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Thalia Guardian of Thraben – Dark Ascension Rare Card Review

Filed under: Card Reviews, Dark Ascension by elspethftw — Leave a comment
May 26, 2012

There are many rares in Dark Ascension that are particularly not fun to review. Thalia is certainly an exception. While she does not tend to be a main-deck option, she is a major thorn in the side of control type decks whenever one has to face her boarded in. She herself is not bad, a 2/1 with first strike for 1W. With all of the Human support with which the Innistrad block hath blessed us, Thalia is becoming more and more relevant. She’s currently (as of this writing) a five-dollar card. I don’t think that with the rotation this price will remain constant. I think you need to hand over that 20 dollar bill now and grab your playset.

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Retro Magic: Juzam Djinn – Arabian Nights Rare Card Review

Filed under: Arabian Nights, Card Reviews by elspethftw — Leave a comment
May 25, 2012

For 2BB, Juzam Djinn gives you a 5/5 that makes you take 1 damage during each of your up-keeps, which is OK. However, it’s easily one of the weaker cards on the reserve list. Yet, a single copy of Juzam Djinn sells for about $150-200 USD. It is certainly worth taking that 1 extra damage with just how big this guy is, and at the time, this was a really massive creature. But he’s not worth the secondary market’s price tag at all if you’re thinking of playing him.

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Sudden Disappearance – Dark Ascension Rare Card Review

Filed under: Card Reviews, Dark Ascension by elspethftw — Leave a comment
May 24, 2012

I don’t have to go into how ridiculously insane Sudden Disappearance is in Limited. Not only do you get a possible swing in for game with this card, but even then, your opponent literally has NOTHING on the board during their next turn until the very end. It goes to show how much the Wizards of the Coast developers put into sets that seem to only benefit the Limited format. Let’s admit that the draft format is perhaps the most commonly played form of Magic the Gathering. So if you were at a draft or sealed deck to open this card, then you’d be pretty happy. It’s fair to say if you get passed this, you got a steal. You don’t have to commit to White with this card, as it’s only got a single White mana symbol in its cost. That 6 mana will be worth the investment by the time this card is needed, too.

Now let’s look from a competitive Magic player’s or collector’s point of view… this card is crap, and unless I pulled a foil Gather the Townsfolk, foil Think Twice or one of the uncommon Lord cards, that pack is a total dud. This card has next to no relevance in Constructed formats. This isn’t to say it’s not a fun little trick in EDH to take out an annoying player at the table, but that’s really the only real use it has outside of Limited. Still, you have to give the set designers credit. At least it has a purpose. I just don’t ever want to see another one in a pack opened by me in a non-Limited environment.

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Retro Magic: Guardian Beast – Arabian Nights Rare Card Review

Filed under: Arabian Nights, Card Reviews by elspethftw — Leave a comment
May 23, 2012

This is what it says: “As long as Guardian Beast is untapped, non-creature artifacts you control can’t be enchanted, they’re indestructible, and other players can’t gain control of them. This effect doesn’t remove Auras already attached to those artifacts.”

Basically, in this card’s heyday, your Power artifacts like the Mox cycle were safe from anything that can destroy artifacts. It also kept your opponent from stealing any of them. It’s also a 2/4 creature for only 3 and a black, so it’s not too bad a card at all. Any EDH/Commander decks that revolve around Artifacts can certainly have fun with this card, and it has a decent body for a creature with such a good ability, too. It’s a nice card to have around.

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Requiem Angel – Dark Ascension Rare Card Review

Filed under: Avacyn Restored, Card Reviews by elspethftw — Leave a comment
May 22, 2012

If any archetype was boosted more than Humans by Avacyn Restored, it would be the Angels. Now this is an obvious development considering that Avacyn is, obviously, an Angel, but it should not be overlooked that suddenly once thought relatively unplayable Angel cards suddenly have a little value. I think Requiem Angel is very glad Avacyn is now free of the Helvault! (So something good did come out of that awful mythic rare!)

Requiem Angel is a 5/5 flyer for 5W and has a decent effect, whenever another non-Spirit creature you control dies, put a 1/1 white Spirit creature token with flying onto the board. For 6 mana, this is certainly OK. But you add in a card like Herald of War and certainly you can have a 5/5 flyer that can produce even more flyers for as little as 2 or 3, potentially only ONE mana. I don’t know how great Angels will prove to be competitively but you have to admit that once “jank” rares like this now have some potential. I wouldn’t say buy gobs and gobs of these in hopes of turning a sweet little profit, but Requiem Angel is now at least a card that should garner a little interest on the trade market.

