The past week of drafting has been somewhat abnormal for me.
I did about ten live Drafts this week and I kept ending up with card pools that looked very similar. For instance, on Tuesday at CMU, I drafted three separate U/R decks, and each of them had at least two Vedalken Entrancers – one actually had three! Not to mention the multiple Drift of Phantasms and other strong Dimir spells. I honestly felt like I was back in the triple Ravnica, format except this time I was UR and hoping for Steamcore Weirds or Ogre Savants.
This week I wanted to again share some insights into the new format through a big list of underrated cards, and cards that maybe you should take a second look at. Where should I start?
Karoo Lands
I feel like I’m being a bit repetitive here, since I just talked about these last time, but my opinion of them just keeps getting higher and higher. My feeling was that having two of these per deck was about the right number, but I experimented on multiple occasions with running as many as four of these bounce lands. They have been absolutely amazing for me every time.
You think you know all of this already and you’re picking them high enough? You’re wrong. I’ve actually first picked a bounce land in two separate Drafts now (granted, the pack wasn’t that great), and been happy with the decision. These lands are key to success in this format and you should be moving them up a few more notches on your pick orders.
I’d also like to recommend that you use these lands even if you don’t need both colors of mana. As long as doing so will not screw with your mana curve, there is plenty to gain by having a double land in your deck, even if you can only use one of the colors of mana.
Wild Cantor
Bad Skirk Prospector? I think not.
On the surface this may look to be a marginal twenty-fourth card at best, but really this guy is excellent. The guild mana makes it so that you should always be able to cast him early, and the Cantor is both acceleration and manafixing that most decks in this format are in sore need of. The nice thing too is that you can cheat on colored mana on some of your splashes because of the Cantor being in there, since he will still be good as a color fixer even in the late game. I wouldn’t pick this card highly because most people have yet to realize that he is actually very strong. Casting that Streetbreaker Wurm on turn 3 is pretty sick too, I hear.
Leap of Flame
The reason that this card will succeed where others like it have failed in the past is because it grants a multitude of things other than just flying. Because of the +1/+0 and first strike, the card can be used offensively as a Blue combat trick as well as be used to swat an unsuspecting flier out of the sky when you’re on defense. The capper is that the spell also has Replicate. I witnessed a board position where someone swung with their whole team and it looked like they could never lose until Leap of Flame was cast and Replicated twice to kill three opposing creatures and leave all of the defenders alive.
I think if you are straight U/R, or possibly have a small splash, you could possibly run as many as two of this card in your deck, but you’d also want to be more of a ground based deck with creatures like Tidewater Minion and Viashino Fangtail which can really benefit from the Leap. I also like to sideboard out a copy of this card if I have multiples because once my opponent has seen it he is much more likely to play around it and make it less valuable.
Don’t forget that you can also use this card as a finisher by granting your whole team flying and jumping over the top for a ton of damage – if your opponent isn’t prepared for it.
Ghosts of the Innocent
Right now, you are probably clicking the link on this card because you’ve never played it or played against it before. When Ravnica first came out, you read it once, dismissed it as trash, and moved on… and rightfully so.
Now that Guildpact has come around, this guy is worth another look. I’ve drafted the mill deck a lot lately and you will usually end up being U/B/W, U/R/W, or U/B/R if you decide that milling your opponent out is your purpose in life. I say U/R/W, because it’s very possible to Draft Lurking Informants and Vedalken Entrancers in combination with Tidewater Minions, and use it as your main or alternate kill condition in a U/R/W control build. If you are planning on milling someone out, Ghosts of the Innocent is the absolute nut card to have on your side.
Think about it: he effectively shuts down the offense as he has a big body on his own and then his ability stops pinging, tokens, and slows down small fliers until you can properly deal with them. Every time I’ve cast this card or seen someone else do it, any sort of creature combat is effectively shut down. You’d need something with ten power to get through the Ghosts alone, let around the rest of your side. No more tokens overwhelming your mill deck before you can stabilize.
Sure, he costs seven mana, but casting this guy will effectively mean game over if you have an Entrancer out and the Ghosts survives. I strongly advocate taking this card if you are planning on U/B/W mill, or some other control deck that is capable of winning once the Ghosts is in play.
Rabble-Rouser
A walking Orcish Oriflamme? This guy is strong.
If you drop an evasion guy like Skyknight Legionnaire or Wee Dragonauts on turn 3, and then Bloodthirst up this guy on turn 4, he should end up dealing a ton of damage on his own. Not a super high pick on his own, this guy is awesome in an evasive deck and also helps in R/W where your Sell-Sword Brutes can trade for much better creatures when your opponent is under a lot of pressure.
