We aren't getting a specific promo anymore, you'll get one of 8 possible rares watermarked for your chosen clan. This means you need to wait until that whole pool of rares is mostly spoiled before you can make an informed decision, as well as a decent chunk of commons since your clan color seeded pack will probably now be as influential as your rare.
For instance if this system had been in place for m15, you wouldn't just get an indulgent tormentor for picking black, but have a chance at that or ob nixilis, unshackled, or cruel sadist, or in garruk's wake, or stain the mind, or necromancer's stockpile, or waste not. Since 4 of those 7 are pretty bad at limited then choosing black would give you a 4/7 chance of getting a poor rare which would make black a sub optimal choice compared to other colors with a higher overall rare quality even if their best possible card isn't quite up to par with tormentor.
This is also going to make the choice of clan more up to personal preference and the whims of fate because your control over your sealed pool will be lower. Like even if you really like the look of sultai/black you may get a GU rare and a heavily green seeded pack with some killer red cards in the normal boosters and suddenly you're GR temur lightly splashing U.
"A scrupulous writer, in every sentence that he writes, will ask himself at least four questions, thus: 1. What am I trying to say? 2. What words will express it? 3. What image or idiom will make it clearer? 4. Is this image fresh enough to have an effect? And he will probably ask himself two more: 1. Could I put it more shortly? 2. Have I said anything that is avoidably ugly?"
My first inclination is to be drawn to Sultai, but I'm still skeptical of Delve. I'll wait and see what the rest of the previews bring: my backup plan is probably Temur.
The choice is certainly more based on personal preference for the clan, now that the rare is not known. Just go with whatever you think is best. It's not like M15 where Blue was objectively a terrible choice because you were adding an unplayable rare to your pool.
Agree with Actinium and assuming we'll have the information at hand before 9/26, at the very least you can give yourself a slight edge by choosing accordingly. I'd be willing to bet, that all Wedge Rare pools will NOT be created equal, but I think the best bet would be to choose the Wedge with the least number of Duds and expected reasonable strength in the commons and uncommons. Either way, still a ton of variance at play and the correct choice might be simply to pick a Wedge that omits what you feel is the weakest color in its Commons and Uncommons in limited play. Using M15 as an example, most players would probably focus on something that had RW available and excluded U. I'd say that model will lead you to a solid hedge bet in KoT come choosing time for the Pre Release.
Obviously, with only a handful of commons spoiled so far and varied promos, it's hard to compare the power level of the clans. But theres a critical question that each mechanic has to answer:
Jeskai: Prowess demands an optimal balance of creatures and spells. Where exactly will that range be, and will removal prove troublesome as a result? Sultai: Delve is a tricky mechanic in that it can be easy to play one or two delve cards, but difficult to build an entire deck around. Is it worth fully committing to the graveyard combo plan, or are you better off just viewing Delve cards as incidental cards in other decks? Mardu: Raid is an aggro mechanic. The conundrum is simple: how viable can aggro be in a 3 color format, and which colors will it skew towards? Temur: Ferocious is a much looser mechanic than Naya's "5 color matters", since a much greater proportion of decks will carry 4 color creatures. Is the mechanic able to hold the clan together, or will those colors just play like general goodstuff? Abzan: Outlast, unlike the rest of the set's mechanics, is very simple and clear. It also holds the high ground by being the most defensive mechanic in a tri-color format with morph. Will the Abzan take advantage of the inconsistency of the other clans, or will it fall prey to not doing something inherently powerful enough?
For what it's worth, I'll be playing Sultai at the prerelease no matter what. I didn't wait so long for Delve to come back and not play it!
To be fair fireman, 2/3 of the delve cards are playable in limited without really much effort. I mean destroy creature for 5 is still good in limited, when it can cost 14 mana less it gets pretty crazy. I feel delve will be really underrated and I feel Sultai will also be my go to pick.
I've been assuming I'll choose either Temur or Sultai, just because I love U and G. At the moment I'm leaning Sultai, because ideally I want to play with a new mechanic that encourages novel play patterns, and at the moment Delve seems more likely to fit the bill.
