Scars Previews 4

SPOILER ALERT! If you want to remain ignorant of the Scars of Mirrodin spoiler season, DON”T read this post any further, or you will lose your blessed ignorance!

Alright, NOW we’re starting to get into some REAL juicy spoilers! This is the BEST time of spoiler season; the time when all the pieces start to fall together, and our premonitions, doubts, and predictions of what a set will be like all get put under the spotlight! *sniff* Ahhh! I love to stop and smell the spoilers!

Kuldotha Pheonix
Red has been holding out on us before now, with Koth as the only exciting card in the color; now, though, we’ve seen Kuldotha Pheonix! Beyond the fact that it’s art is monotonously similar to every other pheonix’s, this one is easily better that all that have come before it (provided you’ve got plenty of artifacts). The things that are most exciting about it are not only that it can be put DIRECTLY into play, but all for only 4 COLORLESS mana. If we get a reliable discard engine soon, this thing will definitely be played in several colors. Hell, it seems possible that it could see play in a deck without red in it, if the reason is good enough. Mostly, I see Kuldotha Pheonix being used in some kind of control deck, or perhaps in a midrange attrition deck.

Also, the possibility of running this, Vengevine, and Bloodghast all together in the same deck may be practically inefficient, but it sure seems fun if you can pull it off!

Sunblast Angel
Sunblast Angel is another card that looks like it will be used frequently. It will pretty effectively replace Martial Coup in control decks as the sweeper/creature generator, perhaps is even an upgrade over it’s predecessor in that it makes a flying body for 1 less mana. Not only can it be used for control, though, but as a way for white-based aggro to finish off a race with an aggro mirror, killing off all of the creatures its opponents had swung with the previous turn.  It may be a little expensive for potential white-weenie variants, but slightly less fast decks could play it fairly easily, so I’d venture to guess this guy is going to be played very commonly, perhaps even as a staple.

Ratchet Bomb
Speaking of staples, how awesome is Ratchet Bomb? Let me answer that myself: VERY awesome. Not only is it colorless, giving colors that normally don’t have access to that efficient of removal an easy way to deal with several creatures at once, but it can also kill artifacts, enchantments, and most recently important, PLANESWALKERS. It doesn’t perfectly replace O-Ring as the go-to answer for ‘walkers, sure, but similarly to O-Ring it provides an answer to itself! Say your opponent is sitting happily on a Ratchet Bomb at 4 counters, just waiting for you to play a Jace, the Mind Sculptor. You don’t need to sacrifice a Jace just to play another one, you can just drop your own Ratchet Bomb to deal with it!

One thing I noticed about the Bomb that is going to significantly impact how it’s played, though, is that your opponent CAN blow it up in response to you putting counters on it, leaving you defenseless and without even taking something out with it. Just something to keep in mind, as I think a lot of games in the next few months are going to come down to races to who can get an active bomb first. (By the way, I now officially dub these situations Arms Races.) It should be pretty obvious that this card is easily going to break the $10 range, maybe even seeing Noble Hierarch-level prices, so i would suggest trying to just get them out of packs.

Dual Lands!
Another nice incentive to open packs are the recently spoiled dual lands for the set. These things look like they will easily see tons of use, both in Standard and Extended, though most of that will be in aggro decks or fast combo decks. A lot of players that are overly-friendly to control decks might not immediately recognize their value, especially since they will most often see them used against themselves, but with the last few generations of dual lands having a bad habit of coming into play tapped, the new lands are a much welcome boon to aggro players. Similarly in Extended, these are guaranteed to see play in most every archetype, from Fae to Doran to whatever else  might want untapped nonbasics that can tap for two colors. I’m not sure what the price-tags on them are going to look like exactly, but I can guarantee that they’ll add plenty of value to any booster boxes you feel like buying.

Also, I have heard many people misinterpreting the comes-into-play text. The text says that it comes into play tapped unless you control 2 or fewer other lands, which means you CAN still play them untapped until your 4th land drop.

Spikeshot Elder
Most people are probably not too excited at this little red guy, seeing as he’s a bit late with Siege-Gang Commander rotating, but having a thing for goblins, I find Spikeshot Elder to be incredibly cool. Not in Standard, really, but more as another 1-drop for Extended Goblins that goes REALLY well with a bunch of Goblin lords and gives the deck a huge out to Faeries. Combined with the reference to his predecessor and Limited bomb Spikeshot Goblin, the Elder’s potential power for Goblins is probably going to make him my favorite red card in the set.

Hand of the Praetors
The last thing I want to cover is the newest in a long line of reasons the Infect deck could be viable, Hand of the Praetors. The reach this guy represents for Infect creatures is enormous; a single Ichor Rats all of a sudden has the ability to Flame Javelin you on resolution. Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon can win you the game even MORE easily. Needless to say (because I already did), this dude is as exciting as it gets. Black has some good things coming its way this set, and its about time, too.

That’s all for this week! Feel free to leave a comment or two, subscribe, and tune in next week for the last week of previews before the Prerelease!

