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Onslaught - a Complete Review (red)Whenever a Beast comes into play under your control, you may have it deal 4 damage to target opponent. "Is it just me, or does that meteor have teeth?" ==> FUN: 3 Too bad it can only be used on players. I don't think there's a quick way of getting a few beast tokens into play quickly, like there are for birds (Battle Screech), soldiers (Mobilization) and others. Then again, according to the card list I'm looking at here Cavern Harpy is a beast for some reason. So, if you can cast it five times in a row, your opponent should be dead. -- 185. Aggravated Assault 2R, Enchantment R 3RR: Untap all creatures you control. After this phase, there is an additional combat phase followed by an additional main phase. Play this ability only any time you could play a sorcery. ==> FUN: 4 A reusable Relentless Assault. Not bad, although one use will usually be enough. And with the enchantment in play, your opponent will be very careful to keep enough blockers available, whereas Relentless Assault usually comes as a nasty surprise. As a side note, Aggravated Assault means that there's now an infinite mana combo available that only uses red cards (Aggravated Assault and six Sisters of the Flame). Green, blue, black and artifacts already have such combos, now only white is without one as far as I can see. -- 186. Airdrop Condor 4R, Creature - Bird 2/2 U Flying 1R, Sacrifice a Goblin: Airdrop Condor deals damage equal to the sacrificed Goblin's power to target creature or player. It has two kinds of droppings, neither of which is particularly pleasant. ==> FUN: 3 Overcosted. -- 187. Avarax 3RR, Creature - Beast 3/3 U Haste When Avarax comes into play, you may search your library for a card named Avarax, reveal it, and put it into your hand. If you do, shuffle your library. 1R: Avarax gets +1/+0 until end of turn. ==> FUN: 4 You can never have too many pumpable 3/3s. Odd, it looks like black didn't have a card with this replacement ability and the red one is very different from the white and blue ones, which were both 2/2, common and had only one additional ability. That's a good thing, because cycles shouldn't be too predictable and symmetric. -- 188. Battering Craghorn 2RR, Creature - Beast 3/1 C First strike Morph 1RR (You may play this face down as a 2/2 creature for 3. Turn it face up any time for its morph cost.) Their skeletons can be found all over Skirk Ridge, tangled in each other's horns. ==> FUN: 3 The first strike is a nice combat surprise, but the 1 toughness makes it too vulnerable to removal. -- 189. Blistering Firecat 1RRR, Creature - Cat 7/1 R Trample, haste At end of turn, sacrifice Blistering Firecat. Morph RR (You may play this face down as a 2/2 creature for 3. Turn it face up any time for its morph cost.) ==> FUN: 3 A bigger Ball Lightning that's going to make morphed combat very interesting. Blocked or not, Blistering Firecat is going to hurt. A lot. -- 190. Break Open 1R, Instant C Turn target face-down creature an opponent controls face up. There are two ways to resolve puzzling situations: thoughtful contemplation or force. After thoughtful contemplation, most barbarians choose force. ==> FUN: 1 Let's see, do I Shock that face-down creature, forcing my opponent to morph it or lose it or do I turn it face-up, knowing it'll be something big and nasty that my opponent is just waiting to reveal? I think I'll pick the Shock. Break Open should at the very least have been a cantrip. -- 191. Brightstone Ritual R, Instant C Add R to your mana pool for each Goblin in play. Wizards fought over the stone to exploit its power. Goblins fight over it because it's shiny. ==> FUN: 2 Goblin Ritual. Although goblins are common and cheap enough for it to work, the risk of it being a dead card, when you could have drawn a land and played that instead, is too big. -- 192. Butcher Orgg 4RRR, Creature - Orgg 6/6 R You may divide Butcher Orgg's combat damage as you choose among defending player and/or any number of creatures he or she controls. It can kill you with three arms tied behind its back. ==> FUN: 4 A 6/6 with super trample. Other than using creature removal, there's not much your opponent can do to stop Butcher Orgg from wreaking havoc on his defenses. -- 193. Chain of Plasma 1R, Instant U Chain of Plasma deals 3 damage to target creature or player. Then that player