Dark Ascension has now been fully spoiled. While we can’t play with the new cards yet, that’s not going to stop me from giggling with excitement while making wild speculations on how I’m going to break the new draft format. As a drafter first and foremost, when looking at a new set I always get most excited by the uncommons. They’ll be opened consistently enough (especially in a small set) to be able to help define the format and shape the most common archetypes while potentially packing a punch of power that Wizards’ wouldn’t dare attach to a common. So join me in my search for the next Spider Spawning as I take a look at all the new uncommons from Dark Ascension.
The rating scale is as follows:
UNPLAYABLE: umm.. unplayable.
NICHE: You probably want to know you’re in a very specific archetype already before you grab them. It’s the type of card that is likely to wheel and won’t fit in your deck very often. It does have potential to be quite good when it all works out.
FILLER: Playable, but don’t get too excited. A good deck will be rounding itself out with 3-5 cards of similar quality, but hopefully no more than that.
SOLID: This is the type of card you’re happy to pick up in the middle of the pack. Not necessarily good enough to be the first card you take in it’s color(s), but it could start to pull you in that direction. These will be seen as decent signals that a color/archetype is open when they’re still around pick 4 or 5.
VERY GOOD: First pick quality. You wont take it over a bomb or maybe a select few top tier commons, but otherwise all systems go!
SLAM!: In the absence of a ludicrous rare, this will almost always be the best card in the pack.
White:
Stopping them from maybe casting a double travel preparations every turn is unfortunately not worth a card.
UNPLAYABLE
This is a nice versatile trick without all that Fateful Hour mumbo jumbo tacked on to the bottom. The bonus text is extremely powerful and potentially very swingy, and this is exactly the kind of card that should make you think twice before putting your opponent to 5 life or less before you straight up kill them. Note that this can even cure your curses once you have fateful hour activated, though I have a hard time dreaming up a situation where that would be relevant.
SOLID
I’m not really sure this guy has more potential upside than say a Village Bell-Ringer. Giving all of your guys +1/+4 is pretty insane, and I can envision cleverly sandbagging this guy in a race swinging things into my favor, but it isn’t realistic to think that things will play out this way with any sort of consistency. He’s fine if I wanted an idiot blocker anyways, like in a deck full of flyers I guess, but there is no shortage of other idiot blockers running around that can easily replace this guy without any regrets.
FILLER
Maybe a slight upgrade to Abbey Griffin? I’m not overly impressed by the ability, I’d like it a lot more if it stopped something from blocking to begin with (this guy should totally blink something ala Glimmerpoint Stag). And without at least an extra point of toughness I don’t imagine he’ll be all that exciting in an ambush. This has not been a format where a 2/2 flyer was good enough for 4 mana, and my instincts tell me that this guys text doesn’t really change that.
FILLER
This card just seems totally absurd. It’s an easy first pick, and would be a reasonably high pick even without the flashback. Just be careful not to force yourself to play straight white black. I think that’s still going to be a niche archetype that really needs all the right pieces to come together (i.e. dead humans) to compete on even footing with other more synergistic color combinations. Just remember that this is a fine card even when you’re not flashing it back, and bringing it back off a grotto and/or a singleton swamp is still going to push this card into insanityville.
SLAM!
This guy is Fortress Crab’s worst nightmare. He seems tailor made for white green, but I think he’ll prove to be very effective in all aggressive strategies (i.e. 90% of white decks). He essentially forces the opponent to try to race, as leaving guys back to block becomes a losing proposition. Watch out for this dude, because it seems like the type of card that may be a bit underrated early on due to his small body. I wouldn’t be surprised if after a while this guy stops showing up past pick 3, especially if Dark Ascension doesn’t drastically change how the format plays out.
VERY GOOD
Frown. They should’ve named him Thraben Spider Exterminator. White was already missing a human bear, and without any other text, this guy would’ve been a welcome addition. Not every deck will care about his ability, but the decks that do will be extremely annoyed. Having a couple of zombies stuck in hand against this guy seems really miserable.
SOLID
Blue:
Much like Dream Twist, it probably doesn’t belong anywhere but Blue/x Mill or maybe Burning Vengeance.dec. There will be times where things go wrong and you need to run this specifically to help mill yourself, but I think that should be for emergencies only, especially since you won’t always be the only one to gain value by putting stuff in the yard. Generally you want your “self-mill” cards to do something in addition to just milling yourself (see Armored Skaab and Mulch), and the only way this actually does something is if milling your opponent is part of your game plan. This does seem infinitely better than Ghoulcallers Bell and even that was effective in Blue/x Mill decks. It also probably gains a ton of value if you were lucky enough to find an Increasing Confusion.
