Innistrad is coming out this weekend! This is a really exciting release because everyone I have talked to says something amazing about this set. Not only is the flavor and art absolutely brilliant, but the Spike in me also thinks it’s a very good Limited format. I have never traveled for a Prerelease where I was not gunslinging, but I find myself driving 200 miles for this great weekend full of Magic. This week I bring you everything I’ll be doing this weekend!
FRIDAY
This Friday is the last time I’ll get to play live Magic with Caw-Blade. I have not played FNM in years, but something tells me I have to. Not only can I get my hands on some of those Planeswalkers Points, but I also get to search for Squadron Hawks one last time. I know this information is useless to most of you, but this is the list of Caw-Blade I am going to be playing.
Creatures (12)
Planeswalkers (2)
Lands (27)
Spells (19)
- 4 Mana Leak
- 2 Oblivion Ring
- 2 Into the Roil
- 2 Spell Pierce
- 4 Preordain
- 2 Sword of Feast and Famine
- 1 Sword of War and Peace
- 2 Dismember
Sideboard
Caw-Blade and I have had some really good times. This deck not only helped me with Player of the Year, but it gave me something fun to play for over eight months. That is the longest I have ever played the same deck in Standard. I will miss you!
SATURDAY
Saturday is the first time we get to see Innistrad. This format looks absolutely brilliant for Limited play. I obviously have not played with the cards yet, but I feel this is going to be one of the best Limited formats of all time.
I have been looking through the spoiler for the last couple weeks trying to learn something about Limited. It took me a while to see it, but the greatest thing was the power/toughness ratios on cards. It seems that a decent number of cards have a higher toughness than power. Not only are there tons of graveyard interactions and cards flipping back and forth, but combat is going to be difficult as well. This is a great sign for competitive players.
Just think back to M12 Limited. Many of the creatures were 2/1s and 3/2s. Combat was filled with creatures trading all the time. The only time this was not the case was when people missed land drops. Having such low toughness creatures made it that much more difficult to get back into a game. Trading was the only play, and you just had to hope to hit correct mana.
Innistrad is the exact opposite. Many cards are weak at just attacking. Sure, the flip cards look very powerful when you get to turn them over, but that always requires certain scenarios to come up. They don’t just start beating an opponent to death. These creatures take time and skill to be used properly.
The other thing I love about this format is that the bombs cost more than six. I’ve been getting very sick of losing to Titans or Titan-like creatures for the last year. Some of the rares/mythics are still very powerful but do take more than six untapped mana to be good.
Innistrad looks like a very synergistic Limited format, so it will take much more than just attacking to win a game. I don’t think you have to be milling yourself all the time to win, but finding ways to use cards together is definitely the place you want to be.
The other thing I really love about this set is there doesn’t seem to be a ton of removal or amazing come into play abilities on creatures. I hated both of these things about Scars block as well as M12. Both formats had a ridiculous amount of removal and amazing creatures.
In older formats, it was always correct to hold removal for bombs. That just wasn’t the case this last year because so many bombs gained value even if they died on the spot. This made it more important to use removal on random guys on the table so that you could apply enough pressure to win the game before the bomb dropped.
I feel that the lack of removal will make it very important to hold them for the better spells. It also seems that games can go a bit longer if you need to draw removal for an opponent’s bomb. Most of the powerful spells take more than an untap phase to take over the game.
Saturday just isn’t about playing with Innistrad. There are cards to trade for upcoming tournaments. Not only is there an SCG Open the week after, but States is coming up. I’m going to go through the cards I would trade for and use as trade bait for this weekend. These are all personal opinion/preference, so don’t let me change your mind if you really want to play with something.
What to trade for
This card is going to make many sideboards in control decks. Swords seem like they are not going to stop seeing play with so many people talking about Invisible Stalker and Puresteel Paladin. This card stops almost all equipment from doing anything.
Stony Silence also stops Birthing Pod from doing anything until an answer is found. This will give you time to Oblivion Ring the Pod and keep any topdecked Acidic Slime from having a high impact.
This card is definitely a long shot, but I think it will go for very low trade value. I talked about Mono-Blue Illusions last week and still feel it will be very powerful. Another clone might not be needed, but the risk is worth the reward on this one. Pick them up for cheap since they might not do anything.
This card seems like it can be very powerful. It seems absolutely busted when you have Ponder setting up the activation. Mana-sink abilities are always nice to have in specific decks, and this one will not only hold a sword but can get monstrous without one.
This card is going to be expensive to pick up but will only go up. This card will make it into almost every blue deck and will be a main reason to even play the color. My goal this weekend is to pick up a set of these guys before anything else; I’ll for sure be playing them come States.
