The Boring and Bad of Theros

If you expect me to just sit here and talk to you about all the commons and how terrible they are... then you are slightly right. These cards that I'm going to look at are going to be disappointing rares and just terrible cards... terrible cards in any way possible.

Creatures:

well, it's out of burn range...

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Ooooo lets enchant him.
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Why no u wind drake?
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This guy is so fast that this guy is so f... thi.s...gu....s....fst...
Internet Explorer... I mean... Triad of Fates encountered a problem.
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Block the 9/9 trample!

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Anger of the gods

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Instances and Sorceries

 



Anger of the God's cousin that everyone hates.

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Why no u searing spear?
why u make me buy new singles? wy u
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 I'm not going to say anything
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Really white removal? really? C'mon. Elspeth is even on it.
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Enchantments

 y
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Oh, i guess that's it
















Artifacts


yay
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I mean, really?
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 K
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I actually saw this at FNM once. wooow.
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Yeah, that's pretty much it. I have few words to say to these things that I have happened to find in my booster packs...

Next week I'm going to post my entire decklist and talk about the magic community inside my school! I will also keep you updated on any new cards coming out!


Duel Decks: Jace vs. Vraska Officially Announced! + Top Four Green Cards in Theros!

You could be wondering how this is happenning or you could not really understand the significance of the releasing of Duel Decks: Jace vs. Vraska. Jace and Vraska, if you didin't know, are both very powerful Planeswalker cards. At my local Magic store, Jace is currently being sold as a single for 31.00$ a piece. Vraska is going for 9.00$.

According to the article in which the announcment of this "Duel Decks" package, the price will be 20.00$. (In Canada is is 25.00$). If you look at Jace and Vraska alone, you are buying a 40.00$ value of cards in which you pay 20.00$ to 25.00$. In addition to these extremely poweruful cards that are being uncluded, the "Duel Decks" have always included two 60 cards decks. That means that your paying for two cards that would normally come up to 40$ and an additional 118 cards for only 20$ - 25$.

Primarily, Jace, Architect of Thought is powerful right now because there is no card-drawing spell that is powerful enough. To bring Jace's value down, I can predict that better draw-spells will come out somewhere in the next to sets of the Theros block. Those being "Born of the Gods" and "Journey in to Nyx"

Duel Decks: Jace vs. Vraska will be availible March 14th 2014.

If anything seems cloudy about any details i didin't explain well. Feel free to look at the article yourself: http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/arcana/1346

I do not believe that Vraska (on the right) is aware that Jace looks like he wants to punch her in the face. Probably because of all the dead bodies behind her. Ew.

 I'm drooling.

Top Four Green Cards in Theros!

4. Polukranos, World Eater

A great asset to mono-green or Red/Green aggro/devotion decks. It's a step ahead of your opponent, a 5/5 for four mana. They've done that already with Deadbridge Goliath, but they play much differently. This creature becomes bigger while it proves to be a decent solution to removing 1/1 and 2/2 creatures when using it's monstrosity ability. When I first saw this card, i wasn't too impressed with it's monstrosity. But now, I've play tested it a couple of times and it proved useful in standard format. A lot of valuable creatures do sit between a toughness of 1-3 and I can easily take out those creatures with Polukranos at instant speed. Fun card that's big when it hits the field for only 4 mana.

Rating: 7.3/10




3. Nylea, God of the Hunt

This card is card is not worth it's price of being around 12$. However, I love it anyways. My creatures get trample and a pump ability is included! If your devotion is high enough, swing in with an indestructible 6/6! not much more I can say about this card. I use it and I will continue to until it's no longer standard!

Rating: 7.5/10










2. Arbor Colossus

Everyone is worrying about replacing Thundermaw Hellkite with Stormbreath Dragon when they completely miss how good this creature is. Same mana cost. It's bigger by two and two. and it blocks Stormbreath while killing it. It's monstrosity cost is lower and lets you even kill Stormbreath while making this creature a 9/9. That isn't it's only advantage either. He is three green mana symbols to your devotion to green. I wish someone could tell me why this card is only worth 75 cents. Do not mind me as a grab more!

