Each Element’s Top Picks In Gothic Limited

Written by portland_stew

In the two weeks since Gothic released, I’ve played six sealed pools and three drafts, so while I’m not an expert, I’m surely an addict! I noticed several headlines of the Limited format in the age of Gothic:

Necromancer is broken good.
Interrogator is a trap.
Gift of the Wolf and Gift of the Serpent are must-picks.
Zap! wins games.
Element distribution is all over the place.

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Initial experience suggests that Gothic tends toward longer, grindier games than Arthurian Legends (AL) did, with much more back-and-forth. More than ever, card advantage through two-for-ones and one-for-nones is essential. Let’s start our Exploration of Gothic Limited by looking at avatars.

Gothic Avatars in Limited

Gothic features four avatars in the Exceptional slot of booster packs: Necromancer, Savior, Persecutor, and Harbinger. The rest of the Gothic avatars are at Elite or Unique rarity, so they are unlikely pulls in sealed or draft.

Necromancer is an easy-to-play, high-value avatar that is a must-pick in draft and a must-play in sealed — dare I say ALWAYS worth playing instead of Spellslinger.
- A bonus body every turn without spending a card is invaluable.
- It combos with any element and functions like having a Torshammer Trinket in constructed.
- There are four minions at Ordinary and Exceptional, which can be resummoned from the cemetery by sacrificing Skeletons.
- Necromancer tends toward long games and gains value as the game progresses.
Harbinger does the least. Its mana-discounting effect is random during setup, and it doesn’t generate any material.
- In draft, if picked early, lean into a higher mana curve.
- Harbinger might feel better than Spellslinger, but it’s unclear if the mana discount is worth a card.
- Rarely worthwhile in sealed without hitting a boatload of bombs and voidwalkers.
Savior has huge value potential, but the non-evil limitation is restrictive — fewer than half of the Ordinary and Exceptional minions are non-evil; many of which are lackluster.
- Early-picking Savior in draft (or with a lucky sealed pool) can be really powerful.
  - Hitting your avatar in a sealed without the necessary playable non-evil minions — at least six, but ideally eight-plus playables — that benefit from Savior, then Spellslinger’s extra card is better.
- If you get at least six playable non-evil minions, Savior functions like a one-cost recastable Squire since Wards serve similarly to Lances.
Persecutor offers extra movement with 2 power. The combination leverages close-range removal and sneaks extra damage.
- Don’t fear taking direct damage to improve position.
- Building around Persecutor favors a lower mana curve and the use of power-up artifacts.
  - Persecutor does well trading life points to remove minions. Superior position is key in Limited.
- Cards often considered unplayable can excel in Persecutor, like 1-cost minions and +1-power artifacts. Good cards like Begone!, Holy Water, and Smite are fantastic in Persecutor.

The remaining Gothic avatars are conditional build-arounds and appear less frequently. I would rather play Spellslinger for the extra card, but Consider playing Ironclad, Animist, Interrogator, and Bladedancer if your pool can support them.

Ironclad and Bladedancer are strong avatars with enough gear.
- Four 1-cost artifacts offer +1 power at Exceptional. They’re typically plentiful in sealed and lower picks in draft.
Animist can treat spells as on-rate minions, which sounds promising but has yet to prove powerful in Limited.
Interrogator, the darling of the early Gothic constructed world, has great value potential in constructed, but is challenging to support in sealed and draft.
- Limited games are typically spent trying to trigger Interrogator rather than solid gameplay.
- Picking backrow, low-power, sneak-attack minions can hit the opposing avatar while they cast on-curve minions to attack your undefended sites.
- Interrogator can be strong in Limited, but it can trick players into focusing on its ability rather than fundamentals.

Elite and Unique avatars have flashy mechanics but ultimately underperform.

Trust Themes, Not Specifics

Gothic is the most extensive set of Sorcery ever, and it’s apparent in Limited. Unlike in AL, Exceptionals are unlikely to appear reliably.

There are 108 different Ordinary and Exceptional minions. Staying flexible and thematic is essential. Identify synergies and/or core mechanics that are frequent in your sealed pool, especially if you pulled one of the Exceptional avatars.

Standard draft wisdom applies in Gothic. There is excellent removal in each element — prioritize it since the set size reduces its as-fan*.

*Adjusted definition per Mark Rosewater, Head Designer of Magic: The Gathering: “For Limited, as-fan stands for ‘as-fanned’ and concerns how often something appears when fanning an average booster pack. Solving Limited means getting as high as an as-fan in your theme as you can. As-fan issues are usually solved at Ordinary, they comprise the vast majority of cards in a booster.”

Ensure six or so removal spells in your Limited deck. Gothic’s larger set size makes it risky to read too much into packs. It is common for packs not to have support for every element. This can trick experienced drafters into reading signals that might not be there.

Larger minions are in short supply outside of Water. As a result, they are my second-highest priority when not playing Water. With a few exceptions, expect games to go long; prioritize value and board presence above all else.

