M14 EDH Set Review, Part 4: Red

Well, as badly as Blue and Black fared, despite being two of the best colors in the format, I don't hold out much hope for Red, which is basically the red-headed step-child of the format. But let's be fair and take a look anyway, shall we?

Bad overall, probably has some infinite combo potential though, if you're into that sort of thing.

LOL. I don't know what practical applications this might have, but DAMN is this card is a riot! It will get played, just because of the troll factor. Then again, playing this guy along side Ghostly Prison, Kazuul, Isperia 2.0, etc... could be fun. Yeah, expect to see this guy making for some hilarious but highly uncomfortable turns.

Hellrider Sliver. That's it's real name. Spread the word.

Like all the other 3-drop hate guys in this cycle, it's sideboard material or at least 60-card material. This one might have the most potential in EDH out of the five, but I'm still not sold.

 Durp. Goes in Karrthus decks for sure.

Jank.

Doesn't defend herself... blah, blah, blah. I seriously try not to be a hater, especially for any incarnation of Chandra, but I don't see any real potential in EDH.

I love me some In the Web of War Action, so I'm pretty stoked about this. It's cheaper than Web, but it's also more fragile, being a Creature. +2/+0 isn't really much different from +3/+0 either. But being a Creature makes this guy easier to tutor for, easier to recur, and overall just way more awesome! Oh, and he can be Rite of Replication-ed, so watch out for that.

Crap.

Non-basic land hate is actually something the format can use more of - especially when it's NOT Ruination or the like. I definitely see this potentially being a minor staple. Mono Red players should definitely love it.

Meh.

Slivers get +2/+0. Weird how much worse this looks in the same set and color as Ogre Battledriver.

 LOL NO

This might actually be the most exciting card in the set for me, possibly even more so than Archangel of Thune. Not for EDH, though. I'll probably jam one into Melek for S's and G's, but it probably won't stick around too long. But, man oh man, I have some ideas for this guy in 60-card land!

















Well, in a strange twist of fate I'd say Red actually did slightly better than the last three colors. Not exceptionally so, mind you, but slightly better. I actually liked more than two cards, so there's that.

M14 EDH Set Review, Part 3: Black

Two down, 4 to go. Now it's Black's turn in the spotlight. I know that's really uncomfortable for Black, what with all the Vampires and bugs and rats and such... we'll try to make this as quick and painless as possible.


Well, I dunno. Me, I prefer non-circumstantial, reliable options like Beacon of Unrest or even Rise from the Grave. I can get any guy I want from any graveyard at any time I need it. I don't have to have a very narrow, precise window of opportunity, and I don't have to worry about leaving 3 mana up all the time in case something good dies. Oh and then there's Mimic Vat. So, while this is a cool card, I think it gets trumped pretty badly by, oh, about a dozen other cards.

 Meh.

 Meh. Badass art, though.

Black/White Human Tribal, anyone?

Let's see, cards that do this sort of thing, ranked by playability:
1. Bloodghast
2. Reassembling Skeleton
3. Nether Traitor
4. This guy.
So, evaluation is pretty easy. Are you running 1 through 3 already and need more? Well, here you go!

I dare someone to play this in EDH with one copy each of Festering Newt and Bubbling Cauldron. Do it! You know you want to...

Bad. Just play Blood Artist and good creatures. They'll eventually die without you having to pay two mana to kill your own shit, and you'll get the tiny life drains anyway!

More of this "PLAY ENCHANTMENTS OR ELSE" bullshit. I'd actually like this if it were an Enchantment itself. As a creature, it's just too fragile.

Slivers you control have lifelink.
 
Seriously, that's all you can do to review a Sliver. Just say what the card DOES and anyone playing Slivers already will just know if it's good or not.

 Marginally playable. Good effect, compelling CMC. Slightly worrisome drawback. Some decks will literally scoff at that upkeep clause, but many more will struggle with it.

Well, that's... blunt. Hey guys, so Liliana 1.0 has basically never Ultimate-ed in a game of Magic right? So, let's just do a big expensive sorcery so players can experience the joy of such feat without having to actually work for it.

Still, this is pretty fair, even if it's big, dumb and win-more. Unless Urabrask or something makes an appearance, the table should at least have one turn cycle to find a sweeper... or an Insurrection!

Wow, hey, this might be the one card that makes Insurrection novel again!

I killed a bunny for you. Draw some cards.

Definitely playing this in Savra. This card is really powerful but it can also just kill you out of know where. Just remember: Don't EVER have more creatures than your life total and you're good.

Awesome, but unlikely to ever actually deal combat damage. This is another of those "I really like it in 60-card, but not so much EDH" cards.

This is a pretty clever and in-color-pie way for mono-Black to deal with equipment like Greaves. Unfortunately it still does nothing against a guy carrying Sword of Light and Shadow or Feast and Famine. Probably way too niche overall for most EDH players.

















So, obviously for me the standout is Dark Prophecy. Creatures will die, cards will be drawn - basically another day at the office for EDH. The mythic - which I think they should literally have called "Liliana's Ultimate" is pretty ballin' even if I did call it big, dumb and win-more. I mean, it totally is all those things, but that can be said of a ton of cards, some of which I myself play. So I can get behind it. Plus that art is amazing. In the end, though, Black still really doesn't fair much better than White or Blue.

M14 EDH Set Review, Part 2: Blue

Well, White wasn't all that promising. Let's hope Blue fares a bit better.

