Scars Breakdown 4

Today I’ll be doing both the Red and Green cards in the Scars of Mirrodin set. Before I begin, I want to drop a link for Pete Venters, the magic artist. He has a new block, so check it out.
http://www.peteventers.com/blog/
 Let’s begin, shall we?

Arc Trail
You either love or hate this card. Though I don’t foresee it being huge in tournaments any time soon, this is due only to Lightning Bolt and Burst Lightning. It is iffy in that it may have to burn you. Hopefully, it won’t, but you never know…

Assault Strobe
This card is amazing. It can easily end a game by turn three with an infect dude and a pump (turn one land, birds. Turn two cystbearer, turn three giant growth variant and this). I think it could be a chase comon, but it could also be a big nothing. Depends on the deck’s power.

Barrage Ogre
With so many artifacts around, it’s no wonder they printed this guy. He’s pretty lousy most of the time, but if you have leaves play triggers (the new spellbombs, for example) he could be decent. Not constructed worty, but decent in limited.

Blade-Tribe Berserkers
A 6/6 haste on turn four could prove powerful. The main drawback here is that it becomes a basic hill giant afterwards. Even with the possible six point swing, I don’t see this guy being used anywhere other than casual.

Bloodshot Trainee
Future Sight preprint. I liked this guy due to how you had to build around him. Not this time. Now, he can of course use Darksteel Axe to become active. But don’t forget about Trusty Machete either. Still not going to be tournament viable, methinks.

Cerebral Eruption
This thing could be huge. A spell that guarantees at least 1 damage to everything on one side of the table for four mana isn’t huge. But when it could also easily deal 15 against Eldrazi Ramp, wiping their titans as well, it looks good. Red got itself a nice board wipe, it seems.

Embersmith
A fun card that can deal a point or two of damage, and kill off BoP and Lotus Cobra (Is that even run anymore)? He seems like a fine addition to a mono-red artifact based deck. He may not be the most efficient red creature of all time, but he’s definitely not a wuss.

Ferrovore
It’s not a lhurgoyf! Anyways, this guy also works well with artifacts leaving play (like the ogre). The difference is this guy pumps himself. I don’t like him very much, but that’s because he isn’t my style. All in all, he isn’t the worst gray ogre imaginable. But he’s far from best.

Flameborn Hellion
It has haste, and attacks each turn if able. And if he were bigger than a 5/4, that could mean something. But for cheaper you’ve got both Ball Lightning and Elemental Appeal. It isn’t that great in casual either, but I would take him over Tectonic Fiend any day of the week.

Furnace Celebration
Eldrazi Spawn combo! They pay for half of the cost each, ensuring two damage for effectively two creatures (or more damage if you have, gasp, lands in play). All in all, I’d say this is my favorite red uncommon in the set.

Galvanic Blast
A strictly better shock, all of the time. Even if you run no artifacts, it’s better, because it is. Burst Lightning and this are similar, but in an artifact heavy deck, if you could only run one, run this instead. I’d give Burst the edge in most other circumstances though. Now, give us back Shrapnel Blast, wizards!

Goblin Gavaleer
He’s basically the main reason you would run a monored EDH equipment deck (well, and Spikeshot Goblin). He gets big. Fast. Got a darksteel axe? That’s a +4/+0 bonus. And things get crazier from there. Not sure if Boros equipment will be big (I’m guessing no), but if it is, he could be bomby.

Hoard-Smelter Dragon
He kills artifacts, and gets bigger for doing so. Remember, targetting darksteel things still gives him the bonus, and allows you to target it again.

Koth of the Hammer
This guy is pretty awesome. He can make a 4/4, cost 3, make mana, or cast Flame Fusillade on all your mountains until end of game. He’s Koth, and he is angry. Now, if Wizards could just print a decent monoblack ‘walker…

Kuldoth Pheonix
This can be used in any deck running artifacts. It comes back directly to play, and has a decent body also. Dredgevine, if it runs enough artifacts, may be running a flier in the future…

Kuldotha Rebirth
I dislike this card because of me being used to Mogg Alarm. It isn’t bad, obviously. But sacrificing an artifact as a cost is a bit of a drawback, I feel. Too big of one, even with so many artifacts, as three power of dudes isn’t relevent. Unless it’s turn one.

Melt Terrain
I get it. Wizards hates land destruction. But did they really have to hate on Molten Disaster this much? Three mana to destroy a land is not too good if it’s cost intensive. This card is bad, and I foresee this being used…nowhere.

Molten Psyche
Metalcraft combo? Perhaps. But if it is, I’ll be happy with having three of these already.

Ogre Geargrabber
There are few enough equipment for this guy to be irrelevent, but enough in casual for him to be really freaking good. Grab a Jitte? Yes please.

Oxidda Daredevil
If you visited the earlier link to Mr. Venters sight, you’d see a close-up of this guy’s face. The art is simple amazing, as goblins should always be silly like this (or Wayne Reynold’s goblins, ala Ib Halfheart). The card itself is actually pretty neat. A 2/1 for two that can gain haste is nice, as it dosn’t encourage the sacrificing of artifacts, but allows it if you need to. Not a great card, but nice enough in limited (due to the sacing being free).

Oxidda Scrapmelter
Fear this thing, for it shall be your bane. Ingot Chewer was not used, but that was due to the cost. This guy may cost cost enough to be useful in standard (provided artifacts are huge), and he is an amazing pick in limited (trust me, I know).

Scoria Elemental
Why? Why, wizards? A 6/1 vanilla? Why?

Shatter
A reprint of the most basic artifact kill spell out there? It’s amazing removal in limited, and could potentially see, gasp, tournament play in standard. I believe it did in Mirrodin Block V1.0, at least.

