So it's that time again, it's time for the monthly addition of the magic news this edition we will be taking a look at some of the stuff i've already discussed including new product which is just releasing very soon, Duel Deck Knights vs Dragons, the Deckbuilder's Toolkit 2.0 and the results of Magic Weekend in Paris so let's go.
As everyone knows by now duel deck knights vs dragons is scheduled for a april 1st launch with 2 decks, one featuring Knight of the Reliquary and the other duel deck featuring Bogardan Hellkite as the mythic rares, each deck will be 60 cards, feature about 5 rares per deck and will go for about 19.99 roughly in the united states, here it will probably end up being about 24.99 roughly due to store owner's liking to make money off the danged thing, the deck lists have yet to be revealed but as you may recall i talked about this most recently in the last discussion article linked here ----> Knights vs Dragons Talk so you can catch up and see what all the hype is about,
Next on the list is the deckbuilder's toolkit 2.0 following up on the success of the last toolkit released about this time last year, it will again feature 285 cards, 100 lands, 125 random cards and 4 booster packs and will go for about 20 dollars as i said in the article here ----> Toolkit Article this toolkit is a great way for those to get started once again in magic and i feel it important to discuss the aspects of buying this, it gives you ideas for decks, as well as tips and tricks from the pros themselves, since wizards asks for their input for these things, it gives all the necessites to get started, basic lands, random cards and booster packs, it also gives you a neat carrying case for up to 4 decks, as well as being spaced out enough to fit in your backpack or bag of your choice, it's cheap and even suits those magic players whom have not been able to keep up with standard. It also has 4 random boosters from current standard sets and even features stunning artwork on the back of the box this is usually a hot seller look at the first one for crying out loud.
Magic weekend paris was a doozy of a weekend featuring both a Pro Tour and a Grand Prix at the same time, this being the first time in history this has happened and the fact the player of the year race was decided at this event, Brad Nelson took home the title of player of the year from Guillaume Matignon whom played brillantly but brad took it in 5 games to win the 2010 player of the year, this being old news though let's recap the last month of grand prix's and all that, we've seen new standard decks in the form of Tezzert Control, some ramp decks like Valakut and even some aggressive decks like quest decks which are somewhat cheap to build, overall this is pretty solid and features a lot of new ideas for the coming months which also fuel PTQ's and even FNM's to boot, should be a good one.
Well that's all for this month's edition if you have a idea for me for next month's news let me know down below in the comments and till next time readers, keep your magic hand strong, because you never know there might be a oppourtunity for you to be at the next Pro Tour just around the corner see you all next time.
Monday, March 7, 2011
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Casual Deck Examination: #4 Myr.DEC
It's that time again it's time for another casual deck examination this edition will feature the latest stuff coming off the Scars of Mirrodin Block including some very powerful Myr type cards, so let's begin with the decklist as usual shall we?
Lands = 21
6 Plains
4 Forest
3 Terramorphic Expanse
4 Swamp
2 Mountain
2 Island
Creatures = 26
3 Myr Battlesphere
3 Iron Myr
4 Silver Myr
3 Copper Myr
3 Gold Myr
4 Myr Galvanizer
3 Myrsmith
3 Leaden Myr
Spells = 11
2 Titanic Ultimatum
2 Cruel Ultimatum
4 Diabolic Tutor
1 Revoke Existence
1 Path to Exile
1 Doom Blade
1 Volcanic Fallout
1 Demolish
Sideboard = 15
2 Path to Exile
2 Journey to Nowhere
3 Argentum Armor
2 Indomitable Archangel
3 Myr Propagator
4 Master's Call
Now the rares are something since there are quite a few of them to talk about, first being the Myr Battlesphere it's literally the biggest dude in the deck and it makes more dudes when it drops, this being the only rare maindeck creature at 7 mana, the other rares for the deck are Cruel and Titanic Ultimatium which both are very useful for a clinch in this deck, it's a decent engine with a lot of potential in it. Sideboard wise most of the other rares are here, Argentum Armor, Archangel and even Myr Propagator make the sideboard possible and a lot more fun, since metalcraft is the most prominent in this deck i can also run 2 copies of the Archangel to ensure the sideboard has a lot of options and is protecting the main deck from getting annhilated.
Uncommons for the deck may or may not include a 2 of Path to Exile, which i intend to replace with Swords to Plowshares, Master's Call which makes more Myr dudes, a full set of Tutors, a shotgun Volcanic Fallout for a board sweeper and even a Myr Galvanizer for that extra bit of bad assery in the late game, the maindeck Path is also going to be replaced with a swords to plowshares as well. However the main meat of the deck is the Myrsmith, dumping a bunch of 1/1's in play isn't bad enough but when 2 Galvanizers are on the field it's bad times in little haiti for you since you're now facing a bunch of 3/3 dudes with some serious butt whoop.
The rest of the deck is the commons, all 5 mana myr are present for the deck making most of the creature base, the rest of the shotgun engine including Doom Blade, Revoke Existence and even a Demolish just to ensure that keycard is removed from the game that is annoying you, overall it's a beast of a deck and in the right hands it can do a infinte combo mana wise and make sure you play all 4 Ulti's in a single turn if you have them in hand, otherwise it's a decent engine with a lot to say for itself early on, offense and defense wise this is perhaps the 2nd best offensive deck i've got if you do things right, if not then it's the worst, it's all down to the timing of the deck and how bad it is, so i would have to say if you have the cash go out and build this since it's about 60-75 dollars to put together if you are lucky enough to wanna get into this format, so till next time this is vergil signing off and saying remember, mana myr, big battlespheres and even some overpowered angels can make the difference, see ya next time.
Lands = 21
6 Plains
4 Forest
3 Terramorphic Expanse
4 Swamp
2 Mountain
2 Island
Creatures = 26
3 Myr Battlesphere
3 Iron Myr
4 Silver Myr
3 Copper Myr
3 Gold Myr
4 Myr Galvanizer
3 Myrsmith
3 Leaden Myr
Spells = 11
2 Titanic Ultimatum
2 Cruel Ultimatum
4 Diabolic Tutor
1 Revoke Existence
1 Path to Exile
1 Doom Blade
1 Volcanic Fallout
1 Demolish
Sideboard = 15
2 Path to Exile
2 Journey to Nowhere
3 Argentum Armor
2 Indomitable Archangel
3 Myr Propagator
4 Master's Call
Now the rares are something since there are quite a few of them to talk about, first being the Myr Battlesphere it's literally the biggest dude in the deck and it makes more dudes when it drops, this being the only rare maindeck creature at 7 mana, the other rares for the deck are Cruel and Titanic Ultimatium which both are very useful for a clinch in this deck, it's a decent engine with a lot of potential in it. Sideboard wise most of the other rares are here, Argentum Armor, Archangel and even Myr Propagator make the sideboard possible and a lot more fun, since metalcraft is the most prominent in this deck i can also run 2 copies of the Archangel to ensure the sideboard has a lot of options and is protecting the main deck from getting annhilated.
Uncommons for the deck may or may not include a 2 of Path to Exile, which i intend to replace with Swords to Plowshares, Master's Call which makes more Myr dudes, a full set of Tutors, a shotgun Volcanic Fallout for a board sweeper and even a Myr Galvanizer for that extra bit of bad assery in the late game, the maindeck Path is also going to be replaced with a swords to plowshares as well. However the main meat of the deck is the Myrsmith, dumping a bunch of 1/1's in play isn't bad enough but when 2 Galvanizers are on the field it's bad times in little haiti for you since you're now facing a bunch of 3/3 dudes with some serious butt whoop.
The rest of the deck is the commons, all 5 mana myr are present for the deck making most of the creature base, the rest of the shotgun engine including Doom Blade, Revoke Existence and even a Demolish just to ensure that keycard is removed from the game that is annoying you, overall it's a beast of a deck and in the right hands it can do a infinte combo mana wise and make sure you play all 4 Ulti's in a single turn if you have them in hand, otherwise it's a decent engine with a lot to say for itself early on, offense and defense wise this is perhaps the 2nd best offensive deck i've got if you do things right, if not then it's the worst, it's all down to the timing of the deck and how bad it is, so i would have to say if you have the cash go out and build this since it's about 60-75 dollars to put together if you are lucky enough to wanna get into this format, so till next time this is vergil signing off and saying remember, mana myr, big battlespheres and even some overpowered angels can make the difference, see ya next time.
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Magic the Gathering Deckbuilder's Toolkit 2.0
So last year if anyone recalls the magic the gathering deck builder's tool kit which featured 285 random cards and 4 packs of the latest standard material will rejoice since the fact they are making it once again for all the usual standard elements, according to rumours there is the following few details known
I know i have been waiting for this one for a while and i wondered if they were going to continue the success of the magic deck builder's toolkit which seemed like it was never going to happen, however it would seem wizards has finally decided to give fans what they want and this i feel is a perfect way to start, though the booster pack ratio is unknown as of yet, i anticpate at least 4 good booster packs regardless of what they are, so that's all for now just a short piece of news for those curious, till the next article this is vergil signing off.
- Semi Randomized Cards suitable for several magic decks.
- Four 16 card booster packs from various current sets.
- Strategy Insert with deck ideas and a how to build a good magic deck.
- Learn to Play Insert
- Magic Branded storage card box that is reusable.
I know i have been waiting for this one for a while and i wondered if they were going to continue the success of the magic deck builder's toolkit which seemed like it was never going to happen, however it would seem wizards has finally decided to give fans what they want and this i feel is a perfect way to start, though the booster pack ratio is unknown as of yet, i anticpate at least 4 good booster packs regardless of what they are, so that's all for now just a short piece of news for those curious, till the next article this is vergil signing off.
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Casual Deck Examination #3 U/W Fish in a Barrel
So for this edition of the casual deck examination i'll be looking at the 3rd of the many decks i have created in the past few months, which is merfolk a white/blue build which has many strategies possible due to the sideboard of this deck being so versatile, but let us discuss the main deck first shall we?
Creatures = 22
3 Mirror Entity
4 Grimore Thief
4 Drowner of Secrets
3 Sygg, River Guide
4 Stonybrook Schoolmaster
4 Judge of Currents
Spells = 16
4 Merrow Commerce
4 Mana Leak
4 Oblivion Ring
1 Intruder Alarm
3 Opposition
Lands = 22
4 Terramorphic Expanse
10 Plains
8 Island
Sideboard
2 Summon the School
3 Ink Dissolver
2 Lord of Atlantis
4 Merrow Rejerrey
1 Sygg, River Guide
Now the only real rares for the deck are Lord of Atlantis, Sygg and the Grimoire Thief, Intruder alarm which is a singleton copy and Opposition which has 3 copies in this deck, it's basically a lock down deck which features a lot of token generators, protection abilites and counterspells to boot, the basis of the deck is to draw out the game and make it go as long as possible while keeping the pace up as a mid to late game deck, this is a great multiplayer deck since you can lock down opponent's creatures and lands forcing them to concede their turn and pass it back to you via Opposition, the Lord and Rejerrey are sideboarded for a quick alpha strike deck due to the fact the rejerrey can untap stuff like lands and allow you to play more spells that very same turn, while leaving mana leak available at all times, a full set of Sygg, River Guide is needed for the deck since it protects your merfolk all the time and prevents targeting effects like Bolt, and all of that stuff from even hitting your fish, Mirror Entity is also a prominent finisher for the deck to dump all your mana into and make your dudes bigger as well for alpha strikes that are unblockable, espically sygg.
The uncommons are plentiful in this deck as Rejerrey aside there is also Drowner of Secrets which can mill you opponent down, Merrow Commerce to untap all your dudes after attacking and even stack the abilites of several copies of commerce in one turn to make a opponent beg for mercy. Summon the school in the sideboard to make a lot of dudes as well and allow opposition to be used a lot more, though there is a lot of tricks to the deck, infinte combos are also plentiful for this one.
The first combo of the deck is infinte creatures which utlilizes Intruder Alarm and Stonybrook Schoolmaster to basically make all the dudes you need for the game, the second combo also works with Intruder Alarm and Schoolmaster but Drowner of Secrets is key to this one as you can mill your oppponent to infinte and win the game via this method, this deck is very verstaile and allows for a wide range of strategies to be played in the early to late game. Commons in this deck are plentiful as Schoolmaster, Judge of Currents, Mana Leak, O-Ring and even Ink Dissolver are perfect for the deck, they allow me to switch on the fly with what strategy my opponent is playing during the early 7 or 8 turns of the game if i have them in play, basically making opponents draw but not play a damned thing since all their good stuff is in the bin. This deck will roughly cost about 80-90 to build and that's not including sleeves for the deck, since most of the stuff here has phased out it's pretty cheap and effective for those budget builders, so till next time this is vergil saying merfolk are always plentiful and remember if you can't make a dude to chump block you probably are gonna lose, see you next time.
