It’s that time of year again ladies and gentlemen: New set
time! And as such, I’m going to be going
over the card in relation to the format of Kings: Type 4 (Intro àhttp://www.gatheringmagic.com/introducing-type-4/).
If you’re too lazy to read something
else I wrote, in Type 4 you get infinite mana but can only play one spell a
turn. With that in mind, let’s dive in!
Ugin, the Spirit Dragon:
I’m not sold on this guy. His ult
is solid, and his second ability isn’t bad, but his plus doesn’t do all the
much. I’d probably still play him in my
stack, but don’t expect to get to ultimate any time soon.
Channel Harm: It prevents damage at instant speed, then
turns that damage around to kill something.
You can loop this infinitely with Glarecaster for literally no reason
(maybe you have a damage doubler or something?). Certainly playable.
Citadel Siege: The
sieges are all odd. Most of them look
really good in EDH, but how about type 4?
This one looked to be meh until I noticed it tapped on each opponent’s
combat. Given that creatures are
relatively rare, tapping 1 creature could be your opponent’s entire board. The other ability isn’t terrible either, but
you’ll use it far less. Playable.
Mastery of the Unseen:
Ahhh, the first of the infinity cards.
What I mean is that with infinite mana, you can manifest your entire
deck, then flip all the creatures and do horrible things to the table with
them. I wouldn’t play this in my stack
because I like to avoid 1 card kills, but if that’s your thing go nuts, this
one looks fun.
Pressure Point: Yes,
I’m talking about the limited combat trick, for 3 words: Draw a card. Making your cards net 0 is never terrible if
the card does something else relevant.
Tapping a guy can save your life, or at least gain your 6. Don’t knock it before you try it.
Rally the Ancestors: Reanimate your entire yard, but you can’t
attack. Odd card to be sure, but
probably really, really good.
Soulfire Grand Master: Best Type 4 card in the set. The lifelink is cute, your Urza’s Rage gains
you 10 and kills someone; the real killer is that the Urza’s Rage is back in
your hand. Honestly might be too
powerful for some stacks.
Valorous Stance: removal, if you need it you need it.
Enhanced Awareness: Instant
speed card draw is good, and you get to fuel grave shenanigans as well. Good card.
Fascination: Kills the table, nothing to see here folks.
Monastary Siege: Is looting every turn worth spending a card
and a turn on? My heart says no, but my
mind says probably. Nothing real exciting,
but does what it does pretty well.
Neutralizing Blast: About 1/3 to ¼ of the cards in my stack
are multicolored. I’d play this, but
cancel is better. Not exciting or real
good.
Reality Shift: Sometimes, you need to get rid of their indestructible
dude. This does that at instant speed at
the cost of a manifest. Probably worth
it, but if they flip some good dude you can only laugh.
Refocus: This on the
other hand, is not something I want to be doing despite being card
neutral. Still playable if you have a
creature heavy stack, but really mediocre.
Supplant Form: Bounce their guy and get a clone of him. Pretty neat card, and being an instant is
awesome. Playable.
Temporal Trespass: I
have literally no experience with time walks in Type 4. That said, theorycraft says they’re probably
bad. Sorcery speed, easily countered, fear
reaction from others. All these things
tell me that this is probably mediocre.
Hell, it exiles itself.
Torrent Elemental: its
second ability excites me (Infinite with Dark Imposter), but its first ability
isn’t trash. Probably playable in most
stacks.
Archfiend of Depravity:
Every instinct tells me this is just worse than Woebringer Demon, but it
might still be good. Definitely a fun
and flavorful card.
Brutal Hordechief:
Once again, it’s the second ability on the mythic that excites. Choosing how combat goes down every turn is
very cool. Probably not a great card,
but I love messing with combat so I’ll definitely put one in if I get it.
Crux of Fate: Kills
the board, can kill one person’s dragon army, good card overall.
Dark Deal: This card
looks hilarious. Probably terrible, but
I’m jamming a copy for sure.
Ghastly Conscription:
This basically reads “An opponent discards a wrath or counterspell”
because there is no way you get this off.
But if you do, horrible things happen to your opponents. This is the type of card this format loves.
Palace Siege: It’s Oversold cemetary, but no 4+ dudes
restriction. The second ability can kill
people too. Good card.
Reach of Shadows: See
above: Instant speed removal is Instant speed removal, and every stack should
play some.
Soulflayer: Probably terrible, but once again, just watching
the fun mish mash of abilities is the best.
Tasigur: Deck yourself, then get your graveyard into your
hand. Infinite stack can enjoy this.
Arcbond: Another
Glarecaster combo enabler. Also results
in fun stories. I’d play it.
Flamecrush Rider: If
you play (like I do) that dash is an alternative cost that doesn’t count as
your spell for the turn, this card is pretty ok. If not it’s pretty bad.
Flamewake Phoenix: I don’t know why a 2/2 is interesting to
me for Type 4, but I feel there’s some fun stuff to be had with this guy.
Fire at Will: Best flavor text in the set, and probably a
playable card in many lower power/fun loving stacks.
Mob Rule: Get all the fatties or all the utility dudes. Good either way.
Outpost Siege: If you
play the rule that cards cast off other cards don’t count towards your limit
(cascade, brilliant ultimatum), this card is insane. If not, it’s still really good.
Shaman of the Great Hunt: Yay draw your deck (infinite stack
maybe, doesn’t even kill)
Arashin War Beast:
Manifest is an unknown right now to me, so I’ll be testing this. Probably just a vanilla 6/6 a lot of the time,
but who knows.
Return to the Earth: I was positive this was a reprint. It’s not.
Still a fine card, kills 3 very dangerous things.
Sandsteppe Mastodon: On an empty board he’s a 10/10. I like 10/10s. If you don’t, don’t bother.
Shamanic Revelation:
If you have a creature heavy stack this is the nuts. If not this is pretty mediocre. Choose to play accordingly.
Warden of the First Tree:
Shivan dragon with infinite booty and lifelink and trample. Infinite Stack.
Whisperwood elemental: How good this card is depends a lot
on how good manifest is in your stack/deck.
Wildcall: Infinte stack wants to try manifest as well.
Atarka: Dragons are popping
in Type 4, so giving them double strike is pretty rad. Plus a 12/4 trample is sick.
Dromoka: looks cool, attacks as a 7/7 on an empty
board. With more dragons is pretty good.
Ethereal Ambush: This
will be the manifest card I will be using to test manifest, because 4 power at
instant speed is still fine.
Kolghan: Rad art, and as mentioned above, if Dash is free he’s
pretty cool. as he dodges wraths.
Ojutai: Tapping stuff is pretty underrated in Type 4, but it
gets the job done pretty well. Also has
vigilance.
And that wraps up my Type 4 Fate Reforged review! Plenty of sold cards, at least 1 that will be
with us for many, many years to come.
