I'm pretty excited for the release of New Phyrexia. I read through the whole spoiler and it seems like there are enough cards in the set to shake up Standard.
I tried to predict which cards will make the most impact on Standard. After I made my picks, I wrote a blog post on the topic. Check it out: Top 10 Standard Cards from New Phyrexia
What do you think of my choices? Which cards do you agree with? Which cards do you think I missed?
Beast Within
free counter thing
Phyrexian Obliterator
Batterskull
Torpor Orb
dispatch
puresteel pally
Surgical Extraction
Birthing Pod
Hex Parasite
in no order (wow this set didnt offer any good creatures lol)
NO!
I'm not going to try and "hop" on any bandwangon with zero reason, but I'm going to have to agree that Beast Within is not as "godly" as it keeps seeming to be. What exactly are you really thinking it's going to dominate? The numbers don't lie, it's a terrible card for Jace. It doesn't answer Valakut. It doesn't answer most things actually. If it had split second then and maybe only then would it really be this god send the forms keep claiming.
Torpor Orb was really and honestly best surmised by P.C. It is only good if you are on the go and even then there is so much artifact hate how good is it really for you. What decks are you possibly going to run where it doesn't hurt you as much as it hurts the other player. Orb will probably be one of the biggest FU's in EDH though... but then again... artifact hate.
Most of the list people keep talking about are probably going to have a bigger impact after rotation but certainly not before. (Unless the ban happens... which it is almost clearly not going to at this point.... unless they do stick with banning Mystic.)
I feel you missed Surgical Extraction, Mental Misstep, Vault Skirge, Despise, Geth's Verdict, Urabrask. Perhaps not all top 10, but I feel they should have been considered.
1. Beast Within - Just a huge card at instant speed and the decks that play care nor for a 3/3 beast token
2. Mental Misstep - if this was legacy top 10 this would clearly be the top card but in standard it is not as format changing. Still can stop a whole bunch of things such as Duress, Despise, IoK, almost all the elves, birds of Paradise, almost all the goblins, so on and so on.
3. Depise - To me this is better than Duress in most instances because it grabs creatures and plansewalkers. The only deck it isn't better than duress in is U/B control which wants to grab spells with its hand disruptions.
4. Sword of War and Peace - Not as good as feast and Famine but better than Body and Mind. Especially the decks that are going to play it because they will always have a fat grip of cards in they're hand.
5. Batterskull - maybe because I see a 4/4 creature with vigilance and lifelink and I think mehh, the problem is with me, but it is a good card, just not the card Patrick Chapin is making it out to be.
6. Surgical Extraction aka Vengevine killer - Yeah this card is mean especially in the deck I think will make a rise in popularity in Mono black control. Ouchie.
7. Dispatch - 1 drop -5/-5 removal for anyone is nothing to sneeze at. Very good card
8. Phyrexian Obliterator - If beast within was not released this would be in the top 3, but because beast within was released and it s a BBBB spell, had to move it down here. Still a scary card to see on the field.
9. Gitaxian Probe - A free peek at your opponents hand and draw spell for any deck is nothing to sneeze at. Allows you to know what exactly you should be able to do. Very good card.
10. Tezzeret's Gambit - A 3 drop draw 2 spell for any color that can help pump your chalicies, tumble magnets and planeswalkers sounds good to me. The more I have tested with this card the more I just love it.
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Any mono green deck that has trouble removing bigger threats than they can produce and a 3/3 beast token is not bigger then they're threats.
any green deck that cannot deal with fauna shaman, or cannot deal with a celestial colonnade, or cannot deal with a creeping tarpit, or cannot deal with Sword of feast and famine and sword of Body and mind (both pro green).
G/B rock decks now have another tool to use to control the field until they can get they're biggest threats out, Glissa is not going to care about a 3/3 beast token.
Valakut now has a way to deal with swords, and jace, and do not care about a 3/3 beast token because they probably have already dropped an overgrown battlement
Eldrazi green which had a Hell of a time stopping any super fast aggro deck.
Any deck that runs green that needs to poke that last three damage and has an abundance of land they will be more than willing to turn into a 3/3 token to beats.
R/G Eldrazi spawn decks that can run they're awakening zone tokens into threats.
Seriously They're are a lot of decks that can use Beast within. Trust me, it is that powerful.
