Shadowmoor was actually a pretty good format. It was a careful balance between powerful combos and powerful effects. You just had to be careful not to lose to early big plays (like t2 Devoted Druid into t3 Deus of Calamity)(I felt for my opponent after that one).
Eventide, with all of its cards that untap when you play a spell of the matching color (Ballynock Trapper), is what skewed it to mono-color. If I recall green was the color to be in for SSE.
I just liked it because it was really Timmy-based. An opponent dropping a bomb didn't mean the end of the game and there was always stuff to do up until the final life loss (usually). Lots of activated abilities kept games interesting and you stayed invested in the game throughout the game. Lots of memorable moments: commanding an army created by Rhys the Redeemed, using jank like Aphotic Wisps to kill off a Lurebound Scarecrow, Mercy Killing something you used to block with damage on the stack (can't do that anymore).
If I remember Lorwyn correctly, it's the powerful cards that make for a more powerful deck. Before you look for a race, look for good cards. After the good cards have been taken, the race will be chosen for you, and that determines your later picks.
Some races are stronger than others because there is a larger density of more powerful cards in those races. Tribal synergy usually comes from one or two powerful cards that benefit from the race rather than having a density of all the same tribe. Look for these lynchpin cards when your opponent is playing and neutralize them before they get out of control.
In a game between two good decks, the player who experiences mana flood first loses.
Phyrre's comment about removal = time goes back to basic Magic theory: the player with the most unanswered threats wins. Phyrre's example is actually an interesting way to test the different ways a threat can be neutralized: with removal, or with another threat. The results of doing it with removal result in smaller, less complex boards while doing it with creatures results in either a more complex board state when creatures can block or a faster game when they don't block. I don't like complex board states where it's armies facing armies, nor do I like a game that is so short that my opening hand determines my fate, so I prefer a set with good removal.
When I evaluate how fun a set could be for limited, I look at the various mechanics and possible strategies. I look at the cost to power ratio of the average common creature as well as the average cost for removal. If the cost to power ratio is too low and there is no low cost removal to counterbalance that, such as in Zendikar or Gatecrash, I know I will be forced to play a fast, offensive deck every time, and I will consider it a terrible limited environment. If the cost for power is high I simply put more lands in my deck or try for an offensive deck if it's available*.
For me, a fun limited environment is one where I can try out various different strategies and feel like I had a viable chance with them. Memorable limited formats are ones where you not only select a strategy in drafting, but where you also have to execute it as well. The most memorable formats I remember were Lor/Mor/Mor (2 Mor packs made all decks supercharged with power, so all strategies were powerful and you had to judiciously use your removal), Time Spiral (so many versatile cards, so many ways to win), and Rise of the Eldrazi (the versatility of Eldrazi tokens made every strategy viable).
I do want to comment about Theros block. It's a weak limited environment because while there may be distinct strategies, not all of them are viable, and even the viable ones are not skill testing. The decision to Bestow is based on whether or not I have another creature (not skill testing). Monstrosity costs too much to be skill testing. Devotion comes up rarely and even when it does it is not skill testing (mostly because Wizards didn't print cards with heavy color commitments, such as a 2/3 for BBB - a sadly wasted opportunity).
*Very rarely have I considered the cost for power to be too high; the only cases I can think of were Coldsnap and perhaps Shards of Alara. In those cases, the game was a little too slow for me.
I would like to say that the mechanics are more interesting in this set compared to the other two sets. I don't particularly care for linear mechanics like Constellation but Strive seems really interesting to play with. It might be enough to interest me into going to the Pre-release. (I didn't go to the Born of the Gods one).
