The Next Post

So, it'll be a while (about a week) for my next post. Why? It's my 200th post! Well, technically this is my 200th post and the next one will be my 201st, but I won't count this one. Why? Because this one has a Yu-Gi-Oh card in it:

I don't play Yu-Gi-Oh, but this card's presence invalidates this as an actual post since it has negates the mention of Magic as per the formula:

Iff (X+Xc)+(-1(Y+Yc)) ≤ 0, Post doesn't count 

where X is equal to the number of times Magic is mentioned, Y is the number of times Yu-Gi-Oh is mentioned, Xc is equal to the number of Magic cards shown and Yc is the number of Yu-Gi-Oh cards shown.

See? It's science!

The Time Spiral Magi

First up, these aren't as good as the cards they represent. Mainly because a lot of these have tap abilities that can't be used on the first turn like the originals, but also because creatures are more vulnerable than artifacts/enchantments/lands.  Second, due to the large size and repeated general comments, I'm just going to make a quick list of pros and cons and mention which cards they apply to.

Pro: Good power/toughness for cost. These cards are good enough as creatures for their costs.

Cards: Abyss, Arena, Candelabra, Coffers, Moon, Scroll, Vineyard

Pro: Costs the same as the original. These cards, while usually being slower than the cards they represent, at least cost the same as the original.

Cards: Abyss, Candelabra, Disk, Future, Jar (sort of), Mirror (sort of), Moon, Scroll, Vineyard

Con: Overcosted. These cards cost more than their originals, sometimes a lot more.

Cards: Arena, Bazaar, Coffers, Library, Tabernacle

Con: It can be affected by its own effect. These cards can be destroyed by using their own effects.

Cards: Abyss, Arena, Tabernacle

Con: Weak. These cards don't have a good power/toughness ratio for their cost.

Cards: Bazaar, Disk, Future, Jar, Library, Mirror, Moat, Tabernacle

Rating: 4/5

Cards: Abyss, Candelabra, Moat, Moon, Scroll

Rating: 3/5

Cards: Arena, Coffers, Disk, Future, Tabernacle, Vineyard

Rating 2/5

Cards: Bazaar, Jar, Library, Mirror

Urza's Miter

Was Urza the Pope at one point that I don't know about? Anyway, this card's idea is alright. Drawing a card whenever an artifact you control dies (but isn't sacrificed) is nice, but having to pay for it hurts it. The fact that the artifact can't be sacrificed also doesn't help. Although, it is colourless repeatable card draw which is rare.   All-in-all it's a good idea badly executed.

Pros: Colourless card draw

Cons: Triggers on non-sacrificed artifacts, costs a fair bit of mana, only one card per artifact death

Rating: 1/5

Transcendence

This card is definitely... interesting. If you can flash it out when you're about to be killed, it could save you (especially if your opponent only swings with enough to bring you to 0 life). It can also be fun to Donate to someone else in order to instantly remove a player from the game. Other than that, it's... decent. It costs triple white, so it can be pretty difficult to put into a multicolour deck.

Pros: Can be donated to remove a player form the game, safety net

Cons: Can easily kill you, triple white

Rating: 1.5/5

Screams from Within

Reusable -1/-1 giver? A potential token devastator? A really big annoyance? This card is all of those things. I've never seen this card used outside of Limited, but I can definitely see the potential of this card. Running multiple of these can be pretty devastating. However, the major problem with this card is that is has to come back from the graveyard if it can. That means that it'll attach itself to one of your creatures if there are no other creatures around.

Pros: Reusable -1/-1

Cons: Has to come back even if it attaches to one of your creatures

Rating: 4/5

Tunnel

This card is pretty decent for what it does. I mean, it's one mana for an Instant-speed kill spell. What more could you ask for? Sure, it only targets one type of creature, but that's what Artificial Evolution is for, right? All-in-all, a decent card.

Pros: One maan kill spell

Cons: Only targets Walls

Rating: 2/5

P.S. I know this review is short, but what do you expect from this card?

New Project: Movie Reviews

Hi guys! Just a quick announcement about my new review site: Mike and Jay's Cinema Adventures, where I review really bad movies with a friend of mine. That's part of the reason I missed about a week of doing reviews here (sorry about that by the way), but I'm back to doing reviews on both sites! I'm estimating getting one movie review done a week and they'll be in a very similar style to the ones here: off-the-cuff, quick reviews that get to the point quickly. Feel free to check it out here!

Tribal Booster

Before starting, no I didn't forget the white one; there is no white tribal booster. I don't know why.

Bramblewood Paragon

Warriors are quite prevalent in Magic and their usually combat-based, so giving them a combat boost is great. However, the nicest thing about this card is that it gives all your creatures with a +1/+1 counter trample. For comparison purposes, Crowned Ceratok costs 4. Yeah, that card is a 4/3 with trample, but it doesn't boost other creatures that you play.

