People didn't really know what to expect apart from Dragons and Ugin and speculations were pretty varied and wild.
Well, the set is here and mostly spoiled so has it lived up to the hype?
For me the answer to that question is unfortunately a big fat resounding: No, it has not.
There are clearly some super strong cards in the set that will see heavy play in standard but I feel that the set is lacking flavour and has some weird design issues that I just can't get on board with.
What it comes down to most for me is the way Mythics have been done in the set and the super underwhelming dragons being printed.
I understand that when you’re printing something like 10 dragons in a set, they can't all be mind blowingly sweet constructed all-stars but would it be too much to ask for 1 or 2 of them to at least be decent? Instead, each time a dragon was spoiled was more disappointing than the last.
Now that they're all spoiled, there are only 2 that are even remotely worth talking about, those 2 being the GW and RB ones.
I feel these, in particular the GW one, may see some niche play but I'm not holding my breath even on these.The rest are flat untouchable from any constructed point of view.
PS: Yes, you should first pick the dragons in limited. Cos you know, reasons...
The other issue for me are the mythics.
WotC has completely switched around which cards they put at mythic in this set and I hate it.
In all other sets, the legendary Dragons and the Khan leaders would be printed at mythic and the power mythics in this set would be printed at rare.
I would be fine with the dragon cycle here being at rare given the limited mythic slots in a small set but the entire hybrid mana activated ability mythic cycle should be at rare as well as cards like Monastery Mentor. These cards are all very powerful but they are not 'mythic'.
It's like if Boros Reckoner was printed at mythic and Aurelia, The Warleader was printed at rare in Gatecrash.
Overall a giant flavour fail.
The weird choice of cards to put at mythic has also left the set with super powerful mythics and basically zero playable rares which is annoying for monetary card values at the very least.
The new manifest mechanic also seems to have led to some uninspired and repetitive card design.
Just take a look at these 2 commons for example:
There are two huge issues I have with these 2 cards in this cycle.
a) They're the same card with minor number tweaks
b) The red one makes a bigger creature than the green one
Really? Is this the best design space the manifest mechanic provides?
I hate this mechanic a lot in general but what I hate most about it is the lack of diversity it seems to allow.
Still, would it have been so hard to make the green on cost 5 and give 2 counters and the red one cost 5, give 1 counter and haste? Or hell, just flip their colours and leave as is for much better colour pie adherence?
With all that said, there's no doubt that the set will impact standard heavily and people are already jamming the new cards into decks to see what works.
Below are 3 decks that I've been having a look at. They are still early versions obviously with little to no play testing but I feel each of them represent a viable strategy going forward in Fate Reforged standard.
With all but 1 of the mythics and most of the rares spoiled, I think it's fair to say that Shaman of the Great Hunt is the best agro card in the set which means that we musts plays it my precious!
I'm still not sold on mono-red, outside of the sligh version which has no time for 4 drops, since the 2 drop slot is super lacking for the deck at the moment and the field is extremely hostile to small ground creatures that don't go real wide.
Also, apparently Shaman of the Great Hunt has an activated ability. Admittedly it's a bad one since it doesn't do damage to things but an activated ability none the less so why not see if we can activate it at some point.
Savage Knuckleblade is another card I've been wanting to play since it got printed and one I feel is underplayed right now for its stupid power levels.
To this end, I decided to roll out my Lounging Kibler playmat and make its subject proud.
Here's the hunting party I ended up with as a first draft:
Creatures(25):
4 Rattleclaw Mystic
4 Heir of the Wilds
3 Boon Satyr
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
4 Savage Knuckleblade
4 Shaman of the Great Hunt
2 Stormbreath Dragon
Spells(12):
3 Crater's Claws
4 Lightning Strike
2 Temur Charm
2 Stubborn Denial
1 Disdainful Stroke
Lands(23):
4 Frontier Bivouac
2 Temple of Abandon
1 Temple of Mystery
1 Temple of Epiphany
3 Yavimaya Coast
3 Shivan Reef
1 Mana Confluence
4 Wooded Foothills
2 Forest
2 Mountain
Sideboard(15):
2 Stubborn Denial
2 Disdainful Stroke
2 Arc Lightning
2 Wild Slash
1 Chandra, Pyromaster
1 Keranos, God of Storms
2 Back to Nature
3 Hunt the Hunter
RUG has seem some play but it's never really been a top end contender.
I've always found the deck inconsistent and lacking that little bit of extra punch to put it over the top.
I don't know if Shaman of the Great Hunt will fix its issues but this is a home I feel will suite the hunter well.
The other card, again a Mythic because apparently playable cards all get printed at mythic now *shrug*, that was immediately in my wheel house when spoiled is Brutal Hordechief.
The obvious comparison to Hellrider is obvious but realistically I expect this card to play very differently to my demon friend of seasons past.
The lack of haste is a VERY big difference and means you can't really play this as the top end to a creature heavy RDW style agro deck like Hellrider saw play in.
I think the best shell for the Hordechief is a BWR tokens list where it adds a lot of value to your random 1/1s, even if they’re just chump attacking.
This brings is to the token master himself, Young Pyromancer 2.0 or as I like to think of it, Goblin Rabblemaster 2.Slow, Monastery Mentor:
I feel this card is currently being slightly over hyped but probably not by very much. The card's a good one to be sure and will see heavy standard play.
A lot of people are excited for him in UWR tokens but I feel he has a very good home in BWR too.
Here's a preliminary list featuring both these cards that I'm keen to try out:
Creatures(12):
4 Monastery Mentor
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
4 Brutal Hordechief
Planeswalkers(3):
3 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
Spells(20):
4 Raise the Alarm
4 Hordling Outburst
4 Crackling Doom
4 Stoke the Flames
4 Lightning Strike
(Haven't bothered adding a mana base but you should be able to sort it out)
I'm not really sure if Hordechief is actually better in this deck than Butcher of the Horde but I'm willing to give him a go.
He's also a warrior and the mass of playable warriors IS slowly creeping into the critical range so a BW warrior list may be on the horizon pretty soon.
The last deck I revisited was the classic UWR tempo/argo list from early in the season since Monastery Mentor and Shaman of the Great Hunt both look to fit in there too:
Creatures(18):
4 Seeker of the Way
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
4 Monastery Mentor
4 Mantis Rider
2 Shaman of the Great Hunt
Planeswalkers(2):
2 Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker
Spells(16):
4 Jeskai Charm
4 Stoke the Flames
4 Lightning Strike
4 Wild Slash
It's highly likely that the tokens Ascendency version of UWR is still just better but I did enjoy playing the tempo deck and wouldn’t mind picking it up again at some point.
Also, Mantis Rider is WAY too sweet to not see play.
The curve of mantis rider into Shaman of the Great Hunt (btw, really wish it had a shorter name...) seems rather good. Even if you can't attack with the Shaman, Mantis rider gets a +1/+1 counter and next turn you can remove or bounce their blockers to get through on the ground as well, or just draw 2 cards, attack for 4 in the air and get another counter.
Sure, I get that removal exists and that this scenario isn't too likely but hey, everything dies to removal and sometimes they don't have it.
I'm sure I'll be brewing a whole lot of decks in the coming few weeks but that's it for now.
I'll be running the Saturday pre-release event again as usual so looking forward to seeing how the limited game play is changed.
I guess I can't really leave it without commenting on Ugin himself so here he is:
I don't like this card. Basically at all.
Sure, it will probably see 1, maybe 2 of, play in some sort of UW, UB or Esper control list but this is certainly one of the weakest mythics in the set.
PS: None of the siege cycle are playable. Sorry Sam.