NICHE
Soooooooo slow. I guess bringing back harvest pyres and brimstone volleys could be nice in some sort of ultra controlling Burning Vengeance deck, but in reality there really aren’t enough cheap spells that don’t already have flashback for this to be anywhere close to efficient enough to reliably reap the benefits of the card advantage this provides.
ALMOST UNPLAYABLE
These dudes are always awesome, so I guess when they fly and beat for 2 they’re even more awesome.
VERY GOOD
My initial feeling is that they are even better than stitched drakes. Undying is just such a powerful keyword, and when attached to such a beefy body, it will result in a 2 for 1 or better if it doesn’t just kill them. Sure… Claustrophobia… yada yada… Bonds of Faith… yada yada… but they better goddamned hope they have one!
VERY GOOD
As much as I wish this card was good (and as sure as I am that it will sneak its way into at least one of my future draft decks), it just takes way too long and way too much effort for it to be better than (or even as good as) a Divination. This format has proven itself to be able to punish decks that durdle (I hate hate hate the word durdle, but it’s truly appropriate here), and I don’t see that changing with the addition of Dark Ascension. I actually don’t see why this card can’t cost just 1 blue mana, at which point it would become interesting.
UNPLAYABLE
A control magic that actually seems fair. Seems odd, I was sure the control magic in this set would also give the creature hexproof and make it unblockable. That doesn’t mean its not first pickable, but I don’t think you just blindly slam it over anything and everything. This guy is a lot less likely to be a 2 for 1 than something like Mind Control and it has a much smaller immediate impact when you’re on your back foot. Stealing their best guy when it’s tapped next turn after he’s attacked you is much less swingy than stealing their best guy right now and possibly having him available as a blocker.
SOLID
Wow. Now that’s good value. This is the type of 4 mana 2/2 flyer I’m more than happy to play in this format. Granted, I’d be happy to play a 4 mana guy with this ability as a vanilla 1/4. Maybe i’m a sucker for sweet enter the battlefield abilities, but I don’t imagine I’m going to pass this guy very often. Am I nuts to compare him to Mulldrifter?
SLAM!
Black:
If you like mulliganing to 6, then this card is for you!
UNPLAYABLE
I’m totally unsure about how good this card is. It’s really situational as removal but its cheap as hell and it flashes back. My gut tells me its quite a bit worse than prey upon, though maybe it just belongs in a different type of deck. Trading up a random idiot while enabling morbid seems like it could have some potential, so maybe this card can push black green morbid into becoming a solid archetype. I’d like to reserve judgement until I see it in action.
NICHE?
So, he isn’t Skinrender or Flametongue Kavu. And he’s probably still a bit worse than Slayer of the Wicked. But he is a zombie, so that might be relevant. And you’re still not going to pass him are you? It is worth noting that between this guy and Fires of Undeath that there’s going to be an even more significant difference between 2 and 3 toughness.
SLAM!
There was a time when this kind of card was totally unpassable. These days, aggressive decks are efficient and consistent enough that spending a turn without affecting the board while incinerating yourself is a hefty drawback. Drawing three is still very powerful, and this is still an early pick, just build your deck accordingly, as card advantage is no longer what it once was, and tempo is often just as important. Just ask Silent Departure.
SOLID
Nom nom nom nom Doomed Traveler nom nom nom Elder Cathar nom nom. This is about as good a reason as you could find to actually move in on White/Black dead humans. But as with Lingering Souls, forcing the archetype is a bit of a risky proposition since it relies on finding all the right pieces, which all happen to fit quite well into other decks. The Flayer is still reasonable on his own (if a bit slow) with a couple of other random humans thrown in, but I don’t think you want to 1st pick him and force white black.
SOLID
Really solid guy, and again, undying is such a powerful mechanic. I think he’s good enough in a vacuum to be first pickable, but the 6 mana might keep me away from that, at least initially. Only time will tell, but so far this format has been defined by what’s going on early game much more than the late game.
SOLID
Triple Innistrad taught us that morbid is a lot tougher to trigger at sorcery speed than we expected. That said, this guy is cheap enough that he can “combo” fairly easily with removal spells or morbid enablers like Stitchers Apprentice. And hes such a huge blowout if they decide to trade bears with you when you attack on turn 3 (Hint: Remember that next time you see swamps across the table). Even later in the game, alpha striking and refuelling by playing him and another dork seems pretty powerful. He isn’t quite Moan of the Unhallowed, but a very solid man to find mid-pack. I only wish he was a zombie himself.
