Last year, Magic 2013 shattered all expectations for a core set Limited format. The format had a shocking level of depth and complexity to it, and the rares were very well balanced and beatable in Sealed and Draft. It’s in my top five favorite Draft formats of all time for a reason.
Magic 2014 is not on the same level. Still, for those of you who are attending the SCG Team Sealed Open in Richmond this weekend or Grand Prix Oakland, you will have to learn this format. I’ve attempted to break down some of the important format-specific stats and interactions here to help with that.
Something I feel has been lacking in my previous articles of this style is an analysis of the format as a whole. Looking at each color in a row lets you piece some of this together, but often it is easy to miss critical turning points in relative card power and instead focus on details that may or may not be relevant in that specific format. What does it matter if two colors curve out perfectly together if a certain drop is significantly more important that the others?
Of course, the reverse is also true. If every color except one is battling 2/2s and that one color has all the 2/4 creatures on the high end, ascribing the fact that "2/2s are bad because they all die to the 2/4s" to the format is likely wrong since it is matchup dependent.
Let’s start by looking at the curve as a whole.
One-Drops
The commons are all 1/1s with varying abilities. I would say most of these are fairly useless, but looking ahead at the two-drops makes it seem likely you want some in the board for aggressive decks.
Elvish Mystic is awesome. Skipping two seems super relevant when (spoiler) the four-drops trump the two- and three-drops so hard.
Two-Drops
The commons are mostly 2/1s. The only 2/2s are Sentinel and Predatory Sliver, Seacoast Drake is a 1/3, and Deadly Recluse still trades with the rest but can also trade up. Capashen Knight "wins" a lot of fights, but dealing less damage on an open attack or having to leave up mana to block is awkward.
Question: Is Angelic Wall going to brick people up the curve?
At uncommon, this slot is fairly bare. Calling Kalonian Tusker a two-drop seems ambitious on the surface, but considering Elvish Mystic making GG on turn 2 is probably easier than it seems at first glance.
Three-Drops
As 2/3s, Advocate of the Beast and Undead Minotaur block down every common that costs three or less with very few exceptions. The two 1/3 fliers (Seacoast Drake and Griffin Sentinel) aren’t really aggressive guys you care about blocking, so strike those. The only flier that really attacks on the low end is Trained Condor or Suntail Hawk if that’s your bag. Blood Bairn and Regathan Firecat can attack for a one-for-one trade. Rootwalla is the only guy that straight up crashes into these, though Master of Diversion and Academy Raider can give you pseudo-evasion.
None of the uncommons are large here, just evasive.
Four-Drops
This is where the base stats jump up considerably. All of the four-drops are x/3 or have some kind of bonus outside of being interactive in combat (Archaeomancer, various evasive creatures). Note that Rootwalla fights all of these and trades. Also note that the two massive common fours (Marauding Maulhorn and Rumbling Baloth) are the only common Beasts for Advocate of the Beast.
Note: White/Black has the best aggressive low end between the double two-power two-drops in black, Suntail Hawk, Master of Diversion, and the three evasive four-drops in the color combo.
Similar to the commons, the four-drops jump drastically in board presence here. Wall of Swords is just another Giant Spider, and Water Servant trades up for actual anything.
Also, if you pass Briarpack Alpha for anything that isn’t a rare, you are doing it wrong. Not only should the card be unreal in the abstract, but +2/+2 boosts a low-drop through anything up to most of the five-drops.
Five-Drops
Two of these creatures are x/5 to block Rumbling Baloth, but the only one that can attack through a Giant Spider is Nightwing Shade.
Looking at the multiple x/4 or larger guys here and at the four slot, I’m thinking random ground 3/3s are not going to be getting through for a lot of damage and will primarily be used to halt early attacks…from decks not ready for them. Canyon Minotaur is sideboard material at best.
Messenger Drake at 3/3 trades for most of the four-drop fliers and dies to the other high-drop flier (Nightwing Shade). Obviously, a 3/3 flier isn’t embarrassing, but it doesn’t rule the skies like it seems on first glance.
On the uncommon side, Giant Spider blocks none of them. 4/4 fliers and ground guys.
