Category: Retro Magic - Life... Successfully

Retro Magic - Sedge Troll: An Old School Magic Treasure

5/27/2018

by ElspethFTW, Old School Duelist

Today’s Magic the Gathering players may take a look at Sedge Troll and be underwhelmed. Still, even by today’s standards, though, he’s not a bad card. As a rare, and a card on the Reserved List, though, it may surprise newer players just how much interest there is in Sedge Troll. But there’s a very good reason why Sedge Troll still sells today: Old School Magic!

Sedge Troll a 3-mana 2/2 that can regenerate for a single Black mana. The Troll also gains +1/+1 if you control a swamp - which includes dual lands that have Swamp as a type such as Badlands. Honestly, a 3/3 for 3 mana that can easily regenerate so easily is pretty solid. In Old School Magic, he’s actually a solid mid-range creature!

So if you ever come across Sedge Trolls in your travels, whether they be the uber-expensive Alpha or Beta black-bordered printings, or the white-bordered Unlimited or Revised printings, don’t overlook them. Not only was Sedge Troll a really good creature in the early days of Magic, and a piece of Magic’s long history, but he’s a great financial investment, as well. That is, for the right price.

Retro Magic - Journey into Nyx Intro Pack - Voracious Rage Deck Review

5/20/2018

by ElspethFTW, Old School Duelist

The Red/Black Intro Pack for Journey Into Nyx, Voracious Rage, is centered around Minotaurs, one of the more popular tribes in Magic the Gathering in recent years. Ever since Rageblood Shaman was released in Theros, Minotaur decks saw some success in Block Constructed on Magic Online and in local tournaments. It was good to see Wizards print an intro pack that's based around the tribe.

Deck List

Lands (25)

14 Mountain
11 Swamp

Creatures (22)

2 Borderland Minotaur
3 Deathbellow Raider
1 Fanatic of Mogis
2 Felhide Brawler
1 Felhide Petrifier
1 Insatiable Harpy
2 Kragma Warcaller
1 Minotaur Skullcleaver
3 Pensive Minotaur
1 Pharika’s Chosen
1 Rageblood Shaman
2 Ragemonger
1 Spawn of Thraxes
1 Warchanter of Mogis

Non-Creature Spells (13)

1 Cast into Darkness
2 Flurry of Horns
1 Lightning Diadem
2 Magma Spray
1 Pinnacle of Rage
1 Rollick of Abandon
1 Searing Blood
2 Spiteful Blow
2 Starfall

Deck Review

The cover card of the deck is the Dragon Spawn of Thraxes. He costs 5RR (7 total) to cast for a 5/5 flyer. When he enters play, he deals damage to a target creature or player equal to the number of Mountains you control. This is a good ability, and he makes for a great Limited bomb. But like many Intro Pack rares, that was exactly what they were designed to be. Spawn of Thraxes is a bit mana-intensive to be a good Constructed card. Still, in a deck like this, he can be a big finisher. Having haste would be a plus. Also, he doesn’t really fit the flavor of the deck.

The other rare in the deck is the lifeblood of the Minotaur tribe, Rageblood Shaman. This Minotaur Lord gives your other Minotaurs +1/+1 and trample. He also has trample himself and is a 2/3. Ideally, you want to run a full play-set of this guy. Even at the height of the Theros Minotaurs deck, he was only $1.50. You’ve een able to find copues for as little as $0.25 since then. They're easy to find and definitely worth the investment.

The best card in the deck, however, is Ragemonger. There are two copies of him in this Intro Pack, rather than just one, so that’s helpful. While he does cost black mana to play, he reduces the colored costs of your other Minotaurs by one Black mana and one Red mana.

Reducing colored casting costs is pretty unusual, but it’s a big deal in Minotaurs. Ragemonger makes cards like Kragma Warcaller and your other Minotaurs much easier to cast. Deathbellow Raider and Felhide Brawler become 1 colorless to cast. Felhide Petrifier, which gives all of your Minotaurs deathtouch, will cost only 2 colorless mana.

Kragma Warcaller is the big finisher in the deck. While he's only a 2/3 for 3BR, he gives all Minotaurs you control haste. Plus, whenever a Minotaur attacks, it gains +2/+0 until end of turn. With Ragemonger on the board, he costs only 3 colorless mana to play. This ability includes himself, so he’s at least a 4/3 on the swing.

One interesting card from Journey into Nyx not included in this deck is Gnarled Scarhide. This Minotaur has a casting cost of only a single Black mana, and is a 2/1 that can't block. It can also be bestowed for 3B. Most interestingly, the Scarhide is free to cast with Ragemonger on the board.

The non-creature spell line-up is pretty bad, honestly. Magma Spray is playable, as is Searing Blood. But the rest are all pretty inefficient for their mana costs, even if some of them have cool effects. They should be replaced with more cost-effective removal such as Magma Jet, Lightning Strike, Bile Blight, etc. We don’t have to go into great detail with the other cards, as they simply slow the deck down.

Improving the Voracious Rage Minotaur Deck

Ideally, the best way to go with this deck is to focus the list around Rageblood Shaman, Ragemonger, and Kragma Warcaller, with the Deathbellow Raiders and Minotaur Skullcleavers rounding out the creature line-up. You may also want a couple more Fanatic of Mogis to round out the line-up as finishers. The non-creature spells need a massive overhaul and should just be replaced by cards like the efficient removal suggested above.

The best Minotaurs to add to this deck are Boros Reckoner and Neheb, the Worthy. Boros Reckoner is one of the best Minotaurs on both offense and defense. He’s very difficult to block and can be a way to push through for lethal damage. The Reckoner is also pretty cheap since his days in Standard.

Neheb, the Worthy has become the Commander of choice for Minotaurs in EDH, and his abilities are all very good. He’s a 2/2 with first strike for 1BR. He also gives all of your other Minotaurs first strike. Also, if you have one or fewer cards in hand, all Minotaurs you control gain +2/+0, himself included. But that’s not all. Whenever Neheb, the Worthy deals combat damage to a player, each player discards a card. While this seems like a drawback, it’s actually pretty symmetrical attrition.

Is the Voracious Rage Intro Pack Worth Buying?

As is, the creature line-up is decent for an Intro pack. But, the deck fails miserably on the non-creature spell side. At $13.99, you're basically paying $5-6 for the deck and $8 for two packs of Journey Into Nyx. When this deck was first released, it was a good deal. At the time, the deck already paid for itself with the Searing Blood, Minotaur staples, and the two packs. But since Journey into Nyx left standard, you’d be better off acquiring the cards separately using this list as a guideline to building your own Minotaur deck.

Retro Magic: Magic 2014 (M14) Event Deck - Rush of the Wild Review

5/11/2017

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

At one time, Wizards of the Coast released two Event Decks with the release of each set. Event Decks were great value items for some time and were fantastic for newer players getting into the competitive game! The only trouble was that one of the Event Decks was always strictly worse than the other, at least in terms of value. Then, oftentimes, the more "valuable" event deck would have cards that “rotated” out of Standard just months after the deck's release.

