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by Phoenix Desertsong, Magical Gatherer & Trading Card Game Enthusiast  For Magic the Gathering competitive veterans, Birthing Pod was one of the most powerful (and polarizing) cards ever printed. As a way to cheaply and quickly tutor bigger and better creatures from your deck, Birthing Pod decks dominated both the Standard and Modern scenes for quite some time. Eventually, the Pod was banned in Modern, pushed in Legacy where it never quite took off, and of course has become a solid card in Modern.
Since the Modern banning of Birthing Pod, we’ve seen several “fixed” versions of the card. The most obvious was Prime Speaker Zannifar, a very good Legendary creature who had a few flings with competitive play, and is also excellent as a Commander. To a lesser extent, Fiend Artisan from the Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths served a similar function, but on a very brittle body to begin with, so its competitive scope has thus far been a bit limited. With the release of Kaldheim spoilers, though, Magic players were greeted with a new artifact that is yet another “fixed” version of Birthing Pod. However, despite their being some new restrictions to this card, it’s not quite as “fixed” as it would first appear. Let’s dig into this very spicy Pyre of Heroes. Pyre of Heroes VS Birthing Pod Without further ado, here is what makes this artifact, Pyre of Heroes, different from Birthing Pod. 2, T: Sacrifice a creature: Search your library for a creature card that shares a creature type with the sacrificed creature and has converted mana cost equal to 1 plus that creature's converted mana cost. Put that card onto the battlefield, then shuffle your library. Activate this ability only any time you could cast a sorcery. First of all, the Pyre limits you to a specific creature type. As we’ll see in a moment, Birthing Pod didn’t have this restriction. But, before we get into the pros and cons of Pyre of Heroes, let’s see what the card that inspired it does and circle back to comparing and contrasting them. Birthing Pod was a four-mana Green artifact. The ability was somewhat inspired by a very powerful Sorcery called Natural Order, so powerful that it became banned in pretty much every competitive format except for Legacy, Vintage, and Commander. It allowed you to sacrifice a Green creature you control, then put any Green creature from your library into play. Of course, it was limited to Green creatures, but that didn’t stop it from being a ridiculous card. What made Birthing Pod special is that it’s functionally colorless, thanks to the Phyrexian mana costs associated with many New Phyrexia set cards. So, instead of paying the Green mana, you could instead pay 3 colorless mana and 2 life to cast Birthing Pod. While in Commander the Birthing Pod is restricted to Commanders with Green in their color identity, this is not the case in ordinary Constructed decks. Yes, pretty much every Birthing Pod deck played Green creatures with powerful enter-the-battlefield abilities, but you could run any deck with Birthing Pod in it. Plus, it wasn’t restricted at all to Green creatures. Still, what Birthing Pod does is powerful, but seemingly very narrow when you first read the card at face value. (1}{Green/Phyrexian Mana), (Tap), Sacrifice a creature: Search your library for a creature card with converted mana cost equal to 1 plus the sacrificed creature's converted mana cost, put that card onto the battlefield, then shuffle your library. Activate this ability only any time you could cast a sorcery. While Birthing Pod did place deck-building restrictions on those pilots who wished to play it, there are so many creatures that naturally “curve” into one another that Birthing Pod simply created a ridiculous value engine, especially in the late game. The fact that its activation cost doesn’t even require colored mana makes it even more ridiculous. About the only safety valve built into this card is that you can only use the ability whenever you would be able to cast a sorcery (a.k.a. your own turn). Of course, there are ways that you can get around the restriction of tapping it once per turn. But, Birthing Pod is so powerful that one activation per turn is plenty enough to make it a busted card in competitive play. It’s not quite as bad in Commander, where having only a single copy limits just how often it actually comes into play. Of course, in Commander where the card pool is so huge, there are enough redundancies of this sort of effect that playing a “Birthing Pod” style deck is easy to do. All that being said, what makes Pyre of Heroes so special? First of all, it costs just 2 to play and 2 mana to activate. Yes, it is limited to searching a creature of the same creature type, but with how much Wizards of the Coast has pushed tribal decks, that’s not nearly as much of a restriction as you might think. Also, many creatures have one or two subtypes, making it easier than you’d think to find “tribal” cards that all work together. Is Pyre of Heroes More Like Aether Vial Than Birthing Pod? In effect, I see Pyre of Heroes as being more similar to a powerful artifact called Aether Vial. This isn’t a comparison that I saw mentioned early on when the Pyre was first spoiled. The Vial is a one-drop artifact that has made many tribal decks possible in Modern, Legacy, and Vintage. For reference, here is what Aether Vial does: At the beginning of your upkeep, you may put a charge counter on Aether Vial. (Tap): You may put a creature card with converted mana cost equal to the number of charge counters on Aether Vial from your hand onto the battlefield. In many ways, Aether Vial and Pyre of Heroes have more in common than they do at first glance. Of course, Aether Vial isn’t at all limited to tribal decks - the popular Death and Taxes archetype in Modern, Legacy, and Vintage is far from tribal for example). The idea here is that Pyre of Heroes can serve a similar purpose in purely tribal decks. Today’s Magic scene is littered with tribal decks, such as Warriors, Soldiers, Elves, Goblins, etc. Especially in Standard, Pyre of Heroes seems like a card begging to be included in many decks. One Standard deck extremely popular prior to the release of Pyre of Heroes is Dimir Rogues, which is a deck as you would expect runs Rogue creatures. Of course, seeing a seemingly obvious place for a card to contribute begs the question if it actually works within the context of the deck. With Rogues, the deck actually wants to keep its creatures in play in order to grind out value by milling cards from the top of an opponent’s library, or even your own library depending on the circumstances. You could build a version of the deck that would be built around Pyre of Heroes, but it would be somewhat awkward. Many other top decks in Standard aren’t Tribal at all, such as Gruul Adventures, Mono-Green Food, Temur Ramp, etc. However, Tribal themes have continued to be played up in recent Standard-legal sets, and whatever Kaldheim has to offer can mean brand new decks to brew around with Pyre of Heroes as a key value engine for consistency. What Magic the Gathering Tribes Benefit the Most from Pyre of Heroes?The most popular tribes in competitive Magic, especially when it comes to formats other than Standard, are Elves, Goblins, Dragons, and Merfolk. Elves probably don’t have a need for the Pyre, Merfolk already have Aether Vial, and Dragons don’t curve out from one mana up to really be consistent in most competitive formats (although it is doable in Commander thanks to a deep card pool and Changelings who we will get to in a moment). Goblins are the one deck that may seem to benefit the most from Pyre of Heroes, as sacrificing Goblins for value is a theme of the deck to begin with. Thing is, Goblin decks are explosive enough to win the game without an added value engine like Pyre of Heroes. You could have builds, Red/Black builds for example, that become more consistent with Pyre of Heroes, but it would take a lot of testing to prove if those builds would be competitive enough to keep up with fast formats such as Modern. Where Pyre of Heroes could really shine is the Pioneer format, which has a much smaller card pool than Modern, and the Historic format on Magic Arena which has an even smaller card selection. Neither of those formats have access to Aether Vial, but do have access to cards like Fiend Artisan and Prime Speaker Vannifar that would potentially give the Pyre of Heroes some redundancy. Both Merfolk and Elf Tribal decks in those formats could be nicely boosted by Pyre of Heroes. What tribes could benefit most in Modern to me would be Allies, Slivers, and Changelings. Allies are probably the most interesting to me since Aether Vial has never really made them a winner in Modern, despite their massive support in Magic. There are enough synergies that have made them powerhouse decks in Commander, but not consistently in Modern. Yes, Allies decks have won events before, but they have often been relegated to “rogue” status. Slivers are a powerful enough deck to sometimes win an event out of the woodworks, but never consistently, even with the power of Aether Vial. Changelings are extremely deadly in Commander, and since they are all in the Modern card pool, give you plenty of options to work with. Both are at their best when you can play all five colors, which makes them often inconsistent and awkward in Modern. Pyre of Heroes, like Aether Vial, bypasses many of the mana-fixing issues that beleaguer these decks. For me, the best decks for Pyre of Heroes are tribal decks that operate best when they use the best cards they have in either four or five colors. That’s extremely easy to do in Commander, so I can see Pyre of Heroes being a staple in so many decks, as it’s purely colorless. A couple of other tribes that come to mind are Humans, Elementals, Vampires, and Zombies, but we’ll get into why I don’t immediately jump to those tribal decks in a