High-Drops
Groundshaker Sliver is going to get double blocked down a lot. Minotaur Abomination will get triple blocked. Why? Well, 3 (five-drop power) + 2 (generic smaller guy power) trades for a 5/5 but not for a 4/6.
Cyclops Titan basically can’t block creatures that cost less than five. Even then, it’s just blocking Siege Mastodon.
The uncommons…are just more 4/4s. Yawn.
Given this brief look, let’s set some benchmarks for the early curve.
Two:
Average – 2/1
Best – 2/2
Three:
Average – 2/2 (or 1/3 flier)
Best – Rootwalla (4/4)
Four:
Average – 2/4 (or 3/3 flier/evasive guy)
Best – 4/4
Five:
Average – Slightly worse than Siege Mastodon (3/5)
Best – Siege Mastodon (or flying Shade), 4/4 flying is the uncommon standard that you have to be able to beat
Note: If these turn out to be different, it is going to cause a cascading effect on card evaluations. This is one of the most important parts of format specific card evaluation.
Tricks and Removal
I’m glad I get to start out on Giant Growth. Notice that +3/+3 puts even a lowly two-drop over a Siege Mastodon, but +2/+x doesn’t even jump most of the four-drops over the same 3/5.
Ranger’s Guile jumps no sizing gaps. This card will mostly be used as a counterspell or in the context of double blocks.
Ways to reach through those last points of damage in this format: Lava Axe, Shock, Chandra’s Outrage, Corrupt, Enlarge (green Searing Flesh), Brave the Elements, Seismic Stomp, Volcanic Geyser, Act of Treason, Frost Breath, Flames of the Firebrand. If they aren’t red, they will be light on reach, but red just has it all.
Sensory Deprivation looks like it "kills" most of the commons, especially in a blue deck that can ignore the ground on offense. Wring Flesh, on the other hand, is awkward because -1 toughness on a Giant Spider is still hard to block down or bash through.
Chandra’s Outrage handles all of the bomby five-drop fliers. This is the kind of effect that you don’t need a lot of but need at least one of. That said, I’m not likely to complain if I have a ton.
Shock kills most of the common fliers.
Every color has some good aura. White has Pacifism, blue has Illusionary Armor and Claustrophobia, black has Mark of the Vampire, red has Shiv’s Embrace and Lightning Talons (see: 3 + 2 = 5), and green has Trollhide.
Hunt the Weak is just ok. Green is lacking in the 3/3s it needs to make this an actually interesting removal spell that can kill the important uncommon fliers and four-drops. It is probably optimal in G/W where you can pump Siege Mastodons and 3/3 fliers and is probably ok just as a way to pick off smaller evasive guys.
Rod of Ruin suffers from the above issue as well. 2 + 1 is still less than 4 or 5, so you are not going to be able to use Rod of Ruin to let your smaller ground guys trade up for the four- and five-drops.
Plummet appears to be awesome. Again, many 4/4 flying uncommons.
Celestial Flare is the card that you will feel stupid about losing to in this format. Fortunately, the double white cost leaves a signature Neck Snap / Soul Nova / Second Thoughts tell. Learn to watch for this.
Most of the removal in this set is fairly unconditional on size.
Other Spells
Given the fact that the two- and three-drops in this format are rapidly outclassed, Divination and Mind Rot may be some of the best cards in the format. When you are fighting five-drops against five-drops, hitting land drops and finding answers/tricks to break parity is crucial.
Slivers
Only white, red, and green have non-rare Slivers. Each color has two common Slivers and one uncommon, with the "bonus" of Sliver Construct as overlap.
Of the non-rare Slivers, only Predatory Sliver and Battle Sliver provide relevant benefits. Manaweft Sliver is powerful, but playing marginal creatures to make more mana guys is likely to lead to "flooding" on underpowered cards. Steelform Sliver and Blur Sliver provide decent benefits, but the other Slivers aren’t good enough to really take advantage of them. They are a bunch of 1/1s and 2/2s in a format defined by larger creatures.
All of the rare Slivers are very good. Syphon Sliver is probably the worst, and that says something.
Basically, in order to be a "Slivers" deck, you are going to need Predatory Slivers, Battle Slivers, and/or a rare.