SOLID
Red:
The obvious comparison is to Tormented Pariah // [card]Rampaging
Werewolf[/card], who I cut more often then I played. There are enough equipment and random artifacts in the format that I’d probably be enticed to try and fit one into my main deck, but he still doesn’t really excite me.
FILLER
Being able to hit blockers as well as attackers is pretty huge, and its cheap enough that casting it twice in the same turn for the uber blowout is more than just dream. I’m generally not a huge fan of “in combat only” removal, but 2 mana for the initial casting is cheap enough that its pretty tough to play around effectively. And bonus flashback? I’m sold.
VERY GOOD
Interesting. If it kills 2 4/4s you get to run a victory lap and high five their mom. If you’re staring down an army of 2/3s or the last fatty standing you’re going to want to kick a baby. Realistically, you should be able to get a 2 for 1 out of it at least half the time, just don’t expect it to always be their 2 best creatures. The other half the time, it might be a decent post suicidal combat trick, it might kill their second biggest guy or it might be 6 mana piece of toilet paper. That’s a bit too much variance for me to pick it early, but it has a high enough upside that I’d have a hard time cutting it. Just be prepared to side it out when necessary.
FILLER
That’s a potentially very powerful ability to throw onto a gray ogre. He reminds me a bit of Burning-Tree Bloodscale and Matsu-Tribe Decoy. He just sort of sits around early, maybe sneaking in a few times for damage here and there. He may even stop your opponent from playing out a creature that you might force to commit suicide. And then you hit 6 mana and -BAM!- the game is all of a sudden very tough for your opponents to win. Given enough mana, this guy can totally dominate the combat step, though he does lose some value against flyers.dec.
SOLID
His ability to open the floodgates for your swarm of stupid red idiots seems pretty similar to Rage Thrower. He’s a whole ton better than the thrower when your swarm of stupid red idiots is already pushing up daisies. To me, this is the ideal card to top off the curve in most red decks, but again, the 6 mana at the top right will likely stop me from taking him too early initially.
SOLID
Fortress Crabs unite, the end is nigh! The big problem red black faced in triple innistrad was that it folded way to often to a turn 3 Armored Skaab or Villagers of Estwald. Pyrehart Wolf singlehandedly makes any plan that involves blocking a total nightmare. They have to leave 2 guys back just block the wolf, and then it comes back bigger. As a side note, I think that a 1/1 vanilla creature with undying would be playable at 3 mana in a wide variety of archetypes, so I don’t think you should ignore him even if you’re not balls to the wall aggro.
VERY GOOD
Green:
The drop to +2/+2 from +3/+3 compared to Briarhorn should not cause it to drop in the pick order compared to Briarhorn. First pick him at will, but please don’t force r/g moonmist.
SLAM!
He’s definitely playable and trample has seemed an especially useful keyword in this format. But hopefully after triple Innistrad, you realize that you better be willing to settle for a 4/4 somewhere around 70% of the time in most decks.
FILLER
Please don’t compare this card to Spider Spawning. It’s much more like Creeping Renaissance without the flashback. And not having flashback in a self mill deck means its not a reliable win condition. I won’t call this card unplayable since potentially drawing something like 7-8 cards sounds awesome, but I’ll probably want to prioritize a Memory’s Journey later on, and even then, I’d likely cut it if I found a renaissance. It’s entirely possible that I’m misevaluating what the future of green-blue self mill looks like, but my gut tells me this is not the card it was looking for. Feel free to troll me if you see me first picking this in a couple of months.
FILLER
I don’t like the idea of a werewolf whose initial stats are embarrassing for the cost. It would need to be totally insane when flipped, and this guy is smaller than Villagers of Estwald’s better half. I don’t think drawing a card when he smacks your opponents is enough to push him into the realm of playability. He doesn’t even trample! Maybe in a dedicated werewolf deck, but even then, I think I’d hope you find something better.
UNPLAYABLE
If not for the double green, I think he’d be first pick worthy. As is, I still might first pick him, though that might depend a bit on how good committing to heavy green early seems as the format develops. I think Undying is THAT strong and I encourage you not to underestimate any card that has it.
VERY GOOD
I love this card. I just hope that cards like this don’t make it impossible to ever get passed Spider Spawnings in packs 2 and 3. For the record, without the flashback, I’d prefer Mulch or Forbidden Alchemy, but I think the cheap flashback makes this one just the ideal self mill spell. I really like how this increases the value of creatures like Boneyard Wurm and his rare cousins, if you’re lucky enough to find them. I feel like this is the kind of card that pushes the archetype far more than Grim Flowering.
