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By: oraymw, Oraymw
Jun 08 2011 1:23pm
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When most people set out to talk about a set, they are going to start with the removal, and with good reason. The common removal spells are often the most powerful commons in the set, and they definitely dictate the opening picks of a draft. In my recent Ars Arcanum article about creatures, I explained how people just don’t understand creatures. One of the things they don’t understand is that while removal spells are essential in a limited format, it is the creatures that shape the tone of that format. Removal spells should be judged according to their ability to take out good creatures at an efficient price, and the entire pace of a game is determined by the creatures that are available. These might not be the top picks in the format, but they are the foundation on which every deck is built.

As one of the creature colors, white gets 6 common creatures in New Phyrexia. We see creatures filling the curve from 2 mana to 5 mana. We get two infect creatures, one Phyrexian Mana creature, and a Splicer.

The first thing that jumps out to me is the curve. While we have things costing from 2 to 5, the Porcelain Legionnaire is going to play much more like a two drop then a three drop. So for 3 and 4, we really only have one creature, and Loxodon Convert is not exactly the most exciting thing in limited, though I expect it is much better than people are going to give it credit for.

The second thing to note is that the most powerful creature on this list is the Porcelain Legionnaire, but that card is great even without plains in your deck, so that takes away a real reason to play white. The next point is that we have two infect creatures. These two infect creature are pretty powerful, and with the complementary infect creatures from Mirrodin Besieged, there might be some reason to draft a white infect deck, even though you can expect a weaker pack in Scars.

Also of note is that four of the creatures have one toughness. One of those is a splicer, and losing that 1/1 isn’t so big of a deal, but if it is killed off hand by a Blisterstick Shaman, then it is definitely not ideal.

The overall power level of the white common creatures is just disappointing. Porcelain Legionnaire is one of the best limited 2 drops of all time, but he also goes in any color. The other white cards are disappointing unless you end up in infect, and even there they actually work at a sort of cross purposes since one of the creatures is more controlling and the other is more aggro. Suture Priest is going to go earlier than he should, but how much better is he than a 1/1 flyer with lifelink?

Finally, it’s worth thinking about how these creatures fit into the Scars block format as a whole. Again, Porcelain Legionnaire is a standout, but not color committing. The infect creatures are kind of working at dual purposes with other infect creatures in the block. The Splicer does drop a golem, which is pretty nice, and the other two creatures are unexciting. Compared with the pack of Scars that we are losing, I think that this is actually a significant downgrade in creature quality. However, there is one white creature that is missing from this list that is very important, and that is Blinding Souleater, but we’ll discuss that when we get to artifacts. The point is that it is going to take a unique set of circumstances to make me want to be base white at the end of NPH.

Blue is not a creature color, so we only get five creatures, but what a group of five creatures to get. Like white, we get a Phyrexian Mana creature, and two infect creatures. Unlike white, we get four evasion creatures, all with a pretty good power to mana cost ratio. It is also worth pointing out that we have the same kind of curve smoothing happening between the 2 and 3 drops lots in blue. Expect a lot of action in the early turns in this format.

The greatest thing about these blue creatures is the evasion. Three of these creatures have flying, and another one is unblockable. Furthermore, the last creature is a big infector, meaning that it is also pretty hard to block. That is a great foundation for a blue deck to build on.

Once again, we see that three of these creatures have 1 toughness. Not only that, but those three creatures are all the kind that you really want to see dead. Leaving a Blighted Agent to attack is not a good idea, and getting hit with Impaler Shrike is going to be a major step in the wrong direction.

The infect creatures are definitely worth noting. This is the first set where we see blue infectors, but these are two of the best infect creatures we have seen in the block. Blighted Agent is at least as good as Plague Stinger, which is definitely saying something. Chained Throatseeker in a heavy infect deck is pretty awesome, winning the game in one or two swings. Phyrexian Juggernaut was a very tough creature to deal with in Mirrodin Besieged, and in a dedicated infect deck, the Throatseeker is often just going to be better.

However, the blue cards have a serious weakness that needs to be addressed. They are evasive, but there aren’t any good cards for holding the ground early. Spire Monitor is a decent defensive creature, as is the Chained Throat Seeker, but there is not a Horned Turtle variant to be seen. There actually aren’t that many of those kinds of creatures in New Phyrexia at all, so keep in mind that you’ll want to be taking decent defensive creatures a little bit earlier in Besieged and Scars than you would otherwise. Neurok Replica seems like an awesome complement in the later packs.

