Constructed
5.0: Multi-format All-Star. Bitterblossom. Tarmogoyf.
4.0: Format staple. Mutavault. Baneslayer Angel.
3.5: Good in multiple archetypes, but not a format staple. Ajani Vengeant. Ranger of Eos.
3.0: Archetype staple. Mulldrifter. Scion of Oona.
2.5: Role-player in some decks, but not quite a staple. Rampant Growth. Divination.
2.0: Niche card. Sideboard or currently unknown archetype. Fracturing Gust. (Bear in mind that many cards fall into this “maybe” category, although explanation of why is obviously important)
1.0 It has seen play once. One with Nothing. (I believe it was “tech” vs Owling Mine, although fairly suspicious tech at that.)
Limited
5.0: I will always play this card. Period.
4.5: I will almost always play this card, regardless of what else I get.
4.0: I will strongly consider playing this as the only card of its color.
3.5: I feel a strong pull into this card’s color.
3.0: This card makes me want to play this color. (Given that I’m playing that color, I will play this card 100% of the time.)
2.5: Several cards of this power level start to pull me into this color. If playing that color, I essentially always play these. (Given that I’m playing that color, I will play this card 90% of the time.)
2.0: If I’m playing this color, I usually play these. (70%)
1.5: This card will make the cut into the main deck about half the times I play this color. (50%)
1.0: I feel bad when this card is in my main deck. (30%)
0.5: There are situations where I might sideboard this into my deck, but I’ll never start it. (10%)
0.0: I will never put this card into my deck (main deck or after sideboarding). (0%)
Constructed: 1.0
As cool as it would be too wreck people with this guy, the competition at six mana is just too harsh nowadays. He is pretty close to being good enough, but Sphinx of Jwar Isle, Baneslayer Angel, Sorin Markov, and Terminate all are standing in his way.
Limited: 3.5
There isn’t much that can punch through a Wrexial, and he probably takes them to value-town on every attack. His casting cost may be a bit awkward, but if you are already UB or even heavy Blue, you probably are interested in what he has to offer.
Constructed: 1.0
Seven mana AND it has to survive until it attacks? No thanks.
Limited: 3.0
You definitely get your money’s worth for seven mana here, even if GW is a kind of awkward combination. Definitely not splashable, Novablast Wurm is still going to make the cut in any deck that can cast him.
Constructed: 2.0
This card obviously begs to be broken, although none of the decks I have seen so far get too close. Various Magosi interactions don’t seem realistic, but Amulet is cheap and has a powerful effect, so I wouldn’t be surprised if something breaks this at some point.
Limited: 0.0
I vigorously recommend against ever playing this in a 40-card deck.
Constructed: 2.0
People are pretty excited about this, and even if I don’t share quite that level of excitement, it is cheap enough that it has potential. If Wall of Denial and Calcite Snapper are big, Collaring up a guy is a great way to bust through.
Limited: 4.5
Vampire Nighthawk is pretty unbeatable, so turning all of your guys into Nighthawks is about as good as you would expect it to be. Don’t pass Basilisk Collar, since no matter what it is going to end up in your deck and no matter what it is going to be sick.
Constructed: 3.0
Bojuka Bog may not be a lynchpin of any particular deck, but it is a good effect at a very cheap price. If your deck can afford some slow Swamps, getting some free Tormod’s Crypts may well be worth it, especially in Extended. Past that, the Bog is a decent if not exciting sideboard card. Having to hit them at sorcery speed is kind of weak, but the cost to play it is pretty low, and it works quite well with Knight of the Reliquary. Bojuka Bog is also very difficult to stop, since none of the current anti-hate cards do anything.
Limited: 0.5
This might get sideboarded in from time to time, but I would never maindeck it.
Constructed: 3.5
Five mana is a whole lot, but a 4/4 flier is a pretty sick bonus when it comes attached to a ETBT dual land. This new cycle of manlands is insane, since any deck playing both colors is barely going to notice the drawback of ETBT. The activation costs are way higher than any of the older manlands, but adding two colors more than makes up for it, since it reduces the cost to play them so much. I think everyone has gotten the idea by now, but just in case, I will reiterate how good these are: pick them up while they are still on the cheap side.
As for Colonnade specifically, I think it will fit well in a number of decks. UWR was already playing Sejiri Refuge, and the upside to Colonnade is way higher than the Refuge. At this point, non-ally three color combinations that can play eight on-color fetchlands and a bunch of manlands or M10 duals seem like they have an edge in manabase construction over the Shards color combinations.
Limited: 3.5
These lands not only help fix your mana if you are in the two colors, but they also help you splash another color if you are considering doing so. If they are fully on-color, take them really high, and if you are on the fence about splashing, still take them high. Lands that do something, especially ones that tap for good mana, are about as close to being 2 for 1’s without actually being card advantage as you can get.
Constructed: 3.5
This assassinates Planeswalkers and opponents alike, even if it can’t block without trading most of the time. I have even considered running this in Extended, although haven’t quite gotten there yet.
