So far White and Blue can rightly claim to lose far more than they gain in the upcoming rotation (relative to the other colors, we do trade four sets for two when we rotate). Black might be in the other column. Let’s find out:
[card]Blood Reckoning[/card]: Perhaps useful against Storm decks that overwhelm you with Goblin tokens. Apart from that, this does not seem like a part of healthy breakfast.
[card]Bloodhunter Bat[/card]: [card]Blind Hunter[/card] is singularly unimpressed.
[card]Bloodthrone Vampire[/card]: Could be scary if you have a bunch of 1/1 White tokens. Alternately, somewhat threatening if your [card]Vampire Nocturnus[/card] is active. I don’t think we have the right mix of Vampires right now, but maybe soon. Also, somewhat amusing with [card]Fungal Sprouting[/card].
[card]Cower in Fear[/card]: This is a pretty good combat trick. It sweeps the board of your opponent’s weenies and turns combat math in your favor. I’m not quite sure how highly to draft this as I need to play the environment and get a feel for how effective this will be.
[card]Crippling Blight[/card]: This is new. Have we ever seen an aura that prevents blocking, but allows for attacking? Must attack cards don’t count. This is probably a decent draft pick in an aggro deck, and might be a niche sideboard card although that’s probably a tad optimistic.
[card]Dark Favor[/card]: It’s staggering how much I prefer to gain three life and three toughness than to play this. I feel like this should be the better draft pick, but that isn’t how it played out historically. In any event, I am not a fan of all the eggs in the basket play.
[card]Diabolic Revelation[/card]: Look, no matter what your plan is, untapping with a [card]Gilded Lotus[/card] is going to be sweet. My favorite plays for that turn are [card]Griselbrand[/card] and Nicol Bolas, in that order, but this is a decent third choice if I am not under serious pressure. However, unlike the [card]Griselbrand[/card] play, [card]Cavern of Souls[/card] will not protect me. This means that right now I am going to start testing my MBC and Grixis lists with one of these…max.
Addendum: The art and flavor text are awesome.
[card]Disciple of Bolas[/card]: One of the sweet new options from M13. Sacrificing a [card]Thragtusk[/card] is absolutely fantastic and will likely be one of the default plans post-rotation. Another interesting option is to sacrifice [card]Slumbering Dragon[/card] (who, for the record, is the single laziest creature I’ve ever seen. Yes, some dudes don’t play any defense, and other dudes are walls, but [card]Slumbering Dragon[/card] takes the cake. I took the time to summon you, get off your ass and DO something!). In truth, you’ll get value any time you sacrifice something that has four or more power. Testing will determine what the best victims are, and then the Disciple, like his friend the Augur, will get busy generating card advantage.
[card]Disentomb[/card]: Meh. Returning dead dudes to hand is silly. Return them to the battlefield if you want to see play.
[card]Duress[/card]: It is a sign of how creature based this new world is that [card]Duress[/card] is considered a sideboard card. It used to be an auto-four of in any Black control deck. Now people say it is too narrow. You know what? Those people are probably right, but that doesn’t diminish [card]Duress[/card]’ power. It is a welcome option.
[card]Duskmantle Prowler[/card]: Probably better than I am giving it credit for. Maybe I am underrating Exalted, but this feels overcosted to me.
[card]Duty-Bound Dead[/card]: This is actually useful. It attacks as a 1/3 on turn two, and is a good blocker later in the game, while providing some value to your offense. This is how Exalted works best IMHO. I’ll draft these whenever I am a Black mage.
[card]Essence Drain[/card]: Decent removal, and splashable too. I’ll probably steal a few of these from the dedicated Black magi.
[card]Giant Scorpion[/card]: I love this guy. Always have. It is great to be able to slow down an army of bears, and then trade up for their best non-flyer.
[card]Harbor Bandit[/card]: 3/3 unblockable is pretty good. Being forced to pay two a turn is awkward though. This seems a bit weak for Constructed, but annoying to face in Limited. Remember, this is best when you are splashing Black, not the other way around. That’s true for all of the cards in this cycle.
[card]Knight of Infamy[/card]: First, the flavor text: “Breaking the laws is a means to an end. You either respect the law, or don’t care about the law, but breaking the law is never more than a side effect.” Anyway, given the design of Liliana, I really wish [card]Knight of Infamy[/card] were a pump-knight. An efficient creature that could be used as a mana sink is something MBC could sorely use. As for the creature we were actually given, he seems fine against White aggro decks. Only real downside is that White will likely be attacking in the air. BTW, cool art.
[card]Liliana of the Dark Realms[/card]: I may be slightly skeptical of Ajani, but that’s nothing compared to my feelings towards Liliana. If you use her to kill a creature on the first turn she is a four mana situational removal. Awkward. Otherwise she is a land tutor (at best, we are all assuming). Actually, there is a third choice; you can use her as the weirdest [card]Giant Growth[/card] I’ve ever seen. Assuming the default is to fetch a land you just aren’t getting that much value from your four mana investment. Perhaps she would have been better off as Liliana, Good Friend of Bolas. Oh, one note on the ultimate: What are we supposed to do with that much mana? I liked [card]Lake of the Dead[/card], but that was for acceleration. This is for… what exactly? I’m not sold on Liliana. The best thing I can say about her is that she is better than Tibalt.
Addendum: There is a theory that she is designed to ensure that you can cast Nicol Bolas. I’d much rather go for [card]Gilded Lotus[/card].
