Dawn of the Dead

I remember back in the day when the kids I used to play with in middle school thought that this card was terrible. I was still kind of new at that point, but I didn’t think it was that bad. So, a kid I knew named Frazer (real name Maximillan, seriously) gave me all 3 of his copies because he hated them. I threw them into my really slow black deck and tried it out. Before, the deck used to run on Exhume and to get a Hypnox or Chainer, Dementia Master out and just start smashing people in the face, but it usually didn’t work because my opponent knew my deck and would always throw something big into their yard in first couple turns (usually by missing their first land drop). So, I decided to take the Exhumes out and replace them with this card. On the first day I tried it, I got a turn 4 Hypnox (thanks Dark Ritual) with a sack outlet (I can’t remember what it was, but I think it was an Altar of Dementia). After I punched my opponent, I sacked my Hypnox to my sack outlet and I did that for 4 more turns until he died. No one hated this card after that.

Losing one life a turn isn’t that bad really, especially when you can do what I did back when it came out. Now, with crazier cards like Shadowborn Demon and Dread Cacodemon, you can do a lot more damage than my little combo. It does cost triple-black, which basically relegates it to mono-black or two-colour decks, but that doesn’t really hinder it. What kind of hinders its greatness is the exile trigger, but if you layer it correctly, you can ignore it. Imagine having a Ball Lightning every turn for free!

Pros: Returns a creature to the field with haste every turn

Cons: Exiles the creature, 1 life per turn, triple-black

Rating: 4/5

Castle

This is yet another card that received functional errata that destroyed its flavour, a la Flying Carpet. Originally, the idea was that your creatures were holed up in a castle and received protection as long as they remained inside. However, the errata removed the “unless they are attacking” clause, so now what you’ve got is some sort of hover-castle that flies along with the army and protects them as long as they stay inside. I’m not an opponent of functional errata, but it should stay flavourful (for example: adding the line “but remains named X” a la Sakashima the Imposter for all Clone-like cards instead of changing the legendary rule). I know it was to “make it simpler” but it wasn’t confusing in the first place! Your dude runs out and stabs a guy and if it has Vigilance, he runs back into the castle.

As for the card itself, it’s pretty “meh”. The toughness boost gives your creatures more survivability and the errata did make it a little better since attacking creatures can get the bonus as well. I don’t know if it’s worth 4 though; maybe 3 or 2 with a drawback (like not effecting attacking creatures maybe?). Not a bad card; I just wish they hadn’t changed the wording.

Pros: Toughness boost to all your untapped creatures

Cons: Errata makes no sense, costs 4

Rating: 2.5/5

Norin the Wary

You may be thinking that this card is terrible. Why would you want a creature that can’t attack, block, or be targeted by any of your own spells? Well my friend, you have not seen the Johnny potential of this card. I’m going to show you 3 cards that work wonders with this card.

First up is Genesis Chamber. Turn one, play this card; turn two, play Genesis Chamber. By the end of turn 2, you have 2 creatures. By the start of your third turn, you have 3, 3 of switch can swing. In a four-player game, you’ll probably have 5 creatures, 4 of which can swing. Unless your opponents can take care of Genesis Chamber, they are going to be facing off against endless ranks of Myr.

Second is Hamletback Goliath. I don’t really think I need to explain why these two cards work so well. Instead of being a 6/6 when it comes into play, Hamletback Goliath is an 8/8 with this card. As your opponents play, it just keeps getting bigger and bigger until they try to kill it, at which point you should probably Fling it at them.

Finally, there’s Kyren Negotiations. This card is an expert negotiator and it’s a problem that should be dealt with sooner rather than later. 1 damage every turn may not seem like a lot, but it can add up quickly, especially in a multiplayer game. When working in combination with something like the aforementioned Genesis Chamber combo, this can result in a lot of damage that you can deal just before your turn starts.

Those are just a few cards that work really well with this card. Now, it may be difficult to kill this card, but if the other combo pieces are stripped away, this can’t really do much. It’s a great card, but it relies fairly heavily on the toys that it needs.

Pros: Almost unkillable, great combo card

Cons: Can’t do anything on its own

Rating: 3.5/5

Mystic Enforcer

A 3/3 pro-black for 4? Pretty good, albeit maybe a little overcosted. A 6/6 Flying pro-black for 4? Umm… Hi baby Akroma, Angel of Wrath! Seriously, the fact that this card can easily be a baby Akroma is ridiculous! Threshold is one of my all-time favourite mechanics and I’m really hoping that it comes back soon and this is a perfect example of why. A 3/3 pro-black is probably not going to be a huge for your opponent (unless they’re playing mono-black), so there’s no real incentive to pay attention to it. However, if they don’t pay attention to it, then it becomes a much bigger problem in a couple turns. Even if they’re dealing with your other problems (like a Mirran Crusader for example), they run the risk of turning this card into a bigger problem because they are adding cards to your graveyard. However, therein lays this cards biggest problem: it’s going to be dealt with. If you drop this without having 7+ cards in your yard, you’re probably not going to have this for very long. Still, worth thinking about if you’re looking for a baby Akroma in Selesnya colours.

