In case anyone’s been wondering where I’ve been, I’ve started a new collaborative effort. After all, it’s much more fun to discuss Magic with friends.
As such, I’ll be posting more general stuff on my new site MTG Scoop, with any more personal stuff coming over here. Scoop is still new but I hope to have more content.
Likewise, if you could please have a look over the coming weeks, I would appreciate any potential feed back. We would love to hear what people want to read and watch.
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:
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.
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:
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:
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.
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.
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.
I’ve already toyed with the idea of making a deck around Ajani’s Pridemate, but this time I want to look at a deck that works well with the card, but does not make it the one key component.
Fortunately enough, Pridemate is a soldier and once you see Preeminent Captain, it’s hard not to put two and two together. Once you put these together, the path is obvious: look for other white cards that share a soldier creature-type. You could easily splash other colours, but this deck seems solid enough that secondary colours aren’t easily warranted. Let’s take a look…
LANDS
22 Plains
CREATURES
4 Ajani’s Pridemate
4 Preeminent Captain
4 Paragon of New Dawns
4 Dawn Bringer Charioteers
ENCHANTMENTS
4 Banishing Light
ARTIFACTS
2 Obelisk of Urd
SPELLS
4 Gods Willing
4 Raise the Alarm
4 Pillar of Light
PLANESWALKERS
2 Ajani Steadfast
The Soldiers
This deck has 16 creatures, all of which are soldiers. Although each is playable in its own right, the real key player here is Preeminent Captain.
A 2/2 with first strike for 3 mana is playable, although it’s not the most aggressive in it’s own right. However, it’s the captain’s second ability that makes him worth while. Since this guy triggers when he attacks, you can choose to take a solider from your hand. This frees up mana for other things, notably keeping protection spells open, and essentially helps you play more than your mana would normally allow.
This deck runs Soldiers between 2 and 4 mana: while I could use bigger creatures, I want to be able to play anything on it’s own without the captain present. Still, being able to swing in on turn 4 and get your 4-drop into play attacking is worth while.
Outside Preeminent Captain, we have the previously mentioned pridemate. A 2/2 isn’t great – and this deck doesn’t do much in the way of gaining life – but it’s something that can be played before the Captain or used as additional support. Heck, start with 2 pridemate’s and a captain and you can play all of them by turn 3.
In terms of 4-drops, we have Dawn Bringer Charioteers. A 2/4 flying creature with lifelink is good and this card has the chance upside of triggering it’s heroic ability. Yet it’s the lifelink that works well with the Pridemate. We’re not running cards just to gain lifelink, we’re using a creature that is strong in it’s own right.
As added support, our second 4-drop is Paragon of New Dawn. This card is a solider and gives all white creatures +1/+1. Since all our soldiers are white, this is a win-win situation. On the downside, it’s a 2/2, but it boosts other creatures so your opponent has to choose between taking it out or letting another creature – now boosted – through.
While this is 8 4-drops and only 4 2-drops and 4 3-drops, I’m also running a full playset of Raise the Alarm. This isn’t a token deck, but it has a few benefits for going large. These soldiers won’t trigger from the captain, but they benefit from other anthem effects, such as the aforementioned Paragon of New Dawn.
At this point, I should note this deck is only running 22 plains. I was considering more, but the mana curve is relatively low and the plan is to get things on the board via the captain. I’m not looking to do anything too fancy with mana.
Anthems
This deck is a semi-tribal deck and looks to make its soldiers bigger. I’ve already mentioned 
Paragon of New Dawns. While it itself is weak, it boosts creatures across the board and can be an unusual combat trick when introduced via the captain’s trigger.
Additionally, I’m also running 2 copies of Obelisk of Urd. This is 6 mana, which is expensive, the convoke ability helps bring it down a little – the soldier tokens from Raise the Alarm also help. This is the reason I chose it over Dictate of Heliod. Both, in this instance, do nothing more than grant +2/+2, but Dictate will always be 5 mana while the Obelisk could arguably be as low as 2 or 3 mana.
Since we’re looking to support our soldiers and make them bigger, I’ve included 2 copies of Ajani Steadfast. His second ability gives everyone a counter while his first ability gives something lifelink and vigilance, as well as a temporary boost. This works well with the Pridemate and leaves a creature up, which could also prove ideal for convoke, as well as leaving something left to block.
Support
In addition to anthem effects, there’s also 4 copies of Gods Willing, as well as playsets of Banishing Light and Pillar of Light. The former serves as protection – for the moment, you should replace this with Brave the Elements but M14 isn’t around for ever – while the latter provide 8 potential forms of removal.
SIDEBOARD
I normally don’t plan a sideboard straight away, but this deck has a few options. At the very least, I want to include:
4 Aegis of the Gods
3 Elspeth, Suns Champion
These options should be simple enough. Aegis of the Gods is a great way to protect yourself, which is good against Red decks (burn spells to the dome) and Black decks (hand attack such as Thoughtseize).
