MTG Theros Full Spoiler Breakdown - White

Okay, so I decided to go ahead and start into White today. Mostly because of the fact that I want to reference back to some of the mono colored cards when we go through the multi-colored cards. So it wouldn't make too much sense to reference back to cards we haven't even reviewed yet.

Now I do want you to keep in mind as we go through this, I am not yet a seasoned veteran of this game. And I am only looking at things as though I would use them, or see a use for them. I probably miss a lot. So if you see me looking at a card from a completely wrong perspective, feel free to jump in and give your two cents as well. As long as you give me a nickname, I will put your post on the blog under the card you are mentioning. If you have a blog or a website as well, I will throw a link to it as well next to your name.

Okay, now that we are done with the pleasantries, let's get on with looking at these White cards from the Theros set. Like usual, we will start with any Mythics and work our way down to commons. Also as always, if I miss a card you wanted to see covered, feel free to let me know and I will try to get it added for you.




Of course, the first card we run into in this. I am a huge fan of this planeswalker. She does all the things I like in a planeswalker. She gives the ability to defend herself, she gives the ability to knock down a big creature, and everyone gets evasion, plus a boost. I dig it.

I see this being a magnet for some heavy removal, but hopefully you can figure out some way to protect her, like some of the blue counters we looked at earlier.

I see this being a card that is going to do well in Standard, I expect we will see it in token builds and in White Weenies decks, as well as a few others. I would even expect this to be played alongside Ajani, Caller of the Pride
.

They seem to mesh well together, both produce tokens and both give things evasion, and make them stronger. So win/win there.



 Okay, so he isn't THAT great in comparison to the other god cards. He is a token producer, which works great in token decks moving forward. But the Vigilance is not really super great in my opinion.

Lets go ahead and preview Spear of Heliod
while we are on topic.
So we see that in conjunction with his Spear, he gives Vigilance and +1/+1, and we have the ability to produce a creature and destroy a creature that dealt damage. Lots of mana eaten up between all of that for a semi-productive strategy. Not worth it IMO.
























So this is the Pre-Release Promo for White. I guess if you look at it this way, this is supposed to be your guaranteed bomb rare. It's not bad at all, a flyer 4/4 with first strike, with the ability to bestow it for 7. I dig it.

We will talk some more on this one soon, when I go over the possible Pre-Release combos we could look forward to.
























Well, I don't really like the card. Mostly because it's so conditional. You HAVE to have a mountain to use this card. That being said, if you are playing W/R, it's decent. Still falls prey to enchantment removal.








Ha! I switched image types on you! But seriously, this looks better. For sure this isn't bad, but doesn't seem worthy of a Rare slot. I mean, not when we have Akroan Crusader
Caption as a common. I mean seriously. The double-strike is nice, but just putting a 1/1 counter on the guy isn't THAT great. I digress.

I can see this being played in Boros style decks that are going to overload Dynacharge
Caption to trigger all their Heroic affects. But I mean, to waste a spell that targets JUST this guy when there are so many better cards. I just can't see it.

I want 4. That is all. Give me a playset. And why not? If you are playing any type of Enchantments build and White is in your build colors, this needs to be in there.

I see this being played and played and played. It's going places, and I see it being easily a $7-$10 Rare card.















So it COULD be a 6/8 that can block all day long. For 10 mana, a 6/8 that can swing and block back to back, eh, it's okay. Nothing I am going to be rushing out to get crazy over. And you watch, this will be the Rare that I end up having to build my pre-release deck around.

Okay, not bad. We are getting a bit better. It has potential. A 2/1 for 1 is great first turn, would be great with Haste on it. Should have had it. Some good multicolored hate in there.

I would play it. It's got a bit of potential in a limited format, but it becomes extremely essential in our dual colored oversaturated meta right now. Easy LG for sure.
















Even though it's only an Uncommon, I just wanted to give this bad boy a shout out. It's got an uneven mana cost. I get that. Most people don't like to do the dual mana CMC, but this is just nuts. EVERY creature gets a 1/1 counter from this guy. SO much better than the Fabled hero. Sometimes I don't get what WOTC is going for when they give these cards their rarity.







Well that wraps up my coverage of the White Rares and Mythics from this set, check in later today for the Green and Red coverage, all wrapped up into one. I will be hitting the duals on Thursday night and then will be the live blogs from Main Street Magic and Miniatures as I open packs and build my deck for pre-release and all the excitement that entails on Friday night. Unfortunately I just don't have the time to get to the combos that could be in each pre-release setup like I want to.

