Magic 2011 is on the horizon and I'm excited. This is, without a doubt in my mind, the best core set since Beta. It takes all of the promises of 249 card sets and the new rarity scheme, along with the core set changes, and shows us just how well that can work. Wizards seems to have struggled a bit to find its footing with all of these changes, but it has brought us to this. This is the first set since the introduction of the Mythic rarity where it really feels like Wizards has found a good balance between interesting and powerful rares, and the BAM! POW! ZOWY! Mythic rarity. The rares don't feel like filler in decks meant to abuse mythics. In fact, I'm going to go on record in saying that the rares are better than the mythics, for the first time since Conflux. When you open packs of M11 you are going to get a lot of cards you will be able to play in top tier decks.

In retrospect, M10 feels like it had training wheels on. It was more complicated than previous cores, but it still didn't take a lot of chances. There were lots of reprinted rares, plenty of vanilla or totally uninteresting cards, and the power levels were pretty obvious. m11 feels like the training wheels were taken off and replaced with jet engines. Everywhere there are cards that inspire you to build decks, or alter decks.

Instead of doing a full set review with stars, or point values, I'm just going to go over some of the mythics and rares that interest me, and that you'll probably be seeing in constructed play sometime soon.

The Mythics

As I mentioned before, the mythics seem overall good in this set, but they don't feel like a cash grab. These cards feel mythic, and beyond that, they are not going to define 90% of the value of the set. I hope that we can see a similar setup for future expansions, but I have a feeling it won't happen like that. We'll probably continue to see overpowered Planeswalkers that dominate the game and wallets.

For the set's 15 mythics, 1/3rd are the Lorwyn Planeswalkers. These walkers are good and all, but in the wake of seeing what Planeswalkers CAN be with Big Jace, Elspeth, Gideon and Ajani, they just don't seem so exciting anymore. We've also had them around for so long, that nobody is going to be cracking packs praying for another Chandra Nalaar. If all Planeswalkers were at this power level, Magic would be a much more affordable game. They are good, but not auto-includes, and they don't dominate the board the way all of the walkers since have had the habit of doing. We'll have to wait for Scars of Mirrodin to get another $40 Planeswalker, and I'm fine with that.

The Titan Cycle makes up the second third of the set's mythics on the other hand, interesting and powerful, but they also aren't auto-includes in every deck that wants to use the color. The two biggest standouts are Primeval Titan and Grave Titan. Primeval because he fits into the Turboland archetype as is (which doesn't rotate much even in the fall) and Grave Titan because he is an all-around efficient creature. Even if they do Path him, you are up to 2/2 zombies and a land. Pretty hard to go wrong unless your opponent follows this up with a Wrath.

The remaining Titans may see some play. Sun Titan is a bit mediocre right now in standard (when there isn't much exciting to return), but if Scars adds some more Spellbombs, or Oblivion Stone-esq cards, then he could go right to the top of the Titan hierarchy. Inferno Titan is a good deal, throwing out an Arc Lightning every turn, but ultimately not the card you want to be casting in modern red decks. Especially when you have Hellkite Charger at the same cost. Frost Titan is oh so very cute, but seems like he needed Flash or an evasion ability to be over the top. Being able to keep a permanent tapped is a good ability, but his 'countered unless they pay 2' ability is by far the worst of the bunch. The spells that will kill him all cost around 1-3 mana. Paying 2 on top of that just isn't hard, and if you cast the Titan with Mana Leak backup, you are still probably going to fall short. He just doesn't compare to the others.

We then have five remaining mythics. For whatever reason, Red fell short here, and its spot was given to a reprint of Platinum Angel. Until we get a Lightning Greaves effect, she's going to be the security blanket that newer players hide under, pretending that it will keep them safe from all the big scary Vengevines on the other side of the table. (Spoiler alert: It won't.)

Demon of Death's Gate reminds me of Delraich in every way, except it's turn 1 viability. There isn't a lot of value cheating a creature into play for such a high cost if it's only a little less than fair when it gets there. There is more than enough cheap removal to kill him on turn 2 or 3, and a Baneslayer can make his attacks a zero-sum game.

Gaea's Revenge offers us a creature that does what green already does well, but it itself seems to do it worse than Avenger of Zendikar at the same mana cost. And he still can't get by Baneslayer. Unless mono-blue becomes a real problem, I don't see him making the cut much of anywhere.

Time Reversal is hyped only because people remember the effect so fondly. Well, it hasn't even been priced fairly before. This is a fair price to pay for the effect, and the chances are you won't be able to get a lot out of it. The notable exception is a Turboland deck that can both Time Reversal and Time Warp in the same turn, possibly 'going infinite' by chaining multiple Time Warps for several turns, and refueling until an Avenger of Zendikar or the like is able to win the game.

