Man, I’m excited about Worlds. Only two more months before the best that Magic can be comes to my neck of the woods. Yokohama’s a fun place to visit, too. I know it’s going to be good times. And one of the formats I am itching to see is Ravnica Limited piloted by the best, since it’s a chance to see Magic with differing sets of fundamentals brought to the table.
Having lived in Aichi Prefecture off and on over the last five years, I’ve watched Japanese magic evolve from an environment where most foreign pros came into GPs and looked at the locals as easy pickings to an environment that is renowned for the best teams and some of the best players in the world. No foreigner dares to step foot in Japan for a GP these days, unless they’re Olivier Ruel (he’s an honorary resident of Japan already) or live here. (Of course, rising airline ticket prices may have something to do with it. Come on, fellow Americans! Try to take away my status as the last American to finish in the Top 8 of a Japanese GP! I double dog dare you.)
Looking back, there are a few points where people here just did things differently. They didn’t read Flores or McKeown or Zvi or any of the old school deck analysts. They had the Duelist Japan (and later, Mana Burn) on their side. They had full color, 140 page set reviews and analysts printed by Hobby Japan to consume. (It’s sort of like the BradyGames Strategy Guide phenomenon for video games. Actually, it’s exactly like that, except printed in Japanese.) And they only got released once a month. Print is slow as heck. The writers knew that, so they encouraged readers to innovate as much as possible. As a response, Japanese Limited theory often went places that your own history may not have recorded. (They’re catching up on the internet curve, though. Imagine how amazing the Japanese would be if there was Internet parity. Scary.)
The guidebooks (often called mooks, from the illustrated movie and anime guidebooks) usually run about 150 pages, and feature both Japanese card text and English text, along with two or three comments from writers. These books come out at the same time as the initial release. Each book usually has about ten or twenty deck lists featuring Block, Standard, and Limited decks. They are fairly reasonably priced ($15.00), though since they’re written months ahead of time they frequently miss points. They remind me a lot of Gary Wise old Limited reviews for the Sideboard, though Wise had to actually wait to play with the cards, whereas the Hobby Japan crew had lots of lead time. (I should note that later on, Wise did get some lead time to write his reviews.)
As I look at the Ravnica cardlist, the set reminds me of two previous Limited sets smashed together. Ravnica is Invasion mixed with Odyssey. Odyssey had unbalanced colors. Green was savagely good as was Blue, while Red was awful. The color balance rapidly shifted around as Torment and Judgment hit the streets, but everyone knew that the level field had been totaled.
Invasion draft was a thing of beauty, since you had the ability to pick a color combination that fit your playing style. Japanese players had strong groupthink, so they felt quite comfortable with the set, though their strategies often had big, glaring holes.
Cards that got picked early in Invasion draft that you may not have seen played back in the day:
Addle
Knowing what tricks were coming and maintaining card parity has always been good time for Japanese players. Of course, sometimes your opponent has the crafty tech of not having the right color in hand.
Cursed Flesh
It can give your big, dumb, ground-bound man evasion. (Usually, it won’t. Too many decks ran Black creatures to make fear truly good in Invasion block.) Most of the time, Cursed Flesh meant death for a one-toughness man, and that card got first picked a lot in triple Invasion draft, because those Apprentices were bloody hell. Tapping men, first strike, pumping creatures, the Apprentices were a repository of tricks. When the Disciple cycle got released, Cursed Flesh made a comeback. Zap also saw heavy play, but despite the ability to replace itself, Cursed Flesh’s “fire and forget” nature gave it the nod.
Simoon
It’s mass removal for your opponent’s one-toughness men. It can be a savage little combat trick, letting your doomed men drag other thugs down. It is situational. It takes a lot of work to maximize its utility, most of the time. This card screams out to Japanese players.
