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A Complete Review of Odyssey (white)1: The next time an instant or sorcery spell would deal damage to you this turn, that spell deals that damage to its controller instead. ==> FUN: 3 This is a strong anti-red card. It could be useful against black as well, but it's not worth it against other colors. Hurricane just isn't played that often. If you're only sideboarding it against red, Circle of Protection: Red would be a better choice, because it can keep red creatures at bay as well. Nice detail: Aegis of Honor doesn't counter or prevent the damage, so it works against Urza's Rage. -- 2. Ancestral Tribute 5WW Sorcery (R) You gain 2 life for each card in your graveyard. Flashback 9WWW (You may play this card from your graveyard for its flashback cost. Then remove it from the game.) ==> FUN: 4 This card looks horribly expensive at first. And it is. Seven mana is a lot and the flashback cost of twelve is ridiculous. But you can get a lot of life from this card late in the game. With half your deck in your graveyard, you can gain 60 life and if you have twelve lands in play, you can do it again. Still, even in a lifegain deck, I'd never use more than one or two of these, because they take so much time before they're useful. -- 3. Angelic Wall 1W Creature - Wall 0/4 (C) (Walls can't attack.) Flying ==> FUN: 3 A portal reprint. Not a bad choice, a cheap 0/4 flying wall is pretty useful for early defense. -- 4. Animal Boneyard 2W Enchant Land (U) Enchanted land has "Tap, Sacrifice a creature: You gain life equal to that creature's toughness." ==> FUN: 3 A Worthy Cause that only costs mana once. Well, because it ties up a land you could say it costs 1 mana per use, but that's still cheaper than Worthy Cause. I think the effect isn't worth the risk of your land getting destroyed costing you two cards, though. Fun deck idea: use cards like Parapet and Castle to boost the toughness of all your creatures and you can use Animal Boneyard to gain a lot of life. -- 5. Auramancer 2W Creature - Wizard 2/2 (C) When Auramancer comes into play, you may return target enchantment card from your graveyard to your hand. ==> FUN: 4 An exact copy of Monk Idealist (except for its creature type). I wonder why they didn't just reprint it, like they did with Scrivener, Cartographer, Anarchist and Gravedigger. Maybe because now we can use 8 cards with the enchantment digging effect in our decks. There has to be a good deck that can be built around that, using sacrificial enchantments like Seal of Fire and Seal of Cleansing. -- 6. Aven Archer 3WW Creature - Bird Soldier 2/2 (U) Flying 2W, Tap: Aven Archer deals 2 damage to target attacking or blocking creature. ==> FUN: 2 Although it's not a bad card, especially for sealed, it's way too overcosted. It's much worse than Heavy Ballista, which isn't that strong to begin with (although I've lost to it more often than I'd care to remember). -- 7. Aven Cloudchaser 3W Creature - Bird Soldier 2/2 (C) Flying When Aven Cloudchaser comes into play, destroy target enchantment. ==> FUN: 3 A reprint of Cloudchaser Eagle. Not bad, because a 2/2 flier is useful even without an enchantment to destroy. -- 8. Aven Flock 4W Creature - Bird Soldier 2/3 (C) Flying W: Aven Flock gets +0/+1 until end of turn. ==> FUN: 2 Nice, but overcosted. -- 9. Aven Shrine 1WW Enchantment (R) Whenever a player plays a spell, that player gains X life, where X is the number of cards in all graveyards with the same name as that spell. ==> FUN: 4 Usually, it will take too long before Aven Shrine gets a noticeable effect. And even then you'll only gain one or two life for each spell you cast. You really have to play a deck that can quickly fill your graveyard. Blue search cards tend to be good for that. -- 10. Balancing Act 2WW Sorcery (R) Each player chooses a number of permanents he or she controls equal to the number of permanents controlled by the player who controls the fewest, then sacrifices the rest. Each player discards cards from his or her hand the same way. ==> FUN: 3 They managed to balance Balance by taking away its most useful property: equalizing the situation. Most of the time, your opponent will just sacrifice a few lands instead of sacrificing any of the permanents that are threatening you. Of course that still leaves the discarding effect, which can be very strong if you play it against a slower deck. Empty your hand quickly and it's more effective than a Persecute. It's a shame it can't be ritualed out. -- 11. Beloved Chaplain 1W Creature - Cleric 1/1 (U) Protection from creatures. ==> FUN: 3 This guy is a lot stronger than I thought