Avatar of Me

A 6/14 for 6 in blue? That's pretty damn good. Add on to that the fact that no creature has protection from hazel (except for Progenitus) and you've got yourself an amazing creature for combat! I mean, it doesn't even die to a full-powered Tragic Slip! I know for some people this card doesn't work out so well, but I can see a lot of potential that I can wring out of this card, despite the fact that it has no evasion. A definite inclusion in every blue deck (for me at least).

Pros: Big 'n' beefy, fairly cheap for its power

Cons: No evasion

Rating: 4/5

Decimate

Let me tell you a story. At a recent FNM, I was watching a couple of guys playing a Standard game. One guy (let's call him Jim) only had a Lotleth Troll with a Nighthowler on it and the other guy (he shall be known as Moe) had a Master of Cruelties. The troll was killed and Jim declared retribution and windmill-slammed a Shadowborn Demon only to realize that Moe's MoC was a demon and he had no choice but to destroy his own Nighthowler. Needless to say, he was very sad to lose his 20/20.

What does that story have to do with this card? Well, like Shadowborn Demon, this card requires destruction of each target. The ruling have changed, so you can target a non-Bestowed Hopeful Eidolon as both the enchantment and the creature target, but the fact still stands that you need to destroy an artifact and a land. If you're the only person who controls an artifact, you'll have to blow it up. Also, if there isn't an artifact, enchantment, land, and creature on the field, you can't even cast this. Still, if there is all 4 targets on the field, you can't get much more value in one card. I really wish this card was more like Hull Breach where you were given options, but then I guess this would be too good.

Pros: 4-in-1 card value

Cons: Mandatory destruction, requires all 4 targets

Rating: 2.5/5 

Ishi-Ishi, Akki Crackshot

Back in the day, this card was pretty good and it still has potential. There are only a couple really good Arcane spells, but there are a lot of Spirits out there, and because of that, I think this card is a bit underrated honestly. I wish this was a bear though since a 1/1 for 2 has to have a really good ability to be worth it, and considering this ability is situational, it becomes sideboard material at best. It's not a great card, but it's not the worst red card out there.

Pros: Punishes opponents for casting spells

Cons: Range of punish triggers is limited, 1/1 for 2

Rating: 2/5

P.S. I think I'm going to start using magiccards.info for pictures and links from now on. I really like the larger size of the card images as well as the option to show promo versions too.

Consult the Necrosages

I like cards with options, and this card is pretty great because of it. It's either a Divination or a Deception. This card is going to be card advantage either way, it just depends on whether you want to subtract from your opponent's hand or add to your own. It can also force draws, which is good if you have a draw punishment deck or your opponent is down to their last couple of cards. Really, I think this card is kind of underrated for being such a solid common. The only real drawback I can see is that it's not Instant-speed, but then it would be too powerful.

Pros: Either targeted draw or discard

Cons: Not instant-speed(?)

Rating: 4/5

P.S. Sorry about the change in links and card image. Gatherer is down right now and I didn't want to wait for it to come back (lest I forget to write a review tonight). Let me know you think of the new links though. I may start using magiccards.info instead in the future since I find that site to be superior in some regards (especially searching)/

Thriss, Nantuko Primus

"Meh" is about all I can muster for this card. A cheaper Explosive Growth is nice, but this card needs to tap to use it, so it can't be used the turn it comes out without some help. This card has a pretty beefy body, but it doesn't have any evasion or anything like that. It's a really "meh" card all in all. I think it would be much better if it had Trample or its ability gave Trample. 

Pros: Cheap Explosive Growth on a stick

Cons: No evasion, needs to tap

Rating: 2.5/5 

Tatterkite

I love cards with really specific protections. This card isn't just protected from -1/-1 and +1/+1 counters, but also gold counters, -2/-1 counters, rust counters, magnet counters, hourglass counters, and sleep counters. It really works well with Persist/Undying since is would return without a counter on it as well as a ton of combos that involve those things (I'm thinking about Mikaeus, the Unhallowed and Ashnod's Altar for starters). I just wish it cost 2 instead of 3. Other than that, it's pretty good for what it is.

