New year, new set, new cards, new everything.
Fate Reforged spoiler season has started, and combined with the excitement of saying goodbye to 2014 and hello to all 2015 has to offer, I just can’t sit still.
With all the new cards that have been spoiled, making goals and planning for 2015, and trying to prepare for Columbus this weekend, I’ve got my plate full… but let’s start with the biggest and the baddest thing coming.
There have already been lots of words written about him by none other than our own Patrick Chapin and Ari Lax, and I have to say that they both did a great job of articulating everything that’s been on my mind recently regarding our newest colorless planeswalker.
There have been a lot of comparisons to Karn Liberated and Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker, but just because there are some similarities like costing eight mana or being colorless doesn’t mean that they can all be lumped into the same category.
When I trying to evaluate a new planeswalker for the first time, there are a few specific things that I am looking for.
First off, can the planeswalker protect itself? This can be done in a few ways – removing a creature from the battlefield directly, “locking in down” somehow or making creatures unable to attack it correctly are the most common abilities that we see. Something like Jace, the Mind Sculptor and his -1 ability or Chandra Nalaar and her –X ability are great at removing just about any creature from the battlefield. We have even seen a few other ones like Kiora, the Crashing Wave and Tamiyo, the Moon Sage using their +1 abilities to lock creatures down.
Another method of self-protection is by immediately being able to add so much loyalty that the planeswalker is just very difficult to kill right from the start. While Karn Liberated is able to use his -3 ability to exile a permanent, that leaves Karn very vulnerable to a counterattack. If you get to use his +4 ability, you are likely going to be able to untap with him in play and handle what’s left. Sorin Markov was unique in that he could deal two damage to a creature to protect himself and gain two loyalty while doing it, which usually put him into a safe range anyway.
Lastly, we see planeswalkers that are able to create tokens to protect themselves, like Elspeth, Knight-Errant or Garruk Wildspeaker.
In the rare cases that we get planeswalkers that have a combination of several of these abilities, they tend to play a huge part in shaping the Standard format that they are legal in; the most recent of these is of course Elspeth, Sun’s Champion.
Looking at it through this perspective, Ugin, the Spirit Dragon has multiple ways to protect itself. Getting a Ghostfire every turn for free is great, but that also puts him directly up to nine loyalty. That’s quite a bit, but as our extremely intelligent and handsome premium writers have already pointed out, the real bang for your buck comes from the –X ability.
I foresee a lot of board states where we are in overwhelming control only to see our opponent play a Temple of “Something” as their eighth land and keep the card on top. We just get that sinking feeling where we know that things are about to get rough as next turn, because Ugin, the Spirit Dragon is going to sweep everything off the battlefield and stick around. The hyper-aggressive decks are being pushed aside as the midrange decks are taking over the format. Courser of Kruphix, Whip of Erebos, and Siege Rhino are stomping holes in all of the one-drop attackers, and in a world where trying to go over the top of everything is the key to success, Ugin, the Spirit Dragon seems like quite a winner.
I’ve gotta tell ya, the first time I get to play an Ugin, the Spirit Dragon and +2 it to kill my opponents Ugin, the Spirit Dragon that just –X’d to kill a bunch of stuff, I’m just going to smile and wonder what’s next for Magic.
Being relevant in all board states (behind, parity, ahead) is definitely something that I look for in a planeswalker, and Ugin, Spirit Dragon has all three, but then we get to his drawback.
EIGHT MANA.
Eight mana is a lot. When Garruk, Apex Predator was spoiled, I was super-excited for him too. I knew that seven mana was a lot, but I thought that maybe he would be good enough to still warrant playing. I tried him in a few decks, but it just never felt right. While Garruk, Apex Predator was alright on boards where we were at parity or already ahead, he just wasn’t good enough when we were behind.
Oh, there was also this thing about Mutavault being in the format too, which conveniently killed Garruk if you played him and had to use his -3 ability to kill a creature.
This time around, there aren’t any manlands, and I think that Ugin, the Spirit Dragon would be way too good at seven mana.
Where he ends up fitting is going to be the trick. If you try to accelerate him out, you end up losing things of your own when you have to use that –X to clear the board. If you sit back and want to just cast him for eight mana, you run the risk of being overwhelmed. Maybe this is the time for Meteorite and Haunted Plate Mail to shine. I kind of feel that abusing Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx is going to be our best route for utilizing Ugin, the Spirit Dragon.
Oh, the things I would do for a Mind Stone right about now.
I want to hear what you guys have to say about Ugin, the Spirit Dragon. I know a lot of you might have an opinion about the Spirit Dragon but don’t really feel like typing it out, so I’ve created a nice quick strawpoll for everyone! Let your voice be heard!
Alright, enough about the newest planeswalker and how awesome he is. It’s 2015 and what that means is New Years’ Resolutions and goals.
Man oh man, am I ever tired of these…
I’m usually one of the people at the forefront talking about all the goals I want to have for the New Year and how, come January, I’m going to work towards them and change everything.
