Hello everyone,
Today I would like to talk about a few cards that create some controversy in different forums and chat rooms – mainly about their power level. Having played over fifty M10 drafts so far I feel confident to share some insight and strategy. First we talk about some cards that are hard to evaluate and then I show you a short list of overused and undervalued cards. So let’s dive right in!
1. A few unclear picks
To evaluate this creature we first have a look at its power/toughness and the resulting implications. With a 4 toughness it can attack into and block Kalinore Bats, Wind Drake, Snapping Drake, Sage Owl, Zephyr Sprite, Griffin Sentinel, Razorfoot Griffin and Stormfront Pegasus and come out as the winner.
It kills every common flyer except its own mirror in combat – that is pretty huge. As many things in life it comes with a downside and that is that any targeted spell or effect make the card disappear.
How bad is that? It depends highly on the type of deck you are facing and its composition of course. How many targeted effects are in your opponents deck? More importantly how many of those would NOT kill a “normal” creature? Clearly an opponents Doom Blade is not a reason for concern as any non-black creature would die to it.
Let me show you the relevant common and uncommon cards in each color that make the Servant disappear and would not kill or completely neutralize most other creatures
Black: Unholy Strength
Blue: Unsummon, Alluring Siren. Please note that against Blue the disadvantage is actually a benefit when facing Mind Control….
Green: Giant Growth, Oakenform
Red: Sparkmage Apprentice, Panic Attack, Kindled Fury, Act of Treason, Prodigal Pyromancer
White: Blinding Mage, Excommunicate, Armored Ascension
With this list in mind and taking into consideration how likely it is to face the cards in a match (rarity and playability) we can conclude the following order from “best to face” to “worst to face”:
Black
Blue
Green (the reason why Green is a better matchup then White and Red is mainly that the common spells targeting Illusionary Servant would be very good for your opponents own creatures).
White
Red
Illusionary Servant is very strong when facing Black and Blue decks. It is good against Green and White and often mediocre against Red.
I would happily maindeck 2x of them and board them out if possible against a White/Green/Red combination. If I am facing Black or Black/Blue I play all I have from the board.
Please note that playing Blue and being able to counter your opponents threats will not help you to protect your Servant as targeting the creature triggers the sacrifice.
I follow up with Ice Cage mainly because it has a lot of similarities with Illusionary Servant regarding its weakness. As long as the card stays in play it works as a super Pacifism as it shuts down all combat and prevents abilities. This is quite relevant as cards such as Merfolk Looter, Prodigal Pyromancer, Blinding Mage, etc. really don’t care much about being excluded from combat.
The downside is the same as with the Illusionary Servant – anything targeting it, destroys it. So can we simply use the list we had before to rank the colors you are playing against? Yes and No.
There are some subtle but important differences in color ranking. This time beneficial effects are more devastating then before. If you opponent uses Oakenform to kill your Servant he basically traded your creature for a card. If he uses it on his creature he not only gets the benefit of a huge creature but destroys your enchantment, too. In case of Ice Cage if feel that Green and White are probably the worst matchups. Ice Cage is even more vulnerable the the Servant because any equipment on your opponents side is really bad news. So when and how should you play the card?
- You have an aggressive deck that can deal damage quickly and preventing a few blocks or ability activations is all you need to make it worthwhile
- You are lacking removal and have to take your chances to win
- You don’t see any equipment on your opponents side
- You are playing Black/Blue decks.
- You are a gambler and like the power over reliability…
Most players consider Sleep a limited bomb and pick it very high. Sleep can be extremely strong if the right situation is present. To understand how high you should pick the card you need to examine the situations where it can shine.
Think about it for a while – what makes Sleep a strong play?
Obviously we want creatures in play to take advantage of the fact that the opponent cannot block. So if you have a creature light deck it might not be as good as you think. In addition to that we would like to have a situation where the opponent cannot easily reinforce during his turn to establish a base of blockers till his team wakes up (low hand count). Sleep is not very useful if you are trading a lot of creatures and have a lot of evasion while holding the ground with blockers (Wall of Frost, Wall of Bones, Drudge Skeletons, etc.). It is best against archetypes that generate stalemates such as Green/White or Green/Black with a lot of creatures staring at each other. I think that it works wonders in Green/Blue decks and White/Blue decks.