This is another guy that I’m not sure will be good but should be able to picked up cheaply. I like that he can be a proactive sideboard card against reanimation decks. Control decks will need a good way to deal with the incremental advantage most graveyard-based decks will have, and this guy fits the bill. He passes the Jace test this time around.
Something about this card scares me. Standard right now is filled with great utility creatures with amazing abilities, and most of their power and toughness stats don’t really matter. Of course I want my Acidic Slime to deal two damage to a player, but playing it on turn three seems really sweet. Four-mana Consecrated Sphinx sounds pretty good as well.
Being able to play more utility creatures in the early turns will make up for sacrificing a card in playing the Summoning.
This card will be a Standard staple. I am actually afraid of this planeswalker. It has the ability to not lose loyalty when producing creatures like Elspeth, Knight-Errant, as well as kill a guy like Ajani Vengeant. This walker really knows how to protect itself and is worth every penny. I just need to find a way to play this guy with Snapcaster Mage.
Dual Land Cycle
This is an obvious one. I always find it very easy to get the lands I want at a prerelease. Players have so many different preferences on what they want to play with when the set comes out that it becomes easy to trade off the ones you don’t want for the ones you do.
Not many people are talking about this land yet because an R/G deck has not emerged, but this card is insane. It gives many decks a late-game power they didn’t have before. Control decks will absolutely hate this land, since they cannot win many draw-go situations when it’s in play.
A topdecked Llanowar Elves has never felt more powerful.
If there is a Caw-Blade variant out there, this land will be in it. Being able to turn any creature into Sword fodder will be a great way to win the late game. Many people have talked about this card being great already, so I don’t think much more has to be said.
This land is going to be great to build around. There are so many sweet spells that produce multiple creatures that will let you abuse this land.
Cards to get rid of
Tons of players think this guy is going to see some play, and they may be right. The only thing is that most of the play will be one-ofs in Birthing Pod decks. This means that most players will only need one copy, and the price of this card will go down. I feel it will be a sought-after card early but will not be as needed in two weeks.
This planeswalker is very powerful—don’t get me wrong—but I think it is a bit overhyped. People are putting it into decklists that will probably never see competitive play outside of the first couple weeks, resulting in a drop in value. Unless I want to play with them right way, I’ll be trading these off the moment I am not using them in my sealed event.
This card does not seem like a tournament-playable card. Some players are putting it in their Pod decklists, and I feel it is a mistake. It doesn’t do anything but block for the first turn it’s in play, and you want to use that time to gain life.
This guy seems great on the surface, but most decks will be playing creatures. Even the control decks will be playing Snapcaster Mage to stand in its way. Maybe with enough hexproof creatures, cards like Angelic Destiny will make this guy better, but he will certainly not be good enough on his own.
SUNDAY
Now that the tournaments of the weekend are over, it is time to look at Standard. This will be the first deck I work on going into States. I don’t know if this deck is the most powerful, but it is more worth testing than anything else.
Creatures (28)
- 1 Solemn Simulacrum
- 4 Birds of Paradise
- 1 Archon of Justice
- 2 Acidic Slime
- 1 Sun Titan
- 1 Wurmcoil Engine
- 1 Sylvok Replica
- 1 Thrun, the Last Troll
- 4 Viridian Emissary
- 1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
- 1 Phyrexian Metamorph
- 1 Blade Splicer
- 1 Stonehorn Dignitary
- 1 Phantasmal Image
- 2 Fiend Hunter
- 1 Skaab Ruinator
- 4 Avacyn's Pilgrim
Planeswalkers (2)
Lands (23)
Spells (4)
+3 maindeck Garruk Relentless | Garruk, the Veil-Cursed [not in database yet –LL]
Something about new sets coming out makes me feel that I can get away with anything. This is the reason I’m playing with planeswalkers in my Birthing Pod list. I know they have no synergy with each other, but I like having a higher number of powerful cards to accelerate into.
The sideboard is just a mess of cards that seem sweet to have. I don’t know if the Razor Hippogriffs will be good, but a couple people already told me they have potential.
Surgical Extraction is a great way to deal with these flimsy reanimator decks. I don’t think they will be that good, but it is very important to not ignore them, since many people will be looking into them in the next couple weeks.
This weekend is going to be a lot of fun for many different people and for many different reasons. Some players will be playing in their very first tournaments, and it’s important to act like true ambassadors of the game. Treat everyone with respect and make sure to show new players how amazing this game is for everyone. Wizards is helping out by making a wonderful set, so do your part to make it a wonderful weekend for all. Have fun this weekend!