Sliver. Yawn.

Okay to be fair, it is a pretty good one. I'd play it, if I had a Sliver deck. 

Good luck getting this guy to live long enough to cast whatever you Exile. Playing this guy is just begging to get 2-for-1-ed. It'll still totally get played, though. "I can protect it! With countermagic!" Yeah, and then when you stick Time Warp on this guy, everyone groans and packs up their shit.

 Mostly I'd rather have Diluvian Primordial or Chancellor of the Spires. In fact, there is a high enough chance you could whiff entirely with this guy, making him a really boring 4/4 for 6... Yeah, I'll pass thanks.

Neat, I guess. Isperia the Inscrutable decks get a little lovin'? I can dig it.

AWFUL. Completely and utterly awful. 

Well, it's no Consecrated Sphinx, but at least players who really need a Sphinx that draws cards, but are too hipster to play Constipated Sphinx have a less mainstream (read: terrible) option!

Great sideboard option for Merfolk decks, but pretty terrible in EDH. Yeah, EVERYONE plays green, so it's likely to always have a target... but most green decks just won't care that you tap down one guy. Anyway, if you're a Blue mage lookin' to hate on Green or Red mages... well, there are plenty of better options.

So Ponder costs fucking THREE mana now! I can't tell what WotC is trying harder to nerf - card draw spells, spells in general, or the entire color Blue. Oh, wait - Blue basically IS nothing but card drawing spells, so the answer is "All of the above".

Much like the horribly nerfed Fiend Hunter variant, this Whale can't be exploited to permanently exile a creature. Well, I was already planning on never playing this ever, even before I realized that fact.  That said, the existence of Deadeye Navigator kind of makes me glad this trick doesn't work. Of course, Duplicant still exists, so... oh well.

(Oh, this does get mad props for AWESOME flavor.)

Ugh, I really hate 7-Mana enchantments unless they REALLY kick some ass, and this is definitely no Debtor's Knell. But ignoring the price tag for a second, a Blue mage could very easily find the effect something worth desiring... Perhaps Academy Rector can provide an adequate discount?
















Well, crap. So, the best we got was a really bad Consecrated Sphinx knock-off, and an Enchantment with a really cool, powerful effect that may or may not be worth the printed CMC.  Lame. Next?

M14 EDH Set Review, Part 1: White

Okay so first of all, I owe an apology to any of you who might still be out there listening. Uh, reading. Whatever. I really didn't intend to just up and let this thing die. As always, life gets in the way, but this time I really just didn't make much of an effort to keep up. Modern Masters came and went without so much as a peep on this blog, and that's pretty inexcusable.

So first off, let's do the Modern Masters set review. In a nutshell, it rocked if you could get it. And it made a few EDH staples like Tooth and Nail and City of Brass a lot easier to get in foil. So, that's done.

Now, on to the official EDH Set Review for M14. Starting, as always, with White.

Awful. Not even Limited-fodder.

Probably not as good as it looks on paper, but still a great fit for EDH because when it DOES work out, it'll lead to some great blow-out victories. Obviously best in token decks. Could be an okay win-con for Mono-White too.

 Easily one of my top 3 favorite cards in the set, Archangel of Thune is nowhere near the power level of some recent EDH all-star mythics (Prime Time, Sphinx, etc.). But it's still a really cool card with some neat build-around potential. I'm actually more excited to play her in 60-card Magic, but she definitely has a home in many a Vish-Kal deck for sure.

Possibly a bit too underpowered for even a dedicated "Enchantress" deck in EDH, I think this card is much better suited to 60-card casual. But, nonetheless, I expect to see this right along side any EDH deck already running Mesa Enchantress and Sigil of the Empty Throne. Because why not?

I already don't see Dawn Elemental in the format. Like, EVER. One might argue that this is mostly because of Dawn Elemental's casting cost of quad White - you'd have to be INSANE to play Dawn Elemental in anything other than Mono White. Well, for any of you tempted to make that argument - here's your chance to prove it. This is functionally the same card, but with a mana cost that makes it imminently more splashable in two or three color decks.
Me? I still don't think she'll make the cut... but she IS an Angel which has a lot more stock with Vorthos-y types than Elementals. So she might make it base solely on Tribal concerns.

 Slivers will get played. They always do.

Neat, I guess. Not really EDH material though.

Yep. That's a sliver alright. Not the best sliver by far, but not the worst either.

Sigil of the Empty Throne, except for life-gain decks instead of Enchantress decks. Find away to cross the streams and run both in the same deck! Madness!

I expect to give this a shot. I already like the effect cards like Urabrask and Blind Obedience have on the format (in the right decks, at least). However, this little lady's diminutive stature and lack of battlefield presence (despite the art depicting exactly that!) mean she might just get swept away too quickly and easily to have any real impact on the game.

Fiend Hunter was already not worth running in EDH unless you had ways to pull of the exploit he allowed with blink/sacrifice tricks. This closes that little timing loop hole, which only further invalidates this as a real option for removal.
Dumb down Magic some more, WotC!

I already don't play Glorious Anthem in any EDH decks, so why would I want one that only sometimes works? And don't pretend the incidental life gain is makes up for it either. However, in that 60-card deck with Archangel of Thune... maybe...


















That wraps up White... in a mostly disappointing fashion. So far everything seems to be terrible or fine for 60-card, but not much EDH love. The two Mythics are playable, at least. Oh well, on to the next color.