Hello hello. James and I talk about all the new cards in this set review. It’s lengthy, so let’s jump right in.
Land (2)
Name:Contested Warzone
Type: Land
Rules Text: Whenever you are dealt combat damage by a creature, that creature’s controller gains control of Contested Warzone.
{T}: Add {1} to your mana pool.
{1}, {T}: Attacking creatures get +1/+0 until end of turn.
Rarity: Rare
(Joe) I think we should talk about these lands first. This one seems like a quirky one to try. The next, however, seems very cool indeed

Name:Inkmoth Nexus
Type: Land
Rules Text: {T}: Add {1} to your mana pool.
{1}: Inkmoth Nexus becomes a 1/1 Blinkmoth artifact creature with flying and infect until end of turn. It’s still a land. (It deals damage to creatures in the form of -1/-1 counters and to players in the form of poison counters.)
Illus. Jung Park
Rarity: Rare
Set Number: #145/155
(Joe) Blinkmoth Nexus is a respectable pedigree here. This land will prove to be an important factor to consider when evaluating the new infect creatures in this set. In Scars of Mirrodin, there were not yet enough Infect creatures to make a viable standard deck. That may be changing soon in large part due to helpers like this one. Having an evasive man-land that also creates a temporary artifact creature is a very good set of abilities and will synergistically power up every infect deck out there. Not only that, but this land can potentially interact with shape anew to create a sort of artifact creature polymorph deck. Luckily there’s another infect take on a classic mirrodin era card in blightsteel colossus waiting to fill the 1-of role once more, only this time he’ll be capable of winning with a single hit. Anyway, I’m highly anticipating this card.
Name:Accorder Paladin
Cost: 1{W}
Type: Creature – Human Knight
Pow/Tgh: 3/1
Rules Text: Battle cry (Whenever this creature attacks, each other attacking creature gets +1/+0 until end of turn.)
Flavor Text: “I fight for the suns, the surface, and everything in between.”
Illus. Kekai Kotaki
Rarity: Uncommon
Set Number: #1/155
(james) This is an extremely aggressive card and will be a great addition for Boros/White-Weenie-esque deck strategies.
(Joe) Agreed, though personally I’m not seeing how Battle cry can make much of a splash in constructed. In limited, this is indeed like the aggressive bear model.

Name: Ardent Recruit
Cost: W
Type: Creature – Human Soldier
Pow/Tgh: 1/1
Rules Text: Metalcraft – Ardent Recruit gets +2/+2 as long as you control three or more artifacts.
Rarity: Common
(Joe) Whoa nelly, 3/3 is serious beef for a one drop. At first blush, this common looks to enable some interesting archetypes in limited, and potentially even some metal weenie standard deck. But it seems rather unlikely that you’ll have the requisite artifacts by turn two even under the best of circumstances. I’m guessing that outside a very narrow setup, this should usually be evaluated as a 1/1.
(James) Maybe there’s room for this kind of card in Legacy? a 3/3 is really good for one mana and Legacy seems to have a lot more artifacts…
(Joe) Perhaps. But even then, three is a lot of artifacts. At least you have the artifact lands there. You’d need to play the artifact land, plus some kind of mox, plus one more artifact… top or vial maybe… and only then do you get access to this 1-drop 3/3. I dunno. Zoo will probably give him a shot somehow.
Name: Banishment Decree
Cost: 3{W}{W}
Type: Instant
Rules Text: Put target artifact, creature or enchantment on top of its owner’s library.
Rarity: Common
(Joe) I was always a fan of Plow Under, and while this is clearly no plow under, it’s got the same kind of tempo play feel to is. This spell specifically can’t mess with your opponent’s mana development, but it will still prove to be annoying and tempo swinging. Some times it can be game winning, as when you return the clutch blocker to enable an alpha strike. Being an instant helps with the surprise factor as well allowing for end of turn shenanigans.
(James) Seems like a very expensive card for what may simply be a minor tempo play. Certainly can win games but seems really narrow. I’m not an immediate fan…
(Joe) It is expensive, that’s for sure. But that’s kind of relative. If you play this late game and the thing you return costs more than 3WW, then you’re ahead.
Name: Choking Fumes
Cost: 2{W}
Type: Instant
Rules Text: Put a -1/-1 counter on each attacking creature.
Flavor Text: “Fall to your knees and welcome our embrace.”
-Qal-Sha, Priest of Norn
Illus. Scott Chou
Rarity: Uncommon
Set Number: #4/155
(James) Sexy-time! I think this is much better than Marsh Casualties which was a staple first pick during Zen drafts. Instant speed, easily splash-able, potentially devastating. Man…minus one counters…destroys myr & poison decks.
(Joe) Wow, you’re right, this thing is a beating of an uncommon. Very one-sided.
Name: Divine Offering
Cost: 1W
Type: Instant
Rules Text: Destroy target artifact. You gain life equal to its converted mana cost.
Rarity: Common
(Joe) This is an awesome reprint, and should help give white a tool to combat the ever-more-likely ascendancy of whatever artifact deck emerges from this block.
Name: Frantic Salvage
Cost: 3W
Type: Instant
Rules Text: Put any number of target artifact cards from your graveyard on top of your library.
Draw a card.
Flavor Text: “We will mourn when there is time. For now, we survive.”
Illus. Scott Chou
Rarity: Common
Set Number: #6/155
(James) This is pretty interesting. Helps combat mass removal. I have a feeling it might be a little too high on the mana curve for standard but maybe not. Can I put them back in any order? Or the order in which they are in the graveyard? The draw is what makes this pretty cool.
(Joe) You’ll get to choose the order in which they go back. I agree that the draw part is clutch. It really pushes this card into decency. I like that you can play this on your opponent’s EOT, and return a single artifact to your hand without missing your draw step, or you can stack two on top, and have both in hand for the next turn.
Name: Gore Vassal
Cost: 2{W}
Type: Creature – Hound
Pow/Tgh: 2/1
Rules Text: Sacrifice Gore Vassal: Put a -/1-1 counter on target creature. Then, if that creature’s toughness is 1 or greater, regenerate it.
Flavor Text: “Rid them of their unfaithful organs. Bring new hearts to the unbelievers.”
-Tome of Machines, verse 1703
Rarity: Uncommon
Set Number: #7/155
(James) This is really interesting. On the one hand you could use it as spot removal for pesky cards like plated geopede’s but you could also use it regenerate one of your creatures (as in an anti-Day of Judgment situation). It’s interesting for sure. I think I would pick this up as a potential removal card in limited but I don’t see it fitting into a constructed deck.
(Joe) Agree. He can also chump block something huge and leave them weakened, or set them up for proliferation. Cards like this improve if you already have a contagion clasp or whatever.

Name: Hero of Bladehold
Cost: 2{W}{W}
Type: Creature – Human Knight
Pow/Tgh: 3/4
Rules Text: Battle cry (Whenever this creature attacks, each other attacking creature gets +1/+0 until end of turn.)
Whenever Hero of Bladehold attacks, put two 1/1 white soldier creature tokens onto the battlefield tapped and attacking.
Illus. Austin Hsu
Rarity: Mythic Rare
Set Number: #8/155
(Joe) This guy is like the knight titan.
(James) I’m pretty sure this will make constructed. It’s a great card advantage piece, creating two 2/1 attackers per turn. (1/1′s plus the +1/0). Seems like a card I will immediately put into a deck with Eslpeth or Ajani as a token-like strategy. I’ll probably go Mirrian during the pre-release just to pick up my first copy…
(Joe) He’s definitely strong, and if this Battle cry mechanic makes any kind of splash, it will be with the Hero, I think. You’re right, this thing just blasts out attacking savannah lions all day long.
Name: Kemba’s Legion
Cost: 5{W}{W}
Type: Creature – Cat Soldier
Pow/Tgh: 4/6
Rules Text: Vigilance
Kemba’s Legion can block an additional creature for each Equipment attached to Kemba’s Legion.
Flavor Text: The squabble over succession was quickly replaced by the struggle to survive.
Illus. Anthony Francisco
Rarity: Uncommon
Set Number: #9/155
(Joe) Multi-blocking is flavorful and cool, but it’s seldom a strategic asset of much worth. I’m tempted to call this an exception, however, since this guy has vigilance and will be powered up by the equipment you would presumably be running alongside him. Still, seven mana is a ton, and I’d want a little more bang for my buck than a 4/6 vigilance with a provisional ability with a provisionally useful effect.
Name: Leonin Relic-Warder
Cost: {W}{W}
Type: Creature – Cat Cleric
Pow/Tgh: 2/2
Rules Text: When Leonin Relic-Warder enters the battlefield, you may exile target artifact or enchantment.
When Leonin Relic-Warder leaves the battlefield, return the exiled card to the battlefield under its owner’s control.
Illus. Greg Staples
Rarity: Uncommon
Set Number: #10/155
(James) I don’t see this as a main deck strategy for constructed, though there are some interesting SB options–such as when decks rely on enchantment removal (Journey to Nowhere). I think this will be a pretty good role player pick in limited…there are a lot of very difficult to deal with artifacts and this would be a good card to pick up early in a draft (since we start with expansions before main sets now during drafts).
(Joe) Good analysis.
Name: Leonin Skyhunter
Cost: {W}{W}
Type: Creature – Cat Knight
Pow/Tgh: 2/2
Rules Text: Flying
Flavor Text: “The infection has spread farther than we could glimpse from the heights of Taj-Nar.”
Illus. Jana Schirmer & Johannes Voss
Rarity: Common
Set Number: #11/155
(James) 2/2 flying for 2 mana in the common slot? Seems like a good common to pick up during pack one; it will certainly provide a few more options to the U/W archetype. I don’t find this as exciting for constructed. It’s no Stoneforge Mystic, that’s for damn sure…
(Joe) This is a reprint from Mirrodin, and is definitely awesome in the UW skies approach. Pushes the bear / knight envelope for sure. A quality 2-drop. I think white weenie ran this guy back in mirrodin standard.
Name: Loxodon Partisan
Cost: 4{W}
Type: Creature – Elephant Soldier
Pow/Tgh: 3/4
Rules Text: Battle cry (Whenever this creature attacks, each other attacking creature gets +1/+0 until end of turn.)
Flavor Text: “This war is not about loxodon or leonin, Sylvok or Auriok. To defeat these rotters, we must do it together.”
Illus. Matt Stewart
Rarity: Common
Set Number: #12/155
(James) Battlecry seems like it’s going to be a pain the rear. A few low-cc creatures curved out to a Battlecry will be difficult to deal with. What would be interesting to see is how many cross-color variants we start getting in limited. Infect cards with Battlecry will be very scary to deal with…
(Joe) Infect / Battle cry is actually an interesting take. I’m not terribly convinced about battle cry though. Usually you should still be able to chump block and kill the same creatures you’d be able to otherwise, since Battle cry doesn’t pump toughness. If the Battle cry player can punch through the defenses, or faces a defenseless foe, then sure, they can punish them more, and win more quickly. I guess that’s a decent aspect.
Name: Master’s Call
Cost: 2{W}
Type: Instant
Rules Text: Put two 1/1 colorless Myr artifact creature tokens onto the battlefield.
Rarity: Common
(James) I see this as borderline. It will help hit an early metalcraft so if you’re thinking you might push the metalcraft, then go for it. It also has the surprise blocker factor, so you might be able to consider this a “weak removal” spell. But that’s stretching it a little…
(Joe) I would definitely consider this as soft removal… but this is also a way to blast out some early dorks to battle cry with, isn’t it?
Name: Mirran Crusader
Cost: 1{W}{W}
Type: Creature – Human Knight
Pow/Tgh: 2/2
Rules Text: Double strike, protection from black and from green
Flavor Text: A symbol of what Mirrodin once was and a hope for what it will be again.
Rarity: Rare
Set Number: #14/155
(Joe) Seems like sideboard fodder.
(James) I wonder if there’s any room for this in Extended. Pro-Green/Black seems pretty strong…adding double strike makes it really strong. I’m imagining a Jitte attached to this guy. Dang. So far as standard, I also see this being a potential include for sideboards. Well, for limited too. I would even consider running it main since it does have double strike. Pretty neat. Unless I’m not in white at all, I would be pretty happy to see this card.
(Joe) Well, he does dodge black removal. I’m sure the knights tribal deck will appeal to a lot of players. He’s definitely no slouch in limited.

