After a one expansion hiatus Three Up and Three Down makes a triumphant return with Magic 2010.  The basic premise, in case you missed previous posts, is not only predicting cards duelists will play but also giving a good idea as to which cards they will replace.  Pulling Path to Exile from a booster is only half the challenge.  Including the spot remover in a deck always means something else must go.  Each new card represents a new dilemma.  Some of these choices are harder than others.  The list below contains three cards we will want to play and the former residents of their deck slots.

Before we begin the list in earnest, the following were omitted as they are just a bit too obvious.  Lightning Bolt and Honor of the Pure give equal value for less mana than Incinerate and Glorious Anthem respectively.  In some cases, Doom Blade over Terror and Baneslayer Angel over Serra Angel, new cards cost exactly the same and do more.  A quick glance would reveal a sizable gap in effectiveness any novice would notice.  For the sake of your time we will consider these cards ‘auto-upgrades’.  By contrast the following are decisions of a more discerning nature:

1. Time Warp over Time Stop - It may seem strange to begin with a replacement card that has been in Magic since 1997.  Originally a Tempest card Time Warp has not seen re-print in 12 years.  Like another card on this list WotC decided it was about time for the return of a legend.  And we should be glad it is back.  Time Stop has not seen an abundance of competitive play, but has a cult following in casual formats.  Why?  Because until now it was the cheapest way to take an extra turn.  Sure Time Stop was also played as a Counterspell, but the real purpose was taking two turns without the nuisance of your opponent getting one.  Well that process has been made simpler, and more importantly cheaper.  Turns five and six are arguably the most important in MTG.  Here is a convenient way to take them together.  If you feel turn four is more important than turn six Noble Hierarch is there to assist you with an extra blue mana.

2. Ball Lightning over Boggart Ram-Gang - The Ram-Gang is a staple in almost any deck looking to beat down the opposition as quickly as possible.  Three mana nets you a 3/3 plus an ability that makes it very unsavory to block.  Red-green aggro decks have been using Llanowar Elves mana acceleration and Bloodbraid Elf cascading to land the Gang as quickly and easily as possible.  Admittedly the turn two Ball Lightning isn’t happening yet, but the six damage makes up for this drawback.  Especially when played for free off cascade abilities.  Turn one Noble Hierarch, turn two Woolly Thoctar, turn three Bloodbraid Elf into Ball Lightning and attack for 14.  That leaves six damage left to be dealt on turn four.  A serendipitous number considering Ball Lightning’s six power.  As long as the mana fixing in Standard remains so dynamic, any Jund or Naya aggro build deserves a Ball Lightning upgrade.

3. Silence over Cryptic Command - The most abstract selection of an upgrade and what is replaces.  There is a method to the madness.  In theory Cryptic Command is everything a blue wizard could want: counter, bounce and card-draw.  In practice CC is used to clear a path on offense or hold the line on defense.  Those uses are precisely why Silence was created.  The card itself is a bit of a paradox, a proactive reactionary spell.  It doesn’t counter or bounce anything that is already in play like its blue predecessor, but Silence allows the same piece-of-mind when held in hand.  The security of knowing that this turn will not surprise you, or that turn will go exactly as planned.  Silence is the perfect offensive spell masquerading as a defensive one.  The same charade Cryptic Command  has played since Lorwyn’s release in 2007.  How is Silence an upgrade?  The answer is as simple as mana cost.  Where CC gives more dynamic results, the tiny mana commitment of Silence allows you to play everything offensively you would normally.   Defensively, Silencing your foe on turn four and/or turn five allows a board advantage the blue command cannot match.

Not all cards in Magic 2010 better their contemporaries.  Many, while useful, struggle to find a deck slot.  There are some examples of solid cards that just aren’t good enough to replace peers include.  Duress is a solid discard option that allows a stunning level of control for one mana, however a Thoughtseize it is not.  Taking two damage is well worth the opportunity to snag a Great Sable Stag or Broodmate Dragon early. Siege Gang Commander is another example.  With the M10 rules changes and the closing window of a Reveillark combo SGC has seen better days.  That doesn’t mean it will be usurped by Captain of the Watch just yet.  SGC still offers unbeatable creature production for the price, and along with Goblin Chieftain produces nine points of combat damage the turn it is played.  CotW is a great token producer, but at six mana is a little cost-heavy and lacks the second combo piece to be truly effective in competition.  Perhaps Zendikar will offer something that allows CotW to be abused, but until then SGC stays in our decks.  Until then, don’t be afraid to toss out an old favorite when attempting to find that perfect build.  Something better may have just arrived.

