'Please open your first booster, you have 50 seconds'
Tick tock.
Now that the Magic Origins Prerelease has landed I've had the opportunity to get my feet wet with the new cards and see how they play out. I'm starting to prepare for the Magic Origins Limited format for Pro Tour Magic Origins in Vancouver, BC in just 3 short weeks. I have a lot of work to do, but I'm hoping to keep you guys updated on my preparation and help players who are looking to improve themselves in the competitive atmosphere.
Nowadays, I view Draft and Sealed Deck in a top-down approach to see how Magic design teams create their expansions. I feel like this helps me see how the cards fit into the set and what types of archetypes the design team are trying to encourage players to build around. With this set, there are a few common paradigms I've come across:
First, the format has a large amount of small creatures in the 1 to 2 mana cost range (White having the most at 10 unique cards), which is consequence of the Wizards design team pushing the Renown mechanic in Limited. Since Renown gives your creature some amount of +1/+1 counters if that creature connects with a player's face, creatures that can obtain Renown status easily (lower mana cost to dodge your opponent's creatures or has a type of evasion), will be the most powerful cards. The smaller mana cost is also consequence of the tribal sub-themes between artifacts generating Thopter Tokens and Elf creatures in Green. Using this observation, we can conclude that the average size of creatures you will encounter on the battlefield is smaller than past sets.
For Magic Origins's Common and Uncommon Creatures, we observe:
White Avg P/T = 2.11/2.68
Blue Avg P/T = 2.07/3.53
Black Avg P/T = 2.07/2.33 (using Revenant as a 3/3)
Red Avg P/T = 2.71/2.29
Green Avg P/T = 2.47/2.63
So it appears as though Green has very large creatures in terms of Power and Toughness, which is no surprise and Black has the smallest creatures in both categories. Blue has the highest toughness with an average toughness of nearly 4. Now that we know the avg creature size, what is the avg mana cost of those creatures?
AMC (Avgerage Mana Cost) of Commons and Uncommons:
White Creatures' AMC = 3.26
Blue Creatures' AMC = 3.53
Black Creatures' AMC = 3.33
Red Creatures' AMC = 3.31
Green Creatures' AMC = 3.39
Aside from Blue, our average mana cost among Magic Origins's creatures is roughly 3 and creature size is roughly a 2/3. Keep in mind that some creatures aren't best cast readily when you have the mana available; Caustic Caterpillar is a great example. Furthermore, some creatures may have First Strike or Flying that make their size reasonable for the mana cost printed such as Snapskin Drake. However, using these numbers, we have established a foundation of what sized creatures we want on particular points on curve.
And lastly, I noticed at prerelease that a lot of games ended really quickly or took a very long time to end, which is an unusual observation. I thought about this for a couple of days and I thought back to some of my matches earlier in the day and noticed that both my opponent and I were casting spells starting on turn 2. This is very unusual considering we've been casting 3 mana 2/2 Morph creatures for the past year. I started to recall matches where one player would play a stream of 2/2s, while his/her opponent stumbled and the game ended soon after. In the alternative situation, when both players had a steady stream of 2/2 creatures, the game entered a stalemate with both players amassing large armies of creatures or both players slammed their creatures into each other and both were in top-deck mode with an empty board state.
I found this observation to be the most crucial in how I'm approaching this format going forward. If you can apply enough pressure early, the amount of 2 drop creatures in the format allow you to kill your opponent quickly; however, if you can present a strong blocker, then that can halt an offensive of 2 power creatures relatively easily. A way to counteract larger creatures as the aggressor is with combat tricks such as Titanic Growth or Titan's Strength to push through early blockers and pressure your opponent. It also allows you to get ahead on board without committing more creatures to lightly play around Languish and Tragic Arrogance. Another factor I'm using in approaching this format is to overvalue creatures with at least 3 toughness. Since the average creature has power of 2.29, creatures with 3 toughness will be able to block most creatures in the format profitably, which is crucial if we are aiming to design a control deck or create a midrange defense against aggressive decks.
Looking through coverage of past Pro Tours, many of the larger teams get together to create Pick Orders for their Limited preparation, so I've decided to do the same and tackle what Commons and Uncommons I would take more highly and a brief description of the list. As I'm currently writing this, I'm not sure if this article will be published before or after the Pro Tour, but I'd love to hear what you all think and I hope this helps anyone looking to excel at Magic Origins Limited.
