Revewing M11 Limited | A Magic 2011 Pre-Release Story

“Hi, my name is Marlon, and I’m a spoiler addict”

There’s a certain song that would like us to believe that Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year, but I have to disagree. For me, the best part of the year comes those two weeks before a new Magic set is released, when the good people at mtgsalvation.com slowly reveal the cards of the next set. When the spoiler ball really gets rolling, about a week before the prerelease, I can’t help but to check every couple of minutes, looking for the next broken blue card or the next “why is this mythic?” mythic. It happens every few months like clockwork, and even for a set like M11, which is mostly reprints, I can’t hide my anticipation. So this past weekend, when the prerelease was finally upon us, I headed 45 minutes south down to Boston to play in the large prerelease run by Rob Dougherty.

I showed up at the event site around 9:30 and met up with my buddies Stevie Bond and Dave “my mom’s uterus looks like the art for Teetering Peaks” Howell. We signed up for the next available flight, ready to crack some sick rares. When it came time for deck construction, Steve and I sat next to each other as the packs were handed out. These are the rares we opened:

Take a look at that list for a second. What are the odds of two people sitting next to each other opening five of the exact same rares, including two identical mythics? You probably have a statistically better chance of winning the lottery.

Anyway…

Seeing that I had three bomb red cards, I knew that I would be playing red. I also opened two Pyroclasms and a Chandras Outrage, but not really any other playables. My initial thought was to play G/R, for access to both my mythic bombs, but I felt like my blue was stronger than my green overall. I had a good amount of draw and scry, as well as a Mind Control and the Leviathan. Also, the deck manipulation the blue would give me would allow me to play cards with difficult mana costs, like the Hellkite, since I would be seeing so many cards each game. Here’s what I sleeved up:

The Sorcerer’s Strongbox was just to have an artifact to search up with the Hording Dragon, and I didn’t really have any better artifact options. The plan of the deck is a simple one, and probably the best overall strategy for core-set limited; control the early game and dig for your bombs. Wash, rinse, repeat.

Quick rundown of my rounds:

Round One I played against a dude playing R/W. Neither of the games were particularly close, as his Raging Goblins and Siege Mastodons couldn’t really stand up to my dragons and Chandra. The games were made significantly easier due to the fact that he kept tilting his hand way down and showing me some of his cards. I only saw three cards in the two games, but those cards were Condemn, Act of Treason, and Day of Judgment; good cards to be aware of. I was able to play around those and the match was a breeze.

I don’t really remember anything about Round Two, except that I again won in two games. The only thing I recall is that he mulled to four on the play game two.

Round Three I played against the aforementioned Dave Howell, who had built himself a smashy R/G deck with Inferno Titan, Triskelion, and Magma Phoenix. He was also playing a card that I’ve never really been a fan of, Natures Spiral, which was actually pretty awesome in his deck. Try dealing with Inferno Titan twice in the same game. Betchya can’t. I won game one behind my bombs,  and game two I kept a hand of Island, Preordain, Mind Control, Ancient Hellkite, Foresee, and two Augury Owls on the draw. A hand like this is a good example of how much of an upgrade Augury Owl is; if those were Sage Owl’s that sort of hand is an insta-mulligan, but since they’re scry owls this hand is pretty decent. I ended up smoothing my draws out pretty well, but Howell played Fire Servant and Lava Axe‘d me for ten, and then just beat the bag out of my face. Game three I won, again due to my bombs and deck manipulation. Sweet format.

I was hungry so I ID’d Round Four so I could go grab some food.  My opponent told me he had Baneslayer Angel in his deck, and I was almost tempted to play the match up, since Mind Controlling a Baneslayer has got to be one of the most satisfying things you can do in a game of limited. But hunger won out, and Steve, Dave, and I went across the street to TGI Fridays for some cheap entrees and terribly weak mixed drinks.