at first. Not only is it immune to pingers and a blocker that won't ever die from combat damage, it's also unblockable. Pump it up with an Armadillo Cloak or Rancor and your opponent has a problem. -- 12. Blessed Orator 3W Creature - Cleric 1/4 (U) Other creatures you control get +0/+1 ==> FUN: 4 Toughness pumpers are always good to have in any defensive creature deck. This guy works especially well with Animal Boneyard. -- 13. Cantivore 1WW Creature - Lhurgoyf */* (R) Attacking doesn't cause Cantivore to tap. Cantivore's power and toughness are equal to the number of enchantment cards in all graveyards. ==> FUN: 3 I'm not crazy about the way Wizards has been reprinting 5-color versions of older popular cards. It's too easy and predictable. It would have been ok if this was the only one in this set, but every color got one. Note that this one dies immediately if there aren't any enchantments in the graveyards yet. It's an ok card in specialty decks with lots of enchantments. -- 14. Cease-Fire 2W Instant (C) Target player can't play creature spells this turn. Draw a card. ==> FUN: 3 A version of Turf Wound for creatures. I like Solfatara and Turf Wound for their tempo advantage, but Cease-Fire usually won't be that strong in casual play. Still, it's a cantrip and any cantrip is worth trying out. -- 15. Confessor W Creature - Cleric 1/1 (C) Whenever a player discards a card from his or her hand, you may gain 1 life. ==> FUN: 5 This looks like a discard hoser at first sight, but it's not strong enough compared to cards like Dodecapod and even Mangara's Blessing. Confessor's real strength is that it triggers on any discard. That means this card will work pretty well in a discard deck, but it'll work even better in a deck with plenty of blue draw-discard cards. Especially Windfall and Merfolk Looters can gain you quite a bit of life. -- 16. Dedicated Martyr W Creature - Cleric 1/1 (C) W, Sacrifice Dedicated Martyr: You gain 3 life. ==> FUN: 3 Healing Salve on a stick. A nice little weenie, although it pales compared to Temple Acolyte from Portal Second Age (1W for a 1/3 and 3 life). Maybe it's unfair to compare this to a portal card, though. -- 17. Delaying Shield 3W Enchantment (R) If you would be dealt damage, put that many delay counters on Delaying Shield instead. At the beginning of your upkeep, remove all delay counters from Delaying Shield. For each delay counter removed this way, you lose 1 life unless you pay 1W. ==> FUN: 4 A way to prevent damage without having to keep mana open to do it. Still, you'll be tapped out all the time if you have to use it a lot. Delaying Shield is nice if you have a reusable way of bouncing it, like Capsize or Tradewind Rider. Also works well with Giant Fan. With Donate it's just plain mean. -- 18. Devoted Caretaker W Creature - Cleric 1/2 (R) W, Tap: Target permanent you control gains protection from instant spells and from sorcery spells until end of turn. ==> FUN: 3 Land destruction? Disenchants? Creature kill? Devoted Caretaker to the rescue! On top of that, it's a 1/2 for only W. Why am I not surprised it's a rare? This guy would have scored 4 or even 5 points if it hadn't been so obviously designed as a power rare. -- 19. Divine Sacrament 1WW Enchantment (R) White creatures get +1/+1. Threshold - White creatures get an additional +1/+1. (You have threshold as long as seven or more cards are in your graveyard.) ==> FUN: 4 A very nice card. It remains to be seen how hard it is to build a white weenie deck that gets Threshold fast enough for this to matter, but even without that it's a Crusade for only one extra mana. And that's still pretty good. -- 20. Dogged Hunter 2W Creature - Nomad 1/1 (R) Tap: Destroy target creature token. ==> FUN: 1 This is mostly a green hoser. It kills Penumbra tokens and the flashback creatures green gets in this set. Sure, it makes playing with Haunted Angel less dangerous, but other than that it's a rare hoser and not even a very good one. -- 21. Earnest Fellowship 1W Enchantment (R) Each creature has protection from its colors. ==> FUN: 2 Could be useful in a five color deck with plenty of multicolor creatures. Or in a R/w deck with plenty of red creatures and Earthquakes. Or in a G/w deck with Hurricane and lots of green fliers. Er, green fliers? Maybe not. It should work pretty well against creature enchantments too. -- 22. Embolden 2W Instant (C) Prevent the next 4 damage that would be dealt this turn to any number of target creatures and/or players divided as you choose. Flashback 1W (You may play this card from your graveyard for its flashback cost. Then remove it from the game.) ==> FUN: 3 You can prevent as