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Limited Lessons – First Pass at Shadowmoor Limited

by Nick Eisel

I have to admit it... I was wrong.

Last week I was pretty unexcited about Shadowmoor and thought it looked
pretty bland on paper. It just so happens that the set is actually very deep
for Limited play and quite possibly one of the most skill intensive Sealed
Deck formats ever. Sealed has always been a difficult format to balance in
terms of how a set is designed because it's very easy for bombs to just take
over or for the decks to build themselves. While the bombs can certainly
take over in Shadowmoor at times due to the lack of good removal I think
that the games are very deep in terms of strategy and a lot of the card pools
are close to impossible to ever settle on a correct build. I definitely think we
all owe Wizards a pat on the back as far as Shadowmoor Limited is
concerned.

This week I want to highlight some initial thoughts on the format as well as a
bunch of cards that stood out. Before I start though I want to get some
feedback from you guys on the format I'm planning on using in coming
weeks. It seems to me that the best way to break the set down for closer
examination is to look at the color pairs as archetypes and also discuss
splashing options from other guilds. If anyone has a better idea in terms of
format feel free to suggest it in the forums.

Pili-Pala
I'm gonna start with a card that probably looks pretty mediocre on paper.
Once you've played the format, you'll realize that this guy isn't really meant
for color-fixing, he was born with greater intentions.

Allow me to introduce you to the new machine gun of Limited Magic. Attach
a Power of Fire to this little guy and he effectively becomes a Fireball
divided as you choose every turn. Since he makes mana it only costs one
mana per shot after the initial activation. This will work pretty well on any
creature with the Untap ability, but Pili-Pala has the added bonus of a
cheap cost for untapping. There is also Presence of Gond in the common
slot which will allow you to rapid fire out some Elves. This is the stuff that
Mistform Wall and Lavamancer's Skill are made of, and in all likelihood
Pili-Pala and Power of Fire make that combo look juvenile. This makes
Power of Fire an even higher pick than it normally would be and our small
friend the Scarecrow a high pick if you have any chance of ever

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assembling/casting the combo.

Consign to Dream
One of the first things I noticed about this set is that there are a ton of Auras
that are very playable in the common slot. All of the Shields are pretty
strong, and there’s Power of Fire, Presence of Gond, etc. The natural
reaction to this situation is that bounce spells go up considerably in value.
This particular bounce spell is amazing in the format because of the high
number of hybrid cards. I haven't gone through the spoiler, but you should
be able to put at least half of the creatures in the format on top of their
owner's library, if not more. At first glance this may look like another
Venser's Diffusion, Regress, or ordinary bounce spell. I assure that it is so
much more, and definitely something to prioritize if you're in Blue.

Elsewhere Flask
I overheard a number of conversations about this card at the prerelease.
Some people were saying it wasn't great in draft because the format seems
aggressive and you want to be casting a creature on turn 2 instead of
something that doesn't really affect the board. While this type of thinking
may have merit, I don't really agree with it at all. If you're under pressure
you can always wait to play this later when you have spare mana.

This card does so much, for basically no investment. You pay two mana, it
cantrips, and then it helps you out later. It turns on the entire Corrupt cycle
to get maximum value out of Flow of Ideas or Jaws of Stone. It allows you
to splash with ease. Hybrid bombs like Godhead of Awe, which can be
tough to cast if you're not in UW, are suddenly coming out on turn 5 every
time you have this. This allows you to splash cards with double color in their
mana symbols as well, and it doesn't take drawing two fixers to be able to
cast them. I love this card and strongly suggest you try it out for yourself.

Scuttlemutt
Speaking of a card that does literally everything… This is a three mana 2/2
that acts as both a Birds of Paradise and a Tidal Visionary, both of which
are amazing in this type of format. The beauty of Scutts is that he lets you
accelerate early in the game and then stays useful in the late game by
turning off any color effects that are on board. You can turn off the “3/3
unblockable by X” color cycle, shut down the Auras, and power down the
Cohorts. I'm sure I'm missing plenty of other applications, but the idea is
that a Tidal Visionary effect is very desirable in this format, and this one
also allows acceleration and color-fixing which is pretty much the entire
package.

Tatterkite
This guy was an absolute house for me in the prerelease. While I don't
expect he will be as amazing once people have played with the set more
often, he will still remain very strong just because of the set’s huge amount
of emphasis on -1/-1 counters. At the prerelease this guy picked off three
Sickle Rippers and a Rustrazor Butcher simply because my opponents
didn't realize that Wither wouldn't do anything against the Kite. This is
essentially the nut card against a BR deck since they need a Puncture Bolt

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to really get rid of it, and a lot of their creatures have Wither.

I want to take this time to discuss my thoughts on the Wither mechanic. I

feel like more often than not you'd rather have regular damage than Wither
because there are a lot of creatures in the set that make Wither a liability
rather than a benefit. The only situation where I really like the mechanic is
with first strike or if you're in a chumpblocking mode… and let's be honest
with ourselves, if you're chumpblocking you're either racing with evasion for
the win or you're probably in a lot of trouble. There are also a number of
creatures that remove -1/-1 counters from any creature, and that will go
against any longterm effects Wither might otherwise have.

