Time to get Cracking!

Hello everyone!

Today we have a ton of sweet spoilers, including my early pick for the hands down best card in the set! (It's an uncommon) So let's get right into it!

This is an uncommon, and it's sweet, but it's not the best card in the set by far. This card is fantastic in limited however where he provides a rout to victory when the game is completely jammed up and no one can gain a footing to get ahead. Normally I don't like milling as a strategy, however this card does it well. The inherent problem with mill is that it doesn't actually do anything relevant or helpful, and more often than not it actually helps the opponent out. When you're accomplishing nothing, or negative value, it's really not worth investing a card for it. Duskmantle Guildmage is a 2/2 for 2 though, and a viable card by itself for that. The losing life for each card milled is good, but will be used a lot less than the mill ability. What I do like is how when you get really flooded you have to option to shoot the opponent for two and mill them for two every turn, which gives you some nice reach. Not a high pick, but not a card you can expect to wheel either.

Another uncommon, but still not the best card in the set yet. In case you can't read the french, here's the card text:

~Rapid Hybridization
U
Instant
Destroy target creature, it can't be regenerated. Its controller puts a 3/3 green Frog Lizard token onto the battlefield

This card is almost a functional reprint of Pongify, which I have always thought to be a really sweet card. I don't know how much play Pongify saw back in the day, but it certainly seems powerful enough to be worth your time. Destroying a Hellrider or Thundermaw Hellkite is big game, and against the non-red decks there are targets like Angel of Serenity, Sublime Archangel, Silverblade Paladin, etc. The one thing that concerns me about this card is that you lose a card, and they don't lose their board position. A 3/3 is still a viable threat, so Rapid Hybridization is just a card to buy some time. Overall this card feels like it is not playable, but it's very unique and could become something cool. You can also target your own creature, so maybe this sees play with Strangelroot Geist? T1 Breeding Pool, Arbor Elf. T2 Forest Strangel, EOT Hybridization? This card has a lot of choices to it, so who knows?

Now this is a cool card! This is the kind of card that Esper/5C Control is very interested in! At 2 mana this comes down before anything relevant has happened, and from there is can just sit in play staring down the opponent's board, daring them to attack. I wish you were able to destroy lands with High Priest so that you can block your opponent's turn 1 Gravecrawler for value, but still we have a ton of choices. It's important to note that there are a lot of ways High Priest will get no trigger - Murder, Liliana, Tragic Slip, Supreme Verdict, etc. Thankfully most of those cards aren't seeing any play right now, so High Priest doubles as a blocker and a removal spell which helps buy time to play out Lingering Souls into planeswalkers, and ultimately take over the game.

Lastly we have what I am already declaring the best card in the set!

Just take a few minutes to let it all set in. Now catch your jaw before it hits the floor. This card is INSANE! 2 mana for 3 damage is a perfectly fine rate for standard, decent for modern, but generally unplayable for legacy. However, it's the other part that makes this go from just another burn spell to a 4-of in every aggressive red deck from here on out. Being able to prevent life gain is so important in red decks and aggressive decks! In standard right now games can go on forever because of Thragtusk and Sphinx's Revelation, but adding Skullcrack to the mix completely changes the game. Now the beatdown decks can just leave up 2 mana the whole game for their "counterspell" and leave you cold and dead. BR aggro was already a tough matchup for Bant control because they put you under so much pressure it was hard to get a good sized revelation off, but now that they can push their advantage even further and control decks are going to have to be completely reworked simply due to the existence of Skullcrack.

By no means should cards like Sphinx's Revelation and Thragtusk be cut, they're simply too good and can end the game when Skullcrack isn't there, but cards like Dispel now need to be played in the maindeck, and when you cast a Revelation, you have to hold up mana for Dispel in case of a Skullcrack. Removal and counterspells have to go up and the control decks have to become more proactive again, because now they're being punished for taking their time.

On the aggressive side, having a Skullcrack in hand is an amazing feeling, knowing that you're nearly unstoppable. This plus Bonfire make GRx decks seem like a better and better choice post Gatecrash. I'm already in love with Experiment one, and this just makes things even better and more aggressive!

This will obviously see play in standard, probably as a 4x in the main. But in modern and legacy I think this will also see play, but only in sideboards. In both of those formats there is nothing that gains a significant amount of life, but red decks do face some life gain hate, especially in the form of Deathrite Shaman, so even being able to prevent the gaining of 2 life and dealing 3 is a fine deal, and will help both of those decks fight their greatest enemy.

That's all I have for today! This weekend I'm finally able to get up to Hidden Valley for the staff reunion, which is always an awesome event with tons of food, friends, fun, and of course infinite games including magic. Until next time, stay classy!

Ryan Lackie
Ryan.Lackie92@gmail.com
@ThingsILack