'Again' - An Account of Apocalype's Application
**How many times have I done this? My first set review was Exodus. I was all full of excitement, speaking of broken cards far and wide, assembling a 'watch list,' providing templates for a generation of great decks. Magic wasn't a job, it was a game. Now here I am, and again there are broken cards far and wide, providing templates for a generation of great decks. So why can't I get more excited about writing about it? Maybe I've done this once too often. But I can't very well let Scott's door get beaten down. Since he said that's what Mindripper's readers were in fact beating down, here I am blurry-eyed looking at a monitor. Apparently no one's interested in the cards that are like the world chair throwing championship (as in, they don't matter). Since I'm not particularly thrilled about explaining why they're useless, I'll just skip them.
Land: Battlefield Forge, Caves of Koilos, Llanowar Wastes, Shivan Reef, Yavimaya Coast.
I get to kill five cards with one entry here. It's great to finally have them around. Together, they make playing opposite-color decks much easier. The old options of running cards like City of Brass or just praying like the Blue/Green Saproling deck from US Nationals didn't cut it. That doesn't mean decks with opposite colors are necessarily just as easy as allied ones. As long as there aren't too many of them, a few lands coming into play tapped doesn't hurt many decks that much. Decks with green in them can use Birds of Paradise or even Fertile Ground and Harrow, and often are the ones that are too efficient for Shivan Oasis or Elfhame Palace anyway. In short, if the deck is aggressive then it is now equipped to chose whatever colors it needs. Even if that means using three or more of them, twelve painlands can generate a lot of flexibility. Theoretically a deck could even try to use four colors this way if it was careful.
Of course, there is a lot of danger in using too many painlands. Conventional wisdom is that painlands are free and can be put into decks without worrying too much about the consequences, because there weren't enough of them around to do real damage. As the number of painlands goes up, they each start to hurt more and more. A deck with eight painlands is already accepting a certain amount of pain. From what I can tell, a deck with twelve likely starts the game short several life points. Heavily using painlands to support three or more colors has to be done carefully. At most one color can be made relatively pain-free. The rest have to be splashes, or at least not particularly mana intensive.
Also worth noting is that these new resources are much easier for aggressive decks to use than they are for control decks. Aggressive decks can afford pain of this kind, but control decks generally cannot. Splashing red in a White/Blue deck for Urza's Rage is far from painless, and not just when it has to go in for the kill. Painlands are "better cards" than duallands that come into play tapped, but for some purposes there's only so many a deck can use. This isn't quite the brave new world it might seem like at first.
White
3WW
Creature - Legend
During your upkeep, you gain 1 life for each card in target opponents' hand.
3W: Tap target creature. Use this ability only if Gerrard Capshen is attacking.
3\4
At least he didn't try and say anything. It pains me greatly to see him become a card that could possibly be good. In the last set I would probably have ignored this card, because its abilities wouldn't have seemed particularly useful. Gaining life for cards in the opponents' hand? That's a marginal benefit at best, and only in decks where Gerrard is nothing but a Flametonge target. Tapping creatures for four mana while attacking is the closest thing to totally useless out there in constructed right now. His power and toughness are nothing to write home about. Then again, neither is the storyline and that doesn't seem to stop anyone. The problem is this little card called Phyrexian Arena, and with that card around this becomes a consideration. It's like the deck constructor's version of beer goggles: Everything that gives life or fast mana starts to look better. The card still clashes with Gerrard's Verdict, which figures for such an idiot, but he was probably drinking at the time.
