Hello world. This time I add final verdicts of the cards I review. This should help you understand how playable I think the card is since random wall of text isn't always the best possible way to get the message across. I am not going to give number ratings, because those really don't mean anything. The grading system I use is as follows:
Format Staple - Sees play in numerous decks, sometimes even an autoinclusion in decks that run the required colors. Examples: Mana Drain, Demonic Tutor
Archetype Staple - Will see a lot of play in an established deck or two, but is not powerful enough to break free from the deck type it is mostly associated with. Examples: Goblin Guide, Fact or Fiction
Potential - Sometimes appears in an established decks, but is not considered to be automatically included in any deck. Examples: Bonfire of the Damned, Harmonize
Niche - Doesn't fit to any current archetypes or those archetypes aren't strong enough to be playable, but there is a chance you see this played against you should a lot of things come together. Only for professional drivers on a closed track. Lot of the cards I highlight fall into this category, because I am just that type of sicko. Also there wouldn't be much to talk about if I didn't include cards of this category. Examples: Spiteful Returned, Scroll of Avacyn
Unplayable - Should not see play at all. If I don't review a card, it means that I don't think it is playble (or I brain-farted), but sometimes I talk about unplayble cards because I have a horrible pun or the card looks playable, but might be a bit deceiving if you are unfamiliar with the deck or format. Examples: Lost in the Woods
Link to the visual spoiler. Should make following this review easier: http://www.wizards.com/Magic/tcg/article.aspx?x=mtg/tcg/journeyintonyx/cig (http://www.wizards.com/Magic/tcg/article.aspx?x=mtg/tcg/journeyintonyx/cig)
- WHITE -QuoteCard Name: Aegis of the Gods
Card Color: W
Mana Cost: 1W
Type & Class: Enchantment Creature - Human Soldier
Pow/Tou: 2/1
Card Text: You have hexproof.
True Believer isn't playable, neither is this.
Verdict: Unplayable
QuoteCard Name: Banishing Light
Card Color: W
Mana Cost: 2W
Type & Class: Enchantment
Pow/Tou:
Card Text: When Banishing Light enters the battlefield, exile target nonland permanent an opponent controls until Banishing Light leaves the battlefield.
Yep. Oblivion Ring is pretty darn sweet Magic card. Not only is it powerful, it is also largely fair. Having more of these will make any format better.
Verdict: Format Staple
QuoteCard Name: Eidolon of Rhetoric
Card Color: W
Mana Cost: 2W
Type & Class: Enchantment Creature - Spirit
Pow/Tou: 1/4
Card Text: Each player can't cast more than one spell each turn.
I am really baffled by the stats on this guy. I see no reason to make him a Horned Turtle. I mean, were this more aggressively costed he would have been able to beat down and provide problems for combo decks. Probably a modern plant to dodge a Lightning Bolt, but still a decent hoser to the Storm combo.
Verdict: Unplayable
QuoteCard Name: Font of Vigor
Card Color: W
Mana Cost: 1W
Type & Class: Enchantment
Pow/Tou:
Card Text: 2W, Sacrifice Font of Vigor: You gain 7 life.
Michael Hetrick pointed out that it is more expensive to gain 7 life that it is to Rampant Growth or to draw two cards. And that worries me. I mean, this is not a good message to show to the younger generation.
Verdict: Unplayble
QuoteCard Name: Launch the Fleet
Card Color: W
Mana Cost: W
Type & Class: Sorcery
Pow/Tou:
Card Text: Strive - Launch the Fleet costs 1 more to cast for each target beyond the first.
Until end of turn, any number of target creatures each gain "Whenever this creature attacks, put a 1/1 white Soldier creature token onto the battlefield tapped and attacking."
If you can make use of tokens, this is quite good. Anthems make these tokens pretty devastating and the card only requires one colored mana. It still need other cards to work, so it's not a card I would play in WW for example as that deck really doesn't want any cards that might not do anything. Reserve this to straight token decks.
Verdict: Niche
QuoteCard Name: Nyx-Fleece Ram
Card Color: W
Mana Cost: 1W
Type & Class: Enchantment Creature - Sheep
Pow/Tou: 0/5
Card Text: At the beginning of your upkeep, you gain 1 life.
I tried to count the number of unplayable cards in this set, but I always fell asleep at this point.
Verdict: Unplayable
QuoteCard Name: Oppressive Rays
Card Color: W
Mana Cost: W
Type & Class: Enchantment - Aura
Pow/Tou:
Card Text: Enchant creature
Enchanted creature can't attack or block unless its controller pays {3}. Activated abilities of enchanted creature cost {3} more to activate.
Well, playing three mana is a lot. This is close enough to kill spell that it might be worth running if you can gain advantage of this being an enchantment. I wish enchantress was a playable deck.
verdict: Niche
QuoteCard Name: Skybind
Card Color: W
Mana Cost: 3WW
Type & Class: Enchantment
Pow/Tou:
Card Text: Constellation - Whenever Skybind or another enchantment enters the battlefield under your control, exile target non-enchantment permanent. Return that card to the battlefield under its owner's control at the beginning of the next end step.
I like how Wizards makes that every card with this mechanic is clearly flawed in some form or fashion to prevent it seeing play. Skybinds of this set should get constellation prize for trying though.
Verdict: Unplayable
QuoteCard Name: Tethmos High Priest
Card Color: W
Mana Cost: 2W
Type & Class: Creature - Cat Cleric
Pow/Tou: 2/3
Card Text: Heroic - Whenever you cast a spell that targets Tethmos High Priest, return target creature card with converted mana cost 2 or less from your graveyard to the battlefield.
I don't believe there is a combo with this, but if there ever will be... well, you know the drill.
Verdict: Niche
- BLUE -QuoteCard Name: Battlefield Thaumaturge
Card Color: U
Mana Cost: 1U
Type & Class: Creature - Human Wizard
Pow/Tou: 2/1
Card Text: Each instant and sorcery spell you cast costs 1 less to cast for each creature it targets.
Heroic - Whenever you cast a spell that targets Battlefield Thaumaturge, Battlefield Thaumaturge gains hexproof until end of turn.
