So as i promised here is this article on the newest abilites and such of scars of mirrodin so you people aren't too confused on what they are and how they work, the three key abilites to look out for are, Metalcraft, Infect and of course Proliferate, so let's begin examining all of the three abilites starting with Metalcraft.
Metalcraft is a unique keyword that focuses more on artifacts and how many you control a few examples of metalcraft are Chrome Steed, Ezuri's Brigade and of course Argent Sphinx with each their own metalcraft ability, note there are no two same abilites in metalcraft, each affects a card in a unique manner and it's interaction is always different when it comes to artifact based decks in general, a good example of this is Galvanic Blast, it's a burn spell that only costs 1 red mana, but metalcraft effects this card greatly in the long run, espically since the amount of damage with metalcraft is doubled from 2 to 4. A more interesting card in terms of metalcraft usage i feel is Argent Sphinx as it's ability to blink in and out when targeted by damage in general is something most blue players would appreciate these days, espically when it comes to blocking, as the Sphinx comes into play at the end of a turn, whether it be the opponent's or yours. Another card with metalcraft that is very unique and useful is Kuldotha Phoenix, it has a return to the battlefield clause from the graveyard with metalcraft, as long as you have the 3 artifacts and pay the 4 mana cost for it's ability, however there is a small drawback, you can only use it during your upkeep at the beginning phase of your turn, this in mind however it's nice to have a 4/4 that is pretty much unkillable with metalcraft similar to Argent Sphinx in it's respect, metalcraft however is a brand new mechanic and i think we may end up seeing in the late set of the block again since it seems to be kicking off very well, depending on how things go of course.
Before i begin detailing infect, let's look at the other ability of course Proliferate, this is a keyword that phyrexia uses for conquering and such in the magic universe, Proliferate is as follows, A card with this ability when proliferate activates, you may place a counter on a already existing counter and any other counter present on the battlefield, so meaning you may place another poison counter on your opponent if he/she has one prior to proliferate, a counter on your planeswalkers, whatever is present, -1/-1 counters on creatures that possess these counters and +1/+1 counters on any creatures that possess these counters, you are allowed to choose any and all of these effects when proliferate is activated, so meaning you have the oppourtunity to put yourself ahead of your opponent when proliferate activates, there are 12 cards with proliferate in this set, let's look at a few of these shall we?. The first one i want to go over is Steady Progress, this costs 2 and a blue mana and has proliferate as well as giving you a extra card in that respect, this is useful since it is a common blue card in this set and your going to be seeing it a lot passed around during drafting and the like. Proliferate is not bad at all but it does have some minor drawbacks, if you choose not to put any counters on anything, then no counters are issued and such the game continues as per normal, if you do select one then that particular thing will get a counter, whatever it may be of course. The next card on my list for proliferate is of course Throne of Geth, this is a artifact that costs 2 mana and has tap this artifact and sacrifice a artifact to proliferate, this is unique as there are only one of these type of effects where sacrificing something causes you to proliferate and add counters as per you want, again if you choose not to, then it is your decision proliferate is a mechanic that speeds up what i am about to talk about Infect.
Perhaps the most common keyword of the three in this set with over 20 cards possessing this keyword, infect is a damage based ability where as you deal damage the power of the creature that deals damage puts that many poison counters onto the player whom was dealt damage on the turn he/she was attacked, blockers who decide to block creatures with infect receive what is known as -1/-1 counters which remove a point from power and toughness making a creature all the more weaker, however there are certain things which make infect a little more powerful, one of them being trample damage, the remaining damage is dealt as poison counters plus standard combat damage, so if a Ichorclaw Myr attacks and is blocked, but has something that gives it trample such as overrun, it has a overall P/T Ratio of 4/4 without the blocking effect kicking in and it is blocked by a 2/2 Runeclaw Bear the runeclaw bear will receive 2 -1/-1 counters and be removed from play with the remaining damage which is 4 in this case being dealt as damage plus poison counters, note you only need 10 poison counters to win against your opponent, Also the damage is chosen as per obvious from this, so if two blockers are chosen, you assign damage as per normal in this case, then the -1/-1 counters are issued from the combat damage and assigned to the two blockers whom blocked the creature this makes things a little easier to understand doesn't it?
There is a returning effect from this set called Imprint, which removes a card from the game, depending on what imprint ability card is put into play and the effect varies, i don't need to explain imprint as it is a older ability and is such taken care of by the rules FAQ which is found here ----> Rules FAQ Well that is all for now and i hope you find this article useful for some respect for the new set of scars of mirrodin which is a week old as of this article, thank you for reading and i will see you next article.
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