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Retro Magic: Elephant Graveyard – Arabian Nights Rare Card Review

Filed under: Arabian Nights by elspethftw — Leave a comment
May 21, 2012

This is one of the more interesting land cards ever printed. Not only can you tap it for a colorless mana but you can also tap it to regenerate an Elephant or Mammoth. It’s funny to think about a deck now being built that revolves around Elephants and Mammoths, but this card actually would make that combination a really fun deck. Certainly an Elephant/Mammoth hybrid beat-down deck wouldn’t be particularly competitive, but it would be fun. I wouldn’t recommend investing in these for the purpose of building a casual deck around them, however, as they’re $35 USD a piece. but if you happen to stumble across a copy or two of these for a reasonably cheap price, it’s not a bad idea to pick them up.

Because this card isn’t really that viable to play anymore in any competitive sense, it isn’t a problem for it to remain on the Reserve List. Keeping it there simply helps it retain collector’s value, which for many Magic players, is perfectly fine.

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Predator Ooze – Dark Ascension Rare Card Review

Filed under: Card Reviews, Dark Ascension by elspethftw — Leave a comment
May 20, 2012

Honestly, Predator Ooze has not gotten a lot of love. I know he’s a three-drop needing green mana. So what? That isn’t particularly difficult with dual lands and Birds of Paradise running amok, but to get him out on a consistent basis, mono-green seems to be his perfect home. I think the reason this innocent Ooze gets overlooked is that he’s not particularly exciting. He’s only a 1/1. However, he is indestructible. The fact that you can’t kill this guy in battle is pretty absurd. Your opponent absolutely has to waste a removal spell on him. Add to that as soon as he swings that he immediately gains a +1/+1 counter. On top of that, when a creature dealt damage by him dies, the Ooze gets yet ANOTHER +1/+1 counter.

I’m not the biggest fan of Dark Ascension as a set, especially when it comes to its non mythic rares, but I think Predator Ooze is a sleeper card. I can see him becoming very relevant when Scars block rotates out, so you may want to pick up your copies on the cheap before he becomes a mono-green menace.

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Retro Magic: Drop of Honey – Arabian Nights Rare Card Review

Filed under: Arabian Nights, Card Reviews by elspethftw — Leave a comment
May 19, 2012

One of the cards never reprinted in a later Magic set is Drop of Honey, an interesting enchantment. For a single green mana, its effect is actually fairly powerful. During your upkeep, the creature with the lowest power is destroyed. If there’s a tie, you get to choose which is destroyed. Drop of Honey is destroyed when there are no creatures left on the field.

When the set Legends was released in 1994, this card was given an errata to make its ability a targeting ability. This made it incredibly powerful alongside cards that could not be targeted such as Troll Ascetic (hexproof) or any creatures with protection from green. In recent years, the errata was reversed and revised to be something that was much closer to its original text, so that would no longer target. It’s still an interesting card and if you can find one in near-mint condition, it’s a rare card worth adding to your collection.

This card actually is on the Reserve List. It is a fairly powerful card, but compared to others on the list, it’s now just very good. With the errata that once made it very, very good no longer in play, it may not need to be on that list any longer, and should perhaps see a reprint as a promo card sometime in the future.

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Markov Blademaster – Dark Ascension Rare Card Review

Filed under: Card Reviews, Dark Ascension by elspethftw — Leave a comment
May 18, 2012

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Here at Win Target Game, we like to finish what we start, and considering that the Dark Ascension rare card reviews has stalled at Lost in the Woods, it remains to be seen what other rare cards there might be actually worth reviewing. In light of this, let’s take a look at a good (if not spectacular) card.

I am personally a huge fan of the Vampires in Magic the Gathering. While I’m pretty sick of vampires in popular culture in general (cough, Twilight, cough) I must say I’ve always been a fan of the cards in the Vampire archetype of MTG. Markov Blademaster is a very nice card for the Vampire deck, indeed. However, this 1RR 1/1 creature with double strike is not merely another card for a Vampire deck. Not only does he have double strike, but whenever she deals combat damage to a player, you put a +1/+1 counter on her. Pretty sweet.

Now how viable is she in Standard play? Considering we have quite a few decent one-drops in the format that can either go head-to-head or over her (Stromkirk Noble and Vexing Devils come to mind), a 1/1 with double strike is not incredibly relevant. She’s a nice card, but hardly a money one. I’m still a fan.

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Retro Magic: Diamond Valley – Arabian Nights Mythic Rare

Filed under: Arabian Nights, Card Reviews by elspethftw — Leave a comment
May 17, 2012

One of the most expensive cards from Arabian Nights, often selling on the secondary market for about $100 USD a copy, Diamond Valley is one of the best cards in the set, as well. By tapping Diamond Valley you can sacrifice a creature in order to gain life equal to the sacrificed creature’s toughness. Not only that, but it’s effect is able to be used after blockers have been declared. While it’s not really a card that can necessarily win you a game, it’s a very fun card for EDH decks that are built around life-gain mechanics. It is pricey, but it’s a fun card to play, and you can use it quite a number of times in a game, so it’s worth a look if you’re willing to sink one hundred bucks into acquiring a copy. This card is, understandably, on the Reserve List.

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