But with the release of the Dragon’s Maze set, Wizards of the Coast decided to only do one Event Deck per set. The Dragon's Maze Event Deck had decent value in it, with three copies of the useful Lingering Souls, two copies of the popular Enchantment Rancor, Commander favorite Parallel Lives and Godless Shrine. Now that there was only one, all the value could go into one deck.

For the Magic 2014 Core Set, the Event Deck was entitled “Rush of the Wild.” Not only did it provide the building blocks for a competitive Red/Green “Gruul” Aggro deck, but it had zero cards that rotated out of Standard in October 2013. This was very useful for newer players who were just getting into Standard at the time. With this deck, if you paid $20 or less for it, you basically made your money right back.

Let’s take a look at the creature line-up.

2 Burning-Tree Emissary
1 Deadbridge Goliath
2 Dryad Militant
4 Elvish Mystic
4 Ghor-Clan Rampager
2 Kalonian Tusker
1 Ogre Battledriver
1 Pyrewild Shaman
2 Rakdos Cackler
1 Rubblebelt Raiders
2 Skarrg Guildmage
3 Slaughterhorn
1 Wild Beastmaster
1 Wrecking Ogre

Right off the bat, we have six rares! Also, back in 2013, Burning-Tree Emissary was a money uncommon. It’s still a good card now. Dryad Militant wasn’t money, but it’s a fantastic and playable uncommon in a wide variety of decks, and still sees play in the Modern format. Elvish Mystic is a functional reprint of Llanowar Elves, and a full playset has always been welcome to see. Ghor-Clan Rampager is another uncommon that sees Modern play, as well, and was a “money” uncommon when this deck release. There’s a full playset of them in here.

Other notable uncommons are Rakdos Cackler, Slaughterhorn, and Kalonian Tusker. Cackler and Slaughterhorn don’t really see play anymore. But Kalonian Tusker does still see play in Mono-Green Devotion decks in Modern.

We haven’t even discussed the rares yet. Frankly, they’re not at all big money cards, but worth a look. Deadbridge Goliath is a 5/5 for 2GG, which is in itself good value. Its Scavenge ability, while expensive, is also quite useful considering that you have some sweet combos with it within this pre-con. Wild Beastmaster is a very nice aggro card, and while she is fragile on her own, she can do a lot of damage if she’s big enough. She was a 3-of in top-tier mono-green decks, and was still considered a “bulk rare.” Plus, she is a great target for Deadbridge Goliath’s Scavenge ability; give the counters to Wild Beastmaster and swing out with a +6/+6 bonus to all of your creatures!

Rubblebelt Raiders is a card that I always liked, but it hasn’t seen play because it’s a 4-drop, and there’s a card called Hellrider that was strictly better than it in Standard. But Raiders is a card that can get scary in a hurry, especially if you have the ability to give it haste with a card like Ogre Battledriver.

Speaking of Ogre Battledriver, while we’re on the subject, he is a card that I've always felt was underrated. However, he himself not having haste really dissuaded aggro deck-builders from wanting to play him. Still, having the ability to give any other creature that hits the board gets +2/+0 and haste until end of turn is pretty significant. Wizards of the Coast seemed to include him in every Event Deck that they could for awhile, but he just never really caught on in Standard.

Meanwhile, Pyrewild Shaman and Wrecking Ogre are okay Bloodrush creatures that are great for casual and Limited play, but not really the best options for competitive play. (Although both creatures are playable in Commander.)

Next we’ll look at the non-creature spells:
1 Armed // Dangerous
1 Clan Defiance
2 Flames of the Firebrand
1 Gruul Charm
1 Mizzium Mortars
3 Shock

Armed and Dangerous is a nice little Fuse card, especially considering that the two halves can target different creatures. You can give your best attacker +1/+1 and double strike and make your opponent’s army block an Elvish Mystic for the LOLz. Mizzium Mortars is a fantastic burn spell, even if it’s sorcery speed, mainly because it does four damage for only one and a Red. Plus, Mortars has a sweet overload ability that can murder an opponent’s board.

Gruul Charm is a nice little utility charm, even if not the best of them. One of its options makes me scratch my head: gain control of all cards you own? Huh? But the other two are nice. Deal 3 damage to all flyers and make no ground forces able to block for a turn. Pretty solid card, honestly.

This is then where I get sad. Flames of the Firebrand and Shock are the best burn removal this deck has to offer. Anyway, Flames of the Firebrand, despite costing 2R, can ping up to three things, which against the right board state, is pretty devastating. Shock is only 2 damage, which doesn’t kill a lot of the things you would need to kill with it. So this is one of the places the deck can very cheaply be upgraded. Fortunately, Theros would bring back Magma Jet and also provided us with Lightning Strike that were easy replacements if you wanted to upgrade this deck right away.

Lastly, I would like to make an honorable mention for a rare that I particularly loved at the time,
Clan Defiance. It didn’t get much love because a sorcery speed burn card doesn’t really fit into an aggro deck. However, it can kill three things! The best part is, you can do just one or two of those things. In the right situation, this card can kill two of your opponent’s best creatures, AND hit them in the face! I’d play one or two of these just to win out of nowhere. It’s a very underrated card, but it's really only ever seen play in Commander, where it's actually super powerful.

Now the mana base:

12 Forest
4 Gruul Guildgate
6 Mountain
1 Rogue’s Passage
1 Stomping Ground

OK, Guildgates are neat, but in aggro they are not exactly what you're looking for. Temple of Abandon from Theros, even though it comes into play tapped, at least gives you the Scry 1. The Stomping Ground is awesome value, though. This was a nice way for players to get this highly sought after land for Modern. Rogue’s Passage is also neat tech to slip one of your double striking big guys in for the kill.

SIDEBOARD
2 Act of Treason
3 Annihilating Fire
2 Enlarge
2 Gruul Charm
2 Naturalize
1 Savage Summoning
3 Skullcrack

The sideboard is solid, if not incredibly inspiring. The Skullcracks are obviously amazing against life-gain effects, and are pretty valuable uncommons nowadays. Annihilating Fire is extra removal. Naturalize is, well, Naturalize. Enlarge is not as good as Overrun, but played on Wild Beastmaster is pretty fun. The extra Gruul Charms may come in handy, as well, and Act of Treason can steal your opponent’s best creature to use against them in an alpha strike.

The most interesting card here is Savage Summoning, a card that received tons of hype upon its release, but has only seen some fringe play since. Still, it has a nice effect that can be useful in control match-ups. Also, flashing in a Wild Beastmaster on their turn is always useful. Flashing in, anybody, really, and it is a nice little trick… But yeah, it’s best against control decks, not really much else.

Overall, if you’re were just looking for a shell for a red/green aggro deck, or you were a newer player, it’s best to just hold onto the stuff. Even at the time, the Stomping Ground made your money back, and all of the other cards were just a bonus. At the time, this was one of the best value Event Decks Wizards has printed since Verdant Catacombs was in the Vampire Onslaught Deck!

This is a playable deck out of the box, but better if you buy a second copy to supplement the existing Dryad Militants, Burning-Tree Emissary, and additional copies of Wild Beastmaster, Ogre Battledriver, and of course, Stomping Ground.

