Dark Ascension M&Ps

Previews weeks.  Two magical (no pun intended) words that indicate the coming of a new set, new mechanics, and new cards to play with, talk about and theorize the best and most hilarious interactions.  Since I’ve been playing, Magic has been a well-oiled machine of card creation with highly constructed and carefully planned sets.  That’s not to say that any of the fun has been taken away; instead, it means that the new sets have all the more to add to whatever metagame in which you find yourself immersed.

Dark Ascension, the 2^nd set of the Innistrad Block, comes out next Friday, February 3 and already I can tell it’s a set that gives tools to casual and serious players alike for their deck building projects .  The prerelease, happening tomorrow (and at midnight for some places), is the first chance a layman like myself gets a chance to crack some packs and get my thumbs flipping through some freshly printed cards. 

I’ll have a separate article for you about my experience with the Prerelease on Saturday, but until then, let’s look at the engines of change in Innistrad Block.  The full spoiler is up, so if you’re saving yourself for Prerelease marriage, you might want to come back in a couple days.

I love ordinal lists of stuff, as does my wife, the organization queen of our home.  That being the case, I have carefully reviewed the visual spoiler and taken in as many cards as my brain will hold to memory.  Limited, as my upcoming article regarding my Cube will illustrate, is my favorite way to play Magic.  There’s a variance and excitement of the unknown that has just never gotten old.  Can you get unlucky?  Sure, but Magic is a game with an unavoidable element of luck, so it just makes it all the better.  Besides you also have a chance to get exactly what you need. 

I’m pretty greedy during preview weeks.  Part of me does want to be surprised.  But the tiny urge in my head to peek at the whole preview has become irresistible, and as soon as the full set is spoiled, I can’t help but take it all in, like eating a whole box of donuts when you just wanted to “save the other eleven for later.”

The spoiler at 12:01 AM Monday morning.

 

Within the spoiler, I wanted to single out cards I was particularly excited about.  Three lists eventually came to mind.  See, about the list thing?  The first one, the one given today, regards what I believe to be the most powerful Limited cards that you might not value as highly as you should when looking through your stack of 84 cards on Prerelease/Release day.  Sure, if you pull a Sorin, Lord of Innistrad, a Bloodline Keeper, or a Havengul Lich, they will tyrannize your deck colors.  What I’d rather talk about are those sleeper cards, the crucial spells you are likely to pull in your pool or draft and are therefore equally as likely to run into on the other side of the table.  These are the meat and potatoes of Dark Ascension, the Top 10 Innistrad Limited, well, M&Ps!

10.    Saving Grasp

This reminds me of when Westley almost falls off that cliff in The Princess Bride.  First thing that came to mind.

 

Saving Grasp, huh?  Not normally something you consider a real gamebreaker; but I think this card will be essential in control decks (fairly prevalent in the format so far).  To explain the value of this card, we’ll look at a card from a familiar Limited format.

Strictly worse.

This card does the same thing but gives you life!  Right?

Well, two major things differentiate these.  The first one, honestly, is the mana cost.  If you’re keeping three mana open, you either didn’t make a play or are hoping to get when they try to Hideous End your otherwise irrelevant creature.  It puts you a turn behind and you’re down a card, all just to save a creature from a one-sided combat or an errant kill spell.  The life gain is negligible much more often than not, too.

So why is Saving Grasp better?  I see Saving Grasp as a worse, but flashbacking Stave Off.  A flashbacking Stave Off that could do so for a white mana would be pretty awesome for sure, but I think this might be better in this format.  The ETB (enters the battlefield) potential opens up new avenues for this card to be useful in a format with a lot of ETB abilities.  Played your Fiend Hunter and then heartsick as your opponent plays a bomb?  No problem, just bounce your guy back, or better yet, let them use a spell or combat to try and kill it.  Then, replay the Fiend Hunter!  At only one mana on both sides of the spell’s coin, the efficiency and value is exceptional.  Also, it is a pretty great way to shrug off a Claustrophobia, the premier blue removal spell of Innistrad.

