So you are going to run at least one do nothing spell in the deck just so that you can sometimes flip Thing by casting 2 spells instead of 4?
I mean, sure, if you are screwing around in the casual room, but that sounds like way too much inefficiency for a competitive deck for minimal gain.
It's 4 ice counters, not 10, and the payoff is good, but not game winning. I won't be the least bit surprised if Thing finds it's way in to a deck, but I don't expect it to be with cards that do nothing but make thing flip a little sooner.
I continue to enjoy your set reviews, gywned. As MPDC Host, you have an undeniably close pulse on the format as it may evolve. I do not expect any prediction, by you or anyone, will be 100% correct in hindsight. However, I do have some questions about this article.
#1 Dual Shot. You wrote, " In any case, with Twin Bolt gone, this is definitely the most similar replacement." Since this card was printed in Dragons of Tarkir, this is an incorrect oversight. Will it change your evaluation of the card?
#2 Alms of the Vein. You declined to give it a firm rating. If you stuck with your ChannelFireball inspiration of 'hit' or 'myth,' I see a struggle. However, you ADDED two more categories to avoid this exact situation of wavering, yet cannot commit. Why, and why do you lack faith inn your own reviews? If you lack faith in your evaluations, what am I or any reader supposed to do to value such a rating? Let's look at the evaluation.
We agree that this card could have a home in madness decks. Will it always make the cut? In a dedicated madness deck, I think it may make the cut. Why? Remember, we live in a world without access to common-rarity dual lands that ALSO gave +1 life. Those lands are GONE. A second insight builds on the loss of those lands, and suggests how (non-green) tri-color decks, let alone how some difficult dual-color decks may struggle to adapt. Is/could mono-black decks that deal player damage a viable deck? In a vacuum, it seems doubtful. However, with Thornbow Archer, Foul-Tongue Shriek, Touch of Moonglove, Dominator Drone, and Qarsi Sadist staying in the format, we may have enough tools to re-evaluate it.
Considering these things, I urge you to evaluate the card again, perhaps as a 'grounder' because it could fit inside two possible shells. It isn't a myth, and should have enough friends to see play for a 6-point life total swing for 1 or 3 mana, negating it as a 'bunt,' but more in line with your own rating system as 'grounder.'
Similarly, red's Fiery Temper gets love, while a black lightning bolt - Alms of the Vein - that does more gets cast aside, gets doubt. If anything, I expect more players could more easily hard-cast the latter, since it only requires one colored mana, while Fiery Temper costs two red mana if hard cast. Sure, red also has Tormenting Voice and Lightning Axe, but look more closely to black's discard options, or other colors that play well with black (i.e.: Stern Constable, in white).
#3 Pye Hound. We can bemoan Izzet Prowess all we want, but its shell only gets better with the new vampire and more 1cmc spells like Rush of Adrenaline. You seem to acknowledge Izzet Prowess, here, but ignore it with Izzet Prowess' newest toy (even OUTSIDE of a madness shell): Insolent Neonate. In whatever draft you participate, please include me so I can scoop those 1cmc vampires with MENACE...who get buffed by Titan's Strength, and Rush of Adrenaline or even Sure Strike. That scenario is not one I look forward to playing against, but fully expect it to happen. If you evaluate a card with an eye cast towards the metagame, as you did for Pyre Hound, then apply that same consideration to other cards, too.
#4, 5, 6: Why no evaluation of the new upshifted once-common-now-uncommon cards? Why pretend that our filterless Standard Pauper DOESN'T acknowledge or include 'em? There are only three cards to consider, and all have been in colors reviewed. There are three cards, including Lightning Axe, which could really dictate how other cards are ranked. Knowing Lightning Axe exists makes cards like Fiery Temper (AND Alms of the Vein) much, much better. Why hide the facts that our community swallowed the once-common pill for new cards to make our filterless world easier?
Archetypes may be something very unique that also dodges the frustrating ranking system as constituted. I think more players, especially NEW players, may want to see how these new cards might see play. For example, you rate XYZ card as a hit- prove it. Build a simple shell of mostly 4x copies of cards. WotC slings preconstructed decks; maybe we should anticipate the new metagame by pitching maybe 5 or 6 decks for new players who just don't want to copy Izzet Prowess or copy a deck that requires a lot of practice.
