Greetings from Nagoya. After a bitterly cold February and March (colder than the four months preceding, to be honest), it’s finally warmed up. Cherry blossoms have opened up and started to bloom. There’s been a few loud drunken parties outside my apartment, and I see yet another blanket laid out in order to reserve turf for the next boozefest under the snowy pink.
This time of year’s quite the busy one for Japanese workers. Most have farewell parties for employees transferring away, coupled with welcome parties for the new guys and gals. The worker unions start planning their May negotiations and rallies. The school year starts in April too. College students get initiated into the clubs, trying to found new friendships for the year.
Two things before I get into the meat of the article. The first is an issue I generally hold near and dear to my heart as an English teacher. Discussing Evan Erwin article two weeks ago in the forums, Brainburst writer Riki Hayashi gave Mister Orange a chiding for mispronouncing Japanese. He complained about how so many Americans botch up the pronunciation of Kyoto. I guess he has bad memories of Kamigawa. I can’t say I noticed, seeing as how I was here in Japan during those great days.
Guess what, Riki? It’s not just Americans who have trouble with pronouncing foreign words. Buehler’s not perfect. Flores? He made me wince more than once. BDM has had his verbal gaffes as well. Brits have the same problems. They can’t get the vowels right. Most Australians are even worse. But you know what? Anyone who sits down and takes the language seriously gets it down right quickly. Magic players sit down and are determined to do their best with bits of cardboard. They’re not supposed to worry about oratory. I’d rather watch a commentary full of insight and humor and pronunciation gaffes than one that’s phonetically correct but dry.
Moving on… geez. Is it really only one month or so away until Future Sight hits the shelves? Here’s my best guess as to what’s going to be in the next set. I don’t usually bother to speculate about most new releases. IRC discussions had me correctly predict Bushido as reverse flanking, though I said that the name was a little too cheesy to be used.
We’ve already gotten a gander of Future Sight’s promo common, Sprout Swarm. Convoke’s one of the most exciting mechanics to come out of Ravnica block. It’s exciting, easily grasped by new players, and hasn’t been explored nearly as well as, oh, say, Affinity. I figure the only other mechanics that will get reprinted in the future from Ravnica are radiance (in the right environment), transmute, and bloodthirst. Are all those going to be in Future Sight? I don’t think so. But we could end up seeing convoke migrate into all the other colors.
Obviously there’s going to be another tweak on suspend, just as any major block mechanic gets twisted. (Split second is too nitpicky and specific to get any more tweaking.)
Are there going to be any new mechanics? My bet is yes. We will probably see the major keyworded mechanic from Lorwyn and the major keyworded mechanic from the following block. Nothing else new, however.
What are these new mechanics? You got me.
Here’s our menu. Make the best soup du jour from these zesty ingredients.
Creatures (45)
- 1 Verdeloth the Ancient
- 1 Merfolk Assassin
- 1 Faceless Butcher
- 1 Basalt Gargoyle
- 1 Bogardan Rager
- 1 Bonesplitter Sliver
- 1 Castle Raptors
- 1 Cloudchaser Kestrel
- 1 Corpulent Corpse
- 1 D'Avenant Healer
- 1 Draining Whelk
- 1 Firewake Sliver
- 1 Fury Sliver
- 1 Glass Asp
- 1 Gorgon Recluse
- 1 Harmonic Sliver
- 1 Icatian Crier
- 1 Jedit's Dragoons
- 1 Jhoira's Timebug
- 1 Nantuko Shaman
- 1 Opaline Sliver
- 1 Pulmonic Sliver
- 1 Screeching Sliver
- 1 Sengir Nosferatu
- 1 Shadow Sliver
- 1 Slipstream Serpent
- 1 Spiketail Drakeling
- 1 Subterranean Shambler
- 1 Blightspeaker
- 1 Deadly Grub
- 1 Dreamscape Artist
- 1 Essence Warden
- 1 Giant Dustwasp
- 1 Gossamer Phantasm
- 1 Hammerheim Deadeye
- 1 Hedge Troll
- 1 Needlepeak Spider
- 1 Poultice Sliver
- 1 Ridged Kusite
- 1 Saltfield Recluse
- 1 Shade of Trokair
- 1 Sinew Sliver
- 1 Torchling
- 1 Veiling Oddity
- 1 Vitaspore Thallid
Lands (1)
Spells (29)
- 1 Aspect of Mongoose
- 1 Cancel
- 1 Chameleon Blur
- 1 Empty the Warrens
- 1 Mindstab
- 1 Mystical Teachings
- 1 Phthisis
- 1 Prismatic Lens
- 1 Psychotic Episode
- 1 Pull from Eternity
- 1 Search for Tomorrow
- 1 Tendrils of Corruption
- 1 Think Twice
- 1 Thrill of the Hunt
- 1 Traitor's Clutch
- 1 Wipe Away
- 1 Brute Force
- 1
- 1 Dismal Failure
- 1 Enslave
- 1 Evolution Charm
- 1 Extirpate
- 1 Fury Charm
- 1 Kor Dirge
- 1 Mana Tithe
- 1 Reality Acid
- 1 Saltblast
- 1 Seal of Primordium
- 1 Utopia Vow
Build amongst yourselves. I rate it as a pretty bombtastic pool, but finding the right mix isn’t going to be easy.
