I haven’t submitted an article to StarCity in a long while (insert comment here, editor), so allow me to introduce myself: My name is Ben Bleiweiss. I’ve played Magic since Revised, played professionally for a couple of years, and now write a weekly column for MagicTheGathering.com (Uncommon Knowledge, the column about Magic History), provide coverage for The Sideboard at major events, and do the monthly puzzle column for Inquest Magazine (Dead Man’s Hand – go pick up a copy of Inquest today and check it out. )
Yes, I’m shilling that much. I enjoy the hand that feeds me.
Three recent events converged in my life to prompt the writing of this article. In no particular order:
1) We were putting together an article with various top 10 lists in Onslaught for MTG.com, in which my niche were the top 10 cards for the Extended/Type 1 formats.
2) Inquest assigned me my first major article, a piece about the dominant decks in the upcoming November Extended format.
3) The following letter arrived in my e-mail box, with several other almost identical variations appearing over and over:
Sirs from Wizards,
I’m very indignated with your policy about white colour (probably every white loved wizard is too).
It’s very evident that you manage all the contest about selecting eigth edition… It’s more evident for example with the crusade. White people like the crusade about 8000000 times more than glorious anthem… That’s the evidence.
In my location people only play extended format.
With”Swords to plowshares”,”Tithe” and”Empyrial armor” out from extended, and with the green disenchant (it’s exactly the same card !!), white colour is not serving anymore in magic, nor a pure white deck neither
a splash colour.
Do you want to white dissapear from magic? Well, you have got it.
For my part, I think to leave magic.
It’s simple, if I can’t play my favourite colour with my favourite cards, the only I can do it’s to leave magic. I don’t think to change to another colour, I love white.
What sad, isn’t it ?
I know a lot of people with my same thinking.
That’s you have got.
An angry white magic player (probably an ex-magic player).
(Name withheld by me)
As an aside: Most of these letters arrived from players in European countries, so you’ll have to excuse the small grammatical and spelling errors. Often, American players take for granted and even ridicule the English speaking abilities of non-native speakers, which is sad given how few Americans in general can speak two languages, much less the three to five languages that averaged in European nations. I would like to applaud the author for their efforts in English.
While the language isn’t perfect, the message is perfectly clear: They feel that white has gotten the shaft in Extended.
First of all, Crusade is perfectly legal in Extended, 8th edition vote or no. For those who have been following MTG.com, there has been a promotion to vote for cards in 8th edition. The final vote pitted Crusade against Glorious Anthem – one would get the boot, and the other would be heralded for years to come.
Glorious Anthem won with 6,402 votes versus a paltry 3,302 votes for Crusade.
By nearly a two to one margin, the players voted to keep Crusade out of Type Two… And I don’t think this is a case of”people hate White, so they voted for the worse card.” If that were the case, Nekrataal would have lost to Dark Hatchling some ten weeks earlier. Trust me, people who are passionate about hating a color are much more passionate about gigging black then neutering white (and to further this train of thought, no color is more universally despised than blue). Black is about killing your creatures, taking away the cards in your hand, generating obscene amounts of mana, and beating your face in with a combination of mana denial, card denial, unblockable shadow creatures, and that damned Hatred card.
White’s about peace, love, life gain, and having the Wrath of God on your side.
If people wanted to see Crusade again, they would have voted for Crusade.
So now I have to deal with the big three white cards that are leaving Extended: Swords to Plowshares, Tithe, and Empyrial Armor. Yes, these were all major cards for white. Their losses will definitely be felt. But to say the loss of these three cards shows that white will disappear from Magic?
Get a grip!
Empyrial Armor, the newest of these three cards, last saw print in June of 1997.
Tithe bowed out in February of 1997.
Swords to Plowshares last saw print in June of 1995. That’s when Ice Age was released.
For seven years, there has not been a tournament-legal set that contained Swords to Plowshares. The last two (Ice Age and 4th Edition) went out of print in February of 1996 and April of 1997. For the past five years, you have not been able to purchase any pack that contained an in-print Swords to Plowshares.
My friends, Swords to Plowshares, Empyrial Armor, and Tithe have been gone from Magic for a long time. Extended finally is sweeping out some fossils from the museum, allowing fresh new cards to be played in their stead. With Swords to Plowshares gone, a vast number of other removal spells (in virtually every color) become viable – Swords did the job so well that it was practically futile to play with anything but. Now that it’s going to be gone, there will be a lot more innovation in deck building.
Or maybe people will just play with Smother.
Either way, to declare an entire color dead based on three cards (and by the by, Tithe isn’t exactly a winner without the revised Dual Lands in the format, since the only multi-colored lands they could tutor for were rotating out of the environment anyhow) does a great injustice to the deep, deep richness of the white card pool for November Extended.
Included with this article are a list of white cards which I believe are Absolute sure bets to be played in the new Extended. There are 146 mono-white cards included, along with 35 additional multi-colored white cards on the list, for a total of 181 cards that I am sure will be used come November.
- I am not including fringe cards…
- I am not including cards which ‘might’ be good…
- I am not including any cards which ‘might’ be broken by new innovations…
These are cards which have been tried, tested, proved – or, in the case of Onslaught cards, are so good that they will definitely see play (due to my Non-Disclosure Agreement, I am not allowed to name these cards until after the pre-release on 9/27/2002. You’ll notice the list below is alphabetized for your convenience, so it will be easy to recheck this list in the future).