Have the confidence to play several high-cost cards — looking at you, Ten-Tonne Slug. They might have been a trap in previous sets for Limited play, but not in Gothic. Lower curves are smart only if you are confident your deck is fast enough to get under the grindier environment that Gothic lends to.

Gothic sealed is unstable. Every sealed pool feels different. The sheer number of cards requires careful consideration of what your pool offers. Battle avatars with good equipment or Necromancer with recursive Skeleton-summon minions — Bone Jumble, Fowl Bones, Barrow Wight, and Zombie Bruiser — are excellent. Still, pools without inherently powerful combos are more common (e.g., opening Savior without playable, non-evil minions).

Pools can often be absent minions with 5+ power other than Undesirables. Staying low to the ground can pay off, but the danger of being out-tempo’d by a Wreathed in Righteousness or another two-for-one is ever-present.

Play to your elements’ strengths, but don’t hesitate to splash a third element for strong, single-threshold cards. Let’s break down the core mechanics and strongest Ordinaries and Exceptionals for each element.

Air — Death by 1,000 Cuts

Air in Gothic is good in Limited because it complements every other element well. I’ve used air as one of my two elements in all but one Sealed pool so far.

Top 5 Air Ordinaries

Screamer — Always Ruins opponents’ plans. It’s a 3-power body that pushes blockers to help kill a more critical minion.
Willing Tribute — Solid rate that can unlock crazy plays. Often functions as 2-cost removal.
Snallygaster — Flexible 3-mana, 3-power minion that complicates the board with its mobility.
Forsaken — My favorite of the 2-mana, 3-power Ordinaries.
- Turn two Forsaken offers turn four attack the opponent’s starting site. A 3-power body in a relatively unusual position leads the opponent to play off-position, opening other avenues of attack to control the game.
Zap! — Incredible when the opponent’s at Death’s Door.
- Helps trade up — in draft, I always pick Ghoul, Static Servant, and Murder of Crows higher.
- Playable in most sealed pools.
- Zap! has been my 23rd or 24th card and often dealt critical death blows or pivoted the game with a timely trade-up against a bigger threat.

Top 3 Air Exceptionals

Kiss of Death — Must pick hard removal.
Stygian Archers — Controls the realm like no other Exceptional 3-drop.
- Three mana for 3-power Ranged is hugely threatening.
- Opponents often use their best removal spells to kill it.
Bitter Departed — Great for laying traps.
- Serves as removal and movement.
- My favorite 2-drop at Ordinary/Exceptional.
- Pick Those Who Linger higher when available.

Fire — Aggro, But Less So Than Past Sets

Fire sticks with its classic themes of damage-based removal and Charge minions. Notably, Fire lacks large bodies at Ordinary and Exceptional. Gothic has strong Ordinary removal across all elements. As a result, Fire is not a must-play element in Gothic sealed.

Fire facilitates lower-to-the-ground builds with aggressively costed minions with downsides.

Top 5 Fire Ordinaries

Gift of the Serpent — Incredible card advantage.
Trial by Fire/Flame Strike — Counting both as three damage for three mana spells. Trial by Fire’s single threshold is easy to splash. Flame Strike’s is often a two-for-one or better.
Wild Fanatic — 2 power with Charge for two mana and wardable!
Flayer — Almost always kills a minion off an assist to swing a board state (e.g., attack a 2-power into a 3-power minion, then cast Flayer to trade up).
Ignited — Two mana, three damage removal spell disguised as a minion. Not quite a Firebolts, but often feels similar. Can’t dodge blockers, but allows removal vectors that Firebolts wouldn’t.

Top 3 Fire Exceptionals

Hotwheel
- Death blow dealer? ꪜ
- Two-for-one trades? ꪜ
- Built-in movement? ꪜ
- Four damage for four mana that leaves a 2-power body onboard; effectively 6 power.
Begone!
- Banish anything anywhere? ꪜ (Technically not everything, but most playable minions are evil).
Wreathed in Righteousness
- Incredible at clearing minions.
- Exceptional rarity in a set where board wipes are in short supply

Honorable mention to Searing Truth.

Water — Big Bois and Tricks

Water is the element I’ve played least, but not for lack of power. Water offers the easiest access to powerful minions and, like in other sets, has distinct play patterns.

Gothic leaned Water into the “Lure” mechanic. There are many ways to pull minions toward you and rewards for doing so. A typical play pattern is Mesmer Demon moving a minion to be crushed by Ten-Tonne Slug.

Shoggoth and Slimy Mutants are disheartening. Instigator Imp is, without a doubt, the most playable of the Imp cycle. I’m low on Gift of the Frog, but it might be better than just a cantripping chump blocker or transformation fodder.

Of all the elements, Water is the most challenging to pick a top 3 Exceptionals; so many are so good.

