Predictions RevisitedWrapping up the last bit of the M11 articles for awhile, I wanted to go back and check out some predictions that I had made a couple months back before we started seeing any previews to see how I did. These were made on May 25th, before we knew barely anything about the set, so here we go:
1.) Baneslayer is out - WRONG - One of the very first cards that I predicted to be out of the set was revealed to be in the set a mere few days after I had made the post. They say Baneslayer has become a face of Magic. I say the Baneslayer stands for a lot of what is wrong in Magic. At least I was partially right in that the price has come down to around $30 for them.
2.) Nocturnus is out - RIGHT - Vampires took this loss with a bit of a fanged smile. Losing Nocturnus allows more creative vampire decks to be constructed, and I predict we'll see some very fast, very aggressive decks come out soon.
3.) Path to Exile is Out ... Swords to Plowshares is in - HALF RIGHT - My exact words were "Swords to Plowshares (or something very close to it)", and lo and behold, we get Condemn back. Instant speed, one white, life gain, doesn't exile but puts on the bottom of the deck, and the downside of it having to be an attacking creature isn't all that bad. Look for this to be staple (again) in white decks.
4.) Introducing your M11 Planeswalkers - WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG - Ugh. Who seriously saw this one coming? I understand the idea of putting out a series of identifiable characters in an intellectual property, but seriously, who wants to open the same exact planeswalkers that we had last year, AND those were MYTHIC reprints of RARES from Lorwyn. Waste of a Mythic slot, seriously.
5.) Big Creatures - RIGHT - Look no further than your Mythic Titans to see where Wizards wants the game to go. Many of the creatures in this set are 5 - 8 casting cost, are huge, and have game ending abilities. Unless we see a lot of removal from the Scars block, big creatures will rule the day.
So there you have it. Two and a half right, Two and a half wrong. Not bad for my first round of this. In local MTG news, I managed to pull much better in our local pre-release tournament (not so much in the rares, but much better uncommons and commons) which let me put together a pretty respectable Green / Blue deck and win our 20ish player tournament. Looks like I've still got some tricks in me.