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Struggling to find the perfect replacement for cards like Kitchen Finks that won’t be standard legal come October?  Or looking for the best way to use a cool find like Awakener Druid?  As always the Gathering Magic forums are here to help.  Simply post your quandry here and let the MTG think-tank do its thing.

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Let me start this off by reiterating my absolute adoration for Magic 2010.  While my feelings pre-release were strong, my post-release opinion of the set is even more positive.  I am particularly struck by the sheer value cram-packed into this set.  I could name 25+ rares in the set that are/will be worth more than five bucks (which is saying a lot when you’re buying a $3 pack of cards).  The uncommons and commons are exciting enough and the mythics are simply to die for.  (Editor’s Note: I hope you liked the shameless plug Wiz, you can slip me that c-note we agreed on later… though you might want read the rest of the article first).  That having been said, there is one major sticking point for me in this newest core set.  One that I’ve eluded to in previous articles but have been meaning to flesh out for some time now.

Player vs Player games are always made or broken upon the alter of balance.  Whether it be Terran vs Zerg vs Protoss in Starcraft or Ryu vs Blanka in Street Fighter II, the entire PvP experience hinges on that game’s ability to give each of its contestants an equal, yet totally unique chance at winning.  Bear with me here – I’ve never been a fan of racing.  In a race, contestants are locked into a single path with very few or no options when it comes to forging a path to victory.  Participants just run or drive or gallop in one direction as fast as they can.  There is no strategy involved, no one is going to do anything “tricky” or particularly surprising.  It is simply a live test of “how fast can these people get from point A to point B?”

Magic, though it may feel like it sometimes, is not a race.  The diversity of “avenues to victory” is often overwhelming.  At any time, either player could bust out magic that you haven’t seen in 10 years.  Part of what I love about the game is its ability to stay fresh and unpredictable while at the same time staying true to it’s cornerstones.  It is a fluid game.  Top decks may seem unstoppable for a time only to get completely crushed at the next Grand Prix event.  Since it is always in motion Magic is able to “correct itself” every three months if any one deck gets completely out of control.  For the most part, I think WotC has done a good job of mixing it up.  Whether you’re a fan of the multicolored Alara block or not, it would be tough to argue that standard, as it stands, isn’t exceptionally diverse with several stellar deck choices out there.  Wizards has a tough job when it comes to balancing a game with over 10,ooo pieces.  They take the time to balance it for sealed, standard, multiplayer, draft and two-headed giant.  But my quarrel today is with their neglect of quite possibly the most important balance of them all  – Color Balance.  In particular what this recent imbalance has done to my personal favorite hue of magic -  Blue.

Color balance is an important part of the game as many casual players (the same players Wizards is now marketing towards) appreciate the simplicity and flavor of a good burn deck or zombie deck or yes, even a good old fashioned blue control deck.  The ability to create viable versions of these classics in standard, or even extended formats is very important to your average casual player. In Magic 2010 Red burn seems to be back on track, Green is rolling knee deep in awesome creatures, Black looks to be cool again and White… well.. white is Magic the Gathering right now.  But blue?…  It is a shame any time one or more colors becomes “unplayable” as a mono colored cornerstone.  It removes that element of flavor and diversity from the game.  I would be just as critical (okay maybe not just as critical) if green were unplayable as a mono-colored variant.  But that has never and and will never happen.  I am happy for red wizards everywhere post-M10.  Red burn is back with a vengeance and that old flavor tastes just as sweet as it did years ago -it will never get old.  Its just a shame WotC seems reluctant to do the same for each of the colors.

