In this article, I will share my first thoughts on some interesting cards in Alara Reborn. Any unofficial spoilers come from our friends at MTGSalvation.com. If you don’t want to see cards before the Prerelease Events, or only cards from official previews, you shouldn’t read on.
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Right… On with the show!
Bituminous Blast 3BR
Uncommon
Instant
Cascade (When you play this spell, remove cards from the top of your library until you remove a nonland card that costs less. You may play it without paying its mana cost. Put the removed cards on the bottom in a random order.)
Bituminous Blast deals 4 damage to target creature.
First, I didn’t know exactly how Cascade will work. I expect that you can play any spell at any time if you reveal it (such as when you play your suspended creatures in your upkeep… I expect that you can play a Wall of Reverence for free if you reveal it). I talked to Olivier which expects it to work like that as well, but as I couldn’t play my non instant spells in combat when I had Intent, the Dreamer in a TPF draft, I am not 100% sure. But then again, it could be a MTGO bug! [I’m pretty sure it works as you say — Craig.]
This is a card that has the potential to see both Alara Block Constructed and Standard play. For Faerie players, it will be even more devastating getting the Mistbind Clique blasted than it was when it got Cryptic Commanded. Getting a free spell in addition to your removal spell is both really good tempo and card advantage. The card doesn’t have that much synergy with counterspells though, as you might lose your free card (this doesn’t count for Cryptic Command, obviously).
In Standard, I could see the card as the new draw engine for the Swans deck, but as the deck is built around a lot of counterspells, it could be overlooked. I don’t know how much worse the card gets if you have to respond on your opponent’s spells and reveal the wrong side of the Negate/Remove Soul combination. But it will definitely see play in Five-Color Control decks.
In Block, four is exactly the amount of damage a burn spell has to deal. Being able to kill both Woolly Thoctar and Battlegrace Angel makes the card a big contender for any deck that can support the card. Of course, there are a lot of five-toughness guys in the new set, so be aware of this.
I expect the card to see a lot of play, at least in control and aggro-control decks. I don’t know if the card is too slow for an aggro deck… but the next card I am talking about is perfect for any aggro deck supporting its colors.
Bloodbraid Elf 2RG
Uncommon
Creature — Elf Berserker
Haste, Cascade
3/2
Another card with the new ability, Cascade. This card could make it worth building a Red/Green aggro deck featuring lots of haste creatures like Boggart Ram-Gang and Rip-Clan Crasher. Even revealing a Noble Hierarch doesn’t seem that bad. The closest card we have right now to compare would be Ranger of Eos. Instead of more cards, we get far more tempo, as both haste and cascade speed the card up. It is very hard to say which card is better, and I don’t know how bad it is to get a random card out of your deck instead of a one-mana creature, but I expect the random card to be better most of the time.
In Standard, I expect the card to have more impact than Ranger of Eos, as fetching two Wild Nacatls is not that impressive. In Extended, I still think that Naya decks will rely on Ranger of Eos. Fetching up two Wild Nacatls or Burrenton-Forge Tenders should often be better than the tempo (even though a free Tarmogoyf sounds pretty insane).
Next, another card / reason for a Red/Green style deck: Blitz Hellion
Blitz Hellion 3RG
Rare
Creature — Hellion
Trample, Haste
At end of turn, Blitz Hellion’s owner shuffles it into his or her library.
7/7
Blitz Hellion is very similar to Blistering Firecat, but it is much better against any deck running Red (especially against Mogg Fanatic). With these two cards, I could see a deck like this:
4 Mogg Fanatic
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Hellspark Elemental
4 Rip-Clan Crasher
4 Boggart Ram-Gang
4 Bloodbraid Elf
4 Blitz Hellion
4 Treetop Village
4 Fire-Lit Thicket
4 Karplusan Forest
4 Reflecting Pool
3 Mountain
4 Forest
This deck has only 8 possible ways to cast Noble Hierarch on turn 1, so I don’t know if it is worth playing it. It doesn’t have any Figure of Destiny so it can support Treetop Village and Noble Hierarch. I don’t know if it is worth losing some power cards like Spectral Procession or Figure of Destiny in order to move into a Green/Red deck, but I wouldn’t dismiss such a strategy. A turn 3 Bloodbraid Elf with another attacker seems far too good to ignore.
Another deck for Bloodbraid Elf could be Ziggurat.dec, but getting a Birds of Paradise or Path to Exile doesn’t seem that strong. And getting Boggart Ram-Gang even seems better than Doran, the Siege Tower (or Woolly Thoctar, if you are moving more towards Red).
Next up, we have a new Loxodon Hierarch.
Mycoid Sphepherd 1GGW
Rare
Creature — Fungus
Whenever Mycoid Shepherd or another creature you control with power 5 or greater is put into a graveyard from play, you may gain 5 life.
