by ElspethFTW, Old School Duelist ![]() One of the best Xyz Monsters in Duelist Alliance, Castel, the Skyblaster Musketeer has become an Extra Deck staple. This Winged Beast has no special summoning requirements outside of overlaying 2 Level 4 Monsters. Castel only has 2000 ATK and 1500 DEF, but he has two powerful effects that involve removing Xyz materials. The first effect allows you to detach 1 Xyz Material from Castel to target 1 face-up monster on the field and change it to face-down Defense Position. That is Book of Moon as an effect on an Xyz Monster. 2000 ATK is plenty to take out many monsters in Defense Position, so what may have been a problem in Attack Position suddenly becomes far easier to destroy. This effect also cancels out the effects of face-up Monsters, which is always a big deal. The second effect is even more powerful. If you remove 2 Xyz Materials from Castel, you can target a face-up card on the field (even Monsters in Pendulum Zones!) and shuffle it into the Deck. Only one of these effects can be activated during a turn and only one effect of any Castel on the field can be activated in a turn. Castel is a very powerful Xyz Monster. Being a Winged Beast also makes him a valid target to activate the popular trap card Icarus Attack, making him an auto-include in any deck that runs a lot of Winged Beasts such as Blackwings. However, both of his effects are powerful enough to see play in any deck. Castel sees play in the Extra Decks of many top decks. He has become an extremely valuable card, being reprinted in the 2015 Mega-Tins and as an ultimate rare in Astral Pack Seven, a set reserved for tournament prizes. He'll be one of the more played Xyz monsters for quite a long time.
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by ElspethFTW, Old School Duelist ![]() Originally printed in Judgment of the Light, Bujintei Susanowo is the key Xyz Monster in Bujins, essentially being their boss monster. Now, the Bujins version of the 2014 Mega Tin has Susanowo as a Platinum Secret Rare, and it looks pretty sweet. He wasn’t a super expensive card before, as an ultra and ultimate rare, and now he’ll be very easy to acquire. He’s even featured in the Mega Pack 2014 expansion set, as an ultra rare, as well! Bujintei Susanowo requires two Level 4 “Bujin” monsters to be summoned, which considering how many Bujins the deck runs, isn’t ever going to be a problem. He has 2400 ATK and 1600 DEF, solid stats for a Rank 4 Xyz monster. He has the ability to attack all monsters your opponent controls once each, which is a sweet effect. Also, once per turn, you can detach 1 Xyz Material attached to Susanowo to take 1 “Bujin” monster from your Deck and either add it to your hand or send it to the Graveyard. You can only control 1 Susanowo at any one time. Being a sort of “toolbox” deck, Bujins have become a very well-rounded deck that can respond to many different situations. Having a card that can help you get just the Bujin where you need it and when you need it is extremely helpful. The fact that he’s also a solid offensive force helps the cause. He’s a great reprint, and it’s interesting that he’s essentially featured twice in these tins due to the fact you can pull him as an ultra rare in the packs as well as being a promo in one of the tins. Konami really wanted players to have this guy. I understand why. by ElspethFTW, Old School Duelist ![]() There is a reason why Elspeth Tirel is my favorite Planeswalker in Magic: the Gathering. Elspeth, Knight-Errant and Elspeth Tirel are two of my favorite cards in the game, and I was ecstatic to hear that there would be a new Elspeth planeswalker in Theros. At first, she seemed a bit underwhelming to many players, and at six mana, people weren’t sure how Constructed playable she would be. But it’s been proven that she’s a game changer, especially in the Winter 2013 Standard version of Esper Control. Let’s take a look at this beauty. Elspeth, Sun’s Champion begins in play with 4 loyalty counters with the standard three abilities. Her first ability allows you to add one loyalty counter to put three 1/1 white Soldier creature tokens onto the battlefield. This is the same ability as Elspeth Tirel‘s -2 ability. Right off the bat, Elspeth, Sun’s Champion gives you instant value. The next ability is also very interesting. Her -3 destroys all creatures with power 4 or greater. This is a pretty valuable