Locations
Worldwake's a third here, and that means it's time to start looking at cards and their implications across formats. We're at a very nice point for a new set to come out. Extended PTQs overlap the set release, a Standard Pro Tour is coming up and is followed by a new PTQ season, while Legacy remains relevant for the entire calendar year. That means we need to evaluate cards for all three formats. I'll leave EDH to those writers that focus on the subject.
While I'll save the full set review for later, there are a few cards that are drawing a lot of attention, some rightfully so. Let's proceed by color. I'll grade these by Hype and Power. Hype is a measure of the excitement around a card, which may or may not have any basis in reality. Power is its effect on the competitive scene. When both are high, you've got a bank-breaker.
Her 3WWW cost relegates her to slow control decks or mono-white decks. It's nice that she can handle Baneslayer Angel, but the fact that her Landfall trigger is not permanent is a big drawback. She doesn't put the same kind of imperative on the board as Baneslayer does, and thus will be hard-pressed to take the throne from the Lady of the Skies. Too bad she can't kill lands.
If you don't think this card is fantastic, you never played with Brainstorm and Fetch Lands in the same deck. His modest cost of 2UU means that he can be played with ease in most decks that would want to run him. He'll likely not be a 4-of, which could depress the price, but a powerhouse engine like this is what Blue really needed. His +2 ability puts him out of Bolt/Blightning range quickly, and ensures you're getting elite card selection or keeping your opponent's draws regulated. Once he's at a safe loyalty, you can Brainstorm into Fetch Lands for the rest of the game, effectively casting Careful Consideration every turn. For free. His ultimate is hardly relevant, but can still win games out of nowhere, and the ability to unsummon every turn means that he can hold down the fort while your mana develops and stabilizes. If Jace were a minor-league baseball prospect, we'd call him a 5-tool stud, because he really does it all.
Power might be even better than 3/5, but I really have to play with the card first. A 6/6 flier for 2BB is completely nuts, and when the drawback is so irrelevant for so many turns, you have to wonder what decks will use this. My first reaction is to build a Suicide Black deck using small, efficient creatures like Lacerator and Putrid Leech, backed up by sacrifice outlets like Gatekeeper of Malakir and Fleshbag Marauder. The deck can be blisteringly fast, and can usually find a way to negate the drawback without playing sub-par cards. My inclination is that this card is totally insane, and eBay seems to agree. They're preselling for well over $15 each.
| Death's Shadow
Creature - Avatar [Rare] Death's Shadow gets -X/-X where X is your life total. 13/13 #57/145 |
Hype 4/5
Power 2/5
No sir, I don't like it. He's really not so great. He's not a 13/13 for B. By his very nature, he'll NEVER be 13/13, unless your opponent controls Abyssal Persecutor. He's basically a counter to the "Bloodied" theme, which is really not part of any deck. You've got to be below 10 for it to be any good, and when you're below 10, chances are that you aren't too interested in a vanilla 3/3 or 5/5 unless its got some sort of way to keep you from losing the game. I just don't see this having a use in tournament formats. I'm willing to be wrong but I just don't see it.
Finally, a card that's not getting as much love as it should. This card reminds me a lot of Onslaught Block for some reason. Maybe it's the Cleric feel. At any rate, cards that add value to existing game events are almost always powerful. It's nice that she can trigger off herself. I have a tendency to love Bears that give added value, and turning a dead Vampire into a Vicious Hunger is about the best value you can really expect from a 2/2 for 2. This might fit into the Suicide Black deck mentioned above, or it might be enough to put Vampires over the edge and help solidify its Jund matchup. I mainly like that your Vampires are always going to "get theirs" even when they die. Clearly, Celestial Purging her is amazing, but since when are we really worried about single-card hosers? If they're not purging Nighthawks or Nocturnuses, you're doing all right. I'm picking up a set on prerelease day and never letting go.
Another card I want to play with before making a final decision, but my initial reaction is that this card is situational and amazing. It's difficult to evaluate without a game state for reference. Red Wrath's main competitor in Standard is Earthquake, since White decks are already playing Day of Judgment. Quake fits nicely into burn decks as an X-powered finisher, but less so into control decks. Frankly, control decks are already using Day of Judgment if they need a good sweeper and ever since Dragon's Claw got drunk and knocked up a Burrenton Forge-Tender, casting red spells hasn't been the same. The card packs one hell of a punch, but it will probably be a sideboard option or a role-player. All the same, if they're really cheap on opening day, grab some.
The only correct way to play this card is with Ranger of Eos. I don't care how many times you say it, there's no other way. Ranger removes the "just dies to Bolt" logic, since now they need two bolts to deal with your Outcasts and there's still a 3/2 on the board. The question is, what deck can run Ranger of Eos, a good Ranger package, and still bring game against Jund? Perhaps White decks can use Arid Mesa to splash for 2-3 Outcasts and run a Soul Warden package as well? While it's impossible to know where this card will fit in the metagame, it looks like there are many places for it to live. If it had more power in the early game, it might even fit into Jund. Ebay hasn't made up its mind about the card, and thus, it hovers in the high single digits.
People often consider best and worst-case scenarios when evaluating new cards, but its important to think about average scenarios. Yes, opening up with some crazy God-Hand involving Oran-Rief, Joraga Warcaller, Elvish Archdruid and such is awesome, and yes, having your 3/3 Warcaller Bolted sucks, but stop and consider the tremendous imperative this card puts on the board. First of all, having two low-cost Elf Lords means that even your lowly Llanowar Elves become real, relevant threats with very little work. Second, Elves have their own Planeswalker! If the deck can find a way to handle being nailed with a few early Blightnings, there might be a new contender on the block. I've preliminarily acquired Archdruids and Nissa Revanes, just in case. I'd hate to be caught out in the cold if the deck explodes out of nowhere.
Those ratings might be a tad extreme, but it seems everyone's busy staring at Omnath and his horrible ability to waste mana and tempo. Lavaclaw Reaches is an unprecedented card. I've never seen a land that gives you the chance to convert mana into damage without limitation. The pump is colorless. The activation of 1BR is reasonable for a 2/2. The colors fit perfectly into the decks that would want to play this card. Games of Magic are won by the player who spends the most mana to get the most value. If it's turn 6+ with both players in Top Deck mode, this card will win the game off the top. Jund will particularly love it, since 2 copies will, on average, put the card in your hand later in the game when you need it most. I haven't been this excited about a man-land in a long time, and will be snapping up every copy I can find.
Those are the most important cards to cover for today. I'll keep the train rolling with more evaluations next week as cards are revealed. Be sure to tune into http://www.quietspeculation.com at 12:01 AM on Friday for an EXCLUSIVE preview card. Trust me, you're going to want to see this one.