Elspeth, likewise, makes more soldiers, can remove threats and generally supports this strategy. However, she’s a 6 mana card without any way 
to make her cheaper. Her position in the sideboard is purely because I think she can be sided in in longer games.
Other than this, I would suggest looking for other soldiers that might make the cut. I’m considering taking out some the Pridemates and replacing them with Aegis of the Gods, in which case I would also replace the Dawn Bringers with a playset of Skyspear Cavalry – if I’m not looking for life gain to support the Pridemate, the double strike is much, much more aggressive. A perfect fit.
Well, that’s about it for now. I don’t think this deck is all that competitive, but it’s a fun little deck that plays simply, but fun. Preeminent Captain is a bit of a curve ball of a card, but it gives itself a way too quickly. The moment it hits the table, your opponent knows what you’re up to and starts to think of all the soldiers you could be running.
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:
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:
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.
So, San Diego Comic Con has been and gone, updating many of us on the next six months of Magic. For now, let’s have a look at what is exciting me the most – not that it was the only thing worth noting – the next fall set, Khans of Tarkir.
Block Structure
We’ve already known about Khan‘s ‘unique block structure’ but no we know what it is… well, it is definitely unique. When Khans of Tarkir comes out it will be a typical draft of Khans/Khans/Khans, which is simple enough.
Similarly, when the following small-set comes out – currently codenamed “Dewey” – is released, that will be added to the front of the draft for a Dewey/Khans/Khans format. Simple so far.
However, when the next set – which is a Large set – codenamed “Louie” hits stores, we’ll drop Khans of Tarkir completely. As the third set, it will be drafted first yet, at a large set, it will have two packs. This results in a draft format of Louie/Louie/Dewey. Now that’s a little different.
Is there anything to say at this point? Well, not really, as it all very much depends on the cards. After the second set comes out, we will be drafting a large and small set in some variation or another. I imagine the two large sets will be very different from each other in some form or another, making the small set a bridging device between the two. Whether this comes from a change in mechanics or something more thematic is yet to be seen.
Likewise, how does this affect sealed decks? Will that still be an equal split between 3 sets or will this change too? There’s nothing to go on right now but either way I am highly excited and curious.
Time-Travel
Everyone remembers when Wizards last did time travel, right? This isn’t going to be another Time Spiral block, but there is a time travel element to Khans block, something that can perhaps be seen in the draft structure itself.
Flavor wise, this will likely tie in to a theme of ‘butt loads of dragons’. Tarkir is the home of Sarkhan Vol and we already know the world once had dragons, but does not anymore. Since Dragons are very important to Sarkhan, I think it’s obvious that they will reappear in some form or another, although the general opinion right now is that Khans of Tarkir will be dragon-less or very, very light.
Wedges
Khans of Tarkir will also be a wedge set. Specifically, it will focus on the five enemy wedges, the 3 colour groupings not seen in Alara block. 
These represent the five clans on the plane of Tarkir. Interestingly, however, is the fact that the wider Khans block will not be focused on wedges: I suspect this is part of the ‘time travel’ storyline.
The five clans are:
Each group get’s its own mechanic and watermark. While the watermark is a flavorful touch, it does hopefully mean this set is a little like Alara, with each colour combination getting it’s own mechanic and style of play. We don’t know the mechanics yet, but there is plenty of potential. However, I think we can all confess to a little wishlist when it comes to the following:
You’ll notice I haven’t asked for 3 colour legendary commanders, as that already seems to be present. During SDCC, the first look at the forthcoming duel deck – Speed vs Cunning – was released and with it we can see one of the new Mythic legendary characters in Khans of Tarkir:
No look at any new mechanics, but we get a look at the Mardu playstyle. Zurgo Helmsmasher hits hard and fast, getting bigger when he kills things. Sure, he has a major weakness with only two power, but he’s indestructible when he attacks, which is what really counts. I can see this guy being a great commander for Red, White and Black, which doesn’t have many options right now.
The 6th Mechanic
So, each Clan has a mechanic on its own, making for 5 so far. There is, however, a 6th mechanic that plays out across each colour and it is a 
returning mechanic. Morph is an unusual ability that many love, but many hate. You can play a morph card face-down as a 2/2 for 3 mana – admittedly not great – but you can turn it face up for it’s morph cost. This will vary from card to card but, in the past, it is a nasty combat trick. Many also have abilities that trigger when turned face up, making morph cards a deadly guessing game.
I can’t wait to see how morph works when built into a modern Magic set. Will it be played down, or put into full effect across all colours? Likewise, will we see cards that punish morph creatures? Heck, cards like Anger of the Gods are very effective when your opponent has a strong preference for 2/2 creatures.
Either way, I think it’s a bold choice to bring morph back and, for now, I welcome it. I think it may play better in draft rather than constructed but it’s proven to be a solid mechanic in the past – many players are probably already thinking of ways to make the most of it.
