Stoneforge Mystic and Dark Ascension

Howdy-doo!

I finally got the 'hover link' thing to work, hopefully it enhances your reading experience :) Props to John Carberry for his help.

So, Zoo is one of the best decks. It's most powerful card is Stoneforge Mystic and therefore the first card to be considered for pointing. People often ask "Why not just add more points to the equipment?", the answer is: By pointing Stoneforge instead of Jitte/Skullclamp/Sword of Fire and Ice, you're not hurting other aggro decks which are currently much worse than Zoo. We want diversity amongst the aggro decks (which we currently do not have). It's a similar reasoning to why Wizards' banned Wild Nacatl in modern recently; Wild Nacatl made all other aggro decks inferior thus reducing the diversity of the metagame. Less diversity = less fun etc.

Jitte dominates creature mirrors. White has access to Stoneforge Mystic and Steelshaper's Gift giving it a massive advantage in the creature mirror. This advantage is so huge that non-white creature decks are inferior to white creature decks. Elves, mono-red and mono-black aggro all aren't good enough on the back of them losing to Jitte.

Some Zoo pilots still refuse to play Steelshaper's Gift, this decision baffles me.

So, Dark Ascension Pre-release next weekend! booyah!
I and many other Melbourne Highlander regulars will be road tripping to Canberra for Can Con. So I won't be around for the Highlander weekly this Thursday. Gonna win a Black Lotus at Can Con instead :P. I'm a little torn at the moment (the very last moment). I feel my two good decks, Hermit Druid and White Weenie aren't as good as Ub timevault or Zoo, but there's familiarity to consider. I know Hermit and WW really well, sideboarding, important cards in certain matchups etc. I think I need to stick with my old faithfuls this Friday and then after the points changes I'll look into switching decks.
I know I said I'd be playing Hermit Druid in my previous posts but it's getting beaten often so I dunno. I kind of want to run it in the face of all the hate, just for the potential of looking boss.

Anyway, what was I saying?....Dark Ascension. Whenever a new set comes out I always comb through the spoiler for cards for my Highlander decks. I'll discuss the playables that have been spoiled so far (I wrote this 1am Sunday 22nd):

Increasing Devotion: There's a GW token deck that no one's playing at the moment and this card probably goes in it. Gaea's Cradle is underplayed for it's power and it's at its best in this deck.

Lingering Souls: So many dudes! This also goes in the token deck, a light splash for B is no problem with Highlander mana *cough* unpoint Price of Progress *cough*.

Thalia, Guardian of Thraben: Lots of Hype surrounding Thalia. 2/1 first strike is a decent body in Highlander and her ability gets her over the line. As long as your opponent pays 1 more mana extra than you, Thalia has done her job. It's unfortunate that she gets Karakas'd but she's probably playable regardless, testing will tell. So many legends are bad just because of Karakas (eg Doran). Karakas gets played in about 70% of decks and is somewhat tutorable so it cannot be ignored.

Gravecrawler: Yet another 2 power 1-drop for black. Before Zendikar black had no good aggro cards except Dark Confidant and Carnophage so it's fast becoming a strong aggro option.

Geralf's Messenger: Another exclusive for Mono-black. I'm definitely going to try Mono-black on a Thursday soon, just need to work out a way for the deck to beat Jitte.

Increasing Ambition: A good tutor for the Channel deck. Channel still requires a few more cards to be consistent enough for me to consider playing it though.

Strangleroot Geist: This guy's the beats! Only thing stopping him from being amazing is his mana cost. Double colour 2 drops are hard to do without a major commitment to one colour. You can't really keep a hand of Plains, Fetch, this guy.

Falkenrath Aristocrat: I think people will underrate this card at first. I know I'm going to be getting a playset asap. Outside of Highlander (irrelevant as that may be) she's a sac outlet for Melira combo in Modern. She might be too expensive for her purpose in that deck but she's a real card when you draw her, unlike Viscera Seer which is a piece'o'shit.

Huntmaster of the Fells: Solid value creature. He's green so he will be accompanied by elves to get him out fast enough. Will really shine in creature mirrors.

Sorin, Lord of Innistrad: Obviously a great card. Another addition to the GWb token deck that's growing in my subconscious.

Grafdigger's Cage: lol what can I say? Another hoser for Hermit Druid. Not as good as Path, Swords or Leyline of the Void mind you.

Ok, pretty knackered at this stage, better crash into bed. But before that, here's another underplayed Highlander Card:

Trench Gorger, this guy is a castable Blightsteel Colossus in Highlander.

Cheers!

Luke