Constellation or Raid?

While we know very little about Khans of Tarkir, we know what 3 of the 6 mechanics are: Prowess, Raid and Morph. Of these, Raid is getting my most attention. This is partially for a number of reasons:

• Prowess is a keyword and is very simple to understand
• Morph is a returning mechanic so it’s already understood to a certain extent
• We don’t know too much about Raid. As an ability word, it depends on the individual card in many circumstances, so for now it is best to just speculate.

However, my main reason for wanting to look at Raid closer is due to how it applies to creatures. Raid only triggers once when a given creature enters the battlefield – even then you have to attack first. This is different to abilities such as Landfall, which can trigger more than once, or the current Constellation ability in Standard. For example, let’s compare the following two cards: Mardu Heart-Piercer…

…and Forgeborn Oreads.At first glance, we can see a few similarities. Both creatures are Red and Uncommon, coming in at 4 mana. They both have an ability word – in this case, Constellation vs Raid – which enable you to deal damage to creatures or players. However, this is where the similarities end.

Maximizing Damage

Whether it’s a standard environment or a limited draft, you want to make the most potential out of any possible card. Let’s look at Mardu Heart-Piercer first: This card can do a maximum of 2 damage. There is no sliding scale here, you’re either dealing 2 damage or you are not and this option only happens once.

Forgeborn Oreads, has a little more reach. When it enters the battlefield, it can deal 1 damage, which is the minimum you can ever deal with this card. The thing is, however, that anything after this is almost upside. Play a second enchantment and you can deal 1 more damage, making for a total equaling that of Mardu-Heart Piercer. Yet anything more than this is a pure bonus, and the right deck can easily make the most of Forgeborn Oread.

Of course, Mardu Heart-Piercer has a slight advantage in that it can deal 2 damage off the bat. This makes it more useful for taking out 2 toughness creatures, where as Forgeborn Oread acts more like a pinger: if you want to deal multiple amounts of damage you need to save up your enchantments to play them in succession on the same turn. Depending on the match up, there may be bigger reasons for Mardu Heart-Piercer, but there is more potential in the long run with Forgeborn Oread.

So, what does this mean about the two abilities? Straight away, we can see that Raid looks to give you  a little more power for a very extensive limiting factor. Constellation triggers once, guaranteed, and then requires you to play a decks worth of enchantments. Raid, on the other hand, only triggers once – and even then, it requires you to meet an additional criteria – but it gives a slightly bigger benefit.

Stats

Triggering abilities aside, what are the stats like? Both aren’t the best on a vanilla scale, which is to be expected, but there is a little difference. MHP is a 2/3, while FBO is a 4/2. The former gets 5 points worth of stats while the latter gets 6. If you’re going for aggression, which is a well known Red strategy, FBO has an advantage. Yet there are also a few drawbacks; of the two creatures, MHP well survive longer with 3 toughness, while FBO has only 2 toughness and will likely trade down.

Again, we might need to look back at the abilities of each. The MHP creature only triggers once so, after dealing the damage, you don’t need to save it anymore: it’s just a 2/3. You can use it to block or attack without having to worry about more triggers. Constellation, on the other hand, is a different matter. Do you swing in and risk losing a ping engine or do you play more conservatively? People are playing Eidolon of Blossoms for it’s card draw, but the creature itself is only a 2/2 for 4 mana.

Enchantment vs Creature Enchantment

Additionally, Constellation does have one big drawback – it only appears on an enchantment creatures. While there is nothing stopping the ability appearing on other permanents in the future, for now this is the only option. The problem, of course, is that enchantment creatures are much easier to kill. Green can rarely destroy creatures outright, for instance, but it can destroy enchantments. A similar argument can be made for White, while Blue’s ability to answer these cards stays around the same. Black can always kill creatures anyway and Red will find it easier – as we’ve discussed, Constellation creatures are often under-powered when it comes to stats. A 4-mana creature with 2 toughness is not hard to deal with in Red on turn 4.

Raid, on the other hand, doesn’t appear on enchantment-creatures. MHP is a 2/3, not a 2/2 along the lines of FBO and Eidolon of BLossoms. Furthermore, Raid can also appear on cards outside of creatures. This gives the mechanic much more reach and, as I’ve already predicted, Raid has the potential to appear on instants and sorcery spells (similar to Landfall and/or Metalcraft). The end result is that Raid permanents stand to be harder to remove.

Of course, this is just speculation, since there’s only one Raid card to go off so far. I do expert more from this, both in other forms and different rarities, and Raid will have it’s own place in Khans of Tarkir limited. When it comes to Standard, however, I’m just trying to figure out what kind of decks want it. We’ll know more when Khans of Tarkir previews start up.

A little more about Khans…

Is anyone else getting excited for Khans of Tarkir? Okay, so we’re Magic players and we get excited about any upcoming set but, still, Khans has a lot going for it: it’s a wedge set (but not block), there’s time travel, Sarkhan Vol and a unique draft structure…

And now we have a few more pieces of information. These dropped over the last week or two, so I’ve waited a little while to gather my thoughts and see what I think after the initial hype. So, let’s delve in.

Mechanics

Khans of Tarkir will have 6 mechanics – 1 each for each of the wedge clans and 1 overall mechanic which is the returning morph. From the few cards spoiled so far, we now know what two of the mechanics are.

The first is the mechanic for Mardu – the Red, White and Black wedge – and it is called Raid. Raid triggers if you attacked with a creature this turn. Take a look at Mardu Heart-Piercer. It’s a 2/3 for 4 mana, which isn’t great, but it can deal 2 damage if Raid is active (i.e, you attacked) when it enters the battlefield. There are a few key points to note with a mechanic like this:

• Raid only requires that you attack with a creature on the given turn. You do not have to successfully deal damage with a creature. While, of course, you don’t always want to sacrifice your forces this way, simply getting the attack it can be worthwhile if you really want/need a Raid trigger.
• While we’ve only seen it on one creature, there is no reason why this couldn’t work on spells. Raid is, technically speaking, an ability word similar to Zendikar‘s Landfall. The effects in question vary and “Raid” itself – the need to attack – is just the conditional trigger required. Of course, instant spells won’t be as good, since you only attack on your own turn, but it’s more than possible.

