Many games keep themselves fresh by regularly releasing new product. Dungeons and Dragons has put out new rules books and game material for decades. Video games have expansion packs, and board games are increasingly doing the same. It’s no secret that the pulse of collectible gaming is the regular release of new stuff for it. Whether it’s miniatures for HeroClix or cards for Magic, we need more widgets!
Every release of a new set ensures the lifeblood of Magic will continue to pump through our veins. No, we won’t grow tired and move onto another game, because there are all of these new shinies; we are the magpies of the gaming universe! It doesn’t matter if you flip cards at tournaments every week or just five times in the past three years (such as… say… me). Today I want to look at cards from the casual side of life, and I want to use many different angles—from Commander to Pauper, and from multiplayer to kitchen table duels. In order to fit all of this stuff into one admittedly large article, I only talk about the major players, or cards I’d recommend to stay away from. Interested?
I expect all of these cards to make an appearance in somebody’s deck. Not being included here doesn’t mean a card sucks, but it might mean it’s a bit obvious. I mean, what do you want me to say about the 5,312th Giant Growth variant, you know?
Card Time!
White
Angel of Glory’s Rise — A lot of these angels are going to be pretty good in casual games. Flyers are always vital in multiplayer games, and big ones tend to dominate games. Even a simple Archangel has strong value. Adding a saucy ability on top of your dragon-sized body is quite valuable. In the right deck, this lady is particularly spicy. However, in a neutral deck, I think Sunblast Angel will kill more creatures and yield more card advantage. Angel of Glory’s Rise seems to want a deck built around her. Not only could you play her with the obvious humans, but imagine a deck with Unnatural Selection or a Donated Xenograft.
Angel of Jubilation — This is one of several cards from this set that I want to try out in Equinaut to see how well it works (find out more about Equinaut here). Other cards that intrigue me include Cathar’s Crusade, Emancipation Angel, and Champion of Lambholt. Turning off sacrifices and life payment seems like an interesting take on Linvala and similar cards. Linvala proved herself as a strong card, and I see the Angel of Jubilation having a similar impact at the table. Watch out—while she only shuts down creature sacrifices, the clause that prevents paying life will also force your fetchlands to go uncracked.
Avacyn, Angel of Hope — With an Akroma-sized casting cost but a bigger body and a significantly more powerful game presence, Avacyn should see even more play. The only thing holding her down is the number of copies of her out there! We have so many Akromas from various sets that anyone who wants one can find one; Avacyn is only a mythic in this here set. Luckily, that limits her presence a bit, but not by much. We’ll be seeing as many of her as we saw of Emrakul and Darksteel Colossus during their heydays. Luckily, the same removal that you ran to fight against Blightteel/Darksteel Colossus and many other creatures works just as well against Avacyn. If you don’t have removal like Oblation, Path to Exile, or Crib Swap, pick them up! By the way, am I the only one surprised that she doesn’t have the “shuffle this back into your library” clause that so many beaters have?
Cathars’ Crusade — In any deck with a lot of bouncing or Flickering effects, this is wondrous. I’m not convinced of its value outside of those specific decks. Suppose I played a deck with a bunch of cheap aggressive creatures—this would come down way too late to have an impact. It just seems too limited to me to be used outside of specific decks that need it.
Divine Deflection — One of my favorite tricks to pull out in multiplayer was Captain’s Maneuver. It has an ability rarely seen which could turn the tide of the battle. I’ve killed at least three people who attacked an open Abe with their Phage, the Untouchable. This is a mono-white version that essentially does the same thing! It’s slightly more limited in scope, but it’s just one color and that’s worth it. This is the sort of card that won’t have a lot of financial value, but will possess a ton of play value. Pick up a few for your decks and play them—you will not be disappointed.
Entreat the Angels — Would you like to know something about Decree of Justice? Despite being an awesome card, I’ve played it for Angels roughly 10-15% of the time. You almost always want the instant, cantrip version that is very difficult to counter. Outside of the miracle ability, this just seems a bit too clunky on the mana base for most decks. How reliable will miracle be? We need play experience, and once we understand that, then we can evaluate cards such as this one more clearly.
