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So I woke up this morning and felt a blog-sized movement in my bladder. So here I am emptying my thoughts over you. (There are many ways you can go with those last couple of sentances. Choose your inference wisely.) Team names Outwith the established tcgplayer writers such as Riki, Reubs is far and away my fav blogger over here. He's just a naturally funny guy. He could do with getting TMP on video a bit more often but when he compensates with light and witty prose you can forgive him. I would probably father his children. But I come from a country where (heterosexual) men wear 'skirts'. Would I be the mother? Stay tuned to find out! Anyway, in his last couple of blogs he mentions his team / play group / testing group name as On The Bubble. He stole that from me. I need answers and I need them now, in a J. Jonah Jameson stylee (get the reference, get a pat on the back!). MM! William Spaniel has always been a difficult writer for me. I will start off by saying, when he is brilliant, he is brilliant. There was never a weekly article I looked forward to more than MM. And alongside Riki and Jon Loucks, the support and advice he provided me during TCGpprentice was invaluable in helping me see my deficiencies as a writer. It was a truly great thing to read a fearless, focussed and honest Spaniel attack. I honestly got the impression that he always had the best for the game at heart. But there was the flip side to MM. When it was bad, it was rubbish. This was only ever more apparent when you knew what he was capable of. He also took certain wee jokes a bit to far - TFM Unnecesary Capitalisation for example. It was interesting to hear the rationale Willy gave in his farewell MM last week. It sounds like life has finally caught up with him and Magic needs to take a step down in priorities. Well we'll miss you lad - the good and the bad. It takes guts to challenge the establishment time after time and there wasn't anyone around more courageous than you. Don't be a stranger. Block Rock I know we are a little away from Block Constructed season yet but we've begun initial discussions into how Doran.dec may be translated. You have to remember that the UK didn't have a GP last year and given that Birmingham is Block, we're entitled to get a little excited a bit earlier. And yes, I know that Shadowmoor will be legal for that event too so this appears even more premature but an initial stab in the dark doesn't hurt anyone. How ace and random was that last sentance!?!
This is my personal first stab at a list. I'm not going to dissect it too much here - will save that for a future blog - but thoughts and ideas are appreciated. Block Rock as suggested by Dave Whitelaw 3 Doran, the Siege Tower 1 Reach of Branches 4 Treefolk Harbinger 4 Nameless Inversion 4 Garruk Wildspeaker 4 Unstoppable Ash 4 Chameleon Colossus 3 Profane Command 3 Battlefield Oak 4 Eyeblights Ending 2 Fertile Ground 4 Murmuring Bosk 4 Gilt-Leaf Palace 2 Mutavault 8 Forests 3 Swamps 3 Plains The contentious slot for me is the Battlewand Oak. Not sure what needs to go there but it does need to be a Treefolk. Bosk Bannaret doesn't actually help all that much in this deck (doesn't reduce Doran for example) but is certainly a possibility. The mana base may need tweaked too but the above appears to be fairly stable. And before you go there, I am aware of the glut of 4 drops in the above but they all seem fairly necessary to me and testing has proven reliable. Another Fertile Ground might be necessary however. Anyways, so much for me not talking about the list. Stepping up How fricking cool is it to see the Apprenti getting their opportunity to step up to the plate!? Zaiem seems to be settling into the job nicely. And the relevant authorities have seen fit to give Robin his own Featured Writer slot. I was terrified that TCGplayer would not take the opportunity to tap into the rich vein of talent that they discovered during the contest but my fears were unrealised. Even Falkor has been given a much-deserved featured blogger slot which I am sure is merely a stepping-stone before taking a weekly slot beside Zaiem and Robin on the front page itself. Good times. Looking forward to the second TCGppretice. Clever advertising shocker!!! So I read a fair few webcomics each day - stuff like Questionable Content, Gunnerkrigg Court, Girl Genius, Diesel Sweeties and BOASAS to name but a few. One of my favourites is Penny Arcade. Imagine my surprise when I nipped on there after getting home from holiday at the weekend to see some cool Magic ads! Like actually funny, well-written, clever Magic advertising! Seems ironic to me that Wizards would put the time and money into investing in some great advertising (obv designed by the Penny Arcade guys themselves) and yet we would be subjected to horrible, tacky banner ads on the Mothership itself. Man, WotC isn't exactly adorning itself in glory right now, is it? Morningtide / Eventide Speaking of the Mothership, today they announced the set name for 'Doughnut' - Eventide. So the next mini-block is going to have a day / night theme. I cannot even begin to describe to you how excited I am about this. The potential design space they are opening up with a simple light / dark theme is massive. They need to be careful to ensure the block isn't too parasitic and that each set stands by itself but if they get it right, it will be muchos fun, I am sure. Right, that's enough for just now. Behave yourselves. -Flame on- Dave
