Good Thursday to you all. This is the column dedicated to sending you a postcard from the realm of the casual each week. For the past two weeks, I’ve taken a more holistic casual eye to the cards of Morningtide. This article is the final part of that review. With this done, I’d love to know which of me reviews you preferred — the older Five-Color-only reviews or the more detailed and more intricate casual reviews you have here. Let me know in the forums.
If this is your first article of these reviews, I’ll get you caught up. I am reviewing cards based on four categories. Those categories are Five Color, Multiplayer, Peasant, and general casual toolbox. Each of these formats brings something different to the table, and all benefit from having their own review. Each card will be listed, followed by my rating (out of 5) in each category, then finishing with a quick paragraph synopsis of my thoughts on the card.
Remember that card with an * mean they are going into Abe’s Deck of Happiness and Joy while cards with a ! are going into The Essentials too.
We’ll begin with Blue, and then work our way through the others.
The Blue Cards
5C: 2
MP: 3
CTB: 3
The heavy Blue requirement reduces this card’s usefulness in many situations, including in Five Color decks. Otherwise, this card is a solid tool. It doesn’t stop cards like Quagnoth and Obliterate, so it is more limited in function in multiplayer. It is still a tool, like Pithing Needle. This is more Needle than Counterbalance.
5C: 1
MP: 2
PEZ: 2
CTB: 2.5
The comes-into-play ability is pretty weak, but it may give you indication if you will win a clash. The flash/flying combination that a lot of faeries have is nice, and continued here. This is nothing special, but the rogue ability helps prowl, allowing you to flash this out at end of turn, then untap, attack, and prowl.
5C: 2
MP: 2
PEZ: 2
CTB: 2
This is one of two common Blue spells that feel very promotable (able to be promoted to the main set, typically have a simple ability and a simple name). It’s not bad, and more splashable than Boomerang, although you lose the tempo possibilities with it.
5C: 1.5
MP: 2.5
PEZ: 2
CTB: 3.5
I really like this card, and it’s good in any marginal tribal deck with a Blue element. As such, it’s a great tool, but just alright in several formats. However, I am disappointed that this antiquates Airborne Aid. I would have preferred that this be slightly worse than the Aid — maybe by making this 2UU instead of 3U or something.
5C: 1
MP: 2
PEZ: 3.5
CTB: 2
The reason I gave this card such a high Peasant Magic score is that Wayward Soul, of which this is a virtual reprint, is one of the control creatures of choice. This gives you more of them, or more options. Otherwise, it’s not that good, but it doesn’t suck or anything.
5C: 1.5
MP: 2.5
PEZ: 1
CTB: 2
Sea Serpent is nice, and seeing a homage to it here isn’t bad. I miss Islandhome. You can use this card to nuke a person’s mana during their upkeep to essentially Mana Short them. This card can fulfill the role of Kukemmsa Serpent, which was an Islandhome creature that created Islands in your opponent’s lands when needed.
5C: 1.5
MP: 2.5
CTB: 4
Against opponents in a Five Color game, removing three cards from the library isn’t that powerful, but in a 60 card environment, the tapping and retapping of this card has value. There are a lot of methods available to abuse this, from Seedborn Muse to Opposition to Leonin Bola. Plus, the card is a 2/2 for two mana, slides into aggressive strategies using the merfolk, and has the backup counter ability. This is a great card for your toolbox, because it has a lot of uses.
5C: 2
MP: 2.5
PEZ: 2
CTB: 2
It’s an aggressive creature with a splashable casting cost, so it’s not crap. It can also mill everyone not named “you.” That’s pretty handy. The kinship might not trigger much, but as a backup mill condition, it’s useful. This card slides nicely in with recent printings of “merfolk mill.” Examples include Ambassador Laquatus, Drowner of Secrets, and the above Grimoire Thief. Although there is an obvious deck to put it in, it’s not as versatile as Drowner of Secrets, and thus not as useful.