Finally, if you ever cast Rally the Righteous on this guy with some attackers getting through it should easily be game over since it will give a total of +8/+0 if the unblocked creatures also got the bonus from Rally. Quite sick.
Drowned Rusalka
This card on the other hand has not been nearly as good as I expected it to when I first saw it on the spoiler. The problem here is that you have to discard first, and that usually leads to situations in the mid-game where you don’t have anything in your hand that you want to discard to this guy. Sure, if you manage to get down to zero cards then the ability will be amazing, but I just don’t see it happening very often in this format where you are constantly playing bounce lands and keeping your hand full with Compulsive Research.
Both the Black and Red Rusalkas have been great for me so far, but this guy has simply not lived up to my initial expectations.
Gatherer of Graces
Ever had someone cast a two drop and then Moldervine Cloak on the play before you had a chance to do anything? This card makes that sequence much easier to attain, even if it is a little weaker. What I’m referring to of course is casting this guy on turn 2 and then putting any Magemark enchantment on it on turn three and you’ll have a 3/4 attacker with either First Strike, evasion, or the rabid elephant ability. This guy also gets the benefit of being good with the Ravnica 187 enchantments, which is nice.
I’d say this is a pretty high pick if you don’t have that many combat tricks in your deck and therefore are looking to stock up on Magemarks in Guildpact. A very strong creature overall.
Orzhov Euthanist
There are so many good uses for this card that it is just sick. He’s great in B/G/W, with all of the token generation, since you can just kamikaze a token in there and take out some big creature with this guy after combat. It’s also really nice to have a sacrifice outlet like Dimir House-Guard with this guy so that you can make one big attack and then play and sacrifice him after combat to take down two unsuspecting monsters.
My favorite deck for the Euthanist still is the U/B/R deck with either Viashino Fangtail, Hypervolt Grasp, Gelectrode, or some other pinging effect. If you have Peel from Reality in this deck like you should, you can use this guy as a repetitive Flametongue Kavu.
Overall, I really like this card as most people don’t even consider it when they are wondering why you made a certain attack. Therefore, his ability is going to fire off most of the time when you cast him with the potential to abuse the Haunt later.
Wildsize
Remember Sudden Strength? This card is one thousand times better than Sudden Strength could ever hope to be.
Let’s be honest, +2/+2 is essentially as good as +3/+3. Usually, +2/+2 is enough to keep the creature alive and kill whatever is in the way, and the extra point is usually just overkill. When you see that Wildsize costs a whole mana less than Sudden Strength, it’s already better than its predecessor. Throw in Trample and you have a versatile pump spell that is easily the best in the block so far, far better than Seeds of Strength as well. What you have to realize here is that Trample is just huge when you can use it on a big guy to end a game that your opponent thought he had in the bag. One wrong block could lead to six to the face.
The Trample ability also lets you trigger something like Dimir Cutpurse (though you shouldn’t be playing U/B/G, as that archetype sucks in RRG) or Necromantic Thirst, so don’t forget about that. I was never really a fan of Gather Courage, and Seeds of Strength is fine but not amazing, but Wildsize is a pump spell that I can really stand behind because of the cantrip, Trample, and cheap cost.
Feral Animist
Speaking of Wildsize, here is a great place to use it. You can use it to deal a ton of damage out of nowhere. Your opponent sees a seemingly harmless “Manimal” on your side of the board that he can block with any of his dorks, and when he decides to do so you trample over for seven after one Wild Size and activation.
This guy may look mediocre on the surface, but if you attach an Infiltrator’s Magemark to him he suddenly becomes an extremely quick clock. You could also try Flight of Fancy or Predatory Focus for other evasion methods that will allow Manimal to deliver a pounding.
General Thoughts
While the format as a whole seems to be very diverse so far, I’ve already developed an affinity for Blue (big surprise there, right?). My results with U/R/x have been outstanding, and I’ve experimented with a bunch of other combinations as well. Blue just has so much good card drawing now with Train of Thought, Compulsive Research, and Flight of Fancy that it is really hard to lose when you have a good Control deck and you are also outdrawing your opponent. Another card I’ve grown fond of lately is Pyromantics, since it can function as either an Arc Lightning, Spark Spray, or do a bunch of damage to the head in the late game. Pyromantics also benefits from the bounce lands, since you will have much more land in the late game and can consider saving it to go to the dome for the last five points in some situations.
Next time, I plan on doing a Draft walkthrough from one of our live Drafts this week at CMU. There should be a ton to talk about in the walkthrough since there are simply so many options in this format and therefore more chances for skill to prevail. See you then.