By now, I am sure you’re aware of the upcoming Timeshifted Wrath of God variant in Planar Chaos, Damnation. It’s hard to imagine a functionally equivalent copy of one of the most prevalent and defining cards in the format not making a landing on the relevant formats like a ton of bricks, much to my dismay. I like my men on the board, doing cool stuff, mixing it up and winning games. You can do tricky stuff to duck and dodge targeted removal, and pick critters that are resistant to various removal, but when it comes to Wrath of God and its new evil counterpart, it’s quite difficult for the vast majority of creatures to not just shuffle off to the graveyard.
Not only do Black decks have access to the ultimate mass removal spell, Ravnica manabases insure that many decks can in fact run up to eight honest to God Wraths.
I can’t help but feel in my gut that we’re witnessing the sunset on the Creature Era, when Wizards made creatures distinctly better than they used to be, all the while curbing back the quality of creature removal. It used to be foolish to invest but so much mana on creatures if they could simply be removed by one-mana removal such as Swords to Plowshares or Lightning Bolt. Pinpoint removal largely has gotten more expensive and / or conditional, while creatures have gotten more bang for the mana buck.
I’ve been loving this era! However, hints that problems were on the horizon had me worried even before seeing the monstrosity of Damnation.
Remember when some of the Wizards guys mentioned they were out to try to make regeneration matter more, by removing the “cannot be regenerated” clause from removal spells? In Devin Low’s column (Where’s the Beef?) he says, “we’re trying to make regeneration matter more.”
But what’s the second sentence in both Wrath of God and Damnation? Moreover, aren’t they reprinting Incinerate, one of the best burn spells ever, which also happens to hose regenerators?
Another of R&D’s attempt to give creatures a bone is to increase their “unsolvability,” such as the Green creatures that cannot be targeted. Whoops, Wrath and Damnation don’t target…
I know all the control fans out there reading this are going “Waaaa, waaa, frickin’ waaaa!” What does whining about something ever do to help the here and now? It’s not like Wizards is going to emergency ban the card that Mark Rosewater admitted was put in the set to sell oodles and oodles of boxes. “All we have to do is show the card, and we’ll sell the set. We won’t have to waste the ad people’s time. Just have a blank white sheet with Damnation in the middle. By itself, it will sell the set.” If you love your creatures, you’re just going to have to deal with a Wrath-happy Standard for the next year and a half. Like nature, we’ll need to adjust and adapt. It’s not as if we haven’t been playing against Wrath of God already since the dawn of Magical time. Thankfully though, there are some tools at our disposal, first and foremost is my sweet little Saffi, about whom I’ve babbled on at length. I won’t go back over that ground yet again, except to say this: pick up four copies for any creature-based deck that can support Green/White. Yes, Call of the Herd is one way to get some resistance to Wraths, but Saffi is considerably cheaper, and she adds a nice robustness to your decks.
I also think we ought to look more closely at quality Flash and Haste creatures that seem to be cropping up more frequently lately, as both of these abilities can allow a creature to get at least one solid hit in before sorcery speed Wrath sweeps in. Let’s look at some of what’s out there:
Flash
“During your end of turn step, I play {flash creature}. Untap, attack.” Flash creatures are going to be a perfect complement to decks that need their mana to open to respond to the Wrath, such as with a counterspell or something like Ghostway.
Ashcoat Bear: this Limited staple could cross over to Constructed decks, where “bears” with good abilities can be found all over the place. Flash could very well be a good enough ability.
Plaxmanta: Of course, this is strictly better than Ashcoat Bear, but you need to be playing Blue. I can envision G/U decks running four Plaxmanta and four Ashcoat Bears, all the while holding Mana Leaks and Remands to frustrate sorcery-speed removal.
Scryb Ranger: One of the most ridiculously efficient creatures ever printed, while he won’t exactly increase combat pressure, his abilities can be quite helpful to many other creatures. I’ve played the Ranger a lot since Time Spiral came out and it’s surprisingly annoying to many decks (especially when you have a Pendelhaven handy).
Plated Pegasus: In certain burn-heavy metagames, I could see this guy getting a little play, especially in response to a, say, Char trying to take down a, say, Loxodon Hierarch. Ouch!
Mystic Snake: Everyone knows how good this guy is, and I think it could really be crucial in a flash / haste creature deck. Imagine the pain of adding an unexpected Ashcoat Bear at end of turn, and attacking with a couple of creatures. Your opponent casts Wrath and you counter it with Mystic Snake. Then you untap, play Giant Solifuge, and smash face.
Voidmage Husher: go to Gatherer, search for “:” and see just how many activated abilities there are, minus the mana abilities. Keep an eye on the metagame and see how many cards with activated abilities the top decks are playing… Voidmage Husher could prove to be very handy. What’s even better in a flash deck is that, once the Husher is in play and you untap, it’s easy to prevent this guy from dying to targeted removal outside of split second.
Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir: Teferi is one of those cards that just get more and more powerful the more you play with him, seeing how he screws over Suspend and Madness in addition to the straightforward effect of turning your opponent’s instants into sorceries. If you’re playing with Mystic Teachings you can tutor for any creature in your deck, which is nice.
Draining Whelk: Expensive, but if your opponent likes playing juiced up spells from Urzalands it’s not a bad call (or if you happen to be juiced up on Urzalands and mana is no problem).
Bogardan Hellkite: The feared kill-card in Dragonstorm combo decks, he’s also been getting some game in U/R Urzatron decks. Make this guy at end of turn, then untap and protect with counterspells. He can win the game in a hurry against Wrath-happy opponents.