Morbid also makes this a choice card.  I know that I’ve played more than one Festerhide Boar and Morkrut Banshee without an active morbid trigger just because I needed more creatures to press my advantage or when I’m backpedaling, and I’m sure you have too, feeling the lost potential as you begrudgingly tap your mana to cast the overcosted vanilla creature.  Now, you can do so safely, knowing that for just one mana more, you can bounce and recast the creature when morbid would be active.  With this same logic, if your opponent offers an obviously unfavorable combat for himself, a Village Ironsmith into your Fortress Crab, say, because he intends to get a morbid trigger off his outclassed creature, you can deny him that!  Block and bounce the Crab (or other, more sensible target)!

Despite the dual mana cost, I think every blue-white sealed deck should have one.  I probably wouldn’t want two or more, but one is in there for sure.

9. Artful Dodge

The creepiest card in the whole block.  What IS that thing?

This slick little number can be a crusher.  As opposed to other unblockable tricks of the past, the cost and repeatability of Artful Dodge will completely change the dynamic of your opponents following two turns.  It’s great for an aggressive blue/X deck (yeah, I chuckled at "aggressive," too), or even a deck that’s just got a hint of blue, perhaps a green/blue fatty deck.  The reason this is better is because of the way that it messes up combat math for an opponent who otherwise feels secure. 

Picture a board state like this: you are at 10 life, say, and your opponent is on 8.  They’re up on creatures, but they can’t really swing in there or they risk getting blown out by a Village Bell Ringer or some such.  You have a Makeshift Mauler and a flipped Howlpack of Estwald that they have to monitor.  They’re pinging you to death with Spirits, and they have plenty of Zombies to block your big guys. They just played a Ravenous Demon and flipped it.  They pass the turn, satisfied to put you under next turn.  You rip this off the top of your deck and look at a mana-dry opponent.  You’ve just won the game.

This is a great card in a race, to be sure, as your opponent will often play a blocker post combat to slow down your race.  Even if you’re just on one creature, this card can get a Kindercatch in the red zone against an army of little dudes (or big dudes), or your Murder of Crows through some flying pests, and it can be done twice.  Nightbird’s Clutches got nothin’ on dis piece! 

8. Grim Backwoods

Notice those bodies on the right tree?  Love me some Proce.

Yes, this is a rare (the only one in this list), but I think it’s subtle enough to merit inclusion. 

Altar’s Reap is a great card in this format; it activates morbid, wastes an opponent’s removal spell or profitable combat, and it has immediate value for an underwhelming creature or token. 

Grim Backwoods gives you the same advantage at a higher mana price, but it’s just as relevant late game, and it’s repeatable.  I foresee boardstates where a resolved Spider Spawning is holding them at bay, but their big Skirsdag High Cultist demon token is starting to break through.  Why not exchange those low value tokens for card advantage?  Look for your own bomb or an answer to the 5/5 flyer!  Although this is also a morbid enabler, the mana cost is prohibitive for it being a relatively powerful one.  Whose got 10 mana to pop this and cast a Morkrut Banshee?

7. Hunger of the Howlpack

Whatchu lookin' at?

Hunger of the Howlpack is an unusual card.  It feels like Giant Growth, but I don’t think that’s how you’ll play it.  It feels like a mix between an enchantment and an instant, honestly, unlike its sorcery cousin Travel Preprations.  Although you could pull off some neat combat tricks with, like your first strike guy killing a token, then you pump one of your last-striking trading creatures for the kill, I think this will most often be played EOT after mortal combat on your opponents turn.  In this format, I think it’s definitely better on a flyer (as in most formats), but here especially, with the environment chockfull of dinky little 1/1s.  I think of it as a conditional, cheaper, instant speed Oakenform.  Relevant, but intriguing.  This combos nicely with Prey Upon (either yours or your opponents).

6. Briarpack Alpha

Briarhorn is just past the tree line.

I sincerely hope that all Wizards is doing for green in Innistrad Limited helps it.  I’m tired of tapping a green-biased pile of six mana for a Kindercatch.  I want some value, pressure, tricks!

Oh, hello, Briarpack Alpha.

Perhaps its moniker is an homage; this card is a LOT like Briarhorn, one of my favorite green Limited cards.  It has a place in my Cube, and although this won’t replace it, it fills the same role.  Flashing in a 3/3 to make a better block is the prime place for it, of course, but it can also help you on the offense.  If you’re going to play a Hill Giant postcombat, why not play it mid-combat and perhaps trade it for a creature?  Good for aggressive green decks and not a bad (but unessential) splash if you’ve got some other solid green cards. 

