Special: The Cards I Use

People often ask me what cards I post here I actually use. Well, here's 3 of them with a description of the deck that they are in.

I run this card in my Seshiro the Anointed EDH because it's really great. The deck is obviously a heavy-aggro snake tribal deck. It's a decent size with a frosting effect and can regenerate cheaply. Also, with my general, it's a 5/4 for 4, which is really good.

This card is a superstar in my Lyzolda, the Blood Witch EDH. The deck is heavy on the tokens and heavy on the chaos. First, I swing with this card, then I fling it. Suddenly, Lyzolda is a dragon as are the rest of my tokens. It's just a great card in that deck.

This may not look like much, but in my Maga, Traitor to Mortals EDH, this card basically becomes a second general. The other day, I had played Maga for 20, almost killing my last opponent. However, he had a Reassembling Skeleton, so I could not get through to him. My next top deck was this card, so I played it, sending my general to the command zone and replaying him for 15, winning the game. Even if I didn't win right there and then, I went from having a 20/20 to having a 21/21 and a 15/15, which is really good for a mono-black deck.

Wickerbough Elder

Damn this thing is good! It's a 4/4 for 4 with a single Naturalize on a stick for one. All of those things are awesome. However, this card is not without fault. It comes in as a 3/3 for starters. A 3/3 for 4 is pretty bad m'kay? Also, this card has no evasion, so don't expect it to do too much damage on its own as an attacker. Still, it's a really good card despite its couple faults.

Pros: Naturalize on a stick

Cons: No evasion

Rating: 4/5

Numai Outcast

You all knew this was coming. I knew from the first day I started this that I would have to cover the worst cards in Magic at some point. I've already covered Razor Boomerang and nothing has a lower community rating than that (as of writing at least), so at least I don't have to look at something that bad again. However, that's like saying "my house isn't on fire as much as before since it gutted my kitchen". I'm trying to think of something positive to say about this card, but I can't. The regeneration cost is way too high and that fact that it's a 1/1 for 4 doesn't help either. I guess the Bushido 2 is ok, but it's really not worth it here. If it cost 3 and only 2 life to regenerate it, then it would be a slightly better Chub Toad (better in the sense that you could regenerate it if you felt so inclined). Really though, this card is terrible and definitely not worth the uncommon slot.

Pros: Bushido 2, doesn't die to Doom Blade

Cons: 1/1 for 4, costs 5 life to regenerate

Rating: 0/5

Flowstone Surge

This card is... okay I guess. Nothing windmill-slam-worthy. but okay. There are no other +! power enchantments for 2 or less that don't have some sort of condition or requirement payment (see the better Gerrard's Battle Cry), so I guess it can get points there, however that doesn't make it good per se. In decks that run a lot of low toughness creatures (namely red decks), this is a bane rather than a boon. Still, it can be useful in the right deck. It's just that that deck type is very rare.

Pros: Universal buff for 2

Cons: Universal debuff for 2

Rating: 1.5/5

Colfenor's Plans

This card looks cool, but needs a lot of help to be as cool as it looks. Getting 7 cards for 4 mana is awesome, but the fact that you can only cast one spell per turn alongside the fact that, if this card gets destroyed, you will lose everything associated with it makes it a little too vulnerable. You also need a way to remove this card once you're done with it, something which mono-black may have difficulty with. In a black/green or black/white deck, this card fares a little better, but not much.

Pros: 7 extra cards for 4 mana

Cons: Cards are vulnerable, one spell per turn, can't draw

Rating: 1.5/5

Original Guild Lands

Duskmantle, House of Shadow

This is a worse, and rightfully forgotten, version of Nephalia Drownyard. One card for three mana just isn't worth it. If you have it in case you stall out, you're in for a loooooong game.

Pros: Repeatable 1-card mill

Cons: Costs 3 to activate

Rating: 0.5/5

Nivix, Aerie of the Firemind

Wow. Wooooow... This card is just bad. Really baaaaaaad. It's 5 mana (because it has to tap itself) to potentially cast a spell. This is just terrible and never worth running.