White Commons:1. Suppression Bonds
2. Celestial Flare
3. Stalwart Aven
4. Topan Freeblade
5. Enshrouding Mist
Suppression Bonds is a very strong removal spell and is easy to splash if your main color is nonwhite. It's also a rare answer to Planeswalkers, which will be useful at times. Unfortunately this card will rarely hit any nonland permanents outside of creatures in this format since there are very few noncreature permanents with relevant activated abilities. Given the choice between Celestial Flare and Suppression Bonds as a Pack 1, Pick 1, the Aura seems less committal and a clear start to any deck akin to Arrest in may formats. On the contrary, Celestial Flare is more committal than the Aura; however, is format-warping and players will have to respect this card when entering combat. Celestial Flare can answer Gaea's Revenge and can't be answered by opposing copies of Disperse. However, if your opponent is playing around Celestial Flare, it can be difficult to kill their best creature, so the card has its trade-offs. I think the choice between these two powerful removal spells is close and I could see the decision be interchangeable.
Stalwart Aven is the strongest white common creature because it has a 1/3 body that can block any 2 power creature and has evasion which can easily turn on its Renown ability making it a 2/4 Flyer on turn 4, which is very difficult to attack or block through for your opponent. This card is very good and I expect White decks to play every copy available to them. Topan Freeblade is similar because it has Vigilance and can play offensively and defensively in race situations. Furthermore, if your opponent stumbles, this creature becomes a 3/3 very easily and there are very few ways your opponent can interact with this creature if they miss a land drop or two. The last card on this list competes with Knight of the Pilgrim's Road (honorable mention and potentially better than Topan Freeblade), which is another well-sized creature with Renown that punishes opponents who cannot keep up with an aggressive creature start. I like Enshrouding Mist because it counters Red removal spells well and can help your creature survive combat against your opponent's creatures. Since Enshrouding Mist is one mana, you can use it to gain tempo advantage against an opponent who is tapped out and cannot respond. It's also an interesting combat trick to bluff, which may make opponent's attacks difficult to make if you have an already Renown creature. I like the card because it can create complex interactions in combat (similar to Feat of Resistance in Khans of Tarkir) and can be difficult to play around.
1. Knightly Valor
2. Sentinel of the Eternal Watch
3. Swift Reckoning
4. Patron of the Valiant
5. War Oracle
In a world where removal is relatively poor and the size of your creature is very relevant, Knightly Valor over performs. I remember casting this enchantment on my smaller creatures during Return to Ravnica sealed and the card has since been upgraded to an Uncommon and has lost none of its effectiveness. The Aura gives all the upsides of a Topan Freeblade with a 2/2 Vigilance Knight to assist if your newly enchanged creature falls easily. Obviously casting Auras open your opponent to remove your creature in response for a 2-for-1, but Instant-speed removal is scarce and Knightly Valor can often win the game if unanswered, which gives it my pick as the best White Uncommon. Sentinel of the Eternal Watch is a very powerful creature, since it has Vigilance and can be great at both offense and defense. Its 4/6 body is also very difficult to attack through along with the ability to tap a creature when your opponent enters combat. This card feels like a Rare in many cases and may even be better than Knightly Valor in a match up against two slower decks. Sentinel of the Eternal Watch's high mana cost will keep you from wanting multiples in your deck, but the effect is powerful enough to splash if you see a copy come late to you in a draft. Swift Reckoning is a powerful Assassinate effect that is cheaper, in a good color since all the Vigilance creatures are predominantly White, kills any-sized creature and has the potential to be cast at Instant-speed if you have Spell Mastery enabled (small upside, but noteworthy). The card is all-around great and I'd be happy to first pick it. At first, I placed War Oracle as number 4 in White's best Uncommons because of it is one of the few Lifelink creatures in the set, it's 3/3 body for 4 mana and Renown on top of that, but I thought about the choice more and decided that I would rather pick up the first copy of Patron of the Valiant in a draft over the first copy of War Oracle. Patron of the Valiant is similar in power level to Serra Angel and although it doesn't have Vigilance, it has the small upside of potentially pumping your team of Renown creatures that you've cast earlier in the game and adding one or two more power to your army, which is great upside and can push through a stalled board state. One card I felt like mentioning was Consul's Lieutenant which is a 2/1 with First Strike and Renown 1, which is great stats for a 2 mana creature, but WW is difficult to cast on turn 2. Even though I think this card is reasonable to cast as late as turn 4 or even turn 5, it's not a card I would take early over the other Uncommons (and even some commons) on the list because of how committal this card leans you towards playing Plains in your deck. It's a good card, but not one I would consider first picking.
