Red CommonsBrimestone Volley so good, 5 to the face, kills most creatures, etc etc etc. Top shelf removal.
Pitchburn Devils very good. i just find that in most of my R/x decks the 5 slot is clogged. this guy is one of the best common ones tho. i'll even splash him, especially if i have sac outlets.
Harvest Pyre I don't like this card unless i'm super removal light. you can't kill creatures early because you have no bin, and you can't kill big creatures unless its very late in the game. it doesn't have the flexibility that most scaling red burn spells have. multiples is even worse because you use up all your fuel on the first one. It's best at doing 1-3 damage, which i'd rather have geistflame almost always.
geistflame very good card. combining with combat damage is a good trick. Pairs well with the ashmouth hound, or first strikers, one mana is crucial because doesn't eat up your turn, flashback is gravy, and tasty gravy at that.
Ashmouth Hound best common red creature, hands down. He's great on both attacks and blocks, trades up a ton, and its almost impossible for him to trade down.
Kessig WOlf dies easily, but applies a lot of pressure, first strike is good, you don't really have to ever pay for it, since they just don't block. I've found, chumping this guy is actually okay, if it makes them use their mana to first strike early instead of developing their board.
Tormented Pariah one of the worst werewolves but not unplayable. *I now find this guy utterly unplayable unless you're in mono-werewolf deck*
Riot Devils fine filler, no more no less. the 2/3's for 3 in the other colors have bonus abilities (white-flying, blue-mill, even the artifact defender dude, green-werewolf that fliips to 4/6)
Crossway Vampire *solid in aggro like RW BR, but on turn 3 he doesn't do much, i like riot devil much more in control*
Night Revelers he's okay. if you have a vampire theme i guess he gets better, but i've found vampire theme to be underwhelmign unless you have bloodline keeper. *In sealed, he's basically a 4/4 haste, there's so much white and/or humans around, that he typically can attack. As one of the few hasty dudes, he's a fine option, but again Red is clogged at 5-drop*
Village Ironsmith this guy sucks. others think he's a fine 20-23rd, but i refuse to play him. 2 mana for a 1/1 is not okay. i only play werewolves that i'm not embarassed to have them in play on the Human side.
Bloodcrazed neonate needs help to be good, but not impossible, i'd avoid it in most decks.
Curse of the Pierced Heart I beat someone who played one of these on turn two and turn 3. How? by casting creatures. developing your board is so much more important. the 2 and 3 drop creatures i played could easily outrace htose enchantments. (and they can also blcok if needed)
Traitorous Blood better than i thought. great with sac outlets, so many bombs in this format can just blow people out of the game. The red aggro decks want this, i just usually don't play that deck.
Nightbird's Clutches good sb card. possible maindeck if you have bloodcrazed neonate style deck.
Feral Ridgewolf unplayable in all situations. people play this against me and i'm always doing a mental *fistpump*.
Ancient grudge-decent sideboard option, but artifacts in general suck in this set.
Vampiric Fury again, if you have bloodcrazed neonates, this card is fine support, i can't imagine this deck coming together in sealed tho.
Furor of the bitten cant play it. *People have been playing this against me, while +2/+2 for 1 mana is decent value, the fact that people see it coming and its not an instant pump means i'll never play it*
Infernal Plunge cant play it. for realz.
Red Uncommons
Skirsdag Cultist guy is really good. especially combo with pitchburn devils or threaten. Repeatable removal is extremely hard to come by, this guy can catch you up late in game, or finish someone off, or help you get through a stall.
Rolling Temblor almost always can set up something absurd with this, but you definitely have to do exactly that. sculpt the board, force them to commit etc. great combo with selhoff occultist, or ragethrower etc, or even unruly mob if its already big.
Into the Maw of Hell very good unconditional removal. obviously slow, but still amazing, fucking with people's splash is nothing to frown at either.
Hanweir Watchkeep -very solid in any deck, great blocker, great attacker. The only non-rare red werewolf i'll play.
