Lelouch32
01-10-2011, 03:30 PM
Mirrodin Besieged: The War Begins
By: Corlando
Welcome faithful readers to this week’s edition of Cards n’Flux where we discuss the awesomeness and wonders of Magic the Gathering. My name is Corlando and I am here to be your guide as we look through this multifaceted and amazing world. Today we have an emergency bulletin. Phyrexia has invaded the metallic world of Mirrodin. The two sides have descended into all out war and there is little sight of either side turning towards peace. This, of course, is a perfectly positive thing. Why? Well as two reasons really. First, to quote the Joker, “Medical drama, life and death stakes, compelling human conflict,… ratings.” The second is that this kind of conflict gives us gamers some truly awesome cards. Today we will be looking at just a few little drops of the soon to be deluge of new cards. Without any further delay, let’s dive right in.
First up on our tour of the new cards is the most powerful card spoiled so far, Thopter Assembly. This guy is a 5/5 flyer for :mana6:, not bad right? Definitely going to be worth something when the titans finally cycle. However, that’s not all. “At the beginning of you upkeep, if you control no Thopters other than Thopter Assembly, return Thopter Assembly to its owner’s hand and put five 1/1 colorless thopter artifact creature tokens with flying onto the battlefield.” At first I really did not know how to take this ability. Either you build yourself a small army of Thopters with an extra big baddy over a few turns or you continually watch your big baddy pop back to your hand right before you actually need him. It’s a weird ability and it will definitely have to be worked around if you want to be aggressive with this guy. Of course then someone reminds you of the wonderful little artifact Time Sieve from Alara block, which allows you to sacrifice five artifacts for an extra turn and you have an infinite turn combo. I would be lying if I was not hoping that Time Sieve would be reprinted in Mirrodin Besiged just so we can have a standard ready infinite turn strategy, but it is highly unlikely. Personally, I am not completely happy with the card, but I can see where people will find it useful.
Moving on down the line we get into a real debate, which of the two new knights is better Mirran Crusader or Phyrexian Crusader? Well since we have quite a few cards to cover, we are going to do make this quick. Mirran Crusader is a 2/2 Double Striking with protection from Black and Green. It combos beautifully with simple things like Honor of the Pure and Knight Exemplar. Phyrexian Crusader is a 2/2 first striking, infect creature with protection from Red and White. Hand of the Preators is a great card for this guy, and he is immune from Lightning Bolts, Journey to Nowhere, and anything that could remove him except for something Black. Here is where I would then pit the two cards against one another to see which of the two would win, but since they are immune to each other that idea falls flat. In my opinion, I would have to say that Mirran Crusader is the better of the two cards. This is mostly because Mirran Crusader has more cards to support it such as Honor of the Pure, Knight Exemplar, Brave the Elements, and a whole swath of Knight cards just waiting for another buddy. Phyrexian Crusader has a few Infect friends, but it will need a few more to really help to impact the board.
Moseying along we come to a card that I’m honestly shocked with and not because of its awesomeness. Oh trust me, the card is great, but I cannot tell you how many people have just been tearing this poor card apart before they have even played with her. The card is Glissa, the Traitor and she is a pretty awesome card. In the original Mirrodin, Glissa was a :mana2::manag::manag: first striker that if you tapped her would destroy target artifact whose converted mana cost was equal to the amount of mana in your mana pool. Now, after a Phyrexian makeover, she has become a First Strike, Deathtouch 3/3 for :manab::manag::manag:. If this were enough I would be pretty happy. The combo of First Strike and Deathtouch means that in most fights Glissa’s opponent will be dying way before they can even swing. Granted she is still in Lightning Bolt range, but no card is perfect. However, there is still much more to Glissa. “Whenever a creature an opponent controls goes to the graveyard from the battlefield, you can return one artifact from your graveyard to your hand.” This ability is just awesome. You could do so much with this ability. How about getting back your Ratchet Bomb so you can blow up all your opponent’s stuff… again? Your Necropede just took a hit for the team? Bring him on back to the party so you can weaken your opponent’s creatures even more. The thing about Glissa is that she is in the perfect colors for Wurmcoil Engine. Time to take some turns:
Turn One: Forest, Llanowar Elves
Turn Two: Swamp, tap the Llanowar Elves and lands for Glissa, the Traitor.
