The spoiler is up; the set reviews are coming. I’m going to look at the set, too, but I’ll analyze it from a multiplayer perspective. Limited specialists can tell you how to draft it, and I haven’t tested enough to give you States previews, but multiplayer?
I can do that.
This version of the spoiler comes from MTG Salvation, about two weeks before the prerelease. The usual caveats about the cards being unconfirmed applies. See http://mtgsalvation.com/spoiler/ for updates – or Wizards’ site after the prerelease. As always, there’s no guarantee that this spoiler’s 100% accurate, so don’t blame me if the cards turn out to be different.
Auratouched Mage
5W
Creature – Human Wizard
3/3
Uncommon
When Auratouched Mage comes into play, search your library for an Aura card that could enchant it. If Auratouched Mage is still in play, attach that Aura to it. Otherwise, reveal the Aura card and put it into your hand. Then shuffle your library.
I always review the first card on the spoiler. Always. So what am I going to do with this?
This could be played in a deck with Crown of the Ages, which could move the enchantments off this and onto another creature. You could Auratouched Mage it to tutor for everything from Pacifism to Mythic Proportions – but you could do that with Enlightened Tutor as well. Enlightened Tutor costs W; this costs 5W. Like Enlightened Tutor, this can fetch Control Magic or Confiscate – but it sticks them onto a 3/3 dude that you already control.
In most multiplayer games, vanilla 3/3s are about as useless a creature as you can find. You either want bigger creatures, more evasive creatures or cheap Walls – not 3/3s. If all you want is to search out an enchantment and put it into play, just sacrifice Academy Rector.
Bathe in Light
1W
Instant
Uncommon
Radiance – Choose a color. Target creature and each other creature that shares a color with it gain protection from the chosen color until end of turn.
It’s almost useful…. But it’s awfully narrow. This would protect you against burn spells – but a lot of removal in multiplayer is of the Wrath of God/Pernicious Deed/Mutilate variety, where protection does nothing. If your opponents play along, this could enable an alpha strike against one or two players – but the situation has to be just right. You’d have to have this, the opponent’s blockers have to all be in one color, you have to be able to safely tap out to Alpha Strike without having the others attack you in turn, and… oh, heck, it’ll almost never happen.
Blazing Archon
6WWW
Creature – Archon
5/6
Rare
Flying Creatures can’t attack you.
“Flying creatures cannot attack you” is a great ability in multiplayer, because it means the fliers are going elsewhere. All to the good. Blazing Archon is also big enough that it should hold off almost all opposing ground-pounders as well. The downside is that it costs as much as two Wraths and a Swords to Plowshares. 6WWW should be enough to win a multiplayer game – not just give you defenses that disappear to Swords, Terror, Boomerang, or Humility.
Why, exactly, would Wizards print this? Or is this Maro’s fault – did he figure that after printing an Unhinged artifact that cost a million, that 6WWW wasn’t that expensive? Whatever – even I can see that this is too expensive to ever see serious play anywhere.
Note:
A lot of this set is seriously overcosted. People want this to be the new Invasion, but Invasion was not full of massively overcosted cards that still saw play – aside from maybe Reya, Dawnbringer. This isn’t Reya Dawnbringer.
Boros Fury-Shield
2W
Instant
Common
Prevent all combat damage that would be dealt by target attacking or blocking creature this turn. If R was spent to play Boros Fury-Shield, it deals damage to that creature’s controller equal to the creature’s power.
I love cards like this. This is a perfect way of messing with other players’ combat phases. I can see games where player A’s creature is going to trample over some blockers, and I, in effect, Backlash it.
Of course, I liked Backlash, too, which does not make this a good card. However, this is the kind of card that can force people to stay on your good side – even if they are not attacking you. (Or just kill you before you play any more annoying cards.)
Chant of Vitu-Ghazi
6WW
Instant
Uncommon
Convoke (Each creature you tap while playing this spell reduces its cost by 1 or by one mana of that creature’s color.) Prevent all damage that would be dealt by creatures this turn. You gain 1 life for each damage prevented this way.
Okay, Reverse Damage is unplayable, and it costs 1WW. Admittedly, the Damage only stops one source – this gets far more – but it still costs way, way too much. Convoke does not help – if you have a ton of creatures out, just play Congregate instead.
