It's Almost Time To Rise Among The Worthy!

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Newsletter
Thursday, April 13th

We are so close to having all of Amonkhet shown to us! Within hours, the set will be public in its entirety! The early indications were that the set would have a medium impact on a deeply-rooted Standard, but wow—how things have changed! Conley Woods has joined SCG to tell everyone about the best way to view the set, Jadine Klomparens is all over the cards that will make life hard for established archetypes, and Michael Majors already has a ton of builds that he hopes to bring to life when the SCG Tour returns to Atlanta in a few weeks! Kaladesh was fine and all, but I think I speak for everyone when I say that I can't wait to get to Amonkhet!

— Danny West, Content Coordinator

Eli Kassis
Legacy Open

Cory Gorman
Modern Classic

Sam Miller
Legacy Classic

Hammers And Nails: Looking At Amonkhet The Smart Way
By Conley Woods  

Have you ever opened boosters at your local shop and gotten excited by some rare you opened before a fellow player corrects you on and explains why that card isn't powerful? Or maybe explains why you shouldn't be opening packs altogether? That would be someone's Spike showing. From a strategic standpoint, the player may absolutely be "doing it better," but in a general sense, no one way of experiencing Magic is better than another. In fact, you can't even define what metric "better" resides in here. This is a trap that I walked into in the past.

The Spike mentality is not itself bad; rather, it is limiting oneself to any particular view that becomes problematic. When I began game design about five years ago, my competitive side dominated my work. I focused on power level and fancy designs rather than player experience and fun. Luckily, many smart and talented people surrounded me that each brought different perspectives to the table. Over time, I began to develop better habits as a designer and now try to view games with a much wider range and more open mind and hope to continue doing so.

If you are a high-level player focusing on the Pro Tour, then the Spike mentality may be all you need, at least in the short-term. But if you are a streamer, or a store owner, or have a podcast, or are a judge, or are interested in game design, or consume Magic in any way other than purely competitively, it would probably be helpful to explore other lenses with which to view Magic. Through this, you expand your knowledge and your perspective and are better able to relate to a wider portion of the Magic audience.

April 29-30
Standard

May 5-7
AKH Limited

May 20-21
Team Constructed

Beating Standard's Best With Amonkhet
By Jadine Klomparens  

Heart of Kiran has a good thing going on right now. It's big, it's scary, it hits like a truck, and it's only vulnerable to removal if the pilot wants it to be. When our opponent is leaving two black mana up on turn 3 instead of developing their battlefield, we can just not crew for a turn to dodge Heart-break. In Standard right now, this play pattern puts the tempo of the game into the hands of Mardu Vehicles pilots as a sword to wield, at least for Game 1.

Post-sideboard, this equation changes. Cards like Natural Obsolescence that don't care if Heart of Kiran is currently a creature or not make it into the deck, and Mardu Vehicles can't keep playing their coy games. To compensate, they often sideboard into a more controlling deck, less reliant on getting damage in with Heart of Kiran. This leaves Natural Obsolescence and other artifact kill spells in a rough spot: they are fine Games 2 and 3, but would be absolutely incredible Game 1. Sadly, as dominant as Mardu Vehicles is, it's still hard to justify maindecking Natural Obsolescence.

Enter Dissenter's Deliverance. Run this spell in your starting 60 and you'll be breaking Hearts in no time. The cycling cost on this card is very low, almost negligble. When you find yourself up against something that isn't playing artifacts, coming up with a spare green mana to cash in Dissenter's Deliverance for something worthwhile is not too big of an ask, which means we finally have an artifact removal spell that isn't downright embarrassing to maindeck. This is a fantastic check on the dominance of Mardu Vehicles.

Eight Standard Decks Built Around Amonkhet
By Michael Majors  

I already started to get into building Drake Haven decks last week, but Curator of Mysteries is a ridiculous card and probably my front-runner for favorite card of the set. A four mana 4/4 flier with a reasonable value ability likely doesn't excite most folks in 2017, but there's a lot of subtle play hiding in the Curator of Mysteries text box.

The reality is that I expect to cycle this card more than 50% of the time. Your natural question might then be, "Why are you so excited about this marginal velocity card that's sometimes a creature?"

The answer is similar to the auspicious nature of Thraben Inspector. It didn't look all that impactful, but we now know that Inspector is arguably (and I'll argue yes) the best creature in Standard. Standard is all about living and dying by your curve in order to establish a reasonable battlefield presence in the early game to combat the planeswalker terrors of Mardu and Four-Color Saheeli. You absolutely cannot allow opposing planeswalkers to generate traction against you if you hope to win the majority of your games.

As a result, Curator of Mysteries can be cycled easily in the early game when you have mana to sink or need to dig for a land drop, but it can also just be played on turn 4 to "fix" your curve and threaten planeswalkers. A 4/4 flier is a great combatant against opposing Gideons, and don't let the Sphinx's seemingly innocent ability fool you; we should all know by now that a well-timed scry or two can be a full card of value. Later in the game, Curator is a worthy draw and a full-blown threat. Any further cycling cards you draw should turbo-charge you towards out-topdecking your opponent.