This isn’t going to be a complete Planar Chaos set review… instead, I thought it would be best to focus on the cards that aren’t very obvious – those cards that could be good, but you’re afraid to include them in your deck because of all the times they might be awful. Of course, since the set is so new, there will be some cards I’ll probably look back on and wonder how I ever thought it wasn’t good (or vice versa), but for now the jury’s still out and everything has to be evaluated. Even older cards that have come back in a new color, whether they were good or bad in the past, can play very differently in a new environment.
I attended the prerelease in Costa Mesa, California. I had a pretty late night the night before, so I didn’t wake up early enough to make the opening flights. By the time I got there I had the option of playing in the final flight*, doing triple PC drafts, joining the Team Trios Sealed tournament, or playing 2HG. While I was sitting there, Ben Rubin called me and asked if I wanted to team with him for 2HG, making my decision pretty easy. He’s a probable future Hall of Famer, and he’s really good at Magic, but that’s not really what does it for me. I have teamed with BR before, and the good times are simply too unreal to pass up on. If you know BR, you probably understand what I mean. We often wonder if he sits at home and tries to come up with nonsensical words and phrases in his spare time, since he seems to define so much of our lingo out here in this neck of the woods. Like the cards, the jury’s still out on that.
BR and I managed to win the flight, after beating Antonino and Ken Ho in a real nail-biter. We were so far behind in the game, but somehow we came back when Ken hit a land-clump and we drew a Damnation to reset things. It was definitely one of the most fun times I had playing Magic in a quite a while. So, armed with a little (and I stress “little”) knowledge of the new cards, and sixteen or so packs to draft with, we were off to Josh Bennett house** to draft.
After a few matches, it was clear that opinions were varied on a lot of cards…
The Charms
Probably some of the most highly debated cards are the Charms. All of them are reasonable to play, and some of them are quite good. The only problem is that everyone thinks a different one is “the good one.” Right now in the group, the frontrunner is probably Evolution Charm. While all the Charms are versatile, this one is special. You’re always happy to draw this in your opening hand to fix your mana and, since one of the biggest problems with mana fixing is that it’s a dead draw in the late game, you don’t mind drawing it later because you can Raise Dead a boom-boom or Jump in ftw.
Even as I’m writing this, Ant walked behind me and asked me specifically to quote him. “Best Charm is the Green Charm, obv. It’s twice as good as the other ones.”
While I do really like the Green charm, I personally think Dawn Charm is my favorite. Most people that I play with don’t like this one as much as I do, but I’m going to stick to my guns and say that I think this is the best of the bunch. Regenerating your man is always a valuable two-mana trick, and sometimes a Fog effect can be a giant blowout. The last part of the card isn’t used that often, but when it is, it will probably win you the game every time. It’s really not possible for the card to be really dead, since either you’re in a game where creatures are fighting and you’ll get to regenerate something with it, or you’re in a race where the fog will be devastating. With the chance to completely turn a game in your favor in a lot of ways, it’s my favorite Charm.
After those, I think the Black and Blue charms are both reasonable-to-good in the right decks. Piracy Charm is less useful than the others, but it can never truly be dead since you can always force a discard. One thing I don’t like about it is that you want to play Erratic Mutation in your Blue decks, and having more than one of these low-mana cards makes the Mutation worse. Midnight Charm is pretty useful, and I always include one in my deck if I can, but I don’t clamor for it. Fury Charm is pretty lame compared to the others, but it’s still fine to play. The ability to grant trample can steal games here and there, but since there aren’t too many artifacts (and removing time counters isn’t as useful at any point in the game, as with the other Charms), it’s probably the worst one.
This card stood out to me when I saw it. I thought it was awesome, and probably a very high pick, but at the prerelease and drafts I found that I was ending up getting a lot of these. People didn’t really like the card as much as I did. I don’t know if that’s only in my group or if that’s universal, but I’m pretty sure this card is very solid removal, and it will go up in value over time. I guess there’s always the possibility that you’ll be short one of your colors, and you can use this to cast spells that are stranded in your hand. There are lots of Saprolings and other things that make passable targets for this, if you really need the mana.
I think people’s main problem with this card is that you ramp your opponents’ mana, but since this card is best put on a large monster, they should already have enough mana to cast their spells. Just don’t use this on your opponent’s two-drop, and it should be fine. I expect this card to go up in people’s pick order quickly, but for now I’ll enjoy getting three or four of these in my draft decks. I guess I could be way off here, but only time will tell.
I’ve heard excellent things about this card, but I haven’t really been impressed by it personally. I don’t know if it’s a play-style thing, or a string of unusual circumstances, but it simply hasn’t been amazing for me. People whose opinion I respect definitely are in love with this card, and think it’s first-pick quality. Of course, it can only be so bad when you get a removal effect on a guy, so I’ll always play this guy 100% of the time I have him. I don’t know if I think he’s what everyone is making him out to be.
This is probably one of the cards that has generated the biggest debate among the people I play with. Antonino hates it, and would pretty much never play it, which really surprises me since it seems like the kind of card Ant would appreciate (since he’s always three or four colors). TBS, on the other hand, says he thinks it’s great. Usually when things like this happen, I know immediately that my opinion can’t be right, but this time I think TBS is onto something. While I’m certainly not in love with the card, I think it can be excellent. Although he’s different in a lot of ways, I think comparing him to Greenseeker is reasonable. Greenseeker is definitely a card that people disagree on vastly, and I know people that love it or hate it. I personally think it’s usually fine, and don’t mind having one or more in my deck, especially if I have any madness cards. This guy, while a little less impressive with the madness cards, is in a color that I think has more synergy with Black in the first place. He accelerates your mana while fixing your colors, and thins out your deck much more quickly than Greenseeker, for essentially the same price. Although the price tag seems higher at 2U, the mana coming into play untapped pretty much pays for itself, as long as you weren’t holding up mana to counter your opponent’s instants. Looking at it from that perspective, the card basically reads — U, tap: fix your colors and accelerate by one. Don’t forget to thin your deck of two lands for later. To me, that seems like a good deal. I’ll keep trying this guy out until I’m convinced that it’s not as good as I think.