Wizards were a supported tribe back in the olden days and we have cards like Patron Wizard (Also, pretty nice with devotion. Master of Waves is also a wizard, btw) that are just begging to have enough playable wizards around to have their time in the sun. Battlefield Thaumaturge has decent stats and not a horrible ability considering the deck type he might go to. Aggro-control really likes to have their removal or bounce cheapened. Too bad that the two slot of playable wizards is quite packed and this might not be powerful enough to make the cut.
That is, if the deck becomes even remotely playable in the first place.
Verdict: Niche
QuoteCard Name: Dakra Mystic
Card Color: U
Mana Cost: U
Type & Class: Creature - Merfolk Wizard
Pow/Tou: 1/1
Card Text: U,T: Each player reveals the top card of his or her library. You may put the revealed cards into their owners' graveyards. If you don't, each player draws a card.
I really don't know about this one. The body is largely irrelevant and the ability requires mana, so I am voting no. It even has the perfect creature types to make the grading a little bit harder, but I trust my gut feeling still.
Verdict: Unplayable
QuoteCard Name: Dictate of Kruphix
Card Color: U
Mana Cost: 1UU
Type & Class: Enchantment
Pow/Tou:
Card Text: Flash
At the beginning of each player's draw step, that player draws an additional card.
Howling Mine becomes a lot better if you get the first card. You can also keep countermagic open until you choose to pull the trigger and start to draw some cards. Howling Mine decks haven't been that playable recently, but HL probably has enough copies of the namesake card that it could work in some level.
Verdict: Niche
QuoteCard Name: Interpret the Signs
Card Color: U
Mana Cost: 5U
Type & Class: Sorcery
Pow/Tou:
Card Text: Scry 3, then reveal the top card of your library. Draw cards equal to that card's converted mana cost.
If you plan to chain card draw together this is quite good. All you need is to have some form of engine going (I'd suggest Omniscience, Dream Halls or Mind over Matter) and this should be a decent card in the deck.
Verdict: Niche
QuoteCard Name: Pull from the Deep
Card Color: U
Mana Cost: 2UU
Type & Class: Sorcery
Pow/Tou:
Card Text: Return up to one target instant card and up to one target sorcery card from your graveyard to your hand. Exile Pull from the Deep.
See previous entry. In a deck like that this could do some things.
Verdict: Niche
QuoteCard Name: Thassa's Ire
Card Color: U
Mana Cost: U
Type & Class: Enchantment
Pow/Tou:
Card Text: 3U: You may tap or untap target creature.
If this can somehow generate infinite mana and not require two other cards, it is quite powerful. The effect has uses when you are not comboing and it is cheap as hell. Wirewood Channeler is probably the most elegant way and comes close of being straight up two card combo, but I don't know would you really want to run this in an elf deck anyway. Most likely not playable now and... well probably never, but there is a non-zero chance for this.
Verdict: Niche
- BLACK - QuoteCard Name: Brain Maggot
Card Color: B
Mana Cost: 1B
Type & Class: Enchantment Creature - Insect
Pow/Tou: 1/1
Card Text: When Brain Maggot enters the battlefield, target opponent reveals his or her hand and you choose a nonland card from it. Exile that card until Brain Maggot leaves the battlefield.
Mesmeric Fiend is playable here and there. Mostly in combo decks. Functional reprint of the same name will allow combo players to get some more consistency for their disruption package and I like that. It can also be found with Enlightened Tutor, which is actually quite relevant.
Verdict: Potential
QuoteCard Name: Doomwake Giant
Card Color: B
Mana Cost: 4B
Type & Class: Enchantment Creature - Giant
Pow/Tou: 4/6
Card Text: Constellation - When Doomwake Giant or another enchantment enters the battlefield under your control, creatures your opponents control get -1/-1 until end of turn.
Well, stats are not bad. Vanilla test passed. Ability is not bad, but it's not easy to repeat unless you go out of your way to do that and that most likely isn't worth it. Five mana 4/6 with a potentially powerful ability and just one colored mana alone probably is worth of testing. I don't have too much of hope, but it could pop up here and there.
Verdict: Potential
QuoteCard Name: Gnarled Scarhide
Card Color: B
Mana Cost: B
Type & Class: Enchantment Creature - Minotaur
Pow/Tou: 2/1
Card Text: Bestow 3B
Gnarled Scarhide can't block.
Enchanted creature gets +2/+1 and can't block.
Well, this is good. Not only very welcome sight in the opener, but the bestowawaybility is perfectly relevant. Enchant your opponent's big creature to keep hitting through, or give boost to your guys and become a bit more wrath-proof as a bonus. I like this very much.
Verdict: Archetype Staple
QuoteCard Name: Master of the Feast
Card Color: B
Mana Cost: 1BB
Type & Class: Enchantment Creature - Demon
Pow/Tou: 5/5
Card Text: Flying
At the beginning of your upkeep, each opponent draws a card.
This is pretty bad in HL. We just don't have redundancy of these high risk, high reward creatures to reliably put our opponents in scenarios where they better draw something fast. These types of cards become so bad if your other cards are trying to play the fair game. I am not saying it is completely unplayable as vanilla test just got laughed out of the building, but I won't be the one testing this thing after the set comes out. Also quite humorous with Black Vise.
Verdict: Niche
QuoteCard Name: Ritual of the Returned
Card Color: B
Mana Cost: 3B
Type & Class: Instant
Pow/Tou:
Card Text: Exile target creature card from your graveyard. Put a black Zombie creature token onto the battlefield with power equal to the exiled card's power and toughness equal to the exiled card's toughness.
Step 1: Play Death's Shadow / Phyrexian Dreadnought
Step 2: Play this
Step 3: ???
Step 4: Profit
Verdict: Unplayable
QuoteCard Name: Worst Fears
Card Color: B
Mana Cost: 7B
Type & Class: Sorcery
Pow/Tou:
Card Text: You control target player during that player's next turn. Exile Worst Fears. (You see all cards that player could see and make all decisions for that player.)
Mindslaver is a powerful card. I don't quite know what deck could want this, but effects like this tend to get people to try.
