‘Ello ladles and jellyspoons! Time for me to wrap up M20 spoilers with my Top 5 picks from Week 2.
*DISCLAIMER*
Again, these are just my personal picks i.e. they might not necessarily be the “best cards” from the set, but they tickle my fancy for one reason or another.
In no particular order:
[scryimg] Duress:M20 [/scryimg] [scryimg ] Anticipate:M20 [/scryimg] [scryimg] Shock:M20 [/scryimg]
Duress, Anticipate, and Shock. I know what you might be thinking, “But Burt, these are not new to us. These cards have been around forever.” Exactly! And they need to be. They are major role players in Standard and if they don’t receive constant reprints, colors are unable to perform the way they were fundamentally designed to. That’s like mangoes without Tajin or phở without Sriracha. These are color defining staples that people count on having access to and fear when players dip into certain colors. As a red player at heart (hiss and sneer all you want), I’m always relieved when I see Shock or Lightning Strike periodically printed in Standard sets. These are cards that I’m familiar with and have leveraged to my advantage for years.
[scryimg] Drakuseth, Maw of Flames [/scryimg]
Drakuseth, Maw of Flames. What? Glorybringer is evolving! Glorybringer evolved into Drakuseth! Do you wish to rename him? Pokémon jokes aside; this is a savage beating and if Standard is slow enough it will be a major role player much like Glorybringer was during it’s ‘glory days’ *ba-dum tss*. It’s a shame it doesn’t have haste the same way Glorybringer did but the ability to Flame Slash and mini Arc Lightning anything turn after turn without being exerted is super powerful and worth tapping out for to windmill slam this stronk boi.
[scryimg] Grafdigger’s Cage:M20 [/scryimg]
Grafdigger’s Cage. This made it on the list simply because of reprinting purposes. It’s sideboard cards like Cage that need to be reprinted once every other year or so, otherwise, the price begins to creep out of control. The card is simply played everywhere: Legacy, Modern, Vintage, and obviously Standard again as soon as M20 drops. Because it’s an artifact that can be played in any deck and only costs one mana, it has become one of those cards that continues to creep up in price due to constant demand. As the player base continues to grow and people begin to branch out into eternal formats over time, the demand for Grafdigger’s Cage will endure. For that, my wallet thanks you Wizards ^^)
[scryimg] Ancestral Blade [/scryimg]
Ancestral Blade. This may appear to be a seemly odd pick by me but allow me to explain. Why I like this card is because it’s simple, elegant, and balanced. In terms of card value, it’s above average yet not completely busted like Baneslayer Angel is (obviously). It’s a Grizzly Bear that leaves behind a Leonin Scimitar after it dies. Late game when you no longer need to play your bear on curve you’re able to shift the equipment to a better wielder (like a Skynight Vanguard or an Empyrean Eagle) to help close out the game faster, and you’re still left with a 1/1 to chump block with unlike with the 0/0 germ token generated by equipment with Living Weapon. Inside M20 draft it provides WB Tokens sacrificial fodder and GW Tokens another unsuspecting target for Might of the Masses. For maximum style points stick it to a Fencing Ace *puts on sunglasses*. I just wish that M20 had more ways to flicker or bounce artifacts (like Kor Skyfisher…) so I could abuse its ETB trigger and generate tokens with it : /
[scryimg] Gorging Vulture [/scryimg]
And lastly, Gorging Vulture! Yep, a humble common makes the list because of Pauper. Move over Crow of Dark Tidings because for three mana you get a 2/2 which already passes the vanilla test (e.g. Gray Ogre), it has evasion, it self-mills four cards on ETB, and has the upside of gaining incidental life on top of all that. That’s a lot of stuff this card has going for it. I expect it to see play in UB Delver to some capacity because Gurmag Angler loves a full graveyard and it trades with opposing Delvers. TortEx already plays Golgari Brownscale to help offset the life loss caused by Crypt Rats activations and to help fill the yard via Dredge. I could see this card either replacing Brownscale or complimenting it. And lastly, in casual Songs of the Damned decks, this is also a nice way to buy some time as you set up your graveyard and recoup some life lost to cycling Street Wraiths.
Honorable Mentions:
[scryimg] Thunderkin Awakener [/scryimg] [scryimg] Embodiment of Agonies [/scryimg] [scryimg] Scorch Spitter [/scryimg]
Thunderkin Awakener is a really cool card and I love the design but sadly I feel like it’s just not powerful enough to make an impact on eternal formats. It would be fun to make a meme deck full of Spark Elementals and Ball Lightnings (also Faithless Looting so you can Turn 1 pitch a Malignus and swing for ten damage Turn 2 for the lols). But the tragic flaw in its design is that without a way to buff it, it can only bring back one toughness elementals. That means you don’t have access to key sideboard elementals like Shriekmaw, Fulminator Mage, and Ingot Chewer (which I feel like they designed the Awakener like that on purpose because Awakener doesn’t exile the elemental that it reanimates and being able to repeatedly F.Mage your opponent turn after turn would be busted). There could be some cheeky combos by splashing white for Flickerwisp and Vesperlark though.
Embodiment of Agonies is an intriguing card. People have compared it to Tarmogoyf already which is pretty fair but there are some subtle differences worth noting. Because it costs three mana you have more time to set up your graveyard to cast a bigger Embodiment, you’re opponent can’t Push it without Revolt, and is more resilient to graveyard hate once it’s on board because he enters with counters (assuming your yard doesn’t get nuked by a Rakdos Charm as you cast him). Sadly, once it’s on board it’s as big as it’s going to get (unless you have a way to bounce and recast it) because it doesn’t constantly check the graveyard status and grows as the game progresses the way Goyf does. And unlike Goyf, if your opponent has a Rest in Peace in play, it makes Embodiment essentially uncastable until dealt with. But, luckily it has Flying and Deathtouch stapled to it to help keep it relevant throughout the course of the game even if it only comes down as a 2/2 when it does.
Scorch Spitter is such a cutie! I always had high hopes for and wanted to build Rakdos Spectacle in Standard after I saw Rix Maadi Reveler was spoiled. Spitter is the Goblin Fireslinger that we never got that would help ensure Spectacle was always online but sadly I feel like the deck will never be Tier 1 which is why this little cup of tea warming fire spitting bearded dragon didn’t make the cut 🙁
Welp, that wraps up M20 spoiler season! As always, if you’re in the market for some snazzy new sleeves be sure to cruise on over to the shop and use my discount code MADMAGIC for 15% off on your next purchase.
