MTG Kaladesh Legacy & Modern Set Review

MTG Kaladesh Legacy & Modern Set Review

It's that time again for my Legacy and Modern Review of the newest set Kaladesh!

White

Authority of Consuls - This is an interesting rootmaze esque effect, unfortunately the decks that would want to play (think lock piece decks) are probably wanting to run COTV which is a big nombo. This would have been a nice sideboard card vs. Splinter Twin but WOTC already axed that.

Cataclysmic Gearhulk - Not a true Cataclysm but an interesting effect nonetheless. This plus Eldrazi Displacer has some cute combos and could be a good sideboard card. Not being able to destroy your opponents planeswalkers is pretty bad though.

Fragmentize - Sorcery speed sucks but this will destroy almost everything you would want to for a low mana investment with little downside. The real question is will they every print a better white card than Disenchant at kill artifacts and enchantments?

Toolcraft Exemplar - A 3/2 creature for W is a pretty good deal and a 3/2 first strike for W is a very good deal. Note that it is not legendary and that it is an artificer ...

This is very relevant with Cavern of Souls. We are probably not there yet but this is at least interesting to think about. Unfortunately, Toolcraft Exemplars pumps are only when he is attacking.

Blue

Ceremonious Rejection - We will see how good this card is but countering some stuff from Eldrazi/Mud does seem good/fun.

Gearseeker Serpant - This little guy probably needed to have only 1 coloured mana symbol to be playable but he is certainly interesting to think about in Modern affinity and Pauper.

Paradoxical Outcome - This is the sort of card that could make Storm combo better in modern if we have a few more good 0 mana cards.

Select for Inspection - Not quite a bounce draw a card but this is at a very appealing mana cost with about 30/50% of a card tagged on.

Torrential Gearhulk - I think that this guy is good enough as a 5th Snapcaster Mage in Modern. He doesn't get hit by the usual removal (Abrupt Decay and Lightning Bolt) and he generates some good value especially if he flash blocks and flashes back a good spell. I am sure that he will be a total beast in Standard as well.

Black

Harsh Scrutiny - Wow, this can only hit creatures but this is pushed quite far when you look at this from a Standard perspective where most decks are jamming a lot of creatures. The worst thing about discard is how bad it is in the late game, the scry tagged on here makes this at least quasi-useful even if you miss or draw it late. Saying that, this is likely not good enough for legacy and maybe only marginally sideboard playable for modern. Curving out with this in Standard though is going to be brutal, take your creature, setup my next draw, etc. Ugh....

Green

Blossoming Defense - OOOhhhh..I quite like this in infect. Having 8 protection spells that also pump is very nice. This is definitely better in modern than legacy but perfectly serviceable.

Red

Built to Smash - While this is not going to see any play (Brute Force is better). This card is pretty interesting as +3/+3 and trample are both very potent. Imagine using this to pump an Ornithopter with cranial plating on it in response to a lightning bolt from your opponent...

Cathartic Reunion - This seems very aggressive in modern for filling up your graveyard with Golgari-Grave Trolls and the like.

Chandra, Torch of Defiance - There aren't too many Planeswalkers in Legacy that aren't Jace or Elspeth. There certainly aren't any red ones (Ajani Vengeant only partially counts). The new Chandra is very good if someone can find a home for her. Imperial Painter could certainly use all of her abilities and her ultimate works well with dead Pyroblasts?

Inventor's Apprentice - I love me some Kird Apes (Loam Lions need not apply). I have no idea where this guy would go, which means the answer is probably nowhere but he is definitely a playable guy in modern if you choose to try and make him work.

Madcap Experiment - We all know the combos with this card by now. This card is fine and may make for some interesting sideboard strategies.



Spark of Creativity - I think this card is interesting if you can leverage it in a deck as at least a cycle and sometimes you get to kill a creature.

Land

Aehter Hub - Replaces Tendo ice bridge in Lantern...

Blooming Marsh, Botanical Sanctum, Concealed Courtyard, Inspiring Vantage, Spirebluff Canal - This is a pretty important cycle to finish off and all of the previous ones saw quite a lot of play. These could even see some play in Legacy and Vintage due to cards like Choke and Islandwalk.

Inventors' Fair - Gaining a life every turn is pretty good against some decks. Tutoring from a land is also pretty good, especially when you can get an artifact. This is likely to see some modern play in lantern, and eh maybe affinity but I can also see this dipping in to legacy MUD decks as those decks often run out of gas.

Artifact

Aetherflux Reservoir - I think this one has been talked to death by now as well. It is at least another potential win condition which is always nice.

Gold

Nothing to see here for Legacy / Modern.

