Mythics of Alara Reborn

Defiler of Souls: Everything about this card is solid. It has a big body with evasion and built in removal. This is a powerful splashy card, and I love it. I like how it plays with the theme of the entire Shards of Alara block. Also, have you looked at the art of this card? It's beyond beautiful. I love how pink and white the art is; the contrast between the color of the art and the motive of the card is fantastic. I am a huge fan of when demons are done right, and like Malfegor, this is a demon done right.

Dragon Broodmother: For two less mana than Verdant Force, you get a card that makes flying tokens. This card gets out of hand really quickly. However, unlike Verdant Force, the tokens can get really really freaking large. It's not the amount of the tokens that becomes outrageous but also their size! I love how this card shows the ruthlessness and survival of the fittest of Jund. The babies in the nest eat each other to survive.

Jenara, Asura of War: A three mana 3/3 flier that gets larger and larger and larger. This card comes down early and is a huge beating. This card is a threat all on its own. This card really isn't amazingly flavorful or splashy, but she is freaking efficient. If I were on Bant, I'd be grateful I was following her.

Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund: Okay, now we have a dragon lord. I love this guy so much. He's so powerful that all dragons immediately flock to his side and attack at will. His threat is immediate and permanent. I keep on thinking that eventually they're going to have to run out of ways to create unique dragons; this one is just so different from the rest. It's very nice.

Lord of Extinction: This card is a beating. I also love how he does not have trample. I love that so much. He wants to devour everyone of your opponents creatures before it devours your opponent. He's hungry. I also can't believe that they never printed this before. It seems so obvious.

Maelstrom Nexus: Cascade is fun. This card gives everything you play cascade. It's fun. It's random. It's worth the effort. It's chaotic. It's a new effect. It's never been done before. It's mythic.

Sen Triplets: I like how this card has a very "Mind Slaver" feeling but is so different from that card. It doesn't have the feeling of hopelessness as much as a feeling of, "Oh my God. I need to play my spells before my plays them for himself!" Instead of using your opponents cards "badly" you are using them to benefit yourself. It's an interesting take on using your opponents' cards against them, and I like it.

Sphinx of the Steel Wind: It's an Akroma, Angel of Wrath variant. I remember so many people complaining because this is such lazy design. I would like to tell those people, "No, you're wrong." I mean, while it looks like they just throw keywords on there, they don't. There could be a different Akroma variant in every set, and every little different keyword or power or toughness completely alters how the card works. Anyway, this card is house.

Thraximundar: This card is an joy on a creature. He comes out of nowhere and BAMS! Your opponent is down a creature, and you have a 7/7 guy heading his way. He's a beating that gets larger and larger as the game goes on. Again, I could easily see this guy having trample, but I love that he doesn't. He wants to kill everything before he kills your opponent. I guess zombie assassins do have all the time in the world to do their job.

Uril, the Miststalker: This is the creature that keeps on growing. "Troll-shroud" is such a powerful ability that really combos well with Aura because it makes their built in "card disadvantage" much harder for you opponent to exploit. Uril even gets bonuses for those auras!

The Mythic Rares of Conflux

Apocalypse Hydra: Okay, this card fits the theme of Naya while also being very different. This card is huge, bomby, and freaking awesome. This is a hydra that works. A 10/10 for 7 mana is something is already above the curve for a card. It's body scales with your mana, and the ability to throw counters at chump blockers or opponents is just gravy. This card makes a huge impact when it hits the board. This is mythic.

Child of Alara: Okay, this card has a huge effect on a large body. It destroys everything but lands when it leaves play. I don't know how much I like this card at mythic. It just doesn't really do anything that unique. It certainly has mythic qualities, but I'm thinking that a larger body or to have its ability be an enter the battlefield effect would have made it just slightly more badass.

Conflux: YES! This card is not very good. I know. However, it's a splashy fun tutor. It just works. I love everything about this card. It's a very casual oriented card, but that does not make it bad. It has a powerful effect for a strict price. I love it.

Ethersworn Adjudicator: So, in a monoblue deck you get a Serra Sphinx, which isn't all that bad. In the colors of Esper you get a repeated war machine that kills everything in sight. It's awesome. Again, this has an a very threatening impact on the board because if you untap with it, nothing is safe.