Hoo boy. Black definitely has the worst creatures in this set, especially compared to the other sets.  Again, we see creatures all the way up the curve from 2 to 6, but that is very deceptive in this set of creatures. We have two Phyrexian Mana creatures, unlike the other colors which have one. However, one of them, the Vault Skirge, is really not very playable even if it comes out a turn early.

Blind Zealot seems strong, but is actually not much better than a Gray Ogre in an artifact format. He is certainly playable, but definitely not anything to get excited over. Dementia Bat is overcosted by about one mana. But if you are base black, then you are definitely going to need to play him. Mortis Dogs is the second best creature in the whole group, which says a lot. I think that Mortis Dogs are going to be underrated in the new format, but expect that thing to be beating a lot of faces. Black relies on an abundance of removal to clear the way, and then it drops things like Mortis Dogs to put away the game. Toxic Nim seems alright, but consider that if he is blocked by any infect creature, he just dies.  He dies to Fume Spitters, and Virulent Wound, and if you don’t have the mana out, he dies to pretty much anything else. Furthermore, he doesn’t have any kind of evasion, so your opponent will happily chump block while you pay your mana.

However, the one good creature that black gets is a doozy. Pith Driller is probably a little underrated right now, but this guy is a rock solid creature that should fit into any deck. He is so simple that he sort of flies under the radar, but he is definitely going to be one of the format defining commons. However, he also costs Phyrexian Mana.

The biggest problem that black has in this set is that only one of the creatures has infect, and he isn’t even very good. Black has been the infect color, especially since it’s infect creatures are pretty bad outside of a dedicated infect deck.

Black is not going to make the best base color for this set, but it does have some solid removal. I would definitely think hard about the kind of color that I’m pairing black up with in this set, as well as looking to shore up my creatures with artifact creatures. It seems like black would pair very well with Green or Blue, since both of those colors are a little bit removal light, but creature heavy. With Red and White, you are probably going to want to form more of a rush deck where your removal clears blockers out of the way, and your Mortis Dogs get in for the kill.

Red is another creature light color. Unlike blue, the red creatures are pretty unexciting. Red definitely has a better balance of creatures than black, but it doesn’t have Pith Driller either. One important thing about red is that it is missing the ever important 2 drop. Red really depends on its two drops in order to drop an early creature and then remove a whole bunch of threats as it wails away on the opponent. Missing the two drop is pretty important to the format.

The best red creature is definitely Razor Swine. First Strike and Infect is a rock solid combination, which makes this guy both hard to block and hard to attack into. If I’m in red, I’m going to be playing this guy for sure, even if I’m not heavy infect. However, there is another important thing of note about this guy. Like the rest of this set, we see a theme of one toughness. Apparently Phyrexians don’t spend much time focused on defense. Along the same lines as Razor Swine, we see Ogre Menial, which is a solid defensive creature that can go on the offensive very well. It doesn’t take much mana to make this guy into a serious threat.

The options on the non-infect side are pretty slim. Slash Panther is probably the best of these, and a 4/2 haste for 4 is nothing to sneeze at. Notice that there have been several 4/2 attackers so far in this set, along with a 3/1 flyer in blue. Slash Panther may seem unexciting, but like Mortis Dogs, it is going to be a key factor in red decks. We’ve also got a Dinosaur, which is fine but definitely unexciting considering the abundance of options for Dinosaurs in the other sets. And, we have Furnace Scamp which is just not going to be a major limited player.

The biggest problem with these creatures is the way they work with the other sets in the block. Red’s strategy has tended towards the play creatures and attack kind of deck, and these creatures just don’t work for that, mainly because of the distillation of the creatures with infectors. The curve is seriously problematic for an aggressive type of strategy. I think that red decks are going to be either relying more on artifacts and other colors, or they are going to become more controlling. I’m fine with that second option. Those two infectors look like perfect options for holding down the fort.

The first thing we see is that green has a curve going from 1 to 7, with Thundering Tanadon filling out both the 4 and the 6 slot. Like the other colors, the best creature in the color is a Phyrexian Mana card, though it is the first one that has CC in its cost. We get several big creatures, which is good for green, and even get a pretty good infect creature, as well as a mediocre one.

