Odyssey Limited Review: White Gary Wise This is the first instalment in my series evaluating the cards of Odyssey and their uses in Limited play. I hope you'll find these articles to be of use. White Is white the most underrated color in Odyssey? Seems like everyone is talking about green, or how everyone else wanting green makes blue the color to draft, but no one is talking about white in the glowing terms it may deserve. With damage prevention, flyers and enchantment destruction flowing out the ears, white is a strong color for control whose strong creature base can also lend towards an offensive-minded deck. While the removal isn't as versatile as one might like, cards like Shelter, Second Thoughts and Embolden not only have a hand in killing opposing critters, but also gain you card advantage while doing do. Very strong in tandem with blue, white can be played effectively with any of the other colors. It's likely best to avoid playing it with green, as they share a common strength in their creature bases and a weakness in their lack of creature control. The depth of the color suggests that in a two-color deck, you should more often than not be drafting white as your base color, but in the end, that will be up to you. The Cards Aegis of Honor An interesting sideboard card in Constructed, with so few direct damage spells that will be directed at the player, it doesn't make too much sense. Of course, if your opponent is playing multiple Scorching Missiles and Blazing Salvos and you think the only way you're going to lose is to direct damage, this could be a viable option. Thing is, it's very seldom that you see that happening, and when you do, it's often card advantage and superiority that should win you the game. A 12th - 14th pick Ancestral Tribute So for just nineteen mana, you get a card that gains you lots of life but doesn't interact with the field of play. Seem a little excessive? Okay, maybe I'm overstating the case a little, but think about this: Gerrard's Wisdom was never really considered playable in Limited, and at least with that card you knew you'd be able to cast it when you needed the life. Seven mana is a lot for any spell (though it's far more acceptable now than it was in Invasion block), make sure you're getting more value than the Tribute provides. A 10th - 12th pick. Angelic Wall A very sold card, the Wall essentially acts as a Maze of Ith that's a little easier to kill, more often than not repelling your opponent's best attacker, only failing to do so when that attacker is massive enough that you need to kill it or go to game 2 anyway. Don't pick it too high as you'll get them later on, but if you see your deck is developing as a slow powerhouse that won't lose if it gets to the midgame, don't be afraid to push up its value when deciding on a selection. A 6th - 8th pick Animal Boneyard Very seldom playable, you should only be sideboarding in the Boneyard when your opponent has a number of cards like Afflict, that benefit them in ways other than killing your creature. Unfortunately, you won't see too much of that occurring with Odyssey. You can gain a lot of life for the mana involved, especially with the flashback creatures, but generally it doesn't seem worth it. A 10th - 12th pick Auramancer A solid little card, the 'Mancer doesn't come off as spectacular, but in a format where it seems unlikely that players will have more than one or two ways to remove enchantments, it's nice to have this card back as an insurance policy. Simply put, if you can trade this 2/2 for an opposing card, it becomes card advantage, and you'll come to understand that if you have an even table and four more cards in hand than your opponent, more often than not, you're going to win. A 5th - 7th pick. Aven Archer My initial reaction to this card was 'oh man, a flying Heavy Ballista'. While it isn't quite that, thanks to a less solid body and a high activation cost, the Archer is definitely strong, holding off smaller creatures from attacking while preventing calculated gang block by virtue of its ability to kill a blocker before damage. Its toughness of two makes the Archer much more susceptible to than the Ballista would be to Odyssey's many burn spells, but its ability to attack without fear of non-flyers makes it a valuable commodity. A 2nd - 4th pick. Aven Cloudchaser When a set's basic Disenchant-style card costs four mana, one has to start looking for other forms of enchantment removal, and in that search you'll turn up Cloudchaser. Like Auramancer, this 2/2 flyer provides card advantage if you use it to destroy an enchantment as it comes into play. The trick is knowing when you've waited for an applicable target long enough and should play the bird as an evasive body, giving up on the hopes of single-handedly wrecking your opponent with this card. Don't just cast