Subject: Its all about the beatdown Date: Sat, 6 Jun 1998 09:15:34 -0400 From: "Jamie & Mare" Newsgroups: rec.games.trading-cards.magic.strategy Black ================================================================= Card Title: Carnophage Card Color: Black Type & Class: Summon ? Casting Cost: B Pow/Tgh: 2/2 Card Text: During your upkeep, pay 1 life or tap Carnophage. Rarity: ? Of course - this will see a lot of play in the black weenie decks, and quite a stink has been made over this already. The fact that it is black, flies, comes out on the first turn and its drawback is almost *nothing* makes this a very fat creature. First turn - can't be counterspelled. Flies - wall of blossoms won't save you. Black - can't be 'taaled. - can be edicted. About the only thing this won't be effective against is srb. If white pacifies or spirit links it - it has no drawback to you, unlike the baby djinn which will sting you for a point every round. This will see a lot of play. Card Title: Cat Burglar Card Color: Black Type & Class: Summon ? Casting Cost: ? Pow/Tgh: / Card Text: 2B, T: Target player chooses and discard a card. Play this ability as a sorcery. Rarity: ? Not enough info Card Title: Dauthi Cutthroat Card Color: Black Type & Class: Summon ? (Assasin?) Casting Cost: 1B Pow/Tgh: 1/1 Card Text: Shadow. 1B, T: Destroy target creature with shadow. Rarity: ? 1/1 is not fat. Card Title: Dauthi Jackal Card Color: Black Type & Class: Summon Hound Casting Cost: 2B Pow/Tgh: 2/1 Card Text: Shadow. BB, Sacrifice Dauthi Jackal: Destroy target blocking creature. Rarity: Common 3 for a 2/1 shadow guy is not fat either. Card Title: Dauthi Warlord Card Color: Black Type & Class: Summon ? Casting Cost: 1B Pow/Tgh: */1 Card Text: Shadow. Dauthi Warlord has power equals to the number of creatures in play with shadow. Rarity: Common one toughness - very weak. With all the pingers in the game right now - this is not even close to fat. Card Title: Entropic Specter Card Color: Black Type & Class: Summon Specter Casting Cost: 3BB Pow/Tgh: */* Card Text: Flying. Entropic Specter has power and toughness equal to the number of cards in target opponent's hand. If Entropic Specter damages any player, that player chooses and discards a card. Rarity: Rare Situationally fat. If your opponent is holding a whole bunch of cards - he can probably handle your specter. If he is not - this guys worthless. This card would be best against a blue mage whispering every turn. Now think about that. Are you gonna sneak through a 5 cc flyer through a mage with a hand full of cards? Not likely. - so - not fat. Not even a little. Card Title: Grollub Card Color: Black Type & Class: Summon ? Casting Cost: 3B Pow/Tgh: 3/3 Card Text: For each damage dealt to Grollub, each opponent gains 1 life. Rarity: ? Giving your opponent life is not what beatdown is about. 4 for a 3/3? With a drawback? Are you sure this thing isn't green? Definitly, not fat - and not beatdown. Card Title: Pit Spawn Card Color: Black Type & Class: Summom ? Casting Cost: 4BBB Pow/Tgh: 6/4 Card Text: First Strike. During your upkeep, pay BB or sacrifice Pit Spawn. Whenever Pit Spawn damages a creature during combat, remove that creature from the game at the end of combat. Rarity: ? Ah - definetly has the stats to be fat. Its a craw worm with first strike - looking good so far. The BB during upkeep is minor. The fact that he is 7 to get out is a little worrisome. The biggest first striker ever!!! All in all - yes - this guy is FAT. Yes, all in all, this guy can SERVE if you pay with 26 land and dark rituals. Notice that this is the only truly large and fat crerature for black. Appropriatly costed I think, and has an upkeep. Card Title: Vampire Hounds Card Color: Black Type & Class: Summom Hounds Casting Cost: 2B Pow/Tgh: 2/2 Card Text: Discard a creature card: Vampire Hounds get +2/+2 until end of turn. Rarity: ? Interesting card. Porobably will see a lot of play. Cheaper to get out than the skyshroud vampire with the same ability. Good in living death decks, and appropriatly costed. Not fat - but can be. Thats it for black - please note the lack of fat in black. Which is the way it should be - Props to WOTC for not making blacks creatures fat, even if a lot of its spells are. Hey! Green is the creature color! Blue - Card Title: Ephemeron Card Color: Blue Type & Class: Summon Illusion Casting Cost: 4UU Pow/Tgh: 4/4 Card Text: Flying. Choose and discard a card: Return Ephemeron to owner's hand. Rarity: ? This is quite wrong. A 4/4 flyer that you can discard a land to make into a blinky? C'MON!!!!! Blue is just too good. Flyers are the best creatures in the game, and fat flyers are even better. Sure the six cost is a little prohibitive to some - but you can't kill this thing!! (sure you can - but it will be damn tough. Great card. Great Great Great Big FATTNESS. 