Verdict: Niche
- RED -QuoteCard Name: Bearer of the Heavens
Card Color: R
Mana Cost: 7R
Type & Class: Creature - Giant
Pow/Tou: 10/10
Card Text: When Bearer of the Heavens dies, destroy all permanents at the beginning of the next end step.
I know this seems sexy with Sneak Attack, but bear with me here. This is kinda hard to pull off when you want it to and just attacking with the thing is pretty decent way to end a game, but if your opponent can get rid of this when it's most inconvenient to you, it's pretty bad. I have a really hard time finding a scenario where this card fits in perfectly. I am going to cop out with a "Niche" - rating just because there are a lot of powerful things surrounding this guy and the effect is unique, but ultimately I feel that this is practically unplayable.
Verdict: Niche
QuoteCard Name: Eidolon of the Great Revel
Card Color: R
Mana Cost: RR
Type & Class: Enchantment Creature - Spirit
Pow/Tou: 2/2
Card Text: Whenever a player casts a spell with converted mana cost 3 or less, Eidolon of the Great Revel deals 2 damage to that player.
I kinda like this card. If you don't care about your life total, this can make life of your opponent quite annoying. Pyrostatic Pillar that swings for two is very depressing if you need to cast some library manipulation spells to find answers for it. It's also quite hard to combo off when this things sits there. I like this very much, but it can also be pretty bad if your local metagame is filled with aggressive decks although you should be able to trade this off against them usually, so shouldn't be that big of a problem.
I am not 100% certain of this, but I assume this is closer to auto-inclusion than not when it comes to monored.
Verdict: Archetype Staple
QuoteCard Name: Prophetic Flamespeaker
Card Color: R
Mana Cost: 1RR
Type & Class: Creature - Human Shaman
Pow/Tou: 1/3
Card Text: Double strike, trample
Whenever Prophetic Flamespeaker deals combat damage to a player, exile the top card of your library. You may play it this turn.
I am somewhat doubtful, but you do get potentially two cards off this every time you connect. Trample is quite nice also. Basically means that you do get a card even if they chump it with a 1/1. Then the bad news: You need to use mana to cast them and you need to do it immediately or they are gone. I would call this playable and potentially very good, but are unsure what does wants this. Burn can't afford to try and play the card advantage game in this format and it just doesn't deal damage fast enough to matter there and the mana cost makes it a bit awkward in other decks. I am sure we have decks to put this in, but only time will tell if this is good enough to make impact.
Verdict: Playable
- GREEN -QuoteCard Name: Bassara Tower Archer
Card Color: G
Mana Cost: GG
Type & Class: Creature - Human Archer
Pow/Tou: 2/1
Card Text: Hexproof, reach
I think Hexproof - deck for HL is close to become playable. This is exactly what the doctor ordered, but we still need couple of (preferrably 5 or more) functional reprints of Armadillo Cloak to really get there.
Verdict: Niche
QuoteCard Name: Dictate of Karametra
Card Color: G
Mana Cost: 3GG
Type & Class: Enchantment
Pow/Tou:
Card Text: Flash
Whenever a player taps a land for mana, that player adds one mana to his or her mana pool of any type that land produced.
AS good as the Flash - Howling Mine is, it has nothing on instant speed Heartbeat of Spring. Not only are you free to keep countermagic up, but can win seemingly nowhere with this card. You are looking at 12 mana on your next turn if you cast this on the curve and that should be enough to win the game with properly built combo deck. I really like this card I wonder if this (and Mystical) is enough to put Heartbeat on the map.
Verdict: Archetype Staple
QuoteCard Name: Eidolon of Blossoms
Card Color: G
Mana Cost: 2GG
Type & Class: Enchantment Creature - Spirit
Pow/Tou: 2/2
Card Text: Constellation - Whenever Eidolon of Blossoms or another enchantment enters the battlefield under your control, draw a card.
Well, here we have the only Constellation that might be worth to find on the night sky. It does cost four and is very fragile, but at the very least it draws a card immediately. I still feel that enchantress needs help and more card draw is just what was ordered, but this just might be too fragile and expensive to affect anything.
Verdict: Niche
QuoteCard Name: Font of Fertility
Card Color: G
Mana Cost: G
Type & Class: Enchantment
Pow/Tou:
Card Text: 1G, Sacrifice Font of Fertility: Search your library for a basic land card, put it onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffle your library.
This is too weak of an ability to abuse. If you need ramp, there are better options and if you want to keep this in your hand until you can draw a card off it via Argothian Enchatress, the ramp doesn't really matter anymore.
Verdict: Unplayable
QuoteCard Name: Hydra Broodmaster
Card Color: G
Mana Cost: 4GG
Type & Class: Creature - Hydra
Pow/Tou: 7/7
Card Text: XXG: Monstrosity X
When Hydra Broodmaster becomes monstrous, put X X/X green Hydra creature tokens onto the battlefield.
Oh my god. So many hydras. How is this plane habitable by any humans with this many forest sized creatures that duplicate when you hit them? Creative team went on super lazy mode with this block.
Verdict: Unplayable
QuoteCard Name: Kruphix's Insight
Card Color: G
Mana Cost: 2G
Type & Class: Sorcery
Pow/Tou:
Card Text: Reveal the top six cards of your library. Put up to three enchantment cards from among them into your hand and the rest of the revealed cards into your graveyard.
If you construct your deck correctly, this is about as powerful as divination. Which is fine, but probably still not worth running this card.
Verdict: Unplayable
QuoteCard Name: Market Festival
Card Color: G
Mana Cost: 3G
Type & Class: Enchantment - Aura
Pow/Tou:
Card Text: Enchant land
Whenever enchanted land is tapped for mana, its controller adds two mana in any combination of colors to his or her mana pool (in addition to the mana the land produces).
Decent upgrade over Overgrowth. Heartbeat? Then again, probably not.
Verdict: Unplayable
QuoteCard Name: Pheres-Band Warchief
Card Color: G
Mana Cost: 3G
Type & Class: Creature - Centaur Warrior
Pow/Tou: 3/3
Card Text: Vigilance, trample
Other Centaur creatures you control get +1/+1 and have vigilance and trample.
