The card:
Hello and welcome to a very special article! I'd like to thank Wizards of the Coast for giving this preview to PureMTGO and I'd like to thank PureMTGO for letting me write about it. It's an honor to be amongst the select few that are chosen to preview cards. To be sharing an experience with so many writers I look up to is humbling and awe inspiring. I'm alway ecstatic to Officially preview a card, so thanks again to both of you! This is a huge card for me to get to preview. Probably one of the biggest I've ever been gifted with... The next closest would probably be my preview of Imperial Seal for Master's Edition 2.
I'd also like to say that I know how frustrating it is to read a preview article and have the card be hidden somewhere towards the bottom. Well, turns out it's fun to write the article like that but not fun to read. As a compromise I'll put the image towards the middle of the article. That seems fair. To fill the gap I'll relate my view of the card to some real life experiences and movie quotes, because every good article needs some of those.
By the time you're reading this, I'll likely be getting ready for my class reunion. I have a lot of entertaining thoughts about the people I used to go to school with, namely a doozy of a quote from Grosse Point Blank:
Marcella: You know, when you started getting invited to your ten year high school reunion, time is catching up.
Martin Q. Blank: Are you talking about a sense of my own mortality or a fear of death?
Marcella: Well, I never really thought about it quite like that.
Martin Q. Blank: Did you go to yours?
Marcella: Yes, I did. It was just as if everyone had swelled.
"It was as if everyone had swelled." I loved that quote when I heard it and it's currently echoing in my brain since I'm preparing to go to my 10 year (well, 11, but my school was never very good with *math learnin'*) class reunion. I look forward to seeing the ravages of age. But what does this have to do with Magic, and more importantly, an M10 Preview card? The answer is a swollen card that we like to call: Planar Cleansing.
Wrath of God has swollen to 50% its previous size! An extra W1 has been added to the WW2 cost that we all know and love. What treachery is this, you may be wondering? How could they do this to our beloved Wrath, you might be asking. I mean, after all, Wrath of God has been the ultimate board sweeper for the past 15 years. However it appears to have been dethroned and usurped by this pretender to the throne. But before we gather the rabble cry lets think about a few things:
- When Wrath of God is in a core set, that means that any sweeping effect in Block is going to be toned down.
- Giving up Wrath in the Core means that Block can finally get a good sweeper, not just a 'good enough' sweeper.
- If you're currently not wishing the death of all Planeswalkers yet, you will be when we rotate into Alara Based Standard.
What the extra mana gets us:
The most important thing that this 'new wrath' gets us is the ability to nail a Planeswalker, or two (different ones, of course!) Having played in a lot, lot, lot of Alara Block, I can safely say that Planeswalkers MUST be answered in a timely fashion. As I mentioned above, Planeswalkers will be a big deal as we keep moving forward with them in Standard. Having the ability to kill one or two of them along with everything else on the board is certianly a good idea. Also, the card destroys all enchantments and artifacts. Not that I expect this to see play in Extended where Affinity lives, but it certainly is a vastly different effect than the trust Wrath of God. This is one of the few carte blanche (heh!) reset buttons that White gets. Usually this level of destruction is reservered for artifact sweepers like Nevinyrral's Disk or Oblivion Stone. This just blows @#$% up. Bang.
History of higher costed playable wrath effects:
Each of the above cards has seen some high level play in their days, either in Block, or as Wrath's 5+, or for their unique way of fitting into a metagame. Take the most recent one, Hallowed Burial, as an example. It gets around persist creatures (like Kitchen Finks) and has been seeing some play lately for its power in Standard. Back in the day, Akroma's Vengeance saw play in Astral Slide decks as a useful card to both cycle and reset the board. And yet, none of these cards can accomplish what Planar Cleansing can. Akroma's Vengeance is the closest effect, that has more flexibility but no Planeswalker applications. Which, even in 100 Card Singleton, Prismatic, etc is a big deal. This is a more along the lines of Nevinyrral's Disk than a wrath effect. Which, if we recall, was last seen as Magus of the Disk. This card is much better, since it happens right away... not next turn... and not a creature. Stupid creatures.