1W
Creature - Cat
Protection from Green
B: Regenerate
2/1
It regenerates! It has Protection from Green! It's not a rebel! Oh wait, that could be a problem. Make all the cool white guys you want, but they're no rebels. Still, this is a very good creature. It's Standard's best regenerator now that River Boa is gone, and for those decks that use both colors I think that Protection from Green is a more useful ability than Islandwalk. I never really saw Islandwalk as all that useful, because what is a blue deck doing playing creatures anyway? That's a big and generally wrong generalization of course, and it's suprising just how annoying not being able to leave a Mahamoti Djinn back to block a tiny 2/1 dork can be. Despite that, Protection from Green can be very close to unblockability. Looking at the traditional Fires deck, the biggest non-green creature is Flametonge Kavu and the Spectral Lynx can fight that, kill it and live. Spiritmonger might be an issue, but if the Spectral Lynx is being held off by the Spiritmonger instead of the other way around that seems like an acceptable state of affairs to me. In short, this is a great two casting cost white creature with a black activation cost. The problem is that some deck has to actually want a great two casting cost white creature with a black activation cost. I wonder if Gerrard likes cats.
Blue
1U
Instant
Counter target spell unless its controller spends 1 for every basic land type among lands you control.
Have we fallen so far that we're willing to play such a pathetic counterspell? Have things gotten so bad that we're going to be playing Miscalculation without the cycling and thanking the new set for giving it to us? Well, maybe not quite, but it's closer than it should be. The problem lies in the requirement that the caster control basic land types. With all those new painlands, there's no good reason for all these basic lands outside of an actual Domain deck. In short, in Standard this is basically relegated to decks that can use it to sink spells for five. Note of course that this can't be a Power Sink for more than the number of lands the caster controls, it will only be that big under the very best of circumstances and it maxes out at five mana at most. A deck that goes to the trouble of creating a real Domain could just as easily have generated the mana for a good counter instead. Well that's not true, because on turn two or three this should work where an Absorb might well be uncastable, so it could have a place. But for those desperate enough to think about trying this at home in a normal deck, there's always older bad counterspells to choose from. Viva la Memory Lapse!
3UU
Enchantment
Whenever any player plays a spell, any other player can pay the mana cost of the spell. If a player does, counter the spell.
That's why I get these writing jobs. Who else would see potential in this apparent piece of junk? Only I could present an argument that will actually cause dealers to raise their prices by a buck or two to keep up with increased demand. No one else has said a word about this card, and here it sits ready to counter every spell in the opponent's deck! All that is required is asymmetry of mana or asymmetry of mana usage. A Domain deck uses over thirty mana sources and can produce all five colors of mana. Most of its opponents will have mana counts in the mid-twenties and will produce two or maybe three colors. With an Ice Cave in play, a Domain deck could reasonably hope to counter all its opponents' spells and still cast half of its own without trouble - or even just win off an Elfhame Sanctuary!
Of course, just saying that Domain decks can use a card doesn't really count. First, Domain decks can use just about everything. Second, Domain decks don't actually exist in Standard. David Williams tried one at US Nationals, and things did not go well. These decks require a ton of things to go right before they can be pulled off, and so far no luck. So instead those who would use Ice Cave must look to decks that actually exist. What would happen if it was a sideboard card in some monstrosity? In a matchup of a monoblue deck, say Opposition or Skies, against a multicolor blue deck, say W/U control or Nether-Go, the result is a mirror of the Domain situation. One side can cast, the other cannot, and that would seem to be game. A few bonus painlands could even let a deck wreck havoc where it would be least expected. Best of all, it fits right into Mafia King!
Black
3BB
Creature - Angel
Kicker WW
Flying
When Desolation Angel comes into play, destroy all lands you control.
If you paid the Kicker cost, instead destroy all lands.
5/4
Rout, untap, Desolation Angel. Darwin Kastle already pointed that one out in the printed Sideboard. It's a lot of mana, but the result is a 5/4 flyer and no lands or other creatures in play. That's generally a game winner. The problem with this card is that it's Flametonge food. Because of this problem, it can't be put out for five mana against anything red, which basically relegates it to a seven mana spell. It requires a heavy commitment to both white and black. A seven mana win condition is a tough sell, even if it is a good one. Its only chance is that it falls under the category of cards that are being 'pushed' by WotC for us to play. In this case, it is the Black/White deck that's been somehow dominating the Future Future League. In particular, they recommend the following amazing decklist:
(riffles through pages, wonders why they send him so many author's copies, mumble, mumble.)
