[Article]Eternal Europe: Top 8 Watershed Printings

[Mon,Goblin Chief]

Something a little more general this time, hope you enjoy it!

http://www.starcitygames.com/article/30336_Top-8-Watershed-Printings.html

[IsThisACatInAHat?]

CMC 1 blue cantrips and planeswalkers are both strange omissions for modern eternal deck construction. Maybe ritual mana as well? Otherwise all good points.

[AngryTroll]

I liked the article. I especially liked the discussion of Force of Will, not just as the glue of the Eternal formats, but also as the introduction to alternate casting cost spells.



CMC 1 blue cantrips and planeswalkers are both strange omissions for modern eternal deck construction. Maybe ritual mana as well? Otherwise all good points.

I don't know about this, actually. Before fetchlands 1cmc blue cantrips weren't very powerful-I distinctly remember debating Careful Study versus Brainstorm when I ported my standard UG Madness deck to 1.5. It was the printing of fetchlands, not Brainstorm, that made 1CC cantrips a powerful force in Legacy. Portent, Mental Note, Sleight of Hand, Opt, Serum Visions, and even Predict were all options at various times, but it wasn't really until Ponder was printed that a Legacy deck could run 8 amazing 1CC cantrips. Is the watershed moment the printing of Ponder? That doesn't seem right. The fetchlands enabled the 1CC cantrips as well as Legacy's manabases.

As for Planeswalkers, only two really see Legacy play, and their introduction hasn't had as much of a long-term effect as, say, the fetchlands, modern creature power creep, 1CC disruption in black, or the other things mentioned in the article. There is certainly a ton of room for Planeswalkers to make a big difference in the future of Legacy, as a single new bomb-y planeswalker would up the total number of Legacy-playable planeswalkers from two to three.

Dark Ritual was also in Alpha, so excluded from the article.

[YamiJoey]

Somewhere Crispy Cooler is crying.

[Aggro_zombies]

One-mana blue spells that draw cards have been with us since Alpha. Granted, Recall isn't legal in the format, but still...

Though I suppose Ponder would be the watershed moment if you want to talk about cantrips since it had an enormous homogenizing effect on draw suites. It was sort of like a cantrip Tarmogoyf in the sense that prior to its printing, there wasn't necessarily a universally correct answer for what to include after Brainstorm if you wanted more draw; control decks might go with Top and Predict, while Threshold decks could debate Mental Note and Portent. Ponder wiped most of those options off the map as serious considerations.

[Barook]

I would also include Delver as its own moment since it made "old school" aggro unviable.

Why run a bunch of crappy cheap creatures when you can be just as aggressive while running tons of disruption with Delver?

Delver also marked the moment where the Legacy format became significantly more blue.

[Plague Sliver]

Carsten, great article, I enjoy your eternal musings on eternal.


I would also include Delver as its own moment since it made "old school" aggro unviable.

Why run a bunch of crappy cheap creatures when you can be just as aggressive while running tons of disruption with Delver?

Delver also marked the moment where the Legacy format became significantly more blue.

Yes, the day that Wild Nacatl died. I was sad.

But I'm not sure how it became significantly more blue with Delver. It always was?

[Barook]

Carsten, great article, I enjoy your eternal musings on eternal.



Yes, the day that Wild Nacatl died. I was sad.

But I'm not sure how it became significantly more blue with Delver. It always was?
It went from 52% to 62% within a year and it only has been on the rise ever since then.

[Admiral_Arzar]

Carsten, great article, I enjoy your eternal musings on eternal.



Yes, the day that Wild Nacatl died. I was sad.

But I'm not sure how it became significantly more blue with Delver. It always was?

The printing of Delver basically deleted non-blue aggro from the format and replaced it with more blue decks. To preempt the inevitable nit-picky reply, by "non-blue aggro" I mean decks like Zoo, Goblins, and Affinity - NOT midrange or creature-based control strategies (Maverick, DnT, Jund). Whatever percentage those aggro decks had occupied largely turned into Delver.

