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A Complete Review of Judgment (red)

77. Anger U, 3R Creature - Incarnation 2/2
Haste
As long as ~this~ is in your graveyard and you control a mountain, all creatures you control gain haste.
"For its time as a mortal, Anger chose a shell of boiling rock." - Scroll of beginning

==> FUN: 4
Weird flavor text. What would a mortal do with a "shell of boiling rock" except, well, die from serious burns? Anyway, Anger is the predictable haste incarnation. Will green get a trample one? Keep reading and you'll find out! Anger looks pretty solid. It'll keep your opponent appropriately afraid of you. He or she will be forced to keep extra blockers or instant removal in hand just in case. It can also be used with Buried Alive to speed up your assault with some animated fatty. Just keep in mind you need to have a Mountain in play for this to work.

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78. Arcane Teachings C, 2R Enchant Creature
Enchanted creature gets +2/+2 and has "T: This deals one damage to target creature or player."
Dwarves may teach at the speed of stone, but the results are solid.

==> FUN: 4
Nifty. Arcane Teachings is the latest in a long tradition of ping enchantments. The +2/+2 is a bit out of place, because you can't both attack with the enchanted creature and use it to deal one damage in the same turn. Usually. The obvious exception is creatures that don't tap to attack. Red creatures aren't known for that kind of ability and the only one I can think of that has it is Tahngarth, but he already has a better ping ability. White has a reasonable amount of creatures that don't tap to attack, like Serra Angel and Standing Troops. That should make those creatures formidable enough to be worth the risk of card disadvantage. Horseshoe Crab is another good option, giving the same effect as Hermetic Study on a Crab, but making it a good attacker at the same time. Not that Crab decks often need to attack.

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79. Barbarian Bully C, 2R Creature - Barbarian 2/2
Discard a card at random from your hand: ~this~ gets +2/+2 until end of turn unless a player has ~this~ deal 4 damage to him or her. Play this ability only once each turn.
"Out of my way!"

==> FUN: 1
The discard is at random, so it's hard to use it for madness or threshold. The ability can only be used once per turn, so you can't bluff your opponent into thinking you might be able to win if you discard your whole hand to it. Your opponent even has the option of preventing the ability, still costing you the card. All that adds up to a very unreliable creature.

--
80. Book Burning C, 1R Sorcery
Unless a player has ~this~ deal 6 damage to him or her, put the top 6 cards of target player's library into his or her graveyard.
The wizard's spellbook was full of burning questions.

==> FUN: 3
I've already heard a lot about this card. Some people are very impressed with it, but I'm not. The obvious use is to try to reach threshold on your second turn. With Book Burning, that's very possible. If your opponent doesn't pay the life, you're guaranteed threshold (six cards plus the book burning itself). I'd seriously consider paying the six life, though, because I'm likely to get overrun completely if I allow my opponent to get threshold that early. Six damage for two mana is a lot, but can a threshold deck quickly whittle away that remaining 14 life without threshold? Possibly, but it's a lot harder. Remember, first of all, that red doesn't have a lot of threshold cards and certainly not many good ones. Green is the real threshold color, with Nimble Mongoose and Werebear with plenty of flashback creatures to back them up. The other problem with Book Burning is that it's a sorcery. Tolarian Winds is an instant and that makes it often possible to attack with small creatures and finish off a few blockers by casting a surprise Tolarian Winds to reach threshold and make your small creatures big. In short, Book Burning certainly isn't a bad card, but it's too unreliable. You really don't want to be stuck waiting for threshold for about ten more turns if your opponent decides that six damage isn't so bad after all. You can use Book Burning on your opponent as well, which could be fun if you have a Guiltfeeder in play.

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81. Breaking Point R, 1RR Sorcery
Destroy all creatures unless a player has Breaking Point deal 6 damage to him or her. Creatures destroyed this way can't be regenerated.
"Enough!"

==> FUN: 2
A preventable Wrath of God. Wraths are usually played in control decks, though, in which case the six damage is going to be easy to swallow for your opponent. Breaking Point could work in an aggressive deck, as long as it didn't depend too much on creatures. A few quick weenies, followed by a Breaking Point and some burn to finish off. That could work. If your opponent takes the damage, he's going to be easy to burn out. If he doesn't, you've bought yourself enough time to draw more burn and weenies. Still, it's not my type of deck, because it makes for short, one-sided games.

