(This week is brought to you by blatant bandwagonery!)
Every man, his dog, his pet rock, and its extended family tends to send Set Reviews in to sites like this around this time, giving their unabashed opinion on whatever new toys Wizards have thrown into the cot for us. I’m not usually one to get all up in and on that there bandwagon, but for some reason it just hit me as a possible idea this past weekend.
Back in the day, before I was a born-again spoiler-free nerd type of guy, I used to do what I called Prerelease Survival Guides, where I would go through the spoiler and point out cards that could ruin your day of Sealed Deck Fun, and so on. For some reason I was suddenly struck with how I missed doing those wee articles. When you’re only submitting work once every few months or so, you can really cut loose and be funny and creative and awesome and sauce. I kinda feel like these days, what with me submitting something every week, that I’m more like a prune now. Dried up and yicky and something nobody wants but probably has to digest anyway.
Actually, that’s something kinda cute. Every week when I send in one of these things, it’s titled very simply. Out of laziness maybe, but at least having to make up a by-line and title gives Craig something to do every week, otherwise he’d get well bored with it all. Anyway, the documents I send through are numbered. The first one was 001.doc, and the second 002.doc and so on. While the odd off-topic rant has been relabeled by Craig, he has generally numbered these things when uploading them as well, and while his numbering system appears to be up to 45, mine is now up to 053.doc. That means I’ve been at this for over a year. I’m pretty sure this makes it the longest I’ve stuck to anything like this so uhh, go me! I guess.
Part of me decided I wanted to do some kind of set review for Planar Chaos, but part of me also wanted to avoid the usual approach taken by every man, his dog, his pet rock, and its extended family. That being their general tendency to list most – if not all – of the entire set and add a small paragraph on each card, many of which end up being “too slow for Constructed, too underwhelming for Limited” or whatever. Not me though, I’m gonna try to review this properly, like an actual writerer would.
I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m not claiming to be an actual writerer here. It’s just that if I pretend long enough that I am I may convince myself of it, and that may in turn improve my writering somewhat to the point of it being passable as digital bog-roll.
(Sticking feathers up your butt does not make you a chicken… thanks Fight Club!)
(Review begins!)
Planar Chaos as a set obviously has an overall theme to it, as pretty much all sets do these days. I think I would actually be surprised, and I mean that in a good way, if Wizards of the Coast one day released a set with no gimmicks or themes or grand unifying schemes. I don’t think it will happen though; it sounds like a difficult idea to pull off while still making the set interesting enough that people are gonna want to buy it, which is obviously the ultimate bottom line.
So, with that in mind, Planar Chaos follows on nicely from Time Spiral with another Timeshifted theme, this time with cards being similar but not the same as previous cards printed. These cards range from being kinda like something you once saw half way through a booster pack back in ’97, to flat out being a reprint in a different color.
What does this mean for the set? Not as much as you’d think, really. Sure, Red now has a Giant Growth (Brute Force) and Green has a Pacifism variant (Utopia Vow), but these are just minor quirks in the grand scheme of things where we are concerned. In around eight months or so, we will have forgotten about this and be drafting a new set instead.
However, there are long-term ramifications that frighten me a little bit. Now that a Red Giant Growth has been printed, it can be reprinted, and as much as I totally love Giant Growth with something akin to an unnatural passion, I’m not sure it should have a long-term place in Red’s share of the profits. That’s not the biggest issue though, because if it turns out that balancing the game means moving Brute Force into Nth Edition over Giant Growth, then so be it. What really concerns me is the confusion this could cause casual and newer players.
I feel that part of the wonder and excitement found while learning to play Magic comes from discovering what each color can and cannot do. The first time someone Counters one of your spells, you’re taken aback… and now regard untapped Blue mana as a threat. The first time someone smashes your fatty aside with a Terror for a measly two mana, you’re left wondering if investing eight mana in that guy was really worth it, and so on. Actually creating cards that break the color pie in this manner can create confusion in players who don’t really know that there is a color pie for breaking, or that breaking the color pie rules is something that Wizards might do as a one-off gimmick. Anyway, that’s only really a minor concern for me… but how does this set stack up as a set of cards we’re going to be playing with?