Overall, I am always excited to see set reviews, especially ones that are mindful of Standard Pauper. However, I walk away from this post feeling more confused and thankful I evaluated cards in my mind before reading your thoughts. I felt very confused, and thought that this evaluation seemed less robust than usual. For example, to miss Twin Bolt as a surviving card is quite an oversight, because it likely affects other evaluations as a result.
I was wondering if it was appropriate to unban Beck/Call. It's not like Elves (or Druids) are oppressive these days, and the card never had much of a pedigree to begin with. I kind of wanted the Call portion of the card this weekend as a potential Cascade target for value, but alas. Unlike Glimpse, which is a far more obvious ban, Beck requires two colors and thus more refined deckbuilding skills. I feel there are cards in Regular with as much or more power than Beck that are still unbanned.
You may well be right. I am a bit concerned about Thing In the Ice being a bit slow, it's certainly not an instant must kill. However it can't be killed by Bolt which makes it harder to deal with in general.
I see it as a very different card to Young Pyromancer. It does want a high spell count in your deck but maybe slightly different to the Tempo style decks that Pyromancer shines in. I see Thing in the Ice being played in a more Control-based deck.
You make some other good points about unbanning Jace. I can't see it ever happening but it doesn't mean people won't keep asking for it.
I'm stoked for the sealed leagues for SoI. I wish they could do draft league too, then I'd be all over that. I get why draft doesn't work for league, but I would just like the play schedule of league.
I wasn't very high on Thing in the Ice, but with Ancestral Vision being unbanned I'm a little more optimistic about it. In general I think you want Young Pyromancer over Thing in the Ice, but that's just me. Turn 2 Pyromancer is a must kill as opposed to turn 2 Thing in the Ice because you can wait a turn or two before killing it. I'm open to being wrong though (and I probably will be.)
Wizards won't ever unban Jace. If they unban Jace he'll be 200+ and be the most expensive card in Modern. Not to mention they can't ban Jace afterwards since his price will drop and people will lose a lot of money if they buy into Jace at his spike price. Because of power level and monetary value I don't believe it's feasible to unban Jace, unless there's a new Modern format where Jace wouldn't be overtly powerful.
I was under the impression that General Tazri was made almost exclusively so EDH players would have a dedicated Ally tribal Commander to play with, which explains the 5-colour activation cost, if nothing else.
That question reminds me of back in RTR days. They had a creature with evolve on the field. They played another creature that in no way would trigger the evolve, then pumped it once on the field and said it would work. The person they used as a judge said it worked. :( If I had not been well on my way to winning I would of pushed the matter further.
Yep, another great review. I want to rate Cliffhaven Vampire higher as a tipping point for a new direction of a lifegain Vampire deck, but though I haven't tried building it yet, I suspect it's either not there and/or just outclassed by other options in tribe or out. But maybe it works as a niche meta call to combat aggressive red decks while having enough other disruption and evasion to fight others. Probably not, as Lightning Bolt is just too good.
I appreciate that you like the articles, I'll do a better job of tying the past and the current ones together, who knows maybe year of Modern flashbacks becomes a regular thing? :D
Thanks. I did notice the links at the bottom for older content. Though I had already found those via google. I don't know if it is possible but maybe you could link your articles together? I think I found your article later as this one was at the top of the article list so for me personally I was able to find it faster. Part of my comment was also to point out that even though this wasn't what I was originally looking for I still liked it. Then I went and looked at the older ones in the series.
If you want more of a take on the draft format, you can either check out the links at the end of xger's article or check out my article, the Modern Flashback Series. I feel like the three Flashback-centric article series have each carved out a niche for themselves: I write about the draft format and the design of the set, xger writes about the history and finance of the set, and Joshua Claytor has draft recaps and gameplay videos. That way we each cover similar topics (making Thursday the Flashback day on PureMTGO) while not duplicating all the same information.
With all of the hype over the delirium creature, it takes significantly more cards to activate than the Militant Inquisitor. Given how two equipment has ZERO cmc, they drop while breaking open clues. For sheer scaling, I think the Human Cleric outshines even a decent fungus. We still live in a world where Celestial Flare, Pacifism, and now Puncturing Light make an investment into fungi VERY expensive.
However, green also has Rabid Bite, and Conifer Strider is still around...let's see what green may have to trump the inquisitor!
I really look forward to seeing your write-ups, gwyned. Thank you.
