Three Days, Five Dawns – Artifacts in Fifth Dawn Limited

“I wish I were as verbose as Geordie or Tim, but frankly, I am not nearly as entertaining as they are.” –“Kartin” Ken Krouner

Well, it’s not entirely out of spite for KK, but this column will be neither verbose nor entertaining. I have sixty-four cards to review here, so I’m actually not going to waste your time with my patented brand of asinine buffoonery. I can do that next week.

And the week after.

As with the rest of the block, Fifth Dawn’s artifacts don’t exactly have a very steep”power curve.” In other words, because many of the cards are similarly powered, it’s impossible to make anything resembling a specific pick order. Take what will fill the holes in your decks. That said, I will be presenting the artifacts in an approximate order of playability. Please pay more attention to the comments than the little numbers next to the card names, though. I don’t really wish to foster heated criticism that I’m some sort of moron for saying that Spinal Parasite is better than Myr Quadropod, or whatnot.

I’ve included the five color-enhanced Equipment cards in the list as though one were playing them off-color. While the Neurok Stealthsuit is probably pretty good in a Blue deck, it’s not worth bothering with otherwise, hence its position on the list.

As a final note, next week I will be getting into archetypes and some differences between MMD and MD5, including a five-color Green primer (unless someone beats me to it). Scrumtrulescent. Now, without further ado, I present to thee…

Late-Breaking Developments in the Big Dougy Conway Saga

One of Gerry’s loyal Minnesota… um…”friends,” of which he has many for some reason, recently confronted BDC on AIM. BDC claims to have sent a money order for the amount he owed, plus an additional $150 as a peace offering. As yet, Gerry has not received his money, but morale remains high. For the time being, do not under any circumstances loan that man money, or Magic cards, or a twenty-sided die with which to determine who has the play-or-draw option. Big Dougy Conway clearly attends the Aaron Cutler school of ATWUC.*

And now the coverted Fifth Dawn Artifact Card Appraisal for Limited…

1. Razormane Masticore

Except for the fact that Arrest doesn’t completely shut it down, this is much worse than the original Masticore. Regeneration is huge, as is being able to use the ability at any time and with numerous targets and for varying amounts. That said, this is still probably as much of a bomb as a Shatterable card could conceivably be in this block. It’s the largest body you’ll find for its cost, and first strike makes it very hard to double block and kill. You don’t really need me to tell you to take the Masticore, do you? Just realize that it’s not an auto-win every time. And from here on in, I guarantee you that I will make at most four more irrelevant and obvious comparisons to older cards.

2. Etched Oracle

This card is mediocre as a Frogmite, passable as a Hill Giant, and downright ludicrous as a 4/4. No, those don’t count toward my referencing quota. Basically, it’s a first pick in a deck that can reliably make it 4/4, namely a five-color Green deck. I suppose it’s fathomable that a non-Green deck could also play a 4/4 Oracle, albeit with help from Ingots, Talismans, or Wayfarer’s Baubles. If the opponent manages to kill your monstrous threat, you get to draw three cards as long as you left a single land untapped. Card advantage is still good, people.

3. Skyreach Manta

Like Etched Oracle, this is naturally at home in a 5CG deck, where it has the potential to be a near-bomb. There is not nearly as severe a dropoff in quality between the Manta’s Burstiest form and its slightly smaller versions, though. I imagine many decks will be able to play this as a 3/3 flier with some regularity, which is perfectly acceptable.

4. Clearwater Goblet

As the Goblet illustrates, Wizards has really been pushing the envelope on life gain cards recently. Since this is a Sunburst card, it’s best in -you guessed it- five-color green. Like with Manta, I think the number you’d like to shoot for with this is 3 counters. A Goblet sporting five counters with any other sort of defense and/or offense on the board has to be nearly impossible to race. I can’t imagine what would happen if you found a way to put more than five counters on it… say, with Energy Chamber. God, I’m not sure how obvious it is that this card is insane (if I’m even right), so I feel sort of stupid if I’m letting the cat out of the bag. I’d sure like to pick it up tenth sometime, like my associate Mr. TheCack allegedly did a few days ago.

