I haven't written much about the PTQ Theros season other than.. well.. it exists? There were a slew of PTQs and premier-level Standard events in Florida over the past few months (including GP Miami!!) that I attended to support the team, but I never really could 'fall in love' with the format. I'm not entirely sure why, but it made wanting to write Standard-themed articles about my travelling less inviting. Otherwise, I did have a lot of fun piloting Junk Reanimator for a few months and then I eventually switched over to Jund Midrange. I wish I spent a little time talking about the lists I chose to run, but I feel a lot of other writers have done the archetypes more justice than what I'm capable of providing.
Luckily, PTQ Born of the Gods begins next month and this season will feature the return of Sealed Deck and I can finally return to my roots. The first format of the PTQ Born of the Gods season is M14 Sealed (before the release of Theros; Sept. 27th), so critically evaluating every common, uncommon, and rare in the set will be vital to obtaining a strong grasp of the format as a whole for the next competitive season. I'm extremely stoked for this season because of how much I enjoyed the PTQ Gatecrash season (also Sealed Deck) and the nostalgia from all the friends I made and friendships strengthened during that season.
But enough about memory lane, let's talk about M14 Limited! Since the entire set is now spoiled for the world to see, we can start discussing the cards within the context of their Limited applications. Furthermore, we can preemptively sculpt the types of strategies we'd like to try during the M14 Prerelease this upcoming weekend. In this article, I'm going to outline my first impressions of the set and then delve into my picks for the Top 8 commons you'll want to sleeve up this weekend. Leh begin!
Upon first impression, M14 looks like a slower format than its M13 and M12 counterpart, since most of the creatures in the format aren't aggressively costed (Kalonian Tusker being our prime counterexample) and there aren't many 'bear' (2 mana, 2 power) creatures in the set. The lack of efficient creatures is supplemented by the profuse amount of Walls and creatures with a lot of toughness, making combat a little more difficult on decks trying to end the game early. A good number of creatures that aren't walls still have 3 toughness or more, making it a Nightmare for an army of 2/x creatures to punch into the red zone. M14 also premiers the cycle of Staff artifacts that allow its user to gain life proportional to the amount of 'monocoloredness' they sculpted their deck to be. I don't imagine these Staff cards will make a huge impact in the format, but their existence cements the uphill battle I predict hyper-aggressive decks will face.
Furthermore, many of the bomb cards (game changing cards) in the set are engines that generate raw power or card advantage who's effectiveness shines as the games are drawn out including cards like like Xathrid Necromancer, Oath of the Ancient Wood, Woodborn Behemoth, and Ajani's Chosen to name a few. Knowing how to identify the engines, the archetype they fall under, and what commons/uncommons are vital to those strategies will be really important for seeing signals in Draft as the M14 Metagame unfolds over the next few weeks. Unfortunately, we can't make any observations based on data, but we can make some educated guesses that the set has an enchantment-matters theme that we can utilize as well as a Black-focused sacrifice engine. I might be missing some blatant strategies, but those are definitely the ones that stand out.
Enough theory.. what are the best commons in the set??
Top 8 Commons in Core Set M14
Archaeomancer is definitely one of my favorite cards that came out of M13 a year ago. Although it's 1/2 body is rather frail and its mana cost requires double blue, returning a removal spell or a draw spell from your graveyard back to your hand to use once more is really powerful and can generate a ton of card advantage without much work. This Human-Wizard can re-buy an array of cards in the format that we'd love to re-use once more including cards like Divination, Disperse, or even Essence Scatter. But why stop there? We can also re-buy cards in our splash color like Chandra's Outrage, Doom Blade, Corrupt, or even Devout Invocation to be really cute. One of the best qualities behind Archaeomancer is it's flexibility across a multitude of different strategies, since you can use it re-buy any Instant or Sorcery your strategy is trying to utilize. You tried to force draft mill? This Human Wizard will re-buy all of your copies of Tome Scour and Traumatize to your heart's content. Archaeomancer adds a bit of redundancy to decks that 'need' specific cards to get their engines online.
Unfortunately, I feel that Archaeomancer is significantly weaker than its M13 counterpart. Since M14 seemingly revolves around Enchantments and Auras, this Human Wizard will often blank since he can't return any Trollhides, Claustrophobias, or Pacifisms back to your hand and you'll often have those awkward moments when you have the mana to cast Archaeomancer with no legal targets in your graveyard. Overall, I think Archaeomancer is Pack 1, Pick 1 worthy in draft, but I wouldn't be happy to do so. I think this card will get better as the format becomes more defined and an Instant/Sorcery-heavy archetype comes out of the woodwork.
