Underworld Dreams, a casual favorite of mine from older days, was once unrestricted without fanfare. Players have been trying to break it ever since, but nothing noteworthy has come up yet. Simply, you have to make the opponent draw to deal damage to him – and that’s like handing the opponent a loaded gun and hoping it explodes before he shoots you with it.
That said, Max Ceniceros, a.k.a. OftenLost, has been trying to refine his Dreams deck for over a year now. Max is a fifteen-year-old high school freshman from Los Angeles, and we had a few games a week ago.
I won the first game without finding out what it was I beat, and sideboarded too many anti-red elements that turned out to be dead. Our third game saw him with great early Duress and (maindeck) City of Solitude action, only to have the game single-handedly reversed by my Aura Fracture.
The next game was his most interesting showing. A first-turn Dark Ritual–Duress took Force of Will over Ancestral Recall, and was soon followed by City of Solitude. Then, he went Timetwister–Black Lotus–Dark Ritual–Duress (for my Cunning Wish)-Underworld Dreams. I recovered with Ancestral Recall and then Morphling, but he killed me a turn before I could finish him off.
Here’s how he did it: Mox Emerald–Dark Ritual–Tinker–Memory Jar–Frantic Search–Mana Crypt–Polluted Delta–Regrowth–Black Lotus–Wheel of Fortune–Vampiric Tutor–Winds of Change.
Yes, he had trouble with a last slot, so put in a Winds of Change as a 1-mana finisher.
I had my revenge the next game, though. He went Turn 1 Duress (for Mana Drain), Turn 2 Duress (for the other Mana Drain), Turn 3 Demonic Tutor (obviously for his favorite City of Solitude). Needing to do something fast, I cast Brainstorm, dropped Tundra and Mox Sapphire, and gave him the turn.
His City of Solitude slammed into a timely Dromar’s Charm and he stalled.
He played two Underworld Dreams and a third Duress, and countered my Cunning Wish for Allay by tutoring for Wheel of Fortune. Allay traded for a Dreams, and we reset our hands. His next and last Duress snagged Yawgmoth’s Will; lucky bastard.
Morphling dropped, his Ancestral Recall got Mana Drained, and I topdecked Time Walk for a kill sped up by his own Mana Crypt. A couple of cards down, he saw Tainted Pact that would’ve drawn into Memory Jar for the kill.
I still think I got the bad end of the bargain, though. He got killed by Dromar’s Charm, but I got killed by Winds of Change.
Max e-mailed his decklist, which we dubbed Tainted Dreams:
Tainted Dreams, Max Ceniceros, January 2003 test deck
Combo (10)
4 Underworld Dreams
1 Wheel of Fortune
1 Timetwister
1 Time Spiral
1 Windfall
1 Memory Jar
1 Winds of Change
Draw and manipulation (10)
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
3 Tainted Pact
1 Yawgmoth’s Will
1 Frantic Search
1 Tinker
1 Regrowth
Others (8)
1 Time Walk
4 Duress
2 City of Solitude
1 Zuran Orb
Mana (32)
1 Fastbond
4 Dark Ritual
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Pearl
1 “Mox Jet
1 Mox Emerald
1 Sol Ring
1 Lotus Petal
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
1 Helm of Awakening
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Gemstone Mine
2 City of Brass
4 Polluted Delta
4 Underground Sea
1 Bayou
1 Badlands
1 Tropical Island
1 Volcanic Island
If you have the power cards, this is a refreshing, amusing twist to combo.
Looking at Legions
When some wise guy at R&D decided to make an all-creature set, he sure didn’t think of the poor guy who has to write a set review for Type I. My regular format is shot to hell.
How inconsiderate.
Seriously, Type I players don’t expect a lot of cards to hurdle the competition of several thousand past cards, but they’re especially pessimistic about Legions. I thought it’d be a fun Limited set and was an interesting concept… But you don’t care what expansion a card was from when you stick it into a Type I deck. Remember, the creature category is the toughest one in Type I, given the broken power/mana ratios of gems from as far back as Arabian Nights.
That said, we’re going to have to do something a bit different today, and will probably be looking at less cards over the next few columns. Legions is an all-creature set, meaning there are a lot more themes and mechanics that stand out than usual. I’d like to go over these as a whole before sitting down with individual cards.
Double Strike
“This creature deals both first-strike and regular combat damage.”
In theory this is a great mechanic. Simple. Elegant. Effective. Interesting.
In practice, it stinks.
The creator of the mechanic, Wayne Alward, e-mailed:”The good news is, I only have to collect two Foils to complete my entire Doublestrike Collection.