Things to Ponder:
Oblivion Ring, is the biggest concern as far as I can see. It keeps you alive in the early game yes, but once you Cleanse the board the big nasty under the ring gets to come back and play. Also, any acceleration is going to die, unless it's indestructible of course. I'm only aware of one such card currently, and that's the Darksteel Ingot, which would be a nice to get a hold of again, if only for its ability to actually get this Wrath effect to launch in time. Using cards besides Oblivion Ring for enchantment based removal isn't horrible, but it's kind of a waste of cards if you're just meaning to wrath the board again anyway.
Hitting this off of an Enigma Sphinx is pretty saucy though. I might have to try to make a deck like that... but again, you run the very distinct possibility of hitting one of your other cards with its Cascade trigger, which wouldn't be very helpful. Unless of course you're only running 7+ CMC cards, which sounds even worse in writing than it did in my head. All is not lost though, even in the new Standard we have some okay uses for this card. Persist springs to mind of course. As do Bant Sojourners to get at least a creature post sweep. Another possible interaction is with Unearth effects. This also makes Elspeth's ultimate ability a bit more relevant as it means that you can completely change the game state in your favor by never letting your opponent have non-land permanents, once her ultimate is achieved. Fog effects, counterspells and Elspeth might be a worthwhile archetype if your ability to keep the entire board clean. Lastly, can you say 're-gen-er-ation'? I knew could /Mr. Rogers. Heck, in Extended you could actually use Loxodon Hierarch's ability for good use.
Will this see play?:
I think so. The only other options post M10 will be Martial Coup (7 mana) or Scourglass (Very specific deck, and pretty bad...). I think we'll see people build around the work needed to make this spell work. There are a few ways to make it less one sided, and even make it better than wrath. Although to be fair, to be better than Wrath you need to have non-creature indestructible or recursive cards. Thankfully, Elspeth steps into that slot nicely. She also protects your permanents right on time for the effect to really matter. I mean, how hard can it be to protect an Elspeth anyway?
Why this isn't the end of the world:
Wrath has been the Gold Standard for a long, long, long time. And it has overshadowed all the Also, its existence in a core set means that any other Wrath effect in Block is going to be 5+ mana. This translates to a much worse block to keep the status quo of Wrath in a core set. If WotC takes this opportunity to make a block format wrath more powerful I think the game will actually be better off in the long run. I think that Alara Block Constructed would have been a much better format with a sub-seven CMC wrath effect. Also, Core Sets rotate every year now, not two years. If things aren't working well enough they can put it back next year if need be. Lastly, if this decision is a huge failure WotC can and will fix it in M11. Maybe.
Lastly:
Some quick asides. First aside: the art... that art is really cool. It's actually something I would have thought to see it for an Evacuation style of card. Everything getting sucked up to a glowing vortex of DOOOOOOMMMMMM. I like it, and probably will get a foil copy during the time that everyone thinks this card is too much mana to see play. Second Aside: It usually takes a few weeks, even on MTGO, for people to realize what seems bad might not be as bad as they thought. It's a great way to exploit people's perceptions of reality, considering many people perceive things in a highly negative manner. Third and final Aside: The more I think about this card the more I start to like it, actually. I know I've already dissed it a bit in unofficial discussions, however, having to really think about the card has shown me some uses that give it more power than I expected.
Thanks for reading, and thanks again to WotC and PureMTGO.com for allowing me to do this preview! Watch out for this bad boy in M10 sealed!
