Standard in Casual: Magic 2011 Breakthroughs!

It's been quite some time since my last Magic: The Gathering article, and so I thought it would be a good time to review some things from Magic 2011 that I thought were truly remarkable the first time I saw them. Rather than re-hash musings on the mythic cycles of Titans or Planeswalker-ed spells, I chose just a few spells to talk about that are fueling my magic induced frenzy of death at the moment.

Right now, both M10 and M11 are legal in standard until next month when M10 rotates out. M11 will soon be the only basic set in Standard, when Scars of Mirrodin releases in October. Shards of Alara will no longer be Standard legal, and the entire metagame will shift. Long ago I abandoned Shards when Zendikar brought true power back to the mono and dual colored decks (this is where I live - 3 colors always bothered me somehow on a primitive level). So for me, Scars will mark the end of my old enemies and a bigger card pool. Many of the cards in M10 are available in M11, and so certain deck themes will be allowed to continue into the Zendikar-Scars Standard environment.

These spells I think are acknowledged but somehow marginalized. I feel that they are a vital component of some of the most serious builds out there, even if people don't play them very much.

Fire Servant

Man this guy is hot! In Zendikar, we had Quest for Pure Fire, which allowed us basically to double the damage we could deal in one turn. With this guy, if he's been summoned then he's going to harm you. Note that only instants or sorceries are doubled, unlike the Quest. Still, with the right deck, especially one sporting a couple of Quests and Kiln Fiends or Chandra's Spitfires. The criteria required for each one of those abilities is slightly different, but interrelated.

Another angle one could take with this is loading the deck with tons of instant and sorcery spells (duh), but include your Quests and maybe some Reverberations to deal with those like minded fools using magic to hurt you. There's a lot of potential for damage dealing here, even if you stick to Lightning Bolts and Fireballs.

Phylactery Lich

Now here we have a winner. This guy gets it done, let me tell you. The biggest problem with the Lich is choosing which artifacts to include! Equipment seems a no-brainer, and with Scars coming up this particular card is set to become even more ridiculous. At three black mana, it pretty much demands mono-black - but a mono black deck filled with artifacts is totally awesome too!

It's easy to throw in all the high cost equipment, but you really have to include several artifacts that require a lower investment in mana. Sword of Vengeance is awesome, but requires a 6 mana investment to get the most use out of. Speed is of the essence in the format, where 2 turns could see you facing a great many elves or even eldrazi spawn turned hateful. Trusty Machete only requires half that, but what about Pithing Needle or other 1 mana artifacts? Definitely a prospect worthy of further discussion.

Steel Overseer

This is probably the most ridiculous yet. With Scars being an artifact heavy set, and probably block, this is one of the spells with staggering potential right out of the pack. I had the opportunity to duel a mage who got three of these onto the board...in a few turns I was dealt with thoroughly. In that game, I had my indestructible liches from earlier!

The possibilities here are almost endless, but the obvious choice is an artifact deck! These guys make it all possible...bring out your Ornithopters, Triskelions and Pilgrim's Eyes! Who even wants to contemplate the even deadlier Myr deck that will be possible in Scars? I'm sure we'll definitely see a marked appreciation of the value of these cards as the potential these monsters will bring to decks increases.

On the flip side, these will be high priority targets for your opponent. Want to keep em safe? Make sure to bring your Whispersilk Cloaks!

That's all for now, or until Wizards of the Coast sends me a Cease and Desist Order for using the card images on the site. Well, their AutoCard program doesn't seem to work in the Blogger shell, which is a shame really because that's a really neat effect. Oh well, I guess if I get an email / letter from their legal team, I'll just cut the entire Magic: The Gathering section from the blog and there will be no further mention of Magic at all on the Wargate. Since I'm pretty much the only player of Magic at the Wargate (save for a few oldschoolers) I'm talking to myself anyway. It also probably won't matter that I don't have any ads or banners here either. I'm small time.

Until then, I'm gonna do it my way. With pictures.