Restoration Angel — Placing a flash Flicker on a 3/4 body for four mana appears to be a really amazing deal at first glance. You can do a lot with a Flicker. You can keep a creature from dying in combat, keep it from being targeted by a spell, pull off a Pacifism, double a trigger off an enters the battlefield ability, or even reload a creature with more counters, such as a Triskelion or Phantom Flock. With so many uses and a decent size and price, this appears to be a major player from the set.
Seraph of Dawn — In formats that care about rarity, such as Pauper, I really like this. We learned how good lifelink was back when Exalted Angel ruled the roost. Then we saw it again in a lot of cards from Loxodon Warhammer to Vampire Nighthawk. You can swing in the air, and the life you gain combats that lost by the attack you’ll take back. Lifelink goes a major way to helping you win a life race, and this can contribute in significant ways.
Silverblade Paladin — Again, we haven’t played around with soulbond yet, but I think this one is going to be really good. If you play it on something that can attack, then you are adding double strike on it for an immediate attack, and you have both creatures swinging at someone’s face next turn. I wouldn’t be surprised if this is one of the most powerful of the soulbond creatures, due to the power double strike offers.
Terminus — Wraths that can take out creatures which regenerate or have indestructible are always valuable. You’ll note this is in the same set as Avacyn. Problem? Answer! We know that it’s a more expensive Hallowed Burial with a miracle option, and that is perfectly suited to many environments. It puts Commanders back into the deck rather than allowing them to do more hijinks and stops graveyard recursion tricks cold. Enjoy!
Blue
Amass the Components — Is this better or worse than Sift? Let the discussions begin!
Devastation Tide — We’ve seen a lot of mass-bounce cards over the years, and whether we are talking about the sheer power of Upheaval or the versatility of Evacuation, many have gotten heavy use. It’s been a while since we’ve seen a good mass-bounce spell like this one. How good will it be? Because it doesn’t bounce lands, it’s not as powerful as Upheaval or as annoying as Sunder. These are good things in most casual metagames, where laying a spell like that finds you auto-targeted. You can’t use it in response to things like Evacuation. I can use it when somebody plays Phage, equips it, and swings at me for game. I can just play it at the end of someone’s turn, and then be the first to untap and replay my good creatures. With this, it’s just a bounce against everything that’s not a land. It will be hard for you to drop everything you need to, because you just used five mana. It slows people down, but doesn’t stop them. It can buy you a few turns.
I don’t see it making everybody mad at you, so there’s a spot for it in our decks. I’d pick up six if you’re the sort of person who has big deck stock and plays a lot of decks—two copies for Commander decks and a playset for a deck that calls for it. My little combo suggestion for this card is to run a card that turns all of your lands into creatures. Play the Tide, then play that and swing at someone’s empty board. You might want a way to untap the lands you tapped. Perhaps Rude Awakening?
Favorable Winds — I can’t tell you how many times I’ve wanted to put Serra Aviary into a deck, but didn’t because it pumped opposing creatures as well and it was an enchant world. I suspect this is going to be a casual sleeper, and you’ll see a lot of people running these for the next ten years. Pick them up now.
Geist Snatch — I lust for this. I love counters that do things besides counter. One of the most common things you’ll hear many multiplayer enthusiasts emphasize is the card disadvantage of one-for-one trading cards such as Counterspell. This gives you a dude, and just like the rocktastic Summoner’s Bane before, this is a great counter. It’s also identical to a spell I made twelve years ago called Plumadweomer, only mine made a bird, so it’s nice to see that. Hey, it’s my article, I can talk about stuff like that!
Ghostly Flicker — Not only is a reasonably priced double Flicker good for your toolbox, but it’s also a valuable card for some Pauper decks. In a format so sensitive to card advantage, getting another two uses from ETB creatures is quite nice.
