7pts Singleton is an Old School format that has revived the utility of many creatures that are unplayable in regular Old School due to everyone playing 12 bolts and 4 swords. In fact, from this list 8 of the 10 are barely played in the regular Old School and thanks to this beautiful format we have been able to see the true power they have, designed for a game in which not everyone would play four copies of each card.
Without a doubt, these creatures are the ones that no Old School 7pts Singleton player wants to see in front of them and will sometimes be forced to spend the scarce and precious removal of 7pts creatures on them.
Top 10
Witch hunter
This sinister witch hunter from The Dark can turn into a real nightmare. Going the Distance is a combination of Time Elemental and Prodigal Sorcerer even though he can only return the opponent’s creatures to the hand and deal direct damage to the target player instead of player and creatures.
Its mana cost puts it at the bottom of the list, but it’s a creature to keep in mind as it’s very good against control (it doesn’t need to attack to deal damage) and against midrange decks we can slow them down a lot by returning the big creatures big on opponent hand.
At first you never want to spend your removal on him, but as the turns go by you will begin to notice her annoyance and… You will end up taking him out of the way!
Top 9
Ifh-Bíff Efreet
I’ve loved this creature since I’ve been a traditional Old School player, and I’ve played it in both Eternal Central and Swedish Rules. But as I said in the introduction, in 12-bolt formats it used to not work very well. However, with our beloved 7pts Singleton we can see its true potential.
For many he is simply recognized by his drawing, since he was the face of the apocryphal version of the Serendib Efreet from Revised, but thanks to the 7pts Singleton people are already beginning to see him in his original version and his true power.
It is called “hurricane creature» for its ability to cause «hurricanes». Against control it is incredibly good, and against smaller flying bugs it will sweep the table. If for whatever reason he cannot attack, he will be able to do two damage each turn to both players, which if you win the race of lives means victory. He can also come into play and finish off the opponent as soon as he enters as his ability doesn’t require him to tap.
Like all Efreets and Djinns it is dangerous to its controller, and in this case the danger comes if the opponent plays green. There we have to be very smart when it comes to the table it and activating it the number of times we consider appropriate.
To finish, special mention has its interaction with a very played card in 7pts, the Spirit Link. If we put one on it and activate it twice, we’ll deal 2 damage to the Efreet: we gain 2 life, 2 damage to the opponent: we gain other 2 life, 2 damage to yourself: you gain 2 lives more. The result will be 2 less life for the opponent and 4 more life for us. That is if there are no more creatures that fly on the table but imagine the amount of lives we can win. Who gives more?
Top 8
Brothers of Fire
These brothers who give their name to a British Old School community have shown their true power in 7pts Singleton. At the last 7pts Singleton World Championship held in Madrid, they were included in C. Dominique’s champion UR deck and did well during the tournament.
The ability to activate his ability several times without turning allows him to attack and then, for example, activate his ability twice, doing a total of 4 damage. They are good at the beginning of the game and also in the late game where we can activate their ability several times per turn if we have a lot of mana available. Against decks of small creatures, like weenies, it is devastating and against control it is a constant annoyance.
Also, unlike the Cuombajj Witches, the damage is always redirected to us and there is no possibility of redirecting it to one of our creatures, and in the end 1 point of damage is a small price to pay to activate that great ability; and it has proven to be better card than Orc Artillery (also highly played at 7pts).
Top 7
Prodigal Sorcerer
Our friend «Timmy» since 1993, played a thousand times in the schoolyard and known in Spain by countless names: «The Baker», «The Popeye», «The Basque»…
Unplayable in regular Old School and one of those creatures you never want to see up front in 7pts as it maintains the quality it had in school in 1993. Unlike other creatures like its black step-sister the Sorceress Queen, who looked very good in the school, and has been shown to actually not be that good (since the creatures it transforms keep their abilities), the Prodigal has proven to still be a very useful creature.
Also played in the world champion deck, this wizard skips Moats and will kill all of your bottom one creatures. Trust me, you’ll end up spending removal on this little bastard…
Top 6
Royal Assassín
Mythical, legendary, lethal, another one that has been with us since the schoolyard of 1993. In our beloved 7pts format we can see how powerful it really is, and just as in traditional Old School we have only seen a few loose copies of sideboard, at 7pts it’s a must if you play black as your main color.
More than as a true assassin, he has proven to be more of a «handbrake» for games. If the opponent plays well, in the end it is like a kind of wall since few creatures will attack with this assassin in front of them. However, sometimes you will be forced to attack to continue doing damage, and that’s when the killer can claim some victims…
Another noteworthy point is that it also cancels activated abilities of creatures that require tapping, because it will be the last action of it before dying…
In closing, one of our favorite 7pt combos should be noted and that is the combination of him with the Icy Manipulator as seen in the 7pts Worlds semi-finals in the BR matchup against White Weenie.
Top 5
Argívian Archaeologist
This Argivian archaeologist has worked tirelessly unearthing ancient remains from Atlantis, Hyperborea, Lemuria, Mu, the Hollow Earth… but more importantly, he recovers our buried artifacts back to hand.
Such a recursive creature usually doesn’t last long on the table (it’s one of those creatures that when they come into play and the opponent has a dangerous artifact in the graveyard… you have to kill instantly!). I find it really powerful in Control and Midrange decks, and a bit slower for aggro decks like White Weenie where I wouldn’t play it.
