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28 May, 9 tweets, 4 min read
Late and short thread today about Owlin Shieldmage. Future threads are likely to also be later, as I am now on the west coast instead of the east coast of the US. 1/x
ALSA of 7.02. Looks like its Card Evaluation Metagame has stayed fairly stable for the whole format. 2/x
I don't really have a great comparison for Owlin Shieldmage. A 5 mana 3/3 flier is slightly overcosted, but the Ward 3 makes it play out much differently: with it, Shieldmage is basically a guaranteed 3 damage, either from Ward or from attacking. 3/x
This fits extremely well with Silverquill's gameplan. Generally, you're looking to get in early damage with 2s, and then close by overwhelming your opponent with fliers. Shieldmage is just another tool to make sure your opponent never stabilizes. 4/x
The 3/3 body, despite looking under-rate, also lines up pretty well with the format. There are only 6 creatures below rare that can block it by themselves: Aerialist, Archivist, Pastcaller, Symmetrist, Muse, and Warden; only 4 of these can kill it. And it blocks Inklings. 5/x
You might think that Shieldmage being a 5-drop might make it go down a lot in value for an aggressive deck. But even my aggro decks almost always run 17 lands to take advantage of learn. I'm pretty comfortable running up to 3 Shieldmages, especially if I also have Rises. 6/x
Conclusion: Shieldmage is a very powerful curve-topper that plays very well with Silverquill's evasive gameplan. It lines up well against other fliers, and its 5 MV is less of an issue when even your aggro decks often want to have 6+ mana for learn/lesson. 7/7
Two trophy examples with Owlin shieldmage:

One very controlling: 17lands.com/deck/45f443ed1…

One very aggressive: 17lands.com/deck/3392a77f4…
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More from @JasonILTG

JasonILTG Profile picture
30 May
First thread today (there will be two to make up for the lack of one yesterday) is a short thread about Plumb the Forbidden. 1/x Image
ALSA of 6.98 in Bo3. Looks like the Card Evaluation Metagame graph has it as not changing much on average, but with a lot of variation up and down for it and a lot of other black uncommons. Not sure exactly what to make of that. 2/x Image
At a baseline, Plumb can function similar to Village Rites: you can use it to recycle useless creatures, as a sac outlet, or in response to removal. Evaluating it this way, it looks pretty bad, as it costs 1 more mana and 2 more life. 3/x Image
Read 12 tweets
JasonILTG Profile picture
27 May
Early thread about Spiteful Squad today because I'm going to be on a flight tonight to California. 1/x
ALSA of 7.33. Looking at the Card Evaluation Metagame graph, it seems that it's actually been going down since the start of the format. Maybe people are comparing it to Star Pupil, and moving it down as Pupil goes down? 2/x
Squad might look similar to Star Pupil, as it has the same modular-like ability. But they are fundamentally different cards. Pupil's is an aggressive 1-drop that needs extra +1/+1 counters to function, while Squad needs no extra counters and gums up the ground with value. 3/x
Read 10 tweets
JasonILTG Profile picture
26 May
Today I'm wrapping up my streak of talking about tricks/creature enhancements with Enthusiastic Study. I'll definitely be talking about at least one more in the future (looking at you, Fortifying Draught), but that won't be for a bit still. 1/x
ALSA of 7.51 in Bo3, making it the second-lowest-drafted learn spell, only above First Day of Class. Though, judging by the Card Evaluation Metagame graph, that data might be a bit outdated from being an average; Study is now roughly tied for third among red commons. 2/x
Even judging from the higher recent numbers, I still think Study is underrated. I think it is clearly the third best red common, and possibly even better than Pigment Storm. I believe this for the same reason I think First Day of Class might be fourth: learn/lesson is busted. 3/x
Read 16 tweets
JasonILTG Profile picture
25 May
Today I'm talking about Essence Infusion, which is a card that I think is both overrated and underrated in Bo3. I know that's kind of a contradictory thing to say, but I'll explain. 1/x
ALSA 7.77 in Bo3, which is exactly the same as Professor's Warning, a card that I generally like better. Here's the Card Evaluation Metagame graph for it; looks like it's been gaining in popularity a lot recently. 2/x
So first of all, why do I think Infusion is overrated? Well, this is tied to how I like to build my Silverquill decks: more fliers, fewer counters. My ideal aggro Silverquill deck wins by having too many fliers for opponents to deal with, not by loading up on one creature. 3/x
Read 12 tweets
JasonILTG Profile picture
23 May
Late thread today on Resculpt and Sudden Breakthrough. ALSAs of 9.29 and 8.67, respectively. I didn't talk about these earlier because I think they're correctly evaluated as generally very bad, but I do want to touch on them a bit to show how they can be used. 1/x
Here are the Card Evaluation Metagame graphs for the two. Resculpt was initially a lot higher (though still the lowest blue common); I wonder if other people, like me, thought that its synergy with treasure (like Breakthrough) was going to be good in Prsimari. 2/x
First let's talk about Resculpt. This looks like Angelic Ascension, but the 4/4 not having flying makes a huge difference. Without flying, the 4/4 is much more medium for you, but it's still good enough that you're almost never happy giving it to your opponent either. 3/x
Read 12 tweets
JasonILTG Profile picture
22 May
Very short thread today about Make Your Mark. Not really underrated, but I do want to talk about it as one of the more interesting combat tricks in the set, and a card that has some pretty specific uses. 1/x
Here's the Card Evaluation Metagame graph for MYM. It's gone down since the start of the format, which makes sense, as it became clear that the best aggressive decks in the format mostly rely on evasion. 2/x
I want to start off by saying that I don't think MYM belongs in most decks, even aggressive ones. In order to maximize it, you need to be trading off your creatures a lot, and have a 3/2 matter. And a lot of aggressive decks don't want to trade, instead preferring evasion. 3/x
Read 9 tweets

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