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M15

Started by Maqi, 14-07-2014, 04:49:24 PM

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Maqi

M15
M15 got around and it's time to scan the set for Highlander playables. I will only highlight some cards of the set and express my opinion on them. The following list is surely incomplete, so feel free to chime in with other cards you think have potential or share critique you might have.

I will grade the cards from 1 to 5 (with 1 meaning the card has low-impact and 5 meaning it has very high impact). The grading will usually only regard the playabilty of a card in the context of our format and say nothing about the individual power level of the card.

Ajani Steadfast (Grade 2) - Easily splashable and very powerful on the offense. This will certainly see play in WW, Naya-Aggro and GW Beatz, which all profit almost equally from his +1 and -2 abilities (unfortunately those decks are only tier 2 strategies at the moment, but someone might prove us wrong on this in the future).

I don't think he has what it takes to earn a spot in the already power-crammed 4c-Blood list, since Ajani lacks the ability to provide value or defend himself without anything else on the board.

As I said, he is best suited for decks with a high creature density and an aggressive outlook.

Dauntless River Marshal (Grade 1.5) - UW-Fish will want this. Solid 2-drop, but nothing to get too excited about.

Heliod's Pilgrim (Grade 3.5) - That's a big one (although its body is rather small). Fetching up not only creature enchantments, but also things like Squirrel Nest, Underworld Connections, Faith's Fetters etc. is very nice. It also tutors for Splinter Twin, which is insanely good for UWR-Twin lists, since they usually are rather tutor-light. The Pilgrim can get Treachery too and on its own might warrant the inclusion of small aura-packages, much like Trinket Mage does. For example, I could see myself playing a Pacifism over Journey to Nowhere, when I have this guy in the deck. Also: PatternRector.

Hushwing Gryff (Grade 1.5) - The Gryff has potential as a hoser card, but most creature-centric decks like to have value from their own ETB-creatures. White Weenie may want this, because it is already lacking many ETB-triggers. Maybe Naya will want this, maybe UWR. My guess is that its ability is too narrow and it won't see much play. Aven Mincensor for example - of which the Gryff is reminiscent - has applications basically across all matchups, while this one only shines against some.

Resolute Archangel (Grade 1) - A solid toolbox target for Reanimator, not much else is my guess.

Return to the Ranks (Grade 2) - This is hard to evaluate. It has very high upside but needs setup and is a bit too situational maybe. But tapping down Lingering Souls Tokens for this to possibly rebuy Dark Confidant and Tarmogoyf seems super-strong. It might have a home in Pattern-Rector and Rock-style decks.

All of the Souls - unplayable

Spirit Bonds (Grade 0.5) - Seems interesting but I have a gut feeling that it's a trap because of its mana requirements.

Jace, the Living Guildpact (Grade 2) - I'm totally disappointed by this one. Not power-level wise (because it's just fine to not print overpowered Planeswalkers all the time) but because non of his abilities have anything to to with being "the Living Guildpact". They are just some ordinary blue abilities of card selection, bounce and draw. Lame. Nevertheless, this one has certain potential in very tempo-oriented decks because of its universal bounce ability or may play a role in decks that can make good value out of its self-mill ability.

Jorubai Murk Lurker (Grade 2.5) - Solid body that races quite well thanks to his lifelink ability. He is one of the seldom and playable ways for Grixis-colors to get back precious life points and will see play just because of this fact alone. He also defends very well against RDW because he's a 2/4 which makes him an important role player for UB-centric creature strategies.

Void Snare (Grade 3) - Very solid tempo card that just bounces everything no questions asked for just a blue mana. Void Snare your 4-drop, next turn Snapcaster-Void Snare your 4-drop again will be a devastating line of play. I guess that the fact that it can bounce stuff like Planeswalkers, Moat, Crumbling Sanctuary, Treachery, Vedalken Shackles, Blood Moon, Sword of Fire and Ice etc. will make this a much more played card than Vaporsnag, even though it's lacking instant speed.

Waste Not (Grade 0.5) - Typical "build around me"-card that is just very hard to utilize in Highlander, although it is potentially very powerful.

Aggressive Mining (Grade 0.5 - 3.5) - The "best" of the foreign party designed cards in my opinion. It has a very unique effect and a high powerlevel but seems very hard to utilize correctly. It has combo potential with Manabond but seems otherwise out of place in a "Lands"-deck. It might be worth as a splash in an Elf-combo deck which uses its first three land drops to establish a creature-mana-base and then let's you gas up to a combo finish of some sort. It might also have a home in a theoretical Big Red deck as a finisher by helping you find the appropriate amount of cheap burn to finish your opponent off. Another possibility is to have some sort of reliable out to your own enchantment, so you can remove it when it has you locked up (cards like Read the Runes come to mind). This might also lead to hard locks with Donate ;) In the end, I don't know where to put this right now, but I would be delighted to see this being played.

Altac Bloodseeker (Grade 2.5) - Seems a natural fit for RDW. Turn 2 Altac Bloodseeker, T3 Arc Trail two of your guys for 6 damage seems mean. Also first strike is the nuts in RDW and will make blocking it a very dangerous endeavour. Also haste, the guy just has it all.

Generator Servant (Grade 3) - Seems potentially very strong and can lead to broken openings. In that it reminds of Lotus Cobra. T2 Generator Servant into T3 Hero of Bladehold with haste seems like a nice line. Also, it ramps into hasty Titans which seems equally broken. In contrast to Lotus Cobra, Generator Servant "always works", not needing a land drop in hand. But it also only works once and goes away after you used it. However Lotus Cobra's utility tends to wane the longer the game goes, while Generator Servant keeps being more than decent even in later stages.

The fact that it allows you to give your lategame topdecks haste is really useful. Imagine topdecking a Knight of the Reliquary or Fauna Shaman and being able to immediately cash in their ability. That might decide a game right there.

That being said, it 1-for-2's yourself and if your play gets countered/destroyed you will usually be quite behind on board as well as on cards.

