Today we continue our exploration of the world of Scars of Mirrodin with the second half of the artifacts. Part 1 can be found
here
. As before I’m not giving ratings instead focusing on possible applications. Besides I think you’ll be able to get a feel for how probable I think it is that each of these cards will see play.
To me cards aren’t just more or less powerful than each other. They offer whatever interactions they do and it’s these interactions that are actually playable or not in Constructed. Even Ancestral Recall‘s power is a function of what other cards are in the format. As a result I discuss intrinsic power level (Ancestral Recall is intrinsically more powerful than Brainstorm given the existing card pool) but it’s the possibility of a tournament viable application (interaction) that we’re interested in. Let’s get to it!
Myr Battlesphere looks like a lot of fun but most are quick to suggest it is only Limited where it will apply (where it’s obviously another game-swinging bomb that’s super expensive). I’m not 100% sold on the Battlesphere not making the grade however. The fact that he costs seven means he’s probably just too outclassed by cards like Primeval Titan and Wurmcoil Engine but there are two factors that have me hesitating.
First he’s an artifact meaning potential abuse with cards like Grand Architect. I could imagine very easily a deck that can drop Grand Architect on turn 4 and immediately play a Myr Battlesphere (which is a pretty big board presence). Wurmcoil Engine is the best artifact fatty these days but if you go to all the trouble of building a Grand Architect deck you may want more.
Second it’s amusing to consider that if you have a Venser the Sojourner on the battlefield playing the Battlesphere can be followed by a quick blink of Venser’s first ability) leaving you with nine creatures and threatening twenty damage next turn (which is unblockable on account of Venser’s second ability).
Myr Galvanizer is more than just a “lord” he’s this set’s Quillspike.
Also I want to apologize in advance if the picture of Myr Galvanizer looks like (or is) a woman to you. In an effort to alleviate the abuse of the grammatical abomination “their” as a pronoun to means “his or her” as well as doing my part to fight for civil rights I’ve been known to employ the gender neutral “he” and “his” at times. I don’t think I’m alone in thinking of Magic cards as their card text rather than their picture (though this becomes less so after having actually played with the card).
If gender neutral “he” and “his” are like eating broken glass and rancid milk for your eyes I’d be willing to peruse a list of every card in the set featuring the name and whether you consider it a “he” or a “she.” Assuming the list is in alphabetical order it should only take two minutes to absorb the information. Cheers!
Back to our good buddy Myr Galvanizer we see that he’s both a mediocre lord for what appears to be a weak tribe as well as a mediocre infinite combo engine for what appears to be a weak deck. When used as a lord you can spend three mana to help ensure that all of your 1/1s for two are now 2/2s for two. Astounding! Don’t get me wrong this guy is a fun Limited card and a fine casual card but we’ll need more to make this a realistic Constructed threat for competitive play.
As a combo engine he can be combined with any combination of Myr that produce two or more mana as well as a second copy of himself all of which have lived a turn to shake off the effects of summoning sickness. The resulting engine produces an arbitrary amount of mana that can be spent on whatever it is that people that play Myr tribal decks spend arbitrary amounts of mana on such as Golem Artisan Heavy Arbalest Razor Boomerang Molten-Tail Masticore (yes you need five-ish creatures in your graveyard) Mindslaver or various colored spells such as Fireball.
For instance:
Turn 2 Iron Myr (could be a Mox Opal or pretty much stone-cold anything)
Turn 3 Palladium Myr
Turn 4 Myr Galvanizer Myr Galvanizer
Turn 5 Get paid!
Obviously turn 4 is a pretty suspect turn to tap out and leave four artifact creatures on the table that you’re counting on for your combo but you can probably play the deck a little more like a Myr tribal deck that has the capability of going infinite and see better results.
Additionally if you find a convenient way to have your creatures gain haste (or perhaps flash) you might have more realistic possibilities of pulling off your coup de grace.
Please don’t let my apparent hate hold you back though. I’m just saying: I’m pretty sure this is not a regular Tier 1 strategy. That doesn’t mean you can’t break it for a single weekend or fly under the radar all season.
Just remember like a Quillspike deck you’re going to have to figure out how to best ride the line between being able to take advantage of your combo (which is actually quite a bit harder to assemble than Quillspike + Devoted Druid) while still playing a respectable game the majority of the time you spend in reality where it doesn’t quite come together.
Rating: The definition of pure Johnny (which isn’t a bad thing; Spike isn’t very interested and Timmy isn’t very impressed).
Okay look let’s be serious. We’re talking about being able to buy Pyknites. In Constructed this is nowhere near good enough without some other ability. I guess this is supposed to appeal to the Doubling Season crowd but where is my Doubling Gilded Lotus to power it?
In Limited terrain not lame just plain mundane and insane to strain to maintain for such tame game. My trained brain might refrain and abstain out of distain (not shame) and not attain or obtain card name if it’s all the same. Let me explain how what I’m conveying pertains. To complain when slain from slow propagation despite my campaign is the same as not playing four Preordains main and in a vein akin to a migraine pain in the membrane the night after a rain of champagne in Spain which is vain profane and inhumane. Know what I’m saying?
Seems a pretty clearly natural fit for a Myr deck in Constructed if there is such a thing but might actually have more applications. While you have to work pretty hard for this to be a Worn Powerstone you can get paid quite reasonably off the other end. For instance what if you just happen to have some Myr in your artifact-based blue deck? You don’t even need very many. For instance even if you just had Perilous Myr and maybe some random mana Myr as well as some Myr Battlespheres this could be a powerful tool.
Turn 2 Silver Myr
Turn 3 Myr Reservoir
Turn 4 Myr Battlesphere
Even if they can kill the Battlesphere you can just run the re-buys. Even if this doesn’t make waves in Standard (not out of the question) it’s more likely a strategy for Block. As a matter of fact I could easily see playing this card with just 4 Perilous Myr and 2 Myr Battlesphere in your deck. As long as you have a sacrifice outlet this is a halfway decent long-game card-advantage engine.
