Hello everybody and welcome to another edition of the Magic Show. This week we’ll see some footage from my gunslinging in LA via the always-awesome Sunmesa Events, talk about some cards that were worse and better than expected, and look at some decks as we get ready for States next week. Let’s go!
Scars of Mirrodin Prerelease Footage
(You can only see this in the video 🙂 )
Scars of Mirrodin Standard Incoming!
So I’m back from LA and I’ve got some serious stories to tell you. First up, my pool was kind of insane. To give you an idea, I played four of my six rares, including three ‘pretty decent’ Mythics like Koth of the Hammer, Molten-Tail Masticore, and Indomitable Archangel.
Needless to say, I crushed pretty handily…until I met up with an even better pool, if you can believe it. Turns out someone else opened the nuts mono black deck, yes, Mono Freakin Black, with no less than three Grasp in Darkness, plenty of Infect monsters including double Corpse Cur, finishing it up with Skinrender, Skithiryx, the Hard To Spell Dragon, and, oh yeah, Wurmcoil Engine.
I’ll just tell you right now: There is no bomb as bomby as Wurmcoil Engine in sealed deck. That card is patently absurd and I lost to it twice at the Prerelease, aka the amount of times I had to play against it.
So Wurmcoil Engine? We can just start calling this boy Baneslayer Thrinax, because he’s large, in charge, and going to wrap around your head and squeeze it right off. Wurmcoil Engine is basically Everyman’s Titan, a card that can go in any deck and serve up some serious beatdown.
That said, how did Koth of the Hammer actually play? I know it’s a shocker, but fantastically well. Let’s face it, in sealed or draft his second ability is probably never going to actually make an impact. But that first ability and his ultimate? Game-winning is a fair descriptor. I bash for 4 or, as I found myself doing often, just untap a land and pass, building up to his game-winning ultimate. Every time I fired off said ultimate, I won the game. Again, I know, big surprise. Koth is amazing, and the superlatives just keep coming. I can’t wait to see what he can do in Standard.
Speaking of, how’s about a decklist? Here’s Gerry Thompson‘s Goblin deck from his most recent Premium article:
Creatures (20)
Planeswalkers (4)
Lands (22)
Spells (14)
Sideboard
Now this only runs a few basic Mountains, but as Gerry said in his article, “Losing after acquiring Koth’s emblem was nigh impossible.” Truer words were never spoken.
But you know what I really came away with from the Prerelease? A real appreciation of poison. Wizards has done it–they’ve actually brought poison back, made it relevant in limited, but isn’t overpowered. That said, I personally consider all Infect creatures to have double strike. They are incredibly difficult to block, and if you look at Skithyrix, the Hard To Spell Dragon as a 4/4 double striker he’s a lot more appealing. Hell, all of them are. Ichorclaw Myr is suddenly pretty badass as a 1/1 doublestriker that turns into a 3/3 Wither when blocked.
That said, I’m not sure Infect is going to make it into top constructed decks. Yes, they “only” have to deal 10 damage to kill, but the tools for Tier 1 just aren’t there yet. And for what it’s worth, I think that’s a good thing. Losing to just 10 damage instead of 20 can be kind of frustrating after awhile.
I’m reminded of that wonderful time in Magic when Mirrodin was released. Everyone was having fun with their goofy and slow Broodstar Affinity decks, and seeing how neat Frogmite and Thoughtcast were thanks to the Artifact lands.
Then Darksteel showed up, like your drunk brother-in-law you never invited to the party, who then crashed it with wanton abandon. Needless to say, it was a bloodbath. Massive bannings were necessary, Arcbound Ravager Affinity basically destroyed tournament attendance by itself, and Disciple of the Vault let you blow people out with life loss even if you had a card like Worship on the table. Hate from cards like Damping Matrix and Oxidize weren’t nearly enough, and Magic suffered for years as a result. Cards like Kataki, War’s Wage finally saw print, but much, much too late.
