Torment Limited Analysis: White Gary Wise Wednesday, February 20, 2002 This is the first installment of my series analysing the white cards of Torment for the purposes of limited play. White There was a time when white cards were dominant in Limited play. Whether it was Heavy Ballista dominating Mirage-Visions-Weatherlight, white-red mages going 'to the air' in Tempest block or Ramosian Lieutenant summoning five million rebels, the white mage has oft-times over the past few years been working with the advantage of having a color that was seemingly a recipe for success. Not any more. You won't hear the green mages out there complaining these days. Their color hasn't been reduced to the smoking pile of rubble that white has. With the whole black Magic world bearing down upon the meager forces of good, Torment's white is devoid of breakers or even that one common that would make the color worthwhile. White has been reduced to a metagame choice you make when thinking the rest of the table will be fighting for black. The biggest problem facing the white mage will be getting enough cards, with white drying up so thoroughly in Torment that to expect more than two or three cards will be unrealistic. Best suited to controlling the ground, so blue's flyers can hit through the air, don't be afraid to go 3-color white: it's better to have bad mana than to not have enough cards for a deck. The Cards Angel of Retribution Seven mana is a lot, but if you're looking for value, you could do worse. There's nothing tricky or clever about Angel of Retribution: It flies overhead at the rate of five points of first strike a turn, and either your opponent can cope or they can't. If this card were 5/6, it would probably be a lot better in an environment with Acceptable Losses, Thermal Blast and Waste Away, but once it's on the table, I doubt you'll do much complaining either way. A 3rd - 5th pick. Aven Trooper A card you'll never want in your main deck, you'll very seldom find yourself siding it in either. Sure, if your opponent's entire deck is generic 2/2 fliers, you may want to board it in, but I doubt that will be necessary for most of us this year. A 12th - 14th pick. Cleansing Meditation Pretty straightforward stuff here. There aren't enough enchantments in this environment to run this main, but it's very effective as a sideboard card against decks running multiples. Probably best against those blue-white Kirtar's Desire/Psionic Gift decks, I would still only bring it in if you've actually seen the enchantments, though Rochester Draft will allow for more aggressive decision making. A 12th - 14th pick. Equal Treatment I haven't had many opportunities to try this card out, but my instincts tell me that I'm going to enjoy using it for the next seven months or so. By no means a high pick, that it's a two-mana cantrip makes it very playable, as it will either replace itself for two mana or turn into card advantage at some point between your two main phases. Capable of enhancing your damage or diminishing your opponent's, I wouldn't draft the Treatment too early, but providing you have a decent number of creatures, when you get it late, you should end up playing it more often than not. An 8th - 10th pick. Floating Shield Once it gets into play, Floating Shield provides enough of an advantage to warrant your playing it in the main deck, protecting one creature from opposing combat damage and spells until such time as you need it to protect another creature (or the same one for that matter) from something similar, but it's the phrase 'Once it's in play' that is key. Simply, any creature enchantment brings with it the detriment of potential card disadvantage, which is where the Shield shows its weakness: the reason I don't rate the card higher is because the dividends it provides, while noticeable, are not pronounced enough to make me forget that its intended target can die in response. A 7th - 9th pick. Frantic Purification A very sideboardable anti-enchantment spell, when deciding between Purification and Ray of Distortion, you'll have to determine if you'd value the ability to reuse the Distortion against the likelihood the madness can net you some card advantage. In an environment that's almost devoid of artifacts, you won't have to pick either with more than five cards in the pack: you'll get your enchantment kill regardless if you want it badly enough. An 11th - 13th pick. Not Narcissism, but solid. Hypochondria This isn't the best Limited environment for this card in that black's kill, more often than not is not damage based, but you can't ignore the strength Hypochondria provides in both practice and possibility. The mere threat of Hypochondria being activated will usually be enough to dissuade your opponent from engaging you in combat, and turning every card you draw into a preventative measure for red burn and the like isn't too shabby either. Throw in the additional bonus of being a possible outlet for your madness cards and you have a strong card all around that you'll want to draft pretty high. A 3rd - 5th pick. Major Teroh Obviously strong in the metagame, Major Teroh, while obviously good, isn't something to get spastically excited about. At 2/3 for four mana, even without the special ability, Teroh is very solid, but that ability, while obviously strong, isn't exactly the easiest in the world to put into practice. Five mana is a lot to pay to sacrifice a creature you've already paid four mana for, meaning that more often than not you'll have to keep the flyer around for a full turn, and that's no easy trick against the Faceless Butchers of this world. Don't get me wrong, I'll be happy to have him, but by no means will I slam the pack down and not bother looking at my other options. A 2nd - 4th pick. Militant Monk Nothing special, nothing awful, the Monk provides you with a