Name: Phyrexian Rebirth
Cost: 4{W}{W}
Type: Sorcery
Rules Text: Destroy all creatures, then put an X/X colorless Horror artifact creature token onto the battlefield, where X is the number of creatures destroyed this way.
Flavor Text: As long as one drop of oil exists, the joyous work continues.
Illus. Scott Chou
Rarity: Rare
Set Number: #15/155
(Joe) WHAAAA? This is an insane wrath of god variant. Doing a take on wrath has become a bit of a tradition, and this one is superb, with a built-in board position re-establishment clause.
(James) So I pay 2 more mana and then get a X/X in return? This is really interesting and probably worth looking at for standard U/W builds. It’s the mainboard Day of Judgment that you’re not constantly playing around. Pretty cool
Name: Priests of Norn
Cost: 2{W}
Type: Creature – Cleric
Pow/Tgh: 1/4
Rules Text: Vigilance
Infect (This creature deals damage to creatures in the form of -1/-1 counters and to players in the form of poison counters.)
Flavor Text: “May our blessings sever the tongues of the forsaken.”
-Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
Illus. Igor Kieryluk
Rarity: Common
Set Number: #16/155
(James) White’s getting infect now. That’s really weird but I guess it’s the “result of the corrupting affects of Phyrexia.” This is also an infect that looks about as difficult to deal with as Tangle Angler due to the vigilance.
(Joe) Yeah, this guy can hold the fort, alright.
Name: Tine Shrike
Cost: 3{W}
Type: Creature – Bird
Pow/Tgh: 2/1
Rules Text: Flying
Infect (This creature deals damage to creatures in the form of -1/-1 counters and to players in the form of poison counters.)
Flavor Text: A new bird of prey – one that hunts sentience.
Illus. Adrin Smith
Rarity: Common
Set Number: #17/155
(Joe) Hmmm… white infect is hard to judge, and infect loves evasion, but I have a hard time embracing a 4-drop 2/1, flying or not.
(James)I’ve won a few games on the back of a Plague Stinger so this is pretty interesting. By going white we get access to battlecry. A 3/1 infect (due to battlecry) removes 33% of your “non-poisoned life” which is hardcore. I’m sensing a w/b draft archtype emerging…
(Joe) I definitely missed the infect + battle cry thing at first, but I think you’re right: that’s a nutty combination.
Name: Victory’s Herald
Cost: 3{W}{W}{W}
Type: Creature-Angel
Pow/Tgh: 4/4
Rules Text: Flying
Whenever Victory’s Herald attacks, attacking creatures gain flying and lifelink until end of turn.
Flavor Text: The corruption stirred the heavens above, awaking a shining champion.
Illus. rk post
Rarity: Rare
Set Number: #18/155
(Joe) Angels are always fun, and this one doesn’t disappoint, as a 4/4 flying proxy of noble purpose and levitation.
(James) This is niffty but I’m not seeing this as a good constructed card. Too conditional for my preferences. I mean, would I rather pay 6 for a 4/4 lifelink or 5 for a 5/5 lifelink, first strike (Baneslayer)? I will pretty much always go with the 5/5… (I’m assuming a vacuum here, not the “ideal situation” with lethal on board because of the levitation affect–Ben Lundquist pretty much drove this method as a must-use for card evaluation).
(Joe) Yeah, she’s no baneslayer, but she’s still a pretty good bargain for all her various effects. In Magic, there are several tribes of Johnny collectors… some collect dragons, some legends, and some angels. The angel geeks will be happy, that’s mainly what I was getting after. It won’t disappoint them. And in limited, assuming you’re in white, she’s obviously sick. But I agree about constructed.
Name: White Sun’s Zenith
Cost: X{W}{W}{W}
Type: Instant
Rules Text: Put X 2/2 Cat creature tokens onto the battlefield. Shuffle White Sun’s Zenith into its owner’s library.
Rarity: Rare
(Joe) One of the worst zeniths, and yet it’s still very strong. Obviously a heavy white bomb in any limited format, and the kind of thing you might see as a redundant or budget copy of Decree of Justice.
(James) Looks great for limited…but a bit expensive for constructed. 4 for a single 2/2, 5 for 2 2/2′s…it doesn’t get really interesting until around 8 mana (5 2/2′s).
(Joe) Good math skillz. I concur.
Blue (19)
Name: Blue Sun’s Zenith
Cost: X{U}{U}{U}
Type: Instant
Rules Text: Target player draws X cards. Shuffle Blue Sun’s Zenith into its owner’s library.
Flavor Text: “The Origin Query will wait. We must ensure we survive to return to it.”
-Pelyus, vedalken ordinar
Illus. Izzy
Rarity: Rare
Set Number: #20/155
(Joe) Instantly I think of Stroke of Genius, which was a more splashable version of this same spell, but which didn’t re-shuffle itself. The predigree suggests a bright future for this Zenith. Occasionally you can exhaust a deck with this, too!
(James)Just like mind spring except an extra blue for instant. I think that makes it much more playable for control decks. They can keep the mana open for counters, then draw x cards at EOT and put the spell back in the library. Neat. Question is how many to run? Two?
(Joe) Yeah, it’s pricey, so it probably takes the slot previously held by the odd Jaces Ingenuity.
Name: Consecrated Sphinx
Cost: 4{U}{U}
Type: Creature – Sphinx
Pow/Tgh: 4/6
Rules Text: Flying
Whenever an opponent draws a card, you may draw two cards.
Flavor Text: Blessed by the hands of Jin-Gitaxias.
Illus. Mark Zug
Rarity: Mythic Rare
Set Number: #21/155
(James) That’s fun…really fun. This is worth toying with on the constructed side but certainly a very strong pick for limited.
(Joe) Yeah, EDH loves to play this kind of beast too. I’m with you on the fun factor. I can’t wait to play a prosperity with this guy on the board.
Name: Corrupted Conscience
Cost: 3{U}{U}
Type: Enchantment – Aura
Rules Text: Enchant creature
You control enchanted creature.
Enchanted creature has infect. (It deals damage to creatures in the form of -1/-1 counters and to players in the form of poison counters.)
Flavor Text: Karn’s creation is now his master.
Illus. Jason Chan
Rarity: Uncommon
Set Number: #22/155
(Joe) This is an interesting take on Mind Control, though often you’ll wish that this didn’t grant Infect… I think the creature you steal with this may often sit back on defense. Still, this will swing a lot of games, simultaneously giving you an extra creature and removing the most problematic creature your opponent controls.
Name: Cryptoplasm
Cost: 1{U}{U}
Type: Creature – Shapeshifter
Pow/Tgh: 2/2
Rules Text: At the beginning of your upkeep, you may have Cryptoplasm become a copy of another target creature. If you do, Cryptoplasm gains this ability.
Flavor Text: “If left in the enemy’s shape too long, it might be lost to them.”
-Vy Covalt, Neurok Agent
Illus. Eric Deschamps
Rarity: Rare
Set Number: #23/155
(Joe) Vesuvan Doppelganger was one of my favorite cards when I got into magic back in the Revised era. It was the last card I lost to ante, deciding I’d had enough of that gambling. This version is similar, but doesn’t acquire a copied form upon entering the battlefield. That seems like a fair trade for the full two colorless mana that have been shaved from the casting cost. I think this will be an interesting Clone variant, but like other such cards, it won’t be as effective as Spike demands, but may still be as cool as Timmy and Johnny hope.
Name: Distant Memories
Cost: 2{U}{U}
Type: Sorcery
Rules Text: Search your library for a card, exile it, then shuffle your library. An opponent may have you put that card into your hand. If no player does, you draw three cards.
Flavor Text: “The fleeting shadows of his primitive self have all but vanished.”
-Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur
Illus. Karl Kopinski
Rarity: Rare
Set Number: #24/155
(James) Hmmmm, I’m not sure how I feel about this. It wants to be like a gifts ungiven but it’s just not as good. I’d like it more if it were instant I think…but even then it’s value is dubious.
(Joe) I don’t think it’s really like Gifts as much as a weird modal card that’s either concentrate or slightly worse diabolic tutor. That said, I don’t know that I’d play either of those in constructed. Aside from the spell’s ability, this artwork is pretty interesting, with Karn flashing back to Venser, the last person he spoke to before disappearing, and Urza behind him.
Name: Fuel for the Cause
Cost: 2{U}{U}
Type: Instant
Rules Text: Counter target spell, then proliferate. (You choose any number of permanents and/or players with counters on them, then give each another counter of a kind already there.)
Flavor Text: Your ideas will be discarded and your will repurposed.
Illus. Steven Belledin
Rarity: Common
Set Number: #25/155
(Joe) Infect is an interesting mechanic, and as I’ve said, I think the time has come, and that some kind of deck will emerge. However, I’m not entirely sure it will be of the blue proliferate variety. I could be wrong though… Throne of Geth and Steady Progress maybe?
Name: Mirran Spy
Cost: 2{U}
Type: Creature – Drone
Pow/Tgh: 1/3
Rules Text: Flying
Whenever you cast an artifact spell, you may untap target creature.
Flavor Text: Accurate information is a precious commodity in times of war.
Illus. Dave Kendall
Rarity: Common
Set Number: #26/155
(Joe) Hmm… not bad in limited, as it’s evasive, decently tough, and sometimes effectively has vigilance. Nothing spectacular, but a roleplayer in some limited archetypes probably.
(James) I like this card for limited. Not enough big butts on the U-team…
Name: Mitotic Manipulation
Cost: 1{U}{U}
Type: Sorcery
Rules Text: Look at the top seven cards of your library. You may put one of those cards onto the battlefield if it has the same name as a permanent. Put the rest on the bottom of your library in any order.
Flavor Text: “They can’t even comprehend nature. How could they improve it?”
-Venser
Illus. Dan Scott
Rarity: Rare
Set Number: #27/155
(Joe) This, to me, is a very interesting spell. Decks with 4 Jace the Mind Sculptor may consider this as a way to blast into legend-rule pseudo-removal copies of the planeswalker in mirror matches. Otherwise, this can produce some interesting momentum. Even if all you get is a land, you’re still gaining some tempo and card advantage. It seems like a space for some innovative thinking and perhaps some unorthodox applications. Sometimes, though, it’s a win-more kind of card that won’t do a lot all on its own, or when you’re behind and desperate.
Name: Neurok Commando
Cost: 1{U}{U}
Type: Creature – Human Rogue
Pow/Tgh: 2/1
Rules Text: Shroud
Whenever Neurok Commando deals combat damage to a player, you may draw a card.
Flavor Text: “There’s no more time for secluded study. Answers are there only for those with the courage to take them.”
Illus. Matt Stewart
Rarity: Uncommon
Set Number: #28/155
(Joe) Ophidian type card drawing is an ability with a precedent for being better than it might initially seem. This guy’s not terribly evasive, however, and despite the shroud, he dies to any kind of combat. Shroud also means you’ll never be able to buff this guy, either with spells or equipment. I’m giving him the thumbs down in the end.
Name: Oculus
Cost: 1{U}
Type: Creature – Homunculus
Pow/Tgh: 1/1
Rules Text: When Oculus is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, you may draw a card.
Rarity: Common
(Joe) I don’t see the point of this guy outside of a combo designed to loop him through the graveyard. Otherwise, even with cantrip, I’m not interested in a 1/1 for 2 mana.
Name: Quicksilver Geyser
Cost: 4{U}
Type: Instant
Rules Text: Return up to two target nonland permanents to their owners’ hands.
Flavor Text: “Phyrexians are tenacious. That’s not the same thing as clever.”
-Tezzeret
Illus. Erica Yang
Rarity: Common
(Joe) This common will win games. Super awesome in limited. Very splashable. Very flexible.
Name: Serum Raker
Cost: 2{U}{U}
Type: Creature – Drake
Pow/Tgh: 3/2
Rules Text: Flying
When Serum Raker is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, each player discards a card.
Flavor Text: The serum from the blinkmoths they gather greases the joints of witch engines.
Illus. Austin Hsu
Rarity: Common
Set Number: #31/155
(Joe) I like a 3/3 flying for 3U. When it’s less splashable, weaker, and potentially has a downside when my opponent top-decks removal, but I still have cards in hand… well, then I’m not as enthusiastic. Still, in an evasive aggro-control kind of limited deck, sometimes a critical mass of fliers is needed, and quantity makes up for quality.
Name: Spire Serpent
Cost: 4{U}
Type: Creature – Serpent
Pow/Tgh: 3/5
Rules Text: Defender
Metalcraft – As long as you control three or more artifacts, Spire Serpent gets +2/+2 and can attack as though it didn’t have defender.
Flavor Text: A mirror to draw its eye, a rod to rouse its rage, and a sword to break its bonds.
Illus. Johann Bodin
Rarity: Common
Set Number: #32/155
(Joe) He seems passable when you don’t have metalcraft, and pretty awesome when you do. Seems like the main requirements of a limited-playable metalcraft card… mostly that it doesn’t suck all on its own. This doesn’t suck terribly on its own. I think it sees some play. Obvioulsy you won’t want more than one or so in your deck, but it’ll stall whatever little guys are on the board when it hits, which is what you want this kind of card to do. Then, it has the bonus of being useful later, when you’ve established better control.
Name: Steel Sabotage
Cost: {U}
Type: Instant
Rules Text: Choose one – counter target artifact spell; or return target artifact to its owner’s hand.
Flavor Text: “You are hopelessly obsolete, my brothers. Come and join the Great Work.”
-Rhmir, Hand of the Augur
Illus. Daarken
Rarity: Common
Set Number: #33/155
(James) I’ve yet to see someone playing counters in Scars limited and I’m not sure this is something that would help with that. At its best, I could see this being a SB option if artifacts start running rampant in constructed. I will admit that having two options makes this card potentially useful.
(Joe) I guess I disagree, though you hedged a bit at the end there. I think this is plenty useful. You can counter something devastating, or you can bounce it if you drew this later… and if all that fails you can always use this to bounce your own trigon or whatever to reset the charge counters. And in constructed, this seems really decent as well. Annul saw play, and seldom countered any enchantments in mirrodin. It’s not extremely good, but it’s decent enough.
Name: Treasure Mage
Cost: 2{U}
Type: Creature – Human Wizard
Pow/Tgh: 2/2
Rules Text: When Treasure Mage enters the battlefield, you may search your library for an artifact card with converted mana cost 6 or greater, reveal that card, and put it into your hand. If you do, shuffle your library.
Illus. Ryan Pancoast
Rarity: Uncommon
Set Number: #34/155
(James) Neat twist on the Trinket Mage. I bet people start running this in EDH (Commander) decks. Could also be pretty high utility for limited since it does tutor and there are some pretty powerful 6cc cards in Scars.
(Joe) Tutor up wurmcoil engine seems fine. Yeah, this guy is awesome. EDH loves to riptide laboratory this guy every turn.
Name: Turn the Tide
Cost: 1{U}
Type: Instant
Rules Text: Creatures your opponents control get -2/-0 until end of turn.
Flavor Text: “Let their mindless armies come and face the might of genius.”
-Varil, Neurok Partisan
Illus. Jason Felix
Rarity: Common
(Joe) I’m not a fan of this kind of effect. If I ever feel insomniac, I’ll just contemplate a deck built on this kind of card and… zzz ZZZ zzz.
Name: Vedalken Anatomist
Cost: 2{U}
Type: Creature – Vedalken Wizard
Pow/Tgh: 1/2
Rules Text: {2}{U}, {T}: Put a -1/-1 counter on target creature. You may tap or untap that creature.
Flavor Text: “Specimen 211 examination report. Observation: graft sublimation incomplete. Result: death. Prepare specimen 212.”
Illus. Greg Staples
Rarity: Uncommon
Set Number: #36/155
(Joe) My guess is that this handy wizard will be a big deal for many proliferating limited magi.
(James) Wowzas. -1 counters and tapping. Well worth the cost. Probably worth picking up a copy even if you’re not a poison/proliferate deck.
Name: Vedalken Infuser
Cost: 3{U}
Type: Creature – Vedalken Wizard
Pow/Tgh: 1/4
Rules Text: At the beginning of your upkeep, you may put a charge counter on target artifact.
Illus. Ryan Pancoast
Rarity: Uncommon
Set Number: #37/155
(James) This seems way too narrow to be playable.
(Joe) Well, it definitely won’t be played outside of a deck that specifically wants to get bonus charge counters…. so it’s indeed narrow. But even in that kind of deck, why the heck would you run this instead of any given proliferate card? Maybe because he doesn’t require additional mana, he’ll be good with lux cannon or titan forge or something. Use him and proliferate, each turn.
Name: Vivisection
Cost: 3{U}
Type: Sorcery
Rules Text: As an additional cost to cast Vivisection, sacrifice a creature.
Draw three cards.
Flavor Text: Phyrexians research with the grace of surgeons and the finesse of butchers.
Illus. Anthony Francisco
Rarity: Common
Set Number: #38/155
(Joe) If this were an instant, it would be insanely good. As a sorcery, you’ll never be able to use a graveyard-bound creature. Also, if this spell is countered, you’re still out the creature. Luckily creature removal won’t suffice to two-for-one you, it will require a real counterspell. I don’t know… I can see how this might help replace early game creatures with relevant mid and late game ones, but I still think I’ll shy away from this and let someone else try to prove how awesome it is.
Black (19)
Name: Black Sun’s Zenith
Cost: X{B}{B}
Type: Sorcery
Rules Text: Put X -1/-1 counters on each creature. Shuffle Black Sun’s Zenith into its owner’s library.
Flavor Text: “Under the suns, Mirrodin kneels and begs us for perfection.”
-Geth, Lord of the Vault
Illus. Daniel Ljunggren
Rarity: Rare
Set Number: #39/155
(Joe) I really like the zeniths, and the black one is no exception. What a beating! This can be a tailor-made Damnation. Alongside man-lands, this will really shine.
(James) One sided mass removal. Very hot. Paying 3 for X @ 5cc will probably end most opponents’ game plans.
Name: Caustic Hound
Cost: 5{B}
Type: Creature – Hound
Pow/Tgh: 4/4
Rules Text: When Caustic Hound is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, each player loses 4 life.
Flavor Text: At first, the Mirrans aimed for its exposed gut. The survivors quickly learned to do otherwise.
Illus. Dave Allsop
Rarity: Common
Set Number: #40/155
(James) Good 22nd or 23rd card if you don’t have anything beefier. Just want to make sure you’re not in lethal territory if it hits the graveyard!
(Joe)
Name: Flensermite
Cost: 1{B}
Type: Creature – Gremlin
Pow/Tgh: 1/1
Rules Text: Infect (This creature deals damage to creatures in the form of -1/-1 counters and to players in the form of poison counters.)
Lifelink (Damage dealt by this creature also causes you to gain that much life.)
Illus. Dave Allsop
Rarity: Common
Set Number: #41/155
(Joe) This creature sucks, IMO. Infect wants evasion, especially on a 1/1. This is pointless. Instead of lifelink, he ought to suck poison out of his master… so you should have “poison-counter-lifelink” where you lose poison counters when he deals damage. I dunno… this card just seems dissonant above and beyond just plain sucking.
(James) I can’t add much to that.
Name: Flesh-Eater Imp
Cost: 3{B}
Type: Creature – Imp
Pow/Tgh: 2/2
Rules Text: Flying
Infect (This creature deals damage to creatures in the form of -1/-1 counters and to players in the form of poison counters.)
Sacrifice a creature: Flesh-Eater Imp gets +1/+1 until end of turn.
Illus. Johann Bodin
Rarity: Uncommon
Set Number: #42/155
(Joe) This imp is more like what you want in infect. Evasive and with the potential to pump. Awesome.
(James) Nantuko Husk (sort of) plus infect? Wow. Could end games very quickly.
Name: Go for the Throat
Cost: 1{B}
Type: Instant
Rules Text: Destroy target nonartifact creature.
Flavor Text: Having flesh is increasingly a liability on Mirrodin.
Illus. David Rapoza
Rarity: Uncommon
Set Number: #43/155
(Joe) Now where have we seen this before? Obviously awesome, as Zak sez.
(James) Ah! the Power9Pro preview card! Def’ playable. (We wouldn’t unveil a non-playable!).
Name: Gruesome Encore
Cost: 2{B}
Type: Sorcery
Rules Text: Put target creature card from an opponent’s graveyard onto the battlefield under your control. It gains haste. Exile it at the beginning of the next end step. If that creature would leave the battlefield, exile it instead of putting it anywhere else.
Illus. Adrian Smith
Rarity: Uncommon
Set Number: #44/155
(James) Sweet. Steeling people’s cards and smashing them with it is so much fun. Just make sure it will win you the game!
Name: Horrifying Revelation
Cost: {B}
Type: Sorcery
Rules Text: Target player discards a card, then puts the top card of his or her library into his or her graveyard.
Flavor Text: “Ours is a glorious transmission! Behold a future where all bow to the Father of Machines!”
-Isila, Priest of Sheoldred
Illus. Shelly Wan
Rarity: Common
Set Number: #45/155
(James) Interesting. This is kind of interesting around turn 5 – 7 when the hands are thinning. Probably a “wow, I have 22 cards here and need another…” sort of include.
Name: Massacre Wurm
Cost: 3{B}{B}{B}
Type: Creature – Wurm
Pow/Tgh: 6/5
Rules Text: When Massacre Wurm enters the battlefield, creatures your opponents control get -2/-2 until end of turn.
Whenever a creature an opponent controls is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, that player loses 2 life.
Illus. Jason Chan
Rarity: Mythic Rare
Set Number: #46/155
(Joe) This Mythic seems pretty neat for limited, but I doubt it’s got much of a chance at seeing standard play. This guy might just Blistergrub your opponent out of the game on the spot.
Name: Morbid Plunder
Cost: 1{B}{B}
Type: Sorcery
Rules Text: Return up to two target creature cards from your graveyard to your hand.
Flavor Text: Even the dead are raw materials for the Phyrexian vision of perfection.
Illus. Mike Bierek
Rarity: Common
Set Number: #47/155
(Joe) Solid in limited right about the time you start to reach top-deck mode to refill your hand with the best candidates in your yard.
(James) You do get two cards back so it’s a pretty nice recharge. I’d probably pick up a copy for a limited deck but I don’t see much advantage in more than one.
Name: Nested Ghoul
Cost: 3{B}{B}
Type: Creature – Zombie Warrior
Pow/Tgh: 4/2
Rules Text: Whenever a source deals damage to Nested Ghoul, put a 2/2 black Zombie creature token onto the battlefield.
Flavor Text: “The chest cavity is cleared of useless meat. I know just what to do with the space.”
-Gyed, Vault Priest
Illus. Dave Kendall
Rarity: Uncommon
Set Number: #48/155
(Joe) If you randomly end up with Prodigal Sorcerer and this guy, it might be cute. He does at least replace himself with a 2/2 most of the time.
(James) Yeah, the best way to look at it is, “he died and now I have a 2/2 to replace him,” which isn’t necessarily bad. There is something to be said about “two creatures for the cost of one.” I just think this is pretty expensive. An X/2 isn’t that impressive.
Name: Phyresis
Cost: 1{B}
Type: Enchantment – Aura
Rules Text: Enchanted creature has infect. (It deals damage to creatures in the form of -1/-1 counters and to players in the form of poison counters.)
Flavor Text: “Perfection is at hand. You have been freed of weakness and made compleat.”
-Sheoldred, Whispering One
Illus. Izzy
Rarity: Common
Set Number: #49/155
(Joe) Hmm… pretty damn boring. Once in a blue moon, it might just enchant a big flier that goes all the way in a few swings. Even then, it’s probably better off being a removal spell instead of this weirdness.
Name: Phyrexian Crusader
Cost: 1{B}{B}
Type: Creature – Zombie Knight
Pow/Tgh: 2/2
Rules Text: First strike
Protection from red and from white.
Infect (This creature deals damage to creatures in form of -1/-1 counters and to players in form of poison counters.)
Illus. Eric Deschamps
Rarity: Rare
Set Number: #50/155
(James) A very good infect card; not the best, but still pretty good.
Name: Phyrexian Rager
Cost: 2{B}
Type: Creature – Horror
Pow/Tgh: 2/2
Rules Text: When Phyrexian Rager enters the battlefield, you draw a card and you lose 1 life.
Flavor Text: “I believe many worlds will bow to Phyrexia. Mirrodin is merely the first.”
-Sheoldred, Whispering One
Illus. Stephan Martiniere
Rarity: Common
Set Number: #51/155
(James) Sweet. Very well costed. I would pick these. Splashable, balanced and not an x/1.
Name: Phyrexian Vatmother
Cost: 2{B}{B}
Type: Creature – Horror
Pow/Tgh: 4/5
Rules Text: Infect (This creature deals damage to creatures in form of -1/-1 counters and to players in form of poison counters.)
At the beginning of your upkeep, you get a poison counter.
Illus. Stephan Martiniere
Rarity: Rare
Set Number: #52/155
(Joe) Interesting. I think 4 / 5 is about the right size to be worth the upkeep poison counter.
(James) Just pull this out if you’re playing against poison? So long as you’re bashing in with 4 poison, it’s probably a fast enough clock that it wouldn’t matter. Poison can be so explosive so I’d hesitate to keep this in against another poison deck.

