The common and uncommon creatures in black are just so crappy that it's hard to justify it as a top-tier color in this set. I think it's a good support color with the removal spells and Fleshbag Marauder though. It also has some decent control pieces like Fetid Imp and a Malakir Cullblade that could get big after a long time. Rabid Bloodsucker seems pretty underwhelming as far as evasive creatures go, especially with stuff like Stalwart Aven, Scrapskin Drake, Tower Geist, Skyraker Giant running around to outtempo and essentially outclass it. Nantuko Husk is a good enabler for the Act of Treason + Enthralling Victor deck, but I'm not confident that that deck will come together in sealed. If you luck into it, you're in a great place though.
Looking exclusively at commons, I'd rank the colors as:
White > Red > Blue > Black > Green
At common, green has a lot of okay stuff and nothing exciting. Playable Filler: The Gathering is what we're talking about here.
Black's best cards are better than blue's, but I rank it slightly lower because it's shallower. 2 good removal spells, Read the Bones, about two playable-but-not-great creatures, and a bunch of trash. I still put it higher than green because if you have a deck where black is providing removal and card draw and your second color is providing all your creatures, at least black is bringing something important to the table.
White, blue, and red are the colors where the commons actually look good to me. White looks fantastic, with good removal, good creatures, and plenty of depth. Red similarly seems deep and has some standouts, but I rank it a little lower because I think its good stuff is a little less than white's good stuff. Blue, like the other good colors, has both creatures and removal. I have it below red and white because there's only one removal spell (though it's a good one) and its creatures aren't the most efficient things in the world (though the fliers are decent, and it does have a curve).
---
tl;dr - The common suites of white, red, and blue all seem great to fine (in that order), and the available commons would make me happy to play any of those colors. The commons of black and green would make me sad to play those colors. Black does have removal and card draw and only suffers because its creature lineup sucks, so I'd be happy using its good spells to support a deep white, red, or blue pool.
I'm not seeing at all how people are rating white so highly. I think black and green definitely have a lot more to offer in terms of commons and uncommons. White has some solid removal but you're going to need some creatures to use it with. White does have good creatures at common, but quite a few slots are clogged up with a few bad ones and some mediocre auras and combat tricks. Just because white has some good common creatures, that doesn't mean you're guaranteed to get a lot of them. Not to mention the focus on smaller evasive creatures, thopters, making spot removal sometimes ineffective. The enchantment theme doesn't really seem to do much either. This isn't like M15 where you could take Spectra Ward or Oppressive Rays then slam Heliod's Pilgrims in draft so you can fetch your bomb/removal. Most of these enchantments are bad auras, and nothing really makes them better.
I think it's a toss up between white and green for strongest overall in pre-release. For picking the seed pack, at seven cards, one rare/mythic, one likely uncommon and five commons, I think red actually will provide the most consistent set of useable commons for hand build out seconded by black. White seems to rely on renown a little too much whereas Red has straight up board pressure on it's commons/commons. The Tarkir set struggled, IMHO, with the outlast being a slow mechanic. I think red will work well if its primary color, and shine as a 2ndary color pair with white and green. Black too if Red has enough to be solid.
White will be strong, but the seed pack could be weenie and if your boosters don't follow through, leave it struggling to support, I suspect Red will support better even if the boosters don't follow through with support. I think white and green may suffer in prerelease from people trying to force twhite or green.
A black seed pack should almost guarantee a secondary spot with some decent common creatures and removal or combat trick. Unholy hunger, touch of moonglove, undead servant,fetid imp and deathbridge shaman, etc.
Overall looking at the seed as a way to set up for common/uncommon level support I'd rank, Red > Black> White> Green> Blue
I'm calling the store to switch over tomorrow, why worry if 7 pack sealed will be too shallow for me too force white when I can take black and get peace of mind about that guaranteed secondary support from touch of Touch of Moonglove, Undead Servant. etc.
