The "Epic" Uncommons of M14

So, as you may have seen earlier this week, I named and rated my top five uncommons from M14. That's all well and good, but we're in the realm of M14 now, so it's time to move forward. M13 had some ace uncommons, cards you'd often take over all but the biggest bombs in draft. Does M14 have cards of the same caliber? It's tough to say for sure this early in the format, but there are certainly a few early favorites. Here's my list of the top uncommons in each color, rated against each other. Enjoy.

5. Black - Doom Blade

Doom Blade might actually be better than some of the other cards on this list, but it doesn't have that "epic" feel to it. It's of course very powerful; it's a strong piece of removal that has a very manageable mana cost. But as far as a card with a broad enough effect to call "epic"...no sir. As far as other potential dark horses that might shine as the format advances, I could see Blightcaster or Vampire Warlord proving to be very useful in the right decks. But as far as something as strong as Vampire Nighthawk was? No way.

4. Red - Young Pyromancer

Flames of the Firebrand is actually back in M14, and, truthfully, I'd take Flames over Pyromancer in a vacuum. But it's no fun to re-hash the previous one, so let's talk about the new one. Young Pyromancer is part of a "theme" of this deck, which is basically, Chandra is going to mess you up. Having a mono-red deck or combining red with some effective blue or black removal/control cards, Young Pyromancer gets a ton of work done. Red is actually pretty strong at the uncommon level, with Battle Sliver and Shiv's Embrace also being very useful cards in draft. Flames is still the champion, but there's plenty of potential here.

3. White - Serra Angel

Serra Angel has been reprinted about eighty quadrillion times, but it's been good every time, and this time is no different. It's another repeat from M13, but this time there's no Oblivion Ring to take the crown. Banisher Priest has a similar effect, but it's limited to creatures and, more importantly, the Priest itself is a creature. A big part of the strength of Oblivion Ring (and Journey to Nowhere, it's creature-only counterpart) was that it was an enchantment, and drafters often don't have enchantment removal, outside of their sideboard. Creature removal is far more common. So, this time around, I'll go with the under-costed 4/4 flyer with vigilance. The only other uncommon that looks to be worth mentioning is Wall of Swords, another reprint. It can block all day with 5 toughness, and with 3 power, it can make your opponents very wary of swinging.

2. Green - Briarpack Alpha

Late in the M13 life cycle, I realized that Yeva's Forcemage was better than I was giving it credit for. You almost always make some use of the +2/+2 he gives to a creature, and then he's still a 2/2 body. Well, Briarpack Alpha eats Yeva's Forcemage for a light afternoon snack. It's a 3/3 instead of a 2/2, which honestly would make it already worth the additional 1 colorless mana it costs. But the thing that makes it just blow everything else away is that one extra word on the card: FLASH. It's 2/3 of a Giant Growth that also gives you a 3/3 creature at instant speed. Kalonian Tusker and Enlarge will almost always have value in drafts, and I could see Voracious Wurm being a powerhouse if the deck lends itself to that. But Briarpack Alpha to me is ahead of the rest.

1. Blue - Opportunity

Blue's uncommons are ridiculous. There are six different cards I'd consider at pack one, pick one (though with varying levels of satisfaction). Air Servant is a big flyer with a useful effect, Warden of Evos Isle is a Wind Drake+, Water Servant does all the things I loved about Watercourser and just does them better, Phantom Warrior will always play in a blue deck, and Wall of Frost buys blue decks the time they need to work their magic/Magic. But my pick is Opportunity. Drawing four cards feels as strong as drawing an entirely new hand, because it's basically that much. Six mana is a lot, but here's the best part: it's at instant speed. So you can leave up the mana for a counterspell or Disperse, and then if you end up not needing any of them, you cast Opportunity for four more cards, and your opponent concedes. Seriously. The more I've seen Opportunity played in M14, the more I'm realizing I probably under-valued Inspiration when it came around in Return to Ravnica. Sorry about that, Inspiration.


As far as an overall feeling, M14 feels way weaker than M13 on a power level. My hope is that it's part of a grander scheme by Wizards, where the effects they're focusing on (enchantments, lifegain, slivers?) get amplified in the Theros block, creating a new style of deck for Standard play. I'm interested to see how things play out in drafts over time as far as color balance. One of M13's great strengths was that each color had enough strong, problem cards that you could win playing any colors. Hopefully, despite being a little less exciting, M14 will offer the same balance and excitement in draft play.

So that's my take on the M14 uncommons. Thoughts? Questions? Applause? Hatred? Feel free to light me up in the comments, for better or worse.

The Epic Uncommons

One of the best parts of drafting M13 was that you weren't relying on rare cards to carry your deck. Obviously pulling Krenko, Mob Boss or Talrand, Sky Summoner was a nice moment, but there were just as many uncommon cards that got your blood flowing. So, this two-part article is going to list the top uncommon in each color from M13, and then estimate which uncommon might fill the same role in M14. And what the hell, we'll rank them against each other as well.