much as 8 damage for 5 mana. That could really help win a creature stand-off. It's interesting to see a card with a lower Flashback cost than casting cost, but that's not so strange. In the graveyard it's no longer a surprise, so your opponent will know to play around it. -- 23. Gallantry 1W Instant (U) Target blocking creature gets +4/+4 until end of turn. Draw a card. ==> FUN: 4 It's a reprint, but I don't mind. Gallantry is one of my favorite cantrips ever made. It's almost guaranteed to save your blocker and kill the attacker, it's cheap and a cantrip to boot. It's no Swords to Plowshares, but I like it. -- 24. Graceful Antelope 2WW Creature - Antelope 1/4 (R) Plainswalk Whenever Graceful Antelope deals combat damage to a player, you may have target land become a plains until Graceful Antelope leaves play. ==> FUN: 3 It's an ok but somewhat disappointing rare. It's nice to have a plainswalking creature again because there are so few of those around (I can already see Great Wall skyrocketing in price... not!). The mana denial is useful, but not that great. It'd take to become effective except against mana-screwed opponents and it's too dependent on getting a 1/4 through to deal damage in the first place. Of course, after the first one it's easy. -- 25. Hallowed Healer 2W Creature - Cleric 1/1 (C) Tap: Prevent the next 2 damage that would be dealt to target creature or player this turn. Threshold - Tap: Prevent the next 4 damage that would be dealt to target creature or player this turn. (Play this ability only if seven or more cards are in your graveyard.) ==> FUN: 3 A standard healer. The Threshold is pretty nice, but it's still an expensive 1/1 that's vulnerable when tapped. -- 26. Karmic Justice 2W Enchantment (R) Whenever a spell or ability an opponent controls destroys a noncreature permanent you control, you may destroy target permanent that opponent controls. ==> FUN: 2 Mostly useful against landdestruction, especially Armageddon. I don't see any use in playing it in your main deck, though. -- 27. Kirtar's Desire W Enchant Creature (C) Enchanted creature can't attack. Threshold - Enchanted creature can't block. (You have threshold as long as seven or more cards are in your graveyard.) ==> FUN: 2 A Pacifism clone. -- 28. Kirtar's Wrath 4WW Sorcery (R) Destroy all creatures. They can't be regenerated. Threshold - Instead destroy all creatures, then put two 1/1 white Spirit creature tokens with flying into play. Creatures destroyed this way can't be regenerated. (You have threshold if seven or more cards are in your graveyard.) ==> FUN: 4 Any card with a Wrath effect is a good card, even if it costs 6 mana. Two 1/1s doesn't seem like much, but when they're the only creatures in play, they're pretty good. Kirtar's Wrath is also good because it helps you reach threshold. Even if you don't have threshold for the first one, it'll fill your graveyard for the second one. -- 29. Lieutenant Kirtar 1WW Creature - Bird Soldier Legend 2/2 (R) Flying 1W, Sacrifice Lieutenant Kirtar: Remove target attacking creature from the game. ==> FUN: 4 A 2/2 flier for 3 mana is ok, but the optional removal, without needing to tap to do it makes this a strong card. Even though it's a legend, because it has a sacrifice ability it's not too much risk to play with four copies. A good way to get rid of Spiritmongers too. -- 30. Life Burst 1W Instant (C) Target player gains 4 life, then gains 4 life for each Life Burst card in each graveyard. ==> FUN: 4 A white version of Kindle and Accumulated Knowledge. The fourth one could gain you 16 life. Not that strong perhaps, but I like the way these cards play, especially in team variant of multiplayer where you can all play with them and quickly gain a lot of life. -- 31. Luminous Guardian 3W Creature - Guardian 1/4 (U) W: Luminous Guardian gets +0/+1 until end of turn. 2: Luminous Guardian may block an additional creature this turn. ==> FUN: 3 Can keep a creature rush at bay, but only if you have plenty of mana to spare. -- 32. Master Apothecary WWW Creature - Cleric 2/2 (R) Tap an untapped Cleric you control: Prevent the next 2 damage that would be dealt to target creature or player this turn. ==> FUN: 3 A kind of lord for clerics. I'd have liked it more if it didn't give an ability that a lot of clerics already have in some form or other. And even if they don't, they often have some other ability that requires tapping, which lessens the use of this one. Still, there are probably a few good clerics this can be used with in this set and even if not, this guy is pretty useful by himself, because he gives the ability to himself as well, which means he's a 2/2 