moment. Pyre of Heroes as a “Win More” CardMany times that a card with an effect that’s been explored before is spoiled, people flock to it immediately because it’s both familiar and new. In many decks that want this sort of tutor effect, the decks are already able to find consistency with existing cards (such as Aether Vial or other tutor/recursion effects) or are synergistic within their tribes already that Pyre of Heroes is sort of just there as a “win more” card. For example, many decks have used the powerful tutor Collected Company to great effect, including Humans, Merfolk, and recently even Zombies. The aforementioned Slivers and Allies have also used Collected Company to great effect on the fringes of competitive play. As I’ve already mentioned, four and five color decks, which Humans and Elementals lend themselves to, can benefit from Pyre of Heroes. But, I’m not sure that there’s much that Pyre of Heroes can do at sorcery speed, which also costs you a creature, that Collected Company doesn’t do at instant speed, even with the obvious chance that “Co-Co” can whiff. Company decks are also very limited in that they have to play three-mana or less creatures, but in a way, that makes them inherently more consistent to begin with. Another place that I’ve considered Pyre of Heroes being good is in decks that don’t mind sacrificing, such as the aforementioned Vampires and Zombies. Clerics are another tribe that can actually benefit from sacrificing. Sacrifice-themed decks probably do well to consider Pyre of Heroes, but again, those decks (better known as Aristocrat decks) already have solid engines to power their strategy. As such, Pyre of Heroes becomes a card that’s nice to consider, but “win more” cards aren’t always good and can end up being dead draws at certain points of the game. Pyre of Heroes as a Budget Replacement for Birthing Pod (Or Even Aether Vial?)Besides four and five color tribal decks that benefit from a colorless tutor, Pyre of Heroes could also fill two other voids. One, decks that could play Birthing Pod, but don’t want to spend the extra $60+ for the play set can instead play Pyre of Heroes. The tribal restriction can actually streamline deck building choices as well as the consistency from playing tribal synergies. Colorless lords like Adaptive Automaton help that cause, too. The other voids are decks that would but can’t play Birthing Pod because of it flat-out being banned, like in Modern, or have color restrictions, such as in Commander. For example, can you imagine Mono-Brown Tribal, such as Myrs or even Constructs having access to a Birthing Pod-type effect? I’ve certainly thought about it, and Pyre of Heroes gets to benefit from artifact synergies that can abuse its tap abilities, too! I can see Wizard Tribal benefitting too, as well as other decks that may not tutor creatures as well, especially in Red and Blue - whereas White, Black, and Green naturally have many creature tutors available. Also, many colorless tutors exist, but they happen at much higher mana costs, such as Planar Bridge. Early game consistency created by Pyre of Heroes, especially in decks that can easily get back the sacrificed creatures, could be the key to helping some previously clunky decks create value where it would’ve been hardly possible before. In any case, Pyre of Heroes should be a solid budget replacement for Birthing Pod, plus give tribal decks a new weapon. Whereas Tribal decks have often won by power and toughness boosts and enter-the-battlefield synergies, Pyre of Heroes gives tribal decks an additional tutor while also enhancing the boost and ETB effects. It’s also a pseudo-draw engine that cashes in early-game plays into more value. Yes, I even expect tribes that like lots of their kind in the graveyard, such as Rogues and Zombies, will eventually develop builds that utilize Pyre of Heroes. All in all, I could write for days about Pyre of Heroes just from a speculative standpoint. I can’t wait to see some of these potential brews I’ve conceptualized actually played in real life Magic. We will definitely be revising this article in the future to see just how Pyre of Heroes fares in actual gameplay. Pyre of Heroes is one of the more fascinating “rabbit hole” type cards we’ve seen in quite some time. I’d love your thoughts on this card. Am I on to something with my esoteric ramblings about tribal deck consistency? Please let me know what you’re thinking about this and other Kaldheim cards! Happy magical gatherings! DISCLAIMER: Portions of LifeSuccessfully.com Magic the Gathering related content are unofficial Fan Content permitted under the Wizards of the Coast Fan Content Policy. The literal and graphical information presented on this site about Magic: The Gathering, including card images, the mana symbols, and Oracle text, is copyright Wizards of the Coast, LLC, a subsidiary of Hasbro, Inc. The content on this website is not produced by, endorsed by, supported by, or affiliated with Wizards of the Coast.
