Rare Review: Assault Formation

"Should I play Assault Formation?" Ever get passed it and confused whether to pick it or not? The cheap Enchantment have an unique passive ability that turns any high toughness creature into a nightmare, but it looks really defensive. What creature benefit the most from this card? This card had me wondering for some time, let's see what it really got.

1st effect gives bonus to creatures with toughness higher than its power, and completely sucks with your other creatures that have low toughness.
2nd effect is a pretty narrow effect as it only affect defenders.
3rd effect can be used in any deck, and what it does is actually a +1/+1 to all your creatures, that's pretty interesting.

From the 3rd effect alone, this card should secure a position in your draft deck, if you ever need a late game mana sink. However, not all creatures benefit from it, namely cards with very high power with lower toughness (such as 3/1 and 4/2).

First things first, in Draft or Sealed, do remember that this is only one of your forty cards, you shouldn't plan to depend only on this card, in the same time, you should try to get the most benefit from the Formation. For those reason, cards that have high toughness but is not all that bad on its own should give you good edge, after all, the better your defense is, the better chance you will draw into this card and gain some good advantage. Lets look at the list:

Tier 1
Nicely benefited from Formation but also decent creatures on their own, they are your best choices when you decide on playing Formation.

Elusive Spellfist
Colossodon Yearling
Circle of Elders 
Gurmag Drowner
Student of Ojutai
Updraft Elemental
Ukud Cobra
Lurking Arynx
Rakshasa Gravecaller
Sibsig Muckdraggers
Marsh Hulk

Tier 2
They are all creatures with higher toughness compared to its power, but still close in value (like 3/4 or 2/3).These benefit only a little bit from Assault Formation, in other hand, they are great on their own and doesn't get hindered at all when the Formation is active. 

Tier 3
They are purely defensive creatures and high toughness makes them monsters when Formation is active. They have nice abilities though so that should come first when you are considering to pick them.

Jeskai Barricade
Orator of Ojutai
Qarsi Deceiver
Sidisi's Faithful

Tier 4
Those are not really decent cards, and their selling point is that Assault Formation pumps them a lot. Same as above, imagine first whether you like the card or not when there are no Assault Formation. Personally, I like Territorial Roc and nothing else on the list but it's not rare to see Custodian of the Trove and Wandering Tombshell got played.

Territorial Roc
Arashin Cleric
Dragonlord Servant
Dragon's Eye Sentry
Qarsi Sadist
Renowned Weaponsmith
Minister of Pain
Ancient Carp
Custodian of the Trove
Defiant Ogre
Great-horn Krushok
Wandering Tombshell
Sibsig Host

Verdict:
Assault Formation is not bad at all to be picked, there are a lot of solid creatures that you can pick along the draft. Have a try of it when you have the chance!

Common Review: Aven Tactician

Sometimes, certain card just stuck in my mind. Not because they are awesome (awesome card stuck not only sometimes but all the times) but because some cards just make you think "why?". These days, I can't help but compare the two:

When I first look at the DTK cards, I always wonder why Aven Tactician costs so much, when its ETB (enter the battlefield) effect is exactly the same with Sandcrafter Mage. Online reviews said that 2/3 flier is good, but Vulturous Aven only costs 4 mana and both generate advantage in their own ways (Tactician can also be considered as 3/4, which is quite solid, but I don't think a 3/4 flier for 5 mana is exciting). Compared to Tactician, Sandcrafter Mage could bolster your early creature or serves as solid 3/3 on turn 3. Until recently, I simply look at Aven Tactician as a copy of Sandcrafter Mage in different mana curve. Then it bugs me.

I think it goes without saying that +1/+1 counter is good. It makes your creature tougher and hit harder. Bolstering the card (I mean Sandcrafter/Tactician) itself is nice, but not exciting, you'd rather have another creature ready to attack carrying the counter rather than wait a turn to make use of it. The thought of having a weaker creature with powerful ability gets significantly upgraded is the most alluring. Now, is Aven Tactician really is a mere copy of Sandcrafter? I've come to a conclusion that it's an amazing card of its own.

This have to do more with the bolster. Like what I've said, it's better for the counter to be carried by weaker creature, but with powerful ability, and creatures that Sandcrafter and Tactician could bolster is limited to their toughness (2 and 3 respectively). Both Sandcrafter and Tactician don't have any other ability except their bolster so you'd want the counter to go somewhere else. Sandcrafter is very good early, but late, you'd rarely have a card weaker than him, making casting him simply a 3/3 (which is, again, not bad, but isn't exciting, this is pretty much the same with Sandsteppe Scavenger). This is where Tactician shines. Bolster boosts creature with lowest toughness or tied with the lowest toughness, so with Tactician's 3 toughness, if you adjust your field carefully, you'll have a whole nice choices in what can be bolstered! These are choices that excites me the most: (italics are for uncommons)

4/4 Glade Watcher
3/4 Scaleguard Sentinels
2/4 Territorial Roc
3/4 Graceblade Artisan (goes to 6/8 with Glaring Aegis)
4/4 Abzan Kin-Guard (far more awesome than a 3/3 lifelink creature)
4/4 Dragonloft Idol (when you control a dragon....)
3/4 Lotus Path Djinn (4/5 flier with a single prowess)
4/4 Mistfire Adept (goes to 5/5 flier with a single prowess)
5/4 Summit Prowler (now that's BIG)
5/4 Temur Sabertooth (as if it isn't annoying enough in 4/3)
3/4 Vulturous Aven and Aven Tactician (3/4 flier that can could attack right away is a good pressure)
3/4 Elite Scaleguard (harder to get rid of)
4/4 Silumgar Butcher
4/4 Strongarm Monk

There are a ton of good options that Sandcrafter and Scavenger could boost (my favorites are Misthoof Kirin and Ojutai Interceptor) but those bolstered 3-toughness cards, in my opinion, are on a whole new level, and that makes Aven Tactician really stands out too!

