Me and some of my buddies went through every card in the set in preparation for the GP and PTQ season. Still a few PTQ's left both live and online, so thought I'd share. I didn't like the format I chose for M12, but haven't come up with a better one, for Dark Ascension I hope to revamp this blog, but gotta figure out a format that makes sense. If you have questions comments, please share. Keep in mind, most of these notes were made early in the season, if I feel differently now, i'll include it between *asterisks* afterward.
Blue Commons.
Claustrophobia -yeah, sweet removal, reminds me of narcolepsy from Rise, but even better becasue it taps the guy immediately if you need to attack. One of the top blue commons.
Stitched Drake pretty sweet flier for attacking or blocking, not really a 3 drop very often though. Too many of this guy (or combined with mauler) makes it tough to keep dudes in your bin with out some type of self-milling. *I find this guy better in U/B than in U/W skies, because he normally doesn't come down until turn 4 or 5 anyway, there are usually more aggressive dudes you can play. As a blocker in a U/B deck he's amazing, not to mention any Zombie synergy.*
Makeshift Mauler Sweet card on attacks and blocks but again, too many of the exile-costed guys can get awkward. *I'll say the same thing again here, too, much better in the U/B decks, i also especially like this guy in U/G, because he demands being chump blocked which turns on your Green morbid guys*
Silent Departure Very very good in sealed, less so in draft, but yes, sweet tempo card. *I'm going to retract my earlier thought, this card is also amazing in draft. It's a great catch-all, that can buy you up to two turns from a single threat. Or move two blockers, or deal with tokens, etc etc etc.*
Moon Heron meh. solid filler dude. *I'm still Lower on this guy than most, I want more than a 3/2 for 4mana, but he is a flier, and if thats what you need, then he'll fit the mold*
Selhof Occultist One of my pet cards. you dont have to be a mill deck to win by mill with this guy. especially with stichers apprentice. also just amazing as a 2/3, also is a human if that's relevant in your deck, or matchup.*Mentioned here, but 2/3's for 3 are just so good. I play him in any blue deck I draft, but I don't pick him extremely high. Typically from 5th-9th.*
Deranged Assistant- This guy is pretty f'ing good, but i still like stitchers apprentice more in general as a two drop, but would also rather have one of each before i took a second apprentice. *I still agree with this. The blue decks don't have an urgent need for ramp. The U/G is an exception, and i'd upgrade this guy slightly in that deck. He's solid, but again, i like the other two-drops a lot more.*
Fortress Crab- {One of our friends} doesn't like this guy, but i do. i love blocking in this sealed format. House in the mill deck, amazing in any control deck. doesn't make the cut in an aggro deck. *pretty straight forward, a 1/6 will always be a 1/6. and I <3 blocking*
Lost in the Mist- Any blue sealed deck should run this, usually ends the game. Draft, its more deck dependent, and if you need a spell like this.
Armored Skaab I avoid playing this guy if possible. Might be a 23rd, or if you absolutely need enablers for yoru stitched drake or something because you dont have any others., but otherwise, not great. *He's certainly no Fortress Crab*
Frightful Delusion I like this card, in theory. It just normally doesn't make the cut for me. If I blow someone out with it game one, i always board it out. They'll play around it for the rest of the match anyway, and it can do its job from the sideboard. *I'm a little higher on this card now, I try to make room for it in a blocking deck.*
Sttichers apprentice -I'm so huge on this guy. he combos with almost everyhthing. Occultist, Morbid, He infi-blocks once you've deflected one removal spell into a token, you can just block with a token, sac and replace the token. he is sweet with pitchburn devils, rage thrower, unruly mob, lumberknot, thran sentry, falkenrath noble, etc etc etc, so bonkers. multiples gets silly fast, and its not hard to play up his synergy. Easier to sculpt a deck around this guy in draft, but also easy to grind out long games in sealed. *Yeah, all of this i still want to have babies with this homunoculus*
Think twice-Okay, card advantage in general is hard to find in this set, but again, most the blue cards are so good this often gets cut.
Forbidden alchemy-Bomb heavy format, find your bomb, or your answer to theirs. also turns on your blue guys that need guys in the bin to cast. a much better enabler for those guys than the horned turtle. *Now I basically only play this in U/B. I've found smoothing draws alone is not enough reason to play this card, but the added card advantage of flashback, makes it a easy slot in the deck.*
Spectral Flight-as good as a creature aura can get. for 2 mana you're getting pretty good value as +2+2 and flying, but again it rarely makes the cut for me, but it doesn't surprise me when people play it against me. *I still haven't played this card but once, but I still fear it.*
Sensory Deprivation I think its acutally OK. Not excited to play it, but if you lack removal in your pool, its a pretty good stall card. great sideboard card, role player maindeck in a weak pool. *Pretty solid in a Mill deck, when you aren't attacking. The fact that they can still chump effectively with the creature is pretty lame.*
Hysterical Blindness -fog in a mill deck is about the only way i like this card, it has applications, but i doubt any of them come up enough. *Got blown out by this card once, re-evaluated it, still dont like it*
Curse of the Bloody Tome its the sickness ina mill deck obv. otherwise unplayable.
