Initial Technology – Zendikar’s First Blood

September 13, 2009 |

Looks like I was pretty far off when I speculated about Zendikar's impact in my last article. I was going to say "last week", but I did take a little break, which amusingly enough some people seemed to begrudge me. In any case, Zendikar is going to make a bigger impact on Extended than any set in recent memory, and we don't even have half the cards yet! Between enemy color fetchlands, interesting traps, and some nice combo enablers, I expect interesting things come Austin.

Standard is going to be completely different of course, but that's no surprise. Every October brings a new format, even if some rotations have more impact than others. Shards didn't bring an incredible amount to the table, but that was more due to the incredible depth of Lorwyn/Shadowmoor Block. Now that the oppressive boot on Standard's neck is about to vanish, we should see a pretty big explosion of new decks, as well as some modifications to current favorites.

First, some general observations:

Fetchlands are awesome, but I kind of wish they didn't print them. I don't want to go too in-depth about why, since we will be talking about it on MTV this week, so let's concentrate on how good they are instead. They obviously work quite well with M10 duals and Landfall, and will be the Constructed powerhouses they were the first time around. I look forward to putting a Basic Forest in my Vintage deck, since the idea of drawing a hand with Mana Drain and Forest is hilarious. Jokes aside, being able to play Tarmogoyf without walking into Wasteland is really good. I imagine it's even better in Legacy!

Landfall is going to add some complexity in Limited, which I like. Normally, you just play all your lands save one or two automatically, since that is the best play. You might draw a card draw spell (you do have card draw in all your Limited decks, right?), and having your lands in play is going to be best. Now, you have to think about purposely missing even your fourth land drop. If you have a ton of Landfall, you can't afford to waste land drops for nothing, as that is almost like missing out on a free spell. If Landfall is that good, you will definitely be playing more than 17 or even 18 lands in some decks, which sounds excellent to me. Lessening the chance of mana screw without getting flooded is always a good thing.

Alright, it's time for some unfounded speculation! (Really, who doesn't love spoiler reviews?)

Vampires!

It will be awesome if Vampires becomes a playable tribe, since, well, they are kinda cool. A few interesting cards look like they might push the bloodsuckers into the limelight (or perhaps moonlight would be more appropriate). I’m not going to lie; part of the reason I wanted to make a Vampire deck is so I could sink my teeth into all the awesome puns that go along with it.

Bloodghast BB

Creature – Vampire Spirit

Bloodghast can’t block.
Bloodghast has haste as long as an opponent has 10 life or less.
Landfall – Whenever a land enters the battlefield under your control, you may return Bloodghast from your graveyard to the battlefield.

2/1

Although primarily garnering attention because of his Dredge-based applications, Bloodghast is a pretty annoying little beater. Non-Path to Exile removal does little to stop him, and even suicide attacks when you have multiple Bloodghasts will cost you little. Imagine if he could block"¦

Vampire Lacerator B

Creature – Vampire Warrior

At the beginning of your upkeep, you lose 1 life unless an opponent has 10 or less life.

2/2

Ten seems like a big deal now, but even without that clause, Vampire Lacerator is a pretty efficient beater. Carnophage hasn't seen print in a long time, and even though creatures are better than they used to be, the Lacerator having the Vampire creature type might push it into playability. It very well might be fine in a non-Vampire deck, but that seems less likely. After all, why not pay a Green mana extra and get basically two Lacerators for the price of one?

Gatekeeper of Malakir BB

Creature – Vampire Warrior

Kicker B (You may pay an additional {B} as you cast this spell.)
When Gatekeeper of Malakir enters the battlefield, if it was kicked, target player sacrifices a creature.

2/2

Now we are talking! A three mana Shriekmaw (well, kinda) is a beating, and the severe mana requirement is a non-issue in a Mono-Black deck. Never has two for one'ing been so easy as now, since this guy gets even Mono-Black decks. Very few Standard decks can avoid playing a substantial number of creatures, so unless you are battling Time Seive, the Gatekeeper should be pretty sick. He even is a passable two-drop when needed! If the filter lands were around, I imagine the Gatekeeper would have seen widespread play, but it probably won't see the light of day outside of Mono-Black decks.

