I went 3-1 at the Win a Box, and then the top 4 all split (not too exciting, but the prize payouts were skewed. 1st/2nd seed got a box or a bunch of packs while 3rd/4th would've gotten 2 packs -- nobody wanted to lose, so we all went equal). I went 2-1 Living End, 1-2 Dredge (this matchup is plain unwinnable without Surgicals/RiP imo), 2-1 Abzan, 2-1 Merfolk. My MWP was boosted since Jonathan, the Abzan guy, got paired down against me. I also traded him a spare Colonnade to finish off his Esper Draw-Go list, as he's been a lurker here for 6 months. Hi Jonathan!
I shoulda played out the last round, as my opponent was on Eldrazi Tron. T_T Still, I got 9 packs of MM17 and pulled a Tarn, a Misty, and a foil Mesa with some other stuff.
I can write up a full report if anyone is interested, but it really felt more like an FNM than a Win a Box. Whatever, haha.
So ended up going 4-2 on Saturday at a 1.5 modern event.
Played my stock main bots with some slight changes to the sb to reflect card availability issues( I ran 2 leyline Over a second thoughtseize and Gideon and did run engineered over wrath as couldn't find a foil in time and wanted to test it out.
My matchups were pretty rough as I got paired vs a lot of not as common matchups/bad matchups and my first 2 opponents honestly handed me unwinnable games because it is not an fnm so I'm not required to point out path triggers and such.
R1 I played vs a mono green Stompy with dungrove elders and ground breakers and such. The first game was a all counters no removal thing and installed at 4 mana. I did finally find a path or 2 to stretch game but it didn't matter he did just exile creatures from pte with out land searching and he did it in the other 2 games as well... g2 I curve removal into elspeth and wsz to close the game after his less then quick start. G3 I am forced it o double blocking a dungrove with 2 snaps as he has 4 forests and is attacking. With another 2/1 I have a path in hand and in grave and he has demonstrated lack of knowledge on a path effect so I play it safe and go to 1 life and path end of turn as didn't want to have him suddenly rtfc and just lose and I am able to rev for a chunk and stay out of death range and just clear board and wsz for a million and close it out.
R2 I faced rg tron with conduit of ruins in his md so g1 I just display the power of esper charm to just wreck a opponent who is mana flooded. G2 he ha quick tron into double world breaker and ulamog, G3 he gets an ulamog down and I had already tried to path his wurmcoil with active spells kit and he let it go through so I took a chance and was rewarded with a second free path on the better dude.... I then just survive at 1 life and rev the game away.
Opponents were both shocked at their misplays but then the breaks if your at a higher level event.
R3 I mange to sneak g2/3 from lanternon the back of lingering souls doing their job before he can keep a bridge around long enough.
R4 I paired again vs lantern and this guy has cage over surgical to make the sb games much harder as I have 3 snaps that are ambush walls thanks to back to back cage draws and my clump of esper charms in the bottom 20 cards.
R5 I crush infect thanks to dispel and fatal pushes to punish bad draws from the infect player.
R6 we had to play as there 2 less then the 7 round cut off so it was a clean break for all 5-1 and above and naturally I get the ad naus player and just die to back to back early ad naus the second coming from a boss just in face of my mitt of counters.
It was still good to play paper for a change and in a field of *****ty matchups was good to know I was still okay at the deck
I was thinking about sideboard options recently and I started comparing Rest In Peace and Grafdigger's Cage. I noticed that there aren't many lists that tend to opt for the Cage, with most lists running either Surgical or Rest in Peace. I looked back at the thread and I saw that Grafdigger's was prominent in SB's for some time, but it seemed to have fallen away in favor of Rest in Peace, but I didn't find any good reason why.
In theory, it seems to be Cage performs about as well as Rest in Peace does for most matchups where we want Rest, as well as being able to lock down CoCo/Chord decks. Why is there such a skew towards RiP? In terms of the Pros I see for each card:
Rest in Peace:
Exile effect is useful even if RiP is removed eventually
Effective against Delve (mainly Grixis, so pretty narrow)
The susceptibility of Cage to Kolaghan's is very real, but I feel like in most matchups where your opponent is casting Kolaghan's (Jund, Grixis), you're unlikely to bring in Rest in Peace anyway. However, being able to delve, as well as being a good card against CoCo seem like enough reasons to consider it as an alternative. Am I missing some big reason why Grafdigger's is just not a good card for us?
