Thursday, September 4, 2014

Khans of Tarkir Legacy/Modern Set Review

Like the title says this is a Khans of Tarkir Legacy/Modern Set Review.
 



White

Suspension Field - A more situational Oblivion Ring that costs 2 instead of 3. This is certainly nothing to write home about but it is worth noting that in legacy Mono White Stompy decks this will let you play around Daze if you have a City of Traitors or and Ancient Tomb out.

Wingmate Roc - This is certainly not causing a huge splash in legacy but getting two 3/4 fliers for 5 in modern is no joke. The life gain can also help in modern since there is quite a lot of burn running around.

Blue

Clever Impersonator - Being able to copy anything of your opponents baring land is a pretty powerful ability. The mana cost is a bit high for legacy and the effect is more of a sideboard effect but being able to copy a Jace, the Mind Sculptor or a Jitte would be pretty nice.

Dig Through Time - The delve cards are quite hard to evaluate. I think they are obviously powerful but my concern is how many of them you can realistically run. If people are running loads of them then presumably Deathrite Shaman/ Scavenging Ooze/Rest in Peace also get even better since they can aggressively cannabilize your graveyard.

Stubborn Denial - A more situational force spike/spell pierce that can become a hard counter if you have a Tarmogoyf or Tombstalker in play.

Taigam's Scheming - I am always on the look out for cards that do something a little bit different or move stuff from one zone to another. This card is just missing the cantrip part to make it more powerful than strategic planning. Milling up to 5 cards into your graveyard could be quite powerful in some sort of modern reanimator deck.

Treasure Cruise - This may be the best name in the whole set. My comments for Dig Through Time apply here as well. My first thought was that these Delve draw cards could be good in combo but then I remembered that Ad Nauseam is a real card and so is Time Spiral. For the tempo decks I am not sure that this is better than a pre-ordain which you can always cast and helps you smooth out your draws. It may be good though as a 1-3 of just to help re-gas in the mid-game. My predicted home for this is probably in UR delver sans snapcaster mage since you cannot afford the anti-synergy.

Black

Murderous Cut - I keep reading this as Murderous Cat. I hope somebody gets a sweet alter done with that in mind. Not having the downside of Terror, Go for the Throat, etc makes this very powerful. The downside though is that it doesn't kill those turn 1/2 threats. For that reason I think this is worse than Dismember.

Necropolis Fiend - This card is certainly legacy playable but is it better than tombstalker? When I play tombstalker I usually do a pretty good job of clearing out my graveyard. I am not sure I have extra cards to help feed this guy. Also
you usually don't want to totally clear out your yard because of Tarmogoyf and Deathrite Shaman. He could be better in Modern if there is a good way to fill up your yard since the games often for on for a little bit longer and machine gunning all of Birthing pods guys down is pretty good.

 
Red

Monastery Swiftspear - The red cards in the set are a little lack lustre to be honest but I guess we have recently gotten Goblin Rabblemaster, Eidolon and Searing Blood. Monastery Swiftspear is an innocuous card that could just be excellent. It is low on peoples radar but I can see this being a quiet powerhouse in legacy and modern.

Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker Sarkhan's first two abilities do exactly what we want. They either remove a threat or smack your opponent while gaining loyalty. Mono red stompy is always looking for quick threats and ways to interact with their opponent when they go hellbent. This is certainly a role player for that.

 
Green

Just plain nothing.
 
Artifact

Ghostfire Blade - This is a Bone Splitter with upside for Affinity and should see some modern play as a result. The extra toughness means that your Ornithopter no longer dies to lightning bolt and you are much more resilient against electrolyze.

Land

Bloodstained Mire, Flooded Strand, Polluted Delta, Windswept Heath & Wooded Foothills - These are already legal and staples in legacy (obviously) but their introduction into modern will be very interesting. Most people are predicting an increase in playability of Zoo and Faeries. Bloodstained mire also lets Jund play more basics that it can more easily fetch probably increasing the power level of Jund (collective yay).

Gold
 
Abzan Charm -
 
Choose one —
Exile target creature with power 3 or greater.
You draw two cards and you lose 2 life.
Distribute two +1/+1 counters among one or two target creatures.
 
Anafenza, the Foremost - The stats are right and he has a couple of good abilities. Adding counters to your tapped Deathrite Shaman or other utility will be good and having the potential to stop Narcomeba triggers with the second ability is a nice bonus. The main problem is that this guy costs 3 mana of 3 different colours all at the same time...Wasteland is a real card in legacy guys. For modern he is just a bigish mana efficient donk that doesn't die to Lightning Bolt.
 
Butcher of the Horde - Well this guy hits hard and fast especially if you sac a lingering souls token or a zombie or something to trigger his haste. He also survives lightning bolt...
 
Jeskai Charm -
 
Choose one —
Put target creature on top of its owner's library.
Jeskai Charm deals 4 damage to target opponent.
Creatures you control get +1/+1 and gain lifelink until end of turn.
 
Mantis Rider - This guy has it all except resilence to lightning bolt. I have played my fair share of Lightning Angels so I think I am going to like this little guy.
 
Mardu Charm -
 
Instant
Choose one —
Mardu Charm deals 4 damage to target creature.
Put two 1/1 white Warrior creature tokens onto the battlefield. They gain first strike until end of turn.
Target opponent reveals his or her hand. You choose a noncreature, nonland card from it. That player discards that card.

Mindswipe - I may have to at least try one of these out in Modern. Counter Burn!

Savage Knuckleblade - Again another Modern playable card but that is a bout it.

Siege Rhino - Wow this guy has a huge butt.
 
Sultai Charm - This one sure has all the right abilities.

Choose one —
Destroy target monocolored creature.
Destroy target artifact or enchantment.
Draw two cards, then discard a card.

The question for me is 3 mana too much for legacy? I think the answer is yes. We may see it pop up as a 1 of in some ambitious BUG lists though. It is also worth noting that you cannot cascade into it with Shardless Agent (which could be good or bad depending on how you look at it). Bant charm did see some play in Modern and if there is a BUG deck then I can see this getting some modern play at the very least though it competes with Maelstrom Pulse. Off the top of my head most of the cards are monocolored in modern so that clause doesn't matter too much.

Utter End - An instant speed vindicate the doesn't hit lands for 1 more mana. This seems like very good value for standard. It is probably marginally playable in modern and too expensive for legacy.
 

-Cheers-  

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