Lens of Clarity- Khans of Tarkir reactions

Lens of Clarity - Khans of Tarkir reactions

with Adriel Colon

Khans of Tarkir is going to be a a unique and game changing set. Lots of cards are coming in but more is going out on rotation. Get ready to have the format at first defined by what leaving us rather than what is coming in. I want to highlight a few cards that represent the upcoming Khans mechanics and what my impressions of these cards as well as the impact the mechanics will I fell will have on constructed play.

Delve is back. Making spells cheaper/ adding to their effect for the cost of exiling cards from your graveyard is good. My favorite delve card is Empty the Pits. Instant speed token creation is fantastic and with the ability to exile cards AND dump mana into the spell you can feasibly have 5 zombies hit the battlefield on endstep. I know the XXBBBB mana cost will scare people however there is actually a tremendous amount of enablers for this card. Satyr Wayfinder, Sylvan Caryatid , Temples, Mana Confluence, Fetches and EtB tapped dual color lands all make this possible however the card that most enables this is Urborg. Both yours and your opponents who play Urborg turn this spell active. Satyr Wayfinder is a huge fixer for this card as it both fills the graveyard and culls up Urborg or other swamps for you. The graveyard and cards that work off of it will be relevant in standard.  

Cards I most want to use with: Purphoros, God of the Forge and Empty the Pits.

Prowess. The cards Blistercoil Weird and Nivix Cyclops both had abilities similar to this. In a lot of ways I really like this ability because of how simple it is and easy to trigger. Theros gave us a plethora of good combat tricks and these cards that have additional keywords abilities become much stronger. Dragon Style Twins and Titans Strength comes to mind to hit for 14.

Cards I most want to use with: Dragon Style Twins and Ordeal of Thassa.

Ferocious. I am not enchanted by this mechanic. It seems like a win-more keyword. It does make for a great interaction with See The Unwritten and but I feel like midrange Decks didn’t need an incentive and cards with ferocious will be fighting hard for spots in these decks.

Cards I most want to use with: Roaring Primadox and Temur Ascendancy

Outlast. I really love cards that let you use all your Mana each turn. When these cards also add +1/+1 counters (read inevitability) I love it even more. Though not much has been shown with this mechanic, Herald of Anafenza is solid. The 1/1 guys is very useful with cards like Banishing Light and the insane number of lord effects in standard (Spear of Heliod, Dictate of Heliod, Hall of Triumph, Master of Pearls) The White Weenie decks will be alive and kicking.

Cards I most want to use with: Butcher of the Horde and Hardened Scales

Raid. The Raid Mechanic will be crazy good. It has everything from discard effects in Mardu Skullhunter, mana producers in Mardu Warshrieker and even grossly good cards like Wingmate Roc. Raid rewards you for doing what you want to do anyway. This will be a big enabler for the every aggressive deck and unlike Ferocious gives you a reason to dive in deeper.

Cards I most want to use with:  Goblin Rabblemaster and Military Intelligence

The landscape is changing. Shocklands are rotating out and fetches are in. I think there, like most spoiler seasons are rife with hyperbole. Fetchlands are not nearly as good as shocklands in standard and as of writing can only hit basic lands. This does not mean that fixing isn’t there. It is all over! Painlands and Mana Confluence are rising with the 3 color wedges in Khans and with all the common and uncommon enters the battlefield tapped lands that exist in Khans, untappers (Kiora’s Follower and Voyaging Satyr) will much needed to accelerate (something Fetches do not do). Other utility lands like Nykthos and Urborg are going to be tremendously useful not to mention the temple cycle.

Truthfully I feel like fetches will be worth a lot but will not be rocking standard. I ask this question, If you Dissolve a spell and top your scry, will you be so happy to crack that fetch? You have to make that decision before dissolve resolves and before you see the scryed card. Don’t get me wrong, fetches will be standard playable but game changers I’m not confident on.

Satyr Wayfinder I think will a prevalent card. Anything that uses Delve will want this card in their decks.  Wedge color decks with green can use him for fixing. And those fetch lands can be recurred with him. Fetch, cast wayfinder and recur the fetchland, profit.

I’ll be there on prerelease night cracking packs with the rest of you waiting for our new standard format to be born!

Adriel

Frequent FNM Player and BSB Community contributor. Adriel brings a great outlook to the game. Also frequents Pucatrade, and can recognize trading trends. @Dr_Perceptron

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