Magic the Gathering Adventures: July 2016

Saturday, July 9, 2016

Eldritch Moon Set Review

Eldritch Moon Set Review - Eldrazi and Artifacts.

Last installment.

Abundant Maw: Reads like a common. I like it either way.
Eternal Scourge: Oh, very very nice. I can play it from exile. That is just plain awesome. I am adding it to my list of these. It's a very small list. I already have Misthollow Griffin on it. You don't have to wait to have your opponent trigger the exile clause. Still, it's only a vanilla creature otherwise. Nice, though.

Decimator of the Provinces: Junk Mythic. It's a heavy cast vanilla creature if we ignore the one time bump clause.
It of the Horrid Swarm: Limited.

Distended Mindbender: It's a nice hand disruption play, but that late in the game, your opponent often has no cards in hand or a land in hand. It reads like a junk rare.
Emrakul, the Promised End: It is definitely very strong in Standard. I am not sure about the other formats. You can have as many as six or seven types of cards in your graveyard to reduce the casting cost. Yeah, it's definitely a card I do not want to allow my opponent to cast even if it is nowhere as near a game ending play as the originally Emrakul.

Drownyard Behemorh: I love Flash, but the least it costs is eight mana!
Elder Deep-Fiend: Reads like a junk rare. I like the tapping clause a lot, although I see no benefit in tapping anything other than creatures. If it is a plant for the next block and that block has a lot of artifacts, then this card will be a junk rare out of the gate and a really powerful rare once those artifacts come out.

Lashweed Lurker: Nice disruption effect, yet a really heavy cast and a two-color restriction for the Emerge cost. I feel like Emerge could have been costed more aggressively, but it could be that I need to play with the mechanic to appreciate it's value better. If an Emerge card does not have Haste, I am sacrificing a card I can hit with now, for a card I can hit with later... I need to see this trade-off in action to appreciate it better.
Wretched Gryff: Limited, and I like it. It says "draw a card." I always like that clause on ANY card.

Mockery of Nature: Nice bonus, same as previous, I need to play with Emerge to understand if it is good or not. Haste on many of these cards would have made them a lot better, it seems.
Vexing Scuttler: Same as before. I have a wait-and-see attitude on all of these very heavy casting Emerge Eldrazi. They could be a ton of fun, or they could turn out to be complete flops. If the creature you are sacrificing has a 'when it dies' bonus, that helps.

Cryptolith Fragment/Aurora of Emrakul: seems very easy to flip mid-game. Deathtouch means your opponent will be taking the hit more often than not. This is one of the better uncommons in this set, and the only DFC I want to play.

Cathar's Shield: Limited.
Cultist's Staff: Limited.

Field Creeper: Limited.
Geist-Fueled Scarecrow: A downside for a one mana discount? I am not ready to buy in.

Lupine Prototype: I could have a lot of fun with this card. I just need to make sure I am able to play my entire hand as soon as possible, and/or cause my opponent to discard a lot. I like this one a lot.
Slayer's Cleaver: Block specific, pass in anything other than Standard or Block Constructed.

Soul Separator: I like this wall of text a lot. I am a huge fan of extremely complex junk rares like Warp World (Each player shuffles all permanents he or she owns into his or her library, then reveals that many cards from the top of his or her library. Each player puts all artifact, creature, and land cards revealed this way onto the battlefield, then does the same for enchantment cards, then puts all cards revealed this way that weren't put onto the battlefield on the bottom of his or her library.)
Stitcher's Graft: Has a couple of downsides, could be really good on the right creature. Maybe it's a plant for a creature that fits these restrictions coming out of the next block.

Terrarion: Nice reprint. Looks like a plant for the next block. Maybe the next block is a repeat of Shards of Alara, which had a strong artifact theme yet was a three color block.
Thirsting Axe: The downside is really restrictive and I am not sure it is worth it, unless you meant to sacrific the creature anyway.

Eldritch Moon Set Review - Double Faced Cards

Not excited about Meld, they will make nice collectibles.

Extricator of Sin/Extricator of Flesh: Interesting, but I see too much sacrifice for the payoff. I would need to sacrifice into a reanimator shell where I have many ways to recover the sacriiced creature out of the graveyard.

Lone Rider/It That Rides as One: I like the Lone Rider bit, nice title. It's a nice flip, and it makes all those unplayable gain life cards from Limited playable, and that's a great positive.

