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.