Actually, Convoke is just stupid. If you have a ton of creatures in play (and by “a ton,” I mean “more than four”) you are just waiting for a Deed or Akroma’s Vengeance or Pyroclasm to wreck you. The only time you want to go for mass multiple creatures, you want infinite creatures – and you want them to appear during an end phase or to have haste so you win immediately. The only way you would ever be able to keep a horde like that around would be to have Intruder Alarm, Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker, and Meddling Mage – and then make Meddling Mages naming every mass removal spell out there.
Of course, that begs the question: if you have an infinite supply of hasty Meddling Mages, why don’t you just win?
Convoke stinks.
Concerted Effort
2WW
Enchantment
Rare
At the beginning of each player’s upkeep, if a creature you control has flying, all creatures you control gain flying until end of turn. The same is true for fear, first strike, double strike, landwalk, protection, trample, and vigilance.
Years back, a Tempest card – Phyrexian Splicer – let you move abilities from one creature to another. That was almost playable because it not only helped your creatures, it also robbed opposing creatures of their evasion abilities. This card does not do that. It is just an expensive enchantment that is slightly better than Levitation or Serra’s Blessing.
That said, however, it could be kind of interesting in a Vanguard deck with the Akroma avatar. Maybe.
Devouring Light
1WW
Instant
Uncommon
Convoke (Each creature you tap while playing this spell reduces its cost by 1 or by one mana of that creature’s color.) Remove target attacking or blocking creature from the game.
You could have Exile. You could have Swords to Plowshares. You could even have Chastise. Those cards are almost always better than this. The convoke version is only better if you have more untapped creatures than lands you can tap, and you don’t mind tapping them.
When does that happen?
See what I mean about Convoke?
Faith’s Fetters
3W
Enchantment – Aura
Common
Enchant permanent When Faith’s Fetters comes into play, you gain 4 life. Enchanted permanent’s activated abilities can’t be played unless they’re mana abilities. If enchanted permanent is a creature, it can’t attack or block.
This is an answer to Pernicious Deed, Nevinyrral’s Disk, and so forth – but so is Pithing Needle, and that does not cost four.
However, Pithing Needle does not double as a Pacifism, so Fetters is not totally awful. It is a possible inclusion in an Enduring Ideal deck – although Confiscate would usually be a better option.
Ghosts of the Innocent
5WW
Creature – Spirit
4/5
Rare
If a source would deal damage to a creature or player, it deals half that damage, rounded down, to that creature or player instead.
We have seen this ability before. It is either totally annoying (e.g. Humility), or totally unplayable (all the others). I suspect that this will be the later, even if it does beat for two. (That’s not a typo – it beats for just two. Think about it.)
Hour of Reckoning
4WWW
Sorcery
Rare
Convoke (Each creature you tap while playing this spell reduces its cost by 1 or by one mana of that creature’s color.) Destroy all nontoken creatures.
I’m not going to make a big production about reviewing all the bad cards, but this is an exception. This is a massively overcosted Wrath of God, but the casting cost can be reduced by tapping untapped creatures. If you have untapped creatures, why would you want to Wrath, anyway?
Wrath is cheaper. Akroma’s Vengeance is cheaper. Heck, even Kirtar’s Wrath is cheaper. This is – well, crap. It is probably the worst Wrath effect since Soulscour, or maybe Wave of Reckoning. No – Wave of Reckoning is better.
Hunted Lammasu
2WW
Creature – Lammasu
5/5
Rare
Flying
When Hunted Lammasu comes into play, put a 4/4 black Horror creature token into play under target opponent’s control.
I like the politics involved in play this in multiplayer – you get a fat flier, and someone who really needs a blocker now owes you a favor. Other than that, however, this is nothing special. Multiplayer is not usually the place for undercosted fatties, since they cannot usually beat the table before some opponents effect defenses. It will be better in duels.
Leave No Trace
1W
Instant
Common
Radiance – Destroy target enchantment and each other enchantment that shares a color with it.
Root Greevil wasn’t all that good, either – but it does have a very narrow range of usefulness. If even one of your typical opponents plays a mono-colored deck based primarily around enchantments….
Who am I kidding? The only time this will ever be played is when someone is playing at home and the house rules allow Cunning Wish to fetch anything the person owns. Or maybe in very twisted Mental Magic game.
Suppression Field
1W
Enchantment
Uncommon
Activated abilities cost 2 more to play unless they’re mana abilities.
This should have just been written directly into the text for Umezawa’s Jitte. “2, remove a counter: Jitte stuff.” Doesn’t that sound more reasonable?