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by Phoenix Desertsong, Gaming Successfully Staff On October 8th, 2017, Wizards of the Coast revealed a new logo for Magic: the Gathering. As with anything new, there were mixed reactions. Here it is:  This new logo is meant to be in line with the logo for Magic the Gathering: Arena. My initial reaction to this news was definitely surprise. The other reactions I've seen have ranged from "hate it" to "I don't hate it." I'm not seeing many positive reactions so far, although there are a few.
I don't hate it. I think it's fine, especially since card backs aren't being touched. While many people don't love the Deckmasters card backs, it makes no sense to change them, as then the backs don't fit the older cards. We probably won't see the card backs ever change, even though most people in this day and age use card sleeves. (By the way, Deckmasters was used on the backs initially because Magic: the Gathering was meant to be part of a series of Deckmasters games. For example, Arabian Nights was meant to be a separate stand-alone game. This, of course, never happened, but to remain consistent, the card backs had to remain the same.) What are your thoughts on the new Magic: the Gathering logo? Do you think it reflects the brand today as Magic moves into a new era? Emrakul, Smuggler’s Copter, and Reflector Mage Banned in Standard & Gitaxian Probe and Golgari Grave-Troll Banned in Modern! by ElspethFTW, Old School Duelist Most Magic the Gathering players expected that some cards would be added to the Banned & Restricted List update scheduled for January 16, 2017. What would actually end up banned, however, was quite a bit more than some may have expected. It also came a week early on January 9, on account of community feedback based on the health of the Standard format, in particular. Here is the full explanation of the banlist changes from Wizards of the Coast. The changes go into effect on January 20th in “paper” Magic and after the January 11th scheduled downtime on Magic Online. First, we’ll take a look at the Standard bans. The last time we had a card banned in Standard were the bans of Jace, the Mind Sculptor and Stoneforge Mystic! So it's been awhile!  Emrakul, the Promised End Here’s the official statement by Wizards on the banning of Emrakul 2.0: “Created to be scarily powerful, Emrakul, the Promised End delivered on that promise too well. Emrakul faced too little resistance and ended games too easily. She was the world-ending, all-powerful monster she was in the story, which was too much for Standard.” Yeah, she was a bit too good, wasn’t she? To be fair, the only decks that really played her in Standard were Aetherworks Marvel and Black/Green Delirium. But with Aether Revolt on the way, it’s very likely she would have become even more dominant in the format. Some players believe that the card Aetherworks Marvel is really to blame and not Emrakul herself. But with Aether Revolt on the way, Wizards wanted to be sure that the new cards didn't make her better.  Smuggler’s Copter Wizards finally realized that having four “Looter Scooters” in like every top deck in Standard was pretty stupid. Here’s the official reason for banning the Copter in Standard: “Simply put, Smuggler's Copter is too efficient and shows up in too many decks, diminishing the format's diversity. We want Planeswalkers, sorcery-speed removal, and a variety of vehicles to be viable options, and believe removing Smuggler's Copter will allow them to flourish again. Of the top archetypes in Standard, very few didn't play four copies of Smuggler's Copter, stifling many creative, fun options. Smuggler's Copter was the result of a new card type pushed too far, and, as such, is now banned.” Pushed over the edge for sure. Can’t put it any better myself! A lot of people are upset and believe that the Copter actually helped some decks be more competitive than they would have been otherwise. While this might be true, the Copter became too much a part of the format.  