Well I had hoped to have both red and green up over the weekend but life kinda caught up meaning I couldn't finish this as quickly as I would have liked. So please accept my apologies.
The rules are pretty straightforward. I will look at each common one by one and give you my thoughts and feelings. At the end of each colour I will give you a rough first stab at pick orders. Your lists and my lists will not match and you will not share every feeling I have. I urge you to tell me why because this is a two-way thing. I have much to learn as a Magic player and I'm sure if we find some common ground it will benefit us all.
Without further ado...
Brighthearth Banneret
Cost:
Card Type:
Creature - Elemental Warrior
P/T:
1/1
:
Elemental spells and Warrior spells you play cost less to play.
Reinforce 1-
(, Discard this card: Put a +1/+1 counter on target creature.)
The key thing about Brighthearth Banneret is he isn't a completely awful top-deck in the late game like the others in the cycle. Sure, it isn't the best trick in the world but it's a lot beter than an irrelevant 1/1 dude and you'll be delighted of it the one time it nullifies a Pack's Disdain or the like.
There are some big, relevent Elementals out there meaning this card will tend to have a lot more value in the right deck than the lines of its Merfolk equivilent.
Fire Juggler
Cost:
Card Type:
Creature - Goblin Shaman
P/T:
2/2
:
Whenever Fire Juggler becomes blocked, clash with an opponent. If you win, Fire Juggler deals 4 damage to each creature blocking it. (Each clashing player reveals the top card of his or her library, then puts that card on the top or bottom. A player wins if his or her card had a higher converted mana cost.)
I quite like Fire Juggler, not because it is necessarily an awesome card in its own right, but because it is the kind of card that makes your opponent have to think and make awkward decisions. He is one of those creatures which are very, very difficult to block - you are always taking a risk when you put your guy in front of it. Because of this, if you drop him early, there is potential for him to do 6 or 8 damage.
Sure most of the time he is a Grey Ogre but this card will be treated with a certain level of respect for what he has the potential to do.
Hostile Realm
Cost:
Card Type:
Enchantment - Aura
P/T:
:
Enchant land
Enchanted land has "
: Target creature can't block this turn."
This is an awful card. A really terrible piece of cardboard. Had it read, 'Target creature can't attack or block this turn' we might have something that was ok. Even then I'd consider it pretty mediocre.
Kindled Fury
Cost:
Card Type:
Instant
P/T:
:
Target creature gets +1/+0 and gains first strike until end of turn.
I think the artwork of Kindled Fury, of a wee Kithkin dude ready to kick some bootay with flames licking round him, is pretty cool. It's an interesting trick. I think most of the time it will be hard to find room for this in a good deck. But it is one of those cards that allows you opportunity to outplay the other guy, especially as they might not see it coming.
Lunk Errant
Cost:
Card Type:
Creature - Giant Warrior
P/T:
4/4
:
Whenever Lunk Errant attacks alone, it gets +1/+1 and gains trample until end of turn.
Let's compare Lunk Errant and Axegrinder Giant. Which would you rather have in your deck? Yep, me too.
You are going to end up playing with this card sometimes because you need something ressembling a fattie at the top end, but you aren't going to like it. A poor all-round package.
Mudbutton Clanger
Cost:
Card Type:
Creature - Goblin Warrior
P/T:
1/1
:
Kinship - At the beginning of your upkeep, you may look at the top card of your library. If it shares a creature type with Mudbutton Clanger, you may reveal it. If you do, Mudbutton Clanger gets +1/+1 until end of turn.
Mudbutton Clanger makes me feel a little uneasy. It's an incredibly clumsy, inelegant card. I guess that I just like my 1-drop 1/1s to not have too much text or be overly verbose.
But what you really want to know is, how does the card play? Wel, once again with a Clash card, it comes down to simple math. Around 2/3s of the time this'll be a 1/1. By the time you start winning the Clash and consider sending this guy into the red zone, there will be bigger and more relevant guys on the board already. Pretty much unplayable.
Roar of the Crowd
Cost:
Card Type:
Sorcery
P/T:
:
Choose a creature type. Roar of the Crowd deals damage to target creature or player equal to the number of permanents you control of the chosen type.