weapon if you’re running a white weenie deck or any other deck that focuses on creatures with power 3 or lower. It’s also extremely valuable in Commander, making her a very valuable casual card, as well. Her -7, if you manage to reach it, though, is pretty ridiculous. You get an emblem which gives your creatures +2/+2 and flying for the remainder of the game. That’s a ridiculous proposition in ANY format. If you happen to have a Doubling Season and this lady in your Commander deck, she goes ultimate immediately. Overall, this version of Elspeth, while not quite as valuable as Elspeth, Knight-Errant, is going to be a very important card throughout her remaining time in the Standard environment. With her reprinting in the Elspeth vs. Kiora Duel Decks, Elspeth, Sun’s Champion will continue to have value in Commander and Modern for years to come. by ElspethFTW, Old School Duelist ![]() Landorus #58 from Furious Fists is a solid holo rare card. He’s a Fighting Type Basic Pokemon with 120 HP, which is pretty high for a Basic. He has two attacks: Shout of Power and Sky Lariat. Shout of Power is good in that not only does it do 20 base damage for a single Fighting Energy, but it also lets you attach a basic Energy card from your discard pile to 1 of your Benched Pokemon, helping you to build up your Benched forces. Also with a card like Machamp #46 available to pump all of your Fighting-type Pokemon’s attacks by 20, you’re doing 40 damage for one Energy and potentially getting an Energy onto one of your Lucario EX, Machamps, or other Fighting-type Pokemon. The second attack, Sky Lariat, is fairly basic. For 2 Fighting Energy and one colorless Energy, it deals 90 base damage and nothing else. Again, this could be 110 damage with a Machamp on board, which is decent for 3 energy, especially when one is colorless. As holo rare cards in this set go, Landorus is definitely one of the better ones and always a good pull to have, not only being a Legendary Pokemon for collectors, but also one that players will find a use for, as well. by ElspethFTW, Old School Duelist The Pokemon Trading Card Game has many promo cards only available by purchasing certain blister packs in retail stores. One of these blister pack products contains one of two promos: either Trevenant #XY14 or Slurpuff #XY15. ![]() Trevenant #XY14 is a Psychic-type Stage 1 Pokemon with 2 attacks. The first is Eerie Wave, for only a single Psychic Energy, and deals 20 base damage plus also makes your opponent’s Active Pokemon confused. The second attack, Wood Hammer, costs 2 Psychic energy and 1 colorless energy and deals 90 base damage. Also, you flip a coin, and if it’s tails, Trevenant deals 20 damage to itself. As far as play-ability goes, Trevenant is not terrible, but its second attack is a bit below average. Being able to force Confusion on an opponent is pretty good, however. ![]() Slurpuff #XY15 is definitely the better of the two promos. It’s a Stage 1 Fairy-type Pokemon with two attacks. The first, Cotton Guard, requires 1 Fairy Energy and 1 Colorless Energy, deals 30 base damage. During your opponent’s next turn, any damage done by attacks to Slurpuff is reduced by 30. This is certainly quite a useful attack. The second attack is Sleepy Ball, which requires 1 Fairy Energy and 2 Colorless Energy. It deals 60 base damage, but also puts the opponent’s Active Pokemon to sleep. This is very solid, even if the opponent’s Pokemon wakes up in between turns, since this attack will always hit. While both are good cards for collectors to have, the Slurpuff definitely has the game-play advantage for being a very solid way to slow down an opponent’s game plan. The Trevenant is a bit under-powered for today’s EX dominated format. by ElspethFTW, Old School Duelist ![]() Today, we look at a Legendary Land that was originally printed in Urza’s Saga, Shivan Gorge. The From the Vault: Realms version has some fantastic artwork, but overall, it’s a fairly underwhelming card. It can tap for one colorless mana or it has a second ability that for 2 and a Red plus a tap, Shivan Gorge deals 1 damage to each opponent. In a multi-player environment in which you may need a mana sink here and there, it’s certainly usable. Also, as it’s a Legendary Land, you can only have one out on the board at a time (although with the new Legendary rule, other players can control their own single copy). In a burn-based Commander