As for Mardu Heart-Piercer, it’s not a bad card but I can’t see it being that good in constructed. I can see examples where it is easy to get the trigger (such as sacrificing the spare goblin token from Goblin Rabblemaster each turn) but it only does 2 damage. Aggressive decks will just run shock, since a 2/3 for 4 mana isn’t very good and, at that point in the game, it doesn’t offer any advantage. In draft and limited environments, however, this guy is very powerful. If there are enough 2 toughness creatures, this card may be highly in demand. It’s a creature, which is always good in limited, with a little more reach. If you manage to take something out when it enters, this could be a potential 2-for-1 waiting to happen.

The other mechanic shown so far is the one for the Jeskai – the Blue, Red and White wedge – known as Prowess. Unlike Raid, this isn’t an ability word and is an actual keyword – it works the same on any creature. A creature with Prowess receives +1/+1 when you cast a noncreature spell. This makes for plenty of potential but it should be noted there is no keyword number assigned to Prowess, so every creature will only receive +1/+1 each time. This is different to other similar keywords, such as graft X and bloodthirst X, where the number assigned to X can drastically change how effective any given card is. The example given this time was Jeskai Elder and a few things to consider is:

• Prowess will appear in Red White and Blue and will perhaps help Blue the most. Blue doesn’t have much in the way of combat tricks that boost your own creature, so this ability turns anything into a small, boost. In other words, it adds value to any spell. If you cast a sorcery, enchantment or artifact before combat, for instance, than your Prowess creatures get a boost. More importantly, however, is the fact it turns any noncreature spell into a pump, so even pointless spells that wouldn’t effect combat could net you some potential gain.
• This ability works well in Blue and Red, which typically have cards that care about spells. This includes Guttersnipe in Return to Ravnica and Spellheart Chimera in Theros – I’m looking forward to trying the combine Jeskai Elder with the latter.
• Depending on how strong the cards are, I can see this ability playing well in constructed. Similarly, it is strong in draft since the creatures are aggressively costed (if Jeskai Elder is anything to go by – a 1/2 for 2 with it’s abilities at common is nowhere near bad). In essence, it should be all upside, but draft decks often focus on creatures, not noncreature spells.

As for Morph, we already know what it does, but a new Morph creature was revealed anyway. Like the above spoilers, this guy appears in Duel Decks: Speed vs Cunning:

Taplands

This was pretty much expected, but Khans of Tarkir will have trilands for the five clans. Similar to its counterparts in Alara block, these lands enter the battlefield tapped but can produce one colour of the respective clan’s wedge. So far we’ve seen two – Mystic Monastery taps Blue, Red and White (Jeskai) while Nomad Outpost taps for Red, White and Black.

In terms of constructed, non-aggro decks that run three colours will likely consider running these. In terms of limited, they’re going to be very sought after. Similar to the Shards of Alara trilands, these are uncommon. You will see them during drafts but if you don’t pick them up, there’s no guarantee someone else won’t pick one. Getting your mana right is important when running at least three different colours so, once you know what you’re in, keep an eye out for these.

They can also be very useful for splashes. If you’re running Red, White, Black and Blue, for example, then you’re in Jeskai and Mardu colours. As such, each of these lands produces three colours you need, helping you to smoothen out your mana-producing capabilities. If you think four colour decks is a stretch, it was not unheard of during Alara block. Most drafts have two colour decks with a third potential splash. In wedge sets, this plays out a little differently and you often end up in three colours minimum, if Alara was anything to go by.

Intro Packs and Alternative Art Promos

Finally, there’s a new change in intro packs when Khans of Tarkir hit’s shelves. Starting from that set, the foil rares in the intro decks will have alternative art. Personally, I think this is great. Most players usually have the foil from the prerelease and, similarly, pulling the rare in a booster pack isn’t worth much when the card is readily available. Doing it this way makes both a little more valuable.

However, it is going to drive collectors nuts. Let’s just look at previous announcements. First of all, we have at least two clash packs a year, which contain their own alternative art promo cards, which I also love. Yet we also have 60 promo cards in prerelease packs, rather than one specific option per colour/wedge choice. The alternative art market is going to blow up fast and serious collectors will need to put the work in to round out their collections. If we assume the intro pack rares will be available as part of the prerelease, there could be three different foil versions for the same set…

Anyway, that’s just a quick run down on the current information. There’s a little to take in but I for one remain eagerly excited.

Card Spotlight: Eternal Thirst

I could make that work…

I think most players have thought that about a card at some point in their gaming life time. Some cards may seem clunky or situational, but we try to convince ourselves otherwise because we like what the card offers.

For me, this is Eternal Thirst.

I’ve had a bit of luck with it in M15 drafts. Typically, I’ve run this in a few Black/White decks alongside Ajani’s Pridemate. In a draft environment, you can often get away with this because there are so few answers, especially where enchantments have come from. Specifically, you have to put this on a card that isn’t a threat. For one draft, I kept putting this on Heliod’s Pilgrim. The Pilgrim had done its job and was not the main threat next to Ajani’s Pridemate. Yet getting rid of it would take a removal spell, forcing the opponent to shift their focus from the real threat. If they do leave it, on the other hand, than it can get quite big if you manage to kill a few of your opponents creatures, which shouldn’t be very hard if you’re in Black.

Is there Standard potential?

The general consensus on this card is that it’s bad. If its not playable in limited, why would you try it in constructed? Even more than this, the fact that it’s an enchantment means it can be taken away easily and many opponents will have planned answers for auras. As a result, we should look for a deck where it will be a big benefit if it sticks around but, even if it doesn’t, can it offer any incremental advantage?