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RUG, Valakut, Eldrazi Ramp, pretty much any green deck that goes right over top. It isn't even terrible in slightly smaller green deck as a catchall but that takes more strategic planning. Still a catchall gives enough flexibility that it's playable. The fact it kills Jace(although I prefer Gideon since Jace is manageable) or Equipment or a Titan is pretty big. Early proxy testing has shown this card to be an absolute beast.
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RUG, Valakut, Eldrazi Ramp, pretty much any green deck that goes right over top. It isn't even terrible in slightly smaller green deck as a catchall but that takes more strategic planning. Still a catchall gives enough flexibility that it's playable. The fact it kills Jace(although I prefer Gideon since Jace is manageable) or Equipment or a Titan is pretty big. Early proxy testing has shown this card to be an absolute beast.
An absolute beast that produces a beast that we care nothing about. The Card is seriously the only card in the set that almost made me wet myself in excitement. Surgical Extraction made me rush and sell off my Vengevine for 40 before they dropped to 26 within two days, but this card make me happy that green is my favorite color in Magic.
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I think Batterskull has too many weaknesses compared to Sword of Feast and famine. If someone tutors for a batterskull on 2nd turn, the other player could easily remove the stoneforge mystic before it can actually use its put into play ability. Then that player has a strongly dud card in their hand, having to pay 5 mana for a 4/4 lifelink, when instead they could have easily played the sword and attached it to a hawk by then, even without the stoneforge. Although certainly in certain matchups it could be very strong, but not against the many decks that could kill the stoneforge.
RUG, Valakut, Eldrazi Ramp, pretty much any green deck that goes right over top. It isn't even terrible in slightly smaller green deck as a catchall but that takes more strategic planning. Still a catchall gives enough flexibility that it's playable. The fact it kills Jace(although I prefer Gideon since Jace is manageable) or Equipment or a Titan is pretty big. Early proxy testing has shown this card to be an absolute beast.
Here is the point...
Which of those decks right now currently fend off Blue/White and Cawblade?
At best, it is an answer for Sword, which will only lead to a variant of CB that uses either an additional Sword or other Blue options for Counter Magic.
It is zero value in a war with Jace. The statistical numbers are there. As it was posted else where, it basically makes Jace read 2BB, brainstorm, put a 3/3 into play, target player discards a card.
At best for other targets, it hits Gideon which post M12 seems very very strong. However, I assume given the time of the thread, this is talking about what effects of value these are as soon as they rotate in. Which again, leaves this card very far down the list until rotation. ( and again unless bannings happen which is more and more unlikely )
1.) Despise - seems like it should be on the same or similar power level as IOK in this standard.
2.) Batterskull - recursive threat that is tutorable by stoneforge and fights aggro pretty well. might have repurcussions in favor of decks like RUG and valakut who don't care about the 4/4 lifelink while aggro decks are compensating with cards like crush and divine offering, making them worse against those 'go big or go home' decks
3.) Act of Aggression - this will be the card that should bring some balance to standard. it is a huge tool for the missing third leg of standard, vengevine based aggro, against valakut. this should increase their percentage against valakut, in turn mitigating the dominance by caw-go
4.) Gixatian Probe - this should be interesting as the litmus test for whether the phyrexian mana mechanic is too powerful or not. if this eventually starts seeing a ton of play, the mechanic is too powerful, but won't see a lot of play otherwise.
5.) Beast within - great answer to jace, sword, and even possibly batterskull (they'd have to walk into it, though). it is a skill-testing card though, since there will be a lot of people who don't realize that the correct play will be to blow up your own land to attack jace instead of killing it directly. hitting gideon will be one of the best uses for this card.
6.) dismember - huge card for RDW, probably won't take off in any other deck that could splash for the gftt/db twins unless the titans are't reprinted in m12 - they're too important not to be able to hit. after, it could see play as a mis of a vendetta-style 1 drop, a bigger grasp of darkness for the exchange of 2 life and 1B and a straight up -5/-5 for 1bb, depending on the game state, which seems incredibly flexible.
7.) Sword of War and Peace - good both for and against boros and cawblade, has the possibility of both hitting a player and killing a 'walker. it also stopps your sworded guy from being chumped by hawks all day long. it should probably wind up as a 1-of in cawblade and boros, each.
8.) hex parasite - answer to jace/gideon, tutorable by trinket mage. not much else to say, except it seems like it could be good against chalices and the like.