Thank you for the history on this. While I have been playing for a long time it is only within the last 6 or 7 years I have really started to pay attention to the stories and other stuff. So it was nice to get some of the history.
I will admit I came here for write up on drafting the format. Don't know how much of that is in your wheel house. Also it would really bump this article to a large size. Though the history and prices are important to me as well. So I still gained something from the article even if it wasn't part of my original search. I will try and check these out more.
Unless I missed something, our pool of upshifted rarity cards now includes:
LOST:
Arc Lightning (Khans of Tarkir) and Pyrotechnics (Fate Reforged)
The token generator within me rejoiced until I saw Dual Shot, and remembered Twin Bolt survives rotation.
ALREADY AVAILABLE:
Cruel Revival
Death Wind
Fiery Conclusion
Grasp of Darkness
Knightly Valor
Pilgrim's Eye
Rolling Thunder
Runed Servitor
Sigiled Starfish
Strider Harness
Totem-Guide Hartebeest
NEWLY CONSIDERED, AS ONCE-COMMON, NOW UNCOMMON:
Reckless Scholar
Lightning Axe
Mad Prophet
So, red lost two direct damage spells, but got two cards that contribute to a madness mechanic (and one is STILL a direct damage spell); we've three madness effects if considering blue's sole contribution to the new available cards.
No cards currently printed at rare rarity were ever once printed as common cards.
OBSERVATION: Magic Origins gave us a lot of generic upshifted commons to consider. When it rotates, we lose 50%+ of the available upshifted cards. I contend that this season will host the most amount of upshifted cards we will ever need to consider in our possible pool. I think we will see more of a couple upshifted commons per set, and that these cards will contribute to existing set mechanics to enhance play with said mechanics. For example, Pilgrim's Eye's inclusion in a set that offered a above-average instances of different mana fixing seemed logical. Scholars and Prophets and Axes aid the madness mechanic, and this makes sense with the newest set. With nods to artifacts and equipment in the current format, I wouldn't be surprised to see Bonesplitter reprinted as an UNcommon card in the next set, for example.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I'm not sure about the "uncommons as commons" issue yet, so nothing to say about that just yet. I love the idea of trying to make it easier for new players to break into the format.
This comment takes this post in another possible direction. I'd like to pitch the idea to visitors here, too.
Problem: We lack the historical attendance that Pauper Deck Challenges typically generates. This may hinder our opportunity to give away generous prizes for this free-entry weekly event.
Possible Solution: Could we, as a community filled with writers, podcasters, and experienced players, create sample decklists based on the current metagame?
WotC already helps new players explore their new card mechanics with introductory decks. We already should anticipate (pun intended) how Izzet Prowess may still be a viable strategy. What does it look like now? What are JUST TWO possible mind-blowing synergies or interactions with that deck? What is its one glaring aegis, err, weakness? What are JUST TWO serious sideboard considerations for this deck to consider? What is the KEY card(s) in the deck?
How does any current standard pauper player deal with the loss of dual lands that that accursed incremental life gained? What defines an 'aggro' deck when players still feel groggy over the longer, grinding midgame that lasted for months? How good is madness in this set, compared to our past experience with madness? Is delirium really a viable strategy? Can humans punch an archetype worthy of a Top 4 finish (or better?)
While I don't want to rob others of deckbuilding experiences, I think having a few 'pre-made' decks (including each primary color or mechanic, as determined by the deck creator) may gives NEWER or returning players a leg up on competition. Need a deck for today's tournament, but weren't able to playtest one yourself? Grab one of the deck ideas and build it, or improve on it with insights you deem important! If people didn't ALREADY copy winning decks, this suggestion would be moot. I think a post (<500 words) that describes the deck choices, their values, and a couple of tips may make for 1) more players playing decks that they can already use, 2) greater innovations based on the blueprint of the pre-made deck, and 3) yet another opportunity to educate current or new players about standard-format uncommons that we include as commons.
You've already done mini deck reviews like this idea on your writeradept blog, gwyned. For example, BW Warriors was a great post that described how and why that deck was successful. Is it perfect? No. Is our evaluation of any deck perfect? No. I contend that other players who copied my Eldrazi Groundspawner deck performed worse than I ever did with it because I literally logged over a hundred games with it (MTGO and paper); I knew when to sacrifice a scion for mana, and when it would be a chump blocker only. I knew what to do when Impact Tremors was never drawn. I could (and would be more than willing) to describe this deck for the current metagame, because we still have that enchantment and still have a lot of tokens in red and green.
