Reviewing Dragon's Maze Part 1: Threats

Hey there evrabuddy. It's your old Grampa Growth here. And it's come back around to that time where we get some shiny new cards to play with.

Dragon's Maze may be a small set, but is it chock full of the good stuff? Let's dive in and find out!

I will discuss cards as they relate to casual formats, mostly EDH. I am not going to review every card, only cards that I feel are going to have a relevant impact on that format. Each day I will discuss all the new cards that fall into a particular category: threats, answers, and utility/mana. I will not talk about reprints.

Today were going to be running through the non-legendary threat cards. Threats are cards that win the game. They don't facilitate function. They kill your opponent. 'Finishers' 'Win cons' 'beaters'- these are threats.

So this is a thing. Or kind of a thing at least. Token decks exist so this might find a home somewhere, but I can't really think of many situations where I'd rather have this instead of a Geist-Honored Monk. A card which I already think is a bit too weak to cut it in EDH. Not being able to blink or copy the Scion and pump out more tokens is really disappointing. Why do this? In what format is flipping your five drop ruining the game? Also, flavor question: Vitu-ghazi was a land. Its children are creatures. What uhh...I mean how did....
Also, it is just uncommon, but it's children are rare. Shouldn't unique things be rare by default?







This card is 100% nostalgia, 0% function. It doesn't do anything flashy. It doesn't generate any advantage. All it does is beat down. Which it does somewhat efficiently, but it is awfully mana intensive for its size. For 6 mana a turn you get an unblockable 8 points of smash and protection from one instance of shenanigans. I am not going to write it off yet, but I am not holding my breath. I think you can get a better deal in your blue deck.











I am not sure this counts as a threat. I am not sure it counts as a utility creature either since you likely draw approximately zero cards off of it in the average game. This is not Bob. Bob is good. This is silly. Like fake Chinese medicine. If you plan on being Hellbent every game, you are probably planning on losing a bunch of those games.

Peoples exhibit #953 on why flavor text needs to be removed from cards. Puns. For clever, but unfunny bastards like me.











So let me get this straight. You think that, your deck, one of the most powerful decks in the format, spends its nights beating scrubs to a pulp with its token army and your plan is to Extort this person? Good luck.

Batman references aside, this card is a bad idea. Do you have a bunch of creatures? Attack your opponent to death. Can you not break through your opponent's defenses because of a ground stall? Wipe the board. What kind of game state would it take for this to be good? Cast Pontiff. Cast Storm Herd. DON'T ATTACK. Cast a whole bunch of buyback spells...? Get it out of here. And what is with the Black cards in this set and having big butts?

I do not like it. And I cannot lie. I do not like them Sam I am. BOOM TRIPLE JOKE STACK. References on references on references tadpole, illusions of opulence.

Also, what does blight have to do with teaching your minions to blackmail people?

BOOM the rare version of Karoo Meerkat. It has been a long time coming friends, but it's finally here. I know all my faithful compatriots have been patiently waiting for our moments to celebrate. This is a triumph. A moment we all can share...

I am not sure how useful Protection from Blue is in any format, really, but an uncounterable Flash bear is bound to show up somewhere. I don't know what EDH decks would even want this and don't think it will will have much impact on EDH despite being a good card.

Magic cards have art. Some of that art is meant to be provocative. About half of the time it contains images of violence. Rarely does that bother me. This number gets to me a little. Look at that thing. That is a predator. It looks like The Thing. I prefer my drakes shaken...not skewered. Dang, I should write flavor text.



It's got FLASH OH OH! Well, technically it doesn't, but the ol' can o' worms here is pretty spicy. There isn't a critical mass of playable Populate cards in EDH yet, so making a token is mostly just worse than having an actual creature. Getting creatures out of the graveyard is easier than getting instants. There are plenty of 'non-token' clauses on copy effects and targeting restrictions and bounce effects are a real thing.

Still this is a pretty sweet little card. It is sure to be good against planewalkers, which is a huge plus and really makes this card more of an answer than a threat. Though I'll be the first to admit the lines are really getting blurry these days.







Baron Samedi here sure is something. I am not quite sure what that something is yet...but it might be a real thing. Pro Black and White is the real deal for protecting your stuff. Lifelink is also the real deal. Helping you dig back out of the hole Black decks tend to get in with all their Greed.