deck, Shivan Gorge is certainly an option, but otherwise, it’s just a pretty non-basic land. by ElspethFTW, Old School Duelist ![]() Primal Clay is a fascinating artifact card that has been around since the days of Antiquities. It was reprinted in Revised, Fourth Edition, Fifth Edition, and Sixth Edition as a rare. It was also reprinted as an uncommon in the Magic 2013 Core Set. What’s special about Primal Clay is that you have a choice as to what it hits the board as. For 4 mana, you get to choose if it enters the battlefield as a 1/6 Wall, a 3/3 vanilla creature, or a 2/2 flying creature. Once it’s on the board, it remains that for as long as it remains there. Years ago, this was actually a pretty fascinating card, and it was a playable card in Limited for a long time, mostly because it could become a cheap 1/6 Wall or a 2/2 Flyer. Even in Magic 2013 limited this was a playable card, and no longer a rare. It’s a fun little card from Magic’s past that’s stuck around a long time. While it certainly has not been Constructed playable for a long time, it’s still a fun card to look at. by ElspethFTW, Old School Duelist ![]() In a set based around Lucario EX, it should be no surprise that there is a Fighting-type ally for one of the cover cards of the X&Y Furious Fists set. Machamp #46 is a holo rare that's quite the ally for his fellow Fighting-type Pokemon. His ability “Fighting Fury” makes each of your Fighting Pokemon’s attacks do 20 more damage to your opponent’s Active Pokemon before Weakness and Resistance are applied. That’s quite a boost. Machamp is, of course, a Stage 2, but his ability is more than worth it to play him. Plus he has 150 HP, making him fairly durable. His own attack is also pretty solid. It’s only 80 base damage for 3 Fighting Energy, but during your opponent’s next turn, any damage done by attacks from the Defending Pokemon is reduced by 40 before Weakness and Resistance are applied. That’s a huge difference. Also, consider that his attack actually does 20 more damage due to his ability alone, really making it a base 100 damage. Lucario EX is not the only fighting type that he helps in this set. Landorus #58, another holo rare from Furious Fists, also greatly benefits from this Machamp. It’s great to see such a classic Pokemon like Machamp be a strong factor in the competitive game again. He was a strong Fighting Pokemon to consider for quite some time. by ElspethFTW, Old School Duelist ![]() Besides being one of the prettier looking EX cards from Plasma Storm, Cobalion EX is a very playable card within the trading card game itself. Steel-based decks are definitely playable, and Cobalion has two very good attacks. Its first attack, Righteous Blow, causes your opponent to have to discard a Special Energy attached to that Pokemon. With the amount of special energy cards played today, especially Double Colorless Energy, that’s a big deal. It only costs a single Steel energy to use, as well, and deals 30 damage. Its second attack, Steel Bullet, costs 2 Steel energy and 1 colorless and deals 100 damage no matter what. The only real downside that Cobalion EX has is its weakness to fire, but that’s not the worst problem. It does have 20 points of resistance to Psychic and is bulky at 180 HP. It’s actually one of my favorite Black and White series legendaries along with Kyurem. Cobalon EX also has a full art version in Plasma Storm, as well, so you’ll want to be on the lookout for that. Cobalion EX is definitely a card I highly recommend for any Pokemon player or collector! by Phoenix Desertsong ![]() Draco is an interesting old artifact dragon from Planeshift. What's so great about a 16-cost 9/9 flyer? It costs 2 less to play for each basic land type among lands you control. The best part about this is that it works if you’re using dual lands like the shock lands (or originally dual lands from Alpha/Beta/Unlimited/Revised) that mention two land types. There are decks in Commander that do run all five colors of mana that can use him effectively, such as Scion of the Ur-Dragon. He costs one of each color of the mana pie and allows you to run all five colors of mana. If you manage to get all five land types out onto the field, Draco is a 6-cost 9/9 flyer. Plus, his downside, which says you must sacrifice Draco unless you pay 10, is negated since you have the 5 types of lands to make him stay on the field for 0. Draco also sees