Tags: On The Bubble Dave Magic Lorwyn Morningtide MM
So, a couple of days later than planned, but we finally get to the renaissance man of the colour pie - green. Green has seen a fantastic rejuvination of late which is great to see. I personally think that, certainly before Worlds anyway, green was criminally underdrafted. My initial feeling was that the balance would begin to redress itself but seeing how silly blue has gotten I might be wrong. If people keep on drafting blue where you are, be prepared to grab green because if you are one of only a couple of people drafting it, you could be in for good times. You should know them all by now but lets look at the rules again. 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. Ambassador Oak Cost:  
Card Type: Creature - Treefolk Warrior P/T: 3/3 : When Ambassador Oak comes into play, put a 1/1 green Elf Warrior creature token into play. Well this is a pretty good way to kick things off. Four power and toughness for four mana is superb value for money at common but Ambassador Oak goes a few steps further than that. In a green deck, this card will act like a changeling, allowing all the comes into play effects you would expect - it pumps Battlewand Oak, it counts towards Elvish Promenade and you can attach Obsidian Battle Axe to either creature as you wish. That's a lot of utility in a nice little package. I also want to talk about the flavour of the card here. Isn't it quite cool that there is this big treefolk emissary dude who discusses treaties and politics with the other races? It's probably the comic book guy in me that likes this. I've been reading way too much Fables... Bosk Banneret Cost: 
Card Type: Creature - Treefolk Shaman P/T: 1/3 : Treefolk spells and Shaman spells you play cost less to play. I quite like Bosk Bannaret for a couple of simple reasons. He exists in a tribe that can expect a lot of value from being able to shave 1 mana off some expensive costs. The second thing is he holds the ground well with that big butt of his. Being able to hold your opponent's aggressive start whilst you get the mana on board to start dropping big Treefolk is very important. Obviously make sure the guy is relevant to your deck before including him - vanilla 1/3s for 2 don't make the grade. Deglamer Cost: Card Type: Instant P/T: : Choose target artifact or enchantment. Its owner shuffles it into his or her library. Nope. For limited, Deglamer isn't anything better than a sideboard card. And if you bring this in to deal with that pesky O-Ring or Cloak and Dagger you are going to be mightily ticked off when your opponent redraws it a few turns later. Surely it could have at least put the offending card to the bottom of your opponent's library? Earthbrawn Cost: Card Type: Instant P/T: : Target creature gets +3/+3 until end of turn.
Reinforce 1- (, Discard this card: Put a +1/+1 counter on target creature.) I adore cards like Earthbrawn because of the intrinsic internal tension that they contain. Tricks like this require careful thought and consideration. It's the classic example of a card that seems simple and innocuous but using it in the incorrect way at the wrong time will create the opening for things to come crashing down upon you. I think it will be picked fairly highly because of the versatility and the ability to nullify removal spells the world over. Elvish Warrior Cost: Card Type: Creature - Elf Warrior P/T: 2/3 : See, I can't be overly impressed by a card like Elvish Warrior in the same block as a card like Wren's Run Vanquisher. I know it isn't a fair comparison, not least because the Vanquisher is uncommon. But that isn't the end of the story here. Just because we have certain preconceptions about a card doesn't actually make it poor. A combined power and toughness of 5 for only 2 mana is still pretty darned good. I think this will end up being a mid pick - somewhere in the region of 6th to 8th. Everbark Shaman
Cost: 
Card Type: Creature - Treefolk Shaman P/T: 3/5 :  , Remove a Treefolk card in your graveyard from the game: Search your library for two Forest cards and put them into play tapped. Then shuffle your library.