Scourge of Geier Reach solid 5 drop. if he's only a 3/3 that means they aren't blockign which is good. be careful walking into double blocks where he can shrink and die after damage.
Rakish Heir solid aggro card, gains value with more vamps. Even without other vampires, he does just fine as an ogre with upside.
Reckless Waif underwhelming unless played on t1 or t2. But i'll usually play it.
Rage Thrower this guy just wins games. if a board is stalled you can just cast him and alpha, and win the game. Also amazing with Stichers apprentice (big surprise).
Desperate Ravings if your deck craves card advantage, sure. but its kinda awk. not a big fan. not unplayable tho. definitely need the blue for flashback if you're going to play it. you dont gain card advantage until you flash it back. If you draft a burning vengance deck, sure, go for it.
Burning Vengeance no way in sealed, maybe draft. Pretty tough to make work though, and believe me i've tried.
Curse of the Nightly Hunt -i could see this being a good sideboard card against control. make their crappy blcokers race with your aggro dudes. Haven't tried it, and haven't had it played against me.
Red RareDevil's Play this card is unreal as a splash let alone if you can afford XRRR. If you have ability to flash it back, it just becomes a countdown until you can kill them with this card alone.
Blasphemous Act- bonkers. combos with dudes that have "whenever a creature dies" bonuses. red needs this card so bad.
Instigator Gang bomby card is bomby.
Falkenrath Marauders mixed on this guy. rots in your hand against an abbey griffin or better. Ends the game quickly when you have an opening to get in there.
Charmbreaker Devils this guy is dumb. so many ways to abuse. Just read the card, yeah, it does that.
Heretic's Punishment good finisher, but not as good of a "catch up from behind card" as i thought it would be. if you use it to remove a bunch of dudes you do actually run the risk of milling yourself out.
Kruin Outlaw -amazing rare.
Stormkirk Noble -not that exciting, but you play him in an aggro deck for sure.
Curse of Stalked Prey Solid in an aggro deck only, just not worth a card otherwise.
Red MythicBalefire Dragon "Creature - Dragon." Need i say anything else? Some friends of mine say they've never been able to actually trigger its ability. I've had it in play twice, both times it won the game for me. I dont see how you can't love this guy.
Past in Flames in the fantasy land world where you have a burning vengeance pool, sure.
Showing posts with label Innistrad. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Innistrad. Show all posts
Friday, November 18, 2011
Innistrad Card Synopsis - Black
Check out my post on Blue, first, it covers the format of these, as well as the intention.
Black CommonsDead Weight-One of the best removal spells in the set. Like most removal spells in this format, better to hang on to it until you absolutely need it.
Victim of night- can't cut it from your black pool, but not great. Instant is nice, conditionality is awk.
Vampire Interloper good in an aggro deck, haven't played it much in sealed, because black is terrible unless you have good rares.
Corpse Lunge- i would never play this. you want to kill big shit, you likely dont have a big enough dude in your bin to do so.
Ghoulraiser needs help to be good, but can be solid. Hard to cast grey ogres are not good on their own.
Markov Patrician 3/1 lifelink one of the best black common creatures IMO. Forces lots of trades, and I especially love sticking first strike equipment on him.
Night Terrors I lost to a really bad deck at Costa Mesa because he cast this turn 3 and fucked up my whole plan. he then beat me down with some of the most unplayable cards in the format. *Since then I've re-evaluated this card. Setting up a plan in sealed is so important when you look at your opener, and exiling a key piece of their plan can be back breaking. I usually play this in sealed, and make room for it when i can in draft*
Stormkirk Patrol really hope to not play him, but yeah he's a 5-drop dude if you need that. most 5-droips are bigger/better.
Walking Corpse-as good as a bear needs to be. being a zombie sometimes helps.
Brain Weevil good card, not insane. i combo'd this with unburial rites to mind sludge someone. turns on morbid etc. Can't cut it if you have banshee.