Pros: Comboable 

Cons: A bit too expensive

Rating: 3.5/5

Artist: DiTerlizzi

Tony DiTerlizzi is one of those Magic artists that you'll recognize. His style is very fantastical and unique. I'm actually a huge fan of his work outside of Magic (AD&D, Dragon Magazine) as well as his body of work within Magic,

Best Art: Terminate

I can't actually put my finger on why I like this art, but I know I do. It's just an amazing piece of art that really fits the card well. I much prefer this to the modern art (apologies to Wayne Reynolds).

Worst Art: Cloud Spirit

Giant cloud monkey? I don't know; I just think that this is an instance of DiTerlizzi's art tipping too much into the "kid-friendly" pool. To be fair though, the other art for this card isn't much better,

Most Ill-Fitting: Elephant Resurgence

Now, there's only one reason this is the most "ill-fitting" art: it's a sorcery. This art screams "instant"! Admit it, if you just look at the art, you hear a "sproing" as the elephant leaps out of the ground. I know that this isn't DiTerlizzi's fault since artists probably aren't given the full specs of the card (or necessarily knows how to play the game), so I blame WotC for this! Curse you WotC for not giving us more instant-speed elephants!

Check out DiTerlizzi's body of work here. You will not be disappointed! 

Helm of Chatzuk

If people knew how awesome banding was, there would be a lot more love for this card. I personally love this card because it's really cheap and can give anything banding for a really low cost. The only real issue I have with it is that it can only give 1 creature banding at a time, which means you'll be hard-pressed to make a "band" rather than a "duo".

Pros: Cheap banding

Cons: Requires tapping

Rating: 3/5

Spiritulaize

Instant-speed lifelink with a cantrip? Pretty good. The fact it costs 3? Pretty bad. Considering there are now cards like Mortal's Ardor and Moment of Heroism, this card has been pretty much outclassed. Still, it does replace itself, so it has that going for it. An okay card, but there are quicker versions of it out there.

Pros: Instant-speed lifelink, cantrip

Cons: Slow at 3 CMC

Rating: 2/5

Note: Sorry about the recent drought of reviews. Work has been nightmarish. Luckily, that will end this week :).

Swords to Plowshares

This card is pretty good I guess . I mean it's only... okay I'm not going to do the whole "this things isn't that good and I'm going to use stupid people's arguments to prove it" shtick again. This card is amazing and no one will be able to tell me otherwise. The lifegain is negligible but the exile is not. You will always gain the upper hand from using this, trust me. If you have the space and can run 4 copies of this, run 4 copies of this. Seriously. Fo' realz.

Pros: Exile for 1

Cons: Lifegain for the creature's controller

Rating: 5/5 

Evil Presence/Sea's Claim

I actually think these cards is a lot better than others do. Why? I like land destruction and these are some of the fastest land destruction cards out there. Maybe that needs a little explanation....

Let me set the scene. You're playing against an opponent who is playing a green deck and they've just dropped a Gaea's Cradle but your Root Maze is keeping it locked down for the time being. Drop Sea's Claim on his head and suddenly that big problem has no longer become an issue. Same thing for when a Naya opponent plays a Jungle Shrine on turn 1 and you kindly inform them that they should be playing a black deck after slapping them with Evil Presence. These cards even works against same-colour decks that run lands like Cabal Coffers or Tolarian Academy! There are other cards like these, but they aren't as fast as these are. Often, turn 1 is the turn that matters when it comes to colour-control. The only decks that these cards don't really work on it mono-coloured decks that don't run special lands. Turning a basic land into another basic land doesn't really do much after all.  

