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M11

Started by GoblinPiledriver, 11-06-2010, 03:47:55 PM

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Kassow-Rossing

Exactly! :) Can't wait for the release now! It is not often you get a bomb of a card in a new set when playing a deck like Staxx in Highlander. Have been lucky: Rise gave Awakening Zone and now M11 gives Desctructive Force

Kristian

Autumn's Veil   g
Instant    Uncommon
Spells you control can't be countered by blue or black spells this turn, and creatures you control can't be the targets of blue or black spells this turn.

Autumn's Veil looks nice if there's alot of control in your meta though it's no autoinclude. It's also somewhat decent against deck packing black removals like MBC but simply useless against things like naya. I wonder if we're getting a black counterspell too.
There can be only one!

GoblinPiledriver

I wonder a little bit about the use of Awakening Zone in Staxx Highlander. Getting a chump blocker for a creature like you had a maze sounds interesting,but on  the other Hand you could play mass destruction. And also the Mana Ramp ablity looks not so good as you would play a Mana Stone.


There are already black counterspells Dash Hopes from Planar Chaos. And of course Withering Boon from Mirage, a good old Remove Soul which always surprises th opponent.
Well I found Autumn's Veil horrible. You wait till there is a opportunity to protect one of your creatures or spell. But there is no reward you waited so long and then nearly nothing happens. A 1-1 trade looks not efficient enough for consideringh real play. And then there stands blue or  black, so you can't counter a sword or path.

The Brittle Effigy looks interesting as a tutor target for a Trinket Mage, but there are already many tutor targets for him. And usually you play the Mage for Sensei's Divining Top.  Executioner’s Capsule was better (different color)and wasn't been played often so this has an even worse probabilty off being played.

I want to discuss an other card the Mystifying Maze.
The picture looked like it's the new Maze of Ith. But in the inside there is just a 5 Mana Khor Haven which can't be used against any CIP creature. And there is no way of using it on your own creature.
Maybe there is one question if I really understanded this card right: There stands 'At the beginning of the next end step, return ... ownder's control.' That's the end step of the opponent, right? So he can attack normally on his next round?
Throw enough goblins at any problem and it should go away. At the very least, there'll be fewer goblins.

Kassow-Rossing

Awakening Zone is amazing in Staxx. Read my article to see why I personally believe so.
http://www.magicplayer.org/forum/index.php?topic=424.0

Zone gives: A new blocker each turn. Better than Maze in most cases since it builds up blockers if you don't lose any during a whole turn. When playing this many Planeswalkers, Zone gets even better.

Zone gives: More mana than a mana stone since it builds up mana each turn if you don't sacrifice one each and every turn.

Zone gives: Mana AND blockers even after an Armageddon, a Ravages of War, a Wildfire, a Burning of Xinye + Future M11 Destructive Flow and/or the likes. Zone is also amazing after a Winter Orb, Static Orb, Nether Void or the lighter Sphere of Resistance.

Zone, finally, adds permanents to the battlefield so Smokestack has some "free" food. Same goes for Tangle Wire to a much lesser extend.

The two first reasons are why Zone is really great. The third and fourth reasons is why Zone is better than almost any other ramp in Staxx (Read: Not the best)



Sorry about the off-topic. Back to M11 discussions: Destructive Force is awesome! :)

Kassow-Rossing

#64
And to your question: Yes

Mystifying Maze will return the creature to battlefield at the beginning of the next end step and not at the beginning of your or your opponents next end step. In other words: The creature will return at the beginning of the very first end step after activating the ability. So as quickly as possible.

Most likely it will be at the beginning of your opponents end step and he can therefore attack with it during his or her next combat phase.

Tiggupiru

- GREEN -

Leyline of Sancity - At first, it was rumored to be Ivory Mask, and I thought it would be a decent sideboard card in type 2. This could even become maindeckable in certain decks that want to mess with their opponents. Nullifying discard, burn and Gifts Ungiven is not bad. Too bad it costs four. Maybe some Enchantress type of deck?