play in Volrath the Fallen EDH decks. Volrath has an ability that allows you to discard a creature card from your hand to give him +X/+X until end of turn where X is the converted mana cost (CMC) of the discarded creature. Since Draco has a CMC of 16, this means Volrath the Fallen can become a 22 power creature. It's a pretty funny way to knock a player out of the game with Commander damage. There’s also a premium foil reprint of Draco available in the From the Vault: Dragons product. While Draco is hardly one of the better Dragon cards around, he does have his uses and foil Planeshift copies run from $9-12 and the From the Vault versions (which share the same artwork) are about $7-8. He’s a semi-valuable collectible card that can find a place in five-color decks, but not much else because of that nasty drawback. Updated 3/1/2019 by ElspethFTW, Old School Duelist ![]() Giant Octopus has some of the best flavor text in Magic. The 8th and 9th edition versions have an excerpt from Jules Verne’s Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. Its Seventh Edition version, though, has a pretty awesome line: “The only thing that flows faster than water is fear.” Its original printing was actually way back in Portal. Back then, its flavor text read: “At the sight of the thing the calamari vendor’s eyes went wide, but from fear or avarice none could tell.” As a creature card, Giant Octopus is a 3/3 for 3 and a Blue. Back in its day, it was most certainly a Limited playable, and anyone who was introduced to Magic with Portal, Starter 1999 or Starter 2000 certainly remembers it. As vanilla creatures go, it’s not bad. At least they have some cool flavor text. by ElspethFTW, Old School Duelist ![]() Greninja EX is one of three EX cards only available in the Kalos Power tins, along with Chesnaught EX and Delphox EX. He may very well be the best of the three, as well. Like all EX cards since the card type was reintroduced during Black & White, Greninja EX is a Basic Pokemon. He has 170 HP, which is a fairly standard amount for these EX Pokemon that are typically Stage 2 Evolutions. He has two attacks, one of which requires only one Water Energy to attack. Also, Greninja EX has 2x weakness to Grass, so be mindful of those match-ups. The first attack is called Sharpshooting, and it requires only a sole Water Energy. The attack deals 30 damage to 1 of your opponent’s Pokemon. Weakness and Resistance are not applied for Benched Pokemon. Any Pokemon that can come out and deal damage on the first turn it has the chance to attack is excellent. The second attack, Aqua Blast, doesn’t look like anything special, but it deals 120 damage for only 3 energy – 2 Water and 1 Colorless. It does require you to discard one Water Energy attached to Greninja EX upon attacking, however. Still, that’s strong damage for a 3-energy attack, even with the downside. Greninja EX is certainly the most aggressive of the Kalos Power tin promos. While Delphox EX has the ability to do more damage, and Chesnaught EX is a strong early-game tank, Greninja EX has the ability to see the most play, finding a home in any Water-based deck. by ElspethFTW, Old School Duelist ![]() Like all of the newer EX cards, Delphox EX is a basic Pokemon. He has 170 HP and is 2x weak to Water. The good thing about Delphox EX is that he can attack right away with a single Fire energy. That first attack is Psybeam, which deals 20 damage and allows you to flip a coin. If that coin lands on heads, your opponent’s Active Pokemon is now Confused. (Note: In the competitive Pokemon Trading Card Game, they actually use dice, with the heads being even numbers and the tails being the odd numbers.) His second attack is Wonder Flare, which costs 1 Fire and 3 Colorless Energy (any energy) to use. It does 80+ damage. The additional damage is decided by the number of Energy cards in your opponent’s hand. Your opponent reveals his or her hand, and the attack deals 40 damage for each Energy card revealed. This is potentially a devastating attack, considering how many Energies players can have in hand at any given time. The only reason downside to this card is the fact that it’s weak to Water. By as soon as Turn 3, Delphox EX could be causing devastating damage to opponent’s Pokemon. Your opponent will need to find ways to play more Energy from their hand in a turn or have to discard Energies simply not to take more damage