In case you were wondering if there were enough playable centaurs to make this playable, no there isn't.
Verdict: Unplayable
QuoteCard Name: Swarmborn Giant
Card Color: G
Mana Cost: 2GG
Type & Class: Creature - Giant
Pow/Tou: 6/6
Card Text: When you're dealt combat damage, sacrifice Swarmborn Giant.
4GG: Monstrosity 2.
As long as Swarmborn Giant is monstrous, it has reach.
It's not entirely easy to hit you when you have a 6/6 blocker. Also, this should be able to eat one of the attackers even if the worst case scenario comes to pass. Evasion is obviously a really big deal, but this does provide numerous problems to control and combo decks. This doesn't fit to any of the existing popular aggro decks, but I don't see the drawback being too much for this card. The real problem is that there probably isn't any deck to fit this card into and there might never be.
Verdict: Niche
- MULTICOLOR -QuoteCard Name: Ajani, Mentor of Heroes
Card Color: Gld
Mana Cost: 3GW
Type & Class: Planeswalker - Ajani
Pow/Tou: 4
Card Text: +1: Distribute three +1/+1 counters among one, two, or three target creatures you control
+1: Look at the top four cards of your library. You may reveal an Aura, creature, or planeswalker card from among them and put that card into your hand. Put the rest on the bottom of your library in any order.
-8: You gain 100 life.
The first ability is super easy to underrate. It is still quite powerful and even though Ajani doesn't protect himself (herself?) you only need one creature to make attacking into Ajani to seem like a bad move. Five loyalty is not that easy to take down either if you have at least one (now) huge guy to hop in the harm's way.
Second ability is also quite powerful. Should hit almost always in decks that might play Mentor of Heroes in the first place.
Ultimate is practically a joke. If you can activate the first two abilities four times, you should be okay against aggro anyway and any deck playing blue (or combo/control in general) in this format is more than capable of killing you from 100+ life very easily.
Shame that Ajani doesn't protect himself and costs five mana. Despite those traditional death sentences to planeswalkers playability, I'd say that he is worth sleeving up, but we are probably still without a deck for him though. This card isn't powerful enough to make people want to find a deck if none exist yet so that also makes things considerable harder for the first green-white planeswalker.
Verdict: Niche
QuoteCard Name: Athreos, God of Passage
Card Color: Gld
Mana Cost: 1WB
Type & Class: Legendary Enchantment Creature - God
Pow/Tou: 5/4
Card Text: Indestructible
As long as your devotion to white and black is less than seven, Athreos isn't a creature.
Whenever another creature you own dies, return it to your hand unless target opponent pays 3 life.
I don't think Pattern has room for cards that don't immediately affect the board as Atheros seems like it would be right at home in that deck. The aggro decks just are too fast and will capitalize if you play an enchantment that drains them some life. This also probably never becomes a creature in that deck. Most of the mana symbols are green. A bit shame as this seems such a natural fit in that deck.
I don't know, he is full of potential since the mana cost is really nice and the passive ability is powerful if you are already pressuring your opponent.
Verdict: Potential
QuoteCard Name: Desperate Stand
Card Color: Gld
Mana Cost: RW
Type & Class: Sorcery
Pow/Tou:
Card Text: Strive - Desperate Stand costs RW more to cast for each target beyond the first.
Any number of target creatures each get +2/+0 and gain first strike and vigilance until end of turn.
Nobody is that desperate.
Verdict: Unplayable
QuoteCard Name: Disciple of Deceit
Card Color: Gld
Mana Cost: UB
Type & Class: Creature - Human Rogue
Pow/Tou: 1/3
Card Text: Inspired - Whenever Disciple of Deceit becomes untapped, you may discard a nonland card. If you do, search your library for a card with the same converted mana cost as that card, reveal it, put it into your hand, then shuffle your library.
Stats are weakish, but the transmute every turn is ridiculously powerful. In HL, there just is so many different options everytime this triggers. If you are beating down and can constantly untap with this, he can keep the loop going as you can probably keep searching for removal every turn and if you don't need removal, he will find more pressure, counterspells or card advantage. Too bad you can't pitch lands to get Ancestral Visions or Slaughter Pacts.
The only reason this gets a "Niche" - rating is that I don't know if some UBx aggro-control is playable, but this seems like a really good fit there and actually makes me want to try to make it happen.
Verdict: Niche
- LAND - QuoteCard Name: Mana Confluence
Card Color: Lnd
Mana Cost:
Type & Class: Land
Pow/Tou:
Card Text: Tap, Pay 1 life: Add one mana of any color to your mana pool
Five colored lands are quite rare and City of Brass is one one of the better options. Really glad to see a reprint of that. Makes 4-5 colored combo and aggro decks better. Probably benefits combo much more than aggro since they tend to be a little less greedy with their mana bases in favor of more consistency, but should be going in both of the archetypes.
Verdict: Potential
QuoteCard Name: Temple of Epiphany
Card Color: Lnd
Mana Cost:
Type & Class: Land
Pow/Tou:
Card Text: Temple of Epiphany enters the battlefield tapped.
When Temple of Epiphany enters the battlefield, scry 1.
T: Add U or R to your mana pool.
Card Name: Temple of Malady
Card Color: Lnd
Mana Cost:
Type & Class: Land
Pow/Tou:
Card Text: Temple of Malady enters the battlefield tapped.
When Temple of Malady enters the battlefield, scry 1.
T: Add B or G to your mana pool.
I can see playing both of these in non-aggro decks. Nice options to have floating around.
Verdict: Playable
Hey,
thanks for the effort. I checked the full spoiler few days ago and came to the same conclusions as you: For our Highlander format, this edition won't bring a lot with it (many 'unplayable' cards as you mentioned).
Only thing that really got my attention was O-Ring 3.0 (Banishing Light). It's better in that it won't force you to remove your own permanent like the original O-Ring does when the enemy e. g. bounces his only permanent in response to the trigger. This won't make a difference most of the time, but as you said: more flexible removal is always welcomed.