Is pretty standard.
The fourth wrath, or some negates are also possible, as is zenith over WSZ.
You may also opt for only 2 snapcaster mage, but three is more popular now than it has been before.
(For the record, I play that list -1 snap, -2 secure, +1 wsz, +2 negate)
Is pretty standard.
The fourth wrath, or some negates are also possible, as is zenith over WSZ.
You may also opt for only 2 snapcaster mage, but three is more popular now than it has been before.
(For the record, I play that list -1 snap, -2 secure, +1 wsz, +2 negate)
I would honestly say that this is the standard right now:
As for spell flex slots: a combination of another removal spell (3rd Push or a Blessed Alliance main), another counterspell or 2 (a Negate, 1/2x Spell Snare), a 3rd Snapcaster (Or maybe a 4th too, I guess? Not very common.), 2-3x Serum Visions (Sometimes a land is cut to play a 4th -- most don't advocate this.), another wincon if you're on Zenith (like an Elspeth, Sun's Champion).
I think with the advent of fatal push as a mainstay, esper needs to have a third fetable black shockthat also adds a third fetch able White shock that's on colour.
I have always wished I could justify a godless as I had a lot of games where dead fetches would have 1 more target so it's a good change over all.
I think calling that list standard is fine, I just didn't want to leave flex slots in an example list.
Don't forget my sunken ruins
I think playing the godless shrine as a fifth fetch is more justifiable now than it has been in the past. If I were to do it, I would certainly make sure I had 1-2 filter lands though. They already make fetching basics so much better.
I've been running one Godless and one Gate lately. Mostly fine but I'm still struggling with the 8 Fetch/10 Fetchable split. I've been flooding on fetches late game.
I think calling that list standard is fine, I just didn't want to leave flex slots in an example list.
Don't forget my sunken ruins
I think playing the godless shrine as a fifth fetch is more justifiable now than it has been in the past. If I were to do it, I would certainly make sure I had 1-2 filter lands though. They already make fetching basics so much better.
That makes sense, I guess an example list is different than a stock list.
Also, I didn't know you've been playing a Sunken Ruins! How have you felt about it?
One thing I've always been adept at is mana bases. In a deck with Cryptic, SV, Esper Charm & many of you run Runed Halo in the board you should not be running less than 2 Mystic Gates. In addition, the deck has enough sources even on 24 lands to have at least 2 buddy lands enter play untapped 90% of the time (the threshold imho), which are important considering we want every land drop after 2 to come into play untapped. In my 24 land base I have 1 flex spot that I use for Oboro, Palace in the Clouds to make Fatal Push more effective. It helps it's blue and comes enter play untapped as well. Every deck should have at least 8 fetches for Blood Moon and consistency reasons (they're effectively tri-lands). The deck doesn't really need to run more than 4 shocks either which let us take less pain from the mana while keeping up 90%+ consistency, though you do come out to 1 or 2 sources short for 90% untapped B or W (though B is more important on T1 so prioritize it) on T1 (it's something like 80somethings% with 12 sources - 14 is ideal). If you look at Wafo's style of mana he loses at least 5% from being sub-optimal. In a world of Frank Karsten's and Hypergeometric calculators at your fingertips people should have extremely solid mana while minimizing life loss.
Our monday Modern tonight I went 3-0 with some funsies. I played 1 of Jace Beleren in the main and the 3rd Tasigur in the main. Jace drew me 3 cards on the play against storm which was nice. I kind of like him more than JAoT if you have a lot of cheap removal and Snares/Dispels/Rejections/Knots/Negates since he is more reliable and generally cheaper = better in Modern (I play Night of Souls Betrayal and a Detention Sphere in the board so tokens, X/1's aren't too much of an issue). I ended up beating Storm 2-1 (T2 Madcap experiment in G2 while I was otd took me by storm *harhar*. Sided 3 paths back in), DSJ 2-0 (I had a condemn blow out in G2 - has 2 DS/1 Tarmo on field. Tarmo 7/8 while he's at 7 life. Attacks with DS/Tarm I snap Condemn he snap concedes while we all laugh - he was hellbent), and Merfolk 2-1.
People should really be playing Tasigur somewhere in the 75. It adds so much % to our bad MU's.
