Sets [M20] Core Set 2020

japahn

japahn

Yeah, I understood the same. I actually found it cool that it's not too obvious in your face what the abilities mean.

One cycle that lacks resonance badly are the Cavaliers. They have cool abilities, but the whole package is so messy.

What do you think of this?
en_hnpiRUtT24.png


I run artifacts, golems, flash, and tokens. This seems to tick a lot of boxes. It's flavorful (though a bit complex), and has a boring mode and an exciting mode. I'm just not sure it's worth six mana even at my power level.
 
Chris Taylor

Chris Taylor

Contributor
Thinking more about flood of tears, mini fight club:

floodoftears1.jpg
vs vs

I was initially excited for flood, but I've never really been happier with the other two, and making it weaker doesn't really fix that.
 
Onderzeeboot

Onderzeeboot

Ecstatic Orb
Is it weaker though? Putting any permanent on the battlefield can be pretty sweet, depending on what you play (*cough* Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker)!

Upheaval is a completely different beast, and super powerful. Resetting lands is... Good. It gets filthy when you have a bit more than 6 mana available.
 
Chris Taylor

Chris Taylor

Contributor
Onderzeeboot said:
Is it weaker though? Putting any permanent on the battlefield can be pretty sweet, depending on what you play (*cough* Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker)!

Upheaval is a completely different beast, and super powerful. Resetting lands is... Good. It gets filthy when you have a bit more than 6 mana available.
Click to expand...

Bouncing 4 of your own permanents is a big ask though. I think if I want a 6 mana sweeper like this, considering it's implications as a ramp spell, especially in a format as fast as mine, probably not actually going to move the needle at all :p
And yeah upheval is too much :p
 
Velrun

Velrun

Not saying this card fills exactly the same role but just wanted to mention it:



It can also cheat out a Bolas and it also affects each player equally.
 
Kirblinx

Kirblinx

Developer
Staff member
There has been a lot of disappointment about this set, but I went into prerelease pretty high in spirits, as core sets are usually fun to play sealed in that they focus highly on bombs and removal. With this in mind, my goal was to play 18 lands and always be on the draw. This seemed to work out for me in this format quite well, as most people didn't do anything until turn 3 most games.

At Prerelease; my packs had a decent amount of fixing, so I just shoved every bomb and removal I had in one deck (well, all but Drakuseth) and wanted to see how I fared:










Only had one game where I was colour screwed on white. Otherwise, I had a hard fought 3-0.

Cards of Interest

  • Colossus Hammer - This is very real in sealed, as you usually do get to 8 mana. This was may main win condition, and along with Vivien and Thicket Crasher I had the trample to help it get through. Was very impressed, and it really needed the lose flying ability, or it would be too strong in this limited format.
  • Spectral Sailor - This is the best Azure Mage variant yet I believe. The flash wasn't that relevant, but having a small flyer to put +1/+1 counters on and have a mana sink to draw cards was great. Could be pretty good in peasant and other low-powered cubes.
  • Vilis, Broker of Blood - This card is stone cold nuts. Did you know you draw a card for each life you lost? I didn't until my opponent told me otherwise. The problem with my deck was that by the time I got it down I didn't have that much life to be able to use his ability, but it still managed to pick off a Risen Reef and a Cloudkin Seer which was nice. Also an 8/8 flyer is quite the clock. This seems like a nice new fatty for black and look forward to see what people do with him.
  • Vivien, Arkbow Ranger - Triple G is hard to hit on turn 4 (especially in my deck). It just sat there and my flyers bigger and was a removal spell in a pinch. Pretty standard planeswalker if you ask me. The trample on the +1 is surprisingly useful though. I never used the -5, There wasn't really anything relevant in my SB.
  • Aerial Assault - I forgot how much I disliked Take Vengeance in M19 limited, and this is technically worse. The lifegain only came up a couple of times, and wasn't more than 2. It was serviceable removal, in the same vein as Bone Splinters, but it still felt very mediocre whenever I had it in hand.
Since I had such a good time at the first prerelease, I decided to do the one on Sunday as well. Wasn't as happy with this pool, but my mate Vilis decided to make another appearance (this time as the promo), so I guess I just build around him again?










