Conventional wisdom has a lot to say about Core Set Limited. Traditionally, without the powerful synergies exist in most block mechanics, Limited games rely on Magic fundamentals, but often get bogged down in creature stalls. Evasion is a premium as a result. Bombs are notoriously difficult to beat, as you can’t overpower them with streamlined, synergistic strategies, so removal is even more necessary than in most block Limited formats. In this article I’m going to analyze how and why these rules may or may not apply to M10, which is different from other core sets in that it has new cards and the power level seems a bit higher, and, based on the number of premiere limited events this year that use the set, one can hope that it was designed more with Limited in mind than other core sets may have been.
One of the first things I notice in looking at M10 is that the cantrips from 10th Edition were removed. In can be notoriously difficult to generate card advantage in a core set, and removing the cantrips that were among the easiest sources makes it even rarer. The only commons that directly generate some sort of card advantage are the Blue and Black draw twos (Divination and Sign in Blood), Gravedigger, Borderland Ranger, and Elvish Visionary. The Green cards only barely count, as finding a land is generally less useful than drawing a card once you already have three, and the body on Elvish Visionary does very little. The only additions at uncommon are Acidic Slime; arguably Mind Control; recurring sources of damage like Prodigal Pyromancer, Goblin Artillery, and Rod of Ruin; and potential two-for-ones like Harm’s Way, Fireball, and Pyroclasm.
The next general point I want to analyze is how prone the board is to stall as compared to how easy potential stalls are to break. At common in Black, Dread Warlock and Kelinore Bat are the only evasive creatures, but Looming Shade is worth noting as a card that can often punch through a stalled board. Evasion is one of Blue’s strengths, and it has five fliers, but two of those are 1/1s and Illusionary Servant is extremely risky. Last night I tried three of them out in a draft and I was thoroughly unimpressed by their performance. That leaves only Wind Drake and Snapping Drake to get through, neither of which can even attack into a Giant Spider. Green’s only evasion at common is Emerald Oryx; beyond that it’s left hoping that Craw Wurm and Stampeding Rhino can safely attack. Red’s basically relying on burn to get through a stalled board, and White has three fliers… none of them have more than two power, but they are all playable.
The cards that I see as most likely to lock a board up are Vampire Aristocrat, Drudge Skeletons, Horned Turtle, Serpent of the Endless Sea, Giant Spider, Viashino Spearhunter, Blinding Mage, Siege Mastodon, Wall of Faith, Veteran Armorsmith, and Griffon Sentinel.
At uncommon things look very different than they did in previous core sets. First of all, there are only 10 uncommons in each color rather than 19, as compared to 20 commons of each color in M10 versus 24 commons of each color in 10th Edition. This means that each uncommon comes up a lot more frequently, which means cards like overrun are a lot more common. Moreover, even with just over half as many uncommons in each color, there are still more different uncommons that can break a game open than in previous core sets. It looks like there was an intentional push in M10 to make sure that games would not go long, and that that happened at the uncommon level. It looks like most games should involve a lot of commons, clearly, but ultimately the games will usually be won by one of the many trump uncommons. Specifically, Black has Bog Wrath, Consume Spirit, and Howling Banshee; Blue has Air Elemental, Phantom Warrior, Sleep, and Levitation; Green has Overrun, Cudgel Troll, Howl of the Night Pack, and Prized Unicorn; Red has Dragon Whelp, Goblin Artillery, Inferno Elemental, Prodigal Pyromancer, Fireball, and to some degree even Stone Giant; White has Serra Angel and Armored Ascension; and anyone can play Whispersilk Cloak. This is not a list of the best uncommons, just a list of those that can end a game that might otherwise result in a ground stall.
All of this is to say that I would be more concerned with actively winning than I might be in previous core sets. While gunslinging in Minnesota this weekend I played some sealed games with a deck with 2 Walls of Frost and a Wall of Bone. Most of my game losses were to the card Overrun, and I can’t even complain that that was unusual. Each uncommon, like Overrun, will come up a lot more often, and if you try to play a deck that tries to stall out a game, you should expect to lose a lot of games to cards like that if you don’t have the right answers to each of them. One lesson that I took away from this is that, against Green, you can’t let them build up a board if you can help it. There was one game where I had multiple Weaknesses in my hand and my opponent had two Llanowar Elves that weren’t doing anything. I didn’t kill them because I wanted to save my removal for a creature that mattered, but I died to Overrun as a result. Overrun seems good enough and common enough in this sealed format that, particularly in later rounds of a sealed tournament, I would just assume my opponent has one when making decisions like that.
The conclusion here seems to be that synergies are relatively unimportant, as are commons, since which random guys are stalling the ground while you win with an uncommon bomb in relatively inconsequential. This may seem like a conclusion it’s hard to get value out of (“okay great, so I just have to open well”), but I think it’s a little more useful that than. I think, at least as first, that it will be pretty hard to force me out of a color if I open a game-winner in that color. The best exception would be if I’m passed game-winners in other colors. Also, when building a sealed deck I would focus more on maximizing the top of your deck rather than making sure that it runs solid cards all the way through. It’s certainly not the way I usually like to build decks, but I think it’s what this format demands.
