Editor’s Note: I’m going to try these shorter pieces a little more frequently. They’re not enough information to fill several thousand words, but enough for food for thought.
Akroma Without Her Sword – 5WWW – Legendary Creature – Angel – 4/6 – Flying, protection from black and from red
That was later changed to 2WWW when it was pointed out that it would cause 3 to equip. Confused? Look at the card to the right. This is basically Akroma’s sword (look at the handle and compare it to this). It’s pretty easy to see that this sword is what makes Akroma so powerful. If you take off the text that this sword provides, then you get the creature mentioned above. I stuck my nose in:
@mtgaaron Well, it should be her sword that’s Legendary, not her.
My thinking was this: is a 2WWW, flying, Pro Red/Black angel Legendary?
So Tom LaPille tweeted his preview card and suddenly that’s the talk of twitter and message boards. After a few weeks of intent of playing a card with different modes and how people play EDH (something I will get into on 99EDH), it’s this common card that has people talking.
Yes, it’s a card that all it does is ping something or someone. Why are people going up in arms..
Oh. It’s Green.
Commence the end of the internet.
Green getting non-creature based direct damage is nothing new:
Needle Storm – 2G, Sorcery, Deal 4 damage to each flying creature.
Sandstorm – G, Instant, Deal 1 damage to each attacking creature.
Squall – 2G, Sorcery, Deal 2 damage to each flying creature.
Squall Line – XGG, Instant, Deal x damage to each flying creature and player.
Storm Seeker – 3G, Instant, Deal damage equal to the number of cards in their hand to that player.
Superior Numbers – GG, Sorcery, Deal X damage to target creature where X is the number of creatures you control greater then the number target opponent controls.
Tropical Storm – XG, Sorcery, Deal X damage to each flying creature and 1 damage to each Blue creature.
Typhoon – 2G, Sorcery, Each opponent gets dealt damage for each Island they control.
Windstorm – XG, Sorcery, Deal X damage to each flying creature.
Wing Storm – 2G, Sorcery, Deals twice the amount of flying creatures each player controls.
Winter Blast – XG, Sorcery, Tap X creatures, deal 2 damage to each flying creature.
As you can see there is some evidence of Green just doing damage. However, most of those were sorceries, dealt damage to flying creatures and were non-targeted. This is the first time that dealing 1 damage in Green has ever been so cheap and so usable.
But it doesn’t change anything.
Look at the flavor of all of those cards. Almost all of them deal with nature in some related way. Either it’s the weather doing the damage or it’s small flying creatures like bees and hornets dealing out small doses. While I would’ve preferred a clause on the card that said: “as an additional cost, tap a creature you control” but it’s fine the way it is. This one common isn’t warping anything. Being in the Core Set now means it’s going to be tested for a year.
It’s hugely flavorful and makes sense as it’s done. After all, I know people allergic to Bees.
Verdict: It fits in Green’s color pie. As long as it’s not overdone, should be fine.
Editor’s Note: New column where the point is short and sweet, just like a piece of pie. Except this piece is a little bigger then I thought it was going to be. Title reference for you younger readers.
Today Tom LaPille announced some of the card choices to M11. The biggest news was the official confirmation of M10 hottie Baneslayer Angel making the return to the Core Set this year. There was some speculation of her returning or not and making her a one-hit wonder. After all, her $50 price tag is pretty expensive (and something I touched on earlier) and taking her out of Standard so there would be that (possible) drop in price because she won’t be in high demand. Then there are those that say Baneslayer getting reprinted will cause her price tag should go down since there will be more of her. Those who already have a playset of Baneslayers and happen to open more might be more compelled to trade/sell them off getting more of her into the market.
That, luckily, isn’t the point of this article. Looking at the card choices so far, it’s easy to see what direction the Core Set is taking: Flavor.
MTG Color Pie 