Zvi Mowshowitz (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} thezvi) wrote,@ 2007-10-11 08:17:00 |
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Red, Part 1
The Return of theJedi Zvi
When you think red and tribal, you’d tend to think Goblins. You’d still be partially right, but mostly you would be wrong. Goblins are old and busted, and Elementals need to step up and be the new hotness. I could work up to this and spread it out over several bits before building to a crescendo, but I figured instead I’d just get this out of the way for the last time:
Air.
Earth.
Fire.
Water.
And that fifth one involving Milla Jovovich.
Or alternatively there’s antimony, arsenic, aluminum, selenium, and hydrogen and oxygen and nitrogen and rhenium and nickel, neodymium, neptunium, germanium and iron, americium, ruthenium, uranium, europium, zirconium, lutetium, vanadium and lanthanum and osmium and astatine and radium and gold, protactinium and indium and gallium and iodine and thorium and thulium and thallium. There’s yttrium, ytterbium, actinium, rubidium and boron, gadolinium, niobium, iridium and strontium and silicon and silver and samarium and bismuth, bromine, lithium, beryllium and barium. There’s holmium and helium and hafnium and erbium and phosphorous and francium and fluorine and terbium and manganese and mercury, molybdenum magnesium, dysprosium and scandium and cerium and cesium and lead, praseodymium, platinum, plutonium, palladium, promethium, potassium, polonium, tantalum, technetium, titanium, tellurium, and cadmium and calcium and chromium and curium. There’s sulfur, californium and fermium, berkelium and also mendelevium, einsteinium and nobelium and argon, krypton, neon, radon, xenon, zinc and rhodium and chlorine, cobalt, carbon, copper, tungsten, tin and sodium.
These are the only ones of which the news has come to Harvard. And there may be many others but they haven’t been discovered – and they certainly aren’t things like Glare or Smoke. No. Just no. One hundred and seventeen times no.
All right. I’ve got that off my chest now. I officially pledge that I will no longer complain about the fact than an Elemental seems to refer to something that is vaguely made up of something that should in no way be living, breathing or attacking for two rather than anything involving any sort of element, for now and forever whether we can sustain having most of them be based on Fire or not. I promise.
Unless doing so would, in my opinion, be funny. You can’t stop the funny.
OK, on to the cards.
Adder-Staff Boggart
1R
Creature – Goblin Warrior
When Adder-Staff Boggart comes into play, clash with an opponent. If you win, put a +1/+1 counter on Adder-Staff Boggart.
2/1
**
At that point, they’ve already survived one more battle than most of their brethren.
If you’re interested in this creature then you have zero ability to reliably win a clash and probably would rather your opponent not get to decide if he wants to keep the top card of his library. The only reason this is noteworthy is that red two drops that are beyond terrible have a history of going into viable red decks. I believe Turian once made the top eight of Worlds with a deck that had a 2/1 for 1R with an ability he couldn’t activate and that card wasn’t even tribal. There just wasn’t a better alternative and the deck needed a two drop. Of course there’s a Knight for that now among other things but it is still good to remember that not only is it possible to do worse than this, it is possible to do strictly worse than this and be happy about it. OK, maybe not happy, but at least content.
Ashling’s Prerogative
1R
Enchantment
As Ashling’s Prerogative comes into play, choose odd or even. (If you didn’t know zero is even just give up now.)
Each creature with converted mana cost equal to the chosen value has haste.
Each creature without converted mana cost equal to the chosen value comes into play tapped.
*
“That seems kind of odd, even to me.” – Ashling
(Flavor text upgraded from “Odd good, even bad. Or maybe the opposite. Ashling not sure.” after I realized we were dealing with an Elemental rather than a Goblin. Tribal matters!)