5. Infused Arrows

The Sunburst mechanic is rather powerful if you can use it properly, is it not? Unlike the cards above it on the list, the Arrows are fine with as few as two counters on them; they’ll likely trade for at least one creature while subsequently staying in play to be later sacrificed to a Grunt or Atog or somesuch. Naturally, you don’t have to simply remove X counters to kill an X-toughness creature during your main phase or at end of turn; leave one of these untapped during a combat step and see how enthusiastic your opponent is about blocking. Whether you take this or Manta really depends on your creature quality and quantity. I’m rather tempted to try forcing five-color Green; it may be the powerhouse that Affinity once was. Of course, with enough off-color Myr and artifact lands, Affinity decks can use Sunburst cards effectively too.

6. Wayfarer’s Bauble

This card is excellent. It’s a non-Green mana fixer, it’s a much-needed Myr replacement, and it’s perfect for giving that extra counter to your Sunburst cards. Additionally, it’s a one-mana artifact, which means it is enhanced by certain tutor or graveyard-retrieval effects. If you see one of these later than third pick, consider yourself a lucky man. Or woman. Or Ziegler.

7. Engineered Explosives

This card is probably not nearly as good as it looks, but it is impressive nonetheless. You just can’t count on your opponent having more permanents than you of a specific mana cost. If he has a Spikeshot you really need to kill, but you have a Suntouched Myr that you played before drawing into your Explosives, you may be forced to suffer card disadvantage. I imagine there will be scenarios where you are unable to put the desired number of counters on it; some decks will have to content themselves with never being able to blow up a Skyhunter Patrol. (For the record, I’m not that big of a fan of Oblivion Stone either). That said, it’s still a powerful removal spell with the potential to be a one-sided board sweeper. It’s best in 5CG, but playable (and good) in any deck.

8. Relic Barrier

I haven’t really examined the specifics as to how many cards can deal a point of damage versus how many can kill a noncreature artifact, but I think this is a more resilient Auriok Transfixer. I imagine that most of the time this will simply be used to neutralize the artifact creature of your choice, but it has some other uses, like selective mana denial (tapping artifact lands and Talismans, etc.) or limiting an opponent’s options (tapping an unsuspecting opponent’s Baton of Courage before blocking). Truth be told, this Legends reprint would be pretty good if it could only tap artifact creatures, since there are some scary metallic monsters running around out there nowadays.**

9. Goblin Cannon

I’m a little leery about putting the Cannon this high on the”list” because of its prohibitive cost, but it is a rather powerful direct damage spell. Thanks to your good friend”the stack,” you can use this multiple times in a row. It’s not just a six-mana one-damage spell, if some of you thought that. You probably don’t want to play and activate it in the same turn (because that’s two less damage), so that means it will often be vulnerable for a turn. Naturally, it’s best in a deck that can get a fairly large amount of mana out, and 5CG usually fits this bill with cards like Dawn’s Reflection and Sylvok Explorer. The Cannon isn’t your ideal turn 4 play, but it can really tear up an opponent’s board in the late game.

10. Silent Arbiter

There are numerous decks and situations where you’d like to have this guy out, so he’s probably a pretty early pick. If you have a flier or otherwise unblockable creature and your opponent does not, he will be unable to race you. If your opponent has too many fliers for you to handle, but all of his guys are smaller than your Fangren Hunter, he will be unable to race you. If you have power-and-toughness-enhancing Equipment and he doesn’t, if you have combat tricks or pumpers like Auriok Bladewarden… well, you get the idea. Unlike Dueling Grounds (that counts as reference #1) this is a creature as well, and can often serve as your perfect”one blocker per turn.” I had to side this out at the Prerelease because my opponent was able to pile enough equipment onto her Den-Guard (including a Horned Helm) that I couldn’t effectively block or attack despite having a Plated Slagwurm.