- BLACK -


Viscera Seer - One mana sacrifice outlet with weak, but relevant ability.


- RED -


Arc Runner - I have no idea about the playability of Ball Lightning in HL, I would imagine this being decent enough to see play if old balls are still around.

Destructive Force - Worse than Burning of Xinye, Wildfire and Devastation, but still very much playable in a deck already running big red sweepers.

Manic Vandal - I've played Viridian Shaman without tribal interactions (in retrospect, playing Uktabi Orangutan would have been smarter, but I had foil Shaman), so this is obviously playable in a right deck.


- LAND -


Mystifying Maze - Even though it's worse than Maze of Ith and Kor Haven, it's still a land that provides value when you have nothing better to sink your mana into. Colorless acivation is the key here. Probably some monocolored control decks will find some use for this. Too bad you can't blink your own creatures.

malz77

Quote from: Tiggupiru on 28-06-2010, 09:29:20 AM
Primeval Titan - If there is some sick land combo, this could find it's way in. G/x ramp decks might also be interested of this, if they have a deck full of landy goodiness. This fetching Cabal Coffers + Urborg, and you have all the mana in the world. Especially, if he gets to bash. Valakut is a potent target in red/green ramps, also. I am not surprised if this ends up seeing no play at first, and then Wizards print something that makes this a nice combo enabler.

I think Careful Study followed by Shallow Grave is broken enough with this one...

GoblinPiledriver

Also Grave Titan plus Shallow Grave is a good opening.

Primeval Titan promises much potential. This card sounds good from Controll to Midrange to Reanimation-Decks


So lets try to figure out which one is the best of them:

Primeval Titan >> Sun Titan > Grave Titan >> Inferno Titan >>> Frost Titan

Decks for them:

Primeval Titan: 5CC, Land-Controll, UG/X-Controll

Sun Titan: 5CC, Creature-Controll, UW-Controll

Grave Titan: 5CC, Recursion-Creature-Controll, MBC

Inferno Titan: Ponza, Big Red, maybe 5CC

Frost Titan: ----
Throw enough goblins at any problem and it should go away. At the very least, there'll be fewer goblins.

Tiggupiru

#68
And again. Comments / criticism / questions for these are welcome.


- WHITE -


Quote from: Tiggupiru on 16-06-2010, 12:35:39 PMAjani'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.

I still think this could have a deck somewhere in future. In type two this has seen play, but HL is much more harsh for these kinds of cards.

Quote from: Tiggupiru on 16-06-2010, 12:35:39 PMBaneslayer Angel - I think this could see play. Get them while they are still cheap.

Totally called this one.

Quote from: Tiggupiru on 16-06-2010, 12:35:39 PMKnight Exemplar - A decent follow up of your standard WW play of "random 2/2 knight on the second turn", but I still would not like the idea of giving this guy a slot. Same case as the Captivating Vampire, there might be enough good Knights that this could see play, eventually.

...probably not, though.

Quote from: Tiggupiru on 06-07-2010, 02:10:52 PMLeyline of Sancity - At first, it was rumored to be Ivory Mask, and I thought it would be a decent sideboard card in type 2. This could even become maindeckable in certain decks that want to mess with their opponents. Nullifying discard, burn and Gifts Ungiven is not bad. Too bad it costs four. Maybe some Enchantress type of deck?

Enchantress of some sort might want this. Others don't unless you try to hate your metagame out.

Quote from: Tiggupiru on 16-06-2010, 12:35:39 PM
Sun Titan will probably see play in some decks. Unique ability and potentially multiple triggers makes this creature attractive enough. Six mana is a lot, and Baneslayer this is not. Just think of this as a mini-cascade that triggers even when cheated in to play. Vigilance is also a big plus because you don't need to give up any defence to get the trigger.