I’m not sure how artifacts will turn into creatures as the block continues but I don’t imagine they won’t include some March of the Machines or Xenic Poltergeist-type action. If you can turn Myr Reservoir into a creature it can help fuel a Galvanizer combo.
Still it’s possible that the right home for Myr Reservoir is actually Extended. Perilous Myr has definite applications and Nameless Inversion is a Myr as well. It’s unclear if you would stoop to Chameleon Colossus or Crib Swap but it’s possible. If the next set has an “Elvish Visionary” Myr that might be the missing link to push it into playability. Even better would be a “Spore Frog” Myr or a “Silence” Myr.
The Reservoir’s Limited rating is Myr-ly a function of the Myr you’ve drafted though from the looks of it they aren’t particularly hard to come by. Not the slowest big game in the set but far from the best either.
On the surface this card isn’t very good but with proliferation a subtle draft strategy may begin to emerge. The formula is to remove the first counters and make them taste it right out of the gate. Then every time you proliferate you’re getting an extra two life from your opponent (which is about as efficient as proliferating a poison counter…)
The big question is what proliferate deck are you going to want to be playing that wants the extra life loss? I imagine some sort of a metalcraft beatdown deck could certainly do the trick also exploiting Tumble Magnet and other charge counter-based proactive tools.
Even though the Necrogen Censer looks flaky it’s actually a fair bit like Keldon Marauders and has chances to be used as well. After all it’s four life lost for only three mana which already puts it in Patrick Sullivan range.
Glint Hawk forms a very pleasant combo with the Censer as does Kor Skyfisher. Perhaps Contagion Clasp and its ilk actually have a chance at bringing the card to Constructed. If you go this route just make sure you remember to leave the last counter on until you need to use it (as you can’t proliferate what you don’t have a little bit of in your system — just ask D-Bird).
My rating: Surprisingly playable in both Limited in Constructed albeit very fringe and requiring very specifically designed decks as the card is mediocre on its own but fairly abusable.
Oh the cruel irony that Swarmyard is rotating out just as Necropede rotates in!
On the other hand I’m nothing if not a lover of value. Necropede in Limited is just good value and feels good as he lets you earn a few inches at a time. All the two drop infect creatures are reasonable and this one is probably the most reliably good.
While all of the infect creatures have applications on account of their “double strike” Necropede has more potential upside in creature-on-creature battles though less ability to cut a path through defenders. I assume he’s the two-drop infect creature that’s trimmed if Legacy infect decks want less than sixteen two-drops (which they probably do). On the flip side he’s colorless helping enable infect decks without green (or maybe without black). In general I think that all four of the two-drop infect creatures are a part of the same discussion so I refer you to the
discussion on Ichorclaw Myr from
Part 1
.
Jace the Mind Sculptor and Cryptic Command are my two favorite cards. Man-o’-War and Tradewind Rider are two of my favorite creatures. I love Capsize with buyback and Repulse. What do all of these cards have in common? They are bounce and something else. Cards in this vein aren’t always stone-cold killers though and the power level of Neurok Replica leaves it pretty far from Constructed however it’s a very respectable Limited role player.
First of all he’s a 1/4 for an easily cast 3. This already puts him into a lot of decks I’ve ever drafted. It’s actually not out of the question to run him in a non-blue deck mainly if you happen to have a couple of random Silver Myr or some such. This is particularly relevant if you have all the usual artifact triggers. Outside of metalcraft it should also be reminded that Ember Riddle Will and the rest of the Smiths provide added value as do cards like Furnace Celebration.
I’ve only done one draft thus far but I found so many benefits to artifacts going around that by pack three I was picking cheap artifacts over cards I’d usually consider stronger in the abstract.
Neurok Replica happens to match up decently with infect soaking up -1/-1 counter after -1/-1 counter then getting another spell’s worth of action. The Unsummon could merely be used to slow an attack but for added value bounce another of your creatures that has soaked up infect damage or just leave the Replica sitting on the battlefield waiting to save a key creature from a removal spell.
Obligatory amazing graveyard hate. The nice thing about more and more graveyard hate of this power level is that it gives players more and more options for how to defend themselves against unfair graveyard decks. Additionally the more hate that is out there the harder it is for graveyard combo decks to sideboard.
Nihil Spellbomb is an interesting hybrid of Tormod’s Crypt and Relic of Progenitus. It’s only one mana more than Tormod’s Crypt (to use it is free if you’re in a pinch) but it gives you the option of cantripping off of it for an extra black mana. This means it’s still a fine graveyard hate card for anyone even someone without black mana but can do Relic of Progenitus duty if you do have black.
Compared to Relic of Progenitus it may not be able to remove a card a turn and requires black to draw a card but it doesn’t remove your own graveyard (which is huge in many formats) plus it doesn’t exile itself (meaning it’s far more abusable with Academy Ruins). On top of this it gives you the option to activate it without drawing a card which is very important when your opponent is trying to kill you turn 1.
Overall I think Nihil Spellbomb is a bit better than Tormod’s Crypt whenever you have access to black mana in your deck. I fully expect it to become a staple in every format. Good with Trinket Mage or without.
In Limited the graveyard removal isn’t usually going to matter much but the Spellbomb is still respectable. Just having an artifact to enable so many of your abilities is good. It always at least cycles even if you sacrifice it to something else. Hardly a superstar but with so many great artifact enablers it’s nice to have these types of cards to round out your deck.
Let’s begin by looking at the Deathmantle without the reanimation element. In Constructed an equipment that costs two plus four would have to give +5/+5 to really entice me I think. How much is the reanimation clause worth? Well the fact that you have to have four mana open to use it means that your opponent has only to wait until the right moment to kill it. I have to admit it’s kind of cute with Shriekmaw and Mulldrifter but that’s just not going to cut it in Extended.
I don’t think Standard is ready for this card yet but it would be wise to keep an eye as sets are printed on what creatures can enter the battlefield then go to a graveyard for much cheaper than their mana cost.
Another excellent Limited rare artifact that’s slow. See the pattern! So many slow but game-winning artifacts make tempo so key and cards like Shatter Revoke Existence and Slice Twain clutch!