1. Separatist Voidmage
2. Claustrophobia
3. Ringwarden Owl
4. Scrapskin Drake
5. Aspiring Aeronaut
Analyzing the Blue Commons is difficult since the overall power level of these commons is on the lower end relative to the Common cards the other colors have to offer. Separatist Voidmage is one of the few exceptions as the ability to Unsummon one of your opponent's creatures can provide a large tempo boost as you flood the board with early game creatures, kill an opponent's Thopter Token or reset one of your opponent's Renown creatures on a crucial turn. It also has the ability to 'free' one of your creatures from the shackles of an opposing Claustrophobia or Suppression Bonds, which is very relevant. There's also some utility in returning one of your creatures with an enters the battlefield trigger (which there are a good handful of in the set and all of the Thopter Token-producing creatures). In power level, my bias tends to lean me towards Claustrophobia as a better card, but when confronted with the choice between Claustrophobia and Separatist Voidmage as a Pack 1, Pick 1, I think the choice is very close. I think once I've made a commitment to Blue, I'm more willing to take copies of Claustrophobia. Speaking of which, this type of Aura is great since it answers any-sized creature and with the lack of instants that give Protection in this format, it's not very easy to remove outside of Separatist Voidmage or Disperse.
The next 3 Blue commons in pick order are difficult to assess. Ringwarden Owl is a good card since it has the ability to punch for a lot of damage with its Prowess ability and survives the Weight of the Underworld, but this flyer dies to Reave Soul and an active Fiery Impulse, which is a large tempo swing after casting the card. This flyer also doesn't measure up to opponent's active Renown creatures very well, so investing 5 mana into this creature and expecting to untap with it might be overzealous. Scrapskin Drake is a solid creature with a decent 2/3 body with Flying, which is a strong ability and small downside; blocking Thopter Tokens in the early game and pressuring your opponent early. Scrapskin Drake can't block ground Renown creatures, which is problematic but Blue has a good number of x/3 and x/4 creatures at common level to compensate. And finally Aspiring Aeronaut rounds out the list, which gives you 2 power and three toughness of Flying creatures across two bodies, which isn't a great rate for mana to P/T. I thought about the format some more and thought that if I was in the Blue/Red Artifact archetype, I would value this creature more highly and be more inclined to pick it early since creating a Thopter Token has giant upside with the 'Thopter/Artifact matters' cards. I expect this card to rise in pick order as players gain more experience with the R/U archetype.
1. Whirler Rogue
2. Jhessian Thief
3. Sigiled Starfish
4. Tower Geist
5. Anchor to the Aether
On the contrary, the Blue Uncommons are very powerful since they impact the board in a very significant way. I expect these cards to shine more in Sealed where you'll have a better opportunity to put more of them into your deck. Whirler Rogue is quite good since it gives you 2 Thopter Tokens and acts like a Planeswalker in some ways by giving one of your creatures an 'unblockable' clause until end of turn and interacts very well with 'Artifact matters' cards. After casting this card a couple times, I was extremely impressed with it and would be happy to first pick it often. Jhessian Thief is also a great card, since it's similar to Stalwart Aven having a 1/3 body with the upsides of Prowess and draw a card when it connects, making it a super-buffed Scroll Thief. Jhessian Thief's 1/3 body makes it difficult to attack through in combat and its Prowess ability is difficult to block similar to Jeskai Elder in Khans of Tarkir, forcing your opponent to respect Instant-speed removal spells or combat tricks before blocking with a 2/2. Sigiled Starfish received a lot of praise from Theros block and it's 3 toughness for two mana will keep it alive for a good duration of the game. Card selection is always great in Limited since you can filter past excess lands and help you get to your 'better' cards or bomb cards sooner. I expect to see Sigiled Starfish high in the pick order regardless of the direction of the format. Another blast from older Limited formats, Tower Geist didn't receive as much love from Innistrad as it should have being overshadowed by more synergystic Uncommons, but it's a strict source of card advantage, which is difficult to find among the Commons and Uncommons in this set. I'm not sure if I would consider this card to be a signal, but I would be happy to play it in my Blue decks. Finally, Anchor to the Aether is a great tempo card for early game and has Scry 1 attached to it, which is close to 'draw a card' in the late game and prevents your opponent from potentially drawing a bomb or removal spell.
