Vish Kal's Coup

In a surprising move this weekend, the Ghost Council of Orzhova  was ousted from power by their lieutenant, Vish Kal, the Blood Arbiter. The notorious vampire instigated the coup and successfully overturned the Ghost Council’s rulership, cementing his command over the Orzhov legions.

Along with the Ghost Council themselves, Kal dismissed a number of the Council’s most loyal followers, including Elesh Norn, Hero of Bladehold, Pawn of Ulamog, Phyrexian Plaguelord and a number of other token-producers.

Unsurprisingly, Vish Kal filled those vacancies with his own loyalists, particularly a number of vampires such as Vampire Nighthawk and Bloodline Keeper.

In a statement to the press, Kal outlined the plan for his reign, which would focus less on token producing and Grave Pact effects, and would carry the pre-existing theme of “life and death” over into the creature base, by including a number of creatures with Lifelink and Deathtouch (such as the aforementioned Nighthawk, and newcomer Wurmcoil Engine).

**********

Okay, that’s about enough of the cheesy fanfiction bullshit. Here’s the scoop: My Orzhov deck was moderately successful under the Ghost Council’s command, but it was not a complete home-run. The deck’s two themes felt inorganic and at odds – the “duality of life and death” theme was explored through mirror-image White and Black cards, as well as the presence of a high number of creature removal and reanimation. The deck was seemingly all about killing things and reanimating them. Yet, to make Ghost Council work as a general, I had to shoehorn in an awkward token-making subtheme. Many times, though, I was forced to blow up my own token armies with Wrath effects because my opponent’s creatures would outclass my measly tokens.

So the token aspect was not fully working out, both in flavor terms and in gameplay terms. I decided to swap out Ghost Council for Vish Kal as my general, and retool the deck to eliminate the token stuff and emply more useful and synergistic effects. However, I had a bit of a hard time coming up with what to put IN the deck. In short, the deck needed an identity, and it proved difficult to come up with one. I was still really enjoying the way the deck played out other than the tokens, so I wanted to keep the Life and Death theme very much intact. But I couldn’t figure out how to make the creature base gel with what the non-creature stuff was doing.

Then it finally dawned on me. Lifelink and Deathtouch. It was so obvious – both abilities have my thematic keywords in their names! Lifelink and Deathtouch... simple as that. I started with the obvious two choices – Nighthawk and Wurmcoil - then I knew I had my deck’s identity. It’d be a life-gain deck mostly, but with a minor emphasis on Deathtouch, removal and reanimation effects.

Another exciting moment came when I stumbled upon Cradle of Vitality – a card that was janky and useless before, but seemed almost tailor-made to go into a Vish Kal deck. With the Cradle out, I don’t have to sac my dudes to power up Vish Kal – just hit somebody with him, and pay 1W to give him 5 counters. As long as I can gain life in any fashion, the Cradle will keep Kal powered up and ready to neutralize threats all day long.

Once I cut the majority of the token-makers and any other cards that just didn’t make sense for the deck’s new direction (for example, Butcher of Malakir – yeah, he’s a vampire, and he’s good, but without the token fodder to sac, he’s just less appealing), I focused on making the creature base more thematically resonant with various life-gain creatures, a few Deathtouch-ers, and a healthy dose of generic “Good stuff” like Akroma, Deathbringer Liege and Mirran Crusader. Though, many of these seemingly random “good stuff” cards were in fact chosen for how they could interact with some other cards (for instance, I still haven’t had Akroma and True Conviction in play at the same time yet).

Battlegrace Angel was an obvious pick, and Mirran Crusader followed from that choice as the Angel’s bonuses are great when applied to a Crusader attacking alone. The Crusader is also one of the best guys you could equip with a Sword of Stuff and Junk.

Elspeth got the boot in favor of the weaker but more appropriate Ajani Goldmane. So many of the deck's creatures already have Flying, yet almost none have Vigilance, so Goldmane just felt like the right call, despite the obvious power of Elspeth.

I managed to keep Martyr’s Bond in the deck, and it’s now sort of mirrored by Black’s Sanguine Bond (okay, they don’t really do anything similar at all, but they’re both Enchantments with the word “Bond” in their name… give me some slack!).

I kept the draw engines in place – Land Tax + Scroll Rack, Bloodghast + Skullclamp, and of course every “Arena” effect I could find.