Latch Seeker — Let me tell you a secret. This is one of my favorite cards from this set. Yes, that’s right, this! I know it’s just a 3/1 unblockable for three mana, but I use unblockable creatures all up and down the casting cost ranks. I love them in a variety of decks, because they like carrying equipment or powerful auras. Consider Sigil of Sleep, Necromantic Thirst, or Phyresis for auras, and Specter’s Shroud, Mask of Memory, and Quietus Spike for equipment. You could even play it with cards such as Larceny and Coastal Piracy. This is a great card for many decks, and I can’t wait!
Lone Revenant — With no evasive abilities, the Lone Revenant needs to really be lucky in order to hit for an Impulse. At least it’s a 4/4 body for five mana with some built-in protection through hexproof. If you have a blue deck that already has things like Whispersilk Cloak in it, remember this Spirit.
Lunar Mystic — Magic has a long history of these sorts of cards and they are almost always worse than they appear. These are cards of one type—creature, instant, sorcery, enchantment, artifact—which are amazing in a deck built around another type. Does Lunar Mystic look awesome in a deck with a bunch of instants? “Sure!” Now find one for it. “Okay! Well, let’s see, it has to be blue and needs a lot of instants, so I guess that, hmmm, we need counters, and over here we can… hmmm… yeah, that deck didn’t come out looking as good as I thought it would.” That’s the way with cards like this—they look fair but feel foul.
Misthollow Griffin — I know I will come up with a way to abuse this. I need to keep racking my brain…
Second Guess — Will this be the next sexy counter a la two mana uncommons such as Remand and Delay, or will it drop in value after playtesting shows it to be too unreliable? This one is just too much of an unknown to know for sure. In casual, it won’t be much at all. Why not just play real hard counters instead?
Tamiyo, the Moon Sage — Is it jarring to anyone else to see a Japanese-inspired Moonfolk in my horror block? I was just wondering. My quick and dirty multiplayer evaluation—tapping to lock something down is not a bad way to handle something without upsetting the owner overly much. That’s a positive. Threatening to go off for a ton of cards is not good though. Theft of Dreams is too uneven to play. You hold onto it overmuch waiting for it to be more than a Divination and you spend more time staring at it than playing it. I don’t see how broadcasting that I have it in planeswalker form is going to be better. The ultimates are awesome and broken in multiplayer. Considering how long it takes to reach this one, I’d think you have plenty of time to answer her. Take her down once she’s inflated, but she’s not a major target to my mind.
Temporal Mastery — Who has two thumbs and likes Time Walks? This guy! (Sometimes the old ones are so worth bringing back!)
Black
Barter in Blood — I’ve passed a bunch of reprints already, but I wanted to say that I like a lot of the ones I’ve seen, not only in this set, but this block. Reprints that fit work for me! Sometimes I wonder why we didn’t get a reprint, rather than a functional one—didn’t the generic name of Castle fit in? Did we have to make it Builder’s Blessing? Back to Barter—this is a classic power card for the color, and having another opportunity to pick up some is very handy.
Dark Impostor — I’m impressed by this card. You spend mana to exile something, and then not only do you have a +1/+1 counter for your troubles, but you can use its abilities on your Impostor. It does take a ton of mana to work, but you see immediate results, can use it more than once, and it will have a real impact on the board. It’s no Avatar of Woe or Visara the Dreadful, but it’ll do.
Demonic Taskmaster — I remember a few decks back in the day that ran such a small number of creatures that they could afford cheap ones with bad disadvantages such as Steel Golem and Skittering Horror. If you are playing a deck like that, then this is perfect. It’s also ideal in a deck that has temporary creatures, such as Ball Lightning or Sneak Attack beats.
Descent into Madness — There was always a place for cards such as Bottomless Pit in casual land. I don’t really see how this would be any different. Exiling the cards prevents graveyard shenanigans. Popping more than cards in hand but adding in permanents can really impact the board in just a few turns. While you absolutely have to build a deck around it, you certainly can. So do it!
Exquisite Blood — A powerful game-changing enchantment should do a few things. It should fit into many decks, and it should turn cards that are already powerful into deadly cards of death. Do you recall Sanguine Bond? One of the reasons it was so good was that a simple card, such as Temple Acolyte or Sorin’s Thirst, became lethal under a Sanguine Bond. This is a powerful enchantment because it makes so many cards better than they already are. And while talking about how this is good like Sanguine, don’t forget the million other people who have pointed out the lethal combo when both are out.
