Monday, April 20th – The longest-running Casual Multiplayer writer gives his thoughts on the new Alara Reborn cards that have been spoiled on Wizards! What are the problems with Cascade? What’s up with the landcyclers? Find out!Heya, folks — the new Alara Reborn cards are being spoiled on Wizards, and I’m here to give you my impressions of these spoiled and flashy cards for Casual Multiplayer. I could give you a ton of clever introductions here… Or I could just start in on the cards. And aren’t the cards the most interesting bit?
Bituminous Blast
3BR
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.
Okay, calm down. Everyone loves Cascade — it’s the best new mechanic I’ve seen in a while, and looks to be as fun (if not quite as thoroughly mined) as Buyback. Two spells for the price of one? Awesome.
However, you’re in a bit of a bind with the possible chain — because yeah, as Tom LaPille has noted, you can chain off an Enigma Sphinx into Bituminous Blast into whatever the heck Ardent Plea is into Terminate. But on the other hand, all the Cascade cards have their artificially-inflated costs built right in. Outside of Limited, nobody wants to pay five mana to do four damage to a creature — they’re hoping to pay five mana to do four damage and to get a free, efficient spell.
But if that free spell is just as overpriced as the previous Cascade card, then getting three overpriced effects for the cost of one just isn’t that exciting.
So as a deckbuilder, what do you do? Put in all sub-par Cascade cards in the hope of some great chain that still may not save your bacon? Throw a Cascade card or two into a deck otherwise filled with undercosted magic, hoping that you do four damage and plop a Garruk Wildspeaker into play for free at end of turn? Or some middle path, wherein you mix the not-great Cascade effects with good cards and increase your chances of an uninteresting chain?
This is a fun mechanic, but not an efficient one. I suspect we’ll see a lot of love for it, but mostly in Casual decks. Unless the other Cascade cards are bargains — and Wizards would be idiots if they were — then they won’t make that much of a splash in serious Constructed Magic.
Terminate
Glad to see you back, buddy. You’re a B/R deck’s best friend, you know that?
Unscythe, Killer of Kings
UBBR
Legendary Artifact — Equipment
Equipped creature gets +3/+3 and has first strike.
Whenever a creature dealt damage by equipped creature this turn is put into a graveyard, you may remove that card from the game. If you do, put a 2/2 black Zombie creature token into play.
Equip 2
This is a fun piece of equipment that everyone is going to forget about in a year or two. I mean, getting the zombie tokens is great, removing the creature is great… But six mana to do this repeatedly is gonna be a bit much for all but the most casual decks — and even then, without help you’re going to have to do the damage via the combat phase. When a single regenerator can shut this card down, that makes it too limited to be cool.
Nemesis of Reason
3UB
Creature — Leviathan Horror
Whenever Nemesis of Reason attacks, defending player puts the top ten cards of his or her library into his or her graveyard.
3/7
Millstone players absolutely love their crazy Millstone decks — there’s a reason why the never-played-in-serious-Constructed Glimpse the Unthinkable is still going for ten dollars apiece. And this isn’t as potent as Glimpse — but on the other hand, for five mana it’s a decent blocker and almost sure to survive a tussle with anything folks drop on turn 6.
This puts it into the “a good casual card for a very narrow deck.” I’m not sure this makes the grade over, say, Grindstone or Scalpelexis, but someone is going to cuddle this card very tight and call him George.
Thought Hemorrhage
2BR
Sorcery
Name a nonland card. Target player reveals his or her hand. Thought Hemorrhage deals 3 damage to that player for each card with that name revealed this way. Search that player’s graveyard, hand, and library for all cards with that name and remove them from the game. Then that player shuffles his or her library.
Whoof. If you’re going to pay four mana for a Lobotomy-style effect, this is going to be as punishing as it gets — it does the damage and puts a hurting on your opponent. And considering how many decks just collapse with the removal of one or two key cards, this isn’t a bad utility card for some of the less-focused Casual decks.
Unfortunately, the chances of hitting someone for nine damage is pretty low, so you can’t really count on the ridered Lightning Bolts. And the chances of whiffing, unlike Lobotomy, are high unless you completely understand how someone’s deck ticks.
In the end, I like this card an awful lot, but I’m not sure where I’d play it. Then again, I like pantsing someone who assumed, foolishly, that his Vesuvan Shapeshifter deck would always have access to Vesuvan Shapeshifter.
This is a great card for stable metagames, where you know what your friends will be playing and can choose the card appropriately.
Knight of New Alara
2WG
Creature — Human Knight
Each other multicolored creature you control gets +1/+1 for each of its colors.
