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A Complete Review of Odyssey (blue)Tap an untapped Cephalid you control: Tap target permanent. UUU: Tap all creatures without flying. ==> FUN: 4 It depends how strong any of the cephalids in Odyssey are. If a cephalid deck is an option, Aboshan would be a great addition to it, giving the ability to lock down both creature and control decks. Aboshan is not bad on his own either, because he can hold most creatures at bay as long as most of them don't fly. He combos very well with an animate land enchantment for an almost complete lock at UUU per turn. -- 59. Aboshan's Desire U Enchant Creature (C) Enchanted creature has flying. Threshold - Enchanted creature can't be the target of spells or abilities. (You have threshold as long as seven or more card are in your graveyard.) ==> FUN: 2 How many flight enchantments does this game need? The threshold ability is a bonus that saves it from a rating of 1. -- 60. AEther Burst 1U Instant (C) Return up to X target creatures to their owners' hands, where X is one plus the number of AEther Burst cards in all graveyards as you play AEther Burst. ==> FUN: 4 Unsummon can be a very useful card, yet I rarely end up playing with it. The risk of playing against a creatureless deck or playing against a deck that doesn't mind getting its creatures bounced (because they have a useful comes-into-play ability) is too great to make this a good card. Still, it's a fun card that can be good in the right deck. Use plenty of blue searchers and, of course, Accumulated Knowledge. Perhaps splash red for removal in the form of Kindles and you have a good start for a casual deck. Of course Fact or Fiction is a must. -- 61. Amugaba 5UU Creature - Illusion 6/6 (R) Flying 2U, Discard a card from your hand: Return Amugaba to its owner's hand. ==> FUN: 3 A strong card and hard to get rid of, but a bit too expensive for my tastes and an unoriginal ability. -- 62. Aura Graft 1U Instant (U) Move target enchantment that's enchanting a permanent to another permanent it can enchant. Gain control of that enchantment. (This effect doesn't end at end of turn.) ==> FUN: 4 A combination of Enchantment Alteration and Steal (local) Enchantment. Steal someone's Armadillo Cloak during combat to save your own creature, kill one of his and keep the Cloak too. Still, against an opponent who doesn't play local enchantments, it's hard to make this a useful maindeck card. Maybe if you're playing with Confiscates or enchantments that make enchanted creature untargetable. That way you can counter removal by making the target illegal. -- 63. Aven Fisher 3U Creature - Bird Soldier 2/2 (C) Flying When Aven Fisher is put into a graveyard from play, you may draw a card. ==> FUN: 3 This card looks familiar. It's either a reprint or very close to it. -- 64. Aven Smokeweaver 2UU Creature - Bird Soldier 2/3 (U) Flying, protection from red ==> FUN: 3 An ok card, good against red. -- 65. Aven Windreader 3UU Creature - Bird Soldier Wizard 3/3 (C) Flying 1U: Target player reveals the top card of his or her library. ==> FUN: 2 Three creature types, none of them legend. That must be some kind of record. Other than that, I'd rather have an Air Elemental for the extra +1/+1. -- 66. Balshan Beguiler 2U Creature - Wizard 1/1 (U) Whenever Balshan Beguiler deals combat damage to a player, that player reveals the top two cards of his or her library. You choose one of those cards and put it into his or her graveyard. ==> FUN: 3 A very nice ability (if only for the sheer annoyance value) on a mediocre creature. A 1/1 will need help to deal combat damage and is too easy to kill. -- 67. Balshan Griffin 3UU Creature - Griffin 3/2 (U) Flying 1U, Discard a card from your hand: Return Balshan Griffin to its owner's hand. ==> FUN: 2 Overcosted and too vulnerable. -- 68. Bamboozle 2U Sorcery (U) Target player reveals the top four cards of his or her library. You choose two of those cards and put them into his or her graveyard. Put the rest on top of his or her library in any order. ==> FUN: 3 A great way to irritate your opponent. It'll take testing to say for sure how useful Bamboozle is, but at a guess I'd say it suffers from the same problem Portent does: it can be useful to use on an opponent or on yourself, but it's not useful enough on either one. Still, it's worth trying it out in a land destruction deck to get any coming lands or cheap spells out of the way. -- 69. Battle of Wits 3UU Enchantment (R) At the beginning of your upkeep, if you have 200 or more cards in your library, you win the game. The wizard who reads a thousand books is powerful. The wizard who memorizes a thousand books is insane. ==> FUN: 4 I almost gave it a rating of 5 for the guts it must have taken to get this