or that creature's controller may discard a card from his or her hand. If the player does, he or she may copy this spell and may choose a new target for that copy. ==> FUN: 3 Chain of Plasma is a very tricky card in multiplayer, where it could do a lot of damage before someone finally decided not to copy it. -- 194. Charging Slateback 4R, Creature - Beast 4/3 C Charging Slateback can't block. Morph 4R (You may play this face down as a 2/2 creature for 3. Turn it face up any time for its morph cost.) Goblins prize its hide for building rock sled runners. ==> FUN: 2 So much for using morph to create a surprise blocker. -- 195. Commando Raid 2R, Instant U Until end of turn, target creature you control gains "When this creature deals combat damage to a player, you may have it deal damage equal to its power to target creature that player controls." ==> FUN: 2 Commando Raid is an odd, tricky to use bit of creature removal. It's not really worth it unless you manage to get a big creature through unblocked, in which case you're already doing well. Removal is more use if it works even when you're losing. -- 196. Crown of Fury 1R, Enchant Creature C Enchanted creature gets +1/+0 and has first strike. Sacrifice Crown of Fury: Enchanted creature and other creatures that share a creature type with it get +1/+0 and gain first strike until end of turn. "Passion, fire my heart." ==> FUN: 3 Crown of Fury lacks the punch of the black crown, but the threat of first strike can be very useful. Your opponent will have a hard time safely blocking your attacks and a counterattack is usually out of the question if you have enough creatures of the right type in play. -- 197. Custody Battle 1R, Enchant Creature U Enchanted creature has "At the beginning of your upkeep, target opponent gains control of this creature unless you sacrifice a land." Goblins resolve disputes by splitting everything straight down the middle. ==> FUN: 4 Custody Battle is an interesting variant of Control Magic. At half the cost, you get the enchanted creature half of the time. It becomes less useful if your opponent is mana-flooded, but more useful if you have plenty of lands yourself. Custody Battle works best in a deck with a bit of land destruction and a few useful things to sacrifice creatures to in case you don't want to give it back and you're running out of land. Goblin Bombardment or Fodder Cannon should be good choices. -- 198. Dragon Roost 4RR, Enchantment R 5RR: Put a 5/5 red Dragon creature token with flying into play. A powerful mage created the roost to guard a portal between the planes. The mage is long gone, but dragons still keep watch at the gate. ==> FUN: 5 Mobilization suddenly seems puny in comparison. Dragon Roost is expensive, but still very playable in casual decks. Especially the mana-intensive ones I usually play. Yavimaya Elders and Far Wanderings will help get the necessary mana to cast and activate Dragon Roost. Apparently there even exist 5/5 dragon token cards, but I'm not sure at this point if they're part of the set or are given out as extras or prizes or something. Maybe that will become clear later on. -- 199. Dwarven Blastminer 1R, Creature - Dwarf 1/1 U 2R, T: Destroy target nonbasic land. Morph R (You may play this face down as a 2/2 creature for 3. Turn it face up any time for its morph cost.) "Life is too short for something like a hunk of rock to get in my way." ==> FUN: 4 I don't think morph works well on cards like this, but I could be wrong. At least it's a 2/2 creature if your opponent doesn't have any nonbasic lands. I like Dwarven Miner, so this small variation on the same theme is worth playing as well. -- 200. Embermage Goblin 3R, Creature - Goblin Wizard 1/1 U When Embermage Goblin comes into play, you may search your library for a card named Embermage Goblin, reveal it, and put it into your hand. If you do, shuffle your library. T: Embermage Goblin deals 1 damage to target creature or player. ==> FUN: 4 I love pingers and this one can make life very difficult for your opponent's creatures, because you can get all four into play fast and easy. Just be wary of mass removal like Simoon and Tremor. Obviously, I'd like Embermage Goblin much better if it was a common, because you really want four of these in a deck. -- 201. Erratic Explosion 2R, Sorcery C Choose target creature or player. Reveal cards from the top of your library until you reveal