Also joining the party is Sword of War and Peace – a good-stuff inclusion that also manages to be relevant as it gain me life!

Finally, as one of the other efforts to really give the deck a defining theme, I managed to tweak the numbers a little to bring the White and Black cards into perfect balance! There are 12 White creatures and 12 Black creatures. 9 White spells and 9 Black spells. This, in my mind, makes the deck a more fitting representation of the “Yin and Yang” – light and dark in perfect balance – opposite yet equal. Two sides of the same coin, etc. Okay, okay, I get you - less hyperbole and more decklist!

General

Vish Kal, Blood Arbiter

Creatures

Serra Ascendant

Weathered Wayfarer

Suture Priest

Mentor of the Meek

Mirran Crusader

Academy Rector

Wall of Reverance

Emeria Angel

Battlegrace Angel

Karmic Guide

Sun Titan

Akroma, Angel of Wrath

Bloodghast

Fleshbag Marauder

Vampire Nighthawk

Dimir House Guard

Falkreath Noble

Bloodline Keeper

Graveborn Muse

Shriekmaw

Puppeteer Clique

Bloodgift Demon

Geth, Lord of the Vault

Sheoldred, Whispering One

Stillmoon Cavalier

Deathbringer Liege

Divinity of Pride

Angel of Despair

Solemn Simulacrum

Wurmcoil Engine

Duplicant

Spells

Land Tax

Swords to Plowshares

Path to Exile

Cradle of Vitality

Wrath of God

Ajani Goldmane

Martyr’s Bond

True Conviction

Return to Dust

Phyrexian Reclamation

Vampiric Tutor

Demonic Tutor

Phyrexian Arena

Damnation

Unburial Rites

Sanguine Bond

Decree of Pain

Profane Command

Mortify

Vindicate

Sorin, Lord of Innistrad

Debtor’s Knell

Expedition Map

Sol Ring

Orzhov Signet

Skullclamp

Sword of Fire and Ice

Sword of Light and Shadow

Sword of War and Peace

Scroll Rack

Mimic Vat

Lands

Godless Shrine

Fetid Heath

Isolated Chapel

Marsh Flats

Caves of Koilos

Tainted Field

Orzhov Basilica

Command Tower

Terramorphic Expanse

Phyrexian Tower

Volrath’s Stronghold

Kor Haven

High Market

Temple of the False God

New Benalia

Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth

Cabal Coffers

Leechridden Swamp

Bojuka Bog

Plains x9

Swamp x9

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Alright, so that’s the deck as it stands now. I am missing one extremely obvious and important card – Vault of the Archangel. This land was already one of my most anticipated Dark Ascension cards, and unfortunately I haven’t acquired one yet. I have, however, witnessed the card in action a couple of times. And folks, let me tell ya, it’s a beast. It has the potential to completely reverse the outcome of a game – one match I witnessed included a Ghave deck that appeared to be dead in the water against a Thraximundar deck that was using Thrax and Sheoldred to absolutely dominate the game. Topdecking the Vault, the Ghave deck was able to use the threat of Deathtouch to hold off Thrax from further assaults, while Lifelink allowed Ghave’s Grave Titan to race the unblockabe Sheoldred with ease.

So, yeah, I’ll definitely be getting a Vault for the deck ASAP. Other than that, though, I think the deck looks great. I haven’t played it yet though, so we’ll see how it goes. One thing I might do is replace Sheoldred. For one thing I already have Debtor’s Knell, and Geth, and Puppeteer Clique AND Phyreixian Reclemation… so as good as Sheoldred is, I think she might just be a bit TOO redundant. I thought about putting Rune-Scarred Demon in her place, but ended up not doing that. What do you all think?

Leave me a comment if you have any questions or suggestions, especially about what Sheoldred’s slot should actually be (keep in mind, it needs to be a Black creature to preserve the Yin/Yang balance!).

Enjoy!

I currently have 7 EDH decks sleeved and ready to play. It’s been a while since I built any new decks, though, so I feel like it’s time to deconstruct some and build new decks. So, today I’m going to run down the roster of my current decks, and critique each one. This will hopefully give me a good idea of which decks are gonna get cannibalized, which in turn will help guide me as to what colors/combinations I will have available to pull from. Also, it gives me an idea of what to try and fix, if I ever decide to revisit or revamp one of these decks.

