Josh Elliott
Senior Writer / Designer
Senior Writer / Designer
Despite the lack of spoilers this week, Josh takes a look at the few we have, and then goes back to do some coverage on a few cards that were released in the surge last week! You can't miss this!
Welcome back to the Spoiler Season coverage on M11! For some reason this week have seen very little new coming out of Wizards with most of the spoilers being reprints, so this article is hopefully going to stay a little shorter than the last one with its flood of coverage, so let’s get started!
To start off with this week, I’m going to take a look at an interesting cycle based on the Lorwyn Planeswalkers. Let’s start with the White one:
So it seems a lot of people just look at this, and are completely underwhelmed. The ability doesn’t seem to be amazingly relevant in the format, and so he just sort of sits around. However, when I look at this, I see it as a fine Limited card. We played Silvercoat Lion in M10 (and will continue to play it in M11), and really this is just another Lion at Uncommon, that may every once and a while grow up a bit. It’s simple, it’s fine, suck it up and play it. Oh, and in Standard, pair this up with Survival Cache. Fun!
Next up as part of the cycle is Jace’s contribution:
When this card was released, I’m pretty sure that Standard Blue mages around the world sighed a collective sigh of relief. For so long, Blue has been bitching and moaning about the lack of instant speed card draw for the longest time, and finally, it has returned. This card is going to be great in Limited, and will surely see Standard play as well.
The next card in the cycle is the Black addition:
Like Ajani’s addition, this guy is really just more Limited potential. It has evasion, it will be nice in generating out some card advantage which in Limited games should make or break the game for you. Same as my opinion for the Pridemate, like him, pick him, play him. Nothing flashy, but all in all very solid.
Moving along with another creature, here is Chandra’s contribution to the cycle:
This guy is actually really interesting; with Kiln Fiend actually starting to see some competitive play, I think that Chandra’s Spitfire has the chance to join him in the recent surge of Red Deck Wins floating around in Standard right now. What it really needs it something like Manabarbs to be printed, to give it a lot of really easy triggers. Rebound burn is going to be fine for now, but is it enough to get Chandra's Spitfire into the deck? I really hope so.
The last card in the cycle, here is the Green component:
Wow, I read this card, and was just shocked. Not only is this terrifyingly efficient, but it puts an opponent on a 7 turn clock on TURN 2! We haven’t seen the likes of this since Scab Clan Mauler, and even then it was conditional. This guy is nasty, and while there doesn’t seem to really be a deck in Standard for him right now, I’m sure that with him and Leatherback Baloth we can expect some of the Dech Gurus trying to pump out some mono Green beats lists.
The last card this week that I’m going to preview is an absolutely terrifying bomb in Limited:
I’m not going to lie, I read this card on my news feed, and immediately took a double take, and then yelled at my friend to come over and take a look. First of all, the body is solid. A 6/6 with Vigilance for 6 mana is nothing to sniff at. Combine that with the fact that he is going to bring back a body every turn, and you are going to be drowning your opponent before too long. Just think about a White-Green beats deck in Limited that is bringing back Garruk’s Champion EVERY SINGLE TURN? I don’t know about you gusys, but that’s certainly enough to scare the pants off of me!
And then suddenly, we are at the end of the Article! My apologies for the brevity, but as I said, Wizards seems to have been mysteriously silent this last week, and as such they seem to have given me a little bit of a break! However, we have seen some great cards, a couple of cycles that have some promise, and a Limited bomb that is going to make people VERY sad when it is dropped on the other side of the table as them.
Next week I will be back with more M11 coverage, hopefully with a bunch of brand new exciting cards from Wizards that we can poke around with! Until then!
Talk about the latest spoilers in our forums! You know you have an opinion, so get in there and voice it!
To start off with this week, I’m going to take a look at an interesting cycle based on the Lorwyn Planeswalkers. Let’s start with the White one:
Ajani’s Pridemate
Creature – Cat Soldier
Uncommon
Whenever you gain life, you may put a +1/+1 counter on Ajani’s Pridemate
2/2
2/2
So it seems a lot of people just look at this, and are completely underwhelmed. The ability doesn’t seem to be amazingly relevant in the format, and so he just sort of sits around. However, when I look at this, I see it as a fine Limited card. We played Silvercoat Lion in M10 (and will continue to play it in M11), and really this is just another Lion at Uncommon, that may every once and a while grow up a bit. It’s simple, it’s fine, suck it up and play it. Oh, and in Standard, pair this up with Survival Cache. Fun!
