Evaluating the Middle Tier of Playable Cards in Shadowmoor Limited

The Shadowmoor Release Tourney was this Sunday and it’s safe to say that at this point we all know what the amazing bomb common and uncommon cards are for Shadowmoor Limited. I could list them, but it would be boring. I also don’t care which is better, Kitchen Finks or Aethertow (But just to get the comments rolling, Finks is the correct answer). What I do care about is filling in the15-20 non-obvious cards of a Limited deck. And that requires knowledge of how playable the middle tier cards are. I will list bullet points for a few common and uncommon cards, along with my opinion of their playablility, if I have any. Unfortunately most of these cards will not simply be lumped into “playable” or “unplayable” columns. Our understanding of Shadowmoor tech has advanced beyond that stage already. When are these cards playable, and when would they be better in the sideboard? Comments, good sirs.

Trip Noose

This card seems like a boon in a removal-light environment; after all, it gets in any deck! So what deck really wouldn’t mind paying 2 a turn to neutralize the scariest creature across the table? What about a tempo-based beatdown deck, at the end of a race? Or a control deck, before stabilizing? To be honest I think this card is better than people think.

Repel Intruders/Torrent of Souls/River’s Grasp/Dawnglow Infusion/Firespout

Okay, Firespout is really a no brainer. But Firespout aside… Is there any one you would run with only ONE of the colors, not both? Dawnglow Infusion seems like utter trash (no disrespect, Stream of Life!) in any deck but a G/W one. And Repel Intruders is decidedly suboptimal if only blue or white comes to party. Maybe Torrent of Souls in a B/x deck? What about River’s Grasp in a U/x deck? I would lean toward yes for the former and no for the latter.

Leech Bonder

Was great for my controlling U/B draft deck, but I saw 0 copies of him played on Sunday. Is he just not fast enough? Even in sealed?

Gnarled Effigy

Too slow? Too slow. Sideboard only against control decks? Is there a time to be happy playing this in the main? It is removal, after all.

Merrow Grimeblotter

This card has gotten mixed reviews from every person I’ve asked. After playing two of them in a U/W draft deck, I tend to lean toward thinking they’re not very good. Yes, they will trade with a 4-butt (or a couple 2 power guys, which I hear there are a lot of in this format), but if they do, then they die and do nothing else. The best case scenario for Merrow Grimeblotter’s controller is for it to not be blocked because an opponent either a) has no large guys, in which case, congrats you’re winning anyway, or b) has The Fear and lets you plink away for 2 a turn, totally ruining their combat math on the swingback, in which case, congrats, you’re playing a donkey. But most players will simply double block or trade a bigger guy to force the ability to be used on the attack. And rightly so, since Merrow Grimeblotter’s less useful that way. I don’t like him.

Blowfly Infestation

Seems like one hell of a gamble, even in a deck that is built around it. But, grumble, grumble, it IS removal…

Reknit

Terrible combat trick? Or reasonable combat trick in a weak card pool? Is it ever correct to run it to specifically regenerate non-creature permanents? I hear there are a few enchantments that are worth keeping around…

Hungry Spriggan

Hungry? So hungry! This Sunday I heard probably three players with a losing record remarking on how amazing Hungry Spriggan is. And several players in that made Top 8 (Asshole Jason and Tabasco) told me that it was not at all good. It does, after all die to any removal. But it was great for me! (You have a Godhead of Awe? Heh. I’ll just race you with this common.) Does that make me…? Don’t answer that.

Giantbaiting

Again I have heard differing opinions here. Asshole Jason (who, after thrashing me took a look at my pool) was not a fan (“It’s basically a really crappy removal spell, or at best direct damage, but your opponent chooses which one.”) but I think turning a few 2 power dudes into a few 4 power dudes for the turn is just fine. I would run this in an aggressive R/G or R/B deck. Would I be wrong to do so?

Elsewhere Flask

Man, they like this card on the MTG podcasts of GP Brussels, but what does Rich Hagon know about playing Magics? (Answer: Probably more than I do.) It juices Corrupt and Jaws of Stone! It cantrips! It turns on both sides of Firespout (if you tap carefully)! It slices! Dices! Feeds your dog! Gosh, when DON’T you run this amazing bomb ass artifact that does not in any way affect the board on its own? There’s a reason they call me TooSarcastic, folks.

The Duos

I wanted to end with these because I think they illustrate well how difficult it is to evaluate card power in the abstract. Of course a player can safely run a Safehold Duo in a W/G deck. What about a W/R deck? A G/B deck? How many cards does a player need to activate a duo before it becomes worth adding? Asshole Jason and (I believe) The Captain were advocating that I add 2 Thistledown Duos and a Somnomancer to my W/G sealed deck to speed it up. This would have put the total blue cards to 6 (I was playing 2 Curse of Chains and a Silkbind Faerie already) and my white card total to 13. Asshole Jason (who was really quite nice the whole day- it’s just a nickname) argued that the Duo would often be a 3/3 for 3 mana, and sometimes have flying. But doing the math, I would draw a card to trigger the white half of Thistledown Duo (assuming I drew and played the Duo already) a little less than a third of the time. If I start with Thistledown Duo in hand (obviously the best case scenario) then I will statistically have only one other white card in my opener as well (this is on the play, again, the best case scenario for an aggressive deck). This just does not seem good enough. But after I failed to side them in I lost both the last two rounds*, so maybe I’m mistaken. What do you think?

T

*The final round against Captain Essex was particularly awful since after a quick game where he was manascrewed we had a marathon second game that saw both of us with surreal life totals (Me, 50. Essex, 90 something). I scooped after it was clear he actually could kill me (either with damage or decking) with the 15 minutes left in the round. In a hurried game 3 where Essex was ahead on the board he cast Last Breath on one of my creatures. I moved it to the removed from game zone… where a creature that he had Last Breathed in game 2 was still sitting. Essex told me to shuffle it in my library, but I called a judge, by which I mean THE judge, e.g. The Fugitive Wizard. Fugie gave a game loss to the player who presented as illegal deck (that would be me, for having only 39 cards), and it turned into a match loss, which put Essex into top 8. I seemed less concerned than everyone else (Essex was not happy to make top 8 this way, and I think he would have taken the last game by his own effort), but I was tired (and hung over) and was not too disappointed in having to go home just then. Fugie obviously made the correct call, and the only reason I called a judge in the first place was because I didn’t feel like forcing Fugie to DQ me by trying to cover it up, if things ended up badly. Just to muddy the ethical waters I bit, I will note that Essex was playing on Fugie’s dime, and any prizes that Essex won he agreed to give to Fugie. Just out of curiosity, if there were other judges available, would you have let another official handle the ruling, Fugie? Or should it not matter? At any rate, my only regret about the whole day is that I worked very hard to play tight Magic for four or so rounds and then had my effort wasted by my own thoughtless errors. I obviously don’t play in large tourneys often, because I don’t deal well with the fatigue when I am forced to play more than four rounds. I considered writing the whole post as a tournament report, but I realized that people are far less interested in the tragic tale of a player who can’t break .500 at a release event than in finding out things that might actually be of use to them.