1. Wrexial, the Risen Deep – This deck is a personal favorite, and unlikely to get the axe anytime soon (much to the chagrin of my playgroup – no one seems to like this deck quite as much as I do!). It’s powerful and fun to play, and though it doesn’t really win all that often, that’s usually because it is powerful enough that it draws too much hate from all of my opponents. It often feels a little like Archenemy – me versus the rest of the table. And yet, it’s still capable of pulling out a few wins, and even when it loses, it does so in spectacular and epic ways. Easily one of my Top 5 favorite EDH decks to date. Grade: A

2. Ghost Council of Orzhova – This deck is one of my experimentations with two-color decks. Until recently I played three-color decks almost exclusively, but the success of Wrexial made me reconsider my bias, and so I built a few more two-color decks. This one is arguably the most successful of the batch (excepting Wrexial, because that deck wasn’t actually part of this experiment, just the catalyst). The deck is quite powerful, and certainly capable of racking up a fair win-ratio. It does have a few issues, however. One is that the choice of general – Ghost Council or Orzhova – seems mildly inorganic. I instituted a token-making subtheme to help make GhoCo relevant and useful, but in the games I’ve played, he hasn’t been all that stellar. The other theme of the deck is a bit more abstract – “the duality of life and death” – wich was inspired by the fact that White and Black are opposing, enemy colors, but have so many of the same effects that they’re like two sides to the same coin. This theme carried through remarkably, but the janky token subtheme and the usefulness of the general count against it somewhat. Grade: B-

3. Edric, Spymaster of Trest – It’s hard to grade this one because it hasn’t yet been given the opportunity to do what it was built for. When I put it together I was expecting to be playing more frequently at my Local Game Store, where I’d never know what random opponents I would be up against, and I built the deck to “spy” on my opponents. Effect that let me look at my opponents’ hands and libraries are the big theme, with other spy-ish things shoehorned in. However, I never really got in the habit of playing at my LGS, preferring instead to play at home with my regular group. This makes the spy theme somewhat less useful as my regular players don’t change or build new decks that often, so I usually know all their decks in and out. The deck is easily the most flavorful and thematic deck I’ve ever built, though, and in that regard it is a resounding success. It’s fun to play, even when I know the decks I’m up against, but it doesn’t have a lot of winning power. It relies heavily on politics to stay alive, and tries to sneak in a win once it is down to one opponent. I’d love to see how well it plays in the intended environment, but it’s been okay in my regular group. Grade: B

4. Stonebrow, Krosan Hero – “Trample” is the defining theme here. Just big guys with Trample. This deck has performed to mixed results. A big part of the problem is that I play in a very Wrath-heavy metagame, and this is a deck that just begs to overextend. I added in as much recursion as I could fit, to help counteract the devastating effects of seeing multiple board sweepers most games. It helped somewhat, but not nearly as much as I’d hoped. Most games end up kinda boring because really, all this deck can do is play dudes and swing. When the board state isn’t conducive to aggressive red-zoning, I often wind up sitting there behind a wall of guys with Trample waiting for someone to drop their shields. I really need to find ways to interact along more axes if I want this deck to be both fun and viable. For now, though, it’s pretty much a failure. Grade: C-

5. Kaervek the Merciless – This deck is a lot like the Edric deck, in that I initially built it with the idea that I’d be playing at stores a lot more often. Since I would be playing a lot of random people and some of them might be… shall we say overcompetative?... I wanted to have a greifer deck on-hand in case I encountered any “douchebag” players. Really, though, I just wanted an excuse to indulge my own inner-douchebag, without pissing of my regular group, which is comprised entirely of IRL friends who I don’t want to piss off! Well, since the whole thing with playing at my LGS didn’t pan out, I have little opportunity to play this deck. I’ve been tempted a few times to bust it out on my regular group just to see what would happen, but I’m just not that mean. I can’t rate this deck on its performance as I never really played it, but the one game I did try it out, I just got hated out before I could mount a defense. Grade: D (is for "douche"!)