Turn Three: Land, cast Cultivate putting another land down, swing with Glissa.
Turn 4: Land, tap everything for a Wurmcoil Engine.
See, it’s a simple combo, and with Glissa in play, if your opponent kills Wurmcoil Engine just kill one of your opponent’s creatures and get it right back into your hand. Glissa, the Traitor is a great card to the point where I honestly think we will see a real interest in Green/Black decks.
Finally, we get to the three cards I, personally, could not be more psyched for. All of these cards have one crucial thing in common. They all use the new Mirran ability Battle Cry, which reads, “Whenever this creature attacks, each other attacking creature gets +1/+0 until the end of the turn.” This ability is darn powerful in the right deck, adding just the little extra force needed to make a simple 1/1 into a possibly need to deal with threat of 2/1. The first creature we will look at is a 3/4 for :mana2::manaw::manaw: who, whenever she attacks, summons two attacking 1/1 soldier tokens to her side. The card I speak of is Hero of Bladehold. This card is amazing and exactly what a token deck could ask for. She is effectively 7 power split over three bodies for all of four mana, that’s a pretty great deal. Plus, she becomes better the more she attacks. Another thing to point out is that she is out of Lightning Bolt range, which is always great. She is not out of the range of Galvanic Blast, but still pretty good.
The second card we will look at is a little guy for sure, but he can definitely lead to some awesome plays. Signal Pest is a 0/1 for :mana1: that can only be blocked by creatures with flying or reach. I like this wording because now, in limited, you essentially have an environment where this little guy can truly shine. Any other format and this little guy would be snuffed out before even hitting the table. The best part about this guy is the fact he has Battle Cry. Now you have a creature that will not be at much risk for death if you want to attack and get those extra points of damage while you wait for your deck to really get going. Essentially we have a little guy who, as someone said on another set of forums I visit, “who can (vicariously) hit like a semi-truck.” These different abilities combine to make this statement very true and give us a creature that many decks will seek to use.
The final card we will talk about in this issue is the very recently spoiled Accorder Paladin. This guy is a 3/1 Human Knight for :mana1::manaw: and also has Battle Cry. Seems that the Knight clan is getting some serious love from Wizards recently. Well the interesting thing about this card is that he is a 3/1 for 2 total mana, right in the curve Runeclaw Bear. He is a great swinger, but he is so easily killed it is rather surprising. You can kill the guy with a Memnite. However, even though he is so weak, Wizards gave us two ways to really make him work. You can go the cheap route and get a few Accorder’s Shield on the field, effectively making him a 3/4 with vigilance. However, if you want to go a slightly cooler route you can get Knight Exemplars and have an indestructible 4/2 on the field. It comes down to what kind of deck you are building and how you want to use your cards. Personally, I have a white token deck that I think I may have talked about a while ago. After seeing these cards, here is what I think I might do:
Feudal Mastery:
Creatures:
4x Signal Pest (replaces Elite Vanguards)
4x White Knight
4x Accorder Paladin (replaces Wall of Omens)
4x Hero of Bladehold (replaces Emeria Angel)
Spells:
3x Conqueror’s Pledge
2x Brave the Elements
2x True Conviction (replaces Martial’s Anthem)
4x Journey to Nowhere
2x Arrest
4x Honor of the Pure
Allies:
2x Ajani Goldmane
2x Elspeth Tirel or Gideon Jura
Lands:
19x Plains
4x Seijri Steppe (replaces Terramorphic Expanse)
This is really just basic ideas, and I will definitely have to playtest it all out to see if it works. However, I am firmly on the side of being hopeful.
All right everyone, it is time to let your opinions be heard. It’s the Closing Questions Section:
1. What do you think of Glissa, the Traitor? Good, Bad, Strictly EDH?
2. Mirran or Phyrexian Crusader, which do you think is better?
3. What is your opinion of the new ability Battle Cry? Is it a true game changer and exactly what tokens needed or just another humdrum ability, which will be forgotten in a month or two?
Well everyone I have to say I’m looking forward to seeing what the next few days bring and what new cards we will receive. Mirrodin Besieged looks like it is going to be a great set and I seriously hope that it will continue to rock out the awesomeness. Hope you all have a great week and be sure to come on back next week as we look at some new Metalcraft cards, a few new infect cards, and the new Living Weapon ability. And readers always remember, “Etherium is Limited. Innovation is not.” This is Corlando signing out.