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82. Browbeat U, 2R Sorcery
Unless a player has ~this~ deal 5 damage to him or her, target player draws three cards.
"Even the threat of power has power." - Jeska, warrior adept

==> FUN: 2
Red card drawing is nearly non-existent now that I think about it. Every other color has it as at least a small sideline, but Browbeat is the only red card drawer I can think of. I'd be tempted to take the damage, because any deck running Browbeat probably has a good chance of drawing more potential damage in those three cards anyway. Browbeat looks like it could be pretty good, but I'm not crazy about spells my opponent gets a say in. With my luck I'll be playing against a lifegain deck that's on 30 life by the time I cast this.

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83. Burning Wish R, 1R Sorcery
Choose a sorcery you own from outside the game, reveal that card, and put it into your hand. Remove ~this~ from the game.
She wished for a weapon, but not for the skill to wield it.

==> FUN: 4
Two mana is pretty cheap for a wish. It's too bad red doesn't have a lot of subtle sorceries, like the other colors. Sure, there's silly stuff like Thieves' Auction, Goblin Game and Goblin Offensive, but no Haunting Echoes, Traumatize, Parallel Evolution or Ancestral Tribute. Most of red's spells are about dealing damage, so there won't be much you're simply dying to get with Burning Wish, except more damage. Burning Wish is cheap enough to use as a semi-tutor for those damage dealing sorceries, but I'd prefer to play it in a deck with other colors to give me more options.

--
84. Dwarven Bloodboiler R, RRR Creature - Dwarf 2/2
Tap an untapped Dwarf you control: Target creature gets +2/+0 until end of turn.
His battle cry unleashed an avalanche of dwarves.

==> FUN: 4
Dwarven Bloodboiler looks like a good card, but are there enough cheap dwarves to make it worth it? Well, if there are no potential blockers, any 2 power dwarf or higher is better off attacking. And one power dwarves are usually either bad or they have some useful ability that requires tapping them or attacking with them. That means Dwarven Bloodboiler is probably not going to be very useful for doing extra damage, although it gives your summoning sick dwarves the option of adding extra strength to your attack. Also, just keeping one or two dwarves back is going to make it impossible to safely block your creatures. It's certainly worth trying this guy out in a dwarf theme deck.

--
85. Dwarven Driller U, 3R Creature - Dwarf 2/2
T: Destroy target land unless its controller deals two damage to him or her.
"Drill the planet, its no trouble: Mining granite, making rubble." - Dwarven drilling song

==> FUN: 2
Hmm, attack with a 2/2 or tap the 2/2 to do two damage to your opponent. There's not much difference when you think about it. Again, giving your opponent options is usually not a good idea.

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86. Dwarven Scorcher C, R Creature - Dwarf 1/1
Sacrifice ~this~: ~this~ deals 1 damage to target creature unless that creature's controller has ~this~ deal 2 damage to him or her.
Barbarians invented the blaze of glory. Dwarves protected it.

==> FUN: 1
Not a terrible card, but Mogg Fanatic was better in ever way. That doesn't really endear me to Dwarven Scorcher. Again, you give your opponent a choice, which means he'll always pick the option you least wanted. Usually that means he'll just take two damage. Oh well, it could be a good addition to a dwarf deck.

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87. Ember Shot C, 6R Instant
~this~ deal 3 damage to target creature or player.
Draw a card.
Dwarves bring poor coal to market, use good coal in their homes, and throw their best coal away.

==> FUN: 1
Seven mana for a Lightning Bolt is incredibly overcosted, even if it is a cantrip. It may even be too expensive to work in limited decks. I'm usually pretty good about liking cantrip (I even like Flare!) but this one just leaves me cold.

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88. Firecat Blitz U, XRR Sorcery
Put X 1/1 red Cat creature tokens with haste into play. Remove them from the game at end of turn.
Flashback: RR, Sacrifice X Mountains

==> FUN: 4
Firecat Blitz is not an army creation card like Goblin Offensive, because the tokens disappear at end of turn. It's also not a Ball Lightning type card that can do a lot of damage for little mana before your opponent knows what's going on. Without anything to take advantage of the large number of creature tokens and disregarding the flashback, it's just a more expensive Blaze. However, with a Goblin Bombardment or Orcish Oriflamme in play, your cats will do twice the damage. With an Ashnod's Altar in play, you can sacrifice the cats after their attack to power a big, gamewinning Fireball. That's even more fun if you have a Fecundity in play.