That sure was a mouthful. I can see the meetings and e-mails. There was this really neat idea, and everyone thought it would be fun, and then they commissioned art and than someone dared point out that this card would have to actually work under the rules and the result was this. I probably would have given up once I saw the new wording, but by now I’m going to assume we all know what it does. Is it any good? The problem is that no one is going to play a curve based around even numbers or odd numbers to make things easy for you and if you play one then your curve is terrible. That means that while you can choose the side your hand likes best it doesn’t give you a long term edge in the area and will likely backfire on at least one of your men within two turns. The good part would be that a sufficiently offensive deck can use haste and doesn’t fear it and it is happy to get enemy guys tapped but doesn’t care about its own tapped men. If it cost one mana that might be enough.
Ashling the Pilgrim
1R
Legendary Creature – Elemental Shaman
1R: Put a +1/+1 counter on Ashling the Pilgrim. If this is the third time this ability has resolved this turn, remove all +1/+1 counters from Ashling the Pilgrim and it deals that much damage to each creature and player.
1/1
**
Burn a candle at both ends and it gives a lovely light. Burn it at a third end and explode across the night.
It takes six mana to get Ashling to blow up the world, but it has to be all in one turn. That means you can get Ashling very large without triggering him, but it will be a while before you can set him off. It’s also impossible for him to protect himself from his own ability without help. Between his various uses he’s quite handy late in the game but the inability to shoot targets of his choice is a big disadvantage compared to old Molten Hydra. The big advantage is two mana to boost him instead of three which shifts the focus to making him large. At no point will that task ever be mana efficient, so while I appreciate the flexibility of this card and certain ways to speed him up an Elemental decks should probably concentrate on developing into bigger and better things.
Axegrinder Giant
4RR
Creature – Giant Warrior
6/4
*
The grinding machine he uses is gigantic. He’s actually a four foot seven bald white guy from Minneapolis.
This is, of course, not only ALOT but also an Ongoing Vanilla Exercise in Reprinting, or OVER. There’s nothing wrong with a good over, but there’s not much right about it either.
Blades of Velis Vel
1R
Instant
Changeling (This card is every creature type at all times, and it kills them.)
Up to two target creatures each get +2/+0 and gain all creature types until end of turn.
*
In an instant he was gone.
We need cards like this one to trigger lots of funky tribal effects and to give ammunition to aggressive limited decks. With a larger card pool available there’s no reason to need it.
Blind-Spot Giant
2R
Creature – Giant Warrior
Blind-Spot Giant can’t attack or block unless you control another Giant.
4/3
**
A Giant where you can see is a strong incentive to go after what you can’t.
There is a huge difference between needing another creature to be attacking or blocking with you, as was the case with Ember Beast, and needing to control one as is the case with Blind-Spot Giant. You can play this on turn three and then attack on turn four by playing another Giant including a second copy. If there was strong compensation for the drawback then I might potentially be excited, but all you get is a solid set of numbers where red wouldn’t normally get a solid set of numbers. That makes me happy to fill out a theoretical Giant deck with this card if my curve can start at one or two, but those wouldn’t be all that Giant.
Boggart Forager
R
Creature – Goblin Rogue
R, Sacrifice Boggart Forager: Target player shuffles his or her library.
1/1
**
”Sorry boss, they all look the same to me.”
Remember when Goblin one drops were feared by all? You’re not alone, and the powers have decided that it’s time. This can counter a tutor, but compare that to something like Mogg Fanatic.
Boggart Shenanigans
2R
Tribal Enchantment – Goblin
Whenever another Goblin you control is put into a graveyard from play, you may have Boggart Shenanigans deal 1 damage to target player.
*
“You call dealing damage shenanigans? Let’s see some REAL shenanigans!”
Compare this card to Scalding Tongs or other cards that deal continuous damage to players without requiring mana. You could even stay in the same block and consider Goblin Bombardment. Either way, I don’t see this card as anything but an inefficient mess despite seeing it in play at the Mockvitational. On average this will do less than one damage per turn and that is unacceptable for a three drop that doesn’t do anything to the board.
