 Evil Presents

• Land (8)
• 7 Swamp
• 1 Thriving Moor

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Presenting any vanilla creature with Evil Presents will still be powerful. You cannot block your own creature, probably, so at minimum it makes a baddy unblockable. (The rules here get a bit fuzzy after the third glass of eggnog.) It's especially good with high-power meanies like Yargle, Glutton of Urborg. It's devious with Vile Bile, forcing your foe to risk touching it every turn. And it's downright nefarious with creatures with penalties, like Evil Eye of Urborg.

Wrap up this eye in twilight, with a bow of malice, and gift your opponent their own doom. They have to attack themselves and nothing else, unless of course they have a changeling like Venomous Changeling.

Another great choice for Evil Presents is the classic demon from Alpha, the one that made mothers clutch their pearls in the 80's. That's right, Lord of the Pit.

You can end the game by gifting this to your opponent turn four. Even if you have to cast it yourself on turn seven, it's still a scary bomb. And if your opponent locks it down or your Evil Eye of Urborg with Pacifism, you still have some recourse thanks to Bone Splinters.

Substitution: No Evil Presents? Include your choice of Soldevi Adnate or Ritual of the Returned. The latter is a way to take advantage of your creatures with high base power, without bringing their penalties into play. And Soldevi Adnate is like a Dark Ritual in that you can use it to deploy your Yargle turn three. Leaping bullfrogs! Now that's one fast legendary frog spirit.

Pie Delivery | Jumpstart | AE Marling

• Contraptions (3)
• 1 Applied Aeronautics
• 1 Optical Optimizer
• 1 Tread Mill

• Creatures (8)
• 1 Aviation Pioneer
• 1 Blurry Beeble
• 1 Chipper Chopper
• 1 Gearsmith Prodigy
• 1 Glacian, Powerstone Engineer
• 1 Kindly Cognician
• 1 Quicksmith Spy
• 1 Silver Myr

• Instants (2)
• 1 Spell Suck
• 1 Time Out

• Enchantments (2)
• 1 Magic Word
• 1 Thopter Pie Network

• Land (8)
• 7 Island
• 1 Thriving Isle

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In last week's article about Jumpstart Golems I felt bad for excluding Glacian, Powerstone Engineer. This week I made a point to include the Thran artificer because we have more token artifacts to power him. And what better artifacts to tap with his ability than thopters bearing gift pies?

Thanks to Spelltable and remote play, it's never been easier to eat while gaming. My suggestion would be for hard candy, like a candy cane, which you can maintain for many turns at a time and handle easily. There. Did we just break the snacking meta?

Don't worry, you can still Jumpstart over the internet. Each player will simply need their own batch of packs. Then just hop online, shuffle up, and start slinging spells. And speaking of remote gatherings, that's how I recommend playing Magic with people outside your household. Be safe over the holidays.

For this pack I included a smattering of contraptions. Don't shuffle them in with the rest of your cards. Instead randomize the three contraptions, leave them facedown, and reveal the top card as they're assembled. That contraption is placed onto the battlefield (and can be tapped with Glacian) underneath one of three sprockets. During your upkeep, move a counter forward and crank any number of contraptions in that sprocket (column).

Substitution: Thopter Spy Network

Phew! Time to wipe the engine grease off my brow and unwrap our last pack.

Krark's Holiday Party | Jumpstart | AE Marling

• Creatures (7)
• 1 Chicken Egg
• 1 Goblin Bookie
• 1 Hammer Jammer
• 1 Krazy Kow
• 1 Painiac
• 1 Steel Squirrel
• 1 Urza's Science Fair Project

• Instants (1)
• 1 Lightning Strike

• Sorceries (1)
• 1 Goblin Sleigh Ride

• Artifacts (3)
• 1 Krark's Other Thumb
• 1 Mad Science Fair Project
• 1 Sword of Dungeons & Dragons

• Land (8)
• 7 Mountain
• 1 Thriving Bluff

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We're honoring the Magic celebrity Krark, the Thumbless by rolling as many dice as we can. "C'mon! Gobby needs a seven to keep his last thumb. Oh, rock it!"

Even if digits aren't being wagered, the randomness of rolling dice is fun. In fact, by eschewing the self-mutilating, we can have a game with the whole family. We even can enjoy some Unglued classics like Chicken Egg and Krazy Kow, along with Unstable's Painiac. Aptly enough, Mad Science Fair Project will help ramp out Urza's Science Fair Project. At the rate you'll be rolling dice alongside Steel Squirrel, Emrakul better watch her back.

Now, we do have another holiday card to go along with Krark and our other goblins: Goblin Sleigh Ride. Yes, it's pure joy, but feel free to use any other kill spell in its place. What's more important for this pack is rerolling your D20 from Sword of Dungeons & Dragons with Goblin Bookie.

Substitution: Rumbling Rockslide

That's all for this week. Have a safe and happy holidays!