Toxic Stench

I don't really like this card. Yeah, in the late game it is a better Dark Banishing, but in the early game it's a worse Lose Hope. I like Threshold as a mechanic, but this card is just too weak before it triggers. I'm just really underwhelmed by this card.

Pros: Late game removal

Cons: Really weak early game

Replacements: Executioner's Capsule, Terror, Doom Blade

Rating: 1.5/5

Icatian Town

It's a mini-Elspeth, Sun's Champion! Well, that's not really accurate. It's a "one-shot-sort-of-like-Elspeth-but-makes-one-more-creature". For a 6-cost spell, it's not that great. Recently, in the realm of tolen-maker spells, it's been outclassed by Goblin Rally, since it makes 4 creatures for 5 and they're a relevant creature type (these tokens are still "Citizen" type). In white, this is outclassed by Captain's Call (3 for 4), Conqueror's Pledge (6 for 5 or 12 for 11), Even the Odds (3 for 3 with limitations), Increasing Devotion (5 for 5 or 10 for 9), Nomad's Assembly (a lot for 6), Raise the Alarm (2 for 2), and Spectral Procession (3 for 3). It is a bad card? Not really. Is it the best token spell? Far from it. I can see this finding a home in a mono-white token EDH. Outside of that, there are better options for white tokens.

Pros: 4 creatures

Cons: Irrelevant creature type, 1.5 mana per creature

Rating: 2.5/5

Guttural Response

A counterspell for Counterspell? Nice. Despite being incredibly limited in scope, it's a pretty solid sideboard card. I don't really have much else to say about it. It's a pretty cool card to throw in your sideboard against control decks.

Pros: Counterspell for counterspell

Cons: Very limited in scope, sideboard only

Rating: 3.5/5

Sakiko, Mother of Summer

Happy Mother's Day (or as my family calls it, Forced Consumerism Day)! This is my personal favourite mother card. Once this thing hits the field, your opponents need to have a solution to it before the end of your combat step. If you have this card and her son (I think) Seshiro the Anointed, you'll easily be able to cast all those cards you just drew. Even though it costs 6, it's still a really nice creature for what it does. I actually don't have any issues with it outside of it only being a 3/3. I'd have like a 3/5 or a 4/4, but I won't complain too much. 

Pros: Gives tons of free mana

Cons: 3/3 for 6, requires creatures to deal combat damage to players

Rating: 4/5

Quickie Time!

Since I haven't been keeping the site up-to-date lately sorry about that, legal stuff going on IRL), I figure I'd put up a few quickie reviews today. 

 Guided Strike

Not a bad combat trick, especially with the cantrip. Pretty good for its cost.

Pros: Decent combat trick, cantrip

Cons: Only gives +1/+0

Rating: 3.5/5

Withstand

A bad combat trick, even with the cantrip. Pretty weak for its cost.

Pros: Cantrip, Dawnfluke

Cons: Costs 3

Rating: 0/5

Flight

Does what it says on the package. No bonuses, just flying.

Pros: Gives flying

Cons: Gives no other bonuses

Rating: 2/5

Guard Gomazoa

Pretty boss blocker. Dies too easily to removal, but is still a great chump.

Pros: Amazing blocker

Cons: Fairly removable

Rating: 3/5

Ogre Savant

A wee bit too expensive for a conditional Unsummon on a 3/2 in my opinion. Okay in Limited, but that's about it.

Pros: Unsummon of a dude

Cons: Unsummon is conditional, 3/2 for 5

Rating: 1.5/5

Black Lotus

Pretty good. Bad top deck if you have no cards in hand.

Pros: 3 mana for 0

Cons: Kind of pricey, bad top deck

Rating: 5/5

Evil Eye of Orms-by-Gore

We need more Eye creatures. Not that great since it's basically just unblockable, but locks your creatures out from attacking and it's only 3 damage. Fun to Donate.

Pros: Basically unblockable

Cons: Locks your own creatures, 3/6 for 5

Rating: 2/5

Skill Borrower

If one card embodies the phrase "sometimes, WotC doesn't consider all of Magic when making cards", this is it. Here are just some of the ways this card can be broken:

Infinite Green Mana: Transmogrifying Licid (or any Licid) + Devoted Druid. Turn this card into a Licid, attach it to a creature, then turn it into Devoted Druid. Since it's an aura, not a creature, -1/-1 counters won't kill it.

Infinite Colourless Mana: Training Grounds + Basalt Monolith. I don't really need to say much aside from it'll tap for 3 and cost 1 to untap.

Infinite Turns: Sensei's Divining Top + Time Vault. Tap this for an extra turn, then put Time Vault second from the top. Draw a card during your next turn, repeat.

There are a ton of other ways to abuse this card, but I think I've made my point. The major issue with this card is that it needs other cards to support it. On its own, it's a fairly big gamble but if you can support it, it can be pretty great.