My first impression was that each color seems to have received one or two cards that are simply in a different league to the others. For all the funky “Comes Into Play” and “save another guy” tricks that some of the White creatures now have, they now also have Drop of Honey (Porphyry Nodes) and Force Spike (Mana Tithe). Porphyry Nodes seems like it would completely crush aggro into the ground, but that’s probably only because most of us have never played with Drop of Honey before. It seems like it would just be a slow Wrath of God more than anything, but I could see a White based control deck wanting nothing more than to force an aggressive player to slow roll their guys to wait out the Nodes.
Mana Tithe seems like a big card to reprint, even if it is in White instead of Blue. Right now, there are two different control decks that could support Force Spike, but I suspect only the Dimir counter-heavy builds (morph of not) would want it. Trisketron is probably far too busy doing Other Stuff. So with that counting out both of those control decks, because I suspect Dimir Control now has plenty of reasons to stay Dimir than go Azorius, that leaves Mana Tithe open for Aggressive White strategies, of which there have been many in the last year or so. I would think that being able to Force Spike an early Wrath of God, or spending the third turn playing a second bear and Spiking – or rather Tithing – whatever they play sounds like an exceptionally attractive plan.
The Blue in this set seems vastly unimpressive to me, possibly because any time they try to nerf Blue back a little, it still ends up being the best color (or close to it). As evidenced in the Magic Online Top 8 results in both Standard and Extended, which we’ll take a moment now to browse.
Extended Premier Events Top 8 Recap
7 (10) Azorius Urzatron (Blue/White Urzatron)
7 (9) Tendrils Combo (Extended’s Seething Song, Rite of Flame Combo deck)
6 (3) Boros Deck Wins (Red/White Aggro, sometimes with splashes)
5 (6) Affinity (The dreaded Artifact deck)
3 (4) Counterbalance Aggro Control (Nassif’s Blue/White/Red Trinket Mage deck)
3 (3) Destructive Flow Aggro (Green/Red/Black Aggro with Destructive Flow)
2 (6) CAL (Life from the Loam Control)
2 (1) Gruul Aggro (Green/Red Aggro)
2 (1) Green/X Tooth and Nail (Insert additional color for large spells here)
1 (6) Loam Aggro Control (Green/Red/White Life from the Loam Aggro Control)
1 (2) Four to Five Color Gifts Rock (Green/Black/White Control with Blue and Red for goodies)
1 (1) Simic Aggro Control (Blue/Green Aggro Control, not Madness, but just… Blue/Green with a splash of Red)
1 (2) Scepter Chant (Blue/White/Red Control)
1 (0) Hierarch Aggro Control (Green/Black/White Aggro Control, just like the Standard version but with Wild Mongrel and stuff)
1 (0) Orzhov Aggro Control (Dark Confidant, Savannah Lions, Exalted Angel and Vindicate)
1 (0) Orzhov Control with Blue Splash (Phyrexian Totem beatdown!)
1 (0) Enduring Ideal Combo (Tendrils Combo deck base with Ideal finish)
1 (0) Green/White/Red Astral Slide Control (Eternal Witness targeting Orim’s Chant…)
1 (0) Selesnya Aggro (Green Beats backed up by White Hatery Goodness)
1 (0) Dimir Counterbalance Control (Blue/Black control with Counterbalance, Dark Confidant and Sensei’s Divining Top)
0 (2) Goblin Combo (Rite of Flame Goblin Aggro)
0 (2) Friggorid (Blue/Black Aggro Dredge)
0 (2) Simictron (Blue/Green Urzatron)
0 (1) Dragonstorm (More like a Tendrils deck than the Standard version)
0 (1) Eggs (Second Sunrise combo)
0 (1) Golgari Aggro (Green/Black Aggro, not very Rock like)
0 (1) Balancing Tings (All those Invasion sac lands, but with Balancing Act instead of Minds Desire and Co)
Standard Premier Events Top 8 Recap
16 (7) MGA (Mono Green Aggro, now sometimes splashing Blood Moon out of the side)
11 (10) Dimir Control (Blue/Black Control, made to tick by Desert apparently!)
