Thursday 28 June 2012

Mesa Falcon

Mesa Falcon
I like this card because it's essentially a flying wall. It has what I've previously called "defensive firebreathing" (or DefF), wherein a creature gets +0/+1 for a cost instead of +1/+0. Now, it's not the best bird blocker with DefF (see Beacon Hawk for a better example), but it's still pretty nice. Like I said, not the best, but definitely a decent card.

Pros: Defensive firebreathing, flying
Cons: A tad expensive on the DefF
Replacement: Beacon Hawk
Rating: 2/5

Ghostfire

Ghostfire
Since my last review was about colourless damage, I thought I'd bring this card up. This card is a better version of Moonglove Extract. Why? Well, it does 3 damage instead of 2 and it's an instant as opposed to an artifact (meaning that it's less vulnerable). However, it does require red mana, whereas Moonglove Extract is purely colourless. Now, that being said, it doesn't necessarily make it a good card. It still costs too much for 3 damage, especially when red has Lightning Bolt

Pros: Better version of Moonglove Extract
Cons: Expensive
Replacements: Lightning Bolt
Rating: 1/5

Moonglove Extract

Moonglove Extract
The best word I have for this is: ehhhhh. Yeah, it's nice to have Shock on a stick. Yeah, it's nice that it's colourless. But, it's really expensive. For 3 mana, 2 damage isn't really worth it. I'll admit that it's not as bad as Aladdin's Ring, but there are better cards out there. Leonin Bladetrap is an example of a better card for instance. But you're comparing uncommons to commons!!! Okay then, Perilous Myr. That's a much better common that does the same thing, cheaper and with more benefits.

Pros: Colourless Shock
Cons: Expensive
Rating: 0.5/5

Goblin Grenade

Goblin Grenade
Every single one of my Goblin decks runs at least 2 copies of this, if not 4. Trading a 1/1 Goblin (usually a token) for 5 damage is just awesome. Trading a 1/1 Goblin (usually a token) for 5 damage that's just dealt combat damage to a player is more awesome. I love using this card in conjunction with Boggart Shenanigans for even more damage. No one who I play against likes seeing this card. The only drawback is that you have to sack a Goblin for it, but in 99% of cases, the martyred creature will be a nameless token.

Pros: Trades a Goblin for 5 damage for 1
Cons: Might have to sack a worthwhile Goblin in a pinch
Rating: 5/5

Centaur Chieftain

Centaur Chieftain
This card is pretty nice, albeit it works better late game. The Threshold mechanic is one of my personal favourites since it requires more strategic play (trust me, sometimes it's hard to get those 7 cards in your graveyard). What I really like about this card's Threshold ability is that it's like Triumph of the Hordes, except without that stupid Infect thingy. On it's own, it's a 4/4 hasty trampler for 4 which is pretty good on its own, but it also increases the power of everything else you own and turn everything into a trampler. It's a good card, but only really when used when you have Threshold.

Pros: Less stupid Triumph of the Hordes, 4/4 hasty trampler for 4 with Threshold
Cons: Only really works with Threshold
Rating: 3.5/5

Lim-Dul's Vault

Lim-Dûl's Vault
This card is awesome! To start, it's a better (albeit a tad more expensive) Index, which is already a great card if you want to stack your deck. But, the big difference is that this card is essentially "Pay 1 life: Scry 5". I know, I know, it's a case of "all or nothing" with those 5 cards, but that's what it essentially is! The most powerful scry card right now is Cryptic Annelid, and it can easily turn into "look at the top 3 cards of your library". It also helps that this card is cheap at only 2 mana and it is one of the only cards in black that let you rearrange the top cards of you library (the others being Diabolic VisionDimir MachinationsFill with Fright, and Lost Hope). Really, it's a card that has been lost to the ages (I've never seen one in play at any tournaments or in casual play) and needs to be brought back. Screw reprinting Door to Nothingness twice (Planechase and M13); give me a reprint of this!

Pros: Black rearrange, repeatable, cheap
Cons: "All or nothing" with the rearrange
Rating: 4.5/5 

Saturday 23 June 2012

Revered Elder

Revered Elder
This card is a good example of kind-of-but-really-not-that-great quality (KOBROTG quality). It's not excellent on its own (I'd prefer a Benalish Knight or Femeref Scouts for the same mana cost and rarity), but it can do really well in certain combos. The first obvious choice is to throw Pariah or Pariah's Shield on this card and trade mana for damage. General's Regalia has the same effect. Where this card probably does it's best is with the en-Kor cards though. All 6 of the en-Kor cards have "0: The next 1 damage that would be dealt to this creature is dealt to target creature you control instead", basically turning this card into a shield for all of your creatures. So, like I said, this card is kind of good, but not really.

Pros: Can prevent damage to self with mana
Cons: A little weak for cost, only shines in combos
Rating: 2/5 

Sunday 17 June 2012

Shinen of Fear's Chill

Shinen of Fear's Chill
Since I've posted a couple mediocre reviews recently, I thought I'd post a review of an unquestionably bad card. This card is Chimney Imp levels of terrible (if you want an example of why you shouldn't follow Gatherer ratings, there's a prime example). Let's just look at what it can do compared to it's contemporaries (other 5-cost Common creatures). This is a 3/2, non-flyer that cannot block, but it can be discarded for 2 mana to make something unable to block for one turn. Bleak Coven Vampires is a 4/3 and steals life if you have Metalcraft. Carrion Thrash is 4/4 that brings something back to your hand when it dies if you pay 2 mana. Crested Craghorn is a 4/1 haste provoker, so it effectively has this card's Channel ability. Harbringer of Spring, despite being only a 2/1, has protection from non-Spirits as well as Soulshift 4, which means it can bring a more useful creature back to your hand when it dies. Am I saying that all 5-cost Common creatures as better than this? No, cards like Crystal Seer, Glintwing Invoker, and Frostwind Invoker are either equally bad or worse. Am I saying that this card should be avoided because there are better 5-cost Common creatures? Yes.