Thanks for reading, and have a great day!!

MTG Theros Complete Spoiler - Blue Breakdown

   Hello and happy Tuesday here to you from those of us here at MTG - The Journey. As promised, today we will be tearing into some of the Blue cards from the new MTG set Theros, which pre-releases this weekend on the 21st. I will be attending Main Street Magic & Miniatures in Ames, IA for the midnight pre-release, and placing my order for a box of Theros there that night as well.
   So without further ado, let us begin with the Mythic Rares of the Blue types, and what we might expect to see with them, and possible match-ups and combos we might find.


So here is our first up Mythic going in alphabetical order. It's got a couple of good things going for it right off the bat. Number one, it's pro red. So you can't burn this guy out. Number two, it brings in some nice little tokens with it that hit the field as 2/1's. And once again, seeing as how he has a CMC of 4U, you should most likely have a couple of Blue creatures already on the field by the time he hits, so chances are you should be bringing as much as 8 power on the field for 4 mana. So a good swing to be sure.

I see this definitely hitting a Merfolk deck, perhaps in a Simic type situation. I can see a Master Biomancer pairing happening here quite nicely.

It's too bad we are losing Cloudshift, or this guy could make some waves real bad. Pun intended.





Ah, the God of the Sea. I for one am rather impressed with her. She is the cheapest of the gods to cast. Has a free Scry every turn and has the ability to make creatures "unblockable" for a turn. I mean really, what's not to love? In my opinion, probably rivals for the best God of the set. If you score this pre-release, you better hope you get the chance to build around it.

I see this hitting standard play fairly quickly, even though it is susceptable to enchantment removal, you are playing Blue for crying out loud, you better have a counter in there somewhere to keep her safe. Which is why I say this is one of the most useful Gods, the ability to protect it is omnipresent.





Now we move on to the Rares in the set, and there are some good ones in Theros. I am pleasantly surprised at the overall usefulness of Blue in this set. I don't play Blue very often, as it tends to lean towards mid-game control most of the time, and I am not a very good control player. But let's look and see what the Rares have to offer here.



Now to be honest, I saw this and was like wha . . . I mean, it doesn't say "until end of turn", it says "become a copy of target creature and gain this ability." Period. So you have a creature that's bigger than mine, okay, simple enchantment that does virtually nothing and bam, I mimic your creature. Sure, I'm on board. Why not.

I see this as something that's going to pair super well with Progenitor Mimic in a deck, and it serves purpose all through the game, as you keep targeting it, even with say a Hidden Strings, it can keep changing to keep pace with even their biggest and nastiest creatures. I would say that this card will see a ton of constructed play, and maybe even see competitive standard.








I LOVE IT!! It fits so perfectly with the God that it belongs to it makes normal synergy in a deck seem futile. I'm not so sure on the 2nd ability, but whenever a creature you control does combat damage draw a card!! I mean heck yes!! With Thassa, you make a creature "unblockable" and then this lets you net card advantage like crazy. I am a BIG fan!

I actually see this getting more play than Thassa herself. The ability to make creatures attack your big boys, forcing them to make trades. I think this card will go far.











This card I'm just not sure about. Sooo, is this to be aimed at you or them? I mean yeah, you can exile their creatures, but they are still getting a pork dinner out of it . . .

I see the value, however, I don't see this being anything more than a dollar rare that collects dust in a bin somewhere. I have been wrong before, but there are so many other options I can't see this being used an awful lot.










Could be useful. But seems like an awful big pain in the butt to get it to go off. I mean, you only control an instant or sorcery for some much time, and they know you have the ability to copy them, so they are going to be waiting to counter them if they are playing any type of control.

I see this as a type of Golgari Decoy, because it's a removal magnet. Although, if you do get him out and get Hidden Strings ciphered onto an "unblockable" like Deathcult Rogue, then he could be fun to untap all your permanants during your second main phase. The 2U and tap makes him hard to use at best though. I see it as another dollar rare.










If you are playing Dimir colors, this would be freakin sick. He isn't a huge body, but that big butt is nice. As a flyer, and the ability to Scry freakin 3 when he attacks. Heck yes. I will take some. The discard ability, he comes with his own inbuilt way to protect itself. I just wish it was a mana ability.