it on turn four unless you have no other play and your mana screwed opponent will die to a massive creature rush, but by the same virtue, don't die holding it in the hopes of card advantage. A 4th - 6th pick. Aven Flock In sets of the past, a 2/3 flyer for five mana would have been a tough pill to swallow, but the Flock fits right in with Odyssey. A defensive force, later in the game the Flock stops all comers, with its pumpable toughness becoming more and more effective as the game progresses, while also often allowing the flyer to break though opposing air defenses without fear of losing your creature. There are a lot of five casting cost cards in this set, so you shouldn't put much priority on picking this high, but it's always a solid card in your deck. A 3rd - 5th pick. Aven Shrine Playing a card that only provides you life gain on very rare occasions while offering your opponent the exact same opportunities in a format where you won't have many duplicate spells makes no sense. I won't play this card this year. A 15th pick. Balancing Act By virtue of name and function, this card is going to constantly be compared to one of the best cards ever made, and in the end, you're going to find that comparison to be an unfair one. Balancing Act is a card that's only good when you're behind, and as you should be drafting with intent to win, it shouldn't find a place in your deck. The main problem here is that unlike its predecessor, Balancing Act calls for an evening of permanents, meaning your opponent can keep their important creatures even when you have none. It just doesn't do the job effectively enough. Maybe in a deck with multiple Thaumatogs and Lithatogs you could do something great, but ultimately, even that is too much of a combo for a card that doesn't do enough on its own. A 10th - 12th pick. Beloved Chaplain I'm a really big fan of this card. Some decks just look at this little guy and know that they have no solution to a terrific defensive card that needs to be removed from the table in order to initiate a ground offensive. The Chaplain solidifies your defense until you've bolstered it, then attacks unhindered as opposing creatures sit their twiddling their thumbs, unable to block. It's quick, easy to cast and effective. I can find no wrong. A 4th - 6th pick. Blessed Orator Another personal favorite, it's probably because this thing has given me so many problems in the drafts I've done thus far. Seems like any time I draw Psionic Gift or Engulfing Flames, the Orator is on the table, waiting and mocking me. Providing a tough body to get around, it's the fact the Orator makes the other bodies in your deck tough to get around and tougher still to kill that makes it valuable. A 3rd- 5th pick Cantivore There's good news and bad news: The good is that the Cantivore is cheap and doesn't tap to attack. The bad is that more often than not, Cantivore will come into play as a 0/0 creature for the first ten turns of the game. If you see that you have a lot (6 or more) of enchantments in your deck and your card pool is weak, it may be worth playing this wee beastie, but generally, I think you want to avoid playing it. Keep it in mind as a sideboard card if you have a lot of enchantment kill and your opponent shows you some targets for that kill in game 1. A 10th - 12th pick. Cease-Fire While not brilliant, this card can be effective as a way of gaining a foothold on the damage race. A solid play on your opponent's third or fourth turn if you have no other play, Cease-Fire is likely more effective a couple of turns later. When holding this card, watch your opponent's play style: if they always attack then cast spells, you may want to hold on to it until combat, at which time they may commit a lot of creatures to attacking under the assumption they can cast blockers afterwards. A 7th - 9th pick. Confessor 1/1 creatures without interactive abilities just don't cut it, no matter how weak the environment in question is. Your opponent will cast a 2/2 on turn 2 and the Confessor's status as a combatant will be negated. Keep this little guy in mind as a potential sideboard card against a deck with a lot of 2/1 ground creatures if you need to stop the early swarm. An 11th - 13th pick. Delaying Shield Delaying is right. The issue with this card is that its main function will see it used as a way of holding off what would otherwise be an inevitable death. The problem here is that it ties up your mana in doing so, meaning you won't be able to cast spells amidst constant pressure while your opponent continues adding more to their onslaught until you eventually run out of mana. This could be a good way to set up Kirtar's Wrath, but it seems that a couple of solid creatures will do the same thing while leaving your mana available. Remember: if there are counters on the Shield and it gets