As for this big sloppy blob of text along the bottom, I don't know what to think. If your opponent is at 10, you probably don't need a 10/10 flier....but it sure couldn't hurt!











This might not look like a real card, but I think it is about as real as any other Boros card so I may as well talk about it.

If you have tech like Fanning the Flames or Searing Touch you can kind off go off with this guy. Five power for five mana isn't a bad deal. Heck it is only an uncommon, how much better do we really want it to get? It's too bad that it isn't a combo with Hostility, but they are similar enough that you would want them in the same kinds of decks. And Hostility is sweet.









This minotaur on the other hand is not a card. At all. Get the previous minotaur to light this minotaur on fire.


















I don't really understand why someone would design this card. Or how it got into print.

I do, however, like it quite a bit. I can think of some things that I want to name with this: Capsize, Mindslaver, Spellburst.

This card is a tough one to evaluate, but it is certainly better than it looks. Be warned though: when you see this card, it is there for a reason...and it probably means their deck is broken.

I know it doesn't seem productive to question the council of the absolute, but why can't they stop creatures? I guess that's the job for the Council of the Exceptional, or whatever nominal superlative exists as the logical next step.





Debt to the Deathless...is soooo dumb. Exsanguinate is VERY GOOD. It can do a whole heckuva lotta damage and is so completely snapped in multiplayer. The biggest Exsanguinate I have pulled off was for x=17, Killing three people and gaining me 40+ life in the process.

With this, it would have been x=15, but that would hit for 30 a head, and would have instantly (or sorceryly) killed all of my opponents. This card is the noodles. Keep your counterspells ready kids. You're going to need them once this mess hits the bricks.

Also. This art  is...unnerving. Two in one set; I must be going soft. Just imagine being the janitor in that place.






It is obvious to me that this card was nerfed somewhere in development. It reminds me so much of Vendilion Clique. I think Clique got a little too far out of balance and they didn't want to make the same mistake again. I could see this card costing three and having a major impact in legacy and modern. It certainly has a place in EDH. Any format where Brainstorm is legal. Yea, that's right. Let that sink in. I'll draw the three cards, get the beater in play, and you can go ahead and put those cards on top of your library. GG's by GG.

Does anybody else think that this guy looks like a young Anthony Kiedis? I wonder if artists ever try to do that. It is illegal to use a prominent person's likeness in the card art, but you never know. Sneak in a Michael Jackson every once in a while.





This is the kind of creature your Grandpa likes to see. It copies the best guy...and keeps copying it.

Clone effects have the potential for automatic card advantage already. This is just gravy. For the bargain up-charge of 1G. Yes, Keenan, I would like fries with that VALUE MEAL.

UG is super over-powered. Clones with added functionality are inherently under-costed...pretty much no matter what they cost. Check it out: I pay X for a creature. That is a one time transaction. You pay 6 for the same creature, no matter what X was, and, AND you generate extra returns on that investment every turn for as long as it stays alive. This guy is the annuity of creatures. So Invest and Multiply.





Ral is juiced. Those of you who played Duels of the planewalkers are familiar with this guy. You probably remember that his deck was awful in that game. I am glad to see everything got sorted out for his major league debut. As a matter of fact, all of the decks in duels are terrible. Maybe something just gets lost in translation.

Anyhoo, I really like how this guy plays. It rewards aggressive play. Letting you tap blockers, but it can also play defensive, giving your dudes a targeted pseudo Vigilance. It plays extremely well with tap-to-activate abilities, which Blue and Red have a bunch of. It can also act as a mana ramp, which is awesome and very powerful in this color combination. That is a lot of versatility for a +1 loyalty ability. It builds towards a powerful ultimate, but doesn't generate insurmountable card advantage on the way there.

This is a good spot for planeswalkers to occupy and a model for future cards to follow. Ral is definitely a win on that front. It has a cheap minus ability that helps protect it from small threats. Another check in the 'W' column.

Let's check out this ultimate...take 2.5 extra turns on average? Don't mind if I do. It is almost certainly going to win tight games and it will make a tremendous momentum swing in games where you are behind...or it might not. I usually hate gimmicky nonsense like coin-flipping, but I think it fits right in here. It isn't too silly or too strict. You are almost guaranteed an extra turn which is usually a big advantage when you already have a planeswalker out.

In short: Bart Scott can't wait.