Creatures = 22
3 Mirror Entity
4 Grimore Thief
4 Drowner of Secrets
3 Sygg, River Guide
4 Stonybrook Schoolmaster
4 Judge of Currents
Spells = 16
4 Merrow Commerce
4 Mana Leak
4 Oblivion Ring
1 Intruder Alarm
3 Opposition
Lands = 22
4 Terramorphic Expanse
10 Plains
8 Island
Sideboard
2 Summon the School
3 Ink Dissolver
2 Lord of Atlantis
4 Merrow Rejerrey
1 Sygg, River Guide
Now the only real rares for the deck are Lord of Atlantis, Sygg and the Grimoire Thief, Intruder alarm which is a singleton copy and Opposition which has 3 copies in this deck, it's basically a lock down deck which features a lot of token generators, protection abilites and counterspells to boot, the basis of the deck is to draw out the game and make it go as long as possible while keeping the pace up as a mid to late game deck, this is a great multiplayer deck since you can lock down opponent's creatures and lands forcing them to concede their turn and pass it back to you via Opposition, the Lord and Rejerrey are sideboarded for a quick alpha strike deck due to the fact the rejerrey can untap stuff like lands and allow you to play more spells that very same turn, while leaving mana leak available at all times, a full set of Sygg, River Guide is needed for the deck since it protects your merfolk all the time and prevents targeting effects like Bolt, and all of that stuff from even hitting your fish, Mirror Entity is also a prominent finisher for the deck to dump all your mana into and make your dudes bigger as well for alpha strikes that are unblockable, espically sygg.
The uncommons are plentiful in this deck as Rejerrey aside there is also Drowner of Secrets which can mill you opponent down, Merrow Commerce to untap all your dudes after attacking and even stack the abilites of several copies of commerce in one turn to make a opponent beg for mercy. Summon the school in the sideboard to make a lot of dudes as well and allow opposition to be used a lot more, though there is a lot of tricks to the deck, infinte combos are also plentiful for this one.
The first combo of the deck is infinte creatures which utlilizes Intruder Alarm and Stonybrook Schoolmaster to basically make all the dudes you need for the game, the second combo also works with Intruder Alarm and Schoolmaster but Drowner of Secrets is key to this one as you can mill your oppponent to infinte and win the game via this method, this deck is very verstaile and allows for a wide range of strategies to be played in the early to late game. Commons in this deck are plentiful as Schoolmaster, Judge of Currents, Mana Leak, O-Ring and even Ink Dissolver are perfect for the deck, they allow me to switch on the fly with what strategy my opponent is playing during the early 7 or 8 turns of the game if i have them in play, basically making opponents draw but not play a damned thing since all their good stuff is in the bin. This deck will roughly cost about 80-90 to build and that's not including sleeves for the deck, since most of the stuff here has phased out it's pretty cheap and effective for those budget builders, so till next time this is vergil saying merfolk are always plentiful and remember if you can't make a dude to chump block you probably are gonna lose, see you next time.
Friday, February 25, 2011
March 2011 Friday Night Magic Promo Card: Wall of Omens
So as is the case with every single promotion card wizards brings out the news is as follows, for those wondering what the march promo for the year is it is Wall of Omens, featuring the usual FNM symbol in the back of text box and the ever present new art for the card, as usual it's a short one this time around but i figured i'd show this off for those curious.
As you can see since wall of omens was a popular card it was the selected choice for a FNM promo card due to the fact it's original art seen here below was pretty interesting.
Howard Lyon did the art for the FNM promo and the original art was done by James Paick, so i will leave you to gaze at the glory of this card for the next while, this is vergil signing off from another shorty.
As you can see since wall of omens was a popular card it was the selected choice for a FNM promo card due to the fact it's original art seen here below was pretty interesting.
Howard Lyon did the art for the FNM promo and the original art was done by James Paick, so i will leave you to gaze at the glory of this card for the next while, this is vergil signing off from another shorty.
Casual Deck Examination: #2 Red/Green Eldrazi Ramp
So for this edition of the casual deck examination i'll be taking a look at the second of my casual decks and explaining to you the basics of how it works, this casual deck is known as Red/Green Eldrazi Ramp and the list is below
Lands = 23
3 Evolving Wilds
13 Mountain
7 Forest
Creatures = 15
4 Wall of Tanglecord
4 Vent Sentinel
4 Overgrown Battlement
1 Emraukl, the Aeons Torn
1 Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
1 Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
Spells = 22
4 Burst Lightning
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Searing Blaze
4 Pyroclasm
4 Cultivate
2 Explore
Sideboard = 15
4 Naturalize
2 Fireball
2 Comet Storm
3 Flameblast Dragon
4 Arcbound Crusher
It's very simple to understand a ramp deck, get up to the mana you want say on turn 7 or 8 cast your eldrazi and it's over, i have one copy of each of the eldrazi legends in this deck and each one of their abilites is very useful in a casual multiplayer game, of course let me explain why. Ulamog and Kozilek are the backbone of the deck one blows up things, one draws me cards, allowing for a reload of my hand, all the while Emrakul, gives me a extra turn, allowing me to basically win the game on a single swing since most opponent's are down to a low life total by the time he enters the battlefield, these are the only three real rares this deck contains for a specific reason and each one is pretty costly these three alone usually end up being about half of the deck price in a single shot.'
Uncommons are plentiful in this deck ranging from Vent Sentinel, Pyroclasm for those pesky white weenie spells and arcbound crusher for the sideboard, the rest of the deck is pretty standard, sideboarding Flameblast dragon to dump all that excess mana into and win games as fast, as well as throwing fireballs at your opponent's face for maximum damage with all the excess mana you'd have by turn 6 or 7 most games, did i mention you can recycle these cards as well, thanks to the eldrazi's special abilites so you can use them over and over and over again till you win the game, protection from mill and decking elements are needed to run this deck effectively and the eldrazi provide a screen for just that, i also threw a few comet storm for the sideboard and some naturalize to deal with pesky enchantments like Honor of the Pure, Oblivion ring and even Journey to nowhere which are a real threat to the deck as a whole.
The land base is pretty basic 3 evolving wilds, some basic mountains and forests, nothing too big, i know i could use some manlands but that not gonna happen anytime soon, Raging Ravine is nice and all but not a decent fit for this deck since speed is key. you wanna try a 2 land hand and fix the mana via Explore, Overgrown battlement or throwing out a 0/6 blocker that can block air dudes in the form of Wall of Tanglecord, most games though you win via Vent Sentinel so it's always nice to have a backup for the deck in the form of the eldrazi. Some basic burn including Bolt, Searing Blaze and of course Burst Lightning to dump mana into for it's kicker cost and the overall mana fixer of the deck most times is a turn 3 cultivate which brings two lands into play one on the field one in your hand and if you didn't play a land that turn boom there is land no 5 on turn 3, it's a massive accelerant that has won me many a game and deal with some serious bad mother jammer threats and saved my bacon a dozen times over at this point, overall this deck is pretty hot and cost effective for the most part, this deck will probably run you about 70 dollars with sleeves included if your lucky, a great multiplayer build for those casual players and a nice pick up and play for those budget standard builders all except the sideboard of course, till next time this is vergil signing off.
Lands = 23
3 Evolving Wilds
13 Mountain
7 Forest
Creatures = 15
4 Wall of Tanglecord
4 Vent Sentinel
4 Overgrown Battlement
1 Emraukl, the Aeons Torn
1 Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
1 Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
Spells = 22
4 Burst Lightning
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Searing Blaze
4 Pyroclasm
4 Cultivate
2 Explore
Sideboard = 15
4 Naturalize
2 Fireball
2 Comet Storm
3 Flameblast Dragon
4 Arcbound Crusher
It's very simple to understand a ramp deck, get up to the mana you want say on turn 7 or 8 cast your eldrazi and it's over, i have one copy of each of the eldrazi legends in this deck and each one of their abilites is very useful in a casual multiplayer game, of course let me explain why. Ulamog and Kozilek are the backbone of the deck one blows up things, one draws me cards, allowing for a reload of my hand, all the while Emrakul, gives me a extra turn, allowing me to basically win the game on a single swing since most opponent's are down to a low life total by the time he enters the battlefield, these are the only three real rares this deck contains for a specific reason and each one is pretty costly these three alone usually end up being about half of the deck price in a single shot.'
Uncommons are plentiful in this deck ranging from Vent Sentinel, Pyroclasm for those pesky white weenie spells and arcbound crusher for the sideboard, the rest of the deck is pretty standard, sideboarding Flameblast dragon to dump all that excess mana into and win games as fast, as well as throwing fireballs at your opponent's face for maximum damage with all the excess mana you'd have by turn 6 or 7 most games, did i mention you can recycle these cards as well, thanks to the eldrazi's special abilites so you can use them over and over and over again till you win the game, protection from mill and decking elements are needed to run this deck effectively and the eldrazi provide a screen for just that, i also threw a few comet storm for the sideboard and some naturalize to deal with pesky enchantments like Honor of the Pure, Oblivion ring and even Journey to nowhere which are a real threat to the deck as a whole.
The land base is pretty basic 3 evolving wilds, some basic mountains and forests, nothing too big, i know i could use some manlands but that not gonna happen anytime soon, Raging Ravine is nice and all but not a decent fit for this deck since speed is key. you wanna try a 2 land hand and fix the mana via Explore, Overgrown battlement or throwing out a 0/6 blocker that can block air dudes in the form of Wall of Tanglecord, most games though you win via Vent Sentinel so it's always nice to have a backup for the deck in the form of the eldrazi. Some basic burn including Bolt, Searing Blaze and of course Burst Lightning to dump mana into for it's kicker cost and the overall mana fixer of the deck most times is a turn 3 cultivate which brings two lands into play one on the field one in your hand and if you didn't play a land that turn boom there is land no 5 on turn 3, it's a massive accelerant that has won me many a game and deal with some serious bad mother jammer threats and saved my bacon a dozen times over at this point, overall this deck is pretty hot and cost effective for the most part, this deck will probably run you about 70 dollars with sleeves included if your lucky, a great multiplayer build for those casual players and a nice pick up and play for those budget standard builders all except the sideboard of course, till next time this is vergil signing off.
MTG Set Review #6 Mirrodin Besieged
So as per usual of any set usually about 3 or 4 weeks after it's release it is time to review the second set of the scars of mirrodin block, Mirrodin Besieged, 155 cards with 10 basic lands, two rare lands and over 40 different artifacts to choose from in this set, Mirrodin Besieged is the small set of this year's fall block with the third set to be just a tad larger at 175 cards. So as always it is time to take a look at the mechanics of this new set and see what it brings to the table, so let us begin.
The first brand new mechanic of the set is Battle Cry, now battle cry is very simple to understand when a creature with this ability attacks every other attacking creature gains a +1/+0 bonus and each battle cry does stack, so if you had 4 creatures with battle cry everything would get a +4/+0 for none battle cry creatures and battle cry creatures would get a +3/+0 bonus, it is a very simplistic ability and a nice combat trick to understand however there is one slight problem if battle cry gave a bonus to toughness it would make things a little easier to manage but not to complain this is a decent Mirran ability and is a nice change to the usual metalcraft or anything of that nature, but again so few cards in this set got this ability, there were a total of 7 cards in this set which recieved this ability two mythics, Hero of Oxid Ridge, Hero of Bladehold, Accorder Paladin, Kuldotha Ringleader, Goblin Wardriver, Loxodon Partisan and Signal Pest. Each one of these cards is good do not get me wrong but battle cry is a weak ability compared to the next one i am going to speak of and that is Living Weapon.
Living Weapon is a phyrexian based ability which applies to all phyrexian equipment pretty much, when a equipment with this ability hits the battlefield, it generates a 0/0 germ token and the equipment attaches itself to that germ token, giving it whatever abilites the equipment has, plus when the token dies from a removal spell or anything in general the equipment remains on the field and is then able to be attached to something else a bigger better creature.Only 5 cards from this set received this new ability and they are Bonehoard, Flayer Husk, Mortarpod. Skinwing and Strandwalker. This ability was pretty good for mostly anything and Bonehoard has turned out to be a very decent equipment since it determines the number of creatures in all graveyards then it gives a +X/+X where X is the number of creatures in all graveyards along with generating a 0/0 ooze token, so in essence i say phyrexia got the better of the two new abilites for this set.
Of course since this is a scars block set, Infect, proliferate and Metalcraft have returned for a second go around, we all know their specifics by now do we not so let's not dwell on that and move straight into the mythics of the set, shall we?
10 mythic rares, that's how many were in this set, Hero of Bladehold, Hero of Oxid Ridge, Tezzert, Agent of Bolas, Glissa the Traitor, Blightsteel Colossus, Consecrated Sphinx, Massacre Wurm, Thrun, the Last Troll, Sword of Feast and Famine and of course Praetor's Council. Each one of these were interesting to say the least, we got 2 new legends out of this set, a new walker in the form of Tezzert and a bunch of interesting mythics including the Hero of Bladehold and the Hero of Oxid Ridge which i intend to discuss, Each color at least got one mythic rare since there were only 19 cards per color so it did not get shafted that badly however some mythics were less appealing to others, including Glissa and Praetor's Council which has hardly seen a lot of play these days in major events like the pro tour or even a Grand Prix. Some of these mythics though like the sword and Tezzert have some prices rise from a instant showing off in a tournament to winning tournaments, as we've seen already in the first 3 weeks since mirrodin besieged first came out. While most of these mythics are powerful some are just broken including Blightsteel Colossus which i've talked about before and Massacre Wurm, he's just nuts the instant he enters the battlefield, overall it makes the mythic rares more interesting for a smaller set then say a big set like Scars of Mirrodin since there are fewer but there are a lot more things to say bout these mythic rare cards.