Awesome! Now
this
is a Pyknite I can get behind.
First of all paying in installments is awesome.
Next of all he has all the artifact-enabling benefits of the other Spellbombs but with a huge added bonus. The token is an artifact also helping ensure that you have your metalcraft even if you have to cycle early to hit your land drops. Additionally a 1/1 is a very live card in this format as it trades with tons of stuff. An excellent card in the decks that want it still fine in the decks that don’t.
If Origin Spellbomb sees Constructed play the most likely candidate deck is of the Trinket Mage persuasion of course. Whether or not such a deck would want to buy a Pyknite is unclear though if you have the time it’s fairly good value giving your Trinket Mage multiple options on how to make a three-for-one (Horizon Spellbomb shining).
One interesting interaction is the combination of Origin Spellbomb and Grand Architect. You can tap the Architect to cast and activate the Spellbomb. If you have two lands untapped you can use one to draw the card and the other to make the Myr blue for the turn giving you two more mana to keep your business coming. It isn’t super ruthless or anything it’s just that Grand Architect makes you mana for your guys so drawing cards off your guys as well pushes you inevitably closer to an abusive engine (think of Glimpse of Nature + Heritage Druid).
Palladium Myr‘s no Worn Powerstone that’s for sure. The things I’d do to a Worn Powerstone…
Alas in some unrealistic dream sequence where people don’t play removal he’s a Powerstone with options I suppose and one of the best enablers of a Myr tribal deck on account of his synergy with the Galvanizer. He’s just asking to throw away mana against Bolt Pyroclasm and Journey to Nowhere but not everyone rolls that way. He makes Voltaic Key a lot more appealing and combos with the Myr Reservoir even if your deck isn’t dedicated Myr.
Constructed rating: Fringe fluctuating between hot technology and embarrassing depending on the metagame. Definitely worth trying in dedicated artifacts primarily Myr and Key decks.
Limited: Excellent. I like off-color Myr. You think I’m not going to rock the Sol Ring of the Myr? This guy is always decent and sometimes game-winning.
I drafted Panic Spellbomb as an enabler and was pleasantly surprised to find the ability to remove a blocker to be very relevant. With cards like Perilous Myr infect creatures and high toughness blockers I was always very happy to get a couple extra points in on top of whatever bonuses I was wielding.
Seems pretty good though I’m waiting to hear from Anton exactly how high I’m supposed to be picking these heh.
I’d like to repeat that it seems so good in this format to come out fast. Cards like Panic Spellbomb can be ideal for helping tempo people out that drafted slow greedy decks.
Unlikely to see much Constructed play unless some deck like the “Egg Deck” exists using Spellbombs instead of Darkwater Egg and the like.
Am I the only one that thinks it’s a little strange that this guy is common? I get the whole Moonglove Extract flavor but this guy is really pretty great right? He is only two mana for what is very often a great two-for-one. Aside from trading with lots of stuff on his own he can often take out a second target or trade up for a much larger creature. He is so good in fact merely having a Perilous Myr untapped will deter many attackers. He enables a ton of decks; he combos with every card that sacrifices creatures or artifacts. He solves problems at times. He is excellent to recur. All in all one of the best commons in the set.
Perilous Myr is so good I think he’ll actually see a fair amount of Constructed play albeit in very minor supporting roles. Imagine playing against a fast red deck and dropping this guy. They can’t exactly burn through him so he actually provides a very reliable solution to fast ground-based aggro. He combos well with more than a few cards such as Myr Reservoir Bloodthrone Vampire and Kuldotha Rebirth; plus he’s an excellent artifact for turning on Kuldotha Phoenix while simultaneously providing natural defense against Kor Firewalker. In a pinch you can even Bolt your Perilous Myr to get the Firewalker off the table.
Okay so at first I was like WoW! A Platinum Angel upgrade right? After all your opponent can eventually draw their answer to Platinum Angel then you die as your life total is so far in the negatives there’s no going back. Besides an 8/8 for eight has got to be better than a 4/4 flier for seven most of the time right?
Unfortunately the reminder text on Platinum Emperion points to his downfall in powered formats. With no ability to pay life fetchlands and Force of Wills are neutered.
This is pretty sure fatal but what about Extended or Standard? Grand Architect seems the fastest way to get this guy out but regardless of how you do it there seems to be no shortage of ways to get him off the table with a massive gain in mana. This isn’t even taking into consideration that you can still die by infect decking or Helix Pinnacle. This isn’t to say he’s without application just that he’s not going to reshape the format. Now with that out of the way he might just be one of the best monsters to brawl with rather than count on him as a bad Platinum Angel.
An 8/8 for eight is hardly format-breaking but that is pretty big for a guy that is all upside (assuming you don’t care about fetchlands). Let’s look at some possible applications:
1) Summoning Trap — While not as castable as Wurmcoil Engine nor as resilient he obviously wins the game if unchecked. Is he possibly better than Eldrazi? Likely no but worth considering.
2) Any other deck that can cheat him onto the battlefield. Whether you’re playing him for free reanimating Tinkering Master Transmuting Kothing or Grand Architecting if you can play him on the cheap he’s a big game.
3) Indomitable Angel decks — Now here’s an artifact worth giving shroud to!
In Limited he’s another example of a game-winning monster that isn’t actually impossible to deal with and costs
a million
. I’d rather just have some cheap removal and fast tempo cards most of the time though if you have a card that rewards you for having a bomb artifact to get/play this is one of the biggest bombs.
Precursor Golem is a card that has drawn a lot of attention on account of its unique effect and promise of nine power for five mana. Let’s start there as nine power for five mana is certainly very appealing.
Clearly the Precursor “ability” is costed as a very significant drawback. How big of a drawback is it? Well there’s no question that Doom Blades and Lightning Bolts will do a number against Precursor Golem as will Nature’s Reclaims and Into the Roils. This will probably scare many deckbuilders away but in fact it just means that Precursor Golem isn’t a card to go in every deck. You probably want to build your deck to take advantage of it lest you effectively build a 9/9 Phantom Beast (which isn’t actually
that
bad).
