Card Corner: Noxious Revival

Heya Zoners! Landdrops here with a throwback retro edition of Card Corner.

Today's card is one of my favorites from New Phyrexia, Noxious Revival.

In three words, this card is Versatile Card Advantage. We'll start in the top right corner. The lone Phyrexian mana symbol represents a big part of this. My love of "free spells" knows no bounds. I am willing to pay 2 life in a tight spot for most things within the context of Magic, especially when it's in my favorite card type.

Again, versatility. Timing is always the game, and Noxious Revival has the best in town, and unless you're at 1 or 2 life, it's castable, no matter what.

So what are we doing with it? Well, it isn't going to get us the game right away without other cards. However, there are a few great tricks that can be played with this card. Aside from getting something back in your graveyard pre-draw step, one of the best ways to play this is defensively. Preventing an opponent from a reanimator target not only stops their plan this turn, but forces them to draw next turn and have to hard cast whatever it was they were trying to cheat into play, which also puts them a card down from the normal drawing pace of the game. White and Red decks that are skinny on draw power won't have reanimate targets, but probably wouldn't like to draw their most useless card from their graveyard again. Using it on your opponent after they've used a 6th Edition tutor like Worldly, Enlightened, Mirage, or Vampiric is also pretty rough.

On the offensive side, I tend to use it to grab more card advantage. Because it doesn't cost mana like Reclaim or Regrowth, chances are whatever you get can be cast in the same turn, if you cast it pre-draw step. Tutors, Solemn Simulacrum, Fetchlands, your best threat- all of these things are pretty good targets.

Overall, Noxious Revival completely outclasses these green graveyard-getter ancestors, acting in most cases as a poor man's Eternal Witness, or sometimes, better. There are a lot of moves that can be made with it. So give it a shot. It's dirt cheap. To play, and to purchase.

Until next time, drink Brawndo, the Thirst Mutilator. It's got electrolytes. Also, use it on your plants. It's got what they want too.

-UL