There's No Place Like Dominaria!

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Newsletter
Thursday, April 12th

Bravo, Wizards of the Coast. Bravo.

Magic has had its fair share of problems over the past few years. Felidar Guardian plus Saheeli Rai being legal in Standard for an extended period of time? That's a problem. Having to ban Attune with Aether, Rogue Refiner, Rampaging Ferocidon, and Ramunap Ruins in Standard? That's another problem. Emrakul, the Promised End making it through the design and development process? Yikes...

But for as many problems as Magic has had over the past few years, nothing is as refreshing as seeing a new set exceed expectations. And with the entire set of Dominaria now available to view, I can only stand back and applaud the powers that be. Look, designing Magic cards is tough and pleasing Magic players is even tougher. But when Wizards of the Coast does both, they should get the praise they deserve. And I'll be the first to give it to them, because Dominaria looks truly exquisite.

Many of my colleagues here at SCG feel the same way about Magic's newest set. Jim Davis and Ross Merriam have been swiping left, swiping right, and using their super like on all sorts of cards from Dominaria. Ben Friedman has found his ten favorite cards from the plane where Magic began and one of them can help you draw your entire deck. As for Todd Anderson? He's preparing for Karnage and you should be too.

I cannot wait to get my hands on this set. Take a bow, Wizards of the Coast. You've earned it.

— Cedric Phillips, Content Coordinator

April 28-29
Team Constructed

May 5-6
Team Constructed

May 19-30
Modern

Taking A Swipe At Dominaria: Part 3
By Jim Davis and Ross Merriam  

Jim With An Overzealous Super Like! Well hello there! Nice body, good creature type, powerful enters-the-battlefield effect... I got so excited I used my Super Like without even considering that I was only on match three!

Truth be told, I don't think the Goblin synergy cards like Goblin Warchief and Skirk Prospector have much relevance in Standard or Modern; there's just too much removal and the singularly good cards are just too much better, and there's no Goblin Ringleader-level payoff for putting a bunch of Goblins in your deck.

However, Goblins that are good on rate alone are fair game, and Goblin Chainwhirler has rate pouring out its large green ears (an obvious turn on). A 3/3 first striker for three mana is already great, but Goblin Chainwhirler can also pick off format staples like Llanowar Elves, Glint-Sleeve Siphoner, and half the cards in Mono-Red Aggro for extreme value. Furthermore, the trigger is also amazing against token decks as well.

I can only hope Goblin Chainwhirler swipes right back... my profile does say "Goblin King" on it after all.

Ross Swipes Right. Solid rate and a good ability. You're going to be mono-red (or nearly so) to cast it consistently, but that's the color that often stays with its own anyway. There are plenty of one toughness creatures it kills, from Llanowar Elves and Merfolk Branchwalker to the various token makers that are seeing play right now. It's not very good against control decks, but outside of that, Goblin Chainwhirler should be a house. I'm expecting it to see fringe play in Modern as well.

An underrated aspect of this card is how it affects a player defending a planeswalker in combat. Often chump blocking an attacker to keep a planeswalker at one loyalty is a strong play, since the planeswalker's activation should recoup some of the material lost and you have the potential to stabilize the battlefield on your turn to keep the planeswalker around. Those lines are now greatly punished by Goblin Chainwhirler, much more so than if they must spend a full card finishing off the planeswalker with a burn spell. The threat of this card is going to make planeswalkers harder to defend, and any time you can get value for doing nothing you're doing something right.

Vincenzo Balistreri
Modern Open

Mark Ballard
Modern Classic

Kyle Kosmel
Legacy Classic

Dominaria's Greatest Hits
By Ben Friedman  

Damping Sphere is the most powerful sideboard card Modern has seen in a long, long time. It's better than Rest in Peace. Better than Stony Silence. The fact that this hate piece crosses two major format boogeymen off the list while going easily in any sideboard means that Modern is about to change in a big way. Fair decks are getting better with every multifaceted answer and hate piece printed, as they multiply virtual sideboard slots by taking the place of two or more cards previously needed. You'll see U/W/x sideboards with a handful of Damping Spheres, Stony Silences, and Rest in Peaces that can then devote their other six or seven slots to a few removal spells and counterspells and attempt to cover all their bases. Grixis decks now no longer need to play Fulminator Mage or Spreading Seas + Field of Ruin to ensure a reasonable matchup against Tron.

Biggest winners? Jund, Grixis, U/W, Affinity, Hollow One, Scapeshift, and Lantern. Biggest losers? Storm (duh), Tron (duh), Spreading Seas, and Fulminator Mage. It will be interesting to watch the format move around those new pressures created by ubiquitous hate for two of the most powerful poles of the format.

Obviously the high-impact list for Modern drops off sharply after that doozy, but there are still powerful cards that demand attention. Mox Amber, of course, offers enough incentive to build around it that many will likely try to make it work in a Baral, Chief of Compliance deck or Wizard tribal deck. Goblin Warchief and Skirk Prospector are bringing the band back together to see if a turbo-Goblins deck is possible. Just give them Goblin Ringleader and we'll be off to the races, I tell ya! Speaking of Goblins, Squee, the Immortal offers bold new opportunities for Serum Powder or Skred Red decks of all stripes, and I shudder at the thought of being killed bit by bit with a Squee while I'm locked out under Blood Moon.

Karn Seriously Scares Me
By Todd Anderson  

Let's start with the basics. Karn, Scion of Urza is a colorless card that any deck can play. There are no "colorless" restrictions like the Eldrazi have now. There are no hoops you have to jump through to play Karn, so the question becomes "how good is this card?" On an eyeball scale of 1-10, I'd rate Karn around an 8. Now, you might be thinking that an 8 is not particularly high, and I shouldn't worry about it, right? Well, how would you rate Walking Ballista? Because I have that one around a 7.

Karn, Scion of Urza isn't just a colorless Planeswalker. It's a colorless Planeswalker than can protect itself, gain card advantage, and has a very high starting loyalty. And most of the time, you're going to be fighting off a Karn that starts at six loyalty. That means, if you're on the draw, they're likely going to draw two cards off Karn unless you put six or more power onto the battlefield by turn 3.

And that's the best-case scenario.

The worst-case scenario is that Karn gives new life to overlooked Standard archetypes revolving around artifacts. Can you imagine how insanely good it will be to play a Karn on the fourth turn and use it to create a 3/3 or larger creature? What about the next turn when you make a 4/4 and the original one gets bigger? Oh, and guess what, if you haven't dealt any damage to Karn, it's still around after making two gigantic creatures.