Top 5 Water Ordinaries

Mesmer Demons
- G.O.A.T. of the Water Ordinaries.
- 3-power for three mana is always playable.
  - Typically generates a free kill by pulling a minion into kill range.
Ice Shards
- Magic Missiles and Firebolts were top-tier spells in past sets. Ice Shards is slightly worse, but similar for one more mana.
Weathered Trunks
- 4 power for four mana with a single threshold is precious.
- Super splashable.
- 4-power bodies in Gothic are valuable.
Trial by Water
- Solid removal for heavy Water decks.
- Similar to Drown, though Water is only a fourth of the Realm.
- Flexible casting range and caster as soon as an enemy is on water.
Instigator Imp — This slot probably belongs to Moss Troll, but Instigator Imp has performed well in early Gothic Limited.
- Potential 2-mana two-for-none removal spell.
  - Requires setup and will likely be played around more as players learn how to play against Water.
- Water’s access to forced movement enables Instigator Imp well.

Top 3 Water Exceptionals

Estranged Loner
- Effectively, 5 power for three mana.
  - Not all that power at once, but an inherent two-for-one.
  - Unlike other deathrite-based summoning mechanics, Estranged Loner gets stronger when it dies rather than weaker.
Failed Mutation
- 4 power for four mana that can’t be killed with standard removal spells.
Gnarled Wendigo
- 5 power bodies dominate Limited.
- Often cheated out quickly in Necromancer constructed and super playable in Limited.
- Paying six mana for 5 power is Limited-playable.
  - Pairs well with Gift of the Frog, Novice Necromancer, Four Fat Frogs, and Estranged Loner.
  - Heavy combo potential.

Earth — Removal and Solid Bodies

Earth in Gothic Limited is the least flashy but most stable of the elements. Earth has the strongest Ordinary removal and access to super-solid Ordinary and Exceptional 4+ power minions.

Earth’s weakness is a lack of minions with upside. Other elements have more minions, which help pull off combat tricks and sneaky plays. Reliable access to on-rate staples makes Earth augmentally great with tricks from other elements.

Top 5 Earth Ordinaries

Gift of the Wolf — The best Limited Ordinary spell in the set.
- Card neutral combat trick that functions much like Gift of the Serpent with upside.
- Often kills without trading.
Smite — My most common pick-one in draft.
- Castable by any ally to deal a death blow or remove most threats.
Buried Alive — In Beta, Bury was the best Ordinary removal. It’s crazy that Buried Alive is number 3 on this list.
- Almost always kills your primary target.
Zombie Horde
- 5 power for five with a single threshold.
- Not quite as powerful due to a larger pool of higher-power minions, but Consider Zombie Horde as the Amazon Warriors of Gothic.
Monks of Kobalsa — Gothic’s Brown Bears
- 4 power for four mana.
- Sometimes, its ability protects it from the opponent’s tricks. Othertimes, I can’t give it the Gift of the Wolf.

Top 3 Earth Exceptionals

Holy Nova
- Top-tier area damage removal that only hits enemies!
- It can be challenging to position, but it’s super effective once converted.
Zombie Bruiser
- Recurring 4-power body.
- Annoying to play against.
Intrepid Hero or Gravedigger — I can’t decide. Intrepid Hero often trades up and stalls evil bombs. Gravedigger is a solid 2-drop that sometimes buryies a Zombie Horde or Stygian Archer.

Honorable Mentions and Double-Edged Swords

Zero Airborne minions made my lists. However, any Airborne minion with 2 or more power is Limited-playable. Avenging Angel is a standout Air flyer that barely missed my list.

Holy Water, Bull Whip, and Torch and Pitchfork should be high in your pick order. They’ve all three been impressive.

2- and 3-power minions are abundant, and therefore, the latter are more important. Almost every Limited deck I’ve built has required playing more 2-power minions than I wanted, so minions with 3 power are more valuable.

Sites

All of the sites that genesis a 3-mana, 3-power minion from the collection — Forlorn Keep, Molten Maar, Forsaken Crypt, and Peculiar Port — are valuable card advantage and should be picked relatively highly. Many other collection mechanic cards are powerful, though few are perhaps not as good as they appear.

For example, Toolbox is excellent for access to special-use spells that wouldn’t always make the main deck (especially great with Bloom sites to Toolbox an off-element spell). Still, sometimes you don’t have enough playables for the collection to make Toolbox worthwhile.

Troubled Town can be dangerous to run in threshold-greedy decks. It is, however, a great minion-generating site that outperforms Open Grave and Open Mausoleum in single-element or two-element lists with a max two-pip threshold.

Closing Thoughts

Overall, Gothic Limited is exciting and rewarding in its complexity. Necromancer and Persecutor are frustrating when they lead to one-sided games, but there is room to combat them if you know what to play around. There are tons of nifty combos that support build-arounds.

Playing Pith Imp with Wiccan Tools to cast an opponent’s stolen spell feels freaking awesome! I’m excited to see what emerges in the coming months of Gothic Limited and doubly so when we combine all three sets into Limited pools.

Until then, may your holiday gifts be of the Wolf and Serpent, and happy hunting to all you Stygian Archers aiming for the Necro pack in your pool!