Hello, and welcome to the first article written after the recent revamp of my “Building Your First Five” series. Although I hope you enjoyed the five part series, I’m sure you can understand that I am happy to have finished it (again) and move on.
The full spoiler for Tenth Edition has been published on MTGSalvation.com, so any credit or errors should be due to them. I do not read or participate in spoilers normally, but a basic set is different, and I’m happy to have the spoiler as soon as possible, since all of the cards have already seen print before.
Today, I would like to take a look at the cards that are being reprinted in Tenth Edition and what that means for casual Magic. Writing an article discussing the impact of an expansion set makes a lot of sense, because the cards are new. If I were a Standard writer, I’d probably care a lot about the set as well, because it would greatly impact my format and my decks.
However, as a casual writer, every card in Tenth will have already been available to me. For example, the Portal import Sylvan Basilisk has been a feature in two of my previous articles, and I’ve built a deck in which it features. I’ve used cards from all sources in my articles and my decks both virtual and in real life. I just rebuilt my old Vintage power deck to kill a person who challenged me and killed him on the third turn (My third, his first. I went first and played Time Walk on the second turn.) All formats are welcome in my articles and around the kitchen table.
Note that while all cards in a basic set are already in print in various previous sets, many players don’t have those cards. At our Friday Night Abe’s Magic (FNAM), there are a lot of players who just began playing, or who don’t have many cards. Both of these groups of players benefit from a new basic set because they can get new cards they never have had before. I have people who play at my Friday Night to whom Civic Wayfinder will be a new card because they started after Ravnica.
There are also older players who do not have some of the reprints. I only have one Squee, Goblin Nabob to my name, and relish the opportunity to grab some more. One of the longest-serving players in my playgroup never got any Pithing Needles and is looking to pick up some now. This is an opportunity for him as well. Both new players and old can benefit from a new basic set.
What I want to do is investigate the set and look at the cards that I think will make an impact, or that casual players might want to acquire. So, let’s get started with the White cards.
White
Ancestor’s Chosen – This is a brilliant card for the long game. Often our multiplayer games drag on a bit with tons of mass removal on every side. As a result, this is a great card to play, and it can give you more life than a Congregate. It’s also a legitimate creature. Although hardly amazing at just 4/4 first strike, it can contribute to the red zone without fear of being laughed at for playing it. It’s also a great creature with tricks like Momentary Blink and Recurring Nightmare. I like to load up my graveyard with a Hermit Druid and then reanimate a milled AC with a cheap effect and gain a metric ton of life.
Angelic Wall – I like to point new players to cheap walls to act as defense in many multiplayer decks. Players who may not have any creatures until the four mana spot can benefit from cards like Wall of Blossoms and Angelic Wall.
Aura of Silence – This has always been one of the single best Disenchant effects ever printed. It’s up there with Dismantling Blow and Orim’s Thunder for value. It is seeing reprint will likely hand great removal to all of the new players that have joined the game since Weatherlight. Apparently, White will keep Disenchant effects after all.
Beacon of Immortality – This is not a good card. Do not play it.
Cho-Manno, Revolutionary – I love this card, as evidenced by its presence in the Essential 250 deck. It’s really good in a ground fight and gold against burn. It also fits in well with decks that run effects like Pestilence and Earthquake. In Standard you’d have Pyrohemia and Cho-Manno.
Condemn – I believe that Wizards is really pushing this card as the new Swords to Plowshares, with the printing of the full art card and now this.
Loyal Sentry – This is a new card for a lot of people. It’s a humble 1/1 that will kill any creature it blocks, while also killing itself. It’s a one drop that I expect to see a lot in multiplayer. This card is part of rudimentary Multiplayer theory, the Seal of Fire Theory. The SoFT says that if I play a Savannah Lions, and Bob plays a Seal, then I’ll attack Jenny rather than Bob, because she does not have out a Seal. Loyal Sentry is a Seal of Fire, in that it tells people to look elsewhere for their attacks, and does so for one mana. This is really, really good, and I may start using it in decks here for StarCityGames.com, and I want a player’s set quickly.
Mobilization – I don’t want too many people to play with this annoying card. I’ve already had enough of it back when it first saw print.
Reya Dawnbringer – She is one of the feature cards of the set, and the release promo card. Reya is great at doing what you need her to do, and easy access to her will probably bring her play level up to Akroma the First levels, at least initially. I expect to see so many Reyas that it’s not funny. I know that I’m looking forward to getting some more.
Voice of All – I’m not sure why they bumped it to rare, but acquiring this card may remind people why she was good years ago and why she is still good today.