Even now, you can find copies of the Rush of the Wild Event Deck for under $15! It's still worth buying simply for the Stomping Ground and value uncommons. It's one of the best value Event Decks around, without a doubt, and it’s still fun to play at the kitchen table!

Rakdos, Lord of Riots - A Magic the Gathering Card Review

12/3/2016

by ElspethFTW, Old School Duelist

Rakdos, Lord of Riots will always be a bit of a special MTG card to me. It was a card that inspired a friend of mine to get into Magic the Gathering. One great thing about new players is that they often notice things about certain cards that more enfranchised players don't. The power level of Rakdos, Lord of Riots always seemed obvious to me. but he was a bit awkward to build around in competitive play.

Red and Black decks, so named Rakdos after that guild's color combination, were quite strong in the days of Return to Ravnica Standard. the leader himself and the namesake of the guild Rakdos himself didn't see too much competitive play. His battle-cruiser type ability seemed best reserved for an EDH deck built specifically around him. indeed, he would become a very powerful commander as time went on for a variety of reasons.

But in Standard, Rakdos, Lord of Riots could serve as a more efficient one-of creature than many people realized. First of all, a 6/6 Flyer with Trample for only 4 mana is downright ridiculous. His only real downside is that you can't cast him unless an opponent has lost life that turn. In Commander, there are about 2 million ways for that to happen. In Standard, there were obviously not so many. But it was most certainly doable given how aggressive Rakdos decks were, and still are really. on raw power alone, this guy was very playable.

On top of that, Rakdos's secondary ability is extremely interesting. For each point of damage dealt to opponents that turn, Rakdos makes your creature spells that you cast cost X fewer colorless mana to cast. It's this ability which makes this card a truly good boss monster in a Rakdos deck. It would also be the key to his power as a Commander.

Being able to make creature spells cost less is always a good thing. Considering how often a Rakdos, Lord of Riots deck causes damage to opponents, you're likely going to be casting a LOT of cheap monsters. In Commander, considering his ability reads OPPONENTS, this allows for even more deadly tactics. Effects that deal damage to all opponents or players become a lot more relevant in a multiplayer format like Commander.

However, there were practical synergies to take advantage of in his Standard heydey. Using a simple commonly played burn spell like Searing Spear would reduce your creatures casting costs for the rest of the turn be reduced by 3 colorless mana. Then, you could find yourself dropping a Thundermaw Hellkite for merely two red mana. This is slightly absurd.

Rakdos, Lord of Riots also made other big Dragons of the time like Moonveil Dragon and Balefire Dragon suddenly far less intimidating to cast. In the right situation, you could drop a lot of big scary stuff in one fell swoop. Heck, you could potentially make Griselbrand cost only 4 Black mana. I don't recall this interaction being taken advantage of in Standard, but it would have been a good one. Sadly, it doesn't work in Commander, as Griselbrand is banned in that format for many reasons.

Rakdos, Lord of Riots makes a very good Commander when used alongside great cards like Olivia Voldaren (another fine Rakdos card) and other cards like Chandra of the Firebrand that can consistently ping players.

On the other hand, his cheap casting cost makes playing two or three in a Constructed deck very manageable. However, no Standard decks really ever wanted that many copies and other constructed formats found him a bit too situational to brew around.

While we were never going to see any top-tier lists running Rakdos, Lord of Riots, that doesn't mean he wasn't a good card at the time. He actually made some appearances at local Friday Night Magic tournaments for a bit. In the long run, he's become an excellent Commander. He's also a very useful member of other Commander decks looking to swarm the board quickly and efficiently with big bad boy monsters.

Don't overlook the Lord of Riots, because a 6/6 trampling flyer alone can be enough to wreck your day. Plus, he can bring a lot of friends along with him, too!

Retro Magic (MTG) - Magic 2015 "Flames of the Dragon" Intro Pack Deck Review

11/30/2016

by ElspethFTW, Old School Duelist

From the name alone, you may assume that the Magic the Gathering 2015 Core Set “Flames of the Dragon” intro pack was a Dragon deck. Actually, there was a forced artifact theme in Red & Blue in the 2015 Core Set. While one of the Dragons in this deck certainly plays into the artifact theme, they are secondary to the success of this particular deck.

Because the Red/Blue artifact theme was well designed around during this set, "Flames of the Dragon" is of the more solid Intro Packs of Magic 2015. This Intro Pack was released in July 2014 and features two rare dragons: Hoarding Dragon and Siege Dragon. However, this is not exactly a Magic 2015 dragon deck, as we will see from the deck list.

Creatures (24)

2 Ornithopter
3 Bronze Sable
2 Welkin Tern
1 Rummaging Goblin
3 Aeronaut Tinkerer
2 Krenko’s Enforcer
2 Wall of Frost
2 Juggernaut
3 Scrapyard Mongrel
1 Hoarding Dragon
2 Glacial Crasher
1 Siege Dragon

Spells (11)

1 Rogue’s Gloves
1 Sacred Armory
1 Tyrant’s Machine
1 Shrapnel Blast
2 Ensoul Artifact
1 Brawler’s Plate
1 Staff of the Flame Magus
1 Staff of the Mind Magus
2 Lava Axe

Lands (25)

1 Darksteel Citadel
12 Mountain
12 Island

This is definitely an artifact-happy deck with the Dragons as curve-topping threats. First, we’ll take a look at the two rare Dragons.

Siege Dragon is a very powerful card, especially in Limited. It costs 5RR to cast for a 5/5 flyer. When it enters the battlefield, it destroys all Walls your opponents control. Then, whenever it attacks, if the defending player controls no Walls, it deals 2 damage to each creature that player controls that doesn’t have flying. While this sounds awfully powerful, he doesn’t have Haste – at least not on his own.

As far as Intro Pack rares go, however, he’s not bad. He’s not really a Constructed playable card, though. He does show up in more than his fair share of Commander decks, though, due to his ability to wipe out a lot of creatures at once.

Hoarding Dragon is a reprint from the Magic 2011 Core Set. It would later be reprinted as an Uncommon in Iconic Masters. When he enters the battlefield, you may search your library for an artifact card, exile it, then shuffle your library. When he dies, you may put that exiled artifact into its owner’s hand. This sounds like a nifty tutoring effect, and a 4/4 flying dragon for 3RR sounds decent enough on top of that.

The trick is to make sure that the Hoarding Dragon actually dies. If he’s removed from the field in any other way, whether he’s returned to the hand, returned to the deck or exiled, that artifact you searched out is gone forever. You have to ensure that he dies.

If you manage to get that exile artifact to your hand, then Hoarding Dragon’s good. Otherwise, he’s just a 4/4 flyer that just cost you an artifact from your deck. Still, like Siege Dragon, he has a good enough effect that he sees a good deal of casual play, especially in the Commander format.

The rest of the creatures are a mix of artifact creatures and some creatures that are helped by the presence of other artifacts. Ornithopter, which we haven’t seen in quite awhile, is a 0-drop 0/2 flyer. Free-to-play creatures are awesome, especially when it’s combined with another card in this deck, but we’ll get to that in the non-creature spells.

