Thursday, May 5, 2011

New Phyrexia Spoilers Part 7: Artifacts

So the artifacts of the set get their turn this time round and we have quite a few as i would believe from a artifact based set, so let's begin with the basics.

#129) Alloy Myr - You knew this was coming a myr that basically adds stuff to your mana pool for 3 mana, as a uncommon 2/2 it's decent though not a replacement for Palladium Myr, defintely not a replacement for Gold Myr or anything but it adds any color mana which is nice i guess if you're playing off color.

#130) Batterskull - First mythic living weapon card ever, let's see it gives the dude it's attached to +4/+4 vigilance and lifelink, you can pay 3 mana to return it to your hand, it costs 5 mana to summon and 5 to equip, me thinks this is the new best friend of a certain mystic from Worldwake.

#131) Blinding Souleater - If i am not mistaken there is also Blinding Mage in this format where you can tap down a creature, but mage is a 2/1 while this dude costs 3 and is a 1/3 really, really now are they that determined to do this to us, next!

#132) Caged Sun - Ok let's see if i can wrap my head round this for 6 mana you get to choose a color when this enters the battlefield and creatures of that color get +1/+1 and when you tap lands for mana you get one mana of that color from this, so is this good hell yes it is, it's a ramp spell's dream it's like the expensive lotus cobra but colorless so all mana colors can use this one, so it fits perfectly into a artifact deck or a green ramp deck, this is just wow, turn 4 play this, turn 6 cast a eldrazi goddamn this sounds like fun to play.

#133) Conversion Chamber - Another slow counters artifact where you gotta tap it twice and pay 4 mana for a 3/3 golem, you may get to exile something but tell me is it worth it as a uncommon in this set, no it is not, limited may like this though.

#134) Darksteel Relic - 0 mana for a metalcraft count card, that basically cannot be blown up, decent for a metalcraft deck in this format, but nothing more.

#135) Etched Monstrosity - Oh gee a 10/10 that starts as a 5/5 and you pay 1 of each mana to basically draw 3 cards, making it a 10/10 again for 5 mana, wait what 5 mana is all you need to summon this mythic wow that's broken.

#136) Gremlin Mine -  A 1 mana artifact that you have to sacrifice to either remove counters from a non creature artifact or deal 4 damage to a creature artifact, really shame on you wizards shame.

#137) Hex Parasite - Well now onto something different then we've seen so far a 1/1 for 1 mana that basically says, Kill Jace or any walker when you tap X amount of mana plus tap for a phyrexian black mana plus it gets a +1/+0 counter for each counter removed this way when you do it so bonus much, it's name is something to be desired though personally i would name it something else but that is just me.

#138) Hovermyr - Flying and vigilance on a myr, thus making a hovermyr i guess, 2 mana for a 1/2 and it can dodge ground dudes, while blocking decent i guess, this is actually great in combo with Batterskull.

#139) Immolating Souleater - All we get from this dude is a firebreathing effect on a 1/1 for 2 mana as a common limited fodder.

#140) Insatiable Souleater - Another dude that basically says pay 1 phyrexian mana to give me my special ability, as a 5/1 for 4 i can understand trample on this dude.

#141) Isolation Cell - 4 mana for a artifact that forces opponents to pay 2 mana or lose 2 life when they summon creatures, could be the next early control spell for that matter, we will have to wait and see what lists it occupies since it is a artifact.

#142) Kiln Walker - So this set has a dude that pumps itself when it attacks and ROE had a dude that pumped itself when spells were played, not bad since this starts as a 0/3 for 3 mana it's a decent attacker but nothing more then a useless wall when it doesn't attack

#143) Lashwrithe - Hmm i doubt i would use this personally even though it has the mechanic Living Weapon from MBS and all, it's equip cost is 2 black phyrexian mana and the creature equipped with this gets +1/+1
for each swamp you control, not bad, but not good espically since it's a 4 drop to summon at this point, Bonehoard is still a better living weapon card in my eyes.

#144) Mindcrank - Another mill artifact just great or crank as they would say, really damage is required to remove cards with this specific artifact and that, there are a lot better mill cards out there and this isn't one of them.

#145) Mycosynth Wellspring -  You know for a land fetching artifact this is not half bad, you get two cracks with this one, when it enters the battlefield and when it is sent to the graveyard, for 2 mana so you get a decent ramp spell with this dude when it comes into play, it also fits perfectly into tempered steel me thinks and would make a decent artifact target for Myrsmith.

#146) Myr Superion - Ah the game day card at last, this dude is 2 mana and can only be cast via creature mana such as Birds or elves, fits perfectly into a elf deck or a casual myr deck, expect this dude to hit 3 to 4 dollars due to his power/toughness ratio.

