Tuesday, April 28th – Contrary to popular belief, StarCityGames.com does not give me free cards. I wish! So instead, I prowl the latest cards, looking for bargains. And after set release, I share what I’ve actually purchased, so you can see what I think were the best and most affordable cards at the time the set was released. What did I order this time around, and why?
As the Webmaster, I am the guy who inputs all the new cards into the system. Ben gives me a list of what they should be priced at, and I import them, and then I look at them to see what I will purchase.
Yes, I do purchase; contrary to popular belief, StarCityGames.com does not give me free cards. I wish! So instead, I prowl the latest cards, looking for bargains. And after set release, I share what I’ve actually purchased, so you can see what I think were the best and most affordable cards at the time the set was released.
Now, a couple of caveats: Sadly, I did not get to attend the release parties this weekend. Wanted to quite badly, but my wife’s birthday was this weekend — a party that lasted two days. She’s pretty damn popular for a fifty-year-old chick! And skittering off to a prerelease tournament would have led to a premature divorce. So these are written off of first impressions of the cards, not first impression of the play — and I firmly believe the gulf between “It looks great” and “It is great” is a vast chasm that often leads players to their doom.
Likewise, are these the best cards for all multiplayer environments? Not necessarily. In some cases, I had decks that these cards would improve. In other cases, I found ‘em too pricey for my tastes; I’m not gonna deny that Broodmother Dragon is a decent card, but do I want to pay $20 for a set? Not yet.
But here, for the record, is what I ordered this time around. And it’s a lot.
Behemoth Sledge ($0.50)
It’s Armadillo Cloak on a stick, and everyone knows I love Armadillo Cloak. Why does everyone know I love Armadillo Cloak? Because everyone knows that lifegain is one of the most critical mechanics for winning long multiplayer games. Everyone knows that in multiplayer, your threats are already spread thin; without a combo deck that goes infinite, you only have so much damage you can do. And everyone knows that in multiplayer, you have to deal out forty or sixty or eighty damage by getting past everyone’s defenses. So everyone knows that when you gain life, you make it that much harder for someone’s limited damage to kill you.
But since everyone knows that simple lifegain by itself won’t win you the game, what everyone wants is lifegain that comes with something else. Lightning Helix or Faith’s Fetters are fine examples of lifegain that comes with things you’d want to do anyway.
Behemoth Sledge gives you extra oomph during the attack phase, rendering tiny blockers useless as you trample over their puny x/1 bottoms. And it’s reusable. I’m not sure whether it’s better than Armadillo Cloak, because there is a huge difference between “three mana to your first usage” and “six mana to your first usage”… But for two dollars, I’m perfectly willing to see for myself.
Bituminous Blast ($0.75)
It’s not that I think it’s that powerful, but rather that if Cascade turns out to be as much fun as I think it will, then I want to have a full set of these uncommons before they rise in price. Uncommons from a third set are always trickier to find — at least for me, anyway.
Deathbringer Thoctar ($0.50)
Sure, he’s six mana, but as a bottom-feeder he’s quite nice. A lot of creatures cack it in multiplayer, and something as simple as a Pyroclasm could give you a token-heavy 15/15 that can do twelve damage to anyone who looks at you funny.
Is that worth a dollar? Heck no. He’s six mana, for God’s sake. For six mana, you generally want dragons, not this guy. But the key here is “generally” — there are some decks that will benefit from him more than they will any dragon. So at fifty cents, he’s worth trying out in my Jund “sacrifice everything” deck.
Mage Slayer ($0.50)
This one, I only purchased three of, because it’s a weird little card. For six mana, what you’ll generally be doing is winning more. If you have a 6/6 dragon out, doing an extra six damage to the guy you’re attacking generally won’t win you the game. He’ll block, be angry, and attack back. That’s it.
But I think there’s some potential here with Taurean Mauler, or any other critter that swells to huge sizes over the course of a game. Generally, vanilla guys like, say, Phytohydra don’t get a lot of love — they sit on the ground and watch the Angels and Demons soaring overhead, then bump up fruitlessly against Drudge Skeletons. But if you can slap a Mage Slayer on your gigantic dude, then attacking transforms into fifteen damage to their face, which is a considerably different problem.
Is that worth six mana? I’m not sure. Unlike Armadillo Cloak, this isn’t a tried-and-true card. But it’s worth seeing how it fires for a buck-fifty!
Necromancer’s Covenant ($0.75)
I bought three under the mistaken assumption that it was all opponents’ graveyards. That’ll learn me to skim the spoiler.
