Friday, July 3, 2015

Origins Set Review: Elves and the Multicolored Cycle

Because there is an elf in the multicolor cycle, I combined these two groups of cards.

Clearly elves is the creature type for the Black/Green color pair for Origins, and it may even be a limited archetype, although pulling so many elves out of a limited pool may be a stretch. There are 13 elves in this set, and that is just super awesome! I am not going to discuss each card, but I plan to build this deck. The most notable card is the uncommon one-drop, Gnarlroot Trapper, which reads like a toned down Deathrite Shaman. Eyeblight Massacre is great as a sorcery to support Elves, but as a four-drop, it reads Standard-only. There are already some very useful elves in Standard, this group of cards is just plain awesome!


Sylvan Messenger screams 'play me in casual Standard.'


Dwynen is a Standard lord for elves, I am not sure about the other formats, which already have very effective lower cost lords, yet I like the life gain ability A LOT. 


These cards are 'casual classics' for elves. Leaf Gilder was first printed in Lorwyn, and Elvish Visionary was first printed in Magic 2010. 


The entire uncommon multicolored cycle should be the basis of ten casual decks, one for each color pair. None of these cards read like Standard or Modern staples, yet each one presents an interesting deck-building challenge for the casual Johnny in me.


Blazing Hellhound (red/black) You should sacrifice a critter that can be cast from the grave or easily reanimated.

Blood-Cursed Knight (white/black) I want to combine this card with the white/black enchantment creatures from Theros. A 3 drop 4/3 with Lifelink is a good critter in casual play.

Bounding Krasis (blue/green) It may be a good time for me to play with a bunch of Flash creatures. I have not done that! Tapping and untapping with Flash reads like lots of possibilities.

Citadel Castellan (white/green) With Hardened Scales on the battelfield, after this creature deals combat damage to a player, you have a 3 drop that is now a 5/6 creature with Vigilance.

Iroas's Champion (white/red) A 3 drop that can hit for 4, enough said. The name is suggestive of a build incluing Iroas.

Possessed Skaab (blue/black) Its a five drop... In the current battlecruiser Standard that isn't so bad. There are no limitations on which instant or sorcery you return to your hand, and that means that I want this creature to bring back another Treasure Cruise.


Reclusive Artificer (blue/red) Hello Thopter deck! This thing could be a real beater in battlecruiser Standard (its a four-drop!).

Thunderclap Wyvern (white/blue) A four-drop flying lord with Flash. Maybe make this card a friend of Bounding Krasis (blue/green) in a Bant build.

Zendikar Incarnate (red/green) Survives Lightning Bolt... it has my attention. With enough land drop spells, you could have  a four-drop 6/4... I like it. Its the only one I would play in Modern.

Shaman of the Pack (black/green) One more elf for the elf deck. I like this one the most, and I can see it getting play in ALL formats. Its pretty easy in Legacy and Modern to have a board full of elves. This thing could win games!