[NPH] reviews

[Mythrandir]

Another set another review:

non artifact colorless

Karn - well, obviously it seems playable, 7 mana, colorless means it can be easily dumped into play with some kinf of accell. We have yet to know completely what it's ultimate does.

White:

Blade splicer - Not very bad, but for 3 CMC there are lot of better stuff out there.

Chancellor of the annex - more bluish than whitish, but ok. The reveal ability is quite powerful and our mull makes it slightly better, however too circunstacial and too big of a CMC to be very competitive, IMO.

Norn's annex - Well, moat doesn't see much play these days, and i believe this to be a bit worse than moat.

Phyrexian unlife - screams to be broken, but probably not in our format.

Remember the fallen - Not that bad, but not very good either. It goes well with the stuffy doll combo (via gifts)

Blue:

Gitaxian probe - I really don't like this phybrid 1 mana spells. This one is quite useful for combos, i'm looking at you TPS (hurray free spells)

Mental mistep - don't know if it's playable, but all colors getting counters screws a bit with the color pie, IMO.

Phyrexian metamorph - One of my favorites cards of the set. Very versatile and easily castable, again available to all colors. Might just see some play.

Psychic barrier - lol, carry on.

xenograft - don't know if this is breakable, but i heard ppl talking about allies. At that CMC it won't see play in our format.

Black:

Despise - With so much creature love, this ain't bad. But i mostly see this in MBC (or rock variants) which isn't that good of a deck

Dismember - agaian available to all colors, might lead to some aggro playing with this, since basically it's a 1 CMC removal..

Phyrexian obliterator - Akward, akward mana cost, but if playing with suic B or MBC would play this for sure!

Praetors grasp - again the cost (double B) + being sorcery makes it not so good. You're probably better off with your own tutors.

Sheoldred the whispering one - Not a bad target for reanimation, but there is better! Also for the CMC would definitely go with the titans.

Red:

Act of agression - Quite good in aggro, deserves testing at least.

Chancellor of the forge - first turn this, mountain, goblin guide, go! In our format too uncertain, but in other formats, might just see some play.

Geosurge - Cute card to play with your dragons! Still it means getting you 7 mana in your 4th turn, although you pretty red mana intensive, playable? Let's see.

Gut shot - free spell, is a free spell. might see some play, because it's available to all colors...

Moltensteel dragon - turn 4 playable? turn 5 go for 10 damage (if you were at 20).

Slag fiend - Not goyf material, but still, if you play with loads of cantriping artifacts, might be fun.

whipfire - nice board sweeper. Can't say for sure if would play this or firespout...

Green:

Beast within - one of the best cards of the set. Kills everything at instant speed. Would have expect to see this say: "destroy nonland permanent".

Birthing pod - one of the most talked about cards. It's no survival, but it's definitely playable, IMO.

Chancellor - can this be abusable in legacy/vintage? free mana is always free mana, in our format? too inconsistent IMO.

Fresh meat - the bear doesnt see much play, so this wont either.

Melira - quite interesting, i believe it combos with the white enchantment in this set (not sure, though...) But very cool design.

Mutagenic growth -  free spell is a free spell

Multicolor:

Jor kadeen - well, this seems completely off the set, IMO. But don't know the story, so, possible makes more sense if i knew. But bad card.

Artifacts:

batterskull - one of my favorite cards of the set. Seems extremely powerful. good for control and aggro, IMO. Being mythical probably means it will be expensive. Kind of reminds of BSA.

Darksteel relic - go, go metalcraft.

Etched monstrosity - ahhh, if only the meta was slower.

Hex parasite - playable, but still i prefer the needle.

Isolation cell - too expensive too see any play, i believe.

Sword of war and peace - better swords out there, but still playable.

Torpor orb -  Too circunstancial IMO.

Well, there it goes. Any obvious ones i left out?

[MarcMagic]

I think you mentioned all important HL cards. If I'm not totally wrong Karn's ultimate does "-14: Restart the game, leaving in exile all non-Aura permanent cards exiled with Karn Liberated. Then put those cards onto the battlefield under your control.". So you start a new game with the exiled permanents already in play.

Some cards which are not that great but may see play as well:

-Due Respect
If it delays the opponent by one turn or acts as semi-removal versus blockers it's fine imo. But there are probably better cards.

-Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur
Great target for Reanimator.. maybe after Buried Alive gets unbanned : )

-Tezzeret's Gambit
Colorless draw 2 for 3 and 2 life seems pretty bad.. but maybe it will be at least a bit useful in some non-blue/black decks?!

-Scrapyard Salvo
Can be abused.. but not much more.

[so_not]

Some comments about some of your comments:

"Blade splicer - Not very bad, but for 3 CMC there are lot of better stuff out there."
-There aren't actually too many good three-drops for WW. Spectral Procession, Mirran Crusader, Kitchen Finks and probably Mindcensor are better, but after that the quality drops substantially. Don't know if this fits although it does create some sort of advantage.