So just got drestoryed by wafo on stream, he is was on his old Watoo account, things to note:
- at least 1 remand
-still mulitple leaks
- at least 2 anticiaptes
-1 minimum 1 snare tho it might be board
knows the mirror pretty well
Honestly, when asking for a stock list, mentioning multiple copies of Spell Snare nowdays is a mistake. You can still play them, but, as much as I love the card, it isn't good in the current metagame, at least compared to other options. All the recent top8 lists play at max one of them, while focusing on more two mana hard counter (which I find a good compromise).
I wouldn't consider Serum Visions "standard", but it is a really fine card. I don't understand why lots of people argue about their uselessness. I sincerely doubt about them playing the card correctly: it's not an immediate spell like TTwice or Charm. You fire it off when you need to, to dig for something relevant, unless you have to search for land in the early or make a Knot better because of the circumstances. Sure, it is totally a non-stample, but man, chaining Visions in the late game feels good every time.
I never said that any of that was "standard", I just mentioned that those are commonly in the flex slots, among other options.
Ive been playing 1 gate 1 ruins in my flex dual land spots for a while. The gate is self explanatory, but the sunken ruins have been very good.
Sometimes fetching a swamp on t3 to esper charm without shocking (or just playing around moon/fulm/tect/etc) is nice, and being able to fix that into U is great. On top of that, being able to double charm off one land is really good.
I think pointing out wafo's mana base as being subpar is slightly misleading, because hes almost certainly not making the same assumptions you are.
Playing taplands until t3 is actually super fine, because if you want to hold serum til t2 when you have more information, you dont want to shuffle away your scry, and you arent playing snare to want to leave up the second land. When your deck is built to consistently wrath t2 spot removal also is not as critical.
On t3, having 2 mana lets you leak/negate/knot, tt, or cast up to 2 kill spells.
T4 you need the land untapped for CC/verdict, but thats not usually a problem.
The problem with tasigur is that unless you heavily warp your deck, like you do (not meant to be an insult/bad, but you deck is fairly different from our stock lists), tasigur isnt better than amy other threat we could play.
Amalek made a post a while ago about the difference between serum and preordain/other legacy cantrips.
Serum visions doesnt give you immediate access to the card you're looking for even if you find it. We've all heard to whole "brainstorm is better in your hand than on the stack" kind of thing, but it doesnt apply to serum.
Trying to find the right balance between waiting as long as possible, and casting it in anticipation of a problem is certainly difficult at times, but I think claiming the reason we think its bad is because we dont play it right is unfair.
Regardless of any results Ive had playing serum visions, it fundamentally does not do what this deck wants.
If you are dead set on always casting a wrath of god on t4, there is some merit, but just playing a couple because you've got flex spots is flawed.
Id love for their to be some kind of remand/sod 2 for 1 that was really good (and mainboard worthy) in the current meta, but the second best isnt the draw half of that card, its the do-something half.
You dont really want 4 snaps in this deck, usually. I would almost certainly cut the fourthx whether for a wrath or for something else.
You probably want a ghost quarter or two in your deck too.
Lingering spuls is playable, but I dont think anyones ever really been impressed with it. If you really wanted it, you could, but you probably dont. Tasigur is pretty mediocre. Elspeth, gideon, or baneslayer tend to be superior threats.
My major issue with wrath recently is that most of the creature decks arent swarm strategies anymore. Its not all that strong against a lot of the archtypes its included to beat. That being said, Im not sure I really want to make any changes right now. If the meta shifts again in a way unfavorable to spell snare, Ill probably cut another one atleast, but we shall see.
So just got drestoryed by wafo on stream, he is was on his old Watoo account, things to note:
- at least 1 remand
-still mulitple leaks
- at least 2 anticiaptes
-1 minimum 1 snare tho it might be board
knows the mirror pretty well
LOL! I'll have to watch the game. Even if he's on full Frankenstein mode with his decklists it'd be nice to see the guy play out a control mirror.
Seems like he's still trying everything; I imagine Anticipate is him trying to limit Serum Visions. Serum Visions may not be stellar, but Anticipate always felt like a total do-nothing to me. I'd been thinking about whether or not blitz aggro is dead enough to bring back Remand. I've been getting .NET Framework errors the last 2 weeks when trying to run MODO so I haven't played in a long while.
