M11

[GoblinPiledriver]

The new edition is coming!

Here are a few impresions:


Æther Adept                      1uu   
Creature - Human Wizard    Common
When Æther Adept enters the battlefield, return target creature to its owner's hand.
                                2/2
The new Man'O War. With double blue mana less attractive.But it's still a new strong card for Mono-U-Skies and UG-aggrocontrol.

Augury Owl                       1u   
Creature - Owl    Common
Flying
When Augury Owl enters the battlefield, scry 3.
                                 1/1
Since the first Spire Owl [US], Sage Owl [WL]I liked ´such cards.But I always asked myself what shall I do with the ordered Cards. Now at last there is a good version of this old concept. Another good card for Mono-U-Skies and UG-aggrocontrol.(But maybe there isn't space for it)

Diminish                        u   
Instant    Common
Target creature becomes 1/1 until end of turn.

Another good and cheap card like ovinize. Another good card for Mono-U-Skies and UG-aggrocontrol since such decks are weak on removal.

Preordain                      u   
Sorcery    Common
Scry 2, then draw a card.

Clone of Serum Visions, would improve Nastaboi's High Tide for his Spellweaver Volute.

Liliana's Caress              1b
Enchantment    Uncommon
Whenever an opponent discards a card, that player loses 2 life.

In earlier time Megrim was the main card fur combo decks in several formats. Let's see how much impact this card will have.

Liliana's Specter            1bb
Creature - Specter    Common
Flying
When Liliana's Specter enters the battlefield, each opponent discards a card.
                               2/1
The first good version of Ravenous rats. I think this will see play in heavy black aggro decks.
   
Ember Hauler                 rr
Creature - Goblin    Uncommon
1, Sacrifice Ember Hauler: Ember Hauler deals 2 damage to target creature or player.
                             2/2
Looks very interesting 2 times Mogg Fanatic. And so it's the perfect card for RDW and Goblin-RDW.(Such interesting like Goblin Legionaire, but this time mono red)

Chandra's Spitfire           2r   
Creature - Elemental    Uncommon
Flying
Whenever an opponent is dealt noncombat damage, Chandra's Spitfire gets +3/+0 until end of turn.
                            1/3
Like Kiln Fiend but this time with flying and more expensive.

Cultivate                   2g
Sorcery    Common
Search your library for up to two basic land cards, reveal those cards, and put one onto the battlefield tapped and the other in your hand. Then shuffle your library.

Clone of Kodama's Reach, interesting!

Garruk's Companion         gg
Creature - Beast    Common
Trample
                      3/2
Reminds me of Watchwolf. Perfect card for RG-Beats and Mono-G-aggro. Good card for UG-aggrocontrol if you can afford early 2 green mana.

Sacred Wolf               2g
Creature - Wolf    Common
Sacred Wolf can't be the target of spells or abilities your opponents control.
                          3/1
Another card with Super-Shroud. And the final improvement of Pincher Beetles[TE]

Sylvan Ranger              1g
   
Creature - Elf Scout    Common
When Sylvan Ranger enters the battlefield, you may search your library for a basic land card, reveal it, and put it into your hand. If you do, shuffle your library.
                       1/1
Another version of Civic Wayfinder and Borderland Ranger. But it's a good question if it's really better than these 2 2/2 since it only has half power and thougness.

[Kristian]

I'm personally looking forward to the Spitfire for my monored ramp deck ^^

[Tiggupiru]

I was going to make set review when the set is fully spoiled, but since I finished evaluating the already revealed cards, what the heck.


- WHITE -


Ajani's Pridemate - Likes to spend time in the kitchen, looking for ouphes to hang out with. As long as you don't build your deck with this guy in mind, I could see him appearing somewhere competitive. Probably needs to see couple more good life gain spells printed though.

Baneslayer Angel - I think this could see play. Get them while they are still cheap.


- BLUE -


AEther Master - I like. Decks that play Man-o'-War are usually heavy blue (well, UG might not always be), so this mana cost should not be a big problem. Tribal synergies should not be ignored either.

