So we're going to move into 2014 with a couple of episodes of The Stack related to my favorite part of the game. I hope you love it as much as I do, and you're not just looking through your deck and saying cards that you like.
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| I Love Forest. |
THIS IS THE STACK!
GRANDPA GROWTH'S PICK
Nubile Magic players tend to improperly evaluate symmetrical effects. There is a delicate balance between "helping" your opponent and pressing your own advantage, but there is no symmetry in Magic. This is merely an illusion. A test of skill. Having the option to do this ALWAYS favors you. You choose when to activate it and therefore you can activate it only when it favors you to do so. If you can't tell the difference, don't play this card. If your deck doesn't want this, don't play this card. If your deck does want this effect, then Mikokoro is the best at what it does. Zero card investment, Instant-speed activation, low activation cost, and it always taps for mana.
Johnny Confidant- THUMBS UP
Venser's Journalist- THUMBS UP
I'm a fan of so-called "hug" cards. Not because I like to "make everyone benefit," but more along the lines of GG's philosophy with this card. I figure, if I'm drawing a card, what should I care that everyone else gets to as well? And if I've any mind to use this card often, I may as well have some library manipulation to make sure that I get the card I need or the opponent does not get the card he/she needs.
Uncle Landdrops- THUMBS UP
Mikokoro easily cracks Top 3 for me, and makes a case to be my favorite as well. In conjunction with another wonderful John Avon art, Mikokoro has this really wonderful mysticism. There's something really fascinating to me about its structure, and the importance of this place being the Center of the Sea. I really like this card a lot. I wish more cards made me feel like Mikokoro does.
In terms of the "hug" argument. I think it's all wrong. Getting ahead in Magic is all about making sure your opponent(s) don't feel so drastically far behind. Helping yourself by helping others is one of the best strategies for multiplayer games. You have to be careful against control decks, but this card can generate so much tempo. It's truly remarkable.
JOHNNY CONFIDANT'S PICK
Johnny Confidant- THUMBS UP
Ancient tomb and its more affordable counterpart Temple of the False god are among my favorite of lands to put into almost any deck. Proper utilization of all your resources is what keeps you ahead or in control and cards like these are priced accordingly.
With the new commanders and the popularity of Oloro I'm sure players are looking for ways to channel life into raw resources. This card isn't just for life gain decks, but it helps to able to get back some of that life.
Everyone knows the power of a turn 1 Sol Ring, but imagine starting with this sucker before you drop your Sol Ring giving you 5 mana turn 2? Pack removal before you leave the house Zoners.
Uncle Landdrops- THUMBS UP
This is a card I play, but it's not really at the top of my list. What it does is great. Extra mana is really great. I've used a proxy of this in couple different decks, including an old Darien deck where I turned its mana and damage into tokens. However I do have some issues. My first major problem is that I don't think Tomb is worth what the secondary market thinks it's worth ( approximately $10-12). Though I prefer owning cards, this is one I'm totally content with having a homemade copy of. Mostly, because of this art. Don't get me wrong. I like Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom too. I just think it looks too whimsical. Sometimes this is an acceptable quality, like Pheldagriff. But I'm not feeling it here.
Grandpa Growth - THUMBS UP
This is an extremely powerful card and a staple in competitive decklists. It is less likely to show up at the kitchen table league because casual players tend to treat casual games pretty casually. They aren't worried about winning, much less doing it faster than the other guy. Multiplayer games tend to punish people who get out to early resource leads instead of reward them. The incentive to play this card in multicolor good stuff brews is greatly reduced.
The gentlemen above share the complaint that this card is too expensive. $12 is much higher than most Magic cards ever get, so compared to much of the 'stuff' that you play this will be significantly more expensive. Ancient Tomb is not really played in any format sponsored by WOP, though. No Legacy playability. Not legal in Modern or Standard. Not on the reserved list either. So, this card's price is drive 100% by casual players. There is no speculation bubble here either. Just a bunch of cubers and commander-ers buying up tombs.
UNCLE LANDDROPS' PICK
There's a popular cliche about pictures being worth a thousand words. I disagree. Great art really doesn't need anyone to speak or write for it. It just is.
