I figured we should start a thread for discussing the various preview cards that are revealed.  We can also discuss how my respect for Zvi just disappeared.  To anyone who hasn’t checked out today’s preview: http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=mtgcom/daily/zm40.  I quote:  “Every so often, a card should have enough potential that you want to run out, buy four copies and start breaking formats....This is that time.  This is that card.”

Why is Zvi showing me $0.25 rares and telling me they’re fantastic?  The only answer I can fathom is that he has completely sold out to Wizards’ propaganda machine.  Shame on him!  He has tarnished his credibility so that a few Uber-Johnnies (who I greatly respect) will try building decks around a completely unplayable card!?  If you’re going to be playing U/W instants you will be best served by playing a creature-light deck.  U/W is the color of Wrath, Counterspell, and Draw-Go in general.  These archetypes cannot rely on having a creature anywhere near their top 4 cards, much less a creature that they want to put into play at instant speed, then return to their hand, netting no card advantage at all unless the creature has a CIP ability or blocks an attacker.  How often would I rather draw this over a Wrath, Hinder, or Mana Leak?  Roughly never.  If I’m going to be running a four-cc instant it had better do something that greatly impacts the game state.  This is NOT that card.

Hmm. I see your point. If you are playing a control deck, shouldn’t you have enough control to be able to build up the mana to bring your angel of despair out naturally? Hmm. I haven’t played in such a long time, maybe angel of despair isn’t even right for a blue/white deck (cause you add the 2 black cost in there).

Instead of tearing this card down totally… Let’s try to build a deck around it and play some MWS games and see if it pans out…

That way we can prove him wrong based upon facts rather than suppositions.

Customer Service is best served with a lightsaber.

While I’m leaning towards Christian’s viewpoint in traditional U/W control, I think Zvi is saying it’s got that look of breakability that entices people to build around it.  I don’t think he’s saying it’s good as much as he’s saying it looks like it has potential.  And honestly, he’s right.  Pretty much every card in every format that has ever been capable of putting a creature directly into play without paying its mana cost has been played at some time.  That doesn’t mean it was necessarily good, but playable.  I’m still leaning toward the “not so much” camp right now, but I wouldn’t be surprised if someone does something ridiculous with this card while we sit here thinking about how bad it is. 

If nothing else, the Hoffmann adage of playability applies: When in doubt, try it out!

Now thinking of preview cards, what you you all think about Rakdos and Kraj?  I think Rakdos has potential, as he really only needs to hit once to pretty much seal the deal for most decks, but getting him past a Mortify/Putrefy/Boomerang on that first (and subsequent if your opponent has a lot of permanents) swing might be a little tough.  Unless you have stripped your opponent’s hand and know they won’t topdeck removal, he’s pretty risky.

Kraj, on the other hand, seems a lot less ricky, but WAY more deck dependent.  I suppose his level of goodness depends on the number of cards that will interact with him well (which appears to be pretty much everything in the Simic), but we’ll have to wait to see what else is showing up in Dissension.

In related news, Christian is sad because the two instants we know about for Azorius are neither board sweepers nor counterspells.  For your sake, I hope Azorius delivers the goods, my control-playing friend.

I totally agree with Christian. that card is a total pile. Even taking the fact that it can put a creature into play without paying it’s mana cost, it has to be in the top of your deck. Top helps that, but what format breaking cards could it be? Angel is one of the most optimum cards, but you’ll get to take out an extra permanent at most, which is nice but not devastating. white creatures have the fewest and worst CIP effects - and the ones you’re thinking about are also black, too (angel & blind hunter). Blue’s CIP effects are ok, but nothing compared to black or green....

It’s bad. The one good thing is that Zvi hyping it is that I can trade it off for some actual good cards.

I hope it’s true that every snowflake is unique, because I never want to see one like this again.

Thanks, Nathan.  All true.  As for Zvi’s example about keeping it in play with something like Otherworldly Journey or Ghostway, it’s going to cost you six to seven mana (and two cards) to pull that trick for a creature that you already have enough mana to simply cast (unless for some inconceivable reason your goal is to put Autochton Wurm into play).  Do you really want to be filling your deck with sub-par cards and running the risk of card disadvantage when your top 4 cards are counters and lands (or when your opponent does something rude to bounce/kill your creature with your Journey on the stack)?  In general I agree with Mr. Molen that it’s a good idea to figure out how to break a card, but this card is bad enough that I think we can safely skip that part.  It’s like One With Nothing--you can try building a deck around it if you wish, but you’ll easily save yourself some time and disappointment by just applying the facts that you already know.

