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Dragon's Maze Spoiler

Started by MMD, 10-04-2013, 07:37:55 PM

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MMD

Spoiler Saison: http://www.mtgsalvation.com/dragons-maze-spoiler.html

First evaluation:

HL Playables:

Advent of the Wurm – Auto include in every midrange/control deck which can reliably produce GGW1 turn three. Combat trick to kill attackers (and survive) and capable of killing evil Planeswalkers. Instant/token is not a too big downside, there are even some advantages (e.g. Snapcaster). Very strong in control mirrors, against wrath effects and with soulbond creatures. I will not be surprised if this card climbs in value considerably.

Ral Zarek – Another very playable Planeswalker, especially in midrange/aggrocontrol builds. Reminds me of Ajani Vengeant but its +1 ability is not on the same power level but brings one loyalty as compensation to shoot 2 times in a row on request.

Wear//Tear – First Disenchant like effect worth playing due to its possibility to trade 2:1

Borderline:

Lavinia of the Tenth – Lavinia can completely break stalls in creature mirrors. Its protection certainly also has its use, especially against Flametounge Kavu. But five mana for a 4/4 is a lot outside of midrange mirrors and/or if you cannot make a considerable amount of combat damage in the turn Lavinia hits play. Bonkers if paired with Karakas.

Render Silent – I usually don't consider three mana counter spells any more but this one seems playable to me as you should be safe to counter the first threat in many situations. Certainly still very clunky.

Excava, Rakdos Blood Witch – The problem is that Rakdos is rarely played and in 3-5C decks there are already too many better options.  I don´t think that the 1+ counter ability will find many applications.

Honorable mention:

Deputy of Acquittals – There are a lot of creatures to use this ability for value but its body is quite weak. This card is quite borderline but I would not be surprised if somebody packs it in his beloved 187 creature deck. Nobody plays the mostly better Stonecloaker either any more.

Master of Cruelties – Nicely designed but I am afraid that this is another kitchen table card as  his effect will not trigger very often. With BR colours it will be easier to win on another angle.

Beck//Call – I am sure someone find a home for this card. I fizzled here.

Feel free to browse through my MKM account:

http://www.magickartenmarkt.de/index.php?mainPage=showSellerChart&idInfoUser=13199

I also have a huge amount of chinese and japanese foil HL staples not listed yet,  which I would like to downgrade to english foil. Just let me know!

tonytahiti

imo lavinia is a way better card than that worm token.

just the thought of getting my worm repealed makes my stomach hurt. there are many bounce effects in highlander and other effects (azorius charm) that make creature tokens a liability.

lavinia on the other hand: that.is.a.card.

(and thanks for starting this thread, i agree on every other card you mentioned)
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

rydl

Quote from: MMD on 10-04-2013, 07:37:55 PM
Deputy of Acquittals – There are a lot of creatures to use this ability for value but its body is quite weak. This card is quite borderline but I would not be surprised if somebody packs it in his beloved 187 creature deck. Nobody plays the mostly better Stonecloaker either any more.

deputies bounce trigger is a may effect while stonecloakers isn't, which is a major differnece imo
besides that and what tonytahiti mentioned about the worm token, i pretty much agree on every other card

MMD

#3
Wurm - Bounce (or comparable) effects are certainly a problem which I took into account before I made my evaluation. The card is still a new staple for me as a 5/5 creature with flash and trample simply dominates the board.

Deputies - I realized the "may" wording but I would better spend one more mana for all the other advantages a Stonecloaker has to offer which isn´t played either.

