Highest Impact Cards in M13

Happy Thursday everyone. I hope, for those Americans of you, that you aren’t too hung over today. For the rest of you, I hope you’re anxiously awaiting Friday and that your workloads aren’t too bad. Let’s get into the meat of things though.

M13 is coming out. It has implications for Standard. We’re going to talk about them for a minute. If you haven’t already seen the spoiler, I’d like to gently encourage you to take a look at my personal choice for Magic Spoilers, MTGSalvation! [Link Here]

M13 rotating in brings us to a point in the year when the cardpool is the largest it can possibly be. For that matter, this one is even larger than usual because of the addition of Avacyn Restores, which is larger than most third sets ought to be. (We had this same situation last year, because of Rise of the Eldrazi).  Larger Cardpools lead to stronger decks, which often lead to certain things being degenerate at this point in the year. There are two things we should be taking into account when we look at cards from any new set like this one.

A)     Applications to existing decks. These are the cards that are going to have immediate impact on the format. They are often high powered and will be seen consistently throughout the coming year because they’re just great and powerful cards. Dismember from New Phyrexia was a good example of this. It was strong enough to slot itself into decks across the board.

B)      Promise in future decks. These are cards that can’t quite hack it for one reason or another in the environment when they were first printed. They’re powerful, but either something is edging them out, or they aren’t strong enough at the moment. While this is speculation, Wolvir Silverheart is a good example of this. The card is an all-star in block, but has been making relatively few waves in Standard due to the prevalence of Vapor Snag+Snapcaster, and a wealth of quality removal. If those things go away, Wolvir Silverheart is one of the most efficient creatures ever printed, and will likely become an all-star in its own right.

With those qualifications in mind, let’s move into what I think are the 5 highest-impact cards (in no particular order) in each color, for M13.

 

WHITE

Ajani, Caller of the Pride: Ajani is a three mana planeswalker, which means he already merits serious consideration. His high starting loyalty means that regardless of the board situation, he won’t likely die the turn that he’s put into play, and will divert significant danger away from you. His effects are potent, increasing your team’s size while becoming stronger and his negative ability has the potential to break a game open like only Elspeth, Knight Errant could.  However, I think that he could flop. The three spot has a ton of competition at the moment from the likes of Lingering Souls, Silverblade Paladin, and Mirran Crusader (not to mention the Swords until October.) Ajani can compete with the best of them, but that might not be enough to earn him a slot in decks immediately. I’ll be waiting on picking mine up, personally.

Odric, Master Tactician: Odric is the white legend for this set, and he showcases an interesting ability that we haven’t seen in Standard recently. He has a significant body – 3/4 for 4 mana, and when attacking with allies, provides unmitigated advantage over the flow  of combat. With a Grand Abolisher in play as well, your opponent might as well just grin and bear it. However, the qualification on his ability could provide something of an issue. Attacking with four creatures is no mean feat, and Odric himself can’t swing until turn 5, when an aggro deck is already hoping to be dealing the final blow. He provides no inherent protection to himself, and his ability will most often read ‘If you don’t get blown out by a sweeper, your creatures are unblockable’. He’s high-risk, high-reward, and definitely merits testing, but I’m not sure if he’s worth including in decks quite yet.

Serra Avenger: I played Serra Avenger in Legacy last weekend. Notably, I was able to accelerate her out with AEther Vial, but even without, she was a potent threat. As a 3/3 flying body, she’s one of the most aggressively costed creatures we have access to in white, and vigilance makes her difficult to race. (Watch out for decks with her and Vault of the Archangel!) Giving her a sword represents a terrifying clock. Her drawback means you don’t want her in a solely aggressive deck, but any strategy looking for strong midgame pressure could do much worse. This one has my eye.

Sublime Archangel: Her stats alone merit consideration, as a 4-power flyer for 4. However, those numbers are deceptive. With any reasonable number of creatures, she could potentially be attacking two turns early for titan-level damage. Multiple instances of Exalted on the same creature can stack, meaning that a single attack could bring her to double digits in the right situation. She suffers the same problems as Odric – being an expensive creature with no inherent protection, but her impact could be even higher. Still not convinced? Think of her as a free Kessig Wolf Run every turn, without trample, in white, with flying.

Oblivion Ring: While this isn’t the shiniest new card in the set, Oblivion Ring remains the most versatile removal spell in the format for the cheapest cost. Paying only three mana to remove any troublesome non-land gives us an important safety valve for most troublesome cards in the format. Frankly, this is here to highlight that while white still has a good toolkit, it’s lacking in some other departments. The removal of Day of Judgment (Planar Cleansing being a powerful, but expensive variation) means that 4 mana is no longer the terrifying number it once was. Control players will need to get to 6, or else miracle a Terminus, and by then, they’ll likely be in deep waters against the aggressive decks.

Overall, I feel that white is still strong, but may have been knocked off the pedestal that it’s been on the last few sets. I know I’m considering other colors for the first time in a while.