Pros: Maybe cast a spell

Cons; 5 mana startup, might not work, exiles card if fails

Rating: 0/5

Novijen, Heart of Progress

This is one of the better one of these lands. It's a mass buff for a good chunk of your creatures for very cheap. However, it's only for the creatures that entered the battlefield that turn. I consider it a one-time Gavony Township.

Pros: Baby Gavony Township

Cons: One-time Gavony Township

Rating: 3/5

Orhzova, the Church of Deals
Like Duskmantle, House of Shadow, this card is meant to help you if you stall out. However, unlike Duskmantle, House of Shadow, this card is actually useful. I've been a several situations in Limited wherein my opponent will swing at me then I will swing and deal the same amount of damage, but my opponent will win just because they swung first. With this card at least, I can stand a chance of winning by sipping away at my opponent's life total. Still, it is 5 mana for a 2 life difference, so outside of Limited, it's not worth it in the least.

Pros: Helps during stall outs
Cons: Pretty useless outside of Limited, 5 mana for 2 life difference
Rating: 1.5/5

Prahv, Spires of Order
It's a 7 mana Pay No Heed. 7. Mana. Pay. No. Heed. Do I really even need to describe why this card is useless? If it was Fog it would still be too expensive, but at least it would be more usable.

Pros: Repeatable Pay No Heed
Cons: 7 mana for a Pay No Heed
Rating: 0/5

Rix Maadi, Dungeon Palace
Now, since Rakdos' guild ability during this run of Ravnica was Hellbent, which required you to not have a hand, this card isn't that bad. It's 4 mana for a mass discard which is a little overcosted, but that's due to it being repeatable. All in all, not the worst of these lands.

Pros: Repeatable mass discard
Cons: A little expensive, causes you to discards
Rating: 3/5

Skarrg, the Rage Pits
This is the best one of these lands by far. For 3 mana, you can ensure that a blocked creature will get past the blocker and give it a buff as well. Really, that's about all there is to say here.

Pros: Buff and trample for cheap, repeatable
Cons: Dual colour
Rating: 4/5

Sunhome, Fortress of the Legion
Giving double strike at instant speed is really good, and costing it at 5 is reasonable considering how fast that can win you games. Costing it so high is also reasonable because it's repeatable.

Pros: Gives double strike at instant speed
Cons: Costs 5
Rating: 4/5

Svogthos, the Restless Tomb
Having a land that turns into a creature is awesome. Having a land that turns into a Boneyard Wurm is even better. It makes your opponent reconsider their plans for that boardwipe since this will dodge most of them and become huge as a result. I just wish it had trample or some other mini-evasion.

Pros: Boneyard Wurm that's a land
Cons: Only a Boneyard Wurm
Rating: 3.5/5

Vitu-Ghazi, the City Tree
Not a bad mana sink for those token decks that usually have nothing to do on other people's turns. It's basically a very-difficult-to-counter convokeless Sprout Swarm. Again, not bad for a land.

Pros: Sprout Swarm on a land
Cons: Convokeless Sprout Swarm
Rating: 3.5/5


Just a note, I may be slowing down on the frequencies of my reviews for a while. Stuff has come up in my life that eats up a good portion of my time. I'll try and get at least 2 a week up, but I'm not sure if I can manage that.

Walking Desecration

This card is… okay I guess? I mean, it has its uses, but I’m not sure how useful it is. I suppose if you’re facing a Human deck you could force all humans to swing into Mikaeus, the Unhallowed’s killing trigger but I think there are better ways to accomplish this. Goblin Diplomats or Angel’s Trumpet are better examples of forced attack effects in my opinion. I can’t really think of many times you’d only want one type of creature to attack. Ok, maybe locking down some silly Myr combo that you don’t want going off on your turn. But, if that’s the case, your opponent may just have that combo go off on their turn. Finally, this card doesn’t fare well as a stand-alone creature because a 1/1 for 3 is really needs a good ability to be worth it (see: Blade Splicer) and this just lacks in the “good ability” department.

