By now M10 has been released and hopefully you’ve been playing with it for a few weeks now. This will be a different type of set review as I won’t look at cards that you should be playing, but cards that should be printed due to the Color Pie. Sometimes they’ll be a little over-costed or not powerful enough to see serious play, but they’re great examples of what the colors should be.
As you know by now, Wizards printed new cards in a Core Set since Alpha. This, by very definition, are virgin cards. I am not going to look at functional reprints of cards (Runeclaw Bears, Essence Scatter) nor am I looking at Mythics (every color got at least 1 new Mythic card and we may save it for next year).
Today we look at the commons from M10. There are some very good first timers here as Wizards wanted to get back to more of a fantasy route. I believe they hit it out of the park. Without further ado, let’s look at the cards.
Black
Sign in Blood – BB
Sorcery
Target player draws two cards and loses 2 life.
Black is the color for getting whatever it wants for a price. As various cards in the past have shown, Black is always comfortable with paying life to draw cards. While I was campaigning to have Night’s Whisper in a Core Set, this is not good if not better in various situations. Not only can you draw a card, but you have a teammate draw or even an opponent if you want them to lose life or deck themselves. I am really surprised this card is common, but it is really that good and fits black perfectly.
Also Ran –
Soul Bleed for making a creature deal damage to its controller (very Black), and Child of Night for getting the Vampire flavor just right (sucking someone’s life blood and taking it as your own).
Blue
Tome Scour – U
Sorcery
Target player puts the top five cards of his or her library into his or her graveyard.
Milling is something that Blue does well from time to time and has even recently seen a tournament quality deck built around it. After years of making mill-type decks alright, but not too powerful, Wizards finally stepped up and see how much a person could mill for one mana. If this had been costed even 1U it would still be my top choice. While it’s odd to see a Blue spell that isn’t countering, or bouncing, or even drawing cards, this is still something that the color does rather well.
Also Ran –
Serpent of the Endless Sea for making a true Islandhome creature, and Illusionary Servant for making a proper illusion (goes away once you realize it’s not real).
Green
Deadly Recluse – 1G
Creature – Spider
Reach
Deathtouch
1/2
Surprise surprise, Green’s best virgin common is a creature. Someday this may push good old Giant Spider out of the Core Set (Why not rename it Spider of Epic Proportions since M10 is now more fanciful?). Why you may ask; one word: deathtouch. It’s become Green’s best creature removal and it totally fits within the color (think venom). While by itself, it’s not all that exciting to look at, it does keep your opponent thinking if they want to attack, and having deadly spiders around in the beginning of your game while you build up your bigger army is not a bad idea.
Also Ran –
Entangling Vines for making nature fight back (fits in the color as well, it doesn’t remove them just ties them up), and Mist Leopard for making Green creatures harder to kill (and making a better Deadly Insect).
Red
Burning Inquiry – R
Sorcery
Each player draws three cards, then discards three cards at random.
A one casting cost spell that allows players to draw three cards? All players? How is this even Red? (Continues to read the card). Ah, discarding at random. It’s a nice interesting card that completely shows off Red’s idea of “Get something now, screw the future,” much like how the Yankees do business. What’s really interesting about this card is that if effects everyone, not target player, making random chaos for all. This has also been a change for Wizard in recent years in embracing randomness in discard, especially in Red. I agree with this change as it is completely in color.
Also Ran –
Berserkers of Blood Ridge for displaying Red’s emotions and Seismic Strike for being direct damage that feeds of being Red (mountains).
White
Veteran Armorsmith – WW
Creature – Human Soldier
Other Soldier creatures you control get +0/+1
2/3
Veteran Swordsmith – 2W
Creature – Human Soldier
Other Soldier creatures you control get +1/+0
3/2
Two sides of the same coin, you have to pair these two together. The second time that White has gotten a 2/3 for 2, this is much better than Elvish Warrior because it helps other creatures, something that White is known to do. White likes to say, “if we work together, we can defeat any enemy.” Along with his ‘Smith brother, both of them pump up other soldiers, that whole “we’re in this together,” aspect of White.
Also Ran –
Wall of Faith for being the White wall that’s been needed for a while and Solemn Offering for matching Disenchant and life gain together proving that more of White’s spells should be connected with life gain.
Those are my thoughts. What do you guys think? Next in the series: Uncommons.
MTG Color Pie 