Let’s start this week with a simple equation, shall we?
As everyone knows by now, Kithkin has taken a giant step forward with the introduction of M10. Today I am going to talk about the White cards that are worthy of consideration and others that you should look past::
Honor of the Pure – 1W
Enchantment
White creatures you control get +1/+1.
On the surface, it is very easy to see why Honor of the Pure is such a great card, but there is more to the card than one may think. Dropping the mana cost of the “Anthem Effect” from three to two not only affects how Kithkin plays as a whole, but it also plays a significant role in the matchup that everyone seems to be talking about; Faeries versus Kithkin. Let’s examine the positives and negatives of Honor of the Pure in that particular matchup:
Positives
1.) Honor of the Pure is a lot easier to resolve around Broken Ambitions. In the past, resolving Glorious Anthem on the play against Faeries was no picnic, but it was slightly difficult to resolve on the draw because Faeries could counter it with Broken Ambitions. Due to the reduced mana cost of Honor of the Pure, it is much more difficult for a Faerie player to counter our “Anthem effect” on the draw.
2.) Honor of the Pure lowers the overall curve of Kithkin. It is extremely important to understand how big a difference there is between two mana and three mana. As great a card as Glorious Anthem was, it did not allow Kithkin to make two plays in one turn all that often. Honor of the Pure allows us to do exactly that. In my mind, I see Honor of the Pure being a turn 3 or turn 4 play more often than not. These early combinations quickly spring to mind:
Turn 3
Honor of the Pure + pumping Figure of Destiny
Honor of the Pure + Path to Exile
Honor of the Pure + summoning another one drop
Turn 4
Honor of the Pure + activating Windbrisk Heights
Honor of the Pure + Wizened Cenn and attacking for a bunch
Honor of the Pure + activating Mutavault
Negatives
1.) Honor of the Pure is much easier to counter with Spellstutter Sprite. One benefit Glorious Anthem had over Honor of the Pure was that it was a difficult spell to counter with Spellstutter Sprite in the early game. The only way Spellstutter Sprite would counter Glorious Anthem in the early game was:
Bitterblossom plus Faerie Token
Spellstutter Sprite that was played on turn 2 due to no other action, plus Mutavault
As a Kithkin player, it was a luxury to have access to numerous spells in the early game that forced Faeries to have a Broken Ambitions. As great as Honor of the Pure is, it is not one of those spells, which is both a positive and a negative.
Honor of the Pure is a great card. That was never up for debate. However, it is important to avoid looking past its negatives, no matter how few there may be.
Baneslayer Angel – 3WW
Creature – Angel
Flying, first strike, lifelink, protection from Demons and from Dragons
5/5
People have been in search of a replacement card to beat Jund since finding out that Paladin En-Vec was not reprinted in M10. I believe that Baneslayer Angel might be the right woman for the job. If you examine the Jund decks that are enjoying success, you will find that it is very difficult for them to handle a resolved Baneslayer Angel outside of a Maelstrom Pulse. Fortunately for Kithkin, they force decks with access to Maelstrom Pulse to cast them early and often due to Spectral Procession, Ajani Goldmane, Figure of Destiny, and the Kithkin soldiers provided by way of Cloudgoat Ranger. As I stated last week, playing against Jund is typically a game of attrition that is won by Kithkin due to our trump cards coming with built-in card advantage. Well, I defy you to show me a better trump card in an attrition war than Baneslayer Angel. It wins combat with whatever creature Jund has to offer, including the sometime-problematic Chameleon Colossus, due to its random protection clauses.
In addition to how great this card is against Jund, it also doubles as a must-answer threat against the Red decks that are gaining in popularity. Baneslayer Angel isn’t the perfect card against Red decks because it does cost five mana, but it sure as hell does present a question that demands an immediate answer.
Baneslayer Angel is too good a card to be without a home. That much is clear. Am I sure if that home is in the sideboard of a Kithkin deck? Nope, I really am not. But what I am sure of is that I just presented a pretty strong case in my favor.