Wall of Swords – Pulling this out of the basic set was a mistake, and I’m glad to see it corrected.
Windborn Muse – I was hoping that they’d reprint Ghostly Prison, but it appears that they opted for the Muse. One of the funny things about the Muses seeing print here in the basic set is that I remember Wizards saying that they put enchantments on these just for fun because it was the creature set they were printed in. Now here they are seeing print again in Tenth. I believe the Green and White ones will stick around even more at the casual tables, although if your table is like mine, the Green never left. (Especially since it was in Ninth, after all)
Blue
Ambassador Laquatus – This is noteworthy for two reasons. The first is that they are giving Blue a decent milling theme with this card supplementing Traumatize and newly reprinted Dreamborn Muse and Scalpelexis. Secondly, and much more importantly from my position, is that they are putting Merfolk back into the basic set! Ambassador Laquatus was the answer to a trivia question for years (what was the last Merfolk printed), and I love seeing it in a basic set. You’ll note that there are other Merfolk back as well, such as Rootwater Commando.
Arcanis the Omnipotent – In my Essentials articles, I mentioned how good I thought Arcanis was. He is a top notch creature, and now that he is getting reprinted, new players will get a chance to see how great “Tap: Ancestral Recall” can be. I expect to see a ton of these around the kitchen table.
Cancel – Getting a hard three-mana counter in Blue will make a lot of people happy, but I could personally care less. How many counters Blue does or doesn’t have in the basic set has never been something I care much about.
Denizen of the Deep – I’ve written about this card in previous articles. With something like Teferi or Vedalken Orrery in play, this is the uber-Dust Elemental, bouncing all of your creatures back to hand to save yourself from another’s sweeping removal. You can also use it to reload all of your 187 creatures for another go. Creatures with abilities from your hand are also great choices to bounce, like cycling or channel.
Dreamborn Muse – I don’t really think this is all that great, but at least there is a deck between this, Traumatize, Scalpelexis, and the good Ambassador. Toss in counters like Cancel and Discombobulate, bounce like Boomerang and Unsummon, and defense like Wall of Air and you have a decent all Tenth deck.
Merfolk Looter – Thank goodness the old Looter is back!
Persuasion – This is getting reprinted at uncommon. When most of the reprints that change commonalty go up, this is going down, making a Control Magic variant very acquirable for those that do not have it. I rarely saw Persuasion even when Odyssey came out, but now it could be quite the normal thing.
Scalpelexis – Are they trying to hard to push the “Blue hurts your decks” theme?
Sunken Hope – This enchantment was never played much because it hurts you as well, but with all of the nouveau 187 creature running around, I can’t but wonder if this has become a good card.
Tidings – I still don’t have a lot of these. Please come down in value, Tidings!
Time Stop – I love this card. It is great at doing so many things, and may have one of the most difficult three words in the game printed on it. Time Stop does a lot of strong things, and we can do them as well now that is has been reprinted. Many of the newer players that I’ve been exposed to love Time Stop, they just couldn’t get enough of them. Now they will have a brand new chance to crack open Time Stops and trade for more. Remember, a lot of people don’t buy singles from online card shops like StarCityGames.com, they trade for them or not, and leave it at that.
Twincast – This was a big deal when it was featured as one of the cool new cards from the later two sets of Kamigawa block. However, it came from a pretty poor set. I believe that if Wizards gave every Magic player a survey asking them to name the worst set since Invasion, Saviors would rank as number one on that list [I dunno… Legions was pretty weak. – Craig]. Have you seen the prices for packs and boxes for Saviors? I think Saviors will be remembered as the Homelands of our time. Therefore seeing Twincast and Pithing Needle from that set will give players the ability to get the two good cards from the set without having to dirty themselves with Saviors packs.
Wall of Air – I cannot believe that they pulled this out of Ninth, but at least it is back in Tenth. There are two classic walls in Magic that should always be around – Wall of Air and Wall of Swords.
Black
Ascendant Evincar – With a recent reiteration in Planar Chaos, we are now treated to the original. This is going to get major play around casual circles, with players loving or hating it, depending on which side of the board they are playing.
Beacon of Unrest – Did this replace Zombify? Seriously, Zombify was a much better main set card than this, with an extra Black mana in the casting cost just to add artifacts and other graveyards. Recover replaces Raise Dead, and No Rest for the Wicked is running around, along with Doomed Necromancer and Gravedigger. It’s obvious that Black has a reanimation theme to new players who pick up the game. However, none of these cards will allow a reanimation deck, so I’m wondering if Wizards wants to neuter reanimation for a year or two so they can print bigger creatures. Maybe they didn’t want Zombify in the same set as Reya?
