[Premium Article] So Many Insane Plays -- Return to Ravnica Eternal Set Review

[Smmenen]

http://www.eternal-central.com/?p=3126

Lots of Legacy card analysis, although the overall emphasis is Vintage applications.

I'm not really thrilled with what Dryad Militant offers for Legacy, not because I think it's unplayable but because of the opposite: it's too disruptive.

Stephen Menendian surveys the landscape of Return to Ravnica with his characteristic entertaining and methodical manner, examining this exciting new set for both Vintage and Legacy playables. Stephen will tell you which cards are likely to see play, and which cards won’t, and may change the way you think about cards in Return to Ravnica. In addition, Stephen has radically updated and revised the Complete Checklist of Vintage Playables. This article is worth its price in trade advantages you will have going to the prerelease or the next major event with both a list of Return to Ravnica playables you should be on the lookout for, and by knowing which cards you should trade out of your collection and which cards you should continue hunting for.

[DrJones]

I don't think Dryad Militant is bad for the metagame. Alongside with Thalia, it's actually what the game needed the most: aggro cards that interact with combo strategies, forcing them in turn to interact with your deck.

Well, I lied, what the game truly needs the most is more cards that force blue tempo and blue combo decks to interact with other decks. That's why I welcome the addition of cards like Cavern of Souls, Abrupt Decay or Supreme Verdict that allows all other strategies (aggro, combo-control, aggro-control and pure-control decks) to stop merfolks and dreadnoughts without worrying about their free counters.

[xfxf]

This time around I agree with Steve and I also think that Dryad Militant will be too disruptive for Legacy. Storm combo is already streched out enough and if this sees play it'll be the last nail in the coffin while S&T runs wild as the only viable way to play combo. Also the card is extremely bad for RUG, anything using Snapcaster, Life from the Loam... But it's not the only thing. There's also RIP in the same colors which hoses the entire graveyard. Legacy is more gy dependent than people realize and these cards are way too efficient.

[Machahiko]

Am I missing something in Dryad Militant or can't I just see how it is "the last nail in the coffin"? Sure, you won't get that much mana from rite of flames and you might not want to past in flames or IGG when militant is in play.

[alekill]

Am I missing something in Dryad Militant or can't I just see how it is "the last nail in the coffin"? Sure, you won't get that much mana from rite of flames and you might not want to past in flames or IGG when militant is in play.

Maybe you haven't played in a while but maverick can play more hate bears then just militant. It's the last nail in the coffin because all of this combined turns your turn 3 combo into a turn 5 combo.

The multitude of hate bears in conjunction with the retarded fatties wizards has printed has made it so if you want to play combo competitively you play show and tell. I mean why wouldn't you just play show and tell now? None of the hate bears effect you and your just as fast as storm or any other form of combo. The only thing that was holding back show and tell was karakas and wizards elected to shit on that too with omniscience.

The best part about this development is that show and tell so completely boring to play against and with. Every single game goes "Show and tell? It resolves, I win". It's like your not even playing a deck your just hoping you draw two cards.

[Julian23]

To be honest, resolving Show and Tell has never been the biggest problem to these kinds of deck. What most matchups actually revolve around is what happens when Show and Tell resolves.

[alekill]

Hasn't omniscience just fundamentally changed that though? Your no longer get to stick your knight into play and get a karakas or get a turn to draw an answer. You just have to have an o-ring or a creature to blow up enchantments in your hand.

[AriLax]

1. Militant dies to Dread of Night. If things keep moving in that direction, Storm will actually want to play that card.

2. Ad Naus still easily kills your opponent through Dryad Militant. As does Tutor chaining. Considering how rarely I actually kill via IGG/PiF with TES, I am not remotely concerned about the card.

3. The card does actual nothing against Show and Tell, Reanimator, or pretty much any other combo deck.

[Koby]

1. Militant dies to Dread of Night. If things keep moving in that direction, Storm will actually want to play that card.

2. Ad Naus still easily kills your opponent through Dryad Militant. As does Tutor chaining. Considering how rarely I actually kill via IGG/PiF with TES, I am not remotely concerned about the card.

3. The card does actual nothing against Show and Tell, Reanimator, or pretty much any other combo deck.

I'm mostly confused by #1. Hasn't it already been the case that Storm wants Dread of Night against Maverick - even moreso than Virtue's Ruin? The GP Ghent winning deck demonstrated that a sideboard plan of 4 Dreads is both highly efficient and a quicker answer to Thalia than any other global effect against Maverick's hate-bears.

[.dk]

I'm mostly confused by #1. Hasn't it already been the case that Storm wants Dread of Night against Maverick - even moreso than Virtue's Ruin? The GP Ghent demonstrated that a sideboard plan of 4 Dreads is both highly efficient and a quicker answer to Thalia than any other global effect against Maverick's hate-bears.

I think Ari was talking about TES rather than ANT, which does not currently run Dread of Night.

[Koby]

I think Ari was talking about TES rather than ANT, which does not currently run Dread of Night.

Then I'm even more baffled - TES is really geared to win before relevant interaction with the opponent occurs. Namely, on turn 1 or 2. It already has trouble with Thalia if it can't go off fast enough. Dryad Militant doesn't necessarily make it harder than going off against Thalia. Ari is saying that TES doesn't need the graveyard to go off. Hence, why would TES want to now bring in Dread of Night against Dryad Militant (but mostly against Thalia) after RTR is legal, rather than now?

[.dk]

Then I'm even more baffled - TES is really geared to win before relevant interaction with the opponent occurs. Namely, on turn 1 or 2. It already has trouble with Thalia if it can't go off fast enough. Dryad Militant doesn't necessarily make it harder than going off against Thalia. Ari is saying that TES doesn't need the graveyard to go off. Hence, why would TES want to now bring in Dread of Night against Dryad Militant (but mostly against Thalia) after RTR is legal, rather than now?

Another fair point - I probably shouldn't be putting words in Ari's mouth anyway. :)

[Smmenen]

It's not that I think that Dryad Militant is just bad for the metagame, I think it unfairly punishes certain marginal, but interesting archetypes, like Loam strategies.

Note, in case it wasn't clear which cards I thought were Legacy playable, I asked the editor to include a summary checklist at the end, which has updated if you were to download the article now.

I hope folks enjoyed this!