1. Reave Soul
2. Unholy Hunger
3. Read the Bones
4. Weight of the Underworld
5. Fetid Imp
I think the black commons are the most difficult to assess because traditionally Black has been a strong color in Limited and the black creatures in this set are relatively small, which places a lot of pressure on the spells to compensate; fortunately, the Black commons do not disappoint. Normally I would read the cards in the set and default to Unholy Hunger being the best Black common because it can kill any-sized creature with Spell Mastery as upside. For control decks, any piece of lifegain that can be gained from high quality spells is a plus (ex: Foul-Tongue Invocation in Standard), so the card's stock is really high. It still may be the best Black Common, but I wanted to highlight Reave Soul before moving on to the other cards. Reave Soul is a piece of removal that kills more than half of the creatures in the format and is very cheap to cast, which makes staying aggressive possible and decreases the probability of a control deck losing before it can cast 5 mana spells. If I had to make the decision in the dark, I would consider Unholy Hunger to be the best Black common and read it as a very clear signal, but I would see myself picking Reave Soul often moving into packs 2 and 3 when I'm reviewing the curve of my draft deck and I'm unsure if I can support more 5 drops. I see this decision similar to Debilitating Injury vs. Throttle in Khans of Tarkir and a clear answer never presented itself because the format kept shifting; I expect these two cards to compete for the best spot as people change the way they build decks and adapt to the metagame. Similar to Tower Geist in Blue's Uncommons, Read the Bones is a rare piece of strict card advantage with a bit of upside of card selection with Scry 2 as well. It's unclear whether there's time to take your turn 3 to cast Read the Bones and lose 2 life; if the format is too aggressive, this could easily kill you. In Sealed, I feel like this card really shines, since both you and your opponent are fighting for card quality throughout the entire match and Read the Bones helps give you a few more spells to cast during a game that can give you a few percentage points in winning the game.
Weight of the Underworld is probably the most difficult common to place because it doesn't kill 3 toughness creatures (which is the average size), so it fails to kill most creatures in the format. Further exacerbating this difficulty, the Black/White Enchantment archetype is focused around strong Uncommons like Blightcaster, Totem-Guide Hartebeest, Knightly Valor, a rare (Sigil of the Empty Throne) and chase commons like Suppression Bonds, so having the right enablers and a good density of Auras that you're happy to play seems like a difficult combination to put together in draft. If you can pick one of the Enchantment rares or chase Uncommon Auras early in Pack 1, then wheeling more of the archetype's more narrow cards in later picks may be possible. And lastly on the list, I initially chose Eyeblight Assassin, because it could manipulate combat math and help you trade up your 2/2 creatures into x/3s, but Fetid Imp seemed to have irreplaceable value as I looked at the cards more. It demands a creature or a removal spell from your opponent, places a clock (slow, but existent) on your opponent's life total late game, and doesn't die to Chandra's Fury nor Eyeblight Assassin and blocks Thopter Tokens profitably. Leaving 1 Black mana open to give your Fetid Imp Deathtouch usually won't cost you much opportunity, but even in the early game, you can place the shields down without losing much value outside of an opponent's copy of Wild Instincts (which is just one card).
Another Common I wanted to talk about was Undead Servant, which could be a sleeper card. It's rate for a 4 mana 3/2 is reasonable for Black, but in multiples, this card becomes very good, since 2/2 Zombie creatures can trade with your opponent's actual cards in the midgame. In Sealed, it will be difficult to have multiple copies of this card, so I would rather play Returned Centaur in the same spot, but in Draft where you have higher selection of the creatures you place in your deck, it's possible to pick up 1-2 copies in each pack. I'm not sold on this card, but I'm definitely keeping an eye on it as I move forward with the format.
1. Cruel Revival
2. Fleshbag Marauder
3. Revenant
4. Malakir Cullblade
5. Gnarlroot Trapper
Cruel Revival is clearly a very powerful card since it kills almost any creature aside from a small handful of Zombie creatures in the format, at Instant-speed, and at times, will return a Zombie card from your graveyard back to your hand, which can provide you a small piece of card advantage. I expect players to take Cruel Revival over a majority of the Rares in the set and I would view this card as a clear sign that Black is open if a copy were passed to me. In weaker Sealed pools, Cruel Revival is easy to splash off of a copy of Evolving Wilds, which can really increase the power level of a deck that would maybe lack good removal.
