In summation.....Star Trek wins a prolonged naval battle against superior, yet less technologically advanced, numbers, with Picard leading the assault, while Kirk takes your soul by laying out Solo and probably his manservant Chewy as well, before impregnating and ditching your Princess.
Selesnya Charm will be almost irrelevent. Mediocre pump, 2/2 that trades with all of zombies' 1-drops, or exile a creature that will almost never be seen in standard.
Golgari charm will be played in every g/b zombie deck. All of its modes are incredibly powerful. It removes the most relevant hate cards (rest in peace, detention sphere), protects against sweepers, and the -1/-1 will almost never affect you.
I think Golgari Charm is the best. It's half of Infest at instant speed, so it will wipe out spirit and human tokens if they don't have anthems out. It's also good in GB/r zombies because you can get Blood Artist triggers. I can see the enchantment hate being relevant since a few enchantments will be played. And regenerating all of your creatures at instant speed, for GB, is insane. Board wipe? Nope. Bonfire? Nope. Unfavorable blocks? Nope. Just swing in with everything to get through and save the ones that get blocked.
Without Golgari Charm how does G/B Zombies deal with Knight of Glory. On top of that it kills O Ring, Dention Sphere, and counters Supreme Verdict? What do all the other charms do? Exactly
Each charm is exceptional for the decks and/or guilds that it fits into. Though Izzet's charm happens to be the most acceptable in already existing deck shells. For instance, yes Delver lost a bunch of their important instants and sorceries. But replacing mana leak with Izzet Charm and Vapor Snag with Azorius Charm shores up a ton of their weaknesses, and maintains their tempo play.
Selesnya and Golgari charms are amazing in the specific decks that need them, which is GW tokens/Human Aggro and Rock, respectively. Selesnya loves an instant speed blocker/token they can populate and Golgari's charm defends against sweepers, against Rest in Peace or the new Oblivion Ring, and also defends against lingering souls or other token decks that focus on 1/1s.
Can't deny the power of versatility. Though I still think that Izzet's charm is perhaps the best suited for standard play. It is amazing early and mid game, especially against decks trying to arbor elf/farseek, and late game, you can ditch your late land drops that you may or may not need at that specific time and dig for late game answers. No other charm, except for Azorius', does that much throughout the entire game. Yes, selesnya's charm does a bunch to push through damage or remove a huge creature, but who wants to use two selesnya charms to kill a 3/3? Whoever was suggesting they 2 for 1 themselves with two charms is crazy. You might as well make two knights to block...
The only real creatures I can think of that realistically get to 5 power that are worth playing are creatures that get counters from scavenging, one of the Armada Wurms, Isperia, Niv-Mizzet, Rakdos, basically most of the legends that may or may not see play. If I'm missing any from Innistrad Block, let me know. I guess a huge Olivia or Aristocrat, but i digress. Selesnya's charm is gravy, but not as ridiculous as Izzet Charm.
Obviously it depends on th kind of deck you are dealing with.
In general though I think golgari charm is best. Very versatile in my opinion.
Izzet is good, but its not as good
EDIT: sorry, op specifically designates standard. Hmmmm......probably still golgari, though I don't really think any are likely to see much maindeck play. But as usual, who knows what da future holds
The true mind can weather all the lies and illusions without being lost. The true heart can tough the poison of hatred without being harmed. Since beginning-less time, darkness thrives in the void but always yields to purifying light.
I invision a future where one is not mighty when he can silence a crowd with brutality,
but when he leaves them speechless with wisdom.
Selesnya at the top is clear. If you add up the total amount of mana that you would pay for each mode individually and use that as a measure, Selesnya is the best. If you examine it's relevance against a varied field it is not only the most proactive (can actually represent damage to your opponent on its own) but its reactive mode trades with a stronger opposing card than any other charm and is the hardest to play around ("don't play my fatty" is not a strategy). It pressures walkers that can otherwise protect themselves (Tamiyo, a Vraska that dealt with your supposed lone threat, etc.), surprise blocks St Traft, exiles Silverhearts and Thragtusks not to mention most control finishers ... It's really, really good.
