Tribal Thriftiness #56 – Conflux Uncommon Goodness

Conflux has officially arrived and is available at your local megamart, and with it comes all the new possibilities that new cards bring. I love this time of year. It always makes me think about exciting new possibilities, new combinations, and new tricks to try and impress my local playscene with.

No, it doesn’t always work.

I drove up to Denver for the “big” Prerelease put on by Scott Marshall and company. They really went all-out to make Conflux something special: artists, celebrity gunslingers, drafting, the whole nine yards. You can read more about Patrick Chapin experiences in Denver in his article last week. I didn’t get to play against his EDH deck but I did get to play against Manuel Bucher Azami deck — holy cow, was that annoying. I think he drew about forty more cards than I did. I actually got to point where I thought he might deck himself… and then I unsuspended a Greater Gargadon, which he immediately stole and beat me up with. Bleh.

My sealed deck was unspectacular, which is probably why I was lurking around the gunslingers’ table. Conflux definitely rewards those who are able to play the Domain cards; I only had a Wandering Goblins to take advantage of the full five, but I still ran a singleton Plains and Forest in case they came up. Often enough, you have colorless mana costs to put those into — it’s only when you’re trying to find that second Mountain to cast Cruel Ultimatum that you really don’t want to see that Forest.

Still, as my grandmother would say, “mad props” to Scott Marshall and the folks at Front Range Magic for an excellent event all around.

Uncommonly Good

One of the things that I really like about Conflux is the power level of the uncommons. This has been a theme for the whole Alara block so far; I mean, remember Rhox War Monk and Woolly Thoctar and Tidehollow Sculler? Conflux keeps up that strength, and you’ve probably already heard of a few of these uncommons that are going to be somewhat format-defining. Since strong uncommons are a great way to make tournament-viable decks without making a serious dent in your wallet, I thought I’d spend this week going over some of the uncommons that I think might be worth picking up a playset.

Ancient Ziggurat: This is, without a doubt, one of the best five-color lands available out there. Doesn’t come into play tapped. Doesn’t deal you damage. Doesn’t require any other lands in play. All it requires is that you use the mana on creature spells, so all you have to do is build your deck around this small criteria. Easy peasy. You’ve probably already seen the five-color Elemental decks that use the land, but it’s also a fine addition to decks that have a surplus of creatures, like BantCrasher. It’s really good as a five-color mana source, but it’s completely usable as a three-color land.

Celestial Purge: A great sideboard card that may end up being maindeck material depending on your environment. I mean, think about how many decks it’s useful against. Obviously good against Faeries (eating Bitterblossom), Demigod Red (takes care of Demigod permanently), and potentially Five-Color (if Nicol Bolas becomes relevant). It eats Ajani Vengeant in Kithkin, plus it’s good against sideboard cards like Everlasting Torment. It’s simple, nicely-costed, instant-speed removal for some of the more troubling cards in Standard right now.

Countersquall: Replaces Negate in, well, most places where Negate is being played right now. It’s funny. When Negate came out, it was hailed as a really good conditional counterspell, the perfect foil to Remove Soul. Now it’s somewhat obsolete just due to the power level of Countersquall, and the fact that the decks that are currently playing Negate can support the Black mana.

Dragonsoul Knight: Of all the WUBRG-activated-ability cards (Fleshformer, Paragon of the Amesha), I think the Knight is the best. The 7/5 body is nothing to sneeze at, but it’s really the double-evasion of Flying and Trample that push him over the edge. His small-sized body is fair in combat to start with, so you won’t feel bad about casting him in the early game and holding on until you can dragonsize him.

I think I would put him in a deck that’s completely Red, and just has the extra colors to activate his ability:

4 Dragonsoul Knight
4 Hellspark Elemental
4 Mogg Fanatic
4 Boggart Ram-Gang

4 Incinerate
4 Flame Javelin
4 Fiery Fall
4 Shock
4 Quenchable Fire

2 Ghitu Encampment
4 Rupture Spire
1 Forest
1 Island
1 Plains
1 Swamp
12 Mountain

Esperzoa: It is my intention to eventually build a deck around this, just as soon as I find some comes-into-play abilities on artifacts that I want to abuse. Sanctum Gargoyle doesn’t seem like a bad place to start. But it will probably have to wait until after I build my March of the Machines deck. The real feature of this guy, though, is still that four flying power for three mana.

Hellkite Hatchling: With aggressive decks, it often happens that your early creatures quickly become outmatched. They’re good for speeding in the initial damage, sure, but can leave you stuck once your opponent finds something bigger. Hellkite Hatchling gives you something to do with those creatures, and rewards you with a flying, trampling tooth machine. As with all Devour guys, you run the risk of putting all your eggs in one basket, but even if you only eat a couple of token creatures, you’re getting good value for the 2RG mana cost.

Hellspark Elemental: Half-Ball-Lightning. For the extra half-a-mana, now you get the option to regrow him when the time is right. Hellspark Elemental is getting some press because of the Unearth, but I think he really needs a deck built around him to best take advantage of him; the three-power means that he’ll be quickly outclassed to a point where even his Unearth might not be enough.

Nacatl Hunt-Pride: Yes, he’s six mana. But he’s got really nice stats and can do some really wicked combat tricks, especially with the pseudo-Provoke. He may turn out to be Limited-only but I really like him.

Path to Exile: I don’t think anything more can be said about this card. Yes, it’s essentially a rare when you look at the cost, but luckily you still get uncommon-rarity when you’re trying to pull them from packs. What this really needs to push it over the edge is a catchy nickname. Instead of saying, “Plow your guy,” now you could say… I dunno. That artwork is kinda iffy. “Deflower your guy”…?

Shambling Remains: Just what Blightning Aggro needed, a guy that gives you headaches after you Wrath their board away. Remains and probably the Hellspark Elemental give Blightning Aggro a bit of staying power and mid-game reach, which is a nice way to sneak in those last points of damage. It’s just options on top of options, which is always better in terms of Magic.

Sludge Strider: A fixed Disciple of the Vault? In MY Conflux? Could be decent in the Esperzoa deck, seeing as he triggers on coming into play AND leaving play. Bounce a Capsule, replay it, drain one. It’s nickel-and-dime damage, but it turns inevitable creature loss (or even Capsule sacrifices) into one point for one mana. It might add up over the long term. 3/3 for 4 isn’t bad, but the triple-colored portion sets you in Esper and nothing else.

Viashino Slaughtermaster: The first thing people will try, now that Gaea’s Might is back as Might of Alara, is to recreate the success of Gaea’s Might Get There and the powerful combination that is “+5/+5 plus double-strike.” Viashino Slaughtermaster has the nice side effect of being able to pump himself if you want to tangle him in combat — or just tag on another two damage. And it will happen, even though that deck will need a lot more mana fixing than the Extended deck did. If the shocklands get reprinted, expect this guy in a lot more places.

Volcanic Fallout: Pyroclasm is a fair spell — two mana for two damage to each creature. Before Conflux came out, if you had asked me if I would pay an extra mana to keep my Pyroclasm from being countered, in most cases I would say “Yes.” The two damage to each player is just gravy. Hopefully three mana is not an issue, and I can’t imagine that it would be, seeing as how Firespout saw plenty of play. Is the two damage relevant versus three damage? It certainly doesn’t seem like it.

Uncommon Feel the Noise