VERY GOOD
Multicolor lords:
All these guys are aggressively costed, pump their subjects (like any self respecting lord should) and have some very powerful secondary abilities. But, I feel like because they’re so enticing they’re going to lead to more train wrecks than any other card. Committing to 2 colors early as well as a tribal sub theme has all the risk of p1p1 Spider Spawning, with a fraction of the upside. Remember, this isn’t Llorwyn block, so there aren’t nearly as many cards that compliment your lords to reward you for playing as many of the same creature type as possible. You don’t want to force a deck that isn’t there, especially one that is completely subpar when you don’t draw the lord or after it dies. Just imagine what can happen to two nearby drafters picking the same lord early if they aren’t careful.
I think he’s the most fun of all the lords. He plays really well with both the recurring zombie theme (mini rage thrower) and the swarming zombie theme (pumping). He also might be the lord that you can most consistantly build around; seeing as the combination of self-mill and recursion can potentially allow you to quasi-tutor him up.
VERY GOOD
If you ever play two of them against me, I will punch you in the mouth. Along with zombies, spirits is the tribe that benefits the most by having a lord to pump its minions; given the abundance of small tokens running around.
VERY GOOD
A multicolor creature with intimidate is weird. Couldn’t they pick a better ability? In triple innistrad the werewolf deck was just too clunky to compete with what the other archetypes were doing. Even with all the moonmists in the world, they often just folded to silent departures or travel preparations. I’ll let other people whip my ass a few times with the tribe before I’m convinced to first pick him, but he definitely has potential.
SOLID
Red/Black seems to get a lot of help in Dark Ascension (which makes sense given the name of the set) so I can see myself picking him early and hoping the cards come. First strike is a particularly nasty ability to be giving a swarm of vampires. Just try not to play too many Bloodcrazed Neonates as the card is still horrible.
SOLID
Artifacts:
I just don’t see this being worth it. You need a metric ton of flashback. I’m sure if I ever ended up with a deck where this was good, it would be really really fun, and I hope it happens one day. I wish they ended the sentence after “with flashback” and before “from a graveyard”. It is interesting that it says “a” graveyard and not “your” graveyard though…..
NICHE?
An equip cost of 2 seems like too much. Even in mono-humans, this seems a little too inefficient to me. I don’t think its playable, but feel free to prove me wrong.
UNPLAYABLE
Nope!
UNPLAYABLE
I like this card but it doesn’t fit in every deck, nor will it often be exciting. I imagine most decks that are interested in ramping to 5 or 6 are also probably interested in a solid blocker once they’re done ramping or while they’re waiting for more megafatties.
FILLER
While the equip cost seems enormous, history has shown us that this kind of card tends to be quite good. It’s probably a notch below Heavy Arbalest and a good two notches below Viridian Longbow. As the only repeatable source of “ping” in the format however, there’s a good chance that this is a reasonably early pick.
SOLID
Well, there you have it.
My vote for best uncommon? Tower Geist
Favorite uncommon? Trackers Instinct
Uncommon I’d like to tear into tiny little pieces? Curse of Thirst (A perfect example of why the curse mechanic is such a failure, at least in my opinion).
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Let me know what you guys think and if there’s any interest in more articles like this!
Thanks
Josh (Solebush1)
Good thoughts, but I don’t agree 100% on the unplayables, some of the artifacts look good. Either way, I can’t wait to start drafting, should be an interseting set.
I think Avacyn’s Collar is a lot better than unplayable. If you do get it on a human, it wrecks any plan that involves ground beats. And if you don’t, it’s still okay — I think I’d pay 2 to make my Chapel Geist a 3/3 with vigilance.
I do think it’s pretty much a white card. But I wouldn’t mind playing it in a white deck.
Also, if Secrets of the Dead cost U I’m pretty sure it would be ban-worthy in Modern and Legacy, since Cabal Therapy, Raven’s Crime, Flame Jab, etc. are things (and possibly even in Standard, with Gravecrawler).
Excellent article, I learned so much from this.
I can’t believe you rated Avacyn’s Collar as unplayable, yet give the Wolfhunter’s Quiver a solid rating. It gives +1/+0 and vigilance, both very relevant abilities. On top of that if the creature is a human it becomes a spirit when it dies. Then you can equip the collar to the spirit and have a 2/1 flier.
While the quiver has a strong ability, it costs 5 to equip. If they have an instant speed kill spell there goes your entire turn. In my opinion the collar is solid or a slam in a human centric deck.
not sure farbog boneflingerr is a slam, its a 5 cmc 2/2 with a weak ability when compared to morkrot banshee.