21 Comments
Once I saw somewhere that WotC wanted to make regeneration matter. Now it does. Deity of Scars andMossbridge Troll are a few such creatures with regenerate that come to my mind. I'm already thinking of a deck that uses Planar Cleansing:
Big Mana
22x Lands
4x Birds of Paradise
4x Noble Hierarch
4x Trace of Abundance
4x Rampant Growth
Removal
4x Maelstrom Pulse
4x Path to Exile or Unmake
3x Planar Cleansing
Finishers
4x Deity of Scars
3x Sapling of Colfenor - because of indestructibility
4x Cudgel Troll - a new troll with regen.
This would be a nice deck actually.
LE
Swinging, blocking and making sure that your creatures are the only non-lands on the board once you hit 6 mana since 2009...
Let's just hope they print something decent in zendikar, and they give us back wrath or damnation in 12th ed. This card is plain horrible with the ridicolous fast aggros around these days.
at least this hits Planeswalkers, they are far more powerful and harder to kill without using a creature based strategy..
I understand opening up design space to make better "block WoGs". But I'm still worried, because bolt is back (this one works for "both sides" though), ball lightning is back, and there are several good efficient cheap creatures in the format. And not only is Mana leak or other permission of that level out but also WoG? What keeps aggro under control? Granted we have the new StP, but that isn't so hot against 1 or 2-mana beaters.
Back to better "block WoGs", honestly, what can they do? At 4-mana, I don't think they can make it better than WoG (even with the creatures being much better than they used to be). So are we going to see "strictly worse" WoGs at 4-mana (like removing the no regen clause), and then that one shows up in M2011? Who knows. Are we going to see Final Judgment at 5-mana as it should have been costed anyway? Hallowed Burial at 4? Some weaker version of WoG at 3 may be interesting (something that removes 4 cc and under, perhaps).
Ivo.
Well, when the format becomes dominated by ridiculously fast aggro (which it will initially, let's be honest), then this will be too slow. As a result, some kind of mid-range deck will emerge to beat up on the fast aggro. I'd guess this'll be pretty good against random mid-range, so maybe it'll show up later in the format. My point is, I doubt it'll be totally irrelevant, but I still don't think it's particularly good. Standard will be left with a 6-mana wrath of permanents, and a 7-mana wrath which gets you some tokens.
This had better be a precursor to a good wrath in zendikar, but I have a feeling it's just part of maro's plan to turn magic into a strictly creature combat game because "it's more fun". I mean, they've already succesfully got rid of combo from standard.
whatever you think of it that art kicks ass!!
I think it's a playable card, mainly because there are some good walls to stall aggro, although being so much slower and requiring you to play blockers or other removal as it does, it's never going to give you the kind of card advantage and tempo wrath did. The triple white is also pretty harsh - PLAY MOAR DUALS WE PRINTED NEW ONES AGAIN. I suppose a monowhite control deck is possible at this point - all the good removal and all the good finishers are in white, anyway. Oh, and Elspeth. Elspeth is just nuts. 2WW: stop playing Magic and start a subgame of "kill the elspeth". If you can't, you lose the game.
I certainly hope this isn't part of a plan to turn Magic into a "strictly creature combat game." That is definitely not more fun. I hate just playing guys and turning them sideways.
It doesn't seem like that's the goal with this card. It doesn't seem like it will fit with the fast aggro we're seeing, but that seems like more an an oversight than an actual evil plan. It's almost cheap enough, and it will be nice to destroy Planeswalkers.
When you consider the solid removal white already has, maybe this card is fast enough (excluding Oblivion Ring of course). Run white removal with a mix of Essence Scatter, Negate, Cancel, Cryptic Command, and Broken Ambitions and you just might keep aggro at bay.
The art is awesome. This art would have been perfectly acceptable on WoG though :)
I don't understand.. you just have to live a little longer??
To do what?
Even if you survive up to play this card, which I rather doubt since white is much much weaker now, then what? The board is erased and your opponent, which is likely to have hasty cards, is gonna kill you next turn....
It's just the most apparent case of bad design (there are many many others, and the subtler ones are horrible signs of what went on..).
Forgot to mention..
Pithing needle gets rid of planeswalkers and costs one (colorless!)..
