Unlocking the Vault #24: A Classic Review of Avacyn Restored

Last time, I discussed the most hyped and dissected card from Avacyn Restored, Temporal Mastery. If you are looking for my thoughts on that card, please check out my last article. That being said, I’ve come around a little bit on the card. One application that I pointed out as a benefit to using Mastery is in conjunction with planeswalkers. I think that application, as a one-of, could be quite powerful. Consider setting up a turn where you can cast Temporal Mastery and Tezzeret the Seeker at the same time (a lot of mana to be sure, so “Turbo Tezz” might be the only possibility since you can’t reliably master time and something like a Mana Drain). Using Tezzeret, you can tutor up Time Vault and use the extra turn to use Tezzeret again to uptap the Vault and take infinite turns. I still don’t think it’s going to be everywhere, but I plan to test the card with a planeswalker-heavy deck to try it out (I already think it’s a great choice for Show and Tell-Oath).

Definite Playables

Moving on, here are some of the other cards that I think will see play in Classic in the near future:

Perhaps the second-most hyped card from Avacyn Restored is Cavern of Souls. This card was printed as a solution to Mana Leak in the current Standard environment, yet Eternal formats could see as much or more of an impact from this card than Standard will! As a rainbow land specifically for creatures, Cavern fixes the problem of 3- and 4-Color Aggro/Tempo decks while still providing colorless mana to cast such critical spells as Ancient Grudge, Demonic Tutor, Grafdiggers Cage, Hurkyl’s Recall, and Jace, the Mind Sculptor, to name a few. It’s also possible to name different creature types (read humans and wizards, or Humans and Lhurgoyf) with multiple Caverns drawn, or to double up on the same creature type to avoid being blown out by a Wasteland.

On the flip side, though, is what Cavern of Souls doesn’t do well. It cannot cast these critical spells for Delver/Fish decks: Lightning Bolt, Swords to Plowshares, Brainstorm, Ponder, Nature’s Claim, Spell Pierce, Stifle, and Flusterstorm. Additionally, two of the most important creatures that put Delver/Fish decks over the top (especially in mirror matches), are not humans or wizards: Tarmogoyf and Trygon Predator. The omission of these two creatures is rather important. While you can quickly beat down with Delver and Snapcaster et al., Oath decks can sit back and wait to counter your one trump creature (Trygon) while mirror matches could come down to who wins the counter war over their ‘Goyfs.

Cavern is also a nonbasic land, thus making it a prime target for Wasteland. Drawing multiples in decks that have a high concentration of spells, such as Delver, is also undesirable. Jamming four in most aggro/tempo decks seems wrong, but I’d need some testing to confirm. Two-three seems like the most likely number to avoid drawing multiples while also giving you a reasonable chance to draw it in the first place.

That being said, making things uncounterable in a format perhaps defined by a free counter spell from Alliances (Force of Will) is a big deal. You can freely cast your Delvers and other tribal creatures without fear of tempo loss from countermagic. Similar utility has been found in AEther Vial, but I always found it a little too slow for Classic. It would usually take 2-3 turns before it did anything, which is almost an eternity in Eternal formats. Additionally, you always had to make a choice: do I try to hardcast my 3-drop, or do I add another counter to Vial and leave the rest of my 2-drops naked until I draw another Vial? Recently, Mental Misstep has almost completely forced Vial out of the metagame. Cavern, on the other hand, speeds up the utility of Vial while taking away the upside of putting a creature into play at instant speed (Snapcaster aside) and the cumulative mana savings each turn that come with a Vial. I think that is arguably a worthwhile tradeoff. Casting a Delver on Turn 1 and a 2-Drop on Turn 2 without worrying about countermagic is powerful.

There are 4 potential “tribes” in Classic that could benefit from this rainbow land: humans, wizards, goblins, and merfolk.

Humans and wizards are nearly one and the same, so I’ll talk about them as a whole, noting the key differences between the two (non-human wizards include: Aven Mindcensor, Vendilion Clique, Qasali Pridemage, Sower of Temptation, Spellstutter Sprite, and Yixlid Jailer; while non-wizard humans include: Ethersworn Canonist, Noble Hierarch, Fiend Hunter, Thalia, Guardian of Thraben and True Believer). The crossover between the two tribes is quite remarkable, though. Consider the following list of human wizards:

Snapcaster Mage
Dark Confidant
Grim Lavamancer
Magus of the Moon
Meddling Mage
Trinket Mage
Delver of Secrets
Laboratory Maniac
Lord of the Unreal
Stern Proctor

In fact, a quick Gatherer search revealed more than 250 such human wizards! Nonetheless, only those that are relevant in Classic are listed above, either actively seeing play today, or having seen some level of play in the past year (aside from Laboratory Maniac, which is a card I wish could see play!). Obviously, today’s Devler decks are stocked with wizards and or humans. Delver, Snapcaster, and Bob are found in nearly every Delver deck, while Sower and Clique are fairly common.

