The unlimited uses and mana-less activation is what sets Curio apart from Crystal Shard and Erratic Portal. It allows for silly things like Stonecloaker + an evoke creature for as long as your mana holds out. The main point is abusing etb creatures or other etb triggers (Animar, Garruk's Packleader, Pandemonium), enough powerful ones have been printed that you don't really need to break the mold to get a lot out of it.
Incidentally, creatures like Avenger of Zendikar or Siege-Gang Commander that make their own tokens can bounce the creator back to hand for re-use, which can help alleviate the damage from Wraths. Day of Judgement got you down? Just recast the Verdeloth!
Drogskol Reaver makes Isperia the Inscrutable happy; hooray for actual win-cons! Incidentally, it also carries SoLaS like an absolute boss. +6 cards in hand seems okay.
Powers up nearly all of your deck while hindering most opponents' creatures. Handily stops Exarch combo if that happens to be an issue, although it just makes Pestermite even sillier.
The angel helps split up your board presence into a bunch of bodies. If you're running equipment or anthem effects, they all become legitimate threats in their own right, but don't underestimate the power of little fliers to get their unaided. Incidentally, the full-art version is one of the most breathtaking card arts.
If you're playing mono-red, it's highly unlikely that you're wanting to participate at some high-tier super competitive table. So in those circumstances, the Devils are absolutely superb. What the aforementioned Anarchist, Recoup, and Past in Flames have consistency, the Devils have in potential. Left unchecked (and, unless you're demonstrably unloading your hand and pumping him like crazy, there are probably more threatening targets) they provide more non-artifact CA for red than almost anything else. They also save you mana, while Recoup and Past in Flames essentially force you to pay extra. The fact that the Devils combo distressingly well with extra turn effects is gravy.
Bottom line: is Charmbreaker Devils game-warpingly powerful? No.
Do they perform a powerful and badly needed function in mono-red, and can they provide crazy, memorable situations that make you (and maybe your opponents) happy about the game you just played? Absolutely
You could probably cut it for only 12 basics, but if you like the selection and find yourself behind on land drops, you could consider Weathered Wayfarer instead.
The format may be slightly bomb-heavy (and some of the bloodthirst commons count there), but I found overall that this Sealed rewarded solid play as much as, if not more than, the pools' contents. I took first at my store's prerelease against good players with Titans and Planeswalkers galore, playing only a Dragonskull Summit myself, because I built an aggressive deck and played it well enough.
M12 Sealed does play faster than M11 and rewards tempo play and aggro decks more than that core set did, so build with that awareness in mind.
Went 5-0-0 and took first at my local prerelease, and while Assault Griffin turned out to be just as good as ever, Gorehorn Minotaurs proved to be a total beating and Griffin Rider performed admirably in a deck with 4 griffins.
Wring Flesh turned out well as long as I played it like a combat trick instead of a removal spell (although nabbing a Royal Assassin with one was boss).
Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker can be really strong, but more importantly, to my playgroup at least, it can also be a lot of fun. While he can make an impressively strong stax/discard shutdown deck, branching out in other directions can make equally good games.
Again, on the axis of flexibility/crazy shenanigans rather than consistency, split cards can give you some impressively discounted effects. The ones from Ravnica, such as Supply/Demand, Crime/Punishment, Pure/Simple, Odds/Ends, and Hide/Seek all provide interesting effects. As a bonus, if you cascade into one and either side meets the cmc requirement, (ie. Ardent Plea into Supply/Demand, where Supply's cmc is 2) you can play either side, even if the side you choose does not meet the cmc requirements. This allows things like a 3-mana Crime off of your Ardent Plea. Not bad for a little enchantment, eh?
If you run 5 color, though this is less combo-tastic and more pure flexibility, theShardsofAlaracharms can provide some incredibly versatile effects; generally you'll always find a mode that will prove useful.
As far as raw power goes, cascading into planeswalkers can be extremely strong. Liliana and the various on-top-of-library tutors become even better in this sort of deck.
This is looking good, I look forward to the list of colorless utility lands as well. Would expanded entries (pros, cons, etc.) be useful for the various cycles?
