Bitter Turmoil - Complete Spoiler: Multicolor

Well, its a Lightning Blast.  Well, its a lot more than
that actually, as it could cantrip and it also
can help exile any forgotten cards that your opponent
could be stacking up against you.  So, if
red and purple is a viable deck, this card will be
in it.

Feels like careful study, but with a safety net.
If you pitched cards you couldnt flashback or animate
with careful study, those cards were pretty much gone.
With forget, you can stack useful cards in your forgotten
pile to cheat into play later, or just stuff some cards you
do not need at the moment and just save them for later.

Leave it to me to recreate Totem Armor as
a negative effect.

Superb sideboard stuff+awesome art= Nifty card.

Goofy card that doesnt fit into the quick
stratgem that goblin decks often have.
It does, however, work well in the late game.

Well, you wanted one, so here you are.
Nearly immortal and boosting your other gobbies
should make this guy a fine addition to your goblin deck.

Rejuvenate is a "Super Lifelink" ability that
I used a lot when Bitter Turmoil and Aftermath
were in their infancy.  I had to cut most of it,
and decided to keep this card in order to appease
those green/white players out there.

This is one of those few cards that I made a
long time ago and never had to change.  I love
how simple and effective it is.  A potentially
backbreaking card to be on the opposing side of.

This was the first card of Bitter Turmoil.  I used
it originally in Weathered Hope to appeal to
the "thinkers" out there that like to build decks
around complex cards such as this one.  I decided to
pull it from Weathered Hope once I knew I was doing
purple in Bitter Turmoil.  But, at that point, I didnt know
exactly what purple would be doing, all I knew
is that it involved complexity.  To sum things up,
it didnt feel like it felt like a purple card once the
Forget mechanic came into the picture, so I just kept it
the way that you see it today.  If you enjoy deckbuilding
crazy stuff, this one is for you.
(PS if you really need a hint as to why this is good, just
start with the Duration mechanic or Cumulative upkeep)

I know I know hes a Garruk Ripoff.  But thats
for a good reason.  Garruk was probably the most
balanced walker out there, so why not throw a
look-alike into the fray of this awesome set?

Craziness.  He not only works well with his master,
he holds his own just fine as well.  So many
options and all of them are good.

How is a reverse rewind any good?  It is
freaking Counterspell guys!  Maybe 10% of the
time they will embarrass you by playing another
spell with that mana you gave them but most of the
time this is indeed Counterspell!

Just had to have a Myr.  This one is Sacir's pet
and he follows suit with his ablities.

The most supported walker in this set by far.
The angel of death Sacir banishes everything
your opponent has, from their hand to their life total.
If that wasnt enough, how about erasing their
ENTIRE board with his ultimate?

Powerful on his own, and even more lethal
with Sacir.  If you need life, force your opponent to
draw and then use Sacir's plus ability!

Drains the foes life quickly and plays well with
Missive.  Does a ton of damage in Multiplayer.

Running blue/red artifacts?  (for some weird reason?)
This card was made with you in mind!

Super mega elf!  Bonus: You can cheat this guy
in turn three with the Green Planeswalker, Lork!

Thats a messed up looking sphinx! 

Ups and downs

Dark Ascension has hit, and while it was overall a very disappointing set, it did introduce a few new cards that may or may not warp standard.  Here are a few of the hyped cards, and I examine each one to see if the hype is real.

Sorin, Lord of Innistrad
Starting Price: $59.99
Current Price: $49.99
SCG buylist price: $25.00

Sorin is the most tricky card in Dark Ascension to evaluate price wise.  B/W tokens is indeed overhyped, at least until Ratchet Bomb and Sword of War and Peace rotates.  In any case, Sorin is a powerful but not broken card.  He feels like a $25-$30 card to me, but if the rumors are true, then Dark Ascension will be like Worldwake, which means there are less packs available and therefore less packs cracked.  This will shoot the price up, and if B/W tokens becomes a real contender post Scars, then Sorin will surely become a $50-$60 card.

Final Verdict: Pick these up right now if you ever plan on playing B/W tokens.  If you are iffy about B/W tokens, but still want the Sorins, wait a few months and pick them up when they dip. 

Huntmaster of the Fells
Starting Price: $19.99
Current Price: $14.99
SCG buylist price: $5.00

Well, it's no secret that Huntmaster is fixing to plummet in price.  If SCG is offering $5.00 trade in credit, then its safe to say Huntmaster will be dropping to $9.99 very soon.  That said, Huntmaster has to be the most surprising card in this set.  I had a chance to test it out in a RUG type deck recently and I was very impressed with the way it just dominates the game if your opponent cannot remove it quickly.  I would be willing to compare its power to even the likes of Hero of Bladehold. 

Final Verdict: Huntmaster will dip in price, but I recommend picking them up once they do.  It's a fine green sun's zenith target, and once Scars rotates, I see this guy stepping up into the spotlight.