9.) Mental Misstep - sideboard card, answers despise, hex parasite, inquisition, duress, goblin guide, lighning bolt (not sure if the last two are favorable trades, though). should see play in caw-go sides as 3-ofs
10.) CHancellor of the Annex - My pick for set sleeper. suffers from the same "i want 4 of these but i really don't want 4 of these" that all the chancelors (and torpor orb) suffer from, but the effect is really powerful. it either forces card advantage by making the opponent discard a card early to stay on curve, or to delay their opening play a turn, which is hugely advantageous for you. cobra on turn 3 isn't such a threat, and having this on the draw against caw blade means that they either burn a preordain on it or you get to be able to leak their mystic, either of which is still an okay play.
Which of those decks right now currently fend off Blue/White and Cawblade?
At best, it is an answer for Sword, which will only lead to a variant of CB that uses either an additional Sword or other Blue options for Counter Magic.
It is zero value in a war with Jace. The statistical numbers are there. As it was posted else where, it basically makes Jace read 2BB, brainstorm, put a 3/3 into play, target player discards a card.
At best for other targets, it hits Gideon which post M12 seems very very strong. However, I assume given the time of the thread, this is talking about what effects of value these are as soon as they rotate in. Which again, leaves this card very far down the list until rotation. ( and again unless bannings happen which is more and more unlikely )
Umm for aggro deck currently Jace is not the card we are most scared of. It is gideon. If u/w sticks a gideon, we usually have a tough time winning. Beast within solves that problem now. Right now when I see Caw Blade as an aggro player (especially with my elves) here are the cards in order which terrify me in caw blade 1. Gideon. 2. Swords of Feast and Famine. 3 Jace, the mind sculptor. Beast within solves the gideon and the swords problem. And being that usually by turn 5 with elves I am winning and U/W needs to stick a gideon to stand a chance, they are not going to have counter mana up to counter the Beast within.
If I am a valakut player right now in the caw blade match up sword of feast and famine just destroys me. To be able to kill a sword the turn before you can cast a titan is huge. It means the U/W player will have less of a chance to have mana back up to have double counter spell (counter the titan, the counter the trap).
If I am a RUG player playing against Caw Blade, The jace war is now in my favor. I do not have to play baby jace to just to kill papa jace. Plus, being able to kill gideon and swords is a huge gain. Makes Inferno Titan more effective when it lands, and same with Precursor Golem.
If I am an Eldrazi Green Player, caw blade most of the time is not a problem, but it does usually shore up bad draws the Eldrazi green player has and killing the Sword for an Eldrazi Green Player is Huge.
Now other green decks in the format do not usually have that much of a problem with Caw Blade Naya decks, and the U/G shamnvine decks are not going to get that big of boost from beast within. But the examples I gave are all green based decks that have problems with Caw Blade and how Beast within solves that problem. We have not even talked about how beast within can be used against these decks.
For elves and most Vengevine decks Valakut is a HUGE problem. Beast within can help solve that problem by Blowing up Valakuts, or blowing up red sources of mana, or blowing up they're ramping source which gives the elves and vengevine players enough time to finish off valakut
For RUG the synergy between Jace and Beast within is nuts. Here let me blow up your biggest threat and give you a 3/3 creature, then I am going to jace bounce it. Look at that a 3 drop instant speed vindicate with no set back
These are just small examples, they're are a ton more.
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Which of those decks right now currently fend off Blue/White and Cawblade?
At best, it is an answer for Sword, which will only lead to a variant of CB that uses either an additional Sword or other Blue options for Counter Magic.
It is zero value in a war with Jace. The statistical numbers are there. As it was posted else where, it basically makes Jace read 2BB, brainstorm, put a 3/3 into play, target player discards a card.
At best for other targets, it hits Gideon which post M12 seems very very strong. However, I assume given the time of the thread, this is talking about what effects of value these are as soon as they rotate in. Which again, leaves this card very far down the list until rotation. ( and again unless bannings happen which is more and more unlikely )
Decks that go over Jace don't usually care about CA. The best move Jace does early against Eldrazi ramp is usually bounce something. Does Valakut care if you brainstorm but you are tapped out. It isn't about Jace. People seem to think Jace is so hard to deal with. Beast Within is a sort of catchall like Acidic Lime except it kills creatures. Yes green already has enchantment and artifact hate but this hits anything making it so much more versatile.
