Valentin, a highlander staple from Turku, starts off a multi-part article series of midrange staple cards in European Highlander. In this second part, he will go through the true format all-stars: colorless cards.
Part 1: Introduction
Part 2: Colorless
Part 3: White
Part 4: Blue
Lands, artifacts and a few other card types that can go into all decks. Some have conditions for them to be good, while others see play in practically all decks. For gameplay purposes I will use my judgement to arbitrarily separate the cards into three clusters: General, Utility and Ramp.
General Purpose Staples
In this category I put cards that have a high power level, so ranking is kinda useless as every midrange deck generally wants to play all of these (with a few caveats).
Wasteland (A+)
Due to plethora of utility lands and low opportunity cost, wasteland is as close to autoinclude as a card can get.
Mental Misstep (A+)
Similar to time this was 4-of in every legacy deck, misstep is just such a strong card that grants even non-blue colors access to counters. 1 CMC cards make up more than 20% of nearly any highlander deck and there is always something good to counter. When the plan is to pressure and out grind, this card is good in nearly every situation and provides tempo advantage (0 mana vs. opponent’s 1 mana on the spell).
The One Ring (A)
The card that dominated modern is not as broken in this format because it isn’t as easy to get rid of and life loss is a very real cost. Not all decks want this as tapping out for 4 mana can be a bit slow for more tempo-oriented decks, but it’s still one of the best card advantage engines in the game that any deck can play. Though, when playing this card, it is important to consider how to survive the life loss and get rid of own ring (due to the amount of card draw it provides, it is not that hard to find an out if there is one in the deck):
Blue has bounce alongside Stifle and Tishana’s Tidebinder as common ways to avoid dying. Three Steps Ahead can be used to legend-rule the first one out and for fun techs Consign to Memory and Mirrorshell Crab are also interesting cards.
Black has tutors to find any answer that is in the deck, but the strongest card is Sheoldred to gain a bunch of life (just remember to check that the opponent does not have an untapped Karakas). March of the Wretched Sorrow also works as a good bail-out as you ring should draw you a lot of black cards that you can exile to gain a bunch of life.
Green has some artifact removal and life gain, but the most common answer is Haywire Mite.
White also has a lot of answers, but the best of them are probably Unexpectedly Absent and March of the Otherworldly Light. Life gain from Solitude and Swords to Plowshares comes up often. Slightly underpowered, but still decent tech is Soul Partition for decks that want a bit more removal in white.
Red has Goblin Engineer and Broadside Bombardiers to sac it (Goblin Welder and Daretti when going all in on artifacts) as well as Cast into the Fire for flavor points.
Urza’s Saga (A)
Probably strongest land in the format and can win games by itself. The constructs can provide a sizable threat and the tutor effect allows you to search for a threat or answer an opponent’s threat. Against slower decks this is an uncounterable threat that is difficult to deal with. When playing Saga in the deck, it is usually best to have Currency Converter and Ghost Vacuum as they are the strongest tutor targets for it.
In green decks Haywire Mite is a good disenchant effect by itself and doubles down as a target for saga.
In red midrange decks Bomat Courier is quite a decent threat, so it works as a backup target for saga.
Pithing Needle is a card from olden days. The card is not a good value and generally not played in midrange as it has too many limitations, but there are situations where this could be a viable inclusion.
Currency Converter (A)
A strong value card. Target for saga that has good synergies with many cards. Cards with various cycling and looting effects give a lot of value to the card, but even without those the card itself allows you to loot and produce creatures to apply pressure. The card is a swiss army knife full of value and generally a good inclusion into all midrange decks.
Ghost Vacuum (A)
The new kid on the block is quickly becoming my favorite grave-hate card. Not only is it a source of continuous exiling from grave, it also doubles down as a mana sink and wincon (remember that cards from it are also flying and actual cards, so they go to grave when they die).
Karakas (A)
While the color identity is white and it should go into all white midrange decks purely due to utility. It is a good land to add into any deck where there is room for a land that does not produce color.
Utility
The cards in this category provide interesting and useful effects that can be necessary for some decks, while others could cut them because of lack of synergy. The ranking is again very loose and the more important criteria is how much the deck needs the effect.
Mishra’s Bauble (A)
Combined with fetch lands this is essentially scry 1, draw 1 for no mana. The fact that draw is next upkeep is a minus, but if the deck has a few delve and/or delirium cards, then this quickly becomes mandatory.
Arcum’s Astrolabe (B+)
The card seems innocuous at first, but allows you to play through moon effects with ease and helps with double coloured costs. I found that having this in 2-coloured midrange decks makes the mana work smoother. For 3-coloured decks this is also a good addition, but as those decks play less basics, casting this can become an issue. Fetches allow searching for a snow basic turn one into casting the Astrolabe, but the plan is a bit inconsistent. The exception is when green is in the deck as access to Land Grant, Traverse the Ulvenwald and Analyze the Pollen makes it easier to find basic snow lands, so it is easier to justify running the Astrolabe, but there is less room for it in those decks. It is also notable that this allows for an easy access to off-colours in random situations (mana for Deathrite Shaman that is from another color, Prismatic Ending, color for a card off Ragavan, etc.).