Manor Skeleton unplayable. 1/1 isn't enough. regenerate is too expensive.
Altar's Reap i like it, but have been avoiding black a lot, not a ton of experience with it, but seems good. *Now that i've played with the card a bit, I'm not too big on it. Not a lot of situations where you want to sac a guy for two cards*
Ghoulcaller's Chant i'm on the fence with this card, especially in sealed hard to get enough zombies unless you're 100% U/B, in which case you need dudes in your bin to cast the U zombies. awk. good for rebuying bombs etc. not sure where i should put it. *still kinda low on this card, raise dead is fine if your deck wants raise dead, i guess. My decks usually don't.*
Typhoid Rats good in equipment based decks. which means its good in bad decks. *I've actually come around on this card. It's actually really good in a U/B control deck, holding off werewolves like it was his job.*
Rotting Fensnake I board this guy in a lot, and ocassionally i'll main deck him. If i need to push my zombie synergy, potentially, but also against non-R/B decks. He trades with all the huge green and blue guys, which is nice as a blocker, believe it or not.
Bump in the Night i keep wanting to play this in my B/R aggro decks, but never seems to be good enough to make the cut.
Skeletal Grimace i avoid auras, have seen this put on some guys that make it hard to deal with, but against blue you have bounce and excommunicate, also bonds with white. lots of weaknesses, but could see it as a 23rd. at least it protects the creature. *still have never cast this myself, but been beaten by it, its annoying and not terrible, certainly not good either*
Maw of the Mire tons of greedy decks in this format (which i think is correct to play greedy with your bombs) but not sure you can really play this even out of the board. 5 mana is too much.
Curse of Oblivion cant imagine a case where you'd play this. maybe if you have a witch, and your opponent has some kind of dredge deck, but seems unlikely.
Gruesome Deformity unplayable in any context.
Black UncommonMorkrut Banshee thought this guyw as the nuts at first. not as good as i hoped. its hard to turn on morbid and still have mana to cast this guy without just suiciding a shitty black creature into their board. *Gets much better with stichers apprentice or typhoid rats or MindrotBeetle, still an auto include if you're playing black*
Unburial Rites pretty sure you slam a plains in your deck rawdog style. if you dont get to flash it back, no biggie. really good in greedybomb.dek
Moan of the Unhallowed as good as advertised. sometimes its the only out in your deck to give you 2 blockers. i've found zombie decks are rarely on the aggro plan, unless you're just random R/B goodstuff.
Tribute to Hunger playable, but unexciting. its an out to the hexproof guys like stalker and angel tho. Much better as your 4th-5th removal spell than as your 2nd-3rd.
Abattoir Ghoul -blacks uncommons are the only reason to play black, this guy is no different. Super studly.
Screeching Bat very solid. goes in every black deck. (great signal in draft, because they can see your pick)
Falkenrath Noble super crazy good. i underrated it at first. (another sick combo with stitched apprentice)
Village Cannibals not as good as i first thought, but fine. black get s a grey ogre, not surprising, upside isn't huge.
Diregraf Ghoul if your deck is aggro, he's obv amazing, better with multiples to reliably draw him. outside of that, not impressed.
Disciple of griselbrand -this guy is fine, i'd actually play him in most black decks. the sac outlet is easy to use and repeatable (not affected by summoning sickness either) good with the red threaten. Also with morbid. Still, a 1/1 for 2 mana is nothing to write home about.
Bitterheart Witch-if you get the black rare curse, you obv run this. if you are in U/B mill and you have U curses, you run this. otherwise its utter trash.
Black RareBloodline Keeper pretty hard to lose if you untap with this guy.
Bloodgift Demon pretty hard to lose if you untap with this guy.
Sever the Bloodline unconditional removal is very nice. not to mention it hoses tokens and random 2for one upside, flashback is hard to cast, but obv worth it because its just gravy anyway. i'd splash it even if i couldn't flash it back for BB.
Curse of Death's Hold -pretty hard to lose if you resolve this.