I think Riki and I might come to verbal blows over Everbark Shaman (and Scapeshift for the same reason) in limited. Don't focus on the body itself here - a 3/5 for 5 mana is a little 'meh' - instead focus on that ability. Let's say you have a two colour deck, Gx, with a 50/50 split of basic lands. You drop this turn 5 off the back of 3 forests and 2 of the 'x' basics. Over the next 3 turns, if your opponent leaves this unanswered, you remove the other 5 Forests from your deck (of course, presuming you can get some other Treefolk in the bin)! You need to think of this card as a mini Countryside Crusher - the acceleration is gravy and all but even better is know that you have massively increased your chances of drawing something relevant from the cards left in your library. I'm not suggesting this card is the be all and end all but it deserves more respect than it is getting hence the lengthy explanation why. Fertilid Cost: 
Card Type Creature - Elemental P/T: 0/0 : Fertilid comes into play with two +1/+1 counters on it.
, Remove a +1/+1 counter from Fertilid: Target player searches his or her library for a basic land card and puts it into play tapped. Then that player shuffles his or her library. Grey Ogres with a reasonable ability are fine in this format so Fertilid ticks that box. And again with the land-thinning. To be honest, most of the time I can see this trading with another guy or eating a removal spell and grabbing a land on the way out. And that's absolutely fine by me. So sure, this guy isn't as good as Festercreep but you will need strong justification to not run it. Another mid pick. Game-Trail Changeling Cost: Card Type: Creature - Shapeshifter P/T: 4/4 : Changeling (This card is every creature type at all times.)
Trample Chamelion Colossus definitely has the weirdest of all the changeling art but Game-Trail Changeling runs it pretty close. A 4/4 trampler for 5 is pretty sweet for common. That it turns on all relevant tribal triggers makes this guy even sweeter. My only slight annoyance is the GG in the casting cost but double mana requirements tend to be a lot easier in green than any other colour. But, hey, I'm only nit-picking here. This is a high pick. Luminescent Rain
Cost: Card Type: Instant P/T: : Choose a creature type. You gain 2 life for each permanent you control of that type. Sigh. Life gain sucks. Riki put it pretty well in his green review. Basically if you put life gain onto an already solid card you have a winner - Hierarch and Helix are both good examples. Plain, boring life gain gets you nowhere. You better have good reason to run this. Lys Alana Bowmaster Cost: Card Type: Creature - Elf Archer P/T: 2/2 : Reach (This can block creatures with flying.)
Whenever you play an Elf spell, you may have Lys Alana Bowmaster deal 2 damage to target creature with flying. Lys Alana Bowmaster does what it does efficiently and well. What with UB Faeries being such a powerful archetype, Bowmaster's value only goes up. There's not really a lot more to say about this card - basically if you are green you will always run this card. Sure, he might end up being an Ogre but he could end up being amazing too. Pick these up around 5th or 6th I would think. Reins of the Vinesteed Cost: Card Type: Enchantment - Aura P/T: : Enchant creature
Enchanted creature gets +2/+2.