Precursor Golem‘s drawback can be avoided a number of ways. For instance if you follow a Precursor Golem with a Glint Hawk you have just paid six mana for two 3/3 artifact creatures and a 2/2 flier. You only had to spend one card as you still have the Precursor Golem in hand to redeploy if your opponent can deal with the first wave. This trick also works with Kor Skyfisher Aether Adept and Jace the Mind Sculptor just to name a few. This is probably the best use of the Precursor Golem as it doesn’t just negate the drawback but also essentially “draws a card” and often for minimal mana requirements.
The next method for managing the drawback is to outright sacrifice your Precursor Golem just to get it off the table. The problem with this approach is that you’re down to just six power for five so you better have gotten something good in exchange for the body. Bloodthrone Vampire types could do so much better with Mitotic Slime but perhaps there’s a way to sacrifice it as an artifact that pays better.
Another approach is to avoid the drawback by making your Golems untargetable to begin with. Asceticism is too expensive for my tastes but Indomitable Angel is a natural combo. Even if you have no other artifacts in your deck the Indomitable Angel is a 4/4 flier for four which isn’t quite enough but when you add in the fact that you essentially have nine-power worth of shroud creatures (Precursor Golem is of course the full metalcraft) for five to follow up with next turn you’re starting to talk serious business.
While it’s true that the Precursor Golem is vulnerable the turn you summon him (they can respond to the trigger) if your opponent kills him in response then he has just done for you what you were aspiring to do anyway! The other two Golems will enter the battlefield after he dies and now with no fear of a similar fate.
The next solution is to take advantage of Precursor Golem‘s ability yourself. The very basic level is to use one-mana tricks to protect them. Just as a single Bolt Doom Blade Nature’s Reclaim or Into the Roil will hit them all a single Emerge Unscathed or Vines of the Vastwood undoes the play. Going a step further a kicked Vines of the Vastwood kills in a single hit! I don’t yet know the best spells to target your Golem with but it sure would be fun to employ some sort of Reckless Charge-type card (yeah I love haste
a lot).
One final alternative is to find some way to change some of your opponent’s creatures (permanents?) into Golems. I’m not really sure how you do this efficiently but if you stumble upon a way or they print one keep this tactic in mind.
Overall I think Precursor will actually turn out to be pretty good. There’s a lot of competition at the five spot but we’re talking about nine power for five mana if you can neutralize the drawback (let alone turn it into an advantage…).
I also absolutely love just how amazing he is with bounce particularly the white fliers that have to bounce a permanent as a drawback. There’s a deck there I can feel it.
As far as Limited goes he’s a wrecking ball. He is very fragile as far as killer bombs go but if they don’t have the answer immediately he’s major. I’m not sure how much that frailty will hold him back stay tuned to Anton for more!
It’s tempting to write Prototype Portal off as a casual card but it’s basically a Tome that lets you draw the imprinted card every turn for free (you just have to cast it). Soul Foundry existed during a hostile time and Prototype Portal actually has some nice versatility on account of being able to imprint artifact creatures or non-creatures. Let’s imagine some possible imprint choices and examine the card.
1) Memnite – Even if your Soul Foundry is destroyed you at least get one copy so you’ren’t really down the card in hand. An artifact for four that taps to make a 1/1 for no mana is actually somewhat similar to Elspeth Knight-Errant. Obviously this is missing her best ability Angelic Blessing but it can’t be attacked and this might not be your primary plan for the Portal. Not too bad actually.
2) Contagion Clasp – Outside of any possible proliferating you might do you can build your own Trigon of Contagion that never runs out. Kind of interesting.
3) Spellbombs – Cheap Spellbombs like Nihil make this into a Tome that only costs one to activate (not to mention hosing graveyards). Horizon Canopy lets you draw twice as many cards a turn if you’re willing to pay three.
4) Perilous Myr – This could actually be kind of tough for a ground-based deck to power through but is hardly exciting.
5) Mindslaver – Game-winning of course but certainly “Ambitious.” Still not the worst late game plan for a deck to have.
6) Wurmcoil Engine – Very clumsy and unlikely to come up but you might be playing Wurmcoil Engines anyway so at least it is a big option.
7) Steel Overseer – Making one of these every turn can spiral out of control very quickly though this option is very slow.
8) Ratchet Bomb – Building a variety of different Ratchet Bombs is actually kind of appealing. Having a wide variety of artifacts available to you becomes especially rewarding with Prototype Portal as it only takes one that is actually good against your opponent to have a big impact.
On the whole Prototype Portal seems at its best with cheap cards but with the possibility of imprinting a late-game bomb when the game goes long. I think there’s actually an outside chance that this one sees some play in Constructed.
In Limited it seems like a decent medium-speed card-advantage engine that can totally take over a game whether with artifact creatures or Spellbombs.
One of the most important cards in Scars of Mirrodin Ratchet Bomb is more than
just
a Powder Keg. Its ability to hit enchantments and planeswalkers ensures two years of answers to any kind of permanent regardless of your colors.
Some players try to find fault in it compared to Powder Keg (which helped define many formats and still sees play in Vintage) but let’s be serious whatever tiny flaws it has with regards to its activation requiring tapping it more than makes up for with its ability to gain counters at instant speed its interactions with Keys and proliferate and of course hitting enchantments and planeswalkers. This one isn’t even close and come on be honest we’d all be happy if it was
just
a Powder Keg.
I’m thankful this card is a rare and not Mythic as everyone should have access to these. Here are some of its uses:
1) Helping red deal with Kor Firewalker and Leyline of Sanctity.
2) Early sweeper especially good against Birds Goblin Guide white weenies tokens Memnites and Ornithopters and infect creatures.
3) Natural answer to Quests whether its Pyromancer Ascension Quest for the Pure Flame or Archmage Ascension Ratchet Bomb gets the job done.
4) Outs to key artifacts for instance Basilisk Collar Grindclock or excessive artifact mana and proliferation.
5) Planeswalkers which may take a bit but it’s extremely helpful once you get there plus you can play out your Ratchet Bomb early to prepare for the Koth to come.
6) It’s never dead as basically everyone has non-land permanents.
