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Nemesis - a Complete Review

As the release date for Nemesis is drawing nearer, it's time for another Early Look. Actually, the release date is still quite a while off, but MTGnews.com already has up what seems to be an almost complete and accurate spoiler. Not that I have any way of testing its accuracy, but the spoiler just looks right. Fake spoilers tend to have a few dream cards in them and very little vanilla filler cards, whereas actual expansions usually have none of the former and too much of the latter.

Those with a very good memory might remember my Early Look at Mercadian Masques. I've just reread it and I must say I was seriously off on a few things. For one, I really liked Hunted Wumpus (6/6 for 3G and your opponent gets to play a creature for free), so I've tried it in a few different versions of green beatdown decks. What a disaster that turned out to be. The first Wumpus I cast drew out a Masticore. The second, against a different deck, drew out a Serra Avatar. And I was playing against a lifegain deck, so the Avatar soon had a Spirit Link on it and a Noble Purpose hit play. I still won, though, because of a card I had thought was mostly fun and too weak for serious play: Saber Ants. They held off the Avatar until I topdecked my Lyrists and I could finally swarm in with literally hundreds of ant tokens. Yet another time I cast Hunted Wumpus, I drew out a Denizen of the Deep (an 11/11 blue creature from Portal 2).

So, what I wanted to say with all this is to take my views on these cards with a grain of salt. Sometimes I'm very right, but I've also been very, very wrong.

I'll give each card two ratings, one for its fun potential and the other for tournament play. Ratings go from 1 to 5, with 1 being very bad and 5 very good.

The review is split into several sections to make it easier to read:

Ok, that was it, except for the copyright notice of the spoiler list:

All Magic-related contents © 2000 Wizards of the Coast, Inc. Wizards of the Coast, Magic: The Gathering, Magic, Nemesis are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast, Inc. Compilation work and database engine © 2000 iX Designs. Information provided here should only be used for reference purpose only.

Conclusion

My overall opinion on Nemesis is that it's an ok expansion for limited play and even for type 2 there are a few nice cards. What's lacking though, is new ideas. Even the most interesting cards are just rethreading of old ideas. It doesn't help that the most interesting cards are rare in most cases. I'd like to see an expansion with only new ideas, nothing old. Maybe experimental and non-tournament legal, but if I see yet another rehash of Flight in Prophecy (and you know there will be one, there always is), I'm going to scream. Or whimper, I haven't decided yet.

Even though I may sound a bit grumpy, I am looking forward to Nemesis (urgh, almost a month left to go). The cards may not be as original as I had hoped, they are better than I expected. Although fading is an uninteresting mechanic, it does make for some interesting cards.

As for colors, I think red and green both won a bit. Red is still not a very good color, but at least it has the enchantment Shock now for extra burn, along with some other ok cards. Green mainly won in the fun department. Most of its cards have some nice feature now, which is very different to what it used to be 'back in the days'. Black got quite a bit of fun potential as well, especially for token decks. For white and blue there didn't seem to be much of a change, bar the odd card with potential.

I'm starting to babble now, that means it's time for bed. Thanks to anyone who managed to read this far.

Good luck and beware of the Blastoderm!

 
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