Umbral Mantle
This card was played on me a lot at the prerelease and I really think it's
pretty awful. I was never a huge advocate of Runed Stalactite in the past
and I think this card is much worse as far as mediocre equipments go. I
really don't think this is playable in Sealed since you shouldn't be hurting for
playables due to all of the guild mana cards. I am also certain that this is
just awful in draft unless you have some crazy combo with it.

Shield of the Oversoul

This is the best of the cycle of guild Auras, granting both flying and
indestructibility. There are also a few excellent GW two-drops like Safehold
Elite and Medicine Runner that can go to the air on turn 3 and be very
difficult to stop. Godhead of Steel is also excellent in UW, and all of the
Auras are playable if you have enough double colored creatures to armor
up. The mere existence of Shield of the Oversoul could make GW a very
difficult archetype to beat.

Duos
I'm not sure about the BR Duo as I haven't seen it in action, but all of the
others were excellent while in play. I especially like the GR and UW
versions. I'm sure you guys already know that these are excellent creatures,
but the point is that they should be picked very highly as they can enable
some sick starts, and they play well with a lot of the set's mechanics.

Morselhoarder
I saw someone cast Torture on this at the prerelease, and it was rather
humorous. This guy is deceptively strong for a bunch of reasons. He
smashes Wither creatures with ease, as well as allowing some late game
splash cards. My roommate drafted a GR deck that was splashing for
Swans of Bryn Argoll and Windbrisk Raptor off a couple of Elsewhere
Flasks and a pair of Morselhoarders. Don't be afraid to manaburn during
combat to keep this guy alive.

Niveous Wisps
This is a cycled Choking Tethers that also has the ability to turn off some
color-based effect in a pinch. This card is just amazing for UW or GW
aggro, and by far the best of the Wisps. It may look like just another cantrip
on paper, but when you combine this with Somnomancer in an aggressive
UW build you have the tools to keep the pressure on without even spending

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a card.

Prismwake Merrow
I saw this completely destroy an attack step when someone attacked with a
creature enchanted by Shield of the Oversoul and it came crashing to the
ground. Tidal Visionary was considered garbage when Invasion came out,
and I suppose it will take some time but you really should start valuing these
guys early and get practice in with them as the applications can be a bit
tricky. There really are so many things you can do with a card like this to
generate some kind of board advantage.

Gleeful Sabotage
In Sealed, this is an insta-maindeck. In Draft I feel like you can maindeck it
a lot too, but I'm not as sure. I think it will depend on how many Shield of
the Oversoul/Godhead of Steels you saw, or if there were other good
targets. If you're unsure and have plenty of playables then you should
probably just leave it in the board until you see a reason to bring it in. I
certainly couldn't fault anyone for coming prepared with this maindeck in a
draft.

I figured I should also list my Sealed from the Prerelease that I piloted to a
Top 8 finish. I'm not going to list the sideboard for a couple of reasons.
First, I honestly think this was one of the easier decks to build in
comparison to the average card pool. All of the best cards were in Blue, and
the other colors didn't have a ton to offer except for a Spawnwrithe. I also
think it's really hard to build these decks just by looking at the card names
on paper and that you actually need the cards in front of you to try all of the
options. That being said, I probably would've built it a card or two differently
at the end of the day after learning more about the set.

10 Island
4 Mountain
3 Swamp
2 Silkbind Faerie
Burn Trail
Gravegill Axeshark
Scuttlemutt
Watchwing Scarecrow
Tatterkite
Scarscale Ritual
Kinscaer Harpoonist
Faerie Swarm
Torpor Dust
Plumeveil
Elsewhere Flask
Wanderbrine Rootcutters
Cinderhaze Wretch
Consign to Dream
Boggart Arsonists
Inkfathom Witches
Isleback Spawn

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Wicker Warcrawler
Wasp Lancer
Torrent of Souls
Ghastlord of Fugue

This is basically mono-Blue with all of the hybrid cards, and I'm splashing
for Torrent of Souls, Boggart Arsonists, Burn Trail, and Cinderhaze
Wretches. I had a Smash to Smithereens (the new Shatter, deal 3 damage)
in my sideboard that I boarded in almost every round, and it’s likely I
should've played it maindeck. Just about everybody has Scarecrows in
Sealed, and there are also some good Uncommon Artifacts to kill.
Ghastlord of Fugue essentially was a big Covert Op as his ability doesn't
usually do anything unless he comes down on turn 5. Silkbind Faerie is also
far better than the average tapper in most situations, which probably isn't
too surprising.

My initial impression of the format is that more than ever before in draft you
need to be developing a plan with each pick you make. If you take card X,
what paths does that open up? What archetypes are likely best for this type
of plan? What cards can I expect, and what should I be prepared for? Every
pick should be part of some bigger plan once we learn the format, and there
is certainly plenty of room for improvising as well as for error. I'm looking
forward to doing a lot of drafting and starting my series on archetypes next
week (or possibly the week after if I want to get some more practice in).
Hopefully this article gives you a taste of the new format that we'll be
exploring in the coming weeks.

Nick Eisel
Sun3urst@hotmail.com

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