5. Burning Oil

He looks like a teddy bear to me.

It seems that a large amount of my cards are instants and/or combat tricks, and I promise that trend will end soon.  More than tricks, though, I like cards that make your opponent think, as it increase the likelihood they'll make a mistake.  Red/White is lacking love in this current draft environment, despite a moderate cardpool and strength of each color by itself.  One of its main problems is a plethora of mana-intensive, unfixable cards like Fiend Hunter, Crossway Vampire, Traitorous Blood, Chapel Geist and so on.  Green has ways to get mana if your other color is white, and black is more supportive and blue is more combo-friendly for red. 

This kind of spell, I feel, helps put a tempo-based Boros deck on the map.  I may be biased, as I love me some Boros.  My first competitive deck was Boros, my Standard deck before last rotation was Boros, my current competitive Modern deck is Boros…it’s just kind of how I roll.  This spell is very flexible, though, and here’s how it might look. 

In an awesome world, you might roll out a Doomed Traveler, a Bloodcrazed Neonate and a Crossway Vampire, and you’re bashing for 3 while your opponent sits on an untapped Forest and a Plains.  You get in there, and out comes the Ambush Viper to…ambush you!  That Burning Oil not only removes their pesky blocker, but it provides something else. 

With flashback, it provides the KNOWLEDGE that you can do it again.  Your opponent can’t outright block to kill your creatures.  Every creature you have gains more value in offensive or defensive combat.  They’re disinclined to attack because you can kill their thing and swing in for the win.

That being said, it is not Geistflame or Brimstone Volley, but I think it’s more useful in more red/white decks than a Rally the Peasants, which is highly conditional.  

4. Wild Hunger

Jumanji!

This is the last combat trick, I promise.  That being said, though, nine out of ten limited games are decided in pitched battle, so I guess I shouldn’t feel so bad.

This is the card that werewolf decks need to get through.  In a world of tokens chumping your massive werewolves, trample has more value than ever.  When you get that Krallenhorde Wantons flipped, you want to kill them, not bounce off a 1/2 Spider.  Rotting Fensnake, who can easily trade up becomes bad, and you can finally kill that pesky Fortress Crab.  It’s a flashbacking Spidery Grasp on the offense!

Also, +6/+2 and trample should either kill them or smash up their creatures to the point of ruin.  Either mid or late game, this card is going to be relevant each time you cast it.  This one I can see playing multiples of, an honor not bestowed on every flashback spell in Limited. 

3. Wakedancer

Don't go 'round tonight, 'cause it might cost your li-i-i-fe...

I’m pretty excited about this one, and it’s because my aggro roots are showing.  I love tempo swings, and I can see a lot of games this weekend going “Walking Corpse/Ashmouth Hound into your Doomed Traveler/Selfless Cathar/Avacyn’s Pilgrim,” then as they trade, you cast this guy.  It’s a Moan of the Unhallowed for one less!  This shifts the otherwise comparable effect from being good in a control deck to being ideal for an aggro deck.  Getting to MOTU for one less mana (one less back mana, at that), should prove imminently valuable for punishing a slow deck or an unkeepable hand that they optimistically kept.  It also provides that extra blocker in a sticky situation, but it’s all about pressure here.  Either the token or the human could die and you’ll still get value.  The “Human” part of it is another plus in a color with an unfortunate dearth of Humans.  There are a lot of decks that will happily find a home for this.  It’s a black Elder Cathar, a Human white staple, so that’s gotta be worth something.

2. Dungeon Geists

"Watch out for their kiss, Harry!"

It’s a flying Fiend Hunter!  Fiend Hunter, one of the best white removal spells in Innistrad, gets some muscle and wings in a color that loves to fly.  I think Dungeon Geists is one of those cards that, like Fiend Hunter, any deck that can support it will play it, regardless of their strategy or win condition.  In most ways, I think it’s a better creature. 

Fiend Hunter doesn’t battle well; if you swing on an empty board, it’s just one point of damage and you risk a Rebuke, an Ambush Viper, a Village Bell-Ringer creating a blocker, or any other manner of problem.  On defense, a pump spell or double-flashbacked Geistflame will throw him in the bin and get their creature back with all the benefits and possibilities thereto.  Fiend Hunter is still an excellent creature.  Buuuuut….

