Prophecy - a Complete Review (red)
82. Avatar of Fury, 6RR, Creature - Avatar 6/6, Rare Flying If any opponent controls 7 or more land, Avatar of Fury costs 6 less to cast. R: Avatar of Fury gets +1/+0 until end of turn. ==> TOUR: 3 - FUN: 3
There's no challenge in using this card in fun play. One of your opponents will get to 7 lands sooner or later and dropping an Avatar of Fury at that point is not something that will make onlookers praise your subtle play and well-constructed deck. It's a no-brainer to play and too strong once it gets out. In tournaments this is a potential sideboard card against decks that are likely to get to 7 lands, but they'll usually already have control by that point and have a way to deal with a 6/6. 83. Barbed Field, 2RR, Enchant Land, Uncommon Enchanted land gains "T: This land deals 1 damage to target creature or player." ==> TOUR: 3 - FUN: 4
Eat that, Mommy! The land as the source of damage is very welcome for red, but with Masticore around, there's not much reason to play this. It's a bit on the expensive side, but it's nice to have a pinger that doesn't die to creature removal. 84. Branded Brawlers, R, Creature - Soldier 2/2, Common If defending player controls untapped land, Branded Brawlers cannot attack. If you control untapped lands, Branded Brawlers cannot attack. ==> TOUR: 2 - FUN: 1
It's too hard to meet the requirements for attacking with this. 85. Brutal Supression, R, Enchantment, Uncommon Activated abilities on Rebel cards cost an additional "Sacrifice a land" to play. ==> TOUR: 2 - FUN: 1
It looks ok in theory, because the rebel ability suddenly isn't card advantage anymore, but it's still painfully easy to tutor up a few anti-red gliders. Ergo, it's a very limited hoser and it doesn't hose very well. 86. Citadel of Pain, 2R, Enchantment, Uncommon At the end of each player's turn, Citadel of Pain does X damage to that player. X equals the number of untapped lands that player controls. ==> TOUR: 4 - FUN: 4
I think this will see a _lot_ of play in sideboards. It completely demolishes permission decks if it makes it into play. And any control decks will be seriously inconvenienced. 87. Devastate, 3RR, Sorcery, Common Destroy target land. Devastate does 1 damage to each creature and player. ==> TOUR: 2 - FUN: 4
If this did 2 damage to all creatures, it would have been a great card. As it is, it's too slow. By the time you have 5 mana, 1 toughness creatures will rarely be a problem anymore. 88. Fault Riders, 2R, Creature - Soldier 2/2, Common Sacrifice a land: Fault Riders gets +2/+0 and first strike until end of turn. Play this ability only once each turn. ==> TOUR: 4 - FUN: 4
I like Vampire Hounds a lot and this card is very similar. Few creatures will be able to survive blocking this, yet Fault Riders will survive most combats. It doesn't even cost you a valuable creature card to pump this up, you can use a spare land. If you have a lot of land to spare, you can start sacrificing them for 2 extra damage per turn. 89. Fickle Efreet, 3R, Creature - Efreet 5/2, Rare When Fickle Efreet attacks or blocks, flip a coin at the end of combat. If you lose the flip, an opponent gains control of Fickler Efreet. ==> TOUR: 1 - FUN: 1
I don't really see the point of paying 4 mana for a creature that most weenies can just block and trade with. One Shock kills it. Even attacking with it can cause it to change hands at end of combat. I wouldn't play this without 4 Goblin Bookies. 90. Flameshot, 3R, Sorcery, Uncommon You may discard a mountain from your hand instead of paying Flameshot's mana cost. Flameshot deals 3 damage as you choose among any number of target creatures. ==> TOUR: 3 - FUN: 3
You pretty much have to play this in a red deck that doesn't mind discarding a Mountain on one hand, but on the other hand regularly gets to 4 mana to cast this the old fashioned way. I don't see such a deck happening in tournaments. At 4 mana, you want to cast better things and getting the 3 Flameshot, 2 Mountain draw isn't my idea of fun. This card only fits in a narrow range of decks. 91. Inflame, R, Instant, Common Inflame deals 2 damage to each creature dealt damage this turn. ==> TOUR: 3 - FUN: 4
This card is hard to figure out. The effect looks powerful, but can it be made to work? With Flameshot or Arc Lightning, it's a two card combo that can get rid of up to 3 creatures. That's not exactly impressive. With Fire Ants, it can almost clear the board. Again a two card combo, though. In weenie decks it's useful against 0 power walls, but not a lot of those are played at the moment. And if there's only a single wall around, you might as well use Shock. That leaves it as a potential reset button after an all-out attack. Useful in limited perhaps, but probably not in constructed. There's a lot of potential in multiplayer for this card. 92. Keldon Arsonist, 2R, Creature - Soldier 1/1, Uncommon 1, Sacrifice two lands: Destroy target land. ==> TOUR: 3 - FUN: 3
At least Army Ants was 1 for 1. On the other hand, this doesn't require tapping. And it's instant land destruction, a rare thing. 93. Keldon Berserker, 3R, Creature - Soldier 2/3, Common Whenever Keldon Berserker attacks, if you control no untapped lands, Keldon Berserker gets +3/+0 until end of turn. ==> TOUR: 3 - FUN: 2