Pros: Can be Channeled into a Wave of Indifference for the same cost
Cons: Can't block, no evasion, weak
Rating: 0.5/5 

Wednesday 13 June 2012

Morphling

Morphling
This card is a utilitarian's dream. It can be whatever you want it to be, for a price. Need a big blocker? Boom! It's a 0/9 for 6. Need a flying striker? Shwing! It's a 5/1 flier for 3. Need both? If you've got the mana, it can be both. Now, the problem I have with this card is that it can get expensive and therefore it isn't a good offensive card. It goes down for 3 and 2 blue, already making it a little on the expensive side, but it really starts to cost you when you need to have a 0/6 flying shrouded blocker (5 if you don't need to untap it). However, as a defensive card, it plays the field excellently, being almost whatever you need it to be. Torchling is definitely more offensive than this (and Thornling even more so), but it too suffers from the same costing problems (we'll talk about those cards some other time). This card was also heavily restrained because of the new damage-not-being-on-the-stack rule (if you don't remember the old rule, go ask someone who played 7th Edition), but it still works as a defensive card.

Pros: Works well as an utilitarian blocker
Cons: Can get expensive if you overwork it, hurt by recent rule change
Rating: 3.5/5

Tuesday 12 June 2012

Thallid

Thallid
Oh Thallid, you so awesome! Thallid is great because it's the creature that keeps on giving. It also works amazing when put in the right deck. Sporoloth Ancient makes this little guy go off in 2 turns rather than 1, almost doubling his capacity to make gribblies. Sporesower Thallid also speeds him up (with the Ancient, he works every turn). Finally, Doubling Season was made for this card (not really, but you know what I mean). With all three cards, he makes 4 1/1 gribblies every turn! The only drawback to him is that he's just a soldier on his lonesome and needs something to speed him up to make it worthwhile. A 1/1 every 3 turns is nice, but 4 1/1s every turn is better.

Pros: Reliable gribblie-maker 
Cons: Needs back-up to work at full potential
Rating: 3/5

Powercreep

Now, I'm going to take a deviation from my usual card reviewing (don't worry, I'll still post a card review today) to talk about powercreep. What is powercreep? It's that term for the gradual escalation of power in a game, in this case, it refers to how cards are getting more and more powerful with each new set. I'm not about about to go on an old-man rant about how "things were better in my day" though; I'm going to present a case for a severe downgrade in power levels for M14.

Let's look at two artifact destruction cards, one from M10 and one from M13: Shatter and Smelt. Shatter costs one and a red to cast whereas Smelt costs just one red. It's definitely an upgrade from Shatter, giving you extra mana to play with, but where can it go from there? You can't really make a cheaper version of the card, it already costs 1!

Here's another example: Apocalypse from Tempest and Worldfire from M13. Once again, they both exile all permanents and Worldfire does cost a lot more than Apocalypse (6 and 3 red versus 2 and 3 red). But Worldfire goes a step beyond by exiling all hand and graveyards and reduces all life totals to 1. What more can they put into a card? It already essentially ends the game and there's not much more they can do with it.

Finally, let's examine Murder from M13 and Go for the Throat from Mirrodin Besieged. Go for the Throat was the top kill spell in its time, every Standard and Modern black deck ran some. Even with all of its power, it still had a downfall: it couldn't affect artifacts (it also made sense flavourwise). Murder just kills everything (how do you murder a Myr?!) and it only costs one black more.

What I'm trying to get at is that Magic really has nowhere else to go because of powercreep. Everything is pretty much as powerful as it's going to get. Sure, playing with a flamethrower can be fun, but once you realize that you can take anything out pretty much instantly, it loses all challenge and becomes boring, and that's what Magic is really in danger from. M14 really needs to cut down on the power levels (go back to 7th or 6th edition) and makes those tournament wins a challenge rather than a speed competition. Sure, some people will leave, but some will actually come back to they game they loved back when it was more like chess instead of tic-tac-toe like it is today.

Saturday 2 June 2012

Preyseizer Dragon


In honour of Planechase 2012 just being released, I thought I'd review a card from it, a really broken card. Which one? Thromok the Insatiable? He's really good, but he's got no evasion. Dragonlair Spider? A little expensive and not really great in a ramp deck (although my friend's Stonebrow, Krosan Hero EDH will probably have one soon). No, we're going to talk about Preyseizer Dragon and why it's OP (overpowered).
Preyseizer Dragon
To start, it's a much better Predator Dragon. Sure, it doesn't have haste, but it's more damaging in the long run and it trades a red mana symbol for a colourless one, making it a ton more splashable. Second, it's hugely better than Voracious Dragon. Voracious Dragon does deal twice as much damage as the number of creatures it ate, oh wait, this thing does too! And it's not racially restricted to Goblins like Voracious is. But, it's not these two facts that make it OP. They make it good, but not really OP. What makes it OP is that its secondary effect can hit anything. The fact that you can swing for 24 at one player while simultaneously dealing 20 to another player is ridiculous! It's effectively hyper-mega-awesome trample that is going to paint a massive target on you when you play it unless it doesn't eat anything. If that happens, something went horribly wrong. Or it's in the wrong deck. The only down side to this is that since it needs to eat something, you'd better have a lot of spare token to kill (ie: Goblins and combo with Boggart Shenanigans)

Pros: Hyper-mega-awesome trample, better Predator and Voracious Dragon
Cons: Forces sack to make it work 
Rating: 4.5/5