White had a fairly mediocre haul in M13, although that changes if I am underestimating Ajani. How did Blue do? I should be quick to point out that how Blue did changes drastically due to the rotation. [card]Talrand, Sky Summoner[/card] is a different dude without Phyrexian mana spells, but we’ll get to that.
[card]Archaeomancer[/card]: The fixed [card]Snapcaster Mage[/card]? I like getting my spells back, but I am not going to pay four for a [card]Regrowth[/card], even if there is a 1/2 body attached to the deal. I am especially not going to pay that during my main phase. No deal. Yes, I know this is a cheaper [card]Izzet Chronarch[/card], I do not care.
[card]Arctic Aven[/card]: A 3/2 lifelink flyer for three isn’t bad, but I think we can do better. Actually, given [card]Geist of Saint Traft[/card], I know we can do better. Sorry Aven, not your fault, you did your best. A long time ago you would have been awesome. Now, you’re only fringe playable.
[card]Augur of Bolas[/card]: I will be playing four of this fish in pretty much all of my Blue decks post rotation. It isn’t quite [card]Ponder[/card], or [card]Preordain[/card], and sometimes it will whiff, but if I can somehow run 24 or more spells in my deck I’ll hit over 79% of the time. That’s a pretty good ratio. That’s going to be harder to do without 12 cantrips, but I think I’ll find a way to make do. Getting a 1/3 blocker (beater!) is a pretty nice bonus. Heck, even in the rare times when I whiff, I’ll still get some return on my investment. This fish just screams value. In some ways he is the fixed [card]Snapcaster Mage[/card], not [card]Archaeomancer[/card].
[card]Battle of Wits[/card]: Impossible to shuffle. Difficult to resist. It was never my thing, but Godspeed to all of you who wish to reprise Vizzini.
[card]Clone[/card]: Holy balls, you mean you’ll actually have to pay four mana legend rule [card]Geist of Saint Traft[/card] or copy my [card]Thragtusk[/card]? Good! [card]Phantasmal Image[/card] was sick and I won’t miss it. In all seriousness the interaction between [card]Phantasmal Image[/card] and Thrun was an embarrassment. [card]Clone[/card] at least plays fair, which is not the way to dominate tournament Magic for two years.
[card]Courtly Provocateur[/card]: Um… ok, if you’re into that kind of thing, have fun. I’m moving on.
[card]Divination[/card]: You know, since we no longer have any countermagic, this being a sorcery isn’t the problem it used to be. On the other hand, it is still main phase card advantage that sacrifices tempo. I think I’ll prefer my card advantage give me a 1/3 blocker, or some other kind of tempo gain/board presence.
[card]Downpour[/card]: [card]Fog[/card] + [card]Falter[/card]. I might run one or two of these in draft if I feel it is a tempo matchup. Also, read the flavor text and then check this out
[card]Encrust[/card]: Unlike [card]Claustrophobia[/card] this doesn’t tap the target. It is still removal and I’ll still draft it highly, but it is something to keep in mind.
[card]Essence Scatter[/card]: Poor [card]Essence Scatter[/card]. [card]Negate[/card] is laughing its ass off at you. You took the bullet aimed at [card]Mana Leak[/card]-[card]Snapcaster Mage[/card]. Sorry. At least you’re still great in draft. Yes, I know that’s no consolation. It is going to be a long year.
Addendum: Not everyone plays [card]Cavern of Souls[/card]. Plan accordingly.
[card]Faerie Invaders[/card]: This is a functional reprint of [card]Spire Monitor[/card]. I’d actually understand that if this were a Merfolk. As is, why?
Addendum: Because the art and flavor text are fantastic. Fair enough. 🙂
[card]Fog Bank[/card]: Just be glad it doesn’t have hexproof. It’ll shut down Exalted for about 15 second before you [card]Pacifism[/card]/[card]Oblivion Ring[/card]/[card]Divine Verdict[/card] it. On the plus side, it might piss of Green decks until they find the one removal card they were able to splash.
[card]Harbor Serpent[/card]: Pretty sick stall-breaker in Blue-on-Blue draft matches. Otherwise, just another slow fatty. It would amuse me if someone had some sick sideboard tech in Constructed where they used [card]Cavern of Souls[/card] naming Serpent to wreck other Blue decks. 🙂
[card]Hydrosurge[/card]: Um… okay.