"Chancellor of the annex - more bluish than whitish, but ok. The reveal ability is quite powerful and our mull makes it slightly better, however too circunstacial and too big of a CMC to be very competitive, IMO."
-not circumstantial, just bad

"Norn's annex - Well, moat doesn't see much play these days, and i believe this to be a bit worse than moat."
-How does this compare to Moat?

"Phyrexian unlife - screams to be broken, but probably not in our format."
-I can't really think of any way to make this playable in any format.

Blue:

"Phyrexian metamorph - One of my favorites cards of the set. Very versatile and easily castable, again available to all colors. Might just see some play."
-I like this card also but it's somewhat hard to evaluate. Phyrexian mana makes all card evaluation a mess

Black:

"Sheoldred the whispering one - Not a bad target for reanimation, but there is better! Also for the CMC would definitely go with the titans."
-This thing has a huge effect and it's pretty hard to remove. If the format slows down a bit into a Titan heavy one, this might actually do something. Though I'm not surprised if it never sees play.

Red:

"Act of agression - Quite good in aggro, deserves testing at least."
-Then again, maybe not.

"Gut shot - free spell, is a free spell. might see some play, because it's available to all colors..."
-But free spell that actually does nothing is equal to a mulligan.

"whipfire - nice board sweeper. Can't say for sure if would play this or firespout..."
-Doesn't really compare to Firespout.

Green:

"Beast within - one of the best cards of the set. Kills everything at instant speed. Would have expect to see this say: "destroy nonland permanent"."
-I think people overrate this. A 3/3 is not irrelevant.

"Birthing pod - one of the most talked about cards. It's no survival, but it's definitely playable, IMO."
-Although it's a bit narrow, it still fights for the title of best card in the set with Batterskull. That tells something of how bad this set actually is.

Artifacts:

"batterskull - one of my favorite cards of the set. Seems extremely powerful. good for control and aggro, IMO. Being mythical probably means it will be expensive. Kind of reminds of BSA."
-I really have hard time evaluating this. Without Stoneforge Mystic this would be pretty bad since it's just soooo slow but on the other hand Mystic already is a central part of many many games so this just might make the cut. Then again I would usually search either of the better Swords so I really don't know what to do with this.

"Darksteel relic - go, go metalcraft."
-I guess you are kidding.

"Sword of war and peace - better swords out there, but still playable."
-I actually think this is the worst of all five. A big disappointment





Deceiver Exarch is another tool for Kiki-Jiki combo

Entomber Exarch is so full of utility that I just need to play it somewhere.

Geth's Verdict will probably find a home some day.

Furnace Scamp could see play in burn but I'm not convinced since it's probably good only on turn one and not always even then.

Volt Charge makes me wonder if there are already enough proliferate-, charge counter-, planeswalker- doubling season- tricks out there to build some weird deck.

Omen Machine is an omen.

[Tiggupiru]

Business as usual, please comment if you have objections or something to add:

-- Colorless --

Name:    Karn Liberated
Cost:     7
Type:     Planeswalker - Karn
Pow/Tgh:     6
Rules Text:     +4: Target player exiles a card from his or her hand.
-3: Exile target permanent.
-14: Restart the game, leaving in exile all non-Aura permanent cards exiled with Karn Liberated. Then put those cards onto the battlefield under your control.

Karn is pretty sweet, if you manage to stick him. 7 mana is a LOT, but it's all colorless, so Thran Dynamo says hi. Ultimate does end the (new) game relatively fast (I mean, getting like two lands will put you really far ahead, especially with the HL mulligan), and just nuking a permanent and absorbing some of the incoming attack is not the absolute worst, but it should be noted that he does not save you, or give you really good fighting chance from really bad position. Against even board, Karn is pretty devastating, but I guess that should be true to any seven mana spell.

All in all, it's not the super exiting, but in HL, it's pretty easy to make a deck that generates lots of colorless mana, and this might be something you want to spend it on.


-- White --

Name:    Blade Splicer
Cost:     2{W}
Type:     Creature - Human Artificer
Pow/Tgh:     1/1
Rules Text:     When Blade Splicer enters the battlefield, put a 3/3 colorless Golem artifact creature token onto the battlefield.
Golem creatures you control have first strike.

Three mana 4/4 is not too bad of a deal, but the fact that it splits to two bodies means that it's better suited for decks that aim to take advantage in numbers (maybe some kind of a token deck).

Three mana 3/3 first striker isn't going to hit through an average sized Tarmogoyf or most four-drops. White aggro usually relies on synergies rather than brute power. I think that you might need to abuse this to make it playable, but it doesn't need a huge push.

Name:    Dispatch
Cost:     {W}
Type:     Instant
Rules Text:     Tap target creature.
Metalcraft - if you control three or more artifacts, exile that creature.

If you have a deck that is able to provide the necessary artifacts by the turn three or four, this is pretty good piece of removal. Just try to avoid getting devastated by instant speed artifact removal.

Name:    Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
Cost:     5WW
Type:     Legendary Creature - Praetor
Pow/Tgh:     4/7
Rules Text:     Vigilance
Other creatures you control get +2/+2.
Creatures your opponents control get -2/-2.