The mana is this deck was much wonkier, I also didn't have the flyers or the removal (which is why I was splashing blue). The Omnath Splash was quite reckless, but I still never had too much of an issue casting him (although that wasn't until far into the game most times). This pile went 2-1, losing in the first round to a deck containing like 5 bomb rares and piles of removal, there wasn't anyway I was beating that.

This deck didn't have the aggro punch that the previous deck did, so I pretty much always just had to last until I got to Vilis and ride him to victory.

Cards of Interest:
  • Bag of Holding - Card is great. The 2 mana cost is a real drawback, but being able to get everything back is great. You can either keep it around i you keep getting lands to loot away, to you loot away the expensive cards until you can cast them. There were 3 different games were Vilis was in the bag to be cracked later on and trying to find a way to survive until I get to that stage. This is very close to being cubable in most cubes. Still probably not good enough for my stack though.
  • Couldkin Seer - Why does this card exist? Was wind drake too strong? I feel like this is almost pauper playable. It chips in, replaces itself and supports elemental themes of the set. Probably the best common in the set. It was always one of the cards I searched with Shared Summons, as it was that much value.
  • Audacious Thief - This card is pretty decent if you can clear the way for it or keep it alive. I think it would be great in a deck with combat tricks, as people can't tell if you are attacking for the card or for the card or the damage, so they make awkward blocks. It wasn't that great in this deck as I could never get it through and it was just a Grey Ogre that could trade itself in for a card if I needed it to and was fine but expected more.
  • Omnath, Locus of the Roil - Probably not worth stretching my mana for, but pinging something for 1 when it comes in and growing everytime you play a land made it decent enough. I think whenever I cast this I had 8 lands out by then, so it made any land from then draw a card, so I guess that is pretty decent.
Also have done a couple of sealeds online, and managed to 6-3 both of those, so maybe this is my format? Or maybe I just manage to draw the big flyers at the right time? Who knows, but it is a nice change of pace from planeswalker central that was War of the Spark.
 
Heymaker

Heymaker

Sultai Playables










Went 4-0 with this finely playable deck. Lots of interesting gameplay decisions that made me choose between lots of aggressive or grindy value game plans. Dungeon Geists, Overcome, Frost Lynx, and Unsummon won me most of my games off of chipping in and finding a good turn to make a move. I unfortunately didn’t get to live the dream of Yarok, the Descrated triggering off of Lynx or Geist. I however did get to see the terrible and ironic synergy of Yarok’s Wavecrasher and Yarok, the Desecrated, as I had to return Yarok and the Sage’s Row Denizen back to hand when I had no other options and needed to be casting spells to keep up with the opponent -- I was on the mill plan that game afterwards and didn’t come very close to succeeding with it haha.
Cards that I saw across the table that I hope I never have to see again: Rotting Regisaur, Knight of the Ebon Legion, Chandra, Awakened Inferno, and Drakuseth, Maw of Flames


Grixis Funhouse









Now this deck was fun! Went 2-1 overall and managed to lose a very close 3rd game in Match 3 after stabilizing with Agent of Treachery but getting my Blood for Bones Duress’d the turn after. The deck hinged on removing early threats, stonewalling bigger ones until I could get Agent of Treachery or Meteor Golem online.

Because the deck was a bit slower (and still maybe a questionable decision), I did leave a Portal of Sanctuary in my sideboard to use for slower match ups. I was able to live the dream one game where I brought it in against a mirror Grixis control matchup, where I was able to loop it with Agent of Treachery every turn -- after taking the opponent’s Mu Yanling, Sky Dancer, they promptly conceded. First game against that same opponent was much different and seemingly unbeatable. I was already dealing with the Mu Yanling, Sky Dancer when they decide to play a Vilis, Broker of Blood. I think I had just gotten to 6 mana and had Agent of Treachery and Meteor Golem in hand when they followed up the Vilis on the next turn with a Drakuseth, Maw of Flames. Come my turn, I drew into my 7th land and dropped the Agent of Treachery stealing their Drakuseth. I lucked out with my opponent not having any removal on their turn. Going to my turn, I used a Reduce to Ashes on their Vilis, and then swinging with the Drakuseth to deal the other 3 to the Vilis, 3 to Mu Yanling, and 4 to their 4/4 flying Mu elemental, landing enough damage for opponent to concede with a decimated board.