Black and Blue regurgitation is super powerful if you can get it running: 2 drop skaabs, 4 drop centaurs, waltz, possibly undead servant but you really need some of the payoff uncommons (revenant, 5 drop skaab, necromantic summons, to make it worth it. You also get spell mastery online too though.
Enchantments is bad even if you get the rare green guy that gains you life and the 5 drop white 2/5 that searches them out.
Red black is very strong whether you go the sacrifice route or not. The low mana red guys and tokens goes great with Husk, or Moonglove.
I'm not quite sure how choosing colors will help; I think it's all for the better this way that we're given 6 packs and a potentially less influential seeded.
I tried some pools on drafts.in and mtg mirror and played some matches. certainly tthis format is very agressive so i'd not be shy on playing agressive auras and opening myselfo to 2 for 1's.
I think this will be a common strategy....and it's also the reason I'm happy to be going blue. People will see powerful white auras and jam them where they normally wouldn't. Bounce spells will be pure value--I will play every bounce spell I can get.
I think I've settled on choosing red. Red/Black sacrifice is good, Red/Green big guys (hopefully with some leaf gliders) is pretty good and red/white is good too.
White is a good color too but if you look at all the best cards (flare, free blade, patron, sentinel) they all require WW. So white has to be the main color it's hard to splash. The best red cards are mostly single red, so I am comfortably pick red and let it be the major part or a minor part and still get the benefit of the cheap removal and bulky guys.
I think I've settled on choosing red. Red/Black sacrifice is good, Red/Green big guys (hopefully with some leaf gliders) is pretty good and red/white is good too.
White is a good color too but if you look at all the best cards (flare, free blade, patron, sentinel) they all require WW. So white has to be the main color it's hard to splash. The best red cards are mostly single red, so I am comfortably pick red and let it be the major part or a minor part and still get the benefit of the cheap removal and bulky guys.
I am not sure what you are talking about. Free Blade and Sentinel cost 1W and 5W respectively.
And Patron is 5 mana and Celestial Flare is not likely to be something you're all that interested in playing on turn two. So, I think the whole argument is moot.
There are a lot of problems with this kind of analysis (for example, sometimes a color was just a small splash and was still counted) but I think that more than the win percentages, it is telling that some colors seem clearly more popular in sealed than others already in my experience.
I think white can be potentially as dominating in this sealed format as it was in Gatecrash.
I personally had a long time deciding between 3 colors that I think look best IMHO, or seem to fit my playstyle.
Basically, it was down to these Red, White or Green.
White; The initial color I wanted to choose. It seems to have a very high amount of playable commons and uncommons and some great creatures.
Gideon could be awesome if I pulled him.
Red: nice removal suite and I could get a promo Goblin Piledriver, which I would love to use in my "almost complete" Standard Goblins deck
Green. Chance of getting Promo Nissa.
Seems to have the best chance of supporting one of the 3-4 colors/archetypes I'm considering building. GW Renown, GB Elves, GR Stompies.
In the end, I chose to go with Green, because it seems like a good support color for whatever I open in the rest of my packs. PLUS, a chance at getting a Money rare or a decent Bomb Rare.
I'm still considering white and I'm considering going to multiple prereleases, so we'll see what happens.
I did a bunch of Sealed Generations and ALWAYS ended up being 3 color - except 2 times.
Dunno, I don'T want to go 3c with that small fixing =/
Given that the only real fixing is wilds, the pain lands, and the rare equipment (I don't count the green renowned elf - way to inconsistent), I don't think going three colors will ever be right and you'll be better off playing more mediocre cards to stay two colors. I don't think I'd want to splash more than 1 bomb in this sealed.
I think it'll be unlikely that you'll not have enough playables during the prerelease. Remember that you get an additional seeded pack of 6 (or was it 8?) cards, most of which should be oncolor playables.
I think it'll be unlikely that you'll not have enough playables during the prerelease. Remember that you get an additional seeded pack of 6 (or was it 8?) cards, most of which should be oncolor playables.
