Monday, March 2nd – As we venture into the wilds of Mirrodin and Kamigawa block in search of cheap, effective cards for casual multiplayer games, we run straight into some of the best Legends ever printed for multiplayer. Some of them are even affordable!Hi! I’d like to talk, but I have a birthday party to attend. My Godson Andy is about to celebrate with a Batman cake, so I have no time for clever introductions, or to discuss Ninjaffinity as I’d planned — that’ll be next week.
Right now, my mouth is frosted with delicious cupcake residue, so let’s just skip straight to the good cards, shall we?
Isochron Scepter
Flexibility: 7
Price: 2
Overall: 5
I’ve mentioned Isochron Scepter many, many times in the course of this series, and why not? For two mana, it’s a way of reusing whatever your favorite low-mana Instant is. I mean, the tournament player’s immediate instinct is to go with either Orim’s Chant or Counterspell — both excellent choices — but hey, why restrict yourself to Counterspells when you can have a never-ending string of Path to Exiles, Nameless Inversions, Brainstorms, Incinerates, Naturalizes, Extirpates, Dawn Charms, Magma Jets, Pongifies, or Terminates?
Or you could get creative. I’ve seen all sorts of weirdo Scepter decks, some of them quite fiendish. Sure, it’s pricey moneywise, but the flexibility it allows you in taking some of the crazier options into Johnnyworld is well worth it. Get a set, and the ideas will just flow.
Journeyer’s Kite
Flexibility: 7
Price: 6
Overall: 7
At first, I thought Journeyer’s Kite was a waste of time in all but Limited decks, but this is actually a strong card in slower multiplayer environments; if you have a deck that’s designed to sit back and watch other people react, then the Kite will routinely thin three to four land cards out of your deck, improving all future draws and giving you the resources for power plays.
It’s not that impressive looking on the surface, but I now have two playsets of this in active use, and I could use a third. You know those turns where you just have nothing to do? Get a land. As such, this is a better card than you’d think.
Kami of Ancient Law
Flexibility: 5
Price: 8
Overall: 7
I like two-drops that are useful in the late game. This counts. Think of it as a Grizzly Bear that acts as half a Naturalize whenever you want it, which is pretty good for White. Even better, it’s mana-free (unlike, say, Viridian Zealot), which means you’ll never be caught flat-footed at the wrong time.
The disadvantage? In my experience, artifacts are played a lot more than enchantments in casual multiplayer, making this often a deadish draw. But less dead than an instant that does the same thing.
And you can get four for a dollar, making this supremely nice to have just in case.
Keiga, the Tide Star
Flexibility: 7
Price: 3
Overall: 6
By the time Keiga comes out, there are always juicy targets to steal. And if there aren’t, you have a formidable flier in the air. That’s what we call “a bonus.”
Thing is, Keiga is attractively priced to be the best wall in existence. If the Tide Star stands back, nobody wants to attack into it — either you’ll lose your creature to the state-based effect of “more damage than toughness,” or you’ll lose your creature to Keiga’s wondrous triggered effect. That’s an extreme disincentive, and the mere presence of a Keiga has altered many games for its controller.
Keiga’s weakness is, of course, Wrath of God effects — everyone goes to the graveyard, and Keiga has nothing to do — but if you happen to be packing Counterspells to deal with that happenstance, then that danger vanishes into the maw of your two-mana instants, making Keiga the perfect add-in to any Blue-based control deck. Or any control deck, really, because at a single Blue Keiga is eminently splashable.
Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
Flexibility: 6
Price: 3
Overall: 5
Sneaky Kiki’s freaky mana cost drops him down a bit, but he’s still one of the better way of abusing any “comes into play” effect. Sundering Titan is the all-star classic here, ruining people’s mana bases — but just like Isochron Scepter, let your imagination run wild. Anything that does something nasty coming into play or leaving play can be used repeatedly, if you can stand the onerous mana cost.
Also, Kiki will be cacked on a regular basis. Be aware of this.
Also to the also, you can assemble an infinite-kill combo using multiple parts with Kiki; unless you have the Legacy-quality cards to try to make it work, generally the parts of the combo are too weak to stand on their own, making it unwieldy.
Kira, Great Glass-Spinner
Flexibility: 6
Price: 4
Overall: 5
Kira is something every Casual player should like to see; a low-priced, powerful effect that boosts every creature you own. Unfortunately, her 1UU cost makes it hard to use her in anything but a mostly Blue deck — but she pretty much ruins any targeted effects, forcing players to look elsewhere. And in my experience, people don’t like to just keep instants in hand, so they will not only look elsewhere, they’ll fire elsewhere.
She also won’t win any battles by herself; a lowly 2/2 with flying isn’t going to win any significant tussles. The recent printing of Volcanic Fallout lowers this card’s value a bit, but it’s still underplayed.