In short, I think Black heroic could have some potential here. The first card that came to mind for me was Agent of the Fates. This card is strong in its own right, thanks to its heroic trigger and deathtouch ability. However, it’s worth noting that it won’t gain a counter when you trigger it with Eternal Thirst – the heroic trigger activates while the aura is on the stack and has not yet attached itself to the Agent.

Since we’re in a Black heroic strategy that likes to kill creatures, it seems only logical to include Nighthowler. This gets bigger with the more things that die, and can be cast as an aura for more triggers, or even played as a creature in its own right.

Throw in the likes of Bloodcrazed Hoplite, Spiteful Returned or Tormented Hero and there’s a potential budget deck in the making. You could also run the likes of Herald of Torment for something more evasive. In short, there are options.

Similarly, could there be some form of budget Black/White midrange deck that could use this with Pridemate and friends? Maybe, but I feel adding white takes away from removal and neither does it add more ways to kill things. It does add more heroic creatures, however, some it could work in a constellation-esque strategy.

On the other hand, adding a second colour such as White (or even Blue) could add protection. Once you start targeting Agent of the Fates, or even playing him in the first plays, a smart player will identify him as a threat. Heroic decks need protection, as putting all your eggs into one basket has never proven a viable strategy without it.

Anyway, these are my current thoughts on the card for now – I don’t have a full deck worked out yet but I know I have the cards available to put something together.

What’s happening to removal?

By now most of us are familiar with M15 – I’ve done a few drafts and attempted to put some new decks together – and are looking to build new decks and generally look towards the future, especially in terms of Standard.

So, the one burning question – what’s happening to removal?

True, effective removal seems to be going out of its key colours, such as Black, and into secondary colours, such as Red and White. I want to take a quick look at each of these colours to see where the most effective answers lie. Note, that this will also include board wipes as any removal that can act as a 2-for-1 or better is clearly going to be worthwhile to many players.

On the other hand, I’m not going to look at Blue and Green. Blue has often had bounce spells and tempo effects which, while they work very well, aren’t exactly removal. In any case, I don’t think Blue has a problem and Green, similarly, has always revolved around creatures. While the current options in M15 are expensive – where’s my one drop fight spell? – it still depends on having the right creatures.

Anyway let’s go…

Black

If Black is good at anything, it’s death. If you don’t like something, there should be a spell open to you as an answer. For years, Doomblade has been the answer in trade, and we’ve had various variants of the two-drop death spell, most notably in Return to Ravnica (Ultimate Price) and Journey Into Nyx (Feast of Dreams). If that doesn’t work, we have more complete answers and Theros’s Heroes Downfall can kill almost anything, including Planeswalkers.

…so what do we do with Flesh to Dust? While preventing regeneration is good… this is a 5 mana spell. Instant speed is a nice bonus, but it’s still a big drop down from Downfall. We’ve gone from 3 mana to five and the only benefit is the regeneration clause, yet we also lose the ability to kill Planeswalkers.

Okay, we’re comparing a common card to rare, but there aren’t any rare targeted kill spells in M15. This is the core set’s standard answer for creatures and, even then, it’s a big change to Ultimate Price, Feat of Dreams and co.

We also have a few -X/-X effects, but these have seldom been competitive and are often staple hole fillers in limited (removal is still removal). Ulcerate, for instance, is fantastic at -3/-3, since it can effectively work like a black lightning bolt, but it does hurt you as well. Similarly we have Stab Wound and while I love the card I’m not sure it will be enough for standard.

There’s also Covenant of Blood, which is one of Black’s convoke spells. 4 damage, in addition to the life gain, is a good spell but 7 mana means you’re going to need a few convoke creatures on the board to make this anywhere near playable.

Black Board Wipes

Admittedly, black doesn’t always get a board wipe spell – often it gets a black-white option in gold sets – so it’s not something we can as easily complain about. Garruk’s Wake is certainly an effective card but it does cost 9 mana. It’s easy to see why, too. In Garruk’s Wake destroys creatures and planeswalkers your opponents control, giving you full board control.

The only problem with this however is, again, the 9 mana. This suggests a late game strategy which locks this deck out of quicker mono-black decks or aggro decks. If esper takes off in Standard I could see this getting included more but 9 mana spells are always trouble, especially against Blue. Even then, you have to consider the answers your opponent might have, such as being able to save some key creatures.

 Red

Red ‘removal’ has always been a difficult option, since it’s not the only thing it can do. Anything that can do damage to both creature and player is very effective and this is where Red often has a little trade off. A card may do more damage, but for the same mana it will often only target creatures of planeswalkers, but usually not both.

Similarly, we’re use to the likes of Fated Conflagration. For 4 mana, it can deal 5 damage to a creature or planeswalker at instant speed. In most instances, this will remove the target in question so, while it costs a whole mana more, this could arguably be seen as Red’s equivalent to a hero’s downfall. Red doesn’t get guaranteed ‘destroy creature’ effects so cards like Fated Conflagration are often better than they look – assuming you’re not running Black in the first place.

Likewise, even the commons have proven strong and this has continued in M15. 2 mana for 3 damage at instant speed is often worth while and the reprint of Lightning Strike keeps everyone happy.

However, I have already spoken somewhat on Stoke the Flames, but the card is quickly growing on me. 4 damage is something we need and this card can be cast for cheaper and it can target players (and thus, planeswalkers). Until Born of the Gods rotates, we have an interesting trade-off: do you run Fated Conflagration for the extra damage, or stay with Stoke the Flames for the option of burning the opponent out of the game.

Additionally, there could be room for Cone of Flame, since it can remove 3 targets and has proven very versatile, or even Heat Ray for when you need to deal more than 5 damage, although I fin Cone of Flame to be much more powerful than Heat Ray. Pure mono-Red decks might also be interested in Seismic Strike, as it can deal 3 damage or more, especially in the late game.

