Hello, everyone – I’m here to announce that Happy Bennie is back! I know over the last few columns my attitude may have been a bit of a downer given that the metagame was stinking and stagnant once you peeled back the veneer of so-called diversity. Normally new sets get me excited about Magic all over again, but the impeding release of Alara Reborn had not penetrated my gloom, since honestly, what was a small expansion set in an underpowered block going to do to this Standard metagame?
Whoa. What a difference a week makes!
As I write this, MTGSalvation has the spoiler nearly complete, and I have to say I now have high hopes that the new set is indeed going to shake up the metagame to its very foundation! Wow, are there some awesome cards, not only just flat out insanely powerful cards but also a whole host of fantastic utility cards that get the job done better than the tools we currently have. I am so looking forward to cracking open packs this weekend and scrambling to find all the cards I need for the impending PTQs and Regionals.
Speaking of this weekend, have you made your plans to go to an Alara Reborn prerelease tournament? I’ll be working the “big” StarCityGames event here in Richmond Virginia this weekend, but with a really cool twist – once I help get the event started working the admin table, I’ll be breaking away to do some gunslinging! I got to do that a few years back for Grand Prix: Richmond, and it was a real blast. So once you finish your flight, bring your sealed deck over and duel me, and if you beat me you get a pack of Alara Reborn.
I decided to hold back on my review of Alara Reborn because the set is so amazing I want to give it a proper amount of time, as well as a chance to have each of the cards confirmed. In the meantime, this new set has stirred up some really great conversations between some of my friends and around the net, and I wanted to bring them here to my readers and see what you all think.
WARNING! There are spoilers below…
Meddling Mage’s new artwork
When I first heard that Meddling Mage was coming back, I thought that was pretty cool – this was the first “real” reprinting of an Invitational card (I don’t really count the Time-Shifted ones from Time Spiral), and one that was warranted since Pikula’s creation was truly a masterpiece of design – clean, easy to understand, powerful and a real boon to good Magic players.
Then Evan Erwin revealed the new artwork in last week’s The Magic Show… and all heck broke out.
At first I heard grumblings that people preferred the old artwork; there’s even a facebook group formed called something like I Hate the New Meddling Mage Artwork! I found that rather incredulous, since Todd Lockwood’s new art is stunningly beautiful and, as handsome as smilin’ Chris Pikula is, he doesn’t hold a candle to a dazzling fantasy female form. It did occur to me that people might start referring to the new Meddling Mage as Cross-Dressed Pikula, and I even had visions of Chris Pikula showing up for a Pro Tour or Grand Prix in a white dress as a joke.
Then I heard some folks indicating that the new artwork was an insult to Chris. Really?
My good friend and former Pro player Ken Krouner made this argument to me:
[Pikula] flew across the world to play in a publicity tournament for WotC that had 1 prize. A card of his design with his face on it… there’s no question this is a slap in the face and a reduction in prize 7 years after the fact…
Whatever their reason may be, the result is the same, Chris’s prize was taken from him. It may be a slap in the face that will benefit the Magic community in the long run, but it’s still a slap in the face.
When they reprinted Kai and Jon they had no problem using the old picture. Even if they felt a new one was necessary, I don’t understand the logic in not putting Chris in the new one too.
… The theory behind the Invitational was publicity for Wizards where these players would go to compete for no prize other than the card. Chris lost some of his prize in a way no one else did….
From what I understand, Ken is expressing the feelings that many others have in their extreme disappointment in Wizards’ decision to run with new artwork. At first I was baffled – Chris designed the card, he didn’t do the artwork. I would think Chris would be thrilled that another generation of Magic players will get to play with his creation!
And yet, without his picture on the card, will newer players have any idea that Meddling Mage has any connection to Chris Pikula? I’m not so sure that newer players would have any idea about Meddling Mage’s connection to Pikula even if the original artwork was used, though the “style” of art would certainly stand out from the rest of the set’s art. I’m figuring that the clash in art style was the reason for the change, though it probably would have been nice if they’d asked Todd Lockwood to work Pikula’s face into the new art somehow. I imagine that someone from Wizards of the Coast will address this decision at some point, either in one of the regular weekly columns or perhaps in an “Wizards Asks” feature.
For what it’s worth, my opinion is that it’s the card that is tied to Chris – that’s what he designed, and that’s what’s been reprinted. New art, old art – it shouldn’t matter. What do you think?
How does Maelstrom Pulse compare to Vindicate and Putrefy?
Hopefully you’ve seen this awesome new card:
Maelstrom Pulse – 1BG
Sorcery (Rare)
Destroy target nonland permanent and each permanent that shares a name with that permanent.
When I first saw this card, I thought – wow, what a great card! One-for-one removal for any non-land problem that ails you, with the bonus of being able to occasionally nab another copy of the card, or sweep away a bunch of tokens.