Reflector Mage I was a bit surprised to see the Mage get the ban-hammer. But perhaps I shouldn’t have been. The official reasoning makes a lot of sense. “Our data showed the White-Blue Flash deck was too powerful against the field, and Reflector Mage has been on players' lists of most-disliked cards since the days of Collected Company. Other cards were discussed to check White-Blue Flash, but Reflector Mage came up time and time again as both frustrating and a targeted way to diminish the White-Blue Flash deck.” White/Blue Flash is one of my favorite decks ever, but yeah, the Mage makes the deck a bit too consistent. I’m also really glad that Wizards made this decision based on real community feedback. Also, Felidar Guardian is a bit too good with him around, and we already have the infinite Saheeli Rai "Copy Cat" combo in Standard. We’ll see what they do about that! Some players have said that Reflector Mage is past its prime. Perhaps, that's the case. But Emanuel Sator at MTG Card Market brought up a good point that Reflector Mage's ability has probably kept quite a few creatures from seeing play. He mentions creatures such as Woodland Wanderer and The Gitrog Monster that may have otherwise seen play without the Mage hanging around. The huge tempo shifts that the Mage can cause was warping the format a bit. My take on the Standard bans? Overall, I’m very happy about the Copter ban, because that card is simply way too good. I’m fine with him in Modern. Reflector Mage was a bit of a surprise to me, but made sense based on the data and feedback. Emrakul was also a surprise, but she was just a bit too good for Standard. All three of these bans should greatly increase the diversity of the format. Now, in Modern:  Golgari Grave-Troll I’m not shocked at all about the Golgari Grave-Troll banning. Dredge was getting a bit too good in Modern with the printings of Prized Amalgam and Cathartic Reunion. In fact, the official reasoning for banning the Troll mentions these very cards! “Dredge, the mechanic and the deck, has a negative impact on Modern by pushing the format too far toward a battle of sideboards. With the printing of Cathartic Reunion and Prized Amalgam, the deck once again became unhealthy for the format. While those cards were discussed, the real offender always has been the dredge mechanic itself.” The deck functioned without the Troll once upon a time. It still may, but this is a major blow to the archetype. For all the people who recently invested in the Golgari Grave-Troll, I feel your pain. The deck won't be dead, but it will definitely be slowed down.  Gitaxian Probe
This banning seemed out of left field. So, I appreciate the official reasoning for the ban: “Gitaxian Probe increased the number of third-turn kills in a few ways, but particularly by giving perfect information (and a card) to decks that often have to make strategic decisions about going "all-in." This hurt the ability of reactive decks to effectively bluff or for the aggressive deck to miss-sequence their turn. Ultimately, the card did too much for too little cost.” Gitaxian Probe and most other “free” spells with the alternate Phyrexian mana casting cost have proven to be too good. Mental Misstep was way too good for pretty much every format except Vintage (and Commander, I guess). The Probe was one of the best draw cards in Modern, and now we bid it adieu. Some decks will just replace it with Peek. But that's not a true replacement, as being a "free" spell is what makes the Probe so good. The Modern decks that will be impacted the most by this change are Infect, Death's Shadow Zoo and U/R Prowess. With these official explanations out of the way, there’s another major announcement related to when Banned and Restricted List changes will be announced. “Banned and Restricted announcements will now be made both on the Monday after Standard-legal set Prereleases and five weeks after a Pro Tour, also on a Monday.” That’s a big difference! While Wizards says they don’t expect more cards to actually be banned or unbanned more often, the flexibility of being able to make the changes can address issues more quickly. In this case, the Copter is on the way out the door. So if Felidar Guardian & Saheeli Rai prove to take over the format, we won’t have to wait as long - in this case, March 13, 2017! My take on these bans is that they were made with a variety of internal data and community feedback, and that’s good! While I know more than a few decks were severely impacted by these changes, I think that the health of the Standard and Modern formats will improve with these cards no longer in play. What do you think of these Banned and Restricted List changes? Are you happy that we’ll be getting regular banlist updates more often? |
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