“The bad news; there are two of them. What the hell? Please have more in upcoming sets, or I may look like an idiot.”
Indeed, what happened to it?
The two aren’t even interesting. Ridgetop Raptor is effectively a 4/1 for four mana, while Rockshard Elemental is an 8/3 for seven.
The effective power/mana ratios are unimpressive, and Wizards admits it. The creatures end up worse than normal creatures because of their low toughness. Imagine an eight-power, seven-mana creature vulnerable to Lightning Bolt!
Chris Flaaten and I were talking on IRC about how this mechanic should’ve really been emphasized in White instead. First strike is emphasized in White, and who better to banner than all those Knights – especially with the reprint of White Knight?
This is the card you wish they’d printed:
Savannah Warrior
W
Creature-Knight
1/1
Legions rare
Double Strike
Another aggressive 1-drop would probably make White Weenie a completely new deck, but we can dream, right?
Hopefully, Wayne and the rest of us will see more double strikers in Scourge. This mechanic isn’t going to be viable unless it gets slapped onto cheaper bodies, probably no higher than three mana. Double strike means a creature deals damage twice, and the practical effect is to double the effects of pump. Reckless Charge, Rancor, and Giant Growth will probably lead the list, looking at red or red/green decks.
Thing is, you don’t have room for pump when you’re using expensive creatures, so you need weenies.
If you get a good core of white double strikers, you can dust off those Crusades or Empyreal Armors for casual play. Better yet, dust off Army of Allah.
Morph Triggers
“When MORPH CREATURE is turned face up, TRIGGER.”
In my Onslaught review, I noted how Morph gives utility creatures more flexibility. Dwarven Blastminer, for example, can be lethal in some situations, or can at least be a mediocre 2/2 that evades Circle of Protection: Red. Morph makes it easier to maindeck the utility.
Legions didn’t bring us, for example, a Morph version of Druid Lyrist or Scavenger Folk. What we got was this new trigger twist.
Nothing is as efficiently-costed as Blastminer – would R&D please stop focusing on nonbasic hosing? – so let’s take a look at some numbers:
Name | Mana Cost | Morph Cost | Trigger |
1B | 3BB | Bury target nonblack creature | |
2B | 3B | Target creature gets -3/-3 | |
3B | 3B | Return all Zombies in all graveyards to their owners’ hands | |
2BB | XBB | ||
1U | 1U | Change the target of a spell or ability with a single target | |
1U | 2UU | Counter target spell | |
2U | 2U | Return target creature to its owner’s hand | |
2U | 2UU | You may put a creature with Morph into play face up and return Dermoplasm to your hand | |
2UU | 2U | You may turn target creature with morph face down | |
4U | 4U | Exchange control of a creature you control and a creature your opponent controls | |
5UU | 4U | Turn any number of target creatures with morph other than Weaver of Lies face down | |
G | 2G | Target creature gets +3/+3 | |
1G | 1G | Creatures of one type get +2/+2 and trample | |
3G | 1G | Destroy target artifact or enchantment | |
Warbreak Trumpeteer | R | XXR | Make X 1/1 Goblin tokens |
1R | 2R | Deals 2 damage to target creature or player | |
1RR | 3RR | Gets +6/+6 and trample but you skip your next turn | |
3R | 4R | Destroy target land | |
Bloodstroke Howler | 5R | 6R | Your Beasts get +3/+0 |
5RR | 6RR | You may search your library for a Dragon and put it in your hand | |
W | W | Regenerate target creature | |
2W | 2W | Target creature gets first strike | |
3W | 1W | Destroy target enchantment | |
3W | 1W | Untap Liege of the Axe | |
3W | WW | Your creatures get +0/+2 |
From experience with past mechanics and cycles, you should be happy to get just one or two gems for use outside Limited. Legions gives us 25 morph triggers, as painstakingly listed above – so what can we get?
Looking first at mana costs alone, none of them is particularly playable if cast face up. The closest is Skirk Marauder, which is a worse Goblin Raider early, with the chance to dodge Circle of Protection: Red and deal two damage if topdecked much later. The crucial power/mana ratios are that bad, even by casual Type I standards. (Note that Skinthinner is likewise at least two-power for two mana… But black has far more lethal two-drops and Zombies don’t have the deep bench Goblins do.)
Looking next at the abilities alone, some are cute, but you want straightforward utility here. The cumulative cost of the more useful abilities, though, is discouraging. Nantuko Vigilante is a living Seal of Cleansing, but you need five mana to use it compared to Seal’s two. In other words, the three extra mana for a mediocre creature and some surprise isn’t worth it. The surprise is probably worthless, moreover, if your Type I opponent reads spoilers. Aside from Dwarven Blastminer, there are hardly any Type I-worthy Morphs, so most of the time, it’s safe to assume you’re up against one of the flashier ones like Blistering Firecat or Grinning Demon.