The next 4 cards are slightly weaker than some of Black's best commons, so I wouldn't necessarily see them as signals during a draft, but are good enough quality to want to play them given the option. Starting with Fleshbag Marauder, this card is pretty weak in the early game because trading your 'removal spell' for a 2 or 3 mana creature, but becomes better as you make more profitable blocks during the duration of a game (and has synergy with Zombie matters cards, like Cruel Revival!). Third on the list is Revenant, which is a fine card who's stock increases as the game goes later. On average, I found this creature to be a 3/3 most of the time unless my deck has a high density of creatures or I can fill my graveyard with Returned Centaur or Screeching Skaab. The average size of this creature mirrors Ringwarden Owl in Blue's Commons and shares some of the same weaknesses, but Revenant can grow and become an amazing top deck, so this card will be taken within the first few Picks of a draft (and potentially better than Fleshbag Marauder). Malakir Cullblade is similar to Blood Artist from Avacyn Restored in a lot of ways as its power increases as you trade with your opponent's creatures and makes combat math difficult for your opponent when First Strike is involved or they are preparing to block on the crack back next turn. Malakir Cullblade's dividends clearly decreases if you draw it late in the game, which will keep it from being an all star and only counts creatures your opponents control, so it's no Managorger Hydra, but players already dedicated to Black in Draft will pick it up. And last up, I chose Gnarlroot Trapper because it's similar to Green's Common, Leaf Gilder, but also interacts favorably with the G/B Elf archetype and can act like a mini-Planeswalker and gives Black access to early mana ramp to cast its 4-5 mana creatures earlier and give Elf attackers Deathtouch, which is very relevant with the number of Elf creatures in G/B and makes blocking very difficult for your opponent and makes your post-combat Wild Instincts even more potent. This card's stock increases as you have a higher density of Elves in your deck and can be a high pick for someone dedicated to the archetype in Packs 2 or 3.
1. Fiery Impulse
2. Lightning Javelin
3. Akroan Sergeant
4. Ghirapur Gearcrafter
5. Firefiend Elemental
The Red Commons are all strong and start off with a very powerful card like Fiery Impulse, which kills a good chunk of creatures in the format and when Spell Mastery is active, kills more than 50% of creatures at Instant-speed. It is the most cost-effective removal spell in the format and fits well in any archetype using Red mana. Fiery Impulse is also one of the few removal spells than can help you get ahead on board position in the early game, since it's only one mana and can trade up with 3 mana and even 5 mana creatures, which can give you a huge tempo boost. In Draft, I think this card will often be a first pick and may even be taken over other highly-rated Commons depending on preference; I would consider seeing a copy come late in a draft as a clear signal that Red is open. Lightning Javelin is similar in a lot of ways to Weight of the Underworld on curve since they are both 4 mana removal spells, but Lightning Javelin obviously kills 3 toughness creatures and can burn an opponent out, so it has more applications overall, which is why I gave it a higher ranking. If we look back what the 'average creature' in Magic Origins looks like, it's a 3 mana 2/3, which Lightning Javelin interacts favorably with. We also can't overlook Scry 1, which has great late-game applications and can even help you find more lands as a control deck if your hand is flooded with larger spells. I think Lightning Javelin is great and I can see myself being happy to first pick it in Draft.Akroan Sergeant is a fantastic card because it has First Strike so it blocks very well when you're behind and can be very difficult for your opponent to block on offense, which can activate it's Renown ability relatively easily. Something that is interesting about this card is that its casting cost is 2 colorless and 1 Red mana, which is subtle upside, because it has strong stats and doesn't over-commit you to Red if you decide to draft one early. Ghirapur Gearcrafter is a good enabler for the U/R Artifact deck and gives you two bodies for 3 mana. This card's stock increases if you are committing to that strategy early and this creature is good enough for decks that are Red outside of the Artifact strategy, so I imagine this Common is a high pick if you pick up an early Thopter Spy Network or another card that incentives you to have Thopter Token generators. Finally I chose Firefiend Elemental as my last pick for Red Commons because it's a 3/2 Renown creature with Haste, which is an interesting combination. Haste makes this creature difficult for your opponent to play around and you can attack into your opponent's tapped board yielding a 4/3 creature, which is a great rate for 4 mana in Red. This creature also accentuates aggressive strategies well and can provide a 4 power, 3 toughness creature that your opponent will have difficulty dealing with.