Merfolk are often played in Classic as a port from Legacy. I would certainly consider cutting Vials for Caverns as this should clear the way for lords to enter play earlier. It’s worth noting that Cavern does not play well with Daze, so there is one additional downside beyond those listed above. Does Cavern make Merfolk a stronger option in Classic? I’d venture to say probably not any more than it was before Cavern, though it could make the deck one turn faster.

Goblins has 4-0′ed a Classic event as recently as April 2012, and Cavern fits nicely into that deck as well. Making a Turn 1 Goblin Lackey uncounterable is a big deal, as Misstep had largely kept it in check. I could see Goblins gaining the most out of Cavern, though most Goblins decks are mono-red and thus immune to Wasteland without running Cavern. Cavern creates the opportunity for other aggro/tempo decks to disrupt the Goblins pilot’s manabase. This seems like the only downside since there are few, if any, non-creature spells in Goblins decks.

Oath decks have another new toy to consider: Griselbrand. His ability to draw seven cards as soon as he hits the board is just as amazing as his name is. Even if lifelink weren’t tacked on, I think he would be a strong consideration for Oath decks.

So, why would you choose Griselbrand over other Oath targets such as Emrakul, the Aeons Torn, Terastodon, Iona, Shield of Emeria, etc.? It’s the fact that it is nearly impossible to lose after he hits the board. Unless you have less than 8 life or are dead to an alpha strike on the following turn, drawing seven cards should give you the ammo to either protect him (read: draw lots of countermagic) or you’ll draw into another win condition such as Time Vault-Voltaic Key (or perhaps another way to assemble them). Further, each turn that he stays in play exponentially diminishes the chance that your opponent can come back. Griselbrand‘s lifelink ability basically lets you draw 7 cards each turn for free every turn after the first. You could even strap a Dragon Breath on him to potentially draw 14 cards as soon as he hits play. Filthy!

Griselbrand is also an excellent choice for Show and Tell. Show and Tell already had a decent interaction with Yawgmoth’s Bargain, and Griselbrand is even better since it doubles as a win condition itself! Another possibility is using Griselbrand out of Dredge. While Dread Returning Flame-kin Zealot is better if you can assemble an army of zombies, resurrecting Griselbrand will allow you to basically dump your entire library with his draw-7 ability, assuming you have at least one high value dredger already in your graveyard. This would allow you to find a Zealot and anything else needed to amass a lethal alpha strike on the same turn. It’s worth noting that Griselbrand is black, so it can be exiled to Ichorid and Unmask, something Zealot can’t do. Perhaps it simply is a better choice than Sun Titan going forward.

Fringe Playables

I don’t see any other cards from Avacyn Restored that are definitely Classic-playable. There are a few cards that I think are fringe-playable, so I’ll outline them here. I don’t think this set has a Delver of Secrets or a Slash Panther sleeper card, but we’ve been proven wrong before!

The first fringe card I want to discuss is Misthollow Griffin. The Griffin has a few synergies with Eternal staples; most readily apparent is with Force of Will. The possibilities to abuse this card do not end there. What about Chrome Mox? Yes, once you cast it from exile it is no longer imprinted and turns the Mox into a dead card, but let’s not rule this out completely. A French Vanilla 3/3 Flyer is nothing special, but it provides flexibility. In the early game you can use the Griffin to pitch to Mox to potentially cast Mana Drain as early as Turn 1 (similar to Lotus Petal) and once you’ve established a manabase, you can cast the Griffin for some value and maybe threaten an opponent’s planeswalker. We’ve all seen what a 3/2 French Vanilla Flyer can do to the format. Obviously, this isn’t the best use of one of your 60 cards, but I’m willing to try it out in the event that the acceleration is worthwhile. If nothing else, this is a card to watch out for in the future, as it could gain some serious value if there is another card made that can abuse it. (Maybe Doomsday? Who knows?) I would be willing to bet there is a better than 50/50 shot that the next block has a card that can interact with this card, though it might only be Standard-playable.

There has also been much talk about the Griffin’s combo with Food Chain in Legacy. The combo can produce infinite mana to cast creature spells, which basically is just another in a long line of ways to cheat out an Emrakul. I have a hard time seeing it making an impact in Classic. If I want to play a combo deck in Classic, I’ll just play LED or Gush Storm. That being said, it does have a few advantages to Storm. There are no direct hosers like Flusterstorm and Mindbreak Trap, and you have access to countermagic to stop any disruption thrown at you, including the benefit that Misthollow Griffin is perfect fuel for a Force of Will battle. In the end, Griffin-Chain is a 3-card combo, so the variance in assembling it is quite high.

Wheel of Fortune and other draw-7s are not played in Storm decks these days. Draw-7s are not nearly as valuable as they were 7-10 years ago simply because the countermagic available these days is much, much better than it used to be. Mental Misstep, Trap, and Force can stop any threats you manage to draw, even if your opponent is tapped out. It’s just not profitable enough to hand your opponent a fresh grip of answers, no matter how powerful your threats could be.