Maelstrom Archangel: Okay, we have an all colored angel. That in itself is mythic. Then we have this free spell whenever it touches an opponent. OH MY GOD. Yes. If you play Conflux for free, then you are in the money! This card just screams Johnny and is worth all the effort you get in trying to get it out. I love it. It's fantastic. (That being said, in a future post I will make a comment on how I really don't like "big" creatures that have abilities that trigger on combat damage to opponents.)

Malfegor: Okay, I hated this card initially. I thought it was awful and stupid. Turns out I was wrong. This card is a freaking beast. He has a huge body and his enter the battlefield ability wrecks house against opponents. Most of their creatures will die and your little ones will have room to attack! This card is a demonic dragon. It's just the perfect cunning combination of both that makes it freaking fantastic.

Mirror-Sigil Sergeant: Ugh. Okay, I know self replicating cards are interesting. It's just the ability has kind of been done before (Spawnwrithe, Chronozoa) and does not feel as unique when it first came out. I don't know. I'm a little ambivalent about this one. I think if the "blue" clause was removed for something else, I would be able to like this guy a lot better. I know he gets out of hand quickly... but I don't know. Trample in white is also a mythic property, but I just don't know. This one doesn't really do it for me, but that's because of it seems to be a little underwhelming of a card to be copied.

Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker: For 8 mana, I want something this game changing every time. I love how Bolas is not an immediate game over. Your opponent just has to struggle to get him. He is a a tower of doom and will win games easily for you if resolved. I love this card, and it epitomizes the mythic rarity.

Progenitus: Oh, and Progenitus defines that rarity, too! I have a ton of casual decks that I make so my friends can play. They've loved Progenitus since the beginning. It is a joyous occasion whenever it comes out. The other day I played it, and my friends were trying to find a way to kill it when I said, "You know when it dies it gets shuffled back into my library, right?" They were like, "HE DOES WHAT?" They couldn't get past that he had protection from everything AND another ability. That is mythic.

Thornling: Okay, people initially complained that the art didn't match that of Morphling and Torchling, and it slightly bothered me too, but I quickly got over it. People also lamented about how haste was irrelevant after the first turn it came into play, and that it was a horrible designed card. Well, this card has seen constructed play. (Unlike his fire brethren.) I think this card is a scary motherf*cker. I think indestructible is a very mythic like ability, and this card uses it very well.

Overall, I feel that this set's mythic are all deserving of the rarity, so congratulations! This is a set well done.

The Mythic Problem

People have been very ambivalent towards the creation of the mythic rarity ever since it was first created, usually saying that it is Wizards trying to rip the player base off and just using it as a way to sell packs.

But that is not what I want to delve into. (at least, yet...) I want to examine all of the mythics that was have and look at how they feel. Do I believe that they should be mythic? What changed would I make to them?

Mark Rosewater introduced mythics here and the important quote is: "We want the flavor of mythic rare to be something that feels very special and unique. Generally speaking we expect that to mean cards like Planeswalkers, most legends, and epic-feeling creatures and spells. They will not just be a list of each set's most powerful tournament-level cards."

Let's go to the very first set: Shards of Alara. (click for a page of the mythics)

Ajani Vegeant: Okay, this card is obviously a planeswalker which easily makes it a mythic. Now, this is our first look at a planeswalker revisited. This is a younger Ajani. The design behind this card is one of my favorites. It is completely red and completely white. It just is so flavorful. This is a good planeswalker because both of its first two abilities protect itself. I also love how they can be used defensively and offensively. I genuinely do not think this card could be any designed any more perfectly.

Elspeth, Knight Errant: Another planeswalker! Okay, so now we have two monocolor white planeswalkers. (Another link to the old Ajani!) For Elspeth to be good she has to play differently. And she does. She actually is the first planeswalker to have two +N abilities. Those two abilities can always be used, and she does also protect herself. Her ultimate is the first planeswalker that has a impact on the rest of the game. She feels so different from the white Ajani, but also different from any other planewalker. (Actually, every planeswalker is completely unique so far!) Elsepth also plays very well with her respective Bant cards.

