Well we have reached the halfway point and it's time to take a good look at the colour of eeeeeevvvvvvviiiiiillllllll....... or something.
Once again let's lay down some simple ground rules. I will look at each common one by one and give you my thoughts and feelings. At the end of each colour I will give you a rough first stab at pick orders. Your lists and my lists will not match and you will not share every feeling I have. I urge you to tell me why because this is a two-way thing. I have much to learn as a Magic player and I'm sure if we find some common ground it will benefit us all.
Let's see what black brings to the party.
Blightsoil Druid
Cost:
Card Type:
Creature - Elf Druid
P/T:
1/2
:
, Pay 1 life: Add 
to your mana pool.
Up first, Blightsoil Druid. When compared to similar cards such as Leaf Glider and Elves of Deep Shadow, this guy just seems helluva clumsy to me. It's a very deck-dependant card. Most of the time it will be, at best, a 23rd card but if you have a few things you need to accelerate into such as a Nath or a Vigor, he should go up in your estimation somewhat. So he's not very good but probably one of those cards which are a necessary evil.
Festercreep
Cost
Card Type:
Creature - Elemental
P/T:
0/0
:
Festercreep comes into play with a +1/+1 counter on it.
, Remove a +1/+1 counter from Festercreep: All other creatures get -1/-1 until end of turn.
So I am trying to teach my best friend how to play Magic at the moment. He understands the basic mechanics and is quickly getting to grips with timings and such like - when you should do certain things for example. And he is getting there with the support of some of the more experienced local players.
Festercreep is the perfect example of a card I would ask my friend to evaluate. I've always tried to hammer into him the importance of mass removal even if it is relatively weak. And with Faeries Rogues appearing to be 'the deck' as I discussed yesterday, his value goes up even more. And that's before we even get round to discussing how this guy interacts with Reinforce....
Final-Sting Faerie
Cost:
Card Type:
Creature - Faerie Assassin
P/T:
2/2
:
Flying
When Final-Sting Faerie comes into play, destroy target creature that was dealt damage this turn.
2/2 flyers for 4 mana generally have a history of being played even if you are a little uncomfortable with it. I would look generally look at Final-Sting Faerie as a vanilla dude and in black, that's fine. I personally think that in this format you need to jump through a few too many hoops to get that assassination - there just aren't enough Tim effects. Overall, a bit 'meh'.
Frogtosser Banneret
Cost:
Card Type:
Creature - Goblin Rogue
P/T:
1/1
:
Haste
Goblin spells and Rogue spells you play cost less to play.
For my money, Frogtosser Banneret has the potential to be the most dangerous card in the cycle. Note, I said potential. Sure, he's not Goblin Warchief but he does come down a turn earlier. Someone out there is working on the goblin deck for Standard and Extended and Frogtosser will fit in there.
But we're here to talk about limited. And without trying to sound repetative, as with the other Bannarets, it will depend on your build and how much value you plan to get from it. Because I have a big love for Rogues (and I think everyone else will too) this should be picked a little higher than you would pick his brethern.
Moonglove Changeling
Cost:
Card Type:
Creature - Shapeshifter
P/T:
2/2
:
Changeling (This card is every creature type at all times.)
: Moonglove Changeling gains deathtouch until end of turn. (Whenever it deals damage to a creature, destroy that creature.)
Changelings were important in Lorwyn but are vital now with the intergration of class as well as race. Moonglove Changeling will also take down whatever fattie you choose to block (yeah for stating the obvious!). It's difficult to be overly verbose in a Risky-stylee about this card - it's just good, efficient and clean design. They will be picked pretty highly I reckon.
Morsel Theft
Cost:
Card Type:
Tribal Sorcery - Rogue
P/T:
:
Prowl (You may play this for its prowl cost if you dealt combat damage to a player this turn with a Rogue.)
Target player loses 3 life and you gain 3 life. If Morsel Theft's prowl cost was paid, draw a card.
You have a major question to ask yourself when considering Morsel Theft - how confident am I of paying the Prowl cost of this card in this deck? If you are pretty confident then this is a fine wee card. A 2 mana cantrip that gives a 6 point life swing is not too bad at all. However, the 4 mana equivilent without the 'draw a card' is pretty awful. Evaluate accordingly.
One small note I would add is that if your deck is lacking a bit of reach, this might be ok.
Pack's Disdain
Cost:
Card Type:
Instant
P/T:
:
Choose a creature type. Target creature gets -1/-1 until end of turn for each permanent of the chosen type you control.
