Apocalypse - a Complete Review (black)
Dead Ringers (C) 4B Sorcery Destroy two target nonblack creatures unless either one is a color the other isn't. They can't be regenerated. ==> FUN: 2
I'd expect more for 5 mana. It's a sorcery, it can't target black creatures and both targets need to be exactly the same color. So, if your opponent has a Jade Leech, a Shivan Wurm and a Flametongue Kavu, Dead Ringers will just sit in your hand and be useless. ---
Desolation Angel (R) 3BB Creature - Angel 5/4 Kicker - WW Flying When Desolation Angel comes into play, destroy all lands you control. If you paid the kicker cost, destroy all lands instead. ==> FUN: 4
Is a 5/4 flier for 5 mana worth it if it costs you all your lands? Usually not for me. The kicker is interesting, but not very realistic. At 7 mana total, an Armageddon will cost you too much land. The only deck I can think of that might work with Desolation Angel would be one where most lands were capable of giving two mana. Something like this: 4x Peat Bog
4x Remote Farm
4x Crystal Vein
4x Ancient Tomb
4x Ebon Stronghold
4x Ruins of Trokair
That should make Desolation Angel easy enough to cast with kicker even if you have only 4 lands in play. It doesn't matter that you have to sacrifice your lands to do it, because the Angel will kill them anyway. ---
Foul Presence (U) 2B Enchant Creature Enchanted creature gets -1/-1 and has, "T: Target creature gets -1/-1 until end of turn." ==> FUN: 3
A nifty idea, but a bit too expensive for my tastes. You can use it to quickly kill a single 1 toughness creature or to turn one of your creatures into a Prodigal Sorcerer that's only usable on creatures. And it will make your creature easier to kill too. Neither effect is worth 3 mana, but it's still an interesting card. ---
Grave Defiler (U) 3B Creature - Zombie 2/1 When Grave Defiler comes into play, reveal the top four cards of your library. Put all Zombie cards revealed this way into your hand and the rest on the bottom of your library. 1B: Regenerate Grave Defiler. ==> FUN: 4
Another nice card for theme decks. This one has the advantage of having Bone Harvest in color, which makes getting four zombies out of it quite possible. ---
Last Caress (C) 2B Sorcery Target players loses 1 life and you gain 1 life. Draw a card. ==> FUN: 2
Almost an exact reprint of Touch of Death. ---
Mind Extraction (C) 2B Sorcery As an additional cost to play Mind Extraction, sacrifice a creature. Target player reveals his or her hand and discards all cards of each of the sacrificed creature's colors from it. ==> FUN: 2
It looks like a strong card at first glance, but the cost is rather high. You must play creatures of the right colors or ones that can change their color and even then it won't be that strong against a multicolor deck. ---
Mournful Zombie (C) 2B Creature - Zombie 2/1 W, T: Target player gains 1 life. ==> FUN: 2
Nice idea, but it would have worked better if Mournful Zombie had been a defensive creature, like a 1/3. ---
Necra Disciple (C) B Creature - Wizard 1/1 G, T: Add one mana of any color to your mana pool. W, T: Prevent the next one damage that would be dealt to target creature or player this turn. ==> FUN: 2
Neither of the abilities looks very exciting. Damage prevention and mana washing can both come in handy, but aren't very strong. ---
Necra Sanctuary (U) 2B Enchantment At the beginning of your upkeep, if you control a green or white permanent, target player loses 1 life. If you control a green permanent and a white permanent, that player loses 3 life instead. ==> FUN: 2
Not the worst of the sanctuaries, but I'm not that fond of cards that kill my opponent directly. It makes for quick, forgettable games. ---
Necravolver (R) 2B Creature - Volver 2/2 Kicker 1G and/or W If you paid the 1G kicker cost, Necravolver comes into play with two +1/+1 counters on it and has trample. If you paid the W kicker cost, Necravolver comes into play with a +1/+1 counter on it and has "Whenever Necravolver deals damage, you gain that much life." ==> FUN: 4
A potential 5/5 for 6 mana. The blue and white volver are only 1/1 when cast without kicker, so there's at least some variation. Because Necravolver is potentially bigger, the trample is more useful. Add the potential Spirit Link to that as well as the fact that it's a black creature and thus harder to kill and it turns into a pretty nice potential creature. ---
Phyrexian Arena (R) 1BB Enchantment At the beginning of your upkeep, you draw a card and you lose 1 life. ==> FUN: 4
It doesn't have the potential for a quick victory like Necropotence has, but it's also not as risky, because you don't have to give up your draw step. One life for a card is rarely a bad trade, especially if you play with plenty of cards like Drain Life and Brush with Death. ---
Phyrexian Gargantua (U) 4BB Creature - Horror 4/4 When Phyrexian Gargantua comes into play, you draw two cards and you lose 2 life. ==> FUN: 5
Six mana for a 4/4 AND two cards can't be bad. The loss of two life isn't that big a problem. Even if you ritual it out on turn 4, you get cardadvantage out of it. ---
Phyrexian Rager (C) 2B Creature - Horror 2/2 When Phyrexian Rager comes into play, you draw a card and you lose 1 life. ==> FUN: 3
Pyknite eat your heart out. ---
Planar Despair (R) 3BB Sorcery All creatures get -1/-1 until end of turn for each basic land type among lands you control. ==> FUN: 3
Planar Despair has the potential to be strong, but it requires two black mana and plenty of different basic lands. That seems a bit hard to deal with. On the other hand, it can get rid of creatures with protection from black, so it may be worth playing. ---
Quagmire Druid (C) 2B Creature - Zombie Druid 2/2 G, T, Sacrifice a creature: Destroy target enchantment. ==> FUN: 3
Reusable enchantment destruction. No zombie deck should be without one. ---
Suppress (U) 2B Sorcery Target player removes all cards in his or her hand from the game face down. At the end of that player's next turn, that player returns those cards to his or her hand. ==> FUN: 1
Useful to draw out a counterspell, but, because it's a sorcery, it can't be effectively used to stall an opponent. ---
Urborg Uprising (C) 4B Sorcery Return up to two target creature cards from your graveyard to your hand. Draw a card. ==> FUN: 4
I like Death's Duet from Exodus, so a cantrip version sounds good as well. Five mana is a bit much, but it should be doable. ---
Zombie Boa (C) 4B Creature - Zombie Snake 3/3 1B: Choose a color. Whenever Zombie Boa becomes blocked by a creature of that color this turn, destroy that creature. Play this ability only any time you could play a sorcery. ==> FUN: 1
The ability isn't much more than an expensive version of Fear. An opponent will usually just decide not to block.
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