I’m going to say that it’s better the majority of the time.  That flies in the face of a lot of commentary, I know, but here's my reasoning.  A solid evasion body that’s below cost for its colors (compare to Battleground Geist or Tower Geist) that also prevents graveyard shenanigans and affects things that help your guys (like Scourge of Geier’s Reach) seems pretty good.  Also, if something DOES happen to your Dungeon Geists mid-combat or anything, the creature is not immediately ready to go.  It’s still got to roll around to their upkeep before it’s any use.  Yes, Fiend Hunter does stop untapping or relevant activated ability creatures like Galvanic Juggernaut and Olivia Voldaren respectively, but for the non-bomb stuff, this will do the trick and provide a solid body in the meantime for any kind of blue deck.  If you are playing blue, you want this card.

1. Tragic Slip

Really?  Would you REALLY fall into an open grave like that?  Foolish...

Oops!  I slipped and killed your biggest creature.  Clumsy me, I activated morbid and killed your utility creature for a measly black mana.  It feels like a Twinstrike, except always playable. 

This is efficiency on a stick.  Barring truly unusual circumstances, this will kill any targetable creature in the format with morbid up and the existence of this card should always pester at the back of the mind of every player who has morbid up when considering to play their bomb.  It kills ANYTHING!  Blasphemous Act is good because it can do that, but it requires that you give up board development for maximum value.  The list of otherwise difficult to answer creatures gets so much better.  Whenever you hear some troll on the Gatherer forums say “dies to removal,” THIS is the removal they mean. 

Unkicked, it can deal with most things a Geistflame can deal with, and although lacking the flashback utility of Geistflame, but it has a little more value for some creatures, like Manor Skeleton, Predator Ooze, Creepy Doll and Falkenrath Aristocrat.

The kicked version, however, kills most anything that Blasphemous Act or Into the Maw of Hell will kill, with notable exceptions, Manor Gargoyle being the first and most important that comes to mind.

This is the most powerful Common in Dark Ascension, in my opinion.  It will be everywhere, making it nearly impossible to play around if you’re facing down Swamps, and it could not be easier on the mana.  It’s also relevant every single turn of the game.  A player could play 15 creatures and 8 of these and win every single game.  Ever. 

So that’s my list.  I hope that I’m at least close to right, but we won’t know until we slap them all together on Saturday.  I hope you’re going to a Prerelease tournament near you; they’re my favorite tourneys and every match will be different. 

Two more Dark Ascension lists are yet to come, and more about my Cube and decks for all different formats. 

Until then, don’t forget to untap!

- Matt

A Long Expected Party

Hello Untappers!  It's great to get the chance to start writing again.  I haven't had a moment to sit down and do so in a long time.  But don't worry, I plan to update more regularly.

One of the reasons I decided to post again was a small, but kind-of fun news thing...I was chosen as part of Noel DeCordova's From the Lab's "Pick a Word" contest!  In it, you chose a 3-5 letter word and built a flavor deck with that word in mind.  Each card in your deck (save basic lands) had to start with a letter from your chosen word.  I chose "BLITZ", the German word for "lightning."

Yes, sir.

You can see the rest of the contest winners here.

The world of Magic is on its back right now as Innistrad released yesterday.  The new set of vampires, werewolves and Stephanie Meyer tropes is in full swing.  It's a set that many commentators have declared as the most flavorful set in Magic, and I'm not one to disagree with them.

For me, the new rotation means two things.

First, and most unfortunately, my staple deck for Standard rotates out.  My W/R Ally deck's sun has set; the Zendikar staples served me well throughout the duration of Zendikar legality, back from the Jund and Boss Naya days of Alara/Zendikar to its twilight years swatting CawBlades away.  It was beautiful in its simplicity; the best W/R allies, some Oblivion Rings (which drifted in and out of legality in the middle), some Lightning Bolts and Burst Lightnings, and my 4 Arid Mesas.  Those lands, a staple for most "Spikes" (high-tier tournament mongers), were the crown jewel of my otherwise budget-friendly headband. 

The only reason to crack your Mesa for a Plains.  RIP 2009 - 2011.

