Friday 30 August 2013

Banisher Priest

Banisher Priest
R.I.P. old Oblivion Ring-style text. We will miss your abusable nature.

Now, as for this card itself, it’s “eh”. It’s a reprint of Fiend Hunter with non-abusable text. Fiend Hunter was pretty fun for a couple combos so I guess this will be too. I guess I could mention the fact that it’s a 2/2 instead of a 1/3 now. It makes it more vulnerable which is a bad thing, but it’s more offensive now which is a good thing. Fiend Hunter’s still a better card in my opinion though. There’s not much to talk about here. I mainly covered this card to wish the old wording goodbye.

Pros: Gets rid of an opponent’s creature temporarily, more aggressive Fiend Hunter
Cons: Non-abusable and more vulnerable Fiend Hunter 
Rating: 2.5/5

Replacements: Fiend Hunter

Treasure Trove

Treasure Trove
This card is alright by me, not great but alright. Yeah, it costs 4 to draw one card, but it’s repeatable and a good use for any extra to have lying around before the start of your turn. Really, there’s not much else to say about it. Are there better card draw options out there? Yes, Azami, Lady of Scrolls and Compulsion exist, but engines like that usually require some set-up. This is pretty much as vanilla a card draw engine as you’re going to get (besides possibly Azure Mage).

Pros: Repeatable instant-speed card draw
Cons: 4 mana per card, 8 mana for the first card

Rating: 2.5/5

Thursday 29 August 2013

Defang

Defang
Let’s ask the obvious question first: how does this fare against Pacifism? I think it fares pretty well. Pacifism doesn’t allow for blocks or attacks, but it allows for things like Magmatic Force or Prodigal Sorcerer to wreak havoc during other steps whereas this card prevents that. However, Pacifism stops things like Ninjistu and cards like Strength in Numbers by denying the creature the ability to attack as well as removing a blocker from your battle calculations. Honestly, I might be tempted to pick this card over Pacifism in certain situations, especially when I’m going up against a deck that has a lot of ping effects like Goblin Sharpshooter. If you have the space, I’d recommend thinking about including a copy of this card in your deck alongside your Pacifism.

Pros: Prevents all damage that would be dealt by enchanted creature
Cons: Allows for blocks and attacks

Rating: 4/5

Wednesday 28 August 2013

Shattered Crypt

Shattered Crypt
This one’s going to be fairly short because I really don’t like this card. Yes, it can return more than one creature to your hand but there are two problems with this card. First, if you’re going for a low number of creatures, this card is not worth it. For example, in the case of wanting to return one creature to your hand, this card costs triple the cost of a Disentomb along with losing a life which just isn’t worth it. For multiple creatures, it becomes a mana- and life-sink. Finally, if you’re going for more than 4 creatures, you might as well just go with a Twilight's Call. Yeah, it give your opponents their creatures back too, but if you’re in a situation where you need 4+ creatures back, you’ve got to be ready to gamble with that fact.

Pros: Can return multiple creatures to your hand
Cons: Expensive (mana- and life-wise), inefficient for large or small numbers

Rating: 1/5

Fastbond

Fastbond
Broken. If you can’t see why this card is broken, look again. It’s broken.

Pros: Broken
Cons: So broken it’s banned in Legacy and restricted in Vintage

Rating: 5/5

Monday 26 August 2013

Sylvan Hierophant

Sylvan Hierophant
I’m not sure how to feel about this card. Yes, the ability to return any creature to your hand on death is nice, but does it require the exile? It seems to me that Deadwood Treefolk is a much improved version of this card. Sure, this only costs 2 and doesn’t have Vanishing, but I just don’t like the fact that it’s a mandatory exile upon death. If it said “may” then it would be a much better card because then you don’t have to get rid of it if you don’t have any creatures in your graveyard. The fact that it’s not a bear also doesn’t help. Honestly, if you want to run it, go ahead. I’m just saying that I wouldn’t.

Pros: Returns a dead creature to your hand upon death
Cons: Mandatory exile

Rating: 1/5

Sunday 25 August 2013

Riftsweeper

Riftsweeper
This card doesn’t get as much credit as it deserves. To start, it’s a bear, which makes it a pretty decent card to start. Second, its ETB trigger can be really powerful. Against a deck that runs a lot of Suspend (lookin’ at you, Jhoira of the Ghitu), this card can effectively stop any time bombs since it just shuffles the suspended card away. It can also be beneficial to you by returning cards like Sins of the Past or Increasing Vengeance back into your library. Finally, and most amusing, it can screw over attempts to save other cards. Oh, you Turn to Misted your Bruna, Light of Alabaster in order to avoid the Final Judgement? Well, while she’s gone, I sweep her away. It’s the closest thing green is ever going to get to a Chaos Warp or a Spin Into Myth. Now, its major problem lies in the fact that you can only target exiled cards with its ETB trigger and green is not really known for exiling things. However, I see it more as a defensive ability since it’s more likely that your major problem with be exiled instead of just killed or bounced.

