"Magic Silver Format: 60 pieces of Silver"

"Magic Silver Format: 60 pieces of Silver"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.

Spartan Cup Champion Van Mamokhan recently put a comment on one of my posts the other day. 

"Bakit di tayo bakit di tayo gumawa ng format na puro uncommons lang?"

It was an intriguing challenge for me. I love Standard Pauper but with a meta emerging in it which is U/B Mill I decided that I might want to make decks for this format for a change. I would like to take on this new challenge for this format that I proposed to call the Silver format. 

So what makes up the Silver Format?

It is made of the Silver Uncommons from the Standard set of Return to Ravnica up to Theros.

With the exception of lands which can still be basic or common lands everything else in the deck has to have that Silver rarity. A 60 deck which can be called 60 pieces ( Actually just a minimum of forty or it maybe varied depending on the built but 60 pieces has a lot more ring to it so I am sticking with it)

So why play Silver format?

Standard Pauper was all about the love of common cards and EDH was all about the love of trash rares that should have never seen the light of day because they would have never been Standard Tournament staples. Silver is love of Uncommons. 

There have already been numerous discussions that this format will be more expensive and is actually closer to standard. Yes and Yes on both counts but I would also love to add that there are many uncommons cards out there that are in bargain bins because no one wants to use them. They are lumped in with common cards and these are also dirt cheap. I would love to build synergies around these cards like Bronze Beak Moa or Debt to the Deathless.

So what about card support?

One of the things that players look at in spoilers is what are the cards that can be used in supporting a particularly cool concept like Burn or Mill or Aggro. Normally Rares are supported by Uncommons and Common cards as in the case of Devotion or Bestow and my friend ST has raised the very relevant issue that there might be an early dominant deck that won't be answered like Van Mamokhans Burning Tree Shaman / Gruul Rush deck.However my answer to this is simple since we are moving to Uncommons , the amount of removal also escalates. In Red for example Magma Jet and Skull Crack now become available , in  Black Doomblade and the various color hosers in Theros as well.  

There are still tons of cards to explore in Silver and these are concepts that could be upgraded and downgraded as needed. I am curious if people would be able to make decks for this format. It might not catch on because it looks prohibitive but if you are a player who is tired of the usual game play that you have this could be a great change of pace , especially if you are already burned out in Standard. Doing something creative and discovering other things could also lead to new techniques and synergies.

The limitation of Silver just might be its own advantage because desperation breeds brilliant minds to think of other ways. I also love being part of a community that never stifles creativity regardless if it wins or loses. Winning is great but sometimes we learn more things when we lose.

I off to brew my 60 pieces...when would you brew yours?