Limited: 3.5
Not much to add here; this isn’t much worse than Colonnade.
Constructed: 1.0
I know some of you are dreading the thoughts of any more puns, so I will just say that this isn’t good enough for Constructed and leave it at that.
Limited: 3.0
Even if your mana is on the sketchy side, playing Dread Statuary as a 19th land is still insane. Getting to play extra lands while still having insurance against mana flood is always nice, and a 4/2 is pretty big.
Constructed: 3.0
As a bad Signet, this would still serve a good purpose in Standard, and this is definitely not just a bad Signet. If you ever have the time to play it at 4 or 6 mana, it will enable some pretty sick plays, even if most of the time it comes down as a slightly weaker Mind Stone. Many decks will be interested in Everflowing Chalice, although I don’t think it spawns any sort of Tron-like archetype.
Limited: 2.5
It will be tough to find a deck that isn’t interested in Everflowing Chalice, although some decks definitely will want it more than others. To be fair, if your deck really wants Everflowing Chalice, you probably didn’t draft a very good deck, and I’m speaking from experience. Don’t use the Chalice as an excuse to play infinitely expensive cards and you should be fine, since just accelerating you from two to four is already pretty sweet.
Constructed: 5.0
When Rise of the Eldrazi comes out, I fully expect this to be the centerpiece of the new best deck in every format. For now, it obviously does nothing.
Limited: 0.0
Having a total blank in Limited isn’t too bad, especially since it doesn’t pop up too often, being Mythic and all.
Constructed: 2.5
So far I have been a little unimpressed by Halimar Depths, despite it looking pretty awesome. I’m not saying it’s bad, or anything of the sort, but there are a lot of good lands that enter the battlefield tapped, so it has some stiff competition. If your manabase is made up of fetchlands and you are playing Treasure Hunt, Halimar Depths is likely going to make the cut. It is a little difficult to cast Cruel Ultimatum with too many Halimar Depths and basics in your deck, which is one of the problems I have with it.
Constructed: 1.0
I don’t foresee many pieces of equipment getting ruined by this. Manriki-Gusari was one thing, but having to get damage through is completely another, without even mentioning the fact that Jitte is no longer in the format.
Limited: 3.0
This is unreal in Sealed, since most decks will have a piece or two of equipment, and it isn’t much worse in Draft. It isn’t an automatic slam by any means, but if you have enough small or evasive guys, well, it’s hammer time.
Constructed: 1.0
Hedron Crab’s position as the best “Hedron” card in Constructed is safe for now.
Limited: 3.0
Hedron Rover doesn’t block very well, just like every single other card in this format. It bashes effectively, and isn’t a card I anticipate leaving on the bench very often. Four is a little unwieldy, but if you need more on the top end, it does the job.
Constructed: 2.5
If there is Polymorphing to be done, it will invariably involve Khalni Garden. Natural Order might even get in on the action, since getting a dude for free goes a long way in making those sorts of strategies viable. I don’t think it will get used overmuch as a pure speed bump, but decks that can use a 0/1 profitably are going to play it.
Limited: 2.5
Not a high pick by any means, Khalni Garden is an auto-play in Green decks. There aren’t many ways to really go nuts with a 0/1 Plant, but I guess if you have a ton of equipment you could prioritize this a little higher.
Constructed: 1.0
Sailing lessons are a bit pricey apparently, and definitely out of the range of most Constructed decks.
Limited: 2.5
Sending in Territorial Baloths and the like is pretty effective; giving Welkin Tern +1/+0 is not. If you have a bunch of large-ish ground guys, Sailing over the top is what you want to be doing with them.
Constructed: 2.5
Definitely worse than the rest of the cycle, Lavaclaw Reaches is still good enough to see some play.
Limited: 3.5
Still worse than the others, but still very good.
Constructed: 3.0
Most of his rating is due to his awesomeness in Vintage, although I wouldn’t be too surprised if some Standard decks might run him. If you can accelerate the Golem out, it delivers quite the beating; Time Walk plus a threat is not bad.
Limited: 3.0
Straight up Juggernaught is pretty good, and the Sphere of Resistance effect is going to help you more than it should help them, since you by definition have at least one huge guy on the table. This is just another way to crush them when you are on the play.
Constructed: 2.0
It took a while, but Civic Wayfinder eventually saw a decent amount of play in Constructed. Pilgrim’s Eye might be a little smaller, but giving other colors access to the effect makes it fairly likely that some deck will want this.
Limited: 3.5
Even in a two-color deck with good mana, getting a 1/1 flier and a land is still pretty awesome. Once you start splashing things or trying to play triple-colored spells, Pilgrim’s Eye moves up the list, and probably shouldn’t get passed for much beyond removal or exceptionally good creatures.
Constructed: 2.0
As awesome as this was in its previous incarnation, creatures may have changed just a little from 1996. That being said, land-spells are always good, and this can deal with protection guys and the like.