6. Ruhan of the Fomori – Another sort of experimental deck. With this one, I was trying to dual-wield themes – and Equipment-based “voltron” strategy for 1v1 play, and a Giant Tribal theme for multiplayer. I wanted the deck to be equally viable for both 1v1 and multiplayer games without having to swap cards around. I never really got the chance to test it in 1v1, but in Multiplayer it only ever won off the voltron theme meant for 1v1 play. The Giant Tribal theme never really took off; again this is likely due in large part to the oversaturation of Wrath effect in my playgroup’s meta. The absurdly high mana curve likely didn’t help either, but in the games I played with it, I always got the distinct impression that if I could just keep a few creatures on the board for more than a turn, my Giants would easily outclass everyone else’s guys. The presence of a Sunforger package makes the deck at least more interesting and interactive to play than the Stonebrow deck. If my group ever backs WAY off on the Wrath overload, I’ll definitely give this one another shot. Grade: C+

7. The Mimeoplasm – Born out of a desire to play abuse Necrotic Ooze more than anything else, I wound up with what was essentially a dirty combo deck, except that it didn’t have any actual infinite combos, and really, it couldn’t put games away without Infect guys, so that was almost as distasteful to most of my opponents as a true combo deck. Add to that the fact that it was full of masturbatory wankery (sure it’s fun for ME to get a Necrotic Ooze in play, with Arcanis and Morphling in the graveyard!) and not really capable of interacting with the other players. Oh sure, it’s got stuff like Avatar of Woe and whatnot that are meant to give me the means to interact, but usually the deck could just win on autopilot and could safely ignore what my opponents were doing 90% of the time. The rest of the time it’d just fail to draw the right things in the right order and would be a “do nothing” deck for several turns until I drew Skittles or Putrefax and abruptly ended the game out of nowhere. Cute deck with good intentions, but producing lame results. Grade: D

Well, that certainly was helpful. Explicitly stating my thoughts and feelings on each deck actually helped me figure out which decks I can live without and which I might hang on to a while longer. Obviously The Mimeoplasm,  Kaervek and Stonebrow are on the chopping block. Ruhan likely will be too.

I really want to make Stonebrow and Ruhan work, but I just don’t think either deck is truly compatible with my group’s current meta. I’m not the slightest bit upset that Mimeo and Kaervek didn’t work out – both were borderline d-bag at best, full-on dick mode at worst. Probably not the best idea to play those with people you like talking to.

Edric, I’m on the fence about. I like the deck a lot and as I said above, it’s just SO damned flavorful that it’s fun to play even though it never wins. That said, if I’m going to keep it around, but only to play in my regular group, I’m going to need to scale back on the “spy” aspect and build more into the political angle. I think I’ll go back and overhaul it – it might turn out quite different from the current build, but should still be recognizably the same basic deck.

Ghost Council, too, likely needs a bit of an update, but I want to wait until Avacyn Restored comes out, as I have a suspicious feeling that there will be a shit-ton of cards in that set that will be worth looking at. For now I might just swap the General to Vish Kal and replace some of the token theme cards with better, more relevant stuff.  Maybe I’ll give it some of the Equipment from Ruhan… dunno.

Okay, folks. Armed with the info above, I will begin drafting ideas for new decks and revisions to those that need ‘em. Updates will come as I finish them.

Enjoy!

Auras of War

Before we begin, I have two caveats to get out of the way.

First, I have not yet assembled this deck with real cards – I’m going to need to purchase 7 or 8 critically important cards, and I’m totally broke. So this list is just a theoretical starting point, for now, but I plan to have it up and running for real in a couple of weeks. It may change between now and then.

Second, the title “Auras of War” is a tad outdated, as the initial concept was going to revolve more heavily on Voltroning-up Jenara  with a number of top shelf Auras and winning via General Damage. However, this seemed to me like it would make the deck play out like a cross between Uril and Rafiq, both of which I have already explored. Uril is played out completely, for me. And while I still love Rafiq intensely, if the deck I build here is going to be that similar to Rafiq, why don’t I just build Rafiq? So, the end result is that the deck is much less of a Voltron-styled General Damage deck, and more of just an Enchantress deck with a  solid beat-down General. I’m keeping the title in place for now, though, because it sounds cool.

Okay, with that out of the way, let’s dive in.

General: Jenara, Asura of War

Objectives

   1. To avoid linear, repetitive gameplay (a la Uril the Miststalker)

   2. To avoid over-reliance on my General

   3. To make the deck viable within a metagame that is heavy on sweepers and spot removal

   4. The deck should be creature-oriented and avoid combo or heavy control

To fulfill objectives 1, 2 and 4, I have tried to reduced the Aura count from what you’d typically see in a Uril deck or any other “Voltron” strategy, while simultaneously upping the creature count, as well as including some non-Aura enchantments that buff all my creatures, not just my general. General damage wins should still be possible, but not necessarily the primary route to victory.

