Splicer seems really nice for U/G control in limited. Dispatch has the potential to be good, if we get low costed artifacts worth playing (I don't know how useful it will be to the Tempered Steel Aggro deck, because aggro decks are usually about damage, not creature control). Free pump is awesome, it will probably put Greenfect on the map...and I will gladly start playing it once I see what other Infect cards we get. The Panther just looks awesome. I need about 25 foils of that Blazing Sun Mountain, it looks beautiful.
As a limited-only (well, aside from casual) player, these are pretty interesting. A few comments (with the caveat that we don't yet know what NPH/MBS/SOM limited will really look like):
Mutagenic growth - a pump spell that works when you're tapped out is pretty attractive. You can use it to save an important mana myr from pings and screw up combat math while still curving out perfectly.
Grim Affliction - nice removal. I generally wouldn't mind paying 3 mana for shock in draft, and here we more or less have "withershock" plus proliferate any other relevant permanents/players.
Sickleslicer - respectable. I'd place it above Flayer Husk but below Skinwing... a gray ogre isn't exciting but you'll play them if you have to, and +2/+2 is, at present, enough to make any creature relevant and any decent creature into a threat. Both on one card looks strong, but it's obviously no Bonehoard or Mortarpod, and I think the evasion on Skinwing is worth somewhat more than the reduced cost on this guy.
Edit: Oh, one more comment:
Slash Panther - My wife, who drafts occasionally, reads a lot of fanfiction. I just know she's going to snicker every time she sees this card in a pack, due to the unintentional double meaning in the name.
(Any innocent souls who aren't yet aware of it, google "slash fic," but don't blame me if you can't unsee it or won't be able to look at this card the same way again)
I already run a white Artifact deck (not competitive, I just enjoy the theme), and it's usual for me to have Metalcraft ready during the first two turns. I don't like the idea of splashing black just for removal, so Dispatch is exactly what my deck needs. Definitely the most intriguing of the NPH cards revealed thus far.
Though, I have to wonder: why did the Mirrans wait so long to bust out these cards? Puresteel looks great, Caged Sun's pretty cool, and now Dispatch. They probably could've won if they'd started the fight with these instead of some of that Scars crap like Fulgent Distraction.
Edit: Oh, one more comment:
Slash Panther - My wife, who drafts occasionally, reads a lot of fanfiction. I just know she's going to snicker every time she sees this card in a pack, due to the unintentional double meaning in the name.
(Any innocent souls who aren't yet aware of it, google "slash fic," but don't blame me if you can't unsee it or won't be able to look at this card the same way again)
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO dammit, i'll never see that card the same way again
Dispatch however does look amazing. There's a tempered steel deck from a japan national qualifier top 8 that splashed black for GftT. With dispatch the deck is more consistent and has better removal. Definitely a deck to watch out for.
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To post on this forum you must...
1. Have absolutely no idea what you're talking about.
2. Stubbornly argue for at least 1 page of posts.
3. Regurgitate things you read on Starcitygames or Channelfireball.
4. Hate all netdeckers
5. Claim your 2nd place FNM deck broke the format and Delver is not even that good.
6. Tell everybody that MBC is coming back every time a new black card is released.
Cards from standard to perhaps reconsider in constructed:
- Death's Shadow
Combos reasonably well with Trespassing Souleater and future easy-lifeloss cards. Consider Fling, Phyrexian Unlife, Distortion Strike, and/or Tainted Strike.
- Near Death Experience + Trespassing Souleater
- Repay in Kind (a bit of a stretch) + Trespassing Souleater
- Bloodchief Ascension -- free counter anytime opponent uses phyrexian mana
- Early mill effects (Tome Scour, Hedron Crab) - for Surgical Extraction
- Sword of Vengeance, Ogre's Cleaver, and maybe even Heavy Arbalest- the cards you ACTUALLY want to equip with Puresteel Paladin. Well, in addition to the pro-color swords.
As for limited, that giant growth is AMAZING--even better than Gather Courage! The number of blowouts this card enables is unreal. Stack-blocking will never be safe again.
Last thing: Why is there no colorless Phyrexian mana symbol?
Personally I love all of those basic lands to bits.
Seconded. the phyrexianized landscape is sick, each single part of it. From what I see, the Tel-Jilad ended up by far the worst, it is almost unrecognizable.
Quote from Seth Dracovitch »
Each of the first basic land arts shows off a Phyrexianized version of each "Place of Tribal Importance" on Mirrodin. AKA the Artifact Lands.
Indeed - i expected this since we got the phyrexianized Lumengrid art from mtgrealm. I love that. Though, like i said before, I am sorry for the Viridians.