Even if you manage to cheat this into play, this isn't that good. Sure, your dorks are bigger than the opposing critters, but creatures aren't exactly hard to remove. I don't think Massacre Wurm is playable and it's better than this.

Name:    Inquisitor Exarch
Cost:     {W}{W}
Type:     Creature - Cleric
Pow/Tgh:     2/2
Rules Text:     When Inquisitor Exarch enters the battlefield, choose one - You gain 2 life; or target opponent loses 2 life.

This is the card I am rather unsure. It looks like it can do well in WW, but the two-drop slot is so full with another good cards, I really don't think this will fit in.

I do like the fact that both of these abilities are something you might choose, so despite this being weaker than some of the cards played right now, it's at least somewhat versatile.

Does not look really bad in decks like Aluren in where this can be used to replacing Spike Feeder, unless the the feeder has been outclassed already by better options.

Name:    Norn's Annex
Cost:     3{pw}{pw}
Type:     Artifact
Rules Text:     ({PW} may be paid for with either {W} or 2 life.)
Creatures can't attack you or a planeswalker you control unless their controller pays {PW} for each of those creatures.

I really don't like Propaganda in any deck (I take spot removal any day over it), and this is far worse.

Name:    Phyrexian Unlife
Cost:     2{W}
Type:     Enchantment
Rules Text:     You don't lose the game for having 0 or less life.
As long as your life total is 0 or less, sources that deal damage to you have infect.

Gain ten life... not very hot, and definitely not worth a card and a three mana.

Name:    Puresteel Paladin
Cost:     WW
Type:     Creature - Human Knight
Pow/Tgh:     2/2
Rules Text:     Whenever an Equipment enters the battlefield under your control, you may draw a card.
Metalcraft - As long as you control 3 or more artifacts, each Equipment you control has equip {0}.

I repeat myself from another thread:

I still think there are too few good equipment around, but everytime they print cards like this, I can't help but update my WW-Equipment list and prepare to get disappointed once more

Powerful first ability, and with Leonin Shikari, the latter is quite hilarious, but effectively not very useful as you really don't want equipments that cost a million mana to equip anyway.

Also, a two-drop which the WW deck has plenty of.

Name:    Remember the Fallen
Cost:     2{W}
Type:     Sorcery
Rules Text:     Choose one or both - Return target creature card from your graveyard to your hand; and/or return target artifact card from your graveyard to your hand.

I can't think of any good deck that would want to play this. Not like this would be exceptionally good in that deck either, merely decent at best.

Name:    Suture Priest
Cost:     1{W}
Type:     Creature - Cleric
Pow/Tgh:     1/1
Rules Text:     Whenever another creature enters the battlefield under your control, you may gain 1 life.
Whenever a creature enters the battlefield under an opponent's control, you may have that player lose 1 life.

This might be a card in some random combo as a kill card, but in anywhere else, this is not worth the time or the money.


-- Blue --

Name:    Gitaxian Probe
Cost:     {PU}
Type:     Sorcery
Rules Text:     Look at target player's hand.
Draw a card.

+ 1 storm, cycles and checks if you can go off this turn for no mana investment. Most likely too random in this format, but I kinda like this one still. Zero mana spells tend to have a warm place at my heart, and I think Peek _might_ be good enough in _some_ deck. Goes without saying that this is obviously just better.

Name:    Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur
Cost:     8{U}{U}
Type:     Legendary Creature - Praetor
Pow/Tgh:     5/4
Rules Text:     Flash
At the beginning of your end step, draw seven cards.
Each opponent's maximum hand size is reduced by seven.

In Value Town, Jin-Gitaxias is the mayor.

He is also definitely worth cheating into play. If you get to draw the cards, it's worth it and more, but if it survives the opposing turn... You should have hard time trying to lose from there. Paying the mana is obviously out of the question, reanimate is a card, I hear.

Four toughness is not a whole lot, but it also means it's going to take two red spells (~90% of the time, at least) to deal with him, so he isn't a weenie either.

Name:    Mental Misstep
Cost:     {PU}
Type:     Instant
Rules Text:     Counter target spell with converted mana cost 1.

Having this in your opening hand is nice, but it might not even do a whole lot. I suspect that only decks that consider this, are counter heavy blue/X controls, and even in there, this just might not be worth of a card most of the time. Too random in HL, me thinks.

Name:    Phyrexian Metamorph
Cost:     3{PU}
Type:     Artifact Creature - Shapeshifter
Pow/Tgh:     0/0
Rules Text:     ({PU} can be paid with either {U} or 2 life.)
You may have Phyrexian Metamorph enter the battlefield as a copy of any artifact or creature on the battlefield, except it's an artifact in addition to its other types.

Three mana clone and benefits? Sounds reasonable, but I am not super excited or anything. Don't even know what decks would want this, but somebody is probably figuring that out as we speak.


-- Black --

Name:    Despise
Cost:     {B}
Type:     Sorcery
Rules Text:     Target opponent reveals his or her hand. You choose a creature or planeswalker card from it. That player discards that card.