Pros: Retrieves cards from exile, sweeps cards from exile
Cons: Can only target things in exile

Rating: 3.5/5

Wednesday 21 August 2013

Soapbox Time: The Magic Community

This is honestly something I never thought I would want to say, but here it is: I'm getting sick of Magic. It's not anything to do with design or the game's storyline (although, so work in that department would be nice); it has to do with the people. Now, I know there are a lot of good people out there playing Magic, but this is to address the all-too-common problem of the bad players. Not "bad" players in the sense that they don't know how to play the game well; I mean "bad" in the sense of those people who want you not want to call yourself a Magic player anymore. Those people who will openly berate a new player for not making the same $500 Standard deck that he did and dared to try something new.

Now, I'll be the first to admit that I do make fun of my friends whenever they make bad plays, but there's a difference in lightly mocking a tournament regular for not blowing an Oblivion Ring when he had the chance to do so and openly ridiculing a player on their fifth game for trying to run Murder in a Standard deck. This has become a real problem in my eyes and I've seen a lot of new players chased off by it. The other problem that I see is that there is a segregation between casual and tournament players that really makes it difficult for some players to break into the tournament scene. Maybe that's just something that's happening here in Winnipeg (a fairly small market), but I suspect it's happening elsewhere too.

For example, my club used to run Friday Night Magic out of a great little store that didn't focus on Magic (actually, all they carry is a box or two of the latest set). As a result of it's location (far away from the other 3 major Magic stores in the city), a lot of new players showed up to play since they had never had the chance to drive the 15-20 minutes to another store. Soon, regular tournament players started showing up and that's when comments started coming my way. Snarky comments like "I can't believe this newbie didn't believe me when I told him his win-con didn't work" and "It was boring; newbies don't pose a challenge" alongside comments about the store trying to "steal customers" all stung. The saddest part? No one stepped up to say "hey, remember when you used to make stupid/less-than-perfect deck builds when you started?" or anything like that. It was all let through as "part of the game". Due to my work schedule, I've had to start looking for a replacement to run these events. For the post I made about it, I felt the need to include "Must be willing to work in a newbie-friendly environment that supports learning and good sportsmanship". I really shouldn't have to put that in there since it should the the standard by default. However, it seems that that is no longer the case.

Who's to blame for all of this? That question doesn't matter; people know who's to blame. How do we stop it? Well, I for one think that we as a community should stop looking at new players simply in the context of how bad they may play the game. If you see someone who is new and struggling to make the right deck choices/plays, ask them if they'd like some help. Don't tell them how to play the game explicitly, show them the path. Instead of "you need to get rid of that leveled-up Student of Warfare" say "which do you think is the biggest problem: the Student of Warfare or the Homarid Shaman?" Don't play at tournament speed with new players; take your time and allow them the chance to react to everything that you do. Finally, explain what you're doing. Not everyone knows how each infinite combo works, so be sure to explain it just before it goes off. Personally, I like to tell new players when they should try and stop me so that they know how to recognize when a combo is coming together. Losing to a newbie isn't the end of the world. Remember, Jon Finkel, Carlos Romao, and Shahar Shenhar were all newbies at one point.

In short, as my friend Mike would (probably) say: "Can everyone just stop being jerks for, like, 5 minutes?"

Tuesday 20 August 2013

Shinen of Fury's Fire

Shinen of Fury's Fire
It's been a while since I last looked at a card with Channel, hasn't it? This one's not as bad as Shinen of Fear's Chill, but it's still not that great. At least with this card, the Channel ability is usable. Other than that, it's a 2/1 with Haste for 3, which isn't good at all.  Really, that's all I can say about this card. It's bad as a creature, okay as a spell.

Pros: Channel ability is usable
Cons: Terrible as a creature
Rating: 1/5

Sunday 18 August 2013

Eon Hub

Eon Hub
There are few cards in Magic with the potential for as many shenanigans as this card. This card can easily both benefit you (stopping effects like Aboroth's weakening cumulative upkeep) and harm your opponents (making Jhoira of the Ghitu the saddest panda). There are just so many different ways to abuse and create rage with this card. Now, it's main problem is that it costs 5, meaning the only place it will really see play is EDH, but if it were much cheaper, it would be too silly.