I'll pitch Eldrazi Groundspawner as an aggro deck using red and green, and could email that decklist artile by end of week, if interested. What other decks might we expect? Can we prepare our players with maybe 5 or 6 different SUGGESTED metagame archetypes before the start of the new season? I think having decks posted with commentary about them also is healthy; I'd love for Alex Ullman to offer his suggestion about what green cards I chose, and why another one he saw may be better (and why). Thanks for considering my ideas.
I cannot believe that it's time for another set review. gwyned!
While the baseball analogies seem odd to discuss cards, I'm more comfortable with the wider range of ratings.
I think this new set offers much more synergy than our past set(s) because of buried synergies. I don't think players will make the best 'madness' decks just by shoving in all cad with 'madness' or 'discard' together.
For example, I imagine how Stern Constable and Dauntless Cathar become more valuable within a 'madness' shell that considers white, too. What happens when the Vessels cycle gets popped on our opponent's turn? Does this make enchantments any better, because of timing? Does adding two 1/1 'spirits' at flash speed matter for anything?
Do we get any new 'commons' reprinted at 'uncommon?'
IF Standard Pauper now evolves from the loss of the filter to include standard-format uncommons that were printed as commons at one point in history, we need to consider, evaluate, and rate Reckless Scholar, too. I feel we need to remind potential players of this unique twist to the format at every opportunity. Would you consider editing your evaluations to consider this card, or will you evaluate these upshifted cards in another review article?
Again, I am very excited for the new set. As I develop my own new decks for the non-Treasure Cruise/no dual lands future, I am interested to see how you may evaluate cards in a vacuum.
Just theorizing dude. Calm your tone lol.
So you are going to run at least one do nothing spell in the deck just so that you can sometimes flip Thing by casting 2 spells instead of 4?
I mean, sure, if you are screwing around in the casual room, but that sounds like way too much inefficiency for a competitive deck for minimal gain.
It's 4 ice counters, not 10, and the payoff is good, but not game winning. I won't be the least bit surprised if Thing finds it's way in to a deck, but I don't expect it to be with cards that do nothing but make thing flip a little sooner.
I continue to enjoy your set reviews, gywned. As MPDC Host, you have an undeniably close pulse on the format as it may evolve. I do not expect any prediction, by you or anyone, will be 100% correct in hindsight. However, I do have some questions about this article.
#1 Dual Shot. You wrote, " In any case, with Twin Bolt gone, this is definitely the most similar replacement." Since this card was printed in Dragons of Tarkir, this is an incorrect oversight. Will it change your evaluation of the card?
#2 Alms of the Vein. You declined to give it a firm rating. If you stuck with your ChannelFireball inspiration of 'hit' or 'myth,' I see a struggle. However, you ADDED two more categories to avoid this exact situation of wavering, yet cannot commit. Why, and why do you lack faith inn your own reviews? If you lack faith in your evaluations, what am I or any reader supposed to do to value such a rating? Let's look at the evaluation.
We agree that this card could have a home in madness decks. Will it always make the cut? In a dedicated madness deck, I think it may make the cut. Why? Remember, we live in a world without access to common-rarity dual lands that ALSO gave +1 life. Those lands are GONE. A second insight builds on the loss of those lands, and suggests how (non-green) tri-color decks, let alone how some difficult dual-color decks may struggle to adapt. Is/could mono-black decks that deal player damage a viable deck? In a vacuum, it seems doubtful. However, with Thornbow Archer, Foul-Tongue Shriek, Touch of Moonglove, Dominator Drone, and Qarsi Sadist staying in the format, we may have enough tools to re-evaluate it.
Considering these things, I urge you to evaluate the card again, perhaps as a 'grounder' because it could fit inside two possible shells. It isn't a myth, and should have enough friends to see play for a 6-point life total swing for 1 or 3 mana, negating it as a 'bunt,' but more in line with your own rating system as 'grounder.'
Similarly, red's Fiery Temper gets love, while a black lightning bolt - Alms of the Vein - that does more gets cast aside, gets doubt. If anything, I expect more players could more easily hard-cast the latter, since it only requires one colored mana, while Fiery Temper costs two red mana if hard cast. Sure, red also has Tormenting Voice and Lightning Axe, but look more closely to black's discard options, or other colors that play well with black (i.e.: Stern Constable, in white).