7) It can be abused to some degree for instance with Sun Titan Voltaic Key and proliferate.
I strongly advise getting a playset of these as they will be multi-format staples forever. Doesn’t break the game open but it’s just an important utility card that you’ll get a lot of mileage out of. I’m going to build a ton of decks over the next several years that use this card and there just isn’t any sort of a reasonable substitute.
Ratchet Bomb‘s impact stretches well beyond its use in your decks. The fact that it exists will change the sorts of cards that other people play. Ratchet Bomb may blowout some strategies today but many of those strategies will evolve or die. Ratchet Bomb will still be good but looking at what sorts of changes people are naturally going to adopt to fight it can give a very revealing glimpse of the future.
As far as Limited goes it’s a great removal spell that can pinpoint or a sweeper. Not a busted rare like Wurmcoil Engine or Molten-Tail Masticore but often a first pick.
I wouldn’t really want to play this guy in Constructed at four and no one would be so foolish at five. Six? Well six is right out. Seven has comfortably moved into punch line quality.
In Limited I appreciate the option of having a giant monster available to everyone but this guy seems horrendous. Outside of the usual sucking of creatures that are a Black Lotus away from playability he’s terrible in the format as well. I want to be fast and there’s a massive surplus of good slow things to do. He’s among the absolute slowest yet remarkably among the least powerful.
Additionally there isn’t exactly a shortage of ways to deal with such a big clumsy blunt instrument. Even infect can help cut him down to size if you manage to get him onto the battlefield. He’s still a guy and could be used in a pinch but I think he’s the type of guy that “Modophotos” are made of (meaning he’s so embarrassing that if you took a screenshot of yourself attacking DarkestMage with two of them on Magic Online when he’s at twelve you’d be immortalized forever).
Now this guy is a total sicko! Blah blah blah artifacts are good in Limited but he also is an incredible answer to most of them. He is light years ahead of regular tappers as he can actually lock targets down not to mention requires no colored mana. On top of all of this he has a not-altogether irrelevant body. He isn’t a busted rare but he’s damn good.
I’m not sure what the Constructed application might be as he’s a bit frail by modern standards and tappers rarely cross over well. That said he does give black and blue access to more options to deal with artifacts; though given the printing of Ratchet Bomb it’s unclear how much this is needed. He’s most likely to be used as sideboard technology against a big mana artifact deck that doesn’t have much in the way of removal. Then again with Mishra’s Workshop you can play him turn 1 and lock down people’s Moxes or even Voltaic Key! Workshop rules! Hell yeah!
A 5/5 for four mana is at least worth considering but with Lodestone Golem around I just don’t see this guy playing a role in Standard or higher. Would’ve been tempting if it could turn back into a non-creature at will but as it is you’d have to really want a lot of robotic Juzams.
In Limited this guy is a fine man. Juzams don’t go as far as they once did and this one requires you to work for it. Nevertheless he’s fast and synergizes with a lot of cards that are where you want to be anyway. This set is a set where synergy is more important than power and by a lot. I think Scars is at least the most synergy driven Limited environment since Lorwyn and Morningtide.
It would take a Black Lotus in discounts to get me on board with this guy in Constructed but that isn’t what he’s for. The reason I don’t bother getting into “applications” of cards like this is that it doesn’t do anything notable “better” than everything else. It doesn’t have a unique effect in the slightest or it would be interesting. It’s just this random dude on the “Stone Golem curve” (as opposed to the slightly more popular “Wurmcoil Engine curve”).
In Limited he’s playable though there are no shortage of five-drops and I think you want to lean towards the faster cards making him less of a priority in draft. Still he’s perfectly fine and this is certainly a world where first strike shines.
This is easily one of the top five most overrated cards in the set. I’ve heard so many people so excited for this card but I think it’s a trap. It isn’t bad in every case by any means but I don’t yet see a way to use it. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist but I ask more of this card than most of its fans.
To start with if it were a three-mana artifact that produced two mana a turn that could only be used on one type of spell (or only artifacts and creatures) it would be decent and I would feel you on stuff like the quick Titan plan.
Semblance Anvil not only requires a second card you need the second card to be the right type. Additionally the format seems to call for versatile removal and you’re asking to get blown out especially since it doesn’t actually immediately offer any card advantage or a game-winning swing.
Semblance Anvil does go further and make all of your spells of that type cost two less to cast but to get your money’s worth you really have to be casting at least two spells of that type a turn. I have no idea how you plan on keeping that up but I suppose it is a cute enabler for weird combo decks like some random Myr deck.
Can the card be used? Absolutely. Maybe someone can even figure out how to make it worth it but I smell a trap. This is a trick to lure deckbuilders into letting their inner-Johnnies take over when Spike knows damn well this card is some bullspit.
Rancid in Limited.
Much of what I’d say about Silver Myr has been covered in previous Myr discussions though it bears mentioning that Silver Myr produces blue and traditionally every cycle of two mana artifacts that produce colored mana are headlined by the blue versions. I realize that given the number of cycles in this set (Mana Myr Spellbombs Replicas infect two-drops) there are a lot of cards today that aren’t really worth as much discussion.
Still I’m a man who loves value and in an effort to inject a little extra value into this card’s review I’d call attention to the fact that “Blacker Lotus” is an anagram of
“Suck? Be a Troll!”
Continuing in the theme of non-rare cards that suck in Constructed we reach Snapsail Glider. You know me I’m a huge fan of looking for the positive in every set. It’s so easy to hate on stuff you don’t understand yet instead of trying to achieve the necessary understanding.
That said Scars of Mirrodin has an absurdly large amount of Constructed unplayable commons and uncommons. We’ve had so many great sets in a row that are good at all rarities. That streak has come to an end. I’m a big fan of Scars of Mirrodin but one gigantic failing is the lack of appealing Constructed commons and uncommons. Keep in mind it seems worse than it is because we’ve been so spoiled by power creep but that is the thing about power creep: it
always
sucks when you stop. I see why Zvi called this
“Scar of Mercadia.”
