Crap just got real
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Deco_y
30 April 2011
3402 views
30 April 2011
3402 views
Hello again Tappedout! Guess what? That time is upon us. What time is that, you ask? New Phyrexia's pre-release is just around the corner(7 or 8 days), and I don't know about you guys(and gals) but I always get kind of nervous before tournaments. Whether it's a Pre-release, EDH tournament, or a simple Friday Night Magic, there is always an air of excitement and a hint of optimism. The chance, no matter how small, that I can win it all. The possibility of success spurs us forward through those doors into town halls, gyms, card shops, or even convention room floors. You don't come to a tournament to lose, you come to win.
In my experience the key to success, and confidence, is to know what you're going up against. There isn't a worse feeling in the world then getting some 7 CMC beast dropped on your head having never seen the damn card before..{Likewise, there isn't a better feeling seeing the pure dread an opponent expresses seeing your biggest weapon hit the battlefield) What's the only thing worse? Not knowing a strategy to deal with what your opponent throws at you. This article is to help you prepare for your big day on May 7th and/or 8th, and hopefully give you that little front stretch nudge you need to claim victory. I give you the top 10 NPH bombs. ALL HAIL PHYREXIA!
Please note: My definition of a bomb is a spell(more often a creature then not) that once it hits the board, pretty much wins you the game, swings the game decidedly in your favor in an even game, or can even rescue you from the brink of defeat. If a permenent, it must be dealt with immediately or you will lose. This article also was specifically meant for sealed deck limited, but could also loosely be used for draft.
New Phyrexian Bombs-
| ##10 - Norn's Annex | |
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Why it's a bomb:Unless you run white, this enchantment is going to make your life extremely painful. Even if you do run white, your life will still be mildly uncomfortable. Unless you're going in with a creature with a damn good swing, it instantly becomes not worth attack and puts whoever is on the wrong end of this on the defensive. Can't ask more from a 5CMC spell on turn 3. If it's not yours:Unless you like staying back and blocking, destroy it. There will be no shartage of artifact hate available in your 6 packs (3 from SOM and 3 from NPH). Norn's Annex isn't something you can neutralize or tip toe around. If it's out, you need to destroy it unless you have something big and don't mind paying the 2 life. Best way? Crush it. |
| ##9 - Etched Monstrosity | |
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Why it's a bomb: Hot damn, a 10/10 for 5 mana? Are you serious wizards? You DO know you printed Hex Parasite in the same set as this? If your opponent (cheated) and got both Etched Monstrosity and Hex Parasite as 2 of his NPH rares, then you're toast. But in reality there are a few clever ways to rid your creatures of counters, so this can have some impact. If it's not yours: Proliferate. There is nothing better then just adding more of a good(bad for your opponent) thing. Adding to that all the artifact hate in this block and you can find a few ways to deal with Etmonchan(see what I did there?). |
| ##8 - Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite | |
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Why it's a bomb: Because Miss Norn produces a 4 point swing in ALL creature's power and toughness. It can reduce your opponent's army of formidable 3/3 golems into a bunch of 1/1 chumps and pumps your 2/2 Puresteel Paladin and his friends into 4/4s. She also really, really hates aggro decks. If it's not yours: Win the game before she hits the field. Her 7 toughness pulls her out of reach of a lot of removal. You pretty have have to have a black spell such as Go for the Throat or Black Sun's Zenith to either take her out or get her within range of your other removal or weaken her so your creatures can deal enough combat damage to smite her. Something fun to do would be to make her an artifact with Liquimetal Coating and use any artifact hate at your disposal. Cleverness is welcome. |
| ##7 - Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger | |
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Why it's a bomb: Not only does Vorin effectively double your mana pool every turn, but he effectively cuts the mana your opponent can spend in half for the rest of the game, by virtue of not being able to uptap his land the turn after. If I need to explain how this kind of mana advantage majorly tips the scales of battle then you shouldn't be playing magic. If it isn't yours: Pretty much the same as Elesh Norn, except that Vorin doesn't effect physical board position besides his 7/6 body. Vorin makes your life difficult, but not impossible. Make use of any cards in your deck that produce mana, like mana myrs or sphere-of-suns and make your spells count. |
