Ah, that little gold symbol. You get one, maybe if you’re lucky a foil one as well, in each pack. They can be the best of times, they can be the worst. That one card can determine what colors you play in draft. You may open 10 of a certain one and can’t pull any of the one you really want.
Rares are interesting: they’re the cards that you want the most yet get the least, hence representing that they’re rare. In terms of price range in the second market they can range from 50 cents to 20 bucks for a new rare opening out of the pack.
But which ones were right for the color? Again, these are new rares printed this is core set. If you haven’t been paying attention the past few posts, well then I can’t save you. You can check them out below.
Black
Sanguine Blood – 3BB
Enchantment
Whenever you gain life, target opponent loses that much life.
This would’ve even made a great White/Black Gold card, but it is perfect in Black. Thanks to some lifelink creatures as well as some black drain life spells, you do a vampire effect: you gain stronger while your opponent gets weaker. This is an interesting twist on the lifelink concept but it gets you more bang for you buck if you do that way. Example: one of my EDH decks has Sygg, River Cuttthroat as my general, with Subversion and Sanguine Blood. I tend to draw cards while gaining like and making my opponent’s lose it; very very black.
Also Ran –
Cemetery Reaper for being a great way to “zombify” your opponent’s creatures and making your Thriller army.
Blue
Djinn of Wishes – 3UU
Creature – Djinn
Flying
Djinn of Wishes enters the battlefield with three wish counters on it.
2UU, Remove a wish counter from Djinn of Wishes: reveal the top card of your library. You may play that card without paying its mana cost. If you don’t, exile it.
4/4
You get three wishes! Playing something for nothing is a Blue ability in a long line of spells that let you do that. And if you’ve got some way to manipulate the library in someway (where Blue shines or all other colors (name three things where Blue doesn’t shine over all other colors)), you can control you wishes to something you want. On the other hand you’ve got a 4/4 flyer for 5 mana after you’ve completed all of your wishes which is a nice beater by itself. But with all the bounce that Blue has, might as well bounce him back so you can ask for “infinite wishes.”
Also Ran –
Hive Mind for turning everybody into the Borg, making it a large mind control.
Green
Great Stable Stag – 1GG
Creature – Elk
Great Stable Stag can’t be countered.
Protection from blue and black.
3/3
While this has been touted as a great sideboard card against Fea, this is a really good Green card in general. This card has influenced my largest research project for Magic and discussion if this is even too powerful for Green. Green creatures should be a little more powerful for the casting cost then other colors, and having the hate of not be able to be countered and protection from the to enemy colors is good, real good. This is how to get Green creatures to be competitive.
Also Ran –
Ant Queen for showing that Green likes creatures to create more creatures.
Red
Capricious Efreet – 4RR
Creature – Efreet
At the beginning of your upkeep, choose target nonland permanent you control and up to two target nonland permanents you don’t control. Destroy one of them at random.
6/4
A Red card that doesn’t deal damage or give a creature haste? What is this? Of course, the whole key to this card is the random effect (and the off chance that you could destroy an enchantment which is not red, but with the random it’s alright). By having to choose one of your permanents, it makes this a real fun random choice at your upkeep and makes this a fun, Red card.
Also Ran –
Goblin Chieftain for giving goblins haste, clearly a red ability.
White
Silence – W
Instant
Your opponents can’t cast spells this turn.
This is what White is all about, making rules for everyone to follow. Sure, sometimes the rules go in your favor, but you’ve built your deck to abuse the rules. Like it’s bigger brother Orim’s Chant, it can be used as a psudeo counterspell (it doesn’t counter the spell, but prevents one from being cast later this turn). White control at its finest, these are the type of spells that are shifting from Blue to White that I want to see.
Also Ran –
Honor of the Pure for showing that if you’re with us, you have to be like us. I still think that Crusade is the better demonstration of this ability since it hits all White creatures, but this is still a fine ability.
Next time is the mailbag, then finally, the Green Power Creep with all of the research. See you then.
MTG Color Pie 