[Plague Sliver]

OK, I see what you guys are saying. Makes sense. It seems that pure aggro is out of the format now, which makes me bitter. Everything skews to mid-range, that's Wizards' way.

Back to Carsten's article, I think you can count Wasteland as a watershed printing, because without it the format just goes into 5c everything. But I do like his inclusion of the "187 creatures" -- many fond memories of Nekrataal back in the day.

[amalek0]

OK, I see what you guys are saying. Makes sense. It seems that pure aggro is out of the format now, which makes me bitter. Everything skews to mid-range, that's Wizards' way.

Back to Carsten's article, I think you can count Wasteland as a watershed printing, because without it the format just goes into 5c everything. But I do like his inclusion of the "187 creatures" -- many fond memories of Nekrataal back in the day.

but but but strip mine...?

[Finn]

Wastelands were practically useless for years. They are critical to Legacy, yes. But at the time they were virtually unused in any format, even by casual players. The entire concept of a mono-white deck winning the game off of screwing your opponent's mana would have been laugh-out-loud absurd at the time of it's printing. Fetchlands first, the formation of Legacy, and then the widespread adoption of cantrips in place of lands has made the card increasingly valuable over the years. There was no watershed.

[twndomn]

"I'm more interested in cards that changed the ways Magic works on a fundamental level...."
Then proceed to omit Necropotence.

You know why? Cause the title is misleading. It should be Watershed Printings for Storm players. Just look at the so called top 8, I don't see much significances as an eternal players, or eternal historian, I could careless.

[Bosque]

While Necro was clearly absurdly powerful, the mechanic of trading life for resources had been in the game since the beginning (Channel).

[Lejay]

The entire concept of a mono-white deck winning the game off of screwing your opponent's mana would have been laugh-out-loud absurd at the time of it's printing.
I think WW with armageddon was an old school archetype.

[btm10]

"I'm more interested in cards that changed the ways Magic works on a fundamental level...."
Then proceed to omit Necropotence.

You know why? Cause the title is misleading. It should be Watershed Printings for Storm players. Just look at the so called top 8, I don't see much significances as an eternal players, or eternal historian, I could careless.

Necro didn't really break new ground as an archetype - Weissman control (and as a result the concept of card advantage as important) predates the Black Summer by two years and black disruption/creature strategies are as old as the game itself; Necro decks were the first to combine threats, disruption, and card advantage, in that way, but they bear little resemblance to modern tempo decks. If you're thinking of Necro in Trix, that's more an example of good deckbuilding than it is a watershed innovation - it's an A+B combo that runs a draw engine that synergizes well with combo piece A. As good as it is, Necro didn't cause any sort of major shift in how people viewed the game, but changes in the game have changed how we should view Necro.

[Finn]

I think WW with armageddon was an old school archetype.

I'm terrible. I thought of that mere moments after I wrote my post and did not even bother to change anything. Lazy. I did a poor job of explaining that it is the idea of using mana/color denial as a means of disruption that was intentionally left out of white. I think we can all agree upon that.

DnT, Merfolk, Goblins, and even Lands use Waste and Port as a tempo element. Serra Angel/Armageddon from way back was closer to a coup de grâce than disruption, kinda close to what Reanimator does even. The weenie Armageddon stuff was crap and got even weaker the cheaper creatures got.

Also, twndmn, I think you are being rather uncharitable with your characterization that the article is skewed toward combo. It seemed informed and thought-provoking. I don't know that I would have changed anything, and I am not a fan of combo articles.

[sjmcc13]

While Necro was clearly absurdly powerful, the mechanic of trading life for resources had been in the game since the beginning (Channel).
Life for cards would probably start with Lich from Alpha/Beta, as a activated ability you get Greed from Legends.
either way Necro is not a watershed printing, it is just a busted card.