There are also 3 copies of Bronze Sable in the deck, a 2/1 artifact creature that costs two colorless mana to cast. While they seem rather vanilla, they are cost effective and give you artifacts that help with the overall theme of the deck.

The next two-drop in the deck is Welkin Tern, which is a 2/1 flyer for 1U that can only block creatures with flying. It’s a fairly standard Core Set common creature. Not much more to say about it other than it’s an early evasive creature. There are two of those in the deck.

Next we have a Rummaging Goblin. He costs 2R to cast for a 1/1 Goblin Rogue, but he has a useful tap ability. It’s what’s often called the “looter” effect, draw a card, then discard a card. There’s a blue card in the set, Research Assistant, that does something similar, but at the cost of 3U per “loot.” Rummaging Goblin is strictly better in that sense, but on a much more fragile body, where the Assistant is a 1/3 for 1U.

Aeronaut Tinkerer is a Magic 2015 card. He costs 2U to cast for a 2/3 that gains flying as long as you control an artifact. Considering that controlling an artifact will not be hard in this deck, he’s a very good card at common. There are 3 copies of him in the deck.

Next, we have two copies of Krenko’s Enforcer. He costs 1RR to cast for a 2/2 with Intimidate, meaning he can only be blocked by red creatures or artifact creatures. While he’s not really on theme, he’s aggressive.

Already, we have a ton of evasive creatures, some with flying, others than can gain flying, and a couple with Intimidate. This is looking like a very solid creature line-up so far! So who will hold the ground?

To help with that, the deck has 2 copies of Wall of Frost. It’s a 0/7 (!) Defender for 1UU and whenever it blocks a creature, that creature can’t untap during its controller’s next untap step. It’s one of the better walls out there.

We then have two copies of a classic artifact creature: Juggernaut, a 5/3 for 4 that must attack every turn. It does have the nifty ability to be able to not be blocked by Walls, which is definitely a “thing” in this Core Set. He has been a great card in the past and even sees play in Vintage, so he’s not to be underestimated!

We then have three copies of Scrapyard Mongrel, another new common card from Magic 2015. He’s a 3/3 for 3R which is sort of mediocre, but as long as you control any artifact, he gains +2/+0 and gains trample. Suddenly, he’s a very aggressive creature.

We round out the creature line-up with 2 copies of Glacial Crasher. It’s a 5/5 Elemental with Trample for 4UU. However, it can’t attack unless there is a Mountain on the battlefield. That should never be a problem with this list, though, since it is a red/blue list, and that Mountain can be on the opponent’s side of the battlefield, as well. It’s not the most exciting big beater in the world, but it’s only a common, so you can only ask so much.

The creature line-up in this Intro Pack is actually fairly strong compared to its counterparts. It only gets better when you see how they synergize with the non-creature spells.

The first non-creature spell is actually an equipment: Rogue’s Gloves, new for Magic 2015. It costs only 2 to cast and 2 to equip. Whenever the creature it’s equipped to deals combat damage to a player, you may draw a card. Considering how many flyers there are in this deck and all of the trample that’s in this deck, having this card equipped to one of them could give you some nifty card advantage. I’m a big fan of this uncommon Equipment. Plus, it’s an artifact.

Next, we have another artifact, Sacred Armory, also new to Magic 2015. It costs 2 to cast and gives a target creature “firebreathing” (+1/+0 until end of turn) for the cost of 2 colorless mana per activation. It’s especially good in a Limited context, but in Constructed it’s just a nice way to pump extra mana into dealing a bit more damage. But the fact that it’s an artifact gives it other reasons to be included, too.

Yet another artifact, Tyrant’s Machine costs 2 to cast, and provides a way to tap down opposing creatures for the cost of 4 colorless mana. While it’s not the most cost-effective card, again, it’s an artifact to provide fuel for the theme.

The onslaught of new artifacts continues with the Equipment, Brawler’s Plate. It costs 3 to cast, but 4 to equip. It gives the equipped creature +2/+2 and trample. That seems pretty nifty, even if 4 is a bit pricey for an equip cost. Whatever, it’s an artifact.

To round out the artifacts we have the Staves for red and blue: Staff of the Flame Magus and Staff of the Mind Magus, respectively. These cards allow you to gain 1 life each time a Red or Blue spell is cast, or a Mountain or Island enters play under your control. It’s nice for tempo reasons, but again, they are also artifacts.

The last three cards in the deck are your big finishers: one copy of Shrapnel Blast and two copies of Ensoul Artifact.

Shrapnel Blast is a very strong card. It was powerful back in the days of Mirrodin with its first printing, and saw Standard play during Magic 2015 Standard, too. With so many potential artifacts to sacrifice in this deck, it may be the best spell you have at your disposal. Five damage to a target creature or player is a lot, and well worth the sacrifice in most cases. The sad part is that there is only one copy of this in the Intro Pack. Four copies of this in a better tuned version of this deck would make this archetype quite deadly.

The other card is one of my personal favorite cards in the entire Core Set: Ensoul Artifact. Making an artifact into a creature with base power and toughness 5/5 in addition to everything else that it does is pretty ridiculous. Making a 0/2 Ornithopter into a 5/5 that can still fly for only two mana is pretty ridiculous. It even allows you to make your Equipments and utility artifacts into creatures. It’s another card that I wish there were a full playset of in the deck. This card has a lot of potential to do a lot of silly things.

The other card that Ensoul Artifact happens to be very good with is Darksteel Citadel. It’s been reprinted in a duel deck since its first inclusion in Darksteel (as a common, no less!) but it is now being bumped up to uncommon. (Interestingly enough, the Citadel was reprinted again at common in Modern Masters 2015 soon afterwards!) Darksteel Citadel is an indestructible artifact land. This is relevant because it’s yet another target for your Ensoul Artifact. It may be the best target outside of Ornithopter. There’s only one in the deck, so if you want to take this deck to the next level, there should definitely be a full four copies.
The list is rounded out by 24 basic lands: 12 Mountains and 12 Islands.

As far as Intro Packs go, “Flames of the Dragon” definitely provided one of the better shells around which to build a Standard deck around the time of Magic 2015. The forced red/blue artifact theme in the set is especially interesting. If you were to cut some of the weaker cards in the deck and add in a couple more Ornithopters, max out the Shrapnel Blasts, Ensoul Artifacts, and Darksteel Citadels, you have the start of a fairly decent deck.

As constructed, I’d have to give this deck a B as an intro product. Compared to its other Intro Pack counterparts, it’s a very aggressive list with plenty of evasive creatures and a very strong theme. The only issue is that you have to be extremely picky when to use the best two cards in the deck. Of course, the point is to provide a shell, and there’s a pretty strong one here. It’s definitely in contention for the best of the Magic 2015 Core Set Intro Packs.

Just a couple years later, this would be one of the more expensive Intro Packs to still buy sealed. Why anyone would pay $25 or more for this deck and 2 Magic 2015 booster packs is beyond me. Yes, Ensoul Artifact is a decent uncommon, but that’s really the only money card in the deck! Actually, it was a $1+ uncommon for a time because of how popular this deck was in Standard.

