Scars of Mirrodin Breakdown: Part 6

The final installment of my break down of the SoM cards. And what a wild ride it’s been this past month. So, without any more procrastinating, here we go, into the last few deozen cards…

Necrogen Censer
This card really does not fit in with Phyrexia’s other cards, as it is anti-infect. But, seeing as phyrexia has always had loss of life effects, I see where this comes from. Overall a rather bland card, though.

Necropede
An infecter that the opponent doesn’t want to block. It essentially ensures two damage to blocking creatures, and as poison counters are essentially two damage each anyways, it’s really a 2/2 most of the time. But I think I’m the only person that views this as a phyrrexian Ferropede.

Neurok Replica
It unsommons for two, and has a yotian body. I personally believe Wizard Replica from the first Mirrodin block is much better, as countering is better than bouncing, and it flies. This guy isn’t the worst creature in the set, but I can see how it could easily be better.

Nihil Spellbomb
This card is possibly the best of the newer spellbombs, and holds a condle both AEther and Pyrite from Mirrodin 1. It exiles a graveyard (dredgevine killer), and is playable in all decks. And perhaps the best thing about it is that you can respond to an eldrazi trigger with the ability, exiling the ‘yard entirely. I would not be surprised to see this card in a sideboard.

Nim Deathmantle
I originally read this as any creature dying, which would have made it amazing. As it is, it is a very powerful limited card. In constructed, it could be useful in some decks. The biggest issue is the equip cost, but you could wait to equip it until one of your guys dies, of course. I like it, but I’m not sold on it.

Origin Spellbomb
A fine card, as myr decks want more tokens, and white decks could use it for the card draw and creature. Limited, this thing should be amazing. Constructed, it should be pretty lame.

Palladium Myr
The Sol Ring myr. I view all the mana myr through the lens of them being the moxen, plus two mana for a 1/1 body. This guy is Sol Ring with a 2/2 body at three. It’s a fun card, and great mana acceleration, but when combined with two galvanizers, does indeed make an infinite mana combo. And as previously stated, though in casual it may be devastating from time to time, it is not constructed viable due to requiring at least three creatures. Decent bear, though.

Panic Spellbomb
I hate this card. It is not useful, and takes up a spot that could otherwise give me something good, like a mana myr, or Plague Stinger.

Perilous Myr
Ack! Another phyrexian myr. This guy shocks something when it dies, and as a 1/1 for two, it probably won’t stick around long. Mudbutton Torch Runner may have some company in the sac to damage department…

Platinum Emperion
An 8/8 for eight mana is not extremely useful. His ability would be relevant as well, if it wasn’t of course for infect. As it stands, he will really shine in casual environments more than in any other format, though he would be nice to get down faster if you could.

Precursor Golem
“I attack with my golem and tokens. You don’t block? I tainted strike them.” I saw this happen. It was amusing, but won’t happen often. It’s nine power for five mana, but I see people complaining about him. I don’t know why. Last I checked, Thoctar was tournament viable, and he was three colors. Five mana nowadays is harder to get to, sure, but nine power, and two extra creatures, should be more powerful than people view this. I give it the Arc Slogger mark of disapproval.

Prototype Portal
Infinite Prototype Portals? Nah, too lame. What about Something like a creature, maybe a galvanizer? Still not good enough. What about something incredible, like Mox Opal or Ratchet Bomb? Now we’re talking…

Ratchet Bomb
…which brings me to Ratchet Bomb. Prototyping one of these is amazing, but not required, as the card itself is very reminiscent of a standard, extended, and legacy powerhouse card. It was called Pernicious Deed, and it blew up the world (for X mana cost, minus lands). Guess what? This hits more, and proliferate could help this out (or hurt it if the opponent does the proliferating).

Razorfield Thresher
DANGER! Keep machine clear of maindecks. And graveyards. And sideboards. And topdecks. But seriously, this card is amazing, only for the flavor text.

Rust Tick
Better in limited than I gave it credit for. Just be careful, as if it taps itself, it’s locked out forever.

Rusted Relic
A 5/5 for four is good. It won’t always be a creature, but hey, when it is, look out world.

