Planeshift - a Complete Review (multicolor)
97. Cavern Harpy UB 2/1 Flying. When Cavern Harpy comes into play, return a blue or black creature you control to its owner's hand. Pay 1 life: return Cavern Harpy to its owner's hand. ==> TOUR: 5 - FUN: 5
I'm probably overestimating this card, but it's a cheap 2/1 flyer with an ability that makes it almost impossible to kill. On top of that, it's amazing with a card like Ravenous Rats, giving you the option of paying 1BBU and one life to force the opponent to discard a card as often as you want. It can also be used to recast useful black and blue kicker creatures. Highway Robber is an option as well to get some life back and get your opponent closer to death. ---
98. Cloud Cover 2UW Enchantment Whenever another permanent you control becomes the target of a spell or ability an opponent controls, you may return that permanent to its owner's hand. ==> TOUR: 3 - FUN: 4
Useful against all sorts of removal, including targeted land destruction. In casual play it'll help to set up one of the more convoluted combos allowing you to save the combo pieces from a well-timed Swords to Plowshares or Disenchant. Plus, it can fizzle some of the buyback spells, which is a nice bonus. ---
99. Crosis's Charm UBR Instant Choose one: Return target permanent to its owners hand; or destroy target nonblack creature, and it can't be regenerated; or destroy target artifact. ==> TOUR: 3 - FUN: 3
Although none of the options is earth shattering, they're all solid and potentially useful. The three colors makes it a bit hard to play with as well. ---
100. Darigaaz's Charm BRG Instant Choose one: Return target creature card from your graveyard to your hand; or Darigaaz's Charm deals 3 damage to target creature or player; or target creature gets +3/+3 until end of turn. ==> TOUR: 3 - FUN: 3
If you compared the casting costs of the mimicked spells, Crosis's Charm is 2/3/2 (Boomerang, Dark Banishing, Shatter) and Darigaaz's Charm is 1/1/1 (Raise Dead, Lightning Bolt, Giant Growth). That makes Darigaaz's Charm look a bit worse, but otherwise it's quite versatile as well. ---
101. Daring Leap 1WU Instant Target creature gets +1/+1 and gains flying and first strike until end of turn. ==> TOUR: 2 - FUN: 3
With a bit of luck, it'll get rid of an attacker or blocker or send something big to the skies where it can't be blocked for a turn. ---
102. Destructive Flow BRG Enchantment At the beginning of each player's upkeep, that player sacrifices a nonbasic land. ==> TOUR: 4 - FUN: 2
If the purpose of the Invasion block was supposed to be making multicolored decks more common, Destructive Flow seems to be a bit counterproductive to that. It's not going to be very easy to cast without using a few nonbasics yourself, but it could still be worth a sideboard slot. ---
103. Doomsday Specter 2UB Creature - Specter 2/3 Flying. When Doomsday Specter comes into play, return a blue or black creature you control to its owners hand. Whenever Doomsday Specter deals combat damage to a player, look at that player's hand and choose a card from it. The player discards that card. ==> TOUR: 4 - FUN: 4
I don't think it'll be the next Hypnotic Specter, but it certainly looks good. I'd only play Abyssal Specter in a discard deck, as a reusable way to whittle down the opponent's hand. Doomsday Specter looks quite playable by itself. Just strip the best cards out of the opponent's hand. He won't have the option to discard extra lands to it or cards that aren't useful at the moment. ---
104. Dralnu's Crusade 1BR Enchantment All goblins get +1/+1, are black, and are zombies in addition to their creature types. ==> TOUR: 3 - FUN: 5
No goblin theme deck should be without. Turning most of your creatures black is a nice bonus against black removal, but it also has drawbacks, like Light of Day and Pygmy Kavu. As zombies, your goblins will also be eligible for the bonuses from Lord of the Undead and Zombie Master. If I'm not mistaking, though, you can't dig for a goblin with Lord of the Undead, because the crusade only changes goblins in play. ---
105. Dromar's Charm WUB Instant Choose one: You gain 5 life; or counter target spell; or target creature gets -2/-2 until end of turn. ==> TOUR: 4 - FUN: 2
The equivalent casting costs for these spells are 2/2/2 (Soothing Balm, Counterspell, "Enfeeblement"). A mixed bag. Soothing Balm isn't that good, yet Counterspell is one of the best spells around. Enfeeblement isn't an exact match, but it's as close a card as I can think of right now. It compares pretty well to Spite/Malice, because Dromar's Charm can counter any spell and target any creature (but only kill the smaller ones), compared to noncreature spells and nonblack creatures on Spite/Malice. Plus, Dromar's Charm is cheaper. It needs white mana, though. ---