In short: of all the colours, Red is as strong as ever.

Red Board Wipes

M15 doesn’t have any board wipes for Red, but then it’s a colour that arguably gets them even less than Black. The problem for many Red players, myself included, is that we’ve had some good options in the last two blocks. Anger of the Gods dealt damage to your own creatures, but it was an effective way to wipe the board – plus, if you were going to run it you’d plan around it. 3 damage across the board, plus exile effects, makes for a very strong card.

Similarly, in Return to Ravnica we had Mizzium Mortars. This cost 2 to use as a simple spell or 6 to overload, dealing 4 damage to every creature that wasn’t your own. Mortars was a strong card and I imagine we won’t see such a strong answer for a while. While Red might be losing these options, it has enough burn to pick up the slack – if you need to target more than one creature (such as Triplicate Spirits) then Cone of Flame can serve you well.

White

If you have 3 or 4 mana, some of which is at least White, you really don’t need to worry about other creatures.

In other words, White has some effective solutions. The weakest of which, Divine Verdict, is still a strong card in a limited vacuum. Its other options, however, are much more versatile at 3 mana. Depending on how the meta game goes, I could see this going either way.

First of all – the card I think more likely to find its way into competitive, constructed decks, is Devouring Light. For 3 mana, you can exile an attacking or blocking creature. This already makes it multitudes better than Divine Verdict: it’s a mana cheaper and removes the creature for good. Its also got Convoke, so you could play it even earlier. If there are any aggressive early drops, especially in Black since it likes to bring things back from the graveyard, this exile effect could prove to be very, very powerful.

On the other hand, if big creature decks such as Jund and Naya take over than Pillar of Light could see it’s way into some fringe play. It’s 3 mana – the same as Devouring Light but without the Convoke option – and exiles any creature with toughness 4 or more. That beats most Hydras, Brimaz, any big demon or dragon. The list goes on – in the right match ups, why would you not sideboard this in?

These are effective answers and are stronger than what we’re use to. To compare it to a recent set, Theros had Glare of Heresy, which was very restrictive, and Vanquish the Foul, which was 6 mana for a sorcery speed spell.

White Board Wipes

If there’s one colour that gets to wipe the board, it’s White. Most players have, at some point, had to face down the likes of Wrath of God and remove all their creatures. This is a little too good but even recent core sets have the like of Planar Cleansing. If you splash a little Blue, you also have the likes of Return to Ravnica’s Supreme Verdict; a card that has shaped and dominated the meta game because it was that powerful.

However, when Theros block hit the scene we saw a slight step away from these effective spells. Born of the Gods gave us Fated Retribution, which cost 7 mana. Granted, it was an instant speed spell that also removed Planeswalkers, but it was 7 mana. Likewise, M15 now gives us Mass Calcify, which is another 7 mana spell.

Worse, this one isn’t even instant speed, but it could do you some favours. It only destroys creatures which aren’t White, which clearly pushes it into a mono-White strategy, or something that only plays White creatures.

This puts it in the same area of Garruk’s Wake as a 7 mana card that stands to benefit you in the right decks and strategies. Yet, are these the strategies that want a 7 mana removal spell? White and Black can be both be evasive. More so, while Black has deathtouch, White has first strike and a bunch of exile spells to help it survive in combat.

The Final Verdict

I’m not entirely sure what’s going on, but there are clearly some changes at work. White, for instance, is trading its effective removal for slightly more clunky wipe effects and powerful common and uncommon exile spells. Black – the king of removal – has the clunky 7 drop but has only gotten worse in terms of removal.

Red, on the other hand, is still awesome and as a Red player this suits me just fine, but I do like to play Boros and Rakdos, where part of the charm was the additional spells I could gain access too.

Hopefully, Khans of Tarkir will provide some more effective spells, but since the first set is a gold block, I expect these spells won’t fit into mono-colour strategies.

What do we know about 2014’s Commander sets (post SDCC)

So, I’ve already covered the upcoming Khans of Tarkir set, unveiled at the recent San Diego Comic Con panel, but there’s also a little bit of information about Commander: specifically, this year’s 5 decks released on November 21st.

I love Commander and the pre-constructed decks have been very strong in the past. The choice of new commanders, other cards that are useful in the format and various new cards specifically designed for Commander help support the format and give new players a starting on point. I don’t have a massive collection, but I can usually take a pre-con, add a few cards of my own and I have something that’s fun to play with. So, what’s new this year?

Colours

First of all, these 5 sets will each be mono-coloured. This is a break away from the previous sets, which have all been wedge themed. Since we’ve done all 10 3-colour combinations – plus the ample enemy wedge cards coming in Khans of Tarkir – this seems like the best idea. It was either that or 2-colour guilds and we’ve already had Return to Ravnica.

Mono-coloured Commander decks haven’t had much support. Most players look to multi-colour options to make use of gold cards, charms and a wider range of effective legendary creatures. However, there’s something to be said about picking one colour and sticking too it. While you can’t cover all your bases, you can push very heavily in one direction. For instance, a mono-red deck is going to have burn spells and creatures, but it can’t deal with enchantments. It’s a simple trade off but it adds to the fun.

While we know very little about the contents, a quick wish list would have to include:

• A reprint of the command cycle or a cycle of new mono-coloured charms/commands instead. This would really help give one colour decks some flexability
• Mono coloured lands with a decent activated ability, perhaps related to the commander. Mono colour decks have less options when it comes to lands and a few options here wouldn’t hurt.

There are a few other things I’d like, but they’ve already been confirmed…

Planeswalker Commanders

Each set will come with one new Planeswalker in the deck’s respective colour. While this is exciting enough, these Planeswalkers can be used as a Commander without house rulings. This will instantly change things up and I imagine many will be giving these new options a go as soon as the set comes out.