a nonland card. Erratic Explosion deals damage equal to that card's converted mana cost to that creature or player. Put the revealed cards on the bottom of your library in any order. ==> FUN: 4 Words that will give any opponent a sinking feeling: "I cast Erratic Explosion at you. In response, I Worldly Tutor for Draco." Sadly, I don't think there are any spells that cost 20 or more to cast. Maybe that's just as well. -- 202. Fever Charm R, Instant C Choose one - Target creature gains haste until end of turn; or target creature gets +2/+0 until end of turn; or Fever Charm deals 3 damage to target Wizard. ==> FUN: 3 Haste is a fairly useless ability on a spell. If you play a Hill Giant and use Fever Charm to give it haste, you must have five lands available. Unless you just drew the Hill Giant, you could have cast it last turn and attack with it this turn. It's not that you can't pull off some fun tricks with haste, but any deck with a tight mana curve has no room for a spell that gives it. The second choice on Fever Charm is by far the best. It's no Giant Growth, though. The last choice is situational. It'll kill most wizards, because they tend to be lacking in the toughness department. -- 203. Flamestick Courier 2R, Creature - Goblin 2/1 U You may choose not to untap Flamestick Courier during your untap step. 2R, T: As long as Flamestick Courier remains tapped, target Goblin gets +2/+2 and has haste. ==> FUN: 3 Very similar to the others. Goblins tend to be small and cheap and they could certainly use the boost. The haste part could be good in limited formats when you have enough mana to cast some goblin and give it haste in the same turn. -- 204. Goblin Machinist 4R, Creature - Goblin 0/5 U 2R: Reveal cards from the top of your library until you reveal a nonland card. Goblin Machinist gets +X/+0 until end of turn, where X is that card's converted mana cost. Put the revealed cards on the bottom of your library in any order. ==> FUN: 4 Goblin Machinist is a bit too expensive for my tastes, but it'll make life more interesting. If you can pump it twice in a turn, it could end up a 2/5 if you get two Shocks, but it could also end up as a 12/5 if you get two Shivan Dragons. -- 205. Goblin Piledriver 1R, Creature - Goblin 1/2 R Protection from blue Whenever Goblin Piledriver attacks, it gets +2/+0 until end of turn for each other attacking Goblin. Throw enough goblins at any problem and it should go away. At the very least, there'll be fewer goblins. ==> FUN: 2 A potentially strong card if you're playing with enough goblins, but it's a bit dull for a rare. And your other attacking goblins are likely to be vulnerable to getting blocked and killed without doing much damage. -- 206. Goblin Pyromancer 3R, Creature - Goblin Wizard 2/2 R When Goblin Pyromancer comes into play, all Goblins get +3/+0 until end of turn. At end of turn, destroy all Goblins. "The good news is, we figured out how the wand works. The bad news is, we figured out how the wand works." ==> FUN: 3 Well, well, goblins get a kind of Overrun. It's cheaper and comes with a 2/2 attached, but you better make your attack count, because you won't get a second chance. The fact that Goblin Pyromancer is a creature will rarely matter, because it'll kill itself at the end of your turn anyway and it doesn't have haste, so attacking with it on the turn it comes into play will take some setting up as well. There's one thing I'm not really clear about and that is whether the destruction still happens if the Goblin Pyromancer is dead before the end of the turn. If it doesn't, you can use a card like Goblin Bombardment or simply a Shock to prevent it from happening. The question is if the line "At end of turn, destroy all Goblins" is part of the comes-into-play effect or a secondary ability of Goblin Pyromancer. -- 207. Goblin Sharpshooter 2R, Creature - Goblin 1/1 R Goblin Sharpshooter doesn't untap during your untap step. Whenever a creature is put into a graveyard from play, untap Goblin Sharpshooter. T: Goblin Sharpshooter deals 1 damage to target creature or player. ==> FUN: 3 Against players with a lot of one toughness creatures, Goblin Sharpshooter is pretty good, mowing them down one after the other. In a deck with plenty of burn, he won't be tapped for very long. It's still just a Tim, though. Fun, but too fragile. -- 208. Goblin Sky Raider 2R, Creature - Goblin 1/2 C Flying The goblin