Name: Sangromancer
Cost: 2{B}{B}
Type: Creature – Vampire Shaman
Pow/Tgh: 3/3
Rules Text: Flying
Whenever a creature an opponent controls is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, you may gain 3 life.
Whenever an opponent discards a card, you may gain 3 life.
Illus. Igor Kieryluk
Rarity: Rare
Set Number: #53/155
(Joe) Wow. I love this guy in limited… you won’t gain much from discards, but you’ll probably get 6-9 life on average if this guy sticks around. Plus, he’s a flying Hill Giant.
Name: Scourge Servant
Cost: 4{B}
Type: Creature – Zombie
Pow/Tgh: 3/3
Rules Text: Infect (This creature deals damage to creatures in the form of -1/-1 counters and to players in the form of poison counters.)
Flavor Text: “The union of the oil and necrogen has produced many pleasing reactions.”
-Sheoldred, Whispering One
Illus. Daarken
Rarity: Common
Set Number: #54/155
(James) Nice and big but damn expensive. 3/3 infect will be tough for non-infect to deal with so keep an eye out for this if you’re leaning toward B/x infect.
Name: Septic Rats
Cost: 1{B}{B}
Type: Creature – Rat
Pow/Tgh: 2/2
Rules Text: Infect (This creature deals damage to creatures in the form of -1/-1 counters and to players in the form of poison counters.)
Whenever Septic Rats attacks, if defending player is poisoned, it gets +1/+1 until end of turn.
Illus. Cos Koniotis
Rarity: Uncommon
Set Number: #55/155
(James) Also very interesting and the same note about the 3/3 being difficult to deal with applies here as well.
Name: Spread the Sickness
Cost: 4{B}
Type: Sorcery
Rules Text: Destroy target creature, then proliferate. (You choose any number of permanents and/or players with counters on them, then give each another counter of a kind already there.)
Flavor Text: Life is ephemeral. Phyrexia is eternal.
Illus. Jaime Jones
Rarity: Common
Set Number: #56/155
(Joe) Yup, quality removal and proliferate in black. This will be backbone material to limited decks. Deck vertebrae.
Name: Virulent Wound
Cost: B
Type: Instant
Rules Text: Put a -1/-1 counter on target creature. When that creature is put into the graveyard from the battlefield this turn, its controller gets a poison counter.
Rarity: Common
(Joe) In limited, this surely gets some mileage, even solely as soft removal. If you’re playing infect anyway, so much the better. In constructed, I think this may be a sideboard option similar to the role played by peppersmoke in faeries decks. If you’re proliferating anyway, this thing can kill even 2/2 stuff like fauna shaman, all while accellerating the poison kill. It will probably prove useful in mirror matches as well. That is, if the deck has legs. I’m interested to see whether Infect will “have the goods” now that this infusion of cards joins the pool. I guess I tend to be hopeful about such things. I want the deck to succeed in some form. I think poisoning people is cool.
Red (19)
Name: Blisterstick Shaman
Cost: 2{R}
Type: Creature – Goblin Shaman
Pow/Tgh: 2/1
Rules Text: When Blisterstick Shaman enters the battlefield, it deals 1 damage to target creature or player.
Flavor Text: A productive warren requires a good deal of prodding.
Illus. Svetlin Velinov
Rarity: Common
(Joe) This is like flametongue kavu, jr. But junior is a bit of a fatty… a big mouth to feed, having half the power and toughness and doing half as much damage as daddy, but eating (costing) only 1/4th less. Boo-urns to that. But it’ll still be good. 2 power for 2R is still in the traditional gray ogre ballpark. This guy can hit players, too.
Name: Burn the Impure
Cost: 1R
Type: Instant
Rules Text: Burn the Impure deals 3 damage to target creature. If that creature has infect, Burn the Impure deals 3 damage to that creature’s controller.
Flavor Text: Flame doesn’t kneel to Phyrexia.
Illus. Nie Klein
Rarity: Common
(Joe) Neat, a little infect hoser. This is sure to be played in limited, as it’s highly decent creature removal. The only way this sees constructed play is if the Inkmoth Nexus and friends find a solid home and become widely popular. Will it happen? Fingers crossed! “If y’all believe in faeries, clap yo hands!” -Peter Pan (paraphrased)
(James) I like this.
Name: Concussive Bolt
Cost: 3RR
Type: Sorcery
Rules Text: Concussive Bolt deals 4 damage to target player.
Metalcraft – If you control three or more artifacts, creatures that player controls can’t block this turn.
Rarity: Common
(Joe) I think this is an awesome way to alpha strike. This metalcraft card has a very high disparity between the power levels of its enabled and disabled metalcraft states. But even when disabled, it’s still on par with a fireball to the dome, though to be fair, worse than ye olde lava axe. So while clearly you REALLY want this to be played with metalcraft, it does do more than nothing even when it’s not, which is the main requirement.
Name: Crush
Cost: {R}
Type: Instant
Rules Text: Destroy target noncreature artifact.
Flavor Text: A golem’s hands know no tenderness.
Illus. Matt Stewart
Rarity: Common
Set Number: #61/155
(Joe) Sure to be a set staple across formats.
(James) Wow. This is a (sort of) red version of Deathmark at instant speed. Top pick removal for sure.
Name: Galvanoth
Cost: 3{R}{R}
Type: Creature – Beast
Pow/Tgh: 3/3
Rules Text: At the beginning of your upkeep, you may look at the top card of your library. If it’s an instant or sorcery card, you may cast it without paying its mana cost.
Flavor Text: It chews open Mirrodin’s husk and feeds on the outpouring of energy.
Illus. Kev Walker
Rarity: Rare
(James) Um, okay. I’m wondering if this will make it to constructed. Being able to cast spells for free off the top of a library is pretty powerful for burn strategies…For limited this seems too conditional. Meaning, I don’t think you’d be able to draft enough cards to enable this card to do anything spectacular.
Name: Gnathosaur
Cost: 4{R}{R}
Type: Creature – Lizard
Pow/Tgh: 5/4
Rules Text: Sacrifice an artifact: Gnathosaur gains trample until end of turn.
Flavor Text: Mirran creatures that could withstand the Phyrexian oil found an abundance of crunchy snacks.
Illus. Jason Chan
Rarity: Common
(James) Boy, I hope I don’t have to run this during the pre-release. 6 mana for a 5/4? Lame.
Name: Goblin Wardriver
Cost: {R}{R}
Type: Creature – Goblin Warrior
Pow/Tgh: 2/2
Rules Text: Battle cry (Whenever this creature attacks, each other attacking creature gets +1/+0 until end of turn.)
Flavor Text: “A true warrior fights with whatever’s handy.”
-Qerk of the Secret Warren
Illus. Chippy
Rarity: Uncommon
Set Number: #64/155
(Joe) I’m not sure I fully understand the ramifications of Battle Cry, because several of these leave me unimpressed. I think I may need to see this in action or something. Even when you have two or three of these guys out, you’re not really in that wildly-advantageous of a spot. Three of these could attack as 4/2s together. Perhaps there’s a critical mass that this bear-knight-guy can be a part of. He is still a bear, to his credit.
(James) That’s an interesting perspective. I think enabling an extra +1 to “all the other dudes” makes battlecry really strong. If you’re swinging with 3 dudes, that could easily be 6 damage to the dome. A pretty hefty clock for say…turn 4. I’m also perversely interested in using battlecry with some infect creatures. lol.