5. Red - Flames of the Firebrand

In a truly red deck, you'd take Arms Dealer over Flames of the Firebrand. But Flames fits in just about every deck, and Flames would be your first pick over Arms Dealer. In M13, there were a ton of useful creatures with 1 toughness that just get eaten by Flames of the Firebrand (the aforementioned Arms Dealer, Intrepid Hero, Knight of Glory, Knight of Infamy, etc). The flexibility of being able to kill multiple creatures with one spell, or even to kill one creature and burn your opponent for 1-2 damage, is what makes Flames such a good card. And at its worst, it still kills Centaur Courser or Faerie Invaders at sorcery speed. Epic.

4. Blue - Talrand's Invocation

Talrand's Invocation seems like one of those cards that just shouldn't exist. A 2/2 flyer normally costs three mana in blue (see Wind Drake). So you add another blue mana, and you get another 2/2 flyer? They're tokens, granted, but even still, the value is insane. This card also helped me understand the value of cards. That is, a single card that generates a single creature is "normal" value. A single card that generates two creatures has considerably greater value, because it means you don't have to draw another card to get that second creature. And when the creatures aren't little 1/1 soldier tokens but 2/2 flyers...get out of here.

3. Black - Vampire Nighthawk

Vampire Nighthawk is too good. To prove this, Magic came out with Deathgaze Cockatrice in M14. Deathgaze Cockatrice costs 1 more colorless mana, has 2 toughness instead of 3, and doesn't have lifelink. Anything with deathtouch and either reach or flying is tantamount to a pacifism. Anything with flying and lifelink is a potential win condition. Vampire Nighthawk has all of that. Ridiculous.

2. White - Oblivion Ring

I know James will call me insane for not putting Oblivion Ring first, which speaks to how strong it can be. He refers to O-Ring as "the mythic uncommon" because it's never available after the first pick. It's perfectly splashable, which means it fits into most decks. And it's removal for, well, everything. It can't kill Primal Huntbeast, and Knight of Infamy's protection prevents you from being able to target it, but that's it; everything else yields to Oblivion Ring. That makes it almost as effective as Murder at creature removal (because it's sorcery speed), and it can also be used to remove enchantments and artifacts. It's a broad, strong piece of removal. It's worth first-picking in just about every pack.

1. Green - Rancor

It's a razor thin margin between Oblivion Ring and Rancor. Interestingly, that exact situation has happened to me, choosing between Oblivion Ring and Rancor, and I hemmed and hawed for the full clock before finally taking Rancor. My thinking was this: while Oblivion Ring eliminates just about any problem you're facing, Rancor creates problems anew for your opponent, over and over again. Oblivion Ring can eliminate Rancor, it's true, but I take bombs over removal, and to me, Rancor is a bomb. It would be a playable card even if you didn't get it back; +2/+0 and trample for one mana is still good value. With the graveyard bounce-back action, it's unconscious. It's my pick for the best uncommon from M13.


But as exciting as these cards are, they're all in the past now. These days, it's all about drafting M14, and we've got a whole new list of potentially epic uncommons to choose from. On Thursday, I'll post my initial impressions of what's the best uncommon in each color, and compare them to how strong M13's were. See you then.

The Things I'm Going to Miss About Drafting M13 - Number One

This is the conclusion of a continuing series highlighting what I'll miss most about drafting M13. Check out recent blog posts to view the rest of the list.

#1 - The Roaring Primodox Engine

One of my favorite things in an M13 draft was getting a Primodox early and then going bonkers with "enter the battlefield" cards. When it didn't work out it left you with a hodgepodge of green, white, and black cards, but when it did, oh mama, that engine could hum.

The thing that was so fun about Roaring Primodox is that its effect is, in a vacuum, a negative. Having to re-cast creatures is generally not something you want to do with your mana. But when you find the cards whose "enter the battlefield" effects were valuable, you were turning a negative into a positive. By employing the right complementary cards, you could draw extra cards, spawn new tokens, pump your creatures and more, all from sensible use of this one beautiful card.

We're losing not only the Primodox, but most of the cards that made the engine work:

 

 

 

I'm sure there'll be other engines that present themselves as we begin to play the drafts; there appear to be a number of lifegain-based cards in this set that might work well together. But I will miss the magic that me and the Primodox used to make.

Thus ends this series of posts regarding M13. See you next week, bros.

The Things I'm Going to Miss About Drafting M13 - Number Two

This is part of a continuing series highlighting what I'll miss most about drafting M13. Check out recent blog posts to view the rest of the list.

 #2 - Omniscience

I've never played a deck with Omniscence. Not in a draft, not in Standard, not in Commander, not even in a casual game with friends. But Omniscience is representative of one of my absolute favorite things about Magic.

