Hola, people!
Last week-end was about two big things. The first was the final of the World Cup: Spain versus The Netherlands. The second was the third-place playoff between Germany and Uruguay. These matches concluded a month of non-stop soccer on TV. Good times.
In the meantime, Magic players discovered the new Core Set, M11. One of the good things about the way prereleases are run where I live is that the organization is really well done. I don’t know how the prereleases are run across the world, and it took a few years for them to get where they are right now, but we rarely ever finish after 6pm, even with 130 players attending. In that particular case, we had enough time to go home, set up dinner, and get ready to watch the final games!
I was a lot more excited to watch both soccer games than play the prereleases, but despite my lack of enthusiasm, I have to say that I enjoyed playing. I had the chance to play in two prereleases, and both my pools were quite good, which probably explains why I had fun playing.
Even though the set may not be as deep as Rise of the Eldrazi —or pretty much any of the non-core sets- there is a lot to say about M11 in Limited.
Let’s get down to business:
Here is my prerelease deck:
Juggernaut
Whispersilk Cloak
Sword of Vengeance
Crystal Ball
Gargoyle Sentinel
Ajani Goldmane
Pacifism
Palace Guard
2 Wild Griffin
Blinding Mage
2 Stormfront Pegasus
Roc Egg
Deathmark
Doom Blade
Aether Adept
Augury Owl
Foresee
Jace’s Ingenuity
Preordain
Scroll Thief
Water Servant
2 Swamps
8 Plains
7 Islands
Relevant sideboard cards:
Cancel
Mana Leak
Phantom Beast
Merfolk Spy
War Priest of Thune
Mighty Leap
I don’t think there was any other way I could build my deck in terms of colors. I tried a WB deck but it was missing some gas. I had Corrupt, Gravedigger, and Quag Sickness in Black, and enough playables, but it wouldn’t have been as good as the UWb deck. Most of the decks that I considered good in the room were WU, WUr, and WUb
While Green has all of the mana fixers — Cultivate and Sylvan Ranger– Blue is the other color that allows you to splash without worrying too much about mana issues. Preordain, Foresee, and Augury Owl help you to either get your third color or hide the cards you can’t play.
Sage Owl got such a great upgrade. From barely playable, it’s now a really solid Limited card, and who knows, it might even see play in Constructed. I’m not too confident about that, but we’ve seen Sea Gate Oracle in a Grand Prix winning deck. Augury Owl doesn’t draw you a card, but it digs deeper and it’s cheaper. In a combo deck looking for its combo pieces and in need of a chump blocker, it might just be better than a Wall of Omens (and in the right color).
Foresee is in the top 3 commons of the set, along with Doom Blade and Lightning Bolt. Right now, I don’t think I would pick it over the two removal spells. While you can find replacements for Bolt and Blade in the shape of other removal spells (even though the more you have, the better), Foresee gives you what you need in this format to get an edge: card advantage and card quality. As I said in my previous article, the problem I see with this set is that there is a gap in the power level of the cards. There are so many below average cards and so many bombs that you will be likely to have a mix of both in your deck —probably more of the former – that you will want to get to your bombs before your opponent. Foresee digs very deep into your deck. It potentially reaches for the seventh card from the top of your deck, if you are looking for a specific card or don’t hit one in the first four cards. You just scry away the first four, draw two, untap, and draw the seventh card. Played on turn 4, it’s one-quarter of your whole deck… And that’s in the case when you’re looking for a specific card. The rest of the time, you will basically be drawing 4, keeping 2, and scrying 2 useless cards/lands away. There is no other card, at common, with such a powerful potential. Even though the uncommon Jace’s Ingenuity is an instant and draws you three, it is not nearly as good as Foresee. I remember Foresee being a good card in Time Spiral block but not a first pick every time.
Crystal Ball is a card I first doubted about… but not for long. I played it once and was convinced it was really efficient. Foresee can dig as far as the seventh card in two turns, Crystal Ball can dig down to the fifth card in two turns, the seventh card in three, and so on. Use it during upkeep for extra value. I don’t know how high you should pick it in draft, but for a colorless card that can be played in about any deck, with a super useful effect at a very affordable cost, I expect it to be picked very highly. Don’t worry about the one card you will lose in the deal – the actual Ball that doesn’t replace itself, but your investment will be worth it with the card quality you will get off it.