I know most of you just don’t feel sorry for poor, helpless Blue.  You’ve been deceived, traumatized and exploited one too many times by that selfish color.  And aren’t people still playing faeries  in Top 8’s all over the planet?  I understand where you’re coming from.  Blue is on top of the tournament scene any time it gets the chance.  There is a delicate dance that wizards has with Blue.  Giving the color its due without letting it get out of control (pun intentional).  But is the fact that blue has been good in the past  reason to kill the color all together?  What happens when Fae, Mulldrifter et al. rotate out in 60 days?  And should we really consider the Thoughtseize/Bitterblossom net-decks as part of the supposed “Blue” dominance?  Particularly in a post Volcanic Fallout / Great Sable Stag era?

Each color is entitled to be “the best” at multiple things.  Red with damage, White or Green with healing and so on.  Blue was once the master of all things control.  From drawing cards to counterspells to the good old fashioned bounce, Blue was the master of it’s domain (and no that wasn’t a Seinfeld reference).  But with recent sets and most obviously with M10, Blue is no longer the the master of any domain.  It’s territories have been divided and sold off to the highest bidder (mostly White).

Wizard’s has decided that “control” is no longer a Blue staple.  In fact, Blue won’t even finish 2nd in the control race.  While we’ve seen cards like Shunt and Avoid Fate for some time now, Blue had always been the control champ.  It was the exception rather then the rule to see another color bust out something like Orims Chant .  But today, not only are we inundated with cards that completely destroy the counter such as Great Sable Stag, Volcanic Fallout and Vexing Shusher, we’re also seeing counters in other colors.

With the nixing of Cryptic Command, there is no longer a viable Blue counter in Magic the Gathering, Standard.  It is clear now since Cancel has been reprinted several times in the last 5 years that the 2 drop counter is not in Blue’s future.  This is a decision I can learn live with.  But what about  a viable option that doesn’t require me to play a particular creature type to be effective such as Remand or even Cryptic Command?  While most think of control as simply  saying “no” to fun, true Blue wizards understand that the color in it’s mono colored, pure form is much more than that.  Its about getting card advantage, drawing out the game and bouncing permanents until you find yourself with the upper hand. None of this is possible in Magic 2010, for Blue.  Instead, Blue is graced with several nearly unplayable flying creatures (which are great in sealed btw!) and a few overpriced sorceries and enchantments.  While Time Warp is much appreciated, I would have certainly traded it from White for Silence (a card that could have easily been blue with a quick name change) in a heartbeat.  Every time I see a Blue outline peeking out of the rare slot in a pack of Magic 2010, I cringe.  Is it going to be Hive Mind or Mind Spring?  Or perhaps it’ll be a Polymorph?!  It’s a sad state of affairs when Jace Beleren, though certainly a great card, is far and away the most intriguing blue card in the set.

My point is this.  At all times each of the colors should be able to form a decent mono-colored, classic deck.  A balanced, hasty burn deck for Red.  A monster Green creature pump deck or a fiendish discard creature destruction Black deck.  These should always be possible in standard and extended play.  Color identity encourages player identity which is a big part of our personal connection to the game.  But those of us who identify with Blue magic now find ourselves without even a Boomerang to our name.  Unsummon cuts the mustard about as well as Remove Soul does as a Counterspell replacement.

It is a dark time for blue wizards everywhere.  Perhaps you don’t care.  Perhaps you haven’t played mono-colored anything since 8th Edition.  Perhaps the words “casual player” make you want to vomit.  But consider this- what are you going to be playing when the Lorywn block lands rotate out?  There is no guarantee that Zendikar will offer any help to the dual and tri-colored decks out there.  Reflecting Pool may not always be there for you, my friends.  You don’t have to be a blue wizard to appreciate the need to equality and (I’ll say it again) balance within the color power structure.  With the latest core set, the Magic train is steaming hard and fast towards color-pie station, its just a shame that Blue isn’t aboard for the ride.

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So what do you think?  Are you concerned about color balance post-M10?  Do you feel sorry for Blue?  And what will Zendikar bring to the table for Blue and Modern Control decks?  Feel free to opine with your thoughts.

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