I believe to make this card really a bomb you need:
- At least 13 creatures
- An aggressive build that does not try to maximize creature trades (you are not holding back your creatures for blocking and trade when opponent attacks)
- A creature base that with high power average (an attack with your Horned Turtle armada will most likely be quite inefficient…)
Sleep is a bad defensive card as you can only play it during your turn and therefore only prevent one attack. So before you simply pick it above other good cards think if it really fits in your deck. If you take it early during the draft you better pick cards that supplement it nicely or you might find yourself disappointed with its effect.
2. Overrated cards
This card might remind some of the “Old School” players of Ray of Command only that Act of Treason is a sorcery. Which makes this card much worse. Some players pick this very high and I don’t really understand why. Most of the time this card simply deals a few damage to the opponent. It does not kill a creature and is often card disadvantage. Many times you would be better of simply playing Lava Axe instead.
Yes, if you have a useful sacrifice outlet the card becomes interesting. But unless you play Black and have a Vampire Aristocrat in play, such outlet is hard to find. I am not arguing that the card is unplayable but often its impact is much smaller then you might think.
Again. I feel sometimes it is really necessary to understand what a card is exactly doing before giving out a star rating. Rise from the Grave looks like an amazing bomb. How many times is this better then packing a good 5 mana creature instead?
Of course there are situations where you can pick up an amazing bomb creature from a graveyard and Rise from the Grave is certainly a good playable but it is far from being a bomb. You are often not worse or even better of playing a solid creature instead.
A flying creature that lets you rearrange the top 4 cards of your library?! What’s not to like? Actually quite a lot. It is nice to able to switch the top 4 but without shuffle effects or filtering you are stuck with what you see – just in different order. There is no card draw involved and the body is often to small to make a significant impact. It is a playable creature for sure but by no means a very high pick for me.
Before you shout foul let me ensure you that I think that the Cloak is a good card. In some decks. I list it here because some players pick and play it without making sure that their deck really needs it. If you are playing Green with heavy beaters that are in danger of being blocked by regeneraters and walls be my guest to say:”This card is a bomb!”. Seeing this in White/Blue flying/evasion decks makes me rather sad though. I am sure you can find something more useful to do with your mana….
3. Underrated cards
The recent rule changes have lowered the power level of Unsummon as you no longer can block or attack into a creature, put damage on the stack and then save it from the graveyard. That being said, this card is still amazing in many situations. It is an instant for one mana and can
- Save your best creature from removal (at the same time countering the lifegain of Tendrils and Consume Spirit)
- Gain card and tempo advantage by bouncing an opponents creature with Oakenform, Armored Ascension, Lifelink, Unholy Strength, etc.)
- Remove an Ice Cage and Entangling Vines, get your stolen creature back, kill Illusionary Servants, remove a blocker, bounce an attacking creature that just got pumped with Giant Growth, etc., etc.,
Underplayed and undervalued it often not only tables but suffers an existence in the last few picks coming around the table. I am happy to give this card a new home in my deck.
I don’t see this card very often in my opponents’ decks (Maybe I am just lucky?). This card is actually quite amazing, especially if you are not playing Blue and you cannot counter. It removes such cards as Mind Control, Overrun, Any Planeswalker, Fireball, Sleep, all kind of combat tricks, etc. and gives you a free peak at your opponents hand. I would definitively play one in any Black deck that does not have Counterspell backup. Often your opponent is waiting for the right moment to cast his non-creature bomb – make sure that moment never comes.
This guy is quite popular but I still think most don’t realize how good a turn one Soul Warden really is. Most draft decks have between 11 and 15 creatures and it is quite common that a Soul Warden grants you 10+ life over the course of the game. If they don’t kill it. In which case you gained life and sucked out a removal spell for one mana….
This creature is really amazing. You need to see this card in action to believe what it can do early in the game.
Take care,
Plejades