Pros: Makes fancy lands not so fancy

Cons: Only really works on fancy lands

Rating: 3.5/5

Reborn Hero

So, it's a situationally better Tenacious Dead, right? Well, at least in my view it is. It's a more expensive bear with a couple of cool abilities. In the later game, you can pay the WW to bring it back to the battlefield after its blocked (since it has Vigilance, it can pull double-duty). The only real thing that I don't like is that it requires Threshold in order to activate its second ability. Other than that, it's pretty good for a 3-drop.

Pros: Better regeneration

Cons: Threshold required

Rating: 3/5

Akroma, Angel of Wrath

In honour of International Women's Day today, I thought I'd look at what many (myself included) see as the iconic woman of Magic. Sure, you could easily make arguments for Hanna, Ship's Navigator, Braids, Cabal Minion, or Mirri, Cat Warrior but I think that Akroma is usually the first woman people think of when they hear "women in Magic". So, is this card worthy of being the embodiment of women in Magic?

In short, yes. In long, yesssssssssssssss. This card is really great. It's fast, it hurts, and it has protection from most removal. The only real problem that I have with this card is the triple white in the cost. I'd rather see this at 7WW as opposed to 5WWW. That way, this card could show up in more than just mono-white 60-cards and white-heavy EDH decks. Other than that, this card is amazing.

Pros: Almost too many keywords, powerful
Cons:Triple white in cost
Rating: 5/5

300th Post: The Community's Worst

Yay! 300th post! Not actual my 300th post about Magic cards per se, but 300th anyway. So, in honour of this momentous occasion, I'm going to look at each different type of card (land, instant, sorcery, planeswalker, enchantment, artifact, creature) and take a look at the card of each type that the community has deemed to be the worst of the worst and see if they deserve to be at the bottom.

Land: Untaidake, the Cloud Keeper

Rating: 0.881/5

Yeah, this is well deserving of a low rank, but I don't think it deserves the worst rank out of all the lands. Why? This taps for mana. Hell, it taps for something! You know what doesn't tap for anything? Seafarer's Quay and its kin. At least this thing can produce something and isn't a complete waste of your land drop. Still, Shocking yourself for restricted colourless mana is just terrible.

Pros: Produces one than one mana

Cons: Enters tapped, Shock yourself, restricted use, colourless

Rating: 0/5

Worst Land?: No

Instant: Break Open

Rating: 0.878/5

There's no question; this card is the worst Instant. First, the scope of this card is fairly limited, so it's a sideboard card at best. Second, it only targets an opponent's creatures, meaning you can't use it to benefit yourself. Finally, Morph creatures only require that they be turned face-up, meaning that if you use this on a Brine Elemental, you're suddenly missing your next untap step. I really wish that this turned an opponent's creature face-down instead. Yeah, it'd be powerful, but it'd be better than this!

Pros: Takes up an empty slot

Cons: Can only flip opponents' creatures

Rating: 0/5

Worst Instant?: Yes

Sorcery: Kamahl's Sledge

Rating: 0.865/5

I already looked at this card here. It barely deserves the worst spot, inching out Hint of Insanity.

Worst Sorcery?: Yes, barely

Planeswalker: Tibalt, the Fiend-Blooded

Rating: 3.069/5

Again, I looked at this card here. I stand by my 0.5/5 rating.

Worst Planeswalker?: Yes

Enchantment: Defensive Stance

Rating: 0.895/5

As far as I'm concerned, this is not the worst enchantment in Magic. That honour should go to Great Wall since it's so limited. However, this card is still in the bottom 5. An extra point of toughness isn't going to do a hell of a lot. An extra point of toughness alongside taking away a point of power is going to do a hell of a lot less.

Pros: Gives a point of toughness

Cons: Takes away a point of power, only gives a point of toughness

Rating: 0/5

Worst Enchantment?: No

Artifact: Razor Boomerang

Rating: 0.792/5

Yeah, this review explains why this is here.