healer that can heal even when summoning sick. -- 33. Mystic Crusader 1WW Creature - Nomad Mystic 2/1 (R) Protection from black and from red Threshold - Mystic Crusader gets +1/+1 and has flying. (You have threshold as long as seven or more cards are in your graveyard.) ==> FUN: 2 A good card, but pretty bland for a rare. I'm also not convinced that weenie decks, which this fits best in will have an easy time reaching threshold in serious play. -- 34. Mystic Penitent W Creature - Nomad Mystic 1/1 (U) Attacking doesn't cause Mystic Penitent to tap. Threshold - Mystic Penitent gets +1/+1 and has flying. (You have threshold as long as seven or more cards are in your graveyard.) ==> FUN: 3 Again, threshold and a weenie strategy don't mix well. Still, it's a potential 2/2 flier, so it's worth using in casual and limited decks. They should have no trouble reaching threshold. -- 35. Mystic Visionary 1W Creature - Nomad Mystic 2/1 (C) Threshold - Mystic Visionary has flying. (You have threshold as long as seven or more cards are in your graveyard.) ==> FUN: 3 Ditto. -- 36. Mystic Zealot 3W Creature - Nomad Mystic 2/4 (C) Threshold - Mystic Zealot gets +1/+1 and has flying. (You have threshold as long as seven or more cards are in your graveyard.) ==> FUN: 4 At four mana, chances are better of having threshold. Also, a 2/4 is a good blocker, while a 3/5 flier is a good attacker, so this fits in a mid-game deck. -- 37. Nomad Decoy 2W Creature - Nomad 1/2 (U) W, Tap: Tap target creature. Threshold - WW, Tap: Tap two target creatures. (Play this ability only as long as seven or more cards are in your graveyard.) ==> FUN: 3 It's a Master Decoy that becomes even better later on. Very good in limited, but too fragile otherwise. A good use of threshold. -- 38. Patrol Hound 1W Creature - Hound 2/2 (C) Discard a card from your hand: Patrol Hound gains first strike until end of turn. ==> FUN: 2 It will often be enough just to threaten with the first strike ability, so it won't cost too many cards. Although it's better than the template of 2/2 vanilla for 2 mana, white usually gets better 2/2s for WW and weenies are rarely splashed. Still, this card has one big plus that may mean it'll get played a lot: it allows you to reach threshold very early in the game. At the cost of a lot of the cards in your hand, though. -- 39. Pianna, Nomad Captain 1WW Creature - Nomad Legend 2/2 (R) Whenever Pianna, Nomad Captain attacks, attacking creatures get +1/+1 until end of turn. ==> FUN: 4 A Crusade on legs. Sure, it only works when attacking, but that's usually when it counts. Even on its own it's a 3/3 when attacking. It's balanced by being a legend. -- 40. Pilgrim of Justice 2W Creature - Cleric 1/3 (C) Protection from red W, Sacrifice Pilgrim of Justice: The next time a red source of your choice would deal damage this turn, prevent that damage. ==> FUN: 3 The (by now obligatory) white anti-red creature of the set. It can come in handy as both a blocker and against x spells. -- 41. Pilgrim of Virtue 2W Creature - Cleric 1/3 (C) Protection from black W, Sacrifice Pilgrim of Virtue: The next time a black source of your choice would deal damage this turn, prevent that damage. ==> FUN: 3 Predictably there's a black hoser of the same type as well. Useful against Drain Life-type spells. -- 42. Ray of Distortion 3W Instant (C) Destroy target artifact or enchantment. Flashback 4WW (You may play this card from your graveyard for its flashback cost. Then remove it from the game.) ==> FUN: 4 It's too expensive for tournaments compared to Disenchant, but in casual games, it means you can safely kill an annoying enchantment while still having a way to deal with the even more annoying Nevinyrral's Disk that you know is coming down sooner or later. -- 43. Resilient Wanderer 2WW Creature - Nomad 2/3 (U) First strike Discard a card from your hand: Resilient Wanderer gains protection from the color of your choice until end of turn. ==> FUN: 4 A 2/3 with first strike isn't that impressive, but this guy can shrug off most types of removal and is almost impossible to kill in combat (unless you run out of cards of course). -- 44. Sacred Rites W Instant (C) Discard any number of cards from your hand. Creatures you control get +0/+1 until end of turn for each card discarded this way. ==> FUN: 1 It's an easy way to reach threshold, but other than that it costs too many cards to become useful. -- 45. Second Thoughts 4W Instant (C) Remove target attacking creature from the game. Draw a card. ==> FUN: 4 It's so good to be able to get rid of a creature permanently, even if it can change color or regenerate or come back from the graveyard. As