I’ve slept less than four hours and I’m flying down Route 1 to Crystal City, Virginia, with my buddies Mark and James. We find the Hyatt Regency without trouble and I decide to suck it up and valet park the car, rather than waste time looking for something cheaper.
We all narrowly make it into the second pod. Soon the moment of faith comes, and I’m ripping into Mirrodin packs for the first time. Here’s what I opened:
Blinkmoth Well (2)
Cloudpost
Tree of Tales
Vault of Whispers
Alpha Myr
Bottle Gnomes
Chrome Mox
Clockwork Condor (2)
Cobalt Golem
Copper Myr
Crystal Shard
Dragon Blood (2)
Dross Scorpion
Fireshrieker
Frogmite
Gold Myr
Leaden Myr
Leonin Bladetrap (2)
Leonin Scimitar (2)
Lifespark Bomb
Malachite Golem (2)
Mind’s Eye
Nim Replica
Omega Myr
Proteus Staff
Pyrite Spellbomb
Quicksilver Fountain
Scrabbling Claws
Silver Myr
Slagwurm Armor
Tanglebloom
Tel-Jilad Stylus
Vulshok Gauntlets
Arrest
Awe Strike
Loxodon Mender (2)
Raise the Alarm
Rule of Law
Skyhunter Cub
Deconstruct
Fangren Hunter (2)
Tel-Jilad Exile
Viridian Joiner
Wurmskin Forger
Detonate
Electrostatic Bolt
Fists of the Anvil
Krark-Clan Shaman (2)
Molten Rain (2)
Ogre Leadfoot
Rustmouth Ogre
Contaminated Blood
Disciple of the Vault (2)
Dross Prowler
Terror
Annul
Disarm
Domineer
Fabricate
Override
Thoughtcast (2)
Wanderguard Sentry
Beyond the obvious – namely, that Terror alone didn’t justify playing black – I found this card pool pulling me in too many different directions. Blue was begging me to build a control deck and that would fit my playing style well. Green held my two best creatures, and the obviously powerful Deconstruct, along with a solid regenerator to clog up the ground. So I got locked into blue/green pretty quickly.
But white provided an awesome creature (Skyhunter Cub), and Arrest, plus Raise the Alarm, which is a decent trick – but red lured me in with its removal: Pyrite Spellbomb, Electrostatic Bolt, and Detonate. Given that I had three out of four of red’s best removal spells in the set, I had to go with red.
But artifacts confused the issue. The combination of two Leonin Scimitar and Fireshrieker demanded that I go aggressive… But Mind’s Eye, Bottle Gnomes, and Crystal Shard spoke to my control instincts.
With time running out in the construction process, I decided to play three colors and concentrate on playing the good stuff, rather than building a particular strategy. Realizing my three red spells were better than the three potential white ones, I built a green/blue/red deck.
G/U/r Good Stuff
7 Island
6 Forest
1 Tree of Tales
3 Mountain
Leonin Scimitar
Alpha Myr
Omega Myr
Copper Myr
Silver Myr
Bottle Gnomes
Fire Shrieker
Frogmite
Clockwork Condor (2)
Cobalt Golem
Mind’s Eye (MVP)
Annul
Fabricate
Override
Domineer
Deconstruct
Viridian Joiner
Fangren Hunter (2)
Pyrite Spellbomb
Electrostatic Bolt
Detonate (MVP)
The plan behind the deck was pretty simple: Blow up creatures and artifacts in the early game, then take control in the late game with Mind’s Eye and a Fangren Hunter equipped with Fireshrieker.
Match 1: Brian with R/G/B
Game One: I win the roll and choose to draw. My opening hand is two Mountains and a whole bunch of artifacts. Or course, red is my splash color, but I decide to keep anyway. The risk pays off and I quickly topdeck the other colors and fill the board with creatures. Fangren Hunter backed up by artifact destruction proves too much for my opponent to handle.