The terrible commons for Constructed aren’t without purpose however. I’ve played in two Sealed Decks and a draft as of this writing and I can tell you this Limited format is awesome. Sealed is always the nut-low but this one didn’t seem particularly bad. In fact it was surprisingly a lot more possible to build your deck wrong than in previous years which is interesting.
The Draft format however seemed truly awesome. There’s so much drafting for specific decks but you don’t get locked into the tribal lottery the same way you did in Lorwyn block. You can build specific decks like in Rise of the Eldrazi but this format isn’t quite so archetype specific as there are a lot of good cards that can be used outside of their usual uses. I sympathize with the haters of mythics with this set as it
really does have few good tournament cards at the lower rarities but you gotta admit the Limited format is
The Actual Blade
.
“Sin Tool”
They could print:
Time Vault Pants
2
Artifact — Equipment
Equipped creature has “T: Take an extra turn” and doesn’t untap during your untap step unless you skip a turn.
Can only be equipped to a tapped creature. If Time Vault Pants is removed from a creature skip your next turn.
Equip: 0
I would still not be on board with Soliton in Constructed.
In Limited he’s a little bad as a 3/4 in a non-blue deck loose as a 3/4 “vigilance” but totally game-breaking with a good combo like Heavy Arbalest. We haven’t drafted enough yet to know how worthwhile it is to push for this deck but the combo is certainly unbelievable in theory.
“Teeth Else Kill”
Steel Hellkite is so much better than previous rivals — it is sickening. Unfortunately he’s in the same set as Wurmcoil Engine which is so much better than previous rivals by a substantially larger margin. Steel Hellkite does have his uses especially since he’s a relatively efficient flier that can remove almost any permanent.
Still he’s well outside of Standard as even if you wanted more than Wurmcoil Engine there are still the Titans to contend with all five of which make Steel Hellkite look bad.
In Limited this guy is obviously a total game-breaker without costing infinite plus one (some people call it eight). Never pass this guy except in weird unrealistic foil situations and backdrafts.
“The Stray Cat’s”
The crazy thing I only noticed about this card upon reading it a third time was that it powers up off your opponent’s lands as well as your own. This may not mean too much in the way of Constructed but it sure is a blowout in Limited. Even in a two-color deck this thing hits really hard. If you happen to find a way to go mono-colored or your opponent shares a color with you now it’s a straight-up massacre. Total bomb rare that will win games and isn’t even that slow.
In Constructed I imagine there are better options. Unless you just knew that you were playing against an opponent with the same single color as you I’d avoid. Kind of fun in formats where dual lands and shocklands are legal though its power level probably lends itself to these plays in more casual settings.
“Hard…
Risen…
Rests…”
Alright I’m cut off from the anagram game heh. Time to get serious!
Believe it or not my favorite keyword is haste. I love haste so much and always evaluate each and every card with the word haste on it especially closely. Strider Harness would be
so
much sexier to me at 2+1 but as it stands it feels a little short.
Sword of Vengeance has lots more going on even if it’s a little less easy to wield. That said if all you care about is the haste Strider Harness provides that at a discounted mana cost and still with a bonus. Not probable but possible as cards like this are always reviewed a couple times a year when brewing crazy combo decks that look to finish people off on the turn they go off.
In Limited this card seems hot! I’m very glad it’s 3+1 instead of 2+2 as the added mobility makes it mesh a lot better with the sorts of decks that will want it. It’s super hot with infect increasing the poison counters but also providing a dangerous deterrent to opponents that will be forced to keep a creature home every turn out of fear of what you could play next. I like that it’s something good to do in the mid game rather than card number 8675309 that aspires to fill the “Late Game Bomb that is Slower than Daniel Clegg Playing a Game of Magic” role.
This card has captured the hearts and minds of thousands but I’m still lukewarm on it. Sword of Fire and Ice as well as Sword of Light and Shadow give it a lineage that demands respect but protection from green and blue are the least good generally and the blue ability of milling seems mostly irrelevant (you can’t even mill yourself!). I appreciate that the Wolf at least gives us some kind of a card for our trouble but when I have a Sword in action I’m generally not thinking to myself: “You know what I want? A Wolf token!” I’ll be keeping this card in mind but I don’t even like it as much as Sword of Vengeance in general I think which is no superstar itself.
In Limited however this card is a pretty unbeatable Mythic. Go figure.
Sylvok Lifestaff is a card that has my eye as I suspect it may prove more potent than first glance would reveal. It’s the most effective life gain card that Trinket Mage can find which already gives it a niche. Next it isn’t unreasonable for Trinket Mage-style decks to want a little equipment to help bolster their threats. The Lifestaff does a passable job of this for so little mana. Far from a star I’d just be content at the chance of fringe play.
The card looks decent in Limited but any cheap equipment that boosts power looks good with metalcraft and infect. It’s unclear how much the life
gain matters but the card certainly asks very little of you. As always good fast cards are
good
and good slow cards aren’t
as good.
This one is certainly faster than it is good but that may be enough. This format is so fluid with your picks varying in value so much depending on your deck and strategy. M11 wasn’t too bad all things considered but it is
so
nice to be back to a real Limited format.
They were not kidding when they said they’d boosted the power levels of the Replicas — now that damage no longer goes on the stack! Still this guy may be versatile but he’s hardly game-breaking. In this format Naturalize is often as powerful as a Doom Blade. You’d love a 1/3 for three mana that could sacrifice for a single mana to Doom Blade. That is about where his power level is in Limited.
When it comes to Constructed Sylvok Replica isn’t as economical as many options but shines if you specifically want an artifact creature to do your Naturalizing. For instance if you have ways to tutor for recur or otherwise abuse artifact creatures with cards like Prototype Portal Fauna Shaman (Qasali Pridemage is gone remember) or Sun Titan to name a few.
At first glance the Throne of Geth is a bit homely. After all proliferate is kind of hard to think about anyway but sacrifice artifacts? Well that’s a drawback that’s easy to feel the pain of. Could we really want this card in Constructed? Here’s a scenario for you:
Turn 2 Throne of Geth
Turn 3 Throne of Geth
Turn 4 Koth use his ultimate!