| ##6 - Melira, Sylvok Outcasts | |
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Why it's a bomb: This card will hose probably 45-65% of the decks you'll face on pre-release day. It effectively doubles the work infect players need to do to be successful. If you want to TRIPLE the work they have to do, when your life total becomes dangerously low, try removing your own Melira, and suddenly they're starting from scratch and have to work though another 10 points of damage. If it's not yours: If you aren't playing infect, don't sweat it. If you play infect, however, removal is your only option other then trying to make your opponent put her into battle, which they won't until they feel like it. |
| ##5 - Phyrexian Obliterator | |
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Why it's a bomb: You wanna block Phyrexian Obliterator? I'm quite sure I don't mind, seeing is how you'll be sacing a permenent for each point of damage he gets. This dude is a tank pure and simple. Block him and sac permenents until you're blue in the face and take his trample damage or be on a 4 turn clock. Or if you perfer to be defensive, block your opponent's 4/4 with PO and watch your opponent sac 4 permenents. Your choice, beyotch. If it's not yours: Straight removal. You don't wanna try anything else against this guy unless you have some stuff you don't mind sacrificing. |
| ##4 - Triumph of the Horde | |
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Why it's a bomb: This is one of those cards that can hit you from nowhere. It can turn a stalemate into a one sided board wipe by -1/-1 countering your ops creatures into oblivion or it can spring a trampling poision death onto your head. Maybe i'm rating this card too high because I am such a huge infect fan, but it can still be effective at the right time. If it's not yours:Well as a sorcery all you can really do is counterspell it, because a trampling infect squad will considerably weaken you if not open you up to a kill 1 or 2 turns later. |
| ##3 - Sheoldred, Whispering One | |
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Why it's a bomb:Card-ad-van-tage *clap-clap-clap-clap-clap*. At 7 mana, yes it might be a tad pricey but limited is usually a bit slower so it's a bit of an issue. You cannot honestly complain about a card that gives you a free creature and kills an opponent's every respective turn. Add to that a massive body that's hell to deal with and you got yo'self a bomb. If it's not yours: If you don't have any straight creature removal, accelerate your gameplan. If you don't have a way to get through him, go around and try to smash your way to a win. If you don't, unless you can keep dropping creatures that are better then the ones your op is bringing up, you're kinda screwed. |
| ##2 - Karn Liberated | |
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Why it's a bomb: The planeswalker of the set is a doozey. Starting off with 6 loyalty counters, he avoids pretty much everything. Karn basically says "Yo dog, I heard you like to play matches within your matches at tournaments so I put a match into one of your matches in one of your match ups in your tournament for ya." Karn essentially let's you restart the game with permenents already on the field, which, incase you haven't been made aware, is a MASSIVE advantage. If it's not yours: Use things that remove counters, such as a Hex Parasite, or bounce Karn before he can let off his ultimate. It's probably 90% that you'll lose if the game restarts, but before that, Karn can even turn into an advantage if your op exiles a bunch of his good cards and you can somehow axe Karn. Massive lolz. |
| ##1 - Phyrexian Swarmlord | |
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Why it's a bomb: The ultimate infect finisher. I would even go as far as to say i'd rather drop this then a Skittles. The fact Swarmlord rewards you for getting a quick start and helps you overwhelm your opponent before they can get back into a game after being dealt a good, solid blow in the start. This card will be a star of the show in a lot of pre-releases. If it's not yours: Get it off the field. You can only chump block so much or let the mini 1/1s run wild for so long. This card puts you on such a ridiculously short clock. He is within range of a card like Grasp of Darkness and in game 2 or 3, keep something aside until you face him again. He's a nasty, nasty bitch. |
Even if you don't follow my advice about how to deal with some of the above cards, I simply want to make you aware of these cards. If you want to have success on May 7th and 8th, you have to know what you're up against. These are the best of the best. I wish everyone luck in their pre-release, and I will be doing a write up of mine so you guys can see how I did. Until then, discuss below the cards you think you should watch out for and have some fun.
