[M11] review

[Mythrandir]

Another set, another review. As a highlander player i'm glad core editions now have new cards, even though some are functional reprints which IMO kind of suck for our format, anyway, here goes my review of M11 regarding (mostly) Highlander:

white:

ajani pridemate: Not that i think it's playable, but i think it's a nice well design and flavoured card.

Angelic arbiter: Interesting card, creates nice tension vs aggro. But high CMC makes this a bit unplayable unless you cheat him into play. Also nice in multiplayer.

Knight exemplar: Good enough for knights to become relevant? IMO, no...

Leyline of sanctity: Interesting, but too random in HL.

Serra ascendant: WW playable? Although you won't get it to 6/6 very often

Sun titan - Titans are pretty impressive, IMO. They have a relevant ETB ability, so if they get STP or whatever they still did something, and if they get a swing it even becomes better, so definitely playable, although in the right decks, since they have a high CMC.

war priest of Thune - playable

Blue:

Aether adept - good, bue we have man-o-war.

Augury owl - Playable.

Cancel - lol, moving on....

Conundrum sphinx - Not a very relevant ability, but 4 CMC for a 4/4 flyer isn't very common in blue.

Frost titan - not the best of the bunch...

Leyline of antecipation - Interesting, but again a bit random in our format.

Preordain - Good, but no brainstorm.

Stormtide leviathan - How i wish this had a lower CMC. moat isn't as playable as it was, so unless you cheat this into play (and even then...) this won't see play. But interesting design.

Time reversal - timetwister hasn't seen much play (money issues?!) so will this see?

Black:

Dark tutelage - It's no dark confidant, and IMO if you can pay BB you're better off with arena.

Grave titan - one of the best IMO.

Phylactery lich - BBB for a 5/5? not bad, but since it doesn't have any kind of evasion and don't think it's worth it. Interesting design nontheless

Reassembling skeleton - well, if you need "infinite" sac upkeep cost, this is your dude.

Viscera seer - One the most flavourfull cards of this expansion. And i think they could have upped the scry to 2, imo.

Red:

Arc runner - Well, no trample makes this a lot, lot worse than a ball lightning.

Combust - nice anti BSA card. hehe

Destructive force - Nothing very new here but will definitely see play since it creates redudancy.

Ember hauler - Playable, although mogg fanatic effects used to be better...

Hoarding dragon - nice flavorfull card

Inferno titan - better than frost.

Pyretic ritual - it's no dark ritual, but playable in combos.

Green:

Fauna shaman - Interesting design and a big coincidence that after we banned survival we get "survival creature". We definitely see play, although far beyond the power level of the original card.

Gaes revenge - Hard to deal with once it's in play. Too high CMC to be playable?!


Hornet sting - this is strange... a pure non-restrictive burn green spell. won't brake our format, so i'm ok with it.

Mitotic slime - interesting design and good vs removal.

Obstinate baloth - nice card, although i don't see it being played much.

Primeval titan - one of the best, IMO. valakut comes into mind.

Sylvan ranger - one of the best commons. will definitely see play.

Artifact:

Crystal ball - lol at the name. not good enouhg, IMO.

Sword of vengeance - one of the best cards in this set. Very powerful.

Lands:

Mystifyin maze - bad, bad card IMO. If you could blink your creatures it would be very good, but right now, it sucks.

Well, here it is: Any obvious miss outs? Comments are welcome as always. Let the discussions begins

[coldcrow]

a few additions:

Garruk's Companion: Solid for MGA / GR Beatz.

Jace's Ingenuity: Possibly playable in the big mana combo decks like Heartspring or high tide.

Leyling of Sanctity is playable in Enchantress, since it is a straight upgrade of Ivory mask due to trollshroud and being a Leyline.

Scroll Thief: Playable in a Phid-style deck, though not very efficient compared to Selkie, shadowmage and friends.

I still think Crystal Ball is playable in the right deck, initial cost is high but activation only 1 and provides huge card quality, especially if paired with other library manipulation effects.

[Kassow-Rossing]

My comments on Mythrandir's cards.


Useless:
Ajani Pridemate won't see play.
Angelic Arbiter won't see play.
Knight Exemplar won't see play.
Serra Ascendant won't see play.
Augury Owl won't see play.
Cancel also lol from here
Frost Titan won't see play.
Leyline of Anticipation won't see play.
Dark Tutelage won't see play.
Phylactery Lich won't see play.
Arc Runner won't see play.
Combust won't see play.
Hoarding Dragon won't see play.
Inferno Titan won't see play.
Pyretic Ritual won't see play. (Maybe in some combo, yes. I doubt it though)
Hornet Sting won't see play.
Mitotic Slime won't see play. (But cool card)
Crystal Ball won't see play.


Other comment:
Conundrum Sphinx. We have seen many blue creatures that are 4/4 fliers for 4. Not a rare sight. I don't know if this will see play but it's nothing interesting = Boring!
Stormtide Leviathan. Great effect. Lacks Shroud or Protection to be any good. Doubt Oath deck will play it. Reanimators maybe?
Viscera Seer would be WAY TOO powerfull with Scry 2 instead of just Scry 1. That would just simply be too broken. Scry 1 is good for limited and that's it. Won't see play.
Gaea's Revenge is too expensive for tier 1. But still amazing card. I really don't like it


Will see play:
Leyline of Sanctity will see play in Enchantress.
Sun Titan will maybe see play if someone finds a way to break the ETB effect. I doubt it though.
Æther Adept will see play but I won't play it.
Time Reversal is good even though Timetwister is not amazing in 100 cards singleton format.
Reassembling Skeleton will see play many times.
Destructive Force will see play because it does what so many other cards does as well. (That all see play)
Obstinate Baloth is really amazing. Kitchen Finks/Loxodon Hierarch/Ravenous Baloth v. 4.0 (Reverse order please)
Primeval Titan will see play but maybe not in tier 1.
Sylvan Ranger will see play in a lot of green.


Top of the mountain:
War Priest of Thune is the best White Highlander card from M11.
Preordain is the best Blue Highlander card from M11.
Grave Titan is the best Black Highlander card from M11.
Ember Hauler is the best Red Highlander card from M11.
Fauna Shaman is the best Green Highlander card from M11.
Sword of Vengeance is the best Artifact card from M11. Don't think it will beat SoFaI though.
Mystifying Maze is the best Land card from M11. Will see play but not as much as Maze and Kor Haven.


Addition:
Garruk's Companion will def. see play