Hello everybody and welcome to another edition of the Magic Show. This week we’re delving into Scars of Mirrodin – the spoiler is complete, the set is unreal, and it’s time to dissect what your new powerhouses are going to look like in the upcoming months, particularly for States as it happens next weekend. Let’s go!
Scars of Mirrodin is here!
Man, Scars of Mirrodin is here! I’ve been waiting so long to say that! Yup, the artifact block returns and we’ve got some crazy sexy cards to talk about. You ready? Let’s start with Glint Hawk. Now this guy seems a little pushed to me, not just in being a 2/2 flyer for one W, but in his wacky comboness. Let’s go ahead and enter the world of Magical Christmas Land, where we can see this guy really be absurd.
Imagine you get this opening hand in Vintage;
– 4x Glint Hawk
– 1x Mox Pearl
– 1x Black Lotus
– 1x Tendrils of Agony
You just won the game. Let’s see how. Play the Mox Pearl, Glint Hawk, return to the Mox Pearl. Pearl, Hawk, Pearl, Hawk, Pearl, Hawk, play the Black Lotus, Tendrils of Agony with 9 other copies. Good game.
Seriously though? This guy is solid. What would you pick up for value? How about resetting Everflowing Chalice? How’s about resetting Chimeric Mass? Speaking of, love this card. I have a feeling this will be a powerful player because of one amazing interaction: Trinket Mage. Yes, Trinket Mage is back and I’m loving it. One of the coolest cards ever returns and it has a ton of awesome targets for it’s disposal. Searching for Chimeric Mass with Trinket Mage puts your opponent on a hell of a clock. How about having Vengevine in the yard and searching for Memnite Shyamalan, playing the Memnite and here comes your favorite 4/3 ready to bash face?
But what about his brother, Riddlesmith? This guy is really, really good. Let’s take a look at this cycle here. We have an entire “smith” cycle, all triggering from you playing artifact spells. Beginning with the absolute worst, the “lifegain” one, Lifesmith, we notice most of these require a mana cost in addition to the trigger. Also, thanks for reminding us what bad cards green used to get, Wizards. Jeez. Anyway the red one pings and the white one is pretty sweet for limited, making 1/1 Myr for you. But two have no cost associated with their trigger: The black one, that gives a bit of a boost and deathtouch.
But this guy? THIS GUY? He draws you cards with no activation cost of any kind. Look at Merfolk Traders. Wow, have times changed. Now instead of having to pay two mana for a 1/2 we just play artifact spells and get to Loot for free on top of it! Merfolk Looter was a sick first pick in M10 draft, and I think Riddlesmith is going to see plenty of constructed play.
Why? Because things want to go to the graveyard. Whether it’s Necrotic Ooze wanting to have the ability of Gigantomancer to Vengevine to Kuldotha Phoenix, there are all sorts of reasons cards need to get there. How about as fuel for Molten-Tail Masticore? This card is completely unreal by the way, and will help define your new Standard environment. You don’t have to believe me, but trust me when I say this is one of the top five cards of the set no question. This guy will be chomping up Squadron Hawks like nobody’s business and causing you some serious headaches in combat. Let’s say you swing all out with six mana available. Suddenly you can regenerate Masticore and with any other creature that is killed you pay four mana for your activated Flame Javelin.
Seriously? Four mana for four damage to a creature or a player? This guy has been pushed and I hope you recognize it.
But we need some control goodies, and for that we look at Sunblast Angel. Wow! What a kick ass card. Can you say Gideon Jura? I knew ya could! Sunblast Angel is the perfect follow-up to his first ability or a well-timed Sleep. Either way, Wrathing even portions of your opponent’s team and having a 4/5 flyer after is pretty sweet.
How about another fantastic white rare. Have you seen Leonin Arbiter? Fan-freakin tastic. Now this creature will be seeing some Vintage play. Can you imagine Aether Vialing this guy out while their fetchland activation is on the stack? That is filthy ladies and gentlemen, just filthy. And I love it. I am a huge advocate of white weenie or white aggro in any form. I can assure you I was the most excited to see White Weenie take it home in Amsterdam, and this guy is ripe for messing with your opponent’s ability to do things, my favorite kinda guy.