Captain of the Watch – 4WW
Creature – Human Soldier
Vigilance
Other Soldier creatures you control get +1/+1 and have vigilance
When Captain of the Watch enters the battlefield, put three 1/1 white Soldier creature tokens onto the battlefield
3/3
Ah yes, our very first trap card. Much like Forge[/author]-Tender”]Burrenton [author name="Forge"]Forge[/author]-Tender, this is not a card you want to be playing in a Kithkin deck. As big of a jump as two mana to three mana is when it comes to Honor of the Pure versus Glorious Anthem, you cannot even begin to imagine how big a jump it is between five mana to six mana. I believe the perfect example is below:
Whenever anyone asks me about putting a card into a deck, I immediately answer their question with these questions:
What role does that card fulfil? What problem does that card solve?
When looking at Captain of the Watch, I cannot answer either of those questions. Captain of the Watch is a great card in a vacuum. A lot of cards are, nowadays. But how does that card make Kithkin a better deck? What problem is Captain of the Watch solving?
Mana cost aside, the other problem I have with Captain of the Watch is that he cannot gain flying. Countless games are won on the back of Cloudgoat Ranger being able to go to the skies for the final few points of damage.
Will Captain of the Watch have an impact on Standard Magic? Of course it will. I just think that time hasn’t come yet.
Harm’s Way – W
Instant
The next 2 damage that a source of your choice would deal to you or a permanent you control this turn is dealt to target creature or player instead.
Flavorwise, I am a huge fan of this card. I love coming across well made cards. Everything about Harm’s Way is good but not overpowering. It is a card I would love to play.
But…
There is always a but…
I have tried getting this card into Kithkin numerous times over the past week, and I keep running across the same problem:
What card would I cut in favor of Harm’s Way?
Here is my decklist for reference:
4 Figure of Destiny
4 Goldmeadow Stalwart
4 Knight of Meadowgrain
4 Wizened Cenn
4 Cloudgoat Ranger
4 Path to Exile
4 Honor of the Pure
4 Spectral Procession
3 Ajani Goldmane
17 Plains
4 Windbrisk Heights
2 Mutavault
2 Rustic Clachan
Are any of these cards any worse than Harm’s Way? Sadly, I don’t think they are.
So that leaves us with sideboarding Harm’s Way. Much like Captain of the Watch, I cannot think of a significant problem that Harm’s Way is solving. Harm’s Way is extremely good against Red decks, but as we all know, Red decks are not a problem for Kithkin. But, for the sake of an example, let’s say that Red is a problem. Is Harm’s Way better than Baneslayer Angel or Forge[/author]-Tender”]Burrenton [author name="Forge"]Forge[/author]-Tender? I don’t think it is. Do you?
Harm’s Way is another great White card in a pool of great White cards in M10. However, it isn’t solving a problem for Kithkin that another card cannot handle more efficiently.
Lifelink – W
Enchantment – Aura
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature has lifelink.
(Damage dealt by the creature also causes its controller to gain that much life.)
Could you imagine if I put up a strong argument as to why this card should be in Kithkin? I think everyone would begin to question my sanity.
But seriously. Think about it. Enchanting a Figure of Destiny. Or not.
Silence – W
Instant
Your opponents can’t cast spells this turn. (Spells cast before this resolves are unaffected.)
A sideboard card at best, Silence could be the card that helps Kithkin have a shot against Combo Elves. Curving out and then playing one of these to essentially Time Walk the opponent could be a pretty potent plan. I am not a big fan of situational cards in Kithkin, but this one might be good enough to consider.
I believe those are the only cards that are worthy of in-depth discussion as it pertains to Kithkin. I didn’t speak about any of the soldiers because I believe they are a strictly worse tribe than Kithkin. Other marginal cards like White Knight and Guardian Seraph were not included because I feel they are not good Constructed cards in the current metagame.
Now that we know how M10 affects Kithkin, let’s take a look at how other decks were affected:
BW Tokens
Losses – Caves of Koilos, Glorious Anthem
Gains – Honor of the Pure, Doom Blade, Duress
B/W Tokens really took a big hit from M10. Glorious Anthem was removed for Honor of the Pure, and while I am jumping for joy, B/W Tokens certainly is not. Furthermore, Caves of Koilos made a shaky manabase just stable enough to function. With no direct replacement, it seems very unlikely that we will be seeing Tidehollow Sculler followed up by Spectral Procession in the near future.