YAY another recursive creature that we can slap Skullclamp on! I am so excited. Can't you tell how excited I am? Who wants cards to be fair...let's just make the busted cards more busted. That should fix everything right?

I am really only mad when the cards like this aren't very good in their own right. I will probably play this card a lot. I will never being doing anything fair with it. I realize design doesn't have any reason to pay attention to skullclamp, but I feel like they are just softballing it now. Not every Black x/1 needs to climb out of the graveyard.


 






I liked Magic when there was only one Hydra. Nowadays they just hit the same chords too many times. Magic is turning into a Ramones song. Heck its turning into the whole dang anthology.

This Hydra iteration doesn't mess around though. Double strike is not a joke. It actually really hurts. It has permanent actual firebreathing too. It just keeps eating more and more until...Doom blade. Heheh sweet Hydra bro.












I guess I'd prefer that I didn't have to discard my hand, but if nobody is going to have a hand then I would prefer to be the guy with the big monster in play.

It fights Sphinx's Revelation pretty well, so that is a plus. It isn't so much of a cost, since both players have to bin their hands at the same time, so all you really want is to be binning less cards than your opponent. They get the first crack at a fresh card, but again you do have the 6/4 in play and presumably you have constructed your deck to take advantage of being Hellbent.

At the very least have a plan for getting to 0 cards in hand in an efficient and productive manner. Cheap creatures, burn, discard, 'tings like dat.





So Cone of Tokens was a pretty good idea back in Worldwake. It made sense and felt valuable at cmc 5. Now we get the big boy version...perfect for the big stupid slow format where seven drops get played eh?

I think this is a bit of an upgrade in a big mana format. The 1/1 isn't a token and can be bounced, duped, or blinked for huge value. The 2/2 has Vigilance. The 3/3 isn't much different, but for the bargain up charge of 1G we get a 4/4 Trampler. 1G seems like the price you want to be paying these days for the combo meal.









Uhhh jeeez. A creature with p/t equal to the number of creatures you control costs at least 3. Now you get it for free and sometimes you get more than one of them? Deal. Speaking of deals, this creature is the real one. Play this card early, often, and whenever you get the chance. You are looking at a multi-format all-star. Powerhouse. Now smashing face at a table near you.

I love the art on this card. The central figure isn't clearly defined, but has obvious boundaries. It is a super cool elk man. The perspective makes him look tall and regal. A true force of nature; all of its beauty and all of its excellence.







Uncle Landdrops thinks this card is going to be banned in Commander. I might not agree, but I do think it is powerful.

It can only battle solo and it has no natural evasion so I think it is going to miss a lot more often than it hits. If it goes unanswered you will almost certainly win, but that is what a threat is supposed to do.

Granted, very few threats actually represent one turn clocks, but this is a good threat. It kills fast. I think most often you will see this guy get stuck on defense in a ground stall. He makes a good blocker to hold down the fort while your air forces get in the beats.

Flavor question: This guy could obviously win a straight up fight against Rakdos. Why isn't he in charge? Maybe that isn't how they roll on that side of town, but that is absolutely how they make decisions in the Gruul territories. He should jump ship and become the big cheese in his own guild. He must not be ambitious. No demon is ever ambitious...

Well here we are at the end. And I saved the best for last.

That was a lie. I did not save the best for last. Tricked you, didn't I?

This is what I would like to call...risky. I don't usually play nonsense like this. Why have your threat backfire when you could just play a threat that doesn't ever backfire? There are some pretty interesting implications for this card though: Mana Flare and Heartbeat of Spring are cards.

You see them every so often in EDH games. Typically, it means people are planning on doing something broken or they have way too much faith in humanity. Now, in certain decks, Mana Flare is totally worth 3. So that means that you're getting a 7/5 for 1G. Giga jeez. The value of 1G is exploding. Pretty soon it will be tanking the Euro.

On the other hand, decks that play symmetrical mana doublers are typically only comfortable doing that because they are planning to combo kill you on the spot, somewhat mitigating the advantage they are giving you by advancing your mana. Decks that want to abuse this effect for the combo potential don't really care about having a creature laying around and paying extra mana for something you don't need just makes it harder to go off.

Well that's all for today kids!
I'll be taking over TGZ all week with this stuff, so be sure to tune in Tuesday when we go over all the "Answers."  GG.