Man, it has been a long time since I wrote last. This kid takes up a lot of time. I have some stuff to catch up on.
To start, this card's a banger obviously. You don't have to play with Fabled Passage or whatever to make it work, it's just really good. I don't think it's an auto-four-of in Explorer and Pioneer but I also don't think any of the other 2 mana removal spells are even close to this.
So this is the card in Lost Caverns that has me the most interested. Not necessarily interested because I think it's very good, interested because I want to find out how good it is, it's an interesting puzzle to solve. I was a huge Merfolk Branchwalker fan, and I don't think that Branchwalker is that far away from playable right now in Explorer and Pioneer. To have that card at a mana cheaper starts to look interesting. One-drops aren't usually something we're into with this style deck because they can't typically bake that much flexibility into a card that costs just one mana. But this is different. We are interested in all the things it's doing here. I would play a one mana 1/1 that draws a card, and I'd play an Isamaru that lets you surveil 1 on ETB.
The Scout dramatically downshifts the deck, which in certain metagames is great, and in others won't be. From what I've seen lately in Explorer, I'm more interested in being quick out of the gates than in playing a longer game, so it's been good. At the very least, it's a package to have in your pocket when you want to turn into a more aggressive version of the deck.
I also tested an up-shifted version of the deck with Appraiser and kinda liked it. But, WotC accidentally made it a broken card so we don't get to play it anymore.
Something I've touched on a few times is when you really want to go top rope after sideboard and go up to a six-mana value hammer, which card you should play. Chimil has been pretty cool, can't say for sure it's going to be a better card than Garruk Cursed Huntsman or whatever else. So far, I have enjoyed it. The Carnosaur is another option that's great if you're not doing Jegantha. What's great about it is the ability to just not be a six-drop when you want it to not be, yet still be a really good six-drop when you get that far. I just have a personal philosophical struggle with cutting Jegantha for a 2-of in the sideboard, but if you're already down that path then the Carnosaur is great. Again, it's just super low opportunity cost, since the Channel ability is going to be quite useful.
As far as these lands go, I haven't found a reason that either of the creature lands are better than Restless Cottage. The food token is a huge deal from the Cottage, so I'm sticking with that. I could see the Restless Vents being better if you are running into a lot of Narset or something similar, which is funny because it's triggered ability is so bad against Narset. As for the Hidden lands, they're not too far off. I've played a game where I was dead on board unless I hit something good off my Hidden Necropolis and did and came back to win, those games will happen. But, the creature lands in our colors are so good and so on-theme with a geared-down version of the deck, I can't really get behind this at the moment. I think the Hidden lands would be better in a higher-curve type of deck. Your hits would be better, you're less likely to be interested in the damage push of a Den of the Bugbear or whatever, your mana fixing might be better, and you might have more mana to activate the land anyways.
These are two cards that look great, but are just probably going to be on the bench along with every other cool and pushed three-drop that isn't Fable and Bonecrusher Giant. Sentinel is a phenomenal card, and I'd be playing four in every deck no matter what if I played Standard. Hey, who knows, maybe there will come a time when it's better than Fable for some reason, like they make a Magma Spray/Demystify Command. Huatli is more interesting. I think it's powerful, works well with itself in that it gives you extra mana and then something to do with the mana, but it's tough to build around a legendary creature like that, and by that I mean putting enough basics in the deck to make her work. Is it worth cutting your dual lands to play a 2-of legendary creature that's probably not any better than other three drops you could play instead? If you're playing, say, 4 basics total for some other reason already then she looks better, but like always, the three drop slot is very full.
This is where I'm at right now after the new set. Can't really put my stamp of approval on it yet, but I like what's going on. I think the sideboard needs work.
A couple other things that are interesting happening around now is that Tarkir block is going to be on Arena soon, and that there's already new spoilers coming for the next set down the road. Here's my take on Tarkir.
I don't think that either of these cards are superstars, but they are both somewhat useful things we didn't have access to in Explorer in the past. Tasigur is a great threat. It's a delve card but it's actually at its best when the game goes late, so you can delve away all your stuff you don't want and then activate it the turn it enters play. You can get it into play sort of cheap, but it's not going to be turbo'd out quickly in this format. Murderous Cut has that same issue, where at its best it's a Doom Blade on turn three or later, but can't really do anything in the early game, where you may want as much removal as possible against the most aggressive decks. It's cheap, but it's not fast. I would caution against playing more than two or so delve cards in a list of 60 that doesn't involve purposefully filling the graveyard, and also staying away from them if you intend on playing Kroxa or Polukranos.
These three creatures are a few of my favorites from the before times, but they've probably been crept out of contention. For what it's worth, Warden of the First Tree still might have some juice. I'm still a big Evolved Sleeper fan, and Warden is similar. It's more of an anti-aggro version of the card and Evolved Sleeper is more of an anti-control card. If Red decks (or Smuggler's Copter, which is a whole thing) make your life total under pressure more, then Warden is a solid choice if you're looking for something in the one-drop slot.
This card is the real deal. It's an excellent anti-control card out of the sideboard, and not that bad of a main deck card either. I am excited to get to use this again. It'll probably be at least a 2-of in the sideboard in most Explorer decks I play, so long as the control decks in the format can't too easily deal with enchantments.
Real quick, just wanted to talk about this because I saw it and I like it. This might be the actual best six mana value hammer sideboard card once the Murder Mystery set comes out. It's a huge body, gives you value the turn you cast it (not ETB though!), and continues to provide value every turn. Untapping with it should be the game, and not untapping with it will be good enough a lot of the time. Very cool! Excited to try it.
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In addition to this stuff, they also made an announcement that they're going to have a format called Timeless that's kind of like Historic but with lots of stuff unbanned, including the fetchlands when they come out in Tarkir block, and some of the super powerful stuff from the additional stuff they put into sets these days. It's like Arena Vintage. I'm basically not interested in it. Too many wildcards to spend and too many Arena-only cards that have a novel of text. Which is a shame, I miss the days of playing Deathrite Shaman and Fetchlands, but what can you do. That's all for now. Thanks for reading.
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