I hope this guide helps you and good luck at your pre-release!
Maybe i shouldn't say limited, but sealed.
Draft would have a seperate list, i admit omgyoav.
April 30, 2011 2:27 a.m.
masterpeez says... #4
From the sealed I've played, the majority of games are won by fast, cheap-creature decks. Phyrexian Obliterator is, after my brief brush-over, going to be the biggest bomb.
April 30, 2011 4:40 a.m.
Leafs_suck question regarding something you said on how to deal with card:Norn's Annex, don't you just get 3 NPH and 3 SOM in sealed instead of 2 NPH, 2 MBS, and 2 SOM?
April 30, 2011 12:17 p.m.
I wish you got 6 NPH packs. But that would just be silly.
April 30, 2011 2:52 p.m.
Yea when i wrote the begining my card shop owner told me that, and forgot to update it when i found out different.
April 30, 2011 4:03 p.m.
patrickd117 says... #10
I disagree on Norn's Annex, sure it can make life difficult for your opponent, but it can also just not do anything, if your opponent is playing white, which is probably about 40 percent of the time it does very little. Even if they aren't it does effect the board state unless your opponent allows it two. If your getting beaten down, it doesn't stop your opponent as they can spare the life and if your at a standstill with your opponent they aren't going to be attacking too much anyway. Especially since it costs so much.
Etched Monstrosity is not a bomb in limited either, sure its good as a 5/5 for 5, but its not at the level of some other stuff in the set, as 95 percent of the time it will just be a 5/5 for 5 and nothing more.
For Melira, I feel that your judgment on the card would be true for the MBS sealed, due to factions, but your numbers of 45 to 65 percent of people playing infect is just not true. It is far less than that in draft or in sealed, in sealed its incredibly difficult to get enough cards to play a proper infect deck, even in NPH as even though their are more infect cards they are spread across each color.
Obliterator obviously wins you the game most of the time if you get it out, but thats nearly impossible with 4 black mana.
Some cards that are IMO more bomby than the ones mentioned:
Chancellor of the Dross- Dodges most removal in the set and is impossible to race do to the lifelink.
Batterskull- Same as Chancellor of the Dross, but much better.
Chancellor of the Spires- 5 power flyer + probably a removal spell is pretty good.
Phyrexian Ingester- Removal plus a big body is good.
Sword of War and Peace- Good on anything, dodges alot of removal w/ protection
April 30, 2011 7:28 p.m.
Not saying your list isn't great, opinons can't be wrong. And these people are right that other cards are bombs too, in fact most of the set is insane, they seem to just be printing better and better cards to feed people's need for another mind sculptor. To my point, these may be good in the prerelease but in regular FNM they may see lewss play than you think; I personally play a mono-white knight (with some control in sideboard)deck and consistently make top 8 (most likely due to the lack of a pro-white sword being out yet, and most people don't have sideboards for it they all puti n caw-blade hate), anyway there are too many answers my deck currently uses (not on my TO profile sorry) that arent even in this new set to get rid of these bombs.
Annex: I play white and revoke existence/divine offering
Etched Mon. As stated above, removal
Voice of Hunger: Mirran crusader w/ 1 buff can kill it, and my deck typically works fast before they get that much, although a bunch of treespeakers could outpace me with some luck.