Magic 2015 was a set full of good cards, so two lottery tickets in the form of M15 booster packs was a nice bonus. All in all, I wouldn’t buy this deck sealed. But if you want to build a deck like it, I would definitely recommend the Red/Blue Artifact archetype as a way to go. As for building a Magic 2015 era dragon deck, this is not the place to start.

Retro Magic (MTG) – Born of the Gods “Underworld Herald” Event Deck Review

11/30/2016

by ElspethFTW, Old School Duelist

Let's take a look back at the Magic the Gathering Born of the Gods Event Deck, Underworld Herald! This deck was released in February of 2014. is a mono-black deck, which isn’t a surprise considering how powerful mono-Black devotion decks were at that time in Standard.

While there is only one card with Devotion in the event deck for Born of the Gods, it's full of Bestow creatures. Many creatures in this deck saw Standard play at the time. When the entirety of this deck was legal in Standard, it had some real value rares within it!

Let’s take a look at the Underworld Herald deck list:

LANDS

24 Swamp

CREATURES (26)

1 Agent of the Fates
1 Blood Scrivener
1 Crypt Ghast
1 Desecration Demon
1 Erebos’s Emissary
1 Herald of Torment
3 Mogis’s Marauder
1 Pack Rat
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Rakdos Shred-Freak
3 Spiteful Returned
3 Tormented Hero
2 Xathrid Necromancer

NON-CREATURE SPELLS (10)

2 Bile Blight
3 Doom Blade
1 Fated Return
1 Gift of Orzhova
1 Hero’s Downfall
2 Ultimate Price

SIDEBOARD

3 Cremate
2 Dark Betrayal
4 Duress
2 Gift of Orzhova
2 Pharika’s Cure
2 Staff of the Death Magus

Considering the time that this deck is from, there are some pretty darn good rares in this deck. Agent of the Fates is a solid little Black Heroic card that has some ways to activate it in this deck. While it never really became popular in Standard, it probably was underused relative to its power level.

Blood Scrivener helps you get a couple of cards if your hand is empty at a minimal cost of 1 life. While it’s not the most exciting card, it’s a creature with upside. Those are usually pretty good, and this one still sees some play in EDH.

Crypt Ghast doubles the production of your black mana. It also has the Extort mechanic on it. This Gatecrash mechanic allows you to pay either a white or black mana any time you cast a spell. If you do, each opponent loses 1 life and you gain that much life. It’s become a staple in many Commander decks and was quite good in its Standard heydey. Crypt Ghast is probably the most valuable rare in the deck today.

Desecration Demon was the best rare in the deck, by far, when this deck was released. It is a monster that proved to be the primary beater in mono-Black Devotion decks. When “Underworld Herald” first released, this card alone took up a good chunk of the deck’s value. While its drawback is significant, forcing your opponent to sacrifice a creature to stop it from attacking is also quite meaningful.

Also, each time your opponent stops it from attacking, it gets bigger, too. As if a 6/6 flyer wasn’t enough, this Demon was often going to be swinging for 8 damage or more in most games. The Demon never really panned out in Modern, because there are enough flyers in the format that can easily chump block it. Somewhat ironically, Desecration Demon was reprinted in Modern Masters 2017, despite seeing almost zero play in the format.

Herald of Torment proved to be a decent Bestow card in Black. It’s a 3/3 flyer on its own and as an Aura, the Herald gives +3/+3 and flying. While you lose 1 life during each of your upkeeps, it’s a small price to pay for that amount of power in the air. While it was never a money card, it was a useful role player in Standard, for sure.

Pack Rat is a very playable card that can pump out copies of itself by ditching an extra card in hand and paying 2B. Also, the Pack Rats get bigger the more that you have in play. It’s a deceptively simple card with a flavorful concept that proved to be extremely good in Standard. Heck, it’s still played in casual Rat decks everywhere! Pack Rat also continues to see occasional play in the Modern format.

The last rare creatures in the deck are two copies of Xathrid Necromancer. It’s super useful for when your Human creatures die by replacing each of them with 2/2 Zombie tokens. The Necromancer even replaces himself! Really, the only drawback is that the tokens come into play tapped. It’s a shame that this guy hasn’t found a good home in any other format, because he’s really a superb card.

In the non-creature spells, you have Fated Return and Hero’s Downfall as rare cards. Fated Return is a pricey reanimation spell, but it makes the creature coming back indestructible. Still, it’s not so great as a Standard card, but it works well in Commander. On the other hand, Hero’s Downfall is simply excellent removal that you would definitely want more than one of in a deck.

Where's Gray Merchant of Asphodel in the Born of the Gods Event Deck?

The most obvious exclusion in this deck is everyone’s favorite mono-Black Devotion staple, Gray Merchant of Asphodel. That choice actually is not a mistake. The reason for this is that Wizards decided to include a different Devotion-based card in Mogis’s Marauder. Whereas “Gary,” as he’s often called, makes you gain X life and an opponent lose X life where X is your Devotion to Black, the Marauders give X creatures intimidate and haste until end of turn where X is that same number.

To anyone who has witnessed the power of Gray Merchant of Asphodel, it’s understandable why people are confused about that omission. But there’s a good reason for it. Wizards went out of their way to try a new take on a mono-Black deck that didn't involve Devotion. It's an aggressive build, built around Xathrid Necromancer and a bunch of Human creatures. Tormented Hero, Mogis’ Marauder, and Rakdos Shred-Freak are all Humans. Therefore, this makes the Necromancers extremely good and allows you to be extremely aggressive. Spiteful Returned, a Bestow creature from Born of the Gods, is actually decent enough as a creature, as whenever it declares an attack, the defending player loses 2 life. This is a super aggressive deck.

There’s also a pretty good removal package in this event deck with 2 Bile Blight, 3 Doom Blade, 2 Ultimate Price, and 1 Hero’s Downfall.

The sideboard includes more removal, plus 4 copies of Duress for control purposes. The 2 extra copies of Gift of Orzhova to complement the one in the deck could prove useful if you’re playing this deck as is. Cremate is nice for messing up Graveyard-based strategies, but little else (although it draws you a card, as well). The Staff of the Death Magus is kind of a cute addition, as well, rewarding you by playing Swamps and black spells and giving you 1 life for each.

Improving the Born of the Gods Event Deck, In Context

The first obvious thing about this deck is that it’s combining two distinct strategies: an aggressive approach with the Human/Xathrid Necromancer combination, and Bestow. For Devotion purposes, Bestow is extremely useful as a mechanic. Honestly, this deck can work as-is, but it’s not quite strong enough in a serious competitive setting.

First of all, Agent of the Fates is a really nice card, a 3/2 creature with Deathtouch, and there are ways to make it work pretty well with the Bestow abilities in this deck. It’s also a Human, which works with the Necromancer. Blood Scrivener is a bit too situational, and would probably be our first cut. Crypt Ghast is super cool, in that it can double mana, but one copy in an aggressive deck probably doesn’t cut it here.

Desecration Demon is an auto-keep, and a second copy could easily replace the Ghast. Erebos’ Emissary is an interesting little Bestow card, but a third Desecration Demon replaces it easily on the curve. If you’d rather not build around the Demons, two more Necromancers would slot in nicely! The reason for more Necromancers should be obvious: the more Necromancers, the more tokens you acquire!