I am loving the cards spoiled so far. And good to see Venser doing something as well (Elspeth got her action on Soul Parry and Koth at Slagstorm).
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100% Vorthos Spike and Storyline Expert
Former Fact Prospector of the Greek Alliance.
Let this great clan rest in peace (2001-2011)
Dispatch makes me wanna play monowhite control again with artifacts. Contagion Clasp, Tumble Magnets, Wurmcoil Engine, Everflowing Chalice, etc... Seems like fun.
Except it goes into no current decks because it basically sucks in every played deck right now. Some people mentioned putting it in quest decks but it doesn't even seem that good to me there. The card seems way too variable to me in anything but a dedicated metalcraft deck, and good ones don't exist yet.
Pretty disappointing that out of so many cards only 1 is decent.
About the giant growth, my guess was it would give +3/+3 to be at the same power level as the black one, but I guess wizards was afraid of making it strictly better than the giant growth itself.
"Normally, cycles are all within the same rarity within the same set, but not always. The original "boons" (Healing Salve, Ancestral Recall, Dark Ritual, Lightning Bolt, Giant Growth) from Alpha, for example, broke rarity"
Immediately afterward, he gives another example of a cross-rarity cycle which even crosses blocks:
"The first Atog cycle (Auratog, Chronatog, Necratog, Atog, Foratog) was spread out over five various expansions."
The most frequently used type of card cycle is one card of each color at a given rarity within a single expansion, but this is not a hard and fast rule. I don't see any reason why we should assume that there isn't a cross-rarity cycle of 1cc phyrexian mana spells.
In most ways, a Phyrexian mana symbol works like any other mana symbol of its color. Mutagenic Growth is always a green card, because it has a green mana symbol in its cost—it doesn't matter whether you actually paid any green mana to cast it.
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100% Vorthos Spike and Storyline Expert
Former Fact Prospector of the Greek Alliance.
Let this great clan rest in peace (2001-2011)
I really dig Mutagenic Growth and Dispatch!
The Growth spell has Stompy written all over it and Dispatch is just... wow... Affinity just got the best "exile target creature" spell ever
Infect is getting better n better... Mutagenic Growth looks pretty good,
especially played in monoblack infect....i'd say it's quite dangerous...
other colours dont really care , they just trade 2 life for 2 damage
and in casual...this paired with Invigorate will get very annoying fast...
i L o V e the white removal, all the artifacts heavy decks rejoice! they got a Path/swords with no drawback at all! WOO HOO...
the other cards look fine aswell, this block looks best of the three
WOW the art on those lands is amazing! Why oh why cant we have full art or at least 5/8th. sigh... They could make more money off fat packs with those, I know I only bought the Zen ones for the lands. Really liking the overall vibe of this set, you can so tel that Scars was tacked on after they designed this first. Must be why SOM was so bad, they didn't have much inspiration for it except to lead up to NPH
I find it rather curious that they did not announce imprint returning. We do have an already confirmed card with imprint (Invasion Parasite) so I wonder what they're up to.
Dispatch is awesome. I want to play this in Standard, so I'll either be working on a Tempered Steel deck or maybe just Glint Hawk aggro.
If you evolve cawblade a little it can run dispatch no problem. They're already starting with necropede with tumble magnets, swords and a inkmoth or two.
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Mutagenic growth - a pump spell that works when you're tapped out is pretty attractive. You can use it to save an important mana myr from pings and screw up combat math while still curving out perfectly.
Grim Affliction - nice removal. I generally wouldn't mind paying 3 mana for shock in draft, and here we more or less have "withershock" plus proliferate any other relevant permanents/players.
Sickleslicer - respectable. I'd place it above Flayer Husk but below Skinwing... a gray ogre isn't exciting but you'll play them if you have to, and +2/+2 is, at present, enough to make any creature relevant and any decent creature into a threat. Both on one card looks strong, but it's obviously no Bonehoard or Mortarpod, and I think the evasion on Skinwing is worth somewhat more than the reduced cost on this guy.
Edit: Oh, one more comment:
Slash Panther - My wife, who drafts occasionally, reads a lot of fanfiction. I just know she's going to snicker every time she sees this card in a pack, due to the unintentional double meaning in the name.
(Any innocent souls who aren't yet aware of it, google "slash fic," but don't blame me if you can't unsee it or won't be able to look at this card the same way again)
Though, I have to wonder: why did the Mirrans wait so long to bust out these cards? Puresteel looks great, Caged Sun's pretty cool, and now Dispatch. They probably could've won if they'd started the fight with these instead of some of that Scars crap like Fulgent Distraction.