Ostracize is not a card, but this does hits planeswalkers. Still, I don't think I'd play this card anytime soon, but it probably gets better after every set, so time to sleeve this up might be upon us faster than expected.

Name:    Dismember
Cost:     1{PB}{PB}
Type:     Instant
Rules Text:     Target creature gets -5/-5 until end of turn.

Four life is a lot, so I don't think this is playable in decks that has no access to black mana. Neither this is something that control wants, so aggressive strategies that have access to black might think about this. After all, one mana removal is one mana removal, despite having lot of things going against it.

Name:    Geth's Verdict
Cost:     {B}{B}
Type:     Instant
Rules Text:     Target player sacrifices a creature and loses 1 life.

Now is not exactly the best time to ba a card that costs two black mana. One life is not significant enough to make this more playable than say all of the other edicts, unless your mana base can support this reliably. Not to mention, Edicts aren't very good right either.

Maybe there will be time for this, but I just don't think this sees play for a while at least. I do suggest getting your copy as it's only a common and your MBC might try this out.

Name:    Life's Finale
Cost:     4{B}{B}
Type:     Sorcery
Rules Text:     Destroy all creatures, then search target opponent's library for up to three creature cards and put them into his or her graveyard. Then that player shuffles his or her library.

Let's see if you have learned anything with a quick quiz:

Six mana wraths are:

[ ] unplayable
[ ] not very good as they are slow and don't give nearly good enough upside
[ ] bad
[ ] good only in limited

Name:    Phyrexian Obliterator
Cost:     {B}{B}{B}{B}
Type:     Creature - Horror
Pow/Tgh:     5/5
Rules Text:     Trample
Whenever a source deals damage to Phyrexian Obliterator, that source's controller sacrifices that many permanents.

Nice mana cost you've got there buddy. Four mana five/five is not groundbreaking news, despite this being one of the best abilities attached to a beater.

MBC probably wants this as it's pretty hard to go kill in a combat. The restrictive mana cost means that there aren't many (any?) decks that are good enough and is able to play this. Even (nearly) mono black decks have problems when they draw too many good colorless lands. If you can reliably cast this on turn four, you have yourself a good deal, but there are dozens of cards that still get around this ability with ease, so it's not a huge trump.

Name:    Praetor's Grasp
Cost:     1BB
Type:     Sorcery
Rules Text:     Search target opponent's library for a card and exile it face down, then that player shuffles his or her library. As long as it remains exiled, you may look at it and cast it as though it were in your hand.

Again, I recite my past self:

Grip is a card I would not completely write off. Right now it hits, at worst, Sensei's Top or a land. Fabricate into sensei you can't use to draw a card is not exciting, but it also takes away theirs. It's pretty reasonable to expect to hit an on color card.

Make no mistake though, Grip is most likely a bad card, but I want to see this card in action before dismissing it completely. Shame that double black in the mana cost does make that so much harder.

Name:    Sheoldred, Whispering One
Cost:     5{B}{B}
Type:     Legendary Creature - Praetor
Pow/Tgh:     6/6
Rules Text:     Swampwalk
At the beginning of your upkeep, return target creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield.
At the beginning of each opponent's upkeep, that player sacrifices a creature.

I've seen Reya Dawnbringer played, don't excatly know why, but now there is no reason what so ever. Doesn't really look like this does much in the current enviroinment. At seven mana, you better be playing a card that wins the game at the spot, not to give value over time.


-- Red --

Name:    Bludgeon Brawl
Cost:     2{R}
Type:     Enchantment
Rules Text:     Each noncreature, non-Equipment artifact is an Equipment with equip {X} and "Equipped creature gets +X/+0," where X is that artifact's converted mana cost.

Too bad it's symmetrical and I really don't know what deck would want this. You need to have lots of artifacts and creatures you want to bash with. Not to mention, you probably need good amount of mana to toss those Crucibles of Worlds around. Good news is that not many deck plays artifacts, other than Sword of Fire and Ice + Sensei's Divining Top.

That being said, this card certainly offers a powerful effect for three mana. There might be hope for this yet, but time will tell if this effect is worth a card.

Name:    Geosurge
Cost:     {R}{R}{R}{R}
Type:     Sorcery
Rules Text:     Add {R}{R}{R}{R}{R}{R}{R} to your mana pool. Spend this mana only to cast artifact or creature spells.

Seven mana is a lot, but rituals haven't been used to play creatures since ritual -> hypno. Restrictive mana cost almost makes this unplayable, but fast mana has been proven itself time and time again.

Name:    Priest of Urabrask
Cost:     2{R}
Type:     Creature - Human Cleric
Pow/Tgh:     2/1
Rules Text:     When Priest of Urabrask enters the battlefield, add {R}{R}{R} to your mana pool.

I like they reprint cards that have interesting abilities. This probably does not see play for a long time, if ever, but I like having something like this around.


-- Green --

Name:    Beast Within
Cost:     2{G}
Type:     Instant
Rules Text:     Destroy target permanent. Its controller puts a 3/3 green Best creature token onto the battlefield.

Sick combo with Oath!

