Type One – vast wasteland of Magic cards, where over ten years worth of clutter dot the landscape in pockets of Haves and Have Nots. For every Ancestral Recall, there are three Carnival of Souls. Wait, Carnival of Souls is being played in competitive Type One decks now. I meant for every Ancestral Recall, there are three Food Chains. Wait….
Screw it – for every good card in Type One, there’s an equally good card out there just waiting to be broken in the right deck. With the complex interactions between so many different cards there, you’d think there’d be many more viable decks out there than what the current crop of Type One players have come up with so far.
If you are a Type One player and are offended by my implications there, work harder! If there was a Type One Pro Tour every year, you’d see five years worth of technology suddenly spring to the forefront, as innovative Magic players got their hands on a wealth of cards all at once. There are not as many cash incentives as the format currently stands, but there are more and more high-dollar Type One tournaments showing up across the United States every month, with Black Lotuses and Mox Sapphires as prizes. Hopefully these types of tournaments will be a stepping stone towards format advancement.
Just kidding! I know that all of you Type One players are the best in the world, because you can kill people on the first and the second turn often!
I just wish I hadn’t seen about a dozen mistakes per match during those one to two turns while covering the Type One championships at GenCon last year.
Enough playa’ hatin’! You all know that I love each and every one of you Mox-wielding bastards, so let’s get on with the show! [The opinions of Mr. Bleiweiss are not necessarily those of StarCityGames.com, its owners, staff, or legal staff. – Knut, not going there right now]
Here are the Type One playable cards in Fifth Dawn, broken down by color.
Black:
Night’s Whisper
The important part of this card is that it costs a reasonable amount (two mana) for a reasonable return (two cards). The drawback (life loss) isn’t as much of a drawback in Type One as it would be in other formats, where you might not be able to play the two cards you just drew that turn. Think of this as a cantrip that nets you an extra card.
Plunge into Darkness
If Spoils of the Vault was playable, this variation certainly can’t be dismissed. The gain three life ability is just eye candy – the real strength of this card is fetching the combo piece of your choice at an easily affordable five to ten life on turn 1 or 2. This is the closest card to a mono-Black Impulse to ever see print (at least, without a direct tutoring effect such as Demonic Tutor).
Shattered Dreams
Which is better, this or Duress? Obviously, Duress is better since it will hit a lot more spells than Shattered Dreams. However, Shattered Dreams would act as a great Duress numbers five through eight against several of the artifact-oriented combo decks in the Type One field. Early disruption is key against combo decks, and Shattered Dreams provides Black a valuable resource for early targeted hand destruction.
Blue
Artificer’s Intuition
This is, hands down, the best card in the set. I’m not talking just Type One, but across every format. What doesn’t this card tutor? It can get Black Lotus, Phyrexian Dreadnought, Lion’s Eye Diamond, Mana Crypt, Sol Ring, any of the Moxen, Mana Vault, Skullclamp, artifact lands, Candelabra of Tawnos, Engineered Explosives, Chalice of the Void, Cursed Scroll (though whether a deck would run both Artificer’s Intuition and Cursed Scroll is debatable), Magma Mine, Phyrexian Furnace/Scrabbling Claws, Tormod’s Crypt, Voltaic Key, and Zuran Orb. In any number of T1 decks, there aren’t many more artifacts you’d want to get in any given situation – plus you might see stuff like Aether Spellbomb seeing play if it’s tutorable in a pinch via this card.
Serum Visions
Is this card better than Portent, Sleight of Hand, or Opt? It allows you to see two more cards than Sleight or Opt in the end, but only allows you to get a single card on the actual draw. Portent doesn’t get you the card until later, and also acts as an all or nothing reorder. In the end, any deck that would play those cards (something with Quirion Dryad and/or Psychatog) will have to see if this cantrip fits in the slots right after Brainstorm. My common sense is tingling and says that yes, it will.
Green
All Suns’ Dawn
This spell is expensive. It also has a massively game-swinging effect.