Sabreclaw Golem
Guy is overcosted. I like the art, but the abilities leave something to be desired.

Semblance Anvil
Remember friends, artifact creatures lower two costs (as do tribal anythings). This card is better than it seems, but does put you at a disadvantage the turn to cast it (unless you plan to go all Aluren with this thing).

Silver Myr
The best mana myr was saved for last. It adds blue mana, which is important as many good blue cards have two blue in their costs. Therefore, it enables splashing (especially in limited, where blue opens up the possibility of proliferation and card draw).

Snapsail Glider
Lame metalcraft creature. That is all.

Soliton
Poor gemini engines. They split apart, and suck eggs now.

Steel Hellkite
This guys hits players, then nukes their fields. I suppose one couldn’t ask for more with an artifact dragon. Unless you include Draco, Tek, or Clockwork Dragon…

Strata Scythe
This card is a lot like Extraplanar Lens in that it imprints a land card. It is completely unlike the lens in all other ways, of course. I like it, as it gets a land from your library instead of sacrificing board position, and pumps up your creature based on the opponent’s lands also.

Strider Harness
Lighting Greaves is better most of the time, but sometimes that extra +1/+1 really counts. It may not be constructed viable, but in EDH, I run both this and the greaves in my equipment based deck, just to ensure haste happens sometimes.

Sword of Body and Mind
This card is not as good as Fire and Ice, and Light and Shadow is about on par with it. This card does not grant protection from two relevant colors like the other two did. It does allow you to deck and opponent quickly with an unblockable, however. And, it provides another creature as well. It’s good, but not excellent.

Sylvok Lifestaff
I’m not a fan of the card, as three life rarely maters. But it may help keep you out of the final bolt range. I think this card it more likely to be a dead draw most of the time, however.

Sylvok Replica
I like this more than the elf from Mirrodin 1. It naturalizes, and has a decent toughness for most earlier beaters, even in standard. Definitely an early pick in draft due to it being removal in green.

Throne of Geth
Activates leaves play artifacts, like the myr I mentioned earlier. It proliferates as well. And remember, it can eat itself in case you need it to.

Tower of Calamities
No matter how hard it tries, it will never be as awesome as Shivan Meteor…

Trigon Cycle
White- Gains life. Not aweful.
Blue- Draws cards, but costs too much.
Black- Spreads the withery love. Decent in limited.
Red- Adds more power to an infect dude. Very cool card.
Green- Makes infect tokens. Possibly the best, though red and black are close.

Tumble Magnet
Awesome limited card. This thing is annoying, and looks like something that Tony Stark would keep in his chest. And yes, you will always have your finisher tapped down with it.

Vector Asp
The worst infect card out there. No one should argue this. It simply is.

Venser’s Journal
The worst Spellbook effect out there. No one should argue this.

Vulshok Replica
Possibly the best of the new replicas, as volcanic hamer at instant speed (or Bolt +1) is never bad. And remember, it attacks for three also.

Wall of Tanglecord
A 0/6 for two, that can gain reach, is pretty amazing. Especially in a format riddled with small creatures, and no burn that is good enough to take it out. In any defender type deck, this should be run as a four-of. Period.

Wurmcoil Engine
I shouldn’t even have to say how this is. It survives day, and swings for a twelve life point switch. And remember, it was the promo, so it’s price is lower than it should be. Amazing card is simply amazing.

New Dual Lands
I’ve seen people calling these the best duals since the originals. No, those were the Ravnica shocklands. These are really good early on, but will normally be the invasion block CIP tapped lands. Not awful, but I prefer the M10 lands more.

Glimmerpost
I was hoping for a Glimervoid referrence, but alas, it did not happen. The worst locus ever printed, this should still be run with Cloudpost because in 8-post decks, you’re likely going to need to recuperate from some of the life loss.

And thus, that’s all the Scars cards. Next time you see me, I’ll finally start writing about combos. If you disagree with any of my comments on cards, just leave a reply, and I’ll explain why I said what I did about it. See you all next time,

-Johnny, Combo Player