removed from play, you won't have to pay during upkeep. A 9th - 11th pick. Devoted Caretaker In a set full of overcosted cards, this 1/2 appears on the opposite end of the spectrum. Possibly the best one casting cost creature in the format, the Caretaker protects your entire side of the table from sorcery and instant speed kill, while possessing of a toughness that protects it from Chainflinger and Psionic Gift, making it pretty tough to kill. As it doesn't interact in combat too often, you can't take the Caretaker too high, but it definitely will merit a spot in your deck. A 5th - 7th pick. Divine Sacrament Potentially a high pick in the late packs if it suits your deck and there aren't many white mages at your table, the big problem with this card is that its going to be pretty bad against other white players, in that white is the color that seems most likely to lock a game down, but opposing white defenses will become impossible to break through. It's playable in the main deck, but I'd be quick to side it out against anyone with plains in their deck, and it might be better to start it in the side if you don't know who your opponents will be. A 5th - 9th pick, depending on how many of your creatures are white. Dogged Hunter Do not start this card in the main deck. The Hunter simply provides a 1/1 for three mana against at least half the decks at the table. A good sideboard card against Green's Elephant, Beast and Squirrel tokens, that's about all it should be. If you haven't seen any token creatures in game one from your opponent, be careful about boarding this in. Try to think back to the draft and remember any token generating cards you saw, and make an educated guess as to whether your opponent got any of them. If you still don't see any game 2, side it back out. A 9th - 11th pick. Dedicated Martyr 1/1s for one mana with non-interactive abilities just aren't very good. A potential sideboard card against fast decks with a lot of 2/1's, especially if you have Master Apothecary, as it's a cleric. Also, if you're playing in a tournament where ties are decided by life total, you may want to grab a couple for those final five-turn games. An 11th - 13th pick. Earnest Fellowship A difficult card to use effectively, the Fellowship nevertheless has a couple of interesting functions in the mirror match that may make it a viable card for you to sideboard in. First and foremost is the 'Falter' option, where if your opponent's creature base is predominantly one color, you can use the Fellowship to make those white creatures incapable of blocking while your other-colored creatures stay back to defend. Second, if your creatures are predominantly one color and your opponent is stopping them with enchantments or kill spells of that same color, it may be viable. Think about how the game will turn if you cast it, forcing Kirtar's Desire to fall off your white creature, which can then attack unhindered by your opponent's white creatures. A 10th - 12th pick. Embolden Now this card is strong. Pollen Remedy and Remedy before it were both great cards, but it's the dual usage aspect of Embolden that takes it above and beyond most of its damage prevention compatriots. I had an argument recently about the strength of Embolden versus Gallantry and am convinced that it isn't close, with the second usage being superior to the drawing of a random card while the effect itself is far more versatile than Gallantry's, proving useful on offense and defense. You don't want more than two of these in your deck, but up to two is great. A 4th - 6th pick. Gallantry I'm not a big fan of cards that are only useful on defense (For the moment we'll ignore the option of targeting your opponent's blocking creature) because of the fact that they prove useless in games where you're trying to be the aggressor, but at least with a card like Second Thoughts, you can remove creatures with evasion from play. Gallantry requires combat interaction, which defensive white decks often avoid by locking the table in such a way that attacking proves pointless for the opposition. I'm not saying it won't be playable, just don't pick it too high: you want cards that always make themselves useful. A 6th - 8th pick. Graceful Antelope A difficult card to get functional against a non-white deck, the Antelope is a solid main deck card regardless. With a toughness of four, the Antelope provides a solid blocker if it can't get through offensively, and when you do get it through that first time, it becomes a very dangerous card, depriving your opponent of precious colored mana, thus limiting the number of spells they can actually cast. Very solid in the blue-white mirror match, you'll probably want to sideboard it out against faster non-white decks. A 6th - 8th pick. Hallowed Healer Is this the best common in Odyssey? You'll definitely