Diminish - I don't think it's good enough, but man, is it cheap or what?

Preordain - Strictly better than Sleight of Hand, and is almost always better than Serum Visions. I think it's going to be nearly as good as ponder. Combo decks better find something to drop in favor of this.

Jace's Erasure - Interesting. As long as you plan to target yourself and wizards keep printing cards to go with it, this theoretically could see play. Right now, it needs more help.

Jace's Ingenuity - 40counterspells.dec got a nice addon.


- BLACK -


Captivating Vampire - Eventually there may be enough vampires around for this to be nice anthem, but as of now, quite miserable.

Liliana's Specter - Give him a good equipment and he is decent. Cool way to get your ninjas across too. Without synergy, seems too weak.

Reassembling Skeleton - If there is a combo, or you have huge amounts of mana and a sacrifice outlet, this could see play. Obviously, completely unplayable without synergy.


- RED -


Chandra's Firespitter - Your kiln fiend/wee dragonauts/w/e deck just got better. I doubt this have impact in burn or monoR. Flying is nice, but three mana is enough to keep this away from burn and less aggressive strategies are having trouble to find enough burn to make this good.

Chandra's Outrage - Four mana is probably the reason this will never see play, but four damage is usually enough to kill any creature. Hard to imagine a deck that would want this, even if it costed three though.

Ember Hauler - Burn, baby, burn. Very solid creature.


- GREEN -


Cultivate - I don't like Kodama's Reach, but it's nice to have two in case there will be a deck that can use some those extra lands.

Garruk's Companion - As long as dropping this on the second turn gives you no problems, it's bound to cause them.

Sacred Wolf - Armadillo Cloacks and equipments wanted. Not too exciting, but should be good enough to see play in decks that are loaded with aforementioned cards and removal for small creatures to avoid bad trades.

Sylvan Ranger - Very nice. Almost any deck that plays Elvish Visionary is going to want this (and some decks that don't want visionary, will want this, go figure).


- COLORLESS -


Sorcerer's Strongbox - Theoretically this could see play. Probably too weak, but certain colors might need to resort desperate measures. I highly doubt it though, but drawing multiple cards is something artifacts get very rarely, and there is also a potential for abusing this effect.

[so_not]

Chandra's Firespitter - Your kiln fiend/wee dragonauts/w/e deck just got better. I doubt this have impact in burn or monoR. Flying is nice, but three mana is enough to keep this away from burn and less aggressive strategies are having trouble to find enough burn to make this good.

Firespitter isn't really another Kiln Fiend/Wee dragonauts unless played in monoR. In some kind of UR tempo deck where kiln/dragonauts are good, there are many bounce/draw/counter/tap spells that doesn't work with Firespitter. On the other hand, it might be possible to abuse Firespitter in some sort of Goblin Bombardment-Sharpshooter-token-Murderous Redcap-Recurring Nightmare-engine deck.

[Tiggupiru]

True. I just wanted to point out the similarities of the card, as I really don't think kiln fiend/wee dragonauts is something you want to build your highlander deck around. I've yet to be truly impressed by kiln fiend and this guy just seems way worse. Potential abuse is always nice, but I rather build my decks to support something other than three mana 1/3. I am not implying this is a bad card, but I have serious doubts about him appearing anywhere.

I also missed the interaction between Ajani's Pridemate and Soul Warden. This is not improving pridemates chances of appearing in highlander by much, but that seems decent interaction in type two, although that format is more than equipped to handle a big creature with no evasion nor trample.

[Kristian]

I don't think the Pridemage will be played much, it's a 2/2 beater for 2. Sure it's nice if you got a Knight of the Meadowgrain, Baneslayer Angel or other solid source of life gain. But if you don't?... It also lack evasion and protection.

[Tiggupiru]

I don't think the Pridemage will be played much, it's a 2/2 beater for 2. Sure it's nice if you got a Knight of the Meadowgrain, Baneslayer Angel or other solid source of life gain. But if you don't?... It also lack evasion and protection.