word for "flying" is more accurately translated as "falling slowly." ==> FUN: 1 I guess goblins aren't supposed to make for very good flyers, but Goblin Sky Raider is bad by any standard. -- 209. Goblin Sledder R, Creature - Goblin 1/1 C Sacrifice a Goblin: Target creature gets +1/+1 until end of turn. "Let's play 'sled.' Here's how it works: you're the sled." ==> FUN: 2 A reprint of Mogg Raider. Its ability is surprisingly useful in practice, allowing you to sacrifice a doomed goblin to allow another one to punch through a blocker and survive it. -- 210. Goblin Taskmaster R, Creature - Goblin 1/1 C 1R: Target Goblin gets +1/+0 until end of turn. Morph R (You may play this face down as a 2/2 creature for 3. Turn it face up any time for its morph cost.) For some reason, goblin fighting school isn't as crowded on day two. ==> FUN: 4 Not bad. Goblin Taskmaster gives all your goblins, including itself, an expensive version of Firebreathing. It's no Goblin King, but it should still come in handy, if only as a way to discourage your opponent from blocking. If you're deficient in the goblin department, you can just play it as a 2/2. -- 211. Grand Melee 3R, Enchantment R All creatures attack each turn if able. All creatures block each turn if able. Hot blood washes away cold reason. ==> FUN: 3 Grand Melee can act as removal, but usually only once. If you play it before you attack, your opponent will be forced to block with everything, even 1 toughness creatures. After that, you're unlikely to have any untapped creatures left, so your opponent can attack without risk of getting blocked. The game then continues like that, with both players unable to block, as long as neither have walls, creatures that don't tap to attack or summoning sick creatures. You can also cast Grand Melee after your combat step, allowing you to pick and choose which of your opponent's attackers to block and kill. That gives you more control over which creatures die, but after that turn it goes on the same. It's probably a good idea to play with a few big walls so you'll always have blockers available. -- 212. Gratuitous Violence 2RRR, Enchantment R If a creature you control would deal damage to a creature or player, it deals double that damage to that creature or player instead. Only the Cabal could make a fight to the death more deadly. ==> FUN: 3 If your creatures are reasonably big to begin with, Gratuitous Violence is a kind of Overrun that sticks around. It's not all that useful on all those 1/1 goblins, but Gratuitous Violence is a good way to decide creature battles in your favor. -- 213. Insurrection 5RRR, Sorcery R Untap all creatures and gain control of them until end of turn. They gain haste until end of turn. "Maybe they wanted to be on the winning side for once." - Matoc, lavamancer ==> FUN: 5 Not only do you double the size of your army, you rob your opponent of his blockers. Most of the time, casting Insurrection will mean you win. Even if you don't, you can always sacrifice all of your opponent's creatures to a Goblin Bombardment just to rub salt in the wound. -- 214. Kaboom! 4R, Sorcery R Choose any number of target players. For each of those players, reveal cards from the top of your library until you reveal a nonland card. Kaboom! deals damage equal to that card's converted mana cost to that player, then you put the revealed cards on the bottom of your library in any order. ==> FUN: 1 Kaboom! is strictly inferior to Erratic Explosion, except in multiplayer. The exclamation mark in the card's name is too silly for my tastes, it makes the card sound like an Unglued reject. Not a rare I'm looking forward to. -- 215. Lavamancer's Skill 1R, Enchant Creature C Enchanted creature has "T: This creature deals 1 damage to target creature." If enchanted creature is a Wizard, it has "T: This creature deals 2 damage to target creature." ==> FUN: 3 How many enchanted-creature-becomes-a-tim cards do we need? At least Lavamancer's Skill is quite good when cast on a wizard. I don't know if red has any good wizards available, but it can always be splashed into a blue deck as desperately needed creature removal. It's a good foil for face-down creatures as well, forcing your opponent to morph it or lose it. -- 216. Lay Waste 3R, Sorcery C Destroy target land. Cycling 2 (2, Discard this card from your hand: Draw a card.) Skirk Ridge had survived earthquakes, mudslides, and meteor