#3 Pye Hound. We can bemoan Izzet Prowess all we want, but its shell only gets better with the new vampire and more 1cmc spells like Rush of Adrenaline. You seem to acknowledge Izzet Prowess, here, but ignore it with Izzet Prowess' newest toy (even OUTSIDE of a madness shell): Insolent Neonate. In whatever draft you participate, please include me so I can scoop those 1cmc vampires with MENACE...who get buffed by Titan's Strength, and Rush of Adrenaline or even Sure Strike. That scenario is not one I look forward to playing against, but fully expect it to happen. If you evaluate a card with an eye cast towards the metagame, as you did for Pyre Hound, then apply that same consideration to other cards, too.
#4, 5, 6: Why no evaluation of the new upshifted once-common-now-uncommon cards? Why pretend that our filterless Standard Pauper DOESN'T acknowledge or include 'em? There are only three cards to consider, and all have been in colors reviewed. There are three cards, including Lightning Axe, which could really dictate how other cards are ranked. Knowing Lightning Axe exists makes cards like Fiery Temper (AND Alms of the Vein) much, much better. Why hide the facts that our community swallowed the once-common pill for new cards to make our filterless world easier?
Archetypes may be something very unique that also dodges the frustrating ranking system as constituted. I think more players, especially NEW players, may want to see how these new cards might see play. For example, you rate XYZ card as a hit- prove it. Build a simple shell of mostly 4x copies of cards. WotC slings preconstructed decks; maybe we should anticipate the new metagame by pitching maybe 5 or 6 decks for new players who just don't want to copy Izzet Prowess or copy a deck that requires a lot of practice.
Overall, I am always excited to see set reviews, especially ones that are mindful of Standard Pauper. However, I walk away from this post feeling more confused and thankful I evaluated cards in my mind before reading your thoughts. I felt very confused, and thought that this evaluation seemed less robust than usual. For example, to miss Twin Bolt as a surviving card is quite an oversight, because it likely affects other evaluations as a result.
Fate transfer costs 2 so by turn 3 you could conceivably cast it and still have enough left over for a cantrip.
Doesn't work.
Thing in the ice triggers when you cast fate transfer, removes a counter, sees that it still has counters.
Fate transfer resolves, moves all remaining counters from thing.
Thing does not transform until the next time you cast an instant or sorcery and it's ability triggers again.
T2 Thing in the Ice, T3 Fate Transfer; Attack for 7
I was wondering if it was appropriate to unban Beck/Call. It's not like Elves (or Druids) are oppressive these days, and the card never had much of a pedigree to begin with. I kind of wanted the Call portion of the card this weekend as a potential Cascade target for value, but alas. Unlike Glimpse, which is a far more obvious ban, Beck requires two colors and thus more refined deckbuilding skills. I feel there are cards in Regular with as much or more power than Beck that are still unbanned.
You may well be right. I am a bit concerned about Thing In the Ice being a bit slow, it's certainly not an instant must kill. However it can't be killed by Bolt which makes it harder to deal with in general.
I see it as a very different card to Young Pyromancer. It does want a high spell count in your deck but maybe slightly different to the Tempo style decks that Pyromancer shines in. I see Thing in the Ice being played in a more Control-based deck.
You make some other good points about unbanning Jace. I can't see it ever happening but it doesn't mean people won't keep asking for it.
Makes sense.
I'm stoked for the sealed leagues for SoI. I wish they could do draft league too, then I'd be all over that. I get why draft doesn't work for league, but I would just like the play schedule of league.
I wasn't very high on Thing in the Ice, but with Ancestral Vision being unbanned I'm a little more optimistic about it. In general I think you want Young Pyromancer over Thing in the Ice, but that's just me. Turn 2 Pyromancer is a must kill as opposed to turn 2 Thing in the Ice because you can wait a turn or two before killing it. I'm open to being wrong though (and I probably will be.)
Wizards won't ever unban Jace. If they unban Jace he'll be 200+ and be the most expensive card in Modern. Not to mention they can't ban Jace afterwards since his price will drop and people will lose a lot of money if they buy into Jace at his spike price. Because of power level and monetary value I don't believe it's feasible to unban Jace, unless there's a new Modern format where Jace wouldn't be overtly powerful.