When enchanted creature is put into a graveyard, you may return Reins of the Vinesteed from your graveyard to play attached to a creature that shares a creature type with that creature. Reins of the Vinsteed asks too much for what it gives. I think 4 mana is just a little too expensive and then you have to make some serious decisions to try and chain him onto something else correctly. My gut is that this would be maybe ok in draft but would probably hit the board in sealed unless you got a busted pool. It doesn't quite make the grade for me. I'd much rather have Earthbrawn in this card's slot. Winnower Patrol Cost: Card Type: Creature - Elf Warrior 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 Winnower Patrol, you may reveal it. If you do, put a +1/+1 counter on Winnower Patrol. I like this card because he is better than your average Grey Ogre and has the potential to get out of hand very quickly. Let's say, that on average, any time you play this over the course of time it remains on the board it gains one +1/+1 token. I think that's probably a reasonable assumption. That makes Winnower Patrol on average a 4/3 for 3 that is sometimes a little worse and sometimes a little better. That's good enough for me. An easy include, especially in draft. The List 1) Game-Trail Changeling 2) Ambassador Oak 3) Earthbrawn 4) Lys Alana Bowmaster 5) Everbark Shaman So there we go. Once again, I'm fairly happy with positions 1 - 4 but that 5th slot is probably a little more debatable. Winnower Patrol makes a good shout for that slot too in my mind. I don't think green did quite so well in this set as it did in Lorwyn but I have the suspiscion that at least early on while people find their feet, it will be underdrafted. There are no common lands or artifatcs in the set so nothing to discuss here. Hope you have enjoyed this season's Limited Prospects as much as I enjoyed writing them. Hopefully they have made you re-evaluate some of your early thoughts on certain commons and, if not, you probably agreed with me in the first place which is always good. What I will most likely do is dedicate an On The Bubble in a few months time as a follow up to this to see where I was right and where I was wrong. Hopefully there aren't too many glaring mistakes. Time will tell. Thanks for the feedback guys - see you back here for (Dark Lorwyn - damn, no strikethrough) Shadowmoor. And relax...
-Flame on- Dave
Tags: Limited Prospects Morningtide Green Lorwyn Dave Sealed Draft Limited
Well I had hoped to have both red and green up over the weekend but life kinda caught up meaning I couldn't finish this as quickly as I would have liked. So please accept my apologies. The rules are pretty straightforward. 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.
Without further ado... Brighthearth Banneret Cost: 
Card Type: Creature - Elemental Warrior P/T: 1/1 : Elemental spells and Warrior spells you play cost less to play.
Reinforce 1- (, Discard this card: Put a +1/+1 counter on target creature.) The key thing about Brighthearth Banneret is he isn't a completely awful top-deck in the late game like the others in the cycle. Sure, it isn't the best trick in the world but it's a lot beter than an irrelevant 1/1 dude and you'll be delighted of it the one time it nullifies a Pack's Disdain or the like.
There are some big, relevent Elementals out there meaning this card will tend to have a lot more value in the right deck than the lines of its Merfolk equivilent. Fire Juggler Cost: Card Type: Creature - Goblin Shaman P/T: 2/2 : Whenever Fire Juggler becomes blocked, clash with an opponent. If you win, Fire Juggler deals 4 damage to each creature blocking it. (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.) I quite like Fire Juggler, not because it is necessarily an awesome card in its own right, but because it is the kind of card that makes your opponent have to think and make awkward decisions. He is one of those creatures which are very, very difficult to block - you are always taking a risk when you put your guy in front of it. Because of this, if you drop him early, there is potential for him to do 6 or 8 damage. Sure most of the time he is a Grey Ogre but this card will be treated with a certain level of respect for what he has the potential to do. Hostile Realm Cost: Card Type: Enchantment - Aura P/T: : Enchant land
Enchanted land has ": Target creature can't block this turn." This is an awful card. A really terrible piece of cardboard. Had it read, 'Target creature can't attack or block this turn' we might have something that was ok. Even then I'd consider it pretty mediocre. Kindled Fury Cost: Card Type: Instant P/T: : Target creature gets +1/+0 and gains first strike until end of turn. I think the artwork of Kindled Fury, of a wee Kithkin dude ready to kick some bootay with flames licking round him, is pretty cool. It's an interesting trick. I think most of the time it will be hard to find room for this in a good deck. But it is one of those cards that allows you opportunity to outplay the other guy, especially as they might not see it coming. Lunk Errant Cost: 