Distress – The Duress-of-the-Week will be Distress. Can it find a niche?
Doomed Necromancer – I mentioned it above. If a reanimation deck does get rolling, this is the only halfway decent choice in the main set.
Dusk Imp – Can we pull Dusk Imp out for Feral Shadow again? I always thought that was a more flavorful card. Use the Portal art for it!
Graveborn Muse – This replaces the Phyrexian Arena. It’s pretty good, but with the Zombie theme that Black has, it may be more than an Arena on legs, which makes it an interesting choice for reprint.
Hate Weaver – I’ve skipped the Weavers until now. Hate Weaver is one of the good ones. It’s an aggro creature that has an aggro ability, unlike Spirit Weaver, for example. If you were to take odds on which uncommon cycle of cards would see print in Tenth, I suspect that the Weaver cycle would be near the bottom. I suspect that they are seeing print to point out that adjacent colors are friends. In an aggressive Blue/Black or Black/Red deck, this card can easily hold its own, since it is both easy on the manabase and helpful to the other color. New players can get a chance to try out this cycle of olde. The Hate Weaver might stick.
Lord of the Pit – Do you think that they will use the return of the Lord as marketing for the set?
Midnight Ritual – I am disappointed that the Zombie token maker turned out to be this garbage instead of Zombie Infestation. I really wanted Zombie Infestation in the game. This does give more Zombies to pump with the Lord of the Undead, so there’s some value here. You know someone will build a Zombie deck.
Mortal Combat – I do not object to alternate win conditions being in the main set. I do object to crappy ones being in the main set, however. Give me one Gold card in the set to show off multicolor – Coalition Victory! Test of Endurance would have been a good choice as well, but not this.
Phage the Untouchable – This killer of players will definitely get a boost in her play because of her reprinting.
Phyrexian Rager – It is about time that this guy got reprinted. He’s really good but he missed his window before. Now maybe he’ll see more play.
Rain of Tears – Adding a land kill card to the basic set is a choice that I applaud. We haven’t seen viable LD decks in a while, and I think we can have them without going overboard. The problem with that is the noticeable absence of a certain staple card, which I will rant about in the Red section.
Relentless Rats – Yes, they are seeing even more print.
Sleeper Agent – Along with Hate Weaver and the Weaver Quintet, Sleeper Agent would have to be listed as another longshot to seeing reprint. I’ve used it in a deck here on StarCityGames.com before, in case you are looking for ideas.
Stronghold Discipline – The next time that you see about 20+ creatures at a multiplayer table on one person’s side, remember this card. It’s great in a metagame chock full of Beacon of Creations, Doubling Season, and more.
Red
Beacon of Destruction – This is a pretty solid card, all told. It’s not the most powerful card getting added to the Red arsenal, but it is solid.
Dragon Roost – This is a nice reprint for the Timmies of the world.
Furnace Whelp – Why can’t they just reprint Dragon Whelp at this rate? Does Red need a good uncommon flyer in the base set? Aren’t they just playing it because it’s nostalgic of Dragon Whelp and its all dragon-y? I thought Red always should get a really bad flyer in the uncommon slot of any base set, like Goblin Glider. That shows Red’s strengths and weaknesses. This card, however, is pretty good.
Incinerate – With the reprinting of Guerilla Tactics and Shock along with Incinerate and Beacon of Destruction, Red gets a powerful suite of burn. Incinerate has often been viewed as the third best Bolt of all time (Lightning Bolt first, then Chain Lightning). As such, it’s reprinting means that a whole new group of players are going to have access to the common Incinerate. I personally find it difficult to believe that Shock and Incinerate are both legal and common in the same set, but there you are. This is the first of several goodies added to Red to amp up its power. Of course, at the end of the Red section, I’ll also give a lament for one card removed.
Kamahl, Pit Fighter – I like a lot of the legendary reprints, but I find Kamahl largely underwhelming. He’s good enough t play in some decks, but he’s never that great, he’s easily killed, and I’d prefer a bit more meat to the bones of my six mana creatures.
Lavaborn Muse – Between this and the Timeshifted The Rack printing, new players will have access to a serious deck using some old concepts. Now we need a new Black Vise printed as well.
Manabarbs – Some other reprints might be sexier, like Mogg Fanatic and Incinerate, but of all of the Red reprints, this one excites me the most. Manabarbs has not seen print in some time. It was a classic Red sideboard card against a lot of opponents. Even without Circle of Protection: Red in the environment, I would expect to run Manabarbs in a deck or three. You could combine it with Urza’s Armor to prevent all damage to yourself and yet hit opponents.