2/2
Overpriced for what it does. I mean, it’s very nice that your Progenitus is now a 15/15, but you have to pay four mana to turn your Invasion Dragons into 9/9s — and then it does nothing else that helps it to survive.
Don’t get me wrong — I like the effect. But at two toughness, any Shock effect can (and will) take it out, and with Terminate around again, that combat math isn’t nearly as consistent as you think.
Soulquake
3UUBB
Sorcery
Return all creatures in play and all creature cards in graveyards to their owners’ hands.
I’m actually on the fence about this one. Everyone gets their best creatures back, which is generally a problem for you. On the other hand, if they’ve been stockpiling cards, they’re going to have to discard all their other creatures at their end of turn, meaning that you may have reduced the field to the best two or three dudes that someone can afford to keep.
It’s a huge tempo sweep, obviously, buying you some serious time — but is it worth a slot in your deck? I’d say no, mainly because for seven mana you want something it’s going to be difficult for people to recover from. They can recover from this (and do it faster than you can), so it’s no Upheaval.
That said, some decks — specifically, lame combo decks that take a few uninterrupted turns to win outside of the combat phase — may desire this muchly. On the whole, though, it’s probably going to be less impressive than advertised. (And yes, I’m aware of how little it’s advertised.)
Sages of the Anima
3UG
Creature — Elf Wizard
If you would draw a card, instead reveal the top three cards of your library. Put all creature cards revealed this way into your hand and the rest on the bottom of your library in any order.
3/4
This guy sounds like total gas, until you realize you’ll never be drawing a combat trick or a land again. For some decks, that’s a total upcharge, allowing you to cast infinite guys and swarm the board; for other decks, which want their Counterspells and bounce, it’s a total shutdown.
On the whole, I like him. He can fill your hand very nicely, making sure you can outcritter your opponents in any multiplayer game — just make sure you have a sacrifice outlet on-board so you can pull the trigger when he becomes a liability.
Sphinx of the Steel Wind
5UWB
Artifact Creature — Sphinx
Flying, first strike, vigilance, lifelink, protection from Red and from Green
6/6
Yay! Akroma, Angel of Wrath wasn’t stupid enough. Fortunately, not having protection from Black means that all the Terror effects can gank the Sphinx, and the lack of haste means you can’t get a surprise punch in when you need it.
What that means is that you have a guy where everyone has a turn to prepare for it, and any Black player can cack it on command. (Red players generally can’t do that much against 6/6 dudes anyway, except for Banefire style effects — and even then, they’d rather go to your face with them.)
The lifelink is a definite bonus, meaning that you can cheerfully stay in the game against almost any Red deck. Your weakness is now Black decks. Green decks? Oh, hell, it’s not like they matter, and chances are good their heavy hitters are going to have trample anyway (or they’ll just swarm ya).
Defiler of Souls
3BBR
Creature — Demon
Flying
At the beginning of each player’s upkeep, that player sacrifices a monocolored creature.
5/5
A solid effect at a reasonable Dragon-sized price. And it’s going to screw your neighbor soon; the political effects are a little weird, since some players – those with multicolored dudes and those with token armies to spare — won’t care at all, whereas the guys who put all their eggs in one Akroma-sized basket are going to be hurtin’.
That said, these days most of the big threateny guys are multicolored, so how much of a threat will this actually be in Casual games? I can’t say for sure. Get him, but only if he’s cheap.
Jenna, Asura of War
WGU
Legendary Creature — Angel
Flying
1W: Put a +1/+1 counter on Jenna, Asura of War.
3/3
You’re gonna be shocked, but this one’s a keeper for me. Yes, she’s hard to get out on turn 3, but if you don’t deal with her she’ll be a positive terror in the skies — and at three mana plus whatever you have left hanging around at the end of the turn, she’s a great mana sink. The multiplayer world needs more solid early drops, and assuming you can get her out early, she’s an awesome play.
Plus, if you have some effect that eats +1/+1 counters, she’s awesome — but you knew that. Even alone, though, she’s pretty good.
Dragon Broodmother
2RRRG
Creature — Dragon
Flying
At the beginning of each upkeep, put a 1/1 red and green Dragon creature token with flying and devour 2 into play. (As the token comes into play, you may sacrifice any number of creatures. It comes into play with twice that many +1/+1 counters on it.)
4/4
Obviously, this is a pretty sweet deal. For Dragon mana, you lose two points off the power and toughness, but you get an insta-grow army. And, just like Verdant Force, notice this happens on everybody’s upkeep, meaning that you’re going to overwhelm people pretty definitively with 3/3 fliers if they don’t handle the Broodmother toot sweet.