So, all in all, that is a lot more than we use to know. We now have an idea of what to expect, even though we’ve only seen the one card. It’s clear there’s a lot going on in Khans and I expect we will see a little more over the coming months.
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…
Sometimes a key card from Modern get’s reprinted in Standard and there is a strong urge to recreate the deck in Standard. However, without the rest of the support cards, it’s never really going to be the same. Still, when I see the following…
I can’t help thinking about Soul Sisters. We don’t have the titular Sisters, but we have the muscle right here, right?
LANDS
22 Plains
CREATURES
4 Ajani’s Pridemate
4 Soul Mender
4 Wall of Essence
4 Nyx-Fleece Ram
4 Solider of the Pantheon
ENCHANTMENTS
4 Divine Favor
SPELLS
4 God’s Willing
4 Pillar of Light
4 Return to the Ranks
2 Solemn Offering
Clearly, I’m thinking out loud with a lot of this. The mana curve is very low and there aren’t many threats here – I just wanted to explore the possibilities in Standard right now…
The ‘Sisters’
Since we have Ajani’s Pridemate in Standard, we need some sort of life-gaining engine to go with this. Since there isn’t any effective way to gain life from creatures entering the battlefield – which is a shame, given the ways to make tokens at the moment – we need to look for something just as reliable or, at least, something that’s guaranteed to gain life once a turn.
First of all, we have Soul Mender. I normally would never play this in Standard, since it’s just a 1/1 for one White mana with a marginal upside, but here it can be pretty useful. You can play it on turn one, lay down Pridemate on turn 2 and then tap the Soulmender to make a 3/3 on turn 2. If the Soulmender lives, you can give the Pridemate +1/+1 a turn. Sure this isn’t as powerful as a sister triggering off of a spectral procession, but it will do.
I also threw in a playset of Soldier of the Pantheon. I included these for lack of a better option – hey, it’s an aggressive one drop and while it might not always gain life, there are a few important multicolour cards in Standard.
After this, I’m going with 2 drops. Wall of Essence is a 0/4 Wall for 2, which isn’t bad. People have played these in Modern, but that’s usually for card advantage. Wall of Essence has no such advantage, but it gains life when it takes damage. Is this guaranteed life gain? No, but it gives you protection and an 
advantage nonetheless.
Similarly, we have Nyx-Fleece Ram. It’s a 0/5, which makes it better than Wall of Essence in terms of stats, but it is an enchantment: it will likely die sooner because of this. Still, you can gain 1 life each upkeep, adding a regular amount of power on top of your Pridemate.
I want a full play-set of each for now, giving you 12 creatures that gain life. This might be too many, since they all require Pridemate to be out for any real effect. Plus, this deck is lacking any to get Pridemate out from the library. You could splash Green for Chord of Calling, but somehow I don’t think paying 5 mana to get a 2/2 out will be very effective in the late game.
Support
Fortunately, there is one potential benefit to have a large amount of 1 and 2 drops. Return to the Ranks can easily get back your entire board if it goes away. 
It costs 2 White mana and X to return X, so you can easily get back a Pridemate for 3 mana, or a Pridemate and some life gaining friends for 4-5 mana. Furthermore, with Convoke, you can get this into play even cheaper.
While that would normally leave you at a disadvantage thanks to tapping your blockers, it shouldn’t be a problem when you’re gaining so much life. If you’re doing okay, you can afford to take a few extra hits to restore your board.
Furthermore, I’m running 4 copies of God’s Willing. This is for simple protection, while the scry is useful. I would run Brave the Elements – we’re mono-White after all – but that will rotate out post-Khans of Tarkir so I want to try and keep this deck with future-Standard in mind.
I’ve also included 2 copies of Solemn Offering, as it gains life and deals with both enchantments and artifacts. I would put another 2 in the sideboard, as enchantments are a big thing and I imagine a few of M15‘s artifacts might see constructed play.
Alternative Versions
So, where else could you take Ajani’s Pridemate? Other than mono-white, I would be tempted to splash Black and make a deck similar to Black / White constellation. There are enough lands to make it work and M15 also has Wall of Limbs, which has a similar effect to Pridemate. Yet it has defender, so you can’t attack with it. 
You can, however, sacrifice it for 7 mana to reduce your opponent’s life total by X, where X is its power. You could easily get Wall of Limbs to a high figure, but it would take a lot and would invite a very slow style of play: there are too many chances for your opponent to remove the Wall as a threat before hand. Even if you’re not trying to Gain 20 life to win (by dealing 20 to the opponent) it costs 7 mana to use – that’s a lot for a deck where a 3-drop would be considered costly.
However, if you want to stay mono White, you could try some bestow creatures, such as Hopeful Eidolon, and enchantments ala Ordeal of Heliod alongside Hero of Iroas. This could be a little more aggressive but the enchantments open it up to some big weaknesses. For late game strategy, you could try including Soul of Theros. Maybe not a full playset, but perhaps 2 copies?
Mana Badger 