11. Cranial Plating

This card is a nightmare if you’re playing Black, but your opponent won’t be too happy to see it if you’re playing any sort of non-Black Affinity deck either. It’s never going to be useless (unless you have no creatures, but that’s the nature of Equipment), always providing at least +1/+0 because it’s an artifact itself. It’s fairly cheap to play and equip, and in the right decks, it can turn a Neurok Spy into a three-turn clock. Since I’m reading Geordie’s article to see how horribly wrong he is as I write this, I would just like to take this time to say that I hope he falls off a cliff. Or at the very least gets a nice sunburn on the top six inches of his forehead.*** I could have dished some more thought-provoking beats there, but all this Slipknot is making it hard for me to top”fuh fuh fuh.”

12. Guardian Idol

We are now about to start the segment – and a rather large segment it is – of cards that are about the same power level as each other. This means that I really don’t want to hear it if you think card #20 is better than card #18. It’s an approximation. Cut me some slack. I would, however, love to hear in the forums (and that wasn’t sarcasm) if you think it sounds like I’m overrating or underrating something. Pack one has Joiner, Talismans, and Myr, pack two has Ingot and Engineer, and pack three has Sylvok Explorer, Wayfarer’s Bauble, and this. Good accelerators are hard to find these days, putting this at more of a premium. On the one hand, it’s colorless mana when you’d much rather have any arbitrary color of mana for Sunburst; on the other, it won’t be useless in the late game like a Talisman, since it’s a beater. An excellent card.

13. Energy Chamber

This is cheap to cast, free to use, and can provide huge benefits over the course of the game. It makes Dragon Blood and Power Conduit look downright pathetic. It refreshes your Sunburst cards, further enhances modular creatures, provides half a 2/2 per turn with Spawning Pit, and so on. You’ll never be forced to pump an opponent’s artifact creatures, since you can simply opt to put worthless charge counters on this. Needless to say, if you see this fifth pick in the last pack and have only a smattering of artifact creatures and few or no artifacts that make use of charge counters, don’t take this any sooner than you would loan Big Dougy Conway a pen.

14. Synod Centurion

This is a sizable man for a reasonable cost and is probably comparable to Myr Enforcer in most decks. A deck where a Myr Enforcer would cost six or seven, for instance, probably wants to pass this one along. There’s obviously a chance that the drawback will bite you in the butt, but if you draft and play with a little bit of caution, you probably won’t be forced to sacrifice this too often.

15. Heliophial

This one is only good in a deck that can reliably access at least four colors of mana. Seven mana to deal three damage to any target, for instance, doesn’t seem like a very good temporal decision. It’s likely that you’ll be able to nab these late because of the small number of decks that can use them well. On that note, I wonder how many 5CG decks an 8-man table can support. I’d imagine two or in some cases three.

16. Vedalken Orrery

Okay, I’m probably going way out on a limb with this one. In a few months (or even weeks), we may very well all be able to look back on this article and have a nice hearty chuckle at my whimsical fancy. Here’s what I imagine, though: The turn after you play this, your opponent will have to tread lightly.”Attack with your 2/3? Why on earth would you do something so stupid? I’ll block with my Fangren Hunter. Electrostatic Bolt my Myr Enforcer? It has a Horned Helm on it, you moron.” Every permanent you play becomes a combat trick. Of course, its value goes down if your tricks are already instant speed… and it’s probably not so hot in the late game. It may in fact be completely unplayable. We’ll have to wait and see just how valuable being able to play creatures and certain artifacts and enchantments at instant speed really is.

17. Lunar Avenger

Welcome to the first of many arbitrarily large win conditions that is probably only good in 5CG. What this means is, after you’ve collected the necessary mana fixers and perhaps a bomb or two, cards such as the Avenger can become rather powerful. Your kill condition doesn’t matter too much as long as it’s large and brutal. This probably isn’t worth bothering with unless you can pump four colors of mana into it, since we all remember how popular Death-Mask Duplicant was.

18. Arcbound Wanderer

Welcome to the second of many arbitrarily large win conditions that is probably only good in 5CG. There are degrees of separation, but some of these might as well be the same card. This is playable if you can reliably get three colors of mana, and strong but expensive if you can get more.

19. Sawtooth Thresher

Welcome to the third blee blah hibbidy dibbidy bloo. Blah blah more colors blee blee. If you can tell the difference between this and Arcbound Wanderer, you are a better man than I.

