And so it begins.....
Wow, its been forever since I have blogged and I blame that on the insane amount of busy-ness that my life entailed. I began summer classes at the beginning of May and continued with those all the way til June 16th. June involved a TON of magic as most people know. Now I am back at home enjoying the comforts of being lazy. Attended the local Pre-release hosted at the downtown shop in Warrensburg, MO. Needless to say, here are my thoughts and the ten cards I believe will shape Standard.
1. The Titan's
Do I really have to say more? They have shaped standard for the past year and with their reprinting in M12 I cant imagine much changing here. To save five spots on our list I'll combine them into one.
2. Jace, Memory Adept
2 Blue 3 Colorless - 4 loyalty
+1 - Draw a card. opponent discards a card.
0 - Discard the top ten cards of target players library.
-7 - Any number of target players may draw twenty cards.
From what I hear not many people are very keen on the new Jace. They talk about how he cant protect himself and how he is a significant downgrade from The Mind Sculptor but what else does anyone expect? A new, equally great card that matches Jace 2.0 in power. At 5 mana he is significantly slower, provides less protection, and doesnt do quite as much for right now. Thats the key point though, "for right now." Innistrad has been confirmed as a graveyard themed block and what does Jace 3.0 do? "0 - Discard the top 10 cards of target players library." This card wont be sleeping on anyone because anyone who has a clue is picking up their jaces in hopes of another Mind Sculptor.
3. Visions from the Beyond
1 Blue
Draw a card. If a player has more then twenty cards in their graveyard, draw three instead.
With the previous card, Jace, leading us right into the sleeper card of the set. With the next block being graveyard themed, expect a lot of cards to just be chilling in peoples death piles and this cards ability is insane. Its an ancestral recall as soon as their are twenty cards in a players graveyard. ANY players graveyard, this is insane. at its worst it cycles and at its best it does what the same thing a card got banned for. Pick these up when you can and as often as you can.
4. Chandra's Phoenix
2 Red 1 Colorless
2/2 - Flying, Haste
When an opponent is dealt damage by a sorcery or instant or by a red planeswalker, you may return Chandra's Phoenix back to your hand.
Obscenely good and fits perfectly into any red deck. Who can complain about a red creature that keeps disentombing all the time. You can have an endless chump blocker or just start dealing damage very quickly. I believe this to the card of the set that people dont expect to be amazing but will skyrocket. Such a powerful ability.
5. Gideon Jura
2 White 3 Colorless - 6 loyalty
+2 - All creatures target player controls must attack Gideon next turn.
-2 - Destroy target tapped creature
0 - Until end of turn, Gideon becomes a 6/6 human soldier creature. Prevent all damage that would be dealt to him this turn.
With the reprinting of Gideon I was quite hesitant due for my fondness of Elspeth. Being rather new to the game I actually had never been able to play with Gideon until this past week in which I played him at two consecutive tournaments. For the longest time I didn't believe Gideon to be any good and that showed how little I knew of Magic. This card is straight beating and is very hard to kill. In my head previously he was just a waste of five mana because he would die immediately, but this dude doesnt seem to die and is a huge swing of momentum if you can get him to resolve and live. With the next card, this could turn into the theme of the set "Gather Your Allies."
6. Gideon's Avenger
2 White 1 Colorless
2/2 - When a creature an opponent controls becomes tapped, put a +1/1 counter on Gideon's Avenger.
This card just ruins any aggro theme deck to the dismay of red. Imagine your opponent has a Grim Lavamancer in play and attempts to kill your avenger by shooting him for two damage, well tapping the Lavamancer then puts the Avenger out of reach and it quickly rolls downhill from there. This card I believe will see significant play if Innistrad donates any amount of help.
7. Adaptive Automaton
3 Colorless
2/2 - Adaptive Automaton enters the battlefield, choose a creature type. Adaptive is a that creature type in addition to his own.
Other creatures you control of that creature type gain +1/1.
This card looks fun and I see it filling quite a bit of rogue decks in the near future. With red running rampant in peoples brains I can see people trying to brew other strategies to deter the effects of red and what better way then to get creatures out of shock or bolt range. Im not quite sure this card will find a legitimate tier 1 deck spot but will see a ton of play elsewhere.
8. Bloodlord of Vaasgoth
2 Black 3 Colorless
3/3 - Bloodthirst 3
Other Vampires gain Bloodthirst 3 when they are cast.
Im not quite sure what to think of Vampires at the moment. They are in quite the pinch, this card is really good late game for Vampires in case games due end going for quite awhile. Vampires try to kill quickly usually at the expense of their life and what better way then to add free counters to each of your vamps. I want to see what cards get leaked from Innistrad before seeing if this card will serious play but I would keep an eye out for it.
9. Oblivion Ring
1 White 2 Colorless
When Oblivion Ring enters the battlefield, target permanent is exiled.
When Oblivion Ring leaves the battlefield, you many return target permanent to the battlefield.
This card is absurd and there is a reason it sees play in legacy and multiple formats. Not many cards can swing a game quite like this one can at the cheap cost of three mana. From being able to exile a huge creature your opponent controls like emrakul to exiling your own huge creature to follow it up with Planar Cleansing this card is a strict beating. Being able to ring up any card on the battlefield is huge and I expect this to be a three to four-of in many decks running white.
10. Garruk, Primal Hunter
3 Green 2 Colorless - 3 Loyalty
+1 - Put a 3/3 Beast token creature onto the battlefield.
-3 - Draw cards equal to the greatest power amongst creatures you control.
-6 - Put a 6/6 Wurm token creature onto the battlefield for each land you control.
I see this card being completely built around and seeing quite a bit of standard play. He protects himself through an endless stream of 3/3 bodies. He offers card advantage through his +1 and his draw ability and to top it all off he pretty much ends the game outright with his ultimate unless his opponent carries a Day of Judgement which currently is not seeing much play at all in sideboards let alone main decking. This card is going to go a long way and I expect him to be the post played Planeswalker in the format.
This is my opinion on how standard is going to shape up in the future 2/3 months. I expect many people trying to beat face with red as red has obtained an infinite amount of help for this time period. Never in the history of Magic has Lightning bolt, incinerate, and shock been legal in standard and you throw all the other burn in along with grim lavamancer and this deck is going to wreck for sometime.
Until next time, have a good one.
Hutch
