A Herp A Derp a WHAAAT?!?!

That's basically what I was like at 1:30 am this morning while hanging out in Eric's basement playing a very sour game of Settler's of Catan. It was one of those games that no matter what anyone rolled, no one was making any progress, and it was simply aggravating. Mark had already started randomly giving away all his resources to other players simply to end the game, and I was getting frustrated myself, despite being the only player who had a hope of winning. So I asked Mark to look up what new spoilers were up today, and well..... I went "A Herp A Derp a WHAAAT?!?!" when I saw this:

ARE. YOU. KIDDING. ME??? This guy is STUPIDLY good! A 4 mana planeswalker with a +1 ability that makes 1/1 tokens? Sounds like an Elspeth to me... Has a -2 that can deal bonus damage from nowhere? Kinda like Elspeth... Has an ultimate that's actually relevant? Even better! 2 Colors? Awkward.... 2 Colors that are almost never played together? Really awkward.... However, if Phyrexian Crusader is good enough to make deck solely around him, then Sorin absolutely is good enough! There are simply so many ways this can go! BW tokens with Intangible Virtue and all the token cards coming out? Straight up aggro? Maybe this is better in control and you get to really break some backs with the -6.... What about teaming up with Liliana and Elspeth and Gideon? What if we added Garruk for 8 token making planeswalkers? What if we have a GW deck that just splashes for Sorin and plays Gavony Township? What if...... etc etc etc.

Right now Sorin is already at $55 of SCG, and everyone knows that it's going to drop like a rock, so trade appropriately. Every time a planeswalker gets spoiled, the entire world gets flipped on its head as it seems no one can appropriately analyze them. Obviously Sorin is a mixed package, but it's most obvious connection is to Elspeth, Knight Errant.
- A 4 mana planeswalker that has a +1 ability to put a 1/1 into play. Sorin's is a little better though because the tokens have lifelink and are in a better tribe.
-Then we go to the second ability. Elspeth has a +1 that pumps a creature, and more importantly, gives it evasion. Sorin has a -2 instead of a +1, and while it does give permanent pumps, it does not give evasion.
-Finally we move to the ultimate. Elspeth's is largely irrelivent, however Sorin's is OMFGWTFBBQSAUCE good (yeah, i went there). This makes me think Sorin has been conspiring with Nicol Bolas, as this -6 is like his -2, except it also hits planeswalkers! Even if you have absolutely no use for that planeswalker (Koth, Nissa) you at least destroyed your opponent's planeswalker.... and the next one they were planning on casting. That's incredible! That's completely back breaking!

Obviously Sorin is good, no one is denying that. However, the fact that he costs BW is very awkward as the difference between 2 sets of dual lands and 1 is enormous! I am going to stop talking about him now, but expect some decklists some time this weekend!

It's very obvious because of these cards that WotC wants to make flashback incredibly relevent. However one of these cards is awesome, and one of them sucks.... Guess which is which? Obviously the good one is Secrets of the Dead. Mana is not where the BV deck falls short, so Altar of the Lost is really just a brick in this deck. I don't even think I would play it if I drafted it! However Secrets of the Dead will probably be a 2-of or a 3-of in my White Vengeance deck. By the way, having this card opens up some opportunities for better deck names: Deadly Vengeance? Vengeance of the Dead? Burning Secrets? The Secret Vengeance? Burning the Dead? Cremation.dec? The biggest reason I wouldn't play 4 Secrets of the Dead isn't just because I'm bad at keeping secrets, but more because having 2 in play is very dangerous as you can very easily deck yourself before you realize what even happened! Having 1 just helps the deck turn more into an engine and churn out burn until "Oops! I win!"

This is a very odd card that Aaron Forsythe sent out on twitter, The way this card works, you will never be able to attack with a recurred spirit. As @mtgaaron said on twitter: "You want the tokens to have haste, too? Come on, a séance is for talking to dead people, not attacking with them! Have a nice chat." The most obvious place to put this card in is GWx Birthing Pod, as every card is designed to have ETB abilities anyways, so getting it twice is just nice! Also, cards like Typhoid Rats coming back on your opponent's turn can fog a whole attack step by itself, because your opponent doesn't want to trade a Geist or Hero of Bladehold for an innocuous 1/1. Also, it should go without saying that this is very nice with Titans. Recur Grave Titan, make some dudes, have a nice day! Also, recurring something like Consecrated Sphinx on your opponent's upkeep is just a nice feeling!

And finally, we have this awesome card!

This card is so good! This is EXACTLY the type of card the Werewolf deck needs to gaining any respect. It's not incredible, but it's absolutely a step in the right direction! One important thing to note is that this isn't the legendary double faced RG werewolf that we saw on the DFC token, so there are still some more epic effects to come! Wait, you want a translation? Fine.....

Creature - Wolf
Intimidate
Other Wolf and Werewolf creatures you control get +1/+1.
Werewolf creatures you control that aren't Humans can't transform
2/2

Yeah, that's right! Now we have 2 lords for our Werewolf deck, and we some added resilience to add another roadblock from keeping things nice and sunny (and safe). We obviously need to see that Legend and the other 1-drop to decide if Werewolves is playable, but this card is absolutely a step in the right direction!

That's all I have for today! Until next time, stay classy!

Ryan Lackie
Ryan.Lackie92@gmail.com
@ThingsILack
ThingsILack on mtgo

PS. I need to give a major shout-out to mtgo user Evil Dice, aka John. He contacted via email, and we have sent about 20 messages back and forth discussing and tuning various points of my Burning Vengeance deck. Then when I made an MTGO account, he gave me playsets of every common and uncommon I needed for the deck for the low low cost of my blood, sweat, and tears.... and a Furor of the Bitten. I really appreciate all the support I received, and now I have been able to rock the deck in its 95% perfect form (if anyone wants to donate 1 Elesh Norn, 2-3 Phantasmal Images, and 2 Seachrome Coasts you will have a new friend!) in a bunch of online ques. Here's how the list looks right now:

2x Snapcaster Mage
1x Wurmcoil Engine
1x Frost Titan

3x Geistflame
4x Desperate Ravings
1x Feeling of Dread
4x Mana Leak
4x Think Twice
2x Whipflare
2x Timely Reinforcements
2x Forbidden Alchemy
3x Day of Judgement
1x Devil's Play

4x Burning Vengeance
1x Oblivion Ring

4x Sulfur Falls
4x Glacial Fortress
4x Clifftop Retreat
2x Seachrome Coast (online I'm playing 1 plains and 1 island)
2x Shimmering Grotto
3x Island
3x Plains
3x Mountain

Sideboard:
1x Elesh Norn (online playing 1 Whipflare)
3x Phantasmal Image (online playing 2 Mind Control, 1 Timely Reinforcements)
1x Timely Reinforcements
1x Oblivion Ring
2x Dissipate
1x Flashfreeze
4x Delver of Secrets
2x Ancient Grudge

Right after I added the Whipflares, the first 2 decks I was paired against were Tempered Steel decks, but I heard Ancient Grudge is good in that matchup! Obviously there's going to be a ton of changes when DKA comes out (though right now, the only cards worth adding are Ray of Revelation and  Secrets of the Dead). But for now, this is looking and has been testing really good!