I'm actually liking the utility of Black this time around. Let's look just at commons:
Asphyxiate: Worse than Murder, but it does at least give you an opportunity to kill a threat after it's cast (provided that threat has no haste)
Claim of Erebos: I'd watch this one in draft; it enables too much good stuff
Marshmist Titan: I think this will be a 4/5 for 5 most of the time, which is not terrible
Necrobite: Nice combat trick
Servant of Tymaret: Pretty good if you ask me; it holds off all the early drops
Weight of the Underworld: Pretty good
In addition to Bale Blight and Drown in Sorrow, let's look at some other Uncommons of Note:
Black Oak of Odunos: Another card that stems the damage from opposing early drops (it's the kind of thing black needs)
Odunos River Trawler: Good bestow recursion
Sanguimancy: It will require timing but when the boards stabilize it could put the game away for you
I'm taking the black promo and going to try for a B/W build. All the neat white early drops plus the powerful late game of black. Not that I want a Triad of Fates, though.
Staunch-Hearted Warrior. It requires a little more investment than I thought (3G for a 2/2 is just... really bad in Green's part of the pie) before it could blow out games.
Centaur Battlemaster is also in that category. Too much mana for too little. The problem is that the opponent gets rid of it if you try to do anything cool with it (like Time to Feed which was good, but not as good as I had hoped).
Theros is chock full of cards that are situationally good. Try not to confuse those cards with things that are actually good (like 4/5 creatures that cost 5 mana or less).
If the pattern shown in the packs here holds, each color is guaranteed the following commons: White gets Ray of Dissolution, Blue gets Annul, Black gets Scourgemark, Red gets Demolish, and Green gets Fade into Antiquity.
Each pack also has a 1 in 8 chance of containing a God. It has a 1/8 chance of a God Artifact. This means there will be a few more Gods and God Artifacts than you would think.
Given this information I will probably shift to Blue. Black is also a good choice as you get a 1 in 8 chance of getting Agent of Fates (but I think the color overall is a little slow).
Red would be a lock for me if they had guaranteed a Lightning Strike. Instead it is Demolish. I really like the promo, but the rest of the package just looks bad.
Centaur Battlemaster OR Staunch-Hearted Warrior + any Ordeal = Ordeal complete upon attacking
Prowler's Helm: There is only one wall in Theros, so this will make the creature pretty much unblockable.
Boulderfall: Up to 5 Heroic triggers (I'm especially looking at those white weenie types get get +1/+1 counters like Phalanx Leader, Favored Hoplite, Fabled Hero, and Wingsteed Rider)
Gift of Immortality + Gray Merchant of Aspodel (or any other creature with an ETB ability)
If you can get Gift of Immortality + Agent of Fates + Abhorrent Overlord, your opponents will be sacrificing a creature on each of your end steps, plus one every time the Agent gets attacked into!
I've been bouncing back and forth between U/G, R/G, and R/U. I think I will go with the red pack and go R/U.
Imagine a mid to late game situation where you have your red promo and the opponent has just played his big fatty. At end of turn you either Griptide or Voyage's End that big thing. On your turn make your promo Monstrous, leaving the opponent unable to play that fatty again.
Oh I just noticed Fate Foretold is an excellent Heroic play.
I like its potential in a G/B rock style deck. Easy to cast and leaves your mana open for other things. Combos well with Burnished Hart. Has potential in a ramp deck.
I think the key to this one is to use it if you plan on a long game. This card may be a 5/5 for 2, but it is certainly not for aggro decks.
I saw a mention earlier of Theros being Eldrazi 2.0 From what I see spoiled at common and uncommon, assuming the mechanics and the average density thereof will remain the same, this set will not be Eldrazi 2.0.
The thing that was great about RoE was that both Level Up and Eldrazi Tokens gave the player interesting choices about how to structure their turns. Even if you drew into a land pocket, you could still do things during your turn and feel as though you were in the game.
What kind of choices will the player need to make when playing Theros? All I can see so far is whether or not to hold onto a bestow enchantment for a heroic creature to come up (Note: Heroic is a trap to me, as it seems like there are much better targets, such as those Cerberuses, for several Enchant Creatures in the set). There might be some tension as to what creatures to remove/not block with due to Devotion. (Wow that's disappointing... I was actually looking forward to playing with this set, but so far it looks like it will play like your typical Core Set).
Looking at the casting costs and power levels, it looks to be more like Return to Ravnica. The play goes along slowly, scratching out small hits, until someone drops a game-warping bomb that overshadows the power of everything else.