Card Type: Creature - Giant Warrior P/T: 4/4 : Whenever Lunk Errant attacks alone, it gets +1/+1 and gains trample until end of turn. Let's compare Lunk Errant and Axegrinder Giant. Which would you rather have in your deck? Yep, me too. You are going to end up playing with this card sometimes because you need something ressembling a fattie at the top end, but you aren't going to like it. A poor all-round package. Mudbutton Clanger Cost: Card Type: Creature - Goblin Warrior P/T: 1/1 : Kinship - At the beginning of your upkeep, you may look at the top card of your library. If it shares a creature type with Mudbutton Clanger, you may reveal it. If you do, Mudbutton Clanger gets +1/+1 until end of turn. Mudbutton Clanger makes me feel a little uneasy. It's an incredibly clumsy, inelegant card. I guess that I just like my 1-drop 1/1s to not have too much text or be overly verbose. But what you really want to know is, how does the card play? Wel, once again with a Clash card, it comes down to simple math. Around 2/3s of the time this'll be a 1/1. By the time you start winning the Clash and consider sending this guy into the red zone, there will be bigger and more relevant guys on the board already. Pretty much unplayable. Roar of the Crowd
Cost: Card Type: Sorcery P/T: : Choose a creature type. Roar of the Crowd deals damage to target creature or player equal to the number of permanents you control of the chosen type. In draft, Roar of the Crowd has the potential to be an amazing finisher. This can be splashed into pretty much any good tribal deck. It's not going to be as good in sealed because your deck is unlikely to be quite as tailored as you would like it to be but even then, you would need good justification for not running this. I do wonder if certain other cards go up in value because of Roar of the Crowd. I'm thinking about cards such as Elvish Promenade or the like. In some ways this card reminds me of Distant Memory because it could be incredibly potent and explosive late game. Seething Pathblazer
Cost: Card Type: Creature - Elemental Warrior P/T: 2/2 : Sacrifice an Elemental: Seething Pathblazer gets +2/+0 and gains first strike until end of turn. Seething Pathblazer is kinda like Kindled Fury in the respect that it makes your opponent stop and think about the board a bit more. Sure most of the time this card will be a vanilla dork but one that will normally make your deck which Kindled Fury probably won't. As a wee side note, have you noticed that every one of these red Elemental guys looks identical? I wonder if it's deliberate or not. For example, in elf and goblin artwork, each individual has obvious similarities to other members of their tribe but with their own wee touches here and there. It just strikes me as a bit weird. Anyways, an okay limited card. Shard Volley Cost: Card Type: Instant P/T: : As an additional cost to play Shard Volley, sacrifice a land.
Shard Volley deals 3 damage to target creature or player. Wow. What a cool card. Last time I checked, Lightning Bolt was an awesome card. Shard Volley has the drawback of having to sac a land. This is not an insignificant but in the mid to late game shouldn't be an issue at all. Cheap, efficient removal is something to be coveted and this will be a very high pick in LLM. Don't forget that this targets your opponent too and will often be used to close a game out. Stingmoggie
Cost: Card Type: Creature - Elemental P/T: 0/0 : Stingmoggie comes into play with two +1/+1 counters on it.
, Remove a +1/+1 counter from Stingmoggie: Destroy target artifact or land. I quite like Stingmoggie because it has the it can foil the most carefully laid plans. If I cast this turn four and then proceed to kill two of your lands over the next two turns, I am making life incredibly difficult for your opponent. And there are some very important artifacts in this set in the tribal equipment.
I think I maybe overrate this card, but I am definitely looking forward to playing with it. And as with Festercreep, don't forget the synergy with reinforce.
Sunflare Shaman Cost: Card Type: Creature - Elemental Shaman P/T: 2/1 : , : Sunflare Shaman deals X damage to target creature or player and X damage to itself, where X is the number of Elemental cards in your graveyard. Sunflare Shaman does what it does very well. It's an efficient early beater then once its size is much less relevant in the mid to late game, it acts as a fairly cheap removal spell. So yeah, removal on a stick is always good times and this is no different. Respect accordingly and pick highly. War-Spike Changeling Cost: Card Type: Creature - Shapeshifter P/T: 3/3 : Changeling (This card is every creature type at all times.)