Griselbrand — Is it just me, or does the name Griselbrand sound a little weak for a set’s big bad? His card certainly isn’t weak. People have been discussing him in various decks ever since he was spoiled. What can’t you do with a recurring seven cards for seven life at instant speed? Griselbrand, the eight-mana Necropotence that doesn’t skip your draw, gives you the cards immediately, and swings for seven in the air while getting you that seven life back!
Harvester of Souls — A 5/5 deathtouch for six mana feels a bit pedestrian. Adding a powerful ability to draw a card every time something dies that‘s not itself or a token is not! Since you are drawing cards as opposing creatures bite it, this has a nice home in the color of removal. Imagine it out with say, six other creatures when someone plays Wrath of God. Sure, I’ll draw six cards to replace my lost one or two bodies. The Harvester of Souls is good math at any multiplayer table—and I’ve always liked math.
Killing Wave — Any mass removal card is good, right? And any card that forces your opponent to choose an effect is bad, right? Then why is Fact or Fiction so good and Hour of Reckoning and March of Souls so weak? You can’t make assumptions with sweeping force when looking at a card like Killing Wave. It’s like a painful Barter in Blood. This card is simply too new to really have a good hold on for at least a month, but I suspect it’s a real winner.
Polluted Dead — Land Destruction (LD) decks often have issues with their creature base. They want to play creatures, sure, but then they also want to not miss an opportunity to blow up a land while they do. Maybe they’ll drop cheap creatures, such as Jackal Pup. This is a fine tool for those decks, because it can adjunct your LD when needed, and serves when not needed. I think you’ll find Polluted Dead an interesting choice when rounding out your next R/B LD deck.
Treacherous Pit-Dweller — Is it just me, or do you see powerful sideboard games with this? Imagine I have a creatureless (or virtually so) mono-black control deck. Then, in game 2 when you side out your removal, I side in my 4/3 beater for two mana. The mind games that involves are crazy. I always knew the value of sideboarding, but never truly grokked it until I played Jeroen Remie in Round 10 of the Battle Royale for this here site. Many thought I had the better deck, but he owned me in sideboarding, constantly outthinking me from one game to the next. I won the first game, and then didn’t win again. After that match, I gained a new appreciation for it. I see this as a sideboard trick that could be quite potent.
Red
Battle Hymn — This is another of those tool cards from which I expect to see a lot of use. This sort of mana acceleration has a lot of uses in a variety of decks. Since you’ll need four creatures for it to be better than Pyretic Ritual, I expect it to be used for midgame to late mana-making into something quite abusive. Imagine filling out the X in a Fireball or dropping an Eldrazi-sized creature. A deck that vomits a lot of creatures should truly enjoy this as well; I’m thinking Goblin decks and other options.
Bonfire of the Damned — The next entry in the “I’m not that hot on my own but when I am miracled I become a very good boy indeed!” camp needs to come on down. I suspect we’ll try this out, not be super enthused, and it will slowly ebb from our decklists.
Dangerous Wager — This can be a nice tool for common-centered formats or a hyper-aggressive red deck. It’s not good enough to make the cut in too many decks, but I do think there are homes for it. It’s a respectable card. I won’t laugh at you for playing it. Note how much better it is than One with Nothing…
Falkenrath Exterminator — Earlier we were speaking of cards that are really good friends with Whispersilk Cloak, and here’s another entrant into that exclusive club. It’s basically a two-mana Slith, and it can shoot down creatures once it’s going. At a multiplayer table, when you drop it early, you often have a few turns to swing into open players before defenses shore up. Then you can shoot down creatures to accumulate more hits. I can see this dominating an early table almost as much as Stigma Lasher does.
Hound of Griselbrand — I know that this is just a simple creature, but the power seems quite nasty. It’s a four-drop that swings for four, and after it dies and comes back it swings for six. This lil’ doggy is right on the power curve. Undying is a strong mechanic, since it offers all the power of persist only better. While this is nothing but a French vanilla creature (the name for a creature with just keyword abilities), it’s also a potent creature.
