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By: Doctor Anime, Tomer Abramovici
Apr 15 2010 8:25am
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Rise of the Eldrazi's cards have finally trickled out onto the Internet and now is the time to sit down and analyze the new cards heading our way. After looking at commons, I'm very happy to say that this expansion is friggin' awesome. It's not wacky format-changing brokenness, nor is it dull unexciting jank, but rather a healthy balance of fun and interesting cards.

When you sort through the cards that I'll talk about, keep in mind that I've selected the ones that I feel have competitive potential. I squeezed one or two that are "casual" because of their fun potential, but that's about it. So with that said, let's analyze some cards!

Lone Missionary: This guy is going solo, and though he's probably a bitter and lonely man, he kicks aggro ass all by himself. Let's compare him to Soul Warden, another anti-aggro card. Warden comes out faster, but needs four creatures to enter play before she gains as much life. Against aggro she'll probably be incinerated by removal before she rakes in big gains. She also cannot trade with the plethora of 2/2 creatures in Pauper. Missionary says screw that, I'm getting in there, gaining a significant amount of life for my caster immediately, and then I'm going to stab a Goblin Cohort in the face with a rusty spoon. Even against slower decks he can still go on the offensive much better than the Warden. Now that's value!

You can also compare Lone Missionary to Aven Riftwatcher. Same amount of life gained, though Missionary's method is slightly better because it's all gained upfront. Aven is more expensive but comes with a beefier body and evasion, but commits suicide in three turns, though the Missionary's 1toughness means he might not be around for long either. I'd say he compares favorably to our popular Birdman and since he's sitting at 2cc and not 3cc they probably won't be competing for the same slot.

I would say in most cases, Lone Missionary is superior to Soul Warden. The only time I'd run Warden instead is if it's a deck that generates many creatures like Elves / Spore Cry, or if my 2cc slot is just far too bloated. Overall, very excited about this card. I could see it fit in White Weenie quite easily as a replacement considering WW's 2cc slot is actually more open than its 1cc, or maybe it can find a home in UWblink for Blinky-goodness.

Soul's Attendant: It's unlikely that you'd want to run 8 Soul Wardens in a deck (or even 12 if you splash green for Essence Warden!), but hey, at least we have a new artwork to look at.

Deprive: It's a friggin' Counterspell, people! None of this Cancel garbage! Unfortunately, Blue doesn't have much to make the land bounce less of a disadvantage. Calcite Snapper is great for Standard and Extended Player Run Events, but it doesn't really make the cut in Classic. I could definitely see MUC running 2x of these though. If you get it late-game, the land-bounce could feed Oona's Grace, and bouncing a land when you've got 8+ isn't a big deal. First Strike adds that it might be cool to bounce some of the new Zendikar lands with it, like Bojuka Bog and Halimar Depths, and I agree.

 

 

 

Distortion Strike: Okay, this one is more casual, but who else here thinks this would be super fun in Faeries? It has amazing synergy with Ninja of the Deep Hours and a sure-fire way to cast Latchkey Faerie. There are tons of creatures that do good things when you hit your opponent with combat damage in pauper, so this card could show up in neat new decks.

Sea Gate Oracle: The Pauper version of Court Hussar. The big difference is that it digs one less card (Vigilance on a 1/3 isn't a huge loss). Compare that to Phyrexian Rager. Rager has a better body to be aggressive, but manipulating and drawing one of the top two cards on your library is clearly much better than just drawing the top one. Oracle can also block + kill 1/1 Goblins, so the 1/3 body is still relevant in this meta. I'm definitely excited for this! Oracle should fit wonderfully in UWblink decks and other blue decks as well.

Shared Discovery: Very interesting concept, but it's difficult to imagine blue decks that will consistently have three creatures to tap to use it effectively. I think the biggest chance this card has is in ELVES! decks that have both the creature mass and the blue accessibility to reliably cast it. Can this plus Distant Melody push ELVES! further up on tier ladder?

Bloodthrone Vampire: Nantuko Husk at 2cc! This is big news for BR Husk decks. For those of you that don't know what BR Husk is, it's a very fun aggro archetype that makes the most out of Keldon Marauders, Mogg War Marshal, and Mesmeric Fiend by sacrificing them to the cannibals Carrion Feeder and Nantuko Husk / Vampire Aristocrat. This strategy is then filled out by a big helping of black and red's finest removal and discard spells, such as Lightning Bolt and the backbreaking Blightning.