This one mana, green pump spell has always had a place in players' hearts as one of the best pump spells ever printed (even though teammate, Javier Remy and his BUG Infect deck would disagree). Giant Growth has the ability to give +3/+3 to any creature, attacking, blocking, or an opponent's creature. This spell was very good in Return to Ravnica Limited in helping the aggressive decks swing into all of the X/4 creatures. I feel that Giant Growth will play a very similar role, since a lot of the creatures in M14 have a lot of toughness. I love Giant Growth because it's one of the easiest cards to bluff. Leaving 1 Green mana open is very noncommital and opponents will often overlook it or look into your mana spending too deeply. Giant Growth often leads to those 'gotcha!' moments that I love in Limited.
Normally I wouldn't choose a card like Giant Growth for a Top 8 commons in a set because 'pump' effects are generally later picks in Draft and don't really determine archetypes. I really like Giant Growth in M14 specifically because I feel punching through creature stalemates is really important in this format and many of the smaller creatures have 2 power while the bigger 5+ mana creatures have roughly 5 toughness on average. Being able to punch through one of your opponent's 5 mana committed creatures with a 2 power creature is a huge tempo swing and I think it's something that definitely can't be ignored. Furthermore, the quality of Instant speed removal in this set is relatively weak with Chandra's Outrage, Disperse, and Doom Blade being the only reliable cards, which can easily be played around. Since Giant Growth's pump is strictly better than both Show of Valor in White and Thunder Strike in Red, I decided to give this card a slot in the Top 8 and see how it does over the following weeks.
This pick in the Top 8 will definitely be the most debatable. Auramancer is an older reprint from many a Magic: the Gathering sets of yesteryear in Odyssey. When this creature enters the battlefield, you may return an enchantment back from the yard to your hand. Normally, Enchantments have to be utterly amazing for people to take notice. Cue: Debtors' Knell or Rancor. And even then, most players would make the argument that Enchantments generally have no impact on the board state when they hit the battlefield or Auras are easily countered by using Instant speed removal to kill the creature attempting to be enchanted. Fortunately, M14's quality of Instant speed removal is rather poor and this allows some of the stronger Auras to shine like Trollhide, Mark of the Vampire, or even Shiv's Embrace. Similar to Archaeomancer, Auramancer can return back your removal spells that have fallen off your opponent's creatures like Pacifism, Claustrophobia, and Domestication. Auramancer also conveniently re-buys non-aura Enchantments including an array of bomb rares including Dismiss into Dream, Primeval Bounty, and even Awaken the Ancient back on the battlefield. Did you like the first 7/7? Here, have another..
Engines will be a big part of M14 Limited and having cards that help keep those engines running to generate card advantage or give you an advantageous board presence is key to breaking the board stalls. Auramancer is a key linchpin in Enchantment-dependent strategies for keeping key pieces alive and making it difficult for your opponent's to deal with their raw power. If 'Enchantments.dec' is a real strategy, then my evaluation of Naturalize and Gladecover Scout also increases, but I'm not entirely sure. Overall, I feel that Auramancer has a lot of potential in this format and I didn't know exactly where to put it on the list. In a few weeks, it should become more apparent; however, I know teammate, Felicea Van's Krond the Dawn-Clad EDH deck will approve of this pick.
So.. Slivers..? I'm pretty excited that they're back, but a lot of people have been displeased with the new 'look.' Personally, I think it's just ok. I'm not particularly impressed, but they definitely don't feel the same way I remember and loved them. As a strong proponent of Harmonic Sliver #favoriteslivernotclose, the new change initially made me sad, but I slowly warmed up to them. Predatory Sliver definitely helps. As a rough functional reprint of Muscle Sliver, this predator brings back the beef and power that is the brood of the Sliver armada. At common level, Predatory Sliver will be the backbone of Sliver decks providing an anthem (+1/+1) to the entire Sliver team and making them a force to be feared. Predatory Sliver's worth increases exponentially in multiples and having multiple copies in your deck feels almost on par with Pack Rat from Return to Ravnica Limited.. just almost though.
The only glaring weakness of Predatory Sliver is the prevalence of Slivers in Limited. As a 5-color tribe, Slivers may be a little difficult to play, but there's an array of fixing in the set including Verdant Haven, Manaweft Sliver, and Darksteel Ingot, so the archetype looks more than feasible. Although I don't know exactly where Slivers fits as an archetype in M14, I do think the tribe is strong enough to break heavy board stalemates since every Sliver acts as a Lord and increases the card quality of every other sliver. This quality alone is enough to give Predatory Sliver room to increase it's way up the list of Top cards in the set. As a common, Predatory Sliver is definitely one of the strongest Sliver cards in the archetype and I expect this card to be Pack 1, Pick 1 worthy throughout the entire M14 Limited season.
After the departure of Lightning Bolt in M12 Limited, Chandra's Outrage picked up all the slack and was a very powerful in that format. This outrageous Instant can deal 4 lethal damage to a creature and punish its controller for another 2 damage. The number '4' is key, since a lot of powerful creatures at common, uncommon, and even at rare level have 4 or less toughness. Chandra's Outrage is able to kill a variety of creatures and can even do so at Instant speed which is a premium in this set. Furthermore, Chandra's Outrage's damage to a creature's controller can be redirected to Planeswalkers, which can be helpful in getting a quick 2-for-1 or knocking down a walker's loyalty to prevent them from going ultimate.