Given what we have defined above, let’s see what we can learn from looking at each color.
White
White Commons
|
Cost |
Count |
|
|
|
|
|
1 |
2 |
1/1 (Soulmender) |
1/1 Flying (Suntail Hawk) |
|
|
|
2 |
3 |
0/4 Flying (Angelic Wall) |
1/1 First Strike (Capashen Knight) |
2/2 (Sentinel Sliver) |
|
|
3 |
4 |
2/2 (Auramancer) |
1/3 Flying (Griffin Sentinel) |
2x 1/1 (Hive Stirrings) |
2/2 (Master of Diversion) |
|
4 |
2 |
3/3 Flying (Charging Griffin) |
2/4 (Pillarfield Ox) |
|
|
|
5 |
2 |
2/4 (Dawnstrike Paladin) |
3/5 (Siege Mastodon) |
|
|
|
Removal: 2 |
|
||
|
Trick: 3 |
|||
|
Other: 2 |
|
White has a bit of an identity crisis. The two-drops aren’t especially aggressive and the creatures not especially well sized, but Master of Diversion and Fortify suggest you want to be attacking. I would be inclined to use white as a defensive color that fills a hole in a deck. Siege Mastodon and Griffin Sentinel are top-notch blockers at their slots, and Charging Griffin plays the "random evasive finisher" role fairly well.
Suntail Hawk / Fortify is a "deck." Similar gimmick decks have existed in the past. I’m also not convinced that Soulmender is 100% unplayable, though it likely is.
On the above defensive note, 2/4 blocks down every nongreen common except for Marauding Maulhorn and Minotaur Abomination. As mentioned way above, 2/4 is not likely to be able to attack in very well. The vigilance / lifelink combo on Dawnstrike Paladin is not likely to make it significantly better than Pillarfield Ox unless your plan is to suit it up with an aura.
Griffin Sentinel is pretty awesome compared to past sets. Previously, it was often embarrassed by the number of three-power creatures on the low end of the curve. This time, it blocks the vast majority of the low drops, and late game when the ground bogs down it can still get in a chip shot or two.
Auramancer has marginal value at best. The enchantments in this format are things that inherently stick around.
Celestial Flare can be cast after combat damage to kill things. Be aware of this if you are trying to play around the card.
Looking at the colors individually, there are less x/5s than I thought on first glance. Show of Valor is probably a fine but not amazing combat trick instead of just bad.
Solemn Offering might be good enough to maindeck. See the good Auras comment.
White Uncommons
|
Cost |
Count |
|
|
|
1 |
0 |
|
|
|
2 |
0 |
|
|
|
3 |
2 |
2/2 (Banisher Priest) |
2/3 (Steelform Sliver) |
|
4 |
1 |
3/5 Flying Defender (Wall of Swords) |
|
|
5 |
1 |
4/4 Flying (Serra Angel) |
|
|
6 |
1 |
4/4 (Stonehorn Chanter) |
|
|
Removal: 1 |
|
|
|
Trick: 2 |
Aside from Serra Angel and Banisher Priest, the uncommons in white are average. With so few white commons that want to attack, Brave the Elements is much less of a game breaker than it could be.
Note on Banisher Priest: There aren’t many ways to actually kill this guy, especially at instant speed. Obviously, you would play this card anyway, but this lesson also applies to Auras. There are plenty of ways to kill Auras after the first attack, but if you get enough immediate value out of them, it likely doesn’t matter.
Blue
Blue Commons
|
Cost |
Count |
|
|
|
1 |
0 |
|
|
|
2 |
2 |
2/1 (Coral Merfolk) |
1/3 Flying (Seacoast Drake) |
|
3 |
2 |
1/3 (Scroll Thief) |
2/1 Flying (Trained Condor) |
|
4 |
2 |
1/2 (Archaeomancer) |
2/3 Flying (Nephalia Seakite) |
|
5 |
2 |
2/5 (Armored Cancrix) |
3/3 Flying (Messenger Drake) |
|
Removal: 4 |
||||
|
Trick: 3 |
|
|||
|
Other: 3 |
|
Blue in this format seems absolutely absurd. In a high-end format, counterspells are better than ever. If you count them, blue has the most common removal of any color in this format.