Boggart Sprite-Chaser
1R
Creature – Goblin Warrior
As long as you control a Faerie, Boggart Sprite-Chaser gets +1/+1 and has flying.
**
Being one doesn’t count.
This is a strong creature when you have the Faerie but a terrible one when you don’t and it is the wrong color and race for the deck in question. You’re giving up the use of the lord at a minimum and there are likely to be other effects as well. It’s standard to get a 2/2 flyer for two mana in such decks if you look hard enough, and I wouldn’t be playing such a deck without at least 2/1s so there isn’t that much compensation here.
Caterwauling Boggart
3R
Creature – Goblin Shaman
Your Goblins beat the War Drums, and they work for your Elementals too.
2/2
*
He spends all day screaming “Fire hot! Me pretty.”
This might hold some interest at three mana as annoying enough to justify being overcosted but at four mana this costs even more than real War Drums effectively charging full price plus a full additional charge for being a creature.
Ceaseless Searblades
3R
Creature – Elemental Warrior
Whenever you play an activated ability of an Elemental, Ceaseless Searblades gets +1/+0 until end of turn.
2/4
**
Fighting fire with fire just means fighting hotter fires.
There has to be an infinite combination in there somewhere, right? All you have to do is find a creature that has an ability you can activate an infinite number of times and then make that creature into an Elemental. Alternatively you could find a relevant Elemental, which I’ll mention if I find one. This is similar to a more expensive version of the old deck Life. You’re still looking at a three card combination, but it’s going to be a lot harder to get this one through. I very much doubt that this will amount to anything but there are ways of working to assemble the engine and there are other Elemental cards that activate themselves more than once in the normal course of events. There’s even one that generates the mana to start itself up again, so keep a wary eye on this fellow.
Chandra Nalaar
3RR
Planeswalker – Chandra
+1: Chandra Nalaar deals 1 damage to target player.
-X: Chandra Nalaar deals X damage to target creature.
-8: Chandra Nalaar deals 10 damage to target player and each creature he or she controls.
6
***
She used to be a task mage, but she always seemed to get assigned the same task.
Chandra hasn’t gotten any respect yet but that will change. Think of this as a two turn countdown to doomsday. If you fire this off, you kill all their men and do a total of 12 damage to their face, which should be enough for any red deck to carry the day. If that would leave you one or two points short you can even wait another turn. If they start doing damage to Chandra then they have to use cards on a gradually refilling doomsday device that takes a lot of force to kill. I definitely see this as a strong sideboard card against strategies like the Black/Blue deck used recently by Flores and company. With counters so deprecated and frequent tapping out for Damnation and other spells you will often be able to get this on the table. Once you do, there’s a strong chance it will carry the day. Competing with Siege-Gang Commander is tough but there are many decks that will find this that much harder to deal with.
Changeling Berserker
3R
Creature – Shapeshifter
Changeling (This card is every creature type at all times, some of which can be blocked by walls.)
Haste, Champion a Creature (They can’t stand in the way of this, well, you know.)
5/3
*
Having haste is nice but you have to compensate for it by removing the other creature prior to attacking, removing much of the benefit unless you’re using mana creatures. Then again, if you’re not using mana creatures then there’s little reason to use champions. Either way however there are too many far stronger four drops available.
Consuming Bonfire
3RR
Tribal Sorcery – Elemental
Choose one – Consuming Bonfire deals 4 damage to target non-Elemental creature or 7 damage to target Treefolk.
*
I know you’re thinking. I can smell the wood burning.
ALOT of damage, but a lot of mana.
Crush Underfoot
1R
Tribal Instant – Giant
Choose a Giant you control. It deals damage equal to its power to target creature.
*
They could stand up to the Giants in combat, as long as they didn’t stand down under them first.
ALOT more damage, this time for less mana, but it can’t hit players and requires a creature as big as theirs. That’s at least one drawback too many.