[card]Index[/card]: You mean I’m supposed to get card disadvantage when I manipulate my library? Who knew! Since there are no combo applications right now, this is only useful if you are planning to cast some Miracles. Even so, the fact that you can’t toss the chaff to the bottom of the library means this is exceedingly narrow.
Addendum: I was too kind. This is awful and is a sign that WotC wants to apologize for the 19 land Blue decks we’ve been able to play.
[card]Master of the Pearl Trident[/card]: Did it take him 18 years to show up? What has he been doing all that time? Anyway, this is a strict improvement over his friend [card]Lord of Atlantis[/card], and a boost to the various fish decks floating around the power formats. I don’t think there are quite enough fish in Standard, but perhaps there will be more in Ravnica. (Point of fact, there are no Merfolk in AVR or Innistrad).
[card]Negate[/card]: Insofar as we have countermagic, it is [card]Negate[/card] that will have to carry the load, with some help from [card]Dissipate[/card]. Sorry [card]Rewind[/card], even with [card]Restoration Angel[/card] we do not pay four mana to counter target spell without drawing a card. Given the potentially backbreaking Bonfires and Lotuses [card]Negate[/card] will be doing work in Standard.
[card]Jace’s Phantasm[/card]: It is pretty hard to end up with 10 cards in your opponent’s graveyard if you aren’t actively trying to get them there. To pump an opponent’s graveyard you can use [card]Thought Scour[/card] and [card]Mind Sculpt[/card], but that seems inefficient. [card]Jace, Memory Adept[/card] can do so in one fell swoop, and if you don’t have a Phantasm in play at the time, can simply draw you a card instead. Of course, that is still a lot of work just to pump a 1/1 flyer. I like the Phantasm thematically, but it isn’t anywhere near as threatening as [card]Delver of Secrets[/card].
Addendum: Apparently [card]Sword of Body and Mind[/card] is a card. Who knew?
[card]Kraken Hatchling[/card]: A sideboard card to keep you from being swarmed? That is the upper bound.
[card]Merfolk of the Pearl Trident[/card]: Not good enough, even with their Master present.
[card]Mind Sculpt[/card]: Don’t let someone get seven of these for their draft deck. It won’t be pretty.
[card]Omniscience[/card]: Is the plan to put this into play with [card]Show and Tell[/card], and then go insane with [card]Griselbrand[/card]? Worst case scenario, you get a [card]Griselbrand[/card] directly? I guess the real worst case scenario is you lack any backup, but in that case you just wait. [card]Omniscience[/card] will do some bad things; I’m just not sure what the best shell is. I can tell you it won’t be paying retail for [card]Omniscience[/card]. 🙂
Addendum: Maybe not, this is actually a great deal worse than Dream Halls.
[card]Redirect[/card]: Bonfire me, I effing dare you. I actually expect [card]Redirect[/card] to find some sideboard space to counter Bonfire and other targeted spells with massive power.
[card]Rewind[/card]: Yes, in a perfect world you cast [card]Rewind[/card], and then cast [card]Restoration Angel[/card] for an epic blowout. In reality this languishes in your hand far too often. Just too slow/costly.
[card]Scroll Thief[/card]: It seems amazing today that [card]Ophidian[/card] was once a powerful card in Standard. [card]Scroll Thief[/card] is great if you can get it through, but that’s the rub. Maybe with islandwalk, maybe with [card]Spectral Flight[/card]. More likely not at all.
[card]Sleep[/card]: [card]Falter[/card] + [card]Fog[/card] + [card]Falter[/card]. There are worse ways to try and win a race.
[card]Spelltwine[/card]: OK, let’s game this out. I discard a broken spell with [card]Wild Guess[/card]. I cast [card]Spelltwine[/card]. Now, how do I win the game? I can’t count on my opponent having anything useful. I can’t find any spell in Standard that has the requisite power level, unless you count [card]Worldfire[/card] with me controlling a [card]Thragtusk[/card]. I’m sure [card]Spelltwine[/card] will be broken eventually, but it might be safe right at this moment. Of course, paying six mana to win the game isn’t that broken to begin with, especially if you need to do some setup first.
[card]Sphinx of Uthuun[/card]: Somewhat decent with [card]Heartless Summoning[/card]. Pretty tough to play outside of that.