Deadly allure is just another conditional removal spell but is made much better by having a flashback cost and its super cheap like prey upon, also looks like it would work well in the spider spawning deck, give a spider deathtouch and it plays from the graveyard.
Dont think avacyns collar is unplayable, but is a very niche card in a humans deck, getting value out of your humans is very nice, put it on a doomed traveler and get two 1/1 fliers?
Mystic retrieval also seems quite good, compare it to runic repetition, you could also like triple brimstone valley someone. It is a bit slow but in the right deck seems very powerful.
Great read.
I think people across the board are overrating farbog boneflinger but time will tell if I am wrong.
Curse of Thirst is much better than you give credit for, and the mono-curse deck is going to be the new spider spawning in the format in the sense that everything will wheel. You get to wheel all your bitter heart witches, curse of pierced heart. oblivions, nightly hunts, and bloody tomes in pack 2/3. spider spawning certainly qualifies as a durdling defensive deck and dealing damage through non-creature combat will be crushing.
@dwags
None of the cards you mention do anything at all. A deck based around those has a 0% chance of winning
I like your review overall but feel that the collar has a hell of a lot of potential to see play.
Nice review. I’m another person who disagrees with you on your assessment of the Collar, it’s niche (humans).
Another niche card is Secrets of the Dead, I can see this being fine in U/R. Drawing a card isn’t as strong as Shock (Vengeance), but with enough Flashback it’s going into the deck.
Deadly Allure’s value is going to vary wildly like many cards in this block, but assuming you have plenty of fatties it’s going to be playable at least. It’s a more situational Prey Upon that can be used twice.
I really don’t think Secrets is unplayable along side Burning Venegence in a traditional Burning Vengence deck.
We need to consider that with one less pack of INN, it’s one less pack with BV. Secrets fills that role as a starting point to help you find that one BV copy at the table, if it’s there. Only 48 uncommons will be available, rares excluded.
BV feels more like a combo deck whereas Secrets is more for a traditional control deck featuring flashback cards. I don’t the fact that BV is better than Secrets in such a deck should cause the value of Secrets to be downplayed.
I feel like I’m the only person in the world who doesn’t think that Relentless Skaabs is “Solid” in limited. When I look at it, I see a slower Makeshift Mauler that is harder to cast and hat comes down with a weaker body. While I admit that the ability to come back as a 5/5 is enticing, the format just doesn’t seem slow enough for that to matter. Like, I wouldn’t not play this card in a U/x self-mill deck, but I don’t think that it’s a pick 1-6 card or anything. If it wheeled I’d pick one up,but I can’t see myself ever taking it over a cheaper card. My argument is that it’s a ‘Filler” card if anything. You won’t hate seeing one late, but it’s not a card that you should be excited to pick early. I mean, what would you rather take as your 3rd pick in INN, Deranged Assistant/Armored Skaab or Makeshift Mauler? I’m willing to bet that experienced drafters like Josh and Marlon would take the enablers first, as they’ve proved to be solid cards. Still, I don’t see this as being on par with a card like Stitched Drake with respect to cards that you should take highly. A 5 mana UU durdle (I don’t like the word either, but that’s really all he is) just doesn’t strike me as “Solid.”
I think in the context of the set the elder is a beating… card advantage is what the werewolf deck needs and make the card connect plenty of times and its really hard for your opponent to catch up. You gotta remember there is one less pack of villagers of estwald. Also in the context of immmerwolf and the undying wolf it has to wor with other cards. So its good filler at least.
Nice uncommons review.
Curse of Exhaustion: The cute thing about this card is that it keeps your opponent from re-flipping your Werewolves. Of course, it’s in the wrong color for that, costs a ton, and does nothing.
Gavony Ironwright: This is such a gigantic boost. Every 1/1 becomes a 2/5? Still, white is default aggressive in this format, so even the best Horned Turtle is out of place.
Soul Seizer: As much as Control Magic effects are sweet, I could see this card being worse than it looks. Part of the power of Mind Control is the way it immediately steals, putting your opponent -1 creature and you +1 creature. This has a turn delay, which is poor…plus, it needs to get through. 1/3 Fliers are not impossible to block, and if he can’t hit, he’s actually terrible for the mana.
Curse of Thirst: Well, it’s official…Curses are terrible. I was really hoping for another cool one or two, to retroactively make Bitterheart Witch a better card, but nope. I assume we won’t see any in Avacyn Restored.
