Subject: Exodus Type II Analysis Date: Mon, 8 Jun 1998 13:58:29 +0200 From: Gregor Wernet Hi everyone. Exodus is finally out and after looking through the list, I'd like to share my opinions about the expansion's impact on Type II. At first, a few general observations: a) There are two "circles", the Oaths and the Keepers, which are similar in effect. Red got the worst in both circles. The blue and black Oaths are very good. b) A lot of "come-into-play" creatures, although most are not of the usual 187 type; these creatures regrow cards from the graveyard. Few of them are playable due to their high cost, but they might be interesting with alternative ways to play them (Living Death,...) c) Apart from these 187s, there are almost no good creatures in Ex. d) There are several cards that can create a lock. I'll now look at the good cards sorted by color: Artifacts / Lands Erratic Portal - Not that good for opposing creatures, but great to recycle 187s or The Broken Wall. Memory Crystal - Might see use, but IMHO Medallions are better. Null Brooch - Will definitely see play. Can you say Scroll/Tongs/Bridge? Sphere of Resistance - A new Nether Void. Will be played with Land Destruction. Black Carnophage - Another Sarcomancy, and it's even a Zombie. The Ritual - 3 Zombie start just got a lot more probable. As if Suicide Black wasn't good enough... Fugue - Expensive, but card Advantage pure. Not random, though. Keeper of the Dead - Black has lots of ways to get creatures in the graveyard, so this might be played. Necrologia - A bit expensive, but WOW! If you want to disk your Necro anyway, try this. BottleNecro will stay with the real thing. Oath of Ghouls - Creatureless decks should be prepared for this card. Definitely undercosted. Another Weenie card. Volrath's Dungeon - Get rid of your opponent's hand. Good with Necro. Blue Curiosity - Let the pinging begin . . . Dominating Licid - Very vulnerable, but good to stop multiple attackers. Ephemeron - Might replace Air El. as finisher in blue counterdecks. Equilibrium - WotC loves Tradewind-decks. Bounce your opponent's creatures with Equilibrium and his lands with the Rider. Or just use Shrieking Drake as a 2-mana capsize... Ertai, Wizard Adept - Not as good as it seems at first, this card is still good. 4 mana is a lot, though, and it's *very* vulnerable. Fade Away - Situational, but it really hurts if it works. Use Power Sink for best effects. Forbid - A counter for 3 mana is still good, and the buyback option will be used quite often. With wispers or the blue Keeper, you can get cards to fuel the buyback. Definitely good. Keeper of the Mind - Situational but potentially great. Good in fish. Mana Breach - BROKEN! Once this card is in play, it's *very* difficult to reduce your hand size. Bounce got a huge boost with this, as getting a Tradewind-lock without Geddon is now easy to achieve. Would be my bet in an "Ex-card to get banned"-contest. Mind over Matter - Very expensive. Good in a Stasisdeck, though. Just MoMand a Howling Mine ensure a Stasis lock. With 2 Mines you can play cards, too. Still, the high casting cost will probably keep it from seing much play. Oath of Scholars - Potentially abusive. Anything that uses cards as a resource will profit greatly from this card. Green Cartographer - A new Harvest Wurm, but it doesn't require a land in the graveyard. Might be seen with Geddon... Keeper/Oath - As if green ever had fewer creatures. The Keeper can be used to create an Infinity combo with Intruder Alarm, but this requires your opponent to have two creatures. Mirri - Good creature, but it's a Legend. Skyshroud Warbeast - Possibly a Sideboard card, but no-one ever played Natural Order, either. Still, some decks will hate this. Red Flowstone Flood - Expensive and the buyback cost really hurts, but it might still be worth it for some. Ogre Shaman - Stormbind is back, but it's expensive and vulnerable. Seismic Assault - Another reprint. Maybe I can get credit for being the first one on the net to mention "MulchAssault". :-) Or use Necro... Shattering Pulse - So much for Shatter... Spellshock - Evil. Really evil. Just don't kill yourself... White Cataclysm - The new balance. Get card advantage by keeping cards in hand. Keeper of the Light - Good against Sligh, but will get burned anyway. Limited Resources - Another card with the potential to create a lock. Destroy/Bounce his lands and play your own. Oath of Lieges - Not that good (see Sacred Ground), but is good with the white buyback spells or anything that requires lands in play. Paladin en-Vec - Not a really good weenie. Knight of Dawn and Soltari Champion are better in the 3-mana slot. Peace of Mind - Combine with the blue or black Oath or Necro to gain a lot of life. Reaping the Rewards - A new Zuran Orb, but the cost is *very* high, so it's questionable if this card will be played. Soltari Visionary - Might be seen in WW Treasure Hunter - Counter target Monkey... So that's it. Not a lot of playable cards, but several of the playable ones just beg to be broken. Tredewind-decks get another big boost, and Suicide Black gets a few really good cards. Blue definitely got the best cards, while white, red and black got a few good cards. Green got, well, actually nothing. A weenie that's a legend and not much more. This'll cause another wave of "green gets hosed"-posts, and rightfully so. When Mirage leaves, green looses almost all the good cards it has, leaving only The Broken Wall and a few other cards. I hope I can talk about a few good green cards when Urza's Saga comes out. Until then Gregor Wernet grwernet@med.uni-tuebingen.de