Faultgrinder
6R
Creature – Elemental
Trample
When Faultgrinder comes into play, destroy target land.
Evoke 4R (If you want a Stone Rain this much and can’t wait, go for it.)
4/4
You should have qualified when you had the chance!
**
That’s one way to make you think back fondly to Avalanche Riders. I suppose that giving players the option for a legitimate body even at an unreasonable price was quite powerful when combined with even a slightly overpriced land destruction spell, but the result feels like a nerfed creature. If you’re putting him directly into play this is a solid if unspectacular creature, but you also put yourself in a spot where you won’t have much interest in casting Stone Rain. There’s nothing here to see.
Fire-Belly Changeling
1R
Creature – Shapeshifter
Changeling This card is every creature type at all times, but so immature.)
R: Fire-Belly Changeling gets +1/+0 until end of turn. Play this ability no more than twice each turn.
1/1
*
He was born for politics: Two faced, all things to all people and he has the fire in the belly.
It is clear that Changelings have to pay a price for their flexibility, and as usual it’s not good to pay for advantages you cannot use unless the cards in question are being pushed. All the relevant races have better choices.
Flamekin Bladewhirl
R
Creature – Elemental Warrior
As an additional cost to play Flamekin Bladewhirl, reveal an Elemental card from your hand or pay 3.
2/1
**
Even the smallest fire requires fuel.
This is far, far behind its Elf and Kithkin counterparts. You get a cookie, but it’s burnt. Don’t get me wrong, I’m as happy to play with Savannah Lions as the next guy in my red decks but this is not what an Elemental deck is likely to be looking for. Then again I could be wrong about that if the deck shapes up differently than I think it will. It’s still a sad contrast between this and those previous two cookies, one of which fits right into every deck of the right creature type and the other which is off the charts even if it wouldn’t normally fit into your plans. This one had better be exactly what you need or it won’t cut it.
Flamekin Brawler
R
Creature – Elemental Warrior
R: Flamekin Brawler gets +1/+0 until end of turn.
0/2
**
When he hits people, your mileage may vary.
Firebreathing tends to be an inefficient use of mana and having zero power as your base is usually a death knell. This has the potential to play well with others but in the end it still requires a constant input of mana to do anything. That’s not what red looks for in its one drops and you have a far more important one drop coming right up.
Flamekin Harbinger
R
Creature – Elemental Shaman
CIP WTF Elemental
1/1
***
It is well known that where one sees fire soon there will be more.
This is a fine one drop for an Elemental deck and it comes in time to make sure you get your two drop. Unlike the green version it has power, and it can get a far more useful mana card than a Forest will ever be. Elementals are so much more interesting than Treefolk in any case as they hold out the promise of power rather than toughness that can perhaps maybe later be switched into power. With both a mana creature and a lord with a mighty secondary ability at your beck and call and plenty of high end choices as well this card should be good for what ails you.
Flamekin Spitfire
1R
Creature – Elemental Shaman
3R: Flamekin Spitfire deals 1 damage to target creature or player.
1/1
*
The trick isn’t doing more fire damage, it’s doing less.
ALOT given the super expensive activation cost and sub-par body. The set is full of cards that do so much more for so much less.
Giant Harbinger
4R
Creature – Giant Shaman
CIP WTF Giant
3/4
*
How to tell that there are Giants coming your way, lesson one: The ground stars shaking.
I know Giants are expensive, and it would be a little silly for them not to be. It makes sense, but that doesn’t make this any more of a harbinger. If I pay five mana for a certified standard issue dork I expect a lot more than the chance to go get a better dork.
Giant’s Ire
3R
Tribal Sorcery – Giant
Giant’s Ire deals four damage to target player. If you control a Giant, draw a card.
*
Giants are an old race, so when they get mad they deal with it old school.
This is expensive enough to be an unconditional cantrip and in general if you’re going to the head you need to be concerned with finishing the job quickly. Giants are exactly the race that doesn’t have this kind of agenda or this kind of time.
