If any archetype was boosted more than Humans by the Avacyn Restored set, it would be Angels. Being that Avacyn, Angel of Hope, the premier card of the set, is an Angel, this should have probably been an obvious development consideration. Still, it should not be overlooked that once relatively unplayable Angel cards suddenly have a bit more value because of this set. In particular, Requiem Angel is very glad Avacyn is now free of the Helvault!

Requiem Angel is a 5/5 flyer for 5W with a decent effect. Whenever another non-Spirit creature you control dies, you put a 1/1 white Spirit creature token with flying onto the board. For 6 mana, this is certainly OK. She gets better alongside Herald of War, also from Avacyn Restored, who can reduce the casting costs of your Angels for each +1/+1 counter on her. This means you can cast Requiem Angel for as little as one mana.

Also, Requiem Angel's ability to create tokens is especially good in the wake of a boardwipe. Each of your non-Spirit creatures that dies will net you a Spirit token, as long as the Angel dies at the same time. So, Requiem Angel is good protection against boardwipes.

Interestingly enough, while Requiem Angel does still see play today in Commander, outside of Radiant, Archangel Angel Tribal decks, you don’t see her alongside Avacyn or other Angels, including Herald of War. According to EDHREC, Ghave, Guru of Spores is the Commander she’s paired with most. This seems a strange pairing until you consider that Ghave decks produce a lot of tokens, especially Saprolings. So, when any of those Saprolings die, especially when sacrificed using Ghave’s ability, you get a Spirit token.

Teysa, Orzhov Scion has also recruited Requiem Angel to create the 3 white creatures she can sacrifice in order to exile a target creature. Token-happy commanders such as Rhys the Redeemed, Trostani, Selesnya’s Voice, and Darien, King of Kjeldor also co-opt her services on more than a few occasions.

Another Commander who takes advantage of the Requiem Angel is Jazal Goldmane. This does make some sense, considering that Jazal can boost the flying Spirit tokens the Angel creates. It makes even more sense when you consider the Angel was re-printed in the same Commander 2014 deck as Jazal.

Requiem Angel never really saw Standard play, which shouldn’t be too surprising due to her position on the mana curve. But she’s great in EDH decks that can take advantage of the tokens she creates. While she’s hardly any sort of staple, this Angel is a good one to have around.

To be fair, I was never really into the whole Werewolf archetype. Despite being a tribe that I would typically find some interest in, as far as Magic the Gathering was concerned, Werewolves didn't seem like a viable tribe to play just with Innistrad alone. However, the release of the Dark Ascension set seemed to promise Red/Green Werewolves becoming a viable archetype. (It really didn't.)

Vampires were shaping up pretty well in Innistrad, but Zombies became more of a force in Standard with the release of this set. Still, Dark Ascension released some fine Werewolf cards.

Mondronen Shaman is far from being one of the best Werewolf cards in this set, but if you get it to transform, it’s actually quite a decent play. A 3/2 for 4 mana is a little pricey, perhaps, but it’s 3R, so that’s not too bad considering when the flip-side is a 5/5 with a decent secondary ability. It transforms like most other Werewolves, on the condition that no spells are cast on the previous turn.

The flipside, Tovolar’s Magehunter is a fun little card. Whenever an opponent casts any sort of spell, the Magehunter deals 2 damage to that player. Pretty sweet. Trouble is, at the beginning of each upkeep, if a player cast two or more spells the previous turn, it flips back into being a vanilla 3/2. The hope was that you would have Immerwolf on the board.

Immerwolf is a little 3-drop uncommon from Dark Ascension that has Intimidate and gives all Wolves and Werewolves +1/+1. It also has a little ability that says that non-human Werewolves cannot transform. Once the Shaman becomes the Magehunter, as long as you control an Immerwolf, it stays that way. In a dedicated red/green Werewolf deck, the Magehunter could cause a lot of hurt.

In Constructed, though, Mondronen Shaman and even the Magehunter was still susceptible to Dismember still being in play at the time. Still, there was the hope that it would become a must-kill upon flipping, because it had the potential to whittle away your opponent until they potentially couldn’t even cast spells anymore!

I loved this card's potential. But as it was a four-drop that began as a 3/2 vanilla creature, it never worked its way into a competitive Werewolf deck. Another decent card called Huntmaster of the Fells took up that four-drop slot. If not for the Huntmaster, the Shaman may have actually seen some play.

As far as collectability, Mondronen Shaman is never going to be worth much in price. However, the Launch Party Mondronen Shaman foil promo is nice to look at and has some future value just for being a Werewolf.

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

Oh, to bask in the fragrance of newly opened cardboard as you unwrap a fresh, mint pack of Dark Ascension. As you flip through the cards, however, to your dismay, the card that happens to be your rare is an eight-mana bulk rare called Alpha Brawl. If your pack is also home to a common double-sided card, three lousy uncommons, and a checklist, you're going to be pretty disgusted.

Let's be honest, though: Alpha Brawl actually has a pretty awesome effect. It's essentially a board-wipe, albeit expensive, for Red. Yes, Red has Blasphemous Act already, which is actually far cheaper in the long run than this. Eight mana is just too much, really.

However, there is a way to break this card in EDH and make that creature end up severely hurting your opponent directly, as well. There is an enchantment from Mirage, Binding Agony, that would help accomplish this. You could alternatively play this card on your own board with Stuffy Doll as the target, and redirect all the damage to an opponent, but this obviously leaves you wide open (unless, of course, you have a way to return all creatures destroyed that turn back to the board). The problem is, you just make yourself a target playing this card, since at best you'll take out one player. But there are far more awkward combos.