Mogg Fanatic – This is a sexy reprint, and a puzzling one. Many people at Wizards have said that this card is too powerful. In fact, the Mogg Fanatic might be the most powerful one-power one-drop in the game that doesn’t tap for mana. Of course, the more powerful Jackal Pup will still never see print again. I would have said that about the Mogg Fanatic too, so I guess we’ll see. One good thing about this printing is maybe I’ll see fewer of those crappy one-drop goblins around the kitchen table, and more of these good ones.
Shatterstorm – Also returning to the basic set after an extended leave is Shatterstorm. This is a great reprint as it gives newer players a chance to acquire them for use against artifact heavy decks. If you multiplayer metagame is like ours, there are always a lot of artifacts running around, and you still see decks that look like a checklist for Mirrodin Block. Shatterstorm fits in well.
Shivan Hellkite – This is another reprint that the Timmies will likely enjoy. Combine them for dragon-y fun.
Siege-Gang Commander – I love this card. I’m excited to see how it plays in the basic set.
Squee, Goblin Nabob – This is a great reprint, and gives a lot of people, including myself, another chance to get a few of these. I’d like to get some for my Madness 250 deck.
Let’s talk about the missing Red commons: Shatter and Stone Rain. Both of these effects are supposed to be really important to Red’s platform of powers. Red is supposed to be the second best color at popping artifacts. Sure the reprint of Shatterstorm helps here, but where is Shatter? Shatter has been replaced with Smash. That’s not nearly as good, but at least I can accept that the ability is still around, I just wish Red would get something as powerful as Oxidize, only allow regeneration to make it a tiny bit worse.
Stone Rain cannot be replaced. Demolish looks to be moving to common from uncommon. Cryoclasm is seeing print as Red’s hoser. Red has two cards that destroy lands, the overcosted Demolish and the hoser Cryoclasm, which is useless against 60% of basic lands and almost every printed non-basic.
Red is supposed to be the best color at destroying lands, yet Black has Rain of Tears, which is cheaper than the one Red land destroy spell that is not a hoser. Red doesn’t even have Wildfire anymore to represent the land destruction.
It’s no wonder that Red feels a bit overemphasized in the burn area. As I mentioned before, with Blaze, Shock, Incinerate, Tactics, Beacon of Destruction, Mogg Fanatic, and every other burn spell ever printed seeing a big ol’ X on them in the expansion symbol section of the card, you have to wonder what happened to Red. Even stuff like Sudden Impact, Cone of Flame, Lava Axe, and Spitting Earth is running around. Then there are cards with burn-like qualities like Siege-Gang Commander, Manabarbs, Arcane Teachings, Prodigal Pyromancer, Soulblast, Shivan Hellkite, Orcish Artillery, Seismic Assault, Lavaborn Muse, Kamahl, Bloodfire Colossus, Bogardan Firefiend, Flamewave Invoker, and even Furnace of Rath. Is there any color that has as many cards in one of its main themes like Red does with burn? It’s almost like Red does nothing but burn, and any other abilities are minor.
I disagree with all of the people that claim that Green gets the shaft. It’s Red that gets the shaft. Red may have powerful cards but it’s as diverse as Boone County, WV. (My home) Red is the best at burn, and it has a bajillion cards that burn in Tenth alone. Red is the best at land destruction and it has two cards, one of which doesn’t work on over half of opponents, and the other which costs more than the previous staple.
Are you telling me that one or two of the many burn spells and abilities couldn’t have been replaced with land removal effects? Are we expected to believe that there wasn’t space in Tenth for something like Stone Rain and Orcish Settlers? There’s not even a Rain of Salt or a Hurloon Shaman printed.
Taking out Stone Rain is like taking out Forests. It has to be there. No card has been in more sets than Stone Rain. It is a crucial element of Red, and it is very difficult to replace. Replacing it with a four casting cost card is meaningless – no one will play with a four mana Stone Rain. It’s not like Counterspell and Cancel. There is a point past which the tempo theory suggests that a mere Stone Rain is not viable. Now, maybe if they printed a 1RR Stone Rain, that might be acceptable, but not a four mana one. However, Tenth is not saying that Stone Rain is too good. After all, Rain of Tears is in print in a color that is not land destruction’s main. Green pays 1GG and Black pays 1BB for a Stone Rain, so Red should pay 2R.
As such, I believe that the worst decision made in Tenth was to pull out Stone Rain. It was an awful decision.