Worst Artifact?: Yes

Creature: Aven Trooper

Rating: 0.806/5

Finally, we come to the worst creature and this thing definitely deserves that title. It's too weak for its cost and the ability is also overcosted. Just bad on all points.

Pros: Flying

Cons: Everything is too expensive, requires discard

Rating: 0/5

Worst Creature?: Yes

Worst Card: Razor Boomerang (Still)

Thanks for the patronage guys! Here's to 300 more post in the future!

Mask of the Mimic

I love this card because it can really screw with those people who've just started playing Magic and think they know everything because they've seen a Pro Tour online. Here's what happens:

Step 1: Play Meloku the Clouded Mirror

Step 2: Make an Illusion token

Step 3: Make a Clone of the token

Step 4: Cast this, sacrificing the token, targeting Clone

Step 5: Windmill slam Illusion/Reality and watch them be confused

Now, it real terms, you will have successfully discarded a card and sacrificed a creature for nothing, but watching uppity newbies be confused and put in their place. As for the card itself, it's not too bad. Blue creature tutor is extremely rare, and being able to do it at Instant-speed and put it onto the battlefield is pretty great. Swing with Frost Titan, sack another creature, get a second Frost Titan, watch your opponent cry. It's pretty good, despite requiring a creature sacrifice and only being limited to looking for something that's already on the field.

Pros: Instant-speed creature tutor to the battlefield

Cons: Requires creature sacrifice, can only look for duplicates

Rating: 4/5

Celestial Prism

If both costs were dropped by 1, this would be a lot better. In fact, it would pretty much be Prismatic Lens, except without the ability to make mana on its own. Yeah, this is pretty much a worse Prismatic Lens. It costs too much for a good filter since it's 2-for-1 and you can only use it once (remember, Mono Artifacts had to tap to use their abilities), so it's pretty bad.

Pros: Filters mana

Cons: Worse Prismatic Lens

Replacement: Prismatic Lens

Rating: 0.5/5

Tarmogoyf

This is an okay card. I mean, it's no Cognivore, but it'll do in a pinch. It's a fast drop and it can get fairly powerful, but it has some problems. 

First off, there are ways to get rid of it. Good cards have no way to actually get rid of them because, if they did, they wouldn't be good. That's why cards like Norin the Wary and Progenitus are the best cards in Magic. This card has a bunch of different way to deal with it: Doom Blade, Terror, Unsummon, Vindicate, Bazaar of Wonders, and Threads of Disloyalty to name a few. If you've got a permanent that can end up in your graveyard somehow, it's a dead card because you're just going to waste mana casting it just for it to be destroyed.

Second, it has no evasion. Cards like Aven Envoy and Zodiac Rooster are better because they have some sort of evasion at least. Cards with no evasion can easily be blocked and therefore have no point in swinging, even if the opponent is going to lose a creature or two. They could have some sort of buff spell in their hand and it's not a good idea to risk losing your creature to some Typhoid Rats with Daring Leap cast on it.

Thirdly, it's not a relevant creature type. There's absolutely no support for "Lhurgoyfs" outside of the generic cards like Coat of Arms and Door of Destinies. If you don't have the tribal support for something, it's just going to stand out there on its own with no help from anything else. It won't synergize with your deck at all and you might as well be running other random cards that don't interact with anything else in your deck like Putrid Lecch or Xantid Swarm.

Finally, while this card can grow, it has a power cap. At best, this can be an 8/9 whereas something like Boneyard Wurm can be much bigger depending on how many creatures you have in your graveyard and Kodama of the Center Tree, which is dependent on the number of Spirits you.control. Also, to ensure that you're getting the most out of this card, you'll have to overload your deck with a bunch of different types of cards and make sure they end up in your graveyard.

 All in all, an alright card if you've got the spot.

Pros: Fast drop, can grow over time

Cons: No evasion, dies to removal, not a relevant creature type, power cap

Rating: 1.5/5

See how stupid some of these "that's not a good card because x" arguments can be? Seriously, this card is great. 5/5.