At first glance Trained Condor looks insane because the format is light on fliers, but the multiple common 1/3 fliers that conveniently are some of the best creatures at holding the early ground will make attacking with it complicated. Blue also is light on creatures you want to leap with the card. Scroll Thief is cute, but that’s it at common.
Armored Cancrix is basically Siege Mastodon and blocks everything without flying.
Archaeomancer is a bit worse this time around as you are going to be more Aura dense on the spell side of things and because blue doesn’t have the Talrand’s Invocation / Switcheroo / Sleep trio of insane uncommon spells. It will still be strong, but it won’t be as insane as it was in M13 Limited.
Disperse is much better than it looks. Remember, more Auras. Bouncing their Lightning Talonsed guy in combat or refreshing your Pacifismed guy is definitely a card’s worth of value out of this spell.
Blue Uncommons
|
Cost |
Count |
|
|
|
|
1 |
0 |
|
|
|
|
2 |
0 |
|
|
|
|
3 |
3 |
2/2 Unblockable (Phantom Warrior) |
0/7 (Wall of Frost) |
2/2 Flying (Warden of Evos Isle) |
|
4 |
1 |
3/4 ‘Morphling’ (Water Servant) |
|
|
|
5 |
1 |
4/3 Flying (Air Servant) |
|
|
|
Removal: 1 |
|
|
|
Other: 2 |
The blue uncommons are awesome.
Wind Drake doesn’t exist at common in this format for a reason, and blue has two.
Your 4/x flier for five beats the other ones, and there is only one card that punishes you for being a x/3 instead of a x/4 (Flames of the Firebrand).
Opportunity is going to be unreal. The cards in this format are so, for lack of a better word, bland that just having more of them is going to easily be enough.
Black
Black Commons
|
Cost |
Count |
|
|
|
1 |
1 |
1/1 (Festering Newt) |
|
|
2 |
2 |
2/1 (Child of Night) |
2/1 (Corpse Hauler) |
|
3 |
2 |
2/2 (Blood Bairn) |
2/3 (Undead Minotaur) |
|
4 |
2 |
3/2 Intimidate (Accursed Spirit) |
2/2 Flying Deathtouch (Deathgaze Cockatrice) |
|
5 |
1 |
4/6 (Minotaur Abomination) |
|
|
6 |
1 |
4/6 (Minotaur Abomination) |
|
|
Removal: 2 |
|
|
|
||
|
Trick: 3 |
|
|
|||
|
Other: 5 |
Festering Newt actually trades up reasonably well. For the purposes of blocking, it’s about the same as any of the random two-drops.
Past that and the Minotaurs, black isn’t doing a lot of blocking. While the other colors have return on mana spend to creature size, black just hangs out at a solid x/2 until the six slot. I have nothing against Nightwing Shade or Accursed Spirit, but your secondary color is going to have to pull some weight on defense or applying early pressure.
Shrivel is pretty comical. Black is one of the colors it hits the most creatures out of, so outside of mirrors and against aggressive red decks you are going to be working hard to play around your own card.
The fact that Blood Bairn and Blood Baron of Vizkopa both exist is going to lead to some comical conversations over the next year. Which one are you playing again?
On the removal end, black got a little shafted this year. Liturgy of Blood isn’t really unique as an unconditional kill spell. White gets Pacifism at two mana, blue has Claustrophobia, and Chandra’s Outrage kills almost everything. Wring Flesh is better than I first thought, but it is going to have to tag team with a blocker a lot of the time to kill anything relevant. Quag Sickness is fine, but I can’t help but draw comparisons between it and Sensory Deprivation against anything without evasion.
The spells are where black is going to have to shine. I expect to maindeck Mind Rot and Duress fairly often. Mark of the Vampire on an evasive creature is a solid alternative to needing to block.
Black Uncommons
|
Cost |
Count |
|
|
|
1 |
1 |
1/1 (Tenacious Dead) |
|
|
2 |
1 |
1/3 (Gnawing Zombie) |
|
|
3 |
0 |
|
|
|
4 |
1 |
2/3 (Blightcaster) |
|
|
5 |
2 |
4/4 Flying (Sengir Vampire) |
4/2 (Vampire Warlord) |
|
Removal: 2 |
||
|
Trick: 0 |
|
|
|
Other: 1 |
|
Black’s uncommons are fine but not insane.