get arguments from supporters of Firebolt, Chainflinger or Ghastly Demise, but insist the Healer is #1 and you at least won't be openly mocked. Controlling the table as long as it lives, the Healer gets even better later on when threshold kicks in, but the ability is basically the same: prevent damage to you from evasion creatures and protect your creatures in combat. I'll never complain about opening this card. A 1st - 3rd pick. Karmic Justice It's just unfortunate that this card only triggers upon the destruction of non-creature permanents. Otherwise, it would be insane. As it is, it doesn't make a lot of sense in Limited, but you can draft it as a potential sideboard card for future Constructed decks. A 11th - 14th pick. Kirtar's Desire Pacifism anyone? The real bonus in this card is the miniscule casting cost, which will often allow you to cast multiple spells in one early turn, giving you some impressive tempo advantage. The Desire is not as effective as a kill spell, with few enough enchantments in the format that it will more often than not be targeted by opposing enchantment kill or removed by bounce, while also allowing the targeted creature to block for a time, but you don't have to pick it first or second, making it a very solid choice for your deck. A 3rd - 5th pick. Kirtar's Wrath The best white card in Odyssey. Kirtar's Wrath not only offers you the opportunity to control the game, destroying all creatures when your opponent has over committed, but also gives you the threshold advantage of providing card advantage in the form of the 1/1 flyers who come into play upon resolution. Simply put, effective, no-drawback mass creature kill is a beautiful and rare commodity. Grab it when you get the chance. A 1st pick. Lieutenant Kirtar 2/2 flyers for three have become a rare commodity as of late, with four becoming the status quo casting cost for that kind of body, so Kirtar is much better now than he would have been a few years ago. That said, with a great special ability that will either result in card advantage (damage on the stack...) or the end of your opponent's most important attacking creature, the Lieutenant is a strong card on offense and defense. A 3rd - 5th pick. Life Burst 'I gained four, then eight, then twelve, then sixteen. How could I lose?' If you have that many life gain spells in your deck, you won't have enough room for creature kill and/or creatures and your opponent will eventually overwhelm you with card quality. Don't make the mistake of playing this card. A 13th - 15th pick. Luminous Guardian As solid as the Guardian is, I haven't found it to be as exciting as I thought it would be. Simply, while the Guardian obviously provides a solid defensive body, it requires a lot of mana to make it what you want it to be, and more often than not you'll want that mana for other things. Take it for your deck, but don't do so over more versatile cards. A 5th - 7th pick Master Apothecary Man, this little lady is just broken. If you're running nine plains and no other Clerics, this may still be the best card in your deck, preventing damage to your creatures or your life total from the moment it comes into play. If you happen to get a few other clerics in your deck (and there are many in the set), she becomes even better, making games of Magic very difficult to lose. The best thing about her? You'll often get her 5th or 6th because no one else can afford the mana intensive casting cost. A 1st pick. Mystic Crusader In the Rotisserie Draft at the Invitational, I took this card with the 25th overall pick of the draft. While that may have been a little high, I think it really shows how much respect I have for one of the toughest creatures to kill in this set. With protection from red and black, the Crusader's existence can only be ended by less than ten spells in the set, providing an effective blocker against red and black decks until threshold makes it the offensive force it was always meant to be. I won't be picking this first too often, but I'm guessing I'll take it early far more often than late. A 3rd - 5th pick. Mystic Penitent I've seen this card in play a number of times, but know I'll never play it myself. Having to wait for threshold on a creature who is still nothing special is too high a price to pay for a card that does nothing before then. Play a land instead. An 11th - 13th pick Mystic Visionary A toughness of one as opposed to two is a big deal in this format, so calling this a bear would be an injustice to bears, but two-powered creatures without drawbacks are a nice commodity to have access to in the two-slot. Later on, the Visionary may provide you with the evasion creature you need to break through opposing ranks, but don't cling to that hope to much: This is a card you draft to do some early damage then trade with an opposing critter. A 