I don’t think I want to do that anymore. I’m not going to set any specific goals for myself. I don’t want to accomplish A, B, C, D, and E in 2015, I simply have three things that are my focus, and not just for next year but for right now too.
Goal #1: Get Healthy
Simply put, I am not healthy. I am grossly overweight and it affects almost every aspect of my life. I am making the commitment to make health-conscious decisions in everything I do, but really it just comes down to two simple things.
- Don’t eat crap
- Be active
That’s it. Stop eating fast food for every meal. Get up and do something. These things are simple, but years and years of allowing laziness to become a habit have pushed me to a point where I am unhappy and honestly a little frightened for my own health.
I appreciated all of the support when I went on the #MTGFitness kick at the beginning of last year. Hearing how I inspired everyone was awesome. The kind words and encouraging pushes really did make me feel great, but I’m not planning on doing that. I’m not going to be glorifying my decisions and actions by spewing them on social media. I don’t want to do this for validation, I want to do this to be happy. I want to be around in ten years. I want to live long enough to have a family.
It’s real easy to just sit there and get lost in your head. I’m great at giving myself amazing inspirational speeches, mentally hyping myself to get up early and go to the gym in the morning. But come 7 AM, I’m also really good at rolling over and talking myself back into just being a lazy fat slob for one more day.
It’s the same with eating right. I have grandiose plans for meals and all kinds of great stuff that I talk myself into in my head, but come time to actually act on them, Hardees is right down the road and I can even stop by on my way home from work.
Plus Domino’s delivers, and I really like their sandwiches.
I’m sure some people may think that I’m being a little harsh on myself, and maybe I am, but things need to change.
Goal #2: Try, every single day, to get better at Magic
I love Magic. I love the battle and the competition. It’s why I travel all over the place to participate in all of these tournaments. I also love seeing my friends and hanging out with people.
I am going to change my focus to trying, every single day, to get better at Magic. Whether that’s playtesting, strategizing, reading articles, or watching streams, every single day, I want to try and take something away from it.
These are even things that I already do, but lately I feel like I’m just going through the motions. I’m not going to rely on someone else to bring me information, I’m going to go out there and get it myself.
I want that same hungry feeling I had in Season Two of last year. I was hungry. I wanted that qualification, and I did everything I could to get it. I want that same attitude, but aimed at learning. It’s going to be an adventure, and all of you will be along for the ride.
Goal #3: Figure out what exactly it is that I want to do
I’m 32.
That’s pretty old, and I honestly don’t have any idea what I want to do. I really enjoy what I’m doing now, traveling, playing Magic, and working for StarCityGames, but I still need to figure out just exactly what it is I want to do. When I think about myself ten years from now, I really can’t see what it is that I want.
I only went to college for one year and bad financial decisions have kept me from being able to go back, but now I definitely want to figure out what it is that I want to do. Maybe game design. Maybe software development. Who knows? But I want to make sure that by the end of 2015, I have at least an idea of the path that I want to take.
It could be that the Magic business is exactly where I want to be, but I won’t know unless I can sit down and actually figure it all out. I know that, whatever it is, I want to enjoy doing it. I’ve worked enough jobs that I hated to know that being happy with what you do is worth more than just about anything.
That’s it for my “goals” for 2015. Simple, yet impactful. I don’t want to get fancy and set up individual, specific goals. I just want to get healthy, try to get better at Magic every day, and figure out what I want to do. You will all be there with me, and I thank you very much for all the support I receive.
Now, what everyone is actually here for: Standard decks!
This weekend is the Open Series in Columbus, and I will be in attendance. I’ve been pretty high on the Jeskai Tokens deck that I’ve been playing, but the matchups against anything with Siege Rhino can be tough. I do like BBD’s Abzan Aggro deck that he’s been championing, but I also really like another deck. Matt Costa won a PPTQ with a G/R Aggro deck, and Sam Pardee has been playing around with it a bit. I plan on spending a couple days this week playing it on Magic Online and hopefully can come to a conclusion of my own about it.
Creatures (28)
- 4 Elvish Mystic
- 4 Stormbreath Dragon
- 1 Boon Satyr
- 4 Fanatic of Xenagos
- 4 Goblin Rabblemaster
- 3 Rattleclaw Mystic
- 4 Heir of the Wilds
- 4 Ashcloud Phoenix
Planeswalkers (3)
Lands (23)
Spells (6)
Stormbreath Dragon is calling me home, and I may just have to accept it. I miss jamming the Dragon, and while this deck seems like it might have a little trouble with Whip decks, I really like the maindeck copy of Destructive Revelry and think that a lot of the time we can just race by getting in some Dragon/Phoenix damage and firing off Crater’s Claws to burn out our opponents.
I haven’t locked it in yet, but don’t be surprised to see me casting Fanatic of Xenagos this weekend.
I know these last couple articles have been pretty introspective and more so on the personal side. It was just all stuff that’s been on my mind recently, and I needed to get it down on paper. I appreciate you all for letting me in just a little when you read through my thoughts and I really can’t express just how much it all means to me.
2014 is coming to an end, and it sure was nice, but let’s make 2015 even better.