Points Announcement: Avatar: The Last Airbender

Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer (+1 to 2)

Ragavan makes a triumphant return (to the 2 point bracket). When this card was brought down to 1 point we were looking to provide a boost to aggressive strategies and acknowledging the changed landscape and power of one drops since Modern Horizons 3. While this goal was met in some ways it also ended up powering up established Grixis and Jund decks. Ragavan continued to be at it’s most powerful as a snowballing advantage card, backed by cheap interaction that removes the blockers we believed could slow it down rather than a traditional aggro card. Ragavan has established that it’s still the game defining 1 drop it was when it earned its second point last time, and we’re happy to send the little monkey that could back to 2 points.

Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student (+1 to 2)

This 1 drop has firmly cemented itself as a format staple with copies showing up in a variety of decks such as Grixis, UB Moons, Blue Moon, Jeskai and other fringe strategies that are in the market for a cheap, must answer threat that can run away with the game by itself or with a little help from cantrips and baubles. The creature half can pull ahead with card advantage coming from clues, but it’s the fast transformations, as early as turn 2 with a bauble or a brainstorm, that really put Tamiyo ahead of the pack, demanding an immediate answer or bringing the game to a close.
The combination of presenting a cheap, game ending threat; and a powerful long game engine for such little opportunity cost has proved to be too strong, and Tamiyo is joining Ragavan at 2 points.

Deadpool, Trading Card (+1 to 1)

Saying Deadpool has been a polarising card is a bit of an understatement. It has been at the heart of swingy plays and completely turning board states inside out. There are situations where Deadpool’s impact can be mitigated by the opponent or where playing the card be detrimental to the owner, but the power of the card has become quite obvious over the last few months, it is seeing play in top tier RBx archetypes while also being powerful enough to justify decks such as walks to warp their manabases to slot this card in. While 4 drops are allowed to be powerful in our format, Deadpool has an extremely high impact on games, and tends to force midrange mirrors to resolve solely around himself with unhealthy and unfun play patterns with limited counterplay. That combined with the strength of the RB midrange decks, has lead to Deadpool going to 1.

Barrowgoyf (+1 to 1)

What do we say about Barrowgoyf that hasn’t already been said? A must answer threat that fuels itself, provides card advantage if not dealt with quickly and can outrace most opposing board states. Finding a way to address the Black based midrange core powered by strong creatures and interaction has been a challenging discussion amongst the community and committee meetings alike. Our two primary candidates were between Emperor of Bones and Barrowgoyf, and we finally settled on Barrowgoyf after concluding that Emperor of Bones allows for more interesting play decisions and points of interaction. Barrowgoyf also presents a difficult challenge to red based aggressive archetypes, so much so that Barrowgoyf has even moonlit as a one card sideboard plan in combo decks. While not a point purely on power, we hope that fewer Barrowgoyfs enable struggling aggressive decks to find a place in the meta.

Tezzeret, Cruel Captain (+1 to 1)

Edge of Eternities was surprisingly impactful for 7 Point Highlander, but one that stands head and shoulders above the rest is Tezzeret, Cruel Captain. A planeswalker that can tutor up some of the most powerful fast mana in the format along with a smorgasbord of various utility 0 and 1 mana artifacts meant it quickly found its way in a variety of archetypes such as: Storm, Shops, Eldrazi and even seeing play in decks you wouldn’t expect such as Lands. It’s closest analogue is Spellseeker, a 3 mana tutor that leaves behind potentially game ending engine. Tezzeret can tutor up a Mana Vault, a Black Lotus to start combo-ing off, go infinite with Time Vault while at the same time being able to get you a Relic of Progenitus to deal with graveyard strategies or a Bauble to continue drawing. This is too much flexibility and power and we feel this justifies Tezzeret, Cruel Captain becoming a 1-point card.

Mana Vault (+1 to 2)

Fast mana enables some of the most broken starts in our format and Mana Vault has been one of the most efficient ways (mana and points-wise) to accelerate your game for a long time now. In the past Mana vault as a “one off” ritual into a threat such as Lodestone Golem was powerful but not necessarily meriting 2 points. Todays threats and engines are significantly more likely to create a lasting impact and are harder to interact with (e.g. The One Ring, Sowing Mycospawn or even Sire of Seven Deaths). The supporting host of cards such as Urza’s Saga, Tezzeret or extra “key” effects have also incrementally increased the power of Mana Vault over time. Mana Vault is also powering some of the most powerful starts in some of the most powerful decks in the format such as Shops/Bots and Storm and is thus deserving to move up to 2 points.

Black Lotus (+1 to 5)

Storm has been one of the best performing decks in the lead up to Event To End All Events and even received some new printings in the sets released this year, this combined with the hard work dedicated storm pilots have put in to streamline the deck has made it a force to be reckoned with. Our philosophy has always been to point cards at their best, and Storm has shown us that Lotuses best is better than we suspected. Storm could have theoretically taken a point in a number of other places, however, if Lotus stayed at 4 there is a significant chance that Lotus combo decks converge around Underworld Breach. We would prefer powerful combo decks (Lotus Storm, Breach, Walks, Tinker etc) retain their own identity with their own unique tools and play patterns and this pointing is the best choice for that goal. With that said we feel Lotus belongs in the 5-point category where it joins its power-9 brethren; Ancestral Recall and Time Walk.