Skirsdag High Priest build around me. i had him with triple stitched apprentice. obv bonkers. otherwise he's an unexciting squire. *You don't have to build around this guy to be good, i think i had a rough first couple tries with him*
Unbreathing Horde I've had decks that would want this guy, but never actually had him in one of those pools. not sure. *perfect storm needs to happen in combined with a solar eclipse for a deck to want this, not saying it cna't happen though*
Endless Ranks of the Dead made a sweet draft deck around this card, pretty hard to do in sealed. *Again, narrow zombie rare, if you can build this deck, its actually good.*
Heartless Summoning Curse myself? no thanks.
Black Mythic
Army of the Damned haven't played it, but i'm not excited about it. the dudes CITP is a big deal. you tap all your mana and ship with no defense on turn 8? seems awk, but obv auto win if you can untap.
Reaper from the Abyss haven't played with or against, but don't see how it isn't gamebreaking. Maybe not better than bloodgift, but doesn't matter, you'll either have it in your pool or not, and you'd play either one (or both).
Liliana pretty rediculous. walker gains life sweet. even 3 mana edict isn't absolutely terrible. her ultimate is more backbreaking than you'd think (especially if you've made them discard their hand already)
Black CommonsDead Weight-One of the best removal spells in the set. Like most removal spells in this format, better to hang on to it until you absolutely need it.
Victim of night- can't cut it from your black pool, but not great. Instant is nice, conditionality is awk.
Vampire Interloper good in an aggro deck, haven't played it much in sealed, because black is terrible unless you have good rares.
Corpse Lunge- i would never play this. you want to kill big shit, you likely dont have a big enough dude in your bin to do so.
Ghoulraiser needs help to be good, but can be solid. Hard to cast grey ogres are not good on their own.
Markov Patrician 3/1 lifelink one of the best black common creatures IMO. Forces lots of trades, and I especially love sticking first strike equipment on him.
Night Terrors I lost to a really bad deck at Costa Mesa because he cast this turn 3 and fucked up my whole plan. he then beat me down with some of the most unplayable cards in the format. *Since then I've re-evaluated this card. Setting up a plan in sealed is so important when you look at your opener, and exiling a key piece of their plan can be back breaking. I usually play this in sealed, and make room for it when i can in draft*
Stormkirk Patrol really hope to not play him, but yeah he's a 5-drop dude if you need that. most 5-droips are bigger/better.
Walking Corpse-as good as a bear needs to be. being a zombie sometimes helps.
Brain Weevil good card, not insane. i combo'd this with unburial rites to mind sludge someone. turns on morbid etc. Can't cut it if you have banshee.
Manor Skeleton unplayable. 1/1 isn't enough. regenerate is too expensive.
Altar's Reap i like it, but have been avoiding black a lot, not a ton of experience with it, but seems good. *Now that i've played with the card a bit, I'm not too big on it. Not a lot of situations where you want to sac a guy for two cards*
Ghoulcaller's Chant i'm on the fence with this card, especially in sealed hard to get enough zombies unless you're 100% U/B, in which case you need dudes in your bin to cast the U zombies. awk. good for rebuying bombs etc. not sure where i should put it. *still kinda low on this card, raise dead is fine if your deck wants raise dead, i guess. My decks usually don't.*
Typhoid Rats good in equipment based decks. which means its good in bad decks. *I've actually come around on this card. It's actually really good in a U/B control deck, holding off werewolves like it was his job.*
Rotting Fensnake I board this guy in a lot, and ocassionally i'll main deck him. If i need to push my zombie synergy, potentially, but also against non-R/B decks. He trades with all the huge green and blue guys, which is nice as a blocker, believe it or not.
Bump in the Night i keep wanting to play this in my B/R aggro decks, but never seems to be good enough to make the cut.