Haste
The worst feeling in the world for creature fans are when you spend your card and mana on a cool creature, and it dies before you get a chance to use him. For this reason, Haste is one of the premier abilities to look for in creatures, since it generally allows you to get at least one turn’s use out of him. Wrath-happy decks hate Haste.
Suq’Ata Lancer: The first time around, in the days of pump knights and River Boas, this hasty flanker was quite the beating, especially with cheap burn to back him up. He looks puny nowadays, but if the format is as filled with Wrath as it might be, its haste ability might really shine moreso than it does right now.
Skyknight Legionnaire: If your mana supports it, this is flat out better than the Lancer, with flying making sure your hasty guy “gets in there” for at least two points.
Viashino Sandstalker: Lurking over in Ninth Edition is an old gem that hasn’t gotten much love in the here and now, but in a new Wrath-happy world, he could shine again. Years ago, Sandstalker proved its worth in decks designed to combat Oath of Druids, since he “gets in there” and then bounces back to your hand so it doesn’t trigger the Oath during your opponent’s turn. Alex Shvartsman played the deck to quite a few good finishes; here’s a build from Grand Prix: Seattle back in 2000:
Creatures (14)
Lands (24)
Spells (22)
Other than the too-good-to-not-play Jackal Pup, none of the creatures would trigger the incredibly powerful Oath of Druids. Using this deck as a model, you could build a haste plus burn deck that fairly laughs at Wrath decks – we even have a new Ball Lightning in Planar Chaos! If Sandstalker makes it into Tenth Edition, he’ll even have the amazing Mogg Fanatic to join him, “getting in there” one last time as a sacrifice effect in response to a Wrath.
Groundbreaker: see above… this guy hits fast and hits hard, in some instances on turn 2 after leading with a Bird or Elf. Wrath-happy decks often use their life totals as a clock to carefully manage their time, so they can play answers at the last possible moment, extending the game long enough to gain control with an iron grip. Groundbreaker shortens that clock considerably, taking down a third of their life for just three mana, and makes taking the life hit from the Ravnica shocklands even more painful.
Giant Solifuge: a sideboard staple in red and green decks, it’s a perfect response to a Wrath of God. If more Wraths are running around, this could very well pop up in more and more maindecks.
Timbermare: This is your Groundbreaker #s 5-8 if you want to just “get in there” for a big hit, though it’s nice to have the option of keeping him around if you decide it’s worth paying the Echo (or if you happen to run Thick-Skinned Goblin in your deck).
Avalanche Riders: (speaking of Thick-Skinned Goblin) Avalanche Riders could really punish people relying on their four mana, sorcery speed spell to save them from a creature assault, especially if the Rider is on the play or if Mr. Wrath-happy is playing a three-color Ravnica-mana special and suddenly finds himself without a second source of White or Black mana.
Gruul Scrapper, Lightning Elemental, and Hellhole Rats: a bit sub-par compared to other options, I’m just listing them here in case you feel the need to flesh out a deck with a few more haste critters.
Magnivore: One of the most feared hasty creatures in the not too distant past, if people rely on Sorcery-speed kill too heavily, I could see Magnivore / Wildfire decks perhaps making a comeback.
Lightning Angel: Flores’ “This Girl” deck from Champs featured this incredibly efficient package of useful abilities. She “gets in there” and then, since you’re playing Blue, warns your opponent you had better kill her before I get a chance to untap and protect her…
Keldon Halberdier, Durkwood Baloth, and Greater Gargadon: speaking of haste, let’s not forget the Suspend creatures that have that ability when they are played from the Suspend zone. The Halberdier’s Suspend cost is cheap and the count is relatively low, and four points hits hard, especially if your opponent has already hit with a Groundbreaker or Viashino Sandstalker. I could see Greater Gargadon sacrifice ability making great use of some of these hasty creatures that are going to die anyway, like Groundbreaker and Timbermare.
Equipment
Vulshok Morningstar, Grifter’s Blade, Loxodon Warhammer, Sunforger: Equipment offers a great way to make an individual creature much more of a threat, as opposed to playing out another creature and leaving yourself vulnerable to Wrath getting card-advantage on you. With a Warhammer on the board, even an Ashcoat Bear flashing out at end of turn could prove to be a potent threat that demands an answer.
Bringing it all Together
Let’s see what anti-Wrath decks we can cook up using some of these strategies:
Creatures (19)
Lands (24)
Spells (17)
Other than the Birds and lands, this deck can play entirely on your opponent’s turn, which is bound to cause severe distress in Wrath-happy opponents. I imagine Grifter’s Blade would shine here, performing as a decent combat trick and a nice little boost to the relatively small size of most of these creatures.
Get in There!
Bennie Smith
4 Wild Cantor
4 Shock
4 Sudden Shock
4 Volcanic Hammer
2 Viashino Sandstalker
4 Groundbreaker
4 Char
4 Timbermare
2 Giant Solifuge
4 Greater Gargadon
4 Stomping Ground
4 Karplusan Forest
7 Mountain
9 Forest
[Editor’s Note: Planar Chaos cards are not in out database yet… we’re waiting for the prerelease, just like you. Any decklists that incorporate cards yet to come cannot be formatted in the funky deckbuilder for another week or so.]
Swoop in, smash face, get in there for a big hit – that’s what this deck is all about. This should also be a nightmare for Wrath-happy decks to face.
I don’t know exactly how having eight Wraths running around is going to affect the metagame, but I thought this a useful exercise as a creature fan to not give in to despair. There are tools out there to combat the sorcery-speed, creature-sweeper menace, and while these sorts of decks aren’t exactly my cup of tea, there are options – some of which I may not have even thought about, so if you have some other ideas, sound off in the forums!
Until next week,
Bennie