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89. Flaring Pain C, 1R Instant
Damage can't be prevented this turn.
Flashback: R
"I don't rub salt in wounds. I use sulfur." - Maloc, lavamancer

==> FUN: 1
Red probably needs this to stand a chance against all of white's damage prevention, including the creatures that do it automatically. A useful card, definitely worth sideboarding if you're taking a red deck to a tournament, but when you think about it, it's nothing more than a preventative measure against some of the red hosers out there. Not my kind of card.

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90. Fledgling Dragon R, 2RR Creature - Dragon 2/2
Flying
Threshold: ~this~ gets +3/+3 and has "R: ~this~ gets +1/+0 until end of turn."

==> FUN: 3
Hmm, didn't I say red had no threshold cards worth speaking of? Well, this one might qualify. Still, I'd rather splash blue to help me reach threshold than to depend on Book Burning. Unless I'm using lots of cheap burn to back up the Book Burning, but that's not my style of deck.

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91. Goretusk Firebeast C, 5R Creature - Beast 2/2
When ~this~ comes into play, it deals 4 damage to target player.
As a youth, Kamahl took one for a pet. His hair has yet to grow back.

==> FUN: 2
Don't look at Goretusk Firebeast as a creature with a strong comes-into-play ability. Look at it as a weak Lava Axe that comes with a weenie attached. Too bad that weenie will be next to useless by the time you have six mana available.

--
92. Infectious Rage U, 1R Enchant Creature
Enchanted creature gets +2/-1.
Whenever enchanted creature is put into a graveyard, choose a creature at random ~this~ can enchant. Return ~this~ to play enchanting that creature.

==> FUN: 4
Choosing a creature at random is going to be trickier than it looks. The easiest way is probably to give each creature a number and roll a dice, rerolling if no creature has the rolled number. Better bring dice to the prerelease, I guess! Infectious Rage is a nice card, but it's going to take practice to learn how to play it. Obviously, your creatures should have at least two toughness in case Infectious Rage ends up enchanting them, but you could also make good use of plenty of burn in various sizes, so you can pick off any opposing creature Infectious Rage happens to land on. When casting Infectious Rage, ideally you'll take out a one toughness creature from your opponent or use it to get one of them into burn range and keep burning your opponent's creatures until it ends up on one of your own.

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93. Jeska, Warrior Adept R, 2RR Creature - Barbarian Legend 3/1
First Strike, Haste
T: ~this~ deals one damage to target creature or player.
"My brother and I both come from Balthor's forge. Kamahl has a temper of fire. I have a temper of steel."

==> FUN: 3
One toughness makes it a fragile creature for four mana. I'd expect more from a legend.

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94. Lava Dart C, R Instant
~this~ deals 1 damage to target creature or player.
Flashback: Sacrifice a mountain.

==> FUN: 2
Lava Dart looks like a more flexible Shock, with the potential for card advantage, but the flashback cost of sacrificing a Mountain is a lot for a measly 1 damage. Lava Dart is good against one toughness creatures, but against anything else I'd rather have a Shock.

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95. Liberated Dwarf C, R Creature - Dwarf 1/1
R, Sacrifice ~this~: Target green creature gets +1/+0 and gains first strike until end of turn.
Freed from their chains, these dwarves are bound only by honor.

==> FUN: 2
The mere threat of a Liberated Dwarf sacrificing itself for one of your green creatures can be very useful, but for a card that's already bound to two different colors, the ability is a bit too limited.

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96. Lightning Surge R, 3RR Sorcery
~this~ deals 4 damage to target creature or player.
Threshold - Instead ~this~ deals 6 damage to that creature or player and the damage can't be prevented.
Flashback 5RR

==> FUN: 2
I was hoping we'd see at least one card with both threshold and flashback, but it couldn't have been on a blander card. It looks reasonably costed, but I dislike uninteresting cards like Lightning Surge.

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97. Planar Chaos U, 2R Enchantment
At the beginning of your upkeep, flip a coin, if you lose the flip, sacrifice ~this~.
Whenever a player plays a spell, that player flips a coin. If he or she loses the flip, counter that spell.

==> FUN: 4
I like it. Add Goblin Bookies, Chance Encounter, Auramancer and Monk Idealist and your opponent will have little chance of getting anything cast, while you can easily get Planar Chaos back whenever you lose it. It should also work to potentially stall an opponent for a turn or two if you're winning.

