Welcome back to this week’s StarCityGames Daily series. I usually try to have the first two parts of my Daily done on Sunday. This is the first chance I’ve had to confirm that people are reading – and to thank you for that. Also, it’s the first chance I have to own up to some flaws in my Monday Daily.
The inclusion of Weathered Wayfarer and Carnophage over some clearly more deserving choices, such as Goblin Welder and Basking Rootwalla, seems pretty embarrassing. However… um… what you don’t realize is that they were omitted on purpose, to incite forum response and stir up readership! Stir up readership… yeah, that’s the ticket! Anyway, thanks to everyone who pointed out how wrong I was in the forums.
Today’s list is of a similar nature, but far more important given the imminent Team Standard Pro Tour Qualifier season:
Wednesday’s List: Most Important Cards for Team Standard
Since people got on me for not being specific enough about Monday’s criteria, I’ll be very clear: this doesn’t necessarily mean best cards, or the best cards in the best decks. These are just the cards you are most likely to see in each team’s lists. For example, literally every team I know has one of its three decks be an aggro deck, either Zoo or Gruul; so you can probably already guess what the #1 card on this list is going to be. Save some bananas.
Just so you don’t think I’ve made another series of oversights like on Monday, I thought I’d mention a few cards out of the boatload that didn’t make the list: dual lands (too easy — Urza lands were not mentioned for the same reason); Sensei’s Divining Top and Greater Good (controversial, I know, but I think the importance of these cards is tied to the importance of a couple cards that are already on the list); Faith’s Fetters (a tough, tough cut, but if Ghost Dad runs zero copies, that decides it for me).
10. Gifts Ungiven
There were several creatures that I had on my first-draft list — Yosei, the Morning Star; Kagemaro, First to Suffer; even Hana Kami — until I realized that they were really all bound together by the presence of Gifts Ungiven, as are Sensei’s Divining Top and Greater Good. Of that group I decided that Gifts was most important, since it could also randomly show up in other decks (such as Julien Nuijten U/W/R Firemane Angel deck). It’s more accurate to say that the Greater Gifts deck is very important, as it is a collection of cards that would be important on their own, but are even more important together if that deck should prove powerful in the format.
Such a terrific creature; he gets the nod over other big Gruul creatures like Burning-Tree Shaman because he can show up in so many different decks. If for some reason your team wasn’t running Heezy.dec or Zoo, he could also come out of the sideboard of your U/R Urzatron deck (the coolest thing about Osyp’s list from the Pro Tour, I think), or even your Owl deck if you wanted (don’t laugh… I’ve seen people do even crazier things to try and shore up Owl’s matchup with aggro).
There were few strategic nuggets in Mark Herberholz immensely entertaining tournament report from Hawaii, but in the forums he mentioned something interesting: often, the Gruul deck needs to sit on its mana turn 3 and afterward, because it needs to have Flames of the Blood Hand ready in response to a Hierarch.
Think about that. A creature deck has to stop playing creatures or else just lose to this creature! This is definitely one elephant that’s not to be trifled with. I think he might be my favorite four-drop creature of all time (no way I’m doing that list, though; I learned my lesson from Monday). Personally, I think if you’ve got a team member who’s running Forests and he hasn’t at least considered trying to fit the Hierarch in, you might want to reconsider the relationship.
7. Mortify
With Greater Good and Ghost Dad in the format, I think this card is more important than Putrefy in most cases. Not just because it destroys enchantments, either; one thing that both Black/White Aggro and Greater Gifts really needs is a way to destroy opposing creatures, no strings attached, because otherwise cards like Moldervine Cloak, the Jitte (yeah, we’re getting there), and Shining Shoal can be a blowout. There’s plenty of important removal in the format; I just think this one is most important.
6. Remand
Never have I seen the result of one match have so much effect on the format. Herberholz’s convincing win over Osyp in the top 8 in Hawaii has reduced the willingness of a lot of people to play Blue cards. Never mind the fact that Remand is actually a pretty good card against aggro – it can undo an entire turn’s worth of action for them, and draw a card for you, essentially serving as two Time Walks if you buy into the old Weissman math.
For that reason, I think that Remand will still be pretty important in the team format. There’s not a lot of color combinations or decks to choose from if you eliminate Blue from your team entirely, and right now I think Remand is the most important Blue card by a mile (yes, more important than Meloku… for now).
He suffered a little bit at the Pro Tour, even though Bracht’s top 8 deck ran him. Best I can figure is, most of the decks that were running this guy ran into Owl decks, and if there’s one thing the Owl does well, it’s crush base-Green control. He’s still the best available mana-fixing in the format, though, and I refuse to count him out.
4. Char
Wow, is this card good… I mean, four damage for three mana is gas, and I expect every team to have at least one Red/X deck, so what else do you want me to say?
Actually, I can say that this card, almost by itself, is the reason that Meloku is not on the list. It’s not that Meloku-bearing players should have The Fear of Char on the turn after they play the Clouded Mirror; it’s that there are already precious few decks where Meloku is a good fit, and those decks already have a problem beating the decks that run Char. Ergo, I expect to see more teams running Char than Meloku. That’s how this list works.
Random Aside: Can you imagine if it were an actual reprint of Psionic Blast, or even an Izzet reprint with a casting cost like UUR? It would be the best card in the format by a landslide, and probably the most important card too.
The best card advantage engine in the format — hell, the best one printed since Skullclamp. This card may be one of the best-designed ever; its card-drawing ability is insane, it’s a two-power guy for two mana, but his toughness balances him perfectly by making him bad against Red decks (historically a weakness of Black creature decks). I understand that you could build three good Standard decks such that the Confidant is not involved; I also think that not many teams will do so.
It’s not number one only because there has proven to be at least one very popular aggro deck in the format that doesn’t need it at all (Ghost Dad), plus many Zoo and Gruul builds at the Pro Tour relegated it to the sideboard. Still, most powerful equipment ever blah blah blah format-warping card yadda yadda yadda.
1. Kird Ape
Remember, this is not about the best card in a format — the advocates of Ghost Dad would be overjoyed if I spread the idea that the Ape is the best card, or Gruul the best deck, in the format — it’s about the most important card in the format. Ape wins that one in a landslide. Far as I can tell, he’s the only creature that every team assumes is going to be in one of their decks and in one of the decks of the opposing team. Winning the Pro Tour will do that for a card.
I know that, given his probably-too-high #2 finish in Monday’s list, I might seem a little too attached to Kird Ape. What can I say? If Kong can bag Naomi Watts, maybe I’m just looking for some lessons.
Check back tomorrow when I talk pre-tournament entertainment.