5 stars on the Wakefield fat list. You have one of these in play - you have two cards in hand. the two cards are lands - you can save your Illusion by chucking a land. Then two cards are counters - you can save your illusion by countering their elim. Damn this thing is good. Green mage - "Hurricane for 4?" Blue Mage - HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!! White Mage - "Wrath?" Blue Mage - HAHAHAHAAHHAHAHA!!!! So good. Card Title: Killer Whale Card Color: Blue Type & Class: Summon Whale Casting Cost: 3UU Pow/Tgh: 3/5 Card Text: U: Killer Whale gains flying until end of turn. Rarity: ? This is pretty good. I mean - hey, for the same cost - green, the creature color, gets the exact same thing in the form of Ironroot Treefolk. Only blue gets to give their 3/5 guy flying. Hmmmm. Fat - but why would you play this over the ephemeron, waterspout and air elemental? The five toughness is pretty good. but not enough of a justification to play with it. Don't get me wrong - I think this is an excellent creature - but Blue has so many good fat flyers right now that this one, an excellent fattie, will sit in the shadows. Card Title: Mirozel Card Color: Blue Type & Class: Summon Illusion Casting Cost: 3U Pow/Tgh: 2/3 Card Text: Flying. If Mirozel is the target of any spell or ability, return Mirozel to owner's hand. Rarity: ? An excellent creature. I don't think that WOTC quite uderstands how tournaments work. I don't think they understand when they are making a card that Blue already has a ton of good stuff - and they just gave it even more. Notice a theme yet? Not only does blue get the best flyers. Which is enough of an amazing bonus already - but they get fatv flyers. And flyers with an amazing avoidance ability. The ability is excellent. Its comparable to frenetic efreet and rainbow efreet - but there's no cost. It has the disadvantage of not being able to survive a hurricane or a wrath - but then - how much removal is targeted? A lot. Card Title: Wayward Soul Card Color: Blue Type & Class: Summon Spirit Casting Cost: 2UU Pow/Tgh: 3/2 Card Text: Flying. U: Put Wayward Soul on top of owner's library. Rarity: ? See a theme yet? Blue gets flyers that for a little bit of disadvantage (having to cast them again, or having to basically skip a draw phase and cast them again) they get - essentially - untagetability. If they run out of counterspells to protect their creatures - they can just return them to hand when in danger, or return them to the top of their library. The thing that bugs me is that the creatures are costed well enough - that it looks like WOTC forgot to take into cnsideration that these guys FLY. Blue is not only the only color that gets really good flyers, and lots of them - they also get flying for free. One of the most powerful abilities in the game. Green ================================================================= Card Title: Avenging Druid Card Color: Green Type & Class: Summon Druid Casting Cost: 2G Pow/Tgh: 1/3 Card Text: If Avenging Druid damages a player, you may reveal cards from your libary until you reaveal a land card. Put that card in your hand and the rest into your graveyard. Rarity: ? More ways to get land - yippee - that wins a lot of games. Card Title: Crashing Boars Card Color: Green Type & Class: Summon Boars Casting Cost: 3GG Pow/Tgh: 4/4 Card Text: If Crash of Boars attacks, defending player must block it if able. Rarity: ? not bad - not great. Its pretty fat - but will probablly sit in everyones trade stock binder like charging rhino and heartwood giant. 4/4 for 5 with an o.k. special ability. An o.k. special ability. Not a great special ability. Card Title: Elvish Berserker Card Color: Green Type & Class: Summon Elf Casting Cost: G Pow/Tgh: 1/1 Card Text: Elvish Berserker gets +1/+1 for each creature blocking it until end of turn. Rarity: Common Not fat. Not fat at all. But - it is very cool. I can't help it. I love elves. Card Title: Jackalope Herd Card Color: Green Type & Class: Summon ? Casting Cost: 3G Pow/Tgh: 4/5 Card Text: If you play a spell, return Jackalope Herd to your hand. Rarity: ? This is a pretty good card. I initially dismissed this as a lame attempt to make another erhnam, and in playtesting, I would imagine that his drawback was severe enough that they thought it was o.k. - BUT!!!!! I was thinking about Blinkies. Lets read that "drawback" again. "If you play a spell, return Jackalope Herd to your hand." Hmm - with careful play - we green mages may have a new erhnam/blinkie "Before I attack - I'll Double bolt you're