Basically, decks that want Lotus Cobra and other random utility 2/1's and have creatures that profit much from haste will usually also want this.

Inferno Fist (Grade 2) - Another tool for RDW. Keep in mind that you can enchant opposing creatures when you're lacking targets yourself, so this becomes a bad Shock. The upside obviously is to be able to bash with a 4/1 and remove your opponent's first blocker or just go to the dome when it becomes useless. Might be a bit expensive for RDW and a bit situational, but it has a high upside and high potential damage output.

Nissa Worldwaker (Grade 3) - I like this Nissa. Much more so than her first incarnation obviously. What's cool about her is that she has two +1 abilities. So if you manage to protect her, there will be no foreseeable end to the gifts she provides.

The first +1 ability turns lands into 4/4 tramplers, permanently. That is good. Be aware though, that making your lands vulnerable to spot removal is risky.

Her second +1 ability lets you untap up to four forests, which basically makes Nissa almost free if you have her mana requirements set up. Now here is a big caveat. Only forests means Nissa will only be at her best in a heavy green deck (and I think this fact is the only thing that holds me back giving her a grade of 4 or higher).

Both abilities play well together. 4/4 trampling forests which she has grown in previous turns can gain pseudo-vigilance from her second ability. Also, you can pump mana out of your 4/4s and still attack with them. there's some useful synergy.

Let's construct some "god draws" with Nissa, to see what she is capable of:
T1 - Forest, Fyndhorn Elves
T2 - Forest, Kodama's Reach => put a Forest into play tapped
T3 - Forest (now 4 Forests in play), Nissa => Untap 4 Forests, Harmonize ( ;) )
T4 - Play another Forest, Tap all Forests, untap 4 of them with Nissa, tap your Elf for a total of 10 green mana...

Another scenario:
T1 - Forest
T2 - Savannah, Sakura-Tribe Elder (sac at the end of the opponent's turn for a Plains)
T3 - Forest, Elspeth, Knight-Errant => Make a Soldier
T4 - Forest, Nissa => Turn a Forest into a 4/4, make a Soldier with Elspeth
T5 - Make another 4/4 Forest (which can attack immediately) and swing for 13 (2 Soldiers, 2 4/4s with an Elspeth pump at the ready)

Note that in the second scenario you threaten another 17 damage with creatures on the following turn and still have 4 cards in hand to work with (5 when on the draw).

Both of the above scenarios are obviously constructed, but they show that Nissa basically always does the things you want most. When you have gas, she let's you cast your stuff through her untap ability. When you have nothing going on, she clogs the board with 4/4s. All the while she's ticking up.

Her ultimate is solid. Threatening a safe kill the next turn and at the same time emptying your library from useless lands, so your topdecks become much better. That being said, an ultimate is not what makes or breaks a planeswalker, but it is nice to have a good one.

In the end, I like Nissa very much but acknowledge that her constraint on "only forests" will hold her back.

Reclamation Sage (Grade 4.5) - At first glance this seem innocuous, but it is not. This is the super Harmonic Sliver that all green based midrange decks have been longing for for a long time.

If you have played green based midrange (be it 4c Blood, 4c DarkBant, Bant, Rock etc.) you know how often you wished for something that could could be tutored up by GSZ, Eladamri's Call, Fauna Shaman, Worldly Tutor etc. that would be able to destroy this pesky enchantment right there and is not named Qasali Pridemage. You could have played Harmonic Sliver of course, but the card is just a little bit too weak overall and the fact that you have to kill something with it makes it a very "reactive only" type of card, which these decks usually don't want.

Therefore Vithian Renegades was the go-to card for midrange (if they had access to red) because you could drop him for his stats alone, although you had to be aware not to kill your own stuff. Though good, the list of enchantments that really matter is very long and right now in the current meta, enchantments matter much more than artifacts (sorry Swords of Xs and Ys, but your time as enemy number one is over since SFM got the axe ;) ).

Reclamation Sage just does it all. Killing Bitterblossom, Sylvan Library, Phyrexian Arena, Courser of Kruphix, Oblivion Ring, Banishing Light, Detention Sphere, Back to Basics, Blood Moon, Sulfuric Vortex, Splinter Twin (when hopping out of an Aether Vial), Oath of Druids, Necromancy, Animate Dead, Parallax Wave, Treachery and so on. All this in addition to all the artifacts that Vithian Renegades could kill.

I cannot express how important this guy is. The fact that it costs a mere single green makes it a much better solution to the Blood Moon/B2B nonsense that your opponent throws at you than what was available before.

The only thing that makes me not give this guy a straight grade of 5 is that it is "just" an answer-card of some sort. Much like Council's Judgement is insane removal but it is "just" removal.

Reclamation Sage won't change the metagame like TNN has or has the same impact on games like Workshop, Drain or Oath. It is not a proactive game-shaping card but its influence will be very noticable just because he is an important missing link in an already well established and strong shell.

Sunblade Elf (Grade 2) - A solid 1-drop in good beatdown colors with a relevant lategame ability. Nice one.

Yisan, the Wanderer Bard (Grade 2) - I think it was Reid Duke who recently wrote in one of his articles that the phrase of "search your library" paired with the phrase "put onto the battlefield" has historically been very good. And that is true. Look at Stoneforge Mystic, Birthing Pod and Green Sun's Zenith for example, let alone Tinker or Natural Order...

Yisan is not in this league whatsoever. He is very slow and clunky and in contrast to most of the above mentioned powerhouses won't net gain on mana until his fourth (!) activation. Nevertheless, he is a value machine and if he goes unmolested for several turns he will take over the game. His playabilty in a given deck will depend on the quality of targets he can fetch on each point in the curve.

To make we want to play him, I want to have access to Mother of Runes (to protect him early in the chain), very good value 2-drops (like Dark Confidant) and strong board-presence 2-drops (like Tarmogoyf) and powerful 3s (like Courser of Kruphix and TNN). Therefore I think he can be good in something like a 4c-DarkBant shell but at the same he will have it hard to earn his spot in such a power-crammed 4c-"Greed" list (as the Berlin crew would call it ;) ).

