Welcome back to another week of Crack a Pack MTG with Bruce. We’re going to take a little break from some M15 for a while, mostly because as cool as the set is, it is also a very tricky draft format because there are a very high number of picks where it is tough to decide what is best. It just isn’t a clear cut slam dunk. There are so many interchangeable cards and cards that seem to be reasonable (but not amazing) in M15 that picking cards and ordering selections is very difficult. So, this week I thought I’d go back to Journey Into Nyx…but don’t worry, I’ll be back on M15 for next week, that’s a guarantee.
There’s no point beating around the bush…let’s get down to business and see what we’ve got.
Ok, once again this week we have opened up another premium Mythic Rare in our pack. Pharika is pretty solid god who got a bit of bad reputation. She’s a house at 5/5 for 3 mana if you can get her online…so if you want to take her you had better be ready to go Black and Green. Her activated ability is also pretty useful if you can score a few Constellation cards in your draft. She also accesses your graveyard to make 1/1 death touching snake tokens which can warp combat and trade up to take out much larger creatures. Add in the feature that she’s worth a couple of dollars and you have the makings of a very fine first pick. In some formats I would be shy to grab a Gold card as my first pick, but considering the relative power level of the card and the fact that the B/G deck is actually very good, I’d be prepared to grab her and see what I can manage when it comes to finding playable cards to support Pharika. She’s not quite a windmill slam first pick, but she is very solid and clearly gets out in front as the early favorite.
Believe it or not, the next card to grab my attention is Sigiled Starfish. This innocuous little 0/3 is super useful. For starters, it blocks “Bears” for days, but the real asset is the Scry 1 ability when you tap it. This allows for SO much card filtering in your deck that it is a little absurd. This improved card selection may not give you true card advantage, but the improved quality of what you will be drawing will make a huge difference and put you in the driver’s seat.
The next card that grabs my attention is Bladetusk Boar. This solid creature comes with evasion in the form of intimidate and just does work. A 3/2 for 4 mana isn’t super efficient, but the fact that it almost assuredly speeds up the clock on your opponent means that it needs to get answered soon. Also, Red is very strong in this format, so grabbing the Boar and then forcing Red a little doesn’t feel like a bad idea.
Gold-Forged Sentinel is another interesting card. A 4/4 flier for 6 mana, but seeing as it is an artifact it can fit in any deck. I like the 4/4 flier. I like that it is an artifact and can deal with creatures with Intimidate. This is a very reasonable choice and a solid body that can get rough and tumble when you need it. Normally artifacts aren’t a high priority for me, but this one is a very serviceable body and can fit anywhere.
Sigiled Skink also gets my attention because a 2/1 for 2 mana is very crucial in this very fast draft format. The fact that it allows you to scry 1 whenever it attacks can also set up some very good card filtering and really help your cause avoid drawing into dead cards. I like this little guy, but he is a little limited due to his 1 toughness.
Colossal Heroics is a useful combat trick to untap a blocker and pump it…and the Strive ability can help you to set up a situation where you could conceivably blow your opponent out with surprise blockers. It takes a fair degree of set up, so go sparingly with this card, but it does make a useful addition to a deck and is a long way from being unplayable.
Spiteful Blow always gets my attention. Yes, it is still 6 mana removal…that hasn’t changed from a couple of weeks back when I looked a pack of Journey Into Nyx…but it does kill a creature, set your opponent back a turn with respect to their land, and is a nice insurance policy. I’ll look at it because removal at almost any price will get consideration, but it’s not super flashy.
Akroan Mastiff is a very solid tempo type creature for white. The ability to tap down a creature is very relevant and makes this a strong utility creature. The body is a little fragile, so it is unlikely to be going into combat too frequently, but I won’t give up on it.
Nyx Infusion is a versatile aura that can act as a form of quasi removal or as a pump spell. The options presented here makes this a very valuable little addition to deal with creatures of all sorts. Look in this pack alone at all the things this card kills. Sigiled Skink, Akroan Mastiff and Bladetusk Boar and it turns the Gold-Forged Sentinel into a Wind Drake. No, this is useful in either mode, but mostly as a form of conditional removal.
Godhunter Octopus. I don’t much care for this card. Sure, a 5/5 for 6 mana is pretty useful at the top end of the curve, but the condition placed on this creature in order for it to attack really makes me nervous. There are lots of other very good 6 drop creatures in this format and I would be none too thrilled to have this at the top of my curve unless I was well and truly stuck.
Mortal Obstinacy, Cruel Feeding, and Nature’s Panopoly. I lump all of these in together, not because they do the same thing, but because they are all marginal cards that you could play if you wanted to try and benefit from some Heroic triggers. Otherwise, they are all kind of Blah and could be played as a 23 card, but you aren’t going to fist pump like a champ because you grabbed any of them. Your deck would also largely be fine if they didn’t make the deck in favor of some other card too.
