Hi everyone!
I’m not sure exactly what happened with the massive leak from wizards about the new set and I’m sure someone’s gonna get it in the neck for it, but for better or worse we now have the complete spoiler for new phyrexia, for full spoiler see www.mtgsalvation.com
For this article I’m just going to go through some of the more interesting cards (probably mostly rares and mythics) that might see constructed play.
Karn, the Released
I wrote an entire article on this guy which can be found here:
Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
This guy is pretty powerful, kinda the new crovax. 7 mana is a lot of mana to get too to play a guy that can easily be countered or killed by pretty much anything, but his effect is powerful as a sort of continuous massacre wurm effect, whilst also pumping your guys. I think the problem with this guy is he’s suffering from a major case of 'not as good as titan-itas' while the titans are around there is little reason to play this guy in std. and if rumour is to be believed we will be seeing the return of the titan cycle in M12
Norn's Annex
Moat type effects have traditionally been quite powerful in control decks, even condition ones such as teferie's moat and ghostly prison saw quite a bit of constructed play. that said the fact that you can pay the cost on this one with a measly 2 life per creature means that the decks that want to attack through this can do so easily as the life loss tends not to matter so much against the control match up.
Phyrexian Unlife
This card is a strange one, in a normal game its pretty much a straight up 2W gain 10 life kinda effect, the fact that is does nothing in multiples pretty much limits its use to the side board, the only other thing worth mentioning is that its possible that this card could be broken in older formats as part of a combo deck, with this in play, effects that cause loss of life actually have no effect on you, so by pairing it with spells such as ad nauseum- draw your deck. it is clearly capable of doing some quite broken things in the right environment.
Puresteel Paladin
Aggressively costed guys that do things have usually been pretty good, the WW casting cost here is pretty restrictive, but his ability to draw cards when equipment enters the battle field seems to make him stone forge mystics new best friend, his metal craft ability is a little less relevant, having said that the decks that want him usually run at least 3 equipments so its always a possibility. He’ll probably fit best in naya, boros or possibly quest type decks.
Corrupted Resolve
Conditional counter spells for 1U usually see play at some point, its always nice to have options and if a good blue infect deck becomes popular you will almost certainly want to be running a couple of these in it.
Gitaxian Probe
There are quite a few cards in this set with the phrexian symbol as a cost, meaning that any colour has access to spells that are usually not available to them,
I think this is one of the better ones, being able to get a look at your opponents hand
can be a pretty big deal right now, seeing if they have that bolt for your guy, and weather its safe to tap out for play- sword - equip - swing, will mean you can play around there spells much better and not get blown out, on top of that, it can be free when your tight on mana or you can play U when its not an issue, and it cantrips itself as well- overall a very useful and playable card. May also see play in eternal formats where cheap, cantrip, and does something is sometimes all you need in a card.
Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur
Another pretty sweet dread returns target for dredge wont exactly improve the deck that much as they have so many options for awesome targets already, but if you can get this guy out first turn in a reanimator deck, then that is pretty big game. may also see some play in std control decks as a 1of, flashing him into play, blocking there guy, drawing 7 and making them have no hand for the rest of the game should guarantee you victory. even if he does cost 10
Mental Misstep
Another sweet phyrexian cost spell that can be 'free'. Not sure it'll see that much play in std but it legacy it has the potential to be kinda sick. It counters a whole ton of spells including path and eather vile even when you’re tapped out or on the draw, think it depends on the metagame how many of these you'll want in your deck though.
Phyrexian Metamorph
Clones have historically not been great in constructed, but the fact that this one is an artifact and can copy any creature or artifact and can cost 3 means he might see play, if only in block constructed. Seems to pair well with stuff that generates mana that can only be used to cast artifacts,
Tezzeret's Gambit
Another card that might see play in block, being able to draw 2 proliferate for 3 seems quite strong in the right deck. Also. Drawing cards in a red deck? When was that ever fair?
Despise
Another Duress type effect, like with counter spells it’s always nice to have options. for the purposes is std, this will probably be the go-to card for the 1 mana discard slot, being able to get walkers and creatures means it hits pretty much all the targets you want to go for against most decks, duress will still have its place in side boards but most people will probably choose to run these over inquisition in the main now.