White
Solid: Castle Raptors, Cloudchaser Kestrel, Pulmonic Sliver, Shade of Trokair, Saltfield Recluse, Saltblast
Decent: D’Avenant Healer, Icatian Crier, Jedit’s Dragoons, Poultice Sliver, Sinew Sliver
Poor: Mana Tithe, Pull from Eternity
That’s quite a reasonable assortment of White troops. We’ve two quality fliers, three fine Slivers, and a heaping helping of utility. I’ve ran to glory with Pulmonic Sliver more than once in the past. We even have a fine removal spell.
For those of you who like Mana Tithe, keep in mind that it will never, ever hit against a Suspend spell. How many Suspend spells shape the environment? It’s so utterly situational. In other environments, it’d be playable, but mark me down as against Mana Tithe.
Blue
Solid: Dreamscape Artist, Draining Whelk, Spiketail Drakeling
Decent: Gossamer Phantasm, Slipstream Serpent, Veiling Oddity, Cancel, Dismal Failure, Think Twice, Reality Acid, Wipe Away
Poor: Merfolk Assassin, Mystical Teachings
Our Blue cards disappoint. Mystical Teachings has a decent suite of options to tutor for, but not enough creature support to make worthwhile. No Errant Ephemerons, no Shaper Parasites, no Fathom Seers, no Looter Il-Kors. If Mystical Teachings could search up, oh, say, Wrath of God or Hex, I’d gladly play it. But that ain’t the case today.
Dreamscape Artist’s considerably better in Sealed than in Draft. Most of you know this. Dismal Failure’s similarly improved in Sealed, which goes more slowly. You’ve got a better chance of hitting paydirt with this counter, at least against less skilled players who don’t sandbag land. But we’ve still got double blue keeping us away from the powerful counterspell.
It irks me to see that Draining Whelk in the pile. Draining Whelk is one of the most devastating tricks Blue has in Limited or Standard. I’ve lost more than one game to this ridiculous rare. But it’s not splashable. I give props to Wizards for printing it, it’s a highly exciting, powerful yet fair counterspell.
I’m old enough to have actually played with Merfolk Assassin / War Barge decks back in the day. Am I the single, solitary guy Wizards succeeded in marketing to with this nostalgic combo? Fellow relics, sound off in the forums.
Black
Solid: Faceless Butcher, Sengir Nosferatu, Enslave, Kor Dirge, Phthisis, Tendrils of Corruption
Decent: Blightspeaker, Corpulent Corpse, Gorgon Recluse, Ridged Kusite, Mindstab
Poor: Deadly Grub, Extirpate, Psychotic Episode, Traitor’s Clutch
Holy soap on a rope, Batman! Talk about some hot Black spells. Sengir Nosferatu’s a hands-down bomb, and we’ve got a suite of five superb removal spells to back it up. Kor Dirge is often a three-for-one. I got one in an online draft eighth pick.
Remember how great Faceless Butcher was in Odyssey Block Limited? Here’s a dirty little secret: In the post-chaos Dominarian apocalypse, he’s even better. If you can manage to partner it with White rescue men, you can get superb value by getting rid of creatures forever. Play the Butcher, stack the removal, then in response return the Butcher to your hand with Whitemane Lion or any other rescuing guy you’ve got handy. The targeted guy has to sit out the entire game (barring Living Wish). Then you can replay the Butcher and force another guy into the penalty box.
Faceless Butcher? More like Hockey Ref, if you ask me.