In draft, Roar of the Crowd has the potential to be an amazing finisher. This can be splashed into pretty much any good tribal deck. It's not going to be as good in sealed because your deck is unlikely to be quite as tailored as you would like it to be but even then, you would need good justification for not running this.
I do wonder if certain other cards go up in value because of Roar of the Crowd. I'm thinking about cards such as Elvish Promenade or the like. In some ways this card reminds me of Distant Memory because it could be incredibly potent and explosive late game.
Seething Pathblazer
Cost:
Card Type:
Creature - Elemental Warrior
P/T:
2/2
:
Sacrifice an Elemental: Seething Pathblazer gets +2/+0 and gains first strike until end of turn.
Seething Pathblazer is kinda like Kindled Fury in the respect that it makes your opponent stop and think about the board a bit more. Sure most of the time this card will be a vanilla dork but one that will normally make your deck which Kindled Fury probably won't.
As a wee side note, have you noticed that every one of these red Elemental guys looks identical? I wonder if it's deliberate or not. For example, in elf and goblin artwork, each individual has obvious similarities to other members of their tribe but with their own wee touches here and there. It just strikes me as a bit weird. Anyways, an okay limited card.
Shard Volley
Cost:
Card Type:
Instant
P/T:
:
As an additional cost to play Shard Volley, sacrifice a land.
Shard Volley deals 3 damage to target creature or player.
Wow. What a cool card. Last time I checked, Lightning Bolt was an awesome card. Shard Volley has the drawback of having to sac a land. This is not an insignificant but in the mid to late game shouldn't be an issue at all. Cheap, efficient removal is something to be coveted and this will be a very high pick in LLM. Don't forget that this targets your opponent too and will often be used to close a game out.
Stingmoggie
Cost:
Card Type:
Creature - Elemental
P/T:
0/0
:
Stingmoggie comes into play with two +1/+1 counters on it.
, Remove a +1/+1 counter from Stingmoggie: Destroy target artifact or land.
I quite like Stingmoggie because it has the it can foil the most carefully laid plans. If I cast this turn four and then proceed to kill two of your lands over the next two turns, I am making life incredibly difficult for your opponent. And there are some very important artifacts in this set in the tribal equipment.
I think I maybe overrate this card, but I am definitely looking forward to playing with it. And as with Festercreep, don't forget the synergy with reinforce.
Sunflare Shaman
Cost:
Card Type:
Creature - Elemental Shaman
P/T:
2/1
:
, : Sunflare Shaman deals X damage to target creature or player and X damage to itself, where X is the number of Elemental cards in your graveyard.
Sunflare Shaman does what it does very well. It's an efficient early beater then once its size is much less relevant in the mid to late game, it acts as a fairly cheap removal spell. So yeah, removal on a stick is always good times and this is no different. Respect accordingly and pick highly.
War-Spike Changeling
Cost:
Card Type:
Creature - Shapeshifter
P/T:
3/3
:
Changeling (This card is every creature type at all times.)
: War-Spike Changeling gains first strike until end of turn.
This is one Hill Giant I can get behind. I have tried to hammer in to you over the last few days just how more important changelings have become and they were pretty damned important in Lorwyn as it was.
And there aren't a lot of creatures in the same price bracket that can deal with a 3/3 first striker too. So this guy is efficient, difficult to deal with and acts as some serious utility too. A nice package. Of course, now Hill Giant is obsolete and probably won't be played in Standard. Just in case you were considering it.
The list
So let's throw something together resembling a list. I think I've done not too badly so far with white, blue and black. Let's hope we can keep that going. Remember that this isn't an exact science but a platform to build upon.
1) Shard Volley
2) Roar of the Crowd
3) Sunflare Shaman
4) War-Spike Changeling
5) Stingmoggie
Not sure about Stingmoggie on that list but nothing else really catches my eye (I guess maybe the Bannaret) so I'm going to take a punt on him. Let me know what you think. See you tomorrow for green.
-Flame on-
Dave
Tags: Limited Prospects Morningtide Red Lorwyn Sealed Draft Limited Dave Midi Red