How will we check up on this list to see if I’m right? Pro Tour – Houston takes place November 8th-10th, exactly a week from the rotation of the Extended environment. It will establish the metagame for the new environment, since it’s the first major Extended tournament to use the new rules.
I am so sure that each and every one of these 181 cards will appear at least once between main decks and sideboards in this format that I will make a bet right now with you, the reader. For each card on my list that does not make an appearance during Pro Tour: Houston, I will write a hundred meaningful words for StarCity explaining why each of those cards didn’t see play. And I’m sure most if not all of these will see play. Check out the upcoming Inquest article, where a majority of the decks I feature for the new Extended contain white cards.
That’s a potential 18,100 word article! By comparison, this article is only 2,000 words, or eight pages. But I’m willing to put my money where my mouth is (for each card I’m wrong about, I have to invest a considerable amount of my time writing an article for free, when I’m usually paid to do so).
The Official”Put My Money Where My Mouth Is” PT Houston White Checklist:
- Absolute Grace
- Absolute Law
- Academy Rector
- ONSLAUGHT CARD #1
- ONSLAUGHT CARD #2
- Allay
- Ancestor’s Chosen
- Ancestral Tribute
- Angel of Mercy
- Armageddon
- Arrest
- Aura Blast
- Auratog
- Balancing Act
- Battle Screech
- Benevolent Bodyguard
- Blinding Angel
- Cataclysm
- Chastise
- Cho-Manno, Revolutionary
- Cho-Manno’s Blessing
- Circle of Protection: Black
- Circle of Protection: Blue
- Circle of Protection: Green
- Circle of Protection: Red
- Circle of Protection: White
- Clear
- Commander Eesha
- Crusade
- Defender En-Vec
- Defiant Falcon
- Defiant Vanguard
- Devoted Caretaker
- Devout Witness
- Disenchant
- Dismantling Blow
- Divine Sacrament
- Enlightened Tutor
- Erase
- ONSLAUGHT CARD #3
- Exile
- False Prophet
- Flickering Ward
- Fresh Volunteers
- Gerrard’s Battle Cry
- Gerrard’s Wisdom
- Global Ruin
- Glorious Anthem
- Glory
- Golden Wish
- Hobble
- Honor the Fallen
- Humility
- Intrepid Hero
- Ivory Mask
- ONSLAUGHT CARD #4
- Jeweled Spirit
- Jhovall Queen
- Karmic Guide
- Lashknife Barrier
- Last Breath
- Lawbringer
- Light of Day
- Lightbringer
- Lin Sivvi, Defiant Hero
- Longbow Archer
- Mageta the Lion
- ONSLAUGHT CARD #5
- Monk Realist
- Morningtide
- Mother of Runes
- Nightwind Glider
- Nomads en-Kor
- ONSLAUGHT CARD #6
- ONSLAUGHT CARD #7
- Opalescence
- Order of the Sacred Torch
- Orim, Samite Healer
- Orim’s Chant
- Orim’s Prayer
- Orim’s Thunder
- Paladin En-Vec
- Parallax Wave
- Pariah
- Pegasus Stampede
- Phantom Nomad
- Pianna, Nomad Captain
- Pilgrim of Justice
- Planar Birth
- Prismatic Strands
- Pure Reflection
- Pursuit of Knowledge
- Radiant’s Dragoons
- Ramosian Lieutenant
- Ramosian Sky Marshall
- Rapelling Scouts
- Renounce
- Reverent Mantra
- Rout
- Rune of Protection: Black
- Rune of Protection: Blue
- Rune of Protection: Green
- Rune of Protection: Red
- Rune of Protection: White
- Sacred Ground
- Sacred Guide
- Samite Ministrations
- Sanctimony
- Scour
- Serenity
- Serra Angel
- Serra Avatar
- Shaman En-Kor
- ONSLAUGHT CARD #8
- Solitary Confinement
- Soltari Crusader
- Soltari Monk
- Soltari Priest
- Soltari Visionary
- Spectral Lynx
- Spirit Cairn
- Spiritual Focus
- Spurnmage Advocate
- Staunch Defenders
- Steadfast Guard
- Stern Judge
- Story Circle
- Sunscape Familiar
- Suntail Hawk
- Tariff
- Test of Endurance
- Thermal Glider
- Topple
- ONSLAUGHT CARD #9
- Vengeful Dreams
- Voice of All
- Warmth
- Warrior en-Kor
- Wave of Reckoning
- Waylay
- ONSLAUGHT CARD #10
- ONSLAUGHT CARD #11
- Wishmonger
- Worship
- Worthy Cause
- Wrath of God
- Absorb
- Anurid Brushhopper
- Armadillo Cloak
- Aura Mutation
- Captain Sisay
- Charging Troll
- Crystaline Sliver
- Death Grasp
- Dromar, The Banisher
- Dromar’s Charm
- Eladamri’s Call
- Fleetfoot Panther
- Galina’s Knight
- Gerrard’s Verdict
- Goblin Legionnaires
- Goblin Trenches
- Hunting Grounds
- Lightning Angel
- Llanowar Knight
- Meddling Mage
- Mirari’s Wake
- Mystic Enforcer
- Noble Panther
- Overgrown Estate
- Phantom Nishoba
- Questing Phelddagrif
- Reviving Vapors
- Rith, The Awakener
- Sabertooth Nishoba
- Sliver Queen
- Sterling Grove
- Teferi’s Moat
- Vindicate
- Victual Sliver
- Wax/Wane
See you all back here in a month and a half, where I expect to write maybe a five hundred-word article: Three hundred words of explanation, and two hundred words praising the diversity of white decks in the format.