Skeletal Grimace i avoid auras, have seen this put on some guys that make it hard to deal with, but against blue you have bounce and excommunicate, also bonds with white. lots of weaknesses, but could see it as a 23rd. at least it protects the creature. *still have never cast this myself, but been beaten by it, its annoying and not terrible, certainly not good either*
Maw of the Mire tons of greedy decks in this format (which i think is correct to play greedy with your bombs) but not sure you can really play this even out of the board. 5 mana is too much.
Curse of Oblivion cant imagine a case where you'd play this. maybe if you have a witch, and your opponent has some kind of dredge deck, but seems unlikely.
Gruesome Deformity unplayable in any context.
Black UncommonMorkrut Banshee thought this guyw as the nuts at first. not as good as i hoped. its hard to turn on morbid and still have mana to cast this guy without just suiciding a shitty black creature into their board. *Gets much better with stichers apprentice or typhoid rats or MindrotBeetle, still an auto include if you're playing black*
Unburial Rites pretty sure you slam a plains in your deck rawdog style. if you dont get to flash it back, no biggie. really good in greedybomb.dek
Moan of the Unhallowed as good as advertised. sometimes its the only out in your deck to give you 2 blockers. i've found zombie decks are rarely on the aggro plan, unless you're just random R/B goodstuff.
Tribute to Hunger playable, but unexciting. its an out to the hexproof guys like stalker and angel tho. Much better as your 4th-5th removal spell than as your 2nd-3rd.
Abattoir Ghoul -blacks uncommons are the only reason to play black, this guy is no different. Super studly.
Screeching Bat very solid. goes in every black deck. (great signal in draft, because they can see your pick)
Falkenrath Noble super crazy good. i underrated it at first. (another sick combo with stitched apprentice)
Village Cannibals not as good as i first thought, but fine. black get s a grey ogre, not surprising, upside isn't huge.
Diregraf Ghoul if your deck is aggro, he's obv amazing, better with multiples to reliably draw him. outside of that, not impressed.
Disciple of griselbrand -this guy is fine, i'd actually play him in most black decks. the sac outlet is easy to use and repeatable (not affected by summoning sickness either) good with the red threaten. Also with morbid. Still, a 1/1 for 2 mana is nothing to write home about.
Bitterheart Witch-if you get the black rare curse, you obv run this. if you are in U/B mill and you have U curses, you run this. otherwise its utter trash.
Black RareBloodline Keeper pretty hard to lose if you untap with this guy.
Bloodgift Demon pretty hard to lose if you untap with this guy.
Sever the Bloodline unconditional removal is very nice. not to mention it hoses tokens and random 2for one upside, flashback is hard to cast, but obv worth it because its just gravy anyway. i'd splash it even if i couldn't flash it back for BB.
Curse of Death's Hold -pretty hard to lose if you resolve this.
Skirsdag High Priest build around me. i had him with triple stitched apprentice. obv bonkers. otherwise he's an unexciting squire. *You don't have to build around this guy to be good, i think i had a rough first couple tries with him*
Unbreathing Horde I've had decks that would want this guy, but never actually had him in one of those pools. not sure. *perfect storm needs to happen in combined with a solar eclipse for a deck to want this, not saying it cna't happen though*
Endless Ranks of the Dead made a sweet draft deck around this card, pretty hard to do in sealed. *Again, narrow zombie rare, if you can build this deck, its actually good.*
Heartless Summoning Curse myself? no thanks.
Black Mythic
Army of the Damned haven't played it, but i'm not excited about it. the dudes CITP is a big deal. you tap all your mana and ship with no defense on turn 8? seems awk, but obv auto win if you can untap.
Reaper from the Abyss haven't played with or against, but don't see how it isn't gamebreaking. Maybe not better than bloodgift, but doesn't matter, you'll either have it in your pool or not, and you'd play either one (or both).
Liliana pretty rediculous. walker gains life sweet. even 3 mana edict isn't absolutely terrible. her ultimate is more backbreaking than you'd think (especially if you've made them discard their hand already)
Innistrad Card Synopsis - Blue
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.
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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