Garruk, Apex Predator (Grade 2) - Very expensive and not good at all is my guess. Destroying Planeswalkers is a good ability that becomes more and more important. But it is not as relevant as killing creatures is. And having a -3 on his best defensive ability, which then leaves him at just 2 loyalty, makes him very fragile.

If you can drop this onto a stalled board, he will win you the game (as does almost any Planeswalker not called Tibalt). But imagine playing this on an empty board against just two 3/3 Beasts? What do you even do? You cannot kill one if you want Garruk to survive. Your best bet is to make your own Beast, a line which loses to almost any spot removal ever printed...

He will see play because people like big Walkers. After a while he will join Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker and Karn Liberated at the fringe of the Highlander multiverse, showing up from time to time in board-heavy ramp-strategies.


That about wraps it up. The rest of the set seems unexciting for Highlander. I like the overall power level of M15. Some interesting cards and role players but nothing too broken (thankfully no ridiculous auto-includes like Abrupt Decay or Deathrite Shaman...).

Maqi

(reserved space)

rydl

Quote from: Maqi on 14-07-2014, 04:49:24 PM
Inferno Fist (Grade 2) - Another tool for RDW. Keep in mind that you can enchant opposing creatures when you're lacking targets yourself, so this becomes a bad Shock. The upside obviously is to be able to bash with a 4/1 and remove your opponent's first blocker or just go to the dome when it becomes useless. Might be a bit expensive for RDW and a bit situational, but it has a high upside and high potential damage output.
"Enchant creature you control"

Tiggupiru

@Maqi: I was ~85% done with this piece when you posted yours, so I went ahead and finished my version rather than just comment on yours. It probably has a lot of repeated things, but hopefully I can at least bring something of a new perspective. We seem to have some different opinions, so there is at least some value for this.

As for what comes to the set itself: My god is it interesting, or what? Loads of weird niche cards, important role players and cool desing to throw curve balls to poor sods reviewing the set. I am very much a fan of the M15, but there are a lot of ground to cover, so let's go:


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WHITE
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Ajani Steadfast

+1 is very good. All of the abilities are relevant and you don't need a big creature to make this activation problematic to your opponent. Lifelink will dominate creature mirrors, vigilance protects Ajani somewhat and First Strike usually means that the targeted creature needs to be chumped instead of double blocked away.

-2 is situationally powerful. You probably need to straight up kill your opponent for this to be better play than just +1'ing, but there are some other corner cases. Loyalty to other 'walkers is plainly win more in decks that want to play Steadfast in the first place, so pay no real attention to it.

Ultimate is ultimate, it's not even very good, but that very rarely matters anyway. I predict I am going to play this card a fair bit and never activating the ultimate. But like I've stated multiple times by now, ultimates on planeswalkers really don't matter when you play any serious tournament play.

All in all, decent addition to WW and other white aggressive decks. Not autoslam, but he is not bad.

Verdict: Archetype Staple

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Avacyn, Guardian Angel

Activated abilities hardly matter, they are kinda expensive anyway. I also never really look forward to spend five mana on a guy who then needs mana to do enough stuff to make my initial investment worth it. We are left with five mana 5/4 flyer that has very narrow upsides if you have nothing else going on. I can't imagine I want to play this in any deck.

Verdict: Unplayable

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Boonweaver Giant

Right now, I don't think there is a reasonable target for this. Pattern of Rebirth probably does the most broken things, but even that is not worth the seven mana. You do create must-be-dealt-with monster with few options (Eldrazi Conscription springs to mind), but if your plan is to play a creature for seven mana that is vulnerable to all removal known to man (including sorcery speed ones), you are doing it wrong. That being said, this ability is powerful and there can be a target for this in the not-so-distant future that makes playing Boonweaver Giant reasonable. Right now, don't bother.

This is, however, my absolute favorite Giant Monk, who is not also a starfish, in the game of Magic.

Verdict: Unplayable, with a very slight change of being Niche

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Dauntless River Marshal

Two mana 3/2 with a relevant late game ability. I mean, you never really activated the white ability of Azorious Guildmage, now did you? We have gotten these kinds of cards in recent years and it's kinda nice to have decent two-drop options for non-green decks as well. I don't believe we see too many of these, but the power is there we just need the decks this goes into to start doing good.

Verdict: Niche

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Heliod's Pilgrim

As cute and on curve for the Pattern of Rebirth this card is, I hate the very restrictive search and surprisingly weak body. I wouldn't play this in any deck. We have better ways to search for enchantments. It's cute with Splinter Twin, but this body being irrelevant most of the time, I would prefer to run Idyllic Tutor to get access to Oblivion Rings and other good options. Not to mention, if you are debating to maybe play Heliod's Pilgrim, you are already playing Enlightened Tutor. Not to mention the other colors you play probably have better tutors than this anyway. I just can't see ever needing this as well.

Verdict: Unplayable

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Hushwing Gryff

White Weenie. I mean, other decks have actual cards to lose and this doesn't have p/t high enough to compensate for the anti-synergies. In WW this is very powerful, ambushing Nekrataal or Shirekmaw is just a devastating blow against opponents looking to stabilize. Evasion is super-important too, so I feel this is just a very good card to add to WW. I also like that you are representing Aven Mindcensor as well as this, so it's kinda hard to play around too even when you suspect the three untapped lands might represent something.

Naya might not want three drops with such a weak body even though they can usually ignore the ability, but it's not horrible there either, so I am not surprised to some of the GWR oriented players to run these.

Verdict: Archetype Staple

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Resolute Archangel

Well, not a powerful card by any means, but there is a non-zero chance for it to see play. ETB creatures that gain life are sometimes when you look for in some weird niche decks and this is quite good in that specific circumstance. Make no mistake though, Resolute Archangel is not a good card in of itself. Body is weak, mana cost is ridiculous and the ability is the only thing that matters. I assume I never see this card played against me, but I probably try it out once or twice.