106. Eladamri's Call GW Instant Search your library for a creature card, reveal that card, and put it into your hand. Then shuffle your library. ==> TOUR: 3 - FUN: 4
For just one mana more than Worldly Tutor, you get access to it immediately. In casual play, a green/white lifegain deck could make good use of Eladamri's Call to get single copies of cards like Uktabi Orangutan, Monk Realist, Monk Idealist, Treasure Hunter, Spike Weaver etc. ---
107. Ertai, the Corrupted 2WUB Creature - Wizard Legend 3/4 U, T, Sacrifice a creature or enchantment: counter target spell. ==> TOUR: 4 - FUN: 4
Maybe one or two Ertais could work in a Living Death-type deck, although it would probably become active too late to matter. It'd work well with Nether Spirit, although it'd increase the chances of getting stuck with a creature in your graveyard. Launch or Brilliant Halo are options for a more casual deck. In a pinch, you can always sacrifice Ertai to itself (useful if you just drew another Ertai). ---
108. Fleetfoot Panther 1GW Creature - Cat 3/4 You may play Fleetfoot Panther any time you could play an instant. When Fleetfoot Panther comes into play, return a green or white creature you control to its owner's hand. ==> TOUR: 3 - FUN: 5
I love Simian Grunts and, even though Fleetfoot Panther is a bit trickier to play because of the gating, it looks even better to me. Wall of Blossoms is a good candidate for gating if it's available. In type two, there aren't a lot of options besides kicker creatures, Venerable Monk, Uktabi Orangutan and resetting fading counters on a creature. Because Fleetfoot Panther can be played as an instant, it can be used to save a creature from removal as well. ---
109. Gerrard's Command GW Instant Untap target creature. It gets +3/+3 until end of turn. ==> TOUR: 2 - FUN: 4
Kills an attacking creature when it's least expected. You're generally not worried about attacking with a 3/3 if all your opponent has is a tapped Llanowar Elf. The surprise value alone makes it a nice card in the same way as Fleetfoot Panther is. The fact that you can cast it on an attacker as a Giant Growth and have the creature available to block next turn is just extra. ---
110. Horned Kavu RG Creature - Kavu 3/4 When Horned Kavu comes into play, return a red or green creature you control to its owner's hand. ==> TOUR: 4 - FUN: 4
It pales a bit compared to the other gating creatures, because it doesn't have any special abilities, but it's still a 3/4 for two mana. With a few mana elves, it can come out on the second turn and still leave one mana open to recast the elf. ---
111. Hull Breach RG Sorcery Choose one: Destroy target artifact; or destroy target enchantment; or destroy target artifact and target enchantment. ==> TOUR: 5 - FUN: 4
A card that can deal with both artifacts and enchantments for the price of a Disenchant looks pretty good. The downside of being a sorcery isn't that big a problem and the probability of getting both an artifact and an enchantment is quite high in casual play, especially in multiplayer. ---
112. Keldon Twilight 1RB Enchantment At the end of each player's turn, if no creatures attacked that turn, that player sacrifices a creature he or she controlled since the beginning of the turn. ==> TOUR: 2 - FUN: 4
A more modest version of Season of the Witch, without the 2 life upkeep. Could be useful in a goblin deck with plenty of burn. Get rid of the small blockers and the big ones will either fall to the Twilight or get tapped to attack. Those pesky walls will die pretty handily as well. Of course if you're facing a lot of big creatures, you have more problems than Keldon Twilight can solve. ---
113. Lava Zombie 1RB Creature - Zombie 4/3 When Lava Zombie comes into play, return a black or red creature you control to its owner's hand. 2: Lava Zombie gets +1/+0 until end of turn. ==> TOUR: 3 - FUN: 4
Another cheap creature and it's a zombie to boot. With a few of the cheap zombies, like Carnophage, Shivan Zombie and Plaguebearer, it shouldn't be hard to get this out quickly. A later one can always be used with Phyrexian Delver or Gravedigger to recycle one of your dead zombies. The pumping is a useful threat when attacking, even if it's a bit expensive to use. I'd usually just keep the mana open to make blocking harder and use the mana to cast more creatures after combat. Unless the extra power would help kill a creature or I had nothing I wanted to cast. ---
114. Malicious Advice XUB Instant Tap X target artifacts, creatures, and/or lands. You lose X life. ==> TOUR: 2 - FUN: 1