That said, where’s my Pithing Needle guy? I want this guy created yesterday. Why is he important? Let’s take a look:
For the next week or so you still get to play with Ajani Vengeant and Elspeth, Knight-Errant. And you have some seriously fantastic answers to them, including Pithing Needle, Oblivion Ring, and Maelstrom Pulse. All of which are leaving with the rotation. What’s going to kill planeswalkers before Turn 5 besides a Vampire Hexmage? And after Turn 5? World Queller? A kicked Mold Shambler? Terastodon? How’s about the sweet new rare Ratchet Bomb? While I love me some Ratchet Bomb, and think it will see an incredible amount of play, the fact is that Planeswalkers have very few answers in this new standard, meaning that you better be playing some serious beatsticks or be prepared to lose to them.
So, Ratchet Bomb. Nice card. Finally, Powder Keg is upgraded to destroy enchantments and Planeswalkers, and can be actively controlled in regards to the amount of counters it has. It also has a sweet interaction with Voltaic Key, which is nice too.
But let’s bounce back to the colors. Argent Sphinx would’ve been the most ridiculous rare in Mirrodin ever, because for one you had Artifact Lands and two a lil something called D on the S. Yeah, having Damage on the Stack this guy would’ve been crazy. That said, the ability to blink him out, Day of Judgement, and have him right back in there is nice. Not to mention attacking, blinking after combat, and having him ready to block the next turn. They have some crazy huge monster? Just block and blink. A good option to think about for blue decks, and also shows us how a 4/3 flyer for four mana with all upside doesn’t immediately get us excited. I mean, look at Conundrum Sphinx and Indomitable Archangel. These cards should be blowing our minds with the power creep involved, but instead we shrug and go “Well, they might be good, but this Vengevine is more dangerous…” Oh, how jaded we’ve become.
Moving on, how about Inexorable Tide. Oh man am I afraid of a Planeswalker control deck that could potentially abuse this. That said, it’s probably regulated to kitchen tables, but what a kick ass card it is! This is a complete all-star in EDH, and will be super sweet as the years go on. It’s the new Doubling Season, a card that can actually never be reprinted due to Planeswalker shenanigans.
Shape Anew is pretty cool, it’s Polymorph but for Artifacts. This leads me to another sleeper hit, Precursor Golem, a card I had originally thought was the art for Glimmerpost, but let’s look at what happens here: Suddenly you get three Shape Anews happening, so three chances to hit more Precursor Golems or Myr Battlesphere’s or whatever.
Speaking of, probably my favorite card in the set, Myr Battlesphere is just solid gold. Let’s look at this here: five guys, a total of eight power and eleven toughness for seven mana. Has anything ever remotely come close to this, particularly on an artifact creature? I don’t think so. Go ahead, let’s take a look: I see the crappy Altar Golem, there’s Lotus Guardian, I mean, just look at a fully Sunbursted Lunar Avenger, which can’t even match Myr Battlesphere’s combined power! The closest Artifact Creature at seven mana is probably Memnarch, but that requires a certain color and many activations.
Just sayin, watch out for the Battlesphere and it’s ability to completely steal games outta nowhere, particularly as it’s triggered ability goes directly to the dome. And that’s not even counting the other amazing Myr you can use with it’s ability. How about another favorite of mine in the set, Palladium Myr? I like a Worn Powerstone that attacks, don’t you? How’s about Myr Propagator, a card that works pretty amazingly well with Necrotic Ooze? (Yes, the Ooze copies itself)
But let’s throw one out for the Johnnies. Seen Semblance Anvil? Man, is this card ripe for potential. This card harkens back to Cloud Key, a card that did exactly nothing back in Future Sight, but sure looks powerful. I’m a bit more excited about Semblance Anvil for two reasons: One, it drops the cost by 2, which means it’s a Flucuator for cards you imprint, and cards can have more than one type so it can reduce two different types of cards by two colorless mana. The most obvious of these of course is Artifact Creature, so suddenly your artifacts and your creatures are cheaper.
So turn 1 Birds of Paradise, Turn 2 Semblance Anvil removing, I dunno, Palladium Myr or something, Turn 3 Baneslayer Angel, Turn 4 Sun Titan? Would you be comfortable with that? However, cards like these give big rewards for scary down-sides, such as a mere Naturalize, or the new Naturalize with a cantrip attached, Slice in Twain, can suddenly two-for-one you. Certainly a fragile card, but how does one protect it?
Perhaps Indomitable Archangel can assist. This girl is the Leonin Abunas you always wanted — suddenly she’s flying and bashing for four instead of sitting back as a 2/5. But how do you ensure she’s not just Doom Bladed out of existence? There’s Liquimetal Coating to turn herself into an artifact, giving herself shroud.