No need for Apprentice peeks here.
“Morph trigger” is actually Echo in reverse. You get the ability and a creature by paying a lot of mana spread over two turns. Now, compare Bone Shredder to Skinthinner. With the Urza’s Legacy predecessor, you get the Terror ability you need up front, then decide if you can spare 2B for a puny 1/1 next turn. With the new Legions version, you have to pay for the 2/2 before you can pay 3BB for the Terror you really wanted.
Note that echo is especially bad in fast Type I because it can tie up mana for a seeming eternity; no Pouncing Jaguar or Albino Troll in your Stompy please. Now note how the morph triggers are far worse on their own – even by casual Type I standards.
Wizards hyped morph triggers for Type I, however, because of just one card (note that the text below is the latest Oracle text from last October, and the exact wording makes it work with morph):
Illusionary Mask
2
Artifact
Beta rare
X: Put a creature card with converted mana cost X or less from your hand into play face down as a 0/1 creature. Put X mask counters on that creature. Play this ability only any time you could play a sorcery. You may turn the creature face up any time you could play an instant by removing all mask counters from it.
With Mask, you can get the cheaper Morphs into play and trigger them for free any time you want. This is useless, though. We pretty much established that none of the morph trigger creatures are particularly efficient on their own. This means any morph deck you make has to revolve around Mask, and finding and getting it into play isn’t as simple as you think.
When your deck goes to all that trouble to rely on Mask, it better be worth it. None of the morphs comes close to the punch of this guy (again, the latest Oracle text):
Phyrexian Dreadnought
1
Artifact Creature
12/12
Mirage rare
Trample. If Phyrexian Dreadnought would come into play, sacrifice any number of creatures with total power 12 or greater instead. If you do, put Phyrexian Dreadnought into play. If you don’t, put it into its owner’s graveyard.
Yes, comes-into-play doesn’t happen when you turn things face up, so Mask turns Dreadnought into a one-mana 12/12.
Some people will think, however, that they should slip a few morphs to support Dreadnought after Mask enters play. First, a 12/12 kills pretty quickly, so you wonder why you should bother to find and play those morphs. Second, Mask plays creatures as 0/1s, not 2/2s, so there’s no bluffing with your morphs. Finally, if you do play a morph in support, wouldn’t it be as easy and less conditional to just find another Dreadnought or Recoil?
Here’s Chris Flaaten’s most recent Mask decklist from my last column on Mask:
Threat base (13)
4 Illusionary Mask
4 Phyrexian Dreadnought
3 Phyrexian Negator
2 Hypnotic Specter
Discard (8)
4 Duress
2 Unmask
1 Hymn to Tourach
1 Mind Twist
Others (12)
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Necropotence
1 Yawgmoth’s Will
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Demonic Consultation
1 Vampiric Tutor
4 Tainted Pact
1 Recoil
Mana (28)
1 Black Lotus
1 Sol Ring
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
4 Dark Ritual
3 Mishra’s Factory
3 Underground Sea
1 Underground River
3 Snow-Covered Swamp
3 Swamp
2 Bloodstained Mire
2 Polluted Delta
Sideboard (15):
1 Timetwister
1 Lord of Tresserhorn
2 Dystopia
2 Recoil
2 Contagion
2 Diabolic Edict
2 Cursed Totem
1 Unmask
1 Zuran Orb
1 Phyrexian Negator
What can you possibly cut for defensive morph creatures? Morphs can’t replace secondary threats or the deck will stall, and they’re far more cumbersome than the disruption you need to clear the way for the combo. You’re not cutting search or mana, either.
So at first glance, the most you’ll probably get is the above table, even for casual Type I play. Just familiarize yourself with it so as not to be embarrassed in a rare late game situation with an opponent who wants to goof around with the new cards.
Slivers: The Sequel
“All Slivers have ABILITY.”
The second run of slivers is welcome, and Wizards said they kept the original set and Extended in mind when they put Legions together. (Read Randy Buehler “Tales from the Crypt Sliver” for the behind-the-scenes take.)