card printed. The flavor text seems very appropriate. You'd have to be a little bit nuts to play with this card, if only because it'd take forever to shuffle your deck. Still, it poses an interesting challenge: are there enough tutors and card searchers around to make a 230 card deck built around Battle of Wits playable? I wouldn't try it in multiplayer, it'll be disenchanted so fast you won't know what hit you. On the whole, I'm a bit disappointed with this card. It's not very subtle about trying to encourage a large deck. I would have preferred something more a little more subtle an enchantment that had: "Remove the top four cards of your library from the game: target player removes the top card of his or her library from the game." The effect is similar enough, except that it would have been playable in a smaller deck with Millstones as well. -- 70. Careful Study U Sorcery (C) Draw two cards, then discard two cards from your hand. ==> FUN: 2 It's ok as a way to cycle through your deck, but it pales compared to a card like Brainstorm, which lets you draw an extra card. -- 71. Cephalid Broker 3U Creature - Cephalid 2/2 (U) Tap: Target player draws two cards, then discards two cards from his or her hand. ==> FUN: 4 Cycling through your deck is pretty good if it doesn't cost you a card. Play it with the white 1/1 that gives 1 life for each discard. Add Aboshan for good measure to keep your opponent locked while you're busy gaining life and looking for good cards. -- 72. Cephalid Looter 2U Creature - Cephalid 2/1 (C) Tap: Target player draws a card, then discards a card from his or her hand. ==> FUN: 3 This card tries to be two things at once, a Merfolk Looter and an attacker. It's not all that good at either, though. -- 73. Cephalid Retainer 2UU Creature - Cephalid 2/3 (R) UU: Tap target creature without flying. ==> FUN: 2 It's not really that bad, but compared to Aboshan it is. And it's rare too. Of course this guy is cheaper and doesn't tap your own creatures. And it doesn't need to tap, so it works well with Aboshan. (It's like they planned it!... wait, maybe they did!) -- 74. Cephalid Scout 1U Creature - Cephalid Wizard 1/1 (C) Flying 2U, Sacrifice a land: Draw a card. ==> FUN: 3 Puts extra lands to good use. It's a bit expensive to use, but at least it doesn't tap to do it, so it can still attack every turn or be used with Aboshan. -- 75. Cephalid Shrine 1UU Enchantment (R) Whenever a player plays a spell, counter that spell unless that player pays X, where X is the number of cards in all graveyards with the same name as the spell. ==> FUN: 2 This looks very similar to the white shrine, but the effect is completely different. Instead of rewarding graveyard copies, Cephalid Shrine punishes players for them. It looks interesting at first, but it takes too long to actually start making a difference and when it does, your opponent should have plenty of mana that 3 more shouldn't matter. On top of that, it hurts you just as much. This is no Bazaar of Wonders. -- 76. Chamber of Manipulation 2UU Enchant Land (U) Enchanted land has "Tap, Discard a card from your hand: Gain control of target creature until end of turn." ==> FUN: 4 You can never have too much reusable creature control. The mere threat of this card will keep a pretty big army back, because you can use this to take control of the biggest attacker and block the second biggest with it. Then sacrifice the biggest one to Goblin Bombardment or the like. It's a risky strategy, though, because a Stone Rain can really ruin your day. -- 77. Cognivore 6UU Creature - Lhurgoyf */* (R) Flying Cognivore's power and toughness are each equal to the number of instant cards in all graveyards. ==> FUN: 4 It took me a second to figure out why this guy was so expensive compared to the rest of the Lhurgoyf family, but that's because instants are much easier to get into the graveyard than lands, creatures or enchantments. Plus, your opponent is likely to have a few in his graveyard as well. I'm not sure it's worth eight mana, because of the risk of getting stuck with a Planar Void or the likes in play, but it can certainly become huge. In the right matchup, 20/20 shouldn't be that hard to achieve. -- 78. Concentrate 2UU Sorcery (U) Draw three cards. ==> FUN: 2 I like drawing cards, but this is just a bit too expensive for a sorcery. -- 79. Cultural Exchange 4UU Sorcery (R) Choose any number of creatures target player controls. Choose the same number of creatures another target player controls. Those players exchange control of those creatures. (This effect doesn't end at end of turn.) ==> FUN: 3 This would be a terrific card if you could play it with no creatures and steal all your opponent's creatures while giving none in return. I don't think that works, though. That