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Set Review W+U

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Nov 15th, 2019
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  1. White's Main Goals
  2. White decks in this limited format seem to want to either:
  3. Gain a lot of life
  4. Create lots of tokens and equip them
  5. There are other themes I see too, but the volume on them is pretty low.
  6.  
  7. Named mechanic: Raid (Bant)
  8. Signposts: WU --> artifacts
  9. WR --> Equipment
  10. WB --> Lifegain triggers
  11. WG --> Raid
  12.  
  13. Design holes
  14. There are several aggressively costed X/3 fliers and no green cards that can hold them off (Vupline Vigilante just trades).
  15.  
  16. The common Raid cards don't give much incentive to turn Raid on, since their main value is as vanilla creatures (3 life or team untap don't really do anything without a ton of set support). The one uncommon Raid card is very high-delta, which is appropriate, but there's only one of it.
  17.  
  18. Build-around uncommon that incentivizes life gain
  19.  
  20. Legit tribal Cleric payoff below rare.
  21.  
  22. Common artifact creature to get back with Rhox Sanctifier (I know there's Tomahawk and a couple in blue).
  23.  
  24. It feels like there's a slightly low quotient of functionally new cards -- probably a function of uncommon designs being pretty conservative.
  25.  
  26. Three of the signpost multicolor uncommons make your creatures bigger as their payoff (compare to M20's Ironroot Warlord, Corpse Knight, Empyrial Eagle, Skyknight Vanguard).
  27.  
  28. Great fits
  29. Nestwatch Macaw, Overwhelmed Sentry, Fort Redemption Pilgrim, Soul Servant, Godchosen Valor, Graceful Rapier, Hammer of the Immortals, Rhox Sanctifier, Ardent Preacher, Esmadie (in theory; might be oppressive), Light of Faradia, Loyal Escort, Solemn Offering, Unfaltering Hope
  30.  
  31. Evergreens (great designs that could go in any set without an overwhelming reason to be in this one)
  32.  
  33. Hunting Roc, Pacifism, Atun's Steward, Cleansing Nova, Destined Armaments, Kelada Courser, Justicar's Sentence, Marsha's Scorn, Sin Hunter
  34.  
  35. Raises Issues:
  36. Azelduum Borderguard: Even in core sets, vanilla creatures need to have some invisible text to pull their weight. When this card was in Aether Revolt it crewed Irontread Crusher. In Throne of Eldraine it played with Knight synergies.
  37.  
  38. Enforcer of the Orthodoxy: I hope there's a Banishing Knack or Presence of Gond effect in this set to make a substantive difference from Loxodon Sergeant.
  39.  
  40. Gleaming Gallant: Maybe my Onslaught block biases are showing, but don't Clerics want to gain life? Esmadie certainly does. Why is this guy a Knight but Enforcer is a Cleric?
  41.  
  42. Helena's Choice: A charm that does nothing on offense in a combat-oriented color.
  43.  
  44. Serene Meditation: This card needs a really powerful or unique build-around uncommon to ever see play -- more powerful than Angelic Accord. Currently that card isn't in the file (I see the Spawnpit Overseer and the Claim Jumper).
  45.  
  46. Calming Oryx: Based on the cards I've seen in white, this seems like a constructed plant (it hoses a lot of white commons and uncommons in the set). Is this set primarily designed for limited play?
  47.  
  48. Fort Redemption Pilgrim: This feels a linchpin of your set and a great design, but it has some issues. Heliod's Pilgrim is anomalous in modern design for a lot of good reasons. Worth considering whether it's better to Impulse for an Equipment instead: no shuffle, encourages you to play lots of equipment instead of one great one, and lets you make the body better. You could even failsafe it:
  49.  
  50. Fort Redemption Pilgrim
  51. 2W 2/2
  52. When ~ ETB, look at the top 5 cards of your library. You may reveal an Equipment card from among them and put it into your hand. If you don't, put a +1/+1 counter on ~. Put the rest on the bottom in a random order.
  53.  
  54. That design is probably an uncommon though.
  55.  
  56. Grassland Wardrover: I like cards that encourage racing in white because of the lifegain theme and I like one-toughness creatures in white with an equipment theme. I would change the numbers on this card, since:
  57. 1) WW two drops are bad gameplay in limited. They haven't printed one below rare since Theros block; color screw is already a big problem with limited fixing in core sets.
  58. 2) This effect is powerful on a 2/2 for 2W (Master of Diversion) and risks being obnoxious on a 2/3 for 2W (Territorial Hammerskull), since leading to tons of non-interactive games. Putting it on a 3/1 for WW makes this card REALLY swingy.
  59.  
  60. Inspired Charge: Equipment-matters naturally synergizes with going wide, but in grindy long games, rather than with effects that end the game instantly or do nothing like this one. I wonder if this set really wants a full-team pump like this. A Silverflame Ritual effect may be a better fit for this set, as it has a less immediate but more lasting impact.
  61.  
  62. Portly Friar: Raid + lifegain, but doesn't do very much to support either (doesn't help you attack with raid, only triggers your lifegain payoffs once).
  63.  