In multiplayer, this is one of those cards that will endear you to some players and completely piss off others – depending on what their decks do. However, you can achieve the same effects – only more so – with Cursed Totem, Null Rod, and Damping Matrix.
Copy Enchantment
2U
Enchantment
Rare
As Copy Enchantment comes into play, you may choose an enchantment in play. If you do, Copy Enchantment comes into play as a copy of that enchantment.
This is kind of neat. It not only duplicates useful enchantments, it also kills Hondens. However, this card is only good if you have a target in play. In many respects, this is even more limited than Sculpting Steel – and we know how widely that has been played.
Drift of Phantasms
2U
Creature – Spirit
Common
Defender (This creature can’t attack.)
Flying
Transmute 1UU (1UU, Discard this card: Search your library for a card with the same converted mana cost as this card, reveal it, and put it into your hand. Then shuffle your library. Play only as a sorcery.)
0/5
The flying wall is only marginally useful – and I overvalue walls. However, what makes the card interesting is that this is a tutor – and a pretty decent one at that. It will find Eternal Witness, Sword of Fire and Ice, Kodama’s Reach, Wheel of Fortune, and Yawgmoth’s Will. It is even marginally reusable with Raise Dead effects or Volrath’s Stronghold. Big deck formats, like Prismatic and 5-Color, are going to have to consider restricting or banning the Transmute cards. In particular, 5-Color needs to look hard at the transmutes that fetch one- and two-mana cards – in other words, those that can find Contract from Below and Time Walk.
Eye of the Storm
5UU
Enchantment
Rare
Whenever a player plays an instant or sorcery card, remove it from the game. Then that player copies each instant or sorcery card removed from the game with Eye of the Storm. For each copy, the player may play the copy without paying its mana cost.
I want to see the FAQ on this card, but it certainly looks interesting. I believe that the card allows each player the ability to play every instant and sorcery played and removed by Eye of the Storm. If you are not abusing it, the card just seems like a bookkeeping nightmare. However, the card does seem abusable, if you can keep the chain going. Here’s my first thought: Play this. Play Lightning Bolt. Play Land Grant (assuming you have no lands in hand) and fail to find a land. Play Burning Wish, retrieving Land Grant. Now you can continue to play and retrieve the Land Grant until you have zapped everyone with multiple Lightning Bolts.
The combo does cost 6UURR, so it is not totally broken, but it is something to think about in Legacy. If you can add in a method of cheating the enchantment into play (e.g. Academy Rector), it could become viable in tournaments. For now, it’s something to try in casual games.
Hunted Phantasm
1UU
Creature – Spirit 4/6
Rare
Hunted Phantasm is unblockable. When Hunted Phantasm comes into play, put five 1/1 red Goblin creature tokens into play under target opponent’s control.
Okay, all the Constructed players are going to be looking at this turn 3, followed by a turn 4 Jitte, equip, smash, and turn 5 Pyroclasm or Shard Phoenix, if necessary. That looks pretty good, but I would consider something like U/W, with Ghostly Prison and Serra’s Blessing for multiplayer, instead. Or, if you can’t find Varchild’s War Riders, this plus Aether Flash and Repercussion.
Remand
1U
Instant
Uncommon
Counter target spell. If you do, return that spell card to its owner’s hand. Draw a card.
Okay, this does three things. It cantrips. It slows down/Time Walks the opponent. It counts towards flipping Erayo. This is obviously only going to be useful for some sort of combo deck, or if you can combine it with discard to empty the opponent’s hand.
It does have one more advantage in multiplayer games, however – it is a Counterspell that multiplayer opponents probably won’t go completely ape over.
Tunnel Vision
5U
Sorcery
Rare
Name a card. Target player reveals cards from the top of his or her library until the named card is revealed. If it is, that player puts the rest of the revealed cards into his or her graveyard and puts the named card on top of his or her library. Otherwise, the player shuffles his or her library.
This is a six-mana sorcery that lets you look at your opponent’s whole deck – just name “Chimney Imp” or “Obstinate Familiar.” Extract will do the same, for four less mana, but ignore that.
Alternatively, you could play this along with Teferi’s Puzzle Box and Zur’s Weirding or Wizened Snitches – see the cards they draw with Puzzle Box, then Tunnel Vision something they just put on the bottom of their decks. Or you can try this with Junk Troller – an overpriced artifact wall that empties graveyard.
Better yet, just avoid this card.