Limited: 3.0
I would normally just count this is a spell and play 19 or 20 land, which is sweet. It does a good job of killing little evasive dudes, but usually not until later turns. It isn’t exceptionally exciting, but it should always make the cut. This is also one of the best reasons to take Grim Discovery a bit higher, so keep that in mind.
Constructed: 3.5
This is the front-runner among the new cycle, and gets even filthier when you can activate it multiple times. Red-Green is even a good color combination right now, so expect to see this guy plenty.
Limited: 3.5
Raving Ravine is also the sickest in Limited, and becomes unstoppable quite rapidly.
Constructed: 1.0
Cool name; terrible card.
Limited: 0.5
The Boomerang is way too slow to really be worth maindecking; Viridian Longbow this isn’t. I still would keep this in mind when sideboarding, since if they have a ton of awesome 1-toughness dudes you could bring it in.
Constructed: 1.0
Jayemdae Tome and all its variants haven’t been relevant in Constructed for quite a while.
Limited: 2.0
I want to rate this higher, but I just know that it is too slow for most draft decks. If you end up in a stalled sort of game it will break it open, but that doesn’t happen very often in Draft. Sealed, sure, but not Draft.
Constructed: 2.5
This has two uses that I can think of, and one of them is even good! Using this with Ruin Ghost seems pretty sketchy, mostly because I don’t see Ruin Ghost being good enough, but this plus Knight of the Reliquary seems pretty real. Making Knight into a psuedo-Mother of Runes is nice, and just shows how cards like Knight just get better as time passes.
Limited: 2.5
It is somewhat difficult to use this really effectively, since if they have two colors of creatures you aren’t getting anywhere. Insanely sick with Ruin Ghost, this still should help push through damage at most points in the game.
Constructed: 2.0
Teetering Peaks is a pretty nice one, but it is possible that Smoldering Spires deserves a slot too. Blocking isn’t all that popular, and a lot of the guys Red hates have Shroud, so I doubt Peaks is going anywhere, but Spires is somewhat interesting.
Limited: 3.0
Much easier to use than the Steppe, Spires leads to some sick turns. Aggressive (read: any) Red decks should treat this as a spell, and pick accordingly.
Constructed: 3.5
Knight of the Reliquary just got a new friend, and a pretty sizeable one at that. The low activation cost on this is pretty nice, and definitely makes it more interesting.
Limited: 3.5
Having a defensive ability is a bit awk, since you have to leave mana up and they can just not attack you, but the low mana cost of activating this makes it reasonable. That, and the fact that you can just bash them with a ¾ instead.
Constructed: 3.5
Wasteland might have been a bit too good, seeing as a new version with multiple strictly-worse drawbacks is still going to be an impactful Constructed card. Tectonic Edge is yet another land that strains your manabase, but the reward is pretty meaningful. Killing manlands and keeping them off expensive spells is almost good enough to be worth a spell slot, so this will see play in many decks.
Constructed: 1.0
Exploration this is not, even if the ability is quite powerful. This needed to be a non-creature artifact to be useful, since if it is important they will just kill it.
Limited: 1.0
This is the sort of card that shouldn’t be in 90% of the decks people put it in, but insane in the other 10%. If you have a ton of sweet landfall abilities and ways to put lands in your hand, go nuts. Worst comes to worst, you can block Surrakar Marauder (which makes the Atlas a solid sideboard card).
Top Five Multicolor/Artifacts/Lands for Constructed
5. Halimar Depths/Bojuka Bog
4. Everflowing Chalice
3. Lodestone Golem
2. Tectonic Edge
1. Manlands (with the good four making fun of Lavaclaw Reaches the whole time)
There are some pretty sick lands in this set, which is understandable since one of the themes is that “land matters”. Wasteland, manlands, spell-lands; all of them are good and all of them will see significant play in Constructed. There even is a sick card for Vintage, even if I will only see it on the other side of the table. Overall, Worldwake has a lot of good ones, although Smother being the only really relevant Extended card is a bit disappointing.
I’m pretty excited for GP Oakland, seeing as I live 10 minutes (walk) from the site, so next week I will be sure to have plenty to say about that.
LSV
missing a limited on halimar depths and Tectonic Edge.
Also Eye of Ugin says “Colorless Eldrazi Spells”… Seems limited. I hope there is more than 5 cards that this works with but i don’t count on it.
Comment by Kyle.Smith — February 7, 2010 @ 10:16 pm
You said that there would be a “top 5 overall” list for Worldwake. YOU LIED TO ME.
Comment by W A MacMurdo — February 7, 2010 @ 10:17 pm
Sejiri Steppe with Ruin Ghost was exactly how I won two of my matches this weekend at the launch party. Automatically giving one of my landfall creatures an extra trigger (like Steppe Lynx) and giving it protection from a color was awesome.
Comment by Daniel — February 7, 2010 @ 10:47 pm
so if you were running tectonic edge in a sideboard would you side it in for spells or lands? what about in a mono colored deck.