Pros: Can be baby Akroma

Cons: Requires large graveyard

Rating: 4/5

Naked Singularity

In my theoretical Chisei, Heart of Oceans EDH, this card is a star. Well, it would be if not for its colour identity (stupid rules and their making things not colourless…). Either way, this card is fun. It really screws with mono-coloured decks in a way that’s not too common in Magic. If you can find a way to keep the age counters off of it (like with Chisei or a Hex Parasite) it can pose major problems for your opponents for a long time. It’s a fun card that you really have to build a deck around for it to work.

Pros: Colour-shifted land mana production

Cons: Needs to be built around

Rating: 3/5 

Balance of Power

This card doesn't really feel blue to me. Sure, it draws cards, but that alone doesn't make it feel blue to me. I feel like it was designed to be used against blue decks, but not in a blue deck. I think it’s leaning towards black or white more than anything (black’s idea of quickly turning the tables and cheating to win or white’s idea of improving oneself to match an opponent). Mechanically, this is a real hit-or-miss card. If you’re playing an opponent who typically has a large hand, then this card is great because it’s going to allow you to keep up with your opponent. However, if your opponent has a same-size or smaller hand then you are, this card is pretty much dead. I think an opponent would have to have 3 cards more in hand then you for this to be kind of worth it. I don’t think this card is worth the gamble. Run Divination if you have to, but don’t run this.

Pros: Can equalize your hand size

Cons: Too risky, only worth it for 3+ card difference

Rating: 0.5/5 

Desolation Angel

It’s interesting to watch every time that WotC tries to bring Armageddon back into play. A 5/4 with Flying for 7 usually isn’t worth it, but when it explodes the world when it comes into play, then we’re talking serious power. Mass land destruction is probably one of the most powerful effects in the game because it puts everyone into a bad position, with the probable exception of the player who did it. This card is a prime example of that. Let’s pretend that there are no other permanents except for 7 lands each on the board (the player before you used Planar Cleansing let’s say). You drop this and wipe out everyone’s lands. How long do you think it will take another player to find an answer to your 5/4? On average, a player will have 3-5 cards in their hand come turn 7. How many of those do you think are lands? 

Another good example would be against a green ramp deck. Again, assume you just wiped the board with a Damnation and then you play this. A green ramp deck might have up to 80% of their land base in play when that happens. You’ve just effectively removed that player from the game. Now, you may be thinking: “Why would I want to pay that much to set everyone else back, including myself? It doesn’t seem worth it!”. Before you ask that out loud, remember this: Angel of Despair costs the same amount, has one more toughness, but only hits one thing. This card, as its name suggests, desolates the field and will probably leave you in a very commanding position. However, one of its major flaws in that it’s an ETB trigger, meaning that if an opponent survives long enough to stabilize, they could flicker this card and cause you to lose all of your lands repeatedly. Still, the chances of an opponent recovering after a well-timed land removal are slim at best.

Pros: Armageddon on a creature

Cons: Requires kicker, vulnerable to flicker effects

Rating: 4.5/5

Krark's Thumb

For the amount of times you’re going to be flipping coins in an average game of Magic, there is the perfect number of cards that alter coin flips: one. I love this card because I really like cards like Frenetic Sliver, Planar Chaos, and Karplusan Minotaur. The random chaos those cards can wreak is always fun, but I also like tipping the scales of that chaos in my favour. My favourite cad to use this with is obviously Chance Encounter because it gives me a much better shot at winning the game through that effect.  Planar Chaos is also a good combo since it gives me a 75% chance to cast my spell whereas my opponents only get a 50% chance of success. Still, this card is fairly limited in what it can do, so I can’t give it that high of a rating.

Pros: Alters coin flips in your favour

Cons: Only affects coin flips

Rating: 3.5/5

Ivory Crane Netsuke

I like this card better than its cousin Ebony Owl Netsuke. Combine this with Ivory Tower and you’re in for a fun time with your (probably) mono-blue lifegain deck. I had one and, while being a bit slow, was still a really fun casual deck that my opponents sometimes had a hard time dealing with. Since your own hand size is a lot easier to control than your opponents’ (at least in terms of keeping a big hand), you’ll see this trigger a lot in a well-built deck. In short, I like Ms. Crane better than Mr. Owl.

Pros: Lifegain based on hand size

Cons: Requires a big hand

Rating: 2.5/5

Ebony Owl Netsuke

Mr. Owl doesn’t approve of you having nice things, so he’s going to shoot you with his laser eyes. That’s honestly what I think about whenever I see this card. This card can come out pretty early in the game, meaning that its effects are going to be felt through the match and its effect are pretty painful. Getting hit for 4 every turn you start with a full hand puts an opponent on a pretty tight clock. However, that clock can easily be jammed by just not keeping a full hand. And unlike cards like ThumbscrewsMiser's Cage, your opponent needs to have a full hand or larger to trigger the owl’s laser-death-eye-beams. A hand of six cards is still decent and the damage only triggers on upkeep, so it’s pretty easy to avoid. Cool art, less-than-decent card.

Pros: Deals a good chunk of damage to opponents with big hands, cheap

Cons: Can easily be avoided 

Rating: 2/5