Lobotomy
I get to look at my opponent’s hand and Coercion him? Then make sure I never have to face an identically named threat, and look at his deck? Sweet! Of course, Lobotomy does nothing to change the board position, and it costs four mana, while Bog Down could grab two cards from his hand, or possibly even three. For one mana less. But Lobotomy got played. Repeatedly. Deliberately. Japanese players love to disrespect their opponent’s privacy. (In a thoroughly respectful and polite manner.)
Diversionary Tactics
It’s a poor man’s Opposition. Or, to take a look at a more modern example, a poor man’s Glare of Subdual. (Double the colors equals double the effectiveness, happily.) But tapping two of your men to keep your opponent’s men down always appeals to Japanese players. Japanese players will play with any inexpensive removal spell. Plus the expensive ones. I am not kidding. Reusability trumps almost anything, even if it’s mathematically ugly reusability.
Everyone and their brother I saw playing White in Apocalypse that drafted this card played it here. Here’s Wise’s review:
At the Toronto Prerelease, I lost hard to this card when it was responsible for the nullification of my double kicked ‘Volver and my Spiritmonger, so I overrated it for a while, but then I came to the understanding that the Tactics gives your opponent 3-for-1 card advantage to tap their first creature. Very strong with multiple creature effects like Goblin Trenches or Ordered Migration, that’s when you want the Tactics in your deck. A 6th-8th pick.
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Here in Japan, I saw the card regularly going second to fourth pick.
Now, let’s take a look at the flip side of this equation. Some European and North American players took certain cards and made them regular additions. They weren’t attractive, but they weren’t the world’s best.
Phyrexian Reaper
This man wasn’t popular in the slightest. I usually saw him going 11th to 13th pick. Despite the fact that he could stop lots of men from blocking and was decently sized, he rarely got chosen for the team, because despite being a 3/3 for 5 mana with a fairly decent triggered ability, no one liked Green. Green was the color of dumb men.
Voracious Cobra
Sure, it wouldn’t ever get blocked. It was a four-mana creature with no evasion. He was a handy blocker, but since everyone and their brother played tons of removal, the Cobra stayed at home too many times only to get a visit from Rikki Tikki Tavi before he ever became useful. Japanese players usually let him go to 6th to 8th pick.
The old rules dictated that Japanese players would play any removal spell, no matter how sub-optimal it would be. If Call for Blood had been in print back in Invasion block, it would have been played every single time in a typical Japanese player’s deck. (Not everyone in the world was sold on Death Bomb. Japan was, though.) Also, Japanese players pay premium prices to play reusable removal effects. At the same time, they tended to spend less early picks on bomb creatures. How good is a bomb creature when your opponent always has the answer for it? And most players thought that getting the answer was better than asking the question.
Another rule is that unless they’re Armadillo Cloak, Elephant Guide, or the second coming of Rancor, creature enchantments do not get lots of Japanese play. Even if they’re reusable card advantage engines, like Necromantic Thirst. Japan usually doesn’t tolerate Johnny. (Unless Johnny’s family name is Ibamoto.) This exemption also has an exemption for very cheap creature enchantments like Sigil of Sleep or Mark of Eviction. Mirrodin taught some of the bad players that attaching things is fun, but most of the good players have grown out of that phase.
With Ravnica, Wizards has finally printed a Limited set with some vicious spot removal spells, and this should go over with the Japanese very well. After years of drought, removal starts with gems like Putrefy, Lightning Helix, Last Gasp, and Keening Banshee. And it gets deeper in Black with Brainspoil, Disembowel, and Ribbons of Night, if you don’t mind paying more. I saw tons of players running Mark of the Gorgon last weekend at the prerelease. (Hopefully they’ll get over that fixation soon. Mark of the Gorgon is overpriced, albeit versatile.) Straight Red appears to have gotten the shaft, only getting Galvanic Arc. Green has a single common Naturalize effect with Convoke, which looks more than fair considering all the handy creature enchantments flying around.