Just kidding, this is a pretty bad card. Trading one-for-one and giving them a 3/3 is not value. Hitting planeswalkers might seem nice, but they get value out of them in addition of you giving them a relevant dork. Green has problems dealing with creatures, sure, but there is literally no reason at all not to splash a color, so no need for clunky answers.

Name:    Birthing Pod
Cost:     3{pg}
Type:     Artifact
Rules Text:     ({pg} may be paid for with either {G} or 2 life.)
{1}{pg}, {T}, Sacrifice a creature: Search your library for a creature card with converted mana cost equal to 1 plus the sacrificed creature's converted mana cost, put it onto the battlefield, then shuffle your library. Activate this ability only any time you could cast a sorcery.

My opinion is that this is the card of the set. Not entirely sure if most aggro decks want to play this, but would not be surprised if majority did. Great in midrange full of creatures and Pattern kinda likes tutors that are also sacoutlets, reusable and immune to creature removal.

Name:    Melira, Sylvok Outcast
Cost:     1{G}
Type:     Legendary Creature - Human Scout
Pow/Tgh:     2/2
Rules Text:     You can't get poison counters.
Creatures you control can't have -1/-1 counters placed on them.
Creatures your opponents control lose infect.

Kitchen Finks + This + Sacoutlet = Victoly! Too bad this does absolutely nothing on it's own. Unplayable.

Name:    Noxious Revival
Cost:     {PG}
Type:     Instant
Rules Text:     Put target card from a graveyard on top of its owner's library.

I like these strictly better than cards, but the fact is that Reclaim isn't exactly a powerhouse, or even very playable. Having access to this card is nice, however. If Reclaim becomes good, we have redundancy.

[Tiggupiru]

-- Artifact --

Name:    Batterskull
Cost:     5
Type:     Artifact - Equipment
Rules Text:     Living weapon

Equipped creature gets +4/+4 and has vigilance and lifelink.

{3}: Return Batterskull to its owner's hand.

Equip {5}

This is not terribly behind curve when played on turn five, and it's all upside from there. Slow, sure, but if you have something like a 4/4 to slap this on, it's pretty hard to race, especially when this also blocks. The fact that this also reloads itself is also very relevant. If you have an active Stoneforge Mystic, this is pretty sick.

One of the most interesting cards of the set, but don't ignore the fact that it costs five and is pretty mediocre without a real body to carry this. This is also not a very threatening card against combo/control.

Name:    Darksteel Relic
Cost:     0
Type:     Artifact
Rules Text:     Darksteel Relic is indestructible.

This is a nice proxy once they unban the original moxes. Get a set of these ASAP.

Name:    Etched Monstrosity
Cost:     5
Type:     Artifact Creature - Golem
Pow/Tgh:     10/10
Rules Text:     Etched Monstrosity enters the battlefield with five -1/-1 counters on it.

{W}{U}{B}{R}{G}, Remove five -1/-1 counters from Etched Monstrosity: Target player draws three cards.

Kinda cool, but too slow to see any play. Stick with the Etched Oracle for cards and Precursor Golem for beats, whatever is your preference.

Name:    Hex Parasite
Cost:     1
Type:     Artifact Creature - Insect
Pow/Tgh:     1/1
Rules Text:     {X}{PB}: Remove up to X counters from target permanent. For each counter removed this way, Hex Parasite gets +1/+0 until end of turn
({PB} may be paid for with either {B} or 2 life.)

Kinda like a Pithing Needle that hits only walkers, dies to creature removal and costs a ton of mana before it does anything. I don't even like Pithing Needle in current metagame, so I kinda suspect that this isn't very good card.

Name:    Mycosynth Wellspring
Cost:     2
Type:     Artifact
Rules Text:     When Mycosynth Wellspring enters the battlefield or is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, you may search your library for a basic land card, reveal it, put it into your hand, then shuffle your library.

I've begun to think that Ichor Wellspring might be a card in some deck, and this is better than that. Goblin Welder, perhaps?

Name:    Pristine Talisman
Cost:     3
Type:     Artifact
Rules Text:     {T}: Add {1} to your mana pool. You gain 1 life.

One life a turn is not enough, I think. It's kinda nice when you are able to stabilize and start to gain life just for using Top, but three mana artifacts that don't produce more than one mana are rarely even worth a second look.

Name:    Shrine of Burning Rage
Cost:     2
Type:     Artifact
Rules Text:     At the beginning of your upkeep or whenever you cast a red spell, put a charge counter on Shrine of Burning Rage.

{3},{T} , Sacrifice Shrine of Burning Rage: Shrine of Burning Rage deals damage equal to the number of charge counters on it to target creature or player.

If you play this on turn two, and then play three red spells over the course of two turns, this does five damage, which puts it close of being a good deal. Most likely you aren't in that kind of hurry to blow this up, so couple of turns and a pair of burn spells later this is nine damage, and that is pretty big game, as the cool kids would say.

Of course, drawing this later in the game is pretty lame, but if you are not under a tight clock, you can expect this to be in the realm of reasonable surprisingly fast. Playing this and then just buying time by removing the opposing creatures until this reaches the critical mass actually sounds pretty reasonable.