: War-Spike Changeling gains first strike until end of turn. This is one Hill Giant I can get behind. I have tried to hammer in to you over the last few days just how more important changelings have become and they were pretty damned important in Lorwyn as it was. And there aren't a lot of creatures in the same price bracket that can deal with a 3/3 first striker too. So this guy is efficient, difficult to deal with and acts as some serious utility too. A nice package. Of course, now Hill Giant is obsolete and probably won't be played in Standard. Just in case you were considering it. The list So let's throw something together resembling a list. I think I've done not too badly so far with white, blue and black. Let's hope we can keep that going. Remember that this isn't an exact science but a platform to build upon. 1) Shard Volley 2) Roar of the Crowd 3) Sunflare Shaman 4) War-Spike Changeling 5) Stingmoggie Not sure about Stingmoggie on that list but nothing else really catches my eye (I guess maybe the Bannaret) so I'm going to take a punt on him. Let me know what you think. See you tomorrow for green. -Flame on- Dave
Tags: Limited Prospects Morningtide Red Lorwyn Sealed Draft Limited Dave Midi Red
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
Little bit of copying and pasting just so we both know where we stand... The rules are fairly simple. 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 the so called 'best colour' has to offer then. Dewdrop Spy Cost: 
Card Type: Creature - Faerie Rogue P/T: 2/2 : Flash
Flying
When Dewdrop Spy comes into play, look at the top card of target player's library. I like Dewdrop Spy quite a lot but I'm not really sure how to articulate why. I think the thing about this card is it hits for the same as a Sentinels of Glen Elendra and Sentinels was never a bad card to have even if it was a little obvious. This card is less obvious due to only costing 3 mana. I'm not sure how useful the Peek ability will prove to be but this card holds its own as a 2/2 instant-speed evasive dude for 3 mana. I'd be looking to pick this card up round about pick 5 I think - it should never table anyway. Disperse Cost: Card Type: Instant P/T: : Return target nonland permanent to its owner's hand. Ok, so sure, most of the time this Disperse going to be an Unsummon that costs you 1 more. And we do have a functionally very similar card from Lorwyn in Whirlpool Whelm. Hell, Whelm even lets you dig into your deck (and don't forget, your opponent's too). But what I like about Disperse is the ability to completely screw over his master plan when you bounce that Planeswalker just before it goes Ultimate. Disperse is what I like to call a 'worker' card - it's not flashy or cool or amazing but it does what it does well and if you are in blue, it should always make your deck. Distant Melody Cost: Card Type: Sorcery P/T: : Choose a creature type. Draw a card for each permanent you control of that type. Distant Melody is one of those cards that is difficult to rate because in the right deck, it will be silly. What I consider the right deck to be is something along the lines of goblins, elves or merfolk. Basically any tribe which can generate lots of token creatures will allow Melody to shine - I am thinking along the lines of cards like Weirding Shaman, Elvish Promenade and Stonybrook Schoolmaster. In other decks it will be a poor man's Mulldrifter. Evaluate accordingly. Fencer Clique Cost: Card Type: Creature - Faerie Soldier P/T: 3/2 : Flying
: Put Fencer Clique on top of its owner's library. I had two Fencer Cliques in the pre-release and my word, they were ace, as you would generally expect 3 power flying dudes for 4 mana to be. That it can dodge removal all day long is the icing on the cake. I can see these being particulary strong in any kind of controllish blue build that perhaps didn't pick up the blue bomb it was looking for as a finisher. Sure, it will take a wee while longer but it will get you there eventually in a war of attrition. Great card. Floodchaser Cost: Card Type: Creature - Elemental P/T: 0/0 : Floodchaser comes into play with six +1/+1 counters on it.
Floodchaser can't attack unless defending player controls an Island.
