Archive for August, 2012


From the Vault: Realms – Part I

Filed under: Product Review by solemnparty — Leave a comment
August 18, 2012

In this article, I’ll be going over the first four cards of the latest From the Vault, Realms.

The set is completely land, all of which are playable in EDH/Commander to some extent.

Cephalid Coliseum is originally an uncommon from Odyssey, the original art being by John Avon and the new art being Cliff Childs. While it’s not great for a blue source, tapping for one blue and taking a damage, it’s mainly used for the Threshold ability, for blue and a tap, you sacrifice it to have a player draw three cards and then discard three cards, being very good in dredge and black/blue re-animator decks.

Personally, I enjoy both artworks, but I have to like the new one, as it looks better in the modern border.

Desert was originally printed in Arabian Nights, and then reprinted as a Timeshifted card in Time Spiral. Desert has always been a great card, holding off the common 1/1 creatures by itself and deterring large creatures in multiples. Desert is also one of the cards that did get new artwork, and I have to say it’s impressive.

While High Market isn’t considered as great as Diamond Valley, though better than Miren, the Moaning Well, High Market sees a significant amount of Commander play, and is a nice card to see printed in here; though people will complain about this not being Diamond Valley instead. Sadly, it didn’t get a new artwork, though the original by Carl Critchlow is very nice.

Oh, Maze of Ith. Originally from The Dark, Maze of Ith for From the Vault: Realms is already pre-ordering on Star City for $50 USD, making the usual MSRP of $35 for one of these box sets completely worth it. But, as usual, the actual stores are going to be selling them (and the individual cards) for a lot more. While it doesn’t produce mana (unlike its watered down counterpart, Mystifying Maze) it completely removes a creature from combat, preventing all damage dealt to and by that creature. In fact, Maze of Ith is even part of an infinite mana combo with Argothian Elder. Great inclusion, and I’m not surprised to see it among the cards getting a new art out of the set.

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Return to Ravnica Spoilers – Deadbridge Goliath

Filed under: Card Reviews, Return to Ravnica by solemnparty — Leave a comment
August 17, 2012

This card was spoiled yesterday:

 

A very far-away picture of a card from our new set, Return to Ravnica! Here’s the card itself:

Deadbridge Goliath 

 2gg
Creature – Insect Rare
Scavenge 4{G}{G} (4{G}{G}, Exile this card from your graveyard: Put X +1/+1 counters on target creature, where X is this card’s power. Scavenge only as a Sorcery.)
5/5

Credits goes to mtgsalvation for posting this on their site. You can find their spoiler page for Return to Ravnica here.

Now, Deadbrdige Goliath is a 5/5 for 2GG; a pretty solid card in my opinion. With Rampant Growth he’s an easy turn 3 drop. On top of his 5/5 for 2GG, he introduces the new mechanic for the Golgari, Scavenge. Unlike Selesnya’s Populate (which appears to be confirmed) Scavenger exiles the creature from the graveyard to make the ones you control bigger; in that they give +1/+1 counters equal to his power. In this case, it’s 4GG to put 5 +1/+1 counters on a creature you control.

Sadly, it does have to be all to one creature, but this could be interesting if Birds is reprinted in Return to Ravnica, as our mana-bird didn’t get printed in the core set like usual. I like Deadbridge Goliath, and it appears to be the first FNM promo for the set. I like the card, and I hope the rest of the set will be even better.

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Generally Speaking – Barrin, Master Wizard

Filed under: Card Reviews, Urza's Saga by solemnparty — Leave a comment
August 17, 2012

Barrin, Master Wizard is a rare from Urza’s Saga. 1UU for a 1/1 isn’t all that impressive, especially for a legendary creature. Being a Human Wizard is an upside, and his ability isn’t bad.

For 2 mana, you can sacrifice a permanent to return target creature to it’s owner’s hand. Not necessarily a great option in most cases, but it combos quite well with Gilded Drake. Unfortunately, despite being the teacher of Ertai, Teferi and Jhoira and the father of Hanna, Ship’s Navigator, he’s unimpressive on his own.

There are a few cards that do well with him, mostly cards that get you something when they enter and when they’re destroyed, such as Hatching Plans, Ichor Wellspring or Mycosynth Wellspring among others.