Game Two: This game features the return of a classic. He drops Atog on turn two. I’m so glad they brought this creature back… But what’s up with the new art? It’s horrible to the old wide-grinning scaly alien. The new Atog looks like Gollum. Anyway, the Atog clogs up any offensive plans I have. Fortunately I play Mind’s Eye on turn 5 and Brian has no answer. With me drawing twice as many cards as he does, I quickly overwhelm the Atog.
I check up with James and Mark. Mark won his match, but James lost in the third game. So the team is 2-1-0. Not bad.
Match 2: Joseph (I think) playing U/B
Game One: I’m more than happy to be drawing first this game after I Paris down to five cards. Joseph is twelve years old and he’s been playing Magic for three years. He opens up slowly with Lumengrid Sentinel, but then he starts dropping artifacts like crazy, tapping whatever decent blockers I have. So I’m losing the tempo race, and I can’t seem to draw any sizable threats. I get out Mind’s Eye, but it only helps me dig deeper into a mana clump.
Meanwhile, Joseph is using Thirst for Knowledge and Moriok Scavenger to reap card advantage of his own. As soon as he has eight mana, he plays Reiver Demon. The”comes into play” ability hardly affects me, since I only have one non-artifact creature out… But dealing with a 6/6 flier proves impossible. So I lose to the twelve-year-old.
Game Two: This time I manage to drop a steady stream of creatures, followed by Fireshrieker. Even then Joseph almost pulls the win out of nowhere thanks to Loxodon Warhammer, but a timely Detonate solves that problem.
Game Three: I keep the slowest hand ever. Joseph opens up with Ornithopter, then on turn 3 he casts Fabricate, when I still don’t have a single permanent on the board. I’m praying that he doesn’t grab the Loxodon Warhammer and turn the seemingly innocent Ornithopter into an Exalted Angel; he goes for Silver Myr instead. I guess he was afraid of land screw.
I do a Fabricate of my own and get Mind’s Eye. Once the Eye is out, I manage to find action much faster than him.
Games: 4-1
Matches: 2-0
Match 3: Some goofy guy playing W/G
Game One: I Paris while he keeps a risky land-light hand. He opens with Auriok Transfixer, then topdecks the Forest for Tel-Jilad Chosen. And just for kicks, he throws out a Chrome Mox, imprinting a white card. On my turn, I happily Detonate the Mox, but the combination of the Auriok Transfixer and Tel-Jilad Chosen, makes my artifact creatures irrelevant. Unable to find Electrostatic Bolt or any colored creatures, I lose to a weenie onslaught.
Game Two: Once again I’m facing that damn Auriok Transfixer… And then he does an end-of-turn Raise the Alarm. Then he gets mana flooded, which should be very good for me. But I can’t seem to draw into any fat creatures, and my opponent draws the best card he could ask for: Leonin Sun Standard. When he’s activating the Standard three or four times each turn, even those weenies turn into Beasts. Unable to find artifact removal, the Standard steals the game away from me.
Games 4-3
Matches 2-1
Match 4: James piloting W/G
Game One: Of course, I get paired up against my friend James. How annoying!
I keep a five-land hand, and of course I draw more land. But even with a ridiculous mana flood, Fangren Hunter armed with Fireshrieker manages to go all the way in a very tight race.
I make the mistake of sideboarding in two copies of Leonin Bladetrap, when his most threatening creature is Skyhunter Patrol.
Game Two: I Paris down to six cards. After drawing about sixteen out of seventeen lands in my deck, and only six spells, James has a huge army that I can’t stop. Making matters worse, his Brown Ouphe proves to be an MVP, effectively shutting down my Pyrite Spellbomb and Leonin Bladetrap. James locks up the game with a Leonin Scimitar-wielding Skyhunter Patrol.
Game Three: As I get land flooded for the third game in a row, James discovered an interesting combo: Pentavus and Leonin Elder can help you gain substantial amounts of life. I put the Pentavus out of action with Deconstruct, which embarrassingly causes me mana burn since my hand is so pathetic. His pair of Myr Enforcers finishes me off with ease.