"Serious question, why are the people in the mtgsal thread so ****ing stupid?"
What Magic Color are You, MORON ?
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO dammit, i'll never see that card the same way again
t1: 2x 0cc artifacts, Mox opal, Mountain, Kiln Fiend
t2: giant growth, assault strobe
[/sarcasm]
Dispatch however does look amazing. There's a tempered steel deck from a japan national qualifier top 8 that splashed black for GftT. With dispatch the deck is more consistent and has better removal. Definitely a deck to watch out for.
1. Have absolutely no idea what you're talking about.
2. Stubbornly argue for at least 1 page of posts.
3. Regurgitate things you read on Starcitygames or Channelfireball.
4. Hate all netdeckers
5. Claim your 2nd place FNM deck broke the format and Delver is not even that good.
6. Tell everybody that MBC is coming back every time a new black card is released.
yea cause who uses white removal anyway
Cards from standard to perhaps reconsider in constructed:
- Death's Shadow
Combos reasonably well with Trespassing Souleater and future easy-lifeloss cards. Consider Fling, Phyrexian Unlife, Distortion Strike, and/or Tainted Strike.
- Near Death Experience + Trespassing Souleater
- Repay in Kind (a bit of a stretch) + Trespassing Souleater
- Bloodchief Ascension -- free counter anytime opponent uses phyrexian mana
- Early mill effects (Tome Scour, Hedron Crab) - for Surgical Extraction
- Sword of Vengeance, Ogre's Cleaver, and maybe even Heavy Arbalest- the cards you ACTUALLY want to equip with Puresteel Paladin. Well, in addition to the pro-color swords.
As for limited, that giant growth is AMAZING--even better than Gather Courage! The number of blowouts this card enables is unreal. Stack-blocking will never be safe again.
Last thing: Why is there no colorless Phyrexian mana symbol?
Seconded. the phyrexianized landscape is sick, each single part of it. From what I see, the Tel-Jilad ended up by far the worst, it is almost unrecognizable.
Indeed - i expected this since we got the phyrexianized Lumengrid art from mtgrealm. I love that. Though, like i said before, I am sorry for the Viridians.
I am loving the cards spoiled so far. And good to see Venser doing something as well (Elspeth got her action on Soul Parry and Koth at Slagstorm).
Let this great clan rest in peace (2001-2011)
Except it goes into no current decks because it basically sucks in every played deck right now. Some people mentioned putting it in quest decks but it doesn't even seem that good to me there. The card seems way too variable to me in anything but a dedicated metalcraft deck, and good ones don't exist yet.
About the giant growth, my guess was it would give +3/+3 to be at the same power level as the black one, but I guess wizards was afraid of making it strictly better than the giant growth itself.
And the different rarities means they aren't both part of a "cycle" of any kind.
R Citizen Cane (Feldon of the Third Path)
I don't understand why people keep saying that cycles cannot cross rarity. Here is Mark Rosewater from an article about card cycles ( http://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/article.aspx?x=mtgcom/daily/mr28 ) :
"Normally, cycles are all within the same rarity within the same set, but not always. The original "boons" (Healing Salve, Ancestral Recall, Dark Ritual, Lightning Bolt, Giant Growth) from Alpha, for example, broke rarity"
Immediately afterward, he gives another example of a cross-rarity cycle which even crosses blocks:
"The first Atog cycle (Auratog, Chronatog, Necratog, Atog, Foratog) was spread out over five various expansions."
The most frequently used type of card cycle is one card of each color at a given rarity within a single expansion, but this is not a hard and fast rule. I don't see any reason why we should assume that there isn't a cross-rarity cycle of 1cc phyrexian mana spells.
From the article:
Let this great clan rest in peace (2001-2011)
The Growth spell has Stompy written all over it and Dispatch is just... wow... Affinity just got the best "exile target creature" spell ever
--------------------------------------
"STAY CLEAR OF WHITE POWDER"
311 "Who's Got the Herb"
--------------------------------------
Mutagenic Growth looks pretty good,
especially played in monoblack infect....i'd say it's quite dangerous...
other colours dont really care , they just trade 2 life for 2 damage
and in casual...this paired with Invigorate will get very annoying fast...
i L o V e the white removal, all the artifacts heavy decks rejoice! they got a Path/swords with no drawback at all! WOO HOO...
the other cards look fine aswell, this block looks best of the three
Δε φοβάμαι τίποτα...
Είμαι Άνεργος.
Grimstringer on Cockatrice, add me if you wanna
Turn 2 Two Goblin Guide
If you evolve cawblade a little it can run dispatch no problem. They're already starting with necropede with tumble magnets, swords and a inkmoth or two.