As long as you avoid putting this to a deck that is not loaded with synergy and potential targets, this can be good or even great. I think I want to try this in my Pattern-Rector deck.

I also wonder if there is a way to win just by oathing into this guy (I mean, you do get two activations, as you are obviously playing dragon breath).

I am still waiting something truly broken to find with Oath. The six mana cost is too much for the Pattern-Rector, but he might be upside enough for the UW control to play it. Haven't tried UW, I have no idea will it be enough, though.

Quote from: Tiggupiru on 16-06-2010, 12:35:39 PMWar Priest of Thune - An aggressively costed enchantment hater. Some Naya or Bant decks will probably like to see this, but is far from auto-include. WW traditionally plays too many enchantments to consider this, unless your meta is filled with Moats and such. If there is a BW aggro, they might be delighted to get rid of their own necropotence or phyrexian arena every once in a while.

Playable, might not be good enough to replace KoALa or Ronom Unicorn in WW, though.


- BLUE -


Quote from: Tiggupiru on 16-06-2010, 12:35:39 PMAEther 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.

Nothing to add. Still very Man-o'-Waresque, still little bit harder to cast, still very much playable.

Quote from: Tiggupiru on 16-06-2010, 12:35:39 PMDiminish - I don't think it's good enough, but man, is it cheap or what?

Cheap, but unplayable.

Quote from: Tiggupiru on 26-06-2010, 08:49:42 PMFrost Titan - Even worse than the red one. Makes me a very sad panda :(

This I did not underrate, blue has many, many better options than this.

Quote from: Tiggupiru on 01-07-2010, 09:13:55 AMLeyline of Anticipation - Not going to cut it in HL. I doubt it sees play elsewhere either as it is horrible if you draw multiples. It's powerful, but you almost never want to pay four mana and a card for this effect which makes this very awkward in HL.

Crap.

Quote from: Tiggupiru on 16-06-2010, 12:35:39 PMPreordain - 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.

Very nice for the combo decks. How obvious was this?

Quote from: Tiggupiru on 16-06-2010, 12:35:39 PMJace'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.

It needs plenty more help. Maybe after the upcoming Dredge/Flashback/Threshold/Delve - block. Maybe not.

Quote from: Tiggupiru on 16-06-2010, 12:35:39 PMJace's Ingenuity - 40counterspells.dec got a nice addon.

Nothing to add. Good if you don't fancy the idea of tapping out during your own turn.

Quote from: Tiggupiru on 25-06-2010, 03:46:59 PMTime Reversal I like. Not very broken with that mana cost, but draw 7 is draw 7 and some combo deck(s) want to play this.

I still like that this kind of card saw print. One or two of these and I think I could make a High Tide deck without that Spellweaver Volute =)


- BLACK -


Quote from: Tiggupiru on 16-06-2010, 12:35:39 PMCaptivating Vampire - Eventually there may be enough vampires around for this to be nice anthem, but as of now, quite miserable.

Many cards that might be something in this set already. This is one of the worst.

Quote from: Tiggupiru on 28-06-2010, 09:29:20 AMGrave Titan - Six mana 10/10? Probably still not good enough, but p/t is very respectable and tokens are something black can use very well outside of combat as well.

I was off by a mile. This is one of the best black finishers of all time. I put this in my MBC and suddenly I found myself winning.

Quote from: Tiggupiru on 16-06-2010, 12:35:39 PMLiliana's Specter - Give him a good equipment and he is decent. Cool way to get your ninjas across too. Without synergy, seems too weak.

Very much a decent dude. Better than Ravenous Rats/Corrupt Court Official as this actualy has a decent body and evasion.

Quote from: Tiggupiru on 30-06-2010, 10:22:33 AMPhylactery Lich - By the time you go through all that trouble of getting artifact into play and finding BBB for the mana cost, this is might not be the most impressive creature on the board. Nice blocker still, might have home in MBC, most likely too hard to tinker with in MBA.

