I’m awfully envious of my Grand Prix: Osaka 2005 teammate Oliver Oks, who made Top 8 at Grand Prix: Stockholm this weekend. Why didn’t we get a Limited GP with Future Sight here in Japan? There ain’t no justice. I’ve also got to chastise Tim Willoughby for this paragraph from the Stockholm coverage.
"The Russian contingent was out in force at Grand Prix: Stockholm, and while there were many Germans, a local hero and a tiny hero from the Far East all vying for the title, none could stop Potovin from lifting the trophy with his countrymen at the end of the day."
I don’t know about you, Tim, but it seems a little demeaning to me to call Kenji Tsumura "tiny." I presume you weren’t referring to Oliver Oks. But let’s move on to the positive. And I’ve got a lot of praise for Future Sight.
I gleaned a key insight from a Wizards official podcast about Future Sight. In the January podcast, Devin Low talked about the ruthless pruning of "clown-suit" cards, cards designed to do things that no one had ever seen before. Clown-suit cards scream "Look at me! Look at me!", doing cartwheels to grab the audience’s attention. The only circus worker that made it through the process was Riftmarked Knight, a White Knight that spawned a Black Knight if you suspended it. Weird, isn’t it? But the strong focus on shifting the focus of the colors precluded any other dilution factors. Planar Chaos stuck to its alternate universe guns firmly. No nonsense, just the theme of the set. So where did all that craziness go?
To Future Sight, of course. After spring training, the clown-suit cards barreled, cavorted, and stumbled into the ring. And brother, these clowns are crazy. I wouldn’t be surprised if we wiped off the greasepaint and kohl to find out they’re not even human clowns. They’re a bunch of monkeys. And making sense of the Barnum and Bailey mayhem is a real challenge.
It’s so hard to pick a favorite new mechanic. They’re too wedded to the cards they’re on for me to feel like I’m getting the full grasp of the mechanic. Frenzy’s a quite exciting combat mechanic that punishes opponents for slacking off on their board development. It’s clean and clear like Bushido, without the icky negative rules of Flanking. But it’s just a combat mechanic. What’s more exciting is Lymph Sliver’s Absorb. Absorb is a great White combat mechanic that makes blocking and actually getting the trade downright irritating, if not impossible. If it sees the light of day in days to come, I’m certain it’ll be a powerful factor in slugfests.
I’m a huge fan of the new ergonomic card frames. The new color pips are bigger, bolder, and more noticeable. Yeah, they take a little getting used to, but I’m more than fine with learning new things. When I look at Future Sight, I feel like I’m looking at a Magic Ikea catalog, dreaming up a new version of my kitchen. And that’s fine. I like Ikea. If you have a negative reaction to the new frames, you probably watched Fight Club a few too many times.
Tiago Chan made a good point the other day when he commented on how third sets don’t really shake up the Sealed format all that much. The first set brings 100 percent new cards. The second set brings 40 percent new cards. The third set’s 20 percent just doesn’t have the same degree of impact. That’s a fair assessment. But the subtle nuances are still there. If we don’t dig under the hood, we’ll never figure out how these cards work. So let’s get into them.
Creatures (46)
- 1 Ghost Ship
- 1 Suq'Ata Lancer
- 1 Amrou Scout
- 1 Ashcoat Bear
- 1 Bogardan Rager
- 1 Cloudchaser Kestrel
- 1 D'Avenant Healer
- 1 Dementia Sliver
- 1 Durkwood Baloth
- 1 Endrek Sahr, Master Breeder
- 1 Evil Eye of Urborg
- 1 Fathom Seer
- 1 Flickering Spirit
- 1 Ghostflame Sliver
- 1 Havenwood Wurm
- 1 Keldon Halberdier
- 1 Looter il-Kor
- 1 Mana Skimmer
- 1 Mindlash Sliver
- 1 Mogg War Marshal
- 1 Opaline Sliver
- 1 Sangrophage
- 1 Stormcloud Djinn
- 1 Thelonite Hermit
- 1 Thick-Skinned Goblin
- 1 Two-Headed Sliver
- 1 Urborg Syphon-Mage
- 1 Wormwood Dryad
- 1 Aquamorph Entity
- 1 Dust Elemental
- 1 Fa'adiyah Seer
- 1 Giant Dustwasp
- 1 Merfolk Thaumaturgist
- 1 Mycologist
- 1 Phantasmagorian
- 1 Rathi Trapper
- 1 Shade of Trokair
- 1 Shaper Parasite
- 1 Spitting Sliver
- 1 Vitaspore Thallid
- 1 Aven Augur
- 1 Bogardan Lancer
- 1 Emberwilde Augur
- 1 Fomori Nomad
- 1 Knight of Sursi
- 1 Nessian Courser
Lands (4)
Spells (25)
- 1 Fiery Justice
- 1 Bewilder
- 1 Chameleon Blur
- 1 Chromatic Star
- 1 Fortify
- 1 Ghitu Firebreathing
- 1 Hivestone
- 1 Lightning Axe
- 1 Mystical Teachings
- 1 Orcish Cannonade
- 1 Prismatic Lens
- 1 Return to Dust
- 1 Temporal Isolation
- 1 Think Twice
- 1 Wipe Away
- 1 Dash Hopes
- 1 Utopia Vow
- 1 Venarian Glimmer
- 1 Dust of Moments
- 1 Grave Peril
- 1 Ichor Slick
- 1 Logic Knot
- 1 Patrician's Scorn
- 1 Spin into Myth
- 1 Wrap in Vigor
Got all that? Go make your build now. I’ll wait.