Returning up to five cards at once to your hand is major, and All Suns’ Dawn is easily splashable in any deck that would want to return five colors of cards to their hand. Initially, I see a majority of Type One players pooh-poohing this spell as it requires five mana to cast. They are idiots, plain and simple. Keeper can easily run a copy of this in their deck, and use it to get back:
A) Demonic Tutor/Mind Twist
B) Force of Will/Mana Drain/Ancestral Recall/Brokenness
C) Balance/Swords to Plowshares/Decree of Justice/Dismantling Blow
D) Fire / Ice and Gorilla Shaman
E) Okay, so there are no good Green targets here except for Regrowth.
Either way, the two-to-four for one on this card is pretty major, and this card should be given a good, hard look.
Eternal Witness
The effect is powerful, but it’s not very splashable. The double Green means it won’t be played much, though it’s hard to completely discount Regrowth numbers two through five.
Red
Sorry Red.
White
Auriok Salvagers
Auriok Salvagers + Black Lotus = infinite mana. It might take a little mana to get out the Salvagers, but if you’re tutoring out the Lotus, then you’re already 3/4 of the way to Salvagers as is. I’m sure you can find one more mana somewhere to cast him.
Steelshaper’s Gift
Skullclamps numbers five through eight, if you so wish. Can’t you people break Skullclamp into restriction already? Every other format is already getting it banned, and you have a much larger card pool to work with! [Breaking Skullclamp requires sullying your hands by playing lots of creatures, and who really wants to do that if it isn’t necessary? – Knut]
Artifact
Blasting Station/Grinding Station
I’m sure you can figure out some two card combo that will allow you to go infinite with either this, or with Grinding Station. Then again, you already have Goblin Bombardment, but these are alternate and colorless engine cards.
Clock of Omens
Oops, this is supposed to be on the Extended list tomorrow. Tres preview, Batman!
Crucible of Worlds
Will anyone build the Crystal Vein/Fastbond/Crucible deck? Obviously this card is best used with Fastbond (which is restricted). Will it be used in any other deck than a Fastbond combo deck? Probably not, but you never know – a Goblin deck might want to recur Wastelands every turn of the game – or some deck might want to bring back a slain Mishra’s Factory every turn. Zvi’s Turboland deck has never been accurately translated to Type One, even though it has a bazillion more tools to work with in this format and has been a proven winner in several Extended metagames. Look Type One people – another deck for you to stea… errr, borrow and retool!
Doubling Cube
Another expensive piece to a Hurkyl’s Recall/Power Artifact deck. It won’t see play, but will be considered for play. Gives you more of what you don’t need, unfortunately. Watch me eat these words when this card is used to power turn 0 kills after the entire Type One community has been sufficiently motivated by my words to build innovative and new decks. [Translation: Ben loves you, but he’s antagonizing you for your own good. – Knut]
Engineered Explosives
It’s either a good or a bad Powder Keg, depending how you look at it. Either way, the ability to play for zero is powerful since it can stand in wait for Chalice and Moxen (or kill them outright if the Chalices haven’t been set to zero). More colors equal more pinpoint accuracy, and so this card will see play in decks that already play or consider playing Powder Keg – it works faster, better, and stronger than the Urza’s Destiny card.
Krark-Clan Ironworks
Ashnod’s Altar for artifacts. If there’s a viable infinite mana artifact deck, this card is going right in it. Turning Moxen into three mana and the such can add up rather quickly. I could see decks designed around this being able to generate twenty to thirty mana on the second turn.
Gold
Bringers of the Five Dawns
Technically these are all over the place, but the White, Blue and Black ones deserve a look. The White one will allow infinite Mindslavers (now with 75% less Goblin Welder). The Blue one is a mini-Ancestral, and the Black one is a repeatable Vampiric Tutor. The question is – If you have the means to cast these in T1, shouldn’t you have already won? Then again, they are quite juicy reanimator targets. Can’t find a Dragon? Go get the Black Bringer back!
Join me tomorrow when I take a gander into the future of Extended with a hot infusion of Fifth Dawn!