means you'll always lose card advantage on balance. Of course you'll get your opponent's best creatures, but it'll cost you some of your own. Could be fun in multiplayer, though, especially if you manage to exchange a control player's creatures with those of a beatdown player. "Cultural Exchange" is just a great name as well. I can just hear a Force of Nature go: "Oooh, swamps! What do they do, then?" -- 80. Deluge 2U Instant (U) Tap all creatures without flying. ==> FUN: 2 Deluge only buys one turn and is only useful against creature decks with not too many fliers. Except for use with cards like Theft of Dreams or Betrayal, I'd rather use Fog or Turnabout. -- 81. Dematerialize 3U Sorcery (C) Return target permanent to its owner's hand. Flashback 5UU (You may play this card from your graveyard for its flashback cost. Then remove it from the game.) ==> FUN: 1 Four mana for a Boomerang is just too much. Even if it is splashable. I can understand that they didn't want to print another Capsize, but the flashback costs even more than Capsize with buyback! And this is a sorcery? Bleh. -- 82. Divert U Instant (R) Change the target of target spell with a single target unless that spell's controller pays 2. "What's the fun of being a wizard if you can't mess with people's heads?" ==> FUN: 4 The flavor text says it all really. Divert will probably be very strong in competitive tournament decks, but in casual decks it'll need some backup mana denial to make sure it won't just sit in your hand while your opponent has plenty of land available. I just want one Divert. I'll show it to all my friends and from then on, every time someone taps out and cast an X spell against me, I'll just grin evilly and let them take it back or target someone else. -- 83. Dreamwinder 3U Creature - Serpent 4/3 (C) Dreamwinder can't attack unless defending player controls an island. U, Sacrifice an island: Target land becomes an island until end of turn. ==> FUN: 3 Very similar to Kukemssa Serpent. In a pinch, the ability can be used to keep an opponent from casting a key spell for a turn. It'll cost most of your lands, though. -- 84. Escape Artist 1U Creature - Wizard 1/1 (C) Escape Artist is unblockable. U, Discard a card from your hand: Return Escape Artist to its owner's hand. ==> FUN: 3 Since Metathran Soldier we've gotten quite a few 1/1s for 1U that were (just about) strictly worse. Now we get one which is (just about) strictly better. A 1/1 is still too easy to ignore though. -- 85. Extract U Sorcery (R) Search target player's library for a card, and remove that card from the game. Then that player shuffles his or her library. ==> FUN: 4 A single use Jester's Cap. Can be devastating against silver bullet decks or finely tuned combos, but I think it just doesn't do enough to be all that strong. It's mostly just annoying and lets you look through your opponent's deck (which is always good). -- 86. Fervent Denial 3UU Instant (U) Counter target spell. Flashback 5UU (You may play this card from your graveyard for its flashback cost. Then remove it from the game.) ==> FUN: 3 It was predictable that there would be a counterspell with flashback, but Fervent Denial is ridiculously expensive. And the flashback is nearly uncastable in serious play. Considering that flashback is likely to make dedicated counter decks unplayable anyway (you'd need two counterspells for each flashback card), Fervent Denial isn't likely to be used much. -- 87. Immobilizing Ink 1U Enchant Creature (C) Enchanted creature doesn't untap during its controller's untap step. Enchanted creature has "1, Discard a card from your hand: Untap this creature." ==> FUN: 2 A nice name for such a boring card. -- 88. Laquatus's Creativity 4U Sorcery (U) Target player draws cards equal to the number of cards in that player's hand, then discards that many cards. ==> FUN: 2 A nice effect, but five mana is way too expensive, especially for a sorcery. It's only good if you have a hand full of cards to begin with. -- 89. Patron Wizard UUU Creature - Wizard 2/2 (R) Tap an untapped Wizard you control: Counter target spell unless its controller pays 1. ==> FUN: 5 Play plenty of wizards and follow it up with one of these. Suddenly, your opponent is in a lot of trouble, especially if you have more wizards than he or she has lands. Although that's usually not too likely, it's not impossible to make it happen with cards like Temporal Adept to keep your opponent from getting more land out. Temporal Adept also happens to be a wizard, so he fits perfectly in a wizard theme deck. Keeper of the Mind will help you draw more wizards. Ideally, a wizard on the first turn, one on the second and Patron Wizard on the third turn will let you counter most of your opponent's spells. Follow it up with a