Green
Birds of Paradise – So, is it alright, or is it not alright to have two one-mana accelerants in Green in the base set? Seriously, maybe they need to check their story before going public, and make sure everything matches. This has been one of the most controversial points made in the last few sets. Pull out Llanowar Elves because that’s how the vote went. Then apologize for leaving in Birds, pull them out and toss back Elves. Now print them both in the same set again. Wow.
Commune with Nature – I don’t really like this card, but I think it is an insightful reprint and I’m happy to see it with an X.
Hurricane – I am happy that Hurricane is back, but I miss Earthquake something fierce.
Joiner Adept – Now this is an interesting choice. It serves a similar purpose to Utopia Tree/Birds of Paradise in that is assists decks trying to make other colors of mana, but it is not an accelerant. As such, it can afford to be aggressive costed as a 2/1 for two mana. I’d not be surprised to see Llanowar Elves and Joiner Adept in the same basic set, but those plus Birds is still crazy.
Mirri, Cat Warrior – Although she is a good enough card, I just feel underwhelmed whenever I consider her for a deck.
Molimo, Maro Sorcerer – This is a good enough card, especially since it adds trample from Dakkon Blackblade’s version. It’s no Arcanis or Reya or Squee, but it gets respect around the kitchen table.
Quirion Dryad – This is a good card, and they must be pushing the “Green Loves All Colors” theme today. More of these babies are getting made for your Gro decks, so be happy!
Recollect – Having a Regrowth effect at uncommon in the basic set just feels right. Good job, Wizards.
Sylvan Basilisk – I mentioned this in my introduction. It is a genius card because it triggers when it is blocked, not when damage is dealt or after combat is over.
Sylvan Scrying – Urzatron out, Scrying in.
Upwelling – I’ve always thought that Upwelling never got the play it deserved. Around our multiplayer table it was a gas. Play it a few times and see if you don’t like it.
Wall of Wood – I’m not a big fan of WoW, and I’m disappointed that it is seeing reprint.
Artifacts
Chromatic Star – Continuing the five-color theme is this goody from recent printing. Its common buddy is also printed below.
Citanul Flute – The Lunatic Etulf is a surprising reprint, to my mind at least. We restricted it in Five Color for years. For casual magic, I think it’s a real star. There’s usually enough time to play and activate it around the kitchen table. It’s languished in obscurity for years, and now it is time to enter the public consciousness.
Colossus of Sardia – Yay for this Colossus seeing print, and not that dumb Phyrexian one. See also: Puppeteer.
Composite Golem – This creature and card is crap, and I think it demonstrates pushing the multicolor envelope a bit too much.
Crucible of Worlds – This is so good that we insta-banned it in Five Color. It is an engine of destruction with a card like a Strip Mine and it works well with Terramorphic Expanse, which is in the basic set as well.
Doubling Cube – It seems like there is always some effect used in Mono-Black Control decks to make a bunch of Black mana. Cabal Coffers or Extraplanar Lens or Doubling Cube. One of those is now making its way to the land of the roman numerals and leaving behind its normal set. Doubling Cube is a dream for Johnnies and Timmies alike. Now you too can have splashy effects and a ton of mana, just ask!
Juggernaut – Along with a Regrowth effect at uncommon, Juggernaut also is a breath of fresh air. It never did much when it was reprinted. How soon will it be until we can have Kird Ape, Serendib Efreet, Juggernaut, and Hypnotic Specter all in print at the same time?
Legacy Weapon – Is this why Joiner Adept, Composite Golem, and more is getting play? Are we trying to power out the Legacy Weapon? I still think the set should have had a single gold card in it.
Mind Stone – I’ve always liked Mind Stone as a really good mana accelerant early and something you can pitch later. See also: Horizon Canopy.
Phyrexian Vault – I’ve always felt that this is a better card than people give it credit for being. It’s a true underused card. I’m glad to see it get another chance.
Pithing Needle – Printing this is like printing a $20.
Platinum Angel – This angel joins the list of good cards that cost too much money to pick up. At least most players don’t have the wherewithal to drop the money for a Pithing Needle, Platinum Angel, Squee, Reya, Avatar of Woe, Akroma the White (from the Timeshift), Phage, and so forth. I think it’s great to see some of these higher money and good casual value cards getting reprinted. Platinum Angels need to see more play, not less.
Lands
Terramorphic Expanse – It’s good and it’s common. Will this be so good that new sets of fetch lands cannot be printed while it is legal? I wonder.
…
There you have it: Ten pages of cards and comments from the soon-to-be-released Tenth Edition. I hope that you enjoy the set, and that fun is had either in praising or bashing Wizards of the Coast’s choices.
Until later,