I could see myself being seduced by Abzan depending on what the set looks like once we've seen more than, what, 7 common spells? Currently Outlast looks like the most interesting mechanic.
I have decided going for Abzan even tought I can't stop thinking it's a lot risky, it's not about the cards but about you are fighting against. In a good structured Abzan deck you need to have certain level of control to not fell against an Aggro Temur, Mardu or even a possible Jund.
If you can't protect your tapped cards or pump them as fast as possible them you are really likely to loose the game from the start. However, if you can get to pump three or two of your Outlast creatures and then send a Siege Rhino then you have a game changer right there.
In the past I've tried to just play the "best" color that would give me the best chance of a high finish (White/Dawnbringer Charioteers). But since they've changed the way promos work (and I've come to terms with my mediocrity) I'm just going to accept that this is not going to be cost effective. At FNM I'll shoot for the top spot, but for this I'm just going to have fun!
I haven't voted yet because technically I'll be waiting until the full spoiler is out to make my decision.
With that disclaimer aside, my heart is pulling me towards Temur.
See some of us can't do that(or can but it isn't the best idea)
My local game store hosts a big event and if you sign up before the 12th you get 10$ off.
Kinda have to go in a bit blind.
I have faith that saltai will have a good mix of low drops with good abilities.
at this point I'm split between Temur and Mardu(although they all look good at this point)....but with less than half spoiled we have long way to go to really know.
so far not much on the removal or evasion side of things(specifically in C or UNC)...but lots of beat sticks...and sure if you hit the lottery in any of the colors you'll have a good prerelease...but the commons and uncommons is where all the action is..for the most part...
I voted Temur mostly because I like the color combination a lot. I haven't looked at the Spoiler that carefully.
I wanted to vote Sultai... but is it just me or does Delve seem like it's kind of a weak mechanic? I am looking at those Delve spells and they seem like they need to exile 3-4 cards apiece in order to be reasonably costed. The 4/5 flying Delve demon costs 9? Since you're never hardcasting that, how much support do you need to make it work? Hopefully there is enough.
Best to wait until the set gets spoiled on Friday to decide, as there are a lot of a ton of commons and mono-color cards left. However, Abzan feels like the strongest choice so far. Outlast seems very solid, having something to do with your mana when you otherwise would have nothing is very useful in limited, even if it requires tapping your creatures at sorcery speed. Level up was great in RoE, and so are cards like Scholar of Athreos.
I haven't voted yet because technically I'll be waiting until the full spoiler is out to make my decision.
With that disclaimer aside, my heart is pulling me towards Temur.
See some of us can't do that(or can but it isn't the best idea)
My local game store hosts a big event and if you sign up before the 12th you get 10$ off.
Kinda have to go in a bit blind.
I have faith that saltai will have a good mix of low drops with good abilities.
That would change things.
I'd probably pre-pay for Temur to save $10, but I would definitely wait until the 12th to make my choice.
I haven't voted yet because technically I'll be waiting until the full spoiler is out to make my decision.
With that disclaimer aside, my heart is pulling me towards Temur.
See some of us can't do that(or can but it isn't the best idea)
My local game store hosts a big event and if you sign up before the 12th you get 10$ off.
Kinda have to go in a bit blind.
I have faith that saltai will have a good mix of low drops with good abilities.
That would change things.
I'd probably pre-pay for Temur to save $10, but I would definitely wait until the 12th to make my choice.
Best to wait until the set gets spoiled on Friday to decide, as there are a lot of a ton of commons and mono-color cards left. However, Abzan feels like the strongest choice so far. Outlast seems very solid, having something to do with your mana when you otherwise would have nothing is very useful in limited, even if it requires tapping your creatures at sorcery speed. Level up was great in RoE, and so are cards like Scholar of Athreos.
I agree actually, on both counts.
The Jeskai's ability has potential but basically no high-quality enablers at common that we've seen thus far. The Izzet-esque "instants and sorceries" theme doesn't come together that frequently in Limited in my experience. But we'll see what they've got once the full set is spoiled.
The 3B Delve enabler "Read the Bones" type card doesn't quite get there, yet. That deck is going to need something like Grisly Salvage or at least Satyr Wayfinder. If it has one of those effects for 2 mana at common, Sultai will probably be pretty good.