Name: Hellkite Igniter
Cost: 5{R}{R}
Type: Creature – Dragon
Pow/Tgh: 5/5
Rules Text: Flying, haste
{1}{R}:Hellkite Igniter gets +X/+0 until end of turn, where X is the number of artifacts you control.
Flavor Text: Its flight sets the sky itself on fire.
Illus. Jason Chan
Rarity: Rare
Set Number: #65/155
(Joe) I am going to hate the punk who sits down across from me and whoops me with this thing. I can see it coming. Hoard-Smelter Dragon is superior. Still a bomb in limited.
Name: Hero of Oxid Ridge
Cost: 2{R}{R}
Type: Creature – Human Knight
Pow/Tgh: 4/2
Rules Text: Haste
Battle cry (Whenever this creature attacks, each other attacking creature gets +1/+0 until end of turn.)
Whenever Hero of Oxid Ridge attacks, creatures with power 1 or less can’t block this turn.
Illus. Eric Deschamps
Rarity: Mythic Rare
Set Number: #66/155
(Joe) I like how this guy nullifies walls, but I’m still not sure I grasp how this mechanic is going to blast off. He doesn’t hold a candle to Marton Stromgald, that’s for damn sure.
Name: Into the Core
Cost: 2{R}{R}
Type: Instant
Rules Text: Exile two target artifacts.
Flavor Text: “They believe they are driving us back, but we’re leading them to their doom.”
-Kethek, furnace stoker
Rarity: Uncommon
Set Number: #67/155
(Joe) Yow! I’ll buy ten shares of this stock. This will ruin some afternoons.
(James) I like the exile bit the most. Destroying is good but there’s a lot of ways of getting pesky artifacts back.
Name: Koth’s Courier
Cost: 1{R}{R}
Type: Creature – Human Rogue
Pow/Tgh: 2/3
Rules Text: Forestwalk
Flavor Text: Koth sent partisans into the Tangle to bring survivors to the safe haven of the tunnels beneath Kuldotha.
Illus. Wayne Reynolds
Rarity: Common
Set Number: #68/155
(Joe) Well, it’s a fine sideboard card for limited red decks.
Name: Kuldotha Flamefiend
Cost: 4{R}{R}
Type: Creature – Elemental
Pow/Tgh: 4/4
Rules Text: When Kuldotha Flamefiend enters the battlefield, you may sacrifice an artifact. If you do, Kuldotha Flamefiend deals 4 damage divided as you choose among any number of target creatures and/or players.
Illus. Raymond Swanland
Rarity: Uncommon
Set Number: #69/155
(James) This is interesting. I’m not a huge fan of sacrificing my own stuff but I suppose if I can remove a creature or two of my opponents, it might be worth it. Something tells me that destroying my things to kill someone else’s does not work in my favor (i.e. there’s no real card advantage).
Name: Kuldotha Ringleader
Cost: 4{R}
Type: Creature – Giant Berserker
Pow/Tgh: 4/4
Rules Text: Battle cry (Whenever this creature attacks, each other attacking creature gets +1/+0 until end of turn.)
Kuldotha Ringleader attacks each turn if able.
Flavor Text: Being surrounded by goblins is less objectionable when they’re fighting for you.
Illus. Greg Staples
Rarity: Common
(Joe) This guy survives long enough to make his Battle cry ability pretty annoying I guess.
(James) Staple battlecry for limited.
Name: Metallic Mastery
Cost: 2{R}
Type: Sorcery
Rules Text: Untap target artifact and gain control of it until end of turn. That artifact gains haste until end of turn.
Rarity: Uncommon
(Joe) Nice. So we continue a theme with red that includes Mark of Mutiny and Act of Treason in Standard. Again, under the right conditions, this could definitely have a 15 minutes of fame in any given format. It just requires a fairly popular baseline of desirable targets in one’s metagame.
Name: Rally the Forces
Cost: 2{R}
Type: Instant
Rules Text: Attacking creatures get +1/+0 and gain first strike until end of turn.
Flavor Text: “Drive them back! Make their underworld into their grave!”
-Koth of the Hammer
Illus. Steven Belledin
Rarity: Common
(Joe) I can dig it. I feel like a party pooper cause I’d rather pump my guys like this than use the Battle cry. I’ll be battle crying myself to sleep tonight.
(James) This is a good way to finish a game but why not use battlecry and this together? Now that’s tits.

