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Thirst for Knowledge: Life After M10By Chris Jobin on July 16th, 2009 · Filed in Standard (Type 2), Thirst for Knowledge · 33 CommentsWhen I decided to start my column back in February, my intention was just to write about Constructed. I had no preference as to what format that entailed (whether it be Standard, Extended, Legacy, etc), as long as it was Constructed. However, over time it seemed like there was much more that I not only wanted to write about but also a great deal of topics that I felt I could easily explore. First and foremost among them, for instance, is literal game theory. Now, most of that ground has already been covered by everyone and his brother, certainly, but there are still lots of nuances that have yet to be given a thorough article. In the future I'd like to cover some of those subjects, as well as write more articles like the one I wrote last week (that is, articles about focusing and whatnot that don't directly relate to theory or formats). In addition, writing about Limited here and there would be a nice departure, as I do tend to spend a lot of time playing Limited on MTGO and the format is clearly very relevant. As a column that's purpose is to better-equip the PTQ-playing populace, I feel like this is a push for me in the correct direction. Wow. Is she better than Exalted Angel? Yes, by a long shot. Exalted Angel was pretty huge back in the day, but that was mostly because of how pitiful the removal was at that time (or, rather, how limited - see Smother). While I can't argue that things are the same today (Path to Exile, etc), I don't know how relevant it really is. Like I said, if they don't have the removal spell you're going to win, and if they do you can either take it in stride or you can wait to drop her and have counter mana up. If the format shapes up to really be filled with Jund decks and Kithkin decks, I think she might be the answer. Not only will she keep your life total high, but she'll throw down with Broodmate Dragons all day long and live to tell about it (and Chameleon Colossus!). She's pretty fragile, certainly, but having lifelink and first strike keeps you alive in the long run and her alive in basically any form of combat (I guess aside from fights with Cloudthresher, although that guy makes a mockery of Broodmate Dragon, too). I don't think she's just better than Broodmate Dragon, but I feel like Baneslayer Angel will be playing a role in the future Standard. She's surprisingly good, and exceedingly strong against the aggro decks that seem to be infesting the post-M10 meta. And, hey, if Faeries players don't start picking up their Doom Blades instead of Agony Warps, she isn't awful against that deck, either. And what about her in the sideboard of an aggro deck? The applications are endless... Captain of the Watch I'll be honest, here: there's no reason or incentive to play this over Cloudgoat Ranger. The "Soldier" deck is just a less efficient Kithkin deck, and GW Tokens would still rather have the five-mana token-maker than the six-mana one. However, GW does produce a large amount of mana with Steward of Valeron and Noble Hierarch, but I still doubt it's all that worth it. I've sleeved it up and been unimpressed with it, but not because it wasn't explosive in and of itself - rather, it just doesn't do anything that much better than the things we have now. In time, though, this card will have its spot in Standard. Guardian Seraph So, let me see if I get this: I get a 3/4 flier and a pseudo-Urza's Armor for four mana? That's pretty reasonable. At worst, this guy will just neutralize a Honor of the Pure, but at best it can really just eliminate profitable attacks from weenie decks (read: Kithkin). It only has four toughness, making it slightly easy to off, but it doesn't die to Lightning Bolt which is a plus. I mean, it's not the best card ever but it's far from awful. There has been a good deal of talk on the internet lately about Angelfire, with a creaturebase looking something like this:
From there you just add in Cryptic Commands, Paths, Lightning Bolts, sweepers, etc and go to town. I've had a decent amount of luck with that style of deck so far (nothing that I'd feel comfortable putting into an article yet, though), but I'm not sure why you wouldn't just want to play a Reveillark deck with Baneslayer Angel and call it a day. However, as always, time will tell and there's a lot of potential left to explore. Harm's Way I haven't had the chance to play M10 Limited yet, but I've heard the horror stories. This card has already, in only one weekend, delivered some of the sickest beats I've ever heard about. Still, that just doesn't translate to Constructed. It's not that the card isn't good in a format like Standard, but rather just that it has to compete with Path to Exile and that's simply impossible. Straight-up removal is always going to be more efficient than this unless you're trying to save two of your 2/2s from a Pyroclasm. I suppose it's pretty nutty out of the sideboard in aggro mirrors, but otherwise I'd just stick with Path to Exile in my white decks. Honor of the Pure It's a better Glorious Anthem. Yawn. Cedric already talked about how its only downside is being more susceptible to Spellstutter Sprite, and so I think there's little to say about this one. Planar Cleaning Rest in peace, Wrath of God, rest in peace. Despite the passing of our dear friend, this card is fairly strong. It's a great way to completely reset Kithkin's board, although at six mana it's a tall order. It's probably better than Austere Command, though I'm not as sure about how it stacks up to Hallowed Burial. Considering that this is the "new Wrath of God," we might as well just grin and bear it. Silence I'm on the fence. Before the spoiler was complete, I was under the impression that this card could change everything. However, it might not have a place yet, and it might overall just be too weak in Standard to be worth the slots. It's obviously very good in Legacy, but even then it would only be Orim's Chant numbers five through six. In Extended next year it might be cute, but it's hard to say how well the Scepter-Chant combo would really go over in the current state of that format. In any case, this is one to watch. Blue Merfolk Sovereign Not good enough for Legacy Merfolk, and maybe not even for Extended. In Standard, though, there is no Lord of Atlantis and therefore very little competition. A new Merfolk deck is finally viable again in Standard, though I'm not sure if this along with the power boost of Wake Thrasher is going to be enough to justify playing the deck. If there was some blue