Tuesday, February 3rd – Hear that sound of whirling rubber squeaking against road? That’s the prerelease, baby. All those cards that looked so awesome sitting pretty on the spoiler? Now they have to interact with other cards, all their sins revealed. The question, as always, is this: Which cards were better than we thought, and which cards were worse?Hear that sound of whirling rubber squeaking against road? That’s the prerelease, baby. All those cards that looked so awesome sitting pretty on the spoiler? Now they have to interact with other cards, all their sins revealed.
The question, as always, is this: Which cards were better than we thought, and which cards were worse? Without further preamble, let me show you my impressions from a day’s worth of fresh Magic play.
The Landcyclers (Absorb Vis, Fiery Fall, Gleam of Resistance, Sylvan Bounty, Traumatic Visions)
Note that I reserve the right for my impressions of these to mutate. But none of the landcyclers were as cool as I wanted them to be. They were functional, sure, and I’m not quite sure what I was expecting beyond that — well, actually, I do know. I wanted something as cool as cycling Krosan Tusker. Which none of them are.
As it was, my initial impression is that the expensive upsides for most of the spells make them just too much to play them as anything but landcyclers most of the time. I think there were two Traumatic Visions played all day at my prerelease, and though I ran two (and occasionally three) copies of Gleam of Resistance in a draft deck through four rounds of a 3-1 draft (losing in the finals), I only cast it once. Even then, I didn’t really need it, I just wanted to cast the dang thing.
The best, I think, is Absorb Vis, which comes in a color that often needs mana-fixing and though expensive, can swing a game dramatically enough to be sometimes worth seven mana. I’ll play ‘em, but it’s like dating a girl who’s really hot and then discovering she chain-smokes clove cigarettes and doesn’t know how to kiss. Still hot, just a tad disappointing.
Ancient Ziggurat
I got two of these in my initial Sealed pool, and wanted to take them for a spin. Why? Because I had a sneaking suspicion that its “For creatures only” clause might prove a tad restrictive.
Sure enough, the Ziggurat turned a lot of decent hands into questionable mulligans. Admittedly, I only had a moderately critterfied deck with fifteen dudes… But missing Obelisk drops on turn 3 hurt. So did being unable to cycle Absorb Vis if I needed to. So did being one more mana away from cycling Resounding Roar than I thought.
The jury’s still out, because on the occasions when it let me cast a third-turn Woolly Thoctar in a R/G/B deck, hey, it was golden. And it wasn’t that bad in the late game. But I think you have to think carefully about your deck before just tossing it in.
Aven Trailblazer
A 2/2 flier for three mana is bog-standard. However, it generally winds up being 2/3 or 2/4, or — if you’re drafting or lucked into a Domain-style Sealed build — a 2/5 for three mana. I played three of these in a draft where I went three colors and splashed an Island for a larger domain, and they were golden for a quick air rush that turned into a decent defense when needed.
Banefire
Hey. As it turns out, Fireball effects are marginally playable in Limited. Who knew? And gosh, it turns out that making them not counterable in the late game also makes it marginally even more playable. Who knew?
Celestial Purge and Path to Exile
In every set, there are a couple of overhyped monstrosities that seem like they’re totally awesome, yet playtesting shows you that okay, they’re more situational/have more of a drawback than you think. You sigh a little, then move on to find the underhyped cards.
Path to Exile is every bit as good as it looks.
Sure, land drop, whatever. In general, that land drop didn’t make nearly as much of a difference as getting rid of that 5/5 that was about to eat their face. Usually, I got Pathed in one of two situations:
a) I was chewing off the edges of my landscrew, and had just cast my first real threat in an attempt to rebound. My opponent Paths, removing my threat, and puts me even more off-tempo. I lose, even though I’ve just gotten my third color, because I can’t recover in time from his attacks.
b) I had just gotten infinity-mana and cast THE BIGGEST THREAT IN MY WHOLE DANG DECK RAR and wait, where did it go? Damn.
I don’t know how it’s going to be in Constructed, but in Limited, one spell and giving up a land drop is more than worth facing your opponent’s double-downed Ancient Hydra.
Likewise, Celestial Purge is arguably maindeckable in Sealed, where almost everyone will be running three colors, and one of them will almost always be Black or Red. And it gets rid of anything in the darker shades, no questions asked, which is extremely nice.
Dark Temper
There were some questions about how playable this was. I wouldn’t play it in a non-Black deck, but in a worst-case scenario it’s overpriced creature removal. Two damage at instant speed is not terrible for three mana. I’d run it.
Darklit Gargoyle
One of the big surprises for me, Darklit Gargoyle sucks up mana but shaves three points off of your enemy’s totals for the turn, making it an ideal creature for a quick clock. I’m not sure I’d be happy running it in draft — it worked for me, but then again I planned on cleaning up the rest with Banefire — but it was a common sight throughout the day, getting in for a magnificent six points before cacking.
Drag Down
Also see: Path to Exile. Drag Down is more situational and more expensive, so your expectations aren’t as high, but it’s still solid removal.
Ember Weaver
Another stellar performer all day, an early drop that blocks and kills most of the early fliers is solid. But with some help from the Crimson Permanent Assurance, this early drop becomes a critter that can block and kill and survive most any battle with a flying common. Admittedly, the colors that have common fliers are the ones most likely to bounce/Exile things at the most inconvenient of times, but you have to work with what you can get.
Kaleidostone
The “Draw a card” made this playable, and occasionally did stupid things. Probably not of a quality for Draft, but extremely helpful in the slower Sealed environs.