a cantrip and common this is even better. The only downside is that it can only get rid of attackers, not blockers or creatures with irritating abilities that won't ever attack you. -- 46. Shelter 1W Instant (C) Target creature you control gains protection from the color of your choice until end of turn. Draw a card. ==> FUN: 4 Like I said before, all cantrip are worth trying out, especially ones with useful abilities like this one. Shelter will often be able to save one of your creatures from removal or from a bad combat situation. -- 47. Soulcatcher 1W Creature - Bird Soldier 1/1 (U) Flying Whenever a creature with flying is put into a graveyard from play, put a +1/+1 counter on Soulcatcher. ==> FUN: 4 Fun for people with decks that have flying or birds as a theme. It doesn't look all that strong, but looks can be deceptive. -- 48. Sphere of Duty 3W Enchantment (U) If a green source would deal damage to you, prevent 2 of that damage. ==> FUN: 2 At least they didn't reprint the Circles of Protection yet again. The Spheres look ok, but are more limited than the Circles. Great against weenies, but almost useless against X spells. It works well in combination with Overabundance to prevent the damage from tapping lands or with Squallmonger. -- 49. Sphere of Grace 3W Enchantment (U) If a black source would deal damage to you, prevent 2 of that damage. ==> FUN: 2 Useful in combination with Pestilence and the like. -- 50. Sphere of Law 3W Enchantment (U) If a red source would deal damage to you, prevent 2 of that damage. ==> FUN: 2 Really messes up most forms of direct damage. -- 51. Sphere of Reason 3W Enchantment (U) If a blue source would deal damage to you, prevent 2 of that damage. ==> FUN: 2 -- 52. Sphere of Truth 3W Enchantment (U) If a white source would deal damage to you, prevent 2 of that damage. ==> FUN: 2 -- 53. Spiritualize 2W Instant (U) Until end of turn, whenever target creature deals damage, you gain that much life. Draw a card. ==> FUN: 2 I like Spirit Link and I like cantrips, but this combination doesn't really work for me, because it doesn't stick around. Unless you're using tricks like ratbombs (Crypt Rats), this will usually only gain you 3 or 4 life, which isn't really worth it. -- 54. Tattoo Ward 2W Enchant Creature (U) Enchanted creature gets +1/+1 and has protection from enchantments. This effect doesn't remove Tattoo Ward. Sacrifice Tattoo Ward: Destroy target enchantment. ==> FUN: 3 First we get protection from creatures, then protection from sorceries and instants, now we have protection from enchantments as well. This is a nifty card and can even net you cardadvantage by using it to make an opponent's creature enchantment fall off the creature and then sacrificing it to destroy another enchantment. And it can pump one of your creatures if your opponent has no enchantments you want to get rid of. Nice in sealed, not so nice in environments with plenty of instant removal. -- 55. Testament of Faith W Enchantment (U) X: Testament of Faith becomes an X/X Wall creature until end of turn. It's still an enchantment. (Walls can't attack.) ==> FUN: 4 Another use for Tattoo Ward! Testament of Faith isn't all that strong, but it's a useful defensive card. Use plenty of Wrath-like cards and Chimeric Idol, Opal Acrolith and other creatures that can survive your own Wraths. Don't underestimate Testament of Faith's ability to keep a horde of creatures at bay. With enough mana you won't just be able to block a creature each turn, but barring unusual circumstances, you should be able to kill it and keep your Testament of Faith alive. -- 56. Tireless Tribe W Creature - Nomad 1/1 (C) Discard a card from your hand: Tireless Tribe gets +0/+4 until end of turn. ==> FUN: 2 It's not much of a threat, which makes its ability to save itself from direct damage and bad combat situations less than spectacular. It can be used to reach threshold quickly though. -- 57. Wayward Angel 4WW Creature - Angel Horror 4/4 (R) Flying Attacking doesn't cause Wayward Angel to tap. Threshold - Wayward Angel gets +3/+3, is black, has trample, and has "At the beginning of your upkeep, sacrifice a creature". (You have threshold as long as seven or more cards are in your graveyard.) ==> FUN: 4 It looks like an angel, it flies like an angel, it attacks like an angel... but it's really Lord of the Pit in disguise! Aaaaaah! A very nice creature, especially for people who like the classics. I don't think it's as powerful as it looks, though, because of the nasty upkeep. With only this in play, have fun trying to prevent yourself from reaching threshold.
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