showers. Then the goblins moved in. ==> FUN: 2 Lay Waste is a reprint, but a useful one. The occasional bit of land destruction can come in very handy if your opponent is light on mana, but the danger of facing an opponent with 10+ lands in play is very real in casual games. In that case you really don't want to draw a Stone Rain, but a Lay Waste is never a bad draw because of the cycling. -- 217. Lightning Rift 1R, Enchantment U Whenever a player cycles a card, you may pay 1. If you do, Lightning Rift deals 2 damage to target creature or player. Options will cost you, but a lack of them will cost you even more. ==> FUN: 5 An optional Shock every time someone cycles a card. Since it's not hard to build a deck with 30+ cycling cards, especially if most of your lands can be cycled, Lightning Rift can be seriously good. All the cycling will only help you find more cards with cycling. And extra Lightning Rifts, of course, which can give you even more damage per cycled card if you have the mana to pay for it. -- 218. Mana Echoes 2RR, Enchantment R Whenever a creature comes into play, you may add 1 to your mana pool for each creature you control that shares a creature type with it. When the ground is saturated with mana, even the lightest footstep can bring it to the surface. ==> FUN: 4 Most of the time you'll get at least one mana out of this, because the creature shares a creature type with itself. Except when you play something face-down, because face-down creatures don't have a type. Mana Echoes can get slightly ridiculous when you're casting a big Goblin Offensive. If I understand things right, you'll get 100 mana if you cast a Goblin Offensive with X equal to 10. You better have a spare red mana available at that point, so you can cast that 100 point Fireball. With a Skyshroud Elf and Mobilization in play, you can get as many soldiers and mana as you want. -- 219. Menacing Ogre 3RR, Creature - Ogre 3/3 R Trample, haste When Menacing Ogre comes into play, each player secretly chooses a number. Then those numbers are revealed. Each player with the highest number loses that much life. If you are one of those players, put two +1/+1 counters on Menacing Ogre. ==> FUN: 3 Nice creature for good bluffers, but I'm not one of those. -- 220. Nosy Goblin 2R, Creature - Goblin 2/1 C T, Sacrifice Nosy Goblin: Destroy target face-down creature. To his surprise, Furt discovered that the strange creatures were not at all like bugs. ==> FUN: 1 Funny, but nothing more than that. Shock is a better way to get rid of face-down creature, because it's cheaper and it still does its damage if your opponent decides to morph his creature in response. -- 221. Pinpoint Avalanche 3RR, Instant C Pinpoint Avalanche deals 4 damage to target creature. The damage can't be prevented. "Some solve problems by thinking and talking. Others use rocks." - Toggo, goblin weaponsmith ==> FUN: 1 Way overcosted, especially considering it can't even target players. -- 222. Reckless One 3R, Creature - Goblin Avatar */* U Haste Reckless One's power and toughness are each equal to the number of Goblins in play. "Release chaos with me!" ==> FUN: 4 The haste can make Reckless One a nasty surprise. Also, goblins tend to be cheap and a lot of them have useful abilities, so goblin decks will be easy to make. -- 223. Risky Move 3RRR, Enchantment R At the beginning of each player's upkeep, that player gains control of Risky Move. When you gain control of Risky Move from another player, choose a creature you control and an opponent. Flip a coin. If you lose the flip, that opponent gains control of that creature. ==> FUN: 4 Risky Move is probably too slow and risky to be worth it, but it should still be useful in creatureless decks. I'm not exactly sure what the thinking behind Risky Move changing controller all the time was, though. Maybe it was only meant to make the wording on Risky Move easier to follow. -- 224. Rorix Bladewing 3RRR, Creature - Dragon Legend 6/5 R Flying, haste In the smoldering ashes of Shiv, a few dragons strive to rebuild their native land. The rest seek any opportunity to restore the broken pride of their race. ==> FUN: 3 Rorix Bladewing is surprisingly bland for a legendary dragon. I expected more exotic abilities, like on the Invasion dragon legends. As is, it's a strong creature, but it lacks something to set it apart from other dragons. -- 225. Searing Flesh 6R, Sorcery