Stromkirk Captain: I think this guy’s going to prove to be one of the strongest of the cycle. First off, he’s totally decent by himself. Second, if you think about the other vampires, they could really use this boost. They tend to have high power as is, but their bodies are small (Patrician, Neonate, Interloper, Crossway, Ripper). Many of them have the Slith mechanic, which is fine since you can usually trade with them, but first strike makes it really painful to trade. He seems a lot stronger than Rakish Heir–he immediately gives them the same boost that Heir would after they’ve all hit once, plus an ability. Still, I’m going to hesitate to pick a double-colored tribal card in the first pack.
Overview: To me, what’s strange about DKA is that there’s a weird amount of overlap with Innistrad. For example, Midnight Haunting vs Lingering Souls, Grasp of Phantasms vs Griptide. There are two more werewolves with the same cost and starting stats as Tormented Pariah: Afflicted Deserter and Mondronen Shaman. Elgaund Inquisitor and Mausoleum Guard have the same cost and size and both make some amount of Spirits when they die.
I feel like Development used to avoid having such similar cards within the same block, didn’t they? Can you see any such overlap with ZEN and WWK, for example?
In what world is Wakedancer a “He”?! O.o
@dwag: You play curses, and I’ll sideboard paresalene. Let’s see how it goes.
I think I have to agree that tower giest is the best, but I think you under vaule the gramma. Sure shes weak, but her flip is superb. I dunno, maybe i’m just one of those dreamers who hopes that werewolves will exist someday.
I think the vampire is way too overcosted for what it does. I know 3/2 flying/undying sounds good, but this guys for 6. Blue has a 2/2 flying/undying for 3.
OOPS, hope I didn’t offend the wakedancer. I added the pictures later so I had no idea what she looked like.
The difference of not being able to block normally is such an enormous difference when talking about undying. The way I see it is that the turn you drop any normal undying guy, attacking becomes so miserable for them unless they were miles ahead already. As I said, 6 mana makes me hesitate, but he’s way better than the 2/2 flyer.
I have to agree with JC, Wolfhunter’s Quiver is terrible. Werewolves aren’t in every deck, and 6 mana to tap and do 1 damage is not good at all.
People, you need to realize that to first pick a piece of equipment that is so situational and deck dependant as Avacyn’s Collar plus also beeing so tempo inefficient just aren’t “slam” pick worthy. Yes, under certain circumstances it can obviously be quite good, but the same is true for Mask of Avacyn, and how happy are you to first pick that?
You have to remember that you don’t know if you’ll be able to draft humans, and even so, isn’t Butchers Cleaver just better? I think so. The upside of Collar just isn’t big enough if you don’t end up humans, and most of the time (like 95%) an equipment that gives +1/+0 and vigiliance just isn’t first pick worthy.
@ Quiver
It depends on how grindy the format is going to be. It’s probably to slow right as of 3 x INN, but remember how 3 x SOM, which was quite aggressive, became the most grindy format in NPH MBS SOM? If the same happens here, quiver could be quite good. And with the new tribe cycle, R/G werewolfes seem more like it could be a deck now than in 3 x INN. I’m sure people will se him as an incentive to draft it though. Viridian longbow was insane, and yes, this is much worse, but it’s still a powerfull effect. And quiver is a pretty nice answer to collar ;)
@ marlon
The curses deal damage to players through non-creature combat which is tough to race a curve of creatures like pilgrim, darkthicket wolf, villagers, but considering you will see 1 less pack of travel preps and such and the new set has no aggro card on par with those 3 the format will slow down a little bit. Rather than having earlier high power creatures, DKA now has more “cant be blocked except by 2 or more creatures” or can’t block this turn effect to push damage through which is strong against the crab decks. You can wheel all your curses, (since they don’t do anything by themselves) and take common removal first such as: Wrack with Madness, Fires of Undeath, Tragic Slip, and Death’s Caress. Again with your INN packs you can focus on geistflame, volley, victims, dead weights, and moan early, while wheeling all the curses. Other defensive creatures shine here too, such as riot devils (who always wheels) and pitchburn devils. It shouldn’t be hard getting 2 witches who can trade with almost any ground creature and give you multiple outs to putting the curse in play. My point is it will be a tech deck that’s HIGHLY under-drafted like the mill deck.
I think you are wrong on Avacyn’s Collar. The card is not by any stretch of the imagination unplayable, as humans is a deck. It is not first pickable unless humans is the best deck in the format (unlikely) and it will likely wheel, but anyone who has 4-5 humans late in the DKA pack will snap these up. They turn your humans into doomed travelers at a reasonably low cost and give a small pump and a relevant ability in an aggressive format. If you WANT this card, it will be nearly unbeatable in your deck. Otherwise, it’s about as good as cobbled wings or sharpened pitchfork: ok, but certainly not a gamebreaker.