The green creatures in this set are actually pretty mediocre compared to what green normally gets. The blue creatures are better than the green ones in NPH. Compare these creatures with the green creatures from Mirrodin Besieged which were just amazing. Even the creatures from Scars are better on the whole. There is a reason for this; green gets two real removal spells in this set, so obviously green couldn’t get all the good creatures too.

Regardless, green gets one of the format defining threats in Thundering Tanadon. This guy and Porcelain Legionnaire significantly change the post NPH draft format. A 5/4 for 4 is pretty good, even if you have to pay life. But adding trample is just amazing. This guy is coming down at the same time as 3/3s and 2/4s, crushing them, and still dealing damage to the opponent. Not only that, but he acts like he has his own little built in Llanowar Elf, accelerating him out early and fixing himself for green mana. Theoretically this could be played in a non-green deck, but I wouldn’t do that personally. The ability to cheapen and fix his mana is nice, but you want to be able to drop him for six if you draw him late.

Beyond that, we have four very playable creatures. Glistener Elf is very good in an infect deck; people are willing to play Flensermite, and this guy is just so much better than that. Viridian Betrayers is as worse infect card, but the fact that it can play double duty is actually very important in the format. It doesn’t do either very well, but it makes it so that you can pick up this guy and not worry about him being unplayable if you don’t end up with good infect support. Also, a 3/1 for 3 is fine in this format, though you usually don’t want to have to pay double green for the body.

Maul Splicer is another decent green creature, being able to come down late and significantly change the board. He doesn’t get one-for-oned by regular removal, and two 3/3s is pretty game changing. On those same lines, we have Rotted Hystrix, which is going to be underrated. 3/6 is pretty big, and while you certainly don’t want to spend early picks on this guy, he is a perfectly fine 23rd card. The cobra is another card that I expect to be underrated, as value bears often do. Bears are fine in this format, and when they come with two relevant, albeit expensive abilities, they become pretty useful. Overall, I’d definitely give green the second highest marks for its creatures in this set, which makes it a very good base color to pair with black, red, or blue.

Also, we again see multiple x/1s, as well as a couple of guys with higher power than toughness. The more I see of this set, the more I think that cards like Virulent Wound, Gut Shot, or Blisterstick Shaman are worth taking early than normal.

Now we get to the artifact creatures. Five of these are souleaters, which means they have Phyrexian Mana activation costs, so they’ll function more like creatures of their color. We also get a decent 2 drop for defensive decks, and the last is a reprint in Phyrexian Hulk.

The White, Black, Red, and Blue souleaters are definitely better in their base color, though the black one might still be worth playing in a non-black infect deck that is short on playables. The green one is only getting activated once anyways, so it doesn’t really matter if you are in green or not. Of the five, the Blinding Souleater is obviously the strongest, and it is the key reason why you would want to go into white in this format. Just his appearance makes White a contender for the second best creatures in the set, but I tend to think of Decoys as more of removal than creatures anyways.  Don’t forget that it is perfectly reasonable to include the Souleater in a non-white deck. It makes a fantastic splash since you don’t necessarily need the plains early. Also, a 1/3 body for 3 is playable in this format, and being able to occasionally use the tap ability when you need it is definitely relevant. Which shows us the problem with white in this set, all of your best creatures are going to be cherry picked away by other colors.

The Trespassing Souleater is the next best of the bunch. It isn’t a high pick, but it is definitely worth picking up if you are in blue, and he makes equipment significantly more exciting. Again, this guy is playable in other colors since a 2/2 for three is alright in this format, especially against infect decks.

The other Souleaters are unexciting, but all playable in certain decks. The Immolating Souleater is going to be fine in aggressive red /black decks, where you can remove threats and then pump him up for beatings. The Insatiable Souleater is going to function similarly, filling out a creature light deck, and doing some good work in decks with a lot of removal or bounce spells, but it is definitely not an ideal card. The Pestilent Souleater is interesting since he is a hybrid infect/non-infect guy. I was happy to play Scourge Servant from Mirrodin Besieged, and I’m sure that I’ll be playing Pestilent Souleaters as some point, though definitely as a late pick.