The rest of the breakdown for the block was pretty much similar with commons receiving a total of 60 commons, 40 uncommons and 35 rares for the set, making this one of the heaviest small set rare blocks in a while, 10 basic lands with 2 other lands, one for each side made this seem a tad more interesting, i am partially glad i decided to review this set after all, since of course i am enjoying seeing how things turn out in the next while, well that's all she wrote for this one and remember kiddies, if someone comes knocking on your door and they are part machine smack them in the face with a stick, only kidding till next time this is vergil signing off.
The first brand new mechanic of the set is Battle Cry, now battle cry is very simple to understand when a creature with this ability attacks every other attacking creature gains a +1/+0 bonus and each battle cry does stack, so if you had 4 creatures with battle cry everything would get a +4/+0 for none battle cry creatures and battle cry creatures would get a +3/+0 bonus, it is a very simplistic ability and a nice combat trick to understand however there is one slight problem if battle cry gave a bonus to toughness it would make things a little easier to manage but not to complain this is a decent Mirran ability and is a nice change to the usual metalcraft or anything of that nature, but again so few cards in this set got this ability, there were a total of 7 cards in this set which recieved this ability two mythics, Hero of Oxid Ridge, Hero of Bladehold, Accorder Paladin, Kuldotha Ringleader, Goblin Wardriver, Loxodon Partisan and Signal Pest. Each one of these cards is good do not get me wrong but battle cry is a weak ability compared to the next one i am going to speak of and that is Living Weapon.
Living Weapon is a phyrexian based ability which applies to all phyrexian equipment pretty much, when a equipment with this ability hits the battlefield, it generates a 0/0 germ token and the equipment attaches itself to that germ token, giving it whatever abilites the equipment has, plus when the token dies from a removal spell or anything in general the equipment remains on the field and is then able to be attached to something else a bigger better creature.Only 5 cards from this set received this new ability and they are Bonehoard, Flayer Husk, Mortarpod. Skinwing and Strandwalker. This ability was pretty good for mostly anything and Bonehoard has turned out to be a very decent equipment since it determines the number of creatures in all graveyards then it gives a +X/+X where X is the number of creatures in all graveyards along with generating a 0/0 ooze token, so in essence i say phyrexia got the better of the two new abilites for this set.
Of course since this is a scars block set, Infect, proliferate and Metalcraft have returned for a second go around, we all know their specifics by now do we not so let's not dwell on that and move straight into the mythics of the set, shall we?
10 mythic rares, that's how many were in this set, Hero of Bladehold, Hero of Oxid Ridge, Tezzert, Agent of Bolas, Glissa the Traitor, Blightsteel Colossus, Consecrated Sphinx, Massacre Wurm, Thrun, the Last Troll, Sword of Feast and Famine and of course Praetor's Council. Each one of these were interesting to say the least, we got 2 new legends out of this set, a new walker in the form of Tezzert and a bunch of interesting mythics including the Hero of Bladehold and the Hero of Oxid Ridge which i intend to discuss, Each color at least got one mythic rare since there were only 19 cards per color so it did not get shafted that badly however some mythics were less appealing to others, including Glissa and Praetor's Council which has hardly seen a lot of play these days in major events like the pro tour or even a Grand Prix. Some of these mythics though like the sword and Tezzert have some prices rise from a instant showing off in a tournament to winning tournaments, as we've seen already in the first 3 weeks since mirrodin besieged first came out. While most of these mythics are powerful some are just broken including Blightsteel Colossus which i've talked about before and Massacre Wurm, he's just nuts the instant he enters the battlefield, overall it makes the mythic rares more interesting for a smaller set then say a big set like Scars of Mirrodin since there are fewer but there are a lot more things to say bout these mythic rare cards.
The rest of the breakdown for the block was pretty much similar with commons receiving a total of 60 commons, 40 uncommons and 35 rares for the set, making this one of the heaviest small set rare blocks in a while, 10 basic lands with 2 other lands, one for each side made this seem a tad more interesting, i am partially glad i decided to review this set after all, since of course i am enjoying seeing how things turn out in the next while, well that's all she wrote for this one and remember kiddies, if someone comes knocking on your door and they are part machine smack them in the face with a stick, only kidding till next time this is vergil signing off.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Casual Deck Examination: #1 Esper White/Blue/Black
So for the duration of the article i'm going to go over a casual deck i've build in the recent month or so, due to the fact we've got a group going at a local store called 401 games where we meet one day a week and just chill and hang out while playing magic this is the start of the analysis of the decks i run while just playing casual starting with a successful deck of mine Esper Ala A Mode [Version 2 Revived] let's break the list out shall we?
Creatures = 22
4 Darklit Gargoyle
4 Tower Gargoyle
2 Sharding Sphinx
2 Sphinx Summoner
4 Court Homunclus
3 Sanctum Gargoyle
3 Master of Etherium
Support = 14
3 Infest
4 Counterspell
4 Esper Charm
3 Celestial Purge
Lands = 23
4 Arcane Sanctum
2 Esper Panorama
2 Creeping Tar Pit
5 Islands
6 Plains
4 Swamp
Now i get the fun part of going over why each of the cards are here, first let's take a look at the rares for the deck in the form of Master of Etherium, Sphinx Summoner and of course Sharding Sphinx, The Master of Etherium should be pretty obvious it makes dudes bigger and the more artifacts you control the bigger it gets, at a 3 CMC creature it's a beast when it hits the board along side a turn 2 Court Homunclus swinging in for a beatstick with 3 or perhaps a turn 2 Darklit Gargoyle swinging in for 3, most of the time though it ends up being 3 points of damage on turn 3 when this is brought out, 3 points in the air no less, that's why this deck is good it has plenty of evasion and eventually provides a lot of dudes that are decent power and toughness.
Next it's onto my favorite rare of the deck Sharding Sphinx at a whopping 6 mana cost this dude is a beast for what you pay for, fetch him turn 5 with Summoner and play him turn 6 swing with all your dudes make chump blockers as well when you deal combat damage it's a boss card which should not be overlooked when it enters the battlefield as a 4/4 flyer it's basically a token generator and would provide a decent amount of little 1/1 dudes for it's cost, it's basically a smaller version of Thopter Assembly which was recently introduced in standard with the latest set of Mirrodin Besieged. Though it's still vunerable to removal spells like Day of Judgement, Wrath of God and even Swords to Plowshares, it's still a decent card when you get down to it and would be the annoyance of any opponent this deck ends up facing.
Sphinx Summoner or as i like to call it, mr fetch any artifact in the deck is a decent rare himself a 3/3 body and when it hits the board it fetches a dude of your choice aka Sharding. Master or even a 4/4 Tower Gargoyle. underrated though as he is this is perhaps the single greatest threat in the deck as it's fetching ability means those valuable slots for cards like Demonic Tutor, Diabolic Tutor or even Vampiric Tutor are rendered useless though it could only fetch artifacts half this deck is artifacts so there is no need for concern. Again it may die quick but there is always a way to bring it back in the form of Sanctum Gargoyle to annoy your opponent and fetch your tower gargoyles or even another Sharding Sphinx.
The uncommons for the deck are pretty basic, Infest to sweep the board when your dudes are big enough, white weenie hates board sweepers, Sanctum Gargoyle for recursion, tower gargoyle for a beatstick, with a decent amount of commons to back em up in the forms of Darklit Gargoyle, Court and even Esper Charm, Purge and Counterspell for those little control elements, but your probably saying but vergil why no mana leak it's 1 and a blue instead of a double blue, i want to stop a threat before it hits the board not have to worry bout when a opponent decides to pay 3 mana to counter the mana leak, plain and simple.
Lands are a key factor here with 2 Creeping Tar Pit to spend that mana on once in a while and make a 3/2 unblockable beatstick, Esper Panorama to provide the mana fix and even some Arcane Sanctum to fix the mana further, with some basics as the targets for the Panorama's it's pretty basic and this deck can be easily constructed for about less then 50 or 60 bucks these days, depending if you do not already have all the cards, this is a beast of a multiplayer deck and allows you to sit back and make threats while your opponents take on each other, though there are a few issues this deck is pretty solid in the long run and is a lot of fun to play, hope you enjoyed the insight of a man whom used to play competitve and now has just stopped playing competitions to have a little fun since that's what the game is all about, till next time this is vergil saying, Artificers are your best friend in casual build don't be afraid, this is vergil signing off.
Creatures = 22
4 Darklit Gargoyle
4 Tower Gargoyle
2 Sharding Sphinx
2 Sphinx Summoner
4 Court Homunclus
3 Sanctum Gargoyle
3 Master of Etherium
Support = 14
3 Infest
4 Counterspell
4 Esper Charm
3 Celestial Purge
Lands = 23
4 Arcane Sanctum
2 Esper Panorama
2 Creeping Tar Pit
5 Islands
6 Plains
4 Swamp
Now i get the fun part of going over why each of the cards are here, first let's take a look at the rares for the deck in the form of Master of Etherium, Sphinx Summoner and of course Sharding Sphinx, The Master of Etherium should be pretty obvious it makes dudes bigger and the more artifacts you control the bigger it gets, at a 3 CMC creature it's a beast when it hits the board along side a turn 2 Court Homunclus swinging in for a beatstick with 3 or perhaps a turn 2 Darklit Gargoyle swinging in for 3, most of the time though it ends up being 3 points of damage on turn 3 when this is brought out, 3 points in the air no less, that's why this deck is good it has plenty of evasion and eventually provides a lot of dudes that are decent power and toughness.
Next it's onto my favorite rare of the deck Sharding Sphinx at a whopping 6 mana cost this dude is a beast for what you pay for, fetch him turn 5 with Summoner and play him turn 6 swing with all your dudes make chump blockers as well when you deal combat damage it's a boss card which should not be overlooked when it enters the battlefield as a 4/4 flyer it's basically a token generator and would provide a decent amount of little 1/1 dudes for it's cost, it's basically a smaller version of Thopter Assembly which was recently introduced in standard with the latest set of Mirrodin Besieged. Though it's still vunerable to removal spells like Day of Judgement, Wrath of God and even Swords to Plowshares, it's still a decent card when you get down to it and would be the annoyance of any opponent this deck ends up facing.
Sphinx Summoner or as i like to call it, mr fetch any artifact in the deck is a decent rare himself a 3/3 body and when it hits the board it fetches a dude of your choice aka Sharding. Master or even a 4/4 Tower Gargoyle. underrated though as he is this is perhaps the single greatest threat in the deck as it's fetching ability means those valuable slots for cards like Demonic Tutor, Diabolic Tutor or even Vampiric Tutor are rendered useless though it could only fetch artifacts half this deck is artifacts so there is no need for concern. Again it may die quick but there is always a way to bring it back in the form of Sanctum Gargoyle to annoy your opponent and fetch your tower gargoyles or even another Sharding Sphinx.
The uncommons for the deck are pretty basic, Infest to sweep the board when your dudes are big enough, white weenie hates board sweepers, Sanctum Gargoyle for recursion, tower gargoyle for a beatstick, with a decent amount of commons to back em up in the forms of Darklit Gargoyle, Court and even Esper Charm, Purge and Counterspell for those little control elements, but your probably saying but vergil why no mana leak it's 1 and a blue instead of a double blue, i want to stop a threat before it hits the board not have to worry bout when a opponent decides to pay 3 mana to counter the mana leak, plain and simple.
Lands are a key factor here with 2 Creeping Tar Pit to spend that mana on once in a while and make a 3/2 unblockable beatstick, Esper Panorama to provide the mana fix and even some Arcane Sanctum to fix the mana further, with some basics as the targets for the Panorama's it's pretty basic and this deck can be easily constructed for about less then 50 or 60 bucks these days, depending if you do not already have all the cards, this is a beast of a multiplayer deck and allows you to sit back and make threats while your opponents take on each other, though there are a few issues this deck is pretty solid in the long run and is a lot of fun to play, hope you enjoyed the insight of a man whom used to play competitve and now has just stopped playing competitions to have a little fun since that's what the game is all about, till next time this is vergil saying, Artificers are your best friend in casual build don't be afraid, this is vergil signing off.
Duel Deck: Knights Vs Dragons Talk
Knights vs dragons again vergil are you kidding me, no i am not, in fact i would go so far to say that this is proving to me that duel decks these days are beginning to be worth it, let me explain to you why this is so, well yesterday it was revealed that Knight of the Reliquary and Bogardan Hellkite were going to be the mythics for this particular duel deck, both with brand new stunning arts as featured below for KOTR anyways.