I really don't know on this one how to make a call. I don't think he is going to be a ten dollar card, but I don't see him being bottom of the barrel either. Time will tell I suppose.











I think they chose right when they made this the "seeded pack" champion for Blue. In limited, he is a bomb. And when that Monstrosity triggers, it's gonna get messy. A 10/10 that goes in swinging with up to 4 of their guys tapped!  And as long as you control the Kraken, they don't untap. Can you say "that's game"? Cuz I can, and might.

I don't really see this making standard, but it's got a shot. A 6/6 for 6 is never bad. And for only 2 more mana, it goes boom too. Too big for burn. Yeah, it's got potential.














Hmmm, interesting. That's really all I have to say. I say no to your spell, but you get a bird. Better hope you have a way to deal with that flyer afterward.










So not bad on the Rares, some pretty useful stuff, and some kinda iffy cards. Definitely some to play around with though. So on to the Uncommons. There should be some useful ones in here. I'm not sure if I want to cover all of them though, because I might pick up some speed here and try to tackle another color today as well. I need more time to get to those multi-colored cards before the pre-release on Friday night.






Well I mean, I don't want to say this should have had the Rare slot over Swan Song, but . . . it should have. I'll take it as an Uncommon though, more useful for me. Counter their SPELL. This is Cancel, with Scry. Hmmm, let me say no AND see if I want to draw this card. No, well let's get rid of that then.

Yep, this card is going places and will be the go-to counter in the set I'm pretty sure. I see it at about seventy -five cents to a dollar for an Uncommon.










Stupid, stupid, stupid. Grrr, I want to rant so bad right now. HOW DOES THIS GET AN UNCOMMON SLOT!!! It's so friggin conditional! I just don't get it, other than limited (and not really even then if there is any other spell) when are you going to need this???

Bah! Okay I'm done, moving on.

A 4/4 Flyer with Scry 2. I can dig it, wish it wasn't a mana cost for every power and Scry, but at least they can justify the cause. Not too shabby.

It's a good solid draft pick and will do well in limited. I doubt it will see constructed because there are way better options, but all in all, not bad.












And we arrive at the next solid card. Use it, love it. Boost me, boost me, boost me, now draw 2. Okay. I can deal. I will use it if I get it.

On the Standard side, eh, I dunno, seems like it might get used in specific roles. I see it used once again if a creature is "unblockable" and you have the want for card draw.

Still, solid.













The guy (or girl) that this gets dropped on is NOT going to be happy. "You can have those back, I'm just gonna look at this card real fast. Oh my, did those get tapped? Yep, sure did." And that's how it will go.

Good card. Seems legit.

I can see it being used. It's a bear with a nice butt. AND it becomes an 8/8 two turns later it can swing in for nasty damage. I can dig it.

It's going to be fun to use in limited. Draft for sure. And maybe might make a constructed deck or two. I would think about it. There might be a better card, but this isn't too shabby.















High bestow cost makes it kinda sad. But I mean, more card draw and a 3/3 for 4. Not bad. With Thassa on the field, could be a stall until you get her big bad Bident out there for the draw, and then with both you could draw lots of cards. Yay!!















MORE CARD DRAW. Basically if you are playing Blue, you want to draw cards. And lots of them. A Blue/Red matchup would get kind of out of hand. Draw and tokens, more draw, more tokens. Yep, it would be a vicious cycle.

We need overload cards.















The last of the Uncommons. It's one that my deckbuilding brother already can't wait to get his hands on. Targets two, and with Heroic out there, that can be a big deal. They untap, useful on your opponents turn. It's useful useful useful. Good card.









And now all we have left are the commons to go over. Commons can be flavorful and fill in some gaps. Few ever make real standard decks, but some have been good enough in the past. Let's see what Theros has to offer for some Blue commons.










So keeping in mind that we're looking at commons here, for being a heavy Enchantment set, this card is going to come in very handy in the limited and draft environment. A solid sideboard for any deck running Blue. Because you want to save the Dissolve for something really nasty.













And here's a dynamite common that I would stick in even a constructed deck if my build warranted it. A free Scry when an "unblockable" creature deals damage. I'm in. I love having creatures that can't be blocked, and this card fulfills my wishes.















Seeing as how limited formats are often much slower, and take much more time to win (usually), I see this being decent in a limited or draft build. The Flash makes the mana cost worth it, and then you get the bonus of untapping your tapped creature at the same time.