But man, it sure is no Vindicate! The Green mage in me always resented Vindicate, which basically took a Green card long out of print – Desert Twister – cut the mana cost in half and made it non-Green (i.e. “made it good”). But a huge part of what made Vindicate so good was being able to Stone Rain an opponent early in a match when they may be vulnerable to it, while in the late game being great removal for some threat card that often cost more mana. Sometimes Vindicate would just win you the game on turn 2 or turn 3; Maelstrom Pulse isn’t going to do that for you unless your opponent is banking on his three Noble Hierarch/one land draw getting him there.
So how does Pulse compare to Putrefy? It’s undeniably a more powerful card in terms of raw ability… and yet the Green mage in me resents getting locked into playing yet another powerful Green/X card that operates at sorcery speed. I want more great Green instants! I pondered whether this card would be nearly as good for one extra mana if you could change its type to Instant. What do you think – playable at four mana? Or maybe make it cost BGG.
I imagine it will force people to play out their hand a bit differently if their opponent is showing they’re in Black and Green, which should also allow the same decks to take better advantage of spells like Thoughtseize and Scepter of Fugue.
Ultimately, I think the card is a little overhyped at this point, and while I do really want to nab a playset as soon as possible, I do not look forward to having to deal with it’s overvalue as people scramble to acquire it.
The Terminate Test
I always look forward to Patrick Chapin take on a new set since he’s one of Magic’s great minds and he’s not afraid to delve into new possibilities. His article this week was thought provoking as always, but what I really found interesting was how he was evaluating creatures applying what he called “the Terminate test.”
The Terminate test is essentially- if you have the creature and your opponent has Terminate, who gets better value?
For instance, Noble Hierarch gains value on mana, Mulldrifter gains value on card economy, and Empyrial Archangel is immune to Terminate.
Woolly Thoctar actually fails the Terminate test, as does Rafiq of the Many. This does not mean they are unplayable, but rather that you must take care when playing with them that you appreciate the fact that you are setting yourself up to have a hidden disadvantage from the get go in this format. It is not just Terminate, though, it is Path to Exile, Unmake, Bant Charm, Condemn, Flame Javelin, Terror, Nameless Inversion, Eyeblight’s Ending, and so on. There is a lot of good removal out there.
While I do think keeping “the Terminate test” in mind is certainly a smart thing to do when evaluating which creatures you should play, I also think this test may undersell the inherent value in creatures. Sure, if I play Woolly Thoctar and you kill it with Terminate, we’ve traded card for card while costing me an extra mana. By the numbers, I’ve come out the loser on the deal, so why in the world would I play Woolly Thoctar, or god forbid one of those five-power four-drop monsters? The thing is, Terminate can’t kill your opponent; Woolly Thoctar can. Which deck is going to win more games, the deck running 35 Woolly Thoctars or the deck running 35 Terminates?
Chapin’s point is well taken though – this format has a ton of great removal spells, and if you enjoy turning creatures sideways and charging in to the Red Zone it can be really frustrating. Creatures that pass the Terminate test should hold a higher value than they otherwise would, but that doesn’t mean we should turn away from really good and efficient creatures because they happen to be vulnerable to the even more efficient removal spells out there. Because you know what? Sometimes they’re going to draw land instead of Terminate, and that Woolly Thoctar is gonna kill ‘em.
This dovetails into a conversation I had with a couple friends of mine regarding this card:
Wall of Denial – 1WU
Creature – Illusion Wall (Uncommon)
Defender, flying, shroud
0/8
Shane said, “…and just how do you get rid of that guy?” Jay replied, “You don’t. You just have to hope you’re either: a) playing tokens or b) not playing Doran.”
At the time, I was grooving on the idea of building a deck starting with Maelstrom Pulse and the awesome Qasali Pridemage, which would naturally end up becoming some manner of a G/W/B Doran deck. Wizards previewed Behemoth Sledge and then I got real excited! “This works soooo much better than Loxodon Warhammer in a Doran deck!” I observed. Jay stomped on my excitement, “of course he still wouldn’t get through the new wall.” I reintroduced my little friend Noble Hierarch, since with a little Exalted help Doran would take down that wall. “He’d need +2/+2 in addition to the equipment in order to not trade. It’s kind of sad really.”
“So then he trades – so what?” I replied. “Your three mana critter took down my three mana critter, and I got 8 life ta boot. And my three mana critter can actually win the game, while your three mana critter can’t.”
“You’ve turned Doran into a Terror that has summoning sickness. Awkward,” replied Jay. “This wall plus the 0/7 in M10 will put a serious damper on aggro.”