Comment by NastySasquatch — February 7, 2010 @ 10:49 pm
Razor Boomerang was better than it looks… I lost a few good men to it at the prerelease!
A 1 damage ability can be really hard to defend against, even if the cost is embarrassing.
Equipped to a defensive type (with defender even) it doesn’t suffer from having to tap an attacker. Block, then activate to deal the 1 point extra, etc.
It’s not great, but it was surprisingly annoying to come up against it, and in Limited it provides a pinger where you might not otherwise have access to it.
In a draft, I’d rate it a higher pick in a non-red or black build.
Comment by PastProphet — February 7, 2010 @ 10:56 pm
Do you really think that Smother is the only “real” relevant extended card? I believe Kor Firewalker and possibly the Loam Lion may have some issue with that statement.
Comment by ErykH — February 7, 2010 @ 11:09 pm
Slight nitpick, is there any reason basilisk collar isn’t a 5 in limited? I can’t imagine a time when I wouldn’t pick it and play it.
Comment by alex — February 7, 2010 @ 11:16 pm
i must admit, it is nice to see you be really generous with the set, as far as your constructed evaluations go. i felt like, while they were ultimately pretty spot on, your zendikar evaluations were depressing for someone like myself who was trying to feel good about a new set after lorwyn had just left. you had left me with little to hope for in a world of jundy jundness. now that the format has settled down, this feel like they can loosen up a bit and your treatment of the cards above shows it. and keep up those puns.
Comment by andrew — February 7, 2010 @ 11:42 pm
I don´t get the hype with the manlands for constructed.
1. Lavaclaw Reaches - to slow for an agrodeck and if you play controll you do not wish to pump dudes on your turn (seen it some Grixis versions)
2. Rageing Ravine - If you can activate it twice…. That´s 8 mana, no this is no Genju. It does get a little more value if it survived one attack.
3. Celestial Colonnade - Awsome controllcard in TY2000. 2010 it does help your opponent find a target for all his dead removalspells.
4. Stirring Wildwood - A fine blocker in a colour combination that wish to smash face. It does survive lightning bolt which is a bonus. Still, most green decks would rather have Treetop Village.
5. Creeping Tar Pit - OK I like this one. Good colourcombination, unblockade so they can´t just trade a dude for it. I can see this geting heavy play. Especsially if there´s some classic agrocontrolldeck (like UB pickles not so long ago.)
I know that the lands are fine cards but people talk about them as if they were the best manlands ever printed.
Sweepers aren´t huge in standard, if cards like DoJ see heavy play in the future their Value goes up but standard is still a format very much dominated by creatures which isn´t exactly where manlands want to be.
Smother got reprinted so between that PtE and Terminate there are atleast 3 different cards that can kill any manaland + there are lots of cards that see play in multiple decks that can kill most of them.
Like I said, fine cards and I´m sure they will see lots of play but the only one I can see being higher then a 2.5 is Creeping Tar Pit. (I know that I have most respected writers agaisnt me on this one but like Chapin pointed out, just don´t ride the hype because everyone else thinks that a card is broken and the manlands get my price for most overrated cards in WWK).
Comment by MB — February 8, 2010 @ 12:13 am
Manland? You sexist!
Comment by Riki Hayashi — February 8, 2010 @ 1:06 am
I love walking atlas. I casted Lorthos on the 5th turn with him only (in a deck 35 Islands, Walking Atlas, Lorthos, 2x Twich, Mysteries of the Deep)
Comment by Jan — February 8, 2010 @ 1:55 am
“I don´t get the hype with the manlands for constructed.”
because they fix your mana too
Comment by Josh — February 8, 2010 @ 2:27 am
They do fix your mana, and for that I think they are great cards largely because of how little cost it is for your deck to play them over another ETBT land. But I kinda of agree with the poster above when he says they are pretty inefficient. Older manlands like mutavault and treetop village were a lot more efficient to activate which was a large part of why they were so useful. Still, I think these new lands will see a lot of play simply because, as above, there’s very little cost to playing them. However, I don’t think they will see as much combat as the older manlands.
Comment by eack — February 8, 2010 @ 2:36 am
Fixing your mana?
If that´s what you want there are a bunch of better alternatives. In that regard they are no better then Coastal Tower and friends and the only one of those that saw any play outside block from what I can remember was Salt Marsh as Underground River 5-6 in Tog and maybe Shivan Reef in Fires.
I just don´t see how they all received a 3.5 ranking 3.5/5 to me is a good card, even really good and I can´t see any of those being really good with exception of Creeping Tar Pit.
Comment by MB — February 8, 2010 @ 2:57 am
Worldwake Set Review - Artifacts, Lands, and Multicolor…
Your story has been summoned to the battlefield - Trackback from MTGBattlefield…
Trackback by MTGBattlefield — February 8, 2010 @ 3:31 am
So, the only 5 you give in the entire set goes to… Eye of Ugin? And you say it’s going to be the centerpiece of the best deck in Standard? I can think of three reasons for this:
1) You are joking
2) You are using your power as a popular magic player/writer to increase the cost of the mythic so that you can profit from it
3) You slipped up and made an all-in assumption on basically no real information at all
Please tell me which of these is the case.