Desecration Plague is the last card in this pack and is probably the most unplayable card in the pack. Destroying a land is fine and all, but truthfully speaking, you would rather be doing something else with your mana. Sure, the Kitchen Table “Land Destruction deck” will love this card, but in a draft, if you would like to do well, you avoid this and hope it gets forced on someone. It just does not do enough to impact the board state and leaves you stranded looking at a dead card in hand.
Once again this week, there is almost no doubt about what gets drafted first. Pharika, God of Affliction is just too powerful to ignore, and so you’ll grab her and try and force Black and Green a little. There are a few other cards in this pack in both Black and Green that might work their way back to, so I won’t feel bad. However, I have left Red and two very strong Red creatures (the Boar and the Skink) available meaning that there will almost assuredly be someone in Red nearby. All in all, I feel pretty good about my pick and comfortable with the direction I would be taking and ready to see what came next.
So, there we have it…another week, another pack, and pretty sweet Mythic Rare in the form of Pharika. What would have picked first? Pharika? The Starfish? Something else? I could see someone making a pretty good case with this pack as there were actually some other choices that could have made sense in another strategy, but I feel pretty safe in taking the Pharika and trying to build the B/G agro deck.
Thanks very much and until next time, may you open nothing but bomb Mythic rares.
by Bruce Gray – Casual Encounters @bgray8791
Yet some more sweet goodness was spoiled, including the last of the Gods…so let’s see what we find today!
Master of the Feast- Whoa! Now, here we have something pretty crazy that I haven’t seen in a while. This is a 5/5 flying Demon for 1 colourless and 2 black. Yup, you heard me, 3 mana for 5/5 flier. I’m sorry…but that’s huge! Yes, there is a drawback, but this casting cost reminds me of Juzam Djinn in that you get a ridiculously overpowered creature for cheap. Now, with any creature that is overpowered to such a degree, there is a drawback and it is that during your upkeep each opponent draws a card. Now, let’s be honest, if you see this card in a draft it is a first pick bomb, no questions asked. However, will this see play in Constructed? At this point, I don’t think so, but you may see some Mono-Black decks experiment with it instead of Desecration Demon because it doesn’t get tapped down, and Master of the Feast still contributes 2 to your devotion. Now, once rotation comes in the Fall I can see this card getting played to restore some of the loss of the giant demon from Return to Ravnica, but I think right now it is on the outside looking in. I’m still not crazy about the drawback because that extra card could be exactly what my opponent needed, but it’s a trade off I may be prepared to make to get a 5/5 flier on Turn 3. So, for being a first pick in Draft and having some serious potential in Constructed I figure this gets a A.
Pharika, God of Affliction- I thought that 1 God for 3 mana was good, here’s yet ANOTHER one! Pharika is a 5/5 indestructible Legendary Enchantment Creature God with the same devotion mechanic we have come to expect. Her ability is that for a black and a green you can exile a creature card from target players graveyard and put a 1/1 snake token with death touch under the control of the owner of the card exiled. Notice that she doesn’t need to tapand can do it and instant speed in order to churn through a graveyard and could exile all the creatures in very short order. A super aggressively costed God, she will likely see play and will totally result in ridiculous graveyard shenanigans. With B/G “dredge” starting to pop up all over the place place, this just might be the tool it needed to take control and push it into a very serious contender. Like with any of the Gods, she’s awesome in Draft…and could be really cool in Constructed. So, for yet another awesome God, she’s getting an A.
Prophetic Flamespeaker- Another Mythic rare is spoiled and it is super interesting. A 3 mana (1 colourless and 2 red) for 1/3 with double strike and trample. Whenever Prophetic Flamespeaker deals damage to an opponent exile your top card of your deck, you may cast that card this turn. I think this is super fun and very interesting for the fact that it can generate extra card advantage for a red deck that usually struggles to draw cards. The issue I have is that it is a 1/3 and in order to get it to the point where it can likely deal damage to reap the benefit of the ability, I’ll need to at least bestow or enchant something on it because a 1/3 isn’t getting there (even with Double Strike and Trample) in most situations. That extra set up cost makes it a hard sell to Constructed games, but it would be pretty useful in draft where you may find yourself bestowing more frequently. I think that this is fun card, very interesting and could be useful in draft, but the set up is too high for Constructed, so I feel like this is a B even if it is a Mythic Rare.
Twinflame- Here we have a something that could be wild if you are playing a creature heavy deck. A 2 mana (1 red, 1 colourless) sorcery that says you may make put a token that is a copy of one of your creatures. The token gains haste and is sacrificed at the beginning of your end step. That could give you an extra attacker to rush your opponent, and if the creature you are attacking with is a real menace, then you have twice the firepower coming. What makes this potentially back breaking is the strive ability where for each additional 3 mana (2 colourless and a red) you may choose another target creature. So, this could totally allow you to flood the board and overwhelm an opponent and just crush them with tokens that essentially double up your board state. This will absolutely see draft play because creatures play a very prominent role there, and I would love to see a Constructed deck emerge that could utilize it. I doubt it will see constructed, in no small part to fact that it also takes some heavy set up in order to pull it off, but I can dream. I feel like this is a C+ because in the right draft deck it could be pretty powerful, but may end up drawing dead more often than not.