1. Ravaging Blaze
2. Seismic Elemental
3. Skyraker Giant
4. Thopter Engineer
5. Fiery Conclusion
In Red's Uncommons, no card stands out more than Ravaging Blaze. It's an Instant-speed Fireball for creatures and to the player's face if Spell Mastery is active, which is very reminiscent of Comet Storm, a chase Mythic Rare in Limited. Even though this type of effect exists across multiple Limited formats (like Death Wind in Dragons of Tarkir), these effects are always premium in Limited decks and its hard to pass the by without taking a second glance. The weaknesses of this card are few, but it is mana inefficient in the early game, requiring 4 mana to kill a 2 toughness creature and 5 mana to kill a 3 toughness creature, etc. along with the probability of hitting Spell Mastery early as very low. Ravaging Blaze is also impossible to splash since XRR is taxing on any mana base that isn't already committed to Red as a primary or even secondary color. Since Ravaging Blaze has the potential to kill your opponent's best creature or straight kill your opponent (or both!) in the late game, this card is an excellent first pick and I could see players take this Uncommon over decent Rares and Mythic Rares. In similar fashion, Seismic Elemental is a 4/4 for 5 mana that serves as a great investment for an aggressive deck since it's Magmatic Chasm-like enter the battlefield trigger helps push your team for a large chunk of your opponent's life total or simply kill them. I think Seismic Elemental compliments aggressive R/W decks and R/G midrange decks well, so I predict it will be a high pick. Skyraker Giant is surprisingly strong, similar to the undervalued Summit Prowler from Khans of Tarkir block, but the card carried so much weight. Skyraker Giant also has Reach which can block most of the flyers in this format along with Thopter Tokens, which makes it a great support card for R/G midrange that traditionally struggles against creatures with Flying. Without reiterating too many points stated earlier, Thopter Engineer is a 1/3 body, which we've concluded is a good size in this format and making Thopter Tokens is good. Granting Haste to your Thopter tokens and other Artifact creatures is interesting because it increases the clock Thopter Tokens present to your opponent by one turn, which may be enough to kill them before they have the opportunity to cast more interactive spells. Finally, I chose Fiery Conclusion as the the last card, since dealing 5 to a creature is very good and very few cards in the set can compete with that rate. The cost of sacrificing a creature to cast Fiery Conclusion is interesting because it interacts favorably with the U/R Artifact deck since you can sacrifice Thopter Tokens or the bodies that come along with them. I don't feel that Fiery Conclusion is a high enough pick unless you are in U/R or have enough Dragon Fodders in your deck because of curve consideration. I think this card could go up in stock if you're committed to the U/R deck or the archetype proves to be popular among players.
1. Wild Instincts
2. Rhox Maulers
3. Leaf Gilder
4. Pharika's Disciple
5. Vastwood Gorger
And finally to the Green Commons (which I am biased towards and enjoy talking about Green cards!). Wild Instincts is incredibly powerful. It's similar to Hunt the Weak from the past couple years of Limited sets as Wizards design team has finally perfected what they want a Green removal spell to look like. Wild Instincts could be better than Hunt the Weak in some ways, but this card is fantastic and removal is one of the limiting factors of Green/x decks in Limited. It allows you to kill a creature when behind and punch your opponent for 2 extra points of damage on an empty board that helps you maintain aggression or maintain aggression against an army of small Flying creatures that cannot block profitably. Adding 2 power and toughness to one of your creatures puts even a creature as small as a 1/1 to a 3/3, which fights the 'average-sized' creature (3 mana 2/3) extremely well. This card fills in gaps in Green-based strategies well and I can see this as a very high pick in Draft. Rhox Maulers is incredibly powerful and I already like Stampeding Rhino since it helped me win my very first event several years ago. Rhox Maulers pushes the envelope with Renown 2 stacked on, which makes it a 6/6 monster when it connects with a player. Since Rhox Maulers has Trample, it has a psuedo-type of evasion that helps power out its Renown clause. Even the 4/4 body for 5 mana is great and difficult to kill from removal spells available in the set. I think this card is an all star in Sealed because it can block opponent's aggressive creatures early and upgrade itself in the late game (in a format where card quality is everything, upgrades are always a bonus!). The next three cards are pretty self explanatory; Leaf Gilder is great because it can trade with two toughness creatures if necessary to prevent opponent's Renown creatures from activating and it can give you more mana, which is always great, especially when the format is full of 5 and 6 mana spells. Pharika's Disciple is also great because it's one of the few creatures in the set with Deathtouch, so it can block creatures with less than 3 power (most of the creatures in the set) profitably and trades up with any-sized creature. It's also very difficult to block, so activating its Renown ability is fairly easy. I think the pick between Pharika's Disciple and Leaf Gilder is close and can change depending on the demands of your deck. Finally, I found Vastwood Gorger surprisingly good since it's difficult for your opponent to attack through a 5/6 body and I even found this card to be better than some of the Green Rares in the set. I don't think this is a card I would take unless I were already committed to Green or speculating on being in Green in draft and it's not a card I'd be happy to play multiple copies, which keeps it low on the pick order, but the card is very good and I will play it in my Green decks.