Not only that, this is also pretty synergistic with flashback (Firebolt), rebound (Staggershock) or retrace (Flame Jab, lol) cards. I think this should go into the burn deck, and I excpect this to perform rather well there. Deals with Kor Firewalker even.

Name:    Shrine of Loyal Legions
Cost:     2
Type:     Artifact
Rules Text:     At the beginning of your upkeep or whenever you cast a white spell, put a charge counter on Shrine of Loyal Legions.

{3},{T} , Sacrifice Shrine of Loyal Legions: Put a 1/1 colorless Myr artifact creature token onto the battlefield for each charge counter on Shrine of Loyal Legions.

I don't think so, but stranger things have happened. You need to abuse the tokens somehow, though.

Name:    Sword of War and Peace
Cost:     3
Type:     Artifact - Equipment
Rules Text:     Equipped creature gets +2/+2 and has protection from red and from white.

Whenever equipped creature deals combat damage to a player, Sword of War and Peace deals damage to that player equal to the number of cards in his or her hand and you gain 1 life for each card in your hand.

Equip {2}

This is really random at what it does. In the early game, you might get something like five life and four extra damage, which would make this pretty good, but that is assuming a lot of things going just right. The best case scenario is probably not good enough, as it's pretty poor later in the game and in most circumstances. Stick with the other swords.

Name:    Torpor Orb
Cost:     2
Type:     Artifact
Rules Text:     Creatures entering the battlefield don't cause abilities to trigger.

Second turn this, fourth turn Lord of Tresserhorn, go.

In all seriousness, StifleNought -style of decks might get a small push because of this card, but can't think of very many good creatures to pair this with. On the other hand, we do have couple of Stifles, Illusionary Mask and now this, so all we need is good creatures and we are all set.

[Tiggupiru]

Forgot this:

Name:    Immolating Souleater
Cost:     2
Type:     Artifact Creature - Hound (C)
Pow/Tgh:     1/1
Rules Text:     {PR}: Immolating Souleater gets +1/+0 until end of turn.

Very scary. First turn lava Spike, turn two this and turn three, Fireblast, and this attacks for lethal. Magical Christmas Land, that is, but that doesn't change the fact that this can attack for 13 damage, if you play mountain every turn and take no damage. The fact that this dies to everything does make connecting with him harder, but there are some hands with this card that threatens to end the game before it even began.

[MMD]

Name:    Beast Within
Cost:     2{G}
Type:     Instant
Rules Text:     Destroy target permanent. Its controller puts a 3/3 green Best creature token onto the battlefield.

Sick combo with Oath!

Just kidding, this is a pretty bad card. Trading one-for-one and giving them a 3/3 is not value. Hitting planeswalkers might seem nice, but they get value out of them in addition of you giving them a relevant dork. Green has problems dealing with creatures, sure, but there is literally no reason at all not to splash a color, so no need for clunky answers.

Name:    Birthing Pod
Cost:     3{pg}
Type:     Artifact
Rules Text:     ({pg} may be paid for with either {G} or 2 life.)
{1}{pg}, {T}, Sacrifice a creature: Search your library for a creature card with converted mana cost equal to 1 plus the sacrificed creature's converted mana cost, put it onto the battlefield, then shuffle your library. Activate this ability only any time you could cast a sorcery.

My opinion is that this is the card of the set. Not entirely sure if most aggro decks want to play this, but would not be surprised if majority did. Great in midrange full of creatures and Pattern kinda likes tutors that are also sacoutlets, reusable and immune to creature removal.

I value Beast Within as one of the best swiss knife cards ever printed and clearly the best card in the set. That this card is green makes it even better for me because most of my pet decks are Ugx. Certainly a 3/3 is not irrelevant but often a very good deal.

The other way around I don't understand the hype for Birthing Pod wich is "just another toy" for casual decks as long as you do not start to sacrifice Spire Golem. I don´t think that the you will have time to upgrade your Mana Elf into Stoneforge (into Finks into Archmage into Baneslayer into Titan). I compare this card with Crystal Shard, which I have removed from my tournament decks long ago. IMO this card only looks good on paper.

[Tiggupiru]

I value Beast Within as one of the best swiss knife cards ever printed and clearly the best card in the set. That this card is green makes it even better for me because most of my pet decks are Ugx. Certainly a 3/3 is not irrelevant but often a very good deal.

If splashing for cards were not this easy, I would rate Beast Within higher. If decks like green-blue would not have access to Oblivion Ring, Swords, P2E, Journey + some other sick white cards like Stoneforge, Beast Within might serve an important role, and you could shift your other card choices to minimize the effectiveness of the 3/3, but that is a huge hassle when compared to a card like O.Ring that solves all of your problems. Green has also gotten good number of cards that deal with non-creatures, so you only "need" Beast Within to hit creatures, in which case white offers even better options, and plenty of them.

The other way around I don't understand the hype for Birthing Pod wich is "just another toy" for casual decks as long as you do not start to sacrifice Spire Golem. I don´t think that the you will have time to upgrade your Mana Elf into Stoneforge (into Finks into Archmage into Baneslayer into Titan). I compare this card with Crystal Shard, which I have removed from my tournament decks long ago. IMO this card only looks good on paper.