That said, there are decks that will really be punished by this clause, and my Zombies getting lifelink is often enough. Realistically, I should have purchased one or two to keep back just in case, not three. Now I’ll have to build a zombie deck.
Nemesis of Reason ($2.50)
I mentioned that Nemesis of Reason was enough of a reason to build a multiplayer Milling deck around. It’ll take a sixth off of anyone’s deck once it turns sideways (assuming you’re not in EDH or playing Battle of Wits, of course), and it’s large enough to survive most ground-based tussles. I figured I might as well try it.
Alas, I can’t afford four of Glimpse the Unthinkable, but really I should get four of Mind Funeral as well. But I’ll be looking over all my Milling-style cards soon in preparation to create a truly annoying deck. Any suggestions?
Qasali Pridemage ($0.50)
In every set, there’s what I consider to be the best card — maybe not the splashiest card, certainly not the most powerful card, but a solid, low-cost card that can slot into any deck and is useful no matter when you draw it.
People have scoffed when I chose Taurean Mauler, but the truth is that as cool as Dragon Broodmother is, there are only so many six-mana dudes you can stuff into a deck. Something has to hit the field and hold the fort until your big dudes can arrive, and it’s cards like Qasali Pridemage that hit early and do good work. This, I’ll be using.
Sages of the Anima ($0.50)
Is it any good? I dunno. But it’s affordable! If it turns out to be good, well, I’ll have some.
Sphinx of the Steel Wind ($6.00)
As many, many people pointed out last week, the fact that Sphinx of the Steel Wind is both black and an artifact remove it from consideration of most of Black’s Terror-style effects. D’oh. Yes, I am The Stupid sometimes. But I made up for it by purchasing two copies of this.
I’m still not sold on its lack of hastiness; a turn for someone to prepare for my Sphinx is not the happy-making of me. But hey, if I do create an Esper deck, I’m pretty sure this will only rise in value. Ben agrees with me.
Tainted Sigil ($0.30)
It’s one of those cards that does nothing by itself — I suspect this’ll be a routine fifteenth-pick in draft — but can be gigantic in multiplayer game when other people are slugging it out. Someone’s abusing Kokusho, The Evening Star again? Well, if it’s you, you’ve just doubled Kokusho’s gain, and if it’s not then you’re well up over what’s happening.
Likewise, if someone’s casting Earthquake or Squall Line, you can put yourself back in the game and how. Unfortunately, it’s not an instant, but it will sit there waiting for you… And heck, for the cost of a Diet Pepsi, I can see how it works for myself. So why not?
Now let’s talk about cards I did not get:
Dauntless Escort ($5.00): Too Expensive
Dauntless Escort is, of course, a great card — you get an early 3/3 with a great “protect all my guys” effect that lasts after you sacrifice him. (A handy bonus that Wizards should look into more often.) But at five bucks apiece, I don’t have a deck that he slots into easily — and for a $20 investment, I need to know that he’ll get to work in my Titanic Ultimatum saproling deck right away.
I may go back and purchase him later on. But for right now, I don’t have any G/W decks that are so worried about Wrath of God effects that they need him for protection. And so I shall wait.
Dragon Broodmother ($5.00): Too Untested
Is the Dragon Broodmother a good card? Well, that depends on how you define “Good.” Will she get you a lot of flying tokens, churning out little hungry pingers on each player’s upkeep? You betcha.
Will she draw you a lot of attention? Ah, now there’s the rub.
My suspicion is that the Broodmother will hit — and at 4/4 and in all the vulnerable colors, she’s going to die soon to a Terror or a Bituminous Blast or a pair of Shocks or something. She may well be too good to survive, yet not quite self-protecting enough to be worth the investment. A lot of multiplayer cards fall into that Uncanny Valley, so I wasn’t quite yet willing to spend $15 to see how she worked.
Though I do want her. I may break down and buy her later on.
Jenara, Asura of War ($12.50): Too Expensive
I said I liked Jenara, but I did not like her fifty bucks’ worth. If she was $5 or even $6 I’d snap up a four-pack, no questions, but I think the Standard fans are driving up the price on this. We’ll see whether she holds her value or turns out to be a disappointment.
Thought Hemorrhage ($9.00): Too Expensive
Again, this is a card I thought would be excellent, but apparently too many people agreed with me. I’m not sure who’s going to play this, though — at four mana, it seems too expensive for Standard and Extended tournaments (perhaps Block), and it’s too pricey for a Casual all-star. Who’s purchasing this, and for what? Now I’m curious.
Signing off,
The Ferrett
The Here Edits This Site Here Guy
TheFerrett@StarCityGames.com