SoI doesn't have multicolored uncommons to showcase the archetypes in Limited.
Instead, there's offcolor activations.
It's a bit more difficult to figure them out, so I list them here. Here's the ten archetypes and their cards.
I think R/W might be Voltron-y? Open the Armory, Avacynian Missionaries and Militant Inquisitor in white don't fit tidily into a go-wide strategy (though humans obviously might want them), and red gives cards like Rush of Adrenaline to force damage through, or Spiteful Motives and Uncaged Fury to increase how much is dealt. Hulking Devil looks more appealing if you can boost it out of harm's way with enchantments or equipment, and I don't think any other archetypes want it. In this scenario Machinations serves to protect the creature you're focusing on empowering and discourages group blocking.
That's my guess anyway. The others seem basically right, though I need to think a bit more to figure out how W/B comes together -- in addition to weenies I think there's a delirium component (though not as present as in B/G). The investigate deck seems SUPER fun if you can pull it off.
Is it just me or does UB seems pretty bad? Blue in particular looks very weak in comparison with white/red/green.
From the pool I was seeing blue seems to have some pretty interesting cards, like Daring Sleuth at uncommon that you could use in a UW investigate archetype or UG investigate archetype. I think blue does need some help and counterspells are undeniably bad, but I believe blue has the cheapest flying beaters and some skulk creatures, which gives a lot of evasion for limited.
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Blue, like most of the time lately, is a support color. It doesn't have good enough commons to stand on its own and is mostly a delirium/madness enabler. You can see that the cards have been made easy to splash. There is no spell under 5 mana with double Uin its cost . Except broken concentration, which they would never make splashable in any format (Not at 3 mana). Sleep paralysis could have been claustrophobia. But they wanted something splashable since it would have been clunky in a format where blue was almost always a splash/support. Though at that cost, it kind of forces you to take a few hits from the creature you want to target.
It doesn't look like the format will be overly fast. It seems to me,ironically, that green will offer you the most speed. Looking at red, there isn't any fast commons creatures beyond sanguinary mage, which can be hard to setup in limited. Even black can potentially be faster than red. But I think GW offers the best value with little support required. (As far as aggro goes)
Blue, like most of the time lately, is a support color. It doesn't have good enough commons to stand on its own and is mostly a delirium/madness enabler. You can see that the cards have been made easy to splash. There is no spell under 5 mana with double Uin its cost . Except broken concentration, which they would never make splashable in any format (Not at 3 mana). Sleep paralysis could have been claustrophobia. But they wanted something splashable since it would have been clunky in a format where blue was almost always a splash/support. Though at that cost, it kind of forces you to take a few hits from the creature you want to target.
Good point about blue's support role; it's worth noting that even Broken Concentration is splashable if you have enough madness enablers. I doubt many people would want to play it if they can't reliably pay its casting cost, but the fact that it's even an option makes it seem like R&D don't expect too many blue-based decks in Limited.
Blue, like most of the time lately, is a support color. It doesn't have good enough commons to stand on its own and is mostly a delirium/madness enabler. You can see that the cards have been made easy to splash. There is no spell under 5 mana with double Uin its cost . Except broken concentration, which they would never make splashable in any format (Not at 3 mana). Sleep paralysis could have been claustrophobia. But they wanted something splashable since it would have been clunky in a format where blue was almost always a splash/support. Though at that cost, it kind of forces you to take a few hits from the creature you want to target.
Good point about blue's support role; it's worth noting that even Broken Concentration is splashable if you have enough madness enablers. I doubt many people would want to play it if they can't reliably pay its casting cost, but the fact that it's even an option makes it seem like R&D don't expect too many blue-based decks in Limited.
It can be casted by a deck splashing true. But unless you have a free enabler, you end up with a 5 mana counterspell (since most costed discard will cost one mana), that absolutely requires setup in order to be cast. I only see that happening when it happens out of dumb luck while you're color screwed.
Sometimes you'll be forced to take blue in draft when the packs don't offer you any other strong option or your first pick was startled awake or thing in the ice. ( I don't forsee thing in the ice being that good in limited, but people will certainly try)
As usual, My impression is that blue gets the most fliyers, but white has the best ones.
I mean, imagine this in limited.
Moorland drifter, may very well end up outclassing any blue fliyer (My personal opinion).