Name: Red Sun’s Zenith
Cost: X{R}
Type: Sorcery
Rules Text: Red Sun’s Zenith deals X damage to target creature or player. If a creature dealt damage this way would be put into a graveyard this turn, exile it instead. Shuffle Red Sun’s Zenith into its owner’s library.
Illus. Svetlin Velinov
Rarity: Rare
Set Number: #71/155
(Joe) Yes, this zenith is insane! Such a bomb in limited. I’ll also hate the punk who burns me out with this. This will make the rounds in EDH for sure too. It’s just unfair in limited though. I’ve won tons of games in limited on the back of fireball. It’s often easy to splash into decks that nobody expects the late game blast from. I’m a zenith fan.
(James) Cool. Always nice to see mega-big burn spells.
Name: Ogre Resister
Cost: 2{R}{R}
Type: Creature – Ogre
Pow/Tgh: 4/3
Flavor Text: He didn’t have a word for “home”, but he knew it was something to be defended.
Illus. Efrem Palacios
Rarity: Common
Set Number: #72/155
(Joe) Such sad flavor text… I think old Rei Nakazawa must be going soft. This guy’s a good size for the price.
Name: Slagstorm
Cost: 1{R}{R}
Type: Sorcery
Rules Text: Choose one – Slagstorm deals 3 damage to each creature; or Slagstorm deals 3 damage to each player.
Flavor Text: “As long as we have the will to fight, we are never without weapons.”
-Koth of the Hammer
Illus. Dan Scott
Rarity: Rare
Set Number: #75/155
(Joe) Fabulous. Flamebreak, which this sort of reminds me of, still seems a bit better in my mind, but also costs a full three red. Given mana to play either, Slagstorm is only barely worse, since it will usually do less, and never do more, than its predecessor in the same situation. Both are solid cards. This is mass removal, and will win games in limited, and can do so in constructed as well. Firespout comes to mind there, too.
(James) Holy cow. Amazing card for limited and I can see this being playable in constructed (Burn, not RDW).
Name: Spiraling Duelist
Cost: 2{R}{R}
Type: Creature – Human Berserker
Pow/Tgh: 3/1
Rules Text: Metalcraft – Spiraling Duelist has double strike as long as you control three or more artifacts.
Flavor Text: “I never move the same way twice. These rotters can’t grasp chaos.”
Rarity: Uncommon
Set Number: #76/155
(Joe) He seems fragile and conditional. I’m not sure the upside is entirely worth the fragility. Maybe in the right deck, with lots of removal to clear the way, but also a suitably high metalcrafting artifact count.
(James) The ‘duelist’ meme is typically pretty weak on the butt. The issue I have is that this doesn’t even have first strike without metalcraft. I feel like it’s just a rip-off.
Green (19)
Name: Blightwidow
Cost: 3{G}
Type: Creature – Spider
Pow/Tgh: 2/4
Rules Text: Infect, reach
Rarity: Common
(James) I like spiders and this one is pretty good. I’d pick it up even if i weren’t going Green.
Name: Creeping Corrosion
Cost: 2{G}{G}
Type: Sorcery
Rules Text: Destroy all artifacts.
Flavor Text: “We will reveal the futility of their heresy by showing them how fragile their relics are.”
-Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger
Illus. Ryan Pancoast
Rarity: Rare
Set Number: #78/155
(Joe) A green udate to shatterstorm, and I must say I think it’s more at home in green than in red. Flavor disputes aside, the effect is obviously situationally insane in an artifact heavy set. Nice reset button, eh? Wish we’d had that back in our first journey to the plane of Mirrodin. Guess the corrosion hadn’t crept so far back then, eh?
Name: Fangren Marauder
Cost: 5{G}
Type: Creature – Beast
Pow/Tgh: 5/5
Rules Text: Whenever an artifact is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, you may gain 5 life.
Flavor Text: “The fangren fight without comfort of any kind. We can ask no less of ourselves.”
-Tilien, Sylvok Partisan
Illus. James Ryman
Rarity: Common
Set Number: #79/155
(James) Not the worst 6-drop I’ve seen previewed in this set…but not the best (by a long shot) either.
Name: Glissa’s Courier
Cost: 1{G}{G}
Type: Creature – Horror
Pow/Tgh: 2/3
Rules Text: Mountainwalk
Flavor Text: “So, the survivors from Oxid Ridge are on the move. Let them come and witness predation in its purest form.”
-Glissa
Illus. Dave Kendall
Rarity: Common
Set Number: #80/155
(James) Probably a great SB option and it’s common so you’ll potentially be able to get 2.

Name: Green Sun’s Zenith
Cost: X{G}
Type: Sorcery
Rules Text: Search your library for a green creature card with converted mana cost X or less and put it onto the battlefield, then shuffle your library. Shuffle Green Sun’s Zenith into its owner’s library.
Flavor Text: As the green sun crowned, Phyrexian prophecies glowed on the Tree of Tales.
Illus. David Rapoza
Rarity: Rare
Set Number: #81/155
(Joe) This is the best zenith in my opinion. I can’t wait to use this in EDH. I will be shocked if it doesn’t impact Standard promptly. It may often ride the pine in limited, however.
(James) Oh, man. This is good. You are allowed to be really excited when you see this card in your packs.
Name: Lead the Stampede
Cost: 2{G}
Type: Sorcery
Rules Text: Look at the top five cards of your library. You may reveal any number of creature cards from among them and put the revealed cards into your hand. Put the rest on the bottom of your library in any order.
Illus. Efrem Palacios
Rarity: Uncommon
Set Number: #82/155
(Joe) Most often, I’d rather just play a creature on turn 3, instead of trying to dig. Maybe a fast deck uses this later on turn 5 or 6 to refill while still making a 2-drop.
(James) I like this as a one of for refilling mid-game. I’m a bit short on time so I won’t do the exact math on this but you should nab at least one creature with this card. Hmm. Is it worth getting one? The drawback is that you may blow through some removal.
Name: Melira’s Keepers
Cost: 4{G}
Type: Creature – Human Warrior
Pow/Tgh: 4/4
Rules Text: Melira’s Keepers can’t have counters placed on it.
Flavor Text: Her warriors are the last defense against the coming storm.
Illus. Eric Deschamps
Rarity: Uncommon
Set Number: #83/155
(Joe) Interesting ability here. Obviously a solid blocker of infect creatures, eh?! 4/4 is fine for 5, as well. Seems decent.
(James) This is pretty strong but it sort of sucks to think that it might actually have to block. I think I would take this as a very late pick.
Name: Mirran Mettle
Cost: G
Type: Instant
Rules Text: Target creature gets +2/+2 until end of turn.
Metalcraft- If you control three or more artifacts, that creature gets +4/+4 until end of turn instead.
Rarity: Common
(James) Giant Growth sort of. Not bad. Late pick and 23rd card…
Name: Phyrexian Hydra
Cost: 3{G}{G}
Type: Creature – Hydra
Pow/Tgh: 7/7
Rules Text: Infect (This creature deals damage to creatures in the form of -1/-1 counters and to players in the form of poison counters.)
If damage would be dealt to Phyrexian Hydra, prevent that damage. Put a -1/-1 counter on Phyrexian Hydra for each 1 damage prevented this way.
Illus. Mike Bierek
Rarity: Rare
Set Number: #85/155
(Joe) Wow, this guy’s a beating. Short lived, perhaps, but not without taking down some enemies, with any luck. And unopposed, it can seal the deal quickly. Again, I’m curious whether this finds a home in constructed, but I’m less hopeful about this one than some others, mostly because while this hydra starts big, it can only really go downhill from there.
(James) Oh, man. That is one nasty Hydra.
Name: Pistus Strike
Cost: 2{G}
Type: Instant
Rules Text: Destroy target creature with flying. its controller gets a poison counter.
Flavor Text: “Even a nuisance such as the pistus fly has a purpose in our new world.”
-Glissa
Illus. Jaime Jones
Rarity: Common
Set Number: #86/155
(James) Better than Wing Puncture? Maybe; the poison counter bit is pretty conditional. I mean, what would I think if this didn’t have the poison counter part? I’d probably feel that it’s easily a great sideboard option and main decking one probably isn’t that bad of an idea.
Name: Plaguemaw Beast
Cost: 3GG
Type: Creature – Beast
Pow/Tgh: 4/3
Rules Text: {T}, Sacrifice a creature: Proliferate.
Flavor Text: Phyrexia’s spiral of consumption grows ever wider and darker.
Illus. Whit Brachna
Rarity: Uncommon
Set Number: #87/155
(James) I don’t see the proliferate being worth it. You have to be winning with that ability to have it make sense. “pass it to the left” (or right).

