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Flavour of Standard

Hello eveybody. A lot of talk is going around and speculations about some really strange mechanics appearing in Scars of Mirrodin have led me to write this article. This is for all you Vorthoses out there, the flavour of Standard. Let’s jump right in!

Before I start, I’d like to express my thanks to Alex, who remembered my birthday and openly sent me his best regards. It was an extremely pleasant surprise, and it made me feel honoured and proud to be part of the DC writing team. Thanks, Alex!

So, what’s all this talk about Scars of Mirrodin? Well, in case you haven’t heard, there are rumours that there would be a sixth color appearing in the upcoming block, this fall. We all know that there has been talk of such things for a long time now, the infamous purple color being a permanent reason for ridicule and laughs, but also questions and speculations. It certainly got as much mention as colorless instants and sorceries, which, we all know, became reality in Rise of the Eldrazi. Considering this very fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if there really would be a purple color in Scars of Mirrodin; and if Wizards do that, who knows what other Contraptions we might have to deal with, so I suggest you get your hands on those Riggers before their price skyrockets.

What is my opinion about this? Well, I have mixed feelings. I really love flavour; it is indeed an important factor for how I see Magic. I’m sure you’ve already understood that, considering the way I praised certain cards in last two articles. Even if they do introduce a sixth color, I’m absolutely sure it will only be part of Scars of Mirrodin block, and not a permanent change, but even so, what impact will it have on Eternal formats? It is not my field, but I’m certain the existence of a sixth color can really screw up well-cemented formats. You may argue that the introduction of snow mana didn’t really influence the said formats, but be sure that introducing a mechanic which questions where the mana came from, no matter what kind it is, is fundamentally different from introducing a completely new color, with it’s own generators, mana which you can’t use for other things. Even so, the idea itself seems flavourful and intelligent, considering how in Mirrodin block the green sun, source of green mana, wasn’t up in the sky in the beginning; I wouldn’t be surprised if they suddenly found a purple sun lying around somewhere. If they workout the mechanic well, I’m sure it will be interesting.

But that’s exactly the problem. It could be a good mechanic, but the colors of Magic are so much more. As you all know, they represent philosophies. They are well founded and it took them years to develop their strong individualities. Introducing a sixth color just as a mechanic and not developing it, not evolving it, seems sloppy. The only way you could develop it to become a real color would be by introducing it as a permanent change, not as a block-specific mechanic, and that is unforgivable. Probably the only things that didn’t change in Magic since the beginning are the colors (and the cardback, but that has no influence on the game). The wording, card layout, even card types changed along the years, but not the colors. Of course, they did change in their own way, with certain cards and mechanics moving from one color into another, but that’s the evolution I was talking about. It’s like five twins (I have no idea what the term is for that) growing up, everything being about them, and then, when they’re 16 years old, a new baby brother is born. You can bet your pants that poor child will never be able to fit in with his older brothers. If purple is a permanent change in Magic, I’m not going to play again.

So yes, you can see the duality of my emotions. I’m really curious to see what they’re doing. Anyway, those were my thoughts on the Scars of Mirrodin speculations. But there’s more to the flavour of Standard, and I’m going to talk about something every Timmy loves: big creatures. Big creatures are probably the most flavourful of all. But making a really interesting big creature is a challenge. You can’t just drop a bunch of keywords on it and hope it to have flavour (well, technically you can, but it’s been done once, so you can’t do it again). But before I get to Standard, I want to talk about significant big creatures of the past.

I’m going to start with Akroma, Angel of Wrath. Back in Onslaught, this girl did something no other creatures did before. Seven keywords on a large body for an equally large cost is awesome. The fact that she was monocolored made it really interesting, since it made you feel the power of the color. When you think about it, haste and trample don’t really fit in white, but probably only white could justify including them on this super-creature.

Then, in Darksteel, came everyone’s favourite Iron Giant wannabe, Darksteel Colossus. Much like Akroma, Angel of Wrath, this card showed the world the power of the color it belonged to, which, flavour-wise, is artifacts. I say this because it didn’t feel void of allegiance, but rather representative of the plane on which it dwelt. Moreover, it introduced indestructibility, which made it really badass. Again, the elegance is formidable: a 11/11 body for 11 mana. Giving it trample ensured it would truly be a huge menace, not just a big indestructible Frankenstein monster, which instead of a “kick me” sign bears a “chump-block me” sign on its back. The shuffle ability was actually a drawback, as everybody knows, since it prevented the colossus from being tricked into play via reanimation, but in the same time conferred an “unkillable” feel to it.

In Coldsnap, we had a big creature in the form of Marit Lage, a legendary indestructible 20/20 creature (token) with flying. However, due to the lack of an actual card, and it dying to Unsummon (which is absurdly lame), I’m not going to actually consider it a big creature for our purposes.

Then, all of a sudden, big creatures disappeared, in my opinion, until recently. And now we’re moving into Standard, and talking about the most badass creature in Magic: Progenitus. Check out that name. A single, elegant word, no, additional titles required. Of course, if it had additional titles, the mana cost wouldn’t have fit, but we’re ok with it not having any. While Akroma, Angel of Wrath showed us that white can really encompass many things, and Darksteel Colossus showed us the awesomeness of artifacts, Progenitus shows us the power of all colors combined… twice! Indeed, just looking at that cost makes you go crazy, but what’s even more awe-striking is the mechanic. “Protection from everything”! How awesome is that?! Again, we can see the anti-reanimator ability on it, but you completely ignore it this time, since Progenitus has protection from every f*cking thing! Of course, it’s not as great as it seems at first, but still, whoever thought of that particular wording is really awesome.

And then, comes the unspeakable (no, not THAT The Unspeakable), the horrid, the insanely powerful, Emrakul, the Aeons Torn. This card is absurd because it has 6 abilities, each of them answering a particular threat. Let’s count them:

1. can’t be countered – yes, we got all those pesky control decks out of the way
2. when cast, take an extra turn – so much better than haste, and it prevents you from doing any sorcery-speed shenanigans (whatever they may be) to get rid of it
3. flying – yes, it does have evasion
4. annihilator 6 – in case you were planning to kill me with an alpha strike the turn after I attack
5. protection from colored spells – it’s just another way of saying “spot removal is useless”
6. when dies, shuffle graveyard in library – anyone interested in playing milling?

Also, did I mention it’s 15/15? Of course, you may nitpick saying it dies to Day of Judgment or a 32/32 Chameleon Colossus (which I was forced to block in a game against Laura), but that’s not fair. The only thing you are allowed to nitpick against is its cost, which is a bit high, but extremely elegant, much like in the case of Darksteel Colossus, since our Eldrazi friend is 15/15 for 15. Also note that Emrakul, the Aeons Torn is colorless, but not an artifact, which comes to symbolise a power of lacking any color (which explains why it is able to defy all of them).

Having said that, which of the two big creatures in Standard are bigger? Will Scars of Mirrodin contain a purple big creature? I’ll answer these questions (well, one of them, at least) and bring you some information on the Romanian Nationals in a fortnight. Hope you enjoyed the article, and, as always, your feedback and suggestions are more than welcome. Until next time, don’t forget to put a little Standard in the Mix!

Tags: big creatures, scars of mirrodin, standard, Standard in the Mix, vorthos