So if Wizards takes it easy on Infect and keeps it a limited-only affair, that’s fine with me. If they make it Tier 1, I expect some sort of better-than-Leeches type effect at getting rid of your poison counters. That said, new blocks should impact constructed or we’re just playing Zendikar block with some M11 goodies. Between the two major mechanics I think Metalcraft is the one to get the constructed nod, and we’ll see how it shapes up.
Speaking of constructed, let’s take a look at a sweet White Weenie beatdown deck also courtesy of Gerry Thompson:
Creatures (28)
- 4 Ornithopter
- 3 Kor Duelist
- 4 Steppe Lynx
- 3 Stoneforge Mystic
- 4 Squadron Hawk
- 4 Memnite
- 4 Glint Hawk
- 2 Auriok Edgewright
Lands (22)
- 14 Plains
- 4 Arid Mesa
- 4 Marsh Flats
Spells (10)
The star, of course, is Quest for the Holy Relic, a card that came out of nowhere to suddenly be featured in all of the new weenie decklists. Sure it takes five creatures being cast to trigger it, but you realize that between Glint Hawk and Memnite you’ll get three of those counters for just a single mana?
And what better equipment to fetch and equip than Argentum Armor? Saving yourself twelve mana is No Joke for this Vindicate-On-A-Stick. Oh, and +6/+6 ain’t bad either. This is a powerful aggro option for the metagame, and now a first turn Quest for the Holy Relic is not only legitimate, it’s downright scary.
So I spent the weekend battling sealed deck. How about some cards that were a little disappointing? Ezuri’s Archers is a standout here. This card is straight terrible. Bad when you’re ahead, bad when you’re behind, no one is going to attack into this with their fliers without dealing with it first. Fulgent Distraction, apart from having one weird name, is nowhere near as it’s throwback spell Blinding Beam. Blinding Beam was fantastic back in Mirrodin. It’s closely aligned cousin…notsomuch. Heavy Arbalest? That card is too heavy. Stopping the equipped creature from untapping is the straw that makes it very difficult to use and abuse efficiently. Psychic Miasma? What looks like a solid discard spell doesn’t usually match up to real life. Lastly? Semblance Anvil, even if rare, is bad and sets you up to get blown out by Shatter and other sundries.
How about some that impressed? Strider Harness was better than expected. For a mere 1 mana “kicker” any creature you cast is suddenly +1/+1 and most importantly has haste. Tainted Strike wins games out of nowhere. If you’re an Infect deck, it’s probably the best trick you have. Suddenly your “normal” guys are poisoning them too. Trigon of Rage is amazing. The fact that it gives +3/+0 instead of what I would expect in +2/+0 makes this way above the curve in efficiency. Your deck doesn’t even need red mana to make this card playable. Tangle Angler is scary in the Infect builds. Pouring your green mana in makes all of your other Infect creatures unblockable, so dealing 10 is quite a bit easier. Rust Tick is an all-star. This guy solves all kinds of problems from awesome creatures to sweet rares like Prototype Portal or my favorite sleeper rare in the set, Mimic Vat.
A few seconds here on the Vat. The Vat is where it’s at, peeps. This thing is not being given credit and I think it’s time we do so. Just imagine, if you will, a control deck playing this and then casting Day of Judgment next turn. Suddenly it can pick and choose which creature to imprint and then get infi copies of it later. If they Day of Judgment their own Baneslayer Angel, good luck, as a Flying, First Striking, Lifelinkin badass is headed your way every turn thereafter. What if they imprint a Titan? Pick your flavor and go nuts. Just sayin, if you don’t have your playset, I’d pick them up soon.
So that’s it for this week folks. I’ll leave you with a special birthday treat given to me by the players at the SunMesa Events prerelease in LA. Special thanks to Glenn Goddard, the organizer for the event. Be sure to rock those Release Events and enjoy your free Steel Hellkite, I know my cube will.
Until next time Magic players, this is Evan Erwin. Tapping the cards…so you don’t have to!
Evan “misterorange” Erwin
Community Manager, StarCityGames.com