What do you guys think about the new blue god? He seems like he does everything this deck is interested in. He only gets removed by path or a Liliana sac on an empty board and then turns all the mana we leave up into more cards. Eventually he also applies five power of flying beats to close the game out.
I could see him being better than revelation since he does most of what revelation does by sometimes blocking to save life and by being a mana sink to gain card advantage.
Yeah to path or something but that's the only common removal spell that hits him. There's no reason to tap out to cast him when you can just wait to have three mana plus enough extra to answer a path or something.
Getting to and staying at 7 cards is a very steep requirement, even with a 3U: draw a card (returning lands is also not something we usually want to do). Plus, this is a win condition that literally does nothing in the early game, and likely does nothing when you eventually go to play it as well. That plus the susceptibility to exile effects makes it close to unplayable. This seems like a miss for Esper. Time to wait for the W and B gods
I could see the new god being played in UW control, but I suspect he's just a bit too lacking in every department to really work out.
If he was like a theros god, (not being a creature while turned off) and he required 5+ instead of 7, etc, he might be good enough as a tasigur replacement for UW/X, but as is, I don't see it happening.
That being said, I don't see it happening for the W or B god either, given that they share the same vulnerability to path and edicts. For other decks, maybe, but the powerlevel would have to be very high for something like that to see play in esper.
My guess for the white one is a token generator that can attack and block once you have x creatures. That may be too close to heliod so they might make it based on life which would be exceedingly useless.
My guess for the black one is a -1/-1 counter generator that can attack and block if your opponent has one or fewer creatures.
I'm expecting the green one to count creatures and the white one to count like (ala serra ascendant), which would, as you say, be exceedingly useless.
The power level of cards spoiled so far as been very low, but it only takes one or two playables.
I'm optimistic, and ready to be let down
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I shoulda played out the last round, as my opponent was on Eldrazi Tron. T_T Still, I got 9 packs of MM17 and pulled a Tarn, a Misty, and a foil Mesa with some other stuff.
I can write up a full report if anyone is interested, but it really felt more like an FNM than a Win a Box. Whatever, haha.
UWB Esper Draw-Go Control (clicky)
UW Azorius Control (clicky)
Currently pursuing a degree in Biochemistry.
EDH: I've decided I don't like multiplayer formats.
Played my stock main bots with some slight changes to the sb to reflect card availability issues( I ran 2 leyline Over a second thoughtseize and Gideon and did run engineered over wrath as couldn't find a foil in time and wanted to test it out.
My matchups were pretty rough as I got paired vs a lot of not as common matchups/bad matchups and my first 2 opponents honestly handed me unwinnable games because it is not an fnm so I'm not required to point out path triggers and such.
R1 I played vs a mono green Stompy with dungrove elders and ground breakers and such. The first game was a all counters no removal thing and installed at 4 mana. I did finally find a path or 2 to stretch game but it didn't matter he did just exile creatures from pte with out land searching and he did it in the other 2 games as well... g2 I curve removal into elspeth and wsz to close the game after his less then quick start. G3 I am forced it o double blocking a dungrove with 2 snaps as he has 4 forests and is attacking. With another 2/1 I have a path in hand and in grave and he has demonstrated lack of knowledge on a path effect so I play it safe and go to 1 life and path end of turn as didn't want to have him suddenly rtfc and just lose and I am able to rev for a chunk and stay out of death range and just clear board and wsz for a million and close it out.
R2 I faced rg tron with conduit of ruins in his md so g1 I just display the power of esper charm to just wreck a opponent who is mana flooded. G2 he ha quick tron into double world breaker and ulamog, G3 he gets an ulamog down and I had already tried to path his wurmcoil with active spells kit and he let it go through so I took a chance and was rewarded with a second free path on the better dude.... I then just survive at 1 life and rev the game away.
Opponents were both shocked at their misplays but then the breaks if your at a higher level event.
R3 I mange to sneak g2/3 from lanternon the back of lingering souls doing their job before he can keep a bridge around long enough.
R4 I paired again vs lantern and this guy has cage over surgical to make the sb games much harder as I have 3 snaps that are ambush walls thanks to back to back cage draws and my clump of esper charms in the bottom 20 cards.
R5 I crush infect thanks to dispel and fatal pushes to punish bad draws from the infect player.
R6 we had to play as there 2 less then the 7 round cut off so it was a clean break for all 5-1 and above and naturally I get the ad naus player and just die to back to back early ad naus the second coming from a boss just in face of my mitt of counters.