Second best is probably Golgari because, while seemingly narrow, its impact legitimately changes what its colors are capable of. It's the only card in the format that counters Supreme Judgment and that is a HUGE deal. Destroying Intangible Virtues and Detention Spheres is also very strong. And if you're ever playing against a mana dork deck it is just an absurd blowout. Narrower than Selesnya Charm but arguably higher impact. It's dead sometimes and that is the only thing keeping it from being the clear top of the heap.
Azorius is third best because its Submerge ability is so strong. Cycling is nice and lifelink will occasionally win a game, but putting an attacker or blocker on top is mean and will swing games on a regular basis for both control and aggro strategies. Never being dead against control due to cycling is why this gets the nod over Izzet for third.
Izzet is actually not what I want to put in 4th place here because I don't think it's very good, but since Rakdos is never main deck material and Izzet is, it gets to not be last. The reason I don't like this card is that none of its abilities are actually worth what you're paying AND none of them do anything that these colors don't already do very well to begin with. Control decks can play around a 2 mana Spell Pierce easily and trading 2 mana and a card for an X/2 is not actually a good deal in this format. You still play it because it is versatile but it is not ultimately a strong card in any of its modes.
The fact that Rakdos Charm is last on this list might be wrong ... I think it should probably be Izzet after all. But it's not a main deck card basically ever. However, it does fill a huge hole in the Rakdos strategy and it will see a lot of play, and it will be very good in the decks that want it.
I know that calling Izzet the weakest charm will make a lot of people confused, but I think the results of the next 3 months of play will support my evaluations.
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Selesnya at the top is clear. If you add up the total amount of mana that you would pay for each mode individually and use that as a measure, Selesnya is the best. If you examine it's relevance against a varied field it is not only the most proactive (can actually represent damage to your opponent on its own) but its reactive mode trades with a stronger opposing card than any other charm and is the hardest to play around ("don't play my fatty" is not a strategy). It pressures walkers that can otherwise protect themselves (Tamiyo, a Vraska that dealt with your supposed lone threat, etc.), surprise blocks St Traft, exiles Silverhearts and Thragtusks not to mention most control finishers ... It's really, really good.
Second best is probably Golgari because, while seemingly narrow, its impact legitimately changes what its colors are capable of. It's the only card in the format that counters Supreme Judgment and that is a HUGE deal. Destroying Intangible Virtues and Detention Spheres is also very strong. And if you're ever playing against a mana dork deck it is just an absurd blowout. Narrower than Selesnya Charm but arguably higher impact. It's dead sometimes and that is the only thing keeping it from being the clear top of the heap.
Azorius is third best because its Submerge ability is so strong. Cycling is nice and lifelink will occasionally win a game, but putting an attacker or blocker on top is mean and will swing games on a regular basis for both control and aggro strategies. Never being dead against control due to cycling is why this gets the nod over Izzet for third.
Izzet is actually not what I want to put in 4th place here because I don't think it's very good, but since Rakdos is never main deck material and Izzet is, it gets to not be last. The reason I don't like this card is that none of its abilities are actually worth what you're paying AND none of them do anything that these colors don't already do very well to begin with. Control decks can play around a 2 mana Spell Pierce easily and trading 2 mana and a card for an X/2 is not actually a good deal in this format. You still play it because it is versatile but it is not ultimately a strong card in any of its modes.
The fact that Rakdos Charm is last on this list might be wrong ... I think it should probably be Izzet after all. But it's not a main deck card basically ever. However, it does fill a huge hole in the Rakdos strategy and it will see a lot of play, and it will be very good in the decks that want it.
I know that calling Izzet the weakest charm will make a lot of people confused, but I think the results of the next 3 months of play will support my evaluations.
Interesting. You make a good case for selesnya charm, to be sure.
Maybe a new bant deck will want this..that'd be cool I still think golgari tops it though, but I hadn't thought of the times when its dead before.