Killing Gideon right now is a great use for it. Why wait for M12? I think skeptics of the card are underappreciating how hard it is to find a generic answer outside of blue or black right now. Even whites removal is all better in one situation not another. Beast Within does suck against aggro decks but it is great against decks that go big or attack at different angles. The number of removal slots it combines is the difference between diluting your proactive plan with different solutions you may not draw consistently.
RUG and Eldrazi Green and I believe Elves and other Vengevine decks all have good Caw Blade matchups and could benefit.
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I don't care less with all the powers of NPH (Mental Misstep; Despise; Gitaxian Probe <3), but i do want Moltensteel Dragon. I'ma pick up the precon deck with this dragon when the set comes out!
Fresh Meat will likely see sideboard play in a tier 1.5 - 2 deck (Elves) against anything packing mass removal. Other than that, I don't see many standard applications for the card. I'd like to be proven wrong, however, because screaming YOU CAN'T BEAT MY MEAT! and windmill slamming Fresh Meat on the table seems funny.
Fresh Meat gives creature decks in green a great response to DoJ, or even attacking into some bad trades but re-spawning as beasts. GW QUest or Vengevine, Naya Vengevine/Fauna Shaman and the like.
The other card for aggro decks is Ruthless Invasion. 3 mana and no non-atrifact blockers? Means that lethal on the table may mean lethal full stop and the phyrexian mana opens it up for elves and WW decks as well. I think it'll see a fair bit of sideboard play to resolve creature standoffs, especially if the format shifts post rotation to see more creatures in play.
NO!
I'm not going to try and "hop" on any bandwangon with zero reason, but I'm going to have to agree that Beast Within is not as "godly" as it keeps seeming to be. What exactly are you really thinking it's going to dominate? The numbers don't lie, it's a terrible card for Jace. It doesn't answer Valakut. It doesn't answer most things actually. If it had split second then and maybe only then would it really be this god send the forms keep claiming.
I agree, it's not the best answer for a lot of cards. But it is an answer. For green, having removal that you don't have to splash for is extremely valuable. It's not a question of whether the card is a powerhouse in and of itself, it's a question of whether it can give a green deck the added versatility it needs to let its other cards shine.
It may not see as much play now as it might post-rotation, but having cards like this around increases the chances that strong, green-based archetypes will emerge.
Fresh Meat will likely see sideboard play in a tier 1.5 - 2 deck (Elves) against anything packing mass removal. Other than that, I don't see many standard applications for the card. I'd like to be proven wrong, however, because screaming YOU CAN'T BEAT MY MEAT! and windmill slamming Fresh Meat on the table seems funny.
LMFAO. Might be the funniest thing Ive ever read on these forums. And I will be saying that when I cast it, lol.
But yea, with spawns, this card is nuts. I have a thread up now featuring it (GB Tokens). I had tested the deck awhile back without Fresh Meat and it was still pretty okay, but I feel that it just gained so much from that one card.
An absolute beast that produces a beast that we care nothing about. The Card is seriously the only card in the set that almost made me wet myself in excitement. Surgical Extraction made me rush and sell off my Vengevine for 40 before they dropped to 26 within two days, but this card make me happy that green is my favorite color in Magic.
I do not like green, but this makes me just wanna go green.
Nice speed, huh?
love it.
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It is zero value in a war with Jace. The statistical numbers are there. As it was posted else where, it basically makes Jace read 2BB, brainstorm, put a 3/3 into play, target player discards a card.
Even if it makes jace into a 2UU, brainstorm / put a 3/3 into play it still better than loosing
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I tried to predict which cards will make the most impact on Standard. After I made my picks, I wrote a blog post on the topic. Check it out:
Top 10 Standard Cards from New Phyrexia
What do you think of my choices? Which cards do you agree with? Which cards do you think I missed?
Beast Within
free counter thing
Phyrexian Obliterator
Batterskull
Torpor Orb
dispatch
puresteel pally
Surgical Extraction
Birthing Pod
Hex Parasite
in no order (wow this set didnt offer any good creatures lol)
sig by Sioux
karn
dispatch
despise
mental misstep
surgical extraction
beast withn
birthing pod
batterskull
hex parasite
sword of war and peace
NO!
