***Spoiler Alert*** Gatecrash cards below
New preview cards are coming in almost hourly for Gatecrash and this is definitely one of the best times every year. New cards tend to shake up the metagame in Magic whether it be Standard, Modern or Legacy so there is always a lot of hype about the new cards. Last week we looked at the mechanics to see the new, used, borrowed and blue of the upcoming set. Today we should look at some of the cards that have been previewed so far and see if we can find something that stands out and will shake up magic like a polaroid picture. If you haven't seen the spoilers you should go to one of the major sites to look at them.
First up we're going to look at Elusive Krasis and mention a couple other cards from the set that might go well with it.
Elusive Krasis is a 0/4 unblockable with Evolve for 1UG.
Cloudfin Raptor is a 0/1 with Evolve and flying for U.
Experiment One is a 1/1 with Evolve and the abililty to regenerate by removing two +1/+1 counters
The Krasis looks to have a ton of potential to see play in either a fish type deck or a linear Evolve based deck. The fish deck will use the Krasis as a Horned Turtle that eventually helps finish the game. He pairs well with Quirion Dryad, Snapcaster Mage and the new Mystic Snake / Draining Whelk, Mystic Genesis (2UUG to counter a spell and makes an X/X where X is the countered spell's CMC). Even the Zameck Guildmage is able to utilize both of his abilities in a deck like this. A good tempo or counter spell can really push the deck over the top which will change the landscape of Standard so keep an eye out.
The first iterations of the Evolve deck will probably begin with the Experiment and Raptor but may eschew the Krasis for something more aggressive, like his 3/1 flying, trampling guild mate, however that could be a poor decision. As a 0/4 the Krasis does a great job of blocking against any aggressive creature and he will be pumped by any creature with a power. If you can play a couple guys and turn him into a 2/6 or 3/7 he will be almost unkillable with a relevant enough power to help end the games. The aggressive strategy is excessively linear so it will have problems with Supreme Verdict, so it may not be the best course of action, but the deck will undoubtedly be good in Block and might make an impact on Standard as well.
One important thing to note is that Experiment One is a Human so he can fit right into the current Human decks or maybe allow them to go Bant Colors to abuse the aforementioned Human, Snapcaster Mage.
While we're on the topic of Humans, there is another powerful addition to the family from the Orzhov guild in the form of High Priest of Penance. He's a 1/1 Human Cleric for BW with a trigger that says "Whenever he's dealt damage, you may destroy target non-land permanent." This guy is not quite on the same level as Vindicate, but the comparison has to be made. So what's the best way to play this guy? Obviously against aggressive decks he is a very powerful 'wall' with high two for one potential. Against control it's a 1/1 unblockable that can still play the defender role. Either way it forces people to play differently which is a sign of a great card.
Note that it says whenever he's dealt damage; this immediately puts the Timmy train into motion. if you can pump his toughness in any way and you can find a source of consistent 'pings' you can start killing of non-land permanents regularly. The first card that comes to mind is Izzet Staticaster, however even with having all ten shocks and guild gates, Evolving Wilds, all the Keyrunes and Farseek it will be tricky to fit these two together. Maybe a re-hash of Okita's reanimator list is in order, or maybe it is best to take a different path.
He shares a color with and pumps the Champion of the Parish, so that is as good a place as any to start. We've looked at Experiment One so we could start with the current green and white shell and turn it into Junk. If enough good cards come from this set it is possible to cut green and just play Orzhov, however the Boros guild is getting a lot of
The final card we'll look at today is the very hyped Clan Defiance from the Gruul guild. This is a Sorcery for XRG that says choose one or more -- Deal X damage to target creature with flying; X damage to target creature without flying; and / or X damage to target player.
Soak it in cause this is a dozy. This card has one, two, or three modes. Since it can do one or all three you can safely assume that X damage to target player is a no brainer, but after that you can still choose to do X to any creature or up to two other creatures (as long as one flies and the other doesn't).
A powerful and versatile removal spell and a promising three drop Planeswalker is just what the doctor ordered for Mr Borborygmos and his clan, especially since his mechanic is very underwhelming (terrible actually). Having one of these in limited will surely be the best ever, but you have to work a bit harder in Standard. Ben Wienburg's Naya Humans deck is the first place to start, but he recently stated that he's more excited about playing Bonfire of the Damned with the addition of more shocks, so we'll see.
That's it for this week. There were a lot of spoiled cards, but we still have a lot more to look at. If there is anything you'd like to see discussed, find me on Facebook, Twitter or look up the Reddit post and we'll do work.
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