Welcome to the last of my real review articles. After this there will be a wrap-up article to tie everything together, with a little rant on how I dislike this set. As for the individual cards, let’s take a look:
Constructed: 2
Limited: 3
Best use for this card: Just cast it, okay?
Paying an arm and a leg for a card to only get a 2/2 on turn 1 isn’t exciting. After pitching for this guy it is very likely that all you have left are lands, so he should grow like a Vinelasher Kudzu. No, I think that most of the time, this guy will just be cast as a fatty, and the pitch effect will be very much unpayed. In Limited this is huge, and should make a fine addition to the deck, but for Constructed you can get better stuff for that mana cost – Simic Sky Swallowers, for example.
Constructed: 1
Limited: 3
Best use for this card: The Auroch deck. Finally!
Back when Ice Age came out, I really don’t know what the people in R&D were doing designing cards. It was well known that the focus wasn’t on Limited at all, but making a 2/3 for four that would only pump itself when there were multiples in play, and attacking, must have been the worst case of Plague Rats I have ever heard. Finally they decided to make some extra cows for us, and this is the first one of the bunch. There’s not a lot of card advantage available in Limited, and fetching an extra 4/4 can be good enough to win you the game, making this a solid pick in the middle of the pack. However, there are still not enough of these around to really make it an archetype worth forcing.
Constructed: 5
Limited: 4
Best use for this card: Extra Llanowar Elves.
I have seen people use Elves of Deep Shadow in non-Black decks, just because they wanted an extra Elf. This is clearly superior in that case, and he makes snow mana too! This makes him even better, if your deck is looking for that. Snow mana is always useful in Limited, even in the late game, making this guy great both early and later on. Llanowar Elf has been played since forever, and this guy fits the mold.
Constructed: 4
Limited: 4
Best use for this card: Anti Control Magic.
A fatty that also negates Control Magic style cards. Dream Leash was a very popular card at the Block Pro Tour, and is expected to be around a lot in the post rotation Standard, which means that this guy – with a great body and no disadvantages – should keep those Leashes away. You can’t complain about his stats, and even if the ability doesn’t do anything – in Limited, for example – it is still huge. It’s no Hierarch, of course, but sometimes you are not White or Red (Slum), and this will fit your needs.
Constructed: 3
Limited: 2
Best use for this card: Sideboard.
Of course, when Wizards forces a mechanic on us they always make sure to include a way to keep it in check. This is very good against the snow deck, as even a Stasis for a turn or 4 will often be enough to win you the game. In Limited this gets better if you don’t have snow, and if they have a lot, but most of the time it will be symmetrical except you have to pay upkeep. That’s a little too situational for me.
Constructed: 3
Limited: 4
Best use for this card: Beats control, major card advantage.
In Limited, this card is completely insane. Repetitive tutors that give you a huge amount of actual card advantage (not extra lands, or similar) are great, and this is the best ever. If your deck has a decent curve and creatures at every slot, there’s not a lot you should be picking over this, as it just wins games by itself. The only time this card sucks is if you are far behind, and you need spells now to win, but if you are only slightly behind, this will win you the game. In Constructed it is great if your opponent taps out in a slow deck, as uncounterable threats each turn can add up fast. You need stuff at every cost, which most decks don’t have, and it is a bit slow and expensive. It’s not great for every maindeck, but is has a bunch of potential.
Constructed: 4
Limited: 4
Best use for this card: Is this Snowseek or Rampant Snow? I can’t decide.
It is what it is, a Farseek for snow stuff. Cards like it have showed to be very popular in the past. What makes this card potentially even better is that it can fetch actual non-basics that do stuff besides tapping for mana, meaning that in the late game it fetches pseudo spells! Spectacular.
Constructed: 2
Limited: 3
Best use for this card: Random fatty.
It is not big enough for Constructed, despite being a bane for Black control decks, meaning this will be in sideboards if anything. In Limited it is a fine man, but not spectacular. It’s not even snow, which is weird for a Yeti.
Constructed: 2
Limited: 2
Best use for this card: Stompy!
Seal of Strength in creature form, this has the potential to be a kind of Might of Oaks, but costs almost the same when you look at it more closely. An okay one-drop, but not an auto draft or play. There are better things to do in Constructed.
Constructed: 5
Limited: 4
Best use for this card: Any deck that can cast it.
Strictly better than Ophidian, this guy has to be insane. Sure, the double-Green casting cost holds it back a little, but it is wonderful nonetheless. Damned if you do block, and damned if you don’t, this card will be an almost auto-include in any Green deck that doesn’t rely on pure speed to win. The snow atribute means it will never be reprinted, which sucks, but that just means we have to enjoy it while it lasts. In Limited it will sometimes just trade for another guy, but it is still a great blocker, and if played on turn 3 it can end games fast.
Constructed: 3
Limited: 3
Best use for this card: With sac lands.