Comment by Evan — February 8, 2010 @ 3:43 am
Walking Atlas has been good when I’ve seen it. making a third turn winrider eal is nice.
Comment by James — February 8, 2010 @ 4:02 am
Was it a joke with Eye of Ugin or do you really think so? I mean 5.0 in Constructed is quite high
Comment by Rendex — February 8, 2010 @ 4:35 am
To all those saying Walking Atlas is good because it worked well in narrow circumstances, umm, thats what LSV said
Regarding the new man lands, its their versatile nature which makes them awesome, dual lands are everybody’s friend and the fact they can (ok at an inflated compared to previous ones) beat face is all gravy. As everyone says, they are well worth picking up now. Sadly a piece of advice my wallet will not allow me to follow
Comment by Wolden Spoons — February 8, 2010 @ 4:51 am
@MB: You might be right that green decks rather want treetop village, but not GW decks.
They fix mana. And are threats. Two good things combined makes these lands sexxxxxy.
Its right, the M10 lands are better at fixing (no actually they are not better, just a tad faster), but worse later in the game.
Comment by True Magic — February 8, 2010 @ 4:52 am
Dont think walking atlas can block the marauder. the guys not an artifact or black. just a colorless construct
Comment by Gj — February 8, 2010 @ 5:02 am
Eye of Ugin will not be good. Stop trying to pump it so ChannellFireball can sell it.
Comment by Batman — February 8, 2010 @ 5:12 am
I’ve actually totally enjoyed playing Lavaclaw Reaches in Grixis control where I run 4 Blightnings 4 Cruel Ultimatums 4 Lightning Bolt 4-3 Earthquake 2 Sorin Markov. I find that getting in there for 6-7 with the RB manland 1 time is good enough to win games.
w/ Alex
Yah I would like to hear why Basilisk Colar isn’t a 5.0 being that is both good on offense and defense as long as we are talking about ZZW not WWW or Cube I can not see taking a card (Foil Jace) over this if I open this pack 3 please explain what is a 5.0 in limited.
Last thing I wanted to comment on was Seer’s Sundial it is not a 1.0. After playing it in a Naya Ramp deck I have become a believer the one big problem I’ve always experienced with the decks that play 4 Harrow 4 Khalni Heart Expedition is that they runs out of threats very quickly and the Sundial turns the dead land drops into 1:Draw a card. I could also see sideboard applications in control mirrors as Jace 5-8’s.
Comment by Greg — February 8, 2010 @ 5:50 am
I think it should be noted that Khalni Garden’s speedbump effect can be quite effective to help a planeswalker survive the first 1-2 turns that it needs to survive to be able to get out of burn range, etc and stand on its own. Blue/Green strategies will definitely welcome Khalni Garden as a way to get more value out of the new - and awesome - Jace.
Comment by Rafael Quadros — February 8, 2010 @ 5:53 am
Well, maybe I wasn´t to clear. I´m not saying they are bad all I´m saying is that I don´t think they are awsome which seems to be the common oppinion about magic Writers, both here and on Starcity.
And I see a problem here with the manafixing.
Asume I play Eldrazi Green splashing red for Bloodbraind and Lightning Bolt (just an example).
I want to take advantadge on the new lands so I substitute my Zendikar Lands for Worldwake Lands. My number of red sources are unchanged but I uped my number of red “spells” so I can´t just trade land for land. If I want to take advantadge of the animate part I need to up my red lands accordingly = cuting forest = makeing the M10 duals slower and my deck clunkier overall (unless I cut my oran-riefs which that deck would never do).
If I want to be tricky and like LSV said activate my Rageing Ravine 2 times I essentially put a Tripple Red spell in my deck (2R for activateing it and I cant really count Rageing Ravine as a Red Manasource since it will be attacking). Now is that soemthing my landbase can support?
Again: not saying they are useless but I see a problem if writers like LSV (and I do think LSV is a great magic writer and player but this is his article so I´ll pick him) tell people that these lands are so awsome and because of that people just throw them into every deck without thinking about how to adjust the rest of your mana for them for example. This combined with the creature part of the lands being quite meh (by todays standard atlest) and I just don´t think we are looking at cards that will have the huge impact that most other people seem to think
Comment by MB — February 8, 2010 @ 6:00 am
If you activate Raging Ravine twice in a turn, will its ability trigger once or twice?
Comment by Falco — February 8, 2010 @ 6:46 am
does anyone else realize that most sites that do cards reviews also sell singles? clearly this is a conflict of interest that tends to make people rate cards better than they are. i don’t blame lsv, starcity or anyone else for that matter, its good business, just everyone should make their own evaluations before overpaying for cards that will never see play. on that note, you could almost ignore this set, and not miss a beat. (almost
Comment by j lolli — February 8, 2010 @ 7:17 am
@ falco, twice.