Also, I really like warden of the wall in any semi-controlling deck. You play it on turn three and their chapel geists, spirits, niblises, etc can’t attack you profitably. The fact that it also ramps you when you need it to makes it seem, to me, just better than pristine talisman was in NPH, as it will likely gain you more life over the course of the game. Sure, they can remove it, but then they have spent a removal spell on your 2/3 flying defender/manakin. It’s not like they killed a land.
The quiver also seems really bad in a format with instant speed removal. Like all of them. It’s good with Puresteel paladin (in my dreams :)), but otherwise five mana to risk getting blown out by harvest pyre or some other trick just seems really bad.
Farbog Boneflinger may occasionally be a 2-for-one, but it comes down far too late against the decks that have plenty of targets to be of much use, costs one more than skinrender, does one less, and the subtraction isn’t even permanent. The amazing thing about Skinrender was that it didn’t have to kill anything: it could just turn an alpha tyrannax into a 3/2 and you would get stupid amounts of value. This can’t do that. Also, it’s a freaking 2/2 for five. After that first turn, you are not going to be terribly happy to see it on the battlefield unless you have plenty of ways to sac/kill it and then recur.
Deadly allure is way more than just niche. As has been already said, it is almost the perfect removal spell in spider spawning, killing up to two of your opponent’s creatures for dang cheap. Also, if the black white deck everyone is raving about (there’s someone in my playgroup who’s been complaining that he doesn’t want to have to buy Sorins and putting down others’ deck building with “B/W tokens is the best deck in Standard, it’s undenyable”) is also playable in limited, this will be amazing there, doing very similar things with cheap human tokens. It’s sort of like a cheaper Barter in Blood, except you can mill into it and have it still be Innocent Blood.
Also, Briarpack Alpha is NOT Briarhorn. You must pay 4 to get the pump, you can’t evoke it. It’s still very good, but I wouldn’t first pick it over a good removal spell.
I’ll take Neonate turn 2, Captain Kirk turn 3 any day.
Ehhhh, the collar is a stretch. I mean it is cheap to equip, but vigilance on random 3/2 on average (with the collar equipped) isn’t that exciting. If it gave some sort of evasion I’d find it to be much better. Trading your random human and getting a spirit seems fine and is probably actually good. I just don’t see it being too useful without some sort of actual evasion. It’s also just plain mediocre when not equipped to a human.
@Dwags
The “all curse deck” has literally nothing going for it. Of course it will be underdrafted, but that’s because it can never be anything other than terrible. You mention Spider spawning, but Spawning is a sick card that requires a deck just to be sort-of built around it. The four curses you talk about (obilivion, pierced heart, bloody tome, and nightly hunt) are all absolute dog shit, except for Tome in a dedicated mill deck. Not only that, but they are in 3 different colors and have zero synergy with each other. You’re basing this deck on some fantasy scenario where you get infinite amounts of first pickable removal and then wheel all these terrible curses. Even the laughable “nut draw” of Pierced Heart into Bloody Tome into Oblivion loses to literally any resistance from the opponent, even if it’s just a couple 2/2s. Face it man, it is never going to work
I maybe evoked briarhorn 1/15 times I drew it. Probably less. I would never take a 1 for 1 removal spell over briarhorn or this guy.
As for boneflinger, you might find yourself underrating him if you’re going to compare him to skinrender. Skinrender was absolutely nuts. A card can be plenty worse than skinrender and still be very firstpickable. The block seems to have soooo many x/2s that are very relevant mid to late game.
@Dwagz
Have you ever seen someone run like 4-5 of the red pinging curse (I dont know its name because its not worth knowing)? If so, have you lost to it? You’re basically suggesting to play a deck that has 5+ of that card, except they all cost more AND do absolutely nothing when you dont find the alleged “spider spawning” of curses (yeah, I don’t remember its name either, and its not worth scrolling up to find out.). The deck sounds just absolutely horrendous, no matter how many first picks you think you get to make for all those removal spells.
Dunno if all this’ been said, but I’m willing to repeat just in case.
Niblis of the Urn doesn’t look to be all that great. I’d much rather cast Niblis of the Mist or Breath than him. Sure, he taps something down while attacking, but if the opponent has a flier it forces you to tap down the flier instead of the beefy blocker you can’t seem to get past on foot to do your real damage. This set doesn’t seem to be short on air-support with all these tokens, spirits, angels, and demons flying about making him either obsolete when you draw him or good until the opponent gets two fliers.