Let's say you picked 3 moorland drifter, and you have a few inquisitor's ox and militant inquisitor keeping the ground locked. (Ox by the way would be totally sick in limited if white had its own delirium neablers)
Add expose evil and apothecary geist to destroy your opponent's tempo, and even some filler like cathar's companion that will boosts the value of expose evil, and is easy to use as trade bait, and you have a pretty dangerous deck. ALL those cards are common. If you're lucky, you can get an angelic purge or two and thraben gargoyle/wicker witch to reach delirium faster.
It won't be an easy deck to draft since fliyers are highly picked by whoever will be in white. But I will certainly try. Compared to that potantial, blue's fliyers seem a lot weaker.
I think the situation with blue is more that 1. The colour's power level in Limited is more concentrated in the uncommons than the commons; 2. The power level of the cards is more deceptive/contextual than with other colours. This is similar to what we've seen of Blue lately, and keep in mind that blue-based decks have been viable and common in those formats too.
Drunau Corpse Trawler is better than it seems because of that second clause; a 1/1 and a 2/2 for 4 mana is somewhat below what you expect, but the activated ability is very good; given enough time (and I expect blue-black to be a controlling deck), both halves of the card should trade for something real. And if you play it in a deck with enough zombies, the corpse trawler's ability is really threatening; suddenly all your zombies trade up. Given the payoffs for having zombies, Seagraf Skaab (a card that is unplayable to mediocre in a vacuum) starts to look like a roleplayer; I can see picking up 3-5 cards that reward me for having zombies and just taking every Seagraf Skaab in the draft and playing them all.
Uninvited Geist is just a generically good card, when combined with Blue's various tempo plays; your opponent will often only have one blocker for it, and tapping or bouncing it then hitting with Geist to flip it will be a play I expect to see a lot in this format. At common and uncommon, blue in fact has four separate ways to tap or bounce a creature without being down a card (Compelling Deterrence with "kicker"; Just the Wind with Madness; Press for Answers; and Stitched Mangler). This plus two actual removal spells (Sleep Paralysis and Gone Missing) at common. The high volume of instants/sorceries and card flow also makes a card like Niblis of Dusk better. I suspect that, between Prowess and always having flying, that card is better than Moorland Drifter.
I think one of the big questions in this format is going to be just how many instants and sorceries you can actually cram into your blue decks, and if you can actually live the dream and play a deck that is nothing but zombie payoff guys, Stitched Manglers, instants/sorceries, and Rise from the Tides.
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I think the situation with blue is more that 1. The colour's power level in Limited is more concentrated in the uncommons than the commons; 2. The power level of the cards is more deceptive/contextual than with other colours. This is similar to what we've seen of Blue lately, and keep in mind that blue-based decks have been viable and common in those formats too.
Drunau Corpse Trawler is better than it seems because of that second clause; a 1/1 and a 2/2 for 4 mana is somewhat below what you expect, but the activated ability is very good; given enough time (and I expect blue-black to be a controlling deck), both halves of the card should trade for something real. And if you play it in a deck with enough zombies, the corpse trawler's ability is really threatening; suddenly all your zombies trade up. Given the payoffs for having zombies, Seagraf Skaab (a card that is unplayable to mediocre in a vacuum) starts to look like a roleplayer; I can see picking up 3-5 cards that reward me for having zombies and just taking every Seagraf Skaab in the draft and playing them all.
Uninvited Geist is just a generically good card, when combined with Blue's various tempo plays; your opponent will often only have one blocker for it, and tapping or bouncing it then hitting with Geist to flip it will be a play I expect to see a lot in this format. At common and uncommon, blue in fact has four separate ways to tap or bounce a creature without being down a card (Compelling Deterrence with "kicker"; Just the Wind with Madness; Press for Answers; and Stitched Mangler). This plus two actual removal spells (Sleep Paralysis and Gone Missing) at common. The high volume of instants/sorceries and card flow also makes a card like Niblis of Dusk better. I suspect that, between Prowess and always having flying, that card is better than Moorland Drifter.
I think one of the big questions in this format is going to be just how many instants and sorceries you can actually cram into your blue decks, and if you can actually live the dream and play a deck that is nothing but zombie payoff guys, Stitched Manglers, instants/sorceries, and Rise from the Tides.