Both Hovermyr and Phyrexian Hulk are playable, but unexciting. The first wears equipment well and is a decent sideboard card vs. infect, and the second is fine if you don’t have anything else for the top end of your curve. Another important feature of the artifacts is that there are two x/1s that are worth killing, as well as more of the theme of high power and low toughness. Like I’ve said many times, take those 1 damage effects higher than normal.

I expect most people to be shying away from off color Souleaters in this format, but don’t fall into that trap. I’ve played Auriok Replicas in the past, or off color Moriok Replicas. There is no reason not to play an off color Souleater if you are short on playables, though the Immolating Souleater probably wouldn’t be the best choice for that. Remember, another creature in your deck is often going to be better than a narrow spell.

That concludes my discussion of the common creatures in New Phyrexia, but wait, there’s more!! What limited article would be complete without a draft walkthrough. I post all of my drafts on Raredraft.com, and this one here is my first New Phyrexia draft.

http://www.raredraft.com/watch?d=2r5kb

This is what I ended up playing:

And, here are some comments on the draft:

I really like to play UG tempo decks. They are my favorite decks to play in any limited format, and one of the first things that I like to do is figure out the strength of the UG decks. The key to UG tempo is that you are a semi-aggressive deck that drops big green creatures, and then clears the way with bounce spells and removal. When the board stalls, you use the green creatures to clog the board while you win through the air. UG decks also tend to have several sources of card advantage, which gives them a pretty good late game. They are good against aggressive decks and against attrition based control decks.

I have a feeling that UG tempo decks are going to be quite strong in NMS. The creatures are very good in NPH, and both colors are absolutely the deepest colors in the set, as well as in Mirrodin Besieged. Furthermore, you get a few decent removal spells to back up your deck, which makes it significantly more powerful than in most blocks. UG was my second favorite deck in MSS, after UR control, and I expect that to remain true, but UG definitely seems like a contender. Also, notice that with the Strandwalker and the Volition Reins I’m effectively playing 17 creatures.

As for specific cards, the Treasure Mage/Thundering Tanadon combo was a beating. I didn’t face a deck that could handle T3 Mage, T4 Tanadon, T5 Quicksilver Geyser. Leeching Bite was completely legit, working better than Virulent Wound or Fume Spitter in most cases, both of which are cards that I take pretty high. Spire Monitor is probably blue’s top common in NPH, but Impaler Shrike is pretty bonkers as well. Connecting with it often feels like you just automatically win. Act of Aggression won one game for me, and would have won the other in which I drew it if I had played it correctly (I needed to play Vital Splicer, then play Act of Aggression on the Golem to give it haste and attack for exactly lethal). Also, Neurok Invisimancer is pretty good with green fatties.

I would include a walkthrough of the games as well, but unfortunately they got corrupted, so sad luck. In any case, I managed to go 3-0, only losing the one game where I made a play mistake. The rest of the games weren’t really close.

Hopefully this little article helps you in your future NMS drafts. Remember that while removal spells tend to be the best commons, creatures form the foundation of your deck. Blue and green seem like they have the best creatures in the set, which means they are going to be great colors to form up the basis for your deck, and then supplementing with removal from another color. White also seems solid, though I would probably avoid laying BW decks, simply because of the anti-synergy between the cards. Take those Phyrexian mana creatures fairly high, and don’t be afraid to play them off color. Enjoy your drafting.

 

4 Comments

Thanks by silverwyvern4 at Wed, 06/08/2011 - 13:48
silverwyvern4's picture
5

Thanks

Good post! by TwoHands at Wed, 06/08/2011 - 16:00
TwoHands's picture

Definitely informative, and a good mix of info. Also, nice draft - going T2 Occulus -> T3 Architect/Tanadon seems absurd, especially on the play - nice T3 replica, just bashing for 5 here.

Only quibble: a Splicer is like the best thing to lose to Blisterstick ... it basically turns the potential 2-for-1 into a 0.25-for-1 or whatever.

you mean 1.25 for 1 by daggius at Fri, 06/10/2011 - 13:10
daggius's picture

you mean 1.25 for 1

Doesn't the blister body give by Paul Leicht at Fri, 06/10/2011 - 13:19
Paul Leicht's picture

Doesn't the blister body give it a discount on the other side of that equation?