The Return of the
When you think red and tribal, you’d tend to think Goblins. You’d still be partially right, but mostly you would be wrong. Goblins are old and busted, and Elementals need to step up and be the new hotness. I could work up to this and spread it out over several bits before building to a crescendo, but I figured instead I’d just get this out of the way for the last time:
Air.
Earth.
Fire.
Water.
And that fifth one involving Milla Jovovich.
Or alternatively there’s antimony, arsenic, aluminum, selenium, and hydrogen and oxygen and nitrogen and rhenium and nickel, neodymium, neptunium, germanium and iron, americium, ruthenium, uranium, europium, zirconium, lutetium, vanadium and lanthanum and osmium and astatine and radium and gold, protactinium and indium and gallium and iodine and thorium and thulium and thallium. There’s yttrium, ytterbium, actinium, rubidium and boron, gadolinium, niobium, iridium and strontium and silicon and silver and samarium and bismuth, bromine, lithium, beryllium and barium. There’s holmium and helium and hafnium and erbium and phosphorous and francium and fluorine and terbium and manganese and mercury, molybdenum magnesium, dysprosium and scandium and cerium and cesium and lead, praseodymium, platinum, plutonium, palladium, promethium, potassium, polonium, tantalum, technetium, titanium, tellurium, and cadmium and calcium and chromium and curium. There’s sulfur, californium and fermium, berkelium and also mendelevium, einsteinium and nobelium and argon, krypton, neon, radon, xenon, zinc and rhodium and chlorine, cobalt, carbon, copper, tungsten, tin and sodium.
These are the only ones of which the news has come to Harvard. And there may be many others but they haven’t been discovered – and they certainly aren’t things like Glare or Smoke. No. Just no. One hundred and seventeen times no.
All right. I’ve got that off my chest now. I officially pledge that I will no longer complain about the fact than an Elemental seems to refer to something that is vaguely made up of something that should in no way be living, breathing or attacking for two rather than anything involving any sort of element, for now and forever whether we can sustain having most of them be based on Fire or not. I promise.
Unless doing so would, in my opinion, be funny. You can’t stop the funny.
OK, on to the cards.
Adder-Staff Boggart
1R
Creature – Goblin Warrior
When Adder-Staff Boggart comes into play, clash with an opponent. If you win, put a +1/+1 counter on Adder-Staff Boggart.
2/1
**
At that point, they’ve already survived one more battle than most of their brethren.
If you’re interested in this creature then you have zero ability to reliably win a clash and probably would rather your opponent not get to decide if he wants to keep the top card of his library. The only reason this is noteworthy is that red two drops that are beyond terrible have a history of going into viable red decks. I believe Turian once made the top eight of Worlds with a deck that had a 2/1 for 1R with an ability he couldn’t activate and that card wasn’t even tribal. There just wasn’t a better alternative and the deck needed a two drop. Of course there’s a Knight for that now among other things but it is still good to remember that not only is it possible to do worse than this, it is possible to do strictly worse than this and be happy about it. OK, maybe not happy, but at least content.
Ashling’s Prerogative
1R
Enchantment
As Ashling’s Prerogative comes into play, choose odd or even. (If you didn’t know zero is even just give up now.)
Each creature with converted mana cost equal to the chosen value has haste.
Each creature without converted mana cost equal to the chosen value comes into play tapped.
*
“That seems kind of odd, even to me.” – Ashling
(Flavor text upgraded from “Odd good, even bad. Or maybe the opposite. Ashling not sure.” after I realized we were dealing with an Elemental rather than a Goblin. Tribal matters!)