Verdict: Niche

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Return to the Ranks

CMC = 2 or less is not a super good selection of creatures. The fact that this spell isn't very expensive and has convoke does mean that it has potential. I can't think of an existing deck this would fit very well in, but there are decent number of cards that proxy this, so if there are a good set of creatures to get back and a way to get them into the 'yard elegantly, we could have a deck brewing. Immediately elfs pop into my head, but I don't think there are enough good ETB things to go on with them to make this a winning play straight up. I have no real clue how to brew with this, but Immortal Servitude decks from standard few months ago could be a good place to start. Also, bear (get it?) in mind that this might never be a card worth playing.

Verdict: Niche


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Soul of Theros

Hmm... I kinda like this. Six mana 6/6 that will gain at least 8 life if you untap with him and will dominate combat via first strike and vigilance. That alone is not a good deal as you need to dump a hefty amount of mana to get him going, but the latter ability is an uncounterable Overrun should the avatar fall, or get discarded to Fauna Shaman. I don't mind cards like these in token decks as they usually tend to generate loads of mana anyway and this is more than reasonable threat on its own all the while being potentially game winning even if it dies. Still, token decks haven't done very well lately as there hasn't been good prints for them and the average creature is getting ridiculously powerful, so it is hard to keep up.

Verdict: Niche


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Spectra Ward

I kinda like this in the Hexproof - deck. I am being kinda generous calling it a "deck", but we are slowly but surely getting there. This is a reasonable final bomb to play to your monster it does need vigilance and lifelink to really dominate the board, but you should overload on those auras anyway, so that shouldn't matter too much. But at the end of the day, it's still just for one deck that still needs to even make an appearance in a tournament. It is safe to say that this is more unplayable than not, but I am still kinda assuming we will eventually get there. It's also decently safe to assume that we get a better "finisher - aura" before that happens.

Verdict: Niche

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Spirit Bonds

My name is Bond, Lame Bond.

Remember Militia's Pride? That card was good for a very brief period of time (atleast, I like to think it was) that is way better than this. If there is a way to combo off with this, then sure it does something on its own, is splashable and easily triggered, but I just don't see a way to elegantly trigger this and generate mana in the process. I might be breaking your spirit here, but I feel that this has no chance.

Verdict: Unplayable

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Warden of the Beyond

Loads of cards turn this thing on. StoP, O-Ring, Council's Judgement, Deathrite Shaman, Scavenging Ooze... etc. Loads of very good cards, so I am going to assume there is something here. Cards like Blade Splicer are still way better and there is a very big competition for that three drop slot. Hushwing Gryff is also just too efficient and potentially dominating that you rather have a problem-causing threats rather than just big dumb hitters. There might be decks that want this, though. Luckily, good chunk of the cards that turn this on are white anyway and very good on their own, so there are several potential decks that want to run this in their test matches. I am not holding my breath and I am calling this unplayable, just to make a stand. Kinda shame as the design is sweet.

Verdict: Unplayable


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BLUE
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Ætherspouts

Evacuation just hasn't been the blue Wrath of God it so desperately needs (read:it really doesn't need one), could Ætherspouts succeed where Evacuation has failed? It actually might. In 60-card formats well known Ætherspouts tech gets played around pretty quickly. In HL, there is rarely the need to play around specific card for orvious reasons and therefore Ætherspouts can really be a devastating turn of the tide as you actually gain a lot of tempo and card advantage. Tempo being the big thing with this card as those creatures can't be played again on the next main phase rendering your five mana to a poor man's fog. This was the main problem with the Evacuation, by the way.

It's not that bad against value creatures either since those will still be coming out one at a time from the top of the library so even against board full of decent ETB triggers, Ætherspouts is still a fine play. In fact, I am willing to call this one playable. Too bad there are very few decks that straight up want this as splashing for Wraths is just too easy and most often (always?) plain better, but we'll see. I mean, Academy decks are more than capable of generating this kind of blue mana quite early and most definitely would appreciate the tempo advantage.


Verdict: Niche

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Chasm Skulker

Lorescale Coatl got uglier and one-colored. Brainstorm's next best friend after fetchlands is not a horrible one. Although it is barely better than Coatl and that is not a card I want to play these days no matter what the deck, so I cannot really say I anticipate seeing this in a 100-card environment. Shame really.

Verdict: Unplayable


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Chief Engineer

You probably never find yourself playing a deck that is so much artifacts and creatures that you want this, but if there is a possibility of a aggroish workshop deck kinda like the cool kids are playing in Vintage, this in theory could be there. Too bad it doesn't usually help with the game plan (locking opponents and/or bash them) and is not super-exiting even if you manage to find a deck for it. It is kinda funny to be able to make Thopters with all the mana when you have the Sword of the Meek + Thopter Foundry going and still be able to cast all artifacts you have. But that is about as win more as you can possibly get, so that is obviously not needed.


Verdict: Unplayable

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Ensoul Artifact


Don't run (with) the scissors!

Verdict: Unplayable

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Jace, the Living Guildpact


Oh Jace, how low have you fallen? I do feel that Jace is better than people give it credit for as that amount of loyalty is hard to wear down, so he can be expected to do his thing every turn unless you start to bounce things. Too bad the "thing" he does is simple arm-waving and arcane babbling that isn't impressive by any means.

+1 is very weak library manipulation and very unreliable graveyard filler. You don't get significantly ahead even if you can activate this against an empty board. Loads of other things just plain murder opponents in two activations.

-3 is pretty decent. Too bad it is so expensive and you can't do it twice in a row. It is well-known trick to measure planeswalkers playability by judging whether he can protect him or herself and Jace does. Too bad he is not worth protecting. Had I been able to just use Jace as a double bounce spell over the course of two turns, I could see some uses for him as a pure tempo play, but now he just falls off the niche rating as well.

Ultimate is obviously very good and the only really good thing going for Jace is that he has a lot of loyalty and is so bad that opponent feels terrible if he needs to start wasting precious resources or tempo to keep Jace from going super sayan. Again, I feel we are maybe one loyalty too expensive with this ability to even give this incarnation a benefit of the doubt.