Rating: 8/10







1. Boon Satyr
With all of the popularity to mono-blue devotion, I've been getting stocked up with Mistcutter Hydra's and Skylashers. Both of those creatures can't be countered and they both have protection from blue. That's great. But I keep both of those cards in my side deck. In my main deck, I want a creature that has flash so I can side it out for Skylasher when I play blue decks. Against just about anything else, Boon Satyr is a great asset to your green deck. In the Gatecrash set, they released a card that was a 4/2 creature with flash for 6 mana. By decreasing that mana cost to 3, they made this card incredibly valuable and ideal for playing around burnspells and blocks. It's bestow ability means that you can enchant a creature and basically give it's power and toughness to the enchanted creature. And it has flash. When the enchanted creature dies, Boon satyr just becomes a 4/2 creature. Talk about second chance!

Rating: 8.9/10


Currently being finished rating the top 4 cards of each color in the Theros set, what might I write about now? Well, as fun as I had talking about all the cards I liked, I feel like I would have more fun talking about the cards I didn't like.

Next week I talk about the worst cards in Theros. If you disagree, feel free to comment and express your opinion against mine! Perhaps I will consider what you say and realise the potential of certain cards.

I will also keep you updated on Duel Decks: Jace vs. Vraska.

Thanks for reading and tap your lands!

Great show for both non-experienced and experienced Magic: the Gathering players!

This isn't one of my official "weekly posts", but I want to bring to light a show that I have been watching on YouTube lately that is done by a channel called "Geek & Sundry".

This show is called "Spellslingers". It's about the host Sean Plott inviting his friends to play Magic with him! It's an excellent series to watch and learn how to play Magic. If you get past some of the language, the tutorials are very professional and the production looks worthy of television.

So let this be a good place to learn how to play Magic: the Gathering!

Pro Tour Theros Champ Runs Mono-Blue Devotion? + Top Four White Cards in Theros!

The two finalists of Pro Tour Theros were both incredibly intelligent Magic: the Gathering players. They shot up to the top through the several rounds with great wits and smashing plays! Both of these men from France, Jeremy Dezani and Pierre Dagen. However, when I happened to come across both of their deck lists, I found myself shocked.

Both of these men had Mono-Blue devotion decks, and quite inevitably, one of them was going to be the Pro Tour Theros winner. Meaning a Mono-Blue deck had beaten all those other decks out there. I can be honest when I say that Mono-Blue was the last thing that I would expect to become the Pro Tour Theros winning deck. What does it do? Well, as much as I don't understand how it would get so far, this is how it works.

"Master of Waves is the list's marque card, with Nightveil Specter and Frostburn Weird allowing Master of Waves to put a whopping 14 power onto the battlefield on turn four (16 if you hit played one of the deck's one drops, Cloudfin Raptor or Judge's Familiar). Master of Waves also pumps Mutavault, a 2/2 man land that counts as every creature type. Thassa, God of the Sea is another powerful card, turning dead lands that may be on the top of your library into business spells thanks to scry 1 and also transforming into an indestructible 5/5 creature that can become unblockable. Even without devotion Thassa's activated ability can be pivotal, allowing you to take out opposing planeswalkers. Speaking of planeswalkers, Jace, Architect of Thought lets this deck slow down aggro strategies and gain card advantage. Cyclonic Rift can lead to some late game blow outs" - From David Leavitt's article, "Jeremy Dezani wins Pro Tour 'Theros' with mono blue devotion"

I guess we can say that I gave away the fact that Dezani wound up winning. Master of waves is a very very powerful card... in mono blue. It throws out 0/1 guys equal to your devotion and gives those guys +1/+1.

4 of these in a deck means more dudes and bigger versions of those dudes.

The question I would like to ask is: Why couldn't some Skylashers and Mistcutter Hydra's take care of this Mono-Blue Deck? Mono-Green all the way!

Top 4 White Cards in Theros!

4. Fabled Hero

1. Fabled Hero is a great asset to any aggro or enchantment decks. One target on him, against no blocks, he does 6 damage by himself. The only issue with this card is it's weakness to burn spells. It's 2 toughness is certainly it's weakness, otherwise it's a powerful creature that does two damage before anything else. A great unit to add to my Boros deck or even Mono-White Aggro deck.

