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Adeliz, the Cinder Wind - A Magic the Gathering (MTG) Card Review

12/22/2018

by R.A. Rowell; Co-Owner of Intent-sive Nature & the Brand Shamans network

“(Insert name of uncommon legend creature here) is good” could easily be a theme in the Dominaria set. But, Adeliz, the Cinder Wind is actually quite good. Even as an uncommon, Adeliz quickly found herself on buylists for bulk rare price or even slightly higher. She also has had a positive demand curve.

Adeliz, the Cinder Wind is a blue/red Wizard that screams Wizard tribal. A 2/2 with flying and haste is always good for three mana. Also, her ability to pump all Wizards you control whenever you can an instant or sorcery spell - even herself - works on either offense or defense.

Unsurprisingly, Adeliz has proven good enough to be part of Standard Wizards Aggro at three copies. Even as a Legendary Creature that you can only control one copy of at a time, Adeliz pumps your whole team, so having extra copies in hand isn’t really a problem. You’ll want extra copies of her to drop in case they deal with your first Adeliz.

Adeliz, the Cinder Wind is even good enough that she’s appeared in Modern Izzet Wizards at two copies. There are enough one drop spells that can quickly activate her ability, such as Lightning Bolt and Serum Visions. Even in a fast format like Modern, she makes Wizards a viable aggro deck She’s even popped up in an occasional Vintage Grixis Control deck as a quick source of hasty damage in the air.

With how expansive Wizards are as a tribe in Magic, it shouldn’t be a surprise that Adeliz, the Cinder Wind is also good in EDH. While Adeliz, the Cinder Wind Commander decks aren’t all that popular just yet, they gained some powerful allies in Guilds of Ravnica with Niv-Mizzet, Parun and Murmuring Mystic. She’s definitely one to watch as a Wizard Tribal Commander.

Really, Adeliz is way too good a creature to be uncommon. She's a solid card for any Magic collection, but also a great card for the Magic card investor binder. Foil copies of Adeliz floored at about $2, so if you happen across them, they’re worth grabbing. The non foil doesn’t have a super high ceiling, but he’s 60-card Constructed playable. Adeliz is really fun to build around and a home run card for Magic players both new and old.

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Quasiduplicate - A Magic the Gathering (MTG) Card Review

12/4/2018

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by R.A. Rowell; Co-Owner of Intent-sive Nature & the Brand Shamans network

Quasiduplicate is a sorcery spell from Magic the Gathering’s Guilds of Ravnica set. This three-mana spell not only can clone one of your creatures, but it also has Jump-start. A mechanic new to Guilds of Ravnica, Jump-start allows you to cast a spell from the graveyard by paying its mana cost plus discarding a card.

Because of its Jump-start ability, Quasiduplicate is very similar to an older instant spell from Innistrad called Cackling Counterpart. That card was better in that you could play it at instant speed and was still a three-mana spell. It also had flashback for 5UU (seven mana). While it never saw much competitive Standard play, Cackling Counterpart did find its way into a few Delver decks.

What makes Quasiduplicate better than Cackling Counterpart is that it essentially can use flashback for only three mana. You do have to discard a card, but it could be a card you don’t even need, like an extra land. Seven mana was just too much for a commitment for a clone in Standard or other competitive formats. In this way, Quasiduplicate is better, although it can only be cast at sorcery speed.

What is the best deck for Quasiduplicate in Standard?

Dimir Quasiduplicate is a deck that has gone undefeated in Guilds of Ravnica standard on Magic Online. It features four copies of Quasiduplicate, plus three of the other best clone in Standard with Hostage Taker. Your primary targets for your Quasiduplicate and Hostage Takers are Ravenous Chupacabra, Doom Whisperer, and Dream Eater.

The Chupacabra helps you clear your opponent’s board, and being able to copy that ability for three mana is really solid. Copying Doom Whisperer gets you a 6/6 trampling flyer for three mana. Dream Eater lets you surveil 4, while also bouncing an opponent’s nonland permanent, and the copy does, too. Getting to throw dead cards from your top 4 in the graveyard and rearrange the order of the rest on top of your deck is already good - doing that plus bouncing something for three mana is absurd.

Quasiduplicate has also been tried out in Izzet Drakes, in order to copy one of your Enigma Drake or Crackling Drake. It’s a decent concept - copying your Crackling Drake draws you a card as well asa powerful attacker. However, this is a case where Quasiduplicate being an instant would make it a lot more releveant in that deck. It’s a bit superfluous in that deck.

Is Quasiduplicate an Infinite Combo With Beamsplitter Mage?

Many Magic the Gathering players speculated that Quasiduplicate might be a great spell to play alongside with Beampslitter Mage. While the Mage can copy spells, it does not go inifinite with Quasiduplicate. That’s because even if you copy the Beamsplitter Mage, its ability to copy a spell only works on spells being cast, not being copied. Still, can certainly work in the same deck. Still, while a competitive deck utilizing those two at its core is still to be built, but there are some brewing possibilities with Beamsplitter Mage and Quasiduplicate in the same deck.

While Quasiduplicate can’t go infinite with Beamsplitter Mage, it’s a plenty useful spell. There are plenty of creatures with strong enter the battlefield effects that can benefit you with Quasiduplicate making a token copy. While it hasn’t yet found its way into Modern, it’s not impossible to see it making some sort of impact in the right deck.

Also, while Quasiduplicate certainly isn’t a chase card from Guilds of Ravnica, it is a card to watch. It’s been a top selling card from the set before and Quasiduplicate is not a card to overlook even with its low price.

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Adeliz, the Cinder Wind - A Magic the Gathering (MTG) Card Review

Quasiduplicate - A Magic the Gathering (MTG) Card Review

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