Grafdigger's Cage
Starting Price: $9.99
Current Price: $5.99
SCG buylist: $2.00

If we go by my theory on SCG buylist prices, then if this goes to $3.99, then this card will have been the most overhyped card of the set.  More than a 50% depreciation in less than 2 weeks marks this card as a huge overhype, and many people who preordered this in playsets are shooting themselves in the foot right now.  That said, this is a very solid sideboard card in legacy vs dredge.  Time will tell if it will impact standard at some point.  Being an artifact is a huge downside, since we have Ancient Grudge in standard, Red/green decks can trade just one card for 2 of these. 

Final Verdict: It might be worth picking up a pair of these when they hit 4 bucks.  I would not over invest into these, however, since the disadvantage of being an artifact is a quite the liability these days.

Bone to Ash

Price isn't really an issue here, but I just wanted to point out that this card exists.  I think this is as close to Dismiss as we are going to get.  Every deck is going to run creatures in some fashion or another, so this should be at least a 1 of in your control decks.  Being able to negate their whole turn and punish them by making them go down a card and you maintaining your card advantage is nothing to scoff at. 

Final Verdict: This is the best Anti-titan card, hands down.  A fine 1-of, and you should make room for 1 or 2 in your board.

Strangleroot Geist
Starting Price: $0.99
Current Price: $1.99
SCG buylist: $0.10

Even though the price on him went up, he is extremely overhyped.  Yes, he might find a home at some point, but he has two places right now: Birthing Pod and Mono-Green.  He's great in Pod but in tri-color decks how often does he hit turn 2?  Turn 3?  And he's one of the strongest plays in Mono-Green, but Mono-Green just doesn't have enough cards to make it right now. 

Final Verdict: I see this card being a true player in 6 months, but right now you need to store him on a dusty shelf and don't fall for the trap.


Snapcaster Mage
Starting Price: $29.99
Current Price: $29.99
SCG buylist: $17.50

This guy is the real deal.  Even I didn't think he would impact standard the way he has.  I do think that he is mostly played in standard so once he rotates, he will drop like a rock in price, but if you plan on playing standard for the next 2 years, you better jump on the snapcaster wagon and shell out $120 for your playset.

Final Verdict: A huge player in all formats, and used more than Jace 2.0 was in standard.  You aren't going to be able to get around playing $30 for the best card in standard, so just buy them now.

Extended Economical EDH

Hey guys, some of you already know about this, but this will be helpful for you anyways in case a question comes up. 

Anyways, some friends and I have been toying around with a way to get some use out of our old cards (we have a ton of zendikar) and have been wanting to get into Commander/EDH but a lot of the staple cards are too expensive.  The solution we came up with is called Triple E: Extended Economical EDH.

Extended: Extended is dead, right?  Well not in this format.  This means we will be using cards from the two current blocks (right now that is Scars and Innistrad).  Since it is extended, we will extend that by the two previous blocks (Zendikar and Shards of Alara).  As far as Core sets, we will use M10 and forward.  This may rotate with Alara, and it may just remain M10+.  That's up to us.  One exception to this rule is that everyone may use the card Command Tower, which comes with any Commander deck and was not released in any set.  The group has also decided to include Spell Crumple has another exception, so you may include one copy of Spell Crumple in your decks as well.  This card is exclusive to the WotC released Commander decks.  It is currently under review by the members of the group if we can use any card that is exclusive to those decks, and I will post it up when a decision has been reached.  The good thing about this is that it lets us use those cards that might just be sitting around, and thats what this idea is based around.  It also gives us access to some important tools for Commander, like mana fixers and ways to get rid of commanders, like Spell Crumple.  The bad, is that this will cause confusion as to what cards are usable from Commander.  It also is semi counter productive to our plan to use our Zendikar block cards that we have so much of.

Economical: Besides your commander, no card in your deck can be worth more than $9.99 on starcitygames.com.  Now, prices will increase and decrease, so if you put a Koth of the Hammer into your EDH deck when he is worth $7.99, then he goes up to $12.99 over a month's time, then you will have a 30 day grace period in which you can change it out or wait it out.  If it seems that your card is stuck at an over $9.99 price tag, then you'll need to replace it in order to make the format fair for everyone.  Your commander can have any price, since there are only so many commanders.

EDH: You will build a deck of 99 cards, all of which besides basic land must have a different name.  No running 4 mana leaks in this format.  You will also choose a Commander, who basically decides what color(s) your deck can run.  For example, if "Grimgrin, Corpse-Born", a black and blue creature, is my commander, then I can run cards like Mana Leak(blue), Doom Blade(black), and Evil Twin (blue and black).  I cannot run cards like Oblivion Ring(white), Copperline Gorge(red/green), Sulfur Falls(blue/red) or Geist of Saint Traft(white/blue).  Basically, if the card has a mana symbol anywhere on it that does not match your commander, you ain't playing it. 

EDH also has a banned list, which most of are not relevant.  However as needed we will take votes on cards that are deemed too powerful.  So far the cards that are banned are:

Triple E Banlist:
- Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
- Jace the Mind Sculptor (which I doubt would ever drop below $10)

That's pretty much it.  Remember:
- Anything from Alara+ is fine for now.
- You can use a copy of Command Tower
- You can use a copy of Spell Crumple
- No non-commander cards worth more than $9.99
- EDH format, modifed banlist.

Any questions?  Any comments? Post below!