U Searing Flesh deals 7 damage to target opponent. Zemoo found out the hard way that "inflammable" and "flammable" mean the same thing. ==> FUN: 2 Boring. -- 226. Shaleskin Bruiser 6R, Creature - Beast 4/4 U Trample Whenever Shaleskin Bruiser attacks, it gets +3/+0 until end of turn for each other attacking Beast. Its only predators are the elements. ==> FUN: 4 Seven mana is a bit expensive for a 4/4, but in a beast deck it can easily be a 10/4 when attacking. And that's worth seven mana. -- 227. Shock R, Instant C Shock deals 2 damage to target creature or player. "I love lightning! It's my best invention since the rock." - Toggo, goblin weaponsmith ==> FUN: 1 Shock is a staple card in red these days. That's why I already own four and I don't see the attraction of owning more. Unless I'm very wrong, it's even in seventh, so it's no use for type 2 either. On top of that, we get even more goofy goblin flavor text. Yawn. -- 228. Skirk Commando 1RR, Creature - Goblin 2/1 C Whenever Skirk Commando deals combat damage to a player, you may have it deal 2 damage to target creature that player controls. Morph 2R (You may play this face down as a 2/2 creature for 3. Turn it face up any time for its morph cost.) ==> FUN: 4 Another morph creature with a solid combat trick. -- 229. Skirk Fire Marshal 3RR, Creature - Goblin Lord 2/2 R Protection from red Tap five untapped Goblins you control: Skirk Fire Marshal deals 10 damage to each creature and each player. He's boss because he's smart enough to get out of the way. ==> FUN: 3 Sounds nice in theory, but in practice you really don't want to play this kind of ability if you have at least 5 creatures in play. -- 230. Skirk Prospector, Creature - Goblin 1/1 C Sacrifice a Goblin: Add R to your mana pool. "I like goblins. They make funny little popping sounds when they die."-Braids, dementia summoner ==> FUN: 3 A red Blood Pet that can also turn other goblins into mana. Skirt Prospector isn't all that great, but it can come in handy if you need just a bit more mana to cast something big. -- 231. Skittish Valesk 6R, Creature - Beast 5/5 U At the beginning of your upkeep, flip a coin. If you lose the flip, turn Skittish Valesk face down. Morph 5R (You may play this face down as a 2/2 creature for 3. Turn it face up any time for its morph cost.) ==> FUN: 2 Nice idea to have a creature that can morph back into a 2/2, but the execution is dreadful. Seven mana is a lot to pay for a 5/5, especially since you'll be paying the six mana to morph it into a 5/5 every other turn. -- 232. Slice and Dice 4RR, Sorcery U Slice and Dice deals 4 damage to each creature. Cycling 2R (2R, Discard this card from your hand: Draw a card.) When you cycle Slice and Dice, you may have it deal 1 damage to each creature. ==> FUN: 3 A double Pyroclasm at triple the price. A bit on the expensive side for something that isn't going to get rid of the big creatures you _really_ want to get rid of. The cycling ability makes up for that. At instant speed and uncounterable, you can get rid of some annoying utility creatures and draw a card at the same time. -- 233. Snapping Thragg 4R, Creature - Beast 3/3 U Whenever Snapping Thragg deals combat damage to a player, you may have it deal 3 damage to target creature that player controls. Morph 4RR (You may play this face down as a 2/2 creature for 3. Turn it face up any time for its morph cost.) ==> FUN: 3 Snapping Thragg is a bit too expensive compared to Skirk Commando, especially the morph cost. In most cases it's a must-deal-with creature, though. And it's hard to go wrong with one of those. -- 234. Solar Blast 3R, Instant C Solar Blast deals 3 damage to target creature or player. Cycling 1RR (1RR, Discard this card from your hand: Draw a card.) When you cycle Solar Blast, you may have it deal 1 damage to target creature or player. ==> FUN: 3 Solar Blast is a bit expensive to cast, especially compared to old burn like Lightning Bolt and Incinerate. I like the cycling effect, though, even if it closely resembles Flare and Zap. -- 235. Sparksmith 1R, Creature - Goblin 1/1 C T: Sparksmith deals X damage to target creature and X damage to you, where X is the number of Goblins in play. "If it didn't hurt, how would I know it worked?" ==> FUN: 4 Sparksmith is similar to Fireslinger if there are no other goblins in play. The difference is that Fireslinger could also target players. But Sparksmith gets