Crystal Shard is not a tutor, which is a massive difference. It's not a card either, so it's not really comparable to Birthing Pod.

Sacrificing Spire Golem actually sounds pretty nice, but the card is at it's best when combined with cards like Skinrender, FTK, Shriekmaw, which give nice value immediately and be available for even further upgrading, if needed. It does require you to have lot of creatures in your deck with variable mana curves, but that is pretty much the best overall strategy right now.

[Mythrandir]

I think you mentioned all important HL cards. If I'm not totally wrong Karn's ultimate does "-14: Restart the game, leaving in exile all non-Aura permanent cards exiled with Karn Liberated. Then put those cards onto the battlefield under your control.". So you start a new game with the exiled permanents already in play.

Well, the restart the game isn't clear to me and until i read the FAQ about Karn's ultimate, I for one won't be 100% sure of what it really does.

Other things:

Blade splicer dividing into 2 creatures can be good or bad, if your opponent has a spot removal you're still going to have a 1/1...

Batterskull is slow? It's a 5 mana 4/4 with vigilance and lifelink which is harder to kill than your average creature, still i'd probably tutor  SoFI with stoneforge.

Beast within - It's instant! It hits everything! In monogreen aggro it can "save" 1 of your own creatures, it can trasnform your land into a creature. This kills titans, BSA, goyfs at Instant! I think this will surely see some play, IMO, and yes, not a bad card to play with oath too, you get a 3/3 i get a fattie!

[tonytahiti]

wow, did somebody in here just call beast within a bad card? unbelievable.
the card is absolutely phenomal, incredibly versatile. gets rid of relevant threats at instant speed and gives an mostly irrevelant 3/3 dork to your opponent. not mentioning you can use it on your own land to get a beast at instant speed, there will be situations where you will use it just like that. can serve as a ld spell when opponent is mana screwed too.
its one of the best cards in the set.

just like dismember, another absurd card. 1 mana spot removal that gets rid of almost every creature and usable in any colour. 4 life is not nothing, but at least for every deck with black this is fantastic card.

a card nobody has been talking about here is porcelain legionnaire. 2 mana for a 3/1 first striker is nothing to scoff at. spellskite is a great card, lots of options. makes pump spells, mother of runes, elspeth second,  and tezzeret second ability absolutely worthless, plus protects your guys. really good card. this seems like a good set people.

[Kristian]

Karn Liberated:
Eh... Don't like him but he could be good for all but aggro decks.

Puresteel Paladin:
I like the idea of WW, I probably have to assemble such a deck when I get my hands on enough viable creatures.

Despise :

Ostracize is not a card...

I disagree

Dismember:
Hmm... Might try this in GWB aggro I mean, getting rid of blockers is often "worth it". Doubt I'd play it in any control save MBC

Geth's Verdict:
I've always liked the way you could use edicts to handle tough critters... Assuming you handled everything else first. That's why I'd only play it in removal heavy decks.

Praetor's Grasp:
I can see why it's not really that desireable to play. It has potential for some pretty weird (ie. fun) interactions, but I've always despised cards that searches opponents decks (bribery, extirepate etc.) simply because I don't like the idea of handing people I don't know that well my deck.

Priest of Urabrask:
I really like this kind of creature, it's "free" in certain decks, but the creature itself isn't really good enough (come on, T3 2/1 with no abilities?)

Beast Within:
Love it!

Birthing Pod:
Almost considering assembling my WBGU Recurring Nightmare deck just to test it out.

Melira, Sylvok Outcast:
This one is kind of nice, however, how does it work? Does it merely stop -1/-1 counters from being put on your creatures or does it also remove them?

Pristine Talisman:
As you say, 1 life isn't much, though I'll try it out since it's always nice to active at opponent's endstep and the opponent can't respond to the life gained (<3 mana sources).

Sword of War and Peace:
At least it doesn't destroy lands :O... On a serious note, I think this could be playable solely for it's protections.

[Tiggupiru]

wow, did somebody in here just call beast within a bad card? unbelievable.
the card is absolutely phenomal, incredibly versatile. gets rid of relevant threats at instant speed and gives an mostly irrevelant 3/3 dork to your opponent. not mentioning you can use it on your own land to get a beast at instant speed, there will be situations where you will use it just like that. can serve as a ld spell when opponent is mana screwed too.
its one of the best cards in the set.

Beast within - It's instant! It hits everything! In monogreen aggro it can "save" 1 of your own creatures, it can trasnform your land into a creature. This kills titans, BSA, goyfs at Instant! I think this will surely see some play, IMO, and yes, not a bad card to play with oath too, you get a 3/3 i get a fattie!

Like I said before, no reason to play monocolored decks at this day and age. MonoG loves this card, but G/x aggro will just find better removal from the splash color in addition of getting access to some ridiculous cards. Unless you really want to play your super fun pet deck, there is no reason to play this.