Insert standard White Space gag here.
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Before I show you my build, I’ll explain how I rank cards and go into the nuances. I bias towards putting newer cards under the magnifying glass, because… well, they’re new. And someone has to help define the conventional wisdom before we can break it.
White
Solid: Cloudchaser Kestrel, Dust Elemental, Fortify, Temporal Isolation
Decent: Amrou Scout, D’Avenant Healer, Flickering Spirit, Knight of Sursi, Shade of Trokair
Poor: Dust of Moments, Mycologist, Patrician’s Scorn, Return to Dust
Dust Elemental’s a great finisher. In the late game, he turns a near-alpha strike (when you attack with all your guys) into a board filled with untapped men ready to block. His evasion’s nothing to be sneezed at. If your opponent has more than three removal spells in game 1, you might want to consider benching the Elemental out. An instant speed removal spell can make playing him downright disastrous.
Knight of Sursi’s no replacement for Shade of Trokair. So it has flying. So what? It simply lacks impact in comparison to the other Suspend guys like Giant Dustwasp, Errant Ephemeron, or new kid on the block Infiltrator il-Kor. It’s within the margins of playability, but I wouldn’t fault you for benching the guy.
Dust of Moments lacks on-board impact. I doubt I’d ever want to play with this card, unlike Pull from Eternity. There aren’t enough Vanishing guys to really make much of a difference when it comes to things already on the board.
Patrician’s Scorn is a viciously powerful sideboard card in triple Future Sight draft against White. Lucent Luminids, Bound in Silence, +0/+1 morphs? Seeya. And for free! File that in your mental folder for when Future Sight hits Magic Online. But for Plain Jane Sealed, I’d rather just dismiss the card.
There’s some promise in this pile of White. But it’s all tainted with two very finicky sun symbols in the upper right text box. Our material isn’t shabby, but it’s the sort of White that could do with three or four more playables before it’s acceptable. With such a picky manabase, you have to go all in on the White or go home.
Blue
Solid: Aven Augur, Fathom Seer, Ghost Ship, Looter il-Kor, Shaper Parasite, Spin into Myth
Decent: Aquamorph Entity, Merfolk Thaumaturgist, Stormcloud Djinn, Think Twice, Wipe Away
Poor: Bewilder, Logic Knot, Mystic Teachings, Venarian Glimmer
Finally, Aven Augur, the four-drop 2/2 flier of my dreams! (Maybe I need a new imagination.) How I’ve longed for a guy to whisk away my opponent’s defense after getting in there once or twice. If all else fails, he baits out a removal spell. Augur’s much better in Sealed than in the far more tempo-driven format of Draft. I always want to see this guy staring out of the Future Sight pack.
Those of us with long memories may remember Spin into Myth as Submerge. How it rankled me to be forced to pay full retail for Blue removal when the opponent didn’t have Forests. This time out we don’t have to see that offensive bugger crop up on the opponent’s next turn, however.
As a rule of thumb, I don’t like counterspells in Limited unless they net you card advantage or are cheaply costed. I also consider having only one blue mana as part of that "cheap cost" qualifier. Therefore, Logic Knot does nothing for me. (And yeah, that’s also why I will never rank Wipe Away as solid.)
Just as you should not taunt Happy Fun Ball, you should not play Venarian Glimmer. If your opponent is sandbagging a trick, they’ll play it in response. If they’re sandbagging an expensive bomb, did you actually pay enough to hit the spell? This is just too plain unreliable to work effectively.