I do hope we see more good removal. Blue could really use a bounce spell. Black could use a Phthisis-like spell. With the exception of Phalanx Leader, white looks very weak. In the end I hope this set does more than merely cater to Timmy.
Tied for 1st in a 20 man tournament after some epic magic.
Went for Selesnya and got Gruul as a secret ally. I tended to rely more on Selesnya-Gruul synergies rather than the Gatecrash packs (although I did get some good rares out of them). Notable cards:
Clan Defiance - won me a few matches on its own Wild Beastmaster - I had 5 bloodrush cards, Common Bond, and Selesnya Charm. It's fun to reapeatedly overrun your opponent. Gruul War Chant - I didn't see this card that often, but was a great way to bound through board stalls when it did Unflinching Courage - Put me back into so many games that I should have just died in. Especially mean on vigilance guys like Armory Guard. Pyrewild Shaman - SO versatile. Early blocking to stabilize, provides early beats, can help others break through in the later game, and he never really goes away. Scion of Vitu-Ghazi - Bird tokens were very relevent as either blockers or attackers. Can't argue with 6+ power for 5 mana. Ready // Willing - SO many insane blowout plays with this card. Alpha strike, watch how they block, and then watch the one sided damage, either during your turn or during the following turn when your opponent alpha strikes back. I didn't have the B to play Willing, but Ready was always enough.
Our LGS decided to cut to top 8 single elimination after 4 rounds of swiss. I lost in the 1st round to a guy with an insane BWG pool (Voice of Resurgence, Alms Beast, Wild Beastmaster, Gaze of Granite, Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts, a smattering of Extort and Haazda Snare Squad). I win the next three matches, get to the top 8, beat down an interesting Dimir/Izzet deck to make the top 4, then face this this insane BWG pool again.
Game 1: I don't remember how this game started, but we both had sizable boards when he plays Gift of Orzhova on a Rubbleback Rhino. I respond by casting a Unflinching Courage on my Armory Guard, so we are each going up and down in life. He plays Gaze of Granite for 4, destroying everything except his Rhino. He plays a few more creatures while I mana flood to my game loss.
Game 2: My opponent comes out blazing with several extort creatures and Voice of Resurgence. I stabilize with a few smaller creatures and a Thrashing Mossdog. I put an Unflinching Courage on my Mossdog. Next turn I play the Scion of Vitu-Ghazi, giving me even more defense. I'm drawing a buch of combat tricks just to stay alive (he is beating me down with 2 7/7 VoR tokens and a Snare Squad at this point), then I cast Wild Beastmaster. Next turn I Bloodrush the Beastmaster with a Scorchwalker, giving all of my creatures +6/+6. He has to block a lot of them so that whittled down his board (including the Beastmaster). Then he casts the Gaze of Granite to clear everything away. I drop a Zhur-Taa Swine, and he drops Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts. With a Selesnya Charm in my hand, I manage to topdeck one of only 2 cards in my deck that can answer this:Common Bond. I give Taysa a +1/+1 counter, my creature a counter, and Charm Taysa away. I attack for 6, bringing him to 2. He had a Selesnya Charm for my creature as well next turn. I play an Armory Guard; he draws and scoops.
Game 3: My opponent had a slower start this game. Once again he gets out is Voice of Resurgence on turn 3. I play Eyes in the Skies the following turn. My opponent attacks me, and I block the Voice of Resurgence with the two bird tokens (perhaps he wanted the scalable token instead of the Voice). I bring out a few more creatures; my opponent is stuck on 4 mana for a while so he is only casting one per turn. Once he reaches 5 mana he casts is favorite Rubbleback Rhino, followed next turn by a Gift of Orzhova on it. Annoying as this is, I look at my hand and see a Selesnya Charm with a Common Bond. I play Scion of Vitu-Ghazi, he attacks though next turn, and then I pass the turn casting nothing. Thinking his Rhino is safe, he attacks again. I block with a bird, Common Bond it, then Charm it for another +2/+2. Bye-bye Rhino! Now his board is very small, so he stabilizes with Alms Beast. He attacks me; I cast Ready. He didn't want to give me a buch of life so he Selesnya Charmed away his own Alms Beast. I alpha strike again but he doesn't block; this puts his life at 8. Then he wipes the board with a Gaze of Granite, using his last card in hand. Playing my 8th land, I am able to cast both Armory Guard and Scorchwalker. He plays a Thrull Parasite. I topdeck Clan Defiance, hit both him and his creature for 6, and attack for 7.