It also means that KOTR is going to be upgraded from a regular rare to a mythic rare as we all know during the Conflux days it was just a regular rare in a small set, nowadays we've seen KOTR going for a good chunk of change, mind you he's outta standard but still it's a good chunk of change, though no hellkite preview art has been officially unveiled we will soon see how it goes for a fact, though i do wanna see how this particular dragon art is done.
So time to talk bout the decks themselves, each one will have 60 cards with 5 rares and 1 mythic rare totalling up to 12 different decent cards when you purchase the duel deck which will go on sale as of April 1st and Cost a MSRP of $19.99 and will be available in 5 different languages as always with any duel deck, English, Spanish, German, French and Italian. though anyone who's anyone knows what Knight of the Reliquary does it is still a bad mother jammer of a card even in a extended format with lands being sacrificed left and right. Lists for the decks have yet to be revealed however we still have over a month before the product's official release date and believe me when the product is released i'll be one of the many people whom review this duel deck, i believe copysix will also being doing this since this is a piece of magic related news but then again that is just me overall i look forward to buying this on april fools day which is also a family birthday for me to celebrate yes one of my family was born on april 1st so sue me, anyhoo it's time i cut this article's strings till next time, stay frosty and remember, when you untap your lands, draw a card metaphorically speaking, this is vergil signing off.
It also means that KOTR is going to be upgraded from a regular rare to a mythic rare as we all know during the Conflux days it was just a regular rare in a small set, nowadays we've seen KOTR going for a good chunk of change, mind you he's outta standard but still it's a good chunk of change, though no hellkite preview art has been officially unveiled we will soon see how it goes for a fact, though i do wanna see how this particular dragon art is done.
So time to talk bout the decks themselves, each one will have 60 cards with 5 rares and 1 mythic rare totalling up to 12 different decent cards when you purchase the duel deck which will go on sale as of April 1st and Cost a MSRP of $19.99 and will be available in 5 different languages as always with any duel deck, English, Spanish, German, French and Italian. though anyone who's anyone knows what Knight of the Reliquary does it is still a bad mother jammer of a card even in a extended format with lands being sacrificed left and right. Lists for the decks have yet to be revealed however we still have over a month before the product's official release date and believe me when the product is released i'll be one of the many people whom review this duel deck, i believe copysix will also being doing this since this is a piece of magic related news but then again that is just me overall i look forward to buying this on april fools day which is also a family birthday for me to celebrate yes one of my family was born on april 1st so sue me, anyhoo it's time i cut this article's strings till next time, stay frosty and remember, when you untap your lands, draw a card metaphorically speaking, this is vergil signing off.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Duel Decks: Ajani vs Nicol Bolas Speculation
Well it's that time again and this week it would seem wizards has finally let the cat out of the bag with the latest duel deck, Ajani Goldmane vs Nicol Bolas, 2 60 card decks with both walkers in foil art, so we can expect to see a mono white build vs Blue/Black/Red since that's the colors represented in this particular duel deck, let's look at the picture below shall we to examine just what the hell is going on here.
As you can clearly see the war bewteen these two walkers has been taken to a new level, on the plane of alara, so we can expect one hell of a battle can't we, but what's this there is more then meets the eye, the price and release date have also been announced here but for those lazy i'll post it below Duel Deck Announcement
MSRP: $19.99
Release Date: September 2nd, 2011
Ships in: English, French, Spanish, Italian and German
Now this particular duel deck may end up having some grixis element to it but i'm sure when the decklists are revealed we will know full well what the hell is going on here, sorry for a short article again however this piece of news was noteworthy of being the 101st article for here, so till next time this is vergil signing off.
As you can clearly see the war bewteen these two walkers has been taken to a new level, on the plane of alara, so we can expect one hell of a battle can't we, but what's this there is more then meets the eye, the price and release date have also been announced here but for those lazy i'll post it below Duel Deck Announcement
MSRP: $19.99
Release Date: September 2nd, 2011
Ships in: English, French, Spanish, Italian and German
Now this particular duel deck may end up having some grixis element to it but i'm sure when the decklists are revealed we will know full well what the hell is going on here, sorry for a short article again however this piece of news was noteworthy of being the 101st article for here, so till next time this is vergil signing off.
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Mirrodin Besieged Event Decks
So a lot of people already know about this but i figured it should be talked about by me today, since the most recent MTG arcana has shown the lists for these event decks, the decklist names are Into the Breach which is the mono red list name and Infect and Defile which is the Blue/Black list so let's see what those lists are shall we?
2 Goblin Bushwhacker
2 Goblin Guide
4 Goblin Wardriver
1 Iron Myr
4 Memnite
4 Ornithopter
4 Signal Pest
1 Spikeshot Elder
2 Darksteel Axe
2 Devastating Summons
2 Galvanic Blast
4 Kuldotha Rebirth
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Panic Spellbomb
21 Mountain
1 Contested War Zone
SIDEBOARD
2 Act of Treason
4 Goblin Ruinblaster
2 Into the Core
1 Leyline of Punishment
4 Searing Blaze
2 Unstable Footing
This is the mono red list and it's a real doozy of a list, it has basically all of Kuldotha red's list in it and features almost all of the cards in that original list, did i mention these decks were going to be slated at 24.99 per deck so you get what you pay for and precons no longer suck thank you wizards for desigining this deck at least, moving onto the second one and it's also pretty good.
4 Corpse Cur
4 Necropede
2 Phyrexian Vatmother
4 Plague Myr
2 Consuming Vapors
2 Contagion Clasp
4 Corrupted Conscience
2 Deprive
1 Doom Blade
4 Foresee
1 Hand of the Praetors
2 Mana Leak
3 Preordain
2 Smother
10 Island
7 Swamp
2 Drowned Catacomb
4 Jwar Isle Refuge
SIDEBOARD
3 Deathmark
1 Doom Blade
3 Flashfreeze
2 Go for the Throat
4 Negate
2 Smother
Yes you see that right, 2 phyrexian vatmother and a Hand of the Praetors included in this list, perhaps the best two infect cards to come out yet, i mean this precon is also pretty damned good it's got doom blades go for the throat in the sideboard and even 2 of the M11 dual lands overall making it a pretty forseeable force in the future for precons to be good again like they were in the old days.
Now let's go over the lists for them as a examiner, there could be some slight changes to the 2nd list by moving out a smother for like another Preordain but that's just me, the 1st list is perfect in my eyes, it's interchangeable and even has a overall feel for magic players to be decent again, if you're looking to get back into the game i think this is a good starting point for those whom want to play again anyhoo another shorty today cause really this was the only thing worth talking about, plus i'm trying to find a lot more subjects to write bout for here, till next time this is vergil signing off.
2 Goblin Bushwhacker
2 Goblin Guide
4 Goblin Wardriver
1 Iron Myr
4 Memnite
4 Ornithopter
4 Signal Pest
1 Spikeshot Elder
2 Darksteel Axe
2 Devastating Summons
2 Galvanic Blast
4 Kuldotha Rebirth
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Panic Spellbomb
21 Mountain
1 Contested War Zone
SIDEBOARD
2 Act of Treason
4 Goblin Ruinblaster
2 Into the Core
1 Leyline of Punishment
4 Searing Blaze
2 Unstable Footing
This is the mono red list and it's a real doozy of a list, it has basically all of Kuldotha red's list in it and features almost all of the cards in that original list, did i mention these decks were going to be slated at 24.99 per deck so you get what you pay for and precons no longer suck thank you wizards for desigining this deck at least, moving onto the second one and it's also pretty good.
4 Corpse Cur
4 Necropede
2 Phyrexian Vatmother
4 Plague Myr
2 Consuming Vapors
2 Contagion Clasp
4 Corrupted Conscience
2 Deprive
1 Doom Blade
4 Foresee
1 Hand of the Praetors
2 Mana Leak
3 Preordain
2 Smother
10 Island
7 Swamp
2 Drowned Catacomb
4 Jwar Isle Refuge
SIDEBOARD
3 Deathmark
1 Doom Blade
3 Flashfreeze
2 Go for the Throat
4 Negate
2 Smother
Yes you see that right, 2 phyrexian vatmother and a Hand of the Praetors included in this list, perhaps the best two infect cards to come out yet, i mean this precon is also pretty damned good it's got doom blades go for the throat in the sideboard and even 2 of the M11 dual lands overall making it a pretty forseeable force in the future for precons to be good again like they were in the old days.
Now let's go over the lists for them as a examiner, there could be some slight changes to the 2nd list by moving out a smother for like another Preordain but that's just me, the 1st list is perfect in my eyes, it's interchangeable and even has a overall feel for magic players to be decent again, if you're looking to get back into the game i think this is a good starting point for those whom want to play again anyhoo another shorty today cause really this was the only thing worth talking about, plus i'm trying to find a lot more subjects to write bout for here, till next time this is vergil signing off.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Mirrodin Besieged Game Day Choose a Side Promos
So today's arcana which you can read here ---> Action's First cards has revealed pictures of the two promotion cards you will receive if you contain a affilated deck with either the mirran side which rewards a pristine talisman or the phyrexian side which rewards a Suture Priest which is a combination of both, Blood Seeker and Soul Warden, each of course has their own affilated watermark with their respective factions and their set symbol. Though as we know wizards has already decided the outcome of the war and is just waiting for the proper time to reveal the set name so the spoiler season can begin anew for the third and final set of this fall block which comes out this may.
Over the course of the article i will be talking about the various elements of the game day event and what to expect since it is a standard event, so let's begin.
Now game day has always been about various things, showing off the new products as well as the fact there are awesome game day promotions cards to follow such as the Treasure Mage and of course the obvious top 8 card which is going to Black Sun's Zenith, both provided in full art but the cards i'm going to spoil today are completely different these are the final arts for both Suture Priest and of course Pristine Talisman.
Both cards contain their respective set symbol as well as the faction symbol making them legit for showing off, before you ask though yes, the cleric is way better since it's a creature, but the talisman is nice since it gets you ahead in mana and provides a point of life. Game day though is always set a month after the new release of a set and is the first real chance outside of a pro tour or grand prix to get used to the standard enviroment which will feature some effective standard decks but there is another thing i want to talk about the game day starter decks which will be coming out later this month and will be set at a reasonable price of about 24.99 per starter deck containing 60 cards and even has a 15 card sideboard with a spindown life counter in it.
Though i will be talking about those lists in another article i just wanted to add that in so that is all for now and enjoy the article, see you next time this is vergil signing off.
Over the course of the article i will be talking about the various elements of the game day event and what to expect since it is a standard event, so let's begin.
Now game day has always been about various things, showing off the new products as well as the fact there are awesome game day promotions cards to follow such as the Treasure Mage and of course the obvious top 8 card which is going to Black Sun's Zenith, both provided in full art but the cards i'm going to spoil today are completely different these are the final arts for both Suture Priest and of course Pristine Talisman.
Both cards contain their respective set symbol as well as the faction symbol making them legit for showing off, before you ask though yes, the cleric is way better since it's a creature, but the talisman is nice since it gets you ahead in mana and provides a point of life. Game day though is always set a month after the new release of a set and is the first real chance outside of a pro tour or grand prix to get used to the standard enviroment which will feature some effective standard decks but there is another thing i want to talk about the game day starter decks which will be coming out later this month and will be set at a reasonable price of about 24.99 per starter deck containing 60 cards and even has a 15 card sideboard with a spindown life counter in it.
Though i will be talking about those lists in another article i just wanted to add that in so that is all for now and enjoy the article, see you next time this is vergil signing off.
Monday, February 14, 2011
Standard Weigh In Part 1: Price Guide and the basics to look out for
So in this edition of the my articles i'll be weighing in on standard prices today and how they affect the average magic player, including what cards are super powerful and their costs as well as other things, so as always let's begin with a serious bang.
The first key word is price in this article as most standard casual cards range from 50 cents to about 2.50 depending on where you live, however here in ontario due to the Harmonized Sales Tax in effect costs of those cards are also taxed for single purchases as well as booster pack purchases let's say you are looking for a full playset of Memnite now starcitygames has it listed as a 2 dollar card while channelfireball has it also listed as 2 dollars in price and each foil memnite according to starcitygames costs 5.49 cents while the price according to starcitygames is listed as 5.99 so there is a difference in price for the foil versions of this card, though it's not that bad a difference by only 50 cents, if you purchase it from a store in ontario however you'll be charged 13 cents per dollar for each dollar of the cost of the product since it's a entertainment product and is charged under the manner, so in a sense you'll be paying a extra 78 cents per foil memnite and for a full playset you'll end up dishing out another 3.02 in price for the set along with the usual price of about 5.50 per so you'll be dishing out the cost of Koth of the Hammer for 4 cards which in the long run means you'll be basically buying 4 times the product for the exact same price as one of the other product.