Spikeshot Elder
Red equipment EDH likes it. Red equipment standard deck likes it. Even temporary boost effects like it. Remember, kids. It’s repeatable for more than once in a turn.

Tunnel Ignus
This card kills Eldrazi Ramp. And Scapeshift. And Valakut Ramp. And those decks that like usng fetchlands on their turns. And…

Turn to Slag
Bad card is bad. Unless you hit something with Jitte or a sword. Then it is not a bad card at all, is it?

Vulshok Heartstoker
Underwhelming, and overall pointless, as for three mana you could also play an actual threat.

Whew. That’s red. Let’s take a deep breat, and delve in green now. Ready?

Acid Web Spider
I get that Wizards apparently fears the strength of equipment. But this is getting ridiculous. At least it’s stats match the cost.

Alpha Tyrranax
The green vanilla is actually decently sized, and is better than Craw Wurm. It may not be good, but it’s miles ahead of all the others.

Asceticism
Well, that’s one way of making all your opponent’s removal useless. This card is not tournament level, but it seems nice in casual.

Bellowing Tanglewurm
Remember, this guy is uncommon. It is the designated noninfect dude in all those infeect decks that run green. I’m calling it now. Sure, there are lots of artifact creatures out there, but it still grants evasion against many decks.

Blight Mamba
The dance of death, the blight mamba!*drumroll* Anyways, this is like River Boa (and Marsh Boa as well). It is quite decent, and regens. For sure, it’s in the infect deck if only to survive day.

Blunt the Assault
Turbofog is not currently a deck in standard. I don’t see this making any difference to that.

Carpace Forger
A 4/4 for two? I recall a certain two costing vanilla being good, one that could become huge, that happened to, unlike Ferrovore, be a Lhurgoyf. This is not as good in most decks, but it is a great card for metalcraft. Maybe GW metalcraft will have a chance…

Carrion Call
It makes two 1/1s with infect. At instant speed. It probably isn’t a great card, but it is a combat trick, so I won’t discount it completely. For now.

Copperhorn Scout
What exactly is the point of this, I wonder? It’s not a good card, or a great effect. But, whatever, someone will use it. I’d just prefer taunting elf, though.

Cystbearer
This card was mentioned earlier when I looked at Assault Strobe. For a decent decklist, take a quick look at the blog of Dan Shive (the writer of El Goonish Shive, here’s a link to the actual post itself). Man, apparently I love linking blogs today. Anyways, it’s pretty good.

Engulfing Slagwurm
I ask, what’s the point of this creature? Seriously? A 7/7 with that ability. It’s redundant.

Ezuri, Renegade Leader
If elves are big, he is. If not, he isn’t. It’s that simple. EDH likes him as a general, though.

Ezuri’s Archers
A 1/2 for one green, with reach, and an ability that matters when blocking, is actually not bad. It may not be tournament level good, but it is not a bad card by any means.

Ezuri’s Brigade
An 8/8 trample for four mana is amazing. And yes, I realize it has to be used in conjunction with artifacts to get the bonus. I foresee GW metalcraft being a potential deck in the upcoming standard environment.

Genesis Wave
This card is screaming Timy at the top of it’s lungs. And then smashing you in the face with a hammer (not Koth’s) to get the point across. It can be huge. Or, it can be a huge flop. Afterall, Chord of Calling was pretty good.

Liege of the Tangle
I await the day this connects, then the opponent wraths afterwards. But as long as they have nothing like that, this should scream good game.

Lifesmith
The bad smith, especially with Golem’s Heart in the same set. Plus, for green, it is a bit undersized. The ability is subpar compared to the others.

Molder Beast
Molder works well with it. As do other Naturalize like effects. It fits in two specific decks, though. One- those that kill the opponent’s artifacts. Two- those that sacrifice their own artifacts. It has trample, as well. I don’t see it showing up in any top eights, but a casual deck may be in the works somewhere.

Putrefax
It’s in a precon, and it isn’t all that great. But, if you happen to have Mimic Vat, it should be really good for you. Afterall, it was for my opponent until I finally hit an artifact removal spell, but by then, I was already in a bad position.

Slice in Twain
I’d take creeping mold over this most of the time. This does have a contrip on it, which is it’s only saving grace from being completely useless.

Tangle Angler
It forces blocks with infect. Not bad, except for it’s one power. A bigger size would have been preferred.

Tel-Jillad Defiance
This could be golden in limited. It could also be useless. One must weigh whether or not a lot of artifact creatures have gone around before settling on this (remember, it helps against the trigon of infection as well).

Tel-Jillad Fallen
I don’t understand why this has infect, but whatever. It’s a 3/1, so it dies to most removal. Pro artifacts helps out a bit, though.

Untamed Might
You have to really pump mana into this to make it worth running over things like Vines of Vastwood. This is mediocre, but very nice in limited when pushing through the last bit of damage (or poison).

Viridian Revel
Almost always useless. That’s all I have to say about it.

Wing Puncture
Why not just run plummet? Useless card is useless.

Withstand Death
Allows anything to, guess what, withstand death. Unless you’re going up against infect dudes, that is.

And now, for a bonus…

Venser, the Sojourner
This guy is better than people give him credit for. However, he does not really fit into any current archetypes. He can blink Wall of Omens, though, and reset planeswalkers you control. Other than this, he is pretty close to useless, as his -1 wants you to run a huge amount of creatures, and his ultimate is hard to pull off. Though if you do, it screams “Win!”

So, that’s all the colored cards in Scars. Next time, I’ll work on some of the artifacts. I hope you enjoyed this installation. I’m JCP, and I’m out for now.