5C: 2
MP: 2.5
CTB: 4
I really like this card. It has the flash/flying combo that is battle tested. Good stuff there. It’s also splashable, key in many decks to getting actual play. It’s a Looter that is pertinent in the attacking and defending aspects of the game. Compare, just as a Looter, to Cephalid Looter, and you get a lot more. Then add the wizard untapping ability to the card, and you get a very strong card with a lot of things going for it. Play it with wizards, with faeries, in any deck that wants Looters and needs flyers, etc.
5C: 2
MP: 4.5
CTB: 3.5
This is one of those prowl cards I was discussing earlier. It’s a money card under prowl conditions. In multiplayer, this is a house. At least one player will have what you need. In fact, this is a Blue Wrath of God! In multiplayer, someone will be playing Damnation or Wrath or Rout or something, and this is almost always a Blue Wrath. It can also be a Blue Tooth or Nail (you still have to pay the entwine), a Blue Biorhythm, a Blue Congregate, and so forth. It’s also a Blue Darksteel Colossus or Blue Akroma. Get a Bribery or Acquire, then Bribery or Acquire for what you want. There are always a lot of expensive spells in someone’s deck. Grab one and win. The only thing keeping the ratings down is the seven mana price tag — but prowl this thing and go to town.
5C: 1.5
MP: 2
PEZ: 2.5
CTB: 2
Another good prowl creature, with a good casting cost. Prowl seems to be like a snowball. Once it gets going, it’ll be hard to stop barring Wraths and such. Lead with a 1/1 Faerie or Goblin rogue with evasion. There’s one with fear here, another with flying in Lorwyn (Nightshade Stinger). Then attack, and prowl out Stinkdrinker Bandit or Auntie’s Snitch. Then attack on turn 3, and prowl out this three-power flyer or the 5/3 Earwing Squad. Then maybe follow with the 6/5 flying Stenchskipper or a prowled Knowledge Exploitation, or a played Notorious Throng. Powerful stuff.
5C: 1
MP: 1
PEZ: 1.5
CTB: 2
It’s a rogue, it’s a merfolk, and it’s a 1/1 for one with an ability. There are better one-drop rogues, and better one-drop merfolk, but this guy is an adjunct if you need.
Mind Spring * !
5C: 3
MP: 4
CTB: 4.5
Braingeyser is a great card, and so is Mind Spring. I assume they did a virtually functional reprint because Braingeyser is on the reserve list, but I don’t know. Still, you can now have two Braingeysers in your highlander decks, and that’s good. It suits the Blue decks theme they’ve been pushing since Ravnica. It draws a lot of cards. It gives a lot of players an opportunity to own and play with a classic. Most players of older formats have realized long ago that Braingeyser isn’t as good as it used to be, with more modern cards. In Five Color, we don’t even restrict it. Pick up some of these for your decks.
5C: 1.5
MP: 3.5
PEZ: 3
CTB: 4
This is a great changeling, because at just one mana you can play it in any tribal deck before you start playing your other cards. Play it on the first turn. Drop a Swamp, play Nightshade Stinger, tap it to send your Changeling in the air, hit for one, prowl a Thieves’ Fortune. It works with merfolk, faeries, rogues, birds, elementals, guardians (except they don’t exist anymore), and alligators.
Negate *
5C: 2.5
MP: 2.5
PEZ: 2
CTB: 3
This is the other common Blue spell that is easily promotable. Goodbye Flash Counter, hello Negate. I still want a counterspell named Veto. Give me Veto! This is great in Five Color, where we want splashable countermagic, and now that combo and control are starting to come back over the aggro dominance, it might be more playable.
5C: 1
MP: 1.5
CTB: 1.5
Not much to see here. Just an expensive Temporal Spring ability tacked onto a 2/3 flyer.
5C: 1.5
MP: 3.5
CTB: 2.5
I mentioned this earlier. Frankly, I think you might have already won with your prowl deck prior to turn 6 in a duel. In case you haven’t, you can resolve a prowled Notorious Throng and win the game. Where this shines is in multiplayer. Kill one player early with prowl (take out someone playing Wraths) then go after another one or two with the Throng. By the time you have taken out three players, and it’s still turn six for them, you will likely have killed those likely to stop you, and you run through any remaining players.