Herald of Torment is OK, but it’s another slot better occupied by a Necromancer or a Demon. The Marauders might be okay, especially if you’re maxing out the Human potential with Necromancers. Pack Rat is nice, and good in mono-Black devotion in general, but not in this particular build. It’s still super solid if you go a different direction, though. Cacklers are fine one-drops, as are Tormented Heroes, even if the Heroic ability is never relevant. Rakdos Shred-Freak is a bit sub-par on average, but super good with the Necromancer.

For non-creatures, the removal count is fine except for there only being one Hero’s Downfall. Fated Return is too pricey and situational to be worth main-boarding, so that’s an easy swap. Gift of Orzhova isn’t bad, and helps devotion, but another Hero’s Downfall or perhaps a Herald of Torment (which gives you more value) is probably better here instead.

Of course, you could go the more traditional route of mono-black Devotion decks, cutting Shred-Freak for more Pack Rats, cutting the Marauders for Gray Merchant of Asphodels, and cutting the Necromancers for Demons. But I think the mono-Black Humans route is much more interesting, and it’s possible to run 4 Necromancer and 4 Demon in the deck.

Also, Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx is simply too good not to run in a mono-colored deck. Three copies should do the trick. Here’s the revised Underworld Herald deck list with these upgrades.

LANDS

21 Swamp
3 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx

CREATURES (27)

4 Desecration Demon
2 Herald of Torment
3 Mogis’s Marauder
3 Rakdos Cackler
4 Rakdos Shred-Freak
3 Spiteful Returned
4 Tormented Hero
4 Xathrid Necromancer

NON-CREATURE SPELLS (9)

2 Bile Blight
3 Doom Blade
2 Hero’s Downfall
2 Ultimate Price

In the end, this is the list I would have gone with at the time. It keeps the Human factor alive, with the Marauders still in, cutting the more fragile and situational creatures with more heavy hitters. The Agent was nice, but it was 1 Human, replaced by two more. I also flip-flopped the count of Tormented Hero and Cackler. There’s still enough Bestow in the deck to make the Tormented Heroes sort of relevant. Of course, if you’re looking to go super-Human and not wanting to spend on the Demons, replace the 4 Demons with 4 Agents of the Fates.

As for the sideboard, I’d cut the Gifts of Orzhova for two more Herald of Torment, if you’re going to keep going to Bestow route. The Staffs are silly, and Pithing Needle could take their place to shut down activated abilities. Cremate is also pretty sub-par and Thoughtseize is strictly better than Duress if you can afford them. Sideboards really depend on your meta, however, so go with whatever works against your meta. Heck, Gild might even have had a place in here.

Overall Value of the Born of the Gods Event Deck

In the context of when this deck was released, the Underworld Herald event deck looks really good on the value side of things. At the time buying multiple copies of this deck was not a bad investment, if you planned to flip the cards immediately. Desecration Demon and Hero’s Downfall looked to be Modern-playable, but only Hero’s Downfall has really ever seen any play at all in the format. As good as Xathrid Necromancer was at the time, he’s pretty worthless now, mostly due to there being an extremely common promo version of him available.

When this deck was first released, I gave the Underworld Herald Event Deck a B for play-ability, but an A for value. I really liked the different take on mono-Black, without automatically resorting to Black Devotion. However, what’s killed this deck in the long term is that shortly after this deck’s release, in October 2014, there was a major Standard rotation that gutted the deck. The big value cards from the Return to Ravnica block and Magic 2014 (Desecration Demon and Xathrid Necromancer, plus the Rakdos creatures) were no longer legal in Standard.

In late 2016, you could still find sealed Underworld Herald Event Decks available for a price around $20. Unfortunately,there were only three rares, Crypt Ghast, Hero’s Downfall, and Pack Rat, that continued to hold $2-3 price tags.

From a strictly “bang for your buck” perspective, this isn’t a good deck to buy as sealed product today. This deck is not going to make back your $20, although Crypt Ghast and Pack Rat will likely continue to gain in value as time passes. A Commander reprint of Crypt Ghast has slowed its growth, but Pack Rat remains un-reprinted.

In any case, the Born of the Gods Underworld Herald Event Deck is a fun deck to play. As the upgrades above show, there are several different ways to build from this shell. My recommendation would be to build the deck from scratch, however, since it would be cheaper to do so that way.

Retro Magic - Pyramids from Arabian Nights

10/20/2016

by ElspethFTW, Gaming Successfully

Pyramids is not exactly one of the most powerful Artifact cards ever printed, but it can potentially save a land of yours from being destroyed (any land in play, in fact.) Also, it can remove a pesky enchantment from any land. But it's 6 just to play, and 2 to use its ability (although that 2 mana paid could be well worth it depending on the target). Still, while it's kind of a nice idea, it's just too expensive to cast to really be relevant at all.

You'd think something called Pyramids would be a lot cooler... I think Richard Garfield whiffed on this one. Still, at the time, there were a lot of enchantments that targeted land even then, so you can see why people might consider playing these. Today, it's just a $10 card that sits in collector's binders.

Retro Magic: City in a Bottle - Arabian Nights Card Review

10/19/2016

by ElspethFTW, Gaming Successfully Staff

While it's a pretty cool concept for a card, it's fairly obvious why City in a Bottle was never reprinted. Not only is it relatively useless now, but it was ridiculously powerful at the time. It discards every card from the Arabian Nights expansion that is currently in play, and as long as City in a Bottle is on the board, no other cards from Arabian Nights can be played.

One interesting aspect of this card, though, is that it does not affect reprints of cards from the Arabian Nights expansion. City in a Bottle will forever remain on the Reserve List as an interesting curiosity and a chase card for serious Magic: the Gathering collectors.

Side Note: Since there is no Reserve List on Magic Online, City in a Bottle was in fact reprinted in Vintage Masters, as a mythic rare no less! What a strange way to introduce it into Magic Online! I guess they thought people would use it to blow up Bazaar of Baghdad strategies? I don't know...

Magic the Gathering (MTG) Retro Magic - Sandals of Abdallah from Arabian Nights

8/12/2015

by ElspethFTW, Old School Duelist

Arabian Nights is one of the most expensive classic sets in Magic the Gathering history. From Bazaar of Baghdad to Diamond Valley, there are some great long-term investments in the set, as most cards are on the Reserved List. This means that they are never to be reprinted again - unless Wizards one day changes their policy which is highly unlikely. But one that you may not think about that’s on the Reserved List once saw a mini-buyout on TCGPlayer. It’s called Sandals of Abdallah.

Recall that these were the early days of artifacts, when there was not yet any equipment. The Sandals are an early form of equipment. Being able to give a creature Islandwalk (making a creature unable to be blocked if the defending player controls an Island) is not at all bad, especially in the context of the time this was printed. Many of the best decks back in that time ran Islands because of all of the Power cards that were in Blue.

There is a drawback, though. If the targeted (equipped) creature is destroyed before the end of the turn, you lose the Sandals - presumably in the desert sand). So cool, just pay 2 mana for each creature you want to walk over Islands with and make sure none of them get destroyed, right?

