Five Thoughts On Magic: The Gathering M21

M21 just came out, and with it, a lot of new and powerful cards, along with some not so powerful cards. Core Sets are always interesting because of them needing to balance easier to understand cards for new players while making it a good enough product so that entrenched players actually want to buy it.

And, with this one, I think they managed that mission statement. And more. Actually, I have a lot of opinions on this new Core Set, and I thought I’d share them with you.

Time will tell if I got any of these correct.

These Reprints Are Going to Warp MTGA

I say MTGA partially because that’s the only real way to play Magic right now, but I mean Standard and Historic. I’ve already gotten a chance to resolve a Scavenging Ooze, and it was nuts. And that’s not even the most insane reprint in M21. They brought back Baneslayer Angel and Massacre Wurm and Ugin, The Spirit Dragon. They will all, without fail, find their way into standard top-tier decks.

They Wanted to Make White a Better Color

It’s no secret that, in Magic, White is one of the weakest colors. Often it doesn’t even have that interesting of a strategy if you are playing Mono-White. But they seem to be trying to get away from that stigma in M21. The new planeswalker Basri Ket is aggressively costed and good enough to see play. I look forward to it, Glorious Anthem, Mangra, and Idol of Endurance winning some games.

Blue is Not Fair Anymore

This is because of literally only two new cards, but yikes are they ridiculous. Let’s start with the less angering Sublime Epiphany, which I already got to use all five modes of at one time and it felt powerful. And then we come to a card I don’t think should have been printed. Teferi, Master of Time is the first planeswalker to be able to use its ability on both turns, and that’s not okay. Why is every Teferi card busted? This is the new Jace, The Mind Sculptor. Blue got other strong cards, too, like See the Truth and Miscast.

W/B Lifegain Got Even Better

The deck that’s essentially based around gaining life and then getting your creatures really big off triggers might finally be tournament viable. The main culprits are Silversmote Ghoul, who will trigger more life gain once he comes back into play, Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose, who lets you kill without even needing to attack, and Indulging Patrician, which is the new Vampire Nighthawk, and I don’t say that lightly.

Grim Tutor is Gonna Make Something Happen

This is pure speculation, and, as a combo player, I may just be being optimistic, but the ability to simply find something in your deck, right away, has got to enable some kind of combo to happen in Standard or Historic.

And, if so, I want in on it as soon as possible.

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And that’s some of my predictions for the new set. I have other opinions and other strong cards I think will see play (I’m weirdly excited for Lorescale Coatl) but we shall have to see what comes out of this the victor and what cards might win a tournament very soon.

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