Baneslayer is back, but not quite as good as ever. Still good, and one of the chase rares of the set, but no longer the unstoppable pillar of standard. Combust and Plummet sort of do that to you. Besides, her reprinting appears to have had the desired effect and dropped her price down to reasonable levels. If you couldn't get a playset during M10, then now is your chance. She is still going to rule the skies, but everyone appears to have some way of dealing with her now, so she won't nullify whole archetypes.

Rares

There are fifty three of them, as with all big sets, so I am not going to cover all of them. Instead, I'll focus on the ones that weren't previously in M10 and deserve a mention. Turns out, that is twenty-three of them. I can't remember the last set that had this many potentially tournament viable cards. They may not all be break out stars, but I have faith that a lot of them will come into their own in time.

The Leyline Cycle

First off, the Leylines are huge. No, even bigger. Keep going. More. Dreadnoughts for jewelry. They will be big. These feel much better than the original cycle, which generally struggled to find a place in constructed outside of Leyline of the Void. Most of them were just too niche, or didn't do enough to justify their risks. That isn't the case anymore.

The best of the original bunch, Leyline of the Void, returns and immediately reduces the power of Vengevine, Knight of the Reliquary and Open the Vaults. I wouldn't say decks revolving around any of these card are dead, but they now have a real enemy to face. And control now has a really good sideboard against Dredgevine.

When I first saw Leyline of Punishment, I wasn't sure how Red Deck Wins would ever not live up to its name. The deck was already tier 1, or at least on the verge, and only lost to hate cards like Kor Firewalker, which it basically couldn't beat. This deals with all of the hate and then some. Expect this to see sideboard play in everything from standard to legacy.

If RDW doesn't dominate the field, it is partly due to Leyline of Sanctity. Shutting off Searing Blaze, reducing the power of Staggershock, and even making new standout Fling into a fair card. You also get to weaken Ajani Vengant, Gideon Jura, and Jace, the Mindsculptor. While I expect this to see a lot of sideboard play, I wouldn't be surprised if a few creep into main decks. The casting cost makes it a pretty good deal to play normally, a rarity for Leylines.

Leyline of Anticipation and Leyline of Vitality are not on the same power level as the others, but may see some play in casual formats, and both could easily break out into tournament formats. Anticipation gives you the sick plays of flashing in a Baneslayer, a Wrath, or even a Mind Control shouldn't be underestimated. Or you can 'steal' your opponent's storm and flash out a Tendrils of Agony. Vitality will make your Elves a little more resistant to Engineered Plagues.

Land

Mystifying Maze is an interesting land. It is no Maze of Ith, but it will fit into the new style of control decks that don't need to tap out every turn. When you can cast spells like Jace's Ingenuity on your opponent's end step, you have a reason to leave mana open. Your counterspells get more powerful, and so do cards like this. You can keep it in reserve incase your opponent plays a Vengevine or Ball Lightning. If they don't, you can still do something. I don't expect to see anything running 4 of this, but I wouldn't be surprised to see more than a few control decks running a pair of them.

Artifacts

Temple Bell is a kind of upgrade, kind of downgrade to Howling Mine. Despite the extra cost, it gets points for helping to mitigate the card advantage you give to your opponent by letting all of the draws take place during their end step. They still get card quality, but they will have to wait a turn to use it. In addition, we have upwards of 12 Howling Mine effects in standard if that kind of thing interests you.

Brittle Effigy fits into mono-green decks giving them a good answer to well... anything, control decks who want a versatile way to deal with anything from man lands to attacking Gideon, and every deck a great way to deal with the Eldrazi Titans. The card looks innocuous, but it is going to see play.

Jinxed Idol gives aggro decks a good way to compete with control decks who will be spending a lot more for their creatures, but won't really shine until Elspeth and Martial Coup leave standard and leave UW control with a few good options on creatures to sacrifice.

Sword of Vengeance will probably be overshadowed by Behemoth Sledge for the time being, but don't be surprised if it and Stoneforge Mystic become good friends in the fall.

Steel Overseer is another creature who doesn't have a lot to do now, but will probably find a home when Scars comes in with what we assume is a horde of artifact creatures. I for one would have loved to pump up my Modular guys this way, so you may want to pick a few of these up now on spec. He could really power up decks in the fall.

White

Other than the Leyline, White didn't get a lot in M11. The only big standout for white is Day of Judgment. I am for one glad we have a Wrath back in the core, even if we just had it in an expansion last year. I think it is an important card to have in Standard all the times, and this should give us a good idea that it is going to be fairly evergreen. White gets a few big fatty creatures that seem fairly interchangeable with the standard fatty white creature that stalls the game. Not much to see here.