Cards I never drew in games 2 and 3:
Fangren Hunter (2)
Mind’s Eye
Fireshrieker
Fabricate
Domineer
Electrostatic Bolt
Yeah, I was grumpy and frustrated. And boy, did I want to Domineer his Pentavus! Mark ended up going undefeated 3-0-1 (intentional draw in the final round), while James (thanks to his victory against me) pulled off a 3-1. And I finished at an unspectacular 50%:
Games: 4-5
Matches: 2-2
Losing to mana flood was a depressing way to end an otherwise awesome prerelease. I opened some great stuff and I knew that I deserved better. At least I ended up with two Chrome Moxes (James cracked one too, and all his winnings are contributions to my collection; in return, I build Constructed decks for him). During the four matches, I noticed several deficiencies with my build.
1) Leonin Scimitar didn’t do much for me. Make no mistake – equipment is awesome in Limited, but it still needs to fit in with the rest of your deck. My deck didn’t have many fast or evasive creatures that can take advantage of the Scimitar. Alpha Myr was my only early beatdown guy.
2) Override is too situational. I got suckered in to playing this card because I love control decks… But even in an artifact set, supporting Override takes a lot of effort. And in the late game, countering threats is often impossible. Even when you make the early artifact drops and have Override in hand, holding three mana open is a lot and it stunts your development. A well-known pro once said:”There are not wrong threats, only wrong answers.” Too often Override sat in my hand, staring at incoming threats.
3) I overvalued Clockwork Condor. When did you last play with a clockwork mechanic before Mirrodin? Yeah, me too. And my unfamiliarity cost me. All it takes is a 2/2 flier to take down the four-mana Condor. It takes two damage, pretends to be capable of sustaining it – and then, at the end of combat when you remove that counter, it croaks. The Condor may have its uses, such as sideboard answers against decks filled with flying men, or if you have Dragon Blood to sustain it (which I did – only I didn’t play it), but overall this guy is sub-par.
4) Frogmite was always outclassed on the ground. Sometimes I got those artifact heavy draws and pumped out the Frogmite for free on turn 3, but it never got to swing more than once before my opponent dropped a solid 2/2 body – or worse yet, a guy with first strike. If you’re taking the pure aggro route, and you have plenty of equipment like Bonesplitter and Leonin Scimitar, the Frogmite might be okay, but not in my deck.
5) Viridian Joiner was really poor as a creature and a mana accelerator. I suppose that if you equip Bonesplitter to the Joiner, or have other pumping effects, this Elf Druid can be pretty awesome… But every time I drew this guy, I regretted not simply playing an off-color Myr instead.
6) I was short on fatties. Fangren Hunter combined with Fireshrieker is great – but you need some backup fatties. And if you have tons of Myrs for mana acceleration, shouldn’t you play all the fat you can get your hands on? Somehow, I managed to totally overlook Rustmouth Ogre and the two copies of Malachite Golem. That really hurt.
7) Play the mana Myrs. Even if they’re off color, they’re worth it for the acceleration. And forget about wasting deck slots on Alpha Myr or Omega Myr when you could play the mana Myrs instead.
Taking these lessons learned into consideration, here are some alternate deck builds:
R/U/b Affinity Control
7 Island
6 Mountain
2 Swamp
1 Vault of Whispers
1 Tree of Tales
Pyrite Spellbomb
Leaden Myr
Silver Myr
Gold Myr
Fireshrieker
Bottle Gnomes
Dragon Blood
Frogmite
Cobalt Golem
Mind’s Eye
Malachite Golem (2)
Annul
Domineer
Fabricate
Override
Thoughtcast (2)
Electrostatic Bolt
Leadfoot Ogre
Rustmouth Ogre
Detonate
Terror
If you want to force the control route, then this is the build. You’ve got your control (Pyrite Spellbomb, Domineer, Electrostatic Bolt, Detonate, and Terror), your card advantage (Mind’s Eye and Thoughtcast), and counterspells (Annul and Override). There aren’t any green spells in the deck, but I play the Tree of Tales to provide extra affinity and give the Malachite Golem trample. But the deck is a little light on creatures, and those green pro-artifact guys like Tel-Jilad Chosen will kill you.