[card]Stormtide Leviathan[/card]: Is Leviathan worthy of inclusion in a reanimation deck? [card]Griselbrand[/card] is the clear first choice, and there are various Angels battling for the backup slot, along with a new Wurm. We’ll see, this does provide a Moat and is unblockable. I’m going to try this out in Frites and see how it plays.
Addendum: Nah. People just bounce/steal this, and Dragons ignore it.
[card]Switcheroo[/card]: And then I am going to bounce my creature. This is a potential sleeper. On second thought maybe I’ll just let you keep the 1/1 token. I’m fine with my [card]Thragtusk[/card].
[card]Talrand, Sky Summoner[/card]: Shine brightly Sky Summoner for these are the halcyon days. Resolve Sky Summoner, without passing priority cast [card]Gitaxian Probe[/card], get a Drake. If they attempt to kill Sky Summoner try to save it with [card]Mutagenic Growth[/card], or at least shoot something with [card]Gut Shot[/card]. Woe is an opponent who lets you untap with Talrand. Of course, after the rotation spells will cost mana again, and Talrand will be “fair”. Well, fair-ish, untapping with him is still going to be very good, but that will be harder without [card]Mutagenic Growth[/card]. For now, enjoy going absolutely nuts. 🙂
[card]Talrand’s Invocation[/card]: Oddly enough, while Talrand is much stronger pre-rotation, post rotation putting two 3/3 vigilance flyers into play for four mana isn’t the worst thing in the world. Also, please pass me many of these in draft. Thank you.
[card]Tricks of the Trade[/card]: While this is pretty silly on a [card]Geist of Saint Traft[/card], [card]Invisible Stalker[/card] already has the hexproof-unblockable combo pretty much covered. BTW, who thought [card]Invisible Stalker[/card] was a good idea? Just curious.
[card]Unsummon[/card]: I understand [card]Vapor Snag[/card] is strictly better, but don’t mock [card]Unsummon[/card]. It absolutely laughs at Exalted, and if you need spells to keep [card]Augur of Bolas[/card] and [card]Talrand, Sky Summoner[/card] working, [card]Unsummon[/card] is excellent. Heck, sometimes you’ll be using [card]Unsummon[/card] on Augur and Talrand, and then [card]Vapor Snag[/card] is strictly outclassed. Funny how that works. Also, perfect flavor text.
[card]Vedalken Entrancer[/card]: Yes, I will look to get a few of these in my Blue draft decks. Inevitability is a good feeling. 🙂
[card]Void Stalker[/card]: Sure, it is slow removal, but you still get a 2/1 for 2 mana. It is splashable, but sadly, is not a merfolk. Oh well. It isn’t exactly a great card, but if you are looking for two drops to fill out a Blue aggro list, this should be something you at least consider.
[card]Watercourser[/card]: Meh. I guess if I am hurting for three drops I’ll grab a few of these. I’ll probably need to, since I’ll need something to hold the ground, and trade with some of the Green men I passed.
[card]Welkin Tern[/card]: Two power, splashable, evasion. That’s a solid package for two mana in what looks to be a fairly slow draft format, at least compared to what we are currently dealing with.
[card]Wind Drake[/card]: I’ve never liked [card]Wind Drake[/card]. White is used to getting two power flyers for two mana, so Drake just always seems outclassed. I’ll play it, but it isn’t a high pick, especially now that there will so many drake tokens just waiting to trade with it.
White has had a rough M13, losing its control elements, but that is nothing compared to Blue. Post rotation Blue is going to lose [card]Mana Leak[/card], [card]Ponder[/card], and the “free” spells from New Phyrexia that helped make Delver so powerful. I’m not going to say that Blue is in trouble post-rotation, but only one of the top eight decks from the last four ISD Block Premier tournaments were Blue. Oddly enough, it ended up winning. In any event, if ISD tournaments are good predictors, get ready for a lot of Green. We’ll see. Ravnica will have something to say about the new metagame, as will [card]Thragtusk[/card] and [card]Thundermaw Hellkite[/card]. Long story short, Blue might be in a bit of trouble even with [card]Augur of Bolas[/card]. Then again, Blue has proven pretty resilient, and Geists are still an option, so I guess we’ll just see, won’t we? 🙂
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.