Comment by Markwerf — February 8, 2010 @ 7:36 am
MB:
The thing is, you can pretty much sub Raging Ravine for Kazandu Refuge because even if you never activate the manland, you’re still getting value from the card. If you ever do hit with it, it’s just a bonus. With Refuge, the 1 life is not often going to be relevant.
Obviously the manlands fix as badly as Coastal Tower and animate worse than Treetop Village, but the fact that they can do both means every 2+-color deck will want at least a couple.
Comment by silencekid — February 8, 2010 @ 7:46 am
Raging Ravine gets a +1/+1 counter whenever it attacks, based on the card text. Doesn’t this mean that it can only be triggered once per turn unless you get an additional combat phase?
Comment by kitoy182 — February 8, 2010 @ 7:51 am
Walking Atlas can’t block Surrakar Marauder when it has intimidate… It’s not an artifact creature (I assume you mean that he cold block the marauder when it has intimidate?), but that doesn’t make it bad IMO.
Agree with everything else pretty much…
Comment by Wes — February 8, 2010 @ 7:54 am
You don’t think Dread Statuary is good enough in mono colored aggro decks?
I think your more like to get value out of 1 statuary then 1 valakut in big red.
Comment by Lucas Siow — February 8, 2010 @ 8:00 am
This is good shit. Keep it up playa.
Comment by Lex — February 8, 2010 @ 8:02 am
@Wes
How is Walking Atlas not an Artifact Creature?
Comment by swills — February 8, 2010 @ 8:32 am
*On the subject of Walking Atlas.
(taken from Conley Woods setreview on Brainburst)
Just a friendly reminder though, Wizards accidentally left off the “artifact” portion of this guy’s type line, so don’t be fooled into thinking he is a colorless non-artifact creature. Future printings will be corrected for this.
Comment by MB — February 8, 2010 @ 8:36 am
Walking Atlas is an artifact creature. There is an errata for him.
Comment by James — February 8, 2010 @ 8:41 am
Re walking atlas.. that’s interesting, good eye Wes.. is that the first colorless creature that ISN’T an artifact?
@MB - I suggest you sell any manlands you open to someone who thinks they’re good, and don’t put them in your decks.. An argument which sounds a bit like your argument is this: Who wants a 3/2 creature for FOUR mana.. even if it has haste; and why would I pay four mana for a RANDOM spell that costs at most 3.. therefore, bloodbraid elf isn’t as good as people think it is.
Comment by Dan — February 8, 2010 @ 8:46 am
@Dan, and how exactly does my arguement sound something like the one like the one about Bloodbraid Elf?
This is a set review. It´s supposed be an oppinion about what cards the author think will be good. I´m sure LSV have tested the cards somewhat but those man lands have a few weaknesses that no1 is talking about and the statement that they fix your mana is completely false. I could buy it that if there were no other lands that could produce friendly coloured mana but there are lots of them so by playing WWK man lands you do NOT fix your mana, you hurt your mana compared to playing any other “dual” atleast if you plan on takeing advantadge of the fact that those lands can be animated which I´m sure you do if you put them in your deck in the first place.
And I never said that those cards are bad. I said I don´t think they are as good as they get credit for. I don´t see why haveing a different oppinion is bad compared to *LSV said these are awsome let´s put 4 of them (or maybe 12 if you play a 3c deck) in my deck and it will rock*
Comment by MB — February 8, 2010 @ 9:24 am
@MB: How does cutting a forest for a mountain make Rootbound Crag any worse/slower?
Comment by Daniel — February 8, 2010 @ 9:39 am
Also, what lands are better if you are already running 4 M10 lands in a 2-color deck? The bonus these guys provide is much better than Refuges, and strictly better than Tri-lands (for this deck).
Comment by Daniel — February 8, 2010 @ 9:44 am
So does Oran-Rief work with Raging Ravine or not?
Comment by Josh G — February 8, 2010 @ 9:48 am
@Josh G: Only if you have the mana to activate Rief and Ravine the turn you play the Ravine. 4 mana +tapping Rief + a tapped Ravine = turn 6 at the earliest, without any other plays (about as relevant as activating it twice).
Comment by Daniel — February 8, 2010 @ 10:02 am
@ Daniel: I was not talking about cutting a forest for a mountain.
But let me put it this way.
Let´s say I play Gwb then, since there´s also a GW dual. It doesn´t matter much though, but let´s just say you do.
so your base is Green with Elves and stuff and to support your white Spells, like Knights and Paths perhaps you play some (GW dual lands and probably some BW nad GB fetchlands) but you don´t play DoJ because it would hurt your mana needing WW now you decide you want to include the GW man land because he look awsome.
By doing so you just put some extra white spells in your deck because you´d like to animate those lands at some point right. The other problem is that you need 2 white to cast those spells because the land will eat up one of them so if you just substitute X Duals for X Man lands your manabase will still be the same although you decided you couldn´t reliably support DoJ.