Curious Homunculus/Voracious Reader: The front should really be a common, but I guess the rarity needs to match on both sides. It should make the instants and sorceries deck better near the end of the game. There is a lot of setting up to get there, though.

Docent of Perfection/Final Iteration: This card is a little confusing. If it said "Spirit" that would have made more sense. Now I need to hunt down enough Wizards to be able to transform it. I see it as a fun card in a Modern Wizards deck.

Grizzled Angler/Grisly Anglerfish: This card requires you to be in blue only just enough, or to use the blue casting colorless cards in Battle for Zendikar block. If you are going to pay that much mana after the flip to force your opponent to attack, you better have something you want to do when that happens, like giving Grisly Anglerfish Deathtouch. I see a lot of work to set this up.

Voldaren Pariah/Abolisher of Bloodlines: It reads like a junk rare, and it can be fun in Standard. Having three creatures to sacrifice is a lot of setting up, and then you need your opponent to also have three creatures to make them sacrifice them. That is a lot of setting up and a great effect only in a very narrow board state. In battlecruiser and EDH that state can happen often. In other formats, not.

Conduit of Storms/Conduit of Emrakul: There aren't enough cards in this set that you would want to save mana for. I don't understand what this card is doing here. I will have to think about this one some more.

Smoldering Werewolf/Erupting Dreadwolf: Fun if you have a boatload of mana to flip it. I am not seeing it. So far it looks like someone needed to fill a slot with a DFC. None of the DFCs so far seem to be good.

Vildin-Pack Outcast/Dronepack Kindred: Limited.

Kessig Prowler/Sinuous Predator: Limited. Should be a common for the front. I like the inverse Menace clause on the back, but the flip to a 4/4 is costed at common.

Shrill Howler/Howling Chorus: Limited, reads like a common for the front. The back is great, though. I love those 3/2 tokens.

Tangleclaw Werewolf/Fibrous Entangler: Front reads like a common. By the time you have seven mana to transform, your opponent should be ready to win the game. The flip side doesn't say "you win the game."

Ulvenwald Captive/Ulvenwald Abomination: Limited.

Ulrich of the Krallenhorde/Ulrich, Uncontested Alpha: Reads like a solid junk rare. I am missing why it is Mythic. All of the DFCs in this set read one level below in power level to the DFCs in Shadows over Innistrad. There is a lot of power in the mono-colored cards, though. Maybe it's a design decision.

Eldritch Moon Set Review - Multicolored, Lands, and Meld Cards

I wish every set had a set of ten creatures in all guild colors. This is a small set, and I understand why it does not have a full cycle.

Bloodhall Priest: Solid. You have to do a lot to start pinging your opponent for two, yet that can end games. I see it as a fun junk rare at some point, though. The lower Madness cost is a good feature.
Mercurial Geists: Weak, yet a nice addition to the instants and sorceries deck.

Campaign of Vengeance: Love the effect, but not for five mana.
Grim Flayer: That's one powerful bear. Trample on it is only useful once you are able to trigger Delirium.

Gisa and Geralf: One of my favorite cards of the set. It can be ANY zombie card in my graveyard. I love that!
Heron's Grace Champion: Flash is nice. The +1/+1 counters are not permanent. Reads like a junk rare, yet still a very good battle trick.

Mournwillow: Nice, I really like that it has haste.
Tamiyo, Field Researcher: I can't wait for it to go down in price, which I am not sure is inevitable, but I wish it so. Three different mana to cast means you need a ton of mana fixing. The abilities are OK, but not amazing. It reads like a fun card, not a strong card. The ultimate is great, though.

Spell Queller: Flash and Flying, what more do you want? You want to exile your own spell? I need to think a little more about this one.
Ride Down: Good against Menace, otherwise, Trample will be useless.

Geier Reach Sanitarium: Can only use one at a time. You need to be careful with it since you could be helping your opponent a lot.
Nephalia Academy: Interesting Madness hoser. I need to see it in play. If your opponent is not asking you to discard, it does nothing. I see it only in my sideboard.

The Meld cards remind me of Pokemon HeartGold SoulSilver. Those double pokemon cards were not that popular, and I expect that to be the case for these. They will make great collector items, though. A flaw Magic players will learn from Pokemon players is that you want to pull both halves but very often you will only pull one... remember this.