GW Tokens
Losses – Brushland, Treetop Village
Gains – Sunpetal Grove, Great Sable Stag
While it may seem that Brushland was upgraded by Sunpetal Grove, G/W Tokens is now going to have a much more difficult time casting Noble Hierarch on turn 1. A turn 1 Noble Hierarch led to a lot of the insane starts that G/W Tokens was capable of. With the inability to do that on a consistent basis, G/W Tokens seems like it might be a Kithkin deck with worse mana, but a better game-ending card in Overrun.
Treetop Village leaving is a pretty big annoyance, as it was able to help win longer games and was a great card with multiple Noble Hierarchs. I actually believe that Treetop Village was at its best against Faeries as an uncounterable threat that trumped Bitterblossom due to trample. While Great Sable Stag doesn’t fulfil all of the obligations of Treetop Village, if G/W Tokens is in search of a great card to defeat Faeries, it certainly has access to one.
Jund
Losses – Karplusan Forest, Llanowar Wastes, Sulfurous Springs, Terror
Gains — Doom Blade
Jund is a deck that really stays intact with the addition of M10. The loss of those painlands are not a big deal, as Jund does not play very many of them to begin with. I would even say that Jund made out pretty well with the addition of M10, as Doom Blade is a strict upgrade over Terror.
Faeries
Losses – Underground River, Terror, Faerie Conclave
Gains – Losing Underground River, Drowned Catacomb, Wall of Frost, Doom Blade, Duress
Fae losses are not fairly minor, as Underground River is hated by many Faerie players, and Doom Blade is an upgrade over Terror. I think Wall of Frost could be a good way for Faeries to handle Jund decks, and Duress is a great way to win the Bitterblossom war in the mirror as well as solidifying its matchup against the control decks that will inevitably show up.
G/B Elves
Losses – Treetop Village, Llanowar Wastes, Civic Wayfinder, Terror
Gains — Doom Blade
I do not want to pronounce G/B Elves as dead, but it sure seems difficult to build now. Much like B/W Tokens, Llanowar Wastes made a shaky manabase stable enough to work, but I believe the bigger loss was Civic Wayfinder. Civic Wayfinder was a roleplayer that made helped the whole deck function:
Fetched lands to stop one from missing land drops
Fetched lands to avoid color screw
Fetched lands to ramp up to Profane Command/Chameleon Colossus
Something to reveal to Gilt-Leaf Palace
Something to reveal to Wren’s Run Vanquisher
U/W Reveillark
Losses – Wrath of God, Adarkar Wastes, Mind Stone
Gains – Glacial Fortress
Let’s just ignore the fact that I could not be happier that this deck got much worse, and really talk about what happened here. No, forget that. I am a child! Suck it, Reveillark! How does it taste, U/W Reveillark players? Please select one of the answers below:
A.) Bitter
B.) Salty
C.) Sour
D.) All of the above
All of this analysis is to show one thing; Kithkin got that much better. Am I happy? Of course I am happy! But I am also saddened by this development. Here’s why:
Kithkin is not a very hard deck to beat, if you want to beat it. It is, after all, a Mono White Aggro deck. It is about as linear as it gets. A big part of the reason I have been winning so much with the deck over the past two months was because no one really took the deck all that seriously. Yes, people knew it existed, but no one was building their deck with beating Kithkin in mind. Now they have to. Rarely do I enjoy being the elephant in the room. That is what Kithkin is now. Can it overcome that?
That is a question we will find out over the next few weeks.
Before I go, anyone that is located around the Louisville, Kentucky area should look to make it out to the Kentucky Open July 18-19. July 18th is the $5,000 Kentucky Open. July 19th is a Pro Tour Qualifier for Pro Tour: Austin. Both tournaments are Standard. I will be there in tow, with Gerry Thompson and a host of others, so feel free to join the fray and be sure to stop by and say hello. It is truly a great time!
Until next week…