Now i don't know how the taxes are in effect in other states/provinces here in north america but i do know that each card is priced a different range, espically cards which are out of standard, just the other week i ended up paying 4.50 for 2 Master of Etherium's when the card was 6 dollars per card when it was in standard at one point, so i was saving myself a good dollar and fifty cents easily by getting them out of the loop of course, those whom are looking to go for standard be warned it's not a cheap thing to get into, since the rise of prices in standard all thanks to M10 almost 2 years ago as of this point, card prices back then were quite expensive as you would end up paying out 50 dollars per Baneslayer Angel when it was first printed, nowadays though it costs about 12 dollars for a single copy of the card, so the price range has gone down since it has not seen a lot of standard play since it's inception, it may have won a tournament or two on the pro tour but it has yet to do anything to effect the game as a whole as of this point.
Another card in which to seriously look out for is Goblin Wardriver now you remember how it started as a mere 1 dollar uncommon well it's price as of this point has risen to a serious thing of about 2.50 since the last pro tour event which was this past weekend, now if that price turns you off then you'll hate the fact a full playset of Contested War Zone when they first came out was 16 dollars roughly, nowadays it's 20 dollars since the pro tour so standard events that are that big and influence a great deal of price points for the future of standard, which i think sucks but then again who am i to complain when i see Tezzert, Agent of Bolas who sits at 50 dollars as of right now, sorry copysix but i was right it would jump to higher then it started out as, for those whom don't pay attention standard itself is a costly thing and for those intending on getting into it, be warned it's not cheap and it has a huge price on it so start slow and learn your way round the game before going into a huge event like a PT or a GP, so till next time this is vergil signing off.
The first key word is price in this article as most standard casual cards range from 50 cents to about 2.50 depending on where you live, however here in ontario due to the Harmonized Sales Tax in effect costs of those cards are also taxed for single purchases as well as booster pack purchases let's say you are looking for a full playset of Memnite now starcitygames has it listed as a 2 dollar card while channelfireball has it also listed as 2 dollars in price and each foil memnite according to starcitygames costs 5.49 cents while the price according to starcitygames is listed as 5.99 so there is a difference in price for the foil versions of this card, though it's not that bad a difference by only 50 cents, if you purchase it from a store in ontario however you'll be charged 13 cents per dollar for each dollar of the cost of the product since it's a entertainment product and is charged under the manner, so in a sense you'll be paying a extra 78 cents per foil memnite and for a full playset you'll end up dishing out another 3.02 in price for the set along with the usual price of about 5.50 per so you'll be dishing out the cost of Koth of the Hammer for 4 cards which in the long run means you'll be basically buying 4 times the product for the exact same price as one of the other product.
Now i don't know how the taxes are in effect in other states/provinces here in north america but i do know that each card is priced a different range, espically cards which are out of standard, just the other week i ended up paying 4.50 for 2 Master of Etherium's when the card was 6 dollars per card when it was in standard at one point, so i was saving myself a good dollar and fifty cents easily by getting them out of the loop of course, those whom are looking to go for standard be warned it's not a cheap thing to get into, since the rise of prices in standard all thanks to M10 almost 2 years ago as of this point, card prices back then were quite expensive as you would end up paying out 50 dollars per Baneslayer Angel when it was first printed, nowadays though it costs about 12 dollars for a single copy of the card, so the price range has gone down since it has not seen a lot of standard play since it's inception, it may have won a tournament or two on the pro tour but it has yet to do anything to effect the game as a whole as of this point.
Another card in which to seriously look out for is Goblin Wardriver now you remember how it started as a mere 1 dollar uncommon well it's price as of this point has risen to a serious thing of about 2.50 since the last pro tour event which was this past weekend, now if that price turns you off then you'll hate the fact a full playset of Contested War Zone when they first came out was 16 dollars roughly, nowadays it's 20 dollars since the pro tour so standard events that are that big and influence a great deal of price points for the future of standard, which i think sucks but then again who am i to complain when i see Tezzert, Agent of Bolas who sits at 50 dollars as of right now, sorry copysix but i was right it would jump to higher then it started out as, for those whom don't pay attention standard itself is a costly thing and for those intending on getting into it, be warned it's not cheap and it has a huge price on it so start slow and learn your way round the game before going into a huge event like a PT or a GP, so till next time this is vergil signing off.
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Tezzert, Agent of Bolas: Why are you so good in standard
That's right for this article tezzert agent of bolas will get a feature and believe me it's quite a long one, in the article i intend to discuss the fact he's popping up in every blue/black control build regardless, as well as the fact he's getting more expensive as the days go by, plus even give a little insight on what things may shape up to be like with another broken walker like him on the fields of the standard scene, so let's begin this little hell hole.
First i want to go over the price of this particular planeswalker, which recently has seen high rises of the 50 dollar mark for one copy of this card, it is that insane, for a card that has not seen a lot of tournament play except for perhaps the most recent stuff it sure is overpriced i mean the general idea of this card is it works with artifacts and what's better then artifacts, control and control as we may recall is slightly overpowered for it's time. Though i must admit seeing another small set walker like this take the standard field so quickly not even 2 weeks after it's official release date is quite surprising though kind of expected, plus most online retailers are settling for selling him at 50 to 60 dollars per copy these days, as was proven by starcitygames and channel fireball
I mean the list he's featured in is so broken, plenty of 1 or 2 drop artifacts leading into him ramping on turn 3 with cards like Sphere of the Suns or Prophetic Prism to get that extra card, then turn things into 5/5 attackers/blockers and sit back and let the rest get done, even digging in with his +1 ability to fetch extra artifacts when you've got enough to do the job, usually though 1 or 2 animated artifacts is enough to do the job in most cases so why do people play him, just to be competitve in most tournaments for crying out loud, he's gotta be the most broken walker besides Jace, the Mind Sculptor to even hit the standard scene, thank god jace is rotating out in 8 more months though. but to drop 200-250 bucks on a playset of these boys is ridiclous, standard is becoming the most expensive format to play in, thank god though for decks like White weenie and Kuldotha Red to balance out the field for those cheap builds otherwise this would end up being a game no one plays aside from competitve tournaments.
So i ask you people is it worth it to spend 200-250 bucks on a playset of Tezzert, Agent of Bolas when you could essentially make 3 really better aggro decks for that price, the answer is no not in my eyes when he drops and or if he drops in price to a cheap walker he might be worth it, but to those whom have him good luck, hold onto those copies and when september comes round sell em at a high price you'll make a decent buck, that's all for now on this little rant of the latest walker to come off wizard's of the coast's print line till next time this is vergil signing off.
First i want to go over the price of this particular planeswalker, which recently has seen high rises of the 50 dollar mark for one copy of this card, it is that insane, for a card that has not seen a lot of tournament play except for perhaps the most recent stuff it sure is overpriced i mean the general idea of this card is it works with artifacts and what's better then artifacts, control and control as we may recall is slightly overpowered for it's time. Though i must admit seeing another small set walker like this take the standard field so quickly not even 2 weeks after it's official release date is quite surprising though kind of expected, plus most online retailers are settling for selling him at 50 to 60 dollars per copy these days, as was proven by starcitygames and channel fireball
I mean the list he's featured in is so broken, plenty of 1 or 2 drop artifacts leading into him ramping on turn 3 with cards like Sphere of the Suns or Prophetic Prism to get that extra card, then turn things into 5/5 attackers/blockers and sit back and let the rest get done, even digging in with his +1 ability to fetch extra artifacts when you've got enough to do the job, usually though 1 or 2 animated artifacts is enough to do the job in most cases so why do people play him, just to be competitve in most tournaments for crying out loud, he's gotta be the most broken walker besides Jace, the Mind Sculptor to even hit the standard scene, thank god jace is rotating out in 8 more months though. but to drop 200-250 bucks on a playset of these boys is ridiclous, standard is becoming the most expensive format to play in, thank god though for decks like White weenie and Kuldotha Red to balance out the field for those cheap builds otherwise this would end up being a game no one plays aside from competitve tournaments.
So i ask you people is it worth it to spend 200-250 bucks on a playset of Tezzert, Agent of Bolas when you could essentially make 3 really better aggro decks for that price, the answer is no not in my eyes when he drops and or if he drops in price to a cheap walker he might be worth it, but to those whom have him good luck, hold onto those copies and when september comes round sell em at a high price you'll make a decent buck, that's all for now on this little rant of the latest walker to come off wizard's of the coast's print line till next time this is vergil signing off.
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Magic the Gathering News: Vol 3, FTV: Legends, Magic Weekend Paris and much much more.
Alright it's that time again and this monthly edition of the news, Volume 3 features some recent announcements from wizards of the coast, magic weekend paris edition that's right not a pro tour, but a full on magic weekend with GP's and a Pro Tour event the same weekend, along with follow up on news that is somewhat old and all but features a twist on the new set Mirrodin Besieged as well as a few other things so let's begin this edition of the magic news.
First on the block is the announcement i wasn't expecting another From the Vault, entitled From the Vault: Legends, 15 legendary cards all printed in the new black border style, 1 of these new cards is going to be a mythic from the next fall set, entitled "Shake" the price has been detailed at a mere 34 dollars and 99 cents US, which for us canadians is gonna be a little bit more expensive but not by much, though the artwork listed below is sure to tease and make anyone go goofy over this new From the Vault.
Now if this doesn't give a clue as to the first card in this set think of a powerful mage of Zhalfir that's right Teferi, if teferi isn't reprinted in this set i think most blue players will flip out but i digress when this comes out come August 26th, i will be sure to give my final thoughts on this particular from the vault.
Next on the list is the recent pro tour stop in paris france, which also coencides with a grand prix event the same weekend, so why is there two events running at the same time, i'll tell so they can name it Magic Weekend, along with the usual pro tour stop they are pulling everything out, even the player of the year race from last year is being live webcasted for all to see on the saturday of this event as a Best of 7 event as well as the normal pro tour event top 8 being webcasted on sunday with the highlights of the best of 7 event, so i'm sure that will be a good weekend for magic and we will finally learn whom the 2010 player of the year is it gonna be a american or a frenchman the world waits in anticpation of this excellent weekend for the answer to this question.
Since Mirrodin Besieged has arrived on store shelves not even a week ago there has been some buzz about one card in particular the Mythic Rare Blightsteel Colossus and the fact it's utterly broken let's look at it from a player's view say you have a 1/1 myr artifact token on your field and Shape Anew in your hand, you play shape anew sacrifice the artifact and search for your 11/11 beast infecter with trample known as Blightsteel Colossus. did i mention it is indestrucible too, so you technically cannot kill it with anything, broken much like Darksteel Colossus before it and believe me it's one swing and your dead because of infect when you see something that ends games with a swing of a attack you know it's broken much like Emraukl, The Aeons Torn before it or even it's predecessor Darksteel Colossus so you tell me is the Blightsteel Colossus too broken for standard play, leave a comment below.
Finally on the list of things to talk about, Mirrodin Besieged game day is coming up and it is scheduled for the 6th of March, check your local store for information on this event, it welcomes two event decks which are sure to be unique in their own ways and has a few surprises in store, in the picture below are the two promo cards, one for competing in the event and one for making the top 8 of the event.
Now i like the full art cards as much as the next person but this is ridiculous but i'm sure there are those whom would disagree with me on this matter, so i'll leave it at that as the game day event is sure to make a big impact on what decks will be played in the coming months, so till next time folks this is vergil signing off and saying have a nice day.
First on the block is the announcement i wasn't expecting another From the Vault, entitled From the Vault: Legends, 15 legendary cards all printed in the new black border style, 1 of these new cards is going to be a mythic from the next fall set, entitled "Shake" the price has been detailed at a mere 34 dollars and 99 cents US, which for us canadians is gonna be a little bit more expensive but not by much, though the artwork listed below is sure to tease and make anyone go goofy over this new From the Vault.
Now if this doesn't give a clue as to the first card in this set think of a powerful mage of Zhalfir that's right Teferi, if teferi isn't reprinted in this set i think most blue players will flip out but i digress when this comes out come August 26th, i will be sure to give my final thoughts on this particular from the vault.
Next on the list is the recent pro tour stop in paris france, which also coencides with a grand prix event the same weekend, so why is there two events running at the same time, i'll tell so they can name it Magic Weekend, along with the usual pro tour stop they are pulling everything out, even the player of the year race from last year is being live webcasted for all to see on the saturday of this event as a Best of 7 event as well as the normal pro tour event top 8 being webcasted on sunday with the highlights of the best of 7 event, so i'm sure that will be a good weekend for magic and we will finally learn whom the 2010 player of the year is it gonna be a american or a frenchman the world waits in anticpation of this excellent weekend for the answer to this question.
Since Mirrodin Besieged has arrived on store shelves not even a week ago there has been some buzz about one card in particular the Mythic Rare Blightsteel Colossus and the fact it's utterly broken let's look at it from a player's view say you have a 1/1 myr artifact token on your field and Shape Anew in your hand, you play shape anew sacrifice the artifact and search for your 11/11 beast infecter with trample known as Blightsteel Colossus. did i mention it is indestrucible too, so you technically cannot kill it with anything, broken much like Darksteel Colossus before it and believe me it's one swing and your dead because of infect when you see something that ends games with a swing of a attack you know it's broken much like Emraukl, The Aeons Torn before it or even it's predecessor Darksteel Colossus so you tell me is the Blightsteel Colossus too broken for standard play, leave a comment below.