better with more goblins in play. Just two or three total allows it to kill most weenies. It'll hurt your life totals, potentially a lot, but the card advantage is worth it. -- 236. Spitfire Handler 1R, Creature - Goblin 1/1 C Spitfire Handler can't block creatures with power greater than Spitfire Handler's power. R: Spitfire Handler gets +1/+0 until end of turn. "Wait 'til Toggo sees this!" ==> FUN: 3 For a creature with the firebreathing ability, Spitfire Handler is pretty cheap. The drawback is no big deal, especially if you have plenty of red mana available. -- 237. Spurred Wolverine 4R, Creature - Beast 2/3 U Tap two untapped Beasts you control: Target creature gains first strike until end of turn. After a few painful experiences, goblins learned not to pick their noses around the beasts. ==> FUN: 2 Beasts aren't generally a creature type you'd want to keep untapped. What are you going to leave the attacking to, your goblins? It's not worth it at 5 mana for a measly 2/3. -- 238. Starstorm XRR, Instant R Starstorm deals X damage to each creature. Cycling 3 (3, Discard this card from your hand: Draw a card.) Pardic barbarians didn't complain when the Order started blaming every crisis on the Cabal. ==> FUN: 4 Starstorm looks like a better version of Fault Line as long as you're not playing vulnerable flyers and don't mind not hurting your opponent. Instant mass removal is rare and Starstorm looks promising. It's not a card I'd often cycle, except if I had a Lightning Rift in play or something. -- 239. Tephraderm 4R, Creature - Beast 4/5 R Whenever a creature deals damage to Tephraderm, Tephraderm deals that much damage to that creature. Whenever a spell deals damage to Tephraderm, Tephraderm deals that much damage to that spell's controller. ==> FUN: 3 Why is it always the rares that are undercosted and the commons that are overcosted? A rethorical question, of course. I'm sure Wizards would sell a lot fewer packs without chase rares. Five mana for a vanilla 4/5 is about standard for green (see Blanchwood Treefolk for instance). Tephraderm packs an extra punch when it blocks and it's hard to block it safely when it attacks. Most red removal will be painful to use on it. -- 240. Thoughtbound Primoc 2R, Creature - Bird Beast 2/3 U Flying At the beginning of your upkeep, if a player controls more Wizards than any other player, he or she gains control of Thoughtbound Primoc. Efforts to use them as spies failed when they kept reporting to the enemy. ==> FUN: 2 Cost-wise it's a good creature, but the drawback makes it risky. Simply putting it in a deck could mean that your opponent gets control of it if he or she happens to have a wizard. Thoughtbound Primoc is safer in a deck with a few wizards, although red doesn't have that many good ones. -- 241. Threaten 2R, Sorcery U Untap target creature and gain control of it until end of turn. That creature gains haste until end of turn. Goblins' motivational techniques are crude, but effective. ==> FUN: 4 Threaten is cheaper than Ray of Command, but it's also a sorcery, which means it can't be used as a nasty combat surprise. But Threaten can neutralize a blocker for one turn, while adding an attacker to your army. Plus, you get to play with your opponent's creature. That's never bad. -- 242. Thunder of Hooves 3R, Sorcery U Thunder of Hooves deals X damage to each creature without flying and each player, where X is the number of Beasts in play. ==> FUN: 1 Considering that beasts usually don't fly, Thunder of Hooves' main effect will be to kill most of your own creatures. Where's the fun in that? -- 243. Wave of Indifference XR, Sorcery C X target creatures can't block this turn. "Darius?" "Yeah?" "There's a goblin sneaking up on you." "So?" "Just sayin'." ==> FUN: 1 Red has too many similar cards already. -- 244. Words of War 2R, Enchantment R 1: The next time you would draw a card this turn, Words of War deals 2 damage to target creature or player instead. "Passions can't be shackled by laws or mastered with logic. The choice is freedom or death." - Volume IV, The Book of Fire ==> FUN: 3 For use with cycling, Lightning Rift is much better, because it doesn't cost you the card you would have drawn. Words of War is strong with card drawing from Howling Mines or Sylvan Library, but you can also simply use it to turn your normal draw into a Shock. |
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