I'm not going to try and "hop" on any bandwangon with zero reason, but I'm going to have to agree that Beast Within is not as "godly" as it keeps seeming to be. What exactly are you really thinking it's going to dominate? The numbers don't lie, it's a terrible card for Jace. It doesn't answer Valakut. It doesn't answer most things actually. If it had split second then and maybe only then would it really be this god send the forms keep claiming.
Torpor Orb was really and honestly best surmised by P.C. It is only good if you are on the go and even then there is so much artifact hate how good is it really for you. What decks are you possibly going to run where it doesn't hurt you as much as it hurts the other player. Orb will probably be one of the biggest FU's in EDH though... but then again... artifact hate.
Most of the list people keep talking about are probably going to have a bigger impact after rotation but certainly not before. (Unless the ban happens... which it is almost clearly not going to at this point.... unless they do stick with banning Mystic.)
1. Beast Within - Just a huge card at instant speed and the decks that play care nor for a 3/3 beast token
2. Mental Misstep - if this was legacy top 10 this would clearly be the top card but in standard it is not as format changing. Still can stop a whole bunch of things such as Duress, Despise, IoK, almost all the elves, birds of Paradise, almost all the goblins, so on and so on.
3. Depise - To me this is better than Duress in most instances because it grabs creatures and plansewalkers. The only deck it isn't better than duress in is U/B control which wants to grab spells with its hand disruptions.
4. Sword of War and Peace - Not as good as feast and Famine but better than Body and Mind. Especially the decks that are going to play it because they will always have a fat grip of cards in they're hand.
5. Batterskull - maybe because I see a 4/4 creature with vigilance and lifelink and I think mehh, the problem is with me, but it is a good card, just not the card Patrick Chapin is making it out to be.
6. Surgical Extraction aka Vengevine killer - Yeah this card is mean especially in the deck I think will make a rise in popularity in Mono black control. Ouchie.
7. Dispatch - 1 drop -5/-5 removal for anyone is nothing to sneeze at. Very good card
8. Phyrexian Obliterator - If beast within was not released this would be in the top 3, but because beast within was released and it s a BBBB spell, had to move it down here. Still a scary card to see on the field.
9. Gitaxian Probe - A free peek at your opponents hand and draw spell for any deck is nothing to sneeze at. Allows you to know what exactly you should be able to do. Very good card.
10. Tezzeret's Gambit - A 3 drop draw 2 spell for any color that can help pump your chalicies, tumble magnets and planeswalkers sounds good to me. The more I have tested with this card the more I just love it.
Tried to pull away, but now I'm Back At it
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Which decks are those again?
Any mono green deck that has trouble removing bigger threats than they can produce and a 3/3 beast token is not bigger then they're threats.
any green deck that cannot deal with fauna shaman, or cannot deal with a celestial colonnade, or cannot deal with a creeping tarpit, or cannot deal with Sword of feast and famine and sword of Body and mind (both pro green).
G/B rock decks now have another tool to use to control the field until they can get they're biggest threats out, Glissa is not going to care about a 3/3 beast token.
Valakut now has a way to deal with swords, and jace, and do not care about a 3/3 beast token because they probably have already dropped an overgrown battlement
Eldrazi green which had a Hell of a time stopping any super fast aggro deck.
Any deck that runs green that needs to poke that last three damage and has an abundance of land they will be more than willing to turn into a 3/3 token to beats.
R/G Eldrazi spawn decks that can run they're awakening zone tokens into threats.
Seriously They're are a lot of decks that can use Beast within. Trust me, it is that powerful.
Tried to pull away, but now I'm Back At it
Love is Emphatic, cards need to be played
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RUG, Valakut, Eldrazi Ramp, pretty much any green deck that goes right over top. It isn't even terrible in slightly smaller green deck as a catchall but that takes more strategic planning. Still a catchall gives enough flexibility that it's playable. The fact it kills Jace(although I prefer Gideon since Jace is manageable) or Equipment or a Titan is pretty big. Early proxy testing has shown this card to be an absolute beast.
GWU Knightfall Modern
UW Tempo Legacy
UGR Burning Wish Cobra Vintage
An absolute beast that produces a beast that we care nothing about. The Card is seriously the only card in the set that almost made me wet myself in excitement. Surgical Extraction made me rush and sell off my Vengevine for 40 before they dropped to 26 within two days, but this card make me happy that green is my favorite color in Magic.
