Apoc White/Artifact/Split review

Beyond Dominia: The Limited Magic Mill: Apoc White/Artifact/Split review

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By Winky on Monday, July 02, 2001 - 04:36 pm:

Hey! This is my White/Artifact/Split booster review for Apocalypse. This is how I would draft and play each card, 10 meaning I'd play it in most situations and draft it high, 1 meaning I'd never play it and would pass it for nearly anything.

White

White has the best mono-colored cards in the set, and it has very good RW cards. BW is horrible except for rares, and you can't count on seeing them. A common draft strategy is to draft RWU, taking the great UW and mono red cards in invasion and planeshift, then in apocalypse take the great RU and RW cards.

Angelfire Crusader
7 (RW)
Firescreamer with another point of toughness, it's not a slouch. Has Firescreamer ever been that good though? Usually it's just an expensive 2/3, because in a good deck you need the mana for other things. Solid creature, you could do worse.

Coalition Flag
6
This isn't bad..but it's automatic card disadvantage. It does what makes flagbearers so great...but it's just not that good. They could cast spells targeting whatever they want in response as well. Play it if you have to, but avoid it.

Coalition Honor Guard
10
This is one of the best commons in the set. It stops almost all burn and creature enhancers, and it protects your bomb creatures from cards like terminate. I've even beat Pyre Zombie because of this guy. I'd take it over almost any other card, and always play it.

Dega Disciple
9
This card is great! Both abilities are very strong. I especially like the red one because you can beat on them early and later exchange their strong creatures with your weak ones.

Dega Sanctuary
WBR: 8 WR/WB: 7
This is probably the worst sanctuary, but it's still pretty good. 4 life a turn is a lot, and you can just stall until you gain a lot of life then attack, they probably won't counter attack. I don't the WBR is a good color combination though, and BR isn't that great at stalling. Might be viable though.

Degavolver
WBR: 9 WB/WR: 8
This isn't the best volver, but it's still good. A 4/4 first striker that regenerates is great, and this with only one kicker is still strong. Solid, but not the best.

Diversity Tactics
10
This article is about how I draft and play the cards, and I've had such incredible success with this that I would take it and play it over pretty much anything. This doesn't mean it will be good for you, but I've won every limited game that I've played when I cast this. Very good for me.

Divine Light
4
We all know this sucks, but I know a great player who argues that it's good. He says that either you kill their creatures or they take damage, and it sounds pretty reasonable. Decide for yourself, but I personally wouldn't play it often.

Enlistment Officer
8
A 2/3 first strike for 4 isn't bad, but if it gets you a card, it's great. There are good soldiers, but that's not really the point.

False Dawn
2
Maybe if you're desperate...

Gerrard Capashen
9
This guy is really good, but he probably won't win it for you. A 3/4 isn't bad, and it's special abilities are pretty good, but the tapping is expensive and your opponent can usually control how much life you gain. No slouch though!

Haunted Angel
5
It's a pretty cheap creature, but I think it's just a little to risky to play. It's definitely worth it if you have a lot of confounds and tappers though, and if you have cards like hobble to deal with their token.

Helionaut
6
A 1/2 flyer for 3 is pretty weak, and it's special ability isn't that good. It's good enough to play, but barely, so only play it if you have to.

Manacles of Decay
WB/WR: 9 W: 8
This is great if you're going black or red as well, and it's decent if you're not. If you're not going black or red, you're going green and blue, and those have plenty of ways to get red or black mana. On it's own, it's pretty good, but not incredible.

Orim's Thunder
7
This is an great sideboard card, because against a deck with artifacts or enchantments it will get you 2 for 1. There are artifacts and enchantments that need to be dealt with like Diversity Tactics, Dodecapod, Sanctuaries, etc. Great pick.

Shield of Duty and Reason
6
Good sideboard card, but it's still a creature enchantment. The creature won't be bounced and will control combat, but if they can burn it or something, it's card disadvantage. Still good though.

Spectral Lynx
9
Really good, efficient creature. It won't win by itself, but it will help a lot.

Standard Bearer
9
It is pretty weak, but it's 2 mana! Your opponent won't like tapping or killing a 1/1 instead of your big 4/4s. This is definitely not as good as it's honorable brother, but it serves the same purpose.

Artifacts

Ahhh...we finally get a couple artifacts worth playing!

Brass Herald
8
This guy is...a 6 mana 2/2. Yeah, that's horrible. However...it's golden at times. If you have 8 Kavu in your deck, you can draw a card off it and then beef them all up. Don't overlook it.

Dodecapod
9
A colorless Hill Giant is buff! Just like most sane magic players, I really really like this. I think of it as a Hill Giant, but every once in a while it's a free 5/5, and that's really hard to deal with. Great card!

Dragon Arch
5
5 mana is a lot. It's too limited and expensive to really play...but I like the thought of surprise blockers. Still, I wouldn't play it unless you had a LOT of multicolored creatures.

Embazled Golem
9
This guy is really really good because it will always be effective for it's mana cost, and it's colorless. 3 mana 2/3, 4 mana 3/4, etc. I'd take this over a lot of stuff.

Legacy Weapon
8
I hear stories of people winning with this, and if you can get it rolling you will win. 7 mana to cast, 5 to activate, 1 of each color? I wouldn't play this, but it could work.

Mask of Intolerance
5
Domain decks aren't popular enough in limited for this to be that good of a sideboard card, but it will work if you can play it vs. one. Take it if there's nothing else in the pack, but if you can get a decent card instead, take that.

Split

Wow, there are 4 really good split cards...and one horrible one.

Day/Night
8
I like this! Kill a creature or big combat trick. Very good.

Fire/Ice
9
This gets a 9 just because it won't win a game for you, usually. You can get 2 for 1 with it, but those are 1 toughness creatures, and usually you want to get rid of their bigger threats. It's a very solid card, but won't win by itself.

Illusion/Reality
5
This sucks! It's a sideboard card..but a bad one. Why did they have to do this?

Life/Death
9
This is great. Go get your big fat creature back or attack with a swarm of 1/1s. Be careful with the green ability though, if you wait too long to cast this and lay every land you draw, a late ravenous rats can ruin your day.

Order/Chaos
10
Yeah. This kills almost all creatures or just allows you to win the game. The best split card in limited, both sides are incredible.

Well I hope I was helpful! For any questions or comments, e-mail me, Kyle Felter, at a***a@t***m.com, or just post here. Thanks!


By HavoK_DarK on Saturday, July 28, 2001 - 05:08 pm:

Legacy Weapon is excellent in the correct situations. Running a domain style in Limited is a different experience and can be easily worked around, I would suggest its not a card to pass...

HavoK_DarK


By Nevyn, the Village Idiot (Nevyn) on Monday, July 30, 2001 - 12:08 pm:

You wouldnt play legacy weapon, but you gave it an 8?????

I would give it a 6.5, as it is only useful in 5cg limted decks and even there it takes a while to establish itself.

And brass herald is a 5 at best.Unless you happen to have drafted several QUALITY creatures of the same type, and are creature thin. He's usually just not worth it.

I think you overrate dega sanctuary for WR or WB. If you cant double activate it, it's rarely worth a slot.

Also, the W/R and W/B ratings for degavolver should NOT be the same.


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