20. Summoning Station

How high you take this depends on how easily you can get to seven mana. I suppose it’s worthwhile comparing this to Darksteel Gargoyle in that regard. Obviously, the Summoning Station’s stock soars if you have several artifacts and a way to sacrifice them for benefit. It’s quite possible that your opponent will massacre you with flying cats while you’re making pathetic Pincher tokens. If all else fails, I suppose you can always pitch this to Looter or Fleshgrafter.

21. Mycosynth Golem

I’m pretty sure that the Golem’s ability will be irrelevant for the most part. Even if you have a decent number of artifacts in play, this guy will still cost a sizable amount of mana and will be one of the last cards you play from your hand. This means that you could likely play any other artifact creatures you draw by paying the normal amount. In other words, this is just a variable cost 4/5 with a marginal benefit. I’m not sure how enthusiastic the traditionally mana-tight Affinity decks will even be to play this.

22. Salvaging Station

I’m not even going to bother spelling out for you what you need several of to make this card good. Depending on your count of the particular type of card, this ranges from Unplayable to Unfair. Spellbomb recursion will allow you to draw multiple cards; if the Spellbomb is Pyrite, the game should be yours. With Wayfarer’s Bauble, you may reach a point where you have literally no lands left in your deck.

23. Skullcage

I don’t like this card because it doesn’t affect the board at all, and your opponent can play around it. That said, if you drop it when your opponent is empty-handed, he’ll be in some serious trouble. He’ll take at least six damage from it, more if he casts a spell in the first three turns after it hits play. Of course, unless the board is stable or unless you have the advantage, this card isn’t likely to help that much. Nonetheless, you probably won’t have too many complaints about maindecking it.

24. Blasting Station

Mmm, why are so many of these cards so intricate and complicated and whatnot? Such an odd combination of abilities. This can be used to deal a couple extra damage to your opponent here and there, or it can basically add one power to an attacker; if he blocks Frogmite with Cobalt Golem, Kobe’s goin’ down. Naturally, this gets better if you have a source of cheap labor, like a Nuisance Engine or a Soul Foundry with something cheap imprinted on it. I sure have a penchant for stating the obvious in my Limited reviews. Sigh.

25. Conjurer’s Bauble

I am a big fan of this card, especially given its interaction with some other cards in Fifth Dawn. It’s so much better than an off-color Spellbomb; for a card like this, that one mana really makes a difference. Sometimes you keep the one-land, Spellbomb, Myr, hand on the draw, and you’re forced to pop the Spellbomb on turn 2 to search for land. Even if you hit the land, you still can’t play the Myr. This would not be the case with Conjurer’s Bauble. Unlike Scrabbling Claws, this can be used without a single card in your graveyard since it reads”up to.”

26. Battered Golem

Unless you’re playing a nearly artifactless G/R or G/W deck, which seems unlikely given Green’s predisposition toward Sunburst post Fifth Dawn, this guy can usually be treated as a 3/2 that doesn’t tap to attack… or at the very least, one without a drawback. Depending on the deck, this is much better than cards like Summoning Station and Mycosynth Golem. Some 5CG decks can be rather slow just because the accelerators weren’t there, and cards like this and other random two-power creatures for two and three mana can really punish a languishing draw.

27. Grafted Wargear

This is the perfect fit for a White Equipment deck or a suicide Red/Black build. Screaming Fury and Blind Creeper would also find a home in the latter; only testing can determine if the deck can deal twenty before it runs out of steam. Of course, the Wargear has a target on it once you equip it to something, since a two-for-one is usually too good a deal to pass up. Also, you obviously won’t be moving this one around too much, but that shouldn’t matter. Turn 2 Den-Guard, turn 3 play this and equip it. Hell, turn 2 anything, turn 3 play this and equip is probably pretty good. I imagine that the drawback will come into play less often than it would have with an extra pack of Mirrodin, but it’s still not negligible.

28. Staff of Domination

This is really mana intensive and doesn’t provide you much benefit until the late game. You don’t want to spend four mana to tap a creature until you’ve played out your entire hand. That said, since it literally allows you to make use of any amount of excess mana in the late game, it will make a good gamebreaker for the decks that can support it.

