M11 Set Review — Oozing with Flavor (and Combos!)
Talking about new Magic core sets is so much more fun these days. Now that the sets are 50 percent brand new cards, there’s a lot more to talk about than, “what did they leave out/bring back?” My favorite thing about M11? Fun.
One of the stated goals of core sets these days is to pull away from Magic’s mythology to some extent and focus on cards that exemplify traditional fantasy archetypes. Casual fantasy fans understand zombies and dragons. You won’t find too many specific characters or magic-specific races, though there are some notable exceptions. The original five Planeswalkers are back, along with a few cards that tie neatly to their abilities and flavor. This is part of a long-term Magic plan to use Liliana Vess, Jace Beleren, Garruk Wildspeaker, Ajani Goldmane and Chandra Nalaar to strengthen the Magic brand and create easily recognizable characters that fans instantly associate with the game. There’s also Nantuko Shade in M11, which makes very little sense, but holy bug spit am I happy about it.
The first thing I noticed about M11 is what a great job they did with the flavor. I’ve already talked about cards like Elixir of Immortality and Phylactery Lich (which might be in the running for becoming my favorite Magic card of all time). You’ve also got the extremely useful Crystal Ball, which does exactly what you think a Crystal Ball ought to. I love Mitotic Slime. It’s a slightly wordy card at first glance, but what it does is very simple and perfectly captures the traditional fantasy slime monster that gets chopped in two and keeps coming at you in smaller and smaller pieces. It’s also a very good card which I predict will see use in Standard decks based on the card advantage it provides.
You’ve also got dragons and axes and swords, zombies (plus Grave Titan, a giant made out of zombies!), wolves, elves and a lot of other cool fantasy elements. Each M11 game (draft or sealed) will feel like a mini fantasy novel playing out on your tabletop.
About those titans. The titan cycle consists of a six-mana giant of each color, 6/6 with a keyword ability along with a powerful comes into play effect that also triggers whenever the creature attacks. In terms of design, these are wonderful. They’re big, splashy creatures that exemplify their colors, but at six mana they’re very playable. In fact, they’re already having an impact on the tournament scene. Check out the prices on Primeval Titan. Sadly, this leads to my one complaint about M11 — there are some very useful, important cards in the mythic rare slot. Now, it’s hard to argue with this from a purely business standpoint considering the massive increase in Magic’s success in the last two years. The company’s goal is to make money, and good cards at mythic rare certainly seem to work toward that end. I want the game and its makers to be successful, and for that to happen, they have to make money. No problem there.
What does bother me is that whenever someone at Wizards talks about the mythic rare thing, they swear putting good cards there won’t drive up singles prices. That’s nonsense, and anyone who’s priced a decent Standard deck lately can see that for themselves. To play one of the top Standard decks right now requires an investment of several hundred dollars. Does that hurt Magic long-term? I suspect that skyrocketing singles prices drive pack sales, since that “winning the lottery” feeling of opening a Baneslayer Angel or Jace, the Mind Sculptor is pretty exhilarating. To some extent, those few madly expensive cards could be suppressing the prices of other singles. M10/M11 dual lands, for example, don’t seem to be as expensive as one might expect. Anyway, I just wish Magic bigwigs would stop pretending mythic rares aren’t driving up the cost of Magic — whenever they do, it feels like they’re either oblivious or just lying.
Ok, so flavor = good, mythic rares = expensive, what’s this about combos? The set is strewn with them. Playing sealed or draft M11 is a lot of fun because there are all these minor combos that aren’t complicated or difficult to pull off, but they make you feel like a smart Magic player, and they result in interesting plays. Some of them are really obvious, like Liliana’s Caress with Liliana Vess or Ajani’s Pridemate with Ajani’s Mantra. Even when they aren’t spelled out for you like that, there are combos that make a lot of sense. Conundrum Sphinx is cool for being a fairly efficient 4/4 flier, even if both you and your opponent have an equal chance of drawing extra cards. If you have a Crystal Ball, things get more interesting. Augury Owl works that way too.
In my sealed pool last weekend, I had two Goblin Tunnelers and two Scroll Thiefsveses. Either card is kind of crummy by itself, but combined, I surprised even seasoned opponents with the unstoppable card drawing power. What’s your best M11 combo?
Related posts:
July 15th, 2010 6:52 PM
Mitotic Slime + Bloodthrone Vampire jumps out as an interesting combo. A 15/15 creature as a one hit wonder (until you play the ooze again after you Disentomb it next turn) at turn 4 could be nice.
July 15th, 2010 7:09 PM
You can make that better with the Goblin Tunneler too. Use the Tunneler on the Bloodthrone, make it unblockable, then use your slimes. Just make sure your opponent is tapped out. A Condemn could kinda ruin your day.
July 15th, 2010 7:26 PM
Well, you always could just Fling it.
July 15th, 2010 7:28 PM
Fling! I feel like spending three cards to deal 15 points of damage is totally worth it.
July 15th, 2010 7:37 PM
I’d rather have the giant that Flings stuff.
On a related note, I hate mythic rares. They seem to use them as an excuse to print really good, occasionally borderline broken, cards. Baneslayer Angel is REALLY, REALLY, GOOD! It’s way above the curve, and its only downside is her rarity, which they say balances them out for Limited play. I wish that were true, but all they’ve managed to do is print a card I ebayed, and I’m a firm believer in the cards as game pieces not collectables. These things are just sooo expensive. I hate Mythics /rant
July 15th, 2010 8:17 PM
I could just imagine my Bloodthrone…
Before: “I am here to serve you, mast–You want me to eat what?!”
During: “Oh, I couldn’t possibly have another bite… 2 more? Are you certain? As you wish.”
After: “I have fed upon your foul creatures and am more powerful than imagination. I will wade among your enemies, striking fear and–wait. What are you doing? Unhand me! What is the meaning of–AHHHHHHH!”
July 15th, 2010 8:31 PM
Now that’s flavor.
July 15th, 2010 9:17 PM
After the first incident, the goblins named him “Chuck”
July 15th, 2010 9:49 PM
Not a super elegant combo (nothing like fattening a vampire up with slime and Flinging it across the battlefield), but our useful Mitotic Slime can feed Mass Polymorph as well. Just wait until the slime is at its greatest number and you can get 4 new creatures to bulk up your front lines. Slightly awkward, but still useful.
July 15th, 2010 10:25 PM
Needs more polymorphs to make a scary polymorph deck.