Maybe after scars, but most likely not.

Quote from: Tiggupiru on 16-06-2010, 12:35:39 PMReassembling 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.

I doubt there is home for this. Sacrifice decks tend to have better things to sacrifice than this.

Quote from: Tiggupiru on 06-07-2010, 02:10:52 PMViscera Seer - One mana sacrifice outlet with weak, but relevant ability.

The little vampire that could. Should not be used outside of decks that want to sacrifice dudes.


- RED -


Quote from: Tiggupiru on 06-07-2010, 02:10:52 PMArc Runner - I have no idea about the playability of Ball Lightning in HL, I would imagine this being decent enough to see play if old balls are still around.

Haven't tried burn, so I still am clueles about this one.

Quote from: Tiggupiru on 16-06-2010, 12:35:39 PMChandra'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.

Not a good creature, at all.

Quote from: Tiggupiru on 16-06-2010, 12:35:39 PMChandra'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.

Too expensive.

Quote from: Tiggupiru on 16-06-2010, 12:35:39 PMEmber Hauler - Burn, baby, burn. Very solid creature.

Solid. Obv.

Quote from: Tiggupiru on 06-07-2010, 02:10:52 PMDestructive Force - Worse than Burning of Xinye, Wildfire and Devastation, but still very much playable in a deck already running big red sweepers.

Nothing to add.


Quote from: Tiggupiru on 16-06-2010, 12:35:39 PMHoarding Dragon - The stats are bad and I really don't like the idea of paying five mana for a fabricate that needs to die to get the effect. I just wonder if they are going to print some nice card to go with this in Scars of Mirrodin. Hard to imagine such card being any good, though.

I still don't think there is going to be a card to make this playable, ever.

Quote from: Tiggupiru on 16-06-2010, 12:35:39 PMInferno Titan is clearly lacking. Good news is that it has CIP (or ETB) ability that is not bad at all. The problem is that there are so many better creatures (like Crater Hellion and it's kin). You shouldn't ever need to resort to this, no matter what the deck.

Wayy better that I originally though. Still has much competition in form of Crater Hellion and similiar creatures, but this does not decimate your own board which is a big plus.

Quote from: Tiggupiru on 06-07-2010, 02:10:52 PMManic Vandal - I've played Viridian Shaman without tribal interactions (in retrospect, playing Uktabi Orangutan would have been smarter, but I had foil Shaman), so this is obviously playable in a right deck.

Other than bragging about my sweet foil Viridian Shaman, I have nothing to add.

Quote from: Tiggupiru on 30-06-2010, 10:22:33 AMPyretic Ritual - Easy to figure out if you want this in your TPS or R/X storm or something, as it's a functional reprint.

Nothing to add. Ritual is a ritual.


- GREEN -


Quote from: Tiggupiru on 16-06-2010, 12:35:39 PMCultivate - 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.

Again, nice to have this as an option.

Quote from: Tiggupiru on 01-07-2010, 09:13:55 AMFauna Shaman - Comparing this to survival is stupid, they both give you the same effect, but this requires full turn to get active, activates only once per turn, and it's much more easy to remove. That being said, this is a solid creature. If you are combo, or some kind of aggro-control, you might want to enlist her. Just don't dust off your old Survival decks and replace it with this expecting everything to be like it used to. Genesis, Squee and other bad cards should not be in your deck just because this gives them a little synergy.

Wayy better than I give credit the first time. Staple in almost any green deck that plays creatures, which includes all of them.

Quote from: Tiggupiru on 28-06-2010, 09:29:20 AMGaea's Revenge - Seven mana is a lot, but 8/5 haste that has practically a shroud are stats that Hypergenesisters will most likely want to sleeve up. Could be included in reanimator, if you find yourself needing hasted shrouds that can end game in three swings. Might be a little better than simic sky swallower, but this is certainly debatable as the lack of evasion really hurts.

