N.B. I was going to post this at 3.15am but then realised new spoilers will be up soon..so I am amalgamating the two posts into one bumper post XD
Lets start with Maro's card he teased us with over the weekend shall we since we knew that was being released today.
| Yes, this is a jar. Full of Eyeballs... |
Wizards does like its impulse type effects. From the original pregenitor to more modern versions such as Peer through Depths and Forbidden Alchemy. For the most part, cards like that see play because of the selection they grant the caster and the deeper the card digs the better. I can see this as a worse version of these cards for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it needs other cards for it to be good namely creatures and they can only be your own, because heaven forbid you harvest your opponents creature's eyeballs for your nefarious ends. All the other cards have one thing in common. They're instants, which can be searched and played in the same turn, netting you the possible card you require. This needs 6 mana to get down and activate AND at least one creature dying to perform a pseudo-Preordain effect. I like it in limited better than constructed, although may have a outside shot of making a control deck much like Druidic Satchel did in U/B Control lists.
Up next is my friend, and I'm afraid he is a little handsy. Check out Drogskol Reaver.
Handsy here feels like the bastard child of baneslayer angel and conscreted sphinx, with the lifelinking and card drawing vertically transferring from parents to offspring. Sadly he will never live up to his parents from which he inherited his abilities. 7 mana is a lot for something that comes into play and does nothing. The difference between 6 and 7 is bigger than people realise so I believe he shall be reaping back into my folder waiting for another day to shine.
In limited he is the standard mythic flyer who trumps all others, although Ms Voldaren would care for word or two. You open a pack and see this staring back at you, unless you are dead set on forcing Spider spawning or a gimmick deck, then you take this and move on. Limited Bomb alert.
Next up we have what is possibly the coolest creature combination ever written on a magic card...Zombie Treefolk
| I can assure you, his bark is as bad as his bite |
Apart from having an awesome creature type, i dont see much traction for this card in the current meta. He suffers from the Khalni Hydra effect of being effective if you have creatures in the bin but the time he costs about 4/5 he wont be enough for you to win with. The prevalence of token stratergies also hinders his effectiveness, for the the infinite chump blockers you have throw against you, and also most of the creatures are tokens which don't hang out in the graveyard. In limited he suffers from the same probably altho he is better late game than in constructed. I wouldn't fault you for taking him first, but not over a solid piece of removal.
5'o'clock in the am rolls around and it is new spoiler day....and OMG do we have some tasty ones for you today. I think i will leave the best for last and start with a simple common
| He may be loyal, but he still doesn't like working the night shift |
Constructed: 1/5 Limited: 1.5/5
Here we have the white bear with effect card for the set. I don't think it is completely bad in deck that can support it's colour requirements. I have a problem with the human side dying and turning into a guy which, quite frankly isn't better than the front side. If the front side dies then it is more than likely the backside will perish too.
(The backside of this card is a 2/1 which cannot block is black in colour)
Constructed: 1/5 Limited: 1/5
River Kelpie never looked so good! A niche enchantment for those with a penchant for casting cards from their graveyards. I think it could see some use in a limited deck packed with flashback cards, however take some thing for the sideboard. Very limited constructed applications, which makes me sad because I like cards such as these to build around.
Right that is the boring cards out of the way, time for the tasty Mythics starting with,
The court is in session, and she means business, some nice stats comparable, as LSV states in his article on channelfireball.com, to Giant Solifuge which was a beating back in the day. With trample making the way for flying and representing a fast clock if left unchecked, it seems to me this might be a player in aggro red/black decks in the coming months. I think the creatures are there, but the deck hasn't been made yet. Only time will tell if it is any good and the lady above will be introducing herself to our faces in the coming months.
I would give her a lower rating in limited because of the prevalence of flying creatures and those types of decks. Being chumped all day feels bad for such a powerful card. Saying that, you pick this 1st 99% of the time and are very happy about it.
6 drop that doesn't have the word titan written on it. Possible that MAYBE, SOMEHOW with SOME FUTURE CARD(S) that allow a red token/swarm deck to be possible that it could make a good finisher with it's ability but it's a straw clutch at best. There are simply other, better cards available at lower costs (Koth, for example)
A special mention for EDH: this is actually pretty good considering it's a red creature card. I'll be picking one up as I do with every other dragon, but I won't feel bad about actually playing it as opposed to passed efforts. To my knowledge it's the first card to do what it does as cheaply and easily as it does, certainly on so accessible and relevant a creature type (for me, anyway)
While "only card of it's colour" may be pushing it due to the utter unsplashability (no matter what I once managed to do with a splashed Devil's Play), this is a pretty nutty bomb, even given it's slot as The Big Red One. As well as operating as a "hit you until you die" dragon it also uniquely synergises with basically any other creature you happen to have available. Open it, pick it, play it, don't get cut in red.
Thank you to ChaosSmurf for writing that review of Moonveil Dragon. He was definately the man for the job. He does love the dragons dearly. Now onto the main attraction. He has return from his travels in the multiverse to his homeland, and he doesn't like what has happened. BAD AVACYN!
Constructed: 4/5 Limited: 4.5/5
Wow. Just take a minute to take that in.
Sorin, Lord of Innistrad is a powerful addition to the card pools we can draw from and harkens back to three years ago, when LSV nearly ran the tables at Kyoto with BW tokens. Oh how he wishes he could of supplemented Elspeth, Knight Errant with this. First ability is a trademark in all planeswalkers that are of a high power level, they can protect themselves. Lifelink is a nice touch and I'm sure the fact they're vampire will not be overlooked for too long.
Ability number 2, is unique, never before have we had an ability that can make an emblem that is not the ultimate of a planeswalker. These bad boys can stack so it maybe could get out of hand quickly. Turning simple 1/1's into threats is a big deal. It will take a little work maybe to get a small stack of these emblems, but if you do look out.
Let analyse his ultimate. It is powerul, verstatile, tricksy, ballsy and bonkers all rolled into one. You can destroys your opponents stuff up to get the last damage required. You can blow planeswalkers up to recruit them to your side. You can activate your planeswalkers, except sorin, then send them on a merry journey to the graveyard, only for them to come back again so you get to activate their abilties for a second time. Of course this could be done with your creatures, with Titans being amongst the prime targets.
Sorin is such a verstatile card, that he could find a home in a few decks. He could slot into solar flare to bring that back to the forfront. He could add a more controlling element to the Esper control lists doing the round made famous by Jeremy Neeman at Worlds, or he spawn new deck that build around him. I am thinking about using him in a B/W token deck similar to LSV's list from PT Kyoto from 2009.
The comparisions to another 4 mana planeswalker will printed in a small set started flooding in as soon as the card was spoiled but remember he is 2 colour neither of which is blue, making it slightly tougher on mana bases, has a weakness to flyers, and will take a few turn to get to the 6 loyalty required
Well that was an interesting morning of spoilers which certain surprised me. Lets hope more get released which make people think about new and great decks. Until tomorrow.
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