M11 is less than a month away, and our friends over at MTG Salvation are busy compiling all of the various cards being spoiled across the web. Today I have (hopefully) 3 new cards to look at and add to the list. Let’s look at some of them, as well as some of the other previously spoiled cards.
First up is a card that has been strongly rumored, but as of the writing of this article, not yet confirmed: Mana Leak.
Mana Leak is obviously not a new card for most of us, so we can skip the bare bones analysis. Instead, let’s look at what it means for us in these new formats.
Regarding Extended, this means Mana Leak will not be leaving the newly created Extended format. This should help keep that format fairly balance by giving potential Control decks a solid counterspell to rely on in the early game, and Combo deck some protection whilst comboing off. Aggro decks like Zoo will still have a majority of their components, as most of the creatures they utilize have been printed in the last few blocks. All told, Mana Leak should maintain a stable Extended format.
In Standard, this is a huge gain for U/ W Control decks. While it isn’t strictly superior to Deprive, I believe it will make a better option for decks interested in doing so. The mana cost is less restrictive, allowing it to be easily cast in a two- or three-color deck far easier than Deprive. Other than resetting a few specific lands (Halimar Depths and Khalni Garden are the only two that come to mind), Deprive has a drawback that is not insignificant, while Mana Leak does not. Late game, Mana Leak will need to be more carefully positioned, but is still quite powerful. Overall, I am very excited to see Mana Leak return to Standard.
Finally, new art and a black border make this an immediate upgrade for anyone stuck using white-bordered Core Set Mana Leaks. There are the textless Player Rewards, as well as the much older Stronghold black borders. However, similar to Lightning bolt in M10, putting this card in new black borders makes it somehow even better.
Next up is a new card I am definitely liking. Allow me to introduce Gargoyle Sentinel.
I’ve long lamented the loss of Plumeveil, one of my favorite creatures. While Gargoyle Sentinel is no Plumeveil (missing Flash, permanent Flying, and +1/+1) it does a serviceable job. It is an early defender that can actually trade with creatures, and in the late game becomes an option for a control decks win condition.
Compared to the most popular three drops currently (Knight of the Reliquary and Sea Gate Oracle) it doesn’t quite measure up to their power level in terms of card advantage, but I could see a control deck wanting it as an early blocker. Sadly, with three toughness, it still dies to a Bolt. A 3/4 would have been infinitely better.
I imagine some amount of Limited players will try to attack into one with a small flyer, only to get “ambushed” by a defensive activation of the Flying ability.
I’m not sure that Gargoyle Sentinel will have an impact on Extended, but I think it will appear in Standard somewhere. It’s definitely looking like a strong contender in Limited play, depending on how the rest of the set shakes out, and I wouldn’t be disappointed to see two or three in my sealed pool.
The third new card I want to share with you is Back to Nature.
This is a pretty decent effect in Standard right now, what with all the Oblivion Rings running around. A Green Aggro deck wouldn’t mind using this to free up some Vengevines. Coming out of sideboards, we see Journey to Nowhere and Luminarch Ascension on occasion as well.
I don’t see this having much effect on Extended, but oddly enough may see some sideboard play in Legacy if Enchantress has an uptick in popularity. This is strictly better than Tranquility, costing 1 less colorless mana for the exact same oracle text.
Let’s talk about some of the other spoiled cards so far.
Garruk Wildspeaker was spoiled recently on the Wizards site as the green Planeswalker in M11. Some will argue that this implies that the other Planeswalkers in the set will be the original Lorwyn/ M10 batch again, while others think that only spoiling one means different Planeswalkers. Neither is necessarily correct. However, Garruk makes the most sense in either case. Core sets tend to avoid Gold cards. This makes Garruk and Nissa Revane the two options for a Green Planeswalker. Nissa would pretty much need to have Nissa’s Chosen in the same set to be worthwhile, and since we’ve already seen Garruk’s Companion and whatnot, that seems unlikely. That being said, Nissa certainly would have been a possibility, but the original Planeswalkers seem to be the new Iconic Flagship images being used. I would not be surprised to see Jace 2.0 in M11, (and that would certainly help the price deflate a little bit with the increase in supply) but I expect it will indeed be Jace Beleren. I could see Elspeth making an appearance as the new White Planeswalker, given that Ajani is a Leonin, which isn’t exactly an iconic creature type, whereas Elspeth is Human, and would fit in quite well, all racism aside, with the other humans.
I’m also surprised we haven’t seen more non-human Planeswalkers, specifically in the Goblin tribe. New players love and understand Goblins, and a Goblin Planeswalker could easily be made both powerful and popular. Taking a crack at it, I could see something like this:
Grokle, Goblin Ascended
1RR
[Fancy Artwork, preferably Aleksi Briclot, here]
Planeswalker- Grokle
Mythic (of course)
+1: [Cardname] deals 2 damage to target player and each creature they control. You lose 2 life
-2: Gain Control of Target Creature until the end of the turn. Untap it, and it gains haste.
-7: [Cardname] deals damage to target player equal to three times the number of goblins you control.
[3]
I could easily see something like this being very popular with newer players, or even in dedicated goblin decks. There seem to be some variant of Goblin (and Elf) on every Plane we visit, so a Goblin Planeswalker, just by virtue of their ridiculously large numbers, should most definitely exist. One of them on some plane has to have an IQ above 70, amiright?
The M10 Dual lands are back in M11, and I expect they will maintain their usefulness and flexibility. It will be interesting to see what color fixing Scars of Mirrodin will offer us, but won’t likely change the M10 dual lands frequency much, as they see play more based off of the Fetch- lands enabling them than anything else.
The Planeswalker Spell and Creature cycles look interesting. These are the series of spells and creatures (In the case of Jace, an Enchantment, it appears) with names attached to the Lorwyn/ M10 Planeswalkers. My favorite of the Spells is Jace’s Ingenuity, which is an Instant speed Draw 3 for 3UU. Given the amount of Counter Magic in Standard with M11 included, I think this spell has a good chance to make a main deck slot or two. Of the Creatures, I like Garruk’s Companion best to make an impact on Standard. A 3/2 Trample for GG, he may finally give Mono-Green the last oomph it needs to push into Tier 1.5 or higher consistently. Leatherback Baloth and some of the other Green goodies may finally coalesce into Jamie Wakefield dream.
There’s a gap of cards in the Spoiler right now where Great Sable Stag should fit, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see it there. Given the power of Blue that Mana Leak adds, having it reprinted makes quite a bit of sense.
Finally, I just want to mention Sun Titan. This is an incredibly powerful card, one that I am glad will only be legal with Oblivion Ring for 3 months (pending other reprintings). For those of you unaware, Sun Titan is a Vigilant 6/6 for 4WW that has “When Sun Titan enters the battlefield or attacks, you may return target permanent card with converted mana cost 3 or less from your graveyard to the battlefield.” Pretty dang powerful, that’s for sure. I imagine we may see some Oblivion Rings, Sea Gate Oracles, and Wall of Omens returned with this guy. Sun Titan would have been my pick for card most likely to skyrocket in price, but fortunately, it is the prerelease foil, and thus should be kept somewhat in check. (That’s also another reason to get your butt out to a prerelease near you!)
Until Next time, this is Jeff Phillips, reminding you: Don’t Make the Loser Choice
Teflon_Jeff AT Hotmail DOT com
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