Empyrial Archangel: Okay, this is part of each shard's fatty cycle. Okay, this Angel is mythic. It has a huge body at 5/8. It flies and has shroud. It changed the game it hits play. It has a game altering ability that forces your opponent to find a way to kill it. I love this card. I also like the design of this card because of how it is tricolored. A lot of my problem with Alara Block was that I feel a lot of the cards were multicolored for the sake of being multicolored. This card is green, white, and blue.

Godsire: This is another card in the fatty cycle, and I love this card too. This card is just a huge fat Naya beast. It is just gigantic. I love it eventually overcomes any amount of chump blockers while also making a very effective defense. It fits into Naya's theme really well, too.

Hellkite Overlord: Now we have the fatty of Jund. A big fat flying hastey trampling fatty dragon. Awesome. Again, this card just screams mythic. It's hard to kill, hard to deal with, and is worth the cost of admission. It comes out of nowhere, and BAM! You're opponent just lost half their starting life total. This is a mythic dragon. It's hard to make dragons seem mythic because of their commonality, but this card deserves attention.

Kresh the Bloodbraided: Now we have the first card in a cycle Shard's legendary creatures. Kresh fits well into Jund's cutthroat theme. Creatures die and he survives. He gets bigger at the sight of blood. I have no problem with this guy. He gets big and huge. He kills stuff really effectively.

Lich's Mirror: Okay, this is the first mythic I have problems with. At first I didn't like this card because it didn't fit into the set. Why was it here? Then I finally realized that is was Grixis's missing mythic. (Each Shard gets a fatty and a legendary creature. Each other Shard also got a planewalker, this was Grixis's placeholder for a planeswalker.) So, I felt a little better about it. Now, what is my problem with this card? I don't really know. As you can tell, to me, mythics do not have to be good. They have to be game altering and awesome. They have to be fun. They should do something unique and unprecedented. This card is unique and unprecedented, but I don't like that it really does nothing. I don't know. I am fine with it being mythic. I think it deserves to be mythic. I just do not like it. (I'll wait to build a deck around it though, so give it time.)

Mayael the Anima: I hate this card at first. A lot. Then I made a casual Naya deck, and my opinion of the card completely changed. Wow. It is awesome and fun and awesome. I love it. The randomness of its ability leads to intense and dramatic game states. The potential power of the ability forces you do decide to either play the fatty in your hand and try and "loot" for a fatty. This card is fun!

Prince of Thralls: A 7/7 fatty that can potentially steal anything that dies. This card is freaking fantastic. It is worth the 8 mana. It changes the gamestate. Your opponents will play different when this card is out and hell, even you will. Just like the previous Shard fatties, this card is worth it. Also, for the record, I like how the different Shard fatties have varying power and toughness -- I do not know why, but it is much more evocative for them to just act differently. I don't know what it means, but I like how they are 5/8, 8/8, 8/8, 7/7, 6/6. They just play so interestingly with each other. Sorry, I got distracted. Anyway, this card combines red's punishment mechanic with blue permanent control and black's life lose for just a very awesome one sentence card.

Rafiq of the Many: Okay, double strike has always been a special mechanic. It always makes something seem special. Rafiq's double striking potential combined with his inherent exalted ability is just freaking awesome. His combination of abilities works so well together and in the world of Bant.

Sarkhan Vol: Here we have another planeswalker. I love the flavor behind a dragon obsessed planeswalker. A lot of people have trouble with Sarkhan Vol because he isn't green enough. While I do agree that it is arguable that his abilities are very red centered, I think his green comes more from his dragon obsession. Green appreciated nature and its beauty -- which is what Sarkhan Vol does. His abilities work really well together, and is just awesome. His ultimate is kickass. He is mythic to the core. I think this is the perfect red/green card. He's Grull to the core.

Sedris, the Traitor King: This is a huge fat dude that gives everything in your graveyard unearth. Unearth is a very awesome ability, and it's ability to temporarily reanimate everything in your graveyard is sick. This card costs enough and has a big enough body to be worth it.