LTLM's Simplified Quadrant Theory

You know, sometimes we misjudged a card. Sometimes we think that a card is OK when it actually plays bad most of the time. 

Quadrant Theory divides the card usefulness depending on situations you might be in: 
1.) developing the board 
2.) stuck in a stall 
3.) trying to finish your foe (having chance to win the game)
4.) under the threat of losing the game

An amazing card will excel at many of the quadrant and worst cards will not excel in any quadrant at all. If you are interested in Quadrant Theory, you can check it out at Magic's website! I might also try to delve into this deeper maybe some other time. For now, this article is only a note of some sort.

Usually, to see whether a card is a good card or not, you can try to imagine how well it does in 4 situation (quadrants):

1.) Do I like to see this card early?
2.) When the game is stuck or worse, do I WANT to draw THIS?
3.) When I need to finish my opponent fast, does this HELP?
4.) When my opponent have the upper hand, does this HELP?

So let's see:

Pristine Skywise! Is this card good?
1.) Do I like to see it or play it early? I probably don't. The same with other high mana cost cards, I'd rather have something playable early and leave this for late draw. As mana is the fewest in the early part of the game, your opponent will have better window in putting down your Skywise.

2.) When the board is stalled, do I want to draw this? Yes! This possibly is the strongest creature in my deck and by having it I will have strong advantage over my opponent! It is also a strong flier, that will be able to start pressuring from the air when the opponent doesn't have a strong front there.

3.) When I need to finish my opponent, does this help? Probably not. Even though this card will definitely ensure your position, but it doesn't help you win right away. Pristine Skywise is not a card that excels at this situation. At extreme situation, you will need a card that really helps in this situation. Imagine someday you are at 4 life and if you don't defeat your opponent right now he'll play Sarkhan's Rage at you, in that situation, no matter how good the card is, you won't win the game.

4.) When my opponent have the upper hand, does this help? Probably yes, depending on the situation. Pristine Skywise is big and can block both flying and land creature, not to mention with a single spell, he can be protected from damage from a color or spell! If the condition is not too dangerous, you can probably stabilize the field by casting Pristine Skywise. Generally, cards that is good at blocking will have good score in this category. It's not a true problem solver, but it sure help!

From those observation we see that Pristine Skywise will be good most of the time when you draw him and is not clogging your early hand. So we can deduce that Pristine Skywise is a good card overall!

Okay, that's it for the simplified Quadrant Theory! Can you see your cards better now? I hope that I didn't forget this myself lol

A Limited Sideboard: Gravepurge

Are you facing black? or are you facing red? Do you just get Crux of Fate-ed? Are you forced to exploit your good creatures? Creatures are what makes your board presence, and they are of much higher importance in Limited Magic. 

Getting board wiped or constantly barraged by removal spells could make you run out of steam quickly and when that happens, you'd pray to draw another creature wouldn't you? This is where Gravepurge shines. Arrange all creatures you already played (and lost) on top of your deck and gain your steam back. And it also draw you a card. And it's an Instant. And only at 2B!

DTK Draft: The Roles of Green Commons

I've thinking some different ways to write the guide for now, this time, I'd try to explain the green commons by the roles they would able to fill. I hope this could tell importance of each card even better than to explain them one by one.

DTK Draft: Green Uncommons

Going Green

Hi there! Today I'll try to touch a bit specific topic in draft: Spotting good green uncommons when you draft DTK-FRF! Okay, a lot of of question I believe. For starters, I'd recommend you to read some basic draft guide from wizards.magic.com or other sources especially about card roles (BREAD) and signals, when you're done lets go on! 

Why such guide? First, because I believe by recognizing good cards you could easily tell if a color is open (in this case, green). Open color is a color that another player(s) didn't pick, and when you pick an unpicked color, chances are you'll get cool cards passed to you in that color! And as Uncommon usually have better card than common, it could provide an even better insight. Second, why green? because when I see green cards in DTK FRF draft I could hardly judge whether a card is good or not so I hope I can improve my draft ability as well! How about rares? well, you only get three rares at most and you can hardly count them on being green card, but when it does, you can expect it will be powerful enough to guarantee your pick in that pack! 

DTK Drafts: Picking Rares

Hi! I am Indra, a new MTG player from Indonesia. I played a lot of TCGs, mainly Yu-Gi-Oh, but moved on to Hearthstone and eventually Magic because I couldn't cope anymore with the competitive scene as I have graduated and have to focus most of my time on my career. 

Although not having everyday to play, I still love TCGs tho. Instead of strangling myself insane mindwork in Competitive/Constructed formats, I pick more casual form of playing in limited environment, thats why I love Hearthstone's arena and Magic draft / sealed so much the time I started it, there are not a ton of cards or rogue strategies to worry about in smaller pool of limited. Okay, lets get to the article!

This gif will be my charm

"To Pick, or Not to Pick?"

Today's article is hopefully a simple, but helpful one, and aimed more towards casual player like me. As a casual and also budget player, I seek to gain the most profit from my drafts. Oh, also I don't think of playing constructed at all so I intend to sell all valuable cards I got from my draft, so keep that in mind because that's the point of this article. I also intend this to be a series of some kind, as I'd like to share how to choose good card for your drafts.