Dredge also has the perfect pitch to any Japanese player. You know you’re going to get whatever you threw away back, barring the extraordinary. Nightmare Void looks like it should probably get some play from lots of Limited players. Given that the big nasty creatures (particularly Selesnya crew) are so expensive, Nightmare Void may actually work out. Shambling Shell, Greater Mossdog, Stinkweed Imp… they eat this stuff up like it’s going out of style. These spells are reliable and the drawback is usually not a problem. (Especially if you’ve got Vigor Mortis.)
Radiance has all the hallmarks of a mechanic that Japanese players loathe. Symmetrical effects have long been a taboo here. It’s too early to make a call on Convoke. As for Transmute, the effect is strictly beneficial and reasonably priced if you can handle the loss of tempo, but we’ll have to wait for a week or three to see how many people feel comfortable investing an early turn or a fair amount of a late turn.
I’m dying to know whether or not the tactics that were widely popular and propagated by the magazines in 2000 will be valid again in 2005. Time will tell.
And here are a few other cards Japanese players will be playing in Limited.
Dimir House-Guard
He may not excel, but this man does it all. A solid evasion ability coupled with useful regeneration ability. He can gang block with the best of them and walk away. He also has a good transmute slot, so don’t forget about that. I wonder if he can julienne fries… Japanese players usually won’t pay a lot for versatility, but I think they’ll come around soon enough.
Mortipede
While it isn’t the Mushi Kingu, Mortipede has a Lure ability. It’ll take out a 4 toughness man! This insect is going to see play. If you don’t feel like ponying up the 2G, he can still keep the big uglies at bay for a couple of turns.
Remand
If they’re playing Blue, they’ll take this card. It’s a cantrip and it slows the other guy down. It’s pretty good, but it fits the profile for the Japanese player perfectly. So what if it will never actually stop the guy from getting his bomb onto the table?
Mark of Eviction
This card, pushed the right way, is legitimately nuts. I can picture it in Constructed with Ravenous Rats, Nekrataal, or Keening Banshee. It’s also going to happen again and again to your opponent’s best creature, tying up their mana every two turns. For a single mana, it gets used over and over again and poses a horrible headache for your opponents. It can even let you set up Faith’s Fetters on a newer, bigger threat. What’s not to like?
Veteran Armorer
Global pump effects are good. Grizzly Bears are good. This one seems so obvious I shouldn’t even mention it. In fact, this paragraph doesn’t exist.
Snapping Drake
Three power with flying in a set that doesn’t have a lot of flyers. Four mana. This is criminally undercosted. They aren’t prosecuting, so be a criminal and play this Drake ruthlessly. You knew that already. (Right?)
If you’ve only committed yourself in draft to one guild, and it’s not Dimir, you may do well to splash for multiple Snapping Drakes. They are very difficult to deal with. And Snapping Drake makes Courier Hawk cry.
Rolling Spoil
Four mana for a land destruction spell in Limited usually doesn’t mean good things. However, since Green doesn’t have too many non-token creatures with one toughness, you may as well play this. It’s a lot better than Rain of Embers, that’s for sure. It got the nod from 2004 Worlds Top 8 competitor Ryo Ogura.
Strands of Undeath
It costs one extra, but four mana for a two-card discard is fairly reasonable. The regeneration is nothing to sneeze at either. It will take a little time for them to cotton to the card, but once it is recognized as a mean, lean card advantage machine that can affect the board, you’ll see it pop up all the time. Not first pick worthy, but it’s solid.
Devouring Light
The abundance of White guys with vigilance makes Devouring Light almost always bluffable. If you are packing one, be sure to play it in game one so that your opponent gets the willies in later games. I will rarely expect to see this card picked later than third in triple Ravnica draft.
Of course, the Japanese will also play the genuine bombs like Galvanic Arc, Fists of Ironwood, Moldervine Cloak, Vigor Mortis, Sunhome Enforcer, Moroii, and such. But the rank and file of players here will gravitate rapidly towards the blatant card advantage staples. At least at this stage of the game, anyway.
Eli Kaplan
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