Magic Mondays- (On a Tuesday) Khans is here!

Magic Mondays- (On a Tuesday) Khans is here!

Hey everyone, Chaz here bringing you another edition of Magic Mondays (on a Tuesday). I realize it’s Tuesday but stick with me, my internet was out, but back on track now. It gave me more time to soak in and analyze everything that has been happening in the mtg world. Khans spoilers, and a PAXEast announcement that had people insanely pumped.

You can check it out here:

(Sean) Let's see that reaction one more time. Fetch. Lands. Confirmed. #MTGKTK #PAXPrime2014 http://t.co/Hz0unF7ER7
— Magic: The Gathering (@wizards_magic) September 1, 2014

 Wow. Quite the reaction for some pieces of cardboard. I kid, I kid, it’s been something the community has wanted for a while now. While Wizards has clearly been leaving breadcrumbs, for us older more seasoned vets, I’ve been picking up what they were putting down the past few months. It was only a matter of time, and I was entertaining the idea, and arguing its case some months ago, that Modern would see all the fetchlands like Legacy. Wizards solidified that fact, with that announcement, they clearly are supporting Modern. It will be interesting to see how this announcement will make ripples into all corners of the game. I know my fair share of mtgfinance, and it will certainly affect that. If you look closely you can see them already.

I digress, it’s KHANS time! Firstly let’s look at the mechanic and I’ll put them in no particular order, and my thoughts on them.

Article of mechanics here:

http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/feature/mechanics-khans-tarkir

--------------------------

Raid: My pick for the best constructed ability. You don’t have to deal combat damage, just attack. I think this has to be my candidate, and we already have some decent cards with Raid tacked on to them. Good in Limited of course.

Outlast: Seems great for limited, without removal. Very limited if any constructed viability. It’s just too slow, mana intensive, and can be played around easily.

Prowess: Second best to raid. There has to be some small CMC creature with evasion they can stick this on. If it has flash even better. That would be very formidable, Prowess could get there on efficient enough creatures. Decent Limited capabilities.

Delve: Ohmygosh! Jace, Living Guildpact is so much better now! Kind of, not really. As of today, there hasn't been a good Delve card spoiled, until I see Tombstalker, we can all rejoice.

Morph: Decent enough. It isn’t really a surprise factor in constructed, considering there will only be not even a handful of viable Morph cards. Decent enough for Limited.

Ferocious: Could be decent? I’m really on the fence with this one. This set is basically a reflection of Shards of Alara, and the Naya 5 power ability wasn't really successful in Constructed. Good in Limited.

--------------------------

So, that wraps up mechanics. Let’s move along shall we?

I want to show-case a few specific cards and will go into some depth on them. More-so than the mechanics. We have a long way to go, but we already have much to talk about with Khans. Most of this I will re-iterate in the BSB Podcast with Pete, but will touch on some different topics there. So be sure to tune into that later in the week. That being said, from the initial spoilers, the whole BSB FB community has been buzzing, and rightly so. I will also show some of those discussions here about specific cards.

Well now, that’s a viable red walker. We don’t see them around the MTG parts recently, well, sort of….you get my point. Sarkhan certainly has it’s merits as a walker, and does have a really solid set of abilities, maybe except his ultimate. Though turning into a better version of Stormbreath Dragon in combat, seems solid. Removal (protecting himself) is also very good. The problem is, they spoiled Utter End, which we will get to in a mere minute. I was about to ride the Sarkhan dragon all the way to victory, then had to pull the reigns back. Now, one card doesn’t completely minimize Sarkhans value. Except, Utter End is also in black, coupled with.. ya know, Hero’s Downfall, and Banishing Light. When I think about it, and as I said in my FB post, I retracted my statement, and if anything maybe you slip Sarkhan in as a 1 of and replace 1 dragon. Or hey, maybe go a completely different route and utilize him in a Super-Friendly shell.