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98. Shaman's Trance R, 2R Instant
Until end of turn, other players can't play spells from their graveyards and you may play cards in other players graveyards as if they were in your graveyard.

==> FUN: 2
It looks to me like Shaman's Trance is specifically a flashback hoser. At least, I can't think of any other spell that can be played from the graveyard, except under a Yawgmoth's Will. Sadly, that puts this otherwise rather nifty card firmly in the hoser category. Too bad Recoup can't be used on other people's graveyards. Shaman's Trance isn't very strong anyway, because it works only if you actually have the mana to pay the flashback costs. Not only do you need the right color mana, but you need enough mana to cast the Shaman's Trance, followed by the spell itself. It should be a useful sideboard card against Yawgmoth's Will, though.

--
99. Soulgorger Orgg U, 3RR Creature - Nightmare Orgg 6/6
Trample.
When ~this~ comes into play, you lose all but one life.
When ~this~ leaves play, you gain life equal to the life lost when ~this~ came into play.

==> FUN: 3
Soulgorger Orgg is just about the riskiest card I've ever seen. Compared to it, Final Fortune is downright safe. A 6/6 trampler for five mana is very nice, but do you really want to risk getting killed by a single Shock? And you won't be able to withstand a single attack anymore, you need to be able to block all your opponent's creatures. For that reason, I think Soulgorger Orgg may see some sideboard play against creature-light control decks, depending on which of those decks sees play. And I may try to build a bluff deck around it, trying to tempt an opponent into a reckless attack because he thinks he can win, when I have something like a Vitalize in my hand. It's risky, but that's the kind of stuff your friends will hate and admire you for if you manage to pull it off.

--
100. Spellgorger Barbarian C, 3R Creature - Nightmare Barbarian 3/1
When ~this~ comes into play, discard a card at random from your hand.
When ~this~ leaves play, draw a card.
The epidemic insanity had a lasting effect on certain barbarians - but no one noticed.

==> FUN: 1
I can't begin to understand why they decided to create an expensive 3/1 and add a drawback. Sure, in the current block discarding can be a good thing, but a discard at random is still very risky and the draw you get won't happen until Spellgorger Barbarian is dead. And that may not happen at all. Compare Spellgorger Barbarian to Balduvian Horde, a 5/5 for four mana with a random discard. Sure, that doesn't let you draw a card when it dies, but a 5/5 vs a 3/1 is a pretty big difference!

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101. Swelter U, 3R Sorcery
~this~ deals two damage to each of two target creatures.
No circle has a beginning, but many have foreseeable ends.

==> FUN: 3
Swelter has the potential for card advantage, but the need to have two targets is a pretty big problem. If you're not playing with (small) creatures yourself, you're much better off with Pyroclasm.

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102. Swirling Sandstorm C, 3R Sorcery
Threshold: ~this~ deals 5 damage to each creature without flying.
As dust swept out, vultures swept in.

==> FUN: 2
I like the idea of a card that doesn't do anything unless you have threshold, but Swirling Sandstorm seems too weak. Keep in mind that white gets Wrath of God for the same price, which is more effective and doesn't require threshold. It's not that Swirling Sandstorm should be stronger, although that couldn't hurt, it should be an effect worth reaching threshold for. Keep in mind that most of the good threshold creatures will die to Swirling Sandstorm as well, so it doesn't easily fit into a threshold deck.

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103. Worldgorger Dragon R, 3RRR Creature - Nightmare Dragon 7/7
Flying, Trample
When ~this~ comes into play, remove all other permanents you control from the game.
When ~this~ leaves play, return the removed cards to play under their owner's control.

==> FUN: 4
Worldgorger Dragon. I like the name, it's nicely descriptive of what your side of the table will look like after casting him. Six mana should be just about doable and certainly worth it for a 7/7 flying trampler. The drawback looks devastating, but it's not that bad when you consider that you have a deal-with-me-or-die creature in play. Either your opponent has a Terminate for it, or you'll win in a few turns. If you play with other creatures in a deck with the Worldgorger Dragon, they should probably be utility and defensive creatures. If you remove a Shivan Dragon from the game when you play Worldgorger Dragon, you don't gain much. Also, play with a lot of comes-into-play creatures. Your opponent has to deal with your Dragon and when he does, he'll be in for a world of hurt from your creatures returning to play.

 
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