I was under the impression that General Tazri was made almost exclusively so EDH players would have a dedicated Ally tribal Commander to play with, which explains the 5-colour activation cost, if nothing else.
That question reminds me of back in RTR days. They had a creature with evolve on the field. They played another creature that in no way would trigger the evolve, then pumped it once on the field and said it would work. The person they used as a judge said it worked. :( If I had not been well on my way to winning I would of pushed the matter further.
Yep, another great review. I want to rate Cliffhaven Vampire higher as a tipping point for a new direction of a lifegain Vampire deck, but though I haven't tried building it yet, I suspect it's either not there and/or just outclassed by other options in tribe or out. But maybe it works as a niche meta call to combat aggressive red decks while having enough other disruption and evasion to fight others. Probably not, as Lightning Bolt is just too good.
You kids had it so easy, once they invented walking. We had to crawl, and it was steeper.
Back in my day, damage stacked, mana burn existed and you could Careful Study, discard Arrogant Wurm, play Forest, cast Wurm.
Also I walked barefoot uphill both ways in the snow to school.
I appreciate that you like the articles, I'll do a better job of tying the past and the current ones together, who knows maybe year of Modern flashbacks becomes a regular thing? :D
Thanks. I did notice the links at the bottom for older content. Though I had already found those via google. I don't know if it is possible but maybe you could link your articles together? I think I found your article later as this one was at the top of the article list so for me personally I was able to find it faster. Part of my comment was also to point out that even though this wasn't what I was originally looking for I still liked it. Then I went and looked at the older ones in the series.
If you want more of a take on the draft format, you can either check out the links at the end of xger's article or check out my article, the Modern Flashback Series. I feel like the three Flashback-centric article series have each carved out a niche for themselves: I write about the draft format and the design of the set, xger writes about the history and finance of the set, and Joshua Claytor has draft recaps and gameplay videos. That way we each cover similar topics (making Thursday the Flashback day on PureMTGO) while not duplicating all the same information.
With all of the hype over the delirium creature, it takes significantly more cards to activate than the Militant Inquisitor. Given how two equipment has ZERO cmc, they drop while breaking open clues. For sheer scaling, I think the Human Cleric outshines even a decent fungus. We still live in a world where Celestial Flare, Pacifism, and now Puncturing Light make an investment into fungi VERY expensive.
However, green also has Rabid Bite, and Conifer Strider is still around...let's see what green may have to trump the inquisitor!
I really look forward to seeing your write-ups, gwyned. Thank you.
Thank you for the history on this. While I have been playing for a long time it is only within the last 6 or 7 years I have really started to pay attention to the stories and other stuff. So it was nice to get some of the history.
I will admit I came here for write up on drafting the format. Don't know how much of that is in your wheel house. Also it would really bump this article to a large size. Though the history and prices are important to me as well. So I still gained something from the article even if it wasn't part of my original search. I will try and check these out more.
Unless I missed something, our pool of upshifted rarity cards now includes:
LOST:
Arc Lightning (Khans of Tarkir) and Pyrotechnics (Fate Reforged)
The token generator within me rejoiced until I saw Dual Shot, and remembered Twin Bolt survives rotation.
ALREADY AVAILABLE:
Cruel Revival
Death Wind
Fiery Conclusion
Grasp of Darkness
Knightly Valor
Pilgrim's Eye
Rolling Thunder
Runed Servitor
Sigiled Starfish
Strider Harness
Totem-Guide Hartebeest
NEWLY CONSIDERED, AS ONCE-COMMON, NOW UNCOMMON:
Reckless Scholar
Lightning Axe
Mad Prophet
So, red lost two direct damage spells, but got two cards that contribute to a madness mechanic (and one is STILL a direct damage spell); we've three madness effects if considering blue's sole contribution to the new available cards.
No cards currently printed at rare rarity were ever once printed as common cards.
OBSERVATION: Magic Origins gave us a lot of generic upshifted commons to consider. When it rotates, we lose 50%+ of the available upshifted cards. I contend that this season will host the most amount of upshifted cards we will ever need to consider in our possible pool. I think we will see more of a couple upshifted commons per set, and that these cards will contribute to existing set mechanics to enhance play with said mechanics. For example, Pilgrim's Eye's inclusion in a set that offered a above-average instances of different mana fixing seemed logical. Scholars and Prophets and Axes aid the madness mechanic, and this makes sense with the newest set. With nods to artifacts and equipment in the current format, I wouldn't be surprised to see Bonesplitter reprinted as an UNcommon card in the next set, for example.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I'm not sure about the "uncommons as commons" issue yet, so nothing to say about that just yet. I love the idea of trying to make it easier for new players to break into the format.