If this Jace is the "Living Guildpact", I would've prefer war over pact so crappy personally.

Verdict: Unplayable


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Jalira, Master Polymorphist


Kinda cool desing, but no Emrakuls, Griselbrands or... actually no need to list any further. This is not something you want to try to cheat a game winning ceature into play as Blightsteel Colossus (the next best thing I guess) is too vulnerable to couple of decently played cards in the format (read: All the white cards). Even though there are decent game winners that aren't legendary, why not to just play Polymorphs or, you know, Oath of Druids? This is also quite the horrible flip from the aforementioned cards, so you can't play him to gain more threat density. Random ordering also prevents stacking your deck, so I cannot find any redeeming thing from Jalira.

Verdict: Unplayable


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Mercurial Pretender

I was going to make a joke about recent trend of Wizards printing clones for about every set, but couldn't think of an original one.

Verdict: Unplayable


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Military Intelligence

There is noting intelligent about this card. You need to trigger this twice to get any value whatsoever and that still is not that good. You also shouldn't need to attack with more than two creatures enough times to make this worthwhile without winning the game via damage.

Verdict: Unplayable

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Quickling

Cool desing. Is it good though? Probably not, two mana 2/2 is decent, flying isn't enough to overcome the drawback. In order for this to be worth the trouble, you need to save a creature from dying or get a sweet ETB effect out of deal. Even then it is marginal, because those things don't happen all that often unless you go for it and then your deck probably isn't that good.

Funnily enough, one of my many guilty pleasures is a highlanderian (not a word? sue me) ninja deck and this fits there like a glove. So, I got a new toy to fail with and everybody else got nothing. I have no idea who wins here.

I also resisted an urge to make some really bad pun or reference to Quicklinks in ADOM. Well, not really resisted, I just couldn't think of any.

Verdict: Unplayable


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Void Snare


Combo decks love to have this possibility. Up until this point the only other one mana playable bounce was Chain of Vapor and that was very problematic if your combo required permanents. Being sorcery isn't a massive deal, but makes it so that you still prefer Chain over this if the drawback doesn't matter. Very niche, but very much needed print.

Verdict: Niche

Tiggupiru

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BLACK
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Indulgent Tormentor


Bloodgift Demon hasn't seen too much play and I prefer that over Indulgent Tormentor any day of the week. Not very exciting and certainly weaker than several other options. Even in a deck that wouldn't mind playing this, there just are too many better options to fill the void two times over. Will not see play.

Verdict: Unplayable

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Leeching Sliver

Slivers could become a thing. We still need more stuff to get there and I am unsure if you want black or blue slivers in the first place. This isn't convincing me to play black either, but might sneak in if black turns out to be the correct line to take. Wouldn't hold my breath and I am going to call this unplayable because I want somebody to prove me wrong.

Verdict: Unplayable

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Necromancer's Stockpile

I think Zombies are going to be a deck in not-so-distant future. Multiple lords, decent one drops and sweet recursion and ETB abilities. That being said, Stockpile is not going to be in that deck, just wanted to point that out.

I would place this in a deck that wants to abuse graveyard. Getting a draw off it and a body to stabilize/pressure is pretty good if you have an engine going. Veilborn Ghoul and the like will do some good work with this card. Too bad you just can't discard non-creatures, which I would love to do even to no benefit. Hopefully there is enough synergy and a daring soul to try them, but I remain doubtful.


Verdict: Niche

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Ob Nixilis, Unshackled

Hahaha, oh my. I don't know though. If you play this with mana, there aren't that many search effects you opponent actually needs to do and it is a quite poor reanimation target if opponent has anything. I like the cool 10 damage and all, but smaller body and cheaper cost would have been needed to make this an actual card.

Verdict: Unplayable


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Soul of Innistrad

This has pretty powerful abilities. Passes vanilla test with decent ease and in a right deck the ability is fine. Certainly would not play this based on that alone, but as an "random" upside this is far from the worst. Plan A with Soul of Innistrad is to ditch him in the yard with some value gained, might I suggest Necromancer's Stockpile?) and when you start to run out of cards, he has some pretty good value generating ability for relatively cheap. Again, very niche, but you should recognize the very powerful and synergistic abilities as well as the fact that it synergizes pretty well with opposing face and can do ridiculous things if you get some engine going with him in play.

Verdict: Niche

---

Ulcerate

I like it. Kills anything in the early game and is still relevant later on. Never would play this over Dismember, but dirt cheap nigh-universal removal is not something black usually gets. Black based aggro decks are thankful for this.


Verdict: Archetype Staple

---


Waste Not

This is a card you want to build your deck around and in Highlander those cards are very problematic because of obvious reasons. The deck does nothing unless this (or fast access to this) is in your opener and Waste Not has a good potential of being straight up blank later on. We needs loads more Liliana's Caress and Megrims for this to matter and I remain doubtful about that ever happening. I am going to assume this is not going to matter for HL.

Verdict: Unplayable


---
RED
---



Act on Impulse

Fact or Impulse? I mean, both of them are better than this and they aren't that played anymore, so I would give this poor man's Divination less chance to see play than I would give Brazil against Germany.

Verdict: Unplayable

---

Aggressive Mining

Let's get this immediately out of the way: This not good in RDW. The only 4cc card I am willing to even consider is Koth of the Hammer and that guy wins matchups all by himself and half the time I draw him I am disappointed. Refilling your hand seems pretty good in theory, but playing four mana draw spell in RDW is the equavalent of playing Enter the Infinite in control decks as the only draw spell.

Past that, Aggressive Mining is quite the hard card to evaluate. Ability is powerful, but you can't go all-in on it because of that "once per turn" - clause and you would either have a huge number of lands in play to begin with or have some trick to get them into play after you have aggrssively mined yourself into a hole. I'd say this is not worth the trouble, but with ability that powerful there are probably people willing to try it. I make a stand with this and say it's not playable, but I would love to be wrong with this one.