Overall we have a pretty underwhelming set for modern/legacy but there are a couple of fun cards to try out in sideboards. Blossoming Defense is the card I am most looking forward to playing, did they finally push too many good pump spells into infect?



Cheers,
Simon

Old School 93/94 - Let's get in the mood

Let's get in the mood to slinging some old cardboard:

93/94 Song Playlist

-Cheers-

Old School 93/94 - Alpha /Beta /Unlimited (A/B/U) Set Review

As discussed on my last post, I like to have an exhaustive list of cards to choose from and flick through when I am making decks. This is how I often find fun and/or niche sideboard cards for my decks.

Please chime in with comments or via email if you think that that I have missed any cards.

Work in Progress - White complete. Blue complete. Black complete. Red in progress. Green in progress.

White

Armageddon - Our first playable card is a no brainer that is a staple in WW, Erhnamgeddon and Bantamgeddon.

Balance - Well this is pretty easy isn't it, if I can pull out all the restricted cards I am doing a great job...

Benalish Hero - Benalish Hero is certainly playable in WW decks but loses a lot of power in 93/94 when you add Fallen Empires and Icatian Javelineers is so powerful. Yes, I just said a Fallen Empires card is powerful. Live with it.

Circle of Protection: Black / Red - The only two Circle of Protection's that are very good are Black and Red. Black shuts off the mono black agro decks and Red shuts of all the lighting bolts and fireballs that are running around.

Crusade - This is the best WW pump spell in the format.

Disenchant - In every deck with white you want x4 of these MD.

Island Sanctuary - A low mana cost moat that works well with Jayemdae Tome to keep you drawing cards.

Karma - Take that swamps!

Resurrection - One of my goals in the format is to build a reanimator style deck. This may be one of the pieces to that puzzle.

Reverse Damage - A nice instant speed trick to counter 'lethal' fireball's and the like.

Savannah Lions - The most aggressive 1 drop creature in the format is a staple in WW and is also used in several of the GW decks.

Serra Angel - Possibly the best creature in the format. Flies over Moat, doesn't die to Lightning Bolt, Red Elemental Blast, or Blue Elemental Blast and attacks/defends.

Swords to Plowshares - If Serra Angel is the premier finisher then Swords to Plowshares is the premier removal spell in the format. It kills every creature except Black Knight and Order of the Ebon Hand.

White Knight - Another aggressively casting cost creature for WW, with built in protection from terror and Juzam Djinn. The first strike ability also allows him to be a good attacker/blocker that matches up well versus many of the other low drop threats in the format.

Wrath of God - While Moat and The Abyss have largely superseded Wrath of God, in some meta games being able to clear the board is very useful.

Blue

Air Elemental - This little guy is very close to being playable but he is so outclassed by the other options at 3/4/5 mana, either by efficiency or power level. He is worth a mention but he isn't a card you need in your complete 93/94 set.

Ancestral Recall - Who knew the only 1 mana card draw spell would be good?

Blue Elemental Blast - The old hate cards were hateful indeed. Blue Elemental Blast is very powerful at countering all of the great red spells as well as countering those pesky Red Elemental Blasts.

Braingeyser - Card draw and a win condition. This card doesn't seem very strong when viewed through the eyes of modern card design and it is indeed quite slow. The thing is a lot of the games are quite slow and being able to refill your hand or randomly mill out your opponent is very powerful.

Clone - Clone is quite powerful without being over the top. The downside is that you usually need to make sure you can support clone with being able to copy only your creatures as there are several decks that play few or no creatures.

Control Magic - Control Magic is primarily a sideboard card but one that is very impactful against the aggro decks in the format. In particular any decks that do not have easy access to disenchant.

Copy Artifact - In my mind this is one of the undervalued cards in the format. A majority of decks have targets and you have targets in your own deck too. You can copy things as simple as your opponents Fellwar Stone all the way up to their Triskelion. I like this one quite a lot.

Counterspell - The best counterspell in the format that you are allowed to run a playset of.

Lord of Atlantis - Lord of Atlantis isn't too good under the Swedish rules of 93/94 but it does become a little more playable when FE enters the mix.

Mahamoti Djinn - All of the Djinn's are quite powerful in their own way. Mahamoti Djinn is the biggest of the Djinn's and makes quite a formidable finisher if only he was immune to Red Elemental Blast.

Mana Short - Mana Short is a good way to get a leg-up in the control mirror by forcing a counterwar on your opponents end step.

Merfolk of the Pearl Trident - The best (and only 1?) drop merfolk available in the format.

Phantasmal Forces - I haven't seen too many decks running this guy but if you are in the market for more evasive blue creatures he is not bad. The main draw back is that he dies to Lightning Bolt but in a format with more Swords to Plowshares than red removal, I am not sure that really matters.

