Nemesis - a Complete Review (artifact)

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• artifact
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==> TOUR: 2 - FUN: 2
I guess you can use this to neutralize an opposing creature, but that's expensive and other than that it's just a regular toughness boosting artifact, a la Endoskeleton.

127. Belbe's Portal, 5, Artifact, Rare As Belbe's Portal comes into play, choose a creature type. 3, Tap : Put a creature card of the chosen type from your hand into play.

==> TOUR: 2 - FUN: 3
Cheaper to use than Quicksilver Amulet, but this is more expensive to cast and can only be used on one creature type.

128. Complex Automaton, 4, Artifact Creature - Golem 4/4, Rare At the beginning of your upkeep, if you control seven or more permanents, return Complex Automaton to its owner's hand.

==> TOUR: 4 - FUN: 2
A 4/4 for 4 is undercosted and the drawback isn't too bad even if you can only have one extra permanent next to the Automaton and the 4 lands used to cast it. Still, most decks would just prefer Masticore. Maybe the drawback can be turned into a bonus if you use it in a deck with lots of mass removal. Use Trade Routes to control the number of permanents and Wrath of God to periodically clear the board of creatures, always making sure you bounced your Automaton by playing an extra land. Use Trade Routes to return the land. If necessary add Armageddons as well. Trade Routes will make sure you never have to loose more than 4 lands.

129. Eye of Yawgmoth, 3, Artifact, Rare 3, Tap , Sacrifice a creature: Reveal cards from the top of your library equal to the sacrificed creature's power. Put one into your hand and remove the rest from the game.

==> TOUR: 2 - FUN: 4
Another variation on Jayemdae Tome. Needing to have a creature handy to sacrifice makes it not very useful for serious decks, but it could be fun to use it in a deck with cards like Righteousness or Glyph of Destruction. That should get you exactly the cards you want.

130. Flint Golem, 4, Artifact Creature - Golem 2/3, Uncommon Whenever Flint Golem becomes blocked, defending player puts the top three cards of his or her library into his or her graveyard.

==> TOUR: 1 - FUN: 3
I guess it fits in a mill deck, but other than that, it's just an expensive 2/3 with an ability that means that once in a blue moon, the opponent will just take the damage, instead of blocking it.

131. Flowstone Armor, 3, Artifact, Uncommon You may choose not to untap Flowstone Armor during your untap step. 3, Tap : Target creature gets +1/-1 as long as Flowstone Armor remains tapped.

==> TOUR: 2 - FUN: 3
I suppose that, as creature destruction goes, this is cheaper than Rod of Ruin. But it's no Masticore.

132. Flowstone Thopter, 7, Artifact Creature 4/4, Uncommon 1: Flowstone Thopter gets +1/-1 and gains flying until end of turn.

==> TOUR: 1 - FUN: 2
It can become a 7/1 flier, but for 7 mana, you'd expect no less.

133. Kill Switch, 3, Artifact, Rare 2, Tap : Tap all other artifacts. They don't untap during their controllers' untap steps as long as Kill Switch remains tapped.

==> TOUR: 4 - FUN: 3
It's not a Null Rod, but it could be the best we have against artifact decks. Both Tinker and Wildfire variants will have a hard time dealing with this once it's on the table.

134. Parallax Inhibitor, 2, Artifact, Rare 1, Tap , Sacrifice Parallax Inhibitor: Put a fade counter on each permanent you control with fade counters on it.

==> TOUR: 2 - FUN: 4
This could end up a lot better than I give it credit for if any deck with a lot of fading in it becomes popular, but I don't think there are enough fading cards in Nemesis yet for that. Maybe with Prophecy added to the mix.

135. Predator, Flagship, 5, Legendary Artifact, Rare 2: Target creature gains flying until end of turn. 5, Tap : Destroy target creature with flying.

==> TOUR: 4 - FUN: 5
Basically, for 7 mana you can destroy a creature. That's quite expensive compared to most black assassins, but this is an artifact source. Against creatures with 4 toughness or more, this beats Masticore when it comes to mana cost. But this doesn't regenerate, nor does it beat down for 4 every turn. You can give your creatures flying, though, that's pretty useful as well. To summarize: I have no idea whether this will be good or junk, but I'm guessing it'll prove to be ok, especially after Masticore rotates out.

136. Rackling, 4, Artifact Creature 2/2, Uncommon At the beginning of each opponent's upkeep, [Rackling] deals 1 damage to that player for each card in his or her hand fewer than three.

==> TOUR: 2 - FUN: 1
Yet another variation of The Rack. Because it's a creature now, it's more vulnerable than other variations, so I don't think it's very good.

137. Rejuvenation Chamber, 3, Artifact, Uncommon Fading 2 Tap : Gain 2 life.

==> TOUR: 1 - FUN: 2
Gain 6 life over 3 turns, for 3 mana. At least, if you can't tap it again just before it fades away at the beginning of your upkeep. I'm not really sure. That part of the rules makes my head hurt. Either way, Rejuvenation Chamber is about as useful as most lifegain: not.

138. Rusting Golem, 4, Artifact Creature - Golem */*, Uncommon Fading 5 Rusting Golem's power and toughness are each equal to the number of fade counters on it.

==> TOUR: 2 - FUN: 2
It'll be 4/4 by the time it can attack for the first time. And it'll quickly get smaller.

139. Tangle Wire, 3, Artifact, Rare Fading 4 At the beginning of each player's upkeep, that player taps a permanent he or she controls for each fade counter on Tangle Wire.

==> TOUR: 2 - FUN: 3
I suppose you can't choose to tap a tapped permanent. While Tangle Wire isn't a bad idea for a card, I think it suffers from being too unpredictable (drawing one late is never good). You're also suffering from the effects, which could stop you from casting something important. If the wording on the spoiler is right, this card will be one of the few ways enchantments can get tapped.

140. Viceling, 4, Artifact Creature 2/2, Uncommon At the beginning of each opponent's upkeep, Viceling deals damage to that player equal to the number of cards in his or her hand minus 4.

==> TOUR: 2 - FUN: 1
Pretty much the same as the Rackling.