Monday, January 19th – …and now we get to the final bargain cards in Odyssey/Onslaught. No fancy introductions, just effective cards at good prices guaranteed to fill holes in your multiplayer decks!…and now we get to the final bargain cards in Odyssey/Onslaught. No fancy introductions, just cards!
Scalpelexis ($1.00)
Flexibility: 2
Price: 6
Overall: 3
Scalpelexis was one of those cards that I was happy never saw a lot of play, mainly because I was line-editing all the articles back in the day and nobody ever spelled this correctly. (Hell, even typing it took me three tries.) Much like “Flametounge Kavu,” this would have been a card I would have grown to hate.
That said, this is a narrow card with a narrow set of usage… But if you’re looking to build a casual milling deck and you have a bunch of opponents who have reasonably tight deck, this is a good way of accelerating the process. If it hits once — which it’s likely to do to someone – that’s four cards automatically, with a solid chance of four more. And they’re not just milled, but Removed From Game, which makes it even sweeter.
Sadly, it has to be combat damage, which means you can’t just Fire Whip that sucker up. But you know, you’re playing Blue, so if you can’t bounce or counter that blocker, you’re doing it wrong.
Seedborn Muse
…what?
It’s in Tenth Edition?
Well, damn. Get it anyway; it’s still one of the best cards for any G/U control deck.
Shepherd of Rot ($0.25)
Flexibility: 3
Price: 8
Overall: 5
Shepherd of Rot is one of those odd cards; it will make you a target. The second you lay this down on turn 2 and then start sucking everyone’s life for three, people are going to say, “Hey! Zombie guy! We’d better kill him.”
That said, the Shepherd can speed up a game like no tomorrow, and if you get two out, it’s often over by turn 7. Whether you’ve won the game is a matter of debate, but if you want something that kills quickly without lurching into combo, the Shepherd — assuming it lives — can soul-suck everyone down to your level.
Slice and Dice ($0.75)
Flexibility: 7
Price: 7
Overall: 6
I adore the Slice and Dice. Is it because it does four damage to all creatures? No. Heck, I’ve hardly ever cast it at full value. It’s because you can do a point of damage to all creatures, draw a card, and there’s nothing Blue can do about it. No countering, no stopping — they just have to eat it.
It’s not for every Red deck, of course, but if you have a counter-heavy environ this is often is a solid choice (though if the rumor mill is to be believed, there may be a card in Conflux that is strictly superior to this in every way).
Sprouting Vines ($0.10)
Flexibility: 6
Price: 9
Overall: 7
Here’s a rarity: A land-thinning card for the late game. At three mana, it’s a little pricier than I like in a card that’s fetching me additional mana (and basics only), but after a huge combat-flurry in the late game when five or six spells have been unleashed — which happens a fair amount in interactive multiplayer games — then you can yank the last of the lands out of your deck and radically increase your choices of drawing pure action from now on.
It’s not for every deck, but in a good two-color deck that doesn’t rely much on dual lands, it can help you stay in the game.
Standstill ($3.50)
Flexibility: 2
Price: 3
Overall: 2
Strangely enough, this one really mutates in multiplayer; the standard in Legacy is to drop a Standstill and hurt ‘em with manlands, but a) you can’t do enough damage, and b) when someone breaks it, all your other opponents will get cards as well.
Thing is, as I discovered accidentally, it works pretty decently in a milling deck. When every spell you have is designed to knock cards off the top of their decks, them drawing three extra cards isn’t a bad thing. And if you can, say, stick a Brain Freeze on an Isochron Scepter and then Standstill, someone’s going to have to break it to break you — which makes everyone else draw cards and hands you three more.
I’m not saying it’s great, and not at the price, but it’s definitely worth thinking about if you have a few extra copies hanging about (which, given that it’s an Uncommon, might be the case if you drafted it back in the day).
Starstorm ($1.75)
Flexibility: 6
Price: 5
Overall: 6
This is one of those cards that drives the math nerds nuts; it seems like there should be a clean way to compare this to, say, Earthquake, but there are just a lot of things going on here. It hits fliers, but not players; it’s at instant-speed, costs an extra Red mana, but it can be cycled.
How do you balance all of those? Who cares? It’s just a good card.