Verdict: Unplayable

---

Altac Bloodseeker

Two power for two mana is playable in red decks if the abilities matter and here I think they do. It's really annoying for the burn player to waste their precious removal to opposing creatures, after all you just want to count to 20 and every spell that gets wasted on creatures take away from that. Bloodseeker actually gives you something back. Lightning Bolt to an opposing blocker will deal essentially two damage to the player as well. Whenever there is a card that has playable stats on it's own and helps the deck to overcome one of it's biggest weakness, you should take note. I will be adding this to my burn list and quite happily I might add.

Verdict: Archetype Staple

---

Belligerent Sliver

Good Sliver for the possible Sliver deck. You want to attack anyway and this makes it so taht your most important Slivers (usually those with the anthem - effects) survive the combat. I am going to go with the archetype staple here, but I do understand that I am quite an optimist when saying that.

Verdict: Archetype Staple

---

Borderland Marauder

Yes, please. I do want to attack for three. That is like a free Lava Spike. Every turn!

Verdict: Archetype Staple

---

Generator Servant

I don't want to sacrifice creatures. I want to attack with them. Luckly, this isn't 1995 and we don't have to play red two drops that have no abilities or, heaven forbid, drawbacks. Two mana 2/1 is playable in RDW, if and only if, it has good abilities to make up for it and this just doesn't.

If you want ramp, play green or Seething Song, or Worn Powerstone, or anything really. This is just too unreliable and fragile to be used just to ramp stuff and the body is not that impressive if your plan is to ramp into big things anyway. I am not a huge fan of Lotus cobra as a pure ramp spell either and this is like the retarded cousin of Lotus Cobra. Once in a while it has stroke of genius and feels like a savant at times. Then 90% of the other cases it tries to suck the moist out of your shoe for nourishment.

Verdict: Unplayable



---

Goblin Rabblemaster

I still have criminally low experience with Goblins and I really should fix that. They have gotten some sweet additions lately and it would give me easier time when trying to figure out if the new goblin that has three abilities is playable in that deck or not.

The question with Rabblemaster is that if the drawback isn't going too big of a deal, the other abilities really make up for it. If you plan to go all-in the next turn, you can play this AFTER combat to prevent all you little green men dying before you do something productive with them. kinda reminds me of Lemmings.

Verdict: I really don't know. Probably depends how many of those "sac a goblin" cards are good nowadays to mitigate the drawback.

---

Kurkesh, Onakke Ancient

Nope. I usually give cards like these a solid pass because of reasons, but there is nothing going on here, I think. Rings of Brightheart is just better in any concievable way and that is already an artifact, doesn't require colored mana and works with all abilities, not just artifact ones. Kurkesh is also a creature that just activates your opponents removal when you try to combo-off with non-creatures anyway. I don't think they will ever print a card that will go infinite with this alone (and Rings of Brightheart is just the better option even then), so I cannot see this doing good in any case. I also don't really want to play red in my artifact decks, I mean Goblin Welder is sweet and all, but that is hardly ever needed and even when you really want him, he is actually splashable whereas Kurkesh is not.

Verdict: Unplayable

---


Siege Dragon

I don't know why, but this card reminds me of Dark Souls. Everything else on the card sucks.

Verdict: Unplayable

---

Soul of Shandalar

Oh Shandalar, what a weird game you were. The card is probably horrible, but what is with this set and reminding me of video games? Is Wizards deliberately doing this?

Verdict: Unplayable



--- GREEN ---


Genesis Hydra

I am not a fan of this card. No matter who desingned it. We have a million of these "dump a lot of mana and you will get a cool effect" - type of creatures and this is just plain horrible when you don't have all the manas. It's not inherently bad or anything, but too many other good options.


Verdict: Unplayable

---

Invasive Species

Aluren always pops to my mind when I see cards like these, but I don't think this is needed. I mean, this might be slightly better than alternatives (or it might not be, I don't really care or know), but that is not going to matter 98 times out of 100. The tempo hit is just too big to compensate.


Verdict: Unplayable


---

Kalonian Twingrove

It's a big thing that makes a big thing and smashes EVERYTIN- oh, a Mana Leak? You win this round Mr. Spike, you win this round.

It's like every other unimpressive green rare before it. Yawn.

Verdict: Unplayable

---


Life's Legacy

Speaking of green rares... this is at the very least interesting. I can see drawing enough cards to make this worthwhile. I really dislike Legacy being sorcery, so you can't get some insane value. The thing is that you need to sacrifice a creature with four or more power to feel like you got a good deal and not being able to draw couple of cards in response to a opposing Swords to Plowshares really Plows. Again, it is a card with big enough upside that it could see play by that fact alone, but I have really hard time figuring out a deck that would happily sacrifice the thing their opponent is having good deal trouble anyway. I expect this to be unplayable.


Verdict: Unplayable

---

Nissa, Worldwaker


+1 Alright, so Koth's first ability without the untap but with a permanent creature. I mean, red decks want to attack with their lands, that's like the best thing to do in those decks in slower matchups. Green usually doesn't care too much, but it obviously isn't blank. At least it protects Nissa somewhat, but sadly not on the turn you play it, assuming perfect curve. Also good for attacking planeswalkers. I dislike that I need my lands to make creatures. When I play green deck with cards like Nissa, I want to keep my lands in play. In fact I plan to tap them to cast big things over and over again, or do many small things with Loam. This ability is somewhat in anti-synergy with the decks that would want to play Nissa in the first place.

+1 Untap forests? But, I don't want to untap forests. I want to untap Simic Growth Chambers, Gaea's Cradles and Islands. Still, a powerful ramp, but very restrictive. It's not unreasonable for this to untap 2-3 forest without too much trouble, but not getting extra uses from utility lands is a real bummer.

-7 is just asking for a Wrath of God. Or a Moat. Or anything really. Nissa with her two +1 abilities that are quite narrow would have really used a good ultimate and while this thins your deck at the very least and straight up kills opponents, I would have preffered something that feels that I really want to play this card in a ramp deck, now I am not so sure.