The creature base here’s not quite as extensive as we’d like, but it’s resilient enough. I have a grudge against 3/1s in the current format, since everyone knows how great Prodigal Pyromancer and Subterranean Shambler are, so I may be underrating Deadly Grub.
Red
Solid: Basalt Gargoyle, Subterranean Shambler, Torchling, Brute Force, Dead / Gone
Decent: Bogardan Rager, Bonesplitter Sliver, Fury Sliver, Hammerheim Deadeye, Needlepeak Spider, Empty the Warrens, Fury Charm
Poor: Nothing. Oh, it all looks so tempting!
We’ve got a lot of healthy but expensive bodies in Red. There’s only one removal spell, but we have two combat tricks and good but expensive drops. Empty the Warrens is going to have a hard time finding value in this deck.
I’ve played Torchling in two Sealed events, and it isn’t nearly as exciting or powerful as Morphling. He’ll seal the game for you if you’re ahead, but won’t put you in the lead if you’re behind. His high demand for Red nixes him in splash consideration, however. If we’re going to splash Red, I’d rather splash Hammerheim Deadeye instead.
Two powerful Slivers… could a R/W sliver concoction be in our future? It’s hard to say. This is middle-aged Red. Life begins at the four drop. And that’s possibly a little too late.
Green
Solid: Essence Warden, Giant Dustwasp, Nantuko Shaman, Verdeloth the Ancient, Evolution Charm, Search for Tomorrow
Decent: Hedge Troll, Seal of Primordium, Thrill of the Hunt, Utopia Vow
Poor: Aspect of Mongoose, Chameleon Blur, Glass Asp, Vitaspore Thallid
We’ve got a reasonable but not exciting assortment of Green guys. There are a lot of medium-sized, reasonably priced guys, but no overwhelming, inevitability-enabling fatties beyond Verdeloth. It’s a lot better than the blue, but doesn’t raise my pulse one bit. There’s lots of roleplayers, but no great script to flesh out.
If my Sealed decks have a lot of Green in them, I’ll run Seal of Primordium as a 23rd card. The ability to negate Griffin Guide, Temporal Isolation, Melancholy, or Clockwork Hydra isn’t all that bad. I’d rarely splash for it, however.
Everything Else
Solid: Prismatic Lens, Calciform Pools
Decent: Harmonic Sliver, Opaline Sliver
Poor: Firewake Sliver, Jhoira’s Timebug
Frank Karsten says that Terramorphic Expanse is going to be the most played card at PT: Yokohama. I agree. However, the number two most played card at PT: Yokohama is going to be Prismatic Lens.
I love small stakes wagers.
Which colors to play? We’ve got three leading candidates. Black hands us a powerful suite of removal and mostly mediocre creatures. Red’s creatures are tough, but expensive. There’s a few tricks in there as well. White hands us a few cheaper guys and fliers. But going for three colors equally invites repeated color screw. Here’s what I finished with.
1: Corpulent Corpse, Ridged Kusite, Dead / Gone, Mindstab
2: Sinew Sliver, Phthisis, Prismatic Lens
3: Cloudchaser Kestrel, Poultice Sliver, Saltfield Recluse, Kor Dirge
4: Bonesplitter Sliver, Faceless Butcher, Shade of Trokair, Tendrils of Corruption
5: Castle Raptors, Gorgon Recluse, Pulmonic Sliver, Sengir Nosferatu, Saltblast
6: Fury Sliver, Jedit’s Dragoons, Enslave
This is probably the most powerful build you could pack into those cards. 18 mana sources is a little high, but given our curve it’s reasonable. The creatures are top caliber and can get the job done. The removal’s undeniably strong.
I played this in the Swiss of a Magic Online Sealed event that lasted five rounds. After losing a heartbreakingly close match to two games of mana problems, I rallied back and picked up three wins, allowing me to draw into the Top 8. I didn’t lose a single game after the first match.
As always, tell us your builds and thoughts in the forums.
Eli Kaplan
turboeli on Magic Online
This article was brought to you without any help whatsoever from the best PS2 video game you probably didn’t play last year: Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner – Raidou Kuzunoha versus the Soulless Army. I guess people got scared away by the ridiculously long name.
Best DVD release of last year: The Tick Versus Season One
Whew. Got that done. Now it’s time to watch Wrestlemania. Another fine springtime tradition. Here’s hoping you enjoy yours.