I like this set much more than M19 already. There are plenty of cards I’m interested in trying for cube -- kinda want to see what shenanigans there are with Agent of Treachery! Glint-Horn Buccaneer and Elvish Reclaimer are already snap includes for my redesign.
 
Onderzeeboot

Onderzeeboot

Ecstatic Orb
Hey, the big takeaway of this prerelease for me was that mulligans are still not fun! I had 8 straight sevens with only one land (I was playing 17 in a 40 card deck), mulliganing to 5 in the deciding game 3 of the 2nd round, and in both games in my 3rd round 0-2 loss, and mulliganing to 6 in the first two games of my round 4 match. Round 3 was especially brutal, as my opponent dropped a t2 Yarok's Fenlurker in game 1 (remember, I already mulliganed to 5), and a t1 Duress (that hit a cantrip) a t2 Fenlurker (again!) on my other mulligan to 5. Yeah... Fun times!

I have an unwritten rule I follow at the prerelease, though. Whenever I start with a 1-2 record, I completely rebuild my deck with other colors if at all possible, to at least have a different experience in the last three rounds (we always play six rounds)! This time I switched from a {B}{G} deck featuring Rotting Regisaur (stoopid card) and Dread Presence (fun!) to a {W}{U} deck splashing {R} for Kykar, Wind's Fury, as pretty much my only "bomb". I had less removal, but more early game and a lot of evasion, which worked surprisingly well. Also, Aether Gust is a disgusting sideboard card, and I probably should have mained it, considering how many players were playing red and/or green in their decks. Kykar is awesome, and almost enough to make me want to reintroduce Jeskai as a shard in my cube! Super fun build around!

So, with my chin up (I'm here to have fun, not to sulk about unlucky openers!) and a new deck to pilot, I was able to win game 2 in round 4 despite the mulligan, and I managed to clinch game 3 as well, eventually ending up with a 3-3 record.

Oh yeah, the most fun game was in round 5, where I got to go off with Golos, Tireless Pilgrim. My fixing was horrible, so I couldn't affor to run a Forest in my three color deck, but I played a single copy of both Dismal Backwater (for {B}) and Prismite (for {G}), and it was glorious! I hadn't been running any five color cards in my cube up until now, but Golos is a marvelous build around, and super satisfying to pilot! I'm definitely making room for him!

All in all a satisfying experience despite the bad luck streak in the middle there. Set looks fun, but I did notice there is a lot of chaff. The cool cards are amazing to play with, but you really have to stretch for playables in Sealed in this format. I asked around a bit, and this was pretty much the case for almost everyone. I suspect WotC's main trick to make this a three color format was to not include enough monocolored playables in each color to end up with a decent two color deck (he said, only half jesting)...

Edit: Some cards I really enjoyed playing:



Ancestral Blade did some work, providing early pressure, as well as making sure my creatures were just enough bigger to get in attacks, while leaving behind a chump blocker. A+

Audacious Thief was really fun in my deck with multiple pump spells. Basically Kirblinx was spot on with their assessment. Card drew a bunch of card while clearing out bigger blockers with the aid of some pump spells. Loved it!

Dread Presence was great at getting in for value. The best showing it had was when I was playing a deck full of annoying dorks, where it just kept shooting stuff. I also made a great uptrade when I played it after attacking with my Audacious Thief into a 4/4 blocker (still drawing a card), then dropped the Presence and a Swamp to deal the final 2 and gain some life back.

Kykar and Golos I already talked about, they're simply very fun build arounds without being overpowered.
 
Velrun

Velrun

Wait what, how did you guys not understand the card correct?

You cannot make actions for your opponent so whenever they are told to do something it will always be them doing that.

Super intuitive!

Compare to Hinder where you are told to do something.