That being said, a 2-mana Wheel is certainly interesting. Memory Jar can be found in Belcher decks and occasionally in Workshop decks, especially ones with Goblin Welder. There is no chance that this card will replace Jar in Red Workshop decks, but Belcher decks could use this to great effect if they aren’t able to win on Turn 1. With the number of Lotus Petals and Simian Spirit Guides that Belcher has access to, casting this could be just the fuel needed to get things going. Perhaps even more intriguing is the chance that a new red combo deck could emerge! Past in Flames has been a disappointment thus far, but imagine a red combo list based around Burning Wish and Grapeshot and/or Empty the Warrens?!? There are quite a few red Rituals available (Seething Song, Rite of Flame, Manamorphose, and Desperate Ritual, as well as Tinder Wall); maybe Reforge the Soul is just the card to make Past in Flames a viable strategy in Classic. (Aside: the new red Ritual in Avacyn Restored, Battle Hymn, would be another sleeper in the event that such a deck is possible. It could power up a lethal Grapeshot after casting Warrens.)

Here is a crude starting point for a decklist:

Red Storm by enderfall

Creatures (8) 4 Simian Spirit Guide 4 Tinder Wall Other Spells (49) 4 Burning Wish 4 Chrome Mox 4 Desperate Ritual 3 Empty the Warrens 2 Faithless Looting 4 Land Grant 4 Lion’s Eye Diamond 4 Lotus Petal 1 Mana Crypt 4 Manamorphose 1 Memory Jar 1 Past in Flames 4 Reforge the Soul 4 Rite of Flame 4 Seething Song 1 Wheel of Fortune Lands (3) 3 Taiga Sideboard (15) 1 Ancient Grudge 1 Empty the Warrens 4 Guttural Response 1 Forest 2 Hull Breach 3 Ingot Chewer 1 Past in Flames 1 Shattering Spree 1 Taiga

Buy this Deck

I really don’t see Vexing Devil making RDW any better than it already is. Misstep is rampant in Classic and even with the downside, it might be useful to simply pay the 4 life and use the Misstep on a different burn spell when you have the mana to pay for it. I’m sure that a lot of people will try this out, but I have my reservations for claiming that this card will make an impact in Classic. This is not Goblin Guide 2.0. It’s more like a different kind of Lava Spike.

A modern day Library of Alexandria? Its upside to Library is that it can draw you a card without having the restriction of requiring exactly 7 cards in hand. A modern day Bazaar of Baghdad? It does provide colorless mana if it’s needed, but for what one is looking for Bazaar to do, it simply does it much better than the “Loothouse”.

One interesting potential benefit to the Lighthouse in Classic could be a UR Goblin Welder shell. Bazaar was always a strange fit for Control Slaver decks. It filled up your graveyard, but sometimes it would prevent you from playing the control game that some matchups required either because you didn’t have the right mana needed to cast spells or your hand was empty while digging for your combo pieces. The Loothouse can dump key artifacts into the graveyard while doing so at no loss of card advantage. In the end, though, tying up as much as 4 lands to activate it is probably left for the folks in Standard and perhaps Modern to abuse. It deserves consideration for Classic, though.

Wrath of God does not see any play in Classic. It is far too slow at 4 mana, especially requiring 2 white mana. That being said, a 1-white-mana “Wrath” deserves a second look. Classic has been defined by Delver and Fish decks for much of this year. Terminus could be a useful sideboard card for any decks that are similarly trying to abuse Temporal Mastery. It naturally has many of the same downsides as Mastery does, but for creature removal, it deals with quite a few problematic cards such as Blightsteel Colossus and Emrakul in addition to all of the aggro threats in the format. Even Oath decks could put this to good use. If your opponent manages to get out a Qasali Pridemage or another creature that threatens your Oath of Druids, for a 1-mana investment, you can rid yourself of those problem cards and still leave your Forbidden Orchard available to tap to play your Oath. Not a bad deal, but obviously a sideboard-only option.

There is quite a fight brewing at the 3-drop spot in Fish decks to draw you cards as Cold-Eyed Selkie and Edric, Spymaster of Trest have a new member of their exclusive club. Lookout is easier to cast, but the benefits basically end there. Selkie has evasion and if pumped can draw multiple cards while Edric gives his ability to all of your creatures, not just himself and one other. Then again, he can be killed by a Metamorph, I guess. Due to the fact that Tandem Lookout in an uncommon, it will be a decent budget option for those people not able to invest in Selkie and/or Edric.

My last card is one that might raise the most eyebrows, and frankly, it has almost no shot at making the cut in any Classic deck. That being said, it does have some techy interactions with Workshop creatures such as Triskelion and Precursor Golem. If this card cost 3 mana, it might be fringe playable, but at 5 mana, it’s nigh unplayable.

Wrap-up

And thus concludes my overview of Avacyn Restored‘s impact on Classic. I can’t wait to try out a few of these cards, especially Griselbrand. While there aren’t quite as many cards worth considering in this large set as I would have imagined, there are certainly some powerful cards that Classic players will want to get their hands on once supply has stabilized.

Do you think I missed any potential impact cards? Let me know in the comment section!

enderfall
Clan Magic Eternal
Follow me on Twitter @enderfall