BLUE

Speaking of the mighty having fallen, Blue has gained some new tools, but nothing that feels like another Snapcaster Mage.

Augur of Bolas: This card feels like Sea Gate Oracle. It draws you a card, with a 1/3 body attached, for 2 mana. That seems incredible. It may miss some of the time, but really, for a 2 mana spell with a solid blocker along for the ride, you could do much worse. For the next few weeks, it provides a way to clear away bad Ponders, and with Vapor Snag, it lets you ‘cycle’ a bounce spell into another instant or sorcery.  There are tricks to be had with this card, and I’m sure that we’ll be seeing him in decklists all over the internet soon enough.

Fog Bank: For those of you who have played against this card with a non-red aggro deck, I can feel your pain. Stonewalling your best creature each turn is backbreaking in the war against time. This will be a powerful weapon in control decks, finally allowing them a near-permanent answer to troublesome creatures like Strangleroot Geist and Geralf’s Messenger.

Master of the Pearl Trident: I’d just like to highlight this one for a second because it’s going to see some Legacy and Modern play, not because it’s going anywhere in Standard. Blue’s shy on really impressive cards, so this one gets the spotlight for a second.

Talrand, Sky Summoner: Now here’s what I’m talking about. A 4 mana 2/2! That’s on curve for blue. None of this 3/2 for U nonsense from last year. He churns out evasive threats when you cast instants – hey, that feels blue as well! I can’t help but feel like 4 mana might be a little too much for him, but I suppose it was necessary since he’ll be coexisting with phyrexian mana for a couple of months. I expect to see him played in some numbers. I know a few pros that were talking about using him as a pseudo-Emeria Angel in the Delver mirror. We’ll see if that’s true.

Sleep:

Sleep is one of those cards that people tend to gloss over because it doesn’t kill any of their creatures and costs more than 2 mana. This should not happen. Sleep and Snapcaster Mage are dangerous together. (I feel like that is the theme of Standard, fairly often. “XXX broken card has synergy with YYY. Where X is a good card and Y is almost anything with a mana cost.) Seriously though, a mass tapdown for a tempo deck is big game. 4 mana (6 when snapcast) might be too pricey for Delver to hack, but it’s on my radar, and I expect someone will be blown out by it sooner rather than later.

BLACK

Duress: Discard is a strategy that waxes and wanes in popularity. I don’t know if Duress is as good as it used to be, with creatures getting better and spells seeming to wane in popularity, but you’d be a fool to dismiss a card with a proven constructed track record.

Mutilate: On that same topic, giving black awesome board wipes like Mutilate is making me want to scream the oft-repeated “MONO BLACK CONTROL RETURNS!” Except this time, instead of being really sarcastic, I think it might actually be true. There’s a lot of good things in black at the moment, and if we get Shocklands, we can play “Mono-black and two splash control” for bolas and have tons of fun. Could be interesting.

Vampire Nighthawk: Seriously, black is just getting all the awesome reprints, aren’t they? Can’t they leave some of the fun for the other colors? If you’ve played with Vampire Nighthawk, you know how powerful the card is. If you haven’t, you’re probably underestimating it. The card in insane, and the only thing that could make it better is…

Vampire Nocturnus: Wait, wait, what? Seriously? He’s back? Christ. At least we don’t have Gatekeeper…

[EDITOR’S NOTE: Andrew was extremely afraid to open the next envelope because he was afraid that Vampires was going to be a THING again.]

Vile Rebirth: Oh, see, now this is a cool card. It fights Zombies, it beats up on undying creatures, it’s playable in an existing archetype. I love this card, plus it’s cheap and does everything that zombies wants to do. This card will see play the day of its release in countless zombie decks around the world. Brains! Brains! Brains!

I’d like to make an honorable mention of the new Liliana here. Liliana of the Dark Realms is a bad card. She doesn’t control the game with any regularity. She doesn’t win the game on her own. She’s a source of persistant card advantage, but those cards are all lands – basic lands, at the moment. She may see play in some Black-centric multicolor thing if Shocklands are reprinted, but barring that, I cannot see her making a splash in Standard.

RED:

Firewing Phoenix: Recurring threats are always interesting in red. Flying recurring threats get that double. When they cost 4 mana and are sort of splashable, all the better. A friend of mine is fiddling with a Red/Black control deck at the moment, and this seems like the kind of thing you could get behind as a finisher in that style of deck. Sadly, it’s probably too high-curve/slow to fit into Red Deck Wins, so for all of you hoping to go that route, look elsewhere.

Krenko, Mob Boss: Doubling things is powerful. Goblins can be dangerous. Doubling Goblins are dangerous. This is only in standard for 3 months with Goblin Chieftan, but I’m scared in the meantime. I’ll be packing more than the usual number of Celestial Purges, between this and Zombies getting some new toys. Plus, he’s a 4 mana 3/3 in red with a relevant tribe, which isn’t terrible on its own!

Magmaquake: If a big planeswalker deck starts to pop up, or Naya really takes off, expect this card to be doing some heavy lifting. Plus, there’s an awesome full art version from Game Day. I’m a sucker for Game Day promos.

