Welcome all to another edition of the Daily Dose of Oath of the Gatewatch! Today we will be looking at some new cards from Oath of the Gatewatch that don’t want to be anywhere near the current color pie - they want to create their own. They are all cards only need colorless mana to be cast and can definitely stand on their own.
Making creatures, instants, and sorceries that require no colored mana has opened up a new whole area of Magic design. The magic color pie has always dictated where cards of a certain design would be placed colour-wise. Let’s start by taking a look at a spell that I'd like to nickname Eldrazi Charm - it’s Warping Wail:
Each of the three choices for this instant could see some major play in Standard.
“Exile target creature with power or toughness 1 or less.” – Here are a list of some creatures that it could currently target:
- Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy
- Arashin Cleric
- Dragonmaster Outcast
- Fathom Feeder
- Monastery Swiftspear
- Zulaport Cutthroat
- Warden of the First Tree
“Counter target sorcery spell.” – Here are some of the sorcery spells you will be countering with Warping Wail:
“ Put a 1/1 colorless Eldrazi Scion creature token onto the battlefield.” – This can be used instantly as a chump blocker or can be used as a turn two ramp, so you can cast your four-drop on turn three.
Speaking of four-drops, let’s take a look at one that you will be seeing on a battlefield near you soon. Here is Thought-Knot Seer:
This is one of my favorite creatures so far from Oath of the Gatewatch. First off you get a 4/4 for four-mana, which isn’t too bad. On top of that, you are able to Thoughtseize your opponent out of any possible removal or large threat they might have. This card is much like Brain Maggot, but decidedly better - if Though-Knot Seer leaves the battlefield, they don’t get back the card you exiled with it. Instead, they get a random card from their deck which, in most circumstances, may be worse than the threat you chose to remove. This card is also similar to Vendilion Clique, minus the Flying and Flash. Having the card draw delayed until removal is great because if they have no other way of dealing with it, you will have card advantage for many turns to come. This is also a very fun card to blink in an out of the game with Eldrazi Displacer, always choosing their most powerful card to take from their hand.
Lastly, let’s have a look at a colorless creature that will hitting the battlefield and then doing some damage very quickly. Here is Reality Smasher:
Standard has always been home to creatures in Red that deal some Haste damage - Thundermaw Hellkite, Thunderbreak Regent and Stormbreath Dragon, come to mind. Reality Smasher now will fill that slot for months to come. Playing this on curve after a card like Thunderbreak Regent or Siege Rhino will lead to some quick beats.
Some might argue that they don’t want to add Wastes to their decks to cast all these wonderful cards and I’m here to say you don’t have to if you don’t want to. Just use the old reliable Pain lands from Magic Origins. Meet the new looking Battlefield Forge (Joey artist rendition):
Thanks again for reading another edition of the Daily Dose of Oath of the Gatewatch and I look forward to seeing you next week for some more preview action as we lead up to Prerelease Weekend!