It seems to be a decent trade off, however, since few Planeswalkers can do damage to the opponent. As such, you’re not looking for Commander damage; instead, you’re looking for an all-round decent Planeswalker that helps improve your overall position. Also, bare in mind these guys don’t have to be a commander: they’ll fit just fine in any deck and I imagine there’s a 5-colour good stuff deck out there looking to include all 5 for a super-friends strategy.

Case in point is the previewed blue card, Teferi, Temporal Archmage. When this guy hits the battlefield, he can instantly benefit you through card advantage or untapping four permanents. However, it’s the last, ultimate ability of Teferi that is interesting. Being able to activate Planeswalker abilities at any point raises a few questions:

• Can you activate abilities each turn? In 4-player commander, you could easily get certain ‘Walkers up to ultimate range before your next turn.
• Are instant speed reactions do powerful? Token generation at an end step (such as Elspeth) or boosting creatures is much more powerful at instant speed.

Yet, we have to remember that Teferi is mono-blue. If he’s your commander, you can only use him in conjuction with other mono-blue Planeswalkers. Again, this seems to be more of the trade-off Commander is getting known for – if you run him in a multi-colour deck, he won’t be your commander so you won’t see him as often, but he will be more effective.

Bare in mind this is just one example, but I hope they continue showcasing older ‘Walkers from Magic’s history. I can instantly thing of a few (Jaya for Red, Serra for White etc…) characters to include to keep older fans happy. Likewise, I hope the other options have effects as game changing as Teferi’s last option. Here’s hoping.

Previously mentioned characters

In addition to Planeswalkers, we’ll also get some new legendary creatures. This is no surprise and some new options – even if monocoloured – are always welcome. What I like is a similar approach to Teferi and co. This time, the creatures are all characters previously mentioned but never seen. Does this change gameplay? no, but it fleshes the setting out more and that means a lot to certain players.

The given example this time is the mono-black Ghoulcaller Gisa. Gisa appeared a lot in the flavour test of Innistrad and was a distinctive, memorable character. Her card instantly gets to the point and, in addition to being a perfect match in flavour, works well as a card. Gisa makes zombies every turn, as she can sacrifice one of her own 2/2 zombies to make 2 new ones. It gives her decks a constant sense of over powering opponents through sheer numbers.

I look forward to seeing how she is used, as she demands a certain play style – of course, mono Black itself demands a certain style in itself. It gives players an instant build around card, while I’m sure she’ll also fit into various other decks as a standard creature. I could, for instance, see her in some sort of Jund deck that likes to spam out creatures – perhaps with a few devour creatures to make the most of the additional tokens?

Of course, Gisa has a twin brother, Geralf, who was also important throughout Innistrad block. It can only be assumed he will make an appearance, since it seems odd to have one without the other.

New Cards

In total, there will be 61 new cards, with 15 per deck. If we imagine each deck has it’s own Planeswalker and Legendary creature, that’s 2 taken per deck and 10 off of the total. That leaves 41 new cards between 13 spaces per deck. I imagine there will be a few overlapping staples, such as mana rocks or a land that utilises your commander, while each will also get some strong mono-coloured options. As I said before, there are a few things I’m hoping for a few cards and there is definitely room to include them.

For now, only time will tell but I am looking forward to this set very much. It’s something to keep an eye on.

 

Where does Stoke the Flames sit in Standard?

I’m a Red player, so I naturally love burn spells. That said, not every burn spells is good by default. Others often have potential but get overlooked. For instance, right now I love Mizzium Mortars but, when that card goes out, I think I need this in my burn deck:

Yet, it’s 4 mana versus a 2 mana spell. Both do 4 damage. The difference, of course, is that Stoke the Flames can deal damage to the opponent, making it much more versatile (although Mortar’s Overload will be missed).

Convoke

Of course, a 4 mana spell isn’t that bad when you have Convoke, so long as you the creatures. It is here, however, where Stoke the Flames runs into a problem. I can’t run this in a straight-up burn deck. I want less mana and few creatures and the creatures I do want – I’m looking at you, Young Pyromaster and Guttersnipe, are quickly on their way out of Standard. If I play any other creatures at this point, they’re only slowing me down.

That said, if you have the creatures, is Stoke the Flames any good? Maybe, but if you need to tap your creatures to cast it then you have creatures that aren’t attacking… in a Red deck.

4 Damage Matters

In terms of any real benefit, that extra damage offered by Stoke the Flames is vitally important in the current metagame. There are a number of 3/3 creatures but there are also a fair few 4 toughness threats on the board. Prime example? Brimaz. This legendary cat is a threat that needs answering, as a 3/4 with vigilance will slow any deck down and I would rather not waste two cheaper burn spells to remove him.

Similarly, if you let him stick around your opponent is going to have the advantage in 1/1 tokens. A single cat token isn’t a threat on its own, but in numbers they can provide chump blockers or even racing potential when they swing en mass. Again, from the perspective of a burn deck, I don’t want to waste cards on them and, with Overload about to rotate in the coming months, I don’t have a one card answer in Red.

Okay, there is Scouring Sands but that is very much a sideboard card. Moving on…

Burn’s Potential

Right now, I think there is a lot of potential for burn decks, where Convoke may be needed. We have some prime burn spells right now, such as Lightning Strike, Magma Jet and Convoke the Flames. This give you the option to deal 2,3 and 4 damage as and when you require.

Of course, even with full playsets this only gives you 12 cards. 12 burn spells does not a deck make and, without the support cards, we run into some hurdles. We could run other burn spells, such as Magma Spray and Spite of Mogis, that only deal damage to a creature, but this doesn’t really help the overall goal. At a push, we could also run Bolt of Keranos – even with the Scry, 3 damage for 3 mana isn’t exactly great.