Flames of the Firebrand: Arc Trail was good. This costs one more, but has a little bit of an advantage when it comes to mowing down tiny things or slightly bigger things. I’d play this, especially since burn spells aren’t the best in the world right now.

Thundermaw Hellkite: While the rest of red looks reasonable, this monster is going to see play – period. He’s a 5/5 for 5, with Haste Flying, and a pretty awesome ETB trigger. He’s everything that red is going to want going forward, and every deck that plays red is going to need to at least consider playing him. From some initial testing that I saw over on Star City Games, he’s exactly as good as people say he is. Beware this card.

I’d also like to give an honorable mention to Mark of Mutiny, which acts as a pretty awesome threaten effect while also subtly attacking undying creatures. It probably won't see a huge amount of play as long as it's competing with Zealous Conscripts, but it's still a notable interaction that I'd like to shout out. Good call on the reprint here, Wizards!

GREEN:

Alright guys, now to the meat of the show. I’m going to be blunt here – Green is busted in this set. It’s just insanely good. I’m more excited about the green than all the other colors combined. I can’t get over it. Here’s my top 5.

Elderscale Wurm: Can a red deck even beat this card? It’s Worship on a 7/7 Trample. Unless they’re going to somehow burn it out, I think they’re just stuck. This might as well be a harder to kill Platinum Angel. Seven mana is steep, but it’s hard to argue against the mythic flavor here. Expect him to see play in control decks that are worried about stabilizing against some of the powerful aggro decks that we’re seeing. Being in green makes the mana cost more accessible via ramp spells, and he’s probably going to be the biggest kid on the block if he resolves.

Mwonvuli Beast Tracker: Tutors lead to repetitive gameplay often making sure that games go exactly according to plan more often than they should, and so Wizards has been cutting back on the number of tutors available to players. This tutor is a 2/1 body that finds a TON of cards. Admittedly, he puts the card on the top of your deck – arguably the weakest of the three tutor locations – but there’s still a ton of potential to find a silver bullet and kill the offending anything.

Quirion Dryad: Now, for those of you who didn’t exist in the pre-Tarmagoyf era, this thing was Tarmagoyf. It started small, but with careful application of a bunch of cheap instants and sorceries, she was beating in for a ton of damage very quickly. While she may not quite be legacy-power level anymore, she’s certainly still a contender for standard. Vapor Snag might keep her down in the short term, but I’d expect to see her showing her face before she leaves Standard.

Yeva, Nature’s Herald: A 4/4 flash for 4 is good. Giving flash to Green is mind-blowing. Forget her as an awesome mono-green commander in EDH, let’s talk about standard. All of a sudden, they can NEVER attack safely. There could be an acidic slime behind every green mana symbol. Three mana untapped? Those forests could be an 8/8 Dungrove Elder. Wouldn’t want to walk into that, would you? Yeva gives Green the ability to play games with the other colors, just like blue does now. The difference is that Green’s creatures are bigger and scarier, and now basically have haste. Late in the game, they could even Flash in Yeva, AND something else. A board of untapped forests never looked scarier.

Thragtusk: Whichever designer made this card deserves a prize. I’ve never seen a better use for the leaves-the-battlefield trigger instead of dies. If there is a deck that is going to slay Delver, it’s going to be a green one involving this and Dungrove Elder. He’s a 5/3, he gains life, he makes guys, he laughs in the face of Vapor Snags all over the world. He’s THRAGTUSK, the game-changer. Thought you were racing? Not anymore! Thought you had plenty of removal? Not today!

I want four of these. I want four of these now. They will be sold eventually as heavily played. There is just too much value tied up in this card for it to not be good. Best of all, a single green mana means that it's splashable into a deck like Naya. I'm giddy just thinking about blinking him with Restoration Angel.

And that’s it folks. I think green is the clear winner in this go-around, but who knows! Maybe I’m wrong. What do you all think? Are there any incredible cards that I missed? Anything that I…oh…wait…what? They reprinted…really? Are they serious?

Rancor: There are no words. Stop trying to play control. It just won’t…just give up now. You’re going to get punched for 5 on turn 2. You cannot keep up with that, and it’s going to happen again, and again, and again. I can not overstate how powerful this card is. It's incredible in any deck that's planning on attacking. Giving trample is powerful, giving +2/0 is powerful. This card would be borderline playable without the graveyard clause, but with it, it becomes a recurring effect that is very hard to answer with any reasonable efficiency.

Let me know what you think about the set, which you think are going to be the highest impact cards, and why? Did I forget any? Hyping up something that doesn’t deserve it? Let me know in the comments! I'll be attending the prerelease this weekend, and likely judging an event to boot! Tuesday you'll get my tournament report, and Next Thursday, we'll build something with M13.

 

Planning on tapping Forests for a while,

Andrew

[Editor's Note: There's a couple of noteworthy artifacts, and Bolas, that probably should have gotten a section, but frankly, I don't see any of them making a huge-splash in Standard.]