Malignus — Playing a creature with some size is quite nice. The even nicer thing about it is that if you are playing against someone who combo’d into thousands or millions of life, then this is an answer. It may take 10 or 12 turns to bring them down to a normal life total, but it is an answer. The problem is that Malignus really needs to get in a hit, and that has difficulty happening. It also shrinks as their life total does, and it’s never truly a life-ending creature. We would have all loved to have seen this cost six mana and have intimidate—that could have been mythic. I like the ability, but since it diminishes over time, I just don’t see it getting played much.
Reforge the Soul — When they printed Time Reversal, I was super happy. Anybody who wanted a Timetwister could get one, and at the right casting cost and with the right clause that prevented abuse. Now anyone that wants a Wheel of Fortune can get one for five mana. Shoot, we’ll even give you a miracle option for two mana if that wasn’t good enough. The sheer usefulness of the “draw seven” cards down through the years is staggering, and getting another one is awesome on a whole new plane of consideration. Unlike Time Reversal, it’s not even a mythic, even though it feels to me like a mythic. You can pick them up for a decent price, and play Wheels all day long. Enjoy this gift folks!
Rush of Blood — This is basically a Berserk or Fatal Frenzy repeat except it doesn’t get trample and in exchange, it also doesn’t kill the creature. This little uncommon seems to pack a lot of potential into one little spell. Sure, the lack of trample hurts its ability to force a win through defense, but it works in so many other situations. Imagine blowing it on any number of creatures, including some in this set and color—Malignus? Hound of Griselbrand? Vexing Devil? All awesome! You don’t even have to take Rush of Blood out of this set in order to find great cards to work with. Imagine it alongside champions of the color from ye olden days.
Rush of Blood is another of those cards you should acquire a few of, because this is going to have an impact on games. Note that in multiplayer, you can target an opposing creature with this. If I’m swinging at Joe with a pumped Shivan Dragon, feel free to Rush of Blood my dragon to dole out a double slice of pain to Joe!
Tibalt, the Fiend-Blooded — It doesn’t matter how good or bad a given planeswalker’s abilities are in multiplayer, the fact that you have one out changes the game. I’ve regaled you before with stories of fairly weak ‘walkers, such as Chandra Ablaze in a five-color deck, that still managed to turn the tide in a game. They all have a level of power that cannot be discounted. They distract opponents, draw attacks, and sit there to trigger abilities. It’s doesn’t matter how meh Tibalt seems, he has value. Sure, looting with a random discard may seem weak, but it’s there for when you want it. Many decks can abuse it with madness, recursion, incarnations, threshold, dredge, flashback, and so many more cards and strategies.
The second ability isn’t that hot. Stormseeker and Sudden Impact aren’t exactly the latest tech in casual circles or anything. When you want it, it’s there. However, that ultimate is tasty. Insurrection is often a player killer, and you have one sitting there. So play your Tibalt, add a few counters, and then laugh as people go after him rather than coming your way. He sucks up attention and that’s good enough. And if you play him in a deck where his first ability is really good, then you have a major winner.
Green
Abundant Growth — I don’t know how many people play Prismatic online or Five Color in real life. If you do, this is a card of serious consideration for those who don’t have full duals. It’s won’t accelerate your mana, but there is no downside since it replaces itself. It’s an awesome card!
Bower Passage – Does anyone else feel like they have really pushed anti-flying cards in green the past two years? Look at cards such as Plummet compared to Wing Snare, and cards such as Gravity Well and Stingerfling Spider. This is just another entry in the war against the air that green seems to be pushing. At this rate, how long will it be until we see Whirlwind reprinted?
Descendants’ Path — This is an interesting card to build around, and I’m sure that many of us will try it to see how it plays. What I appreciate about this card is the art. This has to be one of my favorite pieces of non-land art in the last few years. I love it! I can’t wait until I have one in my hands to inspect it in real life. On behalf of everyone who loves this art, can we please get the wallpaper version on Friday? Thanks!