Tried to pull away, but now I'm Back At it
Love is Emphatic, cards need to be played
Hailing from the BA, accumulating CA"
Here is the point...
Which of those decks right now currently fend off Blue/White and Cawblade?
At best, it is an answer for Sword, which will only lead to a variant of CB that uses either an additional Sword or other Blue options for Counter Magic.
It is zero value in a war with Jace. The statistical numbers are there. As it was posted else where, it basically makes Jace read 2BB, brainstorm, put a 3/3 into play, target player discards a card.
At best for other targets, it hits Gideon which post M12 seems very very strong. However, I assume given the time of the thread, this is talking about what effects of value these are as soon as they rotate in. Which again, leaves this card very far down the list until rotation. ( and again unless bannings happen which is more and more unlikely )
1.) Despise - seems like it should be on the same or similar power level as IOK in this standard.
2.) Batterskull - recursive threat that is tutorable by stoneforge and fights aggro pretty well. might have repurcussions in favor of decks like RUG and valakut who don't care about the 4/4 lifelink while aggro decks are compensating with cards like crush and divine offering, making them worse against those 'go big or go home' decks
3.) Act of Aggression - this will be the card that should bring some balance to standard. it is a huge tool for the missing third leg of standard, vengevine based aggro, against valakut. this should increase their percentage against valakut, in turn mitigating the dominance by caw-go
4.) Gixatian Probe - this should be interesting as the litmus test for whether the phyrexian mana mechanic is too powerful or not. if this eventually starts seeing a ton of play, the mechanic is too powerful, but won't see a lot of play otherwise.
5.) Beast within - great answer to jace, sword, and even possibly batterskull (they'd have to walk into it, though). it is a skill-testing card though, since there will be a lot of people who don't realize that the correct play will be to blow up your own land to attack jace instead of killing it directly. hitting gideon will be one of the best uses for this card.
6.) dismember - huge card for RDW, probably won't take off in any other deck that could splash for the gftt/db twins unless the titans are't reprinted in m12 - they're too important not to be able to hit. after, it could see play as a mis of a vendetta-style 1 drop, a bigger grasp of darkness for the exchange of 2 life and 1B and a straight up -5/-5 for 1bb, depending on the game state, which seems incredibly flexible.
7.) Sword of War and Peace - good both for and against boros and cawblade, has the possibility of both hitting a player and killing a 'walker. it also stopps your sworded guy from being chumped by hawks all day long. it should probably wind up as a 1-of in cawblade and boros, each.
8.) hex parasite - answer to jace/gideon, tutorable by trinket mage. not much else to say, except it seems like it could be good against chalices and the like.
9.) Mental Misstep - sideboard card, answers despise, hex parasite, inquisition, duress, goblin guide, lighning bolt (not sure if the last two are favorable trades, though). should see play in caw-go sides as 3-ofs
10.) CHancellor of the Annex - My pick for set sleeper. suffers from the same "i want 4 of these but i really don't want 4 of these" that all the chancelors (and torpor orb) suffer from, but the effect is really powerful. it either forces card advantage by making the opponent discard a card early to stay on curve, or to delay their opening play a turn, which is hugely advantageous for you. cobra on turn 3 isn't such a threat, and having this on the draw against caw blade means that they either burn a preordain on it or you get to be able to leak their mystic, either of which is still an okay play.
Umm for aggro deck currently Jace is not the card we are most scared of. It is gideon. If u/w sticks a gideon, we usually have a tough time winning. Beast within solves that problem now. Right now when I see Caw Blade as an aggro player (especially with my elves) here are the cards in order which terrify me in caw blade 1. Gideon. 2. Swords of Feast and Famine. 3 Jace, the mind sculptor. Beast within solves the gideon and the swords problem. And being that usually by turn 5 with elves I am winning and U/W needs to stick a gideon to stand a chance, they are not going to have counter mana up to counter the Beast within.
If I am a valakut player right now in the caw blade match up sword of feast and famine just destroys me. To be able to kill a sword the turn before you can cast a titan is huge. It means the U/W player will have less of a chance to have mana back up to have double counter spell (counter the titan, the counter the trap).
If I am a RUG player playing against Caw Blade, The jace war is now in my favor. I do not have to play baby jace to just to kill papa jace. Plus, being able to kill gideon and swords is a huge gain. Makes Inferno Titan more effective when it lands, and same with Precursor Golem.
