Is Smuggler’s Copter the New Staple for Standard?
Hello, this
is Luke, helping to fill in for the Orcs Head Magic blog, today I will be
discussing a new card from the Kaladesh set.
Firstly, just by looking at ‘Smuggler’s Copter’, we can clearly see how
impressive this card is. For only 2 mana, you can play a 3/3 artifact vehicle, with
flying, which already has me intrigued. Furthermore, this vehicle only has crew 1, so anything from a 1 mana
‘Blisertpod’, to a 13 mana ‘Emrakul the Promised End’ can crew this amazing
card. Finally ‘Smuggler’s Copter’ ability is certainly the icing on the cake. The
fact that you can start drawing cards whenever this card attacks AND blocks, makes it an all-star staple
in any deck which is running a decent amount of creatures.
Evidence of
this cards early success in Standard can be seen from the Indianapolis ‘Star
City Games’ Open Weekend (October 1st-2nd). As every deck
in the top 8 deck ended up playing this card. What does this mean for the Kaladesh
Pro Tour in Honolulu, Hawaii? I believe that this can go two ways. Either the
majority of pro tour decks will be running this card, as seen in the Indianapolis
Open, or the majority of decks will be running certain removal to counter and
prevent this card from leading the meta game.
Lastly, I
just wanted to quickly mention an amazing card which combos well with the
Copter. Turn 2, play ‘Smuggler’s Copter’, turn 3, play ‘Fairground Warden’ to
exile one of the opponents creatures. Lastly, use the ‘Fairground Warden’ to
crew the ‘Smuggler’s Copter’ to attack in the air and then draw a card.
In conclusion, I believe that this card will have a massive
impact in Standard during the next couple of months. As speculations and
positive early Standard tournament results, have meant that the price of
‘Smuggler’s Copter’ has risen to 17 dollars each (at the time of typing this
entry). Will the price of this card increase after the Pro Tour? We will yet to
see…
