This week at StarCityGames we’re focusing on Planar Chaos. Instead of a traditional set review, listing each card and assigning an arbitrary value for Limited and Constructed play, we’re taking a more practical approach to the set. For the next five days, there’ll be a column a day from a Premium columnist looking at the overall and specific impact that the new cards will have on a variety of formats.
Unsurprisingly, I’ll be taking a look at the set from a Limited perspective, and taking a look at how the new set affects existing archetypes. I’ll be examining some of the top archetypes from Triple Time Spiral Draft, and giving pick orders for the new cards, with some thoughts on where the archetypes are going. After that, I’ll share my Top 10 Planar Chaos Commons for Limited.
U/R
We might as well start at the top with the best archetype in TTT. This is probably still my favorite deck to draft, and it gained quite a lot in Planar Chaos. Blue is very deep, and Red has some of the very best commons in the set.
I’ve said it a million times, and I’ll say it again, Tolarian Sentinel is awesome in this archetype. There were already plenty of tricks to abuse this guy, and now we have Shaper Parasite and Stingscourger to add to the Sentinel’s arsenal. A card that everyone still disagrees on is the Dreamscape Artist. My thoughts on this are that he is pretty mediocre in a two-color deck, just like Greenseeker. However, you can set up your draft for him by picking up splash cards, and effectively playing two colors with a double splash… or even a triple splash if you get multiple Artists. I’ve done this on multiple occasions now, and found that it wasn’t hard to get a couple of Artists in pack 3 since a lot of people don’t think they’re very good. I will say that they are amazing at thinning your deck, and you can usually removal all the lands from your library pretty quickly if the game stalls. Don’t forget to use the ability in your upkeep when you can, as it really only “costs” one Blue mana.
Here is my general pick order of Planar Chaos commons for the U/R archetype.
Shaper Parasite
Dead / Gone
Prodigal Pyromancer
Erratic Mutation
Stingscourger
Skirk Shaman
Primal Plasma
Piracy Charm
Needlepeak Spider
Aquamorph Entity
Brute Force
Fury Charm
Gossamer Phantasm
Veiling Oddity
Dreamscape Artist
Firefright Mage
Simian Spirit Guide
Merfolk Thaumaturgist
First of all, let me say that Shaper Parasite is the best common in the set. Dead / Gone is close, but the fact that Parasite is a two-for-one and also easily abusable with bounce gives him the nod. Aphetto Exterminator was amazing, and I think Parasite is better due to the increased toughness, and because it’s one mana cheaper to flip. I’m more than willing to splash for this guy in other decks, as he does have morph after all, and I believe you should be doing the same.
As with all pick orders, things are subject to change given certain circumstances. For instance, I’d pick Fury Charm much higher if I had multiple Errant Ephemerons to speed into play on turn 4. I’d pick Reality Acid a little higher if I had a couple of Tolarian Sentinels / Dream Stalkers, but I wouldn’t play it at all if I didn’t. The thing with the Acid is that usually nobody is playing it, so you can plan on getting it late regardless. I’d also pick Dreamscape Artist as high as Stingscourger if I was set up to play a couple of splash cards.
I’ve tried Brute Force out in this archetype a few times, and haven’t been very impressed. It’s always going to be playable and sometimes amazing, but the truth of the matter is that I want more from my spells in U/R than a simple combat trick. I want bounce and removal. Piracy Charm is relatively low on the list because it’s a one-drop, and because it hurts your Erratic Mutations. I’d still certainly pick it, and I’d pick it higher without any Mutations. I didn’t list Battering Sliver and Synchronous Sliver in the list since I think they are rarely playable in straight U/R. You could make a case for Battering, but I tend to avoid Slivers unless I have a bunch of them myself. If that’s the case, you should be able to figure out where to pick them.
Keldon Marauders is separate from the other commons simply because I’d only play him in a combo-oriented deck with Tolarian Sentinels / Dream Stalkers. He’s really not good enough on his own so he doesn’t belong in the normal pick order, and you should be able to identify when you actually want him in your deck.
These pick orders are more of a general guideline than a rulebook, and you should make your picks based on your deck as a whole.
As far as Uncommons and Rares go, there are a few I want to talk about.