Scars Previews – Planeswalkers

SPOILER ALERT! If you want to remain ignorant of the Scars of Mirrodin spoiler season DO NOT read any further!

Well, all the planeswalkers have been spoiled now, so let’s get down to the evaluatin’.

Elspeth Tirel is a fairly exciting card; that much I agree with the majority of people about. Fortunately for my wallet, though, despite her intially high price, I don’t think she will see as much play as major retailers might wish. Looking at her abilities, she is obviously meant to be run in a creature-heavy deck, and preferably one that involves tokens. Unlike at the end of Lorwyn/Shards Standard, though, there are not many good token-producing cards to accompany her, meaning she has to produce her own, which in turn will leave her at a lower loyalty. Her “gain life” ability can potentially offset that, but that is really only useful in a back-and-forth race, and 3 1/1’s on turn 5 does not a race make. Just about the only thing her 1st ability is useful for is building up to her ultimate. Ah, now her ultimate is a great thing! In an artifact-heavy block, a card that kills not only all non-token creatures, but also all artifacts is pretty good, not to mention that it takes down EVERY other planeswalker. However, since that doesn’t come down until turn 6 or so and is not really available for control decks, I doubt it will see much play once people realize how useful she really is. Overall, if you want a white ‘walker to top out you aggro deck, just choose Gideon or Ajani; Elspeth won’t be helping you much. If your are in control, she won’t be of much use either, beyond her late ultimate. So while i’m not very good at predicting a card’s final price range, I know that, at the very least, she certainly won’t stay at $30.

Venser the Sojourner, on the other hand, looks like an… interesting planeswalker. I can honestly say I’m not really sure what kind of play he might see. He has plenty of random tricks he can pull with his 1st ability, his 2nd ability wins stalemates rather quickly, and his ultimate, provided you get it off, will win games almost on it’s own. You will notice, though that I added that “almost“. The main problem I can forsee with him is that he is completely dependant on other cards. His +2 ability could be amazing… if you’ve got something he can interact with on the field. He CAN make all your creatures unblockable this turn… if you’ve got good enough creatures. He CAN make all your spells cantrip into Vindicate for the rest of the game… but you need plenty of spells left to take advantage of that emblem. It may seem like these are piddly little scenarios now, but I can guarantee there will be plenty of times playing with him where these problems could be VERY relevant. Actually, he hasn’t changed much from how he was in the Time Spiral Block storyline: totally reliant on everyone around him and incapable of taking care of himself!  Once you get past those, though, his interactions, if they can happen, have the potential to be VERY powerful, so I just can’t say whether it is worth running him or not for sure yet. Either way, I’m sure we’ll find out in a month or so!

The last planeswalker, I’m hoping you’ve heard of, because he is everywhere now. Koth of the Hammer is easily the most powerful mono-red planeswalker yet (not that he has much competition), and I can say for certain that he’ll see plenty of play, even if that is only in mono-red decks. I greatly enjoy the versatility that he provides for a stricly mono-color planeswalker. Unlike Nissa Revane, the other ‘walker that you only want to play in mono-color, he can many different things, depending on what you need at the moment. He can provide another medium-sized beater to force through some damage, he can accelerate you into huge threats very early in the game with a minimal down payment in cards, and he can give you a win condition that is just about as untouchable as you can get. Again, this is all in mono-red, but within that strict deck definition he can help in any number of situations. I’m willing to bet that some sort of Big Red deck will be on it’s way to some of the upper tiers with all of the cards it’s been getting; and Koth just helps add some beef to the deck.

That’s my opinions and predictions about the Planeswalkers of Scars. Here’s hoping we see a new Tezzeret or even KARN in the next few sets of block, eh? Don’t forget leave a comment, subscribe, or even do both!

Scars Preview Cards 2 – Revenge of the Myr

SPOILER ALERT! If you want to remain ignorant of the spoiler season, do not read any further! Don’t say I didn’t warn you!

Gobmas again. Boy, has it been a busy few spoiler days. I’m not going to be able to cover everything in one go, but I’ll get what I can.

I’ll hit the thing that has excited me the most so far first: the best Gray Ogre ever printed! That’s right, it’s the return of Trinket Mage!

For those of you that don’t know, Trinket Mage is… well, it’s just plain amazing. There are so many different artifacts that cost 1 or less that you can find; and mind you, that includes artifacts that cost X. Just going off of what has been spoiled so far, here’s some cool things he can fetch: Basilisk Collar, Brittle Effigy, Memnite, Mox Opal, Chimeric Mass, Amulet of Vigor, Everflowing Chalice, Elixir of Immortality, Expedition Map, Ornithopter, Voltaic Key, the Spellbomb Cycle, and Darksteel Axe. That’s a lot of answers to fetch, all while getting a respectable body on the field! Basically, Wizards reprinting Trinket Mage is, by itself, going to have a large impact on Standard.