By: Corlando
Welcome faithful readers to this week’s edition of Cards n’Flux where we discuss the awesomeness and wonders of Magic the Gathering. My name is Corlando and I am here to be your guide as we look through this multifaceted and amazing world. Today we have an emergency bulletin. Phyrexia has invaded the metallic world of Mirrodin. The two sides have descended into all out war and there is little sight of either side turning towards peace. This, of course, is a perfectly positive thing. Why? Well as two reasons really. First, to quote the Joker, “Medical drama, life and death stakes, compelling human conflict,… ratings.” The second is that this kind of conflict gives us gamers some truly awesome cards. Today we will be looking at just a few little drops of the soon to be deluge of new cards. Without any further delay, let’s dive right in.
First up on our tour of the new cards is the most powerful card spoiled so far, Thopter Assembly. This guy is a 5/5 flyer for :mana6:, not bad right? Definitely going to be worth something when the titans finally cycle. However, that’s not all. “At the beginning of you upkeep, if you control no Thopters other than Thopter Assembly, return Thopter Assembly to its owner’s hand and put five 1/1 colorless thopter artifact creature tokens with flying onto the battlefield.” At first I really did not know how to take this ability. Either you build yourself a small army of Thopters with an extra big baddy over a few turns or you continually watch your big baddy pop back to your hand right before you actually need him. It’s a weird ability and it will definitely have to be worked around if you want to be aggressive with this guy. Of course then someone reminds you of the wonderful little artifact Time Sieve from Alara block, which allows you to sacrifice five artifacts for an extra turn and you have an infinite turn combo. I would be lying if I was not hoping that Time Sieve would be reprinted in Mirrodin Besiged just so we can have a standard ready infinite turn strategy, but it is highly unlikely. Personally, I am not completely happy with the card, but I can see where people will find it useful.
Moving on down the line we get into a real debate, which of the two new knights is better Mirran Crusader or Phyrexian Crusader? Well since we have quite a few cards to cover, we are going to do make this quick. Mirran Crusader is a 2/2 Double Striking with protection from Black and Green. It combos beautifully with simple things like Honor of the Pure and Knight Exemplar. Phyrexian Crusader is a 2/2 first striking, infect creature with protection from Red and White. Hand of the Preators is a great card for this guy, and he is immune from Lightning Bolts, Journey to Nowhere, and anything that could remove him except for something Black. Here is where I would then pit the two cards against one another to see which of the two would win, but since they are immune to each other that idea falls flat. In my opinion, I would have to say that Mirran Crusader is the better of the two cards. This is mostly because Mirran Crusader has more cards to support it such as Honor of the Pure, Knight Exemplar, Brave the Elements, and a whole swath of Knight cards just waiting for another buddy. Phyrexian Crusader has a few Infect friends, but it will need a few more to really help to impact the board.
Moseying along we come to a card that I’m honestly shocked with and not because of its awesomeness. Oh trust me, the card is great, but I cannot tell you how many people have just been tearing this poor card apart before they have even played with her. The card is Glissa, the Traitor and she is a pretty awesome card. In the original Mirrodin, Glissa was a :mana2::manag::manag: first striker that if you tapped her would destroy target artifact whose converted mana cost was equal to the amount of mana in your mana pool. Now, after a Phyrexian makeover, she has become a First Strike, Deathtouch 3/3 for :manab::manag::manag:. If this were enough I would be pretty happy. The combo of First Strike and Deathtouch means that in most fights Glissa’s opponent will be dying way before they can even swing. Granted she is still in Lightning Bolt range, but no card is perfect. However, there is still much more to Glissa. “Whenever a creature an opponent controls goes to the graveyard from the battlefield, you can return one artifact from your graveyard to your hand.” This ability is just awesome. You could do so much with this ability. How about getting back your Ratchet Bomb so you can blow up all your opponent’s stuff… again? Your Necropede just took a hit for the team? Bring him on back to the party so you can weaken your opponent’s creatures even more. The thing about Glissa is that she is in the perfect colors for Wurmcoil Engine. Time to take some turns:
Turn One: Forest, Llanowar Elves
Turn Two: Swamp, tap the Llanowar Elves and lands for Glissa, the Traitor.
Turn Three: Land, cast Cultivate putting another land down, swing with Glissa.