, Remove a +1/+1 counter from Floodchaser: Target land becomes an Island until end of turn. I'm really not all impressed by Floodchaser because I think the ability is deceptively narrow. Sure, there will be the odd occasion where you manage to blow an opponent out with a god Merfolk draw and Floodchaser allowing them to Islandwalk to victory but those times will be few and far between. That said, I would like to try drafting a deck with multiple Etherial Whiskergills and this dude at the top end. Sure you can do that with the likes of Tideshaper Mystic but that merfolk is a lot easier to get rid of than Floodchaser is. And hey, at the end of the day, a 6/6 for 6 isn't the end of the world for blue espcially when you consider people play Axerider Giants and Craw Wurms without blinking an eye and Floodchaser can be fired out a couple of turns early by the likes of Smokebraider. Ink Dissolver Cost: Card Type: Creature - Merfolk Wizard P/T: 2/1 : Kinship - At the beginning of your upkeep, you may look at the top card of your library. If it shares a creature type with Ink Dissolver, you may reveal it. If you do, each opponent puts the top three cards of his or her library into his or her graveyard. Be prepared - you will, in the not too distant future be destroyed by the guy who drafts a janky merfolk deck with a couple of Drowner of Secrets and a couple of Ink Dissolvers. That, of course, is no indication that they are any good... But this card is generally fine. When you look at what we have to compare him to, Deeptread Merrow seems the closest and I like him better because he is potentially evasive and is a rogue. And rogues are cool dontchaknow? More likely, Dissolver will fill a space in your deck as a 2 power, 2 mana beater - hardly inspiring but not bad either. Latchkey Faerie Cost: Card Type: Creature - Faerie Rogue P/T: 3/1 : Flying
Prowl (You may play this for its prowl cost if you dealt combat damage to a player this turn with a Faerie or Rogue.)
When Latchkey Faerie comes into play, if its prowl cost was paid, draw a card. 'O Latchkey Faerie, let me tell you of the ways I love thee!' Every single time I cast this guy at the pre-release, I did so at the Prowl cost without any issue. That's a 3 power flyer for 3 mana that draws a card when it comes into play. Now given that maybe 2/3rds of the time I had cast an Oona's Blackguard the turn before (and used her to obtain Prowl) my Latchkey Faerie was a 4/2 flyer for 3 mana that said, 'Whenever this hits you, discard a card'. Insane. Faeries Rogues are definitely the way to go in LLM and therein lies the problem - everybody else will probably have the same idea. You are going to have to have a good handle on the people you are drafting with to see if blue is being over or underdrafted. In the aforementioned Faerie Rogue build, Latchkey Faerie will be your backbone. Did I mention that I love Latchkey Faerie? Merrow Witsniper Cost: Card Type: Creature - Merfolk Rogue P/T: 1/1 : When Merrow Witsniper comes into play, target player puts the top card of his or her library into his or her graveyard. From the sublime to the... well, not so sublime. I really don't have a lot to say about Merrow Witsniper kind of like Forfend yesterday. This should never make your deck, even if you do really need a 1-drop merfolk. Run Tideshaper Mystic or Mothdust Changeling instead. Mothdust Changeling Cost: Card Type: Creature - Shapeshifter P/T: 1/1 : Changeling (This card is every creature type at all times.)
Tap an untapped creature you control: Mothdust Changeling gains flying until end of turn. I rate Mothdust Changeling more than a lot of other people purely because the addition of Morningtide to the mix has made Changeling that much more relevant. From allowing you to Noggin Whack on turn two to switching on Peppersmoke to making Judge of Currents more than a little nuts, this guy checks a lot of the boxes Mutavault does but at common. So basically, a solid workhorse.