Druids’ Repository — I can see quite a few combo decks that will embrace this engine. I can’t wait to start reading combo decks that harness it.
Natural End — This is subtly one of the best cards for casual players in the set. It’s not sexy or anything, I hear you. It doesn’t have fangs, teeth, or breasts. What it does have is a nice little extra for a card you often want. Getting something extra along with your one-for-one trades is very valuable. I rarely have a deck that needs Disenchant; instead I look to cards like Terashi’s Grasp, Dismantling Blow, Orim’s Thunder, and Return to Dust. Up until now, green had few useful alternatives to Naturalize other than Krosan Grip and creatures such as Acidic Slime and Mold Shambler. Netting an instant that adds three life to your total when you Naturalize something is a card I expect to see a lot of play. This is going to be an instant hit.
Literally.
Because it’s an instant and it hits stuff.
Pathbreaker Wurm — This card feels a bit boring. But what I adore here is how the flavor and soulbond work together to make me smile. How does it give trample to something? By clearing a path with its trampling body! That’s awesome.
Primal Surge — Just like it was hard for Lunar Mystic to find a home in a deck with a lot of instants, this wants to be in a deck with a lot of permanents. All decks have lots of permanents, but to be worth that ten mana cost, you need to flip more than three lands and a Birds of Paradise. You need a deck loaded with enchantments, lands, artifacts, creatures, and planeswalkers. This naturally limits the decks that can use Primal Surge.
Rain of Thorns — This is a nice two-of in certain decks that might be especially vulnerable to lands, artifacts, and/or enchantments. I’m thinking of certain combo decks, for example. As an aggro card, it has little merit. You might find a home in a U/G control deck, because you can blow out three things for one; that’s card advantage all day long. In casual land, versatility of removal is key, and this has it in spades. In multiplayer, where the six mana cost is not an issue, you’ll be fine. You’ll have a lot of targets for all three to trigger. Just remember the Hull Breach rule—don’t target someone’s stuff unless you want to make an enemy or really have to. If you need it to resolve to take out one player’s Mind’s Eye, don’t target another player’s Maze of Ith. It might be countered when it wouldn’t have been otherwise.
Soul of the Harvest — Wow, Primordial Sage just got a lot better! Sure, you don’t draw when you play a creature, but you draw for them coming into play off Animate Dead, Eureka, or Momentary Blink. That’s more than a fair trade. Plus, you get +2/+1 and trample for the same cost, and neither work with tokens. There’s been an obvious push to give green card drawing for the last few years, and everything from this to Hunter’s Presence is further proof of it. There are zounds of decks that this Elemental fits into. I like something that will Flicker your whole team, such as Sudden Disappearance.
Wolfir Avenger — Decent bodies like this with good abilities are always going to cut it in casual land or tournament world. It doesn’t matter if we are looking at Garruk’s Companion or Elite Vanguard, or perhaps Troll Ascetic or Vampire Nighthawk. All of these creatures see play because of their strong red zone presence. They’re going to influence games in every table around the world, and this guy is no exception.
Other — Gold, Artifacts, and Land
Bruna, Light of Alabaster — The part of her ability that I really respond to is getting auras out of your graveyard and throwing them on her for free when she attacks. Moving auras to her from your hand asks for her to be killed in order to lose card advantage. Moving auras around on the battlefield needs good auras to use. Sure, there is the occasional Rancor you move over, but this is not something that will kick in a lot. Grabbing dead auras—that seems to be where the power in Bruna lies.
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight — After Avacyn, Gisela is my favorite angel in the whole set. I think she’s got a lot of power under the hood. Her ability to double damage to your enemies accelerates their doom! She’s basically a 10/10 with her abilities. The second ability of course halves damage you and yours take. The combination of extra damage dealt and extra damage prevented is so powerful that I’m a bit surprised they fit it on a seven-mana 5/5 first striking flier. It seems like she should cost at least two more mana! Gisela is power incarnate.