Both I and the other red player in my group have played Warp World in our decks at various points; it's proved its worth as a fun and generally powerful card in red's arsenal, and rewards intelligent use of stacking/triggers, etc. Admittedly, if your deck's goal is to recur the spell multiple times, it can get tedious, but generally once or twice over a few turns can lead to shenanigans that are enjoyable rather than nefarious.
One thing that has been true in my experience is that it's much quicker to resolve in paper than online; there's so much to click and drag in Cockatrice/MWS, rather than just flipping a bunch of cards off the top. Granted, the RL shuffling is much more annoying than online, but it seems like that never takes all that long anyway.
As regards Chaos Warp, I think MaRo puts his philosophy quite neatly in today's column. Regarding Form of the Dragon, and other cards whose mechanics don't seem to quite match the color's implementation:
Quote from MaRo »
When looked in isolation, many of these abilities feel very out of flavor for red. But when you pull back and get an overall sense of the card—the player-as-planeswalker turning into a dragon—you start to get a flavor that very much feels at home in red.
Chaos Warp, in terms of resonant design, feel very much like a red card; it causes both destruction and randomness. Similarly, Beast Within feels like a different mechanical take on green's ability to and focus on creating creatures. It especially ties in flavor-wise with the philosophy of Phyrexian green- survival of the fittest, eat or be eaten.
Nope, neither Vedalken Orrery nor Leyline of Anticipation allow abilities to be activated at disallowed times. EDIT: Sarnathed.
Some funny ones that have popped up in a Bant morph list I've tinkered around with have involved sacrifice of a Scornful Egotist getting a few different guys like Reya Dawnbringer, Iona, Shield of Emeria, and Blazing Archon. Really, morph and suspend (and generally mechanics that allow exchange of other resources for mana) provide a whole bunch of ways to get out rather undercosted medium to impressively large guys. Just a different perspective on using the Pod, perhaps.
Incidentally, creatures like Avenger of Zendikar or Siege-Gang Commander that make their own tokens can bounce the creator back to hand for re-use, which can help alleviate the damage from Wraths. Day of Judgement got you down? Just recast the Verdeloth!
Powers up nearly all of your deck while hindering most opponents' creatures. Handily stops Exarch combo if that happens to be an issue, although it just makes Pestermite even sillier.
The angel helps split up your board presence into a bunch of bodies. If you're running equipment or anthem effects, they all become legitimate threats in their own right, but don't underestimate the power of little fliers to get their unaided. Incidentally, the full-art version is one of the most breathtaking card arts.
Recurring counterspells for days.
Bottom line: is Charmbreaker Devils game-warpingly powerful? No.
Do they perform a powerful and badly needed function in mono-red, and can they provide crazy, memorable situations that make you (and maybe your opponents) happy about the game you just played? Absolutely
M12 Sealed does play faster than M11 and rewards tempo play and aggro decks more than that core set did, so build with that awareness in mind.
Wring Flesh turned out well as long as I played it like a combat trick instead of a removal spell (although nabbing a Royal Assassin with one was boss).
As far as raw power goes, cascading into planeswalkers can be extremely strong. Liliana and the various on-top-of-library tutors become even better in this sort of deck.
Also, some things to add: Gilt-Leaf Palace and Primal Beyond are both tribal lands, though only one is a dual.
One thing that has been true in my experience is that it's much quicker to resolve in paper than online; there's so much to click and drag in Cockatrice/MWS, rather than just flipping a bunch of cards off the top. Granted, the RL shuffling is much more annoying than online, but it seems like that never takes all that long anyway.
Chaos Warp, in terms of resonant design, feel very much like a red card; it causes both destruction and randomness. Similarly, Beast Within feels like a different mechanical take on green's ability to and focus on creating creatures. It especially ties in flavor-wise with the philosophy of Phyrexian green- survival of the fittest, eat or be eaten.
Some funny ones that have popped up in a Bant morph list I've tinkered around with have involved sacrifice of a Scornful Egotist getting a few different guys like Reya Dawnbringer, Iona, Shield of Emeria, and Blazing Archon. Really, morph and suspend (and generally mechanics that allow exchange of other resources for mana) provide a whole bunch of ways to get out rather undercosted medium to impressively large guys. Just a different perspective on using the Pod, perhaps.