Blog Archives - Life... Successfully

Retro Magic: Ifh-Biff Efreet - Arabian Nights Rare Card Review

5/29/2012

by Phoenix A. Desertsong, Staff Writer, Healer & Advocate

Ifh-Biff Efreet is one of the more interesting cards in Arabian Nights. With his ability, any player can pay a single green mana to do 1 damage to each player and each creature with flying.

Considering that you can activate his ability as many times as you have green mana to pay, this is a pretty powerful card. It's especially good if your opponent isn't playing any green mana sources. On top of that, it's a 3/3 flyer for 2GG.

It's not hard to see why this is on the Reserve List, as it's actually quite powerful on paper. In practice, the Ifh-Biff Efreet doesn't really see much play anymore. He does pop up in Cubes and Commander decks, here and there. At $100 or more a pop, though, he's becoming a pricey Old School Magic card.

Have you ever played Ifh-Biff Efreet?

~ Phoenix <3

Retro Magic: Khabal Ghoul - Arabian Nights Card Review

5/27/2012

by Phoenix A. Desertsong, Staff Writer, Healer & Advocate

Khabal Ghoul is an interesting Zombie card from Arabian Nights called. This creature is an uncommon, but it's on the Reserve List, like many of the best Arabian Nights cards are. For 3 mana, 2 Colorless mana and 1 Black mana, you get a 1/1 Zombie. While that's not exciting, his ability is quite good. The Ghoul gets a +1/+1 counter at each end step for every creature that died that turn and wasn't regenerated. Potentially, this guy could get pretty darn big in a hurry.

Khabal Ghoul used to be a nice little card to put in your Zombie-based Commander deck or crazy rogue Legacy deck. He's also not bad in Old School Magic, a format where you can only play cards from 1993 or 1994. He's a fun turn one play if you cast Dark Ritual, which gives you three Black Mana.

These days, Khabal Ghoul has gotten pretty pricey. If you have about $75+ to spare per copy of this guy for an Old School Magic deck, Khabal Ghoul is worth a look. He's also worth picking up if you love collecting Reserve List Magic cards, and have the wallet to do so.

Have you ever played Khabal Ghoul?

~ Phoenix <3

Retro Magic: Juzam Djinn - Arabian Nights Rare Card Review - Magic the Gathering (MTG)

5/25/2012

by Phoenix A. Desertsong, Staff Writer, Healer & Advocate

For 2BB, Juzam Djinn gives you a 5/5 that deals 1 damage to you during each of your up-keeps. In the early days of Magic, this was a really massive creature. So, it was certainly worth taking that 1 extra damage with just how big this guy is.

You could often play this guy on Turn 2 with a Dark Ritual. That early in the game, that was often an unanswerable threat. You'd have to play two Lightning Bolts in a row, or deal damage to him in combat and Bolt him for the rest.

The really good removal at the time was Terror, which like Doom Blade, doesn't affect Black creatures. You pretty much needed to cast a Wrath of God to deal with him! Since it was so hard to answer, Juzan Djinn was one of the biggest threats in early Magic!

Today, a single copy of Juzam Djinn sells for over $1000 USD! That doesn't seem worth the price tag at all if you're thinking of playing him. However, the "Old School Magic" format which uses cards from only 1993 and 1994 uses this card a lot. That's what has skyrocketed his price over the years. He's a really useful card, but you'll need thousands of bucks to shell out on a playset. That's even if you can find enough copies for sale... He's a Reserve List card that you probably should steer clear from unless you're looking to collect some super high-end Magic the Gathering cards!

Still, Juzam Djinn is an awesome creature, even if not by today's standards. He may be under-powered now. But in early Magic, this was a boss monster that everyone who played Black wanted to have!

Have you ever played Juzam Djinn?

~ Phoenix <3

Updated 9/3/18

Retro Magic: Elephant Graveyard - Arabian Nights Card Review

5/21/2012

by Phoenix A. Desertsong, Staff Writer, Healer & Advocate

Elephant Graveyard is one of the more interesting land cards ever printed. Not only can you tap it for a colorless mana, but you can also tap it to regenerate an Elephant or Mammoth. It's funny to think about a deck now being built that revolves around Elephants and Mammoths. Yet, this card actually would make that combination a really fun deck.

An Elephant/Mammoth hybrid beat-down deck wouldn't be particularly competitive, but it would be fun. I wouldn't recommend investing in Elephant Graveyards for the purpose of building a casual deck around them, though. You're looking at over $100 USD a piece for a decent condition copy. But, if you happen to stumble across a copy or two of these for a reasonably cheap price, it's not a bad idea to pick them up. After all, it's on the Reserve List, meaning it's not going to be reprinted in any future Magic release.

