Card Talk 16

Arni Metalbrow card art

Today is the sixteenth post in my Card Talk series.

Reminder how Card Talk works:

• I go to Scryfall and select 'Random Card'
• I present and blog about the card. I could discuss any aspect: the art, abilities, cost, set, impact on the game, and so on. Stream of consciousness.

Card Talk is a fun, uncurated way to look at Magic's cards, mechanics, history, art, sets, and so on. And of course it exposes some of my own preferences, biases, and memories of the game. 

Today's card is . . .

Farsight Mask

Hmmmm . . . Farsight Mask. An uncommon artifact from Mirrodin.

This card intrigues me; I don't recall seeing it before. It is still inexpensive, leading me to believe it isn't that powerful. Still, it seems good: whenever you take damage, you draw a card. And it is not limited to once per turn, either, so if (say) three creatures and one spell damage you on a given turn, you would draw four cards. That seems pretty tight (if you survive the damage, of course).

I suspect the two things that limit this card's utility are 1) cost (5 is pretty  high) and 2) the 'untapped' caveat. The latter seems strange to me, as nothing on the card itself requires tapping to use it. So it could only be tapped by another spell or ability. Looking across the Mirrodin set, there are a number of cards that tap other permanents, so this is one of those limitations that make more sense when you view the context in which it was printed.

Mirrodin was released in 2003. It was the second set (and first expansion) with the updated card frame. (I explore the history of card frames in this post.) Artifact frames got perhaps the biggest makeover.

The Mirrodin block (Mirrodin, Darksteel, Fifth Dawn) focused on artifacts; an astonishing 142 appeared in this first set; 46% of the overall card count. It also introduced a new subtype: equipment. Equipment is (effectively) creature enchantments that stay on the battlefield if the equipped creature is destroyed. You pay the equip cost (as a sorcery only) to equip it to another creature. Consider Bonesplitter, below, as an example.

I remember Mirrodin for two reasons:

1) I graduated college, started work full-time, and got back into Magic that year.

2) The Myr creature type. There were 13 in Mirrodin and many have followed since. I like the little guys.

Card Talk 15

Arni Metalbrow card art

Today is the fifteenth post in my Card Talk series.

Reminder how Card Talk works:

• I go to Scryfall and select 'Random Card'
• I present and blog about the card. I could discuss any aspect: the art, abilities, cost, set, impact on the game, and so on. Stream of consciousness.

Card Talk is a fun, uncurated way to look at Magic's cards, mechanics, history, art, sets, and so on. And of course it exposes some of my own preferences, biases, and memories of the game. 

Today's card is . . .

Plains

Hmmmm . . . Plains. A common land from Eighth Edition. How boring . . . how plain.

Well. Plains is one of the five basic lands in Magic. The initial symbol for white mana looked a little different, with "flowier" sun's rays:

Apparently, all mana symbols were updated for the Ice Age set, but the other four were minor tweaks compared to white's redesign.

In Magic, color matters. White stands for morality and order in the Magic universe.

Today, all basic lands have only the symbol which they produce when tapping them. But originally, there was more information. The evolution is shown below with Plains from Alpha, 3rd Edition, and Ice Age, respectively:

Finally, the random Plains shown on scryfall happens to be a rather unusual one: a foil and black-bordered version. Core sets used to be white-bordered only, and the 'normal' version of the 8th Edition Plains is. But that set had foil and black-bordered versions of cards, too.

Card Talk 14

Arni Metalbrow card art

Today is the fourteenth post in my Card Talk series.

Reminder how Card Talk works:

• I go to Scryfall and select 'Random Card'
• I present and blog about the card. I could discuss any aspect: the art, abilities, cost, set, impact on the game, and so on. Stream of consciousness.

Card Talk is a fun, uncurated way to look at Magic's cards, mechanics, history, art, sets, and so on. And of course it exposes some of my own preferences, biases, and memories of the game. 

Today's card is . . .

Immersturm Predator

Hmmmm . . . Immersturm Predator. A rare multi-color creature from Kaldheim.

Immersturm Predator has two creature types: Vampire and Dragon. That can make it handy in both kinds of tribal/typal/kindred decks. And both are popular; There have been 403 Vampire creatures and 343 Dragon creatures printed to date, many of them in black and/or red. Options abound for these creature types.

Immersturm Predator's ability is intriguing. It can tap two ways: by attacking or sacrificing another creature. Either way, when that happens, two abilities trigger: exile a card from a graveyard and put a +1/+1 counter on it. Both are nice abilities. And when the sacrifice route is chosen, it gains indestructible to boot. That is a powerful ability—one I found difficult to play against. This guy is hard to take out.

Note the card frame: this is an extended art card. These started in 2018, with Ultimate Masters, and have been a staple in releases ever since. On the one hand, I enjoy that the art it more prominent (and you see more of it; see the standard frame below and note the differences). On the other hand, it makes collecting that much harder/more annoying. So many versions of the same card are now released in the same set. Through in different kinds of foils, and things are getting insane.

Kaldheim was released in February 2021. I had high hopes for the set based on its theme (Nordic mythology). It brought back snow lands. I was mostly pleased, but thought it didn't capitalize on the snow concept enough (46 cards in the set mention it, but 17 of those are lands, and there were almost no 'anti-snow' cards). I share more thoughts on the set here. The one thing I did love was its Angels; they continue to be staples in my decks so themed.

Immersturm means "always stormy" in German. I had to chuckle at that. There are often Easter eggs hidden in Magic cards, but rarely based on language.

Card Talk 13

Arni Metalbrow card art

Happy October! Today is the thirteenth post in my Card Talk series.

Reminder how Card Talk works:

• I go to Scryfall and select 'Random Card'
• I present and blog about the card. I could discuss any aspect: the art, abilities, cost, set, impact on the game, and so on. Stream of consciousness.

Card Talk is a fun, uncurated way to look at Magic's cards, mechanics, history, art, sets, and so on. And of course it exposes some of my own preferences, biases, and memories of the game. 

Today's card is . . .

Deal Gone Bad

Hmmmm . . . Deal Gone Bad. A common black instant from Ravnica: Clue Edition.

Deal Gone Bad has two abilities. 

- The first can destroy a creature (if the -3/-3 can get its toughness to 0); that can be a powerful removal technique that can even take out indestructible creatures (I discuss removal in more detail here).

- The second forces a player (you or an opponent) to mill three cards. This can help you (if you are running a self-mill deck) and/or annoy your opponent (if they are not).

Instants are powerful, being (obviously) playable at instant speed. Having one like this with two abilities (with independent targets) makes it especially powerful. The cost is a little high, but at a common rarity, it seems like a good card overall.

Ravnica: Clue Edition is a mash-up of Magic and the popular board game, Clue. This makes for a one-off variant Magic multiplayer experience; a new format, of sorts, but one that (likely) won't see more releases. I have not played it myself, but heard (based on web articles and dropping prices) that this didn't do very well. I'd love to try, though!