#147) Necropouncer - So 6 mana nets you a +3/+1 living weapon that has haste as well, for 6 mana it's a lame living weapon and that, expect this to be a decent pass on most limited builds except when your forced to take it.

#148) Omen Machine - A 6 mana artifact that basically says play free spells and lands all you want but you cannot draw with this so it's a basic skip your draw step, fun times, as a rare this is gonna be a interesting way to play most good spells for 6 mana since you play off the top of your deck most of the time.

#149) Pestilent Souleater - Another soul eater and it basically is too expensive to play 5 mana for a 3/3 that can get infect, late game yes, early on no since there is little way to bring it into play without ramping towards better spells then this.

#150) Phyrexian Hulk - Wow i never thought i'd see this reprinted ever, 5/4 vanilla hulk for 6 mana i loved using this back in the day with free artifact equips, this is a good reprint for a beatstick.

#151) Pristine Talisman - Originally featured as a game day promotion card this card is still going to be a mirran based card in this set even though phyrexia has won, there are remanants of Mirrodin lying around all over the place in this set, as you might expect Pristine Talisman does the following, when you tap it after paying it's 3 mana cost summoning, you can gain 1 life and add 1 to your mana pool, as a mana enhancer this is all well and good but as a common i expect this to be like 25 cents when it comes out due to the fact there are better enhancers out there to do the job.

#152) Shrine of Boundless Growth -  A shrine eh, this one is for green and let me say this putting counters on this is fun since it's removal ability allows you to add 1 to your mana pool for each counter on this one, for 3 mana it's a decent spell and is perfect flavour for green.

#153) Shrine of Burning Rage - Red's shrine and it does what you'd expect deals direct damage

#154) Shrine of Limitless Power - Black's shrine and it makes opponents discard, there isn't a lot to talk about for this particular cycle of cards personally.

#155) Shrine of Loyal Legions - Things that makes dudes are fun, things that make dudes when you play white spells even better or at the beginning of your upkeep, lots of fun for me in a idea deck.

#156) Shrine of Piercing Vision - Blue's shrine and it let's you look at X cards where x is the number of counters on it, then you put one in your hand and the rest on the bottom of the library not bad really for a cycle finale.

#157) Sickleslicer - What a strange named card, but this card does have the mechanic living weapon and it's bonus is a +2/+2 bonus ok i can live with that, with a equip cost of 4 though it's a little iffy, as a uncommon at 3 mana it's somewhat ok balanced and well taken care of in the long run but not a card you are gonna be seeing often in any format, except for Limited.

#158) Soul Conduit - 6 mana for a artifact rare that you pay 6 mana and tap to exchange life totals, good in a pinch i tell you and good way to say you lose to your opponent.

#159) Spellskite - A 2 drop artifact creature that is a 0/1 um am i missing something here, wait there is more my bad, for a phyrexian blue mana you get to basically do a Redirect effect where a target of a spell or a ability targets this instead, it's a rare wizards!. Come on seriously this should be a common not a rare R&D screwed up again, seriously this is annoying to see them screw up so much in this card by it's rarity alone, making it a 1/1 would have been better or a 1/4 but a 0/1 seriously junk rare.

#160) Surge Node - A pretty decent artifact that lets you put charge counters on other things, great way to transfer counters without needing other spells too for 1 mana you get a artifact that has 6 charge counters and you pay 1 mana and tap it to remove a charge counter and place it on another artifact, not bad finally a way to power titan forge.

#161) Sword of War and Peace - So the completion of the cycle of swords is here and this is the basics +2/+2 and protection from white and red are the names of the game, when the equipped creature deals damage to a player you get to deal damage to the opponent equal to the number of cards in his/her hand and you gain X life where X is the number of cards in your hand, not bad, but pretty lame finisher i was expecting it to do something else personally.

#162) Torpor Orb - Multiplayer has a new broken card in the form of Torpor Orb, activated abilites cannot be used with this thing on the field, so etb abilites will not trigger, it costs 2 mana and it's a rare expect to see this one real soon on standard floors.

#163) Trespassing Souleater - Well could this get any more interesting so for a 3 mana 2/2 you get the option to make it unblockable, by paying one Blue phyrexian mana and it's a common at that, balanced i like it a lot, sounds like a fun beatstick to play and early and often you are gonna be using it's ability with blue on the table if you got the mana to support it, pretty good for a construct.

#164) Unwinding Clock - This basically says untap dudes and win by taking out all other dudes in your way, for 4 mana you get a artifact that allows you to untap all your dudes when you've attacked or blocked for that matter at the beginning of each player's turn, this is so broken and sounds so fun to play.

Well that will call it for this set of spoilers, stay tuned for part 8 tommorow where i do my normal wrap up, enjoy.

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