This 1 1/2 hour ordeal ended with me advancing to the top 2. It was 12:30 am at that point, and my opponent and I just decided to split the prize packs. I forgot to look at his deck.
Another thing to take into account is the casting cost to power ratio and casting cost to toughness ratio. ZEN wasn't fast because it had a low casting cost creatures, it was fast because it had low casting cost power and high casting cost toughness (when you consider landfall).
Gatecrash had some 3/X creatures at 2 casting cost, while having expensive X/4 creatures to effectively neutralize them. If I can drop a 3/X starting on turn 2, every turn, and you don't drop an X/4 until turn 5, I've already dealt 12 damage plus at least 6 damage for each turn that the defender misses a land drop. That makes for a faster format.
So you should, for each creature, divide the power by casting cost (for cost of offense) and the toughness by casting cost (for cost of defense). I don't think that kind of analysis would be difficult to do.
Thanks for the amazing feedback! I totally agree. I'm going to re-write the last few sections. I'll expand on creature evaluation, shorten the advanced stuff on your game plan, and de-emphasize or maybe even remove BREAD, and just keep some of the concepts. (this will also help shorten the article, which is definitely for the best). It's more guidelines, than actual rules, after all.
I also meant to mention the whole "thou shalt not play a one mana 1/1" thing. Good catch. I'll add that in, about how low-impact those cards are. I also noticed I never said the obvious thing new players forget a lot: read your opponent's cards, and do basic attacking and blocking math! Don't attack into a 2/4 with your 2/2! Hmm, I should also at least mention chump blocking and using your life total as a resource... I'm worried that might be too advanced and confusing, though.
No wonder new players are scared of draft! We forget how deceptively hard this stuff is to learn.
I think that the greater point is that you want to play cards that
-are not easily neutralized and/or
-neutralize a large subset of other cards
"BREAD" does a good job of teaching a player that your job is to neutralize opposing cards, not have more life or make big plays. Bombs and Evasion are cards that are not easily neutralized, while Removal neutralizes a lot of other cards.
Once you have established that you evaluate a card based on what it neutralizes, then you teach tempo and the importance of neutralizing things efficiently. (Yes the Guildpact Primordials are bombs, but all you really need is a 3/3 to stop their 2/2 army). Each set has its own tempo that you have to gague by reading card lists.
Crypt Incursion - 2B - common
Instant
Exile all creature cards from target player's graveyard. You gain 3 life for each card exiled this way.
You know when I first saw this card I thought I might go Dimir, as this card would give you the staying power to complete your milling task.
Unfortunately, this card messes with so many Dimir cards that rely on your opponents having a large graveyard that I don't see myself really playing this in a Dimir deck due to dis-synergy.
This card will hose Golgari and possibly Dimir; it is definitely for the sideboard.
Eventide, with all of its cards that untap when you play a spell of the matching color (Ballynock Trapper), is what skewed it to mono-color. If I recall green was the color to be in for SSE.
I just liked it because it was really Timmy-based. An opponent dropping a bomb didn't mean the end of the game and there was always stuff to do up until the final life loss (usually). Lots of activated abilities kept games interesting and you stayed invested in the game throughout the game. Lots of memorable moments: commanding an army created by Rhys the Redeemed, using jank like Aphotic Wisps to kill off a Lurebound Scarecrow, Mercy Killing something you used to block with damage on the stack (can't do that anymore).
Some races are stronger than others because there is a larger density of more powerful cards in those races. Tribal synergy usually comes from one or two powerful cards that benefit from the race rather than having a density of all the same tribe. Look for these lynchpin cards when your opponent is playing and neutralize them before they get out of control.
