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[Eventide] review

Started by Mythrandir, 12-07-2008, 03:18:43 PM

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Mythrandir

Once again, we have the full spoiler of a new edition, and here i go to make a new review of the cards for HL decks, specially for 5C control :)

WHITE:

- cenn´s enlistment as with "all" the cards with retrace they just might see some play. i think its one of the best mechanics in a long time. being able to play the same card several times is great, specially with only the drawback of discading a land (LFTL anyone?). its just a pity, that they didnt do any really powerfull, they were probably afraid that it would be too broken...

- endless horizons i think its a great card for WW, not only you get to have a great deal of mana available but, and more importantly you get to thin your deck.

- hallowed burial, nice WOG for for block, but i think there are better options in HL.

BLUE:

- Glen Elendra Archmage. 4mana 2/2 flyer with a cheap couter incorporated is just great, specially with persist, really nice card, if only it had flash.. :D, will definitely test this one out in my 5c control. even for 4 mana, this might see some play in the UW/UR skies...

-oonas grace, another card with retrace. this time its just 1 for 1.. but in late games, it might just be the card that might give you the edge, specially if you have a LFTL in play. The instant factor is probably enough for me to give it a go.

BLACK:

- necroskitter is really interesting, but i really dont see a deck where this could see play.. perhaps a rock-a-like deck.

- raven´s crime. for me the best retrace card. cheap, efficient. really well balanced. this one in a necro deck (not HL), would be really awesome.

- syphon life, another retrace card. if it was only could damage creatures too.. the BB will probably stop me from testing it. but in a more blackish deck, it could see some play.

RED:

- flame jab i think will see play in RDW, if lava dart is there, so could this. too bad its not at instant speed.

- rekindled flame once again for RDW or similar decks, this might be good. its a bit expensive, its probably better that hammer of bogardan.

- stigma lasher -> this just sucks for 5CC, turn 1, mountain, mox, ~this~. next turn swing, no mroe loxodon ,exalted, zuran orb, etc that can get us out of the red zone... =/ well, good card for RDW.

- thunderblast -> wont see play, probably, but nice twist on the ball lightning.. :)

GREEN:

- helix pinnacle -> weird card. if u have 5 lands in play, you need 20 turns to win, if you have 10 lands you need 10 turns... unles someone makes a very controllish/enchantmente themed deck. this wont see play. :P at least it has shroud.. this one is in the list for the weird/different card factor..

- savage conception.. i´ve been thinking about this one for some time. (because i play call of the herd). call is cheaper, and can get some early pressure/defence which is essential, but this is a best (in some versions of my deck i´ve played ravenous baloth) which might be a plus. in a long term this is probably way better, but i´ve only been having trouble in the early (aggro decks) games. so, what do you think? is this worth it? VS call of the herd? let me know..

HYBRID:

- cauldron haze, well this is a good anti-wog card. also it might give you an upper hand in combat. itneresting card for WW and alikes.

- divinity of pride - another card that i´ll probably give it a go, not because of the +4/+4/ if you have 25lft.. but 5 mana 4/4 flying, lifelink, this is exalted-like.. probably better than brion?! (brion has that neat fling ability). its worth a try.

- unmake good t2 spot removal, not HL worthy, my opinion.

- call of the skybreaker, way too expensive... too bad =/

- dominus of fealty is quite interesting, i would really like to see a RU LD/counter deck that abuses this, with zuran orb + claws of gix. interestin concept, well designed card

-mirror sheen, could have been a good card, too bad its too restrictive and mana-intensive..

-nucklavee, if it werent for its CMC i would try it out. good combo card.

-sapling of colfenor i can see it in a survival deck. interesting card, no need for damage just atacking and indestructible is also neat.

- stalker hag - nice aggro creature with nice evasions

- worm harvest - again too expensive and needs the lands in the grave. tokenmania worth?

-balefire liege - nice card for R decks, play lightning bolt 6 damage, play fireblast 7 damage, nice. dunno if it CMC is worth, though..

- figure of destiny. this is a very intersting card (for 5cc), emergency blocker? early pressure? mid game beater? late game winner? is has potencial. you can even turn it a 2/2 from a 8/8 (in case of gilded drake?? :P), very interesting card, will give it a test for sure. even in aggro decks i can see this play, early games: 1/1 OR 2/2 mid games for 5 mana a 4/4, very nice indeed.

- cold-eyed selkie - it isnt the best evasion, but the "draw that MANY cards" might be worth in a deck that plays some nice equipment (i´m looking at you U/X skies :P)

- gilder bairn - great combo with helix pinnacle.. you only need 50 countes this way.. lool.. just kidding. moving on.. :P

-spitting image - again too expensive.. i would really have love to see some 3/4 CMC retrace spells.. well, lets hope this will be a recurring keyword.

ARTIFACTS:

- scarecrone -> combo card? i dont see many artifacts creature that are worth it...

-ward of bones -> well, interesting to say the least. too bad its 6CMC, perhaps in a stax deck. i would run it to, but i dont think by the time this comes into play, that those abilities will be of any help against aggro decks.

LANDS:
well, apart for the goat land, "normal lands here". as for the goad land (one of the weirdest card i´ve seen) its quite interesting. it activates reflecting pool, which is not too bad. it puts goats into play, which is always fun :P and it can give you some quite some mana, after a large number of turns. for 5cc, the 4,TAP its too expensive. but in other decks (tokenmania??) i think it can actually see some play.


well, this is my review. lets here some opinions :)









pyyhttu

I'm trying to shoot down some of your arguments as they look plain wrong:

Quote from: Mythcenn´s enlistment as with "all" the cards with retrace they just might see some play. i think its one of the best mechanics in...