29. Solarion

To me, this is worse than some of the other arbitrarily large Sunburst monsters, since you ordinarily will be waiting a turn before you attack with it. By this point in the game, your opponent may have enough chump blockers to finish you off in the air, or may be holding onto a simple Shatter or Creeping Mold to send him home to mommy. Attacking with a 20/20 is probably pretty nice, especially if you have a way to give it trample. It seems like this would be a curve-topping 23rd or 24th card in most decks that can access three or more colors. I had one of these in my sealed pool at the team prerelease, and we all left it in the sideboard.

30. Pentad Prism

The Prism is not one of my favorite mana fixers for 5CG, since it only gives you two mana over its entire lifespan, and since sometimes when you want to play it on turn 2, all you have in play are two Forests. In other decks, particularly mostly two-color decks with some Sunburst, the Prism truly shines. It can allow you to play a five-drop, possibly even a noble 5/5 Skyreach Manta, on turn 3.

Additionally, it helps Affinity and sticks around after you’ve used it up to pump Nims or get Shrapnel Blasted away. It’s pretty worthless in the late game, in many cases. I’d imagine this is around a 6th-7th pick, earlier if you really really need it.

31. Baton of Courage

This makes a fine trick for any deck; your opponent certainly won’t see it coming out of your Blue/Black/White deck. It’s not that spectacular because it’s easily replaceable, though. It’s worse than Predator’s Strike or Ferocious Charge, and if you already have a Roar of the Kha, you may opt to take a creature over it. This is probably best in an Affinity deck if you can find room for it. Aaron”The Reason” Cutler has played with this card and is rather impressed by it.

32. Possessed Portal

The ultimate in”win-more” technology, the Portal will probably keep your opponent from ever getting back into the game unless he has a Shatter in hand. It’s pretty expensive and requires you to have board advantage to play, but it’s likely to seal the fate of some hapless wizards.

33. Suntouched Myr

The Suntouched Myr is just a random guy. He may often be just a 2/2 in the early game, but will probably be a 3/3 in the late game. It’s a much better choice than an off-color Elf Replica. Value this like you would value a Cathodion.

34. Opaline Bracers

I hate Equipment so much, especially when it costs four. At least it only costs two mana to move around. Naturally, you won’t want to mess around with this nonsense unless you’re sure it will be for +3/+3 or +4/+4 every time. It’s probably decent in a 5CG deck as something to toss on Myr or Explorers in the late game. I’d say this is about the same as a Sword of Kaldra, and that’s only if you bla bla three colors of mana bla bla.

35. Healer’s Headdress

This can really annoy opponents, often making one of your creatures too large to attack through, while preventing a damage from a flier or Spy. Sadly, despite the quality of reusable abilities, this card probably doesn’t do enough to warrant consideration in most non-White decks. Defensive decks would rather play removal or other creatures, not cards that require a creature to be in play to be useful.

36. Grinding Station

In some rare decks, this might be a game winner. It requires quite a few artifacts to finish your opponent off, though, and does nothing to affect the board. The Station will probably be good for around fifteen cards, and that doesn’t really do the trick. It could be a finisher in a control deck with lots of artifacts. Affinity decks would probably rather attack than try to mill you out, though. There’s a chance this could be sideboard worthy if you find yourself in a stall with no possible way to get damage through. I’m definitely not going to dismiss this as garbage just yet.

37. Ensouled Scimitar

This is a really cool card; I like the idea of Equipment that can do something even if you control no creatures. That said, it’s a glorified Slagwurm Armor, and if you spend three mana to make the Scimitar a 1/5 flying blocker for a turn, you have to spend two more to reattach it on your turn. A bit too expensive for my tastes, probably a 24th card.

38. Thermal Navigator

Like the Suntouched Myr, this is just a random filler creature. In some games, its ability will allow you to deal the final few damage to your opponent, but I won’t shed too many tears if I have to pass it. 2/2s for three mana are pretty standard; you will likely have more than you need by the time Fifth Dawn rolls around. If you need it to fill out your curve, then by all means…

39. Paradise Mantle

I’m not too keen on this card, since it probably won’t be acting as acceleration. Ideally, you’ll drop this on a turn 1 Arcbound Worker or turn 2 Pteron Ghost. I just don’t like taking the time to turn one of my creatures into a Myr. That said, if you’re short on fixers or acceleration, you could do worse; it may be a necessary evil if you have no Prisms, Talismans, or Baubles.