Power Sink - Power Sink is the 3rd best counterspell in the format (after mana drain and counterspell).

Psionic Blast - Psionic blast is the perfect blue burn spell. I kills Serendib Efreet which is hugely important and sometimes you get to aim it right at your opponents face.

Stasis - For those that enjoy no fun, or should that be for those who enjoy their fun too much?

Steal Artifact - This is another card that I don't see too much of but is quite a powerful sideboard card in the right metagame. The question you need to ask is if taking their artifact will be much better than copying it with copy artifact?

Time Walk - Today we pay at least 5 mana to take an extra turn. Back in 1993 2 mana was deemed acceptable.

Timetwister - The 9th piece of power that is hugely influential in re-stocking your hand after you accelerate out as many permanents as possible. There are also several combos with Underworld Dreams and the like.

Unsummon - A great tempo card that doesn't see enough play, sure it doesn't damage your opponent (ala Vapor Snag) but it is great when people are playing creatures that are quite high in mana cost.

Vesuvan Doppelganger - If you are in the market for even more clones then this where you go next (if you don't run Dance of Many or Halfdane). Clone and Dance of Many are likely the most powerful of all of these effects and going to 8+ of this effect seems dangerous to say the least.


Black

Animate Dead - This is another of the pieces for my magical 93/94 reanimator deck that may never come to pass...To be fair this is quite an important one.

Bad Moon - The Black version of crusade. If you want to go deep and make the black weenie deck then you are going to want x4 of these and you probably start your deck with x4 Stone-Throwing Devils?

Black Knight - The other analog to White Knight. Protection from Swords to Plowshares and being able to attack past a Serra Angel are no joke.

Dark Ritual - No combos here, unless Swamp > Dark Ritual > Hypnotic Specter is a combo...yeah ok that and turn 1 Juzam Djinn count as combos.

Demonic Hordes - I am not 100% sure on this guy but he is quite hefty and has a very relevant ability (land destruction). If you can get this guy out and protect him from a removal spell he is quite likely to take over the game.

Demonic Tutor - Another restricted card that can find you anything in your deck.

Drain Life - The black fireball.

Gloom - A pretty powerful hate card for black against WW and the like.

Howl from Beyond - As long as you can time this so that you don't get blown out by a removal spell then this can be an effective way for black decks to close out the game a little quicker. As it stands I would likely only play 1-2 of this in a deck.

Hypnotic Specter - A powerful play especially with the aforementioned Dark Ritual to accelerate him out early.  Random discard is also very strong.

Lord of the Pit - Another huge guy that I have on the list in case I have missed a deck where he could be reanimated or cloned, etc.

Mind Twist - This guy is oh so fun when you get to twist your opponent for all of his cards, and oh so sad when you get twisted for all of your cards.

Nightmare - A huge burning horse...that actually is my idea of a nightmare.

Paralyze - Blacks backup removal after you have played all of your copies of Terror and don't want to add another colour to your deck.

Pestilence - This is another card that doesn't see much play but can work as a wincon and a creature removal spell. The downside of having to destroy pestilence is the main reason that this card pales compared to The Abyss and Moat.

Sengir Vampire - I like Sengir Vampire quite a lot, I think he is currently underutilised in the current meta.

Simulacrum - This is a pretty neat combat trick that should likely be seeing more play. Especially if you have a lot of lightning bolt or kill you with a fireball decks.

Sinkhole - It does exactly what it says on the cards and does it for a very low mana cost.

Terror - A great removal spell if you don't have a ton of Black and Artifact creatures in your meta.

Word of Command - I guarantee you that your opponent will read this when you play it.

Red

Disintegrate - Fireball if the better of the two red X spells but Disintegrate does see some play.

Dragon Whelp - Being able to attack with a 4/3 flier every turn can end games pretty quickly. Not being able to pump this guy more, dying to Lightning Bolt and him being so vulnerable to Blue Elemental Blast are big downsides though.

Earthquake - Being able to clear out blockers or ground pounders and also whittling your opponents life total down are both great assets to this card.

Fireball - Speaking of X spells (and occasionally of Y spells) this is the big daddy of 93/94. A card to mop up the board with a couple of small creatures or to go to the face.

Flashfires - Man there are some hateful cards in Beta. How much do you hate plains? Enough to set them all on fire. Burrrrn!

Fork - Fork is a pretty fun one, since it can work as a counterspell or a mind twist as well as whatever other fun cards you can find to copy. It is worth noting that this is now unrestricted in Europe.

Goblin Balloon Brigade - Only playable if you are going all in on Goblins. If you are though you probably want this little guy as he takes his balloon all the way over the moat.