Sharuum the Hegemon: This sphinx works is special. It's enter the battlefield reanimation is really powerful without being too powerful -- the cost fits the ability. This Esper shard legendary creature is really fitting of blue's interaction with artifacts and black and white's graveyard shenanigans. A 5/5 flier is very effective and efficient.

Sphinx Sovereign: Okay, this is my first major problem mythic. This mainly has to do with power level concerns. It's second ability is just really underwhelming. And by really, I actually mean a little underwhelming. I really wish instead of a 3 point life swing it was more 4 or 5. I would really like for it to be four because then it could kill a single opponent in two swings. The card is fine as is, but I feel compared to not having you take any damage, permanently stealing permanents, a huge hastey flier, or making 8/8 tokens, it just does not really compare. However, I do like the card a lot. I just would have liked for it to be a little more powerful.

Tezzeret the Seeker: Now we have our first "narrow" planewalker and our second monoblue planeswalker. This card is sick. I love it. He just works really well with himself. Blue has always had an affinity for artifacts, and this card shows that. I love Tezzeret actually works in a deck with just artifacts -- the card does not necessitate a deck full of artifacts, eight or nine is really all that is needed to be effective. I just love this card a lot, and how it shows what new planeswalkers could do.

Planechase Review

Planechase is a new multiplayer product produced by Wizards of the Coast. It is also, if I remember correctly, the first multiplayer product since Battle Royale. This speaks wonders to this product because Battle Royale was 10 years ago. The success of this product definitely will impact the future of multiplayer product.

So, how does it stand?

First, I will judge the product on the decks that come with it. Planechase is composed of 4 separate decks. (Elemental Mastery, Metallic Dreams, Strike Force, and Zombie Empire) As preconstructed decks, they are completely above the quality of anything from Wizards. They all are very cohesive and have very good cards. These are the types of decks that I want the Duel Decks to be like, but I digress.

Elementary Mastery is a green/red elemental deck. It features a lot of beefy elementals for its rares but there really is not anything too exciting except for Verdant Force. This is the big dumb creature deck of the bunch.

Metallic Dreams is an all colored but mostly blue artifact deck. This deck plays well, but can get mana screwed by not having any blue sources to play the better spells or not having enough colored mana to get sunburst working effectively. I would have also liked to have seen more variety in this deck's cards; they are mostly from Mirrodin and Esper cards from the Alara block.

Strike Force is a red/white aggro deck. That being said, it's doesn't do a great job at being aggro. With only 16 creatures, you can't reliable get anything to stick or to attack early. This deck features a large range of cards, and I really like that. It also has Akroma's Vengeance which is really really nice.

Zombie Empire is a tribal zombie deck. It is arguably the best deck among the four, and while I think all four decks are equal, I have to say that this deck definitely has the best rares; Phrexian Arena, Profane Command, and Beacon of Unrest.

Now, why these decks are amazing preconstructed decks, they are not great multiplayer decks. Multiplayer decks need to have a lot more answers in them. I would like to probably see better and more creature removal in all of the decks, along with more enchantment and artifact destruction. Yes, these decks work, but I know that they would feel "more" even if these types of cards were added into the mix.

Now I am done... wait... I didn't do the planes.

The planes!

The best part of the product is that each deck comes with 10 plane cards. (There is also another plane that was given out with the purchase of these products for a total of 21.) Rules are here.

I have nothing but positive comments about this product. The planes themselves are well thought out, very flavorful, and are just absolutely beautiful to look at. Recently, the game has wanted us to be immersed in this game. These planes do that perfectly. Do you know what it is like to fight another group of planeswalkers in a sweltering inferno? In a chaotic clash of mana? How about on a peaceful goat field? It really is that amazing and fun.

I love the random aspect of this game. It really adds a level of excitement and skill that is unparalleled by basic game. The anxiety knowing that you have to leave a specific plane this turn or you will lose is so awesome or if you roll a chaos ability you will win. There is so much strategy within this product it really is unbelievable. I hate to say that the planes have a different power level, so I won't. I will say that each plane promotes a different strategy, which is an amazing thing.

This product gets an A+! Go buy it now.

Until next time, have fun being a planeswalker.

-Steven