White/x decks without blue that can already make good use of O-Ring will play this for sure, but maybe decks playing U/W/x will hesitate to include it because of space: Do you really need another card of this effect in a colour combination that has the tools to find a copy when needed? If this is the case, Banishing Light will then replace the original Oblivion Ring. In either case, verdict 'format staple' fits it pretty well.
Quote from: Doks on 20-04-2014, 09:52:26 PMOnly thing that really got my attention was O-Ring 3.0 (Banishing Light). It's better in that it won't force you to remove your own permanent like the original O-Ring does when the enemy e. g. bounces his only permanent in response to the trigger. This won't make a difference most of the time, but as you said: more flexible removal is always welcomed.
White/x decks without blue that can already make good use of O-Ring will play this for sure, but maybe decks playing U/W/x will hesitate to include it because of space: Do you really need another card of this effect in a colour combination that has the tools to find a copy when needed? If this is the case, Banishing Light will then replace the original Oblivion Ring. In either case, verdict 'format staple' fits it pretty well.
[nitpick]Well, bouncing the permanent in response to the trigger doesn't do anything (respond with the spell itself on the stack for best results), but I understand your point.[/nitpick]
It's probably better than O-Ring, but sometimes you want to target your stuff and sometimes you can pull off the "O-Ring" trick, where you bounce or destroy it when the ETB-trigger is on the stack to remove the card forever, but those are probably more corner cases than the scenario you mentioned. I am just glad that neither is inferior and there might be a good reason to run O-Ring over this if you have room for just the one.
What comes to the "do we really need another O-Ring for our UWx-controls", I think answer is yes still, but there are numerous reasons not to run more than two, so it's up to you if you want more flexibility rather than straight up efficiency. Getting rid of opposing planeswalkers just is so important if you don't have man-lands or utility guys to harass them as they are incredibly hard to deal with otherwise. Playing more flexible answers will also prevent the situations where you just draw the wrong answers. I personally feel that the pros outweigh the cons in this case, but you should definitely consider the other options too.
Quote from: Tiggupiru on 20-04-2014, 09:31:40 PM
QuoteCard Name: Market Festival
Card Color: G
Mana Cost: 3G
Type & Class: Enchantment - Aura
Pow/Tou:
Card Text: Enchant land
Whenever enchanted land is tapped for mana, its controller adds two mana in any combination of colors to his or her mana pool (in addition to the mana the land produces).
Decent upgrade over Overgrowth. Heartbeat? Then again, probably not.
Verdict: Unplayable
Did you mean this? Not that this was ever played outside limited.
(http://gatherer.wizards.com/Handlers/Image.ashx?multiverseid=51222&type=card)
Yeah. And Overgrowth is actually just three mana, so it's far from upgrade. I was kinda power tripping from the possibility of Heartbeat coming back.
Well, atleast I got the verdict right.
disciple of deceit is the big sleeper here. that card will turn out to be very good.
Any thoughts about Godsend ?
godsend is not a good card, its overcosted (swords are better AND cheaper) and only good in combat (terrible vs.control/storm etc).
The new staples are Banishing Light, Mana Confluence and Prophetic Flamespeaker IMO
Some thoughts:
Banishing Light and Mana Confluence – nuff said above
Prophetic Flamespeaker - is Shadowmage Infiltrator on steroids. This card is overpowered and does its job nearly stand alone. The only question is which deck can support RR1 and has enough removal/pump to push him over the top. This is a must play in Jund for example IMO.
Iroas - The stats and effects are very brutal for RWx aggro. 4 mana is a lot and there are a lot of 4 drops available in RWx. He might see play IMO as R&W cards usually do have a lot of coloured mana symbols.
Athreos – Strong card if you can reach the devotion threshold but I do not know agood BW deck to do so.
Dictate of Karametra – Mustplay in Hearbeat decks (even better than Heartbeat itself IMO)
Hypnotic Siren - 7 Mana might be too much, even for UGx aggrocontrol decks, but hey, there are lists out there which play Flying Men and this is a strict upgrade, even tutorable with Ranger of Eos. Might be a card for UW skies.
Temples (in general) – As already said very playable in control decks. Especially required to fix the colours in two coloured decks. I will definitely use the UR one in future.
Don´t like "playables" in this topic:
Deciple of Deceit - might be a sleeper but untapping a 1/3 in UB is very unlikely (at least attacking is not possible very often) usually. I think that the Inspired mechanic is weak in general but especially in control strategies.
Eidolon of the Great Revel – High casting cost requirements, weak stats and that the ability might even backfire in race situations make him unplayable for me
Doomwake Giant – 5 Mana for a 4/6 is a lot and there a not so many enchantments per deck to trigger him more often
Godsend – last ability fizzles in Highlander the rest is just very clunky with a lot of better options out there...
P.S. Another honorable mention regarding Master of Feast – tutorable with Zur (so as Courser of Kruphix which "combos" with Sylvan Library)
Quote from: tonytahiti on 22-04-2014, 08:16:35 PM
disciple of deceit is the big sleeper here. that card will turn out to be very good.
Sorry but no, unless you have some mad tech in mind. Without support, it needs three turns and two cards to get even a single restricted tutor effect. Not very effective.
Quote from: tonytahiti on 23-04-2014, 08:47:47 AMQuote from: Nahkampfhamster on 23-04-2014, 12:59:22 AMAny thoughts about Godsend ?
godsend is not a good card, its overcosted (swords are better AND cheaper) and only good in combat (terrible vs.control/storm etc).
What he said. Had swords never existed, Godsend would still have tough time. It pretty much requires somewhat stalled board and a creature matchup where neither player has evasion. It is rather easy to figure out scenarios where Godsend would dominate, but in reality those situations don't come up often enough and as with any non-banned equipments, they do effectively nothing when you are losing.
A good trick to evaluate a new equipment is to simply compare it to a Sword. If you would never cut the Sword to make room for the newcomer, it's not playable. I mean, we can just play five swords in our decks if we really want to.
Quote from: MMD on 23-04-2014, 02:04:53 PMIroas - The stats and effects are very brutal for RWx aggro. 4 mana is a lot and there are a lot of 4 drops available in RWx. He might see play IMO as R&W cards usually do have a lot of coloured mana symbols.