The first is Aether Membrane, which has been very good for me so far. The key phrase on this guy is that he “can block as though he had flying.” Red Walls don’t usually do this, and the bounce ability effectively makes him better than Drift of Phantasms when he’s in play. Blood Knight is playable but unspectacular, since getting RR early is sometimes tough. Don’t be fooled into taking him over a good piece of removal or better creature. Jodah’s Avenger is awesome and breaks open stalemates like nobody’s business. Pyrohemia… I don’t really need to say much about this, as you shouldn’t ever be passing Pestilence if you have enough Mountains in your deck to play it. Reckless Wurm is fine as a fatty, and amazing if you can get some Looter or Tolarian Sentinel Madness action going. I thought Timebender was going to be amazing, but so far he’s proven to be slow at what he does. I’m not going to put out an official verdict on him yet as I think he’s still good, but it’s a card to keep an eye on for sure.
Rough / Tumble is always a very high pick, and I shouldn’t have to go into detail on why Pyroclasm / Needle Storm effects are good on their own in 40-card Magic, let alone how good they are when you have the option of either on the same card. Pongify is something I’d rather have in U/G or U/W, but it’s still playable here in U/R I suppose. It’s mainly for when you absolutely need removal, or if you are able to trade a guy and make an ape for one mana after damage on the stack. U/R isn’t really big on trading guys, so while I may play it, I’d rather have it in a color combination without as much removal / bounce available to it. Finally, Sulfur Elemental has been good the couple of times I’ve had it, though it doesn’t seem to kill that many White guys any more, so you have to be careful with it. +1/-1 is definitely not the same as -1/-1, and you could just find yourself stuck with the Elemental in hand rather than taking extra damage from Flickering Spirit and Castle Raptors.
There are plenty of bomb rares in these colors as well, including Serra Sphinx, Red Akroma, Chronozoa, Magus of the Arena, Volcano Hellion, Torchling, and Serendib Sorcerer, as well as splashing for a Dragon should you open one. A few people have asked me about Molten Firebird and Shivan Wumpus, and I’ve said that both are unplayable in normal situations and to avoid them. I haven’t played with Body Double yet, but it seems like it would be great in a deck with lots of removal and marginal in one without. Since U/R tends to be more based in bounce I wouldn’t pick Body Double very highly most of the time.
B/R
I was initially going to write about U/W in this spot even though I hate the deck in TTT, but Raphael Levy did an excellent job covering it last week, and we agree on pretty much everything. Since I’m not going to rehash what he said last week, I decided to talk about the updates to the B/R archetype instead.
Rathi Trapper
Dead / Gone
Prodigal Pyromancer
Stingscourger
Skirk Shaman
Ridged Kusite
Melancholy
Brute Force
Needlepeak Spider
Blightspeaker
Bog Serpent
Midnight Charm
Cradle to the Grave
Fury Charm
Brain Gorgers
Deadly Grub
Firefright Mage
Simian Spirit Guide
I haven’t had enough experience with Melancholy yet, but it’s been solid when someone has played it against me. I’m guessing it’s significantly better than Assassinate, but that isn’t really saying much. Trapper is the top common in this archetype because you tend to have a surplus of removal in these colors, and he is flexible and will always be stopping the best creature available. If you’re still having trouble figuring out why he’s better than Dead / Gone, I’ll point you in the direction of Ninth Edition draft. You would rarely take a Shock over Master Decoy.
Ridged Kusite has really impressed me, as he will usually attack for a few points himself and then make it very hard to for your opponent to block. He doubles as a cheap Madness outlet. It’s possible that Brute Force should be higher on this list, but I think it really just depends on how many spells you have going into pack 3. The fewer spells, the more Brute Force goes up in value. Needlepeak Spider should also possibly be higher, since it’s easy to clear the way for him in this archetype and he hits hard when nothing gets in his way. Blightspeaker is a big question mark for me in this archetype. He gets much better if you have a couple of Syphon-Mages that you plan on killing people with, and he also gets better when you open Rathi Trapper or Big Game Hunter. On his own he’s playable, but not really top of the line.
Dash Hopes is unplayable, by the way. Blazing Salvo was never exciting, and this is a reactive version of that card that costs double Black to cast. No thanks. Vampiric Link is also unplayable in almost all situations.