Some good evasion guys, a little removal, a bit of card draw… we shouldn’t expect great feats from Blue. But there’s a core of quality here that we can’t deny.
Black
Solid: Endrek Sahr, Master Breeder, Ichor Slick, Urborg Syphon-Mage
Decent: Mana Skimmer, Phantasmagorian, Rathi Trapper, Spitting Sliver
Poor: Dash Hopes, Evil Eye of Urborg, Grave Peril, Mindlash Sliver, Sangrophage
I trust anyone who takes the time to read this article should already know that Ichor Slick is a fantastic card. Too many players will be harping on the six-mana point where you can cycle it and play it with Madness. Quite often you’ll be able to get good value by discarding it to a Spellshaper, Gathan Raider, or Trespasser il-Vec and getting the Madness effect straight up. Don’t let that six-mana cost stick in your head.
Phantasmagorian’s a reasonably big 6/6 with a passable ability. If you’ve got a ton of removal spells, you’ll be in the long game enough for the recursion ability to matter. I like him more than most seven-drops.
A quick word about Dash Hopes. I was cheering for Makihito Mihara in the Big Game at Yokohama. He drafted me on turn 4 to tend a Mountain for him. When I saw Dash Hopes in the first seven cards, my heart groaned. I had heard through the grapevine that the decks would be a "mirror match." Hmm. If Black gets Dash Hopes, what is Blue supposed to get? Hmm… the real Counterspell, maybe? I suspected so. With a quick Braids, Conjurer Adept and Akroma, Angel of Wrath combo, Buehler’s deck was ridiculously favored. Dash Hopes is aptly named… for the player that draws it. As soon as I saw it in the opening hand, I knew that Mihara was screwed.
Grave Peril is utter and complete garbage in Limited. Any Thallid already on the table turns the card into a virtual waste of a card. If your opponent’s holding his bomb guy in hand, he’ll just wait to throw out a lamb to the wolves, then follow up with his real threat. It stalls your own creature development if you’re not mono-Black. If you’re desperate to play this card, go draft a mono-Black deck. That’s the only case where it’s playable in Limited. I suppose I could make a case for sideboard use against decks that rely on a few powerful creatures. I’m usually not emphatically negative about cards, but forum comments giving it a thumbs up are cropping up here and there. And I don’t want any of my readers to end up losing to having played this card instead of a better card. I’d rate it as being about as useful as Dash Hopes.
The Master Breeder and Ichor Slick are great candidates for splashing. Otherwise, I have little good to say about Black today.
Red
Solid: Fomori Nomad, Keldon Halberdier, Lightning Axe, Suq’Ata Lancer
Decent: Bogardan Rager, Emberwilde Augur, Mogg War Marshal, Orcish Cannonade, Thick-Skinned Goblin
Poor: Bogardan Lancer, Ghitu Firebreathing, Two-Headed Sliver
Green has the reliable, tough fatties. Most of Red’s men have low toughness and unreliable or expensive tricks. They’ll get through Green men, provided they’ve got sufficient aid. Once in a while, though, Red gets a simple, hardy, efficient beater with enough toughness to have peace of mind. Ronin Cavekeeper is the last one that comes to mind, until now. Fomori Nomad is the newest reliable guy to come down from the mountains. You’ll never go wrong playing this guy.
Emberwilde Augur’s never a card you’ll want to splash, but he’s one of the better Firebrand Rangers to come down the Goblin pike. He has the opportunity to turn up in Sligh-like block decks. He’s not quite splash-worthy, though. He’s just a slightly more versatile and slower version of Lava Spike, and no one splashed Lava Spike back in the days of Kamigawa.
Bogardan Lancer’s a lot worse than the Gruul Clans’ bloodthirsty beaters. He’s strictly inferior to Benalish Cavalry. The Lancer embodies what’s awful in Red’s low-end guys.
We’ve got a few decent midrange guys at reasonable prices and two removal spells. The base is there, but it’s a highly unimpressive base. We can do better.
(A quick tangent here. You know why they printed Steamflogger Boss? Riggers and Contraptions? Weird templating? What gives? I believe I’ve figured it out. Contraptions are a rather unseemly concept, rather like an. Some people got a visceral kick out of Goblin Tinkerer. But basing a whole mechanic on the interaction between goblins and artifacts seems far too narrow in my mind. So they’ve developed an intentional dead end card, which will eventually be put to good use in…. wait for it… fan-created sets. Let the people at home who love bizarro gadgetry do all the heavy lifting, while R&D does the serious work and prints cards for the wider market. This is a bone for the Magic equivalent of fanfic writers.)