Why on earth are you three colors with that pool. You have several excellent 2 color options. GW iw my personal fave there but BW is not bad. Three colors with this pool is just silly. You have SOO many white flyiers.
Yeah.
WU is obviously the strongest combination here.
But It lacks heavy removal in this pool, that's where you'd add black for atleast a small amount of removal.
Red just hasn't something to offer.
While Green is quiet good with hte creature part, it lacks everything else where WU synergize even well. And that Thunderclap Wyvern with all those flyers?
You have double reckoning and bonds in white. That is great removal. You certainly don't need to splash black in this pool.
Yeah.
WU is obviously the strongest combination here.
But It lacks heavy removal in this pool, that's where you'd add black for atleast a small amount of removal.
Red just hasn't something to offer.
While Green is quiet good with hte creature part, it lacks everything else where WU synergize even well. And that Thunderclap Wyvern with all those flyers?
You have double reckoning and bonds in white. That is great removal. You certainly don't need to splash black in this pool.
I agree, GW, BW, and UW all look strong enough to not warrant another color. If that was my pool I would be pretty damn happy.
Yeah.
WU is obviously the strongest combination here.
But It lacks heavy removal in this pool, that's where you'd add black for atleast a small amount of removal.
Red just hasn't something to offer.
While Green is quiet good with hte creature part, it lacks everything else where WU synergize even well. And that Thunderclap Wyvern with all those flyers?
You have double reckoning and bonds in white. That is great removal. You certainly don't need to splash black in this pool.
Agreed. The black removal isn't even good in this pool. I could see black being more tempting if there were a Cruel Revival or Reave Soul.
I'd lean UW here with a heavy emphasis on the W.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Standard: UR Blue-Red Control
Modern: UBR Grixis Control UWR Jeskai Control
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
Black just seems really slow for the most part.
White > Red > Blue > Black > Green
At common, green has a lot of okay stuff and nothing exciting. Playable Filler: The Gathering is what we're talking about here.
Black's best cards are better than blue's, but I rank it slightly lower because it's shallower. 2 good removal spells, Read the Bones, about two playable-but-not-great creatures, and a bunch of trash. I still put it higher than green because if you have a deck where black is providing removal and card draw and your second color is providing all your creatures, at least black is bringing something important to the table.
White, blue, and red are the colors where the commons actually look good to me. White looks fantastic, with good removal, good creatures, and plenty of depth. Red similarly seems deep and has some standouts, but I rank it a little lower because I think its good stuff is a little less than white's good stuff. Blue, like the other good colors, has both creatures and removal. I have it below red and white because there's only one removal spell (though it's a good one) and its creatures aren't the most efficient things in the world (though the fliers are decent, and it does have a curve).
---
tl;dr - The common suites of white, red, and blue all seem great to fine (in that order), and the available commons would make me happy to play any of those colors. The commons of black and green would make me sad to play those colors. Black does have removal and card draw and only suffers because its creature lineup sucks, so I'd be happy using its good spells to support a deep white, red, or blue pool.
Black is winning the "bad common creatures" war.
White will be strong, but the seed pack could be weenie and if your boosters don't follow through, leave it struggling to support, I suspect Red will support better even if the boosters don't follow through with support. I think white and green may suffer in prerelease from people trying to force twhite or green.
A black seed pack should almost guarantee a secondary spot with some decent common creatures and removal or combat trick. Unholy hunger, touch of moonglove, undead servant,fetid imp and deathbridge shaman, etc.
Overall looking at the seed as a way to set up for common/uncommon level support I'd rank, Red > Black> White> Green> Blue
Storm Crow is strictly worse than Seacoast Drake.
Enchantments is bad even if you get the rare green guy that gains you life and the 5 drop white 2/5 that searches them out.
Red black is very strong whether you go the sacrifice route or not. The low mana red guys and tokens goes great with Husk, or Moonglove.