Helldozer
3BBB
Creature – Zombie Giant
6/5
Rare
BBB, Tap: Destroy target land. If that land is nonbasic, untap Helldozer.
In most of the multiplayer games I’ve been in, everyone plays non-basic lands. This is going to kill a lot of lands once it gets over summoning sickness. It is also very difficult to kill, since it is black (making it immune to most Terror effects) and five toughness makes it immune to most single burn spells. This will not make you popular in multiplayer – but it may make you a winner.
Hex
4BB
Sorcery
Rare
Destroy six target creatures.
This requires exactly six legal targets – and that means six targetable creatures. That is occasionally possible in multiplayer – but Dregs of Sorrow is almost always going to be better. The only exception is if your opponents are playing black – Hex can kill black creatures.
Necroplasm
1BB
Creature – Ooze
Rare
1/1
At the beginning of your upkeep, put a +1/+1 counter on Necroplasm. At the end of your turn, destroy each creature with converted mana cost equal to the number of +1/+1 counters on Necroplasm.
Dredge 2
This kills tokens the turn you cast it, and then slowly slaughters other creatures, until it offs itself during your upkeep on the fourth turn. If you like slow control decks that annoy your opponents, this is your card. Stick it in the same deck as Helldozer – and maybe play Lightning Greaves, because everyone who can kill this will try.
Red Cards
Red has a lot of random burn spells, but not much that I found exciting in multiplayer. Psionic Blast is back , but I rarely played that in multiplayer – and then only because I was playing blue. Red in this set is good for Limited and Constructed duels, but Radiance doesn’t do much for me in multiplayer. Warp World looks like it was intended for multiplayer games, but I’m not a fan of that type of random silliness.
Carven Caryatid
1GG
Creature – Spirit
2/5
Uncommon
Defender (This creature can’t attack.)
When Carven Caryatid comes into play, draw a card.
We already have Wall of Blossoms. This is more like Jungle Barrier. No one plays Jungle Barrier.
Chord of Calling
XGGG
Instant
Rare
Convoke (Each creature you tap while playing this spell reduces its cost by 1 or by one mana of that creature’s color.)
Search your library for a creature card with converted mana cost X or less and put it into play. Then shuffle your library.
In a deck with Walls of Blossoms and Walls of Roots, this could be cast fairly cheaply, fairly quickly. It also puts the creature directly into play, which could help avoid creatures that have additional costs to cast – although there are few I would care about. Unfortunately, cards like Phyrexian Dreadnought and Lord of Tresserhorn have disadvantages that trigger when the card comes into play. Chord of Calling does nothing to get around that.
On the plus side, this should be useful with undercosted creatures, like Echo critters, and it does not require you to get creatures of any particular color. It could also be good at scaring other people off. If they know you play Chord of Calling and have three creatures and six mana up, they know they could attack, have some creatures blocked, then see an instant-speed Crater Hellion, Triskelion, or Duplicant appear.
Doubling Season
4G
Enchantment
Rare
If an effect would put one or more tokens into play under your control, it puts twice that many into play instead. If an effect would place one or more counters on a permanent you control, it places twice that many on that permanent instead.
Invasion had some of these tricks, too. They didn’t pan out, either. This is far too often going to be trash. Most of the time, you will either have too few tokens to make this worthwhile, or enough tokens that this is redundant.
I could talk about other green cards, but my comments of most of the rest are equally unenthusiastic. Sundering Vitae has some limited interest – for example, it could kill Stasis, if you have a few creatures untapped (and assuming someone in your play group plays Stasis.) Overall, though, nothing in green is going to be exciting, outside of limited and, maybe, Standard.
Agrus Kos, Wojek Veteran
3RW
Legendary Creature – Human Soldier
3/3
Rare
Whenever Agrus Kos, Wojek Veteran attacks, attacking red creatures get +2/+0 and attacking white creatures get +0/+2 until end of turn.
Marton Stromgald has never been that amazing in multiplayer, and it is better than this. Argus looks tempting, but resist. It’s not worth it.
Autochthon Wurm
10GGGWW
Creature – Wurm
9/14
Rare
Trample.
Convoke.
Let’s assume you start with Forest, Birds of Paradise. Turn 2 is Plains, Wall of Roots, Wall of Blossoms. Turn 3 is Sakura-Tribe Elder, Kodama’s Reach. Turn 4 is Forest, Wood Elves, Wall of Roots, Llanowar Elves, Slate of Ancestry, Wall of Blossoms.