This is pretty much the idea. If you have a deck that already plays several cards that gain life like Meadowgrain, Kitchen Finks, BSA, and the like, this could see enough synergy for it to be worhwhile. White Weenie does traditionally get two mana 2/2's, so the base stats are on par. Lack of evasion hurts, but I would not write him off the list of playables just yet. I mean, just by dropping this on turn two and then playing Finks puts this slightly above curve for monoW. More redundancy in the "good life gain" - department, and this guy could eventually find it's way to decks. As of now, I don't think it's quite good enough.

[Kristian]

I must admit that I have only a minor familarity with WW. It's also nice to have on the board when the opponent is forced to use Swords to Plowshares or Oust on one of your other creatures. If a Grizzly Bear is good enough for white weenie, then this is of course better, but isn't there any better 2cc creatures to fill that slot?

I feel like playing WW now, curse you!

EDIT: Oh yeah, Ember Hauler seems to be if not, then almost autoinclude in my monored goblin deck.

EDIT EDIT: Can anyone see Sacred Wolf being played? I mean it's no Troll Ascetic, but troll-shroud have always appealed to me because of equipments and rancor .

[Kassow-Rossing]

Goblin Piledriver when you mentioned Mogg Fanatic compared to Ember Hauler, I think you should also care to mention Goblin Legionnaire since it's the exact copy except for the white color and the name. Strikes me even more.

Ember Hauler is going to be an amazing card in Highlander. Goblin Legionnaire ruled standard and Extended as well in the Boros days.

[Tiggupiru]

I must admit that I have only a minor familarity with WW. It's also nice to have on the board when the opponent is forced to use Swords to Plowshares or Oust on one of your other creatures. If a Grizzly Bear is good enough for white weenie, then this is of course better, but isn't there any better 2cc creatures to fill that slot?

Grizzly bears are not good enough, and there are plethora of good two drops to choose from, but base stats for a white two drop are almost always 2/2, so this is not terribly behind on curve and after couple of activations, it's quite nice. This should not be going to any WW deck as of now, or atleast I wouldn't recommend. Just keep an eye out everytime white gets a WW staple lifelinker or another kitchen finks.

I feel like playing WW now, curse you!

Believe me, that will not last.

EDIT EDIT: Can anyone see Sacred Wolf being played? I mean it's no Troll Ascetic, but troll-shroud have always appealed to me because of equipments and rancor .

Rancor is not good enough to make this spectacular. 5/1 trampling guy is easy to chump with, but I think it might have a shot if you find yourself playing equipments and are not playing too many three drops.

--

Goblin Legionnaire ruled standard and Extended as well in the Boros days.

Same was true with mogg fanatic, but that was before M10 and the dreaded rules change. Now hauler is "just" a solid creature, but it's not going to cause problems in any format. The power creep would also make sure of this not being broken even if the damage still stacked. It's still an automatic include in aggressive red strategies in HL.

[Kassow-Rossing]

Tiggupiru everything you said is true. Ember Hauler is going to see much play. Trust me.

[Kristian]

The new Sun Titan seems cool, but I don't think it'll get beyond casual. Simply too vulnerable.

Sun Titan                      4ww   
Creature - Giant    Mythic
Vigilance
Whenever Sun Titan enters the battlefield or attacks, you may return target permanent card with converted mana cost 3 or less from your graveyard to the battlefield.
6/6

[Kassow-Rossing]

Sun Titan will not get any close to the Highlander format. Simply too weak and too expensive at the same time. Pure casual card

[pyyhttu]

Sun Titan will not get any close to the Highlander format.

How do you know? Name another creature card that has a similar unique effect the Titan now possesses.

You can't find any, meaning you can't dismiss it all that fast.

[GoblinPiledriver]

Poor casual card?
I don't think so. He returns a card to the battlefield just by coming into play. And he do it every round if he doesn't get shot down.
Yeah of course 6 Mana is much but the effect reminds me of cards like Baneslayer Angel or Jace the Mind Sculptor and these cards could get removed quite easily as the Titan.