Fulfilling objective 3 is helped along by the increased creature count, but I have also added a good deal of recursion for both creatures and enchantments, to help prevent blowouts by a Wrath of God, or Fracturing Gust, etc.

Creatures: 20

Jenara, Asura of War

Faith Healer

Kor Spiritdancer

Auramancer

Umbra Mystic

Mesa Enchantress

Academy Rector

Totem-Guide Hartebeest

Reveillark

Sun Titan

Drift of Phantasms

Argothian Enchantress

Verduran Enchantress

Eternal Witness

Femeref Enchantress

Hanna, Ship’s Navigator

Dauntless Escort

Rafiq of the Many

Sovereigns of Lost Alara

Duplicant

Enchantments: 33

Ancestral Mask

Angelic Destiny

Armadillo Cloak

Bear Umbra

Eldrazi Conscription

Griffin Guide

Rancor

Spirit Loop

Shield of the Oversoul

Steel of the Godhead

Treachery

Volition Reins

Confiscate

Copy Enchantment

Aura Shards

Faith’s Fetters

Lignify

Oblivion Ring

Prison Term

Shackles

Seal of Cleansing

Asceticism

Enchanted Evening

Enchantress’s Presence

Greater Auramancy

Holistic Wisdom

Karmic Justice

Land Tax

Mirari’s Wake

Rhystic Study

Sigil of the Empty Throne

Sterling Grove

True Conviction

Non-Enchantment Spells: 9

Wrath of God

Replenish

Cleansing Meditation

Creeping Renaissance

Three Dreams

Idyllic Tutor

Enlightened Tutor

Eladamri’s Call

Wargate

Lands: 38

Serra's Sanctum

New Benalia

Kor Haven

Mistveil Plains

Secluded Steppe

Halimar Depths

Tolaria West

Lonely Sandbar

Llanowar Reborn

Yavimaya Hollow

Khalni Garden

Tranquil Thicket

Vesuva

Command Tower

Reflecting Pool

Seaside Citadel

Misty Rainforest

Evolving Wilds

Flooded Grove

Mystic Gate

Wooded Bastion

Breeding Pool

Hallowed Fountain

Temple Garden

Glacial Fortress

Sunpetal Grove

Hinterland Harbord

Plains x4

Island x3

Forest x4

This is the list as it stands, and there are a few clear issues:

1. Too many cards overall. This list is 68 non-land cards, with very little Ramp, so I need to cut a few slots to make room for Lands. Ideally I’d like to have 37 or 38 lands, so I’d need to cut 5 or 6 non-Lands from the list above.

2. Not enough Auras? I’m clearly trying to avoid making this deck play out like every Uril deck ever, and I don’t want every game to just be “pile aura after aura on Jenara, swing for the win”, but I do need to be able to buff my creatures into actual threats. How many is too many?

3. Not enough game-ending creatures. Jenara is still one of the most likely targets for my Auras, meaning most of my wins will likely come from swinging with Jenara enchanted with a couple of Auras and some +1/+1 counters. I really need to find room for more suitable threats – adding a few Hexproof creatures (Geist of St Traft, Troll Ascetic, Thrun, etc.) might help.

4. Not enough “pet cards”. I can’t help that I’m a good-stuff player. I like my decks to have a cohesive theme, but I also like to play really powerful spells. Stuff like Primeval Titan, Consecrate Sphinx, and Rite of Replication… you know, cards that almost everyone plays and are often groan-inducing to most EDH fans. Well, I like stuff like that, and I don’t ever get bored kicking a Rite of Replication targeting a Consecrated Sphinx or Primeval Titan. It helps that those are often the cards that eventually win you the game, not your gimmicky theme or whatever.

So, I want the deck to remain true to its theme, and for that theme to be relevant in-game. But I also want to make more room for spells that I enjoy. I don’t think Rite of Replication is a good fit here, but I’d love to get a few other pet cards into the list, without diluting the theme too much. Here’s a quick list of stuff I’d highly prize being able to find room for:

Mulldrifter

Augury Adept

Cold-Eyed Selkie

Cephalid Constable

Noble Hierarch

Loxodon Hierarch

Primeval Titan

Simic Sky Swallower

Akroma, Angel of Wrath

Drogskol Reaver

Troll Ascetic

Thrun, the Last Troll

Sol Ring

Darksteel Ingot

Winds of Rath (Tech!)