Name: Praetor’s Counsel
Cost: 5{G}{G}{G}
Type: Sorcery
Rules Text: Return all cards from your graveyard to your hand. Exile Praetor’s Counsel. You have no maximum hand size for the rest of the game.
Flavor Text: As the Phyrexian contagion eroded Karn’s body, the praetors whispered psalms to corrupt his mind.
Illus. Daarken
Rarity: Mythic Rare
Set Number: #88/155
(James) lol. This is too expensive for limited and I’m not convinced it has legs for constructed.
(Joe) EDH will L-O-V-E this crazy thing though. Azusa can play this thing super quick, though it requires running another non permanent. I think this is worth it though, since it’s like the ultimate regrowth or restock, so if you’re not inclined, you can at least market the card this way to your EDH buddies when it comes time for trading.
Name: Quilled Slagwurm
Cost: 4GGG
Type: Creature – Wurm
Pow/Tgh: 8/8
Rarity: Uncommon
(Joe) Seven is a lot of mana, and 8 is a lot of both power and toughness. He’s big and dumb, and that’s all. Play him with acceleration if you decide to play him, that’s my advice.
Name: Rot Wolf
Cost: 2{G}
Type: Creature – Wolf
Pow/Tgh: 2/2
Rules Text: Infect (This creature deals damage to creatures in the form of -1/-1 counters and to players in the form of poison counters.)
Whenever a creature dealt damage by Rot Wolf this turn is put into a graveyard, you may draw a card.
Illus. Nils Hamm
Rarity: Common
Set Number: #90/155
(James) This card will be really good if you can pick up a good equipment. Bladed Pinion and (believe it or not) Accorders Shield come to mind.
Name: Tangle Mantis
Cost: 2{G}{G}
Type: Creature – Insect
Pow/Tgh: 3/4
Rules Text: Trample
Rarity: Common
(Joe) I like this common trampler. A neat effect for a hill giant. This guy loves some buffs, or to wear some of the ubiquitous equipment in the set.
Name: Thrun, the Last Troll
Cost: 2{G}{G}
Type: Legendary Creature – Troll Shaman
Pow/Tgh: 4/4
Rules Text: Thrun, the Last Troll can’t be countered.
Thrun can’t be the target of spells or abilities your opponents control.
{1}{G}: Regenerate Thrun.
Flavor Text: His crime was silence, and now he suffers it eternally.
Illus. Jason Chan
Rarity: Mythic Rare
Set Number: #92/155
(Joe) Being uncounterable rocks. The ascetic troll thing rocks. Regeneration, if all else fails, rocks. 4/4 is a lot for 4 mana. And plus, he’s a new general, and a damn fine one for use as an equipment platform in “voltron” style general beatdown. I get that he rocks, but I’m not sure he justifies the initial price leaps I’ve seen. I hope I can get a copy on the cheap (like, you know, in my sealed pool at the pre-release, please?).
Name: Unnatural Predation
Cost: {G}
Type: Instant
Rules Text: Target creature gets +1/+1 and gains trample until end of turn.
Flavor Text: “Domination by the strongest – that is all that matters in the Tangle now.”
-Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger
Illus. Shelly Wan
Rarity: Common
(James) The conditional giant growth is better.
Name: Viridian Corrupter
Cost: 1{G}{G}
Type: Creature – Elf Shaman
Pow/Tgh: 2/2
Rules Text: Infect (This creature deals damage to creatures in the form of -1/-1 counters and to players in the form of poison counters.)
When Viridian Corrupter enters the battlefield, destroy target artifact.
Illus. Matt Cavotta
Rarity: Uncommon
Set Number: #94/155
(James) Pretty cool. Not a bad uncommon to pick up.
Name: Viridian Emissary
Cost: 1{G}
Type: Creature – Elf Scout
Pow/Tgh: 2/1
Rules Text: When Viridian Emissary is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, you may search your library for a basic land card and put that card onto the battlefield tapped. If you do, shuffle your library.
Illus. Matt Stewart
Rarity: Common
Set Number: #95/155
(James) Solid accel card that will clearly help with color fixing.
Multicolor (2)

Name: Glissa, the Traitor
Cost: {B}{G}{G}
Type: Legendary Creature – Zombie Elf
Pow/Tgh: 3/3
Rules Text: First strike, deathtouch
Whenever a creature an opponent controls is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, you may return target artifact card from your graveyard to your hand.
Rarity: Mythic Rare
Set Number: #96/155
(Joe) Another new general, I’m not sure precisely how best to abuse her peculiar last ability. She’s fine in battle, though, and can come down somewhat quickly. Apparently she uses the P90X workout system, cause check out those abs.
Name: Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
Cost: 2{U}{B}
Type: Planeswalker – Tezzeret
Pow/Tgh: 3
Rules Text: +1: Look at the top five cards of your library. You may reveal an artifact card from among them and put it into your hand. Put the rest on the bottom of your library in any order.
-1: Target artifact becomes a 5/5 artifact creature.
-4: Target player loses X life and you gain X life, where X is twice the number of artifacts you control.
Illus. Aleksi Briclot
Rarity: Mythic Rare
Set Number: #97/155
(Joe) Don’t be fooled, the -1 is not “until end of turn”. That nihil spellbomb or whatever is a 5/5 for good. TezzAoB seems okay to me… it’s interesting to see him with a draw ability in place of the tutoring of yore.
(James) I think I should have pre-purchased these on Ebay. I think I might go do that now…
Artifact (46)
Name: Bladed Sentinel
Cost: 4
Type: Artifact Creature – Construct
Pow/Tgh: 2/4
Rules Text: {W}: Bladed Sentinel gains vigilance until end of turn.
Flavor Text: The Mirran partisans created hundreds of patrol sentinels to divert Phyrexian assaults from the Tangle.
Illus. Tomasz Jedruszek
Rarity: Common
Set Number: #98/155
(Joe) I like this cycle a bit. I like to wonder whether someone would ever be desperate enough for the body to run these guys off color and not bother to splash at all.
(James) Seems like a good roleplayer for W/x decks. Not the best costed card but there are a lot worse!

Name: Blightsteel Colossus
Cost: 12
Type: Artifact Creature – Golem
Pow/Tgh: 11/11
Rules Text: Trample, infect
Blightsteel Colossus is indestructible.
If Blightsteel Colossus would be put into a graveyard from anywhere, reveal Blightsteel Colossus and shuffle it into its owner’s library instead.
Illus. Chris Rahn
Rarity: Mythic Rare
Set Number: #99/155
(Joe) [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0iZOmjLrFMs] Daaaaaamn! Obviously this is the infect version of nostalgic fan favorite of his day Darksteel Colossus. This guy is every bit as ridiculous, if not moreso. The one mana extra buys us infect, which speeds the kill up a turn, making the overall expected turn of death roughly the same in hard-cast scenarios. But given that we normally cheated darksteel colossus into play, I think infect represents a real upgrade that’s effectively at no additional cost compared to the original. In EDH, of course, this mostly just means we can now run two similarly bonkers gargantua, and that tooth and nail can now go find the brothers steel. Color me dork-buzzed about this card. Way stoked.
(james) There’s been a lot of contention with this card on Twitter. Do a search for #BSD and you’ll see quite a few hate tweets directed at Maro. Ooops. I think people find this a bit too broken. (One kill infect swing). It is a shame that a card that hits play with no answer in hand will essentially end the game. And of course it’s cheated into play…
Name: Bonehoard
Cost: 4
Type: Artifact – Equipment
Rules Text: Living weapon (When this Equipment enters the battlefield, put a 0/0 black Germ creature token onto the battlefield, then attach this to it.)
Equipped creature gets +X/+X, where X is the number of creature cards in all graveyards.
Equip {2}
Illus. Chippy
Rarity: Rare
Set Number: #100/155
(Joe) This name makes me think, for some reason, of a lesbian dildo stash… the bonehoard! This Living Weapon Lhurgoyf looks pretty damn sexy though. Careful not to cast a dead living weapon, kids!
(James) Maybe this goes into a dredge deck? I don’t think this is a very good card for limited but there are some constructed options. I would be disappointed to open this in a draft.
Name: Brass Squire
Cost: 3
Type: Creature – Myr
Pow/Tgh: 1/3
Rules Text: {T}: Attach target Equipment you control to target creature you control.
Flavor Text: “I admire it. Few pull off pluck and subservience at the same time.”
-Ezuri, renegade leader
Illus. Ryan Pancoast
Rarity: Uncommon
Set Number: #101/155
(Joe) Well, the argentum armor decks showed that this effect can actually have a place at the table. A 1 / 3 is a pretty typical run of the mill defensive creature, so he’s not entirely useless when you don’t even have equipment, or costly equip costs.
(James) Seems pretty viable. As Joe pointed out, Argentum Armor loves this card. Stoneforge Mystic + Argentum Armour + Brass Myr?
Name: Copper Carapace
Cost: 1
Type: Artifact – Equipment
Rules Text: Equipped creature gets +2/+2 and can’t block.
Equip {3}
Flavor Text: “We will fight as they do: our flesh protected behind metal.”
-Tae Aquil, Viridian Weaponsmith
Illus. Franz Wohwinkel
Rarity: Common
Set Number: #102/155
(Joe) I think this could really power out some evasive creature strategies, wherein you typically don’t intend to block with your evasive attackers. This also fits well into a “bear” heavy curve, letting you drop the carapace turn 1, a leonin skyhunter turn 2, and then equip and swing for 4 flying from turn 3 onward.
(James) Great for a skies/evasion based deck. I don’t like the tension between the casting cost and the equip cost. There is essentially a draw-back yet I have to pay 3 to equip. Strider Harness is better at 1 to cast and 1 to equip even though it’s “only” a +1/+1 and haste.
Name: Core Prowler
Cost: 4
Type: Artifact Creature – Horror
Pow/Tgh: 2/2
Rules Text: Infect (This creature deals damage to creatures in the form of -1/-1 counters and to players in the form of poison counters.)
When Core Prowler is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, proliferate. (You choose any number of permanents and/or players with counters on them, then give each another counter of a kind already there.)
Illus. Dave Allsop
Rarity: Uncommon
Set Number: #103/155
(Joe) I love this card in the proliferate style poison deck. It’s an optimal card to sacrifice to a throne of geth. I’m skeptical of whether this would make the cut in a constructed build, but in limited you might nab those last few poison counters with these sorts of shenanigans.
Name: Darksteel Plate
Cost: 3
Type: Artifact – Equipment
Rules Text: Darksteel Plate is indestructible.
Equipped creature is indestructible.
Equip {2}
Rarity: Rare
(Joe) I love this card, and can’t wait to add it to a number of EDH decks. That said, I’m not sure it has much likelihood of seeing standard play. It’s a fun card, but not likely a devastating one.
(James) Everyone is screaming about EDH viability… I’m not so hot on it (and I don’t play much EDH). Maybe I’m just being overly conservative. 5 mana to make one of my creatures indestructible? Just not sure about that… I really like this on Goblin Gaveleer though.
Name: Decimator Web
Cost: 4
Type: Artifact
Rules Text: {4}, {T}: Target opponent loses 2 life, gets a poison counter, then puts the top six cards of his or her library into his or her graveyard.
Flavor Text: Mycosynth grew unfettered beneath the black lacuna, metastasizing into a matrix of noxious energy.
Illus. Daniel Ljunggren
Rarity: Rare
Set Number: #105/155
(Joe) This can potentially make your day (or not!) in limited, but it’s probably destined for the dollar bin thereafter. In fact, “The Decimator Web” might make a cool alias for the old dollar bin itself. “By all means, browse through out extensive decimator web.”
(James) I think this is a flavorful card and that’s it. The etymology of ‘decimate’ is 1/10th but the common, contemporary use is “destroy.” And this does not destroy. It’s slow and lame imo. Waste of paper and a slot in Besieged.
Name: Dross Ripper
Cost: 4
Type: Artifact Creature – Hound
Pow/Tgh: 3/3
Rules Text: {2}{B}: Dross Ripper gets +1/+1 until end of turn.
Flavor Text: “Such a creation serves no purpose other than exterminating every one of us.”
-Sadra Alic, Neurok Strategist
Illus. David Rapoza
Rarity: Common
Set Number: #106/155
(Joe) Technically this is a hill giant, so he should be passable, but this just makes me feel like I’m working too hard to get a 4/4.
(James) Borderline card. Maybe good as the 15th creature.
Name: Flayer Husk
Cost: 1
Type: Artifact – Equipment
Rules Text: Living weapon (When this Equipment enters the battlefield, put a 0/0 black Germ creature token onto the battlefield, then attach this to it.)
Equipped creature gets +1/+1.
Equip {2}
Illus. Igor Kieryluk
Rarity: Common
Set Number: #107/155
(Joe) Love it. Can’t wait to try it out. I think this will prove to be quite neato indeed. Living weapon is awesome: it’s like the weapon is ensouled, but only has the power and toughness it would otherwise grant its wielder, literally like a weapon come to life. And upon its death, you still have the equipment, so what the hell, right?!
(James) Much better than Bonehoard imo. It’s a viable turn 1 drop and a cheap equip that you don’t hate doing on turn three+ (presumably when your 1/1 is dead).
Name: Gust Skimmer
Cost: 2
Type: Artifact Creature – Insect
Pow/Tgh: 2/1
Rules Text: {U}: Gust Skimmer gains flying until end of turn.
Flavor Text: Phyrexian smog clouds choked the skies, threatening creatures who couldn’t comprehend the menace below.
Illus. Dan Scott
Rarity: Common
Set Number: #108/155
(Joe) On the one hand it’s a bad bear that’s able to go in any deck, and on the other hand it can jump and sometimes that will be the tempo boost that won the game. This one has a very good chance to play a role or two in limited.
(James) I feel like this is worth the cost and really helps with the W/U skies decks that have problems matching hits in the early game.
Name: Hexplate Golem
Cost: 7
Type: Artifact Creature – Golem
Pow/Tgh: 5/7
Flavor Text: “Use everything. Iron, rust, scrap…even the ground must join our cause.”
-Ezuri, renegade leader
Illus. Matt Cavotta
Rarity: Common
Set Number: #109/155
(Joe) Vanilla 5/7 for 7. I know it’ll be played here and there. I don’t get thrilled by this card.
Name: Ichor Wellspring
Cost: 2
Type: Artifact
Rules Text: When Ichor Wellspring enters the battlefield or is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, draw a card.
Flavor Text: “Our glorious infection has taken hold.”
-Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
Illus. Steven Belledin
Rarity: Common
Set Number: #110/155
(Joe) This definitely has ‘engine’ written all over it, and will be the cause of many a magic card database search I reckon.
(James) Seems pretty well costed. There are some nice sac outlets, so it’s plausible to get the 2 cards. Pay 2, cantrip and have an artifact sitting there ready to power a metalcraft…not a bad option…
Name: Knowledge Pool
Cost: 6
Type: Artifact
Rules Text: Imprint – When Knowledge Pool enters the battlefield, each player exiles the top three cards of his or her library.
Whenever a player casts a spell from his or her hand, that player exiles it. If the player does, he or she may cast another nonland card exiled with Knowledge Pool without paying that card’s mana cost.
Illus. Mike Bierek
Rarity: Rare
Set Number: #111/155
(Joe) This is pretty interesting, though it can easily set you up to simply lose 6 mana and mill yourself for 3 when they shatter this thing. However, when it works out, you should get lucky only about half the time, and the other half you’ll actually be disrupting yourself. I mean, it works great when you imprint Blightsteel colossus and then play ponder, but when you imprint three cheap spells, it’s more of a bummer, since you won’t get to cheat much, if at all. In the end, this is too conditional for my liking, and I’d probably prefer to just play a big 6-drop rather than roll the dice with this card. In constructed, where you can run 4x preordain, or in EDH with senseis divining top, you have a much easier time ensuring the cheats work out.
(James) I agree; this is pretty interesting. Maybe there’s room for some shenanigans in constructed. But that really could just be wishful thinking.
Name: Lumengrid Gargoyle
Cost: 6
Type: Artifact Creature – Gargoyle
Pow/Tgh: 4/4
Rules Text: Flying
Flavor Text: “Anything that watches without sleep and fights without fear is a valuable asset against the Phyrexians.”
-Kara Vrist, Neurok Agent
Illus. Randis Albion
Rarity: Uncommon
Set Number: #112/155
(Joe) Well, this is what it is: a 4/4 flying that any deck can play. This makes it very decent in limited, and unlikely to get any constructed play whatsoever.
(James) Very solid limited pick but like Joe said, “That is.”
Name: Mirrorworks
Cost: 5
Type: Artifact
Rules Text: Whenever another nontoken artifact enters the battlefield under your control, you may pay {2}. If you do, put a token that’s a copy of that artifact onto the battlefield.
Flavor Text: The faces of Geth’s corpse-dredgers are disturbingly similar.
Illus. John Avon
Rarity: Rare
Set Number: #114/155
(Joe) This seems rather nutty, and will probably enable some manner of insane infinite combo in some constructed format or other. For limited, the value of this card is highly dependent upon having something useful to copy.
(James) I think this is near the power level of Mimic Vat, though not quite as good. The ability to put a copy of every artifact that enters the battlefield for 2 mana is pretty insane. I also like that it doesn’t require an imprint (and so there’s no 2-for-1). Should be something constructed-side that comes from this card.
Name: Magnetic Mine
Cost: 4
Type: Artifact
Rules Text: Whenever another artifact is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, Magnetic Mine deals 2 damage to that artifact’s controller.
Illus. David Rapoza
Rarity: Rare
Set Number: #115/155
(Joe) Should be bonkers alongside Slagstorm and/or Creeping Corrosion. Otherwise it seems rather conditional, and even a bit weak when conditions are right. It’s got the stink of megrim on it in that regard.
(James) Weird. Could be pretty effective if you’re light on artifacts. Pairs really well with Slice in Twain and Shatter (among others) but it is fairly conditional. Not a top-pick imo, nor constructed worthy…though mainly because shatterstorm isn’t a reprint for type 2…well, and that so far as I’m aware there’s no “clearly overwhelming artifact deck” right now.
Name: Mortarpod
Cost: 2
Type: Artifact – Equipment
Rules Text: Living weapon (When this Equipment enters the battlefield, put a 0/0 black Germ creature token onto the battlefield, then attach this to it.)
Equipped creature gets +0/+1 and has “Sacrifice this creature: This creature deals 1 damage to target creature or player.”
Equip {2}
Illus. Eric Deschamps
Rarity: Uncommon
Set Number: #115/155
(Joe) This is a useful card that might seem like a bad deal at first. This guy will chump block, will often nuke some annoying early game play, and will provide added value throughout the game. It’s slow incidental “removal” but it’s still reusable. I’m Joe Klesert, and I approve this message.
(James) Thumbs up as a role player in limited; just don’t build your deck around it.
Name: Myr Sire
Cost: 2
Type: Artifact Creature – Myr
Pow/Tgh: 1/1
Rules Text: When Myr Sire is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, put a 1/1 colorless Myr artifact creature token onto the battlefield.
Flavor Text: For the Phyrexians, death is not an end, nor a one-time occurrence.
Illus. Jaime Jones
Rarity: Common
Set Number: #116/155
(Joe) Again with the engine pieces. This is destined to be used as sacrifice bait, particularly of the recursive sort.