Negate Cost: Card Type: Instant P/T: : Counter target noncreatur Negate is a strange card. I am positive that it will see a lot of play in the older formats such as Extended and Legacy. The problem for limited however, is that Lorwyn is a tribal set. There are a helluva lot of creatures hitting the board on each side and heading into the red zone. Because of this, Negate jars a little - it just doesn't seem to fit properly in this set. I'm not a fan of running countermagic in limited generally anyway unless it is on a stick such as Spellstutter Sprite. But if you need to run counterspells, there are definitely better options available to you. Stonybrook Banneret Cost: Card Type: Creature - Merfolk Wizard P/T: 1/1 : Islandwalk
Merfolk spells and Wizard spells you play cost less to play. Hmmmm, like so many other cards in this set, Stonybrook Bannaret is a tricky card to evaluate. Most merfolk are pretty cheap already... I just don't know. I think more than, for example, the white Bannaret, you need to very closely study the cards in your pool and see just how much benefit you could potentially get from this card. The acceleration he might provide in the right deck will be amazing but otherwise he might just end up being a 1/1 for 2. One thing I will say though is cards like this will often suck up opposing removal for fear of what busted things he may allow you do. Any time you opponent decides to waste a Pack's Disdain or even a Release the Ants on a card like this, you should be secretly a wee bit happy imho. Stream of Unconsciousness Cost: Card Type: Tribal Instant - Wizard P/T: : Target creature gets -4/-0 until end of turn. If you control a Wizard, draw a card. When I first looked at Stream of Unconsciousness I was distinctly unimpressed. After thinking about it a bit more, I think this is actually an ok card. A lot of the time this will simply be a Fog that should hopefully grab you another card to get you where you need to be in the meantime. You get bad 1-drop cantrips like Needle Drop and you get good ones like Peppersmoke. Stream of Unconsciousness sits neatly somewhere in between them both. The List Time for a stab at a pick order again then I guess. Let's see what we've got... 1) Latchkey Faerie 2) Fencer Clique 3) Distant Melody 4) Dewdrop Spy 5) Disperse Not a bad showing for blue at all given that there are another 3 or 4 cards beneath those above that you will almost certainly be playing if you are in blue. Anyways, see you shortly for Black. -Flame on- Dave
Tags: Limited Prospects Morningtide Blue Lorwyn Sealed Draft Midi Dave
So last time I did this I didn't exactly adorn myself with glory. I was pretty spot on with a lot of stuff but there were some glaring mistakes too - Glimmerdust Nap in blue's top 5 commons? Well, you win some, you lose some. Lessons have been learnt. At least a wee bit. Listen guys, let's get this out of the way nice and early - I am not a limited god. I am not the person you should be looking to for the savaj tek. There are plenty of Rich Hoaen's out there if that's what you are after. But I have an opinion and I have a forum to voice it so voice it I shall. Whilst I'm not planning on it, there will most likely be some mistakes. The rules are fairly simple. 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. So, once more into the breach dear friends....   Ballyrush Banneret
SetMorningtide Cost 1W Color White Card Type Creature — Kithkin Soldier P / T 2 / 1 Rarity C
Card Text Kithkin spells and Soldier spells you play cost 1 less to play. If you are in that particular colour then you are generally going to play 2/1s for 2 mana - as long as they don't have any drawback they are on the normal, acceptable card. So, on the face of it, Ballyrush Banneret looks pretty damned good. That's when it is taken as a solitary unit... The problem is that in LLL, unless you got the god mono-white build, Kithkin weren't very good. I don't see Morningtide brining much to the mix. Sure there are some cool Soldiers out there such as Sntinels of Glen Elendra but what ultimately lets this card down isn't its core stats but its environment. That said, this is still a fine card, just don't expect miracles. Burrenton Bombadier Set Morningtide Cost 2W Color White Card Type Creature — Kithkin Soldier P / T 2 / 2 Rarity C Card Text Flying Reinforce 2-2W (2W, Discard this card: Put two +1/+1 counters on target creature.) I have a lot of love for Burrenton Bombadier. 2/2 flyers for 3 mana are always decent. Reinforce is the kind of ability that when used properly will seperate the good from the bad, the men from the boys. My best way of looking at this is how would you rate a 2W instant which said 'Put two +1/+1 counters on target creature'? I think that would be given a lot of respect. Add the fact that this can beat for two a turn evasively and you have a high pick. Burrenton Shield Bearers Set Morningtide Cost 4W Color White Card Type Creature — Kithkin Soldier P / T 3 / 3 Rarity C Card Text Whenever Burrenton Shield-Bearers attacks, target creature gets +0/+3 until end of turn. You really need to be doing something a lot better with the top end of your curve than this. This is the kind of card you'll end up having to play sometimes to fill your curve but you'll always feel a little dirty doing it. Burrenton Shield Bearers is a pretty bad card which ever way you look at it. Changeling Sentinel | 