This is currently atop my list in terms of great land artwork, and Wizards has gifted us with great functional duals that are too good not to play. Though I don't think this is a card that has much going for it (I mean, What is a Temple of Mystery? And who goes to one? Scooby Doo? Encyclopedia Brown?), this is another case where great art can often overcome the things that would otherwise not make sense on this card. Cause I still don't get how this land is blue and green, but I still love it because of that anyway.
Johnny Confidant- THUMBS UP (So far)
I'm currently in the process of testing these in Animar and Karador as replacements for other slow dual lands. If it is coming into play tapped why no get a bonus effect, right? Unfortunately, I haven't really drawn into these so I can't give a strong yes or no, but I'm optimistic!
Grandpa Growth- THUMBS UP
Scry is a powerful skill-testing mechanic that dramatically improves any card it is printed on by adding free information and flexibility. That is the power of choice. Getting it for free on a land is like like having a multi-tiered cake. Dress it up however you want, MORE cake is GOOD cake. This cycle is seeing play even in off-color situations because a Scry 1 is universally considered a fair trade for entering the battlefield tapped.
I like the look of this cycle. The arts are steller and I love the way multicolor card frames look. They pretty much all have great names too. Silence: Because neither the reverent nor the dead do much talking. Abandon: Because people who don't care still seem to group together so they can not care together. Deceit: Blue has secrets and Black has lies, pretty simple. Triumph: Because beating up other people has literally always been deserving of a trophy. Mystery seems a little dubious to me. Humans want their religion to have answers. A healthy curiosity is a good thing, but I can't say it would make a great foundation for a faith.
Venser's Journalist- THUMBS UP
I love scry, I love good artwork, and the blue/green color combination has always tickled my mind. I haven't invested much into the new Theros cycle, but this card sure makes me think about investing more in it. Or at least getting a couple copies of this card.
VENSER'S JOURNALIST'S PICK
Honestly, I just really like dual lands. They almost always have pretty artwork, come in handy for dual and multicolor decks (which is most EDH decks), and are titled with appropriate flavor and/or relevance to MTG lore.
My favorite has to be Glacial Fortress. It was the first dual land I pulled from a pack, which means something to me on a personal level. But on a practical level, this card is just plain good. It can enter the battlefield untapped without snagging two life from you, it doesn't have any funny counter business like Calciform Pools, and it looks awesome! A perfect home for Snow Miser.
I love the check lands, i love how much they cost and how easy they are to trade and use. They were my first set of good duel lands that i ever got and honestly i can't think of any other duel aside from ABUR Duels that have as much value as these do.
Uncle Landdrops- THUMBS UP
I've always been fascinated by the art on this one. Note the slanted projection, and the way the perspective and heat emanating out of the cold creates a fantastic sensory experience. These are the kinds of qualities I like to see across all art mediums. It means the artist is doing it right, even if he gets away with the fact that there really is no fortress here.
The M10 duals, or buddy duals as some have called them are pretty great. Fast color fixing has really come a long way in recent years. Color requirements are at an all time high with cards like Nightveil Specter and Boros Reckoner driving Devotion theme decks in multiple formats. I know I sound like a grump, but Magic is in a really silly place right now. This is going to be the second year running where there have been a full THIRTY dual lands in Standard. I don't care much for the format itself, but this is setting an alarming trend for the pacing of how dual lands are released. That is just entirely too many at once and points to a bleak future where they have to scale back dramatically and print only one or two cycles per year OR they keep it up and we have to live in the quagmire of multicolor nonsense every year. There is still the outstanding promise of reprints from Future Sight lingering as well. We will very likely be seeing full cycle coverage for each of: River of Tears, Nimbus Maze, Grove of the Burnwillows, and Horizon Canopy. Plus, smart money is betting on a cycle of enemy-color man lands to come along as well. That is quite a few new dual lands to come in the next 4-5 blocks. Quite frankly, I think we have already reached the saturation point on this type of thing. Worse cycles will be ignored, better cycles will push the power creep. Nobody really wins.
That's all we got this week. Tune in tomorrow for Grandpa's segments on Investments. I know that's weird because I talked about the Deck Portfolio earlier in the week, but I guarantee we're neither stock traders nor a publicly traded blog. We're just in the business of good business and mischief management.Until next time, Play your Lands, Play your Solemns, and Play Tempo.
-UL/VJ/JC/GG
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