Another theme that is pushed in this set more than other core sets is the reward for having a substantial primary color, or at least a lot of one basic land type. Tendrils of Corruption, Consume Spirit, Looming Shade, Serpent of the Endless Sea, Howl of the Night Pack, Overrun, Seismic Strike, and Armored Ascension are the primary motivators for this theme, which clearly leans heaviest toward Black, but there are also a number of XCC casting costs throughout the set.
As for a specific card and color breakdown, well, that follows. Uncommons and commons together, since I think it’s important to know how they compare to each other, particularly given the high frequency that each uncommon appears. Note that these orders should certainly be taken with a substantial grain of salt, as nothing replaces your own ideas and experiences.
Black
I think the top 10 list for Black looks something like this, but there are significant variables for curve, number of Black sources, and the deck’s game plan.
1 – Doom Blade
2 – Gravedigger
3 – Tendrils of Corruption
4 – Howling Banshee
5 – Consume Spirit
6 – Assassinate
7 – Bog Wraith
8 – Black Knight
9 – Looming Shade (if heavy Black)
10 – Dread Warlock
As a side note on depth, there are about 4 commons and 3 uncommons I wouldn’t ever really want to maindeck.
Blue
1 – Mind Control
2 – Air Elemental
3 – Wall of Frost
4 – Sleep (highly variable)
5 – Phantom Warrior
6 – Merfolk Looter
7 – Snapping Drake
8 – Wind Drake
9 – Essence Scatter
10 – Cancel
That might be overrating countermagic, particularly as compared to card draw, but I think, given what I’ve said about uncommon bombs, that it makes sense to prioritize counters. I still think I’d prefer evasion.
There are at least 6 Blue commons 2 uncommons I wouldn’t want to maindeck.
Green
1 – Overrun
2 – Cudgel Troll
3 – Acidic Slime
4 – Howl of the Night Pack
5 – Borderland Ranger
6 – Stampeding Rhino
7 – Centaur Courser
8 – Craw Wurm
9 – Giant Spider
10 – Giant Growth
Note that Howl of the Night Pack clearly varies greatly depending on how many Forests you can play, Borderland Ranger on whether there’s anything to splash, and in general curve is more important than power level on all of the common creatures, since they’re all pretty comparable. There are only about 3 Green commons and about 1 uncommon I’d be sad to maindeck. In general, the power level of Green outside of the top few cards seems extremely flat.
Red
1 – Fireball
2 – Dragon Whelp
3 – Goblin Artillery
4 – Lightning Bolt
5 – Pyroclasm
6 – Prodigal Pyromancer
7 – Seismic Strike
8 – Panic Attack
9 – Stone Giant
10 – Sparkmage Apprentice
After Seismic Strike the cards seem very situational, and it gets hard to say which are better than others. There are at least 6 commons and one uncommon I’d hope to avoid.
White
1 – Serra Angel
2 – Armored Ascension
3 – Pacifism
4 – Harm’s Way
5 – Blinding Mage
I don’t really feel comfortable going further with White’s rankings. All the creatures are really good and I’m just not sure how to prioritize them yet. White looks very deep and powerful with only about 4 bad commons and 2-3 bad uncommons to maindeck. I’m also not entirely sure about Safe Passage, but I think there’s a good chance it’s the next best White card.
Whispersilk Cloak doesn’t come up on any of those lists of course, but I think it’s very good. Rod of Ruin was great in previous core sets, but I think it’s a little worse now. I’ve been reasonably satisfied with Gorgon Flail, especially with first strikers, walls, or pingers.
Rares in general in the set are very good for Limited, with about 45% of them being likely first picks (a number that increases on MTGO when you rare draft the lands), and about 40% not being very good.
As for archetypes, I’ve been reasonably happy with Black/x removal-heavy controlling decks. In my draft I had most of the Blue at the table. It was my primary color and my deck was terrible, so I think I’d generally try to avoid Blue except as a secondary color for a few powerful cards. The fliers aren’t really good enough to win the game without another color to hold the ground, since the stats on the Blue fliers just aren’t that efficient, not to mention how much trouble they could have against a single Razorfoot Griffin. Green splashing removal seems like a very reasonable place to be, as does White/x. Like with Blue, I wouldn’t really want to be in a position where I had to rely on Red’s creatures. I think it’s likely best to figure out which of Black, Green, and White you can get a lot of as a base color, and then play whatever color happens to have the best removal and finishers available to you as a secondary color. Green has the option to reasonably support multiple splash colors if you’re willing and able to take some Borderland Rangers, Terramorphic Expanses, and Rampant Growths, but I wouldn’t aggressively try to draft Five-Color Green or anything.
I hope you’ve found the broad strokes version of the M10 analysis useful. I certainly feel like I figured some things out about the format by looking at it this way, and if not, rest assured that I’ll be back to talking about Standard next week.
Thanks for reading…
Sam