40. Composite Golem

Random expensive dude. At least Goblin Dirigible flies. If you use its ability, I hope your opponent bounces, Shatters, or Terrors whatever you put into play with it. You probably nearly have access to the right amount of mana by the time you can play this anyway; if you don’t, then you probably shouldn’t be playing whatever Sunburst card or Bringer you have anyway. This is good at ramping you right up to twelve mana on turn 7, though. I guess if you have Fireball or some other hella expensive card, you could play this.

41. Arachnoid

Pretty much every color but Green would rather play a flier, and Green would rather play something less expensive, or something that couldn’t be Deconstructed. If you have no way to deal with fliers, you may have to scoop this guy up. Six mana for two power is quite rough.

42. Suncrusher

This thing is just way too expensive. Like with many of the most situational cards, if you see that you’re drafting a deck that can reliably cast this before you’ve lost the game, take it, put it in your deck…

43. Helm of Kaldra

Haste and trample are rather useful abilities, but since it doesn’t give any power or toughness bonus, the Helm is probably not worth bothering with. I’m not going to say anything cutesy about the Sword and Shield. We’ll leave cutesy for Tait. It’s his forte.

44. Spinal Parasite

Operating under the assumption that removing counters isn’t that great of an ability, what we have here is, at best, a 4/4 creature that takes far too much effort to play. Even if you could guarantee yourself all five colors of mana on turn 5, you could do better.

45. Myr Quadropod

If you have six mana available, you can treat this as a 4/4. Not too thrilling. I guess the threat of its activation may sometimes let it through unblocked; an opponent can’t throw a 3/3 in the way unless he’s willing to make tradesies. It will also be able to deal four damage to your opponent on an open board, but three mana for that ability is kind of steep. Combo with Slagwurm Armor!

46. Anodet Lurker

Five-mana 3/3s are the most marginal of maindeck cards. In other blocks, I would call this a”23rd card;” in this block, I suppose it’s a”24th card;” in many of my decks, I would call it a”21st card.” Cards 22-24, of course, would likely be two Leadfoots and a Titanium Golem. But sometimes, the 3/3 body is what you need to win the game, Gerald.

47. Horned Helm

As I’ve said, I’m not a huge fan of Equipment. That said, trample is a worthwhile ability to grant in conjunction with the slight power and toughness boost. If you have a little Cub that still needs some aid when pack three rolls around, you can begrudgingly accept this gift. One thing I’ve learned about all but the best pieces of flair, though, is that I’d rather have a creature. P.S. This is better in Green. [Shocking by now, I’m sure. – Knut]

48. Ferropede

Ugh, three-mana 1/1. Unblockability is nice, but since it only has a power of one, it should be treated like an Equip-guy. You know, like Den Guard and Glaivemaster. I imagine its”saboteur” ability is negligible, as removing counters is probably not quite as powerful as adding them. Making a Sunburst or Modular creature slightly smaller each turn is probably not worth the effort.

49. Summoner’s Egg

I’d much rather have a Steel Wall. This imprint ability is pretty worthless unless you have a way to sacrifice the Egg yourself; most ground creatures will simply bounce with this, which isn’t what you want. Also, by the time you get to four mana, you’ll likely be able to cast whatever creature you imprinted. Even if you sacrifice this to Atog during your opponent’s combat step, a bounce or removal spell will leave you down a card.

50. Gemstone Array

Over time, this can give you a substantial mana boost. Unfortunately your opponent probably has”creatures” that he’s”attacking” you with, so you might not have that much”time.” What saves this card from being completely unplayable is… surprise, surprise… its interaction with Sunburst. With some Wayfarer’s Baubles and Talismans, this may allow you to play a five-color deck without Green as a base color.

