Psychobabble's picture
By: Psychobabble, PB
Sep 30 2013 1:07pm
0
Login to post comments
4213 views


Last week I began my set review by taking a high level look at removal and mana fixing in the set and then analysing individually relevant cards from white and blue. This week I'm finishing off the individual card review by looking at black, red, green and multicolour (none of the artifacts seem constructed relevant).

Black

Black seems really strong in this set. It's got awesome removal, some early game defences, disruption and value creatures and one of the most insane curve toppers in the set. It also seems really well positioned to take advantage of Nythkos, Shrine of Nyx in a monocoloured build which could be a really good way to go in the format.

Abhorrent Overlord

Black is one of the two colours that seem likely to build around one of the strongest cards in the set - Nythkos, Shrine of Nyx. And Abhorrent overlord gives you a pretty reasonable payoff for both playing mono black and generating a bunch of mana. Seven mana is not a very happy place to be in constructed though without some cheating going on and this does stone nothing until you hit seven, unlike the next card I'll look at. I'm not sure, but I don't think this is the curve topper you'll be looking for despite the powerful effect.

Hythonia the Cruel

As the only wrath effect in the format - and one that's closer to a plague wind at that - hythonia is certainly worth looking at. The fact that it's a pretty reasonable defensive body for a 6 drop and then can quite possibly win you the game a few turns later is pretty big game. You certainly play at least a couple and maybe even more of these in your Nythkos deck, interestingly enough if you do cast it with Nythkos out you will have enough mana to use the monsterous ability on your next turn, barring removal of some sort. I feel like Theros block is going to be very much based on creature-combat and navigating board states, this is the ultimate trump in that kind of meta and it could be a really big player.

Agent of the Fates

 

This is one of the strongest early game plays you can make in your mono black deck, and a pretty reasonable option in other combinations too. Having double black mana symbols makes him a great devotion enabler and his "heroic" ability (somehow it doesn't seem so heroic) can give you crazy value if you trigger it. Which might not be that easy, particularly if you're in mono black. Certainly there are colour pairings like UB or BW where you have reasonable options for targeting him, but I don't see much in black. Rescue from the underworld is one possibility, but the black cantrip aura seems pretty terrible. Possibly Baleful Eidolonis playable as an early game stall card and later game agent heroic trigger.

Rescue from the Underworld

Speaking of rescue, this seems like it could be playable if you can get double value from it, by both returning a creature that's died and also re-using an ETB trigger, or turning on agent of the fates, when you do the sacrifice. There's no scavenging oozes floating around here so this is relatively safe to cast, although there's also no good discard outlets to set up a dedicated reanimator strategy so this is more of a value play.  Grey merchant of asphodel and/or disciple of phenax seem like pretty good options in the mono black deck to get an ETB trigger out of with this, so I think it might be playable in that deck as at least a couple of copies.

Thoughtsieze

This is certainly one of the stronger cards in the set, but I feel like its power level decreases as the overall power level of the card pool that it exists in decreases. Yes, there is pretty big value in being able to see your opponent's hand, sculpt your game plan around it and unconditionally remove their best card. But in a possible world of "goodstuff" decks with reasonably flat power level and no particular synergies that they are trying to set up, the long term disruption that a single discard can effect is reduced. The fact that black has no way of dealing with a resolved god or weapon, though, probably increases the necessity of running this in many black decks.

Returned Phalanx / Pharika's Cure

More cards I would have loved to have access to in RTR block! Again, as I was saying last week, the playability of these type of cards is heavily dependent on the presence or otherwise of an aggressive red-based rush aggro deck in the meta. I think Phalanx is probably playable even if such a deck doesn't exist, simply because it's one of the few reasonable early game black permanents to help out devotion triggers and turn on Erebos. Cure, though, will only be played if you need cheap spot removal against aggro, and the incidental lifegain would be highly relevant in that case too.