Pros: Gives trample to boosted creatures

Cons: Just a bear

Rating: 4/5

Oona's Blackguard

Rogues, while not as combat-oriented as Warriors, usually have some form of evasion, so giving them an ability that triggers on combat damage is great. Also, since rogues are traditionally small, so you'll get a fair bit of mileage out of the ability. 

Pros: Forces opponents to discard when hit by boosted creatures

Cons: Unfortunately, it's a Bog Imp

Rating: 4/5

Rage Forger

This is the old duck in this group since it only boosts when it comes into play, but that was necessary to keep it from being broken. Shamans, while not exclusively combat focused, can easily overwhelm an opponent in red since they tend to be really cheap, so the constant pinging can easily add up.

Pros: Turns boosted creatures into pingers

Cons: Simply a Goblin Hero, only boosts when it comes in

Rating: 3.5/5

Sage of Fables

Wizards are the least combat focused of all of these creature types, but that's why they didn't give them a combat effect. The Instant speed, colourless draw is really useful in blue and giving it to every Wizard you control is sweet.

Pros: Colourless draw off of boosted creatures

Cons: Only a Gray Ogre

Rating: 5/5

Salvage Titan

Love this card! With the sheer number of 0-cost artifacts that are out there, is it quite reasonable to except this card out on turn 1. The fact that it's a black artifact also protects it from a lot of kill spells (its 4 toughness helps too). However, if it dies, you can easily bring it back with the resurrection ability. I'd love this card even more if it had some sort of evasion, but then that would easily break it. Another negative for this card (one that I don't mind) is that if you don't pay the alternative cost, this card really isn't worth it. Still, this card is a nice surprise in the right deck,

Pros: Alternative casting cost, resurrection ability

Cons: Overcosted without alternative cost, no evasion

Rating: 3/5

The Ones

To shorten all of my reviews, I'll just mention a couple of overarching things with all of these cards. First, the power/toughness being equal to the number of a certain type of creature on the field is really nice. However, the fact that they all cost 4 is a little expensive. I'd rather see them be 1 colourless and 2 mana of their own colour. Honestly, with the exception of one or two of these cards, these reviews are going to be pretty short (sorry).

Doubtless One

Lifelink is great, but "lifelink but not really lifelink" is better since you can stack on lifelink and it will count too.

Rating: 3/5

Heedless One

Trample on a big whump stick? Yes please! Since Elf tribal has gotten a big boost in recent years, this card is one of the strongest in this group.

Rating: 4/5

Nameless One

This is the One that I think doesn't get enough praise. The fact that it has Morph works really well in its favour since it both protects other Morph creatures you have (by giving your opponent another target to swing wildly at) and that it can do a surprising amount of burst damage if your opponent lets it through. Yeah, it doesn't fly or anything, but it's going to be a surprise for sure!

Rating: 3.5/5

Reckless One

It's a big Goblin with haste. That's about it.

Rating: 4/5

Soulless One

This card can be surprisingly powerful in the right deck. It might not have any evasion, but the fact that it isn't affected by a boardwipe makes it really scary.You could even use Damnation late game and then cast this and you'd have the scariest board bar none.

Rating: 4/5

Artist: Christopher Moeller

While not a "famous" artist like Pete Venters or Wayne Reynolds, you'll recognize Christopher Moeller's art. He's done a lot of work for a lot of cards, a few of which are staples in certain decks.

Best Art: Sphere of Reason

Honestly, I had a hard time picking just  one of the cards from this set since they're all beautiful. However, I decided to pick this card since the water effects on this card are just really striking. Water is probably the hardest element to get right in art and Christopher nailed it in this piece, capturing the feeling of a torrent of water crashing against an indestructible wall. It just looks great.

Worst Art: Blackmail

Did Braids get drunk before getting swindled? The face is what sinks this piece for me. It just looks too goofy to be taken seriously. That's about all I have to say about it. The rest of the art is nice, it's just that face. That face...

Most Interesting Art: Cloudthresher

I summon... a squidy-thingy? The Elementals in Lorwyn really allowed artists to explore their creative side and I think this is one of the more creative results. The best part of this for me is that this card has flash. Just imagine this thing suddenly appearing in the middle of an empty field!

I'll admit I didn't know Christopher Moeller's name before now but I'm glad I do now. I hope he keeps making art for Magic for many years to come.

Swallowing Plague

Honestly, this isn't a terrible card. Sure, it can only hit one creature, but what were you expecting, a black Fireball? Granted, WotC made a slightly better version of this card in the form of Sorin's Thrist, but that card can't be scaled to suit the needs of the caster like this one can. The double-black startup cost can be a hinderance, especially if you have 8 mana and need to kill that Elderscale Wurm in order to win. Also, the speed of this card is also kind of a restriction since you'll have to dump your mana into it on your turn, making it hard to play nice things and this card. Still, not a bad option if you're looking for a scaleable Sorin's Thirst.

Pros: Scaleable to your needs

Cons: Sorcery-speed, double-black startup

Rating: 2.5/5