I think you are short selling izzet charm though. I think of it as producing a virtual kind of card advantage just in virtue of the power of its three abilities, like a split face card. Obviously all charms have this, but this card in particular seems like a good answer card or deep digger when you don't wanna see it
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The true mind can weather all the lies and illusions without being lost. The true heart can tough the poison of hatred without being harmed. Since beginning-less time, darkness thrives in the void but always yields to purifying light.
I invision a future where one is not mighty when he can silence a crowd with brutality,
but when he leaves them speechless with wisdom.
Rakdos is more interesting. Not maindeck-able, but it is actually a very good sideboard card. It hoses various decks, and that's what you want anyway in a sideboard.
Selesnya, hands down, for maindeck charm.
As for the others, they're reasonable, but not as playable as these two.
I think you are short selling izzet charm though. I think of it as producing a virtual kind of card advantage just in virtue of the power of its three abilities, like a split face card. Obviously all charms have this, but this card in particular seems like a good answer card or deep digger when you don't wanna see it
The reason I don't like Izzet Charm is that it is legitimately a bad card against control decks if your opponent knows you might have it. If you're playing aggro-control, the only cards your opponent needs to resolve are Supreme Judgment and their finisher, and it doesn't help against either. It can't even get by on looting in that matchup because card disadvantage is not where you want to be. Basically it is only good against decks that try to win with planeswalkers (so the counter mode is actually decent) and decks that have lots of small creatures that are actually worth 2 mana to kill (and stay dead ... mana dorks, Ash Zealot, Blood Artist) and given that the likely premier aggro deck (zombies) plays mostly guys that you don't want to be hitting with 2 mana vanilla Shocks, I really think people will be disappointed by this card in practice. I might be undervaluing looting in a control deck that plays enough virtual card advantage to make up for it, but all in all I think it's too low-impact, too easy to play around, and too clunky for what it does to be worth the cost. We're all used to a
Delver format and Delver was absolutely worth spending 2 mana to kill, but Delver isn't scary post-rotation and the cards that are don't care about Izzet Charm.
If every number on the card was 1 instead of 2 and it was a Disrupt, Gut Shot, and 1 card loot for a hybrid R/U, it would be much better. But it will trade for cards cheaper than itself too often when what you really need it to do is be efficient.
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I've been play testing with Izzit charm. Yes it can be a trap. But its still really really good. So good in fact that I have trouble convincing myself to cut it down from 4.
I've been testing mainly against Izzet Charm rather than with it and I often find myself hoping that my opponents have multiple Izzet Charms in their hand just because I know how clunky it will make their lines of play. This is true whether I am playing aggro or control. I'm convinced that it just isn't worth playing more than 2 of anywhere and decks that need 4 to run are secretly just bad decks. The only deck I can imagine playing that hates seeing Izzet Charm is one with 8 mana dorks and I'm already avoiding dorks like the plague for other reasons anyway.
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The value of charms is the flexibility. I don't like that two of the charms (Izzet and Azorius) have a mode that says "This charm can't help you, dig deeper for a card that can!". Though the Izzet one can be more flexible if you're using the cards you discard. I chose Selesnya since it seems to have the most varied modes and all 3 will probably be useful in any given game.
I've been testing mainly against Izzet Charm rather than with it and I often find myself hoping that my opponents have multiple Izzet Charms in their hand just because I know how clunky it will make their lines of play. This is true whether I am playing aggro or control. I'm convinced that it just isn't worth playing more than 2 of anywhere and decks that need 4 to run are secretly just bad decks. The only deck I can imagine playing that hates seeing Izzet Charm is one with 8 mana dorks and I'm already avoiding dorks like the plague for other reasons anyway.
Having multiple izzit charms isn't really that bad. Oftne the play I do is draw 2, discarding the extra charms I don't need.
I chose Azorius, because all-lifelink and mini-condemn is just insane. They are way more swingy than any of the other effects provided by other charms.
I picked Izzet as my top choice, but honestly Selesnya and Azorious are both close seconds.