If a card tells you to do something = You do it.
If a card tells enemy to do smth = They do it.
 
Onderzeeboot

Onderzeeboot

Ecstatic Orb
It's not that I don't get it now that it was pointed out to me, but if it was super intuitive, I'm guessing you wouldn't have seen two posts by people who did this wrong here. Even if you make the choice, your opponent is still the one who puts it on top or on the bottom of their deck, you're not snatching it from their hand to put it on the bottom yourself. The English wording is just ambiguous enough here that you can gloss over the intended meaning, which is obviously a thing that happened in real life. If they had chosen to write it as: "Its owner chooses and puts it ..." they would have avoided the ambiguity. It's also not a bit of rules text that we're super used to see (Aetherspouts being the only other card that has the same effect), it's almost always the caster who gets to make the choice. In conclusion, for me it's actually not that intuitive, and I think it's a missed opportunity to use an alternative wording that would have made the intent abundantly clear.
 
Kirblinx

Kirblinx

Developer
Staff member
Heymaker said:
Am I the only one who played the entire prerelease thinking that the caster got to choose top or bottom for the spell/permanent on Aether Gust? :oops:
Click to expand...

I also had this problem when I first read it. This is the plus with playing on MTGO, as you can't play the card wrong. I was wondering why it didn't give me the option to top or bottom, then I reread the card and facepalmed myself.

Also another card that I misread:


Did you know this card actually hits your opponents flyers? I didn't. I sat there getting hit by a Warden of Evos Isle, until they has some ground creatures I could kill, then I cast it and their whole board disappeared.

Reading cards is the real tech apparently :rolleyes:
 
Heymaker

Heymaker

Another card I misread from WAR because it didn't contain the word 'may', which I've been very conditioned to look for. I'm quite positive my opponent was very confused when I basically sacrificed my wolfy to his only creature on the battlefield:


I understand WotC makes wording changes to be more concise, less ambiguous, and easier to parse. There's just a lot of learned shorthands and precedent they have to fight through to achieve that in the long term -- or rather, *we* have to.
 
psly4mne

psly4mne

Heymaker said:
Another card I misread from WAR because it didn't contain the word 'may', which I've been very conditioned to look for. I'm quite positive my opponent was very confused when I basically sacrificed my wolfy to his only creature on the battlefield
Click to expand...
fights up to one target creature.

It's worded that way so that you gain life even if your opponent doesn't have any creatures. In the pre-MTGO age, it would have been worded "... and you may have it fight target creature", but that wording has fallen out of favor for various reasons.
 
vennythekid

vennythekid

Has anyone played with or against this card yet?


It just reads like a sweet card. Makes you think, wins the game if its played properly, but also costly and expensive.
 
Onderzeeboot

Onderzeeboot

Ecstatic Orb
vennythekid said:
Has anyone played with or against this card yet?


It just reads like a sweet card. Makes you think, wins the game if its played properly, but also costly and expensive.
Click to expand...
I am currently testing it because I run a discard subtheme in {B}{U}{R}. There's so many cheaper discard outlets though, I wonder if it makes the cut. On the other hand, imagine an Altar in play with Squee, Goblin Nabob in hand and Drake Haven and Faith of the Devoted in play. Yeah, I know, magical Christmas land, but it is what the discard deck is trying to assemble, and even if it happens only once, it's going to be glorious :D

No results in yet though, because there were some other things I was trying out.
 
Velrun

Velrun

That’s not a stupid idea!

It is like Aristocrats. You need an enabler, a card being used and a payoff. In Aristocrats it would be a sacrifice outlet, a creature that wants to be sacrificed and a permanent that benefits whenever you sacrifice a creature.

Aristocrats example:


For your discard theme it would be a discard outlet, a card that wants to be discarded and a permanent that benfits when you discard a card.

Discard wheel example:


What is so cool about this is the fact that so many cards can find its way into both themes in the black/red part of both Aristocrats (which are most often found in Jund splash white) and discard wheel (which I think will most often be found in Grixis splash white.)

You are a genius! A global cube treasure :p
What do you want to name your theme?
 
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