Hey all, as you know Khans of Tarkir pre-release is next weekend (full event schedule and information) and that's when I get most excited about Magic: the Gathering! It offers me a chance to play with all of the cards I've been so painstakingly watching during spoiler season and most of all, gets my hands on a good chunk of cards to start off rotation with.
All the cards have been spoiled and now available for pre-order.
What I like to do in preparation of pre-release weekend, is spend some time discussing some of the cards I believe to be the most powerful for the sealed format. I've learned not to account for rares and mythics because you're not even close to guaranteed to get one in your sealed pool. I'll focus instead on the commons and uncommons of Khans of Tarkir and try to figure out the best clan choice based on the options.
Let's start off by looking at the mechanics of KTK.
Abzan's mechanic is called: "Outlast".
It allows you to pay a little mana and tap the creature in order to put a +1/+1 counter on it. A handful of creatures with that mechanic also have abilities that trigger upon activation of Outlast or offer a passive bonus to creatures with +1/+1 counters on them. The ability seems fine, but having to tap the creature is a pretty huge downside for me. The first time I read the mechanic I missed that part and I thought it was pretty good. Now, not so much. For limited playability, it's fine, but taking away a potential blocker to make it bigger doesn't seem like a great use of your turn and mana.
However! There are a couple creatures here that I like. For instance;
It's a good sized body for the mana, Outlast is cheap, and it provides evasion for himself and any other creatures you manage to get counters on. Overall, a very powerful card and one to look out for if you're in white. Even without much synergy in the rest of your deck, this is a pretty nice addition. Overall, I would recommend Abzan over some of the other clans this weekend.
This ability seems slightly contradictory to me. If you want to build around this mechanic(for standard), you need enough creatures with the mechanic in your deck to see them consistently. However, you obviously want to be running a ton of non-creature spells to trigger the ability. It seems 'Delver-esque' to me, but way worse. For limited formats, you don't tend to run a lot of non-creature spells so this mechanic won't really be useful at all. I recommend staying away from Jeskai for pre-release if you can help it. That's not to say there aren't good cards in the clan... just that their mechanic falls very short of my requirements for playable in sealed. You'll generally get underpowered creatures for the mana cost just because this ability is tacked on. Considering you won't get more than a couple triggers at best, and assuming they're not blocked in combat anyway, it's just not worth it to me.
Sultai's mechanic is "Delve":
For this mechanic, you're going to see grossly overcosted cards in general. That's fine in that you can use your graveyard here to help cast the cards for some nice effects. The problem I run into here, is that you'll most likely spend your graveyard on one creature or spell and not have anything left for the next, leaving you with a handful of very expensive, and very dead, cards. There is a bright side to this though. It allows you to trade aggressively in combat early on to provide yourself with an advantage later with some powerful effects that you wouldn't normally have access to given the mana cost. Also, you don't have to flood your deck with these expensive 'Delve' cards. Save room for a couple good ones, but likely that's all there is. I put Sultai fairly low on my choice of clans along with the Jeskai, so again, I wouldn't recommend choosing this clan if you can help it.
Mardu's mechanic is "Raid":
Raid is actually pretty good overall in this set. The best part is that you don't need a creature to connect with your opponent, it just has to attack. You can throw a 1/1 token at them and get some pretty nice bonus effects during your second main phase. There's not a lot to say here. Generally, you want to be attacking anyway whenever favorable, so 'Raid' just adds a little cherry on top for your efforts. The Mardu clan overall has a lot of utility creatures and most are aggressively costed so it's a clan I'd recommend choosing for your pre-release fun. Utility is what I look for most in my creatures. Most creatures with a box full of flavor text generally end up warming benches. Even if the body isn't great for the mana, if it does something useful, I'm usually on board.
Temur's Mechanic is "Ferocious":
As you can see here, the mechanic checks to see if you have a creature with power 4 or greater to trigger. Other creatures have "ETB" effects that trigger and spells that are more powerful if you meet the Ferocious requirements of the Temur. I strongly believe that wars are won with boots on the ground. Bascially, limited games are won with your creatures, not your spells. When the mechanic focuses on you having huge threats on the board to generate even more advantage, I'm in! The clan has plenty of 4 powered(or bigger) creatures and at common and uncommon rarities too!
Rests assured, if you play me next weekend, you'll be facing Ferocious creatures and even more Ferocious spells!
Aside from the specific mechanics of the clans, there are a lot of powerful cards out there that may influence your clan choice. A few examples of cards I find most powerful for sealed format;
Probably the best removal in the format. Easily splashed for, a staple for any black deck, and really easy to cast. Highly recommend playing this if you find yourself with swamps in your deck.
Contrary to what I said about the Jeskai earlier, this one is actually pretty good. A 1/2 for one mana is already great. Haste is fantastic. The benefit of getting bigger with combat tricks, is amazing. Guaranteed staple for any red deck. You're crazy if think it's bad in any way.
This definitely locks you into your colors if you decide on playing it. However, if you get the chance to cast this guy(guys?), you'll much appreciate it. You basically get 6 power for 5 mana. With the full cycle of ten common tapped lands, the 5 uncommon clan lands and the artifact flags, 3 colors is not an issue at all. You can even put both counters on himself if he's the only creature you got for a 6/6. Not many creatures in this set, even at higher rarities, can beat that. If you're Abzan this weekend, this guy is your bread and butter bomb.
If you find yourself in Temur, however, you still have access to 6 power for 5 mana. This one is beneficial for the fact that it provides you with a 4 power creature to turn on Ferocious, not to mention that you get 2 creatures for one card. Effects like that are huge in limited. Always be on the lookout for 2-for-1's!
A 2/2 flyer for four mana isn't exactly great, but the ability to deal two damage to a creature or player makes Scaldkin worth including in your blue decks. You'll obviously want to be in red too so you have the option of Temur or Jeskai which is nice. The evasion can put a clock on your opponent while having a little extra reach to finish the job. If they have a bigger flyer, then you can use it for removal so it's a nice all-around versatile flyer. Not great, but definitely worth running.
Another example of 2-for-1's. Turn 3 is a little late for a measly 1/1 token as it won't likely be attacking much, but it can be a nice chump blocker later and best case scenario, can even trade with an x/1 creature which would be crazy good card advantage here. Making your opponent waste combat tricks to take care of your tokens is nice, so try to find ways to do that.
Finally, if it's not obvious enough, all of the charms are ridiculous. If I had to pick the best one, in my opinion, I would have to say Mardu Charm. It kills big creatures. If you can use the tokens to kill a creature in combat instead, you're up 2 power on board. For limited, the instant speed duress mode probably is the least useful, but still good in the right situations. It's mostly the tokens that push this one in my favor. It's not only useful to have options, but to be able to kill creatures while advancing your own board state is a big deal. If you can't see how good this charm is, maybe you can't even see why kids love cinnamon toast crunch... n00b
Anyway, I think that wraps it up for me tonight. Like I said, I'll most likely be going with Temur for the weekend unless someone can change my mind. If there are any other cards you think I left out, let me know in the comments below. I'm always interested in other's thoughts on limited playable cards.
Until next time,
DannyO
Team RogueT3ch
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