I'm putting off de-sleeving it.  The Modern deck I want needs the Mesas, but I'll break the deck up...in a minute.

Second, the format's changed!  I love rotation as a semi-casual player - it's easier for me to manage five sets (M12, SOM block, and Innistrad) then eight (any pre-rotation format).  The card pool is smaller, the power level is (usually) lower, and it's easier to break in.  Since I posted last, I've started getting into Standard more.  That didn't kill the Timmy in me (the casual player), but I'm trying to make tighter decks that are at least marginally competitive while still pleasing the kitchen-table player in me.

I had the fortune to be able to attend the Innistrad pre-release at my local shop, Bluegrass Magic (I'm from Kentucky, if that didn't tell you.)  I've had moderate success there before (came in second in the M12 sealed release), and so I hoped for a repeat.  For those of you have never been to or played in a Sealed Format, it's a LOT of fun.  You get six booster packs, you rip 'em open, and you build your deck, which must be at least 40 cards.  Super random, and super fun!

I have never been lucky enough in all my history of pre-releases (which go back to Dissension in 2006) to pull any real "bombs," and Innistrad was no exception.  No mythic rares, and three irrelevant lands clogged up half my rares.  Bummer.  Nevertheless, in a field of 75ish players, I piloted a Blue/White Human/Spirit thingy to a 3-2 record.  Perfectly fine.

Out of all the new cards I got a chance to play with, one stood heads and shoulders above the rest.

This guy.

In a weenie deck (as mine could be called), he was pretty awesome.  Also, in fun combo-land, I played him with Stitcher's Apprentice, who makes 2/2 Homunculus tokens.  Three mana bought me a card every turn!

Underneath that creepy eye is an Azure Mage.

It was VERY encouraging, however, because many new and tournament-shy players were out to sling some cards.  I love interactive with other casual players in a tournament format, and it's not because I think they'll be softer competition.  If anything, they want to win more for the thrill than the points.  I played several of those kinds of players, and I had a great time!

As the full moon of the new Standard rises, I want to see what changes you all have made to your casual and serious decks alike.  What Standard fun are you brewing for tournaments or the casual game?  I expect to see a lot of good tribal over the next little while, so maybe that's your avenue!

Also, while we're talking about limited, I wanted to say two things.  First, I'm building a cube.

Mine doesn't have a wrap-around window or cupholders, though.

For those of you who DON'T know, a "cube" is a limited player's Victoria's Secret fantasy.  Basically, it's a box of cards that are hand-selected for use in an 8-player draft.  Pick whatever cards you like and balance them as a Magic set would be balance - make sure you have the same amount of cards and power level in every color, add gold cards, artifacts and non-basic lands, and voila!  A cube!  You don't have to keep spending money on those pesky "booster packs," and you can customize the draft however you want.  Want to build a cube of awesome high-level rares that cost too much?  Bring it on!  Want to make a tribal cube with each color supporting one or two tribes?  Sign me up!  Or, if you don't have hundreds of dollars a month for Magic, strong Modern common and uncommons?  Then you've got my cube!

My cube is 360 cards (the bare minimum for an 8 person draft), and it's well on its way to being completed.  It consists of commons and uncommons that begin in 8th Edition and have representatives from every set and block up to and including Innistrad.  If you play at Bluegrass, I'll be bringing it with me whenever I head up there.

For a limited junkie like me, it's the perfect package!

The question I want to leave you with is a fun one.  Your opponent is tapped out and confident.  You are staring at a beautiful piece of cardboard in your fist, and with it you can change the course of the game.  What is that card for you?  In other words, what single card is the most fun card to play?  Not a combo piece or anything like that, but what is your FAVORITE card to play for that giddy little moment when you start tapping your mana for it?

Mine?

I always hear a tree breaking in half when I play this.

Is it the strongest card?  No.  Is it the easiest card?  No.  Is it always relevant?  Definitely not.

Nevertheless, Overrun is arguably the most fun card in the world to play for me.  It makes me feel like roaring.  Weird, I know. 

Let me know!  Is it Storm Herd? Razia, who is a close second for me?  Obliterate? Last Word, an old college friend's fave? Or perhaps Voidslime...

Let me know in your comments.  Until next time, don't forget to untap!