Four mana in an aggro deck is a *lot*. If you are going to play a four casting cost card in your aggro deck, it better win some matchups alone or make otherwise unwinnable situations winnable while also being good when you are already winning. Iroas does only strenghten the already existing board state and is just miserable after a sweeper. I mean, I would never in a million years play this card over Elspeth, Knight-Errant or Hero of Bladehold and you really can't fit that many 4-drops into an aggro deck after those.
Quote from: MMD on 23-04-2014, 02:04:53 PMHypnotic Siren - 7 Mana might be too much, even for UGx aggrocontrol decks, but hey, there are lists out there which play Flying Men and this is a strict upgrade, even tutorable with Ranger of Eos. Might be a card for UW skies.
Those decks cannot outrace any real creatures ever and they need way too much time to actually kill your opponent. Either you play several one mana 1/1 flyers and try to kill your opponent quickly, or you take your time and let them draw all the answers they need. First play loses to a 2/2 flyer or a board sweep, the second loses to everything. I really don't see we can live in a world where Flying Men would be playable, not with the current creature power creep.
Quote from: MMD on 23-04-2014, 02:04:53 PMEidolon of the Great Revel – High casting cost requirements, weak stats and that the ability might even backfire in race situations make him unplayable for me
It doesn't require high casting costs to be playable. Just play with it just like you normally would with RDW, maybe hold your Lava Spikes until they are lethal, but you really don't care about taking some damage. You don't even really need to add to the pressure much if this is on curve. Maybe another creature and then clear some blockers out of the way. After that, you should be heavy favorite.
If you are in a race, you should be able to trade it off. It also straight up wins games against combo. 2/2 for two is actually on the curve for monored. Porcelain Legionnaire and Gore-House Chainwalker aside that is the pinnacle of what red two drop has for what comes to p/t.
Quote from: so_not on 23-04-2014, 02:37:02 PM
Quote from: tonytahiti on 22-04-2014, 08:16:35 PM
disciple of deceit is the big sleeper here. that card will turn out to be very good.
Sorry but no, unless you have some mad tech in mind. Without support, it needs three turns and two cards to get even a single restricted tutor effect. Not very effective.
I think you are looking at it wrong. It's not reliable card in any random deck, but it'll shine in an aggro-control. This isn't a card for combo or straight up control decks simply because they lack the cards to allow it to attack with any reliably.
I also think the card has potential to become really, really good, but that requires the surrounding deck to be competitive, since this card doesn't make an archetype viable all by itself. If that deck doesn't not fly, neither does Disciple and we never hear from it again. That is the very potential pitfall with this card since it's kinda of a one-trick pony. But man, the trick is pretty darn good one.
Quote from: Tiggupiru on 23-04-2014, 05:06:10 PM
Quote from: so_not on 23-04-2014, 02:37:02 PM
Quote from: tonytahiti on 22-04-2014, 08:16:35 PM
disciple of deceit is the big sleeper here. that card will turn out to be very good.
Sorry but no, unless you have some mad tech in mind. Without support, it needs three turns and two cards to get even a single restricted tutor effect. Not very effective.
I think you are looking at it wrong. It's not reliable card in any random deck, but it'll shine in an aggro-control. This isn't a card for combo or straight up control decks simply because they lack the cards to allow it to attack with any reliably.
I also think the card has potential to become really, really good, but that requires the surrounding deck to be competitive, since this card doesn't make an archetype viable all by itself. If that deck doesn't not fly, neither does Disciple and we never hear from it again. That is the very potential pitfall with this card since it's kinda of a one-trick pony. But man, the trick is pretty darn good one.
Well it might make the cut in some kind of grixis-delver type deck but even there I'd rather have pain seer and I'm not sure if even that has room.
You can discard a sword of the meek and search for thopter foundry. Doesn't sound bad at all to me.
Quote from: so_not on 23-04-2014, 07:25:22 PMWell it might make the cut in some kind of grixis-delver type deck but even there I'd rather have pain seer and I'm not sure if even that has room.
Interesting. I currently grade Disciple higher than Pain Seer, but I agree that some kinda delver deck is the real home for this guy.
Quote from: W0lf on 24-04-2014, 01:29:00 PM
You can discard a sword of the meek and search for thopter foundry. Doesn't sound bad at all to me.
Yeah, it's not a combo card. That play is sweet, but in order to pull that off you cannot play it in a shell that can reliably make gamestate in such a way that he can attack without fear (pun not intended).
Maybe in some kind of aggro Control deck with Opposition and pestermite, so you don't have to attack to trigger him.
Deciple od Deceit -So why not adding Merchant Scroll to the mix? You can tutor for Muddle the Mixture in order to transmute him...After paying UB sorcery for a 1/3 guy you just need to untap him somehow to gain a quite limited tutor effect. This card is garbage IMO.
Eidolon of Great Revel - On the other hand I reconsidered this one. The stats are still quite bad and there is no haste printed on it but it is true that this guy is very annoying to many control/combo strategies. In aggro/midrange meta I still do not like him.
tiggupiru is right, some people seem to look at disciple of deceit wrong. "oh inspired is so hard to trigger", "he does not untap until turn 4, thats terrible"..you got to look at it as a 2 mana 1/3 creature that has a high variance ability stacked on top of it that is immensely powerful when it happens - little investment, huge possible upside. downgrading this guy cause he doesnt trigger consistenly is silly..what is expected? that you transmute target card for 0 mana every turn because of a 2 mana 1/3 creature? that would be broken beyond words. often it wont happen, especially vs aggro decks, then it blocks a kird ape and loam lion all day, just like my augur of bolas is not a "lost card" when he doesnt hit. vs control this guy is a must remove threat and turn 2 vs. storm for example this is often game (get counter every turn, or mindcensor or whatever hoser you have). i mean, what would need to change on the card for you to consider it good: 1/4 body, 2/3? come on. you get incredible value for 2 mana, this ability on a 1/3 for 2 is very very good. and its much better than pain seer, 3 toughness is key here. people underrate 3 toughness on two mana creatures often i feel like.