Pros: Can force a creature type to attack

Cons: 1/1 for 3, limited usability

Rating: 1.5/5

Sword of the Paruns

Tap/untap abilities can really lead to degenerate combos and this card is no exception. Besides being able to do stupid combos like get infinite mana out of a Gaea’s Cradle (if you do it right), the combat buff that it gives is also nice. Having a combat trick that doesn’t involve the creature being in combat allows for a lot more options since you can equip this to a weaker creature and still have its effect. However, this card is kind of expensive to use but given the fact that it’s colourless, that’s pretty much a requirement. I personally prefer cards like Freed from the Real or the infamous Pemmin’s Aura for my combos. Still, it is not a bad choice if you don’t have any blue in your deck.

Pros: Enables degenerate combos, combat trick, colourless

Cons: Expensive to use repeatedly

Rating: 4/5

Zombify

Honestly, I love this card. It’s perfectly priced at 4 and perfectly set for rarity level at uncommon. Yeah, it’s not as good as Reanimate or Beacon of Unrest but what can you really expect from a modern-day uncommon?  If I can find a way to fit it in a deck, I usually will because I like it that much. It curves so nicely after Buried Alive and it works great with cards Anarchist and Izzet Chornarch. It’s just a pretty cool card.

Pros: Brings a dead creature back from your graveyard

Cons: Only brings one creature back

Rating: 4.5/5

Theros Gods

With the release of Theros, there is no longer just the Church of Jace for people to worship at. Now, there are 5 new gods for the masses! But which one is the best?

Erebos, God of the Dead

Being able to lock out your opponents from lifegain is a fairly nice, if not situational, effect. However, what really makes this card shine is the Greed-esque effect. Sure, it costs 2 mana instead of one, but it's indestructible Greed on a potentially 5/7! I'd say that's a pretty great card.

Pros: Indestructible Greed

Cons: Costs 2 instead of 1

Rating: 5/5

Heliod, God of the Sun

Mass vigilance for 4 is pushing it cost-wise, but considering it's indestructible, I'll let that slide. The token generation is also nice, but it's a little too expensive. I'd rather see it at Kher Keep costing of 3, but since you can attack with the tokens, it's not too bad. Basically, that's all I've got to say about this card: "it's not too bad".

Pros: Mass vigilance, token gen

Cons: Token gen is costly

Rating: 3.5/5

Nylea, God of the Hunt

Golly gee Batman! Do you mean that I can have a Primal Rage that costs twice as much with the ability to use Barkshell Blessing for 4 times as much?! Sign me up! Seriously though, this is the worst god. I don't think it's going to see much play outside of Limited/Standard and even then it's just going to be for the trample, not the +2/+2. The fact that it doesn't even give trample to itself is just another kick in the face.

Pros: Gives trample

Cons: Gives trample to everything else, secondary effect is way too overcosted

Rating: 2/5

Purphoros, God of the Forge

This is Krenko, Mob Boss' new deity of choice. This is just a great card for red. The first ability is worth it alone, but the repeatable Banners Raised effect is great too and it's worth the 3 mana. Finally, red has something to be proud of!

Pros: Shocks opponents when creatures ETB, mass buff

Cons: Argument could be made that the mass buff is too expensive

Rating: 5/5

Thassa, God of the Sea

If this isn't proof that WotC is purposefully trying to make blue the best colour ever, I don't know what is. First, this costs 3 whereas every other god costs 4. Second, the first ability doesn't require creatures to be good (black has that too, but it's usefulness can be dubious). Thirdly, its second effect makes it so your creatures connect 100% of the time. Finally, it's a 5/5 for 3. White and black have to pay 1 extra to get a 5-power god, but blue gets to be special? I hate R&D sometimes...

Pros: Scrying on upkeep, makes things unblockable

Cons: None because it's a blue card

Rating: It's a blue card, ergo 5/5