6th - 8th pick Mystic Zealot This would be white's best common if not for the existence of Hallowed Healer. A 2/4 body is a massive one in the world of Odyssey, providing nearly impenetrable defense and tough to stop offense, and then your graveyard gets to seven cards. Then, you go to game two. 3/5 flyers are insane, especially when they only cost four mana. Be thankful when you get this one. A 2nd - 4th pick. Nomad Decoy Okay, anyone who has done their homework over the last year knows that this is a great card. The additional mana you have to pay for the Odyssey version of a tapper seems to be in the set's status quo, and at least with this instance you get the threshold bonus of being able to tap an additional creature. Controlling the table by tapping evasive would be attackers or otherwise impenetrable defenders, the Decoy is sure to be one of your strongest cards if you're lucky enough to get it. A 1st - 3rd pick. Patrol Hound With Wild Mongrel getting so much attention as one of the best bears ever, it seems like this excellent card (in any set) is being overlooked. Not only do the Hounds provide their owner with a 2/2 body for two mana, but they also offer the additional bonus of first strike for the price of a discarded card from hand. This may seem like a lot, but the price can actually be a benefit, allowing you to reach threshold immediately by discarding the cards in your hand. In desperate times, that can be really important, especially since there's no mana required for activation. A very solid card. A 4th - 6th pick. Pianna, Nomad Captain Yet another in a line of strong white creatures, Pianna, while just 2/2 for 1 ManaWhite ManaWhite Mana, is entirely capable of single-handedly wrecking the opposition. Get a bunch of little dorks on the table and serve for a plethora of damage. What really makes Pianna so good is the fact that it gives itself +1/+1 when attacking, meaning that you're paying three mana for a 3/3 white attacker. I can't recall there being such a creature without drawbacks before. That this one has additional advantages makes it a pretty good card to have in your deck. A 2nd - 4th pick. Pilgrim of Justice Easily the better of the two Pilgrims, this one seems maindeck playable (though I'd limit to one per deck) in that more than a few people seem to be splashing red as a third color, meaning there will be damage to prevent more often than not. Providing a body with a toughness of three that can provide a tough obstacle to get around, but the Pilgrim's ability isn't strong enough to decimate red heavy opponents, but can prove important in protecting that one creature you need to keep alive. A 6th - 8th pick. Pilgrim of Virtue It's funny, the two Pilgrims seem so similar, but in reality the anti-red version is just better. When you look at Odyssey's roster, the total number of black spells that deal damage comes to precisely three: Morbid Hunger, Screams of the Damned and Infected Vermin, and using the Pilgrim's ability against the latter two is pointless. This means that the Pilgrim is only being used as a combat-driven card, and frankly, a 1/3 protection from black creature just isn't good enough to play in the main deck more often than not. A solid sideboard card, that's the role I prefer to see it play in my white decks. A 7th - 9th pick. Ray of Distortion One of the fundamental questions that needs to be asked with each new draft format is "Is this a Disenchant environment?" One has to look at the number of quality artifacts and enchantments in the format, and how many of them are common and decide if it's worth taking the chance of holding their Disenchant-style card in hand with no targets en route to a loss. In Odyssey, the verdict is still out, but with Aven Cloudchaser providing a more productive form of enchantment kill, I think the answer to the question is no. Side it in against decks that show you a number of targets, play it when you don't have much else, but try not to if you can avoid it. An 8th - 10th pick. Resilient Wanderer When you get combat-driven cards whose bodies are smaller than 3/3 for four mana, in order to consider them strong, they have to have some pretty sizeable benefits, and I'd say first strike and potential protection from any color fit the bill. Dominating any creature with a toughness of two or less, the Wanderer can survive those larger than that, with its discard ability essentially nullifying combat tricks that would otherwise kill off large blockers. After stabilizing the defense, you can use it to get those last few points in. Very versatile, very solid. A 4th - 6th pick. Sacred Rites If you're playing a deck full of two-toughness creatures against the three Shower of Coals deck, you should probably still leave this in the board. Well, ok, maybe not then, but just about any other time. A 15th