from Wonder Flare. I'm a huge fan of this particular EX card. Plus, being a huge Delphox fan in general, I definitely would want for my collection. Picture courtesy of the Bulbapedia from Bulbagarden. by ElspethFTW, Old School Duelist ![]() Chesnaught EX (#XY18) is one of three EX promotional cards available only from the Kalos Power (X&Y) series tins, along with Delphox EX and Greninja EX. They are not currently included in any expansion set. So, the tins are the only ways to get them. This version of Chesnaught is a 180HP Grass Type Pokemon. While it is usually a Stage 2 Pokemon, because it is an EX, Chesnaught EX is a Basic Pokemon. It’s weak to Fire, like most Grass-type Pokemon are, and has a very hefty retreat cost of 4. It takes a bit for Chesnaught EX to get going, as his first attack Pin Missile requires 3 energy to attack. Fortunately, it only requires one Grass energy, so Double Colorless Energy may be used. When you use Pin Missile, you flip 4 coins, and the attack does 40 damage for each heads. It’s an okay attack with a wide variance. Still, potentially dealing 80, 120 or even 160 damage is very powerful for only three Energy. Its second attack, Wild Tackle, costs two Grass energy and two colorless energy. It deals 120 damage, but it does 20 damage to itself in the process. Overall, it’s not a bad Pokemon, especially for one that’s readily available in a promotional tin. It's fairly playable, especially with how much HP this guy has. You can even play him on your very first turn. He’s certainly not one of the more powerful EX cards out there, but he’s a fairly decent tank. Picture courtesy of the Bulbapedia from Bulbagarden. by Phoenix Desertsong ![]() Before the rise of the Pauper format in paper Magic the Gathering, probably not a lot of people ever heard of Gorilla Shaman. It’s an interesting common card originally printed in Alliances and later reprinted in a Coldsnap Theme Deck. The Shaman is a 1/1 creature for one red mana and has the repeatable ability: Pay X-X-1: Destroy target non-creature artifact with casting cost equal to X. Double X costs are typically yucky. But, on a one-drop creature, it’s not a bad ability. Say you wanted to destroy a two-drop artifact: it would cost you 5 mana to destroy that artifact. While that’s quite a bit of a mana investment to destroy one card, on a one-drop creature, it’s not bad at all. Unlike a lot of artifact removal that either is one use or requires a sacrifice of itself, you can keep this guy around. Even though there are far superior ways to destroy artifacts in Red in most formats, this guy is particularly good in Pauper. That's because in an all-common format, your options for artifact removal are much more limited. You're often only going to be destroying one or two mana artifacts anyway. While it seems a bit inefficient, it's worth playing, since this is a repeatable ability. You can also play him on turn one, and since he's a creature, he doesn't slow down aggressive decks. Many competitive Pauper decks, such as Izzet Delver, Kuldotha Boros, and Tron play a couple copies of Gorilla Shaman in their sideboards to make certain matchups easier. Gorilla Shaman is worth a look in the right Pauper deck as a tool to destroy pesky artifacts. Reusable removal is always worth something. For most decks, though, the Shaman one to pass on – although it wasn’t bad in Ice Age Block Constructed. Still, it's a valuable card due to its playability in Pauper. It's also especially good in Pauper Commander (PDH) if you're playing any kind of Red deck. Have you ever played Gorilla Shaman? Updated 3/1/2019 by ElspethFTW, Old School Duelist ![]() Psychic Theft is a rare from way back in the day from a set called Prophecy. For one and a blue, a target player reveals his or her hand. You get a chance to choose an instant or sorcery card from it and exile that card. The bonus to this is that you can cast this cast at any time while it remains exiled, provided you have the mana to cast it. However, you only get a limited chance to play it. If it hasn’t been cast by the beginning of the end step, the exiled card returns to its owner’s hand . Ordinarily, this means that you have to play this card on your turn, being a Sorcery, and be able to use whatever card it is you steal from that opponent’s hand on that same turn. Only by casting it do you actually both benefit from the use of that card and deprive