Dismember (B+)
For 3+ colored decks this is a removal that kills Harbinger of the Seas and Magus of the Moon, while for 1-2 colored decks it is a strong removal even if a color lacks good removal options. White and red have better removal options (less cost, more modality), but if not running those colors, then this is definitely something to consider strongly. Although, red can have issues efficiently removing creatures like Murktide Regent or Psychic Frog, so not a bad card to run in red.
Urza’s Bauble (B-)
Well, Mishra seems to be more talented with baubles at least. This bauble is nearly not as good, but still worth it when you need to fill a grave for delve/delirium(/goyfs) or cast spells for cards like Ledger Shredder or Third Path Iconoclast. Though blue cantrips are generally better so this is an option, so the card is generally cut in favor of something more powerful.
Smuggler’s Copter (B-)
Surprisingly this is still a strong card. It does require a creature in play, but a 3/3 flier that loots and avoids sorcery speed creature removal and wraths is difficult to deal with. This does require the deck to run creatures to crew it, so running it in a deck with less than 30 creatures that you do not want to use for crewing is probably not going to work that well. On the flipside a deck with ETB creatures such as Thraben Inspector would make for a good home.
Talon Gates of Madara (C)
Instant speed removal on the land can sometimes work wonders. If there is room in land slots for a nonbasic land that produces colorless, then this could fit, but generally midrange decks don’t have room for stuff like this. In 5C decks, the “hidden mode” of color filtering can be relevant.
Shadowspear (C)
Most universal life gain for midrange decks. Strong combo with constructs from Urza’s Saga. Trample is a very good addition as it allows you to push for damage easier as well as get the initiative from the opponent. I am yet to activate the hexproof negation, but a tutorable life gain equipment for any color is very good. Though it does perform noticeably better in decks that do not mind tapping out and that have at least 30 creatures.
Winter Orb (C+)
Universal card that allows you to utilize your deck better. As midrange decks are built with the intent of all cards providing the best possible value for mana, you are likely to get more value out of winter orb than opponent, which allows to lock them out of the game. Red decks have the option of sacrificing it (Goblin Engineer, Improvised Club and Shrapnel Blast) for surprise untap, while blue can tap it for improvise effects (Kappa Cannoneer, Moonsnare Prototype). Very effective tools against ramp decks and anything slower, but has notable downsides when playing against artifact strategies or other midrange decks, so the card is at its best in decks that can loot it away or when the metagame has more ramp and slower decks.
Lazotep Quarry (B-)
The land is not that strong by itself, but red and white decks have a lot of utility for it. Mana fixing is quite weak, but can come in as a point of consideration when playing 3 colours with a deck that generates a lot of tokens. The card is at it’s best when the deck has a lot of one drops (or 2-drops) that are good to reanimate with it. It goes around counters and has many interesting synergies. The best part is that you get a 4/4 creature with decent abilities, which is on-rate for what you would expect for paying 4-5 mana. I fell in love with the card after getting cards such as Ocelot Pride, Esper Sentinel and Bomat Courier. It is also nice value for sacrificing the cat token from Ajani, Nacatl Pariah. The card is generally not played by itself (unless you have room for utility lands and there is nothing better), but better off as a packet for Sand Scout (alongside Ramunap Ruins if the deck is red). As a niche combo, Colossal Dreadwurm is also a card that could be considered if the deck is green.
Umezawa’s Jitte (C)
At one time too strong for the format, now this is not even the best life gain equipment as Shadowspear uses up less mana. Still, it becomes very hard to keep creatures on the board if the opponent has Jitte. This shines in the creature-heavy mirrors and against aggro decks.
Palantír of Orthanc (B-)
Not all color combinations have good ways to get card advantage. This is an option for those colors. Though to work, you better be at least somewhat aggressive or be a red deck.
Gitaxian Probe (B-)
The Peek effect is strong, but not as strong as Misstep as it does not affect the game state. The cost of life is notable. I have found that even for delirium and delve cards, I would run something else in the majority of the non-blue decks. Still, this is a decent budget filler card and a strong option for blue decks.
Retrofitter Foundry (C)
The card is not efficient but it’s cheap to play out or tutor with saga and works as a mana sink for which you do not have to tap out on your own turn. Usually midrange decks want something more efficient, but this is a perfectly serviceable option.
