Gatecrash Spoilers

[yugular]

My set review:
PAUPER:
White:
Smite: Decent removal in std pauper. Keep in mind!

Syndic of Tithes: The best white common in the set. Still not very exciting. I can't really evaluate extort without playing it first, but I don't think this bear will make it in the ww.


Blue:
Cloudfin Raptor: Anyone remember Delver of Secrets? A one mana 1/1 that turned out to shake the whole classic metagame a year ago. Cloudfin Raptor has some of the same characteristics. He is a small t1 play with huge upside if you build your deck to support it. t2 Delver of Secrets/Cloud of Faeries triggers evolve. Spire Golem evolves it later on and so on. If the creature type on this would have been a faerie it would have been too much. I see that this card has potential to make a splash in the classic metagame and who else thinks UW Fliers and Simic Tempo will be good deck choices in the std pauper metagame during the next few months?

Hands of Binding: Seems like interesting Cipher card for pauper, but I just don't see the benefits of running it. Detaining would have been more interesting, but paralyzing grasp just doesn't seem good enough to jump through any hoops.

Keymaster Rogue: The cipher enabler in pauper. I can see people trying this one in std pauper if any of the cipher effects are good (Last thoughts maybe?). So might be borderline playable in std pauper. We will see.

Last Thoughts: Interesting design and opportunity, but too expensive for classic pauper.

Black:
Contaminated Ground: I have a weak spot for LD and Land disruption in general. The desing in this card is interesting, but not strong enough to see play. Right?

Devour Flesh: What a bad edict effect.

Red:
Ember Beast: Works together with Mogg Flunkies! And yes I mean in standard pauper!

Massive Raid: Interesting. Red seems to have "horde/tokens" theme going strong in the past few sets (Kuldotha Rebirth, Thatcher Revolt, Foundry Street Denizen etc.) and this certainly is a reach card for those strategies. Clearly that is quite uninteresting from classic pauper viewpoint, but what about storm and empty the warrens? This card is clearly one mana more expensive than Goblin Bushwhacker and requires more bigger storm count to make it but dodges Sandstorm and yeah.. I was able to convince myself that this is actually a really bad option…

Green:
Crocanura: Seems like an interesting option as a reach blocker for delver and its like and can also turn into a wincon in lategame. Still i don't think this can compete against Penumbra Spider and other creatures that are played in this role in classic pauper.

Forced Adaptation: Is this good in the hexproof deck? Or is it too slow? I haven't played the deck so I don't really know how to evaluate cards for it…

Naturalize: Bad art. Move along…

Slaughterhorn: This card can play two roles and actually is pretty good at the combat trick role by being uncountable. His secondary role (3-mana 3/2) is not great, but the flexibility is important. I will keep an eye for this card.

Spire Tracer: Is worse than it's previous form (Silhana Ledgewalker). She first seems to be ok because you remember Silhana and associate the two, but then you realize that she is just a worse Tormented Soul…

Gold & Hybrid:
Drakewing Krasis: Seems ok at first, but really its just a flier that dies in every creature combat it will ever get and isn't even fast.

Shambleshark: This might be a decent creature but Simic isn't a guild that is really present in the current classic pauper metagame. Therefore we will see this card only in standard pauper.

Zhur-Taa Swine: I want to win a game by Bloodrushing this guy into an unblocked infect creature I don't think this card will see much play but I hope that people test it as this is a card that will make memorable plays.

Pit Fight: Yes! I am really glad we see this ability in instant speed. I am unsure if it will actually be playable in classic pauper and which deck wants it, but the card is interesting and something I was hoping to get printed. FIGHT!

Shattering Blow: I wish this was printed a year ago when a certain artifact creature was played in every single standard pauper deck… Is the exiling part important in any case in classic pauper? I cant think of any card where it matters…

5 New gates are coming, but we all knew that… Nothing interesting there...

[grumpyoldgamer]

Nice review and I agree with you on a lot of it.

I probably like Syndic of Tithes more than you do however. Agressive White decks often lack reach, and the Syndic can provide some. Since he's the only decent White Common with Extort, he probably won't make much of a splash in Standard Pauper. Basilica Screecher might help though, if one is willing to go Orzhov.

I'm not a fan of Cloudfin Raptor, not in Classic at least. He's slower/smaller than Delver and by the time he becomes a threat, he's overclassed by things like Spire Golem. He might make it in Standard though. Evolve is one of the better mechanic, and there's quite a few solid options at Common. I can definitely see some kind of U/G Tempo Evolve deck making it.

I do like Keymaster Rogue. An 3-Powered unblockable creature that reset your CitP creatures? Yes.

Cipher is terrible. The mechanic is sweet, but all cards are overpriced by at least 1 colorless. It doesn't matter if they are Common or Rare, they all suffer from it. Unplayable in my book except perhaps for Hands of Binding. Even then, it's a stretch.