Dream Twist -sickness in milldeck, especially if you have runic repetitions. mill deck is for real, especially in sealed, but you need the right pool. *i don't play this in mill anymore. its a trap. It's possible to brew the aggro mill strategy, where you have a jillion dream twists and runic repetitions to keep rebuying them, but i dont think that deck is very good. I'd rather build the mill deck that grinds out long games by blocking. Curse is good for that, dream twist is not*
Delver of secrets Unplayable. Sure, if you have 10+ instants and sorceries it might be okay, but then your deck only has 13 (or less) creatures and probably sucks.
Blue Uncommons:Skaab Goliath this guy is bonkers. jeezus hes' a beating. he's worse against blue mirrors because bounce and excommunicate are a beating if you dont have dudes in your bin to recast.
Murder of Crows yup. air elemental with huge upside. looting just happens doesn't take work to get. Likely the best blue uncommon, but its close between this guy, and grasp of phantasms.
Civilized Scholar He's a looter, he can attack. He's obviously really good. he also combos with back to the brink, and/or cackling counterpart in a absurd way, if you ever get both in your pool.
Lantern Spirit very solid dude. blue is just so stacked sometimes i end up taking commons over him. if you have battleground giest or other spirit shit he gets even better. but worthy of the uncommon slot. I've rarely had a deck where i wanted that bounce ability over a 2/1 first strike like white gets at common.
Grasp of Phantasms Fade your draw step? Move a blocker/threat? Sick. Also quazi-removal if combined with mill. Easy first pick in absense of a bomb.
Battleground geist- pretty sweet. best in U/W deck obv. butdont forget about orchard spirit and kinder catch in green. and the morbid black dude is a spirit too. 3/3 flier for 5 is just fine even without synergy.
Invisible Stalker i fuckign hate this card. sure there's a deck that exists that plays him to good value, but it seems like you could always do something better with your pool if you're playing blue. Also i'd likely want to kill myself if I ever beat someone with this card.
Dissipate-very solid in sealed, playable in draft. Pretty straight forward, your deck either needs this card or it doesn't.
Runic Repetition-sick in milld eck with dream twist, or bounce spell, or excommunicate. otherwise agree, never play it. *i'm no longer a fan of the aggro mill deck, so i no longer condone playing this card in any capacity. I did have someone loop this with memory's journey to trump my mill deck.*
Curiosity-card is bad. It works okay if you can cast it when you're sure it will get in at least once, but that's not very easy in this format.
Memorys Journey Narrow SB against mill deck, or if you live the dream and build a lab maniac deck. bad sideboard option against some sort of flashback theme or dredge type deck.
Blue Rare (some of the rare ones are short, its just because the card is good and you will obviously play it in sealed if you can reasonably do so)
Ludevic's Test Subject-so absurd, especially in sealed. pretty tough to deal with. i wish he was an 0/4 tho.
Mindshrieker he's as absurd as you think.
Sturmgeist- better in sealed than draft, not as good as murder of crows, still pretty bonkers.
Cackling Counterpart-better on defense than offense. its sweet when you attack with a reach/flier and they think they can crack back with their fliers, you cast this and blow them out, and crack back with squad ftw. has other more typical cloning applications. just remember, only your own dudes.
Back from the Brink-slower your deck, the better this card is. its rarely horrible. But Ive played games where i was way too far behind to actually cast it and survive the next turn.
Undead Alchemist-definite build-around-me card.and damn good.
Snapcaster mage -as long as you dont get greedy, he does his job. just fine, not exciting.
Laboratory Maniac this deck exists. in a long grindy blue deck, i'd run him as an ogre. if i have memory's journey you can build a U/G dredge deck pretty easily that cna win with this guy. *I'm not condoning this strategy really, just that its possible, i've won with thsi deck, and lost to it*
Rooftop Storm -no possible situation where this is playable in limited.
Blue MythicSkaab Ruinator-he's pretty insane. need to build around him though. enough reason to try and make dredge happen if your pool will allow. you'd be surprised how quickly your bin is empty if you have to cas thim more than once though. suiciding guys just to be able to cast him is kinda awk.
mirror-mad phantasm-watched (a friend) mill him self down to his bottom card with this, unlucky. I think its a sweet finisher if you have ways to clear the way with either silent departures or the grasp of phantasms.
Other colors coming right behind this one. Feedback appreciated and welcome.
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