We are going to try something a little bit different this week: my set review is still going to be in its beloved Quick Hits style, but we are going to start with an eye towards something that really doesn’t get broken down much, especially this time of year. I’m talking about the Obstacles.
When we view cards in a vacuum (the most common mistake made in set reviews, since time immemorial), we are basically just putting on a straight, flat, artificial green. Yes, the card does the thing(s) it is printed to do, but is that any good? Is it something that even matters at all?
This is not my office; mine is MUCH nicer.
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AUTHOR’S NOTE: We are really jumping in on the deep end this week. Be ready!
I’m gonna start by stating something that really took me a while to realize that you may or may not have noticed. Magic, just like every other thing involving multiple parts, has a formula. It has since Alpha, and it continues through Shadows over Innistrad. Now, that formula has certainly changed, both in the short and long term sensabilities, and the definitions of what those pieces are have expanded, but that’s just part of organic growth. Before I get too much further, let me show you what I mean:
Every large Magic set needs a Wrath of God (“Destroy all Creatures”) effect.
Every large Magic set wants between 2 and 4 Planeswalkers.
Every large Magic set needs a degree of mana fixing, typically with dual land cycles at more than one rarity.
Every large Magic set needs to have some form of the most basic utility spells (Disenchant, Shatter effects) at Common or Uncommon.
Do you see what I’m trying to get at? Even though Alpha iconics like Wrath of God and Birds of Paradise are no longer themselves part of the formula, their legacy is. Now, this is being written before the rest of the set is dumped on Friday, but we’ve already seen some of the new underclassmen for these staple effects.
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I am really excited about Shadows over Innistrad. The cards are all extremely evocative in terms of flavor, Madness is one of my favorite abilities, and moreover I love playing my games out of the graveyard. I’m also the kind of person who gets really excited by big swings in Standard, and I think that the new rotation schedule is going to be a huge benefit to the game in the long-term. Today is not going to be my end-all preview (because we are still missing way too many cards), and from what I’ve heard, we ARE going to be divvying up the eventual set reviews (I called dibs on Green a few weeks back, hopefully that pans out). I want to talk about a couple of the new cards that we have seen so far, as well as some older ones that may benefit from the change in scenery.
Before we get going, I want to make a clarification that some of these cards will not themselves be cards worth buying low on, but rather they may be indicative of larger trends. Cards shape Standard regardless of rarity- things like Lightning Bolt can have a huge ripple effect regardless of the fact that the card itself may never go up significantly in price. These elements are tough to predict (unless they are super obvious like with Lightning Bolt), and often don’t present themselves until the entire set is revealed and played with for a little bit (typically around PT time). Assume that any commons or uncommons that we discuss today fit somewhere into this discussion.
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What is the best deck for a person ultimately more concerned with Magic Finance?
Red Deck Wins.
See you next week!
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…What, you’re still here? Okaaaay, we’ll actually do this. Geez, y’all are a pushy bunch.
All joking aside, there are two major points that I want to touch on today, and they are both important subjects that have not been covered much, if at all, recently. The first is going to be the shorter, more game-play based topic of playing the right type of deck, while the second is going to try and figure out HOW to buy in to future Standards. The latter may sound silly at first, but recognize that we are still treading into unknown territory with regards to the new rotation schedule, and if you haven’t been around since Khans, where do you start? Figuring out how to get new or lapsed players in (or back in) to the tournament scene is a great way to grow your market, as well as anticipate future trends.
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