5/4
The card is much worse than Loxodon Hierarch, or even Ravenous Baloth. As a lot of the current removal spells don’t actually kill the creature, but remove it from the game instead, and thus the ability doesn’t trigger. The condition of “if another creature with power 5 would die” is ignorable for Constructed play.
A four-mana five-power guy isn’t as impressive as it would have been before cards like Ranger of Eos and Woolly Thoctar got printed. I don’t expect the card to see a lot of play.
But then again, Terminate will be reprinted, and I expect Bituminous Blast to be a very good card, so if Black/Red beatdown decks rise on top, this card gets better.
Qasali Pridemage GW
Common
Creature — Cat Wizard
Exalted
1, Sacrifice Qasali Pridemage: Destroy target artifact or enchantment.
2/2
The last time we had a Disenchant Bear it was Viridian Zealot, and the card didn’t see as much play as most people thought when it got spoiled. Besides being multicolour, this card is better for several obvious reasons. It might see some Standard and Block play, but it is not an obvious addition in those formats. In Extended though, it seems like a really good sideboard card (or even maindeck) in any Wild Nacatl strategy.
I won’t talk any more about this card, as it seems pretty obvious what its functions are.
Lord of Extinction 3GB
Mythic
Creature — Elemental
Lord of Extinction’s power and toughness are each equal to the number of cards in all graveyards.
* / *
If this guy had another ability (like Trample) it would be pretty good, as it would win a fight against Elspeth or Bitterblossom. As it is now, it seems far too clunky for any matchup. It seems like a nice combo with Wall of Reverence, but I think cards like Cloudthresher do a better job there.
How about the new Vindicate…?
Maelstrom Pulse 1GB
Rare
Sorcery
Destroy target nonland permanent and each permanent that shares a name with that permanent.
Finally, another solution to Planeswalkers in Block Constructed… one that isn’t White. The card is almost always an improved Oblivion Ring. It is better at fighting tokens from Bitterblossom, but besides that I don’t expect it to be that much better than the Ring, as there should rarely be two or more permanents on the pitch with the same name. This is another reason to play Bloodbraid Elf over Ranger of Eos, as you don’t want to fetch up two copies of the same card against a deck running Maelstrom Pulse.
Don’t get me wrong, the card will see play for sure, but I think the card is a touch hyped right now. It’s not that much better than an Oblivion Ring, and it is much harder to cast.
Here’s another card that is very similar to an older card…
Sphinx of the Steel Wind 5WUB
Mythic
Artifact Creature — Sphinx
Flying, first strike, vigilance, lifelink, protection from Red and from Green
6/6
When we were testing for Berlin, we tried to build a deck around Sharuum, Grand Arbiter Augustin IV, and Thirst for Knowledge. But as there were not that many great artifacts to reanimate besides Sundering Titan, the combination of cards didn’t seem to be worth it. With this guy around, it might be worth it to give the deck a second chance. I imagine something like this:
4 Grand Arbiter Augustin IV
4 Sharuum the Hedgemon
3 Sphinx of the Steel Wind
1 Sundering Titan
1 Magister Sphinx
2 Path to Exile
4 Remand
4 Mana Leak
4 Thirst for Knowledge
2 Careful Consideration
4 Chrome Mox
4 Engineered Explosives
2 Academy Ruins
4 Flooded Strand
3 Polluted Delta
1 Watery Grave
2 Hallowed Fountain
1 Godless Shrine
2 Plains
1 Swamp
5 Island
2 Seat of the Synod
I don’t know if the deck is good enough for the current format. I do like the Grand Arbiter as a preboard disruption for Storm and Elves. It seems like some sort of Tron Variant though… if you draw the right combination of cards your deck is very strong and almost unbeatable, but you have draws where you just sit there and die. Still, I think that the Sphinx of the Steel Wind is good enough to make it worth testing such a strategy again.
Another card that is untested for the deck yet is Magister Sphinx. If you reanimate it with Sharuum it gives you a one-turn clock for your opponent, or you can reset your life total to ten against an aggressive Red deck. I don’t know how important the aggressive life swing is… the following card would be another choice in that spot.
Filigree Angel 5WWU
Rare
Artifact Creature — Angel
Flying
When Filigree Angel comes into play, you gain 3 life for each artifact you control.
4/4
To conclude my thoughts on Sphinx of the Steel Wind, I see the card in any Solar Flare style strategy, but besides that it is very hard to include this card in a deck if you can get cards like Broodmate Dragon, Cruel Ultimatum, or Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker for a similar converted mana cost.
I won’t talk about Meddling Mage or Terminate, as both cards have already proved time and again how good they are, and this will not change with the rebirth of Alara.
That’s it for this week. This weekend I will probably attend an Alara Block Tournament in Paris, at which the winner picks up a Black Lotus. As you are reading this, I am at Olivier’s house to test for that tournament, and we have some interesting thoughts for upcoming articles. Watch this space!
Thanks for reading.
Manuel B