Sets [KTK] Khans of Tarkir Spoilers

Onderzeeboot

Ecstatic Orb
One card that I really loved during prerelease was Archers' Parapet. 0/5 was pretty innocuous, but it stonewalls a ton of stuff early in the game and pinging for 1 at opponent's EOT was so useful. I'm pretty sure I did 12 points of damage to a guy through a grindfest and lost to another one because I just couldn't deal with it. I really wanted to play with Kin-Tree Invocation and make 5/5's for {B}{G} but I didn't have a single one in pool. Hopefully I can live the dream a few times in draft.

You should try to go Disowned Ancestor into Kin-Tree Invocation into a relevant three-drop ;)
 
Oh yeah, I wish I could have done that. That was one of the few things I saw early from spoilers and was psyched to pull off. Would have been one hell of a beating with the format so slow.
 
Played Mardu thinking that I'd get a 4/4 played against me and just lose, opened 11 very strong removal spells and some great finishers, went 3-0 and split with my last round opponent. Good lines/curves existed in my deck but I got to lean heavily on my extreme removal to win when I shouldn't (not playing anything until 5 etc.) I'll attribute it to sealed but I watched many many extremely-stalled games that ended when someone played a flier, any flier at all.

My pack actually had two seeded packs (seven packs total) so the judge coin-flipped to see which one I could play with and held the other until the end of the event. My promos were utter end (what I got to play) and bloodsoaked champion, which I was glad to open. The promo-accessibility of many good cards in this set are really going to mess with their prices, but I think that's for the best, really. The khans themselves, lots of removal spells, and plenty of tools like dig through time all have promo copies.

I had a pretty good cube haul though, opened seven cards I wanted to test. Couldn't get my hands on a war-name aspirant, none of my friends got a single one in their pool or prize packs, and we went through almost 70.
 

Chris Taylor

Contributor
Played Mardu thinking that I'd get a 4/4 played against me and just lose, opened 11 very strong removal spells and some great finishers, went 3-0 and split with my last round opponent. Good lines/curves existed in my deck but I got to lean heavily on my extreme removal to win when I shouldn't (not playing anything until 5 etc.) I'll attribute it to sealed but I watched many many extremely-stalled games that ended when someone played a flier, any flier at all.

My pack actually had two seeded packs (seven packs total) so the judge coin-flipped to see which one I could play with and held the other until the end of the event. My promos were utter end (what I got to play) and bloodsoaked champion, which I was glad to open. The promo-accessibility of many good cards in this set are really going to mess with their prices, but I think that's for the best, really. The khans themselves, lots of removal spells, and plenty of tools like dig through time all have promo copies.

I had a pretty good cube haul though, opened seven cards I wanted to test. Couldn't get my hands on a war-name aspirant, none of my friends got a single one in their pool or prize packs, and we went through almost 70.

Wait theres a promo bloodsoaked champion?
 

Chris Taylor

Contributor
Each clan had 8 different rares that could appear as your promo. Which is much better than before, I think.

Does this mean alt art or anything? All I've been able to find is the precon foils, which are all 3 color (Ankle Shanker, Ivorytusk fortress, etc)
 

Chris Taylor

Contributor
I don't think so, unfortunately. All the promos I saw had the same picture, just foil with the stamp.

That seems fine to me. The art for bloodsoaked champ is sweet anyways, and I am down for cheap foil versions of things that promote sweet gameplay :D
 

Onderzeeboot

Ecstatic Orb
That seems fine to me. The art for bloodsoaked champ is sweet anyways, and I am down for cheap foil versions of things that promote sweet gameplay :D

Two friends of mine collect promo's. That's become a little more of a hassle now that there are effectively 45 promo's (the 40 prerelease promo's plus the 5 intro pack alternative art rares).
 
These are a bit weird to really be promos, though. The art's the same, and I haven't looked at a pack-foil card with a watermark, but the promo cards' watermarks are not foiled at all.
 
Got to play a sealed the other day too! Sultai this time! Was a rough roll, the sultai cards don't really get along with any of the other sets mechanics besides having to attack and thus trading creatures a lot.

Blockers are great in that deck, but it's pretty awful when you have to play a defender to block and know you aren't getting any closer to your delve guys this turn and are going to have to spend 3+ mana next turn to make progress without influencing the board. It also sucks your 3/3 flyer costs 4 on a good day when other players just get a trampling one for 4 naturally.

It was kinda fun to play control in limited though, and I lost 2 games in the night from digging too hard and decking myself before I could win.
Things I learned:
  • I hate playing heavy 3 colour decks in limited.
  • The midrangeyness of the format combined with not wanting to trade morphs combined with the incidental life gain makes games go long sometimes.
  • Most of the removal is not giving you much in the way of tempo advantage
  • Creatures are better at blocking than attacking without synergy.
  • Playing your 2nd delve spell can be a real pain in the arse
  • hooting mandrills is probably the best card in your deck if you are playing it.
 