Kodama’s Reach
Flexibility: 8
Price: 7
Overall: 8
The Reach is one of the best Green landfetchers ever printed — thinning two cards out of your deck, effectively ramping you straight to five mana on turn 4. The Reach was always a little too slow for the speedy duel environment, but in multiplayer where you have a little more time to develop while everyone else is setting up and testing defenses, the Reach is a tremendous benefit in decks that want to explode in late-game, high-mana elbow-droppers.
Land-thinning in general is one of the underrated mechanics in multiplayer, and the Reach is very effective, getting much better with each copy cast. I have three sets in play in various decks of mine, and I don’t plan to yank any out soon.
Kokusho, the Evening Star
Flexibility: 9
Price: 1
Overall: 7
Hardly a bargain, but Kokusho supercharges Black decks like you wouldn’t believe. Even a single copy can suck thirty life off of a seven-man game, destroying low-life opponents and buying you time. A full set of four Kokushos will, barring some unforeseen obstacle, make you all but invincible against lesser decks. And God forbid you have some way of resurrecting the suckers, because there are few decks that can withstand six Kokusho activations.
A Kokusho isn’t an auto-win, naturally — Blue stealy decks can make you regret it — but it is so amazingly powerful that I would consider this a must-have investment if you’re looking to spend real money on kitting out your casual collection, a card right up there with the dual lands.
Kumano, Master Yamabushi
Flexibility: 6
Price: 6
Overall: 6
Outrageously popular at our multiplayer group, shunned in others, Kumano is one of those cards that really has to be worked around once it’s on the table. Is there the threat of Kokusho recursion? One ping as it’s on its way to the graveyard and it’s gone forever. Little weenie guys? Gone. Players at low life totals? Gone.
Yes, it’s fairly pricey, and the activations are costly. But experience has showed me that that’s actually good; players tend to go, “Well, he can’t do more than three damage this turn, maybe I won’t kill it.” But three damage, used judiciously, adds up, and often seals the game.
Lightning Greaves
Flexibility: 7
Price: 4
Overall: 5
Giving a creature haste and shroud for free is almost always good; any time you can give your opponent a narrow window to react, the better. So if they didn’t have the mana open for that Path to Exile on the turn you cast it, well, they never will get to shoot.
In addition, Haste really gives you a boost after a Wrath of God — you can cast your big tramply guy and hit while everyone’s defenses are down, causing huge life swings and punishing those with further Wrath effects in reserve. All that reusable goodness for two mana is very doable.
Also, Lightning Greaves enables some very slow and awkward combos — infinite targeting, two creatures cast in the same turn needing to be online at once, and so forth. Those combos are clunky and I wouldn’t rely on them, but the Greaves does occasionally allow you to pull out weird victories from nowhere.
It’s useful in a very limited segment of decks — specifically, those with large creatures that are too vulnerable if they have to wait a turn — but those decks that need it will want the Greaves very much, making this a good card to have on-hand for special occasions.
Memnarch
Flexibility: 4
Price: 4
Overall: 4
Another staple in the Big Dumb Artifact deck, this one allows you to steal pretty much dang near anything if you have enough mana on-line. Does this actually happen all that often? No. Generally, someone will kill it. But it’s one of those “Kill me or die” creatures where everyone has to come to a full stop to handle this or pay a severe price.
I’m generally not a fan of decks that post the “Can you handle this?” question that overtly, but Memnarch is often worth the hassle. And in decks with access to a lot of mana, you can actually cast and use it the same turn. Weird, but true.
Mind’s Eye
Flexibility: 4
Price: 6
Overall: 4
I know a lot of people who swear by Mind’s Eye — “You can draw five cards a turn!” they say. In my experience, however, you tie up a lot of mana and don’t draw that many cards before someone Shatters it. And at five mana, it’s a stretch for a card that does nothing by itself.
Still, if I left it out, people would be asking where it went. I am aware. I don’t like it that much. However, you should be aware that a lot of very good players seem to have all kinds of hotness for this; examine the card and judge for yourself.
Myojin of Night’s Reach
Flexibility: 3
Price: 6
Overall: 4
Probably the strongest of the Myojin, a cycle I actually like, this sucker can strip everyone’s hands. That’s really its only major effect; for eight mana, everyone else discards everything. Then you have a fragile 5/2 with no evasion.
That sounds terrible, and often it is, but there are those times in the late game where your opponents are stockpiling cards, sitting around with a hand full of gas and waiting for someone to do something. This punishes them severely for that, and as such I have been known to include it as a random, Tutorable one-of in powerful Black decks as an answer to certain board positions. And it’s cheap.
Signing off,
The Ferrett
TheFerrett@StarCityGames.com
The Here Edits This Site Here Guy
Next Week: No Cake!