1. Somberwald Alpha
2. Skysnare Spider
3. Undercity Troll
4. Valeron Wardens
5. Dwynen's Elite
And FINALLY the Green Uncommons! After a lot of consideration, Somberwald Alpha is the real deal. It's stats aren't exactly what we're looking for as a 4 mana 3/2 body doesn't size well with our average 3 mana 2/3, but it's +1/+1 clause to your team when being blocked rewards you for playing aggressive creatures. In a format with a large amount of 2 mana creatures, being able to attack profitably into your opponent is crucial and this card really shines in G/W Renown, R/G Aggro, and R/G midrange. On an empty board, this card provides a reasonable clock on your opponent and can even push through extra damage with its Trample clause on a stalled board state coercing your opponent to make unprofitable blocks. Somberwald Alpha is the most unique Green Uncommon and will change combat math in a way that allows you to remain aggressive even with smaller creatures. Next up, Skysnare Spider is similar to Vastwood Gorger because of it's 6 toughness, but also has 6 power to crush through Green creature mirrors and can block Flying creatures, which is a card Green decks are always looking for. It's 6 mana cost will keep you from wanting multiples, which is why I ranked Somberwald Alpha and it's double Green mana cost will make it 'easier' to wheel in the later packs if you feel another Green drafter isn't present at the table. Undercity Troll is simply a bear (2/2 for 2 mana), but can block other 2/2 creatures favorably with its Regenerate ability and has Renown, which makes it difficult for your opponent to block on Turn 3 and become a 3/3 creature that's difficult to attack into. Valeron Wardens is yet another 1/3 for 3 mana with incidental card draw, which won't happen often, but is welcomed when it does. This card feels like a linchpin for the G/W Renown deck. I don't have enough experience with the G/W archetype to know exactly how highly to pick this card, but it feels like a reasonable pick up if you can get it around pick 4+. Last of the Green Uncommons, I chose Dwynen's Elite because it's a reasonable 2 drop and has the potential upside of giving you an extra 1/1 Elf body to your army. In order to get the best value from this card, you'll probably need to cast it on turn 3 or later, but it compliments any of the 1 or 2 mana Elves well. Under a lot of aggressive pressure, you can cast it as a 2/2 to block early creatures, which is a fine deal as well. I don't see this as a high pick unless you've already picked up a good number of elves or you've committed to the G/B Elf archetype.
Before I close out this Magic Origins Review and Pick Order, I want to reiterate a point made by Magic players vastly more skilled than I am. Improving isn't simply about playing games or getting reps with your deck or drafting a bunch; improving as a Magic player entails critically thinking about your plays and matches and trying to figure out where certain lines may have worked and others did not. I strongly dislike phrases like 'I drew too many lands or I mulliganed to 5 and that's why I lost' because these are self-fulfilling prophesies.The way you think about the game and yourself have significant impacts in your ability to see board states clearly and make lines that give you the best chances at winning. If you think you will lose, then you already have. Continue to work on drafting, reading signals, understanding the metagame and you'll see strong results. I'm a big proponent of 'hard work yields results' and I feel this is very true in Magic. It's a game where if you put your heart into it, the sky is the limit.
Good luck to everyone tackling Magic Origins and hope to update you guys soon on GP Dallas/Ft. Worth!
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-David J.