Liquimetal Coating is a card I like because it creates some fantastic interactions. Firstly, it gives you 66% of your Metalcraft requirements because it can instantly turn something else into an artifact. But I think you have to be a little bit more creative. Remember when I said Planeswalkers are tough to deal with in this environment? How about turning them into an artifact and Shattering them? In EDH I can easily see people turning their opponent’s basic land into an artifact and then Splintering away the rest from their entire deck. Another possible casual fun-favorite: Turn Siege-Gang Commander into an artifact, play Glint Hawk, then pick it up and play it again! Fun times all around.
More goodies? Grip of Darkness is awesome, it’s the Super Last Gasp Turbo Edition we’ve all been waiting for. How about Skinrender? That guy is such a limited powerhouse he might just make it into constructed. I’ll take a 3/3 while your Baneslayer Angel becomes a 2/2, right? How’s about the new burn spell Arc Trail? Not quite Arc Lightning but also a full mana cheaper and still able to two-for-one. I like it.
Speaking of burn spells, check out Galvanic Blast, sure to the hot new Burst Lightning-esque card in the new metagame. I’m sure whatever sick Koth of the Hammer decks show up will be featuring this soon.
And check out the metagame stopgap, Tunnel Ignus. Yeah, you go ahead and play that Cultivate on Turn 3 after I dropped my Ignus. Take 3, bash for two more on my turn? Yeah, go get you some lands with Primeval Titan. If you’ve played one already, you’re taking six damage. Are those lands worth it to you? This is a very Kataki, War’s Wage -esque card, in that ramp decks, particularly those featuring the Best Titan Not Close, were given a creature that can fully shut them down. That isn’t to say Valakut Ramp just scoops when their opponent plays Tunnel Ignus, but it’s a bit more difficult winning with him on the battlefield.
How’s about another card that gets me all giddy? Genesis Wave seems like another Tooth and Nail. resolving this for six, which equals the nine mana it cost for Tooth and Nail to resolve entwined, should win you the game. Ideally you’ll be flipping over Titans, probably the best thing you can do at that mana cost, though flipping over stuff like Precursor Golems or the sweet new Steel Hellkite and Wurmcoil Engine wouldn’t be bad either.
Not to mention the lands you flip over from Genesis Wave? They come into play untapped. Of course Lotus Cobra is probably the first place your mind goes, and with good reason. Could Genesis Trap be a deck? Genesis Wave plus Summoning Trap equals good times for everybody? Imagine flipping over just two fetchlands with a Lotus Cobra in play, plus whatever else you revealed, then using those two fetchlands to play the Summoning Trap you had in your hand. Seems good, right?
Okay, a few more and I have to wrap this up. I love Etched Champion and think it’s a fantastic card. Yes, it’s just a Gray Ogre…but it’s one incredibly hard to defeat Gray Ogre once you have metalcraft active. Just stick a Darksteel Axe on this guy and go to town. Or how about Sword of Body and Mind, finally ready to be unleashed? Better yet, how’s about Argentum Armor, a card people are going nuts over because of it’s incredibly unique effect? +6/+6 AND Vindicate on an equipment? This gets people looking seriously at Kor Outfitter and of course the excellent Stoneforge Mystic.
How’s about the “fixed” Skullclamp, Infiltration Lens? Turns out when you’re not triggering your own ability with, well, another ability, the card isn’t nearly as impressive. That said, aggro decks that want to bash face with no worrisome chump blockers would do well to pay attention.
How’s about the best flavor text in the set on Lux Cannon? There are few problems that can’t be solved by putting a hole in the world. Hell yeah! Now that’s what I’m talking about. The mondo combos with Voltaic Key are fun times and this should see a ton of EDH play.
Man, SO many fantastic cards to talk about, so many interactions and combos. I think that Scars of Mirrodin has some of the best rares and Mythics I’ve ever seen. This set is chock full of fantastic things to pull out of packs. Time will tell if the commons and uncommons pick up the slack, and if this sealed format is going to push GP Nashville into absurd numbers.
Finally, I turn 30 years old today. They say that your twenties are for figuring out what you want to do with your life, and I’m pretty sure I’m on the right course. I can’t explain in a few seconds how much joy and appreciation I’ve gotten from the community by doing this show. I’ve switched careers, I’m flying all over the world, I have the most amazing friends and family. I couldn’t have done it without you, or StarCityGames. The real gift is being able to talk to thousands of Magic players every week and help contribute what I can do this community and this game. Awesome just isn’t the word.
So until next time Magic players when we’ll discuss new decks for States happening next weekend, this is Evan Erwin. Tapping the cards…so you don’t have to!
Evan “misterorange” Erwin
Community Manager, StarCityGames.com