I think the 2 big green morphs are better than hooting mandrils but not by a lot
Yeah totally buddy, I think I just meant in the context of a delvey deck. I forgot that it's pretty efficient to anyone who expects to play a noncreature spell before the midgame.



Sultai Soothsayer is also totally the real deal, though I credit it with losing me some games lol.
How could we make that card cubable? Hybridize the mana?
I feel like we could make a lot of the sultai cards cubable if you edit them a little.
 
Yeah totally buddy, I think I just meant in the context of a delvey deck. I forgot that it's pretty efficient to anyone who expects to play a noncreature spell before the midgame.



Sultai Soothsayer is also totally the real deal, though I credit it with losing me some games lol.
How could we make that card cubable? Hybridize the mana?
I feel like we could make a lot of the sultai cards cubable if you edit them a little.

Soothsayer was one of my favorite cards this weekend. The 5 toughness is super relevant, too.
 
How could we make that card cubable? Hybridize the mana?

I'm going with "just play forbidden alchemy."

I'm actually a little disappointed that there isn't a real go-to self-mill card in the set. There are some cute things and plenty of stuff that 'works,' but it's all largely clunky and overcosted or doesn't get enough mileage.
 
I'm going with "just play forbidden alchemy."

I'm actually a little disappointed that there isn't a real go-to self-mill card in the set. There are some cute things and plenty of stuff that 'works,' but it's all largely clunky and overcosted or doesn't get enough mileage.
You and me both brother, I feel like I'm getting stockholm syndrome for 5 mana blockers and mind rots lol. Sad because this is practically the best set ever for forbidden alchemy right?

Sultai Card {3}{B/G}{U}
Creature - Naga Wizard
Deathtouch
When Sultai Card enters the battlefield look at the top 5 cards of your library, put one of them into your hand and the rest into your graveyard.
2/5
 

Grillo_Parlante

Contributor
I'm going with "just play forbidden alchemy."

I'm actually a little disappointed that there isn't a real go-to self-mill card in the set. There are some cute things and plenty of stuff that 'works,' but it's all largely clunky and overcosted or doesn't get enough mileage.

Yeah, pretty much. 5 mana is just very clunky both for the effect and the body. You can tell the card was designed for a slower format.
 

FlowerSunRain

Contributor
The best com parables I can come up with are Kavu Climber, which is woefully underpowered and Bloodgift Demon, who is somewhat playable.

The effects aren't the same, but the Soothsayer's is probably stronger even though the Phyrexian Arena is a better card then souped up Strategic Planning, on a five mana creature immediate impact is a big deal. Not having flying is worth something as is the 3 color cost.

I would put Soothsayer at 5/5 or 4/6 at its current cost. At CMC=4 5 toughness and a dig seems extremely strong and I'm not sure its appropriate.
 
The best com parables I can come up with are Kavu Climber, which is woefully underpowered and Bloodgift Demon, who is somewhat playable.

The effects aren't the same, but the Soothsayer's is probably stronger even though the Phyrexian Arena is a better card then souped up Strategic Planning, on a five mana creature immediate impact is a big deal. Not having flying is worth something as is the 3 color cost.

I would put Soothsayer at 5/5 or 4/6 at its current cost. At CMC=4 5 toughness and a dig seems extremely strong and I'm not sure its appropriate.
What do you think about my hybrid flower?
 
You and me both brother, I feel like I'm getting stockholm syndrome for 5 mana blockers and mind rots lol. Sad because this is practically the best set ever for forbidden alchemy right?

Sultai Card {3}{B/G}{U}
Creature - Naga Wizard
Deathtouch
When Sultai Card enters the battlefield look at the top 5 cards of your library, put one of them into your hand and the rest into your graveyard.
2/5
I think that should probably be {3}{G/U}{B} since Sultai's home is black. Nitpicking ftw
 

Onderzeeboot

Ecstatic Orb
You and me both brother, I feel like I'm getting stockholm syndrome for 5 mana blockers and mind rots lol. Sad because this is practically the best set ever for forbidden alchemy right?

Sultai Card {3}{B/G}{U}
Creature - Naga Wizard
Deathtouch
When Sultai Card enters the battlefield look at the top 5 cards of your library, put one of them into your hand and the rest into your graveyard.
2/5

I think that should probably be {3}{G/U}{B} since Sultai's home is black. Nitpicking ftw

With those stats and that ability it could easily cost just {3}{U}{U}.

Ah, but you added deathtouch. That seem quite obnoxious on a 5-toughness critter...
 

Grillo_Parlante

Contributor
I think it would need to be a 3-4cc version to be playable, unless you are deliberatly slowing down your format (at which point 5cc + deathtouch is fine). Those types of cards are engine pieces, and need to come down rather early.

A 1/5 with that ability at 4cc would be fine, but I think it would need a little bit more umph to be appealing to justify it being a slightly slower engine piece.

I do really like the hybrid mana.
 
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