Green time! I'm SOOOO close to the end now, I can hardly wait to get this behind me, and start posting real content again. This has been far more work than I anticipated, because of the way I chose to do it. I might rethink my approach next time. Then again, the next set is a small set, so it will be less work anyway. Well, on with the show.
Green:
This compares very poorly with peers Indrik Stomphowler and Acidic Slime. The addition of Reach to expand its versatility in blocking does NOT make up for the loss of versatility in its ETBF effect. Equipment does run rampant in some playgroups and it someone adopts Kemba as they new General, this might make the cut. I don't like it much, though.
If targeted removal is running rampant in your group, then this card will be worth it’s weight in gold. Otherwise, it’s mostly just a cute trick that will sometimes frustrate your opponent, but will then frustrate you when they just drop Akroma and this becomes a 5 mana do-nothing. That said, I still really like it, and it will definitely go in Rafiq, because that guy is a HUGE removal target.
This is eminently playable in the right deck (i.e. Mono-G). It will make your whole horde nigh-unblockable. Outside of Mono-G or maybe G/x where G is largely the dominant color, this isn’t worth a slot. But again, in the right deck it can provide a game-winning effect for only 5 mana.
Oh, yeah, this is fun! A 7/7 for seven, with a very relevant ability. Screw First Strike, Double-Strike, or Deathtouch. None will help. Only Indestructible creatures will survive combat with this guy. Interestingly enough, you still get the life, even if this guy gets into a tangle with a Darksteel Colossus. Bonus: Imagine putting a Lure on this guy.
Much like Red, this is in a color that makes Metalcraft a very undesirable, restrictive ability. It’s a darn good creature, though, so if your Green deck somehow has enough Artifacts to support this, then it will definitely be worth a slot.
My favorite card in the set. Unfortunately, it's not stellar in EDH. It can get a bunch of stuff, but it is pretty much random. I would usually rather get one carefully selected permanent via Wargate than 7 or 8 random things off the top. Usually. There are some tricks to making this work, though. Congregation at Dawn comes to mind...
Holy god, this is bonkers. It’s a high-risk high-reward card, and I do mean HIGH risk. This hits once, and then your opponent Wraths. Oops, good game. Oh, yeah, you don’t HAVE to turn ALL your lands into 8/8 creatures, but who in the right mind plays a card like this and then plays it conservatively. This is the Timmy-est card since Godsire, and the Timmy thing to do is to go all out and turn EVERYTHING into 8/8’s. Play it with Terra Eternal to make all your lands Indestructible, and you’ve greatly minimized the risk. And you have an army of 8/8 Indestructible guys. GO TIMMY!
This is the one Infect creature besides Skithiryx that doesn’t really need much additional support to be playable. At least not Infect-specific support. Pump and recursion are all the support this guy needs. Oh, and he can EASILY one-shot someone in Rafiq decks. Along side the good ol' Sovereigns/Conscription package, this guy is suddenly more deadly than Might of Oaks.
Meh, this might be okay. Generally I’d rather run a creature with an ETBF ability or Krosan Grip (the Split Second is relevant more often that you’d think) but the cantrip effect is appealing, even if the 4 CMC is not so hot. This will likely see a lot of play with some EDH players, but I don’t think it’ll make the cut in my decks.
Man, I initially though this was a rare. I’m excited to see that it’s just Uncommon. But yeah, this is awesome against Sharuum and Dagsson. It’s pretty bad against everything else though, so if your group is lucky enough not to have a d-bag playing a broken Artifact deck, then you’re lucky enough not to need this card. But it’s nice to know it here for you, if you ever do need it.
Bonus Section: Multicolor!
Since this was a short one, and there is only one gold-bordered card in the set, here's a review of the one, the only, VENSER!
As far as Planeswalkers go, Venser is no slouch. His +2 ability is extremely versatile, and his Ultimate, if you can pull it off, will all but guarantee your victory (which is true of most of the Planeswalker’s Ultimates, but Venser’s is one of the best). So it pretty much goes without saying that Venser is very playable, and most decks that support his colors would be happy to give him a slot. I'm just glad that this + ability is the one that is going to be the most useful the most often. You're never going to want to use the -1 ability unless it'll outright win you the game.
BONUS Bonus Section: Lands
There are only 6 non-basic lands in Scars. Glimmerpost, which is designed specifically and solely to be played as a 4x card, so it’s basically useless in EDH. It’s like a Zendikar Refuge that only makes colorless mana. Sure you could run Vesuva and a Cloudpost, and if you somehow get all three, you have 9 mana amongst three lands, but that’s really more trouble that it’s worth.
Unfortunately, the new cycle of Duals aren’t much more EDH friendly. They’re still strictly better than the Invasion duals that ALWAYS came into play tapped, but these only come in untapped the first two or three turns, which means in EDH they’ll almost always come in tapped. If you’re running the Invasion or Coldsnap lands, these are an upgrade, but otherwise they’re worse than almost every other Dual cycle out there. By the way, they only come in “friendly color pairs” of course. When is WotC going to make more enemy-color lands?
Next post: Artifacts (and then freedom!)
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