Green
Solid: Durkwood Baloth, Giant Dustwasp, Nessian Courser, Thelonite Hermit
Decent: Ashcoat Bear, Fa’adiyah Seer, Havenwood Wurm, Utopia Vow, Wormwood Dryad, Wrap in Vigor
Poor: Chameleon Blur, Vitaspore Thallid
Nessian Courser is a no-brainer. It’s the best common three-drop cardboard can buy. But you didn’t need me to tell you that. And frankly, I think Wizards should use these frames for all the vanilla guys in future sets.
Wrap in Vigor looks like an easy trick to write off. However, think of all the various sideboard applications it has. Yeah, you could trade one-for-one with most removal spells, or keep the pieces of your alpha strike around for another go. But Wrap in Vigor does more. It shields your army from Sulfurous Blast, Rough, or Tumble. Countering those spells makes for solid games. Is it maindeck worthy? I don’t quite think so, but I could easily be wrong.
The format seems a bit slower than it was prior to Future Sight. So I’m much more keen on Havenwood Wurm. Hitting seven seems a lot more reliable than previously. With one less booster of the efficient one mana suspend creatures from Future Sight, the Wurm’s value may go up in TPF draft. Then again, I’m always enamored of big, splashy spells.
Green’s quite good today. We’ve got a solid backbone of an army here. Giant Dustwasp and Wormwood Dryad offer evasion. We don’t have any bombs, but the card quality’s fine. [Thelonite Hermit’s a bomb… right? – Craig.]
Everything Else
Solid: Fiery Justice, Ghostflame Sliver, Chromatic Star, Prismatic Lens
Decent: Dementia Sliver, Opaline Sliver, Hivestone, Calciform Pools, Fungal Reaches
Poor: Dakmor Salvage, Nimbus Maze
Dakmor Salvage has one point in its favor. If you want to splash Black and are afraid of pesky Bog Serpents or Swampwalkers, the Salvage will keep the 5/5s away. In draft, that might actually make a difference. But in Sealed, I don’t fear Bog Serpents, Viscid Lemures, or Street Wraiths. You shouldn’t either. So don’t bother playing Dakmor Salvage if you’re splashing for Black. The utility factor of playing the spell stuck in your hand on the turn you play it outweighs the marginal value of not being a Swamp.
Nimbus Maze is certainly a fine addition to any Constructed deckbuilder’s collection, but doesn’t really offer that much edge in a Limited match. I’ve seen it played and work out, but it isn’t all that exciting.
I love decks with solid Slivers and Hivestone. But we’re sorely out of luck today, with no Slivers to speak of. However, this does make for a highly exciting sideboard card.
So what’s the build here?
1: Durkwood Baloth, Chromatic Star
2: Ashcoat Bear, Giant Dustwasp, Looter il-Kor, Rathi Trapper, Prismatic Lens, Think Twice, Utopia Vow
3: Fathom Seer, Nessian Courser, Shaper Parasite, Thelonite Hermit, Urborg Syphon-Mage, Wormwood Dryad, Ichor Slick, Wipe Away
4: Aquamorph Entity, Aven Augur, Ghost Ship
5: Endrek Sahr, Master Breeder, Stormcloud Djinn, Spin into Myth
7: Havenwood Wurm
We’ve got a lot of action in those 24 spells. Lots of early game plays and some decently powerful high end cards. Endrek Sahr combined with Thelonite Hermit will make opponents gnash their teeth as your token army amasses on the ground. There isn’t a ton of removal, but there’s enough men on the ground to trade with your opponents until you overwhelm them with your higher costed drops. There’s six evasion guys in the deck, which should be more than plenty to get the job done most of the time.
Even with the Lens and Chromatic Star, I skimped a bit on the mana. This deck always wants to be on the draw as opposed to the play. That extra card goes a long way towards smoother games. Then again, I always like to be on the draw. Heck, every time I draft G/w in TS/PC/FS draft, I like to draw. That extra card advantage matters when you’re playing for a defensive crawl, aiming towards the mid-to-late game. Balls to the wall aggression has its time and place, but today certainly isn’t the right time.
The biggest difference between Sealed prior to and following Future Sight is one of tempo. The new format’s chock full of solid but slow and pricey commons like Sprout Swarm, Ichor Slick, Gathan Raiders, Riddle of Lightning, and Infiltrator il-Kor. Future Sight also has tons and tons of spot removal (Judge Unworthy, Riddle of Lightning, Death Rattle, Fatal Attraction, Second Wind, Leaden Fists), so it’s probably a good idea to run big, resilient threats that force your opponent to give up card advantage to deal with them.