For corpse trawler. Paying four mana for a 1/1 and 2/2 bodies, then having to keep 3 mana open isn't optimal. If you play it on curve, you likely will just chump with the bodies. It'S better drawn late. And since blue doesn't seem to have a very good early game, it doesn't cover your weakness. Stitched mangler is decent. But it isn't much good if your on defensive against something other than 1 big threat. It's good in an agressive deck. But again, this relegates blue as a support card. Probably for red or white. Not a great top deck.
If you cast Trawler on curve, unless the opposing deck is so hyperaggressive you're on the ropes already, you will very likely not throw away the bodies for no value by chumping. On the play, they'll take their turn four after yours. Usually this means at worst they're attacking with a two-drop and a three-drop. The 2/2 token will probably be in a position to trade with one of their creatures, then; worst case scenario you can double block and trade one-for-one (either for their creature or for a trick; how good this is depends on how good the tricks in the format are). Even if you cast this on curve while behind, you will probably not be so far behind that you can't afford to take some hits to get more value out of it later on.
If you do untap with both creatures, then you can get value out of threat of activation, either to get free attacks in, or along with some of Blue's many instants on defense.
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If you cast Trawler on curve, unless the opposing deck is so hyperaggressive you're on the ropes already, you will very likely not throw away the bodies for no value by chumping. On the play, they'll take their turn four after yours. Usually this means at worst they're attacking with a two-drop and a three-drop. The 2/2 token will probably be in a position to trade with one of their creatures, then; worst case scenario you can double block and trade one-for-one (either for their creature or for a trick; how good this is depends on how good the tricks in the format are). Even if you cast this on curve while behind, you will probably not be so far behind that you can't afford to take some hits to get more value out of it later on.
If you do untap with both creatures, then you can get value out of threat of activation, either to get free attacks in, or along with some of Blue's many instants on defense.
I'm not saying the card is mediocre. But castig this on curve and keeping mana open means I play nothing on turn 5 for the chance of trading up. I'm not a fan of cards that ask me to take damage for later value that may not happen. I would play it in sealed no doubt. If I have to play blue. But I can imagine better cards in the same spot. For a 4 drop, I think I prefer drownyard explorers, except in a matchup where my opponent has a grindy deck with fat creatures.
I never liked having to keep more than two mana open in limited. Except to get monstrous, as the creatures had amazing value and were often good without it.
And I guess mangler would have been uncommon if he came into play untapped. But I hate how a vanilla 2/3 would stop a pair of 2/2's, while he gives your opponent a free shot with one of them. Can't have it all I guess. I just won't play blue
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Instead, there's offcolor activations.
It's a bit more difficult to figure them out, so I list them here. Here's the ten archetypes and their cards.
WU: Spirit Tribal
UB: Zombie Tribal
BR: Vampire Tribal (+Madness)
RG: Wolf/Werewolf Tribal
GW: Human Tribal
WB: Tokens/Weenie?
UR: Instant/Sorcery spells?
BG: Delirium
RW: Combat
GU: Investigate
Additions are welcome!
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That's my guess anyway. The others seem basically right, though I need to think a bit more to figure out how W/B comes together -- in addition to weenies I think there's a delirium component (though not as present as in B/G). The investigate deck seems SUPER fun if you can pull it off.
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Blue, like most of the time lately, is a support color. It doesn't have good enough commons to stand on its own and is mostly a delirium/madness enabler. You can see that the cards have been made easy to splash. There is no spell under 5 mana with double Uin its cost . Except broken concentration, which they would never make splashable in any format (Not at 3 mana). Sleep paralysis could have been claustrophobia. But they wanted something splashable since it would have been clunky in a format where blue was almost always a splash/support. Though at that cost, it kind of forces you to take a few hits from the creature you want to target.
It doesn't look like the format will be overly fast. It seems to me,ironically, that green will offer you the most speed. Looking at red, there isn't any fast commons creatures beyond sanguinary mage, which can be hard to setup in limited. Even black can potentially be faster than red. But I think G W offers the best value with little support required. (As far as aggro goes)
Good point about blue's support role; it's worth noting that even Broken Concentration is splashable if you have enough madness enablers. I doubt many people would want to play it if they can't reliably pay its casting cost, but the fact that it's even an option makes it seem like R&D don't expect too many blue-based decks in Limited.
