Alright, I've been a little 'lax on checking the spoiler in the last few days and now it's officially gone up to the full 155. So instead of figuring out what I have and haven't covered and go through all the changelogs, I'm just going to go back through the entire set at once, recapping what I've already seen and adding in the new stuff. Due to the nature of this style, I won't be talking about pretty much every card like I had in the past. this time, I'll have to be much more focused in on what's to come. Those of you interested in my Maro-rage antics should check out the spoiler articles for Besieged from the beginning, and for the most part pay attention to the blue spells.
One last thing before I begin, I want to say a few quick words about the store I play at, down at Londonderry, New Hampshire. It's called the
Game Castle, and the place is absolutely HUGE. They run FNM, Saturday tournaments, prereleases and such, as well as a couple DnD groups and tournaments for Warhammer, both fantasy and 40k. Plus pretty much all the events for Pokemon are held there, and it's a pretty big store for L5R as well. A good selection of snacks and drinks and such are sold inside, as well as a pizza place, diner, and a chinese restaurant are all in the same plaza. If you're in the area, you should come and check out the store, or maybe come to our prerelease on Saturday. It's just $25 and includes the six packs and a ludicrous amount of prize support, spread out so that nobody walks away empty-handed.
Well, without further ado, let the spoiling begin!
Four mana for at LEAST seven power swinging in on the back of three separate creatures? Not to mention the fact that he's just out of bolt range. What's not to love?
Now, this card may not be in the spotlight for the moment, but all things considered, something at instant speed that generates creatures is a great asset to the coming format. I think you can expect this card to see some play.
Still not as good as his black counterpart, but this guy eats elves and vampires for breakfast, and then uses their women and children for toothpicks. Side note: Vampire fangs make great toothpicks.
Now unfortunately, the next card on my list does NOT yet have a confirmed image, so I'll just type it out. White Sun's Zenith is an instant that costs XWWW and generates a 2/2 cat token for each X put into it, then shuffles itself back in. So tapping down seven lands at EOT will give you four 2/2 cat tokens and a free reshuffle do ditch those cards that Jace said were ugly. A bit expensive, but a bit more power put into it than something like Master's Call [above]. I can see one or two copies of this being run in U/W control builds. I really don't think it's an aggro card though, way too expensive.
Now, the first thought people tend to have with this card (and I'll admit, my first thought as well) is that when your opponent brainstorms off Jace, you draw six cards. Of course, that's not what's going to happen. What's going to happen is that Jace is going to go down one, and the sphinx will get countered on his second trip to the battlefield. But of course, this does mean that with one card, you drew two more, made Jace lose a counter and a turn, and then got your opponent to use up a piece of countermagic. So by all means, that doesn't make the sphinx a bad card. And besides, there's always the blue leyline that you can use to try to flash the sphinx in in response to Jace's 0 ability. Not to mention the kind of synergy that he has with baby Jace. add two counters, you draw 1 and I draw 3? I don't think he's good enough to warrant running a nursery worth of planeswalkers, but the fact is that if your opponent doesn't have the answer for this card on the spot, things will get quite out of hand.
Herpaderpaderp derp? So we now have a one mana counterspell that hits Wurmcoil Engine, Ratchet Bomb, Everflowing Chalice, Brittle Effigy, Elixir of Immortality, Mindslaver, or any of the new stuff coming in, AND it can unsommon any of those cards if they managed to get past your counters the first time. Expect to see this card often.
Anything that says "search your library for a Mindslaver or Wurmcoil Engine" is pretty damn good in my opinion. And of course, I'll be pointing out any other good targets as we get farther down. But the bottom line is that this card is crazy good. It's like blue Cheetos or something.
Umm, open mouth, insert awe? This card is devastating, and just laughs at Marsh Casualties in the face. This card is going to be pissing off aggro decks everywhere soon enough. And the best part is that you don't even need to pay enough to KILL everything, because what doesn't kill your opponent's creatures actually makes them weaker, not stronger. So even if you can't kill what your opponent puts on the field, you can still use this card to stall out their attack, or possibly put their creatures into bolt range. Not to mention being able to use Contagion Engine to finish the job.
A removal source that trades effectiveness against Wurmcoil Engine, a target that it isn't even effective against, for kill that gets rid of Vampires, Grave Titan, and whatever other goodies will prove relevant in the coming months. If Tezzerator becomes big, then maybe you'll see two of these and two Doom Blades, but otherwise I'm pretty sure this spell is going to dominate the format.
At first glance, it's not that good, but it's decent tech against Vengevines and Bloodghasts nonetheless. Just something to think about, especially if Reanimator gets some more power a few months from now.
