In General: More Juice than Zeus!

Hello and welcome back to In General. The first preview week for Khans of Tarkir is over and we have had some incredible official spoilers already. This set definitely received the juice. More power than M15, more power than Theros. This could very well end up being one of the most format warping set releases for Standard and Modern that we have ever seen.

This week I want to do a quick round up of some of the cards that I am most excited about from the new set. There is certainly a lot to look forward to. Fetch lands, tri lands, new wedge commanders, and more. Here are a few of my favorites so far:

I love Pauper. Everyone knows that. I have to give some love to the commons, because the low rarity cards in this set are still very competitive. There really isn't a common Creature that can just grow unbounded. You can use this ability to add a +1 counter as many times as you want.

You should absolutely be able to use Outlast as an Instant, but I understand that raises the complexity of the play experience. However, I don't think that any set with the Morph mechanic is going to be what you would call 'simple'. The fact that you get all this long term upside on a cheap, aggressive body though makes for one tight little package.



This is just crazy! The new gold (orange) standard for Clone effects. Everyone runs Phyrexian Metamorph in Commander because the extra flexibility just adds so much utility to the card. Adding the ability to copy Enchantments and Paneswalkers is just bonkers. This card is a brick house and it is going to be ending quite a few games over the next couple of months.



It's a Spelljack stapled onto a Hill Giant...but it is actually better than both of those cards individually. You can cast the spell you steal whenever you want and it sticks around forever. As a Creature you can get a 2/2 for three OR a 3/3 for four. This card must have been doing yoga while it was in design because it is FLEXIBLE.




I love cheap value Creatures. I love enter the battlefield effects that generate card advantage. I love conditional riders that are easy to set up. So, no surprise, I love this card. It is a two drop to fill out your curve in limited, but in constructed you can easily set up an attack with a one-drop to trigger the Raid ability. I think that is enough value for Pauper, maybe even enough for Standard. Maybe mono Black won't be dead after the rotation....







Everyone likes a good deal. Look at the savings! You spend six mana to get a fatty Creature off the top of your library and that amount of selection is nothing to sneeze at, but if you already have a fatty in play you get to snag TWO Creatures? Sign me up. 25% percent discount for an empty board...or the buy one get two free sale! I can dig it. I am officially dubbing this card, See the Savings.



The last card I am looking at for today is a spicy dish indeed. I have been waiting for a solid decade for this card to come out. Morph cards are so tricky and annoying to play against in limited. They are real skill testers and I love the mechanic, but with so many of them running around it can become impossible to play around them all.

Morph is featured prominently in my Pauper cube. There are only a handful of Morph cards, but they are the most powerful ones available and knowing which one you are dealing with can mean the difference between winning and losing. I just wish that this card offered something more. As is, it is too weak to justify including in a deck, even as sideboard material. If it just had that magical phrase though..."Draw a card." That would push this into the realm of possibility.



That's all for this week. The new set is shaping up to be pretty awesome. I have a feeling that this is going to be one of the best limited environments ever as well, so look forward to plenty of draft videos on Ill-Gotten Games.

If you haven't already, make plans to attend your local prerelease for Khans of Tarkir. You are not going to want to miss out on all the action this set has to offer.