Finally on the list of things to talk about, Mirrodin Besieged game day is coming up and it is scheduled for the 6th of March, check your local store for information on this event, it welcomes two event decks which are sure to be unique in their own ways and has a few surprises in store, in the picture below are the two promo cards, one for competing in the event and one for making the top 8 of the event.
Now i like the full art cards as much as the next person but this is ridiculous but i'm sure there are those whom would disagree with me on this matter, so i'll leave it at that as the game day event is sure to make a big impact on what decks will be played in the coming months, so till next time folks this is vergil signing off and saying have a nice day.
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Mirrodin Besieged Spoilers Part 8: Final Thoughts on the Set
Well this one is going to be short since the spoilers were started since October of last year, it's been a long spoiler season and i look forward to see the fruit of the writings i do for it not go to waste, 155 cards with two of those cards being multicolored and 2 of them being regular old lands and not basics with 10 basics to go with this set, it's a small one, but it has shown to be a good one, we've got a old friend returning to the standard enviroment, some brand new legendaries making a appearance and even some Timmy and Johnny cards for you casual players.
I thank you for reading my articles as per every spoiler season i look forward to writing on the 3rd set of this fall block which is codenamed "Action" and see where that takes us, till next time this is vergil signing off and have fun at your local prerelease event.
I thank you for reading my articles as per every spoiler season i look forward to writing on the 3rd set of this fall block which is codenamed "Action" and see where that takes us, till next time this is vergil signing off and have fun at your local prerelease event.
Mirrodin Besieged Spoilers Part 7 [Artifacts]
With this set rumoured to feature half of it in the artifact phase let's see what mirrodin and phyrexia bring out in terms of their weapons of war for this set, perhaps we will end up seeing something different i would think, anyhoo let's go on and see what the artifacts are for the set.
#98) Bladed Sentinel - A decent 2/4 that makes vigilance possible a good defense for those pesky infecters but it's also a good attacker
#99) Blightsteel Colossus - You have to be kidding me, 11/11 for a 12 mana cost beast, with trample and infect, this is a serious threat in itself right here, i mean infect is bad enough but this guy can one shot players literally, also he can be cheated into play, did i mention this is a mythic rare so looks like this may be the answer to everything.
#100) Bonehoard - Living weapon has just gotten better, i mean graveyards are sure to have at least 6 different creatures in the bin when this comes out and as a equipment this shows off the power that i think phyrexia might have to win the war, i'd like to see this in future decks.
#101) Brass Squire - Another myr that throws equips onto other artifacts for a 1/3 it's decent but could be better and a uncommon to boot, seriously a underwhelming card
#102) Copper Carapace - A equip that prevents blocking, not bad but not good either.
#103) Core Prowler - Wow infect and proliferate on one card, for a 2/2 for 4 mana, this is so limited filler, next please.
#104) Darksteel Plate - Another rare that gives indestrucibilty on anything it equips, good for Kor decks but that's it, limited it's just another equipment
#105) Decimator Web - Wow something that does three things, life loss, milling and poison, this is bonkers for a rare in my book and i want to pick up a playset of these for a deck i've got and use those instead since they are cheaper then Keening Stone.
#106) Dross Ripper - Eh is all i can say in regards to this, it's your standard pumper without flying it makes it just a regular old attacker but in a limited format it's good.
#107) Flayer Husk - A new mechanic is also introduced with this card called Living Weapon which brings in a creature token as this enters play and the equipment enters the battlefield attached to this creature for a 1 drop equipment not bad, as it also introduces a 0/0 ooze token with this particular equipment, with all due respect this mechanic may prove to be a broken one me thinks.
#108) Gust Skimmer - Well well well, a potential flyer for a artifact this time round it's good 2/1 for a 2 drop that you pay a blue mana to give it flying, it's a nice evader i'll give it that.
#109) Hexplate Golem - Well i cannot say anything bout it's rarity however for a 7 drop that's a 5/7 it's a late game finisher
#110) Ichor Wellspring - Card draw is simplified in this set now, for 2 mana it's basically a 1 for 1 effect and when it gets blown to pieces you get another card, for sure good for activating metalcraft and has a replacement effect going on, very interesting to say the least.
#111) Knowledge Pool - A new imprint control mechanic has arrived and wow, if you recall Grimoire Thief from Morningtide you'll know when he taps you take the top 3 of the opponent's library and exile it, well this is a board wide effect hitting all players, when a player plays a spell that gets exiled and you'll be given a chance to play a spell exiled with this card for free, that's right for free.
#112) Lumengrid Gargoyle - Wow for 6 it's a 4/4 flyer next
#113) Magnetic Mine - 4 for this, wow this is perhaps the last rare of the set it's good whenever a artifact goes to the bin the controller is dealt 2 damage it can screw you over but it can also hurt your opponents
#114) Mirrorworks - A token generator at it's finest, ramp decks love this stuff and everything else well is just annoying to deal with, even 11/11's in this format, since it produces a token when a nontoken artifact by paying 2 mana i think this will be the way to avoid Elspeth Tirel's ultimate.
#115) Mortarpod - Um what to say another living weapon equip that pings for 1 damage perhaps the worst use of living weapon yet.
#116) Myr Sire - Wow a replacement body for 2 mana for a 1/1 myr it's decent.
#117) Myr Turbine - Wow this makes myr probably possible in a standard enviroment it makes dudes and it even fetches other myr, such as Myr Battlesphere dear god this is good for 5 mana it's a slot card that can be ramped so fast, with artifact hate in this set there is always a way to protect this thing.
#118) Myr Welder - Oh em gee, another necrotic ooze effect like we have not seen this before, imprint as well to go along with this, i know imprint wasn't too hot the last set but come on here, it's not going to work in real casual or standard but limited has possiblites even as a 1/4 body it's decent.
#119) Peace Strider - Ok this one was sorta spoiled at the scars of mirrodin game day, for those whom have this card already, good for you for those whom don't well you may want to listen up, this is a 4 drop for a 3/3 that gives you 3 life, it's a mirran card so it was expected to give back something for your troubles, at the uncommon level it's a nice addition to this set.
#120) Phyrexian Digester - Another phyrexian with infect as common as they are now it's getting old, it's a 2/1 that dies on one hit and is limited fodder.
#121) Phyrexian Juggernaut - The counter to the darksteel juggernaut with infect and it's a 5/5 to boot, this is just insane in the membrane, treasure mage loves to fetch these high powered cards.
#122) Phyrexian Revoker - Now this is the business here, pithing needle 2.0 in creature form, for a mere 2 mana it's a pithing needle for a 2/1 oh wait it can die to a non landfall searing blaze, wait it can stop that card in general, nice indeed.
#123) Pierce Strider - The phyrexian one for those whom aligned with phyrexia in the scars of mirrodin game day this past october and believe me it's a perfect metal eating beast, a 3/3 and it has the ability to make someone lose some life, interesting very interesting.
#124) Piston Sledge - Think Obsidian Battle Axe but better another equip that equips itself right away as it enters the battlefield, for 3 mana it's a nice finisher.
#125) Plague Myr - Another infecter for a cheap cost, also it's still a 1/1 infecter come on wizards where's the 2/2 infecters for the myrs?
#126) Rusted Slasher - 4 for a regenerater, that forces you to sacrifice artifacts to do so as 4/1 body i don't think so, next please
#127) Psychosis Crawler - Wow something that bases it's power and toughness off the cards in your hand, plus when you draw cards you deal direct damage, this is very interesting for a rare that is for sure.
#128) Razorfield Rhino - Another rhino that is a 4/4 and has metalcraft that pumps it to a 6/6 when it triggers, ezuri's brigade anyone is all i can say also it's pretty much a decent common
#129) Shimmer Myr - Another myr, another day though i must admit it's a junk rare at best since flash is kind of underwhelming but i'll take what i can get from this set.
#130) Shriekhorn - A mill card that forces charge counters, proliferate may love it but i don't
#131) Signal Pest - Battle cry with a 0/1 yeah right, oh wait it cannot be blocked by ground that's the decent part and it has only got a 1 mana cost to it, this and perhaps pump spells work well together
#132) Silverskin Armor - So this is a equipment eh, well it's decent to say the least as it only costs 2 mana to bring out and turns on metalcraft that much easier by making things into artifacts and itself is a artifact i think this isn't half bad from a drafting perspective.
#133) Skinwing - Another living weapon thing that equips flying and gives a +2/+2 bonus when it's equipped to a creature, not bad but not good as limited fodder seems to be more apparent as i write these spoilers.
#134) Sphere of the Suns - Another mana generation card that focuses on charge counters, though it's a decent mana fixer you'll run out quickly in it's ability, though it works well with Veldaken Infuser me thinks for a mere 2 mana it's pretty good.
#135) Spin Engine - Well finally something that forces no blockers onto it well one anyways, but as a 3/1 Hellspark Elemental is still better in every respect since it has trample and haste need i say more.
#136) Spine of Ish Sah - Wow something that blows up other permanents when it hits the board, then pops back to your hand when it's destroyed itself, talk about mass removal for a rare 7 mana nets you this card and it's pretty good, the ramp variants will love this card to death, the aggro players will hate it and the control variants whom love to fiddle around will go goofy over this one.
#137) Strandwalker - Another living weapon card but it gives reach and a +2/+4 bonus to the creature it attachs itself to, not bad, it's a uncommon as well
#138) Sword of Feast and Famine - Well the sword cycle continues in this set and we are getting a pro black and green sword this time, when the equipped creature deals damage that defending player discards a card and the attacking player untaps all their lands great for EDH and standard it seems as this is the 2nd sword of the block thus far, i'd like to see a third and final one for the next set if possible.
#139) Tangle Hulk - One more regenerater for a 5/3 5 drop, like we've seen this before note the sarcasm.
#140) Thopter Assembly - Another card that churns out tokens at will almost everytime you control no other thopters then this card and make 5 1/1 flyers, also did i mention this was a 5/5 with flying for 6?, not a damn bad rare if i may say so, also this is the release promo card for this particular set.
#141) Titan Forge - Well, well well lookie what we got here, a artifact that uses charge counters, churns out 9/9 titan tokens when you remove 3 of em, then starts the process all over, proliferate and anything that produces charge counters will love this card, i'm serious did i mention it's a rare.
#142) Training Drone - A utterly terrible limited card as he has to be equipped to even be useful, though with the right combo of stuff this dude is deadly, oh he's 4/4 and costs 3 mana to bring out pretty decent but then again artifact hate can suck this guy into oblivion..
#143) Viridian Claw - Wow this thing is a equipment in this set, not bad, but not good either, though it does give first strike i'll give it props for that at least
#98) Bladed Sentinel - A decent 2/4 that makes vigilance possible a good defense for those pesky infecters but it's also a good attacker
#99) Blightsteel Colossus - You have to be kidding me, 11/11 for a 12 mana cost beast, with trample and infect, this is a serious threat in itself right here, i mean infect is bad enough but this guy can one shot players literally, also he can be cheated into play, did i mention this is a mythic rare so looks like this may be the answer to everything.
#100) Bonehoard - Living weapon has just gotten better, i mean graveyards are sure to have at least 6 different creatures in the bin when this comes out and as a equipment this shows off the power that i think phyrexia might have to win the war, i'd like to see this in future decks.
#101) Brass Squire - Another myr that throws equips onto other artifacts for a 1/3 it's decent but could be better and a uncommon to boot, seriously a underwhelming card
#102) Copper Carapace - A equip that prevents blocking, not bad but not good either.
#103) Core Prowler - Wow infect and proliferate on one card, for a 2/2 for 4 mana, this is so limited filler, next please.
#104) Darksteel Plate - Another rare that gives indestrucibilty on anything it equips, good for Kor decks but that's it, limited it's just another equipment
#105) Decimator Web - Wow something that does three things, life loss, milling and poison, this is bonkers for a rare in my book and i want to pick up a playset of these for a deck i've got and use those instead since they are cheaper then Keening Stone.
#106) Dross Ripper - Eh is all i can say in regards to this, it's your standard pumper without flying it makes it just a regular old attacker but in a limited format it's good.
#107) Flayer Husk - A new mechanic is also introduced with this card called Living Weapon which brings in a creature token as this enters play and the equipment enters the battlefield attached to this creature for a 1 drop equipment not bad, as it also introduces a 0/0 ooze token with this particular equipment, with all due respect this mechanic may prove to be a broken one me thinks.
#108) Gust Skimmer - Well well well, a potential flyer for a artifact this time round it's good 2/1 for a 2 drop that you pay a blue mana to give it flying, it's a nice evader i'll give it that.
#109) Hexplate Golem - Well i cannot say anything bout it's rarity however for a 7 drop that's a 5/7 it's a late game finisher
#110) Ichor Wellspring - Card draw is simplified in this set now, for 2 mana it's basically a 1 for 1 effect and when it gets blown to pieces you get another card, for sure good for activating metalcraft and has a replacement effect going on, very interesting to say the least.