5C: 1
MP: 1
CTB: 1
I’ve never been impressed with any of the entrants in this cycle, and this one is just as poor. Once you win a clash, you can play these “Clash, then Return” spells over and over again until you run out of mana, but not this one, because it messes with your clash, making it even worse. This is jank (again outside of any deck specifically designed to use it, but even there, the drawing of the one card ruins your future clash plans)
5C: 1.5
MP: 2.5
CTB: 3
Nice name. It’s no Keeper of the Nine Gales, but it’s something. I think this is my personal favorite among the +1/+1 counter class lords. Drawing a card for counters is very useful in many decks. I think cards like Mindless Automaton would especially benefit. You can combine this with wizards, or just play it in other decks, so it has some versatility. It’s a solid card.
5C: 2
MP: 2
CTB: 2
This is a Complicate without the cycle but with a cantrip if you control wizards. Not many played Complicate before, and it may be too slow today. It’s a splashable counter in Five Color, but a lot of decks aren’t running Complicate, and since they’d never get the card off the wizard ability I don’t see them using this card over Complicate. It’s not a bad counter to have around in a pinch.
5C: 1
MP: 2.5
CTB: 2
I like to Fork, and in multiplayer, there are a lot of targets. However, this is pretty fragile, because either the other wizard can get offed to the Tracer can get taken out. You can use this immediately, and it is repeatable as long as you have mana and untapped wizards. There are wizard builds designed to have as many wizards in play as possible for things like Patron Wizard and Opposition, and they would like this engine too. Outside of this limited use, this is fragile and requires a lot of other cards to work.
5C: 2
MP: 4
CTB: 3
I play Balance of Power a lot in my multiplayer decks. The likelihood that one of your opponents will have more cards than you is very high. This has several advantages over Balance of Power. It’s cheaper. It’s splashable. It doesn’t target the opponent. It has the creature mode if you need it. This is a good card from start to finish, and it’s one of the few evoke creatures in this set I actually like.
5C: 1
MP: 2
PEZ: 1.5
CTB: 2
Making merfolk and wizards cheaper is good, but most of the good wizards would be coming down on the third turn or earlier anyway. The same is true with merfolk. Having Islandwalk is probably the last useful of the evasion abilities available. So, with a worse evasive ability, small numbers (compared to the White one, for example) and two tribes that, while playable, don’t benefit from the familiar bonus as much, we end up with a passable card in the best of decks, and usually much worse than that.
5C: 1
MP: 2
PEZ: 1.5
CTB: 1.5
It’s a lousy spell without the wizard in play, and even with one, I just have never been much of a fan of the —X/-0 mechanic.
5C: 1
MP: 3.5
CTB: 3
Who doesn’t like 10/10 flyers with no disadvantage, a splashable cost, and smooth fit into existing elemental decks? Well, the elemental you champion may not like it, but when it comes back, it can trigger any comes-into-play abilities again, like Aethersnipe or Mulldrifter or Shriekmaw. It kills any Akroma that doesn’t have pro Blue, it rules the skies, and it scares people. On the other hand, it scares them enough to take immediate action, despite being stopped by classic defensive creatures like Commander Eesha and Dawn Elemental.
5C: 1
MP: 1.5
PEZ: 1
CTB: 2
Impulse, even for three mana, is still pretty solid. I’d play it even then. Then when you have the prowl for one mana, you are doing pretty good. I expect the prowl to be especially useful if you have an extra mana around, or to find a better prowl card to play.
5C: 1.5
MP: 3
CTB: 3
Flash/Flying = yay, especially with a three power three mana faerie. These guys are wizards, so they can slot into those decks. They also have an ability that can occasionally be useful in multiplayer, with all of the bounce, revealed tutor effects and so forth running around.
5C: 1
MP: 1.5
CTB: 1.5
Whoo! A Jump ability for all of your creatures for the entire turn with only a 40% chance of firing! That’s definitely something you want to rely upon for your defense or offense.
The Gold Cards
Changeling Baron
5C: 2
MP: 2.5
CTB: 4.5
I love the idea behind the five color changeling. This URWGB changeling, which can be played using any color of mana, fits the changeling theme perfectly while still being a good card as a larger changing. It taps into the existing changeling tricks, and at 4/4, it’s pertinent in the red zone.