While this card isn’t very heavily debated, it’s interesting enough that I’d like to mention it. At first glance it seems just about good enough, and you might not even be sure if you should play it, but once you have it in your deck you’ll realize immediately just how insane this card really is. In my mind, what really pushes it over the top is the ability to “save” one of your creatures from a removal spell, combat damage, or a bounce spell, and end up with a 3/3 Ape. A lot of times that’s actually better than the card you used it on, so you’re really coming out ahead. I don’t want to say it’s a two-for-one, or card advantage, but it almost feels that way when you play it. It’s a great one-for-one trade with a tempo and card quality advantage tied in. Using it on your opponents’ creatures is obviously fine in a pinch. Especially when the ground is stalled; neutralizing your opponent’s threat and giving them a useless 3/3 can be backbreaking. [But it turns a guy into an ape… why the hell isn’t it called Kongify?! — Craig, setting Wizards right.]
This card is really tough to evaluate. On one hand it’s most likely an eight-point life swing for three mana. On the other hand, if you aren’t able to trade with one of your opponent’s cards (and I’m sure they’ll do their best not to do so, which has some inherent value), then you’re down a card.
I’ve heard this card compared to a three-mana Drain Life that goes to the nugget for four. I don’t feel that it’s a very fair or accurate comparison. It’s not necessarily better or worse, but it’s definitely not as good as that, or simply just that. I guess that doesn’t make sense… what I mean to say is that, in some situations, it can be more than that. In others, it’s less. If your opponent is at four, a Drain Life for four would be much better, as would it be if you were at one and your opponent had a Rift Bolt in his hand. This card doesn’t do that, since it takes three mana and two or three turns to accomplish your goal of Draining your opponent for four. However, it’s not necessarily worse than that either, since sometimes it can gain you a time advantage and be worth much more than just the life swing. When you cast this card you go up two, and your opponent most likely won’t have any great attacks that turn. It’s also not as if it’s a great play to kill or bounce it, since you’ll go up four life and trade it for a card. So not only are you getting some life, but your opponent probably isn’t attacking you. That adds up to more life (potentially). Then you can send it in or hold it back, but either way you’re creating this board presence that a Drain Life wouldn’t have.
If I’m not being very clear about my opinion of the card, it’s probably because I’m not exactly sure. For now I’m going to say that I really like this card in decks that have lots of little flanking guys or try to race in the air, but that seems pretty obvious. As far as other draft archetypes go, I’m not really sure. I don’t want to seem too wishy-washy and leave you guys with a sour taste in your mouth, so I’ll say for now that I like this dude and wouldn’t be afraid to at least try him out in any White deck. I think he’ll be good more often than not, both when you’re ahead and when you’re behind, which makes it a solid card to me.
Here’s a guy that I don’t think is getting the respect he deserves right now. It’s not obvious at first, but this creature is very good. I am never unhappy when I draw him. In the late game he’s an excellent blocker with two cards attached. What more would you really want? Although you usually want to hold this guy until you have six mana, the added flexibility of being able to play him early if needed makes him a real winner. He is definitely one of the better commons in the set. Citanul Woodreaders, along with Giant Dustwasp, Mire Boa, and Utopia Vow, make Green my early favorite color in Planar Chaos.
This is another card I don’t think is getting the respect it deserves. In a White-heavy deck this guy’s an absolute beating. I doubt anyone’s forgotten just how good suspend is in Limited, so I’m not sure why this guy is not getting scooped up more quickly. I don’t have too much to say about this card that I don’t feel is very apparent, but I mean… it’s good and stuff. Try it out sometime.
I think this card is awesome. I have tons of respect for him, and I’ve noticed that a lot of people disagree with me. Nobody has said they think it’s bad or anything, but I consider him to be a top-notch card for Limited. Just saying…
Very aggressive…
I don’t like this card at all, yet I see a lot of lower-level players running this guy. I even had someone play this against me in 2HG! I don’t think it could ever be worse than it is in that format, but people like this guy for some reason. Trust me… do yourself a favor and don’t play this thing in your deck, unless it’s a very extreme circumstance. He’s really bad. He costs you a card and gets you nowhere except for a maximum potential of five damage, and usually it will end up being two when it really counts.
That’s a wrap for today. I’m glad I got a chance to tell you how I felt about some of the more borderline / controversial cards in the set. There are definitely more that I’d love to talk about, but I could only pick so many. I didn’t necessarily pick every card that you might want to see. I just picked the first ones that came to mind, so if anyone has anything specific that they’d really like to hear about, feel free to ask on the forums. I can either address them in my next article, or I can try to reply there. I am always reading, and I can’t stress enough how greatly feedback is appreciated. I don’t mind negative criticism, but please keep it to yourself if you feel the urge to post something nasty. If you didn’t like it, tell me why you didn’t like it and I’ll always do my best to work on improving. If anything, it helps me come up with topics and things that you’d like to hear about for next week.
I hope hearing these thoughts helped you make a decision about cards that you previously sat on the fence of playability, or changed your mind on cards you thought were downright bad.
Have fun with the new cards!
* When I was there, I thought final flight sounded like a pretty awesome name for a video game. Then I just realized that’s because it reminded my of Final Fight, and that game is the suitenheimers.