With this new vampire rolling into the picture, suddenly BR Husk has a cannibalizer in the 1cc, 2cc, and 3cc slots. This could make for a smoother, more consistent deck with a better curve. As soon as RoE hits online I'm going to grab a playset and try out BR Husk again.

Cadaver Imp: Variety is never a bad thing, and now we have a Raise Dead creature at 3cc, 4cc, and 5cc. This should make some deckbuilders very happy, since I'm sure there's some people out there that wanted the graveyard bounce for their deck but 4cc+ was too steep. I wouldn't run the Imp in MBC though. MBC's 24 land affords it the higher casting costs and 1/1's aren't very good in general. I would love to have a 2/1 without flying, but oh well.

Staggershock: I'm not sure that this burn spell is good enough, but it's certainly interesting. I don't think Staggershock is on the same level as Lightning Bolt, but then again LB is the king of all burn like Counterspell reigns over counters. So instead let's compare it to Firebolt. Bolt is sorcery speed, is ready as soon as turn 1 which is pretty significant, but the flashback costs a whopping 5cc which is pricey. Staggershock is only ready earliest at turn 3, but the Rebound is free. Flashback gives you the flexibility of casting when you want to while Rebound will sometimes go towards a more lackluster target (aka to the face) -- though again it is free.

It's really a tough choice, which in my opinion makes the card good from a design standpoint. I'll hold my judgment until after I test it out. Will Burn want to play it?

Kozilek's Predator: A 3/3 for 4cc that comes with two 0/1 tokens that can either chump block, protect against edicts, or mana ramp? Sounds like a good deal to me! I'm not sure where this creature will fit, perhaps in a Kodama Thunder type of deck, but it's very neat regardless.

Note that you really need to make the most of those tokens; otherwise it's hard to justify running this guy instead of alternatives such asPenumbra Spider. Not that it's hard to put those tokens to work, of course -- you just need to be packing expensive bombs or summon a certain Eldrazi heavyweight, which I'll talk about later.

Might of the Masses: Wirewood Pride for all! Take that, you prideful racist pointy-eared hippies! Stompy wins a victory!

Although it would be stronger in ELVES! decks anyway...

 

 

 

Nest Invader: 2cc for a 2/2 and an Eldrazi Spawn. Again, like Kozilek's Predator, it's a sweet deal, but you better be using the spawn for something good or else Safehold Elite looks like the stronger pick.

I'm really enjoying this trend of solid green creatures that ramp into something big. Ramp decks need sizable bodies to delay aggro, and here we get exactly that.

 

Ondu Giant: Take Farhaven Elf, raise its casting cost by one and change it from a 1/1 to a 2/4. Yes! YESSSSS!

 

Ahem. I think this is a very good card. The 2/4 body is such an enormous upgrade from the puny elf and compares favorably with Borderland Ranger. It could be very playable. First Strike makes a valid point though, Ranger often helps you get that 4th land that you might have drew late, while 3G might be a little slow. However, if you're playing Ondu Giant along with other land fetch/ramp like the Ranger and others, then he'll really shine.

Evolving Wilds: Wish you could have more copies of Terramorphic Expanse in your deck? Well, now you can. I don't think most decks will want to up their Expanse count, but one in particular, Boros Landfall, might. Would trading Panoramas for Evolving Wilds be worthwhile?

 

 

Vendetta: Another 1cc removal option for black to sit beside Innocent Blood and Disfigure. To decide on whether this should be played or not, you have to consider what Vendetta does better than the other two.

Blood kills everything but also takes out a creature if you have one. That's a minor nuisance for MBC, but the creature-light Teachings usually doesn't mind at all. Still, Blood's power diminishes in the face of the Goblin army which is prevalent in the meta, or if the opponent has multiple creatures in general. It's also a sorcery.

Disfigure handles most creatures played in the format, providing a good one-for-one with a Goblin while still taking out most anything Teachings / MBC can throw at you. I'd say the weakest match-up is against WW, as it can't handle Kor Skyfisher, the meaty Razor Golem and the exceptionally annoying Order of Leitbur.

Vendetta can take out those skyfishers and golems, but can't kill black creatures. I'd say that's a worthy upgrade, but you're also losing life, which is something control doesn't like to lose too much of when trying to stabilize. Taking out a Golem and losing four life is pretty hefty.