card, though, that could make combat more one-sided for blue... Will it be a hit or a miss? Oh. Well, I guess that answers that, huh? This is an interesting card more or less because it does something that Cryptic Command does, but much better. It's in no way as good as Cryptic Command, of course, since it is very linear and only does one thing, but it does that one thing very well. Merfolk seems like the best deck to utilize it, as it's basically Cryptic Commands five plus, which is clearly not a bad thing in the slightest. A deck like Five Color Blood will not play this card (as that deck only wants blue for Cryptic Command), but any deck that is even slightly aggressive and has blue mana will likely want some of these alongside their Cryptic Commands. The exception? Faeries. I'm pretty sure this card is either rancid in Faeries or at the very best sideboard material. On the other hand, if the format becomes hyper-aggressive it's at least passable... Black Doom Blade Not only is the art incredible, but this card is also just better than Terror. Regeneration is nearly irrelevant in Standard, and now we can finally hit artifact creatures with our black removal spell! Just in time...for Tidehollow Sculler to become unplayable? As awkward as that is, there's no doubt that this is a change for the better. I'm happy. Sign in Blood People seem to be giving this card a lot of hype, and rightfully so, but it isn't that good. It's great card advantage in black, certainly, and just the stones with a cascade spell. However, that's all it is. It's not a black Shock, and it's not a format-changing card. I think it might have a place in Jund decks and black/red aggro decks, but other than that I think it's more or less overrated. I'd be happy to be wrong on this one, though, since I loved Night's Whisper and would love to play that style of deck again. Red Ball Lightning In my post-M10 testing, I've been keeping a running tally of the number of these that I've Peppersmoked (currently only in the teens, although I don't actually stare this guy down all that much). I think that sums thing up nicely - I thought that this card would be worth something to Standard, but it's a 6/1. It's a three-mana 6/1. That just isn't going to cut it in this format, especially not with so much first strike in Standard right now. Lightning Bolt Do I really need to? Magma Phoenix I love this card. Absolutely love it. Cards this efficient are just asking to see play, and I will try everything I can to make it work. I could see it on the high end of an aggro curve or the finisher in a control deck, and that's pretty exciting to me. I urge you to try this one, as I think it has some real potential. Notice that the "rebirth" ability isn't just during your upkeep... Green Another nail for the coffin...? I swear, this card has "protection from Chris Jobin," and its rather infuriating. It's actually insulting to Faeries players, and it's easily the best weapon ever printed against Faeries. On the other hand, it has a wonderfully flavorful name, great art, and is pretty fair against anything that isn't Faeries. I mean, I actually like this card a lot. I don't know if it was really necessary, but in any case I'm fine with it seeing print. It doesn't kill Faeries by any means, and it's merely a useful tool against the deck. If you're going to be playing green post-M10, you'd be a fool not to have four of these in your seventy-five. Windstorm Two in one set? Still, this is much worse than Squall Line, and both are just worse than Volcanic Fallout (as a humorous aside, my friend Jon and I had an argument about whether or not Squall Line was better than Volcanic Fallout, an argument which he conceded when I pointed out that Squall Line isn't ridiculously broken and doesn't have Split Second like he apparently thought it did). Since most green decks have cascade cards anyway (or Spirit tokens), I can't say with much confidence that this card will even see play at all in Standard. Isn't Cloudthresher just better? The Rest Drowned Catacomb Cycle The M10 duals aren't as good as the painlands, but they're reasonable. Like Chapin said in his article earlier this week, the green ones are weaker on average due to green's tendency to have lots of one-drops (which these can never play), but otherwise I think all the lands are fine. The blue-aligned ones in particular are actually just superb, and Faeries is more than happy to take Drowned Catacomb over Underground River. Gargoyle Castle Yaus! The manlands are gone, and this is what we get instead - something I'm more than happy with. Control decks should love this card, and it will certainly find a home in any future Five Color Control lists. I mean, this card isn't better than a Treetop Village, but it's more than respectable and will allow lots of decks a decent late-game threat that doesn't die to a Lightning Bolt and can actually put the opponent on a clock. I'm actually considering this card for Faeries, seeing as we used to play two Pendelhavens in that deck. I'm not sure how much it will really add to the deck, but it's worth trying out. *** And so here ends another set review. M10 is a core set unlike any before it, and as such it brings with it greater winds of change than its predecessors. This time a year ago, white was far and away the worst color in Standard, really only made playable because the gods decided to make Reveillark white. Now, and especially with M10, white has risen to be what might actually be considered the best color. It has the best card advantage engine (Reveillark), the most efficient creatures (Kithkin), powerful and cheap creature enhancement (Honor of the Pure, etc), the strongest finishers (Baneslayer Angel), and easily the best removal spell (Path to Exile). While I don't feel like Standard is going to stretch itself too much, I do think that white will play a larger role than it has in the past year. I've been toying with lots of deck ideas and alterations, but lately I've found myself with little energy and not a great deal of time to test, something I hope to remedy in the coming week. That said, next week I'll have some real decklists for you all based on the evaluations this week, mostly focusing on the decks I feel will be the biggest players for the rest of the Standard qualifying season (Faeries, GW Tokens, Kithkin, 5CB, and white-based control). Stay tuned! This article brought to you by: Artist: The Killers Album: Day & Age Featured Song: "Goodnight, Travel Well" Until next time, Chris "Shinjutsei" Jobin By Chris Jobin on July 16th, 2009 · Filed in Standard (Type 2), Thirst for Knowledge · 33 Comments |
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