Alas, there is an Oracle errata:

{2}, {T}: Target creature gains islandwalk until end of turn. When that creature dies this turn, destroy Sandals of Abdallah.

In actuality, it was supposed to be understood in the rules that Mono Artifacts (essentially artifacts you could use once a turn) were required to tap in order to use their abilities. But this not being explicitly printed on the card confused a great many players, who I’m sure used the card rather incorrectly. At one point, Wizards decided to simplify a lot of rules text and created the Oracle wordings for every card in Magic. Because of this, quite a few cards were given errata that made them from pretty decent, and sometimes breakable cards, into pretty forgettable chaff. Sandals were among these that were changed, but it actually was just a clarification in this case.

An activation cost of 2 mana was just fine. But with a tap, the Sandals aren’t really an efficient card to play. It costs 4 just to put on the board, but with 2 mana and a tap to use its ability, it’s a one-shot effect per turn (barring any untap shenanigans). Losing the Sandals in the sand, thus, is a pretty annoying drawback.

When this card was originally printed, many players probably thought that a tap was not initially required to use the Sandals ability. Essentially just paying 2 mana for each creature you wanted to give Islandwalk would still be borderline Legacy-playable. Alas, that is not the case, which is why the Oracle errata was necessary. Being on the Reserved List, though, and being a bit of Magic history, it’s not a surprise to see that serious Magic collectors want to make sure copies of the Sandals are in their hands. It still does something, but if it didn’t have that pesky tap requirement added to it, this would actually still be quite playable.

Energy Flux - A Magic the Gathering (MTG) Card Review

7/29/2015

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

Unlike a lot of Antiquities cards, Energy Flux is not on the Reserved List, and was in fact reprinted in Mercadian Masques, as well as Revised, 4th Edition, and 5th Edition. It’s actually a fairly usable card, hating out artifacts by giving them all an upkeep cost of 2. In Commander, this card can be pretty mean. That's why even though original Antiquities copies sell for about $8, Mercadian Masques foil versions can list for $7-8 and buylist for a decent amount. The other printings are generally worthless.

The foils are particularly popular because of the fact they are good in Commander. Serious Commander players tend to enjoy foiling out their decks, and in the right deck, Energy Flux can shut entire tables down. It’s particularly popular in Zur the Enchanter decks, because Zur’s effect can tutor it to the field from your deck.

While many players consider it “jank,” Energy Flux has its purposes. If you happen to find any Antiquities copies or foil Mercadian Masques copies, they’re good to pickup for long-term value. Non-foil Masques copies sell for about a quarter, so they aren’t anything special. Revised, 4th edition, and 5th edition copies sell for pennies. If you just want to play the card, you’re best off picking those up. But the foil is pretty nice.

Retro Magic - Gate to Phyrexia - A Magic the Gathering (MTG) Card Review

7/22/2015

by ElspethFTW, Old School Duelist

One of the more valuable cards in Antiquities, Gate to Phyrexia is an interesting Black enchantment that allows you to sacrifice a creature to destroy an artifact. It has seen play in mono-Black Commander decks, such as those led by Endrek Sahr, Master Breeder, Shirei, Shizo’s Caretaker, and others. They can be found from between $8-20 in price, due to the disparities in condition being a card from such an old set.

Being on the Reserved list, near-mint copies of this card are good investments. While it’s far from being a premier removal card, it does offer two Devotion, which is a big deal in Mono-Black. Also, mono-Black definitely doesn’t mind sacrificing creatures, so it’s a great way to deal with problem artifacts such as Sol Ring.

If you happen to come across any copies of this uncommon, it is definitely a good pick-up due to its Reserved list status, usability in some Commander decks, and just overall being a cool flavorful card.

Magic the Gathering Card Review - Game of Chaos from Ice Age

1/14/2015

by ElspethFTW, Old School Duelist

Today we take a look at Game of Chaos, a rare card from Ice Age. It’s a red sorcery costing RRR to cast (triple Red). It was later reprinted in Fifth Edition with much more readable text. Here is the official Oracle entry for Game of Chaos:

“Flip a coin. If you win the flip, you gain 1 life and target opponent loses 1 life, and you decide whether to flip again. If you lose the flip, you lose 1 life and that opponent gains 1 life, and that player decides whether to flip again. Double the life stakes with each flip.”

Obviously, a card like this wouldn’t be printed anymore, but this effect is actually quite fascinating. If you can keep winning coin flips, this card can be pretty powerful, especially since the life stakes double with each subsequent flip. Risking everything on coin flips is pretty silly, though. Then again, do remember in the early days of Magic: the Gathering, there were actually more than a few cards like this.

No offense to Drew Tucker, who has done plenty of great Magic art over the years (including the awesome Deathbringer Liege from Eventide), but I do prefer the art by Thomas Gianni on the Fifth Edition reprint:

That is some beautiful card. To be fair, the best card he did artwork on was Tower of the Magistrate (I personally love his artwork on Seht’s Tiger from Future Sight!)

Game of Chaos is yet another one of those cards from a very early time in Magic where crazy things could and did happen that made no logical competitive sense. I absolutely love reviewing these and enjoying some classic old-school, old-bordered Magic cards!

Magic the Gathering - Retro Magic Card Review - Ancestral Recall

1/3/2015

by ElspethFTW, Gaming Successfully Staff

Ancestral Recall allows you to draw 3 cards or force another player to draw 3 cards. For only one blue mana, this offers pretty ridiculous card advantage. You could even play it at instant speed.

Because of its awesome power level, Ancestral Recall is one of the Power Nine, the most powerful cards ever printed in Magic: the Gathering, along with the legendary Black Lotus, the five Moxen (Mox Emerald, Mox Jet, Mox Pearl, Mox Ruby, and Mox Sapphire), Time Walk, and Timetwister.

When Richard Garfield first created the Alpha set, he had a cycle of cards called “boons.” There was a boon in each color that cost a single mana of that color which gave a player or creature three of something. The other boons were Dark Ritual in Black (get three black mana), Giant Growth in green (give target creature +3/+3), Healing Salve in White (gain 3 life or prevent 3 damage), and Lightning Bolt in Red (deal 3 damage). Even though Ancestral Recall was the only rare among these “boons” only Healing Salve was never really played. The other three were common and heavily played. All are still played in various formats today.

Garfield did realize that Ancestral Recall was good, but of course he never expected Magic to grow quite as rapidly and as widely as it did. He figured that as a rare not many people would have them. But when people figured out they could go out and acquire 4 copies of this card to make their deck have a ridiculous card advantage engine, it became one of the first cards to be Limited in Constructed play by Wizards of the Coast. Eventually, its power level was deemed too powerful to even be considered a fair card for tournament play. It’s today only legal in Vintage, at only one copy per deck.

In any case, it is the most under-costed draw spell in Magic. Blue is one of the most powerful colors in Vintage Magic due to the fact that it has Time Walk and Timetwister. When you consider that you now have Jace’s Ingenuity at 3BB (five mana) to draw three cards, you see just how nuts this card really is.

Have you ever owned or played against an Ancestral Recall?