Read the Bones

Easily one of the best card advantage spells in the set, this should be very high on your list of cards to include in any deck with black in it. It's interesting that double preordain costs three times the mana, but coupling card selection with actual card advantage is easily powerful enough to justify that, even if there is the two life loss as an additional penalty. Not much more to say about this really - if you like having more cards than your opponent, play this!

Erebos, God of the Dead

First I'll note that the anti-lifegain ability doesn't seem particularly relevant other than possibly against opposing mono black decks or Bow of Nylea in a stalled board situation. It's not nothing, but it isn't the reason you play it obviously. And that reason would be a slightly more expensive greed, on what is potentially a 5/7 indestructible body. I think this is potentially playable even if you never hit five devotion in a slower type of deck that just appreciates the pseudo underworld connections effect, although you might just be better off running read the bones in such decks. I think Erebos this will really shine in the mono black deck running whip and Gray Merchant of Asphodel for incidental lifegain and which will get to trigger the body some amount of the time.

Whip of Erebos

The perfect source of lifegain and attritional benefit to go with your hungry and slightly painful God. This works really well with cheap creatures that can trade up in blocking early and then get recurred later for incidental life swings. Agent of fates is a prime candidate and Boon Satyr might be in consideration. Re-using ETB triggers is also nice, and the recursion can help mitigate the loss of all of your non-gorgon creatures when you make hythonia monstrous. This seems really solid, and the double black cannot be overlooked for devotion purposes.

Red

Red has some very strong cards in the set, but I'm not yet sure the type of decks they are going to find their way into. There is the outline of both a red weenie aggro and a 'big red' midrange strategy in the card pool. It's quite possible that red works out best as a support colour, and pairs well with basically any other colour except maybe blue.

Akroan Crusader / Arena Athlete

Akroan Crusader looks pretty meh to me, but you might need to play him to get a critical mass of early drops in an aggressive deck. It's not that the heroic trigger is bad, it's just that unlike young pyromancer, you really want to get him into combat before you start triggering it and he's really not very good in combat unfortunately. You might run him, but you're unlikely to be happy about it I think. Arena athlete is a bit better. Firefist striker was a powerhouse in RTR block aggro decks, and this is a similar effect, although working with the slightly trickier to use heroic rather than the brain-dead battalion mechanic. This is one of the reasons that you want your heroic enablers to be first and foremost pro-active spells, because you obviously want to be triggering this before combat. It also makes auras a little better because they're always cast pre-combat, you just have to somehow avoid getting blown out by lightning strike or pharika's cure.

Coordinated Assault / Titan's Strength / Dragon Mantle / Ordeal of Purphuros

It feels like white got the stronger heroic creatures, but red got the good enablers. Some of these are really quite exciting. Coordinated assault feels a lot like weapon surge in RTR block, which was great in creature matchups although usually lost out to dynacharge due to the higher damage potential. Well, if you're triggering heroic here then you're going to have the best of both worlds - you'll win combat AND do lots of damage on an empty board when you want to. I think Coordinated assault is the best heroic enabler in the set, and if the deck is going to happen, that will be in it. Titan's strength is also a pretty aggressive way to turn on heroic. I feel that the massive amount of extra damage is going to be wasted too often into a blocker, but it's great if you're just beating down after removing all potential blockers with a lightning strike or whatever and the +1 does give your targets a non-irrelevant extra bit of survivability.

Dragon's mantle suffers from the disadvantage inherent in all auras, but if it sticks then it seems like a pretty decent way to trigger heroic, seeing as it's only one red mana and doesn't even cost you a card. If you get to use the firebreathing, that's gravy, but I feel like paying R just to turn on heroic is good enough already - provided you don't get blown out with instant speed removal, in which case the cantrip doesn't happen. Ordeal is obviously much riskier, but a more powerful longer term effect and simply putting this on a heroic creature that triggers +1 counters while your opponent is tapped out and then attacking quite possibly puts the creature outside of burn range, so this could be a good sideboard option for the red aggro mirror.