Vampire Nighthawk 1BB

Creature – Vampire Shaman

Flying
Deathtouch
Lifelink

2/3

Three mana 2/3's don't often make a big splash in Constructed, but adding three pretty relevant abilities certainly helps. The kicker for me is Deathtouch, as it makes the Nighthawk into a pretty good fighter if all else fails. You might not be able to get Baneslayer, but just about everything else will at least trade for this particular Undead. Lifelink is also sweet, especially if Vampire Nocturnus is active.

Hideous End 1BB

Instant

Destroy target nonblack creature. Its controller loses 2 life.

With full sets of Tendrils of Corruption and Gatekeeper of Malakir, I don't think there is room for another removal spell maindeck. Hideous End is pretty sweet though, since in a Black aggro deck it seems like a reasonable way to get their guy and still keep the pressure on. Red/Black would have loved this when Graven Cairns was still around.

Ob Nixilis, the Fallen 3BB

Legendary Creature – Demon

Landfall – Whenever a land enters the battlefield under your control, you may have target player lose 3 life. If you do, put three +1/+1 counters on Ob Nixilis, the Fallen.

3/3

This guy does a ton of damage, but is pretty slow. I could definitely see running one, possibly a second. Even though we are Mono-Black, we will definitely be running fetchlands, which I will explain shortly.

Now for some old cards that may have suddenly become relevant:

Vampire Nocturnus

Nocturnus is the only actual tribal card, but he is definitely enough of a reason to try and make sure the majority of our creatures are vampires. If night is falling, he is a beating, and luckily we have some tools to help make night fall more often. A full set of eight Black fetchlands should be excellent in conjunction with Nocturnus. They give you more chances to hit a Black card on top, and allow some free library manipulation, even if it is a bit crude. Those advantages more than outweigh the life loss we will suffer from playing eight fetches.

Tendrils of Corruption

I can't say I have ever played Tendrils without Urborg to accompany it, but since all of our lands will be Swamps, it seems pretty sick. Mono-Black hasn't been good in years and years, and to be honest it very well might not be now, but if it does become viable it will feature a bunch of Tendrils.

Twilight

That is probably a terrible name, since all evidence points to all things named Twilight being awful, but it will work for now.

4 Bloodghast
4 Vampire Lacerator
4 Hypnotic Specter
4 Gatekeeper of Malakir
4 Vampire Nighthawk
4 Vampire Nocturnus
1 Ob Nilixis, the Fallen

4 Tendrils of Corruption
4 Sign in Blood
3 Duress

16 Swamp
8 Black fetchlands

This is obviously a pretty rough list (look at all those fours!), but I think the idea might have merit. Duress is an unknown quantity, since there might be enough decks that are so creature-heavy that Duress isn't a great maindeck choice. Hypnotic Specter also might be sketchy, but it certainly seems to fit in a Black Aggro shell. Child of Night just seems too sketchy. It might be nice when pumped by Nocturnus, but it seems like going a bit too far to play Vampires.

Hopefully the Black rare land with Landfall (assuming it's a cycle) will be sick, but I don't think it will be. Urborg makes such shenanigans too easy, which limits how good it can really be.

Mind Sludge is another interesting reprint, and a great reason to play all Swamps. It seems a bit slow and out of theme for the maindeck, but it should be a great sideboard card for this sort of deck. If Mono-Black Control is viable, Mind Sludge isn't going to be far behind.

If the format gets to the point where Duress isn’t a good maindeck choice, Hideous End should most certainly be.

This deck has a ton of powerful cards, but might have too many weak ones in order to keep on theme. Cutting the Lacerator and Bloodghast would weaken the Vampire deal, but they are by far the worst cards in the deck, so it might be better to make a (gasp) midrange sorta thing with some of the heavy hitters and two for one’s. Gatekeeper, Nighthawk, Nocturnus, Tendrils, and Ob Nilixis are all pretty strong, so they might do better paired with more powerful companions.

These weeks are both the most interesting, since we are seeing the cards that will define the next year’s worth of formats, and the hardest to write for, since we don’t have all the information and our current environment is obsolete. I will be focusing on Standard and Limited once Zendikar is released, since it would be hard for me to balance writing relevant articles about Extended without giving up valuable information before PT Austin.

LSV

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About This Author

Luis Scott-Vargas

LSV is the current record holder for most wins in the Swiss portion of a Pro Tour after his perfect 16-0 run at Pro Tour San Diego 2010, although Conley Woods came close to matching that during Worlds 2011. Luis' other accomplishments include a win at Pro Tour Berlin 2008,...