So if you need a card draw real bad, play this on something that's going to die real fast. Then you can draw again when you go in swinging. I would try to Scry first to make sure what you're getting is useable though. Just what I would do though, you do what you want.
















Well of course it's good for the one mana. What kind of question is that? All you're paying for is the Scry, who cares what their creature loses.


















Well, cool ability, but not worth 5 mana. No way no how. Still a decent limited card, but probably not worth a wall of scales anywhere else.

















I like to Scry, so I like this. A 1/3 that lets me Scry 2 for 2, once again, I would pay 2 to Scry 2, so the creature is a bonus. Good common.

















Same statement as before. Scry is good. And for the extra 2, if I play heavy instants and sorceries, this guy is going to be good for me for card fixing.

















A little less good on the Scry, and I wish it was XU - Counter target spell unless opponent pays X. Scry 1. Cuz that would have been way cooler. Mana dumps are always nice. But WOTC would never listen to little old me.

Now see, that's just cool, cuz you'd pay 3 to draw 3, I mean most people would pay 4 to draw 3. But, the only thing that would make this a better swing, would be to have them discard 2 instead of having them put 3 from the library. Just my take on it though.

Hey look, it's Master of Waves girlfriend. She gets a +1/+1 from him. And that's always cool. So if you're playing him in limited, look for this chick to get a nice little power boost into being a 3/2 for 2. I'd say that's worth doing.










And that's about all the commons I really feel like talking about with Blue. All the rest (the remaining 4-6) are just vanillas with nothing much cool about them.

    I would like to take a couple seconds and just say that I am pretty happy with the Scry in this set. Seems like it's really going to help weed through the stuff you don't really need right now to get to the stuff you really want to draw. In the long term, it's really a rough form of card advantage. Any time you know you're going to draw good is a good thing. Having control over that is even better. In a perfect deck, every card you draw is going to be good, but is it always WHEN you need it?

    Alright, well that's my wrap on Blue in this set. Next up, we'll go backwards here and go through either White or Multi-Colored. Not sure yet which I'm up for. Depends on how much time I get.

Theros Black Breakdown

   So fellow MTG fans, as most of you already know, the Theros set has been completely spoiled from the MTGO leak. I've already begun updating the card database on Tappedout.net so the community there can playtest how cards interact in the upcoming standard. I am ShadowLand on there, just to unveil my identity in case, you know, you were interested. A shameless plug for TappedOut as well, I love the website and would highly recommend it for playtesting and building decks, its a well utilized tool and a great community for both trading and just bouncing ideas off of people. If you get a chance, go check it out.
   Anyways, I digress.  Back to what's at hand, and that being Theros. I'm not going to lie, this set is almost overwhelming with the options presented. There are SO many ways to branch out in this, it's almost hard to pick a direction. So I just want to go over a few cards right now that catch my eye as being possible meta changers in their own rights.

   Let's go through this by color just to make it easier. We'll start with my favorite color of course, black. Which I might add, with this set there is a very real possibility to have a strong mono black out there.




Now first up is this guy, the God of the Dead. His static ability alone could be devastating to Life Gain (LG) decks.

The Indestructibilty is a nice feature when he is a creature, and the card draw is excellent for a black deck.

Looking forward, I see this pairing nicely with things like Blood Scrivener and Read the Bones, as far as card draw for black decks is concerned.

The problems I forsee with him, are he is very subject to Enchantment removal in this set, so have your counterspells ready. In my opinion, he is probably going to be best paired in with either Blue or White, or a combo of both. But we will see for sure.





This pretty much takes the mainboard spot for removal in any deck playing black. I will be sideboarding my Putrefy's to make room for these in my Golgari Lotleth Troll deck.
The added or planeswalker makes all the difference in the world.

The drawback, easily counterable, but that's why they invented the sideboard. Still, all in all, a playable card.

My prediction is that this will see standard as the common removal go to, with other options sideboarded in decks that include a heavy Swamp base.








 This is one of my favorites. If you just look at what it does, it's amazing. This is going to be a creature heavy, drawn-out-game set, and that means trading lots of creatures. And even if you are using re-animator or something of the like, it still feeds off of everything in their graveyard as well.

 There are less drawbacks to this card if you play it for its Bestow cost, because if it gets countered, it automatically becomes a creature, if the target creature it's attached to were to be destroyed, it becomes a creature. So you get at least 2 uses out of it.

