I see this a lot. I understand that certain strategies don't lend themselves to limited, but what does it mean for a particular card to be better suited for limited than constructed? If a card is good in limited, why would it not also be good in constructed?
I hope you understand that a 5 CMC sorcery speed removal spell that only targets creatures and gives you a small amount of life is meaningless in constructed.
Is it meaningless simply because there are so many better options?
How about a tangible example? Choking Restraints from Eldritch Moon. Why is this card "good in limited."
First off, in limited, you're most likely going to win through creatures. You're not likely going to deal with mill decks or control decks with resilient creatures or only Planeswalkers. You're also probably going to be playing creatures.
Secondly, cards like Choking Restraints build onto themes and synergies of the sets; in this case Delirium. It does this quite well in that it puts an enchantment into your graveyard and prevents the creature from going to your opponent's graveyard. While limited in that value, it's more likely to come up in a limited game than in a constructed game.
Lastly, the cost is a big issue. In Standard, mono-white humans can have you dead by turn 4. In limited, that's much less likely and allows you to cast more costly spells.
Mostly just a matter of efficiency. In constructed you get to play with the best of the best, meaning you can fill your deck with higher rarity stuff that tends to give you stronger effect for less mana. You get more creature for your mana in the rares/mythics, better removal for the mana. The effects of the "good in draft" cards are fine, it is just that they usually cost 1-2 mana more than the cards they are competing with in constructed.
WotC think that by denying players removal at low rarities, they are making the game as fun as possible.
This warps the limited environment so that otherwise embarrassing cards can run away with games, leaving even the weakest and most overpriced interaction effects as necessary staples.
Because of your limited card pool, (french/)vanilla beaters will also occasionally become worth maindecking. You're not going to see a vanilla creature in constructed unless it's way over the mana curve, like 'goyf.
Well, to compare 2 fairly recent 5cmc black instant removal cards...
Reach of Shadows will kill most things, for 5 mana, and this will *never* see contstructed play. Ever.
Murderous Cut will kill most things (a few more, actually), for - generally speaking - <5 mana (often 1), and this has seen quite a bit of constructed play.
Some creatures and noncreature spells are just so weak (by comparison to others) that it's a case of "why would you bother even considering that?!", so... well, that's it.
In order for a card to be good in Limited, it only has to be one of the ~23 best cards out of a pool of 84 randomly selected cards, most of which are common.
In order for a card to be good in Constructed, it has to be one of the ~23 best cards out of every single card in the format, including every single rare and every single mythic.
Slight simplifications involved, but I hope it gets my point across.
The biggest issue that lays behind the difference between constructed and limited decks is consistency. You will not have have the 4/8/12 copies of similar cards that will fill a specific role as in a constructed deck. That means you won't get highly aggressive decks that can curve out and kill you by turn 4/5. You also don't get true control decks that have an answer for everything and then win by card advantage and a tough-to-answer wincon. You can forget about combo. Mana also tends to be inconsistent due to unreliable mana-fixing. So what you're left with is that most limited decks are some sort of 2-3 color "mid-range-y" decks with inconsistent mana. In such a high variance environment, it's much easier for a high cc (5+) card to actually get cast and impact the game or for an inefficient removal to matter.
It can be very instructive to switch perspective and take a look at cards that are good in constructed but not good in limited. They will usually be cards that needs a critical mass of other cards to support their function or strategy, a critical mass that's lacking in limited.
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In limited almost every deck is a midrangey deck that wins by attacking with creatures. Therefore, cards that are good against that deck are really good (e.g. arrest) where you don't have to worry about arrest being too inefficient to deal with a swarm of 1 and 2 drops or too narrow to deal with a combo or control deck.
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Is it meaningless simply because there are so many better options?
First off, in limited, you're most likely going to win through creatures. You're not likely going to deal with mill decks or control decks with resilient creatures or only Planeswalkers. You're also probably going to be playing creatures.
Secondly, cards like Choking Restraints build onto themes and synergies of the sets; in this case Delirium. It does this quite well in that it puts an enchantment into your graveyard and prevents the creature from going to your opponent's graveyard. While limited in that value, it's more likely to come up in a limited game than in a constructed game.
Lastly, the cost is a big issue. In Standard, mono-white humans can have you dead by turn 4. In limited, that's much less likely and allows you to cast more costly spells.
This warps the limited environment so that otherwise embarrassing cards can run away with games, leaving even the weakest and most overpriced interaction effects as necessary staples.
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Reach of Shadows will kill most things, for 5 mana, and this will *never* see contstructed play. Ever.
Murderous Cut will kill most things (a few more, actually), for - generally speaking - <5 mana (often 1), and this has seen quite a bit of constructed play.
Some creatures and noncreature spells are just so weak (by comparison to others) that it's a case of "why would you bother even considering that?!", so... well, that's it.
In order for a card to be good in Constructed, it has to be one of the ~23 best cards out of every single card in the format, including every single rare and every single mythic.
Slight simplifications involved, but I hope it gets my point across.
It can be very instructive to switch perspective and take a look at cards that are good in constructed but not good in limited. They will usually be cards that needs a critical mass of other cards to support their function or strategy, a critical mass that's lacking in limited.
sip of hemlock is too slow for constructed but isn't terrible in limited
it is outclassed by the more efficient hero's downfall
an example in the modern format is volcanic hammer vs lightning bolt or lightning strike.
the last 2 are instants or cost less mana.
pucatrade
big receipts
alpha mox emerald
beta time walk
4 goyfs received
3 liliana of the veil
4 karn liberated
3 force of will
4 grove of the burnwillows
snapcaster mage
3 horizon canopy
2 full art damnation