Malicious Advice doesn't really need the extra drawback of losing life, it doesn't look that good without it either. It could act as an expensive Turnabout against counterspells or give the opportunity for one unblocked attack. ---
115. Marsh Crocodile 2UB Creature - Crocodile 4/4 When Marsh Crocodile comes into play, return a blue or black creature you control to its owner's hand. When Marsh Crocodile comes into play, each player discards a card from his or her hand. ==> TOUR: 4 - FUN: 3
As gating creatures go, Marsh Crocodile isn't that great. It's still a cheap 4/4, but with the drawback of discarding a card, I'd probably only play him if that could come in handy, like in a reanimation type deck. Of course it does have possibilities if you have an empty hand anyway, because you can treat it as a Mind Peel. For four mana a card, you can empty your opponent's hand. That sounds pretty good, but I don't like playing with an empty hand. It makes me feel... naked. ---
116. Meddling Mage WU Creature - Wizard 2/2 As Meddling Mage comes into play, name a nonland card. The named card can't be played. ==> TOUR: 5 - FUN: 4
A pre-active counter and a nice weenie to boot. Its usefulness will vary, depending what kind of deck you're facing. Against a deck with four of each of all the good spells and a predictable decklisting, it should always come in handy. In casual play, with a more "let's throw in a few of these to see if it works" attitude, it'll be less useful. Although, they'll still come in handy against me. I rarely play a green deck without four Yavimaya Elders or a black deck without four Crypt Rats. ---
117. Natural Emergence 2RG Enchantment When Natural Emergence comes into play return a red or green enchantment you control to its owner's hand. Lands you control are 2/2 creatures with first strike. They're still lands. ==> TOUR: 2 - FUN: 4
It's not that hard to play with enough enchantments to make Natural Emergence castable (Seal of Strength, Rancor, Wild Growth etc) and it can even come in handy to replenish a depleted Saproling Burst. I doubt I'll be brave enough to try it, though, because there's always a Wrath of God, Earthquake or Pestilence waiting. Maybe if I had an Aura Mutation or Seal of Cleansing ready just in case. ---
118. Phyrexian Tyranny UBR Enchantment Whenever a player draws a card, that player loses 2 life unless he or she pays 2. ==> TOUR: 3 - FUN: 3
Similar to Underworld Dreams, although this one won't be ritualed out on the first turn. The option of preventing the loss of life makes it not that good in casual play, unless it's part of a land destruction deck or something. It could be an interesting card to play with Howling Mines and plenty of cheap burn or Ivory Towers (to stay ahead in life). Add Armageddons or Global Ruin (since you're playing four colors, you might as well add green for Harrows and Yavimaya Elders) as disruption and you have an interesting deck. Since all those cards work well in multiplayer, that could be an option as well, but it'll usually end up with people ganging up on you. ---
119. Questing Phelddagrif 1GWU Creature - Phelddagrif 4/4 G: Questing Phelddagrif gets +1/+1 until end of turn. Target opponent puts a 1/1 green Hippo creature token into play. W: Questing Phelddagrif gains protection from black and from red until end of turn. Target opponent gains 2 life. U: Questing Phelddagrif gains flying until end of turn. Target opponent may draw a card. ==> TOUR: 3 - FUN: 5
Questing Phelddagrif compares well to the Alliances Phelddagrif. For the green ability, +1/+1 usually beats trample. Both could get flying and both could be saved from destruction, the Alliances one by returning it to your hand, this one by giving it protection from the two biggest creature removal colors. Of course, the Alliances Phelddagrif could save itself even from combat and mass removal, but always at the cost of a card and a turn to recast it. Questing Phelddagrif doesn't have to be recast and only ends up giving your opponent two life. In my opinion, that makes this guy slightly better. But none of that really matters, because they both have the most important ability: giving your opponent creatures. It's frustrating to play with detrimental creature enchantments like Wanderlust and find out your opponent didn't bother to put any creatures in his deck. It's also a good way to make cards like Defense of the Heart work. ---
120. Radiant Kavu RGW Creature - Kavu 3/3 RGW: Prevent all combat damage blue creatures and black creatures would deal this turn. ==> TOUR: 3 - FUN: 4