More food for thoughts:

Voice of Resurgence - Strongest in a GWb Pattern shell but the card should be strong enough for its own for GW Maverick or similar builds. Combine it with Saffi + Sacc Outlet FTW.
Feel free to browse through my MKM account:

http://www.magickartenmarkt.de/index.php?mainPage=showSellerChart&idInfoUser=13199

I also have a huge amount of chinese and japanese foil HL staples not listed yet,  which I would like to downgrade to english foil. Just let me know!

tonytahiti

#4
short set review:

green (selesnya, gruul)

skylasher - this card should find a home in bant tempo decks (like the one found in the top8 of the hl cup) since its very efficient. while being efficient this is also narrow. it straight up eats a few big role players in this meta (geist of saint traft, edric, clique) but its also very underpowered in size compared to most creatures zoo runs. zoo will not want this i assume, 4c and 5c wont either. pro blue is something those decks dont really crave, also non counterable on a 2/2 is not something to go wild about. (very few situations where blue base control decks are not more scared of your mainphase-ownturn play than this little guy eot)

advent of the wurm - this is made for bant midrange and 4c goodstuff. its stats are convincing, only but pretty relevant downside is the token. repeal, into the roil,recoil will love facing this but it should still be good enough, since most likely you get swing in with this. not a no brainer in my opinion though/preferance.

voice of resurgence - i feel this card is kind of the real deal BUT i still feel its a little overhyped. its a very good hatebear and it kinda chokes you in the way you play if you run alot of instants or flash creatures, but there are ways to deal with it on your own turn (path,swords,bounce) so that this card does not bother you at all.in a creature based matchup it probably just sits there as a blocker, or you attack with it and your opponent gladly takes the 2 damage. green white (colors zoo/4c/5c bases its creatures on) want aggressive creatures which this is not. i think this will see a lot of play though. that said i rather face this than thalia turn two.

blue (simic, dimir)

notions thief - the cards powerlevel is as high as the card is narrow. extremely high power level while being extremely narrow. against aggro decks this looks embarassing against control played in the right spot, this just wins you the game. highlander known as a format where you want cards with a steady power level, is not where this will shine (if it will shine at all anywhere, probably only in sideboards).

Aetherling – i have not played with it. but i think its probably insane. Its an unremovable nightmare that kills you in 2-3 turns late game. While i think this card is extremely undervalued right now, i am not sure where it fits into highlander since you can argue its a 7 drop. (standard feels much slower, unless you play against silly naya blitz). But once its there it will stay there and it will kill you. Resolve this against some slow grinding control deck (oath, esper) with mana open and they die in a few turns and there is basically nothing they can do about it unless they have maze of ith or humility.

Far// away – this card is good enough for ub control or bug tempo strategies i think. Its too versatile to not see play. I have been very impressed with the fuse cards.


red (izzet, boros)

ral zarek - good planeswalker with a very good second ability and a first ability that is either pretty sweet or does nothing. it can always ramp you for one mana or take opponents counter mana, it can give your creazure vigilance and tap a blocker. the 4 loyalty and double bolt option i think will make this a role player in uwr, ur, grixis.

nivix cyclops - pretty overlooked card in my opinion. it gives colors a big beater that normally dont have them. ur midrange or uwr midrange will try this out (was pretty convinced in testing), the 4 toughness will require an answer from aggro and in the right deck this can swing for TONS of damage ouf ot basically nowhere. plus attacking intothis is very awkward..imagine you have two 3/3 and opponent has this with open red mana..do you attack? or is this cyclops the scariest cyclops ever and you bail out?

legions initiative – interesting design and very hard to evaluate card that does alot but does it do anything good enough for it to be playable? Not sure yet, at first i was very convinced but a friend of mine(more of an aggro player) called this unplayable and i can see why, the half anthem is cute so is the blink team clause..but you know whats not cute? holding up two mana open always. Not sure about this. If: then boros obv.

Wear//tear – this card is so much better than disenchant when u running rw its stupid. With some equipment gone in the meta, i am not sure whether you want to run this but if you looking for a disenchant kinda card this is miles and away the best option (this can lead to blow outs against control decks (even aggro decks, bitterblossom plus sword gone for 3 mana feels dirty).

Turn//burn – i actually think this is the strongest fuse card (better than far/away) since it often just two for ones the opponent which far away does not (token excluded). PLUS dealing with an thragtusk or angel of siranity or reveillark or academy rector without giving them the almost assured effect is pretty big. I was very impressed with this so far.