Firedrinker Satyr

Redundancy in the curve is what makes weenie rush aggro decks work, this gives you at least 8 (soldier of pantheon) and possibly 12 akroan crusader decent or good one-drops, so it's a possiblity. I feel that the life loss has a reasonable chance of being relevant given the type of blockers that he's likely to come up against, but there's no way you don't play this in a red aggro deck in this format.

Ember Swallower

But if you want your red deck to not just die to anger of the gods.... let me introduce you to this land-devouring beast. I'm not sure that there's a mono red nythkos deck out there, but between this, and stormbreath dragon there's some powerful monstrosity options in red that might make you want to try it. I think the fact that red's 3-drop creatures are all pretty average (unlike black and green which both have good double casting cost options) will count against that deck's chances, but even in just a Rx midrange deck of some type this guy could see some play. The monstrous ability is truly punishing to anyone with a big late game plan, particularly if you can accelerate into it somehow.

Purphoros, God of the Forge

Everyone who's anyone loves this guy so I guess I should join all of the cool kids and gush. But I just can't do it. Look, I'm probably wrong and this turns out to be nuts, but what type of deck actually wants this. Yes, I get that it gives a wrath proof form of inevitability post wrath to decks which traditionally die to wrath. That is the good part. But on the other hand it's a 4 drop with no immediate impact on the board which has never been a recipe for success in mono red. If a weenie aggro deck (esp in theros block) turns this guy on devotion wise, they're already winning. Those decks lose when they have just had their board dealt with through the wrath, or anger I guess, of the gods. And whether or not this does anything meaningful in that spot really seems to me to come down to whether there is a viable late game lifegain plan from the control decks. In standard sphinx's fits the bill, but whip of Erebus might be the only contender here, so possibly this becomes playable in red aggro, but maybe a sideboard option given how unaggressive it is. I have also given consideration to if he is better in 'big red', but I just don't think the shock or anthem effect is relevant enough in a deck without a critical mass of sub-4 drops.

Hammer of Purphoros

On the other hand I can certainly see this getting played in red decks of all flavours. The fervor effect is very relevant in both aggressive and midrange decks, especially given the dearth of haste (other than on big red's signature dragon). And the golem producing clause gives this playability where a straight fervour wouldn't be, as it is a form of inevitability that's much harder to shut down with lifegain than purphuros's shocks. That plan does conflict with a big red monstrous plan, so it might be worse in that deck than weenie aggro, but even then if you play straight mono red with nythkos you might be able to get away with fewer lands.

Stormbreath Dragon

It would be pretty easy to declare this flashy mythic as one of the staple cards of the format based on the 'thundermaw replacement' hype. But if you don't believe that 5 is a much bigger number than 4, just think about how much play hypersonic dragon saw in RtR block - 4/4 hasty flying dragons for 5 don't just automatically get there. So does he get there thanks to his other text? Probably, but IMO only of you are triggering his monstrous ability a reasonable amount of the time which probably means RG ramp or mono red Nythkos. Pro white isn't nothing, but doesn't help against elspeth, black removal, giant green guys with reach or even just prognostic sphinx. If you monstrous him reliably though, he becomes a much quicker clock both because of the incidental burn and because he'll now punch through a few likely blockers.

Green

Green's cards tend to be a bit more obvious, so it can tend to receive an oversized portion of pre-release hype, especially for limited. I do think green is pretty strong here though, and it's ramp options play very nicely with monstrous which seems like it could be an important theros block constructed mechanic.

Sylvan Caryatid / Voyaging Satyr / Karametra's Acolyte

We're in green so let's start with the greenest ability - ramp. While I think you're always going to play certain in any Gx ramp deck, there is a question of how many ramp spells you do play and whether the late game potential of acolyte outweighs the explosiveness and redundancy that satyr gives. I feel like the fact that acolyte doesn't die to anger of the gods unlike either of the other options means you probably play it if you want to go with more than 4 accelerants, so maybe you only end up with Xenagos as an extra ramp possibility in RG decks. Either way I feel that anger of the gods plus less late game irrelevance means satyr always loses out to acolyte if you're in the market for extra copies of caryatid.