R/U/g Aggro Blood
7 Island
7 Mountain
1 Forest
1 Tree of Tales
1 Vault of Whispers
Silver Myr
Copper Myr
Leaden Myr
Gold Myr
Bottle Gnomes
Nim Replica
Fire Shrieker
Dragon Blood (2)
Frogmite
Malachite Golem (2)
Mind’s Eye
Pyrite Spellbomb
Electrostatic Bolt
Rustmouth Ogre
Detonate
Annul
Fabricate
Domineer
Thoughtcast (2)
Deconstruct
This build is probably better than the pure control build. I figure that Deconstruct is better than Terror, since it has more potential targets. Here, the true power of the Myrs is harnessed, accelerating you into fatties, and also providing plenty of excess mana to dump into Dragon Blood.
G/R/w Pure Aggro
7 Forest
1 Tree of Tales
6 Mountain
3 Plains
Leonin Scimitar (2)
Copper Myr
Gold Myr
Leaden Myr
Silver Myr
Dragon Blood (2)
Fire Shrieker
Frogmite
Mind’s Eye
Malachite Golem (2)
Deconstruct
Tel-Jilad Exile
Fangren Hunter (2)
Pyrite Spellbomb
Electrostatic Bolt
Rustmouth Ogre
Detonate
Arrest
Skyhunter Cub
Here is the pure aggro version. The combination of all the Myrs and the Skyhunter Cub makes it worth playing both copies of Leonin Scimitar. Unlike the previous decks, with all of these non-artifact creatures you don’t need to fear creatures that have protection from artifacts. But I miss being able to Fabricate into gamebreakers like Mind’s Eye and Fireshrieker…
R/G/u Smart Beats
7 Forest
7 Mountain
3 Island
Silver Myr
Copper Myr
Leaden Myr
Gold Myr
Bottle Gnomes
Dragon Blood (2)
Fire Shrieker
Clockwork Condor
Mind’s Eye
Malachite Golem (2)
Pyrite Spellbomb
Electrostatic Bolt
Ogre Leadfoot
Rustmouth Ogre
Detonate
Deconstruct
Tel-Jilad Exile
Fangren Hunter (2)
Annul
Fabricate
This final build is what I would play if I could go back in time and attend the prerelease again. You’ve got the fat lineup of creatures (Malachite Golem, Rustmouth Ogre, and Fangren Hunter), accelerated by four Myrs, great removal (Pyrite Spellbomb, Electrostatic Bolt, Detonate), two copies of Fireshrieker and Mind’s Eye (thanks to Fabricate), and the best Counterspell in the block (Annul). Plus, all of the cards stand on their own. You don’t depend on artifacts to power the likes of Override, Thoughtcast, and Frogmite. I do include one copy of Clockwork Condor, since fliers are important and you can wind it back up with Dragon Blood. This is the real good stuff deck.
But these decklists are far from exhaustive. If you have any feedback or comments on card choices or Mirrodin Limited strategy in general, please let me know.
On the drive home from the prerelease, Mark, James and I chatted about individual cards and which ones really shook up the format.
Specific Cards
Throughout the day there were several cards that seemed capable of single-handedly winning games. These are the really unfair ones you have to worry about in limited.
Fireshrieker
Even though the deck I played was light on fat creatures, when Fireshrieker appeared and I had a creature with power great than two in play, this piece of Equipment stole games from my opponents. It’s particularly insane when you combine it with trample.
Loxodon Warhammer
The Warhammer may be expensive, but it turns ever the lowliest creature into a sizable threat. Being able to pay three mana and turn creatures into Exalted Angel is very good. I would have lost my rough two match because of an opposing Warhammer if I didn’t draw into artifact removal immediately.