10 (11) Trisketron (White/Blue Urzatron Control)
8 (8) Simic Aggro Control (Blue/Green)
7 (9) Boros Deck Wins (Red/White Aggro)
6 (16) Mono Blue Morph Control (Fed by Fathom Seer and Vesuvan Shapeshifter)
5 (3) 4 (3) Angel Control (Blue/Red/White Control) Dragonstorm Combo (Blue/Red/Black Combo)
4 (3) Angel Control (Blue/Red/White Control)
4 (2) Orzhov Control (Black/White Control)
3 (1) Red/White/Blue Blink (Momentary Blink Aggro Control)
3 (0) Unknown (All in one tournament too, a little too much scooping going on there)
2 (2) Izzetron (Blue/Red Urzatron Control)
2 (2) Panda Connection (Black/White Aggro with hand disruption)
2 (2) Solar Flare (Blue/Black/White Control)
2 (0) Simictron (Blue/Green Urzatron Control)
1 (5) Selesnya Aggro Control (Green/White Aggro Control. Yes, sometimes with Glare)
1 (3) Gruul Aggro (Red/Green Aggro)
1 (3) Goblin Combo (Seething Song and Rite of Flame and Empty the Warrens)
1 (1) Mono Black Aggro (Small Black men and Bad Moon!)
1 (1) White/Red/Black Angel Control (Trading the Compulsive Researches for Phyrexian Arena and Castigate)
1 (0) Reanimator (Blue/Red/Black cheat fatties into play)
1 (1) Magnivore (Blue/Red Land Denial Control)
0 (2) Green/Black/Blue Dredge (Aggro Control Dredge Reanimator type thing)
0 (1) Izzet Snow Control (Blue/Red Snow Control)
0 (1) Green/Red/Black Aggro Control (Gruul and Golgari goulash)
0 (1) Hierarch Control (Green/White/Black Control)
The aspects of Blue that make it so strong are its card drawing and ability to counter spells. Just being able to neutralize a card once it has been played isn’t nearly good enough in some cases, and drawing cards to ensure that you end up with more answers to their threats has always been quite a beating. Traditionally people have gotten around this by being too fast for Blue to keep up, or somehow finding a way to beat the countermagic. With Planar Chaos, Blue doesn’t get any nasty card advantage engines, and has to content itself with a single four mana counter, which isn’t bad but it certainly isn’t Mana Tithe either. The only interesting card is Pongify, being an exceptionally mana efficient way of dealing with troublesome men, but is weak enough that it can’t really work on its own. Thankfully, Teferi if pretty good when it comes to 3/3 enemies.
The reason Blue-based control decks want to stay partnered with Black instead of moving back to White for Mana Tithe is probably found in what many consider to be the Money Card of the set, Damnation. This is the biggest move in the set, and seems to frighten some into thinking that Wrath of God may one day get replaced in the base set by a functionally identical Black card, leaving White as an aggressive color only. I don’t think that would ever happen, but then again I’m always suspicious that they’re going to somehow replace Wrath with a card that costs 3WW instead, the way Counterspell was replaced with Cancel. Not that I think that needs to happen; the pace of play at the moment certainly doesn’t require that kind of change, and slowing the game down a turn in general just makes people more reliant on making their land drops. Then again, speeding things up makes them more reliant on their opening hand, so I guess there is a balance that needs to be achieved in there somewhere.
Dimir Control decks have been doing more than okay in the last month or two without having to stretch to include some kind of Wrath to their mix. Now they’re getting it at essentially no cost, as far as their manabase is concerned. You could argue that it doesn’t need to add Damnation to its roster, but that’s just like saying you don’t need to fly to Europe when you could swim instead.
There are other interesting cards in Black. I have always kept Spirit Link in the back of my mind as potential single mana creature removal, and while Black isn’t usually searching for that kind of thing, it’s nice to know that Vampiric Link is there. The Black Recycle, Null Profusion, is especially tempting. I seem to remember people thinking that it had a drawback, probably the whole “your handsize is now two lol” thing, but that was possibly under Fifth Edition rules so it could have been for different reasons for all I remember. As it is now, the only potential risk would be if someone destroyed it after you skipped your draw step, and they only way you can let them do that if by passing priority in your main phase without playing anything. That should never happen with Null Profusion, I would think.
I love Red at the best of times, and the Red in Planar Chaos makes me drool like an imbecile. This doesn’t mean it’s stronger than the other colors in this set, just that every second card makes me think about building a Mono Red Aggro deck. Brute Force is wonderful, for a start (obviously). Boom / Bust is especially nasty in Extended, when you target a sac land or a Ghost Quarter. I mean, you can target a Ghost Quarter in Standard too, but your opponent might be *gasp!* playing basic lands there, so it’s not nearly as nutty. In both formats you can play Flagstones of Trokair, making the ultimate turn 2 Sinkhole play. Blood Knight is far and away better than any non-goblin two-drop I have ever seen, or at least remember, and Lavacore Elemental looks like it could hit quite hard and quite fast.