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Generally Speaking – Baron Sengir

Filed under: Card Reviews, EDH - Commander, Homelands by solemnparty — Leave a comment
August 16, 2012

 

One of the best cards out of Homelands, we have Baron Sengir, a Rare from the set. Baron Sengir is a 5/5 for 5BBB; a bit mana-heavy compared to most generals, but Baron Sengir is quite impressive in my opinion. A 5/5 with flying, and whenever he kills a creature, he gets a +2/+2 counter (instead of two +1/+1 counters; unsure of the interaction with -1/-1 counters) and he can regenerate any of your vampires.

With this being the list of available vampires, you can easily make a tribal vampire deck around him. Personally, I prefer Anowon due to the lower mana cost, but he definitely deserves a slot in your 99 if you’re playing vampire tribal.

Cards to play Baron Sengir with:

  • Anowon, the Ruin Sage
  • Vampire Nocturnus
  • Vampire Nighthawk
  • Ascendant Evincar
  • Bloodlord of Vasgoth
  • Captivating Vampire
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Generally Speaking – Barktooth Warbeard

Filed under: Legends by solemnparty — Leave a comment
August 16, 2012

 

For completion purposes, I’m going to include this on Generally Speaking; Barktooth Warbeard. Possibly the greatest name ever. As a vanilla 6/5 for 4BRR, he’s unimpressive in all senses. Due to this, he goes for roughly 50 cents, being a uncommon from Legends. There are obviously better choices for Red/Black generals, but I suppose being a Human Warrior is an upside?

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Generally Speaking – Balthor the Defiled and Balthor the Stout

Filed under: Card Reviews, EDH - Commander, Judgment, Torment by solemnparty — Leave a comment
August 15, 2012

 

A Legendary Minion lord! Not that minions really needed much of a lord, as there’s less than 2 pages of them on the gatherer. Balthor the Defiled for 2BB is a 2/2 with 2 abilities. His first ability is his static ability, giving your minion creatures +1/+1. Sadly, Minions are a rather old type, the most recent being a blue creature from Ravnica. However, his other ability is very good; for BBB, you can exile Balthor the Defiled to return all black and red creatures from all graveyards to the owner’s battlefield. Sadly, this isn’t a great attribute in Commander, as it’s each player, and you won’t be able to take advantage of bringing back red creatures, as he is a mono-black commander. I’d certainly play him in a Red/Black deck, however. Or even Grixis; River Kelpie combos well with him, letting you draw a card for each creature entering the battlefield under your control.

However, Balthor the Defiled is the second version of Balthor, after he sacrificed himself to destroy Burke. His original card, Balthor the Stout is different:

 

Balthor the Stout is a 2/2 for 1RR, and has been errata’d a little bit:

Other Barbarian creatures get +1/+1.
Red: Another target Barbarian creature gets +1/+0 until end of turn.
 Nothing too significant. He gives Barbarians other than himself +1/+1. Sadly, there aren’t many more barbarians than there are minions, but you can find the list of barbarians here. His second ability gives another target Barbarian fire-breathing; a respectable ability for a 3-drop 2/2.
Sadly, he can’t target himself with his second ability, and his first ability doesn’t affect him. Lovisa Coldeyes is a slightly better general, though more expensive.
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Phylactery Lich – Magic 2013 Core Set Rare Card Review

Filed under: Card Reviews, Magic 2013 by elspethftw — Leave a comment
August 14, 2012

 

First printed in Magic 2011, Phylactery Lich is an interesting mono-black zombie. It’s a 5/5 for only 3 mana, and it’s indestructible. Of course, there’s a downside, but it’s an interesting one at that. When the Lich enters the battlefield, you put a phylactery counter on an artifact you control. The counter itself doesn’t do anything, but if you control no permanents with phylactery counters on them, you sacrifice Phylactery Lich.

There are, of course, cases in which you could easily have four of these on the board at a time and spread out the counters among four artifacts. You only have to have one of those counters no matter how many of the Lich you have on the board. The question is, what artifacts are going to be played in mono-black? Right now, as it currently stands in Standard with Scars block still available, there are several good options. You have Mortarpod and Lashwrithe, both often played in mono-black control decks. There are other artifacts that could be playable, as well, but it will be interesting to see what artifacts will be played in such decks in the near future.