Because Elephant Graveyard isn't really that viable to play anymore in any competitive sense, it isn't a problem for it to remain on the Reserve List. Keeping it there simply helps it retain collector's value. For many Magic players, that's perfectly fine.

Have you ever played Elephant Graveyard?

~ Phoenix <3

Retro Magic: Drop of Honey - Arabian Nights Card Review

5/19/2012

by Phoenix A. Desertsong, Staff Writer, Healer & Advocate

One of the cards never reprinted in a later Magic set is Drop of Honey, an interesting Enchantment. For a single Green mana, its effect is actually fairly powerful. During your upkeep, the creature with the lowest power is destroyed. If there's a tie, you get to choose which is destroyed. Drop of Honey is destroyed when there are no creatures left on the field.

When the set Legends was released in 1994, this card was given an errata to make its ability require a target. This made it incredibly powerful alongside cards that could not be targeted or any creatures with protection from green. In later years, this would include creatures such as Troll Ascetic with hexproof.

In recent years, the errata was reversed and revised to be something that was much closer to its original text. That way it would no longer target. This "nerfed" its power a bit, but it's still a strong card. If you can find one in near-mint condition, it's a rare and expensive card worth adding to your collection.

Drop of Honey actually is on the Reserve List. Compared to others on the list, it's now just very good rather than extremely powerful. With the errata that once made it immensely good no longer in play, it probably doesn't need to be on that list any longer.

Still, it's hard to see this card being reprinted in today's Magic, even were it not on the list. As it stands, with its relative rarity, this card can command $500 or more a copy. If you have a copy lying about, be lucky that you do, as it's one of the more expensive Magic cards around!

Have you ever played Drop of Honey?

~ Phoenix <3

Retro Magic: Diamond Valley - Arabian Nights Card Review

5/17/2012

by Phoenix A. Desertsong, Staff Writer, Healer & Advocate

One of the most expensive cards from Arabian Nights, Diamond Valley is one of the best cards in the set, as well. It's often found selling on the secondary market for $400 or more a copy,

By tapping Diamond Valley you can sacrifice a creature in order to gain life equal to the sacrificed creature's toughness. Not only that, but its effect is able to be used after blockers have been declared.

While it's not really a card that can necessarily win you a game, it's a very fun card for EDH / Commander decks that are built around life-gain mechanics. It's pricey, but it's a fun card to play. You can use it quite a number of times in a game, so it's worth a look if you're willing to sink a few hundred bucks or more into acquiring a copy. , Understandably, this card is on the Reserve List, as not only is it powerful, but it would be very difficult to reprint this in today's Magic.

Have you ever played Diamond Valley?

~ Phoenix <3

Updated 9/3/2018

Retro Magic: Bazaar of Baghdad - Arabian Nights Card Review - Magic the Gathering (MTG)

5/13/2012

by Phoenix A. Desertsong, Staff Writer, Healer & Advocate

Bazaar of Baghdad is not only on the Reserve List, but it's also banned in Legacy tournament play. On the surface, tapping to draw two cards, then having to discard three doesn't sound terribly impressive. However, being able to use its tap ability every turn, especially in a deck that utilizes the Graveyard as a resource, it can become a very powerful engine.

Because of how quickly you can fill your graveyard with the cards you actually want in there while drawing into your game-winning combo pieces, Wizards of the Coast decided that this card needed to be banned in most formats. It's not banned in Vintage, however, where there is a much smaller ban list. So, because of decks like Dredge that utilize the Graveyard, it's still incredibly valuable.

In fact, Bazaar of Baghdad is one of the most expensive cards in all of Magic: the Gathering. If you're lucky to own a copy, congratulations!

Have you ever played Bazaar of Baghdad?

~ Phoenix <3

Updated 9/3/2018

Retro Magic: Ali From Cairo - Arabian Nights Card Review - Magic the Gathering (MTG)

5/11/2012

by Phoenix A. Desertsong, Staff Writer, Healer & Advocate

Ali from Cairo has a pretty silly ability. It's obvious why this card has stayed on Magic the Gathering's Reserve List - one of the cards that Wizards of the Coast has promised to never reprint. Basically, you can never lose the game as long as Ali is on the board (unless you lose by poison counters, of course.) Any damage that would reduce your life to 0 will still leave you with 1 life.

One important note: Any loss of life you would take outside of damage, such as the effect of the Extort mechanic, would still reduce your life to 0. So it's still possible to lose with Ali on the board; it's just considerably more difficult.

As this card is not banned in Vintage or Legacy, it's still very possible to build a deck around Ali from Cairo. Getting your hands on a play-set is certainly a pricey proposition, though, at over $100 a piece. Will a deck based around him be as good as it once was? Not particularly, especially as a creature with no power and only 1 toughness. But he's still fun to play, and he's a valuable card for your collection.

Updated 12/10/2017

Photo used under Creative Commons from Parker Knight