Scars of Mirrodin EDH Set Review, Part 2a: White

Alright, we've got the new Legendary guys out of the way, and all 4 of them have potential as Generals. Geth and Kemba are a little more casual/fun but still playable, while Ezuri is certainly a top-notch Elf general, and Skithiryx remains a bit of a wildcard, but I think he's probably the best of the four, if you're okay with going mono-B.

Now we get do dissect the rest of the set. Up first of course is White, so lets dive right in.

White:

This is a fine creature that really only does anything in Sharuum decks, but isn’t really needed there. It’ll be great for anyone who wants to make a Sharuum deck that isn’t full of d-bag combos… pffft, who does that?

This is playable in Sharrum. A great card to stall against aggro while you set up your broken d-bag combo. I hate this card already.

Oh, look another Planeswalker that’s playable in EDH. Yawn. Seriously, she’s really good. I like the original Elspeth better, but that’s just me. Still, her Ultimate is more relevant and useful in EDH. Rhys the Redeemed decks are going to LOVE her. Unfortunately her +2 ability is kinda weak for EDH. And she’s far worst than the original Elspeth in Rafiq. I’ll be sticking to Knight Errant myself, but she’ll find a home in plenty of other decks, so no worries.

 A 3/3 Vigilance for 4 mana isn’t particularly exciting in EDH, but with the ETBF “blink” effect, I’m sure you could find some uses for this guy. Blinking an Eternal Witness, Mulldrifter or Nekrataal seems like a fine play, while you can also reset anything your opponent might have been putting counters on, such as a Protean Hydra, an about-to-Ultimate Planeswalker, or you can just remove a blocker for a turn to get in with a key attack. Playability probably depends on how many creatures you're running with ETBF effects…

Oh wonderful. Another Sharuum card. Whoot. I have a feeling Sharuum and Arcum Dagsson will get more out of this set than any other general. Still, this one is pretty cool, and could also work out in an Equipemnt-heavy deck like the theoretical Kemba deck mentioned above. The Angel is pretty dependant on Artifacts to do anything useful, so Sharuum is the most likely place she’ll end up, but she could be playable in a non-doucebaggy deck that just happens to have lots of Artifacts.

 

This guy is pretty good. Tutors are popular in EDH, and he makes them much more difficult to play. Late game, he’s going to have much less impact, but if you drop him early, you could seriously set back an opponent’s mana development, as nearly all mana-ramp spells search libraries. Then again, your OWN Kodama’s Reach now cost 5, so this is a double-edged sword.

This chick is pretty good in Sharuum decks. Needless to say, this guy is Skullclamp’s new best friend.

Also, possibly playable in some Sharuum builds. The life gain is a neat bonus, but not really all that great for 5 mana, when considering for 1 more mana, you can just cast Sharuum and get the artifact right into play. Yeah, probably won’t make the cut in most builds, but if your Sharuum deck is a little under-powered there might be room for this guy.

The first Common to be EDH worthy. A new and improved Disenchant, and it’s back in White! The only downside is that it's a sorcery (spoiled incorrectly as an instant). It RFG’s the target so Eternal Witness can go suck it! If you’re already running Disenchant or some similar Instant or Sorcery based effect, then this is probably better than whatever it is you’re running. BONUS: Combo this with Liquidmetal Coating to Exile creatures or lands too!

This is a nice little Angel, and should be quite playable in EDH. There are plenty of ways to get all your opponents creatures tapped, like Sleep, Gideon Jura, or just looking vulnerable and taking an attack to the face (what, you got 40 life, don’t sweat!). She’ll be tricky to play, as you’ll need to wait for the right time to get as many of your opponent’s guys as possible, but the possibility of an occasional one-sided Wrath with a 4/5 body attached is just too tantalizing to pass up.

Man, they’re really trying to push Sharuum into an Aggro build, aren’t they. We’ll see if people bite or not, but Sharuum decks that win by attacking sound way more fun than Sharuum decks that win by d-bag combos that do infinite something or other.

Hell. Yes.
This is my favorite White card in the set. It’s too expensive to be good anywhere but in EDH and even there its best if you just cheat it into play with Academy Rector or something. But yeah, doublestrike AND lifelink? Bring it on. This will fit nicely into my Rafiq and Uril decks, even though it’s not an Aura. I really wish this was 5 mana, not 6, but I’ll still be more than happy to play it.












So that’s it for White. Not much, really, unless you’re playing artifact-heavy decks like Sharrum. Still, True Conviction, Sunblast Angel and Revoke Existence are all very welcome additions to the EDH repertoire. 

 

Looks like this is going to take a bit longer than I thought folks, so stay tuned....

Next Post: BLUE.