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

6/14/2012

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

Richard Garfield deserves a ton of credit for creating this card. There is no doubt that Shahrazad is perhaps the most fascinating card in Magic the Gathering simply because of its effect. This card is banned in every format for a reason.

Seriously, this card tells you to leave your current game of Magic to go and play a separate game of Magic with the remaining cards! Then after that game is over, you come back to your original game and the loser of the sub-game loses half of his or her life, rounded up. Then you still have to finish the original game!

That’s a pretty awesome concept: having a game of Magic inside of a game of Magic. Does it work out in a tournament setting? Absolutely not.

But, that doesn’t mean casual players can’t proxy this card and try it out just for fun. If you actually own a copy of this card, why not stick it in a deck for chuckles? Heck, what if you ran 4 copies of this in a deck? You could potentially have a game of Magic inside a game of Magic inside a game of Magic inside a game of Magic!

And thus, because of that silliness, the ban hammer came down…

Please keep your Shahrazads sleeved and bindered, please…

Have you ever played with Shahrazad?

~ Phoenix <3

Retro Magic: Singing Tree - Arabian Nights Card Review

6/10/2012

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

Singing Tree may not be the most powerful card in the world, but what it does is interesting. While a 0/3 creature for 4 mana (3 Colorless & 1 Green) seems underpowered, being able to reduce an attacking creature's power to zero just by tapping certainly isn't bad. While it's hardly as good as many of its Reserve List counterparts, it's mainly there for collectors' value purposes. Otherwise, this would've been a candidate to reprint in a Core Set.

Honestly, Singing Tree is an interesting stall card. Though it is only an uncommon, copies of this card can still sell for over $50 on the open market, mostly just because it is from such an old set and supply is so limited. Those copies in decent condition can even fetch triple digits!

In Old School Magic, this card is certainly a lot better than it is in modern Magic. Even then, it's fairly under-powered for competitive play. It's a fun little card, though, and the artwork is beautiful! Whatever playability it may or may not have, Singing Tree is definitely a beautiful Old School Magic card!

Have you ever played Singing Tree?

~ Phoenix <3

Retro Magic: Serendib Djinn - Arabian Nights Rare Card Review

6/10/2012

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

Serendib Djinn is a 5/6 flyer for only four mana. Even in modern Magic that's pretty strong! Of course, that amount of power in the air has to have a downside. It does, and it's a big one.

At the beginning of each of your up-keeps, you must sacrifice a land. If you sacrifice an Island this way, Serendib Djinn deals 3 damage to you. Then when you control no lands, sacrifice Serendib Djinn.

Honestly, if you play this guy at the right time, this Djinn can win you the game. There's really not much in Old School Magic that can touch him. So, while he has a big downside, he's not unplayable.

Djinns really were the boss monsters of Old School Magic. It's fun to how much the game has really changed - mostly for the better. But, Djinns are cool. It's too bad recent ones haven't been the boss monsters they once were. This Djinn carries a high price tag, due to being on the Reserved List, and a classic Magic the Gathering card.

Have you ever played Serendib Djinn?

~ Phoenix <3

Retro Magic: Old Man of the Sea - Arabian Nights Rare Card Review

6/6/2012

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

Old Man of the Sea is an interesting creature that allows you to steal an opponent's creature. He could steal away some very interesting creatures from your opponent. He's a 2/3 for 1UU, which aren't bad stats, either. Although, if you're stealing something, you have to keep him tapped as long as you want to keep that creature under your control

Depending on what he steals from your opponent, it can go from simply being a decent early game Mind Control to putting you at a great advantage. It's an interesting card to play with and one that if printed today would certainly see some action.

Alas, the Old Man of the Sea is on the Reserve List. That means Wizards of the Coast promised to not reprint this card for collectible purposes. Indeed, this is a very collectible card, especially if you love Old School Magic!

Have you ever played Old Man of the Sea?

~ Phoenix <3

Retro Magic: Merchant Ship - Arabian Nights Card Review - Magic the Gathering (MTG)

6/6/2012

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

In early Magic, there are many examples of cards that were simply just not very good. Merchant Ship was a card that was never reprinted because it’s on the Reserved List. But, it doesn’t really matter that it is, because it’s not very good.

Merchant Ship is a 0/2 that can’t attack unless your opponent controls an Island. Why would you attack with a card with 0 power at all, anyway? If you attack with it, and it isn’t blocked (little chance of that, really) you gain 2 life. Oh, wow, 2 life?

Also, if you control no Islands, you must sacrifice this card. This is a little odd, since if you’re playing this card nine times out of ten you will control an Island. In any case it’s pretty weak, especially for an uncommon from Arabian Nights!

Still, Merchant Ship is on the Reserved list. It’s probably worth having a copy just for collection’s sake. After all, decent condition copies of Merchant Ship can sell for as much as $25 or more on TCGPlayer. Plus, while it’s a really mediocre card, the occasional Ramirez DiPietro or Skeleton Ship Commander deck will play a copy. Also, with the Pirates from Ixalan making the tribe playable, who knows how many more decks this will find its way into?

Have you ever played Merchant Ship?

~ Phoenix <3

Retro Magic: Library of Alexandria - Arabian Nights Card Review

6/4/2012

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

There's a reason that Library of Alexandria is banned in both Commander and Legacy and limited to one copy in Vintage: it's a free draw every turn that you have 7 cards in hand. On top of that, it also can tap for a colorless mana. On the surface, it makes many people wonder, why is this banned?

Truth is, played correctly, you can basically get a free extra draw every turn. It's also not a Legendary Land, meaning you could play more than one at a time. This is why it's limited to a single copy in Vintage.

It's a bit skill-intensive to play optimally, but Legacy and Vintage are already very skill-intensive formats. It's just too good for a land that comes into play untapped and can also provide you mana if you can't get the extra card draw. It's just a really great card. Best part is, it's not even a rare. Even though it's an uncommon, though, it's on Magic's Reserve List of cards that can't be reprinted. It's always going to be one of the more expensive Magic cards out there.

Have you ever played Library of Alexandria?

~ Phoenix <3

Retro Magic: Jihad - Arabian Nights Rare Card Review

6/2/2012

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

Jihad is sort of an early version of Honor of the Pure and similar to Crusade printed in Alpha/Beta/Unlimited. This card can be a bit better than those two, though. When you play this card, choose a color. As long as your opponent has the chosen color of permanents in play, your White creatures get +2/+1.

Against mono-colored decks this can actually be a killer. White Weenie decks become a lot more powerful with this on the board. Jihad can swing a game in your favor late in the game when your board position is already set up. This will help you get that few extra power you need to deplete your opponent's life total. The drawback is that the boost is dependent on your opponent keeping a permanent of a certain color in play. So, it's not good against every deck.

Despite its drawback, Jihad is a card that has found its way into more than a few mono-white EDH decks. It could still be quite relevant as a Legacy sideboard option today. The best White Weenie strategy in Legacy in today's Magic is Death and Taxes and I'm not sure this card fits. It's still a cool Enchantment in a White-heavy deck, though. Unfortunately, due to its Reserve List, this is a card that costs hundreds of dollars due to its rarity and we'll never see it printed again.

Have you ever played Jihad?

~ Phoenix <3

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