Polukranos, World Eater

Strangely enough, green's signature mana-sink mythic doesn't hugely excite me even in the mono green Nythkos deck it'll no doubt be best in. I mean you play it in that deck, no questions asked, but more because it's a deadbridge Goliath and you don't have better options than because it's going to be awesome and eat your opponent's board. At any rational level of mana, the pseudo- fight isn't really going to take out anything you care about, let alone generate you card advantage, and this has no trample and no reach to get through or really gum up the board. Luckily, Nythkos can produce some utterly irrational amounts of mana in a mono green deck, so there is a chance of him doing something awesome beside 'big dumb vanilla', but probably not outside of that.

Arbor Colossus

Also strangely enough I'm a little more hyped about this. 6/6 reach makes this a relevant stabiliser on many more boards than polukranos even if it comes down later. The casting cost difference is significant, making it much worse to any blue tempo deck out there in particular, but if it sticks it's awesome on offence and defence and has a fairly realistic monstrous to make it even sillier.

Boon Satyr

I'm not quite sure about this guy. He doesn't block well, so seems best as a way for green decks to put pressure on draw/go control either by overloading counterspells or punishing them when they tap out for wrath or a walker. I don't think those decks exist in Theros block. I think the card has a lot of inherent power level, but is going to just trade with early drops from the aggro decks and get bricked by larger midrange guys so unless you want the double green for devotion purposes (a legitimate possibility), I don't think you just jam this in.

Nylea, God of the Hunt

Call me crazy, but I think this might have a shot even if it's just an enchantment that grants trample (to everyone but herself, strangely enough). Green and it's likely support colours have no shortage of beef but might lack ways to push it through, especially if your opponent is spewing out infinite 1/1 tokens. You don't want many of these in your deck, but I feel it has a valuable role to fill in most green decks, and if you're mono green devotion, all the better.

Bow of Nylea

Despite the absurd number of abilities here, I'm pretty sure this is limited fodder. The nicest part of the card by far is the attacking deathtouch ability which is a great way to break board stalls, so it could be a good sideboard option for those situations. It doesn't help you deal with the things green will be most troubled by though - elspeth, giant flyers, hard removal, agent of fates, bounce, mana screw when you don't find your ramp in mono fatties.dek - so don't be main decking this at first I don't think.

Multicoloured

Akroan Hoplite / Anax and Cymede

I know a lot of people are going to look to RW heroic as the default aggressive option, and it's even got two multicoloured cards to support this. But these do nothing to answer the question of what the deck does against anger of the gods. Of the two, the hopkite looks terrible against the barest board and the dynamic duo seem ok as a final alpha enabler, although having no permanent effect does seem a little sad compared to many of the mono white options.

Ashiok, Nighmare Weaver

I've mentioned before that with no direct removal other than hero's downfall, planeswalkers are going to be strong in this format. I just don't think this is the right format for this particular walker. It's best as a sideboard option in control mirrors, where it is a threatening early game play that demands an answer. It does nothing to affect the board though, so in what I expect to be a creature dominated format, it seems unlikely to do enough. Would have been a great card in the nightveil specter slot last block though.

Battlewise Hoplite

This seems better than either of the RW heroic guys, and might actually push you towards azorius aggro/tempo. There's a couple of good blue heroic enablers (fate foretold, maybe even aqueous form) and vaporkin and voyages end seems reasonable in that deck. Certainly an option worth exploring I think.

Fleecemane Lion

Good card is good. Easily the best 2 drop in the format, the only thing which interacts well with it for under 3 mana is returned hoplite and I guess yoked ox. What makes this card so insane is that it retains late game relevance, it's a really good reason to run GW despite the lack of a scry land.