I remain unimpressed, but planeswalkers are kinda hard to evalaute and I want to give this one a benefit of the doubt. Not a very good one no matter what happens, but playable, mayyybe?

Verdict: Niche

---


Reclamation Sage

I *love* this card. Such and elegant design it's kinda hard to wrap your head around the fact that they haven't done this already. I predict this seeing a ton of play as the versatility, mana cost and creature types are all appreciated. I am going to claim this being format staple, but that is somewhat optimistic, but I am on a good mood, so what the hell.

Verdict: Format Staple


---


Shaman of Spring

Creature types matter. It's a little bit clunky engine with Wirewood Symbiote, but you are still getting more cards than your opponent, so that is fine. You as a elf player should also be practically rolling in mana anyway, so the mana cost shouldn't be that bad of a thing. Probably not worth the trouble if you are not elfing.

Verdict: Archetype Staple

---

Soul of Zendikar

Stats good, abilities bad. I expected a lot more from the green card of the CYCLE OF BIG DUMB CREATURES.

Verdict: Unplayable

---

Sunblade Elf

One mana 2/2 that is might have an impact in later stages of the game? This is straight up playable. Naya wants this immediately. If you are not aggro, or look to have some sweet elf synergies, stay clear, but otherwise, go nuts.

Verdict: Archetype Staple

---

Yisan, the Wanderer Bard

Had this been an elf, things would have been different. As of now, I don't think this slow of an effect with this much mana is anywhere close of being a good deal. I mean, I've tried getting Hibernation's End to work, but to no avail. I see this as a slightly worse alternative (early on, more costly and way more vulnerable), so I cannot find a single situation where I want this in my decks.

Verdict: Unplayable

Tiggupiru


---
MULTICOLOR
---



Garruk, Apex Predator

+1 to destroy Planeswalkers is obviously a ton of value, but also incredibly narrow. I'd say you have really good value out of Garruk if you can activate this one, no matter if he dies immediately afterwards.

+1 Yeah, sure. Again, good value, but with that mana cost this is pretty weak.

-3 Gaininig life is pretty significant in addition to the killing. Being able to sacrifice your own dudes to put the lifepad out of burn range is probably a widely used play. Garruk also brought his own creature to the picnic so there is also that. I can see this ability ending games against aggro.

Ultimate is irrelevant. Card costs seven mana and generates value like LSV in his wildest dreams, so I cannot fathom a situation where this actually mattered.

At the end of the day, you are paying whooping seven mana from him, which is a TON. I would also prefer Karn Liberated over this about all the time, so you need to ask yourself if you really want another seven mana walker. If the answer is yes, you can't go too wrong with Garruk, but I prefer my green seven mana card to be creatures as you have ways to search for them or Green Sun them straight on the battlefield is they are needed. I think we just have better, or more synergistic, cards to fill our decks with. Being a seven drop is a though place with this format.

Verdict: Unplayable

---

Sliver Hivelord

Sliver Quuen is a reason to go five colors for the Sliver deck, this isn't. And I don't even know if you want the Queen either.

Verdict: Unplayable


---
ARTIFACT
---


Avarice Amulet

The only interesting part of this card is that because of it, I found out that they still make the Penny Arcade comics. Who knew?

Verdict: Unplayable

---

Perilous Vault

Oblivion Stone isn't exactly the most played card ever, in fact, even Nevinyrral's Disk is seeing no play what so ever. This makes Perilous Vault, well, very perilous to your chances of winning.

Verdict: Unplayable

---

Scuttling Doom Engine

Arguably this has better name than Wurmcoil Engine, but that is the only thing it's better at. This is more aggressive version of the two, but decks that can afford to run six drops, don't usually want to be very aggressive. Kinda sweet recursion target with Goblin Welder, though. Although, so is Wurmcoil too.

Verdict: Unplayable

---

Soul of New Phyrexia

Wurmcoils for everyone! Well, not for me actually. Or for you either. Friends don't let friends play bad cards.

Verdict: Unplayable

---

The Chain Veil

So many cards that are inferior to Rings of Brighthearth. And Rings sees very little play. Don't be fooled be the mask, this is not the card for HL.

Verdict: Unplayable


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LANDS
---



Radiant Fountain

This is actually not a horrible option for decks that can abuse this kind of thing. I've tinkered with Loam based dredge deck and this type of card is actually what I want in that deck. I love the synergy of this, Glacial Chasm and Loam. Makes me all warm and fuzzy inside. Still very niche as colorless lands have quite a big drawback these days of super-powerful multicolored cards and near perfect mana.

Verdict: Niche

---

Sliver Hive

Five mana lands are just what the Sliver Doctor ordered and few last sets have delivered. The last ability is also very powerful in  sliver deck. Staple in Slivers. Sliver.

Verdict: Archetype Staple

tonytahiti

#6
i can't accept when the generator is being called unplayable. just.cant.accept.it.
the utility this guy offers is absolutely incredible. you can even split the mana and give two creatures haste. you quickly generate board states that are too overwhelming,turn 3 sigarda with haste (no creature based deck can beat that) turn 4 primeval titan with haste (trigger, trigger, 4 lands, gg) is also something most decks cant beat. and everything on a creature..thats the thing, a creature, no commitment to ramp, all this utility stuck on this reasonable body. untapped you can always pay for miscalc and daze, you allow t3 thragtusks or gideons..i dont care if it is sacrificed, the card disadvantage it produces on the stack is mostly negated when off the stack and when spent on the right cards. plus its in red, in freakin red, suddenly grixis midrange can play t3 batterskull or whatever, that is insane. in uwr i will play sphinx revelaton for 4 turn 5 off this guy, i will miracle bonfire for 4 turn 3 off this guy. i am gonna do all that and its gonna be wonderful. it creates so much tempo and utility and its imo the best card in the whole set. yes, i mean that. also: i liked maqi's review.
Winner - Pro HL Cup, Prague 2002
Winner - Highlander Regional Masters, Phuket 2006
Winner - Sunrise Trophy Run, Hawaii 2006
Winner - North Dakota HL Championships 2007
Winner - Tahiti "One And Only"-Cup #3, 2009
Winner - Gio di Gio Seria, Florenz, 2016
Winner - Jail or be Jailed, Berlin, 2017

Tabris

#7
The Generator is not just the best card in the set (besides the very uninspired sage (and that card is not elegant its agonizingly boring) its the best 2 mana card we`ve seen for a long time. Red just got another tool to forge a strong board presence. In my eyes this card will be a staple in every creature based deck and is on the same level like TNN (regarding game impact).

dynagfx

#8
Dear Tiggupiru,


Generator: format staple.