Oh wait, there's only one Angel in there and running two copies of Phyrexian Arena is like running two copies of Necropotence and this looks like it loses to Fires, Machinehead, Skies, Opposition, Control and several forms of plant life but I'm not getting into the rest of the deck right now. Then again, Darwin's decklist might have something worthwhile:
(flips pages, no not that one, why do they print this stuff, mumble.)
It's amazing, you put a Pro in charge of building a deck and suddenly he's actually trying to accomplish something or heaven forbid actually win the game. Note however that I said 'try'. This deck has issues, and needs to go to the issues table as soon as we're sure we know all this deck's issues. Unfortunately I don't have that kind of time. It should suffice to say that this deck relies on much too much discard and its mana isn't anywhere near as screwed up as it should be given that it only really needs to be used twice. Still, it's a good idea on using Desolation Angel: clear the opponents' hand and then blow up the whole world. More relevant is the possibility of Desolation Angel: the land is no longer completely safe, and tapping out can be risky. If players continue to tap out as aggressively as most control decks do right now, this can really punish them.
Did you know that the playtest name for this card was Yawgmoth's Crappy Little Bean? They thought it was a little obvious though. Draw all the comparisons you want, but this is life for cards and the world is going to suffer. The only question is how it will happen, and how much. There are a few things worth keeping in mind while looking. The first is that Phyrexian Arena doesn't give anything like the kind of instant win the old versions did. This is a lot more like a Yawgmoth's Agenda that can be played pre-emptively. If it stays out and its owner can keep himself alive, the card economy should overwhelm the opponent. It's still only two for one, so it's far from certain and requires more efficiency of design. If the deck spends too much on discard and forcing through the Arena and life gain to support the Arena, it's very possible that a solid deck like Fires could make up the card loss from Arena through the support cards. Then again, they might be smashed by Gerrard's Wisdom and Armadillo Cloak. Certainly there won't be anything like the pure Necropotence decks that can barely function without Necropotence. These decks will have to be relatively normal decks that can use Phyrexian Arena. It's even possible this will be more of a utility card designed to make life miserable for control decks rather than something decks get built around. There are some good life gainers out there right now, but beware their overuse. Especially dangerous is playing too many painlands; these decks will probably have to be pure two color black, unless they go for the life-gain strategy and are built very carefully. Disenchant works just fine on the Arena, which wasn't true of Necropotence, so there are a lot more good outs. Still, even if I had no idea how I still expect this card to cause trouble. Also, note the pattern: So far, every card here has been bad for control.
Red
2R
Enchantment
1W: Search your library for an enchantment, reveal it, then put it into your hand. Discard a card at random.
1U: Search your library for an instant, reveal it, then put it into your hand. Discard a card at random.
That's a lot of tutoring, and it's scary as hell. There are a lot of ways to approach the card. The deck can use the white ability, the blue ability or both. It can try to 'break' Wild Research or it can just use it for general good stuff purposes. Red generally doesn't have particularly good utility cards, so it's likely that the red will be the minor color in the deck. One approach could be the simple cross-your-fingers hoser approach, with stuff like Circles of Protection. This is basically scooping to control game one if the Research doesn't stick quickly, but that could be an acceptable loss. A bunch of utility instants is a similar but less drastic approach, reaching for counters like Exclude, Prophetic Bolt and Suffocating Blast. A deck could just splash red to get Research out and for a few choice Research targets off of painlands, and play as a W/U control deck with wide variety and redundancy. Yes, they might be able to mix. Accumulated Knowledge is the 'freebie' use of this card, turning it into a card drawing engine if nothing else. There are plenty of possibilities. What about using Wild Research to bring out Phyrexian Arenas? Fires of Yavimaya and Saproling Burst? A few copies of Collective Restraint? The sky's the limit.
Green
Cynical bastard, aren't I? Sorry, no soup for you. OK, maybe Lay of the Land will sneak into Domain decks, but as I said earlier, Domain decks don't count.
- Zvi Mowshowitz
** [**](#top)