To sum it up, I don't think I'd be playing Vendetta in control decks. However, there is one deck that I'd like to try this removal out, and that's SUIblack. SUIblack has life to throw around because it shouldn't be losing much of it in the first place, since it's either on the offensive or it's losing. In my opinion it comes down to this: do you want SUIblack to do better against WW or MBC? Personally I think WW is the weaker match-up, so Vendetta will be getting some playtesting time from me.

 

Hand of Emrakul: He's huge, hard to kill in combat, and dodges a good portion of the popular removal spells due to sheer size alone. You can accelerate into him by sacrificing four eldrazi spawn. Sounds pretty fun! First thing that I'm going to try once I get my hands(!) on him is to put him in a Green Rampy deck supported by cards like Nest Invader, Kozilek's Predator, maybe even the aptly named Emrakul's Hatcher.

Ulamog's Crusher: He'll be the strongest, meanest fattie in the entire Pauper format. Admit it -- after looking at this card, the Timmy in you just squealed with glee. The casting cost is pretty hefty, but I'm sure that The Crushinator will become BFFs with Exhume.

 

So that's all of the cards that I think have competitive potential. Now, out of all the ones that I've chosen, I'd say the top three cards that are most likely to make it into the big leagues are: Sea Gate Oracle, Lone Missionary, and Ondu Giant. If I had to bet money on which would make it, those would be the ones.

Overall, looks like UWblink, WW, and BRHusk will be getting some new additions soon and we now have more compelling reasons to go for green-based ramp decks. Rise of the Eldrazi is a solid expansion, and is something that I eagerly await to draft.


You Make the Play #2 (answer):

1. Cast Eye of Nowhere targeting your own Journey to Nowhere
2. Splice Veil of Secrecy on your Eye of Nowhere targeting Petrahydrox to return it to hand, and pay the splice cost by returning Pestermite to hand.
3. Cast Daze targeting one of your own spells by paying its alternative casting cost and return a tapped Island to hand. Pay to 1cc to keep the spell.
4. Cast Pestermite to tap Drift of Phantasms.
5. Cast Journey to Nowhere targeting Talon Trooper. When Journey's ability goes on the stack, but before it resolves, flashback Momentary Blink targeting Kor Skyfisher, then use the Skyfisher's ability to return Journey back to hand. Talon Trooper is permanently exiled.
6. Play the Island that you bounced to your hand with Daze, switch Calcite Snapper's P/T.
7. Cast Journey again targeting Knight of Sursi.
8. Swing with Snapper and Errant Ephemeron for 8 damage. You win!

 

The puzzle takes all available mana, including the Island you play after bouncing it with Daze. You should be left with Aven Riftwatcher and Wormfang Drake in hand. The Drake and Riftwatcher were red herrings. I got positive feedback from this puzzle so I will work to have more in the future.

Pauper Guild?!

First_Strike and I have set up a new guild called A Common Cause. It's a Pauper guild, aka glorified chatroom, where people can find others to play Pauper games of any format, test new deck concepts, discuss cards, etc. You know, Pauper-y stuff. Since we just started it up it's just me, Strike, and a bunch of digital tumbleweeds, but I hope that will be changing soon. If you're interested in joining, hit me or First_Strike up and we will get you an invite. I've been drafting and he has been into 100 singleton and some Legacy, so we dabble in other formats here and there as well. And you should be interested in joining because it's super awesome, with pro's, belly-dancers, cake and PRIZES!

Thanks for reading, stay classy!

17 Comments

Nice to see focus on things by deluxeicoff at Thu, 04/15/2010 - 10:38
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Nice to see focus on things not 100/100 with Annihilator 8 ;)

My only critique is in speaking for WW: the Lone Missionary. It is nice, but I wouldn't dare run him over Wardens - the warden shines long term, and is a partial answer to storm, usually buying you a turn if warrens triggered. Additionally against goblins, between WW's decklist and their's you have 70+ creatures, that all come out fast, so in one average turn your gaining 4 life, not to mention when you get multiples AND the fact that WWs' two-drop spot is chalk full of crazy quality already, unless they come out wih a mechanic "Affinity for 2cc" :) - I won't be running this guy anytime soon, but that counterspell is NUTS!

Puncturing Light and Hyena by deluxeicoff at Thu, 04/15/2010 - 10:49
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Puncturing Light and Hyena Umbra seem to have a place, I was thinking of Angelic Renewal if I had the room, but Hyena would be more aggro and act as a cheaper Safehold Elite. Of the two, puncturing light is the bomb

lol...nevermind, puncturing by deluxeicoff at Thu, 04/15/2010 - 11:03
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lol...nevermind, puncturing light is attacker/blocker scenerio, my optimism meter was running too high.