That sure was a mouthful. I can see the meetings and e-mails. There was this really neat idea, and everyone thought it would be fun, and then they commissioned art and than someone dared point out that this card would have to actually work under the rules and the result was this. I probably would have given up once I saw the new wording, but by now I’m going to assume we all know what it does. Is it any good? The problem is that no one is going to play a curve based around even numbers or odd numbers to make things easy for you and if you play one then your curve is terrible. That means that while you can choose the side your hand likes best it doesn’t give you a long term edge in the area and will likely backfire on at least one of your men within two turns. The good part would be that a sufficiently offensive deck can use haste and doesn’t fear it and it is happy to get enemy guys tapped but doesn’t care about its own tapped men. If it cost one mana that might be enough.
Ashling the Pilgrim
1R
Legendary Creature – Elemental Shaman
1R: Put a +1/+1 counter on Ashling the Pilgrim. If this is the third time this ability has resolved this turn, remove all +1/+1 counters from Ashling the Pilgrim and it deals that much damage to each creature and player.
1/1
**
Burn a candle at both ends and it gives a lovely light. Burn it at a third end and explode across the night.
It takes six mana to get Ashling to blow up the world, but it has to be all in one turn. That means you can get Ashling very large without triggering him, but it will be a while before you can set him off. It’s also impossible for him to protect himself from his own ability without help. Between his various uses he’s quite handy late in the game but the inability to shoot targets of his choice is a big disadvantage compared to old Molten Hydra. The big advantage is two mana to boost him instead of three which shifts the focus to making him large. At no point will that task ever be mana efficient, so while I appreciate the flexibility of this card and certain ways to speed him up an Elemental decks should probably concentrate on developing into bigger and better things.
Axegrinder Giant
4RR
Creature – Giant Warrior
6/4
*
The grinding machine he uses is gigantic. He’s actually a four foot seven bald white guy from Minneapolis.
This is, of course, not only ALOT but also an Ongoing Vanilla Exercise in Reprinting, or OVER. There’s nothing wrong with a good over, but there’s not much right about it either.
Blades of Velis Vel
1R
Instant
Changeling (This card is every creature type at all times, and it kills them.)
Up to two target creatures each get +2/+0 and gain all creature types until end of turn.
*
In an instant he was gone.
We need cards like this one to trigger lots of funky tribal effects and to give ammunition to aggressive limited decks. With a larger card pool available there’s no reason to need it.
Blind-Spot Giant
2R
Creature – Giant Warrior
Blind-Spot Giant can’t attack or block unless you control another Giant.
4/3
**
A Giant where you can see is a strong incentive to go after what you can’t.
There is a huge difference between needing another creature to be attacking or blocking with you, as was the case with Ember Beast, and needing to control one as is the case with Blind-Spot Giant. You can play this on turn three and then attack on turn four by playing another Giant including a second copy. If there was strong compensation for the drawback then I might potentially be excited, but all you get is a solid set of numbers where red wouldn’t normally get a solid set of numbers. That makes me happy to fill out a theoretical Giant deck with this card if my curve can start at one or two, but those wouldn’t be all that Giant.
Boggart Forager
R
Creature – Goblin Rogue
R, Sacrifice Boggart Forager: Target player shuffles his or her library.
1/1
**
”Sorry boss, they all look the same to me.”
Remember when Goblin one drops were feared by all? You’re not alone, and the powers have decided that it’s time. This can counter a tutor, but compare that to something like Mogg Fanatic.
Boggart Shenanigans
2R
Tribal Enchantment – Goblin
Whenever another Goblin you control is put into a graveyard from play, you may have Boggart Shenanigans deal 1 damage to target player.
*
“You call dealing damage shenanigans? Let’s see some REAL shenanigans!”
Compare this card to Scalding Tongs or other cards that deal continuous damage to players without requiring mana. You could even stay in the same block and consider Goblin Bombardment. Either way, I don’t see this card as anything but an inefficient mess despite seeing it in play at the Mockvitational. On average this will do less than one damage per turn and that is unacceptable for a three drop that doesn’t do anything to the board.
