Nationals is just around the corner

It's been a long time since I posted an article here. It has been mostly store related information and results. I guess it's time to write one right now because as everyone knows; Nationals is less than a month away.

I have been following the M10 spoiler the past week and I see some interesting new cards that would probably change the standard metagame.

First major impact of M10 would be the absence of cheap "Wrath of God" effects. It was rumored that we would have no Wrath of God and Damnation for this set, which breaks a 10-year core set tradition. The spoiler is not yet complete as of today but they have already shown the set's new board sweeper; Planar Cleansing. This leaves us with Hallowed Burial as the cheapest available "Wrath" effect.

The obvious deck that is making noise right now is White Weenie. The new Savannah Lions will probably sit on the bench for now because Kithkins are still running around the standard card pool. However, the new take on the classic Crusade is just what the doctor ordered. It is a 2 mana spell which means it will dodge every possible countermagic if you are playing first and manage to cast it on turn 2. It also curves out nicely because unlike Glorious Anthem, it does not share the 3-drop slot with Spectral Procession. Harm's Way might also be a cool addition if you were a fan of Shining Shoal back in 2005. Baneslayer Angel and Guardian Seraph are possible tools for late game power, but I still prefer Cloudgoat Ranger over them.

Blue cards... well I don't see any nice blue cards yet, not even a nice efficient card draw engine. I like Time Warp though, but goodluck in finding a deck for that. I guess WOTC is just doing what they have been doing the past few years then; bringing down the power level of blue.

Black got a significant boost on efficiency in the form of the new Terror and the reprinting of Duress. I don't even care about the other cards anymore because most are just annoying functional reprints.

Red has Lightning Bolt, but loses Incinerate and the now powered down Mogg Fanatic. The new Goblin Warchief will probably try to prove it's worth but without the help of strong goblins like the ones in Onslaught, it will probably just be another Goblin King. I say not much change for standard, but a significant change for extended and eternal formats.

Green has a lot of new tricks up its sleeve. Elvish Archdruid is getting the most attention and probably made the elf-ball deck a lot better; turn 3 Regal Force anyone? Remember that we do not have a cheap "Wrath" effect too. This means that you do not need to hold back too much on dropping little green men on the board; just beware of Volcanic Fallout. Great Sable Stag (aka Bachelor Party Horse) will probably destroy any faerie deck easy. Protean Hydra has some potential if paired with anthem effects but still has to prove itself. As for the new Hurricane, it is decent, but I still prefer Squall Line over it. The loss of the part that damages players may be costly in some games and automatically disqualifies it as a main deck card.

As for the artifacts and lands section, all I can say is that the new cycle of ally-colored lands are nice.

That's it for now, more brainstorming notes and musings next time.