First, I would like to say congrats to Eugene for his PT top 8 in Chicago. Go, Champ, go!
Now on with the article.
They’ve really done it this time. Wizards has created a format where in the prerelease drafts there can only be one path to victory – swinging with men. Mike Flores would be proud. He probably is. He probably wishes he was playing Magic right now so he could swing with tight men. I think he wrote an entire article about that once – go look it up, it’s a blast to read.
Just to give you a scope of what the Prerelease drafts look like, imagine this scenario – Fred is playing against Bob and bob has four cards in hand. Thus, Fred can determine that Bob probably has four men in hand. They are all men – always men.
But yet some men are better than others – like Birds of Paradise, John Shuler, or Wild Mongrel. What are the best men in this set? What should we be trading for? Which man is solid gold and which is the wooden nickel? That is what I am here to answer. That is right – you are reading another one of my”What to trade for” articles. I bet you didn’t even notice.
Like always – I will reiterate something about trading for cards in a new set. There are the Hyped-Up Cards, the cards that may or may not be good (only time will tell), and the cards that are solid gold but nobody knows or accepts this fact yet.
A good example of a Hype card from this set would be the Mistform Ultimus – I mean sure, he’s a Squirrel Cat Beast Efreet Island Fish Dragon Townsfolk Druid Bandit Lord Keeper Wizard Legend – but that doesn’t mean he’s good, even if he pretends to be a Necrosavant, Walking Dead, and Ball Lightning at the same time. After all when you get right down to it, the Ultimus is just a damn dirty ape.
The A List – Solid Gold:
Hollow Specter
1BB
Creature – Specter
2/2
Flying
Whenever Hollow Specter deals combat damage to a player, you may pay X. If you do, that player reveals X cards from his or her hand and you choose one of them. That player discards that card.
Rare
Willbender
1U
Creature – Wizard
1/2
Morph 1U (You may play this face down as a 2/2 creature for 3. Turn it face up any time for its morph cost.)
When Willbender is turned face up, change the target of target spell or ability with a single target.
Uncommon
Clickslither
1RRR
Creature – Insect
3/3
Haste
Sacrifice a Goblin: Clickslither gets +2/+2 and gains trample until end of turn.
Rare
Seedborn Muse
3GG
Creature – Spirit
2/4
Untap all permanents you control during each other player’s untap step.
Rare
Glowrider
2W
Creature – Cleric
2/1
Noncreature spells cost 1 more to play.
Rare
Tribal Forcemage
1G
Creature – Elf Wizard
1/1
Morph 1G (You may play this face down as a 2/2 creature for 3. Turn it face up any time for its morph cost.)
When Tribal Forcemage is turned face up, creatures of the type of your choice get +2/+2 and gain trample until end of turn.
Rare
Akroma Angel of Wrath
5WWW
Creature – Angel Legend
6/6
Flying, first strike, trample, haste, protection from black, protection from red
Attacking doesn’t cause Akroma, Angel of Wrath to tap.
Rare
Planar Guide
W
Creature – Cleric
1/1
3W, Remove Planar Guide from the game: Remove all creatures from the game. At end of turn, return those cards to play under their owners’ control.
Rare
Bane of the Living
2BB
Creature – Insect
4/3
Morph XBB (You may play this face down as a 2/2 creature for 3. Turn it face up any time for its morph cost.)
When Bane of the Living is turned face up, all creatures get –X/-X until end of turn.
Rare
Keeper of the Nine Gales
2U
Creature – Bird Wizard
1/2
Flying
T, Tap two untapped Birds you control: Return target permanent to its owner’s hand.
Rare
Windborn Muse
3W
Creature – Spirit
2/3
Flying
Creatures can’t attack you unless their controller pays 2 for each creature attacking you. (This cost is paid as attackers are declared.)
Rare
Graveborn Muse
2BB
Creature – Zombie Spirit
3/3
At the beginning of your upkeep, you draw X cards and you lose X life, where X is the number of Zombies you control.
Rare
Withered Wretch
BB
Creature – Zombie Cleric
2/2
1: Remove target card in a graveyard from the game.
Uncommon
The B List – Could be hot, but maybe not:
Brood Sliver
4G
Creature – Sliver
3/3
Whenever a Sliver deals combat damage to a player, its controller may put a 1/1 colorless Sliver creature token into play.
Rare
Synapse Sliver
4U
Creature – Sliver
3/3
Whenever a Sliver deals combat damage to a player, its controller may draw a card.
Rare
Rockshard Elemental
5RR
Creature – Elemental
4/3
Double strike (This creature deals both first-strike and regular combat damage.)
Morph 4RR (You may play this face down as a 2/2 creature for 3. Turn it face up any time for its morph cost.)
Rare
Riptide Director
2UU
Creature – Wizard
2/3
2UU, T: Draw a card for each Wizard you control.
Rare
Goblin Goon
3R
Creature – Goblin Mutant
6/6
Goblin Goon can’t attack unless you control more creatures than defending player.
Goblin Goon can’t block unless you control more creatures than attacking player.
Rare
Magma Sliver
3R
Creature – Sliver
3/3
All Slivers have”T: Target Sliver gets +X/+0 until end of turn, where X is the number of Slivers in play.”
Rare
Gempalm Incinerator
2R
Creature – Goblin
2/1
Cycling 1R (1R, Discard this card from your hand: Draw a card.)
When you cycle Gempalm Incinerator, you may have it deal X damage to target creature, where X is the number of Goblins in play.
Uncommon
Gempalm Strider
1G
Creature – Elf
2/2
Cycling 2GG (2GG, Discard this card from your hand: Draw a card.)
When you cycle Gempalm Strider, all Elves get +2/+2 until end of turn.
Uncommon
Caller of the Claw
2G
Creature – Elf
2/2
You may play Caller of the Claw any time you could play an instant.
When Caller of the Claw comes into play, put a 2/2 green Bear creature token into play for each nontoken creature put into your graveyard from play this turn.
Rare
Aphetto Exterminator
2B
Creature – Wizard
3/1
Morph 3B (You may play this face down as a 2/2 creature for 3. Turn it face up any time for its morph cost.)
When Aphetto Exterminator is turned face up, target creature gets -3/-3 until end of turn.
Uncommon
Vile Deacon
2BB
Creature – Cleric
2/2
Whenever Vile Deacon attacks, it gets +X/+X until end of turn, where X is the number of Clerics in play.
Common
Well that’s the whole story – I pick for best card of the set is the Uncommon Willbender. The set may induce new strategies to be tried. I am particularly looking to see the beatdown cleric decks.
It seems like many of the best cards are uncommon – I really applaud Wizards for using this strategy of assigning rarity, it makes it easier for people to make Constructed decks and has a positive effect on Limited play. For instance, Withered Wretch is a card that is decent in Limited, but will most likely see Constructed play as a support beatdown card that is not too hard to find. While I did not like OBC or the Madness deck, I did like the fact that you could buy the whole deck for about $20 or less. This makes is easier for people to play the game competitively even when their wallet is looking thin – after all, this is a game of strategy, not an arms race.
For those of you who have been waiting eagerly for more of my articles, I must apologize for the delays. Keep the faith – I have no plans to quit writing or quit the game, I just may have to tone it down a notch.
Till next time,
Nate Heiss
Team CMU