Looks like a good card in multiplayer and it works well with Darkest Hour or Fylamarid. ---
121. Razing Snidd 4BR Creature - Beast 3/3 When Razing Snidd comes into play, return a black or red creature you control to its owner's hand. When Razing Snidd comes into play, each player sacrifices a land. ==> TOUR: 3 - FUN: 4
Six mana seems like a bit much for a 3/3 that'll cost you a land, but if you're playing a land destruction deck, sacrificing a land isn't that big a problem, especially if it means reusing a Bone Shredder, Avalanche Riders or even the Razing Snidd itself. ---
122. Rith's Charm RGW Instant Choose one: Destroy target nonbasic land; or put three 1/1 green saproling creatures tokens into play; or prevent all damage a source of your choice would deal this turn. ==> TOUR: 3 - FUN: 4
Unlike the previous charms, Rith's Charm has less than standard abilities. First, there's instant land destruction. I never really saw the need to make land destruction only castable on your own turn, it's not that much more useful as an instant. Three 1/1 creatures are usually worse than one 3/3, because a 1/1 is more vulnerable to cards like Simoon and can more easily be blocked and killed. Still, it's always nice to have a few tokens around as surprise blockers or to keep Blastoderms at bay. I can't think of any other cards that prevent all damage from a single source off the top of my head. It can come in handy against Blaze or Drain Life, but also to save a creature from burn or combat damage. ---
123. Sawtooth Loon 2WU Creature - Bird 2/2 Flying. When Sawtooth Loon comes into play, return a white or blue creature you control to its owner's hand. When Sawtooth Loon comes into play, draw two cards, then put two cards from your hand on the bottom of your library. ==> TOUR: 2 - FUN: 4
Useful in casual play, where I often have one or two cards in my hand that make me wonder what I was thinking when I put them in the deck. It's a bit more expensive than I'd like, although you can reuse it by bouncing it back to search for the cards you want. ---
124. Shivan Wurm 3RG Creature - Wurm 7/7 Trample. When Shivan Wurm comes into play, return a red or green creature you control to its owner's hand. ==> TOUR: 5 - FUN: 4
It's hard to argue with a 7/7 trampler. ---
125. Silver Drake 1WU Creature - Drake 3/3 Flying. When Silver Drake comes into play, return a white or blue creature you control to its owner's hand. ==> TOUR: 4 - FUN: 4
Just a solid flyer with the normal possibilities gating offers. ---
126. Sparkcaster 2RG Creature - Kavu 5/3 When Sparkcaster comes into play, return a red or green creature you control to its owner's hand. When Sparkcaster comes into play it deals 1 damage to target player. ==> TOUR: 3 - FUN: 4
It's another 5 power creature for four mana, but by now that's common as mud. One damage to a player isn't very impressive, but every little bit counts. It can be reused, but most of the time you'd rather attack for 5 damage than spend four mana for 1 damage. ---
127. Steel Leaf Paladin 4GW Creature - Knight 4/4 First Strike. When Steel Leaf Paladin comes into play, return a green or white creature you control to its owner's hand. ==> TOUR: 2 - FUN: 3
First strike is useful, especially on a 4/4 and six mana is about the right cost for it, but it also has the disadvantage of gating, which usually knocks two or three off the casting cost. The spoiler is probably missing something. ---
128. Terminate BR Instant Destroy target creature. It can't be regenerated. ==> TOUR: 5 - FUN: 4
This looks to me like the best spot removal since Swords to Plowshares. With no targeting restrictions and no extra costs, the only creatures that are safe from Terminate are creatures with protection from black or red. ---
129. Treva's Charm GWU Instant Choose one: Destroy target enchantment; or remove target attacking creature from the game; or draw a card, then discard a card from your hand. ==> TOUR: 3 - FUN: 2
The first option is roughly equivalent to Erase, the second one to Exile and the third one to not very much at all. That makes it about 1/3/0 for the casting costs. The first two options are pretty useful, but the third one is just bad. Sure, if you're desperate for something to keep you alive, it can be useful, but just "draw a card" without the discard would have been a lot more reasonable. ---
130. Urza's Guilt 2UB Sorcery Each player draws two cards, then discards three cards from his or her hand, then loses 4 life. ==> TOUR: 2 - FUN: 1
Urza's Guilt does a lot, but since it does it to each player, it's a bit shaky. It could work as a kill card a la Kaervek's Spite, but you could end up killing yourself with it.
|