Turn 4: Land, tap everything for a Wurmcoil Engine.
See, it’s a simple combo, and with Glissa in play, if your opponent kills Wurmcoil Engine just kill one of your opponent’s creatures and get it right back into your hand. Glissa, the Traitor is a great card to the point where I honestly think we will see a real interest in Green/Black decks.
Finally, we get to the three cards I, personally, could not be more psyched for. All of these cards have one crucial thing in common. They all use the new Mirran ability Battle Cry, which reads, “Whenever this creature attacks, each other attacking creature gets +1/+0 until the end of the turn.” This ability is darn powerful in the right deck, adding just the little extra force needed to make a simple 1/1 into a possibly need to deal with threat of 2/1. The first creature we will look at is a 3/4 for :mana2::manaw::manaw: who, whenever she attacks, summons two attacking 1/1 soldier tokens to her side. The card I speak of is Hero of Bladehold. This card is amazing and exactly what a token deck could ask for. She is effectively 7 power split over three bodies for all of four mana, that’s a pretty great deal. Plus, she becomes better the more she attacks. Another thing to point out is that she is out of Lightning Bolt range, which is always great. She is not out of the range of Galvanic Blast, but still pretty good.
The second card we will look at is a little guy for sure, but he can definitely lead to some awesome plays. Signal Pest is a 0/1 for :mana1: that can only be blocked by creatures with flying or reach. I like this wording because now, in limited, you essentially have an environment where this little guy can truly shine. Any other format and this little guy would be snuffed out before even hitting the table. The best part about this guy is the fact he has Battle Cry. Now you have a creature that will not be at much risk for death if you want to attack and get those extra points of damage while you wait for your deck to really get going. Essentially we have a little guy who, as someone said on another set of forums I visit, “who can (vicariously) hit like a semi-truck.” These different abilities combine to make this statement very true and give us a creature that many decks will seek to use.
The final card we will talk about in this issue is the very recently spoiled Accorder Paladin. This guy is a 3/1 Human Knight for :mana1::manaw: and also has Battle Cry. Seems that the Knight clan is getting some serious love from Wizards recently. Well the interesting thing about this card is that he is a 3/1 for 2 total mana, right in the curve Runeclaw Bear. He is a great swinger, but he is so easily killed it is rather surprising. You can kill the guy with a Memnite. However, even though he is so weak, Wizards gave us two ways to really make him work. You can go the cheap route and get a few Accorder’s Shield on the field, effectively making him a 3/4 with vigilance. However, if you want to go a slightly cooler route you can get Knight Exemplars and have an indestructible 4/2 on the field. It comes down to what kind of deck you are building and how you want to use your cards. Personally, I have a white token deck that I think I may have talked about a while ago. After seeing these cards, here is what I think I might do:
Feudal Mastery:
Creatures:
4x Signal Pest (replaces Elite Vanguards)
4x White Knight
4x Accorder Paladin (replaces Wall of Omens)
4x Hero of Bladehold (replaces Emeria Angel)
Spells:
3x Conqueror’s Pledge
2x Brave the Elements
2x True Conviction (replaces Martial’s Anthem)
4x Journey to Nowhere
2x Arrest
4x Honor of the Pure
Allies:
2x Ajani Goldmane
2x Elspeth Tirel or Gideon Jura
Lands:
19x Plains
4x Seijri Steppe (replaces Terramorphic Expanse)
This is really just basic ideas, and I will definitely have to playtest it all out to see if it works. However, I am firmly on the side of being hopeful.
All right everyone, it is time to let your opinions be heard. It’s the Closing Questions Section:
1. What do you think of Glissa, the Traitor? Good, Bad, Strictly EDH?
2. Mirran or Phyrexian Crusader, which do you think is better?
3. What is your opinion of the new ability Battle Cry? Is it a true game changer and exactly what tokens needed or just another humdrum ability, which will be forgotten in a month or two?
Well everyone I have to say I’m looking forward to seeing what the next few days bring and what new cards we will receive. Mirrodin Besieged looks like it is going to be a great set and I seriously hope that it will continue to rock out the awesomeness. Hope you all have a great week and be sure to come on back next week as we look at some new Metalcraft cards, a few new infect cards, and the new Living Weapon ability. And readers always remember, “Etherium is Limited. Innovation is not.” This is Corlando signing out.