While we’re on the subject of alternative burn spells – Fated Conflagration. It’s 5 damage for 4 mana, which is great, but it only deals damage to creatures and planeswalkers. That said, it’s an awesome sideboard card and if Standard shapes up to feature lots of Planeswalkers I can see a copy or two moving into the main deck.

So, what does care about spells? Personally, I think there might be room for Red/Blue shenanigans. Spellheart Chimera, for instance, gets bigger the more spells you throw into the yard but, even in Standard, there are ways to interact with the graveyard and get rid of the cards.

Similarly, we have the likes of Oracle of Bones – and a certain Sphinx in M15 – that can let you cast cards without paying for them. This might not always happen but, if and when it does, you get a little extra value. Of course, in a burn deck most opponents will choose to pay the Oracle’s tribute cost and other colors, such as Black, don’t need to fear it.

All in all, I’m just thinking out loud right now, although I do feel a terrible deck tech coming on. Still, Khans of Tarkir could bring some decent burn in, or creatures that like instants and sorceries. If it does, I’ll quickly return to this topic…

Something’s bugging me about M15…

Okay, so M15 has Siege Dragon, which I love…

It comes into play, destroying all walls and if you don’t have any walls when it attacks, it burns down all your ground creatures. It’s elegant and simple. It also goes well with the many walls in M15, such as Wall of Frost and Coral Barrier. I get it, it burns down walls and attacks what was hiding behind. It’s very flavourful but M15 also has this card…

What’s going on here? “Quick, let’s hide behind this wall of fire so the Dragon can’t burn us with fire!”

In terms of flavour, the Red vs Red mirror matches could be very weird…

Card Spotlight: Stab Wound

If there’s one card I was glad to see return in M15, as well as something I believe was underplayed in Standard, it’s Stab Wound.

I remember Stab Wound as an absolute mini-bomb in Return To Ravnica block limited, if you knew how to play it right. So why do I still like it now?

Ah, The Options…

The best and most obvious aspect of Stab Wound is that you can use it in one of three ways. First of all, you can use it as removal on something with 2 toughness or less. As long as you can target it, this will get rid of something. It’s not perfect, but removal is removal and Black decks like to kill things.

Secondly, you can simply weaken something. Want to trade your 2/2 for a 4/4? Stick Stab Wound on a big guy and it can’t block as profitably as it would have liked. This approach forces opponents to trade downward – something I loved in Return to Ravnica – and means you’re little guys make a bigger impact in the late game. Case in point: Put Stab Wound on a Ghor-Clan Rampager and you can trade with an unleashed Rakdos Cackler – that’s a one-drop matching a 4-drop in base stats.

Finally, you can simply use it to keep your opponents life total down. If they have something big enough, you can ensure the creature lives while the enchantment drains their life total. Of course, this also means your opponent will want to get rid of their own creature, so it helps to try and put this on things that can’t block. I know it’s a long shot, but this fact alone makes me want to try and make this card work with Gnarled Scarhide, which brings me to my next point because…

…It’s An Enchantment.

In the current Standard, it’s safe to say enchantment’s matter. Constellation is a thing and it works well with cheap enchantments.

Black doesn’t have the most Constellation effects, but it has two I like. Doomwake Giant is good at making the opponents side smaller. It’s highly effective against wide decks but it still makes its impact felt in all match-ups regardless.

Secondly, if you feel like going Black-White, you could play these cards with Underworld Coinsmith. The Coinsmith let’s you nip at the opponents life with your own. Yet the Coinsmith will let you gain a bit back thanks to Constellation, while Stab Wound helps drain even more. Is it strong enough to work in Standard? Probably not, but I like it all the same and it’s a deck I’m toying with in my mind at the moment. Let’s not forget Atheros is a powerful card – and an indesctructible enchantment – in his/her/it’s own right.

That said, Green has some very easy ways to remove all enchantments and this could give Black a major drawback in these match-ups. If you’re going the Underworld Coinsmith route, you have the likes of God’s Willing to save key pieces, but it probably won’t be enough to work.

Poor Removal

However, although I’ve said you can use Stab Wound as removal, it’s no doom blade. While M15 limited is sparce of decent black kill spells, the Standard metagame at the moment is not. Heck, there is no way this card can compare to Hero’s Downfall but – in the right decklist – why not run both?

All I’m saying is being able to kill something with Stab Wound is nice but it is not the main purpose of the card – but who is going to complain with that alternative upside?

Looking into M15’s Clash Pack

I was never a big fan of the Event decks. Sometimes I really wanted one and come the next set I would change my mind. I think part of the problem with Event decks is that they needed to suit your play style. Someone who likes mid-range or control decks isn’t going to like an aggressive build and vise versa. Even when they shrunk them down to one Event deck, instead of two, I didn’t always jump for joy.

That said, the new Clash Packs, which will alternate with Event Decks, could tempt me. M15 has the first of these and it’s looking like a very tempting buy…

(If anyone wants the official deck lists, they’re over here)

How many rares?

I know rarity doesn’t always make up  a card’s given use or value – for an example of an awesome common, see good old Lightning Bolt – but it’s a good idea of the punches being pulled by any reconstructed deck. For the Clash Pack, I count 12 rares, split evenly with 6 in each deck. That still means a 60 card deck, for anyone wanting to split the two, has 6 rares and that’s very good value compared to an intro deck.

As a result, I think this will appeal to collector’s and players alike. When it comes to the latter, this is great for new players who want a slightly better deck to jump in with, or simply want to improve their available cards.

The Alternative Art Promos

Seriously, who doesn’t love promos? New art and a foil treatment often brings out the inner magpie in all of us, so having 6 to choose from is fantastic. Of course, people are often drawn to personal favourites and this Clash Pack rewards the Green player. Still, whether you want the cards for Standard, Modern or even your Commander deck, these cards alone will tempt many.