When M13 came out, Omniscience was basically a nothing card. It was a big effect that people mostly ignored because of its prohibitive mana cost. It's not alone in that category; there are cards in every set that look great, but get pushed aside because they're too difficult to cast. But then one day, Travis Woo took a recommendation from a reader (a guy named Derek Adams) and worked it into a complex and exciting deck that was able to take advantage of it. He's well-known for brewing up interesting decks, and the deck he put together with Omniscience was a hit.

Like, a BIG hit. So big, in fact, that the regular buying price for Omniscience went from a few cents to several dollars.

And that's the beauty of Magic. Each card has its value, its niche, its role to play. Some cards seem unimpressive or useless, but all it takes is some clever guy to figure out where that role is, and the whole community responds. Travis Woo was able to affect the ENTIRE MAGIC ECONOMY by simply identifying an untapped opportunity and spreading the word about it. That's what makes Magic beautiful.

Well, that and Unsummon.

The Things I'm Going to Miss About Drafting M13 - Number Three

This is part of a continuing series highlighting what I'll miss most about drafting M13. Check out recent blog posts to view the rest of the list.

#3 - Unsummon

 

I love Unsummon. If I could declare one card as being almost completely under-valued by the Magic community, it would be Unsummon. I've picked it first in drafts more often than I probably should, just because it's so amazingly versatile.

• Big token incoming? Unsummon is a kill spell.
• Big honkin' Primordial Hydra about to smash you? Unsummon and all those nasty +1/+1 counters slip into the ether.
• War Falcon attacking with a white ring and Mark of the Vampire? Unsummon kills the enchantment and massively undermines your opponent's tempo.
• Need that Murder back from your graveyard? Unsummon Archaeomancer and treat yourself.
• Opponent casting Rancor? Unsummon the target and Rancor goes into the graveyard for good.

When you have Unsummon in your hand, you have an out for almost any turn of events. Replacing its role in M14 will be its big brother Disperse, which allows you to return any permanent to its owner's hand for 1U. It's a broader effect and I'm sure it'll be a useful card, but at one mana, Unsummon is just the king. It will be missed.

The Things I'm Going to Miss About Drafting M13 - Number Four

This is part of a continuing series highlighting what I'll miss most about drafting M13. Check out recent blog posts to view the rest of the list.

#4 - The Ring Cycle

One of the aspects that really highlighted the balance of the colors was the cycle of rings they brought in. Each ring offered a very on-color effect to any equipped creature, as well as the bonus of +1/+1 counters to creatures that were in the prescribed color. The flavor made sense, the effects were balanced and had value, and the costs seemed appropriate. Any card that satisfies those criteria is a good card, and when you can say it about an entire cycle, well, someone at Wizards of the Coast deserves a hearty pat on the back.

On another note, I want to mention that I will NOT have the cycle of creatures with off-color bonuses in my list of things I'm going to miss (Harbor Bandit, Arctic Aven, Prized Elephant, Flinthoof Boar, and Crimson Muckwader). It's not that they weren't powerful cards; they were...but they sometimes struck me as an odd combination of both too powerful and too situational.

The activated effects were reasonable and well costed, but getting +1/+1 on top of that made each of the cards extremely powerful if you were playing the right colors. But in drafts, it seemed like most of the time you had to just get lucky in order to take advantage of them. As long as you just happened to be playing blue and white, Arctic Aven was a veritable bomb. In green/red decks, Flinthoof Boar was a house. I'm not saying I wasn't happy to take advantage of a giant Harbor Bandit to smash an opponent. Those cards just didn't make the set for me.

You're welcome to disagree; that's what the comments section is for.

The Things I'm Going to Miss About Drafting M13 - Number Five

M13 was a great draft set. The colors were balanced, the reprints fit great and the new cards were creative and flavorful. Now Slivers are back, and I'm sure M14 will have its own delightful draft flavor. But before we move on, let's take a moment to look back at M13, and offer a fond farewell to the cards that made it such a sweet, sweet set.

#5 - Staff of Nin

 

Talk about just a useful card. While Staff of Nin has a prohibitively expensive mana cost, it integrates two very useful effects into one card. Card draw, especially late game when you often don't have a hand at all, is of supreme value. On top of that, being able to ping your opponent, or one of the many 1-toughness valuable creatures in the set, is a fantastic addition.

Losing this card wouldn't be so bad, though, if there were better replacements for it in the set. Ring of Three Wishes is going to be a great card for tutoring, but it's a mythic rare, which means at least half of us won't ever see the card. Then, for the pinging, we get Rod of Ruin, one of the lowest rated cards in all of Gatherer. If you could use it more than once on a turn, that'd be one thing, but it's just one damage for three mana, once every turn. I get that there have to be unimpressive cards in each set, but did Wizards have to go back to something so wildly bad?

Tune in later this week for the rest of my top five list.