A potential 5/3 for 4 mana isn't bad, but I can't think of a case where I'd play this over a Lightning Dragon. When Urza rotates out, this card becomes a lot more interesting. 94. Keldon Firebombers, 3RR, Creature - Soldier 3/3, Rare As Keldon Firebombers comes into play, each player sacrifices all but three lands he or she controls. ==> TOUR: 2 - FUN: 4
There have to be quite a few lands in play for this to be effective. That's not something that happens a lot in constructed. 95. Latulla, Keldon Overseer, 3RR, Creature - Spellshaper Legend 3/3, Rare XR, T, Discard 2 cards from hand: Latulla, Keldon Overseer deals X damage to target creature or player. ==> TOUR: 1 - FUN: 2
X damage spells are rarely used for creature control, but usually just as the kill card in a combo deck. As a kill card, you only need one and you don't want to have to pay 5 mana extra and wait a turn. 96. Latulla's Orders, 1R, Enchant Creature, Common You may play Latulla's Orders any time you could play an instant. When enchanted creature deals combat damage to defending payer, you may destroy target artifact that player controls. ==> TOUR: 3 - FUN: 4
This should be a good sideboard card against artifact heavy decks if you're playing a creature deck. That's pretty narrow, though, and most of the time other cards work better in such a situation, like Rack and Ruin or Meltdown. There's no chance of your opponent getting a 2-for-1 if they have instant removal in hand. 97. Lesser Gargadon, 2RR, Creature - Beast 6/4, Uncommon Whenever Lesser Gargadon attacks or blocks, sacrifice a land. ==> TOUR: 4 - FUN: 3
6 power for 4 mana is quite good. Ball Lightning costs only 1 less to cast and doesn't stay around. Four toughness makes this a lot more durable as well. The drawback looks managable, because it only takes 4 hits to kill with this beast. The main thing it lacks is trample. Protection from red or regenerators will keep it at bay. 98. Panic Attack, 2R, Sorcery, Common Up to three target creatures can't block this turn. ==> TOUR: 2 - FUN: 1
Strictly a sealed card, where it can win stalemates if you do your math right. 99. Rhystic Lightning, 2R, Instant, Common Rhystic Lightning deals 4 damage to target creature or player, unless that creature's controller or that player pays 2. If he or she does, Rhystic Lightning does 2 damage to that creature or player instead. ==> TOUR: 3 - FUN: 2
Unless a few 4 toughness creatures become popular, I don't think this is worth the risk. Arc Lightning is more generally useful. 100. Ridgeline Rager, 2R, Creature - Beast 1/2, Common R: Ridgeline Rager gets +1/+0 until end of turn. ==> TOUR: 2 - FUN: 3
This type of creature is rarely played. It costs too much mana to make it useful, leaving you with cards in hand you can't cast or a 1/2 for 3 mana that isn't being the best it can be. This ability is much better on a creature that fits better at the top end of a mana curve. Evasion helps as well. Enter Lightning Dragon for 1 more mana. 101. Scoria Cat, 3RR, Creature - Cat 3/3, Uncommon Scoria Cat gets +3/+3 as long as you control no untapped lands. ==> TOUR: 4 - FUN: 3
A 6/6 for 5 mana is quite good and making a deck with enough mana sinks shouldn't be that hard. 102. Search for Survivors, 2R, Sorcery, Rare Shuffle your graveyard. An opponent chooses a card from it at random. If that card is a creature card, put it into play under your control. Otherwise, remove it from the game. ==> TOUR: 2 - FUN: 3
It looks interesting until you realize it's just a red version of Animate Dead. Only it's not nearly as good. 103. Searing Wind, 8R, Instant, Rare Searing Wind deals 10 damage to target creature or player. ==> TOUR: 1 - FUN: 1
Surely there are much better cards to waste 9 mana on. Sure, it's more cost-effective than an x spell, but versatility-wise, this is just a stupid card. The only possible use I can think up for it is a possible really fast kill in a Dream Halls deck. Or maybe as a bad hoser against such a deck. 104. Spur Grappler, 2R, Creature - Beast 2/1, Common Spur Grappler gets +1/+2 as long as you control no untapped lands ==> TOUR: 3 - FUN: 1
Another mediocre red creature. A 3/3 for 3 mana isn't bad, but there are better red creatures availible. 105. Task Mage Assembly, 2R, Enchantment, Rare Whenever there are no creatures in play, sacrifice Task Mage Assembly. 2: Task Mage Assembly deals 1 damage to target creature. Any player may play this ability, but only he or she could play a sorcery. ==> TOUR: 2 - FUN: 4
It has some combo potential with Task Force and creatures with protection from red, but that's about it. This card won't take the place of Masticore. 106. Veteran Brawlers, 1R, Creature - Soldier 4/4, Rare Veteran Brawlers can't attack if defending player controls am untapped land. Veteran Brawlers can't block if you control an untapped land. ==> TOUR: 2 - FUN: 1
A lot of decks won't mind keeping some mana open until the end of your turn. 107. Whip Sergeant, 2R, Creature - Soldier 2/1, Uncommon R: Target creature gains haste until end of turn. ==> TOUR: 1 - FUN: 3
Too expensive. 108. Zerapa Minotaur, 2RR, Creature - Minotaur 3/3, Common 2: Zerapa Minotaur loses first strike until end of turn. Any player may play this ability. ==> TOUR: 2 - FUN: 2
I think we can safely assume it has first strike as well, even though it isn't specifically mentioned. It's a bit of a boring creature, considering you can't count on the first strike and 4 mana for a 3/3 is about standard. On the bright side, it's a Minotaur, so bring on those Didgeridoos.
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