So what options do you have?
You could trade X forests for X Man lands, uping not only the number of ETB tapped lands in the deck but also makeing your M10 more likely to ETB taped because you now lack basics or you could trade forests for plains makeing it less likely for you to hit a forest + manacreature on turn one.
In both those scenarios you are makeing your mana clunkier and your deck slower.
So basicly you can´t jsut count these as a resource, they also comes with a pricetag that has not ben mentioned anywhere. Everyone are jsut talking about the props of these lands and sure there are some benefits but it´s not liek you can jsut toss them into random deck X and they will make the deck better which is what many people are likely to do if they just read these articles without thinking twice about what they do for your deck.
Comment by MB — February 8, 2010 @ 10:06 am
@ manlands
I honestly think these are very good. I’m not surprised that people think I plug cards here in order to sell them, but there are a few reasons that would not be a wise move. Trading my credibility for a very slight increase in sales would be nothing more than foolish, and if I am wrong on things, it won’t be very hard to tell. I really believe that the manlands are going to see a ton of play.
Coming in tapped and tapping for two colors is almost good enough BY ITSELF, which is why these are insane! Having a decent land that all of a sudden turns into a very threatening creature is actually card advantage, and there are many many decks that will end up using them. You get to play additional lands but still have insurance against flood, and it really doesn’t cost you much in terms of mana stability, if anything. I’m not saying play 8 in RGB or anything of the sort, but I fully believe that all the lands (possibly minus Lavaclaw Reaches) will see a lot of play, and even some in Extended.
If you disagree, that is perfectly fine, but I don’t want to hear more about how I am saying this purely to sell cards. I mean, I think the prices will go up on these, so if you take my advice and buy them now, retailers will make less than they would in two months.
@ Eye of Ugin
Um, joke, etc. Again, my intent wasn’t to sell them, it was to highlight that this card does absolutely nothing for the moment. Honestly, it looks powerful, but how am I supposed to actually rate this given the information I have? Therefore, I gave it a joke rating, which wasn’t meant to trick people or anything.
@ top 5 overall
I decided to save that for my next article, since I will have alot more info then.
Thanks!
Comment by lsv — February 8, 2010 @ 10:25 am
@ Daniel: Yeah, I wasn’t sure if every time you activated the Ravine you could add ANOTHER counter w/ Oran Rief, but the card isn’t re-entering the battlefield, so I guess it’s a no-go. Probably better for the format that way anyway =)
Comment by Josh G — February 8, 2010 @ 10:27 am
“When Rise of the Eldrazi comes out, I fully expect this to be the centerpiece of the new best deck in every format.” Seriously? Is this hyperbole or sarcasm? If not, then please explain.
Comment by Jack — February 8, 2010 @ 10:45 am
I don’t see how Basilisk Collar isn’t a 5.0. Is there any possible chance this would not make the deck ever? Even with a low creature count, it makes everything so nighthawky.
Comment by str8 — February 8, 2010 @ 10:48 am
LSV. I asume that the Manland comment was directed my way?
If so, where did I say anything about you pushing them to sell more cards?
I don´t disagree about them being good cards but like I said there are some things you have to consider before puting these into your deck and I do think they are abit overrated.
Comment by MB — February 8, 2010 @ 10:51 am
You all should make Humphery tokens, in case Khalni Garden ever sees play..
Oh, and it seems sort of good for Dredge…although that may be less relevant at this point.
Comment by dowjonzechemical — February 8, 2010 @ 11:57 am
Avenger of Zendikar is sick in sealed. I got him, Oracle of Mul Daya, Scute Mob, 3 Treasure Hunts a Permafrost trap and one Halimar Depths in my sealed. I even splashed white for 2 Kor Hookmasters, a Jouney, 2 Rest for the Weary and Celestial Colonnade.
I won my 1st sanctioned tourny at the WW launch party.
Thanks LSV for these articles. It really helped me with card selection, and mana allocation.
Comment by Russell C — February 8, 2010 @ 1:23 pm
@Dowjonzechemical: I think Dryad Arbor might just be better.
@”Personland” haters and lovers alike: they are good cards…they will see play…and as the 3.5 rating suggests: they will be good in multiple archetypes, but are not staples. MB, just because you think 3.5/5 suggests awesome sauce, the actual rating scale is posted above and is spot on most of the time.
@all of you LSV WANTZ TEW MAKE TEH MONIES FROM TEH SINGLES SALES OF EYE UGINZ LULZORZ: Grow up. I am not sure if he is joking, being serious, or a little bit of both…but making ad hominem attacks against someone who is simply posting his opinion on cards, attempting to be helpful, and putting himself on the chopping block for all the Donks out there to criticize is childish and lame. How exactly is he supposed to rate that card? It is EXTREMELY powerful…just as One with Nothing is EXTREMELY powerful…but who cares if there is nothing to go with it or no way to abuse it? In the end, its a guess, and LSV might be guessing that its going to be “teh sickness” in the next set. Personally, I am planning on picking up a set now just in case.