Pros: Big combo maker

Cons: Requires other cards

Rating: 3.5/5

Scuttling Death

Something called "scuttling" shouldn't cost 5! Nor should it be a 4/2. Something called "death" shouldn't be incapable of killing a Bear Cub. Soulshift is a cool mechanic, but it's sad that very few creatures that have it are worth playing. Night on a stick is alright, but not on a creature that costs 5. Outside of that, it's a 4/2 for 5, which is also substandard. Soulshift 4 is great, but it's not enough to save this guy from the standard title of "bad even for a Kamigawa card".

Pros: Soulshift 4, Night on a stick

Cons: 4/2 for 5, requires sacrifice

Rating: 1/5

Nightmare

Having recently received my copy of The Gathering: Reuniting Pioneering Artist of Magic, I read the history behind this card's art. Apparently, Melissa Benson was just told "draw a nightmare", so she decided to make it into a pun on the word "mare". Somehow, knowing that this card's art was probably not what Jesper Myfors (then art director) was looking for makes this card that much more cool.

As for the card itself, it's pretty decent. Black doesn't really hurt for nice flyers, but this is pretty good in mono-black decks. It's probably going to be a 6/6 flyer for 6 and it'll only get bigger with every land drop. The nice thing about cards like this is that they can be easily scaled down because their power and toughness will be at the same ratio for mono-colour decks. I kind of would like to see this at around 4 CMC, but 6 is fine for windmill slamming in Limited.

Pros: Scales with land drops, flying

Cons: Costs 6

Rating: 4/5

Journey Gods

Well, it's time to meet our new mythic overlords.

Athreos, God of Passage

This is my personal favourite of the new gods. He basically allows you to swing your little guys with complete disregard to your opponent's field because it gives your opponent the choice of taking the little guys to the face or taking a Lightning Bolt to the face unless you get a free Raise Dead for each creature that dies. Yeah, you'll have to replay each creature that comes back to your hand, but if you have things like Cathedral Sanctifier, you just get the ETB benefit multiple times. He's also a 5/4 for 3, which is nice.

Pros: Gives either free Lightning Bolts or Raise Deads
Cons: Opponent gets to choose
Rating: 4/5

Iroas, God of Victory
He's Dolmen Gate glued to Goblin War Drums. Honestly, this is the most underwhelming of all these gods (not the worst mind you). He's good, just kind of "meh" effect-wise. I don't really know how to explain it properly, but I was expecting something more flashy and cool instead of just recycling two older cards and melding them into one. The only real issue is that, while it combines two cards into one, it comes out a turn later than both of them would (Dolmen Gate costs 2 and Goblin War Drums costs 3). A good card, just not exciting for me.

Pros: Dolmen Gate and Goblin War Drums all in one
Cons: Costs 4
Rating: 4.5/5

Pharika, God of Affliction
This is sadly the worst on the new bunch. Black/green likes either reanimating its own creatures or eating your opponent's dead ones for an effect. That effect is not something positive for your opponent. I understand that Whip of Erebos is a problem that needs solving, but I can't help but think that maybe this isn't the best solution. I would have thought something along the lines of Creakwood Ghoul but with a better positive side would have been more appropriate. Giving your opponent a free Typhoid Rats is not a good answer to the Whip. I suppose you can use it on your own creatures, but why aren't you running Whip of Erebos or some other Golgari-flavoured deck instead?

Pros: Exiles creature cards in graveyards
Cons: Gives a free Typhoid Rats to that creature's owner
Rating: 2/5

Keranos, God of Storms
Free cards or Lightning Bolts? Yes please! Every turn, you're going to be getting an effect that will be beneficial to you in one way or another. However, it does come with a cost. First, it costs 5, which is a bit late in most games. Second, you have to reveal the first card you draw every turn, which gives your opponents a lot of information. If you're mana-screwed, revealing another Keranos isn't going to strike fear in your opponent's heart (although it will still hurt). A good card, just not a great card in my opinion.

Pros: Free Lightning Bolts or card draw
Cons: Only once per your turn, reveal your draw
Rating: 3.5/5

Kruphix, God of Horizons
This is a pretty cool dude and really works well with your Monstrous creatures. It's a sort-of-worse-sort-of-better Upwelling inside of a Reliquary Tower. I really like the idea of a one-sided Upwelling, but I'm not a fan of it being colourless mana since colourless mana is pretty much only useful for X spells and some artifacts. Still, it's a pretty cool card, despite costing 5 and being unable to kill a Nyx-Fleece Ram.

Pros: Sort-of-worse-sort-of-better Upwelling with a Reliquary Tower
Cons: Costs 5, can't kill a sheep
Rating: 4/5

Mind Stone

This card should be an EDH staple. Why? Well, it's a mana rock that comes out fairly quickly for starters and those are pretty nice. The other reason is that it's instant-speed colourless card draw. There are other colourless cards out there that draw you cards at instant-speed (Chromatic Star and Brass Secretary are good examples), but most of them only have one use: breaking to draw a card. This little guy can be used as mana acceleration until you don't need it anymore. In short, this card is pretty awesome and I have no major complaints about it.

Pros: Taps for mana, sackable for a card, colourless

Cons: Requires a mana for card draw

Rating: 5/5

Note: The reason I picked this art? First, the Descartes quote makes this extremely classy. Second, it's a brain on a stick!