Interesting look at RoE. I am by Paul Leicht at Thu, 04/15/2010 - 12:31
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Interesting look at RoE. I am still unexcited by the Set as a whole but I do want to get a hold of some of those commons and having read your analysis of the commons let me think about them myself. I don't agree with all of your conclusions but it is nice to see a perspective that is different from mine. Some comments: Deprive is going to be huge. 2cmc is the sweet spot for counters even if there are drawbacks. (and with plenty of ways to abuse landfall losing a tempo isn't going to hurt as much as you think.) I am not a huge fan of enters the battlefield life gain, even though I have always liked Riftwatcher (despite it's ephemeral status.)
I much prefer Soul Warden in most decks. On the other hand a quasi bear with benefits is always a plus so I expect Lone Missionary to be hot in limited and so so in constructed. I am certain the Umbras will see play in limited and may have a place constructed as well since they can be abused with enters the battlefield creatures or creatures that your opponent really wants to see off the board permanently. Yes Auras are still iffy but the Umbras are not typical Auras. I haven't really looked at all of the spoiled set yet but I am certain there are a couple that are missing. Anyway thanks for the read.

Great article, I enjoyed by 53N531 at Thu, 04/15/2010 - 12:53
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Great article, I enjoyed reading it. Also, Common Cause is already a pauper clan. Check http://forums.pdcmagic.com/viewforum.php?f=25&sid=99247a054684f700fac4ed... for a general list of the most popular common clans.

I'd be interested in a by deluxeicoff at Thu, 04/15/2010 - 13:09
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I'd be interested in a majority pauper clan. Finally make the tab worthwhile...like ratings, when are these things going to start to matter online? I hope soon, otherwise I'll be raredrafting my way to a 1500 ;)

I found the way the article by BobaJames at Thu, 04/15/2010 - 13:32
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I found the way the article was formatted, was hard for me to find that flow. my eyes were jumping around a lot just to follow what card i was reading about.

My solution... by MechtaK at Thu, 04/15/2010 - 13:33
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..was much easier than that. You already have lethal damage on the board if you take into account that 1) you can play a land (you can) and 2) that you can remove at least two of his creatures from blocking (which you can). So...

1) Cast Aven Riftwatcher, tapping 2 Kabira Crossroads and an Island (3 mana).

2) Daze Aven Riftwatcher by returning an Island to your hand, let it be countered, spending no mana (3 mana).

3) Play the Island, switch the power/toughness on Calcite Snapper.

4) Flashback Momentary Blink on Journey to Nowhere, with new target on either Talon Trooper or Knight of Sursi, tapping an Island and 3 Plains (7 mana).

5) Cast either Veil of Secrecy or Eye of Nowhere on Petrahydrox, returning it to owner's hand, tapping an Island and a Plains (9 mana).

6) Attack for lethal damage, at this point no matter how the opponent blocks, he/she dies. As you can see, it only takes 9 mana to get the job done. I have 5 Islands still untapped (including the replayed one).

Unless I missed something, but I don't think I did.

you can't blink an by JustSin at Thu, 04/15/2010 - 13:38
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you can't blink an enchantment

doh by MechtaK at Thu, 04/15/2010 - 13:53
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True that, I have no idea what I was thinking there. Dufus me.

Plus, I hadn't realized the Drift of Phantasms was the opponent's card.

I is a collage studant.

Ive never studied collages by Paul Leicht at Thu, 04/15/2010 - 14:25
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Ive never studied collages ...how does that work? You buy a bunch of magazines, cut out the faces/etc glue them together then talk about the potential wackiness of each image? (J/k just find it funny that you misspelled that.)

Yeah blinking the Journey would be ftw if you could.

Deluxeicoff - It's true that by Doctor Anime at Thu, 04/15/2010 - 14:24
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Deluxeicoff - It's true that Soul Warden shines more in the longterm and helps stall against Storm. I guess it depends on the Goblins list, but I assumed that the Soul Warden would usually die to Mogg Fanatic, Lightning Bolt, or Chain Lightning before it can grow more than 4 life, and post-SB get hit by Flame Jab. My reasoning for Lone Missionary is that it always gets 4 life and then can trade with a 2/2, which makes it better against Control decks as well. If Soul Warden is consistently gaining more life than that against Goblins though then yes you're absolutely right, Warden is better. Since you play WW so much more than me I'll go with your judgement.