It can be casted by a deck splashing true. But unless you have a free enabler, you end up with a 5 mana counterspell (since most costed discard will cost one mana), that absolutely requires setup in order to be cast. I only see that happening when it happens out of dumb luck while you're color screwed.
Sometimes you'll be forced to take blue in draft when the packs don't offer you any other strong option or your first pick was startled awake or thing in the ice. ( I don't forsee thing in the ice being that good in limited, but people will certainly try)
As usual, My impression is that blue gets the most fliyers, but white has the best ones.
I mean, imagine this in limited.
Moorland drifter, may very well end up outclassing any blue fliyer (My personal opinion).
Let's say you picked 3 moorland drifter, and you have a few inquisitor's ox and militant inquisitor keeping the ground locked. (Ox by the way would be totally sick in limited if white had its own delirium neablers)
Add expose evil and apothecary geist to destroy your opponent's tempo, and even some filler like cathar's companion that will boosts the value of expose evil, and is easy to use as trade bait, and you have a pretty dangerous deck. ALL those cards are common. If you're lucky, you can get an angelic purge or two and thraben gargoyle/wicker witch to reach delirium faster.
It won't be an easy deck to draft since fliyers are highly picked by whoever will be in white. But I will certainly try. Compared to that potantial, blue's fliyers seem a lot weaker.
Drunau Corpse Trawler is better than it seems because of that second clause; a 1/1 and a 2/2 for 4 mana is somewhat below what you expect, but the activated ability is very good; given enough time (and I expect blue-black to be a controlling deck), both halves of the card should trade for something real. And if you play it in a deck with enough zombies, the corpse trawler's ability is really threatening; suddenly all your zombies trade up. Given the payoffs for having zombies, Seagraf Skaab (a card that is unplayable to mediocre in a vacuum) starts to look like a roleplayer; I can see picking up 3-5 cards that reward me for having zombies and just taking every Seagraf Skaab in the draft and playing them all.
Uninvited Geist is just a generically good card, when combined with Blue's various tempo plays; your opponent will often only have one blocker for it, and tapping or bouncing it then hitting with Geist to flip it will be a play I expect to see a lot in this format. At common and uncommon, blue in fact has four separate ways to tap or bounce a creature without being down a card (Compelling Deterrence with "kicker"; Just the Wind with Madness; Press for Answers; and Stitched Mangler). This plus two actual removal spells (Sleep Paralysis and Gone Missing) at common. The high volume of instants/sorceries and card flow also makes a card like Niblis of Dusk better. I suspect that, between Prowess and always having flying, that card is better than Moorland Drifter.
I think one of the big questions in this format is going to be just how many instants and sorceries you can actually cram into your blue decks, and if you can actually live the dream and play a deck that is nothing but zombie payoff guys, Stitched Manglers, instants/sorceries, and Rise from the Tides.
For corpse trawler. Paying four mana for a 1/1 and 2/2 bodies, then having to keep 3 mana open isn't optimal. If you play it on curve, you likely will just chump with the bodies. It'S better drawn late. And since blue doesn't seem to have a very good early game, it doesn't cover your weakness. Stitched mangler is decent. But it isn't much good if your on defensive against something other than 1 big threat. It's good in an agressive deck. But again, this relegates blue as a support card. Probably for red or white. Not a great top deck.
If you do untap with both creatures, then you can get value out of threat of activation, either to get free attacks in, or along with some of Blue's many instants on defense.
I'm not saying the card is mediocre. But castig this on curve and keeping mana open means I play nothing on turn 5 for the chance of trading up. I'm not a fan of cards that ask me to take damage for later value that may not happen. I would play it in sealed no doubt. If I have to play blue. But I can imagine better cards in the same spot. For a 4 drop, I think I prefer drownyard explorers, except in a matchup where my opponent has a grindy deck with fat creatures.
I never liked having to keep more than two mana open in limited. Except to get monstrous, as the creatures had amazing value and were often good without it.
And I guess mangler would have been uncommon if he came into play untapped. But I hate how a vanilla 2/3 would stop a pair of 2/2's, while he gives your opponent a free shot with one of them. Can't have it all I guess. I just won't play blue