The new age has dawned. People come, people go. This applies very similarly to one of the greatest sets of Magic that was ever printed: Masque Block. It was never broken like Urza’s Saga, not as quick as Tempest and not as messy as Invasion. However Masque Block produced some superstar cards that will surely be missed in the new Standard environment. Here’s a little breakdown on those cards we will remember as one-time powerhouses in Type 2.
RISHADAN PORT
'The power of the Port', which we often refer to as the most broken land card ever printed for standard. Rishadan Port was a staple card in all aggressive decks, from the white rebels to the mighty Fires. At one point, even control decks ran four copies of it. Decks such as Accelerated Blue and Flores Black use the power of the Port to slow their opponent’s progress, while developing their own board position. Four copies of the Port was found everywhere during the time of Trinity and Angry Hermit, successfully locking opponents' mana sources. In fact the Port actually crippled the Replenish deck, forcing deck-makers to test various cards such as Sheltering Prayers in their sideboard. But in late September 2000, R&D decided to put a stop to this broken card by creating Tsabo’s Web and Teferi’s Response. These two cards saw plenty of action in the Standard environment, punishing players who abused the Port. With Masque rotating out, will we ever see a card so powerful ever again in Standard?
BLASTODERM
When I first saw Blastoderm at the Nemesis prerelease, I immediately fell in love with it. It was such raw power, never seen since Juzam Djinn. The fading effect proved to be only a minor setback for the 5/5 untargetable beast. Blastoderm was truly abused with the introduction of the Fires deck. Fitting into the turn 3 curve very nicely, Blastoderm provided the beats the Fires deck needed. With the introduction of Shivan Wurm, the fading drawback from Blastoderm could be completely ignored. The Wurm allowed the the fading Blastoderm to be gated for one more round of beats.
ACCUMULATED KNOWLEDGE
I learned about Accumulated Knowledge the hard way during GP Kuala Lumpur. My opponent was playing a mono blue extended deck with a Masticore in play and only a single card in hand. I was playing Recurring/Survival and just peeled a Duress. Along with the Recurring Nightmare in my hand I should have been able to turn the game around. I played my Duress, he played Accumulated Knowledge for 3 as a response and then played another Knowledge for 4. All of a sudden his hand was full. He revealed to me his hand of 2 lands and 4 counterspells. I packed up as I succumbed to the massive card advantage of that blue common from Nemesis. From that day on, I abused the Knowledge as much as I could, playing blue control decks and punishing opponents for my net card advantage of 4 for 10 cards. The Knowledge was a must in all control decks. Multiple Knowledges could get out of hand if both players were running it, but the advantages simply outweighed the drawback of this awesome card.
MISDIRECTION
Misdirection was first printed as a free Deflection, but after a while, players began to use them in control decks as ‘Force of Will’ against mirror matches. It also produced some excellent plays against Ponza which relied on land destruction for early control. Then, when Invasion block introduced Urza’s Rage, Misdirection began to shine. A staple in all control decks, Misdirection was a blue mage’s only answer to the uncounterable 10 damage that Rage produced. With Misdirection rotating out, aggressive decks cheer, as Urza’s Rage will play a dominant role against a once control environment. Odyssey released a Misdirection of its own in Divert, but the power of the free spell will sorely be missed.
LIN SIVVI & REBELS
Lin Sivvi and her rebel companions were broken during Masque Block Constructed season, capturing a majority deck choice seen in Pro Tour New York 2000. She then again returned in Standard in the form of the popular Counter Rebel, piloted by Edvind Nitter to his European Championship crown. The rebel mechanic is based on the searching ability, going through your library and bringing out hordes of troops. The rebellion was never a real broken force in Standard, however it proved to be quite a challenge for all types of Standard decks during its time. We will probably never see Lin Sivvi and her friends again, but her stay was surely a great one.
NETHER SPIRIT
At one point, Nether Spirit was deemed unstoppable. It was a blue mage's solution to Blastoderm and Kavu Chameleon. It did not kill them, but it did slow them down until the blue mage could stabilize with mass removal. Once the dust had settled, the Spirit would rise up again and return fire. The drawback of only having one copy in graveyard is very minor, it only prevents the Spirit from being all broken. Nether Spirit really shined once the Urza block had rotated out and new archetypes such as Nether Go came around. I figure the Spirit will see some action in Extended in the near future, but it will be missed in Standard.
CHIMERIC IDOL
We named Chimeric Idol the ‘war turtle’ due to its weird war background picture on the card. Chimeric Idol was probably the only playable card in the entire set of Prophecy to break into Standard, apart from minor action from Mageta and Alexi. The Idol was a control players’ nightmare, wrecking havoc for 3 a turn as it worked around mass removal like Wrath of God. It was also had an excellent power-to-casting cost ratio, a mere 3 mana for a 3/3 colorless source of damage. The activation cost that required you to tap out made the turtle less playable in control decks, but it mostly belonged in completely aggressive decks such as Fires and mono Rebels. Fires enjoyed its presence due to the fact that control players usually only had 3 copies of Disenchant/Dismantling Blow to deal with the four copies of Idols [and Saproling Bursts! --Ed] they had in Fires. Wizards R&D probably made a mistake of coming out with something this powerful, and I doubt the turtle will ever resurface again.
SAPROLING BURST
I’m not a big fan of Saproling Burst, but I decided to add it to my list anyway. The Burst featured huge card economy and like its name, it bursts very quickly into action. The Burst saw a lot of action in Fires, bursting 3 massive 4/4 tokens with haste as early as turn 4, which could really cripple an opponent. Its power was severely limited later with many players packing a lot of enchantment hate such as Aura Mutation, Wax/Wane and Disenchant main deck. Still, you do not ignore raw power like the Burst. During the Japan 2001 Nationals, Masaya Mori played Square Void, which also maximizes the strength of Saproling Burst. The Saproling tokens start beatings with targeted removal clearing the way for them.
So there you have it. I might have left out a couple of your favorites, but this is only my own personal view. Overall, I feel the loss of Masque will not completely change the Standard environment. We just have to change and adapt, that’s what Magic players do.
Later,
Pang Ming Wee
Team HELP / Brisbane
jumpshot4@yahoo.com