Temporal Adept that gets active on turn five and you have a nice lock going. -- 90. Pedantic Learning UU Enchantment (R) Whenever a land card is put into your graveyard from your library, you may pay 1. If you do, draw a card. ==> FUN: 4 You have to build a deck around it, but with cards like Oath of Druids, Hermit Druid or Gamekeeper that should be a nice challenge. The downside of Pedantic Learning is that there aren't a lot of cards that get lands straight from your library into your graveyard, though, and the ones that do are often rare and rarely blue. -- 91. Peek U Instant (C) Look at target player's hand. Draw a card. ==> FUN: 4 A reprint of Clairvoyance as a true cantrip. Very playable. It gives you an idea of what to expect without costing you a card. -- 92. Persuasion 3UU Enchant Creature (R) You control enchanted creature. ==> FUN: 3 Pretty much strictly worse than both Control Magic and Treachery. It's still a good card, but why use this if you're allowed to use Control Magic or Treachery? -- 93. Phantom Whelp 1U Creature - Hound 2/2 (C) When Phantom Whelp attacks or blocks, return it to its owner's hand at end of combat. ==> FUN: 2 Because the bouncing happens after combat damage is dealt, it'll be hard to use it to your advantage. And if you don't, it's not much of a creature. It's useful with cards like Pandemonium or Soul Warden, but not useful enough. -- 94. Predict 1U Instant (U) Name a card, then put the top card of target player's library into his or her graveyard. If that card is the named card, you draw two cards. Otherwise, you draw a card. ==> FUN: 4 Sure, you can go for the 30% chance against a mono-colored deck by guessing the relevant basic land, but it's more fun to use Predict in combination with cards like Temporal Spring or Time Ebb. Don't just stall your opponent, get rid of the threat and draw an extra card while you're at it. Other combinations are possible as well. If a Rootwater Mystic shows the top card of your library is one you don't want, use Predict on yourself to get rid of it and draw two cards in the process. -- 95. Psionic Gift 1U Enchant Creature (C) Enchanted creature has "Tap: This creature deals 1 damage to target creature or player." ==> FUN: 3 The Uzi deck (Hermetic Study + Horseshoe Crab) now has access to four more Hermetic Studies. Brrr. -- 96. Pulsating Illusion 4U Creature - Illusion 0/1 (U) Flying Discard a card from your hand: Pulsating Illusion gets +4/+4 until end of turn. Play this ability only once each turn. ==> FUN: 1 Basically, it's a 4/5 flier for 5 mana, as long as you discard a card. Nice for limited, but anywhere else I'd rather have an Air Elemental or most other big blue fliers. I don't like having to discard cards to raise my creatures to mediocre level. I suppose it's a combo with Ensnaring Bridge though. -- 97. Puppeteer 2U Creature - Wizard 1/2 (U) U, Tap: Tap or untap target creature. ==> FUN: 3 A bit too fragile to use as creature control, but at least it fits in the wizard theme deck I'm making. In-theme creature control is good to have. -- 98. Repel 3U Instant (C) Put target creature on top of its owner's library. ==> FUN: 4 I like Time Ebb, but it's even better as a surprise. "Might of Oaks on your elf? I repel it in response!" -- 99. Rites of Refusal 1U Instant (C) Discard any number of cards from your hand. Counter target spell unless its controller pays 3 for each card discarded this way. ==> FUN: 1 It costs two cards just to get it to Mana Leak strength. It looks like Wizards was serious about making counters weaker. -- 100. Scrivener 4U Creature - Townsfolk 2/2 (C) When Scrivener comes into play, you may return target instant card from your graveyard to your hand. ==> FUN: 4 It's a bit expensive for a 2/2, but it gives card advantage and works well with reusable bounce. -- 101. Shifty Doppelganger 2U Creature - Shapeshifter 1/1 (R) 3U, Remove Shifty Doppelganger from the game: Put a creature card from your hand into play. That creature gains haste until end of turn. At end of turn, sacrifice that creature. If you do, return Shifty Doppelganger to play. ==> FUN: 1 This guy has already been nicknamed, if you'll pardon the strong language, the Shitty Doppelganger. It's not really that horrible, but it pales compared to Volrath's Shapeshifter, which could do the same thing cheaper and usually keep it up for longer. It's just irritating that Wizards decided to mess with the usual shapeshifting template and turn it into what looks like a big kludge. On the up side, this guy triggers comes-into-play abilities like Soul Warden and leaves-play abilities like Fecundity. So it's actually not all that bad. But it's still a horrible kludge. -- 102. Standstill 1U Enchantment (U) When a player plays a spell, sacrifice Standstill. If