In a game between two good decks, the player who experiences mana flood first loses.
When I evaluate how fun a set could be for limited, I look at the various mechanics and possible strategies. I look at the cost to power ratio of the average common creature as well as the average cost for removal. If the cost to power ratio is too low and there is no low cost removal to counterbalance that, such as in Zendikar or Gatecrash, I know I will be forced to play a fast, offensive deck every time, and I will consider it a terrible limited environment. If the cost for power is high I simply put more lands in my deck or try for an offensive deck if it's available*.
For me, a fun limited environment is one where I can try out various different strategies and feel like I had a viable chance with them. Memorable limited formats are ones where you not only select a strategy in drafting, but where you also have to execute it as well. The most memorable formats I remember were Lor/Mor/Mor (2 Mor packs made all decks supercharged with power, so all strategies were powerful and you had to judiciously use your removal), Time Spiral (so many versatile cards, so many ways to win), and Rise of the Eldrazi (the versatility of Eldrazi tokens made every strategy viable).
I do want to comment about Theros block. It's a weak limited environment because while there may be distinct strategies, not all of them are viable, and even the viable ones are not skill testing. The decision to Bestow is based on whether or not I have another creature (not skill testing). Monstrosity costs too much to be skill testing. Devotion comes up rarely and even when it does it is not skill testing (mostly because Wizards didn't print cards with heavy color commitments, such as a 2/3 for BBB - a sadly wasted opportunity).
*Very rarely have I considered the cost for power to be too high; the only cases I can think of were Coldsnap and perhaps Shards of Alara. In those cases, the game was a little too slow for me.
Asphyxiate: Worse than Murder, but it does at least give you an opportunity to kill a threat after it's cast (provided that threat has no haste)
Claim of Erebos: I'd watch this one in draft; it enables too much good stuff
Marshmist Titan: I think this will be a 4/5 for 5 most of the time, which is not terrible
Necrobite: Nice combat trick
Servant of Tymaret: Pretty good if you ask me; it holds off all the early drops
Weight of the Underworld: Pretty good
In addition to Bale Blight and Drown in Sorrow, let's look at some other Uncommons of Note:
Black Oak of Odunos: Another card that stems the damage from opposing early drops (it's the kind of thing black needs)
Odunos River Trawler: Good bestow recursion
Sanguimancy: It will require timing but when the boards stabilize it could put the game away for you
I'm taking the black promo and going to try for a B/W build. All the neat white early drops plus the powerful late game of black. Not that I want a Triad of Fates, though.
Centaur Battlemaster is also in that category. Too much mana for too little. The problem is that the opponent gets rid of it if you try to do anything cool with it (like Time to Feed which was good, but not as good as I had hoped).
Theros is chock full of cards that are situationally good. Try not to confuse those cards with things that are actually good (like 4/5 creatures that cost 5 mana or less).
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Apln2HM4aSGbdDJ6MFk5cTBjb09sXzFWdndhTkx2V1E#gid=0, I'm going to have to adjust my choice.
If the pattern shown in the packs here holds, each color is guaranteed the following commons: White gets Ray of Dissolution, Blue gets Annul, Black gets Scourgemark, Red gets Demolish, and Green gets Fade into Antiquity.
Each pack also has a 1 in 8 chance of containing a God. It has a 1/8 chance of a God Artifact. This means there will be a few more Gods and God Artifacts than you would think.
Given this information I will probably shift to Blue. Black is also a good choice as you get a 1 in 8 chance of getting Agent of Fates (but I think the color overall is a little slow).
Red would be a lock for me if they had guaranteed a Lightning Strike. Instead it is Demolish. I really like the promo, but the rest of the package just looks bad.
Satyr Hedonist + Nemesis of Mortals: Drop 2 Forests and a Mountain on turns 1-3 to get a 5/5 on turn 3.