I don't know if Gruul is (or can be) a thing in Standard, but Slaughterhorn and Pit Fight are pretty strong cards. They can probably even make it in Classic. Similarly, Daring Skyjek, Skinbrand Goblin and Wojek Halberdiers can form the basis of a sweet Boros deck.

My top 5 from Gatecrash (in no particular order):
Keymaster Rogue
Pit Fight
Shambleshark
Slaughterhorn
Syndic of Tithes

Honorable mention to Basilica Screecher and Wojek Halberdiers.

[yugular]

Jan 22, 2013 19:12:25 GMT -5 @grumpyoldgamer said:

Nice review and I agree with you on a lot of it.

Thank you You are one of the community members that I have huge respect for so that means a lot.

Jan 22, 2013 19:12:25 GMT -5 @grumpyoldgamer said:

I probably like Syndic of Tithes more than you do however. Agressive White decks often lack reach, and the Syndic can provide some.

I just don't feel like extort is the kind of reach that we are looking for? Clearly this is the only white extort card that is even remotely playable (classic pauper) and one or two extort trigger(s) don't get you too far... I would rather splash red for reach really...

Jan 22, 2013 19:12:25 GMT -5 @grumpyoldgamer said:

I'm not a fan of Cloudfin Raptor, not in Classic at least. He's slower/smaller than Delver and by the time he becomes a threat, he's overclassed by things like Spire Golem.

He is slower than Delver for sure, but I feel like he goes well with delver. Spend U every turn to play a Delver/Raptor and keep counter mana up. Sure he loses to Spire Golem, but they also work well together as Spire Golem helps Raptor to evolve! I just feel like Raptor fits into blue aggressive/tempoish strategy well. I am going to test him in classic pauper for sure.

edit. I would like to add to my thoughts that Forced Adaptation is also interesting as a one mana enchantment...

[grumpyoldgamer]

Jan 24, 2013 9:07:22 GMT -5 yugular said:

Jan 22, 2013 19:12:25 GMT -5 @grumpyoldgamer said:

Nice review and I agree with you on a lot of it.

Thank you You are one of the community members that I have huge respect for so that means a lot.

Thanks, that's very nice of you.

Jan 24, 2013 9:07:22 GMT -5 yugular said:

Jan 22, 2013 19:12:25 GMT -5 @grumpyoldgamer said:

I probably like Syndic of Tithes more than you do however. Agressive White decks often lack reach, and the Syndic can provide some.

I just don't feel like extort is the kind of reach that we are looking for? Clearly this is the only white extort card that is even remotely playable (classic pauper) and one or two extort trigger(s) don't get you too far... I would rather splash red for reach really...

Yeah, I kinda have to agree here on the Red splash. We got some solid Boros-type cards recently so R/W might actually become a contender for the Weenie crown in Classic. And Boros is definitely better when it comes to Standard.

Extort is definitely one of those mechanic that we'll need to test. There's not a whole lot to chose from right now, but I hope that the next set will revisit all of these new mechanics.

Jan 24, 2013 9:07:22 GMT -5 yugular said:

Jan 22, 2013 19:12:25 GMT -5 @grumpyoldgamer said:

I'm not a fan of Cloudfin Raptor, not in Classic at least. He's slower/smaller than Delver and by the time he becomes a threat, he's overclassed by things like Spire Golem.

He is slower than Delver for sure, but I feel like he goes well with delver. Spend U every turn to play a Delver/Raptor and keep counter mana up. Sure he loses to Spire Golem, but they also work well together as Spire Golem helps Raptor to evolve! I just feel like Raptor fits into blue aggressive/tempoish strategy well. I am going to test him in classic pauper for sure.

Well, you have a point. One of the problem with the Delver decks is that they will often underperform if you can't drop a Delver of Secrets early, or if you can't flip it. The Raptor provide an intermediate Delver-ish threat.

The only problem is - as always - what do you cut? You still want a critical mass of spells, so you need to cut creatures instead. And if you cut on the faeries (Cloud and/or Sprite), then you almost want to cut some of the Ninjas - since you definitely do not want to reset your Delvers or your Raptors. So the mono or the almost mono Blue shell doesn't really work anymore. So what are the options? Tempo Simic? Seems doable.

Jan 24, 2013 9:07:22 GMT -5 yugular said:

edit. I would like to add to my thoughts that Forced Adaptation is also interesting as a one mana enchantment...

Heh. I'm not going to say that you're stretching, but... yeah. I'd rather use Burst of Strength.

That being said, what about Greenside Watcher? A 2-Power 2-drop that can untap Gates...? Maybe I'm the one stretching it.

[avery61]

Very nice review ~ looking forward to the next one.

Just looking at it from a standard persepctive - Devour Flesh is very good. Hexproof, mainly via Primal Huntbeast, is very powerful and an ethereal armored or mark of the vampired Huntbeast is tough to deal with. One of the main reason decks run Altar's Reap over Sign in Blood is so they can block a marked Huntbeast and sac the creture before damage to prevent the lifegain.