Soul-Guide Lantern (B)
Was the best gravehate value target for Urza’s Saga before Duskmourn (beating even Nihil Spellbomb in black decks) thanks to the fact that it could exile grave on two instances and replaced itself when needed, but now it only works as budget replacement because Ghost Vacuum provides much more value to the deck.
The Aetherspark (C+)
It’s never a good look when a 4 mana card is useless by itself or loses all its value against mass removal or instant speed removal. On the other hand when there is a creature with 2+ power, this can generate absurd mana or card advantage. From my experience this is a bit clunky as even in best case scenario this starts doing things only the turn after it comes into play at best, it requires the deck to have enough creatures so that it can be equipped to something (at least 30ish and preferably more), but on the other hand if it is able to stick for 2 turns, it will bury opponent in card advantage and it’s also quite reasonable to have it gain the 10 mana (play, equip to 4 power creature, attack, then attack next turn and -10) to cast high end stuff.
Monument to Endurance (C+)
Three mana is a lot but there are a lot of good cards with cycling in every color, plus both red and black have a lot of good cards that discard cards from hand for value. Similar to Currency Converter there is also a hidden mode of punishing the opponent for playing hand disruption. At its best it is in red deck that plays cards like Smuggler’s Copter, Ivora and Inti, but there are plenty of decks that could run this with “fair” self-discard cards like Censor or Collective Brutality.
Abstergo Entertainment (C+)
This is quite a strong effect as it gives mana filtering, grave recursion and grave hate all in one land that comes into play untapped, so if a deck has room for it, then it’s usually worth the slot. Unfortunately no matter the color combination, there is not a lot of room for colorless lands, so this is mainly an option for 1-2 colored decks.
Ramp
Fast mana is useful, but not all midrange decks want to play fast mana as generally it is a card disadvantage, which is the most important aspect in grindy games. On the other hand, if the first few turns are aggressive enough, there will be no need for that grind, so it depends on the direction of the deck and how aggressive it needs to be.
Chrome Mox (A-)
Unlike Mox Diamond, this eats nonland cards, which means if you are light on lands, you are not losing on mana sources by playing it. The card is card-disadvantage, so it loses value, but it allows playing a turn faster. Out of all the fast mana options I consider this to be the best and the first one I would put into the deck if I wanted to apply pressure faster. Generally this competes with other cards that require you to exile stuff from hand, so it tends to be left out from blue decks but added as a replacement for a land in nonblue midrange decks. It’s also good to remember that when running Chrome Mox, cards like MDFCs and Land Grant gain a bit more value as you get more pitch options.
Ancient Tomb (B+)
Life loss is a very real downside, but mana is more important. The key deciding factor is the balance of coloured and colorless mana that the deck needs. For example a blue-red deck generally has a lot of colored costs and usually has no life gain (sometimes running Shadowspear if aggressive meta is expected), so there is no room for this, but red-white has less restrictive manabase and the decks wants to be faster, so it fits into that much better. It’s also notable that 3+ color decks just do not have room for Tomb.
Lotus Petal (B)
This is a one-time mana source, but has less conditions attached than Mox Diamond, which is why I prefer running this. It is also nice that it provides artifact synergies such as makes constructs from Urza’s Saga bigger.
Gemstone Caverns (C)
A curious card. On one hand there are no restrictions on what to pitch, on the other hand it works approximately half of the time. I wouldn’t run this in the deck without a way to get rid of it from my hand, as otherwise the downside of the card is too strong. Overall this is a card for those that like to take risks, but for players that like to play more consistent decks I would advise to steer clear of this.
Simian Spirit Guide, Elvish Spirit Guide (C)
If the color of their mana is irrelevant, then they can also be considered colorless ramping, but I am yet to see that happen. And, generally speaking, this type of fast mana is not that strong in the midrange strategies. Though it is always fun to surprise the opponent that Force Spikes or Dazes your spell with a mana out of nowhere. On the other hand if the deck plays the corresponding color, then these cards are just slightly weaker than lotus petal as they are functionally identical.
Mox Diamond (C)
This is probably the card that I have the biggest bias against. In decks where lands can be returned from the grave this is a very strong card. However, midrange decks usually play less lands and do not have room for such effects so Diamond is not that good. According to the “midrange math” it costs one land and the Mox itself to get one mana source. Usually in the games you have 3-5 lands by the end of the game and you would rather have a spell than another land. On the flipside it is a permanent mana source and allows for a more aggressive playstyle which is the game plan in certain match-ups. Generally I would not run this in midrange, but as I said earlier, I am biased against this card.
City of Traitors (C)
The card is similar to Mox Diamond, it has some conditions attached and is an inherent card disadvantage, which makes it not that good for midrange. You wouldn’t run it in any deck that doesn’t run Ancient Tomb. I wouldn’t add this into the midrange decks, but in case the deck tries going into aggressive direction to apply the pressure faster and has enough uses for colorless mana, then this is an option.
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