One of my personal favourites is Hydra Broodmaster. I loved this card anyway, since the X factor gives this card strong potential in any stage of the game. That aside, the art is similar to the last one but it has that extra touch of detail – plus, you know, it’s so shiny, that I have to have it. Of course, a card doesn’t need to be competitive to be desirable – this is an in-standard rare that clearly has some use, as well as being Green’s iconic creature. Someone will want this and, if you don’t, I’ll take it off you.

Second to the Hydra, there are a couple of Blue-Green cards I think might catch on. The Prophet of Kruphix is absolutely beautiful, but the card itself only sees fringe play in Standard right now. Still, if you’re a fan of the card, why would you not want this one?

Furthermore, I think Temple of Mystery is going to be a highly demanded card. It’s a dual land, which is a good start. Come Khans of Tarkir we do lose the shocklands, which may make the scry lands much more playable. That said, this is only one Temple, so it depends how well Blue-Green turns out.

However, there are two other things that bother me slightly. First of all, all of these promos are rare except one. Font of fertility is a very useful card but it is a common. While the artwork is beautiful and I love it to pieces, this might be a problem in certain scenarios. Imagine two new players buying half of this deck each – they might feel cheated when they realise one of their promos is a common. That said, many FNM promos are common and we compete for those all the same.

Secondly, these cards are all from Theros Block. I understand M15 is new, but there are no promos from the core set at all. I wouldn’t mind so much but, as I’ll mention again later, very few of these cards are from M15 at all – one or two promos would of been nice. I’m not asking for a Jace and Nissa here, just something that fits the theme of each deck.

The Decklists

With all that aside, how do the decks fair? The Clash Pack has two 60 card decks: Fate is a Blue-Green deck and Fury is a Green-Red deck. Straight away, this suggests two different play styles.

Fate, for instance, seems to want to go for the long game with a fair few controlling elements. We have the likes of Frost Link to tap, Kiora’s follower to tap/untap to your hearts content and Curse of the Swine: a potential piece of removal that I think often get’s underrated.  It has some solid mid-range creatures in the form of Thassa’s Emissary and Horizon Chimera.

Outside creatures, this deck has plenty of blue spells. All its instants and sorceries will either draw you cards, weaken something or unsummon it. There are more than enough tricks here, although there is plenty of room for improvement. Over all, it ties the two colours down simply: stop your opponent’s threats before you get something worthwhile down. The card draw also ties well with Horizon Chimera, helping to give this deck a little combo-power.

As for Fury, it’s clearly more of a beat-down deck. There are a number of cards here that like to ramp, such as a full playset of Elvish Mystic and 2 copies of Generator Servant and Voyaging Satyr. When you have big fatties such as Hydra Broodmaster, you want as much mana as you can get.

You also have Genesis Hydra, which is a rare card form M15 I’m keeping my eye on. Genesis Wave was a powerful card and this reduced version comes with it’s own body. This works well in a deck with other fatties and the card has plenty of potential: a deck like Fury might do a very good job at showing this off.

However, I do feel this deck needs a bit more in the way of removal. It’s fantastic at laying down creatures and getting as much land/mana out as possible, but removal is still removal. 2 copies of Lightning Strike will not cut it and I really don’t like Boulderfall as a card. Even in limited I would rarely pick this card up and in constructed it’s just unplayable.

I also think its mid-range needs improving. I would take out the Ill-Tempered Cyclops and look to include Fanatic of Xenagos, which is much more of an immediate threat. If you want trample, there are better ways than the Cyclops.

Over all, these decks aren’t bad. I haven’t played them so I honestly don’t know which one is better – if any – but I think they could be slightly more well balanced.

The ‘Combined Deck’

When the decks were first announced, it was suggested you could combine the two halves – or the best bits, at least – to create a 60 card deck equal to an Event deck. I can see there are numerous cards here that are pushing that – the flashy promos, the two rares from M15 and the cards that come in 4’s and 3’s, for instance – but the overall goal isn’t made clear. Is this a control deck, a green ramp deck or some obscure hybrid. Many of the promos cost 5 mana or more, which is putting a lot of faith in the late game.

Of course, a lot of what I am saying is pure speculation. I look forward to seeing this deck in action, as well as how well received it is. The next set  – Khans of Tarkir – will have an Event deck, but the set after that will see a new Clash Pack. I’m already dreaming of foil Dragon promos…

M15: What’s with all the artifacts?

M15 seems to be the gift that keeps on giving. At the very least, it’s one of the most exciting core sets we’ve had to play with in a long time. In between the various cycles, awesome cards and reprints, there also seems to be a strong artifact sub-theme…

For a start, we have the 5 staffs but let’s ignore those because they were horrible last time and I have no love for them here, either. What we do have, however, are a few things much more exciting…

The Mythic Trilogy

The biggest, most bomb-ish of artifacts in M15 are arguably its 3 mythic artifacts. I’ve already covered Soul of New Phyrexia, so let’s look at the two non-creature options.

First up is The Chain Veil. This card is just nuts in any situation outside of limited. Although you risk losing a little life, you get to use a planeswalker twice during your turn. This goes well with literally any planeswalker, but even in Standard this card is going to be desirable.

In extreme situations, of course, you could ultimate a planeswalker twice but, more than likely, you’ll either use a +1 ability twice or follow it up with a middle negative ability. Heck, this thing is going to be powerful with Garruk, Apex Predator. Want to kill two planeswalkers in one turn? Go ahead…

Outside of standard, this will find a home in Commander. As for modern, I’m not so sure – I expect there are Tron players out there looking to slide a copy or two of this card into their mainboards.

Alongside The Chain Veil and Soul of New Phyrexia, we also have Perilous Vault. This card is deadly, effectively acting as a very efficient board wipe in any colour that wants it. It doesn’t just destroy creatures, it exiles them. The only thing it leaves behind is land, which effectively removes the vast majority of threats. As I said, this is an artifact, yet it only costs 4 to cast and 5 to activate. This makes it very effective cost-wise, even in White. If it’s not in the main deck, I expect this card to be put into numerous sideboards. Blue-White control, perhaps?