I’m just not buying it. Will potent walls plus efficient removal spells herald the end of creature decks in Standard? I mean, it’s one thing to pack a good number of answer cards in your deck, but you also need to present some threats, some game-winners of your own at some point, and what happens if you do end up facing down creatures that pass the Terminate test (or Jay’s Wall of Denial test)? What do you think – are we doomed to playing Token/not Doran decks for the remainder of Lorwyn Standard?
Does complaining do any good?
I recently got a letter from one of my readers:
Hello Bennie,
I have been reading you for a while and I generally enjoy your articles, but the last few weeks have been bothering me a little. I fully agree with you that Standard is boring right now, with the same decks constantly winning despite WotC claims of diversity. However, I do not feel that constantly complaining about it (whether or not it is tongue in cheek) is really going to solve anything, since it is obvious that no one with any power will listen.
Now, I tend to be a “glass half-full” kind of guy, and especially in my writing I try and put forth a positive read on things. After all, life is filled with enough hassle and irritations, why add to it by airing out all the little things that bother me? When I do go there, I do it for one reason – I actually know that people with power within WotC really do read much of what’s written out here about Magic, and they do listen. The people who make Magic themselves love the game and want it to succeed, and it’s in their interest, both personally and professionally, to make the best game possible. Often that involves listening to what’s being said by their customers.
That’s not to say they want to read every gripe and petty nit that comes down the pike. But when it comes to important concerns, I think they do want to hear about it, and that’s why I try and make sure to be quite vocal about the big issues, the things that I think are important to the non-Pro segment of the gaming population that I try my best to represent. The current, sorry state of Standard I think is a pretty important issue, because the official party line coming out of Wizards lately is that they are quite happy with the state of Standard, while I’m sensing a real dissatisfied streak among the larger player base. There’s a real disconnect there that needs to be pointed out.
All that said… I’m fairly sure Alara Reborn is going to put all that concern to rest. There are just way too many fantastic cards in the set!
Okay, I’ll wrap things up with a couple new deck ideas I’m kicking around based off a few spoiled cards. First up is Passed Prosperity:
Passed Prosperity* – {rw}G
Enchantment – Aura (Common)
Enchant land
Enchanted land has shroud.
Whenever enchanted land is tapped for mana, you may add one mana of any color to your mana pool.
So now we’ve got 8 Fertile Grounds for mana ramp… with the only problem being Garruk can’t untap lands with this particular enchantment, but with the upside that they can’t be 2-for-1’d with LD and they can protect manlands from creature kill. We’d still play Garruk anyway, right?
We’ve seen Jund Ramp decks; do we make a “Naya Ramp” from this?
Naya Sledge Ramp
4 Fertile Ground
4 Passed Prosperity
4 Quasali Pathmage
4 Boggart Ram-Gang
4 Troll Ascetic
4 Behemoth Sledge
4 Garruk Wildspeaker
4 Bloodbraid Elf
4 Uril, the Miststalker
4 Treetop Village
2 Ghitu Encampment
4 Mutavault
3 Karplusan Forest
3 Brushland
3 Fire-Lit Thicket
3 Wooded Bastion
1 Plains
1 Mountain
Now, I’ve never been a huge fan of Troll Ascetic, but keeping the Terminate test in mind I’m thinking conditional shroud has some serious value, plus with this crazy Sledge available!
When I threw this at Jay he asked what in the world I was ramping into, since Jund Ramp goes for Broodmate Dragons and Banefire. This build ramps into Sledge shenanigans and activating manlands. Isn’t that enough? What do you think?
Here’s another funky deck based on this card:
Sen Triplets – 2WUB
Legendary Artifact Creature – Human Wizard (Mythic Rare)
At the beginning of your upkeep, choose target opponent. This turn, that player can’t play spells or activated abilities and plays with his or her hand revealed. You can play cards from that player’s hand this turn.
3/3
Sennoyance.dec
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Unsummon
4 Boomerang
4 Qasali Pridemage
4 Cephalid Constable
4 Consign to Dream
4 Cryptic Command
4 Sen Triplets
24 lands
I recently experienced the joys of boarding Cephalid Constable in my Exalted deck against slower decks (especially those with Vivid lands), so this one plays that much more aggressively, with bounce spells to supplement and clear away blockers. Even if you don’t get an early Constable down, Sen Triplets let’s your bounce spells retain value outside of the first few turns.
The optimal setup is to use Sen’s ability to play lands from your opponent’s hand, bouncing them end of their turn and then playing them on your turn until they can’t play any of the spells in their hand even during their turn. That’s when you start playing the cheapest spells from their hand until they concede.
I’d probably want some number of card drawing spells here, but you get the idea. This looks incredibly annoying but it might be worth exploring if it proves to be a strong strategy.
Okay, that’s all I got for you this week. Have fun cracking open some Alara Reborn packs, and if you’re in Richmond for the prerelease, come by to say hello, and maybe try and win a pack off me!
Take care!
Bennie
starcitygeezer AT gmail DOT com