I can’t imagine there is enough support to go near Mono-Black for Corrupt, but as a six-mana drain for three-to-five, I wouldn’t pass it up.
Blightcaster is pretty awesome. You are already playing more Auras in this format, and it gives them all the bonus of killing an evasive creature or preventing a big guy from profitably blocking that turn.
Red
Red Commons
|
Cost |
Count |
|
|
|
|
1 |
1 |
1/1 (Striking Sliver) |
|
|
|
2 |
2 |
2/1 (Goblin Shortcutter) |
0/1+ Flying (Dragon Hatchling) |
|
|
3 |
3 |
1/1 Intimidate (Academy Raider) |
2/2 Haste (Blur Sliver) |
4/1 (Regathan Firecat) |
|
4 |
2 |
3/3 (Canyon Minotaur) |
5/3 (Marauding Maulhorn) |
|
|
5 |
1 |
3/3 (Pitchburn Devils) |
|
|
|
6 |
1 |
3/4 Intimidate (Cyclops Tyrant) |
|
|
|
Removal: 2 |
|
|
|
||
|
Trick: 5 |
|||||
|
Other: 2 |
|
|
|
Goblin Shortcutter is in an awkward place. You want it in a deck that is heavy on early-drops to make the best use of its trigger, but red only has it as a two-drop with power. In fact, only black has multiple two-power two-drops in this format.
Pitchburn Devils is pretty mediocre this time around. It can trade up one-for-one on the higher-drop commons, but it mostly just bounces off the other guys at its cost. If you are R/B, there are sacrifice outlets for it, but otherwise it is most likely just going to sit on board doing almost nothing.
That said, Pitchburn Devils is the only common creature that trades with Cyclops Tyrant. Three-power six-drop with a drawback and somehow it’s the best common finisher.
Regathan Firecat is much better than it looks. Most of the three-drops trade down for two-drops anyway, and this one can trade up for four-drops or pick up a Trollhide and go to town.
Shock is quite bad against blue, insane against black, and just normally good elsewhere. Chandra’s Outrage, on the other hand, is just insane everywhere and probably the best common.
Seismic Stomp is going to be the breakthrough common of choice over Act of Treason. More board stalls make functional reprint Falter very good, while smaller creatures make it more difficult to set up functional reprint Threaten for lethal.
It’s possible that "take all the Lava Axes" is a legitimate game plan in this format. If games bog down, being able to burn people for ten out of nowhere is a real endgame. Red even has the looters in this format (Academy Raider and Wild Guess) to allow you to play more copies of these late-game reach cards than normal without risking your midgame board presence.
Lightning Talons should usually make the cut in your deck. Red doesn’t have the best targets for it, but the card jumps a random two-drop up to beating every common in combat.
Red Uncommons
|
Cost |
Count |
|
|
1 |
0 |
|
|
2 |
1 |
2/1 (Young Pyromancer) |
|
3 |
1 |
0/2 –> 2/2 Flying (Dragon Egg) |
|
4 |
1 |
2x 1/1 (Molten Birth) |
|
5 |
1 |
5/3 (Battle Sliver) |
|
6 |
0 |
|
|
7 |
1 |
4/4 (Fleshpulper Giant) |
|
Removal: 3 |
|||
|
Other: 2 |
|
Red is extremely dry at uncommon. Flames of the Firebrand is good and Shiv’s Embrace and Volcanic Geyser are great at ending games, but the other cards are marginally playable at best.