I'm surprised at how many people are pooping all over Azorious. Out of all of them it has the most potential to disrupt in my opinion: the ability to put a creature on top of the opponents library should not be taken lightly. As others have said, it's practically a time walk. In a meta that's going to have a lot of dudes turning sideways, that card seems like a keeper. Also, granting lifelink can swing a game, though less often.
Selesnya is, like others have said, never a dead card, which makes it very good. I had a hard time picking Izzet over this one.
To me, Izzet is the best because the answers that it offers at instant speed really seem to match what UR decks go for. There will be times when it's a dead card in hand, but early game I think it offers the best flexibility to control the flow of the first few turns, which can swing matches. It already has a potential home in a few decks: Delver, Storm, and Twin. Late game it's probably one of the worst charms, but early I just see this card really playing well into a few different strategies/archetypes.
I have to agree with him. Izzet Charm fills the 2-mana counterspell role in Standard once Mana Leak rotates. Unlike Negate, a purely SB card, if your opponent plays a creature, Izzet Charm isn't completely useless - you can burn the creature to death.
IMO, in terms of independent value, the golgari charm is the best; however, interms of how each functions in its respective deck, Izzet is the best. Here is my full analysis of each card, from best to worst, by how they'll function in their respective decks:
Izzet Charm- The most versatile of all the charms imo, and it is always relevant during the early turns when control looks to stabilize. I would compare this more to Miscalculation than Spell Pierce; even though it doesn't cycle, it turns itself and other cards into better cards after control has stabilized. This is a card worth playing UR in control for. On the other hand, it is one of the most underwhelming charms late game and it cannot win the game by itself. However, control has normally run cards that are only good early, and this one does have an upside, so well worth running.
Selesnya Charm- this charm has a lot of blatant power. Creating a 2/2 for 2 is really good, as well as exiling control's finisher or giving a boost to your creature during combat. However, unlike the izzet charm, this one is a lot more 1-dimensional. It's abilities are much better early to mid- game, while late game, the only real option is to hope that their creature has 5+ power and exiling it will get you back into the game. Great on a stalled or winning board, lacking on a losing board (except against x/2's that you can kill with the token).
Golgari charm- I think this charm is the one most likely to win games. Regenerating through wrath, and then attacking is huge; killing all of an opponent's tokens is huge; destroying an o-ring or d-sphere is huge. The only problem is that there are a lot of matchups where this doesn't do much. But of all the charms, when it's good, it's the best.
Azorius charm- the fact that it's this low is not a knock on it, but a compliment to the other charms. This is extremely playable and will likely help people win plenty of games. However, it has the lowest power level in individual abilities. The cycle is boring, the lifelink is situational, and its first ability only reaches its potential if you can capitalize on the tempo gain. But it cannot be ignored, and creates a lot of tempo advantage. Food for thought... imagine this on an isochron scepter in modern.
Rakdos charm- it isn't so much bad as extremely situational. And unlike the golgari charm which wins the game when it works, this just gains you a tempo advantage or removes a problem. The only exciting ability is its damage ability, which could net 3-6 damage against most opponents, but unless that ends the game, I think you have bigger problems...
I'm prepared to eat crow on this, but I think the best charm is Selesnya. 2/2 Knight at instant speed or +2/+2 and trample or exile creature with power 5 or greater fills so many roles, I think it's likely to see lots of play once the set has an established metagame.
Izzet Charm is ok, it takes care of small creatures, counters problem spells in the early game, or instant-speed faithless looting when you're desperate for answers. It's pretty tempo-oriented, and the decks it fits into are narrower, but it's still a solid card. I think it's a strong number 2.
Golgari Charm is the third most maindeckable card in it's colors. It'll fit into any Zombie build that happens about. Getting rid of chump blockers, problem enchantments (Rest in Peace, Detention Sphere), and regenerating through Supreme Verdict/Bonfire is really valuable. The closest comparision for the card in the zombie deck is Abrupt Decay in every other deck; it has all of the right modes to keep the deck competitive through hate.