your opponent of being able to use it from their hand. However, there are ways, especially in Commander, to turn sorceries into instants. So, there are probably some silly shenanigans you can pull off with this in the right sort of decks. It’s not a valuable rare by any means, but it can do some neat tricks. Being able to steal a player’s spell and be able to use it while depriving that player of a card is a fairly useful effect, if not extremely situational. It’s not one of the best cards in Prophecy, by any stretch, but it has some minor combo potential. by ElspethFTW, Old School Duelist ![]() Terashi's Grasp is basically the Arcane version of Solemn Offering. It is sorcery-speed artifact or enchantment removal, especially that you gain life equal to that card's converted mana cost than just a static 4 life. It's pretty useful in Modern Masters draft, actually, and 2 and one White is acceptable for this sort of removal. Terashi's Grasp actually was originally printed at common in Betrayers of Kamigawa. It was bumped up in rarity in Modern Masters due to the fact that making it common would've made it picked a little more often than may have been good for that Limited environment. It's a solid little card. While it sees less play than Solemn Offering in Commander, it probably should see a lot more. by ElspethFTW, Old School Duelist ![]() Here's a little blast from the past: Spell Blast! Interesting fact: Spell Blast was actually one of the first Magic: the Gathering cards ever printed, from all the way back in Alpha! It was reprinted in Revised, Fourth Edition, Fifth Edition, Sixth Edition, and Tempest. Also, in 2013, it was reprinted in Magic 2014, surprisingly as an uncommon. Spell Blast is an interesting counter-spell, in that you have to pay X where X is the total converted mana cost of the spell you're trying to counter. Obviously, there are far better counter-spells than this, but in a Limited setting, it's decent to have early game, but has greatly diminishing returns as the game wears on. This was a card that was a bit better in the early days of Magic, though good old Counterspell for two blue mana greatly outclasses this card. Spell Blast is mostly worth mentioning because it's in the Magic 2014 Core Set as an uncommon when before it had only ever been printed at common, where it belongs. It's an OK Commander card in a counter-heavy deck, but who wants to play against one of those? It's certainly an okay common card, but why Wizards decided to reprint it at uncommon so many years later befuddles me. That's Wizards for you, reprinting the seemingly most random things for the sake of Limited play. by Phoenix Desertsong ![]() The Lorwyn set of Magic the Gathering had many strange and unusual creatures to put into your deck. While not one that saw much Constructed play in its day, Purity is quite an interesting card. My favorite parts of the card, actually, are its artwork and concept. The whole idea of an Elemental Elk Incarnation with wings is just super epic to me. As a card, though, Purity is okay. Being a 6/6 flyer for 6 mana is certainly playable, but requiring 3 white as part of its casting cost limits its play-ability a bit, except in Commander where mana-fixing is much less of a problem that in a regular 60-card deck Constructed format. Its abilities are kind of cool. As with the other Incarnations in Lorwyn, such as Guile (which is another one of my favorite Lorwyn creatures), whenever it would be put into a graveyard, it is shuffled back into its owner's deck instead. This includes being discarded from the top of the deck, as well, so mill strategies will be unable to finish the job with this card in your deck. Also, Purity's other ability prevents you from spells or abilities dealing damage to you, allowing you to gain that much life instead. However, remember that damage is not the same as loss of life. Spells and Abilities that cause you to lose life but don't explicitly say damage are not helped by Purity's ability. Purity is a bit of a situational card, best used in Commander play-groups where direct damage dealing is common. The Elemental Incarnation does see some play in Horde of Notions Elemental Tribal decks in particular. Otherwise, it's just a flavorful card that is outclassed by a lot of other things that would take its card slot in your deck. Updated 3/1/2019 |
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