Only other thing I really want to say is that I sometimes run a B/R vampire deck. Curse of the Stalked Prey, Rakish Heirs, Bloodlord of Vaasgoth, Patritions, Children, Stromkirk Nobles, and such. Bloodcrazed Neonate wins me games, right off the bat with that instant that grants +2/+0 to vampires and first strike. With the vampire lord, . I imagine she’ll slimply be beast.
@ dwagz07
Just to give you an idea of how bad curses are; a couple of weeks ago I drafted a pretty good humans deck (nothing insane or anything) and got mana flooded every single game. I still won that match in a 2-1 victory even though I was pretty much playing off the top. That was triple INN and the curse deck was very negligable. It makes no sense to think that a much more expensive curse will do anything, I don’t care what the ability is, unless it literally says “At the beginning of your next upkeep, you win” then it’s a bad card. What I’m trying to say is as of right now, curses are absolutely not a deck.
@ everyone commenting on Avacyns Collar
I think that this card is slightly less than solid in a dedicated human deck. After running out all your aggro dudes and are now pretty much playing off the top, starting to equip this to still get a little value out of your humans when they die is fine. I feel that an equipment in a humans deck can be a little odd unless we’re talking about Butcher’s Cleaver, because then you equip and proceed to enter the “I win” step. I think that what makes this card even worse is the fact that the pack ordering will be Dark Ascension/Innistrad/Innistrad so you probably won’t be able to really tell if your a dedicated human deck yet.
I really don’t think it’s fair to compare Boneflinger to Skinrender.
@ josh frankel
you missed the point about having witches as tutors for the curse (plus when you play this deck its more than likely you have 2-3 copies of thirst). also drafts that are posted on the site commonly show geistflames tabling and 6th pick victims and dead weights.
What is that smell, I’m pretty sure I destroyed the last troll yesterday, with a Geth’s verdict…
Oh well maybe its just a fume spitter..
@Dwagz
Give it up dude. First off, you will never be in a draft that has 3 copies of curse of thirst (which I personally consider a very good thing). Second, having a Bitterheart witch to tutor for curse of thirst is STILL terrible. Third, Geistflames never table, unless the draft is filled with idiots. I’ve seen GEIstflame get first pick much more often then I’ve see it table (which is never, and I’ve watched all the drafts posted on this site). AND even if you get a bunch of removal YOUR DECK IS STILL FILLED WITH TERRIBLE CURSES AND DOGSHIT BITTERHEART WITCHES. YOU CANNOT WIN. EVER. END OF DISCUSSION
Dwagz discussion was amazing. Thankyou draft magic for making the world a better place.
Great article! I totally agree with Tower Geist as the best uncommon. I’d love to see a similar article with your thoughts on the Rares or perhaps the best 3 or 4 commons per color. Anyway, great info and insight. Thanks for writing this up!
I think it might also be a good idea to add the title of each card in text above the picture of the card. This would more naturally divide the listings while making your doc more searchable.
i took 2nd at my prere with collar in the deck and it was awesomesauce every time with my 8 humans. especially with a life link guy that they don’t want on the board. it makes them 2nd guess their removal, the incremental value should not be over looked. any card that gives 3 abilities is a good thing. not to mention that it was sick when my creature eventually died because if the ground was clogged up you just equip to your spirit token and start bashing for 2 in the air with vigilance. Silver inlaid dagger was among the top 3 commons/uncommons first picked in drafts that go on to win their 8-4s online for a reason. across the board this card is a limited bomb with 7-8 humans.
avacyn’s collar seems pretty good if you can support it with 7ish humans. you said undying was a strong mechanic.. it’s basically the same thing. great read!
@ Curse Deck Discussion
Honestly, I believe that the Curse deck will become the new spider spawning.dec too, in the sense that no one will realize how good it is at first, and then eventually it will become overdrafted by the end of the format. I mean, think about it. You play removal spells turns 1-4 (you’re in grixis, so you can do this) and then drop Curse of Misfortunes, search up curse of thirst/pierced heart each turn, and start to play out Bitterheart witches while chumping and getting more curses. Eventually you’ll have to search up some curse of the bloody tomes, but that’s good because your opponent has to defend against the life loss and potential decking. Obviously you only go into the deck if you get a late Curse of Misfortunes, but if you want it, everyone else will pass it to you and you’ll get it. Oh, and you can’t lose to parasalene/witchbane orb because game 2 you board in all your counters in case your opponent boards in those cards. I think this deck is pretty much unbeatable, assuming you are the only one drafting it.
Collar is way better than unplayable. I 7-0′d my prerelease with it; Call it niche perhaps–I had a lot of humans, but once you get a spirit out of it, that spirit flies for 2. Lets you get a lot of mileage.
Doomed Traveler with Collar is silly.