I went back to the event site after lunch and decided to hop into an 8 man, since there wasn’t really any team drafting going on for some reason.   I ended up G/B, with a Nantuko Shade, Obstinate Baloth, and two each of Spined Wurm, Garruk’s Companion, Yavimaya Wurm, and Assassinate. I know Garruk’s Companion and Nantuko Shade don’t really go well together, but there are ways of minimizing the inconvenience, which I will get to a little later. Long story short, I won the first two rounds, but when it was time to play the finals I didn’t really have my head in it. I currently have a torn Achilles tendon on my left foot, and the percocets I had been taking throughout the day to deal with the pain had finally caught up to me, rendering my brain a foggy mess. Fortunately my opponent was a nice guy, so we split the finals and I was spared have to try and use my brain any further.  Despite the ending, overall I had a very good time for the day, and regardless of my past success with M10, I think I will enjoy M11 a bit more.

Core sets in general are pretty simple, but M11 limited seems more enjoyable than expected. M10 had a lot of new cards, but many were functional reprints of pre-existing ones, such as Divination, Goblin Artillery, etc. With M11, Wizard’s has actually taken the time to make more unique cards, as well as add some obvious upgrades (Yavimaya Wurm > Craw Wurm, for example). Having had a chance to play with the new set, here are some of my evaluations of the limited applications of some of these cards.

Aether Adept

While the constructed playability of this card seems unlikely, this is not so in limited, where Aether Adept is pretty sweet. M11 is a draw-first set, and the tempo boost she gives you by being able to bounce your opponents first creature is invaluable and just what your blue deck should be looking for on turn three. Factor in the added utility of bouncing a creature with an aura attached to it, killing the odd Phantom Beast, or clearing the way for your Scroll Thief, and you have blue’s best common creature.

Air Servant

Despite the vunerability to Lightning Bolt, I think this guy is a big upgrade from Air Elemental. With enough mana he’s basically unblockable by anything other than Giant Spider, and he can oftentimes single handedly hold down your opponent’s best creature. I smashed a lot of faces with dragons at the pre-release, but I would have been crushed by this guy. Consider him awesome.

Arc Runner

This isn’t a very good card, but its existence makes me wonder about the viability of mono red as a draft archetype. Every once and a while you would run into the Jackal Familiar/Raging Goblin deck in M10 limited, but it wasn’t very consistent and had a ton of dead draws late game. Mono red seems to be more promising in M11, with Arc Runner, Lightning Bolt, Act of Treason, Chandra’s Outrage, Fling, Vulshok Berserker, and Lava Axe all at common. Next time you think red might be open, don’t be afraid to give the deck a try.

Bloodthrone Vampire

WAY worse in M11 than it was in ROE limited, since there are no expendable 0/1’s kicking around. If you are very short on playables and have 2+ Act of Treason and/or Reassembling Skeletons I could see maybe playing this card, but that’s a big if.

Cancel

Yes, I know this isn’t a new card, but I’d like to reiterate a point. Cancel was excellent in M10, since often time your opponent would have at least one card that you just lose to, like [card]Overrun, and I see Cancel being just as good in M11. If you’re in blue, make sure to pick up at least one of these.

Chandras Outrage

This card is just what the doctor ordered, since core set red in the past has had trouble dealing with four- toughness guys. With the addition of Azure Drake and Yavimaya Wurm, among others, the necessity to deal with non-boltable creatures has become increasingly important. I hated red in M10, but cards like this make might make me give the color more consideration in M11.

Crystal Ball

This is one of those cards that doesn’t seem like a bomb, but makes winning your game significantly easier. Scry 2 is retarded good, and it basically assures that you will draw a card you want every turn for the rest of the game. Unless your deck is very aggressive, you want this card.

Cultivate

Core sets generally aren’t known for their mana fixing, but Cultivate changes that. If you can pick up 2-3 of these in the first pack, then you can pretty much spend packs two and three drafting any card you want in any color. Don’t underestimate how powerful that can be.

Diminish

I knew Snakeform, and you sir, are no Snakeform. That being said, Diminish still has a nice little niche in blue decks, and will often times function as a cheaper but less reliable Divine Verdict. It’s a pretty useful spell, just don’t overvalue it.

Ember Hauler

This guy might be the best aggressive red two drop to ever appear in a core set. Bears generally aren’t very good, but the utility of being able to turn into a shock is huge. If damage still stacked he’d be a house; as is, he’s a really solid card.

Fire Servant

I know I keep mentioning red cards, but that’s because I feel that red got the biggest upgrade from M10 to M11. Fire Servant has a lot of utility, and can end games in a hurry. Lava Axes hit for ten, Lightning Bolts do six, and Chandra’s Outrage goes for eight and four. The more burn you have, the more you want this guy. Draft accordingly.