My favorite interactions are with cards from Fallen Empires (and there’s nothing more reminiscent of an RPG than an archaeologist unearthing artifacts from «fallen empires»), such as Conch Horn or Aeolipile, but of course it’s brutal with the Chaos Orb if you have five mana on the board.
In the end, direct recalls like Regrowth, Recall, or Reconstruction are better, but it’s a plugin that can really annoy your opponent and win you the game.
Top 3-4
Preacher
I really didn’t know whether to place it in the Top 3 or in the Top 4 because I consider it to be at least similar in power to its next counterpart.
A pissed off preacher, with a classic pompadour, fresh from the depths of Alabama to convince the opponent’s creatures to fight on our side.
Monogreen mages will understand that this is one of your worst nightmares when playing low removal creature decks. It will always steal our smallest creature and use it to block if we attack, chipping away at our army on every attack. If we are lucky to have a creature with evasion to be able to give another one, the opponent will attack every turn with our creature that we do not want to block and kill it because then it would steal the good creature, which would make it «unblockable» at times.
In short, a real nightmare that we will have to kill if we want to win with creatures, also, I see it as good in control, midrange and aggro decks.
Top 3-4
Old Man of the Sea
The counterpart of the Preacher in blue, this old strangler of the sea comes from the most ancient tales of the Arabian Nights to kidnap your creatures.
Unlike the Preacher he doesn’t allow us to control big creatures, but he makes up for it positively in that we can choose which creature we want to control (whereas with the Preacher the opponent chooses it).
Assuming that at 7pts a 2/3 for three mana isn’t bad anymore, imagine if you pair it with the ability to steal your opponent’s creatures. It’s true that they can’t have power 3 or more, but imagine how many good creatures of power 2 or less are played at 7pts. Without going any further from this same list he could control 8 of the 10 creatures!
Another creature that fits perfectly in all types of decks that play blue and that you will have to eliminate many times if you have it in front of you and you want to play small creatures.
Top 2
Guardian Beast
This beast has seen some play in regular Old School, at least one copy in Grixis Discotrol, BR Discotrol, due to its great interaction with the Nevinyrral Disc, and also Power-Monolit to defend artifacts. Let’s not forget that while it is untapped our artifacts are indestructible so, for example, the disc will not destroy itself and we can use it twice.
Assuming that it is a 2/4 for four mana, what is already a good «wall» base, which makes it really powerful at 7pts, and one of the reasons why it is on the watch list of possible points cards, is its interaction with the Chaos Orb, since according to the text the Chaos Orb destroys itself when using it, but being indestructible it would stay tapped and we can use it once per turn.
The combination Guardian Beast – Chaos Orb often means the end of the game if we can not destroy the beast (a creature with ass 4 difficult to kill), and also many times it is played in decks with Demonic Tutor capable of searching one of the two pieces of the combo. It will start by destroying one land per turn and then all our permanents… A nightmare!
Without a doubt, for me it is the second best creature in the format because it is easy to splash (it only requires a black mana), it is good in statistics and can also be used to attack, it is the most difficult to kill on this entire list (it skips bolts, terror…) and its ability stays with other pseudoremovals like Spirit Link, Gaseous Form… etc. And of course for its multiple combos with the aforementioned Chaos Orb, Disco and Rocket Launcher (which we can activate as many times as we want).
Top 1
Triskelion
The “coffee pot” has earned in her own right being the first creature in the format to earn 1 value point. And it is not by chance. It goes into any deck, aggro and especially midrange and control due to its combo with Tawnos’s Coffin which can do a «fireball effect» as a finisher even in decks that don’t play red.
For those of you who don’t know much about the format, a classic style of ending games in 7pts is with a Tawnos’s Coffin and a Triskelion, since the exiled creature keeps the counters, so the Triskelion comes out of the coffin with three more counters, in total 6, then 9, then 12… also if we only have an artifact destroyer we will have to cast over the coffin and in response our opponent will eat the Triski so that he returns to the game with 6 counters in total, with what we will have in front of us a 7/7 monster with the ability to deal 6 direct damage.
On many occasions, he usually generates card advantage since he can kill up to 3 creatures with resistance 1 as soon as he enters, staying on the table. We can raise it to the hand with Reconstruction, copy it with Copy Artifact, if they are going to steal it from us with Steal Artifact or Control Magic, do 2 damage to the opponent and sacrifice it to himself, if they are going to hit him with swords we can do the same and thus have it in the graveyard to recover it… etc. etc.
In short, the creature with the most tricks in the format and the one most seen at the tables. We will now see what his presence will be by having to pay 1 point to wear it and if it is still as definitive as it has been up to now, but, without a doubt, it is the biggest bomb in the format.
In closing, this list is based on my personal opinion, and my experience of two years playing the format. You guys will have your most broken creatures, but I think this list fits the format pretty well. Of course, I’m waiting for your comments, especially on Facebook, so you can tell me which creatures you think should be included in this list because of their abilities, and because their power has increased a lot by 7pts Singleton compared to the traditional Old School.
Cheers and Old School!
Luis E.
Liga Madrileña Old School MTG 