Leonin Sun Standard
Normally, if your opponent plays Auriok Transfixer, Raise the Alarm, and then gets totally mana flooded, you’re in good shape. Well, that’s exactly what happened in my third match – except this little Standard also hit the board. Soon I was facing 3/3s, then 4/4s, and 5/5s. This card transformed the game and delivered the win to my opponent.
Then there are the cards that surprised me by how good they were. James used both of the following to great effect. Unfortunately, I was on the receiving end.
Serum Tank
Don’t get me wrong. Mind’s Eye is much more efficient – but when you and your opponents have decks that are at least one-quarter artifacts, you always have counters on the Tank. And then, for all intents and purposes, it is an undercosted Jayemdae Tome. Drawing twice as many cards as your opponent is quite good.
Myr Enforcer
Coming out on turn 4, this guy provides some fierce tempo. Getting it out on the fifth turn is more realistic, but that’s still really good. And the seven-mana casting cost is actually a great defense in the early game against cards like Detonate and Glissa Sunseeker.
And of course there are the cards that disappointed. They may be great in specific situations or in combination with other cards, but overall you should avoid them.
Leonin Bladetrap
Usually, opponents attack with creatures that have evasion (which, in this environment, means flying) or with fatties that promise to trade two-for one if blocked. The Bladetrap doesn’t help against either of these situations. Leave it in the sideboard. And even then think carefully before subbing it in.
Clockwork Condor
I’ve already covered this guy, so not much more needs to be said. If a Skyhunter Patrol attacks alone with no combat bonuses, the Condor can trade. But that’s not a reasonable assumption. Between Roar of the Kha, Razor Barrier and equipment, the Condor is certain to be outclassed. Unless you have recursive bounce like Crystal Shard or a way of recharging the Condor like Dragon Blood, steer clear of this critter.
General Comments on Mirrodin Limited
Overall, it looks pretty awesome. Thanks to all the artifacts, you practically never need to worry about color screw, making the outcome of games more based on skill and less draw dependent. But it gets better…
I’ve always has a passion for decks that play three or more colors, even in Standard. Thanks to Mirrodin’s emphasis on artifacts, three-color decks are easy to construct and they’re even consistent. I think that three colors may become the norm in Mirrodin Limited.
Remember that real creatures are better than artifact creatures. Green has pro-artifact guys, black has Dross Prowler, and there is tons of artifact removal in the block. Something like Ogre Leadfoot is often better than giving a slot to a Golem.
Unlike Onslaught Block, there don’t seem to be as many broken commons. Yeah, Auriok Steelshaper and Spikeshot Goblin may be able to emulate Timberwatch Elf and Sparksmith with the help of Bonesplitter – but now, at least, it takes two cards to create this brokenness. You don’t need to worry about your opponent dropping a Sparksmith on turn 2 that basically spells”game over” for you.
As for the individual colors, for the first time in quite a while the White/Green archetype seems to be viable. I lost to it once. And my friend Mark Young rode W/G to a 3-0-1 (intentional draw) victory. Of course, Mark’s deck was rather full of bombs. The only thing missing was Troll Ascetic. Here are the biggies I remember off the top of my head:
Lightning Greaves
Bonesplitter
One Dozen Eyes
Clockwork Dragon
Icy Manipulator
Arrest
Leonin Skyhunter
Skyhunter Cub
Living Hive
Creeping Mold
But where W/G is prospering, it looks like blue and black are suffering. Blue and black seem overly dependent on artifacts, black creatures and Irradiate need them for pumping, while blue needs them for affinity and Override. That neither color can destroy artifacts is also a big problem. And the bombs the colors do have (Domineer, Promise of Power, and Reiver Demon) are color intensive, which kind of defeats the advantage of building artifact-based three-color good-stuff decks.
All right – that’s over 3,000 words about the prerelease. I should stop procrastinating and get back to my homework for graduate school.
Thanks for reading,
Rick
[email protected]
P.S. – Mark opened one of his eleven packs worth of winnings and cracked another Chrome Mox. So we all went home with Moxes.