Time Spiral

Aura Mutation

Yavimaya’s Embrace

Finest Hour

Martyr’s Bond

Please comment if you have any suggestions or tips for me. I'm a little rusty on the deckbuilding, as it has been a while since I put together any new decks. Thanks for reading, and enjoy!

Dark Ascension EDH Set Review Portal

Hello, all. I'm providing this post as a convenient way to access all 7 parts of my Dark Ascension EDH Set Review.

• Part 1: White
• Part 2: Blue
• Part 3: Black
• Part 4: Red
• Part 5: Green
• Part 6: Other
• Part 7: Double-faced Cards

Please leave comments if I missed a card, f you think I assessed a card wrongly, or if you just have some cool use for a card in the set.

Enjoy!

Dark Ascension EDH Set Review: Double-Faced Cards

Last but not least, we've got some DFCs to take a look at. Well, okay, maybe "least" after all, since I pretty much hate playing with these cards. Yeah, some of them are actually good enough to warrant fiddling around with them (Bloodline Keeper!), but they're just such an inconvenience and a hassle.
That said, I have a friend with a Uril the Miststalker deck with a Wolf/Werewolf subtheme, so her deck, at least, will get some love from Dark Ascension!

Loyal Cathar/Unhallowed Cathar
In a weird twist, this guy actually gets worse after he Transforms. Either way, he's still clearly  not an EDH card and will get no love in this format.

Soul Seizer/Ghastly Haunting
Cool flavor and concept, but I can't imagine every playing this over Treachery, Volition Reins or any other Control Magic variant where you don't have to jump through hoops to get it to work. I mean, how does this thing help you deal with Akroma, Angel of Wrath? It doesn't.

Chosen of Markov/Markov's Servant
Sexy art is about all this Limited fodder has going for it. Not even Vamp tribal would want a vanilla 4/4.

Ravenous Demon/Archdemon of Greed
Meh. Pretty bad over all. Not very good untransformed, transformation condition is a pain, and the end result is pretty unspectacular, especially with that extra drawback. Lame.

Afflicted Deserter/Werewolf Ransacker
A utility-effect Werewolf might be a little unwieldy to use - by the time you can transform it and get the effect, it might be too late. But, by the same token, this might be just what a Werewolf deck needed. It's certainly worth trying out, and you can always just run some hard removal like Hull Breach or something as a backup in case this proves too difficult to use effectively.

Hinterland Hermit/Hinterland Scourge
Why is this "Hinterland Noun" when Hinterland Harbor made U and G mana? Who knows. What I do know is, this is pretty mediocre even in a dedicated Werewolf build. It's not the worst Werewolf in the block, but it's pretty far down the list.

Mondronen Shaman/Tovolar's Magehunter
This one is pretty sweet. Once you get it transformed, your opponents' flurries of spells to try and transform all your Werewolves back into Human will at least do some damage to them. They'll still probably go ahead and do it, because most of the time it'll be worth taking 4 to the dome to negate all those awesome Werewolf abilities. But, if your running Werewolves, you'll definitely want this one.

Lambholt Elder/Silverpelt Werewolf
It's no Hystrodon, that's for sure. Still proably worth running in most Werewolf builds. I really wish it had Trample, but it's not like Green doesn't have plenty of ways to grant Trample!

Scorned Villager/Moonscarred Werewolf
Mana dorks like this are typically pretty awful in EDH. I'd still run Joraga Treespeaker before I'd run this, and I never run Treespeaker. Good luck, Mana Wolf, but you're not EDH material. Sorry.

Wolfbitten Captive/Krallenhorde Killler
Werewolves did need a compelling one-drop and this fits the bill pretty nicely. Sure, the "nce a turn" restriction limits it's EDH applications somewhat, but the Wolf side gets enough of a boost to remain relevant in the late game.

Huntmaster of the Fells/Ravager of the Fells
It goes without saying that this is the cream of the crop, as far as Werewolves go. No matter wich way it transforms, you're gonna get something out of the deal. Flip it one way, and you get to sling a couple Shocks around. Flip it the other way and you get a Wolf token and some life. Pretty damn sweet. My only complaint is that it doesn't play well with Immerwolf, but that's a minor quibble really.