Azorius Charm is number 4. It looks like it's meant to keep you alive more than anything else. I suppose it works well in the very tempo-based detain decks that might get thrown around. If detain is the real deal, or tempo is here to stay, then this is definitely not valued highly enough. This card will make or break detain/tempo mirror matches, and will keep the ball solidly in your court everywhere else. Also, you can Thought Scour away any problem creatures if the timing lines up.
Rakdos Charm seems the most limited of the charms. Graveyard hate is already plentiful, and artifact destruction isn't quite as necessary as it once was (though pikes could still be pesky). The most interesting part is the aggro side to the card. There could be interesting interactions when creatures deal damage to their controllers. Also, it autowins after your opponent says "Make a million deciever exarchs/restoration angels." in Modern. Not bad. Interesting.
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Third post in the thread had it right IMO.
Golgari charm will be played in every g/b zombie deck. All of its modes are incredibly powerful. It removes the most relevant hate cards (rest in peace, detention sphere), protects against sweepers, and the -1/-1 will almost never affect you.
Selesnya and Golgari charms are amazing in the specific decks that need them, which is GW tokens/Human Aggro and Rock, respectively. Selesnya loves an instant speed blocker/token they can populate and Golgari's charm defends against sweepers, against Rest in Peace or the new Oblivion Ring, and also defends against lingering souls or other token decks that focus on 1/1s.
Can't deny the power of versatility. Though I still think that Izzet's charm is perhaps the best suited for standard play. It is amazing early and mid game, especially against decks trying to arbor elf/farseek, and late game, you can ditch your late land drops that you may or may not need at that specific time and dig for late game answers. No other charm, except for Azorius', does that much throughout the entire game. Yes, selesnya's charm does a bunch to push through damage or remove a huge creature, but who wants to use two selesnya charms to kill a 3/3? Whoever was suggesting they 2 for 1 themselves with two charms is crazy. You might as well make two knights to block...
The only real creatures I can think of that realistically get to 5 power that are worth playing are creatures that get counters from scavenging, one of the Armada Wurms, Isperia, Niv-Mizzet, Rakdos, basically most of the legends that may or may not see play. If I'm missing any from Innistrad Block, let me know. I guess a huge Olivia or Aristocrat, but i digress. Selesnya's charm is gravy, but not as ridiculous as Izzet Charm.
WUBRG Humans
BRW Mardu Pyromancer
UW UW "Control"
UR Blue Moon
In general though I think golgari charm is best. Very versatile in my opinion.
Izzet is good, but its not as good
EDIT: sorry, op specifically designates standard. Hmmmm......probably still golgari, though I don't really think any are likely to see much maindeck play. But as usual, who knows what da future holds
I invision a future where one is not mighty when he can silence a crowd with brutality,
but when he leaves them speechless with wisdom.
Selesnya at the top is clear. If you add up the total amount of mana that you would pay for each mode individually and use that as a measure, Selesnya is the best. If you examine it's relevance against a varied field it is not only the most proactive (can actually represent damage to your opponent on its own) but its reactive mode trades with a stronger opposing card than any other charm and is the hardest to play around ("don't play my fatty" is not a strategy). It pressures walkers that can otherwise protect themselves (Tamiyo, a Vraska that dealt with your supposed lone threat, etc.), surprise blocks St Traft, exiles Silverhearts and Thragtusks not to mention most control finishers ... It's really, really good.
Second best is probably Golgari because, while seemingly narrow, its impact legitimately changes what its colors are capable of. It's the only card in the format that counters Supreme Judgment and that is a HUGE deal. Destroying Intangible Virtues and Detention Spheres is also very strong. And if you're ever playing against a mana dork deck it is just an absurd blowout. Narrower than Selesnya Charm but arguably higher impact. It's dead sometimes and that is the only thing keeping it from being the clear top of the heap.
Azorius is third best because its Submerge ability is so strong. Cycling is nice and lifelink will occasionally win a game, but putting an attacker or blocker on top is mean and will swing games on a regular basis for both control and aggro strategies. Never being dead against control due to cycling is why this gets the nod over Izzet for third.