This is one of the most amazing times of the year. We’ve watched how Theros has unfolded, and then how Born of the Gods fits in with the broader scheme of things. Now, we get to see what the final piece of the puzzle, Journey into Nyx, is going to look like to start to round out the full block. We recently saw the art work get released and felt I needed to take a moment and chronicle my own reaction to what we have seen.
First off, let me start by saying some of the art work is breathtaking. I mean, those are some sweet looking Gods! I’ve seen some reaction on the internet where people are discouraged, but I wanted to take a glass half full approach to things.
The first God is Atheros, God of the Passage. Ok, if this is going to be the art used on his card then I may find myself a new colour combination as my favorite. He looks SOOOOOOO bad ass!! I actually really like the fact that you can’t see his face, leaving the imagination to figure out what is actually hidden behind the veil. And the colours! If there was a God of the Passage in actual Greek or Roman history, we didn’t do him enough justice because this guy looks amazing! I’m in…this guy looks sweet and I can’t wait to see what his abilities will be.
Iroas, God of Victory is standing there and baiting everyone to come get a big ol’ piece of his spear and shield…and I love it. The background of a peaceful hillside is a little underwhelming, but I like to think that they have positioned this guy over top of a giant battlefield down below where Planeswalkers are waging a ferocious battle and he’s just checking out the whole thing. Bring on the full spoiler because I want to take this shiny Red and White Ferrari out for a spin!
Keranos, God of Storms looks pissed! Now, when I envisioned the Red God, I hadn’t really figured he would look like Purphorous. Yeah, I get the whole God of the forge angle, but I was really hoping Red would get a god of lightning, storms, and full on craziness! Well, we got it! This guy looks pissed that he was based up and supplanted by Purphorous in Theros and is going to lay a mad beat down and all those who get in his way. Oh, and the art is sick too…just in case you hadn’t noticed.
Kruphix, God of Horizons. I don’t even know what a God of Horizons is, but let me tell you, his multi-armed silhouette looks AWESOME. The nice part with this one is that we are also left guessing at what this guy looks like and so our imagination takes over. The possibilities are endless and I really hope that this is the art used on the card and not some alternative piece to be used on a playmat or something. He looks amazing and leaves me wanting more.
Pharika, God of Affliction. Ah yes, the Giant Gorgon God. Well, she’s exactly what I had in mind as she looks like many of her minions ranging from Pharika’s Mender to any of the other Gorgons running around the set. I hope this block gets a good dose of G/B type cards to really make her and her minions something formidable because she has some cool art and I can only imagine what the corresponding abilities will be.
Elspeth. Are we seriously going to get a second Elspeth planeswalker in the Block? I doubt it, but what you might see is her ridiculously sweet looking staff making an appearance. The art work doesn’t reveal much , but it does highlight her weapon and by the way it’s glowing, I would suspect that it’s getting ready to do something absolutely BONKERS! I can’t wait!
Hero’s Trial. This one is a bit of a mystery. To date we’ve really had a pretty good idea about what the art work is showing us, but this seems a little less clear. It is also in a much different style compared to the other pieces shown. I like the style as I feel it is very flavourful and in keeping with the Theros Plane, but I want to know more. My only hope is that this is some sweet Rare spell and not some completely underwhelming uncommon. I can’t express how disappointed I was when all the promotional art for Theros started getting spilled and Arena Athlete was a playable, but underwhelming, uncommon. Let’s hope this one is cool.
Ajani Goldmane and Elspeth. So, I have 2 words. SHUT UP! These are two of my favorite planeswalkers and they get to TEAM UP! Please make it so! Wizards, please, please, please listen here…this would be MIND BLOWING! We know that Theros has Leonin and so to see Ajani make an appearance isn’t totally unheard of, but to pair Elspeth and Ajani, even if it is only a spell would be crazy cool. If this also means that there is another White Planeswalker going to get dropped, well, there goes the neighbourhood. Elspeth is an absolute powerhouse in the set and have her get a running buddy, in the same colour, would be like having your ice cream and your cake…and wash it down with your favorite beverage…and then have the restaurant hand you back all your money and tell you that it was on the house…that good.
So, I hope that you are as excited as I am for what looks to be an awesome spoiler season for Journey into Nyx. Lots of new things to come our way shortly, I’m sure, and I can hardly wait. Let me know what you think about the new spoilers and art from Journey into Nyx. Did you Dig it? Did you hate it? What do you hope to see?
So, until next time, keep it fun, keep it safe…keep it casual.
Bruce Gray
@bgray8791
A Hero’s Trial
Ajani Goldmane and Elspeth
Elspeth
Athreos, God of Passage
Iroas, God of Victory
Keranos, God of Storms
Kruphix, God of Horizons
Pharika, God of Affliction
Check out Bruce Gray’s comments and thoughts on the new Gods and artwork.