Comment by Matt — February 8, 2010 @ 4:03 pm
Ugh…somehow didn’t see the LSV post saying all of this and more before writing mine.
Oops?
Comment by Matt — February 8, 2010 @ 4:06 pm
Does Creeping Tar Pit make the cut in grixis control? It already has so may CIPT lands. I know drowned Catacomb come in tapped a good percentage of the time but having no choice even if you have an island or swamp in hand with it could screw up your early counters. On the other hand he doesnt cost much to activate and he’s unblockable. His 3 damage a turn could help finish someone off once you have teh board under control. Anyone have any thoughts?
Comment by jberardi318 — February 8, 2010 @ 4:43 pm
I want more puns!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This article failed to deliver them.
Comment by AWilburn — February 8, 2010 @ 4:52 pm
Agreed. Pun content was way down. So many missed opportunities around the whole ‘man’-land issue.
Comment by Neale — February 8, 2010 @ 5:00 pm
c’mon, do you think we came here to learn that Dread Statuary is bad? We come here to see which pun is going to bash each limited fodder card!
Comment by javert — February 8, 2010 @ 6:50 pm
You should really charge for these articles to clear out some of the idiots. The discussion for Starcity articles is a lot better for just that reason.
Anyway, I have to disagree about Dread Statuary. He hits really hard, and he comes into play untapped. Again, 4 power is a lot.
Comment by Jim Varney — February 8, 2010 @ 7:07 pm
I’ve been playtesting with the new manlands (sorry about the sexist usage, but the pictures do look more masculine than feminine), and with blue and control poised to ascend in the metagame, they will be really solid.
They aren’t meant for the early or mid game but for the late game. They give you threats that are uncounterable and are immune from sorcery speed wrath effects and removal. Most importantly, compared to the M10 duals and other options, they can dramatically increase the number of potential threats in your deck. You don’t plan on activating them until you have nothing better to do or cast.
I’ve also been testing with Dread Statuary, and he looks really solid in monocolored aggro. I don’t know why everyone is so down on him.
Comment by S. Stewart — February 8, 2010 @ 8:00 pm
I decided to take a neutral standpoint on the manlands and compare pro/con to develop an opinion:
Pros:
- Provides dual-land mana fixing
- Turns into an extra creature
- Provides a mana sink outlet for extra mana
- Only becomes a creature when you want it to
- Each land has a unique ability of varying quality
Cons:
- Comes into play tapped
- Vulnerable to creature and land removal
- Moderate to high activation costs
- No synergy with M10 duals
Based upon this comparison I draw the conclusion that decks needing higher quality creatures but have no creature slots available will benefit from using these manlands. Decks that can protect themselves or control the game will also benefit. Each land has a unique ability and will only be applicable in very specific deck archetypes. These are definitely not one size fits all type cards. Overall I believe control archetypes will benefit much more using manlands then aggro decks (mainly because aggro decks have high quality creatures already). Also based upon this comparison I would rank the manlands in this order of usefulness/practicality:
1. Creeping Tar Pit
2. Celestial Collonade
3. Raging Ravine
4. Stirring Wildwood
5. Lavaclaw Reaches
The top 3 were difficult to rank and are practically equal overall. I chose Creeping Tar Pit as the best because he is unblockable meaning he will never die to combat damage. He’s black so is immune to doom blade/terror. He has a moderate activation cost compared to the rest of the WWK lands. He has 3 power which is equal to a lightning bolt worth of damage each attack. He is the planeswalker killer. I also believe B/U control got the most useful tools from WWK and will be a contending archetype. Tar Pit is also good in the mirror match. Well this is long enough I’m going to lunch! Good article LSV!
Comment by Adamn — February 9, 2010 @ 12:21 pm
So is eye of ugin first pickable in draft as a speculative rare draft, being mythic rare and all, is it a guranteed 8 tix or so once Rise of the Eldrazi comes out.
I spec rare drafted a good few scapeshifts and recently cashed in on them most pleased with my return over a 7-10th pick filler card. This card feels kind of the same only more extreme?
Comment by ElementalMox — February 9, 2010 @ 1:23 pm
I got totally smashed by a raping ravine last saturday.
Comment by KeyMon — February 9, 2010 @ 5:55 pm
i have to say…creeping tar pits is nuts in limited. Busted one on prerelease weekend, splashed 1 island (had 2 pilgrims to fetch) in my w/b deck, just to activate the man-land. This by itself won me a couple games on its own throughout the day; especially the game where i was able to machete him up.Unblockable clocks are good.
Comment by mickd — February 10, 2010 @ 8:55 pm
Whats a man land?
Comment by Steve — February 11, 2010 @ 1:40 am
Oh, my!
People who thinks LSV was serious about Eye of Ugin just have mental problem!
Even my dog can undestand that joke!
The only problem I see here is that people need to learn how to read…
Comment by David — February 11, 2010 @ 6:11 pm