Boggart Sprite-Chaser
1R
Creature – Goblin Warrior
As long as you control a Faerie, Boggart Sprite-Chaser gets +1/+1 and has flying.
**
Being one doesn’t count.
This is a strong creature when you have the Faerie but a terrible one when you don’t and it is the wrong color and race for the deck in question. You’re giving up the use of the lord at a minimum and there are likely to be other effects as well. It’s standard to get a 2/2 flyer for two mana in such decks if you look hard enough, and I wouldn’t be playing such a deck without at least 2/1s so there isn’t that much compensation here.
Caterwauling Boggart
3R
Creature – Goblin Shaman
Your Goblins beat the War Drums, and they work for your Elementals too.
2/2
*
He spends all day screaming “Fire hot! Me pretty.”
This might hold some interest at three mana as annoying enough to justify being overcosted but at four mana this costs even more than real War Drums effectively charging full price plus a full additional charge for being a creature.
Ceaseless Searblades
3R
Creature – Elemental Warrior
Whenever you play an activated ability of an Elemental, Ceaseless Searblades gets +1/+0 until end of turn.
2/4
**
Fighting fire with fire just means fighting hotter fires.
There has to be an infinite combination in there somewhere, right? All you have to do is find a creature that has an ability you can activate an infinite number of times and then make that creature into an Elemental. Alternatively you could find a relevant Elemental, which I’ll mention if I find one. This is similar to a more expensive version of the old deck Life. You’re still looking at a three card combination, but it’s going to be a lot harder to get this one through. I very much doubt that this will amount to anything but there are ways of working to assemble the engine and there are other Elemental cards that activate themselves more than once in the normal course of events. There’s even one that generates the mana to start itself up again, so keep a wary eye on this fellow.
Chandra Nalaar
3RR
Planeswalker – Chandra
+1: Chandra Nalaar deals 1 damage to target player.
-X: Chandra Nalaar deals X damage to target creature.
-8: Chandra Nalaar deals 10 damage to target player and each creature he or she controls.
6
***
She used to be a task mage, but she always seemed to get assigned the same task.
Chandra hasn’t gotten any respect yet but that will change. Think of this as a two turn countdown to doomsday. If you fire this off, you kill all their men and do a total of 12 damage to their face, which should be enough for any red deck to carry the day. If that would leave you one or two points short you can even wait another turn. If they start doing damage to Chandra then they have to use cards on a gradually refilling doomsday device that takes a lot of force to kill. I definitely see this as a strong sideboard card against strategies like the Black/Blue deck used recently by Flores and company. With counters so deprecated and frequent tapping out for Damnation and other spells you will often be able to get this on the table. Once you do, there’s a strong chance it will carry the day. Competing with Siege-Gang Commander is tough but there are many decks that will find this that much harder to deal with.
Changeling Berserker
3R
Creature – Shapeshifter
Changeling (This card is every creature type at all times, some of which can be blocked by walls.)
Haste, Champion a Creature (They can’t stand in the way of this, well, you know.)
5/3
*
Having haste is nice but you have to compensate for it by removing the other creature prior to attacking, removing much of the benefit unless you’re using mana creatures. Then again, if you’re not using mana creatures then there’s little reason to use champions. Either way however there are too many far stronger four drops available.
Consuming Bonfire
3RR
Tribal Sorcery – Elemental
Choose one – Consuming Bonfire deals 4 damage to target non-Elemental creature or 7 damage to target Treefolk.
*
I know you’re thinking. I can smell the wood burning.
ALOT of damage, but a lot of mana.
Crush Underfoot
1R
Tribal Instant – Giant
Choose a Giant you control. It deals damage equal to its power to target creature.
*
They could stand up to the Giants in combat, as long as they didn’t stand down under them first.
ALOT more damage, this time for less mana, but it can’t hit players and requires a creature as big as theirs. That’s at least one drawback too many.
Faultgrinder
6R
Creature – Elemental
Trample
When Faultgrinder comes into play, destroy target land.