Overall, I don’t like where things are going for this archetype. Losing a pack of Time Spiral really hurts a lot, and the Black commons are very weak overall in Planar Chaos. If you end up in these colors I really hope your deck is looking great going into pack 3, because you could be in trouble otherwise since everyone is picking up the good Red stuff and Black doesn’t have much to offer.
I already talked about the good Red uncommons and rares in the U/R section, so I’ll just highlight some of the Black stuff here.
Black does have some really strong uncommons. Kor Dirge is a straight up bomb, and the same is true for Enslave. There are very few things I’d pick over either of these cards if I was in Black. Big Game Hunter is also a very high pick, and it’s versatile in that you can Madness him or search him out with Blightspeaker. Waning Wurm is something I wouldn’t play unless I had access to multiple Timebugs or Timebenders. He’s risky overall, but amazing if you can pull it off. I talked about Treacherous Urge last week, and I feel that it’s a very high pick and a great all-round card. Muck Drubb was really good the one time I had it, and it’s very strong in U/B where you can really abuse the Madness. Dunerider Outlaw is maindeck playable in most instances simply because Protection from Green is much better than Protection from Black. He can give you a way to stop a Durkwood Baloth or other fatty, as well as sometimes acting as a Slith.
As far as the rares go, they are much less exciting. I have no idea if Rolling Horror is any good, but my instinct is to say that it is way too slow just on a theoretical level. I suppose it could be good in a very fast deck and if anyone has any thoughts feel free to make note of them in the forums. Null Profusion is awesome and it’s hard to lose if you can untap with it in play. I think it’s a sleeper rare too, as most people don’t understand that you still draw even from just playing a Land. Mirri rocks for obvious reasons, but she’s far worse than something like Lightning Angel so don’t get too excited. Damnation is really Black’s only saving grace in the rare department.
To sum things up, Black pretty much got the shaft in Planar Chaos, but I still think this archetype is fine despite not gaining much and losing a pack of Time Spiral. The real reason it will still be okay is that now all of the archetypes should be playable and there will be less fighting over the Black and Red stuff in Time Spiral.
U/B
Ah, the Madness archetype. Something that’s come up recently is whether to take Looter Il-Kor or Fathom Seer pick 1 pack 1 of a draft. My advice is to almost always take the Seer, as this is the only color combination where the Looter will be better.
Since I’ve more or less covered all of the commons for this archetype in the previous two listings, I want to instead focus on where the pick orders will change when you’re in U/B. So, instead of giving an actual order, I want to talk about cards that get better or worse in this archetype.
First of all, as much as I hate Cradle to the Grave, it’s a lot better when bounce spells are involved so it should get bumped up a little. Brain Gorgers goes from worse than Giant Cockroach to playable here as well due to the Madness ability. Oh, and Shaper Parasite is still probably better than Rathi Trapper, though it is very close and I couldn’t fault you for taking Trapper if you had a reason to do so. I like Bog Serpent in this archetype as well as you need a big body to hold off opposing ground forces and you don’t have all of the firepower that BR does. Melancholy is also good at handling these large monsters and better here than in BR again due to the lower quantity of removal available. Ridged Kusite also jumps up in power level here again due to the fact that he’s a cheap Madness outlet. I know that I’m focusing on Planar Chaos this week, but I do want to mention that both Psychotic Episode and Gorgon Recluse have gotten much better in the new format due to there being more cheap outlets.
As far as rares and uncommons, Body Double is more appealing here when combined with Black removal than it was in UR. I suppose in some crazy deck you could find a use for Magus of the Bazaar if you had enough Madness spells. I wouldn’t expect this to happen with any regularity, but it’s something to be on the look out for at least since nobody else is going to pick the card. Treacherous Urge is a straight up bomb in this archetype in combination with bounce, and I already mentioned that Muck Drubb also seems tailor made for U/B.
I still like this archetype, though I think I have a pretty hefty preference for U/R if I can get it. This probably stems again from the fact that Black got the screws put to it in the new set.
G/R
I know I already covered this last week, but I really do like the archetype and I wanted to give a pick order for the Planar Chaos commons.