Polis Crusher

There's quite a lot to like about this card in an enchantment block, but what attracts me most right up is that he's the only reasonably playable creature with natural trample. In my discussion if nylea, I outlined why I think trample might be important, and having it on a reasonably costed 4/4 or 7/7 seems pretty nice. Definitely a reason to look into GR ramp.

Steam Augury

I was lucky enough to pull this in my paper release draft, and was really impressed with it. I found it super easy to engineer your piles so that it's draw 3 at instant speed which is an absolute bargain for 4 mana. The problem with this card's play chances is that I think straight UR might have trouble dealing with a lot of the threats in this format, outside of dissolve. Indestructible gods, elspeth, anything with 4 toughness are all going to give it a rough time. Still, maybe it can work as a tempo shell with voyages end dealing with stuff for long enough, and this as a curve topper to fill up your hand in a more reliable way than bident of thassa.

Xenagos, the Reveler

And finally we come to the other maybe-playable planeswalker. And I do think it's only 'maybe' playable in this format. As I've said many times, I don't think draw/go/wrath control exists in this format and that is by far where hasty 2/2 token generators are best. Outside of churning out creatures which might not be relevant except as chump blockers (which isn't nothing, but still) what are you doing with this card once it's on the board? Super ramp possibility is nice to power up monstrosity, especially as you're playing this in a deck without Nythkos most probably. But it seems unlikely you'll get turn after turn of value out of that, and you're still losing to evasion, giant blockers and eventually elspeth. Still, Xenagos comes down early enough and does enough that he's probably one of the better things you can do with your turn 2 caryatid mana.

 

Conclusion

well, that wraps up a fairly epic set review and format preview. It will be interesting to look back and see how much I missed! In the mean time, I'm looking forward to trying out the cards on mtgo when they hit, although my first chance to play the format will be delayed a couple of weeks as I'm currently travelling. I had hoped to have another article up before the format officially launches on mtgo (after the release events) but writing articles and coding HTML is incredibly painful on an iPad so I might be offline a couple more weeks. Until next time...

6 Comments

I find it interesting you by xger at Mon, 09/30/2013 - 14:17
xger's picture

I find it interesting you don't mention Hero's Downfall or Gray Merchant outside of comments in other cards. I think they are very likely to be defining cards as well. Just going Whip of Erebos into Gray Merchant is an 8 point life swing on an empty board.

As for Purphoros, I think the hype is mostly in regard to standard which can play things like Burning Tree Emissary into hammer into a hasty god.

thanks for the comment. I by Psychobabble at Tue, 10/01/2013 - 05:35
Psychobabble's picture

thanks for the comment. I mentioned the removal in the first article, not the individual card reviews and didn't have much to say about it other than its hard to see a creature less deck existing in the meta, meaning it's upside over murder is unlikely to be huge. I initially had merchant and disciple individually spotlighted, but I spelt out the interaction I wanted to highlight in rescue and whip.

Hope you're right re purphuros, I just don't see it's power level in a vacuum.

Interesting... by Orlanth at Mon, 09/30/2013 - 19:15
Orlanth's picture

That username, are you the same Psychobabble that used to do reviews in celestialheavens.com?

Yep! Somehow I find myself by Psychobabble at Tue, 10/01/2013 - 05:34
Psychobabble's picture

Yep! Somehow I find myself writing content for every game I seriously play :)

The Internet is a small place. by Orlanth at Tue, 10/01/2013 - 07:18
Orlanth's picture

The Internet is a small place. I doubt that you know who I am by this PureMTGO name. But you might remember me as a one who made a certain hungry Cyclops eat all those poor Troglodytes.

Oh boy, you're pushing my by Psychobabble at Tue, 10/01/2013 - 10:06
Psychobabble's picture

Oh boy, you're pushing my memory past it's limits there - we're talking the better part of a decade here!