Green is a very powerful color, as is white.
It's shaping up to be a good limited set.
UR Melek, Izzet ParagonUR, B Shirei, Shizo's CaretakerB, R Jaya Ballard, Task MageR,RW Tajic, Blade of the LegionRW, UB Lazav, Dimir MastermindUB, UB Circu, Dimir LobotomistUB, RWU Zedruu the GreatheartedRWU, GUBThe MimeoplasmGUB, UGExperiment Kraj UG, WDarien, King of KjeldorW, BMarrow-GnawerB, WBGKarador, Ghost ChieftainWBG, UTeferi, Temporal ArchmageU, GWUDerevi, Empyrial TacticianGWU, RDaretti, Scrap SavantR, UTalrand, Sky SummonerU, GEzuri, Renegade LeaderG, WUBRGReaper KingWUBRG, RGXenagos, God of RevelsRG, CKozilek, Butcher of TruthC, WUBRGGeneral TazriWUBRG, GTitania, Protector of ArgothG
I think this will be a common strategy....and it's also the reason I'm happy to be going blue. People will see powerful white auras and jam them where they normally wouldn't. Bounce spells will be pure value--I will play every bounce spell I can get.
If you're bad or average and want to win the whole thing off a sick rare : take black, try to pull Lilianna or at least Languish.
White is a good color too but if you look at all the best cards (flare, free blade, patron, sentinel) they all require WW. So white has to be the main color it's hard to splash. The best red cards are mostly single red, so I am comfortably pick red and let it be the major part or a minor part and still get the benefit of the cheap removal and bulky guys.
I am not sure what you are talking about. Free Blade and Sentinel cost 1W and 5W respectively.
Storm Crow is strictly worse than Seacoast Drake.
W: 14 W, 11 L (56%)
U: 10/10 (50%)
B: 10/13 (43%)
R: 8/7 (53%)
G: 5/8 (38%)
There are a lot of problems with this kind of analysis (for example, sometimes a color was just a small splash and was still counted) but I think that more than the win percentages, it is telling that some colors seem clearly more popular in sealed than others already in my experience.
I think white can be potentially as dominating in this sealed format as it was in Gatecrash.
Basically, it was down to these Red, White or Green.
White; The initial color I wanted to choose. It seems to have a very high amount of playable commons and uncommons and some great creatures.
Gideon could be awesome if I pulled him.
Red: nice removal suite and I could get a promo Goblin Piledriver, which I would love to use in my "almost complete" Standard Goblins deck
Green. Chance of getting Promo Nissa.
Seems to have the best chance of supporting one of the 3-4 colors/archetypes I'm considering building. GW Renown, GB Elves, GR Stompies.
In the end, I chose to go with Green, because it seems like a good support color for whatever I open in the rest of my packs. PLUS, a chance at getting a Money rare or a decent Bomb Rare.
I'm still considering white and I'm considering going to multiple prereleases, so we'll see what happens.
http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=409478
Given that the only real fixing is wilds, the pain lands, and the rare equipment (I don't count the green renowned elf - way to inconsistent), I don't think going three colors will ever be right and you'll be better off playing more mediocre cards to stay two colors. I don't think I'd want to splash more than 1 bomb in this sealed.
375 unpowered cube - https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/601ac624832cdf1039947588
It's actually 7. So close! =P
375 unpowered cube - https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/601ac624832cdf1039947588
You have double reckoning and bonds in white. That is great removal. You certainly don't need to splash black in this pool.
375 unpowered cube - https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/601ac624832cdf1039947588
I agree, GW, BW, and UW all look strong enough to not warrant another color. If that was my pool I would be pretty damn happy.
Agreed. The black removal isn't even good in this pool. I could see black being more tempting if there were a Cruel Revival or Reave Soul.
I'd lean UW here with a heavy emphasis on the W.
UR Blue-Red Control
Modern:
UBR Grixis Control
UWR Jeskai Control