you do, then each of that player's opponents draws three cards. ==> FUN: 5 Perfect for the Auramancer/Monk Idealist deck. Three cards for two mana is pretty strong and it shouldn't be a problem to get those cards. Either make sure you have board advantage when you cast this or use manlands to get board advantage after casting it. With a bit of luck and an inexperienced opponent, you'll be able to stall long enough to get a good mana base and a few counterspells in hand. Maybe I'm overestimating this card, but it's going to be fun trying it out. -- 103. Syncopate XU Instant (C) Counter target spell unless its controller pays X. If that spell is countered this way, remove it from the game instead of putting it into its owner's graveyard. ==> FUN: 3 A Powersink without the advantage of forcing your opponent to tap out, which I think is the best part about Powersink. Still, removing the card from the game is good as well. A very useful, splashable counterspell. -- 104. Think Tank 2U Enchantment (U) At the beginning of your upkeep, look at the top card of your library. You may put that card into your graveyard. ==> FUN: 2 Think Tank is a little bit too slow and subtle, even for me. Sure, it helps you reach threshold and it improves the quality of your draw, but it takes a long time for the effect to become noticeable. -- 105. Thought Devourer 2UU Creature - Beast 4/4 (R) Flying Your maximum hand size is reduced by four. ==> FUN: 2 A cheap 4/4 flier with a manageable drawback. Not bad, but pretty bland for a rare. -- 106. Thought Eater 1U Creature - Beast 2/2 (U) Flying Your maximum hand size is reduced by three. ==> FUN: 3 I'm not sure the drawback is worth it for a small creature like this. Still, as a weenie it's pretty good, you just have to be careful not to end up with too many of them in your hand. -- 107. Thought Nibbler U Creature - Beast 1/1 (C) Flying Your maximum hand size is reduced by two. ==> FUN: 2 A 1/1 isn't big enough to make much of a difference. -- 108. Time Stretch 8UU Sorcery (R) Target player takes two extra turns after this one. ==> FUN: 4 It's too expensive to seriously contemplate casting it, but the effect is just classy. It's a good thing Dream Halls is banned, because I'm sure Time Stretch would be seriously broken with it. -- 109. Touch of Invisibility 3U Sorcery (C) Target creature is unblockable this turn. Draw a card. ==> FUN: 2 Well, it's a cantrip, but it's also way overcosted compared to a card like Shadow Rift, which basically does the same thing as an instant for U. -- 110. Traumatize 3UU Sorcery (R) Target player puts the top half of his or her library, rounded down, into his or her graveyard. ==> FUN: 5 Traumatize is a hard card to figure out. Playing it on an opponent can speed up a milling strategy, but is otherwise not that useful. And Millstone is cheaper to cast. It combos well with a card like Bazaar of Wonders, though. Cast Bazaar and follow it up with a Traumatize for an almost complete lock. You can also cast it on yourself if you use cards like Life Burst or Accumulated Knowledge. There are cheaper ways to mill yourself, but they usually have drawbacks like requiring you to play with little or no creatures. Upgraded because a few of the cards in Odyssey work extremely well with this. -- 111. Treetop Sentinel 2UU Creature - Bird Soldier 2/3 (U) Flying, protection from green ==> FUN: 3 Useful, but not blue's best green hoser by a long shot. -- 112. Unifying Theory 1U Enchantment (R) Whenever a player plays a spell, that player may pay 2. If the player does, he or she draws a card. ==> FUN: 4 I like Horn of Plenty and this one is much cheaper. It's more expensive to use too, but that also helps stop opponents from using it too much. Unifying Theory would fit well in a green/blue deck with cards like Plow Under and Fallow Earth to stop opponents from using it and a bit of mana acceleration and lots of cheap spells to get plenty of cards out of it yourself. -- 113. Upheaval 4UU Sorcery (R) Return all permanents to their owners' hands. ==> FUN: 5 As reset buttons go, this one is thorough. It even gets rid of enchantments, unlike Jokulhaups and Obliterate. Because Upheaval returns so many permanents to hand, both players will even have a full hand to work with again, so card advantage before the Upheavel is pretty much nullified. Unless you happen to have a Spellbook in hand when you cast it. Upheaval doesn't fit in counterspell decks or weenie decks, though. Counter decks want to keep their lands in play and weenie decks aren't likely to get to six mana in time. -- 114. Words of Wisdom 1U Instant (C) You draw two cards, then each other player draws a card. ==> FUN: 2 A good way to make friends in multiplayer.
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