Rating: 7/10

3. Spear of Heliod

It makes your creatures a little bigger, and in white, a little bigger is enough. It works great in Boros Aggro and basically replaces the enchantment "Legions Initiative". I would run both of them, personally, just to make my dudes bigger. With both this and Legions Initiative on the field, Assemble the Legion would be spewing out 3/3 soldiers with haste every turn! Along with the great first ability, it can take annoying creatures. (Sadly not Stormbreath Dragon). 

Rating: 7.5/10

2. Soldier of the Pantheon

Can you say turn two swing? This guy is my ideal "Turn-One-Play". It has protection from multicolored, and you gain life from multicolored spells you opponents cast. Considering Theros focuses more on mono colored spells, this creature works very well with the Return to Ravnica block. Plus, you get to basically hit for 2 on turn two. Great creature and ten times better than Firedrinker Satyr... Seriously.

Rating: 8/10

1. Elspeth,  Sun's Champion

Her +1 ability is just outrageous. Her -3 is outrageous. Her -7 is "okay" but that's not why I like her. She may come into play with only four loyalty counters, when comparing it to her mana cost, but she is incredibly powerful. She won me games by herself at the pre-release. Her and Purphoros promises you 6 damage whenever you use her +1 ability. Very powerful card.

Rating: 9/10

White has an impressive part in this set, I must say. 

Next week, I review the top 4 cards in Green for Theros along with another random topic!

Thanks for reading, tune in next week!

NEW SET: Commander 2013! Plus: Top four in Theros RED!

Recently today, I happened to have stumbled onto a new commander set that is being released! Five new commanders are being released, two of which are just on the "reprint" (Prossh and Jeleva). However, they are releasing all new and completely unique new commanders in this set. And I'm going to let you take a peek, along with a little paragraph review.

1.Derevi, Empyrial Tactician

 I'm going to assume that they intended to spell imperial wrong. Who cares! this card is kind of cool. It has an ability which allows you to put it into the battlefield, without it getting countered for the same mana cost. At instant speed, that's pretty cool. It makes this card solid and a little more friendly after it leaves the battlefield and leaves the commander zone repeatedly. It gives you a consistent ability that cant be countered... unless you have an ability counter. Also an opportunity to smash in after blockers are declared to get some of your stuff is untapped.

Not a beast. I wouldn't consider bant to be my favourite colours in EDH, but this guy is a solid general

7/10

2. Oloro, Ageless Ascetic

 WHAT?! a consistent 2 life every turn? for no mana? do you have any idea how well this would work with Archangel of Thune? What I like about this card is that you don't really need it on the field. That could also be a problem for some people. People, a lot of the time, have their deck revolve around their commanders. I don't think this guy is that solid if you want to have it in the field. Yes, you get to draw cards for a single mana when you gain that life twice, but his mana cost doesn't really hold my loyalty to this guy. This guys does have an esper feel to it. Still though... 2 life every turn. bam.

Rating: 7.2/10

3. Marath, Will of the Wild

This guy... is consistent for power. But when you think about it, he isn't very special compared to the other two. 3/3 for 3... 5/5 for 5. And it gives +1/+1 counters to creatures when you remove them from him. It's an okay response to it getting targeted by something that kills it, but it's not a creature I would consistently play and have use for. It just doesn't have that great of a job to do. They could have just made an uncommon that had "X" for a mana cost where it could only be played with red, green or white mana. Then, it would enter the battlefield with power and toughness equal to the amoutn of mana you played to cast it. Wild Nacatl is still better..

Rating: 4.3/10

When I add the decimals to my ratings, they might as well be rounded. But, in a lot of cases, they do indicate the cards that I prefer over others.

Top Four: Red

4. Magma Jet

Great reprint, great card. I would pay the extra mana, compared to shock, to have the scry ability any day. Magma jet allows you to check your next two draws and decide if you want to chuck them or not. Great idea to reprint, works great in this set and a great card for any deck that runs red

Rating: 8/10

3. Anger of the Gods

Essential board wipe for most of the super awesome creatures in this set. This card has flavor like bubblegum ice-cream and works great with one of my personal favourite buddies. Boros Reckoner! With Boros Reckoner, you can essentially take out a 6/6 creature by redirecting the damage that this card had dealt to it, while this card has already dealt 3 damage to the creature you want to take out.