51. Myr Servitor

The Servitor is pretty bad unless you’ve managed to draft three, in which case you’re playing at least three 1/1s for one in your deck. It interacts nicely with the Cog enablers, but that’s not too much of an incentive for me to play it. I’m sure Gadiel will be playing these in his Affinity decks in lieu of, or in addition to, Beetles, Mindervants, and Moonvessels.

52. Chimeric Coils

I’m not a fan of having to leave sizable amounts of mana open in order to maximize a card’s threat potential. This shouldn’t be too hard to play around and is likely inferior to Darksteel Brute. In the late game, opponents will have to leave a blocker back if they’re in”Fireball range,” but this situation won’t arise too often.

53. Door to Nothingness

This is a 5CG card that not all 5CG decks can play. Often, I’d imagine you’ll be able to handily access one of each color of mana; barring a number of Ingots/Talismans or multiple Dawn’s Reflections, two of each color of mana will be rather difficult to come by. In many games, of course, you won’t be able to reach ten mana at all.

54. Neurok Stealthsuit

This card sucks unless you’re Blue; it does nothing on its own, presupposing that your opponent has an effect with which they’d like to target the particular creature you’ve equipped. This is half the card of Whispersilk Cloak, which is itself marginal.

55. Razorgrass Screen

This is worse than Clockwork Beetle in every way. Incidentally, this doesn’t count as one of my four references, since it is completely relevant. Do not play this card unless you are completely desperate for cheap affinity fuel.

56. Avarice Totem

I’m pretty sure this card is terrible, but I could be wrong. It basically makes your opponent spend five mana for each five you spend in order to keep his beloved permanent. Once you get up to ten mana, assuming your opponent doesn’t have five mana open, you can use stack tricks to switch your worst permanent for his best. Ten mana is a lot, though.

57. Krark-Clan Ironworks

There are a couple of uses for gobs of colorless mana in Limited, but there probably aren’t enough to make this card worthwhile. If you’ve managed to draft the odd deck that can maximize the utility of this card, you’ll probably know it when you see it.

58. Crucible of Worlds

Mister Gazarsgo’s Plow is only playable in Limited as sideboard tech against those who would try to wreck your 5CG deck with Molten Rains and Reap and Sows. It will probably get raredrafted anyway.

59. Lantern of Insight

This gives your opponent as much information as you, and it only gives you a little bit of power with which to abuse said information. Other than in this sentence in an offhanded sort of way, I’m not going to mention any wishful thinking of the phrase”draw a card.” You could reuse this with Leonin Squire, but why bother. I probably wouldn’t even run this with Auriok Salvagers.

60. Sparring Collar

Given that Equipment is inherently weak and vulnerable, I can’t see playing one that merely grants a creature first strike. It might be playable in Red, but I’m not writing about Red.

61. Clock of Omens

I can’t think of any ways of”going off” with this off the top of my head, and even if there is a masterful puzzle out there, you’re unlikely to piece it together in a draft. This is about as good as Galvanic Key, if not worse.

62. Doubling Cube

Except in rare decks, there’s only so much mana you could really want. Couple that with the fact that you need to have seven mana available before this does anything, and you’ve got a Constructed-only card (if even that).

63. Eon Hub

There are so few cards where upkeep matters that you’ll be unlikely to draw one of them and this at the same time… and even then the effect probably won’t be too noticeable.

64. Fist of Suns

Chances are, if you have access to WUBRG, you’ll be able to play almost anything you’d want to play anyway. This is completely unplayable.

Well, there you have it. I hope this article was in some way more useful than Gerard trying to tell the Japanese gamers the joke about the pirate movie. Which he did. I can’t recall if I mentioned that in my PT report, since I certainly don’t read my own articles. I don’t even proofread. For all I know, Knutson is inserting the line”I’m a pretty princess” at random intervals within my articles. Good beats.

Take the baseline out, clear this house of ill-acquired taste, roll the credits.

Oh, and nice marmot.

Tim Aten

1981-2004

Fat, Ugly, and Completely and Hopelessly Insane

Weak Link on the team”:B”

Harvard Law School

[email protected]

*Always Taking What You Can.

**This sentence is a :B. This whole article is a :B. My whole LIFE is a :B.

***Please let karma be a fictitious construct. I don’t wanna go bald.