Goblin King - The single best card in the Goblin deck.

Granite Gargoyle - 93/94 magic is played at a different pace than today's games. This means that sometimes you can sit back with large(ish) creatures and hope to block for multiple turns.

Keldon Warlord - I haven't seen this guy get played anywhere but I think his stats are pretty good for the format. Again the problem with all creatures that either don't fly or aren't artifacts is Moat/The Abyss.

Lightning Bolt - Old faithful.

Mana Flare - For when you just don't care.

Mana Barbs - I have played Mana Bards a few times in "modern" magic but not in 93/94 yet. I assume it is pretty good in an agro/tempo deck.

Mon's Goblin Raiders - Creature type goblin, check.

Orcish Artillery - I like this card quite a lot even though it sees no play. It is a sideboard card at best but really shines against the WW and other aggro decks in the format. If only it had the creature type Goblin...it is possible that making an errata to turn Orcs into Goblins could allow for some nice diversity in the format in the future.

Power Surge - This is another card that I am interested in playing in the mana burn environment.

Red Elemental Blast - This is one of the most powerful sideboard (and sometimes main deck) cards in the format.

Sedge Troll - A very aggressive creature with good abilities and stats. The issue is finding a deck for him to live in.

Shatter - While not as good as disenchant, Shatter does a lot of work in the red decks.

Shivan Dragon - I am not a huge fan of Shivan Dragon as a finisher and this is mostly because of Blue Elemental Blast but I see him in a lot of decks as a 1-of. Also he is huge, flies and has a lot of nostalgia around him.

Stone Rain - While not as good under the EC rules (x4 Strip Mine). A very nice sideboard card to destroy those annoying Mishra's factories.

Wheel of Fortune - Such a powerful card draw spell and it isn't even blue!

Green

Old School 93/94 - Resources, Links and Discussion

As I mentioned in my last post my newest obsession is the 93/94 format. For those of you who are not familiar then please take a read of the below resources, or maybe you are familiar and want to take a look at some sweet decklists.

Resources/Links :

http://oldschool-mtg.blogspot.com/p/historik.html

http://www.eternalcentral.com/oldschool/

https://www.reddit.com/r/oldschoolmtg

https://www.instagram.com/oldschoolmtg/?hl=en

http://www.understandingancestral.com/

Star City Games Article about Old School Magic

Old School - Europe: Facebook Page

Old School - Europe: YouTube Channel

East Coast 93/94 Discussion and Marketplace

Old School '93-'94 - Europe: Facebook Group

Midwest USA 93/94 Old School Magic

Magic '95 Homepage

Danny Friedman's Vintage & Old School Blog

http://www.manaleak.com/mtguk/2015/11/uk-old-school-magic-the-gathering-the-beginnings-of-a-format-by-rod-smith/

http://www.channelfireball.com/articles/new-format-old-school/

Discussion:

As readers and those who know me know I mostly play Legacy with the occasional dabble in to Standard when I feel like burning someone's face off. My local store (Asgards) has a great group of legacy players who occasionally have forays in to Vintage. With the opening of Asgards new bar (AKA AssGayBar) myself and others were quick to latch on to a "casual" format that could be played in between rounds of legacy or alternatively at the bar between a few people during the afternoon. The current target audience is these legacy/vintage players who already have deep legacy/vintage card pools. While I appreciate the ethos behind the original Swedish players 93/94 set of rules we are going to more closely follow the Eternal Central Rules. Firstly, we are also in the US so if I ever travel to play Old School it is more likely to be using these rules. Second, increasing the card pool means more decks are viable. Third, I want to promote more people playing with old Magic cards. I don't really care if those cards are from Chronicles or Arabian Nights. One of the great things about Legacy is that some people have super sweet and super pimp decks, while other people have barely cobbled together a deck of playable. For a non-sanctioned Magic format more people = better.

One of the first thing I did after reading all the above articles and blogs was to start looking at 93/94 decklists. This naturally led me to going through each set to identify playable cards. Over the next couple of weeks I am going to do a blog article for each set that is legal in the format (Alpha - Fallen Empires). There are a few cards that don't see play that are playable in the format and for those that don't want to pore over set lists they can have a short cut for finding the playable cards.

-Cheers-

Official Chaos Orb Flip Tracker- 1/2 = 50%

Old School 93/94 - Time Flies

Wow...does time fly when you are busy with work, family and the general rigmarole of life.

I am going to start re-blogging a little bit more often after almost 1 year of hiatus.

You are warned.

Also as an FYI my current obsession is 93/94 Old School Magic. So expect to see a few blog posts about that.

Watch this space.

-Cheers-