Lapse of Certainty
If you have a tempo-based deck, this is good for getting that extra turn in to beat your opponent!
(This previous sentence has been brought to you by the Automated Magic Strategy Relate-the-Obvious Write-o-Tron robot.)
Meglonoth
I had one in my Sealed. Didn’t see it in three rounds, after which I got suckered into a draft (more on that next week). One of my opponents in the draft had it. He, too, never drew it.
Based on this experience, I am going to project that no one in the entire world will ever draw their Meglonoth. That’s right. They will all remain hidden in the cardboard sheaves of your deck, never emerging, ever. They are deep and mysterious beasts who do not wish to be summoned. If you saw a Meglonoth, it was an illusion.
If you ever do see the Meglonoth, you will die in seven days unless you show it to a friend.
Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker
Two people in the next room opened this up. They were sitting next to each other. They both whooped and hollered.
I got a rock.
(My prize packs included such gems as Extractor Demon, Font of Mythos, and Master Transmuter [which, no, I think will prove to be more fragile than folks think].)
Parasitic Strix
Much like the Aven Trailblazer, you’d be happy to pay three for a 2/2 flier. Getting a one-shot Blind Hunter out of it is extremely nice, and will happen a fair amount of the time. These seemed to be everywhere at the top tables.
Pestilent Kathari
One wonders whether this tiny Kathari can survive in a world full of Vithian Stingers. Yet when he did hit, he was extremely helpful as a wall that, in the late game, could take on pretty much anything and survive. His fragility will probably prove to be his undoing, but I had to work around more Pestilent Katharae than I’d like.
Quenchable Fire
Another card I saw everywhere, I’m convinced this is yet another one of Wizards’ skill testers — those cards that newbies and bad players love, but good players will stay away from. Six damage for four mana is okay, but it doesn’t affect the board and there’s a good chance you’ll be paying four mana for three damage. I’d rather have a Blightning.
That said, it’s hella-flavorable, and my inner Vorthos adores this card. My inner Spike, however, tells me to leave it aside. My inner Johnny tells me my inner Spike might be full of crap, and my inner me tells me to wait, it’s just one weekend, let’s see how it pans out.
Rakka Mar
Also see: Path to Exile. Its power is obvious, as are its limitations of being a fairly mana-intensive 2/2. I got one, and I played it, and the ability to churn out an army of 3/1 Elementals did, in fact, win me some games.
In fact, it won me one otherwise-unwinnable game when my Predator Dragon swung across an empty sky for eighteen, taking my opponent from 17 to 0 in one shot. I was at four life. It would have been more satisfying if he’d looked less sad.
In any case, it’s exactly as good as it looks, right down to the fact that it will snuff it instantly to any competent removal spell.
Rotting Rats
I sided this in in a few games where my opponent had bombs I couldn’t afford him to get to, so I stripped both our hands and let the board do the work. I suspect it’ll be far sweeter in a Grixis-style draft, where “You lose a card, and so do I, but whoops! I have unearth and you don’t” comes into play.
Sedraxis Alchemist
This won my MVP as “Most irritating card I faced all day.” They always had the Blue permanent, and I was always tapped out, and suffice it to say that my Kresh the Bloodbraided didn’t get a whole lot of love.
If a card can vex me that thoroughly, it’s probably pretty decent.
Suicidal Charge
I have one card like this every set. I look at it and wonder, “Is this any good? It probably isn’t. At five mana, that’s way too expensive. But maybe it is good. I dunno. Let’s let other people play with it and find out, because I’m not going to.”
Unsummon
Unsummon has been a staple for so long that you will find two of them ensconced firmly in the center of MAD Magazine. I’m sure you can find a usage for a one-mana bounce spell in Limited, no?
Volcanic Fallout
Prereleases are always a lousy time to judge, what with being clogged with uberamounts of new cards, but the new environment seems… smaller than it used to.
But lemme explain: I hate Infest. I know it’s ostensibly a pseudo-bomb, and I should play it every time I run a Sealed, but it never seemed to work in Shards. Every time I had an Infest I was running up against some Naya-style monstrosity that had fifty zillion 3/3s and higher; my Infest did absolutely nothing unless they were overconfident enough to block incorrectly. The world of 2/2s only seemed to apply when I was playing against Bant; everyone else had a Tower Gargoyle or something equally stupid.
The Conflux environment, however, seemed perfectly situated for Volcanic Fallout to be good, though. Part of it was, naturally, that it was an instant, and I could use it on defense as well as offense (I’ll block to maximize your pain, thankyouverymuch), but it was also that I just seemed to have weenier creatures facing me. I wiped more boards.
We’ll see how it pans out when the Sealed builds start and the real drafts start, but for now I’m wondering whether the days of 5/5s a-go-go are over.
Wandering Goblins
I was loath to bring this up because, well, it seemed obvious. Then I watched two games lost this weekend by players who hadn’t caught on. Both of them could have attacked for the win, both didn’t, both went under a few turns after the missed opportunity. So let’s say it:
You can, and should, activate this more than once.
Got four types of basics in play? Six mana will make Wandering Goblins an 8/3. Nine mana will make it a 12/3. It scales quite nicely, and can be a huge threat on an empty board in the late game. But you have to know how to use it.
You, The Reader
So let’s ask you the usual pair of questions:
1) What card was way better than you thought it would be?
2) What card was measurably worse?
Sound off! I wanna know. And you know you wanna talk about it.
Signing off,
The Ferrett
TheFerrett@StarCityGames.com
The Here Edits This Site Here Guy