Izzet is actually not what I want to put in 4th place here because I don't think it's very good, but since Rakdos is never main deck material and Izzet is, it gets to not be last. The reason I don't like this card is that none of its abilities are actually worth what you're paying AND none of them do anything that these colors don't already do very well to begin with. Control decks can play around a 2 mana Spell Pierce easily and trading 2 mana and a card for an X/2 is not actually a good deal in this format. You still play it because it is versatile but it is not ultimately a strong card in any of its modes.
The fact that Rakdos Charm is last on this list might be wrong ... I think it should probably be Izzet after all. But it's not a main deck card basically ever. However, it does fill a huge hole in the Rakdos strategy and it will see a lot of play, and it will be very good in the decks that want it.
I know that calling Izzet the weakest charm will make a lot of people confused, but I think the results of the next 3 months of play will support my evaluations.
Thanks to Gabgabdevo for the awesome sig image!
I'm always looking for foil Madcap Skills and Ghitu Fire-Eater, [trade thread link forthcoming]
Interesting. You make a good case for selesnya charm, to be sure.
Maybe a new bant deck will want this..that'd be cool I still think golgari tops it though, but I hadn't thought of the times when its dead before.
I think you are short selling izzet charm though. I think of it as producing a virtual kind of card advantage just in virtue of the power of its three abilities, like a split face card. Obviously all charms have this, but this card in particular seems like a good answer card or deep digger when you don't wanna see it
I invision a future where one is not mighty when he can silence a crowd with brutality,
but when he leaves them speechless with wisdom.
Selesnya, hands down, for maindeck charm.
As for the others, they're reasonable, but not as playable as these two.
Why not?
The reason I don't like Izzet Charm is that it is legitimately a bad card against control decks if your opponent knows you might have it. If you're playing aggro-control, the only cards your opponent needs to resolve are Supreme Judgment and their finisher, and it doesn't help against either. It can't even get by on looting in that matchup because card disadvantage is not where you want to be. Basically it is only good against decks that try to win with planeswalkers (so the counter mode is actually decent) and decks that have lots of small creatures that are actually worth 2 mana to kill (and stay dead ... mana dorks, Ash Zealot, Blood Artist) and given that the likely premier aggro deck (zombies) plays mostly guys that you don't want to be hitting with 2 mana vanilla Shocks, I really think people will be disappointed by this card in practice. I might be undervaluing looting in a control deck that plays enough virtual card advantage to make up for it, but all in all I think it's too low-impact, too easy to play around, and too clunky for what it does to be worth the cost. We're all used to a
Delver format and Delver was absolutely worth spending 2 mana to kill, but Delver isn't scary post-rotation and the cards that are don't care about Izzet Charm.
If every number on the card was 1 instead of 2 and it was a Disrupt, Gut Shot, and 1 card loot for a hybrid R/U, it would be much better. But it will trade for cards cheaper than itself too often when what you really need it to do is be efficient.
Thanks to Gabgabdevo for the awesome sig image!
I'm always looking for foil Madcap Skills and Ghitu Fire-Eater, [trade thread link forthcoming]
Thanks to Gabgabdevo for the awesome sig image!
I'm always looking for foil Madcap Skills and Ghitu Fire-Eater, [trade thread link forthcoming]
I've been play testing with Izzit charm. Yes it can be a trap. But its still really really good. So good in fact that I have trouble convincing myself to cut it down from 4.
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Thanks to Gabgabdevo for the awesome sig image!
I'm always looking for foil Madcap Skills and Ghitu Fire-Eater, [trade thread link forthcoming]
Having multiple izzit charms isn't really that bad. Oftne the play I do is draw 2, discarding the extra charms I don't need.
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I picked Izzet as my top choice, but honestly Selesnya and Azorious are both close seconds.
I'm surprised at how many people are pooping all over Azorious. Out of all of them it has the most potential to disrupt in my opinion: the ability to put a creature on top of the opponents library should not be taken lightly. As others have said, it's practically a time walk. In a meta that's going to have a lot of dudes turning sideways, that card seems like a keeper. Also, granting lifelink can swing a game, though less often.