Chalice of Life/Chalice of Death
Cute, but probably too hard to transform to be truly worthwhile. Still, if you have a deck that consistently and reliably has 50+ life, it might be worth consideration.

Elbrus, the Binding Blade/Withengar Unbound
Ha ha oh wow. This is certainly splashy, flavorful and attention-grabbing - all the qualities you'd look for in a Mythic rare. Unfortunately, it's pretty janky. It has Black in it's color identity, which slightly limits it's playability, but if you're playing Stoneforge Mystic and Stonehewer Giant in a deck that also has Black cards in it, you might have a little more luck with this. Hard-casting it just seems like a bad idea. It's too much of a huge removal target to be worth the full eight mana investment.

   And that concludes our look at Dark Ascension. There really wasn't a whole lot to excite me, unfortunately, but then again a lot of the cards in the set are just specific to certain deck types. Fans of Werewolves and Zombies should be perfectly happy, while Vampires mostly got the shaft. The W/B color pair got a lovely pair of bombs in the form of Sorin, Lord of Innsitrad and Vault of the Archangel.

Myexcitement level is not nearly as high for this set as it was for Innistrad, but they did have much more room in INN to play around and make non-Thematic cards. I'm mostly just left hoping the next and final set of the block has more broadly-playable and useful cards.

Dark Ascension EDH Set Review: Multicolor and Lands

Um... yeah. There was a paragraph here, but the Internet ate it. Or something. Anway, cards. Mmmmm... Magic cards.

Sweet abilities, less sweet CMC. Seems pretty playable overall, but possibly too easily outclassed by other cards. Time will tell if this takes off or not, but I can only see myself playing this when I am specifically trying to avoid "good stuff".

Um. Yeah. This is awesome. Hope it doesn't stay ridiculously expensive for long, because I'm gonna need a couple.

We go from Olivia Voldaren to this? WTF? Haste is pretty darn compelling in EDH, the Land of Unending Wrath Effects. But the Sac-A-Human mechanic in this set is a big turn off. The set seems to want you to play Tribal decks, yet it wants you to dilute the Tribal themes with off-tribe creatures. That design fits really well flavor-wise, but it leads to diluted and wonky deckbuilding. Not a fan.

This guy is pretty good. Probably going to be the top Mythic for EDH purposes. The deal-breaker, in my opinion, is that you cast the creature from the graveyard for its original mana cost, so against decks that aren't your colors, this is useless. But, it can get your own creatures back too, so that's a plus.
Seems better in a Grixis deck than straight U/B... we'll see.

Good vampire lord. Should be a sure-thing in any Vamp tribal deck. I do wish it granted Haste instead, but First Strike isn't terrible.

Ghost pirate! Sweet. Very strong and compelling lord for Spirit decks. Definitely a must-run for W/U Spirits.

Another top-notch lord that should basically always be played in the deck of its appropriate colors and tribe. I like how it's versatile enough to go in Werewolf decks or just straight Wolf tribal.

Wow, 5 for 5! Not bad, WotC, not bad. All five of these "lord" cards are very playable and accentuate their respective tribes nicely. This one is no exception.

Compelling at first glance, this thing seems to have a lot going on. However, it probably will prove a little awkward and unwieldy. I expect it to underperform in most decks, but it could be a very important role-player in mono-color decks that don't have a lot of good removal options.

Yuck. Fuck this noise.

Seems way too slow/bad/expensive to be playable. I don't even like how the mechanic gets across the "flavor" of Jar or Eyeballs. Swing and a miss.

BAD. ASS. This should get plenty of play in any W/B deck, or W/B/X deck. Quite a swingy effect for (effectively) five mana. Very cool! Can't wait to get this into my Ghost Council deck.

Super-relevant EDH reprint with gorgeous art? Yes please! I simply must have a foil of this one. The art reminds me of Skyrim.

Meh. Not super exciting, but certainly playable in decks that can really use it. Definitely a boon to Savra decks and the like. At least it can occupy a Land slot, unlike Phyrexian Altar and such. Definitely a step in the right direction.

Pretty underwhelming when you consider stuff like Volrath's Stronghold exists in the format. But, this doesn't have a Black color identity so it's more widely useful. Also, there's Crucible of Worlds to help it along. This isn't going to be a huge megastar in the format, but it should definitely see some play.
