Herd?" "Emerald Charm your Shivan - he loses flying, and the Herd goes back to my hand." "Wrath?" "Feral instinct my Wall of Blossoms - Herd goes back to my hand, and I draw a card when I start my turn." Card Title: Mirri, Cat Warrior Card Color: Green Type & Class: Summom Legend Casting Cost: 1GG Pow/Tgh: 2/3 Card Text: First strike. Forestwalk. Attacking does not cause Mirri to tap. Rarity: Rare Fat! Really really fat. Not game breaking, have to rework my deck to make sure I can handle Mirri fat - but still damn good. I'm thinking I have to dust off my Armor of thorns and Aspect of the wolf. If there was any creature that it would be worth it to throw creature enchantments on - this is it. "Attack - and block - with my forestwalking first striking 4/5 Mirri." Card Title: Plated Rootwalla Card Color: Green Type & Class: Summon Lizard Casting Cost: 4G Pow/Tgh: 3/3 Card Text: 1G: +3/+3 until the end of the turn. Play this ability only once each turn. Rarity: Common 5 for a 3/3 will never get played. Stick these in your binder next to your karplusan yetis and Gorilla Berserkers. Its got a great ability but so overcosted and expensive that no one will play it. Card Title: Pygmy Troll Card Color: Green Type & Class: Summon Troll Casting Cost: ? Pow/Tgh: ? Card Text: G: Regenerate. +1/+1 for each creature blocking it. Rarity: ? This looks somewhat promising. Not enough info. Card Title: Rabid Wolverines Card Color: Green Type & Class: Summon Wolverines Casting Cost: 3GG Pow/Tgh: 4/4 Card Text: Rabid Wolverines gets +1/+1 until end of turn for each creature blocking it. Rarity: Common This looks damn cool. not a bad creature. Again - its a 4/4 for five with a pretty good special ability. Not a great special ability, but pretty good. Card Title: Resuscitate Card Color: Green Type & Class: Instant Casting Cost: 1G Pow/Tgh: n/a Card Text: All your creatures gain "1: Regenerate" until end of turn. Rarity: ? so so. I kind of like this. I don't mean to be a grouch - but the most popular form of creature destructioj these days is counterspells, edict, incinerate, necrataal, wrath, terror, perish - which this doesn't work on The other most popular would be these - shock, fireball, kindle, disks, which it does work on. of course - you need to use 3 mana to regen one creature, and 5 to regen three - so - its a bit over costed. Card Title: Rootwater Alligator Card Color: Green Type & Class: Summon Alligator Casting Cost: 3G Pow/Tgh: 3/2 Card Text: Sacrifice a Forest: Regenerate Rootwater Alligator. Rarity: ? Crap. 4 for a 3/2? Sacrifice a forest is bad enough. Sure, its not a tap and sac, so you can regen for free (mana wise) - but sacing a forest is a huge cost!!! Here - lets compare this to Wayward Soul - a 3/2 FLYER with "U, cannot be killed." Card Title: Skyshroud Elite Card Color: Green Type & Class: Summon Elves Casting Cost: G Pow/Tgh: 1/1 Card Text: Skyshroud Elite gets +1/+2 as long as an opponent controls a nonbasic land. Rarity: ? Awesome. An elf kird ape that satisfies my hatred of 5cu. Very fat. 5 stars purely for the hatred part. Card Title: Skyshroud Warbeast Card Color: Green Type & Class: Summon Warbeast Casting Cost: 1G Pow/Tgh: */* Card Text: * equals to the number of non-basic lands your opponent controls. Rarity: Rare See above about 5u. not bad. Card Title: Song of Serenity Card Color: Green Type & Class: Enchantment Casting Cost: 1G Pow/Tgh: n/a Card Text: Creatures with any enchantments on them cannot attack or block. Rarity: ? Big deal - think how often pascifism gets used. For a green mage to stop a creature from attacking - you have to play this - AND put an armor of thorns on an opponents creature! he he he - try that on one of the new blue flyers.... Card Title: Spike Hatcher Card Color: Green Type & Class: Summon Spike Casting Cost: ? (probably 5GG) Pow/Tgh: 0/0 Card Text: Spiker Hatcher comes into play with 6 +1/+1 counters. 2, Remove a +1/+1 counter from Spike Hatcher: Put a +1/+1 counter on target creature. Remove a +1/+1 counter from Spike Hatcher: Regenerate. Rarity: ? not bad - definetly fat - and a good free regeneration. a 6/6 regenerator is cool. Card Title: Survival of the Fittest Card Color: Green Type & Class: Enchantment Casting Cost: 1G Pow/Tgh: n/a Card Text: G, Discard a creature card: Search your library for a creature card, reveal that card to all players and put it in your hand. Shuffle your library afterwards. Rarity: ? I know evberyone loves this. Here - let me tell you something. This is the new Volraths Gardens. Its crap. Looks like it has potential - but it doesn't. I'm tired - and I've done the green - so, I'm quiting for a bit. Later all - Jamie C. Wakefield Green gets screwed again - what a shock.