The only downside is that at 4/4 and no Black in her cost, she can be fairly easily ganked by any competent Black or Red effect. This is bad. But if she gets even one go-round at a six-man table, you’ve more than earned your money’s worth.
Thraximundar
4UBR
Legendary Creature – Zombie Assassin
Haste
Whenever Thraximundar attacks, defending player sacrifices a creature.
Whenever a player sacrifices a creature, you may put a +1/+1 counter on Thraximundar.
6/6
For seven mana? Not bad. Gets rid of large single threats, makes it hard for your opponents to block… Not much more to say than that. I’m not sure it’s better than the other seven-mana UBR spells, but it’s definitely an okay critter.
Time Sieve
UB
Artifact
Tap, Sacrifice five artifacts: Take an extra turn after this one.
Johnny will find some absurd way to take infinite turns. Everyone else will snore. Talk about a niche card that’s just going to irritate 95% of the market.
…but, I suppose, Magic needs cards like this. But considering I’m a Timmy-Spike, it always feels personal when they land outside of my demographic.
Lightning Reaver
3BR
Creature – Zombie Beast
Fear, haste
Whenever Lightning Reaver deals combat damage to a player, put a charge counter on it.
At the end of your turn, Lightning Reaver deals damage equal to the number of charge counters on it to each opponent.
3/3
For five mana, you can probably get in three damage to some W/G player and do a point of damage to all your opponents. If it survives another turn, which is unlikely since most players will have an incentive to not see it around, you’ll do two damage. This is slow and inefficient.
…and absurdly fun.
I mean, there are cards where my Spike sniffs, but the Timmy in me goes, “What if…?” And hey, if it gets to five turns, I’m amazing. So I’ll want this for some crazy stupid Flame Rift-style deck where I just burn the heck out of everyone and hope I come out on top.
Maelstrom Pulse
1BG
Sorcery
Destroy target nonland permanent and each permanent that shares a name with that permanent.
What it says on the tin. It’s efficient, but the sorcery speed really hurts it; for a spell like this, you really want to be able to surprise someone in combat.
That said, these spells hardly ever work out quite as efficiently as you’d think in multiplayer, because people rarely play the same deck. Sure, if you run into an inadvertent Sliver cluster it can be damaging, but in general you’re lucky to hit two things. Where it shines is against token-based decks — but again, you have to do it at sorcery speed.
Qasali Pride-mage
GW
Creature – Cat Wizard
Exalted
1, Sacrifice Qasali Pridemage: Destroy target artifact or enchantment.
2/2
Strangely, it’s one of my top picks for multiplayer. Is it a groundbreaker? No. It’s not going to really crush anyone’s world. But it’s really efficient for an early drop, being useful in both the late game and the early game, and it gives you an option when ugly artifacts and enchantments rear their heads. Every G/W deck will want something like this.
Igneous Pouncer
4BR
Creature — Elemental
Haste
Swampcycling 2, Mountaincycling 2
5/1
Pale Recluse
4WG
Creature — Spider
Reach
Forestcycling 2, Plainscycling 2
4/5
I’m gonna group these together and say that I absolutely adore both Eternal Dragon and Twisted Abomination for multiplayer. They both thin your deck in the early game, giving you plenty of flexibility, and they both serve as adequate threats in the late game.
The trick with the landcyclers is that they have to be cards you’d be willing to play anyway. Eternal Dragon is obviously great as a reusable dragon. Twisted A-Bomb? Well, at six mana he can hold the ground against almost anything, so I’ll use him.
But you know what we’re not talking about? Shoreline Ranger and Chartooth Cougar, both of whom have abysmal stats for what they are. All the X-cycling in the deck won’t help if they are, essentially, just paying two mana for a land because you’re never ever going to use their creature-type ability.
As such, Igneous Pouncer is craptastic — yes, it has the potential of sneaking in for five damage to the face, but more likely you’re never going to pay Dragon-style mana for a Incurable Ogre-style effect. Hell, you’re probably better off cycling him and hoping you think your deck enough to draw that nasty dragon. Pale Recluse is a little closer, but it can’t go head to head with Dragons, either — and as such, you’re paying mondo mana for a blocker that won’t be able to block the things you need most.
(Though as a certified arachnophobe, I gotta say the art on Pale Recluse is well done. I went, “Hmm, it’s a spider? I don’t see a spider. There’s no — OH MY GOD, SPIDER!” And I had a heart attack. It was just like noticing one on my ceiling.)
These cards are interesting, and they’ll do their job of fixing mana for the multicards in Limited, but I don’t think they’ll see that much play outside of that function.
Next week: More analysis!
Signing off,
The Ferrett
The Here Edits This Site Here Guy
TheFerrett@StarCityGames.com