Chandra's Outrage is a little costly in terms of mana and requires 2 red mana, which makes it a difficult card to splash. Since it's a 4 drop removal spell, your opponent can read if you have the card in your hand based off of your mana with relative ease and they can make appropriate combat or enchanting based on that information. This card is definitely Pack 1, Pick 1 worthy and if passed in Draft, presents a heavy Red signal.
After playing Junk Reanimator for a few months and 4C Kiki Pod in Modern for the PTQ Dragon's Maze season, I have a lot of respect for 1 CMC mana generating creatures. Casting one of these little guys early in the game can generate a ton of mana overtime and can help you cast your spells a full turn earlier than your opponent. In a format where big creatures will reign supreme, having the appropriate mana to cast those creatures and being able to do so earlier is extremely important. Elvish Mysic is our return of Llanowar Elves as we say farewell to Arbor Elf. Speaking of Arbor Elf, this mana Elf was very important to Green-based aggro and midrange decks in the M13 Limited format and I expect Elvish Mystic to fullfil the same vital roll in Green-based midrange decks in M14. This card truly shines when you have a variety of large bomb uncommons or rares that you can cast early.
Elvish Mystic's downsides start with its size. This card can die early to almost every removal spell, but having your opponent use their removal spell on it isn't a 'terrible' trade unless you gambled with a resource-famined hand. I feel that Elvish Mystic's popularity may fluctuate with the popularity of aggressive decks and prevalence of Wring Flesh and Shrivel by opposing Black-based control decks, but I feel most players will fight through it and play this mana accelerant anyways. Elvish Mystic isn't a typical Pack 1, Pick 1 worthy card, but I wouldn't be opposed to doing so.
In a format that I predict to be full of clogged board states and relatively beefy creatures, being able to remove their threats or eliminating their bomb rare/mythic rare can be crucial to success. For the #2 slot, I chose Pacifism and Claustrophobia since their effects are similar enough to include them both. Although Claustrophobia requires 2 blue mana in its mana cost and is significantly more difficult to splash than Pacifism, it still gets the nod of approval.
For the past few Core Set Limited formats, Pacifism has been a major all-star and continues to do a tremendous amount of work. Similarly to Arrest in Return to Ravnica Limited, Pacifism shuts down any creature regardless of its size or any enchantments it may be holding. Although the creature stays on the board and is free to continue to wreak havoc with its Activated abilities, M14 doesn't have a significant amount of creatures that have Activated abilities that are relevant outside of combat, so it looks like the coast is clear for Pacfiism.
The only reason Pacifism doesn't receive the #1 slot is the sacrifice sub-theme I noticed in Black. Cards like Blood Bairn, Gnawing Zombie, and Bubbling Cauldron benefit from your opponent sacrificing their own creatures. Unfortunately, Pacifism doesn't prevent them from gaining value if they choose to sacrifice their creature in the late game to one of these effects. Pacfisim is a very strong Pack 1, Pick 1 worthy card and is a relatively strong White signal.
It's really no surprise that one of the only nonconditional removal spell in the set deserves the spot as the Top common in M14. Liturgy of Blood can destroy any type of creature, whether it's small, large, enchanted, or the best damn creature in your opponent's deck. Although this card's application is rather narrow, this card is extremely good whether you're behind or ahead on board state. Killing your opponent's creatures is generally very good and can help push decks that are trying to be aggressive, help setup for large timing pushes of large creatures by midrange decks, and even halt your opponent's aggression in control-based strategies.
Probably my favorite part of this card is the 'add mana clause.' Although I don't think it'll be relevant most of the time, chaining your Liturgy of Blood into a 3 mana creature, a Mind Rot, or best case scenario: a Grim Return targeting the creature you just killed to steal it is just gravy on a delicious plate of French fries or other starch you enjoy gravy on.
If your opponent sacrifices the target in response to you casting Liturgy of Blood, you aren't able to add BBB to your mana pool upon resolution, so you do have to be careful when choosing when to cast this removal spell since it is a relatively high 5 mana commitment. This card is a huge black signal and will generally go very early in Draft. I think this card is roughly Pick 1-3 worthy and seeing it any later than Pick 3 is unusual and should be taken into consideration.
And with that... the Top 8 Commons of M14 is finished! M14 is a huge set and there's no feasible way to cover it all in just one article, so I'll try to break up my evaluation of this Core Set over a series of different articles. I imagine these articles will help people looking to improve their Limited play as well as those looking to become more proficient in Sealed Deck.
If you're in the Orlando, FL area this weekend, come say Hi as I'll be slinging some M14 Sealed at the Prerelease at Campus Cards and Games near UCF. Until the next time, Magic players!
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-David J.
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