Evoke 4R (If you want a Stone Rain this much and can’t wait, go for it.)
4/4
You should have qualified when you had the chance!
**
That’s one way to make you think back fondly to Avalanche Riders. I suppose that giving players the option for a legitimate body even at an unreasonable price was quite powerful when combined with even a slightly overpriced land destruction spell, but the result feels like a nerfed creature. If you’re putting him directly into play this is a solid if unspectacular creature, but you also put yourself in a spot where you won’t have much interest in casting Stone Rain. There’s nothing here to see.
Fire-Belly Changeling
1R
Creature – Shapeshifter
Changeling This card is every creature type at all times, but so immature.)
R: Fire-Belly Changeling gets +1/+0 until end of turn. Play this ability no more than twice each turn.
1/1
*
He was born for politics: Two faced, all things to all people and he has the fire in the belly.
It is clear that Changelings have to pay a price for their flexibility, and as usual it’s not good to pay for advantages you cannot use unless the cards in question are being pushed. All the relevant races have better choices.
Flamekin Bladewhirl
R
Creature – Elemental Warrior
As an additional cost to play Flamekin Bladewhirl, reveal an Elemental card from your hand or pay 3.
2/1
**
Even the smallest fire requires fuel.
This is far, far behind its Elf and Kithkin counterparts. You get a cookie, but it’s burnt. Don’t get me wrong, I’m as happy to play with Savannah Lions as the next guy in my red decks but this is not what an Elemental deck is likely to be looking for. Then again I could be wrong about that if the deck shapes up differently than I think it will. It’s still a sad contrast between this and those previous two cookies, one of which fits right into every deck of the right creature type and the other which is off the charts even if it wouldn’t normally fit into your plans. This one had better be exactly what you need or it won’t cut it.
Flamekin Brawler
R
Creature – Elemental Warrior
R: Flamekin Brawler gets +1/+0 until end of turn.
0/2
**
When he hits people, your mileage may vary.
Firebreathing tends to be an inefficient use of mana and having zero power as your base is usually a death knell. This has the potential to play well with others but in the end it still requires a constant input of mana to do anything. That’s not what red looks for in its one drops and you have a far more important one drop coming right up.
Flamekin Harbinger
R
Creature – Elemental Shaman
CIP WTF Elemental
1/1
***
It is well known that where one sees fire soon there will be more.
This is a fine one drop for an Elemental deck and it comes in time to make sure you get your two drop. Unlike the green version it has power, and it can get a far more useful mana card than a Forest will ever be. Elementals are so much more interesting than Treefolk in any case as they hold out the promise of power rather than toughness that can perhaps maybe later be switched into power. With both a mana creature and a lord with a mighty secondary ability at your beck and call and plenty of high end choices as well this card should be good for what ails you.
Flamekin Spitfire
1R
Creature – Elemental Shaman
3R: Flamekin Spitfire deals 1 damage to target creature or player.
1/1
*
The trick isn’t doing more fire damage, it’s doing less.
ALOT given the super expensive activation cost and sub-par body. The set is full of cards that do so much more for so much less.
Giant Harbinger
4R
Creature – Giant Shaman
CIP WTF Giant
3/4
*
How to tell that there are Giants coming your way, lesson one: The ground stars shaking.
I know Giants are expensive, and it would be a little silly for them not to be. It makes sense, but that doesn’t make this any more of a harbinger. If I pay five mana for a certified standard issue dork I expect a lot more than the chance to go get a better dork.
Giant’s Ire
3R
Tribal Sorcery – Giant
Giant’s Ire deals four damage to target player. If you control a Giant, draw a card.
*
Giants are an old race, so when they get mad they deal with it old school.
This is expensive enough to be an unconditional cantrip and in general if you’re going to the head you need to be concerned with finishing the job quickly. Giants are exactly the race that doesn’t have this kind of agenda or this kind of time.