Now it’s turn 5. You still cannot cast this monster.
You could cast Tooth and Nail with Entwine, or Natural Order, or Chord of Calling – but not this. And even if you do cast it, the Wurm dies to Terror and similar effects – not to mention that Wrath of God just destroys you.
Mindleech Mass
5UBB
Creature – Horror
6/6
Rare
Trample
Whenever Mindleech Mass deals combat damage to a player, you may look at that player’s hand. If you do, you may play a nonland card in it without paying that card’s mana cost.
At eight mana, this is likely to be a reanimation or Tooth target, and would rarely be hard cast. Once it does hit play, especially in the very early game, it will be potent. I’m just not sure this is a better reanimation target than Akroma or Spirit of the Night.
Razia’s Purification
4RW
Sorcery
Rare
Each player chooses three permanents he or she controls, then sacrifices the rest.
Cataclysm has always been a way of locking up the game, once you have your threat on the board. That said, one land, one creature, one enchantment and one artifact was a more serious limitation than three permanents of your choice (unless you built a deck around it, of course), and 2WW is better than 4RW. Nonetheless, this is still going to be very solid – especially for online play, since Magic Online does not have Cataclysm.
Searing Meditation
1RW
Enchantment
Rare
Whenever you gain life, you may pay 2. If you do, Searing Meditation deals 2 damage to target creature or player.
This is the win condition that lifegain decks have been looking for – albeit not necessarily in the colors they expected. With this, Lightning Helix does five damage. With this, any repeated life gain effect can be a Shock – even Tanglebloom. This could fit into the RW beatdown deck – Soul Warden and weenies can clear their own path.
That said, however, this is a very mana-intensive enchantment, so weenie beats may not be the best answer. It might be better in a control deck, with Wrath of God, targeted burn, assorted life gain and a few big, fat finishers. Or maybe a R/W splice deck with Glacial Ray, Lava Spike, and Ethereal Haze. However, this feels more like a Constructed one-on-one deck than a multiplayer deck.
Searing Meditation does not do enough in multiplayer to outweigh the negative impression playing it will give. It is clearly a threat – but not enough of a threat to stop people who try to kill you first from doing so.
Sisters of Stone Death
4BBGG
Legendary Creature – Gorgon
7/5
Rare
G: Target creature blocks Sisters of Stone Death this turn if able.
BG: Remove from the game target creature blocking or blocked by Sisters of Stone Death.
2B: Put a creature card removed from the game with Sisters of Stone Death into play under your control.
If you get this into play, then untap and attack, you should win the game. The “if you get this into play and untap” is huge, however. This is eight mana – it’s doable in multiplayer, but it is still a lot, and this paints a clear target on your forehead. The best method of dealing with this monster is clearly to kill the player controlling it.
Szadek, Lord of Secrets
3UUBB
Legendary Creature – Vampire
5/5
Rare
Flying.
If Szadek, Lord of Secrets would deal combat damage to a player, instead put that many +1/+1 counters on Szadek and that player puts that many cards from the top of his or her library into his or her graveyard.
At first glance, this looks like garbage. If you are getting through with a big, fat flier, dealing twenty damage seems easier than milling them, but both would actually take about the same amount of time. (Hit number one mills five cards, hit two mills ten, hit three mills twenty. Hit four should deck anyone, unless they are playing prismatic. Either way, four unanswered hits wins the game.)
In multiplayer, however, you can put something like O-Naginata on this to give it trample, and this monster is going to kill the table in five to ten attacks. After it kills the first player, it is going to be swinging for more than sixty cards per swing. With trample, the doubling effect is rapidly going to make this insane. Just don’t let anyone Backlash this.
Actually, this and O-Naginata may be viable in constructed – once you get past the casting cost. It does Millstone card quite well – and the color combination supports a lot of discard and other milling effects, not to mention counters and card drawing. Even without card drawing, this could be an effective finisher in a control deck – although another finisher – one that does not cost seven mana, might be a better option.
Vulturous Zombie
3BG
Creature – Plant Zombie
3/3
Rare
Flying
Whenever a card is put into an opponent’s graveyard from anywhere, put a +1/+1 counter on Vulturous Zombie.
