Welcome back to the Modern Flashback Series! Another week, another core set.
Magic 2013 was a set of change, from the addition of the first multicolored card in a core set (
Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker) and a new cycle of legendary creatures, to removing core set staples like the “lucky charm” lifegain artifacts and
Giant Spider. It also continued the trend of cards related to the planeswalkers, though some are more-related in flavor rather than name (
Ajani’s Sunstriker versus
Healer of the Pride, for instance). However, the biggest change for limited is the guest mechanic Exalted.
Mechanics:
Exalted:
Exalted returns from Alara block, but while there it was in the Bant shard (GWU), here it stays in white but moves to black as well, strangely continuing the trend of putting the new mechanic into black (we won’t see it this year, but in M15 Convoke gets a relatively heavy presence in black as well). While white’s Exalted cards are mostly reprints (including
Angelic Benediction for some reason, though I guess it paves the way for
Cathedral of War), black gets new cards, and there isn’t much special. The most interesting black card for Exalted is actually
Tormented Soul, which swaps roles from a Bloodthirst enabler in M12 to a great vessel for Exalted triggers here.
“Sedge” Creatures:
Wizards of the Coast’s latest attempt to influence color pairs (and hint towards Return to Ravnica) is a cycle of uncommon creatures that get +1/+1 if you control an allied basic land type and a corresponding off-color ability. All of these creatures are clearly very powerful if you’re in both colors, as would be expected from virtual-gold creatures. There is also some other multicolor influence, whether it’s the core set debut of
Evolving Wilds or the clunky but effective
Gem of Becoming.
Colors:
White:
White seems very powerful at common this core set, even beyond the standard Pacifism. The fliers are good, as
Aven Squire starts as a 2/2 flier for 2 while
Griffin Protector often attacks as a 3/4 flier for 4 even before you consider cards like
Captain’s Call and
Attended Knight. Speaking of
Attended Knight, that is a very solid card on the ground, and seems very pushed for a common. Going back to the fliers
War Falcon is a version of
Griffin Rider with much less variance, as a 2/1 flier with Defender isn’t an awful card, and turning it on is much easier (there are six non-rare Knights or Soldiers plus
Captain’s Call, and the worst is probably the average
Guardians of Akrasa). Moving up to uncommon, other than the returning standouts
Serra Angel and
Oblivion Ring, there aren’t many standouts. Sure,
Knight of Glory and
Crusader of Odric are fine, but
Prized Elephant is probably the worst “Sedge” creature (though still good), and everything else is average.
Blue:
Blue is finally starting to get decent creatures, even if they’re scattered between the
Merfolk of the Pearl Tridents. On the aggressive side,
Welkin Tern and
Wind Drake are traditional, but
Watercourser makes its debut here as well. On the controlling side,
Vedalken Entrancer returns, and
Archaeomancer is a pushed effect for a common. The non-creature spells aren’t quite as exciting (case in point:
Index is the successor to
Ponder and
Preordain), but
Essence Scatter and
Divination are solid, and
Mind Sculpt is close to the level a mill spell would want to be at (though it needs to be in multiples—don’t play one just to get your
Jace’s Phantasm going). Moving to the uncommons, the creatures continue to be great:
Arctic Aven is the best of the great “Sedge” creatures, while
Jace’s Phantasm is fine if you have already-playable stuff to combo with it (
Vedalken Entrancer being the main one, though it can also work in a removal/discard-heavy black or red deck, or in any match you know will go a while). The non-creature spells are also better here, as
Sleep returns for your aggressive decks,
Switcheroo isn’t that much of a downgrade from
Mind Control if you have enough tokens, and
Talrand’s Invocation is 4 power worth of fliers for 4 mana.
Black:
It feels like M13 is where black finally turned the corner in creature quality, and nowhere is that more evident than
Bloodhunter Bat—just count the ways it’s better than former core set standard
Highway Robber, especially when Exalted makes Flying matter more. Speaking of Exalted, both
Servant of Nefarox and
Duty-Bound Dead are decent (though the former is hurt by all the good 2-power two-drops in the set, including
Walking Corpse).
Liliana’s Shade is also interesting, as while “Shade that gets more mana” is a usual trope, it normally isn’t so cheap (both in cost and rarity) and generate card advantage as well. The non-creature spells are also good, as this is one of the last sets where both
Murder and
Essence Drain can be common (and don’t forget
Crippling Blight, which is a one-mana
Pacifism in the right deck). The spells get even better at uncommon, as
Vampire Nighthawk returns to pair with its friend
Giant Scorpion,
Duskmantle Prowler and
Knight of Infamy are more good Exalted creatures, and
Public Execution can be a combat blowout in addition to a (very splashable) unconditional removal spell.
Red:
After the great highs of M12, red had to take a step back, and it does in every aspect. The downgrade of
Incinerate into
Searing Spear doesn’t really matter, but replacing
Shock and
Chandra’s Outrage with just
Turn to Slag makes the color clunkier. The creatures aren’t hurt quite as badly, but you have to do more to work for them—making a
Goblin Battle Jester work along with cards like
Mogg Flunkies isn’t impossible, and the Flunkies pairs perfectly with the token strategy in RW, supported here by
Krenko’s Command and
Trumpet Blast. We also see the start of “rummaging” in earnest with
Rummaging Goblin and
Wild Guess. Moving up to uncommon, your good spells are hiding here with
Flames of the Firebrand and
Volcanic Geyser, and
Furnace Whelp is a good flier (much better than
Dragon Hatchling).