two-power, three mana creature. That white is skimpy enough now that you'll often have to go three colors with it makes the 1 ManaWhite ManaWhite Mana casting cost an issue, and while the damage prevention is nice, it isn't exactly all powerful. If you're using white as a base color and you get the Monk, play it, but don't draft it too high. If all goes according to plan, you should get them in the later rounds. A 5th - 7th pick. Morningtide I can't really fathom any reason to ever run this in your main deck. It's nice that white has a way to deal with threshold, but I doubt such things will get drastic enough to go to these measures. A 13th - 15th pick. Mystic Familiar I've seen this card getting played a lot, and that may be indicative of just how weak the white in Torment really is. Unless threshold is a sure, fast reality in your deck, this will serve as a 1/2 for two mana, and regardless of flying, that just isn't enough to merit a spot in your deck. Don't be afraid to splash another color instead of running weak cards like this one: It's better than having a card that doesn't do enough to matter. A 10th -12th pick. Pay No Heed While unspectacular, Pay No Heed provides the white mage with a one mana trick that they'll get to pick late that will trade with a creature or burn spell that cost a lot more to cast. If your opponent loses a 1st-5th pick card they spent 2-5 mana on in exchange for your 8th or 9th pick Pay No Heed, you're getting a good deal. Again, don't pick it too high; it'll be around and if you have it, it's definitely playable. A 7th - 9th pick. Nothing spectacular, but a solid body. Possessed Nomad It doesn't really matter if you're playing black or not: a 3/3 that doesn't tap to attack for four mana is a great deal, and the +1/+1 it gets with threshold makes it all the better. The Nomad makes playing sac-lands in a two color, non-black deck worthwhile, gumming up the ground and occasionally killing a white creature. If you were ever to make the mistake of being monowhite, this would be the best creature you could hope for in Torment. A very good card. A 2nd - 4th pick. Reborn Hero Initial reactions to the Hero were very positive, as it most often drew comparisons to Nether Shadow, a creature whose popularity reached its peak as it left the Standard environment. Unfortunately, this 'replacement' is thoroughly unexciting in Limited, doing next to nothing until threshold, then requiring you to have mana available to activate its ability. I'm not saying it won't get played in Constructed, just don't pick the Hero too high in Limited. A 6th - 8th pick. Spirit Flare The biggest disappointment white gave me in Torment was the realization that the creature had to be attacking or blocking for Spirit Flare to be applicable. In a set where white is hurting so much as it is, why not give this card more flexibility? Regardless of their reasons, the end result of R&D's efforts here are a limp card that requires a lot to make it work in a color whose creatures aren't exactly huge. The Flare is playable, but you'll often find yourself hoping it isn't in your case. A 6th - 8th pick. The Karma Police. Stern Judge You've got to respect Da Judge, don't you? I mean, sometimes, he can be a generic 2/2 for three, and that isn't optimal, but with four or five black players per table at minimum, the Judge is going to put a serious hurting on some people. If he were a 2/3, Stern Judge would be insane, but as it is, it's just a very good card in the Odyssey Block metagame. A 3rd - 5th pick. Strength of Isolation Now this is a card I love and respect. Not only does Strength of Isolation make a monstrous creature, not only does that creature have protection from the most played color in the format, but it potentially does it all at the speed of an instant, at times getting you card advantage out of its casting alone (hello Cephalid Looter). The Strength is one of my favorite cards in the set for its strength and versatility: I look forward to the painful faces it will cause to form. A 3rd - 5th pick. Teroh's Faithful When Kai Budde told me this was the best white common in Torment, I was taken aback, but upon further review, I've come to realize he was absolutely right. Eerily similar to Luminous Guardian, a card I try to avoid playing, the Faithful offers a much greater impact on the life race in providing the double whammy of four points of life gain and a 1/4 wall that should be pretty tough for your opponents to get around. Hopefully, your other colors and the rare and uncommon slots will provide you with better early choices in the first couple of Torment packs, but the Faithful will be a boon to your control decks every time. A 3rd - 5th pick. A flexible trick against dominant black decks Teroh's Vanguard Another card I like a lot, the Vanguard offers you a special two for one deal: a solid creature in a color that's sort of lacking in that department, and a trick that allows you to net some card advantage. Teroh's Faithful being cast as an instant will allow you to kill opposing creatures on occasion, and that's enough even before we talk about threshold. Once you have seven cards in your graveyard, this will be useable as a Shelter, a Falter or a Second Thoughts: Those are pretty good cards to be likened to. A 3rd - 5th pick. Transcendence By drafting it, you provide yourself the opportunity to get a quarter from your local storeowner. That's not why I enter drafts. A 15th pick. Vengeful Dreams Forget card advantage, this thing is nuts. One of the most underappreciated aspects of Limited play, temporal management is very important in the format where the winner is often decided by who gets off to the faster start. Simply, two mana is not a lot for targeted mass kill: you don't get many opportunities to get cards like this one, so if they come along, grab them. A 1st - 3rd pick.