It was still good to play paper for a change and in a field of *****ty matchups was good to know I was still okay at the deck
Esper draw go Control!
Twitch stream: http://www.twitch.tv/pimpdonny
In theory, it seems to be Cage performs about as well as Rest in Peace does for most matchups where we want Rest, as well as being able to lock down CoCo/Chord decks. Why is there such a skew towards RiP? In terms of the Pros I see for each card:
Rest in Peace:
Grafdigger's:
The susceptibility of Cage to Kolaghan's is very real, but I feel like in most matchups where your opponent is casting Kolaghan's (Jund, Grixis), you're unlikely to bring in Rest in Peace anyway. However, being able to delve, as well as being a good card against CoCo seem like enough reasons to consider it as an alternative. Am I missing some big reason why Grafdigger's is just not a good card for us?
4 think twice
4 esper charm
2 sphinx's revelation
4 path to exile
2 fatal push
3 supreme verdict
3 spell snare
3 logic knot
4 cryptic command
2 secure the wastes
3 snapcaster mage
Is pretty standard.
The fourth wrath, or some negates are also possible, as is zenith over WSZ.
You may also opt for only 2 snapcaster mage, but three is more popular now than it has been before.
(For the record, I play that list -1 snap, -2 secure, +1 wsz, +2 negate)
I would honestly say that this is the standard right now:
3x Celestial Colonnade
4x Flooded Strand
4x Polluted Delta
2x Hallowed Fountain
2x Watery Grave
3x Island
2x Plains
1x Swamp
5x Flex
4x Think Twice
4x Esper Charm
2x Sphinx's Revelation
2x Snapcaster Mage
Removal (10)
4x Path to Exile
2x Fatal Push
4x Supreme Verdict
3x Logic Knot
1x Negate
4x Cryptic Command
Other (3) [or 2]
3x Flex [or 2]
With the land flex slots often being a mix of the 4th Colonnade (most prefer 4 to 3), 1-2x Ghost Quarter, some number of buddy lands (Glacial Fortress or Drowned Catacomb), a Mystic Gate on occasion, and sometimes a 3rd Hallowed Fountain. Don't know what happened, but nobody really plays a Godless Shrine anymore. Huh.
As for spell flex slots: a combination of another removal spell (3rd Push or a Blessed Alliance main), another counterspell or 2 (a Negate, 1/2x Spell Snare), a 3rd Snapcaster (Or maybe a 4th too, I guess? Not very common.), 2-3x Serum Visions (Sometimes a land is cut to play a 4th -- most don't advocate this.), another wincon if you're on Zenith (like an Elspeth, Sun's Champion).
UWB Esper Draw-Go Control (clicky)
UW Azorius Control (clicky)
Currently pursuing a degree in Biochemistry.
EDH: I've decided I don't like multiplayer formats.
I have always wished I could justify a godless as I had a lot of games where dead fetches would have 1 more target so it's a good change over all.
Esper draw go Control!
Twitch stream: http://www.twitch.tv/pimpdonny
Don't forget my sunken ruins
I think playing the godless shrine as a fifth fetch is more justifiable now than it has been in the past. If I were to do it, I would certainly make sure I had 1-2 filter lands though. They already make fetching basics so much better.
That makes sense, I guess an example list is different than a stock list.
Also, I didn't know you've been playing a Sunken Ruins! How have you felt about it?
UWB Esper Draw-Go Control (clicky)
UW Azorius Control (clicky)
Currently pursuing a degree in Biochemistry.
EDH: I've decided I don't like multiplayer formats.
Our monday Modern tonight I went 3-0 with some funsies. I played 1 of Jace Beleren in the main and the 3rd Tasigur in the main. Jace drew me 3 cards on the play against storm which was nice. I kind of like him more than JAoT if you have a lot of cheap removal and Snares/Dispels/Rejections/Knots/Negates since he is more reliable and generally cheaper = better in Modern (I play Night of Souls Betrayal and a Detention Sphere in the board so tokens, X/1's aren't too much of an issue). I ended up beating Storm 2-1 (T2 Madcap experiment in G2 while I was otd took me by storm *harhar*. Sided 3 paths back in), DSJ 2-0 (I had a condemn blow out in G2 - has 2 DS/1 Tarmo on field. Tarmo 7/8 while he's at 7 life. Attacks with DS/Tarm I snap Condemn he snap concedes while we all laugh - he was hellbent), and Merfolk 2-1.