(The above is a fake card. There are no gold cards in Lorwyn.)
The Artifact Cards
5C: 1
MP: 2.5
CTB: 2.5
I like this card because for two mana you can pump one of your rogues (which should be hitting for damage, remember) for free. I do not like the name of the card, however. It would have been better served saving it for a split card. Outside of a rogue deck, I simply wouldn’t play this.
5C: 1
MP: 3
CTB: 3
On the other hand, I would play this in decks that do not have wizards, but in such a deck it is obviously better. 4: draw a card is better than Treasure Trove, and then you have the other abilities.
5C: 1.5
MP: 2.5
CTB: 2.5
Obviously good in every tribal deck, just like Coat of Arms. It needs to be played earlier, whereas Coat of Arms is often played as a giant Overrun. Therefore you broadcast your strategy early, and thus can have it countered. That makes it worse in multiplayer, where the ability of just one opponent to counter your strategy is much better than in a duel setting.
5C: 1
MP: 1.5
CTB: 1.5
This is a piece of equipment I would only use in a warrior heavy deck. Otherwise I wouldn’t even bother, and I’m a fan of haste.
5C: 1
MP: 2
CTB: 3
This is an intriguing tool. Sure, it will work in a shaman deck, but there aren’t many of those around. For a lot of mana, you can also Tim a creature (two to play, four to equip, and two to use the first time, for an eight mana investment to get just one damage out of it). Where I like it is the second ability. Johnnies will discover all sorts of creature to slap this on in order to abuse that. It tempts the deckbuilder. For example, put it on the Shaman, Lightning Crafter, which is arguably the only good shaman in the set. Then tap it to deal three damage. Sac a creature for an effect (Goblin Bombardment works well here). Then untap the Lightning Crafter and reuse. If you sac 6 creatures, you will have dealt 21 damage. How do you get these creatures? All sorts of ways, from goblins and elves to stuff like Saproling Burst.
5C: 1
MP: 1.5
CTB: 2
Again, I doubt I’d play this outside of a solider deck. Even there, it’s not that great. It’s easy to spot from a mile away, and only useful in one phase and only on the attack. This is boring and relatively harmless.
The Land Cards
Murmuring Bosk * !
5C: 3
MP: 3
CTB: 4.5
I like this card a lot. It’s no dual land, but it is close. You can retrieve it with any cad that searches for Forests, and then put it into play. Then, you have access to three colors. This is a fine card, and a great tool for your decks.
5C: 3
MP: 3.5
CTB: 5
Mishra’s Factory is always a useful card in your toolbox, and this card is no exception. You will play this card, and you’ll play all the copies you have. With cards currently in print (or recently so like Kird Ape), Mishra’s Factory (I mean Mutavault), Incinerate, Mind Twist (I mean Mind Shatter), Braingeyser (I mean Mind Spring), Ancestral Recall (I mean Ancestral Vision), Berserk (I mean Fatal Frenzy), Regrowth (I mean Recollect) and more, you wonder how long it will be before more old school cards see reprints. What’s next? A reprint of Candelabra of Tawnos? Oh, that’s right, we had that in the nostalgia set along with everything else. Well, until we have a reprint of Library of Alexandria or Bazaar of Baghdad, I know we’re safe… oh wait…
5C: 1
MP: 1.5
CTB: 1.5
Feh. Specific lands like this bore me. Saying the obvious “Good in elemental decks, chaff in others” is just appalling, and there’s nothing else you can say about the card.
5C: 1
MP: 1.5
CTB: 1.5
Similarly, good in decks with Kithkin, and crap without them. Again, this is a boring land, and it’s sad to end our set review with these lands. Ah well.
…
And there we have the end of the Morningtide Casual Set Review. This was twelve pages in Word, and add it to the other two, and you have around 47 pages of Word all told. Whew! Now, remember to tell me in the forums if you prefer this sort of set review, or just the Five Color one, and why. Thanks a bunch!
Catch you next week when, if you’re lucky, I may just build a few decks for you.
Until later…