Okay MTG fans, I've decided not to go over the multi-colored cards or the artifacts. I want to just go ahead and jump straight into our limited build capability. I can without a doubt say that I am looking extremely forward to tomorrow night, and I can't wait to get my hands on some of these cards. I did run across some spoiler info earlier today, in case, ya know, you're interested. Of course you are, you wouldn't be here if you weren't. Anyhow, while they were up on YouTube very shortly, someone had their hands on some promotional WOTC materials, (I.E. - The Pre-Release Packs) at the request of WOTC they took them down. They won't be back for a few days at this point sadly. But it seems as though you will get the following in your seeded packs.
- 1 Promo Card in your color Choice
- 1 Rare or Mythic (apparently the only Mythic you have a chance at pulling is the god for that color)
- 3 Uncommons
- 11 Commons
Now you have to look at it like this, those cards are all going to be in your colors. From what I understand, the UC/R could be a dual colored card . . . don't quote me on that, but I believe I saw that info somewhere. To me, I don't really care for that. I mean, I guess it could help you build a decent dual colored deck, but I would rather have a card I know is solid in my colors, than have a good card that's one color off.
Anyhow, since I did skip the multi-colored cards, I do want to give a quick shout out to these cards:
The Temples are going to be useful. Okay, so Scry is going to be useful. In midrange. If you play aggro, probably not for you. I have to say tho, I like them, if nothing else for the reason that it makes a late game mana drop not so useless. Anyhow, to get back to the real point of this post.
So I'm going to mostly be looking at a black build for pre-release. I want to do mono-black, but that will really all depend on my draws. We know that Abhorrent Overlord
is going to be our Pre-Release Promo in Black. So knowing that, let's look at some synergies we can expect to find in Black first of all. Now we know right off the bat that this guy needs devotion to his color. So we are going to want to try for creatures that have a means of evasion (I.E. - Regenerate, Flying, Protection, Hexproof) and there aren't likely to be many of those.
So we know this guy can protect himself as early as turn 3 if we are playing mono-colored. In a dual colored build, depending on if we run ramp or not, it could be a turn 2 regen.
And he is a common, so our chances of seeing him are pretty decent. Especially since our seeded pack contains 11 commons.
Now this guy has flying, which syncs up well with the Abhorrent Overlord. And when he enters the field he hits them for 1 life. Could be as early as a turn 3 drop with Flying. We will be looking for this.
Okay, so this guy is an Uncommon, one that we can pray to see in our seeded pack, as he packs a punch. Especially with Abhorrent Overlord. His dual-black casting cost is really going to help us out with devotion.
Plus he has Flying and Lifelink!! Gaining life by turn 4 in a mono-black deck would be excellent.
So although this isn't true evasion, he is a Defender. And if we happen to splash Blue he can attack as well. And a 3/3 Defender for 2 is never going to be a bad deal.
So those are our black cards with the ability to really take care of themselves. Not bad really. If I pulled all those in my starter pack I would be exceptionally happy. There is tons of potential there. That's a 1 drop, 2 drop, 3 drop, and 4 drop all with some type of evasion. And that's already 5 devotion on the field by turn 4-5, and in this slow format, that's going to be HUGE. By turn 7 if we hit all our mana-drops, that would be a total of 7 Harpy tokens that are in the air. And a 6/6 Flyer that's bringing 7 Flyers with him, you are looking at swinging 17 damage in the air by turn 8. That's good.
Now this guy is just going to be stupid good in limited, and I think he will see a lot of Standard Constructed as well. I mean, he hits the field before the Abhorrent Overlord can. And let's just say we hit him on turn 6 with our drops being off. You have a couple of the other creatures we've already mentioned on the field. He is going to hit the field and do 5 damage right away, and you are going to net 5 life. And his 4 defense is going to play a big role.
I like this guy in limited too. Once again, he isn't hitting until turn 4, and he gives himself 2 devotion right away. So if you have even 2 more devotion on the field, by turn 4 your opponent shouldn't have more than 5 cards in their hand. So you are going to hopefully see their whole hand and choose the best one for them to discard. That could be key in winning matches.
Now this has some potential. He's a 3/3 for 4 with the ability to pump himself early game, late game he gives another creature 3/3 and gives them the ability to pump themselves if you are holding small creatures that won't really be relevant late game. That's a pretty good shift and would change games.
There are some other decent cards in black, but let's look at some of the support cards we might see. Your deck is nothing without your instants/sorceries to back it up. And we are going to rely on those pretty heavily in this set.
So you get the ability to pump your guy with 2 more power and regen it. Great for a blocking creature defending something slightly bigger than himself. Instead of dying he will take their guy out and stick on the field. Sure, you lose 2 life, but with some of the LG that might not be a huge issue for you.
Hey, remember we just said that that 2 life being lost might not be a big loss. Well, here you go. Boost up to 2 creatures, and they get that life back for you. Sounds like a good plan to me. A little pricey, but in limited it will be worth it.
"Dangit, I really didn't want to trade those guys, but I had to because otherwise he's dealing too much damage to me this turn." Okay, well next turn you can just bring them right back. A dynamite common for limited. Game changer by card advantage.
Not too bad, you are pumping as long as it's attacking. And then hits them for two cards in a couple of turns. Not my favorite of the cards we have, but still, it gives you a devotion point and is doing some nice stuff for us in the form of some card advantage later on. I would probably stick this on a flyer to maximize it's potential.
I can see this being a good early game card in mono-black, take out their guy, gain 2 life. Not bad at all. That's a momentum shift that leaves you open to swing away.