On to Matt’s question:  I think Rakdos and the Experiment are both very interesting.  I would put Rakdos in the same category as Ebonblade Reaper.  At least the Reaper’s disadvantage is inactive if you attack while he’s morphed.  With the amount of creature kill currently in the environment, Rakdos will not often be resolving damage.  I suppose you could throw Priveleged Position into the deck, which might be kind of cool, but then you need a lot of dual lands to work that.  He could be cool with something like Sneak Attack and Sensei’s Divining Top (or just Goryo’s Vengeance) where you can wait until your opponent is tapped out to put him into play and attack with him in the same turn.  Or maybe you could cast him, Fetter him, play Sky Swallower and a land, then six or seven turns later you could set up some sort of lock where you force him to attack each turn, but you prevent all of his damage each time.  I’d suggest just pairing him with the Dimir shapeshifter, though:  turn 2 discard Rakdos to your own Rat (or Cry of Contrition, etc.), turn 3 play the doppleganger, turn 4 attack and then turn the doppleganger into Rakdos.  I actually really like that one. 

The experiment is insane in limited primarily just because it makes combat math tricky for your opponent.  It combos well with green regenerators already, and a lot of the Graft creatures are supposed to have awesome activated abilities, so he could be the most playable card previewed so far.

I like the idea of using Rakdos with the Dimir Doppelganger.  He might also work with Yore-Tiller Nephilim; at least that’s another way for him to attack without having to sacrifice anything.  Now that Yore-Tiller’s duals will be in the new set, he might be somewhat playable, at least for a rogue FNM deck.

Using Rakdos in a deck with Jin would be a pretty good way to get him into the graveyard, all while ripping up your opponent’s hand.

Using Rakdos in a deck with Jin would be a pretty good way to get him into the graveyard, all while ripping up your opponent’s hand.

That trick will work exactly one time, my friend.  Actually it will work less than that if you have even one other card in your hand.  Who wants to force their opponent to discard Rakdos?  We want you to cast him and then attack so we can blow him up right after you sacrifice half of your permanents.  Your best bet is Avatar of Discord.

do you guys realize that you’re shooting down a card in a set where we only know about 20% of the cards?

have you considered UW aggro?

I guess I’m just the uber-johnny christian was talking about.

Kevin

“Wasn’t our plan just to get to 900 life and f***’em?”

Coldsnap Sealed: who cares
Coldsnap Draft: who cares

So maybe they plan to return an oldie but a goodie to make Christians 25 cent rare worth something.....
Name: Meddling Mage Set & Rarity:  Planeshift rare Cost:  WU
Card Type: Creature ? Wizard P/T: 2/2
As Meddling Mage comes into play, name a nonland card.  The named card can?t be played.

I’d certainly enjoy playing that guy twice against any other deck, and heck he is still legal in extended.  Then you could have more fun with

Name: Sawtooth Loon Set & Rarity:  Planeshift uncommon Cost: 2WU
Card Type: Creature ? Bird P/T: 2/2
Rules Text (Oracle): Flying
When Sawtooth Loon comes into play, return a white or blue creature you control to its owner?s hand.  (like Meddling Mage)
When Sawtooth Loon comes into play, draw two cards, then put two cards from your hand on the bottom of your library.

Of course in the current format it might be more fun to power this guy out
Myojin of Cleansing Fire Set & Rarity:  Champions of Kamigawa rare Cost: 5WWW
Card Type: Legendary Creature ? Spirit P/T: 4/6
Rules Text (Oracle): Myojin of Cleansing Fire comes into play with a divinity counter on it if you played it from your hand.
Myojin of Cleansing Fire is indestructible as long as it has a divinity counter on it.
Remove a divinity counter from Myojin of Cleansing Fire: Destroy each other creature.

Who wouldn’t want a 4/6 flying indestructable “wrath of god” on turn 4?

Hate shoot you down like this… but thatcardONLY works when you play it from your hand…

Putting him into play via this card wouldn’t work…

RGD Sealed Pariah’s Sheild(s) pulled: 17
RGD Sealed’s Played in: 16
(One was shiny...)