Oh sweet damn, speaking of cards that can finish off what you weaken with the Zenith. This guy is great board reversal, can win the game just by resolving, and has enough power to trade with the Titans. I can see why he's mythic.
Crusader + Sword of Body and Bind just herpaderps across the board three times and wins the game. And the only weakness is its own color, minus Doom Blade of course. Now that's what I'm talkin' about.
Finally, Red has an answer to Vengevines and Bloodghasts that doesn't involve Brittle Effigy. I'd even consider running it in my own burn deck, but the seven mana I'd need to take on a Wurmcoil Engine just doesn't cut it, and I need to take on a Wurmcoil Engine when it hits play.
Pyroclasm +1? Well, as for now, there aren't a lot of aggro decks that you need the extra point of damage for. However, it CAN take out Avenger of Zendikar's plant tokens even after he's played and cracked a fetchland. Also, the ability to do something else with it means that maybe Slagstorm can be maindecked, as opposed to Pyroclasm lacking versatility. However, compared to the other wrath effects that are now in the format it's extremely weak, so if you're running black or white then you have better alternatives (especially black).
Oh hello, green Shatterstorm. Nice to meet you. Very nice to meet you, actually. You couldn't have come at a better time.
Oh, this just makes me smile. Until I realized that Valakut now has twelve sources of Primeval Titan (four titans, four traps, and now these). I REALLY hate Valakut.
What a not-so-sneaky way of saying "lose fourteen life". Well, at least it doesn't start with trample.
Ah Tezzeret, the ONLY planeswalker in this set. He's got the 5/5 converter just like his predecessor, card advantage in the form of drawing an artifact from the top five, AND a gamewinning ultimate that drains life as well. I guess in the end, his power will all change depending on what we have available for him to work with. It all depends on if we can get enough good artifacts for him to target. And trust me, there are some.
Not this guy though, the Colossus works alone. And he one-shots players all day long. There's just nothing like flashing this guy in off the blue leyline or a Summoning Trap and watching your opponent cringe as they realize how easily you just won the game. -Treasure Mage-
A fun card to cheat in with a Stoneforge Mystic, this bad boy can be pretty big depending on the gamestate. And after he dies, you just make one of your other creatures even bigger.
This card just seems like it can't figure out how it wants to win the game. But I know, and it's called Bloodchief Ascension. Not only can this card get the quest on line easily, but one more activation and your opponent takes fourteen to the face- two from the effect plus two from the bloodchief for each card milled. More on this later- it's actually my current project.
Yeah, remember when I said there were some good targets for Tezzeret? This is one of 'em.
This guy is going to eat so much removal, it's not even funny. And he laughs at your 'Go for the Throat' as he goes for the throat of everyone's favorite hundred dollar planeswalker. I still think it's a shame they didn't just reprint Pithing Needle, but I digress. We don't want to piss off everyone that spent a fortune on acquiring full sets of Jace. Well, actually, I do. So go ahead Wizards, reprint Pithing Needle. I want to watch them squirm.
The other good target for Tezzeret, and this one can be Treasure Mage'd too. It's a pretty expensive Vindicate, but it's still a Vindicate, and that's what matters.
Ah, sword number four. And it appears to be a bad version of Bear Umbra attached to a bad version of Hypnotic Specter. So overall, I'd say it's a downgrade from the others. I mean, I guess you can say that Pro: Black is nice, but that's about it.
There's been a lot of discussion going back and forth about this card, but the way I see it, it's both good for Infect decks and good for control, but lackluster for everything else. In both decks, it's not meant to be activated early, it's just going to get killed and screw up your tempo. In Infect, you activate it once you're low on creatures to cast, or once losing the land isn't a big deal. Having one more flying infect toon can often make the difference between a win and a loss. In control, it's useful to chumpblock when you're a turn away from popping Jace. Being the cheapest manland in the format means that you can easily play whatever removal you have and then use the land when you're all out. Or alternately, you can use him to keep an opponent's planeswalker from getting to big with a point of damage a turn. It's just one of those situations where if your manabase can take it, then you might as well, there's no reason not to run it just in case.
So anyways, there you have it, 25 cards to look out for in your limited games this weekend, and something to think about when building your own deck in the coming weeks. Don't forget,
The Game Castle is holding their own prerelease on Saturday, January 29th. Registration starts at 10, and packs will be handed out at 11. Entry for the main event will be $25, and side event drafts will be run afterwards for $15 if enough people are interested. And don't forget to 'like' Yo Mama over
here or on the sidebar above, where I'll be posting updates whenever there's a new article. My schedule is approximately whenever I feel like it, which is usually a couple times a week.
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