pick. Second Thoughts One of white's best commons, few spells in the format will kill off an opposing attacker as effectively and convincingly, not only drawing you a card, but also keeping the targeted creature out of the graveyard, where it would otherwise help its owner attain threshold. Five mana is a lot to pay to kill one creature, but the finality of the card's effect and its ability to take out evasion creatures are what set it apart from cards like Gallantry. A 3rd - 5th pick. Shelter I love this card. It's cheap, powerful, fast (instant) and almost always nets you card advantage as you should always have close to fifteen creatures to protect. Make your creature protection from white, Kirtar's Desire falls off. Pro black and Ghastly Demise fizzles. Pro green will let you kill off a Beast Attack token with a gang block, pro red makes Thermal Blast an expensive waste of time and resources... the number of applications is limitless. Throw in the fact that you can always cycle it on one of your creatures and you have one of the best tricks seen in years. A 2nd - 4th pick. Soulcatcher I originally thought this card would be better than it is in reality. I figured that if you had a lot of flyers, some of them had to die eventually, the 'Catcher would get bigger and become a really solid deal. Instead, more often than not, it seems the catcher is the first creature to die, usually to cards like Chainflinger, Psionic Gift or Afflict, that net your opponent card advantage. This may be a decent sideboard card against blue-white flyer-laden decks or a desperate 23rd card, but I think that's all it is. A 7th - 9th pick The Spheres Knowing whether or not the Spheres are worth a sideboard slot comes down to how much attention you pay to the draft and your opponent's deck. Just because they're playing green, doesn't mean it's a great sideboard card, especially if their creatures are all 5/5. The blue and red Spheres appear to be the best, with blue often killing with 1 or 2 powered evasion creatures and red with burn, but don't just mindlessly side these in: Make sure your opponent's is a deck that will find them difficult to get around, otherwise they're a waste of time. These all fit into the 8th - 12th range. Spiritualize Again with the life gain. Spiritualize doesn't cost a lot and it reimburses you for the card you used, but it really doesn't do enough to validate main deck play unless you're lacking in quality cards. If you gained the life before damage resolved, Spiritualize would be better, but as the rules stand, lethal damage will end the game before you can gain life. Just play another land. A 10th - 12th pick. Tattoo Ward This card isn't quite strong enough to make it into decks regularly, but it's a very solid sideboard card against those annoying blue-white control decks that try to bore you to death with defensive creatures and evaders. Boosting your creature's size just enough to make a difference, the Ward then serves the dual function of destroying any enchantment from Kirtar's Desire to Chamber of Manipulation. That it's an enchantment combines well with Auramancer, providing some pretty strong card advantage if you draw both. Try not to main deck it, but understand that there are a lot of times where it's worth siding in. An 8th to 10th pick. Testament of Faith With a casting cost of White Mana, Testament of Faith is a quick to cast card that can have interesting repercussions on the later stages of the game. Requiring a lot of mana to abuse, the Testament won't see itself becoming active very often in the early goings, but come the midgame, it assumes its role as tough defender. One interesting trick with this card is the repetitive activation of it in one turn: if your opponent attacks with a 2/2 and you have ten mana, you can make it 3/3 and then respond to any tricks by re-activating it for the seven remaining mana. It also allows you to reach threshold a little sooner when needed, with an activation of zero sending it to the graveyard. A 6th - 8th pick. Tireless Tribe It's very seldom that you'll really find trading a card from your hand in for the life of a 1/1 is worthwhile. If your opponent's entire deck is 2/1's and 3/1's, feel free to side it in, but if not, leave these little guys on the sidelines. An 11th - 13th pick. Wayward Angel White's best creature, the Angel is dominant both before threshold, when she attacks for four points of evasion damage every turn while holding back to fend off opposing forces, and after threshold, when she becomes a nearly unstoppable force in that she flies in for seven points of trample damage a turn. Whether or not you take the Angel over Shower of Coals is negotiable, depending on your preferences, but other than the red uncommon there shouldn't be any decisions to be made when you open this monster. A 1st pick.