People should really be playing Tasigur somewhere in the 75. It adds so much % to our bad MU's.
- at least 1 remand
-still mulitple leaks
- at least 2 anticiaptes
-1 minimum 1 snare tho it might be board
knows the mirror pretty well
Esper draw go Control!
Twitch stream: http://www.twitch.tv/pimpdonny
I never said that any of that was "standard", I just mentioned that those are commonly in the flex slots, among other options.
UWB Esper Draw-Go Control (clicky)
UW Azorius Control (clicky)
Currently pursuing a degree in Biochemistry.
EDH: I've decided I don't like multiplayer formats.
Sometimes fetching a swamp on t3 to esper charm without shocking (or just playing around moon/fulm/tect/etc) is nice, and being able to fix that into U is great. On top of that, being able to double charm off one land is really good.
I think pointing out wafo's mana base as being subpar is slightly misleading, because hes almost certainly not making the same assumptions you are.
Playing taplands until t3 is actually super fine, because if you want to hold serum til t2 when you have more information, you dont want to shuffle away your scry, and you arent playing snare to want to leave up the second land. When your deck is built to consistently wrath t2 spot removal also is not as critical.
On t3, having 2 mana lets you leak/negate/knot, tt, or cast up to 2 kill spells.
T4 you need the land untapped for CC/verdict, but thats not usually a problem.
The problem with tasigur is that unless you heavily warp your deck, like you do (not meant to be an insult/bad, but you deck is fairly different from our stock lists), tasigur isnt better than amy other threat we could play.
Amalek made a post a while ago about the difference between serum and preordain/other legacy cantrips.
Serum visions doesnt give you immediate access to the card you're looking for even if you find it. We've all heard to whole "brainstorm is better in your hand than on the stack" kind of thing, but it doesnt apply to serum.
Trying to find the right balance between waiting as long as possible, and casting it in anticipation of a problem is certainly difficult at times, but I think claiming the reason we think its bad is because we dont play it right is unfair.
Regardless of any results Ive had playing serum visions, it fundamentally does not do what this deck wants.
If you are dead set on always casting a wrath of god on t4, there is some merit, but just playing a couple because you've got flex spots is flawed.
Id love for their to be some kind of remand/sod 2 for 1 that was really good (and mainboard worthy) in the current meta, but the second best isnt the draw half of that card, its the do-something half.
You dont really want 4 snaps in this deck, usually. I would almost certainly cut the fourthx whether for a wrath or for something else.
You probably want a ghost quarter or two in your deck too.
Lingering spuls is playable, but I dont think anyones ever really been impressed with it. If you really wanted it, you could, but you probably dont. Tasigur is pretty mediocre. Elspeth, gideon, or baneslayer tend to be superior threats.
My major issue with wrath recently is that most of the creature decks arent swarm strategies anymore. Its not all that strong against a lot of the archtypes its included to beat. That being said, Im not sure I really want to make any changes right now. If the meta shifts again in a way unfavorable to spell snare, Ill probably cut another one atleast, but we shall see.
LOL! I'll have to watch the game. Even if he's on full Frankenstein mode with his decklists it'd be nice to see the guy play out a control mirror.
Seems like he's still trying everything; I imagine Anticipate is him trying to limit Serum Visions. Serum Visions may not be stellar, but Anticipate always felt like a total do-nothing to me. I'd been thinking about whether or not blitz aggro is dead enough to bring back Remand. I've been getting .NET Framework errors the last 2 weeks when trying to run MODO so I haven't played in a long while.
I could see him being better than revelation since he does most of what revelation does by sometimes blocking to save life and by being a mana sink to gain card advantage.
If he was like a theros god, (not being a creature while turned off) and he required 5+ instead of 7, etc, he might be good enough as a tasigur replacement for UW/X, but as is, I don't see it happening.
That being said, I don't see it happening for the W or B god either, given that they share the same vulnerability to path and edicts. For other decks, maybe, but the powerlevel would have to be very high for something like that to see play in esper.
My guess for the black one is a -1/-1 counter generator that can attack and block if your opponent has one or fewer creatures.
The power level of cards spoiled so far as been very low, but it only takes one or two playables.
I'm optimistic, and ready to be let down