"Outlast" seems like a solid Limited mechanic, especially in sealed. While "Outlast" may not be the most synergistic mechanic when you have multiple creatures out that have it, I like that it doesn't ask very much of you; you really just need the Outlast creature and the mana to use it to add value. I am skeptical though of the Outlast creatures being a little underpowered for their costs pre-activation.
To be fair, "Raid" seems strong too and straightforward to use.
"Ferocity" seems like it has potential at higher rarities but beyond that we'll have to see.
Well seeing some of the new Temur cards pretty much seals it for me. I'm excited about Temur even if it turns out not to be the strongest choice objectively.
I think outlast has potential, but the tap in the activation cost has me skeptical. Early on it's going to leave you very open to fast attacks from Mardu and possibly Jeskai, and mid-to-late game it's going to take several activations before you can compete with Temur's creature quality. The only thing I can think of is that it was too powerful without having to tap (or too similar to Level Up) and they felt the need to change it.
We also haven't seen many Abzan cards spoiled, so it's possible there are some strong enablers coming and common and uncommon. A couple cards that distribute counters would go a long way with cards like Abzan Priest or Ainok Bond-Kin. A couple very nice defensive creatures would work as well, letting you build a fort while your outlast guys get beefy. WG is certainly a solid color combo for that.
whille I haven't seen anything that makes me confident in Jeskai's power yet.
UW flyiers is the archetype I play best in limited, give me any evasion based tempo deck and I will do well. plus I like the underdog.. I won with blue last prerealse and came second with red the one before.
My guess would be that aggro is most likely to be good/overpowered, and Mardu is the most aggro of the clans. But I could be wrong.
Changed my vote to Abzan with more info; looks like there's enough stall (including the lifegaining lands and a bunch of guys with big butts) that the red-based aggro plan seems risky.
It will help when we know rarities on the unconfirmed-but-almost-certainly-real cards. That black 0/4 with Outlast for B hates aggro hard. On the other hand, there are still 70 cards left to be spoiled, most of which won't be for Abzan.
My hope is that Wizards did a reasonable job of balancing the clans, so I want to believe that there are some outs for Mardu/Temur/Jeskai against grindier long-game Abzan/Sultai decks. We'll just have to see what that looks like.
For instance if this system had been in place for m15, you wouldn't just get an indulgent tormentor for picking black, but have a chance at that or ob nixilis, unshackled, or cruel sadist, or in garruk's wake, or stain the mind, or necromancer's stockpile, or waste not. Since 4 of those 7 are pretty bad at limited then choosing black would give you a 4/7 chance of getting a poor rare which would make black a sub optimal choice compared to other colors with a higher overall rare quality even if their best possible card isn't quite up to par with tormentor.
This is also going to make the choice of clan more up to personal preference and the whims of fate because your control over your sealed pool will be lower. Like even if you really like the look of sultai/black you may get a GU rare and a heavily green seeded pack with some killer red cards in the normal boosters and suddenly you're GR temur lightly splashing U.
Jeskai: Prowess demands an optimal balance of creatures and spells. Where exactly will that range be, and will removal prove troublesome as a result?
Sultai: Delve is a tricky mechanic in that it can be easy to play one or two delve cards, but difficult to build an entire deck around. Is it worth fully committing to the graveyard combo plan, or are you better off just viewing Delve cards as incidental cards in other decks?
Mardu: Raid is an aggro mechanic. The conundrum is simple: how viable can aggro be in a 3 color format, and which colors will it skew towards?
Temur: Ferocious is a much looser mechanic than Naya's "5 color matters", since a much greater proportion of decks will carry 4 color creatures. Is the mechanic able to hold the clan together, or will those colors just play like general goodstuff?
Abzan: Outlast, unlike the rest of the set's mechanics, is very simple and clear. It also holds the high ground by being the most defensive mechanic in a tri-color format with morph. Will the Abzan take advantage of the inconsistency of the other clans, or will it fall prey to not doing something inherently powerful enough?
For what it's worth, I'll be playing Sultai at the prerelease no matter what. I didn't wait so long for Delve to come back and not play it!