The WU strategy is basically to apply a lot of pressure in the air as fast as possible and back it up with blockers on the ground and removal spells. Counterspells in Limited are always tough to call. I decided to leave Mana Leak and Cancel in the board, for different reasons. I am not a big fan of Mana Leak, as you know. I have heard a lot of blowout stories featuring Mana Leak and Grave Titan, Mana Leak and [insert bomb rare name]. I know what Mana Leak does, but it is so situational… I am usually a fan of situational cards, but only when they have a big potential. Repay in Kind, while not being the best card in the world, is a card I like because it can win you a game if the setup is right. Mana Leak only counters a spell. One spell. You want to draw it on turn 2 when you have no two-drops, or have it in hand when your opponent is tapping out to play his key spell. In the midgame/late game, when you don’t control the board, you’re less than happy to draw a blank, and will play it on about anything. That’s in the most common scenario, of course… I guess it will be good sometimes.
If you are running enough Blue mana in your deck, I would probably play Cancel over Mana Leak every time. Sure, it won’t turn the board to your advantage, but you will be able to counter your opponent’s bomb more reliably and, more importantly, be able to counter a cheap removal spell like Doom Blade or Lightning Bolt, one that Mana Leak would have done nothing against.
When showing my deck around, I had puzzled looks from people when they saw Roc Egg. Roc Egg is a very average card, but that is good at what it does. As I mentioned above, the strategy of WU decks is to attack in the air. It is arguable that Phantom Beast should have taken the slot. Roc Egg stalls the ground in a threatening way. A wall would not keep your opponent’s creatures from attacking, but Roc Egg will most likely do just that. You never really want to trade your flyers for random 2/2s when you’re not in a defensive situation, and you don’t really want to play walls in your deck that have absolutely no offensive potential. In a way, it makes me think of Wall of Frost, which is decent in WU and would survive assaults from Spined Wurms, except that your opponent will not want to kill it and have to face a 3/3 flyer. As a side note, playing Roc Egg along with instant removal like Doom Blade can get you a surprise attacker on the following turn. In the worst case, it gives you a target for your maindeck Deathmark if you’re facing UB, RB, or UR.
Phantom Beast is not a card I like too much. This kind of ability is affordable when attached to a cheap creature. Four mana is a lot to invest for such a fragile creature. One might argue that there aren’t that many spells that target in the format. I will have to disagree with that statement, as Mighty Leap and Giant Growth are cheap and efficient pump spells that most Green and White players are going to run, and they will be happy to use them as removal. Facing Blinding Mage or Prodigal Pyromancer is absolutely awful. It fills the four-mana slot that is quite empty in the format, but I’d rather play a more stable card over it most of the time.
I have been blown out by Mighty Leap a couple of times when my light flying troops met surprise blockers. I have also seen Mighty Leap help to sneak the last 5-7 damage in the air. It’s a very fine card in most decks, expect maybe in the ones like mine, where you don’t need to surprise block or to sneak flying damage, since most of your guys already have flying. +2/+2 for 1W is fine in White, and helps you get through Cloud Crusader and Cloud Elemental, cards that totally foil your plans. I left it out, but was happy to board it in when I had to face those situations.
I went 4-1 with this deck, helped greatly by Ajani Goldmane and Sword of Vengeance (more on this one later), losing to the eventual winner with his UW deck that splashed Red for double Lightning Bolts.
On Sunday, here is a potential deck for the pool I registered:
Birds of Paradise
Garruk’s Companion
Sylvan Ranger
Aether Adept
Cloud Elemental
2 Scroll Thief
Clone
Prized Unicorn
Spined Wurm
Acidic Slime
Garruk’s Packleader
Platinum Angel
Lightning Bolt
Giant Growth
Unsummon
Cultivate
Sword of Vengeance
2 Foresee
2 Fireball
Terramorphic Expanse
Mountain
9 Forest
7 Island
Relevant Sideboard cards:
Greater Basilisk
2 Cancel
Crystal Ball
Chandra’s Outrage
Servant of Fire
2 Yavimaya Wurm
I couldn’t believe how good a pool in M11 could be. I listed the cards, and thought the lucky bastard that would receive this deck was set to have an awesome day… and then we were told there would be no deck swap. Yay!