I want to make a short announcement here: I’m probably packing it up and heading back to the States in a year or so. It’s been a great half-decade working here in Japan. But the gig’s getting old, and it’s getting to be time to move on and find new climes. I figure I’ll stay in the education business, though I will have to see what five years of EFL experience can do for me.
With that being said, I’m thinking about doing a podcast or two talking to some of the players here in Japan before I leave. However, I could use pointing to a "Making Podcasts for Dummies" site. Any guidance would be appreciated.
As always, leave thoughts in the forums.
Eli Kaplan
turboeli on Magic Online
Bonus Track: A Draft Write-Up
1: Durkwood Baloth, Essence Warden, Search for Tomorrow, Sunlance, Thrill of the Hunt
2: Benalish Cavalry, Giant Dustwasp, Mire Boa, 2 Dawn Charm, Edge of Autumn, Judge Unworthy
3: Hedge Troll, 2 Uktabi Drake, Marshalling Cry
4: 3 Pallid Mycoderm, Sprout Swarm*
5: Durkwood Tracker, Sporoloth Ancient
6: Nacatl War-Pride, Phantom Wurm, Teneb, the Harvester
You’ll usually play Sprout Swarm with only one guy to help convoke it up. The first time, anyway.
This deck’s approach should be painfully obvious. The strategy is to gum up the works with fungus, breeding an army that can conflagrate into a vicious alpha strike. The archetype has a few problems with fliers, particularly that pernicious Aven Augur. White’s the best match with Thallids, offering up the Pallid Thallid to make your army really hit hard. Deathspore Thallid is too easy to hit due to the wide number of one-damage effects in the format.
In triple Future Sight draft, the G/W archetype’s very similar in feel to the Selesnya "Convoke-Affinity" draft decks of mono-Ravnica draft. Except it’s better. Which is more awesome, Judge Unworthy or Faith’s Fetters? Which beats better, Root-kin Ally or Kavu Primarch? Which is the better Saproling generator, Scatter the Seeds or Sprout Swarm? I know I’ve been taking advantage of Japanese predilections to avoid Green/White like the plague. (And when Future Sight goes live on Magic Online, then I hope everyone in the queues I enter haven’t read this.)
Forget silly triple small set draft. The full block Fungus draft is really one that comes together in Future Sight. Ideally, you want three Sprout Swarms, two Sporoloth Ancients, and two or three Marshalling Cries. Judge Unworthy’s also really important, as it clears away problematic evasion guys to afford you the time you need. The underdrafted card that really shines in this archetype is Marshalling Cry. It’s much easier to come by than Tromp the Domains. You can pull some awfully unpleasant turns for your opponent by setting up two ‘alpha strikes’ without actually leaving yourself vulnerable.
And here’s the super special awesome thing about Marshalling Cry in G/W. It’s a powerful development boost. What happens when you have Sprout Swarm and Marshalling Cry? Even more Thallid activated ability acrobatics. Fortify, schmortify. Here’s the beef.
The key to holding the opponent off in the early game is dropping a big, ugly 4/4 or 3/5 as quickly as possible. That guy should hold off the fort while you take the time to build up your position and roll the opponent over. And if your opponent has a combat trick to take the roadblock out, that’s when you should be taking advantage of the lull in tempo to churn out the little guys.
My Future Sight common pick order:
1. Sprout Swarm
2. Judge Unworthy
3. Sporoloth Ancient
4. Kavu Primarch
5. Marshalling Cry
The rares and uncommons that go a long way when garnishing the deck are Baru, Fist of Krosa; Nacatl War-Pride; Imperiosaur; and Cloud Key. Cloud Key is absolutely ridiculous in triple FS draft and rewards you for having tons of fatties or instants. It’s a mighty fine acceleration tool for decks that want lots of fatties.
The biggest problem you’ll have with this deck is evasion creatures. The Uktabi Drakes usually serve the team by getting in once, then sitting on defense while you amass your forces. Greedy use of removal doesn’t pay off.
It’s often a smart idea to hold back creatures and rely on Sprout Swarm to generate men when playing against black, simply because a discard spell is going to make you lose your Swarm. The most common discard outlet is Augur of Skulls, so try to hold back at least one other card so that your hand is safe. For the same reason, Gathan Raiders reek of awfulness in this archetype, so pass them with confidence.
I’ve gone 10-2 in four real life sanctioned drafts with G/w Saprolings. I’m just praying the locals don’t start hate-drafting me. The deck’s been getting harder and harder to put together in the last week.