Two-Headed Cerberus + Dragon Mantle: Pumpable on-color Double Strike
Centaur Battlemaster OR Staunch-Hearted Warrior + any Ordeal = Ordeal complete upon attacking
Prowler's Helm: There is only one wall in Theros, so this will make the creature pretty much unblockable.
Boulderfall: Up to 5 Heroic triggers (I'm especially looking at those white weenie types get get +1/+1 counters like Phalanx Leader, Favored Hoplite, Fabled Hero, and Wingsteed Rider)
Gift of Immortality + Gray Merchant of Aspodel (or any other creature with an ETB ability)
If you can get Gift of Immortality + Agent of Fates + Abhorrent Overlord, your opponents will be sacrificing a creature on each of your end steps, plus one every time the Agent gets attacked into!
Imagine a mid to late game situation where you have your red promo and the opponent has just played his big fatty. At end of turn you either Griptide or Voyage's End that big thing. On your turn make your promo Monstrous, leaving the opponent unable to play that fatty again.
Oh I just noticed Fate Foretold is an excellent Heroic play.
I think the key to this one is to use it if you plan on a long game. This card may be a 5/5 for 2, but it is certainly not for aggro decks.
The thing that was great about RoE was that both Level Up and Eldrazi Tokens gave the player interesting choices about how to structure their turns. Even if you drew into a land pocket, you could still do things during your turn and feel as though you were in the game.
What kind of choices will the player need to make when playing Theros? All I can see so far is whether or not to hold onto a bestow enchantment for a heroic creature to come up (Note: Heroic is a trap to me, as it seems like there are much better targets, such as those Cerberuses, for several Enchant Creatures in the set). There might be some tension as to what creatures to remove/not block with due to Devotion. (Wow that's disappointing... I was actually looking forward to playing with this set, but so far it looks like it will play like your typical Core Set).
Looking at the casting costs and power levels, it looks to be more like Return to Ravnica. The play goes along slowly, scratching out small hits, until someone drops a game-warping bomb that overshadows the power of everything else.
I do hope we see more good removal. Blue could really use a bounce spell. Black could use a Phthisis-like spell. With the exception of Phalanx Leader, white looks very weak. In the end I hope this set does more than merely cater to Timmy.
Went for Selesnya and got Gruul as a secret ally. I tended to rely more on Selesnya-Gruul synergies rather than the Gatecrash packs (although I did get some good rares out of them). Notable cards:
Clan Defiance - won me a few matches on its own
Wild Beastmaster - I had 5 bloodrush cards, Common Bond, and Selesnya Charm. It's fun to reapeatedly overrun your opponent.
Gruul War Chant - I didn't see this card that often, but was a great way to bound through board stalls when it did
Unflinching Courage - Put me back into so many games that I should have just died in. Especially mean on vigilance guys like Armory Guard.
Pyrewild Shaman - SO versatile. Early blocking to stabilize, provides early beats, can help others break through in the later game, and he never really goes away.
Scion of Vitu-Ghazi - Bird tokens were very relevent as either blockers or attackers. Can't argue with 6+ power for 5 mana.
Ready // Willing - SO many insane blowout plays with this card. Alpha strike, watch how they block, and then watch the one sided damage, either during your turn or during the following turn when your opponent alpha strikes back. I didn't have the B to play Willing, but Ready was always enough.
Our LGS decided to cut to top 8 single elimination after 4 rounds of swiss. I lost in the 1st round to a guy with an insane BWG pool (Voice of Resurgence, Alms Beast, Wild Beastmaster, Gaze of Granite, Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts, a smattering of Extort and Haazda Snare Squad). I win the next three matches, get to the top 8, beat down an interesting Dimir/Izzet deck to make the top 4, then face this this insane BWG pool again.
Game 1: I don't remember how this game started, but we both had sizable boards when he plays Gift of Orzhova on a Rubbleback Rhino. I respond by casting a Unflinching Courage on my Armory Guard, so we are each going up and down in life. He plays Gaze of Granite for 4, destroying everything except his Rhino. He plays a few more creatures while I mana flood to my game loss.