The ideal situation is, of course, sac this land at end of turn, go fetch a big ass wurm, untap, attack. While that seems fine, those lands are long gone, and in Extended I don’t see myself playing a seven-mana wurm. For Limited… this is a good guy by itself, being strictly better than Crash of Rhinos, and the ability to fetch it when you are Into the Northing is gravy. An early pick.
Constructed: 2
Limited: 4
Best use for this card: Trixies.
In a format with no tricks, whoever has one will be king,. This is the king of all tricks, and the best non-rare Green card you can hope to open. When you see it, take it. With creatures dying a lot, this can get ridiculous very fast. In Constructed, this is just a bad Giant Growth…
Constructed: 1
Limited: 4
Best use for this card: Best common Limited creature.
More games are won by this guy than by any other thing in this format. He is near unblockable, and isn’t even bothered by the snow enchantments (and other snow stuff that passes for removal). The best guy, and he’s huge. For Constructed, this is obviously not good at all.
Constructed: 2
Limited: 4
Best use for this card: Put it on one of your aurochs.
Pantsing up a trample guy has been a tried and true mechanic for Limited Green decks for a while, and this is no different. Sure, evasion guys work as well, and even a reular guy will do fine. If you aren’t attacking with this thing, something is going very wrong in your games. As for Constructed… ever seen a Wurmweaver Coil?
Constructed: 1
Limited: 1
Best use for this card: Good question.
If you can’t pay his upkeep, he dies. If you do pay his upkeep, the guy you target will be bigger than yours the second time it can attack. Yeah, okay…
Constructed: 1
Limited: 3
Best use for this card: Winning Limited games in an unfair way.
Moldervine Cloak this is not, and it is pretty bad by itself. Of course, the random “I Win” when you hit 3 or 4 ripples means it will still get played, but it is still just a slightly better Magemark, and those aren’t good at all. For Constructed you won’t even hit...
Constructed: 4
Limited: 5
Best use for this card: UB discard.
Strictly better than Abyssal Specter, which saw a bunch of Constructed play back in the day. This card is pretty good, especially in a discard deck. Bounce your guy, make you discard him is pretty nice, and with a little backup you can easily landlock your opponent. I pity the fool that place Karoos against this guy. I have no idea why this guy is uncommon, as he seems a little too good for Limited, and is a first pick all the way.
Constructed: 1
Limited: 4
Best use for this card: Limited bomb.
It seems like all these new multicolor guys will all be awesome in Limited, but will fall short of Constructed. A 3/3 for five with no decent ability will not make much, and requiring three colors is really pushing it out of reach. For Limited, you play this and kill your opponent two turns later. Seems pretty good to me.
Constructed: 4
Limited: 5
Best use for this card: Finisher, dragon, everything.
As soon as Kamigawa is gone, URB control will look to this guy for its finisher, and will have no complaints. It’s huge, it hastes, and it draws cards! Amazing. In Limited, there is no question: this guy is insane.
Constructed: 2
Limited: 4
Best use for this card: Limited bomb.
I thought this guy was a rare as well, because he is that good… but much like the Specter, Wizards seems to like adding some uncommon spoilers in the set. It’s too slow for Constructed, baring some kind of combo kill, but it will dominate in Limited, with both of it’s +1/+1 giving abilities equaly. It’s graft, but better… much better.
Constructed: 2
Limited: 4
Best use for this card: Limited bomb.
Yeah, okay, we know, we know. This guy is also the nuts in Limited, replacing every dead guy with a 3/1 monster. This might even combo with cards that allow you to sacrifice yoru own men, upgrading them in some cases, as well as making them emergency blockers. It seems that all these insane rares are only held back by their casting cost, but seriously, that shouldn’t be THAT much of a problem. For Constructed this will just draw fire, and die without actually doing anything by itself.
Constructed: 2
Limited: 2
Best use for this card: Big fat early wall creature…
While a 2/4 for three isn’t bad, this guy isn’t spectacular either. Decks that like to burn don’t really want to gain much life most of the time, and the deck it fits best in — Zoo – likes its creatures to be a little more aggressive. It is nice in the Lifegain/Searing Meditation deck, where they like to trigger each other, but that deck seems awfully slow.
Constructed: 2
Limited: 3
Best use for this card: Hype, all hype.
This card isn’t very good, despite what people tell you. Aethermage’s Touch has tried to do the same thing, and that didn’t see any play despite people trying like hell to break it. The only thing it really is good at is killing token creatures, and creatures with enchantments on them are pretty nice targets too. Even then, it’s very situiational, and it costs four mana. It is a trick and card advantage in Limited… we don’t have many of these in this format. Damage on the stack and flip makes it slightly good, but not exciting by any means. I’ll play it, but it won’t be stellar most of the time.
Constructed: 3
Limited: 1
Best use for this card: Sideboard.