Name: Myr Turbine
Cost: 5
Type: Artifact
Rules Text: {T}: Put a 1/1 colorless Myr artifact creature token onto the battlefield.
{T}, Tap five untapped Myr you control: Search your library for a Myr card and put that card onto the battlefield, then shuffle your library.
Illus. Randis Albion
Rarity: Rare
Set Number: #117/155
(Joe) I like it. Sure, you will sometimes pay 5, get a 1/1, and lose the turbine to removal. But other times, a constant stream of 1/1s, and the eventual tutor effect, will represent quality gains in card advantage and board position. I love that no further mana is required to pump out the myr.
(Joe) Wait a second… where have I seen this artwork before? WTF?

(Joe) I guess those myr have a consistent sense of aesthetics and building design.
Name: Myr Welder
Cost: 3
Type: Artifact Creature – Myr
Pow/Tgh: 1/4
Rules Text: Imprint – {T}: Exile target artifact card from a graveyard.
Myr Welder has all activated abilities of all cards exiled with it.
Flavor Text: Memnarch designed some myr to follow the levelers and reaffix lost parts. Mirran partisans put that instinct to good use.
Illus. Austin Hsu
Rarity: Rare
Set Number: #118/155
(Joe) So this guy can provide a slower version of the Necrotic Ooze, Triskelion, Phyrexian Devourer combo, replacing the ooze. However, I think there will likely be other applications that will push the welder into some constructed decks. This guy’s so random, though, that it will prove difficult to effectively abuse him in limited. Still, there are bound to be a bunch of really advantageous combos with this guy, even in Scars block limited.
Name: Peace Strider
Cost: 4
Type: Artifact Creature – Construct
Pow/Tgh: 3/3
Rules Text: When Peace Strider enters the battlefield, you gain 3 life.
Flavor Text: “The Vanished must have sent it from beyond to aid us in this struggle.” -Kessla, Sylvok shaman
Illus. Igor Kieryluk
Rarity: Uncommon
Set Number: #119/155
(Joe) Yawn… almost fell asleep there, reading that one. This is lame, boring, uninspired, etc. Still, it’s a hill giant for any deck, so it’ll see limited play, but not constructed play.
(James) Not sure this is main deck material. Could be if you’re light on creatures…
Name: Phyrexian Digester
Cost: 3
Type: Artifact Creature – Construct
Pow/Tgh: 2/1
Rules Text: Infect
Rarity: Common
(Joe) Incredibly boring, but like the card before, since this is a colorless pseudo-gray ogre, and it’s capable of instilling two -1/-1 counters by blocking, it will still play a part in limited decks. Infect often needs a critical mass, and at some point in that curve, quantity trumps quality. But this is a pretty simple card… nothing nuanced really.
(James) It’s better than Blackcleave Goblin…which isn’t saying much I guess. :p
Name: Phyrexian Juggernaut
Cost: 6
Type: Artifact Creature – Juggernaut
Pow/Tgh: 5/5
Rules Text: Infect (This creature deals damage to creatures in the form of -1/-1 counters and to players in the form of poison counters.)
Phyrexian Juggernaut attacks each turn if able.
Flavor Text: Where nature impedes, Phyrexians overcome.
Illus. Kev Walker
Rarity: Uncommon
Set Number: #121/155
(Joe) Seems rather fantastic. Bordering on bomb territory. This is big enough that it can be your only infect creature, and you’ll still often poison opponents out. Two full hits is all it takes, so they’ll throw a string of chumps in its path. Therefore, he essentially becomes some kind of recurring removal spell. “Each turn, during your combat step, your opponent sacrifices a creature. If they miss two such payments, they lose.” Something like that. Not bad for an uncommon colorless card.
(James) Whoa. Watch out. I love how the juggernauts “have to attack”…like that’s some kind of drawback on a 5/5 infect! This will be a very difficult infect card to deal with, and it’s an uncommon so more than one could float in a draft. Ouch.