Arms Dealer is a strange reprint, but it’s actually pretty good here: its baseline is 4 damage for 5 mana, and that can get much better with some
Krenko’s Commands and
Goblin Arsonists. A final note is that our
Act of Treason effect this set is
Mark of Mutiny and it’s been moved up to uncommon, removing that black/red deck as a main strategy.
Green:
Green seems fine here, nothing is that exciting. Standouts
Deadly Recluse and
Prey Upon return, but the craziest card is
Sentinel Spider—yes, this was a common before Eternal Masters, and yes, “Serra Spider” is as good as you would think it is.
Yeva’s Forcemage is also an interesting card that helps clear board stalls. Other than that, there are a lot of standard effects, but a lot of the “average” cards like
Spiked Baloth or
Vastwood Gorger aren’t worth playing (or at least prioritizing) in a higher-powered core set. There is a surprising amount of ramp here with both
Farseek and
Ranger’s Path here to foreshadow the return of shocklands. Surprisingly, green’s uncommons are very combo-oriented:
Garruk’s Packleader returns to encourage big creatures along with
Fungal Sprouting (though the latter is very win-more), while
Roaring Primadox wants you to abuse enters-the-battlefield effects like
Elvish Visionary and
Acidic Slime. Of course, if you just want raw power you can go with
Rancor, now at uncommon where it belongs (and almost certainly the reason
Erase is in this set).
Colorless/Land:
The biggest change is that the lucky charms are finally gone, replaced by a cycle of equipment aligned with each color. All of these are reasonable if you’re heavy in their respective color, but
Ring of Evos Isle and
Ring of Xathrid get the nod since they’re able to protect that big creature you’re building. The other important colorless card is
Chronomaton, which is a lot stronger than it looks, as it’s very low-impact but can dominate a board if your opponent doesn’t spend a card on it. Other interesting cards were a couple of old cards downgraded:
Jayemdae Tome becomes a way to win a control game (even if it’s probably too slow here, at least maindeck) and
Primal Clay seems like a weird downgrade just for memory issues—yes, both
Primal Plasma and
Primal Clay’s Masters Edition 4 appear were common, but the former was in the most complicated block ever and the latter was online-only where the memory issues aren’t important.
Limited Archetypes:
We have the traditional color pairings this time, and there isn’t much to differentiate them. Sure, the “Sedge” creatures slightly encourage allied pairs and some pairs have clearer plans than others, but I don’t see any imbalances at face value here.
White/Blue:
If you looked at all the sets in Magic’s history, I wonder how many would have UW Fliers as an archetype? That’s the case here, and the card quality seems fine, so there isn’t much to talk about.
Blue/Black:
Likewise with UB Control, but there are a lot more threats here than normal, whether you’re poking away with
Bloodhunter Bats and other fliers, breaking through a board stall with a lot of Exalted triggers, or killing enough things to turn on a
Jace’s Phantasm.
Black/Red:
With the steal/sac deck from recent core sets diminished, BR is left with a generic aggro deck, but the Exalted strategy of black and the tokens strategy of red don’t mesh that well. You can still kill everything, and with both
Chandra’s Fury and
Bloodhunter Bat being more generically-playable, maybe a burn-style deck can work?
Red/Green:
This feels like a ramp deck, but while the ramp is at common, a lot of the threats aren’t, so I think this needs a lot of uncommon support to work well. That doesn’t mean the combination is bad, just that it might not be as reliable as something that works well with mostly commons and the higher-rarity cards are a bonus.
Green/White:
You would think this is a tokens deck, but where are green’s tokens? Of all the allied color pairs, this feels like the least-synergistic, especially since Exalted isn’t great on already-big creatures (though
Battleflight Eagle still works).
White/Black:
Obviously this is the Exalted deck, and that generally means your cards have good stats. The deck is pretty on-rails, though you need the right mix of Exalted creatures and vessels (the reason
Aven Squire is so good is because it’s both).
Blue/Red:
Black/Green:
The anti-synergy of Exalted with big green creatures returns, but here you have the simpler plan of clearing the way for your big creatures with all your removal spells.
Liliana’s Shade also works well with expensive spells in the same way a
Borderland Ranger does.
Red/White:
Here is clearly your token deck, as many commons produce two or three bodies while being good cards. The one problem is that you don’t have many payoffs—sure,
Trumpet Blast is fine if you’re committed, but the falloff to
Glorious Charge is large.
Green/Blue:
Simic is always the oddball, and here is no different. If you’re able to clear the way for your big creatures, this could be good—maybe even
Tricks of the Trade could work? I’d stay away, but I’m much more willing to try this than a lot of previous “worst” color pairings (see the last set, for example).
One more core set done, and we’re in the homestretch! Just four more sets to go for this year (if they don’t send the Year of Modern Flashbacks into overtime to finish up), and while Return to Ravnica block certainly isn’t the best of the year, it’s a nice reprieve after this last batch of sets. See you next time!
Vincent
@CheaterHater1 on Twitter