Rating 8.0001238/10

2. Stormbreath Dragon

This card is the new, if not, better Thundermaw Hellkite. This card is very "anti-bant". It has protection from white, it cannot be blocked by annoying white/red flyers like Aurelia and it cant be chained to rocks. Seeing this guy in Red/Green aggro decks will be no surprise to me. You need the ramp for his monstrosity ability so this guy becomes more deadly than he already is. However, this guy can get blocked by Arbor Colossus, an under rated card.

Rating 8.2/10 

1. Purphoros, God of the Forge

I underrated this card. I simply did not see how good it could be with Young Pyromancer, Assemble the Legion and Elspeth, this sets big planeswalker. with elspeth on the field, this guy provides 6 damage for when you use her +1 ability to populate three 1/1 tokens. And, assuming you have mana left over, you have to consider that Elspeth's +1 ability does not require mana to use... So feel free to cast anything else after that! Almost perfect. His activated ability could go down by one colourless mana and he would be perfect! (wink wink).

8.7/10

I'm going to be watching Mythicspoiler for updates on Commander 2013 like a hawk. Check it out too if you want to!

http://mythicspoiler.com/

It also shows the case that these new commander cards come in! How exciting!

Next week, I will either have an update on Commander 2013. If not, another random topic plus the top 4 white cards in Theros

Thank you!

Born of the Gods, Journey Into Nyx... Small Sets?... Top Four in Theros for Blue!

I was recently on Mythicspoiler and I went to check out the "Born of the Gods" set. Feeling unlikely that I would see anything spoiled while Theros has just come out last Friday, I clicked on the expansions tab and then clicked on the Born of the Gods symbol... I noticed in the top corner that there was "0/165 cards spoiled". I then checked Journey Into Nyx, and it contains even less cards! 156!

When I saw that, I compared it to the RTR block and realised that the two last sets of Theros had less cards in it than Gatecrash and Dragons Maze. The Zendikar block is bigger, many other sets are bigger. And of course, 5th edition is certainly bigger.

I certainly hope that this does not turn out to be confirmed. Seeing that wasn't a huge impact to my impression of the Theros block, it just made me frown a little bit. Does smaller set mean less rares or less commons? does a smaller set mean more value or more cards with little value? The only way to find out is to wait. I will certainly keep you updated.

Now, onto this weeks Top Four with the Blue cards.

4. Omenspeaker

I can easily say that this is no Augur of Bolas. But, if you play it differently, it can certainly be better. In a deck with Flamespeaker adept, this can be pretty killer. And.. this guy gets you to chuck or keep two cards off of the top of your library. Not bad. Considering to use it for a pauper Delver Deck

Rating: 7/10










3. Swan Song

What a cool card. Great against a god card. This card basically means that you can turn a god into a bird for one single mana! Or you can protect your dude. Not that useful against control, I don't know, I wouldn't want to give them a bird token to finish a counterspell showoff. But, in many cases, a good card.

Rating: 7.2/10










2.Aqueous Form

+ Flamesparker Adept. For a single mana, your creature is ublockable and, when it attacks, lets you scry. Many of these cards just light up my head with an idea for a blue/red Scry Deck. This common is awesome. Certainly worth more than 25 cents. But... I guess artful dodge was worth that much too and people have witnessed the power of that card. I guess, sometimes, the price of the card can depend on its flexibility. But I would personally splash blue for this card and Omenspeaker in any aggro deck ANY day.

Rating: 7.5/10







1. Thassa, God of the Sea

 You've already read, in my previous articles, that I love this card. wowee. Upkeep, scry. Attack with flamesparker. Instant 6/3 unblockable at no mana cost. This card does the job. and for 3 mana, scrying every turn is great. The only issue if getting it's devotion off. I can't think of too many blue permanents that would be good in a deck with Thassa. but.. nonetheless, she still is a great card.
7.9/10











Next week i will be looking at the tob 4 in RED! Along with another random topic!