This will do it’s best to battle Tron in Standard, and it wil fail because it only has a three toughness, which means it dies to Wildfire. It has a lot of potential in formats like Legacy, where duals are everywhere, but it will never really reach far beyont the board. It’s just too bad if they don’t play non-basics. In Limited, this is an 1/3 at best…
Constructed: 2
Limited: 3
Best use for this card: How is it Zur cannot fetch his Weirding? Now that is weird.
The effect is powerful, but he is also pretty hard to cast and needs to attack in order to do something. There is also the question of what to get. Cards like this look like they are not good enough for Standard, but they could be fun and interesting in Block. That’s too bad, since there won’t ever be an actual block tourney with this guy. In Limited it all depends on how many Frozen Solids and the like you have, but even at his worst he is a fine Dancing Scimitar… if you can cast him.
Constructed: 4
Limited: 4
Best use for this card: Better than any Diamond, and great in a snow deck.
People play Signets and used to play Diamonds, and as far as the Diamonds go, this is strictly better. Mana fixing as well as acceleration, added to the fact that this is snow, makes it a must-play in any snow deck. I could even see it see play in other decks that need a Diamond and don’t care for Signets. Especially when those rotate out.
Constructed: 2
Limited: 1
Best use for this card: No more please.
Jester’s pieces were all once assumed to be the best cards in all of Magic. Then people came to their sense and wanted nothing to do with this clown’s clothing. His stick could be playable in control mirrors, but it’s effect is also pretty random (notice a theme of randomness in the set?) and can barely be controlled. You can just as easily flip one-offs or lands, and be stuck with a horrible mill one-shot. This card is not for me. Everyone plays cards once or twice in Limited, so it’s even more random and worthless there. Maybe you can board it in against those ripple decks??
Constructed: 3
Limited: 3
Best use for this card: Thinning the ol’ deck, Yawgmoth’s Will decks.
It does what it does: it thins the deck. Olle Rade used the basically identical Urza’s Bauble in his Pro Tour winning deck, and they haven’t been played since. That is until Will came out, and that card turned these into card drawing engines beyond equal. Of course, that was back when you could play more than one. I don’t think this is a bad card, but it doesn’t do anything, and it is not a straight cantrip, making it horrible in topdeck wars. I would only play it if I really needed my deck to be four cards smaller.
Constructed: 3
Limited: 4
Best use for this card: Snow decks.
A Burning-Tree Shaman sized wall, that in the right deck can turn on the aggro. The price is right, and snow decks will love this guy, now if only it has a place. This guy is huge in Limited, and very good if you have enough snow mana.
Constructed: 2
Limited: 3
Best use for this card: Limited fatty.
Casting cost of a dragon? Check. About the same size? Check. Evasion, decent effects, versatility? Nope, none of that. Stick to the “good” creatures.
Constructed: 1
Limited: 1
Best use for this card: none.
An 8/8 is not big enough for me to want to saca guy each turn. An 8/8 that dies very easily isn’t even close to good enough. Who cares that it costs three? You can’t cast it on turn 3 without losing it quickly.
Constructed: 2
Limited: 1
Best use for this card: Relentless Rats!
Turn 2 Chrome Mox, Seething Song, Thrumming stone. Turn 3 Relentless Rats. GG.
Constructed: 2
Limited: 1
Best use for this card: Tron.
An alternate win condition for control decks that make a lot of mana. That sounds like Tron to me. The problem is that this doesn’t tap for mana, so it will take a slot away froma spell. You might as well play Demonfire in that slot if you are gonna have a lot of mana. Even if you get the token, they can just bounce it and blow you out, which means you paid 30 (!) mana for stone nothing. Fun, but that’s it. In limited, this will never happen.
Constructed: 3
Limited: 4
Best use for this card: Tutor up with Rampant Snow.
Creature kill that any deck can use is always nice, and this is even better in a snow deck, being able to jump out of your deck after a Snowseek. The cost is high, but in the late game it gives you something to do with those Into the Norths. Excellent use of the mechanic. In Limited, any removal is insane, and this thing can be used no matter what colors you will end up with. I can’t see anyone not taking this.
Constructed: 5
Limited: 4
Best use for this card: Snow decks of any kind.
This is the most exciting card in the set. Card advantage at a cheap price in a land is something we haven’t seen since Thawing Glaciers, and all this needs you to do is play some snow permanents. I feel like for this to be worth it, you need at least thirty snow things in your deck, and that is the only problem it has, because even with lands you’re only going to be playing 24 max, and that’s if you are mono or willing to play with good duals. The only thing holding it back is the other snow permanents being good enough. In Limited, play this, because at least half of your deck will be snow, and it’s one of the few real card advantage engines in the format.
The Snowduals.
Constructed: 3
Limited: 4
Best use for this card: If you really need to have a snow version.
The shock duals set the curve for these things, and despite the fact that they are still pretty good, these will neevr see play unless you need the snow, or you can’t play shockduals. They also limit the amount of snow decks we can think of: no off-colors.
…
That’s it for the set, and frankly, I am not amused.
Join me in the last article of this series, where I’ll tell you exactly why I don’t like this set at all.
Jeroen.