Cubetutor Link
Let this great clan rest in peace (2001-2011)
I could see myself being seduced by Abzan depending on what the set looks like once we've seen more than, what, 7 common spells? Currently Outlast looks like the most interesting mechanic.
If you can't protect your tapped cards or pump them as fast as possible them you are really likely to loose the game from the start. However, if you can get to pump three or two of your Outlast creatures and then send a Siege Rhino then you have a game changer right there.
Sultai baby =]
With that disclaimer aside, my heart is pulling me towards Temur.
See some of us can't do that(or can but it isn't the best idea)
My local game store hosts a big event and if you sign up before the 12th you get 10$ off.
Kinda have to go in a bit blind.
I have faith that saltai will have a good mix of low drops with good abilities.
so far not much on the removal or evasion side of things(specifically in C or UNC)...but lots of beat sticks...and sure if you hit the lottery in any of the colors you'll have a good prerelease...but the commons and uncommons is where all the action is..for the most part...
I wanted to vote Sultai... but is it just me or does Delve seem like it's kind of a weak mechanic? I am looking at those Delve spells and they seem like they need to exile 3-4 cards apiece in order to be reasonably costed. The 4/5 flying Delve demon costs 9? Since you're never hardcasting that, how much support do you need to make it work? Hopefully there is enough.
That would change things.
I'd probably pre-pay for Temur to save $10, but I would definitely wait until the 12th to make my choice.
That would change things.
I'd probably pre-pay for Temur to save $10, but I would definitely wait until the 12th to make my choice.
I agree actually, on both counts.
The Jeskai's ability has potential but basically no high-quality enablers at common that we've seen thus far. The Izzet-esque "instants and sorceries" theme doesn't come together that frequently in Limited in my experience. But we'll see what they've got once the full set is spoiled.
The 3B Delve enabler "Read the Bones" type card doesn't quite get there, yet. That deck is going to need something like Grisly Salvage or at least Satyr Wayfinder. If it has one of those effects for 2 mana at common, Sultai will probably be pretty good.
"Outlast" seems like a solid Limited mechanic, especially in sealed. While "Outlast" may not be the most synergistic mechanic when you have multiple creatures out that have it, I like that it doesn't ask very much of you; you really just need the Outlast creature and the mana to use it to add value. I am skeptical though of the Outlast creatures being a little underpowered for their costs pre-activation.
To be fair, "Raid" seems strong too and straightforward to use.
"Ferocity" seems like it has potential at higher rarities but beyond that we'll have to see.
I think outlast has potential, but the tap in the activation cost has me skeptical. Early on it's going to leave you very open to fast attacks from Mardu and possibly Jeskai, and mid-to-late game it's going to take several activations before you can compete with Temur's creature quality. The only thing I can think of is that it was too powerful without having to tap (or too similar to Level Up) and they felt the need to change it.
We also haven't seen many Abzan cards spoiled, so it's possible there are some strong enablers coming and common and uncommon. A couple cards that distribute counters would go a long way with cards like Abzan Priest or Ainok Bond-Kin. A couple very nice defensive creatures would work as well, letting you build a fort while your outlast guys get beefy. WG is certainly a solid color combo for that.
UW flyiers is the archetype I play best in limited, give me any evasion based tempo deck and I will do well. plus I like the underdog.. I won with blue last prerealse and came second with red the one before.
Pioneer:UR Pheonix
Modern:U Mono U Tron
EDH
GB Glissa, the traitor: Army of Cans
UW Dragonlord Ojutai: Dragonlord NOjutai
UWGDerevi, Empyrial Tactician "you cannot fight the storm"
R Zirilan of the claw. The solution to every problem is dragons
UB Etrata, the Silencer Cloning assassination
Peasant cube: Cards I own
Changed my vote to Abzan with more info; looks like there's enough stall (including the lifegaining lands and a bunch of guys with big butts) that the red-based aggro plan seems risky.
My hope is that Wizards did a reasonable job of balancing the clans, so I want to believe that there are some outs for Mardu/Temur/Jeskai against grindier long-game Abzan/Sultai decks. We'll just have to see what that looks like.