Gisela, the Broken Blade: Take out the Meld clause, and you have a so-so Mythic.
Bruna, the Fading Light: A junk rare only worth playing to get Meld to work. It can also go in an EDH deck by itself.

Brisela, Voice of Nightmares: Nice name. Of course, if you pull off the meld trick, this thing is awesome. I am glad there is only three of these. And I am looking forward for these to be the last three two. These gimmicks are worthless complications.

Graf Rats: Limited.
Midnight Scavengers: Limited.

Chittering Host: Limited. You have to pull a lot of cards to pull this off in Limited, though.

Hanweir Battlements: It takes five mana to get the Meld train off the station. I hope I don't pull one of these as one of my rares in a pack.
Hanweir Garrison: It's an interesting rare, never mind the Meld thing.

Hanweir, the Writhing Township: Very nice if you can pull it off. It's doable in battlecruiser Standard.

Eldritch Moon Set Review - Green

Saw some sweet Red mid-range cards. Now, let's look at Green.

Backwoods Survivalists: Limited.
Bloodbriar: Limited, for Green/Black.

Clear Shot: I am not sure the +1/+1 bonus is worth it. The 'your creature fights another creature' instants need to always be one or two drops because you are using them with left over mana.
Crop Sigil: Another great graveyard feeder, either for Delirium, or for other strategies.

Crossroads Consecrator: Limited.
Gnarlwood Dryad: Will see lots of play. Green one drop Deathtouch creatures always do.

Eldritch Evolution: Curious artwork, looks like a stuffed puppy. Compare with Birthing Pod from New Phyrexia (an artifact with 3+Phyrexian Green Mana casting cost, activation: 1+Phyrexian Green Mana, Tap, Sacrifice a creature: Search your library for a creature card with converted mana cost equal to 1 plus the sacrificed creature's converted mana cost, put that card onto the battlefield, then shuffle your library. Activate this ability only any time you could cast a sorcery.) Should be a runaway hit, and will likely keep it's value for as long as it is in Standard. Given that Birthing Pod is banned in Modern, it could even form part of a tier 2 deck in that format.
Emrakul's Influence: Nice bonus. I should build a Green Eldrazi deck to see how good this can be.

Emrakul's Evangel: Pretty good. It requires a lot of setting up, which is usually the hallmark of a junk rare. Still pretty good. Drop a bunch of 1/1 tokens and then replace then with 3/2 tokens. I can see that strategy ending a game in your favor.
Foul Emissary: Another 3/2 token bonus card. I like all of them. Putting the cards back into your library works well for a non-graveyard strategy.

Grapple with the Past: Really good, and not just for limited. A variant of Mulch, a two-drop Sorcery (Reveal the top four cards of your library. Put all land cards revealed this way into your hand and the rest into your graveyard.) Actually, it even goes well alongside Mulch.
Ishkanah, Grafwidow: Great game ender in battlecruiser Standard, and likely a great fir in many EDH decks.

Hamlet Captain: Nice bear. The boost is a one-time deal, and if you have many creatures, it should be a good one.
Permeating Mass: Very interesting. Another card for a deck with creatures no one wants to block. If you splash Green, you could even include it in the Standard Spirits deck coming up.

Noose Constrictor: If it did not read "until end of turn" I would have expected it to be an uncommon, even a rare. It's a good bear.
Prey Upon: Nice reprint, much needed in all formats.

Springsage Ritual: Limited. Overcosted. Lifegain is usually not a good strategy except to enable something else.
Swift Spinner: Limited. Nice that it has Flash.

Primal Druid: Getting a land early is a big help. I still miss one drop mana dorks. Limited.
Spirit of the Hunt: Nice boost for a big swing. Flash is always very useful, yet you need to have three unused mana. As a late game battle trick, it can win games.

Somberwald Stag: Nice Enters the Battlefield (ETB) bonus. Interesting, but only in battlecruiser Standard.
Splendid Reclamation: Now, that is a nice effect. I want to play it!

Ulvenwald Observer: Junk rare. There are many better ways to draw a card, even in this coming Standard. If you take that clause out, you have a limited card.
Wolfkin Bond: Limited.

Woodcutter's Grit: Limited.
Waxing Moon: Limited, and great in this Standard format and in Block Constructed, even if we no longer have this format online.

Wooldland Patrol: Limited.