Hey! Josh here with WizardDen.com's Team Rogue Tech bringing you the Black expansion of our Prerelease Primer. Let's dive in!
For anyone who has read my previous primers I'll be changing up the way I evaluate cards and shortening the number of cards I'll discuss in depth to what I see to be the top three commons and uncommons, along with a few honorable mentions and a list of the cards that I give a rating of 3 or greater for their rarity, which I will also now be listing with the card (this number is relative to the power of the set with 5 being the highest rating)
Before we jump into the Black Uncommons I want to be up front in saying you probably can't go wrong with your color selection this weekend as all of the colors appear to have a very flat power level, by which I mean they are all very comparable in their strengths and weaknesses. I think this is great for a sealed format. Looking at Dragons Fate sealed Red was the best color by a significant margin which made it punishing when playing the format if you were forced into the weaker colors like Blue or White. You have some really high payoffs in any color when playing Origins and I think it will make this prerelease a very fun event. Without further adieu, let's dive in to the Black Uncommons.
Black has an interesting problem when compared to the other colors. See if you can spot it.
Black Uncommons
#1 Cruel Revival: 3.5
This is a fine card as a removal spell but much more when we factor in a zombie in the bin. Being able to get a perfect example of a two for one is great potential an I will be looking for these if I am playing black this weekend.
#2 Fleshbag Marauder: 3.5
We have seen this effect recently in Merciless Executioner and this will be just as good. Edicts are fine in limited and this is a little better in that it will sometimes allow you to trade a 1/1 or 2/2 for a much larger creature.
#3 Shadows of the Past: 3.5
This is a great card that will provide a ton of value over the course of a long game. Creatures die. Scrying greatly improves the quality of your draws. This makes for a great static ability that generates value that can't be measured. Tack on a win condition in the drain life clause and we have an excellent enchantment that will be an all star in any controlling black deck.
Honorable Mentions
Crickets. That's right, I couldn't find another black uncommon that excited me enough to bring it up.
Black commons, on the other hand, are a whole different devil. There are a slew of cards that would give me incentive to build with black in my deck as we'll see here.
#1 Unholy Hunger: 4
I have a feeling Christian Rasmussen is going to be looking for every one of these to jam in his deck thanks to the name. I really like removal spells and while this one doesn't have an effect worth five, I'm happy to know there are removal spells at common in black.
#2 Touch of Moonglove: 4
This is a really powerful spell for two mana. While this is a combat trick, which usually isn't the greatest, it is a very powerful one in that it grants deathtouch and can even potentially kill your opponent while you are playing defense. I really like this card and I hope that it can shake up peoples view of combat tricks in limited.
#3 Reave Soul: 3.5-4
Another removal spell makes the top three. Killing a creature with power three or less actually seems to be quite good in this format as it can kill a lot of the problematic renown creatures with tacked on abilities like first strike and vigilance.
Honorable Mentions
Undead Servant: 3.5+??
This card will probably turn out to be better in drafts where you can prioritize picking these up over the course of 24 packs compared to the set 6 you receive in a sealed event such as the prerelease. Still, it is a common which makes me feel like there will be pools with 3 maybe even 4 of these. Those will definitely make this a 3.5 and potentially more.
Read the Bones: 3.5
Read the Bones will definitely be providing some great filtering and card selection. Being able to draw four cards deep is pretty real. You get to see if one of the top two is valuable enough to pick up and if not there is a good chance the two blind cards you draw will carry some heat. I was a fan of this card in it's debut in limited and I have a feeling it will be the same story this time around.
Deadbridge Shaman: 3.5-4
This is an awesome two for one that rewards you for playing it later in the game. a three powered creature is relevant at most stages of the game. Having the ability to have your opponent discard a card late is generally huge as most cards will carry a lot of weight on their shoulders when determining a winner. Early on it is still a two for one trading with a creature or drawing removal and having your opponent discard. This will be a heavily played card this weekend.
The Other Goodies
I have a feeling you caught on to Blacks lack of quality uncommons. You can definitely note the long list of playable commons making black a fine color to play in a prerelease this weekend.
No comments:
Post a Comment