  64. Vanguard of the Meek: Clunky text. Is the functional difference between this and "Creatures you control with converted mana cost (N) or less get +1/+0" worth the extra words?
  65.  
  66. Voice of Hannaru: This is knocking on the door of being a fun, flavorful Cleric payoff but I don't quite understand how it all adds up. It decides one of your opponent's cards is bad, and your other clerics follow it? I want more spice from this slot.
  67.  
  68. Wizened Inquisitor: This card points really hard in a direction (Raid aggro) that very few other cards in white are pointing. I get that green is a heavier Raid color, but this card is 1WW.
  69. Blue's Main Goals
  70.  
  71. Mill people with Cyber Censor
  72. Merfolk tribal??? There are two common Merfolk and they don't point in any particular direction.
  73. Scroll Thieves
  74.  
  75. Named mechanic:
  76. Raid (Bant)
  77. Treasure
  78.  
  79. Signposts:
  80. WU: Artifacts
  81. UB: Control? Blue/black seems to want to mill itself and then Unearth creatures, but the blue/black signpost card doesn't do that.
  82. UR: Spells -- in an aggro slant?
  83. GU: Blue/Green is... an aggressive Raid deck? So it feels like most of the blue archetypes want to be aggressive, but then there's cards like Archaeomancer and Cyber Censor.
  84.  
  85. Design Holes:
  86.  
  87. Clear direction for the Merfolk tribal deck. There are two common Merfolk, and they're both generic effects. The uncommon one points in a Scroll Thief direction, as does one of the rare ones, but the other rare wants you to play cards on your opponent's turn (which Scroll Thief doesn't care about).
  88.  
  89. Clear directions for UB and GU. Water Torture and Wing-Gift Coatl are both generically (very) powerful cards.
  90.  
  91. All in all I'm not sure what to do with blue decks in this format besides play cards that do blue things. Those are generally pretty powerful, so I'm sure blue decks are pretty good.
  92.  
  93. Great Fits:
  94. Avian Assistance, Claim Jumper, Domesticated Serpent, Puppet Dragon, Siv's Tinkerer, Thought Scour, Obviate, Ulatos Diver, Zirrat's Gambit
  95.  
  96. I love Claim Jumper (it's the Dampen Thought deck all by itself!) and it makes me wish there was a Healing Hands effect in white or black.
  97.  
  98. Puppet Dragon is super cool and plays great in WU (because white makes tokens and cares about artifacts).
  99.  
  100. Evergreens:
  101. Aven Bouncer, Cancel, Claustrophobia, Confounding Riddler, Divination, Essence Scatter, Expel, Archaeomancer, Petty Shifter, Quell, Ruin Haunt, Scroll Thief, Sleep, Stunning Coils, Ulatos Seer, Unsummon, Zirrat, Zirrat's Choice,
  102.  
  103. Raises Issues:
  104. Clockwork Perfection: Not costed properly. 5U for a conditional draw three, even at instant speed, is not a card anyone should be putting into their decks.
  105.  
  106. Cyber Censor: Keep an eye on this boy in testing. Vedalken Entrancer has ended a lot of games, and this guy is more powerful on his own (though less powerful in multiples).
  107.  
  108. Deny Ambition: Oryx problem.
  109.  
  110. Career Criminal: A nice design, but what does it do here?
  111.  
  112. Quiet Contemplation: This card didn't do much in Khans of Tarkir when it was heavily supported. I prefer Claim Jumper as a "noncreatures" build-around.
  113.  
  114. Fill the Mind: Is this card broken? Functionally, it's Overflowing Insight but two mana cheaper, and Overflowing Insight was (a) pretty good even in an aggressive set and (b) mythic. I'm erring toward "this is broken." It's so much better than Tidings!
  115.  
  116. Into the Unknown: Creative templating! Uncommon Drawn from Dreams is a lot. Raid is a very trivial condition for this effect.
  117.  
  118. Amnesia Laser: What a griefer card. I think it's good, since the people who like it might really like it. I'd like it more if the tap ability were weaker, so people won't have to play against it as often. Plus, griefers like to see their opponent suffer; maybe they have to play with their hand revealed? Flagged because it might be tremendously un-fun.
  119.  
  120. Pelenora: Merfolk like Flash? I thought Faeries like Flash. I get that this isn't a Merfolk tribal card, but there is some Merfolk tribal in the set, and the Cleric rare played in spaces where Clerics usually play.
  121.  
  122. Reach into History: Is this card broken? I feel like it's probably broken.
  123.  
  124. Sandshore Coursair: What's the advantage to this being in your set over Sailor of Means? The decks that want the treasure (control decks that are splashing) aren't the decks that want to trigger Raid.
  125.  
  126. Singled Out: Flagged because it's a disgusting bomb. But it's kinda flavorful and it's mythic, and the gameplay is kind of nice, since your opponent will have lots of mana to re-deploy their threats before you get to re-deploy yours.
  127.  
  128. Zephyr Assistant: this anti-synergizes with 1/4 mill guy and Scroll Thief. Scroll Thief is actually really bad with fliers, which is part of why it's a hard design to fit into modern sets (hasn't been printed since M14) and why Ninja of the Deep Hours is such a great design.
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