- Matt

The Opening Hand

Hello, everybody, and thanks for dropping by "Untap Target Player," the Magic: The Gathering blog dedicated to the community of casual Magic: The Gathering players.  In this blog, we'll discuss individual cards and deck strategies from the perspective of a veteran CCG player, as well as new and innovative ways that you can use these cards to battle your fellow fanatics.  Whether you're a new player of MTG or you've played since Alpha, there will be something you can take away each week.

Let's start with a little backstory.  Since I was five years old, I've loved to game.  I come from a family of gamers (mind you, the more traditional "Scrabble" and "chess" kind), but as a result, I was primed to make gaming a part of my life.  I've played collectible card games since I was eleven years old - I got swept into the phenomenon that was Pokemon.  As my pre-pubescent mind succumbed to the allure of "Gotta catch 'em all," a table-top gamer was born.  I remember the excitement of waiting in line for my Starter Set and slinging cards from my Fire and Fighting deck with glee.  Did you feel the same way cracking your first pack of Magic?

Charizard > Jace the Mind Sculptor

I drifted away from card games like this for a while until I met my roommate my freshman year of college.  As a fellow Pokemon nut, he got it, and the dormant giant resurfaced.  I got back into the environment again at a local shop, and I picked up Magic there.  Several friends at school played, and I got involved in that community.  Since my sophomore year, I planned the tournaments and ran the events for the school.  It was a very casual environment; we drafted probably once a month, and people played any deck they wanted from Zuberas to Zombies, from Madness to Myrs.  Standard was too expensive for our college blood, so we improvised formats.

Blurry, but I'm the guy in the blue shirt leaned over the table.

I love the kinds of decks that made our own college metagame fun, and although I will cover Standard plenty, this blog is for the more casual player - there are plenty of sites devoted to Standard decks, the metagame, and the like.  But I hope this blog is more like the place you play - friends who gloat ONE mythic in their deck of mismatched cards, a clever Legacy tactic that locks you out of every turn EVER, and the sigh-inducing Sliver/Ally deck.  So without further ado, let's get started!

At my prime, I had dozens of decks put together at once, even if they were terrible.  I prefer quantity over quality just because I am easily bored.  At school, I was most famous for my Land destruction deck or my R/W Boros deck.  This was my first competitive deck, and after a frustrating loss, I would pull out the Boros Guildmage covered box of death and sling some tasty hasties.

My colors run, but they run FAST.

To start off the discussion though, I know everyone has a favorite deck that although it may not be as "top tier" as Jund, Mythic Conscription, or Vampires, is still your preferred stack of sixty (or larger).  These can be themed decks, unusual tribal decks, combo decks where you NEVER draw the whole thing, but you'll always brag if you had... (see Johnny, Combo Player).  You can post decklists or generic information about the goal/combo/flavor of the deck.  Also, if you have a specific one in mind, tell me a funny play or table occurance that made the deck become your fave.

I'll use my own Boros as an example.  It was a straight-foward weenie+burn with lots of haste.  Just something about putting a fattie in play swinging is riotous. 

Whoops, your face is gone.

In one particular game against a friend of mine's Zombie deck, he was up against the ropes, sitting at an uneasy 2 or 3 life.  I was out of critters and vulnerable.  Then he dropped good old Phage the Untouchable on me.  Yeah, the one with poison 10.  That one.  It came to my turn and I was top decking.  C'mon Lightning Helix, I prayed.  I peeled the card off my library with an enthusiastic swipe.  No gold border greeted me, but a delightful alternative.  I passed the turn with no blockers to stand between Ms. Pale-Face and myself.  My friend smiled maniacally and drew his card, setting it on an idle stack, his hand.  He turned Phage sideways, coming at me for game.  Alas, I tapped down three and triumphantly announced "Boros Fury-Shield." 

SUPPLIEZ!!!

My friend's smile turned upside down, and the entire audience laughed, amused at a bewildered opponent who took 4 to the face from his own lethal creature.  Now, the way the rule worked, he just took 4 damage from Phage, and the life-decimating gloves she was wearing didn't have any additional effect, but the induced humiliation was unphaged, I mean "unphased."

What's that on her face?  It's the mask of shame.

Share your favorite casual deck and why it's your favorite.  I'd love to see them! 

Until next time, don't forget to untap!

- Matt