Oblivion ring gets rid of them also and costs 2w ...
There really was the need of designing this piece of crap?
M10 and the changes to the combat rules are clear signs of self-destruction.
You seem to be carrying baggage from the rules changes to the cards themsemves. So much so that it has begun to blind your logic. Neither O-ring or Pithing needle are "answers" to planeswalkers. In fact, O-oring is one of the weakest answers for a planeswalker. If it doesn't put it into the grayeyard(pulse) or rfg it permanently (purge) there's a good chance that your still going to have to deal with it again. I learned this lesson, again, in alara block. If you haven't actually destroyed it, you're going to have to deal with it again.
As many other, I do not like the rule changes to combat for more or less the same reasons discussed elsewhere.
However, I do not know how to express this but it's really the cards included in M10 (and how they have been designed) that disappoints me greatly.
Also pls allow me to disagree with your opinion on the o-ring and the needle since they do neutralize planeswalker and the fact that they do not destroy the planeswalker is of limited relevance considering that: (1) they are much faster cards than the planar cleansing (2) the needle has a persistent effect - lasts more than one round - and is versatile and super-fast.
Additionally I didn't mention maelstrom pulse that also can get rid of the planeswalker and costs 1BG only...
So planeswalkers are really not a good reason for removing a "brand card" like WOG for planar cleansing (they could have also co-existed.. since wog could co-exist with austere command et al.)
Furthermore, as I mentioned chaotically in my prev comment, are other very minor details that clearly demonstrate (to me) that not a lot of (good) thinking went into designing M10, the new publication schedules, the rule changes etc.
One example? If I have to believe MTGO-Salvation they are publishing a card named: Runeclaw Bears, cost 1G, 2/2, no abilities.
Does it ring a bell?
It's a "clone" of Grizzly Bears that is no longer in the core.
Grizzly Bears has been in the core for how long? Forever?
What's the point of removing it to create another 1G, 2/2 plain creature that is also a bear?????????
Now that's really something.....
As I commented before, lots of small details that are terribly meaningful.....
sry for being not too clear in some comments but I am writing them fast and English is not my native language.
And there has been a lot of talk about Mogg Fanatic, but what about Scarland Thrinax???
and the Thrinax belongs to the Alara block so: recently designed...
Incoherence going on.. BIG TIME!
I don't see any legit argument for this card being playable, it takes a full 2 turns longer to set up a wrath effect, assuming that you are somehow not missing your first 6 land drops, which is a big assumption. meaning you are either playing blockers which will be getting wrated away, or you are dead to an aggro deck. Also, triple white makes it quite a bit harder to cast. You can argue the viability of this card all you want, but to me it is definitely one of the weaker wrath effects that has ever seen print, and that says a lot when you consider how many have been printed.
Hitting planeswalkers is actually a BAD thing for this card to do. As mentioned, white wants to be playing powerful planeswalkers like Elspeth, why on earth would you want to nuke her like that? Wrath of God was great before because it allowed you to sweep out all of aggro's pesky little critters while things like your o-rings, borderposts, and elspeths stuck around to help you take control of the game. Now you lose all of those things. The only kind of deck who doesn't care about its own enchantments, artifacts, etc are aggro. Which deck is too fast to even vaguely consider using this card? Aggro. It's jank. This isn't even touching on the ridiculous mana cost in a time when the game's faster than ever.
I can imagine some decks where it could work, but because of the color (and THREE white manas for kickers) the only I can really imagine being usefull is some kind of mana ramp G/W with Elspeth and Dauntless Escort.
Could be very nice, I think. The only problem is - other mana ramp decks KILL, this one will only destroy the other guy's game - and as interesting as it sounds, WINNING is always better...
Might as well have another line that says "They may be regenerated" the idea of paying that much and not even finishing the job is disheartening. Wizards is really pushing mindless aggro and it makes me sad.
I think you meant this: "Wrath of God has swollen to 150% its original size."