Green
Green Commons
|
Cost |
Count |
|
|
|
|
|
1 |
1 |
1/1 (Elvish Mystic) |
|
|
|
|
2 |
2 |
1/2 Deathtouch Reach (Deadly Recluse) |
2/2 (Predatory Sliver) |
|
|
|
3 |
4 |
2/3 (Advocate of the Beast) |
2/2 (Brindle Boar) |
2/2 –> 4/4 (Rootwalla) |
|
|
4 |
2 |
2/4 Reach (Giant Spider) |
4/4 (Rumbling Baloth) |
|
|
|
5 |
1 |
3/3 (Sporemound) |
|
|
|
|
6 |
0 |
|
|
|
|
|
7 |
1 |
5/5 (Groundshaker Sliver) |
|
|
|
|
Removal: 2 |
|
||
|
Trick: 3 |
|||
|
Other: 3 |
If you include uncommons, the number of Beasts for Advocate of the Beast goes up to…three.
Deadly Recluse is the green "removal spell" that handles the uncommon fliers. If you aren’t all Rootwallas and Rumbling Baloths, be sure to get a few of this guy because you will need to stop those cards in the long game. Also, Plummet.
The best argument for maindecking Naturalize might actually be that if you can kill Pacifism and Claustrophobia, Trollhide turns into The Abyss.
Lay of the Land and Verdant Haven make me think a many-colored land-light deck is possible, but at the same time most of the good removal is requires multiple of that color of mana.
I’m probably not going to cut a Hunt the Weak from my deck; it just gets way better with a bunch of 4/4s. Of course, green in general gets way better with a bunch of 4/4s, so that doesn’t mean much.
Green Uncommons
|
Cost |
Count |
|
|
|
|
1 |
0 |
|
|
|
|
2 |
3 |
3/3 (Kalonian Tusker) |
1/1 (Manaweft Sliver) |
2/2 (Voracious Wurm) |
|
3 |
0 |
|
|
|
|
4 |
1 |
3/3 (Briarpack Alpha) |
|
|
|
5 |
1 |
4/4 –> 8/8 (Woodborn Behemoth) |
|
|
|
6 |
0 |
|
|
|
|
7 |
1 |
All the 2/2s (Howl of the Night Pack) |
|
|
|
Removal: 2 |
||
|
Other: 1 |
|
Don’t pass Briarpack Alpha except when deciding between it and a bomb rare.
Woodborn Behemoth is not better than the cheaper common 4/4s, but it serves an important role as a way to break through and win if you find yourself in some terrible color combo like G/W.
Howl of the Night Pack has historically done a lot of good work on the ending-games front. I wouldn’t be surprised to see it do that again.
I’m working really hard to be excited here. Green’s uncommons are just so…acceptable. It has one awesome one and then a bunch of just fine but not amazing playables.
Artifacts
See the Verdant Haven note regarding Darksteel Ingot. You can splash Doom Blade or Pacifism, and that’s about it.
Millstone could easily be a real win condition in this format. Gross. [Editor’s Note: Shhhhhh!]
Of all the other uncommon artifacts, I would only play Fireshrieker. Don’t get tricked into playing with Vial of Poison or any of the Staffs.
Rares
Again, this set is very straightforward. If the rare looks obviously good, take it. If it doesn’t, it probably isn’t. I would assume Colossal Whale is awesome and in castable range. I would not assume the same of Rise of the Dark Realms.
Goblin Diplomats will kill people. It’s like Avatar of Slaughter in Momir Basic, only they always hit it at the worst possible time.
Wild Ricochet is much worse in a format where three of the good common removal spells are enchantments.
Trading Post feels like it could be awesome if there were only another playable artifact to set up the slow Tome.
Summary
Early 2/x creatures will get outclassed fast in this format.
Black needs to be paired with a color that enhances its weak creatures.
Red needs to be paired with a color that supports its weak early-drops.
White needs to be paired with a color that gives it an endgame.
Blue is the best color by miles.
Green is awesome if your deck is all 4/4s and pump spells. Anything else and you will be underwhelmed by what it has to offer. I would advise against pairing it with white, but more because 2/4s are not a combo with trying to beatdown and less because of the lack of removal.
If a card is an obviously good game-ending bomb, take it. There isn’t enough synergy or aggressive power in this set to override that.
Looking at M14 Draft, I’m reminded of core sets from back when they weren’t labeled by their year of release. Nothing flashy, just cards that do a very defined thing. Better cards are fairly obviously better. Blue is by far the best color, with green in second place just because slamming 4/4s is an easy way to win.
If they made a Portal set with the intention of drafting it, this is what it would be.