Perhaps comparing him helps...Is he better than Sygg? I do not find home for Sygg in any of my aggro control decks which is the only strategy were Diciple is playable at all.
The problem with the Disciple in my opinion is not that it doesn't trigger consistently, but that you are limited in your search options by what's in your hand. The prospect of tutoring for an answer each turn against combo seems pretty utopic to me because of this. You can't really guarantee you will find an answer, because you can't reliably tutor for something specific with it. Therefore I can imagine the trigger being more or less irrelevant many times. It will only ever be consistently good in situations where any other card of the same cost would be better than what you have in your hand (cycling away removal against combo/control for example).
Dakra Mystic on the other hand is a very underrated card with a lot of potential in my opinion. Yes, the body is irrelevant and the ability costs you mana, but that is the case with other good creatures too, like Grim Lavamancer or Deathrite Shaman. Now admittedly, these two have way better effects, but the Mystic's is pretty decent too. It's a low cost creature that draws you extra cards, and while it does that for your opponent too, you also have the option to deny him essential topdecks, which in our largely topdeck-reliant meta and in the light of the Mystical Tutor-Unban doesn't seem too shabby. Additionally, it's a nice skill-testing card, one that isn't perfectly easy to use, but can have a huge upside if used correctly. For me, this is the real sleeper of the set and it's a shame how undervalued it seems to be.
what? you think the trigger will be mostly irrelevant? what? thats only the case when you have the best cards (for that particular mana cost) for the spefici game you are playing in your hand, which is almost impossible. imagine you have a 2 and a 4 drop in your hand, how high do you think the chance is that you cant get a better suited 2 drop OR 4 drop? INCREDIBLY low. this is a 100 card format and if you think the trigger "target card in your hand gains 0:transmute" is mostly irrelevant then i am out of words. of course you sometimes cant get the best card in your deck (its not demonic tutor, we all know that) but it gives you an amazing tree of options. and calling the disciple trigger a problem cause its NOT demonic tutor, come on ("the problem with stoneforge mystic is that it only gets equipment" etc)..i mean, when we could have all our wishes magic wouldnt be fun.
I'm not saying it will never be relevant, but it will be in much less situations than you think it will. Let's say you have a 4-Drop, but you desperately need to kill your opponent's planeswalker and the only answers you have for that cost 3. The effect is great for cycling away dead cards, and in most cases, yes, you will find something that might be better suited for the situation, but consistently finding answers for your opponent's threats is a whole different story. And on an empty board which is probably when the trigger will happen most often since the Disciple can then attack freely, you are either already winning or you have no idea what your opponent has up its sleeve, so you can't always tell whether or not you should transmute.
when you want to make a card look bad i guess you can with unreasonable arguments. again.."if somebody milled away your only two equipments, stoneforge wont find one, dont forget that!". when it comes to evaluating a card coming up with a unlikely scenario (only 4 drop in hand, 2 cards of 2 different manacosts is WAY more likely) that makes a card look bad is not the solution. i am not even sure what you mean by desperately handling a planeswalker? jace ultimate, liliana ultimate? in those games you already are so far behind and obv havent done much the last turns.. if thats the case AND you only have 4 drop THEN YES THE DISCIPLE WONT SAVE YOU (the card doesnt say "i win you the game no matter how far behind you are"). magic is more than about answers, when he has jace and i would rather get dsphere but cant, then i get a jace myself, face power with power is another kind of answer. tutoring in highlander for 0 freakin mana in a realistic scenario (2-3 different kinds of manacost) is incredibly powerful. i wanna say "there is no arguing about that", but apparently there is.
Although I am not sure how good exactly Deceiple of Deceit will be, I think it has potential that needs exploring. What I am very certain about is the fact, that if my opponent EVER plays Dakra Mystic I will be very happy and will have to fight autopilot mode for the rest of the game.
Quote from: tonytahiti on 25-04-2014, 05:22:16 PM
when you want to make a card look bad i guess you can with unreasonable arguments. again.."if somebody milled away your only two equipments, stoneforge wont find one, dont forget that!". when it comes to evaluating a card coming up with a unlikely scenario (only 4 drop in hand, 2 cards of 2 different manacosts is WAY more likely) that makes a card look bad is not the solution. i am not even sure what you mean by desperately handling a planeswalker? jace ultimate, liliana ultimate? in those games you already are so far behind and obv havent done much the last turns.. if thats the case AND you only have 4 drop THEN YES THE DISCIPLE WONT SAVE YOU (the card doesnt say "i win you the game no matter how far behind you are"). magic is more than about answers, when he has jace and i would rather get dsphere but cant, then i get a jace myself, face power with power is another kind of answer. tutoring in highlander for 0 freakin mana in a realistic scenario (2-3 different kinds of manacost) is incredibly powerful. i wanna say "there is no arguing about that", but apparently there is.
I don't know how it is for you, but unless my opponent is on 5 life or so, a planeswalker always needs to be removed as quickly as possible, and not just if it threatens ulti. I also think you are missing my point. I am not saying tutoring every turn isn't good, but the effect is too random to be an autowin against combo or even a "must-remove threat" against control, especially considering that it is hard to keep going, especially if you are the slightest bit behind (a 3-power creature on your opponent's side would already be enough in most cases). You can't really rely on it to do anything when you really need it to do something (aka when you're behind), and when you're ahead, the effect is just "win more" anyway. Most of the time this will be a 1/3 dork with minimal impact on the game. If you think that's worth playing, fine.
Why are you tony always getting so mad? People are just discussing about a card that is hard to evaluate properly. You are right about 1/3 being a lot better than 2/2 in this case though.