Torchling isn’t Morphling, and Morphling is probably a little outclassed these days anyway, but that doesn’t mean this can’t be the new Arc-Slogger of Mono Red decks. Simian Spirit Guide seems like it would be broken right out of the box, but there’s no way they would let it in without making sure it wasn’t first, right? Akroma, Angel of Fury isn’t even nearly as good as the original Angel of Wrath, but a 6/6 fire-breathing flyer that unmorphs for 3RRR is still a beating. Sulfur Elemental seems undercosted for a Red man; three mana for three power that can be played at instant speed and can’t be countered sounds more like a Green man, and that’s only because Green men are supposed to be better. Oh yeah, and he kills Soltari Priests for free, and a second copy wipes out a Boros board position.
Man, even Fury Charm is cute. Removing two time counters from a suspend card means that you could theoretically bust out some interesting suspend spell like Wheel of Fate, Restore Balance, or even Living End at instant speed. Someone mentioned that they saw someone fail the skill test by suspending a turn 2 Pardic Dragon, but then smashed face anyway by Fury Charming it out on turn 3. The best bit is that if you’ve got no nearby time counters to mess with, it’s also a Shatter for exactly the same cost as Shatter. And if there are also no Artifacts handy, well holy moly, it’s a freakin’ combat trick too.
Lastly there’s Green, and oh man, Green got cheeky in Planar Chaos and stole everyone else’s stuff. I’m not sure if Ball Lightning (Groundbreaker) is actually that good any more, but six damage is still a fair whack out of twenty, and as shown above in the Standard premier Events results, Mono Green Aggro is not only going strong, but surging out in front without the help of any Ball Lightnings. Glorious Anthem hasn’t made the cut in White decks for a while, but they don’t make nearly as many Saprolings as a Green deck could. Not that Green decks usually bother with such things, but I’m sure Gaea’s Anthem is tempting a few people nevertheless.
If Concentrate were Standard Legal, Blue decks would be playing it. Now it is legal, but it’s Green. I’m not sure if that has suddenly made it unplayable (or at least unwanted), but it’s still a very powerful effect to have available. Uktabi Drake, on the other hand, is a very interesting wee beater. It’s not like Green is hurting for evasion these days with Scryb Ranger already in the hizouse, but this is still a helpful addition. Mire Boa is nothing to sneeze at either. It may not be evasive as Dryad Sophisticate, but the regeneration makes it well worth it.
The Goblin Legionnaire Sliver (Cautery Sliver) seems like it would be a perfect fit for a Boros deck, even a slow control version, but mostly the aggro builds and backed up by the White Muscle Sliver (Sinew Sliver). The Vindicate Sliver (Necrotic Sliver) could get in on that too, but not being at least a 2/2 for two mana is probably a tad slow for that kind of deck. The Dragons seem like they’re probably not worth it, now that we’ve been spoiled by the Kamigawa ones, but Radha, Heir to Keld seems like it could very good in an Aggro deck, making many of your instant speed removal spells free. Even better once Tenth Edition is released and we have Incinerate to play with.
The Legendary land Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth that makes everyone’s lands into Swamps would be totally awesome if Magus of the Coffers wasn’t a 4/4 for 4B. Man, I miss Cabal Coffers.
In conclusion (hey, no cheering!) it’s an interesting wee set that takes some risks, which I have to admit is always a good thing. I get the feeling that those people who make these cards have a pretty good handle on what they’re doing these days. I feel that Green and Black made out especially well this time around, and Red should be pretty happy with some of its takings as well. Blue can quit crying about it, I’m sick of its sniveling, and it’s probably still the best color anyway.
Right, that’s enough for me this week. This is already many, many hours overdue, and I can just picture Craig tearing at his hair already and muttering some adorable Scouser mutterings while he waits for me to turn it in. Next week we’ll get stuck into the Magic Online Prices again, and I’ll maybe even take a stab at what Planar Chaos cards will be worth searching for. Until then, Happy One Year Anniversary of this column to you, me, every man, his dog, his pet rock, and its extended family!
Oh, and Craig (obviously).
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