And right after that impact, of course, we get an answer in Leonin Arbiter! It may not seem like much at first, but this Cat is going to be a key to standard in the coming months. It not only makes fetchlands a liability, but also significantly powers down Fauna Shaman decks and completely neuters Ramp decks single handedly. With this card in the Standard format, you can be sure White Weenie variants will be a viable choice. It is worth mentioning, though, that he shuts down your Stoneforge Mystics as well, so you don’t want to go relying on him too much. Also, though I’m not very experienced with the Legacy metagame, I can tell right now that it might be even bigger in that format than in Standard. It can help slow down Zoo significantly, with their reliance on fetchlands, and beats back tons of the multifarious combo decks that inhabit the format. I suppose we’ll just have to wait and see what the full impact is!

Myr Galvanizer is another card that struck my interest. It’s a Myr lord that can, if you have two of them and a Palladium Myr, generate infinte colorless mana. Yes, it is a three card combo made up only of creatures that can not only be killed easily but also have summoning sickness. BUT, it is worth mentioning that it is s combo made up of colorless uncommons, so it is very possible, even likely, that you could see this combo come up in a SoM draft. Other than the combo and the awesomeness aspect of it being a lord for a creature type that has never had one before, though, I don’t find Myr Galvanizer all that impressive. It’s +1/+1 ability is almost irrelevant, since there is very little chance a Myr-aggro deck could be viable, and people will almost always be using it for its second ability. Still, the sheer uniqueness of the card is sure to make it fairly popular.

My next card, though potentially powerful and very interesting, really doesn’t have much one can say about it. Galvanic Blast is a new Shock variant much akin to Burst Lightning; mostly in that they are both strictly better than Shock itself. Now that you can use this, Lightning Bolt, and Burst Lighting in the same deck, though, perhaps a new Burn archetype will be viable in Standard. Beyond that, though… well, the card is what it is.

Second to last is an awesome new throwback to something far before Mirrodin Block, and based off a card that is still on the Wizard’s “No Reprints” list. Get ready for Molten-Tail Masticore! Yes, that second ability of his actually has synergy with his upkeep cost and is ridiculously powerful. Actually, this guy should see a fair amount of play, since he actually survives Day of Judgment for a measly 2 mana, while hitting for either 4 or 8 every turn, sometimes without even having to attack! To my chagrin, it does still die to Baneslayer, though. Regardless, the new Masticore is going to be a huge threat to Wall of Omens everywhere in the next few months.

Anyway, thats all I’ve got for now. Until next time, don’t forget to Katamari your opponent’s face in. Feel free to leave a comment!

Scars Preview Cards 1

SPOILER ALERT! Do NOT read this post if you want to remain oblivious to the spoiler season!

Hey all, Gobmas here to discuss some of my thoughts on the cards that have been spoiled so far in Scars of Mirrodin. The set looks really exciting so far, and I can’t wait to see what the entire set is going to look like!

I’m going to start with what was the first card spoiled for this set a month or so back, Sword of Body and Mind. You might recognize this card as a descendant of it’s incomplete cycle of counter parts from the original Mirrodin set, Sword of Light and Shadow and Sword of Fire and Ice. The first thing I’m going to say is that, despite the fact that I am against the general concept of Mythics, I am not really concerned about the pricetag on this card getting out of hand. I don’t mean I think it won’t be a staple, I just seriously doubt that anyone is going to want (much less need) to run a full playset in just about any deck, especially with Stoneforge Mystic running around from Worldwake. That said, I think it is nonetheless going to be sort of balancing force in Standard to the power of Vengevine and Jace, the Mind Sculptor. The protection from green lets your creatures block and kill Vengevines with the +2/+2 bonus as long as they are of at least 1 power, and the pro blue prevents Jace’s Unsummon ability as much as you need. Most creatures, with the Sword’s help, can bash through Wall of Omens with ease, and whenever it’s wielder hits your opponent, you’ll get another 2/2 that can hold the Sword if the current creature dies! All in all though, it looks like it’ll be a pretty nice addition to Standard.

The other two artifact mythics that have been spoiled so far are Mox Opal and Wurmcoil Engine. The Engine, I have to say, I’m not that excited about. I doubt it will go up too high in price, at least, seeing as it is the Prerelease promo, but it is so far above the curve for artifact creatures that I don’t think being mythic justifies it anymore. Don’t get me wrong, it won’t break the format, but I think it WILL be a sort of Baneslayer Angel of Scars of Mirrodin; perhaps even worse considering its availability to every possible color combination. Mox Opal, though, is pretty nice. It being legendary prevents any Legacy-type shenanigans, as well as cuts down on the number of copies most people would run in a deck, but its powerful ability means that it will still likely have some impact on the format. A pretty nice example of what a Mythic should be.

Speaking of poster-children of the mythic rarity, I REALLY like Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon. If anything will make infect playable, and that thing isn’t proliferate, it will be Skithy. A flying, cost flexible, regenerating dragon that puts your opponent on a two-and-a-half to three turn clock? Awesome! Plus, since he CAN’T kill them with damage, he’s still a fairly narrow card, so his price should settle to a fairly comfortable range. That, plus the fact that he is a very stylish EDH general, is enough to easily make him my favorite mythic so far spoiled.

Anyway, one last comment before I go. Memnite. aggro. Sounds pretty fun.

See you next time!