The card is probably very good in a spesific deck but it's not some kind of ultimate format breaker or even playable in very many archetypes. Coolest deck I've built so far with Disciple is a Grixis-Splinter Twin-aggrocontrol that looks quite funny on paper. But due to recent changes in the banned list the format is heading very heavily blue direction. Historically fish decks tend to do well against combo and control and Disciple is the ultimate fish. Control decks are just so good right now with the new mulligan, True Name Nemesis and Mystical Tutor that winning will be hard for the tempo and aggrocontrol decks.
i am not getting mad. a little irritated i get though when i hear that "target card in your hand gets transmute 0" will be "mostly irrelevant" - then i dont know where to start explaining things. then i feel i am facing arguments that havent been thought through properly. like "the effect is random"..i dont even know how to respond to it, when it untaps it gives you tons of options..i dont know whats "random" about it. or "when he connects you are already ahead and its win more"? when i play this and you play thalia or even a bigger two drop and i remove it in my turn (thalia doesnt even have to be removed/example) and i attack (which is a common scenario), then i am not ahead in a way where the transmute doesnt matter. or "he doesnt do anything when you are behind"..it costs 2 mana!! which 2 mana creature will turn a game upside down etc when you are behind. its just very basic stuff, that seems to be not thought about enough, its statements i can prove wrong in a matter of seconds. i like arguing and exploring potentials but on a level like this i do get irritated, yes.
Quote from: tonytahiti on 25-04-2014, 06:42:52 PM
like "the effect is random"..i dont even know how to respond to it, when it untaps it gives you tons of options..i dont know whats "random" about it.
It's random in the sense that the pool of cards you can tutor from is based on the random pile of cards that is your hand.
Quote from: tonytahiti on 25-04-2014, 06:42:52 PM
or "when he connects you are already ahead and its win more"? when i play this and you play thalia or even a bigger two drop and i remove it in my turn (thalia doesnt even have to be removed/example) and i attack (which is a common scenario), then i am not ahead in a way where the transmute doesnt matter.
This scenario is based on quite a lot of assumptions: that you have removal, that my creature can be removed with that removal, that you're on the play, that I only have one creature that threatens to kill the Disciple, that I don't have removal and don't draw it during my next turn... These are all at least equally as common scenarios as the one you described.
Quote from: tonytahiti on 25-04-2014, 06:42:52 PM
or "he doesnt do anything when you are behind"..it costs 2 mana!! which 2 mana creature will turn a game upside down etc when you are behind.
Well, these comparisons might be a bit silly, but since you asked: Stoneforge Mystic, Snapcaster Mage, Tarmogoyf, Pack Rat. These are the ones I could think of at the top of my head that have the potential to turn the game around when you're behind. Depending on the situation potentially more (like playing Phyrexian Revoker or Vampire Hexmage on the opponent's planeswalker that is dominating the board).
Guys, please try to stay civil with each other. Fighting about a card evaluation is not worth it.
Judging the potential of the card I agree with tonytahiti. The trigger is extremely powerful. Even if
you have only 2 cards with different mana cost in your hand this will let you tutor for 25 to 40% of your decks spells.
So I can understand why he is baffled by other peoples judgment of the trigger.
The card can fetch stuff like Jace,tMS, Damnation, Sower, Cryptic Command, Snuff Out in the 4 spot and Stuff like Liliana, Shackles, Back to Basics in the three slot. Hymn, Demonic, Bitterblossom, Mana Drain in the two spot and dicard, or utility such as Relic of Progenitus in the two spot. And those examples are just for an UB Aggro Control Deck.
Now, the "bad" part about the card is a 1/3 for two that only does stuff when your opponent allows you to untap with it. And tapping it requires an attack first so the card is at its strongest only when you are capable of making a profitable attack/can afford the opponent attacking you as well. Against aggro decks a 1/3 for two acutally is really nice, because they block 2/1 creatures profitably and wall 2/2s. So I believe the card will see some play at least. For more it is doubtful.
Btw Imagine this scenario (Demanding Disciple + 4 lands + 1 4 cmc card (of in total maybe 8 with that cost) in your hand out of your first 10 cards):
T2 cast the guy on the play.
T3 attack
T4 upkeep dicard rando 4 mana card get opposition, cast opposition -> profit?
The opponent could ramp with an elf into a 3cmc 3/power guy or have a 3 power guy for 2cmc or less or spend a spot removal spell.
"It's random in the sense that the pool of cards you can tutor from is based on the random pile of cards that is your hand"
- yes, like i said, its not demonic tutor, it is obviously depended on SOMETHING. just because it cant get any card, doesnt mean its random. not demonic tutor = random? no. actually the word "tutor" itsself screams: not random, not random.
"This scenario is based on quite a lot of assumptions: that you have removal, that my creature can be removed with that removal, that you're on the play, that I only have one creature that threatens to kill the Disciple, that I don't have removal and don't draw it during my next turn... These are all at least equally as common scenarios as the one you described."
- no. like christopho said, if you drop this guy turn two, its actually more likely you get to attack with it then not. opponent needs removal (but why would you play removal on this guy? he tutors randomly..) or 3 power creature. i think you underestimate how often a 1/3 can actually attack.
"Well, these comparisons might be a bit silly, but since you asked: Stoneforge Mystic, Snapcaster Mage, Tarmogoyf, Pack Rat. These are the ones I could think of at the top of my head that have the potential to turn the game around when you're behind. Depending on the situation potentially more (like playing Phyrexian Revoker or Vampire Hexmage on the opponent's planeswalker that is dominating the board)."
- stoneforge is banned. pack rats is good when behind? absolutely not. pack rats needs 2-3 turns to get going, having a 1/1, maybe two 2/2 when behind doesnt do anything, since you cant block if you want your rats to grow. tarmogoyf can stabilize, snapcaster too. but if you compare it with the best 2 drops of all time, disciple cant be that bad afterall.
I know that some of you liked my video set reviews and since I am not able to do them anymore I highly recommend to check this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qx2pkW8Js0 out.
He does the same for the canadian format like I did in the past.
I´ll bet on Setessan Tactics as a sleeper card. :o
WotC makes us shifting more and more to creature combat decks and this card can be a one sided Wrath effect at instant speed.
Sure, the tapping requirement is a big downside but even if you cannot use the Prey Upon side of the card you could at least mini pump your creatures which can be good enough from time to time (get your guy out of Bolt range, kill attackers or Planeswalkers). The second downside is certainly the vulnerability to instant removal but nobodys perfect...
However, the benefit this card can create in creature matchups can be game swinging/winning, so I expect that this card will see some play in Token, Elf and even Maverick like decks.