I had a couple of interesting decisions to make:
I was long tempted to play more Red. A second Mountain along with Servant of Fire and Chandra’s Outrage would have been cool, especially with double Fireball and Lightning Bolt. I decided against it for a few reasons. Servant of Fire and Fireball, while sounding extremely cute, is a little “overkill.” Playing more Red would have hurt the manabase and the overall stability of the deck. When deciding whether or not it was worth it, I asked myself what the deck was weak against. It had enough bombs to win the late game, and the Servant wouldn’t even be worth it in such situations. The problem would come from cheap flying assaults, pretty much like the deck I played at the previous prerelease. I don’t have many blockers for Stormfront Pegasus on turn 2 and its White and Blue flying acolytes, so I basically had to burn them down before they hit me for too much. The only good thing about Servant of Fire and Chandra’s Outrage is that you get to play with more Mountains (probably two), and help you get your Red mana earlier, and more consistently, to play your Red removal. But the cards themselves are too slow and don’t do enough… In a deck with so many good cards already, I opted for overall stability main deck over potential overkill. I did board in Mountain plus Chandra’s Outrage at some points, mostly to deal with Serra Angel and other WU flyers.
Next, there’s the question of Crystal Ball, again. I said a lot of good things about it above, but I decided not to run it this time. I had in mind that Foresee was good enough for me to dominate the late game, and the Ball wouldn’t have been necessary. My mana was great, with Sylvan Ranger, Cultivate, Birds of Paradise and Terramorphic Expanse to get the Red mana, so it felt I didn’t quite need more fixers. I didn’t want to cut more creatures, and Giant Growth worked well with Scroll Thieves so I didn’t want to cut that either. I hate playing 18 lands, but they were definitely necessary with double Fireball and Platinum Angel; Crystal Ball would have helped me get rid of the extra useless lands when I needed something active. I’m still not sure what I could have cut. Probably the Garruk’s Companion, which only served as a blocker in the early game against random bears, a job that the Scroll Thieves handled fine already. But I needed bearers for the Sword of Vengeance.
One Sword in each sealed deck. I hope I can keep up that pace in the next few tournaments! Sword of Vengeance fits any deck with creatures. Yeah, that’s just about any Limited deck. At first I thought it was just as good as the old Sword of Fire and Ice, but it’s not quite the same power level. Creatures are a lot weaker than usual (which is a good thing), and the +2/+0-first strike bonus doesn’t protect them as much as I thought. Don’t get me wrong, I am still taking it over any common/uncommon, but it might not be the best rare in the format. Having tried both in the same deck, I believe Ajani Goldmane is better, and I can probably find other cards I like over the Sword. But this debate has no real reason to exist!
Prized Unicorn is a card often left in the sideboard. Its stats aren’t very impressive and it doesn’t really serve its original purpose, which is to attack alongside a bunch of fatties for a lot of damage. I won’t go over the “it’s good with Sword” argument – you all know that – but with Giant Growth and Scroll Thieves, there were ways to make some card advantage out of it: taking care of a dork and drawing a card, for example.
So, what about Scroll Thief? As a Thieving Magpie without any evasion, it’s not an impressive card by itself, and you will probably see it late in the packs. However, there are a few setups in which you will want them in your deck. I chose to play them over Yavimaya Wurm, first because I didn’t need more late game cards, and second because I needed early blockers against random bears. Its ability works more as a potential threat that will make your opponent wary, meaning he’ll consider keeping more than one creature at bay in case you take care of his lone blocker and take advantage of the card drawing ability. In addition to tempo, Scroll Thief will get you more value off your Unsummons. Your Giant Growths will turn into removal spells.
I can even think of a draft archetype pairing Blue with Black removal and… Unholy Strength. Hit once to break even, and your opponent still has to deal with you 3/4 Ophidian. Two late pick commons… that’s something to consider.
On the play, I boarded in a Cancel and an Island for a Forest and a Garruk’s Companion when I was facing a slow deck full of bombs. I don’t think there would have been any other configuration where I had to make that change.
I ended up going 6-1, losing again to the eventual winner, with a deck which was running —guess what – a very fast UW build featuring Ajani Goldmane and a lot of early drops. It was a bit disappointing to actually lose a round with this deck, but I got over it.
It will soon be time to draft and see how different it is from sealed. We can check the different archetypes, which colors are worth fighting for, and check if UW is too strong, or if there’s any strategy involved at all… French Nationals are coming up next week, so I’ll also have to get ready for the Standard portion of the tournament.
Any idea what I should run?
Until next week…