Selesnya is, like others have said, never a dead card, which makes it very good. I had a hard time picking Izzet over this one.
To me, Izzet is the best because the answers that it offers at instant speed really seem to match what UR decks go for. There will be times when it's a dead card in hand, but early game I think it offers the best flexibility to control the flow of the first few turns, which can swing matches. It already has a potential home in a few decks: Delver, Storm, and Twin. Late game it's probably one of the worst charms, but early I just see this card really playing well into a few different strategies/archetypes.
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I have to agree with him. Izzet Charm fills the 2-mana counterspell role in Standard once Mana Leak rotates. Unlike Negate, a purely SB card, if your opponent plays a creature, Izzet Charm isn't completely useless - you can burn the creature to death.
| Ad Nauseam
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Big Johnny.
Izzet Charm- The most versatile of all the charms imo, and it is always relevant during the early turns when control looks to stabilize. I would compare this more to Miscalculation than Spell Pierce; even though it doesn't cycle, it turns itself and other cards into better cards after control has stabilized. This is a card worth playing UR in control for. On the other hand, it is one of the most underwhelming charms late game and it cannot win the game by itself. However, control has normally run cards that are only good early, and this one does have an upside, so well worth running.
Selesnya Charm- this charm has a lot of blatant power. Creating a 2/2 for 2 is really good, as well as exiling control's finisher or giving a boost to your creature during combat. However, unlike the izzet charm, this one is a lot more 1-dimensional. It's abilities are much better early to mid- game, while late game, the only real option is to hope that their creature has 5+ power and exiling it will get you back into the game. Great on a stalled or winning board, lacking on a losing board (except against x/2's that you can kill with the token).
Golgari charm- I think this charm is the one most likely to win games. Regenerating through wrath, and then attacking is huge; killing all of an opponent's tokens is huge; destroying an o-ring or d-sphere is huge. The only problem is that there are a lot of matchups where this doesn't do much. But of all the charms, when it's good, it's the best.
Azorius charm- the fact that it's this low is not a knock on it, but a compliment to the other charms. This is extremely playable and will likely help people win plenty of games. However, it has the lowest power level in individual abilities. The cycle is boring, the lifelink is situational, and its first ability only reaches its potential if you can capitalize on the tempo gain. But it cannot be ignored, and creates a lot of tempo advantage. Food for thought... imagine this on an isochron scepter in modern.
Rakdos charm- it isn't so much bad as extremely situational. And unlike the golgari charm which wins the game when it works, this just gains you a tempo advantage or removes a problem. The only exciting ability is its damage ability, which could net 3-6 damage against most opponents, but unless that ends the game, I think you have bigger problems...
I couldn't of said it better myself
Izzet Charm is ok, it takes care of small creatures, counters problem spells in the early game, or instant-speed faithless looting when you're desperate for answers. It's pretty tempo-oriented, and the decks it fits into are narrower, but it's still a solid card. I think it's a strong number 2.
Golgari Charm is the third most maindeckable card in it's colors. It'll fit into any Zombie build that happens about. Getting rid of chump blockers, problem enchantments (Rest in Peace, Detention Sphere), and regenerating through Supreme Verdict/Bonfire is really valuable. The closest comparision for the card in the zombie deck is Abrupt Decay in every other deck; it has all of the right modes to keep the deck competitive through hate.
Azorius Charm is number 4. It looks like it's meant to keep you alive more than anything else. I suppose it works well in the very tempo-based detain decks that might get thrown around. If detain is the real deal, or tempo is here to stay, then this is definitely not valued highly enough. This card will make or break detain/tempo mirror matches, and will keep the ball solidly in your court everywhere else. Also, you can Thought Scour away any problem creatures if the timing lines up.
Rakdos Charm seems the most limited of the charms. Graveyard hate is already plentiful, and artifact destruction isn't quite as necessary as it once was (though pikes could still be pesky). The most interesting part is the aggro side to the card. There could be interesting interactions when creatures deal damage to their controllers. Also, it autowins after your opponent says "Make a million deciever exarchs/restoration angels." in Modern. Not bad. Interesting.