Next up as part of the cycle is Jace’s contribution:
Jace’s Ingenuity
Instant
Uncommon
Draw three cards.
When this card was released, I’m pretty sure that Standard Blue mages around the world sighed a collective sigh of relief. For so long, Blue has been bitching and moaning about the lack of instant speed card draw for the longest time, and finally, it has returned. This card is going to be great in Limited, and will surely see Standard play as well.
The next card in the cycle is the Black addition:
Liliana’s Spectoe
Creature – Specter
Common
Flying
When Liliana’s Specter enters the battlefield, each opponent discards a card.
2/1
When Liliana’s Specter enters the battlefield, each opponent discards a card.
2/1
Like Ajani’s addition, this guy is really just more Limited potential. It has evasion, it will be nice in generating out some card advantage which in Limited games should make or break the game for you. Same as my opinion for the Pridemate, like him, pick him, play him. Nothing flashy, but all in all very solid.
Moving along with another creature, here is Chandra’s contribution to the cycle:
Chandra’s Spitfire
Creature – Elemental
Uncommon
Flying
Whenever an opponent is dealt noncombat damage, Chandra's Spitfire gets +3/+0 until end of turn.
1/3
Whenever an opponent is dealt noncombat damage, Chandra's Spitfire gets +3/+0 until end of turn.
1/3
This guy is actually really interesting; with Kiln Fiend actually starting to see some competitive play, I think that Chandra’s Spitfire has the chance to join him in the recent surge of Red Deck Wins floating around in Standard right now. What it really needs it something like Manabarbs to be printed, to give it a lot of really easy triggers. Rebound burn is going to be fine for now, but is it enough to get Chandra's Spitfire into the deck? I really hope so.
The last card in the cycle, here is the Green component:
Garruk’s Companion
Creature – Beast
Common
Trample
3/2
3/2
Wow, I read this card, and was just shocked. Not only is this terrifyingly efficient, but it puts an opponent on a 7 turn clock on TURN 2! We haven’t seen the likes of this since Scab Clan Mauler, and even then it was conditional. This guy is nasty, and while there doesn’t seem to really be a deck in Standard for him right now, I’m sure that with him and Leatherback Baloth we can expect some of the Dech Gurus trying to pump out some mono Green beats lists.
The last card this week that I’m going to preview is an absolutely terrifying bomb in Limited:
Sun Titan
Creature – Giant
Mythic
Vigilance
Whenever Sun Titan enters the battlefield or attacks, you may return target permanent card with converted mana cost 3 or less from your graveyard to the battlefield.
6/6
Whenever Sun Titan enters the battlefield or attacks, you may return target permanent card with converted mana cost 3 or less from your graveyard to the battlefield.
6/6
I’m not going to lie, I read this card on my news feed, and immediately took a double take, and then yelled at my friend to come over and take a look. First of all, the body is solid. A 6/6 with Vigilance for 6 mana is nothing to sniff at. Combine that with the fact that he is going to bring back a body every turn, and you are going to be drowning your opponent before too long. Just think about a White-Green beats deck in Limited that is bringing back Garruk’s Champion EVERY SINGLE TURN? I don’t know about you gusys, but that’s certainly enough to scare the pants off of me!
And then suddenly, we are at the end of the Article! My apologies for the brevity, but as I said, Wizards seems to have been mysteriously silent this last week, and as such they seem to have given me a little bit of a break! However, we have seen some great cards, a couple of cycles that have some promise, and a Limited bomb that is going to make people VERY sad when it is dropped on the other side of the table as them.
Next week I will be back with more M11 coverage, hopefully with a bunch of brand new exciting cards from Wizards that we can poke around with! Until then!
Talk about the latest spoilers in our forums! You know you have an opinion, so get in there and voice it!
Josh Elliott
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About: Since his childhood, Josh has always had the dreams that every eight year old male does. He wanted to get older but never grow up, he wanted to play with computers, and he wanted to play games for the rest of his life. So far, those dreams still haven't changed. Josh is now a Junior Game Design Major in college with a concentration in Cognitive Science and couldn't be happier with what he is doing. He spends most of his free time working on independent design projects for his company, building computers, and playing just about every game he can get his hands on. Foremost among those games is Magic: The Gathering, which he plays as much as possible with his team and local playgroup.
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