Potentially, this is an extremely good card. It’s especially good in mono-black Zombies (for obvious reasons). I’d like to see some competitive decks playing it, though I’m not sure we will. In any case, you’ll want to have one if you ever play Zombies in EDH. It’s a good card that may go overlooked, and can work in a deck made for it.

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Return to Ravnica Speculation – Jace, Adviser to the Firemind

Filed under: Articles by solemnparty — Leave a comment
August 13, 2012

There seem to be some unwarranted spoilers going around that I (and everyone else) assume to be fake, so I’m going to mention the most (or least) believable of them; Jace, Advisor to the Firemind. You can find the blog here.

Here’s the text they’re supplying for the spoiler:

Jace, Adviser to the Firemind {U}{R}
Planeswalker – Jace (Mythic Rare)
+2: Put a card from your hand on top of your library.
0: Look at target player’s hand.
-7: You get an emblem with “Whenever you draw a card, Jace, Adviser to the Firemind deals 2 damage to target creature or player.”
Loyalty: 1

Taking a hint from Tibalt, he’s an extremely under-powered 2-drop planeswalker that’s completely unbalanced. Starting at only 1 loyalty leaves him open to a un-transformed delver or an exalted bird of paradise. His +2 is rather bad, putting a card from your hand to the top of your library. Perhaps if a UR Delver deck develops without Ponder in format, it may see some play. Also, his 0 gives you quite a bit of information; their entire hand. However, the fact that his ultimate is a -7 assumes that he’s going to live long enough for you to get an emblem that apparently needs him on the board to use.

Due to the wording of the -7, Jace, Adviser to the Firemind would have to be present on the board in order to inflict damage to an opponent when a card is drawn. The rest of the time, the emblem would sit there uselessly.

Hopefully, this is not our real jace that’s being released, as that would simply be depressing after Jace Beleren and Jace the Mind Sculptor. Flavorfully, it would make sense for this Jace to be Red and Blue, as the Izzet League seems to be a place where Jace would want to be, especially if Niv-Mizzet truly is a planeswalker. However, only time will tell if this is a real spoiler, but I’m certainly hoping it isn’t.

 

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Generally Speaking – Azami, Lady of Scrolls – Part II

Filed under: Card Reviews, Champions of Kamigawa, EDH - Commander by solemnparty — Leave a comment
August 13, 2012

Previously, I had said this about Azami:

Azami, Lady of Scrolls is yet another Legendary Creature from Champions of Kamigawa. For 2UUU, you get a 0/2 wizard that has “Tap an untapped Wizard you control: Draw a card.” Nothing all that impressive.

However, Azami is often used in Commander as the general of essentially any blue combo deck due to the advantage she can instantly acquire with other wizards like Teferi. She doesn’t say much by herself, but mono-blue is a very powerful deck in Commander, and players tend to gang up on the person playing Azami for that reason.

However, Azami is much more significant than I originally stated. Azami with Mind Over Matter (the usual mono-blue combo card) can draw your entire deck, and with Library of Leng you have plenty of options. And of course, you could always play Laboratory Maniac as one of your 99.

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Generally Speaking – Ayumi, the Last Visitor

Filed under: Card Reviews, EDH - Commander, Saviors of Kamigawa by solemnparty — Leave a comment
August 13, 2012

 

Ayumi, the Last Visitor is one of two creatures with legendary landwalk, with the second being Livonya Silone. This ability makes her quite versatile, legendary lands being fairly common in EDH, such as:

  • Urborg
  • Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
  • Academy Ruins
  • Gaea’s Cradle
  • Minamo, School at Water’s Edge
  • Oboro, Palace in the Clouds
  • Serra’s Sanctum
  • Volrath’s Stronghold

Ayumi is a rather commonly seen card in some lists due to her large power ratio for her mana cost; only 3GG for a 7/3. The only real downside to her is being killed by Lightning Bolt and Lightning Helix. However, a deck based on her isn’t a terrible idea, as three direct hits from Ayumi will knock out a player; 21 general damage killing a player. It’s more of a utility card in most lists, as she won’t do much against a list that doesn’t have legendary lands.

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