My opinion, is that this card will be widely ignored, even though it has a ton of potential. If I decide to run a mono black deck, next to things like this, Hythonia, the Cruel
Hythonia that will be devestating if you drop a Nighthowler on them late game.


And then of course we have the black bombshell of the set, the removal before it even gets played. Sure, it costs 2 life, but who wouldn't pay 2 life to get rid of the opponents best card?

I see a drawback to this in the form of not knowing the opportune time to play this. But cards like Duress
will help with figuring out the best times to play the Thoughtseize.

I see this card being a bomb in midrange control decks, as well as even a few aggro decks that want to get lucky.










And now there is this. Linked with Erebos, would give you lifelink and your opponent cannot gain life. Plus, it lets you return a creature from your graveyard for a turn to do even more damage.

The downside is it costs 4 mana, and of course is subject to enchantment removal. That's pretty much it.

I see this working well in conjunction with things like Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord
once it's been brought back, you could use it to semi-Fling
something at the opponent before the end phase of combat, so it ends up dealing it's damage twice. Also would be great to use in conjunction with Lotleth Troll
Caption to discard to pump your troll and then re-animate the card to actually get it's use and then use Jarad to deal another set of damage. Needless to say, it has many functional uses.

Let's go over a couple that aren't rares that strike my fancy in black. There are a select few that I will feature and discuss here, some because I like them and some because I just want to rant about them.

This is one I actually want to talk about here for a minute. At first glance it seems like it's not much to look at. But if you really think about it, in a deck that uses the Whip of Erebos featured just before this one. This guy can really turn a swing in a mono-black deck.

I mean, you have to have 5 mana to cast him, so by turn 5 if you have this guy in your hand, you have the potential to have at the very least 5 devotion if not more on the field, so he is hitting for a total of 7 damage straight to the head and netting you 7 life right back. And he is a solid blocker at a 2/4.

Now I don't see him getting much play realistically, because he will be overlooked as people continue to try and play 2-3 color decks. But in a mono black deck, I really think he deserves at the very least a sideboard slot.



This I see being very useful for the re-animator scene, I like it, and I will most definitely be using it. I mean, it serves the same function as the Whip of Erebos, an easier to reach CMC with the one Black over two, and you get to recast them from your hand and they stick around. Not bad at all.

Somehow or another I see a Zombie deck coming, and it really wasn't what I expected to see with a Greek themed set release.

Once again, not sure it will hit a top deck, but I see it being extremely useful.








I'm not really sure why this is a common. I mean, it's SO good. Especially with all the Life Gain out there right now. Even in mono black we have LG, so why not.

If we follow the order. I get to look at the top two cards, choose one or both that I want to draw, then draw two cards. Then lose 2 life. Just perfect for fixing your card draws. Fits great with an Erebos, God of the Dead card draw function. And will work great with a Blood Scrivener type deck as well.










I dig it. You still got a blocker, but all of your cool abilities are gone. Seems like a perfect control card to me.

Drawback, ummmmm, enchantment removal perhaps . . .

Won't really do anything except be a great draft card for the set, and maybe see some constructed mono-black and mid-rangey control decks.











And now for my rant. I don't like cards like this, never have. It serves such a limited purpose that it's almost virtually useless. I mean it might, MIGHT get used to destroy a multicolored creature, but chances are, you are going to go with something like Murder or Doom Blade rather than this. It will never even deserve a sideboard slot. Useless waste of a small piece of cardboard. Its a decent sideboard in limited, but then again, in limited, every card is your sideboard, so you might use it then. It might be the LAST card you pick in a draft when it gets handed to you because nobody else picked it.

I digress.







It may just be me, but I don't really understand the point of this card. Yes, it's a 2/2 for 2, but it taps when something else dies . . . I mean, what use is that to anyone? It seems like the kind of thing that could have just not been on there and left it as a vanilla card.

It's not like we have a card out there right now, currently that says whenever a creature becomes tapped deal X damage to opponent that is it's devotion to a certain color.

But yeah, it may be a decent draft card if it's in your colors, but I don't ever see this hitting even constructed.







So there's my wrap of the black coming out in this set. If I missed something you would like to see my opinion on (because of course I didn't get to everything, after all I have 4 more colors and then multicolored yet to get to before this weekend) then please leave a comment and I will definitely go back and cover it for you! Look forward to my next post (hopefully tomorrow) as I cover the Blue in this upcoming Theros release. As always, thank you for reading, and please come again and check us out.