Game 2: My opponent comes out blazing with several extort creatures and Voice of Resurgence. I stabilize with a few smaller creatures and a Thrashing Mossdog. I put an Unflinching Courage on my Mossdog. Next turn I play the Scion of Vitu-Ghazi, giving me even more defense. I'm drawing a buch of combat tricks just to stay alive (he is beating me down with 2 7/7 VoR tokens and a Snare Squad at this point), then I cast Wild Beastmaster. Next turn I Bloodrush the Beastmaster with a Scorchwalker, giving all of my creatures +6/+6. He has to block a lot of them so that whittled down his board (including the Beastmaster). Then he casts the Gaze of Granite to clear everything away. I drop a Zhur-Taa Swine, and he drops Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts. With a Selesnya Charm in my hand, I manage to topdeck one of only 2 cards in my deck that can answer this:Common Bond. I give Taysa a +1/+1 counter, my creature a counter, and Charm Taysa away. I attack for 6, bringing him to 2. He had a Selesnya Charm for my creature as well next turn. I play an Armory Guard; he draws and scoops.
Game 3: My opponent had a slower start this game. Once again he gets out is Voice of Resurgence on turn 3. I play Eyes in the Skies the following turn. My opponent attacks me, and I block the Voice of Resurgence with the two bird tokens (perhaps he wanted the scalable token instead of the Voice). I bring out a few more creatures; my opponent is stuck on 4 mana for a while so he is only casting one per turn. Once he reaches 5 mana he casts is favorite Rubbleback Rhino, followed next turn by a Gift of Orzhova on it. Annoying as this is, I look at my hand and see a Selesnya Charm with a Common Bond. I play Scion of Vitu-Ghazi, he attacks though next turn, and then I pass the turn casting nothing. Thinking his Rhino is safe, he attacks again. I block with a bird, Common Bond it, then Charm it for another +2/+2. Bye-bye Rhino! Now his board is very small, so he stabilizes with Alms Beast. He attacks me; I cast Ready. He didn't want to give me a buch of life so he Selesnya Charmed away his own Alms Beast. I alpha strike again but he doesn't block; this puts his life at 8. Then he wipes the board with a Gaze of Granite, using his last card in hand. Playing my 8th land, I am able to cast both Armory Guard and Scorchwalker. He plays a Thrull Parasite. I topdeck Clan Defiance, hit both him and his creature for 6, and attack for 7.
This 1 1/2 hour ordeal ended with me advancing to the top 2. It was 12:30 am at that point, and my opponent and I just decided to split the prize packs. I forgot to look at his deck.
Gatecrash had some 3/X creatures at 2 casting cost, while having expensive X/4 creatures to effectively neutralize them. If I can drop a 3/X starting on turn 2, every turn, and you don't drop an X/4 until turn 5, I've already dealt 12 damage plus at least 6 damage for each turn that the defender misses a land drop. That makes for a faster format.
So you should, for each creature, divide the power by casting cost (for cost of offense) and the toughness by casting cost (for cost of defense). I don't think that kind of analysis would be difficult to do.
I think that the greater point is that you want to play cards that
-are not easily neutralized and/or
-neutralize a large subset of other cards
"BREAD" does a good job of teaching a player that your job is to neutralize opposing cards, not have more life or make big plays. Bombs and Evasion are cards that are not easily neutralized, while Removal neutralizes a lot of other cards.
Once you have established that you evaluate a card based on what it neutralizes, then you teach tempo and the importance of neutralizing things efficiently. (Yes the Guildpact Primordials are bombs, but all you really need is a 3/3 to stop their 2/2 army). Each set has its own tempo that you have to gague by reading card lists.
Instant
Exile all creature cards from target player's graveyard. You gain 3 life for each card exiled this way.
You know when I first saw this card I thought I might go Dimir, as this card would give you the staying power to complete your milling task.
Unfortunately, this card messes with so many Dimir cards that rely on your opponents having a large graveyard that I don't see myself really playing this in a Dimir deck due to dis-synergy.
This card will hose Golgari and possibly Dimir; it is definitely for the sideboard.
What are your thoughts?