I have nothing to add. I have only limited experiences with this and so far it's been decent.

Quote from: Tiggupiru on 16-06-2010, 12:35:39 PMGarruk's Companion - As long as dropping this on the second turn gives you no problems, it's bound to cause them.

Nothing to add. Solid beater.

Quote from: Tiggupiru on 16-06-2010, 12:35:39 PMObstinate Baloth - Very nice. Built-in protection from discard, and otherwise Loxodon Hierarch (without the ability that everyone likes to think is relevant, but almost never is). If Wizards did not print this to neuter Blightning, I'll eat my breakfast.

Usually better than Loxodon Hierarch. That is reason enough to write this off as a playable.

Quote from: Tiggupiru on 16-06-2010, 12:35:39 PMOverwhelming Assault - Any deck that wants to play Overrun is not going to be able to can guarantee this as an second Overrun. That being said, work the numbers and this might be a little better. Nothing too spectacular, though.

1) Play this
2) They remove your biggest guy
3) =(

Just bad.

Quote from: Tiggupiru on 28-06-2010, 09:29:20 AMPrimeval Titan - If there is some sick land combo, this could find it's way in. G/x ramp decks might also be interested of this, if they have a deck full of landy goodiness. This fetching Cabal Coffers + Urborg, and you have all the mana in the world. Especially, if he gets to bash. Valakut is a potent target in red/green ramps, also. I am not surprised if this ends up seeing no play at first, and then Wizards print something that makes this a nice combo enabler.

Nothing much to add. Decent finisher with the ability to toolbox some answers and it enables you to start dropping eldrazis.

Quote from: Tiggupiru on 16-06-2010, 12:35:39 PMSacred 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.

If wizards keep printing good creatures with troll-shroud, you could have a nice deck with auras and equipment. It could happen. Not today though.

Quote from: Tiggupiru on 16-06-2010, 12:35:39 PMSylvan 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).

Just compare this to Elvish Visionary and that should give you an idea how much you want to play this in your deck(s).


- ARTIFACT -


Quote from: Tiggupiru on 01-07-2010, 02:08:18 PMCrystal Ball - Another one that I dismiss as a unplayable. Three mana for a card that gives no card advantage, has no legs, and requires mana to be used for an effect that is not that good, is just too much. Sure, you could argue about the virtual card advantage it will bring, but there aren't many cases this even provides that. I mean, once you have like three good cards on top your deck, this does nothing for two turns.

The sensei synergy is nothing too spectacular either, if you need to dig for a specific card, there are tutors that actually finds the card in question in a reasonable time. And even with sensei, this is really bad once you filter couple of lands on the bottom and need to draw those good cards first to start using this for a profit again.

Bad. The initial investment is too much. Play Scroll Rack instead.

Quote from: Tiggupiru on 16-06-2010, 12:35:39 PMSorcerer'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.

Many good artifacts coming this way in the new Mirrodin, so you probably never need to resort to this.

Quote from: Tiggupiru on 16-06-2010, 12:35:39 PMTemple Bell - Missed this one completely. It's a weak howling mine, but the decks that want this effect, will want to see if this is good enough. I've played horn of greed in my howling mine decks and it was playable. This is almost like horn, so I would imagine this getting a slot. Obviously, has also potential to draw multiples in one turn with artifact untappers. Granted, there aren't many that are playable, but Tezzert is okay.

Playable. Also, much win with Mind over Matter.


- LAND -


Quote from: Tiggupiru on 06-07-2010, 02:10:52 PMMystifying Maze - Even though it's worse than Maze of Ith and Kor Haven, it's still a land that provides value when you have nothing better to sink your mana into. Colorless acivation is the key here. Probably some monocolored control decks will find some use for this. Too bad you can't blink your own creatures.

Still playable in monocolored control decks, maybe not worth it if you decide to play multiple colors.