Rare Creatures

Even at rare level, we have a number of creatures that are looking strong. First of all, I’m going to include Haunted Plate Mail. The card is playable and has featured in niche decks, so perhaps it might get some more look this time around.

Otherwise, let’s consider the potential for Scuttling Doom Engine. Awesome name aside, there is potential for this card. It’s 6 mana for a 6/6, which isn’t bad, but this is a creature that likes to swing in and deal damage. It can’t be blocked by creatures with power 2 or less, making it an effective strategy to decks that go wide (I imagine it literally walks over them).

Secondly, this thing does 6 damage when it dies. Sure, it has to target an opponent but there’s even an upside when it does. I love this card and I hope it finds a home in Standard: it is good, but at 6 mana it’s competing with the aforementioned Soul of New Phyrexia. I would like it in modern, but is it too costly for Affinity decks?

Although it’s a reprint, there are plenty of reasons to get excited over Phyrexian Revoke. At 2 mana, this 2/1 is okay vanilla wise, but it comes with a free Pithing Needle-esque effect. You can name any nonland card, making it an effective way to shut down creatures, other artifacts and even planeswalkers. This might be a good way to keep Garruk under wraps, or even ensure that Polukranos doesn’t become Monstrous any time soon.

Is this enough for a mono-artifact strategy? No, but these cards give every deck an option. The Revoke is good for control decks while the Scuttling Doom Engine is great for anyone wanting to be aggressive with typical beat-down strategies.

Equipment

Equipment in a core set – or any set for that matter – is not to unexpected. However, M15 is packing some interesting cards, with numerous new equipment options.

Shield of the Avatar does a great job at giving white weenie strategies a way to get past bigger creatures. It also shuts down the likes of Red burn spells, since they have to push through the shield to kill your biggest threat. Normally I’d look elsewhere for effects like this but the Shield only costs 1 mana to play and another 2 to equip. This makes it highly effective in both the early and late game, so I imagine this will find home in White decks – especially those that run the likes of Elspeth, Sun’s Champion.

At lower rarities, we have Rogue’s Gloves and Brawler’s Plate. The former adds card advantage while the latter offers a nice stat boost with trample. These may become draft staples and I imagine they may see fringe constructed play. Still, they’re nice cards and I’ll be happy to have them.

There’s also Avarice Amulet. While I don’t the card is suitable in Standard play – it does give you card advantage, but you’re opponent will simply kill the creature and take it for themselves – the card looks fun in multiplayer. Since you get to choose the opponent, it offers a nice political aspect and, if you manage to keep hold of it, it allows for simple card advantage.

As for Hot Soup, while I love the idea of the card I can’t say I’m excited to play it. Hot Soup makes a creature unblockable, but at a cost. If a deck really wants such evasion, there are better ways to achieve this.

Other Enablers

Outside of creatures and equipment, there are also a few other enablers that look like they could be surprisingly powerful.

Obelisk of Urd is a card that instantly draws comparisons to Dictate of Heliod (I seem to be comparing more than a few cards to Dictate). Both give creatures +2/+2, although the Obelisk asks for a specific colour. As such, it fits better into a mono-colour strategy and may be useful to mono-green, for instance.

However, what is really important here is the addition to convoke. If you’re playing anthems, you’re playing more than a few creatures already. Get 3 creatures out by turn 3 and you can play this 6 drop easily.

Other than this, we have the reprint of Grindclock, which is leaving more than a few heads scratched. It’s not that it is a bad card, it’s that it asks for a certain strategy and it isn’t the fastest at delivering it.

Similarly, M15 also has Tyrant’s Machine, which I think will become useful in limited. As for further play, I doubt it. There’s a similar enchantment in Blue within Journey Into Nyx and that doesn’t see play, even with Constellation.

Still, these options round out the Core set with traditional staples. These serve as basic utilities and, in limited environments, allow colours to stretch what they can do. Equipment and other creatures also provide options to can fit into any deck. While they’re never the most well-costed, they’re useful for when drafts have gone wrong: I’ve had more than a few drafts where I wasn’t in the right colour (or any colour) so being able to plug some gaps in my playable options was more than helpful.

Big in Blue

Also, there’s this combination:

a 5/5 Indestructible on turn 2? There are few 2-drops that can compete with that. Even without the Citadel, Ensoul artifact encourages many blue schenanigans. It can turn useless equipment into a 5/5 – even in the late game, that can be a powerful weapon. Furthermore, Blue has a few more options up its sleeve too…

Aeronaut Tinkerer is a card that likes artifacts. A 2/3 for 3 isn’t bad, but a flying one is great. Of course, you could simply run Darksteel Citadel or a handful of artifacts – you only need one – but this goes well with Ensoul Artifact too. The 5/5 creature will still be an artifact, giving the Tinkerer the flying it needs to be more evasive. It feels very Esper but, as far as M15 is concerned, it’s only in Blue.

Case in point: Chief Engineer. This guy doesn’t make cards necessarily cheaper, but convoke gives you the option to do so when you want. If you consider some of the big, splashy artifacts I’ve mentioned so far – such as Scuttling Doom Engine – you can see some very good reasons to utilise convoke and get these threats on the board as soon as possible.

While I don’t think this is a deck in and of itself, I hope upcoming sets, such as Khans of Tarkir, help give a better idea of what to do…

Useful in future Standard?

With all these flashy artifacts around, are there any hints for the future? The current standard doesn’t have anything to do with artifacts, so is this a sign of things to come in Khans of Tarkir?

However, while we do know core sets often have cards suggesting a lot to do with the next block, I imagine this card is more likely to be such an example:

Or, perhaps, this is simple a response to Theros Block. That block highly favoured enchantments over artifacts, so M15 might be trying to resaturate the metagame with these colourless options. Only time will tell.