This is a natural alternative finisher in a milling deck – too bad it’s in the wrong colors. However, Millstone is still legal, along with Rats, Hypnotic Spectre and so forth. In multiplayer, though, use Whetstone. Play Vulturous Zombie on turn 4, then play and activate Whetstone turn 5 – this thing will become huge. Turn 6, and thereafter, it just gets bigger. Rancor or O-Naginata will give it trample, if necessary.
Just watch out for Chastise and Swords to Plowshares.
Gleancrawler
3(b/g)(b/g)(b/g)
Creature – Insect Horror
6/6
Rare
Trample
At the end of your turn, return to your hand all creature cards put into your graveyard from play this turn.
This isn’t Lifeline or Caller of the Claw, but it is a 6/6 trampler that cannot be Terrored, and only for six mana. That is good enough. It could also be interesting with mana creatures like Blood Pet or Sakura Tribe Elder.
Privileged Position
2(w/g)(w/g)(w/g)
Enchantment
Rare
Other permanents you control can’t be the target of spells or abilities opponents control.
Sterling Grove is generally better in Enchantress decks, but this does protect your creatures, artifacts and so forth. Two Privileged Positions will protect each other, so targeted removal your opponents may be packing will be useless. About the only effects it will not stop are global destruction – Akroma’s Vengeance and Oblivion Stone will still destroy you. That said, Privileged Position shouldn’t be amazing in duels, but it should be a fine way to protect combos in multiplayer.
Bloodletter Quill
3
Artifact
Rare
2, Tap, Put a blood counter on Bloodletter Quill: Draw a card, then lose 1 life for each blood counter on Bloodletter Quill.
1UB: Remove a blood counter from Bloodletter Quill.
This isn’t Necropotence, but it is pretty close. The first activation or two is just okay, but by the third – well, multiple cards at instant speed for two mana and some life is amazing. It would be even more potent card drawing in a deck packing lifegain. This is highly playable.
Bottled Cloister
4
Artifact
Rare
At the beginning of each opponent’s upkeep, remove your hand from the game face down. At the beginning of your upkeep, return all cards removed from the game with Bottled Cloister to your hand, then draw a card.
If this wording is correct, this is a triggered ability, so you could even cast instants like Ethereal Haze and Holy Day (or even Orim’s Chant) during your opponent’s upkeep. This is extremely good – but better in smaller games and Two-Headed Giant than in larger multiplayer games. The downside, of course, is that if this leaves play, your hand never comes back.
However, you want to look at this like Grafted Skullcap – a means of drawing extra cards that you will play during your turn. This would be a lot like Grafted Skullcap in another way – it will combo nicely with Ensnaring Bridge.
Cloudstone Curio
3
Artifact
Rare
Whenever a nonartifact permanent comes into play under your control, you may return another permanent you control that shares a permanent type with it to its owner’s hand.
Why non-artifact? Imagine this if it wasn’t: two Ornithopters and Brain Freeze. The combo could still work, however, with a pair of one casting-cost clerics, Edgewalker, and Tendrils of Agony. Back that up with Duress and so forth – it could just see play at Pro Tour: Los Angeles. (Okay, it’s a four-card combo, so maybe not.) However, since I own a set of Kobolds, I may try something built around this, plus blue for counters, card drawing, and Brain Freeze.
Plague Boiler
3
Artifact
Rare
At the beginning of your upkeep, put a plague counter on Plague Boiler.
1BG: Put a plague counter on Plague Boiler or remove a plague counter from it. When Plague Boiler has three or more plague counters on it, sacrifice it. If you do, destroy all nonland permanents.
It isn’t Nev’s Disk or Pernicious Deed, but it’s pretty close. For twelve mana, it clears the board. In most cases, Oblivion Stone or the above-mentioned cards are better, but this is okay if it’s all you have.
It is also the only board-clearer that’s legal in the new Standard, so think about that if your multiplayer games care about formats.
Spectral Searchlight
3
Artifact
Uncommon
Tap: Choose a player. That player adds one mana of any color he or she chooses to his or her mana pool.
Okay, I love this card. I love the idea of mana artifacts that produce five colors and are affordable for the average nOOb, like Darksteel Ingot. I also love the fact that this is a slow alternative win condition – you can give your opponent mana on their end step and, unless they have a useful instant in hand, watch them burn.
Finally, this card can give mana to your partners. I have played thousands of games where a partner was mana-screwed – this could have helped them out. It will solve that problem in the future.
Lands
New dual lands. What more is there to say?
Okay, I buried three subtle mistakes in the article. If you spot them and post them to the forum, you will win no prize at all.