Dead / Gone
Prodigal Pyromancer
Mire Boa
Giant Dustwasp
Stingscourger
Utopia Vow
Evolution Charm
Citanul Woodreaders
Uktabi Drake
Skirk Shaman
Needlepeak Spider
Brute Force
Essence Warden
Fury Charm
Keldon Marauders
Simian Spirit Guide
Firefright Mage
Healing Leaves
Again, I left Reflex Sliver and Battering Sliver off of the normal pick order, as they are special cases. I also left off unplayables like Dust Corona and Fa’adiyah Seer. Seal of Primordium is an excellent sideboard card, but also kind of pointless to include in a pick order where it’s rarely going to be maindecked.
The real question I have is whether or not Mire Boa is better than Prodigal Pyromancer. G/R is an aggressive archetype overall, but I find it hard to deny a pinger. It could be deck dependent and I’ll let everyone weigh in their thoughts in the forums, because it’s very possible that Boa is the better of the two. I have yet to make this pick so I’m not really sure, as I like both cards a lot.
This archetype is so variable that I found it hard to hammer out a pick order. The first thing that matters is whether you are in the Empty the Warrens archetype or not, as Uktabi Drake and Essence Warden skyrocket in value if you are. There is also the combo of Primal Forcemage plus Uktabi Drake that I emphasized last week. If you happen to be in a normal midrange G/R build, Citanul Woodreaders should move up in your pick order as you need something to power you up into the late game. I like Needlepeak Spider here too, for the obvious reason that Green has trouble with fliers if you don’t get your hands on any Penumbra Spiders. It’s worth noting too that Evolution Charm can move far up on the list if you’re splashing for something, and is an amazing card in general. Again, I not a fan of the Keldon Marauders, but they could find a home in an aggressive version of this deck.
I’ve covered the Red uncommons and rares, but I do want to look at the Green ones briefly. In the uncommons, Pouncing Wurm is both strong and versatile, but I still would favor most of the top commons in these colors. You have to look at the big picture and realize that in most games it is only going to be a Hill Giant, and you should have much better things to choose from with your early picks. Hunting Wilds is probably too slow for this deck, though admittedly I haven’t tried it out yet. Harmonize is essentially a bomb and better than all of the commons. Deadwood Treefolk is easily the best Green uncommon, and just plain ridiculous if you can somehow recur it (granted, that’s not for this archetype). The rares give us Timbermare, which is ridiculous and could make me splash for Momentary Blink. Radha, Heir to Keld is great, and it’s likely you’ll pick her up late if she’s opened since nobody will take her unless they can regularly cast her on turn 2. Magus of the Library is more suited to something like U/G, where you can constantly be stocking up your hand. I tried it in G/R once and found that it was basically just a mana elf, as I never could use the draw ability due to emptying my hand with Suspend guys and other cheap things. Jedit is clearly a bomb and needs no real explanation. Groundbreaker is not very good, because it’s an unreliable Lava Axe. Gaea’s Anthem could very well be the best rare for this archetype, as it powers up all of your Saproling and Goblin tokens. Oh, and Fatal Frenzy (Berserk) is amazing in these colors, for obvious reasons (like killing your opponent with a large creature that suddenly gains trample).
This deck improved significantly with the addition of Planar Chaos, and the synergy it bring to the already powerful Suspend / Storm archetype.
New Archetypes
As I’ve been saying, I believe every color combination is at least passable now with the introduction of the new set. Cards like Sunlance, Erratic Mutation, and Shaper Parasite have helped to even the power level for archetypes like U/G and U/W.
An archetype like B/W, that was previously awful in TTT, has been given new life with the addition of Blightspeaker, Rathi Trapper, and a slew of other Rebels in the two colors. U/G now has the card drawing it needs to effectively control the game with bounce and win over a longer period. It’s definitely a Brave New World with Planar Chaos in the mix, and now is the time to experiment with new things.
I know none of the archetypes I talked about today included White cards… This definitely wasn’t on purpose, as I was planning on writing about U/W. That being said, I think White got a hefty boost in this set, and I also would like to send you once again to Raph’s article for some good U/W advice. I’m sure I’ll be writing about White cards in future articles as well, so have no fear.
I’ll leave you with my Top 10 Planar Chaos Commons for Limited:
Shaper Parasite
Rathi Trapper
Dead / Gone
Sunlance
Prodigal Pyromancer
Erratic Mutation
Mire Boa
Whitemane Lion
Evolution Charm
Giant Dustwasp
Shade of Trokair is also amazing and barely missed this list.
Have a good week,
Nick Eisel
Soooooo on MTGO
[email protected]