Nuking your own lands does not seem that great as this card is clearly reserved to deal with the cards that green decks are unable to deal with otherwise. Wasting two cards for a 3/3 is rarely a good idea, but I guess it can happen sometimes.

And how 3/3 is not relevant most of the time? It's rather decent sized body opponent just got for free, and it's just as capable of carrying equipments and killing planeswalkers as Watchwolf.

I would compare this card to a Pongify, which raised quite a few eyebrows back then, because blue just got removal, you could kill your own guy to negate a removal, and 3/3 creatures didn't matter. This is an improvement from Pongify, quite obviously, but it also costs three times more, which is surprisingly relevant. Blue also can deal tokens pretty easily and Pongify still saw no play back then.

a card nobody has been talking about here is porcelain legionnaire. 2 mana for a 3/1 first striker is nothing to scoff at. spellskite is a great card, lots of options. makes pump spells, mother of runes, elspeth second,  and tezzeret second ability absolutely worthless, plus protects your guys. really good card. this seems like a good set people.

Legionnaire is way too fragile to see much of a play. Being an artifact and a one toughness dude, means that it will have hard time living against any deck. White traditionally has pretty good two drops already, so it really takes something special to get there and this does not deliver enough goodies.

Spellskite is a horrible card. It's kinda like Standard Bearer, which does not hit and requires resources to do anything. Pump spells nobody really play (nice two-for-ones), Mother of runes does not care about this card, and Elspeth/Tezzeret still have two very relevant abilities, and if you have no blue mana open, Elspeth making you lose two life is not a bad ability even.

Batterskull is slow? It's a 5 mana 4/4 with vigilance and lifelink which is harder to kill than your average creature, still i'd probably tutor  SoFI with stoneforge.

Yes, it's slow. Five mana is pretty slow and abusing the living weapon is even more slower. This is not a get-out-of-jail free card, like BSA can be, but it's really good in situations where it trades for an attacking creature and you are left with a creature to attach this to after combat. Your game plan can't be waiting until turn four for this and then win from there. It needs help.

Priest of Urabrask:
I really like this kind of creature, it's "free" in certain decks, but the creature itself isn't really good enough (come on, T3 2/1 with no abilities?)

The body is irrelevant, it might be able to fuel some combo where you get infinite mana, or some such. You don't play this as a beater, ever.

[Kristian]

Priest of Urabrask:
I really like this kind of creature, it's "free" in certain decks, but the creature itself isn't really good enough (come on, T3 2/1 with no abilities?)

The body is irrelevant, it might be able to fuel some combo where you get infinite mana, or some such. You don't play this as a beater, ever.

The body would be relevant for an aggro deck, that's why I commented on how big it was. Had it been something like 3/2 it would have been much more playable for aggro decks. I have no doubt that it can be utilized in combo decks.

[tonytahiti]

legionnaire isnt bad. it will be played. the one toughness doesnt matter. what does exactly one damage in highlander? arc trail and cunning sparkmage? maybe a few more, but not many! he has freakin first strike. its a good card. that he is an artifact makes him less good, i agree. still, way playable.

and to call spellskite bad. wow. its kind of under the radar, but it is a really good card. you'll see in a few months. even lsv put this card in the top 10 of new phyrexia. it blocks everything in zoo,white weenie and other aggro decks, doesnt get killed by burn and protects your creatures. if you dont agree right now, you will in a few months.

[Tiggupiru]

legionnaire isnt bad. it will be played. the one toughness doesnt matter. what does exactly one damage in highlander? arc trail and cunning sparkmage? maybe a few more, but not many! he has freakin first strike. its a good card. that he is an artifact makes him less good, i agree. still, way playable.

Yeah. I kinda misread (or brainfarted) this, as it doesn't require white mana, so it's pretty good in decks that have no shortage of sick two-drops. MonoR for example probably likes this. I don't think most white decks really care about this, as it's not ahead of curve when it comes to white's two drops right now, and it's rather fragile. Gets better if you have some artifact synergies, though.

and to call spellskite bad. wow. its kind of under the radar, but it is a really good card. you'll see in a few months. even lsv put this card in the top 10 of new phyrexia. it blocks everything in zoo,white weenie and other aggro decks, doesnt get killed by burn and protects your creatures. if you dont agree right now, you will in a few months.

Instead of playing a creature that protects your other creatures, you can rather just play a good creature, which is pretty much the same, expect when you don't have other creatures to protect this with. If it's a combo you want this to to protect, it's kinda like an expensive counterspell. Sure it blocks most of the early drops of aggro deck, but they can just use burn to finish this off, if they so desire, so it's not that different of any wall. Can't think of too many good cards to hose this with, as it just is a counterspell to their removal, expect that it shines against monored, but there are better options if you plan to hate them out.

All in all, it's versatile, but if you can pinpoint the situation you want this to negate, you will find better alternatives. I do understand why people like this, as it's really good in limited, and most likely good in standard where it can block a sworded Stoneforge and blanks lightning bolts. It really shows promise, but I have kinda hard to figure out a deck to play this in, as you can just play little less versatile, but much more effective cards once you figure out what is the most threatening scenario.