I like big creatures and I cannot lie
You other players can’t deny
That when a beast walks in with an itty bitty cost
And your blockers are all lost
You get removal!

ibrac - 11 April 2006 06:04 PM

Of course in the current format it might be more fun to power this guy out
Myojin of Cleansing Fire Set & Rarity:  Champions of Kamigawa rare Cost: 5WWW
Card Type: Legendary Creature ? Spirit P/T: 4/6
Rules Text (Oracle): Myojin of Cleansing Fire comes into play with a divinity counter on it if you played it from your hand.
Myojin of Cleansing Fire is indestructible as long as it has a divinity counter on it.
Remove a divinity counter from Myojin of Cleansing Fire: Destroy each other creature.

Who wouldn’t want a 4/6 flying indestructable “wrath of god” on turn 4?

Myojins only work that way if you play them from your hand.  This is not good for sneaking a Myojin into play. 

Kevin, yes, you and Hunter are the two Uber-Johnnies I had in mind.  Whichever one of you creates a One With Nothing deck first will win the title once and for all.

I had actually considered U/W aggro at the time that I first posted my opinions on Aethermage’s Touch.  This will generally be quite counterproductive in an aggro deck.  Let’s say that I have 4 mana on turn 4 with my U/W/G aggro deck.  The BEST thing that Aethermage’s Touch could POSSIBLY hope to accomplish is to toss out a temporary Loxodon Hierarch, block with it, then return it to hand, then play it again next turn netting an additional 4 life if you manage to have a Hierarch in your top 4 cards and a healthy variety of colored mana.  Personally I would much prefer to just hardcast the elephant on that 4th turn so that I can keep pressure on my opponent by attacking on turn 5 rather than turn 6 and being able to play other threats turn 5 (or save mana for Ghostway) rather than having to recast the Hierarch that I Aethermaged. 

More power to anyone who can make this card work.  The point I’m trying to get at is that I feel like the Spikes’ advocate of Wizards sold out today when he pushed this card, and I wonder why the preview cards are ALMOST always crap rares.  I’m a little disappointed is all.

Well just rain all over my parade! <grin>

well, you CAN attack with the hierarch on your 5th turn.
Touch doesn’t return the creature until your end of turn, not the next end of turn.

OR you touch and drop autochthon wurm, block, attack, bounce, shining shoal ALL(probably) combat damage from the next attack?

I know, I know, autochthon wurm is awesome shining shoal tech. it’s ok, I’m amazing at this game

“Wasn’t our plan just to get to 900 life and f***’em?”

Coldsnap Sealed: who cares
Coldsnap Draft: who cares

You still have respect for Zvi? I lost that when he started posting about praying the your opponent might think creatures they say they can’t block might be able to block…

And for waisting an article on ghostway’s 8th use.

"Some have said there is no subtlety to destruction. You know what? They’re dead.” -Jaya Ballard, task mage

i think this card has playability, the guy with the whole “when it CIP, put target creature on top of its owners library” 2/2 guy would be a great target for this, and he’s controlling enough… but this card is a limited bomb IMO.

Love,
Matt

Standard: Ideal 31-7-8

First off, i’d like to say, Christian, that there is NO way for you to tell how horrible or cheap this card will end up being by only seeing 30 or so cards from the set… otherwise, i’d say you are right on target. But, you don’t know how horrible(or great ) a card will be until you know what the format will look like. Heck, what if they print a 20/20 creature that costs like 25 mana? Or something with a game-winning CITP ability… I would surely pay 2UW for that… And even so, this card is remotely playable with simple CITP effects from cards like Angel of Despair. So don’t write it off yet…

As for trust in Zvi, I don’t see how you had any trust in him in the first place. That whole article about which piece of the urzatron you should play first was a complete WASTE of my time(how are you supposed to know what deck your opponent is playing, whether or not they will make every correct decision about your plays, or even recognize that you play your lands in a certain order?). I won’t be getting those 10 minutes back. Bad Zvi, bad…

...And on to some of the other cards. The 5/3 BR Rathi(that’s what I’ll call it, because that’s where they obviously got the card idea from) seems fine for certain matchups, but otherwise in a regular constructed scenario, it seems mediocre. The 4/6 Simic Champ seems fine as a regular old techy card, and it also gets larger every turn if you want it to(cheap arcbound overseer, anyone?). But my favorite preview card so far has to be the split card. So flexible, yet powerful at the same time. Also works very well with Debtor’s Knell, the 2 best Legendary dragons, and BGW cards in general.

---

Current Decks:
UG Aggro
Mono-Green Turbo-Allosaurus!
Mono-Red BURN

RGD Draft: 25-7-2
RGD Sealed: ***Censored***