Pros: Extremely abusable, can create an easy lock
Cons: Costs 5
Rating: 5/5

Wednesday 14 August 2013

A few quickies

Today, to make up for my lack of recent posts (yay working 8 days in a row), I'm going to shoot off a bunch of quick, little reviews. Mainly, these will be some of the ones I can't really stretch into a full paragraph.

Steam Blast
Steam Blast
It's a Pyroclasm for one more that hits players. Not bad, but I'd prefer to be faster than to hit players, since my creatures won't have many blockers early game with a properly-timed Pyroclasm.

Pros: Hits everything for 2
Cons: Hits caster, not much added value over Pyroclasm
Rating: 2.5/5

Equal Treatment
Equal Treatment
This can stop things like Blasphemous Act dead in its tracks, but it's really too situational to putting it in a deck. Yeah, it can reduce the damage taken in combat, but a) it reduces the damage your blockers deal too and b) run Fog instead. I guess it could be used with tokens to deal more damage, but there are much, much more effective ways of doing that. In my opinion, run Divine Presence instead in Constructed.

Pros: Stops massive burn spells, card draw
Cons: Fairly situational, double-edged sword
Rating: 1.5/5

Sylvan Yeti
Sylvan Yeti
A less vulnerable Maro. Wish this had evasion. Still, not a terrible 4-drop.

Pros: Less vulnerable Maro
Cons: No evasion
Rating: 2/5

Peace Talks
Peace Talks
Great card if you can cast it in response to a Time Stretch or on someone else's turn in a multiplayer game. Even if you can't, this can be a really useful card as a last cast in your turn, despite the fact that it may prevent you from dealing with problems that arise on the next turn.

Pros: Protects everything for two turns
Cons: Could prevent you from dealing with problems
Rating: 3.5/5

Pardic Lancer
Pardic Lancer
This isn't bad enough to make fun of, but it's still bad. It's that special kind of bad that makes you sad that it exists.

Pros: Potential to get first strike and +1/+0
Cons: Discard at random for ability, 3/2 for 5
Rating: 0.5/5

Tuesday 6 August 2013

Shifty Doppelganger

Shifty Doppelganger
Turn 4 hastey uncounterable Grozoth? Yes please! Really, I'm surprised this card doesn't see more play, especially in formats like EDH. Yeah, if the creature you put into play doesn't make it until the end of turn this doesn't come back, but the card you're putting into play probably requires a large amount of effort to get rid of. If this thing gets targeted, suddenly it's a Petradon and makes that opponent sad. If your opponent has no blockers, it becomes Living Hive. Being attacked? Here's an Engulfing Slagwurm. Not to mention the benefits of cheap instant-speed Progenitus. Still, there is the issue of potentially losing this card permanently. That, and the card itself is only a 1/1 for 3. Still, I think it's too underrated.

Pros: Cheats in creatures with haste at instant-speed
Cons: Creature doesn't stay around, card can get exiled
Rating: 4/5

Fodder Cannon

Fodder Cannon
This is a decent card, but not the greatest. I think the main thing holding this card back is its cost. If it didn't cost 4, it wouldn't cost 8 to use its ability the first time. And paying 8 to deal 4 damage to a creature really isn't worth it (Aladdin's Ring anyone?). If this cost 1 or 2, then it'd be a lot more affordable and therefore better. The effect is perfectly costed at 4 since it's 4 colourless mana for 4 damage. The other thing that kind of holds it back is that it can only target creatures, but if it could target players I think it'd be too powerful, especially for just 4 mana.

Pros: 4 damage for 4 mana
Cons: Can only target creatures, requires sac, 8 for the first shot
Rating: 1.5/5

Thursday 1 August 2013

Apprentice Wizard

Apprentice Wizard
I wish this card would get reprinted, but I know that that will never happen. This card is just sooo powerful and amazing. You go from turn 3 to turn 6 with one card. And, in a colour with no mana ramp capability, that is really strong. In formats like Commander or anything else where the game can go on for a little longer, this card is a bomb. The only real problem with this card is that it is only a 0/1. However, given it's effect, a weakness like that is expected.

Pros: Turns one mana into three mana in blue
Cons: 0/1 for 3
Rating: 4.5/5