I also think you underestimate Yisan.
If not handled it will simply make the game on its own.
If you get mother to protect it, it can go off with ez. maybe its to expensive at first, but it will pay off. Mind that you dont spend a card to do this, unlike Fauna Shaman. I am not saying its better, but definetly a playable card.
I am gonna play it and use it and its gonna be wonderful.

Sincerely,
dynagfx

Tiggupiru

Interesting. I did miss the fact that you can split the mana between two creatures, so that will make it better than I originally thought. It could be that my general dislike to unreliable ramp spells is clouding my judgement. In my experience, one shot ramp has been rather unimpressive. Opponents can get a good 2-for-1 out of their removal and/or counterspells and if you are left with more expensive stuff, servant doesn't help with them. I also dislike 2/1's in this format as they tend to get Arc Trailed for the blowouts or held off with a mana elf, so you can't expect them to do super great work based on their body alone. I can easily see me being wrong since so many of you calling me out on this one, but I need more little more convincing.

Funnily enough, I was going to give it a better rating than unplayable, but wanted to spark discussion as lately the set reviews have been pretty devoid of any after party and you just don't get better at Magic if you don't get second opinions. Seems like a mission accomplished. :)

Maqi

Completed my review in the first post of this thread.

Nastaboi

I am not impressed by Generator at all. Satyr Hedonist ramps for equal amount and saw zero play. Are the other features (easier color requirements, haste) so good that they bring the card from unplayable to great? I doubt it.

I will, however, try Aggressive Mining in burn. In case somebody didn't realize, you can use the ability in opponent's turn making it at least draw 6.
Quote0:13:51 [Nastaboi] Nastaboi plays Invincible Hymn from Hand
0:14:25 [Nastaboi] Nastaboi's life total is now 221 (+213)

Maqi

#12
I feel that the difference between Satyr Hedonist and Generator Servant is very tangible.

Green has very many very good options when it comes to ramping. Satyr Hedonist is quite bad in comparison when it comes to that.

Red so far has only gotten some rituals (which are good but narrow in what they can go in) and a priest of gix along some other unplayables. Generator Servant offers Red a new and scarce option in "optional" ramp.

Also the haste-factor is pretty big. I would say the Servant is bad in a deck that doesn't utilize many creatures which profit from haste. But as already mentioned, with Titans, Hero of Bladehold, KotR, Fauna Shaman etc. haste actually means one immediate additional use of a strong ability which translates into CA and tempo.

Here's another example line of play that wasn't mentioned yet in order to highlight the kind of scenarios where Generator Servant shines:

P1 T1: Land
P2 T1: Land, Elf
P1 T2: Land, Generator Servant
P2 T2: Land, Loxodon Smiter
P1 T3: Land, Bolt your Elf, sac Generator Servant, play Knight of the Reliquary, activate it and Wasteland a land (leaving P2 with a land a Smiter in play, while P1 has 2 lands and a 3+/3+ KotR)

Going on from here, when P2 doesn't find an immediate answer to the Knight, he might be in big trouble since KotR can ramp out a Walker from here on and establish a firm hold on the early midgame which basically means gg.

In this example Generator Servant did what an Elf could have done - tempowise. And he did this at -1 CA. However, there was hidden information for P2 and the Servant threatens much more potent plays in the lategame, than an elf does (so there's also some upside).

In general, I expect Generator Servant to be an immense Lightning Rod (much like Lotus Cobra) that almost always gets killed on the spot just because of the fear factor.

Tiggupiru

The underlying problem I have with Generator is that if you choose to play it, you are taking out a presumably good two drop. The absolute test of a card is that it allows you to win games where no other card would have done that. For every win like that Generator Servant generates, I feel there are games that you would have won with the two drop you cut to make room for this. Or games where the drawbacks this card has will cause you to lose the game whereas a solid two mana guy would have made the difference.

In Maqi's example you have a decent scenario, provided your opponent doesn't have a removal. Then you just lost Knight, Servant and traded lands. And your opponent is left with five cards in their hand and are about to draw their sixth, so having removal is far from a big leap. If they have a removal spell, they can finish the turn with two lands to your two and they have Smiter in play and when you draw your card for the turn, you both have four of them, so your are even except opponent has an extra 4/4 beating you down. I don't see this scenario being like unbeatable or anything even if opponent has no removal and pretty hard to come back from if they do bolt the Knight. And this is one of the better scenarios for it.

Not to mention, Generator Servant always needs other cards to be good and if the card you would be playing instead of this would have been high impact, like pretty much all the cards in the decks that would want this in the first place, you would never need to top deck or have access to a card to pair this with. Like if you take out Qasali Pridemage out for this is the ramp going to win you a game you couldn't have won with more consistent creature? I can see many spots where this is an unnecessary gamble for explosiveness and then you just get blown out of the water by a removal spell.

It is super easy to overrate cards like this based on the fact that they can do pretty wild things if all goes well. Thus, it is easy to overlook the times when it was merely okay, or the situations where more reliably good two drop would have maybe been able to turn the tide. I prefer consistency over explosiveness and I am fully aware that I tend to underrate cards like this, but I also feel like you are ignoring the scenarios where Generator Servant was rather weak or when you would have been victorious no matter what two drop you had.

Maqi

@Tiggupiru: True. Because of that I think you only want to run GS in decks that are to some extent interested in 2/1 vanillas (or in decks that are especially focused on broken things and ramp). Not in normal Midrange Goodstuff.