I didn't find one good retrace cards from the set. They're all slow, mostly geared towards late game. Even then, they're narrow. Name a deck where you would play this. Parfait control geared towards tokens? (no one plays that to win) HL is slower paced format but not this slow.

Quoteendless horizons i think its a great card for WW, not only you get to have a great deal of mana available but, and more importantly you get to thin your deck.

WW isn't about thinning your deck at that point anymore, or amassing steady pace of mana with 4-drop which starts to represent the high end of WW's mana curve anyway. Where do you plan to use that mana after that when median creature costs 2-mana and you don't have cards in your hand?

At that point you need more GAS or UTILITY _drawn_ immediately (or before that just cheap critters that hit hard enough to finish the game before the tide turns).

Quote from: Mythhallowed burial, nice WOG for for block, but i think there are better options in HL

Options such as... Every once for a while wotc prints a wog variant but they usually end up being bad and costing 6 mana (Final Judgement, Kirtar's Wrath...) or more. The only good exceptions for HL in 6-mana slot are Akroma's Vengeance, Austere Command and Catastrophe for really specific staxx-builds if you bend the rules. Now, usually 2 mana for added bonuses isn't a good deal, but on this case with 5-drop (1 added mana for huge bonuses) we start to talk about cards that compete with Wrath of God. And every card that competes with wog can't be neglected. This one gets around indestructibility, clears creatures who trigger going to the graveyard or while there but more importantly: gets them out of sight for good as they're actually buried beneath a brick of 80 cards or so. Not so easily recoverable anymore especially in HL.

Quotecold-eyed selkie - it isnt the best evasion, but the "draw that MANY cards" might be worth in a deck that plays some nice equipment (i´m looking at you U/X skies

And I am looking at you, Draw/Go. In HL (at least in Finland) so many lands _are_ islands, so this gets edge. I'd give it definitely a chance along Ophidian, Ohran viper, Lu xun, Thieving Magpie, Shadowmage Infiltrator, Dimir Cutpurse, Sleeper's Robe... Pure draw/go is getting more tools and this old staple vintage deck should get more attention. There starts to be so many ophidians. Card advantage wins games. Seems fragile though.

Quoteunmake good t2 spot removal,

Not even in standard with Cloudgoat Rangers, Kitchen Finks and Fulminator Mages running around. This one loses value against those creatures. And holding ready and then floating 3 mana for removal is too much as then you would _only_ break even against Magus. What's the value with this in t2? Even Terminate (cheaper) and Mortify (adaptable/easier to cast) were better. But I think I digress. Onto HL.

Quotefigure of destiny. this is a very intersting card (for 5cc), emergency blocker? early pressure? mid game beater? late game winner? is has potencial.

Figure of destiny is teh no-brainer pick of this set. Got sex-appeal, cool mode, it is a release card so you will see it (wotc has started to release actually good cards as release promos btw). This one is fully optimized and versatile (can be played in both WW, Sligh or Boros). Also, this is a game dominating threat as this one grows all the way through the curve. Very versatile beat down critter. Best card this set has spit out.

I think we are on the same lines on this.

One thing you missed (just because it's a common)?: Beckon Apparition
Graveyard hate with new angle: Gives you a token flyer and can be played as an instant speed as response to... say to your life from the loam. This one gives edge and has value in HL where graveyard is a valuable resource. Particularly now white has now also access to grave hate as well. Looks and feels like a fresh answer.

Also a card that didn't made on the list not but are playable: Duergar Hedge-Mage -> some serious utility say, in Boros.

Mythrandir

QuoteI'm trying to shoot down some of your arguments as they look plain wrong:


Quote from: Myth
cenn´s enlistment as with "all" the cards with retrace they just might see some play. i think its one of the best mechanics in...

I didn't find one good retrace cards from the set. They're all slow, mostly geared towards late game. Even then, they're narrow. Name a deck where you would play this. Parfait control geared towards tokens? (no one plays that to win) HL is slower paced format but not this slow.

well, i know most of them are overcosted, but as for flame jab and ravens crime i think they are well balanced cards. as for oonas grace trading 1-1 doesnt seem that good, but its at instant speed. i´m not saying that these cards will be in every single deck. but i think they have potencial.

QuoteQuote
endless horizons i think its a great card for WW, not only you get to have a great deal of mana available but, and more importantly you get to thin your deck.

WW isn't about thinning your deck at that point anymore, or amassing steady pace of mana with 4-drop which starts to represent the high end of WW's mana curve anyway. Where do you plan to use that mana after that when median creature costs 2-mana and you don't have cards in your hand?

At that point you need more GAS or UTILITY _drawn_ immediately (or before that just cheap critters that hit hard enough to finish the game before the tide turns).

you´re probably right, but this card seems interesting, having acess to a land every turn is quite appealing. probably no for WW, as i can understand your point of view. but in decks where you need only 6 lands, this might be useful as a deckthinner.

QuoteThis one gets around indestructibility, clears creatures who trigger going to the graveyard or while there but more importantly: gets them out of sight for good as they're actually buried beneath a brick of 80 cards or so. Not so easily recoverable anymore especially in HL.

didnt think about some of points you wrote there. the only thing i´ve thinked about was disabling academy rector, and the fact that it was 5mana. as for the indestructibility i forgot, mostly because i dont see many of in games.
better than i thought, then...

QuoteBeckon Apparition
Graveyard hate with new angle: Gives you a token flyer and can be played as an instant speed as response to... say to your life from the loam. This one gives edge and has value in HL where graveyard is a valuable resource. Particularly now white has now also access to grave hate as well. Looks and feels like a fresh answer.

i was going to write about this one, but there were many 1 mana removal that i didnt bother, but forgot that most of them arent W. :P thats you u get by playing 5C.... :P
good card.


as for the Duergar Hedge-Mage  i completely missed out on this one, yeap very flexible card in boros.