So what do we get out of Legions? Again, let’s take a look at the numbers:
Name | Cost | Body | All Slivers get… |
W | 1/1 | +0/+1 | |
1B | 1/1 | Tap: Regenerate target Sliver | |
1U | 1/1 | 1: This creature’s type becomes the creature type of your choice in addition to its other types until end of turn | |
1G | 1/1 | Any player may play Sliver cards any time he or she could play an instant. | |
1R | 1/1 | ||
2R | 2/2 | +1/+0 | |
2B | 2/2 | 2: Gets +1/+1 until end of turn | |
3B | 3/3 | Whenever a Sliver deals combat damage to a creature, bury that creature. | |
3R | 3/3 | Tap: Target Sliver gets +X/+0, where X is the number of Slivers in play | |
3W | 3/3 | Whenever a Sliver deals damage, gain that much life | |
3U | 2/2 | Can’t be blocked except by Slivers | |
3G | 2/2 | Sliver spells can’t be countered | |
4U | 3/3 | Whenever a Sliver deals combat damage to a player, its controller may draw a card | |
4G | 3/3 | Whenever a Sliver deals combat damage to a player, get a 1/1 colorless Sliver token | |
4W | 2/2 | Protection from chosen color |
To make comparison easy, let’s tabulate the Tempest Block originals, too:
Name | Cost | Body | All Slivers get… |
1 | 1/1 | Nothing. Zip. Nada. | |
WU | 2/2 | Cannot be the target of spells or abilities | |
UB | 2/2 | Pay 2 life: Return to owner’s hand | |
BR | 2/2 | 2, Sacrifice it: Deals 2 damage to target creature or player | |
RG | 2/2 | Gets +1/+1 for each creature blocking it | |
GW | 2/2 | 2, Sacrifice it: Gain 4 life | |
1G | 1/1 | +1/+1 | |
1B | 1/1 | 2: Regenerate it | |
1U | 1/1 | Flying | |
1R | 1/1 | Haste | |
1W | 1/1 | First strike | |
2B | 2/2 | 2, Sacrifice it: Target player discards a card at random. Play this ability as a sorcery | |
2U | 2/2 | 2, Sacrifice it: Draw a card | |
2G | 2/2 | Trample | |
2R | 2/2 | 2: Gets +1/+0 until end of turn | |
2W | 2/2 | 2: Gets +0/+1 until end of turn | |
WUBRG | 7/7 | The Queen makes 1/1 Sliver tokens for 2 mana each |
Slivers’ very nature means they make lousy aggro creatures. Of the originals, only the gold Stronghold slivers and Muscle Sliver have power equal to mana cost.
Instead of raw power/mana ratios, Slivers go for utility abilities that add up the more Slivers land on the board. The most effective Sliver combo from Extended was Crystalline + Muscle + Winged – a total of seven power that was hard to remove or block. Since the creatures were slower than other aggro picks and since you had to go into a lot of colors to get a good Sliver mix anyway, the best Sliver decks just took the most efficient removal and counters to get a familiar Extended aggro-control deck:
Counter Sliver, Christian Lührs, Semifinalist, Pro Tour Chicago (Extended), December 1999
Creatures (20)
4 Crystalline Sliver
4 Muscle Sliver
4 Winged Sliver
4 Acidic Sliver
4 Hibernation Sliver
Spells (17)
3 Demonic Consultation
4 Counterspell
4 Force of Will
2 Misdirection
2 Disenchant
2 Swords to Plowshares
Land (23)
4 City of Brass
2 Undiscovered Paradise
2 Gemstone Mine
4 Flood Plain
4 Underground Sea
3 Tundra
2 Scrubland[/author]“][author name="Scrubland"]Scrubland[/author]
1 Tropical Island
1 Volcanic Island
Sideboard (15):
3 Perish
2 Swords to Plowshares
2 Disenchant
3 Hydroblast
2 Honorable Passage
3 Honor the Fallen
With the exception of Winged Sliver, you can see how the power/mana ratio is crucial to making a Sliver playable. Fancy abilities are secondary, since all the tricks in the world won’t deal damage any faster.
From Legions, only Blade Sliver meets the minimum ratio, since Plated Sliver’s 1:1 doesn’t count. Just compare the costs and abilities of Ward Sliver to Crystalline, and Shifting Sliver to Winged – hell, you could cast a Queen for what these new rare Slivers are asking! Some of the new abilities are interesting, but you’d think hard before slipping in a lower-powered Sliver and risk giving your opponent more time to react.
Aside from Blades, your other shot at retooling Counter Sliver might be Living Wish. Imagine fetching a Root Sliver to back up Crystalline against blue, Essence Sliver against red, or something normally too expensive but ineffective. You can also keep a Queen in the board for fun, if you really want to.
Note that Counter Sliver is a fun but strictly casual Type I choice, given how much larger the present aggro-control creatures are (Quirion Dryad in Grow, Phyrexian Dreadnought in Mask, and Quirion Dryad and Psychatog in Roland B