#111) Knowledge Pool - A new imprint control mechanic has arrived and wow, if you recall Grimoire Thief from Morningtide you'll know when he taps you take the top 3 of the opponent's library and exile it, well this is a board wide effect hitting all players, when a player plays a spell that gets exiled and you'll be given a chance to play a spell exiled with this card for free, that's right for free.
#112) Lumengrid Gargoyle - Wow for 6 it's a 4/4 flyer next
#113) Magnetic Mine - 4 for this, wow this is perhaps the last rare of the set it's good whenever a artifact goes to the bin the controller is dealt 2 damage it can screw you over but it can also hurt your opponents
#114) Mirrorworks - A token generator at it's finest, ramp decks love this stuff and everything else well is just annoying to deal with, even 11/11's in this format, since it produces a token when a nontoken artifact by paying 2 mana i think this will be the way to avoid Elspeth Tirel's ultimate.
#115) Mortarpod - Um what to say another living weapon equip that pings for 1 damage perhaps the worst use of living weapon yet.
#116) Myr Sire - Wow a replacement body for 2 mana for a 1/1 myr it's decent.
#117) Myr Turbine - Wow this makes myr probably possible in a standard enviroment it makes dudes and it even fetches other myr, such as Myr Battlesphere dear god this is good for 5 mana it's a slot card that can be ramped so fast, with artifact hate in this set there is always a way to protect this thing.
#118) Myr Welder - Oh em gee, another necrotic ooze effect like we have not seen this before, imprint as well to go along with this, i know imprint wasn't too hot the last set but come on here, it's not going to work in real casual or standard but limited has possiblites even as a 1/4 body it's decent.
#119) Peace Strider - Ok this one was sorta spoiled at the scars of mirrodin game day, for those whom have this card already, good for you for those whom don't well you may want to listen up, this is a 4 drop for a 3/3 that gives you 3 life, it's a mirran card so it was expected to give back something for your troubles, at the uncommon level it's a nice addition to this set.
#120) Phyrexian Digester - Another phyrexian with infect as common as they are now it's getting old, it's a 2/1 that dies on one hit and is limited fodder.
#121) Phyrexian Juggernaut - The counter to the darksteel juggernaut with infect and it's a 5/5 to boot, this is just insane in the membrane, treasure mage loves to fetch these high powered cards.
#122) Phyrexian Revoker - Now this is the business here, pithing needle 2.0 in creature form, for a mere 2 mana it's a pithing needle for a 2/1 oh wait it can die to a non landfall searing blaze, wait it can stop that card in general, nice indeed.
#123) Pierce Strider - The phyrexian one for those whom aligned with phyrexia in the scars of mirrodin game day this past october and believe me it's a perfect metal eating beast, a 3/3 and it has the ability to make someone lose some life, interesting very interesting.
#124) Piston Sledge - Think Obsidian Battle Axe but better another equip that equips itself right away as it enters the battlefield, for 3 mana it's a nice finisher.
#125) Plague Myr - Another infecter for a cheap cost, also it's still a 1/1 infecter come on wizards where's the 2/2 infecters for the myrs?
#126) Rusted Slasher - 4 for a regenerater, that forces you to sacrifice artifacts to do so as 4/1 body i don't think so, next please
#127) Psychosis Crawler - Wow something that bases it's power and toughness off the cards in your hand, plus when you draw cards you deal direct damage, this is very interesting for a rare that is for sure.
#128) Razorfield Rhino - Another rhino that is a 4/4 and has metalcraft that pumps it to a 6/6 when it triggers, ezuri's brigade anyone is all i can say also it's pretty much a decent common
#129) Shimmer Myr - Another myr, another day though i must admit it's a junk rare at best since flash is kind of underwhelming but i'll take what i can get from this set.
#130) Shriekhorn - A mill card that forces charge counters, proliferate may love it but i don't
#131) Signal Pest - Battle cry with a 0/1 yeah right, oh wait it cannot be blocked by ground that's the decent part and it has only got a 1 mana cost to it, this and perhaps pump spells work well together
#132) Silverskin Armor - So this is a equipment eh, well it's decent to say the least as it only costs 2 mana to bring out and turns on metalcraft that much easier by making things into artifacts and itself is a artifact i think this isn't half bad from a drafting perspective.
#133) Skinwing - Another living weapon thing that equips flying and gives a +2/+2 bonus when it's equipped to a creature, not bad but not good as limited fodder seems to be more apparent as i write these spoilers.
#134) Sphere of the Suns - Another mana generation card that focuses on charge counters, though it's a decent mana fixer you'll run out quickly in it's ability, though it works well with Veldaken Infuser me thinks for a mere 2 mana it's pretty good.
#135) Spin Engine - Well finally something that forces no blockers onto it well one anyways, but as a 3/1 Hellspark Elemental is still better in every respect since it has trample and haste need i say more.
#136) Spine of Ish Sah - Wow something that blows up other permanents when it hits the board, then pops back to your hand when it's destroyed itself, talk about mass removal for a rare 7 mana nets you this card and it's pretty good, the ramp variants will love this card to death, the aggro players will hate it and the control variants whom love to fiddle around will go goofy over this one.
#137) Strandwalker - Another living weapon card but it gives reach and a +2/+4 bonus to the creature it attachs itself to, not bad, it's a uncommon as well
#138) Sword of Feast and Famine - Well the sword cycle continues in this set and we are getting a pro black and green sword this time, when the equipped creature deals damage that defending player discards a card and the attacking player untaps all their lands great for EDH and standard it seems as this is the 2nd sword of the block thus far, i'd like to see a third and final one for the next set if possible.
#139) Tangle Hulk - One more regenerater for a 5/3 5 drop, like we've seen this before note the sarcasm.
#140) Thopter Assembly - Another card that churns out tokens at will almost everytime you control no other thopters then this card and make 5 1/1 flyers, also did i mention this was a 5/5 with flying for 6?, not a damn bad rare if i may say so, also this is the release promo card for this particular set.
#141) Titan Forge - Well, well well lookie what we got here, a artifact that uses charge counters, churns out 9/9 titan tokens when you remove 3 of em, then starts the process all over, proliferate and anything that produces charge counters will love this card, i'm serious did i mention it's a rare.
#142) Training Drone - A utterly terrible limited card as he has to be equipped to even be useful, though with the right combo of stuff this dude is deadly, oh he's 4/4 and costs 3 mana to bring out pretty decent but then again artifact hate can suck this guy into oblivion..
#143) Viridian Claw - Wow this thing is a equipment in this set, not bad, but not good either, though it does give first strike i'll give it props for that at least
Mirrodin Besieged Spoilers Part 6 [Multicolored and Lands]
So again i'll just combine the basics of two articles into one to save you the reader a bunch of time and that, so this way you can skim over the cards, figure out what you want to do with em when the time comes and take it from there, this article will contain the multicolored cards and of course the lands featured in mirrodin besieged.
#96) Glissa, The Traitor: Oh dear god she's back from the original and this time she's on the phryexian side of the war, it makes sense though due to the corruption she experienced back in the good old days of past sets, she's a 3/3 first striker with deathtouch, if she didn't have first strike though she'd kinda suck since a easy 4 power creature could clash with her and exchange it, also did i mention this was the prerelease card and that it brings back artifacts from the graveyard.
#97) Tezzert, Agent of Bolas - He's back, let's go over his neat abilites shall we, +1) you get to look at the top five cards of your library and put a artifact from them into your hand. putting the rest on the bottom of your library in any order. -1) An artifact of your choice becomes a 5/5 artifact creature till end of turn. -4) Target player loses x life and you gain X life when X is twice the number of artifacts you control, seriously this guy is this dangerous for a 2, blue and a black you get this guy on the field and it's a three turn clock literally, he makes artifacts that much more dangerous and is expected to be a high priced card in the end.
#144) Contested War Zone - Something that isn't really good even as a land, if you deal combat damage it's done, it goes to your opponent and all that, though it does give a bonus it's not that good really.
#145) Inkmoth Nexus - Another functional reprint of Blinkmoth Nexus from Darksteel, for 1 mana you get a 1/1 infecter with flying and it adds 1 to your mana pool when it taps, i must admit i've not seen this kind of card in a while since the man lands of Worldwake.
Well that calls it for this, since the rest of the 10 remaining cards are basic lands, see you in part 7 for the artifacts of this set.
#96) Glissa, The Traitor: Oh dear god she's back from the original and this time she's on the phryexian side of the war, it makes sense though due to the corruption she experienced back in the good old days of past sets, she's a 3/3 first striker with deathtouch, if she didn't have first strike though she'd kinda suck since a easy 4 power creature could clash with her and exchange it, also did i mention this was the prerelease card and that it brings back artifacts from the graveyard.
#97) Tezzert, Agent of Bolas - He's back, let's go over his neat abilites shall we, +1) you get to look at the top five cards of your library and put a artifact from them into your hand. putting the rest on the bottom of your library in any order. -1) An artifact of your choice becomes a 5/5 artifact creature till end of turn. -4) Target player loses x life and you gain X life when X is twice the number of artifacts you control, seriously this guy is this dangerous for a 2, blue and a black you get this guy on the field and it's a three turn clock literally, he makes artifacts that much more dangerous and is expected to be a high priced card in the end.
#144) Contested War Zone - Something that isn't really good even as a land, if you deal combat damage it's done, it goes to your opponent and all that, though it does give a bonus it's not that good really.
#145) Inkmoth Nexus - Another functional reprint of Blinkmoth Nexus from Darksteel, for 1 mana you get a 1/1 infecter with flying and it adds 1 to your mana pool when it taps, i must admit i've not seen this kind of card in a while since the man lands of Worldwake.
Well that calls it for this, since the rest of the 10 remaining cards are basic lands, see you in part 7 for the artifacts of this set.
Mirrodin Besieged Spoilers Part 5 [Green]
Green's turn and such i hope to find some decently colored cards like the last set, there were quite a few good bombshells from this particular color in the last set including a legendary elven warrior and even some good metalcrafters, let's see what green brings to the table for this edition of the spoilers
#77) Blightwidow - Another infecter for a heavy cost of 4 mana it also has reach and is a 2/4 decent as it may be it's probably a last pick material for limited and nothing else since infect has Cystbearer and even Putrefax.
#78) Creeping Corrosion - Another sweeper spell but for green, it's not like green needs these bomb rares since green is getting nicely taken care of to start with this particular card, this is wrath of god for artifacts in a nutshell.
#79) Fangren Marauder - A 5/5 that gives life when artifacts are sent to the graveyard, this is new, i like it, solid card though it's mana cost is a bit high but it's great for limited and provides that last few points of necessary damage in the end.
#80) Glissa's Courier - The counterpart to Koth's courier in a sense and this one is decent to say the least, mountainwalk on a 2/3, do i sense a mirrored thing going on here or what
#81) Green Sun's Zenith - Oh my god this is genesis wave for green creatures, it brings out things like primeval titan, gaea's revenge, even vengevine for literally the same cost if it is not in your hand, i can see this being used for decks like Pyromancer's Ascension or something of that nature.
#82) Lead the Stampede - Green is more then likely the best colour of the set, this fetches creatures from the top 5 cards of your library and it's a uncommon at that with sorcery speed for 3 mana, did i mention this was only 3 mana to cast, wow this is good indeed.
#83) Melira's Keepers - Our first green card to talk about and wow it's a nice one, 4/4 for a 5 drop that cannot have counters placed on it at all, so it remains as is a 4/4 that withstands infect, mirran's answer to the phyrexian plague it would seem, a solid limited bomb against infect decks.
#84) Mirran Mettle - A simple pump spell, for 1 mana that works off metalcraft, though i don't seen green going into much metalcraft in this format, since green's been infect most of the time.
#85) Phyrexian Hydra - Wow hydra's don't get much bigger or better, 7/7 for a infecter and it costs 5 mana to bring out, though it dies in like two turns, it's good for clearing paths, wish it had trample then it would be perfect.
#86) Pistus Strike - Well at least it's a removal spell for infect, nuff said it costs 3 mana and it deals with those pesky flyers, pretty good for a infect deck.
#87) Plaguemaw Beast - 4/3 body on a 5 drop that has proliferate if you sacrifice a creature and tap it, dies to bolt, anything that dies to bolt straight off sucks.
#88) Praetor's Council - Wowzers it's a mythic rare that isn't a creature for a change when you play this you get a unlimited hand size for the rest of the game and all your graveyard cards go back to your hand seriously just mind boggling, i've fallen in love with this one folks.
#89) Quilled Slagwurm - Another non ability body for a 7 drop that's a 8/8 when it hits, it can easily par with Gaea's Revenge and the Titans easily, though it seems like it's just a regular old beatstick but we've got better beatsticks.
#90) Rot Wolf - Decent infecter that nets cards when it deals damage, love the fact it's a 2/2 and not a 2/1 or a 1/2 for a 3 drop and a common it's sure to be a first pick in any draft format for infect players and the fact it also doesn't die right away is a plus.