Black (golgari, rakdos)

Master of cruelties – awesome card but not good enough. too narrow/too crazy/too wtf.

Sire of insanity – while this card just embarrases sphinx revelation decks and control decks in standard, i doubt its good enough for highlander but the effect is very unique so we might see it pop up in some jund midrange built.

Spike jester – if you fee like hasty jund this should be considered. I feel this card is good but it does not really has a home in hl (maybe in all in aggro decks)

Exava blood witch – again, some hasty jund deck or all in rakdos deck will love this card 4 mana 4/4 haste, first strike seems good enough for hl (has to find home though).



White (ohrzhov, azorius)

lavinia of the tenth - this card is hard to evaluate i feel like. its in colors where the effect it has is alot worse than in other colors. so it makes your whole team unblockable while fogging the opponent next turn (flash and haste creatures excluded). if you in a race, this is silly good, it probably just wins right there, but considering you are in blue/white this needs to find the right home. nice that it detains the formats strongest planeswalkers too (jace, ajani, elspeth, garruk) so this will probably do SOMETHING in any matchup. pro red is nice but having 4 toughness is KINDA havin pro red anyway (kavu and mizzium mortars beg to differ). its holding ground against kavu, thoctar, ram gang, reckoner so yeah i think this will see some play/not convinced though yet.

Deputy of acquittals – while i LOVE this card i am not sure it will see play. The "may" in the text is obviously huge and i feel its an elegant creature with lots of applications. Best home for this is probably tempo bant and uw skies/aggro and uwr blink.

Blood baron of vizkopa – i think people are crazy too think that this is not a good card. this card is awesome. i also think its way undepriced and you should buy 21432432 of them right now. a mythic and not a legend? i think its one of the common mistakes people make when evaluating a card..when it does TOO much or has TOO much text and ONE line of text on the card is not awesome, they think its bad. The weird 30+ life clause..nobody cares about that. Its 5 mana 4/4 pro white/pro black lifelink monster that dodges so much removal its not even fair. (ghastly demise, dreadbore, maelstrom pulse, putrefy, vindicate, detention sphere, o-ring, terminate, go for the throat, path, swords, parallax wave, faiths fetters, azorius charm)..so whats left..kavu and mizzium mortars or double burn spell or bounce..fair. with stoneforge mystic gone this imo is miles and away a better card than batterskull (prowhiteproblack > vigilance all day).

Renounce the guild – while the effect seems good against alot of decks  its probably still too narrow (even for ww)


I probably forgot a few playable cards, but i realized set reviews are ffreakin exhausting. To conclude: i feel this set gives hl a few toys and considering its a small set, i am happy with the amount of playables.



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

MMD

Sharp analysis imo. Just my 2cents:

Aetherling - I unfortunately don´t see him working bc of the high mana cost, even if I want this soo much bc I am a former Vintage player and love my Morphling and this is a much better update. Perhaps in a UWx Artifact Ramp deck. I´ll definately try him.

(Btw, MMD is a shortcut for "Morphling Must Die" which is an insider story from the old days.)

Blood Baron - Awesome? I don´t know. If I want to spend 5 Mana on a creature there are a lot of other cards which come first imo.

Varolz - He´s not mentioned and I think he should. OK he is not one of the best beaters for three mana but he´s a quality sacc outlet and can give a huge power boost in the late game which can be game swinging. I would bet on him in rockish builds. He does not need a Death's Shadow to make him playable.
Feel free to browse through my MKM account:

http://www.magickartenmarkt.de/index.php?mainPage=showSellerChart&idInfoUser=13199

I also have a huge amount of chinese and japanese foil HL staples not listed yet,  which I would like to downgrade to english foil. Just let me know!

Dreamer

That Varolz is both GSZ-able and hardcastable is pretty huge for Pattern decks.

LasH

My favorite card of the set for highlander is Obzedat's Aid

I totally like to reanimate planeswalkers or stuff like decree of silence.

I agree on blood baron i think he is aweseome, finally a nice creature with the best protections in this format. Only flametongue kavu is his real enemy atm.