Name: Phyrexian Revoker
Cost: 2
Type: Artifact Creature – Horror
Pow/Tgh: 2/1
Rules Text: As Phyrexian Revoker enters the battlefield, name a nonland card.
Activated abilities of sources with the chosen name can’t be activated.
Flavor Text: Basic senses like sight and taste are reserved for those in power.
Illus. Kev Walker
Rarity: Rare
Set Number: #122/155
(Joe) I’m very stoked about this card. It’s one of the cards I’m most looking forward to, having always loved pithing needle and meddling mage and the like. This guy murders all the fancy schmancy planeswalkers, though perhaps not as permanently as vampire hexmage manages. I just love this bear, though. And it can stop mana abilities. Very cool. I’m guessing it makes a splash in constructed formats all over, and ends up being a legacy roleplayer. And of course, someone will put a deck together with all the “name a card” spells… the ones I’ve mentioned along with maybe cabal therapy and friends? Should be fun to try.
(James) Pithing Needle that attacks! Sweet.
Name: Pierce Strider
Cost: 4
Type: Artifact Creature – Construct
Pow/Tgh: 3/3
Rules Text: When Pierce Strider enters the battlefield, target opponent loses 3 life.
Flavor Text: “Pain isn’t a negative stimulus. Pain is a sign of your imperfection.” – Sheoldred, Whispering One
Illus. Igor Kieryluk
Rarity: Uncommon
Set Number: #123/155
(Joe) Just like his peaceful cousin, this is a good-enough card, but not exactly jaw-dropping.
(James) I actually think this is twice as good as the peace strider version because the life totals are going in the right direction–opponent losing life and all…It’s amazing how I think this is twice as good as the lifegain.
Name: Piston Sledge
Cost: 3
Type: Artifact – Equipment
Rules Text: When Piston Sledge enters the battlefield, attach it to target creature you control.
Equipped creature gets +3/+1.
Equip – Sacrifice an artifact.
Flavor Text: Only the goblins could make a simple machine so complex.
Illus. Pete Venters
Rarity: Uncommon
Set Number: #124/155
(Joe) Keep this card in mind as a potential sacrificial outlet. 3 mana isn’t terribly much for the large buff this grants. The equip cost is the tradeoff, but again, in some cases it will prove to be a hidden benefit, and in others, you’ll usually just try to get the most value out of the first “freebie” attachment.
(James) Whoa, nelly. Hot stuff. No equip cost when you initially play it makes this extremely compelling. Plays very nicely with Ichor Wellspring–and goes up in value if you can pull one of these equipments.
Name: Plague Myr
Cost: 2
Type: Artifact Creature – Myr
Pow/Tgh: 1/1
Rules Text: Infect
{T}: Add {1} to your mana pool.
Rarity: Common
(Joe) I like this quite a bit better than the Phyrexian Digester above (the 2/1 for 3). While digester will normally be intended to ride the bench while better creatures do battle, and will only join in the reindeer games if there aren’t enough quality men to do the job, this guy’s a mana myr for every deck! I think this will often get played by non-infect decks, and in such cases it will have the nice side benefit of being a better-than-average chump blocker. Solid.
(James) Agreed. This is a top-quality mana myr pick for most decks, non-infect included.
Name: Psychosis Crawler
Cost: 5
Type: Artifact Creature – Horror
Pow/Tgh: */*
Rules Text: Psychosis Crawler’s power and toughness are each equal to the number of cards in your hand.
Whenever you draw a card, each opponent loses 1 life.
Illus. Stephan Martiniere
Rarity: Rare
Set Number: #126/155
(Joe) This isn’t terrible… kind of a reverse underworld dreams on a stick… Built-in empyrial armor is pretty dope too. Clearly strong in limited. I’m not convinced it has a future in constructed though… it’s not very resilient to the now-ubiquitous artifact removal and doesn’t do enough work fast enough to matter even when he sticks around a while.
Name: Rusted Slasher
Cost: 4
Type: Artifact Creature – Horror
Pow/Tgh: 4/1
Rules Text: Sacrifice an artifact: Regenerate Rusted Slasher.
Flavor Text: “It’s a beautiful vision. Discarded debris is reborn as a single entity.”
-Urabrask the Hidden
Illus. Adrian Smith
Rarity: Common
Set Number: #126/155
(Joe) No, thanks. Maybe if I need sacrifice outlets.
Name: Razorfield Rhino
Cost: 6
Type: Artifact Creature – Rhino
Pow/Tgh: 4/4
Rules Text: Metalcraft – Razorfield Rhino gets +2/+2 as long as you control three or more artifacts.
Flavor Text: Adapted to tread on razorgrass, the rhino proved adept at treading on Phyrexians as well.
Illus. Kekai Kotaki
Rarity: Common
Set Number: #127/155
(Joe) Well, like a lot of metalcraft cards, this is barely mediocre when you don’t have metalcraft, and barely above average when you do. So, to the extent that your deck is likely to be metalcraft enabled, this improves.
Name: Shimmer Myr
Cost: 3
Type: Creature – Myr
Pow/Tgh: 2/2
Rules Text: Flash
You may cast artifact cards as though they had flash.
Flavor Text: It evades Phyrexians by hiding in the spaces between seconds.
Illus. Jim Schirmer and Johannes Voss
Rarity: Rare
Set Number: #129/155
(Joe) I’m enamoured with this as well. I think this will be very strong, enabling the artifact decks that emerge to do sneak attacks and dodge some removal. The era of the EOT artifact flurry has dawned. Or at least, here’s hoping so!
Name: Shriekhorn
Cost: 1
Type: Artifact
Rules Text: Shriekhorn enters the battlefield with three charge counters on it.
{T}, Remove a charge counter from Shriekhorn: Target player puts the top two cards of his or her library into his or her graveyard.
Illus. Erica Yang
Rarity: Common
Set Number: #130/155
(Joe) Hmm… kind of a temporary, but faster, millstone. Probably good enough to enable some deck exhaustion strategies, that is, once Rise of the Eldrazi rotates out. Proliferate, and the many glint hawks of the world will also help prolong this card’s effectiveness.
Name: Signal Pest
Cost: 1
Type: Artifact Creature – Pest
Pow/Tgh: 0/1
Rules Text: Battle cry (Whenever this creature attacks, each other attacking creature gets +1/+0 until end of turn.)
Signal Pest can’t be blocked except by creatures with flying or reach.
Illus. Mark Zug
Rarity: Uncommon
Set Number: #131/155
(Joe) Personally, I don’t think battle cry has enough potential that this little guy ever sees the light of day, but I could be wrong. The math never seems that impressive to me… battle cry’s buff is a ‘far cry’ from, say plated geopede even in the best scenario.

Name: Silverskin Armor
Cost: 2
Type: Artifact – Equipment
Rules Text: Equipped creature gets +1/+1 and is an artifact in addition to its other types.
Equip {2}
Flavor Text: Partisan spies warned that no armor would protect the body against Phyrexian infection. Neurok strategists took that as a challenge.
Illus. Therese Nielsen
Rarity: Uncommon
Set Number: #132/155
(Joe) If you haven’t seen the artwork for this piece yet, check it out on Nielsen’s blog, and when your pavlovian drool subsides, come back to us. Not bad, eh? The buff is not insignificant in limited, making this a likely player. Also, this marginally helps turn metalcraft on. Very cool.
Name: Skinwing
Cost: 4
Type: Artifact – Equipment
Rules Text: Living weapon (When this Equipment enters the battlefield, put a 0/0 black Germ creature token onto the battlefield, then attach this to it.)
Equipped creature gets +2/+2 and has flying.
Equip {6}
Illus. Igor Kieryluk
Rarity: Uncommon
Set Number: #133/155
(Joe) A 4-drop 2/2 flying is pretty standard fare for limited. It sees play, and being colorless doubly ensures that. 6 seems like a lot to pay to re-equip, but remember that that’s just gravy above and beyond the 4-drop 2/2 flying you already got the benefit of.
Name: Sphere of the Suns
Cost: 2
Type: Artifact
Rules Text: Sphere of the Suns enters the battlefield tapped and with three charge counters on it.
{T}, Remove a charge counter from Sphere of the Suns: Add one mana of any color to your mana pool.
Illus. Jana Schirmer & Johannes Voss
Rarity: Uncommon
Set Number: #134/155
(Joe) Solid. A colorless accellerator and mana fixer, this is 100% certain to see limited play.
Name: Spin Engine
Cost: 3
Type: Artifact Creature – Construct
Pow/Tgh: 3/1
Rules Text: {R}: Target creature can’t block Spin Engine this turn.
Flavor Text: “It will be battle-ready before our strike at Oxid Ridge, and it will guarantee our victory.”
-Ketuc of the Helm
Illus. Pete Venters
Rarity: Common
Set Number: #135/155
(Joe) I like this for aggro decks. I’ve grown to like panic effects in certain archetypes.
Name: Spine of Ish Sah
Cost: 7
Type: Artifact
Rules Text: When Spine of Ish Sah enters the battlefield, destroy target permanent.
When Spine of Ish Sah is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, return Spine of Ish Sah to its owner’s hand.
Illus. Daniel Ljunggren
Rarity: Rare
Set Number: #136/155
(Joe) Very cool. Very innovative card design. Unorthodox and fairly unprecedented. This has awesome interactions in older formats and EDH. Goblin welder anyone? But yeah, in limited, try to have a way to re-use this, otherwise its a bad desert twister that’s still cool for decks that have no business using this kind of effect.
Name: Strandwalker
Cost: 5
Type: Artifact – Equipment
Rules Text: Living weapon (When this Equipment enters the battlefield, put a 0/0 black Germ creature token onto the battlefield, then attach this to it.)
Equipped creature gets +2/+4 and has reach.
Equip 4
Rarity: Uncommon
(Joe) A 2/4 reach living weapon. Hmm. Yeah, I think for 5, many limited decks will run this.
Name: Sword of Feast and Famine
Cost: 3
Type: Artifact – Equipment
Rules Text: Equipped creature gets +2/+2 and has protection from black and from green.
Whenever equipped creature deals combat damage to a player, that player discards a card and you untap all lands you control.
Equip {2}
Illus. Chrisn Rahn
Rarity: Mythic Rare
Set Number: #138/155
(Joe) I like this cycle, but I think Fire and Ice remains the undisputed king. The effects here do jive with the colors and the name. I’m not a huge fan of the mythic rarity, and I regret that the rest of these swords will all be mythics, seemingly.
Name: Tangle Hulk
Cost: 5
Type: Artifact Creature – Beast
Pow/Tgh: 5/3
Rules Text: {2}{G}: Regenerate Tangle Hulk.
Flavor Text: “A true Phyrexian predator. It will never know death, just as nature intended.”
-Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger
Illus. Mark Zug
Rarity: Common
(Joe) Not bad, but won’t change many lives.
Name: Thopter Assembly
Cost: 6
Type: Artifact Creature – Thopter
Pow/Tgh: 5/5
Rules Text: Flying
At the beginning of your upkeep, if you control no Thopters other than Thopter Assembly, return Thopter Assembly to its owner’s hand and put five 1/1 colorless Thopter artifact creature tokens with flying onto the battlefield.
Rarity: Rare
Set Number: #140/155
(Joe) This pre-release card features artwork by Volkan Baga which is very unorthodox for his typical style and subject matter. An odd looking contraption, with an equally awkward board presence. You cast this thing, and unless you’re supporting it with other thopters, then as soon as it loses summoning sickness it’s bounced to your hand and replaced by five 1/1 tokens which all have summoning sickness. Now… this is definitely some decent card advantage going on, but it’s quite slow and cumbersome. If this is your only thopter, you must wait two full turns to finally attack with this card.

Name: Titan Forge
Cost: 3
Type: Artifact
Rules Text: {3},{T}: Put a charge counter on Titan Forge.
{T}, Remove three charge counters from Titan Forge: Put a 9/9 colorless Golem artifact creature token onto the battlefield.
Illus. Svetlin Velinov
Rarity: Rare
Set Number: #141/155
(Joe) I like to collect the tokens from each set. I know it’s kind of dorky, I don’t care. So I look forward to this 9/9 token. As a strategy, however, I must advise against getting aroused by this siren’s call. How easy is it to kill your opponent’s Titan Forge EOT when he’s already gone through the pains of putting three counters on, and happily passes the turn? All too easy.

Name: Training Drone
Cost: 3
Type: Artifact Creature – Drone
Pow/Tgh: 4/4
Rules Text: Training Drone can’t attack or block unless it’s equipped.
Rarity: Uncommon
(Joe) I don’t know what to make of this guy… it’s definitely an interesting ability. Obviously you’d need to have a very high equipment count to consider running him, but with all the living weapon equipments, perhaps that’s achievable. It remains to be seen. If you can achieve a critical mass, then a 4/4 for 3 is certainly a bargain price.
Name: Viridian Claw
Cost: 2
Type: Artifact – Equipment
Rules Text: Equipped creature gets +1/+0 and has first strike.
Equip {1}
Flavor Text: “Phyrexians can’t corrupt what they can’t get close enough to touch.”
Illus. Marc Simonetti
Rarity: Uncommon
Set Number: #143/155
(Joe) This small seeming effect can be quite good in limited.



























































