This comment takes this post in another possible direction. I'd like to pitch the idea to visitors here, too.
Problem: We lack the historical attendance that Pauper Deck Challenges typically generates. This may hinder our opportunity to give away generous prizes for this free-entry weekly event.
Possible Solution: Could we, as a community filled with writers, podcasters, and experienced players, create sample decklists based on the current metagame?
WotC already helps new players explore their new card mechanics with introductory decks. We already should anticipate (pun intended) how Izzet Prowess may still be a viable strategy. What does it look like now? What are JUST TWO possible mind-blowing synergies or interactions with that deck? What is its one glaring aegis, err, weakness? What are JUST TWO serious sideboard considerations for this deck to consider? What is the KEY card(s) in the deck?
How does any current standard pauper player deal with the loss of dual lands that that accursed incremental life gained? What defines an 'aggro' deck when players still feel groggy over the longer, grinding midgame that lasted for months? How good is madness in this set, compared to our past experience with madness? Is delirium really a viable strategy? Can humans punch an archetype worthy of a Top 4 finish (or better?)
While I don't want to rob others of deckbuilding experiences, I think having a few 'pre-made' decks (including each primary color or mechanic, as determined by the deck creator) may gives NEWER or returning players a leg up on competition. Need a deck for today's tournament, but weren't able to playtest one yourself? Grab one of the deck ideas and build it, or improve on it with insights you deem important! If people didn't ALREADY copy winning decks, this suggestion would be moot. I think a post (<500 words) that describes the deck choices, their values, and a couple of tips may make for 1) more players playing decks that they can already use, 2) greater innovations based on the blueprint of the pre-made deck, and 3) yet another opportunity to educate current or new players about standard-format uncommons that we include as commons.
You've already done mini deck reviews like this idea on your writeradept blog, gwyned. For example, BW Warriors was a great post that described how and why that deck was successful. Is it perfect? No. Is our evaluation of any deck perfect? No. I contend that other players who copied my Eldrazi Groundspawner deck performed worse than I ever did with it because I literally logged over a hundred games with it (MTGO and paper); I knew when to sacrifice a scion for mana, and when it would be a chump blocker only. I knew what to do when Impact Tremors was never drawn. I could (and would be more than willing) to describe this deck for the current metagame, because we still have that enchantment and still have a lot of tokens in red and green.
I'll pitch Eldrazi Groundspawner as an aggro deck using red and green, and could email that decklist artile by end of week, if interested. What other decks might we expect? Can we prepare our players with maybe 5 or 6 different SUGGESTED metagame archetypes before the start of the new season? I think having decks posted with commentary about them also is healthy; I'd love for Alex Ullman to offer his suggestion about what green cards I chose, and why another one he saw may be better (and why). Thanks for considering my ideas.
I cannot believe that it's time for another set review. gwyned!
While the baseball analogies seem odd to discuss cards, I'm more comfortable with the wider range of ratings.
I think this new set offers much more synergy than our past set(s) because of buried synergies. I don't think players will make the best 'madness' decks just by shoving in all cad with 'madness' or 'discard' together.
For example, I imagine how Stern Constable and Dauntless Cathar become more valuable within a 'madness' shell that considers white, too. What happens when the Vessels cycle gets popped on our opponent's turn? Does this make enchantments any better, because of timing? Does adding two 1/1 'spirits' at flash speed matter for anything?
Do we get any new 'commons' reprinted at 'uncommon?'
IF Standard Pauper now evolves from the loss of the filter to include standard-format uncommons that were printed as commons at one point in history, we need to consider, evaluate, and rate Reckless Scholar, too. I feel we need to remind potential players of this unique twist to the format at every opportunity. Would you consider editing your evaluations to consider this card, or will you evaluate these upshifted cards in another review article?
Again, I am very excited for the new set. As I develop my own new decks for the non-Treasure Cruise/no dual lands future, I am interested to see how you may evaluate cards in a vacuum.