Still, as a speedy board-clearer, it’s not too hard to use this; eight mana will knock most Dragons out of the sky, which is effectively a Wrath of God against anything that lacks either protection from Red or a regeneration shield up. And given that the best time to cast a board-clearer is in the final end-of-turn phase just before you’re up at bat, this is definitely worth considering.
Steely Resolve ($1.50)
Flexibility: 3
Price: 6
Overall: 5
For 1G, making all your guys untargetable seems like a fine idea. The problem is that with some of the the tribes, you often want to target your own guys (see also: Timberwatch Elf), but often with other tribes whose best guys don’t target (see also: Slivers), the Steely Resolve works.
Then again, with Slivers, you could just get Crystalline Sliver, but that is extensive.
Symbiotic Beast ($0.25)
Flexibility: 4
Price: 8
Overall: 6
It’s slightly pricey, competing for God knows how many other of Green’s great six-drops…. But the Beast is a solid anti-Wrath of God deterrent, giving you a mini-army when it goes to the graveyard. But it’s total gold when you get to use it with some repeatable sacrifice effect (Goblin Bombardment my go-to, but I’m sure you can think of others), where you can squeeze five sacrificial uses out of one card.
Syphon Mind ($0.25)
Flexibility: 6
Price: 8
Overall: 6
At four mana, this isn’t really a mid-game card; when you hit four mana, you want to be establishing your board position, vying for dominance. And cast it on turn 4 in most cases and it’s a slight waste — yes, you get a ton of cards, but also draw a lot of attention.
However, casting this on turn 6 or 7, knocking someone’s Hellkite Overlord out of their hand and drawing four cards? Golden. Multiplayer discard decks usually don’t work that well, but if you’re working on one then this (and, weirdly Cackling Fiend) is golden.
Timberwatch Elf ($0.40)
Flexibility: 5
Price: 7
Overall: 4
One of the classic Elves in the bog-standard Elf deck, Timberwatch Elf was a draft favorite, but it can play havoc with combat math — this plus any trampler often spells game over.
But the problem is that the Timberwatch has slowly been made redundant by any number of other Elf alternatives — and the leafy guys have so many options, there are now about four or five ways to build Elf decks, all equally viable. So if you’re trying to overpower with one single attacker, then the Timberwatch can help, but consider it very carefully before slotting it into your deck.
Tribal Unity ($0.40)
Flexibility: 7
Price: 7
Overall: 7
For three mana, this can be a devastating finisher — and it’s a forgotten card, so most people forget it exists. No, it doesn’t give trample, multiplayer’s best mechanic — but on the other hand, you can swell the tribe of your choice as large as your mana will support it, which is especially nice for smaller tribes like, say, Saprolings, or armies that will gain life with an Essence Sliver (hint hint hint).
If you can generate armies of teeny Tribals and have a need, this is a card you really do have to have in the arsenal.
Wellwisher ($0.75)
Flexibility: 7
Price: 6
Overall: 7
I built an Elf deck. I tried to leave this out.
The first night, I played against another Elf deck. Mine had just as many creatures, and more resiliency to Wrath effects… But he got three turns with a Wellwisher, and gained about sixty life, and that was the end of that.
The net-net is that really, you need this for a casual Elf deck. Yes, it’s cheesy lifegain, and yes, it’s not as flexible as other options, but the life you can gain — ‘cause remember, it’s all Elves, so count ‘em up around the board — will often cheese-a-pult you into auto-victories.
Windborn Muse
…Tenth Edition, too? Damn. Well, buy this as well. It’s a solid Propaganda effect on a stick, and it can attack in a pinch at a reasonable mana cost.
Wonder ($1.75)
Flexibility: 5
Price: 4
Overall: 5
Unlike most of the other Incarnations, Wonder has the benefit of being in Blue, which makes it much easier to discard it thanks to all its “Draw X, discard X” spells.
Wonder is one of the most potent Incarnations, because discarding it often leads to an instant-win — do your guys fly? No? Well, all my elephants do, GG. And better yet, like all Incarnations, people often forget if you discard it casually as part of some other effect, leading to horrific problems later when your opponents forget that yes, that large guy they planned on chump blocking is SAILING RIGHT OVER THEIR FACE.
That said, it’s not a card I’d play four-of; it’s more like a really weird combat trick that can double as a creature if need be.
Next week: The final bargains begin, with Kamigawa and Mirrodin!
Signing off,
The Ferrett
TheFerrett@StarCityGames.com
The Here Edits This Site Here Guy