Dismember
More sweet phrexian cost cards, letting you kill a guy using any colour mana for 1 is really quite strong, I’m not sure weather is just worse than the other black removal in black decks, but having access to this in blue or green could be quite strong, and again, it will likely see play in older formats due to no colour requirements and cheap cost. Just be careful not to pack too many into your decks or you might find yourself on low life a little too soon
Phyrexian Obliterator
This card is very tough for its cost and can be a pain for some decks to get rid of, unfortunately at the moment it suffers from miserably failing the jace test, once jace rotates out of standard, he might have a place in some decks, although BBBB to cast is pretty restrictive,
Praetor's Grasp
I don’t think any other card printed does quite what this does, at least not in the same way, cant think of many uses for it in std right now, but could be a useful tool in older formats or causal formats (edh)
Sheoldred, Whispering One
blah blah blah edh blah
Surgical Extraction
I keep trying to tell people this card is not good (except against vengvine) and they don’t believe me. For further convincing see :
http://www.channelfireball.com/articles/in-development-how-to-waste-two-life-at-instant-speed/
I mean I could be wrong, I might be waaay off the mark and it might be just great, but I’m pretty sure I’m not.
Act of Aggression
As we all know, red has been trying to imitate blue spells since alpha, because they are the best, and has had varying degrees of success, any now after years of having medioca threaten effects they at last have there very own ray of command!... except its not really their very own... due to the crafty phrexian mana cost now any colour has access to the life intensive version of the best threaten ever. Still, limited bombs aside, it might well see some play in constructed too. stealing their titan or guy with sword and swinging could be pretty big game, and gives decks that have trouble with these types of threats a reasonable answer (vamps or example)
Invader Parasite
I have a soft spot for land destruction, not sure if this guy is good enough, but when he goes after a land it tends to stay gone, could be a pain for valakut etc.
Moltensteel Dragon
Everybody should be aware that this dragon exists, I’m not sure he’s going to be good, or even see play, but having a 4/4 on turn 4 can be pretty awesome, and if your mono red you can swing for 16 on turn 5 all by himself, having said that he dies to pretty much anything. But I really want to see someone combo him with phrexian unlife and swing for infinite, that would be sweet ^^
Slag Fiend
Tarmagoyf this guy certainly is not. But if an artifact deck that runs red becomes any good he might have a home there.
Urabrask, the Hidden
Red hasty guys with an ability are usually pretty good, at the moment I think hero of oxid ridge is just better though.
Beast Within
This is the kinda card that makes me want to play green. i mean seriously, instant speed vindicate is just absurd! And the decks that are playing this really don’t care that much about the 3/3
Their opponent has that used to be a jace or a gideon, Bop- T2 get their land is also strong, and sometimes you might just nuke your own stuff to get a 3/3 blocker / haste guy at instant speed. I really like this card in RUG, where if you have mana up T3 and they jace, you can kill their jace, play your own on your turn and bounce their token, seems strong. Also hitting equipment is a big deal. A very powerful card that I think will see a lot of play.
Melira, Sylvok Outcast
Everyone loves a hate bear right? :p this is bit of a weird one, to make infect useless against you then take it away from your opponent seems counterproductive. but still, infect creatures are usually pretty puny once they lose infect. Also, play her after resolving phrexian unlife and laugh as they fail to kill you! (untill she dies of course)
Batterskull
A lot of people have written a lot of things about this card, suffice to say it’s broken with stone forge mystic and leave it at that.
Hex Parasite
Hear we can see versatility in action, a cheap creature that has the ability to kill planeswalkers, swing for a potential ton of damage, accessible in any colour and deals with stuff like tumble magnets and everflowing chalice. I think this lil guy will see play in a couple of different decks and do powerful things in all of them
Immolating Souleater
Turn 3 combo with phrexian unlife! sign me up :P
Mycosynth Wellspring
I really hope that with this and ichorwell spring, someone will make an artifact sacrifce deck would be soo good if that worked, I dunno what with yet though- maybe koldutha rebirth?
Myr Superion
Can you cast this off the spirit guides in legacy? (credit to john and owen if you can)
Soul Conduit
blah blah blah phrexian unlife blah.
Spellskite
Being able to change the target of any spell or ability to this guy seems pretty strong, target player draws 3 cards? I think you'll find spellkite draws 3 cards! (can you change the target of a spell to an illegal target? maybe not.) But still. There is a lot of potential for this guy to be though, and as a 0/4 he's not a bad blocker either.
Sword of War and Peace
Another strong equipment to dominate std with, most decks that run stone forge mystic will probably want a copy of this, the ability to hit there face then burn their planes walkers pretty good, it just gets obscene with another sword on the same guy, and gaining life isn’t a bad side effect either.
Torpor Orb
Would be awesome if it either cost 1, or drew a card for you. But it doesn’t, so it isn’t. it might see play in a sideboard somewhere. Maybe.
So that about wraps it up for constructed cards. They are probably a couple of things I’ve missed out, cards that seem awful to me now will probably be worth loads in a couple of months. Anyway, I hope this has been vaguely helpful to people looking to find out how the new set will have an impact on the constructed formats. Personally I think this set will change std for the better. I think the same sort of decks will remain to be good until rotation, but the way they play and the tools used to combat them will differ with this set. And what will after rotation who knows!? Guess we'll just have to wait and see.
Till next time.
Andy Mather
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