Garruks Companion

This is just another example of the creature power creep that’s been taking place over the past few years. A 3/2 trample for GG would have been outrageous a few years ago, but now no one bats an eye. That being said, this is still a solid beater as long as you can get it out turn two. One thing I noticed when playing with this guy in multiples is that having Llanowar Elves makes the double green cost much easier to handle, as well as lets you be more flexable with the mana ratio in your deck. If you end up with multiple Garruk’s Companion after the first couple of packs, be sure to prioritize the elves a little more than you normally would in pack 3.

Hornet Sting

I honestly don’t know what to think about this card. It seems strange to me that after seventeen years green suddenly has a Spark Spray. There’s not a ton of one toughness creatures in this set that need to be killed, but having the option to do so in a mono green deck is certainly appealing. You never know when you’ll be facing down a Royal Assassin or Steel Overseer. I’m not so sure if I would start this card, but I’d like to have one of two in the sideboard at least.

Jaces Ingenuity

Tidings was awesome in limited, but I don’t really think that making this instant speed makes up for the loss of the fourth card. Still, counterspells are better in M11 than in most other set, and with the return of mana leak, your typical blue deck will have 1-3 counters of various kinds. Drawing three cards is good no matter what, and Jace’s Ingenuity gets better the more controlling your deck is.

Nightwing Shade

This card reminds me of Undercity Shade from Ravinca, which always bordered on the fringes of playability. However, a shade with flying makes a much better blocker than one with fear, and the additional +1/+1 on the base stats makes this card pretty good. This shade would have been better in M10, with black decks having both Wall of Bone and Drudge Skeletons to hide behind while you beat down through the air, but it’s still a pretty solid guy. Keep in mind he gets worse with multiples, like all shades do.

Preordain

Obviously this is always playable, and is key in digging for your bombs. The prevailing question seems to be: is Preordain better than Ponder? Ponder lets you see 50% more cards, but we’ve all had a situation where we saw one card we really needed and then two garbage cards, and then were stuck drawing crap for the next two turns. Even though Preordain shows you fewer cards, the ability to stick an unwanted card or a useless land at the bottom of your deck is pretty important, especially in 40 card formats. And if both cards that you Preordain into are bad, putting them both on the bottom of your library is better than the shuffle effect of Ponder, since you’re guaranteed not to draw the unwanted cards off the shuffle (this doesn’t happen often, but when it does it’s REALLY annoying). Ponder is probably the better card for constructed, but for limited, I think I would rather have preordain. Feel free to let me know in the comments if you disagree.

Primeval Titan

Yes, this guy is mythic and opportunities to play with it in draft will be few and few between. I just want to mention that while this debatably the best titan for constructed, it is easily the worst for limited. A 6/6 is always going to be sweet, but the land search ability affects the board less than any of the abilities of the other titans. At the prerelease I saw a game where one player (Steve) had Primeval Titan and the other had Sun Titan. Steve would attack with his titan and grab some lands, and his opponent would chump block with a smallish guy. Then his opponent would attack with Sun Titan, get the chump blocker back, and still have a guy back to block. Guess who won that race. Obviously this specific situation is extremely rare, but my point is, where as the other four titan’s can dramatically alter a race situation, Primeval Titan is basically just a 6/6 trample for six with a small bonus. Certainly a nice card, but keep its limitations in mind, and don’t go taking it over a Fireball (Kids, please feel free to take $30 mythics over uncommons – Ed.).

I’ve never been a fan of drafting core sets, but I’ve got to hand it to Wizards, I think they did a really good job with this one. They seemed to have actually listened to player criticisms of M10, and adjusted the format so that it can be more enjoyable and less about “whoops, I win” situations. For example, a lot of players complained about losing to Overrun too often, so the effect was moved to rare. And while black still has Reassembling Skeletons at uncommon, green decks don’t just auto lose due to not being able to get throughDrudge Skeletons and Wall of Bone. It’s changes like this that show that Wizard’s took notice of what was typically a dull format, and did their best to bring M11 drafting closer to that of “expert” level sets. I highly recommend giving M11 a try; I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

Thanks for reading
Marlon Egolf