As for classic pauper (other than the lands) I'm not sure I see any of the cards having the impact the last set did. Very disappointed we didn't see some simic power coming through.

Love the text on Devour Flesh ~ "His twisted mind concluded that if he was what he ate, and he wanted to stay human, ..." the dot dot dot is pretty awesome

[legerdemain07]

Thoughts on Horror of the Dim as a finisher in a U/B control shell?
Strengths: It has a relevant rear-end for blocking, presents a reasonable clock and can protect itself from most removal.
Weaknesses: No evasion, no ETB effect, requires mana to activate its hexproof ability.

[yugular]

legerdemain07

In other formats control decks use finishers that "sort of" win the game if they are allowed to untap once. I haven't seen this kind of finishers play a role in pauper besides Ulamog's Crusher and even that is considered tier2 finisher by some players. Big finishers in pauper are all spells (Capsize, Temporal Fissure, Rolling Thunder etc.) I don't see how this card can compete with those spells... However the body and ability aren't irrelevant and I can see if someone wants to try it.

[legerdemain07]

Jan 25, 2013 18:19:34 GMT -5 yugular said:

legerdemain07

In other formats control decks use finishers that "sort of" win the game if they are allowed to untap once. I haven't seen this kind of finishers play a role in pauper besides Ulamog's Crusher and even that is considered tier2 finisher by some players. Big finishers in pauper are all spells (Capsize, Temporal Fissure, Rolling Thunder etc.) I don't see how this card can compete with those spells... However the body and ability aren't irrelevant and I can see if someone wants to try it.

Playing (non-Post) U/B Teachings/Draw-Go Control in Pauper is kind of a pet project of mine, but I've never been satisfied with the choices for a game-ending threat. Ulamog's Crusher and Errant Ephemeron were a bit too vulnerable to removal, and none of the available creatures with shroud or hexproof prior to this set seemed worth trying without splashing for green, which I thought weakened a deck that wants to run four Counterspell. This style of deck does best with a a beater that can protect itself (Sphinx of Jwar Isle and Lone Revenant are favorites of mine), maybe Horror is the card I've been waiting for. I'll report back if I get a chance to test it.

[yugular]

Definitely let us know!

[grumpyoldgamer]

Horror of the Dim is the biggest Common Hexproof body out there... beside Rubbleback Rhino, which is Green. So that has to be worth something. And while the Hexproof is conditional, U/B control decks can afford to keep the mana for it.

Legerdemain might be on to something here. But as Yugular mentionned, Common finishers do not pack a lot of punch. The Horror seems like a good "pressure" creature for control decks, or as a solid speedbump against mid-game threats. But it will still need to be backed up by bounce and/or removal to do it's job - maybe just not as much as other creatures. And that's a good thing because it open up these control decks, freeing certain card slots and allowing for different kind of builds to appear.

[yugular]

Yeah. If it was a 4/5 I would be lot more exited. After all there are quite a few creatures with toughness of 4 in the classic pauper and Myr Enforcer is quite popular card atm.

[avery61]

I can see an argument for runnng Forced Adaptation in a hexproff deck over one of the growth spells, and maybe in standard as well.

[legerdemain07]

I'll probably run at least 2 Horrors, I don't think one is enough to reliably close out games. I run 1 Capsize, 6 kill spells and 12 counters in my list, so they'll have protection. I also run a few Sea Gate Oracles as blockers against aggro decks, and they usually help me mise enough damage that a 3/4 beater or two should be able to close a match out.

Does anyone think any of the Goblin cards in Gatecrash could see play in Pauper Goblins?

[yugular]

Jan 27, 2013 2:49:32 GMT -5 legerdemain07 said:

Does anyone think any of the Goblin cards in Gatecrash could see play in Pauper Goblins?

Meh. Goblins is already pretty tight. Only really aggressive goblins can make it. Then again I haven't really played goblins ever in any format so take that with grain of salt

It's nice too see discussion about the spoilers And it is interesting to hear the set review by the guys and see if they raise same points as were raised here. Most of this discussion has taken place between the time the episode was recorded and released.

[legerdemain07]

Maybe, I kinda' like Foundry Street Denizen though. Consider:
T1 - Cast Foundry Street Denizen
T2 - Cast Mogg War Marshal, Denizen swings for 3 (+1/0 for Marshal, +1/0 for token)
T3 - Skip echo on Marshal, cast Goblin Cohort, cast kicked Goblin Bushwhacker, alpha strike for 14 (Denizen gets +1/0 for token, +1/0 for Cohort, +1/0 for Bushwhacker, +1 for Bushwhacker's kicker for a 5/1 attacker, plus the other 4 attackers). Fireblast for the win, or opponent is now in Bolt range on T4. ;D