Limited gold. I can't say enough about how valuable the Scry is going to be on this card. Just amazing.
Pump and draw, never a bad combo, plus it nets you more devotion. I am liking the flavor as well.
This is going to be good sideboard. Potential for shutting down someone's awesome ability.
So why aren't you covering any of the bomb Rares like Thoughtseize
or Agent of the Fates
? Well our chances of hitting those in 5 packs and a Seeded Pack are pretty slim, so I don't really want to count on them. There are tons of multi-colored matchups that we could go over. But I don't really have the time to go over a lot tonight, so this is about it for me. I want to play mono-black, and hopefully this will help some people when building.
As always, thanks for reading. And look tomorrow night or Saturday morning to check out how my matches went and what my build ended up being for the pre-release.
is going to be our Pre-Release Promo in Black. So knowing that, let's look at some synergies we can expect to find in Black first of all. Now we know right off the bat that this guy needs devotion to his color. So we are going to want to try for creatures that have a means of evasion (I.E. - Regenerate, Flying, Protection, Hexproof) and there aren't likely to be many of those.
So we know this guy can protect himself as early as turn 3 if we are playing mono-colored. In a dual colored build, depending on if we run ramp or not, it could be a turn 2 regen.
And he is a common, so our chances of seeing him are pretty decent. Especially since our seeded pack contains 11 commons.
Now this guy has flying, which syncs up well with the Abhorrent Overlord. And when he enters the field he hits them for 1 life. Could be as early as a turn 3 drop with Flying. We will be looking for this.
Okay, so this guy is an Uncommon, one that we can pray to see in our seeded pack, as he packs a punch. Especially with Abhorrent Overlord. His dual-black casting cost is really going to help us out with devotion.
Plus he has Flying and Lifelink!! Gaining life by turn 4 in a mono-black deck would be excellent.So although this isn't true evasion, he is a Defender. And if we happen to splash Blue he can attack as well. And a 3/3 Defender for 2 is never going to be a bad deal.
So those are our black cards with the ability to really take care of themselves. Not bad really. If I pulled all those in my starter pack I would be exceptionally happy. There is tons of potential there. That's a 1 drop, 2 drop, 3 drop, and 4 drop all with some type of evasion. And that's already 5 devotion on the field by turn 4-5, and in this slow format, that's going to be HUGE. By turn 7 if we hit all our mana-drops, that would be a total of 7 Harpy tokens that are in the air. And a 6/6 Flyer that's bringing 7 Flyers with him, you are looking at swinging 17 damage in the air by turn 8. That's good.
Now this guy is just going to be stupid good in limited, and I think he will see a lot of Standard Constructed as well. I mean, he hits the field before the Abhorrent Overlord can. And let's just say we hit him on turn 6 with our drops being off. You have a couple of the other creatures we've already mentioned on the field. He is going to hit the field and do 5 damage right away, and you are going to net 5 life. And his 4 defense is going to play a big role.
I like this guy in limited too. Once again, he isn't hitting until turn 4, and he gives himself 2 devotion right away. So if you have even 2 more devotion on the field, by turn 4 your opponent shouldn't have more than 5 cards in their hand. So you are going to hopefully see their whole hand and choose the best one for them to discard. That could be key in winning matches.
Now this has some potential. He's a 3/3 for 4 with the ability to pump himself early game, late game he gives another creature 3/3 and gives them the ability to pump themselves if you are holding small creatures that won't really be relevant late game. That's a pretty good shift and would change games.
There are some other decent cards in black, but let's look at some of the support cards we might see. Your deck is nothing without your instants/sorceries to back it up. And we are going to rely on those pretty heavily in this set.
So you get the ability to pump your guy with 2 more power and regen it. Great for a blocking creature defending something slightly bigger than himself. Instead of dying he will take their guy out and stick on the field. Sure, you lose 2 life, but with some of the LG that might not be a huge issue for you.
Hey, remember we just said that that 2 life being lost might not be a big loss. Well, here you go. Boost up to 2 creatures, and they get that life back for you. Sounds like a good plan to me. A little pricey, but in limited it will be worth it.
"Dangit, I really didn't want to trade those guys, but I had to because otherwise he's dealing too much damage to me this turn." Okay, well next turn you can just bring them right back. A dynamite common for limited. Game changer by card advantage.
Not too bad, you are pumping as long as it's attacking. And then hits them for two cards in a couple of turns. Not my favorite of the cards we have, but still, it gives you a devotion point and is doing some nice stuff for us in the form of some card advantage later on. I would probably stick this on a flyer to maximize it's potential.
I can see this being a good early game card in mono-black, take out their guy, gain 2 life. Not bad at all. That's a momentum shift that leaves you open to swing away.
Limited gold. I can't say enough about how valuable the Scry is going to be on this card. Just amazing.
Pump and draw, never a bad combo, plus it nets you more devotion. I am liking the flavor as well.
This is going to be good sideboard. Potential for shutting down someone's awesome ability.
So why aren't you covering any of the bomb Rares like Thoughtseize
or Agent of the Fates
? Well our chances of hitting those in 5 packs and a Seeded Pack are pretty slim, so I don't really want to count on them. There are tons of multi-colored matchups that we could go over. But I don't really have the time to go over a lot tonight, so this is about it for me. I want to play mono-black, and hopefully this will help some people when building.
As always, thanks for reading. And look tomorrow night or Saturday morning to check out how my matches went and what my build ended up being for the pre-release.