[card]Liliana’s Shade[/card]: I am not happy paying four mana for a Swamp card and a minimal board presence. See above.
[card]Mark of the Vampire[/card]: Armadillos > Vampires.
[card]Mind Rot[/card]: Kind of like [card]Divination[/card], except sometimes you don’t get card advantage.
[card]Murder[/card]: This is what we are left with now that we lose [card]Go for the Throat[/card] and [card]Doom Blade[/card]. That’s pretty poor. We’ll play it, but the difference is fairly drastic.
[card]Mutilate[/card]: Flores thinks Mono-Black control is already playable. With the rotation you lose Jens (Sad Robot), and your finishers, but gaining [card]Mutilate[/card] is a huge boost. The tension between the two Liliana’s is awful for you if you want to use [card]Liliana of the Dark Realms[/card] to keep the lands flowing. I think the plan has to be to ramp to [card]Griselbrand[/card]/Nicol Bolas. [card]Mutilate[/card] will generally do the job of [card]Day of Judgment[/card] and in some ways does it better (vs. regeneration). Your real problem will come against large dragons and green beasts that leave a beast behind. Maybe you have enough raw power to overcome that, but for now consider me a MBC skeptic. Either way, [card]Mutilate[/card] is a great addition and pumps up Black’s power level.
[card]Nefarox, Overlord of Grixis[/card]: Seriously? This wuss is the overlord of Grixis? [card]Griselbrand[/card] would use Nefarox to wipe his hairy ass. If you like large Black men, and I know you do, look elsewhere.
[card]Phylactery Lich[/card]: If any “creature” wanted some Darksteel Artifacts, it’s this Lich. A 5/5 for three mana is a good deal, so it comes down to our artifact options. Getting blown out by artifact removal is no fun, so we’ll need something resilient, or, at the very least, something that draws cards if it dies.
Addendum: The perfect brawler if your opponent cannot kill an artifact. Keep that in mind.
[card]Public Execution[/card]: Six mana for targeted removal is… expensive. Heck, six mana for mass removal is expensive. Moving right along.
[card]Ravenous Rats[/card]: My favorite flavor text in M13. An oldie but a goodie. 🙂
[card]Rise from the Grave[/card]: Welcome back [card]Griselbrand[/card], how was your time in the graveyard? You don’t remember? Well, don’t worry about it; we’re just glad to have you back. [card]Rise from the Grave[/card] is going to be a staple in the B/R Reanimator deck…if said deck is good enough. [card]Wild Guess[/card] and [card]Faithless Looting[/card] are crucial. Right now I am hopeful.
[card]Servant of Nefarox[/card]: Seriously, why are you serving that candy-ass?
[card]Shimian Specter[/card]: Even the great [card]Hypnotic Specter[/card] wasn’t the same without [card]Dark Ritual[/card]. [card]Shimian Specter[/card] is too small/costly to make a difference.
[card]Sign in Blood[/card]: A role player if MBC is a deck. Also, an epic finisher. 🙂
[card]Tormented Soul[/card]: No blocking. No hexproof. Not much chance of seeing play, although it really should. It is effectively a 1/1 shadow creature in a world without shadow, and that’s pretty good for an aggro deck. It’s a shame this isn’t a vampire.
[card]Vampire Nighthawk[/card]: Totally worth three mana, in Limited or Constructed. The only issue for Constructed is do you have the other 56? Nocturnus helps, but you run out of other good options pretty quickly. You can’t load up on four mana Vampires without being far too slow. Noble is pretty good, although the mana might be a tad awkward, even with Cavern.
[card]Vampire Nocturnus[/card]: And here is the other problem with [card]Stromkirk Noble[/card]. The raw power is there, but the team isn’t. Dan Marino feels your pain.
[card]Veilborn Ghoul[/card]: Discard for fun and profit? The fact that you occasionally get a 4/1 beater is merely a bonus. The plan is probably a bit too slow to be tier 1, but it’s worth investigation, especially since Black-Red Re-animator already wants to discard.
[card]Vile Rebirth[/card]: Not bad. It is a potential combat trick, counters reanimation attempts, and gives you quality value for your investment. This is a very annoying card for the aforementioned B/R Re-animator deck and might strangle it before it can become viable.
[card]Walking Corpse[/card]: Ah, Zombie bear, so nice to see you again.
[card]Wit’s End[/card]: As grammatical issues go, putting the apostrophe before the “s” instead of after seems pretty minor, so I really don’t see what all the hullabaloo is about. Anyways, I am not spending seven mana to make you discard.
[card]Xathrid Gorgon[/card]: I like the Gorgon thematically, but Black really needs better finishing options in the five to six mana range.
[card]Zombie Goliath[/card]: Ode to my 23rd card, how you excite me. NOT!
Black is in an odd position post-rotation. Losing [card]Doom Blade[/card] and [card]Go for the Throat[/card] weaken Black as a splash, particularly with [card]Lingering Souls[/card] in the cross-hairs. On the plus side, MBC is being pushed. A real issue is that Zombies is Black’s best tribe right now, but Vampires are being pushed in M13. Maybe the Lich will find its place in Zombies, but what is the artifact? Gaining [card]Mutilate[/card] helps power up MBC, although Grixis really does seem more likely. For now Black will continue to rely on aggressive Zombies, and hope for some help in Ravnica.
Seth Burn is a former Pro Tour player and a long-time Magic columnist who has written for both TCGPlayer.com and Star City Games. He is also known for his undeniable love for the NFL.