Okay, so that's almost all of it. We've got the Double-Faced Cards to look at, and then we're done. Enjoy!

Dark Ascension EDH Set Review: Green

Green cards, and theorycraft, abound below. Check 'em out:

Decently playable, but not by a huge margin. I don't like that you put the rest into your graveyard, but that's precisely why a certain number of players will like this. Since it requries you to be in Blue as well as Green, I simply think there are too many better options to seriously consider this, unless you're specifically in need of Flashback spells or something.

Man, if it weren't for the Morbid trigger, this would be a huge deal for Animar decks. Perhaps they can still make use of it, but not as reliably as I'd need, for this to be appealing to me. Oh well, it's not like Animar needed the help. He's already stupidly good.

Garbage uncommon is garbage. Oh well.

So weird that this guy has a Sac-a-Human ability, but it does make sense given the flavor concept. He's pretty narrow, though. I don't see too much use for him. The +1/+1 counter angle makes me think, again, of Animar and also of Ghave, but he doesn't seem stellar in either.

Not playable in EDH, but I wanted to feature it here because of the amazing artwork. So beautiful...

I usually don't like things that just get big and don't have evasion. Well, this things evasion is that it just keeps attacking over and over and over... until eventually they run out of blockers. However, any token producer a la Selesnya Guildmage or whatever will hold this at pay indefinitely. Still, this could be useful in decks that can give it Trample (with say, Brawn, for example).

Oh, yay, another way to make Mono-Green decks even more annoying. Still it's a pretty silly card and might be fun for a while. Obviously, the more colors you play, the worse this gets - I don't even see it as viable in a two-color deck.

I'd like this a lot better if it weren't six mana. That plus the "nontoken creature" clause makes it pretty abysmal in my estimation. Possibly worth considering for dedicated Wolf tribal decks, but not much else.

Pretty sweet Mythic, but I'd have preferred Haste over Vigilance. Still, this is pretty playable, though not on the same level as Prime Time or Woodfall Primus, etc. In other words, it won't be a staple of Green decks everywhere, but if there's even a hint of a +1/+1 counter theme in your deck, it is definitely worthy of consideration.

Man, the Fateful Hour part of this is sexy, but given that 90% of the time this is going to be a three-mana Fog and nothing more, the sexiness factor drops off pretty damn quickly. You could just play Tangle and/or Constant Mists, and you'd likely get far more mileage out of those cards.

Boring. a vanilla 10/10 is vanilla at any cost. Sure, this would be great to cast on turn two or three, but that ain't likely to happen. Even at a reduced cost, by the time this hits the table, it's lack of evasion will likely render it irrelevant except as a big dumb blocker.

Again, non-Blue card drawing always deserves some kind of consideration, but I can't see this being realistically good outside of Dredge, and even then it's debatable if those decks even need to draw a boatload of cards. Chances are, they'd just replace all the draws with Dredge activations.

Nice. Odd  combination of effects, but the versatility is there. That and it's hard creature kill for Green which doesn't really get tons of it. I don't know that you'd play this over Plummet... but you might.

I keep bitching about how these mana-fixer guys are always just worse than Sakura-Tribe Elder and Wood Elves. This on is no different, but it's a lot closer than what we've been getting. It's comprable to STE, but in exchange for having to pay a mana to activate it, you get a 2/2 instead of a 1/1. Seems fine for Limited, but I dont' see the slightly bigger body as being worth giving up the free activation. Close... but no cigar.

Another potential Animar helper - if you can somehow make Morbid work for you. Not worth it, in my opinion though.

Probably only really playable if you're looking specifically for Wolf creatures that don't suck. This doesn't suck, but neither is it particularly good either.

Nice aggressive two-drop. EDH is not known for hinging on aggressive two-drops, but this one is still worth playing in the right decks. Those being highly aggresive decks like Rafiq, etc. I do think this could make the cut in Rafiq at the very least, and probably anything else as aggro. Also, any deck that can do cute tricks with Undying.

Okay, now THIS is pretty much guaranteed inclusion in Animar decks. Possibly Ghave as well, though it's not quite as compelling there. But yeah, totally an Animar card, and best of all, it can help you rebuild after a Wrath effect. Replaying Animar and immediately putting 10 counters on him is a great start to rebuilding.

Also funny: Targeting Mindles Automaton with this turns it into a Harmonize!












Next: Multicolor, Lands and Artifacts. Enjoy!