I just want to double-check on the mana curve though. 1cc has 4x Boydguard 4x Shade suspend, then Knight of Sursi if you're running it. 2cc has 4x Kor Skyfisher, then I guess some Safehold Elites / Benalish Cavalry if you run them? I dunno, it looks like 2cc would want more slots than 1cc at that point.

Paul - Well, the thing about blue is you really DONT have much ways to abuse landfall. Snapper ain't that great so you've got Halimar Depths, and that's about it right? But like I said, we all know how ridiculous Counterspell is, and this is Counterspell with a small drawback.

Since I skipped all the Umbras, you can tell that I'm not their biggest fan. Huge in limited for sure, but in classic pauper I have a couple beefs: 1) 2for1 risk as usual 2) WW's removal ignore the totem effect, and Black's Edict / Blood do as well. Everything requires testing though.

5N531 - Ah, so there ARE active pauper clans then? That changes things.

BobaJames - Thanks for the feedback. I tried to put in every card's picture because it's such a new expansion, but my html skillz are very basic. Next time I do something like this I'll make the pictures smaller so that it fits easier and stays right beside the descriptive paragraph. I'll make more liberal use of spaces too.

Mecha - I'm a college student too! Can't blame it on that. Intoxication due to occupation, maybe :P

Blue not so much but white by Paul Leicht at Thu, 04/15/2010 - 14:28
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Blue not so much but white has several powerful ways to do so. And also some interesting cards like Ruin Ghost to further enhance the wackiness plus fun lands that do things when they enter the battlefield. I see that card as being very very good.

Edit
though I realize I am thinking of the rares and uncommons...so perhaps not so much in pauper. I find it hard to think of cards as only useful/not useful in a narrow format.

Yeah, that's an unfortunate by Doctor Anime at Thu, 04/15/2010 - 14:41
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Yeah, that's an unfortunate downside of the format. Many of the "niche" cards need uncommons to let it flourish. For example, we have all these cool mana-efficient creatures that bring eldrazi spawn, but the only use of those tokens out of straightforward mana accel is to shortcut a Hand of Emrakul. I noticed that there's a Green "Spawn Lord" that gives all those tokens +2/+1, which is amazing... But it's an uncommon.

That's the real challenge. WOTC meant for these types of commons to be paired for X/Y/Z cards that are usually rares and uncommon in the same set. In pauper, we don't have it so cut and dry, so we have to scour our massive pile of "good cards" and find what interaction is both practical and worthwhile. Sometimes it just won't work though.

Order & Journey, are also 2 by deluxeicoff at Thu, 04/15/2010 - 15:17
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Order & Journey, are also 2 spot

lol wow, brain fart. dunno by Doctor Anime at Thu, 04/15/2010 - 19:01
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lol wow, brain fart. dunno how i forgot about those

Kiln Fiend is good enough to by sanhedrin at Mon, 04/19/2010 - 16:23
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Kiln Fiend is good enough to fit into a competitive deck. It turns every Bolt in your deck into 6 damage.

It’s a natural fit for the Mono Red Burn deck:
T1: Terramorphic Expanse
T2: Kiln Fiend
T3: Lava Spike, Chain Lightning, Lightning Bolt their Lone Missionary, attack for 10. They’re at 8. Without Lone Missionary they’re at 1. Maybe you even hit your turn 1 Spark Elemental.

Or keep R open so you can Brute Force when they Bolt your Kiln Fiend.

With Green you get Vines of Vastwood, Skarrgan Pitskulk, Silhana Ledgewalker.
T3: Vines with kicker, Bolt, attack for 11. They’re at 6.
T3: Bolt a blocker, Giant Growth, Brute Force, attack for 13, they’re at 4.

T1: Llanowar Elves
T2: Kiln Fiend, Reckless Charge, attack for 7.

With Blue you get card draw, evasion, and Wee Dragonauts:
T3: Lava Spike, Bolt, Shadow Rift making your Kiln Fiend unblockable and drawing a card, attack for 10. They’re at 4.

It’s even wackier in extended/legacy:
T1: Mountain, Chrome Mox, Kiln Fiend
T2: Bolt, Bolt, Bolt, Attack for 10. They’re at 1. With a sac land in play.