Now that’s just a very crude application but the possibility of proliferating without mana is actually quite abusable. If we figure that proliferate is worth a little less than a card we can see that the intrinsic power of the Throne is fine.
After all an artifact that cost two to cast and could tap and sacrifice an artifact to draw a card would be good enough. On top of that we find no shortage of artifacts worth sacrificing besides itself such as Spellbombs Perilous Myr extra Mox Opals and Contagion Clasps and no end of miscellaneous Trinkets.
Now the question becomes what is worth proliferating? I tend to think infect is the wrong angle for Constructed proliferation in general. Planeswalkers hitting their ultimates is a lot sexier to me.
Additionally a glance at all of the artifacts that reference charge counters could help spark ideas. I’m picturing a blue or red deck that’s powering Lux Cannons Ratchet Bombs Chalices Jace/Koth and more. I think there are very good chances that Throne of Geth plays a supporting role in such a deck.
It is
so
inexpensive that you don’t even have to get that much value out of it to be worth it. Imagine you sacrifice a Mox Opal to proliferate (turning on the other one in your hand). Now your Chalice is one bigger getting you ahead in mana plus you get paid on your Cannons walkers or whatever else you’re up to.
In Limited I think it’s a lot less likely that you’ll be able to consistently proliferate for enough value to be that good but it’s still a reasonable card in the right deck since proliferate is a very potent ability that scales very well if you get enough of the linear. Whatever that means…
If you’re in the market for a really slow Limited bomb that can take over the game and is vulnerable to artifact removal if you ever get to that point Tower of Calamities is yet another option. Not a competitive tournament card for Constructed though big numbers ensure at least some use in casual circles.
Obviously this card is a stone-cold killer in Limited as it’s like a Serrated Arrows that can be recharged if you’re black. Personally I suspect we’ll want to draft this card high even when not playing black. It isn’t even just that Serrated Arrows-type cards are good it’s also that there are a ton of one-toughness creatures in people’s decks plus with proliferate every -1/-1 counter has the potential to grow torturously into full-blown Quag Sickness (while simultaneously recharging the Trigon).
Constructed is a different animal however. While Serrated Arrows was an absolute monster the first time around it didn’t have much of an impact at all in Time Spiral.
First of all creatures were smaller back then with many of the best creatures clocking in at 2/1 for two. Nowadays most creatures are much bigger or provide inherent card advantage.
Add to this the drawback of costing two mana to use as well as the unlikely need to actually recharge it and it paints a grim picture for the Trigon. Cards like Ratchet Bomb All Is Dust Molten-Tail Masticore and Wurmcoil Engine help ensure that protection from a color isn’t enough of a reason to go this route.
In general I think Contagion Clasp is just far better at doing what Trigon aspires to do especially since Trigon costs the dreaded four mana meaning the competition is very high. You’d have to want to kill a lot of one-toughness creatures repeatedly to make this worth it.
Trigon of infection is very much not what Constructed poison decks are looking for in general with the possible exception of some sort of midrange-y control deck that kills with Skithiryx and wants a token generator to help establish a board presence. Who knows what Block will bring? But as far as Standard Extended and Legacy I think the default strategy for poison is to take advantage of the two-drops functioning like pseudo-double-strikers. You can enhance their power with Giant Growth-type cards like Prey’s Vengeance Vines of the Vastwood and possibly even Assault Strobe if you’re getting crazy and just want to win turn 3.
Turn 2 infect creature. They foolishly tap out for an Everflowing Chalice a Ratchet Bomb or whatever.
Turn 3 Vines of the Vastwood… Oh it resolves? Assault Strobe!
You can also enhance infect creatures with equipment like the above-mentioned Livewire Lash. You could even use lords or enchantments or whatever. Unfortunately none of these plans revolve around slow card-advantage engines like Trigon of Infestation. While not hopelessly underpowered this card isn’t quite up to snuff and suffers from being an artifact in a deck that doesn’t get extra bonuses from them and in a world that will bend to fight them.
In Limited Trigon of Infestation is pretty excellent. It provides a meaningful effect on the board has built in card advantage synergizes well with other infect creatures as well as proliferate and will be an early pick for infect players every time even if they are somehow not green. It’s also very reasonable to play this Trigon in a non-green non-poison deck if you have a nice proliferate theme. This is especially true if you’re playing U/W and have Glint Hawk to bounce it to reset it or U/R with red sacrifice outlets to get added value out of it.
It’s nice to have an option like this for Constructed but it’s pretty slow and artifacts are hardly safe from red the mage that this spell tries to hose. Additionally I’d be a lot more concerned about Koth than Lightning Bolt if I were a white mage and the white Trigon does nothing to save you there.
Life gain is generally not particularly good in Limited and the world of Scars of Mirrodin makes it even worse as often life gain is irrelevant against some of the most dangerous aggro decks namely infect. Avoid!
This type of card has never really been good in Constructed and despite the improved numbers on Trigon of Rage I don’t see it being a player in Constructed unless you think it’s the ticket to best pumping infect creatures.
A fair bit better in Limited where combat pumps always gain in utility. It’s actually pretty amazing compared to equipment in some regards as you can decide at instant speed which creature to pump which is especially good with attacking infect creatures. The drawback is that it costs two mana a turn and runs out of counters unless you have RR around to charge it (which may not always mesh with every infect deck).
You know I’d love a Tome to be good but this one costs 5 + 2 instead of 4 + 0 like Jace the Mind Sculptor. Maybe Jace TMS isn’t a fair comparison but what is this good compared to? Certainly not Jace Beleren. What about Jace’s Ingenuity? Again it isn’t even close. In this world of planeswalkers and Titans there are no shortage of good ways to get card advantage late so why use such an inefficient Tome?
Big Questions
: Are you in the market for a Tome?
If yes do you already have Jace the Mind Sculptor or Koth of the Hammer?
If no read
Jonathan Medina column
for assistance in trading to get them. If yes try Contagion Clasp. Seriously just try it. Even Prototype Portal seems way better.