When you consider 2 drop black removal from the past, Pack's Disdain looks pretty poor. When this guy looks at Terror and Last Gasp he feels as underproportioned as you do when you watch one of those 'special movies' you keep downloading. But instant speed removal is instant speed removal and this will occasionally take down something massive. Let's just forget about the fact that if he is able to take down a creature of 5 or 6 toughness then you probably have a pretty strong board position anyway. Le sigh.
But yeah, you are still going to want to pick these up fairly highly in draft because it's removal and you are Bx (probably BU) because you love Rogues. Amirite? Damn, one of these days I'm going to play some of the three people that end up reading this series and I'll be the only green, red and white drafter at that table. You won't be laughing then!
Prickly Boggart
Cost:
Card Type:
Creature - Goblin Rogue
P/T:
1/1
:
Fear
I keep hearing stories of people doing like 7 or 8 damage in one game with a Prickly Boggart at the pre-release. But you don't run this card for the possibility of that. You run this card because he gives you turn two Prowl. Turn 1, this dude, turn 2, Noggin Whack is going to make life awkward for the other guy. So Prickly Boggart is pretty solid for a 1-drop 1/1.
Pulling Teeth
Cost:
Card Type:
Sorcery P/T:
:
Clash with an opponent. If you win, target player discards two cards. Otherwise, that player discards a card. (Each clashing player reveals the top card of his or her library, then puts that card on the top or bottom. A player wins if his or her card had a higher converted mana cost.)
Reviewing cards like these is like Pulling Teeth. This card is just about as good as the pun in the last sentance. Maybe worse.
I'm here all week! No seriously guys, 2 days to go.
Squeaking Pie Grubfellows
Cost:
Card Type:
Creature - Goblin Shaman
P/T:
3/2
:
Kinship - At the beginning of your upkeep, you may look at the top card of your library. If it shares a creature type with Squeaking Pie Grubfellows, you may reveal it. If you do, each opponent discards a card.
Squeaking Pie Grubfellows is a 3/2 for 4 mana. It will fill a space in your curve. It will sometimes force your opponent to discard a card.
Seriously, I'm only embarassing myself and insulting your intelligence by going any further here. Can we just forget about this and move on? Please?
Violet Pall
Cost:
Card Type:
Tribal Instant - Faerie
P/T:
:
Destroy target nonblack creature. Put a 1/1 black Faerie Rogue creature token with flying into play.
Holy crapbags, I love Violet Pall! I had two of these in the pre-release and they did some very, stupid things in conjunction with Oona's Blackguard. When I look at this 5 mana black removal spell and compare it to a 5 mana black removal spell from the last set - let's say, em, Weed Strangle perhaps? - I just about pee my pants.
This card has the potential to swing games in a similar way to Gilt-Leaf Ambush except you are guaranteed to win the clash! A beautiful card and well-priced this will be an easy 1st pick.
Weed-Pruner Poplar
Cost:
Card Type:
Creature - Treefolk Assassin
P/T:
3/3
:
At the beginning of your upkeep, target creature other than Weed-Pruner Poplar gets -1/-1 until end of turn.
While I'm normally pretty comfortable talking about cards I haven't played with before post pre-re, Weed-Prunar Poplar is one I'd really like to play with before drawing any conclusions. But I wouldn't really be doing my job if I tried to dodge the bullet like that now would I?
You should have figured out if you have been following Limited Prospects that I regard the Faerie Rogue archetype very highly indeed. This guy would be the dogs unmentionables against that deck. However, I'm aways going to be terrified of slowly killing my own team because of some cunning plan from my opponent. So, basically, a cautious thumbs up.
The list
I had white and blue pretty firmly in my mind before I sat down to write them out but even as I sit here and write this now I'm not 100% certain on the black top 5. My gut says something like this...
1) Violet Pall
2) Festercreep
3) Pack's Disdain
4) Weed-Pruner Poplar
5) Moonglove Changeling
Like I say, I'm much less self-assured about this list that I was about the previous two but the above should end up being about right I reckon. What I would say is whilst I like black a lot in Morningtide, a lot of the power appears to be in the uncommons and rares. Black has so far seen the shallowest depth of power throughout its commons. I'd appreciate your thoughts on this one guys.
-Flame on-
Dave
Tags: Limited Prospects Morningtide Black Midi Dave Sealed Draft Lorwyn Mtg