Sigarda, Host of Herons — I like protecting my team as much as the next guy. In a set with Avacyn, maybe this is a little much. Now I can’t even force you to sacrifice Avacyn! That’s rather annoying. Normally, I’m not a super big fan of the ability. It’s nice, sure. It’s a 5/5 flyer with hexproof for five mana, so it’s very playable. I’m not going to make fun of you for playing her or anything. Stopping sacrifices? It will occasionally matter against Barter in Blood or Living Death, but it’s usually not at the power level others may suspect.
Gallows at Willow Hill — While not exactly a card that’s going to set the world on fire, I love the flavor of this card. Take a look at some of your decks. Considering how ubiquitous Humans are, I suspect you may have some decks with a majority of Humans without ever having realized it. Wouldn’t that deck benefit from a Gallows?
Moonsilver Spear — The expensive play cost and equip cost are a real entry to start churning out Angels. Unlike many similar effects such as Planar Portal, once you’ve spent the cost you can reap the benefit every turn for no mana down. Just put it on my Latch Seeker and you can kill and make dorks at the same time!
Alchemist’s Refuge, Desolate Lighthouse, Slayers’ Stronghold — There are a lot of lands out there that have nifty abilities. Choosing which ones to run is sometimes difficult, when you can select lands from all over Magic’s history. In Standard, if it fits, it ships. Any land that is in your colors and works makes it in. In casual world, suppose you are building a G/W deck. Do you put in Nantuko Monastery? Khalni Garden? Stirring Wildwood? Graypelt Refuge? Vitu-Ghazi, the City-Tree? Gavony Township? What about other options that aren’t dependent on the color—such as Mystifying Maze, Reliquary Tower, High Market, or Tower of the Magistrate? It’s not always obvious what should be cut and what shouldn’t.
Considering these three great options will only make things more difficult. All of them are quite powerful for their colors. In particular, the Refuge and Lighthouse seem like they can be put into most two-color decks with their colors. Even the Stronghold is useful in many R/W decks. By including these cards, you don’t sacrifice much—just the cost of having a few less lands in your deck that don’t tap for colored mana. Their power is incredible. I’d advise you to find some and tap into it.
Cavern of Souls — I think this is a great card, and it’s going to be played in every format, in many different decks. Don’t trade them, just sit on as many as you can.
Okay, now that my evaluation is out the way, it’s rant time. I hate to end such a positive set review on a negative note, but this is the last card in the last category—overall the set is strong, and good job Wizards! However, I have an issue with this carrying the gold symbol. They already published an article on just this card, detailing that they knew it would have a major impact in every format. They knew it was going to be in high demand. And then they printed it at rare, and that just boggles my mind.
As a rare, this is going to be worth $20-30 dollars forever. Every single casual player with a tribal deck wants them. Aggro decks want them to slip past counters, tribal decks wants them to speed up mana and to slip past counters, control decks want them to slip their one/two beaters past counters, and creature-based combo decks want them to slip combo pieces past counters. With such a massive appeal to the casual and tournament market, printing this at rare really hurts the ability to get it in the hands of budget-oriented casual players, for whom it has such appeal. This would be a $5+ uncommon, but that ensures we have enough copies to meet demand and players without deep pockets can more likely open them in the small number of boosters they crack or purchase/trade for them.
This set has enough banner cards to sell the set that this didn’t need to be a rare. I don’t mind expensive rares, I have no problem with the printing of Snapcaster Mage or other pricey rares. What I take umbrage with is making a card with such massive appeal to virtually every casual player, and then making it so powerful that the tournament need increases the price to huge level. I predict many frustrated players. Right now I have deck space for about thirty-five of these. I could put them right into a bunch of decks and all would improve. Now I’ll be lucky if I have four or five. And I’m not a budget player, I’ll pay money for a $40 card! A budget player won’t even have four or five—they’ll have at most one or two (and likely not even that). This card is great! But that gold symbol is a mistake.
There’s a lot of love about Avacyn Restored. It’s another injection of fresh blood into our collective artery until Magic 2013 and the summer cards from the next casual set arrive. I’m already counting the days until the next set arrives. That’s just who we are. Next please!
Until Later,