Redhawk Will (William) posted this list, for consideration:

Creatures (12) 4x Courser of Kruphix 4x Elvish Mystic 4x Sylvan Caryatid Planeswalkers (13) 2x Chandra, Pyromaster 3x Xenagos the Reveler 3x Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker 1x Garruk, Apex Predator 1x Liliana Vess 3x Nissa, Worldwaker

Spells (9) 4x Hero’s Downfall 3x Thoughtseize 2x Read the Bones Lands (26) 4x Wooded Foothills 4x Bloodstained Mire 3x Temple of Abandon 3x Temple of Malice 3x Temple of Malady 2x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth 2x Forest 3x Mountain 2x Swamp

Seems solid already to me. I think William is off to a great start, and could very well be one of the many Super-Friend shells we will be looking at in the coming weeks. If you want to read more, Redhawk has his own blog post about Khans and talking about his decklist. Or, follow him @RedhawkWill

You can see some more of the BSB Community reactions here:

Good stuff guys, as always some great dialogue to think about.

We move to the next card:

Yeesh, he’s a big fella. Now, I understand he’s not flashy, and not Aetherling, but he will get the job done. The added benefit of Morph, in colors that can ramp and protect. He can also Morph and fizzle an incoming removal spell, should that situation happen. I am just deathly afraid of this thing, and myriad of ways to potentially enchant and/or buff this creature it certainly has a chance of seeing Constructed play, I will be bold here and say VERY good chance. I understand in a world of 4CMC 5/5 creatures like Polukranos makes Sagu Mauler seem smaller with a 6CMC to power ratio, it comes with trample and hexproof. The two abilities you can never scoff at on a giant monster.

Moving on….

Admittedly this card was not spoiled when I was writing this earlier, but I had to instantly go back and change things to include this. Yeah, and to not sound like a complete idiot, right!?

Phew, added 1 more generic mana and now we have a instant speed near-vindicate. This is one scary card, and it put my Sarkhan enjoyment in the toilet really quickly. In a Standard format alongside Thoughtseize, Hero’s Downfall, Banishing Light, and Elspeth in those colors, it seems like a no-brainer here. B/W Control, Midrange, Super-friends, aggro, or whatever deck you want to build all seem very viable with the amount of power-level it’s going to have with Utter End added into the mix. It also really makes players and deck-builders take a step back and question what is viable and what isn’t in a field of Utter End. No doubt this will probably impact my Underworld Cerberus speculation…..SIGH……

Again, here is a Junk Walkers list posted by @RedhawkWill

Creatures (12) 4x Courser of Kruphix 4x Elvish Mystic 4x Sylvan Caryatid Planeswalkers (8) 3x Elspeth, Sun’s Champion 3x Nissa, Worldwaker 2x Ajani, Mentor of Heroes

Spells (16) 4x Hero’s Downfall 3x Utter End 3x Thoughtseize 2x End Hostilities 2x Banishing Light 2x Read the Bones Lands (24) 4x Windswept Heath 4x Temple of Silence 4x Temple of Plenty 4x Temple of Malady 2x Abzan Tap Lands 2x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth 2x Forest 2x Plain

Looking solid, as usually Redhawk. Thanks for getting the ball rolling with some deck-lists and ideas. Should keep the creative juices flowing here at BSB. Hopefully it will do the same for all of you and feel free to comment below and we can always discuss things further.

That wraps things up for Magic Mondays, as always it’s great to write this segment and give everyone some food for thought, Khans is looking solid so far, and looking forward to discussing it more as we are exposed to more of the set.

Your BSB Podcast host,

Chaz

----------

Join our community!

Facebook at: BoltSnapBolt group, request membership and follow guidelines, would love to have new fresh members!

Hit me up personally @Vbrews on Twitter, I use that for deck-brewing and anything magic related, my Twitch stream also broadcasts on there!

Follow @Boltsnapbolt

Any/all questions related to blog/podcast email us at Boltsnapbolt@outlook.com