If I am an Eldrazi Green Player, caw blade most of the time is not a problem, but it does usually shore up bad draws the Eldrazi green player has and killing the Sword for an Eldrazi Green Player is Huge.
Now other green decks in the format do not usually have that much of a problem with Caw Blade Naya decks, and the U/G shamnvine decks are not going to get that big of boost from beast within. But the examples I gave are all green based decks that have problems with Caw Blade and how Beast within solves that problem. We have not even talked about how beast within can be used against these decks.
For elves and most Vengevine decks Valakut is a HUGE problem. Beast within can help solve that problem by Blowing up Valakuts, or blowing up red sources of mana, or blowing up they're ramping source which gives the elves and vengevine players enough time to finish off valakut
For RUG the synergy between Jace and Beast within is nuts. Here let me blow up your biggest threat and give you a 3/3 creature, then I am going to jace bounce it. Look at that a 3 drop instant speed vindicate with no set back
These are just small examples, they're are a ton more.
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Hailing from the BA, accumulating CA"
Decks that go over Jace don't usually care about CA. The best move Jace does early against Eldrazi ramp is usually bounce something. Does Valakut care if you brainstorm but you are tapped out. It isn't about Jace. People seem to think Jace is so hard to deal with. Beast Within is a sort of catchall like Acidic Lime except it kills creatures. Yes green already has enchantment and artifact hate but this hits anything making it so much more versatile.
Killing Gideon right now is a great use for it. Why wait for M12? I think skeptics of the card are underappreciating how hard it is to find a generic answer outside of blue or black right now. Even whites removal is all better in one situation not another. Beast Within does suck against aggro decks but it is great against decks that go big or attack at different angles. The number of removal slots it combines is the difference between diluting your proactive plan with different solutions you may not draw consistently.
RUG and Eldrazi Green and I believe Elves and other Vengevine decks all have good Caw Blade matchups and could benefit.
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BR MidrangeWW Steel
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The other card for aggro decks is Ruthless Invasion. 3 mana and no non-atrifact blockers? Means that lethal on the table may mean lethal full stop and the phyrexian mana opens it up for elves and WW decks as well. I think it'll see a fair bit of sideboard play to resolve creature standoffs, especially if the format shifts post rotation to see more creatures in play.
Despise
Dismember
Whipflare
Beast Within
Triumph of the Hordes
Batterskull
Hex Parasite
Myr Superion
Sword of War and Peace
I agree, it's not the best answer for a lot of cards. But it is an answer. For green, having removal that you don't have to splash for is extremely valuable. It's not a question of whether the card is a powerhouse in and of itself, it's a question of whether it can give a green deck the added versatility it needs to let its other cards shine.
It may not see as much play now as it might post-rotation, but having cards like this around increases the chances that strong, green-based archetypes will emerge.
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LMFAO. Might be the funniest thing Ive ever read on these forums. And I will be saying that when I cast it, lol.
But yea, with spawns, this card is nuts. I have a thread up now featuring it (GB Tokens). I had tested the deck awhile back without Fresh Meat and it was still pretty okay, but I feel that it just gained so much from that one card.
http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=318361
Thread for reference.
That's Dismember BTW.
My top 10:
Karn: a colorless planeswalker that could see play in valakut and other ramp decks.
Surgical Extraction: a free extirpate which deals with vengevine and other various threats
Beast Within: Another way for Green to fight Planeswalkers
Phyrexian Obliterator: Negator 2.0 without the drawback
Mental Misstep: Could be pretty powerful against a vast number of 1 drops such as IoK, Duress, etc...
Dispise: A reverse Duress of sorts which deals with creatures and planeswalkers
Urabrask, the Hidden: It's pretty good in the aggro decks which really allows you to get some damage through.
Sword of War and Peace: It's a sword, therefore it's pretty good and the protection from red is really good.
Dismember: It could be a way for mono red to deal with firewalker. It could also be a 1 mana -5/-5 removal spell.
Batterskull: Another tool for Stoneforge Mystic decks and the deck can cheat in a pseudo baneslayer angel or mak any guy large.
Just my $0.02
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I do not like green, but this makes me just wanna go green.
Nice speed, huh?
love it.
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Even if it makes jace into a 2UU, brainstorm / put a 3/3 into play it still better than loosing
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