Trigon of Thought is certainly a lot more playable in Limited than Constructed but it’s still pretty slow and I would way rather have a good mana efficient card. Still the format is very attrition-oriented at times so just straight-up actually drawing some real extra cards is nice; it’s just that there are a ton of slow expensive options available to you so there’s no need to draft this high. Using early picks on removal (Shatter included) fliers good cheap creatures and more is far more important. I think I’d rather pick a Silver Myr pick 6 pack 1 than a Trigon of Thought.
Everyone I have seen use this card has been trying to use it as a defensive tool (which is possible with proliferate just remember to keep a counter on it) but it seems so much better used as an offensive one to help power through defenders in Limited. The card looks a little lackluster on the surface but I suspect that as players learn to draft fast aggro decks this card will find some homes.
Constructed… well not so much. It’s kind of a bummer to write Part 2 of this set review after how awesome the cards in Part 1 were. Did Wizards of the Coast conspire to make most of the interesting cards start with the letters A-M? Is Mark Rosewater pulling a dirty trick on us? Did the US Military really think
burning books
would help?
I agree that a one-mana 1/1 infect would be too much out of the gate (though I don’t put it out of WotC’s range to make a rare 1/1 infect for B in the next set); this guy is unfortunately a little lacking for me. There’s just too much competition from the two-drops with good abilities to suck me into the Vector Asp. Costing a mana a turn is surprisingly rough.
Advantages:
1) Another artifact making color requirements no problem
2) Trinket Mage target which is always a consideration
3) He does only cost one to cast so he might actually make your curve better somehow (though it’s unlikely)
4) Snake lords in Kamigawa!
In Limited he’s fine if you need infect guys but he’s pretty low on the totem pole. I’d draft just about anything your deck actually wants over him.
All feel-good all the time! Venser’s Journal is well-designed for the casual player lending itself well to formats like Type 4 and multiplayer games. When it comes to Constructed this card provides half of a Gerrard’s Wisdom every turn. That is actually pretty awesome! While its impact is slightly diminished by the existence of Wurmcoil Engine Venser’s Journal is a definite sideboard possibility for anyone in the market for renewable life gain every turn. The maximum hand size ability will lure many Temple Bell mages but it’s very likely too slow even with the life gain it provides.
I don’t know for sure how good this card is in Limited but it seems like it’s probably too weak. It’s just too slow and doesn’t exert enough of a presence on the board.
Just another generic dude you’d never play in Constructed (a.k.a. a Scars of Mirrodin common) that is fine in Limited but not amazing which works well with…. wait for it…. wait for it…. metalcraft! When you’re drafting your deck if you can get your hands on some artifact enablers he’s reasonable filler. Not hitting creatures isn’t surprising but certainly nerfs him into the minors. Still three damage is a fairly nice amount of reach so if you draft a fast red aggro deck he has some added utility especially if you have ways of recurring your artifacts from your graveyard.
There was once a day when Wall of Earth was considered borderline playable. That day has long passed. Being an artifact and gaining reach is nowhere near enough to tempt us.
In Limited Wall of Tanglecord certainly has juiced stats but having all butt and no front is a dangerous combination in this world of infect. It’s obviously fine if your opponents are playing the right types of cards for it to block but an awful lot of the creatures that I actually want to block are the infect creatures. I’d probably avoid this one.
Wurmcoil Engine is my pick for the second best card in the set behind Koth. He’s easily on the Titan curve and in fact is possibly second only to Primeval Titan. It’s a 6/6 lifelink creature for six already putting it in the same league as Baneslayer Angel despite being colorless meaning black rlue and red all have access to amazing life gain. The biggest failing of Baneslayer Angel (if one can talk about failings with such a card) is its vulnerability to
Doom_Blade_Guy
and the ilk. Wurmcoil Engine has an excellent insurance policy. Kill it and now there are two more threats to deal with one of which even has lifelink as well.
I originally thought of Wurmcoil Engine as being very much like Baneslayer meets Grave Titan with respect to getting value even if they kill it but perhaps Aaron Forsythe comparison to Baneslayer Thrinax is more apt. Either way Wurmcoil Engine is the definition of the best of both worlds. He single-handedly takes over the game if unchecked like Baneslayer but gives you good value if your opponent tries to kill it like Grave Titan.
Wurmcoil Engine was a tricky card to evaluate for many people as it totally throws aside prior costing conventions for similar cards. It is so far beyond any other six-drop artifact creature that I suspect it will see a moderate amount of play in more powerful formats. I’m not even sure where yet but the card is juiced so far off the deep end that it has to make homes for itself in the older formats. He’s especially good at providing life gain to decks that wouldn’t normally have access to it.
As far as Standard goes Wurmcoil Engine is no longer a sleeper as word has spread about this guy. I know it’s weird to have such an insane off-the-charts colorless creature but here we are. Lifelink is one of the best abilities ever and creatures that don’t get wrecked by removal are awesome. Deathtouch is obviously just tacked on but I’m certainly glad that one of the 3/3 tokens has it. He may be an upgrade to Baneslayer Angel or Grave Titan for a lot of decks but he’s also a lot more of a Masticore-type creature than the new Molten-Tail Masticore is. One of the hallmarks of old Masticore was his showing up in decks like Mono-Blue and Mono-Green decks that wouldn’t normally have such a good answer to aggro.
Wurmcoil Engine is similar and will be adopted by many. Need help in the Mono-Red mirror? Wurmcoil saves the day! He’s a killer combo with All Is Dust for control decks. He even combos awesomely with Grand Architect Summoning Trap or Koth. New Standard will feel a very strong presence of artifacts and help shape the removal people play with. Wurmcoil Engine is one of the defining cards in the set and the format helping make cards like Revoke Existence good.
This card is fun crazy good and Wizards of the Coast bless their hearts made it the Prerelease foil! I’m sure it goes without saying but this guy is a totally broken mythic that’s probably what I most want to open in every pack of Draft or Sealed.
Remember this article in one month! Today Wurmcoil Engine is $14.95. This is me telling you now…
Thank you for coming out today! I’ll be here all week. See you tomorrow as we examine green and red!
Patrick Chapin
“The Innovator”
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