Melira: I dont play infect but she might be cool with the card Phyrexian Unlife , so ill probably never see her b/c shes sideboard material or maybe a 1 of mainboard
Obliterator: Devout Lightcaster you are -1 creature I'm +1 with a protection from a color you play, or mirran crusader block and cut your losses by saccing creatures to bring back with emeria or sun titan
Triumph: Kinda harsh I wont have all my crusaders on the field to deal with that but maybe gideon can accept that blow for me (hes so loyal)
Sheoldred: kill with a crusader and recur the creature i sac with a titan and emeria or devout lightcaster before its too late
Karn: not much of an answer really I guess all you can do is try to win before the ultimate or out-aggro him
Last but surely not least Swarmlord: All I could do is out-aggro or prevent the infect pre-swarmlord with gideon or even after him.
All the cards I said are answers to these I actually run in my deck whether it be mainboard or sideboard and thats all with just one color so these cards arent really bombs considering how easy it can be do get rid of them, but like I said they may very well dominate in the sealed but afterwards you probably wont see as much of them as you would think
May 2, 2011 12:29 p.m.
Seems to be missing Phyrexian Metamorph . Stealing opponents bombs seems to be a pretty good idea, since it replicates virtually every bomb in the set. Blightsteel Colossus for 3 + U/2 life? I'll take that. card:Life's Finale seems quite good as well, especially if they have creature bombs. Taking out all their permanent threats on the table, searching their library for their 3 biggest creature threats and removing those, while not game winning there and then, is that powerful that I can't really see them winning unless they have some nuts artifact that you don't have removal for. Other bombs have already been mentioned, notably Batterskull , Chancellor of the Dross and Sword of War and Peace , less so for the last one, but it is still a noteworthy card depending on what you pull. Just my 2 cents here.
May 3, 2011 12:04 p.m.
I don't really disagree with this list for the most part... but it seems like you just picked a lot of mythics. Yeah, of course mythics are going to be good. Mythics are mythic for a reason. I think it would be better if you talked about the common/uncommon bombs (Shattered Angel , Spinebiter , Suture Priest , and maybe Viral Drake , in my opinion).
May 3, 2011 10:37 p.m.
I don't look at rarity, i just look at the spoiler and put bomb worthy cards in a list. Then i cut the list to ten, then rank. The cut was really hatd this time.
May 4, 2011 12:16 a.m.
I'm pretty sure I didn't see someone say this- but if you have Melira, Sylvok Outcast out when you cast Etched Monstrosity then the Monstrosity will come into play and be a 10/10 instead of a 5/5, because Melira prevents the placing of counters on your cards.
I personally don't think Vorniclex is all that great- sure, he has Mana Flare but by the time you can cast him that shouldn't matter, so all you get is a 7/6 trample. The real appeal is his ability to slow down the enemy's plays, but out of the Praeators he is by far the weakest.
It's also good to note that the Phyrexian Swarmlord is a very good option in non-infect decks, because he is still a 4/4, and if he connects once you will start getting good blockers every turn. I'm also sad you didn't mention Moltensteel Dragon , which can kill the turn after it comes into play rather easily.
May 6, 2011 11:59 a.m.
patrickd117 says... #18
Etched Monstrosity etbs with the counters on it, they aren't placed on him, so Melira will not effect that.
I completely agree on Vorinclex not being a huge bomb, 8 mana is just too much for a limited card, especially since we don't have the same density of mana myr with only 1 pack of scars.
May 6, 2011 5:09 p.m.
Actually etched monstrocity does enter the battlefield as 10/10. Same way planeswalker enter the battlefield with twice as many counters if you have a Doubling Season . It was in one of the Q/As. Rules text for doubling season explains it too.
omgyoav says... #1
Obliterator tends not to work out in drafts to well i would assume. Mono black doesn't really work considering you would have to fill out your deck with some of the weaker artifacts you get. To be honest I do not agree with much of your list but opinion is opinion, you should of probably grouped the mythic rare praetor cycle into one instead of using 3 spaces. And I can not agree with your lack of sword of war and peace. I do appreciate the reminder that you destroy creatures with removal spells and counter sorceries with counterspells though!
April 30, 2011 2:10 a.m.