#91) Tangle Mantis - A 3/4 body with trample for 4 mana, it's good enough without ruining the moment.
#92) Thrun, the Last Troll - I knew it, i knew he was going to be in this set, as a Mythic Rare and a 4/4 wow i was way off in speculation, but still something that cannot be countered and targeted by spells, and regenerates seriously a bad ass card if i must say so.
#93) Unnatural Predation - A pump spell for cheap, Giant growth is more effective then this but at least it gives trample to it's target.
#94) Viridian Corrupter - Wow a new bloody useful artifact destruction spell, for 3 and is a 2/2 when it drops onto the board, well this sure makes things better also did i mention this has infect.
#95) Viridian Emissary - Ok civic wayfinder, move over there's a new sheriff in town and his name is Viridian Emissary and he's a 2/1 for 2 mana, also a standard common, let's see this set's mana fixer check, a 2/1 body for 2 check do i sense a theme here.
Green is finally finished, 19 cards of interest in this format and believe me it's been a long time coming, next the longest form of card in this set, the artifacts and Multicolor cards and lands
#77) Blightwidow - Another infecter for a heavy cost of 4 mana it also has reach and is a 2/4 decent as it may be it's probably a last pick material for limited and nothing else since infect has Cystbearer and even Putrefax.
#78) Creeping Corrosion - Another sweeper spell but for green, it's not like green needs these bomb rares since green is getting nicely taken care of to start with this particular card, this is wrath of god for artifacts in a nutshell.
#79) Fangren Marauder - A 5/5 that gives life when artifacts are sent to the graveyard, this is new, i like it, solid card though it's mana cost is a bit high but it's great for limited and provides that last few points of necessary damage in the end.
#80) Glissa's Courier - The counterpart to Koth's courier in a sense and this one is decent to say the least, mountainwalk on a 2/3, do i sense a mirrored thing going on here or what
#81) Green Sun's Zenith - Oh my god this is genesis wave for green creatures, it brings out things like primeval titan, gaea's revenge, even vengevine for literally the same cost if it is not in your hand, i can see this being used for decks like Pyromancer's Ascension or something of that nature.
#82) Lead the Stampede - Green is more then likely the best colour of the set, this fetches creatures from the top 5 cards of your library and it's a uncommon at that with sorcery speed for 3 mana, did i mention this was only 3 mana to cast, wow this is good indeed.
#83) Melira's Keepers - Our first green card to talk about and wow it's a nice one, 4/4 for a 5 drop that cannot have counters placed on it at all, so it remains as is a 4/4 that withstands infect, mirran's answer to the phyrexian plague it would seem, a solid limited bomb against infect decks.
#84) Mirran Mettle - A simple pump spell, for 1 mana that works off metalcraft, though i don't seen green going into much metalcraft in this format, since green's been infect most of the time.
#85) Phyrexian Hydra - Wow hydra's don't get much bigger or better, 7/7 for a infecter and it costs 5 mana to bring out, though it dies in like two turns, it's good for clearing paths, wish it had trample then it would be perfect.
#86) Pistus Strike - Well at least it's a removal spell for infect, nuff said it costs 3 mana and it deals with those pesky flyers, pretty good for a infect deck.
#87) Plaguemaw Beast - 4/3 body on a 5 drop that has proliferate if you sacrifice a creature and tap it, dies to bolt, anything that dies to bolt straight off sucks.
#88) Praetor's Council - Wowzers it's a mythic rare that isn't a creature for a change when you play this you get a unlimited hand size for the rest of the game and all your graveyard cards go back to your hand seriously just mind boggling, i've fallen in love with this one folks.
#89) Quilled Slagwurm - Another non ability body for a 7 drop that's a 8/8 when it hits, it can easily par with Gaea's Revenge and the Titans easily, though it seems like it's just a regular old beatstick but we've got better beatsticks.
#90) Rot Wolf - Decent infecter that nets cards when it deals damage, love the fact it's a 2/2 and not a 2/1 or a 1/2 for a 3 drop and a common it's sure to be a first pick in any draft format for infect players and the fact it also doesn't die right away is a plus.
#91) Tangle Mantis - A 3/4 body with trample for 4 mana, it's good enough without ruining the moment.
#92) Thrun, the Last Troll - I knew it, i knew he was going to be in this set, as a Mythic Rare and a 4/4 wow i was way off in speculation, but still something that cannot be countered and targeted by spells, and regenerates seriously a bad ass card if i must say so.
#93) Unnatural Predation - A pump spell for cheap, Giant growth is more effective then this but at least it gives trample to it's target.
#94) Viridian Corrupter - Wow a new bloody useful artifact destruction spell, for 3 and is a 2/2 when it drops onto the board, well this sure makes things better also did i mention this has infect.
#95) Viridian Emissary - Ok civic wayfinder, move over there's a new sheriff in town and his name is Viridian Emissary and he's a 2/1 for 2 mana, also a standard common, let's see this set's mana fixer check, a 2/1 body for 2 check do i sense a theme here.
Green is finally finished, 19 cards of interest in this format and believe me it's been a long time coming, next the longest form of card in this set, the artifacts and Multicolor cards and lands
Mirrodin Besieged Spoilers Part 4 [Red]
So red's turn on the chopping block for this prerelease and i hope to god it is a good decent red set as there were maybe 3 cards last set to bring out in standard and not anywhere else, perhaps who knows we will see when the time comes as obvious as that sounds.
#58) Blisterstick Shaman - A decent pinger for a mere 3 mana, huh ok fodder next
#59) Burn the Impure - Simple and easy removal of infect dudes, for 2 mana you get a 3 damage burn spell, but if the creature dealt damage has infect the controller receives 3 points of damage, limited fodder in all it's respects, i expect to at least see this at drafts
#60) Concussive Bolt - 5 mana for a 4 point damage burn spell, but it has metalcraft where have i seen this one before, oh yes i've seen it in the form of Galvanic Blast, but metalcraft activates the ability that creatures that player controls that was dealt damage cannot block, a serious finisher for most decks and will be a nice kick finish for drafters.
#61) Crush - Simple artifact destruction at it's finest, doesn't target creatures that is the only drawback to this card, but for one mana you get a decent removal spell in limited for sure.
#62) Galvanoth - A rare that is a 3/3 hah yeah right i think this is a filler rare even though it allows for instants and sorceries to be cast off the top of your library during your upkeep, still decent but not good enough
#63) Gnathosaur - 6 mana for a 5/4 body with trample being part of it's ability, really decent and red hardly has trample these days, it's nice to see wizards finally taking my advice on making red guys have trample again, just kidding.
#64) Goblin Wardriver - It's about time we learned what this guy can do 2/2 for a battle cry and he only costs 2 red mana to summon, seems pretty great he's a uncommon, hmm well at least i don't have to worry bout rare drafting.
#65) Hellkite Igniter - Another dragon, another firebreathing effect or is it, this one does +X/+0 until end of turn where X is the number of artifacts you control, with flying and haste this seems like a decent card, if only it had trample.
#66) Hero of Oxid Ridge - This is supposed to be a mythic, yeah right for a 4/2 that's right a 4/2 for 4 mana with Haste and Battle cry, i think this will get sent down to the limited filler bin where all the other 2 dollar mythics are at currently.
#67) Into the Core - Now this is a good artifact removal spell but if there was a "You may" Clause in the text i would consider it a decent one but not really as much as i had hoped, for 2 mana, and 2 red mana you get a instant speed removal spell that exiles two artifacts but it does have it's advantages, at least it can take down a 11/11 artifact golem.
#68) Koth's Courier - We were expecting this one and it's dissapointing to say the least she only has forestwalk and is a 2/3, this right here is the defintion of a filler card for drafting.
#69) Kuldotha Flamefiend - Another generic 4/4 uncommon that is only as good as limited allows, maybe it might see some minor sideboard play for Red Decks but that's it and the effect of dealing damage divided kinda sucks if i may say so.
#70) Kuldotha Ringleader - Wow battle cry on a even power/toughness creature, that is forced to attack each turn i can see this being a different ball game now.
#71) Metallic Mastery - Another act of treason in standard, again do we need more of the same crap seriously but this one's for artifacts.
#72) Ogre Resister - Hmm well at least this one is decent a 4/3 body for 4 at the common level, you get a dude with this one that doesn't die right away at least right?
#73) Rally the Forces - Another non useful spell, it's basically a battle cry without a creature, stupid i knew they would print this kind of filler next please
#74) Red Sun's Zenith - Seriously another Heat Ray type of effect with a twist, it has recursion oh wow, big deal i've got better spells for you that do more damage then this stupid thing, Lightning Bolt, Searing Blaze, Punishing Fire get the picture, limited only nuff said.
#75) Slagstorm - Finally something that isn't volcanic fallout for a change, and it doesn't have a stupid "Deal this damage to flyers" on it at all you get to deal 3 damage to players or creatures for a mere 3 mana it's worth it to sweep the board of those nasty infecters.
#76) Spiraling Duelist - 4 mana for a metalcrafter that gives itself double strike when metalcraft is active, 3/1 as well hmm lemme think for a minute here, he dies to any combat damage, infect is a huge threat in this set, need i continue?
#58) Blisterstick Shaman - A decent pinger for a mere 3 mana, huh ok fodder next
#59) Burn the Impure - Simple and easy removal of infect dudes, for 2 mana you get a 3 damage burn spell, but if the creature dealt damage has infect the controller receives 3 points of damage, limited fodder in all it's respects, i expect to at least see this at drafts
#60) Concussive Bolt - 5 mana for a 4 point damage burn spell, but it has metalcraft where have i seen this one before, oh yes i've seen it in the form of Galvanic Blast, but metalcraft activates the ability that creatures that player controls that was dealt damage cannot block, a serious finisher for most decks and will be a nice kick finish for drafters.
#61) Crush - Simple artifact destruction at it's finest, doesn't target creatures that is the only drawback to this card, but for one mana you get a decent removal spell in limited for sure.
#62) Galvanoth - A rare that is a 3/3 hah yeah right i think this is a filler rare even though it allows for instants and sorceries to be cast off the top of your library during your upkeep, still decent but not good enough
#63) Gnathosaur - 6 mana for a 5/4 body with trample being part of it's ability, really decent and red hardly has trample these days, it's nice to see wizards finally taking my advice on making red guys have trample again, just kidding.
#64) Goblin Wardriver - It's about time we learned what this guy can do 2/2 for a battle cry and he only costs 2 red mana to summon, seems pretty great he's a uncommon, hmm well at least i don't have to worry bout rare drafting.
#65) Hellkite Igniter - Another dragon, another firebreathing effect or is it, this one does +X/+0 until end of turn where X is the number of artifacts you control, with flying and haste this seems like a decent card, if only it had trample.
#66) Hero of Oxid Ridge - This is supposed to be a mythic, yeah right for a 4/2 that's right a 4/2 for 4 mana with Haste and Battle cry, i think this will get sent down to the limited filler bin where all the other 2 dollar mythics are at currently.
#67) Into the Core - Now this is a good artifact removal spell but if there was a "You may" Clause in the text i would consider it a decent one but not really as much as i had hoped, for 2 mana, and 2 red mana you get a instant speed removal spell that exiles two artifacts but it does have it's advantages, at least it can take down a 11/11 artifact golem.
#68) Koth's Courier - We were expecting this one and it's dissapointing to say the least she only has forestwalk and is a 2/3, this right here is the defintion of a filler card for drafting.
#69) Kuldotha Flamefiend - Another generic 4/4 uncommon that is only as good as limited allows, maybe it might see some minor sideboard play for Red Decks but that's it and the effect of dealing damage divided kinda sucks if i may say so.
#70) Kuldotha Ringleader - Wow battle cry on a even power/toughness creature, that is forced to attack each turn i can see this being a different ball game now.
#71) Metallic Mastery - Another act of treason in standard, again do we need more of the same crap seriously but this one's for artifacts.
#72) Ogre Resister - Hmm well at least this one is decent a 4/3 body for 4 at the common level, you get a dude with this one that doesn't die right away at least right?
#73) Rally the Forces - Another non useful spell, it's basically a battle cry without a creature, stupid i knew they would print this kind of filler next please
#74) Red Sun's Zenith - Seriously another Heat Ray type of effect with a twist, it has recursion oh wow, big deal i've got better spells for you that do more damage then this stupid thing, Lightning Bolt, Searing Blaze, Punishing Fire get the picture, limited only nuff said.
#75) Slagstorm - Finally something that isn't volcanic fallout for a change, and it doesn't have a stupid "Deal this damage to flyers" on it at all you get to deal 3 damage to players or creatures for a mere 3 mana it's worth it to sweep the board of those nasty infecters.
#76) Spiraling Duelist - 4 mana for a metalcrafter that gives itself double strike when metalcraft is active, 3/1 as well hmm lemme think for a minute here, he dies to any combat damage, infect is a huge threat in this set, need i continue?
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