Blue

Is Conundrum Sphinx a variant on Air Elemental or Thieving Magpie? Is it better in aggro or control decks? Do you need a Sensei's Divining Top effect to make it good? Or is simply having more basics than your opponent enough? All of these questions and more will be answered soon. My guess is that he won't replace much in UW control, but will find a home somewhere. In standard you can play Crystal Ball to get a large advantage out of him, and at worst he will block incredibly well for a blue creature.

Mass Polymorph is a card that I like, if for no other reason than it practices truth in advertising. You can't use it in the same way that you used Polymorph (playing two Emrakul as your only creatures is a BIT awkward when they legend-rule each other), but you open up the field to a lot of new possibilities. Expect a deck full of creatures with Enter the Battlefield abilities to use this, an Allies deck, and a deck focusing on getting a few fatties in play for the cost of some Eldrazi spawn. I expect this to be one of the standout cards of the set.

Redirect is no counterspell, but it is great at winning counter wars. It also is the best possibly response to a turn 3 Blightning, or to a Malestrom Pulse on one of your creatures. I'm not sure how good the card is overall since it doesn't stop Planeswalkers, but I do expect it to be the subject of a lot of bad beat stories for the next two years.

Stormtide Leviathan is quite the fatty. Think Blazing Archon if it was unblockable. This card will probably be Mass Polymorphed into more than once, and may just be hard cast in the right deck. The effect is better than it looks on paper. Eldrazi Monument probably keeps this from straight up locking out most of the format, but there will be a few decks that will have no reasonable way to beat this card.

Black

Captivating Vampire is no Vampire Noctornus, but it does leave us with eight vampire lords in standard for a few months. Turn 2 Bloodghast, turn 3 Captivating Vampire, swing for 3, turn 4 Noctornus, swing for 10 isn't shabby.

Dark Tutelage isn't Dark Confidant, but it doesn't have to be. It also doesn't compare favorably to Phyrexian Arena. That's okay – drawing cards is good, and decks can find a way to minimize the life lost from this. Crystal Ball is a top contender, but throwing this in a Red/Black deck that curves out to three mana might be enough too.

Nantuko Shade would be on my list of cards least likely to see in a base set, but here it is. A REAL powerhouse in its day, it suffers from the loss of not having Cabal Coffers around, but there are more than enough swamps to keep him relevant. Mono black aggro now has this, Bloodghast and Vampire Hexmage all sitting pretty at 2 mana. Can we get a Dark Ritual please?

Phylactery Lich is not going to set the world aflame just yet, but it's hard to ignore a three mana indestructible 5/5. Look for him to break out when Scars hits the shelves.

Red

Cyclops Gladiator is sitting at an awkward casting cost. for a 4/4 used to be an awesome deal, but not as much anymore. Obsidian Firebeast had the same cost, a pretty good ability, and was not once in a successful tournament deck. Still, Cyclops' ability to take out relevant creatures like Birds, Hierarch, etc could easily earn him a spot in decks.

Destructive Force is a card that I want to work. Wildfire was one of my favorite cards of all time, and this has a very similar effect, though we are missing the absurd amount of artifact mana that made Wildfire so good. I think it can work in a Planeswalkers build, but you'd need some acceleration. If you have a Gideon and Jace in play, then destroy 80% of the lands and all of the creatures in play you're probably going to win. As long as most creatures stay below 5/5, keep an eye on this card.

Reverberate is the red Twincast - if I hear that one more time, I may shoot someone. Putting Fork back in red makes me very happy. Doubling your Lightning Bolt, or Fireball, or Cultivate is good, but you can also use it defensively to counter counterspells, or make sure Blightning hits your opponent first.

Green

Fauna Shaman is a bit overhyped, but a great card none the less. It isn't survival. You won't get the explosive turns that Survival would give you (Why yes, I WOULD like to attack with four Vengevines on turn 4), and she dies to just about everything. Don't try and build decks around her. Instead, use it like an organizer for your toolbox. Put her in decks that already have a good package of utility creatures that she can find when they are needed. The toolbox will include mostly Vengevines, but that doesn't mean you can't throw one Qasali Pridemage into your main to take advantage of the Fauna Shaman.

Obstinate Baloth should ensure that Blightning becomes even less popular than it is today. In addition, it gives the green decks a great card against the soon to be rampant Red decks.

Add on to all of these new cards, we still have great m10 rares like the duals, Day of Judgment, and Birds of Paradise. And above and beyond this, we also have plenty of commons and uncommon to be excited about- Mana Leak, Cultivate, Condemn, Preordain, Ember Hauler, Jace's Ingenuity, ... the list goes on.

The change to the standard format will not be as drastic as when m10 came in because we aren't losing a set – but this will shake things up. It's going to take a while to soak all of this in, but this is a wonderful set. If this is the taste of things to come, I'm looking forward to the future Magic releases even more this year than normal.